(Reboot) Pokemon: Beyond the Tall Grass

Even after all that happened, Cerise and Catia were right.  They were all in this together, now.  There was no going back to Pewter City to be with his Dad and Brock.  He couldn't possibly drop everything for his music career and let Professor Green down, either.  His Pokemon would be just as upset with him if he did that.  That would be on par with betrayal.

The red head finally pulled himself together and followed Cerise down.  He had a lot of good things and bad things going on right now, but in the back of his mind, he knew it could have been worse.  They could have lost Yuno, Marley could have been killed and never had the chance to call him, they could have never heard from Loka again... but the with the baby Pokemon hatching, having this chance of hope call in, Catia making it out of the fire with just her hurt arm and a plethora of other positives...

They could make it.  They had to.

As Decoda and Cerise left the tower and headed for the Center, Espeon came out to greet them. Bansheeon had come as well. The psychic type looked the two over and nodded.

"Wes would like to see the two of you." She stated calmly. "It seems to be in regards of the mission that is going to begin."

"Follow us! Follow!" Bansheeon glided in circles around the two trainers. "Emergency!"


Espeon chuckled at the ghost's antics before broadcasting only to Cerise.

"I have a personal request for you, Cerise. I would like you to try and find out as much as you can about the Bansheeon species."

Espeon's familiar voice interrupted Decoda's albeit broken thinking, but he was relieved for it.  Bansheeon was equally amusing to watch and refreshing to hear, hoping that it wasn't foreshadowing something terrible.

"Sure.  I have to say, I'm curious as to what's going through that guy's head at this time..." Decoda replied, ready to follow the Pokemon to their trainer's location.  "Where did he go off to?"

Espeon led Decoda into the Pokemon Center and up the stairs to Wes's room. Using her psychic power, she opened the door. Bansheeon just sorta phased through the wall.

"Master, we've returned." Espeon spoke.

Wes sat on the bed, his capture machine sitting in front of him. He looked up as he worked on the circuitry with a screwdriver, parts strewn all across the room. It seemed like he gutted the machine and was replacing everything inside it.

"It's still fried from when we handled Zapdos, so I'm replacing the board and rewiring the entire thing." he started, waving the screwdriver at all the parts. "I wanted to speak with you about what's going to happen. It's going to most likely be a raid, and I'm going to need your help devising a plan as well as helping me creating the teams for this mission." he went back to messing with his device.

Cerise blinked at surprise as Espeon requested him to find out more about Bansheeon, not quite expecting such a request from the Eeveelution. Was Espeon possibly concerned about Umbeon's young reincarnation? Nodding in acceptance of the request, his eyes drifted over to the ghost Eeveelution nearby, who had gleefully spun around Cerise and Decoda a few moments earlier. As Decoda followed Espeon and Bansheeon into the Center to Wes, Cerise hung back a moment, his brow furrowed.

With a sharp inhale, he found himself walking away from the Center, making his way to the back a nearby building, his hands trembling slightly. He closed his eyes for a moment before he exhaled deeply, his hands now gripping the Pokeballs by his waist. Repetitively, he released Goomy, Pawniard, and Chespin from their respective Pokeballs and crouched down a bit to be at their face level. As they stared at him inquisitively, Cerise gave them a faint smile as he sat on his knees.

"Hey, everyone... Some things have happened in the past hours, and..." He exhaled, his voice shaky. "We'll be in a pretty rough spot pretty soon, and I just... I just need you all to be there for each other even if I'm not around, alright?" After he spoke, the three small Pokemon nodded in unison, hands outstretched (or in Goomy's case, an antennae) in the middle of the group, a signal of solidarity between the team. Cerise blinked away the tears that had begun to form around his eyes, placing his own hand in the middle as well.

"I feel so blessed to know all of you. But, I'll need your help for something else, now..." Cerise slowly stood, his hand now holding Honedge's Pokeball. He gazed at it intently for what felt like forever before he finally pressed the release button.

It was time to tame the beast.

The room was flooded with the release light for a brief moment as the Honedge took form. It was still covered in mud and dirt, and seemed to still be a little injured. It shook slightly, seemingly scared as it looked about its surrounding.s. The Honedge recognized Cerise as well as the other pokemon, and it moved itself into a corner of the room. It became tangible, but not invisible.

Cerise took a shaky breath before raising both arms, as if to signal that he wasn't going to put Honedge in any danger. The young trainer took a few steps back, letting the ghost-type examine its surroundings and grow accustomed to it. After he had stepped back several paces, Cerise knelt on a knee and reached into his pack to recover a berry, keeping an eye on Honedge. He rolled the berry towards Honedge, trying to get it more comfortable with him.

His Pokemon watched nearby, just as guarded against a possible attack as Cerise himself was.

The Honedge flinched as the berry rolled it's way, stopping a few inches away. It's eye was wide as it's scarf slowly touched the berry, then picked it up. It seemed to examine it quite closely before the scarf crushed the berry. When the appendage opened up once more, the berry was gone; eaten. However, it refused to move from it's location.

Decoda blindly and easily followed Espeon and Bansheeon to find Wes at the Pokemon Center.  They found him tinkering with his device and prophesying about what was going to happen.  A raid, of course!  Marley and Loka were captured, so the next most logical reason was to counter that raid and rescue them, but to counter that raid, they needed a plan.

"I'm willing to help you with every step of the way," Decoda said sternly, his fist curled and brought it up to his chest.  He looked at Wes dead in the eyes for the first time since he had met him.  He looked distraught behind his cold stare.

Decoda started scanning the room, thinking about the shredded team.  He hated the idea that he couldn't just go alone, but he had a team for a reason: to rely on them as they could him.  He flipped back to Wes, his matted hair sloppily scattered around his neck and face.

"Why not treat this like a Pokemon battle?  We'll choose who should front the battle, have a tank on standby and swap out the frontliner for speed and tricks along the way.  I'll use my music to support and act as a wall of defense," he suggested, his blue eyes dialating as he spoke.

Wes nodded, not looking up from his machine. So far, that was a decent idea.

"So we figure out who the tankiest of the party are, then the ones who are more... sneaky will be used for scouting if anything. Those with ranged abilities, will be towards the middle of the group, while anyone who would be close combat would be in the back in case of us getting flanked." He paused for a few minutes as he looked around. Espeon handed him a part and he continued working. "In my opinion, the stealth group would consist of Yuno, Bansheeon, Pawniard, and if Cerise is successful in at least gaining its trust; Honedge. What do you think?"

"It makes sense, though we have very little idea of what training Yuno actually underwent.  Her size and stature, however, definitely puts her at a stealthy advantage.  Bansheeon is a ghost... type..." he stammered, still finding it upsetting and awkward that this Pokemon was likely at one point, Umbreon.  He also felt a bit reluctant to allow Honedge to be near Yuno again, in case of it recognizing her scent or something and going after her body.  Decoda cleared his throat to finish, applying this distaste for that particular Pokemon.  "Same goes for that damn sword and little Pawniard."

"Chimecho is a special attacker, like me.  Mudkip has good defenses, and with his range with Water Gun and Muddy Water now, even though he'd just started to use the move, put us in the middle.  Chespin and Goomy have some physical moves, I think..." he elaborated, pulling out his Pokedex and flipping through the entries to find each of the creatures he was talking about.  Looking at some base stats, he was able to confirm his recollection.  "They'd be good tanks for the front.  Catia's crew might be able to join them, save for Fox.  She's also got her own powers thanks to Entei.  She might be able to inflict burns with enough power in that punch."

As he put his 'Dex away, he looked back down at his wrists and remembered they had someone even more special than a blessed human.  An actual avatar.

"Rotom!  I'm summoning you for a good reason this time!  We really need you, and I promise, after this I won't ask you for any more stupid things again!" he told the broken gear, hoping the Avatar was listening.  Looking back on all that happened, Rotom was heavily underutilized as a companion - they barely needed his help because they were too busy wallowing in their own human pities and being distracted.  Now, in a time of crisis, Decoda felt like he should apologize for not respecting his power.  Maybe Zapdos was right in that sense.

Rotom's face appeared on the broken screen, flashing as he zapped himself out of the pokegear and onto the floor. He looked up at Decoda, and gave his a bright grin.

"Sir Decoda~ How can I be of assistance for you?" He spoke in his techno-esque voice. "And you have never asked me for anything stupid, at least, no to my almost infinite knowledge..."

Wes raised an eyebrow at the Avatar, moving his machine away from the electric being. 

"So this is Rotom? He seems...." He waved the screwdriver around, trying to find the right words without meaning disrespect. "....Young?" He really wanted to say something along the lines of 'childish', as Rotom was rocking back and forth slightly due to being naturally hyperactive. 

The Avatar naturally had a kiddish grin, and he stretched loudly as he finally stood up... only to immediately float upside down.

(Sorry for the delay on my part. As a side note, Cerise didn't follow the others to the Center. He'll be meeting back up with everyone else soon.)

"That's a promising start..." Cerise muttered as he watched the Honedge accept the berry after a moment's hesitation. Slowly standing up from the knee he knelt on, Cerise motioned for his team to step back, allowing Honedge more space to adjust itself. As he stepped back, the young trainer lowered his hands as a means to show no hostility towards the sword Pokemon. Now several paces away, Cerise began to speak.

"...Honedge. Are you willing to speak to me?"

Honedge watched every movement that came from Cerise and his pokemon very carefully, tensing up in case it was attacked. However, it saw this trainer tell his pokemon to stand down...?

 Now this was confusing... What made matters stranger for this blade, was the human wanted to speak to it?

The honedge looked at it's scarf-like hand then up at Cerise, unsure. The last time it tried to communicate with humans, it didn't end too well...

(OOC: Sorry about the lack of posting on my part! I didn't know that I could've replied at any time haha~)

Catia and Yuno come back from their shopping spree at the mart, chatting about their experiences so far. Catia was wearing a skirt and leggings with a pink and white scarf wrapped around her neck, a frilly brown shirt missing the shoulder pieces to the top worn on her torso. She looked genuinely nervous wearing a skirt so openly like she was but thanks to the leggings that Yuno had given her she was feeling a little better. As they walked up the stairs towards their rooms, Catia's new handbag-styled bag slung around her shoulder with a few new keychains hung on one of the zippers (if someone looked they were a joltik, vulpix, poochyena and a rattata keychain set!), she heard Wes and Decoda chatting in his room. She slowed her pace down to listen in a little bit, curious about what they could be talking about. She looked to Yuno and tilted her head.

"Think we should see what they've been up to?"

She asks the white-haired girl, her ponytail dangling behind her head and moving with her head.

Yuno looked over at Catia and shrugged. It wasn't really her business what they were all talking about, but if Catia wanted to see, then she guessed she could tag along.

"I guess we could... Just don't be rude and knock first."

Yuno ran a hand through her white hair and sighed inwardly. So much was happening so quickly... Maybe the guys did have some sort of idea on what was actually going on? It didn't hurt to ask, however, she wasn't so sure about the answers she would receive...

Catia smiled and gently took Yuno's hand before going to knock on the door to the boys' room.

"Decoda? Wes? Can Yuno and I come in?"

She asks them through the door, a gentle smile on her face.

"I understand that you don't entirely trust me right now, and I suppose you have every right to think that way after what just happened in the Tower. But if you'd let me... I'd really like to help you, Honedge. Genuinely. Can you give me that chance?" Cerise asked, his eyes locked onto Honedge's. He stopped talking for a moment, looking over the Honedge -- who was still covered in mud and dirt. "At the very least, can you let me clean you up? Or fix up your wounds?"

He was hesitant to move closer to Honedge, not wanting the Pokemon to feel like its space was under attack.

The honedge swiped it's scarf across it's front, looking at the drying mud now on it's scarf. It was getting a bit harder to move, and this human was seemingly genuine in his feelings... So it decided to take the risk, holding it's scarf hand out to Cerise. 

If Cerise were to take it's hand it would share images with him of the honedge battling pokemon in the tower, in hopes of finding a way to escape. He could feel the rush of excitement the pokemon felt when it almost succeeded in using Yuno as a medium to leave.

Cerise could then see images of a male figure, wielding a sword and shield. By the shape of the weaponry, he could tell that he was wielding an Ageislash. The young breeder also gets a sense of familiarity from this scene before the honedge lets go, as it started to slowly drain Cerise of energy.



From the other side of the door, Wes's voice could be heard.

"It does't bother me. Up to Decoda."

"Urk!!" Cerise staggered backwards from Honedge, surprised at the different images that had flashed across his mind. There was definitely a story of some kind there -- although, Cerise wasn't sure what significance they held. Rubbing his head, he lowered himself to a knee as he tried to catch his breath, the effects of Honedge sapping him of energy now taking its toll. The sound of scampering footsteps barely registered to Cerise as his trio of Pokemon hurriedly rushed to his side.

"I-I'm fine, guys..." Cerise murmured as he looked over to Honedge. "I... Thank you for showing me what you did. I'm not entirely sure what all that was, but... I did understand you wanted to get out of that tower. Can't say I blame you."

At this point, Cerise slowly stood up, reaching for the Pokeball that Decoda had used to capture Honedge. He paused for a moment before deciding to play up what he learned about Honedge's motivations. "I have a proposal for you. How would you like to come along with me and the others? You'd get the chance to see places far from here -- maybe even other regions! I mean, you're a pretty strong Pokemon Honedge, and I'd be honored to help you reach your full potential, if you'd let me. I get the feeling we could learn a lot from each other, Honedge."

Cerise cracked a smile. "Your choice, of course. What do you say?"

The sword scratched of some dried mud as it seemingly mulled over Cerise's proposal. It then shook off some dust and held it's scarf out once more, its gem-eye blinking once. Should Cerise take it this time, it would be a simple handshake as the pokemon agreed.

"...Free?"

"...Free." Cerise said with a nod as he took the Honedge's scarf in a handshake, not quite as phased by the telepathic voice of the Pokemon as he would have been in the past -- perhaps a result of being around Espeon had helped him adjust. There was still a long journey ahead to make sure Honedge wouldn't be dangerous, but there was just something about those images Cerise had seen moments before... Not quite nostalgia and not quite deja vu, but the trainer had a strong feeling he could trust this Pokemon. After all, how else would he be able to befriend Honedge, if not by trust?

"He's... special.  Cerise found him back at the Game Corner, but somehow he found his way into my guitar and I met him while I was rehearsing with one of the captives, Marley.  He's been traveling with us ever since, and I've so far just treated him like a secretary, calling this and that for me... It's not fair," Decoda said, approaching the jittery Avatar.  "Right now I want to make sure we can use his power to find out where our friends are, so Rotom, can you please trace the call from Marley on my Pokegear?  It's really important - she and Loka, and maybe many others might be at risk."

It was then that Catia's voice carried through the door, and Wes was the first to respond.  Decoda nodded and spoke up clearly, putting his hands on his hips, "Yeah, come on in!  We're doing some serious planning in here, so your feedback would be appreciated!"

Maximum cooperation was necessary for this whole operation to work.  Everyone had to stay level headed - no more freaking out from here on out, including himself!

Rotom looked at Decoda and nodded, taking the Pokegear off of Decoda's wrist. The avatar placed a finger on the screen and his eyes flashed.

"Tracking signal. Please wait."

Seconds then passed in silence as Rotom took his finger away from the gear and handed it back to Decoda. A kiddish grin was once more upon his face.

"I have tracked the signal to the Music Hall in Fuchsia City, Sir Decoda. I will keep a lookout for the signatures of those two humans from the bard incident as well." Rotom confirmed.

Catia glanced back at Yuno and took her hand as the two of them walked in on the last of Rotom's words. She closed the door behind them and let Poochy and Fox out to let them run around as she sat down on the bed, patting the spot next to her for Yuno to sit down. If Decoda and Wes were to look, Yuno and Catia were both wearing rings with similar gems set into the center (among the strangely girly set of clothing that Catia was wearing!) as Fox hopped up into Catia's lap with a mew for attention, making her giggle and begin to pet the little firefox. Poochy hopped up onto the bed and sat on the other side of Catia, sitting as if he were standing watch over the entire room like a sentry.

Catia looked over at Wes and Decoda. "So....what would you guys like our input with?" She asked them, Fox settling into her lap as she continued to use her good hand to stroke her fur.