(Reboot) Pokemon: Beyond the Tall Grass

"I've gotta agree with you, man.  That gear was the last thing she checked before she started retching..." he said, his hand wrapped around his chin in thought.  "But it could have been retelling what happened to her, or hearing about everyone's stories, too...  I wish I could ask, but I don't want to make her feel even worse."

Once they returned to the site, Mudkip and Chimecho hurried over to their trainer with worried looks in their eyes.

"What happened, Decoda?  Is the other trainer okay?" the psychic type asked cautiously.  She had asked this shortly after Catia did her question, emphasizing the desire for an immediate answer.  As the red head bent down to pick up the towels and things off the sand with Mudkip's help, he answered.

"Thanks, Catia.  But Loka's not doing too well, you guys.  Something really messed up her head tonight, and she felt sick from it.  Like a nervous kind of sick, but much worse.  She wouldn't say too much about it," he sighed, picking up his little blue mudfish and the towels.  "We should probably get out of the city in the morning, just so we can forget about tonight.  Do you know what happened, Catia?"

He wasn't expecting an answer, but he was genuinely curious if she did know anything more than they did.  Even in sickness, Loka was extremely mysterious.

Catia: *she stops for a second before nodding slowly* I sent her a message before she ran off. Nothing serious but it's possible that I triggered something without realizing it. *she told Decoda, walking around and helping them pick up camp as much as she could*

"Maybe... at least for now, we should leave the issue alone and not get into it too much. Just give Loka some space to sort this out but also let her know that she isn't alone in this." Cerise replied as the two returned to the camp. "She's definitely going through something right now, but I don't think she's comfortable with us knowing about it. She almost seemed ...scared to me."

Seeing that their trainer had returned, Chespin, Goomy, and Pawniard all ran over, with emotions all being that of concern. Cerise knelt down to reassure them all before returning Chespin and Goomy to their respective Pokeballs. He rummages around in his bag for a moment before pulling out a third spare Pokeball, to which Pawniard claimed as its own as it was transformed into red energy and sucked into the sphere. Minimizing the Pokeballs to put onto his belt, Cerise stood up to grab the remainder of the things that had been left.

Cerise wanted to ask what Catia had sent... but it was apparent that Loka didn't want the rest of the party to know about this particular secret about herself. It would be best not to incite more emotional turmoil within the group.

Decoda vocalized his final exhasperated sigh.  He was a bit surprised that Catia could send something that would send Loka spiralling into madness, but didn't want to press for any of that.  Cerise was right.  They should just drop it.

"Okay," he said as they finished picking things up.  He then put his hand on Catia's shoulder.  "Thank you for being honest.  Will you be alright to share a room with her tonight or do you want to check out another room?"

He asked this because he knew Loka would either give her the silent treatment, start a fight or breakdown again.  He was tired of all these nights with broken or no sleep.  He took his hand off of her and adjusted the towels to hang over his shoulder.

Catia smiled when Decoda put his hand on her shoulder and asked her if she'd wanted another room apart from Loka's for the night. She had already wanted to ask if it was alright that she took a different room than her for the night. The girl might throw a fit if she bunked with her tonight so it would be best that she'd gotten a different room tonight anyway.

"I think Loka's had enough of me for the night. I'll just sleep in a different room for now and if she wants to say anything to me then I'll let her come to me. I don't want to cause anymore trouble than I already have."

She told him, smiling as she helped the group finish cleaning up the camp.

Finally done cleaning up the site, Cerise began to walk back to the Pokemon Center, fighting back his yawns of exhaustion. For now, they'd rest. Hopefully, they could get an early start tomorrow? Speaking of which... Cerise pulled out his PokeGear, setting an alarm for himself so he'd get up earlier. It generally seemed as though he was one of the last ones in the group to get ready, so he didn't want to prevent the group from getting more travelling done.

With the alarm set, he put away the device and opened the doors to the Pokemon Center, finding his way to the room and collapsing on one of the beds. Hitting the pillows face-first, Cerise closed his eyes. Hopefully, tomorrow would be better.

Then eryone goes to teh pokemanz Centar and does the sleep thing. NEXT MORNING GO. 

((Wake up whenever, decide where you're gonna go. Loka's still asleep, as is Rotom. But he's in the broken pokegear, Zzzz going across the screen. Everyone seems to be well rested for once as well.))

It was approximately 7 am when Cerise woke up.

Groggy, he slapped his PokeGear, fumbling around to turn it off to make the aggravating noise stop. It was now that he regretted setting that alarm. Rubbing his eyes, he sat up in the bed, staring outside at the rising sun. The sky was filled with various hues of pink and orange and Cerise smiled, feeling rejuvenated. No matter what happened, Cerise was determined to make today better than the day before!

Slipping out of bed, Cerise made his way downstairs to get some food, only slightly surprised to see that the cafeteria had a few other trainers eating as well. Of course, he didn't recognize any of them, but they each seemed pretty experienced! Cerise grabbed something light, just a few muffins and a granola bar or two before heading back to the room. On his way there, he passed by Loka's room and he paused to stare. If there was any reason to make today a good day, then it was for Loka's sake. Nodding, he kept walking to his room, slowly opening the room so as to not disturb Decoda. Placing a muffin on a small table by Decoda, Cerise sat back onto his bed, putting down the granola bars to nibble on his own muffin.

"Raisins..." He muttered to himself as he stared at the sunrise, eyes blinking slowly before he pulled out his Pokedex to examine Pawniard's entry and various capabilities. He wasn't planning to use the newborn in any battles any time soon, but surely it could have some non-combat utility?

Catia was awakened by Poochy licking her cheek. As she groaned from being woken up, she felt two weights on her stomach and blinked her eyes as they adjusted. She eventually figured out that it was Fang and Fox sleeping on her chest. Rolling her eyes she picked up the heaviest one, being Fang, and set him aside before sitting up. Upon waking up, Fox quickly mewed and pawed at Catia's face to let her know that she was hungry. With a happy giggle, she quickly obliges the mewling little fox pokemon before getting up and out of bed.

She woke up in a great mood so as she went into the bathroom to take her shower, she actually started singing. What lyrics that came from her singing were actually just a string of words that she improved as she sang.

(("...does the sleep thing."  Yes.  I like doesing sleep thing erry night.  XD ))

Decoda was still sleeping by the time Cerise came back with the breakfast.  Laying flat on his face, head immersed into the plush pillow, he grumbled something incomprehensible before turning over in his bed.  With eyes half open, he smiled at Cerise's kind action, licking his lips when he found the muffin on the nightstand with his eyes.

"Hey, thanks for the muffin," he said to his friend, his voice gravely from lack of hydration.  He sighed heavily, finally being able to call last night's rest "good".  He stretched out his arms, but whacked them on the wall behind him and retracted them mid-yawn.  Instead of complaining after the first two "oww"s, he laughed at himself as he sat up.

"Nothing ever goes perfectly, does it?" he joked, snatching the muffin up after cracking his stinging knuckles.  His expression changed after biting into it, definitely tasting the raisins embedded into the pastry.  He decided he wasn't too fond of it, but consumed it nonetheless, not wanting to waste.  He then climbed out of bed, and went to put on his pants and jacket.  While he fixed his hair and donned his hat and pokegears, he asked his teammate, "See anything interesting going on downstairs, or same old Center business?"

Loka awoke to a paw on her face, and a snout pressed against her throat. She pushed her pokemon off of her, sitting up slowly.

"Get off, ya big lug." she said to Sparx, scratching behind his ear as the other pokemon woke up. Sai nosed her jaw and Blitz waited patiently for the other two large beasts. "A'ight, I'll go an' find somethin' for ya'll to munch on."

 She slowly got out of bed and hopped in the shower. She stared blankly at the tiled wall, feeling better then last night, but still feeling strained. She got out and got dressed again, now hiding most of her face behind her scarf instead of it  just being at chin height. (all that can really be seen now is part of her good eye because of her bangs) With that she heads down the hall, passing everyone's rooms, her trio of pokemon following her closer then usual, acting more as guards.

Catia finishes her shower and gets dressed in her newly cleaned clothes, having found a laundromat while they had been preparing her room last night so all of her clothes finally got cleaned as a result. Upon leaving her room, Fang happily in her arms this time, she spots Loka leaving her room and smiles at her before jogging a bit to catch up with her.

"Hey Loka!"

She greets the dark-haired trainer before catching up to her to walk up alongside her.

"How are you this morning?"

She asks her, a smile on her face despite her three pokemon being so close to her.

Loka simply looks at her before continuing on her way, Sparx growling at the cheery trainer to step back. 

"I don' wanna speak to you." was all she said, quickening her pace and heading down the stairs. She grabbed a couple of biscuits and fed them to her pokemon, but not eating anything herself. She didn't feel hungry, at least not right now. Loka sat down on a bench and pull out a device, much like Wes's P*DA and started flipping through what looked like different photos and documents as she waited for the rest of her team. Sai lay down at her feet while Blitz and sparx hopped up onto the bench next to her.

Catia's cheery smile faded when Loka acted coldly towards her but she only sighed. If and when decided that she would want to open up to her again then she would. Until that time came she would just have to wait Loka's anger out until she could be talked to.

Going downstairs to meet the others, she gets three biscuits, three saucers of moo moo milk and sits down at her own table next to the others. Letting Fox and Poochy out of their balls, the three Pokemon happy lap at their milk and Fang and Poochy eat their biscuits while Catia cuddles Fox. She smiles at the others to let them know that she was okay with sitting by herself for now before finishing up with Fox and Poochy. After returning them to their respective pokeballs, she sits and babies Fang a bit, the little rat Pokemon chittering happily at the attention.

"A Pokemon Center's a Pokemon Center," Cerise said with a slight hint of amusement as he looked over at Decoda. Throwing away the muffin's wrapper, Cerise set to work folding the bed sheets he'd slept in overnight-- he was always one to believe that you should leave a place the same way you'd found it. It only took a few minutes to finish, and after flattening everything out, he paused. There had been something that had been bothering him for a while and he'd wanted to bring it up... but was now the right time?

"Decoda, I actually have a question for you, if you have the time? I just... want to be sure of something." Cerise said as he turned around to face his friend. "I know when you first introduced me to Rotom, he said he stowed away in your guitar... but did you know that at all? Like... has Rotom always been in your guitar?"

Cerise trails off a bit. There was more, but he just wanted to confirm the foundation for his concern first.

Theres an incoming call on Cerise's pokegear; Zoe! She appears on the little screen and waves to him, Blades waving next to her as well.

"Hello Cerise!" She started, sounding quite cheery. "How've you been? How's the egg?"

"Shar!" Blades seemed to be interested in the second question as well. "Bish!"

((Back from mini hiatus - pardon the lack of response, lots of IRL conflict.))

Decoda stopped toying with his hair and face to sling the instrument in question over his shoulder.  He looked a little surprised, not expecting this question at all, but responded with a smile.

"I wish I did know back when he first decided it, 'cause he coulda been more helpful!  But in reality, I wasn't aware at all that he stowed away in the guitar.  He must have snuck in somehow at the Game Corner," he confirmed with ease.  He avoided mentioning that Rotom did the winning at Cerise's machine.

"For now we have him in here!" Decoda said confidently, tapping the broken Pokegear on his wrist.  "That's good enough for me - he might come in handy... Maybe, repair my guitar if it breaks~?"

He grinned slyly at the gear before averting his attention to the ringing gear on Cerise.  When Zoe piped up on the other line, he smiled.

"Hahaha!  She's gonna be so surprised!" the red head commented loudly enough for her to hear.  He decided it was a good time to wake up his Pokemon, grabbing their capsules and releasing both Mudkip and Chimecho.  The two of them looked happy to see their friend and pranced about before Decoda opened the door to go downstairs.

"I'll be in the lobby when you're done!" he called to Cerise and headed out, Pokemon first.

"Huh... I wonder if Chimecho knew Rotom? You also found her back at the Game Corner, right?" Cerise asked only a split second before his PokeGear went off! He glanced down, seeing that Zoe was calling! Even though they had left Saffron not that long ago, it felt as though it had been ages since he had talked to her. He accepted the call, seeing the video call connect so he saw her face. In the background, he could see Blades nearby.

"Hi, Zoe!! Everything's been great! We're in Viridian City right now, but I think we'll be moving on to the next town later today." Cerise began as he sat on his bed, smiling. A sudden rumbling from his belt caused Cerise to look down, and in a burst of red light, Pawniard materialized on his lap, looking up at the PokeGear screen with arms outstretched.

"Paw!! Pawnia!" It cried out as it saw Blades, waving its arms excitedly. Cerise leaned back a bit, trying to avoid the newborn's bladed hands. Even though it had been born recently, its steel-clad hands were as sharp as any knife. Cerise chuckled as Decoda made his way downstairs.

"So, yeah! That little egg hatched into this little guy last night when we were at the beach! He seems to be getting along with everyone else pretty well!" Cerise said with a smile. Feeling a stronger rumbling from his belt, he found himself joined by Chespin and Goomy, who both pushed themselves in front of the screen to say hi to Zoe and Blades. Cerise couldn't help but laugh as his three Pokemon competed for the spotlight of the screen.

Zoe grinned at the sight of the little Pawniard waving its arms excitedly. Blades took the pokegear and held it up, quite happy to see his son.

"Bish~"

"Okay Blades! You can see him the next time they come to Saffron!" Zoe said, leaping up to grab the pokegear. When she finally got it back, she looked at Cerise with a content smile. "His trainer never came back. Blades is now under our custody~" 

"Well, his trainer is missing out on a great Pokemon!!" Cerise said firmly, smiling at his friend as his Pokemon eventually lost interest and began to explore the rest of the room. "But that's great! Blades is lucky to have you!"

"It was all because of you." Zoe smiled as she placed a hand carefully on Blade's arm. "You helped us way more than you think, Cerise. So I've decided to send you a little 'thank you' myself! Sorrow should be there momentarily."

There was a loud series of tapping on the Inn window, but not hard enough to break the glass. A larger than usual Pidgeot was fluttering outside, a package in it's talons.

"Pidgggg!"

"Just as I calculated! Those supplies would help you out, should you come across any eggs, or injured pokemon on your journey!"


(It contains 10 potions, bandages, the basic status healing berries, a special heating blanket, and new padding for an egg carrier)

Decoda barely caught Cerise's question, but once he started the call, he didn't want to speak and interrupt.  Instead, he headed downstairs with the question in mind.  Once he was on the ground level, he looked to Chimecho, floating by his side with Mudkip in front.  He wondered if they did somehow know each other, she and Rotom.  It wasn't likely, since she was trapped in the back of that creepy hideout place while he ran the machines at the Corner, messing with people.  Still, maybe Rotom had a "presence" there as an avatar, that maybe lured poor Chimecho into the place to begin with, and she accidentally got trapped, knocked over glass and got it stuck in her body... or maybe something else happened?

There was so much to learn and so much to ask... Why not start with the avatar he had befriended and his own Pokemon?  He headed over to a seat and dropped down, patting the chairs to signal the mudfish and psychic type over to sit beside him.  When they hopped up and Chimecho wrapped herself around Decoda's forearm, he smiled.

"You guys have anything to share?  I feel like there's still a lot I don't understand about Pokemon.  That's pretty fair though, seeing as I've only ever raised one, heh," he said with levity.  "But I want to know from your points of view, too.  It'll help me be a better trainer, a better friend."

The two Pokemon looked at each other in slight confusion as he lifted up the arm with the broken Pokegear on it and spoke to it, "Hey Rotom, are you in there?  Want to come out for a chat?"

The broken pokegear buzzed and vibrated as he zapped himself out of it and into the seat across from Decoda. Several people near Rotom jumped as they got hit with a small wave of static electricity. He smiled apologetically at them, then turned to Decoda.

"Good Morning, Sir Decoda." He started, stretching out, then casually slouching in the chair. "What is it that you wish to do the chatting about?"

Rotom stared at Decoda unblinkingly. He was a being of electricity and plasmic energy. Blinking, sleeping, and eating weren't exactly a necessity for him. Many of the other avatars, however, needed to do these things.

Catia watched Decoda come downstairs and stopped babying Fang for a moment, her eyes lying onto Loka.  She felt bad for the dark-haired trainer.  After watching her for a moment, she put Fang back into his pokeball before getting up and walking over to her.  Just before she got within talking distance, she took a deep breath to calm herself and walked over to her table.  She should've gone to her before anyone else last night and she didn't.  She needed to endure whatever Loka was going to throw at her and fix this before it was too late.

"Loka....I need to talk to you.  I don't care if you don't want to.  What I have to say is going to come up eventually so like it or not you need to listen to me at least for a little while."

She tells her calmly, doing her best to keep any shakiness or disrespect out of the tone of her voice.  She glances at Sparx who had started growling at her before.  She stares at the pokemon defiantly, trying to show it that she wasn't going to be afraid of it if it started growling at her again.

"I don't care if you hurt me.  It can't be any worse then what I've endured in the past and what I'm going to endure in the future.  So if he's going to bite me, then let him.  I just want you to at least listen to what I have to say and if you still want to keep at a distance after that....then I'm okay with it."

She tells her, keeping her hands to the side to show that she truly meant what she said.  In the back of her mind however, she was bracing herself for one of Loka's pokemon to bite her or even Loka herself going up to hurt or burn her.  Pain wasn't something she was overly fond of but she wasn't afraid of it.  Her hands betrayed her defiant look a bit, shaking a bit despite how strong she wanted to look in front of Loka.

"I, uh... You really didn't have to!" Cerise stammered before looking up to see the Pidgeot outside of his window. Getting up from his bed, the egg hatcher unlocked the window to let the bird Pokemon in, seeing the package in it held. As the Pidgeot gave him the package, he stroked the majestic Pokemon's feather mane with a smile. Pulling out one of the granola bars he'd gotten earlier, he broke off a small piece to reward Pidgeot for its services. After offering the bird the granola chunk, he methodically pulled out his Pokedex to identify the bird.

"Pidgeot, the Bird Pokemon. Able to fly at Mach 2, this Pokemon's well-developed chest muscles make it strong enough to whip up a gusty windstorm with just a few flaps. Trainers are often captivated by its dazzling plumage of feathers on its head that it has become a popular Pokemon for trainers to use." Cerise looked through a bit more of Pidgeot's information as the Pokedex spoke in its robotic voice, briefly considering getting a Pidgeot of his own in the future. He could certainly see the appeal of this Pokemon.

"Are you really sure it's okay for me to have all of this?" Cerise asked as he looked through the package's contents, surprised by the larger-than-expected amount of items inside. Surely these things weren't cheap!! He looked at his PokeGear to see Zoe's face as he looked outside. Behind him, his trio of Pokemon began to paw through the package's contents. "I mean, I'm really glad that everything's worked out for you and Blades, I really am!! But I feel like I should do more to repay you somehow? Like... I'd feel weird just accepting all of this without helping you out more..."