Gupta- Marshtomp level 19, Taillow level 19
Sadik- Combusken (Ateş), level 20, Mightyena (Asena), level 18, Bulbasaur (Lale), level 15
(Levels correct at time of battling Sadik).
Valeriu is Romania and his little brother is Moldova.
Out of the Pokemon Sadik and Gupta have caught so far, only two haven't evolved, and they're so close as well! It makes me a little sad that they'll all be growing up, but it has to happen.
Route 110 consisted of two roads that stretched off into the horizon. One wound its way around grass and cris-crossed an inlet of the sea several times before reaching its destination, and the second raised itself up on large metal poles and formed a relatively straight path. The only snag was that the second path was the Cycling Road. Without bikes, Gupta and Sadik were forced onto the slower low road.
Sadik seemed to be taking it all in his stride, running off into the tall grass almost straight away. Gupta wasn't so interested in meeting new Pokémon, and instead carried on walking along the road by himself. It wasn't long before he was spotted by a trainer standing around by the side of the road.
"Oh, what an adorable young trainer! I wonder what kinds of Pokémon you have." She cooed. Gupta stared at her and sent out Marshtomp. The woman appeared to be at least into her thirties and looked as though her entire life was Pokémon.
"Come on out Minun!" She declared, sending out her Pokémon.
"Mai mai!" Minun cried.
"Marshtomp!" Marshtomp roared.
"Use Mud Shot Marshtomp." Gupta started.
"Spark Minun!" The woman responded. Minun leapt at Marshtomp, covered in electricity, but caused no damage to Marshtomp, who responded with a jet of mud which caused Minun to fly across the road. It got shakily to its feet and ate a berry that it had clasped in its hand before barking back at Marshtomp.
"Okay Minun, use Growl." The woman decided.
"Mud Shot again." Gupta repeated. Minun tried to intimidate Marshtomp with its cry, but was shot backwards by more mud and didn't get up after being knocked down.
"Marsh. Tomp!" Marshtomp celebrated, jumping from foot to foot while waving his arms around.
"Don't worry Minun, you did great out there." The middle-aged woman reassured her Pokémon. "Okay Plusle, let's go!" She sent out her second Pokémon.
"Pla!" Plusle cheered.
"Right Plusle, use Quick Attack." The woman suggested.
"Mud Shot Marshtomp." Gupta replied. Plusle darted forwards and hit into Marshtomp, who responded with a shot of mud which hit the opposing Plusle hard. It rolled onto the floor and kept travelling into a tree. After it had come to a stop, it appeared to be fainted.
"What a strong young man you are! Such an amazing Pokémon…" The woman mused, hurrying over to her Plusle and returning it to the Pokeball.
"Marshtomp!" Marshtomp cheered, running up to the lady.
"Hello there dear! Aren't you a cute little thing!" She enthused, petting Marshtomp on the head.
"Tomp." Marshtomp smiled.
"Give this to your trainer, okay?" The woman continued, giving a small amount of money to Marshtomp, who smiled and ran back to Gupta, shoving it up at him insistently while the woman giggled to herself and walked off in the direction of Slateport.
"We should carry on." Gupta considered, continuing along Route 110 with Marshtomp skipping along behind him.
A few minutes down the road, there was a severe right hand bend which caused the path to extend out into the sea. On the left, there was a track that led back into some trees (Gupta wasn't sure where it went, but he was pretty sure it wasn't the right way for him to go). Straight ahead, a house stood defiant against the nature surrounding it. Gupta wanted to pass by the house without any fuss, but Marshtomp jumped up and caught the handle as they walked past, and opened the door. Curious, the Pokémon walked inside. Gupta looked behind him and noticed that Marshtomp was missing. With a sigh he followed his Pokémon inside.
Marshtomp was looking around the interior of the house with an unreadable expression on his face when Gupta entered. As far as the human was aware, the space was empty. There was a table in the middle of the room with cushions acting as chairs, and bookcases and other furniture around the sides of the room. But there were no signs of anything living in the room. As Gupta stepped forwards, he noticed a piece of paper left on the table.
'You're being watched.' It read.
Gupta immediately looked around the room for a second time, but noticed nothing. Marshtomp continued to survey his surroundings with a strange expression on his face.
"Marsh…" He considered, walking around, before sniffing at the table in the centre of the room. He suddenly became excited about something.
"Marsh! Marshtomp!" He leapt up and down, pointing under the table.
"What?" Gupta frowned, crouching to look under the table in an attempt to calm his Pokémon down. He didn't think there was anything there either… But then he spotted a small wisp of hair. He reached out towards the object, and before he knew it a small boy leapt out from under the table. Gupta jumped back in surprise. How had the kid managed to hide so well under there?
The boy had scraggy hair and two really prominent teeth and grinned at Gupta as he stood up to his full height (which wasn't all that tall).
"You found us… You're really good!" The boy complimented.
"Marshtomp." Marshtomp pouted, crawling under the table.
"Us?" Gupta picked up on.
"You shouldn't tell people there are two of us. He'd never have figured it out." Came a second voice from under the table. Gupta looked on amazed as a grown man was dragged out by Marshtomp. "Not that your Pokémon wouldn't have noticed. He's a sharp one." He added. The man was taller than the boy, with brown hair and amber eyes. He was dressed truly strangely, the small hat perched on his head probably the best example of his style.
"How did you get under there?" Gupta questioned.
"Big brother is really good at magic." The small boy responded.
"Heh. Anyway, now you're here, and you found us, we might as well say it." The man smirked. "Welcome to the Trick House. I'm Valeriu, the Trick Master."
"Trick house?" Gupta queried.
"Yep! We lay out tricks for people here. And we use magic to make it extra special!" The boy confirmed.
"Since you're here, you might as well give it a try. Try to find us again! We'll be in the room at the back of the maze behind the scroll over there." Valeriu challenged, before grinning widely at Gupta (and showing off a pointed, fang like tooth), and disappearing into thin air. When Gupta looked back around, the boy had vanished too.
"Marsh." Marshtomp huffed, lifting the scroll against the wall to reveal a passage underneath.
"Alright." Gupta relented.
Behind the scroll there was an expansive maze of walls that twisted around in a confusing pattern. Marshtomp immediately took off running down one of the paths, and Gupta followed him as well as he could. The maze ran left and then right, and then carried on for several metres. Eventually, Gupta caught up with Marshtomp, who was sniffing at a trainer stood along the path.
"Oh wow, another trainer." The young girl breathed a sigh of relief. "I finally meet someone else in here."
"You want to battle me don't you?" Gupta assumed.
"Of course! Okay Oddish!" She called, sending out her only Pokémon. Gupta couldn't help but feel that it looked like a weed.
"Taillow, handle this." He announced, bringing Taillow out of the ball.
"Tail." Taillow agreed.
"Marsh." Marshtomp complained.
"Come back over here Marshtomp." Gupta insisted, folding his arms.
"Marsh…" Marshtomp whined, trotting back to his trainer.
"Alright Oddish, use Sweet Scent!" The young trainer commanded.
"Wing Attack Taillow." Gupta responded. Taillow swept in with a strike from her wings and the Oddish retaliated with some kind of perfume that seemed to catch Taillow off guard.
"Wing Attack again." The teenager reassured. Taillow was quick enough to get a hit in before the other trainer even gave her move, and the Oddish was knocked out.
"Oh. I guess I have a lot to learn still. I'm still a new trainer, and I get confused over which moves to use…" She giggled to herself.
"Taillow." Taillow chirped, coming in to land on Gupta's shoulder and putting on an expression that implied she was pleased with herself.
"Tomp!" Marshtomp smiled, walking back up to the girl and trying to hug her leg.
"Your Pokémon are so well trained though… Thanks for showing me how a real trainer battles." The girl mused, handing some money to Marshtomp and smiling as the Pokémon ran back to his trainer.
"It's no problem." Gupta nodded. Seconds later, Marshtomp took off again. "Well, I suppose I should go." The teenager continued, following his Pokémon, with Taillow still on his shoulder.
Marshtomp sent Gupta through several more twists and two more trainers before they finally discovered a scroll lying on the ground. Marshtomp became very enthusiastic about the scroll, sniffing around it happily. Gupta crouched down and stared at it. He saw that it was a phrase which he decided it would be a good idea to memorise (if Marshtomp's enthusiasm was telling him anything).
"Trick Master is wonderful…'" He read. "What odd words. He must be full of himself." He shrugged, got slowly to his feet, and began looking around for the door. After all, that was what they had been looking for all along, right?
"Marsh!" Marshtomp jumped into the air and began running. Gupta took to following him.
Several more minutes of following Marshtomp around the maze found Gupta standing next to a mysterious door. When he tried to push on it, it didn't budge at all.
"Password?" A voice from nowhere commanded. Marshtomp looked towards Gupta meaningfully.
"Um…" Gupta thought for a moment, and remembered the words from earlier. It was worth a try… "Trick Master is wonderful?"
"Very good. You have reached the back of the Trick House." The voice boomed. "You may proceed." The door before them opened suddenly.
"Tomp!" Marshtomp cheered, moving through the opening that had formed. Gupta followed him.
"Well look at that. You made it to the end. That's interesting." Valeriu commented, sitting calmly at the table in the middle of the room.
"Tail." Taillow nodded, as though it were expected. Valeriu continued to speak.
"Yeah, I'd say you and your Marshtomp are really fun. Not many manage to do what you've done today." He smirked. "I'll give you a prize since you did so well! This TM teaches Taunt." He threw a disc at Gupta, who caught it easily.
"In future, I'll come up with even more fantastic tricks. So hopefully you'll be back again." Valeriu smiled, standing up. "Until then…" Suddenly he vanished into thin air.
"Yeah, you guys are fun! We'll see you around!" His little brother cheered, clapping his hands before vanishing in a puff of smoke.
"What happened there?" Gupta pondered to himself.
"Tail." Taillow shrugged calmly.
"Tomp…?" Marshtomp questioned, looking around. He eventually noticed a tunnel at the end of the room, and pushed Gupta into it gently.
When Gupta and Marshtomp emerged from the tunnel, they were somehow outside the Trick House. Looking behind them, they found that the tunnel had disappeared.
"Was that… Real magic?" Gupta questioned.
"Tomp!" Marshtomp cheered.
Gupta saw no sign of Sadik in the immediate vicinity, so he took off walking along the road that stretched over the sea, with Marshtomp by his side and Taillow on his shoulder. A few more minutes' walk saw them at the extreme edge of the peninsula. Ahead of them, the road ran parallel to the coast for a while before turning back towards the shore. As Gupta began to walk along the parallel area of the road, he heard a voice behind him.
"Guppie! There ya are!" Sadik yelled, running up to him. "Where've ya been?"
"I was in the Trick House…" Gupta tried to explain.
"Really? I just couldn't figure out what that place was about." Sadik shrugged. "Anyway, I've been trainin' my team hard. How about a battle to show off how much we've both improved?"
"Okay." Gupta nodded.
"Tomp!" Marshtomp cheered.
"Low!" Taillow agreed.
"Well then, let's see how well ya manage this! Let's go Ateş!" He called, throwing his Pokeball at the ground.
"Busken!" Ateş cheered.
"Alright Marshtomp." Gupta nodded towards Marshtomp.
"Ateş, use Double Kick!" Sadik declared.
"Use Mud Shot Marshtomp." Gupta suggested. Ateş ran forwards with a lopsided grin on his face, flipped onto his hands, and launched both feet at Marshtomp, who took both kicks to the face like a pro and responded with a shot of mud which Ateş seemed deeply irritated by.
"Use Scratch Ateş!" Sadik decided.
"Mud Shot again Marshtomp." Gupta repeated. Ateş raked down Marshtomp's face and Marshtomp retorted with more mud. Ateş appeared to be deeply tired.
"Okay Ateş, let's try using Ember!" Sadik smirked.
"Water Gun?" Gupta guessed. He wasn't sure what Sadik was planning. Wasn't Ember an attack that wouldn't affect Marshtomp very well?
Ateş attacked with a roaring jet of fire that knocked Marshtomp back quite a lot. Marshtomp retaliated with a great torrent of water. Ateş was unable to stand up to the stream, and fell backwards against the ground.
"Okay Ateş, ya did yer best." Sadik reassured his Pokémon, returning it to its Pokeball. "Then that means it's yer turn Asena!"
"Yena!" Asena roared. Gupta stared. Asena looked entirely different!
Her size had more than doubled and her fur colours had largely inverted. Her fur had become even more ragged and her claws and teeth were sharper. Yet she still had the same no nonsense look and a white tip to her tail that was far more noticeable now that her fur was largely black.
"Like it? Asena evolved earlier today!" Sadik boasted. "She's so much stronger now. Think ya can beat her?"
"Okay Marshtomp, try Water Gun again." Gupta stood his ground.
"Bite Asena!" Sadik guided.
Marshtomp tried to jet water at Asena but she was too fast, and leapt to the side before biting down hard on Marshtomp, who jumped back and collapsed.
"Don't worry Marshtomp." Gupta consoled, returning his starter to the Pokeball. "Okay Taillow. It's up to you."
"Low!" Taillow stepped up to the challenge, taking off from Gupta's shoulder and hovering in the air.
"Okay Taillow, use Wing Attack." Gupta encouraged.
"Bite again Asena." Sadik responded. Taillow darted in to strike Asena, and managed to dodge the attack the Pokémon sent at her in return.
"Low!" She cried.
"Go again Taillow." Gupta told his Pokémon.
"You too Asena." Sadik agreed.
Again Taillow darted in and struck the opponent. But this time, she was clipped by Asena as she tried to dodge, and a few of her wing feathers were pulled out.
"Don't be discouraged." Gupta assured her.
"Keep going Asena!" Sadik cheered his Pokémon on. "Now Tackle!"
"Yena." Asena huffed, charging at Taillow.
"Wing Attack." Gupta carried on. Taillow still managed to strike Asena, but she was hit hard by the counter-attack. She picked herself back up and put on a brave face, but she was beginning to breathe hard with the effort of fighting.
"Quick Attack." Gupta insisted. Taillow jumped back up and knocked Asena down before any more commands could be given.
"Low!" She chirped, trying to catch her breath so she could keep going.
"Heh. Shouldn't have expected any less from ya." Sadik accepted, returning Asena to her Pokeball. "Guess I have no choice but to use…"
Lale burst from her Pokeball before Sadik could call her out, excited at the prospect of battle. When she saw Gupta and Taillow, she immediately made a bee-line for them, childish grin on her face.
"Saur!" She cheered.
"Ah, Lale, no, we're fighin' right now!" Sadik tried to get her attention, but it was all in vain as Lale ran up to Gupta and head-butted his legs in greeting.
"Hello Lale." Gupta nodded, petting the Pokémon on the head.
"Okay Lale, let's get goin! Use Take Down!" Sadik focused his Pokémon's attention back where it was meant to be.
"Wing Attack Taillow." Gupta stuck to his usual tactic. Taillow managed to attack Lale before she even got up much speed with her charge. The Bulbasaur whined, tripped on the grass, and faceplanted the ground.
"Lale… Geh." Sadik laughed. "Well, guess that move's still new on ya. Let's try Vine Whip!"
"Wing Attack again." Gupta repeated, gaining confidence now that was aware of two things: that Lale hadn't evolved yet and that she was still the same as ever personality wise.
Taillow smirked as she dropped on Lale from the air, slashing Lale with her wings. The Pokémon cried out, sending up vines in response that looked incredibly powerful. Gupta wondered what was going on. Lale shouldn't have been that strong…
Taillow barely withstood the attack, and Gupta felt that he had been a little too assured of his own victory. Lale looked pleased with herself, but greatly tired. She had clearly lost the enthusiasm for the battle.
"Just a little more Lale! Try Leech Seed!" Sadik guided his Pokémon.
"Finish this with Quick Attack." Gupta assessed. Taillow was on Lale in a flash, knocking her back. She wobbled and nearly fell into the water at the sides of the path before fainting onto her front.
"…Wow. That's powerful Guppie. Ya only have two Pokémon and all." Sadik congratulated him.
"Since you're the cousin of a professor, perhaps you know…" Gupta started, as they were walking along the rest of Mauville City in the light of the setting sun, Sadik having healed Taillow so that she could continue to protect them from wild Pokémon along the way. "What happened to Lale and Ateş back there?"
"Same thing that happened to yer little Marshtomp." Sadik explained. "Their abilities came into play."
"Abilities?" Gupta questioned. He'd heard of those, but he didn't really know what they did.
"Yeah. All Pokémon have abilities, but I bet ya knew that at least. So I'll explain what our Pokémon's abilities are and what they do. Fer starters, Lale, Ateş and Marshtomp all have similar abilities. Those would be Overgrow, Blaze and Torrent."
"Torrent…" Gupta remembered hearing that before. "When I fought the Gym Leader in Rustboro… She mentioned Torrent before."
"Not surprisin'." Sadik shrugged. "Yer little guy uses it a lot more than ya probably thought. See, when those three get all weak and tired like that, the power of their grass, fire, and water moves increases. It lets 'em use those real powerful moves like ya saw."
"Right." Gupta nodded.
"Far as I can tell, Taillow's ability's probably Guts. That raises her attack whenever she has a status condition." Sadik continued.
"It fits her." Gupta decided, looking towards where Taillow was perched on his shoulder, looking around for trouble.
"Sure does." Sadik smiled. "And Asena's ability's Quick Feet. That one raises her speed whenever she gets a status condition. So lots of our guys have similar abilities like that."
"Is that common?" Gupta considered.
"I guess a lot of abilities are similar." Sadik agreed.
After another hour of walking, Mauville City came into view. As Sadik stopped to harvest some berries growing by the side of the road, Gupta asked him another question.
"Did you come up with a Pokedex entry for Asena now she evolved?" He asked.
"Sure!" Sadik replied. "Wanna read it?"
"Okay." Gupta took the Pokedex Sadik shoved in his direction when he answered and flipped it open, scrolling until he found Mightyena.
'Mightyena gives obvious signals when it is preparing to attack. It starts to growl deeply and then flattens its body. The Pokémon obeys only those trainers that it recognizes to possess superior skill.'
Gupta scoffed. It was just like Sadik to flatter himself.