Individual RP: Ataro

@Ataro;

NBP#6

Ranger Ivy Frost

---

Ataro came up to the ledge to stand by Ivy so he could look down the hill. He braced himself against a tree the same way too, not wanting to fall. He looked down at the Pokemon waiting for them and shook his head.

“Nah, I will pass it up. Let's try and ignore it. If not, I'm gonna have to use a Pokedoll,” he said.

He started reaching into his back for the escape aid, but then the Karrablast moved. It took one look at them, slid its eyes over to Haji, and then slunk away into the grasses without any fuss. Ivy just shrugged. Maybe it had felt threatened by the Espeon. That wouldn't have been the first time, since a lot of Pokemon could feel his energy. There was a lot of it.

Either way, it let them descend the hill without worrying about a Pokemon attacking them. “Careful here,” she said. “It's really easy to trip and break and ankle on these types of slopes.” She leaned backward a bit and tried to move slow to each tree as a stopping point, not letting herself build up too much speed so that her momentum would drag her down the hill food over head.

Finally they reached the bottom and carried on. As they got deeper into the woods, she started to recognize the scenery a little better, thanks to a recent incident. She rotated her wrists subconsciously as they came up to an elevated seemingly man-made dirt road sloping down into the forest even further. She stepped up on it, and the crunching dust made her remember running into poachers here as they were trying to kidnap some Dwebble. Sometimes her limbs still went numb from the stun guns they had used.

“Looks like no poachers today,” she said instead, smiling toward the Trainer. It wasn't good to get lost in thought.

She didn't see a Spinda, or any Pokemon really, and she was about to head down the dirt path for giggles when Haji's energy suddenly spiked against her mind. She was about to ask him what the matter was when she looked up the path, into the trees where the slope started.

The crunching of dirt gave the purple-colored Pokemon away. Ivy could only stare as a metal insect stood between the trees, looking in their direction. Its cannon hovered ominously above its head, although she didn't think it was going to offer violence. She had never seen this legendary Pokemon before.

“Genesect...” she whispered, partly in awe and partly in case Ataro hadn't noticed.

---

Current Battle Stats:

??? ??? Gensect: 100%

Area Effects: Spinda Disk: 2/5

---

Trainer Stats

Name: Ataro
Location: Woods
Encounters Remaining: 10
Area Effects: It's pleasantly warm.

Pokémon Encountered: Yanma, Surskit, Farfetch'd, Karrablast, Genesect
Pokémon Captured: Calm M Farfetch'd
MCR: 0 [N/A]

Items: Supreme Park Ball ; Status Bomb Bundle ; Calming Fragrance Plus ; Escape Package (Pokedoll + Poketoy + Fluffy Tail + Slowpoke Tail) ; Pokeplayer ; Borderline Voice Disk – Farfetch’d ; Borderline Voice Disk – Spinda ; Intermediate Voice Disk – Castform ; Intermediate Voice Disk – Zangoose ; Pokedoll x5 ; Park Ball x2 ; Super Ball x2 ; Hyper Ball x2 ; Digital Camera ; Apricorn Box

Pokémon Stats

Jolly M Ambipom
Ability: Technician
EMs: aerial ace, attract, brick break, captivate, curse, cut, defense curl, dig, double team, dream eater, dynamicpunch, endure, facade, fire punch, focus punch, giga impact, grass knot, headbutt, hidden power [ghost], hone claws, hyper beam, ice punch, iron tail, low sweep, mud-slap, payback, protect, rain dance, rest, retaliate, return, rock smash, secret power, shadow ball, shadow claw, shock wave, sleep talk, snatch, snore, solarbeam, strength, substitute, sunny day, swagger, taunt, thunder, thunderbolt, thunderpunch, thunder wave, toxic, u-turn, water pulse, work up, counter (bm), double edge (mt), fake out (bm), knock off (mt), low kick (mt), pursuit (bm), seed bomb (mt), switcheroo (bm)

Sassy F Ambipom @ 68%
Ability: Pick Up
EMs: aerial ace, attract, brick break, cut, detect, facade, fire punch, focus punch, hidden power [rock], ice punch, rest, return, rock smash, shadow ball, shadow claw, snatch, strength, substitute, taunt, thunder, thunderbolt, thunderpunch, thunder wave, u-turn, water pulse, work up, counter (bm), double-edge (mt), fake out (bm), low kick (mt), seed bomb (mt)

 

The Karrablast took one look at us and slid back into the grasses without much trouble caused. I put back the Pokedoll since I wasn't going to need it now, and I really didn't want to drop it or lose it. Those costed me money.

“Careful here,” Ivy said. “It's really easy to trip and break and ankle on these types of slopes.”

I couldn't help but raised an eyebrow. That certainly sounded dangerous. I noticed that Ivy had leaned backwards a little and was moving slowly from tree to tree, using those as her stopping points for balancing. It sort of worked like a checkpoint. I mimicked her movements and it was kind of funny. I was basically doing everything that she did. Meanwhile, my two Ambipom didn't seem to have as much trouble as us. They were busily hopping down the slopes using their tails.

Why did they seem to have such a great sense of balance? I frowned at that thought. I was certainly envious now.

Regardless, I took my way down even slower than Ivy had. If anything, she was much more skilled in traversing the slope, while I took my own sweet time for fear of falling. We finally got down ... I mean, I finally got down, and Ivy led me to explore deeper into the woods. I took a glance at my two Ambipom, since I realized that I was not paying them much attention. They seemed well though, we were bonded enough for them to not mind or be bothered even if I wasn't always paying attention to them. When I looked up, I realized that Ivy was rotating her wrists, or clenching them. I wasn't too sure. She was probably either flexing or thinking about some stuff, I guess.

“Looks like no poachers today,” Ivy said, and smiled at me.

I was a little confused. I have never seen poachers in the woods nor heard of them before. Could it be that Ivy had seen them before? I wondered what happened though. Poachers are known to be cold-blooded and they will stop at nothing to get what they want. The thought of it just makes me shudder.

“Genesect...” Ivy whispered now.

Very surprising. I looked in the direction of where Ivy and her Espeon's were gazing at, and there it was. This creature was the newest legendary Pokemon ever discovered and it was said that it was an outer-space Pokemon. Or more of an alien, I think. I can't really remember. It did give me the shudder too though, it looks kind of dangerous and violent.

"Well, time to document this Genesect down!" I said, and dug out my camera to take a quick snapshot of it. Hopefully, Spinda would appear soon.

@WinterVines

 

@Ataro;

NBP#7

Ranger Ivy Frost

---

Out of the corner of her eye, Ivy saw Ataro take out a camera. Like most Trainers, he seemed excited to get a picture of a legendary Pokemon. She didn't blame him—some people back at the office paid people to take pictures of rare wild Pokemon. He could probably get a good price for this one. It would help add to his Trainer funds, as she knew that could be an expensive venture.

The camera flashed, and she saw the metal bug blink. It didn't react violently at all. Instead, it simply turned and walked deeper into the forest. Ivy let out a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding. It didn't matter how many times she saw a legend; they still inspired awe in her. Even though it was from far away, unlike the Cobalion that had actually spoken to her in Oktori, Genesect was still impressive. As a Ranger, she felt a sort of kinship with them. They were both protectors of the other Pokemon.

She contined down the man-made slope for a while before she decided to veer off into the scenery again. She had no desire to revisit the place she had confronted the poachers. Ataro's voice disk sounded again, but nothing came out to greet them immediately. They probably weren't in range yet.

Eventually the sound of running water caught her attention, and she headed for it. The trees were big and leafy now, letting in gentle streams of sunlight. Soon they came to the small stream that wormed its way through the forest. It was narrow enough to cross here, where the vegetation had been pulled back for a small shoreline with a couple of trees on either side. It was only about three feet across, easy enough for a tall person's step or a little jump.

Soon through, she heard a very small noise somewhere close to her. If she hadn't been listening for a Spinda, she probably would've missed in entirely. She turned her head to the left to look at one of the trees near the bank. A small, yellow bug was looking at them, skittering up and down the bark. Even though it was bright in color, it was small enough that she would've missed it had she not heard it.

“Oh, here's a Joltik,” she told Ataro. “Looks like Spinda hasn't heard your disk yet, so do you wanna battle this one?”

---

Current Battle Stats:

??? ??? Joltik: 100%

Area Effects: Spinda Disk: 3/5

---

Trainer Stats

Name: Ataro
Location: Woods
Encounters Remaining: 9
Area Effects: It's pleasantly warm.

Pokémon Encountered: Yanma, Surskit, Farfetch'd, Karrablast, Genesect, Joltik
Pokémon Captured: Calm M Farfetch'd
MCR: 2,492/9,000 [Uncommon Rank]

Items: Supreme Park Ball ; Status Bomb Bundle ; Calming Fragrance Plus ; Escape Package (Pokedoll + Poketoy + Fluffy Tail + Slowpoke Tail) ; Pokeplayer ; Borderline Voice Disk – Farfetch’d ; Borderline Voice Disk – Spinda ; Intermediate Voice Disk – Castform ; Intermediate Voice Disk – Zangoose ; Pokedoll x5 ; Park Ball x2 ; Super Ball x2 ; Hyper Ball x2 ; Digital Camera ; Apricorn Box

Pokémon Stats

Jolly M Ambipom
Ability: Technician
EMs: aerial ace, attract, brick break, captivate, curse, cut, defense curl, dig, double team, dream eater, dynamicpunch, endure, facade, fire punch, focus punch, giga impact, grass knot, headbutt, hidden power [ghost], hone claws, hyper beam, ice punch, iron tail, low sweep, mud-slap, payback, protect, rain dance, rest, retaliate, return, rock smash, secret power, shadow ball, shadow claw, shock wave, sleep talk, snatch, snore, solarbeam, strength, substitute, sunny day, swagger, taunt, thunder, thunderbolt, thunderpunch, thunder wave, toxic, u-turn, water pulse, work up, counter (bm), double edge (mt), fake out (bm), knock off (mt), low kick (mt), pursuit (bm), seed bomb (mt), switcheroo (bm)

Sassy F Ambipom @ 68%
Ability: Pick Up
EMs: aerial ace, attract, brick break, cut, detect, facade, fire punch, focus punch, hidden power [rock], ice punch, rest, return, rock smash, shadow ball, shadow claw, snatch, strength, substitute, taunt, thunder, thunderbolt, thunderpunch, thunder wave, u-turn, water pulse, work up, counter (bm), double-edge (mt), fake out (bm), low kick (mt), seed bomb (mt)

 

The camera flashed, and the Genesect blinked briefly. Thankfully, the Genesect didn't react violently, but simply turned and walked deeper into the forest. I felt kind of bad now, for assuming that it was dangerous and violent. I couldn't help it though. As compared to several other legends in its class in other generations like Mewtwo and Deoxys, Genesect simply looked terrifying.

My voice disk continued to sound as we wandered around the woods, but nothing came in sight. After a while, she increased her pace and seemed to walked into a specific direction. There was a sound of running water, and that was probably where she was leading me towards. I was getting excited. Could it be a Spinda that is drinking water from some sort of spring or waterfall? Hopefully!

I didn't really focus much on my surroundings this time. I was basically zooming my sight to scan for any trace of water, to find my Spinda. When we finally reached a clearing, it was a river-like bank and I traced my eyes to the sound of a whimper. It was somewhere near one of the trees...

Oh. It was definitely not a Spinda. The Joltik was crawling back and forth, around and about the tree barks. This Pokemon was not particularly my favorite. It had resembled spiders, and I didn't really enjoy the company of spiders.

“Oh, here's a Joltik,” Ivy announced. “Looks like Spinda hasn't heard your disk yet, so do you wanna battle this one?”

"Definitely nope. Let's move on. Joltik creeps me out," I said.

@WinterVines

 

@Ataro;

NBP#8

Ranger Ivy Frost

---

Ataro shook his head almost immediately after she asked her question. “Definitely nope. Let's move on. Joltik creeps me out,” he said.

Ivy couldn't really blame him. Bug-types, and other insects in general, tended to freak people out. Joltik was a spider on top of that, which hit a nerve for many people. She was glad she wasn't one of them. This yellow bug was super small too, and she had read a couple fake horror stories about them enough to give her the chills. Still, she thought it was sort of cute.

The bug made a noise and then scampered up to the top of the tree, out of sight in the foliage. Ivy just shrugged and continued on. She had only witnessed one fight with the yellow spider, and it had been a real challenge for the Trainer because of the bug's size. It had ended up stringing an electric web through the trees, trapping the Trainer's Ninetales, putting her in a hard place if she didn't want to burn the forest down.

They continued on, and the trees became more jungle-like. The greens of the leaves were more diverse, and vines strung from the tops to hang down within reach. Branches arced over the path, and the canopy became thicker, giving the path spots of decorative shadows as they blocked the sun.

After a while, the hairs on the back of her neck began to prickle. She thought something was following them. She kept walking, however, since a lot of predators left you alone if you ignored them. They were looking for a reaction—preferably someone trying to run.

“Something watches,” Haji said against her mind, and she nodded.

“Where?” she asked the Espeon quietly as she stopped.

Haji's energy flickered through her, and she got a visual map in her mind, seeing through the purple cat's eyes. She looked up to her left, and just as he indicated, there was a Pokemon watching them. A feline form was perched up on an overhanging branch, peering down at them with ruby eyes. Its cream-colored coat was hidden in shadow, but Ivy could see its tail flicking back and forth. It was ready for mischief.

Ivy turned to look at Ataro. “There's a Persian up in that tree. Do you want to battle it or try and get past it? Cats are funny, so I'm not sure what it'll do.”


---

Current Battle Stats:

??? ??? Persian: 100%

Area Effects: Spinda Disk: 4/5

---

Trainer Stats

Name: Ataro
Location: Woods
Encounters Remaining: 8
Area Effects: It's pleasantly warm.

Pokémon Encountered: Yanma, Surskit, Farfetch'd, Karrablast, Genesect, Joltik, Persian
Pokémon Captured: Calm M Farfetch'd
MCR: 0/25,000 [Intermediate Rank]

Items: Supreme Park Ball ; Status Bomb Bundle ; Calming Fragrance Plus ; Escape Package (Pokedoll + Poketoy + Fluffy Tail + Slowpoke Tail) ; Pokeplayer ; Borderline Voice Disk – Farfetch’d ; Borderline Voice Disk – Spinda ; Intermediate Voice Disk – Castform ; Intermediate Voice Disk – Zangoose ; Pokedoll x5 ; Park Ball x2 ; Super Ball x2 ; Hyper Ball x2 ; Digital Camera ; Apricorn Box

Pokémon Stats

Jolly M Ambipom
Ability: Technician
EMs: aerial ace, attract, brick break, captivate, curse, cut, defense curl, dig, double team, dream eater, dynamicpunch, endure, facade, fire punch, focus punch, giga impact, grass knot, headbutt, hidden power [ghost], hone claws, hyper beam, ice punch, iron tail, low sweep, mud-slap, payback, protect, rain dance, rest, retaliate, return, rock smash, secret power, shadow ball, shadow claw, shock wave, sleep talk, snatch, snore, solarbeam, strength, substitute, sunny day, swagger, taunt, thunder, thunderbolt, thunderpunch, thunder wave, toxic, u-turn, water pulse, work up, counter (bm), double edge (mt), fake out (bm), knock off (mt), low kick (mt), pursuit (bm), seed bomb (mt), switcheroo (bm)

Sassy F Ambipom @ 68%
Ability: Pick Up
EMs: aerial ace, attract, brick break, cut, detect, facade, fire punch, focus punch, hidden power [rock], ice punch, rest, return, rock smash, shadow ball, shadow claw, snatch, strength, substitute, taunt, thunder, thunderbolt, thunderpunch, thunder wave, u-turn, water pulse, work up, counter (bm), double-edge (mt), fake out (bm), low kick (mt), seed bomb (mt)

 

The Joltik had climbed back onto a tree and soon disappeared out of sight. Luckily, it automatically went away. That meant that I was able to save up on a Pokedoll. As we progressed further, I noticed that the forest was becoming more of a jungle now. The trees were much taller in this area, plus the leaves and branches were much more stretched out now.

There were several vines hanging down from the trees as well. I suppose if it came down to a battle, either Ataro or Fataro could make use of the vines since they were pretty adept at climbing and balancing with their tails. It could give us a possible advantage in combat.

Ivy whispered to her Espeon as I was thinking about the possible ways to battle using our surroundings. I wasn't quite sure what she had said but she had looked over to an overhanging thick branch now. On it, was a Persian that was staring at us somewhat curiously. I was never a fan of Persisn that much, for I had preferred their pre-evolution - Meowth - so much more.

Ivy turned to look at me. “There's a Persian up in that tree. Do you want to battle it or try and get past it? Cats are funny, so I'm not sure what it'll do.”

"Cats are funny?" I asked, a little confused at that statement. "Oh and nah, no Persian for me."

I was prepared to use one of my Pokedoll against this Persian if need be. I had a sort of feeling that Persian wouldn't leave us alone that easily, but I sure hoped my feeling was wrong.

@WinterVines

 

@Ataro;

NBP#9

Ranger Ivy Frost

---

“Cats are funny?” he asked, unsure of what Ivy meant. “Oh, and nah, no Persian for me.”

“Funny as in there's no telling what they're up to. One minute they're calm, the next, they pounce,” she answered.

Before she could comment further, the cat moved. It did a lazy stretch, hunching its back like in the Halloween pictures of black ones. Then, it gave them a mischievous look and jumped to another tree, showing off its abilities. Thankfully, it kept going, eventually traveling far enough that it was out of sight.

“Looks like it didn't want to mess around today. That's probably a good thing,” she said as she led them on.

She heard Ataro's voice disk call out again, and she thought that that was probably the fifth and final round of it. Headquarters set it up that it only played five tracks per disk, in an attempt to be fair to the wild Pokemon and balance cost. There was no rules against playing multiple disks for the same species, Trainers just had to pay for it. It wasn't a bad system. At least now the disks didn't glitch and break after running through all the tracks.

She kept going through the forest, and eventually they came to another clearing of sorts—only she was pretty sure it hadn't started out as a clearing. Grass was stomped down everywhere, and trees were broken and cracked off at about knee length. Many of them were also in shattered pieces on the ground, like something had stepped all over the wood after it had fallen.

Ivy had a brief moment of panic as she imagined the work of poachers. Had they come back? If they did, she needed to call for backup ASAP. She had a Trainer with her, and his safety was her first priority. Poachers didn't mess around.

Right when she was reaching for her radio, a large exhale of breath turned her head to the right. In the darkness of the trees that were still standing, the shape of a Pokemon could be made out. It stepped a little into the light, and Ivy recognized it. The purple dinosaur lumbered a little closer on two massive hind legs, and his spiked tail swung ominously behind him. There were scars all over his body, like he had been born fighting.

“Uh oh, it's a Nidoking,” she said. “I guess I'm glad poachers didn't do this, but these guys can get just as violent, and this one doesn't look too happy to see us. You might be able to scare it away—unless you want to battle. What do you want to do, Ataro?”

A new discovery had recognized that Nidoking could get an additional ability to those already documented—Sheer Force. It prioritized power over technique, and in some cases, the Pokemon using it became brutal as well because it got into the forceful mood. Whatever Ataro decided, he would need to be careful.

---

Current Battle Stats:

??? ??? Nidoking: 100%

---

Trainer Stats

Name: Ataro
Location: Woods
Encounters Remaining: 7
Area Effects: It's pleasantly warm.

Pokémon Encountered: Yanma, Surskit, Farfetch'd, Karrablast, Genesect, Joltik, Persian, Nidoking
Pokémon Captured: Calm M Farfetch'd
MCR: 0/45,000 [Special Rank]

Items: Supreme Park Ball ; Status Bomb Bundle ; Calming Fragrance Plus ; Escape Package (Pokedoll + Poketoy + Fluffy Tail + Slowpoke Tail) ; Pokeplayer ; Borderline Voice Disk – Farfetch’d ; Borderline Voice Disk – Spinda ; Intermediate Voice Disk – Castform ; Intermediate Voice Disk – Zangoose ; Pokedoll x5 ; Park Ball x2 ; Super Ball x2 ; Hyper Ball x2 ; Digital Camera ; Apricorn Box

Picture Value: 2,500

Pokémon Stats

Jolly M Ambipom
Ability: Technician
EMs: aerial ace, attract, brick break, captivate, curse, cut, defense curl, dig, double team, dream eater, dynamicpunch, endure, facade, fire punch, focus punch, giga impact, grass knot, headbutt, hidden power [ghost], hone claws, hyper beam, ice punch, iron tail, low sweep, mud-slap, payback, protect, rain dance, rest, retaliate, return, rock smash, secret power, shadow ball, shadow claw, shock wave, sleep talk, snatch, snore, solarbeam, strength, substitute, sunny day, swagger, taunt, thunder, thunderbolt, thunderpunch, thunder wave, toxic, u-turn, water pulse, work up, counter (bm), double edge (mt), fake out (bm), knock off (mt), low kick (mt), pursuit (bm), seed bomb (mt), switcheroo (bm)

Sassy F Ambipom @ 68%
Ability: Pick Up
EMs: aerial ace, attract, brick break, cut, detect, facade, fire punch, focus punch, hidden power [rock], ice punch, rest, return, rock smash, shadow ball, shadow claw, snatch, strength, substitute, taunt, thunder, thunderbolt, thunderpunch, thunder wave, u-turn, water pulse, work up, counter (bm), double-edge (mt), fake out (bm), low kick (mt), seed bomb (mt)

 

“Funny as in there's no telling what they're up to. One minute they're calm, the next, they pounce,” she answered.

I thought about it for a while. She was probably right. Especially Pokemon like Persian. They tend to do it for some weird reason. The Persian stretched briefly before giving us some sort of grin, and hopped over to another tree easily. It seemed to me as if it as showing off its ability though.

“Looks like it didn't want to mess around today. That's probably a good thing,” she said as she led them on.

True that. It becomes especially enjoyable when you manage to capture the Pokemon that you want, and escape easily from the ones that you don't. It was not everyday that good luck like these occurred. Speaking of luck, there wasn't much luck for the second voice disk. We were already on the forth of fifth track of the disk, and that was really the maximum that one can use a voice disk per round. I could use another one, sure, but just not this same one. Spinda still wasn't appearing and chances were really slim now. I might have to come back another day just to catch Spinda, like what happened with Castform. That however, means that I have another opened slot for another Pokemon to fill in. Unless Zangoose doesn't appear later on as well, I'd have to capture two filler Pokemon then, just to make the best out of this round in the Park.

We had reached another clearing. This time, there were many broken trees and they had cracked off at about knee length. It certainly seemed like someone damaged these if you asked me. Ivy started panicking all of a sudden. I wasn't sure what was going on but I certainly didn't want to disturb her in times like these. She quickly reached for her radio but turned to the right after she had heard something. I followed suit, and realized that it was a large Poison-type Pokemon. Nidoking.

“Uh oh, it's a Nidoking,” Ivy said. “I guess I'm glad poachers didn't do this, but these guys can get just as violent, and this one doesn't look too happy to see us. You might be able to scare it away—unless you want to battle. What do you want to do, Ataro?”

Nidoking was definitely an interesting Pokemon. It was one of the few Pokemon out of the six-hundreds, that was among the first generation of discovered Pokemon. Not only that, it had also received a new ability in the form of Sheer Force, in the new generation. That severely pumped up its power. I wasn't really interested in capturing a Nidoking though. It would take too much work, when I could have just purchased a Nidoran in the PokeMart, or simply capture a Nidoran itself if I really wanted one. Pokemon like Nidoking were certainly dangerous though.

"Let's try and skip this one. Hopefully it will leave us alone," I said. No, actually... "Wait, let's take a picture of it instead. What better way to escape from the Pokemon by taking a picture of it? Genius!"

I quickly took out the camera and took a second snapshot, this time of Nidoking.

@WinterVines

 

@Ataro;

NBP#10

Ranger Ivy Frost

---

“Let's try and skip this one,” Ataro answered. “Hopefully it will leave us alone.” Ivy nodded and made to move away, but then the Trainer got another thought. “Wait,” he said. “Let's take a picture of it instead.”

She watched as he dug out his camera once again, keeping an eye on the Nidoking too. If it started rampaging, she and Haji might have to step in. While she didn't like disturbing the wild Pokemon, the safety of the Trainer she was guiding came first, and she would act if she had to. She was pretty sure her Espeon could handle this behemoth if need be.

The Trainer lined up the shot, and when he clicked the button, the flash lit up the clearing, bouncing light off of the trees and brightening up Nidoking's dark patch. She saw him blink slowly, and he came to a stop. The Poison-type shook his head briefly as if the flash had bothered him, and then he changed direction and lumbered back into the woods.

The Ranger let out a sigh. “I'm glad that worked,” she said. “You're likely to get a decent fee for it back at headquarters too, if you'd want to part with it. Let's keep going in case he wants to come back.”

They traveled on, and this time they came to a wooded patch where all the trees seemed to be uniform. They were all the same type and size, about the width of a basketball with tops that reached toward the sky. They all seemed to be a few feet apart in a grid-like pattern. It must've been one of the reforestation projects they had undergone with in the past to restore forest habitats.

She saw tiny flashes of light that would appear for a second and thought that it was the sunlight filtering through. However, she caught the brightness again off to her left, and it was nowhere near the canopy. It caused Ivy to stop.

“That's weird,” she said, right before a Pokemon came whooshing down from the trees.

“Ill!” it said as it stopped, tiny clear wings fluttering rapidly.

It had a small black and blue body with a purple bob on its head that looked an awful lot like a stylish haircut. She recognized the bug type as Illumise, another Pokemon that had recently been discovered with a new ability—Prankster. She had heard it was in high demand back on the mainland.

“Looks like your Spinda disk didn't work out, but are you interested in this Illumise? I hear they're getting popular. You'll still have the option of taking home three Pokemon even if you don't find exactly what you're looking for.”

---

Current Battle Stats:

??? ??? Illumise: 100%

---

Trainer Stats

Name: Ataro
Location: Woods
Encounters Remaining: 6
Area Effects: It's pleasantly warm.

Pokémon Encountered: Yanma, Surskit, Farfetch'd, Karrablast, Genesect, Joltik, Persian, Nidoking, Illumise
Pokémon Captured: Calm M Farfetch'd
MCR: 0/15,000 [Borderline Rank]

Items: Supreme Park Ball ; Status Bomb Bundle ; Calming Fragrance Plus ; Escape Package (Pokedoll + Poketoy + Fluffy Tail + Slowpoke Tail) ; Pokeplayer ; Borderline Voice Disk – Farfetch’d ; Borderline Voice Disk – Spinda ; Intermediate Voice Disk – Castform ; Intermediate Voice Disk – Zangoose ; Pokedoll x5 ; Park Ball x2 ; Super Ball x2 ; Hyper Ball x2 ; Digital Camera ; Apricorn Box

Picture Value: 3,500

Pokémon Stats

Jolly M Ambipom
Ability: Technician
EMs: aerial ace, attract, brick break, captivate, curse, cut, defense curl, dig, double team, dream eater, dynamicpunch, endure, facade, fire punch, focus punch, giga impact, grass knot, headbutt, hidden power [ghost], hone claws, hyper beam, ice punch, iron tail, low sweep, mud-slap, payback, protect, rain dance, rest, retaliate, return, rock smash, secret power, shadow ball, shadow claw, shock wave, sleep talk, snatch, snore, solarbeam, strength, substitute, sunny day, swagger, taunt, thunder, thunderbolt, thunderpunch, thunder wave, toxic, u-turn, water pulse, work up, counter (bm), double edge (mt), fake out (bm), knock off (mt), low kick (mt), pursuit (bm), seed bomb (mt), switcheroo (bm)

Sassy F Ambipom @ 68%
Ability: Pick Up
EMs: aerial ace, attract, brick break, cut, detect, facade, fire punch, focus punch, hidden power [rock], ice punch, rest, return, rock smash, shadow ball, shadow claw, snatch, strength, substitute, taunt, thunder, thunderbolt, thunderpunch, thunder wave, u-turn, water pulse, work up, counter (bm), double-edge (mt), fake out (bm), low kick (mt), seed bomb (mt)

 

“I'm glad that worked,” Ivy said. “You're likely to get a decent fee for it back at headquarters too, if you'd want to part with it. Let's keep going in case he wants to come back.”

Yep, Nidoking had only blinked harmlessly while I was taking a snapshot of it. I mean it was possible that Nidoking would probably be angered by the flash and start going on a rampage and hammer the wits out of us, but I honestly feel that we'd be safe enough with three highly-trained Pokemon with us.

As we travelled on, this part of the woods was quite different now. The earlier parts had differing layers of canopies and the landscape had always differed, but the trees here had looked as if they were photocopied and duplicated in one-by-one. It was probably a man-made restoration part of the woods in order to enlarge the area.

“That's weird,” Ivy said.

I was about to question what she had said, when a Pokemon came swooshing down out of nowhere. I guessed I wasn't really paying much attention to my surroundings. We had gone on on the run for a while and it was probably around the early afternoon now. I sure could use a break back at either the office or at home.

“Looks like your Spinda disk didn't work out, but are you interested in this Illumise? I hear they're getting popular. You'll still have the option of taking home three Pokemon even if you don't find exactly what you're looking for.”

That was a tempting advice, or offer. The only real reason I would capture a Illumise would be because of its newly discovered ability - Prankster. Sure, it was cute and all but it really was not the cutest Pokemon out there. It's decent enough, I guess. There didn't seem to be much encounter chances left though, perhaps Illumise could take up Spinda's slot. I mean I could just find someone who would want an Illumise and make a trade offer for it. Why not.

"Ok Fataro, this is yours again. Ataro, I need you to conserve your energy for the potential Zangoose battle later on," I explained. I was not going to have Ataro go all outraged and rampaging on me just because I kept using Fataro instead of him. "Let's try to do this quick. Get in close with Detect and once you're right beside it, strike it with a close-ranged Fire Punch, and immediately follow up with a Hidden Power."

Detect was really just a safety net. I wanted Fataro to get in close so that she could deal some extra damage with the close proximity that she had. Since she had to run forward to Illumise, I figured she could just make use of Detect as well, to avoid any possible attacks that was directed at her while she was running. My attack calls are quite basic this time round, but they were harder to perform in terms of stamina-wise, since Fataro would have to perform an evasive move while running, and follow up with two offensive attacks after that. I could only hoped it worked.

Hidden Power was one of her favorite moves anyway - she had a thing for those beautiful orbs of mysterious energy. Her Hidden Power was Rock as well. That would work hand-in-hand with Fire Punch for some close-ranged super effective damages. Speaking of these moves mechanics, I had suddenly recalled that I had Pickup on Fataro. She didn't seemed to have picked up any stuff though. I had purchased and brought in an Apricorn Case as well, but we didn't seemed to find any apricorns around the woods while we were walking around.

Pity. If I had those apricorns, I could actually make then into Apricorn Balls. Well, exchange. It's relatively the same I guess, since I exchange them to the staff for them to make it for me. Apricorn Balls were really good for capturing specific Pokemon, and they are just too cool not to be used. I didn't want to waste my money of buying the pre-made ones though. Finding the apricorns myself was a better alternative, since I would then get free Apricorn Balls!

With the luck that I'm having though, I doubt I am going to find any apricorns lying around the area in this run, let alone having Fataro pick up something with Pickup. Heck, my Zangoose Voice Disk might even not work, just like what happened with Castform and Spinda. At least I seemed to be running away successfully from most, if not all, of the wild Pokemon encounters that I wasn't interested in so far though. That was possibly the only luck I had right now.

@WinterVines

 

@Ataro;

BP#5

Ranger Ivy Frost

---

Ataro didn't look too pleased, but he didn't look that disappointed either. Regardless, he decided to battle the insect. If he didn't want her for a place on his team, perhaps he'd find someone willing to trade for her. Ivy had always thought they were interesting, so surely some collector or battler would be searching for one.

The Trainer then addressed his pink-colored Ambipom again. “Okay, Fataro, this is yours again.” His other monkey looked like he was going to get upset, but Ataro cut him off before he could really get angry.

“Ataro,” he began, and Ivy thought it was really strange that they had the same name. She would get confused for sure. “I need you to conserve your energy for the potential Zangoose battle later on,” the Trainer said, placating the other Ambipom for now. The Ranger wondered if he was just hoping to run into a Zangoose or if he actually had another disk for it. Since he hadn't played one right away after his Spinda disk ran out of tracks, she just assumed he didn't have another one.

The pink monkey looked ready to battle again. This was definitely going to be interesting, especially if the Illumise used its new-found ability. To Ivy, these two seemed like they would mesh well. Ataro was going to have to be careful, though, since Fataro had already battled in the Park and would be more tired than when she began. Illumise could pull all sorts of tricks.

“Let's try to do this quick,” he instructed. “Get in close with Detect and once you're right beside it, strike it with a close-ranged Fire Punch and immediately follow up with a Hidden Power.”

Without much pause, the monkey rushed off to do her Trainer's bidding. Ivy hadn't really seen Detect used in this way before, since it was normally used to dodge attacks. She didn't think it was really that necessary at first, though, since the Illumise was just looking at Fataro curiously. It could've been that she was interested in the monkey's unique shade.

That interest let the Ambipom rush in close, since the Bug-type didn't try to fly up away from her. That would've put a damper in the plan. In fact, the Illumise even smiled at the thought of the new Pokemon coming close. It was too bad Fataro didn't have pleasant intensions.

Fataro slid to a stop and wrenched her tails back, both of them on the same side of her body. Fire ignited on them again, and the Illumise squealed right before the monkey swung forward with both of them, hitting the insect to the side. She lost some height from the blow, but the bug soon hovered back up to her normal height.

Still close, the Ambipom underwent the last phase of their plan. Orbs of a dusty-colored energy began to form in a circle around her. There were five of them, and power ebbed and flowed within them. They glittered in the light, and Ivy could tell that Fataro really liked this technique. She had a sassy smile on her face and did a little twirl as she released the orbs.

The five energy balls shot off toward the insect, but now the Illumise had had enough. Gone was the curious and gentle expression, and now a frown covered her face. With a cry, the bug began to shake, and waves of greenish energy radiated from her with a buzzing noise, just as the Hidden Power came in.

The two energies clashed with an explosion of light and sound, and three of the orbs were knocked off course, slamming into the nearby trees and raining dust down on the forest floor. Two others hit the bug, one knocking her for a loop so she turned upside down, and other hit her straight in the middle which pushed her into a tree.

However, the Bug Buzz technique had a broad range, so even as the Illumise was knocked away, her attack still flowed through the area, knocking into Fataro. The monkey flinched as the energy washed over her, probably not paying exact attention since she had been showing off with her last move.

Then, Illumise got a crafty look in her eyes. With a coo, she made a clapping noise with her hands, as if she was cheering Fataro on. Since the monkey was a contest-type with the way she battled, it worked like a charm. The pink Ambipom got a glazed look in her eyes, and the Ranger could tell that something was definitely off with her. It was almost like she wasn't seeing things clearly. Was she confused?

The Bug-type took this distracting opportunity and hovered up closer to the tops of the trees, mostly out of reach. She danced around then, bobbing and weaving in a strange pattern in the air. Then, Ivy heard the rumble of thunder, and the sky grew dark. Something wet splashed her face, and she reached up to wipe away a raindrop.

“It's starting to rain. Here, Haji,” she said as she flipped her hood over her head and pulled her vest out to the side so the purple cat could hide under it.

As soon as he was covered, the rain started for real, making the ground smell of damp earth. The trees and other plants looked slick with water, so Ataro was going to have to be careful with his orders. Since she looked dazed and thus wouldn't be super careful, one wrong move could make her slip and fall. The Illumise wasn't going to be captured without a fight, and since she seemed a little ticked off too, she could probably fight double as hard.

---

Current Battle Stats:

??? F Illumise: 62% [Used Bug Buzz, Flatter, and Rain Dance]
Sassy F Ambipom: 57% [Con0][SpAtk+1][Used Detect, Fire Punch, and Hidden Power]

Area Effects: It's raining.

---

Trainer Stats

Name: Ataro
Location: Woods
Encounters Remaining: 6
Area Effects: It's pleasantly warm.

Pokémon Encountered: Yanma, Surskit, Farfetch'd, Karrablast, Genesect, Joltik, Persian, Nidoking, Illumise
Pokémon Captured: Calm M Farfetch'd
MCR: 4,333/15,000 [Borderline Rank]

Items: Supreme Park Ball ; Status Bomb Bundle ; Calming Fragrance Plus ; Escape Package (Pokedoll + Poketoy + Fluffy Tail + Slowpoke Tail) ; Pokeplayer ; Borderline Voice Disk – Farfetch’d ; Borderline Voice Disk – Spinda ; Intermediate Voice Disk – Castform ; Intermediate Voice Disk – Zangoose ; Pokedoll x5 ; Park Ball x2 ; Super Ball x2 ; Hyper Ball x2 ; Digital Camera ; Apricorn Box

Picture Value: 3,500

Pokémon Stats

Jolly M Ambipom
Ability: Technician
EMs: aerial ace, attract, brick break, captivate, curse, cut, defense curl, dig, double team, dream eater, dynamicpunch, endure, facade, fire punch, focus punch, giga impact, grass knot, headbutt, hidden power [ghost], hone claws, hyper beam, ice punch, iron tail, low sweep, mud-slap, payback, protect, rain dance, rest, retaliate, return, rock smash, secret power, shadow ball, shadow claw, shock wave, sleep talk, snatch, snore, solarbeam, strength, substitute, sunny day, swagger, taunt, thunder, thunderbolt, thunderpunch, thunder wave, toxic, u-turn, water pulse, work up, counter (bm), double edge (mt), fake out (bm), knock off (mt), low kick (mt), pursuit (bm), seed bomb (mt), switcheroo (bm)

Sassy F Ambipom @ 57%
Ability: Pick Up
EMs: aerial ace, attract, brick break, cut, detect, facade, fire punch, focus punch, hidden power [rock], ice punch, rest, return, rock smash, shadow ball, shadow claw, snatch, strength, substitute, taunt, thunder, thunderbolt, thunderpunch, thunder wave, u-turn, water pulse, work up, counter (bm), double-edge (mt), fake out (bm), low kick (mt), seed bomb (mt)

 

As Fataro was dashing towards the Illumise, Fataro's foe did not seem worried at all. In fact, she was actually smiling at Fataro. It was not a devious one too, but rather a genuinely curious and friendly smile. That was certainly much more worrying than a devious smile. That easily meant a couple of things. First, it was possible that Illumise was simply dazzled and awed by Fataro's sassiness. That had happened quite a few times in the past and wild Pokemon tend to be taken aback with curiosity and envy.

It was also possible that the Illumise had a friendly nature. I couldn't really think of any possible natures now, but it was possible that Illumise had shared the Jolly nature with Ataro the Ambipom. Jolly-natured Pokemon are incredibly high spirited and thus are usually looking forward to make new friends, even with their supposed foes. This was not looking good however.

As Fataro slid forward and stopped suddenly, she swinged both of her tail to ignite a sudden fire and slammed both of them onto the Illumise. She didn't waste any time and immediately released several orbs of mysterious energy while grinning ear-to-ear. I was afraid that Illumise was getting very frustrated though. This tends to happen with foes that appear friendly at first, but are infuriated when you call an attack on them. This would in fact make them strike back with a revenge.

As expected, the Illumise was no longer smiling. She was extremely upset. She cried a deafening scream and with several violent swipes of her wings, an emerald green wave of wind-like attack shot forward. It took on the Hidden Power head-to-head, causing a small explosion to go through. Both attacks were incredibly ranged though, and some of it still managed to hit both Pokemon. I had noticed that Fataro was quite exhausted now. It was certainly not a good situation to have your Pokemon brandishing a series of attacks, and get pummeled right after that. It left little to no time to recover stamina.

Illumise meanwhile, was smiling deviously now. She clapped her hands as if she was cheering Fataro on, but that was too good to be true. I looked at Fataro and noticed that she smiled too, but it was not the usual her. She was already inflicted with the confused status by Flatter. Illumise had disappeared briefly after that, off to another tree. I couldn't help but shrug. She had better not follow in the footsteps of the earlier Farfetch'd.

Just as she disappeared, a thunder soon sounded in the sky. Tiny droplets of water were falling from the sky. Hmm ... Rain Dance.

“It's starting to rain. Here, Haji,” Ivy said. She flipped her hood over her head and pulled her vest out to the side so that her Espeon could take shelter with her.

Fataro was clearly not in a good condition. She was already hurt from the previous battle and now she was confused. I really didn't want to take a gamble since I had a feeling that that Flatter might have been super effective since Fataro especially liked to be praised. Talk about having her strengths manipulated into weaknesses. I had no choice but to call her back.

"Fataro, you're gonna have to take a break," I said and quickly returned her to her Pokeball. I certainly didn't want her to hurt herself out of confusion. After I was done, I looked at Ataro.

"Ok Ataro, you're gonna have to finish this. I want you to play nice this time and apologize to Illumise for Fataro. Try to make friends with her and ask for a friendly battle between you two," I told him.

I had only hoped this worked. I didn't usually use this strategy but Ataro had loved it for some reason. He loved to make friends even with wild Pokemon, and most are easily attracted to him for his high spirits. I had only hoped Illumise would accept his apology and accept a battle. It would certainly help us and assist an easier capture if Ataro could make friends with the Illumise.

We only had to weaken her a bit more, since Fataro had performed an excellent job in lowering Illumise's health. Add to the fact that Illumise was a female Pokemon, it was going to give Ataro lots of benefits in combat.

@WinterVines

 

@Ataro;

BP#6

Ranger Ivy Frost

---

The Trainer immediately recognized the risk his Pokemon was at. Due to her nature, Illumise's Flatter had worked doubly well against the sassy Pokemon, increasing the danger of succumbing to confusion. Because of that, he called her back.

Ataro took out the monkey's Pokeball and recalled her. “Fataro, you're gonna have to take a break,” he said as the beam of red light sucked her up into the device. That was the safest option. There was a high chance that she would need to battle again if Ataro decided to take three Pokemon out of the Park.

“Okay, Ataro, you're gonna have to finish this,” he said as he addressed his normal-colored Ambipom. “I want you to play nice this time and apologize to Illumise for Fataro. Try to make friends with her and ask for a friendly battle between you two,” he instructed.

It was likely that he caught on to the insects miffed state. At first she had been curious and happy to see Fataro, but after the monkey had attacked, she became upset. A lot of wild Pokemon were like that, and Ivy was glad to see him try to correct that. Ataro the Ambipom seemed to have a happy nature, so they could probably come to some sort of compromise.

The rain continued to come down, and the purple monkey stepped up, taking Fataro's place. He began to talk to the Illumise, but naturally, Ivy couldn't tell what was being said. The Bug-type was listening, though, since she had floated a little bit closer. At first she crossed her small arms and turned to the side a bit, clearly not happy. The Ambipom didn't give up, however, and the Illumise eventually relaxed a little. She gave him a questionable look, as if she wasn't sure whether to believe him or not, but eventually she nodded.

She wasn't going to let the monkey get off the first hit, though. She floated up a little ways, and shook a little as she floated back and forth. Almost immediately, the Ranger could smell something sweet, even over the scent of rain. It was getting windy too, so that probably helped distribute the smell.

She recognized it as a Sweet Scent. It was not only pleasing to people, but to other Pokemon too. It was likely to make people more relaxed, lulling them into pleasant thoughts. A lot of battlers used it to make the foe easier to strike.

The sky above crackled too. Ivy could hear rolling thunder and see flickers of electricity forming. It looked like the Illumise was charging up something, though she wasn't sure what yet. It could've been an electrical attack, but then again, that could just be a distraction too. Whatever it was, Ataro was going to have to be careful.

---

Current Battle Stats:

??? F Illumise: 62% [Used Sweet Scent and Using ???]
Jolly M Ambipom: 100% [Used Peace Treaty]

Area Effects: It's raining.

---

Trainer Stats

Name: Ataro
Location: Woods
Encounters Remaining: 6
Area Effects: It's pleasantly warm.

Pokémon Encountered: Yanma, Surskit, Farfetch'd, Karrablast, Genesect, Joltik, Persian, Nidoking, Illumise
Pokémon Captured: Calm M Farfetch'd
MCR: 8,443/15,000 [Borderline Rank]

Items: Supreme Park Ball ; Status Bomb Bundle ; Calming Fragrance Plus ; Escape Package (Pokedoll + Poketoy + Fluffy Tail + Slowpoke Tail) ; Pokeplayer ; Borderline Voice Disk – Farfetch’d ; Borderline Voice Disk – Spinda ; Intermediate Voice Disk – Castform ; Intermediate Voice Disk – Zangoose ; Pokedoll x5 ; Park Ball x2 ; Super Ball x2 ; Hyper Ball x2 ; Digital Camera ; Apricorn Box

Picture Value: 3,500

Pokémon Stats

Jolly M Ambipom
Ability: Technician
EMs: aerial ace, attract, brick break, captivate, curse, cut, defense curl, dig, double team, dream eater, dynamicpunch, endure, facade, fire punch, focus punch, giga impact, grass knot, headbutt, hidden power [ghost], hone claws, hyper beam, ice punch, iron tail, low sweep, mud-slap, payback, protect, rain dance, rest, retaliate, return, rock smash, secret power, shadow ball, shadow claw, shock wave, sleep talk, snatch, snore, solarbeam, strength, substitute, sunny day, swagger, taunt, thunder, thunderbolt, thunderpunch, thunder wave, toxic, u-turn, water pulse, work up, counter (bm), double edge (mt), fake out (bm), knock off (mt), low kick (mt), pursuit (bm), seed bomb (mt), switcheroo (bm)

Sassy F Ambipom @ 57%
Ability: Pick Up
EMs: aerial ace, attract, brick break, cut, detect, facade, fire punch, focus punch, hidden power [rock], ice punch, rest, return, rock smash, shadow ball, shadow claw, snatch, strength, substitute, taunt, thunder, thunderbolt, thunderpunch, thunder wave, u-turn, water pulse, work up, counter (bm), double-edge (mt), fake out (bm), low kick (mt), seed bomb (mt)

 

The rain continued to pour down and Ataro had tried to talk to Illumise. Obviously, I had difficulties understanding their speech. Illumise seemed to be listening though, since she had floated a bit closer. She then crossed her small arms and turned to the side a bit. It was kind of funny to watch. Illumise was like a grumpy small kid whom need some pacifying. Ataro continued doing his stuff and eventually, the Bug-type Pokemon started to relax a little.

She floated off quickly though, and started shaking back and forth. A scent was released and I instantly recognized it as Sweet Scent. The smell of fresh dandelions immediately overtook the smell of rain falling on dry earth. The attack had the ability to reduce Ataro's evasion. That was not a huge problem though.

The sky above had crackled now. Rolling thunder and flickers of electricity was starting to form. All of this was not natural though. It was obvious that Illumise was charging up something, and something tells me that she was going to use Thunder. This attack was an incredibly powerful Electric-type attack, and was almost accurate hundred percent of the time when it is pouring. Add that to the fact that Sweet Scent was used, it was going to be almost impossible for Ataro to get out of that.

I could probably make Ataro use Dig, but I'm not quite sure how well that would work out. Dig will make the user dig underground and thus disappear from the battle field for a while. Thunder would then miss its target and strike the ground instead. With the soil all wet and lubricated like that though, it was possible that Thunder might be able to zap through it. One thing for sure though, that will absorb quite a considerable amount of damage taken.

"Ok Ataro quick, I want you to dig underground. Don't just dig straight down. Dig down and go horizontal, then take a sharp turn to dig vertical down. That should enable you to a higher chance to avoid that Thunder. While underground, immediately use Sunny Day to change the weather to your advantage. After that, emerge from the ground and strike Illumise with Dig. Don't stop at there though. Right after the attack, infatuate it with your Attract!" I commanded.

Although it was a string of command, the attacks were relatively simply to use. They didn't require a strong surge of power or effort. Ataro simply had to burrow down, and use Sunny Day while under shelter, then strike back out with Dig and infatuate with Attract. Like with Fataro, Ataro was equally skipped at using moves like Attract. This move is in fact a specialty of both Pokemon. Unlike Fataro however, Ataro's strong points was in using moves that helped the team, or do something that would benefit the others, while Fataro's strong points was in using Contest-styled moves.

@WinterVines

 

@Ataro;

BP#7

Ranger Ivy Frost

---

The rain was thudding against the back of her hood, and Ivy had to pull the top down a little bit so the water wouldn't drip down onto her face. Haji was nice and safe underneath her long vest. He could've handled the elements just fine—since they did on a regular basis anyway—but being able to avoid some of them when they had a long day ahead of them was nice. It was likely that they would have to go on several other runs before the day was over.

Ataro thought for a minute while the clouds ominously shifted from above. Then, he called out a plan. “Okay, Ataro, quick, I want you to dig underground.” He then expanded on the idea, wanting the Ambipom to use Sunny Day down there and then pop up with a Dig. Then, he planned on using Attract again, just like in the last battle.

Ivy was going to warn the Trainer, but before she could say anything, the monkey went to work on the slushy ground, digging with his limbs and tails until he disappeared below the earth. The Illumise made a curious noise and looked a little closer, wondering what Ataro was doing. The noise in the sky continued, but no attack came out of it. Either the bug was too interested in her opponent, or she hadn't fully planned out what she was going to do yet.

Then, there was a bright light emerging from the hole the Ambipom disappeared into. It was faint, though, since Ataro had instructed him to dig deep down and sideways into the earth. The Ranger hoped that the monkey was okay—it had probably just gotten really bright down there. She looked up, but the clouds above didn't change. It was likely that Sunny Day wouldn't work from underground—at least not when the Ambipom couldn't see the sky. If he wanted to change the weather, he was going to have to try again.

Then, the ground rumbled, and the Illumise made a squeak as she was scared upward, fluttering with her tiny wings. Seconds later, Ataro came barreling through the ground underneath her, spraying her with dirt. Since she was airborne, she avoided the blow almost entirely, but a few loose stones caught her just so.

She puffed out an annoyed huff of air, and then she violently dropped form the air, hitting the ground in front of the Ambipom at a sideways slant. Thanks to the rain, the ground had loosened up and turned to mud, and when she landed, she kicked up a good spray of it, flinging the wet dirt onto the monkey's front. It didn't look like it hurt him too much, but the mud might make it harder for him to move and hit techniques accurately.

Then, the Ambipom went into the last phase of the plan. Ivy wasn't sure how good it was to try and pull a move like this right after they had agreed to a friendly match. She had seen what it did to the Farfetch'd, and she had a feeling the Bug-type wasn't going to take it well. She seemed headstrong.

Still, those heart-shaped energy orbs appeared like they did before, and one of them popped as it touched the purple hair on the bug. At first, she was still, but then she shook her head to clear it and pulled off and attraction move of her own.

This one was different than Attract, however. She did a cute pose, seeming meek and fragile. It didn't seem like she was wanting to fully infatuate the monkey, but as she put a finger to her lip and pouted, she saw the Ambipom's muscles relax. He would probably hit her less hard now, which could pose a problem.

Then, the Illumise gently floated back up into the air and slightly out of reach, learning that it wasn't that safe on the ground. Ataro was going to have to think of something to do soon. The rumbling in the sky became more pronounced with every minute the battle continued.

---

Current Battle Stats:

??? F Illumise: 59% [<3][Used Mud-Slap and Captivate]
Jolly M Ambipom: 94% [SpAtk-2][Used Sunny Day, Dig, and Attract]

Area Effects: It's raining.

---

Trainer Stats

Name: Ataro
Location: Woods
Encounters Remaining: 6
Area Effects: It's pleasantly warm.

Pokémon Encountered: Yanma, Surskit, Farfetch'd, Karrablast, Genesect, Joltik, Persian, Nidoking, Illumise
Pokémon Captured: Calm M Farfetch'd
MCR: 11,225/15,000 [Borderline Rank]

Items: Supreme Park Ball ; Status Bomb Bundle ; Calming Fragrance Plus ; Escape Package (Pokedoll + Poketoy + Fluffy Tail + Slowpoke Tail) ; Pokeplayer ; Borderline Voice Disk – Farfetch’d ; Borderline Voice Disk – Spinda ; Intermediate Voice Disk – Castform ; Intermediate Voice Disk – Zangoose ; Pokedoll x5 ; Park Ball x2 ; Super Ball x2 ; Hyper Ball x2 ; Digital Camera ; Apricorn Box

Picture Value: 3,500

Pokémon Stats

Jolly M Ambipom @ 94%
Ability: Technician
EMs: aerial ace, attract, brick break, captivate, curse, cut, defense curl, dig, double team, dream eater, dynamicpunch, endure, facade, fire punch, focus punch, giga impact, grass knot, headbutt, hidden power [ghost], hone claws, hyper beam, ice punch, iron tail, low sweep, mud-slap, payback, protect, rain dance, rest, retaliate, return, rock smash, secret power, shadow ball, shadow claw, shock wave, sleep talk, snatch, snore, solarbeam, strength, substitute, sunny day, swagger, taunt, thunder, thunderbolt, thunderpunch, thunder wave, toxic, u-turn, water pulse, work up, counter (bm), double edge (mt), fake out (bm), knock off (mt), low kick (mt), pursuit (bm), seed bomb (mt), switcheroo (bm)

Sassy F Ambipom @ 57%
Ability: Pick Up
EMs: aerial ace, attract, brick break, cut, detect, facade, fire punch, focus punch, hidden power [rock], ice punch, rest, return, rock smash, shadow ball, shadow claw, snatch, strength, substitute, taunt, thunder, thunderbolt, thunderpunch, thunder wave, u-turn, water pulse, work up, counter (bm), double-edge (mt), fake out (bm), low kick (mt), seed bomb (mt)

 

After Ataro had dug underground, the Illumise made a curious cry and peeked forward. She was genuinely curious. Meanwhile, the noise in the sky continued, but there was no visible attack made. Either Illumise had stopped attacking or it was something else. I had no idea at all. Ataro continued doing his thing though, and a ray of light emerged from the hole. The weather was not changing though. It was then that I started to realize that my attack command was possibly not feasible. Changing weather by using moves like Rain Dance or Sunny Day often required the user to look up at the sky to change the weather, so it was possible that the Sunny Day call wasn't possible from underground.

The ground soon rumbled and the Illumise started to hover higher, increasing her altitude. She had finally realized that Ataro's Dig was intended as both a defense and offense attack. Ataro rose up from the ground through the softened dirt and strike Illumise from underneath. The increased height had decreased the attack power of Dig but it still managed to deal some damage.

She was obviously annoyed by that attack and made a vicious grunt. She dropped down to the ground abruptly in a slanted position and splashed a series of mud at Ataro. Mud-Slap. This attack was relatively low-powered, but had the secondary chance of lowering the target's accuracy. Ataro flinched a bit from the damage but quickly revenged back with Attract. The familiar wave of pink hearts had appeared. Although it might seem illogical to annoy Illumise just we had agrees to a friendly match, it kind of makes sense to me since Ataro could very well have been making friends with Illumise with Attract. To each his own, I guess.

Illumise was quickly enveloped with Attract and stood still. After a whole, she shook her head to try and clear off the infatuation and posed cutely while winking. Oh dear She was pulling off similar tactics to the ones Ataro had used. Just that it was Captivate instead. Honestly. I was kind of glad that Illumise had used of Captivate. If it was Attract, it would just have been real messy.

I pretty much have to focus on lowering Illumise's health from now on. The rumbling noise in the sky was getting on my nerves. If it was just another attack, I wouldn't mind. But I didn't know what was it. There was absolutely nothing as frustrating as not knowing what your opponent is planning. It was like a blade stretched at my neck, and could strike and cut my neck anytime. Well, sort of.

"Ataro, let's continue to focus on lowering her health. Strike first with an Aerial Ace then follow up with a Swift. Take care not to knock her out," I said.

I was really tempted to throw my Park Ball now but I really had no idea if those damaged incurred would be enough. Aerial Ace would be Atato's primary attack since it was a Physical-based attack and was boosted by Technician - Ataro's specialty. Swift was boosted as well, but it was a Special-based attack and Ataro's ranged moves were not going to do as much damage as before, since Illumise had used Captivate.

Meh, let's take a bet. I thought, and decided to just throw in a Park Ball right after Ataro was done with both of his attacks. It was kind of risky to throw a ball without knowing the potential remaining health in your target but I decided I would just take a risk. Here's hoping for the best. I hoped, and prepared to throw the ball after Ataro was done.

@WinterVines

 

@Ataro; You were under MCR, so that's probably why it didn't work.

BP#8

Ranger Ivy Frost

---

The Ambipom tried to shake off as much mud as he could, but some of it was bound to stick, despite the rain. Ivy hated that feeling of dirt clinging to her skin when she worked, even though it happened often enough.

“Ataro, let's continue to focus on lowering her health. Strike first with an Aerial Ace then follow up with a Swift. Take care not to knock her out,” the Trainer said, and the monkey nodded.

Thunder crackled overhead, and the Ranger thought that an attack from it would probably come soon. She could still see the little flickers of light—signaling some sort of electrical attack. They were going to have to be careful, but Ivy couldn't tell them anything they didn't already know, so she just kept quiet and watched.

As the Ambipom rubbed his hands together in preparation for his move, she saw Ataro pull out a Park Ball. That's weird, she thought, watching the Trainer tense and watch the battlefield carefully in preparation for a throw. Normally people waited until the wild Pokemon was worn down a little more before attempting to capture, since energy-filled Pokemon broke out of the devices easier. It didn't seem like the battle had gone on that long, but then again, she often lost track of time while on runs.

The monkey darted off across the ground, heading over to where the Illumise was floating. Thanks to her wings, she had dodged almost all of the Dig technique, and she had a feeling that Ataro was going to have a little bit of trouble getting enough height to hit her now as well.

Once he was close enough, the monkey leaped into the air. Ivy caught his foot slip slightly, however, sliding on the wet foliage. It affected his jump a little bit, since he had to make up for height with exertion from his limbs to get more force. He went into a spin in order to strike the bug, but the Illumise was paying attention.

In fact, at first, she was paying way too much attention in her opinion, since she wouldn't take her eyes off the monkey. It must've been due to the attract. However, before Ataro would've hit her straight on, she suddenly snapped to her senses and flew upward. It wasn't exactly high enough to get out of the way, but Ataro only managed to clip her lower side instead of a full frontal blow. Still, it looked like it hurt, since she cringed and backed up a little.

Then, the Ambipom hit the ground gracefully, only slipping a little bit in the rain-soaked environment. That's what Ivy had worried about when Fataro was confused—she probably would've been even more likely to slip if she wasn't paying attention.

With a flick of his tails, star-shaped energy formed and darted off toward the bug. Panting, the Illumise had landed for an instant, only to see the stars coming right for her. Her eyes widened, and then with a cry, her body seemed to blur as she streaked from spot to spot, doing her best to dodge the shuriken-like attack—a Quick Attack. She managed to dodge all but two of the stars and came rushing in to strike Ataro on the chest with her legs as she jumped off of him to fly back into the air.

The monkey slipped off his feet this time, spinning a little backward on the wet ground. Then, the Illumise let out a mighty cry and threw one of her hands up into the air, like she was reaching for something in the sky. As Ivy theorized, the lightning came to her call, and with another cry and the downward swing of her arm, the Thunder crashed.

A series of powerful bolts came streaking down from the sky directly toward Ataro. Since he had fallen to the ground, he was completely defenseless. He was washed away in bright light as the electricity struck, and Ivy had to cover her eyes with her arm to avoid the harsh light. When it cleared, smoke tendrils curled through the air lazily. Some things got singed.

Ataro was cringing, the look on his face sour as he violently shook his arms, legs, and tails. He was probably trying to keep them mobile to reduce the chance of getting paralyzed. Powerful electrical attacks tended to do that.

The Trainer took his opportunity while he still had it. He lobbed the ball in the Illumise's direction. She was so busy watching the results of her work that she didn't see it coming at first. When she did, it was too late. With a squeal, she was sucked up into the device in a beam of red light. The ball immediately started to shake as soon as it closed, and before hitting the ground, it burst open.

The Bug-type made an angry noise as the device plopped harmlessly to the ground underneath her. She shook herself off, and Ivy wondered if Pokemon felt cramped at all in the devices.

“I can't really tell from here,” she called, “but I don't think that Park Ball is broken. You'll probably be able to collect it after this battle is done. If you don't have another one in your bag, maybe your Ambipom could somehow retrieve it,” she offered.


---

Current Battle Stats:

??? F Illumise: 29% [<3][Used Quick Attack and Thunder]
Jolly M Ambipom: 73% [SpAtk-2][Used Aerial Ace and Swift]

Area Effects: It's raining.

---

Trainer Stats

Name: Ataro
Location: Woods
Encounters Remaining: 6
Area Effects: It's pleasantly warm.

Pokémon Encountered: Yanma, Surskit, Farfetch'd, Karrablast, Genesect, Joltik, Persian, Nidoking, Illumise
Pokémon Captured: Calm M Farfetch'd
MCR: 14,654/15,000 [Borderline Rank]

Items: Supreme Park Ball ; Status Bomb Bundle ; Calming Fragrance Plus ; Escape Package (Pokedoll + Poketoy + Fluffy Tail + Slowpoke Tail) ; Pokeplayer ; Borderline Voice Disk – Farfetch’d ; Borderline Voice Disk – Spinda ; Intermediate Voice Disk – Castform ; Intermediate Voice Disk – Zangoose ; Pokedoll x5 ; Park Ball x2 ; Super Ball x2 ; Hyper Ball x2 ; Digital Camera ; Apricorn Box

Picture Value: 3,500

Pokémon Stats

Jolly M Ambipom @ 94%
Ability: Technician
EMs: aerial ace, attract, brick break, captivate, curse, cut, defense curl, dig, double team, dream eater, dynamicpunch, endure, facade, fire punch, focus punch, giga impact, grass knot, headbutt, hidden power [ghost], hone claws, hyper beam, ice punch, iron tail, low sweep, mud-slap, payback, protect, rain dance, rest, retaliate, return, rock smash, secret power, shadow ball, shadow claw, shock wave, sleep talk, snatch, snore, solarbeam, strength, substitute, sunny day, swagger, taunt, thunder, thunderbolt, thunderpunch, thunder wave, toxic, u-turn, water pulse, work up, counter (bm), double edge (mt), fake out (bm), knock off (mt), low kick (mt), pursuit (bm), seed bomb (mt), switcheroo (bm)

Sassy F Ambipom @ 57%
Ability: Pick Up
EMs: aerial ace, attract, brick break, cut, detect, facade, fire punch, focus punch, hidden power [rock], ice punch, rest, return, rock smash, shadow ball, shadow claw, snatch, strength, substitute, taunt, thunder, thunderbolt, thunderpunch, thunder wave, u-turn, water pulse, work up, counter (bm), double-edge (mt), fake out (bm), low kick (mt), seed bomb (mt)

 

Ataro leaped upwards, but slipped backward slightly instead. He quickly recovered by maintaining his attack posture while aiming for Illumise. That tiny slip might seem like it was nothing, but it had probably shifted Ataro's aim by a bit. He shot upwards just like a Flying-type Pokemon, but it was obvious that he was struggling to make up for the difference in height. Illumise was finally in ranged and Ataro struggled to maintain his altitude with the Aerial Ace attack. Illumise was just watching though. It must have been Attract. At the critical moment, Illumise managed to regain back her composure and quickly flew upwards instead. Ataro could only barely strike her lower side instead of an earlier possible direct hit.

He fell back onto the ground after the attack. Though it was a safe landing, he had slid back a couple of steps in the wet mud still. The terrain was probably going to give us a disadvantage if we continued this any longer.
Swinging his tail forward, Ataro released a blast of yellow shuriken-like stars. The Illumise had landed now, only to get surprised by the sudden attack. She disappeared all of a sudden, and reappeared in the middle of the field. I had recognized it as a Quick Attack. The attack was blazing fast and Ataro had little time to dodge, and took the Quick Attack damage to his chest directly. The Swift was not all futile however, for two of them had struck the Illumise by her side

Ataro was pushed back this time. He slides backwards on the dirt puddle. At this moment, Illumise had held her stubbly arms up towards the sky and cried out a loud scream. The blast of lightning materialized in the dark sky and with a strike of her arm, a single bolt of thunder came smashing down onto Ataro. Thunder was naturally a powerful attack but the crucial point here was that whether it had managed to paralyze Ataro. He was shaking his limbs violently to keep mobile. Knowing that the attack had a chance to paralyze him, he too was trying to prevent him. After a while, he slowed down and started to breathe more steadily.

Seeing that Ataro is safe, I quickly took the chance and threw my Park Ball. The ball struck the surprised Illumise by the head and absorbed her with a red beam. The ball shook a couple of times, but opened up again to release Illumise. I sighed, for it was an unsuccessful capture. I was a little disappointed but I was really not surprised. Illumise still had quite a good amount of health left and was inflicted with no status conditions. I guess I was just lazy.

“I can't really tell from here,” Ivy said, “but I don't think that Park Ball is broken. You'll probably be able to collect it after this battle is done. If you don't have another one in your bag, maybe your Ambipom could somehow retrieve it,” she offered.

I nodded to agree with what she had said. We were nearing the end of this and Ataro just had to lower Illumise's health by a bit more. I looked in my bag and realized that I still had another Park Ball. I had a couple of other strong variants of Poke Balls, but I didn't think it was necessary. Just then, I thought of a way for Ataro to retrieve the ball.

"Ataro, let's revenge back by using her strategy to our advantage," I said and looked upwards into the sky. It was still very dark and was still rumbling slightly after that last Thunder. There would soon be another one though. "Start by calling forth a weak jolt of electricity with Thinder Wave, then double up with a Thunder. Strike both of them from the gloomy sky onto Illumise. After the damaged have been done, spring forward with Snatch and retrieve the Park Ball. Then, offer it to Illumise and with your hands and lightly tap her with it."

Hopefully, that would do it. Ataro's Spcial Attack was lowered harshly because of Captivate, so I was really expecting Thunder not to knock Illumise out. Regardless, Ataro knew clearly that we were intending to capture the Illumise, so he would take extra caution anyway.

@WinterVines

 

@Ataro; Found Blue Apricorn

BP#9

Ranger Ivy Frost

---

The Trainer looked worried about his Ambipom, but the monkey got up while still shaking out his limbs. He didn't look like he suffered from paralysis at all, which was good since he was likely going to battle again if Ataro found another Pokemon he wanted to catch.

“Ataro, let's get revenge by using her strategy to our advantage,” the Trainer said, keeping close watch on the sky. There was no telling if the Illumise was going to use the storm again, but that didn't mean that Ataro couldn't do the same.

“Start by calling forth a weak jolt of electricity with Thunder Wave, then double up with a Thunder.” Ivy would've worried about such a powerful move knocking out the bug, since she was breathing a lot deeper and moving a little slower now, but since the Ambipom was still under the effects of her Captivate, he wasn't going to hit her as hard.

The Trainer then instructed the monkey to snatch up the ball and use it on the Bug-type. The Ambipom nodded and cried out as a tiny jolt came down from the cloud. The Illumise looked up just in time to see the coils of electricity wrap around her. To be safe, she floated back down to the ground. She moved her limbs the same way Ataro had done earlier to keep mobility in them.

Then, the monkey didn't wait to go through with the next part of the plan. He called down a Thunder, but due to the crackling of the storm cloud and the fact that she had just used it, the Illumise had a heads up. She jumped backward as a handful of bolts rained down, but she didn't move quite far enough. As the area was engulfed in light, the Bug-type cried out.

As the light dissipated, she found the Illumise was leaning up against the trunk of a tree, looking pretty tired. She was breathing deeply and used the tree for support to stay upright. Ivy wondered slightly if the Park Ball was still useable now, since it had been in the blast zone.

The Ambipom scooped it up as he ran toward the bug, so he was going to use it whether or not it worked. He reached out with the device, but now the Illumise knew what it would do. She stubbornly shook her head and then lowered it, putting her whole body behind a zen-like force. Ataro was knocked backward as she hit him full on with a Zen Headbutt, but in doing so, he dropped the Park Ball. Unfortunately for the Illumise, when she fell back from the attack, she landed right next to it, and that was enough to trigger the device.

This time, when she was sucked in, she didn't break out. The ball lit up red in the center, and then the device stopped shaking. The rain then dried up, and the clouds rolled away so the sun could come back out. Ivy went over to collect the Park Ball and add it to her pocket until the run was over.

“Glad to see the rain's stopped,” she said. “Did you want a rest or anything before moving on? Did you have another disk you wanted to play?”


---

Current Battle Stats: N/A

---

Trainer Stats

Name: Ataro
Location: Woods
Encounters Remaining: 6
Area Effects: It's pleasantly warm.

Pokémon Encountered: Yanma, Surskit, Farfetch'd, Karrablast, Genesect, Joltik, Persian, Nidoking, Illumise
Pokémon Captured: Calm M Farfetch'd, Naive F Illumise
MCR: 0

Items: Supreme Park Ball ; Status Bomb Bundle ; Calming Fragrance Plus ; Escape Package (Pokedoll + Poketoy + Fluffy Tail + Slowpoke Tail) ; Pokeplayer ; Borderline Voice Disk – Farfetch’d ; Borderline Voice Disk – Spinda ; Intermediate Voice Disk – Castform ; Intermediate Voice Disk – Zangoose ; Pokedoll x5 ; Park Ball x2 ; Super Ball x2 ; Hyper Ball x2 ; Digital Camera ; Apricorn Box ; Blue Apricorn x1

Picture Value: 3,500

Pokémon Stats

Jolly M Ambipom @ 67%
Ability: Technician
EMs: aerial ace, attract, brick break, captivate, curse, cut, defense curl, dig, double team, dream eater, dynamicpunch, endure, facade, fire punch, focus punch, giga impact, grass knot, headbutt, hidden power [ghost], hone claws, hyper beam, ice punch, iron tail, low sweep, mud-slap, payback, protect, rain dance, rest, retaliate, return, rock smash, secret power, shadow ball, shadow claw, shock wave, sleep talk, snatch, snore, solarbeam, strength, substitute, sunny day, swagger, taunt, thunder, thunderbolt, thunderpunch, thunder wave, toxic, u-turn, water pulse, work up, counter (bm), double edge (mt), fake out (bm), knock off (mt), low kick (mt), pursuit (bm), seed bomb (mt), switcheroo (bm)

Sassy F Ambipom @ 57%
Ability: Pick Up
EMs: aerial ace, attract, brick break, cut, detect, facade, fire punch, focus punch, hidden power [rock], ice punch, rest, return, rock smash, shadow ball, shadow claw, snatch, strength, substitute, taunt, thunder, thunderbolt, thunderpunch, thunder wave, u-turn, water pulse, work up, counter (bm), double-edge (mt), fake out (bm), low kick (mt), seed bomb (mt)

 

As Ataro cried out, a small jolt of electricity appeared and and striking down towards his for. Illumise managed to look up fast enough and quickly dropped to the ground. She was probably trying to use the insulating effects from the dirt in hopes that she too wouldn't get paralyzed. She started flinging her limbs exactly like Ataro, and I couldn't help but smile at her. When Ataro did it, I was worried. But when Illumise did it, it was kind of cute. It was more like a third-person perspective compared to a first-person, I guess. As the next wave of thunder strikes came raining down, the Illumise hopped backwards a couple of steps, hoping to avoid the main impact of the attack which was in the centre.

The Thunder had strike down and the entire field was engulfed in a blinding flash of yellow. After the flash had diminished, I spotted Illumise leaning onto a nearby tree for support, while struggling to pant for air. Ataro took the chance to quickly run forward to snatch the fallen Park Ball. He took a sharp turn and ran back towards Illumise. Illumise must have knew what was going on though, for she shook her head vigorously and a silhouette of white outline had circled around her head. It seemed like a Zen Headbutt, but I was not entirely sure. She headbutted Ataro fiercely and in doing those, the Park Ball that Ataro had held had dropped and was rolling forward.

Oh dear, looks like I'm gonna have to use another Park Ball...

Just as I had finished my thought, the Illumise fell back from the impact instead. In doing so, she accidentally knocked against the capture device and activated if instead. A quick series do flash and red beam engulfed Illumise within. The Park Ball had shook a couple of times but stopped soon after. Unlike before, this was a success.

“Glad to see the rain's stopped,” Ivy said as she went forward to pick up the Park Ball. “Did you want a rest or anything before moving on? Did you have another disk you wanted to play?”

"Yeah, we're left with Zangoose now," I replied. Taking out the last disk I was going to use today, I jammed it inside the Pokeplayer, and a scary feral cry soon echoed through the woods.

I started to wonder about Illumise. She was certainly particularly defiant. She was probably going to be a pain in the back to train. I still wasn't sure if I would trade her away. That would naturally be the first option, but many times while capturing your Pokemon through hard work and effort, you just can't bear to trade away the Pokemon. I knew for sure that the next Pokemon, I would not trade it away. I had been looking for a Zangoose for one of the longest times and this had better be my day. Both my Ambipoms were not in tip-top shape anymore, so they would probably have to use teamwork to take down Zangoose later on.

@WinterVines