Beginner RP: Origamidragons

@origamidragons; Please let me know if you have any questions!

NBP#1

Ranger Ivy Frost

---

“Oh, oh, are we gonna go out and look for some poachers next??” an eager voice said from behind her.

“No.”

But that didn't deter Ivy's new... apprentice. Of sorts.

She remembered being that young, but hers had been a more sullen and less-excitable version. This young guy wasn't a full Ranger per se—just an intern learning the ropes. She had done something similar when she was trying to join the ranks, but it had been off the island elsewhere.

The young man behind her seemed almost out of place in the wilderness, with his bright, eager eyes and his high energy. Sometimes the wind itself seemed like it was telling him to settle down. But she welcomed the enthusiasm. It was important to love what you did.

There were still leaves in his messy, red-brown hair. She could see dirt smudged across his T-shirt too from where they'd been digging around in the forest. He'd come with her to check out some of the habitats—they'd gotten a lot of rain and were concerned that some areas were too wet. But everything had been fine.

“Or what about—”

“No,” Ivy answered again, sighing as she brushed her long, red hair out of the way.

The trees opened up and the sight of the main outpost came into view. She breathed in relief. As much as she did like seeing new talent, this kid—Ethan, she had to remind herself—was starting to wear on her a little.

“Then what are we doing next?” he asked. When she stopped, he waited for her patiently, staring expectantly and blinking his eyes.

In the back of her mind, she felt Haji's mental amusement from his place beside her. He had privy to all of her silent grumblings through their psychic link, and in Ivy's opinion, was not being helpful. At all.

“You,” she began, and even with that one word, he started to move in place, as if he would bolt off at the first signal, “are going to swap over to another Ranger this afternoon because I have a run.”

His face fell a little. “I can't shadow you?”

Ivy shook her head. “Not this time. It's a newbie Trainer, and I need to be totally focused.” Which was sort of true but not entirely. Really, there was probably no good reason that he couldn't follow her on this run—unless she was worried about scaring the Trainer off or something scary showed up that she'd need to chase away—but she mentally couldn't be this caffeinated much longer.

He looked around, then settled toward the main outpost. “Who do I follow now?”

Ivy blinked and paused for a moment. She hadn't really thought that far. “Er...” Unfortunately, she said the first name that popped into her head. “Leo, of course.”

Then immediately regretted that decision.

Ethan brightened up and gave a little jump and yell. “Awesome!” Then he came back down and looked a little embarrassed. “Not that you aren't cool or anything!”

She cut him off and shook her head, repressing a little smile. “Hurry up. And no monkey business!” she called after him as he ran off. Ivy signed again. Leo was probably not the best choice. She wanted Rangers trained, not more flirts. Ah well. Problem for another day.

Since she was so close, she and Haji walked toward Meteor Valley, just to the south of the pain outpost. It was a nice place for Trainers to go, since if they could make it from the docks—or however they got to the island—to the main outpost, it was really, really hard to miss the Valley.

They went down the dirt hill and into the valley proper, where more thin grasses started to grow. From the vantage point, she could almost see the pond in the distance, but the tall, dry patches of foliage in the middle covered it up.

They stopped at the storage shed and took a seat on the bench before entering the area itself—the standard waiting area for new Trainers. Now, all they had to do was wait. Haji jumped up beside her to sit. It was peaceful as the wind gently blew by, rustling the grasses. No chatter.

After the morning she'd had, Ivy relished the quiet as she waited for her Trainer.

---

Current Encounter Stats: N/A

---

Trainer Stats

Name: Ori Kami
Place: Meteor Valley
Encounters Remaining: 5
Area Effects: It's nice out.
Pokemon Encountered: None
Pokemon Captured: None
MCR: 0

Items: Park Ball x3, Energy Powder x1, Lava Cookie x1, Pokedoll x1

Pokemon Stats

Pokemon: Zoroark
Nickname: Ixoki
Gender: Female
Ability: Illusion
Nature: Naughty
TM/HM/BM/SM/MT: None

Pokemon: Metagross
Nickname: Blue Steel
Gender: None
Ability: Clear Body
Nature: Adamant
TM/HM/BM/SM/MT: None

 

Ori padded along the trails, Ixoki matching pace at her side. The fox-like Pokemon shot her a mischievous look out of the corner of her eye and Ori groaned internally. "Don't cause too much trouble, okay?" she pleaded. "This is my first time coming here and I really don't want to get thrown out on my first visit."

The Zoroark refused to make eye contact and Ori massaged her temples with her hands. "Oh my god, what did you do? Wait, you know what? I actually don't want to know. Plausible deniability."

Ixoki sniggered at this, but didn't otherwise respond. Ori sighed and continued along, following the signs that pointed towards Meteor Valley. Ixoki was her partner, of course, her first Pokemon, and obviously she cared for her a lot, but sometimes she was almost more trouble than she was worth. Maybe it would be easier to just keep her in her Pokeball, like she did for Blue, but she wouldn't do that. It would probably just make Ixoki less likely to follow orders, and she was contrary enough already, thanks very much.

She hummed a wordless tune under her breath as she looked around, admiring the vast and varied scenery of the National Park. Kalos was a gorgeous region, of course, but it was developed too thoroughly to ever match the wild splendor around her. She laughed to herself and spun around a few times, staring up at the sky. It was bright and deep and blue.

She finally reached the Valley, Ixoki still close on her heels, and sitting on a bench nearby she saw another another trainer. Oh, this must be her Ranger! Of course. She hadn't forgotten about that aspect of the trip, not at all.

"Hello!" she said with a smile, walking up to the other woman. "Nice to meet you! I'm Ori!"

@WinterVines (Sorry if I'm not supposed to tag you, I asked on Discord and got three different answers so)

 

@origamidragons; mentions are great! Although I didn't get this one, I generally use them to see when posts are made. That's way easier than checking all of my 983745984 runs every day haha. Also, if you want to count toward legend tracker, it might be beneficial to put your character count in each post so that when you link it, it's easier to add!

NBP#2

Ranger Ivy Frost

---

It wasn't long before Haji notified Ivy of someone approaching—or rather, he had noticed a void. That was generally a clear as signal as something actually being there. That meant Dark-type, so the Espeon was immediately on alert, though one couldn't tell through his relaxed body muscles. His mind, however, had begun to spin.

It woke Ivy from her trance-like state. Blinking her eyes open and brushing her hair back from her shoulders, she rose to stretch as she caught sight of an approaching Trainer. The red canvas of her vest was a little twisted as she worked to loosen it along with her own muscles.

Immediately, Ivy noticed what had caught Haji's attention.

A young woman was coming down the path, almost seemingly skipping sometimes as she took in the sights. She was in plain black jeans and a T-shirt, with purple-blonde hair tied in a loose braid—it seemed fitting for the weather really, since traipsing around in the wilderness could really get warm.

It was unlike Ivy's own gear, since she had a turtleneck on under the vest, but since she did a lot of field work, she tended to collect more scratches and things if she didn't cover up—even if it was sometimes boiling. The hair got caught in things too at times, but they probably didn't need to worry about any of that today. It was nice enough out, and this was just supposed to be a low-key run.

It was the Pokemon at the Trainer's side that had alerted Haji, probably. The Ranger recognized it right away—she had one of her own: a Zoroark.

From experience, Ivy knew the dark foxes could be tricksters. They enjoyed every second of it too. That was probably what had Haji on high-alert. Sheba, Ivy's Zoroark, loved to unnerve Haji; that was her ultimate goal really. It ranged from just trying to hide her presence to outright flirting. That was always pretty amusing to watch—Haji had no idea how to respond to that.

For a moment, Ivy thought about calling Sheba out to play, but in the end, thought better of it. Too many mons would clutter up a run for a new Trainer. There was no need to overwhelm them. But next time, perhaps. It had been a while since Sheba took part in a run—she much preferred creating mischief around the main outpost.

“Hello!” the girl said as she approached. “Nice to meet you! I'm Ori!”

Ivy responded in kind. “Ivy,” she said, “The Ranger. And this is Haji.” She motioned to the purple cat next to her who had risen at their approach. He had a pleasant look to his face, but Ivy could tell that he had dedicated a section of his mental prowess to keeping an eye on—or around, rather, since there was a void in his detection—where the Zoroark was.

The fox was in good health, with a flowing red mane and sleek black fur. It appeared that she had a good bond with her Trainer, which was a secret subquest for Ivy on all these Park runs. Since she couldn't go to the mainland and check up on a lot of Pokemon all the time, she used these runs as a sort of scope for abuse at times.

“Well, since this is your first run, we'll hopefully not do anything too crazy,” Ivy explained. “If you'll follow me, we'll get into the Valley itself and try to seek out some Pokemon.”

Ivy led the way down the steep slope that led into Meteor Valley. It could be pretty treacherous. They were lucky it never got cold enough in this area to freeze—people would fly right down it and probably hurt themselves. Even practiced as she was, Ivy still had to concentrate to keep her balance as she slid down the incline a little. Dust and small rocks kicked out form her feet as the wind pushed her loose hair around.

But before she could really think about it, it was over. Softer grasses stretched out in front of them, with much taller, drier ones not too far off. Standing sentry on the edge of that boundary was a seemingly-dead sprawling tree with branches that reached up to the sky. They were devoid of leaves, however. It tended to freak people out, but Ivy enjoyed it and often sought it out.

Which was a good thing today, as something was off about it. As Ivy stepped a little closer, she noticed that there were some small, smooth stones in a loose circle around the trunk of the tree. That hadn't been there the last time she was here—a few days ago.

---

Current Encounter Stats: N/A

Area Effects: There's a strange ring of rocks around the tree.

---

Trainer Stats

Name: Ori Kami
Place: Meteor Valley
Encounters Remaining: 5
Area Effects: It's nice out.
Pokemon Encountered: None
Pokemon Captured: None
MCR: 1,716

Items: Park Ball x3, Energy Powder x1, Lava Cookie x1, Pokedoll x1

Pokemon Stats

Pokemon: Zoroark
Nickname: Ixoki
Gender: Female
Ability: Illusion
Nature: Naughty
TM/HM/BM/SM/MT: None

Pokemon: Metagross
Nickname: Blue Steel
Gender: None
Ability: Clear Body
Nature: Adamant
TM/HM/BM/SM/MT: None

 

@WinterVines;


Ori smiled and nodded at the ranger, bending down slightly to smile at the Espeon. "He looks lovely," she said with a grin. Ori had a terminal weakness for all Pokemon, but especially those she deemed cute. "Nice to meet you too, Haji," she said before gesturing to the Pokemon at her side, introducing Ixoki to both the Ranger and her Espeon. "This is Ixoki. She's a Zoroark," she explained before immediately wondering if the Ranger- Ivy- already knew that. It was her job to know all about Pokemon, after all, wasn't it? Or at least part of her job.

She nodded along when Ivy explained they’d be keeping it simple, and let out an internal sigh of relief. She could handle it no matter what, but it was nice to know that not much would be expected of her in an entirely new environment. She constantly looked around as she trailed after the ranger, taking in the sights and nearly tripping over a rock once because she wasn’t looking where she was going. She caught herself and she was pretty sure the Ranger didn’t notice, though, so it was okay.

Then they were descending the steep slope, and all her attention was focused on not slipping and cracking her neck. Ixoki padded down behind her, red claws digging into the loose, dusty ground, while Ori kept one hand on the rock wall rising beside them to steady herself. She was quietly relieved when they reached the ground in one piece; the incline had been steeper and more precarious than she’d been expecting, and she'd been on edge all through the

She followed after Ivy, who made a beeline to a dead tree standing at the boundary of the canyon. She looked up at the branches, stretching into the blue of the sky, tilting her head back as far as it could go before looking back down at the ground and noticing the ring of stones. She frowned, bending down and casting an uncertain glance at Ivy before looking back at the tree and softly asking, “Hello?”

She immediately felt rather silly for doing so, but she'd always been taught to be polite to Pokemon, and those stones didn't get there on their own. She was from Laverre, after all. She could see the signs of fairies.

(CC: 2130)

 

@origamidragons;

NBP#3

Ranger Ivy Frost

---

The Trainer didn't seem very fazed by the strange ring of rocks. She wasn't freaked out at least, which was a good thing. Ivy had taken a couple Trainers scared by the smallest thing—like her in the form of Chainy's little brother, Jathan—and those runs were always a little more tense and less fun.

In fact, this girl got up pretty close, crouching down so she was low and calling out a soft, “Hello?”

Not too long after, a smooth, pink shape peeked out from behind the tree, a bobbed tuft on its head. “Iggly?” it questioned, peering large, red eyes up at the Trainer.

It held the gaze for a moment and then stepped out a little with a very airy bob. Ivy caught the armful of stones then—a pile that almost threatened to fall out of the small Pokemon's hands.

Stepping to the side a little, the Ranger saw that there was a loose trail of those same stones that sort of led into the taller, dry grasses. They were all similar in shape, oval-ish with a somewhat white color, though that varied. She couldn't really get a good grip on what type they were—Geology wasn't her forte exactly. They were kinda pretty, if you were into that sort of thing.

The little Igglybuff struggled for a moment to get a grip on all the rocks it was carrying before it took in the scene. It didn't pay much attention to Ivy—the wild Pokemon rarely did when it came to Rangers—but as soon as it glanced at the Zoroark, it made a sharp “eep!” sound and whipped around so fast that one of its rocks teetered off the pile as it darted into the brush.

Ixoki's ears perked up. Ivy could still sort of hear it too, moving through the grasses. It was light—and carrying a bundle—so it wasn't going to be moving ultra fast. Haji could also sense it with his mental powers that he sometimes shared with her.

After a couple moments, Ivy questioned, “What was it doing with all those stones?” She shrugged and shook her head, then turned to the Trainer. “Wanna find out?”

The Zoroark seemed eager. Ivy didn't know if she was the type to dart off after wild Pokemon like that or if she just enjoyed a chase—hard to tell for sure. She'd had other Trainers' mons do that before.

“Your Zoroark might enjoy a game of tag.”

---

Current Encounter Stats:

??? ??? Igglybuff: 100%

Area Effects: The Igglybuff darted off holding a bunch of stones.

---

Trainer Stats

Name: Ori Kami
Place: Meteor Valley
Encounters Remaining: 4
Area Effects: It's nice out.
Pokemon Encountered: None
Pokemon Captured: None
MCR: 3,855/4,000 [Common Rank]

Items: Park Ball x3, Energy Powder x1, Lava Cookie x1, Pokedoll x1

Pokemon Stats

Pokemon: Zoroark
Nickname: Ixoki
Gender: Female
Ability: Illusion
Nature: Naughty
TM/HM/BM/SM/MT: None

Pokemon: Metagross
Nickname: Blue Steel
Gender: None
Ability: Clear Body
Nature: Adamant
TM/HM/BM/SM/MT: None

 

@WinterVines

Ori couldn’t help but giggle lightly at the sight of the awkward little pink puffball. It was just so cute! She started to reach a hand out, as slowly and nonthreateningly as she knew how, even though she was fairly sure that the little Pokemon would either attack or run. Wild Pokemon always seemed to do one of the above, even when someone was just trying to be friends.


Sure enough, the moment it laid oversized red eyes on Ixoki, the little Igglybuff squeaked and bolted, disappearing into the dry grasses, weighted down by the pile of stones it was clutching tightly. Ixoki looked ready to bolt right after it, but restrained herself, and Ori shot her a proud grin. Hey, sometimes her Pokemon even listened to her, how great was that?


She shot a glance over at the ranger, who was watching her. Waiting to see what she’d do, doubtless. She considered it for a moment. What were her options? She could just let the little Pokemon go, or she could try to catch it, and she didn’t have many Fairy-type Pokemon despite her hometown. Why not?


Ivy’s words piqued her interest. What was the little fairy doing with all those stones? There was the circle around the tree, certainly, but it had had more stones than were needed for that. “Dunno,” she said with an excited grin, “but I’m curious to find out.”


She glanced up at Ixoki, who was obviously itching to stretch her legs and chase after the smaller Pokemon, and gave her a nod of approval. Ixoki didn’t even wait for her trainer’s chin to come back down before she tore into the field in excitement, falling onto all fours instead of her usual hunched bipedal stride. It was what Ori recognized as her ‘hunter’ stance, usually used to sneak up on people before emptying something unpleasant over their heads.


Ori tiptoed after the Zoroark at a more sedate pace, following the trail of crushed grasses that her Pokemon had left.

(CC: 1880)

 

@origamidragons; Still dunno why my mentions aren't working on this thread. Weird.

NBP#4

Ranger Ivy Frost

---

To Ixoki's credit, she didn't bolt off after the wild Pokemon. The Trainer looked pretty pleased about that. Ivy was too—it didn't take much to startle the wild ones here, and despite them allowing Trainers to come here and view the island like a safari guide, it was still her job to prevent too much trauma from happening to the Pokemon that still lived here.

And after the Igglybuff ran off, Ori rose and grinned. “Dunno,” she responded, having no real idea about the stones either, “but I'm curious to find out.”

That made two of them.

At seemingly having gotten permission, Ixoki darted off into the brush. It thrashed around her as she ran on all four paws, hunting like one of the dogs. Sheba did the same thing pretty often, despite them being able to stand on two legs.

After a look at each other, the rest of them followed the Zoroark into the grasses. Which, Ivy noted, was going to be harder than it looked. Even though they were dry and thin, they grew thicker and more bunched toward the ground, and that made stepping through them a challenge if you didn't want to trip and fall on your face.

They were tall too. Ivy couldn't see Ixoki at all, though she thought she could spy some grasses moving up ahead.

Then, something moved off to the left. After a beat, something bigger on the right. Okay, maybe it wasn't Ixoki after all. Many things could be lurking here. Out of all of them, only Haji knew probably, unless there were more Dark-types that blocked out his mental powers.

The Espeon stayed close to her. Something was bothering his mind but she couldn't pry from him what it was, and he wasn't sharing just yet. If it was something truly dangerous, she knew he'd tell them, so for now, she was just waiting for the surprise.

It didn't take long. “Wait,” he suddenly said.

“Hold up, Ori,” Ivy repeated, stopping as Haji told her to.

When she looked down at him, she saw a glowing stone near her foot. It seemed to be white, but it was like it was filled with clouds, like something was swirling within it. It gave off a faint aura of... something. She'd never seen rocks do that before. Did it look like one of the ones Igglybuff had been carrying?

Suddenly, the environment around them shifted. Where the dry grasses had been perched on a dusty ground, it turned pale and pink-hued, almost like walking on cotton candy clouds. Puffs of cloudy smoke also rose up to thread between the grasses. They were also pink-tinted, which really changed the perception of the Valley in general. Everything now looked... off.

And it stretched as far as Ivy could see, so long as they were in the dry grass sea. The stone at her feet was still pulsing with energy, lit up like a runway marker.

In a couple different places, there was motion. They weren't as alone as it seemed. But when she turned to look behind, it seemed that they'd strayed pretty far into the grasses already. There wouldn't be a quick escape at this point.

“Misty Terrain,” Ivy said. “Something strange is going on. Where is Ixoki?”

---

Current Encounter Stats:

???

Area Effects: A strange terrain effect is happening in the grasses: Misty Terrain.

---

Trainer Stats

Name: Ori Kami
Place: Meteor Valley
Encounters Remaining: 4
Area Effects: It's nice out.
Pokemon Encountered: Igglybuff
Pokemon Captured: None
MCR: 5,748/4,000 [Common Rank]

Items: Park Ball x3, Energy Powder x1, Lava Cookie x1, Pokedoll x1

Pokemon Stats

Pokemon: Zoroark
Nickname: Ixoki
Gender: Female
Ability: Illusion
Nature: Naughty
TM/HM/BM/SM/MT: None

Pokemon: Metagross
Nickname: Blue Steel
Gender: None
Ability: Clear Body
Nature: Adamant
TM/HM/BM/SM/MT: None