Roleplay

Charlotte Battenburg // Route 1

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Charlotte flushed when Amelia said "dibs" and hid a smile. Truly she was so weak to validation, but it was also a little awkward. Amelia reminded her that most trainers dreamed of working for the league, while she was just being a trainer as a backdoor route to becoming a Pokemon professor or academic. It felt like she was taking the place of someone else who could have used this opportunity. On the other hand, she was good enough to be here, so she deserved the attention whether she was going to take advantage of it or not, right?

Although there was another thing...

"Actually, this may be out of the blue, but I can't find this information on the internet and I felt that League employees may have an answer for me. Do you happen to know how trainers can qualify to be Gym Leaders?"

The boy came up and asked the trainers about rock-types. Yikes, he was already thinking ahead! She needed to find a second Pokemon fast if she was going to keep up with him, but they did say something about someone in Striation... Charlotte made a mental note to email her father and ask if there were any prominent researchers there that Juniper may be connected to.

Both Aces blinked at Charlotte in surprise. Jonathan broke the silence "It's not on the Net?" He took out his Xtransciever to check for himself.

Amelia sighed quietly as what could have been her trainee chose a different path. Still, there might be hope for her to turn to the Ace force if she finds the road to gym leader too hard. Not that she would wish someone to fail in their dreams.

"It's very straight forward," she said. "You have to reach the E4 with a mono-type team, of the type you wish to be master of. So it means beating all eight gyms, and conquering Victory Road. And 'conquer' is the right word for it. We notice when someone goes through the gym challenge with a mono team, because it heralds a new gym leader. It means we, Ace Trainers, might get a new superior, a new Commanding Officer." Her eyes hardened as she looked off into the distance.

"A month ago, someone did just that, and almost succeeded. But once he stepped into Victory Road, every Ace there went all out. 'We will not obey those weaker than us,' we all said. The guy went home crying."

Jonathan winced. "I was the one who picked him up after the third time he lost in V Road."

Amelia explained "The gym leaders are limited on how many Pokemon they can use against you, also on how strong those are, depending on the number of badges you have. You can choose to skip a gym -except Striaton's- and come back to it later, and the gym leader will adapt his or her team.

"We do the same to the trainers on Victory Road, we battle them with around three Pokemon, and use the ones that are still in training, not the ones we used to beat our own gym challenges. When a mono-type team appears, the kiddie gloves are off. We want to see that our superior-to-be can stand tall and strong against the best of Unova, that they have the strength needed to care for and protect the part of Unova they'll be in charge of."

She softens her expression. "I hope I didn't scare you away, but the road to becoming gym leader is a harsh one."

Jonathan added his own two salts "If you think it's unfair, think about it this way: You won't have to deal with the E4 and Champion. They are in a league of their own and there's two options that trainers hoping to become champion have to chose between."

He focused on Darius for this part, as Charlotte hadn't shown interest in the championship. "You can challenge the E4 and Champ with two claims: Victory or Conquest. I'm sure you get the idea for the second," he added dryly.

"Victory gives you the title of Champion and gets you registered in the hall of fame, but you don't actually become the Champion. You get an offer to become an E4 trainee, on top of all of the job opportunities that open up elsewhere. Conquest is when the kiddie gloves are off for the E4 and Champion. If you beat them claiming Conquest, you immediately become acting Champion. It's like a coup and has a lot of political ramification. No sane person goes for Conquest right out of the gym challenge, they go for Victory, train under the E4 and Champ for a couple years, then challenge them in Conquest."

"Aaaaahhh!!!" cried Amelia. "Enough of that. There's still a long road ahead of you. Look at your baby Pokemon, they can barely scare off a Patrat without ending up half comatose. Every big journey starts with the first step. Don't think about the big mean trainers up north, think about the stupid monkeys the Striaton brothers are gonna throw at you."

Jonathan laughed, breaking the heavy atmosphere. "You know what, you've got some interesting questions. Here's my number, call if you need a lift or just to ask questions. I'm free most of the time, so don't be shy!"

{Charlotte and Darius obtained Ace Trainer Jonathan's number. He can now be called using the Xtransciever.}

Darius Kollins
Location: Route One, Unova

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Darius sat down and listened to the Ace Trainers talk. This was all very intriguing, and gave him some insight as to how the League works. At some point during the talk, he let out C.V. She was still kind of sleepy, so he let her climb onto his lap and fall asleep again.

As soon as he was given Jonathon's number, Darius registered it in the Xtransciever. Nice, he now had a League official on speed dial. That could come in handy. "Thanks. I'm sure I'll have more questions," he said, getting up. "You've given me lots to think about."

C.V. slowly awoke to hear her trainer talking to a couple of strangers. Judging by their tones of voice, she could tell the conversation was winding down, so she crawled off of Darius's lap. she watched as her trainer stood up. She summoned a vine to lightly tap him on the shoulder, a way of saying "Hey, don't forget about me!" It worked, and Darius reached down to pick her up, setting her on his shoulder.

Charlotte Battenburg // Route 1

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This is it! This is what she wanted!

Just hearing Amelia and Jonathan talk filled Charlotte with fear, which was a great sign. She had learned being scared of a path was a good sign that it would be challenging, competitive, and rewarding when bested. As they talked, she looked over at Wilbur, who was also listening intently. She wasn't sure how much he understood, but he looked as excited as she was.

After the Ace trainers were done speaking, Charlotte thanked them profusely left with the boy.

"You heard them Wilbur," Charlotte turned towards her Pokemon. "We have a much, much harder path than other trainers ahead of us. Right now, we're in no state to be taking on even the first gym leader."

She checked her Xtransceiver for the time. "It's a few hours til dinner anyway. We were told by the Ace trainers that we'd be battling a Pokemon strong to fire in the next gym, so we can't rely on Ember like we did during our battle with the Snivy. Therefore, let's see if we can strengthen up that Tackle, ok?"

Wilbur oinked in agreement and followed his trainer into the tall grass.

---

Charlotte thought they would lay waste to the Patrat and Lillipup of route 1, but it was actually pretty slow-going. Wilbur's Tackle was definitely weaker than Ember, but slowly and surely, Charlotte felt he was getting more confident with the attack. In the process of training, Charlotte also fed Wilbur the berry. That was bad news- they didn't get any money yet so she wasn't going to be able to replenish the stock of healing items.

Charlotte remembered her other teammates and was struck with an idea. If they trained together, Wilbur would be able to fight more Pokemon with less damage. Furthermore, she could also observe how other trainers fought and potentially gain some information.

She looked at the other two girls she hadn't spoken to yet. Frankly, they seemed to be the kind of people she had trouble with- popular, nice, confident... but she had to talk to them at some point.

She walked up to the one with the Rufflet- the one Juniper gave special treatment to.

"Hey," Charlotte walked up and pointed to a Patrat. "Do you want to fight that together."

((For some reason FR never notifed me when someone posted here-))
Carmen // Route 1

Carmen grinned as she was handed the berry. "Thanks!" She said, pocketing it for later. She forged ahead back down the path, following the others. The Ace Trainers were interesting, for sure. The healing system, and the Elite 4? Sounded like a good challenge! She watched as the other began to chat. It looked like Charolette and Rufflet Girl were going to battle together. Not a bad idea!

Carmen sidled up to Darius, popping up beside him. "Hey!" She greeted. "Osha!" Oscar waved. "It seems like those two are teaming up." She said, jerking her thumb over her shoulder. "How about you and me team up? It would make things easier, as far as getting throught this route!"

[size=4]Kyrin Solarflare[/size] Location: Route 1, Unova Tagged: Charlotte [img]https://cdn.bulbagarden.net/upload/e/e5/627MS.png[/img] ___________________________________________________________________________ Kyrin thanked the girl before she left, and heard Darius and Charlotte asking about really advanced things like beating the gyms and - wow - becoming a gym leader! Truth be told, Kyrin just wanted to have some fun, and didn't really have an interest in becoming a gym leader. She was planning to go back to Kanto for a period of time after this adventure was over anyway. She was quite surprised when Charlotte came up to speak to her. Only when the other girl pointed to the Patrat a few metres away did she realise it was there. "Ah yea! Charlotte, was it? Sure, why not," Kyrin answered with a grin. She glanced at Ruffle, but he was already flying towards the unsuspecting Patrat. She sighed a little, this Pokemon was certainly quite... eager. "Ruffle! Use Peck!" she instructed, and Ruffle pecked hard at the Patrat. The Patrat screeched and started tackling Ruffle, but it was already weakened. Kyrin glanced at Charlotte. "How about you finish it off?"

Charlotte Battenburg // Route 1

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"Right. Wilbur, you know what to do!" Charlotte commanded. Without hesitation, Wilbur tackled the Patrat to the ground. Charlotte smiled. Ruffle definitely weakened it, but only needing to expend a single hit on a wild Pokemon felt like improvement.

The two girls continued to take on a few more wild Pokemon as a team. The nature of being in the wild rather than a referred fight made their teamwork a little loose- sometimes they were fighting separate Pokemon that ambushed them, sometimes they teamed up against a single one.

It was a weird experience. Charlotte wasn't used to...working well with someone else. At school, she didn't have friends, just a network of other honors students just using each other for homework help. Even during group projects, she was known for just taking the project into her own hands with no feedback from the group. This teamwork thing was a novelty, and it was one she wasn't sure how to handle. Was she supposed to talk? Would that be appropriate?

"So," Charlotte trailed off, not really knowing what to say. To cover it up, she cleared her throat so hard she actually started coughing.

"Uh. You seem good at this. Do you have prior experience with Pokemon?"

[size=4]Kyrin Solarflare[/size] Location: Route 1, Unova Tagged: Charlotte [img]https://cdn.bulbagarden.net/upload/e/e5/627MS.png[/img] ___________________________________________________________________________ Kyrin was glad to have the chance to battle more with Charlotte, and even scanned a Lillipup along the way. Eventually, Charlotte spoke to her again. "Prior experience? Hmm... Not much with being a Pokemon trainer, I'd say. In Kanto where I came from, the city I lived in had a Pokemon gym. It was cool, but I didn't set off on a Pokemon trainer journey at that time. Maybe because I was quite young!" Kyrin laughed a little. "Thanks for the compliment, though. You seem really goal-oriented, which I find admirable." She paused, wondering what to ask, before remembering the conversation Charlotte had with the Ace Trainers earlier. "Are you looking to become a gym leader?"

Darius Kollins
Location: Route One, Unova

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Darius noticed Carmen walking towards him and turned to greet her.

"Hey!" the girl greeted. Her Oshawott gave a wave, with a cry of "Osha!" C.V. rolled her eyes at the silly water type.

"Oh, uh, hi!" Darius replied. "I'm Darius. You name is... Carmen? I hope I said that right."

"It seems like those two are teaming up. How about you and me team up? It would make things easier, as far as getting through this route!"

Darius considered this. It made sense to do so, especially since he wanted to get to Accumula Town. Carmen seemed friendly enough, enough anyways. "I don't see why not," he said with a shrug.

The team of two battled their way through several of the Patrat and Lillipups that overpopulated Route One, making a bit of small talk along the way. C.V. seemed to grow more confident the more she and Darius fought together. She enjoyed the company of Oshawott, much to her own surprise.

Before Darius knew it, he and Carmen were standing at the edge of Accumula Town. "Oh, wow, here already," Darius said. "Dang..."