A New Beginning (Adventure Start/Mod) [F]

[Tiki]

The bug catcher was stumbled. He just didn't like the Bronzor's appearance and aesthetics that did not fit with his team! "Uh... It's just... so strange. It floats and it have no wings! Sometimes there's light around it!" He stammered for a reason, but did not flat out say that he also found the steel type a little creepy. Augustine was still a young kid, and he had not gone through puberty and teenager angst yet to accept creepy and supernatural and strange things ironically or as an alternative interest.

When he heard Adrian's threat, he cried out. "No! Please don't tell mommy and daddy!" Maybe it was fear of being alone with one less Pokemon, or the fear of his parents finding out his behavior, but this child wasn't ready to have a lecture or a discipline from his parents.

The Pidgey was getting restless, and Barry continued squawking loudly, ringing the silent Nincada's eardrum. It was trying its best to be a ninja, but it ended up passing out quickly as soon as it was sent out. The bug type fell unconscious before it was recalled by its trainer. He was ready to run after his defeat, and he pulled out his wallet to count some cash to hand to Adrian. However, the Bronzor situation remained unresolved.

"Here, you know what? You can adopt the Bronzor if you want. Here's its Pokeball." He spoke after handing the prize money to Adrian. "And it hates being dirty, and dust, and sand!" It made sense because it would ruin a mirror's reflection. Then, after the opponent's response, he would run away and hope the Bronzor wouldn't chase him from behind. How he would tell his nanny about this would be a problem for him to think about, maybe he'll just said the Bronzor found new friends?

Wild Encounter

---

Weather: Humid (Clear)

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

[attr="class","qkt-wild-pkmn"]
Ninja LV 4
HP 0% [0/17]

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

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

[attr="class","qkt-trainer-pkmn"]
Barry LV 7
HP 92% [22/24]

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

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

Ninja [Compound Eyes]: Normal
Barry [Tangled Feet] : Normal

SP15 Barry used Uproar! (round 3/3)

---

Barry gained 2 levels and is now Level 9!
He learned 🌪️Gust 🌪️!

Adrian earned 💵48 for winning!

[Pixel]

It seemed like Adrian finally hit a sore spot. The bug catcher stammered and finally back down, for once showing a shred of uncertainty about his behavior. Maybe it was the threat to tell his parents that did it. Who knows. But he finally felt his own anger start to subside as the kid faltered and begged him not to tell his parents. Probably worried about losing his allowance or something. Though, what really threw him off was when the poor nincaida (who apparently didn't stand a chance after being knocked out immediately by Barry) fainted, the kid started saying odd things about dirt and dust and the bronzor not liking to be dirty. He thrust a pokeball and some pocket change into Adrian's hands before running off, leaving him confused and his anger rather cut off at the knees as he recalled Barry.

He squinted a bit, deflated, his shoulders dropping as his useless anger sputtered out, and glanced down at the ball in his hand. Then up at the bronzor. The poor thing was floating sadly and for a moment tried to slowly follow the kid, but he stopped after a few feet, floating there. Pitiable. Adrian sighed and came up to the bronzor from behind, gently touching its shiny back plate. Sure, it was eerie and odd but how could anyone have mistreated it when it was just so...pitiful? It clearly just wanted to be appreciated or just...wanted. Adrian could empathize. It would suck to be caught somewhere then passed around like an unwanted toy before ultimately being abandoned.

Adrian wondered if it was loneliness and that sense of being lost that made it stick around, clingy with the bug catcher that hit it with a net and screamed at him to go.

"Hey. It's gonna be okay now. He won't hurt you again and I'm never going to treat you like that. That is...if you want to come with me." Adrian held up the pokeball he now possessed with a slight grimace. He watched the bronzor slowly turn, eyes sad. It made a soft, timid noise. Helpless. Heartbroken. "...I know. You cared about him in your own way, didn't you? And you're really far from home. It...it sucks. He sucks. The whole world sucks..." He carded a hand through his hair. "I'm...bad with words and I'm not sure how much you understand but...I want you to come with me. You can be Braum instead of whatever that brat called you. It'll be a fresh start."

As the steel-type floated there, staring back, Adrian shifted awkwardly, "Well?"

Braum made another little noise and...booped against the pokeball, vanishing in a flash of red light. Huh. Well. That answered that question.

With daylight fading, Adrian knew he needed to get back to walking if he was going to make it to cherrygrove before full dark. He adjusted his backpack and nodded to Buddy at his side. Onwards they trekked and fortunately, around dusk, he saw Cherrygrove start to emerge through the trees. So close...

—

Word Count: 512 | OOC:May I request NBT Silver encounter before I wrap up this leg of the journey~?

[Avalon]

Adrian had won the battle (and the war) for the affections of Braum the Bronzor, it seemed. With the mirror-like Pokemon added to his team, Adrian could continue on the trek to Cherrygrove. But their trip through the early Route had perhaps taken too much time, as the sun was beginning to set and the dark was beginning to set in around Adrian. The Youngsters and Bug Catchers that were wandering and playing on the route were returning to their homes, shouting their goodbyes to their friends. Honestly, seeing how vigorously some of the small children hugged and clung on to each other was almost sickeningly sweet in a way. Also absurdly confusing, considering they would see these exact same friends in the exact same places and doing the same things the very next day.

As Adrian approached the outskirts of the town, one of the first things he would be able to notice is a rather downtrodden Bug Catcher, sitting on the roadside. Beside them sat a very seriously wounded and burnt Caterpie, drifting into unconsciousness. The Bug Catcher was beside himself, on the verge of tears it seemed, as he observed his friend. They had just gotten out of a battle not too long ago, and had clearly not come out as the victors. The Bug Catcher looked up to Adrian, tears welling up. "Mister...can you help me? Wiggles, he...we got challenged to a battle by this red-haired guy. He's hurt real bad, and I need to get him to the Pokemon Center but the guy he's still there! Can you help me get Wiggles over to the Pokemon Center? I just need to get past that jerk, please just distract him or something!"

Not far in the distance, Adrian would be able to see the villain in question. A red-haired youth dressed in black, toying with a Poke Ball and smirking devilishly. Another child, sobbing at the condition of their Pokemon, came running from that direction and no doubt scurrying back home to New Bark. How this second child would fare going off on their lonesome would remain to be seen, but the Bug Catcher remained by Adrian's side. Soon he could barely control his emotions, bursting into more sobs before Adrian could really have a chance to reply.

The sobs seemed to attract the attention of the red-haired youth, whom sighed and began to approach the Bug Catcher and Adrian. "Wow, can't believe you're still here. Or that your little worm is still breathing after the thrashing my Cyndaquil gave it." the red-haired Trainer said smugly, pale silver eyes drifting over to Adrian. "But you...you're new. Doesn't matter, I'll crush you just like I've done with all the kids running through here. Run along, Webby, the adults have some talking to do."

With that, the Bug Catcher rushed past the red-haired youth, Wiggles the Caterpie in his arms. His sobbing form could be seen tearing off into the distance of the town, while the red-haired youth released the Poke Ball he had been toying with, releasing a rather large Cyndaquil. "My name is Silver, and I'm going to be the strongest Pokemon Trainer in the world. You don't seem too strong, but you should be a good stepping stone on my path to the top. Once I've beaten you, I think I'll move on and try my luck at the Gym."

Rival Silver demands a battle! He sends out his Cyndaquil (Level 9)!
What will Adrian do?

[Pixel]

Adrian was relaxing a bit, almost smiling at the kids and their innocent joy and goodbyes. He could practically see the light of the pokemon center from here. But that relief faded as soon as he stumbled upon a kid with a very injured caterpie and a plea for him to help. He looked up and saw the cause. Some random red-head was going around battling all the bug catchers and apparently bullying them as well, not letting them pass even in defeat. He huffed and rolled his eyes. Yeah. No. He was going to be pushed around by this punk. He spent his garden of effs on that rich kid. His patience didn't exist. Adrian came to a stop in front of the other trainer and sneered back, "Best trainer huh?" His voice was low, barely a mutter, probably not even loud enough for the other trainer to hear. But no doubt he could see Adrian's furrowed brow and blatant annoyance at being stopped on his way to a resting spot and surrounded by crying children.

"Whatever...I'll kick your ass too! Barry, use—" He threw out a pokeball, fully expecting to see his new pidgey, but he grabbed the wrong ball and sent out poor Braum. Uh. Whoops. He was still getting used to the whole trainer thing and just fumbled that...Well. He could totally recover. Not look like he made a clumsy mistake. Right? Despite the type disadvantage and all. "Braum, use confuse ray!" Right and then...assuming he wasn't cooked to a crisp, he could switch out and this would seem like a genius tactical play rather than him grabbing the wrong ball out of his pocket. (At least he didn't accidentally send out Bug of all his pokemon. That would just be...beyond embarrassing.)

Braum, of course, was a little confused about being sent out already. It made a little noise, blinked and...realized that it's new friend wanted its help. Well, it wasn't sure how much it could do but...Braum would try its best. That way, Adrian wouldn't call it useless and horrible and abandon it too. Everyone seemed to abandon it not matter how much it just wanted to belong. With a little cry, Braum glowed with psychic power and flashed bright with a disorienting array of color.

—

Word Count: 382 | OOC:Adrian sends out bronzor! Braum uses Confuse Ray!

[Tarlar]

Silver raised his eyebrows as Adrien stepped in close, he didn't move a muscle and glared disdainfully at the other trainer in their nonverbal battle of intimidation which none of them wanted to lose. "I dare you say that out loud," the red head said with a smirk as he heard the other mutter something, "although I doubt you dare," he added with a sneer. Adrien clearly was too wimpy and just tried to pretend to be a big boy, just like all these kids he had just burned to crisp, even without his cyndaquil knowing a fire type attack yet. You took at advantage how your you could and Silver did not shy away from using the fires on Cyndaquil's back to damage or scare his opponent.

Silver rolled his eyes and crossed his arms when Adrian trailed off when he called out a pokemon to face Silver's Cyndaquil.
"What? Can't you remember what moves your own pokemon has? Pathetic," he mocked and he looked disdainfully at the floating disc now hovering in front of Adrien.
"Is that supposed to be a pokemon?" He said as he wrinkled his nose, "couldn't find anything better?"
While Silver didn't catch that Adrian had called out the wrong pokemon, he did catch that he changed the name in the two sentences and he smirked, "Why even give it a name if you can't remember it? Are you already that old that you should think about retire and sit with the other hags at the nursing home? Need your diaper changed?"

Silver had no clue what this pokemon was but he didn't care to try find out, everyone here was newbies and a great place for his fire type to knock some head and get some experience so it could knock out other pokemon.
"Smokescreen Cyndaquil, and sneak up on it," Silver ordered, time to see if his tactics with the bugs would work here as well.
"Cynda!" The fire type called out confidently, it hadn't been scolded for several battles as it had followed the orders to the point and had won every battle. It filled the already dimly lit night with smoke making it even harder for Braum to see where it was, then it crouched close to the ground and with no flames on its back to reveal it, it began sneaking in on the bronzor and scare it, or perhaps even burn it, when it lit up its flames really close.
Braum would frantically sent swirling light orbs through the smoke to try pinpoint its opponent, and a couple of them caught the cyndaquil's attention as they whirled past, and it stared at them confused.


Wild Encounter

---

Weather: Clear

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

[attr="class","qkt-wild-pkmn"]
Cyndaquil LV 9
HP 100% [28/28]

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

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

[attr="class","qkt-trainer-pkmn"]
Braum LV 4
HP 100% [19/19]

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

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

Cyndaquil [Blaze]: Confused (0/1 turns)
Braum [Levitate]: Normal (-1ACC)

SP19 Cyndaquil used Smokescreen!
SP8 Braum used Confuse Ray!

[Pixel]

Why was everyone so punchable today? Because Adrian had to grit his teeth to not leap across the battlefield and start a brawl with this jerk. It was like every single person he encountered wanted to antagonize him rather than be a decent human being. Okay. Maybe not everyone. The dying kid really didn't do anything wrong and actually gave him Bug. And Zaiden actually seemed more afraid of Adrian than anything. So really it was just two people but those two people were the absolute WORST and were determined to remind him of why he hated people. Bullies were just awful excuses of humans. And here was person number two openly mocking an absolute stranger as well as Braum. What issue did people have with bronzor for existing?!

Teeth grit in embarassment at his fumble being caught, he watched with an annoyed glare as his foe swamped the battlefield with with smoke. Even Adrian was having a hard time seeing. Braum made a scared noise and he knew that he couldn't leave it out there to be possibly burned like those bugs.

"Braum, return!" Adrian recalled the bronzor with a bright flash of red light. "Barry, use Uproar and clear that smoke!" He threw out the correct pokeball this time and the pidgey emerged with a cry. He immediately began to flap his wings and screech and cause all sorts of horrid noises. At least the flailing seemed to reveal the Cyndaquil through the smokescreen for now?

They were once more faced across from each other on a clear battlefield, though, as Adrian squinted, he thought the cyndaquil looked confused...Maybe his play with Braum worked. Or maybe his foe would just shake off the confusion and burn him to a crisp. Who knew?

What he did know was that he'd have to salvage this battle quick if he didn't want to lose to this red-headed menace.

—

Word Count: 319 | OOC:Braum is switched out for Barry! Barry uses Uproar!

[Tarlar]

There were two kind of people, the ones who let the the words do the bashing and the ones who used their muscles. Sounded like Adrian might be the latter while Silver clearly was the first, why should he get his hands dirty when he had pokemon to do the fighting for him? Neither version was better than the other, not when the fight on words was as dirty as it could be, but when it was a pokemon battle where you usually didn't get involved yourself as trainer, it was the one who fought with words who had the upperhand.
Silver clearly enjoyed that all his words got straight to Adrian and affected him, and without being challenged or attacked by himself at all!

Silver personally didn't have anything against Bronzor and if it got proven to him it was strong he wouldn't have hesitated to get one himself, but since he hadn't ever heard of it he found it weird looking and instantly expected it to be a weakling.
He saw it as confirmed when Adrian recalled it annoyed and sent out a common pidgey, a smirk spread, "oh wait, that was the one you had thought about calling out all this time? So beside not knowing what your pokemon is named, you also don't know who's who? Such great trainer you are," Silver mocked. What a pathetic trainer who clearly had no clue what he was doing, oh well he would be easy dummy practice for his cyndaquil.

Silver thought about what was the best cause of action here, he of course would prefer to finish this quickly so he could get on to the next battle and toughen up his rather weak fire type, but how to best do that? His thoughts got interrupted when he heard what Adrian ordered of move and his eyes widened, "you are kidding! That's not a move pidgey knows!" He protested but wasn't going to take the chance, "Smokescreen Cyndaquil! And knock that bird out of the sky!" he snarled.

Cyndaquil blew more smoke out as Barry appeared and the bird coughed as he attempted to take a deep breath and the fire type took advantage of him being occupied with something else and raced over the ground, seemingly unbothered by the confusion from before, perhaps it was already free of it again. The mouse leaped and crashed into Barry so that they both fell to the ground. Down here there were a bit less smoke so he managed to get a proper breath before letting out his screaming. It did nothing to remove the smoke, but poor Cyndaquil certainly heard it.
Silver's mouth fell open and then he grinded his teeth and opened and closed his hands in frustration, this pidgey clearly did know uproar which meant this battle had just become a lot tougher!


Wild Encounter

---

Weather: Clear

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

[attr="class","qkt-wild-pkmn"]
Cyndaquil LV 9
HP 61% [17/28]

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

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

[attr="class","qkt-trainer-pkmn"]
Barry LV 9
HP 75% [21/28]

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

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

Cyndaquil [Blaze]: Normal
Barry [Tangled Feet]: Normal (-1ACC)

SP++ Barry switched in!
SP19 Cyndaquil used Smokescreen!

SP19 Cyndaquil used Tackle! Critical Hit!
SP17 Barry used Uproar!


(ooc: Braum has participated. Funny thing is that Braum could have won this battle on its own not counting for smokescreen, as its steel typing makes it resist cyndaquil's tackles )

[Pixel]

Gah! More smoke!

More taunting.

Adrian made a rude hand gesture at Silver because he wasn't above that. Today was testing every bit of his desire to be a better person. "Blah blah blah. Do you ever shut up?" he sassed back. Witty he was not. Frustrated and developing a nasty headache, he very much was. Of course, the smoke itching at his eyes and throat wasn't making any of that better. He pulled the collar of his jacket over his mouth and stifled a cough even as Barry flapped and screeched and made a fuss. He'd be throwing an uproar for a while. Though through the gloom as he strained his vision, he did catch movement. A moment later, Barry's screeching faltered for a moment as no doubt the other pokemon's attack landed. 

Though, he did have the admit, the disbelief on the guy's face was a little rewarding when he realized that Barry did indeed know uproar.

He smirked a little meanly, "What? Don't have a witty come back?"

The guy was clearly used to just picking on little kids with freshly caught bugs. The kind that maybe knew tackle and string shot and were easy to out damage with a naturally stronger pokemon like Cyndaquil. A pidgey with just tackle would probably be a fight in the guy's favor, but Uproar was much stronger. He wasn't sure how or why this bird knew the move, but so far, it was serving them well. And Barry got an opportunity to fuss and scream and get all of his anger and anxiety out, because oooh boy did he still seem upset by the whole 'catching him while he was eating berries' thing. Adrian hadn't even tried to take the pecha berry away from the bird yet, as he feared for his fingers.

Speaking of which...

Freshly tackled to the ground Barry flapped and pecked and kicked as he fought to get back to his feet, still screeching away, not quite yet deterred, even by the smoke that burned at little lungs. TODAY WAS AWFUL. AND EVERYBODY WAS GOING TO KNOW ABOUT IT!

—

Word Count: 353 | OOC:I know! But nobody's got time for 7+ turns of the Little Bronzor That Could trying to whittle down his foe one confusion at a time. xD Also, while this fight takes place technically before I obtained the running shoes, is it possible to use them here? As I'm locked into Uproar. Absolutely fine if I can't! Rules be rules. Just thought to ask. ^_^

[Caramell 🍬]

Adrian tried to stab Silver’s ego with his witty comeback. The redhead just shrugged and studied the bland and boring bird carefully. He’d battle plenty of Pidgey along the route, given that they so commonly fluttered about the canopies and in the tall grasses. Silver had never encountered such a unique Pidgey out of all the ones he’d faced and defeated, and so the redhead had his suspicions on how Adrian must have collected this one. “For a spoiled rich kid who gets everything handed to him by mom and dad? Hah!” Silver tossed a lock of his bright red hair over his shoulders and laughed. There was no way Adrian was out here earning his Pokemon through blood, sweat, and tears like the others!

“Cyndaquil, we’ve gotta hurry this along. Keep using Tackle and knock that loud squawker out, ok?” Silver was impressed by Adrian’s Barry though he wasn’t all impressed if his suspicions were correct. It would be a tougher match, which meant that it would give Silver a real challenge. He loved the thought of that. But if Adrian was a spoiled rich kid getting hand-me-downs from family who already had it made?! Then Silver would be understandably upset, having been abandoned by his own father a while back and forcing Silver to struggle unfairly in life. “Ah, hold still! I’m going to take you out!” Cyndaquil growled loudly and chased after Barry while the small bird continued to cause a loud commotion.

Cyndaquil slammed his head against Barry, knocking the bird out of the air just above his head and causing Barry to tumble about through the tall grasses. “Good job, Cyndaquil.” Silver nodded firmly and turned his gaze sharply upon Adrian. “So who gave you that specialized Pidgey, huh? Rich mommy or wealthy daddy?!” Silver jeered with a nasty sneer. Barry kicked and slapped his sharp talons and long wings against Cyndaquil repeatedly as they collided on their next attack together and tumbled through the grass in a tangled heap. Barry would eventually hop off an exhausted and tired out Cyndaquil, that Silver called back with a ugly angry expression. “Gah! Fine! You win!” He snapped, tossing some money at Adrian’s feet. “Cyndaquil and I will train some more. But wait until we meet next time!” Silver warned, taking off down the long winding route ahead.

Wild Encounter

---

Weather: Clear

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

[attr="class","qkt-wild-pkmn"]
Cyndaquil LV 9
HP 0% [0/28]

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

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

[attr="class","qkt-trainer-pkmn"]
Barry LV 9
HP 39% [11/28]

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

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

Cyndaquil [Blaze]: Normal
Barry [Tangled Feet]: Normal (-1ACC) [Uproar 3/3]

SP19 Cyndaquil used Tackle!
SP17 Barry used Uproar!

SP19 Cyndaquil used Tackle! Critical Hit!
SP17 Barry used Uproar!


Since it was so close to when you did request the shoes, I don't see the harm in it.
Braum participated. | Running Shoes exhausted!

Also an option if you're trying to level up weaker Pokemon (as long as they can survive 1-2 hits) is to switch them in around the last round(s) so they get final hit after whittling them down with a stronger Pokemon first.

---

Braum gained 1 level.
Braum increased to Level 5!


Barry gained 3 levels.
Barry increased to Level 12!

Adrian defeated Silver!

Silver tosses chump change ($300) at Adrian's feet for winning.

[Pixel]

What the—?

Okay. Now he was getting his comeuppance from the universe for being mean to that little snot. Because now HE was being accused of being a rich kid with parents who gave him his pokemon. Adrian scowled, "My parents haven't given me jack all. I caught him up the road while you were over here bullying ten year olds." Yes he was mad, and he had every reason to be. But judging on the taunts, he wasn't going to change this brat's mind. "Whatever. You're just accusin' me because you've lost." Adrian was a little uncertain about that victory for a moment, as he watched that cyndaquil get another extremely good hit on Barry. But his pidgey remained strong and determined to make a ruckus that woke the whole forest.

And soon, after a struggle, he was indeed victorious. Barry panted and fluttered as the smokescreen cleared to reveal the outcome of the battle. He was perched on exhausted foe and hopped off with a puff of victory. He returned the bird with a thanks for his effort and watched as the other guy sulked off, tossing money at his feet before taking his pokemon away. Pride clearly wounded. Adrian grimaced as he took the bills and watched the other go. With night falling, he couldn't be going THAT far. 

With a long, tired sigh, he moved to finally enter Cherrygrove. His feet dragged. He was so tired. 

Mentally and physically drained.

Hopefully in the morning, after a long sleep, he'd feel better...

—

Word Count: 255 | OOC:End!