The Very Best... IC (Pokemon)

[Malachite]

This first bit is just a little railroady, just to get you all in the same place. Hope you don’t mind too much. I won’t do it again. ;)

It’s a sunny day to day – perfect for starting your Pokemon journeys!
You each had the same thought as you got your savings together, packed some supplies and snapped Pokeballs into the holder on your belt: Professor Oak lives locally, he’ll be able to give some good advice on how to start, right?

The lab is one of the larger buildings in Pallet town, full of exciting –looking machinery and pictures of Pokemon. Many of them you recognise from the countryside or the Pokemon battles on TV, but some you’ve never seen before. They look pretty tough. Professor Oak greets you happily, obviously enthusiastic at seeing older Pokemon enthusiasts who might have better attention spans.

“Come this way, I’ll see what I have to start you off!” he begins, before noticing the two full balls you each have on your belts. “Oh,” he says. “It looks like you’ve got some already. Well, you can have these anyway.”

He pulls out two red devices, which you immediately recognise as Pokedexes. You’d considered buying them already, but they’re not cheap and aren’t usually found in the shops in such a small town anyway. You’d probably have had to go to one of the cities to get one otherwise.

“I suppose you’ll want to be looking for some more Pokemon to catch,” Oak continues. “Well, there are plenty of bug and bird Pokemon in the forests around here. Actually, I know of a den of Nidoran just out of town. I wouldn’t recommend them to younger children before they’d practiced a bit first because they have poisonous spikes, but they’re Interesting Pokemon to start with, learn a wide variety of moves and can grow quite powerful. Here, I’ll mark the location on your maps.”

An hour or so’s walking gets you out of town and into the surrounding woods. The trees rise up high around you, and the sound of birdsong and insects chirping comes from all directions, though you don’t see any Pokemon. Perhaps they’re hiding? About ten minutes’ walk from the Nidoran den, you hear a sound from above. It sounds a bit like a scream, and it’s getting louder. Suddenly there’s a crashing noise in the branches above you and a young man falls into a bush not 5 metres away. Even as he picks himself up, a loud buzzing sounds from the bush...

*diddle-a- diddle-a- diddle-a- diddle-a-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun...*!

Three brownish caterpillar Pokemon with horns wriggle out of the bush, followed shortly by two yellow cocoons. The buzzing, however, is coming from the distinctly unfriendly-looking giant wasp Pokemon with stinger arms...

Map

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[Drogos]

That guys gunna be bug food if we don't do something. We better protect him! Go Gustave!

Cody grabs a pokeball from his belt and tosses at the endangered man. From it comes a dark blue Totodile. It seems surprised to appear in the midst of the battle but is not bothered by it.

Totototototo! DILE!

Gustave! Ice Punch anything that tries anything funny with that guy! Especially the Beedrill!

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Ice Punch Attack roll(whenever something moves forward enough to attack):(1d20)[17]
Damage(Ice): (5d10+9)[31]

Turning to the other trainer...

You want to catch any of these things? Bugs aren't really my thing but they are good practice for my water types. I'm going to stay on the offense. Let me know if you want me to leave anything alive for you.

[The-Mage-King]

As he finishes standing up, Ewan looks around, noticing the group of bugs around him...

"For the love of..." He starts, reaching for a ball on his side.

"Flamer, you're up!" He continues, spinning the pokeball around and releasing the Charmander between himself and the Beedrill.

"No. 3!" He finishes, pointing to the biggest bug.

"CHAR!" The fire lizard replies spitting fire at the Beedrill.

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Flamer used Ember!

Accuracy: (1d20)[11]
Fire Damage: (2d10)[13]
STAB:(1d4)[1]
Special Attack: 7

It's Super Effective!
*2: 42

[Vizzerdrix]

Will grabs Shade off his belt and sends him out

"Shade. Please put anything that gets close to that young man asleep for us."

Shade uses Hypnosis on the weedle at B-4

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1 per battle. Need to get higher than 6.
(1d20)[16]
I don't think I get to add anything to that, do I?

"No. I'm not interested in these. I'm more interested in the Nidorans. I'd like to catch one"

[Malachite]

The Beedrill, buzzes angrily and readies its spines before diving towards Ewan...
Straight into a blast of flame from the newly arrived Charmander. It screeches in pain and tumbles into Flamer, stabbing madly at the much smaller fire lizard. It looks weakened and near collapse itself, but in its frenzy the flailing stingers drive deep into Flamer's body. The Charmander lets out a pained cry before falling unconscious as the Beedrill sags to the floor as if unsure of whether to keep fighting or to make its escape while it can...

Meanwhile, on the other side of the bush Shade locks eyes with one of the Weedles approaching the two trainers. As his eyes begin to glow purple, the caterpillar Pokemon's eyes widen and begin to glow, before closing heavily. It begins to make soft snoring sounds.
The other Weedle leaps spikey-head-first at the Gastly and connects, but the sting barely damages Shade's incorporeal body.

Gustave's fist shines bright blue for an instant before rocketting into the Weedle next to him with stunning power. The bug is thrown across the clearing and hits a tree with a tinkle of shattering ice crystals before slumping senseless to the grass. Only the spiracles on its body opening and closing give any indication that it survived.

Lastly, the two Kakuna's shoot sprays of thin, sticky threads at Gustave. One misses (embarrassingly), but the other hits and begins to tangle the little crocodile up.

[The-Mage-King]

"Flamer, hold tight." Ewan says, spinning a pokeball around and letting a grin fall over his face.

"Now, Beedrill, you're going to have to play nice!" He continues, throwing the Pokeball at the injured bug.

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I'm trying for the capture.

(1d100)[98]


Ow. That's so bad it hurts.

[Drogos]

Nice try, guy, but without this thing being asleep or paralyzed, I don't think we have the time to sit around waiting for our pokeballs to do all the work. This Beedrill is too dangerous for us to leave active. I'm telling Totodile to end it.


Gustave! Lets see that Ice Punch again, this time the Beedrill! Finish him!

.... Toto... dile...
Cody's pokemon looks at him disappointedly...

Wha? Too soon to use Ice Punch? Thats fine, thats probably overkill anyways! Try Scratching it instead!


TOTODILE!

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Scratch attack: (1d20)[18]
Damage: (2d10+12)[21]

[Vizzerdrix]

"Shade, feed on the sleeping one while I attend the injured"

Shade moves up and uses Dream Eater on the sleeping weedle

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To Hit: (1d20)[10]to hit a 2
(4d20)[24]+10 (Shade heals hp equal to half this damage)

Will then moves over to Ewan.

[Malachite]

The Pokeball hits the Beedrill dead on, and the Pokemon glows white before losing its form and being sucked inside the device. The ball rolls backward and forth for a moment before exploding open again and releasing the trapped creature. Unfortunately for the Beedrill, it is released directly next to the approaching Gustave, who unleashes a vicious swipe with his claws, hitting it right in the face and scoring small gouges in the Beedrill's chitin.

The larger Pokemon is dropped to the floor by the blow. Its eyes still gaze up at you, but it seems too battered and exhausted to fight back.

From behind Gustave, one of the Kakunas leaps into the air. It's not very fast on the ground, but apparently it can jump well. Extending a sting from the bottom of its carapace, the bug stabs Gustave in the back, though the tiny crocodile's tough skin deflects much of the damage.

The other Kakuna again attempts to spray the group with sticky threads and again somehow manages to miss.

At William's order, Shade's eyes begin to swirl as the sleeping Weedle thrashes softly. A thin violet mist seems to stream from the Weedles body into the Gastly's mouth before the caterpillar Pokemon lies still.
Beside it, the other Weedle again tries to fend off the attacker by leaping at him horn first but is just as ineffective against the incorporeal Pokemon as before.

Meanwhile, William reaches the fallen Charmander and gently places his hand on him before closing his eyes. For a moment nothing seems to happen, then light glows around the hand and the many wounds scarring Flamer's body begin to become shallower. The Pokemon's eyes flicker open and are obviously relieved to find Ewan and William standing above him.

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[Drogos]

Ah what the heck, its no Water type, but maybe I can trade it for one later. You're mine Beedrill! Pokeball go!

Cody hurls a pokeball at the downed Beedrill, trusting Gustave to continue fighting the bugs attacking him.

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Pokeball Capture:(1d100+5)[58]

[The-Mage-King]

"Flamer, want some revenge?" Ewan asks, catching the Charmander's nod.

"No. 3!" He continues, pointing to the Kakuna to the Southeast.

"CHAR!" The adorable pyromaniac lizard cries, spitting flames at the target.

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Flamer used Ember!

Accuracy: (1d20)[17]
Fire Damage: (2d10+7)[15]
STAB: (1d4)[2]

It's Super Effective!

Kakuna took 34 points of damage!

[Malachite]

It seems to happen in slow-motion - Ewan points his finger at the Kakuna on the right and Flamer turns, fire breath building in his throat, just as Gustave thinks he feels ready to do the Ice Punch Cody wanted him to do before. The attacks hit almost simultaneously, and under the onslaught of burning flame and freezing energy, the Kakuna just disintegrates. Shell buckles and flies all over the place, and Gustave is left with stuff he'd rather not consider frozen onto his claws.

In short, it's not a pretty sight.

Cody's Pokeball hits the Beedrill and, stunned as it is at the violent death it just witnessed, the Pokeball doesn't even rock before pinging to indicate a firm capture.

The remaining Weedle and Kakuna seem to share a thought, shooting their sticky strings into the tree branches above and hauling themselves swiftly away, where they quickly blend into the canopy.

The battle is over.

[Drogos]

Cody walks over to the guy he had just rescued from the bugs.

Hey man, are you okay?

He holds out his hand.

I'm Cody and this is my Totodile, Gustave

Toto!

You're lucky my friend and I came along when we did or you would have been in a sticky situation. We just came from Professor Oak's Lab and are on our way to a Nidoran nest up ahead. You're welcome to join us if you aren't too hurt.


Cody looks down at the freshly filled Pokeball holding the fierce Beedrill inside.

Heh, sorry about nabbing that Beedrill out from underneath you like that. If you want it, you can have it. I'm not one for using bug types. I prefer Water types whenever possible. Besides, its no match for Gustave here. If you want this Beedrill you can have it now and then you can give me a cool Water type Pokemon later. Sound fair?

[The-Mage-King]

Shaking the offered hand, Ewan nods.

"Name's Ewan. I think I'll take you up on that offer." He says, withdrawing Flamer and going to pick up the pokeball he tried to use.

"Anyway, I was trying catch that to use against the rest of them. If you don't want it, sure, I'll take it. I guess I owe you a water type." He continues, looking at the pokeball containing the bug type.

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Attempting to repair the pokeball I used, if broken:

(1d20+4)[15].

[Drogos]

Alright Ewan , nice to meet you. Good luck with that Beedrill. He looks like a handful. What are you trying to do with that pokeball? Do you know how to fix that or something?

Cody turns to the Trainer the Gastly had belonged to.
And aren't you going to introduce yourself? I don't think I got your name.

[Vizzerdrix]

Will looks up from examining his gastly for any severe injuries

Huh? Oh! Sorry. Didn't mean to be so rude. I'm Will. Pleased to meet you. Umm... I know some first aid, if you'd like me to look over your friend and make sure he's okay?

[Malachite]

Examining the ball, Ewan finds that the Beedrill's escape has broken one of the hinge pins and overloaded a number of capacitors. It isn't too difficult to replace the broken parts, and soon the Pokeball is back in a working state.
Standard Pokeballs are pretty easily repaired, but you imagine that some of the better-crafted balls may harder to repair in the field. Most towns will have somewhere with specialist tools to make the process easier though.

[Drogos]

Well I don't know about you guys, but I'm ready to get moving again to the Nidoran nest. I wonder if there are any bodies of water around here where I could find some water type pokemon...

[Malachite]

After your successful fending off of the bug Pokemon you probably feel pretty good - your first real challenge as trainers and you came out on top, and you even got caught a strong Pokemon! You must be on your way to greatness.

A quick orientation of your map and you're on your way to the Nidoran nest. The forest begins to thin out a little and you pass a small clearing on the way. Bird Pokemon fly high over head, but they're too far away to identify and none seem to want to come any closer. Leaves rustle ahead and off to the sides as small Pokemon scamper away at your approach - occasionally you see small purple bodies or striped tails held high, but nothing really close enough to chase.

The nest is only about 30 metres away according to the map when suddenly you hear a shout followed by an avian screech of aggression. The challenge is met by squeals and cries of fear and alarm, then a scream of pain. Through the bushes you can make out flashes of sun off metal, as well as the odd swirl of purple and white. Something's going on there, but it's too far away to see quite what...

[Vizzerdrix]

"Hmm... sounds like trouble. we should prepare ourselves. Last chance for that healing guys."

Will is gonna bring Shade out.

"Stay close to me Shade."

[Drogos]

Hmmm.. allow my pokemon to shed us some light. Come out Edison!

Cody lets out his second pokemon, a Chinchou. Because of the fish pokemon being a bit out of his environment, Cody just holds him in is arms and allows the Chinchou's glowing bulbs to brighten the area. The Chinchou is startled by being called from his pokeball. It seems reluctant to be out in the open.


chin...chou....

[The-Mage-King]

"Toasty time. Flamer, you'll be up for this." Ewan says, looking through the cave.

"CHAR!" The overeager Charmander replies, spitting a short burst of flame into the air.

[Malachite]

As you edge forward, more sounds of fighting continue to come from the clearing ahead until the break through the bushes to see a grisly scene. An unfamiliar-looking steel bird nearly as tall as you sits in the middle of the clearing. One foot pins a recently deceased Nidoran to the ground while the beak tears away strips of flesh. The rest of the small group have retreated back against the edge of the clearing to provide a wall of poisonous spines. Every now and then one lunges forward, trying to stab their horns at the bird, but the points just skitter off the armour. One throws its whole self into the attack and manages to rock the attacker slightly, but a flashing beak strikes it away and leaves the smaller creature crawling back to its family.

Off to the side, a human of about thirty wearing a long greeny-grey army greatcoat stands and watched with satisfaction. He notices you and waves as he realises you're trainers too.
"Just feeding Storm here," he explains. "She gets pretty hungry. Hope you aren't squeamish."

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[Drogos]

Managing to hold his Chinchou with one hand, Cody reaches into his pocket and scans all the pokemon before him, starting with the large metal looking bird. The fact that this trainer was letting his pokemon hunt others for food didn't really bother him, but it did bother him how unfair the match up was. He addresses the other trainer from where he stands.


Huh, so your Skarmory likes to eat Nidoran? I bet thats a pretty feat when its immune to the Nidoran's poison. Wouldn't it prefer a more thrilling hunt though? Something a little closer to its own size? These little guys look like they are barely worth the fight.

We were going to try catching a Nidoran or two over here but it looks these pokemon have dealt with enough here. I think you should be on your way.

[Vizzerdrix]

After Cody's comment, Will is going to use Telepathy to read the surface thoughts of this new trainer, but will be watching the nidoran while he does so.

[Malachite]

The other Trainer mulls things over for a moment, then starts to look as though he's trying to conceal anger. He doesn't do it very well.

"Hey pal, I was here first and Storm's not finished eating. Who are you to tell me to move on?"

He pulls out two more Pokeballs from belt pouches.

"There are three of you and I've got three Pokemon. How about we each play a round and best of three stays? You first - I'll let Storm teach you to interrupt her lunch!"


Seeing the confrontation brewing between you and the trainer, the Nidoran hunker down in the bushes, waiting to see whether you'll drive the predator away.

[The-Mage-King]

"I'll take you up on that, at least." Ewan says, nodding to his Charmander and taking a set of odd looking gloves from his bag and pulling them on.

"Char. Char, char, MANDER!"

"Do you mind if I go first, though?"

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Putting on my snag machine (miniaturized into a pair of gloves- I'll explain the methodology of it if I use it), and discreetly checking the loyalty of the Skarmory bird.

[Drogos]

Hah! Okay then, lets have a little battle. If we win, lunchtime is over for your pokemon and you give us your word you aren't going to bother defenseless pokemon like this ever again, specifically these Nidoran.

Give me a minute to make sure my friends here don't mind pounding your bullying pokemon into the ground.


Realizing he had just talked his way into a fight (again), Cody looks to the other two trainers. He addresses them quietly so the other trainer can't hear.

Heh, I hope you guys are okay with this. If you don't want to fight thats fine. I can probably get all three of his guys if I have to. Ewan your Charmander has some fire type moves, right? I bet that would totally melt that Skarmory. My Totodile could probably handle it if you don't want to use your Charmander but I would rather save Gustave for something thats weak to his Ice Punch or Water Gun.

[Vizzerdrix]

Will looks from the bird, to the Trainer, to the nidorans, then to his comrades before responding.

"Hmm... I am fine with this. I dislike needless hunting. And bullying. Ewan, if you wish to start, I have no problem with it. Good luck."

[Drogos]

Cody nods in approval of the others desire to defend the helpless Nidoran. He then turns to the other trainer.

Alright, we're ready. My friend Ewan here is going to take on your Skarmory. Will and I are going to be next. You know our names but we don't know yours. Care to introduce yourself before we start?