Mr. Stakes journal:

Day 1

I have been introduced to a human and have taken pity on him due to his inability to say anything other than "TANTOR" and "SHUT UP". Professor Elm told us to run an errand for him, to retrieve an item from one "Mr. Pokemon". I have defended him against several criminals and wild Pokemon. I hope his trend of running into dangerous situations ends soon, for as a scholar I am weak myself and may not be able to protect him forever. On our way we met a strange old man who showed us around and gave us his shoes, then went into a house we believed belonged to Mr. Pokemon, but the man there was actually very interested in these strange berries call "apricorns" that were completely inedible. Once we arrived at the house of Mr. Pokemon we were surprised to meet a man called the Pokemon Professor, or Professor Oak. Mr. Pokemon seemed indignant at the title, but was kind altogether. He gave us an egg to return to Elm. Professor Oak gave us an item that would index all the Pokémon that we met. We bid them farewell and returned to Elm. On our way we met a strange boy with red hair. He appeared to know TANTOR, although when asked all TANTOR said was "SHUT UP". Elm had received a request from the leader of a town call "Violet" to send some fighters for a task he had, so he had sent the red haired boy on ahead and would send us in the morning. Before we went we spent the night as TANTORs house, and we (I) decided that we would send her money in order to support her.

Day 2

On our way to Violet we ran into a pidgey named Pijotix. After a brief battle he decided to join us. He is attempting to become a warrior, and has requested for me to train him in the ways of a warrior. I prefer more scholarly pursuits but shall attempt to pass my meager knowledge on to him. Next we met a rattata named Martin. He wishes to be helpful, but is unsure of what to do. I will try to help him find a path to take, but there may not be anything I can do. While eating I accidentally consumed some toxic material. We searched for a healer, and found a weedle who could help us although she would not give her name. After helping me, she took one look at TANTOR, and started to say that she would try to help him, but was interrupted by some soldiers who arrested her saying that they had captured the queen. We followed them to the castle trying to plead her case, but the King would not see us until the morning, so we compiled a case and waited.

Day 3

In the morning we plead our case with the King of Stank, who agreed to let her go IF we took her out of the kingdom. She thanked us and told us to call her name was Stin-Quellor, but we could call her StinQ for short. After being driven from the kingdom of Stank we continued on our way to seek help for TANTOR. We met a geodude (ette?) named Dwaynedelyn who wishes to become some sort of armorer, but isn't sure how. StinQ was ambushed, but was able to win after summoning her cocoon armor, although her rushed summoning stuck her in it, so she cannot presently send it back so. TANTORs old friend Lyra gave him a recorder, hoping to help his memory along, although most of us are not sure that will work. We had just made it to Violet before nightfall, so we spent the night in the local center.

Day 4

The leader of Violet was out, so we started on our journey through the tower of Violet. Martin did not like the idea so he broke off from the group, but said we could call him if we ever needed help. I regret not being able to help him decide what he wanted, but there was nothing I could really do. Initially we started down the wrong path, but we met Ric Flair who led us to the Tower of Sprout, where we met Brandonlee. Brandonlee is seeking to remember his life, he only remembers that he was a bellsprout from a land far away. TANTOR started licking random bellsprouts in the tower which Brandonlee encouraged, until Pijotix put a stop to it. Pitojix has started to grow proud of his power, to a concerning extent, I will need to keep an eye on this. After reaching the top of the tower the red haired boy was arguing with the monk about the origins of power. Their debate appeared to be going nowhere, so he left, saying that he would meet up with us later. The monk decided that we needed to see just how powerful he was through battle. Dwaynedelyn beat him with no trouble. He then threw us from the tower, and we spent the night at a nearby hotel.

Day 5

We met a passing weedle who was able to help remove QueenStinQs armor. He was able to take the remnants and form them into a lighter armor that was much faster, and enables flight. Dwaynedelyn took quite an interest in his work, and appears to be looking for items to improve herself. Overjoyed at her newfound freedom, she left our party to go on her own journey, but let us know that we could call her at any time if we needed her. Falkner, the leader of Violet, has returned so we went to meet him. Before he would help us, he required us to face him and his friends in battle. Dwayndelyn took them all down with ease. Falkner told us of a great threat that was looming, and that we would need to get stronger in order to face it. The professor sent us an egg, hoping that caring for something so small would help TANTOR grow. We stayed another night at the hotel and shall continue in the morning.

Day 6

There was a strange tree in between Violet and Goldenrod, so we took a detour through the Ruins. We met an archeologist who wanted to see if we could solve a puzzle. TANTOR got it on the second try. That is how simple it was, TANTOR got it. She introduced herself as Gilgod and said we could give her a call if we ever needed help. We bumped into a mysterious maiden who said that before the end of our journey we would need her help, and left without saying anything more. Dwaynedelyn took the lead in most of our battles today, testing out some of her new weapon designs, but there were times when Pitojix would force his way into the battle to take out the opponent. He is becoming far too violent, so I took over for some battles to show him how to win with grace and dignity. We managed to make it to a center just before a large cave, so we'll stay the night here.

Day 7

Good news, TANTOR learned a new word "onion", although I don't think he has the slightest clue what it means, as he kept calling a cave "onion". A local onix named Houdini started leading us through the cave, and said that he would be around if we ever need his help. I ran into a zubat who insisted on fighting, I humored him for a while, and then left. TANTOR fell down many times in the cave, so I eventually resorted to just holding his hand. The egg entrusted to TANTOR (but carried by Dwaynedelyn) hatched into a baby slugma who we named Ivan Oozed, a name everyone was happy with (save TANTOR who just kept yelling TANTOR, as if that should be the only name of anything). We've started showing him the basics of battle until he can fight for himself. Dwaynedelyn walked up to me nervously and gave me something she had been working on, it was a new battle armor that greatly increased my abilities. I gave her a hug and she blushed before going to work on something new. We had to spend the night in the cave, as it was much longer than expected.

Day 8

After several hours traveling through the cave (that TANTOR slept through) we walked out onto a rainy route. TANTOR started freaking out as soon as he saw the rain, so we constantly hid him under trees, while Ivan Ooze quite enjoyed making the rain evaporate just before it hit his "skin". A hoppip named Hiphoptop came up and started playing with Ivan, and said we should call him so they could play some more at another time. Ric found a machop that he wrestled into submission. We met a man named Kurt who would turn our apricorns into pokeballs if we would take care of the Rocket thugs attacking slowpokes at the well. We needed to get to Goldenrod soon, so we hurried on to the forest (after telling Ivan that burning down houses was not something that was proper to do). Ivan practiced spitting fire while in the forest, that Pitojix, Dwaynedelyn, and Ric Flair made sure didn't spread. TANTOR started randomly headbutting trees, until Brandon and I stopped him. After spending hours getting nowhere, we went back into town and stayed in the center, hoping to get a guide in the morning.

Day 9

We started our journey through the forest again, but before too long we met a zubat named Man (fruit) bat told us that the forest was enchanted and would only let us through after we helped Kurt. We went back and followed Kurt to where Rocket was, but he got injured while entering the well. We went on ahead to take care of the grunts ourselves. Dwaynedelyn used her new rock cannon and earthquake machine to take them out. They were both terribly inaccurate, almost taking out Ric Flair once, but the grunts were so little of a threat that she was using them to change the sights. The executive named Proton said "Hey TANTOR, how's my favorite nephew doing?" TANTOR replied "TANTOR onion". This confused Proton, as he was surprised that TANTOR had learned a new word. Dwaynedelyn and Ric Flair used this distraction to rush him, and take him out, although they were both poisoned in the process. Luckily one of the slowpokes, named Slowmara, was able to cure them relatively quickly. Brandonlee was quick to start flirting with her, although I'm unsure if her glowing eyes were a positive or negative reaction to it. We stayed the night with Slowmara and will see the town leader in the morning.

Day 10

We awoke to find Ric Flair training the local slowpokes to fight back. He told us "HEY THERE BROTHERS, I'M JUST HERE TEACHING THESE HERE SLOWPOKES TO FIGHT BACK AGAINST ROCKETS! I'LL BE HERE FOR A TIME SO GO ON AHEAD, I'LL CATCH UP TO YOU BROTHERS!". Slowmara lead us to the base of the leader Bugsy. The first person we met was instantly attacked by TANTOR. Brandonlee stopped showing off to Slowmara long enough to stop TANTOR, before returning to Slowmara. Pitojix tried to lead the way through the base, but started attacking everyone we met. I started to lead, but we were attacked by a ghostly pair of twins, that spooked everyone except Slowmara, who appeared to take great joy in her dispatching them. Dwaynedelyn gave Pitojix a shining halberdier saying "You stay too close to your foes so you take too many hits. This will give you some additional range." Pitojix took one look at the halberdier and said "I'm going to name you Berdiance." We all looked at him a little strangely, but carried on anyways. Bugsy said that we needed to prove our might in battle, but Pitojix, with his new Berdiance, quickly took care of him. Bugsy then told us that the threat we were on our way to face had once been considered one with great heroism, but had decided to attack after that. He said that of all the leaders, he was the one who designs the traps that we'll use to face our enemy. He then sent us on our way to Goldenrod. The red haired friend of TANTOR showed up and said "Hey bud, I've made some pals on my way here, I was wondering if you wanted to travel the rest of the way together?" TANTOR immediately attacked in a primal rage. We all stopped him, and agreed that we should probably keep these two as far apart as possible. The red haired one was visibly upset at this, as he considered TANTOR his closest friend in the world. Slowmara gave Brandonlee a quick glance, before saying that she would come with us on our journey. The Cut Master decided we needed a test, so he had us go and catch his wayward farfetched. He then cut us a way through the forest, which I took careful notes on how he did it, so I would be able to replicate it in the future. We met a woman in the forest, who appeared to be from the same group as the one from Violet. Ivan Ooze said that she could travel with us the rest of the way through the forest, but she respectfully declined. TANTOR started climbing a tree, and met a hoothoot named OwlyMcBeal, who showed off her dance moves, and then sent us on our way.

Slowmara and Brandonlee ran ahead of us to make sure that the path between the forest and the next town was clear. It turns out Slowmara is actually very fast in spite of the fact that her name contains the word "slow" in it. When I asked her about it later, she stated "My family enjoys ironic naming. So as a runner, they thought it'd be fun to call me slow." While I don't fully agree with the sentiment, it makes some sort of sense. When his mother called TANTOR finally learned that I'd been sending some of his money to her. TANTOR freaked out and started attacking random children, until Pitojix used his Berdiance as a hook and pulled TANTOR back. TANTORs friend Lyra met up with us, and showed us to her grandparents (the daycare couple) house. We stayed the night and would continue on to Goldenrod in the morning.