_|-Individual RP: Mud the Kip-|_

@MuddyMudkip OOC: Just wanted to let you know Durant are no longer at Botanical Gardens if you wanted to change your disk?

Ranger: Leo
Trainer: Mud the Kip
Location: The Botanical Gardens

-

Commencing...

"Hey, hurry up Shadow. Why are you so slow today?" I called out to the large four-legged hound. Shadow was my partner Pokemon and starter and had been with me for as long as I could remember. I looked back at the chart in my hand. "Elisa Fleming. Oh! She is a Ranger as well! As a matter a fact, she was the one who took Rex not too long ago to the Outer Heavens before we destroyed that place.

"We don't have to be there for another thirty minutes at the very latest, what is the rush." He groaned. "I didn't even get to finish eating."

"I'll fix you up some Torchic Alfredo when we get back, how does thata sound." I called back to him.

"I'll hold you to that." He replied, licking his lips.

"We are going there early because I want to scope the area out a bit before it actually starts. Granted, we won't be able to see much because its only thirty minutes, but still." I said as we passed the gate to the Botanical Gardens. We began walking around. It wasn't long before a few Deerling fawns and Sawsbuck passed by us. Usually Pokemon weren't afraid of us Rangers because they trusted us which is why many came up to us willingly.

We walked on a u-shaped path for fifteen minutes and then walked back to the main gate at the Gardens and waited for Elisa. That was the path we were going to be taking. Even though we had only gone a quarter of the way on that path, I knew where it led too. Three fourths of the way in, it led to a small greenhouse. I was planning on heading on out there. We sat under a tree and waited for her to show up.

-

Spoiler

Battle Stats: n/a
Current Encounter: n/a
Encounters Left: 15
Encountered

Name: Elisa Fleming
Items: Pokedolls (5x), Parkballs (4x), [1 Package: Pokedoll; Poketoy; Fluffy Tail; Slowpoke Tail] (x3), Fragrances (3x), Super Potions (2x), Max Potions (2x), Max Revives (2x), Soothing Fragrance (1x), Superball (1x), Hyperball (1x), Blank Voice Disk (1x), Intermediate Bellow Disk [Durant] (1x), Supreme Park Ball (1x), Uncommon Voice Disk [Shroomish] (1x), PokePlayer (1x), Digital Camera (1x)

Pokemon Stats

Pokemon: Glaceon
Nickname: Icabella
Gender: Female
Ability: Ice Body
Nature: Calm
TM/HM/BM/SM/MT: TM Hidden Power [Psychic]|TM Ice Beam|HM Strength

Pokemon: Ambipom
Nickname: Abby
Gender: Female
Ability: Pickup
Nature: Jolly
TM/HM/BM/SM/MT: TM Substitute|TM Low Sweep|TM ThunderPunch|TM Fire Punch

First Time into the Park?: Nope
Other Info: Probably just gonna stay so I can get my Shroomish, and perhaps Durant. ​

 

OOC: I know the "Chainy and his song" part happened like months ago, but bear with me here. I seriously can't think of anything else. And, besides, my classmates really got it stuck in my head. Head/desk

I banged my head against my desk. Why? For one thing, I was, again, bored to the Nth degree - terribly, extremely, excessively, drastically, exceedingly, severely, intensely, immensely, strikingly, utterly, overly, awfully bored. And for another thing, I was having the Last Song Syndrome, or LSS. I sighed. Thanks to a certain James Carter, that Friday song was stuck in my head. The lyrics zipped through my head again. (Fortunately, the words hadn't destroyed my train of thought when I was thinking up all the ways to describe my boredom.)

It's Friday, Friday
Gotta get down on Friday
Everybody's lookin' forward to the weekend, weekend
Friday, Friday
Gettin' down on Friday
Everybody's lookin' forward to the weekend
Partyin', partyin' (Yeah)
Partyin', partyin' (Yeah)
Fun, fun, fun, fun
Lookin' forward to the weekend.

I thought to myself - managing to ignore the tune that was playing, for the meantime. Well, I figured, if I couldn't get the song out of my brain, I could at least get rid of my boredom.

I powered up my computer, itching to get a run to any of the zones of the Park. Unfortunately, there were no new applications. The last poster was yours truly when I had claimed Argent Silverswift's - a fellow ranger - expedition.

This only left me with one option, then.
And that was to go on a journey myself.

Now, to decide on which area of the National Park to explore. I checked the items I had. I found two voice disks, one for a Shroomish and another for a Durant. Pity, all the Durant species had been relocated to Mount Deckbi, else I could try to hit two birds with one stone in the Gardens. After a minute of debating with myself, I decided I'd go to the Botanic Gardens.

I quickly filled out the Entrance Gate form and sent in through. All that was left for me to do now was to wait.

***​

"Who's taking me?" I asked our secretary just before I headed out.

"Leo." I nodded my thanks. Hmm.. Ah, yes, Leo - Rex and Cameron's brother. I had taken Rex on a journey at the Outer Heavens just days before it collapsed. He had successfully captured a Druddigon with the help of a voice disk.

I double-checked that I had everything I needed, being extra careful with my new digital camera and Pokeplayer as I rummaged through my brown-colored messenger bag. I had a couple of healing items - artificial medicines or potions; some Parkballs; emergency escape items, such as Pokedolls; pleasant-smelling fragrances to calm the wild creatures; and, of course, the voice disks.

I tossed out a red-and-white orb, which contained my Gallade. "Archer, I'm going to the Gardens today - going to get a new addition to our team or two. Want to come?"

<Nah, I'll pass. I'll teleport you to the place, though,> the Psychic-Fighting-type replied with a shake of his head.

A moment later, I was surrounded by a strong bubble of energy. It was evident it took a lot of concentration on the Pokemon's part just so I could get to the area in a flash. But I knew it was no sweat for the Blade Pokemon to do this. He was strong and focused. The telekinetic power brought me to my destination, atom by atom, molecule by molecule, body cell by body cell.

I remembered when I had first teleported - it was definitely a memorable experience. I had felt uneasy and woozy by the time it ended, and my stomach churned upside down along the way. I had gotten quite used to it now, but I would still stand clumsily once we would have finished teleporting.

I finally arrived at the gate of the Gardens. I managed to tell him, {Thanks, Archer!} before he disappeared again with a beam of blue-colored Psychic energy.

"Ambi-ambi!" My Normal-type friend shot out of her Pokeball with a flash of white light.

"Excited, huh, Abby?" I grinned, rubbing her head. "Alright, let's go catch us some new Pokemon teammates." My Ambipom jumped up and down on her tail in a gleeful manner, smiling enthusiastically.

I could only laugh at her joyful antics. This was already getting me out of my boredom.

"Hi!" I called to Leo once my sky blue eyes spotted him with his Houndoom. He was the same Houndoom Rex had brought to the Heavens. He was ShadowPanther. Or Shadow as Leo apparently called him.

"This run shouldn't take too long, or, at least, I hope," I told my fellow ranger. I brought out the PokePlayer as well as a black circular object. In big, bold letters, the name "SHROOMISH" was labeled on the disk. I popped it into the devicem ready to hit the PLAY button once we started moving along. "Ready when you are."

It's Friday, Friday
Gotta get down on Friday
Everybody's lookin' forward to the weekend, weekend
Friday, Friday
Gettin' down on Friday
Everybody's lookin' forward to the weekend

ARGH!! I screamed in my head. Not again!

<Oww! Whoa. What kind of song is that?> Archer talked through me through our mindlink. <Seriously, though, don't ever do that shout in your head again. It hurts me, too, you know.> I had forgotten that we were still connected.

{Sorry. I'll remember next time. But, you could have saved yourself the trouble if you had just cut off the link.}

<I know. However, I wanted to find out as to what had been bothering you since I don't know when. Now, I almost regreat doing that.> I could almost see him grinning sheepishly now. I felt like adding something else, but that was before I felt a sharp pain in my head. I hadn't been ready yet, yet he had already stopped the telepathic communication! That Archer was really full of surprises! I'd get him back for it later. Though, as of the moment, I had yet to know how. It had really zapped my brain like an electric current shocking me.

 

@MuddyMudkip

Ranger: Leo
Trainer: Mud the Kip
Location: The Botanical Gardens

-

Commencing...

"Hi!" I could hear someone call out to me. I had just fallen asleep underneath the tree. Usually I wouldn't have fell asleep, but this place was just so good for naps that I couldn't help it. The air was nice and cool, especially underneath this large tree. The sun was hiding behind a couple of clouds. Occasionally I would see its rays shining down here. Although I didn't really know much about this place, I sure did take a lot of naps here. I opened my eyes and saw a girl standing in front of me. Usually Shadow warned me whenever someone approached us, I was surprised that he didn't.

"This run shouldn't take too long, or, at least, I hope," She said. I hoped so too. This day was so wonderful that I would come back here and sleep some more. Also, if it went by fast and ended quickly, that usually meant the Trainer I was taking through got what they wanted... usually. I hoped that was the case here. If not then I would feel bad because I know what its like to go someone and not find what you're looking for.

Elisa popped in a Voice Disk and pressed play. The Pokeplayer made a weird sound as it echoed around us. I waited for a few minutes and then shook my head. "Perhaps we should enter the Gardens area first." I said grinning. "Let's go see if we can find you a Shroomish and whatever else you're looking for." We hadn't even walked in ten feet when a small Happiny came rolling by.

"Want to battle that thing?" I asked her.

-

Spoiler

Battle Stats: Happiny 100% vs ???
Character Count: 5662/25ooo
Current Encounter: Happiny
Encounters Left: 14
Encountered: Happiny

Name: Elisa Fleming
Items: Pokedolls (5x), Parkballs (4x), [1 Package: Pokedoll; Poketoy; Fluffy Tail; Slowpoke Tail] (x3), Fragrances (3x), Super Potions (2x), Max Potions (2x), Max Revives (2x), Soothing Fragrance (1x), Superball (1x), Hyperball (1x), Blank Voice Disk (1x), Intermediate Bellow Disk [Durant] (1x), Supreme Park Ball (1x), Uncommon Voice Disk [Shroomish] (1x), PokePlayer (1x), Digital Camera (1x)

Pokemon Stats

Pokemon: Glaceon
Nickname: Icabella
Gender: Female
Ability: Ice Body
Nature: Calm
TM/HM/BM/SM/MT: TM Hidden Power [Psychic]|TM Ice Beam|HM Strength

Pokemon: Ambipom
Nickname: Abby
Gender: Female
Ability: Pickup
Nature: Jolly
TM/HM/BM/SM/MT: TM Substitute|TM Low Sweep|TM ThunderPunch|TM Fire Punch

First Time into the Park?: Nope
Other Info: Probably just gonna stay so I can get my Shroomish, and perhaps Durant. ​

 

OOC: I know I said I probably could reach 7K, but I think I've made it to 9K (Edit: Scratch that - I've made it to 11K ^^). So tl;dr: befriend Happiny, challenge her to a battle, make a Sub, sneak around and then Tickle her, once she's caught off guard, use Double Hit.

I cleared my mind, hoping against all hope that the song wouldn't bother me as much as it had been earlier. Perhaps a battle could get it off my mind, at least even just for a short period of time. The recorded voice of the Mushroom Pokemon rang out, echoing around the Gardens. We stood stationary there for a while, waiting for the desired Shroomish to appear.

However, the Voice Disk did not work this time, unfortunately. But, no matter! I was certain I could encounter one later on. And, besides, if we would be so fortunate as to meet a creature worth capturing, I would certainly battle it - for more reasons than one.

"Perhaps we should enter the Gardens area first." Leo grinned. "Let's go see if we can find you a Shroomish and whatever else you're looking for."

I nodded, and followed him into the Botanic Gardens. We ventured on to a dirt path - no, actually, let's just say it was a path. I never really understood why some folks called these roads as "dirt trails". I mean, was there anything really dirty about the route? Perhaps there was soil scattered around it and probably some fallen leaves during autumn. Or, perhaps they just could not think of a name for these tracks. I knew they called some pathways as autumn tracks because they were surrounded by leaves and everything that, practically, screams autumn. Same goes for spring and summer. Of course, the roads were called as such when the appropriate seasons came to cover the earth with their unique and distinguished features.

I looked around me, breathing in the fresh scent of the environment. I have always loved the Gardens. A crisp, cool air always seemed to blow here - breezing through the opened area with freedom. Yes, freedom. That's another thing I liked about this here zone of the National Park. The entities were free, and so were we. We were in a wide, open space - not in some kind of enclosed campus. Not that I had anything against being inside the four corners of a room or building - but, I truly preferred being in the wild outdoors. I wouldn't mind paying a visit to a greenhouse or two during this expedition, though. Another thing I noticed about the Botanic Gardens was its scenery. Anytime of the year, you just really have to lay your eyes on the place. No kidding. It was beautiful - even in the times of Winter and Summer, when the wildlife withers in the burning heat or the freezing cold, it's still not too bad an idea to come to the Gardens. In my honest opinion, it was definitely better than going to Mount Oktori or Mount Deckbi, where you always have a sense of ice and fire (winter and summer), respectively, all year 'round.

In short, the Botanic Gardens was full of life. And not just Pokemon organisms, but also the wildlife surrounding us just this very moment. The trees grew so high, the leaves big enough to shade us from the glaring rays of the sun when necessary. Shrubs and herbs grew in groups, contributing to the sweet smell of the area. Vines crept and crawled up and down, left and right, on the walls bordering a side of the Gardens or two (and, even a little slithered up the metallic poles of the gate). It just wouldn't be complete without these vines, which is why the Park staff has never actually rid of them, I believe.

I was dragged away from the infinite space of thoughts that was my mind - my mind that could really go far, far away from where I was physically present for it had no boundaries, nothing to barrier it from the endless horizon of thoughts that always seemed to enter my brain. I snapped back into reality. I really could be "physically present, but mentally absent" at certain points in time.... Which was almost always. I shook my head, emptying my mind and filling it with blankness and concentration on the Pokemon who had decided to show up.

No, it was not a Shroomish. But, maybe just maybe, it was something of worth. The small Pokemon, which was shaped like an egg, had come rolling her way towards us. She had a seemingly soft, smooth light-pink-colored Anthropomorphic body. A curly pigtail-like outgrowth, which looked quite like hair and had the same color and texture as her body, sprung out from the top of her head. Another, uh, feature I noticed was the three round bumps on the entity's forehead. A pouch, which very much resembled a diaper of sorts, surrounded the lower half of her body, covering it almost completely. Actually, on second thought, it seemed that it was the lower half of her body, with its red coloration and white stripe circling around her body, it made the perfect fit. The Playhouse Pokemon also carried a white, egg-shaped stone. This baby creature just happened to be a Happiny, something rather rare and worthy in most people's books.

"Want to battle that thing?" Leo asked me, as if voicing out my thoughts. I had just been asking myself the exact same question.

They weren't such bad organisms, in fact, they were a pretty good addition to anyone's team. Blissey had a load of health as well as a high special defense stat. To add to that, it had curing abilities and moves as well. While I honestly did come here to look for that Grass-type, I had told myself earlier that a little, for lack of better term, detour wouldn't (or, at least, it shouldn't) hurt my chances at finding a Shroomish.Therefore, I had decided that i would attempt to capture this wild Pokemon.

"Sure, why not?" I replied, my hand digging into my brown leather container.

Though I had heard of these specimens before, it couldn't hurt to get just a little bit of information about them. I retrieved my Ranger's Digital Assistant from my bag. Hey, even if I was acting as a trainer on this run, that did not mean I couldn't use my gadget for my convenience's sake. It quickly scanned the jolly-looking wild encounter, who seemed to be just a bit irritated by the tuff of hair sprouting out on top of her head. In its mechanical, but definitely more pleasant than the voices of regular Pokedexes, voice, the device squeaked up, "Happiny, the Playhouse Pokemon. It loves round, white things. It carries a round stone in its pouch that looks like an egg, and gives it to people that it likes. It may wander around others' feet and cause them to stumble."

"Interesting..." I mumbled, making a quick note to myself. I strapped the yellow gadget onto my wrist, and now it looked much like the Poketch's of the Sinnoh region. Who knows, perhaps the knowledge of its habits and the like could be of use later on during the battle. In fact, a rather sneaky and a bit tricky plan began to mold itself in my mind.

I took a quick glance at the screen of my RDA, looking at the Normal-type's height and weight, as well as its known moves - which just happened to be quite few. After all, you wouldn't expect a baby creature to know many attacks at this stage, would you? I had really come looking for a Mushroom Pokemon, so a quick and easy bout was just what I needed as of the moment. And, taking into account the scheme I had already partially formed in my mind, extending the amount of time required to finish up this battle would really not be the best thing to do; I did not need or want a tediously long clash. Besides, if Abby proved to be as happy and as friendly as she was known to be, befriending the wild entity just might be the way to go to start up the battle. A friendly fight of sorts, with tricks up our sleeves, would be the theme for this bout.

I turned my attention to my Ambipom after I had finally decided on how we were going to go into combat. We would not just battle her nor would we just befriend her. No. We were going to do both. "Okay, Abby, listen carefully. You may or may not like this idea, but here goes nothing." She grinned back up at me enthusiastically, and I felt a shimmer of hope run through me. I bent down to whisper the battle plot into her ear.

"Here's how we're going to play this game. You do what you do best and befriend the Happiny. Afterwards, challenge her to an oh-so-friendly battle," I began, silently praying that the Long Tail Pokemon would be able to remember all this and would be able to perform the commands perfectly. I decided to give her only a portion of my whole intentions. "We're going to use her annoyance of the curl of pink hair on her head to our advantage. And, we're going to use those hands on your tails to tickle her into laughter-ville. But first, set up a Substitute as a decoy and distraction. Once you've done that, try to sneak around her and tickle her to an extent."

The Normal-type nodded and stepped forward. I breathed in a huge gasp of air, hoping that this would all go well. For this round, I planned for Abby to befriend the Playhouse Pokemon. Once she had done that in her own way, she'd ask her newly-found friend to battle with her. To start off the clash, she would concentrate her energy into creating a fake copy of herself. A glowing bubble of power would surround her, then morph into a puppet or plush toy that looked exactly like the real deal. It would serve as a decoy and would take the hits for the real Ambipom. However, she'd have to pay twenty-five percent of her health to be able to create this. I wasn't worried about the consequence for I knew without a doubt in my mind that my partner could handle this even with the loss of hit points. Besides, if need be, I had a couple of potions with me, just waiting to be sprayed onto damaged entities.

After that, she'd move onto the tickling stage. As the substitute would be distracting the baby creature, Abby would stealthily sneak around the target. Then, without warning, she would quickly use her tails to tickle the other Normal-type. The move, simply called Tickle, was known to lower the physical power level of the target and would also cause it to let its guard down. If the target were to be caught off-guard, the assault could also potentially distract it so the attacker could land a very successful follow-up attack.

Hey, wait a second there. A follow-up attack? That's it!

I grinned, and called out to my Ambipom, "Abby, follow up with... with..." I thought to myself for a moment. I had a whole list of possible options just laying spread out in my mind. I figured a really strong attack could hurt the Happiny too badly, and even though I knew my Long Tail Pokemon wouldn't dare to go all-out on a friend, it still was a bit risky. Thunder Punch, Fire Punch, and Low Sweep were out of the question - for now, at least. That, practically, left me with only one other choice that would deal a reasonable amount of damage to the Normal-type. "Follow up with a Double Hit later on."

This move was Normal-typed, so it would receive the Same-Type-Attack-Bonus from my partner's typing. However, it would not be boosted by Technician, an ability of the creature, and, perhaps, fortunately so. We didn't want to end this battle too quickly, either. Abby would use her two tails... Hands, or whatever, to slap the baby Pokemon at least twice. Hopefully it would deal a sufficient amount of damage to get us a head start on the bout, but still not too much so as not to scare her away.

 

@MuddyMudkip

Ranger: Leo
Trainer: Mud the Kip
Location: The Botanical Gardens

-

Commencing...

"Sure, why not?" He replied, taking out his RDA and using it to get some information on Happiny. I found this helpful as I did this as well. It helped me in my previous expeditions when I battled all sorts of Pokemon. I used my old Pokedex though from my days as a trainer instead of using my RDA.

"Okay, Abby, listen carefully. You may or may not like this idea, but here goes nothing." Elisa said, then bending over to whisper something into her Ambipom's ear. I wasn't sure exactly what she told her Ambipom, but the small double-tailed Pokemon began talking to the Happiny.

"What is she saying Mindbender?" I asked my Psychic partner telepathically. She wasn't out of her Pokeball, but she could still hear and see things while inside of her Pokeball.

"She is trying to befriend the Happiny, then attack it." Mindbender reported.

"Ahh, sneaky bastard." I grinned.

"No, she is trying to befriend it, then asking it to battle." She said, correcting me.

"Hmm, strange tactic, but we'll see how this goes." I shrugged. Happiny appeared to agree with whatever Ambipom said to her and took a small battle stance. Happiny weren't usually fighters, but this one appeared to be.

Ambipom created some sort of bubble, I wasn't sure what that was as it wasn't anything I had seen before. When the bubble cleared, I saw two Ambipom's standing in front of me. Happiny was surprised as well. I hadn't seen Substitute used like this, but it certainly was interesting.

Both Ambipom's shot forward, one of them going behind Happiny and begininng to tickle her. She just kept laughing and laughing. When Ambipom finally stopped tickling her, she smacked the egg carrying Pokemon twice hard. Happiny then threw up on the ground. I guessed it was because she had laughed so hard and probably ate before this because I could see some Oran Berry in the vomit, it was pretty gross.

Happiny then frowned and began to cry. Ambipom looked a little sad at the crying Happiny and offered to help it up. Happiny smiled and handed Ambipom a small egg as thanks. Ambipom took it and moved back. Then, I saw a sly grin on Happiny's face, and seconds later, the egg exploded sending Ambipom flying back. I saw the other Ambipom watching, it had to be the real one because the Ambipom that too the Egg Bomb damage didn't even flinch.

-

Spoiler

Battle Stats: Happiny 72% Att/Def-1 (Used Egg Bomb) vs Ambipom 75% Sub (Used Sub, Tickle, Double Hit)
Character Count: 16817/25ooo
Current Encounter: Happiny
Encounters Left: 14
Encountered: Happiny

Name: Elisa Fleming
Items: Pokedolls (5x), Parkballs (4x), [1 Package: Pokedoll; Poketoy; Fluffy Tail; Slowpoke Tail] (x3), Fragrances (3x), Super Potions (2x), Max Potions (2x), Max Revives (2x), Soothing Fragrance (1x), Superball (1x), Hyperball (1x), Blank Voice Disk (1x), Intermediate Bellow Disk [Durant] (1x), Supreme Park Ball (1x), Uncommon Voice Disk [Shroomish] (1x), PokePlayer (1x), Digital Camera (1x)

Pokemon Stats

Pokemon: Glaceon
Nickname: Icabella
Gender: Female
Ability: Ice Body
Nature: Calm
TM/HM/BM/SM/MT: TM Hidden Power [Psychic]|TM Ice Beam|HM Strength

Pokemon: Ambipom
Nickname: Abby
Gender: Female
Ability: Pickup
Nature: Jolly
TM/HM/BM/SM/MT: TM Substitute|TM Low Sweep|TM ThunderPunch|TM Fire Punch

First Time into the Park?: Nope
Other Info: Probably just gonna stay so I can get my Shroomish, and perhaps Durant. ​

 

"Ambi! Ambi!" Abby greeted the Happiny. Their conversation went on for a while, like how all new friends would start. It took a while - but, finally, the wild entity had accepted the challenge.

The Long Tail Pokemon retreated to our side of the battlefield, quickly gathering up energy as planned. She began to glow brightly, a bubble of power surrounding her. It grew bigger after a moment, then, afterwards, pushed out of the Ambipom. In front of her, it morphed into another - well, another her. I glanced at our opponent, detecting a surprised expression plastered on her face. I smiled - she had noticed it, good, I needed partners who were alert and aware when in battle. Hopefully, we would still be able to pull off our plan even if the Normal-type had seen the substitute.

Both Abby's darted forwards at the exact same time. Perfect! This could very well work out, after all. The decoy - or was it the real one? - began to tickle the baby creature. She could not help it, but laugh and laugh. Almost rolling on the grassy ground now, even. That was not all, however. Her attack and defense stat both went down - she was letting her guard down right this moment. It was going according to plan.

Taking this opportunity quickly, the other organism, using the hands on her tails, slapped the Playhouse Pokemon. Once... Twice... And that was it. I should not have expected more, though. After all, the attack was not called Double Slap for nothing. It really was just hitting the target twice - no more, no less. The tickling had stopped now, too. And, now, Happiny felt the pain. Her cheeks were flushed from making contact with the strong palms of the assaulter.

My eyes widened in surprise and shock. I had not expected her to cry. I mean, she did accept the challenge, did she not? This was all part of battling - making strategies, combos, hitting hard and quickly, dodging assaults, and enduring the pain. I quite fell sorry for the Normal-type. Poor baby thing... Had I gone overboard with it? No... Abby couldn't have. Her friendly, jolly nature should have stopped her from going all out, full force, on the enemy. I realized that only Ambipom was left with Happiny. Oh, how I wished it wasn't really truly Abby. For all we knew, these could be crocodile tears.

She managed to cheer the Playhouse Pokemon up after a few moments. In fact, it looked as though she even received a gift. I stopped myself from letting out a slightly worried gasp after seeing what exactly the present was. After all, I may be wrong and looking at things the incorrect way. Still, there was a chance that this egg-shaped object was an assault. You know, the attack - Egg Bomb.

Turns out, I was right. A few moments later, an explosion rattled the Gardens. The noise echoed throughout the area, much like a tremor shaking the ground. A puff of smoke and dust arose, hindering my vision for a moment or two. I glanced to my right, noticing the other Long Tail Pokemon hiding in the bushes. She smiled at me, and immediately, I knew that that was the genuine Abby.

"Abby! Are you alright?" I called out, playing along with the plan that the substitute was the real one. Once the dirt had a chance to settle, I could see that the assault had not done too much damage to the Ambipom.

I still was not sure whether or not those tears earlier were crocodile tears - they could have been. Or, they could have been genuine, and the Happiny had just figured out how to get her revenge. Either way, if there was one thing I learned from the situation earlier, it would be this: Never underestimate the creativity or slyness of any creature - baby or otherwise. We all have tricks up our sleeves nowadays, do we not?

I now took this moment to think to myself. As of the moment, the Playhouse Pokemon did not seem to have taken that much damage. Likewise, the decoy had not been destroyed by that one attack, so it was pretty even... For now, at least. I looked over my mental list of Abby's attacks once more. My options, to make use of the lowered Defense stat, would be Low Sweep, Thunder Punch, or Fie Punch. The first of the three options was a Fighting-typed move - one that would certainly deal a considerable amount of damage. The other two, punching moves, could drain the opponent's health a good bit, as well. And when combined, they could really pack a punch.

Yes - I decided that that was what I would do... But then, what would happen if it was too much for the baby entity to handle? I shrugged it off almost as fast as it came. After all, I figured the Long Tail Pokemon's personality would hold her back from inflicting too much damage. Perhaps, I would command them to attack with Low Sweep later on. On second thought, I could follow through with my other idea.... Was I thinking too far into the future? I presumed not. It's just like how you play chess - you have to think many steps or moves ahead.

"Great job, guys!" I shouted. "Let's try another combination of assaults. Thunder Punch and Fire Punch! We'll leave it at that, then we will decide on what to do." I zipped over to the wildlife that the real Ambipom had been hiding in since finishing the earlier attack combo. "Abby, you attack with Fire Punch. Your substitute will, meanwhile, attack with Thunder Punch. Opposite sides of the target. And don't overdo it. I believe in the both of you."

I jogged back to the other side of the make-shift battlefield. The decoy was already charging up for her part of the attack. Her fist on her tail began to glow a bright yellow aura. Electricity sparkled, surrounding it. As for Abby herself, she was powering up behind the bush. I noticed a faint glimmer of orange-ish-red - it meant that her tail was enveloped in fiery flames. The substitute dashed forward.

The plan was simple. Once the wild creature was occupied with the electric-typed assault, Abby would then emerge from her hiding place. And, doing as what her companion would have already done, she shall slam her burning-in-blazes fist into the other Normal-type. Upon contact, the target could quite possibly be induced with the status conditions, burn and paralysis. I would be happy even if she would only get hurt by one of the ailments. But, then again, our chances were rather low. However, it's not a crime to hope and dream. I crossed my fingers. Maybe it would work. I looked on ahead, hoping for the best, waiting to see what would happen. Within a few minutes, I would have decided which plan to go through with next. In fact, I could even choose to do both!

 

@MuddyMudkip OOC: Sorry, forgot about this so forcing myself to post now

Ranger: Leo
Trainer: Mud the Kip
Location: The Botanical Gardens

-

Commencing...

Elisa called out some more moves for her Ambipom and its clone to use. Fire Punch and Thunder Punch were both pretty strong moves to use here, epscially since Happiny's defenses were lowered and it was a baby Pokemon.

Ambipom went in fast, her twin following not more than two feet behind. The Ambipom on the right had her tail-like arms glowing red, the one on the left had her tails glowing yellow. The red color immediately caught on fire and was now burning the tail. Since it was controlled though, it didn't hurt the Ambipom. The yellow color glowing tail was now giving off sparks of electricity. The sparks flowed around her back area. Both Ambipom slammed their fists hard into Happiny. The small Playhouse Pokémon winced in pain, but jumped on one of the Ambipom, the one that got hit by Egg Bomb earlier and began pounding on her.

She then immediately switched into a Doubleslap technique, hitting Ambipom a good number of times. It was kind of funny seeing the small Pokémon slap around a Pokémon three times its size, but I held back my laughter and just watched. The Ambipom that Happiny was hitting finally had enough and just disappeared into the wind. With one Ambipom now gone, she could now focus on the other Ambipom, but in my mind, it was already too late. She had already lost a significant amount of health and was now pretty weak. Now would be a good time for Elisa to try and capture it, or at least hit it one more time and try capturing it. That would probably work.

-

Spoiler

Battle Stats: Happiny 35% Att/Def-1 (Used Pound, Doubleslap) vs Ambipom 75% (Used Thunder Punch, Fire Punch)
Character Count: 23375/25ooo
Current Encounter: Happiny
Encounters Left: 14
Encountered: Happiny

Name: Elisa Fleming
Items: Pokedolls (5x), Parkballs (4x), [1 Package: Pokedoll; Poketoy; Fluffy Tail; Slowpoke Tail] (x3), Fragrances (3x), Super Potions (2x), Max Potions (2x), Max Revives (2x), Soothing Fragrance (1x), Superball (1x), Hyperball (1x), Blank Voice Disk (1x), Intermediate Bellow Disk [Durant] (1x), Supreme Park Ball (1x), Uncommon Voice Disk [Shroomish] (1x), PokePlayer (1x), Digital Camera (1x)

Pokemon Stats

Pokemon: Glaceon
Nickname: Icabella
Gender: Female
Ability: Ice Body
Nature: Calm
TM/HM/BM/SM/MT: TM Hidden Power [Psychic]|TM Ice Beam|HM Strength

Pokemon: Ambipom
Nickname: Abby
Gender: Female
Ability: Pickup
Nature: Jolly
TM/HM/BM/SM/MT: TM Substitute|TM Low Sweep|TM ThunderPunch|TM Fire Punch

First Time into the Park?: Nope
Other Info: Probably just gonna stay so I can get my Shroomish, and perhaps Durant. ​

 

@Bumblebee

The plan worked perfectly. It really truly did. The attack combination dealt a significant amount of damage to the target Pokemon.

Both Ambipoms had shot froward - however, not at the exact same time. The decoy darted towards the Happiny first, her tail crackling with sparks of electricity. Abby had been following a few feet behind. The hand on her tail was, on the other hand, glowing a bright red-ish-orange color. It burst into kindling embers as she sprinted forward.

Once close enough, they both thrust their glimmering fists forward. Electric currents and fiery flames made contact withe the baby creature, sending impulses of pain through her body. Electrical energy surged in from the left (the entity's right side) and into her bloodstream, while burning heat scorched her on the other side of her small, pink body.

My eyes could see the Playhouse Pokemon wince in pain - her face contorted due to the damage inflicted. She wailed as electricity zapped her, but nevertheless, she pushed on. Her hands curled into small fists. She jumped on the substitute (luckily so), slamming her tiny yet seemingly powerful fists onto the Long Tail Pokemon. My partner backed away swiftly, just in case the opponent would suddenly decide to attack her as well. This was the job of the fake ones - protect the real organism from any kind of move (damaging ones or otherwise) until they no longer could.

Then, immediately after her pounding, she switched into a Double Slap assault. It was the almost exact same attack Abby had used in the earlier round of the battle, except this time the palms were much smaller. However, seeing her strength in the Pound attack, I was certain that this Normal-typed move would cause a considerable amount of damage - in my mind, there was barely any doubt about that. Double Slap was quite different from my Pokemon's Double Hit - the latter would only hit twice (no more no less), while the former could slap twice, thrice, four times, or five times.

I bit my lip, forcing the a series of giggles and chuckles back down my throat. It truly was quite an amusement to watch such a small wild Pokemon slap its enemy, a creature that was about three times its size. After hitting the decoy a good umber of times, the fake Ambipom vanished into thin air. I was not very much surprised, though. Substitutes only had so much power. I was definitely content with how this one had endured the attacks and how she had lasted this long in the fight.

"Strong," I commented out of the blue. Surely, this was one Pokemon you would want to have on your team. The left (right, from where I was standing) side of her body was slightly charred from the fire earlier, yet she wasn't burned or paralyzed.

I quickly assessed how the battle was going... Abby definitely had a larger percentage of her health left, compared to the young Happiny. About twice more, in fact. I presumed that the pink-colored creature had only about thirty to forty percent of her max health left. This was on the low side of things already, and was probably a good time to capture it... However, I knew that a last attack or two would be a good idea. It couldn't hurt her too much - just enough so she would be ripe for capture. After all, there was nothing to lose - since my Normal-typed companion could easily lower down the amount power she would use in the assault, she could not possibly kill her or lower her health down to zero.

Yes, another attack would be needed - just to be on the safe side of things, of course. This got me thinking once more, planning out how this would work. Low Sweep would most likely be much too strong for the weakened entity for it would be a very effective attack due to the typing. Another Thunder Punch or Fire Punch was a possible option... However, they were actually really strong attacks which could cause too much damage. Though, we might be able to inflict a status ailment this time... I went over my other options. There was Double Hit, Swift, Scratch, or Fury Swipes.

I finally decided on Swift. Happiny had higher Special Defense stats than Defense, and Abby had lower Special Attack than Attack stats. This, I figured, would work out just fine even if the Long Tail Pokemon would go all out. An attack wouldn't be all, though - I still had something up my sleeve, for I remembered what a friend of mine had told me before as well as the entry on my RDA from earlier. See, I told you that those pieces of information would come in handy later on.

***Flashback***
"Happiny, come back!" Adrian called after his Pokemon. It was no use though, for the young organism had already dashed off. The trainer darted off after her, with me in tow. We had been chatting, and suddenly, his friend had wandered off.

"She does this often," he told me as we went off in search for the Playhouse Pokemon.

I was surprised. "Really? Why?"

"Yeah. She looks for round, white things - like stones, for example. It's just her personality; all Happiny's have that nature."

"I see," I replied. Then, I remembered something, which caused me to ask, "But doesn't she already have something of that sort in her pouch?"

Adrian nodded, explaining, "Mhm... She loves finding more of them, though. We have a whole bunch of them back home." He dug down into his pocket, retrieving a beautiful stone that glittered under the sunlight. "We found - okay, she found this earlier this morning. She really has an eye for these types of things, like all of her species."

It didn't take long for us to find the Normal-type. After all, it didn't take long for her to find another one of those round objects.

"Happiny! Happiny!" she chirped joyfully, presenting the stone she had found.

With a small sigh, Adrian tucked the stone in the other pocket of his jeans. "I told you - you've got to stop running off like that. It's not like I don't want you to do what you love to do... Okay, actually I kinda don't... But, still, you've got to tell me when you want to find another one of these things."

I wasn't sure if the baby creature actually understood, but she nodded anyway. "Hey, how about a battle?" I suggested, my hand already clutching a red-and-white Pokeball.

"Sure. Happiny, standby for battle."

"Kindle, you're up!" I called out my Cyndaquil, throwing up the shining orb. It opened with a flash of white light, revealing the Fire Muse Pokemon.

"Alright, start off with a Flame Wheel!" I commanded. My Fire-type quickly curled into a ball, blazes covering her outer body.

"Pound!" Adrian ordered. However, instead of attacking the incoming rolling opponent, his Pokemon tampered with the curl on top of her head. "Oh no..." he muttered.

He looked up at me and said apologetically, "I'm afraid this isn't going to be much of a challenge. Happiny is just too irritated by that tuff of hair."
***End of Flashback***

I quickly glanced around the area. "Aha..." I exclaimed in a soft voice once I had found what I needed for my plan to work. I picked up a white rock. The surface was smooth, surprisingly, and was just the right size for the wild entity to hold.

"Abby," I called out to my Ambipom. This would require whispering into her ear once more, for I did not want the other Normal-type to figure out what was, or would be, happening.

"First, use Swift. Don't overdo it too much, but I won't restrict you to only a small amount of power," I told her slowly, wanting to make sure she understood everything. "When Happiny attacks you, fall backwards and pretend that it's super effective and caused a KO. See this stone?" I showed her the pretty rock I had found int he Gardens. "Get back up after a few moments, and give this to her as a sign of your "defeat". Move out of the way immediately so that I can throw the Parkball."

I figured that if the opponent would be pre-occupied with the oblong-shaped object, it might be easier to capture her. Take note, MIGHT... Oh well, I guessed it was worth a shot. I mean, what had we to lose? If you won't take risks, then... That's just not life... You've got to take risks at some point in time, after all.

I opened my brown messenger bag, rummaging through it until my palm wrapped around a spherical capture item. I brought it out, quickly hiding it behind my back to prevent the Playhouse Pokemon from noticing it. It was in the coloration of green and... Well, it was in different shades of green. It was what we called camo style - the trademark style of the National Park.

The Ambipom was already shooting out a barrage of yellow-colored stars... And this was only the beginning for the, hopefully, last round of the battle. I could only hope that Abby was a good actress, who could convince the Happiny that she had been knocked-out from whatever attack the Normal-type had planned to pull off.

I clutched the regular, normal Parkball tightly, preparing to throw it at any time depending on how this would go. This was it...

 

@MuddyMudkip OOC: Same excuse ;[

Ranger: Leo
Trainer: Mud the Kip
Location: The Botanical Gardens

-

Commencing...

Ambipom's Swift attack hit Happiny... swiftly. Her trainer though, appeared to be lost in thought. Probably a flashback, which I noticed that most trainers had nowadays. It was probably something in the food. Elisa held onto a Pokeball in her right hand, I was unsure which type, but I knew it would do the trick. Happiny was a baby Pokemon after all so it shouldn't be that difficult to capture.

She threw the Parkball at the Playhouse Pokemon. The sphere snapped open and a red light shot out and sucked Happiny in. The ball dropped to the ground and shook several times before coming to a complete rest. I walked over to it and picked it up.

"Well done, you captured it." I said to her. "When you are ready, we can leave. Rest up in the mean time."

-

Spoiler

Battle Stats: N/A
Ambipom 75% (Used )
Character Count: ooooo/oooo
Current Encounter: N/A
Encounters Left: 14
Encountered: Happiny
Captured: Happiny, F, Impish

Name: Elisa Fleming
Items: Pokedolls (5x), Parkballs (4x), [1 Package: Pokedoll; Poketoy; Fluffy Tail; Slowpoke Tail] (x3), Fragrances (3x), Super Potions (2x), Max Potions (2x), Max Revives (2x), Soothing Fragrance (1x), Superball (1x), Hyperball (1x), Blank Voice Disk (1x), Intermediate Bellow Disk [Durant] (1x), Supreme Park Ball (1x), Uncommon Voice Disk [Shroomish] (1x), PokePlayer (1x), Digital Camera (1x)

Pokemon Stats

Pokemon: Glaceon
Nickname: Icabella
Gender: Female
Ability: Ice Body
Nature: Calm
TM/HM/BM/SM/MT: TM Hidden Power [Psychic]|TM Ice Beam|HM Strength

Pokemon: Ambipom
Nickname: Abby
Gender: Female
Ability: Pickup
Nature: Jolly
TM/HM/BM/SM/MT: TM Substitute|TM Low Sweep|TM ThunderPunch|TM Fire Punch

First Time into the Park?: Nope
Other Info: Probably just gonna stay so I can get my Shroomish, and perhaps Durant. ​

 

The hands at the end of Abby's tails glowed brightly yellow. She swung them quickly, releasing a straight stream of multiple solid stars at the opponent. They glimmered a golden hue as they shot forward, ever-so-slightly swirling in a magnificent manner. The stars deflected away and disappeared upon contact with the Happiny. Each hit only dealt minor damage, but considering the quantity and rapid firing-rate of the stars, I was quite certain that the damage added up for a good, solid hit.

I held onto the Parkball tightly... So firmly that I thought I might possibly break the orb container. I struggled to keep myself from being too nervous. There wasn't too much to be worried about - after all, the Playhouse Pokemon was just a baby entity. Yet, I still couldn't help feeling worried.

She crashed down to the ground in pain. She hadn't much of her energy or health left. Perfect timing, I figured. She couldn't possibly deliver an attack now at this rate. I shrugged - less things for me to worry about.

I swung my arm back slightly, then tossed the camo-designed sphere towards the wild creature. My wrist flexed forward, pushing it off with some help from my fingers, giving it more speed. My eyes were trained on the ball until it tapped on the Normal-type's small pink body. It popped open, a beam of red light sucking her in to its confinements. She was gone in a flash as she morphed into the eccentric ray.

The item snapped close a split-second later, then landed on the grass with a thud. I watched silently - my face not giving away any emotion; it was neutral. The Parkball wriggled and turned. It shook and tumbled, as though the Happiny was using the last bit of her strength to try and break out of the orb. In a moment, the sphere had come to a complete rest.

An emotion of joy and relief surged through me, sending a tingle of happiness through my spine. I grinned - my first encounter in this Park run, and it had been a successful capture on the first try. Now, to focus on Shroomish, I told myself.

"Well done, you captured it." I said to her. "When you are ready, we can leave. Rest up in the mean time."

"Alright," I replied with a nod of my thanks. I turned to my Ambipom, praising her for a job well done. "You were great out there, Abby! Awesome job - I knew I could trust you!" She responded with a smile and a cheerful, "Ambi!"

"Do you need to get healed up?" When she shook her head, I brought out her Pokeball. "Okay then. Take a good, long rest - you deserve it." The ball opened, a similar stream of red light bringing her back to her housing. I shrunk the red-and-white orb to its smaller size, as keeping it in its expanded size was a waste of space.

"I'm ready," I announced, retrieving the PokePlayer and preparing to hit the PLAY button. I let Leo lead me a bit farther into the Botanic Gardens. I made sure that the voice disk was in its place, then pressed the button.

The Mushroom Pokemon's voice rang out, echoing around the area. Oh, how I hoped it would work this time. It hadn't worked the first time; if it didn't work this time either, I would be left with three more tries. As I waited for the Grass-tpye to appear, I was fortunate enough that the Friday song hadn't bothered me during my battle with the Playhouse Pokemon. I could only hope that my luck would hold out.

It's Friday, Friday
Gotta get down on Friday
Everybody's lookin' forward to the weekend, weekend
Friday, Friday
Gettin' down on Friday
Everybody's lookin' forward to the weekend

I spoke too soon. Much too soon. I felt my hand clench into a fist as I kept down a growl of annoyance. I took in a long, deep breath, calming myself down...

 

@MuddyMudkip OOC: Sorry, I've been sick. Still am, but I can't keep you waiting forever.

Ranger: Leo
Trainer: Mud the Kip
Location: The Botanical Gardens

-

Commencing...

"I'm ready," She announced. She had decided to let her Ambipom rest. It was a pretty good idea seeing how it just battled. It didn't take a lot of damage, but it was ideal to let a Pokemon rest after any battle. Now that she was ready though, we could leave.

As we walked down the dirt path, I saw many Flying type Pokemon like Pidgey fly past us. None were stopping to battle us, which was good for my trainer because I doubted she wanted any of those common Flying types.

I had spoken too soon though. A small Starly was flying away when it looked back and saw us. It then changed course and headed towards us. It landed a few feet in front of us and chirped loudly. I had to admit it was a little cute, but they were so common, it was annoying.

"Want to battle this Starly?" I asked my trainer.

-

Spoiler

Battle Stats: Starly
Character Count: ooooo/oooo will edit in if you decide to battle it
Current Encounter: N/A
Encounters Left: 14
Encountered: Happiny
Captured: Happiny, F, Impish

Name: Elisa Fleming
Items: Pokedolls (5x), Parkballs (4x), [1 Package: Pokedoll; Poketoy; Fluffy Tail; Slowpoke Tail] (x3), Fragrances (3x), Super Potions (2x), Max Potions (2x), Max Revives (2x), Soothing Fragrance (1x), Superball (1x), Hyperball (1x), Blank Voice Disk (1x), Intermediate Bellow Disk [Durant] (1x), Supreme Park Ball (1x), Uncommon Voice Disk [Shroomish] (1x), PokePlayer (1x), Digital Camera (1x)

Pokemon Stats

Pokemon: Glaceon
Nickname: Icabella
Gender: Female
Ability: Ice Body
Nature: Calm
TM/HM/BM/SM/MT: TM Hidden Power [Psychic]|TM Ice Beam|HM Strength

Pokemon: Ambipom
Nickname: Abby
Gender: Female
Health: 75%
Ability: Pickup
Nature: Jolly
TM/HM/BM/SM/MT: TM Substitute|TM Low Sweep|TM ThunderPunch|TM Fire Punch

First Time into the Park?: Nope
Other Info: Probably just gonna stay so I can get my Shroomish, and perhaps Durant. ​

 

OOC: so... this took a while... :x also, it barely went past 2500 characters. I need to brush up on my RPing, lol

As we continued to walk down the trail, I couldn't help but lift my eyes up to gaze at the clear, blue sky. Overhead, the Flying-type inhabitants of the Botanic Gardens breezed past us. Some of them were going at a rather swift pace - whether it was with their own strength or with the help of the cool gusts of wind, I wasn't really sure. I was trotting at a careful pace, being mindful to glance back down every now and then to make sure I was still going in the correct direction. After all, i didn't want to trip and fall. No. That would be way to embarrassing.

I was glad that these specimens weren't pausing to bother us. I really didn't need an encounter with them. Pidgeys, Taillows, Starlys, Spearows, Pidoves, and all those other common bird Pokemon... I was already content with my Staraptor, Nia, back at home. Besides, if I suddenly happened to need any of the aforementioned species, I could easily get them from the PokeMart or something.

I watched yet another Starly fly by, reminding me of my Pokemon... I let out a sigh - if only I could bring all of my partners with me to the Park, I would. I didn't have the money to do so, though - that's why I had only brought in two of them, Icabella the Glaceon and Abby the Ambipom.

This wild Starling Pokemon turned around and made its way back to us. For whatever reason, I have no idea. The small, brownish-gray colored bird chirped at me, as if it wanted to battle. It flapped its black-and-gray wings at me, beckoning me. Starlys were so common, it could get rather annoying at times.

"Want to battle this Starly?" Leo asked, though I could sense that he already knew the answer. I knew why he still asked - it was Park policy, after all. Even I, myself, did that when i took trainers through the Park.

I shook my head vigorously. "No." I confirmed my actions, watching its black eyes and beady white pupils gaze at me intently.

Looking at my fellow ranger, I told him, "Let's try to run. If that doesn't work, I guess I'll have to use one of my Pokedolls." My hand reached down to my bag, grabbing a pink doll. I retrieved one of the five Pokedolls I had brought with me, clutching it tightly. I didn't want to use it (or waste it) if we could escape without trouble or need to use the toy. Even though I had brought loads of escape items with me, I still didn't want any single one of them to go to waste.

I turned on my heel, commencing the plan of running away. What were the chances that we would be able to sneak away successfully? I knew they weren't exactly that large, but I believed it was still very much possible. I swallowed a gulp, getting ready to toss the Clefable-resembling doll if I utterly had to. I risked a glance back to check if the small entity had decided to follow us...

 

NBP1

Ranger Makina Auran

*~~~~~~~~~*

“Come on, just one more hit point...”

The main Ranger outpost, in one of its rare moments, was fairly empty. The majority of the staff was currently either off on assignment or busy handling paperwork, due to the sudden surge of Trainers that had recently entered the park. While Makina had her own stack of papers to fill out, she had already filled out the bare minimum and mailed off the rest. While some frowned on her method of using a freelance to handle her paperwork, few could hardly argue that the method had its uses- one of them being more free time.

It was due to said free time that Makina was currently battling the forces of evil (at least in her mind) using a small handheld game system. The Ranger leaned back in her office chair, holding the device upward as she chose the next commands her character would use carefully. “This is no good. If this guy counters I'll be wiped, but he's so close to death as well,” she mumbled to herself.

It was in this opportune moment that one of the head secretaries decided to walk in to her office. Seeing that the only Ranger in sight was obviously goofing off, the young woman let out an irritated sigh. “Much as I hate to interrupt this shining example of workforce ethic, I have a Run that needs to be taken over right away,” she called out.

Having not heard the secretary walk in, Makina nearly fell out of her chair in shock. Silently bemoaning the fact that she would have to start the battle over at a later date, she pocketed the handheld and stood up. It took a moment to register just who this secretary was; names never were Makina's strong suit. Something that started with an S... Sully, Sumia? No, that was just memories from her game. Shaking her head to full herself back to reality, she finally responded, “Who is it for? I thought all Runs had been taken care of for now.”

“It's for Elesa, actually,” the secretary replied. “You may not have met her, as she was mostly in and out of the office when you joined. Either way, she's in the Gardens and the Ranger leading her along had to leave for an emergency. I'll send the information to your PDA now.”

Some time later...

After making it past the front gate to the Gardens, Makina took a beeline along the main path. According to the date that had been streamed to her, Elesa had already captured a Pokemon. It had been a while ago though, and she was likely to be far from the entrance by now. Fortunately, luck appeared to be on her side; a lone Starly was currently roosting on the path, peering up curiously at a woman that fit Elesa's description. As Makina ran forward, the small bird gave a chirp of farewell and flew off.

“Hope I didn't interrupt anything,” Makina said, watching the Starly's flight. While she doubted Elesa wanted a Starly- they were extremely common after all- it was hard to tell with some people sometimes. “I'm Makina, and I'll be your Ranger for today.”

Once all introductions have been made, a nearby bush rustled as a small Pokemon shuffled forward. While the creature's leafy body had been expertly hidden in the brush, it stood out quite well on the dirt trail. It eyed the skies fearfully, as if expecting something to swoop down.

“Not a bad way to get back on track. Did you want a Petilil?” the Ranger asked.

*~~~~~~~~~*

Trainer Stats:

Name: Elesa, @MuddyMudkip;

Location: Botanical Gardens

Area Effects: Sun is shining, a light breeze is blowing... it's a nice day

12 Encounters remaining

Pokemon Encountered: Happiny, Starly, Petilil,

Pokemon Captured: Impish F Happiny

CC since last Encounter: 0

Pokemon Statistics:

Pokemon: Icabella (Glaceon) (100%)

Gender: Female

Ability: Ice Body

Nature: Calm

TM/HM/EM: TM Hidden Power [Psychic]|TM Ice Beam|HM Strength

Pokemon: Abby (Ambipom) (75%)

Gender: Female

Ability: Pickup

Nature: Jolly

TM/HM/EM: TM Substitute|TM Low Sweep|TM ThunderPunch|TM Fire Punch

Total Items:

Pokedolls (5x), Parkballs (4x), [1 Package: Pokedoll; Poketoy; Fluffy Tail; Slowpoke Tail] (x3), Fragrances (3x), Super Potions (2x), Max Potions (2x), Max Revives (2x), Soothing Fragrance (1x), Superball (1x), Hyperball (1x), Blank Voice Disk (1x), Intermediate Bellow Disk [Durant] (1x), Supreme Park Ball (1x), Uncommon Voice Disk [Shroomish] (1x), PokePlayer (1x), Digital Camera (1x)

*~~~~~~~~~*

 

@Akinai;


I was staring the Starly down, eye to eye. It hadn't moved since I had started walking away, but now that I had looked over my shoulder to check on it, its beady little eyes gazed up at me. It didn't seem to want to battle, nor did it seem to want to run away. Well, this was just great - I was having a staring match with a wild bird. For what reason, I wasn't entirely sure either. Perhaps I was just hoping that my intense gaze would intimidate it, would scare it off.

Time ticked away, and we were still locked in a death glare. Seconds passed, turning into minutes. Did we reach hours? I didn't even know anymore. My alertness to my surroundings slipped away from me...

Which was why I nearly skyrocketed my way to the clouds when my ears picked up the sound of thudding feet approaching me. I turned bewildered, to see an unfamiliar face. She was dressed in ranger uniform, but my mind couldn't seem to register a name. I could see her lips moving, forming words, but nothing registered in my brain. I shook my head to clear my mind and actually listen to what she was saying.

"I'm Makina, and I'll be your ranger for today," she said, introducing herself. I managed to nod, my brain still having some problems with snapping back into reality.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Elisa, though you probably already knew that." I grinned sheepishly.

Makina alerted me to some movement in one of the bushes near us. And that was also the moment when I noticed that the Starly from earlier was nowhere to be seen - it had probably flown off, startled by the ranger's entrance. I gave a small cry of relief inside, thankful that I wouldn't have to deal with it.

I turned my attention to the new wild entity - it was a species I knew very well for I used to have one of those before. It was primarily light green in color, a great contrast to the brown path we were on. It had plant-like features, but it more specifically resembled a bulb with its head being round in shape, which was the reason for it being dubbed as the "Bulb Pokemon." Three oblong leaves sat atop its head, and its white face had brown oblong eyes but seemed to be lacking a nose and mouth. A green bib of sorts was present on its neck.

"Not a bad way to get back on track," Makina said. "Did you want a Petilil?"

I shook my head in reply. "No thanks - I've already got a Lilligant of my own back home." I explained, while fondly remembering Ella, now evolved and fully grown whom I had gotten from this exact zone of the National Park some time ago.

Pulling out a small pink toy, I spoke up again, "I have this Pokedoll in case we don't get to escape." I gasped the doll firmly, getting ready to toss it to the Grass-type in case it decided to attack or chase after us.

Assuming we were to get away safely, I would try my luck again with the PokePlayer and so I brouhgt it out once more. I had a couple more tries left with the Shroomish Voice Disk before it would be deemed out of recordings or broken, in which case I would have to get it re-recorded back at the Park Shop or at the Ranger Headquarters - of course, I could choose another Pokemon's cry to have recorded onto my disk. In my other hand, I balanced the player, getting ready to hit play once/if we were able to escape.

 

NBP2

Ranger Makina Auran

OOC: I didn't see that you had used a Disc after trying to run from Starly, so didn't do a roll for the last post. You have two tries remaining instead of one ^^

*~~~~~~~~~*

Elisa didn't appear to be too interested in the Petilil, shaking her head almost immediately in response. “No thanks, I've already got a Lilligant of my own back home,” she said. The other Ranger then pulled out a small plush toy from her pack. “I have this in case we don't get to escape.”

Makina gave a small nod of understanding. While some Trainers had no problem capturing more than one of the same species of Pokemon, it was more often than not a chore to do so. Ideal trade item or not, being allowed to take only three Pokemon out meant that important choices had to be made. “Fair enough. Shall we move on?”

Unfortunately, whatever timidness the Grass-type had shown earlier had vanished entirely. Seeing that it was being ignored, the Petilil let out a squeak of disagreement and darted to block them. Seeing that its small green form was hardly a roadblock, the wild Pokemon decided to take a seat on Elisa's left foot.

“I'll take that as a no,” Makina said, unable to hide a grin. It was very possible for them to merely shake the Petilil off and walk away, but it would likely retaliate with more drastic measures. The last thing anyone wanted was to get hit with a possible attack, so she nodded to Elisa to go ahead and drop down the Pokedoll. As soon as the Clefable plush hit the ground, Petilil immediately moved towards the new toy. With that out of the way, the group was finally able to move forward.

Seeing that the coast was clear, Elisa had pulled out a small device. After taking a look and hitting a button, the distinct cries of a Shroomish began to echo around them. The cries must have gone unheard though, for no Shroomish came running out to greet them.

Along the main dirt path, a large patch of flowers had been planted in the rich soil. Thriving thanks to the warm climate and ideal growing conditions, they skirted the side of the trail and came in a rainbow of different colors. As they walked beside it, two flowers suddenly moved downwards. With its hands out of the way, the tiny thorny face of a Roselia was visible.

“It's no Shroomish, but did you want a Roselia?” Makina asked Elisa.

*~~~~~~~~~*

Trainer Stats:

Name: Elisa, @MuddyMudkip;

Location: Botanical Gardens

Area Effects: Sun is shining, a light breeze is blowing... it's a nice day

11 Encounters remaining

Pokemon Encountered: Happiny, Starly, Petilil, Roselia

Pokemon Captured: Impish F Happiny

CC since last Encounter: 0

Pokemon Statistics:

Pokemon: Icabella (Glaceon) (100%)

Gender: Female

Ability: Ice Body

Nature: Calm

TM/HM/EM: TM Hidden Power [Psychic]|TM Ice Beam|HM Strength

Pokemon: Abby (Ambipom) (75%)

Gender: Female

Ability: Pickup

Nature: Jolly

TM/HM/EM: TM Substitute|TM Low Sweep|TM ThunderPunch|TM Fire Punch

Total Items:

Pokedolls (4x), Parkballs (4x), [1 Package: Pokedoll; Poketoy; Fluffy Tail; Slowpoke Tail] (x3), Fragrances (3x), Super Potions (2x), Max Potions (2x), Max Revives (2x), Soothing Fragrance (1x), Superball (1x), Hyperball (1x), Blank Voice Disk (1x), Intermediate Bellow Disk [Durant] (1x), Supreme Park Ball (1x), Uncommon Voice Disk [Shroomish] (1x, 2 uses left.), PokePlayer (1x), Digital Camera (1x)

*~~~~~~~~~*

 

@Akinai;

OOC: KK ^_^

"Fair enough," Makina said with a nod. However, as we were on our way to running away from the Petilil, it seemed that courageousness had overcome it, giving it the confidence to call out in disagreement and to sit on my foot. Well that was certainly something that surprised me - I never thought to expect something as, should I say, cute as a little Grass-type taking a seat on my shoe.

"Hey, don't get too comfortable down there!" I laughed while gently tossing it the Pokedoll, appreciating the Bulb Pokemon's dauntlessness. I smiled as I watched the little guy catch the plush toy and skip away, already having fun with its new-found friend.

Allowing my eyes to scan the area, I hit the play button on my PokePlayer. It emitted a pre-recorded sound - the unique cries of a certain Mushroom Pokemon. I turned around in full circle, slowly, hoping to finally lay my eyes on a Shroomish. With its cries still ringing in my ears, it seemed as though it didn't reach the ears of any wild Mushroom. I sighed in disappointment; it had failed, just like the previous tries.

I looked around once again, and this time a Pokemon did enter my line of vision. Well-hidden among beautiful multi-colored flowers, I had almost mistaken the entity for just another rose. But then it moved, allowing me to see the delicate face of a Roselia. It was primarily green in color, excluding the red and blue roses in its hands. Leaves extended from its shoulders, while a pointed yellow streak stretched from its neck all the way until the front of its "leaf skirt." Three thorns also adorned the top of this creature's head, garnering it the species name of the "Thorn Pokemon."

“It's no Shroomish, but did you want a Roselia?” Makina inquired.

I stopped and pondered about this for a short while. I personally wanted a Roserade, but Budew were rather common Pokemon that I could easily get from the local PokeMart - even though they did cost some, but not as much as creatures like Beldum or Larvitar anyway. Besides, I preferred training partners who were young and unevolved - in my opinion, it created a stronger bond between trainer and Pokemon, as well as built a firm foundation for the entity before it evolved.

"I'll pass on this one, as well," I replied, voicing out my thoughts to the fellow ranger. With one hand (as the other was holding the PokePlayer), I dug into my bag once again, retrieving another Pokedoll. "As before, I have this in case it doesn't let us escape." I hoped it would, though - I'd rather save up my escape items. After all, who knew what strong, defiant Pokemon I might encounter in the future? And who knew if Pokemon of those nature would let a trainer escape so easily?

I noticed I was still grasping the PokePlayer in my other hand, and prepared to hit the play button once again. I could only hope it would work this time.

 

NBP3

Ranger Makina Auran

*~~~~~~~~~*

Elisa looked over at the Roselia, looking as if she was caught in her own thoughts. After a few moments, she finally declined the offer. “I'll pass on this one as well.”

Fortunately for both involved, it seemed as if Roselia was hardly interested in a battle anyways; as soon as Elisa had stopped examining it, the Grass-type lifted its rosy hands once more and was nearly hidden from sight. It was likely taking advantage of the bright sun shining in the area, using the rays to store energy for a later date. Either way, it was time to move on.

Seeing that Roselia would not present any trouble, Elisa began to play her Shroomish recording once more. While the same shrill cries echoed just as loudly from before, there was no response. Either the locals were recognizing the Player for what it was, or there were no Shroomish to be found within its range.

The main path, surprisingly enough, was nearly deserted. Save for the Roselia that had passed, no more Pokemon had shown themselves nor were there any signs of any hiding about. As they walked on, it was almost as if the entire area was either empty or trying their best to keep out of sight.

“We could try a side path,” Makina suggested. “I don't know this area extremely well, but if memory serves there's a small trail up ahead. It's pretty overgrown though, so it would be mainly guesswork to decide where to go after.”

A short, loud bark from directly behind them caused both women to jump in surprise. Turning around to face whatever had caused the sound, a young canine creature looked up at them. Looking more than a little pleased that it had finally got their attention, the puppylike Pokemon gave a small yip and circled the group.

“Or the Lillipup could have scared them off,” Makina said, watching the Pokemon continue to run around them. “The little guy is full of energy, that's for sure.”

*~~~~~~~~~*

Trainer Stats:

Name: Elisa, @MuddyMudkip;

Location: Botanical Gardens

Area Effects: Sun is shining, a light breeze is blowing... it's a nice day.

10 Encounters remaining

Pokemon Encountered: Happiny, Starly, Petilil, Roselia, Lillipup

Pokemon Captured: Impish F Happiny

CC since last Encounter: 0

Pokemon Statistics:

Pokemon: Icabella (Glaceon) (100%)

Gender: Female

Ability: Ice Body

Nature: Calm

TM/HM/EM: TM Hidden Power [Psychic]|TM Ice Beam|HM Strength

Pokemon: Abby (Ambipom) (75%)

Gender: Female

Ability: Pickup

Nature: Jolly

TM/HM/EM: TM Substitute|TM Low Sweep|TM ThunderPunch|TM Fire Punch

Total Items:

Pokedolls (4x), Parkballs (4x), [1 Package: Pokedoll; Poketoy; Fluffy Tail; Slowpoke Tail] (x3), Fragrances (3x), Super Potions (2x), Max Potions (2x), Max Revives (2x), Soothing Fragrance (1x), Superball (1x), Hyperball (1x), Blank Voice Disk (1x), Intermediate Bellow Disk [Durant] (1x), Supreme Park Ball (1x), Uncommon Voice Disk [Shroomish] (1x, 1 use left.), PokePlayer (1x), Digital Camera (1x)

*~~~~~~~~~*

 

@Akinai;

To my dismay, the pre-recorded cries of a Shroomish did not attract any of the actual thing. I couldn't help but frown at my misfortune - this proved to be a lot harder than I thought, trying to find a Shroomish, I mean.

Deep in thought and still very much frustrated with no one in particular, I didn't quite catch what Makina had said. Finding it a it too embarrassing to ask her to repeat herself, I managed to nod instead, hoping that what she had said hadn't needed any response more than that.

She took the lead, guiding me down a side path veering off from the main dirt trail. I wasn't too familiar with this part of the Botanic Gardens despite being a ranger myself, as I usually led the trainers around using the main path or around and inside the Greenhouses.

Before we could make much progress with hiking down the side route, a loud, sharp bark from behind caused both of us to jump and spin around in surprise. The cry had apparently come from a cute little dog- or rather puppy-like creature that was mostly tan in color. Its face was covered by a large mass of cream-colored fur. Its eyes were huge, and so were its ears, each having a spiky extension on their lower portion.

"The little guy is full of energy, that's for sure," Makina said as the Puppy Pokemon ran around, circling us. Seeing as it had gotten our attention, the little creature gave a yelp of pure joy, hopping about on its legs - it was very much "aww" worthy!

My mouth broke out into a smile - the puppy seemed to have made my day just that much brighter, despite the fact that I still hadn't found what I was looking for. I crouched down to give it a scratch between the ears, saying, "Well, aren't you just the cutest little bugger?" I laughed, pondering if I should battle it.

Lillipup - well, it wasn't that bad a Pokemon, that's for certain. Stoutland, its second evolved form, was another matter, however. While Lillipup was beyond adorable and Herdier was still okay, Stoutland seemed to have totally lost its charm. I don't understand it either, how it could go from being so cute to, well, Stoutland. But, appearances aside, finance was actually my biggest dilemma - Lillipup were easily attainable in the PokeMart, so most would ignore encounters of the so-called "Mart Mon" when in the National Park, but what about when you were running low on cash? I personally wanted a good number of Pokemon that could be bought from the PokeMart, but I just didn't have the money to actually buy them. Still, I had a couple more encounters left, and hopefully, a better Pokemon would come our way - hopefully.

"Sorry, we won't be battling you today," I told the Normal-type before standing up and getting ready to move on. I dug into my bag once again to grab another Pokedoll.*

"As before," I told Makina, getting ready to give the Lillipup the plush toy if it decided to stick around.

I still held the PokePlayer in my other hand, ready to hit play for the final time once the Lillipup scampered off. My heart was full of aspiration and faith that a Mushroom Pokemon somewhere would hear the voice disk playing - one was free to dream, after all. Hopefully, it would not disappoint.

 

NBP4

Ranger Makina Auran

*~~~~~~~~~*

Elisa's mood seemed to brighten as she saw the Lillipup circle about, kneeling down to scratch one of the puppy's ears. “Well, aren't you the cutest little bugger?” Still, she didn't look eager to fight the playful Pokemon, for she almost immediately said after, “Sorry, we won't be battling you today.”

As Elisa began to stand up, Lillipup moved and closed his teeth on the young woman's sleeve, keeping her in place. Judging from the playful growls that were now coming from the Normal-type, it was not trying to be too aggressive- rather, it wanted them to stick around for a while longer.

Seeing the other woman's predicament, Makina took a couple steps over and pulled out a Pokedoll from Elisa's pack. The toy had been sticking out of the bag due to the Trainer trying to retrieve it in case this event had happened, but Lillipup keeping her in place had prevented any further action. With the plush now fallen tot he ground, the wild Pokemon happily pounced on it, allowing Elisa to finally stand up and move once more.

With Lillipup out of the way, Elisa tried once more to draw out a Shroomish using her Player. While the recording resounded loudly throughout the area, there was no movement to show that anything was attempting to check it out. This time around, the Disc cry began to wind down before stopping entirely.

“Looks like there are no Shroomish here either,” Makina remarked, trying to sound apologetic. Voice Discs were almost always a shoot in the dark due to the extremely large environment of each zone, and even unusable in one area due to the odd nature of the Ruins. Still, it was always a little sad to see a Trainer enter an area and walk out nearly empty handed. “Back to the main path?”

Before they could turn around and backtrack, there was a brief shimmer of light from behind a large fern. The light vanished as quickly as it had appeared, and moments later the leaves rustled and the small form of a Shroomish hopped forward. Something was off about this one though. Instead of the normal light brown and green coloration, this one was a bubble-gum pink hue. In addition, this one was deciding to hover a good inch or so from the ground.

“What in the world...” Makina trailed off, trying to figure out what what was going on. The only Pokemon that could Transform into other species were Ditto, but they lived in another area entirely. There was only one other creature who could use the technique-in fact, this unique Pokemon lived in this exact place. Finally realizing just what was going on, Akinai grinned down at the little prankster. “You might want to try staying on the ground next time you try to fool a Trainer. Changing your color may help in the long run as well.”

Scrunching up its face in a show of disappointment, the pseudo Shroomish shimmered before them before revealing itself to be a frail-looking feline Pokemon. The creature, still the same pink shade from before, possessed large blue eyes and a long tail that was longer than its entire body. Curious to get a closer look now that its disguise had been revealed, Mew floated about and hovered in front of Elisa.

*~~~~~~~~~*

Trainer Stats:

Name: Elisa, @MuddyMudkip;

Location: Botanical Gardens

Area Effects: Sun is shining, a light breeze is blowing... it's a nice day.

9 Encounters remaining

Pokemon Encountered: Happiny, Starly, Petilil, Roselia, Lillipup, Mew

Pokemon Captured: Impish F Happiny

CC since last Encounter: 0

Pokemon Statistics:

Pokemon: Icabella (Glaceon) (100%)

Gender: Female

Ability: Ice Body

Nature: Calm

TM/HM/EM: TM Hidden Power [Psychic]|TM Ice Beam|HM Strength

Pokemon: Abby (Ambipom) (75%)

Gender: Female

Ability: Pickup

Nature: Jolly

TM/HM/EM: TM Substitute|TM Low Sweep|TM ThunderPunch|TM Fire Punch

Total Items:

Pokedolls (3x), Parkballs (4x), [1 Package: Pokedoll; Poketoy; Fluffy Tail; Slowpoke Tail] (x3), Fragrances (3x), Super Potions (2x), Max Potions (2x), Max Revives (2x), Soothing Fragrance (1x), Superball (1x), Hyperball (1x), Blank Voice Disk (1x), Intermediate Bellow Disk [Durant] (1x), Supreme Park Ball (1x), Uncommon Voice Disk [Shroomish] (1x, 0 uses left.), PokePlayer (1x), Digital Camera (1x)

*~~~~~~~~~*

 

@Akinai;

I almost gave a yelp of surprise when the Puppy Pokemon's teeth found the sleeve of my shirt, clamping down on it hard. That was definitely something I did not expect, not at all. Makina, seeing the predicament I was in, was oh-so kind enough to retrieve the pink doll from my bag and gave it to the creature hanging onto my shirt.

I watched the Lillipup's eyes spark up with a new-found interest. He released his grip on my sleeve, letting his teeth sink into the plush toy. He scampered off elsewhere, the doll still clamped in his mouth. Looking at the victimized sleeve, I noticed a couple of marks left by the Normal-type's sharp fangs, but nothing too nasty, I suppose.

Holding the PokePlayer steady, I let the Mushroom Pokemon's shrill howls echo around us once more. This was my last try, I knew that, and I was even more determined to find one. I could only wish that a certain Shroomish would hear these cries. But, alas, as the disk came to a halt, no Mushroom Pokemon appeared. I bit my lip, keeping myself from pouting.

“Looks like there are no Shroomish here either,” Makina spoke up, with an apologetic tone. It wasn't her fault, of course - rangers couldn't control which creatures would appear and which didn't, after all. I manage a nod despite my rather gloomy state, and follow the ranger back towards the main path.

We didn't get that far, though, for in our peripheral line of vision, a bright glimmer of light sparked near a large fern. The glow dissipated quickly, and soon a Shroomish emerged, pushing its way through the leaves and hopping towards us. I almost jumped for joy when I noticed something very wrong with the creature. "Wait... What?" I uttered, raising an eyebrow at the oddly-colored entity. Its coloration was of a pinkish hue, instead of the usual light green. This was no Mushroom Pokemon - of that I was sure, even though I would have loved for it to have been one.

Makina, meanwhile, was grinning down at the fellow, as though she had everything figured out - and she probably did, come to think of it. “You might want to try staying on the ground next time you try to fool a Trainer. Changing your color may help in the long run as well," she told the creature, unable to keep the amusement out of her voice. I soon found out why.

The so-called Shroomish radiated another beam of white light, shifting and transforming into its true self. Upon revealing itself to us, I let out an inevitable gasp, taking a step back in surprise. Whoa, this journey was just full of twists and turns, huh? It retained its pink color, and could be said to look somewhat like a cat. Its hind legs were large, and so were its feet, which were in complete contrast to its miniscule arms that were connected to its three-fingered paws, which were also rather small in size. Subtle baby blue eyes made it somehow resemble a baby as well. It twitched its triangular ears as it hovered closer to us, circling us just as the earlier Lillipup had, except now the New Species Pokemon was, of course, floating in the air.

"Wow," was the only thing I could manage to mumble under my shaky breath. I had never been this close to a legendary Pokemon - never. Sure, I had seen some before, but they hadn't been this close to me - close enough to touch, even.

It was like a slap in the head, though. Suddenly, my mind finally snapped back into a reasonable thinking mode. What do you do when you encounter a legendary? Take a picture before it flees, of course! I mentally slapped myself for reacting so slowly. The only thing that was keeping the Mew from running - er, floating - away was the fact that it was a curious little thing and was still seizing us up and down.

I reached into my bag as subtly as possible - any sudden movements may frighten the creature, after all. Bringing out my camera, I repositioned myself to be able to take a shot of the entity. Hopefully, it wouldn't prove to cause me any trouble just to snap a picture.