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Topic: Dusty Diaries - Elise's backstory

(Been thinking about doing this for a little while now, so I figure might as well do it.)

When you live in a town known only for being shut-ins at night and its proximity to the Giant Chasm, you don't find a whole lot of things to do there. Nor do you get many visitors. I guess that's why there's a section of the town that's a bit more distant than the rest of it, sometimes I wondered if it was really part of the town, where a bunch of wealthy folk built their mansions. Gilded fences, well kept lawns, and very fashionably dressed people and Pokemon were common sights. For most of my childhood, I never really understood why we lived closer to town than everyone else, why our house wasn't as big as the other kids, why we didn't have gold dragon busts on our fences, etc.

Turns out that my parents just didn't feel the need to flaunt their wealth like everyone else. A trait that I inherited, I suppose. But the other kids never really cared, to them I was just another rich girl who just happened to survive a night in the Giant Chasm alone. I guess that's why it surprised me when a bunch of us started to hit our teenage years that I'd actually get invited to parties and stuff. Though, I had already built a habit of sneaking out a night by then so I guess it was sorta understandable. "You're not like the other people in town" they said, "you actually come outside at night." It seemed that the moderate distance between the "common folk" part of town and the "wealthy" side gave the latter the impression that the superstition of avoiding the night didn't apply to them. Not that I was complaining, of course.

I can still remember the names of those people that I hung around back then. I wonder what happened to them sometimes. In the  8 or 9 years I knew them, we all changed a lot. Even more so as we became "adults."

There was Kate, the pale redhead with red eyes who seemed to almost always wear white. Her parents were some bigshots in a far off region's company who chose to retire in Unova. Rumor has it that her dad left his first wife for her mom who was one of his co-workers. Never did find out if that was true or not. Kate was a good girl though, upbeat and funny at her best, cold and distant at her worst. Still, she and her Flaaffy(later Ampharos) were good company.

Anna wasn't really your typical girl, I guess. When we first met, I remember her having green hair still and wearing much less black. If you wanted the textbook definition of angsty teen, you'd find Anna on the page. Stereotypical wardrobe and music tastes as well. Despite this, she and her much more peppy Jumpluff were a good pair. Somehow.

Ah, and then there was Roy. Think of the "bro-est" guy you can think of. There, you have Roy. Maybe it was his parents being famous in the Pokeathlon world, but he was definitely that ultra-masculine feel to him. How fitting that he raised a Machoke. Still, when he wasn't going off on the latest in the world of football, basketball, baseball, etc., he wasn't that bad. Definitely the most likely person to be absent from a random hangout, that guy was always training with his Machoke in something.

James. Out of all of us, his family was probably the wealthiest, so much so that they had a beach condo in Undella. Y'know, the town not too far south from Lacunosa. If there was a party to be had, it was at his place. That much was no secret, I think everyone under the age of 25 knew that. Though, the hangouts in Undella were a thing that only happened among us. Having a Blastoise that we can all ride down the shore instead of walking was nice.

I guess you could consider the 5 of us the "who's who" of Lacunosa's young folk? Mostly due to James, but I don't think any of us ever complained. We definitely had some interesting times...

It's a shame that I try to forget about those times nowadays.

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Re: Dusty Diaries - Elise's backstory

(Note: This post interprets Revival Herbs and their effects on humans in a way inspired by my fanfic and it may not be consistent with your headcanon/canon.)

5 years ago, Undella Town

It was about 5 years ago that everything kind of started changing. Friday night. James' parents were away for the weekend. A bunch of teenagers from Lacunosa and Undella. You do the math as to what was happening that night.

Yes, it was another party at James' place. And with us being teenager of various ages, you can guarantee that there was one thing there: alcohol. Now, we were mostly a bunch of rich kids whose parents didn't really care if we wanted a sip or two of some of the "finer" alcoholic beverages, for lack of a better word, but that's not what we had there. No, we had the amount that would be closer to what you would find at a college party, and for some of us higher education was something that had only recently started. Guess that's what happens when you have a bunch of rich kids of all different ages.

Still, going into it I didn't expect anything out of the ordinary. Sure, some people could have passed for Spinda, but that wasn't me. Honestly, I was just looking to have a good time with my friends. Or at least keep them from doing anything stupid like trying to get  James' Blastoise to use Hydro Pump to propel them over a jump. Yes, someone tried that, no it didn't happen.

The funny thing about that night wasn't the copious amounts of drunk rich teenagers, no it was the fact that at some point in the night Kate pulls me and Anna aside and tells us to meet her and the others upstairs. Both Anna and I looked at each other with two  very different things that had come to mind after Kate left. After watching some guy attempt to sing along to some song that was playing and fail miserably at it, we elected to head upstairs and meet the others. I'd had enough of seeing Spindas fall over and hit on each other(or us).

When we got upstairs, we passed by a couple making out, briefly embarassing them. Anna and I had a good chuckle about that. Eventually we found Kate waiting with Roy over by James' room.

Kate saw us coming and knocked on the door. "Hey James, they're here."

A muffled voice belonging to James came from the other side. What he said I couldn't understand, between a wall and the music downstairs, there was no hope in doing that. Either way, we all went inside to see just what we had all been called up for.

Once we got inside, James pulled out his bag and dug a few Revival Herbs out of it.

"Revival Herbs? What are we supposed to do with that? It's not like our Pokemon are fainted." Roy asked, quizzically.

"Well, yes, that's one purpose for them," answered Kate, "or we can use them in another way."

Anna immediately picked up on what Kate meant. "Wait. How is it that Kate of all people is the one to introduce this to us? I mean, I figured it'd happen eventually, but never with her as the source!"

Kate smiled deviously and winked at her. "There's more to me than you know, my black-clad friend."

"Not gonna lie, I was surprised as well," said James, "but hey, it's something I've always wanted to try, if only to know how it feels. And maybe have a battle or two afterwards. I think it'd be interesting to see how that goes."

Naturally, Roy was in as soon as Pokemon battling came up. "Good enough for me," He turned to me. "Sorry Elise, looks like you're gonna be stuck on the sidelines for this. But don't worry, me and Knuckles have enough strength to take on everyone!"

"Yeah, until you break something like you did that emerald that one time. Aren't you still banned from that museum?" I remarked, remembering the time when Knuckles got launched into Roy, sending both of them into a group of guys moving an undersea emerald into the Undella museum.

"That was ONE time!"

"Uh, guys? Are we gonna sit her and debate how Roy and Knuckles broke an emerald or are we gonna actually try this?" Kate interjected.

"Right, right. sorry," Roy apologized.

And so we got high as fuck and proceeded to have Pokemon battles against each other, well everyone but me. Gotta love having no Pokemon at age 16. One more year until I'd be allowed to do so. Now, I don't remember too many details because when you're like that and trying to watch battles, in the dark no less, everything looks kinda similar. All I remember is that it was an interesting sight, and our Pokemon were only slightly confused. Oh, and Knuckles tried to hit Kate's Ampharos Fluffles with a log because Roy told him to. Knuckles lost that one.

Looking back on the whole experience it really doesn't seem that bad. Not to mention that I've realized that at some point during the whole thing I apparently was making a bench really cold for Kate. The alcohol probably made me think it was her dress, but I don't think I was ever cold there. Guess that's where the whole Icy Obscura started.

All tangents aside though, I think the worst part of my experience with their drugs was when James came into possession of some kind of Lansat Juice for us to try. Juice, of all things. Granted, it could've been a lot worse looking back, but I'm still not very fond of the outcome. At least Revival Herbs were relatively harmless.

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Re: Dusty Diaries - Elise's backstory

The next year

When you think of berries, you probably don't think of any of them being that harmful to you or your Pokemon. Hell, even when there was that scare with Pomeg berries and how they'd mess up you Pokemon's body, berries are that one thing that is always good for you.

Ha. That's funny. Behold, the Lansat berry.

Or specifically, it's juice in concentrated form. I don't know where James got it, but I assume it was through some rich person connections. But holy shit, that stuff was strong. I barely remember what happened while on it.

I guess I should back up a bit though. It was my 17th birthday party, which was put on by James because who else. Oh, and did I mention that we were dating at that point. Yeah, that was a thing. Anyways, I was just lying in bed with James(you don't need to know more than that.) and he gets an idea for something better to do than watch some variety show featuring some pink haired idol. Yancy, I think it was? I don't remember.

James got up and went over to his closet, and after some digging he pulls out these two...candies, I guess? I dunno how to describe them. He said he got them from some guy while on a trip in Black City. Said they were made with concentrate Lansat juice to produce a high. With origins like that, these things were either going to be a hell of a time or we'd wake up in a hospital(if we woke up at all). But because we were dumb teenagers, we took them anyway.

I have no idea what exactly happened after that. According to Kate, who apparently I ran into at some point, I kept yelling things at her like she was James. Then I got frustrated, pushed her aside, and ran off. If anyone saw me after that, they sure didn't tell me, because the next thing I knew I was waking up on Undella Beach with a massive headache. Great birthday, I know.

So after getting my bearings, I walked back up the beach over to Lacunosa and went to see James, hoping he'd have some idea of what the hell had happened to me. Plus, if that had happened to me, I had no idea what might've happened to James.

James was fine. He had barely left the house whereas I had wandered off. Now, at that point I had no idea what went on and if anything had happened to me at while under the influence of the candies. So to see James just there, with no visible negative effects kind of ticked me off. We got into a huge argument(well, as much of an argument that two slightly high people can have) and eventually he just kicked me out.

Things got pretty tense after that. Apparently James was so pissed he ranted to Roy and Anna about it. Roy immediately took James' side, saying that I was being irrational and overly concerned. Anna didn't really care. Meanwhile, I went to Kate, who told me what she saw from that brief encounter with me while I told her what happened. Sure enough, she took my side, and we had a bit of a rift in the group...and Anna the neutral party. Or I guess, apathetic party would be more accurate.

Unfortunately for us, we ended up going our separate ways shortly after. Some of us didn't have a choice, Roy got signed to a team in Nimbasa and immediately took off, Anna just said bye and took her Jumpluff and left on some kind of journey. James' parents found out what he had been doing with Revival Herbs and more, causing him to be sent off to some kind of trainer's school in some far off region. That just left Kate and I. With everyone gone, she kind of just started to keep to herself. Sure, she'd say hi every once in a while when we'd run into each other, but we never really hung out much. She's probably still there, I'd bet. And as for me, I was eventually allowed to get my own starter Pokemon(after promising both my mother and myself that I'd stay away from anymore substance abuse) and left on my own Pokemon journey.

I'd always wondered if our little friend group would drift apart at some point. Never expected that it'd come from a berry of all things. But that's all in the past now, I suppose. Got new friends, a better boyfriend, my own rival/friend(?)....and an evil doppelganger of the guy that I definitely don't have repressed feelings for anymore. So...yeah. Things certainly aren't perfect now, but I think they're at least better than what I left with. Aside from the evil part. Still working on that.