(Reboot) Pokemon: Beyond the Tall Grass

"C-Can we not fight in my room, please?!" Marley said, standing between the two. "There's a lot of breakable things in here!"

"I followed you all because I felt like it. And your human friend will not feel 'crushed' ", Rotom spoke using air quotes. "If he did not find out. Do you not have a saying 'What humans don't know will not hurt them?' "

Rotom floated around the room, examining everything. He picked up a couple objects and looked then over closely, obviously fascinated.

"Oh. Right. You still had a question. I did not reveal myself then because the last thing that you humans needed to see is a living Casino machine. Is that a good enough reason?"

"You live in a daycare...?" Cerise pauses for a moment. "Wait, that's pretty similar to me!! I'm from Unova, and I volunteered at my family's day care for pretty much my whole life! Is working at the daycare something your folks do to?"

Zoe nodded, smiling widely.

"My folks run it, and I just help out. I'm just here to support my friend's band. The open mic doesn't start until 7 tonight, so If you want, I can show you around the daycare! I have a shift in a little bit, and I'm sure that my parents will appreciate the extra help!"

Decoda snorted, not at Marley's request, but at the taunting tone and gestures Rotom was clearly aiming for.  So far, he didn't like this guy.  Just what was he up to?  

"Wouldn't have been noticed with all that smoke and fire Entei was kickin' up!  But if you want to give me that for an answer, fine.  I'll take it for now.  You mind NOT camping out in my equipment for the rest of the night, though?  You can stick around if you want, preferably OUTside, but I can't let you mess anything up.  Pokemon or avatar, whatever you wanna call yourself, Rotom, someone actually needs my help right now."

He then turned to Marley but kept his eyes on Rotom, fingering all of her stuff.  "If this punk messes anything up, I'll take care of it.  Don't worry.  There will be a show tonight."

He quickly dug out his Pokegear and zipped through all the menus to pull up the messenger.  With little time to waste, he jammed his fingers on the letter keys and shut the system in the same minute, sending the sole message to each of his trainer friends:

'I found Rotom.'

"Hahaha, sure! It's been a while since I've been able to help on a daycare! I'd love to help you out!" Cerise says with a smile as he follows Zoe. He looked down at his PokeGear, seeing Decoda's message. Rotom...? Was Decoda catching another Pokemon? Cerise shrugs. He wasn't even sure where the musician was, and was pretty sure that no amount of directions could help him.

"By the way, Zoe... do you know what a 'Rotom' is?"

"Uhh... Look, Rotom? If you wanna hang here that's fine, but we're is a really bad crunch time. So if you could, just chill in... this!" She held up a pokegear with a cracked screen. It looked like it was an older model, compared to the one on her wrist. "I'm sure this will suffice, but we need to get to work."

"Hmmm.... Alright. I will comply to your wishes." Rotom said as he materialized himself into the broken pokegear which lit up. Rotom's face appeared on the screen. "This is indeed quite spacious."

"Okay," she turned back to Decoda. "Let's get to work."



"Rotom...?" Zoe wondered. "My folks may know something, but I don't. We could go and ask them!"



As Catia wandered around, she say the many vendors, selling their wares and the like.

The replacement guitarist smiled at Marley's great plan to keep the avatar occupied.  He was even more pleased when Rotom was with his new housing device; hopefully, this would be the last distraction they would deal with today!

"You got it," he responded to her, obediently.  He lifted his guitar up from the bed after tossing his switched-off microphone back into the case.  He placed the sheets of music on a stand nearby and started fingering the strings to make sure nothing was broken.  After a few careful strums and adjustments, things seemed like they were ready!

"Alright, conductor!  I'm all aboard!" he said with a grin.

Catia sees the vendors and decides to have a look around. Fox sniffs around in Catia's arms and tilts her head at a couple of vendors, mewing at them in curiosity.

"Alright, lead the way!" Cerise smiles. He hoped Decoda wasn't having too much trouble!!

"Just to let you know, I play bass. So I'll teach you what to play, and then I'll play my part. This way I'll be able to tell you if it sounds yay or nay. If yay, we move on adding more to that part. that way it gets committed to memory. If nay, we keep working until it's yay." She pauses, setting up her bass and amp. She smiled at Decoda, and played a couple notes. It sounded a lot more different then what Decoda's guitar would sound like, but if he watched mey fret placements and strumming, he would be fine.



Zoe lead Cerise through the crowd to the northern entrance of Saffron. As they walked through, they were met with a wide, dirt road that in the center was a set of stairs carved into a hill.

"Up there. The hill is really flat on the top, and really large. So it was perfect for the daycare!"

As they went up the stairs, Cerise could see a few of the pokemon sitting together in the large fenced in area. There was a tree that provided decent shade, as well as a small pond in there as well. It was a nice set-up.



One of the vendors was selling evolutionary stones, while others sold food, accessories, and other items. Fox pawed at the air towards the man selling the stones, mewing curiously.

"This is pretty quaint...!" Cerise says to himself as he observes the daycare, slightly smaller than his own, but just as humble in design and architecture. He continues following Zoe up the stairs leading to the daycare's entrance-way.

"Bass is amazing.  I've heard some wonderful solos coming from drums and bass before," he commented softly after she finished.  "Let's see if I can hold up to it."

He strummed and plucked away as he slid his second set of fingers up and down the neck of the instrument, once for the initial attempt, and a second time to make sure he had it right.  He paused in between the two, counting under his breath to help him remember beats and times.

"I usually do more than 2 tries, like maybe around 4 or 5 before I feel good about it, but I'm not sure how much time we actually have," he said to her after he finished his first round.  He didn't want to rush perfection, but he didn't want to be late, either.  Most importantly though, he hoped she liked what she heard.

Catia giggles as she watches Fox paw towards the man selling the stones and she can't help but oblige the little fire fox's curiosity. Walking over to the vendor, she looks at all of the stones, being careful not to let Fox out of her grasp just in case she decides to cause some trouble. Even if it would be on accident.

"Good good!" Marley exclaimed. "Let's keep going~" She played the first notes again, along with a bit more. 

The pokegear now floating around the room beeped loudly several times, making Marley jump slightly.

"Sorry," Rotom apologized. "It seems that I have found this device's alarm feature."

Marley simply laughed and played the riff again. 

"Now you go."






Zoe opened the front door and let Cerise inside. The first floor was like any other daycare; a sitting area, a PC, and the front desk with the back door leading to the yard. 

"Our house is up those stairs, but my parents should be out back."

She lifted part of the counter and went through, holding it up for Cerise to follow.





Fox reached out and tried to touch a stone, but they were too far out of her reach. So she shifted her position to be more comfortable and looked up at Catia, who was looking over the stones.

"Ah, it's good to see fresh faces in Saffron!" The man running the stand said cheerily. "How may I help you?"

As much as Decoda wasn't fond of Rotom or his behavior, he couldn't help but release a chuckle at the timing of the alarm.

"Heheh, smooth move, circuit-head," he said in a joking tone, not wanting to enrage the legendary but merely poke fun at its silliness.

He completed three versions of this part, wanting to make sure the new addition flowed smoothly into the last one.  It really wasn't so bad learning from someone else, especially when it actually meant more than just learning a new song.  He'd be singing and playing on stage with these people!  He had to be good - no, better than he was before!

Cerise continues to follow Zoe past the counter and to the back door. Even the inside of the daycare was similar to his uncle's own. For a moment, Cerise wondered if all daycares were required to be similar in layout? He shrugs to himself. That probably wasn't something he'd find too interesting, honestly.

Catia smiles and giggles as she watches Fox try to touch one of the stones on the table but realized that it was out of reach so just looks up at her. "It doesn't look like it's me you can help so much as it is Fox here. What's this stone she wants so much?" She asks, nodding towards the stone that clearly had Fox's attention,

Marley smiled, pleased with the progress she and Decoda were making. She went on, playing the first two parts again, then adding more to it. The two musicians went back and forth with this for a long while.

"You really do catch on quick!" She said. "You'll definitely be ready to perform tonight!"




"Oh Zoe, you're back! Sorry to send you out so soon, but Blades got out again. Could you go find him?" Zoe's father asked. 

"Yeah I can do that. Oh and this is Cerise! He's from the daycare in Unova! He could totally help me find him." Zoe turned to Cerise. "Blades is a Bisharp someone left here. He likes to get out and roam."



"Fire types are naturally attracted the stones of their typing. But it looks like she would be too young to evolve. It would be too much for her to handle." The man explained.

Catia nods and smiles at the man's information. It was certainly good knowledge to have! "I didn't know that Fox evolved with a stone. Thanks for the tip." She tells the man with a grin before waving goodbye and leaving. There really wasn't much of a point in buying Fox's evolutionary stone if she wasn't ready for it yet. Besides that, even if she did buy one just to save it, Fox might get into her bag and try to touch it herself. Better not to give the little fire fox the temptation.

After figuring out that she had plenty of time before the Open Mic night's due time, Catia decides to reserve rooms at the Pokecenter for everyone for the night so they wouldn't have to worry about it later. Walking inside the center, she goes up to the counter lady and smiles politely. "Could I get a couple of rooms for me and my friends? They're off exploring right now so I figured I'd be helpful." She asks her, Fox nestling into Catia's chest to close her eyes and rest.

Nodding along with Marley's instructions and notes to follow, Decoda found himself at ease once more, as if Rotom's presence no longer bothered him.  It was nice to learn a new song, too.

"You think so?" Decoda smiled at her, shaking out and massaging his finger tips.  "Never thought it would be so simple to learn from someone else.  I'm just glad I can help!"

He brushed his bangs back with one of his hands, then asked, "Did you wanna check my vocals too?  If we're confident with the music, we can work on the words, and then combine them for one last go."

"A Bisharp..." Cerise mused for a moment, his thoughts now lingering on another Bisharp that he had met once, long ago. Although he only vaguely recalled what had happened when he had first met that Pokemon, it had protected him from... something... He furrowed his brows as he tried to burrow past the memory block of most of that night, but sighed as he found that he once again could not recall.

"Sure, I'd love to help out! It's nice to meet you, by the way, sir!" Cerise says with a smile. "Are there any usual places that Blades goes to?"

The Woman at the counter simply nodded, handing Catia two room keys.



"Yeah." Marley nodded. " Let's work on the lyrics for a bit, then practice with the music."

"I have a minor suggestion, Miss Marley and Sir Decoda." Said the pokegear, which was now resting on one of the posts of Marley's bed. "It will be quite different to practice without a drummer, then go and play with one. So If you would allow me, I could synthesize up your drummer's part to make practice easier on you." 

"That... would actually be pretty useful!"





"Blades like to hide up in the trees. He acts more like a guard then anything, but I think he's just awaiting his trainer." she paused, frowning slightly. "He's been here an awfully long time... We've tried contacting his trainer, but we never get a response." Zoe said, a bit sadly. " I really hope they didn't abandon him here..."


She went into the treeline and began the search.

"Oh..." Cerise was quiet as he also searched the treeline. Pokemon being abandoned at daycares was something he was all too familiar with. Most of those abandoned Pokemon would try to stay hopeful for days... weeks... maybe even months without their trainer coming back. Most of these abandoned Pokemon went on to stay with his mother while they decided what they wanted to do for themselves, but even so...

Cerise didn't want to see another Pokemon go through that pain of being forgotten! He whips out his Pokedex and begins to scan the treetops with it. If Blades was in those trees, Cerise's Pokedex should be able to pick him up and scan him.

Catia smiles and leaves, taking the keys to one room and going inside. Setting Fox carefully down onto one of the pillows, she takes out her Pokegear and sends a message to all of the others. She notes about Decoda's odd message but doesn't pay too much attention to it. She didn't have a clue what a 'Rotom' was at all.

I got all of us a couple of rooms at the center. Come get me when you want your key to the guys room. I'm already in our room Loka so let me know if you want a key to it.

She types the message quickly before sending it and flopping backwards onto her back on the bed. This prompts Fox to yawn and crawl up onto her stomach to curl up, making Catia smile and move her off to her side as she turns over and cradles her. She was pretty tired too from walking around all day. Maybe a nap would do her good?

Setting an alarm on her pokegear for 5:30pm just in case she sleeps a bit more than she thinks, she closes her eyes and slowly falls asleep with Fox.

Decoda raised an eyebrow at Rotom's suggestion.  He wasn't sure he could trust him; Decoda slightly wrinkled his nose and smushed his lips.  He wasn't exactly fond of digitized or electronic music.  He could easily respect it and understand if people did like it, but it just wasn't his style, and if he had a choice, normally wouldn't play it.

"I don't know, can you--"

It was then that he found Catia messaged the group.  After glancing it over, glad she was all set with her performance and the rooms, he huffed out a sigh.  Just her message alone reminded him to be mindful of the avatars thanks to her prior interaction.  Maybe if he played his cards right, he could find out if Rotom also had a blessing or something to share...

"Alright.  We can try that.  Let's see what we both got!  Where should I begin?"  he asked with a more-than-ready tone.