[attr="class","minicharh"]

Laurence Anderson

[attr="class","minicharentry"]

Fox was unnaturally gifted at Carnival games. He blamed it on years of warfare having developed his hand-eye coordination.
[break][break]
With a deft flick of his thin wrist, he let loose another ring. It caught the head of the furthest Dugtrio away and spun around it once, twice, before settling down to the base.
[break][break]
“Three in a row,” he said to his companion, grin knifelike in the shade of the game booth, “beat that.”
[break][break]
He let another one fly.

---

[attr="class","minicharf"]

[attr="class","minicharh"]

Laurence Anderson

[attr="class","minicharentry"]
Fox did not enjoy fireworks.
[break][break]
The explosive noise and overpowering smells of sulfur and smoke reminded him too much of war. The colors, while pretty, were so fleeting as to not be worth it; and their effect on nature was nigh-catastrophic. Wild Pokemon could potentially, literally, be scared to death by the cacophony of booms, hisses, and shrieks.
[break][break]
There were a lot of things Fox could tolerate in the name of healing, and Hoenn wasn’t so much healing as it was constantly being leveled with a sucking chest wound.
[break][break]
But old habits die hard.
[break][break]
Having stolen the entire fireworks supply for the Fortree Funtasia nightcap celebration, he’d sealed the crates and packages with Sliggoo goo and was busy dumping them into the sea. He’d almost gotten away with it, too, until he heard footsteps behind him.
[break][break]
He didn’t turn to see who it was. He just had a feeling.
[break][break]
“What are you going to do,” he asks, voice scathing, bordering on hateful, “arrest me?”

---

[attr="class","minicharf"]

[attr="class","minicharh"]

[attr="class","minicharentry"]

It seemed this year's celebrations, while grand, were a little bit toned down from the previous year-- or so it seemed from listening to everyone's conversations. Fox didn't so much mind. These little games were quite fun-- low risk for potentially large reward.

[break][break]

CkpiyWJO
[break][break]
prize pool[break]
08/01 pokeball [break]
08/02 tm/tr

---

[attr="class","minicharf"]

[attr="class","minicharh"]

John Sullivan (sparkling spawning/amigo spinoff)

[attr="class","minicharentry"]

Fox wasn’t really listening, focused in on the strange layer of sparkles that he’d disturbed off the night-black petals. He rubbed it on his gloved fingertips, following tendril after tendril of thorny vine up and up and realizing it wasn’t just the blooms-- the entire grove was covered in shiny dust.
[break][break]
“How peculiar.” John’s movement next to him snapped him back into his body, back to the present. “Oh, yes, they’re still alive. I’ve been monitoring their growth and bloom output. These shoots down here--,” he dragged one finger along a stem, down closer to the base of the plant, bringing him to his knees next to John, “--these are new within the last week. They should be flowers, soon.”
[break][break]
John’s tone had Fox looking at him with a questioning tilt of his head.
[break][break]
“No, they’re not. Well, not any more so than the thorns. My theory is they had to adapt to the harsh cold and low light, so they began to shift the pigment in their leaves to absorb more light. The pigmentation change spread to the flowers, turning them black.”
[break][break]
Something moved in the branches overhead, and a scattering of sparkles fell down into John’s hair. Fox reached up to brush it away with an errant flick of his fingers.
[break][break]
Two Ledyba broke through the trees and spiraled into the night.

---

[attr="class","minicharf"]

Oh, right. He had been particularly mouthy when Paxton had requested he block him on that stupid app. The sting of it had been harsh when it had happened, and Fox’s thumbs had moved faster than his brain. He was regretting it, a little.

“Paxton,” he tried, by means of acquiescence and apology, sounding the word out. It’s not too bad. It’s just like Fox with an extra syllable.

He titled his head away to hide the way heat rushed to his face at Pax’s appraisal. He had this look of knowing concern, like a mother hen checking over one of her brood, and Fox couldn’t really handle that right now.

But there was work to be done and Fox had spent more than enough time blushing like a schoolgirl. “I think we need a little more oomph, Cal.” He set three fingers over the jewel at his wrist and flexed his fingers as the energy began to flow through him. Calchíu roared, body becoming subsumed in light, as the facets of her form began to rotate and grow. When the light faded, she was taller, longer, and stronger-- a Mega Steelix.

“Try again.”

This time, it was possible to nudge the Wailord into the water. She could even do two at a time. While she was occupied, Fox turned back to his friend.

"If you were on your way to somewhere important, d-- Paxton, please don't let me hold you up."

[attr="class","membot"]paxton concordas

[attr="class","memboc"]☉

[attr="class","minicharh"]

[attr="class","minicharentry"]

He had a strong opinion about the way Clamperl diving affected the environment... but he wasn't above taking a dip for some free stuff. He made up for it by picking up some trash along the way.
[break][break]

hrM0nRCQ
[break][break]
prize pool[break]
08/01 pokeball

---

[attr="class","minicharf"]

[attr="class","minicharh"]

solo wild - catch attempt pidgeot

[attr="class","minicharentry"]

So engrossed in his work, Fox didn't even notice the bird until Syroc was lauching out of the water and grabbing it with an ice fang, dragging it back down into the sea with nary more than a few bubbles and a scattering of feathers. "Syroc!" Fox yelled, scrambling to the edge of the tidal reef. "Spìon a-mach e!"
[break][break]
Looking like a chastised child and not a carnivorous apex predator, Syroc nosed the crumpled Pidgeot onto the shore, and Fox tapped its waterlogged and shaking body with a Pokeball.

---

[attr="class","minicharf"]

[attr="class","minicharh"]

John Sullivan (sparkling spawning/amigo spinoff)

[attr="class","minicharentry"]

It had started, as most things did for Fox, innocently. A genial conversation on the nature of local flora and their affectationous regrowth following the strange false-winter Kyurem’s touch damned them to.
[break][break]
But it was also, Fox realized, as he lead John Sullivan through a small, densely packed grove of cornus kousa, their blossoms a soft gradient from white to pink, very late. Dinner had stretched very long, indeed. Whether his new friend was genuinely interested or just humoring him was rather up in the air, and, Fox found, he was so excited he didn't much care, in the way one's heart gets squeezy when you're passionate about a thing.
[break][break]
He wanted to show John these flowers, damn it.
[break][break]
At the center of this petal-strewn maze, there was a cluster of wild rosebushes Fox had discovered and slowly been recording; not tending to, of course, because that went against the very nature of nature. But he’d been sketching and monitoring their growth for some time now.
[break][break]
“They were pink, as most wild strands of rosa are,” Fox explained as he crouched at the outskirts of the bundled-together plants, mindful of their thorns. “But when the winter hit and froze them out…” he pulled back a swarm of tendrils to reveal a night-black bloom, with golden stamens. He brushed one finger over the petals, disturbing a smattering of… sparkly dust?

---

[attr="class","minicharf"]

[attr="class","minicharh"]

solo wild - water/flying/dragon

[attr="class","minicharentry"]

Because of its location and exposure to more temperature variance than other parts of Hoenn, Pacifidlog had a unique array of sea flora that rolled in on the tides. Fox hopped through a small tidal pool, bending low to examine what might be growing beneath the water’s surface.

---

[attr="class","minicharf"]