@Ephemeral

Numerous hard-fought levels later, Erza switched his team to train the next party-members, Princess and Hunter. Both of them served well in conflict with Budew, on account of resistance against Absorb, but Princess would suffer initially against other similarly levelled Pokémon in the wild until she got experience. Fortunately, that's exactly what they were here to get!



Hunter took some damage battling wild Pokémon, but otherwise he was fine. Princess had taken noticeably more damage, but Erza healed her right up with potions. And at the end of that, he still had a full health Pidgey now. It was raining pretty well by now, and they were battling the wild Pokémon at the forests next to Route 11, and-

And a sudden Water Gun flew and hit Princess from a range, causing damage and was an obvious sneak attack.

Behind some trees, a Pokémon giggled and hid. It was a Pokémon shaped like a tuft of floating cloud, with big eyes and a wide smile. But most notably, the head of it was wrapped inside a large raindrop of water, but was that truly it’s natural shape?





‘Castform~!’ Castform told teasingly, apparently thinking the Water Gun was hilarious.

… And there was the rare Pokémon of Route 11.

Erza’s actions?



Connected areas:
Redcoast City. Right behind you.
Rainrock City. Requires crossing Route 11, but it’s a pretty well-travelled and safe road.
Route 12. Requires crossing Route 11 on the way north, also pretty well-travelled.
Pokéball Factory. A turn east on the path north should bring you there.



__________________________

@Dusksong

Delphox had already ran off after Laurinda, it was impossible to ask if she was alright with it on account that she didn’t stay to chat after pushing it all onto Chandelure.

‘Chandelure...’ Chandelure said, sounding worried. Still, it was apparently what was decided here. Soooooo, heading deeper it was.

Eryn attempted to move deeper, probably avoiding the Dustox as best she could, but almost immediately she found some amount of Dustox passing above her spreading their Poison Powder. It did look grim, until…

‘CHANDELURE!’ Chandelure shouted out as he directed multiple of its “limbs” into the air… and a MASSIVE plume of fire erupted, sprouting outwards and clutching together like a venus trap of fire around the offending poison. The flames soared and burned, scattering Dustoxes and lighting up the night in the forest for the briefest of moments. That, was the Fire-type move Inferno, clearing a path for them to move deeper into the forest… and leaving numerous trees on fire as Chandelure hurried along. No problem, though. This forest can totally handle itself.

Chandelure kept throwing the occasional fireballs around at closing offenders as the area they were heading for kept growing darker and darker. They were approaching the deepest reaches of Infested Woods. Soon enough… the trees around them started to look less and less alive.

Erza was feeling that his hardwork was paying off. Well not only his, but his pokemon's as well: Princess was tough as ever and was raising these levels nicely, Hunter followed closely and Erza felt as if his team grew stronger with every battle. He spent all his potions on the flying-type to maximize the training effectiveness, so they wouldn't need to run back to the pokémon center a third time and kept battling until she reached level eleven, surpassing even Vee, his starter. Now, he couldn't overdo it and his pokémon had earned a well deserved rest- it was finally time to heal up, eat something, buy some potions and then seek that shiny Blitzle once again.

...

...

Or not. Just as Erza was about to return his pokémon, a jet of water splashed against the flying type, sending her backwards a little. Princess was quick to frown, glaring angrily at the source, which seemed to think it had done the funniest thing ever. Naturally, the flying-type flapped its wings and moved in direction of the Castform, ready to battle. Hunter, meanwhile, just seemed a little lost, looking over at Erza while waiting to see what his trainer would say or do.

"Uh," Erza began, taking the Growlithe's pokéball in his hand and pointing it towards the fire type, he'd smile gently and then click the pokéball's button. "You've done great, Hunter. Go get some rest." And as the pokémon disappeared, sucked inside the pokéball in a red flash, Erza looked over at the Castform, then at Princess, he readied an empty pokéball with a smirk playing around on his lips. Alright, then.

"Well, seems Princess didn't enjoy that water gun, Castform! But I'm telling you, there will be a lot of time to play when I catch you! Princess, go! Gust!" And with that, a battle starts. pokémon fire red battle theme starts

---

^{Route 2: Wilted Woods || Night}
As the foliage thinned out in favor of darkness deepened by fog instead of forest, Eryn felt a growing feeling of unease creep up on her. Goosebumps sprouted when the first hollow tunes flowed out of the distance, and her hair stood on end at every rustle of leaves. Even mental repetitions of “it’s ghost-types, it’s fine” failed to calm her at this point, soon she was practically squeezing Tula, whose hard carapace was the only thing between Eryn and a uncomfortably squished fish.

“Arceus,” Eryn breathed when Chandelure fireballed the first ghost-type, a cold shade of fear shaking her when she realized she hadn’t even seen it coming. But, now that she saw the first, it was as if her eyes had opened: all around her were ghost-types—trees and bushes opening their eyes in the dark to look down upon her as the fog helped manifest leering faces. Her heart pounded as she fumbled with her Pokedex, finally managing to open it and give names to the shadows: Gourgeist and Trevenant, ghost-grass hybrids.

Voices from behind Eryn caused her to spin around, eyes wide as she clutched Tula towards her with one hand. Children? In the woods? Her Pokedex, though, was not so easily fooled, changing to a picture of Phantump, the stump Pokemon, whose description included a note about ‘cries that imitate a human child’s.’ Similarly, her Pokedex was also a good mental defense against the ominous rustling in the darkness, identifying Pumpkaboo through the murky mist.

“Dei, Kylie,” Eryn said, motioning her Pokemon towards her. That strength in numbers would deter ghosts made sense in her head right now even though she’d never heard of it as an actual defense. Her heart rate was somewhat stable now that she’d identified the darkness, and she realized that she was likely in the presence of the ghosts she’d so sought to meet. Still, the unshakable unease still remained with her—an unease that these ghosts weren’t all that lay beyond the forest dominated by Dustox.

A shaky murmur from Chandelure set Eryn’s heart pounding again. Ghost-types were weak to ghost-types—that’d slipped her mind. Though Dei would be able to help a little in deterring any attackers, Eryn hesitated to set him on the task lest one of the wild ghost-types figured out that he was more of a bluff than an actual threat.

“We should get out of here. Let’s get out of here,” Eryn said, glancing at Chandelure. She’d seen the ghosts she’d wanted to see, but this part of the woods… She hated it. At least the part with Dustox and Beedrill was easy to wrap her mind around, being threatening in the way poison and paralysis were. This misty, ghost-infested part of the woods, though, held implicit threats she couldn’t put a finger on. All she knew was that her goosebumps weren’t caused by the cold.

“Let’s go,” Eryn repeated. “Dei and Kylie, help Chandelure clear a way with Ember and Astonish if needed.”

Better to cut her losses and come back another day, if at all.

---

@PlatinumSkink

Dawkin watched the ghost pokemon speak among themselves before swarming out of the room, leaving Dawkin alone with Amelia and a few leftover Yamasks. A few moments later while Dawkin was considering what he should do next, the girl he'd seen earlier came into the open and began talking to him, presenting him with a considerable amount of information. Dawkin parsed the information carefully even as the girl spoke. "It would be impossible for me to contest someone on the level of the Pokemon League, it doubtful that I could steal it without being noticed, and we don't have the time to attempt to get some sort of rare item on the odd chance I'll be able to take advantage of it. That leaves going to this Master's chambers. Being attacked by him is a risk I'll have to take. I'd rather not leave Amelia alone however." Dawkin contemplated this point further.

He could bring Amelia with him or leave her here with this girl. If worst come to worst, it would be best to have Amelia with him so they could both escape to the entrance, and he wouldn't have to entrust her to someone else. Furthermore, perhaps being closer would help Amelia in her dreamstate. "Alright, let's all head there together, keep an eye out for me while I carry Amelia. Maybe you can warn me if something... Ghosty happens. None of my Pokemon are particularly effective against ghosts but I have a few of them so we can stall at least if it comes down to it." Dawkin said confidently and swooped Amelia up, carrying her bridal style. "Where to?"

---

---

The entire scene was happening too fast and too slow for Valen, ludicrous as it sounded. The pokemon battle, the other trainers coming in, it was all flying by. How was he supposed to react? At the same time, he was keenly aware of his heartbeat thudding in his chest, the words that people were saying seemed slowed down the point they were garbled. "My name?" He muttered. He couldn't think. Phobia closed around his throat and gut. If the heat of the situation didn't kill him, his lack of remembering to breathe properly would.

He couldn't answer. That was too dangerous, wasn't it? He had just come from Highhill, and Valen wasn't a particularly common name. If he did manage to get away from these thugs by some miracle, they'd be able to go and ask around for him. And then--would more people get involved? The rivulets of sweat dripped down his face. It was hardly even a hot day, but the temperature seemed to be rising all the same.

Ultimately, Valen was grateful for the trainers, but there was too much going in front of him to support their intervening. He felt guilty too--why couldn't he handle this on his own? He was getting other people involved and couldn't that make the situation worse? He only hoped they could make it out safe.

I have to try... "Qwerty try to dodge it! Keep your distance and use Psybeam!" Bite was probably going to hurt but perhaps there were ways to mitigate it. Valen gritted his teeth as Qwerty attempted to float higher than the Growlithe's range, beak aglow with a preparing Psybeam.

@prettydrops@Gardevoiran

Qwerty attempted to dodge, however Growlithe had more in both levels and speed. He didn’t go for Ember, on account Bite is just as strong and Allan had this notion that Porygons probably had pretty good Special Defense, not to mention flinching could help. As such, it became a pure Psybeam VS Bite match… however, Qwerty was losing in the long run. While she was impressively keeping herself from flinching, Growlithe’s higher level meant his bites were doing more damage. Growlithe took a lot of damage from repeated Psybeams, too, but Growlithe looked like he was taking this battle. Not to mention, Allan was retrieving another Pokéball.

‘I’m sad. We had such a good thing going,’ Allan, commented, glaring at Valen.

Things were going even worse for Vivia, who had sent a bug to deal with a bird. Mia’s Ducklett sent Venonat flying with a single Wing Attack, causing Venonat to fly way off and Vivia to flinch backwards.

‘What, is that it? After that little shout about taking my challenge in turn for your friend, THAT’S what you attack me with?’ Mia asked, sounding condescending. ‘I’d laugh, but honestly all I feel is pity.’

‘Ducklett!’ the duck called, looking similarly confident.

'Gh, I…!' Vivia took put a second Pokéball… except yeah, that was Scraggy’s Pokéball, Skylar might know. Fighting-type, when the opponent was flying. It wasn’t really the best of match-ups. She had tried to send out Rotom… but at a time when Rotom might be needed, the electric ghost was bothering the shopkeeper for souvenirs over there, possessing his cash-register and spitting money out all over over there so the man had to gather it all again. She threw a bit of a panicked look in Rotom’s direction, and then at Skylar. She clearly hadn’t thought this through.

Valen and Skylar’s actions?

__________________________

@Ephemeral

funny you should say that

Princess flew around to throw a Gust into Castform’s face, who spun out of control for a bit but returned with a Powder Snow move it was hiding somewhere. Hit with it, Princess took some heavy damage, but still held herself in the game. That's when Erza maybe switched Pokémon, if so add a bunch of additional damage from some Water Guns on that Pokémon. Regardless, the result should be the same.

Otherwise, Princess flew in for a Tackle and hit Castform back for additional damage, which pulled the Castform to return with another Powder Snow. Unfortunately, this caused too much damage, freezing Princess’s wings and causing her to fall and faint, but Erza was able to throw and hit with a Pokéball at this time. The little water-drop cloud was absorbed into the ball with a red light, after which it fell onto the ground beneath it.

It shook once. It shook twice. It shook thri-



__________________________

@Dusksong

‘Chandelure…!’ Chandelure announced, more than happy to get out of here as quick as physically possible. They turned and escaped, Chandelure sending out numerous Flame Bursts to clear the way of any Gourgeists that placed themselves in the way. The Trevenants watched silently, but never interfered with Eryn’s escape out of the woods. Soon the Gourgeists stopped trying to follow, and they were back into the Deep Infested Woods.

Here, Chandelure released another Inferno, clearing a path through the Dustox poison clouds so they could run through. While they had to watch out for more Dustox on the way, they were soon able to get back into True Infested Woods.



Even here, Chandelure proved invaluable, as the chandelier Pokémon led Eryn so she didn’t walk right under a Pineco tree where Pineco’s would surely fall down on her and explode, he burned through some Ariados web, and they went on. However, for some reason the chill hadn’t entirely left Eryn. They were still travelling through the tight woods of True Infested Woods… when suddenly Chandelure spun around. There was rustling among the bushes behind them. They had been followed.

Assumingly, Eryn or her Pokémon would at least spin around to maybe catch a glimpse of the one which was following her, and…

The battle was quick and unfortunately, Princess fell from the sky and Erza hurriedly rushed over to pick up the tiny flying-type the moment he saw she could no longer battle. Then, after returning her to her pokéball, Erza brought out Eevee and together they caused some more damage to the Castform, who had a few tricks up his sleeve apparently. A pokéball was tossed, then, and....



Phew. It felt as if it had been so long since Erza actually managed to catch a pokémon. The boy patted Vee's head, returned his pokémon to his pokéball and made his way to pick up his newly caught friend: Castform. What a tough little weather bubble, this little one was. Checking its moves on the pokédex was surprising: It had a lot of tricks up it's sleeve and then there was the fact that it could change-

‘HOLD IT!’

The voice startled Erza, who immediately reached for one of his pokéballs - but didn't draw out a pokémon just yet. He looked around curiously, then noticed the girl that leaped from one of the trees, widening his eyes at the huge distance and how quickly she closed the gap between them. Damn, I can't get a moment's respite, can I? Erza thought idly, already starting to worry about the health of his pokémon - especially Princess, who was taken out in the battle against Castform. There was three pokémon with her, Erza promptly used the Pokédex which was already in his hand to identify them.

Looking at how determined she was and the frown on her face, Erza was expecting a pokémon battle - which he would promptly refuse. However, the girl only demanded something that the Castform had stolen... an item she was looking for. That made Erza raise his eyebrows, his eye twitching slightly. Honestly, it was an unbelievable story: That pokémon had literally splashed water on Pidgey for seemingly no reason. It seemed playful.

"Uh, okay... I mean, I can do that! Sure... But how will I know the item really belongs to you? I don't want to make a mistake, you know? And I don't want to keep something that's not mine either-- I don't even know what it is." The boy finally replied, taking Castform's pokéball and holding it close to his own face. "Alright, I got an idea. Describe the item exactly how it is and what it does, if it matches what Castform is holding, I will return it to ya no problem. How that sounds?"

@Ephemeral

‘Ugh,’ the girl initially made a noise of annoyance when Erza spoke of that she might need to prove that it belongs to her. Then, Erza suggested she describe the item. The girl took a moment, then… ‘Fine.’

‘It’s a mirror, which frame is blue on the left, green on the right, brown on the top and white in the bottom. It’s supposed to reflect truth, and local legends say that when it reflects the “Strong One”, the beasts will return to their true forms and nature will be calmed. It’s been stored in the Abandoned Shrine for generations in case it is ever needed again, so it isn’t strictly mine, it belongs to Redcoast City as a whole, but I’ve been it’s protector for a good while,’ the girl said, frowning. ‘If you really, REALLY have to, we can take it to the Redcoast City officials who can confirm my story. … And who’ll probably berate me for trying to experiment with it.

So, yeah, it’s supposed to reflect truth, so I took a rain-form Castform to it in order to check if it’d return to its normal self, or something. Instead it grabbed the mirror and floated away while I was grumbling about that it didn’t work. … Will that do?’

She looked at Erza expectantly, frowning.

---

^{Route 2: Wilted Woods || Late Night}
Chandelure led the way out of the woods via a literal path of fire, doing the job so well Dei only spat one Ember the whole way. Thankfully, the Trevenant didn’t give chase, likely owing to the fact that they were trees. The Gourgeist did their best to float after Eryn and the Pokemon, bobbing disconcertingly in and out of existence as they leered from behind the retreating party, giving up chase only when the trees started to fill out with foliage again. Trace amounts of sheer powder scattered along the path Chandelure carved reminded Eryn that they were now in Dustox territory, but but-types would likely be easier for Chandelure to handle. Really, though, she was just trying to get away from the feeling of unease that didn’t seem to fade despite the increasing distance from the skeletal part of the woods.

When Chandelure stopped abruptly, turning around, Eryn followed suit in time to see their follower crash through the bushes. Her eyes widened when she recognized a human figure—and a familiar face: her own. The ‘other’ Eryn flashed her a smile, her Pokemon gathering around her: a Phantump and a Pumpkaboo, bouncing and drifting around the other Eryn. It took the other Eryn stepping out and pointing at her for Eryn to snap out of her stupor. She blinked, shaking her arms in an effort to calm down as she registered the cold sweat that she hadn’t even noticed building up.

“Right. Right.” Eryn breathed in and out a few times, trying to refocus. A trainer challenge—her second. Ignore the fact that the trainer was literally her, and Eryn was stellar.

“Right,” Eryn said again, exhaling one last time. “Dei, you ready?”

Eryn’s eyes flicked nervously to her doppelganger, whose smile was beginning to seem more twisted than familiar. Was her smile always so unsettling? Was that something Eryn had to work on?

Eryn shook her head. Nah, she was overthinking things. Worst case scenario… She looked at Chandelure, who’d stepped aside but still seemed equally concerned, and smiled.

“Don’t worry, I got this. You—other Eryn,” Eryn said, pointing at her doppelganger, “you’re going down.”

Her heart was threatening to burst out of her chest at this point, but Eryn grinned through it. “Dei, show ’em why we got out safely.”

Dei growled, smoke flowing out of his nostrils as he stepped forwards.

From behind, Eryn scanned over her double’s team, pulling out her Pokedex for good measure. A trio, like hers, with one ‘weak link’ in the form of a Cascoon to mirror Tula. Then two grass-ghost hybrids that she’d have Dei handle, if possible. She could do this. There was a clear strategy here, and she had the type advantage.

Her double’s grin stretched wider, if that were even possible. From her side, her Phantump drifted forwards, eyes glowing.

“No commands? Alright, fine.” Eryn gave Tula a squeeze, grin wavering. This wasn’t the time. “Dei, get ‘em.”

Dei rushed at the Phantump with a growl, jumping up to launch his first Ember of many.

---

@PlatinumSkink

@PlatinumSkink

---

Finishing up her training session, Claire continued on her way to route ten, taking in the rest of the Mountain Valley as she did so, giving her pokemon ample time to rest and play, roughhouse and relax, and soon she had made it to Route Ten. Farmland stretched before her, feeding the largest cities in Isson. A number of psychic pokemon were working in the fields, using their impressive talents to help the crops and fields produce food.

"Alllright! We're makin' good time, heh." Claire grinned, jumping excitedly. Hm, she could stop for another bit of training, right? The pokemon here didn't look too terribly strong, and bug type moves were super effective against psychic types. It'd be pretty easy for her pokemon to get a few good bits of training in on the route. "Lets see...lets move a bit more slowly this time. Pip needs a good bit of training - eh?"

As she was looking for a good training spot, her eyes fell on the well dressed man battling a Spearow with a Togekiss who looked waaaaay too strong to be doing that. She eyed the man suspiciously for a few moments, watching his struggle with mild concern...until he broke down crying after his Togekiss dealt the killshot. Should she say anything? Eeeh, nah. No need to kick a man while he was down.

"Alright, Ralia lets go-huh?" Before she could make another word, Ralia seemed to have other ideas. The impish pokemon had teleported off her shoulder and was running over to the crying man. Before she could stop her, the Ralts had then teleported on top of the Togekiss. "G-gweh?! H-hey Get back here you rascal!" Claire took off after Ralia, who was now trying to use the Togekiss as her personal airplane.

Of course she seemed annoyed, but Erza couldn't risk just handing the wrong item to the wrong person. After a moment, however, she agreed nonetheless and thus began describing the item that Castform supposedly stole from her. Erza listened intently, his eyes focused on the girl the whole time.

A mirror, which frame is blue on the left and green on the right - brown on the top and white in the bottom. Alright, that was quite enough as she gave a very detailed explanation of the item in itself. The girl didn't stop there, however, so Erza didn't even think to interrupt her. It was supposed to reflect truth apparently, which picked Erza's interest quite a lot; the next bit about how when it reflects the 'strong one' left Erza's mouth agape for a brief moment, the boy clearly showing surprise and even excitement. Just how much of a mythical item did this girl lose to a Castform?

Then she continued. An item that was under her protection, but belonged to Redcoast City as a whole. Erza quickly shook his head negatively, taking Castform's pokéball and releasing the pokémon in front of the two trainers. He shrugged, raising both hands to his head, interlacing his fingers as he looked over at the Castform.

".. So, Castform. Apparently you've got something that belongs to this person here. She might've been a tad too clumsy in losing such an important item that probably has an enormous value and could create complete chaos if it ever felt in the wrong hands, BUT that's just probabilities, right? How about you give it back to her- and maybe, ooooonly maybe, she will hesitate before experimenting with an item like that again. Please, give it back to her, Castform."

... Once Castform gave the item back to her, Erza would loiter around just a little longer to see her reaction. He was still worried about his pokémon and wanted to rush to the pokémon center as quickly as possible.

This is what Joshua hated about Teams. They were all the heros of their own story. Team Aqua with their need to expand the seas, at the cost of what little land there was in the world for people and pokemon to live on. Magma wanting to expand the land despite that possibly upsetting the balance the ecosystem already had in place, making things worse for everyone. Flare, wanting to make a world for themselves at the cost of every other person. Not to mention Rocket, the first team he came across. Seriously, screw those guys. But now, it was Team Virtue. He knew there was a Team Amethyst in the region as well and that they were worse, but these guys weren't coming off as much better.

Still, some things they had said caught his interest. First off, whatever they were trying to seal had a counterpart. There were very few pokemon like that and the ones that immediately jumped to mind were legendaries. After all, only a pokemon of myth and legend would be worthy enough to be sealed away. Taking that into account the number of possibilities was limited, as very few legendaries that had a bad reputation was not the biggest. Even those who were known for destructive acts, like Groudon or Kyogre, were simply forces of nature. But the biggest clue of them all: There were sleeping people. Only two legendaries really played with sleeping people.

And with that, Joshua broke out into a smile. He had to confirm this. He could have Weavile try to steal that pokeball they were heralding like it was the next Arceaus, but with the army of pokemon now in front of him, that didn't see to be an option.
"Hold up one second, let me confirm something with you. Is the pokemon sealed away inside of this tomb a..."

------------------------

"Darkrai, enough, please! I'm not your enemy!" Amelia shouted, not at her 'father' or the 'Sableye', but at the dream and the one causing it in general. She had reached the same conclusion as her mentor, though she had reached it due to the words her 'father' had spoke and the circumstances under which she was currently meeting him. He needed her to dread him, to suffer in a nightmare. Her mentor had talked enough about Darkrai, the pokemon who created nightmares and fed on nightmares it mere presence caused, for her to make a rather simple deduction.

And armed with this knowledge, she was no longer afraid. She returned her pokemon to their pokeballs and walked forward, holding out her hand.
"Someone is bringing a Cresselia aren't they? And as a result, you're scared. You don't want to be sealed away again. I don't blame you. This isn't right. You can't help what you are. It's wrong of them to do this to you. I know you think you need me to sleep and others to sleep as well. But what you're doing isn't right and it doesn't help your case. It's why people think they need to seal you away. Please... let everyone go. Let those of us who want to help you do so. Please?" She begged the one trying to torment her, hoping that, if nothing else, it would listen to her.

@Dusksong

Dei rushed forth to Ember, and in turn Eryn(?) pointed forth at the Charmander and gave her command to Phantump. That is to say, her lips moved as if she made a command, but no audible words left her mouth as far as either Eryn or her Pokémon could hear. Phantump, however, went to action as if receiving a command.

Dei shot his first Ember, and hit Phantump straight on. The stump-Pokémon let out a cry and floated off slightly on fire, taking considerable damage from the Super Effective move, but regardless spun around and launched a Confuse Ray at Dei, which he was unable to avoid. Dei had become confused!

… Which then caused Eryn to switch to Kylie! Kylie immediately suffered an Astonish. Kylie went for her floating stump opponent, who initially stayed on a range and sent a Confuse Ray in her face. Unfortunately, this meant she mistook a rock for her opponent and slammed into that trying to Astonish it, damaging herself in confusion. Eryn switched back to Dei, and Dei took an immediate Astonish from Phantump… which ultimately didn’t mean much because Dei shot an Ember back at Phantump and the Super Effective move blasted the woodland ghost back to Eryn(?) where it fainted before her feet. Eryn(?) looked down at Phantump with a slightly troubled frown, then gave Eryn a smirk saying she wasn’t done yet.

Against Pumpkaboo, Dei once again got an Ember in, doing significant damage before Pumkaboo got off a Confuse Ray on the Charmander. Eryn immediately switched to Kylie to combat the Confusion. Eyn(?) caught on and Pumpkaboo calmly kept a bit of a distance and sang the song of Pumpkaboos and Gourgheists, summoning a ghastly feeling like if spirits converged upon Kylie, giving her an additional Ghost-type with the intention to then Astonish. This backfired dramatically when Kylie employed her new temporary Ghost-type for a powered-up Astonish straight in Pumpkaboo’s face, the ghost-type rolling back from the Super-Effective move but Kylie pursuing. Kylie being faster, she hit Pumpkaboo with another Astonish before Pumpkaboo was able to Astonish her back. Kylie eventually got in the finishing Astonish, and sent the ghost flying back to Eryn(?), fainted.

Throughout the whole of this, Eryn(?) had constantly been given commands that her Pokémon were seemingly following, but no sounds came from her mouth, it was just her lips moving as if she was shouting the commands. Now Eryn(?) was looking really troubled, frowning a bit, but finally she shook her head and gave Eryn a rebellious stare, throwing Cascoon into the mix.

Though, Kylie had no problem dealing with Cascoon. Both Eryn(?) and Cascoon seemed surprised that Poison Sting didn’t work on Kylie, who doesn’t actually look like a steel-type. Tackle came way too late as Kylie Fairy Winded Cascoon back to Eryn(?), fainted.





With that, Eryn(?) fell down on her knees, her expression looking defeated, surrounded by the fainted forms of her Pokémon. She looked up at Eryn with a sad little smile when she was asked who she was and what she wanted, and simply held up a hand… and gently waved four fingers at Eryn in the generally recognized gesture of “away”. Throughout the entire battle and this scene after, no voice had ever escaped Eryn’s doppelganger’s throat.

What would Eryn do now?

__________________________

@Rune_Alchemist

‘… Huh?’ the trainer made a noise as he noticed Claire running close, because Ralia had just teleported up onto the Togekiss. Togekiss, in the meantime…

Togekiss first stared ahead, blank as it felt Ralia’s extra weight upon her back. It wasn’t a lot of weight, but there was a weight. It seemed like she was being used as a mount.

‘Wait, Parvati, no-!’ the trainer started…

‘Toge-!’ Parvati the Togekiss suddenly swung her wings powerfully, blowing itself and Ralia straight up into the sky at as great a speed as a Togekiss could maintain. Ralia was suddenly taken on one heck of a joyride, Parvati doing numerous loops and quick turns and slices through the air, and if Ralia ever fell of she’d make a turn to recover her in the air…

‘Oh, there she goes…’ the trainer said, before turning to look at Claire. He gave a bit of an awkward smile, his clothing still sticking out as being unbelievably fancy.

‘Um, I’m Frans, the son of the owner of the Private Palace north-west of here. I’m a Pokémon Trainer…’ Frans made a slight grimace. ‘… Or, at least a Pokémon combatant. I’ve never actually captured a single Pokémon of my own. All my Pokémon were gifts. No matter how many times I’ve fought in the Pokémon League, it was never by my own efforts…’ He said, sounding a little bitter. He then shook his head.

‘I-in any case, I’m sorry for the trouble Parvati is causing you! Your Pokémon will be returned unharmed, it’ll just… take a bit of time,’ Frans said, sounding like he was worried Claire’d be mad, while Parvati was still doing loops in the skies above. ‘Um, do you want to be compensated somehow?’ Frans asked, looking worried though maintaining a smile.

The man was most certainly a noble, and somewhere in the edge between young man and adult. … So, what would be Claire’s reaction, here?

__________________________

@Ephemeral

‘… Guh,’ the girl made another noise when Erza made some accusatory words in his declaration to Castorm to give the mirror back. That said, if she was given the mirror back eventually she’d grab it and immediately turn around.

‘… One day, we’re going to need this mirror to save us. If we don’t understand how it works by then, then what’s even the point of it? The text about it say nothing, and none of the scholars or elders know. That’s why I’m experimenting,’ she told, sounding defensive. ‘… I’m going to go place this back at the Abandoned Shrine, now.’

With that said, the girl hurried off, her Pokémon following in turn.

So, two options. Erza either stopped her / stalked her or whatever, or he headed back to Redcoast City to heal his Pokémon as intended, and here’s the city thing regardless if you want it or not.





Otherwise, he could head back to Route 11.



Connected areas:
Redcoast City. Right behind you.
Rainrock City. Requires crossing Route 11, but it’s a pretty well-travelled and safe road.
Route 12. Requires crossing Route 11 on the way north, also pretty well-travelled.
Pokéball Factory. A turn east on the path north should bring you there.



__________________________

@Joshua Tamashii

Recalling her Pokémon, Amelia advanced on the nightmare with her determination focused, with her threat identified. Her “father” stopped moving, gazing at her like disapproving, as did the Sableye, as did the very storm outside the window. Amelia offered her hand, and held her speech. There were numerous longer seconds of silence.

‘Assume for a moment that I would let them go,’ Amelia heard, as if within her head. ‘What would I do then? How would you help me against her?’

The voice was sceptic. Distrusting of humans. Not about to believe her just immediately. Needed to hear more. However, for the moment, it seemed like the being she talked to was willing to at the very least listen.

____

@Eklispe

The girl listens to Dawkin’s reasoning and nodded to his conclusion.

‘Very well, sounds reasonable,’ she concluded. She then watched Dawkin pick Amelia up in that particular way, raising an eyebrow as she looked upon it. … She put a hand into her little bag that she has hanging around her neck, lifted a tiny little camera, and took a picture. It was most certainly going to be useful later. Before Dawkin had a moment to consider the fact she just took a photo of him carrying Amelia, she had spun around and pointed to a corridor.

‘This way! Abra, come!’ she called, starting to dash off while Abra teleported to a position with its feet crossed around her neck to keep itself steady, the girl grabbing the Pokémon’s legs as she ran.

They headed past a corner. Some Goletts and other ghosts passed them by, but unlike earlier they were not intending to battle them, now they were in the mode of defending their tomb against more dangerous opponents. With that, they were free to pass, and was able to run all the way into the depths of the tomb…

Something dark presents itself ahead. Something dark surrounded by something bright. And there’s a broken wall…

Dawkin enters a large room, a dead-end by all means proven. However, there’s a giant hole in the ground, revealing a tomb beneath a tomb. The hole was cracked open and something had escaped… almost. There was like a magical wind was surging around the darkness, with feathers entwined into the wind keeping the darkness within from escaping. Said darkness had its eyes closed, sending out periodical pulses of darkness against the wind that was restraining it, shaking the wind and the feathers, but so far the wind was staying put.

The darkness was, of course…



____

@Joshua Tamashii

‘… Darkrai?’ Chatot repeated what Joshua spoke. By now Ivory and Oscar was making their ways to find possible alternative entrances, some of their grunts had ground-type Pokémon that started attempting to dig through walls.

‘So, you do know of it,’ Roderick commented, looking strictly towards Joshua. ‘It is a really difficult Pokémon to catch. You should understand that we don’t want it escaping somewhere where we cannot control it,’ Roderick said. In any case, Roderick was totally intending on engaging in Pokémon battle here. That aside.

What would Joshua’s reaction be?

Amelia listend the Darkrai and... immediately became rather somber.
"I... I don't really know. I'm not strong at all. I'm just a child with a weak body. And my pokemon aren't very strong either, though I have faith in them." She admitted. "But you do have some hope. My mentor is in the tomb and if he realizes you're inside of it, he'll come for you. He's always wanted a Darkrai and he specializes in Dark-Type pokemon such as yourself. He won't let them seal you away, I know of it. He'll do his best to prevent it, though his motives might be mostly selfish since he wants you to join his team as his own pokemon. But... he would let you out, let you see the world, and even battle other pokemon. That would be better then being sealed away again, wouldn't it?"

----------------------

"Ah, I can't stay here then. I gotta find and catch that Darkrai." Joshua said with a wide smile, only for it to turn into a frown. "But I can't let you seal it away for crimes it didn't commit. Sure, it bring nightmares, that that was ARCEAUS' design for it. That's why ARCEAUS made Cressilia, which you much have, to counter it. Though, admittedly... never mind. I'm going deeper in, I don't got time for ants like you when I got a real prize to catch. And unlike you, I understand how that poor pokemon feels. So, do everyone in this tomb a favor and crawl back into your hole..."

With that, Joshua returned all his pokemon, sans Greninja, to their pokeballs before turning his back on Roderick. "Or get squished like the bugs you are. You will not get a second warning.

If you're going to pursue someone, why not made sure that whoever undid the seal doesn't get out, assuming they didn't already. Maybe that other team in this region, Amethyst I believe, had a hand in this and you should make sure none of their members are snooping about?"

With that, Greninja would release a massive and thick Smokescreen to give itself and Joshua time to get further and deeper into the tomb, in the hopes of finding that Darkrai and quickly. Greninja would run ahead and explain things to any ghost-type pokemon, telling them about the white-robed men coming to seal their master away and Joshua wanting to defend that master directly. A bit of a lie but also a bit of truth. Hopefully ones of the Ghosts would be a guide for them.

The girl sounded annoyed by what Erza said. What she said in return made sense however, but it was a lot of superstition... After all, what kind of protection a mirror could provide, honestly? If it ever came to that anyhow, Erza registered the mirror's location in his mind: Abandoned Shrine. The way she said it was always as if she wanted him to know that the mirror would be there, heh... Maybe it was Erza's mind overthinking it- anyway, once the girl left, Erza had absolutely no reason to pursue conversation or to go after her, so, to Redcoast City he went, finally.

The city was a mix of old, fancy architeture and modern buildings - luckily, it was not a very intimidating big city. It was simply beautiful. After a bit of search, Erza had no trouble with location and then, he begins his little to-do list:

First things first, the pokémon center. It was a brief visit, honestly: Erza entered, went straight to the balcony and asked the nurse to take care of his pokémon, especially Princess that was taken out in a battle. He impatiently waited for them to be healed back to full health and then went out of the door again in order to proceed to his next point of interest.

Pokémart: In here, Erza's visit was short too. He entered and asked; "Do you sell fire stones?? Where can I get them?" And once he was told, since it was highly unlikely that he had enough just yet, Erza just bought 05 potions and then left again. Now, then...

Now, out in the Redcoast city with his pokémon healed and equipped again, Erza wanted to rush straight to Route 11 and search the shiny Blitzle again... but instead, he'd give himself a little more time before searching for that pokémon - for some reason, Erza was confident that no one would catch it before him. Maybe it was his sixth sense. He also considered the pokémon gym here in Redcoast City - but it was a really frightening place and Erza wasn't sure he wanted to go there at all. Maybe later with a team of fully evolved pokémon beyond level fifty, heh.

Erza finally decided to stop randomly thinking about things and move on to do what he did best: Finding pokémon. The boy will be searching pokémon within Redcoast City, mostly to see what he can find there - if anything interesting at all. Maybe he'll come across a cool pokémon, maybe a rare one!

---

^{Route 2: Deep Infested Woods || Late Night}
Seeing her doppelganger drop to her knees, Eryn hesitated, then walked towards her to wrap one arm around her. Her double froze upon contact, then flinched back, eyes wide as she put distance between herself and Eryn.

“It’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you,” Eryn said, her hands open in front of her. “I just wanted to say it was a good battle. Had the tables been turned, I probably would have lost too. I had the type advantage.”

When her double didn’t respond—which Eryn knew but kept forgetting would happen—Eryn smiled, saluting her double.

“Hey, it’s just a loss for now, right? Now go get stronger so that you’re more of a challenge the next time we meet,” Eryn said, waving. “Catch ‘ya later, ‘Eryn!’”

With that, Eryn left, following the Warden’s Chandelure into the shadows.

---

@PlatinumSkink

@PlatinumSkink

---

"Get back here you ruuuunt!"

"Raaa_aalllllll..." But it was too late. Ralia's voice trailed off as she was taken for a joyride atop the Togekiss. Claire could only watch with mild disbelief. Ah, well. She'd be fine. Shaking her head with a light laugh, Claire glanced over to the man as he introduced himself. Boy, he seemed like the unsure timid type.

"Wahahaha." Claire couldn't help but to laugh once he finished, grinning brightly. "Nah, I should be the one apologizing. I swear she always gets up to no good when I'm not looking, heh." More importantly, he seemed like he needed some help. She really should be going, but well...Ralia looked like she was having fun and they could probably use a small break for now. "Trouble catching pokemon, though? That's a toughie." Claire nodded in agreement, quickly having decided on her course of action.

"I happen to be a bit of a hot-shot up and coming trainer ya know! Out of all my battles I've only lost one." 'Accidentally' revealing one of her badges as she fished through her bag for a pokeball, Claire quickly wrapped an arm around Frans shoulder in an overly familiar fashion a close friend might use to talk to someone. "If ya want, I can give ya a bit of coaching. For free, even!"

Did she just take a picture of him? Odd time to do it, but he had little to dwell on it further over going deeper into the dungeon, passing several passive Pokemon on the way in. They came into a room enveloped in darkness. There were conflicted pulses emitting from the hole in the ground and a unknown man stood in front of it. At first he seemed concerned, but upon identifying them less so. He must have been expecting someone else. Still, calling them regular adventures? How insulting.

Granted, his physic friend was literally staggered by the strength of his Pokemon and his Pokedex didn't even know what it was, prompting him to take a quick picture. Regardless, Dawkin was beginning to grew sorely vexed by his lack of ability on these trips. He was going to have to do some serious training after this. Right now though Dawkin was focused on the man's continued monologue and the strangely colored Pokeball he was lazily tossing in his hand. He'd take a picture of that as well as the strange Pokemon for later reference. This man wanted his greatest champion? That would undoubtedly be Atlas, but Dawkin had a feeling Atlas couldn't hold a candle to this man's Pokemon. Hm. Moreover the mention of him being apparently brought up as a recruit as well the mission he 'accepted' somewhat ruffled his feathers.

"I caught a Pichu, but I've got no plans on letting you or your lackeys have it. I wasn't exactly planning on fighting here unless I have to, I'm just doing my best to make sure my friend gets out of all this none too worse for wear." Dawkin said, tilting his head to indicate to Amelia as being the friend in question. He wasn't sure exactly what this man was planning on, but if it was any consolation, Dawkin felt like the man himself wasn't quite sure either. However he did at least feel like putting Atlas on display wouldn't be exactly doing himself any favors. If he kept the strength of his Pokemon a secret perhaps it would give him some extra bargaining room.

---

@Ephemeral

Erza got his Pokémon healed back up.

So, Erza went to buy Fire Stones, possibly, but nope. He won't find those in a regular mart. The shopkeeper was happy to tell him the great stores in Worldedge City probably has them, though.

Statement; cities are not optimal for the findings of Pokémon. They’re mostly Pidove and Zigzagoons in Redcoast City, same as Route 11 but not as common on account of all the people. He could look into the waters by the side of the city, though his findings there would be limited as well. Here’s two, though.







With Pidove and Zigzagoon, that’s two common Pokémon from each of the neighboring routes. Now do something else.



Connected areas:
Route 15. Water Route to the west, with the Sacred Grounds island a bit further out.
Route 11. Land Route to the east, where it commonly rains but it’s the passway everywhere else from here.



__________________________

@Dusksong

Specifically, Eryn's double blinked at her approach before she arrived and jumped back before Eryn had a chance to hug her. At Eryn's statement, the double gave a little shrug and a smile, for Eryn to interpret as she liked. Then Eryn(?) looked surprised when she was saluted, raising her own hand in slight surprise as Eryn turned and left. Chandelure watched the double suspiciously before Eryn walked past and he continued guiding Eryn to the entrance.

She took her farewells with Chandelure, still thanking him profusely (I imagine), before heading back to town to heal. The next day she engaged Outer Infested Forest, and found her Pokémon had basically already out-levelled the Pokémon here, only the weakest and child-friendly of bugs inhabiting the outer reaches. Still, Tula got a few Struggles in.



So she went into True Infested Woods, and the going got tougher. Not only did the Pokémon get stronger, they also got more numerous and aggressive. More than once she had to run from Ariados, Whirlipedes, or just hordes of smaller Pokémon. However, it got easier over time to recognize the trees Pinneco fell from like bombs, to perceive the webs of Spinarak and recognize the sounds of larger Pokémon before she walked into them. Training against the likes of Spinarak, Karrablast and Metapod, Eryn's Pokémon grew stronger over time, tougher as they battled the smaller and growing beings of the woods.



… Then, Eryn ran into a conundrum. See, the weaker and unevolved Pokémon of Infested Woods seem to top at level 9. However, every evolved Pokémon seem to be level 25+. There's a large gap between the fodder and the threats in the woods, and while there are Pokémon that are in the process of traversing the gap they're few and hard to find, not optimal for reliable training. Seems Eryn is stuck at her current level here for now.

Eryn walked back into Outer Infested Woods, currently the day after her trip deeper into the woods, and-

‘Mute lady!’ … she heard that called, and then saw a group of five youngsters and bug catchers running her way.

‘I’m so happy we found you! Can I fight you again!? Please!? Your ghosts were so cool, but I'll win this time!’ a bright-eyed youngster called.

‘Could you do those tricks again? They were amazing! Luke and Peter wanted to see them too, after I told them!’ a bug catcher told, gesturing to two excited friends.

‘I, um, made this for you,’ a younger youngster said, handing something over.



‘It was really cool of you, to choose to play with us…’ the same kid said, looking timid.

Well. No need to be a genius to figure what happened here. What would Eryn do?

__________________________

@Rune_Alchemist

‘Oh… In the midst of your normal Pokémon journey, brimming with excitement… How nice…’ Frans said, looking a bit dreamingly at Claire for reasons that had nothing to do with any charm of hers. Then she got close and put an arm over him, rendering him mildly confused, but then she made her offer.

‘Oh, y-you would!? Oh, thank you! Then… what do we do?’ Frans asked, looking startled but excited.

Sooooooooo… standard coaching would likely take forever in terms of posting, so feel free to post a plan of action when it comes to this guy, and I'll poke about where things went weird.

Eventually Parvati would come back with Ralia on her back, the Togekiss smiling so happily after having taken Ralia on one serious roller-coaster ride.