Gotta Catch Em' All: Platinum Version (Open!)

[Lychee]

RAE
Trainer Palila Rae
Location: Route 204
Team: Dartrix (25/25) Staravia (15/25) Prinlup (25/25) Wingull (25/25) Oricorio 'Sensu' -shiny (0/15) Eevee -shiny (0/25)
Partner Pokemon: Chatot
Posts to hatch egg: Trash Burmy (20/20)
Items: 1x Greatball, 6x (-1) Pokeballs, 4x Healballs, Water Stone, Pidgeotite, Journal, Sketchpad, Locked pokeball with Shinx (0/8), Locked pokeball with Zubat (0/9) Locked pokeball with Trash Burmy (0/?)
Points: 49 (+1 from posting) Posts: 58

Palila raised an eyebrow when Sophie said she'd come back with help in 3 hours if they didn't make it. They were fugitives- having a rescue attempt in a cave involving any other members of the public, or any media attention, was not the smartest idea. She wondered who in Sinnoh would come to their aid anyway.

She shuffled along beside Amy and kept her footing in the dark quite well now. When she mentioned which pokemon to have out, Palila swallowed her urge to challenge authority. But then, Amy made a good point.
"Oh! Can you see in the dark, Dartrix?" She asked her feathered friend, surprised.
"Trriiii." It nodded. Of course! Even as a Rowlett it liked small dark places.

"Alright, fly out ahead and see what's up!"

The Dartrix flew out into the tunnel, coming over an area where the water was definitely moving. It gurgled over rocks and stones, looking to be about waist deep maximum, but with much more current.
It swooped low over this water, eyes penetrating the darkness ahead. The water was draining out somewhere- it was sinking under a large rock overhang. It was mitch noisy, the water making a roar by now. In order to go any further with the river, Dartrix would have to take a dive to the bottom of the river and swim.
It was not doing that.
The air did seem fresher down at this end though.
Dartrix flew back to the trainers and attempted to draw a crude map in the mud of the cave wall with a wingtip.

Meanwhile, Palila felt something wriggle in her bag!
An egg was hatching!

[Lychee]

RAE
Trainer Palila Rae
Location: Route 204 (Ravaged Path Underground)
Team: Dartrix (0/25) Staravia (0/25) Prinlup (0/25) Wingull (25/25) Oricorio 'Sensu' -shiny (0/15) Eevee -shiny (0/25)
Partner Pokemon: Chatot
Items: 1x Greatball, 5x Pokeballs, 4x Healballs, Water Stone, Pidgeotite, Journal, Sketchpad, Locked pokeball with Shinx (0/8), Locked pokeball with Zubat (0/9) Locked pokeball with Trash Girl Burmy (0/10)
Points: 50 (+1 from posting) Posts: 59

Palila had been hurriedly pressing a pokeball to the rapidly hatching egg in her backpack, having decided now was not a good time for a baby pokemon to enter the world. The Pokeball locked, predictably. She tossed the full ball back into the bottom of her backpack, looking up just as a wave washed away the details of the picture Dartrix had drawn.
In half a second, another huge wave crashed up out of the water, and washed over the girls..
Palila felt her body go relaxed and fluid, and she dropped to the ground, holding onto the rocks to stay in place. Sometimes while surfing in Alola, the best thing to do was to go underneath a wave, rather than ride over it. Unfortunately, while she didn't get tossed against the cave wall, she did get completely drenched. As she stood back up her clothes sagged, heavy with water.
"I'm chill." She answered Amy, partially literal. Cold weather was so awful! This puffy jacket was going to take forever to dry. Oh, and she was a decent amount closer to the glaring gyarados.
"****! " As if to answer Amys question about running away or not, Palila scrambled backwards, slipped, then gave up and flung out an arm.

"Dartrix! Lets do this!"

Opponent: Shiny Gyarados
Attacker: Dartrix
Opponent's HP: 150
Attacker's HP: 25
Opponent's remaining points: 113
Attacker's remaining HP: 0

As Dartrix was unceremoniously water-jetted into the ceiling, Palila whimpered a little.
"Come on, Prinplup!"

Opponent: Shiny Gyarados
Attacker: Prinplup
Opponent's HP: 113
Attacker's HP: 25
Opponent's remaining points: 97
Attacker's remaining HP: 0

Whew, this Gyarados was reallly mad. It thrashed around the cavern, smashing the Prinplup into the wall.
By this time, Palila had gotten back up onto her feet and tossed another ball, despite it probably not being a good idea.
"Staravia! Help!"

Opponent: Shiny Gyarados
Attacker: Staravia
Opponent's HP: 97
Attacker's HP: 15
Opponent's remaining points: 89
Attacker's remaining HP: 0

As Staravia cried and was swatted out of the sky, Palila cowered on the rocks. Her eyes flicked towards downstream, and she gripped her final pokemon. This felt way too much like yesterday- and yesterday was horrible. No matter how strong her pokemon were, it was again time to flee or be killed.
She kicked up from the rocks and scrambled downstream, shouting over the din.
"Distract him! Run for downstream!" A slip of the tongue- she didn't know the gyarados's gender. The panic was just melting both of the scenes into one.

[Lychee]

RAE
Trainer Palila Rae
Location: Route 204 (Ravaged Path Underground)
Team: Dartrix (0/25) Staravia (0/25) Prinlup (0/25) Wingull (0/25) Oricorio 'Sensu' -shiny (0/15) Eevee -shiny (0/25)
Partner Pokemon: Chatot
Items: 1x Greatball, 5x Pokeballs, 4x Healballs, Water Stone, Pidgeotite, Journal, Sketchpad, Locked pokeball with Shinx (0/8), Locked pokeball with Zubat (0/9) Locked pokeball with Trash Girl Burmy (0/10)
Points: 51 (+1 from posting) Posts: 72

Palila felt the eyes of the giant red monster shift away from her and onto Amy. It opened its mouth.
"Wingull!" She shouted, tossing her last pokemon out.

Opponent: Shiny Gyarados
Attacker: Wingull
Opponent's HP: 109 (whoops I started at 150 rather than 170, so I added 20 more points on now)
Attacker's HP: 25
Opponent's remaining points: 102
Attacker's remaining HP: 0

The wingull burst out of the pokeball, screaming out into the dark. It flew straight into Gyarados's blast, which was aimed at Amy, and thumped into the wall with a sickening crack. The rest of the water from the gun attack splashed uselessly around on the cave floor, making the waterlevel deeper again.
"Wingull, return." Palila almost sobbed. That was it- that was her last pokemon.

By this point, the water was up to Palilas bellybutton (due to all the sudden watery attacks in a large space). She could feel the tug of the current pulling at her waterlogged shoes and the bottom of her jacket. It was lucky she didn't have any electronic devices on her person that would get ruined by water- or electrocute her.
She buckled her knees, sinking into the water and feeling it tug at her shoulders too. She glanced across at Amy.
Hunter the croconaw and Terry the staravia were still at her side- and still conscious.
Amy will be fine. She told herself, baffled as to why the older girl hadn't made a move. She had a niggling feeling that she had forgotten some important detail (that is, that Amy was prone to anxiety attacks).

"I'm out!" She shouted, threw a hand sign up in the air, and let her feet slip from their grip on the bottom of the stream. With a cascade of water from the writhing of the gyarados, Palila was shoved out of the area illuminated by Amy's torch, and into the darkness.

Floating as shallowly as she could (in case of other pokemon sitting on the bottom, or even sharp stones poking up) Palila was pulled along by the current. Her ears filled with the sounds of the water- trying to dissect and understand it. Nothing but her and the water.
No pokemon to help. No friends to help. No family to look out for. Just a need to survive.
There was a large rushing noise- she braced herself for a slight drop.
A splashing to her right- she stuck out an arm and bounced herself off a boulder which was in the stream.
She felt the water level raise up and down rapidly, and tucked her legs in tighter, feeling the rush as she slipped over the top of some rapids.
Bump! Ouch. She winced and tucked one knee up to her chest, feeling it throb.

In one way, it was freeing- not having to think about or consider anything except the current moment.
As the sounds of water grew louder and louder, Palila put her arms up above her head, feeling for the lowering roof of the cave. It came down fairly quickly- one second her fingers were just brushing along the rocks overhead, the next, she had followed it down to head height. She dug in her fingertips and held her head there, fighting the current, feeling the rest of her body get sucked under the rock into the unknown.

"Tapu Fini protect me." She whispered.

Palila took a deep breath and let go.

[Lychee]

RAE
Trainer Palila Rae
Location: Route 204 (Upper)
Team: Dartrix (0/25) Staravia (0/25) Prinlup (0/25) Wingull (0/25) Oricorio 'Sensu' -shiny (0/15) Eevee -shiny (0/25)
Partner Pokemon: Chatot
Items: 1x Greatball, 5x Pokeballs, 4x Healballs, Water Stone, Pidgeotite, Journal, Sketchpad, Locked pokeball with Shinx (0/8), Locked pokeball with Zubat (0/9) Locked pokeball with Trash Girl Burmy (0/10)
Points: 73 (+1 from posting) Posts: 61

Palila held her nose and her breath, bobbing and tumbling in the torrent of water, eyes scrunched shut in fear.
I wish I had a surfing mantine! She internally cursed, regretting all the time spent using the rental mantines and never getting one of her own. Or a lanturn, to see! Or ANYTHING!! She scrunched her eyes tighter, vowing to heal all her valiant pokemon up as soon as possible- if she survived.

Another few seconds, and then the feeling of weightlessness. Palila saw light through her eyelids, and felt her grip on her knee loosen. She spread herself out slightly. Who knows how shallow the pool at the bottom of this drop would be.
Please be deep please be deep please be deep
Splash!
She fell with the water, plunging once more under the surface and feeling the consistent drumming of the cascade above her pushing her down. It was deep. Possibly too deep. By this time, she had been holding her breath for a while. She struggled to swim upwards in her heavy wet clothes and shoes, and quickly kicked her shoes off once she didn't get anywhere. She wriggled out of the leg warmers. The glasses were lost somewhere in the cave. She dropped any backpack that she had from her shoulders. Still, she was kicking and kicking and reaching with her arms, and the surface wasn't arriving. Her ears were ringing, and she felt the last of her oxygen being used up with the effort.
She reached one more time towards the light, pulling herself upwards and feeling like a kite against the wind- not willing to take off her last layer, as the jacket pockets were full of her pokemon.

Finally, her hand broke the surface! Then the rest of her, gasping for air. She took a few deep gulps and blinked around in the light, pushing her slick hair off her face and casting around for an edge. She was outside, at least.
Swimming was easy enough, but she was tired, cold, frightened, weighed down by clothes not made for swimming, and had hurt her leg. She side-stroked her way towards the shore and shot a look back at the waterfall, wondering if Amy would appear.

[Lychee]

RAE
Trainer Palila Rae
Location: Route 204 (Upper)
Team: Dartrix (0/25) Staravia (0/25) Prinlup (0/25) Wingull (0/25) Oricorio 'Sensu' -shiny (0/15) Eevee -shiny (0/25)
Partner Pokemon: Chatot
Items: 1x Greatball, 5x Pokeballs, 4x Healballs, Water Stone, Pidgeotite, Journal, Sketchpad, Locked pokeball with Shinx (0/8), Locked pokeball with Zubat (0/9) Locked pokeball with Trash Girl Burmy (0/10)
Points: 74 (+1 from posting) Posts: 62

Palila looked around, too dazed and shaken up to refuse a towel. She wrapped it around herself, and heard a voice ask about Amy. Her eyes drifted back accross to the waterfall, still searching it for a splash of colour.
"The dumb ginger was in there. When the Gyarados attacked she nearly got blasted." She let the rushing sounds of water fill the silence, eyes still locked to the water.
"I was all out of Pokemon, so I had to leave." She explained, feeling the pit of her stomach drop. There was nothing more to say- she didn't know what else had happened. Palila didn't get along well with Amy, but the thought that she'd left someone to get savaged by a wild pokemon or drown in the dark was a very bad thought.
She looked down, shivering slightly, then snapped around, looking at the rest of the group as a realization hit her.

"Oh, psyducks! Does anyone know if Amy could swim?"

[Lychee]

RAE
Trainer Palila Rae
Location: Route 204 (Upper) --> Floaroma Town
Team: Dartrix (0/25) Staravia (0/25) Prinlup (0/25) Wingull (0/25) Oricorio 'Sensu' -shiny (0/15) Eevee -shiny (0/25)
Partner Pokemon: Chatot --> Catching
Items: 1x Greatball, 5x (-1) Pokeballs, 4x Healballs, Water Stone, Pidgeotite, Journal, Sketchpad, Locked pokeball with Shinx (0/8), Locked pokeball with Zubat (0/9) Locked pokeball with Trash Girl Burmy (0/10)
Points: 75 (-26, +1 from posting) Posts: 63

Palila gasped and pointed as a flash of colour fell from the cave opening... and then lost sight of Amy in the waterfall turbulence. It seemed like a very long time until a buizel came floating to the surface with Amy in tow. Palila let out a breath. While she wondered what had happened back there, she was mostly just glad that they were out of it now.

While the rest of the group seemed rather unharmed, unsoaked and unresponsive, Palila scooted over to Amy.
"Oy, you look like a drowned ratatta. Firehead gave me a towel." She had forgotten everyones new identities already, so nicknames were what she had fallen back on. Firehead referred to Sophie, who had bright red and yellow streaky hair as of last night. Palila wrapped the towel half around herself and half around Amy, not wanting to let go of it. She had to sit close in order to share. Also, body warmth was good.

She sat very still (albeit with the occasional shiver) waiting for a signal to show that this was too close and abandon the warm towel to Amy's posession. Meanwhile, she looked back over at the rest of the group. To her, most of them seemed to be no help. Even if she had no pokemon left to battle with, she doubted that leaving the group and running ahead could get any worse than being attacked by a gyarados, or laserbeam arm man, right?
"Is town far away? If its close, I mi-ight jog up ahead to st-stay warm and get to b-buying some drier clothes before the shops sh-shut." She shivered her way through a proposal, scanning peoples faces. She had almost no resistance to cold- Alola was notorious for its warmth, even at night!

She sat still a moment longer, then something seemed to click internally.
"You know what, I'm sure town is close. I don't need your permission- I'm just going to head off."
She stood up, shrugged off the blanket, hugged herself to stay warmer, and ran off towards town.

----------

Her bare feet pounded on the muddy path. The forest was gradually giving way to a flowery meadow, and more and more colour was sprinkled between the sparse trees. Despite the springtime atmosphere, it was still quite cold.
"A-achoo!" Palila sneezed and shivered.

"A-choo!" Her own voice echoed back at her from the trees.

She whirled around, eyes darting through the bushes. Surely it wasn't another ambush!
"A-choo!" Her voice echoed again, and she squinted. There, a splash of colour among the trees.

"Oh no you don't! I am SO not ready for battles right now!" She dug into her pocket and pulled out a soaking wet Pokeball, readying it to throw.

A Chatot hopped out into view curiously. "Oh no y-" It echoed her, but only got that far when the pokeball smacked it on the beak.

Pokémon using: None
Pokémon trying to catch: Chatot
Point Requirement: 26
Item Being Used/Quantity: 1x Pokeball
Points On Hand: 75
Points After: 49

Palila watched the Pokeball struggle for some time, and bit her lip, not approaching. It seemed like this pokemon was going to be strong and hard to control. Thinking about it, this is one pokemon she really could use.
"C'mon c'mon. Stay in! I don't have a poketch anymore, so you're gonna be my messenger service, you magnificent mimic!"
And with that, the pokeball stopped shaking. It locked tight, just like all the others.
Palila picked up the ball and spun on her heel, making a beeline for the pokecentre.


((Palila Exits Pokemon Platinum -- Might do one or two posts later, sending the Chatot back and forth to the group with recorded messages to say stuff like DONT WORRY I'M FINE BYE, but she's not going to physically be around))

[Lychee]

RAE'S CHATOT (26/26)
Trainer Palila Rae
Location: Route 204 (Upper)
Posts: 1

((Since I can't play with Briar yet, but I still want to play, I figure its a good idea to wrap up Palilas storyline nicely.))

A Chatot with feather colours surprisingly similar to Palila's original hairstyle would fly over to the group sometime between Route 204 and Floaroma town. The team probably got the feeling it was hers- especially if they took out any pokeballs to catch it (they would say it was already caught and owned by "Rae", a trainer whose card was missing quite a lot of detail. It chirped a few times like the birds around it, and then began imitating human voices.

"The people I was travelling with suck, and that stupid professor is out to kill us. Your team Galactic really saved my ass back there, when the laser-gun-arm man with dinosaur pokemon ambushed us."
"I'm guessing after that fiasco you guys need more of a crew? Am I cool to join?"

"What happened back there was a massacre. I knew a few of those trainers."

"I heard that the only reason they found your friends was because of one of your group members. Tall kid, kinda odd."

"Honestly, if you dont mind tracking down legendary pokemon and breaking the law to do whatever it takes to solve the damn mess we are in. You are more than welcome."

"Laws are for losers, anyway."

It was clear what this meant. It was easy to recognize one of the voices in the Chatots mimicry.
Palila was not coming back.

The bird said these lines a few times on repeat so that everyone could hear them, fluffed its feathers happily in a self satisfied way, and took off back towards Floaroma town. Being fully healed, fully evolved, and a higher level than any of the other bird pokemon the trainer group had, it easily outflew any pokemon the trainers might try to get to chase after it.

[Lychee]

Cryptic Scientist Briar Clark
Location: Valley Windworks
Team:
Partner Pokemon:
Items:
Points: 82 (+1 from posting) Posts: 1

"Well this is very odd! Very interesting indeed!" Briar exclaimed, more to himself than to anyone else. He was not travelling alone, but by now his travelling companions had either learned not to listen to him, or simply couldn't really hear him to begin with. He looked over at his sister, straightening up from the honey tree he was inspecting.
[b]"Would you say that this tree has changed its phenotype due to the strange ritual trainers have of covering it in honey? Or perhaps it has always been happening throughout history, and trainers have simply joined in and added to the honey smell?"[b/] He took a deep breath, breathing in the scent of the tree.
"I wonder if there is a fast tracked evolution of tree type, due to its close proximity with people and pokemon!" He closed his eyes, imagining a snover, except dripping with honey instead of snow.

"It's an amazing tree! I feel like it would definitely help to lure out any previously unseen pokemon- if they liked the sweet sort of smells, or just honey in general. Do you have any local bees? Do you have any blue bees? I've heard that in the valleys of Jhoto, sometimes a green bee can be seen flitting through the forest. Perhaps your region has something like that?" He shot a barrage of questions at the only known local to the area, Nathan, and shot his sister a big excited smile.
"Isn't it amazing to be in such a new and different place? I would thank the pokemon that brought us here, if I could!"