Days of Rest
~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~
It was two in the morning of the day after she turned 17; it was two in the morning of the day after she asked for a Pokémon and permission to take a year off of school to compete in the gym circuit and plan the next step in her life. It was too bad that her parents had said it wasn't likely.
She went out for a walk to clear her mind and calm her nerves. She knew the neighborhood so well that she could comfortably walk with her arms crossed and staring at the floor.
Keizer is so monotonous…I just really need to get out of here… I wish Mom would just sign the stupid papers so I can just do it… I guess she has a right to be worried but, it's like, c'mon! It's not like I'm not gonna have a bunch of super-powered monsters with me at all times…
She finished her usual route feeling no better, and from the side of her house she could hear some shuffling. Feeling as though she had better make sure it wasn't a criminal or something, she went to investigate. What she saw was a few Trubbish digging through her garbage—the little buggers were always eating random crap from people's trash.
At a safe distance away from the rest of her little gang was a lone Trubbish, sitting quietly and keeping to herself. This one was actually clean, though.
Erica pulled out the pokeball that one of her best friends, Sam, had given her for her birthday and began fiddling with it. She kept watching the Trubbish out of curiosity. One of them went over to the one sitting by herself and tried to offer her a moldy slice of pizza covered in spoiled milk. She smelled it, slapped the other Trubbish, and gagged a little bit. She was clearly unhappy…
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Tired and a little bit stinky for her late night/early morning excursion, Erica awoke properly for the day and went into the kitchen to eat breakfast. Her mom was already waiting with a classic meal of pancakes, eggs, and sausage. That was a nice thing to wake up to.
"Erica, I wanted to talk to you about yesterday." Her mom was smiling uncomfortably.
Uh oh. "Yeah?"
"I know where you're coming from… I didn't go on one of these adventures or whatever when I was a kid, but I see the appeal. It's hard to know what you want to do with your life, sometimes."
"Yeah…"
"I went to the lab in Salem to pick up a state-issued Starter. I've also registered you as a trainer. In September, you can officially start a gym circuit."
"Really? Oh my god this is so cool! Thank you so much!" She hugged her mom, who then handed her a pokeball.
"A Turtwig. I know how much you like shelled-lizards, so I figured it'd be a good first Pokémon."
Erica stared in silence. "Thank you so much, mom…" Layla could just be a secret for now…
~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~
After traveling for another day and getting completely lost, Sam and Erica decided it would be a good idea to try and find somewhere to take a rest for a day. They figured that they had a big day, and it'd be nice to get to know the newest member of their little gang—the Zorua, which Sam named Houdini after an ancient myth of a magical shape-shifting demi-god of the same name.
"It'd be really nice to find somewhere with water. We could drink and maybe wash-up and just relax." Erica was right, of course. They really needed some time off.
"That sounds perfect. Hopefully we can find somewhere on the Omnidex map." Sam pulled out his Omnidex and tried another map app. "An hour or so east will get us to a nice clearing with a waterfall and lake and some caves and stuff. It'll be a pretty rough hour, but we can spend the rest of the day there, then leave tomorrow morning and get to Silverton before noon…"
"That sounds totally worth it! Let's just go for it! And maybe I can catch another Pokémon while we're at it!"
"Erica… We both have three already and we haven't even been to the second GymTown in our circuit. I'm not gonna try to catch another Pokémon for a while…"
"I'm sure we can both have it our way. I'm just gonna get a bunch of cool Pokémon as we go. I can learn a lot about them that way."
"I didn't even know you liked learning about them. I guess your Pokémon will be taken care of in the storage system…"
"It's not like I'm just gonna throw a pokeball and randomly catch shit." Erica pulled an empty pokeball from her coat pocket and pretended like she was going to throw it in a random direction, but her hand slipped and she actually threw it.
A loud whine, three soft clicks, and a pronounced beep were immediately heard.
Pokémon captured. Male Deerling. Level 20. Please enter name.
Erica typed in the first name that came to mind.
Chase the Deerling has been added to your party.
"I'm ready to go now!" Erica was pleased.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Their trek to the little oasis in the forest wasn't too terribly difficult; the toughest part was trying not to land face-first in the mud every few seconds—it had been raining every night they'd been there. The weather had been nicer that day, though, and they felt very treated when they arrived at their destination.
At early afternoon, Sam and Erica made it to an open area with a sparkling stream that ran along the area and probably fed into the WillametteRiver. A large waterfall fed the stream. They stood, awestruck, and took in the sight of the fresh sunshine, open sky, and the promise of a relaxing time.
In the distance, under a tree by the river, Sam and Erica saw a young man with a little brown Pokémon taking a nap. It was decided that it'd be best to just leave him there, they didn't know if he was safe. Instead of approaching him, they each found a more-or-less secluded spot in the river to bathe—they really needed it.
Sam was pretty quick in getting cleaned up. Paxton just kind of always absorbed anything nasty and dissolved it in his membrane, so he didn't need any cleaning (though he did enjoy playing in the water.)
Houdini seemed to love the water a lot, though whatever gave him his Illusion ability must've been on him, because every now and then, Sam would have a small hallucination. It was bearable.
Coconut didn't like getting his wings wet, so helped wash him with a little rag.
All of Sam's Pokémon kept a little distance between themselves. He figured he could solve the problem pretty easy, though. Pax and Coconut were natural enemies due to weakness or something, as were Pax and Houdini…and Coconut and Houdini.
This might be a little bit harder than I thought it would be, Sam thought to himself.
Erica settled herself in a somewhat private area on the river with a few bushes and the low-hanging branches of a tree for cover. She cleaned herself up before she sent out her Pokémon. She decided she'd clean her Pokémon one at a time and get to know them a little bit before she'd make them interact.
"Come on out, Layla." Her little Trubbish was really excited, as usual, to get a bath. While most Trubbish were grimy and kind of nasty—some people thinking them to be the result of mutated garbage, Layla loved being clean. Her biggest pet peeve was getting garbage in her long arm-hair.
Layla was one of Erica's first Pokémon, so she knew her pretty well by now: She was a neat-freak, a little selfish, but a total sweetheart. There was no way she wouldn't be able to get along with the rest of the team over time. Layla got cleaned up, and Erica let her curl up and nap under the tree.
Next, Erica sent out Bradley. He didn't really like the water, she noticed, so she just soaped up her dirty shirt and used it to clean him off, being careful not to touch his wings. Bradley was always very proud and cocky—he had a huge ego. He seemed more muscular and tougher-skinned than most other Beedrill—the rare candies must've caused that growth.
Erica had two grass Pokémon, and knowing Bradley, he'd use that fact to terrorize them. She'd have to work on having him behave without totally breaking his spirit. Him and Layla seemed to get along alright, though. At least, they didn't seem to dislike each other.
"Bradley, go keep an eye out for Layla. If she wakes up, keep her some company." He complied and buzzed around the area of the tree Layla was sleeping under. "Alright, come out, Chase."
Erica's new little Deerling emerged from his pokeball and gleefully entered the water up to his knees and began cleaning himself. Chase seems really calm. Erica let him clean himself then join the others.
Bradley immediately tried to pick on him with some minor jabs, and Chase retaliated by throwing his entire weight at him and snorting loudly. Bradley was clearly surprised by this move and Chase taunted him a little by turning back to Layla and kicking behind himself. So those three will get along alright.
As Erica was thinking about how to entertain them all so they could bond a little bit, A large, mossy rock came floating to the water's edge.
Sam thought that trying to get his team to work cohesively would be a good use of the time on their day off. He let all three of them be out and made them line up side-to-side. He stood in front of them firmly and commanded: "Pax, you'll be the official translator."
Right.
"Wait. Do you think you can like…psychic our minds so we understand each other?"
Probably…
"Oh…well…will you please try?"
What? Oh, right. Ok. Pax was really intelligent, but kind of oblivious... Sam felt a slight buzz in his head for a second, and because Coconut and Houdini startled visibly, he assumed that they did, too.
"Can we all understand each other?" Sam tested.
"U-umm… I guess I'll try?" Coconut fluttered a bit as Sam heard a whiny, high-pitched voice that had a slight vibrato to it. Sam had always imagined Coconut to be a little more firm, figured that a jittery voice for a bug made sense.
"Coconut? Is that you?"
"Y-yeah…"
"Alright, cool. So. Team. What do you guys dislike about each other?"
"I actually don't mind these two… My last trainer taught me Flamethrower, so I don't need to be afraid of that dweeby pest." A scratchy, high-pitched, and mischievous voice piped up. Houdini sounded as sneaky and impish and he looked.
"H-hey… I'm not... a-a dweeb! Don't be a little p-p-punk!"
Coconut nipped at Houdini with a weak Bug Bite.
"Wow! Hey! I warned you, you little bitch!" Houdini let out a huge jet of fire from his mouth and Coconut quickly used Protect. He looked upset.
"D-d-do you think I don't know how to deal with little i-i-imps like y-you?" So little Coco was not one to be messed with.
"W-we're cool. We don't have any issues…" Houdini's stutter was definitely a frightened one. So one oblivious Pokémon, one with a stutter, and one who's bark was bigger than his bite. They could all probably get over each other's faults. Coconut already bullied Houdini into being civil, and Houdini seemed to think that Pax would be too easy to pick on. Pax never really noticed Coco's advantage over him, so they were civil enough.
Some bonding time is all they would need.
The shaggy-haired boy with the sloth Pokémon began approaching Sam and his Pokémon.
When the big, mossy rock got near the water's edge, something under the water stirred a bit, and the rock proceeded to rotate and float in the other direction. Erica called Bradley over. "Hey, Brad, give that rock a Twinneedle, would you? There's something really weird about it." Bradley nodded. "Thanks."
Bradley's claws began vibrating and he dived for the rock, hitting it head on. It sunk underwater, and as it did, a bunch of bubbles hastily reached the surface of the water. A rough splashing then ensued, and a large, blue, shelled-lizard reared itself, shell in the water. It shot a rough stream of water at Brad and knocked him out of the air.
"Oh, no! I'm sorry, mister, uh—hold on!" Erica pulled out her Omnidex and snapped a picture of the creature.
Wild Wartortle. Male. Level 21.
"I'm so sorry, Mr. War-turtle!" The Pokémon snorted, letting a few bubbles escape his nose, then went back in the water. I want to catch it, Erica thought to herself.
She would battle the Pokémon, and hopefully earn enough respect from him to get him to join her team. Deerling—a grass Pokémon—would be a good Pokémon to use against it. She flipped through the Omnidex to look at his attacks and formulate a strategy. "Come here, Chase, we're gonna figure this out."
After a few minutes of strategizing, Erica and Chase had a battle plan. "Chase, jump in the water and use Camouflage!" He followed orders, and his body began to change. The flower on his head and his tail started changing into a solid line of webbed spines on his back. His neck also began growing gills. Little fins replaced where his ears were.
Self-induced status change. Deerling changed into a water-defense Pokémon.
The battle was now underwater, and Erica put on her goggles to keep up."Attack the war-turtle with a Leech Seed!" Chase spewed three pods from his mouth that were connected to his insides by long, wire-like organs. They attached themselves to the Wartortle on his head and began sapping his energy.
The Wartortle was in clear pain, and withdrew into his shell after taking in a massive gulp of water. It started rotating in the water, and little streams of air started spraying the water it had taken in from all of the holes in its shell. It spun free of the Leech Seed and shot at Chase.
Direct damage. 85% health.
"Chase! Take Down!" Chase swam rapidly at the Wartortle and threw his entire body weight at it. It gracefully turned and just got out of the way of Chase. The Wartortle was now behind him and shooting a massive amount of little, exploding bubbles at him.
Direct damage. Bubble was not very effective. 80% health
"Take this chance to use a Double Kick!" Chase turned away from the Wartortle and kicked it straight in the belly. The Wartortle shot backwards, winded, and Erica threw a pokeball at it. It must've been built to recognize it's environment, because a tiny jet of air shot out of it and it quickly made contact with the wild Pokémon, rather than floating slowly to it and missing altogether.
The pokeball flashed twice, then broke apart and sank to the bottom. It still looked pretty beat up, and Erica still had another four pokeballs.
"Use another Leech Seed!" Chase followed orders and soon was sapping the wild Pokémon's health once again. It started to blow bubbles. "Alright, I hope this works: keep your Leech Seeds attached, but suck them back in." He did so, and the Wartortle was quickly pulled towards him. "Now use a Take Down!"
The two Pokémon collided heavily, causing a huge ripple in the water that splashed Layla and Bradley, who were on the edge of the riverbank.
Self-inflicted damage. Take Down recoil damage. 12% health.
The wartortle was definitely tired. It closed its eyes in submission, and Erica threw another pokeball. It blinked three times, then a few sparks came out of it, and it returned to Erica.
The Omnidex announced: Pokémon captured. Male Wartortle. Level 21. Please enter name.
Erica looked over to the spot of the river Sam was on, hoping he caught a glimpse of the action. She noticed the shaggy-haired boy from earlier waking up. He looked around a little bit, noticed Sam, put his brown Pokémon on his shoulder, and got up.
Erica quickly got dressed and went over to where Sam was, thinking it'd be safer stick with her traveling partner—especially since they'd seen what kind of people roamed that forest.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Erica joined Sam as the strange, red-eyed boy approached them. He had a fuzzy, sleeping Pokémon—which Sam recognized as a Slakoth—draped over his shoulder. He smelled like weed and he had a huge grin on his face.
"Ey, whassup? I'm Oliver." The boy grinned even wider and shook their hands.
Days of Rest
It was two in the morning of the day after she turned 17; it was two in the morning of the day after she asked for a Pokémon and permission to take a year off of school to compete in the gym circuit and plan the next step in her life. It was too bad that her parents had said it wasn't likely.
She went out for a walk to clear her mind and calm her nerves. She knew the neighborhood so well that she could comfortably walk with her arms crossed and staring at the floor.
Keizer is so monotonous…I just really need to get out of here… I wish Mom would just sign the stupid papers so I can just do it… I guess she has a right to be worried but, it's like, c'mon! It's not like I'm not gonna have a bunch of super-powered monsters with me at all times…
She finished her usual route feeling no better, and from the side of her house she could hear some shuffling. Feeling as though she had better make sure it wasn't a criminal or something, she went to investigate. What she saw was a few Trubbish digging through her garbage—the little buggers were always eating random crap from people's trash.
At a safe distance away from the rest of her little gang was a lone Trubbish, sitting quietly and keeping to herself. This one was actually clean, though.
Erica pulled out the pokeball that one of her best friends, Sam, had given her for her birthday and began fiddling with it. She kept watching the Trubbish out of curiosity. One of them went over to the one sitting by herself and tried to offer her a moldy slice of pizza covered in spoiled milk. She smelled it, slapped the other Trubbish, and gagged a little bit. She was clearly unhappy…
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Tired and a little bit stinky for her late night/early morning excursion, Erica awoke properly for the day and went into the kitchen to eat breakfast. Her mom was already waiting with a classic meal of pancakes, eggs, and sausage. That was a nice thing to wake up to.
"Erica, I wanted to talk to you about yesterday." Her mom was smiling uncomfortably.
Uh oh. "Yeah?"
"I know where you're coming from… I didn't go on one of these adventures or whatever when I was a kid, but I see the appeal. It's hard to know what you want to do with your life, sometimes."
"Yeah…"
"I went to the lab in Salem to pick up a state-issued Starter. I've also registered you as a trainer. In September, you can officially start a gym circuit."
"Really? Oh my god this is so cool! Thank you so much!" She hugged her mom, who then handed her a pokeball.
"A Turtwig. I know how much you like shelled-lizards, so I figured it'd be a good first Pokémon."
Erica stared in silence. "Thank you so much, mom…" Layla could just be a secret for now…
After traveling for another day and getting completely lost, Sam and Erica decided it would be a good idea to try and find somewhere to take a rest for a day. They figured that they had a big day, and it'd be nice to get to know the newest member of their little gang—the Zorua, which Sam named Houdini after an ancient myth of a magical shape-shifting demi-god of the same name.
"It'd be really nice to find somewhere with water. We could drink and maybe wash-up and just relax." Erica was right, of course. They really needed some time off.
"That sounds perfect. Hopefully we can find somewhere on the Omnidex map." Sam pulled out his Omnidex and tried another map app. "An hour or so east will get us to a nice clearing with a waterfall and lake and some caves and stuff. It'll be a pretty rough hour, but we can spend the rest of the day there, then leave tomorrow morning and get to Silverton before noon…"
"That sounds totally worth it! Let's just go for it! And maybe I can catch another Pokémon while we're at it!"
"Erica… We both have three already and we haven't even been to the second GymTown in our circuit. I'm not gonna try to catch another Pokémon for a while…"
"I'm sure we can both have it our way. I'm just gonna get a bunch of cool Pokémon as we go. I can learn a lot about them that way."
"I didn't even know you liked learning about them. I guess your Pokémon will be taken care of in the storage system…"
"It's not like I'm just gonna throw a pokeball and randomly catch shit." Erica pulled an empty pokeball from her coat pocket and pretended like she was going to throw it in a random direction, but her hand slipped and she actually threw it.
A loud whine, three soft clicks, and a pronounced beep were immediately heard.
Pokémon captured. Male Deerling. Level 20. Please enter name.
Erica typed in the first name that came to mind.
Chase the Deerling has been added to your party.
"I'm ready to go now!" Erica was pleased.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Their trek to the little oasis in the forest wasn't too terribly difficult; the toughest part was trying not to land face-first in the mud every few seconds—it had been raining every night they'd been there. The weather had been nicer that day, though, and they felt very treated when they arrived at their destination.
At early afternoon, Sam and Erica made it to an open area with a sparkling stream that ran along the area and probably fed into the WillametteRiver. A large waterfall fed the stream. They stood, awestruck, and took in the sight of the fresh sunshine, open sky, and the promise of a relaxing time.
In the distance, under a tree by the river, Sam and Erica saw a young man with a little brown Pokémon taking a nap. It was decided that it'd be best to just leave him there, they didn't know if he was safe. Instead of approaching him, they each found a more-or-less secluded spot in the river to bathe—they really needed it.
Sam was pretty quick in getting cleaned up. Paxton just kind of always absorbed anything nasty and dissolved it in his membrane, so he didn't need any cleaning (though he did enjoy playing in the water.)
Houdini seemed to love the water a lot, though whatever gave him his Illusion ability must've been on him, because every now and then, Sam would have a small hallucination. It was bearable.
Coconut didn't like getting his wings wet, so helped wash him with a little rag.
All of Sam's Pokémon kept a little distance between themselves. He figured he could solve the problem pretty easy, though. Pax and Coconut were natural enemies due to weakness or something, as were Pax and Houdini…and Coconut and Houdini.
This might be a little bit harder than I thought it would be, Sam thought to himself.
Erica settled herself in a somewhat private area on the river with a few bushes and the low-hanging branches of a tree for cover. She cleaned herself up before she sent out her Pokémon. She decided she'd clean her Pokémon one at a time and get to know them a little bit before she'd make them interact.
"Come on out, Layla." Her little Trubbish was really excited, as usual, to get a bath. While most Trubbish were grimy and kind of nasty—some people thinking them to be the result of mutated garbage, Layla loved being clean. Her biggest pet peeve was getting garbage in her long arm-hair.
Layla was one of Erica's first Pokémon, so she knew her pretty well by now: She was a neat-freak, a little selfish, but a total sweetheart. There was no way she wouldn't be able to get along with the rest of the team over time. Layla got cleaned up, and Erica let her curl up and nap under the tree.
Next, Erica sent out Bradley. He didn't really like the water, she noticed, so she just soaped up her dirty shirt and used it to clean him off, being careful not to touch his wings. Bradley was always very proud and cocky—he had a huge ego. He seemed more muscular and tougher-skinned than most other Beedrill—the rare candies must've caused that growth.
Erica had two grass Pokémon, and knowing Bradley, he'd use that fact to terrorize them. She'd have to work on having him behave without totally breaking his spirit. Him and Layla seemed to get along alright, though. At least, they didn't seem to dislike each other.
"Bradley, go keep an eye out for Layla. If she wakes up, keep her some company." He complied and buzzed around the area of the tree Layla was sleeping under. "Alright, come out, Chase."
Erica's new little Deerling emerged from his pokeball and gleefully entered the water up to his knees and began cleaning himself. Chase seems really calm. Erica let him clean himself then join the others.
Bradley immediately tried to pick on him with some minor jabs, and Chase retaliated by throwing his entire weight at him and snorting loudly. Bradley was clearly surprised by this move and Chase taunted him a little by turning back to Layla and kicking behind himself. So those three will get along alright.
As Erica was thinking about how to entertain them all so they could bond a little bit, A large, mossy rock came floating to the water's edge.
Sam thought that trying to get his team to work cohesively would be a good use of the time on their day off. He let all three of them be out and made them line up side-to-side. He stood in front of them firmly and commanded: "Pax, you'll be the official translator."
Right.
"Wait. Do you think you can like…psychic our minds so we understand each other?"
Probably…
"Oh…well…will you please try?"
What? Oh, right. Ok. Pax was really intelligent, but kind of oblivious... Sam felt a slight buzz in his head for a second, and because Coconut and Houdini startled visibly, he assumed that they did, too.
"Can we all understand each other?" Sam tested.
"U-umm… I guess I'll try?" Coconut fluttered a bit as Sam heard a whiny, high-pitched voice that had a slight vibrato to it. Sam had always imagined Coconut to be a little more firm, figured that a jittery voice for a bug made sense.
"Coconut? Is that you?"
"Y-yeah…"
"Alright, cool. So. Team. What do you guys dislike about each other?"
"I actually don't mind these two… My last trainer taught me Flamethrower, so I don't need to be afraid of that dweeby pest." A scratchy, high-pitched, and mischievous voice piped up. Houdini sounded as sneaky and impish and he looked.
"H-hey… I'm not... a-a dweeb! Don't be a little p-p-punk!"
Coconut nipped at Houdini with a weak Bug Bite.
"Wow! Hey! I warned you, you little bitch!" Houdini let out a huge jet of fire from his mouth and Coconut quickly used Protect. He looked upset.
"D-d-do you think I don't know how to deal with little i-i-imps like y-you?" So little Coco was not one to be messed with.
"W-we're cool. We don't have any issues…" Houdini's stutter was definitely a frightened one. So one oblivious Pokémon, one with a stutter, and one who's bark was bigger than his bite. They could all probably get over each other's faults. Coconut already bullied Houdini into being civil, and Houdini seemed to think that Pax would be too easy to pick on. Pax never really noticed Coco's advantage over him, so they were civil enough.
Some bonding time is all they would need.
The shaggy-haired boy with the sloth Pokémon began approaching Sam and his Pokémon.
When the big, mossy rock got near the water's edge, something under the water stirred a bit, and the rock proceeded to rotate and float in the other direction. Erica called Bradley over. "Hey, Brad, give that rock a Twinneedle, would you? There's something really weird about it." Bradley nodded. "Thanks."
Bradley's claws began vibrating and he dived for the rock, hitting it head on. It sunk underwater, and as it did, a bunch of bubbles hastily reached the surface of the water. A rough splashing then ensued, and a large, blue, shelled-lizard reared itself, shell in the water. It shot a rough stream of water at Brad and knocked him out of the air.
"Oh, no! I'm sorry, mister, uh—hold on!" Erica pulled out her Omnidex and snapped a picture of the creature.
Wild Wartortle. Male. Level 21.
"I'm so sorry, Mr. War-turtle!" The Pokémon snorted, letting a few bubbles escape his nose, then went back in the water. I want to catch it, Erica thought to herself.
She would battle the Pokémon, and hopefully earn enough respect from him to get him to join her team. Deerling—a grass Pokémon—would be a good Pokémon to use against it. She flipped through the Omnidex to look at his attacks and formulate a strategy. "Come here, Chase, we're gonna figure this out."
After a few minutes of strategizing, Erica and Chase had a battle plan. "Chase, jump in the water and use Camouflage!" He followed orders, and his body began to change. The flower on his head and his tail started changing into a solid line of webbed spines on his back. His neck also began growing gills. Little fins replaced where his ears were.
Self-induced status change. Deerling changed into a water-defense Pokémon.
The battle was now underwater, and Erica put on her goggles to keep up."Attack the war-turtle with a Leech Seed!" Chase spewed three pods from his mouth that were connected to his insides by long, wire-like organs. They attached themselves to the Wartortle on his head and began sapping his energy.
The Wartortle was in clear pain, and withdrew into his shell after taking in a massive gulp of water. It started rotating in the water, and little streams of air started spraying the water it had taken in from all of the holes in its shell. It spun free of the Leech Seed and shot at Chase.
Direct damage. 85% health.
"Chase! Take Down!" Chase swam rapidly at the Wartortle and threw his entire body weight at it. It gracefully turned and just got out of the way of Chase. The Wartortle was now behind him and shooting a massive amount of little, exploding bubbles at him.
Direct damage. Bubble was not very effective. 80% health
"Take this chance to use a Double Kick!" Chase turned away from the Wartortle and kicked it straight in the belly. The Wartortle shot backwards, winded, and Erica threw a pokeball at it. It must've been built to recognize it's environment, because a tiny jet of air shot out of it and it quickly made contact with the wild Pokémon, rather than floating slowly to it and missing altogether.
The pokeball flashed twice, then broke apart and sank to the bottom. It still looked pretty beat up, and Erica still had another four pokeballs.
"Use another Leech Seed!" Chase followed orders and soon was sapping the wild Pokémon's health once again. It started to blow bubbles. "Alright, I hope this works: keep your Leech Seeds attached, but suck them back in." He did so, and the Wartortle was quickly pulled towards him. "Now use a Take Down!"
The two Pokémon collided heavily, causing a huge ripple in the water that splashed Layla and Bradley, who were on the edge of the riverbank.
Self-inflicted damage. Take Down recoil damage. 12% health.
The wartortle was definitely tired. It closed its eyes in submission, and Erica threw another pokeball. It blinked three times, then a few sparks came out of it, and it returned to Erica.
The Omnidex announced: Pokémon captured. Male Wartortle. Level 21. Please enter name.
Erica looked over to the spot of the river Sam was on, hoping he caught a glimpse of the action. She noticed the shaggy-haired boy from earlier waking up. He looked around a little bit, noticed Sam, put his brown Pokémon on his shoulder, and got up.
Erica quickly got dressed and went over to where Sam was, thinking it'd be safer stick with her traveling partner—especially since they'd seen what kind of people roamed that forest.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Erica joined Sam as the strange, red-eyed boy approached them. He had a fuzzy, sleeping Pokémon—which Sam recognized as a Slakoth—draped over his shoulder. He smelled like weed and he had a huge grin on his face.
"Ey, whassup? I'm Oliver." The boy grinned even wider and shook their hands.
