Intermission: Part 1

[NyteFyre]

"Well, that could have gone worse," Storm mused as he and Dashie meandered down the route. Dashie simply mewled in response, still recovering from that last battle. The little lion still had some fire in him, though, and had made a habit of showing it off every chance it got. Storm was rather irked by the constant Embers barely missing his face, but he couldn't help but feel proud of the cub. Heh, I suppose if I could do that, this whole route would be ablaze from my experimentation.

Storm's train of thoughts was interrupted by a small notification appearing in the corner of his eye. "Whoa. In all my time here, I forgot this thing is just a game. And games have HUDs," he rationalized, unaware of how crazy he sounded to his partner. "Let's see here...'Game Wide Event. Free Rare Pokemon Received. Reward Type: Grific?'" He read aloud, as a small sphere materialized onto his belt alongside the ball that belonged to Dashie. A quick read from his battered 'Dex told him what moves the creature knew, as well as a quick picture of what it looked like. He continued walking as he read from the Pokedex, curious about his friends. So, Grific is a rare, later game pokemon. Interesting. I wonder what sort of event would give players such a powerful pokemon so early on.

A voice erupted from nowhere, as a rather large man in a fishing hat and waders ran up to Storm. "Hello there, laddie!" the older man greeted the surprised Storm. "Welcome to Sunset Village. I'm here to teach you how to fish. First things first, though, you have to beat me in a match," the man continued to spout. It was a rather large fountain of information, yet something about it felt scripted.

This must be some kind of in-game event. I could always skip this challenge, but I'm curious about my new griffon friend. Well, no time like the present, thought Storm. Stepping forward, he looked the program dead in its soulless eyes and replied, "I accept your challenge." With a quick nod, the fisherman teleported a few feet away from Storm, and tossed out his first pokemon.

However, something shrouded the creature, keeping Storm from fully seeing it's form. With a quick nod to Dashie, who promptly backed off from the defensive stance he took, Storm grabbed the second pokeball, and tossed it forward without a word. Out popped a tiny, but fierce looking bird/lion....thing. Hmm...I like that look in her eye. She seems like a Gilda, so let's go with that.

"All right. Hey, Grific," Storm called, garnering the attention of the sharp eyed griffon, "From now on, I'm calling you Gilda, got it?" Gilda smirked slightly, agreeing with the name, before returning her fierce gaze upon the mysterious foe. "Right. Now Gilda," Storm calmly spoke, remembering what moves the griffon had at her disposal, "fly as high as you can, then rush the foe and peck it's eyes out." Gilda simply nodded in understanding, before shooting up high.

[Cyndadile]

Gilda fluttered happily into the sky, out of reach of Trillogill. Trillogill could do nothing but stare harshly at Gilda as she dove out of the sky at an extreme speed and drove her beak into Trillogill. Trillogill, sore from a harsh day of training, took the blow especially hard, and continued glaring at Gilda as she flew back up and out of reach.
[5] [Female] [25/25] [-1 Defense]
[4] [Female] [3/20]

Up next, by the way:

[6] [Female] [26/26]

[NyteFyre]

Gilda smirked confidently, as she flew back up into the sky. Storm could tell she was trying her hardest not to laugh at how pathetic the enemy seemed. With a sigh, and a shake of his head, Storm called out, "All right, all right. Let's hurry up and finish this guy off. Dive bomb peck it once more." Gilda nodded down at her trainer, before launching herself toward the small Trillogil.

This is easy. Too easy. Something must be wrong here. There's no way I should be doing this well, Storm thought, gazing at the battle before him. This one was over before it even began.

[ImmunityBow]

Once again, Gilda was on Trillogill faster than she could blink. Pow! Her eyes were swiftly pecked out, and somehow even such an easy battle had taught the relatively inexperienced griffin some things about combat.

[5] [Female] [25/25] [-1 Defense]
[4] [Female] [0/20] [Fainted]

Gilda gains 32 EXP!

Next up:

[6] [Female] [26/26]

[NyteFyre]

As the Trillogill fell, Gilda finally burst out into a full-on, shit-eating grin the likes of which neither trainer had ever seen. Without so much as an indignant "hmph!" the fisherman returned his beaten water type, and sent out his next pokemon in an obscuring fog. Luckily, Gilda had razor sharp eagle vision, allowing her to pierce the fog and perceive the new threat. Before Storm could say anything, she was upon the foe, pecking it unto oblivion.

[ImmunityBow]

Lotad used a tired out old joke to try to catch Gilda off guard, but she laughed it off like it was nothing. Haughtily, she gave Lotad a sound peck, tearing her nearly in half.

[5] [Female] [25/25] [-1 Defense]
[6] [Female] [11/26]

[NyteFyre]

Storm smirked, ready to finally reap the rewards of trolling this poor, computer generated character. Gilda felt this, and grinned back at her trainer. With a nod to Gilda, Storm motioned toward the foe. Gilda understood without a word, catching a new, warm updraft high into the sky. "Drop him," Storm calmly mouthed. Gilda was well out of earshot; even so, she dived at that exact moment, ready to end this.

[Cyndadile]

Gilda slammed into Lotad, tearing her to shreds. Lotad didn't have a chance to avoid the sharp blow, and quickly passed out.
[5] [Female] [25/25] [-1 Defense]
[6] [Female] [0/26] [Fainted]

Gilda gained 53 EXP!

The fisherman bowed his head in defeat handed over an Old Rod. "Alright, then, laddie! It's about time you learned how to fish!"

[NyteFyre]

Storm sighed inwardly. This was where shit was going to get boring. A long speech about how to fish, and then you're handed the rod and shoved off. Or so he thought.

"Well, a deal's a deal, lad. C'mere," Said the suddenly lifelike fisherman. Storm was a little surprised at the sudden change of personality. He almost seemed like a real person. The fisherman kept motioning for Storm to follow him, after returning his fainted pokemon to their respective balls. Gilda alighted to rest on Storm's shoulder, as Dashie stretched and yawned from his shaded spot. Getting up, the cub chased after his trainer while he tried to delicately balance the rather heavy griffon on his shoulder.

---Five Hours Later---

Storm was exhausted, but felt rather fulfilled. He quickly jumped ashore, glad to finally be on dry land once again. He had caught a few Magikarp, but the pond was catch-and-release only. Gilda had some fun practicing her diving at fish, occasionally getting some unnamed species of pond fish to eat.

"Heh, you learn fast boy, but you still need to work on yer sea legs. If ya plan on seriously fishin', I'd suggest gettin' them legs under control, and fast," the Fisherman waved, offering some last few gems of wisdom. With a nod of thanks, Storm and company headed off on their next adventure.