The Journey of Two

[Paleo-JJX8672]

Jaime drug his feet on the dirt path loathing the journey ahead. He knew it would be full of unpleasantness but he had already agreed to go with his best friend. They had known each other for years meeting on a random forum site. There they wrote many stories together, formed friends and had fun. Memories were made. These memories Jaime treasured more than anything else and wished for nothing more than to make more.... if only he weren't so gosh darned lazy!

Still he managed to lug himself up the "mountain" (a slight hill) and just barely meeting the summit on his hands and knees reaching out to his friend.

"I dunno if I can make it man!" He cried out in a raspy voice.

[Mizumanta]

Name: Jalen

Appearance: 

Personality:
Jalen is calm and collected, often observing before acting. Mature for his age, but still vulnerable to the occasional burst of childishness, Jalen tries to be the responsible one. Trying his best to be reliable and useful,  Jalen works hard for acceptance from others, while struggling to figure out if he really needs. Sometimes when too deep in thought he loses track of the present. This can be beneficial or detrimental in battles. Jalen may go out of his way to make others feel better, but tends to neglect himself. He feels that his ralts can sensethat too. 

History: 

Party:

Grace I Ralts I Lv. 15 I Trace l Timid

Moves:

Destiny Bond l Confusion I Growl l Double Team l Disarming Voice l Will o Wisp

Jalen's first partner pokemon. 


Battles: 1

Items:



TMs:

㊌ Fought against Jaime and his Sabelye and Lost

[Paleo-JJX8672]

He laughed as he took his friend's hand. "Yeah Yeah."

He straightened himself up and looked towards the horizon. The vast wilds at the edge of Pallet Town seemed to stretch on forever. Somewhere in the distance was they're first destination. Despite his pessimism, Jaime was quite excited to show off his knowledge. In his youth he had done a lot of traveling due to his parents' work and so visited lots of exotic places in the world. Kanto was probably his favorite of all the places he had ever been.

Jaime straightened himself up and felt a surge of determination. This journey would change them and it meant a lot for the both of them. He looked at Jalen who was fixated on the same thought no doubt. Suddenly the Pokeball on his belt popped open! The light gathered around his leg and formed into a Sableye. It looked around his leg nervously trying to stay out of the sun and in his shadow. It hissed and clanged its teeth in a twitching fashion. Jaime reassured the small creature with a couple pats on the back trying to let it know he felt the same way.

"Well? I thought that if we're going to start a journey, we ought to both start it with the same first step!" At that moment, his foot left the ground and passed the invisible line onto Route 1.

[Mizumanta]

“Boo. Youre such a whiner.” Jalen teased. He grabbed Jaime’s hand to lift him up enough to take that extra step. It was a bit comical to be honest, as he was literally making a mountain out of a molehill. Though Jalen knew not to prod too much, as he had done similar things in the past, and his friend likely wouldnt hesitate to call him out on it.  

Jalen and Jaime had lived in the same region before, and had kept in contact for years. But Jalen had moved away to Laverre City in Kalos a few years ago and had just returned to Kanto. The first thing that he wanted to do was start his journey with his best friend. And nothing was going to stop them.

Jalen took in a breath of fresh air. It was almost sweet. Sweeter than he had ever experienced. Before he could fully notice, Jalen developed a wide grin on his face. He was excited. It was actually rare fir him to be genuinely excited, but he couldnt help but show it. 

With his burst of sudden emotion, Jalen’s own pokeball wiggled. Barely a second after Jaime’s pokemon opened, Jalen’s moon ball, which he had gotten as a gift for the start of his journey, opened to reveal his Ralts. Her thin frame, green head, and protruding horns were a clear identifier. She turned and smiled back, tuning in to her trainer’s emotions. 

“Are you ready, Jaime?” This is the start of our new Journey!” Jalen’s excitement crept out even in his words to his friend. The path ahead would surely be difficult, but he knew that he could conquer any challenge with his friend by his side. With a simple yet powerful step, the two made their way to route 1.

[Paleo-JJX8672]

After about 30 minutes or so Jaime had already began to miss his bed and he was lagging behind. The pack of survival gear was pretty heavy in his opinion as well. He suddenly felt something cold against his brow and wiped it away. Looking towards his hand in silent horror he could see... sweat. Oh how he loathed sweating. 'This is why I stayed in my nice A/C apartment,' he thought.

He sighed working his way towards their destination. Sableye for the moment had returned to its Pokeball. The sun of the day was too much for its eyes.

Jaime scanned the area nearby hoping to take his mind off his bed somehow. Off the path, there was a tree past the fields of tall grass in a clearing. He was pretty eager to procrastinate and thought he might entice Jalen with a picnic.

"Ehem," he cleared his throat loudly trying to get Jalen's attention.

"You wanna have some lunch by that tree over there and figure out where we are gonna camp out tonight?"

[Mizumanta]

Jalen gave a disapproving frown. “You're already beat?” He had to admit that Summer may have been a bad time to start their journey due to the Sun, but route 1 was only a few kilometers. At this pace, they wouldnt make it anywhere. 

However, Jalen was never one to shy away from a food break. And he had packed some nice things. Between the two, Jalen loved to cook and make food. He was also the one who was overprepared, and had a wide range of snacks in his bag that he was eager to offer. “We can go over.” Jalen responded, somehow forgetting his earlier words of disapproval. “The shade sounds nice.”

Manta walked over with the other boy to the large shaded tree. There was lush grass underneath and a gentle breeze that he hadnt fully appreciated until he could feel it under the shade. Jalen flipped his back pack around and shifted through the pockets. Two water bottles, still cold from the fridge, two packages of sesame flavored roasted seaweed, some dried mago berries and a semi-melted icepack. “Here!” Jalen tossed over one of each item. “The ice pack for the water is almost melted, but you can use it for your forehead if that helps”. He had actually thought of using it himself, but Jalen clearly wasnt as hot as his companion and didnt want to be insensitive. 

He started by offering his Ralts some water. She hadnt been walking long but he refused to be lax in the upkeep of his partner pokemon. He then offered her some mago berry slices. Ralts prefered dryer fruits, but sweet ones were her second favorite. His pokemon didnt eat much with her small body, but Jalen had no qualms about scarfing down his food. He always thought that food tasted the best during the first few chews. He had always been accused of being a bit of a glutton due to how fast he ate. But eating like this was one of the few things in life that brought him serenity and tru enjoyment. 

Hey, you know,” Jalen began, “I had actually hoped our first resting spot would be near a stream or something. Water flowing has always been calming. Don’t you think?”

[Paleo-JJX8672]

"What?" he smiled innocently. "It's just a snack break."

He sat down with his back against the tree, one leg outstretched and looked up in through the leaves to the sky. There was a slight rustling of leaves due to the wind. He sighed after a deep breath. Indiscernible bird Pokemon could be seen soaring way above the cloud line. He clicked off Sableye's Pokeball off its magnetic holster and released it. This time, it manifested in the tree under the densest portion of the canopy. It hissed about but settled in quickly. Jaime clumsily tossed up a Rawst Berry towards his partner before sitting back down.

He opened up a couple of PBJs he had packed and ate. It wasn't long however before overcast began to hide the sun and Jaime got himself an idea.

"Hey... wanna have a battle?"

[Mizumanta]

Jalen choked a bit on his dried magi berries. It was a bit of a shock for a request like that to just come out of nowhere. The young trainer reached for his water and chugged a few gulps to clear his throat. “You really-“ Jalen coughed halfway through his sentence. “You really want to do this now? What about being tired?” He chuckled. 

His Ralts shook his sleeve for attention. She looked up at him, her eyes just barely visible past the top of her head. “Yeah, okay.” He murmured. “I have healing berries and potions stocked away, so we should be fine.” Jalen got up from beside the tree, wiping off his shorts to clear them from debris. A cloud had covered the beaming sun and produced a large shadow over the area, almost welcoming the two to battle. Jalen took a few steps into the open area that would be the battlefield. He was a little nervous. Not only was this the first battle that the two had had since their journey started, but if he overthought this (as he often did), this would set a precedent for their dynamic as partners. He didnt want to be known as the one who always lost. “Is that what would happen? He wouldnt tease me like that. But he might.” He thought. It honestly wasnt a big deal, but he couldnt help himself from considering the possible consequences. 

Jalen took in a deep breath. It wouldnt be fair to Ralts for him to only think about himself. Or to let his emotions and opinions keep him from bringing out the best that he could from his pokemon. He would give it his all, win or lose. “Alright. I’m ready.” He muttered, still a little nervous. The first battle of his journey was about to begin.

[Mizumanta]

"D-don't go easy on us!" Jalen hesitated. He was doing it more for his own confidence than for Jaime. His past mock battles with Jaime's Sabelye had almost always ended in his favor. At first it was for clear reasons. Ralts could only use the Confusion attack until recently. And Sabelye's type would keep him from being affected. At best Ralts could send rocks and debris towards Sabeleye with its confusion attack, but Sabeleye was rather sturdy and excellent at fending them off. Because of this, he and Ralts had trained a bit before starting their journey and Ralts learned Disarming Voice! This would be the first battle in which he would be be applying strategy other than direct attacks.

Ralts entered the battlefield, glowing faintly. Ralts' trace was active. It was his pokemon's ability to copy the abilities of other pokemon in battle. Jalen knew Sabeleye's ability, Prankster, but was otherwise unaware of the details of the ability, and didnt think it fair to ask. He would learn on his own. "Your sableye is a strong attacker, right?" Jalen pointed forward. "then let's try Will o Wisp!" Jalen's pokemon took in a deep breath and formed four ominous orbs around itself. each orb held a flame-like aura as they floated towards sabeleye, increasing in speed. The attack took much less preparation time than in their practice sessions together. He wasnt sure why, but Jalen was happy that this turn of events benefitted him. "We've got this.", Jalen murmured to himself. The will o wisp was sure to hit at this point, and a the inevitable burn status would leave sableye too weak to fight at full strength. Unfortunately for Jalen and Ralts, they wouldnt be bale to see that come to pass.

The floating orbs of ghostly fire dissipated instantly the instant they came within a few inches of Sableye's body. No attack was called to keep them at bay. He couldnt figure out why. But Jalen refused to let that slow him down. "Now ralts, D-" he was cut off by an incoming attack. A low and deep snarl attack. the sound alone was devastating to his pokemon, causing her to fall backwards and begin to sweat. Jalen could tell that she had become more hesitant. Her attacks likely wouldnt have the same power as before, similar to what he tried to do with Will o Wisp.

"you can do it, Ralts," Jalen encouraged. the nervous young trainer considered another attack, but decided to stick to a different strategy before finishing his command. "D-double team!" Ralts instantly split into three forms. each was just slightly blurry, making it difficult to figure out which was real. Again, Ralt's move came out faster than he had expected. Normally ralts was slower than sableye when they fought other pokemon. "But with this, you umm... won't be able to his Ralts. Another disappointment was coming. whether it was luck or whether they could see the real ralts, Sableye slashed wildly at the original with fury swipes. Ralts called out in shock, trying her best to avoid most of the slashes. She backed up far enough to create another stand off, but was having trouble standing at this point.

"R-ralts, Destiny Bond!" Jalen called out nervously. He could see that his pokemon was near fainting. He had to deter a final blow. Grace, once again performing her attack faster than usual surrounded herself in a veil. The blue glow that surrounded her was followed by what seemed to be ominous dancing orbs lightly floating around her. Jaime should have recognized this attack. If ralts fainted immediately after using this move, the lack of energy would be shared and it would be a tie. he was sure this would work to stall for time. Sabelye let loose another snarl, but this time towards one of the other clones, causing it to disappate. It looks like the successful hit from before really was a fluke. The glow calmed and disappeared as Ralts allowed for another attack. "Double team!" Jalen cried. this had been the only successful strategy so far. He had to keep it going. This created another two clones, for a total of four ralts in all. Sabeleye attacked again with a snarl,hitting another fake. "now's our chance, while he's distracted." As sabeleye attacked yet another clone, leaving only two ralt's remaining, Jalen called out his next attack. "Disarming voice!" Ralts took in a deep breath, taking more time to prepare that with her other attacks, finally letting loose a visible pink sound wave. Contrary to its pretty appearance, the sound itself was rather off putting, like a bird squawk that was autotuned. this clearly caught sabeleye off gaurd, almost to the state that Ralts was in after the first snarl attack. "Let's keep it going!" Jalen was getting excited. He felt he could finally turn things around. "Disarmi-" He was cut off. Sabelye had launched another snarl attack. This one definitely hitting the real ralts and sending her backwards, out of energy to battle. there was a pause before Jalen let out a sigh.

"Haha, looks like it's your win. Congratulations!" Jalen held back his disappointment. He didnt want to take away from his friend's victory and kept up a smile while he fished out some oran berry slices from his bag to feed ralts. Upon some deeper thinking, Jalen felt that he had failed ralts. If he hadnt gotten so confident after a single successful attack, he might have thought clearly enough to use the destiny bond move instead. But he let his excitement get the better of him. He turned to his friend. "Looks like you win our first official battle as trainers on a journey. You earned it!"
Jalen held out a hand to offer his congratulations while helping his ralts up. She was a bit dazed from her battle, but showed noticeable growth. It must have been the result of learning from a loss. Or perhaps she was still a little worked up in battle mode.

As Jalen strained his hand a bit to make contact with his friend, he felt a rain drop on it. The young trainer exhaled. For a brief moment, he imagined himself with cat ears atop his head and the feeling of them drooping at the thought of getting soaked. He looked up. Two sides of the sky seemed to be battling for dominance. The sunshine and white fluffy clouds against the denser grey ones. He couldnt tell if a light shower was to come or an outright downpour, but he didnt want to be caught in something bad. Luckily he had brought a collapsible umbrella in his bag with enough room for two people. Though was sort of hoping Jaime had brought his own. He had always been responsible and prepared to the point that he could even be called predictable and boring.