(Reboot) Pokemon: Beyond the Tall Grass

After Cerise had dropped Zoe off, he returned to his friends who awaited him at the pokemon center. Loka explained that Catia must have went to bed, since she didn't come down to meet them. So the four of them went out and celebrated a night well done. Here, Genesis was officially introduced into the group.

When everything was done, and everyone was fed, it was pretty late. The group retired to their rooms. Loka noticed that Catia wasn't in the room, but saw Sparx and Fox asleep, and the open window.

Loka leapt out the window, grabbed onto a tree branch and rolled to the ground and searched for Catia. After about a half hour of searching, she came across the tired girl, leaning against a tree. She was pretty scraped up and her fists were a bit bloody. Catia must've been out here for a while... 

So once more, Loka picked up the fighter and carried her all the way back to the Pokemon Center. She lay her on her bed and proceeded to clean off her own. Fox hopped off of Loka's bed and crawled in next to Catia.


((TIME SKIP~ WHOO!!))


Sunlight streamed into the second floor rooms blinding anyone who was just waking up. Loka opened her eye, but found she couldn't move. It felt like she was being crushed! She panicked for a few seconds, then felt a bushy tail sweep against her arm; all three of her pokemon were on her bed. Blitz and Sparx were on either side of her, while Sai was resting on top of her.

"Ge'off ya big lugs..." she muttered, trying to sit up.

The sat up and stretched out, hopping off the bed. Loka changed into her usual wear and went over to the door of the boys' room. She pounded on it twice.

"Rise an' shine, boys! It's noon! We'll be headin' out in a few!"

She went back over to her room and gently shook Catia awake.

By the time Loka knocked on the door, Decoda was up and at the mirror, inspecting his face and teeth.  Looking close up revealed dark circles under his eyes, reflecting his tiredness (probably from sleeping way longer than usual), but it wasn't too bad.  It's not like they'd be really noticeable.  Still, he pulled out some face clearer from his secret guitar case compartment and made sure he looked good for today.

Mudkip had rolled off the bed and onto the floor, awakening the sleeping Chimecho with the sound it hitting the thin carpet.  She floated to the mudfish's side to help it get back up.

"You two okay?" Decoda asked his Pokemon with a smirk, brushing his hair with his fingers.  "Don't go breaking anything, including yourselves!  Now, can you hand me my hat and jacket?"

"Mud!" the little blue Pokemon yipped as it tossed the musician his jacket using its top fin.  Chimecho had picked up his hat and hovered up to his head to put it neatly on top of his head.  After securing his guitar case on his back, Decoda plopped onto the bed to put on his shoes.

As he buckled up his straps, he looked over to his friends and said, "Hey you guys, time to get ready!"

Catia slowly opened her eyes and saw that she was back in her room with Loka trying to wake her up. She felt the pain in her ankles and knuckles and slowly sat up with a pained groan. Seems not training for a long period of time had its toll. She blinked up at Loka and started to carefully rub her eyes with her still bandaged hands before beginning to unwrap them and replace them. Upon her bandages being fully removed, it showed that her knuckles and ankles were very raw and bloody, a lot of the blood having smeared from the bandages being on them but nothing was still bleeding thankfully. She stared at her injuries and sighed before looking back up at Loka. "Did you carry me back again?" She asked her, going to reach into her bag for more bandages. Poochy had apparently let himself out of his pokeball because he pokes his head out of her bag and jumped up to her side with some bandages in his mouth. Catia giggled and pet his head gingerly before taking the bandages and starting to bandage herself back up.

Cerise rubs his eyes as he finishes tidying up the bed he had slept in, the blankets folded neatly and the pillows fluffed. Smiling to himself, he glances outside, a bit surprised it was noon already. With a shrug, he glances over at the egg on the nightstand next to the bed. After dropping off Zoe last night, he had asked Nurse Joy about egg carry cases, to which she had given him an older model for use. And so, nestled in blankets was his egg, protected in a glass cover.

Already dressed for the day, Cerise flips out his Pokegear to inspect the map of the surrounding locations, in respect to Saffron. Mentally noting the places he'd been so far, Cerise closed his Pokegear and glanced over at Decoda as he spoke. At the very least, Cerise was mostly ready. Putting on his shoes and throwing his poncho on over his head, he inspected the egg carrier to ensure it was still working. Seeing that the machinery was still functional and keeping his egg warm, he nodded to himself. A familiar rumbling from the Pokeballs on his belt loops hailed the arrival of Chespin, who plopped onto Cerise's bed upon releasing itself. Cerise sighed as the sheets became disheveled once more. All of that work, gone to waste.

Anyway, Cerise dove a hand in his pocket, feeling for the familiar green bandana he had placed in it earlier. Finding the fabric, he pulled it out to tie onto his head, shoving as much of his bed-hair into the bandana as possible. His side-bag already clipped onto his belt, Cerise nods to himself, feeling both refreshed and ready to take on the rest of the day.

"Pin!" The grass-type hedgehog leaped from its relaxed position on the bed onto Cerise's shoulder.

Fox stumbled over the blankets to Catia, but then took a couple steps back when the scent of blood filled her nose. She mewed and buried her face in the blankets. 

"Yea, I carried ya again. You should try investin' in fighter's wraps if yer gonna beat up poor trees." 

Loka turned to a mirror on the wall and finished putting her hair up into their pigtails, then fastening the horns around them. She admired herself for a couple seconds before turning back to Catia. 

"Ya gonna be ok to walk, or am I gonna have to carry ya again?" she smirked. "I'm gonna check on the guys and see if they're ready yet."



Loka stepped out of the room and went next door and knocked.

"I'm respecting y'alls privacy by knocking, but I'm asserting my authority as yer friend by coming in anyways!"

She opened the door and stepped inside.

"Oh good. You're all dressed an' ready to go."

Catia huffed at Loka's remark before noticing Fox burying her face into the blankets. She finished bandaging herself up before she reached over and per her gingerly. "What's wrong Fox? Is it the way I smell or something?" She asked, both Poochy and Fox sounding their agreement with the smell thing. Sighing audibly, she reached into her bag and fumbled around until she got Fox's bottle and the last of her sweet flavored formula. Returning Poochy to his pokeball, she calls out to Loka. "Hey Loka? Can you do me a big favor and feed Fox for me? I can barely hold the bottle and I need to take a quick shower before we go anywhere. I smell like blood." She called out to her, setting Fox's bottle down and onto the bed before carefully swinging her legs around to the floor. She gives a small cry at first from trying to put her weight onto her legs before shakily standing up and using the wall for support to stand up. She can feel her injuries beginning to bleed a little bit more and she frowns. "And if you could get some more bandages for me from the store while I shower that would be great. I feel like I'm going to soil these ones from walking around." She calls to Loka again before limping over to the bathroom and closing herself into the room and gingerly taking her clothes off. It hurt to peel her bandages off of herself but she finally managed to do so. Then she got inside the shower and turned on the water. She left on a temperature that was colder than last time, her injuries stinging at first but gradually thanking her for doing so by becoming more and more numb.

Decoda laughed as he dropped his shoe-covered feet to the floor and began to stand up.  His voice was still a bit hoarse from the night before.

"Don't worry, Loka.  We can all get up and get going just fine.  You woke up late, too~" he added with a grin.  He began to head out, having a feeling that Genesis and Ralts might have gotten up and was already waiting for them in the lobby of the Center.  

He turned around before heading down himself to ask, "I'm off to grab breakfast for the road!  I'll get lots of everything for you guys!"  Chimecho and Mudkip seemed anxious to go get it, bouncing around the hallway.  Then, Decoda picked up Catia's request for bandages.

"Catia, I could grab them for you!" he called from his point in the hall, but not peering in the room so she could finish up with her getting ready.  "Bandages and medicines comin' right up!"  He then headed down the steps and into the main lobby.

Loka turned around and left their room, shutting the door behind her. She went back into the girls room and sat on the bed where Fox and a bottle were waiting. Loka picked up the pokemon with one hand and examined it.

"Way scrawnier than Voodoo..." she muttered, grabbing the bottle and beginning to feed the pokemon. 

When she was done, she sat the tiny vixen on the bed and stood up, brushing herself off and straightening out her outfit.


"Fox is on the bed, and I'm leaving Blitz to keep an eye on her until you're out! I'm heading down now." Loka called out to Catia before leaving.

Catia heard Loka's call and smiled lightly before calling back to her. "Okay thank you for doing that for me!" She told her before continuing with her shower. When it came time to use the soap and shampoo she flinched before starting to use on her body and hair. It stung like hell but it washed off just as quickly as it went on so it wasn't too bad fortunately. After finishing up her shower and turning the water off, she carefully dried herself off and wrapped her towel around herself. She came out of the room and smiled at Fox sitting on the bed, pawing at Blitz's face cutely and mewing with her tail wagging. She giggled as the little fire fox leaped onto Blitz's muzzle and bopped him on the nose playfully before she gingerly picked her up by her scruff and sat her back down on the bed. She was getting so much more energetic these past few days! She sits down on the side of the bed and puts her hand up to her nose to sniff before Fox mewed her approval of it. She smiled and nuzzled her. "I smell much better now don't I? Now be a good girl while I go change okay?" She told her before carefully putting the strap of her bag around her wrist so that she wouldn't drop it accidentally. Reaching into her bag for her bandages, she found that she only had enough for her ankles and not her hands so she sighed and wrapped them up. After putting her clothes on, she carefully slides her jacket on and slings her bag over her shoulder before putting her gloves into her back pocket. Smiling in the mirror at how normal she looked despite her injuries, she came out and bent down next to Fox. "Hop on my head okay? I can't really pick you up at the moment." She told her, Fox mewing in understanding before scrambling onto her head and holding on. Catia turns and smiles at Blitz. "Thank you for watching her. I know she can be a bit of a handful sometimes." She told him, stroking the top of his head lightly before opening the door and stepping aside so that he could get out of the room. "Let's go meet up with the others!" She told him.

Decoda and his two trailing Pokemon had left for the nearest store in town.  When they arrived, he spent some time looking at all the different things he could get, and finding out that he had much more money than he thought he had left, he bought a large bag of both human and Pokemon food for the road.  He also picked up some healing supplies: a few Full Heals, bandages, medicinal tape and a new pair of gloves for himself, all costing him about a thousand Pokedollars.

"I think we scored pretty big on that trip, eh?" he asked Mudkip and Chimecho on their way out, lifting the bag in gesture as if it was nothing.

"I think you like shopping, Decoda," Chimecho spoke to him with a happy tone.

"You might be right.  But mostly for food and medical stuff.  I'm not too keen on clothes or anything else... Unless I desperately need it!"

"Like if you need new strings for your special musical instrument," Chimecho compared lightly, wrapping herself around the top part of the guitar case.

"Mud!" the mudfish scolded from below, almost as if it were saying, 'Don't jinx him!'

"Well, she is right!  That's one thing I'd get instantly!" he confirmed with a shrug, appreciating Mudkip's attempt to help him out.

They returned to the Pokemon Center and sat down in the lobby.  Decoda began fishing around for some powdered doughnuts he picked out for himself and tossed Chimecho and Mudkip their specially chosen treats.  He put the medicinal supplies into his guitar case for now, but kept the bandages out to give to Catia once she came down.

Loka was downstairs with everyone else when Catia and Blitz came down to meet them. The dark trainer had two mugs of coffee in her hand, one of which was placed on the floor for her houndoom. She pulled out her holo-map and opened in in share mode, making a map of the entire region appear in front of everyone.

"Alright, I was thinkin' that we head to Vermillion City. If we're gonna be fightin' these renegade teams, they're bound to have weapons. So why don' we get a couple of our own?" she pointed to Vermillion City, which was right below their current location. "I got a family friend down there who in in the weapons an' arms business. He should be able to help."

Loka flipped off her map and picked up the now empty coffee mug from the floor. 

"What do y'all think?"

Catia limps over to the table and sits down rather roughly before sighing in relief and taking the bandages that Decoda had left out. After bandaging up her hands (you all see how raw and fleshy they are beforehand) she smiles and puts the bandages away, smiling at Decoda. "Sorry I didn't mean to be so rude about that. Thank you for getting those for me. I was only able to bandage my ankles when I got out of the shower." She explains, taking Fox off of her head and finally cuddling her in her lap. The Firefox Pokemon responds by mewing and gently playing with her fingers, making Catia giggle.

Upon hearing Loka's idea, she takes a second to think before finally nodding in agreement with her. "That sounds okay with me. I'm not going to use any guns just so you know. I'd rather have my own fists to be honest." She tells her, watching Fox play with her fingers and smiling at her as she did.

Decoda smiled at the girl, finally being able to see how exhausted and injured she was in the light of day.  She did what she could to clean up, but it was all still there in her face.  He placed the bag on the table she sat at so she could pick something out for herself and each of her Pokemon breakfast from its contents.

"It's okay.  Yesterday was really crazy with everything going on.  I just wanted to formally get to apologize for being a jerk.  I honestly can't remember why I was so mad!  So take what you want from this - I got all kinds for us and our Pokemon!" he offered with an even bigger smile.  He knew she went through a lot, so he wanted to start today with a more relaxing tone.

Upon Loka withdrawing her map and suggesting the move to Vermillion - a place he had visited before a couple times - he nodded in approval.  But when she brought up the weapons, his face twisted into unease and unsureness.

"We'll need weapons?  But our Pokemon..." he scanned all the Pokemon in the room.  Nearly all of them were at their base forms, and low leveled despite any previous adventures with them.  They'd be destroyed if they tried to take on even one of these horrid teams.  While Decoda, Loka and Catia were certainly well toned with physical power, he wasn't sure about Genesis or Cerise's skills.  Regardless, his evaluation on the little rag-tag team rendered them useless against anyone but other Pokemon Trainers.  With weapons, they might actually have a fighting chance.  He sighed with great reluctance, and shoved his hands in his pockets.

"Fine.  I see your point.  Close combat's my specialty, really.  I used to use my guitar in its case for a weapon when I didn't have any Pokemon to protect me on my travels.  Plus, I've never used a gun before, so giving me one of those is a big mistake," he stated bluntly, watching his Chimecho and Mudkip finish off their food.

Catia smiled briefly before letting Poochy and Fang out of their pokeballs to get something to eat, both Pokemon diving into the food sand eating a couple of items each. "More went on last night than any of you will ever know.....but thank you." She said, going over to him and pecking his cheek lightly before playfully shoving his shoulder. "Don't let that go to your head! I only did it to say thank you!" She reminded him, going to get something for herself.

Blushing brightly once herself and her lips bounced off of his cheek, Decoda shivered a little and clasped a hand to the spot.  It was a very nice thank you and even though a hug or something would have sufficed just fine, people had different ways of showing thanks to one another.  He was just glad they were still friends.  He took it at face value as his hand left his cheek.

"Don't worry, I won't," he said with a chuckle, then turned back to his Pokemon who were very satisfied with what they ate.  "You two will like Vermillion.  Mudkip, there's an easy port to the ocean and a beach you could play on!  Chimecho, I'm sure you'd love the sun and all the different treats you could stuff your face with, like ice cream!"

The white and red Pokemon hummed with joy as it spun around Mudkip, whose eyes were sparkling.

At this point, Cerise and Chespin enter the dining area with assorted bags and items, pausing for a moment by the door before seeing where the rest of the group had gathered. The two hurriedly job over, not wanting to be a hold-up at all to the others. The trainer sheepishly grins at the other members of the company. "Sorry about being late! I hope I didn't miss anything?"

Placing his bad and egg carrier by a nearby chair, he takes a seat at the table, letting out an inhaled breath as he rubbed his tired eyes.

Loka simply rolled her eyes at the exchange between Decoda and Catia. She then turned to Cerise and nodded. 

"Ya didn't miss too much. We're gonna be headin' to Vermillion next. Gettin' y'all some weapons would be ideal. And, well, licenses to carry 'em would be needed too. That'll come when we get there~"

She stretched her arms above her head then out to the side then cracked her neck. Her other two pokemon let themselves out and ran out the door to wait. Loka headed out as well. 

"Shall we?~" 

((You guys each get one more post before I time skip to being in Vermillion.))

"I... see..." Cerise says, a look of worry crossing his face. The plan wasn't one Cerise was comfortable with... but maybe it was necessary? He looks down as Loka heads out, gaze planted firmly on the tiles on the ground. Even now, he could feel his palms grow sweaty from unease as the enormity of the situation became more clear to him. He squeezes his eyes shut, feeling a bit overwhelmed at the thought. With a soft exhale of breath, he stands up, throwing on his backpack and grabbing the egg carrier. His legs feeling like jelly, he reluctantly heads out as well, Chespin waddling alongside him.

Genesis looked at his new friends after hearing the plan. What had he gotten himself into? Well it didnt matter, he was happy to be with some people and would help them with whatever weird problem they had.

"I am ready when you guys are" He proclaimed ready to take off.

(Sorry for lack of post from me, I haven't been feeling well lately.

Catia gets up slowly from where she's sitting and eating before returning Fang and Poochy to their respective pokeballs. After doing that she turns to Loka and nods, smiling. "Let's get going. The less time we waste the better I think." She said, in the back of her mind knowing that once she had better fighting gloves she would be able to better defend herself....and the others.

Genesis looked to Catia, feeling a sense of sadness in the girl. Something had happened and she felt hurt, but what could have happened to her to make her feel this way?

"Excuse me, Catia. Is something wrong? I might be able to help." He asked honestly worrying for one of his new friends well being.

((I hope you feel better Gen!!  This IS that time of year...))
((Also, everyone, I'd like you all to take the genuine Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Personality Quiz (this one is a breakdown because finding an accurate quiz online is hard to do, so just go off of that) as your character that you play as in this story!  Please post your results in an OOC post like this!  Thank you!!))

Decoda elastically lifted himself up from his seat and grabbed the bag from the table.  He situated his guitar case, jacket and fixed the hair under his hat before following the others out the door accompanied by his Pokemon.  He hurried up to Cerise and Chespin, looking over at them and smiled to try to make light of the rapid decision to head over to the seafaring city.

"Hey, it's cool," he said with a wink.  "To be honest, I don't think any of us expected to get weaponry or whatever, but I'm sure Loka's just trying to be extra secure about our skills," he muttered to Cerise, leaning in so she wouldn't hear them.

He then pulled back away from him to not look so suspicious.  "Not that they're bad, or anything, but you get it, right?" he finished at normal tone.  Decoda secretly hoped Loka knew what she was doing...

Catia turned and blinked at the boy in surprise. Who was he again? "Um....Who are you again? I don't think I got your name." She asked him. She'd never had the chance to meet this new person in their little growing group considering recent events. Better late than never!

"R-right..." Cerise nods stiffly, trying to reassure himself with Decoda's words. He grips his egg carrier a little more tightly as he keeps his gaze ahead, throat feeling dry. Everyone seemed to have taken the plan in stride, but as for Cerise...?

It was going to be a long trip to Vermilion.

Genesis gives a big cocky grin as he points to himself.

"The names Genesis. Glad to meet ya."

He quickly changed back to his concerned self.

"Now I hope I'm not prying too much but it feels like something is bugging you, as if you lost someone."