(Reboot) Pokemon: Beyond the Tall Grass

Catia nods as she offers her her hand to take in kindness. She wasn't the biggest fan of seafood either but if it would make her more comfortable then it would be something she would be willing to do.

"Sure~ Let's see what we can find."

She responded, her thoughts whirring with lots of questions for her. She kept her tongue for the time being however, wanting to keep things simple for now.

"Well, somebody certainly doesn't mess around.  Hanging out with you probably made Loka into the no-nonsense girl she is today," Decoda jested lightly with a semi-sarcastic tone, his arms now crossed over his chest.  "We appreciate the input, though.  Good to know you're more straightforward than the others."  He was serious about that last statement though - he was tired of being jerked around this way and that by people not giving him direct answers.

He wasn't necessarily interested in the bike or the region, but more so the history of this guy.  Eevee was a somewhat rare and expensive Pokemon in Kanto; only breeders, the wealthy or the creator of the Pokemon Computer Storage System, Bill, had them.  How'd he get two, unless they were more common in Orre?  He also wondered a little what exactly was on his arm, so he decided to ask while Mudkip crept up to Umbreon and Espeon to introduce himself and Chimecho.  It held its ground well, taking it slow and steady.  Chimecho quivered lightly, slinking around Mudkip's tail for support.  It could at least tell these Pokemon were fairly high-leveled and should not be messed with.

"So, your arm okay?  What is that thing, anyway?  Never seen one like it before," Decoda questioned, raising an eyebrow and tilting his head a little.

Yuno took a hold of Catia's hand and immediately hid her face, which was bright red. When she looked back up, she was grinning brightly and her eyes sparkling.

"I..." she stopped and looked down, before running off, Catia in tow. Her mood change was instant; she was now giggling. "Lets go!~"


"What, this?" Wes moved his shoulder slightly, trying to move his arm. "Its a capture aid. It slightly alters the coding in a pokeball to make capturing stronger pokemon easier. Unfortunately, that run in whit Zapdos has caused it to short circuit and malfunction; and it's deadened my arm... It's a pain to fix, as well as getting off."


Umbreon sat up straight and narrowed it's eyes, growling at Mudkip and Chimecho. Espeon placed a paw to its side and mewed quietly.

"It is not the time for battle, Umbreon. They are allies as of now." Espeon broadcasted. Umbreon relaxed only slightly, but still remained wary. "Please do not mind my lifemate. He's been through quite a bit since we last saw Loka. Those days messed with him more then any of us."

Hearing Decoda call him over, Cerise made his way over, making it in time to hear most of Wes' introduction. As the "capture specialist" spoke, Cerise could feel the shield on his back grow heavy... though that was more likely a result of his own nervousness. But despite his own reservations about Wes, Cerise at least wanted to try to be friendly to the new member of the team. He sat down next to Decoda with a light exhale.

"So... I saw you talking to Catia before? How do you know her, exactly?" Cerise asked Wes, finding it highly unlikely that Wes had just happened to be a mutual friend of both girls. "When we were up against Zapdos from before, I recall seeing you running with Catia."

Catia gave a small cry of surprise when she was being tugged around all of sudden but quickly smiled and ran with her new friend.

"Where are we going?"

She called ahead, still smiling at her as she did. She had to admit that this was going to be fun regardless of the true nature of her business with Yuno.

Yuno looked back and grinned, then looked ahead again. An almost unseeable wave of fire moved down her legs as the girl gained speed. Catia's feet no longer touched the ground.

"I don't know! Perhaps the first restaurant that smells decent!"

The two ran through the city, Yuno leading the way with her nose. She eventually skidded to a stop, holding her arms out so when Catia stopped she wouldn't hurt herself. The two were outside a restaurant called the Broken Seashell, which had a view of the sea if one sat on the deck to eat.

"Will this place be alright? Some seafood places sell more then just seafood." Yuno looked at the fighter with another blush on her face.



"I talked to her back in Celadon; she wanted help finding a Vulpix. So I caught her one. It was chance that we met up here, then the whole ordeal with the electric bird happened." Wes looked at Cerise while he explained. "Was there another run-in with an Avatar?"

Catia gave a cry when she was suddenly caught by Yuno after she skidded to a stop so suddenly, getting off of her as soon as she regained her balance. She broke out into a light blush at first, having collided with the girls chest on impact and smushed her face there. Once she was asked if the Broken Seashell was okay she smiled and nodded to the girl.

"This place is just fine. As long as you're comfortable eating here then it's probably fine with me. I'm not too picky with my food most times."

She told her, going to the entrance of the restaraunt and holding the door open for her to go in before following her inside.

Yuno's face couldn't get any redder as she helped Catia stand up straight. She looked at the building and walked inside.

"Table for two, please? Oh! Can we have an ocean view?" Yuno asked eagerly.

"There is a table open on the upper balcony. Please follow me."

The waiter led the two girls up a flight of stairs to a small table with two chairs on either side. There were no walls up here; just railing so it block the ocean view. He placed two menus in front of the girls as they took their seats.

"Allow me to get you two ladies some water while you decide what you would like to eat."

Catia smiled at the waiter as he seated the two girls on the upper balcony, letting Fox and Fang out from their pokeballs. Fang immediately saw the ocean view and went to watch the waves, sitting down and wagging his tail happily. Fox on the other hand put her paw on Catia's face and mewed at her to be fed, making her giggle and eagerly oblige the tiny creature. It took her a moment to get full before it yawned and curled up in her lap to nap, finally letting Catia turn back to Yuno with a smile.

"Sorry about that. I try to work out times for all of my Pokemon to come out and play and it was their turn."

She took a deep breath as she gently pet Fox's head while she slept, smiling slightly as she turned back to Yuno again.

"So I suppose now I should tell you why I wanted to have lunch with you in the first place. Ideally I was going to try giving you a confidence boost like Lt. Surge said you'd needed. Then I saw your eyes."

She picked up the menu on the table as she spoke doing her best to multi-task and pick out something to eat as she was talking with her.

"Mine are the same as yours. I'm an Ascended, the same as you."

She confessed to her, looking at the menu's specialties section.

Yuno's eyes widened as she quickly hid her face behind her menu. The last person she expected to run into was another Ascended.

"I-I... uh... I d-don't know w-what you're talking about!" Yuno lied. She peeked over the top of the menu at Catia, blue eyes glistening brightly. She then sighed and put the menu down. The waiter came back and took their orders before walking off once more. "I... Fine... Yes I've been ascended. How'd you get blessed?"

Catia blushed a bit when asked how she got blessed before hiding behind her menu too for a brief moment.

"I um....I was kissed by Entei. Th-then I met Arceus and he um....he redid the blessing in the same way for whatever reason."

She explained as she did her best to shake off the rosy color on her cheeks before giving a light cough and drank a bit of her water. After downing about a quarter of her glass, she turned her now calmer, full attention onto Yuno again.

"May I ask how you came across your....blessing?"

She couldn't help but say blessing with at the very least a little bit of disdain. Though she didn't regret her decision to be an Ascended and having made the promise she did to Arceus, she still viewed receiving such a power as hers without reason as a curse rather than a blessing.

Decoda listened, eyes locked onto Wes' arm as he was talking about it and its uses.  So he used a machine to help him catch Pokemon?  Was he into catching legendaries or something, then?  Did that make him a ranger or someone different?  He remembered the story Loka told them last night - about the friend who helped her try and escape from that CIPHER place during that rescue mission, as she called it.  Was this the friend?  His history with Loka could match up, as he said they'd known each other for years, but that could mean he knew her through other means too.  It was hard to know for sure without outright asking, and this guy didn't seem like he wanted to give away too many answers.  Decoda shied away from these questions and kept it to himself as Cerise asked his.

He was always entertained by Cerise's questions; he thought outside the box quite often, and always seemed to bring up appropriate things at the right times.  He was just so smart, and it was admirable how he had the courage to ask anything to anyone.

"So that's why Catia was with you.  I get it, now," Decoda said, flattening out his lips and nodding as if he was confirming something.  "Actually, we haven't heard from anything else after Zapdos and of course, Rotom.  We tried to relax last night with a bonfire, I won a ticket to a show and Loka got sick.  Honestly, I'm glad nothing else happened, because it might've made things worse..."

Chimecho and Mudkip looked at each other when Espeon spoke to them.  They then turned back to the psychic and dark type Eeveelutions, wondering what happened to make Umbreon so upset.

"Those days?  What happened then?" Chimecho asked, its derpy smile replaced with an circular, open mouth.  Mudkip then shook its head, yipped, resulting in a response from the psychic type.  "I shouldn't ask if it was that harmful?  How will we know how to help?"

Yuno looked down at her reflection in the spoon on the table, not wanting to look up. Receiving the blessing of Reshiram was... rather painful.

"I uh... was scorched due to moving at high velocity. Reshiram flew really fast. It hurt a lot."

The waiter brought out their food, which despite it's salty scent, looked delicious. The two began to eat. Part way through her dish, Yuno held a forkful of Grilled Salmon out to Catia. She smiled and blushed as she offered a taste of her food.


Wes nodded, and let out a sigh. He looked for the remaining member of the group, who was nowhere to be found.

"So... where is Catia, anyways?"


Umbreon leaped up onto the bench next to Wes and leaned against his side. Espeon sighed and looked to the floor; the events happened years in the past, but the scars they left would remain for a lifetime.

"Since we'll be traveling, we'll probably have to camp somewhere for the night. I'll explain to you tonight if you can get away from your human."

Catia blinked at Yuno's offer of a a taste of her Grilled Salmon before giving a smile and getting a spoonful of her Shrimp Fettucini and offering it to her. At the same time she moved her head forward and took the offer of some of Yuno's Grilled Salmon, letting the delicious fish melt into her mouth as she took the offer off of her fork and moved away, giving a small giggle as the taste set in. She had to admit that it was really tasty, the seasonings and such on the fish blending together near perfectly.

"No idea. She usually runs off to do her own thing and doesn't tell anyone. Like when she got her Vulpix, she conveniently left you out of the story..." Cerise said with a sigh as he shrugged. Leaning back, he watched Decoda and Wes' respective pokemon talking to each other and he couldn't help but feel a sense of worry. All of this talk about Avatars and Zapdos and Rotom had caused Cerise to recall something else that had been of concern.

"Hey Decoda, is Rotom up... er, awake? I have a quick question for him." Cerise glanced down at the broken PokeGear. It seemed to be on, although Cerise wasn't entirely sure. "Do you know if he can identify anyone else that's an Ascended here?"

Rotom zapped himself to the seat next to Cerise and grabbed his arm. He turned the male's arm over and placed a finger on his wrist. Cerise felt a pinprick where Rotom had his finger as the legendary stepped away, it's eyes glowing a bit.

"Processing. . . . Name; Cerise Aerie. Age; 15. Origins; Unova, Lacunosa Town. Bloodline; Ageislash." The glowing in his eyes stopped and he looked to Cerise. "Is this a sufficient answer for you, Sir Cerise?"



Yuno happily accepted the shrimp, actually enjoying the taste. The saltiness of the shrimp blended with the mild sweetness of the sauce. She definitely wanted seafood a bit more often then usual now! She looked at Catia with a gentle smile.

"So where are you going after Vermillion?" she asked, now back to eating her dish. "I saw the group you were with, and i figure you guys are traveling together."

Catia thought for a moment when asked where she would be going after her group's stay in Vermillion City, finishing off the last of her food before she responded.

"I'm not really sure actually. Decoda won some kind of big concert tickets on a radio contest last night so we might be heading back there soon. Why? Did you want to join us or something?"

She asked, curious as to why Yuno would ask such a thing. Not that she wouldn't mind another girl to travel with of course! It might actually be for the better that Loka'd left the group for a little while. Maybe now she could find someone she actually could relate to for once.

"N-no reason! I was just curious is all..." she hid her face in a napkin. "B-but If it's ok with your friends... I'd like to join you!"

She pulled out a pokeball and looked at it, then looked to Catia. Yuno clicked the center button and the ball opened, a red light flooding a small area, revealing her only pokemon.

"I'd like you to meet Galopa; my Ponyta. He's my only pokemon, so I hope we would be able to contribute something to your party!" Yuno explained, stroking the neck of her young steed. Galopa whinnied and stomped the ground before pressing his large snout against Catia's face in greeting.

Cerise winced as Rotom took a blood sample and quickly snatched his hand away, examining the wound for a moment. After a moment to confirm the pinprick wasn't serious, he looked over at Rotom with a sheepish look. "Huh... I actually thought you did that blood sample thing to Decoda only to mess with him... but what's an Aegislash? It sounds somewhat kinda familiar..."

As he trailed off, he took out his Pokedex to try to see if he had seen an Aegislash yet. It didn't seem likely, but the name itself wasn't completely unknown to Cerise. As he scrolled, he paused to look at Wes. "Any interest in seeing if you're an Ascended?"

Rotom held out his hands and focused, a hologram flickering into view. It was of a large gold blade with a shield attached to the front. Purple scarves seemed to flow from the hilt, folding back behind the pokemon's body. The single eye just under the hilt was closed.

"This is Ageislash; the Royal Sword Pokemon." Rotom explained to Cerise. "It has the ability to detect the innate qualities of Leadership. According to legend, whoever it recognizes is destined to become king."

Wes shook his head, smiling a bit. He crossed his arms the best he could, and looked at the current members of the group.

"Nah. If I am, I'd rather it be a surprise."

Catia gave a giggle as Galopa pressed his snout against Catia's face to greet her, petting the pokemon's head in return.  She was careful not to touch the fire of its mane in case she would get burned in the process, something that might not look good in front of the others when they were presented with a potential new traveling partner.  She turned back to Yuno.

"He's really cool~  I think my friend's are still at the pokemon center if you want to go and meet them right now.  Unless you want to eat some more, in which case we can stay here a little bit longer.  I don't mind either way."

She told her, smiling warmly towards her.  Fang saw the new arrival and scampered over and onto the table, making Catia frown at him as he chittered his greetings to Galopa.  Fox opened her eyes and yawned before mewing her greetings as well, her single tail wagging a little bit lazily because of her recent awakening.

Mudkip nodded at Espeon's words, but Chimecho cocked her head, still a little confused.  They headed back over to Decoda who leaned down in his seat to pet each of them gently, only wondering for a moment on what they were talking about amongst themselves.

He was much more focused on Rotom talking to Cerise, explaining his true Pokemon heritage as he did with Decoda yesterday.  Surprised when he found out what an Aegislash was and what it looked like, his mouth hit the floor.  How was a sword like that even alive?!  How would Cerise even be related to something so royal?  Did that make him some long forgotten prince or king?!

"Cerise!  Maybe your ancestors were royalty!  That would be so cool!" he said as he grabbed his shoulders and shook him playfully, grinning at the concept of possibly knowing someone with such a wealthy and powerful lineage.  "Prince Cerise!  That's what I'll call you now, hahaha!"

He took off his hands and brushed off his shoulders as if he dirtied them with his peasant filth, still smiling about it.  Regardless if he was or wasn't a part of a powerful family, he was glad to know that he knew someone that had such a cool ancestry.  Based on what Zapdos said about Loka, calling her a Houndoom, he only predicted that's where she came from, but what of the others?  If Rotom could literally get his hands on them, he could tell them what they were related to as well.

"I'm glad you're this much useful, Rotom," he told him with a grateful tone in his words.  "But what do we do with this kind of knowledge?  We know that we were once Pokemon, so what does that do for us?"

Rotom raised an eyebrow at Decoda; did he not understand the power some of his brothers and sisters had? He lowered his hands causing the hologram to dissipate.

"Well if you truly wish to know, Sir Decoda..." Rotom started to explain. There are other 'avatars' as you call us. My older sister, Dialga, is the ruler of Time. She likes to throws tantrums when things don't go as she planned. Ever experience 'Deja vu'? It was probably her getting upset..."



"C-could I meet them? I'd rather get it out of the way now..." Yuno responded shyly. She returned Galopa for the time being and stood up, pushing her chair in. The white haired girl waited as Catia paid for the meal before smiling and thanking her.

"This was a lot of fun... Thank you." Yuno bowed. "I really hope your friends are ok with me."

Catia returned Fang and Fox after paying for hers and Yuno's meals, letting Poochy out who promptly barked and licked at Catia's cheeks. She giggled and pet him before setting him on top of her head. She nodded and smiled to Yuno's thanks before walking over to the girl and hugging her gently, moving away after a second.

"I'm glad that you had a good time Yuno. C'mon, let's go and meet up with my other friend's."

She said taking Yuno's hand and leading the way to the Pokemon center, heading inside and immediately spotting Wes. She got a big smile on her face before waving to him and the others.

"Hey guys!"

She called to them, Poochy wagging his tail happily and scampering over to meet Espeon and Umbreon, happy to see some more friends.

"So that's Aegislash, huh?" Cerise said with a tone of awe as he quickly scanned the hologram onto his Pokedex for its data. Something that incredible was related to Cerise? It felt too surreal! He pocketed his Pokedex, eyes focused. His thoughts were on a similar train of thought as Decoda -- was there a possibility of royalty in Cerise's blood? The idea seemed a bit overwhelming, and was pushed to the side as Decoda playfully shook his shoulders.

"Haha, that'd sure be something! But there's no way I'd ever be related to something as fantastical as that!" He replied, a bit sheepishly, as he rubbed the back of his head. He paused as Decoda began to talk to Rotom, who brought up Dialga, the ruler of time. And this Avatar actually induced deja vu?? There really seemed no end to the incredible capabilities of the Avatars. But seeing Aegislash had reminded Cerise that he had very little combat experience with his shield, or any weapon for that matter. Sliding the shield's straps off of his back, he laid out his weapon on his lap to examine it.