022 // Video

[pipers_son]

[To those perhaps familiar with Kanto, the camera opens up onto a view of none other than the beginning of Bicycle Road. Joker is posed on one of its namesakes, in fact, his one hand on the handlebars and his feet firmly on the ground. He's beaming at the Gear.]

There ya go, Elsie, perfect!

So we're gettin' closer ta Fuchsia now, after we met up with that Erika! Nice girl, by the by, took things in stride. Probably seen it all before, y'know how it is.

Anyway! There's a real long way ta the next city, but, as it turns out, there's this real handy road that takes ya there much quicker! S'just that ya can't use yer Pokemon or anythin' on it. Gotta use a bike. [He pats said bike proudly.]

Now, uh, I've never actually used one a these, won't be dishonest about it. But ey, I've ridden all manner a Pokemon while here, so how hard can it be? Ya just gotta- balance and the like-

[Way more wobbly than is in any way reassuring, Joker pushes off... right down a hill...]

[...Yeah, he's immediately falling off and crashing down the whole damn thing. Yelping, clanging, swearing- Elsie the Pyroar, the current cameralion of the day, jolts forward after him. In the chaos, one of her teeth nudges the Gear off.]

[SO THAT CERTAINLY HAPPENED.]

[He probably shouldn't have done this while it was raining.]

Comments

[islandshore]

[Riku tries not to laugh, but it's difficult, and he ends up looking away to hide his tiny smirk. You've got his sympathy, Joker. So much sympathy...]

Heh. I always just flew from city to city once I'd gotten my Johto badges, but I guess the downside to that's that you miss out on some of the adventure.

You gonna be okay?

[pipers_son]

[Joker won't judge- he knows it was a jackass thing to do. In hindsight, anyway. With all the bruises and bandaids...]

Ha, well, I'm makin' the whole journey with my Pyroar lot- [BB shoves her head into the frame.] And they don't exactly got wings, y'know?

And ha! I'll be fine. S'not like I died.

[islandshore]

Wow, a whole team of just one species? That's pretty gutsy.

[In fact, that raises an important question:]

You already take on Misty? Not that I doubt you, but a full fire team's... tricy to work with sometimes.

[pipers_son]

Thought I'd challenge myself this time, ha ha!

[Because hey, he's already beaten the Johto gyms. Might as well mix it up.]

And yep! It was damned tricky, but fortunately, they'd learned Crunch by that time. Dovre, well, let's just say she was more than happy ta use it on that poor Starmie. Feel like I should send a gift basket in apology for that.

[islandshore]

Could be worse. At least you didn't Solarbeam her Quagsire like Flare did.

[At that stage, he was still all about showcasing his team's power and one-upping other trainers. Go figure...]

Honestly, she's probably used to stuff like that. Comes with being a Gym Leader.

[pipers_son]

Still. That poor Starmie, ha.

Anyway, things have been goin' pretty well so far! It's actually a fun sorta challenge, stickin' with one Pokemon. I wonder if the gyms would be interested in that sorta thing in the future, workin' with trainers for more challenges than just the elite...

[He should probably stop thinking. He gets carried away with these kind of things.]

[islandshore]

... You know.

[That's actually a good point, and something he hasn't anticipated trying before. Hmm, he taps his chin. What to do...]

Heh. It does sound pretty fun, but are you restricting the kinda moves you use? No TMs? Free for all? There's a lot you could do to keep things interesting.

[pipers_son]

When I beat the last gym over here, why don't I let ya know then? If I'm givin' folks a challenge, I might as well see what it's like doin' it.

And maybe then I'll have a better idea for this sorta thing.

[islandshore]

In that case, I expect a full report. Ups downs, tricks, challenges...

Maybe we can make this into an official unofficial thing for trainers who want a little more spice to their battling.

[pipers_son]

Trick number one: cross yer fingers and pray, ha.

[Seriously, he's done that.]

I wouldn't mind doin' somethin' like that, ta be honest! There's all sortsa neat ways ta go about gym battles, if ya don't focus on "what's the best way ta win". We should talk more about it when I get back ta Johto.

[islandshore]

And pack lots of potions?

[Because nobody said they can't use items. Heck, the leaders are extremely guilty of doing so.]

And hey, if you want to do a planning session, I'm game. Maybe we could ask other people for ideas, get some real brainstorming done.

[pipers_son]

Oh yeah. Especially for the tough ones, ha ha. Although I usually save it for the last three on my team, just ta see.

[No need to be wasteful and all that when a trip to the Pokecenter afterwards is always in order.]

Maybe we could even make the Breedin' Center a part a things? Here's a random team, use just this for the entire gym go around!

[islandshore]

Guess that makes it more fair. Wouldn't be much if a challenge if you just kept spamming Hyper Potions.

[Not to mention it'd get expensive pretty fast. There's probably some environmental lesson to be learned, too. Don't be wasteful, recycle, and all that jazz.]

Grab bags could be interesting, but would they be eggs? Pre-trained Pokémon? I wouldn't want things to be too unfair.

[pipers_son]

Well, Falkner, he's technically the first most folks go up against here, right? I mean, Johto wise. And his team's... What, somewhere in the thirties?

[islandshore]

Hmm... Yeah, that could work. Any higher, and it'd be taking the challenge away. And I don't want to all do the work for them.

[Not without a significant amount of money for his efforts, anyway. Training's time consuming! Stressful, too.]

[pipers_son]

We'd probably have ta do a bit a work gettin' folks ta the first gym... Just ta make it fair and all, ya think?

[islandshore]

Hmm, yeah. Not that I mind; I've got enough Pokémon to cover training them up a bit. Not like they have much else to do these days.

[pipers_son]

A thing like this could keep us all busy~.

I bet I could sweettalk some a the gym leaders, too. S'what I'm good at, ha ha!

[islandshore]

Heh. One of these days, you'll have to tell me your secret, especially when it comes to Whitney.

[pipers_son]

Ha. S'not much of a secret, mate. Just have ta know people.