[OPEN GROUP] Meandering Meetings at Mt. Moon!

Last edited by Avaritia on Thu Jan 10, 2019 8:30 pm; edited 1 time in total

Post WC: 445
Total Topic WC: 445
Dialogue Color: Everett - #00FF00

[In Everett's timeline, this adventure takes place some time after the events of her currently ongoing solo thread.]

Somehow, Everett was in a cave. A cave of regrets, currently. She regretted throwing her phone into the ocean in a symbolic act of freedom because, man, would a GPS be helpful right about now. She regretted getting on a bus that she thought would just bring her back to Vermilion and ending up... wherever she was. She regretted panicking and making the bus stop at some random cave entrance once she realized it was taking wayy too long to get to the place she intended. But most of all, she regretted getting off at said stop because the bus driver was looking at her funny. Okay, her real biggest regret was entering the cave to see just how glow-y the glowing lights on her Pokemon were, since they happened to be at a cave. The entrance was much too light, so after sending out her Inkay, the two had wandered quite far into the cave until it grew very dark. They confirmed that the glow-y-ness was indeed very glow-y and upon turning around realized they were completely lost. Hence, cave of regrets.

Everett and her Inkay, Squiggles, wandered toward where it seemed like there was a source of light, but after several attempts just seemed to end up more lost. At least it wasn't as dark as it had been, after a while. "Y'know," the trainer said, pausing her aimless path, "the caves in Alola are so much more linear than this. I swear we turned around but... all of this looks different." It all looked the same. She had also never been inside an Alolan cave. Squiggles didn't look too worried and stuck to his trainer's side and acted as a loyal flashlight, perhaps a little too trusting in her navigation abilities. He chirped happily, content with just having a change of scenery. Encouraged by her Pokemon's cheerfulness, Everett made up her mind. I just gotta think like a trainer!

She decided that a tried and true trainer, given her current circumstances, would definitely give up and sit around for a while instead. She climbed onto a very precarious looking ledge about her height up into the cave wall and managed to lean just right so that she could use it as a makeshift and very crumbly bench. It kicked up a ton of dust, but neither trainer or Pokemon seemed to mind that much. She fished a sandwich she "borrowed" from Vermilion's Pokemon Center out from her bag, tore off a corner, and gave said corner to Squiggles. "Any time's lunch time as long as you're stranded in a cave~" she hummed to herself, not entirely sure what time it even was.

Rin
Age: 17

Current Party:
Zuko The Chimchar
Gwyn The Paras
Eggos The Egg (Name WIP)
Word Count:
Post:
537
Total:
537

[Timeline takes place after "Time To Focus Up." Hiro probably has caught the Sneasel, but wont be in this thread at all. Hiro was planning to train in the cave before taking on Pewter City Gym, but got lost instead.]

"Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves."
"Ha." Hiro coldly mumbled under his breath. "Y'know, I really am close to giving up on this book." He told out loud, even though only his Pokemon were next to him. He was getting more and more tired of reading his philosophy book by each passing day. But, it was a good excuse to not have to interact with people. He had a whole lot of faith in his book in hand, headphones over ears combo.

Zuko the Chimchar was walking around the cave a lot, making sure to never get too far, but also daring to go further and further each time. He kept on getting excited when it came to going to new places, but this was very different than the city they were just at. The biggest difference was of course the cave getting darker and darker the deeper Hiro walked in without paying attention. Chimchar looked up at his friend, Gwyn the Paras, who, like usual, was hanging out of Hiro's bag a bit munching on a candy bar she found inside of it. Most likely sitting on the egg Hiro kept on telling her to stay off of. Chimchar let out a little sigh, seeing that Gwyn was not up to exploring the cave like he was. Plus, it was getting pretty dark, so maybe she didn't have such a bad idea. Chimchar closed his eyes in thought before opening his eyes and nodding in determination, running towards Hiro and quickly climbing up his leg and perching on his shoulder to try to give him some light. Chimchar looked at Hiro for a few seconds before grabbing one of the headphones and pulling it out from covering his ear and let out a "Char!"

Hiro blinked a little bit at the cry from Chimchar, fully taking off his headphones and putting it around his neck. "Yes, I know we're lost, Zuko." He told his partner. But he had to admit, it got way darker than he has ever realized. "Uh huh. Interesting." He mumbled, scratching the back of his head, looking left and right. "I need to stop getting lost places. I've never gotten lost until I started this adventure. And now that I'm getting lost, I immediately start having conversations with you like I understand what you're talking about." Hiro commented, mostly to himself. Chimchar rolled his eyes in response, something he learned from the young trainer on their adventure thus far. Chimchar then started to look around the cave, still perched on Hiro's shoulder. "Char?!" squealed the young Chimchar suddenly, making Hiro jump just a little bit. Chimchar started tugging on Hiro's collar, trying to get him to look over to where he was pointing. Hiro looked over to see a faint light. "Good eye partner." Hiro praised, walking over towards the light. After awhile, Hiro was finally able to kind of see where the light was coming from. A trainer and her Inkay. Hiro suddenly stopped dead in his tracks, feeling like this was bound to involve him having to interact with someone. "You've screwed me, Zuko." He hushed, which made his Pokemon respond with a simple shrug.

WC: 210
Total WC: 210
[This is the moment after Tina is done in Lavender Town during "The First Tune"]

A sigh of defeat, yet another wrong turn was made in this cave, and the inability to play a song as well as hold a flashlight made it even more frustrating for the girl. The little Popplio barked a sad tune to her trainer "I know Siren, but I thought the echo was a nice touch. Instead, it just got us lost as well as make sound just slightly more cooler..." Tina let out another sigh and sat down carefully, she took out her acoustic guitar and decided to just play it to a more extended version of Siren's tune, doubling it from an eight note tune to a sixteen note tune.

Siren noticed a light move out of the corner of her eyes, she quickly barked a happy tune before darting down one of the cavern halls. "Hey! Siren wait for me!" Tina quickly called out before getting up, putting the instrument on her back, and running after her pokemon. When she got to Siren, she took a few deep breathes before looking up, a squid-like pokemon known as Inkay leaning against a wall, and farther out was another trainer with a fire chimp pokemon known as Chimchar. She stood there, waiting to see what was going to happen.

[This is some time after the character would've arrived in Vermillion City, their first appearance in Kanto. The topic doesn't exist yet as of this post..]
Team:
Riolu "Kaleva" - Level 5

WC: 412
Total WC: 412
CAVES! How does she feel? Well, put simply, at home. She's walked through many caves in her youth. They weren't far from home, after all. She'll always have a fondness for them. Though there are many differences, such as the fact that the one she entered through was the only opening she's found so far, she can feel the presence of many Pokémon here still.

She'd already been here for quite a while though. Encountering some circular paths and dead ends, she realized that it was quite a maze. She could use her internal sight, but she'd previously determined that she will not use it as a handicap, and will find the way through. She wasn't in any sort of rush, anyway. What time was it again? Which way is north? How into the cave has she actually gone? It'd been a long time since she'd gotten lost like this, and she felt it was pretty exciting. It was dark in every direction, and one couldn't predict what they'd run into next. Who doesn't like such surprises?

As she was about to turn the corner, she heard very non-cave noises, and instinctively reached for a pokéball just in case, though she realised that it was just some music. Which seemed to stop shortly after it began. She wasn't alone in the cave. Wait, of course she wasn't There were probably others trying to get through. Maybe they knew where they were going and would be willing to help a foreigner out.

She continued in the direction to see who it was, but the sounds of quick footfalls told her they suddenly started running. Curious why, she decided to to follow the sound, hoping it wouldn't be taken as an aggressive response. Though she was surprised when she saw about three other humans within the same vicinity. Was this a common gathering area? It must be. Thinking this, she pretended to super expecting the people to be there already, approaching calmly. She realised she recognised one of the pokémon there, the Chimchar, as one frequently existed in her own home region. She could've identified at any distance with that familiar rear fire. The other two, though she thought they looked cool, were totally alien to her. Maybe they were pokémon only seen here.

She was still a moderate distance, when she waved in greeting. "Uh.. hello."

(This is some time after Victoria reached Pallet Town and made her way to Pewter City, then got lost while looking for a Water, Grass, or Fighting Pokemon. No one ever said Victoria's sense of direction was good.)

Only when she stepped inside the dark and damp cavern did Victoria realize the magnitude of her mistake. She was nowhere near Pewter City anymore. She was heading in the opposite direction from it!

"You've gotta be kidding me." Victoria said aloud. She was not standing in just any cave... she was standing in Mount Moon, the very cave some bullying classmates shoved her to the cave floor and ran from her so that she got lost. Spending hours searching vainly for the exit, she got hopelessly lost and only found her way out with the help of a Clefairy that took pity on her and guided her to the exit, which led to Route 4 and Cerulean City. That unpleasant incident had occurred over ten years ago and the brunette had intensely disliked caves ever since then.

Victoria called out her Vulpix since the small fire fox could light the way... hopefully. The small red six-tailed fox stood patiently and waited for its trainer's orders. Victoria rummaged through her backpack and brought out the flashlight she had packed in Saffron City some time ago. Now was as good a time as any to use it. It would be worthless to her if she died from a fall that could have been prevented by using the flashlight to see holes in the cave floor.

The brunette clicked it on and was immediately swarmed by Zubat. Victoria screamed and ran forward while waving her arms, her Vulpix dutifully following right behind her. The brunette ran forward in a blind panic, slamming into a cave wall and falling onto her back. The dazed trainer heard music... why was there music in Mount Moon? There had never been music in Mount Moon before.

"Vul?" Vulpix asked her.

"Don't worry. I'm not dead yet." Victoria said to her Vulpix.

Victoria rolled over onto her stomach, slowly got up, reclaimed her flashlight, and started following the sound of the music to its source. The source turned out to be a young girl holding an acoustic guitar. In the same area was another young girl with a Riolu. Victoria turned off her flashlight to avoid blinding the others.

"Hi there." Victoria tersely greeted the two young women. Her face really hurt.

[Word Count: 375]
[Total Word Count: 375]

Post WC: 545
Total Topic WC: 990
Dialogue Color: Everett - #00FF00

Everett had managed three bites into her sandwich before, quite suddenly, a sullen song echoed across the cavern walls. It was followed by the sounds that reminded her of the ukuleles back home, but clearly deeper in tone. She assumed it was a guitar but one played by someone who knew what they were doing rather than the only time she'd heard one before (a friend who clearly did not know what they were doing). She glanced toward the direction of the noise but had no plans on giving up her "eat a sandwich" game plan before investigating. Squiggles seemed a bit curious, but he too was too distracted by deliciousness. Luckily, it didn't seem as if the two needed to do anything anyway. Before they could get another bite in, the tune faded away and was followed by the happy bark of something Everett couldn't help but feel was somehow familiar. She heard the echoes of footsteps and looked curiously toward them to see a recognizable Pokemon followed by an out of breath trainer.

"Hm," she nudged Squiggles, "I think that Pokemon over there is, uh, Ploppeo, right? They're from Alola like us." She instinctively waved her hands in the typical Alolan greeting toward the trainer, "Alola!" she said with a smile. It felt a bit creepy that the trainer had run up a bit of a distance away and didn't say anything, though... Just at that thought, the flames from Hiro's Chimchar finally caught the corner of her eye and she finally noticed the other silent duo. Double creepy... how long have they been standing there? This has to be a Trainer thing, right? Is this the part where we have to battle or something? She looked to Squiggles, then to her half eaten sandwich, then back to Squiggles. No- not today! Sandwich first. Sandwich beats battle! Nobody shall pry me from this sandwich today!

Finally, some other person spoke. Said person was farther out than the winded girl with the Popplio, making Everett have to squint a bit to see them properly. Their hello seemed a bit hesitant, but the prospect of one of these people actually knowing how to get out of the cave finally hit full-force. One point for plan "Sit Around and Do Nothing"! Everett shoved the rest of her sandwich into her mouth, attempted to chew it as fast as possible, and spoke while still attempting to chew.

"Yo," she paused to swallow the mass of food while her eyes focused on one other light quickly approaching, "you wouldn't ha-" before she could finish her question, she heard Victoria's own greeting and blinked as her vision grew a little fuzzier after the flashlight turned off. It had gone from one person to five real quick, and something like this was much more Everett's speed. Sure, they were all trainers and she still didn't really understand how any of that worked, but at least one of them had to know how to get out of wherever they were. "Listen, I don't wanna battle or anything," she thought it best to make that clear, and she focused her eye contact between each of the other people, "but do any of you happen to, uh, know the way out of here?"

Rin
Age: 17

Current Party:
Zuko The Chimchar
Gwyn The Paras
P. Ennis The Egg (Name WIP)
Word Count:
Post:
483
Total:
1,052

Hiro very stoically looked on as a few other people suddenly came running into view. He squinted at all of the people waltzing in on this very specific spot in the cave. He obviously was more interested in the Pokemon accompanying the trainers than the trainers themselves. He let out a little sigh, opting out of saying anything.

Hiro never really liked people all that much. And after his family incident, his view on people as a whole soured even more than original. Though overall, he didn't mind making friends. The only problem with going about befriending the rather cautions trainer is getting past the walls he put up, and to stop him from doing what he typically does. Which, of course, was to just walk away from said conversation.

Hiro finally snapped back into reality, realizing he was zoning out a bit. He looked around again, taking a good look at all of the trainers and Pokemon. He then processed the question the person who just shoved a sandwich in her mouth asked. Hiro sort of knew how to get out, since he always make sure to note how he gets to a place, just in case he needs to get out the same way. But, he assumed this person wasn't trying to go back to Pewter City like he was planning to do. Seeing that he couldn't really help the weird amount of random girls appearing, and seeing that he probably had a better chance at training closer to Pewter City, he did a complete one-eighty and started walking back the way he came.

Chimchar looked at his trainer weirdly as he walked away. He wanted to go introduce himself to all the new Pokemon, but he wasn't going to just abandon Hiro to go do that. So Chimchar stayed perched on Hiro's shoulder. Though his other Pokemon, Paras, dropped her new snack. Which, was a berry. Once the berry dropped, it started rolling back towards the group of trainers. So, being very serious about her snacks, Paras immediately dropped out of Hiro's bag and started scurring over to the berry.

Hiro felt his bag get lighter, so he turned around and saw his Pokemon quickly leaving. "Gwyn!" He sort of hushed whisper, jogging after her. Paras was way too focus on the getaway berry to listen to the cries of her trainer. Luckily, it didn't take too long for Gwyn to seize the berry in her claw. Unluckily, Hiro immediately afterwards picked her up and gave her a stern face. "Gwyn! You can't just run off like that!" He gave a hushed lecture to. Though Gwyn happily ignored his lecture to enjoy her meal. Hiro felt it was sort of weird how quickly she could get over her timidness for food. Hiro sighed at the fact that at this point he felt like he put way too much attention to himself, so he couldn't just sneak away like he originally wanted to. "Hey. Uh, I know how to get out. But only if you're trying to go to Pewter City." He offered.

(OOC: This all happens in about a span of a minute)

WC: 228
Total WC: 438

Upon waiting for something, she noticed a girl that was on the other side of the Inkay get up and move towards her. Tina had no idea she was there and was clueless of how she didn't notice her before with her wearing a large bright green sweater. "Oh! Uh..." She hesitated, 'Alola? She must be from the Alolan region my father use to talk about' she thought. "Alola! I'm Tenoda Al-" she was stopped by another voice behind her, which made her jump away in surprise. "Please don't sneak up on some-" and with that, another voice from the other side of her, causing her to jump away in surprise again.

She sighed, what she thought was just going to be another trainer battling a wild Pokemon, turned out to be the weirdest hangout spot. She heard another voice, but this time from the trainer she originally saw earlier and started to feel uncomfortable standing in the middle of everyone. She quickly moved over to the side a bit so she could see everyone more easily, listening to the boy speak about knowing a way out. "Ah, that sounds like a wonderful idea!" She hasn't really been in this cave for long, but knowing she was lost didn't help her want to stay either. Siren let out a quick happy tune before jumping around her trainer happily.

WC: 198
TWC: 610

Tuuli hung back a little while others were talking. From Alola, huh.. she supposed this wasn't the gathering spot that she thought it was. But then the momentary flash of light seemed to herald the entry of yet another person holding a flash light. Maybe this area was just heavily frequented.. regardless of what was going on, surely there was an opportunity of making a few friends here, she thought to herself.

She walked a bit closer to the general location of the people there so she could better hear the conversation, though these caves seemed to carry voices rather well. When the question of how to escape from the cave, she realised it may still be a while before she'd be getting out again still. Oh, well.

Alola, they said? This was an interesting greeting style, saying the name of one's homeland. "Uh... Sinnoh!" She said, totally using this as a greeting. "Wait, that sounds super weird," she whispered. "I mean, Hello. My name's Tuuli. Pewter City, huh? I've never seen that place before. Sounds like it could be fun," she said, agreeing with the person she now knew as Tenoda Al.

Victoria rubbed her aching face and listened as members of the group introduced themselves. Guitar Girl's name turned out to be "Tenoda" and learned that she was from the Alola Region. A recently arrived dark-haired girl's name was Tuuli and she was a native of the Sinnoh Region. The guy with the runaway Paras had not introduced himself yet nor did he give his homeland, so it looked like it was Victoria's turn to chip in.

"My name's Victoria Freeman. I'm originally from the Johto Region. Olivine City, to be specific." Victoria introduced herself to the group. Her Vulpix stood silently by her side as the brunette talked. When she heard that the guy knew a way out of the cave, Victoria was all ears. She did not want to spend any more time in Mount Moon than she absolutely had to. There were too many bad memories of the place to make spending time in there time spent in anything other than misery because those "classmates" clearly intended to leave her to die.

"I got lost while looking for a Water, Grass, or Fighting-type Pokemon to help with the Pewter City Gym." Victoria admitted the reason she got lost to the group. It was more than a little embarrassing, but it was what it was. As much as she liked her Vulpix, she did not want to send it up against Brock because the Gym Leader would stomp it flat and ask for the next Pokemon. The brunette needed to add a few more Pokemon to her team before even considering challenging a Gym Leader. In order to add a Pokemon to her team, she needed to catch one.

There were Zubat practically everywhere inside Mount Moon, but she did not want a Zubat just yet. Brock would knock those out of the air with a well-thrown pebble. What the brunette needed was a Water or Grass-type Pokemon. A Fighting-type would be another good choice if no other options were available, but a Grass-type would be ideal to take on Misty with. In order to find one of those, Victoria would need to get out of Mount Moon because they did not have too many Water or Grass-types wandering around waiting to be captured.

[Word Count: 375]
[Total Word Count: 750]

Post WC: 383
Total Topic WC: 1373
Dialogue Color: Everett - #00FF00

My perceived order of events (just to keep everything straight hopefully)

Hiro attempts to walk away. At the same time, Tenoda greets Everett.
Tuuli and Victoria scare Tenoda.
Paras foils Hiro's plan, Hiro offers a way out.
Tenoda comments to Hiro, Tuuli introduces herself, and Victoria introduces herself.

Hm, Everett thought as she side eyed Hiro's blank stare and the way he was subtly inching away from the group without a word, must not be one for large groups. Or strangers-- maybe both? A bit rude to not even say "nah" or anything before leaving... typical of Kanto so far. She was never one to press, though, and didn't say a word about it to the rest of the group. Instead, she focused on Tenoda's cheery greeting, happy that at least someone else knew the proper Alolan way to say hello. Maybe not everyone in Kanto is bad after all! She couldn't hide her smile as the poor girl was spooked not once but twice by the other two newcomers. She opened her mouth to introduce herself a bit more formally, but before she could muster anything some sort of mushroom crab came dashing in after a runaway berry. It was quickly followed by the stealthy trainer from before. He scolded the Pokemon then, surprisingly, offered to help find a way out. Pewter City didn't sound familiar, but ending up in some strange town didn't seem too bad of a trade off if it meant she actually got to make friends for the first time since she'd gotten to Kanto.

She listened to Tenoda and her Pokemon's enthusiasm at being offered help as well as Tuuli and Victoria's greetings. Everyone else seemed to be enthusiastic about heading the way to Pewter, so that solidified her choice. She finally mustered her more formal greeting. "Glad I'm not the only one who's lost, then! I'm game to head in Pewter's direction, and my name is Everett. It's nice to meet you all..." she paused, and just to show off, "Tenoda, Tuuli, Victoria, and Mr. Nameless," she pointed at each trainer in turn, Hiro being the last. Deciding it was best to start conversation somehow, she tried to show interest in what Victoria had mentioned. "Challenging a gym, huh? When I first got to Kanto I thought that Pokemon Centers were the same as Gyms and I can't say I quite get it all yet," she laughed, "the nurse was not amused. What type does the Pewter Gym use, anyway? You all seem pretty interested in that town so it's gotta be something exciting."

Rin
Age: 17

Current Party:
Zuko The Chimchar
Gwyn The Paras
Autumn The Egg (Name WIP)
Word Count:
Post:
273
Total:
1,325

Hiro looked around at the other teens as they were introducing themselves. "Pallet Town?" Hiro thought to himself, since everyone else was saying where they were from. He found it interesting how people apparently not from Kanto were all at the same place. Also, the pure mention of Sinnoh, where he is really originally from, made him lower his eyes in dislike. Hiro just let everyone continue talking to each other and finish their introductions as he let Paras crawl up his arm and plop back in his bag. "Careful with the Egg, Gwyn." He mumbled under his breath, shoving his hands in his pockets as he just listened to everyone converse. Though it didn't last long.

"Hiro. Hiro Yamada from Pallet Town. Originally from Sinnoh." He finally introduced himself, despite his best judgement. He felt it would be a bit rude to not introduce himself at all. While he would usually not really care if it was rude, he now assumed that he was going to be around these people for quite a bit. So decided it was better to just get over his anti-socialness and just get his name out there. He took note on what the girl with the Vulpix said about taking on the Pewter City Gym. He knew where she was coming from, since he was planning on taking up the Gym very soon himself, and his current Pokemon were not up to par tp even think about challenging it just yet. For now Hiro just stayed away from the center of attention, letting everybody else finish conversing until they were ready to trek back to Pewter City.

WC: 269
Total WC: 707

Tina listened as everyone introduced themselves, of course she may have been the first to do so, she mainly was saying it to the trainer she now knows as Everett. "Well um... I'm Tenoda, Tina for short, and it seems like I'm the only who was actually born here in Kanto, specifically Saffron City" she says to the gathering of people. Upon realizing the fact everyone was introducing themselves to each other, this wasn't some weird hangout spot, but just a happy coincident we were all in the same place, she smiled to herself.

Siren was enjoying the moment, she was seeing all sorts of new pokemons that she wanted to meet, Vulpix, Inkay, Paras, and a Chimchar, all of which she has never seen before. The little Popplio looked up to her trainer, then to the other trainers, she looked at all the nearby pokemon before running to the closest one, the fire fox pokemon known as Vulpix. "Pop pop! Popplio!" She barked happily once she got to her destination, but not in a musical tune like she normally does with her Trainer.

Tina watched her Popplio go and try to socialize with another trainer's pokemon before she looked up. "Pewter City Gym?" Confused for a moment before realizing. "Oh! Right, like the one in Saffron City," she says quickly to herself, "the one in Saffron uses Psychic types, and she's kind of... odd. She is also the only one I know of, so this Pewter City Gym is a complete mystery to me." She hadn't realized that these statements actually said how little she had traveled before.

WC: 308
TWC: 918

Tuuli made a mental note as each of them introduced themselves. She was personally glad that it'd been previously established that no one was looking to battle. It seemed all too common for trainers to willingly wage war against every other trainer they find, and she always felt it was better to conserve such energy for cases where they'd be really needed. Though perhaps the strange primal trainer instincts were easier to ignore for the fact that such situation had already presented itself this time.

When Hiro introduced himself as someone from Sinnoh, she randomly voiced out sounding excited. "Heyyy, Sinnoh! Awesome, Sinnoh Power and stuff, something like that!"

She seemed totally relaxed in this situation, and didn't appear to be in any sort of rush. She would be the last person to initiate the actual journey to leave the cave. She was more interested in the fact that there were people here, some of which actually being willing to socialize. Whether that was out of desire to escape or not. Still, not many people had really talked to her. Though she came to realise only days after arriving that she was far from the only foreigner in Kanto. Perhaps she didn't appear quite as eccentric and unusual as she thought.

Despite her lack of desire for general Pokémon battles, she was particularly interested when someone brought up Gyms. She was admittedly somewhat interested in the idea, but never put any sort of effort towards it. Which meant she didn't know much about them. Though it at least sounded like she wasn't the least out of the loop. "A gym, huh.. there are some of those at home. I don't know what they like, but most people I've seen leaving one look pretty disappointed. Is it the same way here?"

Victoria was not interested in a trainer battle because she was more focused on getting out of Mount Moon and back to Pewter City. The other trainers in the impromptu gathering must have felt the same way because an odd peace was prevailing and no one was looking to fight. Victoria did not mind that at all. Her sole focus was on getting out of a place full of deeply unpleasant memories before history repeated itself and she got lost in Mount Moon again. She recalled that each trainer was from a different region, meaning that most of the major regions were represented.

"It sounds like we've got one trainer from almost every region gathered here. What are the chances of that?" Victoria asked rhetorically. She made a casual observation in order to keep the peaceful mood going for as long as it could be maintained. All five of them would need to work together if they wanted to get out of here in a reasonable timeframe. The brunette in particular did not want to die in here because that would be an utter waste of her all-too-brief Pokemon journey.

Tuuli's question about the Pokemon gyms of Kanto and their difficulty made her think back to the early days of Saffron and Celadon City Gyms. Sabrina and Erika were good trainers who made winning look easy, especially against trainers who did not have a plan to win. Some trainers tried to get a win through brute force by simply using their strongest Pokemon regardless of type difference. Most of those trainers got their head handed to them on a platter, like the fellow who thought it would be a good idea to use a Machamp against Sabrina's Alakazam. That match was so one-sided and so ugly that it made a Feebas look like a supermodel.

"Yeah, Kanto's gyms aren't pushovers. The leaders didn't get their jobs by being pretty faces. People who go in without a basic plan tend to leave with a loss to their names. All the Gym Leaders are tough, but Blue in Viridian City's the guy you really want to watch out for. He's a former Pokemon League champion, so he has strong Pokemon and some tricks up his sleeve." Victoria warned Tuuli. Victoria had never been in an actual gym battle, so she was going entirely off of personal observations and the reputations of individual leaders. She had witnessed quite a few dispirited trainers leave Saffron Gym without a Marsh Badge because Sabrina did not pull her punches.

"If you wanna have a chance of winning, try to get an idea of what types of Pokemon the Gym Leaders use and go from there. But don't get complacent just because your Pokemon have the type advantage. Some Gym Leaders expect that and compensate by teaching their Pokemon some unexpected moves. I heard Blaine of Cinnabar Gym's one of those guys." Victoria counseled the other trainer.

[Word Count: 490]
[Total Word Count: 1,240]

Post WC: 441
Total Topic WC: 1814
Dialogue Color: Everett - #00FF00

Everett listened to the idle conversation as it turned from introductions onto what kind of Gym both Pewter and Kanto had. They were a weird concept to her, all in all, but it was clear that many of the gathered trainers were passionate about the subject. She didn't know much about the trials that took place in her own homeland, but that didn't stop her from speaking of them as if she knew the subject well anyway. "I'm honestly not sure what to expect from a gym, it's weird that all you gotta do is fight one guy. We don't have gyms in Alola, but we do have trials. You gotta do all sorts of stuff like..." she trailed off, drumming her fingers and trying to think. The only real source of what a trial was like came from one of her Team Skull pals, so the accuracy of the information was very questionable at best. "Following the law, chores the Trial Captains can't be bothered to do, and making a fool of yourself. Then, when you're weak from all that, they knock you out with a battle!" She smiled, proud that she could actually contribute to the conversation. "Then, when you've lost all hope, the Grand Trial happens and they beat you until you give up the whole challenge! So I guess Alola's pretty tough too!"

Upon hearing Victoria's comment on type advantage and expecting the unexpected, Everett found it valuable advice. Smiling, she gave the girl a thumbs up. "I'm pretty sure my Squiggles is a water type," she gestured toward her Inkay, not actually knowing its type or its species name for that matter, "And I think that's good against Brock from what I've heard. We'll be sure to be on our guard though if we do fight him." She wasn't sure where to take the conversation next, but she did make note that Hiro (now that she knew his name) still seemed a bit distant from the rest and wasn't contributing to the topic. He seemed to talk to his Pokemon, though, so maybe a subject like that would interest him a bit more. "So, uh... a lot of us have Pokemon with us. As I mentioned, mine is Squiggles the squid," Her Inkay was still aimlessly floating and didn't seem to take much interest in anything going on around him. "I bought him from a guy on Kraigslist who said he was something called 'Dex fodder'," she shrugged, "but it's because of him I was able to enter a boat tournament that got me all the way to Kanto. What's the story of your guys' Pokemon?"

Hiro blinked a bit aimlessly as Everett talked about her Inkay. Hiro definitely knew about Inkay, espically since he found its typing quite interesting. Well, he knew a lot about a lot of Pokemon. The kid really loved to read. And the biggest thing he caught from what she was talking about is Inkay's typing, which is definitely not water. He looked around slightly as if he was trying to say, "Who's going to tell her?" but kept his mouth shut on that topic overall.

Hiro listened to Everett finish talking, and it soon dawned on him that he would most likely have to participate in the conversation if he wanted to get out of the cave as quick as possible. He kept his same stoic expression as he introduced his Pokemon. "The runaway Paras is named Gwyn. Shes typically very shy, until you involve food." He introduced the bug type Pokemon. Chimchar then sat proudly on Hiro's shoulder as Hiro continued on to introduce him. "And this is my buddy and partner, Chimchar. He's, been in the family for a while. So I decided to bring him with me on my journey." He informed the rest. He kept it short and sweet, not giving out too much, but hopefully enough to keep everyone satisfied for now.

(Sorry for wait with post. Was moving and then got into car accident.)

WC: 200
Total WC: 907

Gym battles being difficult wasn't news to her, she had expected as much hearing about Sabrina, but these Trials sounded... off? Tina's interest was piqued, it sounded easy enough, however she wasn't sure if she'd be willing to try them out considering she didn't want to make a fool of herself. As Everett continued by talking about her pokemon, she noticed Hiro look at everyone as if expecting something to happen. She decided to take the lead on it, not knowing it wasn't what he was looking for. "Hey! My Popplio is also a water type, meaning we'd both have chance against Brock" Tina had said to Everett before giving Hiro a quick satisfied grin.

Some of the other trainers started to introduce their pokemon, Tina wasn't sure she talked about her's, so she decided to do so. She reached over and picked up the water sea lion pokemon "This is Siren, my one and only friend for this adventure!" Siren waved her paws to everyone "Pop pop!" Tina looked over everyone before continuing. "She's also sort of my lead singer." Tina reached behind her and plucked a few strings in no specific order, and Siren hummed a short melody.

"As you can see, I'm using a Vulpix. It's my only Pokemon so far, but it's my best friend." Victoria introduced her Vulpix to the group. It tugged on her right sock with its teeth until she reached down to pick it up. The small six-tailed fox climbed into its trainer's hands, settled into Victoria's arms, and looked towards the group with shining eyes.

"VUL!" It introduced itself to the group from the arms of its trainer, raising a front paw in greeting.

Victoria liked Vulpix because it had been her friend from the beginning... perhaps her only real friend aside from her older sister Veronica. It was only fitting because Veronica had given the Vulpix to her to begin with. The small fire fox was a gift from her older sister, who had gotten it when its owner refused to keep it because it was not the Shiny Vulpix that they were trying for when they bred their Ninetales. Victoria had no qualms about taking the normal Vulpix for her own and had kept it ever since.

"I'm trying to find Water or Grass types to round out my team a bit, but I doubt I'll find any in here." Victoria told the others of her secondary objective. The primary objective was to get out of this place before she got lost again and had to relive unpleasant childhood memories. At least this group did not intend to deliberately get her lost in the mountain cave and run off while laughing at her.

The brunette was trying to find a good Water or Grass type to help her against Brock and Misty. A Grass type would also help against Lt. Surge, but it would not be as powerful as it would be against Brock and Misty. If it was strong enough and had good techniques, Vulpix would go far against Erika's Grass Pokemon. Victoria needed to expand her team and train it before she even considered a Gym Battle.

[Word Count: 330]
[Total Word Count: 1,570]

Post WC: 274
Total Topic WC: 2088
Dialogue Color: Everett - #00FF00

Everett listened as, in turn, each trainer introduced their partners. Save for the Sinnohian. Sinnohan? Sinnohese? Sinnister? her mind wandered for a moment, but she snapped herself back into reality by focusing on the odd array of Pokemon in front of her. She widely smiled toward Hiro's Chimchar and gave it a thumbs up, glad to see there was one confident persona in Hiro's little group. She then leaned a bit forward to be at Siren's eye level and waved back toward the enthusiastic Popplio in its trainer's arms. Finally, she flinched a bit in surprise at the Vulpix's sudden cry but pretended it didn't happen. Turning toward fox and trainer, she gave a more reserved wave. While all this went on, Squiggles was staring intently at Gwyn the Paras, apparently just noticing her presence. He inched closer toward Everett's legs and didn't break eye contact-- perhaps weary due to his very detrimental weakness to bug types.

Clearing her throat, Everett finally spoke. "Oh man, all your guys' Pokemon are so cool! A monkey with a fire butt, a lil' mushroom guy, an awesome singer, and a fluffy fox!" She listened to Victoria's reason for being in the cave and did her best to try to be helpful. But, well, her best wasn't that great for Pokemon knowledge. "Since we're in a cave, I bet there's lots of grass types somewhere! They like soil and stuff and it's all around us! She knocked on the side of a cave wall, causing some dirt to fall to the ground to emphasize her point. "I'm here because I got crazy lost," Everett admitted with a shrug.

(Ahhhh, I didn't know it was my post. So sorry. I don't know if we're still doing this thread or not, but,)

Hiro lifted his Paras up over his shoulder as she opened his bag and plopped in, soon popping her head out of his bag, another snack in hand as she started nibbling on it. Hiro crossed his arm and leaned on a nearby boulder, once again making sure to listen to what everybody is saying. He nodded in understanding as he opened his mouth to speak. "That's a fair way of thinking, Everett." He agreed. He would guess that it would be more obvious to have rock pokemon everywhere but to each their own.
Hiro then took a little look around, making sure nothing was sneaking up on them. He was very much ready to get out of the cave once everybody else was ready.

(Again, sorry for the wait.)

WC: 95
Total WC: 1002

While Tina was distracted by the conversation, she had completely forgotten she was even in a cave until Everett had mentioned it. "Oh! Right! Hiro, you said you knew a way out of here, correct? I do want to catch a grass type pokemon but, I would like to know where the exit is if you could please show us?" Tina looked directly towards Hiro, waiting for his response to her question. Popplio looked up at her trainer questioningly before looking over toward the squid like Pokemon Inkay and letting out a quick happy tune.

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