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Post by lichlord on Jan 4, 2020 9:16:43 GMT
Victoria sighs with relief as she finishes. These normal types were pretty tough all around. And considering what she's about to walk into, it's going to be really tough.
She goes to heal up and then makes her way to Whitney.
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Post by Raven on Jan 4, 2020 20:59:10 GMT
The pink-haired Gym Leader beams at you as you approach. "Hi hi! Welcome to Goldenrod Gym!" She exclaims. "I'm Whitney! Master of all things cute and Normal-Typed. So what's up?"
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Post by lichlord on Jan 5, 2020 8:54:16 GMT
Victoria tries to not let Whitney's (Pokemon) reputation bother her, and stands up straight.
"Victoria Erlast."
Ooooh! Tell her she's one of your trainer idols cause she destroys people with underestimated pokemon and you had a poster in your room- Oh wait, tough Victoria... This is hard!
"Tough trainers to get here, Whitney."
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Post by Raven on Jan 5, 2020 8:58:11 GMT
Whitney giggles. "Of course they're tough, silly! They're my Trainers! I'm pretty easygoing, but over the years I've developed a special method of training to make sure everyone's Pokemon are up to snuff! Especially now that someone could be coming here for their eighth badge even! Not that anyone ever does..." She pouts cutely, her youthful appearance doing her no favors in the 'not looking like a pouting child' department. Then again, that may be her intent. Hard to say.
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Post by lichlord on Jan 5, 2020 9:33:42 GMT
Dawwww, that's sad! Sorry Whitney...
Victoria looks off for a moment.
"I wouldn't feel too bad. You have a reputation out there, but as for why people aren't coming back... I think that's just due to Goldenrod's location. It'd be very... odd, to maneuver it to your last stop. You'd have to do half of the south loop and then go back north and then finally hit up the end-"
She shakes her head.
"Needless to say. It's not easy. Unless you all move Goldenrod somewhere else."
She shrugs.
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Post by Raven on Jan 5, 2020 10:53:38 GMT
Whitney sighs. "Yeah, I know the location isn't ideal if you're starting in New Bark, like most would; but I always invite people to come back and face me again if they want a bigger challenge, but noooo, it's always one-and-done." She heaves another sigh, though her lips quirk up into a small smile. "My Gym Trainers joke that everyone's too scared of my infamous Miltank, Milty. She's old enough and strong enough now that I can only bring her to a real fight. Like big-time, international tournaments and such. She's also on my 'Champion-level' team, since my 8-badge and my 'Champion' teams are pretty much the same thing since people so rarely challenge me on that level."
Her cheeks suddenly flush pink as she realizes that she's been ranting at you for the past several minutes. "Woopsies! So sorry to just dump all that on you! I have a really bad habit of getting carried away when something frustrates me. You're not here to listen to me rant, you're here to win yourself a Plain Badge, right? So, what number am I? I'm guessing 'three', since that's the norm, but I gotta ask just in case."
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Post by lichlord on Jan 5, 2020 22:07:25 GMT
Mental Note: Come back here as well as Bugsy later on.
"If I was at a level where I 'could' fight you at full power I'd rather have that as a test. As of right now... Yes this would be my third gym."
She straightens her dress out and stands straight. Leibling leers at Whitney from her shoulder.
"Are we ready to begin then?"
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Post by Raven on Jan 5, 2020 22:19:57 GMT
Whitney claps her hands together excitedly. "Yup! Let's get this party started, neh?"
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Post by Raven on Jan 7, 2020 7:26:54 GMT
When Victoria's Beautifly falls, Whitney can't help but cheer a little bit. Her Lopunny is exhausted, but pleased to have won. Whitney walks over to Victoria after and shakes her hand. "You know, that was a really great fight. You did a lot better than many rookie trainers that come here. You and your Pokemon can do it, I know you can. You just need to give them that little extra push!" She beams at Victoria. "When you've trained up a bit more, come back and challenge me again! I'll be waiting!"
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Post by lichlord on Jan 7, 2020 8:59:29 GMT
Victoria is pretty silent through the end, and she doesn't feel really great. She had more or less done very well right to this point and then to not even 'see' the fourth pokemon on this fight means there's a hard sheer wall in front of her. So it's not great, and she doesn't feel too great about it.
She gives a nod to Whitney, hiding what she's feeling, and heads out to do... who knows her next plan.
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Post by lichlord on Jan 13, 2020 1:42:45 GMT
The next day, Victoria decides to bash her head against Ilex again, maybe try her best to get past it. She gathers up what supplies she can and heads off.
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Post by Raven on Jan 13, 2020 8:02:42 GMT
After leaving a peace offering for the group of Murkrow, Victoria heads back to the eerie passage. It's quite disorienting, and seems to go on way longer than it has any right to. Next thing Victoria knows, she's stumbled into a completely different area of the forest! This... this is definitely not normal. Normal Ilex doesn't have dedicated paths this deep in the forest, even if it is larger than most people give it credit for. Unfortunately, Victoria does not get much time to regain her bearings, as she's quickly accosted by more hostile Pokemon! These ones are fully evolved too! Noctowl!
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Post by Raven on Jan 17, 2020 8:42:07 GMT
Several more fights and a surprising amount of random items later, Victoria comes across a tree. It's not like it's a particularly special tree. In fact, it looks just like all the others. At the same time though, it has a really creepy aura around it. Like the tree is alive (not a Pokemon, but an honest-to-Arceus living tree) or something and watching her. The feeling lasts until she moves on past it, then disappears as if it was never there to begin with. Even going back briefly to see if it returns produces no results. The creepy feeling does not return, but it certainly leaves her shaken up a bit.
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Post by lichlord on Jan 17, 2020 8:51:05 GMT
Victoria stares at the now aura-less tree. That was an unsettling feeling, but she can't recreate it. And with her team not being tip-top shape now, it's not great to have this feeling so deep inside the forest. She pokes it a few times to test.
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Post by Raven on Jan 17, 2020 8:56:58 GMT
Poking it evokes a feeling of bark. Tree bark, to be specific. Not knowing a whole lot about horticulture or trees in general, Victoria can't really place the kind of tree it is. It looks a fair bit different than the trees in most of the areas of Johto she's passed through recently, and definitely are not the same kind as "Normal" Ilex, as seen before agreeing to enter the Dungeon/Dark Mirror version of the Forest. All that aside, it's still just an ordinary tree so far as any examination can tell.
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Post by lichlord on Jan 17, 2020 9:05:24 GMT
Alright well it's not getting up and attacking her and recreating Evil Dead, so she guesses she can move on for now.
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Post by Raven on Jan 18, 2020 8:04:09 GMT
Oh hey, weirdly creepy tree aura is back! Still no sign of what's causing the spooky aura, but there it is. As before, it vanishes the moment Victoria walks past it and doesn't return.
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Post by lichlord on Jan 18, 2020 8:07:12 GMT
Victoria stops and looks around. Maybe it's not the tree, and something else? But then... there's nothing. She doesn't like that feeling one bit.
She continues on, but she has a white knuckle grip on one of her pokeballs.
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Post by Raven on Jan 19, 2020 2:24:46 GMT
Oh look! It's everyone's favorite time again! Creepy Tree Aura Time! Now with even more creep!
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Post by lichlord on Jan 19, 2020 2:34:22 GMT
At this point she's half creeped out, and half angry.
"Who's out there!"
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