Pokémon: Tipping Point [IC]

[Htamret]

"Hey! Come back here you little-" She exclaimed but was cut off by her PokéDex which she managed to catch before it hit the ground.

 

<<Furmine, the Heat Thief Pokémon. Normal-Type. While soft, their coats are incapable of keeping them warm, and as such these Pokémon are notorious for stealing clothes, blankets, and various other objects to make their nests with. For an unexplained reason, these Pokémon also steal shiny objects, and are easily distracted with bits of glass or aluminum cans. Evolves into Warmink.>> 

 

So that's the unevolved form of the Nurse's Pokémon, She thought before focusing on the Pokémon that stole not only her PokéNip, but also her clothes. ((Which apparently fell out as well?))

 

Hopefully I can take it out before it gets too far. Ashley was worried about having only one set of clothes, even if her spare clothes were covered in PokéNip. I should try to catch it, might not be that bad. At the very least I'll have another Pokémon in case Laconda gets taken down... Anyway, I need to get that Pokémon. Now.

 

"Laconda, Water Gun at that thieving Furmine!" She instructed, pointing to where she thought the Pokémon was.

[Tesability Black]

Neos' voice hit an impossibly-high pitch upon getting sprayed in the face by an overeager Ember, causing him to jolt back with the stick in his hand miraculously only lit where he had wanted it to be.

However, he was now missing some of his bangs and part of the brim of his hat from that, and other parts of him were still on fire. While he was busy patting himself out with his free hand, he lifted his head upon hearing the loud bellow from the fiery Pokemon.

"Neos, I think Garbit's-" At the mention of Garbit, he looked around the immediate area to see that they were indeed down a person. "Ah crap."

"My sentiments at the moment as well," he remarked before sliding into a combat stance suitable for a martial artist. He soon spotted a sliver of white slip quickly around them, snatching a lot of somethings out of Ashley's bag before he could respond before scampering off. A growl leaving his throat, he ran off after the Pokemon until it scampered up a tree, to which he looked up towards it before hearing a mechanical voice nearby.

<<Furmine, the Heat Thief Pokémon. Normal-Type. While soft, their coats are incapable of keeping them warm, and as such these Pokémon are notorious for stealing clothes, blankets, and various other objects to make their nests with. For an unexplained reason, these Pokémon also steal shiny objects, and are easily distracted with bits of glass or aluminum cans. Evolves into Warmink.>>

"Good luck stealing my clothes," he remarked...then a faint smell reached his nose, causing his eyes to widen upon realization. "Ack, not---" Covering his mouth using a part of his jacket with his free hand while holding up the lit stick in the other, Neos looked around for a way up without having to use his hands. "Not this again," he mumbled into his jacket.

[DEStroyer of worlds!]

As Garbit walked though the  dark forest, following the glowing golden eyes of his cragmite, he wondered what was going to happen once they found the other cragmites, well, that was untill it stared raining quickly ducking for cover and pushing his pokemon under it too.

 

"Is this normal?" Garbit wispered questioning the bug. Junging by the angry sounding clicks and the scanning around the place, he assumed it wasn't. And that's when they heard the twittering "I'll go see what that noise is, you stay here, wouldn't want you getting wet."

 

As Garbit turned around the tree he saw a little rodent in the shape of a bush, garbit fumble with his pokedex before finding out how to scan the pokemon, but so after he wish he hadn't as the voice of the pokedex allowed he to be easily found.

 

<<Thisspark, the Camouflage Pokémon. Grass/Electric-Type. These relatively small Pokémon sleep curled into a ball most of the day, their dense covering of spines enough to hold off predators. While awake, these Pokémon are prone to unleashing all their stored energy in a few high-power attacks before returning to sleep.>>

 

Thisspark shraply barked at the noise causing both Trainer and pokemon to jump back. That isn't good. Garbit thought to himself before going out to try and reason with this new pokemon.

[Draconus297]

Thisspark ran towards Garbit, furious at having been woken. It wasn't really all that fast, all things considered, but judging by the deep gouge it had made in a tree (which Garbit's Pokédex helpfully identified as having come from the move Quick Attack), it would hit like a truck if it did actually hit Garbit or Cragmite.

 

Suddenly, the forest lit up a bit, and the Pokédex once again explained why: <<Charge Beam is an Electric-Type move that Thisspark may learn. Even if it misses its target, the user can power themselves up with the residual electricity.>>

 

Garbit had to think fast, or he'd feel the full fury of a ticked-off Electric-Type Pokémon.

 

======

 

Laconda's Water Gun successfully knocked the bag of Normal Nip out of the tree . . . however, it was unfortunately quite empty. The Furmine had eaten every bite.

 

The little Normal-Type chittered from up in the tree, likely the Pokémon equivalent of a string of expletives . . . but, in doing so, exposed itself. Its little off-white head poked free of the leaves, apparently just to tell Laconda off.

 

Then, of course, there was the problem of the rain and the noise potentially waking the entire forest . . .

[Htamret]

"Laconda, Water Gun again, hit that Furmine!" Ashley shouted while pulling out a PokéBall, trying to take the opportunity that the small white Pokémon presented. The first blast knocked the bag out of the tree, but it was completely empty. 

 

"Well so much for that. Normal types are overrated anyway..." She grumbled to herself.

 

At least she had the other bags of Nip, thought she would have to make sure that she kept those safe or else this situation was bound to happen again. The rain didn't help to improve her mood, but it did make her worry about the Bessiemer and if it would be okay. She knew that rain could be deadly to a Charmander, but nothing about this species.

 

"Hey Neos, mind asking CowCow how it's doing? The rain might be bad news." She asked, hoping that Neos wasn't too dazed from the Nip

[Tesability Black]

"...this rain isn't normal," Neos stated after a few moments once the rain begin and the lack of Normal Nip kicked in. "Someone activated a Rain Dance nearby, even someone in the Charmander family won't lose their tail flame in this.." The smell of the remaining Nip didn't really bother him, though it gave him an idea. "I'm gonna go looking for Garbit, make sure to keep the Psychic Nip on you if you go anywhere." With this did he run off into the darkness of the trees, quickly climbing up one of them after thinking he was out of range of sight. Once among the branches, Neos sighed before allowing himself to glow and change, the form left behind more sleek and graceful, a Ninetales that was sliding gracefully into grey.

 

Instead of the blue glow fading from view, however, it collected before shooting above and becoming a second sun above the trees as he open neon-green eyes to the rest of the world, the glowing blue jewel hanging around his neck from the same golden chain.

 

A Drought had been activated.

 

"Time to do this," he muttered in Poke before dashing off, using the form's heightened senses to try and find the lost kid.

 

"Garbit!" he shouted using the form's telepathic ability. "Shout if you can hear me!"

[DEStroyer of worlds!]

Cowcow watches as the battle between Laconda and Furmine unfolds, wanting to battle, it waited for an opening, and tried to fire his ember, but all that came out was a puff of smoke. the little calf look surprised at first, until it remembered the rain, then it just looked at little pissed of.

 

"Hey Neos, mind asking CowCow how it's doing? The rain might be bad news."

 

"...this rain isn't normal,someone activated a Rain Dance nearby, even someone in the Charmander family won't lose their tail flame in this.."

 

The Bessiemer looked like he could have killed Neos right there and then, well, that was until it heard his next comment, and followed him the best it could. It didn't take long for Cowcow to lose sight of Neos, not that it mattered as when he noticed the fake sun come up, he heard Neos's voice again.

 

"Garbit! Shout if you can hear me!"

 

The next sound Cowcow heard sent him running towards it, Garbit was in trouble and he run to help

 

======

 

Judging by the charging, which Garbit just managed to avoid, he assumed the headge wasn't much for reasoning, the pokedex chirped as it dropped out of garbit's pocket <<Move identified: Quick Attack>>. As the child backed away from the thisspark, he Noticed a change in light.

 

<<Charge Beam is an Electric-Type move that Thisspark may learn. Even if it misses its target, the user can power themselves up with the residual electricity.>>

 

"Will you shut up!" garbit yelled at the 'dex laying on the ground.

 

<<Move identified: Dig>>.

 

"Huh?" Before Garbit could even try and understand how two moves were happening at the same time, his Cragmite mentioned to hit the Thisspark just enough to make the beam miss Garbit, unfortunately it hit the tree behind it instead, that is when Garbit heard a familiar voice.

 

"Garbit! Shout if you can hear me!"

 

"N-Neos, Is that you! Help!"

[Draconus297]

The Furmine was knocked out of its branch with a decidedly rather comedic sputtering before hitting the ground with a thud. However, thanks to the Drought, it wasn't too shaken up . . . instead, it charged directly at Laconda, the sleek white shape moving rather quickly across the ground.

 

In the added light that Drought's artificial sun had provided, Ashley could see the Furmine's nest all the way up in the tree- stolen clothes of various colors, sizes, and materials arranged in a warm bundle, dotted with a few odd glints of shiny treasures here and there.

 

======

 

Thisspark immediately found itself distracted by the little stony bug, and prepared a second electric strike. The second Charge Beam was aimed at Cragmite instead of Garbit, and unfortunately the little electric Pokémon's aim wasn't as bad the second time.

 

Cragmite weathered the blow, but it was obvious that a second hit would not end well for the armored insect.

 

======

 

Neos was lucky enough that Garbit was in visible distance from where they were . . . unfortunately, neither the little Fire-Type nor the Cragmite was close enough to the young boy if something else attacked, and judging by the odd chittering noises coming from every possible direction . . . Drought had woken lots of things up.

[Htamret]

"Neos! Wait-" Ashley started, then stopped once the blue sun appeared, temporarily blinding her. She heard Neos' voice in her head, calling out to Garbit.

 

I didn't know a Ninetales could do that, or is that some trick Neos knows how to do? She thought to herself, dumbfounded.

 

After blinking a few times to clear the spots from her eyes she focused on the Pokémon that had been hit by the blast of water and was falling out of the tree. Ashley was preparing to throw a PokéBall once the Furmine hit the ground, but didn't get to. The small white creature was only dazed for a moment and began quickly charging towards Laconda.

 

It didn't seem too dazed, maybe I should go for physical attacks? Ashley thought, trying to think back on what her siblings told her about the ins and outs of Pokémon battling.

That speed is also going to be a problem, if we can slow it down, or... Suddenly an idea formed. Stop it entirely!

 

"Laconda, dodge and use Tackle, then try to wrap yourself around it!" She said, then looked around.

It seemed the forest was woken up by the Drought.

[Tesability Black]

Occasionally kicking off the bark of the various trees he passed with cream-colored paws, the greying Ninetales looked ahead towards the source of the call for help with neon-green eyes, moving with swift pace as he ignored the results of the rising false sun for the moment. Seeing the kid and the odd bug from before...Cragmite? he flicked the tips of his nine tails about as purple flames began to form before stopping and spinning in place once to send the spectral flames towards the sparking being.

 

Will-O-Wisp.

 

"Back away or else," Neos both barked in Poke and projected telepathically to those around, a growl in his throat as the glow from the blue gem that hung from the golden chain around his neck illuminated him in a haunting way. He pointed his muzzle towards Garbit after the demand, halting his low growl upon doing so. "Ya okay," he asked the kid telepathically, though only Garbit heard the last thought.

[DEStroyer of worlds!]

Garbit looked just in time to see purple flames go above his head, he couldn't believe it, he was saved.  The child looked around for his savoir when he saw the nine-tailed fox standing there with a blue gem around his neck, he knew he recognised it but not where from.
 
"Back away or else,"
 
"N-neos? I-is that you?"
 
"Ya okay,"

 

"y-your a p-p..." Garbit eyes lit up like a light as he run towards Neos. He began overly affectedly cuddling him. "Yes, I okay Neos, I'm definitely okay!" It was at this moment that he remember that the last time he saw Neos he was human, he awkwardly let him go and then murmured, "I'm sorry"

[Draconus297]

The Furmine was quickly knocked back by the Water-Type Pokémon, and Laconda's ever-so-slightly better speed meant that the fuzzy, sleek Normal-Type was caught in the azure serpent's wrapping grip.

 

Of course, the little thing let out a long, high-pitched squeal as it struggled for freedom that would be pitiful if it weren't so adorable . . . and would be adorable if it weren't so frightening. Ashley felt eyes on her . . . the trees were full of Furmine like this one, and they were all awake. Awake and angry.

 

======

 

The Thisspark weakly barked a challenge- its burn was a sufficient incentive not to fight, and the little Grass-Type trundle away to get back to the sleep Garbit had roused it from, much to the obvious delight of Cragmite.

 

Unfortunately, judging by the similar patterns of thorns, it was apparent that the young boy and his Bug-Type weren't safe yet- dozens of "bushes" clustered together, most likely a family of sleeping Thisspark, all began to shake . . . the trees trembled with the movement of Pokémon woken by Neos's personal sunbeam . . . even unfriendly Cragmite began to burrow out of the ground to see what was causing all this commotion they could feel from within their tunnels.

[Tesability Black]

Neos was nonplussed by the sudden snuggle, though he soon snapped out of that state as Garbit backed off with his apology and heard the large amount of shaking.

 

Here, he now had a problem. Sure, he'd be able to carry Garbit on his back as a Ninetales, but he wasn't big enough in this form to carry someone on the border of adulthood. And even if he shifted to his Pidgeot form, he'd still...

 

Ya know what, f*ck it.

 

"...stand back, but get ready to hop on immediately." As soon as this thought was projected, Neos allowed a white light to envelop him as he closed his eyes. At first, he seemed to shrink, but then he grew in size as something stretched out to either side of him. Once the light had faded away, he had re-emerged in the form of the greying Pidgeot, the jewel still hanging around his neck from the golden chain.

 

As soon as Garbit hopped on, Neos kicked off into flight, flapping his wings as needed to stay in the air while among the trees and to avoid clipping his wings against any of the trees as he flew towards Ashley...

[DEStroyer of worlds!]

As Cragmite walks a little to proundly back towards Garbit, both of them notice a sound in the air, and when the saw the shaking bushes, they knew exactly what it was, more thisspark. And then there were the other cragmite coming out too.
 
"Please tell me they were the freinds we were talking to eariler." It was the sound of the opossing cragmite that answered that question. "Neos, I think we need to go now!"
 
"Stand back but get ready to hold on immediately."

Garbit did as he was told, his Cragmite jumping on his shoulder, the light was a tad too bright, but not anything blinding,all garbit could muster was a jaw drop before jumping aboard.

After getting up in the air garbit saw cowcow running towards the direction they just came from, "Cowcow!" He shouted while trying to reach the pokeball with his right hand, just when he found it his grip sliped off of neos, luckaly he was able to grap neos leg, allowing he to quickly get Cowcow's pokeball out with his left hand.

"Cowcow return!" Hopefully Garbit's aim was good enough or his calf would be in big trouble.

[Htamret]

Well that was easy... Ashley thought to herself, expecting a bit more of a fight. At least with the Furmine immobilized it would be easy to catch.

 

She ran over to where Laconda was wrapped around Furmine and tapped the small white Pokémon with the PokéBall she had ready. A bright light appeared as the Pokémon was sucked into the ball. Laconda moved away in case the Furmine broke out.

 

"I hope we can get along little guy. I promise I'll do my best to take care of you." She murmured as the PokéBall wobbled. She didn't know if the Pokémon inside could hear her, but she hoped that it could at least feel the sincerity she spoke with.

 

However, the inhabitants of the forest were very clearly unhappy with the Drought and one of their kind being assaulted and captured. The hoped that Neos would get back soon, or else she would be in a world of trouble...

[Draconus297]

A beam of red light snatched up the little bovine Pokémon, and returned it safely to its ball. Not only that, but with Drought's unnatural sunlight already beginning to fade, most of the residents of the forest became decidedly more interested in sleep than combat.

 

"Most" because the Ghost-Types were already active at this time of night, and a gray-shrouded little one took a sudden interest in Neos. Its single, glowing red orb of an eye peered curiously at the Pidgeot, unfamiliar with it. Unlike Neos, this one's travel was not hampered in the slightest by the presence of tree branches, and indeed it managed to keep excellent pace with the shapeshifter.

 

======

 

Confirmation chirped from Ashley's Pokédex that Furmine had been caught successfully, and the device pestered her for an official name. With the light fading, the furious Furmine in the trees only warble a warning before returning to their warm nests, as a cold night like this was not good for the thin-coated little Pokémon.

[Htamret]

Ashley breathed a sign of relief that she had captured the small Furmine. The PokéDex asked her for an official name as the apparently was the way in this region. Ashley thought for only a moment to come up with a fitting name for the small creature.

 

"How about..." She said under her breath. Nodding, she told the machine. "Register name: Rascal." The PokéDex chirped a confirmation and showed the information of the particular Furmine she caught.

 

The Pokémon certainly fit the name, but she hoped they would be able to get along. Especially since it looked like its kin wasn't too happy about being woken up.

 

"N-Neos! Are you around?" Ashley called, praying that he would be close by.

[Tesability Black]

(Damn, you actually posted twice between my posts. XD)

 

"N-Neos! Are you around?"

 

Neos did hear this almost immediately after Garbit managed to recall his little cow, turning his head towards the sound and flying towards the source. Upon turning his head, he spotted a splotch of grey nearby...that started moving, floating towards him.

 

Something tells me I don't wanna know what that is, Neos mused to himself upon seeing the red dot of an eye before finally landing in front of Ashley and looking at her. With one of his wings, he pointed towards her before appearing to be folding his wing back in like normal, but actually pointing towards his back. As he did did, Neos chirped, "Pid. Geot," matching perfectly the cadence to the human phrase, "You. Get on."

 

As soon as Ashley got on, Neos got up and started burning Agility en chain until he either got out of the forest or he got no more boosts, which ever happened first.

[DEStroyer of worlds!]

Garbit relaxed a little as he knew his freind was now safe, of course there was still himself to worry about, he was holding on to a gaint bird's leg for arceus sake, and the movments made by Neos to aviod the tree wasn't really helping either. It was at this moment that Garbit saw the singler red eye and was about to tell Neos of it, when he heard yelling from below.

 

"N-Neos! Are you around?"

 

Ashley...

 

As Neos headed towards the sound of Ashley's voice and Garbit thought about their last encounter, while trying to climb back on the birds back, and wondered how she would react to seeing him, hopefully well enough to allow her laconda on. He did mean what he said but in the centure, but as it looked like they were going to be traveling together, he would probably need to get on her good side. It was Neos that snapped he out of his train of thought.

 

"Pid. Geot."

 

"Grab your pokemon and get on!"

[Draconus297]

The red eye slowly shifted from one socket to the other, more a light in the center of this gray shroud than anything. It quietly examined Ashley as Neos picked her up, and her Pokédex picked it up to the point where it could scarcely confirm the Ghost-Type's identity: <<Duskull->> it managed to chirp before being aggressively yanked out of examination range by Neos's pure speed.

 

The trio came across a sleepy little town, literally sleepy as a quick check of the time confirmed that it was 11:22 at night. A teenager, a child, and a Ditto had hung around in the dark, thick forest that made up Route 401 for five hours without losing their heads- and clutched in Ashley's hands was a bundle of clothing, blankets, and other soft and/or shiny things that had made up Rascal's nest.

 

A single light flicked on in the rather small Pokémon Center, and through the window the trio could see a nurse peering through wondering about commotion so close to midnight.

[Tesability Black]

Neos' landing near the Pokemon Center, as he approached...could be considered one of the most-inelegant crashes he's had in a good while.

 

He landed several feet away from the front of the Center hard enough to cause the rest to fly off his back a bit from the impact, bouncing and skidding a few more times before finally winding up with his beak just in front of the door almost touching it, managing an "ow, my everything" in Poke before a bluish glow began to surround the aging bird then appearing to shrink slightly. Once the glow faded, there was an odd sight left behind.

 

There was a transparent golden blob where the Pidgeot used to be, held within it a quartet of items, those being the white Premier Ball, the older model Pokedex from several generations back, a leather wallet that seemed to have currency from at least a few different regions and the familiar glowing blue jewel held by the simple golden chain. The black dots that were the blob's eyes were visible, but they looked like they were taking on the forms of spirals instead that threatened to slip into the forms of 'X's instead.

 

(Severe lack of sleep + crash landing = Someone just got KOed.)

[DEStroyer of worlds!]

As Garbit rode on Neos's back to the town, his adrenaline stopped and he finally relized how tired he was and went down to sleep. Of course, It was not to last long, and Neos crash landed sending Garbit to the ground, and stopping him from sleeping.

 

"C-Cragmite? N-Neos? Wh-where are you?" Being only half conscious himself, he was able to see the blue light, but not fully resister it as Neos. Garbit soon felt his head starting to feel heavy again, only for the last thing he sees before fainting to be his Cragmite as his eyelids close into darkness.

[Htamret]

Almost as soon as Neos returned, Ashley found herself trying to clutch onto both Neos and the bundle of her possessions and whatever was in the Furmine's former nest. As they careened through the forest she swore her PokéDex registered a Pokémon for a brief moment but stopped as the Pokémon exited range.

 

As they finally reached the town, Neos barely was able to land before passing out, flinging his passengers as he hit the ground. Ashely tried her best to control her fall, tucking as best she could to protect her head. This worked somewhat, since even though she was fairly banged up she was able to struggle to her feet after confirming she hadn't broken anything.

"Neos, are you okay?" She asked, but her question was quickly answered by the yellow blob teetering on the edge. A quick look at Garbit confirmed that he too was unconscious, though his Cragmite wasn't.

 

"Okay. Been in worse, but this still sucks. At least I don't need to drag them to help..." She mumbled to herself. Praying that Neos wouldn't tear her a new one when he woke up, she fished out his PokéBall and was about to recall him, thinking he would be safer that way. She decided against it, however, in case it somehow made the situation worse, opting to instead scoop him up in her arms. Then she opened the door to the Pokémon Center and called out to the Nurse on duty.

 

"Excuse me! My friend and our Pokémon are injured! They need medical attention! I might too, but I'm not seriously hurt. I can't carry the boy who's outside though." She urged in a stream of words, then took a much needed breath of air.

[Draconus297]

"O-oh my! Oh my goodness! Go on, head inside, and hand over that Ditto to my assistant," the nurse yelped, her relatively young face marred by worry. It was obvious she hadn't been in charge of a Pokémon Center for very long, judging by how much this situation scared her. "My Warmink can take it and all your Pokéballs to the back to quickly rest up . . ." That said, the young woman quite easily lifted Garbit onto her shoulder to carry inside, and added, "My ability to help people is very rudimentary . . . oh dear, oh no, hmm . . . I'll lay this young man down in Room 7 in the back, and you can take Room 6, okay?" She suddenly seemed to have a question on her mind- "Whose Ditto is that? Yours, or this young man's?"

 

Out of the corner of her eye, Ashley might almost have sworn she saw a hazy gray shape . . . but it's possible it was just eye floaters from such a hard impact.

[Tesability Black]

Neos usually tried not to pass out when in pain, including fainting.

As he laid in his original form, the small blob occasionally flinched and turned in his forced state of slumber, the look of pain on his face beyond what he had been showing.

If there had been a Psychic Pokemon nearby or any Pokemon that had the form of Telepathy required for it, they would sometimes sense from the Ditto's mind flashes of a dark place, glass immediately surrounding the human-morphed Ditto. The feeling of arms held high above him as he's forced to remain standing with wrists, ankles and waist bound in place. The feeling of a needle in each arms to inject things into him as needed. The lack of anything against the skin to shield from the intense cold. The feeling of intense starvation and thirst and the frequent difficulty in breathing.

The moment the Warmink placed the fidgeting Ditto on a bed, an unexpected reaction occurred. The Ditto suddenly cried out, more in intense fear than pain as it got up, blue light surrounding it as it reformed itself into his human form with incredible swiftness as he screamed in such a blood-curdling way through the whole thing.

When the light faded from him, Neos was sitting up with knees to his chest and arms wrapped around him, widened eyes looking around the place in fear due to his brain not registering where he was, despite the neon-green and dark-green of his eyes shrinking in visible size. Unlike most of his changes, there was some things missing from him. Of all his clothes, only his purple pants managed to appear when none of the rest showed. His arms and upper body were riddled with scars of all sorts, not all of them appearing to be from battle, either. Some of the scarring even moved to below the edge of the pants in several places on him, making it seem that he's been through more than was shown.

The most-prominent scar, however, was on his upper-right arm near his shoulder, a cruelly-carved 'R' that looked like it should have faded years ago, but never did...