Dawkin shook at his head at Claire easily dismissing the Ninja Boy's challenge. What happened to all that bluster about "trainers having to battle"? Just an excuse that was convenient for her at the time. naturally went along with Florrie to the lab. He had a duty to make sure their information was imparted correctly, plus the Professor might want the Zygrade Cell he had already collected. Perhaps he could also ask Dustang if he had any advice on how to train a Feebas... In no time at all they worked their way to the lab, and Florrie made their presence known. Dawkin was willing to wait, he wasn't in any particular rush. That said he did try to sneak a peek at what was on Claire's Pokedex at the sound of legendary Pokemon. It seemed he wasn't the only one with an unusual run in. Perhaps they were connected in some way?

---

@PlatinumSkink@Savo



Basil nodded at Kalmia and smiled at her, a nervous one, but a smile nonetheless. "Thank you, Professor. We'll do our best."

Pokemon and trainer followed Rodger through the lab and when they reached the door, those two trainers that were battling earlier opened it so they were now face to face. "Oh, um, hello there." Basil said, shifting about awkwardly. Sweet Arceus above the young man with brown hair was tall and looked like a model and the blonde girl was really pretty. In comparison, he felt like a potato. His eyes darted around anxiously until they fell upon his backpack with what looked like a very small instrumental case attached to it. "Excuse me." He snatched his pack and quickly walked passed the two.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Remain composed. Let a shred of doubt in and we're going to lose. There was no luxury to be an anxious mess now; he had a Pokemon of his own that relied on him now and right now, Cecil needed him to direct her in battle.

One of the legs of his jeans was tugged by Cecil with her looking up to see if he was okay, concerned if he was having second thoughts. Basil exhaled slowly and opened his eyes and looked down at his little Pokemon. He smiled and knelt down to pat her head gently. "I'm okay, Cecil. Do your best, okay?"

Cecil nodded and with a cheeky grin bounded towards the battlefield as well and gave that spunky Rufflet a glare of her own, ready to knock that annoying little spitfire down a few pegs. Meanwhile, Basil was looking at his Pokedex to see what kind of moves that his Darumaka had in her kit, which were Rollout and Tackle. They were not exactly the most versatile moves, but he will just have to make them work.

It looked like Rodger was not really going to hide his strategy, which as odd, but whatever works with him. "So do I." Honestly, Basil was flying by the seat of his pants so to say that he had a plan

Lack of battle plans aside, it was time for his first every battle! "Let's go!"

And right at the start Rodger was true to his word and ordered his Rufflet to use Fury Attack as a full frontal assault. There was no doubt that this aggressive battle style was meant to overwhelm them and make them fall into Rodger's pace, but they could not afford to let that happen. Its mobility made it a pain to deal with; the bird would just keep following after them relentlessly if Cecil dodged and it could just fly up to avoid any attack Cecil threw. They needed to stop its mobility just long enough for a clean hit.

There was an idea, but Kalmia was not going to be exactly happy with what he was going to do. Well, better to ask for forgiveness than for permission. "Cecil, tear the ground up with Rollout!" The Darumaka rolled up into a ball without question and began to spin at high speeds towards the Rufflet though when it got near the flying type, it made a sharp left turn, kicking up dirt and blades of grass to launch at the bird Pokemon's eyes. It would not be able to fly around easily with dirt in its eyes if this worked.

---

^{Descent Tower || Day 5: Morning || @PlatinumSkink}
“Heya Wil, morning!” Eryn said, waving when the Ruin Maniac came into view. “And yeah, it was all Tula, though, right Tutu?” Eryn asked as she looked down at the wriggling Magikarp in her arms, patting her with a grin. “Knew you could do it. Knew it.”

Her Pokemon stood beside her, she watched as Wilhelm led them to the shore they were diving from, surprised to see the man unloading a surprising amount of diving gear from his backpack. Out came flippers, goggles, wetsuits, and all sorts of other equipment Eryn stopped knowing the first thing about.

“Oh, I can borrow this? Can I just buy it off you?” she asked, beaming as she held up a wetsuit. “Er, why exactly… you know what, nevermind,” she said, draping the wetsuit over her arm and picking up a pair of goggles. Then, looking to the Quagsire, she held up a pair of flippers. “Hey, will I need these?”

The Quagsire’s response was a bit lacking, and Eryn hesitated briefly, then set the flippers back down. Since the word ‘ruins’ seemed to imply some amount of depth, she doubted flippers would be able to help her much. After all, she had the Quagsire, and if that wasn’t enough, she also had Tula.

“Right, gimme just a second,” she said, looking around. Though there wasn’t much cover, there was Peri, and Eryn grinned.

“Peri, give me a hand, won’t you?” she asked, waving the Onix over. A minute or two later, the Onix uncoiled, and Eryn stepped out in the wetsuit with her hair tied in a stubby ponytail and the goggles snapped around her head.

“Thanks, Peri! And watch this for me, won’t you?” she asked, making sure the zipper of her bag was closed before putting the bag on the Onix. “Pretty sure these are waterproof,” she said, grabbing her Pokedex and stepping back with a grin. “Right, that’s that, then. See you four in a bit!”

Given that Tula was the only water-dweller of the bunch, there was no reason to attempt to bring anyone but her. Kylie, the metal-type, would sink as quickly as Peri, who seemed all too glad to be told to wait despite never seeming to explicitly cite a desire to. Dei, on the other hand, appeared to be extremely unhappy about the whole situation, his hands crossed as he stared at Eryn, smoke trailing from his nostrils with every unhappy puff.

“Oh, c’mon, Dei. You’d hate the water,” Eryn said, rubbing the Charmander’s head with a grin. “Stay dry and keep Eri company, won’t you? You two can finish your conversation from last night, then maybe clue Kylie and Peri in while you’re at it.”

Eri’s eyes widened slightly as he glanced behind him, his Nuzleaf form’s leaf twitching as he locked eyes with Kylie, who smiled sweetly with one mouth and flashed some fangs with the other. Dei, on the other hand, huffed again, flicking his tail, but Eryn only laughed, giving him a final pat before straightening.

“Don’t miss me too much!” she said, saluting them as she jogged towards Wilhelm and the Quagsire, Pokedex and Tula in hand. Upon arrival, she looked between the two with a grin. “So, how’re we doing this?”

Now, breathing bubbles weren’t Eryn’s first idea as to how ruin exploring would work, but that’s how the Quagsire operated, enveloping both itself and Eryn and Wilhelm in a bubble. Since she was preoccupied with the newness of the whole situation, she didn’t realize until they reached the bottom that she could have brought more of her team along than Tula.

“Well, I guess there was no reason for the suit and goggles either,” she said, sighing as she pulled the goggles off so they dangled around her neck. Then, shifting Tula, she frowned. “I think I want you next to me, not out there swimming,” she said, rubbing Tula as she continued looking around. All around, architectural constructs stood, speckled with algae and signs of underwater wearing yet somehow still seeming to be altogether intact. What part of these ruins were ruined, exactly? Sure there was the odd fallen pillar or tipped-over statue, but almost everything was untouched, unbroken.

“Guess someone’s been taking care of these ruins, huh?” she joked, glancing at Wilhelm. “Hey, Wil, why’re these ruins here, exactly? Like is this a sunken city or are there merpeople?”

The last part was meant as a joke, but Eryn was too distracted to follow up, watching as Pokemon drifted by. Poliwag and Poliwhirl were rather common, making up the small schools following the passing Politoed, which was dwarfed by a huge Pokemon that Eryn remembered to open her Pokedex for. Seismitoad, the vibration Pokemon, then Whiscash, which Eryn had seen before in a few fishing contest photos.

“Well, Wil, do you have anywhere specific you wanna go? ‘Cuz, if not, it’s exploring time,” Eryn said, grinning. “Let’s follow that Seismitoad! At a distance, of course. So we’re not being rude.”

And just like that, Eryn managed to rope the crew into spending a few minutes—or more, but who was counting—following after random Pokemon and poking into random ruins and crevices to look at carvings or murals that there happened to be. Being a tourist in Pureplain was quite different from being a tourist in an underwater city, where she was just about the only tourist in sight.

Eventually, after she’d satisfied her curiosity with following just about every interesting wild and getting a better look at every piece of sunken civilization that came into view, Eryn exhaled, grinning again. “Right, where were we again?” she asked, looking around. “Going deeper, right? Yeah, okay, let’s go. Should be, er, this way,” she said, pointing in the right direction. Or, was it a random direction?

“Huh, weird,” she said, then shrugged. “Deeper we go!”

---

@Gardevoiran

‘I-I want a detailed description! Of everything that happened!’ Vivia told with a certain flare to her voice, despite her tone sounding a bit unsure about this. Still, not much she could do from there.

So Skylar came in and had his little vision, and gave his reply…

There was a somber happiness emanating from the being on his shoulder to his reply, empathy for what he’d felt about it, and once again the small barriers formed in mid-air touched his fingers, giving him something to read, a way to communicate with a being that didn’t talk his language.



Read the first message. It was accompanied with great happiness, as if remembering fond times. And then… anger. Anger at the situation she was in.



Hope, was the feeling the line of words ended on. Anger, transitioning to hope. The vision before Skylar changed, zoomed out. He was looking at a number of darkly lit factories in an industrial district. As a resident of Isson there was no mistaking the bottom layer of the southern side of Worldedge City. And… with a feeling of dislike, a specific factory was emphasized. As in, greatly emphasized. There was no mistake in the feelings the being put into every inch of that outline. Yikes, that’s a lot.



The being adds, if only because the GM wants the players to solve it and not just call the Pokémon League on them.

Something fell into Skylar’s hand.



And with that, the being jumped off Skylar’s shoulder and the vision vanished, meaning he could now see “normally”, for him, anyway. The being did a happy loop before coming to a stop in front of him, the pink and gray Pokémon emanating hope and joy, totally proud.

‘Mesprit!’ the Pokémon called happily, a big smile on the legendary Pokémon’s face.



And, in Skylar’s hand had been left…



A couple red jewels, or crystals apparently, gathered in Skylar’s hand, bound together. A third of a whole.

Now, then. What’s Skylar’s reaction?

And in case he just turns and runs for whatever reason…





Connected areas:
Route 1. To the south, is the common route of first journeys. Green and straight.
Route 3. To the north, the route to Rainrock or the Silent Shrine. A wet woodland.
Route 14. To the east, the lake known as the Dragon Lake, potentially for crossing.
Path to Silent Shrine. To the west, the Silent Forest and the path to the shrine within.



__________________________

@Eklispe @Rune_Alchemist

‘Well, alright, then! I’ll battle you after! I’m a patient boy! Ninjas have to have patience, or they’re no ninja!’ Alec called most excitedly, staying right where he was as the rest went off.

And so, off to the lab, where Claire showed off her Pokédex entry for Uxie to Dunstan. For Dawkin, who hasn’t seen it before now…



Dunstan leaned to the side in his chair, looking utterly relaxed as Uxie’s Pokédex entry was read, lifting the hand which elbow was leaning on the arm’s rest to poke on his glasses a little as he waited for it to be done, after which his eyes lifted up to look at Claire for a couple of seconds…

‘Uxie wouldn’t happen to have sent you with a message to me, would it? Like, “I know who the villains are, where they are, what they’re plotting and I’m letting you know”, or something along those lines?’ Dunstan asked, sounding more or less like someone who’s been having a rough day/week/month/year/life.

‘Ah, yes, about that!’ Florrie suddenly spoke up, and Dunstan looked over at her briefly.

‘Me and Dawkin went to the Mythic Oasis to see if we could find any Zy- cell- er,’ Florrie stumbled over her words and looked at Claire because she was suddenly unsure if she should be saying that, but then came to the point looking to Dunstan. ‘B-but we came across a man in black engaged in battle with Cresselia! We were horribly outpowered so we could only watch as he caught her. I don’t think he noticed us, because he was talking to his Pokémon out loud, and he mentioned Amethyst… and Dawkin mentioned he’d showed up to look at Darkrai, before, too, but ultimately left before Virtue’s attack on the tomb… Basically…’ Florrie looked to Dawkin to see if he had anything to add to that.

‘But, he mentioned Cresselia wasn’t the one he was looking for, so… we figured he might have something to do with what happened to Zygarde, too…’ Florrie finished.

Dunstan was running an annoyed hand over his face.

‘Right… of course… Amethyst… Suppose I could call the cavalry and have them raid Bigfjord again, because that solved so many problems the last dozen times…’

Now, it’s probably common knowledge that Team Amethyst originally originated from Bigfjord City, but an entirely different matter if they actually stuck around. Claire might not know. Dawkin might have been advised to avoid the city back home by grown ups while growing up. The place doesn’t have the best of reputations.

‘Right, what did you have to say?’ Dunstan eventually asks Claire again, if she hasn’t started talking on her own before that, which’s moderately likely.

What does Claire and/or Dawkin have to say?

If they escape for any reason.





Connected areas:
Route 6. The Vast Plains open up to the north of Raremine. The shorter paths lead to Route 8 and 16, while west far enough leads to Lakewatch Town.
Route 7. The single rocky desert of Isson, it connects to the Desert Mines, the Old Tombs and to the Mythic Oasis.



__________________________

@hatakekuro _@Savo

Cecil rolled forth and made an impromptu drift to spray grass and mud at Ace as he came flying.

‘Oh, the bugger knows Rollout,’ Rodger said in a sudden realization as Ace had to make his own decision and-!

He was sprayed with mud and-

Keen Eye prevents loss of accuracy!

‘RUUUUFF!’ Did not mean the Rufflet was particularly happy being sprayed with mud and grass! The feisty bird shook the mud off himself and glared with absolute fury at the rolling ball of Cecil, whom after having started rolling could not be commanded to stop rolling for a couple of turns, only directed. It was really hard to make physical attacks against what was effectively a rolling 80 pound/40 kg boulder…

‘Geh. Ace, guess we better fly high and stay away from it, perhaps Leer on a distance…’ Rodger said, sounding so regrettable, and that was no match for the displeasure in Ace’s face… except, that’s when he grinned. ‘… No. No, that’s not me. A challenge presents itself, and neither me nor my Pokémon will fall back from it! We’re facing it head on!’ Rodger called, and Ace replied with a determined cry. This is when Rodger looked around the battlefield, and…

‘Ace, grab the bucket! Grab the bucket, and CATCH HER IN IT!’ Rodger commanded, and Ace followed the instructions. He flew to grab the handle on the bucket leaning on its side, and then wave his wings with one utter ferocity to start dragging the bucket along the ground after him so that he may attempt to face Cecil’s rolling head on and catch her in the bucket…!

That was what Rodger was planning, in any case. Did Cecil even potentially fit in that bucket? Regardless… what’s Basil and Cecil’s reply?

Keep in mind once Rollout has started, it’s hard to stop, and it’s gaining power.

__________________________

@Typical

‘I could let you buy it for 5,000 P if you’d provide. It’s actually for my younger sister, but she hasn’t been interested in adventuring with me for a while. Claims that she’s gotten too old. Nonsense, you’re never too young for ruin searching!’ Wilhelm stated proudly about the wetsuit that she picked for herself. And… using Peri to cover herself changing is one interesting use of a giant Pokémon, nice.

‘Quaaaaaag!’ was Quagsire’s reaction to needing things… which indeed, was pretty vague.

‘Oh, for a moment there I was wondering what my Nuzleaf was doing over there…’ Wilhelm was momentarily confused until he figured, having looked at his own Pokéball for a bit, but that’s all solved!

Now then, deeper in that bubble that was specifically created to explain the question of “how are we having Pokémon battles underwater after using Dive with not-water-types”, they eventually found themselves in Flooded Lakewatch, where Eryn asked her questions…

‘I’m glad you asked! See, this was once built above the surface. Lakewatch Town was once a town on the side of the lake, not on top of it. However, since then Dragon Lake has grown. More water is added and less floods out, probably in large parts due to the constant rain on Route 3. Eventually, it became clear that Lakewatch as it was would no longer be inhabited. However, instead of just abandoning their town, they built their new town ON TOP of the former one. And then, when the surface of Dragon Lake rose again, they once again built their way upwards. It’s simply how Lakewatch Town functions nowdays! Which gives us this marvel of architecture growing beneath, an explorer’s dream.’

‘So, Flooded Lakewatch is perhaps not “ruins” the way the regular individual would refer to ruins, but they’re nonetheless a fragment of ancient civilization long since abandoned due to worsened living conditions. People do come down here regularly to check for damages, can’t have all of Lakewatch collapsing from underneath, but the architecture of ancient times has proven itself incredibly robust. In addition, new treasures are regularly uncovered down here and plenty of Pokémon live here, making it an incredible place to explore.’

‘I am down for exploring!’ Wilhelm told. ‘Hoho, get it? I am down here, and I am also here for exploring, so I’m down for exploring…’ he chuckled at his own joke.

Swimming after Seismitoad, there really wasn’t all that much behind him. He was drifting about, catching smaller living things to live, hit them with some sound-shocks… still, drifting about in various underwater houses and areas, Wilhelm took to collecting various rocks with no value to a Pokémon trainer but tons of worth to a Ruin Maniac, while Eryn could here and there find some shiny things on the bottom. And, what was that? A crown of some sort placed on a pedestal? Quite fortunate of her to be able to find it in one of the random rooms. Perhaps a Politoed placed it here.



And then, turning around… there was a smaller, blue frog that was looking at her. It panicked a bit when looked at and swam back a bit, but then took cover in the opening of a door to look at them curiously.





Still, assuming she didn’t want anything particularly out of that one, moving on. Eryn pointed in a “random” direction.

‘Hoho, just remember where we parked!’ Wilhelm joked a bit as they headed off, Quagsire just leading them on the way. The path took them inside one of the soaked buildings, there were some drenched dolls floating in here as they drifted through and arrived to a… tower. A smaller tower, that led up to… the surface. There was a surface. Also, there were old markings all over the walls, and…

‘... Huh?’ Wilhelm made a curious sound. ‘Why, these markings remind me of those on the Ancient Rocks of Highhill Town and the ruins by Ancient Stillwood,’ Wilhelm commented. Then, Quagsire brought them up, and as they breached the surface, it became immediately clear they were somewhere entirely new.



She can always just head back.





Connected areas:
Lakewatch Town. Above you.

---

---

"Lower Worldedge. Bit of a maze, but we can pull through." Skylar's voice beckoned forth confidence, even if there was a hint of unease in the pit of his stomach. I mean, this was a Legendary Pokemon asking him to help save the world! Of course he'd be at least a little intimidated!

Still, this wasn't just something he could say no to, either. He'd already agreed to it, too, so that's a thing. Skylar smiled as the world faded back into reality, all of Skylar's Pokemon staring at the boy and legendary as the two returned to the real world. Skylar looked at his friends and grinned at them all. "Good news guys, I've got a big plan for what we do next. Bad news, we've got quite the journey ahead of us."

The boy pulled up the map on his Pokedex, looking at it while figuring out what to do. "Well, originally I was going to take us to Stillwood, then Freecape, but from here in Highhill we can go to Lakewatch, then take the route to Stillwood to meet your kin." Skylar looked up at Mesprit. What a happy face on this little lake child, indeed. Skylar put up his Pokedex after getting a quick scan on Mesprit (and picture, like, come on that had to be worth at least 4000 points).

"Hey, Mesprit?" Skylar asked with a bit of hesitance. "Would it be rude of me to ask you if you'd like to come with us? N-Not necessarily in a Pokeball, unless you wanted to, but I figured you'd want to at least see the others with us."

In case Mesprit did want to join the team with Skylar and the gang, the one Premier Ball Skylar had with him was ready.

@Gardevoiran

Mesprit smiled as Skylar asked if it wanted to come along, eyes looking a bit sad, the creature of emotion radiating bittersweet emotions.

‘Mesprit...’ Mesprit told, and it didn't sound like a positive reply. New text came into contact with Skylar's fingers, as Mesprit practiced Psychic powers with finesse only possibly by legendary Pokémon.



... There was a feeling of tenseness and slight fear yet also pride from the Emotion Pokémon as it told this.

---

---

"Well, it was worth a shot I guess." Skylar shrugged, smiling at the emotion Pokemon. "No sweat. When this is all over, I'll be back here once more. Maybe then you can come along for the journey, right?" He was hopeful in that. Maybe Mesprit coming along was something that was held within his stars, just not immediately. After all, he did have this legendary task ahead of him, so maybe this was a true test that he had to pull off with his team as it stood.

He rallied everyone at the door (obviously giving everyone headpats on the way out), before he turned back to Mesprit. "If all goes well, I'll be back with good news!" With that, Skylar stepped back out of the cave and back into Highhill proper... but ran back in really quick to ask a question alone. "Oh wait, is there anything I need to know about Uxie and Azelf? S-Since you had this thing, is there anything similar?" Better to know now then not know when he got there.

Whether or not Mesprit answered, Skylar returned to the outside to tell Vivia the plan.

"Alright, Vivia, we've got a new mission." Skylar immediately opened. "There's something bad going on in Isson. Really bad, actually, and it's up to us to try and fix it. We need to catch a ferry to Lakewatch to go and meet with either Uxie or Azelf, not sure. Mesprit said it was pretty much necessary as a countermeasure to whatever's happening." He spoke with diligence, stepping away from the rocks and starting towards the lake. "There's a warehouse in lower Worldedge. There's some kind of experimenting going on with this girl that Mesprit, Azelf, and Uxie seem to know. I think she's really powerful in some aspect and some scientists are trying to awaken her power so they can use it. Maybe those grunts we stopped at Silent Shrine have some involvement in it, I don't know. Point is, we need to go to Lakewatch and Stillwood so we can have the power to keep that from happening completely." Skylar stopped before turning back to Vivia.

"So instead of going to Stillwood straight away, we're going to Lakewatch first to both challenge that gym and meet with either Uxie or Azelf. From there, we go to Stillwood, complete the trio of this lake as well as gather the third gym badge around the lake, then we... hopefully figure out what to do from there, whether it's going to Worldedge or somewhere else." Skylar looked down at the docks, which were barely in view by this point. "If there's anything left to do here in Highhill, we need to do it like now. Otherwise, we wait for the next ferry and keep going. The less time we take is the less time that the girl Mesprit showed me will suffer."

All of Skylar's Pokemon stared at eachother, seemingly still trying to make heads and tails of this situation themselves. The only one who didn't was JoJo, who teleported onto Skylar's shoulder and nodded over to Vivia. Sure, JoJo wasn't the strongest Psychic Type yet, but he knew what Skylar was saying was true. This wasn't something they could ignore.

Vivia's response?

@PlatinumSkink

Basil furrowed his brow at the sight of his plan absolutely failing. "Crap, I just made it angrier." That was a bad call on his part, but he did not know that the bird could somehow resist accuracy lowering moves. Not to mention that Cecil was now a rolling ball of absolute death tearing up Kalmia's yard until she stopped on her own or something else occurred. That something else was Rodger ordering Ace to drag the bucket over and try to catch Cecil with it.

There was a chance that Cecil could just break through the bucket; she was an 80 pound boulder that was picking up speed with every passing moment to just hit that bird with even greater force. Then there was the fact that this Rollout was not only gaining power from its building momentum, there was also the factor of Cecil's ability, Hustle. At the cost of accuracy, Cecil was throwing more of her body into the attack to just turn the bird into pancake. One hit is all that it would take to take Ace down, but then again, Cecil was not exactly a tiny thing. The possibility of her just getting lodged in was also real and the battle would be lost.

Well, just because Cecil could not stop rolling did not mean that she could only move in one direction. "Circle around him and hit from from behind!" Basil commanded and following his instructions, Cecil made the attempt to get behind the bird so that it could deliver her strike. The turn she would have to make would have to be sharp like her impromptu skid earlier in order for this to work. The logic behind this was that she was faster than Ace at the moment due to the virtue of not being encumbered by a bucket and that Ace would have to make more of an effort to turn it around in time to catch her.

At least that was the plan. Not much of one, but it was something.

@Gardevoiran

‘Mesprit!’ Mesprit sounded out happily about potentially coming along when this was all over. Wasn’t necessarily clear if that was an astounding “yes”, but it felt like it might lean towards it. And with that, Skylar was about to head out… and then turned back to ask if the other two had something similar. First, about Uxie. Mesprit seemed hopeful and happy.



So Mesprit told, through those psychic barriers forming braille by Skylar’s fingers. And with that…

‘Mesprit!’ called out for Skylar and waved a little as he departed, and then flew off to who knows where, not to be found even should someone else breach through this tunnel.

‘Oh, you’re back!’ Vivia called out immediately, having stood there fiddling with her fingers looking alarmed and was having Venonat next to her scan into the tunnel with those red bug-eyes next to her, and then when Skylar returned she sighed out in relief and looked to see what he had to say.

The moment Skylar was outside, the rock slid back up again and sealed the way shut, disguising the fact there had ever been a tunnel. Vivia looked a bit alarmed at that, but that wasn’t much compared to what Skylar had to tell her after.

‘I, uh, huh,’ Vivia swallowed a bit, as she looked at the rocks through somewhat startled eyes. ‘Mesprit… D-did you get the Pokédex data…?’ she asked, entirely because of that yikes, she’s not happy about having missed what happened in there. Still… as for this mission… Vivia steeled her expression and got determined, and nodded at him. ‘Alright. Let’s go to Lakewatch Town and see what we can find. I do believe I’ve heard of things similar to here have been found underwater there, underwater…’ she looked a bit perturbed. ‘Well, as good a time as any to get a Water-type,’ she said with a light chuckle. ‘I don’t think we can take that Gym yet, though, from what I heard that’s a Major League Gym…’

That sorted out, however, suppose they could get going!

Ferry to either Lakewatch Town or Stillwood Village is 750 P.





Connected areas:
Route 1. To the south, is the common route of first journeys. Green and straight.
Route 3. To the north, the route to Rainrock or the Silent Shrine. A wet woodland.
Route 14. To the east, the lake known as the Dragon Lake, potentially for crossing.
Path to Silent Shrine. To the west, the Silent Forest and the path to the shrine within.



__________________________

@hatakekuro _@Savo

Cecil took off and tried to circle around the bird carrying the bucket, though while Cecil was definitely faster than Ace while the Rufflet was being burdened by the bucket, just turning the bucket around was decently faster than dragging it and there was a longer way to hit it from behind. The two chased each other for a bit before Cecil finally homed in and skipped to impact the bird, and-!

And she missed!

Probably the first of many misses entirely due to Hustle _{bad luck on the roll} carried Cecil way past a surprised Ace, before she promptly fell into the ground again, and whether she intended to have jumped or not she suddenly found herself using the power of her roll to drill several inches down into pure dirt, the dirt steadfast enough to bring her to a halt after having spread numerous pounds of Kalmia’s garden over more or less the entire battlefield. For a brief moment, Cecil was stuck in the ground…

‘Drop the bucket and Fury Attack!’ Rodger commanded excitedly, the big young man looking positively thrilled by the battle.

‘RUUUUFF!’ Ace, of course, didn’t hesitate in the slightest as the bird dove forward to pursue the red boulder down into the hole in the ground-!

Probably wasn’t any way to avoid being hit by the Fury Attack here, but just in case, what’s Basil and Cecil’s next commands?

@PlatinumSkink

At this exact same time, Cecil and Basil had the same thought. Well shit.

Cecil was deep in a hole of dirt after spectacularly missing Ace and has destroyed Kalmia's garden. Hopefully she doesn't have a temper or else, well, things were going to be ugly.

Speaking of things getting ugly, that little bird menace was flying towards Cecil to peck her until she was black and blue. There was not anything that could be done to get out quickly enough, try as she might as she wriggled around in her hole. "Come on Cecil, you have to get out!" Basil ordered, but all she could do was wriggle herself out enough that her arms were free, but she not fast enough to free herself as Ace was about to jab at her with his beak.

Basil began to scratch his neck nervously as he tried to find a way out of this situation. "Dammit Basil, think!" He thought aloud to himself. There was no way to avoid the attack...Wait, he did not need to avoid the attack.

The fledgling trainer yelled out to his pokemon, "Cecil, grab him to pull yourself out and then Rollout with the bugger!" If there was no way to avoid it, then they'll just face it head on!

"Dar!" Cecil reached out whatever part the bird Pokemon was using for its Fury Attack in hopes of following through. If she were able to succeed, she would have pulled herself out and used Rollout while holding onto Ace, making her attack as point blank as possible. That is of course if any of this worked at all.

@PlatinumSkink@Eklispe

---

Claire blinked. That had not been quite what she was expecting.

Ralia merely stared at Dunstan for an eerily long time. The Ralts held a hand to her mouth, tilting her head to the side slightly as she looked at the human in front of her. Frustration? Guilt? Resignation, rather than frustration. He seemed elated that Claire had shown the entry, but...there wasn't much else she could go on. He seemed irritated at whatever Florrie had told him, but it was likely irrelevant to what they were there for.

"Aha-erm, no, that's-Bweh?!" Ralia roughly pulled on one of Claire's ears. "Ooooow, what the heck girl?" Claire gave her pokemon a rather harsh glare, tilting her head upwards slightly. "You're seriously askin' to get put in time out today."

"Raaal~" Ralia giggled happily before rolling over and still seemingly studying Dunstan.

"Right well, I dunno what this whole Zygarde and Amethyst business is, but uh, I was just a bit curious as to the Trio." She replied to Dunstan. Should she trust him? Ralia at least seemed to at least not show any signs of mistrust towards him for the moment, but he might just be good at the whole acting thing. "I talked briefly with Connor in Worldedge, he's one of your assistants? He said I should come here if I want to know more about Uxie."

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A swift, shallow nod and a quaint little smirk were his only responses to the young lady as the gears turned in his head. To be fair, there were multiple ways to exploit this system that shot through his head, though it came at the expense at his partner or the other trainers partner and the few that did could benefit them both seemed like a one and done deal.

Regardless, his mental machinations came to an end once Chloe entered, all while he held the door open for the two Hopeful's, keeping it open until they departed the lab to Kalmia's front lawn. He kept it open long enough for anyone else to leave and observe the battle before he slowly inched his arm back, letting the door close.

Following that, Cyril approached the trio with a hop in his step, with Aster bouncing in tandem with his partner, wiggling his little bud as he chirped. As he entered, he observed the scene with a careful curiosity, a gentle smile drawn on his face as his partner rested with a hearty, happy sigh. Of course, he didn't bear witness to it all, turning his attention to Kalmia with a hand propped on his hip as she imparted her own words of wisdom.

"I 'ppreciate this all Professor; hopefully my research bears some fruit! Heck, maybe some of yours could help with mine, all things considered," he replied plenty enthusiastically, with an expression that could easily cause a Sunny Day.

Turning back over to the young lady, he waved her over in his direction before ambling over to healing station and patting the side of it lightly before rapping his fingers on it, "Now then, how 'bout we get your little partner healed up, then I'll go about explaining the plan."

Once she did that, Cyril would continue.

...

"Alright, sooooo since we both have Pokédexes, we are both connected to the Pokémon Research Association!" As Cyril began chattering about this information, he brought his own Pokéball out and tapped it against the side of Asters head, resulting in him feigning a wince before giggling as the red energy shot out and placed him back inside the ball.

"While there's a whole buncha' other stuff to go on about, I'm just gonna' cut to the chase," Cyril spoke swiftly, placing the Pokéball in the machine and making a few deft taps before it began its magic, "every time we catch a new Pokémon, we get paid."

There was a dark glint in his eye, shining brighter than a dim sun as he snatched up Aster's Pokéball and spun it on his finger, "I want to trade Aster for your Sentret. It'll be a temporary deal since we'll trade them back a few seconds later, buuuuut my idea is that since we technically 'own' them during this time, it'll count towards the number of Pokémon you've caught, resulting in you being paid!"

"So whaddya' think? Wanna give it a shot?"

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Skylar showed Vivia the Pokedex entry (and by proxy, picture) of Mesprit momentarily before he put his Pokedex back. He took a moment to reflect on the Major League Gym for Lakewatch before he shrugged. "Probably slightly better. Means we can focus on either Azelf or Uxie when we get there. Though, if they might be underwater, we'd probably need to ask around for things first."

Skylar looked back at the ferry before he looked at Vivia. "I'll spot you on the ticket, since I'm kind of roping you into this adventure with me. Let's go, before the ferry leaves!" Skylar said as he began to run, Paradise crooning her neck under Vivia to pick her up so the group could get to the ferry in time. _{^{though i doubt that the gm would let it leave}}

As soon as the two hit the docks, Seabreeze guided Skylar over to the ticket station so the lad could hastily buy two tickets. "Hello sir, two tickets to Lakewatch!"




From there, everyone clambered onto the ferry and waited for the departure, unless Vivia did something different, which she could totally do.

Well what he had wanted to say had more or less been imparted. That said he was still a bit curious about Claire's encounters, although less so about Claire. You could never know too much about legendary Pokemon, or at least that's how he felt now, having interacted with at least three of them. He also wanted to ask the Professor if had any tips on raising a Feebas as well, because frankly the Pokemon looked to be something of a disappointment at the moment. So for now, he just waited to see if he could tell Claire anything else about the trio.

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@hatakekuro _@Savo

Ace dove down, talons first, because talons for Fury Attack and beak for Peck makes sense, and started scratching at Cecil intensely! Cecil was not able to catch the first couple talons that came scratching at her in fury, making her take some damage, those are some seriously tiny arms on Darumakas… but then she got one!

‘Rufflet!’ Ace complained, and immediately scratched at her with his remaining talon (still Fury Attack). However, he also waved his wings to pull himself off her… and with that he managed to pull herself out of the hole! And then… time to roll.

‘Lift her! She can’t roll in the air!’ Rodger commanded. Now, Ace weights around a fourth of Cecil’s weight, and with that it became really, REALLY hard for Ace to try to lift her off the ground, but those fluttering wings sure tried to. So, once again with feet on the ground, Cecil took more Fury Attack swipes, but she’d recovered enough that she could start preparing for Rollout, and-!

And que a very panicked screaming Rufflet being carried along a rolling Darumaka and getting run over multiple times by the red boulder-like being rolling across Kalmia’s lawn.

And that… that did it. With the equivalent of being hit by multiple Rollouts a second, half a lap around the yard later and Ace was left more-or-less flattened on the ground while Cecil could stand up, more or less fine, but having taken heavy damage mainly from flailing Fury Attacks from a rather desperate bird.

‘Ruuuuuuuuuuuuuff…’ complained the downed bird.



‘Ouch. Better luck next time, Ace,’ Rodger said with a twist of feeling his Pokémon’s pain in his expression as he held a Pokéball forward and called Ace back. He then looked to Basil with a bit of a smirk.

‘You were just lucky to have started with a super-effective move… but you got guts, Basil. I like that. I look forward to the day I can truly go all out against you. Then we’ll see who ends up on top!’ Rodger said, breaking out a bit of a grin at the end there. One way or another, Basil had at the very least earned himself a rematch one day.

‘Well, well, well. Haven’t you two been busy?’ Kalmia said with the biggest of smiles possible as she looked over the yard that Cecil had successfully torn apart rolling through. ‘I do hope the two of you are ready to help get this place back in order, right?’ she added, and just in time as if having completely predicted this Tim and Tom showed up grinning with one shovel each to offer to each of the combatants…

Rodger’s going to chuckle a bit before taking the shovel and just getting this out of the way. Now, with that out of the way.

‘Seems like I lost. I’ll go get strong so that I can start winning already,’ Rodger told Jacques. ‘I’ll make you proud of me yet.’

‘I’ll look forward to it. Good luck, Rodger,’ Jacques simply said, and that should about do it. Rodger was intending on going off to his bike and ride off into the eventual sunset…

‘In any case. Congratulations on winning your first battle! Now, let me just heal Cecil up…’ Kalmia said, and took out a Super Potion, because that should about do. ‘And then prepare you with the first little set of Pokéballs that I can supply you with…’



‘And that should do! You’re now ready to embark on your journey! Do remember you can call me anytime through the Pokédex. Mine, as well as the numbers of all the trainers with the Pokédexes I’ve distributed, are already saved onto your Pokédex! Oh, and theirs will update with yours, so don’t worry, they can reach you, too,’ Kalmia told happily.

‘So! Any more questions?’ Kalmia asked, and that was about that. Basil can depart now if he wants to.

Currently in 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.



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@Rune_Alchemist @Eklispe

‘Did he, now? How dismissive of him. He should know enough about Uxie to satisfy you without bothering me. Perhaps I should dock his pay…’ Dunstan commented as he spun his chair to start typing away at the computer for a bit. And… on his computer he clicked up some huge files on the guardian trio. Drawings of all three were readily available…

‘The Lake Guardians, three legendary beings that were born from the same egg and gifted humanity with knowledge, emotion and willpower. There are some sightings of Mesprit a bit of everywhere as it’s the only one that seems to enjoy showing itself occasionally, there’s the very rare sighting of Azelf predominantly around Lakewatch Town, and there is absolutely no sightings of Uxie reported because Uxie makes them forget they saw it. Overall, the three are harmless. Assuming you don’t attack them, they’re a peaceful bunch that just stay within their roles as guardians. They have very dangerous methods of neutralizing attackers, but it will only ever be targeted on such attackers, leaving them without memory, emotions or willpower, respectively,’ Dunstan told, sounding almost bored as he did.

‘They are called the Lake Guardians because they were originally said to have been guarding the Dragon Lake, which, yeah, all the sightings of both Mesprit and Azelf are centered on the lake itself. As far as we can tell, the ancient people that once lived around Dragon Lake basically worshipped them, and built architecture in their honour. Unfortunately, due to certain rules we’re not allowed to do further research on them. There’s this whole mythology about how they’re the ones keeping the creation trio in check, but that hardly concerns you. Does it?’ Dunstan asked, typing down something about a sighting of Uxie in his own notes on Uxie…

Since Dawkin is quiet for now, guess that’ll do for a reply.

If they escape for any reason.





Connected areas:
Route 6. The Vast Plains open up to the north of Raremine. The shorter paths lead to Route 8 and 16, while west far enough leads to Lakewatch Town.
Route 7. The single rocky desert of Isson, it connects to the Desert Mines, the Old Tombs and to the Mythic Oasis.



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@Savo _@hatakekuro

‘I’d certainly look forward to that! Good luck!’ Kalmia told Cyril happily, and then… there was this odd sound from the front of the building, through the still open door… Of rolling, and dirt being showered everywhere, and… ‘Now, let me just… go see what they’ve done to my front yard…’ Kalmia said, as she started taking some determined steps towards the door. Jacques chuckled a bit and followed after.

‘Alright! Let’s go!’ Chloe excitedly headed on with Cyril, and they healed up their Pokémon at the station and after that… Cyril shared his plan. Chloe listened curiously, and Chloe’s reaction… was smirking excitedly at him. ‘Sounds interesting. Let’s try it!’ Chloe said, eager to get started and try this out, and so they did.

To speed up the process, the two tested to trade their Pokémon… and they did, but they got no money for it.

‘Aw, really?’ Chloe said, disappointed as nothing had happened. ‘The Pokédex does register that I “own” a Budew, but I didn’t get money…’ But, then Chloe shrugged and just beamed at Cyril again.

‘Oh, well! Guess I’m just going to catch every Pokémon in sight as soon as I get out of here!’

That is most assuredly Chloe’s plan. Assuming she got Sentret back, at the very least.

So, what will Cyril do now? He’s currently in 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.



__________________________

@Gardevoiran

‘Ooooh… I am… so envious…’ Vivia made an admiring if somewhat sad noise as she looked at the Mesprit entry, for the simple reason that she’d had to stay behind. In any case!

‘Oh, alright. I’ll take you up on that,’ Vivia said, accepting that Skylar would pay the fare for her, though she did sound a bit surprised that he would. And with that, they were off to board the ferry!

It was a standard little boat, the kind that mostly looked like an on-water buss with an inside with enough room for around eighty or so seated people with the roof and all plus an outdoors area where people could stand around and look out over the water. The underside was notably reinforced. The staff took their payment no questions asked, just another day at work for them, and as soon as they had waited long enough the ferry took off. The payment is for one “trainer”, as in one human and up to six of their Pokémon, because that’s how it works in the Pokémon world… assuming the Pokémon aren’t too big.

"You're friends with Mister Jacques? Have you two known each other long?" Amelia asked, her curiousity getting the better of her for a moment before she got back on track about her problem and began thinking about it. Dorian was right, strength wasn't really a goal but rather a tool. And if she wanted freedom, she didn't need strength right away, she knew that. She could grow at her own pace, build up her strength over time and try to speed things up with the situation called for it. She didn't need to push herself to get something she didn't feel a need to have. When he brought up her pokemon, she glanced down at her pokeballs and then up to Litwick. Pulling all five off her belt, she threw them up, releasing everyone, including her new Honedge, and watched them as they appeared and let out their cries before floating around her, looking at her in concern. Except for Honedge, who watched more in interest to see what she was do.

Taking a few more moments to gather herself, she took a deep breathe before finally smiling.
"Thank you, Master Dorian. I think I just... needed someone to talk to, to listen to my thoughts and help me organize them. You're right though. I'm going to continue the same way I started. With no direction in mind and wherever my feet take me. To change who I am or what I want to do or be would be a betrayal to myself and to the pokemon who agreed to join me. I cannot thank you enough for all the help you've just offered me." She said, bowing to him.

They won? Holy crap they won! He just stood there, not sinking it in for a hot second until he lit up with a wide grin. "We did it Cecil!" He cheered as his Darumaka as she ran to him and he held his arms wide open for her as she leaped at him.

"Darrrrr!" She cheered as she was caught by Basil, who spun around with her in a hug for one whole rotation until the weight of his Pokemon caused him to lose his balance and fall on his back, Cecil in tow. It knocked the air out of his lungs, but he could not help, but laugh despite the very real sensation of his chest being crushed under her weight.

Basil pulled her Pokeball from his belt and with a beam of red light returned her to her comfy little home. "You did well girl, you did well." Without having a boulder on him, he was able to stand up straight. His attention turned to Rodger who gave him praise despite also telling him he won because of move type advantage, but perhaps he should not get too excited beating a trainer who was obviously not going all out against him. "I'm definitely looking forward to it. Until then, I'll train until I'm strong enough to stand on my own."

For a moment there, he felt like there was an intense murderous rage coming from somewhere and he turned to see it was Kalmia all smiles, in her yard, after they -Basil and Cecil- tore it up. Chuckling nervously, Basil said,"Uhhhh...Hi Professor. I guess you could say that?" It was not long until Thing 1 and 2 just appeared out of nowhere with shovels to hand to both trainers, looking a bit too happy about this. "Okay, fair enough."

Shovel in hand he helped Rodger put the yard back together, which was not something he could say was easy because all the dirt was flung everywhere, everywhere. At least with that out of the way, Rodger left as soon as he came.

"Oh, um, thank you Professor. Sorry about the yard again." He apologized as he watched her heal Cecil with a super potion. It really was a wonder how these medicines healed Pokemon so quickly, even though he should know how they work considering his family owns one of the largest Pokemon pharmaceutical company in the region.

Upon receiving 5 Pokeballs, he was all set to go out on his journey! Well, sorta...He was actually standing there awkwardly rather than excited at the prospect of finally starting his journey. "Actually, there is one thing. Maybe, um, could you introduce me to Cyril and his friend?" His face was flushed red and his eyes glancing down at the ground. If there was a neon sign with the words 'wants friends' flashing with bright lights, it would be pointing at him.

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^{Lakewatch Town || Day 5: Noon || @PlatinumSkink}
“Ah, good one,” Eryn said, laughing at Wilhelm’s dad joke moment as they started on their exploration. The watery ruins yielded a few shiny pieces, which were easy to spot given the murky darkness that pervaded the corners of her vision. Tula did a fair bit in helping out, and eventually Eryn was encouraged to loosen her grip so the Magikarp could get to swimming beside the bubble.

Carrying the things she’d found proved rather challenging without her backpack since she looked more like a thief than an explorer with the goodies clutched in hand, and it was while Eryn was fumbling that she spotted the white-backed blue amphibian—a Froakie. The sight brought a smile to her face, and she waved, then held up Tula so the Magikarp could do the same, not that she did. “Heya little guy, don’t mind us. We’re just taking a look around,” Eryn said, settling Tula in her arms again. Then, with another, smaller wave, she swam away to return to where Wilhelm and the Quagsire were amongst the ruins.

Braith’s words came back to mind: “There’s Descent Tower, but it’s really only good for one visit then you’ve basically seen it all. There isn’t much down there, unless you like that sort of thing, I suppose.” If this was what he was talking about, Eryn needed to ring him and have a talk about what ‘nothing much’ meant. For now, she could only hope that she wouldn’t become as old and jaded as he had.

At Wilhelm’s joke about remembering where they’d parked, Eryn grinned. “That’s Quagsire’s job,” she said, only half-joking. Or, at least, she hoped she was half-joking, but from the looks of Quagsire and his complacent swimming, she was… encouraged to make note of the group’s underwater route.

Directing the group around at random was an odd experience in that it felt weird. On one part, Eryn had no idea where they were going; on another, she felt like they were going the right way—that she was sure they were. If she dwelled on it, she might have found her newfound sureness unsettling, but she didn’t. Instead, she let her smile and out-of-nowhere gut instinct lead the way, and eventually the group surfaced inside a building to a whole new set of ruins. Instead of stone buildings and sunken monuments like before, the interior of this building looked like it was covered in wires and circuits. Sure the thick layer of moss made it hard to tell whether the tubes that looked like wires weren’t actually pipes, but after spotting a few awkward bends that would have made for rather inefficient plumbing, Eryn figured they had to be pipes.

“Woah,” she said, eyes wide as she flinched away from the large floating object that came into view. Lunatone was her first thought, but it was instead a Claydol, drifting along with unblinking pink eyes that drew endless comparisons to the red ones from the day before.

“Right, Claydol, nothing weird. Nothing weird at all,” Eryn said, looking around again. Some small blue shapes floating about in the distance prompted her to raise her Pokedex, and her eyebrows shot up at the entry. Elgyem—weren’t those the Pokemon that were rumored to be from outer space? What were they doing in some submerged ruin below Lakewatch?

“Well, you’re the one who told me about this place,” Eryn said to Wilhelm, a small frown on lips. What was this place indeed. If Eryn knew that, she’d be a happy camper, but instead she was stuck not knowing and… having some weird gut feelings again.

“I, um, I think… this is a challenge?” Her brows furrowed. “No, a trial. One I should do alone, without help.”

She finished her sentence with a pensive frown, and a second passed before her brows shot up, her eyes wide. “Hold up, what? How did I… What?”

Looking around frantically, half expecting answers to appear as easily as the Claydol did, she was rewarded with the damp silence of the moss and wiring. The whole situation was beyond weird, and Eryn was beginning to feel a tad bit unsettled, but she squashed that feeling by giving Tula a bounce.

“Well, lucky me, I left the crew on land. And I don’t think you count as help? I mean, don’t get me wrong, Tutu, you’re plenty of mental help, but physically…” she trailed off, sighing. “Okay, fine, maybe you are help,” she said, pulling out a Pokeball. “Well, I didn’t back down from yesterday’s challenge, and I’m not about to start today. So I’ll see you in a bit, alright?”

With a final rub, she returned her Magikarp, turning to Wilhelm. “I’ve a feeling that you count as help too, and whatever it is that’s giving me these ‘feelings,’ well, led us to this place, so I’m going to keep going along with it.” She gave him an amused salute. “Meet you back here in a bit!” she said, then made a beeline for… whatever path felt right. Because, frankly, she knew very little but felt like doing very much at the moment, and the entire situation had piqued her interest.

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"Visions, magical writing on my fingers, emotional energy. For architecture, the puddles had a cool formation but otherwise it was just a cave... and I have no idea what the countermeasure is meant to go against, but I don't wanna find out." Skylar hopped off from the ferry and immediately began to look around the city from where the two touched-down at. "Alright, cool, made it to Lakewatch. What to do now..." Skylar pondered for a moment. He knew he needed to try and get into the flooded parts of the town, but he didn't exactly have anyone on his team that could Dive down that far, if at all. Surely, though somewhere in Lakewatch had to have some Pokemon for rent for diving further.

'Reading' was a word, but eventually Skylar found a small little guide and, after struggling for a minute, got an idea on where to go. "The Explorer's Guide Service or the Lakewatcher Base are probably the people to go to for help. I need to get under the town and into Flooded Lakewatch, if what our pink friend said is true." Skylar chose that phrase over Mesprit, just incase some uncool dudes were listening.

"Explorer's Guide Service seems like the safer bet. Let's head there first."

If Vivia wanted to leave Skylar's squad to do her own thing, she totally could. Regardless, Skylar and his buddies were running in... some direction, and they'd eventually come to find the Explorer's Guide Service building... somewhere.

Oh, and all during this time, Skylar'd be looking for new Pokemon. Of course, mainly birds, but if anything else reared its cute little head, Skylar'd probably take notice.

@PlatinumSkink@Eklispe

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Claire listened with unusually rapt attention as Dunstan explained. That was...certainly interesting. She was always up for a good mythology story, especially one about some guy beating the lights out of some super bad pokemon or something. While this didn't quite have that, that final bit concerned her a bit. Keeping the...creation Trio in check? Claire kept her best, rather terrible pokerface as she replied.

"Ah, no, it probably doesn't." Claire said with a slight sideways glance. Connor did say as much the same, in a much less direct way. Hmm...did that mean whoever was after Uxie was attempting to do something to the Creation Trio? That...would be bad. "Well anyways, thanks! Don't be too hard on the glasses guy. He said pretty much the same thing you did." Then...maybe the next step would be to find more about this creation Trio? She had a feeling she was overstaying her welcome, though.

"Hey, anywhere else where I can learn about the Creation Trio? Like a library? Any recommended reads and stuff?" After getting her hands on a Vivillon, she'd do a bit more training before finally heading to Lakewatch. She was confident she had a good bit of experience under her for meeting the next one now - maybe attempt another gym, too.