Again, I'm just playing with this world.
Chapter 11: Down We Go
"Serena. Du calme," Tierno stood in front of his oldest friend, feet firm and arms crossed.
"Don't tell me what to do." Despite her calm voice, Tierno could see that she was practically vibrating in her seat. Her face has pink and she was chewing on her bottom lip again. Serena's normally perfect ponytail was exploding out of its hair band and there were noticeable bags under her eyes. She'd barely touched the tea and pain au chocolate in front of her, and Tierno knew it was her favorite.
He sighed. "I'm not trying to tell you what to do. I know you get enough of that," he told her smoothly, "But I'm your friend. I have the right to give you advice."
Shauna moved in, tugging one of Serena's hands up. "Tierno's right, it's a good idea!" The brunette smiled sweetly at them both. "Let's do a little shopping for now and you'll feel better. Then when we come back we can all work it out."
Serena grumbled under her breath, but nodded at Tierno and let Shauna steer her out the door, dumping her uneaten tray at the kitchen pass through.
The blond boy heaved a deep sigh and collapsed into a chair at the table his friends had just left. Arguing before breakfast really was a pain. But they'd gotten themselves in a lot of trouble very quickly and it was obvious to Tierno, at least, that the whole group need to sit down and have a serious talk about what supplies and plans they needed before they went any further.
That wasn't entirely fair, Tierno admitted to himself. He could tell Serena knew it too, she was just being a little stubborn at the moment. His friend felt like she needed to be perfect and in control at all times (Tierno understood, really, he'd met her parents) so the last few days were undeniably stressful. Team Flare had really thrown a mankey-wrench into their Pokémon Journey.
And then there was Gryffin. Tierno's sigh was a little lighter this time. Gryffin really was interesting, and Tierno had decided he really did like his new friend. She seemed kinda worried all the time, but she also seemed smart and mature. A little aloof, a little protective. A lot like Serena actually, now that he thought about it. And speak of the grimalin…
"Good morning Tierno," Gryffin offered, looking around the Pokémon Center's cafeteria with a bemused expression, "Are you the only one up?"
"Nah," he grinned. "More like the last one. Everything ok? You've been kinda quiet…" He hoped she was okay. He'd only seen Gryffin a few times in the last few days, and she'd been pretty zoned out.
"Just got a lot going on in my head," she smiled, but it was a small, sad expression.
"I guess it's been pretty rough on you," he considered, noting she was still looking around. "Do you need some help?"
Gryffin frowned at nothing in particular before looking at him properly. "Actually," she admitted, "I kind of think I do…"
Tierno purposely leveled his expression. Gryffin didn't seem the type to cause trouble, but that was very suspicious sounding.
"Gryffin-chan," he pointed an accusing finger at her suddenly oh-so-innocent, wide-eyed-and-blinking expression. "What did you do?"
The answering grin wasn't reassuring in the slightest. Where was Trevor when he needed him?
Thirty minutes later he was being dragged out the door of the Pokémon Center, reevaluating his opinion of Gryffin's mischief-making abilities and wondering why, exactly, all the girls in his life were so troublesome.
XYXYXY
In the end, our attempt to catch a water pokémon in the evening was a total bust. The only thing we'd seen was a magikarp, and neither of us wanted anything to do with that disaster. I shuddered at the thought of trying to tame a gyarados. I'd be eaten for sure. Louis had oh-so-helpfully shared statistics of exactly how often that happened to trainers who attempted to raise the infamous sea serpent. I was officially terrified. And I'd taken a few moments that night to spend 5 of the AP I'd been hoarding on my Luck stat.
Even worse, I distinctly recalled that the main bad guy in Team Flare had owned one of those monsters. I groaned at the thought, especially since I remembered it could mega-evolve in the games. I was not looking forward to that encounter at all.
Still, Louis and I really wanted the addition of a water type to balance out our teams. So after a surprisingly comfortable night on cots, we dragged Tierno out into the frosty morning with us to try again. It was barely dawn, golden rays just beginning to edge through the trees and steam rising in spirals from the river. Louis swore the twilight was the perfect chance to catch something.
He wasn't wrong either, as I quickly spied a splash of blue bob through the reeds. Abandoning a yawning Tierno, I rushed the river bank and released Delacour again. "Quick attack! Don't let it get away!"
Delacour dive-bombed the azurill I'd spotted with a determined shriek reminiscent of the hawk he'd eventually become. It was proud. It was piercing. It scared the shit out of the bouncing blue pokémon I'd set him on and it hopped itself in a circle while it panicked. It was glorious. Delacour swept to the left, bright red wings on full display, blocking any escape back into the water, and hit the azurill with another quick attack before I'd even asked him to. Cutting through the small battle, I turned to face the little mouse, further cutting it off from the river, and lobbed a pokéball at it. Louis was quick to drop on top of it from behind, and handed it to me with a grin after two tiny shivers. I smiled down at the ball in my hands. Scientific understanding of the fairy type might be new at this point in time on Pokea, but I knew that the marill line was a water and fairy hybrid that would be impossible to get outside of the Alolan starter. Trained correctly, it could be an amazing combination. Team Flare had a fondness for dark and fire types, and an azumarill would be a perfect counter to so many of their pokémon. Happy in my daydreams of trouncing enemies, I sighed blissfully at the boys.
"And now maybe a psyduck for me," Louis smirked.
The five added points to luck held out, and we did indeed run into a cluster of four psyduck less than an hour later. The whole encounter was so anticlimactic it was almost ludicrous though. Louis, Tierno, and I literally walked up on the gaggle of yellow pokémon as we wandered a little further up the mountain along the river; they just quacked and tilted their heads to stare blankly in our general direction. I had no idea if they were suffering from their infamous headaches or if they were just naturally placid but they hadn't even tried to fight as we tapped them with pokéballs. The capture devices barely shook before going still. Tierno was excited to finally catch a pokémon but Louis had been a little disgruntled, worried about how the psyduck would do in battle after such a disappointing display. But I promised him his preference between his and the two I'd scooped up since he'd already promised to show me the GTS.
"Aw, not all pokémon have to battle," Tierno protested. "Ya' gotta appreciate them for what they are."
Louis gave him an exasperated huff. "I want to keep doing the gym circuit," he explained again. "If my mother or brother want a pet, that's fine. But I need a team that can fight." A stony expression shadowed his face. "Especially with Team Flare on the loose. I will get justice for my old team." His voice got very quiet. "And I will get justice for Rinka."
"Was that your friend?" I asked gently, remembering the trainer Team Flare had reportedly killed in Santalune Forest.
"I'm sorry," Tierno added after Louis remained silent, staring out over the river.
I took the opportunity to use observe on both boys.
Tierno Lifar lvl 9
HP: 130/185(-20) MP: 8/8 ED: 8/12(-2)
A talented dancer who enjoys contests.
Status: Minor Injuries: while not hurt too badly, physical stats are slightly reduced due to the pain.
Louis Pierre lvl 17
HP: 335/450(-50) MP: 12/12 ED: 9/17 (-2)
A struggling young trainer determined to rebuild his career.
Status: Moderate Injuries: Caution should be taken so as not to aggravate wounds further.
Chance for injury increased to 25% when exhausted. Physical stats reduced.
I was honestly surprised that I was surprised at Louis' level. I had no idea if the level cap I was currently under applied to the rest of the population. And since I was planning on challenging the Santalune City gym after only a week of training, there was no reason to think Louis hadn't managed a victory after six months of training. Honestly after that amount of time, it was a little weird that he wasn't a higher level. But then again, Oscar had been older than both of us and only level 9… Shrugging to myself, I knew there was nothing I could really do about it without sharing my Gamer abilities. For all I knew, it could be the game mechanics scaling everyone else's level to my own. I'd been slacking on using Observe on the people around me recently, so I didn't really know how to compare Louis to other trainers.
Eventually, we moved away from the river. I insisted on stopping back by the gate house. There was no point in passing up a perfectly good bathroom when it was available. Port-a-potties at picnic grounds were okay for emergencies, but never my first choice. And we'd be taking the north path back down today in order to get some proper battles in, so it was bound to take longer.
"Je veux te battre!" cried a little girl not a minute after we turned down the fork. Her dark curly ponytails bouncing as she danced over. "S'il te plait, mademoiselle!"
Unable to resist the picture of cuteness I agreed. "One on one alright?"
She grinned, showing off a missing front tooth, "Oui, merci beaucoup! Une bataille et un pari! A real battle; real money!"
"Oh, no!" I waved both hands immediately. "I couldn't possibly."
"You should!" Louis cut in, moving to stand behind a suddenly pouting girl. "It would be rude to not have a proper wager for a proper battle." He nodded down at her, and she beamed up at him.
A little confused, because I wasn't at all okay with taking money from kids, I grit my teeth and decided to trust him. "Well, if you say so… does €200 sound fair?"
The girl cheered and dashed to the other side of the road. She released a bunnelby and waved back to me.
[Quest Alert!]
North Path Battle! (1): Trainer Cléo has challenged you to a battle! Claim victory on the north Detourner Way!
Completion: +75 EXP, +100 EXP to [Team] Pokémon, +100 to [REL] with Louis and Tierno, +€200
Failure: +15 EXP, -€200
Accept? [Y]/[N]
Tapping yes as discretely as I could, I shook a grumpy Zen from my vest. The tiny fox, still disguised as a fennekin huffed onto the road. Glowering at the bunnelby, she puffed the illusion of blue fire, causing the rabbit to hop nervously. "Alright Zen! Straight to pursuit!"
She was off in a black blaze, making both Cléo and her bunnelby blink in confusion. I ignored Louis giving me a deadpan look, but inwardly, I cringed. Just calling out attacks for everyone to hear was terrible tactics, regardless of any language barriers, and I'd have to start teaching my pokémon callsigns quickly. The battle didn't take very long. Zen had several levels over her opponent. And while the bunnelby was very sturdy, it was also a rabbit facing a fox. The predator/prey dynamics kicked in and the moment the rabbit moved to dodge, Zen's dark powers manifested full force. The poor bunnelby managed to get a single tackle in, taking a mere 12 HP from Zen, before it was overwhelmed. I hid dismissing the pop-up screen with a shallow victory fist.
"That was fun!" Cléo said as she poured a handful of coins out to give me. "Sapereau est le seul pokémon qui veut bien se battre pour moi. Et la zorua est une surprise!"
"That's kind of her specialty," I agreed and waved goodbye to the girl when she went trotting in the direction of the Gate House.
"You aren't used to battling other people yet," Louis observed soberly. "You should not have refused her wager, you know."
"Aw, she's just a kid though!" Tierno huffed. He clearly remembered how upset I had gotten at the suggestion of charging Louis' little brother for the scatterbug I hadn't even wanted. I nodded, watching the little girl's retreat with a conflicted heart.
"She made the offer," Louis countered. "You must let trainers have their pride. You basically told her she had no chance."
"Well I didn't mean to do that," I apologized with a wince. "It's just…" I paused, again looking for the right words. It seemed like I was forever running roughshod over people's feelings. "Little kids are kinda meant to be spoiled where I come from. She was what? Eight? She ought to enjoy her childhood. A pokémon battle is one thing, those are fun. But taking her money's not. That's like telling her it's not supposed to be fun? That she has to pay for it?" I groaned. "Sorry, I don't have a better way to explain it."
Louis raised an eyebrow. "No, no I think I get it," he accepted. "And … well, the sentiment is really rather sweet, if a little different. But she did offer," he reminded. "Just do what you did this time, and say a really low amount. Taking advantage of kids is rather poor taste."
Murmuring my agreement, I followed him down the northern fork of the path back down Detourner Way. With Louis' determination to train up his new pokémon, Tierno and I backed out of most of the battles that day. Louis seemed especially pleased with his litleo's progress, as the little lion cub easily dominated most of the pokémon put out by trainers. There was a slight scuffle when he let the riolu loose the first time. We'd been taking a break at a picnic area when Louis decided to introduce himself and Fuegneur and it seemed to go well for the first few moments. Then the little blue puppy sniffed in my direction and snarled.
Holding a suddenly yowling Zen up under her front legs with one arm, I managed the swat the riolu with my bag when he lunged. "Louis! Get him off!"
"Je l'ai!" he snapped as he scooped his pokémon under the arms. The riolu kicked at the air growling and squeaking in protest. Louis pulled him away for a scolding in Kalais as I soothed my zorua. "Désolé," Louis said when he turned back around, still holding the riolu up off the ground. "C'est ma faute. I forgot about your zorua. Riolu are said to be be very sensitive, and intolerant of dark types. I should have been more careful."
Zen snuggled closer as I scratched her ears and gave her blue counterpart a suspicious glare. The riolu returned the expression with a tiny growl, earning himself a small shake from Louis. I gave the tiny fighting type a glare of my own. "He's gonna learn to behave real quick or Zen will be the least of his worries," I drawled down at it.
Louis gave his pokémon another light shake when it started to growl again. "Je comprends. He will behave, oui?"
Zen hissed from her spot in my vest. I rubbed her ears soothingly before taking her ball back out. It said something about how upset she was, when she didn't complain about being pulled back in. "Better not tempt fate," I sighed to my companions. "She's been out a while anyways." I gave the riolu another suspicious look. "Think he'd be okay with the azurill?"
Louis shifted so that his riolu was now tucked under his arm. "I don't see why not?"
As I released the tiny fairy type, though, any problems with the riolu quickly left my mind. The first thing it did was blast me in the face with a stinging stream of bubbles. Then it bashed me in the ankles with its oversized tail buoy. Then the little blue mouse actually bit me when I finally managed to get my hands around it to pick it up. Eventually I got around the fat and slippery fur enough to get its scruff and I stood there, dripping and shaking my lightly bleeding hand, holding the water-fairy-to-be at arms-length and facing away from everyone as it squealed and spit more bubbles. Tiny feet and an oversized tail flailed wildly as I just stood there letting it tire itself out.
"You," I intoned at the squeaking pokémon, "are clearly going to be trouble." I turned to Louis, "Isn't that kind of chaos supposed to be for dark type pokémon? I didn't think fairies were supposed to be this vicious."
"I think the marill line is water, no?" Louis raised an eyebrow at me. "I've heard a bit about les professeurs trying to get a new fée type recognized, but nothing official yet."
"Oh," I said dumbly, pursing my lips. "I thought …" Shaking my head I tried a different approach. "In Kanto we have Mt. Moon. I thought with clefairy and jigglypuff…"
"Oh, yeah!" Tierno interjected, "I think I remember Trevor mentioning those Pokémon. I think he wanted to ask you about them since you said you were from Pewter."
"They're not what people think they are," I nodded, happy to have an unwitting co-conspirator, "They've been classed as normal for so long but fighting types don't do shit to them. But they're so rare people just wrote it off as Mt. Moon weirdness."
Louis hummed and planted his free hand on his hip. "That makes sense for clefairy, but why le marill?"
I twisted to redirect another stream of bubble attacks. "Well, marill are more common in Johto, but I've heard people talk about them too, since they bring them to fight against Pewter's rock gym. They have the same weird ability to shrug off fighting type moves as clefairy. Maybe dark and dragon moves too from the rumors. They can't just be water types."
Louis raised an eyebrow and hummed, looking between me and the azurill I was still holding out. Eventually he mused, "We have both a fighting type," he lightly squeezed his riolu, "and your Zen. We could always test it."
I agreed heartily, because even though I already knew marill's typing I recognized that there was no logical way for me to have that information in this point on the timeline. I had to wonder what else people did and didn't know about pokémon yet. Types, evolutionary methods, megastones, z crystals, dynamaxing … all the super powered game mechanics I was used to were all circumspect. While I might still be able to use them due to my Gamer abilities, the Pokémon League seemed to be a mixture of both government and military and I had no way of knowing how much information was available to the public.
The azurill trilled as I set it down, but quickly quieted to a growl when Louis also put down his riolu, who looked very excited about a potential fight. The little mouse immediately spit bubbles at riolu, who instinctively moved to a back stance before rushing forward in a vicious looking counterattack. Smaller, slower, and a level lower than the riolu, my new azurill had no chance of dodging the attack and so took it head on.
It did almost nothing.
Literally, using Observe, I could see that azurill had barely lost 10 HP. It shook itself angrily and spat more bubbles at Louis' pokémon, who whined in frustration before moving to a quick attack that was much more effective. A small whistle and a rattle of treats had the riolu back in Louis' arms, and once it was secure I released Zen again.
"Pursuit!" I ordered my fox, pointing toward the azurill. Zen snapped a growl at Louis' riolu before dashing after the fairy mouse in a black haze. The azurill shrugged off the dark type attack as easily as the fighting type from before, leaving Tierno gaping and Louis with a thoughtful frown.
"I think you've got the right idea," he conceded. "There's not much information on Fée pokémon yet, but azurill is supposed to be normal…"
"That's not normal!" Tierno choked out. "That's so weird!"
"The same kind of weird as clefairy," I reiterated as I plucked the azurill up mid-bubble attack. A quick word of praise, and a chirping Zen was happy enough to go back into her ball so I could share my thoughts for the boys. "That's why I think it's a fairy type."
The conversation went around in circles after that. Louis recounted what little his mother was able to access from academic journals, which wasn't much as the type was still so new to science. Tierno admitted Trevor has spent a few days buried in internet blogs too, but couldn't remember much except specific pokémon suspected to have the type. The flabébe and ralts lines were the only pokémon Trevor had been sure of, but apparently there was a 'new' eevee evolution that was also very strange. I held back a grimace as Louis reluctantly mused that his spritzee had also been able to shrug off odd attacks; apparently all the pokémon I knew to be fairy from the games had, like clefairy and jigglypuff, been previously classed as normal.
"Trevs is probably excited," Tierno grinned. "He loves this kind of puzzle stuff."
"Really though," Louis finished as we walked along, my azurill tucked grumpily in my arms, "We won't know anything for sure until the League International makes an announcement."
XYXYXY
The trip down the north route was slow going. Yesterday's rough activities were clearly grating on Louis, and the older boy struggled not to limp after only an hour down the trail. Trevor and I both insisted he took the opportunity to sit at the next picnic area while I battled. I wasn't willing to try the azurill or the psyduck in trainer battles yet, but it was a great way to get Zen up to the level cap.
"Deux a deux?" asked a boy named Robert. He was a little older than the first girl, maybe ten or so. Old enough to be a proper trainer in Kanto at least, so I felt no qualms accepting his wager of €1000 for the match. It ended quickly, with Zen one-shotting a pidgey, then a metapod with her Pursuit attack.
"Dis donc, elle était forte, ta capacité!" he said, offering up two crisp €500 bills.
He was the tenth trainer in my quest queue, and the last trainer willing to battle me after that, so I plopped down at the picnic table next to the boys. "Why don't you give it a go Tierno?" I offered.
"Nah, I'm not really much of a battler," he sighed.
"Vous devez vous battre à un moment donne," Louis drawled, looking up from his bandages.
"Je sais! Mais…" Tierno stuttered, shooting a morose expression in my direction. "I wish I could just do …contests…"
I eyed the tense posture of my friend. "What's stopping you?" I asked.
"Les concours sont résérves aux femmes," Louis replied before Tierno could, and I gave him the stink eye for both interrupting Tierno and using Kalais while I was still trying to sort the language out.
"Contests are … reserved … for … women?" I slowly translated, ignoring Louis' triumphant smirk. "But that can't be right. Everyone can do contests! Hoenn, Kanto, Unova… all their contest circuits have both men and women competing together!"
"Not in Kalos…" Tierno grumbled, hunching in on himself a little more. It hurt to see the steadfast boy so insecure.
"No," Louis agreed with a sneer at no one in particular, "Not in Kalos. Only women can compete in contests. And until the League International officially endorsed the Kalos Maitresse and Grande Championnes Dracena et Malva a few years ago, and forced changes, only men could compete in the official League tournaments." I sucked in a harsh breath at the blatant discrimination. "It's why La Maitresse Dianthé est une grande star. She is the premier woman champion in Kalos. So now girls can compete in the League, and it's seen as liberating. And that's good I know. I'm all for it. But contests are still seen as very feminine, non? It's considered … odd for men to want to compete, so they haven't changed the rules yet."
"That," I hissed, rage leaking out, "is bullshit! What kind of contests do you even run here in Kalos?! Because all the ones back home have some battle element to them. It's just about finesse and showmanship instead of just power and strategy!" I snagged Tierno's phone from him, pulling up his internet app and prayed as I typed in a name.
"Ha!" I crowed as a familiar head of purple hair came up in the search results. "Check out this guy," I practically ordered as I shoved the phone back into Tierno's hands. "That's Harley Davidson. He's from Hoenn and he's one of the best coordinators out there. His matches are beyond impressive."
And Tierno did. His eyebrows rose as he flipped through photos until he finally pulled up a video clip. Louis leaned over to watch, whistling at the battle on screen.
"That's the jigglypuff evolution," He commented, "You're right, it's very odd. It's almost like it's immune to some of that drackhaus' attacks…"
They finished watching the clip. I snuck around to join them as they pulled up another. This Harley was younger than I was used to, maybe fifteen or sixteen, and no belly-shirt in sight, but he was still striking in a bright green ensemble and wide, confident movements. I was going to have to find a fanpage when I got my phone charged up again. Tierno watched a third clip with a serious expression.
"That," he finally voiced, "was awesome."
"Nothing like the baking contests here," Louis agreed leaning back with a considering nod. "I'm almost insulted our contest circuit is so backwards."
"Baking?" I snorted, "There's nothing wrong with food, but that's pretty boring. I can't see how that would work in live competitions."
"They making a big show of dancing around while they do it," Tierno explained with a pained expression. "And they do other stuff too! Round ups and quizzes et le fourbi... Shauna's really interested in them too. It's just…."
"It's not fair," I concluded as my friend trailed off. "You're good at dancing yourself, and you'd probably do great making routines to do with your pokémon. It's not right that you can't compete. I can't imagine the League letting them just … ban men."
"Do they even get League funding?" Louis mused. "I admit, I don't know much about contests. But if that's what they're like in other regions …"
Tierno just looked at his phone despondently. I frowned, trying to think how to cheer him up.
"Just… try," I offered. "Make some videos of you doing your own routines stuff. Post it online. Find forums for fans in other regions. They'll watch it without giving you shit about being a boy."
"Just for being new and a foreigner," Louis glibbed.
"Yes, well," I shot back, earning myself another dangerous smirk. "Look Tierno," I continued turning back to the other blond. "Screw the rules. You're better than that outdated nonsense. Just get good on your own. Get so good they HAVE to let you in. And if they still get snooty even after all that, turn up your own nose and find someone to sponsor you in Kanto or Johto or somewhere that'll recognize your talents. Get so amazingly famous internationally the contests in Kalos will be begging for you to come back."
Tierno said nothing, just stared at his phone. But a tiny green +150 appeared above his head. I smiled at him, happy he was happy. And really, everyone would be better off with such a stupid stereotype gone. Tierno especially.
XYXYXY
Silence settled over us again as we each fiddled with our own distractions. After a while Louis gave one final tug to his fresh bandages as he stood and we were off down the mountain again. It was a quiet trip. There were few trainers outside of the picnic areas, which we avoided in our musings, and only small scattered patches of meadow that held the occasional bidoof or bunnelby, but nothing worth stopping to fight. Louis and Tierno both kept their pokémon in their balls, while the azurill grumpily settled in my arms, tiny teeth only occasionally attempting more than a test nibble. By the time night was falling, and the stone walls of Santalune had come into view, the nibbles had turned almost ticklish, and I swear I'd heard it purr at least twice. Clearly, my Magic Fingers perk was working well, and I was very hopeful that I might have a fairly friendly azurill, and thus a marill, in short order. All in all, I was in a pretty good mood.
Which is why I was absolutely NOT prepared for the bright red uniforms of a trio of Rangers to be waiting for us just inside the gates.
"Mademoiselle Gabena," strained Lt. Moreau, nearly drooping in relief when he saw me. "Dieu merci. I'm sorry Mlle. Gabena, you're not in trouble, but I need you to come with me. Now."
XYXYXY
[Quest Update!]
A Hand Up: Complete! +500 EXP, +5 Great Balls, €5000, +500 [REL] with Kalos,
Hidden Objective 1/5: Invite a friend to come with you, +100 EXP per friend
Hidden Objective 2/5: Find a rare pokémon for Louis, +500 EXP +€5000
Hidden Objective 3/5: Find an extra pokémon for Louis, +500 EXP (250 EXP per Pokémon)
Hidden Objective 4/5: Train for more than one day, +500 EXP per day, +€5000 per day
Hidden Objective 5/5: Find a pokémon for your friend, +250 EXP per pokémon
Congratulations! You have leveled up!
LEVEL CAP REACHED. ALL EXP WILL BE DEFERRED UNTIL LEVEL CAP IS LIFTED. ALL MONEY AND ITEMS REWARDED AS NORMAL.
Congratulations! Due to successfully completing the Main Objective and all Hidden Objectives of A Hand Up, you have gained +500 [REL] to all members of the Pierre family, +50 [REL] with Kalos
Congratulations! Due to winning multiple battles in a row you have gained +75 [REL] with Kalos.
Congratulations! You have caught 5 pokémon! +5 pokéballs +50 EXP
LEVEL CAP REACHED. ALL EXP WILL BE DEFERRED UNTIL LEVEL CAP IS LIFTED. ALL MONEY AND ITEMS REWARDED AS NORMAL.
Congratulations! Due to your passionate opinions you have earned +100 to [Good] Alignment, +100 to [Chaotic] Alignment. +150 to [REL] with Tierno Lifar
You have unlocked the Side Quest:
[A Passion Denied] Part 1: Help Tierno find more information about contests outside of Kalos
Completion: +500 EXP, +€1000, +500 to [REL] with Tierno Lifar
Failure: NA
Accept? [Y]/[N]
Game Alert!
Due to circumstances beyond your control [PERK] [Daddy's Girl] has been automatically assigned. No PP has been used.
Game Alert!
Due to circumstances beyond your control, your Trainer's License has been labeled SUSPENDED.
A SUSPENDED account cannot: participate in official trainer battles, challenge gyms, participate in tournaments, access the League Pokémon Storage Boxes, access GTS or otherwise trade pokémon, access your League Bank account funds, and/or access any Pokémon Center facilities and services. Further information is available by visiting your [Status] page.
Your License has been SUSPENDED for INDEFINITELY. Please contact [?] at the International Pokémon League Organization for more details.
[Tutorial Complete!]
You can now access [Settings]!
You can now access [Pokémon Amie] in [Instant Dungeon]!
You can now access [Super Training] in [Instant Dungeon]!
You can now access the [Save] Feature!
[Auto-Save] activated!
… Saving Game …
My frustration with video games in a nutshell: I want to level up and do tons of sidequests and unlock all sorts of secrets...But the Plot keeps making me go though hoops to get to anything good. We're gonna go sideways for a while, don't mind me. Yes it's an evil evil cliff hanger, but there will be an explanation for it, I promise.
Frankieu, Memory Dump, thank you both for the reviews :3