Pokemon Quest

[MrRigger2]

You listen to Professor Elm's phone ring for the umpteenth time. You get that he's busy, but really, he should find some time to check his messages.

"Hello?"

"Professor Elm? Finally, I've been calling you for hours. I just wanted to let you know that I delivered those papers to Elder Li."

"Oh, excellent. I've been meaning to call you to check how it's going but I've been so busy with research, we're getting close to a breakthrough, I just know it..."

"That's great, Professor. Is there anything else you need?"

"No, no, you're fine... Wait, how is that Cyndaquil I loaned you doing?" He sounds eager.

"Actually, he's not a Cyndaquil anymore, he evolved into Quilava the other day when I delivered your papers. Elder Li really knows his stuff when it comes to Pokemon Battles, you know?"

"Evolved already? That's impressive, very impressive. Most Trainers aren't able to bond with their partners so quickly, you see. That you've been able to become so close to your Pokemon that they've evolved already, well, it's certainly unusual, I must say."

Your brow furrows. "Don't Pokemon just evolve once they get enough experience?"

"Yes and no. Most Pokemon, but not all, evolve once they're experienced enough. Others evolve when exposed to external stimuli, commonly evolution stones. Some only evolve when they're incredibly close to their trainer. And others require something else. It's why Pokemon Evolution is a greatly discussed field of research.

"However, one of my theories is that the bond between Trainer and Pokemon can assist in evolution, even when the trigger is a measurable factor like a certain amount of experience. There's evidence to suggest that when Trainers and Pokemon are close, the Pokemon grows faster. Of course, this phenomenon is difficult to study. Therefore, I'd like you to keep Quilava, and report back to me occasionally."

'Didn't have a whole lot of intention to give him back to you anyways.' "Yeah, I suppose I can do that."

"Well, thank you. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some work to get back to."

He's hung up before you get a chance to say goodbye. You stare at the phone for a second before dialing your father. It rings half a dozen times before he picks up.

"Hello?" he says roughly.

"Dad? It's your son."

"I know who you are, it says so right on the caller ID. How's that work for the Professor coming? When are you going to be home? I could use your help around the ranch, you know, and that can't happen if you're off gallivanting around the region like a fool."

"Love you too Dad. I did what Professor Elm needed me to do the other day, but I'm still in Violet City."

"Still in Violet City? What are you still doing there? I thought you were just going to make a delivery and come home. What happened?"

"Well, I met the Gym Leader here, and he saw me battle with one of the Elders from Sprout Tower. He said he wanted me to challenge him, and I think I might have a good shot at winning," you say, excitement creeping into your voice.

"Oh. Oh, I see." He's silent for a long moment. "You know what, if you're challenging the Gym Leader, go ahead, take...take as long as you need. The ranch isn't going anywhere, and I can find someone to help pick up the slack until you get home."

"Thanks, Dad. I'll call and let you know how things go."

"Well good. That Ledyba you sent me is doing alright, by the way. A bit slow on the uptake sometimes, but a good monster, overall. Up with the sun every day so far, trying to help me with the chores. Sometimes I think she makes a better ranch hand than you! Haha!"

You close your eyes and shake your head in exasperation. "That's great, Dad. Good to hear it's working out. I'll talk with you later."

0oOo0

You lean on a tree to catch your breath, fumbling with your backpack for a water bottle. "Good job team, that was a good run. Take a quick break, and we'll head back."

You look over your partners, admiring how fast they've grown. Smoot is sitting at the head of the group, trying to make sure he's the dominant one on the team. He's been a big help in training the rest of the team, making sure nobody falls behind with well-placed embers. Even if the person falling behind is you.

Wright isn't the greatest flyer in the world, his short wings preventing him from flying too far or fast, but you've never seen him quit at anything you've put in front of him. Whether it's flying all day or facing off against Dolly and Hogan, he doesn't stop until exhaustion catches up with him, even if you tell him to take a break. Even now, he's bouncing up and down, ready and raring to go, despite having trained for several hours already.

Swagster is much more laid back than either Smoot or Wright, content to go with the flow most of the time. She's not particularly agile on her underdeveloped legs, so the runs you've been doing over the past few days haven't been easy for her, but she hasn't complained or made any kind of displeasure known about it so far. You have, however, noticed her diffuse some disagreements before they come to blows by putting both targets to sleep.

Hogan seems like a good addition to the team so far, you think. Easily the slowest member of the team, he's quick to fall behind on runs, but makes up for his lack of speed with nearly inexhaustible stamina. On the other hand, he's got a head full of rocks, so maybe he just doesn't know when to quit. You're not quite sure which.

You were unsure about adding Geist to your team, but you've been pleased so far. He doesn't definitely doesn't appreciate being out in the bright sunlight for training, shying away from the light as much as possible, but as soon as you hit the dense, shadow-filled forest north of Violet you've been using for training, he comes alive, or at least as alive as a Ghost Pokemon can be. He's as quick as anybody else on the team, and uses the shadows and his intangibility to his advantage, usually playing defensive in training.

Dolly is the newest member of your team. She's not quite as slow as Hogan, but doesn't have his endurance either. Still, even when she's lagging behind on runs and dodging sparks from Smoot, it doesn't get her down. In fact, nothing seems to. You've trained her against Hogan a fair amount, just in case Falkner decides to use that Gligar against you, but she never seems discouraged or upset that her electricity is useless against him. She just growls at him until he's barely tapping her, and then runs into him no matter how many times it takes, despite the fact that she's slamming her head against a particularly stubborn rock.

You're not fully sure you're ready for Falkner, but the local wild Pokemon are only a challenge for your team if they attack en mass at this point, and the only way you'll know for sure is if you go and actually battle.

0oOo0

Your Party:

Smoot - Quilava - Naughty Nature - Male
Wright - Pidgey - Adamant Nature - Male
Swagster - Poliwag - Docile Nature - Female
Hogan - Geodude - Naive Nature - Male
Geist - Gastly - Careful Nature - Male
Dolly - Mareep - Jolly Nature - Female

With Dad:

Thea - Ledyba - Naive Nature - Female

MrRigger

[LifeOfGesture]

Aw. We should get something nice for our dad. Like a Growlithe or Vulpix. We should also send him a Zubat. For the lulz.

Anyways!

We should use Swagster as our first pokemon. Hypnosis everything. Then attack. If that looks like it's not working, we switch out to Geist and have him use his agility to avoid getting hit and landing ambush attacks.

[Wittgen]

So, given that we will never intentionally speak with our parents face to face again, perhaps we should make a point of capturing some quality looking pokemon and sending them back to our dad. He'll probably be lonely knowing we have seen the world and are fully aware of how shitty he and his ranch are in comparison.

[serbii]

Flying types tend to be fast, so if we can't manage a hypnosis send out Dolly for her 'static' ability which can paralyse on contact, not to mention thunderwave and cotton spore if she has them, which drops speed.

Ghastly's 'mean look' should be used if we manage to paralyse something to keep Fawkner from pulling it back. Curse should be used if Geist is going to faint, a little parting gift.

SEND HIM THOUSANDS OF ZUBATS!

[Wittgen]

Son,

The zubats have eaten everything. All the food reserves. Local flora and fauna. Your neighbor Carol. At night, they flock together in a giant, frenzied, whirling sphere. I don't know exactly what goes on in there. I don't want to know. But some things are clear. The blood means they're fighting, but there are no corpses. I think they eat each other. And I know they leave behind baby zubats, so I guess they're mating too. It's horrible. We can't even kill the babies they leave in the open. Carol tried, the first time it happened. God rest her soul. And the noise! The supersonic shrieks are awful. They're so bad they are actually disrupting radiowaves and the like. I hope this message reaches you.

Because what I'm really trying to say, son, is please stop sending me zubats. For the love of god, please stop. At first I was confused at why you thought it was a good idea. Then I was angry. Now I don't care son. I hold no grudge. Just, please. Please god. Stop. Sending. Zubats.

[serbii]

Laughing in real life right now.

[Random_fan]

I'm trying to work out if Wittgen is for or against capturing zubats.

[Vael]

Send him two zubat, two rattata, two sentret. Make sure they are male/female pairs and then sit back and watch the fun XD

But on a more serious note, we must get a ditto for daddy ^.^y

Anyways, if the wild pokemon can't do much for the team anymore, let's head back and rest up the team for tomorrow's match against Falkner. I'm a little surprised we haven't run into any other trainers though...

[Tempest Kitsune]

Actually, before we test ourselves against Falkner, try and challenge some of the trainers that live in town first, in order to gauge how well our team stacks up against other trained teams.

[QuoteMyFoot]

I-I think I might be the only person here who likes zubats ;-;

I like Tempest's idea, but I'll add that if we get into a battle we should focus on using Hogan, Geist and Dolly. Apart from Smoot, it seems like they're going to be our most likely picks in the Gym Challenge, and we know how awesome Smoot is.

[Tempest Kitsune]

Make sure we explain this to Smoot beforehand.

[MrRigger2]

While I completely agree that Zubat is horrifically annoying when you're trying to get through a cave or go anywhere, they aren't half bad if you use one on your team. Decent speed, they can confuse and poison early on, and they eventually evolve into Crobat, who can be really nasty if you aren't prepared. If you need someone to stall, it's not bad. Poison with Toxic or Poison Fang, Confuse with Confuse Ray, then spend half your turns out of reach with Fly.

0oOo0

You squint against the bright lights of the gym as you step into the challenger's box. Falkner is standing opposite you, looking pleased.

"You know, I was almost afraid you weren't going to come," he shouts across the field.

"I just wanted to make sure I wouldn't be wasting your time," you reply.

"It's good that you didn't chicken out, I've been looking forward to this. Now, how about a three-on-three battle? One Pokemon at a time, and we go until one of us is out of usable Pokemon. To make it fair, you can switch as needed, but I'll only switch if my Pokemon faint."

"Well, I guess that sounds good."

Falkner nods. "Good. Now choose your first Pokemon. Go, Pidgey!" Falkner throws out a Pokeball and a well groomed Pidgey emerges. As the Pokemon is released, the Pokeball changes direction and flies back to Falkner's hands.

'Okay, where to start?'

0oOo0

Your Party:

Smoot - Quilava - Naughty Nature - Male
Wright - Pidgey - Adamant Nature - Male
Swagster - Poliwag - Docile Nature - Female
Hogan - Geodude - Naive Nature - Male
Geist - Gastly - Careful Nature - Male
Dolly - Mareep - Jolly Nature - Female

With Dad:

Thea - Ledyba - Naive Nature - Female

A bit short, but I want to try to have the battle be more in your control than a pre-determined event like against Elder Li. Win or lose, it's your move.

MrRigger

[Tempest Kitsune]

Start off with Dolly, no need to tip our hand just yet. "Give it a thundershock!"

[Vael]

I'm gonna say Hogan, Sand Attack

[MrRigger2]

I'm gonna say Hogan, Sand Attack

Geodudes don't get Sand-Attack, or at least not any way I can tell.

MrRigger

[Vael]

Huh? Aww :(

Then maybe our Wright then Sand Attack?

[tryrar]

I agree with the dolly thyndershock move, if we're fast enough we might knock out that first pidgey before he can pull anything fancy

[Aldraia Dragonsong]

Sand-Attack, as a Ground-type move, will not work on Flying-types like Pidgey, will it?
I say send out Dolly.

[tryrar]

actually it will work on them; however pidgeys have keen eye which prevent accuracy loss, so rendering the whole thing a moot issue. I reiterate my vote for dolly

[serbii]

Actually I'm going to go with Geist, keep our electric type in reserve for his stronger pokemon. Lick can be used to paralyse the pidgey, or hypnosis, which is a starting move for Ghastly can put it to sleep. Due to the ghost typing the pidgey will be forced into using special attacks. Quick attack won't work, however gust and sand attack will. Geist should also have spite, which cuts PP of the last move used so it he has any hax TM moves we can knock his use down to zero with a couple of attacks.

I'm going Geist, start with hypnosis or lick.

[LifeOfGesture]

Geist. We should teach him to troll.

[ShonenHero]

I'm with LoG and Serbii on this one.

[tryrar]

uuuummm, one thing you guys are forgetting, pidgeys are also normal typed as well as flying, so ghost moves are rather ineffective against the birds(SO annoying, because I've been having a hard time leveling up my ghastly in HG right now, since pidgeys are one of the more common opponents). However, putting him in for purposes of harassment/annoyance isn't such a bad idea, so I'm changing my vote to geist, if only to see what TM moves he might have put on his birds

[MrRigger2]

You mentally struggle between starting out with Dolly or Geist, but quickly reach a decision. "Alright Geist, let's do it!" The purple cloud of gas that makes up a Gastly emerges, chuckling malevolently. The bright lights make him shrink down a little, but Geist is still easily two and a half feet across, dwarfing Falkner's Pidgey.

"Pidgey, use Gust to try and break him up!" Pidgey rises higher in the air and begins flapping his wings fast enough to create a swirl of strong wind. The wind catches Geist head on before dissipating, taking a fair bit of the purple gas with it.

"Shake it off, Geist, and use Spite!" Geist concentrates and a pulse of dark energy strikes Pidgey, making it wince heavily.

"Don't worry about that, Pidgey. Just keep hitting it with Gust," Falkner ordered. "Make sure it can't retaliate."

"Geist! Avoid it!" The burst of wind crashes against the ground, and Falkner looks satisfied that Ghastly had been fully dispersed.

"Don't get cocky!" you shout. "Now, Geist, use Hypnosis" The black core that rises from the ground doesn't have much purple mist surrounding it anymore, but Geist is still quick enough to get in front of Pidgey before it can react. Rings of energy sink into Pidgey, leading it into a deep sleep, sending him crashing to the ground. Geist swoops down, enveloping Pidgey completely, filling the room with a haunting laugh. As Geist's natural poisonous gases begin to take effect, Pidgey's breaths become visibly labored.

"That's enough," Falkner snaps. "Pidgey is unable to battle. Go, Spearow!"

An angry red, brown, and black bird dives towards Geist. "Pursuit!" Spearow shoots forward, stabbing at Geist with his short beak. The attack hurts Geist pretty bad, and he's nearly completely see-through at this point.

'If I try and return him, he'll just get hit again by Pursuit, and he's not strong enough to take another one of those. If he's going to faint, might as well make it count. You make the decision quickly. "Geist, strike him down with a Curse!" A long nail materializes in front of Geist and spears him through the center of his black core. Spearow cries out in pain as the Curse takes effect, but Geist sinks down, settling against the floor of the gym.

"You did a good job, now take a rest." The red laser recalls Geist into his Pokeball. 'Now, who should I use next?'

0oOo0

Your Party:

Smoot - Quilava - Naughty Nature - Male
Wright - Pidgey - Adamant Nature - Male
Swagster - Poliwag - Docile Nature - Female
Hogan - Geodude - Naive Nature - Male
Geist - Gastly - Careful Nature - Male
Dolly - Mareep - Jolly Nature - Female

With Dad:

Thea - Ledyba - Naive Nature - Female

I'm using a lot of exclamation points in these Pokemon battles. Nothing else seems right for shouting out orders, but using as many as I am seems like poor writing to me. Maybe I'm just picky. Eh.

MrRigger

[Aldraia Dragonsong]

Hmm... despite my earlier vote, I say Hogan this time. Save Dolly for last.
I had not noticed an excess of exclamation points. The number you used seems perfectly appropriate to the situation.