Things were going as Martin expected. Every time he ordered Leech Seed, Flabebe withdrew and cancelled its attack. While this was amusing to issue the same order again, Bagon was still going after Wooper. Now it was using Rage, which wasn't a Fire type move. "Got you now. Sprout, stay behind Wooper and use Vine Whip on Bagon. We'll finish him off with style. If Flabebe wants to interfere, you'll take the hit instead of Wooper." Bagon didn't look too good, so a few more hits will eliminate him from the fight, which will make his team ready to fight back without a problem. Ignoring Flabebe was risky, but Sprout had a shot at it, being still fresh to the fight. He had the tools to keep it off of them after this if it got annoying.

Sprout turned away from the flying Fairy. Behind him was a charging Dragon, which he would greet with Vine Whip. Tendrils of vines protruding from his back going past Wooper to hit its mark. His eyes looked back, almost challenging Flabebe to try something on him.

@PlatinumSkink

---

"Ritz!" Claire grimaced at the powerful impact from the fighting type. It was no good, wasn't it? She had hoped she could at least buff Del a bit more and lower his attack a bit more before committing to this strategy, but...there wasn't much else she could do at the moment. Chip away ignored foes changes to defense, which meant any defense buffs by Del would be useless. It'd be risky, but maybe an all-out offensive would work? It would certainly work better than playing defensive and just staving off defeat for a few more moves.

If she was lucky, then maybe...since Chip away didn't ignore the stat changes on the user itself...wait a minute.

Claire turned her head towards the bug buzzing near her, and then towards the Conkledurr. Someone on her team was not contributing at all. Well then.

Claire waited until just before the Conkledurr was ready to attack before issuing her first command.

"Froakie, Growl attack the Conkledurr! Del, string shot! Try to stop him from moving and pull him down!" If she could stun him, even for a second - or just even temporarily prevent him from acting. It would give her a chance to tie the fighting type down completely. "Ralia Another growl as well!" Meditite did know bide, and if she could survive just even one hit - it'd potentially deal quite a bit of damage.

"As for you, you little annoyance - " Claire suddenly grabbed Lure. "GET IN THERE AND MAKE YOURSELF USEFUL!~"

"C-COMBEE!?" Lure cried in a somewhat startled manner as she was grabbed by Claire, and finally - literally tossed right into the ring.

"No complaining!~ I'll buy ya something nice after!" Before the bee could object to what was about to happen any more, the redhead tossed the bug right towards the Conkledurr. Oh that insufferable human! Combee gave a powerful flap of her wings, trying to stop herself from a direct collision course with the Conkleduur - unintentionally sending a powerful gust right towards the fighting type.

Assuming all went well, the Conkleduur's move would have at least interrupted or stalled enough to maybe allow her some room to move.

@Joshua Tamashii

Amelia managed to get ahold of a couple Raltses, who were surprised at first but let themselves be cared for, as Amelia’s mind was a lot more pleasant. The Flabébés also reacted, looking a bit confused at the commotion and would drift closer to the exit. They, and the Raltses, would stay put when Amelia told them to stay behind. Though, they might be peeking out.

The two men blinked at Amelia as she came out, and listened to what she said. They then exchanged glances. The red-haired one seemed confused while the white-haired one was calm.

‘… Bonsly?’ The red-haired one asked.

‘Elite Jonas has a Bonsly.’ The white-haired one explained.

‘Oh! That means…!’ The eyes of the red-haired one came alight.

‘Yeah. We’ve found our young girl.’ The white-haired one told, and both nodded to one another before the red-haired one took another step and pointed at Amelia.

‘Irrelevant! We, Team Virtue, are a peacekeeping organization, and if you’re announced on the emergency channel, it means we will bring you in by any means necessary, regardless of whom it may disturb! We don’t know what you’ve done, or whatever circumstances you speak of, but if Jonas needs you captured, then we Grunts will not question!’ He took out a Pokéball, and threw it into the ground. From it, a ball of gas emerged, almost invisible, yet with huge eyes and wide grin smiling wickedly forth at them.





‘Gaa-aastly~!’ The ghost-Pokémon called out playfully.

‘Gastly, Hypnosis! Put them to sleep, so we can bring he-’

‘Yeah, no.’ Lorette interrupted, and suddenly a Pokéball was falling to the ground from her hand, erupting with a flash as a bug emerged, fluttering on red wings as it rose next to its trainer. Lorette had her command immediately. ‘Ledian, Safeguard us.’





‘Leedian!’ The Pokémon made a little energetic cry as a white-shimmering wall briefly surged into being around those on Lorette’s side, before shimmering away into nothingness. Still, it was definitely there, protecting them. Both Gastly and its trainer looked a little lost and unsure, suddenly. Oh, couldn’t do that, huh.

The white-haired one frowned, before taking his own Pokéball and throwing it into the ground. Out from it, sprung a yellow, wool-covered sheep-like Pokémon…

‘Mareep?’ It asked.





‘Come with us quietly, or the next command will be an attack.’ He demanded. The Gastly-owning red-haired trainer took a step back to be more inline with his companion, and they made ready for a potential battle. Gastly and Mareep also aligned, sensing the aura of the situation, in the rain before the shrine.

‘… Did you do something to anger Team Virtue?’ Lorette turned and asked Amelia, an eyebrow raised. ‘… You know, I can completely floor them, if you want me to.’ While she was very unsure of the circumstances, the Gym Leader was pretty sure Amelia was the one who probably was in the right. Probably.

__________________________

@Rune_Alchemist

Claire got numerous odd looks by the fact she had to grab her bee-Pokémon and throw her at the opponent in order to get any move off. Including one from Anise.

Regardless, the room was filled with numerous Growls, from Froakie and Ralia. Conkeldurr found himself the target of the sounds, reducing his attack over and over, lessening his strength. He was also hit by String Shot, the sticky web binding to his muscles and making his movements more stale in his arms and legs as he was hit, the web trying to bind him to the floor. Lure’s Gust also impacted, making the larger Pokémon flinch just a bit, taking the damage before refocusing. Conkeldurr was still smirking, but this was actually getting a bit frustrating. Conkeldurr had been momentarily stopped from leaping… … … Then he shrugged and leapt anyway.

Conkeldurr leapt at Meditite, it’s huge strength tearing through the strings trying to bind it down, and the being leapt into the air with arms with slaps held wide and headed forth with intention to belly-flop the area where Meditite was. Was that really Chip Away? Meditite blinked in horror while still giving a bit of a scared smile and, in a bit of a panic, let its legs down to the floor simply to be able to jump aside in an effort to get out of the way.

Conkeldurr slammed into the floor, cracking it, but Meditite managed to stumble safely out the way to the side, mainly due to that Conkeldurr had been slowed by String Shot. It grinned happily at Claire and Anise from apparent pride of having escaped. ‘Medi-!’

-And then she was struck from behind by a huge concrete slab swung in a vertical swing, Conkeldurr swinging an arm directly after having landed without even having stood up. Meditite was sent flying straight through the room and then rolled over on the other side of the arena, face-down. It was notable from her flight that she had been hit with a lot less power than Ritz, due to all the Growls. Still. She wasn’t moving. Anise’s expression twitched, but she otherwise stayed silent. Of course that’d happen in fights like this. Conkeldurr pulled himself to his feet, moves sluggish due to the String Shot that had still clung to his muscles, and looked back on the battle.

‘More String Shots will become a hazard. It’s time to catch the cocoon! CONKELDURR, ACTUAL FIRST ROCK THROW! SECOND ROCK THROW IF THEY TELEPORT!’ Hector commanded, pointing at Del and Ralia.

‘COOON…!’ While considerably slowed and weakened by the previous round, Conkeldurr lifted one arm, and then threw one huge slab of concrete, sending it spinning through the air in an arc towards Del and Ralia unless Claire somehow hatched a plan to stop him before he did. If he did manage to throw, he then readied his other slab, intent on throwing at wherever they reappeared if Ralia teleported them.

That, of course, would be two moves. The slab-throw would be very powerful and accurate, but they’d have some time to plan after Hector’s command. If Conkeldurr then committed to the second throw, then Claire’s Pokémon also would have time for two moves. Though, likely, it could be spent needing to stay alive.

Now, what would Claire do?

__________________________

@Pikmin Eye@Eklispe

Bagon roared out as it crossed the distance towards Wooper, and likely would have reached has it only faced a not very effective spray of water. However, in addition the green vines of Sprout surged around the water-Pokémon and snapped at the charging dragon. Although the vines, too, were not very effective in nature they slowed down and damaged Bagon further, before Wooper’s Water Gun. The water-blast into the dragon’s face gradually slowed down Bagon before the dragon came to a full stop, and then the water instead pushed the dragon over and it fell over onto its back, mouth wide-open and eyes unfocused.

‘_{… Gooooooon…}’ Bagon complained, sounding out in a weak voice, clearly out of the battle.



Sprout took a Fairy Wind for Wooper. It was merely a slight blow, the poison in the grass-type’s body repulsed the fairy-magic in the wind, somehow, rendering the move not very effective. Flabébé could but blink from a bit of a distance, watching the ineffective attack and being unable to save Bagon from its fate.

‘Bagon…!’ Cathia looked on in distress, closing her eyes in regret before returning Bagon to his Pokéball. She now looked at the two Pokémon she was opposing, before looking to Flabébé and then on to the Pokéball in her hand.

‘No… I can’t win… Not with this…’ She clutched the Pokéball, frowning. But… then her grip tightened, before glaring forward. ‘But… I can’t lose! I can’t afford to lose! My sister would kill me!’ With considerable determination, she threw her Pokéball into the ground. Then the space they were fighting on suddenly became a lot tighter, for something huge roared out, it’s echo carrying through the caverns as something came out towering above everything else present, and high above on a horned rock two eyes glared down, a huge body of rocks sliding down to around Cathia visible to all…





Now, the cavern wasn’t actually particularly high, so Onix couldn’t easily fit into the side without curling together considerably to avoid falling into the river on Cathia’s left. But, regardless, it was a massive sight.

‘Flabébé! Block all the Water Guns or Vine Whips that you can! ONIX! RUN THEM OVER!’ Cathia commanded, pointing at Wooper and Sprout, looking desperate. Obviously, type-wise, she was at a massive disadvantage. Her remaining Pokémon were Flabébé, Marill and Onix. However…

‘Flabébé~!’ Flabébé quickly flew forth to try to use her tiny body to block attacks at Onix, while Onix practically sprung forth at them, its massive body twisting and turning as the rock-snake plowed swiftly forward and would cross the distance in very little time. Would that thing even stop quickly enough if they did manage to take it out?

Well. Up to Martin and Dawkin how to react.

Amelia watched the events that played out before her. After a brief conversation, the red-haired man brought out a Ghastly, a pokemon she was VERY familiar with, as they had been one of her most common playmates as a child. The man tried to firce her to go to sleep but luckily Lorette stepped in and blocked the attack with her Ledian. The white-haired man, the calmer of the two, sent out his pokemon, a Mareep before telling her to either accompany them or prepare to battle. Amelia grabbed two of her pokeballs as Lorette spoke to her, asking what she had done.
"I grabbed onto a wild Driffloon, which I guess is frowned upon by some people." she said before turning to the two members in front of her. "I'm not going anywhere I don't want to. I will talk to your friend from earlier though. I believe you referred to him as Elite Jonas, which means your his underlings. Bring him here and I will talk with him but I am not going anywhere.

Once he sees I'm fine I'm sure everything will be okay. No need to battle and you can stop disturbing the pokemon that live here. I've heard about Team Virtue, but you're acting more like Team Amethyst."

From the way things had been going thus far, she was not expecting any cooperation, so she was prepared to battle both men. No need for Lorette to be dragged into her problems.

With a snap of a whip, and the surge of water, the dragon was finally down. Sprout took the hit from Fairy Wind, which didn't even hurt. Martin was about to cheer, until the looming size of Onix appeared. He had to pull out his Pokedex to scan the Pokemon. It was a Ground/Rock type. Wow, this was finally a stroke of good luck. As long as they both stood, they had massive damage against this one. Now Flabebe was on defense as expected. It was small, and couldn't stop both of them. "Sprout, time to split up. Get distance from Wooper and use Vine Whip on Onix. We'll hit it from both sides. No way Flabebe can stop both of us. Time for you to feel the pain of bad match-ups."

Sprout took off to the side of Onix, trying to draw the attention. Vine Whip reaching out from his back to attack the massive Rock Pokemon. This was the chance to take a second Pokemon out while the momentum was in their favor. If he could just force out Marill, he could use Vine Whip so they could focus on the Fairy. The pieces were falling in place after all of this work. No way he could stop now.

@PlatinumSkink

---

"Meditite-!" Even if it wasn't her own pokemon, seeing a pokemon taking a hit like that from such a powerful opponent was just brutally painful to watch. Damn it. Okay. Soldiers left? Del, Ralia, Lure, and Froakie. He was going after the two of them to stop him them from sending him to debuff hell. Okay, he gave two orders. Right. What could she do. Think Claire think! She didn't have much time to do much of that, but - perhaps she could pull something off similar to what she did in the shrine with Ritz and Del?

Okay, well, it was worth a shot. Besides...Conkledur was still forgetting her clones, wasn't he? They were still there, after all. He might be able to tell where she was, but that didn't mean they were completely useless! She just hadn't been making clever use of them, had she? They spent most of the battle placing bets on what would happen next.

"Ralia, Del!" Claire called out. "Remember the temple you guys? Time for a redux! Teleport Ralia!"

Ralia smirked with realization. It'd be risky, definitely, but it was something they could potentially use to at least get in a few good more hits. Ralia prepped a teleport as the huge stone slab was tossed at them, barely managing to teleport Kakuna and her both at the same time. Except - they didn't seem to set down anywhere on the field. Claire quickly gave her second set of commands. Luckily, with the clones still in play it would at least buy her a little time as to where the two of them actually teleported too.

"Froakie, quick attack while he's open! Then get close and hit him with a close range bubble! Lure...you just...if you could please use a gust! I'll buy you some honey or something after this!"

"Combee." The bumblebee turned towards her, the three faces collectively sticking out their tongue. Claire grimaced. She'd have to rely on the other three, wouldn't she? Hopefully Froakie would be able to get in a good hit - use quick attack to get in close and then blast him in the face with as many bubbles as he could.

Now...as for Ralia and Del...Ralia had ported the two of them right over to Conkeldurr, a few feet above the ground even. Right on the larger pokemon's back. Del hung fast to the larger pokemon's back - and slammed its poison stinger into him as many times as it could in as short amount of time as it could possibly do. Ralia fell to the ground behind it, regaining her bearings as her feet hit the ground, running some distance away as her clones move towards her in a last ditch effort to cause more confusion among the Conkeldurr before aiming another Confusion attack at the large pokemon.

Lure just hovers idly in the air, not really paying attention to her surroundings.

---

Ralia and Del port over to Conkeldurr, Ralia basically dropping Del off onto the fighting types back.
Del basically jabs as many poison stings into him as many times as he can while he tosses the second slab.
Froakie quick attacks to get close and attack and then basically bubble shotguns him.
Ralia runs away a bit, before using her clones to attempt to mask her presence again and fires off another confusion.

❄Erika Olson❄

Erika considered her companions' words for a moment realizing there was a lot there. First, it sounds like they were all headed in the same direction so... "Well, it sounds like we are headed to the same destination as I'm looking to make it to Stillwood to meet someone so sounds like we'll be travel buddies for a little while longer!" Erika confirmed her plans with the two as they made it to through the flooded city to the Explorer's Guide Service. It was interesting that there was a Minor Gym in Stillwood and might just make for a good test of Erika's abilities and team if she dared. Of course, Erika felt horribly ill-prepared as her team still hadn't really battled and Poli had no offensive moves available. "Minor League Gym, huh... I'd love to try once we are there but I don't think my team is strong enough yet..." Erika thought aloud to her friends as they crossed a canal. Lakewatch really had quite the charm with each water way crossing be a fun little game. Speaking of charm...

The Explorer's Guide Service gave Erika a brief pause to consider the possibility of maybe her working here. It seemed like a fun idea to wander around, helping other trainers explore the various cool landscapes. Also it might be highly advised that Erika consider taking them up on their offer for a guide as there would surely be several moments that would pay off while in the field. Erika approached the counter and studied the map of Isson, considering the possible direction of her adventure with Claire. Claire seemed like the type that might want to head to Worldedge City so maybe a map to helped them there would be good. "Hmm... Which route would you prefer from Stillwood: Mt. Strength or Mountain Valley to get to Worldedge? .. As in which might be more fun? I'll buy the map for which ever one you recommend." Erika asked for the Explorer's preference as Erika had no idea the route she wanted to take.

Further still, Erika had been considering the next moves her team but ended up kind of giving into wanting a Pokemon she's always kind of wanted to see. "Also would could is there anyway I can get a tip on finding something? I'll pay for a Master Tip if you can point me to the directions of any place I can get a Dawnstone."

Erika felt a bit guilty of maybe robbing the cute girl that was helping her of a chance to get out of the office so Erika offered one more idea. "..And I don't know if I need a guide right now but if you have a number, I'd love to call you if I ever needed one." Of course Erika realized her own wording sounded a bit auspicious and quickly stammered a recover with a slight redness in her cheeks. "I mean, anyone is fine, too, I guess." Smooth...

@Joshua Tamashii

‘Oh.’ Lorette made a noise of realization, eyes widening a little. ‘Yeah, that would make some people panic, but…’ Lorette looked from Amelia to the two Team Virtue members and didn’t entirely see how this situation came about. Still. Amelia had turned to these two.

‘Like… Amethyst!?’ The red-haired one glared at her. ‘How… DARE you compare us with such thieving scum!? That’s it! We’re bringing you back, all the way! Unruly children need to- Wait, you’re really not going to go anywhere? Just stay here? While we watch you to make sure you don’t try anything?’ He seemed to change what he was saying mid-sentence, his angry glare switching to one of slight surprise. Gastly and Mareep still remained in place as the two Virtue Grunts exchanged looks, whispered some low-tune words to one another, occasionally glancing at the two girls, mainly at Lorette and the Ledian. Some doubts might be being expressed at their chances of actually taking the two of them on, not knowing Amelia had been thinking of doing it herself.

‘ALRIGHT! Stay RIGHT there! We’re calling Elite Jonas and will be reporting your location! Don’t even think of trying anything!’ The red-haired one eventually called and pointed at Amelia, while the white-haired one pulled around and took out a phone to start dialing a number. They were also still getting considerably soaked in the rain, still, and at least Mareep seemed rather bothered by it, inching closer to a tree on the side to take cover under.

Up to Amelia if she wanted to say anything additional or just watched.



__________________________

@Rune_Alchemist

The first slab crashed into the floor, rolling over and creating more cracks in the already fragile-looking building, but it had not hit Ralia or Del. Teleport had taken them away. Conkeldurr held the other slab ready to throw… yet could but blink as they didn’t reappear.

Now, the obvious solution would have been to turn and look around, but Froakie ran, jumped and Quick-Attacked at his face, this time disturbing Conkeldurr. Froakie seemed to have taken the order as that he was to distract the opponent. Conkeldurr turned to glare at him, also intending on swinging the slab, when Froakie got extremely close and shot out all the bubbles he could. Enough bubbles to fill a shrine, all up into the muscular Pokémon’s belly. Even Conkeldurr had to take a step back to lighten the load, when…

‘CONK…!?’ The Pokémon let out a bit of a yell as Del latched on and pierced the Pokémon’s skin with a Poison Skin to the back. He stabbed multiple times, and with the bubbles from the front he was taking damage from two different directions at once! Then Ralia unleashed her Confusion as well, hitting the mind of her opponent and making him stumble a bit. It seemed the big Pokémon was unsure how to handle this when…

‘JUMP!’ Hector commanded. Conkeldurr proceeded to slam the slab down into the ground and launched himself up into the air. With the Pokémon’s super-strength, launching like that was easy. Del, still stuck with Poison Sting, was on for the ride regardless of if he wanted to or not. Then-

CRASH!! The Pokémon impacted the roof, Conkeldurr’s back slamming into it and cracking it, multiple further cracks spreading over the heads of the audience… er, was this place really still safe…? … Then they fell. With them fell several pieces of debris from the small piece of ceiling they had just broken. It left a hole to the second floor, as well as gave an answer to the question of why there was nobody on the second floor. Del had taken the full brunt of the impact, and… Well, unfortunately, even with the defense-bonuses and Conkeldurr’s debuffs, the difference in ability was still a bit too big. One more turn of debuffs probably had done it, but as it was Del came tumbling down unconscious along with the grunting enemy. He had been damaged too, that qualified as Struggle, but Conkeldurr had way more health.

‘Er, well. Oh, well!’ Hector commented, initially looking a bit disturbed at the hole in the ceiling and the cracks around it, then shrugging and regaining his battle-grin.

Del had fainted. However, with his attack, the rules of the engagement had changed.

‘Conkeldurr…’ The huge Pokémon grunted, having lost his smile, his free hand going behind him and rubbing the hole where Del’s poison stinger had latched on. It had successfully sent its venom into the bloodstream of the opponent, and Conkeldurr’s glare grew hostile as he felt the pain. Enemy Conkeldurr was poisoned!

‘Ooooh… Looks like we have a time limit…’ Hector grinned. ‘The Froakie! Catch up and Wake-Up Slap!’ As he said, Conkeldurr glared at Froakie, who had jumped aside when the falling debris had been coming, and now blinked in realization he was being targeted. He made ready to Quick-Attack out of the way, even as Conkeldurr raised the arm with his remaining slab. Ralia was currently behind Conkeldurr, and he hadn’t looked at her.

Now, what would Claire command?

__________________________

@Pikmin Eye@Eklispe

‘… Go for Wooper! Flabébé take Vine Whips!’ Cathia quickly commanded as the two Pokémon she was opposing split up. Flabébé quickly flew in the way of Sprout’s Vine Whips, but her light weight combined with the fairly strong attacks damaged her quite a bit, but nonetheless she insisted and met with the vines, taking grave damage in return. Speaking of grave damage…

Onix hit Wooper’s Water Gun straight on. The huge rock-snake cried out as the fluids sunk into his rock-body, making him stale and damaging him excessively. Yet, he wasn’t out. And, in fact, he had arrived.

Onix slammed his huge head into Wooper, sending her flying back to Dawkin. That was one too many hits for Wooper, who fainted due to all the damage she had accrued during the course of the battle. But, she had hardly left without a scratch. Onix was heaving, obviously greatly distressed by the water that had taken root in him, damaging and almost taking him out in one shot. Yet, he was still in the game. But now, both he and Flabébé had suffered considerable damage…

‘… And onto Bulbasaur!’ Cathia called, pointing to the grass-type. ‘Rock Throw! Tackle…!’ She was sounding a bit desperate.

Onix, despite his damages, glared at the remaining opponent and fished up a fairly huge boulder with its massive tail before hurling it towards Sprout. The Flabébé also turned to head for Sprout, to intercept him after the boulder with a Tackle, it seemed like.

Dawkin, of course, could send out another Pokémon and act immediately. Cathia would focus on Sprout regardless right now, however. And, of course, Martin could give his next command.

__________________________

@Pirouette

There appeared to be an agreement on that they could travel together a while longer.

‘Don’t worry! You can train on the way through Route 5, right? You’ll be so ready to take on the Gym!’ Joshua encouraged, smiling as to encourage Erika about it.

‘Besides, Gyms are there to test you.’ Ewan told. ‘You won’t know if you’re ready until you’ve taken the challenge. There are no consequences of attempting. By doing so, you’ll learn how far you have to go.’ He said, in a neutral tone. Perhaps his own way to encourage.

Later, inside the Explorer’s Guide Service…

‘Heh. If you like being pecked by birds, then the Mountain Valley’s for you. It’s the far easier path, though, I’d recommend it to your everyday traveller seeking a comfortable trip. Buuuuuuut…’ The girl smirks. ‘Mt. Strength is a lot more fun. Depends on your definition of fun, I suppose, but those caverns are sure to change anyone heading through it, one way or another. So, one map of Mt. Strength, it is?’ She asked, grabbing a thin but wide book off the shelf, opening it briefly to show the unfoldable contents, able to stretch further than the cover of the book itself, which binders looked made to simply protect the map when not in use. One glance over this told that the map contained geography seen from above outside, as well as showing one considerable network of tunnels below, and lines showing recommended paths through and optional trips for the adventurous.

If she did want to have it, that’d be 1000P.

‘Dawnstone. Of all the rocks. Hah.’ The girl leaned back in her chair and looked up into the roof, biting the stick in her mouth. ‘The Desert Mines find all sorts of rocks. Dawn Stones occasionally among them. But, I’ll be frank, they’re a rare commodity. Of all rocks, they show up a little wherever they please, and are just plain rare. You might be able to buy one in the Stone Store of Raremine, but you better be ready to cough up cash. If the nobles haven’t bought them all already. There are collectors that LOVE to get their hands on rare stones like Dawnstones. I know the owner of the Private Palace is one, and more may be living in Freecape Town or the top of Worldedge City.’ She shrugged a little.

‘Either way, you picked the hardest rock to be on a lookout for. But honestly, they could be basically anywhere. You just need to be lucky enough to find one.’ She considered for a bit. ‘There might be some in Mt. Strength. Miiiiight.’ She added, a little playfully.

She breathed out a little in accepting disappointment when it was clear she wasn’t going anywhere. But, she smirked at that last part, looking up at the slightly blushing Erika as she pulled out her phone again.. ‘Sure. Register it under “Elana”. That’d be me. You’re free to call if you need my services and I’m not on any other job.’ And then Erika could have her number.

Now things were on the track to coming towards a close. Wooper dealt a heavy hit on Onix, but was still standing. Flabebe and Onix weren't doing too well, and either one of them could go down next. That would be great news, if they both weren't focusing Sprout with everything they got. One hit on either one of them would be good enough to stop them. If he could just get a reprieve from the incoming damage. Cathia was desperate, but she wasn't dumb. "Sprout, use Leech Life on Flabebe. Don't bow down to their attacks." This was his gamble. Flabebe would stop the attack, and dodge instead. With that attack cancelled, only the Rock Throw would happen. Leaving Dawkin a shot to go after one of them. Even if she dedicated fully and Sprout was hit both times, he could heal it off by dodging for a while. Either outcome would end up well, solely based on if Sprout doesn't faint from these attacks.

Sprout looked upwards at the rock and small Fairy coming towards him. He shook his body, small seeds flying off of his back to greet Flabebe. He didn't look concerned or afraid of what was coming. He was going to take both of them down. Another challenge to Flabebe to attack him. Getting this close to Sprout meant Flabebe was quickly losing time to get away this time.

❄Erika Olson❄

---

---

Erika admired the guide as she scanned the fold-out document noticing the various details. Indeed, the trip through Mt. Strength appeared like a pathway with many opportunities, much like how Erika found Gibs due to being in the right place at the right time. Although there was some dissenting opinion rattling around in Erika's head at the thought of catching a Flying type, the thoughts were displayed in favor of finding who knows what Pokemon in Mt. Strength. That, and well... Dawnstones.

The guide's tip concerning the rarity of Dawnstones was quite disappointing to hear. Raremine and the Desert Mines sounded like the place Erika had to head off to next in order to raise Sno into what was possibly her most favorite Pokemon from her childhood. Sadly, she was already committed to heading the opposite way, both with her original pact with Claire and her two new friends, Joshua and Ewan. Though the outlook wasn't entirely grim, especially with that tease about finding one in Mt. Strength. Erika had especially perked up after that considering carefully how best to come through there for a moment to maximize her chance to find one of those stones.

There was time later to think about best approaching that problem later, however, for right now, Erika felt she had to square up with her guide. One thousand Pokedollars for the map and even though the guide never asked specifically for payment on the tip, Erika gave the full five hundred, holding herself to the promise she made earlier.

"This is perfect, thank you so much, Elana!" Erika beamed in gratitude for everything. "I will be sure to call you." Erika had only let those words stew for a moment before quickly adding with a slight blush returning to her cheeks "For guide help, sometime, I mean!" A nervous laughter left her lips thereafter as she went through the motions of digitally paying for Elana's service, deducting $1500 from her account, and then followed that with inputting Elana's number. Erika was already considering on asking Elana to help her through Mt. Strength, truthfully. She wanted to maximize her chances on finding a Dawnstone early and well, Elana left a bit of a charming first impression.

Erika tucked her guide document into her bag as well as her Pokedex. She also took the oppurtunity to readjust where her Pokemon and their Pokeballs were and slipped them onto her belt loop, making a slight quality of life adjustment.

Erika would wait for Joshua and Ewan to do accomplish anything they were looking to do in the Guide Service Building before asking them if there was anything else they wanted to do. In the course of accomplishing objectives, Erika wanted to swing by the item shop and make a few purchases to restock. In her mental list, she included buying 3 new Pokeballs and 5 potions in preparation of the next route.

Some time would be spent to grab something to eat but assuming there was nothing else, Erika would ask Joshua and Ewan if they were ready to set out. Erika would lead them to Route 5, ready to start the next leg in their adventure!

@PlatinumSkink

---

Things had went well, too. The large pokemon couldn't figure out how to deal with so many attacks at once. The sudden barrage had at least earned her a momentary upper hand against the stronger pokemon.

"Del-!" Ack, another one down. Claire grimaced, frowning as the massive fighting type jumped into the air and slamming his back into the second floor. Before he even came down, she knew that Del likely couldn't have withstood such a blow. Seeing the bug type fall off of the fighting types back onto the floor only confirmed her suspicions. Damn it. Come on, she could do something here! She wasn't gonna give up so easily! Froakie, Ralia, and Lure were the only ones she had left. She couldn't rely on Lure so much. The bug type was just lazily floating near the center stage.

The only thing she had going for her...was that Conkeldurr was poisoned. That meant this had become a battle of attrition. If she could let the poison do its work, then she could win this. She just couldn't let any of her pokemon get hurt or KO'ed.

"Froakie, dodge it with quick attack! Ralia double team!" Hector might be able to tell where the Ralts was easily enough, but even so - with a large number of clones on the field it could still hopefully prove distracting. "E-eh? Ralia?" It seemed the Ralts may have had other ideas, though. The psychic type teleported, falling right on top of a certain bug that wouldn't be named.

"C-combee?!" Six little eyes turned upwards towards the green pokemon now resting on her head.

"RRrralts!~"

"...Combee."

"E...eh?" Claire simply observed in mild disbelief. Seemed like the two of them were having a conversation about something? Well, she trusted Ralia would know what she was doing, so she turned back to Froakie. "Froakie, just focus on dodging for now boy!"

@Pirouette

The map was bought, Elana doing her duty as the one currently in charge of the store, and then nodded with a little smile as Erika said she’d call, and waited calmly as she clarified herself. ‘I’ll look forward to it.’ She simply responded with a smirk, before waving her off and then leaning back to play with her phone again. Though, then, as Erika left, Ewan entered. A short while later, Ewan came out again stuffing several documents of maps into his bag.

‘You bought… all the maps?’ A somewhat wide-eyed Joshua asked him.

‘… In case we get lost. We’ll explore naturally until then.’ Ewan swiftly addressed what he assumed was Joshua’s concern. Joshua gave a slight smirk, but then turned worried again.

‘Dude. Weren’t you the one saving money while I wasted mine?’ Joshua quickly asked, looking on fearfully.

‘I was saving them to spend at a time like this.’ Ewan simply replied. Joshua laughed a little hesitantly, looking fearfully at his friend.

‘So, how much do you have left?’ Joshua asked.

‘205P.’ Ewan replied the miniscule amount, making Joshua recoil and laugh a bit.

‘Well! Guess we’re gonna have to earn some money, then!’ Joshua chuckled, as they turned to embark from the town.

Before that, Erika went to the Pokémart, to get 5 Potions and 3 Pokéballs. 3 Pokéballs go for 600P, 5 Potions for 1500P. That’s 2100P total. As long as she was fine with this price, she can add these to her inventory. Now, then.

To leave Lakewatch Town, they probably had to cross water. Joshua proudly took the chance to offer himself to be Erika’s personal rowman for the moment, so she could sit and be all comfortable in the canoe while he stood and rowed for her. She could act as she pleased about that. A short while later, they could bind the canoe on the opposite side of town, and they could embark.

Onwards, towards…



… And as one travels Route 5, one might realize that the route’s grass contain many Deerlings walking around, enjoying the relative lack of humans and other dangers. Upon approach of any humans the timid Pokémon are however quick to run and hide in any patches of tall grass or forests they can find. Most of them are pink in color, not really helping them hide anywhere as their spring-form’s really colorful, but closer to the Frozen Cavern there are Deerlings that still haven’t shifted from their winter form.





And, also. Every here and there on the route there’s a couple of rather distinct leaves just sticking up at random, sometimes in very odd locations like in the middle of the road or right in the middle of nowhere. If Erika couldn’t figure it out by herself, Ewan could point it out for her. They’re sleeping Oddishes.





… So, yeah, it’d find plenty of cold soil on this route next to the Frozen Cavern. Natural Oddish habitat.

That’s what was immediately obvious, but surely, there was more waiting around here, largely depending on where they’d look. Now, then. What now?



Connected areas:
Lakewatch Town. Right behind you.
Stillwood Village. In the north lies the forest which hides the village, Mt. Strength lying behind it..
Route 6. Vast plains start in the south-east, this route leads towards Raremine Town.
Frozen Cavern. After an incline up to the ridge of Mt. Chill, a cavern of ice could guide the way to Route 9 and Cooldome City.
Endless Forest. To the south, a dark forest looms. There are no indications as to why you’d ever want to go there.



__________________________

@Rune_Alchemist

Froakie Quick Attacked, away from the larger Fighting-type, just about exactly in time to avoid a huge slab of concrete being swung down and cracking open the floor beneath him, increasing the damage. Froakie stumbled a bit further away, it’s huge eyes even wider as it considered what kind of danger it had just been in… but then Conkeldurr came flying.

‘Alright, Conkeldurr! Chase him down!’ Hector commanded, giving a glance at where Ralia had mounted Lure, but otherwise focused on the current target.

So, Froakie with Quick Attack was clearly faster. But, Conkeldurr had a slew of experience and was much, much stronger, and used its own slabs to launch itself off the floor at where he predicted Froakie would be. The little frog, so far, managed to precisely dodge as Conkeldurr smashed up more and more of the floor, turning the arena uneven and very hard for Froakie to dash around without stumbling. Somewhere Conkeldurr managed to pick up the second slab, and a very panicked Froakie was trying to Quick Attack around on the remaining floor while Conkeldurr launched himself at the frog.

Froakie was getting tired, so many Quick Attacks in a row was taking on his limbs. Conkeldurr, while getting more and more damaged by the poison in his veins, showed none of this exhaustion. If this continued, it was clear that sooner or later, Froakie would make a mistake.

But for now, he lived.

‘CONKELDURR…!’ The enemy roared, hunting to predict where Froakie’s Quick Attack would go next with confidence, and Froakie was preparing to attempt dodging again. Ralia and Lure had been allowed to have their conversation for now. Though, yeah. Without assistance, Froakie was probably out pretty soon.

"How I've been? Uh..."

Erza smiled wildly as he brought his right hand up, rubbing the back of his head. His thoughts interlacing the events he went through recently - quite a lot happened, actually. Even if his journey had just started. The boy shrugged his shoulders, finally moving his right hand back down, tapping it gently against the side of his leg.

"Well, I've caught a lot of pokémon! And actually got one from this really cool, mysterious man. He seemed good! Like real good deal, Rory! I could practically sense the immense ability he possessed just by looking at how stylish he was. Uh," There was a pause. Erza gestured his left thumb at his backpack. "He gave me a Duskull! A really cool ghost type. And a pokémon egg, it's in my backpack right now - I can't wait for it to hatch! Ohh," Another brief pause as Erza reached to his backpack and took the egg in his hands. What did it look like, even? They boy held it briefly for Rory to see, then returned it to his backpack. "I'm sure it will be a very cool pokémon! Now, Rory! Seeing you was good, but I gotta roll. I mean, a trainer has only so much time to stop and chat around, right? I'm sure we'll see each other soon!"

With that, Erza literally broke into a sprint and began making his way towards... the Silent Shrine. Yes, that's where he's headed right now - there was something moving in the dust, wasn't there? Well, Erza's forgetful, so he completely forgot to check on that.

❄Erika Olson❄

---

---

For once, Erika was finally feeling prepared for her journey ahead but it came at quite the cost, nearly clearing her out of her money. Thankfully, Erika was fully prepared to keep on catching new Pokemon, though she would have to see what types awaited her on Route 5. As Joshua so kindly offered to row the canoe for them, Erika took a brief look at her notes, considering her next move. She considered which types might be the best for her right now. With Ice, Water, Dragon and Ground having a presence, Erika already had a fairly varied team for this early start but she lacked a solid punch for particular types. But then again, Erika wasn't going to be too choosey when it came to new Pokemon.

"Thanks again, oh gallant, Joshua." Erika said, feeling more comfortable with these two gentlemen. It was nice that she still had their company and the thought crossed her mind of later challenging Ewan to a Pokemon Battle. It made sense as a sort of way to test their abilities before trying out the gym, at least. But that would probably wait until they were closer to Stillwood as starting the route with tired Pokemon wasn't really a good use of resources.

Route 5 was magnificently quaint with the rolling grass, forests, and backdrop of the mountains. The slight chill in the air sent a slight shiver down Erika's spine but she wasn't cold, rather it felt like a kiss from home. "I wonder how everyone is doing at home.." Erika said to herself before suddenly coming to a realization. "Oh! Hey you guys, if you ever end up in Cooldome City, that's where I'm from! And if you are there, find my mom as she helps visiting trainers with a lot of things, like if you wanted to climb Mt. Chill or battling. Err.. Don't know if she'll know much about Pokemon Contests, though." Erika offered as a sort of thank you for the both of them.

"Anyway, what would you two like to do? I know I want to try and fill out my team a bit more and...What's with that house, I wonder?" Erika found herself drifting off as she wondered why it looked so inviting to investigate. "Err.. Want to see what that is about, first?" Erika inquired but really she had already started heading towards the out-of-place house.

Amelia watched and listened to the various reaction to her little speech. The red-head got angry at her for compairing them to Team Amethyst, though at this point she didn't see the difference between them and this group, but calmed down and seemed a little shocked when she said she would stay put. After the phone call was made and the grunts left, Amelia sighed with relief as Lorette questioned what had just happened.
"I guess so. Maybe their Elite realized that attacking Driffloon while it was just being friendly was a mistake on his part." Amelia said before heading back into the shrine. She smiled down at the Ralts that were there. "Everything's okay now. The bad men went away, so you don't need to be scared anymore."

After making sure the little pokemon were okay, she returned to the room with the Larvesta and got comfortable, her cloths now freshly soaked from the rain she had reentered. She kept close to the Bug/Fire pokemon and gently pet it's head.
"Thank you for warming me up." She said to it. If/When Lorette came into the room, she looked up at the Gym Leader and gave her an apologetic smile. "Sorry about that drama. Hopefully they won't come back and bother the pokemon here."

@PlatinumSkink

---

As the battle raged on with the Froakie and Conkeldurr, the bug type and psychic type seemed to take a moment to take a breather. The Ralts seemed to talk to Combee quickly. The bug replied sharply, in its usual snarky and slightly antagonistic tone. Combee seemed to mostly ignore whatever it was that the Ralts was saying to start with, causing the other pokemon to frown and give the bug type a small swat on the top of its head. The bug looked to Conkeldurr, and then towards Claire, and back towards Ralia one last time.

"You're doing good, Froakie!" As for Claire, there wasn't much she could do. "Come on, I know you can do it!" She saw Froakies own abilities back at the shrine - the little frog was a fighter at least. That much she knew, but things were looking fairly bad as far as their winning chances went still. Froakie couldn't dodge forever, and there wasn't much in the way she had of firepower now. "Alright, just dodge him again Froakie." Just as the Conkeldurr would have made another move towards Froakie, a powerful blast of wind was launched in his direction from Lure.

"L-lure!?" Claire's attention immediately shifted towards the bug type who still had Ralia perched on her head. Ralia herself seemed to be charging a confusion attack. Claire simply sighed, laughing lightly with a bright grin. "Well...alright then! Lure! Stay out of his attack range with Ralia and hit him with as powerful gusts as your little wings can manage! Ralia, just chain as many Confusions together as you can!"

---

Froakie is told to dodge
Ralia attacks with confusions from on top of Lure - will prep a teleport if conkeldurr targets them.
Lure blasts Conkeldurr with some more gusts from some distance away - will attempt dodging if he attacks her or gets close.

@Project

Yeah, nope. Eggs have no difference whatsoever on them that indicate what kind of Pokémon lies within. It’s simply a fairly large oval egg that has numerous green spots of varying sizes here and there on its mid-section. All eggs have that. Impossible to tell what might lie within.

Erza turned and dashes towards the west, into the road leading to the Silent Forest. On this route, it soon enough stopped raining, but on account of having been rained on before Erza was definitely still soaked. In any case, he passed through the forest, heading towards the destination.



__________________________

@Pikmin Eye@Eklispe

Sprout turned to send a Leech Seed at Flabébé, and Cathia had a choice to make. She made it.

‘Flabébé, COMMIT!’ She commanded, and as commanded, Flabébé committed to the attack, letting the Leech Seed latch onto her and bound it’s health-sapping vines onto the fairy, but Flabébé flew forth.

Atlas came out and went into the way of the rock Onix threw, while also preparing to throw mud at Flabébé. However, when the boulder hit it sent Atlas rolling and slammed into a nearby rock, causing remarkable damage as the rock crumbled against Atlas’ steel shell but shook his insides. It’s Not Very Effective, but it was a Critical Hit. Atlas fainted. But, the rock sure stopped.

Flabébé hit Sprout with her tackle. It didn’t hurt all that much, but it did more than Leech Seed sucked back through the unseen connection in the air between them. Flabébé gasped a bit from the drain, but… while she barely had anything left… she wasn’t yet out, and smiled again, because she was making another Tackle.

‘Flabébé, block any vine whips! Onix, SLAM HIM!’ Cathia commanded, pointing at the grass Pokémon.

Onix, undisturbed by how the rock had been stopped, kicked off and surged towards Sprout. Now, Onix didn’t actually know Slam, but a Tackle from a surging Onix coming forth at full speed was sure to hurt way more than Flabébé’s Tackle anyway. It could be noticed by now that Onix’s level was a bit above that of surrounding Pokémon. Cathia had delved into the Wet Caverns and come out on the other side with a powerful price. She had obviously wanted to show it off, but ended up against a horrible type-match up. Still, she tries.

Now, Martin stood alone, but against two greatly weakened opponents. What would be his commands?

__________________________

@Pirouette

Joshua smirked from ear to ear at being called “gallant”. A childish smirk of joy. Anyways, moving on.

‘Cooldome, eh?’ Joshua smirked while playfully shuddering a bit. ‘Can’t even imagine living in such a place. Must be extremely cold. Which is probably why you don’t look even the slightest bothered by this cold. Yet, your presence and smile is so bright and comfortingly warm…’ He grins. ‘I guess that’s how you keep warm in Cooldome, eh?’

‘Johanna Olson, correct?’ Ewan remarked, having heard from the encounter with Lesley. ‘I’ll keep it in mind. Thank you.’ He nods to her, and then they could head on.

‘Honestly, I want to check out the Frozen Cavern a bit! I realize you both already have ice-Pokémon, but hey, don’t leave me behind, I want to be cool, too!’ Joshua grins about what he wants to do.

‘Yes. Catching more Pokémon is a priority. Our teams are not balanced yet.’ Ewan agreed. ‘I’d wish to examine the wild-life here to see if there’s anything out of the ordinary that could be captured.’

But then… yeah, house. It’s a red house placed right next to a cliff-face on one side and a waterfall going down from the mountain on the other, the house looking really square but also large,

‘Huh. Who’d live out there?’ Joshua asked.

‘It’s still fairly close to Lakewatch Town. It’s not like it’s completely secluded.’ Ewan logically stated. Still, they approached…

So. There’s a sign. A sign with a huge arrow pointing at the door. “Inviting Pokémon Trainers!”, it says. So, would she enter?



__________________________

@Joshua Tamashii

Lorette looked a bit confused, but okay. The Raltses dared to come out again as the more aggressive emotions of the two Virtue Grunts left the area, and they were more at ease with Amelia and Lorette. Larvesta was still in place, and gave a little comfortable grunt as Amelia patted its head.

‘It’s okay. It’s not something you could help.’ Lorette said with a little smile. She breathed in, and let Amelia warm herself up a bit more. A Ralts offered her a towel, if she wanted to dry herself with that. They seemed to be thankful about the aggressive people being chased off.



‘I suppose it’s about time for me to get going back. There’s probably some trainers who want to challenge me by now.’ Lorette analysed, but of course Amelia was warming herself on Larvesta right now. Couldn’t leave until she was done. ‘Ledian can Safeguard us from the rain’ that totally works ‘so, want to come?’ Lorette asked, looking over Amelia.

‘Oh, and Flabébés? I may need some help to get home.’ Lorette smiled up at the floating fairies, who smiled back and gave some happy calls. Because, yupp. Without their help, Lorette’s just going to get lost again.

__________________________

@Rune_Alchemist

Conkeldurr moved to intercept Froakie, and it really looked like he’d be able to intercept where the frog jumped this time, but the sudden blast of wind hitting the larger Pokémon actually shook him off-course and Froakie barely managed to dodge under the giant slab that was swung to hit him. Froakie, while exhausted, managed to jump a bit away to safety, spinning around to face their enemy again. Meanwhile, Conkeldurr also took Ralia’s Confusion, along with more poison damage. It was… REALLY starting to pile up, now. It was impossible to tell how little, but Conkeldurr could not take much more.

‘Alright. Rock Throw.’ Hector commanded with a smirk, and Conkeldurr raised his huge concrete block over his head and looked like he was about to send it flying at Ralia and Lure… but instead swung about and it flew at Froakie, who hadn’t been entirely ready because of Conkeldurr’s feint, and unfortunately wasn’t able to dodge out of the way again in his somewhat exhausted condition. The slab came crashing down and Froakie stumbled out of the blow after having at least being able to avoid being flattened, but fell over from the damage of the impact and fainted.

But, while that happened, Conkeldurr took another Gust and Confusion, both super-effective moves that caused the Pokémon to recoil angrily, it’s movements now noticeably sluggish and injured-seeming, and it glared at the unit of two remaining opponents.

‘ALRIGHT! ONLY TWO TO GO!’ Hector shouted out, clutching a fist at Lure and Ralia. ‘Charge them and CHIP AWAY! And if they teleport…’ Hector smirked. ‘Await my call!’

‘Conkeldurr…!’ The Pokémon called out, and hit its remaining slab into the floor and launched himself at Lure and Ralia, specifically aiming for Lure. Now, Lure was fast, but Conkeldurr was faster by sheer level-difference. However, they still had some time before the fighting-type arrived, and it was still possible to dodge by sheer maneuvering even if Conkeldurr was faster. But, Hector behind was jumping a bit back to the nearest wall, keeping his wits around looking around. If they didn’t teleport then he trusted Conkeldurr to have them beat, but if they did teleport, Hector was ready to report their next position.

For a slight look into the future, if Ralia teleported them and Hector could see them, he’s quickly call out their position and Conkeldurr would spin and throw the remaining slab of rock in that direction, sending it flying with his massive strength.

So. What would they do?