Welcome to Gaia! ::

((Waking Wayne is nigh impossible. You're not up to the task.))

((Gym's closed til noon. Got something special planned razz Sorry, Richard))

((I'm back with a vengeance! Kinda!))


[Night, Day 3]

[And…done.] Baku swayed back away from the tadpole Pokemon it was hovering over and a small, pink bubble popped from the pink spot on his forehead, disappearing in a puff of pink smoke.

“I take it you enjoyed it?” Avan had seen the bubbles before, a smile taking place on his lips; He had always enjoyed the small display that he was sure was involuntary when the Munna ate a good dream. He could have been wrong though. But when it happened every time, the train of thought was too out there. And it really made him wonder what happened when Baku ate a bad dream such as Avan’s reoccurring nightmare. Avan was sure he’d never know.

Baku didn’t answer.

Avan frowned and lied back on the bed in the room he had gotten at the Pokemon Center, “What was it ab-“ Before he could finish, the Tympole began to rouse from its Hypnosis-induced slumber. Baku cut the boy short with what sounded to be a clearing of the throat, letting him know to be quiet; Avan himself was too busy looking at the ceiling to notice the waking water-type.

Avan turned and looked from the bed, down at the Tympole. He frowned again.

[Good dreams?] Baku teased with a sly grin. Turned away, not understanding, and looked at Avan; who in turn smiled before his displeased look could be caught.

“Get a good rest?” It wasn’t a further attempt to tease the Pokemon, even if it may have sounded like it. The Tympole nodded. Or at least Avan thought it did. The whole “head-body” threw him off. At least Kali had a distinguishable head. The boy nodded back and returned the tadpole to its Pokeball. He held it front of himself, I’m sorry…

[So what now?] Baku asked.

“Sleep.” Avan replied. “I’m sorry to make you eat again so soon…” He pulled the blanket over himself and brought his legs in closer. He was still mad at Baku for attacking him. He understood why he did it, but it was still unwarranted. Tomorrow he’d release the captured Tympole. It felt weird having it caught it in such a manner. It wasn’t something he wanted to in the first place; rather it was the will of that Munna who now had quite a significant control over the boy’s life and how he spent it. At the mercy of not having his nightmare eaten, that wasn’t something Avan wanted to face. He had spent his whole life suffering from it, and now that he could finally rest in peace, it was too good to let go.

Eventually, Avan slipped into slumber; and Baku went to eat again.

[Flashback]

*

[Late-Morning, Day 4]

Having finally reached its destination, the diligent Lillipup walked with its nose pressed to the ground, and sought out the scent that it had lost the night before. It wasn’t the fact that it was simply something that one could easily lose, what with the area being high traffic with all sorts of trainers and pokemon, but rather the fact that the puppy pokemon was so curious, that it deviated from its intended path too many times to count. So many fascinating sights and smells that it just had to explore and investigate; it made it wonder why it never left home to begin with. Suffice to say, it became distracted by even the smallest thing.

Through some miracle of nature it made it to Nacrene; even if it was a bit lost, and had no clue where the boy with the jacket with the scent of blood was. He could have been anywhere. The Lillipup whimpered as it trotted the alleys of the city and tried to remain out of sight as much as it could.

*

“What a nice day…eh, Simisear?” The girl, black hair down from her usual pigtails and tufts, asked the fire monkey that walked lazily at her side. And it really was a good day. She had returned from her visit with Juniper after winning her fifth badge. Her quest, her journey, it was finally all coming together. Everything she did from this point on was for him.

[Sim…*munch*…sim. *munch*] It replied in between bites of a honey bun, its favorite sweet treat.

“Fatty.” The girl teased. The monkey shrugged and stuffed the rest in his mouth, taking fewer bites than one would expect before swallowing. It could honestly care less. Simisear were notorious for loving sweets.

Out of the corner of her eye, the girl spotted a lone Lillipup wandering through an alley. Oh? She turned to see it, and at the same time it spotted her. The puppy stood as still as stone and stared. The girl took a step forward and the Lillipup growled. “Hello…” She started. The Simisear at her side looked at her skeptically. Just what was this girl doing? “Are you lost?” She stepped forward once again, and the pokemon barked, startling the girl. It wasn’t exactly a fierce bark; it was a rather cute bark actually. This didn’t detour her taking another step forward. “Looking for something?” With that, the Lillipup barked again, turned tail, and ran away. “Ah! Wait!” The girl, and consequently her Simisear, ran after the Pokemon.

*

I can’t believe I’m up so early. There was so much disgust in Avan’s head at the very thought of it. Man is SO not meant for this. He trudged along until he reached his destination. The Nacrene Museum and Library. He had heard that Nacrene had one of the largest libraries in all the Unova Region. He supposed it wouldn’t hurt to take a look. That morning, however, he was on business. There was something he had to look up.

*

[Mid-Afternoon, Day 4]

I’m here now. Avan carefully made his way through the low, muddy swap of the outer region of the Pinwheel Forest. He gripped a Pokeball tight in his hand; and Baku floated at head level, following the boy. The Munna was getting quite a kick out of watching the boy struggle to wade through the mud, knowing that Avan hated every second of it. But he gave him credit; that boy was sure sticking to principle.

When the boy finally reached what he thought was good spot, he called out the Tympole from the pokeball that held it. It made a sound almost comparable to a vibrating croak and splashed its tail in the mud. It seemed to enjoy being back. “Hello Tympole.” Avan lowered himself to be closer to the Tympole. “Thank you for letting Baku eat your dream. I’m sure he appreciates it. Isn’t that right?” He shot a look in Baku’s direction.

[Yes, yes, it was delicious.]

Avan removed the bangs from his face before his hand moved to rub the back of his head. “Um…well you’re free to go now.” He motioned to the wilderness around them. Tympole looked at him confused. “You know…go home? Go free? No need to be held up.” Baku was now looming over Avan.

[I don’t think it works that way.] The Munna blurted out. Avan thought for a second.

He might be right. After all…hmm… The boy rose up to a standing position and pulled out his Pokedex. “Maybe it has something to do with this…” The boy fumbled around with the buttons for a good three minutes before finding what he wanted. “Here it is.” Avan turned to show Baku his ‘achievement’. “You release them using this scre-“ His head was suddenly assaulted with a stream of bubbles. Avan turned around, “Hey! What the- Ah!” Another beam came at his hand, knocking the Pokedex out of it; only for it to be caught by Baku using its telekinesis before landing in the mud. “What are you doing!?” His question was answered with an outburst of Uproar, a short one, but enough to get its point across.

[It’s obvious.]

Avan turned around once more to confront the know-it-all Munna, “Care to enlighten me?”

[Do you know what the Tympole’s dream was?]Baku started suddenly, high and mighty in his tone.

Uh, no. You never told me. b*****d. Avan looked back at Tympole and then back at Baku. “No.” He replied.

[Tympole was fully evolved.] Baku started, [He was being commanded in battle by a talented and strong trainer behind him. The battle was intense, it took a toll on both pokemon and trainer, but in the end, the trainer and Tympole came out the winner. ] Avan raised an eyebrow. [And do you know who that trainer was?!] The Pokemon answered before the boy could react. [It was you. You, Avan Briendal.]

“You can’t be serious.” Avan was dumbfounded by such a statement. “Me?”

[That is correct. It seems that Tympole wanted a trainer. With the amount of Tympole in the area, one specific being caught is very slim. I don’t exactly blame it for sticking around.”

“But wanting to be caught?”

[I don’t understand that either. But looking back, it makes sense.] Baku began floating a slow circle around the boy. [Why do you think it fought back instead of just running like many Pokemon do?] Avan began to answer, but was cut off, [It was testing you. Pokemon don’t just allow themselves to be caught. Either they are too weak to fight off being caught, or they see something in that trainer and choose to go along with them.] The circle stopped with Baku staring face to face with Avan once more. [It seems the ladder was the case for the Tympole.] The Munna floated up into a tree and sat on a low branch. [It saw something in you,] he spoke much lighter than he did a minute ago, teasing now, [I don’t see it myself. But now it seems it doesn’t want to leave.]

Avan bit lightly on his lip; another predicament he was caught in. Even he knew that he was not what Tympole saw. He was someone who got lucky. The boy turned and knelt once more in front of Tympole. “Is it true? You wanted to be caught, and now you don’t want to go?” The Tympole replied with a happy gurgle; Avan sighed. “I’m not what you think.” From the tree branch came Baku once more, down he floated to be next to Avan’s head.

[Plasma won’t fall easily.] Was all Baku uttered before floating off to take a look around. And he wasn’t completely wrong. A boy and two Pokemon weren’t enough to bring down an entire organization. Perhaps…

Avan sighed louder, mostly for the sake of Baku, who wasn’t that far away. “Fine. Tympole…no…George, welcome to the group…”

[George!] Baku laughed.

“Shut up!”

*

[Early Night, Day 4]

“Alright everyone.” In front of Avan were Kali, Baku, and the newly named George the Tympole. “You might be wondering why we are out here in this….I guess it’s a clearing,” And it was. “And you were probably wondering why I was at the library for so long.” Avan pulled out his pokedex, precisely clicking a few buttons, and checking a few things. “I learned how to work this thing, for one.” He smiled and clicked the device closed. “But also,” The boy slipped the Pokedex back into his pocket, “I learned a few interesting things about the three of you. I know it’s out of character…but it’s time to train.”

And one thing else. To become stronger we’ll have to win against the Gym Leader here. She won’t be easy...

*

-Baku, you can learn a move called Calm Mind. Please take it upon yourself to learn it. You’ll need to clear your mind and calm your spirit to learn this; and that’s only something you can do. I know that it will be tough…but I have faith in you.-

The Munna had spilt from the group to find a quieter place in a tree top; he found a nice, large branch about mid-way up. [Who does he think he is ordering me around like this? I’ll make him pay a thousand times over! Oh yes! No more good dreams for him!] Baku was going on and on. That wasn’t helping. He huffed and shut his eyes, still murmuring. Somehow he had to calm himself.

*

“Bubblebeam!” From the Tympole named George a literal beam of bubbles were launched at his opponent. His opponent, being Kali, twisted out of the way with her thin, ghostly body; firing off a Night Shade, which manifested as Tympole’s greatest fear, Mycophobia, MUSHROOMS! Many mushrooms bombarded the water type and he pushed back. “Let’s go, Mud Shot!” Avan called from the sidelines. The Tadpole Pokemon heeded the command and shot a burst of mud forward toward Kali, this time the attack landed.

-Kali, we both know your Hex still needs to be mastered, so you’ll be training against George and I, but at the same time, there is one more. There’s a move called Will-O-Wisp, I believe if you can learn it, we’ll have an edge. And George, if you’re up for it, like I just told Kali, you and I will be battling her. Taking this muddy into account, we’ll aim for you to learn an attack called Muddy Water.-

As the training continued, Kali began to wear out and the black mist, the signal for Hex, began to leak from her hands. Avan stopped the battling, telling Kali to utilize that and will the attack out.

“C’mon! Remember being pushed to your limit! What it felt like the times the attack showed itself!” Avan spoke with a teachers tone. After a few failed attempts, Kali managed to realize her strengths and bring the attack to fruition. The large eye-like form of the black mist opened and looked down upon the Tympole, releasing its waves of energy. “Now Tympole, like we have been practicing, try to combine Bubblebeam and Mudshot into Muddy Water!” Avan thought this was quite brilliant; get enough of the water and the mud will fill the gap between forming Muddy Water. After failed attempts on the Tympole’s part, it finally worked. A large blast of murky water was unleashed on the floating eye. Muddy Water had been accomplished.

Avan had each Pokemon try them out separately to make sure they had it down; and he was pleased with the results. After, the boy returned George for a moment with Kali. “Good job.” He patted her on the head. “Now, one final thing…Will-o-Wisp. I want you remember that Litwick.” Just the utterance of that Pokemon’s name infuriated the Yamask. “I know, I know. But I want you to remember his flames. Remember how the flames burned. Think and visualize and then form.” He smiled and patted her once more. “I’m going to go check on Baku and see how things are going. So go ahead and start without me.” With that, Avan took to looking for the problematic, pink pokemon.

Luckily, he didn’t have to go very far.

“There you are.” Avan looked up into a tree; Baku’s pink body standing out against the green and brown tree, even in the night. The Munna spied the boy with only one eye opened, he didn’t answer. Baku simply floated down and shot a Psybeam at the tree he had perched himself in. It made a small crater in the wood. “And?” Avan asked, wondering just what the point of that was. No answer. Baku closed his eyes and then glowed a faint red for just a moment. Then came another Psybeam at a different tree. This time the tree did not come away with just a small crater; it was much larger, taking up the entirely of its width, as well as being much deeper. “Awesome! So you managed to do it!”

[Of course.] Spoke the Pokemon.

“Cool…so let’s get back to-“

[Avan,] Baku interrupted him before he could get away, [Why the sudden interest in training?] The Munna sounded quite serious; a deep stare adorned his face. Avan simpered.

“I knew you’d ask. Kali just seems to go along with whatever I want…but you…” Avan was stalling.

[Well?]

Busted.

“I- no, we have to get stronger.” Avan folded his arms and leaned against a tree. “It seems so many are now relying on me. Penny has gone missing. George is expecting great things from me now. Kali stays for some unknown reason.” He paused. “And let’s not forget a certain Munna relying on me to get him the dreams he wants.” Baku smirked, “Not to mention take down Plasma. I…don’t want to fail anymore. I don’t want to disappoint anymore.”

There was an awkward silence. But that was broken by the pink pokemon noticing a large plume of smoke rising.

“s**t, Kali!” Avan took to running first, returning to where he had left Kali. The area was aflame. Kali had learned Will-O-Wisp. In a moment of quick thinking, something new to the boy, he called George out once more to put out the fire. The Tympole did a little jig, and it started to rain.

“Close one…” Avan breathed out a heavy sigh. Kali floated up to him, a tiny bit ashamed, but still brimming with the fact she had been able to use the attack. “Good job again Kali. You can rest now.” The boy returned the Yamask and Tympole to their respective balls.

“I’m surprised she used it so quickly…” Avan gave an awkward laugh. “I wonder if it had anything to do with me mentioning that Litwick…”

[Hell hath no fury…] Baku stated. The reference flew right over Avan. ((Side note- Avan hasn’t figured out that Kali is a girl >< ))

“Sure…” He murmured as he checked the time on his xtranceiver. It was three in the morning. Eight hours had passed since they began. Not that Avan was thinking about it at the time, but he was surprisingly tired after checking the time; he supposed it all now just caught up to him. “Tired Baku?” He asked.

Little did Avan know that Baku had actually taken a nap before he arrived.

Baku answered that by starting to float on ahead back to town. Avan followed behind.

*

Upon returning to the Pokemon Center where he had a room for the night, he fell face first into the bed, loving every second of its comfort, and soon drifting off. All without a shower or getting ready to sleep. Something he would never do under normal circumstances.

The boy slept and Baku’s nose picked up a famliar scent. The scent of what the boy feared the most. He floated up to the sleeping boy, sniffed again to confirm, and began to feed.

[And you’re relying on me as well.]

*

[Morning, Day 5]

A little after seven A.M., his xtranceiver woke him abruptly. Unfortunately for Avan, he had used his arm as a pillow, so not only was the noise even louder for being so close, but now he had an xtranceiver-shaped imprint on his check. He jolted awake and cursed out the device. He mumbled in his indecipherable morning language, clumsily took off the device which was still ringing, and angrily threw it at the wall. It stopped ringing. Avan passed back out.

"It's all good," Eunmi smiled. "Not a problem, I'll just get his number later..."

((To the gym, I suppoooosee.))

((They don't know that yet. And I knowwww I'm part of JAMT. xD

Or were they going training? I forget.))

The two set off to the Pokemon Center then to retrieve Henrietta's Pokemon.

At the Pokemon Center Henrietta approached the counter, and went through formalities. Such was the case with an overnight stay, as you couldn't expect the morning nurse to know Pokemon that the night nurse took. Such an idea was absurd.

"I-i just need to get my things as well," Henrietta told Eunmi as she went to fully check out of her room. Pokeballs on her belt and Melty in a new one(she'd wondered why he was missing his ball but simply opted to get him a new one instead of worrying about it, since she couldn't find it).

Inside of the room she gathered her things when a knock came at the door. "C-coming!" she called and she headed over. As soon as she turned the handle the door exploded open in her face. Hands gripped her throat and she felt herself hit the ground. She clawed at the wrists as she stared up at the partially burned woman, blonde hair falling around her face, nurse uniform covered in burns and missing patches.

"You!" she growled through grit teeth and Henrietta tried to make a sound as she flailed her legs uselessly. No avail.

"H-help," was all she managed, but it was too quiet for anyone to hear.

Eunmi waited in the lobby, kneeling to look at D-Vee.

"Do I drink to much?" Eunmi asked. She really didn't remember falling asleep.

[If you have to ask, I think that's a yes,] D-Vee replied with a nod.

"Maybe I shouldn't do that so much," she murmured, patting him on the forehead. "I'm really a lightweight."

Eunmi stretched, still feeling groggy.

"She's taking a while, isn't she...?" she glanced at her watch. "What do you think is the hold up?"

[She's probably getting attacked or something,] D-Vee replied. [That seems in-character for her. She gets in a lot of trouble. Aaaalll the tiiiiimmme.]

"I bet she's puking," Eunmi said, wrinkling her nose in disgust. "She drank a lot too, didn't she?"

[No, I'm almost sure she's in danger,] D-Vee said, waving his hands by his ears. [My 'Henrietta-is-in-trouble-sense' is tingling. No wait. That's indigestion.]

"God, I really hope she's not throwing up," Eunmi grumbled. "Girl needs to learn to hold her alcohol."

[Says the alcoholic,] D-Vee grumbled. [A snow cone says she's getting strangled by a crazy nun or something.]

"You know I can't understand a word you're saying," Eunmi said, walking down the hall.

"Hey! Henrietta!" she called before reaching the door. "Hurry the heck up."

[Crazy nurse, crazy nun. I say it still counts based on canonical differences,] D-Vee replied, raising a finger at the shouting from outside the room. The door was open and it was plain to see what was going on.

"What the ********?" Eunmi said, grabbing the woman that stood over Henrietta by the shoulder. She slide her other arm through the two that gripped Henrietta's neck, pressing down with her elbow and lifting up with her wrist to pry the hands away, pulling back as she tore the woman off her.

"What the hell? What are you doing?" she shouted.

((Dir. Heartfield: We have another complaint about a pokemon center representative - apparently Miss Amber attacked a trainer after being burned.
Artemis: God damn it... Yanno, I really don't like Amber anyway. Can we fire her?
Dir. Heartfield: You can't fire someone based on a alternate timeline history you have with them.
Artemis: Shot me. SHE SHOT ME.))