Damage

FERN I don't think you quite understand. You think I have friends... JUSTIN I did until you started talking. FERN See the top dog doesn't have friends. Just a seat at the top of the world. JUSTIN (astonished) Are you for real? FERN I'm the realest thing that ever walked this planet. I'm also the most forgiving. If you apologize for trying to bring me down to your level then all will be forgiven. JUSTIN I think I'm going to do both of us a favor and walk away before I do something I'll regret. Justin starts walking away but Fern grabs his shoulder and pulls him back. FERN I didn't dismiss you loser. Justin starts cracking his knuckles. JUSTIN If you don't take your hands off me I may end up keeping them. Fern kicks the back of Justin's leg and he falls to one knee. Blaze immediately shoots a fireball at Fern but he jumps back and out of the way. Justin slowly stands and just stretches a little. JUSTIN You will not enjoy this and it wont be over quickly. But if any good comes out of this, it'll be you learning a valuable lesson. Fern now angry. FERN Actually you second rate trainer, you should get out your notebook and get ready for a lesson in class! Ferroseed let's go! Fern summons his first Pokémon. A small very spikey Ferroseed. FERN GYRO BALL! The Ferroseed begins spinning rapidly and rushes straight towards Blaze. Justin cocks back his leg and kicks the small Pokémon as hard as he can back at Fern who is barely able to leap out of the way, landing on his stomach. He turns to see Ferroseed unconscious and drilled into the wall. He turns back to Justin who has several gashes in his leg with blood running down his now exposed leg where the jeans have been severely torn. Fern slowly stands up. JUSTIN (holding back his anger wearing a serious but inquisitive look) Have you learned anything yet? FERN I learned that luck exists in fools too. Justin takes a deep breath. JUSTIN Blaze. Burn whatever he sends out and leave him for me. Justin rips part of his shirt and sits down to start wrapping his leg up. Fern recalls his Ferroseed and takes out two Pokéballs and throws them up. Out comes Roselia and Snivy. Blaze gives Justin a questioning look. JUSTIN (with a serious look) Hold nothing back. FERN Roselia toxic spikes. Snivy vine whip! Roselia releases spikes coated in poison from his flowers into the air and Snivy bats them all towards Blaze. Blaze catches jumps and catches one in his talon then lands in his free foot. He then jumps towards Roselia shooting three embers at it and it shuffles away from Snivy. FERN Snivy tackle. The snake Pokémon rushes towards Blaze who quickly turns around and throws the spike at Snivy who is cut and poisoned simultaneously. Blaze then coats himself in fire and charges at a disoriented Snivy and when he makes contact he clamps on his neck with his beak then charges into the building crashing Snivy between himself and the worn down bricks. He then starts gathering fire in his mouth but a vine wraps around his ankle and he starts getting swung around by Roselia. FERN Lesson number one amateur. Two Pokémon are better than one. Roselia slams Blaze down but Blaze shoots the fire out of his mouth downward, slowing the impact. Before Blaze can stand he is bombarded by vine whips from both Snivy and Roselia. Blaze looks at a very serious Justin who holds up his pointer finger with his right hand and clutches it in the palm of his left. Blaze recognizes this and rolls to his back and catches a vine with his feet. He then rolls backwards pulling Roselia towards himself. FERN Damn. Snivy Razor leaf! The small snake shoots out two high speed leaves cutting through Roselia's rope causing it some pain. However it is still close to Blaze who starts charging a flame breath while running towards it. FERN Snivy stop it now! Snivy begins charging forward but Blaze reaches Roselia first but instead of attacking he jumps up and on to its head and it falls to its stomach. Snivy has just reached Blaze who has finished charging his fire to the point that embers fall loose from his beak. JUSTIN Don't follow my example Blaze... And show some restraint. Blaze shoots fire upwards first scaring Snivy then looks down and fires at the small creature. Before the flames hit Sinvy is recalled. FERN Think I'm going to let you touch my Pokémon with those tired out embers. JUSTIN This day is somehow worse than being blown up. FERN Roselia show this scrub why you don't mess with the top dog. Roselia jumps up and Blaze jumps off of it and backs away. JUSTIN To the skies Blaze! Pink petals start flowing out of Roselia's petals engulfing the area around itself and its fellow combatants. Blaze jumps back then jumps high into the air. FERN Petal dance! The flurry of leaves flow upwards to Blaze. JUSTIN Burn it all! Blaze breathes out fire scorching all the petals and starts spinning rapidly. FERN MOVE! JUSTIN (grinning) Too late. Blaze comes to a full stop when his right talon connects to Roselia's head slamming the bouquet like Pokémon into the ground. The fire follows immediately after as it disperses across the ground like water's surface being disrupted. Roselia is knocked out. FERN No way... JUSTIN Top dog is cute and all but I'm going to follow the top bird around. Roselia is recalled and Blaze walks over to Justin. JUSTIN Good job buddy. Blaze jumps up to Justin's arms then on to his head and spits fire across the damaged playing field. He dances in celebration to his win. FERN Tell your breakfast menu not to get too excited. Just because you got lucky on my one bad day does not make it talented. And you- JUSTIN I'm going to stop you there. While I'm sure you're going to take this loss with pride and compliment me and my partner's teamwork, I think I'd prefer the mystery of hearing what you say when we NEVER and Arceus do I mean NEVER ever meet again. FERN Excuse me. Justin turns and starts walking away. JUSTIN You are most certainly excused. Fern yells as Justin who pets Blaze while walking away. FERN You better hope I don't see you again because unlike this time I wont go so easy on you, freaking scrub. ExT. seacrest's garden (Afternoon) Justin sits against the wall with Blaze next to him. Luxcalibur is seen walking out the building then over to Justin. Seacrest follows him out shortly. SEACREST (thrown off by Justin's blood) Christ kid what happened to your leg? Justin looks at his leg then up to Seacrest. JUSTIN I kicked a Ferrothorn. SEACREST You wouldn't have a leg. JUSTIN (thinking) Then the smaller one. SEACREST Doesn't change much. Why the hell did you do that?! JUSTIN Some kid got to me. Wanted to kick his teeth in, this seemed like a better option at the time. Luxcalibur looks at the wound for a minute and runs inside. JUSTIN What's wrong with him? SEACREST He just got up and ran outside, followed him out to see you here. JUSTIN Hm. SEACREST Weren't you going to challenge Julia? JUSTIN I was but I wanted to check the pollution thing and I ended up getting sidetracked from being sidetracked. I think I'm going to head over to her in a few. Just need to rest the leg. SEACREST Well if you want I could- Luxcalibur comes out with a white drink in a sealed bottle in his teeth. The young lion drops it on Justin's lap. JUSTIN Is this a soft boiled drink? SEACREST (confused) It is... How did he know that? JUSTIN (wide eyed and smiling) You actually listen to my lectures. Luxcalibur smiles while slowly wagging his tail. JUSTIN I can't believe you actually know how to listen! Justin begins cheerfully hugging and petting his gentle jungle cat. JUSTIN Does this mean you'll join me at the gym. Luxcalibur uses his tail to push Justin's arms away and both trainer and Pokémon's smile disappear as Luxcalibur returns inside. SEACREST He has little interest in fights huh? JUSTIN I think its deeper than that. When anyone gets hurt he always looks alert as opposed to his half asleep self. SEACREST Ah well, maybe he'll join the second one. For now you got a teammate for Blaze? JUSTIN Don't need one. Blaze is strongest in world. Blaze runs up to Seacrest's feet puffing out his little chest. Seacrest puts up his hands in defense. SEACREST Well excuse me McNuggets. Blaze walks away with his beak pointed upwards smugly. Justin laughs and pops the cap off his drink. JUSTIN Cheers to being undefeated in the league. Justin chugs the elixer and is instantly revitalized as he hops to his feet. JUSTIN Holy hell! How many illegal substances were in that drink? Justin kicks his bandaged leg to test the recovered strength. SEACREST Nancy says it was a special blend of soft boiled since she figured you and Blaze getting hurt would be common place. JUSTIN She has a sweet side after all. SEACREST Tell her that. Justin I like my jawline too much. It's my 7th best feature. Seacrest takes a deep breath. SEACREST And five minutes is about all I can take of you. I'll see you later boy. Good luck. JUSTIN What's a "luck"? Seacrest takes a DEEP breath then walks away from a smiling Justin. JUSTIN (feigning confusion) Blaze you know what that word means?

Hello everyone, this one took a little while what with writer's block. Always a good time. This episode takes place a little while after Episode 2. So as usual read, critique, banter or comment on my good looks. Any feedback is good feedback. Without further adieu... I bring you.. Episode 3 :The only way to win InT. Seacrest's garden (early aftnernoon) Justin and Blaze are in the garden facing off against a young trainer and his Pikachu. Blaze has grown about 3 inches taller and is noticeably bigger than last time, his black feathers are also much shinier. On the side is Seacrest with Luxcalibur in his lap sleeping, the attendant and a few others sitting in lawn chairs observing the match with their Pokémon sitting on or near them. Trainer Pikachu agility! The Pikachu begins circling around Blaze leaving after images around the arena. TRAINER You taught me a lot Justin. Unfortunately for Blaze too much. Justin I'll give you 5 rare candies if whatever you're planning works and I'll find you a thunderstone. The young boy's eyes widen in excitement. He punches his palm then points to Blaze. TRAINER Pikachu, time to catch a win. Double team! The after images double in quantity and make it impossible to trace the original. Occasionally small blinding flashes can be seen on the ground. TRAINER So five candies right? Justin laughs. JUSTIN (shrugging) Let's make it ten. TRAINER Tackle! All the Pikachus rush towards Blaze. TRAINER SMOKE SCREEN! JUSTIN (eyes wide open) Wait what... An explosion of smoke covers the field engulfing both small Pokémon. When the smoke finally clears we see that Blaze has been caught in a web wrapping around trees and bushes in the garden and the web even sticks to the walls around them. The sun gleams off the string and every so often a spark is given off. JUSTIN What the hell? TRAINER Electro web plus agility and smoke screen for added flare. You aren't getting out of this one. Now for the finishing touch. PIKACHU VOLT TACKLE! JUSTIN HEY FIVE MOVES IS AGAINST THE POKéRULES! The small mouse starts emanating electricity from its cheek pouches, ears and tail and after a moment a blue glow covers it entirely. It then pushes off the ground cracking it below its feet and beelines straight for Blaze. Justin smiles and the young trainer sees it. Justin snaps. JUSTIN Blaze Earthquake... TRAINER Pikachu fall back! The Pikachu stops abruptly and backflips towards the wall behind its trainer. It looks pained by the sudden stop in motion. Justin looks at the trainer disappointed. TRAINER What! I'm not taking an earthquake from your broken starter. Blaze spits small embers to free itself from its bonds and walks over to Justin. The energy surrounding Pikachu disappears. JUSTIN You wouldn't have. The Torchic line doesn't learn EQ. The young trainer covers his eyes in embarassment. JUSTIN Even if he did, you gave up an easy hit for almost nothing as volt tackle would of hurt a lot more than EQ would have. Don't throw away a good opportunity because of fear partner... with that I think I'm going to take me a little break and go a'splorin. TRAINER Wait Pikachu- JUSTIN Volt tackle puts a massive strain on the Pokémon. Let your friend rest. I'll be here later. TRAINER Okay. Thank you Justin. You did great Pikachu. Sorry about that bad call. Everyone claps and the trainer and his Pikachu slowly rejoin the rest of the garden's visitors. Seacrest makes his way over to Justin and pats him on the back. Seacrest Good work today boy. I almost thought he had you this time. Justin looks confused. JUSTIN Really? SEACREST Hell no. I've seen this song and dance a hundred times this week. It was still mildly entertaining. At least a six out of ten. JUSTIN Thanks. That means a lot. Both men chuckle. SEACREST What's your plan today? JUSTIN Been long enough. I think I'm gonna try my hand at my first gym. SEACREST Julia or Florinia? JUSTIN I was thinking Florinia would be easier since shes grass but Onyx has been on lockdown with said Leader investigating the cause of a floral outbreak. SEACREST Any guess on who it is? JUSTIN Who do I think is responsible for rampant vines around the grass leader's gym? Mr.Freeze probably. Seacrest raises his hand about to hit Justin. SEACREST Keep it up smart ass. JUSTIN These guys don't sit right with me. Explosions around the Electric gym, plant outbreak by the grass. Hope the dark leader isn't inside a cave or they'll probably be hit with flash bangs. SEACREST We can only hope. So if you're going to Julia there's something you should know. For all gym leaders actually. JUSTIN Specialized gyms. I know. No amount of gimmicks will be able to stop skill and intelligence. SEACREST Don't underestimate gym leaders boy. JUSTIN I don't underestimate anyone pops. Justin begins to leave with Blaze in tow but stops slowly and turns back to Seacrest. JUSTIN Umm... Shelly hasn't dropped by while I was out has she? SEACREST No why? JUSTIN She was going to tell me something about her brother last time we talked and then just sort of ran off after I mentioned disliking my older asshat. Haven't seen her since. Seacrest shakes his head. SEACREST 'fraid not. Don't worry about her too much, she's got a gym to run so its probably just cause she's busy. JUSTIN You're probably right. See ya later. Justin and Blaze continue their exit. Justin sees Luxcalibur waging his tail as Caterpie jump and tug at it. Their playing has many young and old trainers "aww-ing" JUSTIN Lux, you wanna be the very best? Like... Like I guess a few people have been at this point in time. Luxcalibur raises his paw and shoos Justin off. The small Caterpie jumps and catches his tail and starts nibbling on it. The crowd's love for the show intensifies. JUSTIN No its cool, gave you a home, food and what not but you sit around and be cute. We'll handle YOUR gym. Luxcalibur yawns. JUSTIN Let's go Blaze. Blaze puts on a serious face and spits out a large fire. The attendant sprays him and Justin with a fire extinguisher. Nancy Your fire is to be used during matches only. JUSTIN Thank you Nancy... Justin and Blaze leave the garden and walk through the now Café styled lobby dripping the foam as they walk. JUSTIN This is going to be a long day. Blaze shakes off the foam as he follows his annoyed partner. EXT. Opal Ward (Day) Justin and Blaze are walking along the tracks, he sees young men in blue du-rags and strange white tattoos looking at him as he walks. They nod and smile as our duo passes by. Justin nods back and continues on his way. JUSTIN (weakly smiling) I think that we may be part of a gang buddy. Blaze jumps up and down while walking. JUSTIN See bud that's actually not what I was going for... Blaze stops dancing and stands on one foot mid dance. JUSTIN But it keeps both gangs away from the garden so for now... Let's call it a win. Blaze continues his dance and catches up to Justin. JUSTIN Something has been bothering me since we got here. My dad told me this place was gorgeous when he came here with my mom. My parents had their honeymoon was. I know it was back when Kabutops still roamed here but it shouldn't have degraded this much. Before we take down the gym leader I want to see what's going on inside these factories. Justin and Blaze approach a closed off factory sitting by the water. There's graffiti covering the walls and door. A young man with an agitated look on his face rubs his hands through his green hair. He turns towards Justin for a moment then back at the building. His sunglasses cover his eyes but do little to hide his disinterest. He wears a collared shirt with the collar wide open showing a necklace. He has on beige shorts and green sneakers. The young man's name is Fern. JUSTIN Hey buddy. Know anything about this factory? Fern ignores Justin's question and murmurs something under his breath. JUSTIN Uh excuse me bud, just want to ask a couple questions. Fern (annoyed) Excuse me? JUSTIN I said I just wanted to ask a couple questions if you have a minute. FERN No no. The first thing. Did you call me buddy, guy? Justin looks annoyed at his question, reading where this situation is going. JUSTIN I did. That a problem? Fern laughs and gets in Justin's face. FERN Yes actually it is. JUSTIN (under his breath) Here we go...

I think this argument about being able to talk makes a lot of sense. Powerful or not I don't think anyone would have tried to capture Slowking or Lugia (evil organizations not included) because they would be placed in the conversation with the intelligent being about servitude. If the Pokémon likes fighting thats one thing but this is assuming they ALL do which there is absolutely no way they do. Slakoth or Oddish do not have the same lust for battle that a Charizard does. I never thought the Pokéballs made sense as a game mechanic or as something to restrain the Pokémon. Also I think some thought is retained in the Pokéball as Misty's Psyduck and Jesse"s Wobbuffet would come out of their own volition. Comedic or not it wouldn't be able to call itself out (safely) if it didn't have some idea of what was going on. I'm actually hoping with the interest this topic has garnered that Sun and Moon will continue to touch on the Poké-bedience thing.

This is a topic I hope to handle well in the story that I've been working on in the site. One thing that I don't really like is the idea of Pokéballs. Its bad enough forcing every mon to fight but also caging them up making them only come out when you feel. If they gotta listen to your every beck and call at least let them have as much fresh air (or in Reborn's case just air) as they please.

#electrichoney op pls nerf

This corpse has had its head reversed and body filled with sand. Well DT if you had any artistic vision and sense of political struggle you would know that the head has been reversed to show the hypocrisy of the living fearing the dead when they are so easy to combat. The body filled with sand shows the weight that Dero faces and the plagued struggle of the middle class. As for the text saying there is no reason it is a rather simple art trick to show the audience that the creator cares without shoving it in their face. Edit: Sorry I was coming down from dropping a literal gallon of acid. That %*& made no sense. Sorry about that.

I'm happy for you man. Its always nice to hear the happier stories once in a while. As someone not great with relationships its nice to see people are still doing their best to be happy. Kudos partner.

Im not a super great trainer or anything but generally speaking if you know how to ev train on a pokemon to pokemon basis then how many AIs are really going to outmatched your fully trained team. If you don't know ev training as well then you'll probably get a decent team and have an enjoyable challenge and if you don't know it at all then the challenge gets steeper. I think things like this can only break the game in the hands of the user. If youre one of the best then even hardcore reborn will only push you so far, ev training or not. conversely if youre one of the worst then reborn wont get easier with a perfect team because you can't utilize it correctly against the highly competent ai and their op fields.

Just read the story and it was pretty dark. I'm seeing like a noir vibe with this gritty and bitter man who has a chip on his (lucky to be there) shoulder. There was a lot of setup that led us to seeing someone else who will potentially be our lead. I like the mind games. My only qualm was Mike thinking that his coworker would be hunting him down. That seems odd given the coworker was fired for a very realistic reason. Being bad at his job and almost killing friends. I must say I'm very curious as to where the story goes. The pacing was pretty good, the imagery was nice and the setting worked. I think you can add on a bit more so its more engaging story wise as I felt more went into the place than the people at times. (Like how long has this guy been following him and what kind of job hunt takes you from testing facility to warlord-slayer) I also really want to see the second meeting where they meet meat man in his man cave. I feel like the meeting will be meaty for the story. Keep on writing bud.

I used my script writing software for the format this time around. The positive is it cleans up everything nicely the downside is I don't see until now that some names weren't capitalized properly. When transitioning it over its a little tougher but I'll just spend more time proving when it gets to the site. Sorry about that for now. JustinXCain let the fan-fic of the fan fic begin lol I like Shelly too and her growth during the game is pretty great imo. I also wanted to give Justin more time dealing with certain characters to give him more to work with and his backstory shares some elements with Shelly's. You can probably guess since both hail from Johto. Torchic's freak out I debated on. On one hand its pretty intense given Justin only left for a short while but on the other hand he's a very young animal who was adopted and ditched after he couldn't fight off the Klinklang. I'm glad you enjoyed. Some part of me felt as though this episode was a little fluff but Justin's team needs to get built up to some level and I didn't want to deal with Fern yet. The time is almost here... "I'm embarrassingly used to calling girls chicks" this is hilarious. I'm trying to show as much as I can of Justin in the show's first arc. Which leads up to him getting his first badge. I hope I establish the way his team works and how Justin acts or will act in most scenarios. Anyway working on episode 3 now. If you have anything you want to say positive or negative feel free. I'm writing this with the goal to improve my writing.

Brought this rescue mission to me in a new light. It was a pretty big waste of time.Kind of funny that Rad just kind of gives you the finger at every turn.

Hey the story was pretty enjoyable. I was really getting into but the mountain of names being listed all at once sucked me right out. I think you should introduce people as we meet them. I'm all for setting up characters we see later but given the sort of story we're about to hear I don't think it works as well. The beggar's story trails off a bit and I'm guessing that's because he wants to talk to your MC again the next day which is fine. Just since this is their first meeting, how long is this guy going to sit down and listen? A question to ask is if you were listening how long would you sit, given the scenario. Arguably the point the beggar leaves off makes me upset that I don't get to hear whats next and does have me wanting for more. Just keep in mind when to explain certain details and introduce certain elements. Time and place for everything as they say.

Everyone needs a theme song and this episode we tribute one for Shelly. A fitting song I feel. You are of course free to feel as you please.

Shelly recalls her Yanmega and begins walking inside with Justin following her. The Luxio walks between Justin's legs, purring all the while. JUSTIN (surprised) Hello... you uhhh, want a sleep over or something? ShELLY Looks like he likes you. Justin picks up the young lion. JUSTIN You wanna join team shenanigans? The Luxio nestles itself in Justin's arms. JUSTIN Welcome to the squad Luxcalibur. ShELLY Why Luxcalibur? Justin holds up Lux's collar. ShELLY He lost his home? JUSTIN Looks like it. If we find the owner, he'll get back. I promise. Shelly walks inside. JUSTIN (under his breath) That Lux will stay with me. Justin follows Shelly inside to see Seacrest pacing by the Reborn attendant's desk. They make their way over and about halfway Seacrest runs over to them. SEACREST Thank Arceus you kids are okay. JUSTIN Aww you were worried? SEACREST I thought Shelly might get hurt out there. JUSTIN (smiling) What about me? SEACREST (stone faced) What about you... JUSTIN You're sweet. Thanks for the concern. SEACREST Yeah, don't thank me yet. Justin a little confused, walks by Seacrest and towards the garden to see smoke rising. He then runs to see Blaze surrounded by scorched earth with all the bugs and Rebecca a safe distance away. His name is etched into the dirt all over. JUSTIN Oh no... SEACREST Yeah... Your McNuggets woke up and freaked out, burned down two trees and half an acre of green then scratched your name in the dirt over and over again. Then when it was tired it just sat down. Shelly stands shocked behind a clearly upset Justin who murmurs a few curses under his breath. JUSTIN (perking up) So I guess me and my buds will be hitting the road. Real nice meeting you all. Love- SEACREST Shut up Justin. Justin closes his mouth tight and tilts his head down. JUSTIN Yes sir. SEACREST You and team shenanigans are going to fix up the garden and encourage trainers. Maybe the flow of trainers will keep away the thugs. Along with the protection. JUSTIN I... Uhh... How long we talking. SEACREST I'll tell you when the debt's clear. JUSTIN I think the real gangster is inside the garden... SEACREST By the way your tent's over there. Seacrest points to a pile of ashes next to a broom. JUSTIN I get that you're mad but I feel like sweeping it up was a bit unnecessary. Seacrest smacks Justin on the back of his head and he begins chuckling. SEACREST Was that unnecessary? Justin still chuckling shakes his head no. SEACREST Good. Go to your fool Pokémon. Justin starts going into the garden and Shelly follows him. He sits down next to the sobbing chick with Luxio in his lap. JUSTIN Hey bud. Blaze looks up with large sad eyes. JUSTIN You think I was going to leave you here? Blaze nods his head slowly. JUSTIN Me and you are going to beat the league together. Even if its two versus seven. Me and you bud. I promise. Blaze jumps up on Justin's lap next to Luxcalibur who slowly wakes up. JUSTIN By the way we got another buddy. He's tough so as team leader, you can't slack behind. Blaze starts to shoot and ember from his mouth but Justin quickly covers his mouth. JUSTIN Maybe we find a new way to celebrate when in the garden buddy. Blaze jumps off his lap and starts dancing. Luxcalibur climbs off and sits on his hind legs to watch his new teammate dance. JUSTIN (chuckling) Good first day in Reborn. I think its about time for... (yawning) A nap. Justin falls back to the dirt and immediately falls asleep. Everyone looks on shocked at Justin's statement. SEACREST Wait what! The episode closes out with Justin's Pokémon curling up next to him.

SEACREST More than anything. JUSTIN Then you can help out by giving me a couple blue tee shirts. Seacrest rubs his bald head and stares at Justin in hesitation. SEACREST Hmmmm. One condition. If it gets nasty you turn tail. Justin and Shelly both stand up. JUSTIN We both know that's not- Shelly pokes Justin in the side. JUSTIN Turn it wag it, whatever you want. Seacrest sighs and heads inside. JUSTIN Rebecca. REBECCA Yes? JUSTIN I'm terrified at the thought of it but I need you to watch over Blaze. REBECCA I can but wouldn't he be safe in a Pokéball? JUSTIN I don't travel in a cage and neither will he. Only thing you have to do is explain to him I'll be back if he wakes up. REBECCA Alright. Please be careful. Seacrest comes back with the shirts and hands one to both Shelly and Justin. SEACREST Here you go kids. JUSTIN Thanks. ShELLY Thank you Mr. Seacrest. Justin takes off his black tee shirt and replaces it with the blue one. He takes Shelly's shirt, tears the bottom around the torso off and puts it around Shelly's head like a bandana. He tears the sleeves off and tightens them around her wrists. JUSTIN Alright Shell, you aren't very... Menacing. You're like pink Butterfree level of scary so whenever I say something tough you just tilt your head up and grunt. Shelly practices and looks more like a lost puppy than a hardened thug. Justin lowers her bandana to cover her eyeborws and she looks considerably more serious albeit still like Shelly. JUSTIN What do you think? SEACREST Like Eminem JUSTIN (smiling) Yeah.... Shelly smiles, removing any chance at her facade. SEACREST Minis JUSTIN Ignore him Shell. You look like you're "straight outta Lapis" REBECCA Pretty sure that's not the look you want. Justin sighs. ShELLY I think... Maybe...it'd be better if I changed to something I'm not seen in. I'm relatively known around Lapis. JUSTIN You change. I'll be outside. REBECCA I'll fix her up. She'll be out in about 5. JUSTIN Cool. Justin walks back into the lobby and stops by the attendant at the desk. JUSTIN Got a brown bag and a bottle of... I'm guessing you have sparkling water here. ReBORN ATTENDANT We actually do. JUSTIN Shocker. Reborn ATTENDANT This site is meant to attract people. The attendant reaches below her desk for a bag and pulls water out of a mini-fridge. JUSTIN Sorry... just nervous about fighting the cast of a west side story without a single Pokémon. ReboRN ATTENDANT It isn't too late to change your mind. Seeing Justin's nervousness she retracts the water and bag as if waiting for his answer. JUSTIN It'll be alright, not my first time fighting outside of my level. Justin takes the items and puts the water in the bag then starts walking out. JUSTIN Make sure to lock up when me and Shelly leave. We'll call when we're outside. Reborn ATTENDANT Good luck. ExT. opal ward apartment Night Justin is leaning against the building, occasionally sipping on the water when a small Luxio walks up to him purring as it brushes against his leg. JUSTIN Good evening sir. You'll have to pardon my rudeness but Esquire Seacrest has retired for the night. Now sitting, the young lion looks up to Justin simply smiling. JUSTIN Thirsty? Justin kneels down and pours some water into his hand and lets the Pokémon drink as he continues until its done. JUSTIN You look like a mon who'd be picked up in a heartbeat. Would you rather hangout in the garden instead of the streets. Luxio continues to walk around Justin and after a moment he finally notices a collar. JUSTIN Oh you have a home huh? The Luxio stops smiling and puts its head down. JUSTIN Had a home... Until you want to go back, you can hang with me, sound good? The Pokémon stares at the wall extending from Seacrest's building. It's eyes giving off a faint yellow glow. JUSTIN What you starin- The lion points directly at the corner of the wall and signals Justin to look. Justin puts up his hands in anticipation and inches towards it. JUSTIN If you want little buddy, I was about to go shopping. Dad just gave me allowance so if you need a new collar- Two thugs come around the corner, covered head to toe in red clothes and fire tattoos on their necks and arms. They both charge Justin who kicks one in the stomach and is then tackled by the second one to the ground. Justin punches the thug in the stomach and kicks him off then drags and slams him into a nearby wall and a fireball is shot near both of their heads. Justin puts his hands up and the grunt he was holding walks away. Justin turns to see them as they both stand behind a Houndour with smoke coming from its mouth. Magma Got some balls I'll give you that waterboy. JUSTIN I'm at least a bench warmer MAGMA Shut the hell up. Fork over the allowance and you wont get burned down. JUSTIN Come and get it zippo. MAGMA Houndoom. Torch em' The small pup begins to shoot another fireball but the thugs are all blown away by a barrage of rocks. Justin turns to see pavement missing from the ground and looks up to where Shelly who is wearing a black wig, torn black jeans and a blue shirt next to her Yanmega are. He turns back to the thugs who are recuperating. JUSTIN Money's over here boys. One of the Magmas stand and helps his friend up. They see their Houndour is hurt and he recalls it to its Pokéball. Both trainers send out a Larvesta and Fenniken. MAGMA For glory baby. Shelly and Yanmega move closer to Justin as the group of youths stare off. JUSTIN Michelle, keep this distance and try not to hit me. ShELLY Y-yes umm.. Michael. Justin turns his head, eyebrow raised at Shelly's cover name for him then slowly back to the Magmas. JUSTIN Cool. Justin charges forwards to the Pokémon team and jumps to kick one of the Magmas but it stopped by a Light Screen setup by the crafty Fennekin. A subsequent string shot ensares him as he is then pulled by the Larvesta and its trainer. The Fenniken shoots a fireball at him and he ducks causing the fire to burn his bonding along with the back of his shirt. Justin turns to the Fenniken but at that moment is hit by an enflamed charge by the Larvesta and into the wall. It scuttles back to its now laughing trainer. Justin turns to see Shelly is gone and two small black ear plugs are on the ground. He places them in his ear as the Magmas look on in confusion. MAGMA Hey stupid, that's not how the silent treatment works. His buddy laughs and now both Pokémon start charging up Fire from their mouths. Justin grabs the remaining String shot from earlier and throws it to latch on to the Larvesta then points upwards. The two trainers see Shelly riding her Yanmega as it launches a Screech attack. The moment it hits Justin runs towards the trainer behind Fennekin and pulls the string causing the reaction-released fire to hit the two and effectively knocking them out. MAGMA Damn it. The magma's ears have blood dripping from them as he staggers in place next to his disoriented Larvesta. MAGMA (furious) LARVESTA. NO HOLDING BACK! FLARE BLITZ! ON HIM! Fire starts erupting from the skin of the Larvesta melting the ground around it. Shelly and her Yanmega begin to descend as fast as they can but they are unable to reach the burning bug type in time and it lunges at Justin who braces for impact. Just as it about to crash into him, the Luxio's tail lights up in white and with a rather slow relaxed motion it jumps over the Larvesta and slams its tail into it and the force is enough to crack the ground around Larvesta's landing site. Everyone stares in disbelief at the small cub's strength. The magma recalls his Larvesta and begins to run but is stopped by Shelly and her Yanmega attempting to look scary but it looks more confused than anything. Justin grips the shoulder of the magma then slams him into the same wall from before. JUSTIN Hey stupid this isn't how mugging people works. MAGMA What are you gonna do to us? Justin dusts off the Magma goon. JUSTIN Nothing. You're gonna do me a couple of favors. First, stay away from this garden and leave this area alone. Do that and I promise you and your clowns will be able to walk away with bones and dignity intact. MAGMA The second? JUSTIN Tell your boss, whoever he is that I send him my regards. MAGMA Yes sir. JUSTIN Atta boy. The magma grunt picks his friend up, recalls the fainted pokemon and walks off. ShELLY Justin... Are you sure that was okay? JUSTIN Not for me but hopefully they'll leave this place alone for the time being. I'll be around here for a few weeks so I'll keep a look out. ShELLY You could have been hurt bad. JUSTIN I trained with tougher Pokémon than that... By the way thank you for the ear plugs. Screech hurt like crazy but I kept my hearing thanks to you. So yeah, thanks Shell. ShELLY You're welcome. Shelly blushes and turns towards her Yanmega to begin petting her. Justin kneels to pet his new feline friend. JUSTIN We should team up more. ShELLY I don't... You want to... Shelly turns to see Justin playing with Luxio. ShELLY Oh you mean Luxio. JUSTIN Huh? Oh no. I was talking to you Shell. You're a pretty good friend to help me out and look out for me after just meeting me. ShELLY We're friends? JUSTIN Can't see why not. You're nice and I'm obviously awesome. Now let's head inside, I'm worried about Blaze.

Hello everybody, here is the second episode of Justin's story in Reborn. Hope you all enjoy and if you have time don't forget to critique until your heart's content. Episode two is called "Garden Party" InT. Opal ward apartment late noon The episode picks up exactly where the last left off. Shelly has just entered the apartment building and approached Rebecca and Justin who is still holding a now sleeping Blaze. Rebecca Shelly! Thank you so much for coming. Rebecca hugs Shelly briefly before rushing her over to her sick Kricketot. Shelly Aww... The poor thing. Shelly sits down to thoroughly exam the Kricketot. Justin Not trying to sound mean or anything but wouldn't a Pokémon center be ideal? REBECCA Normally yes but Shelly is gym leader here in Reborn and her type as you can guess.. JUSTIN Is bug. Shelly looks at Rebecca while petting the Kricketot. SHELLY Your Kricketot isn't sick. It's depressed. Maybe... You could take it out more. REBECCA I would but there's a problem with the gangs around here. They make it hard to take an untrained Pokémon anywhere. JuSTIN That so? SHELLY Yes... Well... Opal Ward has a lot of bad people. Justin puts his free arm around Rebecca while smiling. JUSTIN Well lucky you Becky. Me and Shelly can be your bodyguards until your Kricketot comes out of its rut. Shelly looks taken back by Justin's proposal. ShELLY I.. don't know if that's.. JuSTIN You're a leader right? Surely a couple days away from the gym wont kill you. Of course I'm no slouch either. REBECCA Are you sure it wont be too much trouble? Shelly looks pretty uncomfortable and Justin walks over and whispers to her. JusTIN Hey, sorry to push this on you but it'd mean a lot if you could help out. Shelly glances at Rebecca then back to Justin and nods in confirmation. ShELLY I can manage a couple of days. I know a man who would let us camp in his personal garden. I used to train my Pokémon there when I came to Reborn. It's really beautiful and... Sorry I didn't mean to bore you. REBECCA Its okay Shelly, I'd like to hear more. JUSTIN Perhaps at the garden since its getting late. SHELLY (smiling) Okay! ExT. peridot ward night Shelly is leading Rebecca and Justin through Opal ward. The three stop at a crossroad by the tracks and Pokémon center. About twenty yards away is an unseemly large well kept building (for the area) with a large brick wall area protruding from the side. SHELLY This is my friend's house. He's a little scary but.. he's nice. JusTIN (curious) Pretty big isn't it? The group continues walking towards the entrance. SheLLY The building was originally condemned but Ame allowed Mr. Seacrest to restore it as long as agreed to help trainers. REBECCA But its kind of hard to get his approval since he thinks most people will just hunt out the Pokémon here. JUSTIN Why? REBECCA Aside from Grimers and Trubbish, its hard to find anything around here. Pokémon are afraid of this place. JUSTIN Hm. Shelly approaches the door but hesitates to knock and Justin knocks in her stead. Seacrest Whadday want! An old man peering through the peephole looks and sees Justin holding his sleeping Torchic. JUSTIN We're looking for a man named Seacrest. He here? Seacrest Who sent you?! JUSTIN Shelly. SeACREST Prove it. JUSTIN (rolling his eyes) Well she's next to me so there's that... SeACREST Well... Hey... What are you doing.. The door is forced open by a young woman. Reborn attendant Apologies for Mr. Seacrest's suspicions but we've recently been dealing with an increase in rival gangs attacking and taking Pokémon from our garden. ShELLY Its okay. JUSTIN Can we come in? SEACREST Shelly can. I don't know you two. ShELLY She's my... I'm helping her with her Kricketot. SEACREST And him? JUSTIN (excited) I'm here for the war on crime. Reborn ATTENDANT He's a trainer who recently joined the league. I cannot say he can handle the threat but if he's working with Shelly, its sure to have some effect. SEACREST Just treat the garden with respect. The people may be awful but the Pokémon aren't. Justin, Shelly and Rebecca nod and are then led inside by Seacrest and the attendant. InT. seacrest manor (night) We are inside a nice lobby with couches, televisions and a small but modest fountain. Straight ahead are stairs that lead to a living area and to the right is the garden with glass doors that allow us to see a myriad of bug and grass types sleeping and playing through the garden. REBORN ATTENDANT If you wish to train or camp outside there are tents and water outside. Food is kept in here to balance the bugs diets. If you need anything please don't hesitate to ask. JUSTIN Thanks. Justin, Shelly and Rebecca head outside to the garden and there are tents setup all throughout the garden. The trio find two tents under a large tree and begin unpacking near them. A few Caterpie crawl up to Shelly and poke around her and Rebecca. Rebecca releases her Kricketot and the Caterpie divert their attention to the new bug Pokémon. The Pokémon quickly begin playing with one another. REBECCA I'm glad that Kricketot is finally able to play around. Its been really hard to take it out. Hopefully around here it'll have fun. ShELLY I'm sure it will. Loud yelling can be heard and flashes of light are seen beyond the safe walls of the garden. Young men screaming "No blood, no bone no ash" pass by making everyone in the area weary. Seacrest comes outside to where our group is huddled. SEACREST That would be the issue, kids. ShELLY They... Sound really angry. SEACREST Unfortunately that's before they get riled up. Justin puts Blaze down on the grass and takes a shirt from his bag to put on his resting companion. JUSTIN Who exactly are they? SEACREST Judging by their silly war cry I'd wager Magma Gang. They've got a rival around here. ShELLY Aqua... Its Aqua Gang. SEACREST Nasty bunch of kids. Fighting over territory that neither of them own. JUSTIN My guess is their modeled after the Aqua and Magma teams that tore up Hoenn a few years back. ShELLY I think they are. One team sticks to Fire types and the other use Water types. JUSTIN Rival gangs right? SEACREST Yeah. JUSTIN Simple strategy. Take down the Fire types by teaming up with Water. When that's done we finish whoever is left. SEACREST You think it's that easy? JUSTIN How many people are in each gang? Anyone know? ShELLY I see them in Lapis Ward a lot. Magma outnumbers Aqua but the feud remains probably due to the type advantage. JUSTIN Have any idea on a head count? ShELLY Twenty and twenty-five. Seacrest is in disbelief as he gets closer to Justin. SEACREST You really planning on fighting them? They might be kids but they're dangerous and might be willing to kill. You can't possibly beat them. JUSTIN Not an overnight plan. I doubt even with Shelly's help they could be taken down in a day, even then they wouldn't stay down. No I'm going to take their attention from here and on to me. Seacrest grabs and pulls Justin to his feet. SEACREST (furious) The hell you are boy! JUSTIN I can handle this knock off team... I mean we can. Right Shell bell? ShELLY Umm right. SEACREST Look kid, I commend your spunk but you're gonna get yourself hurt if you try to tackle on gangs. JUSTIN You want to open this place up to more people like Shelly and Rebecca right?

All of these additions are so epic and make this feel right at home for me as I love the Tales series more than any other. Definitely keep up the good work and don't feel bad about taking days off for youtube videos. The stress relieving days are important for a creative mind.

Nice episode, you're adventuring is always cool haha. If it makes you feel better about the magikarp event, no one else has finished it either since Ame tortures everyone equally.

Im sorry for you at this point. This is the best I could do in thirty seconds of looking

Thanks, I'll try to fix the wording a little more. I feel you about the ladies of Reborn, only one I don't feel one way or another about is Victoria because I feel not enough was done with her. As for Fern, I hate to say but tread carefully. We all want Fern harmed in some way but I feel like it definitely needs to be earned otherwise its still senseless violence. We could go on forever so yeah. When you put up your story I'll have to check it out.

Thanks Halloween for the feedback. Super glad you like Justin, he's a character I've been thinking about for a while now. I guess I'll just go into each note for now... "as societies progress..." This line is meant to setup how Justin feels about and treats Pokémon. He tries to treat them with a high level of dignity and respect which is why he goes to the effort of teaching Blaze things like reading and writing. Keeping characters true to the source is my first and biggest priority. I want to make sure all characters are seen here as they are in the game even Fern... That said I already know I'll skew a few times for the sake of this story or simply by mistake so feel free to call it out. I know Shade derived quite a bit but that's for setting up things that happen later (that occurred in game). I used the real life animal reference simply for Justin to have fun. Actually did some research prior and found real life animals stop existing in the cartoons in like the first season so... I probably wont use it anymore just to avoid the confusion. Cain and Justin. I did not mean to offend at all. Cain is by far my favorite character in the game just beating Solaris. I actually do intend to have them be on pretty good terms later on. I like to think that Justin is above the need for saying things like "no homo" since this is someone who treats respect and dignity pretty well. The pokepokegear. I know this is a trope used in plenty of poke-fan-fic but this is not related to the plot just Justin and his future team. The way his team will work together is a bit unorthadox without throwing in constant spoilers so he genuinely needs this to communicate with them. As far as mid battle communication goes, yeah you're right. Texting isn't going to happen lol. Justin's strategy driven mind definitely would have checked into the gyms but I had no way of getting him the information given the fact the league, as stated by characters "is poorly managed". As for the gym being a power plant, when he finally gets a chance to see it, he'll piece it together. My grammar needs work since for the most part I'm saying the lines in my head or out loud so writing it all down makes me forget commas are good to have. Fern. Gotta say I'm actually not looking forward to him and Justin's interactions. On the one hand I want Justin to beat his brakes off but on the other hand, that would subtract from Fern's character who even though I hate like no other is actually a pretty decent character since he does what the writer wants him to do. Garner your eternal hatred. I do enjoy writing and planning this series out so I'll do my best not to disappoint you with Justin's adventure. Thank you again.

Alright, as a writer I strive for the level of detail when it comes to the scene that you painted here. From the rotten boards being crashed into by this rock faced monster down to the rusted weapon your girl bashed its face with. Its so much nicer to read than "she hit it good with a pole". I'd like to see this adventure into the ruins that you've started here. Sorry I've not much to offer but this was pretty good so I don't have much besides keep writing.

Wow this game gets better every episode. Zombie dragons led by meteor fighting a dragon slayer with no memory and his sattelite hacking professor... Wait. That sounded a lot better in my head.

Thanks, the font size bothered me too, so I'll gladly remedy that for episode 2. I am trying to keep the characters as close to their real selves in the game. Yeah arrogant mcs have been done a lot but this fits the mold I'm going for a lot better in the long run. He generally isn't this rough I promise you. I do like the critiques and I'll do my best to implement them in upcoming episodes. Thank you again.