playthough From Everland to Reborn ~ A fairytale themed run [Last defeated: Amaria]

[Candy]

From Everland to Reborn ~ Episode 3

A surprise was waiting for me outside, though I wasn’t sure whether I could call it pleasant. The white squirrel I rescued earlier today was standing near the stairs, though I almost missed it because it was hidden behind a wall. One look at me, though, and it ran away to hide in the tall grass.

Since I had no intention of scaring the furry animal any further, I decided against looking for it in the grass.

I crossed a short bridge, and walked North, which according to my map was the beginning of Peridot Ward.

“Can you spare some change?” asked a stranger, but I said that unfortunately I was poor too.

The Gym was just ahead of that street. It looked like a power plant, with parabolas surrounding it, but it was decorated with pink ribbons that didn’t quite match the aesthetic. There was no need to ask, for even though I barely knew her, Julia struck me as the type to person to do something like that.

“Oh, you’re challenging Julia’s gym too?” a boy with a green cap asked me. “I was told Julia left the Gym for a bit. I’d suggest you come back in a while… Or you can wait here like me.”

“I’ll go find Julia,” I said. Waiting doing nothing was not my style.

“I don’t know where she is though. Peridot Ward is pretty large.”

That was true. I looked around, to the long streets stretching in neat perpendicular angles. Looking for one person in this place would take too long, even if that person was wearing bright orange clothes and was a loud talker. Wasting time was not my style either.

I was considering my options, when I noticed that the boy had a bicycle. I quickly ran over to him, and took his bike.

“Hey, where are you going?!” the boy shouted at my back, as I rode it to the west.

“I’ll return it, I promise,” I shouted back.

 

The streets of Peridot Ward were full of thugs, alcoholics and gangsters. Many of them were also, surprisingly, pokemon trainers, and they did not hesitate to ask me to battle when they saw me passing. However, as expected, they were weak trainers, though the occasional casanova and ace trainer were comparatively competitive. I did not decline any battle, though, because I realized I had to train my pokemon in order to defeat Julia anyway.

I looked for the explosive girl everywhere, even in some dark alleyways that felt somewhat nostalgic; however, my target was not in any of them.

After a good hour or so, I reached the far western border of Peridot Ward, with no sign of Julia. I was almost near a stinky, forgotten factory, when I slowed my speed.

“I guess I must’ve missed her,” I thought aloud, and was about to return to the Gym to see if she had already returned, when a sight of green hair caught my eye.

Unfortunately for me, the person standing in front of the factory wasn’t Julia.

“What’re you looking at?” asked the guy with glasses. “Don’t you know it’s rude to stare at strangers?”

“Excuse me, I mistook you for another person,” I said and turned to bike away.

“Do you think I’ll forgive you that easily? You don’t seem to be from around here, so I’ll let you know: the name’s Fern. I’m the cool cat and the top dog.”

“Is that relevant to my life or is it something you go around telling everyone you meet?”

It was an honest question on my part, but Fern looked at me with knitted eyebrows.

“I’ll show you how relevant I am. Get ready to lose,” he said, and threw a pokeball into the air.

Our teams were pretty on-par, level wise. However, unbeknownst to Fern, I had trained a killing machine already. My pumpkin-looking beast, nicknamed Cinderella, had the moves Astonish, Confuse Ray, Destiny Bond and Trick-or-Treat. This last move I found useful, because it converted my foes into ghost types, which allowed Cinderella to destroy them with a weak-ass move like Astonish. Realizing my tactic, however, Fern switched from the grass-type sprout into a dark-type crocodile. Since a dark-type move would hurt Cinderella, I switched into Kame, who still has the same moveset. A Fake Out and Muddy Water was all it took to faint the sandile. On the first chance I got, I switched into Wolfie, the rockruff, who knows Bite, Thunder Fang, Fire Fang and Leer, to finish the budew. Fern’s last pokemon, a rowlett, went down also to Fire Fang.

“Hmph, whatever. I don’t have time to be wasting anyway,” said the loser. “Unlike you, I’ve got places to be at and people to meet with.”

He made one last frown, and ran away from the factory. Pathetic, I thought. He could’ve at least dealt with his loss in a more mature way.

On my way back to the Gym, I happened to pass the running guy, but I behaved as though I didn’t even know him.

 

“Oh, my bike!” the guy with the green cap exclaimed upon my arrival.

“I promised I would return it,” I said, giving it to him. “Unfortunately I didn’t find Julia.”

“She came back a little while ago, but I hadn’t challenged her because I was waiting for you to return.”

“Alright then. I hope you don’t mind if I challenge her first.”

However, right when I was going to enter the Gym, the doors opened and Julia came out, almost bumping into me.

“Ah, Vanilla. Howdy! You came to have an kaboom-boom fight with me?” she shook her pom-poms. “Unfortunately you’ll have to wait. I got some news that the guys who blew up the Grandview station are planning to blow up the powerplant, that is, my Gym! Can you believe it? No one can have fun blowing up things without me, least of all if they’re my things!”

I thought my ears would go deaf from her loud screeches.

“Go get ‘em, then,” I said, making way for her.

“Right away!” she shouted and ran, but midway she turned and smiled at me. “I know! Why don’t you come with me? Help me beat the bad guys!”

“Ugh, I’ll pass,” I said, and looked at the boy with the bicycle. “What about you go instead?”

“Me? No-no. I’m pretty weak. I’ll go train some more, so see you around,” he said and flew off in his bicycle.

“Guess that leaves me no choice,” I sighed, and Julia cheered on me? us? with her pom-poms.

 

We reached a factory that wasn’t as far from the Gym as the one where I met Fern.

“This is the place, but uh-oh. It seems to be closed,” noted Julia. “I wonder how to get in… I know.”

“Don’t tell me-” I blurted out, but it was too late.

“Kaaaaa…”

In a second, the door had been destroyed. How she remained alive, was something of a mystery.

“Explosion detected, Julia’s presence confirmed,” said a robotic voice approaching us.

I saw that it was Fern accompanied by someone that looked much like him, probably his sister.

“Who would’ve thought! Make things go boom, and gain friends~,” Julia laughed. “Vanilla, this is Florinia, the grass-type gym leader and my BFF from our years in Onyx Trainers School.”

Florinia nodded instead of a greeting.

“And, this is Fern. Hi Fern,” Julia said, in a monotonous tone unusual for her. “Anyways, let’s go in!”

“Ah, I don’t get respect,” Fern complained. “Doesn’t matter, since Vanilla and I already met.”

The troop then followed to move into the powerplant, but was flabbergasted by the smell.

“This place smells terribadtastic!”

With her seemingly natural but robotic speech, Florinia indicated the exact percentage of pollution. The high value was not unexpected; anyone with a pair of eyes and a functioning nose could tell that the water was contaminated big time.

Florinia followed to raise a course of action for us, but she said it with too many long words for me to understand its meaning.

“What do you mean?” asked Fern, and I was annoyed that I was on the same intellectual level as him.

“She said we should split up, duh!” Florinia’s unofficial translator, Julia pointed out. “Let’s go! Rini and I will look around on this wing, so you two can go check out that wing. Vanini don’t let Fern’s attitude get to you~”

“Vanini?”

“Yes you, Vanini. Go on now!” Julia shook her pom-poms and quickly disappeared into the right wing.

“Exercise great caution,” Florinia said.

“Thanks sis,” Fern replied.

“You were not the intended recipient of my previous statement,” Florinia corrected. “Permission for you to be life-endangeringly reckless: granted.”

With that, Florinia followed the path where Julia left. Somehow, my opinion of the robotic girl was instantly enhanced.

“Let’s go then,” Fern sighed. “Try not to slow me down.”

He then went around and stood behind me. When I walked, he followed me too.

“Can you stop following me?” I said, because having someone behind me for long gave me the creeps, even if it was someone I knew.

“The way you’re going, I’m going also. Hence I’m following you.”

“Why don’t you lead the way instead?”

“If there’s danger, I can push you and run away. The weak can be sacrificed for the important people to survive.”

“It seems you really aren’t capable of intelligent speech,” I shook my head sideways, and hesitantly led the way.

The western wing was, as we expected, full of the criminals we were looking for. The grunts introduced themselves as being part of Team Meteor, though they were cautious not to mention the organization’s plans or goals. Together with Fern, we beat all of them in double battles, unlocking locks as we saw fit.

Once we beat the two that were guarding the door to the north, we entered a small place where Julia and Florinia were already waiting for us.

“You see, the issue is that we’ve got this big gate,” Julia explained. “And I used up my boomies to blow up the factory’s entrance!”

“There will not be a necessity for explosion,” Florinia, who was looking at a display next to the door, said. “The security of this hideaway is substandard. An override of the system will prove to fulfill our purpose.”

She then resumed typing on the monitor.

“That’ll take too long, Rini!” Julia scowled. “I know, since these bad guys were planning to blow up my Gym, I bet they have some boomies they can let us borrow.”

“Why must combustion be your solution to every problem?”

“Entertainment for the whole family? Anyhow, Vanini and Fern, go look around if you can find some boom-booms!”

“Whatever man. I’m not going to sit here and wait for the Flobot to try and open the damn door. Vanilla, let’s go find some explosives and end this business already.”

“I don’t approve of this, but anything that’ll do the job is good I guess.”

So we went into another room, beat up a bunch of Team Meteor grunts again (with pokemon, of course) and lastly found some explosives.

“Wait, Fern,” I called to him, since he was picking up the explosives. “I smell a trap. A box of explosives, laid out in the open like this? They put them there for us to find them.”

“What if they did? I don’t care. Let’s just explode this place and get the hell outta here.”

Fern picked up the box, and walked to where Julia was waiting.

“Great, these are perf!” Julia said, and placed the box in front of the gate.

 

Just then, the door slid open.

“The lock has been disengaged. Proceed inside,” Florinia said and went in.

“Wait… No… But… But… The boomies!” Julia was so in shock that she dropped her pom-poms. “Rini! What about the boomies?! You can’t do that! Rini!”

“Hah, leave it to my sister to ruin everyone’s fun,” commented Fern while following Julia into the room.

I looked at the doorway that we’d come from, and back to the room that was now open.

“I guess I must go in,” I sighed.

Inside, two grunts with a little difference in uniform design and one other guy with a red eyepatch were waiting for us. It was a trap.

“We overestimated your abilities,” the man with the eyepatch was saying when I entered. “We grew tired of waiting.”

He looked at me as though I were a little insect that flew in through the window.

“Aster. Eclipse. Take care of the small fry. I’ll deal with the Gym leaders.”

“Right away, sir.”

Henceforth started our double battle against the two grunts. This pair, who looked like they could be siblings but not quite, proved to be a more threatening foe than the rest. In fact, Aster took out the last of Fern’s pokemon, and I was left down to the last pokemon, my Kame.

Right when I thought Eclipse’s rockruff was going to deal its final blow on Kame, something unforeseen happened.

The squirrel pokemon. The squirrel pokemon that I saved back in Opal Ward, jumped right in and tackled the rockruff, sparkles of electricity emitting from its tiny body. Eclipse’s rockruff fainted as a result.

“What?! Whose even is that pachirisu?” Eclipse exclaimed.

“Does it even matter? You’re going to lose now anyway,” I said, and told Kame to use Muddy Water on Aster’s rockruff.

“That wasn’t even a fair fight,” Aster commented as he withdrew his dog.

“Do I look like I care? Now f*ck off or I’ll use my pokemon on you two.”

The pair retreated backwards.

Noting that his grunts had been defeated, the eyepatch guy withdrew his pokemon.

“I hope not to see you again,” he said, and threw smoke balls at us. When the smoke subsided, though, none of the three were anywhere to be seen.

“What a cheap escape tactic,” Fern said, wiping his glasses. “But that means we can get out now.”

Julia for some reason remained silent, and walked up to the wall in front of us.

“What are you doing?”

“Hurry, we have to go now,” she said, scurrying our way.

“What did you do now?”

“Kaaaaaa…”

No more information was needed. I picked the pachirisu that didn’t have a pokeball to be called into and ran. Not even from the cops did I run so fast. We made it just in time against the odds, though I almost saw my life slipping away.

“Hurray! That was a superb kaboom-boom! See you later at my Gym, Vanini~”

The culprit of attempted homicide ran away in the direction of her powerplant.

“Onyx Gym will be after Peridot Gym. Exercise care when moving through Obsidia, for the situation is approximately chaotic,” Florinia told me, and left together with Fern.

I let go of the pachirisu. It looked at me with it’s large black eyes, as though it were asking me a question.

“I decided I would challenge myself to beat the Reborn League using only the pokemon Candy supplied for me,” I told it. “Unfortunately that means I cannot take you with me.”

I patted the pachirisu and it made happy squeaks.

“You’re welcome to tag along, though.”

The pachirisu climbed up my shoulder, and I started walking in the direction of Julia’s Gym.

 

VANILLA RATES: REBORN CHARACTERS

Spoiler

• Ame: 4/10 [Looks like an oddball, but isn't really. Neutral feeling, like the way I'd see a salesperson.]
• Julia: 2/10 [IS an oddball. Too cheerful and loud. Negative feeling, avoid as much as possible.]
• Victoria: 6/10 [I like the fact she's visibly physically trained. I think I could get along with Victoria, if given the time to know her better. Positive feeling, but apathetic to the idea of developing a friendship.]
• Cain: 3/10 [IS another oddball. I don't like how e talks. Negative feeling.]
• Fern: 3/10 [Smells like a douche. At least wear real sunglasses. Negative feeling.]
• Florinia: 7/10 [Speaks weird but got a likeable personality, in my opinion. Positive feeling.]
• Aster and Eclipse, Sirius: 0/10 [Their dumb organization killed innocents. F*ck Team Meteor.]

 

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[J-Awesome_One]

Hmm. I'm curious with what you have in store for the Pachirisu. It feels like it's gonna be Meowth/Pikachu. Never officially caught but will be seen riding along on your shoulders/head. And Fern has a higher rating than Julia?! Are you mad woman?! Haha. Just kidding about that but that is surprising. As well as with the Florinia friendship. I thought for sure it'd be a little less. Like a 5/10. But I can understand why Vanilla would like her a lot. Can't wait for the Gym Battle! You only gonna use the 3 Pokémon or will it be a full team? Or are you gonna keep it a surprise? LOVED this Chapter btw!

[Candy]

3 minutes ago, Awesome_One said:

Hmm. I'm curious with what you have in store for the Pachirisu. It feels like it's gonna be Meowth/Pikachu. Never officially caught but will be seen riding along on your shoulders/head. And Fern has a higher rating than Julia?! Are you mad woman?! Haha. Just kidding about that but that is surprising. As well as with the Florinia friendship. I thought for sure it'd be a little less. Like a 5/10. But I can understand why Vanilla would like her a lot. Can't wait for the Gym Battle! You only gonna use the 3 Pokémon or will it be a full team? Or are you gonna keep it a surprise? LOVED this Chapter btw!

I kept Fern's rating rather high (for my taste too fren) because that was my feeling toward him when I first played Reborn. At this point, Fern hasn't said much that upsets Vanilla, but she dislikes him just for being arrogant. Julia, on the other hand, right away showed her "explosive, loud" persona, which is why Vanilla gave her that rating  I think it makes it more interesting to see what relationships shrink and which grow in the future...
The gym battle team is... I'll keep it a secret  So is going to be the pachirisu's purpose. I'm glad the length of the episode wasn't a turn-off for you.

[J-Awesome_One]

The longer the better.  & oooo secrecy. Now you really got me hooked. Although, I was already hooked in so... you got me extra hooked! Haha.

[Candy]

From Everland to Reborn ~ Episode 4

It isn’t customary for Everish people to have pets. Who would we classify as a “pet” when everyone is an individual and has their own life? However, quickly I was realizing that the relationship between humans and Pokemon in this region was closer to a human-pet relationship than an individual-individual relationship. For starters, I could not understand the creatures’ language, if they even had one.

So, when I was increasingly puzzled when I felt I owed a nickname to the pachirisu. I have never named anything. Should I name it Skyblue, because it has skyblue lines on its white fur? I was named after a white flower, because of my appearance, and I hated that. Should I name it by just taking part of its species name, like “Pachi” or “Risu”? I doubt I would have liked to be called “Hu” or “Man”. A stylish name would be ideal, but what options did I have?

“How would you like to be called ‘Eterna’?” I asked the little squirrel, which twisted its neck as though it didn’t understand.

I laughed to myself.

“I don’t think my code name fits your cute outlook,” I noted.

Looking at the squirrel closely, I happened to remember a little conversation I had with Candy, back when we were younger. She often told me about pokemon, for her dream was to leave Everland to become a pokemon trainer.

---

“Look, look! I drew a pokemon, can you guess which it is?” Candy had asked.

The drawing had a yellow rabbit-looking face with red cheeks and black, round eyes.

“I don’t know any of their names,” I’d scratched my head.

“You should at least know this one,” Candy inflated her cheeks. “It’s Pikachu, the most iconic pokemon! You haven’t been listening to me at all, have you?”

“I have, I promise! I just am not good at memorizing names,” I explained.

“Liar. But it’s fine,” she took out a purple marker, and wrote ‘Pikachu’ in a large, messy font. “Hang my drawing in your room and you’ll never forget.”

She handed me the drawing and smiled brightly.

---

It was a long time ago, during the blinding innocence of my childhood.

“Pikachu, huh?”

I looked at the white squirrel. Granted, I had only ever seen pikachu in that elementary drawing, but I easily noted the similarities in their faces.

“Alright, Pikachu. Hop on my shoulder and let’s see what Julia’s Gym has in store for us.

Pikachu, the pachirisu, gazed at me with its round black eyes, but made happy squeaks when I offered it my arm.

 

At the entrance of Julia’s Gym, I found the green-capped guy with his bicycle again.

“Had fun battling the bad guys?” he teased.

“Shut up,” I said, and went inside the Gym.

The sounds of machinery buzzing was at first disagreeable to my ears. I happened to note a flashing monitor close-by, so I approached it and tapped on the only option shown, ‘Connect’.

The display opened a window, where I only saw a desk and the top of a chair.

“Ah, sorry,” said a voice, which I recognized it as Ame’s. Ame proceeded to sit down on the chair. “It’s you, Vanilla. Made it to the Peridot Gym, that is, Julia’s Gym?”

“Yeah, I’m here.”

“Great. I should warn you though, that Gym battles in Reborn are quite a bit harder than battles in other regions. You can expect every leader to have a full set of 6 pokemon.”

“I don’t have experience elsewhere, so it’s irrelevant to me.”

“... Good then. Have you had a Field Notes app installed on your Pokegear by any chance?”

The app’s name did ring a bell. After destroying Team Meteor’s base in Peridot Ward, Florinia, who was on her way to Obsidia together with Fern, approached me for a little moment and installed on my Pokegear an app she developed. She told me she also installed the Field Effect read out for the electric terrain, but that perhaps it would be wise to keep it secret from Julia.

“Is that the same as the app Florinia made?” I asked Ame.

“Indeed, that’s the one. Reborn Gym leaders also use fields that give advantage to their pokemon. The decisive factor may not be sheer force, but how well you can manage in that field. I would advise you to destroy the field if you have the option, or otherwise have a full team to tank the powerful electric moves.”

“Alright.”

“Good luck, and happy battling!” Ame waved her hand, and the display returned to its default screen.

I then checked my Pokegear to get a gist of what this whole field effect business was about.

“Guess I’ll have to form a strategy based on this,” I murmured.

I exited the Gym, and went to the nearest pokemon center, to see if I could devise a plan using the pokemon I had.

“Gah, Candy. You could’ve at least leveled these monsters for me,” I complained, seeing that all the pokemon were Lv1. “Whatever. I saw some people in the Gym apparently waiting to battle me, so I expect I can train up one more member in any case.”

Looking at each member’s moveset and the Field Notes app back and forth, I found a pokemon that could come handy, as long as its weakness did not prevent it from taking action.

That pokemon was Prince, the Tympole. It was obvious that Candy named it after the frog that went around telling the girls that he was a Prince who was converted into a frog by an evil witch, and that only a true love’s kiss would return him to his original handsome self. I always thought he was a con man looking for beautiful girls’ kisses, but since there just wasn’t definitive proof, the school could not do anything to chastise him. I appreciated Candy’s humor in including the icon of Rainforest Academy in pokemon form, even if the tadpole had yet to become a frog.

“Prince, with the moves Growl, Earth Power, Mud Sport and Refresh. I’m not going to ask why you’re a water-type but have no water moves. Your Mud Sport can destroy the field from the start. My only concern is that you might not survive an electric attack due to your weakness to that type. Also, if Julia predicts me, and has moves to set up the field once again, my team will be destroyed.”

Even with the risk, my strategy was worth of execution.

Before logging off, though, I wondered for a moment whether I should take Ame’s advice and have a full team of pokemon.

“Train up two more pokemon? Sorry, that’s not happening,” I rolled my eyes and logged out.

I battled against the scientists in the Gym, and later against some other street rats. When I leveled Prince up to level 16, I stopped and headed back to the Gym.

Julia cheered with a seemingly new set of pom-poms (for I believe she didn’t pick up her old ones when she ran out of the factory) right when she saw me entering her area.

“You made it, Vanini~ Let’s have a boombastic battle!”

Pikachu left my shoulder, and ran in circles on the floor, which had tiles of flickering yellow color. From the static sparkles gathering on it, I guessed the field really was hyper-charged. Once Pikachu was satisfied with its electric shower, it followed me from behind. I tried to ignore the weird feeling of being followed, and instead approached Julia while casually glancing at the many more banners decorating this room compared to the rest of the Gym.

“Don’t think I’ll go easy on you just because you helped me earlier. I have pride to uphold, you know. OTS, we represent! We pack a punch and don’t relent!”

The battle was charged at first. Julia’s minun did more than half damage on Prince, as expected, but Prince tanked it like no one’s business. He proceeded to destroy Julia’s field with Mud Sport, before fainting to a second Charge Beam. Next up was a teamwork of Cinderella, Wolfie and Kame. Kame, despite being a water type, was a reliable teammate since it could use Fake Out, essentially gaining a free turn. Wolfie almost beat the oricorio, but unfortunately it missed rock throw twice in a row, and fainted to uneffective attacks. I had thought Julia would make her electrode explode, but I guess she wasn’t going to give up on the fight just yet. Even then, Kame withstood the speedy attacks of the electrode, and finished him with a Muddy Water.

“Mrrrr. Whatever. I’ll just take a powernap,” Julia said as she called back her electrode.

“Just give me the badge already.”

“Hm? Fiiine, take your whatchamacalit badge. The thingamajiggerbadge makes stuff happen. Aaaand it also allows you to use the thing. I need coffee…”

“Then go get some, I’m out,” I shrugged and turned to face the exit.

“Wait,” she touched my shoulder from behind. Much like I’d done with Cain, I grabbed the hand and twisted it. “Ow ow ouch!”

“Oh excuse me, it’s just a reflex,” I explained, as I released the hand.

“In any case, have this,” Julia handed me a… CD? “It doesn’t go boom, but it’s a useful move. Teach it to one of your pokemon, if you’d like!”

“Ok.”

“I’ll go to sleep now. Good night!”

I thought she was joking, but she really went to sleep like a rock in a second. Pikachu looked at her and laughed in bursts of squeaking.

“Hop on my shoulder,” I told Pikachu, and it complied.

I was happy for winning my first Gym battle, but most importantly, relieved that I would probably not see Julia again in a while.

 

VANILLA RATES: REBORN CHARACTERS ... remains the same from last time  

 

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[J-Awesome_One]

Ok. Now I'm even MORE interested with the Pachirisu. Especially for it being called Pikachu now. o.O But I liked the battle you had with Julia. Again, love seeing the Pokémon's movesets. I'm surprised Julia's rate didn't go down but I suppose that's good. Can't wait for the next 1! You're doing great!

[seki108]

I would be more put weirded out by Pikachu the Pachurisu  if I wasn't already somewhat used to this artist's works with Squirtle the Mudkip (later Swampert).

 

Spoiler

https://mgx0.deviantart.com/art/Identity-Crisis-567116232

 

 

 

[Candy]

1 hour ago, J-Awesome_One said:

Ok. Now I'm even MORE interested with the Pachirisu. Especially for it being called Pikachu now. o.O But I liked the battle you had with Julia. Again, love seeing the Pokémon's movesets. I'm surprised Julia's rate didn't go down but I suppose that's good. Can't wait for the next 1! You're doing great!

 

1 hour ago, seki108 said:

I would be more put weirded out by Pikachu the Pachurisu  if I wasn't already somewhat used to this artist's works with Squirtle the Mudkip (later Swampert).

 

  Reveal hidden contents

https://mgx0.deviantart.com/art/Identity-Crisis-567116232

 

 

 

Funny thing is, I had no idea what to name pachirisu, but leaving it without a nickname felt unnatural since everyone else had a nickname. So I asked muh frens to vote among Squirrel, Sparkle and Pachi... I got some meh reaction, and someone said "name it Fakepikachu#3" which gave me the idea of naming it Pikachu for the lols xD

Edit: Also... that Squirtle (Mudkip) has such a cute face x3

Edited January 20, 2018 by Candy

[Sayia]

Nice and shiny Wartortle

I usually call my Pachirisu: Ritsu (male), or Lisa (female).

[Candy]

2 hours ago, Sayia said:

Nice and shiny Wartortle

I usually call my Pachirisu: Ritsu (male), or Lisa (female).

Btw all the Pokémon she uses are shiny. And I can tell you they're not hacked mons... Candy must esteem her cousin greatly...

[Sayia]

@Candy Oh, okay I see

[Candy]

From Everland to Reborn ~ Episode 5

I wandered around Peridot and Opal Wards looking for the next place to go.

“Florinia said her Gym was after Julia’s, but I wonder how to get to Onyx,” I murmured as I turned my map a full 360 degrees.

Speak of the devil, I happened by Florinia on Opal bridge. She was talking to two police officers, who were blocking the way to Obsidia.

“My immediate departure is necessitated,” she was talking when I approached her. “Vanilla. Greetings.”

“Greetings to you too.”

She turned to face the policemen again.

“Obsidia remains in a volatile condition, and hence my attendance is mandatory.”

“Of course, Miss Florinia,” said one of the guards, and stepped out of her way.

Florinia was about to go into Obsidia, when she apparently thought of something or processed information in her robotic brain.

“Reconsidering. Vanilla, your attendance might enhance the situation at Obsidia. Does your schedule permit this action?”

“I guess,” I shrugged. “I have to see Candy at the Obsidia daycare anyway.”

“Confirmed,” she nodded and looked at the second officer. “This person may be able to assist the present situation in Obsidia. Is passage permissible?”

“Sure thing, Miss Florinia,” the other guard said and moved out of my way as well.

Florinia proceeded to brief me of the malignant plant life issue in the ward, which has apparently destroyed many properties and left casualties. She said some more, but unfortunately I was not fluent in code language. Once I entered Obsidia, though, it was easy to grasp the situation.

I walked carefully, taking care not to step on the cracks that could break at any minute. The free-moving vines sometimes attacked me, but Pikachu helped me by biting off any that tried to touch me.

“If I understood correctly, Florinia said the power source is located in the park,” I commented. “Let’s heal up the team and check it out.”

I noticed a sign next to the Pokemon Center.

“Want to breed your pokemon to obtain strong babies? Come to Sweet Dreams Pokehotel, located next to the Pokemon Center for your convenience,” I read. The handwriting on the sign was bubbly and colorful, and most importantly unequivocally Candy’s.

I healed at the Center and changed around some of my party. Since I read in the manual that Florinia (no surprise) was a grass-type leader, I deposited Prince and withdrew Anna and Elsa, the white and orange foxes named after two girls that distantly share a bloodline with the Duke of Arendelle. They’re still technically part of Everland's aristocracy, but have a low status, so much so that some nobles like my family have more political power than them. Guess the Queen has her whims.

Anyhow, with my team now composed of Kame, Cinderella, Wolfie, Anna (Heatwave, Hex, Extrasensory, Ember) and Elsa (Freeze-Dry, Moonblast, Encore, Powder Snow), I walked over to the small house neighboring the Pokemon Center.

“Welcome~ We’re here to breed your pokemon. Would you like to use our services?” asked the lady at the front desk.

She had pink hair like Candy’s and had similar facial features, but I could tell she was not Candy.

“You are not Candy,” I pointed out.

“Oh you are… Don’t mind us, we are closed right now actually.”

I went over and confronted the young man that I had never seen before.

“We’re closed, sorry for the inconvenience,” the man said. I pressed on, and each time the man told me to leave the place in a desperate but polite fashion.

“You are not Candy, where has she gone?”

“You are getting on my nerves. What part of leave do you not understand?”

“I’m not leaving until you tell me where she is!” If there wasn't a counter between the lady and me, I would have made human salad out of her by now.

“That’s it, you’ve asked for it,” the woman said, and together with the young man started chanting some poetry? I didn’t quite know what it was, but at some point, they said “Team Meteor” and I knew exactly who they were.

When they were finished with their poetry, they changed out of their disguises and revealed their true identity as Team Meteor grunts. I battled them both in a double battle, and swept through their team. Team Meteor really needed to step up their recruiting regimen.

“Don’t think you’ll be able to rescue the daycare couple,” the female grunt said. “They’ve been locked up and we hid the key somewhere you’ll never find it.”

They said that and threw smoke balls at me, much like the red eyepatch guy had done.

I stood still in the empty daycare. The place was quiet without a sign of pokemon cries.

“Candy…”

Pikachu purred in my ear, and I snapped back to reality.

“Right, we should go looking for her.”

 

Outside, I soon found out that the path to the park had been completely broken, and the only narrow stretch where I could’ve walked on was blocked by a pesky tree. I shook it, and realized it was rather frail - unfortunately, it wouldn’t burn because sadly it was raining today.

“Guess I’ll have to look for another way through,” I sighed and turned away from the crack.

I took this as an opportunity to look around the Ward, and train up Anna and Elsa to competitive levels. Eventually, I found a narrow street going south, which seemed largely unharmed. To my surprise, a familiar face was standing on that street.

“Vanilla, hello,” greeted Victoria. “You are looking for a way to get to Obsidia Park too?”

“Not quite, but I am trying to go through this street.”

“Ah, sorry but I don’t think it’s safe for either of us to walk through,” she said with a cloudy face. “South of here is the slums of Obsidia. People are unkind and outright creepy, and there’s some weird debris moving around as well!”

“Slums? If that’s the issue, you don’t have to worry about me.”

I waved my hand, and tried to pass her when she stopped me.

“No, I’m telling you, Vanilla. I know you're strong and all... but it’s not safe, and I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I said I will be fine,” I repeated with slight annoyance.

“If you’re sure you’re strong enough, prove it to me.”

The first foe, a Ralts, went down to Anna’s Hex. Next up was her starter, which had evolved into a Torracat. I switched pokemon, since I had little to damage a fire type with, and my level was 3 below it. I switched into Kame, who smoothly took it down with Muddy Water. By now I had realized that I had an unfair advantage over my rivals, since the pokemon Candy bred for me appeared to have moves not usually found on wild counterparts. It didn’t bother me too much, however, since I suspected the fights were only going to get tougher from here, and soon my advantage would become negligible. Victoria sent out her last pokemon, a pichu. I saw the little yellow mouse, which had a striking resemblance to the pikachu Candy had drawn for me, and laughed. That little thing must be pretty weak, I thought, so I sent out Elsa to train her up. My mistake for underestimating the mouse. It somehow packed a super punch on its Thunder Shocks, and managed to defeat Elsa. I allowed Cinderella to finish it with a critical-hit Razor Leaf.

“Indeed, you seem prepared,” Victoria sighed. “Just be careful, alright?”

“Ok.”

She waved goodbye and left toward the Pokemon Center.

 

As expected, the shady characters were passing their time in peace, until I, a stranger, stepped on their territory.

“Look at that, a lil’ bitch’s coming this way,” I heard one of them say to another, in volume loud enough for me to hear. As they wanted, I walked up directly to them.

“You have a problem with me coming your way?”

“This ain’t a place for the likes of you, princess. Don’t sue us if you get hurt.”

I pushed the man with one hand, and pressed him against a wall.

“Hey, stop that,” said his friend, but I kicked his shinbone and he let out a muffled cry.

“Nobody calls me ‘princess’ in that tone, y’hear me?”

“Yes... princess,” the thug said, and tried to grab me by the collar, but I quickly dodged him. With the motion of moving my upper body backwards, I propelled my knee to hit his stomach full-force. The man was winded, but unlike the young blondie I had fought recently, this man recovered quicker. The other one also recovered, though he stood placing more weight on his healthy leg.

“Lil’ shit, you called it!”

That, where I come from, would have triggered a 2-against-1 physical fight. However, the pair of thugs instead sent out pokemon to handle the job. Pathetic.

Even more pathetic it was, when I won the battle.

“Now, where were we?” I asked, cracking my knuckles.

“You… Whatever, let’s get outta here, bruh,” the taller guy spat on the ground, purposefully avoiding the zone in front of me, and went away with his friend.

“Sorry for setting a bad example,” I told Pikachu.

Then I carried on walking through the slums. Though there were trainers who challenged me to battle, no more of them tried to make a fool of me. It seemed as though the two I was about to beat up warned the others to beware.

Idiots, I thought, for if they all fought me at once, I really had no chance of winning. I assumed though, knowing how the hoods worked, that they might be testing my abilities, perhaps hoping that I’d join them in an opportune time.

“Unfortunately I have no incentive to join a gang based on Reborn City,” I shrugged as I made my way through the maze of obliterated and abandoned buildings. On my way, I happened upon a blue sphere, which I suspected was a pokemon egg.

“I’ll give this to Candy, once I find her.”

 

After a good number of hours solving the puzzle of the unfamiliar slums, I finally made it out to a clean street. I had the option of going north, where the Obsidia Park was, or south, which lay an access to a new area called Coral Ward. Since I wasn’t feeling like dealing with some weird assassin plant life at the present moment, I chose to check out the Coral Ward.

The Ward was not infected by the plants, but was eerily quiet and misty, which put me on my defensive stance. I walked slowly through the main street, and entered an apartment to see if I could find signs of life. I felt relieved when I found a girl sitting on the lobby.

“Hello, stranger,” the girl spoke to me. “I am bored now. Would you like to take my quiz and entertain me?”

“What? Why would I want to do that?”

“I’ll give you a prize if you win.”

“That better be a good prize,” I said, but noted something strange about her. “You… you are blind?”

“But of course. We haven’t met eyes, have we? If we did, I had no idea of it. Do not believe that you have an advantage over me, though, just because you are able to see. Those who see are often the most blind, as I will show you now.”

The girl coughed, and asked me the first question: how many headbuttable trees there are in Peridot Ward.

“How on Earth am I supposed to know this? I call bullshit.”

I was about to leave the apartment, when Pikachu stepped off my shoulder and halted my movement.

“What is it?”

Pikachu barked with its squeaky voice and left to the exit of the apartment, but when I tried following it, it barked at me again.

“It’s telling you to wait where you are, can’t you tell? Or have you no working eyesight?”

I glared at the blind girl, but said nothing.

Soon, Pikachu returned, holding what looked like plain rocks on its hands. When it reached where I stood, it laid out four rocks on the floor. I guessed it was worth a shot.

“The answer is four headbuttable trees?”

“Hmm. Correct.”

I widened my eyes and curved the right corner of my lip. The next question was: how many satellite dishes were outside the Peridot Gym.

Again, Pikachu left me and went out of the apartment, only to return with three more rocks. It placed them carefully together with the other four.

“The answer is seven satellite dishes.”

“... Correct.”

The last question was: how many banners and ribbons there were inside the Peridot Gym.

To this question, Pikachu and I looked at each other in hopelessness. Pikachu may have been a street squirrel before meeting me, which allowed it to know things that were outside buildings but not what was inside of them.

“Sometimes, you’ve gotta test your luck,” I told Pikachu, as I slid a hand into my dress’ hidden pocket and took out a red dice.

“Knowing Julia, the number is probably not a one-digit number,” I commented, and rolled the first number, which was 3. “Now for the single digit.”

I rolled the dice. It fell and rolled until it hit Pikachu’s foot. 1.

“The number… is it 31?”

The blind girl didn’t look at me in the eye, but I could tell she was surprised.

“You are the first person to get all three questions right. I must say, that’s impressive.”

“Now for my reward.”

“Ah, this is no fun. Here.”

She gave me a little chip containing data.

“That’s the Field Effect read out for Misty Terrain,” the girl explained.

I was dumbstruck for a second.

“This… is this what I gambled my sanity to get?”

Needless to say, I felt cheated. However, it wasn’t my style to go punch a blind person in the face, because that would be cowardly. So I just gave my empty thanks, and left the apartment with Pikachu on my shoulder.

 

I resumed my defensive exploring, when I caught a glimpse of a blue person. She wasn’t actually blue but the mist made her seem so, until I was close enough to notice that it was just a girl with long turquoise blue hair and dark blue clothes. Once I confirmed this, I was going to go to the other side of the Ward, when the girl stopped me.

“Hey, could you help me a bit?”

“What is it?” I said, showing deliberate disinterest.

“There’s a popplio stranded there, and I’m trying to look for a way to save him. Do you think pulling him with a rope would allow me to get him over here without him getting into the water? The water here is too poisonous for the little guy.”

“I am not a professional on this matter, but I don’t think that’s physically impossible.”

“Did someone say physically irresistible?” I heard a voice say and I turned.

To my dismay, it was Cain.

“I said physically impossible, Cain,” I corrected.

“Hmm is that so~? What is physically impossible?” Cain asked, but then noticed who I was with. “Wow Vanilla. Making friends in the highest places, huh~? You just met Amaria, one of the top-ranking Gym leaders in Reborn.”

“Thanks for the introduction. The matter now, though, is that we’re trying to rescue the popplio over there, but we don’t seem to have a good plan.”

“A bird, perhaps? Do you happen to have a flying pokemon?” I suggested to Amaria, but she shook her head saying that she was a water type trainer, and didn’t have a flying type as of now.

Meanwhile, Cain started singing out of nowhere.

“Why are you singing?” Amaria voiced my thoughts. However, Cain did not reply and kept going on with is song. He sent out of a pokeball what at first glance looked like a pile of mud, but that pile moved into the brownish water demonstrating it was very much alive.

Cain kept singing, taking a brief pause to command Popplio to hop on the grimer’s back. Then, he sang again while they moved to our shore.

“Great! Now you’re safe~,” Cain smiled at the blue sea lion. “Well, if everything is fine now, I’ll be going~”

I was glad, but then the popplio hopped after im and growled.

“Oh, I think it has taken a liking to you,” Amaria said. “Why don’t you take him in?”

“Is that it? What do you say little guy, do you want to come with me?”

The popplio cried out loud in a pleasant mood.

“I know, why don’t you give him the opportunity to show his skills, Cain?” Amaria suggested. “Vanilla, right? Would you do us the favor?”

I had no reason to decline. My pokemon were ready as a sharp knife to wreck his team, with popplio or no popplio.

When the battle started, with me sending out Elsa first, I noticed that the field was misty. Could this be the Misty Terrain the blind girl gave me a read out for? If that was the case, I slightly regretted not checking it out prior to this battle. I wasn’t sure what typing the grimer Cain sent out was, so I used Freeze-Dry, which I knew would do well since the manual said moves of the same type (STAB) were strong. The move did about over-half damage. The grimer, however, disabled my Freeze-Dry, so I tried out Moonblast instead. The mist mixed into the wave of bright power, and knocked out the grimer. From this, I learned that at least, Moonblast was a good move to use on this field. Cubone and popplio went down to Freeze-Dry, when the disabling effect wore out. The last pokemon, the nidoran I faced the first time I fought Cain back in the Grand Hall, gave a little more trouble. It knocked out two of my pokemon, before being taken out by my rockruff, Wolfie.

“Oh sorry,” Amaria said when we finished our battle, with me on the winning side. “I didn’t realize Vanilla was this strong.”

“No worries, Vanilla is great in all the right places~” Cain said, but I didn’t inquire as to what he meant. “Now I’ll be going. Take care you two~”

This time round he really was gone.

“Well, it was nice meeting you,” said Amaria. “I also have to leave though, for I’ve made Rini wait at the Obsidia Park for way too long.”

I nodded and waved goodbye, though I had a hunch that I’d probably meet her again rather soon.

Precisely at Obsidia Park, too...

 

VANILLA RATES: REBORN CHARACTERS

Spoiler

Everyone not listed remains the same.

• Cain (+1): 4/10 His act to save a pokemon in distress was admirable. He's an oddball but seems to have a good heart.
• Amaria: 6/10 She seems kind and was went out of her way to help a pokemon in distress.

 

Candy: Hope you liked this episode~ Sundays are days off so wait for the next episode on Monday! Happy weekend!

 

QUICK LINK TO NEXT EPISODE

[J-Awesome_One]

Yay! Cain is getting higher into Vanilla's good side. Haha. This was a good Chapter. Especially with the fight between the 2 guys. Although, I'm kinda sad there was nothing done with the Scrafty Gang but ohh well. Nicely done as always!

[Candy]

18 minutes ago, J-Awesome_One said:

Yay! Cain is getting higher into Vanilla's good side. Haha. This was a good Chapter. Especially with the fight between the 2 guys. Although, I'm kinda sad there was nothing done with the Scrafty Gang but ohh well. Nicely done as always!

I felt the episode would get too long if I got into that much detail.  Side quests like this one will likely be skipped, unless i feel they pose a nice opportunity for character development... So you're welcome to imagine Vanilla's reaction when she met the gang xD

[J-Awesome_One]

4 minutes ago, Candy said:

I felt the episode would get too long if I got into that much detail.  Side quests like this one will likely be skipped, unless i feel they pose a nice opportunity for character development... So you're welcome to imagine Vanilla's reaction when she met the gang xD

I feel like she would have been like "Ummm... Ok. I didn't sign up for this but whatever." Battled them, won and then somehow became cool with the Scrafty Gang... or went on not caring about them. Probably the last 1 cus that sounds more like her. Haha. xD

[Candy]

7 minutes ago, J-Awesome_One said:

I feel like she would have been like "Ummm... Ok. I didn't sign up for this but whatever." Battled them, won and then somehow became cool with the Scrafty Gang... or went on not caring about them. Probably the last 1 cus that sounds more like her. Haha. xD

In fact you're close. She would've been like "I have no intention of harming you, just let me thru and you'll never see me." But fight ensues bc Scrafty isn't going to trust a random trespasser. When she wins tho, he shows respect to his superior, but Vanilla says she hasn't got a plan to be their leader and leaves. (This was, at least, what I had in mind if I decided to include it in)

Edited January 20, 2018 by Candy

[J-Awesome_One]

Double nice. Haha. Well, I can’t wait for Monday.

[Sayia]

Aww, pokemons following you are cute

I can't wait for Monday!

[Candy]

1 hour ago, Sayia said:

Aww, pokemons following you are cute

I can't wait for Monday!

Hehe, props to Personthing for making the mod. I use this to take pics with Pikachu following me, but use Waynolt's mod to navigate since that mod has stuff that greatly speeds up the playthru xD

[Candy]

From Everland to Reborn ~ Episode 6

I healed my team up, and was walking around the many warehouses, when I heard repetitive knocks. The sound was coming from one of the warehouses, but it stopped before I reached it.

“Anyone in there?” I asked inches from the gate, but i heard no response. “Weird. I'm sure I heard something.”

I knocked on the gate, and a few moments later I heard louder bangs reciprocating mine. There definitely was someone inside.

“Candy, is that you?” I shouted and tried to force the gate open. I sent out my Elsa and Anna, but their attacks were insufficient to break it. Guess they've made it resistant to Pokémon attacks so thieves cannot steal stored merchandise.

“I'll have to find the key,” I said while knocking. “Hang in there, cousin.”

So I left the warehouse and Coral Ward, for the only way I had left to take: north, toward Obsidia Park.

 

In front of the park, I found Florine's and Amaria apparently waiting for me.

“This is the collaborator I have spoken of,” Florinia said.

“So you're the brave league challenger Rini told me about,” Amaria marveled and briefed Florinia about our meeting in Coral Ward.

“If you are ready, Vanilla, use this to cut the tree in our way.”

Florinia handed me a disk, much like the one Julia had gifted me. The problem was that i couldn't decide on who to teach the move to, since it was a rather weak one.

Then, Pikachu squeaked in my ear.

“Right, I can teach it to you, buddy.”

I did just that, and Pikachu cut the tree for us to pass. Florinia and Amaria passed before me, but soon I heard their cries from nearby. I ran over, only to find them tied by tentacles of thick vines. There was a large machine with some green mossy creature tied to it, and a person wearing black clothes in front of it.

“So only three came to deal with us,” the person commented. “Three are nothing. Easy to deal with.”

“Are you behind this mess of plantlife?” I inquired to the person.

“But of course. Um, I think it would be more polite if we introduced ourselves first. I’m Lumi. To be polite? Who cares about politeness? But if you must know, I’m Zero. And I’m Eve. We’re collectively known as ZEL.”

“Ugh, I’ve dealt with ominous characters in the past, but your type is a first. Are you three people in one?”

“That’s right, but it’s really a long story. Yes, and a story we have no need to tell right now. You are a threat to our operation right now, and hence we’ll eliminate you now.”

“So I just have to knock you out and damage that machine of yours, huh?”

“Do you think you’ll be able to get past us? Naive little girl! I think it would be wiser if you came back with more support, in my opinion. I don’t think you could beat us right now with this strong machine. Indeed, this Link System I made is a simple hybridization-amplification mechanic that takes a pokemon’s power and amplifies it to levels unachievable in normal circumstances. That is how, using Tangrowth’s power, we’ve manipulated the smallest root into a massive arbor wrecking ball. Forget about going to get help, for we’ll finish you before you can even move!”

I led the battle with Elsa, who managed to cut one-third of the mutated tangrowth’s HP before going down to its acid spray attack. My next best bet was Anna, who was a fire type, but I wasn’t sure her fire attacks would be as effective in this rainy weather. Even then, the others, Kame (a water type), Cinderella (a grass/ghost type with her only ghost attacking move being astonish which is very weak) and Wolfie (a rock type) looked more helpless against the grass-type monster. So I sent out the hesitant Anna to the field, but to my surprise the sun rays she brought out stopped the rain and completely changed the field.

I didn’t know how to play this field, but at least the problem of the rain weakening fire-type attacks was dealt with. Luckily, too, Anna’s first Heat Wave burned the tangrowth, so although she fainted before taking him out, I had little trouble taking him down with Kame’s Fake Out.

When our battle was done, the tangrowth was ejected from the machine and fell, unconscious.

“Zero, next time, let’s fight with our own pokemon, rather than with the mission keystone. I’m sorry, tangrowth… Stop yelling at me! You said this machine was supposed to make it stronger! Your misjudgement was the key factor. Regardless, with tangrowth incapacitated, the malignant growth will now regress. Let’s recover the model and begone.”

The person with multiple personality disorder used some teleportation magic and disappeared instantaneously. If there’s a pokemon that can do that, I hope it’s one of my dozen team members.

With the vines turning lifeless, Amaria and Florinia were released and fell to the ground, practically blue in the face.

“Ah I can breathe,” Amaria said, after gasping for air a few times. “I’m sorry I wasn’t much help.”

“It’s fine.”

“But it’s impressive you were able to defeat ZEL all by yourself!”

The two Gym leaders discussed about how much bigger a threat Team Meteor was resulting to be, since, they could only extrapolate that the mutant plant life that destroyed Jasper and Beryl were also their doing. Even though both Amaria and Florinia feigned health, with one smiling more than usual and the other looking more like a robot, I could tell they were still not well recovered from the choking attack, so I suggested they go home to rest.

“Thanks for your concern, Vanilla. I sure will, and again thanks for the help today,” Amaria said and went away.

“I will be returning to my Gym in Onyx Ward. Not to rest, but to pursue my duties as a Gym leader. Vanilla, your attendance will be expected at your leisure.”

So Florinia said, and left towards the north of the park.

I was about to follow her, when Pikachu squeaked and jumped off my shoulder.

“What is it, bud?”

I followed Pikachu instead to a nearby tree in the park. There was something glittery, though it was hard to see well with the rain. I checked where the squirrel stopped, and found a key hidden behind a root of the tree.

“Could this be…?” I instantly thought of the warehouse Candy was trapped in. With this conviction, I wasted no time in returning to Coral Ward, to where the rain was starting to reach.

 

“Candy, I’m back. Let me try this key I found,” I shouted while inserting the key into the keyhole.

The gate opened, to my relief. Inside, I found the real Candy with someone I wasn’t acquainted with.

“Oh dear cousin,” Candy exclaimed and ran full speed to embrace me in a tight hug. “I am glad you’ve found us. I thought we would starve to death in here!”

“I’m glad you didn’t,” I replied with the little air she was letting me breathe.

“Come now, you wouldn’t want to asphyxiate our savior, do you hun?” said the man, and Candy finally let me go. “Thanks for saving us. However, I’m really hungry, so I’ll head back to the daycare now.”

“Wait, I’ll go too,” Candy agreed. “Come with us, Vanilla. There’s some catching up to do.”

Since Gym battle with Florinia could wait, I followed the pair to the daycare.

 

At the daycare, Candy started with the biggest surprise.

“I’m married!” she exclaimed, showing me her glittery ring on her left hand.

I was dumbstruck by the confession. Candy teased at me for my blank expression.

“It’s just that I didn’t expect to find you married,” I explained. “Why didn’t you tell me? And who is this man anyway? I’ve never seen him in my life!”

“Come on now, that’s not entirely true, you know,” Candy pointed out.

“How so?”

“He’s a distant relative of ours. All of us are descendants of Hansel and Gretel. We are from Hansel’s side, and Cookie is on Gretel’s side, which is why we’ve occasionally met during major family gatherings in our childhood.”

“I don’t seem to recall you, but if your name is Cookie, there is little doubt that you’re indeed from Everland and descended from Hansel or Gretel.”

“I’m glad I’ve passed your background check,” Cookie laughed.

“We met in Hoenn during my League challenge, and came over to Reborn when I had to step down from the Champion’s seat. We’ve been operating this shop ever since.”

“You should’ve told me about this,” I frowned. “If you had, I would’ve counceled you against marriage.”

“That’s precisely why, my beloved cousin, I didn’t request your counsel,” Candy winked. “I am happily married for over two years. Besides, I can divorce anytime I want, you know?”

“Do as you wish, for it is your life and not mine to live.”

“If you have any pokemon you’d like to breed, let me know and I’ll gladly help you,” Candy said, because she saw me moving toward the exit.

“Ah, right. Here, I found this little thing you might like,” I remembered and gave Candy the blue pokemon egg. “Also, thanks for the dozen of pokemon you gave me. They’re my only team now, and we’re going strong.”

“Oh, what a lovely oval egg! Thanks Vanilla, I’ll certainly take good care of it. I’m also happy you liked my choice of pokemon, but you seem to have forgotten to introduce me to your furry shoulder buddy.”

I looked at Pikachu, and it squeaked with joy.

“Oh, this is Pikachu,” I said, and Candy laughed but approved my choice of nickname. “I kind of rescued it from some insolent brats, and has stuck with me ever since. It doesn’t battle though, it just tags along.”

“Lovely,” Candy said. Pikachu jumped from my shoulder to the counter where Candy was reclining, and demanded she pet it. Candy stroked the white fur with visible delicacy and plain love for all pokemon.

“I wish you luck in your journey, Vanilla. I’m sure there will be hard times, but I’m sure the good memories will be worth it in the end.”

I waved to Candy but not to Cookie, though he did wave at me.

“See you later,” I smirked and went out of the daycare.

 

VANILLA RATES: REBORN CHARACTERS

Spoiler

ZEL: 4/10 Can't really make an opinion about them as of now. There is at least one of their persona which seemed like a nice person, so even though ZEL is part of Team Meteor, it's difficult to outright hate them.

Below are non-Reborn characters, but still let's rate them.

Candy: 10/10 Favorite cousin, and even more beloved than all of my siblings combined.

Cookie: 2/10 How dare he marry my Candy? Does he think he has the high standards to marry someone as beautiful and good-natured as her?

God, I almost puked typing that out (but I've gotta keep on Vanilla's character, right?)

 

You might be wondering why I didn't include Florinia's gym battle in this episode. Well, truth is, I totally wanted to, but it was realistically impossible. If you've had to stay in a science lab until 7pm when almost everyone has left doing your experiments, AND on top of that haven't eaten nothing but 3 cookies since breakfast which was 1 slice of breakfast pizza, you'll understand that I was psychologically drained. There was no way I could center myself on the story, and that would be a shame because the events at Florinia's gym aka OTS are pretty important in Vanilla's character development. It'd be a shame if I neglected it because of my exhaustion... so sorry my fellow frens, you'll have to wait until (hopefully) tomorrow or if not just Soon as hecc! 

 

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[J-Awesome_One]

Yay! More story! & it’s ok. I understand why there was no Florinia battle. This is plenty though. Loving loving LOVING the story.

[Candy]

9 minutes ago, J-Awesome_One said:

Yay! More story! & it’s ok. I understand why there was no Florinia battle. This is plenty though. Loving loving LOVING the story.

I believe you'll like what I've got in store for the OTS arc then  I'll not dissuade you from setting your expectations high, for I too have high expectations for the next chapter!

[Jess]

@Candy is on fire. Good job, honestly, you Hansel descendant, you...  

I'd probably be from the wicked witch's side...

 

[Candy]

From Everland to Reborn ~ Episode 7

The next thing to do, of course, was to battle Florinia. Since I expected her team to be at around Lv 25, which was my current level cap, I trained the two pokemon I believed would be most important in this battle: Anna and Elsa. Like I'd experienced during the mutant tangrowth battle, these two were the only members of my team which could do something against grass types, as Prince, Kame, Cinderella and Wolfie were all helpless against the type. Luckily what was my only concern, that Florinia would set up the rain, was taken care of with the realization that Anna could turn the rain into a rainbow with her ability.

On the way to the Gym, I battled some OTS students hanging out outside. When I tried to enter what I thought would be the Gym building, though, some stinking elite douchebags told me I wasn't allowed the OTS entrance and to try the one next door which led directly into the Gym. The way the blondie said it got on my nerves, but I let it slide. Beating up minors wasn't my style.

 

When I entered the right entrance, though, an acquaintance was waiting for me.

“Oh, it's you. You're the one with fragile sense of self-worth right? What was your name again?”

“I don't think you're in the place to be insulting me now, you know. I'm Fern, the top dog and I rule this school.”

“Is that so? Luckily I'm not looking for admission into your school. I've come for a Gym battle, so if you'll excuse me,” I said and tried to pass through his side, but he suddenly pushed me back.

“I don’t think you’re understanding me,” Fern said with a voice a tone deeper than his usual self. “You don’t deserve to battle my sister. You’re not good enough.”

“Are you sticking up for your sister? So that I won’t beat her Gym? Pathetic. What else are Gym leaders for?”

“No. You wouldn’t understand. A newbie that came rolling from God-knows-where. It’s a matter of family and our school’s pride, and you’re not worthy.”

So Fern said, stepped a few meters back, and closed a steel gate in between us.

“Hey,” I ran over to the gate. “What’s the meaning of this?”

“Go home, and don’t return,” Fern said, and I heard his footsteps walking away.

“Coward! Open this gate! You asked for it. I’ll crush you when I see you, jerk!”

The damn green-haired baby did not seem to be in a distance to be heard.

“What does he even know about family pride,” I spat on the gate. “I’m technically a noble in my home region.”

I kicked the gate once, making a horrendous noise, before exiting the Gym.

 

“Well, that leaves only the eastern entrance. Let’s go, Pikachu.”

I ran over to the east side of the building, where blondie and his friend were still standing in front of the entrance.

“We’ve heard from boss to keep you out. Don’t expect us to go easy on your pokemon,” blondie’s friend said.

Blondie was first to battle me, with a single wingull. What did they expect I was, an idiot? I could’ve beaten this guy even before I challenged Julia to a battle. I let Wolfie take care, for even with type disadvantage, a single Thunder Fang was all it took to take down the seagull. His friend followed by sending out a dewpider, but it too could not do anything serious to Wolfie before she finished it with Thunder Fang.

“Damn, I’ll go warn the others about the intruder,” blondie said and went into the building.

I followed him, and rested my pokemon with nurse Joy. There were many students hanging out, though I couldn’t tell whether they were in the lobby because it was recess or because they were skipping class. One of them, though, was conveniently a smuggler of illegal super potions, which you could not get elsewhere in town. I felt the price of 700P was pretty high, but I felt it was worth the extra recovery, since normal potions were starting to become useless on my team.

On the right, I found some trainers waiting for me, for apparently these were the friends blondie went in to warn. I won fairly easily, and was rather grateful for them since they helped me toughen up my team.

On the second floor, I could hear classes still in session. I walked silently, in order to not disrupt any one of them. I also found some study rooms, one in which a guy was annoyed at his inability to win at the slots, and another one that was empty save for a spooky relic-level old desktop computer flashing illegible codes on the screen. Some other doors led to the dormitories, but I didn’t go in to avoid misunderstandings.

The school was larger than I expected, and I eventually got lost. As I walked around, I found a lonely guy facing a wall, perhaps reciting a speech for an oral presentation.

“Listen, I think you’re really cool and,” I thought I heard him say before I walked up to him for directions.

However, the guy was startled by me. I guess my appearance can be scary, since my skin makes me look like I’m the living dead, but I didn’t expect him to react so exaggeratedly as to bump into a plant and knock it over.

“Don’t sneak up to people like that,” he scolded me and ran away blushing.

“Sorry about that, I’ll go get a janitor,” said a teacher who happened to pass by and saw the incident.

He opened some doors with a key and went in, so I snuck through the doors to check what was in. It was a narrow hallway with most of the rooms locked. They appeared to be administrator offices, so I didn’t pay much attention to them. I followed to the back of the hallway, where there were stairs.

Upstairs, this time I was startled since I didn’t expect to find people hanging in this area. The place looked like a computers room. There were a few girls chatting quietly, and other students studying for exams on, I believe, field effects.

Since I had bothered to come all the way here, I sat at one of the computers to see what you could do at this school. A pleasant surprise was when I found the computer contained the code for the field effect read-out of Florinia’s field. I clicked on the icon, and it revealed to me that it was called the Desert Field.

“Shoot, I would’ve thought she would use a grassy garden or a jungle or something like that,” I bit my lips. I scanned the code and copied the information into my Pokegear app.

The field effect read-out informed me that although my Kame and Prince would become mostly useless since I was fighting on a type disadvantage on this field that cut the power of water-type attacks by half, my Anna was bound to be a wrecking ball given that Heat Wave received a 1.5x boost in addition to the usual boost of STAB and drought. I could already smell victory well-served on a plate.

I went out to the hallway I had come in from, and found that the janitor hadn’t yet cleaned up the mess. Unfortunately I had nothing to help the case either, so I just kept going random directions, hoping I would eventually make it to the Gym side.

On the way, I battled a few more trainers, most memorably an ace trainer who had a pachirisu on his team. Pikachu squeaked at the pachirisu, and the pachirisu squeaked back. That one also seemed good natured. However, contrary to its cute looks, the squirrel could really pack a punch, even fainting Anna, my ace for this Gym battle.

“Guess, never judge the book by its cover,” I murmured and sent out Cinderella to finish the battle.

 

I did make through to the Gym, after I don’t know how many hours of roaming around.

When I did, though, I found the one individual I wanted to see before I battled Florinia.

“Those dumb kids can’t do anything right, can they,” Fern sighed when he saw me coming.

I quickly stepped up to him, and before he could even know what I was set to do, I pulled back my fisted hand and gave him a full-speed punch onto his face. The pathetic idiot fell back to the ground, together with the glasses I knocked off from his nose.

“What a loser, resorting to savage means like this,” Fern scorned while wiping the blood from his nose.

“Who is the loser? Me, who came in legally invited by the Gym leader, or you, a common folk with such a fragile mentality that can’t bear see his family member lose to a newbie like me?” I looked down at him, who was still lying on the floor. “I didn’t like your attitude from the beginning, but I’m not going to hold back if you’re going to go that low.”

Fern sighed and picked himself up from the floor. He grabbed his glasses, which were now broken, and placed them in his chest pocket.

“I was doing you a favor, and this is how you pay me?” Fern laughed from his nose. “I was just trying to save you embarrassment by preventing you from challenging our Gym.”

“Shut up. I’m done with you, so just let me pass.”

“Not so fast, dumbass. If you’re so sure of your victory, let me test you first. I’ll give you a reality check,” Fern smirked and held up a pokeball.

“I gave you one already, and I’ll not hesitate to give you another one,” I said, preparing for battle.

The first match was his sandile against my Elsa, but from what I remembered, he did not have pokemon that resisted ice. The sandile, though, was higher level than Elsa, so it survived a Freeze-Dry. Elsa was Crunched, but was able to take down the sandile on the second turn. Next up, Fern sent out roselia, so I sent out Anna to give Elsa a rest. The match was pretty decided on my favor, but the roselia, which was faster than Anna, didn’t go down without a good fight. Lastly, he sent out his starter which had now evolved into a dartrix since our first battle. I would’ve liked to give my other teammates a chance to glow too, but I wasn’t going to let anyone be embarrassed by losing to Fern’s pokemon. So I went back to reliable Elsa, who Freeze-Dried, but also received a hard hit and almost fainted. I changed pokemon - into Kame, which I know was a risky move, but I couldn’t go into Anna since her health was still unrecovered. Fortunately Fern didn’t read my switch, and did not use a grass-type move. Kame used Fake-Out, but it did almost nothing. Now I was on a tight spot. I switched pokemon again, this time to Cinderella, hoping the dartrix would not use flying-type attacks yet. It didn’t the first round, but Cinderella also tanked a Pluck before astonishing it. The decisive moment was when I made my last switch into Wolfie, and luckily dartrix’s razor leaf missed so I won the battle with a single Rock Throw. This was the most teamwork I’d seen since Julia’s battle, except no one had to be sacrificed for the greater good.

“How disappointing, to have to keep losing to dumb beginner’s luck,” Fern rolled his eyes. “But guess what. You’re not the only one who can do the League challenge. Let’s play it on an even field next time,” Fern walked away without even saying goodbye.

“Try not to be a sore loser next time, then,” I said, but my target was already out of my sight.

 

I healed up my team before entering into Florinia’s gym. There was an ante-Gym, I guess, with the screen which I could call Ame from was switched on like usual. I didn’t call her, though, because I had already wasted enough time with the jerk.

I entered to the main part of the Gym, which was, as expected, covered in sand, but unexpectedly had a stand for people to watch the Gym battles. There were a good number of students sitting and watching me, though some others seemed to be asleep.

“Vanilla,” Florinia looked at me as I entered. “I have been expecting you. Take your designated position.”

I decided to lead off with Elsa still, so that I could check the situation prior to sending my ace. I stood on the area Florinia signaled.

“Though your assistance in regards to Team Meteor affairs was greatly appreciated, it alone does not justify obtaining a badge,” Florinia explained.

“I know.”

“Do not mistake this requirement as a sign of unthankfulness, for it is merely procedure.”

“Ok.”

“Accordingly, let us start. Audience, please take notes on standard battling procedure. Hypothesis: Subject possesses insufficient data for conclusive results. Expected outcome: Failure.”

I must remark that Florinia’s speeches are a class act, even if they lack emotion.

The battle started rough. The maractus was somehow pretty tanky - that and Florinia used a super potion on it as well - and didn’t go down until after it set up 3 spikes on my side of the field. Though Elsa’s HP was intact, I switched her for Anna already, since the next pokemon Florinia sent out was a Ferrothorn holding a Telluric seed. I forgot to read about seeds, since I thought it was irrelevant to me given that I have none in my bag, but the effects of it were a little scary. Even with the seed’s help, the metal-coated seed could not bear a supreme-boosted Heat Wave from Anna. Anna proceeded to sweep the next three grass types, but was halted by a large rock-looking plant. The beast had incredible defenses. I expected Heat Wave to do good damage even if it was neutral damage, but I was mistaken. Anna was taken down and she didn’t even cut half the plant’s HP. On top of that, Florinia set up a sandstorm and increased the pokemon’s defences with Stockpile. In the hopes of fainting it, Elsa went down to Smack Down, a rock-type move which I hadn’t prepared for. Cradily also had the move Recover, which nullified my efforts. It came down to a battle of who had more recovery options, mine being only the super potions I happened to buy from a student in the school lobby and two choc ice creams which Cinderella picked up. I sent out Kame, who did as good a job as he could with Aurasphere, though I perhaps should have used the move prior to cradily setting up its defences to their max. Eventually, though, he also went down, leaving me with Cinderella, Wolfie and Prince. Luckily, Kame did me the favor to exhaust cradily’s Recovering move, so Cinderella just had to hang on tight for just a little more to finally, after a great number of turns, deal the final blow.

God knows this was the most exhausting battle I had ever had. I would have definitely lost, had I not stocked up on healing items. I guess I should dedicate my victory to that smuggler who sold me the super potions.

 

“Challenger remains due to receive Canopy Badge,” commented Florinia when the battle was over.

We both walked towards each other and met in the center. Apparently the conclusion of the battle meant class was dismissed, for all the students started standing up and making noisy metal sounds with their chairs.

Florinia, as was of custom, also gave me a new disk for me to teach Nature Power to my pokemon. Unlike with Julia, where I saw her move, Charge Beam be used against me quite often, I seemed to have lost my chance to see Nature Power in play because I swept 3 of the pokemon at once.

“Where do you intend to go now?”

“I guess to fight the next Gym leader, who according to my manual is in Beryl Ward.”

“To go to Beryl, you will first have to passage through Jasper Ward. Both wards have been ransacked by similar plant life as Obsidia, but to a much larger scale. If I may make one last request of you, do venture to Jasper and discover if there is not a similar plot behind the destruction there.”

I sighed.

“I think you’re misunderstanding something. I didn’t come to Reborn to be a regional savior for your damn city. If these atrocities like what happened in Obsidia are happening everywhere, that’s a sign. Leave this place and relocate somewhere else. End of your problem.”

“An exodus of the magnitude of Reborn City, composed of eight large wards, would be an ordeal to arrange.”

“Not my problem. I have my own problems to deal with,” I spat to the sandy ground. “My cousin recommended that I come here and start anew. I didn’t have to choose this wasteland, though. You know why I chose to come to Reborn? Because it offered a large league, a huge amount of room to grow my monsters in. These are the monsters that will help me take back what belongs to me and my people.”

“Are you planning to form an organization, much like Team Meteor’s to attain such goals?”

I looked at Florinia dead in the eye. It was a practice I was used to do, when I wanted to make people agree with me even if just because of fear of me. However, the unfeeling woman did not even flinch and stared back at me with an empty gaze.

“No,” I flipped hair off my face. “Those lunatics kill innocent civilians. Instead, I’ll kill the lunatics who suppress the civilians.”

“I will not question your motivations, for I cannot argue against your actions when I also am fighting against a similar threat that is Team Meteor,” Florinia said, and fixed her glasses up her nose bridge. “However, let me attempt to persuade you to be of assistance to our cause here at Reborn too. After all, you have been the only individual capable to halting the machination in Obsidia, and from battling I have learned you have much hidden potential.”

“I will only stay and listen to you for a few more minutes, because out of all the weirdos I have met since arriving, you’re the least dislikeable one.”

“I am humbled. Here is the reasoning. Background. You have come to Reborn to grow your pokemon stronger. You want to use these pokemon to assist you in a personal battle in your home region. Present situation. Reborn region is in the midst of a crisis. Team Meteor is killing civilians, destroying wards, fighting opposition. Your political position. You would side with us rather than Team Meteor. Conclusion. You can use the Team Meteor issue in your favor to toughen your pokemon, and hence become stronger than had you only battled the Reborn Gym Leaders. In the process you stop Team Meteor’s plans. Both your goals and our goals are achieved. Are you not of the same mind as me on this matter?”

Put in this way, what Florinia said was, as matter of fact, logical and correct. If my goal is to train strong pokemon from the little babies Candy gave me, I need to fight as many trainers as possible. The extra battles coming from Team Meteor would only be a boost in the training process.

“I agree with you,” I felt pain in saying that, but it had to be said. “However, do not trust me to put my life on the line for the victory of your group. I cannot die in Reborn region.”

“Understood. We will not expect such action.”

“Then I will go now. I shall report back on the Jasper or whatever.”

“One more thing,” Florinia added, stopping me once again. “This app I have developed should also be of help in fighting the pokemon-machine hybrids. I have already inputted the information for the tangrowth you recently battled.”

I scanned the barcode she held out for me with the Pokegear. The app, Pulse Dex, appeared on the screen.

“Got it. Bye.”

So I was, again, on my way to a new Ward, this time far on the northwest.

 

VANILLA RATES: REBORN CHARACTERS

Spoiler

Fern (-2): 1/10 Can't believe he's outright being disrespectful to me.

Florinia: Remains the same, since she made a large request but brought logic and incentive into the deal.

 

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[J-Awesome_One]

You are the queen of excellent story telling of Reborn. o.o I LOVE the ending with Florinia basically persuading Vanilla to help with Team Meteor. That was AWESOME!!!!! Something tells me you won't spoil this yet but I'm gonna ask anyways. Is there gonna be a point in this story that she basically thinks "Well... I don't mind helping Reborn from Team Meteor. I need to help out." Or is she always gonna be how you've made her in this chapter? Or is that not planned out yet? Haha.