Pokemon Amethyst Version

Jasmine chuckled nervously and shook her head. "Nope... I've been diagnosed with depression... and I've always wanted to be a Pokemon breeder. To raise young Pokemon, help them grow strong, and eventually find the one they're destined to be with... That's been my lifelong goal. So that leaves the lie... Well it's out in the air now. I'm gay, lesbian, whatever you want to call me... And I'm a hopeless and worthless girl who'll always be dead last..."

Jasmine looked at Aura briefly before continuing, "I've never been good at anything my entire life... I want to be a breeder because I want Pokemon to have a better life then I have had, I want them to get their one true love... Unlike me..." She shook her head and laughed, "But enough about me, Aura, I do believe it's your turn. I'm opting out of answering yours since I know practically everything about you by now."

 

((Since DW hasn't posted a response in a few days and Angel has given me authority to control Sara-Kate while they're away, I'll be making my next post now. Let's get into gear Team 2!))

Caught up with his team, Darrick slowed down, jogging just fast enough to stay with the others. With the weight of his gear on his back, he felt winded more quickly than he usually would have from sprinting so far at once. Of course, he didn't admit to being in the least bit tired and concentrated his efforts on hiding that fact from the others. He looked to Krimson, head following him as he circled around on his skates. On a long exhale, he said "Well that wouldn't be totally up to me. We are making good time at this pace." He pointed ahead, marking the other team ahead of them by about a track's length. "I'd say I could probably give it about another half-mile at this pace. What do you two thing? Sara-Kate? Thomas? Should we ease up a bit?"

"As if!" Sara-Kate scoffed through a small huff. "I'm not about to slow down now. We just got on the road!"

"Well." Darrick glanced over to Krimson; he chuckled as he spoke. "That's one naysayer. What do you think Thomas?"

 

"Haha." Darrick gave hearty chuckle through a pair of heavy breaths; they must've been running a good half-mile already since they left town. "It's decided then. We'll keep our pace. I'm sure we'll make good time. If we keep it up, we might even be able to make it to the beach on the other end by nightfall." He pushed himself to run faster, edging his way to the front of the group.

He maintained his position ahead of the group over the course of the next half-mile, by which point they had all slowed back down to more of an urgent walk. The woods had covered around them, beams of sunlight slipping in through the tops of the trees that then over-arched the path. Everything seemed to be running smoothly... until Darrick came to yet another sudden halt. Tilting his head to the side, he stared quizzically at a most bizarre sight. He turned his head back to his team (this time, having had enough distance to not run into each other), pointed ahead, and whispered. "A rarity," he said, shifting to one side for the rest of the team to see a stray HootHoot, peculiarly out and about in the early afternoon.

"Maybe it's nest got disturbed," Darrick continued.

"Well," Sara-Kate said tensely, nearly stepping up in front of Darrick to engage the wild Pokemon herself. "Are you just going to stand there commenting like a documentary?"

"Of course not!" Darrick held Sara-Kate back with one arm and removed Dante's Pokeball. "If this little guy doesn't have a home anymore, I'll take it in, if it'll let me... Let's go Dante." Dante emerged from it's Pokeball, catching the HootHoot's attention. The two stared each other down, as if knowing what was about to happen. "So," Darrick said over his shoulder. "What do you all say to a little bit of collecting before we carry on?"

 

Watching his team disperse out of the corner of his eye, Darrick focused his attentions entirely on the the stray HootHoot. He stood, staring the wild Pokemon down from above Dante, as though he were about to personally engage in battle himself. "Alright Dante," he said. "We've got ourselves a new member of the family to take in. But we've gotta show him that we're the right bunch for him! Got it?"

"Cyndiquil! Cyndiquil!"

"Alright then. The others have all gone off, so the path is ours to battle in. Let's start this one off the same as the last one. Give it a Smokescreen... I promise, this little guy shouldn't have as much of a surprise as the Treecko you faced earlier... but yeah. Use Smokescreen!"

"Quil!" Dante's flame grew violent, emitting its cloud of smoke, settling a substantial veil against the HootHoot.

Determined to escape its imprisonment, the HootHoot moved forward, aiming a Tackle at Dante, glancing him as it passed by.

"You're good Dante?" Darrick asked his companion. "Don't want to lose you again."

The Pokemon nodded its head, putting itself back on its feet and finding a balanced stance. Ready for action, Dante looked to Darrick for his next command.

"Well... let's give it a bit of its own medicine," Darrick called. "Hit it with a Tackle!"

Dante, too, spring forward, ramming successfully into the enemy HootHoot with a decisive blow. The HootHoot, though knocked back by the Tackle, was still in fighting condition. Thinking more strategically for its second time around, the owl Pokemon let out a loud Growl-like cry, before which Dante shivered.

"No matter!" Darrick hollered. "Get it back with a Leer!"

"Quil!" Dante gathered its confidences back, and stared down the HootHoot with a menacing look. The owl, like Dante before it, shuddered in fear, opening its defenses. It attempted a second Tackle, for which Dante was prepared, and swiftly evaded. As a finish to the battle, Darrick called for one last Tackle. The attack made contact, and the HootHoot slumped down in near-defeat. Hurling an empty Pokeball from his belt, Darrick watched on in anticipation.

The red light of the Pokeball sucked the HootHoot into the device. Sealed shut, the Pokeball teetered back and forth on the ground as the Pokemon within struggle to break free. Finally, though, the ball locked, successfully sealing the Pokemon inside. "Alright!" Darrick cheered, punching his fist up into the air. "We got one!" He rushed forward, nabbing the Pokeball off the ground, beaming down at it, holding it in his hand as though it were a trophy.

When the euphoria subsided, he latched the Pokeball onto his belt and lowered to one knee. He picked Dante up off the ground and, smiling, said, "you were amazing just now Dante. We keep this kind of hard work up, we'll go places."

"Cyndaquil!" Dante cried out cheerfully.

"Good to hear! Now, what do you say we go and see how the others are doing? I think I saw Krimson run off in that direction." Darrick placed Dante back on his shoulder and walked a ways down the trail, a bit into the brush of the woods, where he had seen Krimson go. Just off the trail, Darrick's fellow trainer stood, grasping a Pokeball, no doubt containing a freshly caught Pokemon. "So you got one?" Darrick asked.

 

Darrick grinned at Krimson as he reached for the newly filled Pokeball on his belt. He held the ball straight out in front of him. [color ="darkorange"]"Yup!"[/color] He clipped the ball back onto his belt and turned back towards the path. "Let's go find Sara-Kate and Thomas."

And so of was that the journey of the young Pokemon trainers went underway. After spending the night on the beach overlooking the "Spire Islands," both teams made good time arriving in Terrera, most of them picking up a Pokemon or two in the process. After spending time training at the gym, all eight eventually challenged and defeated its Gym Leader, Denva and her prized Boldore.

Each of them carrying respected Granite Badge, they departed with the applause and well-wishes of Terrera's Gym trainers and citizens. Traveling West along the "Shoto Road," the two groups led respectively by Aura and Darrick, made their way to the "Ken-ten Crossing," beyond which lay Pugilis, home to the revered Mitsuko Dojo and Pokemon Gym.

Battling other trainers and adding new Pokemon to their team their path ran smoothly, until...

It had all happened in an instant, catching the young trainers by surprise. Darrick still felt chills running down his spine just thinking about it: they were nearly half way through the Ken-te Crossing when the mountainous walls collapsed in on them. Aura had narrowly avoided being crushed by the boulders; if it hadn't been for Laharl'a quick-thinking in pushing her forward, she'd have been done for. In turn, Laharl had been saved from a similar fate by a timely effort of Darrick and Zac pulling him back before damage could be done. With Aura on the Pugilis side of the rockslide, she had pressed on to request her father's help in clearing the blockade; but how long that would take, no one could tell.

While the others waited in silence down below, Darrick scaled up the pile of rocky debris. Reaching the top of the fifty-foot wall, he peered over the other side, not even bothering to climb over. He shook his head and made a careful track down, jumping once he reached a safe height. "Well, looks like a vertical drop on the other end," he explained. "We can try to make it down that way; I've got rope in my bag we can uses; but we'll need something to tie it off to."

 

Jasmine was heartbroken at this turn of events, her only friend, and crush, was now out of reach. She sat against the side of the mountain wity her Eevee and Vaporeon by her side as she slowly began to ponder what truly happened. This was no accident. Jasmine was certain of that, but who would do something like this? Who could be so cruel? As she thought about it, her thoughts drifted back to Aura. Would she be okay? They'd meet up again soon right?

The thought however, of never seeing Aura again, caused the young girl to burst into tears.