Sand Castles Galore!

[Nekayne]

Far along the sandy westward stretch of the beach, many families, friends, and Pokemon gathered, creating different castles composed of sand. Some tall, some small, some plain, some unique - sand castles were popping up along the shore one by one at a very quick rate.

Since the sands have not been disturbed so suddenly for over a year, many different things can be found hidden beneath them. Many people along the beach have reported finding stones, nuggets, or even an angry Pokemon.

What do you say? Wanna build a sand castle?

Each character may come build a sand castle along the beach. You have the chance at finding an evolutionary stone, a nugget, or you might get challenged by a disturbed Pokemon.

[Glitch]

The obviously handmade sign was strung up high, brightly advertising a festival to bring in the summer- why was it necessary? Did people around here honestly need festivals like this to know that, hey, summer is here!? The sun was scorching, that obviously screamed summertime! Liam came to a stop, his long green tail waving around behind him as he glanced around, fists balled against his hips while he speculated what there could be to do around here. No matter what was necessary for summer to come along, it was a season he could live with! He hated the cold, and the burning sun above him, causing many to flee, was something blessed and god be damned if he was going to hide inside when the cold had finally melted away! Something rammed into the back of his legs and nipped at his tail, causing him to whip it away and glare at the nuisance, his Torchic, Veruka.

"Why are we standing here?" She whined, her voice alone enough to make Liam grit his teeth. He despised the bird. "Oh I don't know, because I like standing here and pissing you off, dear Veru- Hey!"

The little fire pokemon wasn't listening. Something had caught her eye, and abandoning attacking Liam's flicking green flygon tail, she took off, racing away from him and down the boardwalk at a twisted angle, heading more for the stretch of golden coastline. He watched her for a moment, and for a split second, debated turning and taking off without her. She'd be lost in the crowd, and no longer his problem. The idea quickly died- he needed the pokemon in order to be a trainer. Heaving a sigh, he began to chase after her.

He caught up to her as she skidded to a halt in the sand, her eyes wide and excited, staring eagerly at the sandcastles all around. After a few seconds, she fluttered excitedly and spun around to face Liam.

"Can we do it? Can we please!"

Liam opened his mouth to give her a scalding rejection, until out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a young man digging in the sand to add to his castle, when something glittering came free and send the man into a frenzy of excitement. He had found a golden nugget! Liam took the moment to look around at everyone else building, and sure enough, others were finding all sorts of items as well! The scorching remark died on his tongue, and he gave Veruka a honey-sweet smile.

"Why of course we can, dear."
"don't smile like that, shitfaced, dear. I'm building my castle, and you're greed will not ruin it!"

He contemplated dropkicking the pokemon right then and there, sending her for a loop into the crashing waves of the ocean, but she had already taken off again, and he was forced to follow, with a scowl on his face. The torchic found a small area, undisturbed, and took to, well, scratching at the sand with her toes, trying to build a small little pile and try to mold it. She was failing miserably. Laughing at her misfortune, he dropped down a few feet away from her, and began to build his own measly sandcastle, more focused on digging around, looking for valuables, than actually building. He caught sight of Veruka a few times, trying shamelessly to use anything to build, her beak, her wings, odd objects, all ending horribly for the torchic, who seemed stubborn and refusing to give up. Liam simply shook his head and continued his "building", which was more like searching going very wrong.

They sat in the sun for hours, Liam determined to walk away with something to show for it, Veruka determined to walk away with something to have pride in. When Liam finally seemed to give up, he stood and stretched, only to suddenly feel something he rarely did- shame, and regret. Looking over at his Torchic, she had barely scraped together a small, shapeless mound for a castle, and lopsidedly decorated it with rocks and shells. She looked heartbroken as she gazed longingly at the masterpieces around her. The Flygon morph hesitated for a long moment, until finally with a sigh, he sat down next to her, and his own greed aside, began to help. Instantly, she looked indignant, tears in her eyes.

"W-What are you doing? You can't dig over here, I- This is my-" She broke off as Liam rolled his eyes.
"I'm not digging, you idiot, I'm helping."

Veruka paused, and seemed ready to fire off angrily again, but it simmered down quickly, and she began to do her best, this time with her trainer's help. It took them another hour, and the castle wasn't beautiful, but the pair had strung together a little castle with a moat, and a little flag. Liam sighed, knowing very well he wouldn't be getting his little token from the sands, but little Veruka seemed thrilled with their piss poor sandcastle that stood maybe as tall as her. Heaving another defeated sigh, Liam simply rolled his eyes and laid back in the sand while Veruka danced around their castle, running his fingers through the warm sand and enjoying the sun- and maybe even secretly, the elated giggles his Pokemon was giving off in her elation.

[Nekayne]

Underneath the sands where the stray hand was combing through, a golden object glinted against the sunlight as it began to expose itself. It had been hidden away for quite sometime, warming and cooling beneath the sands as the seasons tided over it.

Now, it was in plain sight and free for the taking. Was it a gift from someone above as a reward for the change of heart towards his Pokemon? Was it a sign that kindness rewards all?

Nah, it probably was just there and he was lucky enough to find it.

You've found a Nugget!

[kipper]

it was a beautiful summer day and poppy had specifically dedicated all of today to doing nothing but relaxing. after all, she deserved some days off. then again, she had only just begun her training journey and all she had was oswald, who had been given to her and required no effort on poppy's part (other than crossing an entire ocean by herself, but whatever). either way, as a trainer, poppy was in charge of her own work days and if she felt like taking a day off, then she would take a day off! so, it was this thinking that led to where poppy was now: on eloisa beach, stretched out on a beach towel, lathered in sunscreen and watching the horizon with ease, thanks to her sunglasses. her pale skin seemed to glow in the sunlight, though the layer of shiny sunscreen definitely didn't help, and was accentuated by her dark bikini. with a sigh of content, poppy looked around to the other beach-goers. down near the boardwalk, where the biggest crowd was, she could see people playing volleyball, throwing frisbees, swimming, romping around and even making sand castles.

"aren't you glad we're over here, away from all those people?" she asked oswald, who was much too preoccupied with chewing on the beach towel to pay attention. but in all honesty, yes he was rather content with not being among the crowd. when they had first arrive on the beach, the new smells had overpowered him and it had taken the little deino all of his concentration to stick with poppy and not lose her. plus, everything smelled so new and foreign and curious that ozzy just wanted to run up and take a bite out of it. but if he did that, then poppy would get upset. that had already happened before, when he had just run off in winchester town, chasing after a mareep. he had kept running and it took ages to find poppy again, though it wasn't too hard, what with poppy yelling and reeking of fear and worry. when ozzy had run up to her, poppy swelled with relief and made him promise not to run off like that. which was why he stuck right next to her now, instead of running off to the strong smell of salt and water.

for a while, oswald found that chewing on the beach towel was satisfying enough, though he often got bits of sand in his mouth, but that was alright, as he could just easily spit it out. but now the towel was starting to get damp and gross and gritty, so ozzy spit it out and smacked his lips, wondering what he should do next. but he didn't have to wait long. there was a squeal of delight, not so far in the distance, and in his excitement, ozzy got up and started sprinting in that direction, despite the fact that he had promised poppy not to run off. but this hadn't sounded too far and it seemed much too exciting to give up. ignoring poppy's calls, the deino sprinted off, barking madly. the soft sand gave way under his paws and made running that much harder, but he wasn't going to give up. as he neared, the two kids he had heard first screamed in fear and ran away, though oswald didn't notice, being blind and all. instead, he was interrupted mid-bark as he ran into what felt like a gigantic mound of sand.

the sand castle collapsed on top of oswald and seemed to completely bury him, just as poppy caught up, her red hair a tangled mess. with a huff, she sank to her knees and started to dig her deino out of the sand. "arceus, oswald, you can't just run off like that! how many times do i have to tell you?" she scolded, though she really wasn't angry. poppy pretty much figured out that this was going to become a habitual scene. when enough of the sand had been brushed off of the deino, he burst out of the sand with an excited bark, muffled thanks to the seashell he had in his mouth. poppy couldn't help laughing, though she continued to dust the sand out of ozzy's fur. she gingerly took the shell from ozzy's mouth, trying to explain to him: "you just destroyed the kids' sand castle. this is a shell, and i think it was supposed to be their centerpiece. you can't see it, but it's this soft pink with white whorls, and the inner lining is silvery and shiny, like a rainbow. i'd make you go apologize to them, but i think they've run back to their parents."

oswald looked at her with a tilt of his head and whined, though poppy looked unsympathetic. "well, it's your fault. you shouldn't have run off like that," she said, trying to sound angry, though her tone quickly softened when she saw his drooping figure. "aw, it's okay, ozzy," she crooned, lifting his head up, "i'll tell you what, we can build our own sandcastle if you want." at least he seemed to brighten up a bit at that. "you probably don't know what a sandcastle is, but it's just a ... large and elaborate building that we make out of the sand. and we can decorate it with shells and sticks and leaves and whatever you want. you have to be careful though, and make sure it doesn't collapse." that definitely cheered up the deino, and he hopped around her, barking. poppy laughed and tried to grab him, successfully hooking her arms around his neck. "alright, let's get started then."

so the two began their sandcastle, poppy having to carefully guide ozzy, as he couldn't exactly see what he was building. he helped gather the sand into a large mound, pawing at it and trying to make it look like what he thought it looked like. at first, poppy tried her hardest to make it look pretty without him noticing, then realized that he couldn't see, and kind of gave up. not completely, as she was starting to feel a little invested in the sandcastle as well. eventually, they had a pretty tall mound, surrounded by a little moat and smaller hills that poppy thought looked like very nice little series of towers. eventually, poppy sent ozzy off to go find rocks and leaves and shells to decorate their castle with while she cleaned up their castle and added little windows and crenelations and smoothed out the walls. every so often, ozzy would come running back with a rock or a stick or a shell. once he came back with someone's flip-flop, which poppy carefully put aside to throw away once he had run off. there was no way she was going to use a flip-flop to decorate their castle.

the sun was very low in the sky by the time the two had finished. poppy sat in the sand and watched ozzy, who was carefully nosing and sniffing the castle, making sure he didn't step on a little tower or accidentally collapse the moat. after nudging a rock into place, he skipped off and dug in the sand for a moment, though poppy didn't pay attention. the sun was about to set and it was casting a luminous orange glow among the clouds and the water, distracting her from whatever her deino was doing at the moment. it wasn't until ozzy nudged her arm with his muzzle that she looked down at him, a smile widening on her face when she saw that he was holding the pink shell from before. "perfect, i'll add this to the top of the castle," she said, taking the shell from him and gingerly placing it on top of the entire castle, where it shone and almost sparkled in the sunlight. ozzy furiously sniffed at the castle to make sure that it was there. once satisfied, he did a few circles and settled down next to poppy, head resting on her lap.

poppy had to admit, their castle looked pretty good. it wasn't a professionally-made, fancy-ass, perfect castle, but for a girl with no visual-art skills and a blind deino, it looked nice. with a smile, poppy ruffled ozzy's fur and watched the sunset, deciding that today had been a great day off.

---

hahaha sorry this ended up being so long :U

[Kittie]

Among some of the sticks, stones, and shells the little deino had retrieved, a half-buried shiny something glimmered in the fading, orange light. It had been half-buried among the sand and would be quite easy to miss, if not for the sun's colourful rays causing a small light show to glimmer across the sun-kissed sands. The object seemed to soak up the sherbet-coloured rays, amenable to the sun's energy.

The winds shifted, blowing away a thin layer of sand from the beach and exposing a sun-shaped stone, shining brightly as the sun sank into the ocean. It was certainly beautiful, but clearly far too precious to be set into any castle as mere decoration.

A memento to remember the day, perhaps?

You've found a Sun Stone!

[slumber]

A day at the beach, this wasn't something that Hisashi had planned on. But when he heard that there was a festival in town, he couldn't help himself. He and his pokemon could use a bit of bonding experience anyways - Haru was a moody little pokemon and it seemed that was just how he was. Even so, Hisashi was determined to understand his starter better, and so he took him to Eloisa beach the morning before they would explore the festival. Anorith was currently placed in his trainer's arms, because although he could crawl along the ground with a good effort - it wasn't the best way to travel. His trainer seemed to be serious about him spending a good portion of the day out of his pokeball, so he had resorted to carrying his twenty three pound ass around instead of leaving him in there. The pokemon could be heavier, but he couldn't be the most comfortable thing to have in your arms all day. Haru was almost worried about his trainer, but then he heard the waves and could taste the salt in the air. They were near the ocean! Now that was something that the pokemon was used to. Anorith wiggled in excitement, and Hisashi laughed, glad to see a good reaction out of his pokemon.

"There we go - I thought you'd like it here. The pokedex says that you used to live in the ocean." The trainer had done his research on the fossil pokemon, wanting to understand as much as he could about his new partner's history and make up. Carrying the hard shelled pokemon to the shore, he let him loose and watched as he wiggled right over to the water. Hisashi watched his partner let loose and thrash a bit, before giving the beach itself a good overview. It seemed that he wasn't the only one that thought today would be a good day to take a break and hit the beach. There were plenty of families here, kids and pokemon alike chasing each other and building sandcastles in the sand along the shore. He himself had enjoyed doing that when he would visit Olivine City back in Johto. He might have a tougher time here as it had been a while, but he had Haru to help him, right? This should be a piece of cake. "Hey Haru - come here!" He called out to his pokemon, that was having a damn good swim for the first time in weeks. He went from lab to lab before he was offered to Hisashi, and after that all of the routes that they traveled were pretty far from the ocean. Being in the water made the pokemon feel so relaxed.

But he squirmed over to his trainer, staring up at him with beady little eyes. "Anooorith" -what do you want I was swimming.- Hisashi had already gotten down on his knees by the time his pokemon and wiggled over, and was digging in the sand. "We're making a sand castle today. A big one!" He could be a bit of an overachiever... it might just end up with him sitting in front of a pile of shapeless sand... but he wanted to have fun and he wanted Haru to as well. The pokemon eyed him strangely. A sandcastle? Like the little buildings that some of the other trainers had built around the beach? They weren't going to be able to build one of those! Anorith clicked his pinchers together, he was missing the... ligaments needed to really create anything like that. But Hisashi didn't seem to care as long as the pokemon did his best and had fun.

And so the disfunctional pair tried their hand at building a sand castle. Hisashi did most of the digging, and Haru would wiggle into the holes and have trouble squirming back out. Whenever the trainer managed to make a little hill of sorts, his pokemon would crawl on top of it - feeling a bit like he was the king of the hill. It made the process slower, but Hisashi really didn't mind. It took them about an hour to make an actual castle - and it wasn't nearly as big as it was in Hisashi's imagination when they started... but it was something. Sand covered and feeling somewhat accomplished the trainer stood to take a look at their creation. Anorith crawled over and sat beside him, looking at their sand castle with a bit of pride. It was the first time he had ever made something with someone - and he had fun.

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[Nekayne]

As the sun shone brightly upon the newly created duo and the fruits of their effort, there was a gleam in front of them towards the shore. Water brushed over the sand, smoothing it out and pushing rocks too and fro.

However, one of these stones pushed onto the shore was not an ordinary rock. It shimmered and gleamed a brilliant ocean blue, it's insides almost seeming to swirl just like the tides themselves.

You have found a Water Stone!

[Tagger]

Summertime was finally here in Noctis. After what seemed like the longest winter ever, with an uneventful spring, Darrel's favorite season was back. And what better way to enjoy the season than to head to the beach? Today was the perfect day to head to the beach, the weather was absolutely beautiful. Plenty of people had thought about going to the beach as well today, which was absolutely perfect for the young trainer.

From the boardwalk, Darrel observed the actions of the beach goers. Of course, for the perverted young lad, this meant observing the girls. Plenty of girls running around in the sand in skimpy bikinis. Polka dots, stripes, frills, and various other patterns all caught the eye of the perverted trainer. Whether they were girls only slightly older than he was, or even some of the more attractive adults, Darrel couldn't help but drool over them.

However, the trainer, who was accompanied by a single Pokemon, had his attention broken from his girl watching. Fu Manchu, Darrel's very first Pokemon, had tugged onto his swim trunks. The trainer looked down at the Pokemon, who was pointing towards a group of kids building their own sandcastle, alongside their Pokemon curiously.

"Oh, that's a sandcastle.", he told the Mienfoo. "It's a small building made out of sand, just for fun. . .", he explained before turning back towards two older teenagers, sisters, playing in the shallow waters nearby. However, before he could really appreciate them, Fu Manchu tugged at his shorts again, still pointing towards the sandcastle. "Wait, did you want to try building a sandcastle?", he asked the Mienfoo. Immediately, Fu Manchu nodded excitedly.

"Well. . .", he started to think for a moment. But before he could finish, the Mienfoo rushed towards the beach on his own excitedly, looking for a good place to start building. "H-hey, wait for me Fu Manchu!", protested Darrel as he ran after the fighter. The Pokemon soon started to dig into the sand for a sizable mound to start with, the trainer joining in on the effort.

After about an hour and a half, the two had dug up a satisfactory amount of sand to start building their castle. And for two hours longer, the two of them had shaped their structure into something resembling a sandcastle. While the structure was nothing fancy, and extremely sloppy, it was something the two were proud of in the end.

Four crassly made towers made up of stick and sand, along with a wall of sand bordered a larger structure within the walls. Matching up to the border, the castle itself was a very crude, ugly construct. With shells and sticks scattered around the area, Fu Manchu and Darrel decorated the structure to at least look somewhat presentable, not that it helped much.

The Mienfoo looked at the result of their teamwork proudly, alongside his trainer. Both of them were caked in sand from the two and a half hours of work they put into the sandcastle. "Great work, buddy!", he told the Mienfoo, clearly exhausted from the effort.

[Nekayne]

Soaring above, a cluster of wingull began to caw as they flapped their wings, soon forming into a V-shape in the sky. They circled about, flying lower and closer to the land until they were just centimeters from the top of the trainer and Mienfoo's sand castle.

One of the Wingulls swept close, and a golden object dropped from his beak, landing perfectly atop of the castle. It looked much more valuable than any common rock.

You have found a nugget!

[RE]

We were the kings and queens of promise

We were the victims of ourselves

WORD COUNT: 622 PKMN: SIX ONE LAST THING: NOTES: i immensely dislike sand

SAND EVERYWHERE. Six wasn't the happiest camper about being at the beach in all this sand; he liked to play in very minimal amounts but this no. The beach yes was great because it usually meant a pecha berry sundae or him relaxing on a rock when Taro took pretty photos. However today was different as Taro was clad in a bright neon orange bikini top with matching shorts and sandals. “Taaaro why are we in the sand! I want a sundaaaae!” He bellowed with much distaste. Shrugging casually Taro scooped her little Pokémon out of the sand into her arms “Come now Six I want to build a castle today!! Just think about all the memories we could make today I’ll take even more pictures and we’ll go home and show them to Amatsu!” she cooed into his face her nose pressed against his forehead.

Sighing he snuggled his head into her snow white dreadlocks cascading along her chest. Carrying him deeper into the foray of the beach where other sand dwelling Pokémon, beach goers, and trainers a like gathered forming their own mounds of sand carved to look like buildings, Pokémon, even food in some cases where Taro looked. “Hold on a sec Six I want take some photos!” she placed him gently back onto the ground searching around her pack for her phone which doubled as her camera. Dropping her bag the tiny Bouffalant morph tottered about o each sand castle asking their owner to if she could pose with them and their structures.

Six wasn’t in the least bit satisfied or happy with his trainer’s frolicking about with other trainers and their sandy buildings that he really did have to admit were quite impressive, he watched her peruse about flirtatiously with each photo she seem to inquire about. Flustered by some of the other more attractive humans and pokemorphs a like to whom she was glad to have gotten a photo with she came giggling back to Six. “I promise that once we make our own sand castle, of course it might be sad attempt at best but I get you the biggest peach berry sundae your tiny little self will ever witness!” she smiled at him as she fell to her knees reaching for her duffle bag she took out her buckets and shovels and began to dig. Sensing his owners glee he took a bucket and waddled towards the shore dipped it into the water as best he could filling it enough so he could lug it back towards his trainer.

“Hey Taro I brought you some water perhaps this will help with the base and maybe we could add a moat! “he smiled feeling a little bit better about the day. Taro happily took the bucket from him taking a shovel of water “Yes Six That would be a prefect idea! I guess you’re working for that sundae it seems my little champ!” she cooed as she erected another tower adding little windows and notches. As the day progressed Six was becoming even more engrossed in what he was doing helping carve the inner bits of the castles, he even made a tiny little bed as well. Taro lifted him from the middle of the castle held him close they reflected on their castle “That looks good, especially with the moat!Take a picture with me beside it!” he cried leaping down from her arms striking a rather uncharacteristic posh pose in front of the castle. “Of course my little one! I wish Amatsu was here that lazy little kitten really!” she cried as she set her camera settings clicking the picture of her pokemon the sun shining brightly with few clouds in the background.

maybe the children of a lesser God

TEMPLATE BY: THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE MIKEY ! @ CAUTION.

[Kittie]

While the two sat by their castle, taking photos of themselves, the water in the castle's moat seeped through the soft sand. It sifted the layers to and fro, until eventually, a light shimmer was seen in the mud. The sun glinted off the surface, and a golden sheen could be seen in the sand. A little digging would reveal a small nugget, buried where their sand castle's moat had been carved.

You have found a nugget!

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