Jibwrite

Ch 96 - Whirlwind

The training session the next morning was short. Venonat and Cloudburst were both fully healed, and it was time for more realistic battles. Only ‘more’ realistic because there were three days left until his League deadline, and they were fighting a monster.

David was worried at first about injuries. Three days was not enough time to recover, especially if it was from a wound given by a fully evolved gym Pokemon. That worry was short-lived. Venonat and Cloudburst may have been battli...

Ch 95 - Inevitable

The next morning they focused on Moves again. Poison Powder and Supersonic for Venonat, switching as he exhausted one type of energy or the other. When Cloudburst woke, they spent some time playing in the sand before she grew fed up. A dogfight against Venomoth proved to be an adequate apology to the grouchy bird, though it took David longer than expected to explain what he wanted to Jenny. From her reaction to the term, it was not going to catch on in Fuchsia anyt...

Arc 4 Faction Voting

I am looking for two factions for the start of the next arc. Keep in mind that Arc 4 is still several chapters away, and character introductions will depending on plot as well.

I believe everyone has one vote at the moment, so I'll take the top two choices if there are enough votes.

These are all the factions I think have appeared so far, but let me know if there's another you'd like to support.

Discussion about the vote can be found in the discord: 2024-05-29 09:46:04 +0000 UTC View Post

Ch 94 - Strive

“Ow.”

Jenny held a hand in front of her mouth, clearly shocked or concerned–

She coughed once, then completely failed to hold back her giggles.

David looked at her, puzzled and unamused. How did she switch from psycho trainer to friendly without any gap in between? “Ugh.” Groaning, he lay down fully, resting his head on the wet floor. It was too early for this.

The laughing came to a jerky half stop. “What are you doing? Get up.” More giggles. ”You can�...

Ch 93 - Reflection

The meditation session did not go as planned.

Instead of being led through chants while some soothing music played in the background, David was instructed to sit, close his eyes and think. There was no clearing of his mind. No scented incense. No inner peace. Jenny told him to picture the training, walking him through the morning, prompting for his thoughts and how he felt at certain moments. He wasn’t supposed to answer, just re-experience the panic, the rush and evaluate it.

I...

Ch 92 - Payback

David ran. He ran and shouted, and ran some more. Occasionally, Venonat and he would manage to pull off a maneuver and buy themselves some precious rest while Jenny and Venomoth adjusted. Venomoth wasn’t about to be hit by a Bug Bite, but a well-timed Nope could do a lot.

Twice Venonat and he managed to run into each other and suffer. Both times that happened the pressure had lightened up, Jenny too busy laughing to do anything else, but he refused to do it purposely for rest.

H...

Ch 91 - The Dose makes the Poison

It was dark. Navigating by the moon dark. Fuchsia wasn’t awake yet, and only the occasional shadowed figure slipping through the streets gave any impression of the city being alive at all.

David wanted to be like Fuchsia. He’d been living odd hours since Venonat had joined the team, but this was a whole new who-needs-sleep level. The worst thing was that he didn’t even feel that tired. It felt normal, in a large part thanks to the events of the day before. He wasn’t exhausted be...

Ch 90 - A Deal with the..

Once more, David was left alone with one of the most powerful people in Kanto.

It felt like there should be more gravitas to the situation. He was reeling - both from being face to face with the two gym leaders, and from what Sabrina had revealed before disappearing. The two of them had a presence. It wasn't subtle. A power beyond the physical, and that wasn’t even mentioning the otherworldly abilities that Sabrina wielded. Three one-on-one conversations, short though they’d been, w...

Ch 89 - Long overdue

It was Koga, gym leader of Fuchsia.

The gym leader of Fuchsia, the head of the junta that controlled the city, the face of the sovereign, the power of the peninsula. He was an unassuming man, bereft of any adornments and sitting before a short wooden table on a simple cushion in an empty room.

David’s blood still ran cold. There was no reason for this man to be here. Desperately he searched the man’s face, hoping he was mistaken, but he couldn’t fool himself. Not with this. ...

Ch 88 - Principle

Getting to the Fuchsia gym was a challenge.

Unlike in Celadon or Saffron, the signposts for the gym were not laid out in an array, all pointing inwards towards the gym, but a line. Small pink hearts led the way, embossed on signs that were attached to random, convenient surfaces.

David was directed north, east, south, through narrow alleys and across busy thoroughfares only to be sent back west. He lost track of the number of times the line twisted back across itself and turned ar...

Ch 87 - Support

“Are you sure you’re ready?”

David couldn’t hold back his grimace, or the flicker of uncertainty in his eyes. Louis looked away, turning his focus back to the climbing equipment he was meant to be inspecting.

Above them Cloudburst sweated, laboriously climbing into the sky as fast as possible. 

“No, but I’ve already signed up. And it fits my plans. It’s just...”

It hurt him to admit it, but Louis wasn’t asking to condemn, or to pressure. They’d...

Ch 86 - Battle scars

“Looking for a battle against zero badge, one Pokemon,” David shouted, diving into the crowd.

Several confused faces, some of which had been bobbing their way through the crowd towards him, scrunched up in confusion. The reaction wasn’t much of a surprise. For one, it was very early in the morning. People were tired. And then there was the fact that he’d been in Fuchsia for two weeks now. His team and he had fought and trained right here nearly every day of that two weeks. He wa...

Ch 85 - The Safari Zone

The path to the Safari Zone was nothing like the rest of Fuchsia. For one it was cobbled, rough bumpy stone instead of smooth tarmac. That was the least of the changes.

Tightly packed houses and apartments gave way to spacious villas and eventually mansions. Most of these large structures were constructed of the local white wood, but some were built from more exotic materials. David recognized the cream textured walls and green tiles from Celadon, and the old hewn stone and simple desig...

Ch 84 - Recoil

“Bug Bite.”

It started with a flicker. Small sparks followed. They illuminated even smaller circles before disappearing. Each gave a tiny glimpse of color, the packed dirt displayed through lime lenses, but too briefly. You couldn’t focus on a detail, on one stone or pebble, before the glimpse was gone.

The sparks multiplied and a deep vibration itched David’s bones.

Venonat twitched, no doubt feeling the vibration all the deeper with its antennae. It wasn’t a Move...

Ch 82 - Persona Two

“You sure this is okay?”

Louis shrugged. “I have to test them either today or tomorrow. Teaching you and getting your help is just lucky timing.”

“And the trees?” David asked, chewing on his lip.

“Officially, these need to be tested against a rock face or in a cavern.” Louis waved his hand at the flat marshland around them. “Unofficially Fuchsia ignores that as we don’t have many caves or rocky areas and the ones we do are all protected habitats. We'll br...

Ch 82 - Change of clothes

Fuchsia was not a fun place to be early in the morning.

Locals swarmed through the thin streets, rushing forward towards head-on collisions only to sidestep their neighbour at the last moment in perfect sync. Groups of strangers, all moving at different tempos, worked in harmony to avoid each other and get to their destination as fast as possible. There was no room for personal space. There was no stopping or falling over. Everyone who had chosen to travel the backstreets and alleyways ...

Ch 80 - Nope

Cloudburst swooped, swinging back and forth through the air like a pendulum as she closed the gap. Mid turn, she banked suddenly, throwing her wings out wide in preparation for a-

“Nope!”

She swung her wings forward, too far into the process of the Move to abort now. Her powerful limbs created small bursts of wind, but no light.

Pidgey let out an angry squawk.

David winced a little too. He thought she’d been close that time too. Not close enough though. Before he...

Ch ?? - Gary the First

Gary was ready.

He’d prepared everything he could possibly need. Two changes of clothes, four sets of underwear, a towel and one extra pair of boots. Spare clothes were important, everyone said that. Then there was the survival equipment. A knife he’d secreted away weeks before. A compass and a map for navigation. That small pop up tent he borrowed from the neighbours two days before. Then there was the food. Four packs of berry buns, and three sachets of Normal type food.

It ...

Ch 79 - Dissent

I’ve realised I nearly doubled up on names - (Elise in the market and Eloise, Dojo member and Fred’s mother) From here on, Elise in the Fuchsia market will be Marie. I’ve updated Ch 78.

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"Up!” David shouted, “Up Cloudburst!”

The smoke continued to spread, climbing higher and spreading wider with every second. It was a dirty colour, dark and thick like the sky over an industrial city. Occasionally sections flashed,...

Ch 78 - Weaving a Story

David had fucked up.

He had really fucked up and he didn’t even know how badly.

‘Venonat - Moths and Legends’ didn’t have any of the information on Moves, diet plans or training tips that he’d been looking for. It was just a history book, mostly about the Marsh rebellion and useless to a trainer. Instead it contained a deadly truth, one that had seeped into his brain and had haunted him since reading it.

It distracted him as he trained Cloudburst and Venonat that n...

Ch 77 - Counter

Pidgey - Cloudburst stood on the packed dirt, facing off against... the Bug type. The purple bee without wings. His new Pokemon.

“I really need to find out its name,” David murmured as he watched them. Today.. Today had been a bit manic with the early morning wake up, meeting Louis, the ranger, and arriving in Fuchsia city in general, but it’d been less than 24 hours and calling the Pokemon.. nothing was starting to wear on him.

The Pokemon needed a name.

Almost as if ...

Ch 76 - First night in Fuchsia

David stood still in the centre of the now deserted street.

A man with dark indigo hair staggered towards him. A Voyant. A Psychic.

The locals of Fuchsia gathered in the alleys, and at the edges of the road, watching them.

David should have been doing something. Running, protesting, even just stepping out of the distressed psychic’s way.

He should have been, but in that moment all he felt was confusion.

How? How had they tracked him down so fast? He'd arrived i...

Ch 75 - Colour

With a single step David crossed from marshland to city.

Ten steps later he passed the first alleyway, and as its traffic merged onto the main road behind him, all sight of the Route was blocked. It was as if the city had swallowed him up in a single bite.

Up close, the white walls of the houses around him were marred by narrow grey lines. The wood grain from the marsh's white trees was faint, but it transformed the clean white to a more monotonous, flat texture. It made the perfe...

Ch 74 - Keeper

Cloudburst dived under the branches, her wings silent. She spiralled under the twisted white branches, avoiding the hanging vines as they swayed in her passage. As she passed the densest vegetation she straightened and her wings began to beat.

Whoop. Whoop. The sounds were faint, but with only the bubbling of the marsh to accompany them the wing beats carried far.

They were not training as they hiked today. David expected to arrive in Fuchsia in the next few hours, and he wanted P...

Ch 73 - Preference

“Crap.” David sighed, passing the offending material between his fingers once more.

In response to his outburst, Cloudburst let out a slow squawk. She continued to peck at her feathers up in that squat white tree. He wouldn’t be getting any help from her anytime soon.

When he released her this morning, she’d appeared on the ground as always. This time however, said ground was marshy. Pidgey did not like muddy ground. She especially didn’t like how the grime stuck to her ...

Ch 72 - Interloper

Once the convoy started moving again David was forced to admit that Gleem’s old pillow cushion was needed. Aaron’s wagon had nothing even remotely resembling suspension. Every hole and bump in the road they passed over felt like a mini earthquake. The sliver of comfort didn’t make the stains on the Tauros' cushion any less disgusting, but as the sun came up it became easier to stop looking at the cushion. There was just so much else to look at.

And what a sight it was.

Jagge...

Ch 71 - Branding

David looked at the Tauros.

The Tauros looked at David.

Cloudburst stared at the Tauros.

The Tauros tossed its head and eyed her back.

The Pokemon’s eyes were oval-shaped and vertical, giving it a predator-like stare even though to David, it was, well, a cow. Long body, four legs and broad shoulders. Definitely a cow. Its two eyes were on the sides of its head, preventing it from looking directly ahead, something that was quite obvious as it shifted to try and keep b...

Ch 70 - Elephant

“Ah ah aah,” David hissed, slowly pulling his right shoe off.

Pidgey let out a light shrill, hopping closer. She twitched worriedly, and ducked her head close to get a look at his foot.

Too close. Her eyes widened and her feathers bunched as she caught the whiff that was released by the now free foot and socks.

“Pii!” Cloudburst screamed, hopping back.

David scoffed. “Yeah, yeah. I know. It’s wash day.” He waved his hand at the stream behind them and pull...

Ch 69 - Improvise

David packed up slowly the next morning.

He couldn’t quite decide if he preferred the smooth ground by the cliff edge as a campsite over the long grass in a wooded clearing. His feet and clothes weren’t soaked by morning dew, but the stone ground was cooold. It hadn’t been bad last night, but when he woke up this morning the chill had soaked through the stone into his thin mat. It was worse on his bare feet. The cold seemed to bite at his toes.

Still, it was with an odd sens...

Ch 68 - Adapt

It was a windy day. Branches swayed. Leaves swished.

Down below in the forest, David felt very little of that. The occasional gust penetrated the weaved trunks to reach him, but at that point even a mighty gale was weakened to a wheezy gasp. He was glad to be back in the trees after so long in the city and then the plains around it. It wasn’t even midday yet and he’d already found a source of water - a narrow stream gurgling as it trickled down a mossy path. Even better than the wat...