[Training Topic] Route 101 to Oldale Town

Gareth pulled the strap of his hip bag over his head in order to take it off and place it down onto the bench beside where he was sitting.  He first pulled out the red pokédex and took the time to glance over it.  It was different than the one he had received four years back.  It looked more advanced and sleek and reminded him of a tablet or smartphone.

He pressed the hologram pokéball in the middle of the case and watched as it opened up and began to come to life.  A computerized voice began to speak, sounding feminine, and informed him that the pokédex was currently unregistered and that could easily be remedied by visiting the local PokéCenter.  The nearest PokéCenter was in Oldale Town and without transport he would need protection journeying there on foot.

“Protection, huh?” Gareth mumbled under his breath as he shut the pokédex off, placed it back into his bag, and pulled out the pokéball he had been given that contained his starter.  He supposed he was lucky to receive a Mudkip out of the usual selection.

The first Gym badge was located in Rustboro City and what’s-her-face (he couldn’t remember) used rock Pokémon.  He couldn’t remember her name but he could clearly remember her Geodude and Nosepass.  He had fought against her with a fire-pokémon starter and… well… he hadn’t received the Stone Badge.  The memory caused Gareth to frown more deeply and he sighed aloud as he stared down at the red and white ball within his hand.

“Well, I would have preferred a selection,” He told the Pokémon.  “And at least would have been able to meet you, outside of your ball, within the Laboratory.”

Now that he thought about it, this was kind of weird.

“But, uh… come on out…?” He said and tossed the ball forward watching as a bright white light exploded from the sphere and began to form the shape and color of the mud fish Pokémon.  Gareth’s silver gaze studied it, glancing over its vibrant blue shade, the gills on its cheeks, and its fins.  It was a water Pokémon and definitely looked as though it would perform much better in water than on land.

“I don’t have experience with this,” He groaned and lifted a hand to scratch his head as he inwardly grew frustrated with his own limitations.

The blue mud fish glanced around the area and then its eyes focused up on him.  Gareth sat on the bench, leaned forward with his elbows propped against the top of his thighs, and his fist pressing underneath his chin.

“Mudkip, right?” He questioned it even though he knew it couldn’t speak back.  “Well, it’s nice to meet you.  Er… finally.  And, uh, I’m Gareth.  Yeah.”

He held one of his hands out in a mock handshake as the blue fish continued to stare up at him with little to no expression.  Gareth let out another sigh and hopped up from the bench and onto his own two feet once more.  He turned to begin searching through his bag again but was coming up short with anything useful.

He pulled out a small, pocket sized, manual that would have made him the joke of the town.  But a second later he was tossing it back into his bag, zipping it up, and slinging it over his shoulder once more.

“Well, whatever,” Gareth muttered with the irritation he was feeling and glanced back and down toward his Pokémon.  “I don’t have a PokéNav because I’m too damn poor to afford one.  My Pokédex is currently useless and I don’t know what the hell your moves are.”

Route 101 was rather straight-forward.  Like literally.  Gareth could see Oldale Town from where he was standing at the very beginning of the route.  Route 101 rose with a slight incline but nothing too drastic.  It was a rather boring route.  But, it was a perfect route for training.  Gareth stopped before a field-like area where a tree stood on its own with the forest quite a ways behind.

“All right, Mudkip, show me what moves you have,” He told his fish and took a step back to observe.  “Attack.”

Gareth watched as his own Pokémon gave him a look that clearly conveyed the inner emotion it was feeling.

“Hey, I expect a little more respect than that,” Gareth returned as he folded his arms across his chest and motioned for Mudkip to go on and attack the tree like he had instructed.  “I don’t know your moves and I need to learn them.”

“All right, let’s see, I’m sure you know Tackle or Scratch,” Gareth began and purposely glanced down toward his Mudkip’s feet to examine how sharp or apparent its claws were.  “Hmm, Growl or Leer.  You probably know Water Gun?”

Mudkip just continued to stare up at him in that same infuriating way.  It was starting to piss him off.

“Water Gun the tree,” He instructed and Mudkip turned its head to spray water at the trunk of the tree.  “Scratch the tree.”

Gareth remained silent for a long enough moment before giving the order to ‘Tackle’ and watched as Mudkip rushed forward and tackled itself into the tree.  The amount of force actually surprised Gareth and caused his gaze to lift as a couple of berries dropped from its branches.

“Well, that’s interesting,” He noted and his expression clearly showed the fact that he was impressed with its strength.  His gaze lowered a moment later, back down to his fish.  “Hmm.  Tackle the tree a few more times, I want some of those berries.”

Gareth stepped forward as Mudkip tackled itself into the tree and caused roughly four large, bluish, fruit to plop down into the grass.

“Okay, so here’s the plan,” He began as he squatted down to collect the Oran Berries.  “I’m going to roll them, like a bowling ball—not that you understand what that is—but through the grass and I want you to tackle each one.  Got it?”

He stood and began to take a few steps back.  “Good.”

Gareth then proceeded to roll an Oran berry through the field, chucking it like a bowling ball, and ordering the Tackle.  He proceeded with the next three and purposely rolled them in unpredictable directions.  In the end, as he stood, he had to admit that he was impressed.  Mudkip was, like he had predicted, slower on ground.  But if its stubby little legs could get it to the target the amount of damage was impressive.

“That’s very interesting.  All right, there’s only so much I can do with a Pokédex out of commission.  We’ll make our way to Oldale and try our hand at a couple of wild Pokémon along the way.”

[End of Thread~]

(( ooc: No need to RP-mod but I do need Mudkip's level, attacks, and exp to be updated within Gareth's profile. C: ))

=====================================================
Mudkip Level 12 with 0 exp points @ start
Training post is 1130 words / 10 = 113 experience points
+12 exp Mudkip reached Level 13 101 exp left
+13 exp Mudkip reached Level 14 88 exp left
+14 exp Mudkip reached Level 15 74 exp left
Mudkip learns the attack Bide
+15 exp Mudkip reached Level 16 59 exp left
Mudkip does NOT evolve
+16 exp Mudkip reached Level 17 43 exp left
+17 exp Mudkip reached Level 18 26 exp left
+18 exp Mudkip reached Level 19 8 exp left
Mudkip learns the attack Foresight

Mudkip Level 19 with 8 exp points @ end

((The thing is, when we calculate experience, we only actually count the parts that include the actual training. So, Mudkip might not be the level that you think it is. However, I will update with the amount of experience according to the words counted.))

(( ooc: All right, thank you Nishwishes. ^^ ))