Petra the Aron

Altepa Desert

@Ninian

Petra shook her head.

“Nah! I came from outside the village in the first place. I go outside to train every few days,” she said, looking around.

The sun was getting low, they’d taken a long time to get out of the trunk. Petra wasn’t sure how far away the dungeon was, but they probably wouldn’t make it there by nightfall. Petra didn’t have any issues with that, as her night vision was quite good and she didn’t feel tired at all, but Karaha might be a different story.

Wait, Karaha was an umbreon. Umbreons were moon-pokemon, right? Right! They didn’t need to stop at all, they could just go right on and continue their adventure! Probably. She’d just go ahead with what Karaha decided, as he was the expedition leader, after all.

Petra looked around at the landscape. The great tree was still there and still very big, but she could see it from the ground now. She couldn’t, usually. The sun setting behind it caused for a striking, beautiful image, as golden-red colors illuminated the sandstone and sand dunes around the tree. Petra watched it for a few seconds, taking in the beauty. This town really was a gorgeous place.

After a brief while, though, she grew bored, and looked away. She surveyed the area around them, taking in all of the sand, sandstone, and sand that surrounded them. Petra nodded, seeing no cause for alarm.

“What about you, Karaha?” she asked, “Where do you come from?”

[Altepa Desert]

@Empour
Raising a brow, Karaha looked over the Aron, "You're from outside of the village...? Are you from the desert yourself, or do you hail from... Sahra, I suppose would be the closest settlement?" When asked a question, the Umbreon's gaze turned downcast, "...As for myself, I am not entirely sure. There are certain things I do not remember. I assume I am from the Sand Continent, however..."

[Folio Town - Town Square]

@Ninian
The Totodile undid the clip on his bag, reaching down into it to pull out the water canteen that he totally didn't forget came with his bag. "Last time I was at the roots, I almost got murdered in cold blood. So I'll pass on the swimming for now." He said, laughing slightly. Popping open the sac covered flat bottle and taking a long drink before leaning over the brain scrambled Kirlia and frowning. "Yeah, I'm defiantly gonna walk. I'm not letting you Psychic me around anymore if hurts you. I'm sorry."

Standing off to the side and taking occasional sips of the cooling liquid, the Big Jaw Pokémon looked back over at the downed Psychic Fairy after a minute or two. "So uh, you don't need to answer this if your brain is still fried but, how did the meet up with your mom go? Or did you even get a chance to talk to her after the show ended?"

Gren sighed in slight annoyance. A bluff worked better his own allies didn’t immediately disprove of him. It was a good thing that this Roserade was a generous sort, though Gren didn’t trust him. It seemed almost too good to be true, and if they did follow his advice it could easily lead them to a trap. But then again it was also a way better lead than what Gren was going on, which was essentially just stumbling down around here until he finally found the one pokemon he was looking for.

”It’ll have to do. And what do we do with Rin?” Gren motioned his head towards the currently bound Roserade. Gren didn’t know what this “Manifest” is, but he had a feeling it was that super powerful pokemon that everyone seemed to have been freaking out about earlier.

Just then, Breeze transformed. Gren's eyes widen as he turned from his flying form into a smaller, land based one. She was so tiny! Gren was bigger than her, and he barely knee high. She wanted to go back to the waypoint to camp out for the night and Gren made the deliberate effort not to look at anyone. He knew that they all wanted him to listen to them and go back. For them to rest for the night and start again tomorrow. But This made Gren antsy. They still had Rin to deal with, and they were so close now too! But if it was night, than Gren knew this was when the more dangerous pokemon came out. Rin may have said that the pokemon who work with The Manifest were not crazy, but at night pokemon do crazy things. Honestly, it may be best if they rest for the night, if only to give Gren some time to think of what to do.

"I guess we can go back. We have a good clue now, so tomorrow we can look for the Frolass."

[Folio Town - Town Square]

@Light Lord
"Oooooh, yeah...." Taking a few minutes to recover, Lilisette said nothing to Devon, though she had a few things in her mind that she needed to verbalize once she felt a bit better.

It took a few, but Lilisette began to start feeling better. Looking over to the Totodile, her brows furrowed. "Uh... about the roots thing. That's pretty weird. Who tried to kill you? I don't remember anything about that at all. And uh... you asked about mom. I talked to her kinda. She said she'd uh, talk to me more if I go to the Guild dinner thing. Since they'd be there."

Picking herself up, she dusted off her skirt, and let out a long, drawn-out sigh. "Whelp, I don't feel great but at least I can stand. Wanna go grab that dinner? Dunno about you, but I'm starving."

[Folio Town - Town Square]

@Ninian
Crossing his arms, the Totodile titled his head at his friend. "So everything worked out with her then, sweet. And you seriously don't remember? It was a Gardevoir chick with black wings that tried to cut me up with Magical Leaf."

Finally it seemed that Lilisette was feeling better, or at least enough to get up from the dirty street. Devon shoved the canteen back into his pack and waddled back over beside the Fairy to smirk at her. "Sure. I could eat a Snorlax. I'm not feeling the best either, but I'm sure we'll both feel alot better with some food in us."

Beginning to stroll across the now much less lively plaza, the croc looked down at his feet. "Hey, about that Gardevoir that tried to kill me...You said something about it not supposing to happen back at the grotto." Turning his short snout back up to face the blue Kirlia he frowned. "What did you mean by that? Guessing you didn't read about that part?"

[Folio's Trunk - Treacherous Roots B3]

@Shiny Keldeo@Lucius Cypher
Letho nodded in agreement to Fuse's statement. Removing his foot from Rin's black scarred chest and letting the flowery mon sit up and scowl at the party for a moment before looking down and rubbing his wound. "I am most certainly not your friend by any means. Our goals simply do not conflict at this time. And for your sake, I hope you keep it that way."

Both Letho and Rin jumped back at the sudden flash of green light emitting from Breeze. Rin aiming his bouquet hands at her instinctively, and Letho standing there with a dumb founded look and arms hanging loosely in front of him. Not really sure of what to make of the tiny creature that now stood before him. "Yeah, of course we can rest up for the night guys but uh..."

Taking a few awkward paces towards the Shaymin, Letho crouched down and hovered his clawed hand over top of the hedgehog-like Pokémon. "Breeze did you...Evolve or something? I mean, I've never really experienced it myself, Sableye don't do that kinda thing, but usually evolution makes mon uh....Bigger? You're super tiny dude. Your bag doesn't even fit around you anymore!"

It appeared that the imp was seemingly becoming amused by the Gratitude Pokémon's minuscule new form. A sharp toothed grin spreading across his shadowy face as he lifted the Guild bag from beside Breeze and slung it around his other arm. Now wearing one of the brown packs on each arm. "Don't worry, since I'm such a nice guy, I'll carry your bag for ya. Can even let you ride around on my head or something. That ok you adorable wittle thing you?"

While everyone was discussing plans and being distracted by the Land Forme Shaymin, Rin let out an irritated sigh and turned to walk back through the room again. Resuming his patrols as if the parties interruption never happened.

[Folio Trunk - Treacherous Roots B3]

@Light Lord @Lucius Cypher
Letho seemed more amused than genuinely concerned about her predicament, he even started making fun of her! She was not gonna take that lying down. A moment later and the small hedgehog Pokemon had planted herself onto Letho's foot, after a rather large jump, trying to put as much force on it as possible. "Just you wait, Letho... when morning comes around, you're gonna regret saying that. But... you can carry my bag for me, it'll be a good start on your apology." She said, smirking at the jewel eyed Pokemon and starting to head back the way they had come.

Fuse found the reaction rather funny, chuckling lightly to himself. He watched as Rin made his silent exit. Hopefully he'd take his words to heart, the last thing they needed right now was confrontation with the Manifest. "I'm right behind ya, come on guys." He said, quickly catching up to the hedgehog.

[Folio Town - Town Square]

@Light Lord
"Yeah... I remember you saying that, but it's like. I can't picture anyone by the description? At all? Not saying I'm a history nerd or anything, but you'd think that'd be like... dunno, pretty rememberable?" With a grin, Lilisette was happy to change the subject, "Food would be totally great... man... it feels like it's going to take forever to get back to the Guild. My head reallllly hurts."

Her expression faltered when Devon brought up the Gardevoir once more. "...Um, as I was kinda saying before like. A Gardevoir with black wings is... really... unique? It's also something someone would've written somewhere in the Chronicles of Devon... and that's not the name or anything, I'm just messing with you." Flashing Devon a quick wink, she went back to being a bit worried for their situation. "...Anyway, jokes aside, it wasn't in those books, so I assume that never happened. Mind you I never met Devon or anything, he was already back... wherever humans go after they win. I assume it's home. But... yeah. It's just. I'm worried about you, you know?"

[Folio Town - Town Square]

@Ninian
"If you need to take another break, just let me know. We'll get there eventually, it's just a bit more walking." The young crocodile commented when the Emotion Pokémon next to him complained about her headache again.

A grin spread across Devon's face as he was winked at. A fake eye roll going along with it. "Aw. And just when I thought I'd be able to make some money off of my name." When Lilisette explained further, and expressed her concern for his well being, the former human simply shook his head and wrapped his left arm around the Kirlia's thin torso to give it a light squeeze. Smirking as he tilted his head up at her. "Well you've met him now. And I'm not dying anytime soon. That insane Gardevoir didn't get me the first time, she's not going to now. I promise, I'm helping you guys out, then I'm getting home! No matter what!"

A few minutes later....
[Folio Town - Guild Dining Hall]

@Ninian
Everyone appeared to filing into the long, rectangular room on time, and with smiles on their faces. Thus causing the Flygon standing at the doorway to smile widely and bow to anyone that entered. Beside him, was a Machamp with a white chief cap on it's head and all four of it's muscular arms crossed over it's chest.

Devon and Lilisette soon entered through doorway as well, and the Guildmaster towering above them looked down at them with claws behind his back. "Ah! Hello Devon, Lilisette! I'm so glad you came to join us, even though I...May have forgotten to give you a notice about dinner when we last met. My apologizes." Glyph said as a guilty frown spread across his rounded face.

A dismissive blue hand waved up at Glyph as Devon craned his head up to face the Dragon. "It's alright Glyph. We figured it out for ourselves. And uh, if you're wondering where Ember and Selena went, they went home for the night. We'll probably catch up with them tomorrow."

A quick nod down to the kids followed by a chuckle came from the Mystic Pokémon. "I thought so. I'm sure they have alot of exciting news to tell their families after all!" A knowing smile stole Glyph's face as he closed his eyes. "Such as how they and their friends managed to assist in the arrest of three wanted thieves. Brick told me everything, and while I am very impressed by your achievement, on the first day no less, It's clear you have much to learn."

Devon crossed his arms, and smiled slightly. "Thank you, and yeah, we probably do, but I still think we did ok." The Totodile commented as his eyes trailed over to Lilisette. "Right Lilisette?"

Glyph's eyes reopened as he directed a green scaled hand to the long wood table in the center of the room. Dozens of delectable berry dishes spread across it's surface as many Pokémon belonging either to the Guild, or Troupe Relm sat on cushions at it's edges either eyeing the food with awed expressions or engaged in conversation. "You certainly did, and the teaching will come in due time. But for now, you must only worry yourselves with enjoying the evening. Please, sit anywhere you like you two. It's a very special occasion to be joined by Troupe Relm, so Dia here has prepared his finest work." He said as he also gestured a hand to the Machamp next to him, who only smiled and waved.

The Big Jaw Pokémon's mouth seemed to water a bit at the sight of the vast spread of dishes. "Awesome! Thank you Dia! It looks great." Devon then turned to look back over at Lilisette with excited sparks in his eyes. "So, where do you wanna sit? Probably next to Pyrrha right?"

Gren qas quiet as they left the Roserade behind to find a place to make camp. He couldn't help but look down the tunnel, wondering if they should really stop for the night. That Roserade said they weren't enemies, but... Gren couldn't help but wonder. They may not be enemies now, but what about later? Really, what stops them from having to fight later on? What did this Manifest want down here? Why couldn't they just live in Folio Town? Gren shook these thoughts from his head. It really wasn't his business, he summarized. They knew who to look for now, which should help them find out more about his parents and how Gren ended up in Folio Town. While he had his concerns, he had something more important to prioritize.

Gren noticed everyone getting very far ahead of him. He was so distracted with his own thoughts he forgot that his walking speed was very slow and very short. "H-hey! Don't leave me behind!"

[Folio Town - Guild Dining Hall]

@Light Lord
Eyes lit up once Lilisette caught sight of the feast. "Wooooooow! This all looks so amazing! I've never had a feast like this before, mom wasn't ever a very good cook! I'm so hyped!"

Turning on her heel, she paused before realizing she should probably address Glyph's thoughts on the evening. "Yeah uh... I probably overestimated Devon's... um... stamina? I'm not gonna do that again! So um... sorry, both of you. Anyway, Devon did awesome, as did Selena and Ember! They totally do live up to their names and stuff." Realizing she misspoke, she covered her mouth. "Oh wow, I'm so hungry I'm delusional. Ooookay, just gonna... eat. Thanks for all the awesome food, Dia!"

Spinning to face Devon, Lilisette jumped up and down, "Yeah! Pyrrha! I have stuff I have to ask her. Meet you there!" With those words said, the hyper Kirlia raced over to get the best seat she possibly could.

[Folio Town - Guild Dining Hall]

@Ninian
Lilisette left the Big Jaw Pokémon in the dust as she raced over to throw herself in the seat next to the Gardevoir. Devon snickered a bit as he began to walk across the room to join her. Taking a quick look at the various Pokémon sitting around the giant spread causing him to smile. Wow...I don't think I've ever been to a big dinner like this before.....Just be friendly, socialize. Now that I'm a member of the Guild, I should probably try to get to know some of the others.

Strolling over to sit on a red cushion next to the two Psychics, the Totodile leaned to peer past Lilisette and wave at Pyrrha. "Hi Pyrrha, your guys show was awesome! I bet it takes alot of practice to sync everything up like that huh?"

[Folio's Trunk - Treacherous Roots B3]

The imp actually began to giggle a bit as it seemed that his comment had made the hedgehog angry. That giggle didn't last for long as it was soon replaced with a yowl of pain. Letho melted on the spot into a puddle of shadow and reformed a few feet away from Breeze to hold his foot while rapidly hopping and shouting. "FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFAH! C-C'mon Breeze what'd I say!? I just said you were adorable! I thought girls liked to be complimented! Jeez! You're anything but cuddly!"

The nonsensical complaints continued to rattle through the halls of the tree as the group departed, causing the remaining Roserade to groan and mutter to himself. "Fools...."

[Folio's Trunk - Waypoint]

A little while later...

@Shiny Keldeo@Lucius Cypher
The gang slowly crept out of the pits of the Treacherous Roots, coming upon the same room that they had passed by earlier. A rather tiny boxy room that featured soft mossy floor, a trickle of water that formed a tiny pound near the western wall, a purple Deposit Box, and the best feature; No hostile Pokémon.

A sigh of relief escaped Letho as he wandered into the center of the room and threw himself onto the soft moss and rose his arms up in a cheer. "Alright! We made it! And we're having some pretty great luck too! I think I only seen like, three dudes down there that looked like they wanted to chew on our heads!"

Rolling his head over to grin at the others, his gem eyes then focused on the Shaymin in the room. "So, now that we're not in mortal danger, maybe you can answer my question. Why actually are you a cute little grass ball now? That an evolution you got going on there or...What?"

[Folio Trunk - Waypoint]

@Light Lord @Lucius Cypher
After reaching the Waypoint, Fuse himself went towards the outer part of the Trunk, seemingly mindlessly staring into the now night sky. One could only imagine what kind of thoughts must have been racing through his head. The Idiotic Mission, his own Purpose in Life, his Relationship with his Tribe... so many thing he could be thinking about...

Breeze herself found herself a nice mossy indent in the trunk to perch on, and turned to Letho when he asked her about her form. "Right... you don't know too much about Shaymin, do you? Shaymin have two forms: Land Form and Sky Form. What I was in before was Sky Form, but when it gets too cold, when the sun sets, or when I get beat up pretty bad, I turn back into this: Land Form." She said, afterwards motioning to a Pink Flower on her persons. "I use this to turn back into Sky Form after that. It's called a Gracidea Flower. They were plentiful where I lived, but they aren't too common abroad, so I always have this one on me." She concluded.

[Folio Town - Guild Dining Hall]

@Light Lord
Pyrrha was about to greet the Kirlia when Devon made his way over and managed to speak first. A sheepish smile crossed her lips as she averted her gaze, "Oh... yes, thank you. When we were first beginning, it was quite a lot of work, but now it simply comes to each and every one of us. It's almost second nature. Of course, whenever we come up with a new routine it's... a lot of practice once more." Putting a hand to her cheek, she smiled at the Totodile, "You must be Raiden's child? I can see the resemblance."

Furrowing her brows, Lilisette shook her head, "Noooo, no he's. He's not. Anyone's. I mean. He's just a kid."

The Kirlia's outburst caused a confused expression to wash across Pyrrha's visage. "O-Okay, apologies for the assumption. I suppose it would be strange for a mercenary to bring his child along, anyway..."

[Folio Town - Outside the Guild Dinning Hall]

The cloaked Feraligatr casually walked down the hall, hood flopping on his back as he approached the dinning hall entrance. Only to be stopped just as he was about to turn into the doorway by a feathery arm. "And where do you think you're going scaly?"

A sort of snarky voice called out. The voice belonging to the same owner as the arm in the form of a Blaziken leaning his claws against the wall. Blocking Raiden's path to the noisy room while giving the gator a shit eating grin. "I haven't seen you around here before. This dinner's for guildies and dancers. The shady character buffet is actually in the sketchy alley down the street." Awkwardly pausing, the birds face contorted oddly as he sniffed. "Hold on, why do you smell like Razz berries? They your favourite snack or something?"

The sight of the rude Blaziken simply caused Raiden to pause and scan over the Fire-Fighting type below him with oddly tame orange eyes. The Water-type seemingly not bothered by the reaction. "The berry smell is from a Scent. It's so that I don't smell like that alleyway you think I'm heading to. I was actually invited here by Pyrrha. You can go ask her for yourself if you don't believe me."

The fire bird took a quick look over his shoulder into the dinning room, before glancing back over at the towering figure. He then crossed his arms and leaned his entire body against the wall. "Maybe she did, maybe she didn't. But I'm doing my own investigation. What I wanna know is, who exactly are you scaly?" The Blaziken then began to list off on his claws, and do a few non nonchalant hand gestures. "What's your name, where'd you blow in from, that sorta thing. Then I'll know if you're cool or not."

A few metallic jingles came underneath Raiden's cloak before he sighed and brought out his arms to cross them over his chest. The dirty cloth raising slightly to show off his scarred stomach and the bag hanging next to it. "My name's Raiden. I grew up on the Air Continent in a small village called Daneza, near Waterfall Lake. I'm apart of a Rescue Team with a few friends of mine. We just go around the world taking jobs anywhere we can. That good enough for you Blaziken?" The raspy voiced giant said with surprising speed. Almost as if he had rehearsed the line. His eye contact with the bird remaining unbroken throughout the explanation.

The fighter didn't really expect such a direct answer to his question. The Blaze Pokémon gawking slightly at the story before shaking his head. "The name's Furno. And it's a start. What's the name of this team of yours?"

A silver winged egg was then held out to the feathery mon. "Spitewarden. Not really the biggest name out there, we're no Team A.C.T, but we do what we do well enough."

Before the Blaziken had a chance to comment on the name, a somewhat annoyed huff came from behind him. "Furno. Instead of interrogating our guests, would you please go tell Robel that dinner is starting?"

Going stiff for a moment, Furno spun around and groaned. "Yes sir Guildmaster..." Another glance behind him at Raiden, and the bird walked off down the hall and further into the Guild.

A sigh escaped the Flygon as he muttered something to himself then held out his hand to the Feraligatr with an apologetic smile. "Apologies for Furno's behaviour. He can come off a bit....Rude to newcomers. Though it is usually in jest. I am Glyph, and you are?"

Stuffing the badge back into his bag, Raiden returned to handshake and smile. "I'm Raiden. And it's fine, alot of mon tend to make assumptions when they first meet me. But I like to think I'm not that bad."

A slight chuckle escaped the dragon's maw as he took his hand away. "I'm sure you're a fine Pokémon Raiden. I had heard that one of the dancers had invited someone, but I did not get a chance to confirm the details. Please, go have a seat. A Rescue Team member is always welcome here."

"Thank you." The Water-type said with a slight bow. And with that, the gator strolled into the dining hall.

[Folio Town - Guild Dining Hall]

@Ninian
A sort of confused frown spread along the Totodile's maw as Pyrrha commented on his resemblance to someone he didn't even know. "'Raiden's child'? Who's Raiden?" Eyes peering down for a moment, a thought shot through his mind like a bolt of lightning. I apparently look like this Raiden guy....Is she talking about that weird Feraligatr that we keep seeing around town?

After Lilisette cleared up the confusion, Devon quickly waved off the dancer's apology with a slight smile. "No no, It's ok. It's a safe assumption when there's two rare Pokémon in the same evolution chain running around in the same weird place. My name's Devon, by the way." Though his smile still remained on his face, a tinge of sadness shined in the corner of his eye as he turned back to look at his currently empty plate. "I actually don't have any parents. At least, I don't remember having any. I'm sure they're out there somewhere, but I don't think I'll be able to look for them for a long time..."

~~~

The cloaked Feraligatr finally entered through the doorway and into the Dinning Hall. The vast spread of food, drink, and crowd of Pokémon caused him to sigh. A smile tugging at his jaws as he looked to the wall on his right. A row of wood hooks lined the wall that held everyone's bags, and with a shrug, the gator quickly took off his ragged cloth and bag to hang them up on one of the empty hooks. Now leaving him almost completely naked save for the metal tube and milky pearl still hanging around his neck. The evidence of Raiden's battle stricken life blatantly painted his rough blue scales in the form of many odd marks and scars. His brave orange eyes scanning the room for some sort of place to sit, and upon spotting one, made his way over to it despite the many questioning glances and whispers he was generating.

"Hey Pyrrha, I'm not late am I?" The large Big Jaw Pokémon joked as he planted himself on the ground next to Devon. The appearance of the aforementioned Feraligatr causing the Pokémon sharing his evolution line to look up at him and cross his arms. "So you're Raiden right? You never really told us your name when we met you those few other times."

Propping a knee up to rest his left arm atop it, the gator rubbed his the back of his neck awkwardly. He himself panting a bit from the heat. "Oh, yeah, I am. Sorry for not telling you earlier. I've just had..." His sharp, slit eyes averted for a moment. "....Alot on my mind lately. It's nothing you guys need to worry about."

A sort of dopey smile returned to his face as he looked down at his previous form. "You know, It's pretty rare for me to run into a Totodile. Especially out here in the desert. It's nice to meet another Pokémon in the same line this far from home ya know? It makes it feel like it isn't as far away as it really is." Holding out a single clawed digit to Devon, he grinned. "What's your name kid?"

Taking hold of the clawed finger, Devon returned the grin. "Devon. It's cool that I met a Fearligatr of all things out here too. I get to see a preview of what I'm gonna evolve into someday." The grin turned toothy. "I bet you kick lots of butt with how tough you are huh?"

"Heh heh, yeah. You gotta match up to the best when you're in a job like mine. I only fight when I need to though, there's nothing I hate more than pointless violence. I'm sure you'll turn into big strong Feraligatr someday too if you work hard Devon." Raiden replied as his gaze began to drift away from the Totodile and back to Pyrrha. His arms crossing over his hardy chest. "So, how's life outside of work Pyrrha? You probably don't do the whole dance thing all year? Relm's gotta give you guys some vacation time."

Petra the Aron

Altepa Desert

@Ninian

Petra nodded, as she listened to Karaha. There was a lot of her past that was a mystery to her, too, after all. They weren’t so different! She bet he had all sorts of fun stories to tell, though.

“I’m from the desert. I used to live out here by myself, until one day, I conquered the sandstorm!” she said, imitating a tough march.

“I really wanted to see what was hiding in it, and once I got inside, I climbed all the way up, all by myself,” she continued, “Eventually I got into Folio, and I just sorta stayed there. I’ve been in and out a few times to train and go on secret missions, but that’s about it,”

“Anyway, what sort of things have yooou done? You’re some sort of cool explorer, so you’ve gotta have some stories!” she said, demanding Karaha tell her, as she lead the way in the general direction that Karaha was already moving.

[Altepa Desert]

@Empour
"So you're from here..." His voice trailed off, and his eyes trailed the ground. "I see. Well, I'm glad you were able to make your way to Folio. I do hope the townspeople were kind to you."

Pressing onward, he furrowed his brows, making out the entrance to one of the surrounding ruins. It wasn't Horutoto, but it would likely be a good stop for the evening. "As for my stories... I cannot say I'm an 'explorer'... at least not anymore. My outings have been... recent, and for a purpose. As you'll soon see. Anyway... as for stores... ah..." Furrowing his brows, he tried to think of something to pass the time. "Well... I've explored many ancient ruins as of late. I also do what I can to assist the Sibyl... I..." Trailing off he continued, "...I suppose now that you're the only person here, I should tell you the truth. Or at least... a part of it. I am only on this mission to save Folio. Something... something is coming. These dangerous ruins hold the key to the town's salvation..."

Muttering, he pressed onwards, "I suppose that is not what you asked. Perhaps you seek a light-hearted adventure story? Hmmm... a long time ago... there was a boy. He was from... well, somewhere else. He had many Pokémon friends, however he himself was not a Pokémon..." Karaha trailed off, furrowing his brows. The Umbreon hesitated to continue.

[Folio's Trunk - Treacherous Roots]

@Shiny Keldeo@Light Lord
A scowl marred the dark Pokémon's visage as she made her way through the bowels of Folio's Treacherous Roots. Hmph, how dare she decline my offer. What makes him more fearsome than me!? I have more than twice the strength of that wretched mon. No matter. Even if she did not... I'll... it effects my plans not.

To her side was a Greninja, his brows furrowed as he looked upon his mistress. "My Lady, are you still worried about the Manifests allegiances? Fear not, she already said she would come to our... his side when the time came."

Grinding her teeth she frowned for a moment before looking over her companion. "I am aware, but the sooner Folio is crushed, the sooner Devon is taken care of. As well as..." She hesitated, "*It's just going to have to be something we take care of ourselves later.*"

[Folio's Trunk - Waypoint]

It took the pair some time to traverse the roots, but they finally made it to their destination; the Waypoint. Her winged form remained shrouded in the darkness of the roots, as she gazed upon a curious sight. Gren the Awakened. Near him was a Pokémon she recognized; Fuse. He going to make things considerably worse for her, assuming he was as strong as she recalled. Though, the fact he was only a Luxio was comforting.

Giving the group as little time to react as possible, Lilith threw her arm out, calling a command, "Capture the traitor!" In an instant, a dozen Unown appeared from the void, encircling the small Aron; encasing him in an orb of energy.

[Folio Town - Guild Dining Hall]

@Light Lord
Robel averted his gaze as everyone attempted to greet him. All eyes were on him, and there was not much he could say. Not much he wanted to say. A small hand rose to greet everyone before he found a quiet seat as far away from the main group as he possibly could get. "...I can eat here. It's fine."

As he moved to sit down, he caught Raiden's glance, before shooting him a nearly inperceptable glare. Not a cruel one, but certainly a threatening one. Once he reached the aforementioned seat, he sat down, and stared at nothing in particular. Roland spoke up, but he merely gave him a small nod, not really acknowledging him past that.

"Woah, thirty? That's crazy! But uh, yeah... Ember and Selena are home eating with their parents. I don't wanna bother them, but like... should we go get them Devon?"

Whatever happened between Devon and Raiden made the Kirlia look them over with a raised brow, "Well uhhh.... I mean, you're probably starving. I could go get them." Grabbing a bun, she began to stuff it in her mouth.