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Post by Pixel on Jun 15, 2023 5:54:55 GMT 11
"P-please, just go. Go back to your family. I d-don't think you will find your mate here. With us. I'm sorry. They're gone..." The Bronzor coaxed, timidly shying back from the tail whips, nervous. So nervous. "You can still go back. Go be with the rest of your family. You still have them. If...if you think my trainer cruel, then run, please. I d-didn't have the choice to stay or leave my home when I was captured. And many humans were cruel to me before this one took me in. So go. Be free. Even heartbroken, you can start again."
"That's really sweet," Buddy murmured to herself. She knew even better than Braum how they couldn't return the rat's mate. They were better off fleeing than chasing an ill-fated quest of vengeance, especially when they were clearly not a fighter. She sympathized with the rattata. This was not a battle it wanted, not really. It was desperate and angry and without the rattata with their trainer...there was no...well, making things right.
But she couldn't just sit there silently...
"Rattata! I promise, one day, your mate will come back. And he'll be stronger than ever!" she declared. "Have a little faith."
Ever the optimist likely didn't hear the shallowness of the statement. How could she ever promise that her human would release the rattata? Or even train him to be stronger?
"Braum, use confusion again. I think we've almost got this handled, pal." Adrian cut in—curious about the chatter, but assuming it was just banter between the pokemon. After all...pokemon loved to battle, right? Even wild pokemon battled to get stronger. He did feel a tiny bit out of the loop, but that was why he was heading to the institute, to fill in the gaps in his knowledge!
Braum made an acknowledging sound.
"S-sorry. I tried," it whispered before trying to pick up the rattata once more and tossing her into the bushes. "Just go!" Their grief was properly placed but would garner no satisfaction here and now. This was a losing battle from start to finish, and it wasn't even that strong foe for the rat. Buddy or Barry could hit much, much harder than it could...
"You're doing really well, Braum," Adrian praised.
The mood of the pokemon battling was in sharp contrast to what their trainer perceived. Where he was treating this like another encounter without depth or meaning, they were seeing the agony and sorry of this heartbroken parent who lost her beloved mate of who knows how long.
— Word Count: +424 (+424 to egg) | OOC: Confusion! |
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Post by Caramell 🍬 on Jun 15, 2023 7:03:19 GMT 11
Rattata curled its lips and growled underneath its breath. It narrowed its eyes and twisted its body in a half-moon shape as it spun back around and narrowed its gaze firmly on Braum. Angery burned inside of Rattata’s bright red eyes, making them look crimson in comparison even within their whites. They didn’t seem to care or understand! They just wanted to steal mates away from Rattata and possibly from all Pokemon kind! Why had it pushed its mate to challenge them again? When they were safely hidden, secluded inside of their dug out home, where no one would have seen them? Because it couldn’t sleep with all the noise? Or because it actually believed they would have been spotted anyways?! “I saw your human steal them away! What do you mean they’re not here?! That evil creature has them!” It snapped. It definitely didn’t care about Braum’s woes, either. Who cared if it had cruel trainers before. That didn’t matter to the purple rodent. Nothing mattered but its mate, itself, and their egg. Until it had successfully rescued them from this evil creature and their evil Pokemon henchmen, nothing else could matter. Rattata rushed through the thick grass, ignoring the tall wildflowers that slapped Rattata in the face, and jumped into the air. It slammed its head into the center of Braum’s body, before collapsing back on the ground. But it wasn’t done yet. Never! It would shoot underneath Braum in an all out rampage towards Adrian, hoping to dive into his bag and steal its mate back. “Oh boohoo!” Rattata chatted angrily. “You’re a stealer of mates! Doesn’t that mean to deserve all the mistreatment? Since you cause so much anguish for all the other Pokemon you steal?!” Rattata asked firmly. Braum would pick Rattata up easily with his psychic powers long before it had the chance to jump into the bag and tossed Rattata far off into the woods again. Bruised. Battered. Barely hanging on. But it wasn’t giving up, yet! It turned, those flame-styled eyes burning through Buddy as though Rattata would light the little plant on fire if it could. “Sweet?! He’ll be stronger than ever?! I don’t want promises and empty words! I want actions and results!” Rattata growled firmly, demanding Buddy take her kind words and shove them back down her throat. “And I’m NOT going until you give him back!” Rattata insisted, though by now it definitely looked like it couldn’t survive much more. Wild Encounter
Weather: Clear [attr="class","qkt-bkgd"] [attr="class","qkt-wild-pkmn"]
Rattata LV 7
HP 9% [2/23]
[attr="class","qkt-wild-pkmn2"]
[attr="class","qkt-wild-imgbox"] [attr="class","qkt-pkmn-img"]  [attr="class","qkt-wild-imgbox"] [attr="class","qkt-pkmn-img"] ![]() [attr="class","qkt-trainer-pkmn2-1"]
Braum LV 8
HP 86% [25/29]
[attr="class","qkt-trainer-imgbox"] [attr="class","qkt-pkmn-img"]  Rattata [??]: Normal Braum [Levitate]: Normal [-2 Def] SP17 Rattata used Tackle!
SP11 Braum used Confusion! Rattata avoided being confused!
Rattata's Moveset: Tackle, Tail Whip, Quick Attack, Focus Energy
Rattata's Move: i0r8Jk8e1-4 (crit) 1-16 (strength) 1-16
Braum's Move: (crit) 1-16 (strength) 1-16 (10% confusion) 1-100
Running Shoes exhausted!
Adding words to egg! 1-4·1-16·1-42·1-16·1-16·1-100 |
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Post by Pixel on Jun 15, 2023 7:52:32 GMT 11
More scolding, scalding words. The rattata just wouldn't quit. Braum tried tossing her into the bushes, hoping she'd take its advice. But no, it came back and tackled it, hard, sending the steel-type reeling back and nearly into its trainer. It made a distressed, unnatural noise and Adrian patted it's mirror-like back.
"One more time. You got this!"
Well. It tried. Buddy and it both. With a deep breath, it would try to (gently) toss the vengeful rat into a soft patch of grasses to hopefully sleep off this urge to fight.
Adrian was already assured they're win this. He was wandering further up the path, looking to see if this way was clear of debris and dense trees. Buddy looked fretfully over her shoulder as she followed.
After a moment, he pulled his pack off his shoulder to look at the eggs inside, checking in on them again, reassuring himself none were cracked or quite ready to hatch. That wriggly spheal egg had him hopeful that he'd be meeting his newest teammate soon. He'd done a little research after Elm identified the egg. Apparently, Spheal and Seal weren't too different. Both were ice-water types. Both mammalian. But Seal only evolved once into Dewgong, while Spheal had three stages ending with Walrein, who was impressively tough looking compared to its round ball of a first stage.
Spheal was cute and bouncy and rolly. Whereas its last evolution looked hardly and had these massive tusks!
Before he zipped shut the bag, Flicker popped her head out, and made a soft sound at him.
"Yeah, yeah, you're babysitting. Doing a great job, honestly." With a faint smile, he rezipped his bag and threw it back over his shoulder before turning around. "All done, Braum?" He'd look to see if the strange rat would come charing out of the grasses (again) to seek mighty justice upon his boots. Such a strange creature and such an alarming display of behavior. "I wonder what got it all riled up. Hope it wasn't sick or anything...did it bite you, pal? Er...Hm. Can steel types get sickness from being bitten by something like a rattata? You don't have...skin. Or blood. Pretty sure blood is needed for that sort of thing."
That was why poison didn't work on steel types right? They didn't have blood? Or the same kind of blood? Or was it just a lack of skin? Did any steel types have skin? That was a weird thought. Huh.
— Word Count: +413 (+413 to egg) | OOC: Confusion! |
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Post by Caramell 🍬 on Jun 15, 2023 10:24:19 GMT 11
Rattata stood firmly in place though its body screamed. Its tail was broken. Its arms and legs were cut up from their paws to their shoulders and hackles. It’s fur stood in various directions, with many strands mucher shorter than they should be. And a few of its teeth felt a bit loose, as though the subsequent tumbles from Braum’s psychic attacks had threatened to knock them out of its mouth. It knew that it couldn’t keep doing this. It couldn’t keep standing tall and firm, demanding that they give it back the only mate it had ever known or loved. “You…need to…give him…back!” A final brave roar, hoarse, tired, and out of breath. Rattata needed to focus like she never focused before. Its eyes were sharp. Firmly locked on Braum. He was the sole thing standing in Rattata’s way. It worried about the egg it had hidden deep in the forest, hopefully still not messed with given all the wild snakes that called Penumbra Hills home. It worried about how it could make ends meet having to both protect the egg constantly and forage to keep itself from starving. It worried whether these Pokemon were only trying to placate it so that they could make off with its mate. When Braum picked it up back up in the air once more, Rattata would roar one final time. “Give me my mate!” Like a broken record. And then… “Please…” A soft plea filled with all of Rattata’s dying hopes and wishes. Braum tossed it deep in the forest but Rattata wouldn’t come running back out after them. The trees swayed in the gentle breeze and the grasses around them rustled. Several sounds called from deep in the forest – several more rats, but also loud hisses from snakes and even howls from distance canines. Even if the hills were alive and full of Pokemon that seemed to be at a near cutthroat lifestyle with each other, Rattata had lost the fight. And now Rattata rushed back to its egg, battered and beaten, praying it wasn’t too late to keep the only remaining thing Rattata had to remember her mate by from being gobbled up by a wild snake.
Rattata's Moveset: Tackle, Tail Whip, Quick Attack, Focus Energy
Rattata's Move: IUtRygis1-4
Braum's Move: (crit) 1-16 (strength) 1-16 (10% confusion) 1-100
Running Shoes exhausted!
Adding words to egg!
 Braum gained 2 levels. Braum increased to Level 10! |
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Post by Pixel on Jun 15, 2023 10:59:37 GMT 11
Buddy and Braum watched the place where the rattata vanished, and sighed a little sadly when it didn't re-emerge. Hopefully, it would recover okay and go back to its eggs and any other family it needed to tend. These hills were full of dark dangers, and though Adrian was more confident in his explorations, his pokemon were now a little more...jaded perhaps? This was not a kind place. It was a cursed one. Filled with dangers and haunts and all that sort of thing.
The rustle above their heads in the canopies foretold that, yes, there were things out there they had yet to see, but what? Were there larger spiders? Perhaps some kind of beast large and knowable that could fly? It was impossible to quite tell.
"Wanna stay out Braum or go back into your ball? You look a little uncomfortable." Their trainer would ask when he noticed the somber calm of his two pokemon. Braum looked up and made a soft sound. "Okay. Return, pal. I'll call you later." And in a flash, the bronzor disappeared. "Buddy? Do you wanna go back in your ball for a rest too? You don't seem very...you right now..."
She shook her head and trekked forward. She just had to clear the anguished rattata from her mind. There was nothing to be done about it now.
Adrian hummed softly to himself and shrugged, one hand carding through his mop of dark hair. No doubt his usually messy locks were just as mussed as ever with his near constant touching of it when he was feeling anxious. Not that he'd ever admit to the habit being a nervous one.
Hands returning to his pockets, he forged onward, walking steadily down the newest path, pushing through any low hanging branches as he kept his gaze on the estate on the horizon line. It didn't look all that far. Honestly, there had to be an easy way there! He would figure it out and probably feel embarrassed about it later.
Eventually, he came to a fork in the path. Or what looked like one. It was hard to tell in this place. One of them probably wasn't even the path...or maybe none of this was a path at all and he was on a trail that lead to more trees and more broken dreams. Who knew?
"Guess I'll go...this way." And down the lefthand path he went. Buddy absently followed alongside him, lost in her own thoughts as she idly found yet another stick to drag along the ground, occasionally nudging rocks and logs. She didn't as enthusiastically thump trunks or stumps like before. Didn't want to disturb any sleeping rat families.
Adrian hummed with a bit of concern as he ducked under another branch, a little worried that this path too would be overgrown. Dang. Did he go the wrong way? No. He thought he could still see a little more path ahead. It was just curvy...
"Flicker. Can you shed some light on the situation?"
The litwick phased out of his backpack and offered her faint glow to the situation, illuminating what she could in the gloom. It wasn't bright enough to see more than a few more feet than before, but at least this way Adrian could see if he was about to walk face first into a ditch or a bramble bush. A little more slowly he ambled forward, well aware that the further he went into the hills, the harder it seemed to be to navigate every time. If only he had a good way of cutting these stray branches...or possibly getting past some of these more densely packed trees.
Or maybe it was better this way. If he stayed on a clear-ish path, the less likely he was to get so horrifically lost as he'd done before.
— Word Count: +639 (+639 to egg) | OOC: Tree or encounter? Roll the dice. |
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Post by Caramell 🍬 on Jun 15, 2023 11:08:43 GMT 11
Rattata finally made it back to her egg. Thankfully! As she began clearing all of the leaves and debris she’d used to hide it, another familiar looking rodent crawled out from a particularly thorny bramblebush and nudged her softly on the shoulder. She blinked, tilting her head sideways, and squeaked loudly. It was family! Though she hadn’t seen them in ages, Rattata would recognize their ratty faces anywhere! “You came to help me? Really?” The larger and older rat nodded his head firmly, pressing closer to her as another pair of eyes peered out from underneath the fallen log, carefully picking up Rattata’s egg. “We came for you.” It corrected with a loud huff. Meanwhile, another Ratta riddled with scars from its head to its toes rushed through the dense overgrowth in the direction of that horrid human and his horrid Pokemon team. There was a war waging in the hills. A war that would follow all Rattata kind for eons. They would make their mark: No human would ever be safe along Penumbra Hills again! This was the last time they watched one of their brethren or sisters get beaten to a pulp or snagged away to never be seen again. “Hey, you!” The newest Rattata jumped out from behind a large oak tree and called to Adrian’s back. Should he ignore it, it would run after him and jump at him to try and climb up his leg, gnawing every step of the way. “I don’t think you know who you were messing with, do you?” The Rattata continued. Their family was large and numerous. Many of them ran the hillside with a steely paw. Sure, some of the Pokemon hunted them down and made them hide in dark tunnels as their natural predators. But they were sick and tired of running and hiding. Today they would run and hide no more. “You have something of ours. I think you know what it is, don’t you?” The Rattata squeaked with a mile wide smirk. “And we’ll hunt you down ‘til Kingdom come if you don’t give it back posthaste!” It demanded firmly. Another Wild Rattata Appears?  Level 8. Seriously...who keeps sending them? Cuttable Tree? siAKSsiw1-10
Pokemon: (rare) 1-10 (uncommon) 1-3 (mon) 1-2 (level) 6-16
1-10·1-10·1-3·1-2·6-16 |
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Post by Pixel on Jun 15, 2023 11:41:21 GMT 11
Fate decided that Adrian's ankles must suffer. As a THIRD rat emerged from the gloom and this one too instantly assaulted his shoes. He did instinctively kick his leg to fling the rat off, staggering back a few steps, even more alarmed than the first time. "What in arceus' name is going on?! What's wrong with these rats?" He reached for Braum's ball and tossed it out again to face the rattata. Well aware his bronzor was slower than his foe, he wondered it was a good time to try out a new move.
However, he decided against it as it was possible this one wouldn't attack Braum, and instead fixate on Adrian like the last one. Maybe he stepped in something at the pokemon center these rats didn't like smell of?
"Braum, use confusion!" His bronzor wasn't very strong yet, but he had confidence that in time, it'd be able to defeat these rattata in no time! And soon it'd be all caught up with the rest of the team. Braum stared at the angry rattata and sighed.
Buddy did too
"Look, we're sorry about what happened to your friend, but he isn't here. Attacking our trainer won't make him reappear." she tried diplomatically. "We're deeply sorry, but members of rat kingdom cannot find true solace in hurting this human. Please, just let us pass in peace."
Braum punctuated the peace argument by carefully trying to toss the rat into the bushes a couple times to discourage further attacks. But it had little hope of its efforts actually, well...doing anything. These rattata seemed darn determined to chew their way through Adrian's ankles despite their best efforts to deter them.
Buddy tugged on Adrian's sleeve and tried to get him to follow. Come on! Let Braum handle this. They needed to get away from the rat so nobody got more hurt than needed. Braum could handle this one. Albeit reluctantly. It really wasn't a violent pokemon and this call to action made it very uncomfortable. Especially since it knew its trainer was to blame for what was occurring.
Adrian, confused but trusting, let Buddy lead him a little ways from the fight, thinking that she was just worried he'd get bitten.
"It'll be okay, bud, you'll see. Nobody's gonna be hurt." He knelt to pat her bulb, smiling at her, oblivious. His pokemon weren't the ones going through a telenovella worthy drama of the ages, so why would he be concerned?
— Word Count: +411 (+411 to egg) | OOC: Confusion X2 |
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Post by Caramell 🍬 on Jun 16, 2023 3:06:14 GMT 11
Rattata wasn’t ready to hear what Braum had to say. Not yet, at least. It rushed through the tall grasses, darting underneath overturn logs and leaping over small stumps that stood in its way. There was quite the dance with Rattata holding a strong warrior’s stance as it charged Braum, who floated out of the way of many of Rattata’s attacks. “Where did our friend go? Please tell us, we will go there and take our friend back. If you’re not some great evil sent to only cause us agony, be open and honest while you have the chance.” The furry purple rat squeaked in demand. It squirreled its way up the side of a large tree. Though Rattata wasn’t particularly a good climber, once it finally managed to scoot its body up onto a large branch, it could easily run across thick branches to chase after Braum. It would stop, tilting its head to follow where Braum went, and leaped from above when Braum floated underneath it concealed inside of a large live oak, whose thick and sturdy branches curled back towards the ground nearly touching it. This unique shape and design gave Rattata the right support it needed to scale the tree just enough not to risk falling out. Once it struck Braum, however, it would tumble to the ground with a loud oaf! Braum picked it up and tossed Rattata back through the dense forest. “Where is your trainer going?!” It landed in a thick bramblebush and immediately squirmed around as the sharp needles on the bush’s long vines cut and scraped against its skin. It eventually crawled back out and thumped its tail against the ground, before raising it up tall like a banner and waving it around to try and make itself look larger and more imposing. It would try to shoot just past Braum. “Don’t worry, I’ll find him!” But Braum stopped it from getting too far and tossed it back into the same bush, whose sharp vines dug into the same small cuts and scrapes and caused it sharp pain. It wasn’t done yet, but it was already growing very tired from Braum’s strong attacks. Wild Encounter
Weather: Clear [attr="class","qkt-bkgd"] [attr="class","qkt-wild-pkmn"]
Rattata LV 8
HP 12% [3/25]
[attr="class","qkt-wild-pkmn2"]
[attr="class","qkt-wild-imgbox"] [attr="class","qkt-pkmn-img"] [attr="class","qkt-wild-imgbox"] [attr="class","qkt-pkmn-img"] ![]() [attr="class","qkt-trainer-pkmn2-1"]
Braum LV 10
HP 94% [32/34]
[attr="class","qkt-trainer-imgbox"] [attr="class","qkt-pkmn-img"] Rattata [??]: Normal Braum [Levitate]: Normal [-1 Def] SP19+ Rattata used Quick Attack!
SP12 Braum used Confusion! Rattata avoided being confused!
SP19 Rattata used Tail Whip! Braum's Defense fell!
SP12 Braum used Confusion! It was a critical hit! Rattata avoided being confused!
Pokemon: (rare) IySKe0Oo1-10 (uncommon) 1-3 (mon) 1-2 (level) 6-16
Rattata's Moveset: Tackle, Tail Whip, Quick Attack, Focus Energy
Rattata's Move: 1-4 (crit) 1-16 (strength) 1-16
Braum's Move: (crit) 1-16 (strength) 1-16 (10% confuse) 1-100
Rattata's Move: 1-4
Braum's Move: (crit) 1-16 (strength) 1-16 (10% confuse) 1-100
Running Shoes exhausted!
Adding words to egg. 1-10·1-3·1-2·6-16·1-4·1-16·1-16·1-16·1-16·1-100·1-4·1-16·1-16·1-100 |
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Post by Pixel on Jun 16, 2023 3:52:58 GMT 11
"Your friend...he's...he's in a pokeball. Far away from here," Braum tried as the rat kept popping up, demanding to know where the other rat had gone. "In...in a p-place with lots of l-lights. A building with a r-red roof. If you g-go there. He's there." In that place known as a PC but it doubted the rattata understood the finer details. Maybe if it could distract them with that little hope, they could continue their trek with fewer encounters with the devastated rattata's extended family.
One more time, Braum tried to pick up the rat and toss it into the grasses. It really didn't feel the other's attempt at violence, but it really didn't need the mouse to keep bashing its head into its body and giving itself a concussion. It would probably get blamed for that. It was always blamed for a lot...well...until this new trainer.
The bug catcher boy blamed it for his troubles for not being a bug. For being ugly. Useless. Cursed. The nanny who gave him to the boy? She found it unsettling too. It really didn't want to be the reason this family of rats was broken up more than it already was by a single pokeball. Something its trainer viewed so innocently.
Carelessly.
It hummed to itself, not wanting to ponder the morality of it all.
Adrian was already walking off again, pushing branches out of the way as he explore. Braum glanced between the grasses and its trainer, before floating to follow. If the rat had not been knocked out by that last toss, then it was free to leap out and get a free hit on it from behind. Braum didn't want to go after it.
So it would float slowly after Adrian as he once more brought out Flicker to help him better see the path ahead. He even pulled his Pokegear out too and used the flash to light up a short distance. He could see, just not well.
Absently, he shined the flashlight app at both the path so he didn't step on snakes, and up into the canopy to try to avoid walking into another spinarak web. No doubt the darkness loving inhabitants didn't exactly appreciate his methods, but it was unfortunately the only way he felt safe when the path became uneven. He found ekans out here. Last thing he needed was to step on one, get poisoned, and pass out here in the middle of nowhere and hope the poochyena and houndour didn't try to eat him.
He shuddered at that gory thought.
Nope. Not going to linger at that image.
Adrian turned to shine the light back at Braum, "So, you defeat that rattata?" He smiled as Braum glanced back, wondering if now was when they'd get pounced. Were they okay? Hopefully it didn't hurt the rattata too bad with all those tosses with confusion. "I bet you did. C'mon, let's get going."
Adrian had places to be, after all!
— Word Count: +496 (+496 to egg) | OOC: Confusion! If rat is knocked out, tree/new encounter please! |
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Post by Caramell 🍬 on Jun 17, 2023 3:32:33 GMT 11
The newest Rattata didn’t understand what Braum was talking about. It had never encountered a Poke Ball and wasn’t even sure what these strange contraptions were. There was a rumor from some of the other rodents that a strange berry stole their friend away, but even that didn’t make any sense. “What on earth is a Poke Ball?” It squeaked, scratching the back of its neck with its hind leg as it tried to understand Braum better. “And why would you put my friend in one? And why is he in some strange human building? With a red roof? What if I go to the wrong red roof?” Explanation. It needed them fast. Then an idea struck it. It rushed after Braum, jumping up to grip its paws into his body quickly, hoping to drag him down to the ground and drag him off with it. “You can lead the way!” Wasn’t this the best way to prove Braum’s innocence? And to help it find their friend? And to right the wrong they’d done? Finally, to end the War the Rattata would wage on all human kind? But Braum, having other ideas, used his powers to pull Rattata off him and toss it into the deep forest. Bruise, battered, and beaten, Rattata rushed through the overgrowth to go warn the others. “Just know you’ve chosen war if you refuse to take us to him or free him!” It squeaked behind its quickly disappearing body. Meanwhile, even though Adrian was being extremely cautious traveling through the thick overgrowth of the surrounding forest, he’d find himself face-to-face with a previously snoozing snake. Maybe the yellow rattle blended in particularly well with the creams of the surrounding sands Adrian’s feet trekked too? Or maybe the tall grasses grew much too high for him to see through? Some were nearly the height of a small child, while many were nearly just to your knees, so it wasn’t impossible. Nevertheless, a groggy snake lifted its head and hissed angrily. “That’s my tail.” And smirked. “Now what should I do with such a rude creature? Hmm…” It hummed softly to itself. A Wild Ekans Appeared!  Level 6. Is it...plotting? But what? Cuttable Tree? G9odSZKM1-10Shiny? 1-42
Pokemon: (rare) 1-10 (uncommon) 1-3 (mon) 1-2 (level) 6-16
100% success rate for move execution & no moves Rattata knows to KO your Pokemon or lower accuracy.
So...I'm just going ahead and speedrunning the inevitable for battle purposes. Will still roll for fluff purposes and RP.
Braum gained 2 levels. Braum increased to Level 12!Braum is trying to learn Imprison! Forget a move and learn Imprison? |
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Post by Pixel on Jun 17, 2023 4:41:05 GMT 11
Adrian screamed.
Like a little girl.
There was a poisonous snake's face an inch from his face and he didn't even see the thing until he nearly walked into it. What other reaction did one have to that kind of encounter? Okay, maybe he could have kept his calm and been all stoic and manly about it. But he was alone in these hills save for his own pokemon and the ones that kept trying to KILL HIM.
He flailed and backpedaled and tripped over the coils of the snake he'd inadvertently stepped into and thus trampled on the snake's tail. How had he missed that? He started to swear as he reeled and pitched backward right onto his backside, crashing into the underbrush and smacking his head against a tree as completed his landing. He sat there dazed for a moment, frozen, blinking away stars.
But self-preservation kicked in hard as he tried to tuck his legs in closer to his body and get back to his feet, though he remained disoriented and the sandy ground made traction difficult. He pawed at the trunk of the tree, fingernails digging fruitlessly into the bark, his hands protesting as splinters dug sharply into sensitive skin. Adrian was pretty sure he tasted blood. However, that was probably because he bit the inside of his cheek when he fell.
No doubt he looked quite the sight, especially when he recalled the fact he had eggs in his backpack and he just took a horrible fall because he panicked! He started to mutter worried curses on top of the prior ones of just pain as he struggled more eagerly to his feet and once more sent Braum between him and danger.
"Braum! Use confusion!" he called out, wiping his mouth and spitting out a tangy mouthful of blood-tinted saliva. Gross. Adrian pulled himself fully upright with the help of a branch and Buddy using her vines to support him. He clung to the branch for a frightened moment before trying to escape the snake, dashing up the path, ignoring the way branches whipped at his face and cut at his cheeks. He pulled his bag off and with a frantic look over his shoulder to make sure he wasn't being pursued, he opened the bag, hands trembling.
Nononono....
Wait. Where?
They were gone?
Suddenly, they flickered back into view and a little candle cheerfully popped out and reminded Adrian that the eggs had a guardian now. A ghost-type guardian. Who apparently had the foresight to turn everything intangible when Adrian fell. Nothing was hurt. The Spheal egg was as wiggly as ever. Unscathed. Unbothered. His legs turned wobbly as he dropped to his knees, arms wrapped around his backback.
"Stupid. That was stupid," he muttered, breaths short, damp and shuddering. He wasn't crying. No. He refused. Just because his eyes burned a little in relief, didn't mean he would start bawling. He wasn't a little kid anymore. And now was not the time to break down. He had to be strong. That's what men did. They handled crisises and stayed strong. He couldn't fail at both things in quick succession. Not when so many dangerous things lurked.
He gulped down a few more calming breaths to steady himself. And slowly, he relaxed his intense grip of the bag. A few more breaths found him pulling the backpack on properly and slowly rising to his feet, legs trembling. He had to stop psyching himself out. Strong. Be strong.
Buddy made a worried sound and he flashed her a weak smile, "It's okay. Everyone is okay. Flicker protected the eggs and..." He wiped his mouth. Then rubbed the back of his head, which was tender. He winced. "Well...I'm okay too. See. Nothing's broken. Just a few scratches. I'll feel better in no time. Just...maybe not as fast as you do after a fight."
And his fight had been with a tree.
"...Flicker...you did a wonderful job...I...I don't know how to explain how you prevented an absolute disaster but you did." Adrian felt a pang of regret and shame twist in his gut. What kind of breeder endangered eggs or baby pokemon like that. Wait. Endangered pokemon. "Braum? You okay?" He trekked back to where the ekans and bronzor were left to battle, hoping that his bronzor wasn't worse for wear. "You take care of the snake?"
Hopefully the steel-type gently threw the snake very, very far away and out of egg eating and people biting distance. If only for Adrian's heart rate and peace of mind. He still felt like a terrible trainer for running off like that...He didn't want Braum to feel abandoned again. He wasn't like that bug-catcher kid. He would do better. Be better. That started with making sure his pokemon felt valuable and cared about.
— Word Count: +800 (+803 to egg) | OOC: Confusion x2. New encounter if that knocks it out. Also, Mishu is welcome to make a cameo at any time. Even if it's just to watch him get harassed by wildlife or to ask if he's the one that's setting the hills on fire. |
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Post by Caramell 🍬 on Jun 18, 2023 5:55:31 GMT 11
The human absolutely freaked out, which was something that the long serpent wasn’t quite expecting. The way Adrian flailed and tumbled to the ground, trying to regain himself and get as far away from Ekans as possible was intriguing. It hissed, slipping its forked tongue from between its scaley lips, and tasted the air as it narrowed its eyes suspicious down on the strange human with mild interest. It acted like a scared rat – something that the serpent was used to tracking down and consuming. But it had the body composition more akin to something like a Nidoking, though not quite as muscular in stature perhaps. “Preeyyy…” It hissed, licking its lips with its forked tongue. The nearby tree moved as a thirty year old lady with thick, curly blue hair that spilled down her back leaped out of a sturdy branch from above. “Hey, get up.” She extended one of her rich ebony hands out towards Adrian, offering to help him up. The kid’s Bronzor was an intriguing choice, something she was pretty confident should handle the job find so long as it was properly trained. “These woods are purposefully left wild. Most of the Pokemon have a predator and prey relationship.” She continued. She’d been conducting her own research on the canine packs that roamed the hillsides, trying to determine if their population was getting out of hand lately or not. As Braum picked up the snake and tossed it through the thick underbrush, Mishu would focus on the newest arrival she’d met in her estates and offer a proper greeting now that she’d come out of hiding. “I’m Mishu by the way. Are you a student or just a visitor?” The Ekans lunged at Braum, wrapping him up like a poorly packaged Christmas Present in its coils. Braum easily pulled it off himself and tossed the snake far into the distance with a loud thud. Though the snake didn’t reemerge, something else stirred from above. The trees shook from the effort and weight of Mishu moving above, causing some of the inhabitants to stir. A small arachnid fell out of the tree and landed on Adrian’s shoulders in alarm as its web snapped in half with bits of stringy bug goo floating in different directions on the wind. “Hey…don’t be alarmed…” Mishu tried to gently point out to Adrian. After seeing how this easily startled adult reacted to an Ekans, she didn’t want to see how upset a Spinarak would make him, that’s for sure. Plus, startling it to try and swat it off might actually cause it to bite down, which would only mean a quick trip to the local hospital – not a good alternative, she was sure. A Wild Spinarak Appeared!  Level 16. It's taken a liking to Adrian, hmm?
Ekan's Moveset: Wrap, Leer, Poison Sting,
Braum's Move: (crit) vTuz63xT1-16 (strength) 1-16 (10% confuse) 1-100
Ekan's Move: 1-3 (90% acc) 1-100 (crit) 1-16 (strength) 1-16
Braum's Move: (crit) 1-16 (strength) 1-16 (10% confuse) 1-100
Cuttable Tree: 1-10Shiny? 1-42
Pokemon: (rare) 1-10 (uncommon) 1-3 (mon) 1-2 (level) 6-16
Braum gained 1 level. Braum increased to Level 13!
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Post by Pixel on Jun 18, 2023 6:46:33 GMT 11
Adrian was not expecting a whole adult woman to drop out of a tree. He flinched as she appeared and started to explain the prey-predator relationship of the woods and—wait. That name. Mishu. Like...
"Mishu...as in Mishu Mizuma of the Mizuma Institute?" Adrian sputtered out, his voice a little strained. Not only had his moment of emasculating glory been seen, but it was possibly seen by the person who owned this land and the institute he was stumbling around trying to find. He was quiet for a long, tense, humiliated moment, but he slowly added, "No...I'm not a student. However...I was trying to find the...path there. The locals pointed me this way." And maybe he was closer than he thought? If the owner was right here, he couldn't be too lost, right? The institute had to be right around the corner despite...well...the lights in the distance telling him otherwise.
However, before he could fully process having an actually conversation with this woman, something landed on his shoulder and Mishu told him not to panic. He slowly tilted his head and grimaced, "Not another one." His voice was a whisper. Someone did not like spiders and this one was riding on his shoulder like a happy parrot. Not wanting a face of string shot, he patted his pockets to find a pokeball.
But before he could find one, Flicker peeked out of his bag and...spat a little ember at the spider. Go away! These eggs were under her protection and you were wayyyy to close for her comfort. Shoo spider shoo. Now with a potentially ON FIRE spider on his shoulder, Adrian tensed even more and rifled in his pockets for—
NOPE! Not doing that by accident again. He put the adrenaline orb AWAY and found the cool, smooth surface of a pokeball. He popped it over his shoulder in a vain attempt to keep himself from being bitten and hospitalized. Even if it didn't catch, the pokeball would fall to the ground and the spider would no longer be perched upon him. Win-win.
Mishu would get a front row seat to him panicking but trying not to show he was panicking and probably failing miserably. Buddy tugged at his pant leg a little worriedly before looking over at Mishu with a nervous little vine wave. She liked people. She would have loved to greet Mishu, but her trainer needed her right now.
She pressed her head against his leg. Everything would be fine. See. They had a human friend now!
— Word Count: +421 (+421 to egg) | OOC: Flicker uses ember + pokeball. |
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Post by Caramell 🍬 on Jun 19, 2023 1:40:40 GMT 11
Adrian’s question amused Mishu a bit. She’d never considered herself to be infamous by any degree. She was well known in certain circles, mainly due to her involvement with Pokemon research and her assistance in uncovering hidden ancient treasures underneath the cavernous hills along her estates. She just wasn’t expecting as many trainers to take an interest as they have. “That’s correct. I’m the one that opened this place up to the public. My hope is that by allowing travelers of all kind to visit the estates, they can learn more about the Pokemon world around them and the creatures that inhabit it.” She smiled, recounting a line you might even expect to hear Professor Oak say at the start of your old Gameboy Color games. “Well, I can lead you back to the estates.” Mishu added with a warm smile. She wouldn’t mind taking a small detour from her current studies to help a lost traveler along his way. There were wondrous things one could study in the estates and plenty of controlled field researches should the woods prove to be too much for them, though most of that was on various decks overseeing the wild Pokemon in their cultivated habitats, which had to be meticulously crafted in order to create the perfect living environment for them. “If you don’t mind my asking, what’s your name sir?” She asked with a warm smile. Seeing Adrian manage to hold himself together when it was evident that he wanted to fall apart at the seams was reassuring. As the Spinarak scuttled across his shoulder towards his bag, she watched both carefully to make sure that it wasn’t trying to take a huge chomp out of the man’s back. It seemed relaxed at first, until a strange looking candle popped out and spat flames at the small arachnid. “Ah! I’ve been hit! I’m burning up! Call the doctor! Call a paramedic! I need help stat!” Spinarak flailed about, sticking up abdomen up to try and scare Flicker off while it tried to literally roll the flames out on Adrian’s shoulder. Thankfully, Adrian’s Poke Ball sucked it up inside in the blink of an eye and easily captured it. “Those flames were close…are you alright?” Mishu asked, trying to see if he might have gotten burned in the process.
Spinarak's Moveset: Absorb, Infestation, Scary Face, Nightshade
Spinarak's Move: UnJrbX601-4
Flicker's Move: (crit) 1-16 (strength) 1-16 (10% burn) 1-100
 Flicker gained 3 levels. Flicker increased to Level 15!Please fill out the form on your new Pokemon:
[img src="https://play.pokemonshowdown.com/sprites/bw/spinarak.png"]
[b]Spinarak[/b]
Name: [choose]
Gender: [choose]
Level: 16
OT: Adrian Hartt
Moves: Absorb, Infestation, Scary Face, Nightshade
Ability: Swarm OR Insomnia
Nature/Personality: [choose]
Adding words to egg! 1-4·1-16·1-16·1-100 |
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Post by Pixel on Jun 19, 2023 3:12:22 GMT 11
"Er...Adrian."
He answered as the spider vanished from sight into the pokeball. He sighed and rubbed his neck. That had been a bit on the unexpected side. "thanks flicker, but..." Be more more careful, he willed at the little ghost, who very contentedly slipped back in the bag that he swore was even more wriggly than before. Adrian glanced at Mishu again as he hand fell to his side. "I'm fine." He just had a poisonous spider flail around on his shoulder while on fire because Flicker was a little too enthusiastic with that ember and burned it.
"...I suppose...you'd know the way back. Did I find the right path or am I just..." He motioned around him. The path he was on was starting to look less and less traveled, and he'd have to start squeezing between trees soon.
It would be very evident to Mishu that this young man wasn't exactly very sociable. He spoke with a mumble and wasn't looking at her more than required, spending a lot of his time glancing over his shoulders and at their surroundings, as if (wisely) expecting something else to pop up. He had a nervous sort of edginess that bespoke of someone ready for a fight at any moment, but was trying to learn not to swing first, ask questions after. Because that was how people ended up in jail.
Heck, in general he had the air of a troubled teen recently turned adult. A sort of scruffiness formed through a youth wearing ill-fitted clothes and hanging around the wrong crowd until he finally clawed his way out. Healthy, well-adapted people didn't act like every helpful stranger should be distrusted. Sure, given a little caution, but the man didn't even smile. Just remained on high alert.
However, one he seemed to determine that nothing would jump at him right away, he checked on his bag again. A little unzip and...oh, two of the eggs were wriggling quite readily. Apparently his tumble not only didn't break any shells, but the pokemon within were almost....excited...How strange. The third egg was still rather still, but he suspected that it wouldn't be long before it joined the other two in a happy dance of near hatching.
He zipped it up quickly, "So...which way...er, Mishu?"
Buddy, realizing that they might have a companion for a bit, cheerfully bounded up to Mishu to wave hello and tug at her pant leg. She even grabbed a stick from nearby to offer as a friendly present. If she had more time she'd have gotten a flower, but this place seemed dreadfully lacking in pretties. It was mostly full of spooky-scaries. And many, many rattata. So many rattata. And they all wanted to chew off Adrian's shoes.
"Hey Bud, don't pester her," Adrian said softly, hoping his overly touchy bulbasaur didn't get them into trouble with their guide out of here. Buddy cocked her head and then cheerfully ran back to him to rub against his leg instead. That earned her pats.
— Word Count: +503 (+593 to egg) If enough to hatch, please swap in geodude egg. Will hatch egg in adventure thread. | OOC: Encounter or tree plz~ |
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