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 Posted: Wed May 17, 2023 12:12 pm
Jean nodded a thank you to the shop keep and gave a nervous smile. "Sorry, I arrived in Johto only yesterday. I am.. uh... nervous when travelling. However, I am on my way to a uh... new... start?" He looked for a moment like he was debating if that was the correct way to say what he was trying to explain, before nodding and deciding he probably had it close enough at least. "Merci, monsieur. Au revoir." Ancil gave the man a nod as well before following after his trainer. Jean waited for the pokemon and let him take lead so he could follow. The service pokemon brought him to the Inn, getting him there just as the last bit of sun left the sky. The young Kalosian was a bit overwhelmed by the culture shock when the woman approached him and for a moment almost hid behind Ancil like a child from a stranger, until he silently reminded himself that he wasn't actually a child. Clearing his throat to get his barrings, he nodded to the woman. "Bonjour madam, and yes. I need one room for just tonight, s'il vous plaît." Ancil pushed up against his leg for a moment, then walked over to the woman pointed to her kimono with his nose. It too Jean a moment but he figured out what he was trying to say. "Oh! Ah... I mean... um..... please?" The service pokemon nodded and Jean gave a sheepish smile. Small words like hello, goodbye, please, and thank you were just easier to say in his native tongue.
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Posted: Wed May 17, 2023 4:16 pm
The woman beamed, seemingly estatic that Jean would be staying with them and quickly followed up his confirmation with another bow, holding it for several seconds as she spoke again. "Thank you so much for choosing up to meet your needs!" She thanked Jean, then straightening back up. "Your accent and language sounds beautiful. Please do not show shame for speaking the tongue of your ancestors." The woman said before turning around and motioning for the trainer to follow. "Come come! Let me show you to your room, honored guest." ----- It didn't take long for Jean to be shown to his room, its appearance not a surprise considering how old this building was. It was small with almost no furniture, besides a small low table and lamp, and had tatami mat flooring, the door itself a sliding shoji door. The bed, a traditional futon, laid on the floor, neatly arranged and clean. A Kalosian like Jean might be used to sleeping in a raised bed so sleeping on the floor might be new to the trainer. A single window in the room let in what little light there was left out as the sunset, the amber rays giving the room a soothing picturesque appearance, the sound of wild Hoothoot faintly heard even in here. Jean was informed that he could use the communal bath if he wished before bed, though whether or not he did was another question. The woman would thank Jean several more times before finally leaving him for the night, instructing him that if he needed anything further that she would 'honored' to assist. They really liked that word around here it seemed. A complimentary jar of homemade traditional Pokemon food was left on the low table for Jean, a gift to him and his Pokemon. From what the woman said it was made up of local berries, young apricorns and bamboo shoots. Sounded nutritious enough.
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Posted: Mon May 29, 2023 10:43 am
Jean nodded his thanks to the woman nervously, though he was more nervous just because he was always nervous not because of the culture shock. Really, he had become used to sleeping on the floor. He didn't rememer why (he had been traveling and camping for a few months now) but he knew it didn't bother him that much. He also knew that he suprisingly wasn't that hungry himself, though he also never had that big of an appitite since the accident according to his notes. Once the woman had left and he had the room set up, he took his now occupied ball and stared at it momentarily. He took two bowls from the table that were left with the pokemon food and filled them as evenly as he could manage, putting one in front of Ancil he happily nodded a thanks to his person and began eating and then calling out his new friend and setting the other bowl down in front of him. "I promised you more food, mon ami. Here you are." He explained, sitting next to the Hoothoot and patting his head gentle, giving his feather's a nice scratch. As it munched away Jean began to think. " We should think of what to call you, yes? Hm...." He looked it over, contemplating, then gave a soft smile. "What about... Merlin? You are wise, like a wizard, no? And a friendly helper. I think it fitting." He chuckled, looked at Ancil too who seemed to nod in approval, but it was up to the Hoothoot if he liked the new name. Jean also scoot over to Ancil and pull the sketch book, pencil, inking pen, and needed eraser out of Ancil's satchel before flipping to the next blank page. "Do not mind me, mon ami." He he note to the Hoothoot. "I just do not want to forget you, so I will put your likeness on paper. You may pose if you like, or just keep eating. I will be able to get the image regardless." ((OOC: Feeling a better, though I may still be slow to responf at times. Thanks for your patience. ^^"))
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Posted: Sat Jun 03, 2023 4:35 pm
Ancil's new Hoothoot friend would immediately dig into the food, scarfing it down greedily. Whoever made up the saying about 'eating like a bird' in reference to not eating much, or just eating small bits, obviously never saw this bird eat. The bird would gradually slowed down as its stomach filled up, though never stopped. Now eating more slowly it had a moment to acknowledge Ancil, looking up at him as he spoke, taking smaller pecks at the food as the Pokemon seemed to be considering his words. "Hooo..." The owl cried as it finally straightened up, appearing to react to the name offered to him. The 'wise wizard' would consider the name for a bit, closing its eyes as if in deep thought, and then would open its eyes wide and let out its biggest 'hoot' yet. "Hoothoot!" It declared happily, fluttering its wings and wiggling its tail feathers as if to give emphasis, grounding itself with both feet for this one. It looks like it definitely liked that name. "Hoot hoot hoot hoot!" It chanted, now jumping from one leg to the other. (Sorry for my own delay, life got busy and hectic and I'm all scrambled up.)
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Posted: Sat Jun 03, 2023 5:12 pm
Jean chuckled as he watch the owl get excited over the name. "I am glad you like it. Merlin it is then." He pet the owl's head once more before getting back to his sketch. Once it was done he showed Merlin his drawing, a perfect black and white recreation of the pokemon cheerfully eating away sprawled out on the page along with a date and the location that he was captured. "This is how I will always remember you, mon ami. I may forget you, but I will always find a way to remember you again." He gave a bit of a sad smile. He felt bad making friends with a pokemon... or anyone really... with the knowledge that he wouldn't remember them the next day. It felt like he was putting this hoothoot in a situation where he would never be able to rely on his trainer and instead the trainer is more reliant on him. However, if he was going to make it in Snagem, he needed a team. With a sigh, he pushed himself up and stretched. "I am going to go get a sketch made of the inn itself so I can remember where this is, then write my journal entry before bed. Ancil, I think I will be fine for now. I am not going far. Merlin, you may stay here as well. Get rest, mon ami, we leave first thing in the morning." With that, he left to do exactly as he said he would. He knew Ancil, as a service pokemon trained specifically for him, may follow him anyway despite telling him he would be alright on his own. Still, he felt like the absol deserved a break too if he could offer one. Outside of the inn, Jean stopped about three-fourths of the way through his sketch and sighed. "Am I really making the right choice? Or am I placing my problems in the hands of Snagem and hoping they will fix it?" He asked himself sadly. "What use could I truly be, huh? Tomorrow morning, I will be a lost ten-year-old boy again. I don't know why I started this journey initially... the entry almost sounded spiteful... but I continued it today because... it sounded like maybe I could find a home there. But that... that isn't what Snagem is there for, right? They are trying to change the world for the better. I am just being selfish." He sighed again, taking the SNAG off his belt and turning it in his hand, and seemingly forgetting that the thing was a living AI that could hear every word he was saying. He could join the team. Maybe he would find a home and friends and family and... maybe even... He shook his head at the last thought, knowing that at least was in impossibility. What man on earth would put up with his situation? But... the others... those could be on the table here. Was it worth it though? (No worries. IRL always takes priority. Do what you gotta. ^^)
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Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2023 8:26 am
"You're too hard on yourself." GRAY spoke up from the SNAG, the AI indeed listening to everything he said, it was its sole purpose to do so after all. "It's fine to be selfish every now and then, you're deserving of a home and you'll find no place better. Trust me, as humorous as it may sound I speak from experience." GRAY continued. How could an AI have any sort of experience with the feeling of loneliness and not belonging? "I am not just any artificial intelligence, instead I am, or should be, a Pokemon." The digital voice revealed. "You could say I was meant to be a Porygon3, the proper upgrade to Porygon2, however I was deemed a failure. Too unstable to exists in the physical world, useless for my design purpose, I was marked for deletion. However a certain person saved me from nothingness, from becoming another forgotten failure of the Silph Co. research team like those before me, and that person was the leader of Team Snagem himself, Sub." "Not only did Sub save me but he gave me a purpose, a reason to exist and thrive in spite of my limitations. Where others saw a flawed creature, a failure, Sub saw what could be, potential. So if you're looking for a place in this world yourself, where people will see beyond your limitations and defects, a home, then you'll find no place better than Team Snagem." GRAY said, finishing his uncharacteristic outpouring of emotion. "Now if you tell anyone about our little heart-to-heart I'll deny the whole thing." There it is, that was a little more characteristic of the AI.
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Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2023 9:07 am
Jean jumped at the sudden voice from the SNAG, seemingly having forgotten that it was a cognitiant being. He was able to catch the machine after losing his grip, and listening carefully to what he had to say. It got him tearing up a bit, but smiling. With a sigh, he wiped his eyes and gave a nod. "Merci, GRAY. I will not remember this tomorrow, but I will write it down as best I can. You... can be a good friend when you are not being sarastic and snarky." With a chuckle he added, "If you want, I won't write down who said it so even I won't know that you were nice to me." Looking down at his unfinished sketch of the inn, we took a deep breath and wiped his eyes one last time. "I... should finish this so I have it tomorrow." He noted, and did just that before heading back in. Merlin had perched himself on the window to sleep and Ancil had curled up on the bed waiting for him. As soon as he walked in, the service pokemon knew something happened and hopped of the bed to approach him and hopped up with his front paws on the Kalosian's legs. It earned a chuckle and a pat on the head. "I am fine, mon ami. I... just needed time to think. But, I just some good advice from an unexpected source." The pokemon raised a brow but could sense that he seemed to be alright now and backed down. After putting all his days events in his journal, Jean lay on the mat and stared at the cieling for a while, thinking about everything that had happened before drifting off. The next morning, as his eyes opened, he imediately sat up and looked around horrified. "Wha... w-where?" Luckily, before he could fully freak out, Ancil grabbed the journal, sketch book, and SNAG and placed them on his lap. The scared and confused trainer stared at him for a moment, "A.... absol?" Looking down at the books he noticed his name and years written on the front of them. But... that was... wait... was it? Opening the sketch book first, memories of looking at older pictures before started coming back. Older journal entries had the same effect. Newer ones he couldn't remember no matter how hard he tried, but the latest one stuck out to him. He read the words a few times over. You're allowed to be selfish. You're allowed to want a place to belong. People will accept you. Just give it a try. He wasn't sure where this came from, but it was nice to see... even if it was from himself. With a deep breath, he picked up the machine and looked at it for a moment. The notes said it talked, and the most recent one said to be nice to it for some reason... "U-um.... Monsieur GRAY, yes? Um... w-we are in Johto going to the Team Snagem base? I... will need you to remind me of the details, if you do not mind... please...."
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Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2023 2:57 pm
"Just call me GRAY, no need to the formalities." GRAY immediately answered. "But since you're so forgetful I guess I could help you out. So here is the deal..." GRAY would shoot off some of his classic snark before earnestly giving Jean a refresher, going over in the most minor details. That is one thing Jean might be thankful for having now, the SNAG and the AI inside of it that is constantly recording his day. While GRAY was always listening he did stay true to the concept of privacy so if there was ever a time Jean didn't want him to be listening he wouldn't. "So, understand now? Anything else?" GRAY said after finishing up filling Jean in on yesterday. "From here you will travel east and through Mt. Mortar. As I explained to you yesterday you'll have to make the daunting trip through the tunnels of the mountain, considering you do not possess a Pokemon to ferry you across the dangerous waters of Route 42. The local Seaking would make swiss cheese out of you and your Pokemon." The AI continued. "Your newly captured Hoothoot would be very beneficial to you inside Mt. Mortar and the darkness it contains. Its night vision be a boon, it's just too bad it doesn't know Flash. Either way, you should probably get the lead out and get moving."
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Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2023 4:58 pm
Jean nodded along to the explanation as he looked through the sketch book. He stopped on the picture of Merlin, staring at it for a bit and reading the description before looking over at the hoothoot and trying to remember catching him. It didn't work. He seemed upset with himself about that for a moment, but Ancil hopped up so Jean could pet him. After a moment of breathing and a thank you to GRAY, he got up and began getting ready for the day. Then he checked out of the inn with a very gratious thanks given to the woman at the front and found a place to get breakfast for himself and his companions. Once fed, he return Merlin to his ball and headed out. Finally, he was off again. He started his path towards Mt. Mortar with caution and concern. Walking a bit slow, he grasped Merlin's ball as though to keep it at the ready in case something came up. Ancil stayed close to his side, touching up against his leg so Jean could feel his presence. Being alone in a foreign land was terrifying to him, so the service pokemon was sure he knew that he was there with ever step. It made him feel a bit better at least. That and, despite being an AI, GRAY seemed like another companion, one who could help him navigate at that. He's be fine... right?
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Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2023 4:47 pm
As Jean passed through the rest of Ecruteak City he'd find the city quiet in the morning, mostly just the elderly up, many of which waved at him as he passed. Passing through the city gate he'd be greeted by the half awake city guard, the man yawning loudly after wishing him safe travels as he went on by. On the other side of the gate Jean would find himself back in the wilderness, the beaten dirt path quickly fading and then ending abruptly at some rock filled water. Staring at the water for but a few seconds confirmed what GRAY said earlier as a horn attached to something red and white poked out of the water for a few moments only to disappear. Seaking, and by the looks at the other horns that popped up there was plenty of danger to go around. To his north was the path he'd have to take, Mt. Mortar, and the cave entrance he'd be entering soon. Mt. Mortar wasn't a towering massive kind of mountain like Mt. Silver but its rough rocky terrain made it extremely difficult and unforgiving to climb thus why almost everyone who didn't elect to Surf across the route instead chose to pass through the cave system, the safest way to get to Mahogany Town. Jean would take just a few steps into the cave, breathing in the damp air, before he noted exactly how dark it was in here, again GRAY wasn't kidding. Almost no natural light made it in here, besides that from the entrance, which was typical for a cave but this darkness seemed almost unnatural pitch black. Walking further in Jean would note he could see no more than a couple of feet around him, a small circle of vision. It would have been really useful to have a Pokemon capable of using Flash right now, who knows what is lurking in the darkness. For now he'd have to be brave and push forward, but not alone, never alone. He had GRAY and his Pokemon with him.
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Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2023 6:08 pm
Jean's phobia of being lost made his heart pound as he stopped only a few steps into the cave, freezing at the thought of what would happen if he never foudn his way out. What would happen if he got hit with a dizzy spell here? If he fell asleep in here he would never be able to get out of it. It would be the absolute end of him and his pokemon. The panic attack started small and gradually grew, but luckily that was exactly what Ancil was there for. Jean felt the service pokemon's big paws hop up onto him and push him down onto his butt. The absol climbed up onto his lap and sat there, acting as a grounding mechanism and keeping him focused on the here and now. Jean looked into his partner's eyes and the it took some deep breaths, waiting for him to follow. Four. Seven. Eight. Four... Seven... Eight. It took a few rounds to get him refocused and calm enough to stand back up. Ancil found Merlin's ball that had been tossed by accident when Jean got pushed and brought it over to him, placing it in his hand. Jean nodded, though still shaking, and called Merlin out of the ball. "Merlin, mon ami, you can see in here. Please, lead the way if you can." And so he and Ancil would follow Merlin's path as they began their way through the cave. Ancil stuck so close to Jean it nearly knocked him over again a few times, but at this point the service pokemon was on high alert since Jean already had the start of a panic attack from this area.
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Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2023 6:42 am
With Merlin guiding them Jean and Ancil would navigate the caverns with ease, the owl taking them around turns, avoiding pitfalls to the lower levels, and dodging giant boulders in their path. For awhile it would seem to be almost too easy to the trainer, in spite of his own fear and the suffocating darkness around them. And this feeling would be in fact valid as another winged creation joined their general vicinity, Merlin the Hoothoot visually detecting it before it made itself vocally known. "Baaat!" Screeched a Zubat as it dive bombed towards Merlin, appearing from the darkness for Jean just seconds before it intended to make contact with his Hoothoot, the bat intending to bite down and Leech Life some essence out of the bird. As the Zubat attacked the sound of many wings flapping would ring out in the cave, a ominous sign of things to come. "Dispatch this bat quick and run. Where there is one Zubat there is bound to be many more. Don't let this one bog you down, otherwise before you know it there will be a swarm for you to deal with." GRAY warned Jean. Zubat weren't particularly powerful Pokemon, a well known nuances to trainers traveling through caves, however they did have strength in numbers.
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Posted: Wed Aug 30, 2023 5:20 pm
A gasp of shock escaped Jean's mouth as the zubat came to attack them. Ancil jumped in front and growled a warning to the wild pokemon, then barked an order to Merlin. Jean wasn't exactly a 'trainer' in the usual sense. Ancil can just always seem to know what he wanted or needed, sometimes before he did. And since Jean wasn't used to being a trainer that battles, seemed Ancil would be taking over and giving orders to Merlin.
Jean followed the lead of his pokemon, Merlin taking the front and pecking down the zubat before leading them quickly through the cave while Ancil took rear and guarded from behind. Ancil also made sure that Jean kept up and didn't lose track of the hoothoot by pushing him along every so often.
The Kalosian trainer paniced a bit as they pushed through, worried that he may get lost if he faultered for even a moment. Luckily, the service pokemon knew how to keep track of him. The more they went the more Jean truly realized how dependant he was on his pokemon. It made him sad that they basically had to babysit him. He hoped they didn't consider him as much of a burden as he felt he was.
((I'm back! Things are finally starting to settle down! Sorry for the long hiatus. sweatdrop ))
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Posted: Sat Sep 02, 2023 5:21 pm
Merlin was quick to strike down the Zubat, the feeble bat fluttering away in a panic after being hit, as promised they weren't hardy nor brave alone, only a problem in numbers. As they fled however they all could hear the sound of flapping, the sound getting closer and closer as a swarm of Zubat headed straight for them. For now they were out running them but each second that went by the gap got smaller and smaller. If they did nothing to scare away the flock of Zubat they would be on top of them in no time. While running they would spot just ahead a body of water, where the water that fed the river outside flowed through the cave. While the waters were dangerous, as GRAY warned earlier, it looked like there would be no better way to get away from these Zubat than going for a swim and hopefully the bats would fly right over them. Unless of course Jean could think of a better way to scare them off. (Welcome back!)
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Posted: Tue Sep 05, 2023 2:53 pm
Jean skid to a stop as they approached the water and stared at it for a moment. He was horrified of the idea of getting swept away by the river and losing his companions. His knees shook with fear as a took a step back, but Ancil stopped him. Looking behind him, the zubat were getting too close for comfort. Ahead of him the river flowed quickly, ready to take him away to potential safety... or potential harm. Finally, Ancil slipped in front of him and jumped up to have his front paws on Jean's chest, reassuring him that he will be there no matter what. With a deep breath and a nod, Jean commanded Merlin to return to his ball. Then, with full trust in his service pokemon and partner, he wrapped his arms tight around Ancil's torso and leapped into the river. Whatever happened now, as long as they were able to stay togher, it would hopefully work out.
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