Isis: Where Dreamers Dream and Explosions Explode

Where are you, Arturo? It could take ages to try to find him in this city...

"The City of Isis: Where Dreamers Dream"

Okay, that's...that's a weird sort of sign to have--

Is that a castle? In the middle of a metropolis? Hold on...if the Chloris gym was a Ground-type gym and it looked like a farm, and the Isis gym is a Dragon-type gym...then it should look like a castle! That's probably the gym!

"Gym Leader: Prodiga, the Hatchling Who Will Rule"

I'm fairly certain that's enough to conclude that this is definitely the Dragon-type gym--

I...uh...how the...weren't you just in Chloris?

You get around.  Of course you do.  Say, is the gym leader in?

Oh, she's out helping rebuild houses and quell some rioting in another part of town? Well...alright then. Maybe I should head down there and help her out.  By the way, if you happen to see Arturo Stone come by here, let him know I was here looking for him and tell him where I went--

Ugh, what am I doing?! I completely forgot! Excuse me, but where is the nearest electronics store?

That way? Great.  If you see him, tell him I went there.

It doesn't seem very difficult to navigate in this big city.  I just need to keep my head about me and--

Was...was that an explosion over there by the stadium?! I...uh...no.  Nope...I'm not checking anything out until I get myself an Xtransceiver.

The Electro-Mart.  That seems like the place.  Hey, they've even got a neon Electabuzz sign in the window...and an Elekid on their television--!

Huh...

Elekid and Electabuzz look awfully similar.  Let me just check something...

Elekid evolves into Electabuzz?! How did I not research this before?! Wow, so there must have been more Elekids at the Power Plant, since there were definitely Electabuzzes--

GAH! ELECTABUZZ!

Oh...oh, it's a cardboard cut-out.  Great.  I'll just...I'm just gonna pretend that no one saw that.

Excuse me, sir.  I'm looking into buying an Xtransceiver.  I saw on your sign that you do trade-ins, so I'd like to look at your pre-owned models, please.

Wow, you have a lot of stuff here.  I, uh...I really just need a phone.  Preferably something waterproof--

What? Is there something behind me? Some suspicious guy in the park? Okay...I mean, I don't need it to be waterproof, but it would be a nice feature--

What?! What is going on behind me?! The guy again? What exactly is he--? Screw it.  How much for this model here?

$3000.  Okay.  Do you...do you have anything for around $800? Even amongst the used models? What about a broken one? I can probably fix a broken one.

Okay, that's a little too broken.  What's the lowest price you can offer me for a used model that actually works?

$1500.  I'll tell you what...I'll be back in about an hour or so.

Okay...I need to earn $700 in a hurry.  There seem to be trainers all around here.

TAKING ALL CHALLENGERS FOR POKEMON BATTLES! STANDARD MONETARY STAKES! DO I HAVE ANY TAKERS--?!

OOF! Jeez, I didn't know people were that eager to--

Jess?! What are you doing here?

Oh...the bird's gone haywire, huh? He stole your badge and he's not listening to you? Hmm...let me try something.

Let's see...water bottle...water bottle...ah ha! Here we go!

Now, let me just spray a little of the PokeLure in here...there! Hey, Roses! Come here, birdie! Come get the nice smelly bottle!

There we go.  Problem solved.  You may wish to call your Murkrow back, Jess.  Now, let me just cap this bottle so we don't cause an international incident here.  Say, have you seen Arturo? No? Do you have his phone number? No? Damn it.

Well, I'm trying to buy a phone, but I'm short $700, so I'm out here trying to battle for--

No, I couldn't possibly accept that much money from you! It's fine, I can probably earn it in just a few hours.  No, don't worry about it--

If you're that insistent, let me put two more spritzes into that bottle, then you can hold onto that.  Believe me, once you figure out what that is, we'll be square.  I can't just accept the money and not give you anything.

Hello, sir.  I'm back and I have a funder to help me buy the phone--

What? Oh, no, she's not my daughter--

No! She's not my girlfriend! I'm old enough to be her father! She's just a friend!

Well...a 12 year old model is still a working model, so I'll take it.  I've only got $45 to my name now, but at least I have a phone! Lemme just register all these numbers I have scrawled on napkins and bits of paper here...Jess, walk with me and talk with me while I do this.

What I sprayed into that bottle is not actually potion.  Think of it as the anti-Repel formula, and it's a recipe of my own design.  You just put a few drops somewhere and watch Pokemon flock to that location.  You can try it out at the park if you'd like--

Ow, jeez, watch where you're going, guy--!

Wait...I think that's the guy the clerk was watching when I went into the store the first time.

Okay, you send Umbreon over there to check stuff out.  While we wait for it to come back, try the PokeLure on the sidewalk.  Now...stand back and look at the Pokemon that were battling over there:

Do you see how quickly they come?! I'm going to make millions off of this--!

Oh, Umbreon's back already.  What's it saying?

Follow it? Into that dark alley? Umm...you may not want to go there alone.  I'll head down there, too...just in case something goes wrong.

What is this place? It says "Pokemon Daycare" on that sign, but it looks more like a Pokemon refugee camp.  It just seems like there are too many Pokemon here to be safe for them if this is just a daycare.  Where is the person running this thing? Excuse me, sir--

That's the trench-coat guy from before...and he looks angry--

He's releasing a Pokemon--?!

Voltorb! Gotta think fast before this thing blows!

*Points PokeLure at man*

TOM:   Call it back or things are going to get real ugly for you!

MAN:   Too late...

HIT THE DECK!!!!

(One of these days, I would like to follow plot in a tabletop RPG where my character's life and death  do not hang in the balance while I roll a reflex save of some kind to avoid an explosion at point-blank range.  Just once, I would to take steps in progressing a plot where very little, if anything, explodes.  I know this will never happen, but sometimes, we all need to dream...)

PokeLure: What Have I Done?

Let's see how badly those Bellsprout can kick my ass if I have a powerful Fire-type Pokemon by my side! Also, a Fire-type should be fantastic for when I run back into that Silcoon and Cascoon, or if the Dalus or Minos gyms are Grass-type, Bug-type, Ice-type, or Steel-type gyms.  I should really get one eventually.  What's up for trade on the Global Trade Terminal...

Hmm...I'm not really familiar with any of these Pokemon, so I don't know what they're capable of or if they even evolve.  I mean, I could check the Pokedex, but I wouldn't know how to handle a Pokemon that belonged to somebody else first.  Maybe it's just a better idea if I got my own Fire-type.  I seem to recall the farmer's market selling Torchics, and they looked pretty adorable.  Too bad they're so expensive.  I wonder how I can make enough money to buy one--

Speaking of making money, I wonder how the Pawn-iard Shop is doing since my gym battle.

Let's see...ahh, here we are--

Oh, Jamarcus.  You...you haven't done much here, have you? I mean, besides write the name of your store on another shirt and hang it up with masking tape.

Jamarcus! Hey, how's business?

Well, that's good.  And I see you took my advice about making advertising shirts--

Oh...that's your store sign.  That's...that's great? I mean, at least you're getting your name out there in some way.  I mean, what if you just took the box-of-stuff, emptied the contents, spread out the merchandise, and used the cardboard to make a bigger sign that's actually a sign?

So, you don't have any table-room to spread out the merchandise? Because you only have the one table? Hey, I'm just trying to find a way to attract people to your shop and make you more money--

Attract...

Wait a minute.

Wait!

OH.  MY.  GOD.  That's it! I've got it!!!

Jamarcus! You're familiar with what the Poke-Mart sells, right? Think now...what don't they sell, but could? They've got Poke Balls, potions, vitamins, medicines, and repels.  Stuff like that.  They sell something that repels Pokemon from places...but they don't sell anything that attracts Pokemon to a place, right?! That technology doesn't exist on the market, but it exists! I took some Combee honey and spread it on a tree last night while training my Gligar and wild Pokemon seemed to love that stuff.  That, and when I was in the Combee hive, I noticed that whenever the Combees used the move Sweet Scent, our Pokemon were drawn to them and lulled into a false sense of security.  We could use that knowledge and create some kind of anti-repel spray...a lure! It can be called PokeLure, and up-and-coming trainers would buy it in droves in order to build up their teams, and since this town has the first gym in the Cythos gym challenge, this would be a perfect place to market this product! Jamarcus, would you be willing to offer the Pawn-iard Shop as the initial selling venue for a portion of the profits?

Of course you would.  You're not an idiot.  Come on, we need to talk to Tara.  If we can use her hive as the ingredient source, we could save a lot of money.  Let's go!

Where is she? I hope she isn't taking on challengers right now.  I wouldn't want to interrupt her--

There she is! She looks like she's taking a break.  Tara! I have a business proposal for you.  I've come up with an idea for a product to sell to Pokemon trainers, but it would require your assistance in obtaining the core ingredients--

Yeah, I can walk and talk.  I'll just follow you.  The concept is the anti-Repel.  Repels keep Pokemon away from you, but I have a recipe idea that would do the exact opposite of that! I would need some assistance coming up with the ingredients for the spray, but--

Yes, of course.  I'm more than willing to provide you with proof of concept, but like I said, I just need a little bit of help acquiring the needed materials.  I have an empty potion sprayer, so I can use that, but I'm going to need honey, water, and the pink powder that the Combee excrete when they use Sweet Scent.

By the way, where are we?

The Miltank house? Okay, so this is where you milk the Miltanks and do other stuff--

You like the idea?! That's great! And yes, I'm willing to get my hands dirty and work from nothing to build up this business, just like you did when you built this Miltank house.

Wow, you sure have a lot of Miltank out there in the field.  And you try to teach them all Rollout? That must take a lot of work.  Why do you do that, if you don't mind me asking?

Oh, the ones that learned the move are rolling out now? Where are they headed?

That's...that's a different-looking building.  Is...is that where you keep them when they aren't being milked or grazing?

For about a minute? I don't understand.  And what's that sound? It sounds like saws--

OH.

...

...

...

...

So...about my idea?

You'll have your apprentices gather the ingredients? Great!

Alrighty...let's see here:

Okay, this should be enough.  Let's take the powder and put that in the potion bottle first.  Then, I'll dissolve that in some water...just enough to dissolve it all.  Now, I'll add the honey.  It's smelling pretty good, but it's a little too thick.  I don't know if this will even evaporate quickly enough.  What evaporates really quickly? I can't use gasoline or kerosine or anything like that...rubbing alcohol, maybe--

Say...does anybody have some moonshine?

Of course the hicks have moonshine.  I wonder how strong this is--

KECH! OH SWEET JESUS! KECH! UGH! IT TASTES LIKE KNIVES MADE FROM FIRE AND ASSHOLES!

Maybe just like three or four drops per bottle...

Oh...I don't know if this is going to be good now.  I might have ruined it.  Only one way to find out...

Pidgey, go!

Pidgey, you perch over there on that fencepost.  I'm gonna stand all the way over here and spray this patch of grass and you tell me if you can smell it, and if you can, just let me know if it smells good.

Okay! I've sprayed.  Can you smell it?

Pidgey?

Oh god...what did I do?! Pidgey, are you okay?! You're making noises I've never heard you make before.  Uhh...return.

Huh...I guess I must have messed it up--

OWW! Jeez, what the hell was that?! What just slammed into my leg and tripped me?!

Hey, a Pokemon! The Pokedex says it's a Snubbull...and it seems to love that patch of grass I sprayed! Yeah, laugh at me all you want for that tumble, you guys, but this spray works! Somebody go get Tara--!

Hey, there's another one over there! A Patrat, huh? He must have smelled the scent as well--

Uh oh...I don't think other wild Pokemon like it when they have to share the nice-smelling grass--

AHH! OOH! NO! NO, STOP IT--!

Oh shit, now a Rattata?! I think I might have made this too potent--

YEP! DEFINITELY TOO POTENT! Slakoth, go!

Slakoth! Use Yawn! Try to put the all to sleep--!

Slakoth, no! Get back here! Don't waddle towards the fray of fighting Pokemon! Damn it! Return--!

AH! Tara! Uhh...now, I know what this looks like, but hey, you couldn't ask for a better proof of concept.  This was just five spritzes worth on that one patch of grass and these four Pokemon showed up here from out of nowhere!

Well, it's got honey, the powder from the Sweet Scent...a little bit of moonshine--

Hey! I mean, it worked, didn't it! The Pokemon came and they're all dopey and euphoric! This is exactly what we were aiming for here! I mean, sure, we can refine the formula later on, maybe with ethanol as opposed to moonshine to make it a bit more pure, but I don't know how responsive the Pokemon would be to ethanol, since I don't know how edible--

Yeah, we definitely need to stop this madness.  You start throwing Poke Balls and try to catch as many as you can.  Somebody get some buckets of water! Maybe if we muddy up the earth, the scent will dissipate!

Okay...I think that will work to kill the scent.  Now...where do we want to go from here?

You're right, we can't just use emptied potion bottles as our main source of container-supply.  We'd need to find someone who can hook us up with a manufacturer--

Say...does the Devon Corporation make potions? If so, I may have a connection who's making his way to Isis right now!

Alright, I'll head out to Isis and try to find him.  Tara, you stay here and work your magic.  Jamarcus...just...just don't do anything stupid.  We're all in this together, so we gotta be careful about this stuff.  I'll take the prototype and see if we can get a canister supplier in Devon.  We'll use your hives for the ingredients, Tara, and we'll sell it at the Pawn-iard Shop--

Do I know anybody who works for Poke-Mart?

No.  No, I do not.  We should go through Devon.  Let me have your Xtranceiver number, Tara, so I can call you with any updates.  I'll keep you both in the loop.

So, I gotta cross this thing to get to Isis. Fine, but Jesus, that city looks big.  Well, I better start searching...

ARTURO!!!!!