11.22.15 -- We are approaching the holiday season very rapidly. I understand that things get busy around this time of year, just try and make sure that you don't forget about us! And, because winter is coming, things in Rakuen are about to change! Our winter event will be starting on December first so keep your eyes peeled for it and be sure to participate. You won't want to miss out. Enjoy the last little bits of your fall!
Pokemon is a copyrighted concept that belongs to Nintendo. The site plot as well as site related threads belong to the staff team. All of the images as well as posts belongs to the respective owners and or creators. The present theme was created by Noemi and Namazu with the help of Adoxography and their beatiful resources. A special thanks to Cloud for unique ideas within the site. Thank you for respecting this and not stealing from us.
A van was parked on the outskirts of the Dizhen forest, a small tent sat besides it with what looked to be a camp site just off the main route. An advertisement in local papers had read 'Photographers wanted' alone with a brief description of the job. The name De'lancy carried some weight among artistic circles and pokemon enthusiasts alike. She was a young but emerging photographer who had released three albums of pokemon photos so far to grand reviews. Whilst she took most of the photos herself she was known to purchase some off of other photographs. She also provided them with proper credit of course. It offered a different view from her own, offered some variety. Of course, the photos had to be good but on occasion trainers were able to get much closer to pokemon than she, not to mention they tended to get the action shots which carried the cover. As the pair approached there was no movement from inside the windowless van or the tent. A duffel bag sat on a collapsable table outside, photo equipment was strewn everywhere. On the front of the van a sign sat on the windshield reading photographers wanted, behind that sign dark black curtains obscured the view of inside the van. Clearly this was the right place. The only question is where was the potential employer.
robin Adrian had kind of been on the prowl for some work as of late, anything to get him out and around to explore as he often so desired. So, what better way to achieve those desires than to see which types of work he could take. After a while of wandering his attentions had been caught through a wanted ad regarding photography. Which, in all honesty, sounded like something he may want to try. So, why not give it a go? Slowly with Mikki placed atop his head the young man approached the site in which he had been directed for finding the employer in question. Just there was little issue. Where was she? Looking around he hesitated while Mikki gave a small sound of annoyance. "Hey, come on. I am sure it will be fine once we find her." With a moment he eventually called out. "Excuse me! Ms. De'lancy? I am here about the work ad!" He then stood back a bit in the hopes that she would be somewhere nearby and hear his call.
there are more things in heaven and earth, horatio,
'P
hotographers Wanted”, the ad read. That there was easy money. It was already part of Cas’s job, even. The newspaper company even gave him a brand-spanking new camera just for the purpose of taking pictures, and he’d been wanting to try it out ever since he set its hardcase in his bag.
“Go out and help people and whatever,” he had (helpfully) been told by his manager. So, here he was. Approaching the location listed in the ad (a van, as it were), he looked around for the person he was to take the job from. She was a girl, judging by the name, and the only person by the van was a guy.
Looking back over his shoulder to see if he’d missed anything behind him, Cas addressed the other person at the van. “Say, have you-” It was then that he recognized the other person. Cas’s eyes grew wide as he met the eyes of the man. “Wait, are you- You’re Adrian, the dragon elite four member, aren’t you?!” His voice slowly got higher as he went on.
The dragon trainer of the region. Ever since he’d seen the guy on a magazine cover, he’d been hoping to meet him. To think, he’s meet him so quickly, and here of all places. The journalist in Cas felt like he needed his pen and paper stat.
Then he remembered what he was actually here for. Blood rushed to his cheeks from his sudden reaction. “Ah, um,” He stuttered, looking and feeling very unprofessional. Clearing his throat and straightening his posture, Cas continued. “Are you also here for the photoshoot? Have you seen the photographer?”
After the first young man called out there was a rustling inside the van. On the other side of the windshield a girl in her mid twenties poked her head between the black out curtains. She clutched them tightly around her obscuring the view of inside her van but the subtle red light which glowed behind her suggested it was some sort of mobile darkroom for developing photos. The photographer squeezed through the curtain trying to let as little light in as possible as she crawled into the front seat of the van and rolled down the window. "Hullo lads." She greeted the two of them and poked her head out the window, adjusting her glasses. "Here for the job are ya." De'lancy leaned out the window and pointed to the table of photo equipment. "Take a camera if ya need one, I'm workin' on an album for the forest here. Just about done as well but if you get me something good by the end of the day i'll see if I can't fit it in." A phone rang inside her van and she turned. "Right off you go, be careful." She ducked back into her van and the sound of unintelligible talking replaced the silence. She didn't seem too keen on providing instructions so they'd be left to their own artistic devices.
robin Adrian was slightly surprised when suddenly a young man approached. "Ah, yeah. That's me..." He gave a nervous chuckle. Often times he found that he forgot there were people out there who usually were big fans of league and gym members. This young man seemed to be one of them all right. He was about to mention how he indeed had no clue where the photographer was, but it seems she decided to arrive just on time. She went over some quick information about the job and was pretty much gone as fast as she had appeared. Meanwhile Adrian was left staring from the area she had disappeared into. She was cute. Mikki gave his cheek a poke and seemed to be giving the young man a smug look. "What're you looking at?" He said to the Igglybuff who ended up taking his usual position atop Adrian's head.
"Well... I guess we should start." Adrian said to the young man nearby as he went to grab a camera. "Well, now that you know my name. What is yours?" He asked with a smile. Then of course soon enough the two of them would be off to get photos. "Ah, also would you mind helping me out? I have never really worked one of these high quality cameras before so..." He asked with a small embarrassed laugh.
there are more things in heaven and earth, horatio,
T
he photographer's instructions were just as short as her ad. Nor did it sound like they’d be getting anything else in terms of directions, recommendations, or anything of the sort. But the task of “go out and take photos of pokemon” didn’t seem like it’d be too difficult.
Cas pulled his backpack off. While Adrian went off to grab a camera, he rummaged through his bag to find his own. The little black bag removed and camera taken from within, the little silver box saw sunlight for the first time in weeks. Cas powered the device up.
“Press the power button, and the other knobs and buttons do… other specific things.” Cas said, standing up. “You know graphing calculators? Cameras are a lot like that. They all do basically the same thing but the method of getting them to do it can vary greatly.” He turned his camera over, trying to locate all the little switches and inputs. In truth, he wasn’t perfectly sure how everything on his own camera worked just yet. “Zoom by itself should have you pretty covered, and I think yours is on top there.”
All that was left was to let out a pokemon. With a flash of light, Growlithe hopped out of his pokeball. The little dog ran a full circle around his trainer, barked happily once at the new guy, once more at the new guy’s little pokemon, and then stared expectantly at his trainer. This was the first time he’d been out all day and he’d eaten a big breakfast, so the little fire type was going to burn as much energy as he could possibly manage.
Cas smiled at Adrian with some apology. He was, however, now ready to enter the forest. Motioning to Adrian with his shoulder, Cas started off down the path leading into the trees.
Adrian nodded when the young man went over the whole ordeal on operating the camera. Giving these few things a test Adrian was relieved when the device didn't explode. Well, that was one step forward. Although the main even came from needing to actually go get photos. The other young man had caught Adrian's attention though when a Growlithe was soon present, having appeared from it's Pokeball. The canine running around a bit before barking a bit. Adrian chuckled slightly, amused by the Pokemon's antics. Mikki meanwhile just gave a snooty glance in a different direction. Well, there was no making Mikki socialize. Rather than hope the little Igglybuff could just get used it it all eventually.
Cas motioned for Adrian to follow and dutifully he did so. Walking along just slightly off to the side and behind Cas, eyes peeled for possible Pokemon, Adrian found himself scanning the area around them. "Ah... So, I noticed you have your own camera. Are you a photographer by chance?" Adrian asked curiously. Meanwhile Mikki decided to taking time to walk around and scout out, seeing if he could assist his trainer in the cause. At some point, Mikki did find another Pokemon and so called out, causing Adrian to jump slightly before rushing to his Pokemon, noting Mikki pointing proudly at a nearby Breloom. "Oh, cool!" Adrian exclaimed.
Quickly he pulled up the camera and began to try and snap a few pictures, but just as he did he also was able to capture a few rather interesting pictures. During some of the fast shutter snaps the Breloom has decided to kick the Igglybuff out of the blue, which in turn caused quite an issue. As with Iggybuff usually, Mikki began to bounce. Once he bounced, not much would stop him. "Crap!" Adrian said as he tried to follow Mikki's incredibly fast bouncing as the Igglybuff was being launched off the cluttered tree trunks that were all around. Adrian set down his camera to to and get his Pokemon, but as soon as he did there was a sudden smack upside the back of his head and soon enough he was pretty much a punching bag as Mikki repeatedly bounced off of trees and right into him for a while.
The encounters had already begun. It was amazing how quickly the path faded once they entered the forest. The canopy thickened and what little light trickled through the foliage illuminated an overgrown trail. It wove around large trees and through ferns and other underbrush, showing the way deeper and deeper into the forest. It wasn't long at all until the main route and Delancy's camp was entirely lost from view. There the path ended where a mossy tree trunk had collapsed and blocked the way. Beyond it was a small clearing where a countless mass of emerald colored ferns sprung from the damp ground. A thin mist hung amidst the plants, swirling every now and then as something just out of view disturbed it and caused the ferns to sway. It was cool here and droplets of water clung to the leaves, occasionally dropping down to the ground. It was beautiful but there were no Pokemon immediately in sight.
To either side of the rotting trunk two small game trails diverged one leading to the left and the other to the right. From the left came the sounds of bird pokemon, the occasional blur of a shadow passed overhead as various winged pokemon darted through the trees towards the area. The forest seemed thinner there with more sky and open space for pokemon to move about, particularly through the air. To the right was quieter and visibly darker, the mist rose higher here as there was no sunlight to burn it away. It was a more mysterious looking area but there were no signs of life here. Maybe that just means whatever lived there was better at hiding.
Once the two were done here they would have to make a choice. Left, Right or Forward?
there are more things in heaven and earth, horatio,
T
he wild pokemon came quickly in the surprisingly good spot. Leave it to a well-known photographer to know the best places to get photographs. After messing with his camera’s settings to account for the forest’s lighting, Cas jogged after Adrian and snapped a couple of photos. That click sound - so satisfying.
He separated a bit from Adrian, wandering into the brush to get a better shot of a shroomish. A few moments passed after his question before Cas lowered his camera and looked over his shoulder to answer. “Sort of.” Cas called back. “I’m a journalist, so this is sort of a side-” For the second time today, Cas suddenly halted his speech. This time it was so he could let out a startled yell and drop to the ground, narrowly avoiding the igglybuff speeding at his face.
Moments after came the crashing of his growlithe bounding through the forest, running and jumping through everything in his path. He’d taken one look at the bouncing pokemon and thought, “I need to catch that”. So off the growlithe went, running not far behind the igglybuff, taking sudden turns whenever the other did the same.
Growlithe made the decision of direction them. Bounding straight down the path to the right, the fire type broke through the silence that seemed thick in the air there. The trainer couldn’t let his pokemon run off into the forest alone, so (checking first to make sure the airway was clear) Cas stood up and ran off after his pokemon, calling “Bach! Wait up!” and shooting a “Sorry!” to the other trainer.
ooc: I'll leave the rabid bidoof or mad ursang up to you :3
Adrian was down for a while in a considerable amount of pain, but finally found the will to stagger to his feet and try to follow. Hobbling along looking like he just got the ever-loving crap beaten out of him by a gang of thugs with tree branches. Adrian saw Cas head towards the right, down a path, and so Adrian hobbled along after. Probably meant that Mikki had gone that way as well as the other's Pokemon. Although Adrian was definitely slow in pace due to the pain he was feeling right then. Nothing bad, rather just a bunch of blows that had knocked a lot of the wind from him or such, but he would probably be fine after a bit. Although Mikki was a whole new story.
The little Igglybuff was still bouncing, being very true to his species, sadly. All over the place he went, unable to stop himself until at some point he came on a rebound, soaring just inches over Cas's head. Right into Adrian again, knocking the young man back while he tried to keep a grip on Mikki. Holding the Igglybuff in his arms against his stomach like he was catching a football Adrian was sent skidding back a bit before stopping and ended up splayed out, Mikki sitting on his stomach looking as dazed as his trainer. Adrian could only wonder if this could get any worse. He sure hoped that it would not, because it had already been enough excitement to last Adrian for a week and a half.
The frantic chase led the pair to a dense section of the forest where mist hung so thickly in the air that it obscured anything which was more than ten feet away in a dull greyish blue. Here the trees seemed a darker brown, their leaves a darker green. There was little in the way of plants on the ground, a few ferns here, some moss and mushrooms there. Most of the smaller plants seemed to be growing out of the trees himself as they reached up towards the sun. It was quiet here, but not silent. After the thrill of the chase wore off the two would notice the occasional breaking of twigs or moving shadow out of the corner of their eye. The pokemon here were watching them and an eerie sense of being stalked would not be unwarranted.
Should they wait long enough, or look hard enough a pokemon was bound to make itself known but the kind of pokemon who dwell in dark, damp places are not always the friendliest. As their vision adjusted to the relative darkness they would be able to see a bit more, like the branches which stretched out above them. From these moss covered limbs an innumerable amount of zubats hung, their wings wrapped about them as they awaited sunset. Every now and then one of them would drop from its perch and cut silently through the damp air but most of them seemed to be fast asleep. Amidst all the dark blue there was a strange sight however, a spot of green which may have been mistaken for a large leave or mossy clump. That is, until it dropped from the branch and swooped down over the trainers. It's coloration an oddity for a pokemon of it's species.
Zubat | Female | Inner Focus
-- I've rolled my second shiny on the site, how exciting. It makes things kind of awkward because of how this thread is but I didn't want you to miss out on an opportunity just because i rolled it in a quest thread. You are welcome to attempt to catch the individual pokemon which i post like this under my discription posts so if you want feel free to try. If both of you want to catch it we can flip a coin or something.
there are more things in heaven and earth, horatio,
C
as followed as best he could behind his pokemon, but as the forest grew denser and more foggy, it became harder and harder to see even a few feet in front of him. More than once he heard the uncanny sound of the igglybuff rushing by, once just inches above his head. And, of course, a moment later came Bach, inches the same from headbutting his trainer in the the gut. Adrian, however, did not seem to be so lucky. The pick dodgeball caught, Growlithe sat down in front of the other trainer, yapping twice as if to say, “done so soon?”. He then happily trotted back to Cas.
Oh, but the antics were far from over for the two trainers. As Cas hesitantly got up from his knee, glancing cautiously at the air because you can never be too safe, he caught sight of… a lob of moss? Cas’s first impression of object was that someone had chucked a handful of moss at them. Then he made out wings, and was further confused. Were there any green flying pokemon (or more concerning, species of moss with the ability of flight)? He did not have time to think this through as he again ducked, avoiding the swooping pokemon by a good margin this time. He was improving.
Closer now, Cas was able to identify the common pokemon. It was a zubat- but weren't those normally blue?
But Cas wasn’t about to stop and question the pokemon’s choice of pallet. “Bach, use leer and then bite!” He called, fearing the wild pokemon would attack first. The growlithe, who had been watching the new pokemon with anticipation, did so happily. He glared at the pokemon, not hiding an ounce of his thought, “I’m so going to eat you”. The fire type was very easy to read. Then, message properly communicated, Bach used his strong back legs to leap up into the air. He reached, straining his neck and willing himself higher, so he might snap his gaws down on the green pokemon. Or nothing but air, that was likely to happen too.
Adrian was surprised when suddenly a Zubat swooped down after that whole ordeal, then another, and more. It seems the whole flock was disturbed and beginning to take flight. Although suddenly there was a flash of green too, which excited him. He suddenly fumbled around and with his camera took a few shots. Turns out he even caught the right moment in where the Growlithe was soon soaring through the air and towards the shiny Pokemon. Although Adrian had an idea that would be really nice. "Hold on a minute! This is a good chance for a decent image shoot." Adrian called to Cas, before turning to Mikki.
"Okay, give it a Sing!" Main idea behind this was that, getting the Zubat to fall asleep could allow for some nice close up photos while the Pokemon was busy snoozing. Soon enough too Mikki inhaled and eventually came a nice, lovely melody which wafted through the air in hopes that the Zubat would be able to fall under the spell of Mikki's attack. If so, then the group could most definitely grab a few nice close-up shots.
