And So It Begins

[rjpilot]

Upon hearing Anya’s growl, Teddy looked up at the battle. The poison gas from the Koffing was coming at them, and coming quick. With no time to think, Teddy held his breath and tried to cover his face with his arms. The gas caused a warm, tingling sensation on his skin. He waited for the gas to clear, but it seemed to linger. He opened his eyes to check if the gas was clearing. It was not, and Teddy immediately covered his eyes with his hands as they began to burn. His skin felt hot, almost burning by this point. His head pounded from the lack of air, his lungs craved oxygen. His sinuses burned and mucus began to flow as the gas made its way into his nose. He couldn’t hold it any longer, he had to breathe. Teddy took a breath, and immediately regretted it. His throat burned worse than anything he had felt before. Tears flowed out of his eyes and down his face, and snot was pouring out of his nose. It felt like the gas was choking him, and he wanted so badly to cough, but doing that would just cause him to inhale more. His throat and lungs felt like they were on fire. A light breeze started, and the gas was blown away. Teddy lay on his side, panicking as he tried to take a breath. He couldn’t, he felt like he was being choked. The grunt looked on with sadistic glee as Teddy struggled. Teddy was more afraid than he had ever been before, he needed air. Finally, he forced out a cough, and then another. He lay on his back, coughing and gasping, as breathing got progressively easier while the gas left his lungs.

He looked around. Crissy seemed unaffected, her face still buried in Anya’s fur. Anya and Wiggles, however, shuddered and shook spastically as the poison found its way into their bodies. Teddy watched the two Pokémon he had come to know and love as they writhed in pain. He was unable to do anything, and continued to lay on the ground, breathing heavily as he looked on in horror. It made him sick to watch, and he glared angrily at the grunt. The grunt still seemed to be enjoying himself quite thoroughly. But the two Pokémon refused to give up. Teddy watched with blurred vision as Wiggles struggled back to her feet, and then launched a counter attack. The Rattata reacted the same way to the poison as the other Pokémon had, but its trainer had no reaction and almost looked bored. Teddy was worried for the two on his side of the battle, but at the same time was glad that he and Crissy hadn’t inhaled enough to be poisoned themselves.

Teddy stood up slowly, wiping his nose and spitting to get that vile taste out of his mouth. He kept his eyes on the grunt the whole time. The man still had a smile on his face. Crissy was right. This guy really doesn’t care if others get hurt. And ‘Team Rocket’? Does that mean there’s more sick people out there like him? Teddy thought. He turned back to Crissy. “You alright?” he wheezed. Crissy picked up her head, and at the sight of Teddy’s red face and bloodshot eyes immediately buried her face back in Anya’s fur. He needed Crissy’s help if he was going to beat this goon; Wiggles couldn’t last very long out there, and especially not if she was poisoned. He crouched down to be at eye-level with the girl again. “I know it’s hard, and I know it’s scary. But if we can’t beat this grunt, he’s just gonna go on to hurt more people too,” he whispered, throat burning. Crissy looked up at Teddy, holding Anya tight. Her eyes were still full of fear. “I need your help, Wiggles and I can’t do this on our own. If you want, I could even suggest some moves for you to use.” Crissy remained emotionless, frozen in place. “Please, just consider it.”

Standing back up, Teddy turned to face the grunt. “You won’t take our Pokémon,” he muttered, almost in a growl. The grunt, however, just tapped his foot impatiently. Ignoring the burning sensation still in his throat, Teddy pointed over the battle field at the crook, and yelled angrily, “Wiggles, show this ***** who’s boss and tackle that foul ball of gas!” He then turned to Crissy, “If you’re gonna help out, this would be the time. I’d suggest you have Anya do the same as Wiggles.”

Wiggles uses tackle on the grunt’s Koffing.

[Tarlar]

While his targets continued to refuse to talk to him they at least acknowledge him and knew what he was, and showed the proper amount of fear that he deserved. He'd still prefer that they actually talked to him and not just with each other, but in the end it wouldn't make any difference, he would knock them out and take the pokemon as he had decided to.

"You are right little girl that is what I am," the grunt called to them and sounded proud of it, "but you don't have to battle me and let your pokemon suffer, just hand them over and I'll get them healed right away." He chuckled as he liked the thought of them doing so and then their reaction when they realized he was not going to hand them back.
Unfortunately the two young trainers didn't give in, not even the scared one and they continued to battle. He smirked menacingly as he saw how the poison affected Teddy and hoped the boy would learn his lesson about being more respectful for Team Rocket. They both needed to learn that lesson, it should be necessary for him to have to chase and beat them to get them to do what he demanded, he would teach them to fear Team Rocket and not daring to go against the group ever again!

"Of course she isn't, and neither will you be. Listen to her and hand over the pokemon, I will get them anyway in the end and you are just stalling it," the grunt called impatiently and gestured to the rattata when it looked questioningly at him.
While the rattata raced at a lightening speed to crash into Wiggles once again, the grunt grumbled annoyed at Teddy's chatting to the girl.
"I wasn't planning on taking yours, it is useless," the grunt said disdainfully when Teddy finally talked to him, "but I have changed my mind and will do it anyway since you know no respect."

Crissy peeked up from Anya's pelt and her eyes widened when she saw how Teddy fared, tears welled in her eyes again and she furiously rubbed them away. Anya squirmed in the tight hold but Crissy did not loosen her grip.
To be honest Crissy didn't care much about of other trainers lost their pokemon or not, she just wanted to get out of there with Anya, and she once again buried her face in the eevee's fur.
She winced when Teddy suggested a move for her to order.
"I can't lose you," she whispered to Anya who squirmed around so she could give her trainer a lick on the cheek.
"Vee!" The eevee said determined and the two stared into each others eyes for what seem to be an eternity, then Crissy slowly got to her feet.
"But I will if I don't do something," she whispered quietly and gulped loudly, still seeking the comfort of holding Anya close.

Wiggles had a problem as she had no way to reach the koffing floating far above her with tackle. The grunt was roaring with laughter once again, and both he and the koffing was watching the wurmple while enjoying how helpless it was against them.
"Evai!" Anya said and Crissy looked doubtfully at her, are you sure? She asked as the eevee pointed up towards the floating gas balloon. Anya nodded vigorously and Crissy took a deep breath.
"Be carefull. Here goes nothing," Crissy said and Anya crouched in her arms while her trainer bend her legs. Then Crissy threw Anya into the air and the eevee tackled the surprised koffing to the ground.
"I can't watch!" Crissy whined as she grabbed Teddy's sleeve and hid her face against his arm.
Anya was doing fine though, as she did a flip in the air as one of the small fun tricks they had trained at home, and she landed safely on all four paws in the grass.
Wiggles didn't needed to be told to take take advantage of Koffing being low enough for her to hit, and she tackled it determined.

---

Weather: Clear

Rattata | Level 8
HP: 64% (16/25)
Status: Poisoned, -1 att (spd 19)
Used Quick Attack on Wiggles!

Koffing | Level 7
HP: 41% (10/24)
Status: -1 att (spd 12)
Used Smog on Anya!

VS

Wiggles | Level 6 | Shield Dust
HP: 26% (6/23)
Status: Poisoned (spd 9)
Used Tackle!

Anya | Level 8
HP: 58% (17/29)
Status: Poisoned (spd 16)
Used Tackle!

[rjpilot]

Teddy could tell that Wiggles was starting to tire. She probably wouldn’t be able to last much longer, and needed to be healed before she took another hit. He was also impressed by Anya’s acrobatics – he would definitely have to ask Crissy about that after this battle.

He really wanted to yell back at the grunt, argue with and insult him. “I wasn’t planning on taking yours, it is useless.” “you know no respect.” Who did this man think he was? He goes around stealing Pokémon all day and he wants to lecture about respect? Teddy was about to fire back some insults and maybe a threat or two too, but he decided that it wasn’t worth it to stoop to the grunt’s level. Besides, just ignoring the man seemed to work well enough.

Crissy was still latched on tight to Teddy’s sleeve, not wanting to watch in case Anya got hurt. Teddy put an arm around her shoulders and gave her a reassuring squeeze just as Anya came prancing back to them. “See, I told you she would be okay,” he said. As soon as she saw Anya, Crissy let go of Teddy’s sleeve and latched back onto her Pokémon.

“Crissy, Wiggles is pretty hurt. Could you an Anya give us some cover while I heal her?” he asked, almost pleading because he knew the girl didn’t want to battle on her own. He then sat down his bag, pulled out a potion, and turned to Wiggles.

Teddy uses a potion to heal Wiggles.

[Lamont]

As the furry little fox-like pokémon returned to Crissy she didn't wrap her arms around in a restricting embrace, but instead dropped her to knees and provided the cheery eevee a comforting hug. Even through the poison and battering she was receiving Anya was still perky and ready to go; eager even. Between her pokémon's disposition and Teddy's small acts of comfort Crissy's nerves were beginning to settle a little. She still shook, and her chest felt heavy with knotts, but the tears were drying up. They were doing okay. But just okay.

The young girl switched to simply rubbing Anya's ears when Teddy asked for her attention, of which quickly went to the valiant bug type that had been supporting her eevee all this time. Wriggles looked rough and it caused her to gasp in shame. She hadn't even been considering Teddy's pokémon through all this. She bit her lip, fighting back the well of emotions.
"A-Absolutely," she sputtered, taking a breath and turning her attention back to the rocket grunt. She couldn't meet his eyes let alone come up with anything strong to say back to the man. The first part of that he was enjoying at least.

The thief hmmmmd loudly, putting a hand to his chin in a mockery of deep thought as he grinned darkly at the pair. It was almost too easy. If he wasn't careful it'd be over way too fast. A twinkle sparked in his eyes as Teddy went forward toward his little worm. A boisterous laugh rang out, "Hang back this go Rattata, prepare for a hard hit next time. Get pumped. Koffing," he paused to cast a mischievous smirk toward the heroic boy, "The kid liked your gas so much let's throw some smoke his way."

Crissy squeaked, standing up immediately and looking between Teddy and the koffing. Anya growled at the fowl play, fur bristling as she bowed close to the ground in preparation for a pounce.
"Anya we have to help. Stop the koffing with another tackle okay?" Her words were as shaky as her hands as she brought them up to her chest in a pleading posture. The evolution pokémon barked and set off without hesitation. As she ran her mind was ablaze with ideas. Her last attacks were good but not good enough to do what was needed right now. Maybe she could adapt her house tricks into her attacks to throw her enemies off guard?

Her approach was swift. It left very little time to plan out her attack and plenty of time for the poisonous ball to float a little higher. Anya huffed, diverting to the side for a tree. Koffing turned to for a moment, confused, but shrugged it off and went to puffing up itself up with smoke. It should have kept its eyes on Anya though, as making use of the tree she was able to use it to ricochet off a jump and come at it with a spinning tackle.

Crissy bobbed on the spot, a soft quiet cheer escaping her as she watched the poison pokémon spiral into the ground with a satisfying crash. Koffing rolled a little ways, momentarily dazed, as Anya landed on her feet and stuck her nose in the air with pride. Though she didn't want to stand there too long, skipping back toward Crissy's happy face.

Her return was stopped abruptly by a coalesced ball of grey shooting passed her toward Wriggles. Her big eyes watched as it hit the ground just beside the magenta worm and exploded into a cloud of thick black smoke.
"No!" the girl cried. "Teddy?" She wanted to move closer but the smoke was still expanding outward. She waved a hand fruitlessly to fan away what she could. The rocket member just laughed.

---

Weather: Clear

Rattata | LV 8 | Run Away
HP: 52% (13/25)
Status: PSN, -1 ATT, +2 CRIT
[SPD 19]
Used Focus Energy!

Koffing | LV 7 | Levitate
HP: 4% (1/24)
Status: -1 ATT
[SPD 12]
Used Smokescreen on Wiggles!

VS

Wiggles | LV 6 | Shield Dust
HP: 87% (20/23)
Status: PSN, -1 ACC
[SPD 9]
Used a Potion!

Anya | LV 8 | Adaptability
HP: 45% (13/29)
Status: PSN
[SPD 16]
Used Tackle on Koffing!

[rjpilot]

Teddy smiled proudly at Crissy and gave her a thumbs up. She was battling on her own, without his help, and she seemed less scared the longer they were in the battle. He turned back to Wiggles to finish administering the potion, smile still on his face. He had full confidence now that this grunt was going to lose. The feeling was short-lived, however, as Teddy heard Crissy scream, “No!” He looked up at the grunt just as everything went dark.

Teddy reached around in front of him in the dark, looking for Wiggles, who had been just in front of him seconds before. The smoke stung his eyes and throat, and burned his nostrils, but it was nowhere near the level of the gas earlier. Still, it only increased his anger towards the grunt, who seemed to have more fun using his Pokémon to attack trainers than actually battling. Teddy got down on his hands and knees and began to crawl around in the hazy black, looking for Wiggles. Finally he found the Wurmple, but he had lost all sense of direction. His head hurt, and he was getting dizzy – the effects of breathing in too much smoke. Wiggles seemed to be showing the same effects.

They needed to get out of this smoke, and fast. Teddy tried to think of how he could navigate. The sun had been on their left at the start of the battle, maybe he could see it through the smoke? Just as Teddy looked up, however, he heard a crack of lightning and could hear the rain begin to fall. So much for using the sun.

“I know I just healed you, but I don’t want you to get really hurt,” Teddy said as he sat down his bag and began fishing around for a Poké Ball. The little Wurmple looked back at him with eyes full of terror, and then she pressed her body up against him. “Wurmple.” I’m not leaving here without you. Teddy seemed to understand what Wiggles was trying to say, and he responded through a fit of coughing, “I’ll be … okay… but I don’t… want to… see you get… hurt.” Wiggles nuzzled up against Teddy one more time before she got pulled into her ball.

Teddy put the ball in the bag, and then swapped it for another. He’s always shooting fire and stuff, he should be fine with this smoke. Teddy held the ball in his hand and hesitated. Then another coughing fit started. If I can’t do this I’m screwed, and so is Crissy, he thought, and then pressed the button and unleashed the Charmander. “Char?” Charlie questioned. Why is it so dark? How long was I in here, is it nighttime now? Charlie wondered, completely oblivious to the smoke in the air. Teddy was curled up on his side, having trouble breathing. What’s his deal? Charlie thought. He then sniffed the air, and could smell the smoke around them. “Charmander! Char! Char!” he yelled angrily. Who did this to you? Just tell me who and I’ll go beat them? Was it that dumb fox? Who was it? I’ll go kick their – “Charlie…” Teddy mumbled, bringing the Pokémon’s attention back to his trainer. “There’s a mean man out there…. He has a rat and some sort of… ball of gas…. Go burn that ball of gas, would ya?” It was all Charlie needed to hear as he ran out of the smoke and began to build up an ember.

Teddy crawled after Charlie, dragging his body along the ground with just his arms, trying to keep himself low and out of the thick smoke. His head pounded now, and his lungs were desperate for air. His vision was beginning to narrow, and the dizziness prevented him from seeing straight. For all he knew, he could just be going in circles, trapped in the dark forever. Just as it started to go black, Teddy felt the winds of the storm, and the rain began to fall on him. He rolled onto his back and looked up see a horrified Crissy looking back down at him. He gave her a goofy, delirious smile. He didn’t see Anya, but maybe that was just the tunnel-vision. “I hope she remembered to attack,” he quietly thought out loud, talking to nobody in particular even though Crissy was right there. Then everything went black.

2x moves:
Teddy switches Wiggles for Charlie.
Charlie uses ember on Koffing.


[OOC] Wasn’t sure if there’s rules for changing the weather, I know the last several posts have said clear but I noticed that the weather for New Bark Town is currently thunderstorms. I hope it’s okay that I changed it to storms, but if not just let me know and I’ll edit the post. Thanks!

[Tarlar]

"Good, one out of the game, take the other one down," the thief ordered and his rattata disappeared in a blur and rammed into Anya who was distracted by the black smoke that was covering her partner, and by Crissy's fear.
The was thrown to the ground but quickly rolled to her feet once again while frantically trying to keep up what was going on, on the battlefield. She needed help, she couldn't face these two alone but Wiggles has disappeared and Crissy wasn't paying attention!

Teddy?! Are you alright? Crissy called scared and tripped unsure of what to do as she had been told she just would get sick too if she walked into smoke like that, to try help another one caught inside.
"Vee!" Anya called desperately and Crissy looked devastated at her pokemon while looking between her and the smoke where Teddy was and did not answer her calls.
"Tackle!" Crissy ordered and Anya nodded determined and looked at her options. The koffing had floated high up into the air and was this time keeping a safe distance to the trees, Anya couldn't jump that high on her own.
Rattata had slowed down and looked way too pleased with itself, Anya would love to wipe that grin of its face so she raced after it and took it by surprise when she sent it face first into the ground.
A shadow fell over the eevee and she looked up just in time to notice the grunt that was looming over her, she sprinted away just in time to avoid him grabbing her. He cursed under his breath, it had bene the perfect opportunity.

Then the thunderstorm was unexpectedly over them and the rain drummed down hard and the smoke got effectively washed out of the air. Leaving Charlie fully exposed and no more a trump card, the thief's eyes grew wide.
"A charmander! Koffing, poison it! Rattata, take it down!" He ordered frantically and looked like he had found the pot of gold beneath the rainbow, getting his hands on both and eevee and a charmander in one day!
The koffing exhaled the poisonous purple gas once more and attempted to cover the Charlie in it but the rain changed its properties. Instead of swirling around the charmander and getting into his lungs, it mixed with the water and rained on him instead, burning everywhere it hid him and running into his eyes and nose.

Charlie was fully aware of where his target was but didn't get a chance to attack before he got send staggering back by the rattata's quick attack. Anya sprinted past him in her chase of the normal type, leaving Charlie room for taking aim and shoot several embers at the floating koffing. They were a shadow of his former strength and most of the embers got put out by the rain before they even reached their target!
A few got through and the first barely touched the koffing before it disappeared in a smaller explosion as the gas inside it reacted to the fire.

"You can do it Anya!" Crissy screamed and sounded more scared than encouragingly, the eevee stretched out all she could and manage to collide with the rattata before it got back to the Team Rocket guy.
Leaving the rattata unconscious in the grass, Anya staggered back to safety and Crissy's arms.
The Team Rocket grunt stared in disbelief and with a snarl recalled his injured pokemon. He would still have attempted to snatch the weakened Anya as he expected little trouble from her or Crissy, but a still battle ready Charlie, who looked like he just wanted an excuse to attack the grunt directly got him on other thoughts.
"You haven't heard the last of me!" He threatened as he retreated.

Crissy didn't really have time to feel victorious and her tears mingled with the rain and she grabbed Anya and went to check up on Teddy. She had won a battle but had now a lot of poison to deal with and Teddy did not look well as he gave her a delirious smile.
Crissy steeled herself and while she was still shaking she managed to recall Anya, despite the eevee's protests and then grabbed Teddy's arm.
"Can you walk? You need help and I cannot drag you all the way," Crissy said with a quivering voice and attempted to haul him to his feet. The only other option was to leave him in the rain and then fetch some help, but she didn't like that idea.

As Crissy was crouching beside Teddy, she noticed a piece of paper that looked like it was dropped and was getting soaked in the rain. Since it lay right beside Teddy she thought it was his and grabbed it and stuffed it in his pocket before it got destroyed by the rain.

---

Weather: Rainstorm

Rattata | LV 8 | Run Away
HP: 0% (0/25)
Status: PSN, -1 ATT, +2 CRIT
[SPD 19]
Used Quick Attack on Anya, then Quick Attack on Charlie~Critical!

Koffing | LV 7 | Levitate
HP: 0% (0/24)
Status: -1 ATT
[SPD 12]
Used Poison Gas on Charlie! Fainted!

VS

Charlie | LV 8 |
HP: 53% (14/26)
Status: PSN
[SPD 17]
Switched in, used Ember on Koffing!

Anya | LV 8 | Adaptability
HP: 3% (3/29)
Status: PSN
[SPD 16]
Used Growl, then Tackle on Rattata!

Charlie gains +3 lvls from ending this battle!
He is now lvl 11 and has learned smokescreen from watching the koffing perhaps?


Wiggles get +1 lvl for helping out!
But what is that? She is trying to evolve!

Do you allow her to become a silcoon?


Teddy also got a Weakness Policy stuffed into his pocket.

You also got 337£ for beating the Team Rocket Theif, but I couldn't find a way to work that into the story, so that will probably be the next post.

(ooc: Weather usually only changes between battles and here it would just put you on a disadvantage with fire type moves doing less damage, not that it will do much difference now, hehe)

[rjpilot]

Teddy woke up to a bright light and somebody shaking his arm. The arm-shaker was a very distraught Crissy. When she saw him wake up, she helped him sit upright as they both looked towards Wiggles, who had let herself out of her ball. Suddenly, Wiggles began to glow and change shape. The two trainers looked on in awe as the Wurmple evolved, turning herself into a sort of cocoon. Teddy had never witnessed evolution so up close and personal, and just sat there stupefied with his mouth open as he watched the event. Once Wiggles had stopped evolving, Teddy felt that he should say something, so he awkwardly congratulated his Silcoon.

 

Of course Charlie was jealous of the attention, so he began to run about belching smoke here and there, showing off his new move. Still, he couldn’t compete with that shape-shifting insect, so he walked right up to Teddy and blew smoke in his face. Crissy looked shocked that Charlie would do that, as Teddy coughed and put his throbbing head in his hands. Then he started laughing. “Okay, okay, I guess you’re pretty alright too,” he said as he grinned at Charlie, before lunging at the fiery salamander and grabbing it into a hug. Charlie began to squirm, trying to free himself from the embrace. “Thanks for saving us out there, it means a lot,” Teddy said while putting the struggling Charmander back on the ground. Charlie just puffed out his chest and marched around like he was some great hero, drawing another laugh from the trainers. Teddy then returned his two Pokémon, putting their balls back into his backpack. I guess you’re pretty alright, Charlie. You where there for me when it mattered most, and that’s good enough for me, Teddy thought while putting his bag back on. Things were starting to look up.

“And thank you, Crissy, for being brave out there. We couldn’t have won without you,” Teddy said, while trying to stand up. Standing quickly made him dizzy again, and he sat back down, letting out a groan because of his headache. This just made Crissy worried again. “Can you walk? You need help and I cannot drag you all the way,” she said, as she grabbed his arm and tried to pull him back to his feet. “I’ll be fine, I just need a minute,” Teddy said as he laid back down and closed his eyes. The rain was coming down on him hard, and it was pretty cold. When he opened his eyes, Crissy was still crouching next to him. “Okay, I’m good,” he said as he got back to his feet. He took a few shaky steps and started to get dizzy again, but Crissy caught him before he could fall. The two then began to walk down the road together, Teddy leaning on Crissy for support. Teddy realized he had lost his whereabouts, and asked, “So, where are we going, anyways?”

[Tarlar]

"Wow," Crissy whispered in awe as Wiggles changed to a new form, she hadn't seen a evolution in real time before. It was definitely something else than watching a video of it in the tv or on the computer.
Her thoughts traveled to her options of evolving Anya, which she of course had looked up as well, but she had felt it overwhelming with so many options and it would be much easier to let Anya herself decide.
Crissy got pulled back to the present when Teddy suddenly lunged at his charmander and praised him laughingly, she looked astonished at his changed mood but couldn't help but smile by their interaction.

"No, thank you! I would have lost Anya if you hadn't come to our rescue," Crissy said heartfelt and then beamed at him, "you have also taught us that we can battle though I don't hope to meet that guy again."
As she said the last she looked around scared but there was nothing to see, other than the rain and the occasional distance thunder. A shadow up against one of the trees went unnoticed by her.

Crissy looked worried at Teddy as he became dizzy and had to lay down again, he would still need help and there was no way she was going to let him stay alone out in this weather.
She supported him and lead the way, behind them the shadow followed.
"Home," Crissy answered Teddy's question and if he recognized the surroundings he would see that they were going back towards New Bark Town.

As they reached the outskirts of the town, a door in the house Crissy was walking towards opened and a man who looked like a woodcutter stepped out. A combusken looked out from behind him.
"Crissy! Finally, are you alright?" The man called out to her.
"I'm fine Dad, but Teddy has become poisoned, and the same has Anya and Teddy's pokemon!" Crissy answered and helped Teddy down in a chair and the patio where they were sheltered from the rain. Crissy's father disappeared into the house without another word while the combusken stepped forward and began to glow, heat eradiated from it and began to warm up the two cold trainers and dry their clothes.
Crissy's dad appeared shortly after and handed a pecha berry to both Teddy and Crissy, who called Anya out and gave it to her.
"Eat," Crissy's father ordered Teddy and gestured to the berry.

The shadow wobbled out from its hiding place and entered the garden, its eyes were fixed on Teddy as it wobbled around a few meters from them.
"A spinda! You don't see many of those around here," Crissy's father said surprised.

The shadow shows itself, it's a Spinda! [lvl 8]
What will you do?

Shiny: KIlKdEXl1-42
1-42

[rjpilot]

As the duo walked, Teddy didn’t say much, but his mind was racing. First and foremost in his thoughts was that grunt. Who was that guy? Crissy said he was part of ‘Team Rocket’, does that mean there’s more people like him out there? He seemed like he enjoyed attacking me more than my Pokémon, are all of them that cruel? It was a worrying thought, they barely won this time, and what if other grunts had stronger Pokémon?

Teddy wanted to promise himself right there and then that he would defeat as many Team Rocket grunts as he could. But he hesitated, and instead reflected on his decisions since he got here. He came to Johto to be a ranger, to help others and defend nature. From the stories he had heard from his parents, when they were rangers, they didn’t battle with their Pokémon. They worked alongside their Pokémon, stopping disasters like floods and fires.

I picked a fire type… Teddy thought, while reflecting on what he could do to protect nature. A fire type. Fire burns and destroys, I can’t save nature with a fire type… He let out a shaky sigh. He felt that he was starting to become close with Charlie now, he had been so happy after that battle that he ignored the pain he felt and just hugged the Charmander instead. I don’t want to lose my friend again, he thought, while taking deep breaths to calm himself. Crissy was worried enough, he didn’t need to worry her more by breaking down, letting his weakness show. He gave her a sideways glance. She was looking straight ahead, breathing heavily from supporting Teddy. She didn’t seem to notice Teddy’s shaky breaths.

Rangers don’t battle… but the first thing I did when I met Wiggles was battle her. And then those two little rats, all they wanted was some food. But I fought them. And I made someone else’s Pokémon fight them too… What is wrong with me? Teddy looked down the road, trying to focus to see where they were going, but he couldn’t help but watch the battles going on along the sides of the road. Trainer versus trainer, trainers catching wild Pokémon, occasionally two wild Pokémon would be sparring each other on the edge of the woods. And he noticed one common theme across almost all of them, Pokémon and trainers alike. They were happy. It didn’t matter if they won or lost or were caught or injured. They were happy, and it was clearly written on all of their faces.

Am I happy? Teddy thought to himself. He remembered what it was like to catch Wiggles, how he caught that rat because it was left alone by its friend, how Anya depended on him to find Crissy. He remembered how proud he felt when Crissy started to battle, and the overwhelming joy he experienced when Charlie saved him from the grunt. He thought about the great friends he had made, especially Charlie and Crissy. I think I am, he responded to his own question. I think I am happy. Maybe being a ranger isn’t for me. Maybe battling brings out the best in me, the best in my Pokémon, the best in the bond between us. I want to be a part of that. I’m going to be a trainer.

Many of the trainers had some sort of electronic device that recorded and told them information about Pokémon. He had noticed this before, and he wasn’t too sure where they got them, but if he was going to be a trainer he would need one too. However, before he could ask Crissy, she began to pick up her pace. He looked up to see a man on the porch of the house waving and calling out to Crissy. He couldn’t tell what the man was saying, between the headache and the storm. Crissy yelled something back, he recognized his name but he was getting dizzy again. Soon they were out of the rain, and Crissy was helping him sit down. The man came out of the house and handed a berry to both Teddy and Crissy. Teddy held it up to his face, trying to focus on it through the dizziness.

“Eat,” the man sternly commanded, and Teddy looked up at him, confused. The man pointed to the berry, so Teddy took a bite. His head began to clear almost immediately, and his body began to stop aching. The berry was sweet, and after all the events of the day Teddy needed some sugar. He took another bite, then another, before stopping. He saw Crissy giving the berry to Anya, and realized his own Pokémon were poisoned too. Releasing Charlie and Wiggles, he broke the remainder of the berry in half and sat a piece in front of each of them. The two devoured the berry, clearly enjoying it as much as their trainer had. Teddy returned Wiggles when she was done eating, since she finished first. As soon as Charlie finished eating he noticed everyone else and got in a defensive stance in front of Teddy. Teddy chuckled a bit and said, “It’s okay Charlie, they’re my friends.” He then introduced each of them. “This is Crissy, she helped us battle that Team Rocket guy. And Anya is her Pokémon.” He then turned to the man. “And this is … uh … I’m sorry sir, I never got your name,” he said, feeling suddenly embarrassed and ungrateful to his host.

Before the man could respond, he pointed out into the garden. “A spinda! You don’t see many of those around here,” he said. Teddy’s eyes followed where the man was pointing, where a Pokémon was teetering about. It was looking right at him. The introduction would have to wait. Teddy picked up Charlie and handed him to Crissy, so the little hot-headed salamander couldn’t just immediately attack, and he could stay out of the rain. Something about not seeing Spindas in this area, like the man had said, made Teddy not want to just rush into an attack. He crouched down to get on eye level with the wild Pokémon, with complete disregard to the fact that he could be attacked. “Hi, I’m Teddy,” Teddy said. “Can I help you?” he asked, worried about the wobbliness of the Pokémon.

Unlike Teddy, the man knew that the wobbling was just the normal behavior of a Spinda. He groaned, as he covered his face with his hands and shook his head. Crissy hid her face in her father’s shirt, not wanting to see Teddy get attacked.

[Tarlar]

When Cirssy's father realized how many pokemon Teddy had, he hurried back into the house and arrived with more pecha berries and a pitcher with water if anyone needed to clear their throats.
When Charlie began to look he might cause trouble the combusken stepped forward so it stood in between the charmander and its family. It just watched him calmly without acting threateningly, but it was clear it was ready to defend its humans if it saw it necessary.
Crissy's father smiled when Teddy asked for his name but got distracted by the spinda entering the garden.

Crissy was quite surprised when Teddy handed her Charlie and she held him rather awkwardly as she was a bit nervous around the feisty fire type.
"Don't harm her," the combusken warned Charlie quietly and kept a close eye on him.
Crissy's father raised an eyebrown and groaned when Teddy chose to face the spinda himself. He lifted his face from his hands when he felt Crissy cling to him and he suppressed a sigh. She was more nervous and scared than she usually was and he already found his daughter to be too timid and hoped he could soon help her get some more confidence.
He patted her reassuringly on her shoulder.
"He will be alright, he will have no trouble handling a slap from that pokemon if he has already handled getting poisoned by another," her father pointed out warmly and Crissy let go of his shirt again while looking a bit sheepishly. She glanced nervously towards Teddy and hoped he would be fine.

The spinda stopped swaying for a moment and stared in disbelief at Teddy, how on earth should it make it clear to a human what it wanted? Were they not all ready to battle the moment they saw it?
It began stumbling a bit back and forth again and then make a rolling movement with its arms in front of its face like a boxer. If not Teddy caught on Crissy's father would make it clear.
"It looks to me like it wants to battle you! You have probably impressed it somehow since it looks keen to battle with you, and your team," Crissy's father called out and quickly added the last one as Teddy might misunderstand it to be himself having to battle.
When Teddy looked like he understood the spinda would grin eagerly, never once stopping its wobbling movement.
If Teddy expressed worry about the spinda's health, Crissy would inform him that is was natural for the bear pokemon to walk like that, they always did it.

While Teddy got sorted out how to handle the battle eager dizzy pokemon, Crissy's father got her to sit down on a chair.
"Tell me Crissy, what have happened?" He asked while they were watching Teddy's action, and his daughter told how she had been ambushed by the Team Rocket guy while she had been on her way to visit a friend. Her father looked very serious while she explained how she and Anya had lost each other as they had run away, and how she had found the eevee with Teddy, and how she and Teddy had helped each other defeating the thief but not without Teddy and the pokemon got poisoned.
"Are Team Rocket beginning to make troubles again?" Crissy's father said worriedly and scratch his beard.
"I'll warn the police, I'm certain they will stop him, and I'll warn the town to be careful as well. He could cause more trouble until the police has arrested him," he added thoughtfully and Crissy looked both relieved that her father took care of it, but also nervous the Team Rocket grunt was still out there and could threaten others like he had done with her.


(ooc: I can see it has been missed you captured the rattata, I'm going to ask to get that added to your team)

[rjpilot]

After Crissy and the man explained to Teddy that the Spinda wanted to battle, Teddy let out a soft, embarrassed, “oh.” He felt his face flush briefly, and he looked down at the ground. I haven’t even been introduced to this man yet, and he probably thinks I’m an idiot. He then looked up at the Spinda. “Alright, if it’s a battle you want, then a battle you’ll get. Come on out, Wiggles,” he said once he had gotten Wiggles’ ball out of his bag. The Cocoon Pokémon appeared with the same determination as her first battle against Charlie, causing Teddy to smile.

After releasing Wiggles, Teddy quickly ran back to the house and sat down his bag to keep it out of the rain. The man was coming back out of the house and handed Teddy another Pecha berry and some water. Teddy took a bite of the berry and a sip of the water, before bringing the rest to Wiggles. While Wiggles ate, clearing the remaining poison from her body, Teddy studied the Spinda. The Spot Panda Pokémon wobbled about, seemingly unfocused on everything around it. When it saw Teddy, it held its arms up in front of its face, pausing its wobbles for a moment. Teddy nodded, and the Spinda’s mouth curled up into a smile, before it began to teeter around the garden again.

Teddy heard Crissy and the man begin to talk about Team Rocket. He listened as Crissy began to explain the events earlier in the day, anxious to see how the man would respond. Before he could hear what the man had to say, the Spinda let out an impatient grunt, causing Teddy to turn back to it. “Right, sorry,” Teddy said. He and Wiggles made eye contact and nodded to each other, before Teddy pointed out across the garden at the Spinda. “Alright Wiggles, let’s do this. Give ‘im a poison sting!”

Teddy froze immediately after giving the command. After just experiencing the effects of poison first hand, he couldn’t believe the words that just came out of his mouth. But it was too late, the attack had already been launched. He sank to his knees, staring at the ground with his head bowed; he didn’t want to watch if the Spinda ended up getting poisoned. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, as the rain poured down on him.

Wiggles uses Poison Sting.

[Tarlar]

Wild Encounter

---

Weather: Clear

[attr="class","qkt-bkgd"]

[attr="class","qkt-wild-pkmn"]

[attr="class","qkt-clip"]Wild Spinda

LV 8
HP 93% [28/30]

[attr="class","qkt-wild-imgbox"]

[attr="class","qkt-pkmn-img"]

[attr="class","qkt-trainer-pkmn"]

[attr="class","qkt-clip"]Wiggles

LV 7
HP 73% [19/26]

[attr="class","qkt-trainer-imgbox"]

[attr="class","qkt-pkmn-img"]

Spinda [Ability]: Normal, uses Tackle.
Wiggles [Shed Skin]: Normal, uses Poison Sting

The spinda looked rather impatient while Teddy went to find its opponent and spent time in leaving the bag in a dry spot. It wave its arm in a "get going, I don't have all day" motion in between its stumbling about.
Crissy's father smiled warmly to Teddy when he placed the bag on the porch, there was no sign that the man should find Teddy stupid but perhaps he just hid it well.

Spinda grunted annoyed when Teddy once again dragged out the battle instead of starting it right away, that hadn't been a problem while Teddy and Crissy had fought the laughing guy and had been poisoned, so why was he so distracted now?
It scowled as it spun around on one foot and then stumbled a lot to its left like it had lost its balance, perhaps Teddy didn't saw it as a proper challenge and that was the reason he couldn't keep his attention.
It smirked when Teddy ordered his move, he clearly had learned a thing or two from his last battle and Spinda would do all it could to make sure this would be a challenging one for Teddy and Wiggles.

Wiggles found it surprisingly hard to hit her target, even though she spit her poisonous needles both at where the spinda was and where she thought it would be. The spinda never was where she expected it to and all her needles landed in the grass without having any affect on her opponent.
Crissy's father frowned, "We'll need to be careful using the garden now," he said and Crissy looked questioningly at him.
Spinda suddenly spun again and stumbled hard into Wiggles which send her rolling backwards over the grass. It looked complacent as it stumbled away but then it began to jump on one foot and without loosing its balance at all. It bend down and pulled out a few of Wiggles' needles that it had stepped on, and then wobbled to an area that should be free for the leftovers from the wurmple's attack.

"That's what I mean, the neddles will be impossible to find in the grass. The poison will be out of them quickly, but it will take some weeks before they are decomposed," Crissy's father explained.
"If we're lucky it will go faster due to all the rain we are getting," he added and looked at the dark sky.

(ooc: Wiggles ability changed when she evolved, I'm going to get that corrected since I missed that when I asked to get her updated ^^)

[rjpilot]

Teddy felt a rush of relief as all of the needles missed the Spinda, it wouldn’t have to experience the poison like he did. But at the same time, he couldn’t help but be frustrated by the nimbleness of Spinda’s dodging. Its wobbly strategy was proving to be pretty effective. Then the Spinda tackled Wiggles, and walked away complacently, like it was no big deal, like this battle was easy for it. This really irritated Teddy. “Oh, so am I just a joke to you?” he muttered, hardly audible above the pouring rain. Teddy wasn’t one to be easily angered, but after being treated like he was insignificant by that Team Rocket goon, he couldn’t take it anymore. Everything else seemed to fade away; Crissy, the man, even the pouring rain and thinderstorm. It was just Teddy, Wiggles, and the Spinda. Teddy glared across the garden at the wobbly little Pokémon, trying to come up with a strategy.

Teddy crouched down next to Wiggles. He swept his dripping wet hair out of his eyes to make eye contact with her, before explaining his plan. “Ok, Wiggles,” he whispered. “Let’s slow it down with a good string shot.” “Sil!” the Silcoon excitedly responded, ready for battle as ever. Teddy smiled at the enthusiasm, while standing back up to watch Wiggles execute the plan. That smile quickly faded as he looked back at the Spinda.

Spinda was of course paying no attention whatsoever to Teddy, and instead was just pulling some needles out of its foot. So first you’re annoyed when I don’t start the battle right away, but now you won’t even focus? Teddy thought, getting frustrated again by the Spinda’s behavior. The Spinda finished pulling out the needles and turned back to Teddy. “Ok, go!” he said to Wiggles, who proceeded to attack.

Wiggles uses String Shot.

[Tarlar]

Wild Encounter

---

Weather: rain

[attr="class","qkt-bkgd"]

[attr="class","qkt-wild-pkmn"]

[attr="class","qkt-clip"]Wild Spinda

LV 8
HP 93% [28/30]

[attr="class","qkt-wild-imgbox"]

[attr="class","qkt-pkmn-img"]

[attr="class","qkt-trainer-pkmn"]

[attr="class","qkt-clip"]Wiggles

LV 7
HP 65% [17/26]

[attr="class","qkt-trainer-imgbox"]

[attr="class","qkt-pkmn-img"]

Spinda [Ability]: Normal (-1 spd), uses Copycat -> Poison Sting.
Wiggles [Shed Skin]: Normal, uses String Shot.

Teddy was not just a joke to the spinda, but there was little it could do to tell him that. It was a dizzy moving pokemon and it wasn't going to go lightly with him, it had seen how he had handled the bad mouthing guy and helped the girl and her eevee get better at battling too. It wanted to test him out himself, since if he was good at making tactics he might be able to find good ways for spinda to use its strange way to move as well.

It returned Teddy's glare surprisingly steady as it managed to keep its face facing him while it wobbled around, this time it gave the boy time to talk strategy with his pokemon before it did anything. If it wanted to see what he could do in that matter it didn't help if it didn't gave Teddy time to think.
It spun around and looked like it was falling to its left, and then it grinned expectantly when Teddy got back up on his feet. It couldn't wait to see his reaction to what it planned on doing next.
It spun around once again and then threw the needles it had pulled out of its foot at Wiggles. The mostly immobile silcoon had no way of dodging the incoming attack although they did little damage to her.

Wiggles took aim but the spinda was as hard to hit with her string shot as it had been with the poison sting, the sticky thread landed all over the grass and a sigh came from Crissy's father. For some time it looked like spinda was dancing around in between the threads stepping right in between them all the time. That was until it stumbled and its foot got caught in one of the strings. That made it stumble for real and it managed to get itself rolled well into a lot of strings.
It got back on its feet and still wobbling around it began to pull off the strings that was stuck to it, it had slowed it a bit but it was doing its best to minimize the effect.

While the strategy of turning the ground into a field hazard might not have been planned by Teddy, it did look like it was working quite well for the time being.

(ooc: By this post you are no longer a "new member" and will no longer be exempt from having to mod others to get fast(er) answers, as seen in the Declaring a state of halp announcement. Don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions.
Also, your signature looks to be broken and the links doesn't work. There was an update to the signature some time ago, so I guess it is the code it cannot read any longer. It needs to be this: [*a href="http://"Link name"]titel of link[/a] (remove the first *)

[rjpilot]

Teddy smiled softly to himself as he observed the field hazard he had created. It was definitely a strategy he would have to remember for later. As he looked out over the ground, he heard a sigh from behind him. As he looked over the battlefield again, he realized he had completely destroyed the lawn – there was no way he’d be able to clean up all those spikes, especially under all the string everywhere. Eh, maybe the rain would help them disintegrate.

The wobbling was clearly helping the Spinda to dodge Wiggle’s attacks pretty easily. Teddy tried to watch for a moment after the Spinda had removed the string, but there was seemingly no pattern to the movement. Teddy wasn’t even sure the Spinda had much control over it dizzy spinning and swirling itself. It was slightly slowed from the string shot though.

“Alright Wiggles, here’s what we’re gonna do,” Teddy muttered, crouching down. “Wait for Spinda to twirl around and have its back to you. When that happens, go in with a tackle.”

“Sil,” the Silcoon responded with a slight nod, and then began to observe the Spinda. Left, right, right, left. Teddy began to feel himself wobbling about himself, and shook his head, too dizzy from following the Spinda’s movements. Wiggles seemed to be handling it better, and Spinda took a particularly large wobbly step, looking like it was about to twirl. “Now!” Teddy hastily whispered, as Wiggles darted in as fast as possible for a cocoon to strike Spinda.

Wiggles uses Tackle.

[OOC]: Firstly, sorry for falling off the face of the planet for 3 months, I'm hoping to prevent that from happening again. Second, as far as the "state of halp" post that was referenced, where would be a good place for me to start to mod posts? (to try to limit the damage I can do while I'm still learning/figuring it out). And thirdly and lastly, I think I've fixed my signature (at least for me it's showing up normal looking), but if it isn't if you could please let me know that would be great and I'll try to fix it again.