Into Their World AU

[Kloud]

"So you're both real." She looked back up at her two companions. "You'll be fine, Daichi." Shelby smiled warmly and ruffled his hair a bit. He's so skinny. Don't his parents look after him? "Just stick with me, and I'll take care of you. Nobody gets in my way." She was trying to be brave for this child. He seemed far too young to be in such a game alone, and he needed someone strong.

When Dylan pulled the stone from his bag, Shelby's eyes glittered. She was even more excited when he offered it to her. "Ooooh, that's a Dawn Stone! Tofu needs this to evolve... He's almost ready to evolve into Kirlia, so this is perfect. Thank you~!" She snatched the stone from his hand and hugged Dylan tightly out of sheer surprise for her good fortune. She pulled away. "We sure can do a double battle. If we both try for it, she can't say no. Right?"

[Kinfin]

"So you're both real." She looked back up at her two companions. "You'll be fine, Daichi." Shelby smiled warmly and ruffled his hair a bit. He's so skinny. Don't his parents look after him? "Just stick with me, and I'll take care of you. Nobody gets in my way." She was trying to be brave for this child. He seemed far too young to be in such a game alone, and he needed someone strong.

When Dylan pulled the stone from his bag, Shelby's eyes glittered. She was even more excited when he offered it to her. "Ooooh, that's a Dawn Stone! Tofu needs this to evolve... He's almost ready to evolve into Kirlia, so this is perfect. Thank you~!" She snatched the stone from his hand and hugged Dylan tightly out of sheer surprise for her good fortune. She pulled away. "We sure can do a double battle. If we both try for it, she can't say no. Right?"

Dylan fell to the ground for a moment before picking himself up. He stuttered for a moment "Y-yeah. S-sounds like a plan!"

Dylan led Daichi and Shelby to the gym. After explaining their desire to double battle, an arrangement was made for Fontina to look them over.

"Hmm. Oui! Vat do we have here? A young man, a young woman, and a younger man. I'd even be willing to go trois sur trois if the younger one wishes to participate."

Daichi was surprised, shocked even. He immediately started to shake"Er... well, I do want the badge, but I'm not sure..." Daichi turned to Shelby for direction.

[Kloud]

Shelby looked down to Daichi, a look of complete calm on her face. She put her hand on his shoulder, trying to calm him. "Kiddo, I told you I'd take care of you, didn't I? Let's go get that badge."

"Fantina, you're on. Let's see what you've got!"

[Kinfin]

"Oui oui! Zen let's not waste any time. No need for anyone else."

The stage was set. Each of the challengers were permitted one Pokemon against Fantina's team of Duskull, Hauntar, and Mismagius

"Cheeto! I choose you!"
"Loki! To the Sky!"
"Piplup. Go..."

"Take them down to half. I can get it from there..." Daichi said, surprisingly calmly. Something about having his Pokemon out made him seem more confident.

"Okay... Yeah sure. Can do." Dylan said literally rushing around the battlefield to keep up with his Golbat which started to circle. By Dylan's command, Loki bit the Duskull, which while it makes no sense, it took down the weak ghost. Fontina refused to allow that to happen again, and commanded her Hauntar to use Hypnosis on Loki, causing him to crash into the ground as he fell asleep. In an attempt of retaliation, Shelby commanded Cheeto to use bite on the Hauntar. Unfortunately, it was a bit stronger and managed to take the hit. While Dylan was searching for an awakening, Fontina commanded a Shadow Ball at Cheeto, hitting hard as the Turtle Pokemon struggled to stay standing. She attempted to command a confuse ray from Haunter, only to find the thing unconscious in a puddle of water. When everyone noticed, they say Daichi's Piplup had used Brine. It was stronger than was being lead on to be. When Fontina realized what was happening, Loki was back up and bit Mismagius, again nonsensical, but effective. While it tried to return the blow via Psybeam, a second brine from Piplup, and Fantina's team had been vanquished.

Dylan was panting. "Daichi! You did great! Those Brines hit right when they needed to."

"Oui! You three have earned your badges. Félicitations!" Fantina handed out the badges.

[Kloud]

"Good job, Daichi. Dylan." It was obvious that the message from earlier still weighed heavily on Shelby's mind. She tucked the badge away. "Let's get going. There's no time to waste." She recalled Cheeto, as he was too slow to keep out anymore. She led the group outside and Eastward, towards the gate.

[RIIKYUUUN~<3]

"Geh... Where is that boy? Wasn't that the way punks challenge each other?" Ricky pondered this, scratching his head as he watched his friends leave. He chose to wait a few minutes before standing up, "I even told the others that he attacked me so that they would scatter about in fear..." Ricky raised an eyebrow, Am- am I bad with people!?"

Sweating nervously over his new realization, Ricky began to pace, "Is that why he didn't come? Is that why Shelby and Dylan were so friendly? Were they pitying me because I had no friends?" He deduced expertly, he stopped, brandishing a smile, "That's impossible! The big punks wait for their challengers to come to them!"

"Hm... He probably has underlings for me first, maybe a beautiful woman or a boy with scruffy hair..." Ricky said to himself, he dropped his fist into his open palm, "I'll make myself strong!" And Ricky was off.

+++

"Weird alert..." Richie said nervously, paying a bit more attention to that than Ran, then turning when he heard her voice, "Ah! Sorry 'bout that, Ran! M'name's Richie! This here's my partner, Prinplup!"

Before waiting for a response, Richie turned to the gym, then back to Ran, "You wanna take out the Gym? I saw some others walkin' in there and they're already out?"

[Tuxedo Mask]

Ian finally found the Chapel. He spotted Richie inside talking to some woman. "Richie there you are. Finally found you." Ian looked at the woman. "Wait, Ran? What are you doing here? I thought you were traveling with Shelby?" It wasn't until they both stared at him that he realized he was interrupting a conversation. "Oh, sorry."

[lightball20]

Michael decided it would be better to catch up to everyone and see if they heard it as well later, and first focus on the Gym. Heading into the Gym Michael easily marches through the Gym Trainers with Sparky and Slash easily destroying them using Bite and Feint Attack. Upon reaching Fantina Michael swapped Sparky and Slash out instead utilizing Mr. Fish with his Bite and Horn with his Night Slash the super effective dark attacks easily making short work of Fantina's Ghost pokemon. Grinning at how easy the battle was Michael picked up the gym badge before he headed out the door of the gym to heal before he set out on Route 209 toward the next Gym, clearly in a rush to get out of here now before the bug showed back up again.

[Kinfin]

"Shelby wanted to split paths, so I decided to respect that. Good to see you again Ian. Who's your friend? Well, I suppose it doesn't matter too much. The gym is a relevant issue. But we could put it off for later too. Make it fifth instead of third if you two would prefer. Either way, I'd prefer we go south once we do leave town..."

[RIIKYUUUN~<3]

"That's th' they to Pastoria, right? Beh, I was never good with Sinnoh's geographical features..." Richie admitted, "My team is pretty bad against Levitating Ghost-types, so I'm gonna head south an' get some trainin' in."

Richie looked at Ian, it looked like he had something to say, "Ya look in a hurry, Ian, 'sup?"

+++

Ricky sped pass Richie's group, not paying attention to them and ran into the gym, "I'll take out Fantina to buff my team for the upcoming battle!"

[Tuxedo Mask]

Ian looked at Richie. He was about to ask Richie about guy who said assaulted him, but he stopped to look at Ran. "Wait what? What friend?" Ian turned around. Back at the entrance to the Chapel, Allison's head was sticking out from behind the door. When she saw Ian turn around and look at her, she quickly hid behind the door. "Her again?" Ian asked himself. He turned back towards Richie and Ran. "I'll be right back." Ian quietly walked over to the exit, hiding behind the door. When Allison didn't see Ian again, she tried to enter the Chapel herself. Before she could see him, Ian grabbed her from behind.

"Hey get off!" She shouted. Ian spun her around and pushed her towards the wall.

"Sshh! Quiet down! This isn't a place to yell." Ian said in a quieter than normal voice. "Now I don't know why you're following me, but this is the third time I've caught you doing it. So tell me. Why are you following me?" Ian said, putting his face closer to Allison's.

"Well....I....uh...." Allison kept trying to form an explanation or an excuse, but she was distracted by Ian just staring at her.

Ian sighed. He let go of her shoulders and backed away from her. "Forget it, if you're gonna continue to follow me, you can't keep acting like some type of creepy stalker. You're free to join use whenever you want too." Ian turned around and walked back towards Ran and Richie. He was gonna bring up Ricky, but with Ran and that girl now here, he felt it wasn't the right time. "I'll tell you later. Whatever you guys decide to do, I'll follow you. Personally, I think I could beat Fantina but a little training never hurt."

[RIIKYUUUN~<3]

Ricky burst into the gym doors, twirling about excitedly, "Another gym badge awaits me!" Having blazed through the gym trainers with Drapion, he was finally met with Fantina.

"Oh? Anozher trainer? Zhere have been quite a lot of you recently, non?" Fantina said, twirling and posing majestically, "No matter... Is the job of a gym leader to accept challenges, yes?" She sent out a Duskull.

"Ohohoh!" Ricky chuckled, brandishing one of his Pokeballs, "Let's enjoy this, shall we?" He swung the ball into the air and with a flash, a Munchlax dropped to the ground, flexing his arms, "Lax!"

"A normal-type? You prepared for zis considerably haven't you?" Fantina asked with a smile, "Duskull use Confuse Ray!" The Duskull did as commanded, shooting a peculiar beam of light at Munchlax, confusing it.

Munchlax wobbled about, not even waiting for a command before punching itself, "Munchlax!"

"Duskull! Pursuit!" Fantina's Duskull slammed into Munchlax.

"That's not good, Munchlax switch!" Ricky called out holding out his ball.

"Non non non, Duskull, use Pursuit again!" Fantina ordered with a magnificent twirl, "Hit him as he retreats!" "Skull!" Duskull grunted, floating towards Munchlax then striking him again before the Pokeball could call him back.

"Go Drapion!" Ricky shouted, flinging Drapion's Pokeball into the air. "Draaa!" Drapion growled. "Drapion, hit her with Bite!" Drapion guffawed loudly the plowed his fangs into the Duskull, KOing it immediately.

"Draahahah!" Drapion bellowed again.

"Zhat's quite the Jolly Drapion you have zhere." Fantina remarked, chuckling as Drapion's laughter seemed to be contagious, after giggling with the Pokemon, Fantina threw another Pokeball, sending out Haunter, "I am sorry, my jovial friend... But I am going to have to end that laughter!"

"You don't need to do that," Ricky said with a smile, pulling out another Pokeball, "Drapion, switch with Bastiodon!"

"Bas!!" The wall face Pokemon roared, stomping on the ground.

"Hm? I am intrigued, to say zhe least." Fantina said, "Haunter, use Shadow Ball!"

Bastiodon shrugged the blast off as if it had never happened, "Let's see how strong your spears are in comparison to my strongest shield!" Ricky said, boisterously.

+++

"I say we head out, some training never hurt." Richie said, walking off in the direction of the exit

[Kinfin]

"Then it's settled. Loop through to Pastoria, and then to Veilstone. And once the circle's complete, then we'll battle here." Ran was pleased with the outcome. She was worried the others would want to head east, since she was almost certain that would be the direction Shelby would be heading. This way, things should work out perfectly, meeting up at the resort near Lake Valor.

"Oh, one last bit of buisness. I've put this off too long. Kallen! Ran brought her Burmy by her side. It was wearing a cloak of rock and sand that it must have gathered in the cave in Correnet. Ran bent down and fed it a Rare Candy, imitatively evolving it into a Wormadam.

"There Much better. No more changing cloaks when I need consistency. And the Ground typing will be of use to me as well. Well, shall we go?" Ran led the group southward. Immediately, the large mansion on the route became apparent.

[RIIKYUUUN~<3]

Ricky tapped his foot on the ground in tandem with Bastiodon, "Groovy! Bastiodon, slam it with Ancientpower!" Stones hovered around Bastiodon, he stomped his foot again, shooting the stones towards Haunter.

"Baaaah!" Bastiodon felt a surge of power being released within him, Ancientpower had made him stronger!

"Hoh? My luck is running out, non?" Fantina had a worried expression, "Haunter! Shadow Ball! Do not let zhe Bastiodon spook you!"

"Too crazy!" Ricky said, spinning a Pokeball on his pinky finger. Again, Bastiodon absorbed the blast, though it lowered his Sp. Defense to normal levels. "Bastiodon, hit home with Ancientpower!"

Haunter fell after the spray of stones connected, "Oof, Haunter!" Fantina coughed, sending out Mismagius, "My chances of winning are looking dimmer and dimmer. Mismagius, use Shadow Ball!"

Bastiodon was hammered by a critical hit Shadow Ball, but he still did not fall, "That's enough, Bastiodon, go Drapion!"

"Drahahah!" Drapion guffawed, looming over Mismagius.

"End it with Bite!" Ricky commanded. And with that, the battle was over.
 
"Magnifique!" Fantina cried, "I was completely overwhelmed!"

"Are you confessing your love to me?" Ricky asked with a raised eyebrow.

[Tuxedo Mask]

As Ian walked behind Richie and Ran, he spotted a huge mansion. "Wow. That's the Pokemon Mansion, right? Do we need any pokemon from there?" Ian looked behind him. "How about you, girly?" Allison was following the group a few steps back instead of actual sneaking, showing Ian that she did indeed choose to go with their group. But she was being very antisocial at the moment.

"No I don't." Allison said. Why did I even follow these guys? Allison thought to herself. I was doing just fine on my own. She looked up. "And my name's not girly, it's A-" She stopped herself as she noticed Ian had turned back around, no longer paying attention to her. She looked down. "What a jerk."