---

^{Route 2: Outer Infested Woods || Late Afternoon}
Just as Eryn was about to head deeper into the woods, she was interrupted by none other than Laurinda, the warden she’d met the day before. Stiffening, she straightened, a little nervous as she glanced at the Delphox leaning against a tree. Had the fire-type told on her? Laurinda’s speech seemed to suggest that she either didn’t know, didn’t think it was a big deal, or didn’t care. Any of the three were fine with Eryn, though if Laurinda already knew, Eryn’s question options would be expanded to include the ghostly portion of the woods, where her sixth sense, if that was it, was telling her to stay away from.

When Laurinda brought up her double, Eryn listened intently, trying to glean some sort of insight into where her double had come from. At face value, it seemed that Laurinda wasn’t perturbed by the double’s existence, which was slightly reassuring. While Eryn had considered the possibility of non-human foul play, Laurinda’s lack of worry supported her most reason conclusion: that her double was, in fact, just a trainer bearing an uncanny resemblance to her.

Still, she had a few questions for Laurinda, starting with a carefully worded one to figure out whether her Chandelure had told.

“Oh, did Chandelure tell you?” she asked, smiling sheepishly. “Guess I shouldn't have gone that deep after all. But, do you know where my double’s from? And whether she has a name?”


She frowned, looking down at Kylie, who’d situated herself comfortably in Eryn’s arms, lying on her back and looking at Laurinda’s Delphox with interest. The whole mystery around her double was jarring, since she didn’t personally feel comfortable having a doppelganger run around. As much as Eryn was fine with having rivals, winning or losing to someone with her face, or seeing her double succeed… She couldn’t say she wanted that.

“My double… is she human? And did she really exist before I stepped foot in these woods? And what does she want?”

Eryn set her jaw, not liking the way her questions came off. Still, she needed answers, considering that it was her lookalike that was running amok, and if Laurinda couldn’t provide the answers, she wasn’t sure who could.

Then, after the warden answered, Eryn thanked the warden, her Delphox, and her Chandelure again, the last of which she asked the warden to pass her thanks to. By the nature of Laurinda’s job, Eryn could assume that she wouldn’t be meeting her anywhere else except the Infested Woods, and she couldn’t guarantee she’d be back, seeing as her double was running the other way. So, with what she believed to be a final goodbye until after her journey, Eryn left the woods and made for Pureplain, where she planned on stopping by the Pokemon Center before confronting her double in Kalmia’s lab.

---

@PlatinumSkink

---

---

"Oh, my dad's the flying researcher in Freecape! I know there's plenty of Flying Types out there, but I wanna help my dad and find some of the Flying Types outside of the area around Freecape. So far, I got the Tropius around, but I dunno where I'd go next." Skylar looked at the outlines of the Pokemon that Lorette had, which seemed to be bug type Pokemon. Interesting, indeed, but Skylar felt like if he was actually gonna challenge the League he'd have an easier time with Lorette's battle than most others.

As Lorette left, Skylar's attention was very quickly grabbed by Vivia as she was scolding her Rotom, though she seemed to get hit with the short end of the stick as she got shocked by Rotom. Celebrity waddled over and looked at Vivia with a scolding glare, to which Skylar laughed at a little bit. The boy then reached into his bag for the first bill he had and handed it up to Seabreeze, who looked at it with intrigue and confusion. "Wing?"

"Mind taking this to the donation box, Sea?"

"Gull!" Seabreeze took the bill in his beak and flew over to the the donation box in the corner, careful to stuff it in there as best as a Wingull could. Eventually, the bill slid into the box.

Skylar tipped 2000P!

Seabreeze flew back over to Skylar's hair and nestled back into it, nuzzling Skylar with his beak. Skylar smiled hard as he extended a hand to Valen. "I'm heading towards Route 3 after this, trying to go into Highhill to a Pokemon Center. Wanna come with me and Vivia so you don't run the risk of getting into any more trouble with those blockheads?" Regardless of whether or not Skylar's hand was taken, he continued on with another plan of his. After all, there was one more new friend here that he could make...

Skylar looked up at the Ralts above him and the other trainers, smiling at it's vague green blurry head and reaching up to it with a smile. "It's okay lil' guy. We're not gonna hurt ya. I just wanna meet you properly, if that's okay."

Contests weren't particularly interesting to Erza at all, unfortunately. The boy always considered battling to be the epitome of Pokémon, where the trainer and their pokémon used their powerful bond, strategy and any advantage they could take in order to overcome their opponent. Contests were... showy and certainly beautiful, but it never got his interest. So, even though he overheard this or that about a contest that had apparently just ended, the boy just moved on through to a new Route: Route 015. In his head, he had to become stronger so he could take on Redcoast's Gym... Which he wasn't particularly excited about, to be frank: Gyms are tough. This one, specifically, was scary.

So. As Erza walked along the coast, he couldn't help but notice the enormous amount of ships on the sea, with many trainers that acted as guardians with their pokémon standing on them. There was a good amount of wild pokémon as well, especially Krabby - not something Erza had much interest in capturing, so the boy kept moving forward, his eyes scanning the surroundings constantly. At each new find, he'd bring his pokédex out to scan the pokémon. Only after a while, something caught his interest: A Tentacool that seemed to be standing on the beach, instead of the open sea... And a little distance ahead, a girl - around his age - and while that wasn't particularly interesting to Erza as he was far more interested in pokémon than other humans unless they were trainers... the girl was crying. And that caught his attention.

He glanced at the Tentacool again aaand, maybe of sudden empathy or sheer curiosity, the boy switched his direction and walked over to the girl, standing next to her while looking over at the sea as well - and the ships of course. After some awkward silence, he cleared his throat and glanced down at her... Hopefully I can find that Tentacool again, heh.

"... So. Hope you don't mind me asking but... are you alright?"

Attacks and commentary were flying everywhere, but Dawkin still managed to find a way to weave through and obtain his goal. However its previous owner, after overcoming his surprise, was quick to inform him that the staff wouldn't help him any. The man also proclaimed Cresselia as 'gentle', however from Dawkin's, admittedly limited experience, she was anything but; so perhaps this man wasn't the most reliable source. It was worth a shot at least, in the worst case scenario, surely he could still stall a little? Cresslia was currently gathering power for another moonbeam, the last having been barely blocked by Joshua's Pokemon. Dawkin tried to get closer to Cresselia without being in the way of the attack she was charging. "Cresslia! Stop this fighting at once! You're being manipulated for evil gains, is that what you want!?" Dawkin shouted, holding the staff high above him in hopes that it, combined with his words would do something helpful.

---

@PlatinumSkink

---

Claire had no idea what Ralia was doing, but for the most part she watched eagerly. Ralia held up a seven sign for the flourish. The pokeball hit, and...

Capture!

"Ahaha, nice!" Claire gave a little fist pump as the pokeball clicked closed. "See! I knew ya could do it! Probably just got a bit unlucky with that pokeball, hah." She grinned. Ralia teleported back up to Claire's shoulder, waving earnestly at Frans. Taking out her pokedex she quickly looked over the new information. Well huh, she hadn't entirely expected that to happen. So the pokemon was now registered to her. That did make sense, in hindsight.

Well, nah, there was probably no problem with handing the Bronzor over. Right for now she'd need to send one of her pokemon back. For now she sent back Del, before picking up the pokeball from the ground.

"Welp, here ya go Frans." Claire handed the pokeball out to him. "You got a nickname you wanna call him?"

Joshua was surprising silent as his pokemon engaged in battle. He was giving no orders and instead simply observing. He was thankful Dawkin got the staff with the pokeball that Cresselia had been in but now it was up to the boy to make use of it. Who knew, maybe Cresselia would be Dawkin's pokemon by the time this was all over... bit of a scary thought actually.

Now, onto his pokemon.

Greninja and Weaville recovered very well from the quick guard, flipping in midair as they were blasted back to land on their feet, skidding to a halt with a decent distance between them and their quarry. Both kept an eye out on their surroundings, and as such, both spotted the Chattot before Absol let out a warning cry. Weavile used Quick Attack to dash back to Absol's side, avoiding the Chatter attack while Greninja retreated back as well. The three pokemon looked at each other from the corner of their eyes before deciding on a plan. With little warning, Weavile and Absol released dual Blizzard attacks on the Luxray, Archeops, and Chattot. Once the blizzards were going, Greninja used Water Shuriken into the blizzard, the watery projectiles freezing but still flying towards their targets to hit them for possible damage.

Hydreigon didn't take well to being Bug Buzzed. While the attack was still going on, Hydreigon's two arm-head things grabbed the Yanmega and it proceeded to unleash a point blank Flamethrower at the Bug-type adversary, attempting to make it very nice and toasty.

Bisharp was blasted back by the Moonblast, but Pangoro caught it and helped it onto it's feet. Both pokemon eyed the Legendary pokemon as it readied another Moonblast. neither was certain what to do as their opponent was just too powerful with that very effective Fairy-Type move. Bisharp could probably take one more blast without being knocked out, AT BEST. Worse case, this next one would knock it out. And Pangoro could only take one Moonblast. They couldn't protect the Darkrai for long.

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

Amelia was infuriated at Roderic's complete dismissal of Darkrai. She quickly glanced around and saw that this was getting nowhere fast. Darkrai was still in danger and with all of Joshua's pokemon being Dark-Types, Cresselia's Moonblast would probably tear through all of them in no time. Not to mention Darkrai itself. But what could she even do? Her pokemon were too weak to do anything and she didn't want to risk their safety for this.

So, effectively, all she had were her words and she hoped that might be enough to at least do something, though she doubted this would be the case.
"Silence proves nothing if it'll just fall on deaf ears regardless." She shouted at Roderic angrily. "You're just scared of your own nightmares. You're scared of something that all of us have and you want to try and seal away a pokemon that causes them, not through it's own choice, because of that fear? How childish can you be? How cruel and heartless can you be to do something like this to someone who hasn't even done anything?"

"Heartless? Amelia, he's well past that. Someone like him is more like soulless. Even Giratina would want nothing to do with him." Joshua said.

"Still, even if Darkrai did something in the past, such as a large scale nightmare, it's only because of that that we can appreciate the good dreams we have now. Arceaus had a role for Darkrai to play and us not letting it play that role is wrong."

@Typical

‘Chandelure didn’t have to tell me anything. He had a nervous breakdown the moment I laid my eyes on him,’ Laurinda told with a very simple tone. Delphox chuckled some more in the background. ‘And don’t think I can’t figure out your involvement. Chandelure wouldn’t have agreed to it on his own,’ Laurinda said back to Delphox, who didn’t look like she minded much, just chuckling on. Laurinda sighed, and then looked towards Eryn once again.

‘No, it’s not just you, everyone who arrives there feels the same thing. I’m not going to tell you what’s in these woods, but suffice to say, had you stayed too long you would have died.’ So Laurinda said, with a tone like it’s natural. ‘It would make my life a lot easier if you never mentioned what you found in the depths of these woods to anyone, ever, again.’

‘As for she who has taken your appearance…’ Laurinda gave the slightest of a smile. ‘She existed before you entered this woods, but did not have your shape before. Let’s just say that except for me she had never seen a human before, and as such she was severely limited in amount of shapes she could take, as someone who wants to be human. Her goal, I believe, is to blend in. She seems to want to be a Pokémon Trainer, which is difficult for one such as her. … Hm,’ Laurinda looked over Eryn a bit more, then kept speaking.

‘There’s somewhat of a rule among older Pokémon Trainers. “Guide, but don’t tell”. That is to say, we shouldn’t divulge the secrets of this world to young trainers on their journeys. It takes the fun out of it, does it not? As such, I will leave it at that. Good luck,’ Laurinda wished her, before turning to leave herself. Eryn gave her thanks, which Laurinda acknowledge with merely a slight wave, one Delphox mirrored with a smirk and a wave of the wand before turning to walk after Laurinda.

So, with that, Eryn headed back for Pureplain City.





Connected areas:
Route 1. Easier path, just follow the bigger road.
Route 2. Walk through quite an amount of suburbs until you eventually reach the path.
Sea. There’s water, alright. Can take you anywhere you want to go, assuming you have means to traverse it.



She headed for the Pokémon Center…



And then back towards Kalmia’s lab. The lab remains as decently normal-looking on the outside as one could imagine, except for the Pokéball symbol on the front of the lab-area and the sign saying it’s a Pokémon lab. Now, arriving Eryn found that the front door stood open. Heading inside, Eryn found herself confronting a curious scene.

So, there sat Kalmia inside her lab by the computer next to all the servers, looking curiously at Eryn(?) who also happened to be standing there. Also here were the large Pumpkaboo, who curiously was wearing a backpack, and Cascoon was standing on the other side of Eryn(?). Kalmia’s Slowpoke lay on the servers, staring unintelligibly at the scene. Eryn(?) turned and looked slightly frightened at Eryn. There now was a slight difference between the two of them. Eryn(?) was wearing a white mouth-mask.



Kalmia was seated, and seeing Eryn come in, she leaned slightly onto her left hand with a smile.

'Ah, I see what’s going on, now,' Kalmia said with a smile. 'Eryn, may I present Eryn, a trainer that recently left my lab, trainer card in hand,' Kalmia told Eryn(?), who looked back and forth between the professor and Eryn, her posture somewhat agitated as she realized things hadn’t gone as she wanted.

'Eryn, may I present… Eryn-two?' Kalmia smiled a bit, talking to Eryn, now. 'She just came in, looking like you. She seemingly can’t speak, except for that one sentence. “Can I have Trainer Card”, she asked, grammatical fallacy and all, with the voice of a child younger than you, that may have been male. Quite curious,' Kalmia said, looking at the agitated look-alike who was now backing back away from both of them, somewhat in the direction of the part that Kalmia usually lived in.

'We seem to be frightening her. Eryn, what would you like us to do?' Kalmia asked Eryn. Seeing how Eryn was blocking the door now, Eryn(?) was backing off for the door into Kalmia’s residence, Cascoon starting to roll to follow and Pumpkaboo jumping backwards seemingly in position to protect her if Eryn or Kalmia tried something.

What would Eryn like to do?

__________________________

@Ephemeral

The girl was most assuredly crying, sitting by the peer, looking out over the water, when Erza came and asked…

‘… Kh!’ The girl suddenly made an annoyed sound and crying took a turn for sudden annoyance. She shot up to her feet and spun towards him, her eyes suddenly looking all angry instead.



‘I’m perfectly alright! Never better! I can hold my own against this, no problem!’ she said, raising her chin high and looking like she wanted to grow taller in the same motion.

‘In fact, I’ll prove it to you! The fact you dare randomly talk to strangers means you’re prepared for the risk getting trodden upon, isn’t that right!?’





… That, or Erza can just say no to fighting, go and do something else, accept on terms, or just talk to her without actually accepting to battle. If he’d like to go do something else, he can do that. That Tentacool is probably still there.



Connected areas:
Sacred Ground. Over a bit of water, and past the Team Virtue blockade.
Redcoast City. To the east is the resort city also known for Contests.



__________________________

@Rune_Alchemist

‘Th-that must have been it! Thank you! I don’t know how to thank you! I can’t believe it! It’s finally happened…!’ Frans called out so happily as he accepted the Pokéball as Claire gave. Then he just laughed out loud. ‘Nah, that’s a lie. I know exactly how I’ll thank you!’ Frans said, and reached back to retrieve items.

Should she accept…



‘The letter of recommendation will allow you, once, to get into someplace that might otherwise have turned you away,’ Frans says with a smile. ‘People with lots to do might feel inclined to help out, you might be given tours of places that would be outside your reach, things like that! That, or…’ Frans smiles a bit more. ‘… or you can use it to be permitted to issue the Pokémon League Challenge once without actually winning the Pokémon League, if you feel so inclined.’ Normally, only those who have won in a tournament called the Pokémon League gets the privilege to challenge the Elite Four. But with this, they’ll fight you anyway.

‘Oh, and of course, I welcome you to visit my home at the Private Palace at any time! I’m running out of time to be out, actually, so I must be going!’ He looked down on the Great Ball containing the Bronzor, smiling.

‘Yes, nickname… I know… you shall be… Tezcatlipoca, for the god of night and lord of smoking mirrors. Yes. That fits perfectly,’ Frans said, his smile going from ear to ear in happiness. Parvati also looked happy where she floated over him. ‘With that, I must depart! I shall see you later, best miss!’

So he turned to leave, still happy…

Except, uh.

Bronzor was still registered in Claire’s party. It should be noted, she didn’t do anything wrong in the transfer of Pokémon from her to Frans. By all means, the Pokémon SHOULD have been transferred to Frans. For whatever reason, it has not. If she lets him leave now, he’ll unknowingly be holding the sixth slot of her party hostage from her.

Claire’s actions?

__________________________

@Joshua Tamashii @Eklispe

‘Oh, dear. Back!’ Roderick commanded as suddenly one heck of a combined blizzard came flying from beneath, and all three of his Pokémon took cover behind solid ground for a moment, letting the blizzard pass. That is to say, they managed to avoid the blast of the blizzards and the Water Shuriken, but they sure weren’t able to counter-attack. ‘This is a whole lot of ice for a party of dark-type Pokémon…’ Roderick commented with a smirk, looking at the blizzard beam passing overhead.

Meanwhile, Hydreigon cooked Yanmega. There wasn’t much more to see in that scene as the bug was scorched and fainted by the three-headed dragon, and Oscar simply raised a Pokéball and called back his Pokémon. That said, he had not moved. He still stood to protect his Smeargle from the dragon. Still, he wasn’t doing anything.

Meanwhile, Amelia was saying things about Roderick, Joshua agreeing and filling in and such.

‘You know, that hurts, somewhat,’ Roderick said, behind the ground he was taking cover behind. ‘So we see things a bit differently, but that makes me cruel, evil and soulless? At worst, I’d be a well-intentioned extremist…’ he said, actually sounding a bit hurt. ‘Hey, Oscar. I’m not sounding like some insane nutjob, right? My words make some matter of sense, I hope?’

‘Oh, absolutely, your excellency!’ Oscar burst out, eagerly. ‘Each sentence that comes from your mouth is like a river of light, pouring out and cleansing this world of the impurities of the weak, your actions infallible as you stand against the injustice of your incorrigible opponents!’

There was a moment of silence as Roderick stared blankly at Oscar.

‘Oscar. I appreciate everything you’re doing for our organization, but, uh… Where’s Ivory when I need her?’ Roderick asked, looking about himself.

_{She’s currently fighting off an army of ghosts along with the rest of the Team Virtue grunts.}

‘… No matter,’ Roderick finally said, turning back to those he was arguing with. ‘If I let all Pokémon do as their natures decree, I suppose I should stay back as Haunters drain people of their lives, Froslasses lead travelers to their dens and freeze them solid, and Cacturnes prey on travellers that can no longer move. I will do nothing such. There is such a thing as flawed evolution,’ Roderick stated, preparing to command his Pokémon to move again.

Cresselia, meanwhile, was charging her Moonblast. Dawkin shouted to her, raising the staff. It was enough to get her attention, albeit he did not get the reaction he desired. Cresselia turned the slightest, looking towards him with a single eye. Something in her eye looked hurt, acknowledging what he said, yet…

Yet her eyes once again fixed on Darkrai, and now there was hostility instead, despite that Darkrai merely hovered in place at ground-level, committing to nothing and staring back up at her. With that, Cresselia was done charging her beam, and unleashed the massive Moonblast straight down at Darkrai.

‘Chatot, Mimic,’ Roderick commanded, still behind the rock. Chatot learned Moonblast.
‘Archeops, Agility,’ Roderick continued. Archeops boosted its speed.
‘Luxray, Electric Terrain,’ Roderick finished. The ground was suddenly blanketed with a surge of electricity impossibly running underneath the feet of everyone within a large range.

‘Now, then,’ Roderick said, having taken this turn to power up for the next turn.

What would the present trainers do?

__________________________

@Gardevoiran _@prettydrops

Skylar donated 2000 P! … That’s a significant amount.

Vivia momentarily just stood there, looking tired and moderately toasted from the earlier electric shock. Her tired eyes behind her slightly ajar glasses turned to look at Celebrity as she came around glaring.

'… What? Yeah, you’re awfully cute, but I can’t tell if you want to tell me something with that glare,' Vivia told, still standing where she was the moment Rotom shocked her.

Ralts jolted a little from actually being spoken to, but then he actually checked with his emotional sensor… and peeked over the edge at Skylar. ‘Ralts?’ he asked, looking curiously at the nearly blind person.

Now, it actually was a decent drop, so he wouldn’t just jump down.

And now?

Erza should've expected as much. As soon as he approached the girl and asked if everything was okay, she went from crying to very angered and challenged him to a battle- there was absolutely no way Erza would turn back her challenge. He even allowed himself a confident grin at the thought of making her even sadder once he won; damn, how sadistic!

".. Heh, if it will cheer you up. Come on, then!" Erza leads the battle with Growlithe. The girl, apparently, leads with Snubbul.

---

^{Pureplain City || Day 2: Evening}
Laurinda’s words were at the front of Eryn’s mind as she headed towards Kalmia’s lab. Her double was a ‘her’ and had existed before Eryn arrived in the Infested Woods, but she’d existed without a shape? To Eryn, that sounded like some sort of Pokemon, but she could only think of Ditto, the resident purple shapeshifter that ruled itself out by virtue of its dot-shaped eyes. Of course, there were stories of Ditto becoming so accustomed to transforming that they were able to change their eyes as well, but they largely seemed just to be stories.

Laurinda’s point that her double “wanted to be human,” too, stood out to Eryn, mainly because it was unsettling. She should be flattered that the Pokemon had chosen her as a role model of sorts, but the way the Pokemon was going about it seemed like the Pokemon was intent on replacing her, not just admiring her. It made Eryn feel just a tad resentful since, in a way, the Pokemon had done it because she’d seemed an easy, convenient target. She could assume that the Pokemon was admiring her, yes, but that was an assumption she had little proof to back without confronting the Pokemon so, in order to avoid jumping to any more conclusions, Eryn figured she’d reserve most of the judgement calls for when she confronted her double again, and hopefully for the last time.

If her double was a Pokemon, and if she really did want to be a trainer, though, Eryn couldn’t see a good way to help her. Pokemon couldn’t be trainers, and frankly she wasn’t selfless enough to give up her new career for the sake of a Pokemon’s interest. Becoming a Pokemon trainer had been her dream ever since she was small, and she had to wait seventeen years too many to make her own journey, education be damned. She wasn’t letting anything get in the way of that, not the innate creepiness of the Infested Woods, and definitely not some wannabe Pokemon from those woods.

That said, Eryn could sympathize with the Pokemon. Being a Pokemon trainer was pretty much all Eryn could ever hope for. She had Dei, her trusty starter who she couldn’t imagine going without at this point. His grumpiness, in addition to bringing a smile to her face, kept her grounded and focused on the real possibilities, and she doubted she could have gotten a better starter Pokemon. She also had Kylie, her sweet Mawile who seemed to show a depth Eryn couldn’t quite put a finger on except to know that she’d trust her to make good judgement calls in the heat of battle. One day Eryn would crack into that indecipherably cheery front Kylie put up, but until then she was content with slowly earning Kylie’s trust. Finally but never least importantly, she had Tula, her blank-gazed Tutu who used her single move as valiantly as any Pokemon, bringing a whole battalion of Struggles to every match she was put in. Eryn was almost sad that Tula would one day evolve into a Gyarados and lose her trademark stare, but she was equally excited for Tula to finally gain some teeth, fins, and joints usable in both battle and daily life. Sure Eryn might not be able to carry Tula around in her evolved form, but Tula would be able to carry her and express herself while doing it.

For these three Pokemon—and the others to come, because there would be others—Eryn wouldn’t trade the world, and for this she mourned her double’s plight. Her double was in an impossible situation, barred from becoming a trainer by the nature of her existence, if Eryn had guessed the nature of hers correctly. Eryn couldn’t imagine how she’d fare against such odds herself, let alone as a Pokemon, and she wanted nothing more than to help.

The question, then, was of how she could help. Since she wasn’t willing to give up her own trainership—an unthinkable option, and Eryn wasn’t even going to apologize for not really considering it—she couldn’t offer her double a career as a trainer. What she could do, instead, was offer to bring the Pokemon along and let her watch and learn. The thought was a bit unsettling, and in a way Eryn would be leading her on, but maybe she would be able to break the news more gently over time. More than that, maybe she’d be able to convince the Pokemon of a different goal. The glory of battle was a cheap aspiration in some ways, but in others it was the most basic aspiration for a trainer to have, and Eryn saw nothing wrong with it. So she wanted to prove her strength, her intellect, and her bond with her Pokemon. What better way did she have to do that?

Tula in her arms and Dei and Kylie at her side, the former trudging along more sullenly than the latter, Eryn let herself into Kalmia’s lab. Inside, the researcher sat, looking quizzically at none other than Eryn’s double.

“Hey, Professor!” Eryn said, waving as the color drained out of her double’s face. For some reason, her double had chosen to take up a white face mask, as if she were sick. The more reasonable explanation would be that she was trying to hide her telling traits—the traits that would obviously differentiate her from Eryn herself. A forked tongue? A lack of teeth? The possibilities were endless, but Eryn was sure she would find out in due time.

As Kalmia spoke, Eryn’s double was slowly backing towards the other door in the room, prompting Eryn to back up slightly as well. She hadn’t come to make threats, only settle what she probably should have the day before.

“Hey, long time no see. Erepi—can I call you that? Eri for short,” Eryn said, winking. “I totally get where you're coming from, wanting to be a trainer and all. Becoming a trainer was my dream for so long that I pretty much can’t imagine doing anything else. That’s why I can’t agree to you stealing my spotlight. You understand, right?”

Eryn grinned, indicating her Pokemon. “They’re counting on me. I’m counting on me, and I want to make a name for myself with my own blood, sweat, and tears. That’s why I can’t accept you going around with my face, unfortunately. I’m my own person, and you going around as me kinda undermines everything I’m working for. However,” she said, pausing to look back at her double, “while I can't give you my trainer card or identity, I can offer to bring you with me. Where I’m going, I’m sure I’ll meet trainers and Pokemon of all types. You’ll be able to learn about trainership alongside me and come back a better trainer for your own Pokemon. With your go-getter-ness, and we could help each other out—though maybe you’d be helping me a bit more than me, you, in this case, since I’m basically asking your team to wait for you.”

Eryn laughed, adjusting her cap as she looked over at her double’s own Pokemon, admiring the bond they’d already formed. While her offer would separate them, but she wasn’t too keen on the ways to resolve that dilemma. Her team was large enough as it was, and taking on more than one Pokemon just wasn’t what she was looking to do. Offering to capture and box them, too, didn’t sit right with her, so Eryn didn't have any bright ideas for her double.

“If you’re not willing to leave your team behind, though, I completely understand. They’re your Pokemon—your friends. Finding a new team… well, that’s pretty unthinkable.” She shrugged. “So, I guess it’s a one-sided offer of sorts. You’d be able to come with me, if you’re interested, and I can teach you the basics of training from my perspective. I can’t offer much else to help because, believe it or not, I’m busy being a trainer myself.”

Falling silent, Eryn waited. She was being a bit unfair, she supposed, in not sympathizing more with her double, but this was her moment. Having just begun her Pokemon journey the day before, she wasn’t about to slow down, not yet and maybe not ever. This was her final offer, and if her double didn’t take it, well, Eryn supposed she’d just have to wish her the best of luck.

---

@PlatinumSkink

@Ephemeral

A battle it was!

Firstly, it was Hunter VS Jeffrey, Growlithe VS Snubbull. Jeffrey indeed started out dashing in for the Bite, and Hunter replied with an Ember in the face. Jeffrey was hurt, but not out of it yet, and hounded in for Bites while Hunter bit back and interchanged with Embers. However, one of Hunter’s Bites turned into a Critical Hit and he won the first encounter rather handedly, though he only has around 33% health left.



‘Ugh,’ Yvonne made a frustrated noise, but kept focused all the same.

Secondly, Vee VS Joline, Eevee VS Tynamo. Turns out Joline was faster, and wasted no time blasting a Thunder Wave at Vee, promptly paralyzing him. Here Erza’s luck took a turn for the worse, as Vee couldn’t move due to paralyzation. Joline blasted a Charge Beam, hitting Vee with an electric blast that increased her Special Attack, and Vee still couldn’t move. Vee was hit by another Charge Blast, and Joline’s special attack went up further, but now finally Vee got loose and managed to hit into Joline with an increased-power move from Adaptability, doing considerable damage. … Unfortunately, Vee went down to the next Charge Beam, which increased Joline’s Special Attack for the third time.

‘There you go! Well done, Joline!’ Yvonne happily called to her Tynamo.

Now. Casform VS Joline. No weather here, so it’s normal Castform. Castform dodged a Charge Blast on the way and struck Joline with a Tackle. Joline counter with a +3 Charge Blast into Castform’s face, that did more than half of his health… but Castform finished the job with a Tackle of his own, taking down the Tynamo. Castform is left with 46% health.



‘Ack. Ah, you did well,’ Yvonne complimented her Pokémon, before locking eyes with Erza. ‘You’ve done well so far, but now you’re up against the coolest Pokémon west of Worldedge! C’mon, Stefan!’

And so, Stefan the Absol VS Extraordinary the Duskull. Stefan went forth and with Pursuit right off the bat…! … Aaaaaaaaand took out Extraordinary in a single Super Effective blow, Stefan turning around with a snort and calmly walking back to his trainer with closed eyes after finishing.

‘You’re so cool, Stefan!’ Yvonne called eagerly. ‘Feeling like giving up, yet!?’ she then taunted Erza.

By the battle plan, Erza now went to Hunter. He sent an Ember Stefan’s way, which hit and did some damage… before Stefan finished that battle too, with a Pursuit move that struck out hunter’s remaining health after the battle with Jeffrey.

‘Hahaha… I already knew, but isn’t Stefan just the best!?’ Yvonne boasted, as Stefan was once again calmly walking back to his side of the battlefield to expect the next opponent.

What would Erza do now?

__________________________

@Typical

When Eryn moved back and started talking, Eryn(?) stopped somewhat close to the door into Kalmia’s residence, listening to what Eryn had to say while Pumpkaboo still stood like to defend her. When Eryn said the part of having wanted to be trainer together and wouldn’t have Eryn(?) stealing the spotlight, Eryn(?) looked down, perhaps a little guilty. She listened to the next part while looking down into the floor, but then Eryn offered to bring her along. Eryn(?) looked up at her, a bit surprised, her attention certainly captured. However, yeah, just as Eryn recognized herself, Eryn(?)’s gaze wandered to her companions, Pumpkaboo and Cascoon, the overgrown pumpkin standing to defend her still while Cascoon looked up at her curiously. Eryn addressed that, too, which ultimately left Eryn(?) looking down at Cascoon and Pumpkaboo, the latter of them now turning to look back at his trainer.

Eryn(?) took a bit of time. She went from looking down at her Pokémon to looking up into the ceiling… and then started slowly shaking her head-

-when she was pushed forward by what appeared to be nothing, Eryn(?) stumbling a bit before her Phantump exited through her back, having been inside Eryn(?)’s body. Eryn looked back in surprise, and the stump-ghost Pokémon just gave her a little smile.

‘Phantump!’ Phantump said, looking happily towards her. Pumpkaboo and Cascoon exchanged a look, too, before looking to Eryn(?) as well.

‘Pumpka!’ Pumpkaboo said, also giving a smile from the little mouth over the main pumpkin part below the eyes. Cascoon merely looked on, no objections.

Eryn(?) looked at them somewhat in surprise, then looked over at Kalmia. Kalmia smiled in return.

'Don’t worry. I’ll look after them if you wish. Escort them back, safely, if they so wish. Regardless, this side is handled,' the professor assured, a little wave with her hand. Eryn(?) looked back at her Pokémon once more, and they gave her assuring nods.

‘You’re awesome!’ Phantump encouraged with a smile, perfectly copying what Eryn recognized as the voice of Youngster Kale, who’d she just fought this morning.

'Ooh, that’s the voice I heard,' Kalmia mused, smiling.

Eryn(?) looked at her companions for a bit longer, coming to terms with what they were encouraging her to do. Then finally, Eryn(?) sighed, and turned to look at Eryn.

Eryn(?) looked a bit awkward, but then closed her eyes. Then all the colours that made up her body molded together, darkness enveloping Eryn(?)’s body. The dark form started changing, becoming smaller, the shape of the being before Eryn changing before her eyes. Finally, it took the shape of a much smaller creature. Colours returned, and in the place where Eryn(?) had stood was now a small quadruped Pokémon with black fur and red accents, looking towards Eryn with determination.

'Zorua,' the Pokémon said.



And, of course, if Eryn chooses to bring Zorua along…



Pumpkaboo shook off the backpack on his back, and Cascoon extended a couple needles to poke the top open, and the two Pokémon pushed the contents forward at Eryn.

‘Pumpkaboo?’ Pumpkaboo asked, while offering the three Pokéballs that were in the bag. Now, regardless of what Eryn might assume, it’s mainly just because the wild Pokémon are not going to need them so Eryn can take them with her.



'Well, this has been interesting,' Kalmia said, and turned towards Phantump. 'I assume the mask was to disguise that it was actually you who were speaking?'

‘Phantump!’ Phantump called, proud.

'I see. Well, then,' Kalmia simply said, now to look at Eryn and whatever she intended on doing next.

If she’d be leaving, here’s Pureplain City.





Connected areas:
Route 1. Easier path, just follow the bigger road.
Route 2. Walk through quite an amount of suburbs until you eventually reach the path.
Sea. There’s water, alright. Can take you anywhere you want to go, assuming you have means to traverse it.

Erza couldn't blink nor redirect his attention for half a second, completely in trance with the battle against this unknown trainer. Hunter did his work exceptionally well and beat their first opponent, a Snubbul, with a critical bite. After this, she sent out a Tynamo and Erza answered by calling Hunter back and sending out Vee, his starter pokémon. Unfortunately, the normal type didn't do so well against the Tynamo after being struck with Thunder Wave; paralysis became a real problem in the battle very soon. So, once Vee was no longer able to battle, Erza quickly called him back, thanking him for his good job. Then, he sent out Castform - thankfully, Vee had weakened the Tynamo sufficiently that even without a weather form, Castform was still able to finish Tynamo off.

...

An Absol. What a cool pokémon in all honesty; it looked very tough and Erza soon realized that it was not only in looks. Still, he had a lot of faith in his pokémon... Unfortunately, they were being taken out one by one. His tactics didn't work, as he wanted to bait the Dark-Type's move and then disable it so it would become an easy target. Hunter didn't do so well as well.

That means Erza had Castform under half health and Princess, the Pidgey. After some seconds of thought, he sent out Castform. Though he was weakened, he was actually a capable pokémon and could certainly set the odds in Erza's favor. A freeze from Powder Snow or a Burn from Ember would do it and even if Castform wasn't able to finish it off, Erza still had Princess waiting expectingly to fly through the battle.

"Castform, I will need you again!" With that, Erza sent out the Weather Pokémon again, narrowing his eyes as he stared at the Absol, ignoring completely the provocation from the other trainer. "Keep your distance and watch out, use Powder Snow!"

@PlatinumSkink

---

Do-do-do-do-dooooo! Side-quest finished!

Sweet mother of quest rewards!

10 Ultra Balls? Amulet Coin? A shiny stone? And by her own cute butt, that recommendation! She could just like...go ultra hard mode and challenge the league right now! Doing it was even a stupid thought, but it was hilarious to think about. Wouldn't be the first time she tried to challenge the end boss at level one for giggles. Claire gratefully took each item as her just rewards, quickly stuffing everything away in her bag as Frans went on to thank her, even inviting her into his home. Private palace, huh? Fancy. She'd need to dress properly for the occasion if she went.

Hm, was her suit still packed at home? She really needed to get her own flying pokemon.

There was just one teensy tiny problem.

"Ah! Wait hold up Franz!" She had no idea what was going on, really, but for some reason, Tezcatl...Tez, was still registered to her party. "Sorry to rain on both of our parades right now, but uh, for some reason Tez is still registered to my party. " Ralia poked Claire's cheek. "I think Ralia is saying that something was weird with your first pokeball too."

@Ephemeral

Castform went into battle, casting Powder Snow! The ice hit Stefan from the front as the Absol hunted forth to attack Castform. Castform couldn’t avoid the Pursuit, and took a notable amount of damage, but Castform held tight. He unleashed another Powder Snow into Stefan! … However, the Absol remained unfrozen, and he jumped in for another Pursuit, which took out the last of Castform’s health, and Castform fainted.

Stefan, now obviously damaged, stood with his side towards Erza and gave him a mildly annoyed glare with the eye on that side. Got any more? … He seemed to ask.

‘Ha-ha-ha…! … Ah, I guess that was a bit unfair of me, I just had to take out my frustrations on someone… Sorry~!’ Yvonne stated, smirking so proudly. She didn’t look very sorry.

What’s Erza doing, now?

__________________________

@Rune_Alchemist

‘Huh?’ Frans looked considerably confused, as Claire pointed out that Tez was still in her party. In fact, he looked magnificently wide-eyed, Parvati floating about with a similar expression.

‘Excuse me for not entirely getting it, but what do you mean?’ Frans asked, wanting her to tell him a bit more about that.

@PlatinumSkink

---

"Alright, so basically," Claire began, folding her arms across her chest. "When you buy a pokeball, they're registered to whoever buys them. So I lent you my pokeball, so technically I'm the one who caught it according to the pokedex and stuff." She tried to explain it simply, but she wasn't quite sure she was succeeding. "Normally I don't think it's a big deal. People trade pokemon and hand them over all the time without much of a worry, right?" That was correct as far as she knew anyways. "So I dunno what's happening but basically I still own Tez, not you and it's taking up my sixth pokemon slot. Which is kind of bad for a loooot of reasons."

Technically he'd be walking around with a pokemon registered to her. Which was kinda shady all on its own. She wasn't sure what was going on her, but letting this go seemed kind of bad.

@Rune_Alchemist

‘Y-yeah, I know all that,’ Frans said, looking flustered. ‘But we did things correctly! In the first place, the Pokéball should have automatically understood when the Great Ball was handed over to me, and even after that when you handed over the ball it should have understood that you did it with the intention to trade...’ Possible crime-strategies that might abuse a system where "just hand the Pokéball over" is an acceptable way to trade Pokémon aside.

‘So... What's up...?’ Frans asked, confused.

---

^{Pureplain City: Kalmia’s Lab || Day 2: Evening}
Eryn watched in amazement as her double’s form became shadowy, then shrunk into the form of a small quadruped—Zorua. Rather than slapping herself upside the head for not recognizing the Pokemon’s telltale signs of shapeshifting and ‘wanting to be human,’ Eryn turned around to retrieve the Silk Scarf from her bag.

“Before I forget, this Silk Scarf that was meant for you, from one of the cute youngsters you battled.”

Bending down, Eryn tied the scarf around the Zorua’s neck, adjusted, adjusted some more, then frowned.

“Doesn’t match your color scheme very well, and,” Eryn said, checking her Pokedex, “Doesn’t look like you’re going to make much use of it. Maybe for Scratch, but then again, maybe not even then.”

Eryn turned to look at the Zorua’s team, then at her own, then turned back to the Zorua.

“Yep, this is staying on you for now. It’s cute, in an odd sort of way.” Eryn grinned, patting the Zorua. “And—hold on, a guy?”

Brows furrowed, she stared at her Pokedex screen, somewhat confused. “Huh. Well, whatever. ‘Erebi’ instead of ‘Erepi’ then, how about that? Still ‘Eri’ for short.”

The Zorua gave a half-shrug, then a nod when Eryn looked concerned. Still, she didn’t pursue it. She’d have time to talk it out later, but for now, she had goodbyes to facilitate.

Some movement from the Pumpkaboo and Cascoon caught Eryn’s attention, and she watched as their joint effort led to a trio of offered Pokeballs.

“Oh, for me? You shouldn’t have,” Eryn said, grinning as she accepted the gift. “Sadly I don’t really have anything to offer back, and the Silk Scarf, well…” She glanced between the three Pokemon. Cascoon was the only one even remotely able to use the scarf, but it’d have a hard time wearing it, and an even harder time getting a good use out of it.

“Wait, hold on,” Eryn said, snapping her fingers as she turned to Kylie. “The Occa Berry!”

Kylie pulled a face but grudgingly retrieved the berry for Eryn when Eryn held out a hand.

“Aw, don’t worry, Kylie. We’ll have lots of chances to get good things later,” Eryn said, patting the Mawile before turning to the forest trio and dropping the Occa Berry into the previously empty backpack.

“Here you are. Considering your typings, any of you could make good use of this, so we better see ya’ll when we come back later,” she said, winking. Then, after listening, nodding, then mouthing an ‘oh’ about the mask and Phantump, she clapped her hands together, exhaled, then turned to Kalmia.

“Well, should get these Pokemon home now. Thanks so much for everything, Professor! Hopefully next time you’ll catch me calling instead of visiting, or I’d be having a rather dull trainer journey,” Eryn said, laughing as she waved. “Bye Professor, and bye Mr. Slowpoke!”

With that, she escorted the Pokemon out of the Professor’s lab, herding the little group of six onto the streets and onto Route 2, where she spent a few tens of minutes prattling on about the ‘embarrassing stories’ she had about Dei, Kylie, and Tula.

“Take it like a champ, Dei. You were about as useful as Tula here without Ember, for that first battle. You’re lucky you have a tuft of fire on you, or we really would have been screwed.”

Dei made no response, of course, as the pack of small Pokemon chuckled, various noises melding together. Instead, he stalked ahead, breathing faint wisps of indignant smoke.

“And it looks like we’re about here. Think you guys can handle going in on your own?” Eryn asked, bending down to look at the trio of Pokemon, who were now huddling around Eri, bouncing as much as they could. While Eri didn’t seem too happy to be leaving his friends behind, he still said his goodbyes firmly, his barks succinct and short.

“Bye! Take care!” Eryn said, waving as the trio disappeared into the forest. Then, after giving Eri a moment of silence to stare after his friends, she found him looking up at her with some mixture of sad acceptance and determination that she couldn’t figure out exactly.

“Alright, while I can’t exactly say ‘cheer up,’ no long faces okay? I don’t do well with rain clouds.”

When Eri looked confused at her statement, Eryn opted to send a more straightforward message. Scooping Eri up so that she now held both Tula and the now bewildered dark-type, she whirled them around, a wide grin on her face.

“Cheer up, we’re going on an adventure!”

---

^{Pureplain City || Day 2: Late Evening}
Over dinner, Eryn had considered her next move, watching silently as her Pokemon interacted. Tula, bless her heart, flopped energetically next to her teammates, who glanced at her from time to time but otherwise paid her no heed. Mute and rather slow, she made a poor conversationalist, thus making her the perfect listener—if only Eryn’s Pokemon appreciated that.

Kylie, on the other hand, had taken readily to Eri, all smiles and hugs, which seemed to surprise Eri as much as he appreciated it. Despite her charm, though, Kylie was put aside by Eri in favor of Dei, who seemed as surprised as Kylie by this turn of events. Nevertheless, Dei’s surprise soon turned into smug reassurance, which he wore with pride, much to Kylie’s displeasure. So, at the current moment, as Dei and Eri were involved in a rather serious and detailed conversation across the table, Kylie sat in the corner booth’s middle, glum as she chewed her food beside Tula and Eryn.

“Hey now, you can’t be liked by everyone, right?” Eryn said, lightly elbowing Kylie. “Cheer up! You have my undying love, as well as Tula’s! Right, Tutu?”

Eryn bent down, cooing as she tore another scrap of a standard poffin for Tula. Kylie, looked on apathetically, spooning more food into her mouth.

“Alright, fine, don’t appreciate Tula. Ya’ll are going to regret this when she gets big, ‘cuz she’ll be the coolest one by far, then.”

Kylie rolled her eyes, prompting a laugh from Eryn, who then went back to thinking about her next course of action. Originally, her plan had been to train on Route 2 and lap back to Route 1, and she was currently positioned perfectly for that, but frankly, that seemed quite dull. A glance through her Pokedex at the Pokemon commonly found on Route 1 left her wanting nothing really, so after mulling it over further as her Pokemon finished up their meals, Eryn settled firmly on heading through the Wet Caverns to Lakewatch.

With this decision, however, came a new set of problems, mainly starting with the fact that she was pretty underfunded for future monetary ventures. Picking up two Great Balls and an Escape Rope before dinner had made a big dent in her balance, and she knew she’d only be looking to spend more in the future, considering Pureplain’s Pokemart was pretty basic. After racking her brains for a bit, Eryn realized that she knew exactly where she could get some quick cash.

---

^{Pureplain City: Trainer’s School || Day 2: Night}
Okay, so bullying kids for money wasn’t her brightest moment, but hey, she was desperate here. It wasn’t her fault if they accepted her challenge, was it? Plus, she had the ranking system on her side here, so her actions were somewhat justified. Cash was cash and winning was winning, and it wasn’t her fault someone had the bright idea of tying them together at the Trainer’s school.

With this in mind, Eryn prowled the school campus, challenging any student she deemed to be an easy, cocky target. The school was exactly how Eryn had remembered it from her visit the day before, except maybe a little more empty now that it was the evening rather than midday. Quick cash was the goal, and she’d throw whatever Pokemon worked best at them, healing her Pokemon at the Pokemon Center whenever necessary. Type advantages were her best friend, with fire-, ghost-, fairy-, and dark-type moves in her arsenal. Tula went into battle whenever possible, too, given her need for training, and Eryn gave her best cheers from the sidelines, as always.

Easy battles aside, though, Eryn soon found herself intrigued by the ranking list. Where did she rank among the rookie trainers? After some deliberation, she committed ranks thirty to forty to memory and headed around the courtyard looking for the listed names. A few rank twenties wouldn’t hurt either, she figured, though perhaps it was just her overconfidence talking. But hey, the youngster she’d fought the day before had been terribly underleveled compared to her, and she was looking to train her Pokemon, not crush spirits.

“We’re going to get you all spruced up before tomorrow, Eri, so you better be prepared to pull some moves in those caverns,” Eryn teased, glancing at her new resident dark-type, who seemed perkier after a good meal and chat with Dei. Speaking of, the fire-type was still attached to the hip to Eri, and they exchanged words more often than Eryn did with either of them—a new first for Dei, but Eryn was more happy for them than perturbed like Kylie.

“You too, Tutu. I’ll be counting on you in pulling some fancy Struggles in the water,” Eryn said, bouncing Tula in her arms. To her credit, Tula wiggled a bit, but Eryn was unable to tell whether she’d done so reflexively or out of understanding. Still, it brought a grin to her face, and that was enough answer for her.

---

@PlatinumSkink

Castform managed to use ice powder twice against the Absol, weakening him further. Unfortunately, luck wasn't on Erza's side today as there was no status effect from these attacks. Returning Castform to his pokéball, Erza quietly thanked the pokémon before placing the pokéball on his waist, immediately taking the last able member of his team's pokéball: Princess. Erza had all faith in her for this battle, all he needed to do was use her power to their maximum capability.

"Alright, Princess... It's all on your beak now." The trainer whispered quietly to the pokéball before tossing it forward, the small bird-type materializing right in front of Erza in the air.

"Alright, Princess! Fly higher, now keep using gust on the sand around that Absol!" Erza knew that this was risky, but... his intention was to create a sandstorm around Absol that would obstruct his sight. A mix of gust and sand-attack, to so say - which Princess promptly followed, flying higher up and dusting clouds of sands around the dark-type, hopefully out of his reach for now. As soon as Erza saw an opportunity, he went in for a tackle: "Now, Princess! DIVE IN FOR A TACKLE! Let's take him out!"

@PlatinumSkink

---

"Beats me." Claire replied with a shrug. This was a problem, though. In fact this whole thing smelled funny. The only thing she could think of to do was possibly try going to a pokemon center and asking someone about it...well, actually. Hold on. There was someone else who might be able to tell her a bit more about this. Fishing out her pokedex from her bag again, Claire dialed the professors number. "I've got a friend that might be able to help." Did she feel bad about possibly bothering the professor with something so trivial?

Not one bit.

"Heeeey, professor!" Claire shouted loudly over the phone. "I got a question for ya. I was helping some guy catch a pokemon so I lent him one of my great balls."

"Rrrallll~" Ralia tugged on the pokedex trying to say hi to the professor too.

"Small problem. For some reason the pokeball didn't register him as a trainer and it says I'm the one who caught it still even after I traded with him."

---

---

"Hmm... that is a bit of a drop for a Ralts..." Skylar scratched his chin as he looked up at the green and red blur, trying to figure out what exactly to do about this situation. Given the circumstances, Skylar didn't want to just hold out his hands and let the little bugger fall into them. That ran the risk of his eyes failing him, which they probably would. For a moment, he considered sending Seabreeze up to let the Ralts ride down on the bird, but he wasn't sure if the Wingull could hold the Ralts or if it was going to be too heavy.

The trainer thought for a little longer before he snapped. "Got an idea. I'm just hoping Paradise will be okay with it." From his belt, Skylar pulled out Paradise and let her out of her Pokeball. At first, she was a little festered, as she seemed to be having a good nap, but she quickly stood up and dwarfed Skylar, looking down on her trainer with confusion. "Pi?"

"Really sorry to wake you up from your nap, Paradise, but we've got a small situation up there." Skylar said as he pointed up to the roof, the Ralts still standing overhead. "Think you might be able to help the Ralts there get down?"

Paradise looked up at the Ralts before she stretched out, the top of her head just barely reaching the roof. If the Ralts wanted to step on, Paradise would be more than happy carrying him down to the ground from there. If that happened, Skylar'd pat her on the neck and return her to her Pokeball to continue the nap she was having. If not, something'll be figured out.

Meanwhile, Celebrity waddled over to where Vivia's Rotom was and glared at it, for some reason. Whether it was because it was hogging all of Vivia's attention or if Celebrity was tired of it's shenanigans was unclear, all that was certain was Celebrity was annoyed with it. From seemingly nowhere, Celebrity presented a small microphone, and looked at the Rotom with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

She waS GONNA USE SING AGAIN OH NO.

Joshua grit his teeth as Roderic used the high ground as cover for his pokemon. He was going to have to change that and quickly. But he had too much going on right now. However, he did want to get a few more jabs in at Roderic as well, so that first since he could still observe the battle while doing so.

"But you do admit to being an extremist and therefore your vision and perception of things is cloudy at best. At it's worse, like right now, you're flat out blind to the possible implications of your actions, nor does it seem you care for them." Joshua shouted at Roderic. "Well intentioned or not, what you're trying to do is wrong. It messes with the balance of things. If you're going to seal Darkrai away, you might as well seal Cresselia away as well. But in the end, even if you do or don't seal them away, it changes nothing."

"People will still dream, good and bad dreams." Amelia chimed in. "I used to have nightmares all the time. That is not Darkrai's fault. It's just how things are."

"It's like sealing away Yveltal for eternity without sealing away Xerneas. Sure, you won't have to worry about entire area's dying but then you make Xerneas' sacrifice utterly pointless. In fact, you will eventually turn the life energy it gives into a poison. Too much of a good thing will eventually turn it into a bad one. Pokémon like Yveltal and Xerneas, Darkrai and Cresselia, Groudon and Kyogre and Reshiram and Zekrom are all weights and counterbalances on multiple sets of scales. Tell me, what do you think will happen when you mess with those scales and put them out of balance?"

Seeing Cresselia momentarily distracted by Dawkin, Joshua silently signaled Hydreigon to switch targets.
"Keep behind it." He said to his Dragon. The pokemon proceeded to silently fly away and around the chamber, to circle around Cresselia. Once in place, it would strike, using left hand/head to tightly grab Cresselia's neck where it met Cresselia's body and it's right hand/head to tightly grab were neck met head, effectively suffocating Cresselia unless it somehow dodged when all it's focus was entirely on Darkrai. Once in place, assuming it succeeded, Hydreigon's main head would proceed to use Crunch on Cresselia, once again biteing down on it's neck, only this time doing so in the center, to not only deal damage but once again cut off even more air, if it could get any at this point.

As for the moonblast itself, Bisharp was once again thrown by Pangoro at the fairy energy blast, using Metal Blade to try and cut down the damage. Wether it would survive this second blast or not remained to be seen. If not, Joshua had gathered plenty of revives over his journey. He would not mind spending a few in this scenario.

By this point, Roderic had finished setting up buffing and setting up his pokemon. The agility and mimic didn't bother him, though he could guess full well what the Chattot had mimicked. That was going to be a hassle. Still, the greatest concern was the Electric Terrain. The electricity passing through ground wasn't really an issue but it was the effects it could have. Their shoes prevented them from feeling anything, as rubber was an insulator. But his main concern now was Amelia. This could effect her. So he needed to end this fast. Thankfully, Electric Terrain only lasted for a little while, so if he could knock out that Luxray before it could set up another things should be fine.

Joshua gave a whistle that got Pangoro's attention before signaling his orders and the targets. He uickly withdrew Greninja, Absol, and Weavile, not wanting them to get caught in this. Pangoro smirked before raising a fist, which glowed with energy and slamming it into the ground. The entire room began to shake before cracks began appearing on the ground, spreading from Pangoro's fist towards Oscar and his Smeagle, then towards the wall and up around Roderic and the floor he was on. Pangoro used Earthquake, hitting everything in it's targeted direction. Also, it probably damaged the pyramid and the it's foundation a bit. Worse case scenario, the entire Pyramid began collapsing. Best case, only Roderic was brought tumbling down as the floor collapsed frim underneath him and maybe Smeargle and Luxray got hurt.

Regardless, once the earthquake passed, Joshua would either let out his vanguard again or begin making a hasty retreat with the building was collapsing. It all depended on how much damage that earthquake did to the ancient structure. Darkrai could fly to avoid the tremors and Cresselia might be too busy getting choked to death to be worried about them or it was still too focused on it's rival. There were too many possibilities for him to know how things would turn out.

On the chance the battle could resume, Joshua would bring out his vanguard again with a sigh.
"We're quickly getting no where." He said to Roderic. "I left you be to come here so I could catch Darkrai myself. That would've solved your problem. But you, blinded by your crusade, decided to just bully a pokemon, an intelligent one capable of communicating with others that is not even at full strength at that, because of what might or might not have happened centuries, maybe a millennia ago. Remind me again how you're so righteous?"

"Posturing and insulting each other isn't getting us anywhere.." Amelia said to Joshua, her tone calm but he could sense that she was becoming a bit upset. "Things are becoming too violent. Even if one side wins this battle, no one truly does. Surely we can reach some kind of compromise?"

Joshua glanced down at her before letting out another long sigh.
"The moment the kids start talking more sense then the adults." He muttered before looking at Roderic. He then jerked his thumb towards Cresselia. "Call her off and call for a ceasefire? Talk this out peacefully, with all non wild pokemon in their pokeballs. If you did release Cresselia and it's now wild again, we may have to knock it out. And we'll keep Darkrai from hurting it as well. Does that sound reasonable enough to you? Or are you going to keep up this crusade until someone or one of the pokemon here get's seriously hurt for no reason?"