Set in the original region of Arciel, Legends Rising is a route-inspired, but not strictly route-based, Pokemon roleplay. Pick a faction, pick a class, and strike out into the wild to take on the League, master Contest coordination, research the mysteries of Pokemon and Arciel, and much, much more. Will you be a classic trainer? A criminal? A farmer? Choose your destiny on Legends Rising.
Post by Lynnette Aria on May 29, 2020 15:03:58 GMT
WOLFRAM ♂
LV17 ROOKIDEE HUGE! BIG PECKS 150/150 HP 5/5 ENERGY
WEBS ♂
LV11 PICHU AVERAGE STATIC 150/150 HP 5/5 ENERGY
TSUNAMI ♀
LV13 OSHAWOTT AVERAGE TORRENT 150/150 HP 5/5 ENERGY
RIPTIDE ♂
LV20 CROCONAW TINY! TORRENT 150/150 HP 5/5 ENERGY
ALPHA ♀
LV1 SOLOSIS AVERAGE MAGIC GUARD 150/150 HP 5/5 ENERGY
FELDSPAR ♂
LV1 HOUNDOUR AVERAGE FLASH FIRE 150/150 HP 5/5 ENERGY
The sun was at it's midpoint in the sky without a single cloud to obscure it. The waters shimmered like silver against the sapphire horizon, and lapped gently at the shore, sweeping sand to and fro along the beach. Likewise, as expected of a beach, the scent of salt permeated the air and the ecstatic cries of Wingull rang out far ahead as they coasted the breeze.
The scene was idyllic. Most people would see it as a wonderful day to don a swimsuit and play in the refreshingly cold ocean bay.
Lynn might've also been in a swimsuit, a white single-pieced one to be exact, but she was also here strictly on business. The fact that a collection of mismatched Pokemon lay strewn in front of her, hanging on every word she said might've been a small clue on that.
And also the fact that she wasn't at some seaside resort, but in a designated training area.
The girl took a tense breath, then released it.
"Alright guys, so you're probably wondering why I've gathered you here today," she began tersely. "Aw, screw it, you guys should know. We're here to do one thing: get stronger!"
Wolfram, the tallest and most confident member of the group, cheered for Lynn's mini-speech with a peppy chirp. Likewise, Tsunami copied Lynn's mannerisms by pumping her paw upwards into the sky. Even Webs seemed happy enough to pause in the middle of building his sandcastle to glance at Lynn and offer a contented noise.
Feldspar, still just a pup, raised his head dutifully and barked, though the way his tail flicked left and right, throwing sand into the air, betrayed the youngster's enthusiasm. Having seen the other Pokemon battle was more than enough to get the pup curiously excited over the whole business of 'battle' and 'training'.
Alpha, who seemed the more tender and curious type, simply floated calmly in the air. On principle, it was hard to tell how the amorphous Pokemon was feeling, but the fact that she'd stopped trying to blast sand and water into the air with Confusion and now stopped to listen to Lynn was a good sign.
"We've got to be ready for Bass City's water gym," she continued, explaining for her Pokemon's benefit, though only Wolfram, Tsunami and Pichu would've truly understood the weight of what she was saying. "Elliot, a good friend of mine couldn't do it, and he isn't a pushover when it comes to battle.
"So we can't let the same thing happen to us!" She cried. "A gym battle is a test. A test of strength and smarts. And we want to pass first time, if we can."
She looked out towards the endless glimmering ocean. "And we're probably going to be facing the enemy in water. A lot of it." She grinned.
"So first things first... I want to know that all of you can swim," she said.
Post by Elliot Sunderland on Jun 6, 2020 4:47:07 GMT
"Heard you got clapped by the gym Meet me at the training area's beach tomorrow if you want to train. We can be alone there. I'll be waiting for you ;) Trust me, it'll be the best training session you'll ever have"
Well. Lynn certainly had her way of wording things. Yet even with her mission to fluster and vex him at every turn, Elliot wasn't about to look the other way on this opportunity. He had, indeed, gotten pretty soundly beaten by Hiro, and with how strong that Mega Lapras was? He'd need to get way stronger if he was going to step up to the plate again. He'd already caught a few more Pokemon perfectly suited to the job, and he, Echo, and Lord Beerus had been working on strategy sessions since the night after the loss. But motivating himself to just get up and go to the training grounds? That was the hard part. And having a friend there, especially one who loved challenging him as much as Lynn did, could've been a major help in working up the motivation.
There was just one problem. It was a beautiful day out! He couldn't just show up empty handed. Fortunately, this problem was two opportunities in one; not only could Elliot brush up on his cooking, but he could also get some preliminary training. He tossed out his Pokeballs, his squad of six appearing behind him. Curly, still somewhat sulky over his loss, writhed in agitation. HYAH!, a little bit less excitable than before, zoomed up to Elliot and looked at him with a steely glint in his gem. Murex seemed the most at ease of the three veterans, bounding up and clamping HYAH! to drag him out of Elliot's personal space. The newbies were a little bit less focused, Kap standing between Maggie and Elliot to separate the excitable Mudkip from the nervously-quivering Wimpod.
"Alright, guys. You might be wondering why I called you all out in the house," Elliot said. Levy's kitchen could barely fit them all, after all! "Well, answer is, it's training time!" Kap looked up and shook her head, motioning towards the narrow width of the kitchen to show that this was a really bad idea. Yet Elliot just gave her a reassuring pat. "Not, like. Training training. But I figure a good way to adapt to any challenge we need to face is to use our moves every way we can, right? What better way of doing that than using our powers to whip up one heck of a lunch? We're training on the beach with a friend today, and I'd rather not show up empty-handed.
This isn't gonna be anything too fancy. Just some sandwiches and popsicles. But we've got no right to fight that gym if we don't put our best foot forward for even the smallest jobs. So what do you say, guys? Are you ready!?" Elliot's team looked at each other, shrugging, only for HYAH! to shoot into the air and let out an echoing cheer. Maggie was next to respond, standing under the light he was giving off and preening herself. Then came Curly, then Murex, and even timid little Elliot. Only Kap looked at Elliot, making a quick headcount of Pokemon (5), a quick headcount of arms they had between them (0), and then squawking as if to ask if he was crazy. "Hey, I'm sure it'll be fine!" Elliot said. "But that just means it's all the more important we work together, right?
Elliot, we gotta toughen you up. You're on berry duty. Maggie, you help him wash them, okay? And Murex, you provide the chill. That's popsicle team." They all sped off to their duty, Murex helping guide them through the kitchen. "Kap, Curly, HYAH!, you guys are the coordinated of my teammates so far. And also the best at reaching the high shelves. You're sandwich squad." Curly and HYAH! sped off, Kap doing a double take and chasing after them. With his veteran teammates and most responsible rookie being on sandwich duty, Elliot went over to help Popsicle Team out first.
Elliot (the Pokemon) rolled berries out of a bag, nudging them forward with his head and occasionally leaning up to roll them with his claws. It was slow, steady work, but it was clear that Elliot wasn't very familiar with the task. Maggie, in contrast, may've been a bit too familiar with her Water Gun. She blasted the first Cheri Berry so hard that it exploded all over Levy's sink. "Gentle, Maggie, gentle," Elliot warned, leaning over to start washing the sink off with some soapy water and paper towels. "I know you're excited. Maybe one of the most excited here. But this gym's full of long, drawn-out fights. You keep going 110% like that, you're gonna burn out fast. So take it easy and limit how much power you put out, okay? Here, we've got a Nomel coming up. It's a bit sturdier, but go easy on it still, okay?" Maggie nodded, this time only hitting it hard enough to bruise it a little. The water stream was noticeably smaller and less hard, more like a gentle spurt. "Better!"
He took a knife from the drawer, preparing to cut the Nomel in half, only to hear a squeak of alarm coming from behind him. It was Elliot! Apparently the poor thing had pissed off a Hondew berry, because it was rolling after him like a demon possessed! Elliot (the human) laughed as he ran up to catch the melon, stopping it in its tracks. His Wimpod sighed in relief, but as Elliot's amusement faded a more serious look came into his eyes. "You really like testing the waters, huh? I bet you were feeling real proud pushing that melon around until you lost control," Elliot said, noticing the series of dents surrounding the melon's circumference. The Wimpod chittered guiltily in response to that. "Hey. It's okay. I'm proud of you for testing your strength out. But you can't let that control slip from you. Here, watch." Elliot released his hand from the melon, then placed it behind his identically-named Wimpod to block its escape. It scuttled back and forth, chittering in alarm as the melon beared down on it, finally just squeezing its eyes shut and shivering as it accepted the inevitable.
In this case, the inevitable was a gentle nudge. Elliot eased an eye open, his shaking stopping as he realized how painless the "collision" was. "You're stronger than you think you are. But not quite as strong as you'd hope. The second part I can help you with. But for the first, believing in yourself's the key." With those words of wisdom the trainer left his Pokemon to his own devices, the Wimpod slowly, cautiously, yet with increasing bravery nudging the Hondew towards Maggie for its clearing. Once it was cleaned, Elliot opened it up with his knife, and so continued for every other fruit that came his way. Some of the softer-skinned ones he even passed over to his Wimpod, letting the skittish bug type make a crack at scraping the skin off for him. It wasn't always a success, as some splattered Bluk berries that Elliot had to clean up indicated, but if it got him more confident in using his claws it got him that much closer to being a Golisopod.
Next came his part as a trainer. Careful, precise measurement! Elliot set out some popsicle trays and sticks, Maggie sneaking a stick out to bat around like a toy as he focused on the trays. By now Elliot, Maggie, and Elliot had prepped a few berries; red Cheri, orange Mago, yellow Nomel, green Hondew, blue Oran, purple Bluk, and white Pinap. Not a bad selection of juices, overall. Elliot hummed as he precisely poured each juice into the tray, balancing it out with appropriate amounts of sweetener and a bit of fruit puree for texture. Once that was set he stuck a stick in each tray, motioning for Murex to come on over. "You've got the most important job of 'em all, Murex," Elliot said. "Freezing these so it doesn't take me forever and a day to get them over to Lynn. Think your Aurora Beam's up to the task?
Murex nodded, Elliot setting the trays on the floor before her. She closed her shell, took a deep breath, and opened it up ever so slightly. A rainbow haze, almost like a significantly diminished beam, came drifting through the gap. She held the technique over each popsicle just long enough to freeze it, then moved on to the next. Elliot tested the sticks, noting they seemed a bit loose. However, before he could even say anything, Murex was on the ball, coming back for a second pass to get another coating of frost on the popsicles. Now, not only were they sturdy, but when Elliot held them up to the light they seemed to capture the colors of the Aurora Beam. Anyone could have bright, colorful popsicles, but who else could have them with a faint rainbow shine beneath their color? "Oh, these are fantastic," he sighed, loading them up in the freezer so they could get more stable. "Time to see how sandwich crew's doing!"
Sandwich crew was not doing well.
HYAH! and Curly had abandoned their goal to have a knife fight in the middle of the kitchen. Okay, so it was a butterknife fight. But it was still concerning! Kap, covered in little scuff marks from her earlier attempt at stopping the two's shenanigans, immediately ran over to drag Elliot to their side. Elliot facepalmed . . . but when he pulled his hand back, he was smiling a little. "Believe it or not? This was exactly the kind of thing I needed to say," Elliot said. "Curly. Remember how the fights with Lord Beerus and Hiro's Lanturn went kinda . . ." Curly scowled at the reminder. "Well, I've been thinking. Bites are really strong, but also really risky, you know? You need to get in contact, stay in contact, and don't really have much range to work with on dodges or attacks. But your tail's really strong and flexible! Maybe if we focus on that, you'll have a bit of an easier time landing hits, y'know?" Slowly, Curly's scowl dropped. He nodded in interest. "Perfect! Then you're on topping slicing duty!
And you, HYAH! Using a knife with Psychic like that's . . . well, it's both scary and impressive. And I kinda want to see you do more with it," Elliot continued. "Let's see how many ingredients you can grab at a time with it. A bunch of small, light stuff shouldn't be too hard for a Pokemon as powerful as you, right? And it'll do wonders for your focus. Though really, it was my focus that I think cost us in the end. If I was a bit more on the ball for that Horn Dril-" HYAH! cut him off, a sharp reprimand echoing through Elliot's head. ". . . Right. We're in this together. I can't be going too hard on myself, either. Thanks for the reminder there." With that, he turned to Kap, glancing over his shoulder to see how well HYAH! and Curly were doing. Immediately, they were showing off to each other, HYAH! juggling ingredients and Curly dicing them into razor thin slices. But they were putting in good work, and they were working with each other instead of against each other. So he could deal with some competitiveness for now.
As the ones with actual hands, Elliot and Kap were on sandwich-making duty. Bread. Protein. Cheese. Veg. Next. Flatter ingredients on the bottom, more roughly-textured ones on top. Let the tastes blend, but don't overwhelm; only a few ingredients at a time. And the simpler and cooler the sandwich, the better. He couldn't have an overstuffed, hot mess get all soggy the second they hit the beach! Fortunately, Kap was quick to fall into the rhythm Elliot had set. She even hummed as she worked, albeit in an off-key enough fashion that it got HYAH! dropping half of their ingredients. At the same time, her cautious precision made Elliot's own pale in comparison. He quickly switched from leading the flow to following her lead, tucking the ingredients to the point where there was barely any overhang. Her clumsiness and flustered nature belied quite the precise and hard worker! If push came to shove on the battlefield, she'd make a really good tactician.
But for now, she was a really good artisan instead. Elliot whistled as he took a step back at the sandwiches they made; small enough to easily pack and stack, but big enough that a few would be decently filling. Most of them were more light refreshment than anything, flavors like cucumber or tuna salad popping up quite often. Others got a little bit more savory, with flavors like barbecue sauce and even spare slices of pinap berry making appearances. Yet each was made with care, and Elliot sighed in relief as he tucked them away into a little picnic basket with some bags of ice. It wasn't quite a cooler, but it'd do! He rescued the popsicles from the fridge, tucked them into the same arrangement, and turned to look over his team.
This hadn't been an easy fought battle. Elliot was covered in fruit juice from where an over-ripe Mago exploded on him. Maggie was frantically cleaning up the messes that her cleaning attempts were kicking up. Curly and HYAH!, with their slicing and dicing finished, were now playing an enthralling game of Catch The Butterknife that was clearly leaving both of them weary. Murex . . . okay, she was fine. But once Kap broke ranks to start fretting over the Pokemon, cleaning and fussing over them with practiced intent, Elliot just knew that everything was going to be okay. "You guys are ridiculous. But I couldn't be prouder of you.
C'mon, let's go catch up with Lynn!"
And that was how Elliot arrived on the scene, calling "Got your invite! Wouldn't miss it for the world," towards Lynn as he walked up. With the picnic basket in one hand and his walking stick in the other, he wasn't exactly in much position to be waving. But he nonetheless tried his best at making one, even if it was kind of small and brief. His entire Pokemon team was fanned out behind him. Curly and HYAH! took the lead, the two jostling and shoving at each other as they zoomed up to be the first to greet Lynn. Then came Kap, dragged behind them as she tried to hold them back. Maggie was quick to follow, hopping up and down as she excitedly ran circles around Lynn's feet. Murex bounced up slightly afterwards, but kept a respectful distance. The poor girl was being crowded around!
The last to approach were Elliot and Elliot, the boy turning the Wimpod towards him to give it some gentle reassurance. "Hey, we've got a chance to catch up with your old trainer again. Isn't that exciting?" Elliot asked. "I'm sure she's gonna be so proud of how far you've come. And I know she'll be even prouder when she sees what we have in store. So c'mon, let's go say hi!" Elliot walked up to approach Lynn, opening his mouth to say something-
And that was when Elliot promptly leaped out of his arms and towards hers, excitedly snuggling his old trainer. He may've had a new one now, but he wouldn't be forgetting her anytime soon!
Elliot tried not to squeal over how adorable that display was. "Looks like I'm not the only one happy to see you!" he said, an amused smile on his face. "I think I heard you say swimming practice, right? Better brush up on that now while you can. After all-" He produced the picnic basket with a flourish, setting it down between the two. "Swimming on a full stomach's not a great idea, right?"
(2673 + 487 = 3160 words!)
(250 words going towards increasing Elliot's Cooking skill!)
LV17 ROOKIDEE HUGE! BIG PECKS 150/150 HP 5/5 ENERGY
WEBS ♂
LV11 PICHU AVERAGE STATIC 150/150 HP 5/5 ENERGY
TSUNAMI ♀
LV13 OSHAWOTT AVERAGE TORRENT 150/150 HP 5/5 ENERGY
RIPTIDE ♂
LV20 CROCONAW TINY! TORRENT 150/150 HP 5/5 ENERGY
ALPHA ♀
LV1 SOLOSIS AVERAGE MAGIC GUARD 150/150 HP 5/5 ENERGY
FELDSPAR ♂
LV1 HOUNDOUR AVERAGE FLASH FIRE 150/150 HP 5/5 ENERGY
Lynnette was about to go full drill sergeant mode until a surprise reared its head.
A very pleasant surprise. One shaped as a short boy hollering at her across the sand, with an entourage of water types fanned out behind him like a gaggle of migrating geese. She saw Curly snaking through the sand, HYAH! zooming along confidently alongside him, a Cloyster, a Lotad, a very cute Mudkip, and last but not least: Lynn's first gift to Elliot:
Elliot.
A warm sensation filled her core as she saw the familiar Pokemon, now under the tutelage of her good friend, (who just so happened to share the same name) confident in his surroundings. A marked improvement from the quivering, shy bug she'd met on Route 2!
She grinned and waved, the white elastane of her swimsuit stretching as her arm raised upwards. "Elliot!
Even her Pokemon, mostly the ones who knew Elliot, suddenly switched gears from 'quiet but determined' to 'yay, new person!' Webs leapt to his feet, sandcastle forgotten, to chirp happily at seeing the familiar trainer. Wolfram puffed out his chest in pride, as if to say 'look how much stronger I've become' while Tsunami spared a remarkably Lynn-like wave while baring her fangs in a smile.
To Feldspar, however, Elliot was an entirely new being. Instantly, the baby Houndour's tail became reminiscent of a metronome on steroids, and he bounded up to Elliot's feet to yip playfully, before greeting Maggie (who he saw doing much the same thing) curiously and bowing at her in an invitation to play.
"Good to see you made it! I know my invitation was quite sudden ~" She chimed, genuinely joyful. "I guess I should've figured you'd come though, a cute girl invites you to the beach, who - "
She was then interrupted by Elliot's own Pokemon, prompting her to break into a semi-nervous laugh and raise her hands in an attempt to ease them off.
"Woah, easy there Hyah," she said, voice quivering as both HYAH! and Curly came zooming up to greet her. On top of that, Elliot (the Wimpod, thankfully), took the opportunity to leap into Lynnette’s arms and give her a good old snuggle, prompting a happy laugh from her.
“Wow,” she remarked. “You’ve grown so much, Elliot.” A slightly sly grin was flashed the human Elliot’s way as she praised Wimpod Elliot while using a finger to stroke the bug-type’s teeny head. Truth was, Lynn was genuinely impressed. Her trainer-sense had since improved from Route 1 and the Slowpoke Incident, and Wimpod had definitely grown in strength, if not confidence!
“I knew giving him to you would be the right choice,” she said to human Elliot. Admittedly, she had initially caught Wimpod Elliot as a sort of inside-joke, having taken it about as seriously as a proposal to wear a wedding dress on a hike through the Wild Area, but afterwards? She’d gotten attached to him! The Wimpod was just uniquely adorable in everything it did, from nibbling on PokeFood to its shy but earnest attitude.
“Did I tell you about how much he reminds me of you?” Lynn teased as she continued to stroke the happy little guy’s head.
“Yep! You’re Pokemon are all water-types, so before you arrived I figured I’d make sure my own Pokemon could -”
Elliot dropped the picnic basket onto the sand, fully revealing it to the rather distracted teenage girl. Her eyes widened in genuine surprise. That… sounded heavy. Had Elliot really gone to all the length to prepare a full picnic basket’s worth of his delicious food? How was she supposed to get any training done with such an excellent distraction!?
It took a moment for the surprise to wash off her. When it did, she gave an impressed whistle.
“Woah, Elliot. You really know how to win a girl over, don’t you?”
Curious, she knelt down to flip the picnic basket open. Before she could, however, Alpha did something… new.
The entire time, the Solosis had been hovering curiously by Elliot’s face as he talked. Without any sort of warning, the Pokemon went and attached her gelatinous form to his face. Lynn and Wolfram instantly sprang into action to pull the Solosis away from Elliot before he couldn’t breathe.
With less encouragement than it took from last time, Alpha detached herself.
“Elliot, are you okay?” Lynn asked him afterwards, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Sorry about that. Alpha only hatched a few days ago and she’s got this… habit. Trust me, the first time she did that to the PokeCentre nurse was not a fun time. Or myself, for that matter.”
“But yeah! This is Alpha, my new psychic-type,” she introduced the Pokemon, who now settled for floating curiously close to Elliot’s face. “I think if she attaches herself to your face it means she likes you. So welcome to the cool kids club.”
Lynn stretched out an arm to gesture at the rest of her team. “And this is Webs, the same Pichu I caught on Route 1. And the Houndour pup is Feldspar, he’s the same age as Alpha.”
Of course, the sixth member of the team was around somewhere, but that was a surprise.
Feldspar, upon hearing his name, bounded back to Lynn, and she crouched down to give him a good head ruffle. She nodded towards Elliot’s Mudkip. “And who’s this cutie? You never told me you caught a Mudkip.”
“Or a Cloyster. Or a Lotad, for that matter. Did you bring an all water-type team just for today or are you specialising?”
In her mind, there was also a ninety-nine percent probability that Elliot was also planning to rematch the Gym with all-water types again. Lynn, as a stubborn person herself, knew Elliot could be just as stubborn too.
“Oh, you’re planning on finally beating Hiro at his own game, aren’t you? Of course. If I’m honest, I’d be disappointed if you weren’t. It’s a unique… strategy. Don’t have to worry about water or swimming when you’re using water-types. Then again, I saw that Lanturn really did a number on Curly.”
Lynn frowned in thought.
“Damn, imagine if you had an Elektross. It would’ve been able to flatten Hiro’s Pokemon. Anyway,” she coughed, still eyeing the picnic basket that Elliot’d brought. “How’re your Pokemon up for brushing up on their swimming with my own?”
Tsunami broke into a pleased smile at the prospect of going swimming with her fellow water-types, while Wolfram, Feldspar and Webs shuddered. Alpha just floated, clearly excluded from ‘swimming’, although Lynn was curious to see how long the Solosis could stay underwater before needing air.
“Once everyone’s gotten the hang of swimming, we could even do some water-based sparring, too,” she suggested. "Some real training. After all, that's what I promised you, wasn't it? A good, wet and wild time~"
Post by Elliot Sunderland on Jun 7, 2020 18:08:57 GMT
Elliot laughed warmly as Feldspar approached, giving the Houndour a few pets before Maggie took his attention. The Mudkip bowed back towards him, then began merrily chasing him across the beach. Look out, Feldspar! She's a fast one! As they bounded away Elliot turned to the rest of Lynn's team, shooting a merry wave their way. They'd all gotten so much stronger since the last time he'd seen them! Webs had become so much more creative and coordinated; clearly, he hadn't lost his artistic flair since the day he want flower-picking back on Route 1. Tsunami was becoming even more like her trainer than before, the expression on her face a mirror image of Lynn's own. And Wolfie? He was putting those Big Pecks on full display, and the intensity around him was completely different from his confident yet untrained attitude back on Route 1. "He's not the only one that's grown," Elliot said, smiling softly as Lynn complimented the Wimpod she traded him. "Your team's come so far since I've last seen 'em, too. If I'm not careful, I'm pretty sure you'll be catching up to me in no time!"
It seemed Lynn believed in Elliot as much as he believed in her. The compliment she gave left Elliot blushing, a shy smile spreading across his face. In much the same way, Elliot the Wimpod also blushed a little, leaning into Lynn's pets and nuzzling her hand "What can I say?" Elliot asked. "You trusted me with him. How could I do anything but put my best foot forward in raising him? For such a hard-working, dedicated Pokemon like him, and such a great friend like you, it's really the least I could do." In general, Elliot was the kind of person who put 100% into everything he did and every Pokemon he raised. But when it came to a promise to a friend? Then he broke out that extra effort.
Elliot couldn't help but laugh as Lynn teased him about the resemblance. "You did warn me when we traded," he pointed out. "But I don't think I really got it until after I figured out he only answers to my own name. Trust me. I've tried everything. But he'll barely know you're talking about him unless you say Elliot." Sure enough, Elliot perked up a little in Lynn's arms, looking back and forth at the mention. "It's gotten a bit of confusion so far. Far as your teases go, think this might be your most effective one yet."
Did that mean Lynn would end up stepping it up another notch? Frankly, Elliot wasn't sure.
Poor Lynn, though. Every time she tried to finish a thought, Elliot ended up cutting her off somehow! Her excitement to see him, while very warmly returned, was also cut off by his Pokemon stampeding up to him. And now her efforts to join him in his water-type training routines were interrupted by his bigass picnic basket hitting the sand. This time the girl wasn't too busy to talk; she was simply stunned speechless. And judging by the teasing grin that crept up Elliot's face, he knew exactly what he was doing. He filled the silence with some humming as he fished around his backpack, setting out a picnic blanket and a beach umbrella. The food remained inside the basket for the time being. Thank goodness for the Johto region's Nevermeltice; a cooler would've been so much less aesthetic!
"It's like you said. You knew I'd come through," Elliot said, savoring that impressed whistle. "And when I do, I always go the extra mi-"
Schlorp. Suddenly there was a jelly alien on Elliot's face. Elliot couldn't help but giggle a little as he was face to face with Lynn's Solosis. Sure, it was a lot less funny once it started getting hard to breathe, but Lynn and Wolfie put a stop to it before it got to that point. "It's okay, it's okay! I'm okay. I know baby Pokemon can be really affectionate and curious sometimes," he said. "I'm sure she'll calm down from it once she's seen a few more faces. But it's great to meet you either way, Alpha"
Elliot'd Mudkip followed after Feldspar, preening herself as she was called a little cutie. "This one's Maggie. She's my newest catch, and you sure are right that she's a little cutie. Way more energy than even I can keep up with, though," Elliot said, smiling softly. "The Cloyster's Murex. She's actually the second every Pokemon I caught. You might've seen her giving it her all in the gym battle, and I'd trust her with anything." Murex blushed in response to this, easing her shell shut to hide her reddening face. "And the Lotad's Kap. She's also a newer member of the team. I caught her in the swarm that was passing through a few weeks back. She might seem easily flustered, but trust me. She's one of the most reliable Pokemon I've ever met."
It didn't take long for Lynn to piece together what Elliot's team was for. He grinned a little as she read his intentions. "Guilty as charged. I'd never forgive myself if, after making a challenge like that, I backed out instead of seeing it through," Elliot said. "You are right that it's a unique strategic advantage, in a way. I lose the type matchup benefit, but I make up for it by having way more room to battle with. Even a Grass or Electric type, I imagine, must be in for a hard time when they only have so much space to dodge or attack with.
But it's not just about that, y'know? Like . . . you're a capital-T Trainer. Taking on the gyms is your thing. For me, this is really more about trying it out and seeing how it goes. But I don't think I could come up with half of the strategies, the dedicated routines, and the high-intensity work that you and your team could. So instead I try and put my own spin on it, you know? Maybe I'll win this time. Maybe I'll lose again. But for me, it's all about self-expression, giving my team the chance to cut loose and enjoy themselves, and putting on a show the audience'll never forget.
Y'know. Between this and the Showcase, maybe I'd be a natural as a coordinator," he mused.
That said, Lynn was right that there were holes in the strategy. Curly huffed, coiling his body up and turning away from Lynn. A low growl escaped his throat, though Elliot was quick to head over and supply chin scritches to help calm him down. "Hey, hey, come on. That wasn't your fault," Elliot said. "Half of that was a bad matchup. And half of that was me doing a bad job of preparing you. You took the tools you had and put them to use amazingly." He fished in his pocket, pulling out an olive green disk. Was that . . . a bug type TM? "Besides. I've got a little tool here that'll do so much to help you out. And I've put a lot of thought into your routines for today. You'll be showing up to Hiro's a brand new Curly, you hear?" That seemed to do the trick. Curly looked up at Elliot, giving him a rough bark, then nodded.
"Perfect! Then to the water, everyone!" Lynn's idea was a great one, even if his Pokemon were a lot happier about it than her own. They stampeded over to the shoreline, little Elliot scuttling atop Murex's shell to avoid being left behind and Kap leading the way to make sure they didn't trample any wild Pokemon caught in their path. "But don't just go swimming off right away! I've got a little challenge for each of you that I want you guys to practice, okay?
Murex, I want you to keep practice swimming in circles. The stronger and more sustainable your whirlpools are, the more you can focus on dodging your opponent instead of keeping them swirling. As soon as it starts slowing down, try making the next one bigger and stronger than the last, okay?" Murex nodded, Elliot hopping off of her head to let the Cloyster hop towards the waves. Her large, powerful tail thrashed from side to side until she was a safe distance from the rest, swimming in large circles to the east of the group. A whirlpool slowly started to take form
Elliot scuttled forward to follow, only to let out a yelp of surprised and scamper away from an incoming wave. Elliot gently pet the Wimpod as it huddled up to his leg. "It's okay. It's okay. Take it slow," Elliot said. "Remember the melon. Slow and steady, so the fear doesn't hit you all at once. But I want you to keep pushing that fear, if only a little bit at a time. See how deep you can go before coming back, okay? And if you're ever not comfortable, I'll make sure you aren't alone. I promise." Elliot nodded, hesitantly testing the water with a foreleg before toddling into the sea. His tail, too, swished back and forth, but he was covering a lot less ground than Murex did. It was almost adorable.
Next was his rather bummed-out Huntail. "Curly, there's a certain motion I want you to practice," Elliot said. "After swimming forward for enough time, I want you to make a sudden turn-around and push with your tail. Not only will that give you a nice boost of speed in the other direction, but we might be able to spin it into a new attack so you're not always stuck biting things. This way you're not at risk against opponents who can, say-" Curly nodded. He got the message. Biting a Lanturn was a dangerous idea. He slithered through the sands before diving into the water, practicing this strange, almost sidewinder like motion as he eased his way into the waves. It hampered his overall speed, but the little boots of acceleration from the sudden lash of his tail had potential . . .
HYAH! was going to be a tricky one. They were already skilled at most forms of swimming; fast, agile, able to brake on a dime. There was a reason why they were Elliot's #1 pick for a rideable Pokemon. Yet that left one important trait to focus on; stamina. "I want you to swim as fast as you can. Put on a little show for Lynn and her Pokemon. But as soon as you start to feel yourself getting worn out, I want you to slow down until you're at a comfy pace. Then build back up to speed as soon as you're feeling ready again. Keep cycling like this, and maybe we can get your stamina built up." HYAH! didn't even need to be told twice. They rocketed into the water, seafoam kicking up behind them as they sped off into the distance.
In contrast, Elliot already had quite the plan for Kap. Her amphibious body type, and variable-use techniques such as Nature Power, meant that keeping her to just the water in this fight would be a waste. "Kap, you see those rocks over there?" Elliot said. "Pretend those are the platforms in Hiro's gym pool. I want you to practice jumping on and off of them, until soon you can pretty much switch between the land and the water on a dime. It might be tough and tiring at first, but you're really the best Pokemon for putting those platforms to good use. So the better we are at leveraging them, the better we'll be at keeping pace during this gym battle. Whenever your arms get tired, take a break wherever you're most comfortable." Kap nodded, laying back in the water and slowly bobbing towards the rocks. Good thing her body was so buoyant!
That just left Maggie. And how did you plan for Maggie? She was already nearing the levels where she should be a Swampert, let alone a Marshtomp, so any specific swimming lessons would be pointless at best and ingrain bad habits at worst. "You just focus on playing tag with Lynn's Pokemon and bonding with them. I can tell you've got a lot of energy to work out, so I'm sure you'll find more ways of getting it out of your system than I ever could." He suddenly perked up, inspiration hitting his eyes. "In fact, why don't you help the others learn to swim? I bet you and Tsunami could do a great job at giving them a hand." Maggie yapped excitedly, before bounding up to the other members of Lynn's team and looking them up and down. Today, she would be the lifeguard on duty, and it would be fantastic!
With all of Elliot's team settled for training routines, he shot Lynn a grin. "It'll be wet and wild, alright," he said, unzipping his hoodie and revealing that he'd gone shirtless today. And those weren't shorts he was wearing! Those were swim trunks! "But on a beautiful day like this, it'd be a shame if our Pokemon had all the fun.
C'mon! First one to the water gets first pick of the food!"
LV17 ROOKIDEE HUGE! BIG PECKS 150/150 HP 5/5 ENERGY
WEBS ♂
LV11 PICHU AVERAGE STATIC 150/150 HP 5/5 ENERGY
TSUNAMI ♀
LV13 OSHAWOTT AVERAGE TORRENT 150/150 HP 5/5 ENERGY
RIPTIDE ♂
LV20 CROCONAW TINY! TORRENT 150/150 HP 5/5 ENERGY
ALPHA ♀
LV1 SOLOSIS AVERAGE MAGIC GUARD 150/150 HP 5/5 ENERGY
FELDSPAR ♂
LV1 HOUNDOUR AVERAGE FLASH FIRE 150/150 HP 5/5 ENERGY
It looked like Lynnette’s suggestion didn’t need nearly half as much encouragement as she thought it did. Of course. Elliot’s Pokemon were an army of jolly water-types, whereas her own team were a menagerie of types and temperaments.
“Awesome,” she said with a happy nod. Though by now Elliot’s Pokemon were happily bounding towards the ocean waves, her own Pokemon looked to her with anxious, and frankly adorable, puppy eyes.
Lynn crouched down to their level to offer her team some encouragement. “Hey, there’s nothing to be afraid of, guys. Everyone’s gotta learn how to swim at least once. Even I did when I was little.” She looked to the two youngsters on her team. “And I know you two are probably not going to be fighting for me in the battle but this is still important. And you’ve got an advantage. You’re learning early. You’ve got more time and room to improve than anyone else here. Your skill ceiling is like, up here,” she raised her arm as high as it could reach.
“And,” she continued, “we’ve got Tsunami to teach you, and Elliot’s team is here too.” She looked to the whole team once again and smiled grandly. “We’ve got more support than we could ever hope to ask for. Now c’mon, it’s hot out here and nice and cool in the water. Let’s go,” she ushered and got up onto her feet with a bounce.
Tsunami, who was already itching to leap head first into the waters, took the encouragement like a greyhound to a starting gun. She span towards the ocean and sprinted, kicking up a practical sandstorm behind her, to catch up with Elliot’s own Pokemon, chattering excitedly as she did so.
It seemed that while Lynnette was encouraging her own team, Elliot was encouraging Elliot. And damn, if there was one thing that Elliot (the human) had over Lynn, it was his oddly adorable ability to earnestly ooze sweet words of pure love and encouragement at a moment’s notice.
Coordinator, trainer, whatever he wanted to be, Lynn was sure that he’d be able to achieve it. Not in the same way that Lynn would, but in his own, unique Elliot-style way.
Speaking of…
“Elliot, so you are going shirtless for me today!” She said, her words laced with innocent surprise as he finished up instructing his team and turned to her to shed his hoodie.
And, by the Legendaries was that an innuendo?
Whether it was or not, it had Lynnette grinning, albeit slyly, right back at Elliot. “It would be a shame,” she said sensually and even made a point to wink at him.
Hang on, first one to the water gets first pick of the food?
Lynn practically shot up straight at that. Going full commando-style, she turned to her team. “Alright guys, we don’t need any more encouragement than that! Let’s get wet! Onwards!” She barked.
Running on sand was something Lynn and her Pokemon were apparently not used to though, as they trod through it towards Elliot’s Pokemon, who were now dutifully practising their routines. Murex swirling whirlpools, Elliot getting used to the waters (had the Wimpod ever swam in the ocean before, Lynn wondered?), Curly kicking up currents as he did the fish equivalent of handbrake turns, Kap as she hopped from slippery rock to slippery rock, and last of all, HYAH! as they pulled off an aerobic routine that would make any swimmer jealous.
Nearing the lapping shore, Lynn looked back and shot Elliot a sweet smile. So maybe she’d give him a few seconds to catch up. After all, it probably wasn’t fair to be racing against a kid who needed a walking stick.
Didn’t stop her from leaping into the water the moment he caught up, though. Grinning, she splashed some sea water at him – a playful invitation for him to join her.
Meanwhile, the rest of her team waited curiously by the water. Feldspar sniffed at the water and pulled back in surprise as a few droplets from Lynn’s splashing touched his face. Wolfram waited, less from any sense of anxiousness (that he’d be willing to reveal, at least,) and more from a desire to wait for Lynn’s orders.
Webs on the other hand, carefully dipped his toes into the water, before stepping forwards to enjoy the cool sensation it had on his feet. Alpha, as usual, floated above it all without any hesitation at all. She was technically over the ocean, just not in it. As expected of a Pokemon that levitated from the day it hatched, whether the floor was water or earth was about as relevant to her as the atmospheric composition of the stratosphere.
Tsunami, as expected of a water type, was already happily paddling in the ocean, waiting for the rest of Lynn’s team to teach them.
“Come on guys, just come on in!” Lynn encouraged.
Wolfram was just about to lead by example when a chill ruffled his feathers. Oh no. Apparently, Lynn felt it too. She snapped round towards Alpha, mouth open, about to order her to stop, but it was too late.
Psychic energy surged around the Solosis, and before anyone could so much as gasp, the water around her surged upwards into an artificial wave about the height of a person. This was her Confusion, and last time she’d used it, the PokeCentre had looked like a bomb had hit it.
The artificial wave surged forwards and before Lynn could blink, her Pokemon were swallowed by the water. The wave pulled back, leaving them struggling to keep afloat. After a bit more struggling, Wolfram naturally floated to the surface due to his round and buoyant nature, while Lynnette had to grab and pull Webs and Feldspar into her arms.
“Alpha, I know there’s such a thing as diving into the deep-end, but that is not what we were going for today.” Lynn took a breath to steady herself and calm down from the faux scare. “Thanks for trying to help, though.”
At first, the Solosis looked a little guilty, but she perked up thanks to Lynn’s small note of thanks. This was all a part of her learning how to interact with people and Pokemon, after all.
Lynn turned to Elliot and pulled a slightly tired smile. “Baby Pokemon,” she remarked. “You never told me they were such a handful.” Or maybe it was just hers? “But maybe that’s just cause I got stuck with two at the same time? Did Echo act like this?”
A minute passed and Feldspar, despite being a fire-type, managed to calm down enough to relax his death-grip on Lynn. Webs was a little dazed, but the chill Pichu seemed happy enough to cling to Lynn until she gently encouraged him to let go and paddle.
“Maggie,” Lynn asked the Mudkip. “You’ve got a similar body shape to Felds, could you show him how it’s done? Doggy-paddle style, you know.”
“Webs. You’re going to want to copy Tsunami.”
Tsunami, upon hearing her name, quickly appeared next to Lynn and Webs. Showing by example, she hovered in the water, kicking her legs to keep afloat and gently waving her arms through the water to balance and provide a little extra lift.
Deciding to put her teaching above her past grudge for the Pichu, she even held out a paw to Webs. A paw that he happily took as he let go of Lynn’s support, pleased that Tsunami was finally being friendly towards him. He even offered a playful splash towards the water-loving otter, who, though at first appeared surprised, returned another splash at the Pichu and snickered.
Lynn smiled with approval as Webs started to pick up the basics of swimming and the mystery grudge between her Pokemon started to fade. Just as she’d hoped, a training day on the beach in the sun was just the thing her Pokemon needed to both sharpen their skills and work on their friendships, because hell, who could be grumpy and uncooperative on a day like this?
Wolfram, meanwhile, didn’t really need help. If most wondered if Rookidees could swim, the answer was yes. Like the world’s weirdest looking Ducklett, he floated idly on top of the water, pumping his legs to help propel him forwards.
“Wolfie, I know you’re a pretty strong swimmer,” said Lynn. “But today, I think I’d like you to practice taking to the air from the water. Knowing Hiro, he’ll probably focus on trying and shoot you down into the water. And we don’t want to be where he wants us to be.
“And, while you’re at it, why don’t you see if HYAH! or Curly are willing to work you into their routines with a few water guns? We can work on your dodging skills as well as your take-off speed.”
Wolfram nodded, and with a splash and some furious paddling, took off from the surface of the water to fly towards the Pokemon in question, beating his wings against the ocean breeze as he did.
“Hey Elliot, once Felds and Webs get used to swimming, why don’t we lead by example and swim a few laps together?”
Post by Elliot Sunderland on Jun 8, 2020 23:09:49 GMT
Whereas Elliot's speech towards his own Pokemon was more reassuring than anything, Lynn's was downright inspiring. Even he found himself smiling by the end of it! "You're really teaching these guys to reach for the stars, huh?" Elliot asked. "Sometimes I wish I could put that much confidence forward. But, hey." He turned, watching his Wimpod slowly paddle out into the waters. While little Elliot was outpaced by the rest of his team by now, and spent a long time treading water between advances, he had gone from cowering at the shoreline to slowly but surely making his way onwards. "My way's got its charms, too.
Y'know, if we ever put our two methods together, we could probably give someone a major confidence booster," he pointed out, a small grin spreading across his face.
Tsunami certainly benefited from that confidence boost! Elliot spun out a little as the Oshawott rocketed right past him, eyes swirling as he tried to right himself. The waves knocked him around a bit, but he was quick to regain his bearings and continue swimming onward. Tsunami may've been a lot faster than him, but following after her gave him a target to work towards. Maybe if he really pushed himself, he'd be able to keep up! It seemed that mix of aspiration and encouragement that Elliot was talking about was already starting to take effect. Then again, the familiarity probably helped, too. By now, Tsunami was already someone the Wimpod regarded as a friend, and not a spooky, scary stranger!
Their human equivalents had a similar bond. Even if Lynn probably had more success at making the human Elliot blush than Tsunami did his Pokemon equivalent. But how could he not, at the sultry tone in her voice? "I-I mean, wet shirts feel too clingy," Elliot stammered, a shy smile spreading across his face. "But, hey. If it's a good training incentive for you, I'm not gonna complain. Maybe if I motivate you hard enough, you and your team'll shoot right past me!" Most trainers would probably consider that a worry. But, Elliot? If anything, he just wanted to see Lynn keep growing!
It was clear she had the same goal. Otherwise, she would've just dashed into the water as soon as Elliot mentioned food. Seeing that she was waiting, he took the time to carefully fold his hoodie and set his walking stick down on top of it. Only then did he make his way to the water, the lack of a walking stick leaving his pace slowed somewhat. A beautiful beach day like this reminded him of what a loss it was; when he was younger, he would've charged into the water without a care in the world! Yet soon he had caught up to Lynn, just in time for her to hop in and splash at him! "And the winner is, Lynn!" Elliot said, giggling a little as he followed with some splashes of his own. "Looks like this time I'm the one who's one step behind, huh?"
But they were all several steps behind Alpha! The Solosis had turned the beach into a wavepool, and Elliot was right in the splash zone! Yet as a native Hoennite, he knew this was nothing to be afraid of. Instead a confident grin spread across his face as he launched himself straight through the wave! He didn't have the easiest time keeping himself stable, if only due to his bad leg. Yet it was only a second's uncertainty before he emerged on the other side. His fluffy hair had been completely smoothed down by the water, outside of his ever-present ahoge. Yet the smile on his face was ear to ear, and his eyes were warm with nostalgia. "My brother and I used to do that all the time back on the beaches of Hoenn. Totally crazy and dangerous if you're deeper in the water. But diving through these when you're too close to shore for anything to go wrong? It's kinda soothing!"
Oh. Right. They were supposed to be telling Alpha not to do that again. He blushed a little again at his failure to read the room. "Echo's actually never been shier than when she was first hatched," he said. "If anything, she gets more rambunctious and chaotic with each day. She really caught me by surprise!" He turned to Alpha, smile firming up somewhat. "You've got the right idea. Just make sure to warn people next time, y'know? If anything, setting those waves up for Murex could be really helpful! By using them to break up her whirlpools, we can make sure she's really giving it her A-game on setting them up."
Elliot wasn't the only one slipping into giving the other team training suggestions. As he asked Alpha about putting his wave-making talents to more destructive use, Lynn asked Maggie if she could help show Feldspar the ropes of swimming. She was all too happy to oblige, nudging the Houndour a few times in an attempt at giving him some comfort. Once she checked on him, she paddled off into the water, swimming back and forth a few times so he could see her motions from various angles. Rear view. Side view. Front view. Those should give him an idea of which legs to paddle with, right? Once she finished demonstrating she headed to the Houndour's side, prepared to swim next to him and match his pace.
At mention of HYAH! and Curly, Elliot paled a little. "Curly's actually out of ranged options, and HYAH!'s only got Hydro Pump. And they can both be a little . . ." he struggled to think of the word, only to turn over his shoulder and see HYAH! swimming taunting circles around Curly. In response, Curly whipped him with his tail, the star skimming away on the water's surface to avoid another lashing out. "Intense. But maybe going over to the rocks by Kap could be a good idea? Her Bubble Beam's got more kick than a Water Gun, but it's not gonna be as overwhelming as HYAH!'s moves. And since she's by a bunch of natural platforms, Wolfie can practice controlled descents onto dry land to avoid getting his feathers submerged." Sure, Lynn's plan may've hinged on not getting hit in the first place. But that didn't mean Elliot was going to make it easier for her!
If she did agree to the plan, he'd whistle HYAH! over, the Starmie zooming over to hear the plan out. The Starmie, against all odds, managed to avoid getting too tired. In fact, they were still brimming with energy as they zoomed right up to Elliot's face, listening eagerly to what the boy had to say. Elliot laughed nervously, giving the Starmie some gentle scratches on its golden ring. They'd been through hell and high water together, but somehow Elliot didn't think he'd ever get used to a big Starmie zooming towards him at sixty miles an hour. Then, just as quickly as they approached, they sped off again, their flight path starting to waver a bit. "Don't forget to pace yourself!" Elliot warned, watching as the Starmie dashed over towards Kap's current location.
Once more, that left a hard-working Wimpod spinning in the wake of a superior speedster. This time, he didn't have nearly as much look when it came to stabilizing himself. He flailed as he drifted through the water, losing control and letting out squeaks of alarm. "Curly!" Elliot called, noting the telltale orange fins of the Huntail drifting past. "Help steady Elliot, please!" The Huntail promptly swam towards him, Elliot shooting a guilty look towards his Wimpod. "N-no, no, not me! The Wimpod!" he clarified, Curly nodding and swimming over towards little Elliot instead. He dipped beneath the waves, then helped Elliot breach from the water with little more than his big old head. He reached a tail up to gently stroke the Elliot's head, then gently eased the Wimpod off of his head and onto his coils. He turned around to face him, making a few goofy faces to turn the Wimpod's sobs into giggles.
A proud grin on his face, Curly swam over to Elliot, letting the Wimpod crawl onto his trainer's head. Elliot gave Elliot some gentle pats, voice quiet and reassuring. "You did really good today. And see? My team and I'll never let anything bad happen to you," he said. "I think you earned a break. How about you take a break? You can stay on my head while Lynn and I swim some laps together," Elliot offered. The Wimpod let out a squeak in the affirmative. Anything that didn't put him in harm's way sounded good to him!
With the Wimpod eased Elliot turned to Lynn, a smile on his face. "I'd love to take you up on that. It's been too long since I've had a good swim," Elliot said. As he lead the way, he thought back on how the training had gone so far. Feldspar and Maggie. Alpha and HYAH! Wolfie and Kap. They were really working on a lot of training pairs here, huh? Yet each combination felt more natural than the last, and Elliot could already feel both his team's abilities and his own mindset getting worked out in ways he'd never even considered before. "You know, at this rate, I don't know which'd be more fun," Elliot admitted. "Fighting each other? Or fighting with each other? With how familiar we're getting with each other's teams and strategies, we'd be one unstoppable pair."
LV17 ROOKIDEE HUGE! BIG PECKS 150/150 HP 5/5 ENERGY
WEBS ♂
LV11 PICHU AVERAGE STATIC 150/150 HP 5/5 ENERGY
TSUNAMI ♀
LV13 OSHAWOTT AVERAGE TORRENT 150/150 HP 5/5 ENERGY
RIPTIDE ♂
LV20 CROCONAW TINY! TORRENT 150/150 HP 5/5 ENERGY
ALPHA ♀
LV1 SOLOSIS AVERAGE MAGIC GUARD 150/150 HP 5/5 ENERGY
FELDSPAR ♂
LV1 HOUNDOUR AVERAGE FLASH FIRE 150/150 HP 5/5 ENERGY
“Ha! I never thought you were the crazy and dangerous type, Elliot,” Lynnette responded to his admission of Hoennian deep-sea wave surfing. “Or was doing it more of your brother’s thing?” Had Elliot ever told her he had a brother? She didn’t think so and it made her wonder: was he as short and sweet as Elliot or a completely different beast altogether?
Alpha - on principle of being a floating cellular-esque Pokemon - was probably the least expressive of all of Lynn’s Pokemon, but that didn’t stop her from letting loose a happy chime at Elliot’s praise. She even rose a few feet into the air before dipping down again in a sort of ‘happy bounce’.
“Huh.” Lynn made a thoughtful noise upon Elliot’s training suggestion for her. “That’s a good idea! It’ll give Alpha something to do and let her focus her psychic energy on something. You know, I think it’s part of the reason why she’s always using her Confusion on things. Its one of the few ways she can interact, and I haven’t really gotten the chance to really let her loose.”
Until now, of course. Lynn turned to the gently hovering Solosis.
“Alright Alpha, go and give Murex a run for her money and show her your wave-making skills!”
The Solosis tilted sideways in confusion.
Lynn smiled knowingly and pointed towards the Cloyster in question. Alpha was never that attentive when it came to names. “Murex is the Cloyster. Now go and see if you can whip up some waves for her with your Confusion!”
Alpha sang with happiness before zooming off to join Murex in her routines. As soon as she arrived, two to five foot waves started surging from the waters as the Solosis brimmed with psychic energy. Cascades of wide but weak and concentrated yet powerful waves slammed into Murex’s whirlpools, testing both Murex’s stamina management and Alpha’s methods.
Meanwhile, Feldspar? After watching Maggie’s demonstration with wide but curious eyes, he managed to work up the courage to gently paddle away from Lynn and towards Maggie. It was a basic doggy paddle; he kicked his front left leg in time with his right hind leg and vice-versa until he was no longer holding onto Lynnette for dear life.
At first, there wasn’t quite enough power in the young pup’s strokes and he sank a little into the ocean. After a moment, he corrected his kicks and rose high enough to hold his head above the water. Having gotten the hang of it, he swam up to Maggie and gave her a playful bark.
The sight of a baby fire-type enjoying its first swim in the ocean was so adorable that even Lynn aww’ed at it.
“That’s just… aww,” she said as she watched Maggie and Feldspar swimming together. “I think Felds has made a new friend today.”
Apparently, HYAH! and Curly weren’t the best matches for Wolfram. “Ah, I see. My bad,” Lynn said and called Wolfram back to give him Elliot’s suggestion. He turned back round and landed on Lynnette’s head to tilt his own in confusion. “Wolfie,” she started, looking up at him as he made a nest out of her hair again. “Elliot says that Kap’ll be a better sparring partner since she can use Bubble Beam. And there are some rocks you can practice landing on when you get tired.”
“Dee!” He chirped before flying over to Kap and landing on a rock to tell her Lynnette and Elliot’s training suggestion.
Seeing one of Elliot’s own Pokemon get confused over the Wimpod Elliot made Lynnette laugh at (human) Elliot’s plight. “Oh wow, I really hope that doesn’t bite you in the arse one day,” she giggled as Curly changed course for Wimpod Elliot. Lynnette could only imagine the trouble her little prank caused Elliot when she wasn’t around.
If only she could be there to see it.
Once Tsunami considered Webs’ swimming adequate enough to let him go, she turned to Feldspar and Maggie and happily gestured for them to join her and Webs in their little swimming session. A swimming session that was kind of turning into more of a splashing session as Tsunami and Webs playfully batted water at each other and dived to escape each other. Still, it served to strengthen the beginners’ swimming strength and get them used to the concept of moving in three dimensional space.
Lynn couldn’t help but grin at the sight of all her Pokemon working together so well with Elliot’s own. And better yet? They looked like they were genuinely having fun! Feldspar was learning the joys of playing in the water with Maggie, Alpha had finally gotten a chance to use her psychic powers with Murex, Tsunami and Webs were putting their past dislike of each other aside and Wolfram…
Well, Wolfram was taking things a little bit too seriously, but that was just Wolfram.
Lynnette watched as Elliot climbed onto Elliot’s head for a break and smiled. “You two are just too adorable for each other, you know that?”
She hummed in understanding. “Yeah, living in Hammerlocke I never got to go to the beach all that often,” she admitted. “And summer’s really the only time that it’s hot enough to go swimming. I bet Hoenn is really nice all year round, isn’t it? I’d love to go there one day.”
As Lynn talked, she started swimming alongside Elliot, keeping pace with him and a careful eye on their Pokemon as they trained.
“Hmm.. you’re onto something there Elliot,” Lynn mused. “Both of us are strong fighters, even if you like to sell yourself short sometimes.
“And to be honest, as much as I want to finally beat you and your team with my own? I think we’d be even tougher fighting together. And hell, it’s not like we can’t do both anyway,” she said with a grin as she twisted into a backstroke for a couple paces.
“Damn, it’s a shame we can’t challenge Hiro together for a double battle, that’d be sick. I bet between us we could blow him away.”
But of course, Lynn was also pretty sure it wouldn't be within the gym challenge guidelines.
"But you know, if anyone ever challenges you to a two-vee-two and your pride is on the line? Call me. Any time, any place," she proposed and shot Elliot a challenging grin. "Though of course, you can still call me even if someone isn't challenging you to a battle ~"
Lynn hummed to herself as she swam. “Hmm, I think it’s been about an hour now,” she said to herself. Her eyes filled with sly pride as she turned to Elliot to ask him a question. “Ready to meet the newest addition to my team? I think you’ll like him.”
First, she took a deep breath. Then she shouted at the top of her lungs. “RIPTIDE!”
It was a good thing that there was no lifeguard around in this stretch of beach, because with a name like that they might’ve assumed Lynn announcing the discovery of a deadly water current. But no, this wasn’t a hidden current ready to whisk someone away into the deep ocean. This was the name of her latest catch.
Hearing his name, the Croconaw, who’d been holding his breath beneath the ocean for about an hour now, shot towards the surface where Lynn and Elliot were swimming. He breached the surface, launching his two foot-tall body into the air and spraying the two teens with seawater.
Landing with another splash, Riptide paddled next to Elliot and croaked a greeting.
“Riptide, this is Elliot, my friend. Elliot, this is Riptide! I caught him just after I caught Elliot on Route 2," she said, sparing a nod towards Wimpod Elliot, who would've already known the chilled out gator. "He’s small but he’s seriously tough. He did a number on Tsunami and it took me two tries to catch him! He’s been out here practising his diving and breath holding skills, since honestly he’s so much further ahead from my own Pokemon that they would’ve just held him back.”
Riptide growled with approval at Lynn’s praise. He was still getting to know her and the other Pokemon, but so far as Lynn could tell, the Croconaw was more of the relaxed type, happy to go with the flow as long as food and affection was in store later.
Post by Elliot Sunderland on Jun 11, 2020 22:47:22 GMT
"Isaac's definitely the daredevil between the two of us," Elliot admitted. "But that doesn't mean I can't keep up with him! Besides, it isn't like we were going over to the deep end or anything like that. That's where the real danger starts." He looked off into the distance, watching much further waves breaking against the waters. He'd never even think to go that far. Yet, as someone who'd been swimming for nearly as long as he'd been walking, he couldn't deny that it was tempting. "It's funny, you know? Whenever it seemed like I could be in over my head, he always just snapped into action and turned into the responsible one. But when he was by himself, he was reckless than I could've ever been. Big brothers are weird, huh?"
Even now, focusing on an upcoming gym battle and enjoying a beautiful beach with a dear friend, he missed that weird.
As he looked to the waves, he saw Lynn's Pokemon start fanning out to join his. "The more she learns about the world, the more comfortable she'll be exploring it," Elliot said. A teasing grin crept up his face as he turned to Lynn. "Maybe you won't have to worry about her sticking to your face as much, eh?" Some might've been intimidated by letting a Pokemon with so much untapped, unfiltered power let loose like that, but come on, she was just a baby! Besides, Murex's shell was as solid as rock. If there was any Pokemon Elliot would let help Lynn's team test their might, it was her.
The Cloyster certainly didn't expect what Lynn and Elliot had planned! She let out a yelp of surprise as her perfectly-maintained whirlpool was suddenly wiped away. Immediately she doubled down on her swimming speed, thrashing her tail more wildly to try and keep the whirlpool going. At first the new whirlpool was holding steady, even in the face of Alpha's barrage, but the more waves hit the water, the less stable the whirlpool became. Soon, Murex was left haplessly bobbing up and down in a choppy wave pool. This couldn't stand! She closed her shell, a series of golden cracks spreading across her body, and let out a determined cry.
That was her Shell Smash! With this increased speed, no amount of disruption could stand a chance! She swam in circles with renewed vigor, a newer, stronger whirlpool laced with sparks of gold popping up in her wake. Would Alpha be up for taking on such a challenge?
Feldspar and Maggie's training was a lot less dramatic. The Mudkip continued to paddle back and forth, letting out encouraging yips as Feldspar took to the waters. Her encouragement turned to alarm as Feldspar started sinking beneath the waves. Immediately she dipped down, prepared to catch the poor Houndour if he went down, but it didn't seem like Feldspar would need that help. He popped back up, doggy paddling with renewed strength and vigor. For a fire type, who would naturally be at quite the disadvantage in the waves, that was a major step! Elliot couldn't help but applaud Feldspar some, and Maggie was all cheers as he paddled up to her. She gave him another gentle headbutt, then swam forward to start leading him around the water. Her pace was slow and steady at first, but once he started getting more comfortable she'd start picking up the pace!
Kap nodded as Wolfie and HYAH! approached to let her in on the plan. She tilted her head curiously, but after some hesitance nodded. Just a little bit of firing practice. Yeah! Yeah, she could do that! She dove from the rock to the water, then looked up at Wolfie, motioning for him to begin when he was ready. Once he prepared his take-off, she spat a stream of bubbles towards him, aiming just over his head to try and pick him off in mid-takeoff. Of course someone as precise and tactical as Kap wouldn't just go for the easy option! Would Wolfie pick up on the trick and either speed up or delay his flight? Or would he be pegged right out of the sky? For the time being, HYAH! simply observed, gem glowing a gentle red.
Elliot made a few sarcastic "ha"s at Lynn's barb. "You say that like you wouldn't love seeing me get bitten in the ass," Elliot said. Phrasing, Elliot. Though he wasn't wrong. The girl was quite trollish at even the best of times, and probably would relish the confusion that came from Elliot the trainer and Elliot the Pokemon being out and about at the same time. "All seriousness, I'm pretty sure you knew exactly what to expect when you traded him to me. Honestly, if it was anyone but you, I would've warned them about it. But . . . hey. If anyone needs to sum up our friendship, pretty sure little Elliot's as good a symbol as you can get."
Speaking of friendship, look at Webs and Tsunami go! The two seemed a little tense together when first caught, so seeing them splashing, celebrating, and enjoying each other's company was heartwarming. Even if Maggie didn't quite agree, popping in front of Feldspar to prevent him from getting splashed too hard by the more practiced swimmers! She turned, using her powerful legs and tail to kick up a splash of her own and send it their way. Look out, Feldspar! Your new pal's dangerously close to dragging you into a two-on-two splash war! But who could blame the Mudkip? Playing in the water was her specialty.
Elliot couldn't help but share Lynn's smile, both over their Pokemon's interactions and over her kind words. "Oh, Lynn. I always figured you thought so, but it's still so nice to hear you say it," Elliot said, winking her way. Whoa, whoa, did he just tease her back? That wasn't part of the script! Yet he was all too quick to shift away from the topic. "Hoenn's not, like. Tropical-tropical like Alola is. But it's pretty much the warmest region I can think of besides. Might be biased due to the part where I lived by a bunch of volcanic hot springs, though. Still, while we definitely have our winters, Hoenn's pretty nice year round. And swimming season's pretty much from spring til just before fall. If you ever made the trip over, I'd love to show you all the best spots!"
That'd require him to make a trip too, wouldn't it? It'd been years since he'd even set foot in Hoenn. But he couldn't say he minded the idea of a vacation, once he'd gotten more of the journeying out of his system.
Elliot did his best to keep pace with Lynn. His technique paled in comparison to hers, but she had a swimmer's build and a fully healthy leg. While Elliot's upper body was following the motions of a practiced, experienced swimmer, his legs were barely kicking up any force. There was unfortunately a clear, present divide between what Elliot's muscle memory wanted and what he could actually do. Yet he didn't seem to mind this much. In fact, instead he was just merrily continuing the conversation. "God, I wish. If we're talking treats an audience has never seen before, a tag gym battle would make that list. No doubt. But I guess it'd take away from the challenge some, huh?" Elliot asked. However, as he paddled an idea came to mind. "Wait! West Arciel has another gym leader, right? Plum City? Dark leader? You're gonna think I'm crazy. But maybe before we move from the West to the East, we could challenge them to a two-on-two! Wouldn't that be awesome?"
Amped up by his idea, Elliot returned Lynn's challenging grin. "I'll keep your number up at the top of the list, don't worry," he said, only for his attention to wander to the rippling waters. It was a Croconaw, and with how he popped out at just a word from Lynn he was a well trained one, too! "Whoa! Looks like Maggie's not the only new water starter between the two of us," Elliot said, laughing a little. Elliot the Wimpod perked up in recognition, nodding and waving a tiny leg in Riptide's direction, while Elliot human leaned in to give him some scratches on the chin. "It's great to meet you, Riptide. Thanks for helping Lynn make it to a full squad of six," Elliot said, checking "affection" off of Riptide's "food and affection" checklist. "You might be small, but you've got some real presence about you, huh? If anything, you might be one of the strongest Lynn's got so far!"
That said, further ahead? "You know, that gives me an idea," Elliot said, the gears in his head turning. He looked at Lynn, swimming ever so slightly closer to her. And then he tapped her on the shoulder, swimming away as quickly as his arms could take him. "If you wanna be further than me, you gotta catch me first!"
If the boy's form was on point during his swim with Lynn earlier, he was really pushing it to its limits now! He moved with the practiced discipline of someone who had spent most of his summers in various sorts of pools, beachsides, and hot springs. Honestly, it was such a step up from his usual that his arms were actually starting to get a little sore! Good thing he was freshly practiced from having to deal with Hiro's challenge earlier. Even his legs were kicking this time. The stronger leg of the two kicked up quite a bit of seafoam in its wake, all of the effort it put into supporting Elliot now being put to good use. However, his injured leg was still holding him back, and the unfamiliar motion left him gritting his teeth a little in pain. This may've been a mistake. At least, it would be, if Lynn picked this time to play with her food instead of catching him quickly. Yet there was no way Lynn'd give a challenge anything than her best, right?
Every now and then he checked over his shoulder, trying to make sure that she was keeping pace.
(1402+9692+1705 = 12799
A lot of Elliot swimming in this post. He'd like to boost a +1 to Strength for all his time pushing through the water.)
Post by Lynnette Aria on Jun 14, 2020 23:25:43 GMT
WOLFRAM ♂
LV18 ROOKIDEE HUGE! BIG PECKS 150/150 HP 5/5 ENERGY
WEBS ♂
LV11 PICHU AVERAGE STATIC 150/150 HP 5/5 ENERGY
TSUNAMI ♀
LV13 OSHAWOTT AVERAGE TORRENT 150/150 HP 5/5 ENERGY
RIPTIDE ♂
LV20 CROCONAW TINY! TORRENT 150/150 HP 5/5 ENERGY
ALPHA ♀
LV1 SOLOSIS AVERAGE MAGIC GUARD 150/150 HP 5/5 ENERGY
FELDSPAR ♂
LV1 HOUNDOUR AVERAGE FLASH FIRE 150/150 HP 5/5 ENERGY
Elliot missed his brother, didn’t he?
Lynn followed Elliot’s gaze across the ocean horizon as he reminisced. It glittered and sparkled beneath the midday sun and Lynn could almost imagine seeing a happy Elliot splashing and playing with an older brother in a haze of nostalgic bliss.
“Your brother sounds exciting,” she commented, biting her lower lip and smiling in another tease. Then just a beat later, she adopted a more serious expression. “But yeah. He sounds like a good brother; he probably cares more about your safety than he does himself. I can’t say for sure though.” She shrugged.
“I don’t have any brothers or sisters. Maybe if I did my parents wouldn’t be so clingy,” she said with an eye roll.
But in a way, it’d help. A big brother (or sister!) to look out for her would’ve eased her parents fear of something happening to their only child. And a little brother or sister would’ve allowed them to focus their ‘parental energy’ as Lynn would often dub it, onto someone else.
Her face shifted as she remembered something. “Damn, I’ve completely forgotten call them now I’ve gotten to Arciel. Shit. They probably think I’ve tripped in a hole and died.” Exaggeration, but still. She had to get a new SIM for Arciel and ‘forgot’ for a few days that her parents wouldn’t know the number until she called them. Until she legitimately forgot and didn’t call them for a couple weeks.
“I should probably call them after this. With luck my dad isn’t swimming across the Galarian ocean at this very moment to come and check on me,” she said, smiling. Sure, she was kind of in shit street now, but that wasn’t going to ruin her day.
Though Lynn’s parents could be as clingy as her new Solosis, she was determined not to make the same mistake. “Yeah,” she agreed with Elliot, glancing towards Alpha as she trained with Murex. “Though sometimes I worry she’s going to get too comfortable. She might just cling onto someone’s face and stay there.”
“Oh yeah. I’ve got something for her,” she added. “Just a second~” Lynn swam back to the beach and ran up to her belongings to rifle through her bag. What she pulled out was a similar disk to Elliot’s own. Except instead of being jade green, it was a faded pink.
She swam back to Elliot with the TM. “Psychic,” she said, tilting the disc in her hand as it caught the sunlight. “I was kind of afraid to teach it her earlier, but now that we’re away from civilisation… what could go wrong?” One of the most powerful Psychic types moves was contained inside of the TM held in her hand.
The Pokemon-to-be-taught was currently playing with Murex. She shimmered in simple delight to see her Confusion break apart the Cloyster’s whirlpool. As Murex struggled to maintain another whirlpool, Alpha floated above her as if she weren’t straining a muscle.
Though it looked like she wasn’t doing a thing, of course, that wasn’t true at all. As a psychic type, her main ‘muscle’ was her brain, and that was safely hidden away out of sight, as brains should be. She was, however, concentrating with all her might to direct her Confusion powered tidal waves towards the Cloyster.
Seeing Murex tire, Alpha stopped with concern. Had she overdone it again?
Apparently not! There was still plenty of figurative fire left in the water type’s belly - and with an explosion of light Murex amped up her output tenfold!
Alpha cheered for her sparring partner, then remembered that she was actually supposed to be sparring with Murex instead of cheer leading. Snapping back into the fray, her face creased once again with concentration and…
Lynnette came swimming up to her! And in her hands was a TM. “Alpha! Try this out while we have willing subjects, er, I mean team mates to practise with!” Lynn glanced back towards Elliot and shot him a playful wink.
Alpha nodded and levitated closer to Lynn to examine the TM. The disc glowed in her hand, a thing happened and she was pretty sure that meant Alpha had learnt the move within.
“You got that?” She asked her Pokemon, a little unsure if she’d done it right.
The Solosis tilted forwards in a little nod and zoomed back to take on the newly energised Murex. Feeling the knowledge and power of the new move inside her, the Solosis first tested it out by raising a single column of water a few feet into the air, then letting it drop back down again.
Then she raised two columns of water. Then three. Then four! Alpha practically vibrated with energy at the extra control this new move allowed. Now she was more than a worthy sparring partner for Murex! Ready to test the Cloyster once again, Alpha raised another wall of water and sent it crashing towards her expertly crafted whirlpool.
Murex’s tides were incredibly strong at this point, and it was a good thing Alpha wasn’t swimming like the other Pokemon, or else she would’ve probably been sucked under. Instead, she could levitate under her own power above the danger zone and whip up some awesome tides for Murex!
And speaking of, Alpha decided to switch gears and try for trickier currents. Instead of sending out simple waves against Murex, she really decided to test her newly acquired strength and starting swirling the currents anti-clockwise to Murex’s own! Depending on how that went and once Lynnette and Elliot weren’t watching, she’d propose trying to match Murex’s whirlpool to see how big of a whirl they could make.
A little mischief never hurt anyone, did it?
Feldspar meanwhile, was starting to have a lot of fun with in the water with his new friend. He let out a playful bark at Maggie’s headbutt and doubled down to follow after her, eager to keep up with her in their new game despite being in the water. The Pokemon didn’t know it, but at this point they were pretty much mirroring Elliot and Lynn in an adorable game of water tag.
Across the waters, Wolfram, Kap and HYAH! were performing their training as a trio, though HYAH! hadn’t joined in quite yet. A determined expression was set on Wolfram’s face as he fluffed himself up to shake off the excess water. Then he stretched his wings out, pumped them to gain lift and almost got bubbled in the face!
Well, he kind of did get bubbled in the face. A few bubbles skimmed the top of his head as he ducked at the last millisecond. They popped with surprising force. Who knew bubbles could be so tough?
At first he cried an indignant squawk, then seemed to understand the type of challenge that Kap was throwing him. How often had Wolfram pulled tricks on the opponent yet never bothered to look out for tricks of their own? Better to learn it on the training ground than in the field.
Yet if there was one thing Rookidees were good at, it was unpredictable, wild flight patterns that utilised bursts of altitude and stone-cold drops. Kap still gave him a damn good workout though, and a few times that the bubbles managed to hit their mark, the Rookidee would have to practice his landing to shake off the excess water again.
The Pokemon weren’t the only ones learning, apparently. Elliot too had been trained well.
Lynn’s jaw almost fell off her face as Elliot counter-teased her earlier tease with words that were so Lynn-like that they could’ve come from the girl herself. “Elliot!” She gasped in surprise, sounding equally shocked and indignant. Wasn’t this illegal? And yet, he’d come so far since they’d met. “I’ve finally done it,” she said with a triumphant grin and poked Elliot playfully.
At this, she took on a sage voice. “I have taught you well,” she said. “Perhaps one day the student might even surpass the teacher, and I, Obi-wan Kenobi of feisty teases, may have to retire...”
Then she tilted her head and smiled. “Or not. Someone’s got to be around to keep you on top of your game.”
Elliot’s description of Hoenn sounded pretty sweet, all things considering. “As much as I love bikini weather, I think Alola would be a bit too hot for me,” she admitted. “Hoenn sounds really nice though. Living near volcanic hot springs must’ve been blazing. We don’t have hardly anything like that in Galar. Maybe when we need a break from our journeys we could visit your homeland together,” she added. “Or if you wanted I could show you Galar. We have some cool historical spots if you’re into that thing. But more importantly, you could see the Dynamax battles!”
If there was one thing that Lynn missed about home, it was giant Pokemon the size of buildings wrecking the shit out of each other.
Wait. Was Elliot proposing a double battle against not one, but two Gym Leaders!?
“That. Would be so...” Stupid, silly, dumb? These were all words that flew over Lynn’s head. “Epic! We should totally ask them! I’m sure they’d at least hear us out if they don’t think it’s way cool too, right? Especially if we can prove our worth by beating a few Gym Challenges. Then everyone could really let loose with their toughest Pokemon!”
Was this going to turn into a Gym Challenge battle royale? Probably.
“I bet loads of people would love to see that too.” Fighting in front of a potentially cheering big crowd? Now that’d feel like home. Lynn couldn’t help but imagine what it’d feel like. Scary? Thrilling? Or just good fun? With Elliot, maybe even all three!
After Riptide’s somewhat dramatised introduction, the reptile enjoyed some generous chin scratches from Elliot. He grumbled happily at the attention. Lynn smiled at the sight. “For all the trouble he gave me, he’s actually the most laid back of my group so far. Loves to please and is pretty easy to please in return. Sometimes he does get a little confused by my orders though,” she added. Riptide wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed - but he more than made up for it with his fighting spirit.
Lynn smirked. “Look at me, always catching more water starters than you. First an Oshawott, now a Croconaw~” She teased. Heck, she’d been pretty well behaved for the past 110 seconds, so she totally had lease to tease Elliot some more.
Elliot had an idea? Lynn tilted her head, curious. Then he approached her, tagged her and swam off. She blinked.
“Hey!”
Was it really fair to start a game of water tag without telling the person you were playing with? Oh well, who cared! Lynn shot Elliot a grin for his double-edged statement. But in the moment she was less worried about catching up to him as a trainer and more concerned with catching up to him as a friend.
Her confusion gave Elliot a decent headstart, but not wanting to be too generous, Lynn kicked off after him with a push of her legs and a sweep of her arms, sending her gliding through the waves after him. She watched, waves splashing against her face, as Elliot kicked up a storm of sea foam behind him. Damn, for a kid with a crappy leg, he sure was a good swimmer!
Lynn on the other hand, had the body of a swimmer sure, but her summers weren’t nearly as beach-heavy as Elliot’s were and Hammerlocke wasn’t exactly famous for swimming pools.
Maybe she should consider working out?
The thought ruminated as she kept pace behind Elliot, clearly enjoying the chase, not unlike a Sharpedo stalking a school of Remoraid. Then with a barely noticeable splash, she disappeared beneath the surface. Riptide, who’d been following along and not exactly paying attention, looked around in confusion at where his trainer could’ve gone.
Thankfully, Lynn hadn’t been kidnapped by a kraken of the deep. No, in good old Lynn-style, she’d dived beneath the water for a surprise attack!
She pushed herself forwards beneath the waves and popped up next to Elliot to gasp for breath and tag him right back with a surprise slap on the butt. She was somewhat breathless, but that didn’t prevent her from smirking, winking, flipping herself onto her back and kicking away from Elliot.
Yep, Lynn, just a friendly slap on the butt for your friend.
Even the resident Croconaw was grinning toothily at the events that’d transpired. His training, less urgent than the others, had pretty much consisted of following Lynn and Elliot around for some good ol’ fashioned swimming practice. He approached Elliot, watching to see what the boy would do.
Of course, if Elliot wanted to hitch a ride on a pimped out croc, he could totally take Riptide for a spin to catch up to Lynn.
Post by Elliot Sunderland on Jun 16, 2020 1:26:13 GMT
"He sounds too old for you," Elliot chided. Even he knew what that lip biting expression was! Nevertheless, his tone was fond. By now, Lynn's teases were one of those idiosyncrasies that she wouldn't be herself without. Still, better not to get the poor girl's hopes up. Isaac may've been a catch, but it just wasn't to be! "But he really is a fantastic brother. For the most part, at least. He can be . . . a bit overprotective, sometimes. But I'm basically all he has, so its really hard to blame him for that.
Hey. Lynn. Promise you're not going to think less of me for this?" Elliot let the statement hang as he looked out towards the ocean, watching the waves rise and crash in the distance. Even with how far they were, he could practically hear them. It reminded him of home, and how far from it he was nowadays. With him running away from Ash City, that was the case in more ways than one. "Me leaving home may not've exactly been a mutual decision. Don't get me wrong. I love my family more than life itself. But when they're all so worried about your leg, to the point where they don't let you thrive like you know you can . . ."
He sighed, continuing to stare out towards the waters. "I know, I know. I probably don't seem like the run away from home time. But, here were are," he said. He turned towards Lynn. His eyes were steelier than Lynn had ever seen them before, but his voice quivered with that touch of guilt. "I'm gonna man up and call him. Maybe not now. But once I've beaten Hiro, y'know? When I've proven myself. And nobody can say I can't stand on my own one and a half feet." His fist clenched with determination, and he fell uncharacteristically quiet.
Fortunately, Lynn'd be swimming off to deliver her TM to Alpha. That gave Elliot time to sigh, splash some water in his face, and mutter a brief pep talk to himself. He may've worn his heart on his sleeve, but the last thing he wanted to do was drag Lynn's mood down with his worries. Especially when she had several of the same worries! Sue, maybe it'd be good for her to phone home, but Elliot didn't want his guilt to rush her into it before she was ready. Today's goal was to have a nice time training, pump each other up to face the Bass City gym, and enjoy some delicious food all the while. Not for Elliot to bob there in the waves feeling sorry for himself!'
Murex was blissfully ignorant of both trainers' dramas. Heck, she wasn't even aware of Alpha's psychic capabilities being ratcheted up by Lynn! She was laser-focused on one task and one task alone; making her whirlpools the biggest, strongest whirlpools she could whip up! Fortunately, while Alpha was busy working on downloading the TM, Murex had plenty of uninterrupted time to focus on her whirlpool. Each lap she swam was faster than the last, and golden sparkles continued to infuse the whirlpool with extra strength and speed. At this point, there was nothing Alpha could do to take her whirlpools down!
Then Murex saw Alpha raise a column of water up into the air, and she realized just what TM Lynn had given the Solosis. She let out a surprised squeak and redoubled her pace, adding layer upon layer onto the whirlpool, but it was all for naught. As Murex finished another lap, Alpha raised a second pillar. One more lap passed, and then a third rose from the waters. One last lap, and now Alpha had created four pillars. This Solosis was a psychic prodigy, and that prodigy was now channeling all of her energy into a wave of water aimed right at her whirlpool. The good news was that her whirlpool held firm. All of the laps that Murex had done, and the energy from her Shell Smash, meant that it'd take a far stronger blow than Alpha could muster up to disrupt it!
But Alpha wasn't just going to make a single wave and leave it at that. Instead, Alpha took advantage of the disruption her wave caused to seize control of the tides themselves. Murex's whirlpool may not have broken, but it had slowed enough for Alpha to start pulling them in the opposite direction. Murex, who was once safely drifting along the whirlpool, now start to bob through the waters as it pushed back against her. She let out an alarmed cry, trying to push against the current, but they were at a perfect stalemate. There was no way the waters'd move at this rate! Her eyes narrowed, her tongue lolled from her mouth, and her tail thrashed at twice the speed. She had to break through, one way or another!
Again, golden cracks spread across her shell. Alpha may've been able to push against a single level of Shell Smash. But two levels of Shell Smash? Even the strongest offensive Pokemon would find that hard to stand up against, let alone a baby like Alpha. Murex looked up at Alpha, a small grin on her face as she launched herself into the whirlpool. Alpha may've seized control of it for not, but each lap that Murex made would push the whirlpool further back in its original direction. If Alpha didn't do something about it soon, Murex would take her whirlpool back with ease!
Elliot couldn't help but grin as Lynn came back. The break in their conversation gave him a chance to decompress, or at the very least swallow down his worries. And seeing the girl's ingenious training method's in action never failed to cheer Elliot up. "Not a bad pick! With that kind of power, she'll be punching way above her weight class," he acknowledged. "I'm not really looking for pure power with my own. But that didn't mean I didn't stock up on TMs," Elliot admitted, unfolding not one but two bright green disks. "Well, okay. Once Elliot's a Golisopod, Leech Life's gonna be a major help for him. Any amount of healing he can do so he doesn't swap out mid gym battle is going to be essential, especially since the gyms here don't allow switching. Infestation's a less powerful choice for Curly, but you've seen him in action already. Power's not his problem; actually putting it to use is. If Infestation can stop his foes in their tracks, his hit-and-run strategies become a lot easier to work with. Neither of these are really gonna be fight winners on their own. But I trust my team to know how to use them at just the right time.
Course. If anyone's gonna be able to put her moves to good use, I know it'll be you. Somehow, I doubt you're showing me your team's entire bag of tricks today." A knowing smile spread across Elliot's face, as he pushed away thoughts of familial stress and instead envisioned Lynn's gym battle. Would she be the first to step up to the plate, or would it be him? He wasn't sure, but he'd be lying if he said he wasn't excited to find out!
Equally heated was the competition between Wolfie and Kap. Okay, maybe it was only heated on one side. The Lombre's hands flew to her face at Wolfie's indignant squawks, and she promptly cried out an apology. Yet Wolfie answered her challenge not with anger but with self-improvement. The Rookidee cannonballed through the air, weaving around Kap's streams of bubbles with surprising aptitude. Kap continued trying to fire where Wolfie would be, rather than where he was, but that was easier said than done when Wolfie could be anywhere at anytime! The few times Kap tried to predict these out-of-the-way movements, she overshot and left Wolfie easily able to weave around them. Theirs was a game of cat and mouse, and the mouse was way too fast!
However, the more time Kap had to study Wolfie's movements, the more she'd get used to them. Each Bubble Beam was more precision than the last, Wolfie's intense flight tricks doing wonders for honing Kap's accuracy. Considering how Hiro's Pokemon last matched tended towards the big and lumbering categories, Elliot couldn't help but smile with pride. So, too, did Kap, who went from worry on each successful hit to pumping a fist in victory whenever she managed to shoot Wolfie down. Battle didn't come as naturally to her as it did to the rest of the gym team, but that didn't stop the infectious enthusiasm of Elliot and Lynn's teams from finally making its way over to her. All the while, she continued to practice breaching from the waves, forcing Wolfie to contend with shots from a variety of angles.
One of those angles, it turned out, was right behind him! Shortly after Kap fired a Bubble Beam towards him, a Hydro Pump careened from behind. Normally the long wind-up time of the attack left it inaccurate, but with Wolfie's attention laser focused on Kap, would he even see it coming? The culprit was none other than HYAH!, the Starmie's gem glowing a bright blue as they popped from the waters. Lynn's ace was good. But were they two-on-one good? It was time to find out!
Both Kap and HYAH! would contiinue firing blasts at Wolfie, only pausing to launch their water attacks at once another. It wasn't quite a three way dance, but there was just enough going on to keep both of Elliot's Pokemon on their toes. Perhaps it'd give Wolfie some respite. Or perhaps it'd give him the chance to work up some mischief of his own.
All the while, Maggie and Feldspar continued happily paddling through the water. Compared to the other training going on, it was positively quaint.
Elliot was all smiles as he watched the trainings unfold, even if Lynn's comment twisted that smile into a bashful smirk. "No way I can catch up to you, I'll admit," he said. "But you have to admit, you served that one up on a platter for me," Their dynamic established, he drifted back to listen to her talk about the Galar region. "Lavaridge was pretty fantastic, yeah. Even now, I find myself wishing those hot springs were here on achey days. But Galar sounds really cool too! I'd love to check it out, especially if you were there to point out all the sights." Already planning to visit each others' home towns, huh? These two really were shaping up to be fast friends.
Then again, only fast friends could decide battling two gym leaders together was anything but suicidal. "I mean, you saw the kinds of suggestions Hiro let me get away with," Elliot admitted. "I never expected to be challenging a gym leader to a surf duel before! Yet, here we were. And if all those glitterbomb videos on Chutube are any indication, Plum's gym leader seems really relaxed, too. If anything, they're probably the pair we'll have the best luck with challenging. Though, you want their toughest? Really?" He shook his head, laughing a little. "Love the moxie, but I doubt we'd last five seconds against them if they brought their a-game. Though man, that'd really be something to watch, wouldn't it?"
It also sounded like Riptide's capture would've been something to watch. "This cutie gave you trouble? What'd you have to do, snuggle him?" Elliot asked, continuing to fawn over the Croconaw and shower it in chin scritches. "Though I can't say I was aware we were competing at water starter catching. You're really looking for something to beat me at, huh? But, hey. If you end up with a full set of eight, you earn the right to rub it in my face." He winked Lynn's way again. With the plan he had in mind, she'd have a chance to prove herself sooner rather than later, anyway.
After all, it was swim tag time!
Lynn sure had a unique strategy. Rather than charge after Elliot guns blazing, like he expected, she instead trailed behind him with an almost studious look on her face. He actually found himself slowing down at some point, prepared to ask what Lynn was doing, only for her to dive beneath the waves. Were it anyone else, Elliot'd be concerned. But this being Lynn, he instead put his pedal to the metal, swimming as fast as he could to try and get away from the Elliot-seeking torpedo heading his way. Sure, he could only really kick with one of his legs, but that hadn't stopped him before and it wouldn't stop him now!
No. No, it was the slap right on his ass that stopped him. Elliot yet out a startled yelp, face blushing neon as he processed what had happened. Her smirk and wink only got him blushing more, and he could barely sputter a "H-hey!" before she was several strokes away from him.
Taking the Riptide Express was a tempting option, especially with the head start Lynn had gotten. But Elliot's pride was on the line here, and there was no way he'd challenge Lynn to a game of swim tag only to take a shortcut. He gave Riptide one last chin scritch for the road. "Be right back. Gotta catch your trainer," he assured, shooting a confident yet shaky grin Riptide's way, before swimming towards Lynn at full speed ahead. Maybe he wouldn't be able to catch her, but he'd sure do his best!
Besides, Curly was still doing laps around the pool, his whip-like motions causing him to repeatedly accelerate and decelerate. If Lynn wasn't careful, she might end up bumping right into him!
Post by Lynnette Aria on Aug 19, 2020 19:47:50 GMT
WOLFRAM ♂
LV18 ROOKIDEE HUGE! BIG PECKS 150/150 HP 5/5 ENERGY
WEBS ♂
LV11 PICHU AVERAGE STATIC 150/150 HP 5/5 ENERGY
TSUNAMI ♀
LV13 OSHAWOTT AVERAGE TORRENT 150/150 HP 5/5 ENERGY
RIPTIDE ♂
LV20 CROCONAW TINY! TORRENT 150/150 HP 5/5 ENERGY
ALPHA ♀
LV1 SOLOSIS AVERAGE MAGIC GUARD 150/150 HP 5/5 ENERGY
FELDSPAR ♂
LV1 HOUNDOUR AVERAGE FLASH FIRE 150/150 HP 5/5 ENERGY
Oh no, did Elliot have a confession to make? “Think less of you?” Lynnette repeated in innocent, questioning tones. “Oh no - what have you done now, Elliot? Don’t tell me. You accidentally called someone’s Glameow fat?” She said in a dry, humorous way, without a clue that Elliot was about to drop a pretty big secret in front of her out of the blue (pun intended).
“But of course I won’t,” she said as solemnly as she could, which was a little ruined when she added, “as long as you’re not going to confess to murdering someone or something.” She paused for a beat. “’Cause that would be a PRETTY BIG DEAL,” she said almost theatrically, in a I-am-messing-with-you-right-now tone.
And what could a good-natured friend like Elliot have to confess? She figured he likely needed to tell her because he hadn’t confessed to many, if anyone else, and it was weighing him down, which would’ve meant that he truly did trust her as a friend - which was heart-warming, in its own way.
Everything changed when he told her his secret. Okay, not everything, but Lynn did break into a smile and passed Elliot a conspirational, ‘oh no you did something naughty but I’m surprised and slightly pleased with you’ look. “Really?” She asked him, leaning forwards conspirationally, still not entirely sure that someone like Elliot would run away from home, of all things.
She pulled back and considered his words. “You’re definitely not the run away at home type, that I can agree on.” How overprotective did his parents have to be to drive such a sweet kid into becoming a fugitive? “And thanks,” said Lynn in a slightly clipped tone. “For telling me and everything. Sorry, I kinda suck at being supportive.” She glanced out towards the distant waves. Were Elliot’s family worrying about him as they spoke?
“It’s good for me to have high quality blackmail in case I ever need it,” she added and bumped him on the shoulder. “Now you are truly wrapped around my finger!”
“But you did the right thing. I think.” She wrung her hands. “I might’ve done the same thing, to be honest. And look, just like you said: you’ve come a long way making your own decisions for yourself.” She gestured to his Pokemon in training. “And if your brother still gives you flak even after you beat Hiro and you’ve stood on your one and a half feet,” she said smiling, “you can always still beat him up.”
On the training front, Alpha was struggling with Murex’s persistence! The Cloyster had been surprised by Alpha’s attempt at an counter clockwise whirlpool, but she soldiered through the struggle like a champ. And then all it took was for Murex to use another Shell Smash and Alpha found herself with a headache trying to keep up!
So she didn’t. The psychic type let go of her watery grasp of the whirlpool and took a breather. Her greenish body glowed with the light of Recover, giving her cytoplasm a fresh new healthy glow as she regained her energy. She was only a baby, but she was going to be the best sparring partner Murex could ever ask for!
But now that Murex was going strong with her whirlpool (and stronger than Alpha had ever seen it before, surely there was no way that any water type could interrupt it now?) she had an idea. It was a bad idea, but the baby Pokemon had no idea. What would happen if she helped Murex make it even stronger?
Curious, Alpha gripped onto the waters with her mind and began pulling. Clockwise, alongside the direction that Murex was already spinning. Together, they could make the biggest whirlpool ever!
Meanwhile, Wolfram was still trying his best, doing his best to dodge as many bubbles that Kap sent his way. Wolfram wasn’t a very communicative or friendly Pokemon, but it seemed his determination and hard work ethic was helping Kap to relax and gain some confidence in her own abilities.
Both his own and Kap’s methods evolved alongside each other, tactics changing and altering course like Wingulls on the ocean winds. Sometimes dodging took erratic, unpredictable movements, and other times he had to feint and carefully plan how he was going to fly his next lap.
He was dropping like a stone to try and avoid Kap’s next bubble beam when a torrent of water slammed him right in the backside. HYAH must’ve seen the trajectory that Wolfram was about to take, as it was spot on.
Tumbling forwards, Wolfram was too busy with spitting out seawater to register the fowl blow. He twisted around, twittered in surprise and pumped his wings, spraying water to get airborne once again. Two on one was starting to get unfair!
So perhaps it was time to get some attacks in for himself. Wolfram’s talons glowed with Hone Claws, and he dived towards HYAH from behind, talons stretched outwards for a cheeky Power Trip just as Kap was about to blast her water gun at HYAH.
While the Pokemon were pulling out their best moves for each other, their trainers were doing… pretty much the same thing.
Lynnette was swimming as fast as she could, backwards. She might’ve also been laughing, which would’ve explained why she had no idea that Curly was behind her. And then her arms brushed against slimy scales and Lynnette felt the power of Curly’s tail whip around her legs, flipping her forwards.
And… basically she got dunked head first into the water by one of Elliot’s own Pokemon.
Post by Elliot Sunderland on Sept 1, 2020 0:54:10 GMT
"I wish it hadn't come to that," Elliot admitted. He had to admit, the lack of judgment on Lynn's end was both surprising and reassuring. Frankly, he expected her to roast him. Instead, she was so sympathetic that she apologized for not being an expert at reassurances. He didn't even need a single reassurance, let alone an expert's touch! Yet while her approval came as a relief, it didn't change how Elliot felt about the situation as a whole. He wanted his chance to thrive, but not like this! And the more he thought about it, the more he realized that Isaac must've been worried sick. "But . . . it did, y'know? It happened, and all I can do is own up to that fact. Do things better the next time."
He couldn't help but grin a little as she bumped his shoulder. "Oh, no. Whatever shall I do," he said, voice as dry as 12-day old toast. With how many misadventures he and Lynn already experienced, she didn't exactly need blackmail to wrap him around her finger. At this point, she hopefully knew darn well that Elliot'd have her back no matter what!
Though, beating Isaac up? Was that even possible? Elliot blinked a few times, then shook his head. "No way. He's always been the one who knows more than me," Elliot admitted. "Sure, he hasn't started up a journey yet. But I bet once he does, he'd be able to rocket past my team's progress in no time. He might seem lazy, but when my big bro puts his mind to something, there's nothing in the world that can stop him." Even with his worry about hurting his family, Elliot could only talk about his big brother in a glowing fashion. There was some serious respect on his end, wasn't there?
Murex watched Alpha curiously as the Solosis stopped to glow, her own pace slowing to match. She let out a few concerned squeaks, the sound echoing through her shell and hopefully reaching her new sparring partner. Had she gone too far? Had she worn poor Alpha out? She started to approach, ready to call the whole thing off, only to feel the waters swirling around her again. A sneak attack! How cruel! Murex prepared to speed off, only to notice she was going far faster than before. Was it the Shell Smash? Or was it the fact that now Alpha was working with her, not against her? She let out a delighted giggle as she realized what was going on, tongue lolling out of her mouth as she tried to focus on nothing but speed. She was picking up what Alpha was putting down now, and they wouldn't stop until they had achieved greatness!
Forget a whirlpool. At this point, their combined efforts were kicking a spiraling pillar of water into the air.
Seeing this, Elliot the Wimpod had an idea. He hopped off of Elliot the human's shoulders and beelined towards the pillar, scuttling towards a nearby piece of driftwood. Once he clambered aboard he got to work, his little legs and surprisingly powerful tail turning it from debris into a makeshift boat. Once onboard he paddled towards the vortex, determination in his fiery little eyes. Maggie stopped to nudge Feldspar, calling the Houndour's attention to the bug. Even Elliot couldn't help but stop and watch the Pokemon named after him go, a mix of concern and pride swelling in his chest. "It's okay! You can do it, El!" Elliot cheered, "El" turning back to him and nodding. He was great! He could do this! He was-!
Dwarfed by the shadow of a massive, swirling pillar of water. His eyes shone with fear as he realized the mistake he made. Not good! Not good at all! He needed to turn back, turn back now! El paddled away from the whirlpool with all of his might, but it was all for naught. He was swallowed up by the vortex, clinging onto the dirftwood for dear life as his high-pitched whine echoed across the waters.
After a few moments of panicked vertical surfing, the whirlpool launched El out. Kap hopped back atop her rock, scrambling back and forth as she tried to find the Wimpod's shadow. She was so caught up, she didn't even noticed Wolfram and HYAH! tumbling across the waters, the Starmie spinning rapidly to try and shake the determined bird off of her. HYAH! may've been one of Elliot's powerhouses, but that didn't mean that getting pecked at by birds was a pleasant feeling! Nevertheless, his plight fell on deaf ears. El was top priority for the heroic Lombre! Finally, she had gotten into the right position. She hunkered down, raised her hands, and prepared to catch the Wimpod as he hurtled out of the sky.
A shame she'd misjudged the difference. El landed right on her face, bouncing off and leaving the Lombre stumbling off of her rock. As she resurfaced from the water, she felt a soft THUMP from above. It was El, the Wimpod landing in her wide-brimmed lily pad. She reached up to give the poor, shaking Wimpod a gentle pat on the head, then set him on a nearby rock. Content, she dusted her hands off and turned around, only to notice Wolfram and HYAH! heading right towards her. With an alarmed squawk, she was dragged into the big ball of violence, flailing her arms as she tried to get out from between the two's struggle.
Maggie, seeing this all, turned her attention to the vortex. She wanted her turn now! However, rather than ride the wave as Elliot did, she had her own idea. She turned to Feldspar, giving him a few daring yaps, then dove deep beneath the water's surface. As a natural water dweller, breathing wasn't much of a problem for her. However, the pressure was far more than she was actually accustomed to, and after a few moments she found herself resurfacing. Nope. No good. No good at all. She grumbled a bit, shaking her head and looking down at the water. She wasn't going to give up that easily, gosh darnit!
The next dive lasted for a few moments longer. If Feldspar looked closely, he'd be able to notice that Maggie had been able to touch the water's bottom. Unfortunately, she was only able to graze it. Before settling down onto it in full, she sprang back up to the water's surface, shaking off yet another pressure headache. No, it wouldn't be until her third dive that she'd finally figure it out, this time going slowly rather than quickly to ensure that she could acclimate to the pressure bit by bit. It was a lot longer of a trip, but before long she had made it to the bottom. She swished her tail fin, kicking up a few bubbles to signal to Feldspar that she had made it. And then she closed her eyes to start focusing.
For a while, nothing happened. Then Murex and Alpha's beautiful creation came under attack. Golden light spilled from the sands below the vortex, stretching from Maggie's body in the process. It looked almost like someone had set a fire beneath the waves.
As Maggie's Earth Power disrupted her handiwork, Murex huffed in surprise. She turned to Alpha, shot the Solosis a nod, and shattered another layer of her shell. If the two put their heads together, they'd be able to kick this whirlpool into overdrive. No way the newbie of the team would be able to show them up!
Elliot let out a sigh of relief as he watched his teammates get to work. "These guys are really something, huh, Lynn?" Elliot asked, oblivious to the Huntail practicing its maneuvers behind them until he heard the splash. ". . . Lynn?" It was only when he turned around that he saw she had tripped over Curly, flipping right into the water! She could probably handle herself, but what if she had whiplash or something? Elliot's brow knit with worry as he took a deep breath, plunging down into the waves to help give Lynn something to brace onto.
(17251+1356+935 = 19542!
250 words for Maggie to learn Earth Power, please!)
Post by Lynnette Aria on Sept 26, 2020 16:21:14 GMT
WOLFRAM ♂
LV18 ROOKIDEE HUGE! BIG PECKS 150/150 HP 5/5 ENERGY
WEBS ♂
LV11 PICHU AVERAGE STATIC 150/150 HP 5/5 ENERGY
TSUNAMI ♀
LV13 OSHAWOTT AVERAGE TORRENT 150/150 HP 5/5 ENERGY
RIPTIDE ♂
LV20 CROCONAW TINY! TORRENT 150/150 HP 5/5 ENERGY
ALPHA ♀
LV1 SOLOSIS AVERAGE MAGIC GUARD 150/150 HP 5/5 ENERGY
FELDSPAR ♂
LV1 HOUNDOUR AVERAGE FLASH FIRE 150/150 HP 5/5 ENERGY
Chaos.. chaos, CHAOS! Just like that, a lonely beach in Arciel had been turned into a mad playground of fun and competition for two teens and their Pokemon.
Alpha and Murex, seeing the power that little Maggie was summoning from the seaflloor, were about to rev right into top gear. Upon seeing yet another Shell Smash by Murex and a nod of encouragement, Alpha giggled airily. Her cytoplasm glittered with the power of Recover, and she tilted forward to concentrate.
Psychic powers coalesced into the waters with Murex’s torque, driving the currents forwards and… upwards?
Just before, Feldspar had worriedly watched Maggie dive to the ocean floor. And now he was witnessing a blue and gold vortex rise from the waters like an angry, colossal god. And worst of all, Lynn was nowhere to be seen and Elliot was also diving into the water for some reason.
Tsunami and Riptide, seeing the danger that the Murex-Alpha-Maggie competition was breeding, shared a glance and nodded. This was no place for a baby fire-type and a Pichu to be swimming. Tsunami swam up to Feldspar, whereas Riptide went to Webs, and both water-types carried each non-water type to shore to dry off in the sun while the other Pokemon carried out their shenanigans.
As well as their trainers, apparently! Lynnette was dabbling upside-down, and Elliot’d just gone to dive down and help her. She resurfaced again, spitting the taste of seawater out of her mouth. “Ugh!” She coughed. “That was heroic of you,” she said raspily, holding her balance with an arm on Elliot’s own before letting go. “Your Huntail really packs a punch for us poor humans. Arciel’s lifeguards won’t be out of a job with him around,” she said with a light jab and a smile.
She wiped her stinging eyes with an arm. “Uh, what exactly are our Pokemon doing?” She said, noticing a surfing Wimpod, Wolfram riding HYAH! as if the Starmie were a wild rodeo. Thankfully, Elliot (the Wimpod)’s surfing escapade was rescued by Kap.
Only to be encompassed by the ball of rage that was HYAH! and Wolfram!
“I think our training session just went to shi-”
A huge splash drowned out all sound. The vortex of water that Murex and Alpha were forming was spinning, faster and faster, and was it sucking up all the water around it?
“Uh, Elliot, I think we might be in the deep-”
Silt mixed in with the water, and soon it was a vortex of seawater, sand, and flailing Pokemon and a pair of trainers. Oh dear!