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.
Pokemon 3: Andréa the Lv26 Psyduck Ability: Damp Moveset: Scratch, Confusion, Disable, Psybeam Stat Boosts: N/A
Pokemon 4: Polochon the Lv21 Snorlax Ability: Thick Fat Moveset: Rest, Snore, Sleep Talk, Yawn Stat Boosts: N/A
Senara hadn't tried her hand at the Pokemon League in Kalos. That was an odd place to start, but it was true; when one had a ton of "problems" that ate up your teenage years you didn't really have time to travel the region and battle for badges. Plus there was also university and jobs and heist-ing...look, she was just a busy woman! But she was in Bass for a few days and had plans for tomorrow--plans she was going to have way too much fun putting into action--but right now? She walked past the gym on the way to her hotel and simply said "Eh, why not?" and pushed the door open. Inside was a pool.
...am I in the wrong kind of gym?
It took her a second to realize that, uh, duh, no she was no in the wrong gym, she was in the Water-Type gym, hence the pool. She could see the rest of the gym beyond the pool, but no paths across or around it. Looking from the pool to besides the door she saw a bunch of pool toys, a tarp, some logs...huh. She snickered softly and peeled off her winter coat, revealing a fairly casual t-shirt and overalls beneath it. "Alright then..."
She picked up a few of the items and set them along the side of the pool, then checked her Pokemon team. Alright, well, Fleurir was a must-have, but JouJou was still too little to compete in a gym battle. Baby Girl would kill her if she left her out of the fun and she was also a good front-liner, so long as nothing was part Fairy. Andréa was a Water-type but she knew mostly Psychic moves so she might be a fair back-up to tank damage with, and Polochon was just the most annoying wall in existence, as many Snorlax were, so he would be her last resort to drag the battle out if she needed time to think.
With the team set, she removed her winter boots as well and slipped on the floating disk "shoes" in their place. She then picked up a very long bamboo pole and tested to see if it reached the bottom of the pool. It did. Perfect. She was so light already, she had no doubt she'd be fine. With a poll in each hand and the disks on her feet she pulled her lithe form "up" onto the water, keeping her balance as best she damn could as she stilt-"walked" her way across the water, humming to herself all the while. This was so dumb.
There was an undercurrent in the water, and with each 'step' Senara was aggravating it more and more. Suddenly it was as though water was slipping out from under her, and bam right in the pool you go. Start over.
Turns out overalls are not great for swimming. Senara began to wobble on her feet ever so slightly as she went across the pool, and ever step she felt less and less balanced, until...whoop! She lost her footing and slid backwards like she'd slipped on ice and hit the water behind her. She didn't get dunked--the water was shallow enough that her head didn't go under--but she was definitely soaked. Senara sputtered and shuddered and pulled herself back up with the bamboo pole and made her way back to the front.
This gym better have a place for her try dry her clothes before the battle, or at least before she left again, or she was going to catch her death of cold. URGH.
Now this is a matter of pride!
Senara grabbed the tarp and began wrapping it around several of the logs, creating something of a make-shift raft. It had more space to sit atop the water which should help with the undercurrent and her keeping balance. Should she stand on it or sit? Sitting she would have more balance. She put it onto the water and climbed on like when she rode on Crepe's back, then tried to push it along with the bamboo pole like before.
That seems to have been a better way to go, Senara's getting there! Slowly but surely! Just remember not to touch the water! Almost a third of the way across the pool now.
Post by Senara Spargo on Dec 10, 2019 12:35:07 GMT
So far, so good. Senara hummed slowly to the growing rhythmic push-and-pull of the bamboo stalk against the pool floor. It would have been faster if she'd brought Crepe or even Cramoise, but the pool was too shallow for either of them to swim comfortably. She did have one Pokemon the right size to swim in this water and still be "swimming" and not wading but Andréa was, uh, well, a Psyduck. And Psyduck aren't really known for their great swimming skill at this evolutionary stage. Come to think of it did she have any Pokemon set to evolve into something that changed their personality so vastly?
Her Snom, perhaps. He might actually grow a brain when he evolved.
Feurir was already in her middle-stage so she was unlikely to change too much when she evolved into Sceptile, but one could never be too sure.
Sphorb might decide to be a totally different creature in the future, what with the three stages of evolution a Walren had to deal with to get to the end. But he was so cute now, did she ever really want him to grow? She hated everstones though...hard decision.
Oh, and there was Reine. Who still hated her. Yeah, that one was going to be a hard sell. Senara had the Moonstone all ready to go, though, whenever she finally stopped with the hate and let her train her up into a Nidorina.
Thank Arceus that her starter didn't evolve like so many did--Baby Girl was precious to her just the way she was, and trying to determine whether or not to evolve her would be one of the most difficult choices she would have needed to make in her lifetime.
Dodged a bullet there.
She continued to row onward, pressing occasionally at the walls when she floated too much off-center. She was almost half-way there. Just had to keep pace...
Senara was good at being patient. When one's work involved working with rocks, which were not exactly known for their speed in "growing" so to say, and needing to have a lot of care when extracting the important fossils and shards and other things lest they be broken and rendered useless, one got very good at waiting. She gently continued to push the raft "up-stream" toward the end of the pool. She could almost jump to the end from where she was but standing up and trying to leap would be far too much moving for this tiny raft. No rocking the boat when she was already so close, no sir-ee.
At the same time, excitement was making it hard for her to keep calm and float along. Her first gym battle. Gods, so many people in her life--none of whom she was friendly with nowadays--had done these before. She'd put studying (willingly) or life (unwillingly) first and let the chances slip away. Maybe she could try to fix that; make it a secondary goal to challenge these gyms when she had the chance. Plum had a gym, too, right?
We might be a little too busy to challenge it when we go this week, but...next time?
The string of curses that came from Senara was only quieted because she fell backwards into the water, and would have actually drowned if she kept screaming them. What the hell happened?! Were the logs freaking defective or something?! The raft had been so sturdy and she was so goddamned small to start with--this wasn't FAIR!! With an exaggerated scowl Senara pushed herself up from the water, now properly soaking wet, and dragged her broken raft back to the start of the pool. Mother. Fucking. Why.
She pulled the tarp off the logs and kicked the broken one to the side, muttering at it like it had offended her first-born child or something, and grabbed a fresh one after checking it and the ones that remained in one piece thoroughly for cracks or weaknesses. Why didn't she teach Fleurir something like Vine Whip so she could act like a propeller. Why was her only viable Water Pokemon a shitty swimmer. Why hadn't she actually planned for this gym instead of walking in here on a whim? Well, she didn't have any stake in gym fighting, so why would she. She was just here to kill time--for the hell of it--and she could totally leave whenever she wanted to.
But she was also soaking wet, and it was freezing outside, and as long as she was suffering she sure as hell wasn't going to give some gym leader the satisfaction of her giving up. She ditched the tarp and tied individual ropes around the logs instead, making sure there was minimal places it could crack and cause another spill. It was wider this time and wouldn't be as easy to maneuver but it would be easier to stand on, which would give her the chance to jump off if she was about to drop and was close to the finish line. She set it in the water, grabbing the same goddamn pole as before, and climbed on. It was steady enough that she didn't even wobble. Alright.
The raft itself didn't wobble- but something about the way the undercurrent was moving now had it immediately sliding forward quickly right out from under Senara. SPLASH!
Post by Senara Spargo on Dec 16, 2019 12:41:31 GMT
Third was not the charm. It probably didn't help that she had stood on it very quickly, though, because despite it not wobbling the whole damn thing went out from under her and sent her backwards again. It was sheer luck that she didn't slam her head into the edge of the pool behind her--that would have been REALLY bad. "Lucky" for her she caught herself on her feet, but was no less soggy in the end. With a frustrated "AUGH" she snatched the edge of the raft and dragged it back to land. Gods dammit. All of 'em.
She put it back into the water and, this time, sat down on the fucking thing before she tried to push off. She had to play careful, dammit. Careful and smart. All this stress was going to give her a headache...
Perhaps fourth time was the actual charm. As Senara started floating on the water again, the water lulled it down already to the middle of the pool! Seemed some practcied did help after all!
Post by Senara Spargo on Dec 17, 2019 18:19:25 GMT
Senara grumbled as she sailed along the pool, continuing to push her way to, hopefully, the end. She was soaked and was grateful that the gym itself was warm inside or she'd be dying of a cold by now--she was a lithe little thing after all. Man what she would not pay to see the gym leader themselves try this thing. They had to either have some sort of trick to it or just cheated. It was a shame it was too shallow for Crepe. Why did her only surfable Pokemon have to be so goddamn enormous?...over-feeding, probably.
While she floated she took chunks of her hair in her hands and wrung them out until her momentum stopped and she needed to push forward again. It was going to take ages to dry on it's own. Urgh. This is why she had a hair-dryer. All the damage she'd done to it with dye over the years couldn't hurt any worse than using one of those, right?
Despite her otherwise terrible luck, Senara actually makes it to the end of the pool— and the sound of clapping echoes through the area. The wall before Senara seemed to pull up and disappear into the ceiling revealing a smiling pink haired man. “Your persistence has paid off!” he spoke. “Welcome to the gym, I’m Hiro Kaimana…. Do ya wanna get dry first or dunk right into the challenge?” he grinned stepping sideways and pulling a few towels from a standing rack.
She made it? She made it! Thank Arceus above, that had taken far too long. Senara made doubly sure the raft was in a spot it wouldn't move from as she crawled up onto the other ledge of the pool, ignoring the fancy little display of the wall pulling away and the man who came from behind it for just a moment longer as she wrung more of her hair and clothing out into the pool. She had to dig, hard, into herself to pull a smile out for the gym leader. His hair was almost as bright as her own.
"Ahah, a chance to dry off, please," Senara sighed in relief, accepting the towels offered to her and immediately wrapping one around her hair. It would look silly to fight with a towel turban on so it wouldn't last for very long--just until she stopped dripping. She also dried herself as best she could. No drying machine, huh? Hmph. Some hospitality.
Once she felt a little less soggy she extended a hand. "It's nice to meet you, sir! I'm Senara. I can't wait to start our battle, but, um," she giggled softly, "I also have to admit I wanted to say hello to a fellow researcher, even if our fields are super different! So. Hi! I study evolutionary stones found in Pine Town! What have you been up to up here? It's something to do with the ocean, yeah?" She looked for the spot to stand to be ready for the battle while she spoke She didn't like playing super dumb with other scientists but...eh She was distracted and wet, her mind couldn't quite keep up. "I saw sooo many Water pokemon on my way from Pine--I was surprised! The water must be so clean!"
Hiro let Senara dry off without much comment. Most people tended to strip or come wet-suit equipped, but every once in a while there was that one person fully clothed and dripping wet by the end heh. Ah well.
As Senara spoke, Hiro brightened. “Oh?” A fellow researcher focused on evolutionary stones? How interesting! Even if they should have been battling by then, Hiro couldn’t pass up the opportunity to talk about his work. “I’m currently studying the marine life in the straight between the mainland and Plum Island,” he smiled. “It’s rather unique due to some sunken ships in the area.”
He looked backwards to the second pool behind him where the arena was set up with mostly water and various places to stand. “Ya ready to dive in?” he asked thumbing back.
Post by Senara Spargo on Dec 19, 2019 21:06:20 GMT
"Ooh, I've heard about the shipwrecks! I was planning on surfing through them at some point!" Senara's act cracked just a little to let some of her true self through, her eye sparkling a little as she made her way over to the proper arena. "Do you have any tips if I go through there sometime? Pokemon I should be on the look out for? And...eheheh, is it true that some of those wrecks are supposed to be haunted? Are they, like, really? I'm not sure if it would repel me or entice me more if they are! I love ghost stories~"
Gabe was going to regret ever telling her about that.
Once she was standing on the pedestal over the pool she removed the towel from atop her head to preserve some of her dignity. Senara then pulled out a pair of Pokeballs from her pockets, one covered in green rhinestones with a darker-green stripe down its center, and one lovingly lavished with purple rhinestones. "Does a four v. four double battle sound good to you? No substitutions?" She called over the water, clicking the buttons on both Pokeballs so they grew to their full size. "You're my very first gym battle, like, ever! So I hope you'll have pointers for me in the end...whether I win or lose!"
Not that I intend on losing! Hah!
With a flick of her wrists, both balls went out towards the platforms on the water, bursting open with a flash of dazzling white light. "Sortez, petite fille! Fleurir! Jouons!"
The light faded and the shapes of a Sableye and Grovyle took their spots. Baby Girl snapped her teeth in something between a threat and a greeting, while Fleurir flicked her leaf over her shoulder and eyed up the gym itself. Hm. So that's why she was picked.
“I’ll tell you more about it after our battle, sound good?” Hiro asked not wanting to drag out the conversation too much longer. It seemed Senara too was up for battling as she headed out to the challenger’s side. Hiro too walked that way coming to the leader’s side right after.
At the question, he gave a nod. “Epic! I haven’t had a challenger who wanted to double battles in a while!” As Senara released her Pokemon, Hiro grinned. Fishing out his own Pokemon, he released them right after. A Lapras broke forth, and a Mantine right after. The prior rested on the water’s surface, and the latter dove under the surface almost immediately. “I always give challengers the first move! Show me what you’ve got!”
Post by Senara Spargo on Dec 22, 2019 17:43:20 GMT
Of course leave it to a gym leader to be equipped not once-over to handle a Grass type opponent, but twice-over. Son of a bitch. Senara's smile didn't waver, though--in fact it grew a little wider, and a little more manic. Challenge accepted. That said she was momentarily distracted by the Mantine...aww, she missed Crepe. "Say, how often do you find Mantines larger than ten feet across?? Because I've got a twelve-foot-long one at home!" She snickered, then extended her arm and called out: "Faux-les, petite fille!"
Baby Girl's smile, mimicking her trainer's own, snapped tightly shut and she leaped forward to the next platform closer to the Lapras. She weaved in, looking like she were about to claw at it, but, at the last second, snapped her paws together with a resounding-
CLAP!
Baby Girl uses Fake Out! O5rSd|uz [Weak Attack (40), will cause Flinch if it hits!]
With the first "punch" thrown, she had to decide if it was worth it to double-team one of them and risk an attack from the latter, or split her focus. But the Mantine would be a lot stronger than Fleurir if she tried to take it one on one. Team-up it was. "Fleurir, lame le Lokhlass, qu'elle est distraite!" The Grovyle nodded and moved forward to the next nearest platform. She moved lower than Baby Girl's leap, drawing both of her arms to her chest as she fell into a hard lunge. The leafs on the sides of her arms began to glow brilliantly as she snapped her arms out again, aiming to slash into the Lapras' throat.
“A Mantine with a twelve-foot wingspan? That’s fishy,” Hiro laughed at his own joke momentarily. “I’d love to see ‘em!” Sometime, not now, but yes. The battle was ago.
And the first thing that had Hiro and his Pokemon pausing was the sudden orders in Kalosian. Hiro didn’t get a chance to say anything before the clap had Lapras freezing in place. It was loud, shocking, and enough to cause her to flinch in response. Hiro too winced. “Out of the way!” he managed right before the Grovyle came bounding in for a Leaf Blade. Immediately, the Lapras sunk down under the water seemingly swallowed up by the pool itself for a moment— just long enough to avoid that nasty attack.
“Mantine, Water Pulse!” Hiro called. Leaping up from behind those Pokemon focused on Lapras, the Mantine appeared again blasting with a wave of water at Baby Girl.
Lapras: 9 HP [Flinched]
Mantine: 10 HP
+ Lapras Unable to Move! No Roll.
+ Mantine Used Water Pulse! Accuracy: p_ Confusion: 20/100