Choice, a Pokemon Shifters RP

[ValidEmotions]

Emil felt a little stifled, walking underground. He imagined the weight of surface and the building above his head, the sound of his shuffling footsteps making him think of tumbling earth. Shaking his head, he brushed the worried illusions aside, affirming to himself that the place was structurally sound - Laren wouldn't have made it otherwise.

 

Nix walked beside him, having been released again from their Pokéball. Emil thought the Shinx might be of use in the mini expedition. As the trainer and Pokémon walked, the man informed the Pokémon of what had happened in Laren's house and the route he planned on taking. "Do you intend to train along the way?" Nix questioned.

 

Tugging on his earlobe, Emil hummed. "Maybe, maybe not. It might be a good idea," he replied, thinking. "Do you want to train while we travel to Taismog?"

 

The Shinx flicked their tail, looking up a few moments later. "I would prefer to. Being as I am now isn't terrible but, I would like to evolve at some point," they commented.

 

"Okay," Emil stated, coming to a stop. "We'll train then." Glancing at the wall, Emil studied the rough and bumpy surface. He wasn't an expert at finding items hidden away in the ground but, he was pretty certain that a gleaming piece of metal was something to look at. Moving closer, he picked at the earth surrounding the bit of metal until he was able to pluck the object free. It looked like an... iron ball, or something. Spherically shaped and rather heavy, Emil frowned.

 

Nix tilted their head as the man placed the item into his bag. "Why are you keeping that? It doesn't look at all useful."

 

"Maybe we can sell it. Might not be much but money is money, right? We need money if we're going to be able to get supplies," Emil responded, moving onward.

 

~~~~

 

Gaes didn't even stir when the ground shook from the Earthquake and Rhapsody wrapped up the battle for both of them. She didn't feel it, either, when the Hydreigon snatched her up off the ground, carrying her in his mouth. However, the Mawile did begin to claw her way back to consciousness. As she became more alert, she grew angry. Someone knocked her out in a battle! At least, that's what she reasoned. She'd lost consciousness during a fight after all.

 

Unable to feel solid ground beneath her, Gaes started to frown, eyes fluttering as she tried to piece together why she didn't feel the floor against her cheek. Actually, she couldn't figure out what she felt around the midsection of her body until it she registered the hot breath against her flesh. And then the saliva.

 

Gaes shrieked, thrashing about in Rhapsody's mouth until she dislodged herself, only to make abrupt friends with the ground. "Ew! Ewewewewew!" Never mind the slight ache in her body from her rough landing, she was mortified about having Hydreigon spit on her body. "Rhapsody! That is absolutely disgusting!" she wailed, rising to her feet as she frantically tried to wipe off the drool.

Edited May 11, 2016 by Narvix

[PureDark006]

"It's true Neggie could have used an Assault Vest, but she wanted to take the risk with the Scope Lens. Tyrantrums tend to focus more on attacking than defending after all," Laren shrugged. He didn't expect her to change her mind after this either; for every loss, there was a victory she had obtained due to the Scope Lens or other item to aid in her attack, and his Pokémon's comfort was more important than the result of the battles. And this taught both of them to not use Ground moves again when facing the Dei-something evolution.

 

The purple-haired girl spoke then, asking about becoming a Gym Leader. "Ah, it varies by region, I think. Here, you have to pick a type and submit an application to the League. After a background check, you have to repeatedly battle a representative from the League with a variety of teams to prove you can grasp the strength required for each Level, and so they can see what kind of trainer you are. If they approve of you, you battle the previous Leader's strongest team with your strongest one. Win or lose, if either the previous Leader or the majority of the board approve, you get the position."

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

As the leader talked, Rhapsody started to feel Gaes coming back to consciousness. There was a small movement, then a pause, and finally a sudden shriek that had him snorting before he opened his main mouth to drop the Mawile to the floor.

 

"You make that big a deal for a little spit?" He asked with a flick of his tail, as Gaes' yelling and frantic movement made the leader address Lambert with an 'Is your Pokémon fine?'. "Next time I know to drop you at the pool for a rinse," Rhapsody added.

 

"Laren, are you all done?" Came the referee's voice from the other side of the room. "Do you have the trainer's name?"

 

"Ah, right, almost forgot!" The Leader hurriedly got a small notebook full with scribbles and a pen from two of his pockets, handing them to Lambert. "Write your name here, to add it to the statues' list by the entrance. There should be space in the second page."

 

"And remember to get your Rampardos out of the digging site. It's open to trainers, we can't have her headbutt-greet someone. Again."

 

"That's not her fault. It's a very polite Rampardos behavior," Laren retorted as he got the paper back. "Mm, L-A-M-B-E-R-T, right? I'll type it in right now. Again, congratulations on your win!"

 

"See ya! Bye-bye!" Anoma waved as Laren got into the elevator, and the doors closed behind him with a 'ding'.

 

Matthew sighed, speaking into the megaphone again. "Sorry for our Leader, he tends to do as he pleases. The elevator should be back in less than a minute, I'll stay here until you're all inside."

Edited May 11, 2016 by Puredark006

[TehUltimateMage]

Zoey asked about becoming a Gym Leader, and that struck Lambert as being a little odd. It was entirely possible that, like his initial idea of challenging gyms after he woke up in this region, that gym leaders might have had a connection to the purple-haired girl's memories. Or, she grew up without ever encountering a gym, because it didn't make sense for that knowledge to be missing as well. He'd just have to ask her later.

 

"...She's throwing a tantrum over the slobber," Lambert explained when Gaes made a scene from being carried, though he was sure that Laren was no longer paying attention. Both pokemon looked like well-established adults in their human forms, but their behavior made them seem like children.

 

After a brief hesitation, Lambert wrote his name on the sheet in legible capital letters. Despite the page being otherwise blank, he felt as if he were signing a contract of some sort.

 

"...He was in a hurry to get out of here," the older man remarked. Nodding a thanks to Matthew as the lift came back down, Lambert left the battlefield with the group.

 

~

 

Back at the Pokecenter's couches, Lambert split the money again but this time only had 2000p out, which he handed to Gaes. "I still have Rhapsody's winnings from Kusba, so that totals 3000.

 

"It will be too dark to travel if we leave right now," he continued, "so I suggest we stay the night in town. We have a couple hours before bed, so we have time to look at the shops and the dig site that the elevator sign mentioned."

 

He was surprised to find that the nurse had recognized him by the jacket and handed him a key to one of the rooms. Seems like Allison already made a reservation for them, meaning that her group would stay the night as well. That was nice of her.

Edited May 11, 2016 by TehUltimateMage

[Moonlight_Eevee]

Zoey watched as the Mawile threw a fit for being slobbered on and resisted the urge to laugh. Looks like the two didn't get along. She then turned back to the gym leader as he explained how to become a gym leader and felt her heart froze. Background checks? She gulped nervously, if they did a background check on her, what would they find? That thought alone made her uneasy. She looked at the guy who did the commands. Lambert huh? Zoey thought to herself. "That was an awesome battle!" Tama said excitedly, wagging his tail. Pretty soon the lift came back down and they went back up.

 

----------------------

 

Zoey now stood in the Pokecenter with Lambert, Rhapsody the three headed Pokémon, and the Mawile. "Oh, Lambert, here's the uniform back," Zoey said, handing the Helix uniform to Lambert before heading over to the mart in the center. "Hi," the clerk said. "How may I help you?" "I would like to sell these two items," Zoey said placing the Nugget and the bigger Nugget on the counter. "Ah, the Nugget we can give 5000 for it," the clerk said. "And the Big Nugget we can give 10000." Zoey felt the cash register ding in her head before her eyes glimmered. "So that's 16000, right?" she said, trying hard not to purr that out. "Yes ma'am," the clerk said before handing her the money. "Thank you," Zoey said, grabbing the money from the clerk. Now if she had a bag of some sort she could put all this money in.

 

"I'm going out for a bit," Zoey said turning to the door. "If anyone wants to join, feel free." She paused for a moment before returning Tama to his Pokeball before walking out the door. She was trying to sort this all out. So in order for her to become a gym leader, a background check is in order. She could possibly learn who she was from there, but then that'd be probably be breaking the rules if that happened. The other part is to battle. right now, all she had was one Pokémon and that was Tama. She tried to clear her head as she tried to think about what she wanted to do. And what was with 'love is weakness' business? She sighed as she didn't know what to do.

Edited May 12, 2016 by Raptor of Dragons

[TehUltimateMage]

If he really was resurrected from a fossil, then it would make sense for the dinosaur to only have a vague recollection of other ancient pokemon. The 'game' didn't seem to discriminate when it came to choosing players, but Sine felt as if they weren't exactly chosen at random. She'd just hope that she would be able to figure out the holes in her memory through investigating the existing knowledge she retained, and the vague subconscious feelings she experienced.

 

Sine was quiet during the elevator back up to the surface. It was no longer just about finding the mystery of the Plates, but the hope that she would find out more about herself through the artifacts.

 

~

 

On the way back to the pokemon center, Chompers finally hit the transformation limit, and once inside Sine made a beeline to the corner with the PC. The words on the plates were not unfamiliar, and there had to be information on them online.

 

When Chompers followed her to the strange glowing box, she absently mentioned to him, her eyes still glued on the screen, "You'll get tired if you keep trying to stay in pokemon form, so you should probably learn how to act human."

[PureDark006]

Rhapsody switched back to his human form on the statue room in the Gym, same place where he had switched to Hydreigon before the battle, before following the group outside and into the Center. "Why should we stay when back at Kusba we went out at night?" he asked after Lambert suggested staying. Seemed like a waste of time when they could sleep on the way like before.

 

Zoey went to the counter by the door and exchanged some yellow rocks for a lot of that money thing. Weren't there many more leaf-things than what they had gotten from Laren? What were those rocks anyway? Ug, humans were so weird.

 

Still, as Zoey went out who-knows-where (he guessed they could always meet up at the Center later, unless she disappeared off the face of the continent like Fia), it reminded him of something. "Oi," he told Lambert, taking out Pooch's Poké Ball. "Where do I get four more of these?"

[HomeForFlowers]

Following Cassandra proved to be heavily amusing. Sure, having to sit back and watch someone else fight, but the battle that unfolded was downright hilarious. Jasper stood several yards away from the fight, his back leaning against a tree near the edge of the clearing as he watched Cassandra taunt the Stantlers. Poor Cassandra picked a fight with some weaklings. It was obvious the foal wouldn't prove to be a challenge, but when the two older Stanlers appeared, Jasper expected them to prove to be a challenge. They weren't. Disappointment flooded Jasper as he watch the fight end as quickly as it started. Watching Cass leap onto the Stantler and take it down with a Crunch to the shoulder had been exciting, but it stood no chance once she used Snarl. A huff of annoyance escaped Jasper's lips as the Stantler collapsed onto its hooves.

"That was disappointing," Jasper said aloud. "I expected better from the locals. How are we supposed to train if they're taken down by two moves?"

 

To his surprise, Cass suddenly pounced towards him and issued a challenge. It took a second for Jasper to process what she had said but, once he understood, a wild grin appeared upon his face. Maybe he didn't hate everyone after all. While he certainly didn't adore Cass, she was far more tolerable than, say, Zoey. She had said she preferred the challenge of the unknown while Allison dealt with the planning. Jasper liked that sort of train of thought. There was no fun in knowing what was to come. Life was far more enjoyable if he could enjoy the blows as they came. There was no fun in knowing everything, it was the anticipation of moment that was so enjoyable.

"A battle, huh?" Jasper said as he lifted his chin upward. "If it's a battle you want, it's a battle you'll get!" Bracing himself, Jasper held still as water suddenly burst outward and covered his body. He leaped into the air and charged towards Cass with his Aqua Jet at full speed. If she was anything like Jasper thought she was, this was going to be a good fight.

[hazeh]

Cass dug her claws into the soil. Her tail lashed eagerly behind her, ears erect, fur standing on end with anticipation. She waited for that rush of heated power to flow through her like it normally did whenever she squared off with Allison... but instead, she was surprised with a languid, cool trickle of energy. That was new. Cass flexed her muscles and perked when a torrent of crystalline water engulfed Jasper's egg-shaped body. She'd known he was a water-type, but the visual confirmation still made her feel like kicking herself in the face. Not only had she willing gone up against a Pokémon with a type advantage against her, but she'd somehow forgotten that her own ability would suppress her power against him up until this point.

 

Great. She had approximately four seconds to figure out how to beat this guy without getting herself pummeled into the mud beforehand.

 

The lioness growled, lips curled back in a spiteful snarl. She would have to risk proximity in order to land a solid blow, or at least to make sure that he received the full brunt of her move. She poised carefully over the grass, tense like a coiled spring. As his Aqua Jet whirled him closer, chiseling away at the few precious seconds she had left, Cass inhaled sharply until she felt the burn of her lungs when they reached full capacity. An earth-shattering roar bellowed out from her open maw as shockwaves tinted light blue; the rings echoed out into the clearing, ripping through the grass and blasting into the wood of tree trunks. A flock of Murkrow squawked in alarm and bolted from the canopy at the horrendous noise, and the Stantler that had remained lunged away when Hyper Voice plowed through the shrubbery and stripped the leaves from the branches in a chaotic flurry of sound and power. She'd waited until Jasper was close enough that Hyper Voice would have hopefully disrupted most of his attack, but now it was too late to avoid damage entirely. Cass twisted just in time to feel something hard and wet slug into her hip, sending her tumbling until she rolled to a stop on her stomach. Her right hind was soaked through; she felt as though the water was somehow leeching the energy from her body, as if it were sapping the warmth and fire from her very veins. She rose on her paws and shook herself heartily. A fine steam rose from the tips of her flowing mane where the water from his attack had sprayed onto.

 

Despite the cooling sensation still like lead in her bones, Cass bared her fangs at Jasper and summoned the pit of writhing flames from the depths of her core. Searing heat danced between her open jaws as flickers of white-hot fire, and the air around her muzzle rippled from the intensity of the blaze within her teeth. Although her lungs still burned, Cass darted forward and then circled abruptly to the left, hoping to throw off any further attempts of a straight Aqua Jet. The Heat Wave poured from her jaws and slithered through the clearing, sizzling and burning, scorching the grass and roots black and charring the stones that had been unearthed by her previous attack.

Edited May 14, 2016 by Shiny Hazard Sign

[Moonlight_Eevee]

Chompers and Driller stayed quiet and followed Sine back to the center, although, Chompers hit his limit and turned back into a human. Luckily, no one was around to see him transform. He watched as Sine went to this thing and started messing with it. "You'll get tired if you keep trying to stay in pokemon form, so you should probably learn how to act human." "And that means to talking to me directly," Driller muttered. "You don't want to attract attention." Chompers blinked. "Earlier, Sine talked to me directly," Chompers said before he looked over to two guys, one of them was holding a Pokeball and seemed to want to know where to find more. "Yeah, not sure why she did though."

 

Right, just act human. "Ah," Chompers said going up to the one who held the Pokeball. "I couldn't help but overhear that you wanted more of these things?" Chompers paused and tilted his head. "Because I haven't got a clue on how to find them either." He looked back as Driller seemed to lay on his side, sweat dropping. "What?" he asked Driller. "That's how you act human!?" Driller asked getting back up. "You have a lot to learn." Chompers blinked before turning back to the two guys. It was then he realized he was so much taller then everyone else. Granted, the one in black seemed a few inches shorter then him. He then stood awkwardly waiting for one of them to reply.

[TehUltimateMage]

Zoey passed the uniform back to him, then after going to the counter to sell some gold, she bolted out the door. Lambert guessed she was going to go shopping, or something. He himself would have to see if there were any cheap bags he could buy for their journey.

 

"Is that Pooch's pokeball? I'm sure that there would be more Houndour in the forest..." Lambert pretended to misunderstand, a smile playing on his lips. Rhapsody did not look amused, so he followed up more seriously, "To get more pokeballs, you go to the blue counter," he pointed to the Mart, "and exchange money," he waved one of the bills, "for pokeballs. Money can also be exchanged for other goods and services."

 

While he was explaining, a very tall man had approached the group on the couches. His clothing looked like that last dinosaur pokemon in his battle against Laren. His scarf evoked the neck crest of the pokemon, and his trousers were the same shade of red-brown. What started off as a suspicion turned out to be true when the man -- who looked old enough to know about these things -- also asked him where they could acquire more balls.

 

The yellow snake was in on it too.

 

Lambert didn't recall seeing him at the meeting. Which meant there were still more shifters out there. "Same thing. You need money to get pokeballs at the counter, and I doubt that you would have any on you at the moment because of a certain... game."

[PureDark006]

Rhapsody raised an eyebrow when Lambert started explaining where to find more Houndours. If it weren't for the man's playful smile he'd have commented. Had Lambert ever smiled before, thinking about it? The only expressions he remembered the man doing were Normal Frown, Deep Frown, Exasperated Frown, and that one time when Hygre mentioned there were 18 Gyms and he looked like he'd have choked if he had been drinking something.

 

A tall man approached them then, and for a second Rhapsody thought he'd have something important to say about Poké Balls until the guy commented he had no clue where to find them. Even the yellow Pokémon looked like it had second-hand embarrassment.

 

It all got explained with the yellow Pokémon's scolding, though. And judging by the guy's clothes, his other form was probably that big fossil Rhapsody fought last at the Gym. Huh, what a coincidence.

 

"You with anyone else?" he asked the new guy, as Pooch approached the yellow Pokémon for a buttsniff.

[Moonlight_Eevee]

Chompers listened with interest as the guy explained how to find them. His interest rose as the guy in white, or was it blue, mentioned a game. Were these people part of this game? "Oh don't tell me you guys can shift," Driller sighed before noticing a black dog padding up to him so he started to drill . "Are they for real?" Chompers resisted the urge to look back at Sine. "I might be with someone," Chompers said, narrowing his eyes. Why was he so protective of Sine? "If I was, why does it matter to you?" "Safety in numbers?" Driller asked, looking up at him. Blast me and my inconsistent usage of my other form! Chompers said. "You okay?" Driller asked. "I'm fine," Chompers said, biting a snarl back. Why did some people irk him so much? Around Sine, he felt much calmer. Why?

 

---------------

 

Zoey paused and glanced inside a nearby window, there were bags and stuff in it. Shrugging, Zoey casually walked into the store. Looking around, she started walking through the aisles of the store. She paused and studied a backpack that was purple. It had a bit of pink on it with a bit of cream above the pink. Was it a Purrloin backpack? Interesting. She looked at the price tag and nearly fainted. 8000 Pokedollars. Maybe she could swindle it down? But would it be worth it if she tried? No, these people might have been harder to swindle then Matthew.

 

Zoey stared at the backpack debating whether or not to buy it. For a moment, she was going to put it back but then she decided to hold onto it. For here, it was amusing. Here she was, a Purrloin and now she stood with a Purrloin backpack in her hand. She decided to then proceed to the checkout counter. "Hello, I would like to buy this," Zoey said casually. "That's be 8000 please," the clerk said. Zoey nodded before handing the clerk 7000 hoping the clerk would be fooled. "Ma'am this is only 7000," the clerk said. "Whoops," Zoey said, silently cursing to herself as she handed the clerk another 1000. "Thank you," the clerk said as he finished. Zoey grabbed the bag and put the items she found back in the digging site in it.

[TehUltimateMage]

"It doesn't really matter to us if you're with anyone." Lambert said in defense. The man didn't look like he wanted to share the information, and his caution might have been justified. "There are many people like us here in this town, and we all have the same goal. Most of us will be leaving tomorrow, I believe."

 

~~~

 

After the initial excitement around the Plates wore off, Sine was surprised she didn't think of using the PC earlier. Her findings felt familiar and she felt a sense of déja vu at many of the websites she clicked. The plates were evidence that Arceus exists, said some scholarly articles, and news outlets had blown the story out of proportion by saying that science proved Arceus as the creator of worlds. There were also some religious websites worshiping, again, the supposed God pokemon, though the different sects were split on whether Arceus was truly a pokemon at all. From Arceus came Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina, and again there were debates on whether these pokemon were simply ideas, if they were all-powerful, or simply a lost species.

 

Theology, however, was never her strong suit. While she had knowledge of the mythos, it wasn't quite what she was looking for, even though she herself didn't know what she was looking for. Frustrated, she figured that she might get some more information if she followed another lead.

 

Search: Team Helix Research

 

The first result advertised Team Helix as a respectable organization. Its website was clean and credible, and seemed like it was updated recently. It had all the bits needed for an academic citation. It looked legit.

 

So what if they got it wrong? The thought cast a shadow of doubt in her mind. It was fully possible that whoever stole her -- no, their -- memories was simply using people like she and Chompers to sabotage Team Helix for their own nefarious ends. What else would attacking a research facility even accomplish? Maybe it would be best to just leave the quest alone...

 

"I reckon you're the other shifter Big Guy has been hinting at!"

 

Sine let out a cry and jumped out of her seat, toppling the chair backwards and falling to the ground. Her vision clouded for a few moments, but she could see the Murkrow that had perched itself on the top of the monitor while she was too focused on its contents.

 

She never liked those stupid birds. They were everywhere in the city. The noises they made were wholly unpleasant, and that didn't change even when she could understand the words.

 

[ValidEmotions]

Once she had gotten off as much Hydreigon drool as she could, Gaes scurried after the others to catch up before they left her behind. She made it into the elevator just before the doors started closing, shifting once the referee couldn't see the group anymore. "Well, that was fun," Gaes commented, glad to find that the drool didn't carry over transformation.

 

The group headed back to the Pokémon Center where the girl in purple promptly headed to the blue counter. Lambert took the time to divi out the cash winnings. Putting her fair share into the pouch she deemed for money on her belt, the woman stared at Bree's poké ball. Rhapsody was beginning to ask how to obtain more, holding up Pooch's ball. At first, it seemed like Lambert misunderstood but his smile said otherwise.

 

Getting more poké balls might be beneficial and Gaes decided to do just that as an extremely tall old man approached their group. She left as he began speaking, not caring enough to pay attention to him. "Hi there!" she greeted Matthew, recognizing the referee. "I just want a couple of potions and three poké balls, please."

 

"So two potions and three poké balls? That's 1,200 total," Matthew replied. Gaes nodded and counted out what she owed while the clerk-referee pulled out the items she requested. Transaction completed, Gaes put the new poké balls on her belt and carried the potions away, one in each hand. As she thought about it, she tried to see if the bottles would fit in the pouches on her belt. After a moment of fumbling around, she was glad to discover that the potions could fit in the two remaining pouches well enough. However, it was awkward and she feared that the items might fall right out.

 

~~~~

 

Emil and Nix had dug up a Light Clay and Escape Rope not long after the Iron Ball. "How long do you plan on staying down here?" Nix questioned, idly cleaning their face as the pair took a break.

 

Scratching his head, Emil shrugged. "Only a little while longer, I suppose. Maybe one or two more items," he replied. Standing up, he slung his bag back over his shoulder and started walking. "I want to walk a little further in, at any rate. We've stuck close to the entrance long enough," he explained. "We might be able to find things a little easier, not as many people the farther from the entrance you get. Right?"

 

Nix didn't reply, recognizing a rhetorical question when Emil asked it.

[PureDark006]

Pooch glanced around after the sniff to make sure there were no other Pokémon she didn't recognize around, before answering the yellow one's first statement. "Yeah. All four of the humans can, and there are more in this town."

 

"Wanted to know if there were more of us, is all," Rhapsody said in an even tone, lowering his chin even as he didn't break eye contact. The other guy's tenseness was slightly provoking, and though Lambert was already trying to defuse the situation, if the other guy insisted on starting something Rhapsody would have no problem finishing it.

 

"Could you stop being difficult for five minutes?" Pooch hissed at him. "You wanted Poké Balls, didn't you? Then go do what Gaes is doing."

 

He glanced at where the woman was putting some things with green liquid in those things dangling from her belt. The guy behind the counter was counting those leaves from before, but hell if he knew how many were needed. "Lambert, you go do it," he said, figuring he'd leave it to someone who had been raised by humans.

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Styg yawned and rolled over, stretching her legs and leaving claw marks on the ground. Yep, naps were definitely the best. And in a town like this, where everyone knew what a Rampardos was, the local Pokémon left her alone for long enough that she could sleep to her heart's content. What time was it again? The lights were on all the time, so she couldn't tell. Maybe she should find a vent and try to see if the sun was still up. She wasn't that hungry yet, so it wasn't dinnertime, but that was everything she knew.

 

She made a low growling sound and stood up, stretching again and rubbing against the wall to scratch an itch on her side. As she yawned again, she heard footsteps coming closer. A green Pokémon? Styg tilted her head, blinking a few times to make the residual sleepiness go away as she focused. Ah, a trainer. With a small blue and black Pokémon. Trainer... trainer...

 

Wait a second. New trainer.

 

"Human!" She delightfully exclaimed, going from still to a full run in less than a second with her head lowered to engage in the typical Rampardos headbutt greeting.

[ValidEmotions]

They were rounding a corner when some growl reached their ears. Nix paused, tail twitching. The growl didn't sound threatening, more drowsy than anything. "Nix?" Emil called, noticing that the Shinx had stopped walking. An excited roar filled the pathway, causing both trainer and pokémon to start, turning to spot the source: a five-foot tall pokémon with a spiked head charging right towards them.

 

"Run!" Emil didn't have to be told twice. He spun on his heel, shoes scrapping along loose dirt to find traction, and started sprinting. The weight of his bag suddenly became cumbersome and Emil opted to throw it aside for the sake of keeping his skin.

 

Nix darted down a side path, skidding to a halt and popping their head out as Emil and the Rampardos rushed past. "Emil!" they shouted. The man tried to follow the Shinx's example but he tripped, causing him to tumble and roll.

[PureDark006]

Styg's world had been reduced to that green mass as she run faster, set on headbutting it. That is, until it suddenly moved down and out of reach as the trainer crashed against the ground.

 

She jumped and landed sideways, leaving a pair of deep tracks on the ground as her feet pushed the earth aside until she skidded to a full stop. "Oh no. Please don't break," she begged as she poked the human with her head to roll them on their back, tail repeatedly slamming the ground.

[ValidEmotions]

Emil gasped as the spiked pokémon drew near, curling himself into a tight ball hoping it might help him. The ground shuddered as something heavy landed on the other side, a hard (and prickly) object nudging him onto his back. Yelping, the man scrambled backwards and onto his feet, eyes wide. The pokémon's tail was hitting the ground, several times over.

 

Please don't break? Emil swallowed, wiping his sweaty palms against his shirt, smudging the dirt he now wore. "E-Easy now. I-I'm no-not looking for tr-tr-trouble," he stuttered, backing away slowly to put more space between him and the pokémon. His back tapped the wall and he sucked in a breath, wondering if the pokémon was going to charge at him again. Oh he hoped not. He didn't think he could survive a head-on collision.

 

Nix remained where they were, tucking their head beneath their front paws. "I can't watch this..." they muttered.

[PureDark006]

Styg stood still as the human moved, watching as he backed against a wall. Was he scared? Of what? She quickly looked around to see if any of the bigger Pokémon were around, but it was just her, him, and the small Pokémon from before who was covering its eyes. A quick glance at the ground told her there weren't any burrowing Pokémon either who had made him trip.

 

...Oh. Oh. Right. Humans were too light for a full greeting. They tended to fly back and crash-land into things.

 

Glad she found the source of the problem, she gleefully waddled towards the human, poking him on the stomach with her head as she said a friendly "Hi!"

[ValidEmotions]

Oof! The air Emil had inhaled was knocked out of his lungs as the Pokémon pushed their head into his stomach. Might as well have just rammed him from the amount of force used. "Hi?" he gasped, coughing uncomfortably. He nearly panicked when it had started to move, thinking it was charging again. But, instead of being crushed into the stone wall, Emil only had to struggle for a breath of air.

 

And the spikes. Oh dear, the spikes. One particularly was in a place he really wanted to move away from. "I can't... breathe!" he mumbled, trying to push the pokémon back after placing his hands on two of the spikes.

[PureDark006]

Styg waited for a moment, but the human wasn't pushing back. Or at least she thought so. When the human started gasping for air she backed away, taking a few steps back and watching him.

 

What was that thing humans did again? As she remembered, she extended one of her arms towards the human with her palm outstretched, shaking it a little to urge him to shake her paw.

[ValidEmotions]

Oh thank goodness...

 

Emil dropped to the ground when the pokémon released him, coughing and choking as he sucked in air a bit too quickly. Groaning, he picked himself up, stopping once he was on his knees. The Pokémon was shaking their arm at him, an eager look to their expression.

 

"I think she's trying to shake hands," Nix piped up, finally coming closer.

 

"Shake hands?" Emil questioned. "Oh! That's why you said 'hi' earlier!" It was a greeting. A painful one, yes, but still a greeting. Rising to his feet, Emil tugged on his earlobe briefly before reaching a hand out to shake the pokémon's paw. "Hello there," he greeted.

[PureDark006]

Styg pointedly moved her hand up and down when the human shook it, as she had seen them do, tail smacking against the ground with enough force to rattle some of the pebbles that had came loose from her skid. "Hello!" She exclaimed, happily headbutting the human in the stomach the second he released her hand.

 

Oops. Reflex. How did humans do the apologizing thing again-

 

...Hang on a second.

 

She stared at the smaller Pokémon, slightly crouched and with her head tilted to the side. "How did your human understand you?" She asked, repeatedly shifting her weight between her feet as she curiously looked at the pair.

Edited May 18, 2016 by Puredark006

[ValidEmotions]

Emil was knocked back, hitting the ground hard and coughing painfully as he (yet again) lost the air from his lungs. Once he was breathing normally once more, he picked himself up in time to hear the pokémon question Nix. "It's a little complicated," Emil stated, tugging on his earlobe again.

 

Nix nodded, glancing at the Rampardos. "Bit of a long story really but, short version? He woke up one day with no memory and the ability to understand Pokémon," the Shinx explained. Both had figured there was no harm in talking around or to lone Pokémon.

 

Rubbing his very bruised stomach, Emil hummed faintly. "What's your name? I'm Emil and this is Nix."

[PureDark006]

Styg listened to the short explanation as she thought. She knew Laren would love to speak directly to Pokémon himself, but the loss of memory would be a bummer. What would the point be if he forgot why he wanted it in the first place? So, better to not mention it.

 

“I’m Styg. Sorry for the headbutts, I, um, have a little bit of trouble remembering humans and some Pokémon are too soft for a Rampardos greeting,” she apologized, scratching the ground lightly with one of her feet as she looked down. Most small Pokémon were close enough to the ground that the difficulty in headbutting them reminded her she needed to stop, but humans were the perfect size and, before she knew it, she was already charging towards them.

 

“Are you two here for items or for Pokémon?” She asked, front paws clasping each other.