Dreams of Dazzling the Stage! (Serverus Snope and Monarchy)

[Serverus Snope]

Seth started looking for his own Pokemon to battle. "Okay, just gotta carefully-" A Machop leaped right in front of him and struck a fighting pose, obviously challenging him to a duel. Seth recoiled in shock. "Whoa, found one!" He frantically fumbled for Spade's Poke Ball. Once he found it, he chucked it out immediately. Spade charged out of the Poke Ball and grinned at the Machop.

"Spade, Scratch!" Spade lunged at the Machop and struck it with her claws. The Machop immediately responded with a Low Kick, causing Spade to trip over but receive only minor damage. "Again, Scratch!" Spade went for another strike to the Machop's chest. Her opponent barely dodged the attack... and successfully struck the air with a Karate Chop.

Seth was already reaching for an empty Poke Ball. "One more Scratch!" Spade followed Seth's repetitive orders and landed another blow to the Machop's body, causing it to stumble over. Noticing the opportunity, Seth threw the ball at the fallen Machop...

The ball missed! Seth groaned and smacked his face with the flat of his hand for making such an embarrassingly poor throw (in his opinion, at least.) But he needed to keep going.

"Scratch... again!" Spade scowled and struck Machop even harder this time for flustering her trainer. That was her job! She then watched in awe as her foe was sucked into a plain Poke Ball. She could see her foe trying to struggle. "Come on..." Seth's heart was racing even faster than it usually was. His shaky nervousness was acting up yet again. He couldn't resist trying to will the ball into locking.

The ball shook again... and locked. Spade smirked proudly at her newly-caught foe. "Oh snap, it worked!" Seth sighed to let out all the excess pressure he built up during that battle.

And then it dawned on him. His eyes widened with the realization. "Wait... that was our first battle." He paused just long enough to hear a breeze. "...Spade, you're amazing!" Spade shrugged as her trainer gushed over how awesome she was. Of course she was great. She had been telling herself that for who knows how long.

"Seriously, I can't believe you can do that! You act so slick when you fight and you can beat up the Fighting-types that took my lunch money and your claws turn into a drill and..." Seth was blinded by the stars in his eyes. Hopefully Quinn wasn't paying attention.

 

[Monarchy]

Quinn listened carefully to Seth's excitement as he caught his first Pokemon. It seemed there was a lot that Quinn had to understand about Seth. He closed his eyes and breathed in for a moment, before exhaling. With the breath that he let out, his eyes opened once again and his face changed from a pondering look to one with a smile.

"Well done, that's was done fantastically" Quinn complemented as he walked up towards Seth. "In no time, you'll be able to battle against strong trainers" he added before looking at Pokeball.

"Just an idea, but do you want to battle my Snorunt?" Quinn suddenly asked.

 

[Serverus Snope]

"Thanks- Well, yeah. naturally." Quinn kept making Seth blush. He started feeling a bit frustrated about it on the inside.

Seth froze at the thought of such a matchup. He knew that Snorunt had Powder Snow and that Drilburs hate Powder Snow. At least, that's the assumption he reached after remembering a battle on TV where a Hippowdon was taken down by an Ice Beam to the nostril.

"Wha- Er- Nah. My Pokemon's at a disadvantage- My Pokemon took some hits. What fun would an uneven matchup like that be... right?" Seth struggled a bit to pick the right phrase but ultimately settled on one. "...Maybe we should just look for some more Pokemon."

 

[Monarchy]

Quinn smirked a little before patting Seth on the back, it wasn't the time or place to battle one another. "I guess you're right, I should find myself a Pokemon soon as you have one up on me" he joked, starting to walk off in no particular direction. "So anywhere in particular you want to head to?"

 

[Serverus Snope]

Seth shrugged. "I don't know where anything is in Sinnoh. Gyms, Contest Halls, eerie towers to stay away from... I got nothing. Okay, maybe not Contest Halls, but I don't even know how to get to Hearthome City. And that might be more of your thing... not mine. I think." Seth didn't want to discount the possibility of becoming a Coordinator just yet. Not if it could make him look good.

 

[Monarchy]

"Oh, well consider me your tour guide for the Sinnoh region' exclaimed Quinn as he rummaged in his bag and picked out a rolled up brown paper that was tied with a red ribbon. "I've had this since I was a child and I know it like the back of my hand now" he said as he started taking confident strides. "I think the best starting place would be to have a good trek down Mt Coronet. It's difficult but around this time of the year, the weather is fabulous. After that, we could head into Oreburgh City where your first gym leader should be."

Quinn carried on explaining and leading as he tossed the map to Seth so he could have a chance to familiarise himself slightly with the Sinnoh region.

 

[Serverus Snope]

Seth counted his blessings when he found out his traveling partner not only had a map, but studied it extensively. He let out a sigh of relief, knowing that what could have been a major problem has been reduced to a non-issue.

But there was still the question of where to go. Quinn had already given a suggestion, but was it his best option? There could be other nearby towns with easier Gym Leaders to deal with. And maybe Contest Halls. BEcause of that, he had to ask: "What else is in the area?"

 

[Monarchy]

"Well, hmm...we could leave Mt Cornonet a little earlier and then head west to Eterna City. I figured Snowpoint might be a little difficult for now as the gym leader is really strong." Quinn tried remembering many of the Contest towns and cities that he had researched for a while. "There are also some Contests past Eterna, such as the Floaroma one, so if you wanted to dabble in Contests, you could even give that a go" he chuckled. Quinn brushed his hand through his brown hair before stopping.

"As you can see, not too far from us is the entrance to Mt Coronet..." he announced, pointing to the direction ahead of the duo.

 

[Serverus Snope]

The Snowpoint gym leader was really strong? Seth remembered Clay, the resident gym leader of his home town. A stern, no-nonsense gym leader who ran a business when he wasn't taking on challengers. How did this one compare to him? Were they tough as nails too? Or even worse: did they have a type advantage over him? He decided to take Quinn's word for it and come back when he had a better team.

Seth wondered if Quinn was speaking through his colon when he said Mt. Coronet was "not too far from us." He matched the finger's line of sight. Before him was a long gauntlet with a mountain far in the distance. He couldn't see any alternate paths in the distance, so he would just have to trust Quinns judgment. "Alright. Eterna City it is."

 

[Monarchy]

"So, have you thought of any strategies or battling techniques that can give you an edge?" asked Quinn, making small talk as they approached what seemed a small entrance into the mountain. "There are a few of these small pathways; it gets slightly dark and cold, so if you need to hold a hand - I'm just here" he joked as he led the way into Mt Coronet.

 

[Serverus Snope]

Battle strategy? Wasn't it a little early to be thinking about that? Seth only had two Pokemon and he wasn't entirely sure what they could do. "Look, I only just started training. I still gotta see what my Pokemon can do."

Seth crossed his arms and averted his gaze when Quinn offered to hold his hand. "Hmph, I don't need that. You'd... be holding my hand... I'm from Driftveil. I've passed by shadier places on my way home from school" he lied. He hesitated for a moment, unsure if following Quinn into the cavern was a good idea...

He could feel one of the straps of his backpack snap! He frantically searched the area for whatever attacked him. He leaped in shock when he locked eyes with a creature lunging at him and dived out of the way before it could make contact. During his dodge, he got a good look at the Pokemon. It was a short shadowed creature with very shiny claws. As cool as the Pokemon probably looked, Seth didn't want to stick around and risk getting his backpack stolen. Thus, he hightailed it into the cave's entrance, seriously hoping those clawed hellions wouldn't follow him in.

 

[Monarchy]

Quinn frowned slightly before flicking his hair and brushing his slight sadness. He could sense Seth was agitated and that he should either play it cooler or be more careful with what he says, that is until Seth allows his facade to fall slightly. He had already walked into the mountain and had not been paying much attention to what Seth was doing behind him. It was only until Seth had run through the entrance that he had stopped and quickly turned around.

"What's wrong Seth?" he shouted, quickly grabbing his Snorunt's pokeball in case it was needed.

 

[Serverus Snope]

"We... have... a problem." Seth tried to exhale each individual word as quickly as he could while trying to catch his breath. "Pokemon... outside... Very sharp claws... Might... follow us in." Seth let out even more heavy breaths until he stopped feeling so winded. He fixed his eyes on the entrance and trembled, hoping those black-furred creatures hated caves. Seth dug into his right pocket for Spade's ball without looking. He slowly plucked out the ball and waited for the slightest change in light.

 

[Monarchy]

Quinn quickly released his Snorunt once seeing Seth's flustering. "Don't worry Seth. whatever it is, we can beat it" he assured calmly, squinting his eyes near the entrance too, waiting to command his Snorunt to attack.

 

[Serverus Snope]

Two Sneasels lunged through the entrance of the cave. Seth instantly sent Spade out, making his first command while she was still emerging. "Spade, scratch at the one on the left!"

Spade charged right at the creature, still in a great mood after its previous battle. But she was blindsided by a shadowed figure before she could attack. And this was a strong ambush. Spade struggled to get back up from the hit.

Seth's pupils shrank. "S-Spade! Scratch it! Poke it! Do something!"

Angry at the Sneasel for such a cheap shot, Spade repeatedly struck it with her claws. While not seriously hurt, the Sneasel was surprised at how hard its opponent retaliated. But the Sneasel knew it could win this. Its eye gleamed as it gave Seth and Spade a sinister smirk.

 

[Monarchy]

Quinn wasn't as quick to release his Pokemon as the frightened Seth was. He didn't release Snorunt in time to prevent Spade from getting hit.

"Leave this to me Seth, I've had plenty of experiences with Sneasels" he shouted, chucking his pokeball, releasing his female Snorunt in a bright light. "Okay Neva, Double Team" he commanded. The female Snorunt nodded and jumped towards the two Sneasels before it's body flashed and multiple copies of the Snorunt formed a circle around the pair of troublesome wild Sneasel.

"The trick is to show them who's boss and stand them down, mark our territory" he explained to Seth as his Snorunt multiplied. After a circle was formed, Quinn clicked his fingers and shouted to Neva. "LEER!"

Neva and her copies frowned menacingly at the Sneasels as their eyes glowed a deep red. They stood their ground and continued staring the Sneasels in hope to firmly assure they weren't budging.

 

[Serverus Snope]

*Rolling... and done.*

The Sneasels froze when they were seemingly surrounded by a whole crowd of glaring Snorunts. Even Seth's assailant was questioning whether it should continue attacking that Drilbur. One of them fled from the cave and the other followed shortly after.

Seth could finally feel calm again... and then he remembered he was in a cave. And both of his Pokemon were injured. But he would have to suck it up. Strong trainers don't show fear, after all. None of the skilled trainers he knew of would tremble in this situation. Not Clay, not his cousins, and especially not his sister. He silently administered the potion to Spade's wounds and recalled her, not wanting to deal with any pranks she could pull in this cave.

 

[Monarchy]

"Are your Pokemon okay Seth?" questioned Quinn, running towards his companion as the Sneasels ran off. In the distance, Neva flashed as her multiple copies disappeared. As he approached Seth he spoke again, "are you okay more importantly?" he asked, looking at Seth with worry. He hadn't known the boy for long but he already felt like a good friend to him.

 

[Serverus Snope]

Seth cringed at Quinn once again prying his nose into things. He was like an overbearing mother: smothering him with concern when he needed to prove himself. And like an overbearing mother, he was probably holding on to these memories to embarrass him later. "I'm fine" he snapped, avoiding eye contact with Quinn as he flipped the switch on his flashlight. "Let's just get through this stupid cave." He began walking forward, ignoring whether he was actually going the right way.

 

[Monarchy]

Quinn looked at the socially awkward boy walk off ahead of him. He let out a sigh and a frown formed on his face. Turning in an opposite direction to where his Snorunt still stood, he whispered to himself 'maybe I'm just trying to hard, guess I should just ease off'. He picked up Neva and turned his frowning face into a serious one. 'Let's do this' he whispered to himself motivationally as he turned back round and proudly walked quickly towards Seth. Avoiding face contact, he walked beside him just to announce that he was walking the wrong way.

"It's this way, just saying" he announced before walking a different way without really looking at Seth. He also rummaged in his bag whilst walking and took out a spray. "Use this if you want" he mentioned in a monotone voice, before placing the Repel on the floor and continuing to walk briskly ahead.