Sunshine Carnivores (F)

[Tarlar]

The wooper narrowed its eyes as Martin spoke and it was unclear if it did understand him or not, although it certainly didn't want to step any closer to him.
There was a few tense moments where none of them moved, at least until Kiwi decided to drop down with his catch.
Then a lot of things happened in the same time.
Wooper dug its tail into the trash pile and began to throw things at Martin and his pokemon. Plastic bottles were the ones that actually got so far that they could score a hit, all the plastic bags just floated uselessly around in the air and the few metal gizmoes and leather patches like the one that was stuck around it, didn't get very far and landed on the grass in between them.

Wooper hoped the distraction would be enough as it then rushed towards the creek, and it almost got there before Palus got a clear view of it between the floating bags and sent his sharp leaves flying.
The water and ground collapsed right at the waters edge where its speed made it slide the last bit and it tumbled unconcious into the water. It would have disappeared completely if it hadn't been for the thing stuck around its neck, the loose strings from it had got wedged in between some rocks which stopped it from floating away for now. The few remaining weights kept it at the bottom, so it was lucky it was a water type and wouldn't drown.
Only time would tell if the leather strings was crumbling and soon would snap, setting the wooper free from the capture of the rocks, but stuck with the band around its neck, or they were of a fine quality and would keep the wooper in this place for an unknown amount of time.

Now Martin was close to the trash he would be able to detect the smell of food coming from the pile, it could be discussed if it was good or bad, but it was deemed to attract more pokemon if nothing was done with it.

Palus cuts down the wooper easily and it nets him 3 lvl. Making him lvl 13
He also gains +1 happiness.


Kiwi watched and is so impressed that he earns +1 lvl
He is now lvl 9

[Thirdie]

Martin Growth

Gardener

Martin waited with withheld breath for the Wooper's response, but was sorely disappointed when he had to defend himself from the bombardement of trash following Kiwi's arrival. He held up an arm in front of his face, and even felt a bottle of plastic tap against his sleeve. Kiwi twittered and set to the air once more, this time apparently throwing himself after the new pieces of plastic that got stirred by the Wooper's 'Trash Shot'. At least Martin noticed his small red body zooming around in front of them. The chaos was enough for Martin to forget the Wooper for some precious seconds, and he didn't even notice Palus running off his shoulder.

Palus was the only one who didn't let the flurry of things distract him. He simply refused to lose sight of the prey, and felt very satisfied at hitting his intended target through everything else. He moved quickly forward as the Wooper fell, and slided after it to the water's edge, where he kept his gaze at where it had disappeared under the surface. Funny how deep the small stream seemed to be. He was still staring at the spot, when Martin approached, slowly pushing the outspread garbage closer together with a foot.

"It got away?" Martin asked. For a moment he ignored the pile of trash in favour of finding out what Palus was up to. He hadn't noticed the Fomantis taking off, and he was curious at its behaviour. Something about the way it moved about reminded him of certain predators, and he hadn't expected to find that kind of behaviour in a grass type. Palus pointed with his leaf-like blade arm, and Martin saw the things stuck between some rocks. With a sigh he trudged as close as possible and tried to reach the threads. If he was going to clean this place up, he better get as much of the trash as possible. This was the thing he had been trying to avoid. It would have been so much easier, if the Wooper hadn't managed to haul the thing into the water with it. With some work; and wet boots and sleeves later, Martin managed to get his hands on the stuck strings of leather. As he pulled the Wooper followed still attached to the other end. Martin grumbled incomprehensible to himself as he worked the weights off the unconscious Wooper. At least the wild Pokemon couldn't resist now. When he was finished, he dropped the Wooper unceremonious back in the water and returned to land, old weight in hand. It was time to figure out what to do with all this trash, and Martin had a second mind to report the litter to the police, but then again: It was probably a waste of time going that route.

While Martin had been occupied in the water, Kiwi had been attracted to the smell coming from the trash pile after finishing up with the plastic bags and gathering them in a neat pile with his first catch. He had been in the process of looking for something heavy to keep the bags grounded, when he noticed the alluring smell. He tossed a small metal thingy on top of his 'treasure' and went in search of the food, not because he was particular hungry but it smelled so interesting. He had just stuck his head in a hole, when Martin interrupted. The trainer grabbed his rump rather ungentle and pulled him back out. "Hey, Kiwi. Don't do that. You don't want to get stuck like that Wooper." Kiwi chattered discontented, but reluctantly allowed Martin to push him even further away. Martin studied the pile with a thoughtful frown, and fiddled with a Pokeball. Kiwi jumped back to his proud display of plastic bags and set about to find more things to pile on top, as the first metal thingy didn't seem to hold it that well. Palus just watched.

Wordcount: 653
(Ooc: Waiting for another encounter)

[zena]

As soon as the Pikipek shoved his head in the hole, an angry hissing and chittering sound could be heard. While the bird was quick to accept his chiding and returned to his perch, the denizen of the hole was less quick to settle down again. In fact, since the Pokemon within had already been lunging forward as the bird withdrew, the Spinarak popped out of the hole entirely due to its target disappearing. The bug blinked at the sunlight that shone upon it thanks to the abrupt change in light level, and was momentarily a sitting duck while crouched, hissing, in the entrance of its den.

The spider had been using the alluring scent of food to draw unsuspecting prey into its clutches, and it wasn't happy about Martin and his Pokemon causing a ruckus in the area and driving away potential meals. For all it knew, his bird was there to kick it out and take its nice little hidey hole that it had spent so much time making! It just wasn't fair!

Level: 14

[Thirdie]

Martin Growth

Gardener

The Spinarak emerging from the hole surprised Martin more than he let on. He just about stopped himself from falling backwards, and luckily none of his Pokemon noticed it. "I thought Spinaraks were night active only" he pondered aloud, and studied the agitated spider with a frown. He had no idea why it was even there, though it could have been lured there by the smell like Kiwi had or napping in there. No matter how or why it certainly didn't look to be scuttling off anytime soon, but Martin was dead set on getting the trash disposed of properly, so it had to go somehow. "I can't have all you wild Pokemon spreading this trash further. Get out of here. Shoo." He told it firmly and waved a hand at it.

Kiwi hadn't thought much about the hissing from the interesting hole, but now that his trainer was looking at it Kiwi looked at the many-legged thing first with one eye, then the other. He hopped down from his pile again and edged closer one hop at a time. If the Spinarak didn't react to Martin's bidding, Kiwi translated with a cheerful twitter, assuming the wild Pokemon couldn't understand 'human'. "He is telling you to go away! We are taking the human toys."

Martin waited for only a heartbeat. He really didn't have the patience for slow creatures right now, and when nothing seemed to come of his 'polite' approach, he shrugged and said to the Fletchling who were already the closest. "I guess we'll need to get rough again. Kiwi, you have only watched until now. It's time to try out if you have learned anything. Get the Spinarak out of that hole and use Flame Charge a couple of times. See if that won't chase it off."

Kiwi got entirely ecstatic by these news and almost sang with happiness, as he confirmed his willingness to Martin. "Right, right. I will! I will! Doing it now!" He trilled, ruffled his feathers in preparation and hopped up to the Spinarak in serious steps. Since his trainer was serious when battling, he guessed he had to be too. "Now, come out here." He hopped about just out of the Spinarak's reach, trying to get it to come closer and away from the hole. Only when the spider got a body's space away from the hole, would Kiwi try to jolt in between the hole and the Spinarak, so it couldn't crawl back in, and he would lit the flames for his attack.

Wordcount: 422
(Ooc: Kiwi uses Flame Charge times 2. Running shoes used.)

[Tarlar]

The spinarak almost looked smug when Martin expressed his surprise about seeing it during the day, it was proud to be different. All its family were hiding during the day and they had tried to convince it, it was the best for them but this spinarak disagreed. Why be like all the rest? When you thought out of the box that is when you get the big rewards and found ways to gain food which others hadn't ever thought of!
Just like when the spinarak had heard the humans throwing all their stuff on the ground and left, it had done opposite of all its kind, who had quickly found more quiet places to hunt, and instead investigated and had found it would work perfect as a trap. It hadn't had any luck yet as it had only found it recently and it had worked hard to spread the smelling stuff as much as possible to attract prey.
It was not going to let this human come and take advantage of all its hard work!
It glared at Martin when he tried to shoo it away and didn't move an inch, making it very clear it had no plans on leaving.

Then the bird hopped closer and asked it to do the same.
"Do you think I'm stupid? I heard him the first time and I'm not going out to be a living target for your fire spitting! This is my place, I found it first," Spinarak argued and backed further into its whole. It might hadn't experienced a flame Charge before but it had seen enough fire types to know the human words for fire, it was bad enough that Kiwi was a bird, but spitting fires on top of that? No thank you.

Every time Kiwi got too close for comfort, it hurled a piece of trash at him, another trick it had learned and had worked well in the past. It did when it was sticks and loose pebbles but the trash all had a support function of the pile and as Spinarak pulled it out it became unstable.
"No!" It gasped as it all collapsed on top of it. All its hard work had been destroyed, now it had to start all over.
the trash wasn't heavy so it easily dug itself out and was unharmed by the experience, it didn't stay that way for long as Kiwi went at it the moment it was out.
"Aauu!" It whined as Kiwi slammed into it engulfed in flames and it changed its exclamation to a high pitched scream that made the air swarm with tiny insects that all got attracted by the light around Kiwi. Most of the flies and such got burned to crisp when they came too close but they still filled the air making it hard for Kiwi to orientate and the smoke from the burned instects irritated Kiwi's eyes and lungs.

Spinaraks clear green colors was still easy for Kiwi to find through the swarm, it was scurrying around trying to make some sort of cover to avoid the birds flames once again. Kiwi raced forward and left the insects behind, Spinarak noticed him too late and only its quick thinking made it able to retaliate with a sucking bite as the fletchling rushed past. The Moment Kiwi slowed down he was surrounded by the insects once again.


Wild Encounter

---

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

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

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

LV 14
HP 37% [13/35]

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

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

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

[attr="class","qkt-clip"]Martin's Kiwi

LV 9
HP 58% [17/29]

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

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

Wild Spinarak [Ability]: Normal
Martin's Kiwi : Infested (turn 2/5), +2 spd

<Kiwi used Flame Charge! Spinarak used Infestation, Kiwi is affected for 5 turns! Kiwi used a second Flame Charge, and Spinarak retaliated with an Absorb.>

[Thirdie]

Martin Growth

Gardener

Kiwi felt chastised when the Spinarak told him off, but the thing wouldn't let him apologize for his mistake, cutting him off mid-sentence. Kiwi glanced back at Martin, but the human; obviously not knowing what the Spinarak had said; just waited with a raised brow, and Kiwi immediately set to work trying to get the Spinarak to change its mind somehow. "Come now. If you understand him well enough, you understand that these things don't belong here too." He tried to reason, edging closer in his effort to both see it and lure it out. Big was his surprise when it started throwing things after him, and he continuously had to evade errant pieces of stuff flying through the air. Before Kiwi knew what had happened the pile collapsed in on the Spinarak, and for a moment he worried it had gotten stuck or hid on purpose, but as soon as it resurfaced he went in for a real attack. He was very conscious of Martin still waiting, and the Spinarak was being stupid anyway. The retaliating attack was less fun. Where had all those tiny things come from? The smoke from the burned things scratched at his throat and he coughed while trying to keep ahead of the swarm. He turned and swirled and swung through the air trying to lose them, but was starting to realise he couldn't keep it up in the long run.

Martin watched the proceeding of the fight with his only interest being how well Kiwi performed, and how soon he got rid of the Spinarak. He had hoped Kiwi's flames would make short work of the arachnid, but it held up surprisingly well against him. Martin huffed when Kiwi had had his two chances to knock it out. He was certain Kiwi could handle it with a bit more time, but they were making an even more mess of things, and Martin was interested in speedy results. "Enough of this! It's taking too long." he worded his annoyance at the whole mess, and swiftly pulled out a Great Ball. He spend some precious seconds calculating where the Spinarak was running to and threw the ball. That done he got back to his feet and started collecting the trash the Spinarak had spread so wide, using one of the plastic bags to hold as much of it as possible. His movements were stiff and angry, while he grumbled to himself about the waste, both pokeballs used and the thrash. Palus seemed wise enough to let him be in that mood, and Kiwi luckily was kept occupied watching whether the great ball held or not.

Wordcount: 440
(Ooc: Martin lost his patience and used a Great Ball)

[Tarlar]

"Do you think I care? I can actually figure out how to use the things around me for my advantage," the spinarak retorted hostilely before it began to attempt to chase away the bird by throwing trash around.

The spinarak didn't feel good after getting hit by the two flame charges and it was seriously thinking about leaving and finding its opportunity somewhere else with fewer humans and their firebirds. How unlucky could it be? It found what it saw as a paradise that most others couldn't figure out what to do with and then out of nowhere these two appeared and wanted to take it all away!
While it kept moving it watched as Kiwi darted this and that in an attempt to get rid of the bugs it had called for, and hadn't the situation been so dire it would have enjoyed the situation. Right now it was instead trying to figure out what would be the best next move to ensure it got away without anymore burns.

The spinarak hadn't taken Martin into account and didn't even glance in his direction when he spoke, it didn't sound like he gave any orders, just that he was getting impatient and wanted the bird to hurry up.
A whooshing sound caught its attention and it turned its head just in time to see the blue ball before it slammed into its side and sucked it in. The ball rolled over the trash and got tangled into some strings before it lay still, with the spinarak staying inside.

When Kiwi stopped being on fire the flies and other small insects quickly stopped bothering, instead they turned to the delicious smelling trash and turned into regular annoying insects that flew into your face and tickled you everywhere your skin was exposed.

Kiwi is victorious and grows to lvl 12!
He can learn Peck if he forgets another move.
He also gains +1 happiness.

The spinarak didn't have much saying in this ending, only time will show if its new ideas have paid off this time or not.
[img src="https://play.pokemonshowdown.com/sprites/xyani/spinarak.gif"]
[b]Spinarak[/b]
Name: [choose]
Gender: [choose]
Level: 14
OT: Martin Growth
Attacks: Infistation, Absorb, Constrict, Poison Sting
Ability: Swarm OR Insomnia
Nature/Personality: [choose]
Happiness: 0

[Thirdie]

Martin Growth

Gardener

Kiwi drew a breath of relief when the ball clicked its capture, and he reigned in the fire and settled on the ground panting from the exercise. By chance he had landed close to the blue sphere and watched it, slightly confused at the Spinarak's behaviour. He still didn't understand why it had been so stubborn. Maybe he could ask it later on. He ruffled his feathers and began pruning them, occasionally picking at the small terrors now crawling around everywhere. The battle had made him hungry. It was only after a while he realised Martin hadn't actually picked up the now shrunken and still ball, and he looked to the human to figure out what was going on. The trainer had managed to collect a lot of the stuff into the bags Kiwi had piled together, but there was still a good deal left, and the smelly stuff was more prominent now it was no longer hidden by things. Martin looked mad, and hoping to appease him Kiwi decided to get him the Pokeball. Now, how to get that stringy thing off it?

First when Martin ran out of usable bags did he stop his furious work and looked at the result. It wasn't good enough, wasn't clean enough, and Martin had to accept that he would have to go back for gloves and other tools so he didn't have to touch the remains of food and other greasiness. Kiwi came hopping pushing the Great ball in front of him, and he looked such a mixture of proud and humble apology, Martin discovered he was smiling before he could stop himself. He restrained the satisfied feeling in his chest, and calmly said: "For a first try you did well, Kiwi." Despite doing his best to keep his tone cool, Kiwi didn't seem to register this and immediately was elated, flapping into the sky and leaving it to Martin to free the great ball from the rest of the string it had tangled in. On top of that Palus decided this was a signal to approach again, and the Fomantis demanded his seat back on top of Martin's head. "Fine, but we are temporarily going back to the city. I need to get some things." He took as many of the filled bags as he could carry, and returned the same way he had come. He just had to hope nothing more came and made an even bigger mess of things while he was gone.
____

The walk helped clear Martin's head, and after having dropped the trash bags in the nearest container, Martin had made a decision. Having already spent a good deal of the day working, he saw no reason to call it a day off anymore. He might as well just get down to business and try to make the trip to Azalea. So instead of collecting the bare necessities from his room, he took it all. He filled up his team too, adding the Budew and Burmy. They could surely use the exercise of a quick travel, and though they weren't particular useful for anything, Shiver, Palus and Kiwi had proved good enough for the route already and would cover well the for the others' weakness. He took the exp share from Kiwi, and gave it to the Burmy instead. All that done, Martin did a last sweep of the room that had been his the latest couple of day and left.
____

Back at the site with all the trash, Martin got to work getting the rest of it collected. He spend a good while deciding what to do with the leftover food, particular agonising over whether to let Oddend have a try at the more toxic looking things. This was why he had kept the Gulpin to start with, but he didn't want to seem like he was rewarding its bad behaviour. In the end he decided to give it a chance to learn by positive reinforcement, but not before he had called all his other Pokemon helpers back. It was after all a private matter between Martin and Oddend.

Wordcount: 686
(Ooc: Kiwi learns Peck and forgets Tackle. The two cats, Baal and Tom, is changed with Budew and Burmy. Burmy is given the exp share to hold, from Kiwi. One Great Ball should have been deducted, so Martin is down to 6.)

Spinarak left blank:
[img src="https://play.pokemonshowdown.com/sprites/xyani/spinarak.gif"]
[b]Spinarak[/b]
Name: [choose]
Gender: [choose]
Level: 14
OT: Martin Growth
Attacks: Infestation, Absorb, Constrict, Poison Sting
Ability: Swarm OR Insomnia
Nature/Personality: [choose]
Happiness: 0

Burmy's data:
[img src="https://pldh.net/media/pokemon/gen5/blackwhite/412.png" alt=" "]
[b]Burmy[/b]
Name: Chida (pronounced 'Tjida')
Gender: [font color="pink"]Female[/font]
Level: 11
Attacks: Protect, Tackle
Ability: Shed Skin
Nature/Personality: Quiet[font size="1"](+sp att,-spd)[/font].
Note: [i]How Martin treats her[/i]
Happiness: 0

[Tarlar]

The sun had traveled quite a bit over the sky when Martin returned and several pokemon scattered when he arrived, having been attracted by the smell of the trash but wasn't hungry enough to risk capturing by a trainer.
They had managed to spread some of the trash a bit more than it had before but at least Martin had got most of the plastic away so that there was little risk of more pokemon getting stuck.
It was quiet for some time with the weather being nice and calm, the temperature made the food smell even more though.

Voices were heard after some time and a smaller group of kids came strolling into the clearing with pokemon at their sides. They were all dressed like they were on a camping trip and learning how to live in the wild, all was wearing comfortable and practical clothes and looked like they hadn't had access to a shower for a few days.
They also carried plasticbags.
Their laughter and joyful chatting stilled when they noticed Martin and they watched him silently for a bit. Most of them looked genuin curious at what he was doing and at the pokemon he had at his side, as it was not often seen around here. A few of them looked a bit uncomfortable and wouldn't look directly at Martin while they glanced at the trash that lay around.

"What a cool pokemon!" One of the boys exclaimed and threw his bags that revealed to be trash from him, another boy behind him flinced and looked ashamed while two girls joined the excitement.
"I am Roland and I want to battle you!" The first boy declared and ran forward with his nidoran♂ close behind.
"This is going to be so great!" He half shouted while his nidoran placed itself in front, ready to battle.

Caper Roland wants a battle and sends out his nidoran [lvl 13]

(ooc: requested updates has been taken care off)

[Thirdie]

Martin Growth

Gardener

At first Martin ignored the distant sound of voices. He knew they were getting closer, but it could be anyone, and unless they were very eager Pokemon trainers he reasoned they wouldn't bother him in his work. He was making good progress as it was, and soon had to make his decision about Oddend, if he was to get done in good time. He glanced up when the group appeared, and watched their reactions out the corner of his eyes, quickly deciding why they would be showing signs of shame. The realisation that these were some of the culprits behind the mess almost made him furious again, but Martin had studied human habits all his life, and if he wanted the group to learn from this he doubted all out anger was the way. Instead he calmly rose from his bend position picking up a piece of trash, and just as calmly addressed the group as a whole: "So... Are you the ones responsible for this mess? Or are you just going about cleaning it up like me?" The two options of his question were really only one. Either they admitted to having done it, and he would ask them to help clean the rest up. Or they said they were cleaning up, and he would ask them to help him out too. They were many, and they would be done in no time if all helped out. Besides, if everyone carried something to the city's trash containers afterwards, they would only need to make the trip once.

Before any of them could answer his, in his opinion, very reasonable question, a boy threw his bags on the ground and started gushing about his Pokemon and battling. Martin's eyebrows rose halfway up his forehead, while he exuded puzzlement. He recalled Palus, before the aggressive Fomantis could make a move. Luckily, Palus was the last one out in that moment. "Sorry, no can do," he said, his voice still as calm, but unyielding. "There will be no battling until this place is swept clean of human trash. I'm tired of battling in this pigsty, and wild Pokemon are lured here by the smell of rancid food." He demonstratively looked away from the boy, and began his work once more. "If you want a battle, you can stay and help until it's done. You can start with the things you just threw behind you." He didn't say any more. Either they walked away or they followed his suggestion and started to help. He hoped for the latter of course. It would mean less work for him.

Speaking of work, no matter the groups' decision, Martin had a Pokemon to talk to. He would have preferred to do it without other humans present, but he would just have to improvise. He let the Gulpin out and waited the moment it took for the thing to reorient itself after the flash. Then he grabbed it on both sides of its face, and forced it to look at him. The motion could be misconstrued as affection, so no worries about giving a wrong impression to others there. "Now, Oddend. I have a proposition for you," he began quietly with the smallest hint of a fierce edge. "You smell all that delicious food around here?" He watched its eyes move around in its head, both trying to avoid his gaze and look to the food he was talking about. "I will let you consume this food, and will offer you similar meals in the future, but on one condition." He watched it squirm, until it finally looked at him, and he could see it was listening for once. "You will do as told. Every time." It looked about ready to refuse, and made one more squirmy motion in his hands, but maybe the smell was too much, or it realised its pickle. Martin hadn't said what would happen if refused. For one, he couldn't very well threat it properly with witnesses around, and for another the 'no food' was implied. It was just an added bonus that the Gulpin might be getting hungry about now. Martin hadn't seen fit to provide a lunch for the team yet today. Oddend's eyes fell to the ground in surrender, and Martin let it down. "There's a good boy." He patted it on the top for show, and began showing it what to eat. He wondered briefly how long the deal would last, but in this moment Oddend seemed properly cowed.

Wordcount: 751
(Ooc: Refusing the battle, until the group have helped clean the area.)

[Tarlar]

When Martin asked the kids if they were responsible for the trash laying around they looked at each other as if they were trying to agree on what to say.
One of the girls looked more determined at the rest and turned to Martin with her arms crossed over her chest.
"No," she answered sternly for them all.
"Why should we? That's disgusting," one of the boys added and looked disgusted at the rotten food that lay beside Martin.
"Yeah, my parents have always said that you shouldn't pick up things that lays on the ground, you don't know where it has been before," the first girl added and most of the kids nodded in agreement.

Roland pouted when Martin refused to battle and then looked at the bags he had been throwing.
"But why is that a problem? The pokemon just eats the food and clean it up, so why are you removing it?" Roland said sulkingly, "I want to battle now, we were told just to throw out the trash and then hurry back to the camp, if I have to wait on your being finished here I may not have time for that!" He complained.
"Ehm, the plastic can give problems for the wild pokemon," one of the uncomfortable boys said quietly to the others.
"How is that our problem? They can just not eat the plastic, the rattatas back in the city knows that and they go in the trash all the time. This is just free food for them," one of the others argued and silenced the first.

Roland did go fetch his bags while Martin talked with Oddend and then handed them to the man when he had his hands free. If not Martin took them Roland would put them at his feet and find a place to sit and watch, while looking impatient.
The rest of the group argued with each other on what to do as some wanted to go back soon but others not wanting to leave someone behind. They decided to split up where 2 stayed with Roland while the rest left, after having dumped their trash with the rest Martin was picking up.
One girl sat with Roland and chatted while the boy who had been on Martin's side looked hesitant but then went to try help the gardener. He used a plastic bag over his hand as a glove but it wasn't very effective, unless Martin had a way to help him he would give up and join the others sitting on the grass.

[Thirdie]

Martin Growth

Gardener

Martin waited patiently for the kids' answer, and raised a brow at the girl, when she said "No". 'No to which one?' he managed to think before one of the boys added his piece. "Very sensible of your mom" he commented with a nod, when the girl gave her reasoning. "That's why we have work gloves, so we don't have to touch it." Martin raised his gloved hand in demonstration and collected another indiscernible piece of trash to bag.

When the challenger questioned Martin's own reasoning, he almost lost his hard gathered calm again, but he drew in a breath and told them just as sternly as the girl's 'no' had been. "Because the Pokemon shouldn't suffer from humans' trash. There's no telling what this stuff is, or where it has been." He echoed the girl's words from mere seconds ago. "Most likely several Pokemon have gotten sick already." The boy, Roland was it?, continued to be rude though, and Martin simmered from the sulking interruptions he made, but kept his donned mask of calm in place. He waited a moment, listening to their argument, and then added thoughtful, his voice rising half an octave in question: "And how many Rattata do you think had to die in the city, before they started to learn not to eat plastic?" He pinned the boy in question with a stare, and then shook his head like it was a lost cause. He went back to gathering the garbage, but went on, this time his voice teetered on sadness. "Besides, this isn't the city, and this isn't a dumping ground. The wild Pokemon shouldn't have to learn how dangerous it is. Whoever told you to throw out your trash, I sure hope they meant for you to use the containers just inside the city border. It's only a ten minutes walk from here."

Even though Martin afterwards pretended to be busy with Oddend and his work, he still kept close attention to what the group decided and did. As the Roland kid finished up on the stuff he had dropped and went to him, the bags held out in offer, Martin just looked at him in fake incomprehension, and then pointed in direction of the city. "The containers are that way." Out the corner of his eye he noticed the group leaving their bags on the ground, and shouted out. "Oi, I'm not doing this for fun, you know. And I certainly won't get done any faster if you keep loading your trash onto others. Leave for all I care, but take your garbage with you and dispose of it properly." He couldn't believe how dense people could be, and he was almost fuming again. He let the anger come out in a glare at the offenders, until he managed to reign it in, and he discovered he stood with his arms crossed waiting for them to pick up their bags again. If they still didn't pick them up he would raise his hands to the sky in a big sigh. "Well, you are just leaving more work and waiting time for your own friends, if you don't." he would say matter-of-fact, a telling glance at the few who had decided to stay behind.

The three kids that was left in the end got a resigned look, and after a moment Martin picked out three spare pairs of gloves from a pocket. "You, the clever one. What's your name?" he asked the boy who had tried to speak out against the others, while he offered him a pair. When he got an answer, he nodded and offered his own name in return. "I'm Martin." Then he turned to the lazy ones. "Girl, What's your name?" At her answer, he gave another curt nod in obligatory greeting. "Good. If you and Roland have time to wait around, you have time to help too. The faster we can get done, the faster Roland can get his wanted match, and the faster I can get to Azalea." He held out the gloves in invitation.

Wordcount: 677
(Ooc: )

[Caramell 🍬]

The group of kids pushed and shoved each other as they walked away. Roland tossed his hands up into the air in exasperation and called after them. “Hey, guys!” His voice piqued up, though they largely ignored him. “We promised to stay together!” Their parents would be sorely upset with them, when they discovered that the other kids decided to take off and ditch the scene altogether.

“Let them go.” The other young boy spoke up. He took the gloves from Martin’s hands with a nod towards the older gentleman. A strange part of Martin reminded the young lad of his own father, who spent a large part of his time trying to teach the kid to love and respect the planet. “My name’s Sasha, sir.” He would answer him plainly. He grabbed one of the trash bags and shook it out, opening the white bag up as wide as he could to be sure he had opened it properly. Then, the young lad started to rummage through the piles of rubbish on the ground. He would pick up old soda cans, balls up and torn apart wrappers, and disgusting days’ old, half eaten hot-dogs from the ground and sling them into the trash bag.

“But Sash!” Roland pouted. He had also taken a pair of gloves from Martin, and began trying to clean up the ground with his friends. He paused, to placed his gloved hand on his hips (without thinking about where they’d just been) and pouted. “My momma may never let me go play again, if we don’t return with the others!” He cried out in exasperation. All he wanted to do was have a Pokemon battle! This grown adult made it so difficult – just like his momma and his daddy! You gotta do your chores first! He was beginning to become fed up with the chores, now! “They’re the ones makin’ a bigger mess, and we’re the one who’re gunna be in trouble for it!” He protested, his voice raising into a high pitched shrill.

“My name’s not girl!” The young girl piped up, stomping her heels into the dirt earth. She tossed the half-full garbage bag to the ground as she crossed her hands over her chest and fell flat on her rump onto the ground. “It’s Jamilah – OW!” She screeched, after landing flattened soda can, torn in half. The jagged end snagged her dress a bit, but didn’t cause too much damage. “Why are wild Pokemon dumb enough to eat the plastic and garbage? Even I know better than to do that!” She asked Martin, insinuating that she couldn’t be that bright. “I...don’t mind helping out. I just...I don’t understand...” She muttered the last parts under her breath, a little nervously.

Meanwhile, Roland and Sasha returned back to cleaning up the trash. ”I didn’t even cause HALF of this mess!” Roland muttered underneath his breath in annoyance. Though, with each piece of trash he would pick up, the ground would slowly become clearer. It DID look better without the garbage. He had to admit. “You’re not just stallin’ cuz your afraid of Roland’s Pokemon, are ya, mister Martin?” Jamilah piped up and asked him curiously. Sasha seemed happy and sad, as he helped clean up the mess. Clearly, he was the only kid affected the most by Martin's words about the Rattata dying in the city.

He prodded Jamilah on the shoulders and pointed to the ground. "We're almost done, Mila." He stated halfheartedly. He wanted her to focus on helping them. Wild Pokemon didn't understand things the way that humans did. They had no clue what things were, or how harmful something could be. That's what his father had told him, at least. " 'Sides," He sort of huffed, tugging at a plastic bag that was stuck to a thick pile of grass, thanks to someone's old gum gluing the two things together. "My dad said we made all this stuff. That's why Pokemon don't understand what's safe and what's gunna hurt them. They're not stupid, they're just wild." Sasha tried to point out to his friend.

[Thirdie]

Martin Growth

Gardener

When first the remaining kids started to cooperate, Martin felt a certain level of satisfaction that his tactic had worked. He also felt strangely relieved that his assessment of the Sasha boy had been correct, and even a bit proud to be called 'sir'. No one had ever called him that before, but far be it from him to correct the boy. Roland was an odd one, still complaining but doing the work at least. "Is your mother very unreasonable like that? Won't she listen to your explanation, that they left you, while you kindly helped clean up the forest out here?" Martin felt like asking, trying to curb the most of Roland's worry. Maybe it would stop him from complaining so much, and to Martin, what the boy was saying, sounded backwards. Then again, the only experience Martin had about how a 'real' mother should behave was decade old information gleaned from conversations between school mates and books.

The Jamilah girl was another odd case, but Martin decided she was just plain unintelligent. Why else would she crash her own bottom down in the middle of a temporary garbage dump? Martin shook his head at her behaviour. He had tried to understand, but never really tolerated stupidity. However, since he was playing understanding and all teacher-ish, he had to give a reasonable answer to her question. "Well, for one they are most likely going by smell, and since a lot of plastic has been in contact with food it smells edible. For another, every child before the age of 3 have tried to stuff all kind of things like dirt and sticks and plastic toys into their mouths to figure out what it is. Pokemon aren't much different, and unlike us they haven't had anyone to teach them that it's bad for them." He sincerely hoped the explanation made sense to her, and he waited a beat to see how she took it, before picking up the bag she had tossed and handing it back to her. "Now, get up from there, before you get hurt or catch a cold or something."

Martin went back to work, joining the boys in cleaning, and felt good about how fast it went, when they worked together. By this rate he could be on his way within an hour. He looked up, when the girl talked again, donning a mask of astonishment and mirth. "Me? Afraid of a small, purple rabbit?" He laughed and dumped a piece of rotten bread into Oddend's wide open mouth. The Gulpin had been on its best behaviour since his little talk with it. "Trust me. I'm looking forward to see if it's as tough an opponent as Falkner's birds. That man is a tactician." He mentioned Falkner deliberately, with the hidden purpose of getting an estimate of the children's knowledge. He was also getting tired of the subject of trash. It would be a relief if they started talking Pokemon and battle. It might even lighten their mood a bit. He had noticed even Sasha was hanging his head.

As Sasha made his own attempt to make Jamilah contribute properly, Martin listened to his arguments and filed them away for later. They were good points too. Might be useful if he ever ended in a similar discussion. Whether Jamilah joined fully or not, they got done sooner or later, and on the walk to the containers, Martin began planning how he wanted to tackle the oncoming battle. His grass types would be at an disadvantage of course, Palus most of all, but the plant needed to learn about its natural enemies, and it was an opportunity Martin wouldn't let him slip by.

Wordcount: 616
(Ooc: )

[Caramell 🍬]

Roland spent his time grumbling underneath his breath. He bent over and pulled bits of debris and garbage off of the ground, and stuffed them into the garbage bag one at a time. The more that the kid picked up, the more disgusted he started to feel. Do people really litter THIS much?! The young boy started to question and wonder to himself. Why don’t they just hire a janitor out here? He stuffed a wadded up wrapper from a fast-food burger into the bag, and crushed the paper cup that went with it right behind it. Then, he pulled and tugged to clean up a disgusting piece of half-eaten pancake, still slathered in days’ old syrup, off of the grass and shuffled it into the bag.

“My momma told us not to get lost and to stick together!” He explained to the older gentleman, as he worked up to clean the ground. Roland wasn’t too sure how his mother would take to him staying behind. Sure, he was helping Martin. She was too busy telling him NOT to touch the gross things on the ground, because he doesn’t know where it’s been at. “She doesn’t like me touchin’ strange things if I don’t know where they’ve been.” He added on for clarity.

Sasha smiled, as she finished stuffing the last bit of rubbish into his trash bag. “My dad would be proud!” Sasha spoke up, as he pulled the strings to the trash bag together and tied it up. He looked at the bag, stuffed to the brim with all sorts of littered plastics, paper, and rotten, molded foods. There was possibly a bit of room left inside of the bag, but kids were quicker than adults at calling someone ‘full’ sometimes. ”We’re conservationists, Roland.” He pointed out.

Jamilah blinked. She tried to carefully soak in what Martin was trying to tell her, as she stood up and took her trash bag back from him. She opened it wide and stared inside of the bag, before staring at what bits of garbage remained on the ground. Then, she huffed – annoyed and agitated. “Momma always said she smacked my hands when I was little, and I growed up just fine!” She pointed out. Then, she placed her bag beside of her use her hands in a wide, open gesture to the bits of junk that remained. “Maybe the grown-up Pokemon need to smack the baby Pokemon’s paws, and they’d listen!”

Sasha, who couldn’t help but laugh at the outrageous notion, shook his head. He walked over to Jamilah and placed a single hand on her shoulder. As she turned to him, he simply shook his head at her. “It don’t work like that.” Roland nodded his head, agreeing with Sasha as well. He walked up, abandoning his nearly-full garbage bag of trash. “You can’t treat Pokemon like that!” He pointed out, crossing his arms over his shoulders. “You’ve got to treat them with love and care!”

Roland then turned to Martin. How much was left to clean up, anyways? He’d surely forgotten where to take the bags after cleaning it all up, too. “We’re almost done, aren’t we?!” He asked, a bit impatiently, as he gripped his red-and-white Pokeball in his hands with anticipation. “What’s left before my battle, mister Martin? I’m ready to show you what Needles can do!” He stated anxiously.

Meanwhile, Sasha grabbed Roland’s bag and Jamilah’s bag. He handed the young girl her bag back though, and pointed to the bits of aluminum cans and discarded plastics that remained. “Come on.” He persuaded her, helping her pick it up and place it in her garbage bag. With encouragement and her friend’s help, Jamilah bent down once more and finished cleaning up her spot. Sasha would help her tie up her white trash bag, now stained with syrup and all sorts of other gunk. They would both walk theirs closer to Martin, almost ignoring their friend’s second challenge altogether. “It looks better already, sir!” Sasha piped up, brimming with enthusiasm.