"Ruins? Hmmm that sounds good. I wonder if I'll see something cool in there", he said, taking a bite of his sandwich. And that was right too, they should probably get going soon. If they leave now, it'll be sunset by the time they get there. And sandy huh? Well, that goes without saying, somewhere called "Dune City".

"I guess we'll finish up and get ready to go. Most everyone seems nearly finished now anyways", he suggested. As soon as everyone was ready he returned Rufflet to it's Pokeball, and Larvitar got up, patting itself down before waiting for everyone to get ready. Rylen packed his own things away while everyone else did their thing.

Han and the Treecko stood side by side with the Ralts watching from just behind the trainer, clinging onto him. The rest of the young pokemon, mostly bug and grass types, stayed behind trees.

The Numel boastingly spewed fire all around.

"Let's see... Treecko seemed to have absorb, iron tail and drain punch..."

"Han, use Bubble! Treecko, assist with Iron Tail!"

The second command earned the trainer a glare from the Treecko. "P-please?" The Treecko complied as Han rushed forward and shot a stream of bubbles. The Numel met it with a stream of fire strong enough to stop the advantaged attack. A cloud of smoke appeared at the point of contact. While the Numel grinned smugly, the Treecko appeared from inside the cloud to his surprise, swinging his iron hard tail, smacking the Numel to the side, angering him and lowering his defense.

The Numel retaliated just as the Treecko landed, slamming into it with its hardened head, throwing Treecko back. "Bubble!" Han did the attack while the Numel was distracted, hitting it in the side. Dust rose from it but not too much later the angry pokemon ran after the Froakie. During this time, the Treecko recovered and got on his feet.

The trainer turned to the Treecko. "Recover with Drain Punch, please!" The Treecko nodded and ran at the two fighting. Han kept trying to dodge but the same attack hit him as well. Right then, the Treecko slammed his fist on the Numel's side. As the Numel stumbled sideways, the trainer called out.

"Don't let up! Pound!" Han moved in and slammed the Numel twice, once with his fist and once with a kick. Before the Numel could recover from that, the Treecko hit him again, sending him flying back.

The Numel got back to his feet and sent off a wave of enormous heat. "Han, use Bubble on the Treecko!" Han nodded and followed the order, dousing his ally. The Treecko fell back, still conscious, taking less damage from the fire attack. "Han, looks like it's just us and the Numel until Treecko can recover. Let's go with another Bubble attack!"

Han shot another beam of bubbles as the Numel rushed him, running through the bubbles and slamming hard into the Froakie, sending him back quite a bit. With manic eyes, the Numel turned to the trainer and the Ralts, whose grasp was growing stronger every moment. The trainer stumbled back for a moment as the Numel's mouth opened with heat focusing there. Just then, the Treecko's tail slammed it shut, leading to the attack exploding in the Numel's mouth, knocking the Numb Pokemon out cold.

The trainer fell on his back, breathing heavily and quickly. "Hah... That was close..." The Treecko ran to the pile of berries and grabbed one, quickly feeding it to the hurt Froakie. Han sat up and got to his feet with the Treecko's help.The trainer was about to let out a sigh of relief, but stopped, noticing that the Ralts' wounds had gotten worse. "This happened while the Numel was attacking, huh?" He looked over at the pile of berries and pulled out his holocaster, pulling up an image of a berry. He quickly made his way over to the pile and pulled two, one ressembling the one on the holocaster, and the other the one the Treecko gave to Han.

"Here. This'll make it better." The Ralts took the berries and smiled widely, crying out in joy as the pain had disappeared. The trainer looked over at Han and pointed at the road. "It's probably best if we were on our way," he said. As they started to leave, the Ralts followed. "Hm?" The Ralts removed one of the pokeballs on the trainer's belt and dropped it on the ground, lightly kicking it over to him. He kneeled and held it. The Ralts hit the button and in a red beam of light entered the pokeball. The ball twitched a couple of times and stopped, making the Treecko panic. He ran towards the trainer when the Ralts reappeared from the ball and said something to the Treecko. The Treecko looked over at the trainer and nodded. The young trainer seemed surprised but smiled widely, pulling out another pokeball and holding it out for the Treecko to enter as well.

Afterwards, the two said their goodbyes to their friends in the woods and walked off with the trainer back on the way to the beaten path.

@AbysmalDemon@MissFortune

Whereas Maractus turned to the pokeman with hostility and wariness, Deneb simply turned to him while wearing his normal, indifferent facial expression. He seemed to barge in with a worried voice. Maractus used this as evidence that the human woman was a trainer of trainers, as she decided to view the newcomer's own hostile glare toward the horned human something similar to an overly loyal pokemon that wishes to protect its trainer from potential threats.

Deneb, wanting to explain their presence, spoke up.

"Maractus thinks you're both suspicious, so we followed you two here. We saw her crying when we entered the building."

The young trainer looked around, still in the woods. He looked up at Han, who seemed to have taken a liking to the forest, jumping around on the trees' branches. The trainer let out a sigh as he stopped, taking a moment to look around to figure out the right path. He remembered that they had initially went east off the road going north in order to search for pokemon. After their first encounter with Leif and Aegis, They'd went north-east, so he'd decided to go west to get back on the road. But apparently, they weren't going west, because if they were, they'd have arrived on the road by now.

The trainer considered asking Leif for help, He probably knew the forest much better than he and Han did together. The trainer hesitated, pulling out the Treecko's pokeball. He looked at it for a few moments before putting it back on his belt. "It's probably best if he's with Aegis for now... Might get a bit grumpy if I just call him out."

Han turned his head forward, narrowing his eyes. He cried out to the trainer and jumped onto another branch, signaling for the trainer to follow. The boy nodded and followed the Froakie for a few good minutes, running to catch up from time to time, only to take small breaks to catch his breath. Finally, they reached an opening with three people in the middle with pokemon near them. Han and his trainer approached the group, both smiling widely, hoping that these people could help them find their way out of the woods.

"Excuse me," the trainer called out to the group, still a dozen meters away. "Sorry, to interrupt but we're kinda lost. Do you guys know a way out of the forest?"

"Hm?", Rylen was the first to notice someone had entered the area with them, and he seemed to be addressing them. It was a trainer, and with a Froakie no less. He seemed to be lost and was looking for a way out.

"Well we're just heading out of here now, so I guess you could come with us? We're headed for Dune City though", he explained and offered. His Larvitar walked up to the Froakie... Right, this would actually be the first time his Larvitar has seen a Froakie, and honestly it was the first time he's seen one too, but now they should concentrate on getting going. The day wasn't going to wait for them after all.

Hotaru looked to her houndour as Rylen put his rufflet back in it's pokeball. The new partner stared up at her. They locked eyes for a good few minutes until she smiled. "Nephrite,.. your name will be Nephrite from now on. How you like that name?" She asked and the houndour just barked in response. She did not know if he was happy for the new name or what but she would accept it as it was. She then looked to Zed and then to Nephrite. "Alright guys, we will be traveling to Dune Town, it's practically in the middle of the desert and we have to cross some of it to get there. I know you two enjoy being out of the pokeball but one of you will have to go inside. I think you both know who can make it and who can't." She looked to Nephrite and he frowned a little. He wanted to protest but she was right after all. The desert would have mostly ground types in it and well he was a fire type after all. Zed was going to likely get some training in there sense him being a ghost type ground type moves don't effect him due to his levitate ability. "Don't worry Nephrite, I will bring you back out as soon as we hit Dune Town so you can move around for awhile." She said and he nodded. He didn't like it but what can one do. She took out his pokeball and pointed it at him and pressed the button and back in it he went with the flash of a red light.

She then looked to Zed and smiled. "Be prepared to do some training in the desert sands my friend. A lot of pokemon in there are ground types. Any ground type attacks wont effect you and normal attacks wont either. Therefore best chances of leveling are in there and you need it." Zed moved his body slightly downwards and then back up. She took that as a nod. She smiled and looked at the other two trainers and their pokemon. She was actually enjoying herself for once. Then a voice rang out and she looked to it's owner. It belonged to a boy with his Froakie. Hey that's a pokemon she never saw before. She was from the Hoenn region and Froakie's were from a different place altogether. She smiled at the new face and waved.

"Excuse me,"... "Sorry, to interrupt but we're kinda lost. Do you guys know a way out of the forest?"

She looked to Rylen who responded with a offer for the boy to join them. It would be the best decision he would make after all. Traveling with friends was much safer after all. She walked up the boy Zed followed behind her. Note he was larger then most gastly so hopefully that did not intimidate the Froakie any. Hotaru held out her hand for the boy to shake. "My name is Hotaru Tomoe, this guy beside me is Zed." She said.

@Sho Minazuki@EWillden@Savo

---

Ian looked at the newcomer skeptically, he still wasn't used to just how sociable just about everyone he had met so far was. Most of the old folks in Agate seemed to keep to themselves and the people in Pyrite? He avoided them at all costs, he had heard plenty of stories of things that had happened there before. Here though...it all seemed much more genuine than he was accustomed to, not that he was complaining.

"Hi." Ian said with a wave, he stood up and packed his things back up as the group was going to be moving pretty soon. Ian hoped he could catch a second pokemon at the ruins they were apparently headed for. With Sneasel's typing ghost types would probably be manageable. That said, the ground types in the desert on the way to Dune town would probably be pretty easy to handle as well.

As Ian stood up, Sneasel awoke with a lazy yawn. She approached the new trainer and gave him a quick sniff before strolling back to Ian and giving him a nod. "What?" He asked his Pokemon. In response she simply nodded again, he took this as a sign that this newcomer could be trusted. While he didn't really know how good her judge of character was, he knew it was probably better than his. Pokemon seemed to have a sixth sense of these things.

"Well we're just heading out of here now, so I guess you could come with us? We're headed for Dune City though."

"Oh, that's great! I'm headed that way as well," said Han's trainer. He was about to continue but he noticed the hand held out to him.

"My name is Hotaru Tomoe, this guy beside me is Zed."

He took and shook the hand, smiling. "Nice to meet you Hotaru," he said and turned to the Gastly. "A pleasure to meet you too. I'm Orion, and this guy here is Han." The Froakie didn't seem to be paying attention as he was staring back at the Larvitar standing in front of him.

Orion looked down, noticing the Sneasel sniffing him. He let out a nervous chuckle. He looked over at its trainer and waved back.

"What's bringing you to Dune City? Just passing by?" Orion asked.

With everyone having introduced themselves he moved on to answer Orion's question.

"There's a gym over there, so I'm gonna challenge it", he was quite straightforward with what he was going to do. Their Pokemon seemed to be doing their own thing at the same time, Larvitar was a little curious, it's more intense and experienced stare maybe a little intimidating, but before long it also pulled it's hand out to shake with Froakie.

"I think it's a ground type gym. You know, "Dune" city, like, sand dunes? I'm new to Fordis", he continued.

"Still, if you want to come with us then you're welcome to. The more the merrier".

Hotaru looked to Rylen as he offered once more for Orion to join them. This was perfect. Now they were 4 trainers. All off for their own goals. She smiled and stepped back a bit and then pulled forth her camera.

"I am mostly looking for ghost Pokemon as well as psychic types. I heard there is some kind of ruins out there with ghost Pokemon in it. My over all goal though is to be a Pokemon watcher. I want to take pictures and sketch Pokemon basically." She explained.

"With that done and said,smile for the camera." She said and raised the camera. With her stepping back she was able to catch not just Orion but his Froakie Han getting offered a hand shake from Rylen's Larvitar. Once he had smiled she pressed the button capturing the moment.

She then stepped away to grab her back pack and satchel. Putting the camera inside she saw her sketch pad. Next time they have a picnic she will have to sketch everyone.

@Sho Minazuki@EWillden@Savo

---

Ian didn't exactly know how to respond to what the others were saying about goals. He simply shrugged and made it clear that he really didn't know exactly what he wanted to do. He still hoped that he would figure it out as he went, for the time being however...he'd probabley just challenge gyms and hope for the best. Sneasel didn't exactly approve of his lame answer and made it clear with a small tap to the back of his head.

As he turned to see what she needed, he met a glare that he honestly hoped he'd never have to see again. With a shudder he turned back to the others. "S-Same as Rylen." He stuttered out. Sneasel seemed satisfied with this answer looked away. The idea of challenging the Pokemon league was pretty appealing. He imagined it would be like a much larger scale version of the Colosseum in Pyrite.

Charlie raised a brow at the maractus who thought he was suspicious, his Beldum giving it a glare. "Suspicous?" He said, taking a step forward. "Why? If she has reason to believe we're suspicious then she should feel the same about you," He poked the shoulder of the boy in front of him, now glaring at him. "Charles, I must go back to my father. I have to talk to him about this, or else... Or else h-he he m-might..." Fantasia burst out into tears, her heavily applied mascara running down her face as she ran out the door. Charlie tried to chase after he, but the last of her frilly dress disappeared into the crowd of people still in the lab. "Ok, settle suspicions for now, I have to find her."

He ran out of the lab, the crisp cool air of the darkening city hitting him. There were too many lights, too many cars, and Fantasia was nowhere to be seen.

---

"I don't care! For the last time! If you have to ram the Belicopter into the side of the building then DO IT for Arceus' sake!" A voice boomed through the intercom, startling the two pilots in the aircraft. One was a woman, and the other was a guy with startlingly white hair. The man was the first to speak. "B-but Sir, there are people in there! You can't ju-" The woman next to him elbowed him in the stomach, shutting him up. "Shut it Del Rosas. We'll do it, Sir. However it needs to be done." There was a silence over the intercom before that same raspy voice continued, "Good... There better be a news story about this tomorrow or you're fired." The intercom shut of and the one known as Del Rosas let out a built up sigh of relief. The woman glared at him, her deep blue eyes seeming to pierce his skull. "Weak".

@AbysmalDemon

Maractus' case just kept getting more and more evidence. The man that had threatened was trying, frantically to find his trainer after she ran away for some reason. Maractus smiled with pride at the evidence. If they encountered them again, she'd have no problem attacking them on sight. Humans training humans was a weird concept to her, and one that bred dark possibilities. Still, when she looked to the horned boy, her smile fell. His facial expression may not give any insight to his feelings, but his eyes did.

It was obvious that the situation bothered him. He was going to go after the other human, and try to figure out what was going on, simply because he was there. Many humans were weird that way. Still, she'd have to follow him. After all, he did buy her that treat.

The two followed the man through the crowd of people, out of the lab. When the man had finally stopped, they had found their chance. Deneb approached him.

"I think you lost her. What was it that she was crying about?"

@Otomosthecrazy
Charlie let another sigh escape his mouth as he stared into the seemingly never ending crowd of people. "She was crying... About... I don't know really. All I heard was something about her father. And, no, I didn't lose her yet. I have an idea of where she might be." He looked out into the city, out into all the lights, the colors, the movements, and the people... But for some reason he only cared about one person right now. And it wasn't himself. He started to walk out into the crowd of people, and then he stopped, turning around to face the boy with the Maractus. "You coming?"



The Ferry glided on the crystal clear waters of the ocean surprisingly fast, giving off the illusion that it was floating. As Charlie looked off the front of the boat down into the water he saw many thinks down in the depths. Basculin swimming freely, Mantyke following their parents gliding in the water below, Corsola on the many rocks, even in the gloomy morning sky he still saw the brightness in the ocean below. "You seeing this Beldum?" The floating steel Pokémon simply nodded. Charlie was still enjoying the scenery when he heard gasps from inside the Ferry, followed by screams. He quickly rushed inside, his Beldum instinctively following. What he saw on the TV screens almost stopped his heart... The Pokémon Lab and the Sanctuary were up in flames. He couldn't bare to hear what the newscaster had to say, but he needed to know if his mother was still alive.

"We don't know what or who caused this tragic incident to happen, but the Region's Pokémon Center who recently hosted an event yesterday for the trainers all over the region was suddenly engulfed in flames. We don't know where the Pokémon in the sanctuary have gone, but we do know that 45 sanctuary guards, lab assistants, and scientists were killed in the tragedy. We don't have any words on where the Pokémon Professor is, but her body has not yet been recovered from the reckage." Charlie gasped along with the rest of the crowd in a panic. He didn't know if she was dead, but it is want confirmed that she was alive. Suddenly a shout from the speakers interrupted his thoughts. "Please brace for impact and stay inside, a storm is approaching." Charlie rushed to the window, looking out at the clear sky... There was no signs of a storm at all. He was walking to the captains quarters when he heard him talking to someone. "What do you mean there's a storm?! It's clear skies for miles!" The man hesitated, but eventually replied sheepishly. "The monitors show it's a class 5 at least. The last time we saw one of those was when that one kid appeared on our shores from the Unova region. He said he saw a... A giant, sir." Charlie didn't dare risk being caught, so he went back to the main part of the ship, looking for Deneb. "Deneb? Where are you?!" That's when he saw it. A flash of light and two glowing red orbs. Wherever Deneb was he needed to see this.

They delayed a little bit, and were actually a little lost for awhile on Route 2, but they managed to find the way, and arrived at the Pokemon Center in Dune City to stay the night. Pokemon Centers usually had areas where trainers could rest, they had no beds for the well-off, but they usually let some people stay the night. Finding an inn to stay at wasn't exactly an option for them, seeing as they were all kind of poor.

When they were settled into the Pokemon Center, a crowd began to form in front of the large wall mounted TV.

"We don't know what or who caused this tragic incident to happen, but the Region's Pokémon Center who recently hosted an event yesterday for the trainers all over the region was suddenly engulfed in flames. We don't know where the Pokémon in the sanctuary have gone, but we do know that 45 sanctuary guards, lab assistants, and scientists were killed in the tragedy. We don't have any words on where the Pokémon Professor is, but her body has not yet been recovered from the wreckage."

"Hey that's... That's in Estoria right?", he asked. Unprecedented was all one could gather from this, they were there literally this morning. Right now they were trying to eat dinner, but now they were more concerned about the town they were in not too long ago. Not a few moments passed before he got a call on his old Pokegear. He pulled it out and answered it, it was his mother.

"Are you okay? Did you see-",

"Yeah I saw, I'm in Dune City so I'm fine. How about you?",

"Oh that's good, fortunately we don't live too close, your dad went out to help with the rescue and emergency response efforts... It's... Not going well, from what I hear...", his dad was just an office worker, but it looks like citizens were stepping in to help too. He looked at the screen again, there was some footage of Pokemon giving a hand as well.

"Alright, tell him not to wear himself out...", the event put a strange feeling in him... Was it rage...? There was a welling feeling in his stomach... After saying goodbye he put his Pokegear away, and turned to everyone else.

"First thing tomorrow, I'm going to challenge the gym", was all he said.

Orion was walking over to the counter of the Pokemon Center to retreive his pokemon as the crowd started to gather around the TV. His cheerful humming and air vanished as he slowly started to realize what was being told on the news. He came to a slow halt, keeping his gaze on the TV. His hand moved around the counter aimlessly for a few moments before he glanced at the counter and picked up the pokeballs.

He shook himself back to reality and looked over at the table his friends were sitting at. After a moment's pause, he popped out Han from his pokeball. "Feeling better?" he asked the pokemon half heartedly, trying to sound upbeat for the pokemon. Han stared at him confusedly before hopping up on his shoulder. Orion let out a sigh, and walked over to the table, sitting down just as Rylen picked up the phone. He looked to Ian and Hotaru, scratching his chin nervously. "What kind of organization did this, I wonder... It's so..." He leaned his head on his hand, sighing. "I hope they can save all the remaining survivors."

He leaned back as Rylen got off the phone. Orion nodded to his words. "I was having the same thought."

Hotaru like most of the others had grown her team up. Well in levels not sizes. Zed went from level 6 to 12 and had learned the move Curse along the way. Nephrite, the houndour, had leveled from 6 to ten. He had forgotten to use Leer and learned Smog in its place. She felt the training was needed if she was to challenge the ruins with the ghost Pokemon. She hoped she would find a Duskull there. She always wanted one when she was a kid. During festivals in horn she had played with one in the forest. She even got to witness it prank some bike rider causing her to crash into a tree.

Hotaru looked to her Gastly and smiled booping him on the nose.... Well where his nose would be if he had one. Everyone was getting healed and she herself was eating a decent breakfast. It's amazing what you can be handed to you for free with just having a trainer card.

Then the news came on on one of the television screens. She could hardly see it but she could hear it. The Pokemon lab they where at had been burned to the ground. Then Orion asked what kind of group would do this. She thought of team Magma from her home region of Hoenn.. They where extreme but not to the point of burning a Pokemon lab down.

This did give her some concern though. Her father was working to help the recreational fields. Some of that did take place at the lab. She placed down her fork and picked up her poke nav. She then located her father's number and dialed it. It rang for awhile before finally someone answered the phone. It was a man's voice but it didn't belong to her father's.

She rose up and walked away from the group. "Hello, who is this?... I am sorry but Doctor Tomoe can not come to the phone right now."

She gulped and cleared her breathe. Her heart was pounding and her Pokemon companion Zed could feel it. He followed after her as she began to speak. "This is his Daughter, Hotaru. Is my father okay?"she asked. There was a pause and she did not like how long it lasted. This made her hug the side of a wall and slink down. She could feel the pressure of the built in dread building up.

"Sorry miss Tomoe, your father... He was gravely injured in the fire that engulfed the Pokemon lab. He made every attempt to save as many as he could. It caused him severs severe burns and injuries. He is alive and we are trying to help him. Don't lose hope Hotaru he us a strong man." Was the man's answer... She did not like it and tears began to form and stain her cheeks. Zed heard the words too and even he looked upset.

She nodded and told the doctor thank you and to call her if his condition changed for better or worse. She rose up hanging up. She looked to her friends clearing her eyes. She heard Rylen and Orion's proclamation of taking on the gym. She smiled slightly.

Their courage and determination was inspiring but it wasn't enough for her. Well besides she wasn't going to be a champion. She still wanted her dream but it was going to be hard. If she was going to become a Pokemon watcher she best start acting like one. She looked to her satchel and then decided she would capture their gym battles.

Even on the water, the people in the many speedboats heading towards Dune Town could feel the dry air in there lungs as there motor sped across the shimmering water. Each one was dressed in solid black pants, some of them wearing knee-length skirts, a black hoodie with neon blue sleeves, the holding hanging over their heads, but not covering up the blazing blue Shades they all had placed upon the bridge of their noses. They each had a belt with Pokéballs on it, and they had each a small bag with neon blue 'N' that decorated it.

A woman on the first boat spoke up over the roaring of the multiple motors. "How many security guards, Del Rosas?" She turned to face the man on her side. He sighed, "I've told you already. At this time they only have one stationed in the back. We can get through easily." He looked to the woman, but she seemed unimpressed by the info. "Good. When we're done with the place they'll have zero stationed at the back. Scyther, get out here." She said releasing the tall green bladed bug. The boats landed at the dock, and one by one they climbed up the ladders, abd walked towards the back entrance. The security guard was walking around when he saw all... 25 of them. "Hey! You can't be back here! Get away!" But he knew his efforts were futile. "Scyther, use Guillotine." The bug rushed up to the man with glowing blades. It crossed them and position the man's beach between them, and in one swipe the guard's head was clean off, and his lifeless body fell over the railing into the water. The Scyther then cut of the locks and chain to the door with ease, and the team pushed through.

The Filtration Aqueducts were huge, but they were nothing compared to the lab, and that was a piece of cake. "Place the Hyper-Reversal-Thrusters at each of the filtration machines, inside, not on the compressor tubes. Don't mess with the exit pumps, we want the toxicity to get into their systems, otherwise this mission would be futile... Now get moving. Skarmory, you know what to do." She said the the steel bird who was standing beside her. The team went on placing the HRT's in the compressor tubes, each one giving a loud 'BEEP' when it was activated. Suddenly one of the doors opened and three security guards came down the stairs. "What the-" The man didn't even finish his sentence when one of Skarmory's steel wings cut his, and his two colleagues throats, leaving them to bleed out of the floor. "We need to get out of here, now. More will come." She ran out of the building and back to one of the speedboats, taking off by herself. She had the detonator in her hand and she pressed the button. She couldn't risk waiting. One after one the filtration pipes blew, sending the clean water gushing out into the heavily polluted ocean.


A woman stood at the counter, asking Nurse Joy for a glass of water. "Yes. One second we just ran out. Let me get a refil." Nurse Joy went back and refilled the pitcher with ice and water, and poured the woman some in a plastic cup. The woman drank it and felt better, but that soon changed. She tensed up, she turned very pale in the face, and fell to the floor unconscious.

After dinner was over Rylen walked around the Pokemon Center a little. He was somewhat restless, and his Larvitar sensed this and joined him. The recent events were a lot to take in, so he wasn't sure how he should have acted. He just felt an emptiness, like he missed something, but he can't let it get him down. As soon as he was on his way back to their corner of the Pokemon Center lobby, he heard a thud and then some yelling as people were standing around a woman who had collapsed.

From the yelling, it sounds like she collapsed after drinking some water... She didn't look very good too, pale and twitching in a tense state. This didn't look like some illness... He quickly walked over and inquired,

"What's happening?", he asked. What indeed... He hoped it was only a simple matter.