Dawkin was pretty pleased with how the battles had gone, some of them have perhaps gone even better than he could've expected. He took the stutter in Florrie's voice to be admiration, which he enjoyed as well. The younger boy's response to Dawkin letting him tag along was so excited that Dawkin could barely hold back a smile. "Alright, if you can keep up lets get going then!" Thus, with the aid of his Go-Googles, Vivillon, and one potion to keep his guide topped off, they found it.

Even the normally, somewhat stoic Dawkin, couldn't resist a gasp as they entered the Oasis. It was staggeringly beautiful, a sight that Dawkin was sure to remember for the rest of his life. However, he'd barely had time to appreciate it when blast of light drew his attention to the battle that was marring the tranquility of the area. Along with Florrie and Ninja Boy, Dawkin immediately took to the nearest thing he could hide behind as he attempted to a grasp on that situation.

That man with the Hoopla was trying to catch Cresslia, and now, there was no one around to stop him. Except Dawkin and company, since Cressilia seemed to be outmatched by that little hoop Pokémon. Dawkin made sure to scan the three there, just in case he hadn't already. This situation... Arghhh. What was he supposed to do!? He already knew that Hoopa's owner was vastly more powerful than he was. Dawkin couldn't even sneak up on him and try to do something because that cursed Bronzong was in the way, and it could doubtlessly take anything he could throw at it. A flash of wriggling green that didn't originate from either side caught Dawkin's eye and nearly made him groan aloud.

He couldn't do anything. Running out and trying to snatch up that little thing was more likely to get him killed than anything else, which sure wouldn't help anyone. He couldn't exactly ask, or make either of them stop. Somehow he suspected that asking politely wouldn't overly dissuade Hoopa's owner from catching Cresselia. If anything revealing himself would only endanger himself, in case witnesses were a problem. Dawkin clenched and released his hands as he thought this through. All he could do was watch and avoid being seen, as much as it infuriated him to admit it.

(If possible record the fight with Pokedex as well!)

---

@PlatinumSkink

---

The cycling tripe to Raremine was a pleasant change of pace from the walking. Ralia tagged a long by hitching a ride on her shoulder, taking a moment to occasionally battle some pokemon along route 13. She might have probably should be paying better attention, but now that she had a goal she was falling into her rather single-minded nature. After making sure her pokemon were in tip-top shape, she continued on, leaving route 13. Swiftly cycling through route 10, eventually she found herself on route 8.

"Whew." She skid to a halt, nearly throwing Ralia off her shoulder as she briefly took in the surroundings. Stretching she gave Ralia a few headpats before continuing on. Couldn't let herself linger for long, not when she had something to do. Stepping on the peddle, she zoomed back down the slope, nearly running into Lass Diana in the process before challenging her to a pokemon battle.

"Ice-type, huh? Alright...Zeal, your up!" Opening up with Zeal, Claire released the energetic fiery monferno into the field. "You know the drill! Power-up punch!"

"Moooon!~" Happily engaging, Zeal closed in swiftly to the Vanilite, intending on hitting it with a barrage of power-up punches. This would continue until the ice-type fainted. If Diglett is sent out, continue with the power-up punch strat. Should Zeals Accuracy be lowered to a point that it gets difficult to hit something, switch pokemon to Pip.

Pip will use Razor Leaf until Diglett is dealt with. Should Pip engage Makuhita, use alternating Growl and Razor leaf until he's KOed

---

Moving on, Claire eventually would battle a pair of bird tamers. A double battle, huh? She could handle that easily. She had two pokemon that these bird types would have difficulty dealing with, after all.

"Laurel, Tez!" Claire sent out the two pokemon. "Laurel, Sandstorm! Try and take most of the hits! Tez, Confusion the Doduo on the left!"

Laurel would Mostly focus on using Bite on his turn, and making himself the bigger target, trying to take most damage from the two Doduos. Tez would focus on staying back and using Confusion every turn, putting himself behind Laurel to fire off repeated Confusion attacks.

Should Swablu be swapped in, focus on taking it out first. Continue Sandstorm, Bite, and defend strat with Laurel until he's KO'ed. If Laurel is KO'ed, switch in Ralia. Standard Double team strat, using Confusion to focus down Swablu. Tez will then attempt taking a tanking position in front of Ralia, double teaming Swablu with Confusion until defeated.

Should Fletchling be the first to swap in, same strategy as above for Laurel and Tez - except Tez will attempt Hypnosis on Fletchling the first round of combat. Except, instead of switching in Ralia, swap in Combee. Combee will remain mobile whilst spamming gust, whilst Tez tries to run defensive plays.

---

"Oh no, I'm so scaaared." Claire rolled her eyes at the Psychics bravado. "But I'll be the one to win this, so don't cry when I beat ya super badly."

"Hey Tez, do me a solid and show 'em which one of us is better, yeah?" Claire grinned. "Imprison!"

Tez's first move here, was to use Imprison...thus preventing the opponents Bronzor from being unable to even use any move that they shared. He would then confuse Ray until confused, followed by Psywave until he was defeated.

Once Solosis was sent out, Hypnosis until asleep, followed by Tackle until defeated. Should Tez be defeated in some manner, Swap to Laurel. Bite until Solosis is dealt with.

Should Laurel still be out when Kadabra is sent out, Sandstorm and bite combo until KO'ed. Should Laurel be defeated, send out Ralia. Double Team, using teleport to avoid things and get the upperhand. Attack with Disarming voice until KO'ed.

---

^{Route 5 || Day 4: Evening || @PlatinumSkink}
When Eryn charged ahead, she’d expected to run into something, but not something so quickly or so angry as the Arbok that had slithered into the middle of the road. Though the large snake was intimidating, Eryn didn’t stop her pace, instead retrieving a Pokeball from her belt with a grin.

“Peri! Flatten!” she yelled, popping the button and pointing the Pokeball at the Arbok. Now, ‘Flatten’ wasn’t a move, and Eryn knew that. What she also knew, though, was that Peri was much bigger than the Arbok, baby or not, and when the light around the Onix dissipated, she almost felt a little bad for the Arbok under the loud thump that sounded.

“Thanks, Peri!” Eryn yelled, skirting the Onix as she ran past.

As soon as she was past the Arbok, she returned Peri, replacing the Pokeball on her belt with a grin. “Onwards!” she yelled, leading the charge ahead with Dei on her head and Kylie and Eri close behind.

In the air was the sound of a flute, which was a bit concerning. Was it one of those instruments that could affect Pokemon behavior? Only one way to find out.

“This way!” she yelled, turning to make a beeline for the direction the flute sound was coming from. “Trial Master, I’m coming for you!”

---

@Gardevoiran

Celebrity started to sing, and…! … Beedrill dodged aside! Because, for some reason Sing is a single-target move, so that means it’s more of a string of sound in a single direction, and apparently Beedrill knew enough this and was fast enough to simply dodge!

Beedrill was remarkably faster than Celebrity, and took a detour and swung in for a on-point Poison Sting! Celebrity was stung… fortunately, despite being Super Effective, Poison Sting is one weak move, and it didn’t even poison her. However, this meant Celebrity has an angry giant bee all up her face! He was going to Poison Sting again!

‘Keep it up, Beedrill~’ Lorette called, sitting down again on the other side.

Skylar’s next move?

__________________________

@Joshua Tamashii

Amelia simply breached through the falling books to get closer to the ghost outside. As she did, however, the tugging on her leg grew more desperate. Still, Amelia managed to reach the window, opening the curtains…

And that’s when she felt a powerful chilling wind. This one felt different, because it felt like she was about to be attacked. Litwick had turned in time, because something small, fast and cold was coming in at high speed and-



… came a loud, shrieking cry from behind the window. Now, most people would probably have gone out of their minds from hearing such a cry. But, well, we’ll see about Amelia.

After that… no attack actually came from the little shape Litwick had seen, and whatever had been tugging at Amelia’s leg let go. Then… the ghost drifted through the wall, trying to time it with Amelia poking her head through the window if possible so that the first time she’d see it would be when looking inside the room again.





Misdreavus gave Amelia a little smile and a wink, before she drifted down to the floor… ‘Mis, misdreavus!’ she called, and a black little shape emerged from behind a table, and a green shape appeared out of nowhere. The formed had been the one to cause the cold, and the latter was the one that’d been tripping Amelia and pushing books at her…



Amelia or her Pokémon had been unable to see the Kecleon trying to trip her despite the exceedingly obvious zigzag pattern for the same reason Kecleon is able to stop the player from progressing with no sign it is there in Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire. Misdreavus spun around to smile at Amelia to smile at her, while Sneasel crossed his arms and looked edgy while Kecleon did not look like he had an expression.

So, apparently, Amelia had been playing with a trio, of which only 1/3rd were ghosts.

‘Misdreavus~!’ Misdreavus happily called. So, seems like she was able to have fun after all.

Here’s a moment for Amelia to potentially say something. However, they would not be left alone for long. Amelia had felt ghosts on the top floor earlier. They’d moved now. They were coming closer. In fact, they were-





A bunch of Shuppets suddenly came into the room, mostly from the other end of the room when assumed the classroom had two exists and Amelia was mostly at the right one and the bookshelves on that end. They were all exceedingly curious of Amelia for some reason. It’s not the same Shuppets as last time _{because Valen escorted those Shuppets to a ghost-house} yet here were Shuppets. All swarming about around Amelia and being supremely curious for some reason.

‘Shuppet?’ ‘Shup.’ ‘Shuppet!’ ‘Pet?’ ‘Pet, pet!’ ‘Shuppet!’ ‘Shup, Shuppet?’

… And then they promptly scattered. As did Misdreavus, quickly fleeing to behind the closest wall, Sneasel Quick-Attacked faster than the eye could see out of sight and Kecleon camouflage himself. She’d seen this phenomenon before.

The door on the opposite side of the classroom slammed open.

‘What’s this ruckus this late at night?’ … A man stood, staring into the classroom with exceedingly tired eyes, his posture fighting against lectures that once had been pounded inside him. A black outfit of a class that didn’t feel it really belonged in this age, his lightly brown skin and bleach-colored hair not entirely fitting together… Amelia had seen him before.



His eyes went to Amelia… ‘… You’re not one of my students… This is no hour for Pokémon hunting for someone your age…’ … He doesn’t recognize her. Perhaps that’s to be expected. Still.

If Amelia doesn’t intentionally keep him here, he’s going to depart next round, just say his point and then leave, and Amelia can address Misdreavus as soon as he has left if she wants. See, she’s right on the other side of the wall over there, she hasn’t left.

So, what does Amelia say or do?

@Eklispe

Unable to do anything to help the situation as it looked now, Dawkin simply hid and used his Pokédex to make a memory of the event. _{I don’t actually know about giving the Pokédex the ability to record video. Pictures we know it can do, we know it can do sounds, but video? Hm.} Regardless…

The battle before them reigned some more time. Eventually, the trainer started throwing Ultra Balls. It took numerous of them, this was a Legendary Pokémon, after all. It took around 20 or so Ultra Balls, but eventually the ball stopped shaking. Cresselia was caught.

‘Brilliantly done,’ the trainer said to Hoopa, before walking up to the Pokéball lying in the pool and picking it up for himself, the Pokémon floating at his side. ‘With that, that makes the clear winners of the battle of the Old Tombs, fought between the ghosts of the tomb and Team Virtue… Team Amethyst, who didn’t even partake the battle. Oh, and that bloke that got Darkrai. Cheers,’ the trainer said, making some form of mock greeting with the Pokéball, before putting it away.

‘Still, this is not the Pokémon I was to find, either. Now, where could they be hiding?’ … He shrugged eventually, and just waved forward. ‘Eh. We’re on the road again, my friend!’ And with that, Hoopa gave a happy call and a portal was opened. The trainer walked through, Bronzong floating after before it closed.

It was, with all likelihood, still silent and tense for numerous seconds after the man had left.

‘Oh, we’re fine,’ Florrie remarked in amazement, as if this was a complete surprise to her.

‘S-stealth segment, complete…!’ the ninja boy, Alec, happily remarked with a grin, albeit with fright in his voice.

And then… slowly but surely, Pokémon started coming back to the oasis. Under the waters varying water-Pokémon swam up to the surface to look around. Several fairy-types started floating up into the air, to scatter around the oasis. Specific cat-Pokémon walked about on the water, investigating the mystic properties. It was returning to be the Mythic Oasis which people commonly came here to see, which primarily served as a scenic view for people to see, and as a place for trainers to catch some specific rare Pokémon, perhaps.

Under the water, some heart-shaped fishes peeked out, at the very least causing Florrie to look at them with a bit of admiration. They were just the smallest fishes. The lesser whale-Pokémon somehow fit under the waters, along with a… significantly larger yet also heart-shaped fish-Pokémon. Not it’s evolution, though. No siree.











Yes, this is a freshwater oasis. Why do you ask?

In addition to that, there were some cat-like creatures walking about on top of the water, and a chinchilla one, and at least one occasion of a pink ball of a fairy with tiny wings walking on top of the rocks above the oasis, just enjoying itself.













Finally, there some strange bird-like or cotton-like fairies floating about the area, for no discernable reason, just enjoying life.





Vivillon’s just going to go sit in the water for a bit, drinking. Florrie’s looking very curiously at varying fairies, probably with Pokémon Training of some form in mind. Ninja Boy Alec is also looking over the Pokémon around here, but… yeah. The dramatism of what just happened is keeping either of them from acting immediately. That was intense.

So, except for interacting with all the Pokémon, there’s actually not a lot to do at Mythic Oasis. But it’s quite a sight, isn’t it? That is, except… … … There may or may not have been a shadow of unknown origin deep inside the Mythic Oasis… but you’d have to be able to dive in order to check this further.

Oh, and there’s a random Moonstone here, just lying about on a rock not too far from the leisuring Clefairy. Dawkin can take it, if he likes. Oh, and…

An Alomomola came up to the surface, her fins embracing something. She let it go, and…



The Zygarde cell floated up to the surface of the water, just where Dawkin had seen it previously. He’s free to collect it.

What will Dawkin do here?





Connected areas:
Route 7. Right back into the sandstorm is the only way back.



__________________________

@Rune_Alchemist

First, Claire engaged Diana.

Zeal VS Vanillite! This looks like a considerably easy match for Zeal as he zooms forth and attempts to punch the Vanillite… only to completely and utterly miss the first attack as Vanillite just moved aside! _{this was an rng thing, you rolled literally the lowest possible number}

Vanillite started with shooting out an Icy Wind, which did little damage but hampered his Speed, allowing Vanillite to get the next hit first. Because, she started an Uproar, causing considerable damage due to the sound-move’s surprising amount of power and-

And Zeal misses the next attack too. _{You rolled poorly today.}

Vanillite Uproars again, doing more than half Zeal’s health total! After this, Zeal FINALLY managed to bludgeon Vanillite’s face with a Power-Up Punch, the ice-cream cone drifting away in pain. A last Uproar was still inflicted upon Zeal, but he took it and then rammed down the cone for an ultimate victory, though he was heavily damaged… but also twice as powerful!

Diglett was exceedingly faster than Zeal and Mud-Slaps his face immediately after the GM realizes Mud-Slap is just a Sand Attack that does damage. Zeal is now heavily damaged, and his accuracy is further reduced. In return… Zeal proves that last rounds misses were a fluke as he promptly whack-a-moles the Diglett with his fist. And with these power-boosts? He 1HKO’s the little mole in a single blow.

Makuhita starts with Fake Out, and the impact makes it look like he’s taken out Zeal’s last bit of health, the monkey stumbling back… but his Focus Band tightens, filling him with determination! Even hit with Icy Wind, there’s no way he’s slower than a Makuhita! Zeal slams his fist into Makuhita, and with a +3 strength modifier? Makuhita flies away and Diana’s barely able to call him back into his Pokéball before he’s sent tumbling off the cliffside!




‘Woah…!’ Diana said, wide-eyed as her whole team had been handled by Zeal alone. She blinked impressed at Zeal, looking just a bit timid, and… ‘Hey, where did you catch one of those? I’ve been wanting a Fire type, but…’

Then against the Bird Tamer duo, Emmie and Darius!

Laurel and Tez VS Doduo and Doduo! Rock and Steel VS Flying and Flying… So, to nobody’s surprise, the double Doduos were faster, and both got off Growls, lowering the attacks of both Laurel and Tez. Laurel was far more affected, but still raised a Sandstorm before heading on to Bite on Emmie’s Doduo. Amusingly enough, despite only Laurel being affected by the Growls, he still had more firepower than Tez due to Tez’s naturally low attack… Or, he would have, if Tez wasn’t three levels higher.

Regardless! This fight went over easily, as no matter how many Pecks or Fury Attacks their opponents got on Laurel, that they decided to target, they really didn’t do much damage. Emmie’s Doduo would be the first to faint, from Bites and Confusions and buffeting Sandstorms.

With Swablu coming and shooting Disarming Voice at Laurel, the smaller rock-Pokémon was taking more damage now. More Sandstorm, Confusion and Bites targeted the Swablu, but the compounded attacks on Laurel solidified the fact that his defensive stats aren’t actually all that great, yet. His health was the one that ran out first, unfortunately. Laurel fainted. However, he got some good experience for it!



Then Ralia came in to finish the job. Though, the birds saw this as an opportunity; a not rock-hard opponent for them to peck had appeared! However, Double Team ensured at least Swablu’s Peck missed, though she still took Doduo’s Fury Attack because Tez wasn’t nearly fast enough to stop Doduo just running around him to poke at Ralia. Still, them double Confusion on Swablu meant the bird wasn’t long for this fight, and Swablu fainted. Doduo still managed to Fury Attack Ralia again, though.

Because unfairness in Double Battles and Emmie’s Pokémon all fainted, this meant Darius felt that it was fine that he sent out his second Pokémon, too! Here comes Fletchling! It was now Ralia and Tez VS Fletchling and Doduo, Claire VS Darius!

Past this, description of potential battle plans wanes. What will Claire and Pokémon do?







Connected areas:
Route 10. The psychic farmlands await north before reaching Worldedge City.
Route 6. The vast plains of wilderness await south before reaching Raremine Town.
Freecape Town. The hanging town of birds and nobles, it’s also home to the Freecape Ferrymen.
Tunnel. A hole in the mountain. Those unable to overcome it are unworthy of reaching Cooldome City.



__________________________

@Typical

So it actually does turn out that Arbok doesn’t really have a counter against a huge rock-snake coming barrelling towards it. Still, the snake was quick enough to just briefly get a mildly alarmed expression and then jump out of the way when Peri broke through and laid waste to a couple more trees on the way. This was enough time for Eryn and co to run past as Peri returned to her Pokéball and they ran towards the sound.

Eventually, they came across a grove from where the flute music was coming. There, at the base of a tree, like some bard from parts unknown luring in the prey with his music, sat Nuzleaf blowing into his leaf-flute to create sounds. It wasn’t a normal flute-sound, however. As Nuzleaf’s Pokédex entry told, the closer she and her Pokémon would be inflicted with uncertainty, because that’s apparently what the flute does. And that’s not all.

Gathering on trees around them were more and more Murkrows, staring down as if considering if to strike. Sableyes were also daring to come closer, some of the Pokémon hiding behind trees decently close. Seems like following towards the flute was a bit of a trap. Oh, and behind them, a decently annoyed Arbok that had barely avoided the falling weight of a whole baby Onix slithered after them, not about to let them get away that easily.

So, what will Eryn do now?

Aaaaaaaaaaand if she waits too long, a couple Murkrows are going to fly down to harass her and her Pokémon with some Pecks. Nuzleaf continues blowing his flute, keeping wary eyes open on the trainer that had arrived.

The moon still shone down from above… and… was that some form of light, that came from between the trees? It was difficult to tell what exactly it was, but some form of light…
was, but some form of light…

@PlatinumSkink

---

"Ahaha, atta boy!" Claire made a victory pose, grinning brightly as she recalled Zeal to his pokeball. "Mt. Strength. Good luck, though, they're kinda tough to deal with." She waved Diana off before zooming down the road.

The next battle went less well...it was difficult to say, really. Laurel and Tez did a pretty good job. One of the doduo's fainted quickly. They followed up with a Swablu, who was a bit more difficult. Laurel was taking a beating by now, and soon he couldn't take much more. With a small cry, Claire recalled him to his pokeball. Ralia managed to get off a Double Team, but she couldn't avoid the birds fury attack, but as luck would have it soon the Swablu had fainted from Tez's and Ralia's combined attacks. Much to her own surprise, the other trainer sent out his second pokemon.

"Alright, you wanna play like that..." Claire smirked. Doduo would likely be weaker by now, so they should try and focus him first. Not much of a change of strategy here. Ralia ran a ranged attack, whilst Tez worked from the front to try and soak up hits and do damage. Assuming everything went well, then she wouldn't need much of a strategy. With them as focused on Ralia though...hm...perhaps?

"Ralia! Double team! Focus on evasion! Tez, hang back and use Psywave."

If they wanted to try and hit a squishy target, then why not let them try!

---

^{Trial of Fear || Day 4: Evening || @PlatinumSkink}
“Damn it,” Eryn cursed, spotting the Nuzleaf responsible for the eerie sound. That’s what she got for not properly reading all the Pokedex entries before charging in.

Glancing around, she realized that the Murkrow and Sableye had started to close in, the former black in the trees and the latter identifiable by the gleams of their faceted eyes catching light from Dei’s flame. Was there a way around them? Something she could do to get herself out of her current predicament, which seemed to be worsening by the second?

Her eyes flicked between the wilds around her, which she could barely make out under the moonlight filtering through the trees. In the air, the rustling of leaves and branches was muted under the song the whistling Nuzleaf was playing, which was difficult to ignore. What were her options? Why were there so many wilds in these woods? And why was it so hard to concentrate with that damn tune in the background?

“Hey, quit it, would you?” Eryn yelled at the Nuzleaf at the tree. “I get it, you’re drawing your friends over, but let me handle that! You just sit back and watch!”

Whether or not the Nuzleaf stopped, shouting seemed to have helped clear Eryn’s head a bit, and she glanced around again, focusing on her thoughts this time. The Murkrow were a flighty crowd, but they were mighty in number. While they had no real reason why they’d attack her, neither did any of the other Pokemon. Same for the Sableye, which Eryn had encountered before in the Wet Caverns. Though they were rather mischievous, they usually kept to themselves, especially where the wild Onix were concerned. Why were they targeting her, then? Nuzleaf weren’t exactly known to be dangerous, wild-triggering Pokemon, so it couldn’t be that. Besides, Eryn’s own Pokemon would have been similarly affected if that were the case.

Her eyes drifted up to Dei, who sat atop her head calmly, having ceased his Ember when she’d stopped running. Though he looked a bit unsettled, the emotion that came across more clearly was annoyance, marked by the pointy-toothed scowl he had on his face.

“Oh, the Ember. That’s what’s attracting them, huh?” Eryn said, glancing around at the shadows that were creeping ever closer. “Sorry about that, you all. I guess I got so caught up in trying to pass the trial and catch up to the Trial Master that I forgot to stop and think how you all would feel if I brought a fire-breather in here.”

Smiling, Eryn glanced up at Dei again, who was now looking down at her with a rather confused look. “Nope, no more Embering until someone really deserves it, Dei.”

Movement from Eri caught Eryn’s attention, and she glanced at the direction he pointed to see an Arbok slithering towards her, scales shiny under the moonlight. Considering its very pointed direction, Eryn wouldn’t have been surprised if it were the Arbok she’d loosed Peri on earlier. She hadn’t exactly stopped to look where that Arbok had gone, after all, and if it was the same Arbok, she needed to move fast.

“Alright, again, sorry about the whole thing. I’ll—what did that sign say again—try ‘avoiding’ this time, so excuse me,” Eryn said, glancing around for some gap in the shadows. As soon as she located one, which took her back towards the original straight-forwards path she’d been trying before the whistle interrupted her, she started off, this time at a brisk, controlled pace that landed between walking and jogging to keep her team ahead of the Arbok behind them. ‘The Trial of Fear’—Eryn should have known that it’d be a test of will and wit rather than strength and speed. Hopefully she’d realized quickly enough, though, and hopefully the wilds around her currently accepted her apology.

---

Dawkin waited a few moments more after the man's departure to feel that he was truly gone and gave a sigh of relief. While he waited for his heart rate to settle the pokemon of the Oaisis began to return and Dawkin scanend them with his Pokedex, considering if any of them were worth catching. As he looked through them he decided against it. A glimmer of something caught his eye and Dawkin saw a Moonstone laying on the ground. Why not? Dawkin picked it up and his gaze was drawn to something emerging from the water. One of the Pokemon was releasing... the Zygrade Cell! It had survived after all. Dawkin hurried over with his cube and paused at the edge of the water. He tentaively stepped on the water's surface, and his foot sunk just a little ways in before landing on a surface like felt smooth like glass. How odd. Dawkin then swooped up the Cell before it had a chance to run away.

As he did so, Dawkin felt like he saw something in the depths below his feet. He made sure the Cell was secure before squinting below. Hadn't that guy said he was looking for something else here? Wouldn't the perfect hiding spot be somewhere human couldn't go? Dawkin released Wooper, getting a bit excited. "Wooper, can you swim down there and see if you can find anything... unusual, or uh, not like any of the pokemon around here? Or an item of some sort?" Dawkin asked, not quite sure how to tell Wooper what he was looking for. Wooper to their credit, nodded his head energetically and attempted to swim down to fulfill his request.

---

---

---

"Celebrity, Sing again!" Skylar called to his air-filled partner. This time, they had to have this bee cornered and it hopefully couldn't avoid. It was right in Celebrity's face, after all. Just in case the Beedrill decided that it could try to dodge around, though, Celebrity did turn just a little bit while singing, hopefully in an attempt to truly get this Beedrill put to sleep.

The issue after that was who'd take up the torch to keep this fight going? Lorette had four, Skylar had four, but Smiley was still asleep. The options that Skylar had were pretty limited, and the best option for Skylar was to send in Seabreeze if he could get the switch, unless Smiley decided to wake up.

"Smiley! Come on bud! We need you back up!" Skylar's shaking intensified slightly, trying hard to wake the little bird up from his nap. Man, Sleep Powder really does put you under, huh.

@Rune_Alchemist.

‘Mt. Strength? Isn’t that where Fighting-types are- oh. Right.’ Diana answered, looking a bit unsure if that was actually a place she wanted to go to or not as Claire swooped away.

Afterwards, the bird fight!

Before Ralia could get off another Double Team, Fletchling managed to get in a Quick Attack, which did Critical Hit to her, reducing her health considerably! Yet, there she then managed another Double Team, and now Doduo had trouble hitting her with the next Fury Attack!

Tez got working on Psywaving Doduo, doing his mildly minute damage as Ralia made herself harder and harder to hit. Now, and two turns ahead, their enemies had trouble hitting her! Finally, when Ralia went back to doing Confusions, did they do enough damage and Doduo fainted!

That’s when Fletchling got a Peck Critical Hit and almost fainted Ralia. Still, for simplicity, let’s say Fletchling missed all other attacks and eventually fainted.




‘Ow!’ Emmie made a call as if in physical pain.

‘Okay! Bird Tamer quota met! Off with you!’ Darius grinned as he backed off with his gathered fainted Pokémon and Claire was free to head on.

Then, versus Hughes!

Tez VS Bronzor! … Tez is higher level. Tez got off Imprison first. Hughes calls cheating as Bronzor can’t do anything but Struggle. Hughes immediately switches Pokémon to Solosis. This switch meant Solosis was immediately hit by Confuse Ray. Solosis still managed to set up Reflect, after which Tez failed to put the opponent asleep. Then Solosis hit itself in Confusion instead of using Rollout, something Reflect really didn’t protect against. Solosis then rolled into a steel wall, doing minimal damage to Tez. … Tez fails to Hypnosis Solosis for the third time in a row. Then Solosis manages to hit itself in confusion rather than continuing the Rollout. NOW Tez succeeds with Hypnosis, doesn’t Reflect fade away around here? Regardless, Solosis sleeps for four rounds, plenty of time for Tez to tackle the opponent into pieces.

Hughes then sent out Kadabra, so Laurel VS Kadabra, the GM supposes. The stats have been checked. Laurel needs 2 Bites to take out Kadabra, Kadabra needs 3 Confusions to take out Laurel. They trade Sandstorm with Confusion, which really rather works in Kadabra’s favour, even if he’s buffeted by some damage. Kadabra uses Confusion again, being way faster… and gets a Critical Hit! Laurel fainted! Ow.

Ralia VS Kadabra! They have a Teleport-off! … Except, at the end of the day, Ralia’s the one with Disarming Voice, a move that isn’t ineffective against the opponent! It looks bad when first Kadabra somehow manages another Critical Hit on Ralia before Double Team, but then he proceeds to miss three times in a row while Ralia can leisurely Disarming Voice him to fainting! And so he did, Kadabra fainted!



Tez VS Bronzor again. Tez used Imprison. Bronzor used Struggle. Tez used Confuse Ray. Bronzor hurts itself regardless if it succeeds with Struggle or not. … … … Tez wins!




‘Agh!’ Hughes recoiled. ‘W-well, I guess evolution isn’t everything! They need to be trained even harder from there!’ So he told himself, before heading on.

With that, Claire could remain on Route 8…





Connected areas:
Route 10. The psychic farmlands await north before reaching Worldedge City.
Route 6. The vast plains of wilderness await south before reaching Raremine Town.
Freecape Town. The hanging town of birds and nobles, it’s also home to the Freecape Ferrymen.
Tunnel. A hole in the mountain. Those unable to overcome it are unworthy of reaching Cooldome City.



… Or head on to the route in the south!



Or, like, maybe Claire wants to go directly to town, in which case, sure.



__________________________

@Typical

_{No, they’re really hunting you because they’ve been commanded to do so by the Trial Master.}

Nuzleaf really just smirked at her as he continued to play, unconcerned at Eryn’s worries. They didn’t react to the apology about having been shooting Ember, merely kept staring at her intently until she ran. Now, while the Murkrow stayed back and gave a crowing noise that sounded a lot like laughter when Eryn started to run, she found herself dodging huge shapes of Sableyes casting Night Shade at her and her Pokémon as she ran. They were still some distance away so it was likely she could dodge those huge shades passing through, but they WERE attacking. However, Sableye is not particularly fast and could be left behind by jogging, though some faster Murkrows still kept their eyes on her…

And then something leapt and landed in front of her, gazing at her where it stood in the way. Its fur was dark, but around its body were bright, yellow rings that felt like they glowed in the moonlight shining down from above where it, very intentionally, blocked the way.





Aaaaaand behind her Arbok came closer, slithering in with what almost looked like a grin on the snake’s lips as the cobra Pokémon hunted what it had decided was its prey for the evening, assumingly. Its Pokédex entry did say. When an Arbok has decided to chase something, it does not stop.

Umbreon in the front and Arbok behind. What does Eryn do?

__________________________

@Eklispe

Dawkin grabs the Moon Stone. Because why not? And he also picked the Zygarde Cell that had been floating about, which was quickly absorbed into the Zygarde Cube.





‘W-well done collecting the Zygarde Cell. But, um. Are we, just, like, not going to talk about the scene we just saw…?’ Florrie asked, looking a bit uncomfortable as she gazed around the decently beautiful Mystic Oasis. Meanwhile Alec had already forgotten and was currently in the process of playing with an Espurr by the side.

So, Wooper swims down under the water. Most the wild Pokémon down here were decently friendly, so it was safe to swim. Wailmers and Alomomolas parted to allow Wooper to examine the bottom… and there’s an underwater ruin here. There’s writing on it that Wooper obviously cannot read, and there’s an entrance to a place in the underwater ruin that is not flooded, a building that can actually be entered and walked in on. Going further would require a human to enter the ruin.

However, there’s something else down here, resting at the bottom, which was the big thing that could partly be seen from the surface. Noticing Wooper swim close, the creature blinked at her, before moving. Suddenly the serpent twirled its tail and swam up, a rocket heading towards the oasis above giving Dawkin time to see it and move before it arrived, and then broke up the surface with an enormous splash as the sea serpent arrived above the water in all its glory, the water it had launched around it creating a slight rainbow in the desert sun before it turned the tip of its head to look down upon Dawkin. The creature was… a sight to behold.





… Apparently excepting the bickering that was the trainer before chasing Cresselia.

Except for that, a couple other fishes also looked up alongside Milotic. A couple ugly fishes that undoubtedly had absolutely no form of connection to the very beautiful serpentine Pokémon next to them.





Sooooo. Big water serpent had been awoken by Wooper. Florrie and Alec are astounded. What now?





Connected areas:
Route 7. Right back into the sandstorm is the only way back.



__________________________


@Gardevoiran

Hopefully couldn’t avoid.

Unfortunately, being this close actually made it easier to avoid, not harder. The danger-area was smaller, and as such Beedrill simply had to fly around Celebrity, avoiding to ever be placed right in front of the puff-ball. This didn’t mean Beedrill was entirely unaffected, he wavered here and there looking like he was about to fall asleep, but he endured and flew around and delivered another-

and he did not, because he rolls a 1 on a 100 sided die and completely misses Celebrity. In fact, because Celebrity only missed with a 6 out of a 100 while Beedrill rolls a critical fail, Celebrity dodged out of the way of the Poison Sting and then rears up to catch the fumbling bee with a Sing attack as Beedrill is still trying to regain balance after missing, and was caught right in the midst of Celebrity’s Sing, and so promptly fell asleep.

‘Oh,’ Lorette said, slightly surprised. ‘C’mon, Beedrill! Lots of treats if you manage to wake up and take out the sleeping fairy~!’ Lorette tried, but quite alike Smiley, the bee was exceedingly asleep with no sign of waking up.

Skylar’s next move?

Amelia did indeed soldier on, determined to win this game now. When she heard the cry, she was not scared in the slightest. Instead, the young girl was actually filled with joy as she recognized the cry for what it was and what it belonged to. Fighting against whatever was still tugging her leg, she threw open the window and was rewarded with the sight of a Misdreavus! On top of that, two more pokemon revealed themselves, showing them to be a Kecleon and a Sneasel, which explained why she had been unable to sense them. Amelia laughed along with the Misdreavus.
"Thank you all for the fun. It was an enjoyable game. But, I was hoping I could..." She began saying to them before sensing the ghosts upstairs moving towards her. She looked up in time to see a large group of Shuppets come into the room, letting out cries as they approached her. They swarmed around her for a few seconds before suddenly scattering, along with Misdreavus, Sneasel, and Kecleon.

She barely had time to ask herself why before the door to the classroom slammed open and she turned around to face it, actually scared by this of all things. When she spotted the man standing in front of her, she recognized him as the man who owned the house her Shuppet had called home. He didn't seem to recognize her though, which made her a little sad. Still, that was no reason for her to treat him any differently then she would any other person.
"I'm sorry if I disturbed you sir. I was chasing one of the pokemon here and it seems I ended up playing into the game it was playing with it's friends. I didn't mean to cause a ruckus." She said before looking at the ground. "Though, it seems this is the second time I've disturbed you late at night. I really am sorry about it, I didn't mean to. But, if it's not too much of a hassle, might I be able to... possible talk to you sir?"

@Joshua Tamashii

‘… Playful Pokémon in the halls, huh…’ the man said, sighing out a bit. ‘We release different Pokémon into the park, hoping to give our students a variety, but some occasionally stray. We really should do something about that…’ he continued. Then, Amelia mentioned that it was the second time she had disturbed him, and he blinked a bit and then examined her a bit closer for a couple of seconds as she continued to talk. Then, he breathed out, pulled one of the chairs students would sit on and sat down.

‘… From that time, I guess. So I suppose you're simply one who is comfortable at night. Very well. I'll retract my comment about that you shouldn't be out at this hour. What do you wish to talk about?’ he asked, in a really tired tone first, but then his tone for the last question also clearly shifted to one of someone experienced with talking to children.

The ghosts still surround the room, just staying out of sight.

Dawkin watched Wooper wiggle from side to side to make it deeper into the water that he stood on top of, feeling somewhat like he was looking into an aquarium. "Well, there isn't that much to say is there? That guy was hunting Cressilia for some reason and he got her. If-" Dawink's explanation was interrupted as he saw something stir deep below him. Seeing it rocketing upwards he scrambled to make it back to shore and turned around just as it burst free. Dawkin's mouth opened slightly in astonishment as he took in the scene before him. A serpent with hypnotizing scales was looking at him, the rainbows in its scales and the water twinkling and reflecting off each to form an entrancing kaleidoscope of color.

I want it. Wooper surfaced next to Dawkin in a far less dramatic fashion, none the less breaking him out of his trance. "I want you to come with me!" Dawkin said, taking out an empty Pokeball and holding it facing towards Milotic. "I'd like for you to come peacefully but I'll do whatever I have to to get you!" Dawkin said, full of confidence and vigor. Some of his Pokemon were already weakened and he had no idea how powerful Milotic was, but he had to try at least! What would it do?

---

@Eklispe

Florrie was listening intently to what Dawkin was saying, until she too was distracted by what was stirring underneath. ‘Iiih!’ Florrie made a bit of noise as Milotic emerged from the water, holding her hands up in cover, before getting to gaze on it properly. Her eyes widened as she got to inspect it clearly... ‘It's beautiful...’ was her one comment, and then Dawkin went and requested the mighty serpent to come with him. Florrie blinked at him with a bit of surprise, that was not the first thought that had occurred to her, but she looked to Milotic to see what she thought of it.

Milotic, the grand water serpent with the scales that reflected all manner of colours... pulled up a moment and then relaxed, in a movement that looked very much like a sigh. Then, her tail moved. It flashed at an incredibly fast speed, swiping through the water with a massive power, and underwater Dawkin could see Aqua Tail coming with a phenomenal speed-!

And the tail splashed out of the water on a distance in front of him, too far away to actually hit him with anything but a considerable splash of water. One thing for sure, though. That Aqua Tail was not on a level comparable to any of his current Pokémon...!

Aqua Tail had done one more thing, however. It had caught a fish in its current, and more or less launched the fish towards Dawkin underwater. The fish periodically slowed down, the current having launched it a bit upwards so that it reached the surface, stopping more or less right in front of the young Pokémon trainer. The decently ugly fish blinked up at Dawkin for a second or so, and asked the first question that occurred to it. ‘... Feebas?’

Milotic let her tail settle back into the water, relaxing once again and staring down Dawkin with an analyzing look. She looked like she'd judge him decently harshly depending on his next decision.

One thing for sure, though. If he wanted this Milotic, he'd have to come back when he and his team was stronger...!

On the side, Alec is currently embracing the Espurr he was playing with, having panicked by the appearance of giant water serpent and it's follow-up attack. Espurr did not look bothered. It didn't look pleased, either, but that's another matter.

What would Dawkin do?





Connected areas:
Route 7. Right back into the sandstorm is the only way back.

Dawkin barely had time to blink before Milotic's tail whipped out, kicking up an impressive spray of water, displaying a power beyond any of his own Pokemon. Even if he wanted to battle Milotic, it would be impossible for him to win. Dam. However the water seemed to have carried a Febas with it. Looking at Milotic it seemed this was intentional. Dawkin glanced once more between Febas and Milotic. Fine, he'd take the ugly fish. "Fine, but I'll be back and show you how strong I'll make this Feebas!" Dawkin said and threw a pokeball at Feebas. Hopefully it would just stay put, but if not he would get Wooper to mudshot two or three times until it looked weak enough to capture.

---

Amelia listened to the man as he talked to himself regarding the pokemon wondering the halls in a rather prolonged game of tag. He then turned and addressed her, talking at first in a very tired voice then one that made her feel a bit more comfortable. Though, when it came to the question of what she wanted to talk about, she looked a bit flustered.
"O-oh well, um... I didn't have anything particular in mind if I'm being honest. It's just that... since you had so many Shuppets around your house and still around you even now, I guess I... could help but be curious and a little worried." She said, her cheeks turning a bit red. "I know Shuppets like to gather around those who... are not in the best of places, I guess? They used to gather around me a lot when I was feeling rather down, though them doing so used to cheer me up since they were my friends. So, if I may, can I ask what's bothering you so much? Assuming I'm not... prying into anything to personal. I am just a stranger and... well a child after all."

As she talked, she kept track of the Ghosts-Types surrounding them, trying to see if the Misdreavus was still around.

---

^{Trial of Fear || Day 4: Evening || @PlatinumSkink}
The lack of reaction from the dark-types clued Eryn into the fact that she may have missed the mark with her guesses at their intent, and this was confirmed by the Sableye, which struck out as she started running. Still, gritting her teeth, she kept on, dodging the shadows striking out until something leapt into her path, stopping her in her tracks.

“Wh—an Umbreon?” Eryn shook her head, glancing backwards breifly to scout her options. What was more alarming than the Umbreon, though, was the Arbok, which was still keeping pursuit. Clearly, there was something more than a personal vendetta motivating it—right?

“Alright, let’s try something slightly newer,” Eryn said, unlatching Peri’s Pokeball from her belt. “Kylie, Fairy Wind and Sweet Scent to cover us. Peri, Flatten! Or Roll!!” Eryn yelled, releasing the Onix.

Idling briefly as Peri and Kylie got to work, Eryn looked for a opening to run past like she did before with the Arbok. Though the Umbreon was likely a lot faster and nimbler than the Arbok, hopefully it’d be shocked enough to step aside and allow Eryn to breeze past. As for the Arbok, If Kylie’s wind didn’t blow it back or slow it down, Eryn was counting on her Sweet Scent to offer some sort of cover for the team as they sped ahead. Sweet Scent drew Pokemon towards them, but they were already the center of attention at the moment.

“Hey, Dei, this might be kinda crazy, but how about we try it?” Eryn asked, grinning as she looked up to the Charmander she was balancing on her head. “Smokescreen, then Ember—Ember anything and everything that comes close. Let’s get some light going in this forest.”

Dei, to his credit, looked relatively surprised at her idea. From behind, Eri looked somewhat spooked by the idea, eyes going wide even though he mimicked Eryn’s grin, but Dei recovered faster than him. Fire was fire, after all, and Eryn was sure he appreciated a little destruction here and there. So, flaring his nostrils, he breathed forth a large plume of smoke.

---

@Eklispe

Dawkin threw his Pokéball at Feebas, which was easily absorbed into the Pokéball and dropped down to float in the water.

It spun around in the water once!

It spun around in the water twice!

It spun around in the water thrice…!



__________________________

@Joshua Tamashii

The man looked at her with tired yet attentive eyes, politely waiting for her to finish with his hands together. After she had finished, he took a couple of moments to consider something, looking even more tired.

He ultimately shook his head.

‘It is kind of you to look out for me, but my state is not one that can be solved with a conversation,’ he said. ‘I… am Johannes, formerly an Admin of Team Virtue. I partook in the Team Wars, one of the vanguard in the battles against Team Amethyst. During those wars, I saw the uglier side of what happens when people try to use Pokémon for profit. Not only from those I faced, but also from those who I would have called my allies…’ he said, and then shook his head again, looking down into the table.

‘This is not a matter which I should share with a child. I feel… unsightly emotions towards the people I worked with at the time. Things would have gotten worse if I tried to confront them, so I came to Pureplain City and became a teacher in order to get better. To distance myself from the events of my past. It’s… tolerable, now. In a way, I’ve now actually found myself thankful for the Shuppets feeding on my emotions. I had a Pokémon Trainer chase them away once, because I had thought of them as a bother, but it grew worse in their absence. A couple new ones showed up, and I figured it was just as well.’ So he said. He now looked to Amelia.

‘Thank you for caring, but it’s not something you need to worry about. I’m glad you’re no longer in a dark place, that implies there’s some hope for me, as well,’ he said, lifting a hand to give her a small pat on her head, if she didn’t shy away from it or anything. ‘All you need to know is that the battles are over, and it should once again safe for Pokémon Trainers like you to journey Isson…’ … So he looked like he wanted to convince himself but he wasn’t entirely sure.

‘Does that answer your question?’ Johannes asked, retrieving his hand and looking softly at Amelia.

All the ghosts, including Misdreavus, are still in the vicinity, around the room. They’re avoiding being in the same room as Johannes, apparently.

@Typical

Eryn sent out Peri at Umbreon. Umbreon, the moderately agile piece of thing that it was and at a higher level, managed to decently easily jump back and even sling a Confuse Ray into Peri’s face as she came crashing down. Peri was confused! … But that didn’t stop her as she kept on rolling, and Umbreon had to note that the size-difference made this pretty difficult and it had to focus on dodging aside Peri’s roll. The way ahead was cleared.

Fairy Wind, however, did NOT particularly hold back Arbok. Fairy-type was Not Very Effective against the Poison-type. Arbok was about to reach them, then Dei blew out a cloud of smoke, hiding them from the predator’s glare. That is, it tried to Glare, the move, but Smokescreen was the perfect cover. Arbok still then attempted to catch them, specifically Eryn. The tail of an Arbok snatched through the smoke at Eryn’s position and almost gripped her, but Dei had prepared to Ember at the tail before it caught her and she was free to run on while Arbok trashed in the smoke from the burned tail. Now, Dei would have been as likely to miss as Arbok in this cloud of smoke, but Kylie’s Sweet Scent had lowered Arbok’s evasion and allowed them to pull off this stunt.

Now, Dei probably could have set the forest ablaze, but the Arbok coming after them probably would have priority, given “Ember anything and everything that comes close”.

With that, and assuming she handled having a confused Onix in some kind of way, Eryn was still able to run on while Arbok was too busy dealing with a burned tail and trying to navigate out of the smoke to pursue. As such, she was able to proceed through the forest… and see it open up at the end of it.

The forest abruptly ended. Suddenly, she was in a cave again, or perhaps it was a valley. It was a maze, with multiple rocky options of where to go, different ways Eryn could go. However, she couldn’t go however she wanted. The numerous valleys ahead that were being patrolled by floating, moon-shaped rocks that were floating about in this landscape with the moon yet still shining down from the skies…



… And, in the middle of these rocks creating a maze before her was a single plateau, on top of which stood numerous small fairies with their tiny hands raised up, calling to the full celestial body floating overhead inside the cave.



… That is to say, there were a group of Clefairies repeatedly using Moonlight make the full moon shine within the trial, in order to awaken the powers of Lunatone and Umbreon.

And… resting right in front of said plateau, like a good little doombringer guard-dog…



… stood the Houndoom she’d heard earlier, guarding the Clefairies. It wasn’t just going to move because she told it to.

Now, the Lunatones weren’t so common that sneaking through the maze wouldn’t possibly work. They had a set pattern, that could potentially be predicted. It would be harder the deeper she got, however, and could go awry based on pure misfortune unless she came up with a brilliant idea to passing. Getting just to the Clefairy plateau would be much easier and much more doable, but… Houndoom. A Houndoom just stood there, looking far too powerful.

And if that wasn’t enough… Umbreon was walking along with her, far to her left. After Peri’s attack Umbreon had kept its distance, but it was following, not about to let Eryn get away quite that easily. There was no telling what Umbreon might do, depending on what Eryn did next. Another element of uncertainty in the mix.

What would Eryn do here?

---

^{Trial of Fear || Day 4: Evening || @PlatinumSkink}
“Good job, Peri! C’mon back!” Eryn yelled, recalling the Onix as she ran. On her head, Dei was belching Embers freely, lighting up the forest with every burst of flame. Though the plan had been to set fire to the forest, the Arbok on pursuit was Dei’s main target at the moment, and because of that Eryn focused on putting what distance she could between her team and the poison-type.

Bursting out from the grey edges of Dei’s Smokescreen, Eryn dashed through the forest, still avoiding the Sableye around her, which were moths to Dei’s flame. Their eyes gleamed in the darkness, a starry background as Eryn ran ahead, then… nothing. The forest ended, and the Sableye’s attacks with it. Ahead, the moonlight revealed a rocky landscape speckled with floating rocks she could just make out over the top of the stone walls.

“A maze?” Eryn asked, looking to her left and right. There didn’t seem to be anywhere else to go except in, and Eryn grinned. “Alright, let’s see how fast we can solve a maze.”

Jogging forwards, Eryn peeked out the first corner, then quickly retracted her head. There’d been something past the corner—something floating with glowing red eyes. Fetching her Pokedex, she poked its camera out past the edge, waiting as the Pokemon popped up on the screen. Lunatone. A pokemon literally shaped like a moon. Classy.

Making another peek past the corner, Eryn saw that the Pokemon had moved, but not towards her. Rather, it was heading back down the aisle it’d come from. On the other hand, a second Lunatone was headed over from the left aisle, its eyes pointed straight ahead. It was almost as if they were coordinating their movements. Patrolling. They were patrolling the maze.

“Arceus, how many Pokemon does the Trial Master have?” Eryn muttered, hiding back behind the corner when the second Lunatone started turning. The first was already out of sight, and if she assumed that the Lunatone were heading in the same direction, the second would be heading back the way it came in a second or two.

“Right, this is a stealth exercise. Gotta sneak past the Lunatone patrols,” Eryn said, looking behind her to where Kylie and Eri were, the latter still her doppelganger. The dots connected, and Eryn grinned.

“Hey, Eri, what do you say about some Lunatone spy games?” Eryn asked, grinning and waving herself over. The Zorua walked over with wary eyes, though he copied her grin perfectly. Together, the mismatched pieces clashed horribly, but Eryn figured that was intentional. Eri had spent too much time watching her to get such minor details wrong.

“There, the Lunatone. Copy that and lead the way for us. Me peeking over every corner is gonna get us caught sometime, and I don’t think the Lunatone will suspect one of their own,” Eryn said, looking back down to scroll through her Pokedex. “Nope, nothing about communicating with each other or anything. I think we’re good.” She paused, glancing at Kylie. “Right, I think the fewer bodies we have for this, the better. I’m going to return you two, Kylie, Dei, and let you guys out when we get past this maze. Okay?”

Dei and Kylie nodded, Kylie’s smile curiously close to a smirk as she looked at Dei, who didn’t seem too pleased to be hearing that he was to be returned. Still, he took it like a champ, disappearing into his Pokeball in silence, thankfully.

“Right, Eri. Lead the way,” Eryn said, indicating the way ahead with a grin. Eri, now a Lunatone with glowing red eyes that were slightly less unsettling than the real deal, did, mimicking the Lunatone’s straight, streamline movements as they headed through the maze.

---