Mini Run--Truly (Gardens)

@Truly; Make sure to ask if you have any questions!

Sorry this took me a couple days to get up. Was bogged down by a Linguistics essay test.

NBP#1

Ranger Ivy Frost

---

Ivy was working on repotting some of the plants in the greenhouses when her phone started buzzing. The woman sighed and stopped what she was doing, leaving a sad-looking Pecha berry plant in its original pot. She had been about to dig it out and move it to the next size up. Shaking her hands and wiping the residual dirt on her cargos, she reached for her phone.

The message on it showed that someone was coming into the Gardens for a run. It looked to be one of the new style they were trying with new visitors. Ivy found a lot of the Trainers came into the Park unprepared because they didn't know how the place worked and weren't ready for how long normal runs could be. They were trying a new style that was a shortened version to see if it helped.

Since it was a slow day and Ivy was the closest person, she started cleaning up so she could head out. Normally she didn't mind a lot of these side tasks, but she had been doing too many of them lately because of the slow season. She wanted to get back on the runs.

The Ranger took her long red hair out of the ponytail it was in and shook it out, finding her red canvas vest and sliding it back on. As she put her tools away, she walked past Haji, her Espeon, who was lounging on top of one of the work tables, basking in the sun. He watched her silently, flicking his tail back and forth lazily.

“Got a run coming in,” she told him, although he likely already knew thanks to their mental connection.

The purple cat stretched and stood up, jumping off the table as Ivy headed toward the door. Her phone beeped again as she shut the place up so wild Pokemon didn't wander in and mess something up. Usually they left the greenhouses open, but a lot of the plants still had to be repotted or moved out into other areas of the Park, so it was better to be safe than sorry. Last time, a lot of the pots were broken after a Cacturne had ran through the place.

It didn't take the duo long to head to the main gate at the head of the garden. As they walked, Ivy checked her phone again. Information about the Trainer had been sent from one of the secretaries at the main outpost. It looked like a young girl named Morgana was coming in with a Wailmer. That was an odd choice, as there wasn't a whole lot of water around here and the whale would be weak to many of the Pokemon, but Ivy thought she'd do her best to make sure they didn't encounter any of the dangerous species.

When they arrived at the gate, Ivy took a seat at one of the benches against the outpost wall, tucking her arms behind her head while waiting for the Trainer and her Pokemon.

---

Current Battle Stats: N/A

---

Trainer Stats

Trainer: Morgana
Location: Botanical Gardens
Encounters Remaining: 5
Area Effects: It's sunny.
Pokemon Encountered: None
Pokemon Captured: None
MCR: 0

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

Pokemon Stats

Jolly F Wailmer
Nickname: Mora
Ability: Obvivious
TM/HM/BM/SM/MT: TM 101 Scald

 

@WinterVines
Not sure what stats I'm supposed to put at the top (or bottom?) of each post. I'll browse around for them tomorrow, but I figured I'd put this up here, short as it is, before I hit the sack!

Even with the shuttles running around the island, the trip from the Registration Office to the Gardens took a good twenty minutes. It would have been longer, too, if the traffic had been running on schedule, but there was no point in running transport every thirty minutes if hardly anybody was in the Park. The girl on the bus clutched in her hand her registration form-- it had been stamped, and presumably processed. She probably should have left it with the secretary that moved her over from The Woods, which had been scribbled out of the 'Location' with blue pen, to the Botanical Gardens, which was written in all smushed up at the end of the line.

The girl nabbed her bag and hopped off the shuttle with no more ceremony than a mumbled "thanks," and ran across the pine needles to Ranger Outpost #5. She banged three times on the door, and hurriedly smoothed down the creases on her windbreaker, and reset any short, fly-away hairs. Her registration form, now terribly crumpled, she crammed into her coat-pocket, a final preparation to begin her first 'run' in the National Park. At the top, it read in large, blue, printed letters, "Morgana."

 

@Truly;

NBP#2

Ranger Ivy Frost

---

Ivy was just resting her eyes as she tilted the back of her head against the outpost wall. It was a nice day to just sit outside. Her earlier heat rush from the greenhouses had worn off thanks to the breeze, and slowly she could feel her muscles relaxing. That would make the next turn more pleasant.

She must've drifted off for a second since Haji's mental energy tingled in the back of her mind a brief moment before she heard a knocking at the outpost door. That was odd. Nobody ever knocked.

The Ranger got up and walked around the side of the building. If her suspicions were correct, this was probably her Trainer. The bench was on the other side of the building, so it was no wonder the Trainer didn't notice her.

As she approached the door, she caught sight of a girl with dark hair waiting. “Oh, hey,” Ivy greeted. “You must be Morgana. I'm Ivy, your Ranger today.”

The red-haired woman peeked her head into the doors, eying the secretaries at the desk. They were all working away, but Natalie, one of the younger ones, looked up as she peered. “It's okay, I got it,” Ivy told the lady that was about to get up. “It was just my Trainer.”

“Well, it's nice to meet you,” she told Morgana. “No need to knock at places like this. It's way too big and there's too much activity to be heard. I don't even think any of the secretaries in there heard you.”

As Ivy explaiend, she took a couple steps toward the entrance to the Gardens. She motioned to the end of the gravel and the beginning of freshly-cut lawns. The main “gate” as it were, was simply two carved marble statues with a bridge of tangled flowers arcing between them. The statues were both of Virizion, one of the patron legendaries in this area.

“Well, here we are. It's not much to look at yet, but there's a lot to see. Since you're new, I'll give you the low down on how things work. Basically, we'll wander around until we see some wild Pokemon. This run won't be as long as our normal runs as part of the promotion,” Ivy said as she approached one of the statues. She rubbed at a dirt spot on one of the legend's legs. It was caked on mud.

“When we see a Pokemon, I'll generally ask if you're interested in it. Some of the wild ones are content to follow around, but most like a challenge. A lot of them see Trainers often so know what to expect. Then, you can decide what you want to do. Since this is your first run, I'll try to make sure we steer clear of anything too dangerous.”

The Ranger gave the girl a few minutes to soak that in. There was more to explain, but overloading was never good. “Now then, where would you like to head first? A few places of interest here is the statue garden, the greenhouses, and the hedge maze, among others.”

---

Current Battle Stats: N/A

---

Trainer Stats

Trainer: Morgana
Location: Botanical Gardens
Encounters Remaining: 5
Area Effects: It's sunny.
Pokemon Encountered: None
Pokemon Captured: None
MCR: 1,154

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

Pokemon Stats

Jolly F Wailmer
Nickname: Mora
Ability: Obvivious
TM/HM/BM/SM/MT: TM 101 Scald

 

@WinterVines

Morgana shook the Ranger's hand in both of hers, "It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Ivy!" A park run was normally out of the young trainer's budget, so she wanted to make sure she was on her best behaviour.

Admiring the statues as they passed, Morgana lingered at them for a moment, falling slightly behind Ranger Ivy. She hadn't seen anything like the stone figures, though she admittedly hadn't done much research in... on... well, whatever they depicted. They reminded her of the Stantler from her father's old charcoal sketches. They were impressive, all sleek and tall and imposing, even in statue form-- even with their little booties. Morgana thought that feature was adorable.

She put her hand on the statue's leg, like it were a real Pokemon and she'd be able to feel it's lean muscles under the stony skin. "Is this the sort of thing we're going to see!?" Anything was fair game, she figured. She had filled her head with fantasies of the majestic Furret and elusive Linoone before even deciding to part with a significant chunk of her PokeDollars-- one of the reasons she had ultimately chosen the Gardens out over the Woods. But she'd be amazed to see something more akin to the handsome reindeer Pokemon while she was here.

Once in the Garden proper, it was time to set about business. "Uh, hmm. I think maybe it would be a good idea to start at the Statue Garden?" Morgana toed some gravel that had managed to sneak it's was into the grass. "Seems like if any place is likely to have a water feature, a fountain or something, it would be there." She let that hang in the air for a second-- if she were wrong, Morgana was sure she would be corrected in a moment. Of course, she wasn't picky. She'd be grateful for whatever.

It didn't matter though, her mind was fairly made up. The greenhouses were sure to be crawling with Leaf-Type Pokemon, which, while she wouldn't shy away from them, wouldn't be a good way to start the run. And the hedge maze... well, even if she got lost, Ranger Ivy probably knew her way around. But it wouldn't do to get lost and disheartened so early on, either.

"Yeah!" the empty Park Balls on her belt clinked together at the pumping of her fist. "Ranger Ivy, can we go to the Statues?"

 

@Truly; Sorry about the delay! Uni's been keeping me really busy lately with stories, papers, and projects due. Midtermish and all.

NBP#3

Ranger Ivy Frost

---

The girl pondered Ivy's question for a moment, deciding where she really wanted to go. This was always a hard part for most Trainers—new ones in particular who didn't really know their way around the different environments yet.

After a few minutes, the Trainer said, “I think maybe it would be a good idea to start at the statue garden?”

Ivy smiled and nodded. “Sure, there are a few different types of Pokemon that hang around that area. We'll probably see something along the way too,” she added.

With a location in mind, the Ranger led the group under the Garden's arch and into the wildlife zone. At first, there was a smooth path, edged by trees with plenty of space between them, letting sunlight stream through their leaves and onto the ground. As they continued, however, the trees became thicker and the path more shadowed. It was pretty quiet today, which was probably good for a new Trainer. Ivy remembered other runs through this area—one of them consisted of she and her Trainer running after an Eevee who wanted to play.

When the fork in the road came, Ivy led them to the left, and after a short distance, they reached one set of the hedge maze. This one wasn't the main section, but this path was the shortest to get to the statue garden, which was located in the center of the area. Well, it was shortest if one didn't get lost in the pseudo-maze. Good thing Ivy had this place memorized by now.

The hedges were taller than Ivy, standing around ten feet. The path through them was about the same width wide—sometimes battles happened in the lanes, after all. Some people got freaked out walking between walls they couldn't see over, even with the bright sky overhead, but Ivy hadn't had a claustrophobic Trainer in a while.

Through twists and turns they walked, until Ivy thought they were pretty close to where Morgana wanted to go. After another elbow in the path, they came to a section that was wider and more cleared out—a rest area.

A line of benches sat against one of the walls, and in the square-shaped enclave, a garden of flowers had been planted. The petals were still healthy and vibrant in all sorts of oranges, reds, and blues.

Ivy turned to the Trainer to see if she wanted to take a quick break and maybe check the area out a little, but then the flower patch rustled. Turning, she spied one of the green stalks bobbing unusually. As she stepped closer, a rounded yellow and brown seed tumbled out of the flowers, giggling happily.

“Oh, there's a Sunkern,” Ivy said as she gestured to the wild Pokemon. “Not the best competitively from what I gathered, but most of them I've seen have been pretty cheery and do a great job of keeping their partners in a good mood. Any interest in it?” the Ranger asked.

---

Current Encounter Stats:

??? ??? Sunkern: 100%

---

Trainer Stats

Trainer: Morgana
Location: Botanical Gardens
Encounters Remaining: 4
Area Effects: It's sunny.
Pokemon Encountered: Sunkern
Pokemon Captured: None
MCR: 3,387/4,000 [Common Rank*]

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

Pokemon Stats

Jolly F Wailmer
Nickname: Mora
Ability: Obvivious
TM/HM/BM/SM/MT: TM 101 Scald

 

@WinterVines

The Garden was turning out to be pretty, light filtering through the foliage and covering the ground with that sort of shade that's not fully dark nor fully lit. A very pleasant, warm sort of shade. It was like that for all of three minutes, after which Ranger Ivy lead Morgana into the hedge maze, a place Morgana thought she had opted out of. Maybe, the girl thought, considering the impressive, neatly-trimmed walls, which cast a chilly autumn shade into the path, this was a really bad idea. Surely, such hearty greenery reflected the strength of the Grass-type Pokemon in the area. She wasn't sure if Mora would be up to facing any of them.

Morgana sighed when they reached the rest area-- more of the soft grass here was warmed with mid-morning sun, and the large hedges weren't so imposing, when they were blocking light on both sides. She pulled on her jacket's hoodstrings, relaxing a bit. Besides, the flowers looked happy enough. Actually, the flowers seemed unusually pleased. Do garden displays giggle?

“Oh, there's a Sunkern. Any interest in it?”

"Erm..."

Truth be told, Morgana wouldn't have given the little seedling a second glance. It wasn't very impressive-looking, and the Ranger had just told her it wouldn't be much good for battling.

"It looks like it would rather play than battle me, though," Morgana said, turning to her guide, "So, uh, what should I do then?"

Morgana's attention shifted back to the cooing Pokemon. Adjusting her bandana, she unsnapped her one occupied Pokeball from her trainer's belt. I guess that means it will fit right in with Mora... She planted her feet, preparing to throw to capsule impressively... but then remembered herself, and just pressed the button on the front.

Kwhoooooooiiiiiigh??

A great big ball of light appeared right in front of Morgana, quickly materializing into a great big Wailmer that pushed its trainer to the ground.

"WHIIIIIIIIH...!" The whale groaned deeply, rolling awkwardly on the solid ground where it had been summoned, but it showed a wide grin all the same.

"Um, hi Mora!" Morgana began, a bit flustered from being thrown down. She pointed around her Wailmer, to where Ranger Ivy was standing near the Sunkern, "I thought you could maybe, uh, have fun with this Pokemon?"

Mora twisted slowly, trying to look behind herself. "Whuuuuuuuuuuh," she called, hopping in place to turn around. When she spotted the striped seed and red-headed woman waiting beside the flower bed, her grin grew even wider. She gave a big wink to the two, causing her whole body to tilt comically, and then upon sloshing upright, squirted a little squirt of water from her nostrils onto Sunkern.

Unsure how to react in a situation like this, Morgana just stood up and brushed a few renegade grass trimmings from the back of her shorts. "Mrs. Ivy, this is my Pokemon, Mora. Mora, be nice, ok?"

The big round Pokemon just chortled in response, "Wheeeheeeheeeh!"

 

@Truly;

NBP#4

Ranger Ivy Frost

---

Morgana seemed a little unimpressed with the Sunkern—Ivy couldn't really blame her. Most Trainers wrote it off. However, the girl did notice its seemingly docile nature.

“It looks like it would rather plan than battle me,” the Trainer said.

In response, she pressed the button on a Pokeball to open it. In a flash of light, a rather large blue ball flopped to the ground. It's large cream belly ensured that it didn't sit quite flat on the ground, but the large smile on the Wailmer said that it was having a good time. It seemed like it was just a huge balloon as it rocked back and forth, its fins flapping happily.

“Ivy, this is my Pokemon, Mora. Mora, be nice, okay?” she added to her Pokemon.

Ivy just waved at the whale's good mood. Seeing the Sunkern, the Wailmer smiled even more. Then, it spit a small stream of water at the Grass-type. The liquid arced up into the air, much like a drinking fountain.

Seeing this, the Sunkern let out a squeal of delight, rocking back and forth on its seed-shaped body much like Mora was doing. It hopped up and down a few times, and then small green seeds sprang up into the air from the top of its head. The Pokemon fixated on them.

When the water rained down, the seeds opened up, sprouting a two-leaf stem. It was the start of a Leech Seed. They weren't aimed at Mora, however. Instead, they did swirls in the air, dancing on the breeze. Water and those tiny spores floated down, causing the Sunkern to giggle happily again.

The seed Pokemon bounced over to the Wailmer and rocked into her side gently, as if saying, what next?

---

Current Encounter Stats:

??? ??? Sunkern: 100% [Playing with Mora]

---

Trainer Stats

Trainer: Morgana
Location: Botanical Gardens
Encounters Remaining: 4
Area Effects: It's sunny.
Pokemon Encountered: Sunkern
Pokemon Captured: None
MCR: 6,331/4,000 [Common Rank*]

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

Pokemon Stats

Jolly F Wailmer
Nickname: Mora
Ability: Obvivious
TM/HM/BM/SM/MT: TM 101 Scald

 

The Wailmer applauded by rocking quickly and slapping it's sides.

Morgana scratched her cheek, unimpressed. Just as she thought, they were playing together. She knew not all Pokémon were cut out to make great battlers, "but if I keep collecting Pokémon that just want to play all day, I'll never make it as a Pokémon Trainer," she mumbled.

"Ok! Mora, use Mist to make a rainbow! This is ridiculous..."

Morgana's Pokémon made some sound of acknowledgment, then squished up her face and sprayed more water through her blowhole. This time, it came out as tiny droplets that fell slowly through the air and caught the sunlight. Each particle glimmered with the reflection, beautiful up close (the cloud enveloped Ranger Ivy, unless she stepped quickly out of the way), but from a few paces back, refracted and interacted in the typical way you'd expect in the morning light. A hazy, misty little rainbow shone through. Mora had almost certainly practised this trick.

And Morgana had certainly seen it before. She hiked her bag up on her shoulder and walked to one of the stone benches in the shade, only stopping a moment for the spectacle of a rainbow. She sat down and stretched her legs.

"I guess I'll just let them play for a while," she told her Ranger. Ivy didn't seem to be in a big hurry, so why should she? Maybe she'd just gotten caught up in the excitement of the prospect of catching some wild new Pokémon. But watching the underwhelming encounter, her anxiety about the Park and her burning drive for great battles had both taken a turn for the mellow. Maybe Mora had the right idea: take it easy, take it slow, and just try to enjoy yourself along the way. Maybe that was the trick to not just the Park, but to Pokémon training?

 

@Truly;

NBP#5

Ranger Ivy Frost

---

With everything seemingly going well, Morgana didn't seem eager to break the Pokemon up, though she didn't seem exactly overjoyed either. She mumbled to herself but decided to help her Pokemon out.

Ivy, seeing that they were going to be taking a break of sorts, backed over to the hedge wall, near the bench, where she sort of leaned up against the thick foliage to watch. It was nice, she thought. As a Ranger, she spent a lot of time here, but belatedly, she realized she didn't just hang out with her Pokemon that much—she didn't really have that many at this point in her life. Worked too much for that.

But seeing stuff like this made her wish she would take more time out for that. After all, Pokemon were like family too, weren't they?

“Okay, Mora, use Mist to make a rainbow!” the Trainer called with a sort of faux cheeriness. “This is ridiculous...” she mumbled as she trekked over to take a seat on the stone bench to watch. “I guess I'll let them play for a while,” she told Ivy.

The Ranger nodded. “Not a bad idea. I often find that Pokemon more comfortable with their Trainers, the ones who have a good time, who are more attached, often perform better, even when at a disadvantage. I guess that's just part of the bond between Trainer and Pokemon.”

It was all things that they'd drilled into all of the would-be Rangers when she was studying. A surprising amount of what they'd needed to learn hadn't even been about Rangering at all—it was just about being a good Trainer and respecting all things. Made sense, especially now that she'd been on the job for a little while. It was just sort of funny sometimes.

Mora seemed eager to do what her Trainer asked and wasted no time scrunching up and releasing a spray of water. This time, it wasn't like droplets, but instead like a mist. And thanks to the nice weather, as the light reflected off of the liquid, it shone beautifully.

At the squee from the Sunkern, Ivy knew the wild Pokemon enjoyed it too. After all, with its Leech Seed display, it had been prompting the Wailmer to up the ante as it were.

The two Pokemon played for a while, going back and forth and trying to see what sort of cool grass and water displays they could generate. There were happy sounds. A couple uprooted flowers suffered for it, and the Pokemon looked slightly tired from the exertion of trying so many things out, but as both seemed rather happy, it was probably well-worth it.

In fact, the Sunkern looked a little sleepy, as it it had exhausted most of its energy. Because they didn't travel and have training like captured Pokemon, a lot of a wild's endurance was not up to par with Trainers' mons. It was something most people had to keep in mind when they were here and why the Park had rules about things like double teaming a single wild Pokemon.

Suddenly, a droning call came through their ears. Ivy stood up straighter, and the two Pokemon looked around confused.

Before long, a small brown Pokemon with a long, striped tail came darting through the clearing, running on all fours. The Sentret had a couple of flowers gripped in its mouth as it streaked past, giving none of them a second glance, only offering its... rushed? whine before it slipped into the maze.

Both the Wailmer and Sunkern tilted their heads as they looked after it.

“Well, that was strange,” Ivy said, trying to see where it had gone. Unfortunately, there were often small holes in the maze that allowed smaller Pokemon to cheat and slip under the hedge walls—unlike the people who followed.

“If you wanna check it out, we should probably say farewell to Sunkern—unless you want to take it with you?”

---

Current Encounter Stats:

??? ??? Sunkern: 40% [Playing with Mora]
Jolly F Wailmer: 95% [Playing with Sunkern]

Area Effects: A Sentret just ran past.

---

Trainer Stats

Trainer: Morgana
Location: Botanical Gardens
Encounters Remaining: 4
Area Effects: It's sunny.
Pokemon Encountered: Sunkern
Pokemon Captured: None
MCR: 8,077/4,000 [Common Rank*]

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

Pokemon Stats

Jolly F Wailmer @ 95%
Nickname: Mora
Ability: Obvivious
TM/HM/BM/SM/MT: TM 101 Scald