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Old 04-11-2021, 07:39 PM   #1
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Journey Log

This thread is archived from before I reset my character. Please do not reference it.

profile post »journey log

"hey, this is where i'll keep track of whatever i've done so far. i know it's kind of a little dumb to have a diary/journal/whatever, but it's good in case i want to look back on where i came from."

This message prefaced the list of posts on the blog that you just came across. You're not sure why someone would just do all of this publicly, much less maintain something like this these days, but maybe it wouldn't hurt to peek?

---

[Arc One: Outset]

[Side A]

Outset: Chapter 1
Down on his luck, Elijah stumbles into a deal that changes everything.

Outset: Chapter 2
Elijah gets his first Pokémon and learns about a region that he hadn't heard of before.

Adventure: A Walk In The Park
A lost Elijah somehow becomes a park ranger for a day in an attempt to find a place to stay for his first night in Fizzytopia, but gets more than he bargained for.

Adventure: A Dive Into The Deep
Hot off the heels of his escapades in Amity Gardens, Elijah takes up an odd job at Cape Effervescence to hopefully pay his bills while offering a much-needed change of pace. Too bad that change of pace happens to involve an underground poaching operation, a crazy scientist that doesn't seem to know when to let up, and a bunch of swimming that he doesn't know how to do. All in a day's work?

On a Whim
Elijah's trip to the Shrine of the Third Eye causes him to think about what he's doing.

Event: From Beyond the Shadows
Elijah responds to a call to adventure with unbridled enthusiasm, however things go south quickly as he struggles to understand what exactly a "raid" is, the concept of Shadow Pokémon, and why there are giant Pokémon everywhere.

Event: Last Resort
Elijah needs a vacation. The AzuVee Resort has just opened its doors overlooking Fizzytopia's west coast. It seemed like a match made in heaven, but things quickly seem like they're other way as his getaway slowly unravels at the hands of his excitable Pokémon. At least the prizes might help.

Free RP: On Our Own
Thorn and Epoch, having been dropped off at the Tree Grove by Elijah moments earlier, attempt to end up having adventures of their own. Emphasis on attempt.

Free RP: Meanwhile
Elijah goes to the bar after dropping off his Pokémon at the Tree Grove, doubt setting in after a whirlwind of a week. Help arrives... in the form of an actual pirate. Pokémon training is full of surprises, if it wasn't obvious enough.

Outset: Chapter 3
A call with his friend leaves Elijah with more questions than answers.

Outset: Chapter 4
The mystery involving tuned-in and his connection to Epoch grows deeper.

Adventure: Shocked
Elijah's at his lowest point yet. His Porygon is nothing more than an empty shell now and it turns out that he's pretty awful at camping. Or, at least, camping until he gets blindsided by a mischievous Rotom and a ruined city that was once championed by a Weezing. That's where he has to step up to the plate... if he wasn't feeling so depressed and mistrustful.

[Side B]

What's This?
Elijah finds a bunch of stuff in his backpack that he doesn't remember having.

Can You Hear Me Now?
Elijah gets a Rotom Phone for Ion. Mild chaos ensues.

Perfect Storm
Ion tries to utilize Epoch to help Elijah build the perfect lantern at the Lunar New Year party.

[Arc Two: Onset]

To be continued...

Last edited by blu3shift; 03-26-2023 at 02:24 AM. Reason: ok I guess we're done with this thing
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Old 04-11-2021, 07:57 PM   #2
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Adventure: A Walk In The Park
Location: Amity Gardens, New Fizz City / ZU: TheKnightsFury
(April 2nd, 2021–April 17th, 2021)

A lost Elijah somehow becomes a park ranger for a day in an attempt to find a place to stay for his first night in Fizzytopia, but gets more than he bargained for.

The Important Stuff
Spoiler: show
  • Elijah arrives in Fizzytopia.
  • Elijah becomes a temporary park ranger.
  • Elijah obtains three Sitrus Berries, but uses two of them.
  • Epoch begins acting strangely.
  • Elijah catches Thorn.
  • Elijah realizes that something might be wrong with both Epoch and his Pokédex.
  • Elijah obtains a Transport Card and a broken TM.


Recap
Spoiler: show
It had been about a few hours since Elijah, a reluctant Pokémon trainer, had disembarked from his flight to Fizzytopia, and he was feeling a little lost. Something was interfering with his Pokédex, keeping the device from tracking his location. He'd been meaning to find himself somewhere to stay for the night to plan his trip around the region, but finding a hotel was easier said than done when he didn't even know where he was and had issues navigating the streets of New Fizz City. Eventually, he stumbled across a park that seemed to span for miles—a perfect excuse to find a place to stop and get his bearings.

Amity Gardens, as he'd soon learn, offered more than just respite in the middle of the never-ending metropolis. As soon as he figured out where in the park he was, a surprise attack from a Teddiursa caught him off guard. This wasn't just any Teddiursa, though; it belonged to Woody, Head Ranger of the park. After a brief bout of confusion on both ends, Woody confusing Elijah for a hobo while the inexperienced Trainer struggled to remember the difference between a Pokémon Ranger and a park ranger, they both came to the conclusion that Elijah's hotel search would prove to be fruitless. He didn't nearly have enough money to cover the costs of just one night with the paltry balance in his bank account. Because of this, Woody made a deal; if Elijah did some cleanup work around the park for a day, then he'd be guaranteed a roof over his head at the Ranger Station for as long as he needed. Malloy, the Teddiursa, had also offered him three Sitrus Berries as an apology, which he gladly accepted.

Happily accepting, knowing that it was his only option, Elijah set forth to tidy up three areas of the park that really needed attention. Up first was the grounds of a concert that had used the park as a venue fairly recently—a fairly uneventful task, minus his forgetfulness to get some supplies together and inadvertent neglect of his Porygon, Epoch. Oh, and the pair of Rattata attacking a Trubbish that just wanted to gobble up all of the garbage that had been left there. Using Epoch to take out everything but the trash out of moral obligation, he was left with a few hours of cleanup and a grateful Trubbish, who offered him some Leftovers and a broken TM that he could repair later. It seemed to want a spot his team, but perhaps Elijah was being too apprehensive—when he offered it to join, it simply left and dug into the dumpster that he filled with all of the waste that was on the ground earlier. Not to be deterred, Elijah promised himself to catch the next thing that looked at him like that.

Next up were the gardens on the west side of the park. They'd been overrun with weeds and the bushes needed a good trimming: he was able to take care of the bushes with the admittedly very rusty hedge trimmers that he had obtained from the park's utility shed, but the weeds were a different story. Looking for help, he entered a nearby forested section of the park, where Epoch acted on its own—very strange for a man-made Pokémon that wasn't programmed to do anything beyond obeying its Trainer, but he decided to put off that issue until he had some free time to look into it. For now, he settled on luring some weed-eating Weedle (the irony was not lost on him) with one of the Sitrus Berries that he had obtained earlier, making quick work of all of the weeding that he didn't have the means to handle himself.

Unfortunately, the three Weedle had an appetite a little too voracious, one of them angering an unassuming Fomantis that had been sleeping in the corner of the garden in an attempt to eat it. Elijah and Epoch got caught in the crossfire, forcing the two to attempt to take it down, only to get interrupted by a Spearow that also wanted to have the Grass type for lunch. Working through some very brief trust issues and depending on his morality once again, Elijah turned face and started focusing on taking down the Pidgey instead, attempting to spare the Fomantis from an untimely fate. In a last ditch effort to keep it safe, he caught it—or rather, they caught themselves, his pitiful aim causing his Pokéball to come up just shy of the Fomantis.

Writing off the Fomantis as a temporary catch until he can heal... her, Elijah moved on to his third and final task: taking care of a few vandals on the south side of the park. It didn't look too bad—it was just a bunch of TP hanging from the trees—but dealing with the vandals was a challenge of its own. Trying to distract what he would later learn were members of the Silver Skulls—one of the many gangs that were spreading from Hoodlem—long enough for the police to arrive, he tossed a stone behind the two vandals to try and make some noise, only to clock one of them directly in the back of the head. A chase later ensued, leaving Elijah on the ground and one of the vandals at large.

Obviously taking pity on Elijah for the rough day that he was having, Woody offered to escort him back to the Ranger Station to relax. The Trainer happily obliged, hopping in the ranger's golf cart immediately. There, he was given a few things—a room to call home for the time being, some coffee and a pastry to keep him from going hungry, a Transport Card to get him around the city fast, and a newspaper outlining several jobs that he could take. Leaving his Pokémon with Woody, Elijah felt at ease for the first time in a while—it was a long day, but battling was actually really fun. Maybe being a Trainer wasn't so bad after all.

...Somehow, at the very end of the day, he noticed that his Pokédex's map had finally figured out where its current location was. What was up with that?! He promised himself to look into it soon.


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Old 04-11-2021, 08:09 PM   #3
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Outset: Chapter 1

(Transcript:)
Spoiler: show
Dear Elijah Smith,

Thank you for applying to UU Accumula. Unfortunately, your application was rejected due to one or more issues. We encourage you to review your application and apply at a later date.


Elijah sighed. Could he be even more down on his luck? This was the second rejection letter that had been sent to him within the past two hours. He silently tapped the Delete key on his keyboard and watched as the number next to the folder marked "Trash" flipped over to 100. A new record, he thought, his eyelids lowering. He'd been applying to every single place that he could think of—universities from here to Johto and Kalos, menial retail jobs, and assorted internships. Every single one of them had either left him hanging or rejected him for one reason or another, which was mind-blowing coming out of his senior year seeing everyone achieving those positions so effortlessly.

Speaking of school, he shot a quick glance at the green backpack in the corner of his room. He still had some homework to think about: a little pre-calculus (he couldn't understand what a "sine wave" was even if one smacked him in the face), and some... ugh, Typology. Whoever had put all of these Pokémon classes in the general curriculum probably just did it to spite him. He'd probably listen to some Rocket doofus before he even considered becoming a Trainer—it almost sounded fun, but he had enough trouble already trying to memorize whatever the hell a "type chart" was for his schoolwork. Grumbling, Elijah ruffled his dark brown hair and turned back to his computer's monitor. It could probably wait until later; he still had a few hours to kill and he was definitely not in the mood to solve a whole bunch of math problems that he probably wouldn't even need to remember in the future. He figured that he might as well burn off some steam with his friends on Uproar, switching over to the chat window on his cluttered desktop.

Code:
enslate5: uuuuuuggggghhhh
enslate5: i'm having the time of my life right now
tuned-in: Another rejection letter?
enslate5: yep
enslate5: trash folder just hit 100
tuned-in: Yeah that's gotta suck. I know that feeling all too well.
tuned-in: Trust me when I say that you should be glad that you can't occupy yourself right now. Work sucks just as much.
Da Junklord: i mean if all else fails
enslate5: let me guess
enslate5: you're going to tell me to try pokemon training
Da Junklord: ya ur right
Da Junklord: trust me its super rewarding
enslate5: yeah, that's what you said the past five bajillion times i started venting about this.
Lufton: To be fair
Lufton: Junklord does have a point
Lufton: It might suck at first, but by the time you have at least three catches you'll wonder why you thought otherwise.
Da Junklord: yep
Da Junklord: my ampharos is like the best guy evr
Da Junklord: carried me thru all 8 badges
Da Junklord: hes probly gonna be on my e4 team
enslate5: okay so sure you might have a point
enslate5: but have you considered that i'm just not interested at all?
enslate5: there's no point in training. you hit the road for a few months and all you do is beat up animals. what's the point?
Da Junklord: accomplishment
Lufton: The bond?
tuned-in: I've heard it pays super well. I could even get you a starter right now if you committed to it.
enslate5: wait wait people actually get something out of this?
Da Junklord: def
enslate5: i thought people just battled because "yay fighting" or something
Lufton: Not at all!
Lufton: I've spoken to a bunch of trainers over the years. I haven't heard anything negative from anyone.
Da Junklord: especially meeeeeeee
Lufton: You'll definitely find out what you enjoy if battling isn't your thing, trust me.
Lufton: ...Yeah, especially you, Junklord.
enslate5: still not entirely convinced
enslate5: i mean what's in it for me?
tuned-in: Again you don't have to worry about applying for anything. You'll definitely get enough money to survive on your own if you start training.
tuned-in: In fact I'll propose a deal.
tuned-in: If you register for an ID and prove it to me then I'll send you ₽3.5k and a starter that I'll train myself.
tuned-in: The only catch is that you have to train for at least one day. If you don't like it then you can send the starter back to me and keep the money.
tuned-in: Deal?
Da Junklord: oooooooooo
Da Junklord: id take it if i were u
A deal, huh? Elijah wasn't ready to take it, but it sounded interesting. Having total financial security just for trying to wrangle a super powered animal for a day sounded nice, but he was way more committed to not having to deal with going on some massive journey. Besides, it wasn't nearly safe for him, he was probably out of shape, and he didn't know if he could fare well around other—

A message titled "We have rejected your application" appeared in Elijah's inbox.

...Fine.

Code:
enslate5: ok yknow what i'll take it
enslate5: all of these business people are rude anyway
Da Junklord: WOOOOOOOOOOO
Lufton: I knew you'd come around on it someday. Go Enslate!
tuned-in: Excellent choice. You'll be in good hands.
tuned-in: Or at least as good as I can make them. :-P
tuned-in: Trainer registration shouldn't be too hard. You're still in school so you should be able to at least remember the bare minimum.
enslate5: man i hope i don't regret this
enslate5: i'll try to get a card this weekend and then come back to you. you better start training whatever you're going to send me tuned
tuned-in: Oh don't worry. I've got a plan.
Elijah walked to the backpack in the corner of his room, ignoring the dust being illuminated by the rays of light streaming from his window, unzipped it, and took out a folder labeled "TYPOLOGY". Tonight was going to be a very long night.

Last edited by blu3shift; 04-11-2021 at 08:34 PM.
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Old 04-18-2021, 03:06 PM   #4
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(I wanted to work on this a LOT more, but considering recent events I'll publish it as is. I hope you enjoy it anyway.)
Outset: Chapter 2
Code:
enslate5: [image]
Da Junklord: no way
Da Junklord: u got it?
enslate5: yep
enslate5: wasn't that hard actually
enslate5: the test was WAY easier than i thought
Da Junklord: yea thats how it works
Da Junklord: 1 thing 2 remember: ITS EASIER THAN U THINK
tuned-in: Good advice!
tuned-in: Congrats Enslate. Deal's a deal. Check your DMs when you can.
tuned-in: Or should I say Elijah? ;-)
tuned-in: Sorry is it rude for me to use your actual name?
enslate5: i'm cool with it, i trust you enough to not screw me over. i'll have a look as soon as it comes in
Elijah leaned back in his chair, staring at the ID that he was holding in his right hand. A very unflattering portrait of himself stared back at him amidst a sea of brilliant blue adorned by white lettering that detailed just about everything that he'd given the employee at the counter about a week ago. It felt surreal; not even a month ago he was complaining about how training just wasn't for him, and now he was officially registered with the League. It oddly excited him—he was already thinking about where he would start training. Alola, Galar, Kanto, Sinnoh...

A chime pulsed from the speakers on Elijah's computer. Looks like Tuned was ready to talk.
Code:
tuned-in sent a file: Epoch.pkx
enslate5: not sure what this is
tuned-in: Oh sorry, did you get your Pokedex yet?
enslate5: yep, standard issue in unova
tuned-in: Cool. If you hook it up to your computer with the cable that came with it you should be able to install that file to it.
enslate5: oh it's a pokedex file. ok
enslate5: so uh what's on here?
tuned-in: It's a surprise. ;-)
enslate5: you know i'd be extremely cautious about this
enslate5: but we've been talking long enough that i think it's worth the risk
enslate5: give me a moment
So that's what that cable did. Elijah was wondering about that. He grabbed and unrolled the slender white cable that he had left on top of his Pokédex, plugged one end into the device, and plugged the other end into his computer. The top screen on his Pokédex lit up in an uncharacteristically bright white, displaying a simple message that it was in "sync mode." A window popped up on the computer, encouraging Elijah to "drop files to sync to your Pokédex here." He complied, mousing over the PKX file that he had just downloaded and dragging it to the window. A confirmation screen immediately appeared on the Pokédex.
Code:
enslate5: are you SURE this is safe?
tuned-in: I wouldn't send you a virus even if I wanted to.
tuned-in: And even if I did it wouldn't be too bad. I'd probably figure out a way to make it a good thing.
enslate5: uh-huh
enslate5: well i'm pulling the trigger, sure hope that this doesn't disable anything
True to his word, Elijah apprehensively tapped the "INSTALL" button on his Pokédex. It immediately got to work, displaying a progress bar that quickly filled before the screen turned black and showed him... some weird polygonal bird-y thing.
Code:
enslate5: ok what the hell is this
enslate5: there's this pink dude on my screen
tuned-in: It's a Porygon! I named it Epoch.
tuned-in: It's the starter that I promised that I'd send you.
enslate5: epoch?
enslate5: what does that mean?
tuned-in: Oh nothing. Just a little computer guy humor ;-)
enslate5: ooookay then
enslate5: so uh what am i supposed to do with epoch?
tuned-in: Nothing for now.
tuned-in: Whenever you're ready to start training just tap the release button and it'll come out of the Pokedex.
enslate5: come out? of the pokedex?
enslate5: did you figure out how to turn this thing into an app or something?
tuned-in: Nope! You can thank the wonderful researchers at Silph for that.
enslate5: you make it sound like you work for them
tuned-in: I do in a way.
tuned-in: I can't really say anything else about it though.
enslate5: alright, i'll keep your secret i guess
enslate5: so what exactly is a porygon anyway? i've never heard of it
tuned-in: Porygons are pretty neat. They can convert themselves to and from computer data at any time. They don't do anything unless you tell them to which I think will make for a great starter.
enslate5: doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose of a pokemon?
enslate5: i keep hearing about bonds and all that
tuned-in: If you're worried about bonds then you can catch another one. I'm sure you'll have plenty of opportunities in the future.
tuned-in: Anyway I wired the money to your trainer ID like I promised.
enslate5: cool
enslate5: now all i have to worry about is figuring out where to start
tuned-in: I think you'll enjoy Fizzytopia. There's all sorts of possibilities there and no obligation to fight any gym leaders if you don't want to.
tuned-in: I vacationed there once and had a blast.
enslate5: huh? never heard of it
tuned-in: Yeah it's pretty under the radar.
tuned-in: Go ahead and look it up when you can. You won't regret it.
enslate5: ok
Fizzytopia, huh? From what Tuned said it sounded like a good place for a newbie trainer like Elijah was. He'd definitely look into it...

Elijah's stomach grumbled.

...After he made some dinner, of course. He wasn't going to do any research on an empty stomach.
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Old 05-05-2021, 12:10 PM   #5
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Outset: Chapter 3

"...Yeah, you're not gonna believe what I've been through over the past week."

Elijah leaned back in one of the many metal chairs that adorned the café's patio. The weather was all sorts of gloomy: clouds covered the sky, turning its normal hue of bright blue into a dull gray; a breeze rushed down the street, tousling his dark chocolate hair; and the air was damp, a warning of an oncoming storm. This didn't discourage Elijah, though; in fact, he relished the dreary day, giving him an odd sense of peace after all of the chaos that seemed to follow him throughout his time in Fizzytopia. The weather worked in his favor, too, discouraging his fellow café-goers from even thinking about taking a patio seat. He was alone for the first time in a while, and by Arceus he needed it. The table in front of him was empty aside from his Pokédex, displaying a call in progress.

"Trust me, I will. Lay it on me."

A relaxed voice emanated from the speakers of the Pokédex amidst what seemed like constant clacking on a keyboard—an entire soundscape that could only belong to "tuned-in" from the Uproar server that Elijah was usually active in. Tuned was a great friend on Elijah's terms; he was always ready to lend a hand with his seemingly boundless knowledge about just about everything that the newly-christened Trainer needed help with, which was exactly why Elijah was talking to him. Well, that and the Porygon woes that he was having, but that was worth saving for later.

"So, literally the first thing that happened when I got off the plane was that I got really lost because my map wasn't working—"

"Your map wasn't working? I think I know what's going on here." Tuned interjected, the keyboard sounds on his end intensifying. Knowing him, he was probably looking something up. "Oh yeah, something about Porygon interference... Did you install the update?"

"What update?" Elijah asked. He just got this thing like two weeks ago, and even then it was a pretty old model. He'd be surprised if this hunk of metal got any updates beyond the occasional reshuffling of its Pokédex listings.


(Image transcript: A screen displaying a call with "tuned-in" displays a notification that "a new update is available for your Pokédex.")

Oh. That update. He was surprised that it hadn't come in earlier. A little odd for it to show up right now, considering that he was literally just talking about it, but... hey, wait a minute. Epoch acting strangely, his Pokédex giving him weird messages, the update coming in when he was talking about it... all of them had some sort of connection to Tuned. Was he behind all this? It didn't hurt to ask...

"Uh, hey, quick question actually," Elijah started. "Epoch's acting strange. Like, back at the park—"

"It was doing something on its own?" Tuned... finished his sentence?! "Yeah, I might have forgotten to mention—"

"How did you know about that?" Elijah retorted in obvious suspicion.

A brief pause. "...Lucky guess?"

"You're covering something up, aren't you?"

"...I'll talk to you later. You're clever—not bad for a son of a couple of Plasmas."

Beep-beep. The sound of a call ending immediately replaced Tuned's voice.

"...Elijah, was it?" A barista walked outside from the café and placed a coffee cup labeled "Ellija" on the table. Elijah was too lost in his thoughts to notice.

He knows about my parents.

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Old 06-21-2021, 10:57 PM   #6
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Sorry about the wait for Chapter 4! I need to make sure that things are going to happen in-RP first so that I have a valid plot-related reason to do what I'm about to do. In the meantime, here's a little something that I wrote to tide myself over during the gap in between updates.
On a Whim

The Shrine of the Third Eye was every bit as serene as it was built up to be: cherry blossom petals danced in the wind as they drifted downwards from the dense, leafy canopy above, a sense of stillness permeated the air, only broken by the distant sound of flowing water, and intricately crafted arches lined the cobblestone path that Elijah meandered down in bright red, ending in a magnificent structure that wouldn't be out of place in Johto.

He had learned about the shrine while reading a travel brochure that he'd snatched from the hotel lobby earlier: cited as a popular destination for visiting and resident trainers alike, the shrine was beheld in local tradition for granting the wishes of those who had written in its hallowed halls. Seeking the opportunity to finally immerse himself in Fizzytopian culture, Elijah elected to make the trip south of New Fizz, recalling all of his teammates out of respect for the shrine ahead.

He silently bowed at the pair of ornately decorated Gardevoir stationed at the front of the building, delicately taking the wooden plaques that they offered him out of their ribbon-clad arms as he passed through the doorway, passing a few glances at the detailed carvings that embellished the walls that now surrounded him. Left one's for Pokémon, right one's for items, he recalled from the brochure as he approached the left wall to take a closer look.

Even though he remained as respectfully stoic as possible, Elijah couldn't help but quietly chuckle as he read the plaques—or ema, if the notice at the entrance was anything to go by—hanging from various places on the wall, their frayed rope keeping the whims of various trainers, some long gone, aloft. Some of the requests that had been posted were ridiculously lofty—of the Pokémon that he recognized, Larvesta was a strangely common choice, which didn't make much sense since he'd only heard of it through various rumors and legends spread through his classmates back home. Porygon was also a popular pick—maybe he lucked out with having one as his starter? He'd have to ask later.

Moving to the left wall, he decided to study the ema a little more closely, taking out his insanely handy Pokédex to try and decipher what some of the item names written in charcoal referred to while quietly thanking the "absolute geniuses" at Silph for their brand-new Itemdex app. Some of them were obvious like "Nevermeltice," some took a little guesswork (apparently that's what the Leftovers that he'd been holding onto did), and others were downright confusing—Silver Powder was a particularly big gotcha for him, having thought that it was related to Steel types at first.

Satisfied with his findings, Elijah returned to the center of the room where an obsidian statue of Jirachi—the chosen deity of the shrine—towered over the adjacent table that held a rod of charcoal on top of its wooden surface; obviously the tool that he would use to make his every desire known to the world. All that he had to do know was decide on what he wanted.

...What did he want, though? After all that he'd been through, all that he'd accomplished, he was still a Trainer without a cause; fueled only by his desire to find somewhere to go after he graduated from high school. He wasn't even comfortable in the occupation, anyway; the weight of the week's events seemed to stress him to the point where he could snap at any moment, and he really didn't want to know what would happen if he did.

Sighing, he picked up the charcoal and pressed it against the surface of one of his ema, scrawling the only thing he truly knew that he wanted in an abyssal black. He then proceeded directly to the offering box at the back and dropped some of the only physical money that he still had on hand inside, leaving both of his ema on the table. It was fine where it was, it didn't belong on any of the walls. He solemnly but wordlessly walked out of the shrine, purposefully ignoring the worried expressions on the normally cheery Gardevoir.

---

"Huh?"

The Trainer stared at the table in confusion. Someone had left both of their ema sitting there, which probably wouldn't have been as interesting if it weren't for the fact that one of them was already written on. What was even stranger was that the writing on the latter didn't really seem to line up with the demands of the Memakyu and the Emakiss.

"Why would someone write 'PURPOSE' on one of these things?"

Last edited by blu3shift; 09-01-2021 at 01:40 AM.
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Old 07-02-2021, 05:20 PM   #7
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ok i'm done waiting to post this, here's chapter 4. i'm never going to try to anticipate adventure plot points for my stories ever again because this was collecting dust for two months
Outset: Chapter 4

Various thoughts swirled through Elijah's mind as he made his way back to the hotel with a blazing-hot mocha in his hand, but one stood out to him the most: who was "tuned-in", and why did he know about his parents' history with Team Plasma? He hadn't told a single soul about them, and he definitely wasn't planning on saying anything for as long as he could. Whoever this so-called "friend" of his was had somehow stumbled on something that he obviously shouldn't have, and Elijah was more than determined to find out what it was.

The automatic doors at the foot of the towering hotel slowly groaned open; obviously a sign of a cheaper establishment, but it was the only one that Elijah could afford to stay in and still have some cash to spare, even with the astonishing amount of money that he'd somehow been accruing over the past week. The lobby at the other side of the doors beckoned him, its warm yellow glow offering some much-needed respite from the cloudy skies and worsening breeze of the city streets.

---

Room 303 wasn't the fanciest, but it was still the best place to relax after a long day in the city. It was also the perfect place to stew over that very same day, as Elijah had learned.

"What is this guy's deal? First he helps me get started, and then he starts using my personal life against me! How does he know this stuff, anyway?" Elijah rattled off to Epoch, whose polygonal face seemed to sport an apologetic expression. "Did he, like, hack into some sort of database? I mean, I wouldn't put it past him to do that, but it isn't like he'd be in cahoots with one of those 'teams' or anything...

"I just... I just don't know, man. I mean, you're a computer, you'd probably be able to solve this problem in record time if you could."

"You're right," Epoch said.

Elijah jumped. Did Epoch just talk?! He'd seen the Porygon do things that it wasn't supposed to do, but this was something that was practically impossible for just about every Pokémon! Maybe someone had programmed a voice into them, even if that voice sounded a lot like—

Wait.

"Tuned?!"

"I think you're ready. Saw how well you did against all of those Dynamax Pokémon back there, not to mention how long you managed to hold off—"

"...You saw how well I did?"

"Oh yeah, saw," Tuned, speaking through Epoch, continued. "I... kind of 'supervised' you a little? Just to make sure you weren't going to die. Look, I'm, uh, in a little bit of a hurry, so I gotta cut the signal right now. All I'm going to ask of you is that you never let anyone take this Porygon."

"What do you mean, 'signal'?!"

No response. It didn't take long for Elijah to realize just what that meant.

Epoch continued to float there, emotionlessly staring at the wall on the opposite side of the room. All that progress, all the training that Elijah did with them, gone in an instant. Instead, he was left with an empty shell of what the Porygon once was, a vague echo of what was apparently an elaborate mechanical puppet.

For the first time since he stepped off that plane, Elijah felt like he was sinking into depression.

---

Elijah sulked on the firm hotel bed, a forlorn expression covering his face. He occasionally glanced at the stationary Porygon on the other side of the room, hoping that maybe this was just a mistake and Tuned hadn't been controlling Epoch after all. It was an exercise in futility though; an exercise that had lasted most of the day at this point. So much for getting away from Unova, he thought with a sigh, letting his arm dangle off of the bed.

Something clicked in Elijah's head right then. If all of his problems were keeping him down, then why didn't he just get away from them? If everything was just bearing down on him, then maybe the best way to take care of it was to stop dealing with that everything and go get some fresh air instead.

Fresh air. Wasn't he entertaining the idea of going camping earlier? That sounded like the perfect way to get out of this mess. One thought morphed into the next as Elijah desperately tried to figure out how to claw his way out of his own hole, throwing caution to the wind. It was his mood and he was going to do something about it.

"Epoch, follow me," Elijah commanded. "We're checking out. I've got something better for us to do."

He promptly picked up his belongings from the floor and walked out of the hotel room, leaving a trailing Porygon in his wake, hoping that he'd be able to stop focusing on his woes during his little escape.

As he'd soon come to learn, he was terrible at coping with his issues.

Last edited by blu3shift; 09-01-2021 at 01:40 AM.
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Old 09-01-2021, 01:30 AM   #8
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Adventure: A Dive Into The Deep
Location: Cape Effervescence, New Fizz City / ZU: TheKnightsFury, Prof.Enigma
(April 17th, 2021–)

Hot off the heels of his escapades in Amity Gardens, Elijah takes up an odd job at Cape Effervescence to hopefully pay his bills while offering a much-needed change of pace. Too bad that change of pace happens to involve an underground poaching operation, a crazy scientist that doesn't seem to know when to let up, and a bunch of swimming that he doesn't know how to do. All in a day's work?

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Old 09-01-2021, 01:40 AM   #9
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Adventure: Shocked
Location: Fortune's Woods, Arcane Realm / ZU: Zelphon, Lil'twick
(July 2nd, 2021–February 2nd, 2022)

Elijah's at his lowest point yet. His Porygon is nothing more than an empty shell now and it turns out that he's pretty awful at camping. Or, at least, camping until he gets blindsided by a mischievous Rotom and a ruined city that was once championed by a Weezing. That's where he has to step up to the plate... if he wasn't feeling so depressed and mistrustful.

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Old 11-09-2021, 10:12 PM   #10
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Blog Post: "doing the unthinkable"

doing the unthinkable
Posted July 21, 2021 • Permalink »


so this might come as a surprise to you if you know me but i've officially started to take up pokemon training! yeah, you can thank my friends for that one. turns out that i've been running into so much trouble with trying to get my life into gear that it seemed like a better idea to cut my losses and focus on the path of least resistance. it took me a while to study for that qualification test and honestly i think i'm going to forget a good chunk of it later on but i got my ID so i think i'm good. besides, if i need any tips i can just whip out my pokedex and check there.


please forgive my bad art, i haven't practiced since 6th grade

OH YEAH the pokedex! this sucker can handle anything that i throw at it. like, just 10 years ago it did only one thing but some guy said "hey, what if we rolled the c-gear and xtransceiver into one thing" and then we got this. i've been messing with it since i got it a few weeks back and it's got so many cool surprises bundled in. like, the uproar app is built to handle both of its screens! you'd think the devs wouldn't care but they really gave it their all just for the unova dexes. it's so useful that i couldn't even imagine what i'd do if i broke it. but you know what else i have on this thing?



A PORYGON. i got the hookup from one of my friends (sup tuned) and they gave me this pink bird-y thing as my starter. they called it "Epoch," which is some kind of computer joke according to him but i don't get it. apparently they can go in and out of computers but i haven't really tried that for reasons that may or may not involve not being completely registered as a trainer yet. i've been told that it's really rare so i need to hold onto it as long as i could, which sounds really easy because this thing is cool as hell and i don't see why i'd ever give it up.



so, what now? i just hit up in the league in unova, right? WRONG. there's this cool place that i was made aware of called fizzytopia. weird name, i know, but from what i've heard it just seems right for me. i mean, yeah, there aren't really any gym leaders or elite fours, but i think that's perfect for a beginner like me. no champion equals no rush! probably. i'm just hoping that i don't burn out haha

i guess that's all for now! i'm doing a lot of preparing for the trip so i'm probably going to be too busy to post any more updates here for the time being. i'll probably write something up like a week after i get settled over there so look forward to that. also HUGE shoutouts to the gang (you know who you are) for pushing me to do this, i would have never gone on this crazy trip if it wasn't for you. as always, keep on rolling!

(by the way, i'm thinking of writing up another fanmail section. if you want to submit anything for that then you can do that here. thanks for reading!)
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Old 02-13-2022, 10:17 PM   #11
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Can You Hear Me Now?
or, A Conversation Between a Phone and its Trainer

“...So you’re saying that you want one of these?”

Code:
thats the plan
Elijah tilted the black box that he held in his right hand back and forth, admiring the way that its shrinkwrap covering reflected the store’s fluorescent lighting. A slab of glass lined in bright orange displayed itself prominently on the box’s lid, a slightly larger-than-life peek into what laid inside. The Rotom Phone, as the foil lettering on the side of the box boasted, looked shiny and new—a far cry from the Pokédex that was occupying his left hand.

“...How is this just twenty-five bucks, anyway? Isn’t there, like, a catch or something to this thing?”

Code:
didnt you say you got the old one for free?
gloverwhatever sub city?
“...You’ve got a point. I guess I’ll go ring it up, sure hope it’s worth it like you say it is.”

———

Elijah lifted the lid on the box. The phone inside gleamed under the lights of the hotel room, illuminating its visage like it was a gift from the heavens. The Rotom occupying his older Pokédex seemed to agree, leaping out from the former device—which instantly shut off, owing to its heavily used battery—into the newer one in a stunning arc of electricity. He took a breath to speak but quickly choked back his words when the phone spoke for him.

"Told ya it would be worth it," the Rotom inside the phone gloated. Its face, projected onto the screen, winked at Elijah. "That piece of junk over there was seriously cramping my style. I mean, I'm surprised that I was even able to fit in there. And don't get me started on that battery. It's a total piece of sh—"

"Whoa, uh—" Elijah blurted.

"You got a problem with me saying s—"

"Uh, no, I’m just really... in shock from the fact that you just jumped right in there?"

"Okay, bro, whatever. You’re acting all weird about this, but I’m not going to push it."

Elijah and his Rotom stared at each other for a suffocatingly awkward moment before the former continued. "So, the phone lets you talk? Like, talk talk?"

"Definitely. This f—sucker's made for me. I can hang around as your not-so-virtual assistant wherever you go, and—get this—I can pop outta here and fight for ya whenever I feel like. Oh, speaking of fighting, I should probably check on my dex entry, actually! Hold on," Rotom finished as the screen switched to the phone's built-in Pokédex. Various details populated the screen a second later, a display of the phone's relative power compared to the older model sitting on the table next to Elijah.

"Let's see here... body made of plasma, yep... wreaks havoc, that was only once! Oh yeah, goes inside machines, that tracks... you doin' okay, bro?" Rotom paused as it noticed Elijah visibly tense up briefly.

"Sorry, just thought about something. I, uh, need to go to the bathroom."

"Cool. Just fillin' this thing out. Can I see the rest of your team, actually?"

"Front pocket of my backpack," Elijah said with a vague hint of nervousness as he pointed to the green backpack lying on the floor. “I’m sure you can figure out how to open it. I’m gonna, uh, go.”

———

"AAAAAAAAHHHHH, GET OUT!"

Rotom’s yelling from outside prompted Elijah to rush out of the bathroom, hastily drying his washed hands in the process. He was greeted with the sight of the Rotom Phone with a digital representation of Epoch floating around on its screen. Thorn sat on the floor with a mildly amused expression.

"You've got five seconds to get out of my body before I fry you and everything on this phone," Rotom warned, visibly uncomfortable.

"Whoa, whoa, the hell’s going on here?" Elijah quickly intervened, shaking off the remaining water from his hands. "Is that Epoch?"

"Uh, yeah?! They’re inside me! Only I get to do that! I’ve been trying to get this guy out for the past minute but nothing’s working—"

"Epoch, get out of the phone."

Epoch complied almost immediately, reassembling itself in the material realm and leaving behind a flustered Rotom.

"I—how—"

"You get used to it."

"Sure hope I do," Rotom said, sighing despite not being able to breathe. “So, like, goin’ on a tangent here, it’s a trainer thing to give us names, right? Betcha I can come up with my own.”

Elijah shrugged. “Fire away,”

"So I was thinking of something cool like Deadwire. Ya know, how it's like 'livewire' but dead? 'Cause I'm a ghost? Or how about Volt? Plain and simple, right?"

"Dude, this is your actual name, not your secret identity."

"...Buzzkill."

"That's not gonna work, either."

"Fiiiine. I think I can compromise. I think 'Ion' might work? It's both an electricity word and it kind of sounds close to 'Ian'—"

"Sure, Ion it is."

Elijah sighed. "Glad that’s sorted out. You okay with that phone thing?"

Ion smiled. "Yep, everything's all clear. Except for that lightbulb, but it shouldn't be too hard to fix," they said as they pointed to a fixture on the ceiling. Three of its four bulbs were lit, the other one burnt out and noticeably blackened.

Elijah sighed again. “It’s gonna be a long weekend.”
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Old 02-22-2022, 12:11 AM   #12
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Event: From Beyond the Shadows
Location: Realm of Shadows
(May 2nd, 2021–)

Elijah responds to a call to adventure with unbridled enthusiasm, however things go south quickly as he struggles to understand what exactly a "raid" is, the concept of Shadow Pokémon, and why there are giant Pokémon everywhere.

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Old 02-22-2022, 12:31 AM   #13
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Event: Last Resort
Location: AzuVee Resort
(July 31st, 2021–September 13th, 2021)

Elijah needs a vacation. The AzuVee Resort has just opened its doors overlooking Fizzytopia's west coast. It seemed like a match made in heaven, but things quickly seem like they're other way as his getaway slowly unravels at the hands of his excitable Pokémon. At least the prizes might help.

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Old 02-22-2022, 12:47 AM   #14
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Free RP: On Our Own
Location: The Tree Grove
(October 17th, 2021–)

Thorn and Epoch, having been dropped off at the Tree Grove by Elijah moments earlier, attempt to end up having adventures of their own. Emphasis on attempt.

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Old 02-22-2022, 12:58 AM   #15
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Free RP: Meanwhile
Location: The Trainer-Only Nightclub
(November 17th, 2021–)

Elijah goes to the bar after dropping off his Pokémon at the Tree Grove, doubt setting in after a whirlwind of a week. Help arrives... in the form of an actual pirate. Pokémon training is full of surprises, if it wasn't obvious enough.

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Old 06-21-2022, 10:23 PM   #16
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The Upgrade
Quote:
[ OK ] Starting console output service...
[ OK ] Finalizing update...
[ OK ] test string 1
[ FAIL ] Connecting to remote server...
[ OK ] Starting audio input processor...
"...Hey, I think it worked."

"Sure looks like it. Lemme put this in the dex."

Quote:
[ FAIL ] Starting audio output processor...
[ OK ] Starting visual input processor...
One or more components failed to start during boot. Operation will continue as usual, but some features may be disabled.
PORYGON2 (c) 1996-1999 SILPH CO.
DEVELOPMENT BUILD 742 - FOR INTERNAL USE ONLY
Epoch accepted the upgrade, to Elijah's relief. He wasn't exactly sure how they installed it, considering that the floppy disk that he was using disappeared as soon as Epoch was within "range" of it, but there really wasn't any room to question anything, considering how much reason went right out the window as soon as he'd become a bonafide Pokémon trainer. Shrugging, he looked from his phone to the distinctly smoothed Epoch and back again.

Ion was quick to catalog everything that they could find about Epoch's new form. "Okay, Porygon2, normal type, designed for operation in space but can't move around well out there. Oh, and there's something in here about whatever a 'machine learning' is."

"...Huh. Neat," Elijah replied. "I have no idea what that is either, but it sounds cool. Do you want to look that one up?"

"No way. I spent fifteen minutes trying to figure out which of those results was the actual thing and not just some dope's advertisement masquerading as a blog post. I'm not dealing with that ever again. That and I'm going to switch search engines ASAP." A sigh emitted from the phone. "I'm done for, like, the next forever. Wake me up when something cool happens."

The phone's screen faded to black with a click, leaving nothing but an unflattering reflection of a concerned Elijah. He put the phone back in his pocket and looked back at Epoch, who returned his gaze.

"...Uh, hey? You doing alright?" He asked Epoch. Epoch nodded.
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