Ilex Forest log

[schachmeister]

Who: Jean Kirschstein (notvaljean), Bertolt Hoover (bertall) and Armin Arlert (schachmeister)
Where: Ilex Forest
When: Wed 30th October
Summary: Cool Pokemon Trainers catching cool new pokemon.
Rating: G
Log:

Waking up in Ilex forest on monday had been disorientating to say the least, but between the fact that every member of their little group had been there and the fact that they had been warned that November was a weird month like that, they had managed to shake off their disorientation quickly enough and focus on these new opportunities.

Armin's pokeball shakes and shivers on the forest floor, rocking back and forward before falling still with a soft ding. With a pleased smile, Armin scoops up his pokeball, checking his gear with his other hand. The screen now shows the oddish as caught and added to his team, additional information filling the screen. Glancing over it, Armin trudges back to where Jean and Bertolt are waiting. "I'll have to think of a name for--" a quick check of the screen "--her. It's a girl."

Comments

[bertall]

Bringing Freya out into the forest was both a good thing and a bad thing - on one hand, she was regaining plenty of confidence in beating up whatever bug and grass-types wandered too close for her liking, but on the other, she was still extremely skittish around new Pokemon. Still, she wasn't going to get better if he left her inside of her ball all day. Keeping introductions brief and staying by her side seemed to be the only thing working, but it had gotten a little... Well, tense at times.

Even now when Armin comes back, Freya gives a small warning bark in his direction - namely towards the ball in his hand, from Bertolt's lap. That better stay in there!

"Was it the one that looked like a blue radish?"

Bertolt reaches between the rib-protrusions on Freya's back, giving her a gently sratch-slash-rubdown in an effort to calm her. Maybe he'll have to take her out off of the trail again to let her beat up some more bugs later.

[notvaljean]

"Yeah, what'd you catch?" Jean saunters back over from where he was playing with his new Pokemon, leaving Blitz sulking behind him. The new Pokemon, a big greenish lizard looking creature with a flower bulb on her back, trundles after him. Freya had been hassling her and keeping her distracted when Jean had thrown a Pokeball and captured her, and while she's entirely uncertain about this being around rude Pokemon with trainers thing, she seems to have taken a liking to Jean.

Jean gives Bertolt and Freya a wide berth, not wanting to start another Poke-standoff, and approaches Armin. "How long is it going to take you to name this one?"

Teasing, teasing! Jean is in fine spirits, pleased by the day's capture--a Bulbasaur, apparently--and his jovial mood even has Blitz slinking back to the fold, curious about what Armin caught. Is it something else he can bully?

[schachmeister]

Armin takes the friendly ribbing in good spirits. He's well aware Jean is right; he does tend to overthink the names he gives his pokemon. He just really wants them to fit. Though in this case--

"I think already have a name for her." He had been considering a few names, and now that it turns out his oddish is a girl, there is one that fits quite well.

He doesn't immediately release her from her ball, not wanting to set off Freya. Instead he turns his attention to Bertolt. "Yes, it's called an Oddish. They are supposed to have a lot of attacks that can inflict status ailments. And I didn't have a grass type yet."

[bertall]

It's probably for the best - being grass, it wouldn't be very good if it ended up getting knocked out right off the bat during a team introduction. He's hoping she'll relax eventually, but it's not as if Bertolt can blame her after everything that happened in Goldenrod.

"I guess it's finally even between us, then? Or, sort of."

Armin's team was always stronger than Bertolt's in more ways than one - they were stronger in strength, and Bertolt's weren't very effective against the ones he had. Glancing back at Jean, he tilts his head a little, brows furrowed. "Do you have a name picked out already for yours or something?"

Jean is so good at names, you guys

[notvaljean]

"I'm thinking of calling her Blume." The Bulbasaur tilts her head to one side, and decides that yes, that'll work, and rubs up against Jean's leg. Blitz, seeing that show of affection, hurries to Jean's other side and starts rubbing up on that leg, so he's effectively sandwiched between two large, heavy Pokemon. Jean sighs and drops a hand to Blitz's head.

"Don't worry, you're still my number one."

[schachmeister]

Armin is hoping she'll relax eventually too. If for no other reason than the fact that his new Oddish will definitely not be able to withstand Freya being nervous. It was not such a problem for his other pokemon, who had either type advantages of the advantage of higher levels (or both), but if Freya were to snap at his Oddish, she'd just be roasted.

"Blume, hmm?" Armin glances at Jean's new Bulbasaur. Yes, that does look fitting. "I'm thinking of naming mine Holly. Ilex is another name for the genus of plants we call holly. It seems fitting."

Pardon him and his reflexive need to explain his actions.

[bertall]

Here's to hoping - maybe she'll mellow out when she evolves and gets bigger? Things won't seem so terrifying to her then, at least with any luck. Bertolt is just thankful she's getting better.

Letting his hand drift from her back to play with her paws, Bertolt hums softly. "It's also the name of a big tree, isn't it? The, ah... Holm oak?" His memory is fuzzy in some parts of his childhood, but he remembers a book with all sorts of flora and fauna, and how impressive some of the oak trees looked in it. "At least I think that's what it was called?"

[notvaljean]

Holy shit, you guys are nerds. Jean has no knowledge of the origins of flora or fauna, so he crosses his ankles and plops down on the ground, right between the two Pokemon head butting him. Blitz immediately pushes in under his arm, and Blume the Bulbasaur puts her head in his lap, and really, the world is a pretty good place right now.

"Holly's a nice name." And thank the gods, Armin came up with it without a few days worth of mulling it over.

[schachmeister]

Armin cleverly mulled things of a few days before catching his pokemon. It really is a good thing he'll probably die before ever having kids because the poor kid would probably go unnamed for a few years while Armin thought up the exactly perfect name.

"Thank you," he says, somewhat pleased that Jean likes the name. If neither Bertolt or Jean are calling it a dumb name, he probably chose well.

Turning slightly, Armin turns his attention to Bertolt. "Do you want to try catching something too? It might be good to have a grass pokemon in your team too."

He knows Bertolt isn't a trainer, but still, having a wide variety of pokemon probably is important for a breeder too.

[bertall]

Nerds of a feather flock together! Or was it birds of a feather? Either way, they are the nerdiest of all nerds in this forest.

Bertolt makes a sound in the back of his throat, brows knitting together in thought. He's not a trainer by any means, not like Armin and Jean, but he also doesn't know what the next gym is going to be. He already feels like he's fallen short of the others having not challenged Falkner and even if the rest of his Pokemon were at Marcel's level, going back to try now would be out of the question.

"I, ah... I don't know. A flying one seems like it'd be better."

[schachmeister]

Armin makes a soft, thoughtful noise under his breath, considering things.

"Well, I certainly won't argue against a flying type." He started off with Amadeus, after all. That sort of history has left him with a huge soft spot for the type, even if he knows it is not always the best in battle. "But, you still have two spots left in your party, don't you? You could always consider catching both. It's important to have a good spread of types, after all."

[bertall]

"Technically three," he corrects, his expression shifting to one of mild confusion. "I'm still not sure how I'm supposed to train Ahti, if it can be done at all." It's hard to train something that only splashes and flops around. Bubblegum can at least change form and copy its opponent, but Ahti?

It can't even hurt Marcel.

"I've got a fire, dark and, uh..." Again, Bubblegum can cover most anything. Fighting an electric type? It'll be electric!

[schachmeister]

"I'm sure there must be a way. Lots of people train them, after all." Still, Armin doesn't sound entirely convinced. He's a bit glad he never ended up catching a magikarp himself. They seem more trouble than they are worth.

"You can always store some in the computer and switch them around based on what you need." Not that Armin thinks Bertolt is very likely to challenge the gyms. He's a breeder, after all, even if he doesn't like to discuss that for some reason. "If you want, we can just walk around some and see if there is anything that catches your interest. Freya could get a little more training in that way too."

[bertall]

He wasn't sure what to do with fish here! He panicked after it ended up on land, and he didn't know it'd go into the ball. Now he's more or less stuck with him until he figures out what to do. "It's still a little weird."

His brows knit together as he thinks for a few moments, then eventually, offers a noncommittal hum. "It can't really hurt to try, I guess."

[notvaljean]

"I keep telling you, Bertolt, you can borrow Blitz and have him attack Ahti if you want." This is what Jean has been doing every day, much to Blitz's initial joy but now grudging resentment. It seems that even the Voltorb can get bored of picking on something so much smaller and weaker than himself, and now Blitz just accepts getting splashed a few times before shocking Fisch and knocking him out. "Or Fisch and Ahti can spar with each other."

Jean is determined to make Fisch grow up into something that can learn Earthquake, even if he's still unclear on what exactly that something is. And maybe making the two Magikarps face off with each other will save the other Pokemon from the drudgery of working with them for a few days.

[schachmeister]

"I can help out with Holly too. She should be closer in level to Ahti. We could start off fighting her and Ahti, and then switch to some of our other pokemon to finish off the battle. That way they should still gain some experience." It is a slow, somewhat troublesome method, but he figures it might work. It must be the only way you can train these kinds of pokemon.

The offer goes for Jean as well, but then, Jean seems to be making more headway with training Fisch.

[bertall]

"Are you sure that'd work?" Look, Bertolt may not be a trainer or very into it like Armin and Jean, but he is pretty sure letting Ahti flop around and do nothing isn't the best learning experience. He's not even sure if physically throwing him at something would count--

Though maybe he'd have to try that if it comes down to it?

[notvaljean]

"It seems like it's working for Fisch." One of his splashes made Blitz extra angry the other day; does that count for anything? "He's still basically useless, but he's trying."

Jean has a very, very faint admiration for the Magikarp by now. He might be worthless in a fight, but he at least keeps getting in there, even when he knows Blitz can easily knock him out.

[schachmeister]

"I think so, yes. If you, for example, fight in a double-battle, both of your pokemon gain experience, even if one of them didn't land a single hit."

Or, you know, you could just catch a pokemon that isn't completely useless from the start.

"This forest should be the perfect place to train that. Freya has such an advantage compared to the pokemon here, so she should have no trouble compensating for Ahti's-- ...for Ahti."

[bertall]

"No--Uh, to the double-battles. I'm not sure if I'm ready to put Freya up to that yet, I mean... Remember when I first tried to introduce her and she nearly set the tent on fire because one of our bags tipped over? She's getting better now, obviously, but I'm worried that she'd think she was being ganged up on."

And make her freak out. Nobody needs a panicking fire dog in a forest, right?

"One-on-one is probably safer, at least until she calms down more. Marcel would be better for that sort of thing." Bertolt knows he can't coddle Freya forever, but damn it, it's for safety!

[notvaljean]

"I'll make sure to keep Blitz away from her." Blitz tries to gang up on everyone, but after getting his ass handed to him by Murder Chicken, he's been more respectful about doing what Jean tells him. There hasn't been an unprovoked attack on another Pokemon in the group in almost a month!

"Freya can battle Fisch, if you want her to fight someone that she'll be able to beat pretty easily. Or Lila will probably take it easy on her." Maybe even Blume, but Jean doesn't want his new Pokemon getting trashed quite yet. It's better to bond with them a little first, he's finding.

[schachmeister]

Blitz has been remarkably well behaved the past month. Honestly, Armin is waiting for the other shoe to drop because really, he can't imagine Blitz keeping this up forever. He's just... he's too much of an asshole, really.

"I'd offer one of mine, but I don't think there would be a very fair match-up. Holly can help with Ahti okay enough, but it would be kind of cruel to pit her against a fire type." And all of Armin's other pokemon are really too strong to make it a fair fight on Freya. They want to make her feel more confident, not completely crush her spirits.