Pokémon RP Kanto Quest, the adventure begins.

[drenrin2120]

"Hey, that's all well and good, but its pretty late now. How about we stay here for the night at the pokecenter?"

Chris was uneasy about saying much more. He wanted to say they could sleep at his house in pewter, but he barely knew these guys. And they wanted to travel together and beat team rocket? Like some of pokemon crusaders? it was happening rather quickly. Of ocourse, chris had to admit, it was what he had wanted as well.

" Oh, and another thing. I lived in pewter all my life and have only seen the stray rocket. They in no way run that town."

[Prpl_Mage]

The party went back to the pokémon centre. Josh had the chance to heal up and his trainer buddies tried to comfort him and tell him how awesome he was.

-"So... Taking the spoils are you?" Frank asked Lucas as they were heading back to the pokémon centre.
-"What?"
-"I got to fight his optimal team and you got away with some... Diglett, fair deal huh?" Frank grinned but still weighed the badge with pride.
-"Actually I think he had more pokémon, even stronger ones perhaps somewhere. But the Gym leader's job is not to run over trainers, they are supposed to test the abilities and thinking of trainers. When they feel proven they concede." Lucas but his arms behind his head and looked at Frank who obviously didn't like that idea.
-"I could've taken them on as well." He said shortly and went ahead to heal his Murkrow and Mankey as they walked through the door.

They all stayed at the pokémon centre and the day grew late, tomorrow they would set out for Pewter city and hopefully find a way to earn themselves a badge.
Frank watched the others from the counter. Lucas was just a nerd but it seemed like even for a nerd he had some trainer qualities. Or maybe it was luck. But he knew his stuff and his pokémon obeyed him, he even beat the same gym Frank did.
Could there be anything in what Josh spoke of? That the trainer is what matters and not the pokémon... It certainly did. Frank won with two weak pokémon. But those weak pokémon did a great job when listening to him. And at the same time Lucas won with both pokémon weak to the ground type. Lucas had knowledge and based it all on that. Frank on the other hand was just awesome as it was.

He also weighed the TM disc Josh handed him - Sandstorm apparently. He put the disc into the TM machine and watched the socket for the pokéball in it. He put in Mankey's ball and watched the error message at the display "Not able" He clicked the start button anyway and watched the next error message "Mankey and Sandstorm are not compatible".
-"Better find something better for him then..." Frank mumbled as he took the ball out and turned off the TM machine.

Frank was happy with it all. He had earned his first badge and proved himself good enough. He just had to expand his party a little now and keep training. There was no point in crying over spilled moo moo milk - he had a new party going. He was what mattered - not them.

[X_marks_the_ed]

As Edwin left the Gym, a few minutes after kids did, he was confronted by the crazy girl. "Hey! I said we were gonna have a rematch!" "I don't have time. I gotta leave, kid." It was too late, her little Magby was already out.

"Fine. We'll make this quick. Clefairy, Doubleslap!" Clefairy ran up to the Magby, but the Magby fired an Ember before she could reach it. "Maggie, Smog!" Clefairy was struck with a blast of smoke. "Clefairy, try another Doubleslap!" Clefairy ran back at the Magby and struck it with her hands four times before grasping her left hand in the other. "What!?" "Maggie, Ember!" Clefairy fell with the last attack.

"..."

The Magby then adjusted the pink neckerchief that it was wearing, as if it was more interesting than what just happened. "Go, Zubat!" Without even returning Clefairy, Zubat was out. "Zubat, Bite it!" It did so and Magby fell right away. Edwin returned both Pokes. "Shoot. I still couldn't win." Edwin took out the cd in his pocket. "Before you learn the hard way." Is this what she meant?

"Maybe you should've used that on your Clefairy."

"What?"

"It's a TM. You use it to teach Pokemon moves."

"...how?"

"Just use it on them. It's simple."

She retrieved her Magby. "Rematch?"

".....rematch."

They both went in the center and handed the nurse their Pokeballs. Edwin hoped no one saw his horrible defeat at the hands of such a little girl.

[SaiKar]

The ship had barely finished its postdocking procedures when the woman hopped the side rail and landed gracefully on her feet. She cracked her neck and streched her arms. It had been a long journey. She never did enjoy sea travel. It was good to be on dry land again. It was especially good because she had an objective and was already late; the incompetant boat captain had insisted on not letting the journey conclude until someone found his granddaugther. It had been tempting to start trouble over that, but she was already fighting off seasickness most of the trip, so decided against it.

"Halt! Halt in the name of Team Rocket!" came a cry.

She looked lazily towards the customs office. A grunt was shouting as he ran up to her, a growlithe and a grimer right beside him, and behind him another grunt with a fearow and a houndour had noticed the commotion and was heading this was as well. They were using definate upgrades from the last pathetic effort Team Rocket had made in Kanto. Still, she didn't need the delay.

"What do you want?!" she barked.

"Just proof of your credentials, miss."

Her eyes bulged. "The big, obvious R on my shirt is not enough for you?"

"Standard procedure," the grunt said. "It could be a fake."

By now the other grunt had caught up. His houndour had started barking fiercly, and the growlithe joined in. It was a racket. Ugh. She haded dogs.

"Credentials," she said, letting a cruel smile form. "Fine. I will show you my credentials." Her hand bent towards her belt and the six Pokeballs it held. Which would be the best? Will, it barely mattered really.

Short, fierce, embarrsing moments later, the four opponets were defeated, lying fainted or exhausted on the ground. She recalled her victorious Pokemon to it's ball. What a joke. She wouldn't even have to bother to heal it.

The first grunt glared as his cohort prodded his fallen houndour. It had been an sad defeat for them both. She hadn't even tried to take them seriously. But, it had been effective; he knew his place.
 
"Credentials accepted," the grunt said between cleched teeth "Welcome to Vermillion City, miss, uh..."

"It is Saiar. Administrator Saiar. Do try to send word that I will not enjoy being stopped by my underlings again."

Before the grunt could even agree, she swept past them both, heading north towards the edge of the city.

[ellie-is]

"Oh boy, that was fun." Lucas was thinking about his recent victory at the Pokémon Gym.
It was late, and everyone was either sleeping, or about to. Lucas adjusted himself on the couch, and slept as well.

A few hour passes, and he wakes up in a strange place. He's all alone with a pokémon egg and a small Nidoran, when a rocket grunt comes and tries to take them away. "No! No! I won't let you! You can't do this!". A dark, eerie voice replied. "We can do whatever we want, kid. We are team rocket", and the man in black took away his pokémon. He tried to go after them, but he couldn't move. He tried to scream for help, but there was no air in his lungs.

"Are you okay?" the nurse said in her sweet voice
"Oh... I-I..." Lucas was sweating all over the place, and yet he was really cold.
"You seemed to be having a nightmare.
"Y-yeaaah... I guess." Lucas got up and reached for the Pokéballs in his pockets. "They are still here... Don't worry, I won't let anyting happen to you..
"Well, alright. I'm going back to the counter."
"Oh, okay. Huh. Before you go, can you do me a favor? I'm leaving for Pewter now. When the guys I was with wake up, can you tell them to meet me at the Pokémon center there?"
"Alright. Don't you want to wait a bit, though? Its still dark outside."
"Nah, thanks. I will be fine. But thank you for being worried."

He left. It was morning, but the sun was still not out. Far away, you could hear a Dodrio shouting its cry for the sun that was about to rise, waking up the wild Pokémon.
Lucas knew that he wouldn't be able to sleep after that. He remembered the fear he felt when he first reached Kanto. He didn't want that to happen to his Pokémon. He didn't want to feel powerless again. He had to train. He had to get better if he wanted to stand a chance against the rockets.

He took both his pokés out of their balls.
"We have a long day ahead of us, boys. Viridian forest seems like a nice place to train. You ready?"
They were both still sleepy, but didn't seem to mind, and nodded in approval.

Inside the forest everything was quiet. Everyonce in a while one could see a sleeping Pidgey in a tree, or a Hoothoot flying above them searching for food. The sound of Kricketots could be heard but none were anywhere to be seen.

Half an hour later it started to rain. "I guess rain must be common around these parts... Usually rains a lot in forests and the like." He looked at his Pokémon, who seemed to be enjoying it. "Hey Aron, does it hurts you?". Aron didn't mind the rain, and in fact, seemed happy to feel it. He was always indoors when it rained in Dewford, since Lucas was worried that it would be bad for him, being a rock type. "Oh well. We will have to face Water pokémon some day. At least he will know how water feels like."



Back in the Center, the trainers finally began waking up one by one.

[drenrin2120]

sidenote: personally, I don't know why, but I'm having a damn hard time keeping track of everyone.
------
Chris was groggy when he woke up. The other trainers had roused from their sleep. Corey came over to Chris, "Hey, did you see were Lucas went last night?" he asked worriedly. You didn't even have the time to process the information before the nurse from behind the counter came over.

"Did you ask about your friend?" She said

"Yes, did you see him?"

"Yes, he left early this morning. He wanted me to tell you he'd meet you guys at Pewter city pokecenter."

"hmph, little nerd like him walking through viridian forest alone at night..." Frank said.

God, this kid... This kid! Chris couldn't help but think the gym badge had gone to his head. Chris still didn't feel very attached to the group, so once he got up he left them standing in the pokecenter talking. "Where you going?' Corey asked.

Chris looked back surprised, "Um... Pewter? Maybe a grab a bite to eat first?" On second thought, Chris wasn't going to be getting anything to eat, he had little to no money.

"Well, wait up, I'm ready to go too." corey said.

[coreystranick]

Corey snatched his bag and what little supplies he had.

Corey-"Wait aren't you gonna grab a bite to eat?"

Chris-"Nah, I don't have much money."

Corey-"Well, here I'll pay this time. Don't worry about it."

Chis-"Oh, alright thanks."

They grabbed the breakfast and headed out. The other trainers made no attempt to follow as far as he could tell.

Well, everyone is going to meet up at their own pace I guess.

And with that Chris and Corey started for the forest.

"You plan on taking the gym challenge here Chris? I'm possibly thinking about it, but I'm not sure. With all this Rocket nonsense I think I'm better off waiting till they are kicked out, whenever that would be."

[drenrin2120]

Chris hadn't told anyone about his dad yet. Or the situation in Pewter. He just hadn't felt like bringing it up. Now with Corey asking him directly he felt kind of bad. The two of them were making decent time. At their pace, a slow walk, they'd make it to pewter in 20 minutes to a half four. It was a nice day, though you could tell it rained over night. "Huh, I hope Lucas didn't mind being in the rain." Chris said, unwittingly changing the subject.

corey: "huh? Oh yeah, the grass is still a bit wet. I guess it did rain."

Chris: "Yeah, so anyway. Look, the gymleader in Pewter's been missing for a good three months. There won't be any challenging of gymleaders in Pewter." Chris had been staring up at the foliage with his hands behind his back, he turned to see Corey's response.

He was just kind of looking down. "Damn. Team rocket again?"

Chris looked straight ahead, "No one knows."

They walked on in silence for another five minutes when Chris got an idea. "Hey, why am I not training my pokemon right now?" Chris took out the ball Hoot-Hoot was in and sent him out. "Alright, it's time to give you a name! I've been thinking, how do you like Owl Pellet?"

Hoot-hoot looked very offended. Chris laughed and pat it on the head. "I'm just kidding, that's no good. What do you think Corey?"

Corey looked very confused, "I... uh... I have no idea."

"How about... Konfucius.... with a 'k'" Chris was kind of excited about this. Corey pretended it was a great name. Hoot-hoot however, loved it. "Alright Konfucius, do you mind Kon for short? Kon, I want you to make a mockery of all the caterpie and weedles you see!"

Konfucius was delighted. He hooted happily and took off in the air ahead of them. "Why Konfucius? And why with a K?" Corey asked.

"Well, I heard that some hoot-hoot naturally learn confusion, but the whole species, including the evolution Noctowl, doesn't take on psychic type traits." Chris said.

Corey: "Oh, well that's valid. and the k?"

Chris: "... I don't really know why the k..."

They continued to walk on and were just coming out of the woods when a kid in cool-*** looking short shorts came running up to Chris and Corey. "Hey!" He said, "You're that lazy sack of potatoes I saw sleeping in the woods yesterday!"

----SMALL BATTLE AHEAD: Text wall is not really that important----

Chris remembered the kid instantly. "C'mon, with these shorts, there's no way I can lose against someone as poorly dressed as you!" The kid antagonized Chris.

Chris: "What? What the hell's wrong my clothes? Alright, show me your pokemon kid. Go, Konfucius!"

"Ratatta! Get 'em with your tail whip!" The little kid sent out a ratatta, so predictable.  

"Watch out Kon! Use your flight advantage to avoid his attack!" Kon did so and narrowly missed the ratatta's vicious tail whip. "Now counter and repeat!"

This went on for a little while. The ratatta would try to bite or tackle Kon, but Kon would fly up and out of his reach then dive bomb him with a flurry of pecks. Kon wasn't the fastest bird of feather though, and eventually was hit with a nasty bite. Kon fell to the ground. Cool smancy fancy short shorts kid's ratatta was a little exhausted by this point, "Go get 'em while he's down ratatta! Tackle 'em!"

Chris: "Kon, use your hypnosis technique!" Just as the ratatta was about to tackle, Kon unleashed a wave of hypnosis. The ratatta slowed down, then slumped over asleep. "Kon, finish him!" Kon agreed and pecked the living daylights out of the sleeping ratatta. Before it could regain consciousness, it fainted. Short shorts kid called it back. kon returned to perch on Chris's shoulder. "Good job, Kon! You're a very good bird!" Kon cooed softly as Chris gave him a pat.

The short shorts kid looked defeated and depressed. He held his head down in shame, not sure what to do or say. Chris felt terrible now. "Hey, look, cheer up. Your pokemon fought real hard. Keep training, he's a good one!" Chris said in an attempt to make him feel better.

Suddenly, the kid looked up and shouted at Chris, "Ahh, whatever! My shorts are so damn comfy! Atleast I dress nice!" And with that the kid stormed off south into viridian forest. Chris was stunned.

"Well, that was a good show, Kon." Corey chimed in, having watched the whole thing. "What a weird kid though."

[coreystranick]

"I really don't know why those short kids always obsess over their shorts."

"I like your Hoothoot. Seems he seems strong. From the looks of it my Starly has a little higher attack and speed though."**

"Uh...so?"

"I don't know just saying really."

"It is a nice day out I think Ace would like to go for a nice flight." Corey sent out Ace. He flew around then landed back on Corey's shoulder.

Ace seemed to notice Kon and eyed him. After a few minutes of this the two birds flew around being playful with one another. Each seemed to be test the other.

I guess Kon heard me say something about Ace being faster.

--------------
**Had to check but Starly does have a higer attack and speed. Just had to make sure before I went posting something not true.

[RockJohnAxe]

----Back during Frank's Gym Battle----

Rock john's jaw dropped when Mankey appeared. "Wow a Mankey! Im amazed that kid managed to find one!"
He was completely blown away by how well that cool kid did. Very Impressive.

Then the nerd kid starting battling. "Heh, this wont last long..." he thought. But low and behold he managed to best the Leaders pokemon. Again his Jaw dropped.
"Whats with these kids? They are such skilled trainers! They Look like amateurs but they battle with such knowledge!"

Rock john followed behind the kids. He Stopped the Cool kid.
"huh?" Frank looked who tapped him on the shoulder.
"Great battle man! I Gotta say i was really impressed!"
Frank Grinned. "No problem."
The two chat for a bit.
"Well see ya around" Rock john decided to head back to his Dojo. While leaving he could hear the other guys talking about heading to pewter. He Rubs his chin thinking he might go with them.


----The Next Day a few minutes after chris and corey left the pokemon center----
Rock john was bringing his rattata in to heal up after training intensely all day. Entering the Poke center Rock john could see frank. "Hey a familiar face he thought" and headed over to say hi. While Frank and Rock john were chatting briefly Lucas entered the Poke Center.
"Jeez i cant beleive that beedrill. I mean i seriously wasnt expecting Beedrills in that tree." Lucas was rambling while heading to the counter.

As Lucas approach the counter the doors to the Poke center Swung open banging really loudly. There were several other trainers in the poke center also and everyone looked up at the doorway. There were 3 Men in trench coats, they had large Red R's. Obviously members of Rocket. They were holding Automatic Rifles.
"Alright Ladies and Trainers..." one of the men announced "were here to take all Pokemon! Put them in the bag and there wont be any problems!" they all had bags hanging off their belts.
Rock john started to get angry... "These cowards he thought..." he reached for his pokeballs. Lucas stood with a terrified look on his face while Frank just sort of held his ground.
One of the Rockets started pestering an older lady. "Give me the balls lady" he said while pushing her and ruffling through her purse.
"THATS ENOUGH" Rock john yells. All attention switchs to him. He throws out most of his balls. Both raticate's, his Sandslash and his Squirtle all pop out and appear.

The one Rocket points his gun over at Rock john and starts to fire. Everyone dives for the floor. Rock john rolled to the side and rushed one of the other Rocket members. He jump kicks the gun out of the Rockets hand and punchs him in the face sending him to the ground. The other rocket continues firing bullets all over trying to hit Rock John. Thankfully hes more spraying bullets than aiming. Rock john looks over, his 2 raticate's and squirtle are near the 3rd Rocket member.
He yells "Squirtle Water gun!, Raticates bite!!" The Squirtle makes a face and uses scratch on the Rocket. The Raticates try to bite him but miss and crash into a table. The Rocket member cocks his gun and points it at the Squirtle.
"Damn it... why doesnt that squirtle ever listen to me!!" Rock john thought to himself while taking cover behind a couch.
Lucas peers up while cowering from the bullets and sees the squirtle in danger. Lucas yells "Squirtle Water gun!!" by a gut reaction. The Squirtle uses Water gun and blasts the rocket guy knocking him into the wall and knocking away his gun. Lucas smiles.

The Last rocket's Machine gun runs out of ammo... Rock john notices and points at him "Raticates!! Hyper Double Fa...." but while yelling a Mankey flys over and Chops the Rocket knocking him out cold. Frank Grinned.

Everyone inside the Poke center stands up and looks around. Bullet holes everywhere.

Rock john Thanks Lucas and Frank for the Help. He looks at Lucas. "Hey... that damn squirtle actually listened to you... Ive had him for years and he still wont do a damn thing i ask him. Honestly if you want him, you can have him. He seems to really like you..."

[SaiKar]

Vermillion City. Once an open port to the outside world, now a Rocket stronghold. Barricades replaced the open routes to the north and east. Cruise liners gave way to cargo ships transporting smuggled and stolen goods on huge margins. The gym was closed down and had become little more than a Rocket hangout. Lt. Surge hadn't been seen in years - if he was even still alive.

Saiar frowned. The city reeked of weakness.

Yes, there was a lot of money to be made. Huge, almost unbelievable profits. Profits that she had seen the fair share of during her time. It made Team Rocket's dreams possible. Money made the world go down as much today as it ever had. But there was more to it than that. This was Team Rocket! There was supposed to be pride here! The old regime had focused on nothing more than profits and general crime and had fallen swiftly to some damn kid and his Pikachu! It had taken them years of planning, decades even, gathering resources and finding ways to strike. Finally things were in motion. On the outside it looked good. But on the inside...

Rotten to the core!

Not morally speaking, of course (Team Rocket didn't care about morals on principle) but in terms of strength. It was a facade - a threat, no, more like a bluff. There was no real strength. Nothing like the kind of power she had.

Saiar passed two grunts battling. It was a lopsided battle; a houndour was beating up on a koffing that seemed unable to defend itself. Koffing wasn't the strongest Pokemon by a long shot, but this one seemed poorly trained to boot. It still had that crazy grin on its face even as it started getting wobbly and lost altitude.

"Stupid thing! So weak!" the grunt yelled, kicking it as it settled to the ground.

"Kid!" Saiar yelled at once. "Who the HELL told you that sort of thing was okay?!"

The grunt whirlled around, a face of anger. He was no doubt ready to shout something nasty when he caught wind of Saiar and her obvious Rocket Admin uniform.

"I... ah... what?" he stammered.

"That Koffing you were kicking. Who said it was okay to do that sort of thing?"

The kid looked completely blank. Saiar ground her teeth. This was history repeating itself, all over again. That nasty, diseased attitude of evil for evil's sake instead of for money, power, and control.

"Listen up, kid. When your shirt is dirty, do you tear it to shreds? No, you wash it. When your saws are dull, do you break them and throw them away? No, you sharpen them. So why, when your Pokemon fails you, do you beat them up?"

"Screw that love and respect BS," the grunt spat.

"When did I say anything about love and respect?" Saiar shot back. "This is Team Rocket, not an afterschool special. I don't give a damn about love. Pokemon are tools; a means to end. They are our weapons. Weapons that we use to gain many things. Power. Wealth. Glory. Respect. Control. Do you think you're going to get any of that with a broken-down Pokemon that's badly trained and has no real power?"

The grunt looked uncertain and said nothing. Several more were wandering this way. Saiar paid them no mind. She was soapboxing.

She continued, "When Team Rocket fell so many years ago, it was because we were weak. Our Pokemon had no power. Our trainers were fools. We didn't care. We thought it was cool to be mean, to kick things like this koffing because it failed when it was our own damn fault for not making it strong. And it will happen again. It only took one kid last time. How many kids out there have we pissed off? How many legitimate trainers are just waiting to get involved in the fight if pushed hard enough? Are you going to stop them? You can't stop them. You couldn't stop me either. I have a dozen Pokemon on me, and I could take out your entire teams with any of them. There are trainers with real skill, and Pokemon with real power, and if they came this way you couldn't do a damn thing about any of them."

Silence. Well, they were just dumb kids anyway. Didn't care about any of this stuff. Probably just joined because it they were small-time bullies and Team Rocket was a way for them to be mean without reprisal. She'd have to get to the root of the problem.

"Where is the Admin of this town?!" she demanded.

Nobody spoke, but half a dozen fingers pointed towards a building on the water. A lone man was standing in the door. He stepped back inside shut it without a word. There was no way he was getting off that easily. Saiar sent off, fully intent on making this a horrible day for that guy.

[X_marks_the_ed]

With nothing left to do here, Edwin decided to head back to Cerulean. Despite his newfound popularity with the Rockets, he could not abandon the Gym. As useless as he was at battling, but every member counted. He could not let his friend down. After recieving his Pokeball from the nurse, he turned and walked to the PC. There seemed to be a slot for a disc, as he had assumed. He took the disc out of its sleeve and put it in the machine. It whirred and popped up the message "TM29 - Psychic, Insert Pokeball." The disc was for Clefairy, so he placed Clefairy's Pokeball in the slot. The Pokeball glowed a bit purple, and Edwin chose to get rid of Sing. A moment later, the ball stopped glowing and the screen stated "Complete - Remove Pokeball." He obeyed.

He waited for the disc to come out. It never did.

Peeved, Edwin left the center anyway and made his way towards the forest once more. On the way, he was stopped with a "Hey!" It was Josh, the Gym leader. "I saw you with those kids, but I don't think you've ever gotten my badge. Why didn't you take the challenge when your friends did?" Edwin was surprised at the sudden invitation to battle. "Sorry, I have something to do back in Cerulean."

"No time for even a quick battle?"

"No, sorry."

"Shame. My sis said you had some kind of freak Zubat. I really wanted to see it. Come on, really quick. One Pokemon on one?"

".....fine, but shouldn't we do this indoors?"

"Nah, it's fine. Come on!" Without waiting for a response, he sent out his Cubone. "Does he know that Zubat's pretty much immune to ground moves?"

Edwin sent him out anyway. It started with it's usual screaming and flailing. Without warning, it dove into Cubone and used it's fearsome shadowy fangs on it before the Cubone could even ready itself. "I guess she wasn't exaggerating. That thing's nuts! Cubone, Bonemerang!"

Dead on. The bone nearly knocked Zubat out of the air, but at just the right force for Zubat to flee out of range of its return. Zubat screeched even louder, but Cubone was able to cover its ears, not so much luck this time. Cubone retaliated with another Bonemerang, it seemd all it could do against Zubat was throw it's bone, as Zubat was only close enough to it for a few seconds at most. After a bit of bone chucking and quick Bites, Cubone was down. Both trainers returned their Pokemon.

"It's a wonder that thing doesn't try to take your arm off."

"Sometimes it does." What followed surprised Edwin. Josh handed him a badge. "But I only beat one of your Pokes."

"Keep it. Thanks for losing to my sis, it really helped her self-esteem." As Josh left for the center, Edwin replied "ummmm....sure."

[drenrin2120]

Corey and Chris made it to Pewter city around before 10:00 AM. Chris looked up from his watch and observed the town. Quiet as usual. "Quite a nice little city." Corey managed a smile. "Where's the gym?" He asked.

"It's down the road a bit, behind the pokecenter. Trainers have been camping there on occasion, waiting for the gymleader to return." Making his way past the gym, Corey said, "I want to see it. No one occupies it?"

Chris scrambled for something to say, "Uhh, um... well, it was maintained by the family. They just locked the doors recently though."

Walking down the road, Chris caught a glimpse of the building. "That's odd. No trainers..." There was no one camping near or around the building. Chris felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. He couldn't fight the feeling rising in his stomach. He suddenly took off running.

"What?" corey asked, surprised. "What's the matter?" Corey began to run after him.

The building came into view. There was no trainers alright. "The chains!" Chris exclaimed. The chains he'd used to lock up the doors had been removed. Wordlessly, he took off towards the doors, Corey trailing behind him, not sure what was going on. "I thought you said the place was locked."

Chris opened the door and ran into the arena, searching frantically for that figure he knew so very well. The tall, strong figure he hadn't seen in months. Chris walked past the boulders that had been carried there by machokes years ago when the  gym was established, onto the rocky field that made up the interior arena. Underneath the rocky gravel arena was not the building foundation, just the ground, allowing pokemon like onix to move freely through the soil. Half the arena was not lit. A voice came from across the otherside of the unlit arena.

"Another trainer?! You kids are relentless! I've beaten three of you today! It's not even noon!" The voice was feminine. Chris recognized it immediately.

Elliot, chris's mom walked out from the shadows into the light of the arena. Chris immediately felt his nerves settle and his adrenaline drop. He was breathing kind of hard. Corey spoke up, "You okay, Chris? Who's this woman?"

"That's my mom."

Corey was taken aback, "Your mom is the Pewter City gymleader? but... now I'm confused."

"Sorry, I'll explain later." Chris said walking over to his mom, "What are you doing?"

Elliot had a playful look on her face, "I thought you'd be gone for longer. I wanted to get started right away. I felt just awful leaving this gym locked up like this. There's only three other gyms in Kanto still open and functioning. It just isn't fair to keep it locked up like this. "

"So you're... battling? I didn't know you had any pokemon." Chris said.

"I do, you're father didn't take all of his pokemon with him when he left. So I figured I'd use his pokemon until he returned."

Corey began to piece it together. Elliot continued, "Consider me regent of this 'Rock Castle'." Elliot seemed to love the analogy. "I want to show you something." She said.

She released one of her pokemon from their balls, she only had three. In a flash of bright red light, a wigglytuff appeared. "...Ploof?" Chris said. The wigglytuff immediately recognized Chris and charged him and hugged him.

Elliot: "Apparently, she was so upset at your leaving, she evolved. Not sure if that's really why she evolved, but she definitely did!"

Chris: "I'll say she did."

Elliot walked back with Chris and Corey to the pokecenter, where Lucas was waiting. After that, Elliot suggested, "why don't you and your friends stay at the house while you're here?"

Chris: "I don't know..."

Elliot cut cross off, "Nonsense! You're home! Why should your friends have to sleep in the lousy pokecenter?"

Chris: "Well, if you insist..." Elliot didn't know what she was getting into and just how many new friends Chris had acquired. "Alright," she said, "I'll be getting back to the gym now. There's a lot of things to do around there. You didn't keep it very tidy!" With that Elliot went back to the gym and Corey and Chris walked into the pokecenter.

[ellie-is]

The sun was already high in the sky, but Lucas was still in the forest. He figured his pokés could use more trained, and decided not to follow the road, and go through the trees instead. He would stop every time a Pokémon appeared and was worthy fighting. He wouldn't fight Caterpies and Weedles. Wouldn't be fair hurting them, and his Pokémon wouldn't get much stronger, anyway. At the end, he had fought three Beedrills, one Pikachu, and a Pidgeotto. None of his Pokés were injured.

He soon reached the exit. Right near the entrance to Pewter city was a kid with a bug catching net and a straw hat.
"Hey! Yo! With the Pokémon!"
"Eh... Me?" Lucas didn't know what to say.
"Yeah, you! You want to battle?" The kid had that look on his face, the look of someone who knew nobody could beat his Pokémon.
"Huh, yeah, sure."

The boy sent out a Weedle. "Weedle, Poison Sting!"
Nidorino was the one who was fighting. He took the move and didn't seem to mind it.
"Eh, boy, that didn't really work. Nidorino, Horn Attack!"
"B-But! He was supposed to be poisoned!" The weedle soon received the attack and fell.
"My Pokémon is a poison type too. He can't get poisoned."
The Weedle started shining. A few seconds later, and it evolved to a Kakuna.
"Hah! You won't beat me now, my Pokémon evolved! Kakuna... Huh... Poison sting?" The Kakuna hardened itself.
"Nidorino, Peck." Nidorino pecked the bug with its horn. Kakuna fainted. Both trainers returned their Pokés.

"Eh... Oh. This ain't over! Go, Butterfree!"
"Aron, your turn!"
"Butterfree, Gust!" It then created a small tornado by rapidly flapping its wings, but the Iron Armor pokémon barely moved.
"Aron... Headbutt!"
Aron ran up to the Butterfree, and knocked it into the ground.
"N-no! Confusion! Confuse him!"
"Aron, show it your Metal Claw!"
While the Butterfree tried to focus and use confusion, Aron quickly scratched the fallen opponent. The battle was over.
"N-no! I can't believe... You beat my team! My awesome Pokémon!"
The kid returned the bug and ran away, trying to hide the fact that he was trying.

"Oh well. He had to lose one day. This wasn't so bad. Good job Aron! Now lets go to the Pokémon Center and wait for the guys! Eh, or maybe they will be waiting for me... Not sure when they left."

[coreystranick]

As they walk into the center Corey asks Chris," Do you have a problem with us staying are your place?"

"Well, yeah sorta. You are all great guys, but I don't know any of you that well."

"I understand, I don't want you to feel awkward about it, I'm sure everyone will behave. Just hope that dude with the crazy hair don't show up."

"Oh jesus, yeah I don't think my mom would even let him in."

"Haha. Yeah. So. Do you have any tips to battling your mom?"

"....Yeah. No, I'm not gonna help you beat my mom."

"Oh I see. Well, that is fine. I think I'm gonna do some training before the Gym though. I'll see you at your place later?"

Corey had noticed Lucas wasn't at the center yet. Maybe he got sidetracked.
Corey decided to head towards the opposite route that they came he was tired of fighting bugs.

As he walked he saw Lucas. "Hey, Lucas. Chris is at the Center if you are heading there, no one else has showed up yet though. I'm gonna do some training. Not in that forest though over that way towards the mountains. Come join later if you want or come get me if the group is gonna do something collectively."

"Alright, I'll see you later....wait you got a number right?"

"Yeah, here it is."

They exchanged numbers and went separate ways. Corey was stopped by a towns person before entering the next route.

"Have you been to the gym yet?"

"Well...yeah, but not battled."

"Well you must come with me and see it."

"I'm sorry but I'm going to train, bugs can only get you so far. So I'm not going to follow you."

"But, you must go see the gym."

"I"VE ALREADY BEEN TO THE GYM!"

"Alright, no reason to get snippy. But let me know if you wanna go see the gym."

Corey just walked away as the person kept asking everyone and everything it saw if it had seen the gym yet.
Corey didn't spot many trainers and avoided one of the crazy short kids. Are they some kind of club? I mean it is a little chilly outside

He rounded a corner and spotted some grass.
"Well, this is just a good of place as any."

Corey sent out Spark. He hasn't been out in a bit and decided to battle with him. Corey battled quite a few Spearows. Spark made light work of them and wasn't tiring at all. He would keep going for a bit until he saw Spark getting tired.