Writing Winds of Time - PokéBeach CYOA - Chapter 25 - Now with a TL;DR!
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RE: Winds of Time - PokéBeach CYOA - Chapter 12
I'll be the oddball and go with C.
I'll be the oddball and go with C.
RE: Winds of Time - PokéBeach CYOA - Chapter 14
Sorry for the wait, we had some confusion going on, but luckily we didn't hit ourselves for it (hahaha get it?). Anyway, here is the next chapter. You just can't get a break, can you? Explosions, explosions everywhere!
“If you honestly haven’t figured out type advantages by now, I’m questioning your skills as a trainer,” a string of text comes from the Messenger App. “Also, your spelling is atrocious. Have you thought about buying a dictionary?”
Yep, that’s Professor Rowan. You reply back that you have travelled into the more dangerous parts of Sinnoh and you’re still inexperienced, but he only tells you to find out on your own. You sigh and scroll through the Pokedex and then find an app called “Type Matchups.” You look at the pictures of leaves, fires, fists, bolts of lightning, etc., and begin to understand a basic idea of type matchups. Generally, it seems anything green can beat anything blue and blue can beat red, red can beat green, etc., and so you sink that in to make sense. Fires can destroy forests while forests soak up water. Water puts out fires. Grass and water cover the ground and rocks, but fire can be put out with soil. You remind yourself of little cliches in order to get it all down.
“Let me know if you need any help,” the Messenger App pops up.
“Thnx,” you reply.
You leave the angry Ralts and decide to let Piplup recover. You exit the room and enter a hallway. Several people walk around and speak to each other, though none of them look at you. You frown, feeling like an outcast, an unwanted guest. You lean against your bedroom door and relax your shoulders in a deep sigh.
“Do you want to see Riley and your Pokemon?” asks a redhead with his hair pulled back in a ponytail.
He looked obnoxious. He was the kid named Buck, a teen probably only two or three years older than you. He has this puffed-out chest as if he’s trying to show himself off, but you can’t help but feel a twitch in your eye when you see him, especially in your first view of him.
“I could, uh, show you straight to them. I’m a pretty popular figure around here, you know,” the guy says with a wink.
“I’m sure you are,” you sarcastically mutter.
You follow the boy, who is actually probably an inch shorter than you, down the hallway and into the recovery room. Inside, you see Piplup resting in a small nest of leaves and straw. Z sits on a tattered old couch and picks at his nails.
“I’m on bedrest for a day, go figure. Hey, Mia, how are you feeling? Didja learn anything?”
You tell him about the type advantages you somewhat memorized this morning just as Buck exits for a glass of water. Riley offers you a seat on his old couch and you sit on the opposite side with a third cushion in between the two of you.
“Buck is the younger brother of one of the Elite Four, but all four of them have disappeared since the apocalypse has started,” he explains.
“Elite Four?”
“You have a lot to learn, it seems,” he sighs. “Let me tell you after I ask my nurse for some more pain relievers. Eirik!”
You glance up from the couch to see a figure approach. The tall, fit fellow walks in with his green hair in a beautiful mess. You feel your face turn red as he lands his soil-brown eyes on you.
“Hey, the name’s Eirik. You’re the one that saved Z here, correct? Let’s see...Mia?” he asks as you perk up.
“Ah, I told you to call me Riley, ‘Rik. Z is my alias outside of this inner circle of ours!”
Eirik ignores Riley’s comment and continues to stare at you. You feel your face burn from embarrassment and you automatically want to check your teeth, your hair, your smell. You scrape your tongue against your teeth and feel nothing. You stroke your hair back behind your ear and give a small smile.
“Is that your Piplup over there?” he points.
Your eyes relax as you stare right at him. You see his mouth move, but you can’t say anything back. You feel this rush of relief, of happiness, surge right through you.
“Uh, hello?”
The surge of happiness implodes and you snap back into the real world. “Yeah, uh, that’s my Piplup. Is it going to be okay?” you say, your voice faltering.
“It should make a full recovery. It seems exhausted. It’s close to evolution time, so it may be trying to store more energy than it needs in order to change,” he explains.
“That’s cool,” you continue, though you did not really allow the information to sink in. You can’t help it.
“I only know these things by studying Pokemon. My trusty Turtwig has shown me all the medicinal herbs that I can use in the wild, so I’m on top of any sickness or injury in the group.”
“Turtwig?”
“Here, I’ll show you,” he offers, flicking a wrist and tossing a Pokeball onto the ground. Out of it sprouts an adorable little turtle with a single piece of foliage at the tip of its head.
“Twig!” it smiles.
You pull out your Pokedex and listen to it collect data.
“Photosynthesis occurs across its body under the sun. The shell on its back is actually hardened soil.”
He recalls the Pokemon and smiles. “I have to go now, but it was nice meeting you, Mia. Oh, here’s your meds, Riley, I almost forgot!” he says, slamming a couple of pills on the table. “You’ll need some water to get them down, but there should be some in a jug somewhere. Let me know if you can’t find it.”
And, with that, Eirik walks out of the room.
“Good kid, huh?” Riley asks as a sort of conversation starter.
“He seems okay,” you mutter, still looking at the empty doorway.
“Can you go get me that glass of water?” he asks, and you get up to look for it.
Riley gets up and walks to a window in the room. He opens it upon seeing a bird Pokemon and allows it to enter the room. The Pokemon was somewhat fat with a curl on its head. Riley scans it with your Pokedex as you look as a sort of courtesy. He gets a small note from the attached leg and looks at the words.
“Mia, come here for a moment,” he tells you, and you do as he says.
“Listen to this. It’s important:
He looks up to you and tells you to go recall your Pokemon. You grab Piplup and put his recovering little body in your large bookbag. You run out of the room and begin down the hall, but then you grab the side of the doorframe.
“Why?”
Riley scribbles a note and sends the Pokemon, which the dex calls Starly, out the window. “It's a code. We need to leave because they’re com--”
BOOOOOOOOOOOM!
A large quaking erupts from the ground and the building begins to collapse. You ditch Riley and run to your one-night bedroom. You see Ralts asleep and don’t bother waking it up; instead, you recall it and shove the ball in cup-holder pocket of your bag. You stuff your personal belongings in the bag and run out of the room.
An explosion out of one side of the building causes pieces of wall to fly everywhere. You see men in spy-like suits running in and grabbing random members of the resistance team that you never got to meet. You run the other way and are met by a rather slender man in a black suit.
“Miss, I’m going to need you to come with me,” he says menacingly.
“Back off,” you say before punching him in the bridge of his nose, causing it to bend to the left temporarily. He screams and falls to the floor as you keep running.
“She’s a psychopath!”
You stop in your path and turn back to him. “No, I’m from the true north,” you correct him before running once again.
You enter the room where Riley was kept but only see shattered glass and water everywhere. You keep going down that hallway and are cornered by two grunts, both wielding Pokeballs. There’s no punching your way through this time.
“Piplup, Ralts, let’s go!” you say, throwing Piplup from your bag and then calling out your Ralts.
The blue Penguin flops to the floor and gets up while the green-and-white feeling reader awakens in a rage of emotions.
“Go, Geodude!”
“Let’s take her out in one attack, Murkrow!”
A rock with arms and a crow with a hat come from the other side of the battlefield and you think back to the table of type effectiveness. Geodude is gray and a rock, so it is probably a Rock type.
“Piplup, use Bubble Beam!”
Your blue penguin shoots out an array of bubbles that pop in Geodude’s face, causing it to be near-fainting. However, the attack didn’t make it faint--it seems to be holding onto one little sliver of health.
“Geodude, use Explosion!”
You see Geodude preparing to explode the whole building, but then Ralts uses its Psychic energy to create mystical leaves that then hit both Murkrow and Geodude, causing the latter to faint and the former to take a little damage. Geodude is recalled and the man runs off to capture someone else.
“You fool! Murkrow, use Wing Attack!”
The dark navy Pokemon swoops down and slaps Piplup with both wings, though you command your starter to hit it with that Ice attack that you still don’t know the name of. The bird shrieks and is slammed into the wall. Piplup stops to take a rest and you turn to Ralts.
“Ralts, finish it off with a Confusion!”
Ralts uses its Psychic energy to attack the bird, but...but nothing happens. Oh, Psychic doesn’t affect Dark! You cuss quietly in your head as you see the opponent’s Pokemon get up.
“Murkrow, use Roost!”
The Darkness Pokemon uses its wings to heal itself up and it falls to the ground--almost as if it cannot fly anymore. Now is your change, you realize, and you call out for Piplup.
Piplup can’t attack. It’s too tired still. You panic and see Ralts sensing your negative energy. In an alarming scene, it uses this rather loud attack that you hear the man whisper “Disarming Voice.” The echo of the attack smacks the bird Pokemon so hard that it falls into its trainer and the two hit the ground with a bang. You recall Ralts, thank it, and grab Piplup before continuing.
“Professor Rowan, you would be so proud of my Pokemon right now,” you tell yourself.
“Now, detonate the bombs!” a voice says from one of the rooms.
You, confused, run to the exit and jump in the bushes. You land with a thud, Piplup under your weight, and roll over before hearing the large blast. More bits of the building fly off into the forest and a fire erupts among the trees.
You run out of the bushes with Piplup and run around the building looking for survivors. You hear a truck coming and you decide to wait for it.
“Hey, Mia, hop in!” a voice says from behind her.
Eirik calls to her again in the bed of a large truck driven by Z, who is smiling at your survival. You throw your bag and Piplup over the side first and then scramble to get in the back of the vehicle. You sit cross-legged beside Eirik, who pets his Turtwig’s head in a calming manner.
“We’re going to wait for any more survivors that may come out, but we can’t stay much longer. We all knew the risks of joining a group like this,” he says solemnly.
“Don’t leave me yet,” cries a limping Buck, his left leg covered in blood. He hops in the back of the blue, muddy truck and lies beside both you and Eirik.
“Next stop, Nikolas’s prison!” yells Riley.
He takes off just as the vans and police cars arrive at the scene of the explosion, just as their lives were about to turn to slavery.
After two hours of the bumpy trail, you see Piplup stirring a bit more from its slumber.
“How long has it been like that?” asks Buck, holding his leg.
“Two days now, it seems,” you tell him.
Eirik looks down at his Turtwig and massages its leaves with his thumbs. “It’s going to glow white soon. What are you going to do?”
You think about the question and you know what is going to happen. Piplup is supposed to change somehow, or so you have heard. Is it just going to get stronger? Or is it going to be completely different? You wonder about the opportunities and the consequences, the pros and the cons.
Pokebeach, this may be one of the more important decisions. Are you going to….
A) Let Piplup evolve and become a much stronger ally
B) Press that B button and leave it the way it is--we can pull through
C) Ask your friends what they think before making a decision
The voting period ends on Monday, December 1st. Would you guys like us to take a different angle, or is this good so far?
Sorry for the wait, we had some confusion going on, but luckily we didn't hit ourselves for it (hahaha get it?). Anyway, here is the next chapter. You just can't get a break, can you? Explosions, explosions everywhere!
Chapter 15
“If you honestly haven’t figured out type advantages by now, I’m questioning your skills as a trainer,” a string of text comes from the Messenger App. “Also, your spelling is atrocious. Have you thought about buying a dictionary?”
Yep, that’s Professor Rowan. You reply back that you have travelled into the more dangerous parts of Sinnoh and you’re still inexperienced, but he only tells you to find out on your own. You sigh and scroll through the Pokedex and then find an app called “Type Matchups.” You look at the pictures of leaves, fires, fists, bolts of lightning, etc., and begin to understand a basic idea of type matchups. Generally, it seems anything green can beat anything blue and blue can beat red, red can beat green, etc., and so you sink that in to make sense. Fires can destroy forests while forests soak up water. Water puts out fires. Grass and water cover the ground and rocks, but fire can be put out with soil. You remind yourself of little cliches in order to get it all down.
“Let me know if you need any help,” the Messenger App pops up.
“Thnx,” you reply.
You leave the angry Ralts and decide to let Piplup recover. You exit the room and enter a hallway. Several people walk around and speak to each other, though none of them look at you. You frown, feeling like an outcast, an unwanted guest. You lean against your bedroom door and relax your shoulders in a deep sigh.
“Do you want to see Riley and your Pokemon?” asks a redhead with his hair pulled back in a ponytail.
He looked obnoxious. He was the kid named Buck, a teen probably only two or three years older than you. He has this puffed-out chest as if he’s trying to show himself off, but you can’t help but feel a twitch in your eye when you see him, especially in your first view of him.
“I could, uh, show you straight to them. I’m a pretty popular figure around here, you know,” the guy says with a wink.
“I’m sure you are,” you sarcastically mutter.
You follow the boy, who is actually probably an inch shorter than you, down the hallway and into the recovery room. Inside, you see Piplup resting in a small nest of leaves and straw. Z sits on a tattered old couch and picks at his nails.
“I’m on bedrest for a day, go figure. Hey, Mia, how are you feeling? Didja learn anything?”
You tell him about the type advantages you somewhat memorized this morning just as Buck exits for a glass of water. Riley offers you a seat on his old couch and you sit on the opposite side with a third cushion in between the two of you.
“Buck is the younger brother of one of the Elite Four, but all four of them have disappeared since the apocalypse has started,” he explains.
“Elite Four?”
“You have a lot to learn, it seems,” he sighs. “Let me tell you after I ask my nurse for some more pain relievers. Eirik!”
You glance up from the couch to see a figure approach. The tall, fit fellow walks in with his green hair in a beautiful mess. You feel your face turn red as he lands his soil-brown eyes on you.
“Hey, the name’s Eirik. You’re the one that saved Z here, correct? Let’s see...Mia?” he asks as you perk up.
“Ah, I told you to call me Riley, ‘Rik. Z is my alias outside of this inner circle of ours!”
Eirik ignores Riley’s comment and continues to stare at you. You feel your face burn from embarrassment and you automatically want to check your teeth, your hair, your smell. You scrape your tongue against your teeth and feel nothing. You stroke your hair back behind your ear and give a small smile.
“Is that your Piplup over there?” he points.
Your eyes relax as you stare right at him. You see his mouth move, but you can’t say anything back. You feel this rush of relief, of happiness, surge right through you.
“Uh, hello?”
The surge of happiness implodes and you snap back into the real world. “Yeah, uh, that’s my Piplup. Is it going to be okay?” you say, your voice faltering.
“It should make a full recovery. It seems exhausted. It’s close to evolution time, so it may be trying to store more energy than it needs in order to change,” he explains.
“That’s cool,” you continue, though you did not really allow the information to sink in. You can’t help it.
“I only know these things by studying Pokemon. My trusty Turtwig has shown me all the medicinal herbs that I can use in the wild, so I’m on top of any sickness or injury in the group.”
“Turtwig?”
“Here, I’ll show you,” he offers, flicking a wrist and tossing a Pokeball onto the ground. Out of it sprouts an adorable little turtle with a single piece of foliage at the tip of its head.
“Twig!” it smiles.
You pull out your Pokedex and listen to it collect data.
“Photosynthesis occurs across its body under the sun. The shell on its back is actually hardened soil.”
He recalls the Pokemon and smiles. “I have to go now, but it was nice meeting you, Mia. Oh, here’s your meds, Riley, I almost forgot!” he says, slamming a couple of pills on the table. “You’ll need some water to get them down, but there should be some in a jug somewhere. Let me know if you can’t find it.”
And, with that, Eirik walks out of the room.
“Good kid, huh?” Riley asks as a sort of conversation starter.
“He seems okay,” you mutter, still looking at the empty doorway.
“Can you go get me that glass of water?” he asks, and you get up to look for it.
Riley gets up and walks to a window in the room. He opens it upon seeing a bird Pokemon and allows it to enter the room. The Pokemon was somewhat fat with a curl on its head. Riley scans it with your Pokedex as you look as a sort of courtesy. He gets a small note from the attached leg and looks at the words.
“Mia, come here for a moment,” he tells you, and you do as he says.
“Listen to this. It’s important:
Zee, SW knows the HQ. Come to SW or die. --Sin"
He looks up to you and tells you to go recall your Pokemon. You grab Piplup and put his recovering little body in your large bookbag. You run out of the room and begin down the hall, but then you grab the side of the doorframe.
“Why?”
Riley scribbles a note and sends the Pokemon, which the dex calls Starly, out the window. “It's a code. We need to leave because they’re com--”
BOOOOOOOOOOOM!
A large quaking erupts from the ground and the building begins to collapse. You ditch Riley and run to your one-night bedroom. You see Ralts asleep and don’t bother waking it up; instead, you recall it and shove the ball in cup-holder pocket of your bag. You stuff your personal belongings in the bag and run out of the room.
An explosion out of one side of the building causes pieces of wall to fly everywhere. You see men in spy-like suits running in and grabbing random members of the resistance team that you never got to meet. You run the other way and are met by a rather slender man in a black suit.
“Miss, I’m going to need you to come with me,” he says menacingly.
“Back off,” you say before punching him in the bridge of his nose, causing it to bend to the left temporarily. He screams and falls to the floor as you keep running.
“She’s a psychopath!”
You stop in your path and turn back to him. “No, I’m from the true north,” you correct him before running once again.
You enter the room where Riley was kept but only see shattered glass and water everywhere. You keep going down that hallway and are cornered by two grunts, both wielding Pokeballs. There’s no punching your way through this time.
“Piplup, Ralts, let’s go!” you say, throwing Piplup from your bag and then calling out your Ralts.
The blue Penguin flops to the floor and gets up while the green-and-white feeling reader awakens in a rage of emotions.
“Go, Geodude!”
“Let’s take her out in one attack, Murkrow!”
A rock with arms and a crow with a hat come from the other side of the battlefield and you think back to the table of type effectiveness. Geodude is gray and a rock, so it is probably a Rock type.
“Piplup, use Bubble Beam!”
Your blue penguin shoots out an array of bubbles that pop in Geodude’s face, causing it to be near-fainting. However, the attack didn’t make it faint--it seems to be holding onto one little sliver of health.
“Geodude, use Explosion!”
You see Geodude preparing to explode the whole building, but then Ralts uses its Psychic energy to create mystical leaves that then hit both Murkrow and Geodude, causing the latter to faint and the former to take a little damage. Geodude is recalled and the man runs off to capture someone else.
“You fool! Murkrow, use Wing Attack!”
The dark navy Pokemon swoops down and slaps Piplup with both wings, though you command your starter to hit it with that Ice attack that you still don’t know the name of. The bird shrieks and is slammed into the wall. Piplup stops to take a rest and you turn to Ralts.
“Ralts, finish it off with a Confusion!”
Ralts uses its Psychic energy to attack the bird, but...but nothing happens. Oh, Psychic doesn’t affect Dark! You cuss quietly in your head as you see the opponent’s Pokemon get up.
“Murkrow, use Roost!”
The Darkness Pokemon uses its wings to heal itself up and it falls to the ground--almost as if it cannot fly anymore. Now is your change, you realize, and you call out for Piplup.
Piplup can’t attack. It’s too tired still. You panic and see Ralts sensing your negative energy. In an alarming scene, it uses this rather loud attack that you hear the man whisper “Disarming Voice.” The echo of the attack smacks the bird Pokemon so hard that it falls into its trainer and the two hit the ground with a bang. You recall Ralts, thank it, and grab Piplup before continuing.
“Professor Rowan, you would be so proud of my Pokemon right now,” you tell yourself.
“Now, detonate the bombs!” a voice says from one of the rooms.
You, confused, run to the exit and jump in the bushes. You land with a thud, Piplup under your weight, and roll over before hearing the large blast. More bits of the building fly off into the forest and a fire erupts among the trees.
You run out of the bushes with Piplup and run around the building looking for survivors. You hear a truck coming and you decide to wait for it.
“Hey, Mia, hop in!” a voice says from behind her.
Eirik calls to her again in the bed of a large truck driven by Z, who is smiling at your survival. You throw your bag and Piplup over the side first and then scramble to get in the back of the vehicle. You sit cross-legged beside Eirik, who pets his Turtwig’s head in a calming manner.
“We’re going to wait for any more survivors that may come out, but we can’t stay much longer. We all knew the risks of joining a group like this,” he says solemnly.
“Don’t leave me yet,” cries a limping Buck, his left leg covered in blood. He hops in the back of the blue, muddy truck and lies beside both you and Eirik.
“Next stop, Nikolas’s prison!” yells Riley.
He takes off just as the vans and police cars arrive at the scene of the explosion, just as their lives were about to turn to slavery.
After two hours of the bumpy trail, you see Piplup stirring a bit more from its slumber.
“How long has it been like that?” asks Buck, holding his leg.
“Two days now, it seems,” you tell him.
Eirik looks down at his Turtwig and massages its leaves with his thumbs. “It’s going to glow white soon. What are you going to do?”
You think about the question and you know what is going to happen. Piplup is supposed to change somehow, or so you have heard. Is it just going to get stronger? Or is it going to be completely different? You wonder about the opportunities and the consequences, the pros and the cons.
Pokebeach, this may be one of the more important decisions. Are you going to….
A) Let Piplup evolve and become a much stronger ally
B) Press that B button and leave it the way it is--we can pull through
C) Ask your friends what they think before making a decision
The voting period ends on Monday, December 1st. Would you guys like us to take a different angle, or is this good so far?
RE: Winds of Time - PokéBeach CYOA - Chapter 15
B
B
RE: Winds of Time - PokéBeach CYOA - Chapter 15
A
(Tie-breaker.)
Seems the obvious choice.
A
(Tie-breaker.)
Seems the obvious choice.
RE: Winds of Time - PokéBeach CYOA - Chapter 15
I vote C.
I think she should ask her friends, most importantly, Piplup. Maybe it has an opinion.
I vote C.
I think she should ask her friends, most importantly, Piplup. Maybe it has an opinion.
RE: Winds of Time - PokéBeach CYOA - Chapter 15
It's tough, but I'll vote C. I wanted to vote A, but Piplup has an opinion as well.
It's tough, but I'll vote C. I wanted to vote A, but Piplup has an opinion as well.
RE: Winds of Time - PokéBeach CYOA - Chapter 15
Hello everyone, I'm sorry for our lack of updates. I myself am going through a bizarre exam schedule and I'm trying to overcome it (will finish Thursdayish, yay!) and will have an updated chapter posted by the end of the week. I'll extend the voting period until Wednesday if some of you want to change, but I'm terribly sorry for the inconvenience this has caused.
Hello everyone, I'm sorry for our lack of updates. I myself am going through a bizarre exam schedule and I'm trying to overcome it (will finish Thursdayish, yay!) and will have an updated chapter posted by the end of the week. I'll extend the voting period until Wednesday if some of you want to change, but I'm terribly sorry for the inconvenience this has caused.
RE: Winds of Time - PokéBeach CYOA - Chapter 15
A is my vote
A is my vote
RE: Winds of Time - PokéBeach CYOA - Chapter 15
“How much longer until we make it back up the mountain?” you ask the group, and the three males glance at each other awkwardly.
“Three days, no…” Riley suggests.
“Possibly twelve hours?” Eirik guesses.
“At the rate we’re going, a week,” Buck says.
You roll your eyes and turn back to Piplup, who sometimes stirs from sleep. It has been three days since the attack, and your Pokemon is still in this coma state. Your Ralts has improved its battling abilities, taking down several wild Pokemon along the way. Tonight, though, is a day dedicated to rest. You sit with the three men and your two Pokemon in a circle formation around a campfire. The air is bitterly cold, yet no one has the proper attire.
“Do you eat meat?” Buck asks as he gnaws on a bone.
Buck’s leg is looking better. It was cleaned up last night with water and rags, but it is still badly cut. You hope that it won’t be infected, but there’s no telling what nature will do to surprise you.
“I used to,” you say.
“Cool. More for me.”
You go into the big blue truck and get out another blanket to put overtop of Piplup. The Pokemon scrunches its eyes a bit tighter for a second, but they soon lessen and it seems warmer. You smile.
“You know, Piplup doesn’t have to evolve,” Eirik smiles.
“It’s between a trainer and his--er, I mean her--Pokemon. If there is a mutual agreement, then the evolution will happen. Piplup seemed willing to get stronger when I met him back in town,” Riley explains. “Perhaps you should consider it.”
“I am, trust me. It seems little Pokemon get sick a lot. Piplup has ran a fever several times since I started the journey. Perhaps an evolution will be good for him,” you say.
“Perhaps,” Eirik repeats.
You hear a twig snap somewhere beyond your little campsite. You focus your hearing back behind the conversations of your friends and hear some voice cursing another for making a noise. You get your friends’ attention and they all go silent. You grab Ralts’ Pokeball from your bag and press its button, causing it to enlarge and fit in the palm of your hand. You hide the ball behind your back and search around in the woods for answers.
Riley gets up and moves a log on the fire. He grabs at his stomach and winces a little in pain, obviously sore from the lack of bedrest he needed, and then remains standing by the fire. Eirik strokes his sleeping Turtwig in his arms as he raises up to join you. Buck limps over to the driver’s door of the truck, looks inside, and then comes back out with a green- and black-webbed Pokeball. He clicks the button and unleashes the Pokemon inside.
Out comes a brown owl with defined eyebrows, one visible leg, and a round shape. “Hoot,” it announces.
“Hoothoot,” he whispers, “I need you to use Foresight for me, okay?”
The Pokemon’s eyes glow red and the woods become see-through, exposing different heat signatures radiating from within. Hoothoot spots four individuals and shouts out loud. It uses a Psychic attack to drag them all in view. Buck thanks his Pokemon and allows it to step back.
Three men and a woman stand directly in front of your group of four. Two of the men look identical, both having shaven heads and a small stubble on their chins. The other man has a hood over his head, though there is a piercing going through his right nostril. The woman seems like a grunt, but the other walks up closer to Riley and puts a hand on his shoulder.
“Oh, Riley, you always were the goodie-two-shoes,” the woman giggled.
“Get your hands off me, Marley. You chose the wrong side.”
“No, Riley, I chose the winning side.”
“Not if I can help it,” he rebuttals.
The woman has rather short, albeit creatively structured black hair. A large, white blow is placed overtop her right ear, and she wears a sleek black jumpsuit.
“I killed your blasted Lucario with my Arcanine. One hit was all it took,” she sneers.
Riley’s body shakes and he stares straight into her soul. “I will rip you apart limb from limb.”
“With what? If I remember correctly, you’re Pokemonless.”
“I thought you had that Stun Spore Pokemon,” you pipe up, remembering your first encounter.
“Borrowed it,” he admits.
“You’re a failure. You had a Salamence before this all went down, Riley, and look where you are now! All your tools are dead.”
“They aren’t tools, Marley,” he says angrily.
“You know what? There are four trainers on our side that can fight. There are three on yours. Why don’t we see who can win?” she jests.
“Yeah!” one of the grunts chants.
“Shut up, back there. Let me do the talking.”
“Yeah!”
One of the twins goes after Buck, probably due to his injury, while the other targets Eirik. They both use Hoothoot and Turtwig, respectively, to defend their freedom. You look from Riley to this mysterious Marley and realize what this means for you.
“So sorry, my dear, but it appears a double battle is upon you. If you surrender to the White Lord right now, your life may be spared and you would work in the kitchen as a maid, just like the average woman. If you actually prove yourself worthy, you could be on the task force, like me. Surrender to the Shining White City and save your Shining White Soul.”
You repeatedly look from Riley, the non-trainer, to Marley, and then notice the man with the piercing coming up to join her. You get a strong grip on Ralts’ Pokeball and stare down at Piplup, who is by your side.
“Is that your Pokemon, there? Seems awfully tired. It would be a shame if we had to rough it up,” she smiles.
She swiftly grabs a Pokeball and sends out a Golbat. The man beside her lets his Houndour and the two wait to see your reaction. You throw Ralts’ Pokeball against the ground and allow it to explode open, letting Ralts hop out and get some action going. You get Piplup and set it in your bag to stay warm, though you know the fire is the best source of warmth.
“You make the first move,” she says. “It’ll make two-on-one seem a little more…fair.”
“Turtwig, use Grassy Terrain!”
The Tiny Leaf Pokemon transmits its energy to the ground, resulting in flowers and grass to spring up for some Grass-type power-up moves. The Wingull on the opposite side dodges the flowers, though they aren’t intended to do any damage.
“You call that damage? Wingull, Water Pulse!”
Turtwig dodges the attack and unleashes a powerful Razor Leaf, cleanly KOing the Wingull and causing the man to resort to his Magby.
Hoothoot dodges the other twins’ Bibarel and hits it with a powerful Psychic. The Bibarel breaks free and crushes Hoothoot with a Rollout. Buck searches in his pocket for a second Pokemon and sends out his Baltoy.
“Baltoy, use Earth Power!”
As Bibarel rolls around for another round of bowling, Baltoy summons a slanted stone to act like a ramp, causing Bibarel to fly up in the air and land with a bang.
“Ralts, use Confusion on Golbat!”
Ralts catches hold of Golbat’s attention and releases a pulse of Psychic energy that hits it super hard, with an added effect of making it severely confused. Houndour Bites down on Ralts’ feeler, causing it to malfunction and lose its grip on Golbat. Ralts discharges a Disarming Voice that slams into Houndour, knocking it back momentarily. Ralts summons a bunch of Psychic-energy leaves that charge at Houndour, doing minimal damage. Golbat goes for a Wing Attack and slaps itself, much to Marley’s annoyance.
“This is going on too long! Golbat, use Poison Fang!”
Golbat chops down on Ralts with poison-tipped fangs, causing it to become slightly purple as it gets infected by the toxins. You panic as Golbat then uses Venoshock, knocking Ralts straight out. You recall your Pokemon and look at the two people.
“What’s wrong? Out of Pokemon?”
The male comes over and grabs at your arms, forcing you up against the truck. You struggle to fight him, but he comes over and puts his face on your neck. You scream out loud, very loud, and kick vigorously at his legs.
“You’re a pretty girl, you know that?”
Beside you, a very weak Turtwig struggles to get up. Baltoy faces similar problems. You’re losing the fight in every battle.
“Piplup, use Peck! Please!” you scream, but you know nothing is going to happen.
But you’re wrong. The man screams as a giant beak is stabbing into his spinal column. The Houndour is coming to attack Piplup, but the Pokemon emits a stream of bubbles that pop right in the Pokemon’s face, frightening it and eventually knocking it out. The man, out of usable Pokemon, is forced to the ground by Riley, who was previously watching the other battles. Piplup jumps in front of Golbat and stands between you and the Pokemon.
“Ah, your little penguin is ready to fight, huh?” Marley smiles.
“Piplup, are you sure you’re okay?” you question, but it nods. “Okay then, Piplup, use that Ice attack you’re trying to master!”
Piplup shoots out a small windy bit of ice that barely chills Golbat, who is now laughing. Your head falls as Marley brings a hand to her face in giggles. “Was that an Ice Beam?”
Golbat comes up and Wing Attacks Piplup straight into the sky, and then knocking it down with another attack. Piplup, very, very weak, struggles to support its head off the ground.
“Give up; you lost the battle at your headquarters because your friends blew up. You may as well stop now. Despite us not getting the element of surprise, we got the element of strength.”
Piplup gets smacked once more by the bat, but then it scrunches together and begins to glow white. It’s time. It looks at you, concerned, and you nod your head with a smile. Piplup relaxes its muscles and allows the white to emit in all directions, casting Piplup as the center of a spotlight competition. The light explodes into a sphere of blindingness, causing the whole area to change color and mood. When the light ceases, you look at your Pokemon and gasp.
“Prinplup!” it shouts, shoving an Ice Beam straight into Golbat’s mouth, and making it crash into Marley.
Golbat, unconscious, is unable to battle. Marley recalls it and looks at the other trainers, who are still battling fiercely. She smiles. “I would’ve creamed you without that evolution. You got lucky. Men, we’ll have to report this as a failure. At least we know their numbers.”
The trainers recall their Pokemon and join Marley in a sprint out of the field of view. You all stand there, shocked and alone, with no words to say. This continues for about five or six minutes.
You look over at Prinplup with proud tears in your eyes. It looks very similar to Piplup, but it is nearly double the size and now had two yellow rims around its head that protrude from its nose. You hug the Pokemon and it hugs you.
“Prinplup, I’ve never been s-so proud,” you stammer.
Everyone then keeps staring at Prinplup with no words to say.
You sit in the bed of the truck with Eirik and Prinplup. Prinplup is sleeping, probably due to his shining moment. You and Eirik are sitting shoulder-to-shoulder, and you blush whenever the two of you accidentally make eye contact. He seems to do so, too, but you aren’t sure if your mind is seeing what it sees, or what it wants to see.
Eirik was apparently raised in the south. He used to fish until he sustained injuries (and coincidentally found Turtwig’s egg), and they kept him from benefiting the town. He tells you about how he left due to being dead weight for a few weeks, and they were all gone upon his return a month or two later, this time with Turtwig. His family is somewhere in the prisons of the Shining White City.
“That’s why I want to get to the prison. What about you?”
“I had a friend named Nikolas that was just like us, but he got captured and sent there. He was trying to convince me that the city was dangerous,” you explain.
“Oooh, Nikolas?”
“He’s a little kid.”
“Oh.” He pauses. “So, what about your family?”
You tell him about how you bonded with Piplup, and how you also found your city destroyed by an ice storm. You went south to discover the world and have, so far, found out that it sucks. He laughs.
Suddenly, the car jerks to a stop and Riley steps out of the driver’s side. He goes over to your location and looks at the two of you, grins, and then reverts to a normal face upon seeing your faces.
“We’re almost at the cross-path between the Shining White City and the prison. One direction will lead you to the prison, but it’s deep in the caves. The city is straight up the mountain and is almost at the top. Eirik is going to the prison to save his family, some of our people, and Nikolas, but I will be going up to the city to find a way in.”
“What about Buck?”
“There’s a clinic along the path. I’ll drop him off and have Eirik pick him up along the way,” he explains. “So what do you want to do? Do you want to continue on your journey with me up the mountain to the city, or do you want to rescue your friend now? If you go up the mountain, then you’ll make the scheduled meeting and Nikolas will still be saved. If you go to the prison, I can still arrange a private meetup with a friend of mine, but you can go with Eirik and spend some time saving people.”
He put special emphasis on the words “Eirik” and “time.” You shift awkwardly in the back and think about your options.
“Well?”
You look to Eirik for an answer.
“This is completely on you. Either way shouldn’t affect you much, right?”
He seems so sincere that you’d feel bad about not going with him, but Riley isn’t a trainer--how would he defend himself? He’s already tired from that blow he sustained earlier, so should you leave him alone?
What, PB, are you going to do?
A. Go with Riley (and Buck, temporarily) up the mountain
B. Save Nikolas with Eirik and get some time together
Though Eirik thinks you won’t be affected, this answer most definitely determines the story. Characters may die, Pokemon may be caught, plot points might be reached. There’s no telling what would happen. Well, actually, there is someone that knows--you.
Votes will be due on Sunday, December 21st!
Chapter 16
“How much longer until we make it back up the mountain?” you ask the group, and the three males glance at each other awkwardly.
“Three days, no…” Riley suggests.
“Possibly twelve hours?” Eirik guesses.
“At the rate we’re going, a week,” Buck says.
You roll your eyes and turn back to Piplup, who sometimes stirs from sleep. It has been three days since the attack, and your Pokemon is still in this coma state. Your Ralts has improved its battling abilities, taking down several wild Pokemon along the way. Tonight, though, is a day dedicated to rest. You sit with the three men and your two Pokemon in a circle formation around a campfire. The air is bitterly cold, yet no one has the proper attire.
“Do you eat meat?” Buck asks as he gnaws on a bone.
Buck’s leg is looking better. It was cleaned up last night with water and rags, but it is still badly cut. You hope that it won’t be infected, but there’s no telling what nature will do to surprise you.
“I used to,” you say.
“Cool. More for me.”
You go into the big blue truck and get out another blanket to put overtop of Piplup. The Pokemon scrunches its eyes a bit tighter for a second, but they soon lessen and it seems warmer. You smile.
“You know, Piplup doesn’t have to evolve,” Eirik smiles.
“It’s between a trainer and his--er, I mean her--Pokemon. If there is a mutual agreement, then the evolution will happen. Piplup seemed willing to get stronger when I met him back in town,” Riley explains. “Perhaps you should consider it.”
“I am, trust me. It seems little Pokemon get sick a lot. Piplup has ran a fever several times since I started the journey. Perhaps an evolution will be good for him,” you say.
“Perhaps,” Eirik repeats.
You hear a twig snap somewhere beyond your little campsite. You focus your hearing back behind the conversations of your friends and hear some voice cursing another for making a noise. You get your friends’ attention and they all go silent. You grab Ralts’ Pokeball from your bag and press its button, causing it to enlarge and fit in the palm of your hand. You hide the ball behind your back and search around in the woods for answers.
Riley gets up and moves a log on the fire. He grabs at his stomach and winces a little in pain, obviously sore from the lack of bedrest he needed, and then remains standing by the fire. Eirik strokes his sleeping Turtwig in his arms as he raises up to join you. Buck limps over to the driver’s door of the truck, looks inside, and then comes back out with a green- and black-webbed Pokeball. He clicks the button and unleashes the Pokemon inside.
Out comes a brown owl with defined eyebrows, one visible leg, and a round shape. “Hoot,” it announces.
“Hoothoot,” he whispers, “I need you to use Foresight for me, okay?”
The Pokemon’s eyes glow red and the woods become see-through, exposing different heat signatures radiating from within. Hoothoot spots four individuals and shouts out loud. It uses a Psychic attack to drag them all in view. Buck thanks his Pokemon and allows it to step back.
Three men and a woman stand directly in front of your group of four. Two of the men look identical, both having shaven heads and a small stubble on their chins. The other man has a hood over his head, though there is a piercing going through his right nostril. The woman seems like a grunt, but the other walks up closer to Riley and puts a hand on his shoulder.
“Oh, Riley, you always were the goodie-two-shoes,” the woman giggled.
“Get your hands off me, Marley. You chose the wrong side.”
“No, Riley, I chose the winning side.”
“Not if I can help it,” he rebuttals.
The woman has rather short, albeit creatively structured black hair. A large, white blow is placed overtop her right ear, and she wears a sleek black jumpsuit.
“I killed your blasted Lucario with my Arcanine. One hit was all it took,” she sneers.
Riley’s body shakes and he stares straight into her soul. “I will rip you apart limb from limb.”
“With what? If I remember correctly, you’re Pokemonless.”
“I thought you had that Stun Spore Pokemon,” you pipe up, remembering your first encounter.
“Borrowed it,” he admits.
“You’re a failure. You had a Salamence before this all went down, Riley, and look where you are now! All your tools are dead.”
“They aren’t tools, Marley,” he says angrily.
“You know what? There are four trainers on our side that can fight. There are three on yours. Why don’t we see who can win?” she jests.
“Yeah!” one of the grunts chants.
“Shut up, back there. Let me do the talking.”
“Yeah!”
One of the twins goes after Buck, probably due to his injury, while the other targets Eirik. They both use Hoothoot and Turtwig, respectively, to defend their freedom. You look from Riley to this mysterious Marley and realize what this means for you.
“So sorry, my dear, but it appears a double battle is upon you. If you surrender to the White Lord right now, your life may be spared and you would work in the kitchen as a maid, just like the average woman. If you actually prove yourself worthy, you could be on the task force, like me. Surrender to the Shining White City and save your Shining White Soul.”
You repeatedly look from Riley, the non-trainer, to Marley, and then notice the man with the piercing coming up to join her. You get a strong grip on Ralts’ Pokeball and stare down at Piplup, who is by your side.
“Is that your Pokemon, there? Seems awfully tired. It would be a shame if we had to rough it up,” she smiles.
She swiftly grabs a Pokeball and sends out a Golbat. The man beside her lets his Houndour and the two wait to see your reaction. You throw Ralts’ Pokeball against the ground and allow it to explode open, letting Ralts hop out and get some action going. You get Piplup and set it in your bag to stay warm, though you know the fire is the best source of warmth.
“You make the first move,” she says. “It’ll make two-on-one seem a little more…fair.”
“Turtwig, use Grassy Terrain!”
The Tiny Leaf Pokemon transmits its energy to the ground, resulting in flowers and grass to spring up for some Grass-type power-up moves. The Wingull on the opposite side dodges the flowers, though they aren’t intended to do any damage.
“You call that damage? Wingull, Water Pulse!”
Turtwig dodges the attack and unleashes a powerful Razor Leaf, cleanly KOing the Wingull and causing the man to resort to his Magby.
Hoothoot dodges the other twins’ Bibarel and hits it with a powerful Psychic. The Bibarel breaks free and crushes Hoothoot with a Rollout. Buck searches in his pocket for a second Pokemon and sends out his Baltoy.
“Baltoy, use Earth Power!”
As Bibarel rolls around for another round of bowling, Baltoy summons a slanted stone to act like a ramp, causing Bibarel to fly up in the air and land with a bang.
“Ralts, use Confusion on Golbat!”
Ralts catches hold of Golbat’s attention and releases a pulse of Psychic energy that hits it super hard, with an added effect of making it severely confused. Houndour Bites down on Ralts’ feeler, causing it to malfunction and lose its grip on Golbat. Ralts discharges a Disarming Voice that slams into Houndour, knocking it back momentarily. Ralts summons a bunch of Psychic-energy leaves that charge at Houndour, doing minimal damage. Golbat goes for a Wing Attack and slaps itself, much to Marley’s annoyance.
“This is going on too long! Golbat, use Poison Fang!”
Golbat chops down on Ralts with poison-tipped fangs, causing it to become slightly purple as it gets infected by the toxins. You panic as Golbat then uses Venoshock, knocking Ralts straight out. You recall your Pokemon and look at the two people.
“What’s wrong? Out of Pokemon?”
The male comes over and grabs at your arms, forcing you up against the truck. You struggle to fight him, but he comes over and puts his face on your neck. You scream out loud, very loud, and kick vigorously at his legs.
“You’re a pretty girl, you know that?”
Beside you, a very weak Turtwig struggles to get up. Baltoy faces similar problems. You’re losing the fight in every battle.
“Piplup, use Peck! Please!” you scream, but you know nothing is going to happen.
But you’re wrong. The man screams as a giant beak is stabbing into his spinal column. The Houndour is coming to attack Piplup, but the Pokemon emits a stream of bubbles that pop right in the Pokemon’s face, frightening it and eventually knocking it out. The man, out of usable Pokemon, is forced to the ground by Riley, who was previously watching the other battles. Piplup jumps in front of Golbat and stands between you and the Pokemon.
“Ah, your little penguin is ready to fight, huh?” Marley smiles.
“Piplup, are you sure you’re okay?” you question, but it nods. “Okay then, Piplup, use that Ice attack you’re trying to master!”
Piplup shoots out a small windy bit of ice that barely chills Golbat, who is now laughing. Your head falls as Marley brings a hand to her face in giggles. “Was that an Ice Beam?”
Golbat comes up and Wing Attacks Piplup straight into the sky, and then knocking it down with another attack. Piplup, very, very weak, struggles to support its head off the ground.
“Give up; you lost the battle at your headquarters because your friends blew up. You may as well stop now. Despite us not getting the element of surprise, we got the element of strength.”
Piplup gets smacked once more by the bat, but then it scrunches together and begins to glow white. It’s time. It looks at you, concerned, and you nod your head with a smile. Piplup relaxes its muscles and allows the white to emit in all directions, casting Piplup as the center of a spotlight competition. The light explodes into a sphere of blindingness, causing the whole area to change color and mood. When the light ceases, you look at your Pokemon and gasp.
“Prinplup!” it shouts, shoving an Ice Beam straight into Golbat’s mouth, and making it crash into Marley.
Golbat, unconscious, is unable to battle. Marley recalls it and looks at the other trainers, who are still battling fiercely. She smiles. “I would’ve creamed you without that evolution. You got lucky. Men, we’ll have to report this as a failure. At least we know their numbers.”
The trainers recall their Pokemon and join Marley in a sprint out of the field of view. You all stand there, shocked and alone, with no words to say. This continues for about five or six minutes.
You look over at Prinplup with proud tears in your eyes. It looks very similar to Piplup, but it is nearly double the size and now had two yellow rims around its head that protrude from its nose. You hug the Pokemon and it hugs you.
“Prinplup, I’ve never been s-so proud,” you stammer.
Everyone then keeps staring at Prinplup with no words to say.
Three Hours Later
You sit in the bed of the truck with Eirik and Prinplup. Prinplup is sleeping, probably due to his shining moment. You and Eirik are sitting shoulder-to-shoulder, and you blush whenever the two of you accidentally make eye contact. He seems to do so, too, but you aren’t sure if your mind is seeing what it sees, or what it wants to see.
Eirik was apparently raised in the south. He used to fish until he sustained injuries (and coincidentally found Turtwig’s egg), and they kept him from benefiting the town. He tells you about how he left due to being dead weight for a few weeks, and they were all gone upon his return a month or two later, this time with Turtwig. His family is somewhere in the prisons of the Shining White City.
“That’s why I want to get to the prison. What about you?”
“I had a friend named Nikolas that was just like us, but he got captured and sent there. He was trying to convince me that the city was dangerous,” you explain.
“Oooh, Nikolas?”
“He’s a little kid.”
“Oh.” He pauses. “So, what about your family?”
You tell him about how you bonded with Piplup, and how you also found your city destroyed by an ice storm. You went south to discover the world and have, so far, found out that it sucks. He laughs.
Suddenly, the car jerks to a stop and Riley steps out of the driver’s side. He goes over to your location and looks at the two of you, grins, and then reverts to a normal face upon seeing your faces.
“We’re almost at the cross-path between the Shining White City and the prison. One direction will lead you to the prison, but it’s deep in the caves. The city is straight up the mountain and is almost at the top. Eirik is going to the prison to save his family, some of our people, and Nikolas, but I will be going up to the city to find a way in.”
“What about Buck?”
“There’s a clinic along the path. I’ll drop him off and have Eirik pick him up along the way,” he explains. “So what do you want to do? Do you want to continue on your journey with me up the mountain to the city, or do you want to rescue your friend now? If you go up the mountain, then you’ll make the scheduled meeting and Nikolas will still be saved. If you go to the prison, I can still arrange a private meetup with a friend of mine, but you can go with Eirik and spend some time saving people.”
He put special emphasis on the words “Eirik” and “time.” You shift awkwardly in the back and think about your options.
“Well?”
You look to Eirik for an answer.
“This is completely on you. Either way shouldn’t affect you much, right?”
He seems so sincere that you’d feel bad about not going with him, but Riley isn’t a trainer--how would he defend himself? He’s already tired from that blow he sustained earlier, so should you leave him alone?
What, PB, are you going to do?
A. Go with Riley (and Buck, temporarily) up the mountain
B. Save Nikolas with Eirik and get some time together
Though Eirik thinks you won’t be affected, this answer most definitely determines the story. Characters may die, Pokemon may be caught, plot points might be reached. There’s no telling what would happen. Well, actually, there is someone that knows--you.
Votes will be due on Sunday, December 21st!
RE: Winds of Time - PokéBeach CYOA - Chapter 16
Let's go with A. Honestly I could have gone for either one though.
Let's go with A. Honestly I could have gone for either one though.
RE: Winds of Time - PokéBeach CYOA - Chapter 16
B!!!! SO MUCH B!!! SAVE NIKOLAS!!!
B!!!! SO MUCH B!!! SAVE NIKOLAS!!!
RE: Winds of Time - PokéBeach CYOA - Chapter 16
I'll vote A to break the tie solely because I don't like Eirik. I don't have strong feeling either way, so if somebody else squeezes in a vote for B, then I'm cool having my vote changed to B to break the tie again.
I'll vote A to break the tie solely because I don't like Eirik. I don't have strong feeling either way, so if somebody else squeezes in a vote for B, then I'm cool having my vote changed to B to break the tie again.
RE: Winds of Time - PokéBeach CYOA - Chapter 15
Riley let loose a smile at Eirik’s bravado, “We’ll be waiting for you up ahead then. Do not tarry, the battle for the Shining White City is near.” Riley answered Eirik’s determination with a taste of his own as they both exchanged smiles. The optimistic atmosphere that the two embodied was tangible as well as riveting; however, it was clear that it was only transparent hope that left a nagging sense of uneasiness that filled the hollow minutes up until the truck had finally come to the crossroads.
“I guess this is goodbye for now,” Eirik reached out his hand for you to shake with an endearing smile, you hesitantly shook his hand to which he could only mutter a small chuckle and depart on his journey.
“You’re feeling worried, aren’t you?” Riley asked after Eirik had walked away from the truck. “I can tell you, Eirik is one of our best recruits. He has a ‘green thumb’ for stuff like this,” Riley chuckled and you let out a forced laugh, the joke had went a tad over your head but you wanted to play along with Riley’s hope; that could be the only thing still holding him together.
Thoughts of worry write in your mind as the wheels race along the jagged mountain path making the inside of the vehicle twitch. The air had gotten so frigid, it had seemed that the truck itself shivered in the frost. Prinplup was ever-still sleeping and seemed more comfortable as the air grew colder, but despite the sedating effect that the cold air had on Prinplup, it only kept you awake and paranoid as time passed.
You had finally reached a Pokemon Center and Buck was dropped off for the nurses to heal his wounds which had apparently grown worse during the ride. The nurses advised the three of you that the temperature would only grow colder as you ascended up the mountain. She offered a toasty seat toward a strange pokemon she called a Vulpix that radiated warmth simply by its presence. “If you’re going to go out into the cold again, you should at least warm up first!” She mentioned with a sense of genuine worry.
Chapter 16
Riley looked at you, expecting a response as if the answer was as trivial as crumpled paper blowing in the wind. Your thoughts flashed to last night’s battle, Riley was helpless without a pokemon and Buck didn’t look like he could fend for himself much in his current state. You turned your head toward Eirik, trying to hide the wincing visage with a few scarlet blushes; your choice had been decided and guilt was scribbled over your face. As you opened your mouth to speak, Eirik interjected and with a natural reassuring smile he nodded in agreement with your choice. “I’ll be fine, Mia. I’ll be back with your friend and meet up with you shortly.” He turned his head to Riley as some sort of affirmation of his confidence or rather a vow of determination. Riley let loose a smile at Eirik’s bravado, “We’ll be waiting for you up ahead then. Do not tarry, the battle for the Shining White City is near.” Riley answered Eirik’s determination with a taste of his own as they both exchanged smiles. The optimistic atmosphere that the two embodied was tangible as well as riveting; however, it was clear that it was only transparent hope that left a nagging sense of uneasiness that filled the hollow minutes up until the truck had finally come to the crossroads.
“I guess this is goodbye for now,” Eirik reached out his hand for you to shake with an endearing smile, you hesitantly shook his hand to which he could only mutter a small chuckle and depart on his journey.
“You’re feeling worried, aren’t you?” Riley asked after Eirik had walked away from the truck. “I can tell you, Eirik is one of our best recruits. He has a ‘green thumb’ for stuff like this,” Riley chuckled and you let out a forced laugh, the joke had went a tad over your head but you wanted to play along with Riley’s hope; that could be the only thing still holding him together.
Thoughts of worry write in your mind as the wheels race along the jagged mountain path making the inside of the vehicle twitch. The air had gotten so frigid, it had seemed that the truck itself shivered in the frost. Prinplup was ever-still sleeping and seemed more comfortable as the air grew colder, but despite the sedating effect that the cold air had on Prinplup, it only kept you awake and paranoid as time passed.
One Hour Later
You had finally reached a Pokemon Center and Buck was dropped off for the nurses to heal his wounds which had apparently grown worse during the ride. The nurses advised the three of you that the temperature would only grow colder as you ascended up the mountain. She offered a toasty seat toward a strange pokemon she called a Vulpix that radiated warmth simply by its presence. “If you’re going to go out into the cold again, you should at least warm up first!” She mentioned with a sense of genuine worry.