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Post by Raven on Sept 9, 2017 19:30:03 GMT
Group B will discuss in the Skype OOC which city they would like to start out in.
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Post by birdy51 on Sept 11, 2017 3:58:07 GMT
The sun is bright, and shining. Another beautiful morning in the port of Vermillion City. Wingulls float gently on the breeze above, as the sea rolls in and out in an eternal dance with earth. From her bed, a young witch and her cat bear witness to the pretty birds as they sing a chirp-chirp chirp in their pretty pretty sing-song way. It was nothing less than agony. Their horrible warbling warbles were but secret nails across the chalkboard doing multi-linear math equations from hell. "Shut uuuuuup..." The witch groans, pulling her pillow desperately over her head. The adamant birds refuse to submit.
A furious Salena thrusts herself(and Mr. Kitty) from her bed. Her eyes glaze over with a wicked vengeance. If they weren't going to shut up, she was going to have to get up and do something about it! Nearby, her cauldron waited obediently for her latest brew. Perhaps a little Sleep... Or Rage and Confusion! Turn the birds against one another! Mad cackles issue forth from her lips in frothing bubbles. Ahahaha! That would show the devils! All she had to do is- AH! Who is that?!
Oh.
It's just her reflection in the mirror. Salena pulls herself together long enough to take a hard look at herself. Twelve days earlier, her Pokémon journey began. As of today, she has now been wearing the same dress for one crash landing, a cave romp, and three Gym Battles. It was a mess. She was a mess. Even her hair was starting convert to it's original coloration. She groans quietly. Goodness, what a bother! She hadn't expected this journey to be so long and so tough! And yesterday, oh goodness. The Vermillion City Gym was just a mess. Though the first two Gyms failed to present any significant challenge, having to throw herself into battle as well just too much. Her muscles ached and squeaked every time that she moved.
"I'm not going home yet." She says quietly. Her trusted cat companion rubbed quietly against her leg and mewled. Like most cats, Mr. Kitty didn't care about what Salena was saying, just as long as it was being said to him. Salena picks him up and applies the scritches. "We're going to need allies Mr. Kitty. We can't keep doing this alone..."
She pauses quietly, then decides. With an impressive *THUMP*, she slams her pot lid down on her cauldron. "Ok! Ok, ok, ok! That's what I'm going to do! I'm just going to go out there, and make some friends! It'll be easy!" Just... Easy."
Her hands rubs her arms gingerly. Maybe it wasn't going to be easy. Maybe there weren't going to be any friends for her. She didn't live in a bubble; Salena knew how she dressed and what she was doing was weird. And... She hadn't even told Mom where she was yet. But at the same time, could she really just give up like this? Mr. Kitty boops her face with his paw, as if to remind Salena that she was either overthinking this or that she wasn't scritching enough anymore. Salena tittered softly.
Ok. Yes. She was just overthinking this.
Taking a deep breath, Salena gathers her things and her courage as she steps outside to greet the new day.
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Post by wendy on Sept 11, 2017 14:22:29 GMT
With a bag slung over her shoulder, Riley steps off the boat and onto the pier. She takes a second to breathe in the delicious salty breeze and listen to the bleats of wingulls riding it. Vermillion City. Opening her eyes, she takes in the clear blue sky, the sweeping port around her, the beach, and- oh! A bustling seaside market. Better go look- oof.
As Riley is shoved roughly from behind, she stumbles and her bag flops onto the boardwalk. She whirls around to face her assailant, eyes wide in indignation. A clumsy-looking boy with sandy hair stands behind her. Seeing her intense expression, he raises his arms innocently. "I'm so sorry! Are you okay?"
Riley ignores him, focused on the air next to Clumsy Boy's right ear, where an orange-and-black something takes shape. Two glowing jack-o-lantern eyes burn brighter as the pumpkaboo fades back into visibility. His little face is screwed into a defensive frown, on the verge of retaliation against the boy. Riley gives Pilgrim a knowing glare, mentally rebuking him from action. The boy gulps seeing Riley's expression, misdirecting it at himself. "Look, I-Aah!" he ducks to the side, finally noticing the pumpkaboo, who bobs jovially through the air toward his master. Having had enough, the boy scurries off.
"It was just an accident, Pilgrim." Riley says calmly, watching the boy retreat. "We can't just attack anybody. Remember what happened last time?" She picks up her bag, dusting off the sand, and slings it back over her shoulder. "Now, let's go check out that market!" Once again thrilled by the gleeful day, Riley skips and laughs through the salty breeze while Pilgrim dances in the air around her.
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Post by Nether on Sept 11, 2017 21:22:15 GMT
The journey was going great - Aidan recollected the recent past as he waited for the market street to crowd up a bit. He had placed himself upwind to the fish sellers, hoping to have his own merchandise suffer as little as possible from the trademark Seaside Market Smell while still taking advantage of the attending folks.
For a definition of 'great' that could be summed up as 'no broken bones yet' - even if the latest gym ended up getting pretty close to that. He grinned at the memory, blood boiling up at the thought: it was definitely the best one of the three. When the street finally populated, he reached for a handful of apples from a drawer in the battered cart that doubled as both a counter and a cooking implement.
"Ready?" He shot a gaze at his 'assistant' as he asked: a bipedal mantis barely shorter than Aidan himself, incongruously sporting a chef hat and an apron himself. Even with a surprisingly good-natured Scyther as his was, convincing him to put up with this kind of show had required a massive amount of bribery behind the scenes.
Interpreting the murderous gaze as 'Go ahead', he started juggling the apples and calling for passers-by in full voice: selling street food, he discovered on his own skin, was only half about cooking - the rest was sheer attention-grabbing.
"Delicious, freshly-peeled, freshly-fried apples!" At 'freshly-peeled' he tossed one of the fruits at the pokémon, who proceeded to perfectly slice the peel off before bouncing the apple back. If one didn't stop to ponder the implication of razor-sharp, lightning-fast blades on things other than fruit, it was all quite cool.
But how did Aidan end up at a seaside market, trying to separate passers-by from their hard-earned money? The collection of leaves and dirt on his back after a night spent sleeping outside was probably connected to the answer: he was running on slightly less than empty, without even enough cash in his pockets for the next step of his journey. So, street cooking it was.
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Post by Lessah on Sept 11, 2017 23:10:49 GMT
Back in Vermillion where it all started, where she stepped off the boat more then two week ago. Funny - Jane thought to herself as she wandered along the streets - It feels much longer. After all, she now had three Kanto gym badges where before she hand zero (of any) gym badges. That wasn't the only thing that had change though! Both she and her precious team felt much stronger.
Also ...
*Rumble*
Her wallet was a lot lighter - practically empty. And coincidentally so was her stomach. Oh I really should have bought more food ... she thought to herself and absent-mindedly played with the various sundries and trinket whom filled the pockets of her jacket. She was still sure they would prove to be an wise investment some day in the future but right now she wished they were a tiny bit more edible.
Anyway! It would all work out as soon as she found a good spot to peddle her wards. Ideally she'd have wanted to be right just outside the gym. But seeing how people preferred an on-hands approach over here she wasn't sure if she wanted to annoy that establishment. The pokécenter maybe? After all people would surely be more motivated to invest in extra protection after being trashed once! Still deep in her thoughts she started going over the contents of her large folder of cardboard signs and steering her footsteps toward the center.
Oh? What's that wondrous smell? The scent of something foody AND sugary suddenly assailed her vulnerable nostrils prompting another uninvited rumble. There! A delicious looking fried apple cart, containing even more delicious looking fried apples. It appeared to be tended by a pair of less edible-looking humanoids whom she rapidly made her way towards. (Though maybe with the right sauce ...? No! Stop. Focus!)
"Hello!" she greeted the larger, red, bipedal apple person and put on her best smile. "How much for one *uh* fried apple?" she asked casually while tucking her "Will trade magic for food" sign back into the folder. It was never good to look too desperate. Though she couldn't help bud add "They seem really nice!"
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Post by birdy51 on Sept 11, 2017 23:35:45 GMT
With no real plan set in her head, Salena wanders into the market area and is immediately assailed by the sights and smells of old Vermillion. Her widens. Oh goodness! Such smells! Intoxicating! And all of the cute little stalls, squee*!
Food! She needed it, she needed it now and-
"PRR-rrrRR!-" Goes the cat, sinking his claws into Salena's arms. This elicits a small shriek, before Salena unceremoniously dumps the cat onto the ground.
"Geez, what's with you?" The young witch exclaims. Mr. Kitty looks at her with cold, indignant eyes as he thrusts his little paw at a nearby young woman. That's when she sees it. The soft glow of a tiny flame. That orange glaze! Brown head! Brown head! Ahahaha! Her hands clap together into a dizzying hurricane, tempo in furioso. "Mr. Brown! Mr. Brown!"
Wait. No. A Pumpkaboo! Pumpkaboo!
"Excuse me ma'am, excuse me!" Salena exclaims, turning to quickly cut off the young girl's escape. The young girl gave her new compatriot a big smile and- Wait hang on. Oh! Oh my. Little Miss Wicke took a step back a moment, dazed and confused. There was something, strange and familiar about this person in a way that she didn't understand. Like, a weird sort of kinship she got when she was around a Ghost-Type Pokémon. She felt it all the time when she was around Mr. Fuji, Ms. Christie, even sometimes Mr. Verne when he wasn't being a giant inflatable sourpuss. It was like her aura was all... Messed up or something.
She stared at this strange, black haired girl quietly. Just... Who was this person?
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Post by wendy on Sept 12, 2017 1:15:15 GMT
Absolutely loving the perfect seaside weather and the hustle-and-bustle of the market, Riley happily meanders the various stalls with their wares and trinkets. She gasps at cute little plushy toys shaped like pokémon ("Look, Pilgrim! That's you!"), gawks at strange pottery, and laughs at gaudy contest accessories. Suddenly, one particular stall catches her eye. There's an odd man with a turban sitting behind a modest wooden stand, which is covered with peculiar items. They all seem to be emboldened with the same strange, twisted pattern. As she studies one particular piece, the man (who seemed to be asleep) startles her by saying, "Interested in the occult, are yeh?"
She regards him cautiously. "Um. I don't know."
"Yeh know this symbol means these are cursed, don't yeh? These items were found in an ancient, sealed mausoleum. And get this- every archaeologist that was on the expedition mysteriously died."
Riley is unimpressed. "Well, when was the expedition?"
The man thinks for a second. "I believe it was about sixty years ago."
"So they probably just died of old age." She muses, holding up a sleek, black pin with the singular design on it. "How much?"
The man coughs out a laugh, shaking his head. "You've been warned, girl."
"......."
"2 thousand."
"I'll give you 1500."
"1900."
"1750 is my max, sorry."
The man sighs, nodding. "Fine, fine. Take it."
After the necessary payment, Riley grins, fastens her hair to the side with the ominous new ornament, and looks up to Pilgrim. "What do you think?" He chirps approvingly. Smiling, Riley turns to the next stall when, out of nowhere, an odd girl accosts her. The girl sports a bizarre witch costume (which has definitely seen better days) and gazes almost obsessively at Pilgrim, who shyly floats down to rest on Riley's shoulder. When the witch-girl finally acknowledges Riley, her expression completely changes into one of...suspicion? The girl even takes a step backward.
Riley is unsure what is happening, but still feels insulted somehow. She clears her throat, "Can I...help you??"
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Post by birdy51 on Sept 12, 2017 1:48:22 GMT
"You're a strange one, aren't you?" Salena says in her most innocent young girl voice. She rocks back and forth on her feet sheepishly. "Your Pumpkaboo is cool! I have one as well, but it's always interesting to see another Pumpkaboo because unlike most Pokémon, they can vary in weight and size. Which, is really fascinating, because you'd think with the environmental pressures of survival placed upon them that other species of Pokémon would end up bigger too, but it's only really ever been documented in Pumpkaboos and their evolutions, which is cool because they can end up being a lot bigger or smaller and that can really change how you use your personal Pumpkaboo pumpkin pal in battle!"
She takes in a deep breath, and for the first time in this conversation actually seems to acknowledge that she was making the other person deeply uncomfortable what with all the staring and all. "Oh! S-sorry. I'm being rude again. My name is Lavender! It's nice to meet you miss...?"
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Post by wendy on Sept 12, 2017 1:59:55 GMT
"...Riley." The girl seems harmless enough. Riley decides to relax a bit. "Um, yeah. Pumpkaboos are cool." She looks over to Pilgrim on her shoulder. "Pilgrim here is average-sized, for a pumpkaboo. That makes him more of a well-rounded battle companion, I think." Overcome by all the attention, Pilgrim blushes. For a pumpkaboo, this means that he turns invisible. "Aww, I guess he's a little shy right now. That's okay." Riley turns back to the strange girl. She's really little, but something about her...she seems not too far from Riley's own age, actually. Then, she puts two-and-two together. "So you've got a pumpkaboo- that means you're a trainer. Did you come here to battle the gym as well?"
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Post by birdy51 on Sept 12, 2017 2:16:36 GMT
Like a pop can after one two many shakes, Salena was all smiles and shaking. Yes! Ms. Riley thought Pumpkaboos were cool! This is good! This is progress!
"That's ok! Not all Pokémon are the sociable, I want to see and talk to you type. My Drifblim, Mr. Verne hates being around people too, but ah, that's another story. I am a trainer too! In fact..." Salena pauses, before lifting the brim of her hat. Three glittering badges shined out of the inner lip like tiny stars, just giggly to meet the morning sun. "Three badges! I beat the Vermillion City Gym Leader just last night! It wasn't easy but me and my partners managed. Isn't that right, Mr. Kitty?"
Mr. Kitty, distracted from accosting the nearby avian population, mrows in agreement. His tail swishes back and forth, as his cat-eyes watches a trainer and his ugly bug thing doing some chopping act. The cat glances at his claws. Prim perfection. He could probably do better than that...
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Post by wendy on Sept 12, 2017 3:38:08 GMT
Riley eyes the three shiny, genuine badges pinned to the witch's hat. "Nice, me too. Thankfully, I've got a ground type so it wasn't too bad here. Next is Celadon, of course. Was thinking of heading out soon, just got back from a little ferry trip to celebrate my victory. Come to think of it, I might buy some new clothes first..." Riley tries hard not to glance down at Lavender's shabby dress. Over Lavender's shoulder, Riley notices that a particular little ghost boy has revealed himself again, dangerously close to a- what is that? An apple-flinging scyther? "Pilgrim! Oh, no. I better get over there- MOVE-" Riley starts shoving past pedestrians, running toward the fried apple cart. That pumpkin is about to be shishkaboo'd!
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Post by birdy51 on Sept 12, 2017 14:47:16 GMT
The poor witch quickly turns into one of the unfortunate pedestrians, only barely just avoiding being bowled over in Riley's mad dash.
"Huh. She really is a strange one... Salena mutters. "Doesn't she know it's really hard to cut a ghost?"
She shrugs. Well. May as well see what the fuss was about!
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Post by wendy on Sept 12, 2017 16:50:06 GMT
Riley finally reaches the apple stand. She comes to a stop, huffing, next to a girl with long, black hair. When she gathers enough breath, Riley attempts to call "Pilgr-" but at that moment, Pilgrim jumps into the rhythm of the apples. He has been studying the back-and-forth tossing and peeling, and at this very moment decides to masquerade as an apple himself, flying toward the scyther to be peeled. Horrified, Riley watches the scyther, as if in slow motion, cut cleanly through the pumpkaboo. Just as the witch-girl muttered, however, it has no effect, although the scyther does look rather puzzled. Unsure what to do, it throws Pilgrim back to the chef to be fried.
"WAIT, um, hi- excuse me," Riley waves her arms to get the red-haired chef's attention. "Please don't fry my pumpkaboo, I'm sorry, he's kind of a troublemaker. Pilgrim, get over here." He merrily floats out of the chef's hand and over to Riley, who frowns affectionately at the pumpkin. "Um, sorry for the trouble. These apples look really good, by the way. I'll take three- one for me, one for Pilgrim, and one for you," she says, turning to the long-haired girl. "Sorry for cutting you off in line, I'll buy you an apple if you want. Oh, and one for your pokemon, too."
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Post by Nether on Sept 13, 2017 2:35:59 GMT
"Well, one apple would be..." The last time he tried selling stuff he ended up eyeballing prices too low, and the other merchants didn't take that very kindly - on a completely unrelated note, a coconut to the head hurts "..75!" that was probably a fair price, although he wouldn't mind being haggled to 70 or so.
Meanwhile, the production phase had reached a pretty delicate stage: all but one apple had been peeled - the next step was throwing them high enough to give himself enough time to grab the bowl full of batt- "Please don't fry my pumpkaboo"
What?
It was only then that he noticed the last apple wasn't actually peeled - and surprisingly light. But he only had a moment to consider the mischievous pokémon: the other fruit didn't stop in their spinning just because he got distracted. "Gah!" He caught the first in his hand, then the second in the same. His other hand managed to grab one whose orbit had strayed too much - so far so good, but this was the easy part, with opposable thumbs and all. The fourth ended up a tricky balancing act on his elbow, and the fifth (his juggling limit).. where was the fifth?
The sudden painful thump on his head answered that question, as well as ruining his perfect last-second save. The traitorous fruit bounced down, headed towards the ground.. but never reached it, instead disappearing at the last moment in the ever-hungry maw of a Swalot, who immediately proceeded to stare at Aidan with all the pride of someone who saved the situation. The boy just sighed.
At least at still apples it would be easier to just grab the bowl of batter, and then it was just a matter of slicing and frying.
"So.." he offered the girls a sheepish smile while trying to prod the Swalot away from the rest of the food with one leg "..apples for everyone? Incoming!" Apart from a slightly twitching eyebrow, he seemed determined to act like the accident never happened.
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Post by birdy51 on Sept 13, 2017 12:19:00 GMT
Salena saunters over, tipping one leg over the other in a dip diving way where one pretends to be sneaky, but is utterly incompetent at the task and instead settles for a silly walk. Unlike most others, she wasn't particularly interested in the apples. They were just apples, weren't they? Nothing too special surely. On the other hand, that Pokémon!
Skirting the small crowd of two, she bent down to get a better look of the purple blob! Chubby, nice little mustache. Beautiful patterns and a natural sheen! She squee'd uncontrollably. "Ooh! I've never seen one of you before! You're a cute little chubber!" Salena proclaims. She tilts her head to the exceedingly chubby Pokémon's trainer with a smile. "Hey! Mr. Juggling Apples Pumpkaboo man! You mind if I take a picture of your Pokémon for my Pokédex?"
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Post by Lessah on Sept 13, 2017 15:07:59 GMT
"75? Oh okay -" Jane started once she heard the price, already preparing herself to bargain. Or possibly beg. Or ... Maybe see if she couldn't swipe one when he was distracted by this new hovering apple? Wait - they don't fly do they? Luckily before she was questioning her sanity too much someone announced that this apple was in fact her pokémon!
With a blink she turned to the newcomer and stared at her in confusion. But as soon as her mind processed the "free food" message she turned right back into all smiles again. "Oh thanks! Eh - I mean I don't mind. I mean ... Eh - I'd like some fried apples yeah." Bleh. Socializing was hard on an empty stomach.
Anyhow!
"I'm sure Teus would like one too!" She continued and conjured a pokéball from a pocket somewhere. From it emerged an very fluffy - and judging by the way his eyes quickly honed in on the sweets - also a bit hungry Flareon. Thinking quickly, before he managed to take off and make a mess, Jane lifted him up and held him to her chest. "He's a bit of an sweet-tooth. she explained as the Flareon squiggled a bit in her grasp before resigning himself to the fact that he couldn't dive into the bowl of batter. Yet.
"Oh but where are my manners. I'm Jane!" the long haired girl grinned and nodded at the small gathering, realizing that she'd introduced her pokémon before herself.
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Post by Nether on Sept 13, 2017 15:15:51 GMT
"Nononono, don't give him atten-" too late.
The purple blob had already noticed he was being focused on, and reacted just as Aidan had expected: by slithering to the front stage and puffing up with the most smug expression one could imagine. Then, after noticing he wouldn't be the only thing in the picture, he just continued puffing up. And puffing up. And puffing up. He only stopped when he was the height of the food cart, then directed a loud "SWA!" as Salena while posing - or doing his best at posing anyway, he didn't have too many mobile parts to actually pose - as if to give her the go-ahead for the photoshoot.
"-tion". He sighed a defeated sigh as the food preparation took a backseat and proceeded mechanically and with much less showmanship. "Witchy girl, meet Gao. Now he's going to somehow magically appear in every picture you take for the next week or so. Gao, meet witchy girl. Try to not be a nuisance?" He didn't seem too hopeful of that.
It was only then that he noticed the badges glistening off the girl's hat. "Oh? You beat the Vermillion gym too? Wasn't it just awesome?" Obviously, the redhead's definition of 'awesome' involved lots of bruising. It was only after the other girl introduced herself that he noticed everyone knew the names of the other's pokémon by now.. but almost nobody bothered with their own. He gave a hearty laugh at the idea, then proceeded to fix that. "You can call me Aidan"
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Post by Lessah on Sept 13, 2017 15:28:03 GMT
"Awesome-r then the Cerulean one at least!" Jane concurred and then muttered to herself, blissfully unaware that the Vermilion leader packed tons of Ice Punches. "*Mumble* who puts Ice Beam on all their pokémons anyway *grumble*".
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Post by birdy51 on Sept 13, 2017 17:15:03 GMT
"I know right?" Salena says, peeking out from behind the bulging form of Mr. Gao. "I was hoping Mr. Brown would be as handy in Cerulean as he was in Pewter, but he got knocked out before he could do much! Oh and no worries! I don't mind if Gao gets in my pictures! He's really, really cute!"
Salena smiled and took a quick break from photography. "My name is S- Lavender! It's a pleasure to meet you as well! And over there is Mr. Kitty!"
Mr. Kitty opted not to respond. Too busy watching big bug, tail, swooshing back and forth as he gazed into the eyes of the fruit murdering maniac.
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Post by wendy on Sept 13, 2017 22:09:52 GMT
" I'm Riley, nice to meet you guys. Oh, hey Lavender- ah!" Riley scrambles out of the way of the inflatable purple blob. Once that's done, she remembers to rummage around in her bag for some cash. " Alright, um, this should be enough for the four apples, plus the one that fell. Keep the change!" she says, handing over the payment and shooting the swalot a wary glance, just in time to see a curious Pilgrim float straight into the violet fiend's gaping maw, which then snaps shut. Nonplussed, Pilgrim proceeds forth from swalot's closed lips. This seems quite confusing to the blob. Riley laughs heartily! 400 poke from Riley to Aiden |
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