"Oh yeah? Huh." He remembered a few similar sports events being announced over certain radio stations in Kanto, but he'd never witnessed anything like that personally—not a water race, at least. "I haven't made it out that way yet to see it for myself, but I'll take your word for it, ha. Still, on a Sharpedo like that? Bet he cuts through currents like butter."

He gave a little wave to the Manectric on shore, Devi sounding off his own "'Kip!" in reply. At this guy—Josh's—next statement, his brows lifted in slight shock. A Gym Leader, huh? He couldn't say he was expecting that one. Based on the location, Mauville was his best guess, but he couldn't say for sure. "That's—"

When the bass-boosted vibration thrummed through the area, Trey winced, watching as Josh's Mega Sharpedo tore through the water to take care of a Seismitoad. "You can help too, Devi. Try to shoo it away with a Hydro Pump, yeah?" The Mudkip responded happily, placing his paws back into the river before sending a pressurized, massive pulse of water from his mouth at the larger pokemon. Trey would've asked for Water Pulse—Hydro Pump was kind of overkill—but that probably would've interfered with Josh and his Sharpedo.

Trey heard something rustle in the bushes behind him; when he turned to see what it was, a little Helioptile came stumbling forth, ears standing straight up in alarm. The conversation and ruckus must've drawn it out. The ecologist watched to see how the pokemon would act, and after sizing the situation up, its ears lowered, the little lizard seeming to deflate with a sigh. Trey smirked; it must've been worried. He eyed the Helioptile curiously, and it watched him, too. Trey considered. After having most of his pokemon confiscated by Rockets in Kanto, his team had been extremely limited... if he wanted to get a leg up in Hoenn, diversifying his types would be helpful. "Yo, little guy," he said, and the Helioptile looked up at him expectantly. "Wanna come with me?"

It tilted its head, and in that moment, Trey pulled out a pokeball, tossing it and watching as the lizard disappeared in a flash of red light.

He glanced back to Josh, rubbing the back of his head. "Do you need any help with training? Maybe my Mudkip could make some currents with Water Pulse, or he could lob a Rock Throw your way..." He paused, smirking sheepishly. "Don't really have any rideable water pokemon to help with, though. Devi's way too small."

Josh Devlin
capture attempt!

☉

With Trey's back turned to the entrance of the tent, Remedy was the one with eyes on their surroundings, and he thought the Tinkaton would be on lookout and tell him if she saw trouble, but apparently that wasn't on the agenda. A feminine voice caught Atreyu unawares, causing him to slap the papers down onto the table and whip his head around to see who found him out. "You really couldn't keep watch, Remedy?"

The Tinkaton hid a giggle behind her hand. So helpful.

His eyes narrowed slightly as he slowly turned to regard his new company, trying to parse the situation. The way she spoke about the Rockets led him to believe she wasn't one, but she could've just been acting catty. Her tone didn't suggest that, though. If she truly wanted to dispose of him, she probably could've done it by now, but he also knew that the truly powerful could control a situation with words alone. What kind of person was he dealing with here?

"Honestly? Haven't got a clue." He knew Rocket influence was slowly growing in Hoenn; if they were brave enough to set up multiple locations in the Chasm for their research, then they held more power than he realized. "Probably foolish of me, huh? What can I say—I got curious. Are you here to give me my reckoning, or are you curious too?"

IsCJ|Unl

Elise Calcifet
roll total: 70

☉

Devi ricocheted off of the boulders a few more times before Trey thought to take stock of their surroundings. He did it infrequently to check for wild pokemon of course, but this kind of training required more attention than usual. Regardless, something did catch his eye, though it wasn't a wild pokemon. He squinted further down the river, not expecting to see a guy suddenly wading in so deep that he might as well have been swimming. It was a nice day, considering the month and weather; he couldn't say he blamed him for doing it. What he didn't expect to see was a Sharpedo emerge from a pokeball before the guy climbed on top of it. Before he could form an opinion, the pair began glowing—

"Damn," he mumbled to himself, watching the transformation take place. He'd never had the tools to do it himself, but he'd studied Mega Evolution enough to be able to catch the signs. Devi paddled back to shore to catch a glimpse, too, Atreyu standing from his spot to observe.

Was he watching? Absolutely. Did he care that the other guy might've thought that was weird? Well, not really. One had to acknowledge that people may gawk when you just used a Mega Stone. He was probably used to it.

Slowly, Trey and his Mudkip made their way down the riverbank, stopping when they got close enough to be within talking range. "You plan on using this part of the river for training?" he asked, hands on his hips. The area was big enough for multiple people to train if they wanted to, frankly, but Devi sort of needed as much focus has he could get. That'd be a little hard with a Mega Sharpedo zooming around. "We can go somewhere else, no big." He noticed the Manectric on standby—saw that it had a saddle, too. "Do you race competitively or something?"

Josh Devlin

☉

The whole process of leaving Kanto in secret and trying to adjust to an entirely new continent was tiring. Not only did the suspicion that Rockets might have been tracking his location weigh on his mind, but being as socially active as he'd been while also trying to navigate a new city was taking more of a toll than he expected. Customs had been a pain; Embry was getting on his nerves; he needed to get his pokemon out for a bit of exercise...

Trey dipped his face into his hands and sighed.

He needed a drink.

Part of him had wanted coming to Hoenn to be a fresh start; no more smoking, no clubbing, no anything that would keep him distracted from his main goal. He'd only been in Slateport for half a day before he decided to ditch that idea altogether. Focusing only on one thing would drive him as mad as it'd done back in Kanto. Spicing up his life with his vices every now and then wouldn't be so bad, right? It's not like he planned on going on a bender or anything, or getting so blitzed that he'd have to sleep it off in an alley. He just wanted to whet his palate—nothing too crazy. He wasn't picky, either—he walked into the first bar he saw in the lower district, and much to his surprise, it was something he would've frequented back in Celadon: a karaoke bar.

Perfect.

Trey scoped out the scene quickly before meandering up to the bar, leaning across it on his elbows as he nodded at the bartender. "I'll have whatever he's having," he said, sticking his thumb out at the guy next to him. He'd only spared a glance, but he was pretty sure this guy was already at least tipsy. Good—the sooner Trey could get that way himself, the better.

paxton concordas

☉

Exploring Hoenn had been an eye-opening experience for Atreyu so far. He'd traveled quite a bit in Kanto, sure, but something about Hoenn's topography and environments... he didn't want to sound cliche, but it was special. In a general sense, the great outdoors felt simpler in Kanto—or maybe he'd just grown too familiar with nature there. There was always something to be learned regarding how pokemon interacted with their environment, but it felt like Hoenn was giving him more of an experience than even he could've anticipated.

Maybe that was just due to how much people had influenced the environment here. It was taking him longer to get used to than he liked.

He'd just climbed a rocky hill to check out a cave entrance when Indigo chirped, nudging Trey's leg to alert him. "What's up?" he said, arching a brow as he glanced behind him. The Absol turned towards the direction they'd come from, eyes narrowing in suspicion. Maybe there was someone lurking just beyond the boulders? Trey couldn't be sure, but considering how adept Absol were at detecting disturbances, it had to be something. His pokemon had never led him astray before. "Is someone over there?"

ever blackwell

☉

The why and how of Atreyu's arrival at Littleroot wasn't important right now. What was was the strange swarm of people and pokemon that rolled out in waves from the epicenter of town, eyes tinted purple as they chicken-danced their way to whatever goal they had. Was there a goal other than achieving general chaos? He scowled at the scene, quickly backing up into an unoccupied alley so he could peek behind a better defense as he strategized.

What he couldn't keep his gaze off of was the crystal formation jutting out in the town center. Anything shiny and pretty would draw attention, sure, but this seemed especially... sinister. The fog of miasma emanating from it didn't exactly help, either. Observing the people themselves made the whole ordeal seem silly, but after watching a few interactions between the unaffected and the poisoned, it was clear they were hostile.

Why though? Why... mochi?

Just as Trey sighed, a large hand grabbed his shoulder and shoved him out into the open, earning a startled yelp. Almost immediately, a man whipped around to face him, zombie-walking towards his general direction. His head snapped to look behind him and flip off the culprit, who was snickering and sticking her tongue out. His Haunter, Wisp, halfway apparated out of the wall he'd just been hiding behind; just her presence alone caused him to shudder. He didn't have time to scold her, though. Just as the mochi-crazed man got into range, Trey acted on instinct, swinging his fist out into an uppercut aimed straight at the other person's jaw. It was a clean-cut victory, Trey's target toppling over into the street without much of a fuss.

"You think that's funny, don't you?" he chided as Wisp cackled, turning around to face her. Unbeknownst to him, the man's pokemon was right behind them, the Obstagoon lunging forward with claws outstretched—

Before Trey had the time to duck, Wisp shot out of the alley, mirroring what her trainer had done: before the Obstagoon could land the hit, she pummeled it with a Sucker Punch, sending it flying backwards. Even from a few feet away, she and Trey could see its Toxic Chain disappearing from view. Trey stood there dumbfounded, waiting for the pokemon to get up. It didn't.

"Great—now there's two bodies." Wisp shrugged; Trey's hand slid down his face in defeat. "Guess we better take 'em somewhere instead of leaving them in the street."

notes:
- attack or defend against a hostile townsperson
- defeat a toxic-chained pokemon

☉

"Alright, Devi. Let's try again."

Atreyu's Mudkip puffed out his chest and dove back into the water, fins cresting the ocean waves after a few moments. He stared hard at the boulders that blocked the area where the river met the sea, a glint in his eye. Suddenly, he shot forward, legs kicking out as he prepared for his next move. He leapt out of the ripple he'd created, aiming right for one of the rocks—

"Now!"

Once the word was given, the Mudkip grew rigid, a strange sheen washing over his body right before he came in contact with stone. When the pokemon did, he ricocheted off immediately with a loud plink, legs sticking out awkwardly as he bounced back into the water. His little head eventually popped back up, and despite having just launched himself off a rock, the Mudkip looked thrilled, crying out in excitement as he swam in a celebratory circle.

Perfecting the move Protect was as little hard—it took some mental gymnastics to figure out a strategy that worked for them—but despite this being a little bizarre, Trey was pleased that this method was working out. Once Devi trusted him to give the signal at the right time, it'd been easy. To be fair, he couldn't blame the little guy for taking his time; it wasn't exactly normal to ask a pokemon to throw themselves bodily at rocks. Now, though, they were truly working as a team.

"One more time!"

Josh Devlin

☉

Atreyu couldn't help it—he was curious. He'd explored the Giant Chasm a bit, studying its various plants and craggy formations, but he wanted to go deeper. It was in his nature to be interested in the ecosystem here, considering how different this place was from Kanto, but beyond that, he'd heard rumors of strange pokemon lying further within in the area. He'd seen a small number of Venomoth floating around, as well as some Swablu and even a stray Raichu, but he had a feeling there was more to it than that. What made people so drawn to this location? And boy, had he seen people. Some remained scattered; some teamed up in groups to... do whatever it was they were doing.

He'd seen crystals; drills. What were they extracting? What was it all used for?

God, he felt stupid as hell. Being in a new region had its disadvantages.

A small waterfall crashed down from a massive cliffside, and as Trey approached, he noticed something floating not too far off. It was a dusty purpleish-blue, a strange, amorphous shape. Looked sort of like a Misdreavus, except—

"Y'see that, Remedy?" he said, tapping his Tinkaton on the head. She perked up, putting a hand over her brows to study what her trainer was pointing out. Luckily for them, the Misdreavus spotted them; it uttered a strange cry and drew closer, a peculiar glint in its eye. Atreyu was no stranger to wild pokemon, but this one seemed a little too eager to come closer. He took a step back, and Remedy hummed, switching her giant hammer from one hand to the other.

Why was this thing so large? And also... "Do Misdreavus come with hair extensions in Hoenn?"

priam conrad

☉

Atreyu had come to Hoenn with one goal in mind, sure, but it was unrealistic to hold himself accountable for spending every waking moment looking for one man. There was plenty of time for recreational activities, passion projects, should he feel so inclined, exploration—and hey, if he managed to find a lead while doing something else, then maybe it'd turn out to not be such a bad idea after all. He hadn't felt much guilt about it yet; he was simply telling himself he was "getting creative". Oldale Town was quaint on the surface, and while its little garden was nice, what really drew him in was the giant chasm.[break]

It wasn't off-limits, right? And if it was, who was really going to stop him from going in?[break]

It was well-trekked from the looks of it. Sure, the area mostly kept its natural rugged scenery, but paths had been created by countless people and pokemon. Trey was no newbie to the outdoors, but the cliffs here were especially jagged and rough; he'd have to take extra care to remain sure-footed and keep his wits about him. Remedy, his Tinkaton, giggled and gave his leg a playful push, making him stumble to the side.[break]

"Really?" he scoffed, stomping back at her playfully with a huff. She stuck her tongue out and skipped forward, making a beeline to what looked like a tent. Huh—a research station, maybe? Trey jogged forward, arriving only a few seconds after Remedy had. Luckily, she hadn't decided to investigate too deeply, simply peeking her head inside to peer around. When the ecologist pulled a flap back and stepped in, it was devoid of life, instead occupied with folding tables, crates, and paper strewn around on whatever surface was available. Trey arched a brow and began examining some of the information, flipping through various folders. He proooooobably shouldn't be so nosy, but nobody was here, so...[break]

"What is this place?" he mumbled, his only reply being a shrug from the Tinkaton. Soon enough, he spotted a Rocket insignia, causing him to frown. Great. How long would it take before he was found snooping?

Elise Calcifet

☉