The Spark that grew into a Flame

[fylisfe]

    Ulysse Bellerose tossed away her last bottle of repel, grateful that her supply had lasted her long enough to get to New Bark Town from Goldenrod City where she had arrived only a few days prior from Kalos. It was late afternoon now. The sun was just barely above the treeline and Ulysse could not help but stop a moment and stare at the rich rosy reds and oranges that were coloring the sky. She breathed in the cool winter air and exhaled a deep stress filled sigh. This was the first time in a month that she’d been able to relax for a moment.

    Ulysse was on the run. Back in Kalos, she had been part of Team Flare, a criminal organization which had been taken down due to their genocidal plans to build a better beautiful world by burning down the current one. Of course, Ulysse had never been on board with with those insane plans. She had only ever been a low-level grunt, her jobs had mostly been to look fabulous and intimidating, pick fights with weak trainers, and one time she helped steal a ton of pokeballs from a factory. Her interpretation of creating a beautiful world involved a lot more high fashion and flower planting and a lot less kidnapping pokemon to use to power a giant death machine; but good intention and ignorance aren’t exactly valid excuses in the eye of the law. At the end of the day, she had been a criminal and she was arrested for her actions along many others in Team Flare. She had been jailed for a week or so and waiting for trial when her estranged father Bernard showed up to pay her bail and save her hide with a ticket out of Kalos and an address of a close friend that still lived in his hometown.

    “1 Laboratory Way, New Bark Town, Johto. Ask for Elm.” Ulysse read her father’s note aloud for a hundredth time since she’d gotten on the boat to Johto. It had almost become a mantra, it was the only thing directing her life at the moment besides the paranoia that she might get caught by the IPF at any moment. She looked over the town. It was pretty small, probably smaller than any town she’d been to before… in fact she was certain she’d been to boutiques in Lumiose City that were the size of this entire town. “Laahborahtory way…” Ulysse muttered to herself as she tried to find a street sign or any other kind of indication which of these homely buildings was the one she was meant to go to. She walked up and down the entire town several times before she finally spotted it--- a two-story building with a tiny 1 painted on its mailbox and a sign over the door that said “Professor Elm’s Laboratory”.

    “A professor?” Ulysse raised an eyebrow. Of her two fathers, Bernard and Pierre, she would have never expected that Bernard, the trophy winning cyclist jock, would be the one with a childhood friend nerdy enough to become a professor. Ulysse walked up to the building and raised her hand to knock on the door, only to stop with her hand mid-air. “No… this can’t be the place. No way…”

    Ulysse turned around and started to walk away to pace up and down the town a few more times. She was barely past the mailbox when she got the whiff of smoke and heard panicked shouts coming from behind her. She stopped in her tracks and turned on her heel.

    1 Laboratory Way was on fire.

    “...WHAT...”

    Ulysse sprung into action, kicking down the door without a thought. Inside, she saw a middle aged man in a lab coat rushing about chasing after a small charmander who was leaping from table to table to shelf, keeping just out of the man's reach and starting two fires for each one he put out. Ulysse stood in the doorway, unsure of whether to help put out the fire or to try and catch the charmander.

[Professor Oak]

Pokémon Lab

This Charmander really was a feisty little thing, thought Professor Elm as he struggled frantically to restrain the creature before it burned the whole laboratory down. It didn't help that all his research papers were scattered messily across every surface, making it a pyromaniac's dream. "C'mon little buddy, I need you to get down from there," strained Elm, trying to reach across his desk towards the shelf where the fire lizard was currently perched, waving its tail around like a torch-wielding member of an rioting mob. His lab coat bore the signs of scorch marks from where he had tried to put out spot fires by patting them down with the sleeves. It didn't help that he had given away the last Squirtle to a young trainer by the name of Sara only a day ago. Just as the flames were starting to lick the roof with their intensity, the doors of the lab burst open drawing smoke out of the building. Elm turned around to see a heavily-tattooed punk rock girl standing in the doorway. She looked familiar, not someone he'd met before but perhaps had seen a photo of briefly. In that moment though, he was just glad someone had arrived on the scene but had hoped it was the fire department. "Help!" he pleaded feebly and waved his arms at Ulysse trying to draw her attention. "There's a fire extinguisher over in that corner. Please help me put this fire out!" As he spoke, he remembered where he had seen this young woman before. His friend in college, Bernard, had contacted him a week or so ago asking for a favour. His daughter had gotten into trouble recently and needed a second chance at a fresh start. Yes, this was the young lady in the photo that Bernard had sent.

made by redox of gs

[fylisfe]

    Ulysse launched into action, leaping over flames to get to the fire extinguisher the man gestured her to. She got to work extinguishing flames with uncanny expertise, she was quite familiar with extinguishers as one of her Team Flare friends had a tendency to take their team name too literally. There was an impressive amount of flammable material in this lab and as she coated surface after surface with foam, she began to feel bad for whoever was going to have to clean this up. As she put out fires, she watched as the man-- who she was now assuming must be Professor Elm, continued to try and reach the charmander. However, the closer Professor Elm got to the charmander, the more agitated it seemed to get. It growled and hissed and waggled its lit tail, spreading flames around without a care, in fact, it seemed to be enjoying itself. Ulysse chuckled as the charmander leapt off the shelf and over the professor’s head, landing on a lab cart behind the professor. The lab cart began to wheel across the room with the momentum of the charmander’s landing. The charmander let out a cry that seemed like almost like a laugh of its own.



       “Dear Xerneas, this is nuts,” Ulysse laughed. She tossed the fire extinguisher to the professor and rushed to get in the way of the lab cart, stopping it with a kick. Grasping the cart firmly so it would not move anymore, Ulysse leaned down and stared the charmander in the eyes. “HEY, fire butt. Enough with setting everything ablaze. You’re going to give… Elm?” Ulysse looked to the professor for verification. “You’re going to give Professor Elm a heart attack and destroy this place in the process. And if that happens, where exactly are you gonna go? Hmmmm?”



    The charmander glared back at Ulysse for a moment and she could see it swinging its tail threateningly. Ulysse held fast and did not back down. After a few tense moments, the charmander sat and crossed its arms. It let out a grumble and looked away as a little puff of smoke escaped its lips. Ulysse smiled and relaxed her tight grip on the cart. She recognized the signs of a rash pokemon finally settling down, she’d had plenty of similar interactions back when she was training her houndour Opal. She remembered their wrestling matches fondly.



    “That’s better, little one,” Ulysse said in a soft voice as she tentatively reached out her hand to pet the charmander. To her surprise, the pokemon eagerly bumped its head into her hand to accept the pets. “What got ya so riled up anyhow?”



    Ulysse looked to the professor as she gave the charmander a scratch under the chin. “Oh uhm… I’m Ulysse by the way… I think you’re friends with my dad?”

[Professor Oak]

Pokémon Lab

Breathing a sigh of relief, the Professor watched in intrigue as this young woman deftly extinguished all the flames and managed to corral the rampant fire Pokemon. He watched in awe as Ulysse calmed the Charmander down just by talking to it and had gained enough trust to be able to pet it. They certainly didn't teach that at trainer school. It was clear she had a lot of life experience for someone her age. "Hi... yes... Ulysse it's great to meet you! I'm Elm," greeted the Professor, extending his hand towards Ulysse to shake. "Your father and I were great friends in college... he always had the heart of a champion... had no doubt in my mind he'd go on to be a renowned cyclist." Elm seemed to drift off absentmindedly gripped by nostalgia. "So there was no way I could refuse when he contacted me for help." He smiled at Ulysse but also wondered what sort of trouble she was in. Bernard had not told him much except to say that she needed a fresh start and knew that visiting the Professor was a rite of passage for many young trainers before embarking on a life-long journey to find their place in the world. "Part of my job is to match trainers with their life-long Pokemon partner." Elm explained. "We don't have many choices left unfortunately... ran out of our usual starters which meant I needed to source some more from Kanto... but we're left with only two now..." Elm gestured towards the rash Charmander that Ulysse had just acquainted herself to and another green and blue creature cowering beneath the desk. The Bulbasaur seemed to be worse for wear from the Charmander's burning spree, its bulb smouldering from being scorched by the flames. However, it was a hardy little thing by now, having suffered more than one bit of adversity over the past few days. "Well, is there one in particular that takes your fancy?"

made by redox of gs

[fylisfe]

Ulysse shook the Professor's hand as he spoke about her father. She hadn't realized Bernard had contacted Elm in advance but she was grateful he was expecting her and that she hadn't shown up unannounced and having to explain who she was… though she wondered how much her father told the professor about her, by how welcoming the professor was being, she suspected it was not much.

“Wait… you're giving me a Pokemon?” This was not what Ulysse was expecting. All she'd known while making her trek here was that at this address was someone her dad trusted, she thought maybe it would just be some place for her to stay for a while, maybe she’d do some manual labor in exchange for room and board… even when she realized it was a professor her dad had sent her too, she hadn’t expected to be offered a pokemon. “I thought that free pokemon thing was just for like… 10 year olds?”

Ulysse examined the two pokemon she was being offered. She hadn’t even seen the bulbasaur hiding under the desk until it was pointed out. Ulysse crouched down to get a closer look but as she did so the charmander jumped off the cart on to the floor and positioned itself right in Ulysse’s way. Ulysse tried to lean around the charmander to see the bulbasaur but instead she got headbutted by the charmander who seemed adamant about being the only one to receive any attention.

“CHAR CHARR!” the charmander shouted and crossed its tiny arms. “CHAR.”

Ulysse laughed and obliged the charmander’s demands for more pets. “If I really do get to choose a pokemon of my own, I think the choice is being made for me,” Ulysse smiled as the charmander nuzzled up to her. She’d really missed having a pokemon companion. She really missed Opal and Amethyst. Ulysse’s heart felt heavy and her cheered demeanor disappeared.

“These… these guys are legit right?” Ulysse stammered, she felt as if something was stuck in her throat. She could feel tears coming. She tensed up in hopes to keep her emotions in control. “They… aren’t like… stolen or anything? If I take one...it’s not going be taken away from me?”

[Professor Oak]

Pokémon Lab

Professor Elm chuckled at Ulysse's suggestion that free Pokemon were only given to ten year olds. "Haha, once upon a time that might have been true... but now people are spending more time in school and pursuing further study... the average age of new trainers showing up at my lab these days is probably early twenties." The Professor sat and watched Ulysse silently as she interacted with the two Pokemon. A knowing smile crossed his face as the Charmander tried to steal all of the limelight. It was an obvious choice after all. He had only just met Ulysse but could tell both trainer and Pokemon shared similar personalities and complemented each other in many ways. Most off all he was relieved he could be finally rid of the temperamental fire lizard. He looked around the ruined lab with a frown. It would take a while to clean all of this mess up but at least most of it was covered by insurance and the research papers were saved on the internet nowadays. "Charmander is an excellent choice! I'm sure you will get along like a house on fire... or in this case like a lab on fire..." Elm laughed nervously at his own joke. "Do you have a name in mind for her? Don't worry she's your partner for life... nobody will take her away from you." Elm placed a hand on Ulysse's shoulder to try to reassure her. This young lady must still be harbouring quite a few demons from her past, he thought poignantly. "Oh, I have something else for you." Elm walked over to the smouldering remains of his desk and started to rummage through the bottom draw. He also reached across to the shelf that the Charmander had leapt from earlier to gather together a few supplies. He returned shortly carrying a number of medicine bottles and Poke Balls. However, he waved a red handheld device towards Ulysse to get her attention. "Have you seen one of these things before?"

made by redox of gs

[fylisfe]

    Ulysse embraced Charmander gently. The professor’s promise that this pokemon would be hers for life was comforting. She was ready to make new bonds. When prompted for a name Ulysse looked over the small pokemon in her arms. She examined its bright orange skin, cream yellow belly and sharp fangs, the charmander let out a quiet “maaaar”, feeling slight embarrassed at being looked over so carefully. The charmander’s flaming tail caught Ulysse’s eye and the name came to her. “My other father… Pierre, I don’t know if you ever met him, but he’s a fashion designer. When I was little he was working on a garment line based off of gemstones so he borrowed a huge selection of gems from a friend for inspiration. I wouldn’t stop looking over the stones while he had them so when his friend came to pick them up, dad had him teach me the name of all the rocks. They even got me a geology book. Anyways… this little one’s bright orange colors and that glistening flame… they remind me of a spessartine garnet.”

    Ulysse lowered her head to meet the charmander’s eyeline. “How does the name Spessartine Flame sound, little one?”

    “Ar!! Ar!!” the charmander nodded in approval. Ulysse got up on her feet, holding the charmander in her arms but once she saw Elm gathering supplies she placed it gently on the floor. The charmander made a beeline to the bulbasaur under the desk. The bulbasaur immediately backed away out of instinctual self preservation. Spessartine Flame followed after it gleefully. Ulysse accepted the various items from Professor Elm and placed them in her bag, she was familiar with them all, having used them when she was training her previous pokemon. As for the red device in the professor was waving, it looked familiar but it was definitely not something she’d used before.

    “Hmm, I think I’ve seen pokemon trainers using small red devices before. I remember fighting a young trainer once and he kept checking it constantly,” Ulysse answered. “The ones I saw slid up and open and then there was a glowy screen…” Ulysse tried to mimic the motions of the kalos pokedex device with her hands but she just looked like a confused mr. mime. “What are they for?”

[Lamont]

The professor listened and watched intently as Ulysse attempted to demonstrate the usage of a similar device. He nodded along, a soft smile forming on his face before he responded with enthusiasm. "They are quite the handy devices, and we like to make sure as many trainers as possible have one. It's called a Pokédex. This little thing scans and records details about all kinds of pokémon you'll encounter. It's basically a handheld encyclopedia of all the different kinds of pokémon."

The more he explained the more excited he got, though he tried to contain himself. Elm handed over all the items he'd collected for her to start her journey, giving particular care to the Pokédex. "If you're interested..." he continued with a second of hesitation, "... I'm actually looking for new trainers just like you to help me out with gathering more data using the pokédex."
He then chuckled and quickly followed up, "No obligation of course. No doubt you want to get going and take some time to get to know your new partner, Spessartine was it?" Elm smiled at the two of them. "Do you have any other questions or anything I can help you with?"

[fylisfe]

"I'd be happy to help gather data," Ulysse nodded. "It's the least I could do." 

Ulysse played with the device for a moment, pointing it to Spessartine who struck a pose as the pokedex chirped to life, capturing a picture of the charmander and immediately displaying information about the species. The two shared a moment as Ulysse showed the charmander images of her future evolutions.

"It'll be cool to learn about all the different kind of pokemon in Johto. I'm sure there's plenty I've never seen before," Ulysse turned to the professor and gave him a big thumbs up. "Also, this will give me some direction and purpose haha...speaking of which, I guess, that also leads into other things you might be able to help me out with..." 

Ulysse scratched her head nervously, trying to pick her next words carefully. 

"Do you...uhm... have any advice as to what I should do next? Like places to go or like... job leads... or contacts of people who are nice and willing to help out a dumb kid starting her life over from literally nothing?" Ulysse let out a nervous laugh, she looked away from the professor, her eyes darting around the lab. Each word she spoke felt like it was tugging at her chest, she wasn't used to asking for help but she forced herself to continue. She didn't just need help, she was desperate for it. "I don't know, what my dad told you about me but I'm... I'm running from some trouble back in Kalos. Big Trouble. With a capital T and all that... It's trouble big enough that I can't really rely on either of my dads' for help because calling them would be too risky for me, and maybe for them too, so I'm really starting from scratch here in Johto... like Moltres-rising-from-the-ashes-scratch. I've got no real connections here, and the only other leads I have except the one from Bernard which lead me here, are from the big T trouble I'm running from and I'm worried would probably also just get me in trouble here. I don't know what to do with myself to be totally honest."

Ulysse paused to catch her breath. 

"I know this is probably a lot to ask and to be unloading on to you since I literally kicked down your door only minutes ago... maybe I should just go... Thank you so much this adorable charmander and all these useful items" Ulysse took a deep bow of gratitude. "I'll do my best to repay you someday." 


Then before really giving the Professor a chance to answer, Ulysse turned to rush out the door feeling deeply embarrassed over this whole thing. She gestured Spessartine to follow after her and the charmander happily jumped onto Ulysse's back, not really understanding much of what was going on except that she liked this new human friend she had made. Ulysse stopped for a second as she reached the still open doorway. Outside, the sun had finished setting. The tiny town was enveloped in the deep darkness she had only gotten to know since arriving to Johto and began travelling from Goldenrod City through small towns and quiet unlit routes. Lumiose City never got as dark as this. Ulysse's heart and gut hoped that Professor Elm was about to stop and call her over to provide some sage advice, but her feet were prepared to keep marching her forward into the night if he didn't... at least now she had the beacon of Spessartine's tail to light her way.

[Sky]

The absent-minded professor was about to answer, but he would simply reach her as she hadn't gotten out of the doorway yet. Elm walked after the young woman while he saw the young lady just about to leave outside his lab, abruptly in fact and without a reason why. "No, nothing at all. Just go out there and catch some Pokémon for the Pokedex. I'll be here at the lab to evaluate your progress anytime!" He smiled. Elm didn't want to press on what issue she had anyway, he was just happy to have someone do Pokémon research for him.

"Ah, I don't need any sort of repayment at all. I would be very happy if you undertake my research for me." There was something about the trainer that he found interesting, and yet, he was glad that someone called the starter Pokémon he gave her adorable. "One more word of advice. Be careful out there, you'll never know when someone might try to harm you and your Charmander. Ah, but I shouldn't keep you here longer, so I suppose I'll be going back to work. Have a safe travel, Ulysse!"

[fylisfe]

    When Ulysse heard the professor speak up as she was leaving, she stopped and turned around, eager to hear what he might have to say to her. But when she realized he was just being the minimal amount of polite, reminding her to stay safe and to return with any data when she could, Ulysse's shoulders sank in disappointment. She sighed. It seemed it really had been too much to have expected the Professor to suddenly solve all her problems. For a moment, something in Ulysse made her really want to protest, to strike out and punch something, to do anything that would make her feel more certain and in control of her life... but Ulysse pushed those aggressive feelings aside and settled for feeling disheartened.

    "Yeah... thanks," Ulysse answered, her somber voice revealing how fully and obviously dejected she was feeling. The charmander, which was now leaning her head over Ulysse's shoulder, let out a low trill 'derrr' in an attempt to comfort Ulysse. Ulysse reached up and gave the little pokemon a gentle scratch under the chin and turned to leave once more. She dragged her feet out the door and down the small path into the quiet town. New Bark Town remained silent and still and unimpressed by her woes.

    The night air was crisp and chill and while Ulysse Bellerose felt warmed by Spessartine's tail flame, she decided it would probably be best to bundle up. Ulysse stopped by one of the few lampposts that lit the street and put down her bag. She crouched down and rummaged through the bag's contents. Besides the items she'd just received from Elm, the bag was filled with clothes, snacks and a few random items selected by her father Bernard as he'd packed the bag before bailing her out of jail. While her father had done his best to include things he thought would be useful, Ulysse was at a loss as to why items such as her childhood book of gemstones and her fashion sketchbook had made it into the selection as opposed to camping gear or a sleeping bag. Regardless, what Ulysse was searching for now was something she knew was in there, it was one of the few items she'd had on her before being rushed out of Kalos-- her red Team Flare suit jacket. Since arriving in Johto, Ulysse had kept the coat packed away in the bottom of her bag. She wasn't sure how recognizable the Team Flare look was in this region and hadn't wanted to risk being recognized as a member, even if she was a just former one now. But now in this empty quiet town, alone in the dark of night, Ulysse was in need of something familiar and comforting. Ulysse slipped on the bright red jacket which matched the bright red pants she was wearing perfectly. 

    Spessartine Flame gave Ulysse an approving nod. 

    "You like my style, huh?" Ulysse smirked. She rummaged the bag once more and this time pulled out from it two black spiked cuff bracelets. "Here, try these on." 

    The charmander patiently let Ulysse slip the bracelets on her two front wrists. "CHAR! CHAR!!" she exclaimed, obviously happy with her new accessories. Watching how excited the pokemon was over the accessories cheered Ulysse up significantly. Ulysse mused how time and time again in her life, no matter how much other humans disappointed her, she could always rely on pokemon to be a source of happiness for her.  Ulysse picked up her bag and offered her arm so Spessartine could climb up it and onto her back. The two of them meandered out of the town and down route 29. Ulysse gazed up at the stars, pointing out constellations to the charmander sitting on her shoulders, no matter how far she got from home at least the stars would remain the same. 

[OOC-- post summary: Ulysse leaves Elm's lab feeling super bummed, she rummages through her stuff and puts on her old Team Flare coat for comfort, she and her charmander bond over cool accessories, and then they set off into the night making their way down route 29 to Cherrygrove ----Bike OFF for now please, though I may turn it back on once I'm in an encounter!]

[Goni]

The sky was clear, and as the trainer and the charmander gradually progressed along the dark Route 29, a sort of peaceful aura surrounded the two. The route was calm. The peaceful sound of kriketot could be heard in the distance, although overlaying that serene melody was another soothing noise, soft hooting from the road ahead could be heard. 

”Hooo~ hooo~ hoooOOoooot”

In a small clearing up ahead where the grass didn’t seem as tall, a young trainer was slumped over on the ground, a pokéball in their hand. A hoothoot stood before the girl on the ground, softly singing a lulling tune to them, the hoothoots wing lifted into the air, its eyes closed as if it were lost in the song it was singing. The young trainer let out a snore, and the hoothoots eyes shot open, and it charged towards the snoozing trainer angrily, and started chittering at the girl. The noise of the kriketot suddenly stopped, as if the hoothoot was the conductor of the night. The hoothoot angrily pecked at the trainers head, trying to rouse them from their sleep. ”…huh? Wazza?!” The trainer said as their eyes fluttered open, and their head shot up. As the trainer tried to stand up and figure out where they were and what they were doing, they suddenly realized they had a pokéball in their hand, and then looked at the hoothoot in front of it. The hoothoot seemed satisfied that its audience was once again paying attention to it, and they started to sing their song once more.

”Hoo hohohohohoooooo~!” The hoothoot sang, the melody once again began flowing and a soothing aura passed over the area once more. The sound of the kricketot slowly started to fill the air, as the conductor of the night started to wave its baton again. ”Spin….daaa… goooo” the trainer said, falling back on to the ground face-first, the pokéball still clenched in her sleeping hand, as the hoothoot continued its hypnotic song.

A level 4 wild Hoothoot is
performing a concert ahead!

[fylisfe]

    Ulysse and Spessartine Flame made their way through the night. Ulysse let Spessa walk a little ahead of her, so that the charmander could light the way, and while they walked Ulysse made small talk. She told Spessa stories about her childhood, and the adventures she used to have with her family's pokemon in Cyllage City--- like how once she convinced Deepsea, her family dragalge, to take her out to on the small island south of the city because she really wanted to know who lived in the only home on it, and how they faced so many tentacool on the way to the island that Ulysse had been certain she and Deepsea were going to be stranded on the island forever. Ulysse wasn’t super certain why she was telling Spessartine these stories, perhaps it was just an effort to combat the quiet stillness of the night or maybe it has just been a long time since Ulysse had had someone around who was willing to just listen. Regardless the reason, the charmander seemed to be responding positively to the storytelling, chiming in with an occasional little “derder!” or “charmmann!”.

    It was in the middle of a story about her first escapade in Team Flare, that Ulysse suddenly heard a change in the background noise of the route. Where before there had been silence was now a symphony of kriketot chirps and a melody of hoots echoing through the trees. Ulysse stopped talking and she and Spessa continued walking down the route, both listening intently to the night song. It did not take them long to find the source of the music. Ulysse stopped in her tracks as she came upon the eerie night scene and recognized that the largest shape she saw before her was of a human down on the ground. Her immediate reaction was to stick out a hand in front of Spessartine, a signal for the charmander to stop and step back.

    ”Hoo hohohohohoooooo~!”

    Ulysse examined the person on the ground, she saw the glint of a pokeball in their hands. ‘They must be a trainer’ she thought. It was hard to discern much more as the person’s face was planted on the ground, but they looked young maybe in their late teens or early twenties? Regardless of their age or gender, Ulysse knew that the most important thing to do right now was to get the strange singing pokemon looming over them away from them. Ulysse crouched down to whisper in Spessartine’s ear, it was best for them to keep the element of surprise for as long as possible.

    “Hey Spessartine,” Ulysse addressed her. “I’m not sure what that pokemon ahead of us is, it’s not one I’ve ever seen in Kalos, but that person on the ground is clearly in trouble. We’ve got to help them out! I was reading about your moves on the pokedex, so here’s what we’re gonna do. I want you to keep your head low and quietly scurry through that grass patch over there. While you’re in the grass, use your growl to lure that pokemon over to you. When it goes over to you, I’ll move in to try and wake that trainer up. Keep your wits about you and be ready to be attacked if you get spotted in the grass. I’ll try to give you advice as we go but when in doubt, follow your instincts.”

    Ulysse gave Spessartine a reassuring pat on the back and nodded to signal for her to go ahead. The charmander gave Ulysse a confident toothy smirk and then quickly moved into the tall grass clearing, doing her best to keep her head and tail low and out of sight. Ulysse readied herself to move quickly and quietly over to the passed out trainer as soon as the coast was clear.

((OOC: Charmander uses Growl!))

[Goni]

The hoothoot continued its song, blissfully unaware that it was being watched.

“HooooooOOOOO!”

As it approached the crescendo of its song, however, something growled behind it. The hoothoot froze, and the music once again stopped. The night went dead silent. The owl pokémon then slowly turned to the patch of tall grass where the low growl came from. How dare this interloper interrupt the concert of the night. As it slowly turned, it saw the bright light in the tall grass coming from the Charmanders tail. As the growl grew louder, the hoothoot couldn’t help but sigh. This wasn’t an interloper, it was a fellow musician! No doubt a fan, come to try to help and participate in the song of the night. This poor feeble-minded creature must have wanted to participate, but it was too shy to let its voice shine. Nevertheless, interruptions to this song could not go unpunished, this would set a precedent, and then every night from then on travelers from all over would come to try to join. It took long enough just to train those ridiculous crickets to follow their lead.

The hoothoot flapped its wings powerfully, lifting it surprisingly high off the ground. From up here, it could see what it thought was its admirer. “HOO~!” The hoothoot said, sharply, then it angled its body down, and flew straight towards the charmander, slowing itself before crashing into the creature. That will teach it to interrupt, even if the hoothoot was pulling its punches for a fan. It had a concert to get back to, after all, and who knew what other interrupti-

"SNooOOooOOORT"

The trainer let out a loud grumble as a snot bubble blew its way out of their nose. This crowd was growing unruly, that was for sure, and those that interrupt have to be punished! The hoothoot once again turned its attention to the unconscious trainer, menacingly approaching them, satisfied that the charmander learned its lesson.

Battle

---

Weather: Blooming

Hoothoot | Level 4 |
HP: 100% (20/20)
Status: -1 ATK
Used Tackle!

VS

Spessartine Flame | Level 5 | Blaze |
HP: 85% (17/20)
Status: Lightly-tackled
Used Growl!

[fylisfe]

    Ulysse was on the move the very second she saw the hoothoot’s attention diverted to investigate Spessartine. She reached the sleeping trainer and crouched down to lift them out of the muddy ground. Ulysse turned the trainer over, rolling them onto their back and allowing their head to rest in Ulysse’s lap. Ulysse took out her pokedex and under its light she could finally see the trainer’s face. She was a young girl, perhaps a few years younger than Ulysse, with short pink curls that draped over her eyes and freckles speckled across her face. Ulysse’s first thought was that she was pretty cute, her next thought was that she must be either really dumb or really unlucky to have gotten herself knocked out in the middle of the forest road. Ulysse tried to unsuccessfully shake the girl awake but her attention was quickly called away from that task. The pokedex in her hand had sprung to life, capturing data on the strange pokemon that Spessartine was distracting.

    “Hoothoot, the OWL pokemon” the pokedex began to monologue. “It always stands on one foot and has a perfect sense of time. It keeps it keeps rhythm by precisely tilting its head in time...” Ulysse tapped at the screen furiously, trying to get the pokedex to stop talking or to at least stop telling her useless fun facts and provide her with actual information about the pokemon’s capabilities. “Hoothoot evolves into Noctowl. It always knows what time it is. Some trainers use it as a clock. Hoothoot’s abilities include Insomnia and Keen Eye. Hoothoot loves t--” Ulysse snapped the pokedex closed in a huff. In her lap, she felt the girl shift and turn to her side to get more comfortable. At the same time, Ulysse heard the fluttering of the hoothoot’s wings as it rose into the air and then launched itself at Spessartine Flame. Ulysse bit her lip to keep from shouting to her charmander, she needed to stick to her own plan and trust that the charmander’s natural fighting instincts would keep it safe for another moment. Ulysse gave the trainer another shake.

    “Come on!! Wake up!” Ulysse whispered in a harsh tone. “WAKE UP!!”

    The only response the sleeping girl gave her was a loud snore which to Ulysse’s dismay called the hoothoot’s attention back to them. Ulysse swore under her breath. She could see the owl pokemon’s menancing eyes glaring in their direction. Without much thought, Ulysse grabbed the pokeball that the girl had been holding in her hand. Ulysse gripped the ball tightly in her own hand nervously. Then, she saw a flash of movement from behind the hoothoot. Spessartine, seeing that the hoothoot was making its way back to Ulysse and the unconcious trainer, was sprinting at the owl pokemon. Spessartine jumped out of the tall grass, extending her claws to strike.

((OOC: Charmander uses scratch!))