After her chat with Dorian, Amelia spent most of the rest of the night just wondering around town. There was just a hint of a sunrise when she finally found a room to crash in for the night. Her pokemon joined her in rest, each taking a different position around the space, with Shuppet and Litwick remaining close to her, the latter acting like a small night light with his flame lit. Come the next morning, Amelia went through her usual routine to prepare for the day before grabbing something to eat and then going for a walk around town with her pokemon.

Needless to say, she was eager to see what kind of progress Professor Kalmia might be making on her request but she knew patience was needed. So, she decided to pass a bit more time by wondering around town some more. There were areas she hadn't seen yet and it would be nice to see them before she left again. One of those places happened to be the docks in town, which she had somehow never noticed where there before. Wondering what she might find there, she made her way over there, only to speed up when she felt the familiar presence of Ghost-types from the area.

Arriving at the docks, she would pause and look around, trying to home in the location of whatever Ghost-Types were present.

Dolled... up? Dunstan was right. That was the weirdest advice he'd ever heard. However, Dawkin was not a Pokemon Professor and Dunstan was, so he was inclined to believe there might be a method here. "I'll keep that in mind sir, thank you for the advice. If there's nothing else I'll be going then." And true to his word, Dawkin would be going. Route 7 wasn't very favorable for most of his Pokemon save Wooper and Cacena. However in an even match Dawkin's Pokemon would likely come out ahead anyway. Furthermore he wanted them all to get some training and to get used to battling some more. Thus, he would head out into Route 7 to find some training victims, dummies, wild Pokemon. He would cycle through to make sure each of his Pokemon got to fight someone once, excluding Feebas as the water Pokemon wouldn't have much ground to stand on so to speak. In addition Dawkin would have his Pokemon not fighting still out of their Pokeballs and watching. Or at least, that was the plan anyway.

---

@BlackMaiden @Savo

Kalmia smiled happily and proudly as Ryu got to bond with Fennekin.

After they got to bond like that, Cyril came in with his statement about that a rival trainer would appear to challenge Ryu, at the bottom of this post. It was after that when Jacques phone rang and he had to go outside. A moment later, Jacques came back in again.

‘Alright, let me brief you on what’s going on,’ Jacques told Ryu. ‘Basically, we’ve had a tradition that each time one of Kalmia’s trainers get their Pokémon, like you, they’ve had a battle against one of my trainers. I just called the Freecape Ferrymen to ship over your potential challenger…’

‘… But of course, you don’t have to if you don’t want to,’ Kalmia interjected. ‘Still, it could be a nice way to celebrate becoming a Pokémon Trainer. Would you like to have a battle with one of Jacques’ trainers?’ she asked, smiling supportingly as she did.



That’s when Jacques’ phone called again. He looked at the screen with an eyebrow raised, before answering.

‘This is Jacques. What’s the matter?’ … ‘Yes, I am.’ … ‘I see. And?’ … … … ‘Zachery did… what?’

Jacques asked, looking momentarily stunned, and then got a thoroughly amused expression as he brought a hand to his face in a light facepalm and chuckled. ‘I see. Well. We’ll certainly have to handle that. I’m on it as soon as I’m done here. Good, thank you, goodbye,’ he told the person on the other side of the phone, in a really amused tone. He eventually ended the call, sighing a bit.

‘Oh, Zach, you silly old pirate…’ Jacques shook his head, still with an amused smile, then looked over at Cyril. ‘Regardless. It seems I have you to thank for having a hopeful on her way. So now, what we need is for me to prepare her Pokémon, and for you to prepare her… cake…’ Jacques blinked a bit, and then got the sneakiest of smirks. ‘I’ll be right back,’ Jacques quickly told, as he spun around and darted out the door, throwing down a Pokéball calling out Aerodactyl, jumping onto it and soaring away, Gliscor silently following.



‘… Huh. That was something,’ Kalmia said, and turned to Ryu. ‘Anyways. I can give you these in the meantime,’ she said, handing some things over to Ryu.



‘I’m, um, I’m going to Route 1 to catch a Growlithe! I’ll meet up with you after!?’ Chloe asked Cyril, but yeah, she REALLY wanted to get going.

Tim and Tom were still here, looking about curiously.

__________________________

@hatakekuro

‘ … Oooh, I know which you’re talking about,’ Zachery said, while the harbor representative ran in a panic. ‘Don’t go anywhere!’ and then he spun around, leaving Basil on the pier as his two ladies and giant polar bear.

‘Sooo, ever been interested in a life at sea?’ one of the two girls asked with a little smirk.

‘Don’t scare the kid, Mila,’ the more serious of the two commanded.

‘Eeeeh? I was just asking a question…’ the other defended…

And that’s when suddenly both them and the Beartic had to stagger and step back a little, because a huge, flying dinosaur’s giant wingspan suddenly cast a shadow on the pier, having dove down from the part of town that Basil had come from…


… And from said Aerodactyl, Jacques leapt down, landing gracefully on bent knees and one hand holding his hat in place. He nodded to Basil.

‘Hello, Basil. Fancy seeing you, here,’ he quickly told and then turned to the ladies.

‘Jacques! It’s been so long! So good to see you…!’ Mila said, clasping her hands together. The more serious one also gave a little relieved smile seeing him.

‘Have you finally decided to let me challenge you again?’

‘Elma, Mila. Always a pleasure,’ Jacques said, tipping is hat. ‘I’m afraid this visit is for business, however. Is Zachery onboard?’

At that specific time, Zachery now came leaping off his ship, landing with a huge thud right in front of Basil.

‘Here you go!’ Zachery told with a proud smirk. ‘Couldn’t find any weak enough to fit a beginning trainer, but I think THIS should suit you just fine!’ he proclaimed, handing over a…



… A Pokémon Egg. Fortunately, in this game, eggs do not take up the space of a Pokémon, you can just have it in your inventory.



‘… Hm. Did I pick the right egg?’ Zachery momentarily scratched the back of his head with his hook of a hand. ‘Eh, no big deal. OH, HEY, JACQUES!’ Zachery suddenly turned to Jacques and raised his hand and hook high in greeting. ‘Long time, no see! What brings you back here?’

‘You’re the one that is back, Zachery. Back from across the sea with a whole shipment of foreign Pokémon, no less, fufu,’ Jacques chuckled as he replied.

‘Yeah, can you believe them!? They’re saying I can’t release them into the wild! They don’t understand what I-’

‘Now, now, Zach. That’s not very pirate-like behavior, is it?’ Jacques interrupted him. This caused a considerable look of confusion from the pirate to Jacques. The Elite Four was happy to explain.

‘See, as a pirate, your goal is to collect treasure. Now, you HAVE treasure, in the form of Pokémon the rest of this region doesn’t have. How do you benefit? The obvious answer is that you should get something in exchange. Basically, to put it into words that will appeal to you…’ Jacques leaned forward, and Zachery did the same.

‘You’re leading a smuggling organization that provides the people with the Pokémon of the world against the wishes of our oppressive League that doesn’t want their trainers to have them, and getting some nice coin in exchange,’ Jacques whispered to Zachery, whose eyes lit up.

‘Oooh… yes… Smuggling… now that’s a pirate operation…’ Zachery smirked to match Jacques smirk, and Jacques straightened himself.

_{‘… It also happens to not actually be illegal to sell Pokémon. Just as long as he’s not releasing them into the wild, the Pokémon League has no problems with trainers having foreign Pokémon,’} Jacques whispered, for Basil’s ears only.

‘… Wait, isn’t that what Amethyst was doing?’ Zachery suddenly demanded with a frown, staring at Jacques.

‘Oh, no, Arceus forbid, no,’ Jacques shook his head, frowning and losing the smile. ‘Amethyst poached Pokémon far beyond the acceptable numbers in focused operations and even stole rare Pokémon from trainers. You did no such thing, did you?’ Jacques demanded, giving Zachery a sharp glare.

‘Absolutely not!’ Zachery raised his hand and placed it on his heart. ‘I may be a pirate, but I am also an honorable Pokémon Trainer who treats Pokémon with the respect they deserve! All these Pokémon were caught fair and square!’ he assured, and Jacques regained his smile.

‘Good!’ Jacques said with a satisfied nod. ‘And on the subject, there’s something you can help me with…’ he said, leaning forward and gestured for Zachery to also lean in, and then he whispered something in Zachery’s ear. Zachery smiled.

‘I’ll be right back,’ Zachery told, spinning about and back onto the ship again. Looking proud of himself, Jacques stood straight again and rolled his shoulders.

Now, if Basil wants to say anything to Jacques, we can totally assume it’s happening during this time.

Eventually, Zachery jumped back out, and handed a Pokéball over to Jacques, who looked quite pleased.

‘Thank you. Then I must take my leave, as I am somewhat in a hurry. Zachery. Mila. Elma. I’ll come to visit again when I am not as busy. Basil. Well, good for you, you got yours for free. Good luck on your journey. I’ll await you at the end,’ Jacques told, as he hoisted himself up on Aerodactyl again, and then turned the dinosaur around to fly back towards Kalmia.

‘Yes, of course I got to put prices on them! … But of course, to be fair, each person will see each of their Pokémon they want to obtain get progressively more expensive! And any rarer Pokémon got to be more expensive! … Oh, and if any of those rich oafs show up trying to buy them all, I’ll just make it hilariously expensive for them, so even they can only afford one or two! Hahahaha!’ Zachery laughed where he stood, and Mila gave a light chuckle as well.

In any case. What’s Basil doing now?





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.



__________________________

@BlackMaiden @Savo

Eventually, after a while when the assembled characters can do whatever they like, something descended from the skies. Two winged creature gleaming in metal, that most assuredly, is exactly what you think it is.



Both birds were carrying passengers. The passenger of one of the birds jumped down before the bird had even properly landed, a girl bending her knees on landing and gently placing a hand to assist her drop, because that 100% works. The girl was wearing exceedingly casual clothes, had long _{that’s slight green, right? or blue?} hair, and for some reason a choker as part of the aesthetic design, an unconvinced look in her eyes and an expression that she’d been bothered. She was currently standing in the front yard of the lab.

‘Oh. That’s Ellyn,’ Kalmia told Ryu, door totally being open and all. ‘I suppose she’s the one of Jacques’ trainers that was called over.’



‘I was told there’d cake,’ Ellyn said, with a surprising amount of seriousness.

Behind her, a man stepped off the other Skarmory. A man with short black hair and a uniform like he was a member of the air-force or something.



‘The task has been accomplished,’ he breathed out, and then started looking around. ‘Now, where’s Jacques? I was told he’d be paying me,’

‘Hello, Eugene! Jacques said he’d be right back!’ Kalmia told the guy decently happily.

‘… Hello, professor. Hopefully he won’t be too long, it doesn’t look good on a Freecape Ferryman’s record to be standing idle…’ Eugene replied, before settling to simply standing around for now.

‘… There was a newcomer that needed someone to battle. Who is it?’ Ellyn asked, looking a bit less thrilled about that than about cake, but still, her eyes scanned any who’d appear and looking for individuals of note.

So, what will Ryu and Cyril do?

If any of them wants to head off, here’s Pureplain City.





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



__________________________

@Typical

Eryn safely made her way back to the entrance, prompted to avoid the laser-shooting supposedly-not death-robot in the room ahead. Wilhelm looked up in slight surprise from examining a specific bit of writing on the wall as Eryn passed by, but after her comment and smile he just raised a hand in greeting as she passed by. Quagsire made no movement that acknowledged that she was passing by, just stood there with a wide, dumb grin, watching Wilhelm with all his blueness.

The corridor that Eryn now passed through was long, and had multiple small turns. First one to the right. Then one to the left. In all respects, it was still a lot of strange footwork needed to get by, and there was the occasional Elgyem just passing by, completely ignoring her. With that, she was able to get by. The way split in two, but as she could see the way forward ended in a sudden dead end, and she could so confirm it if she went forth and checked, she’d eventually need to turn to the eastern corridor. This corridor continued for a short while until it ended in another room. In this room stood… a human. … And not just any human.

'… One way blocked by a cracked wall. I could blast it apart with my Pokémon, but I’m not allowed to use them…' he muttered, looking in the northern direction. Indeed, there was a giant wall blocking the path, but there was a crack in it.

'… And the other direction, blocked by multiple Beheeyem. As Elgyem evolves on level 42, it is questionable if I could handle them even with Pokémon…' he continued to mutter, looking to the western path this time. As he said, a group of five Beheeyem floated there in a formation, blocking the path.



'Hmpf. How troublesome. But, I suppose this is a trial. I suppose I have no choice but to-' he suddenly looked over at Eryn, and promptly frowned.

'You… what are YOU doing here?' Oaken asked, with an accusatory tone.



Eryn’s response?



__________________________

@Gardevoiran

‘… Heh, you’re not here as tourists, are you?’ Lin asked, in response to Skylar being all serious and not seeming like he’d been paying attention to her guide-talk at all.

‘I can’t just return him! He dodges…’ Vivia replied in a mild panic about Rotom, then she turned and looked at her available means… ‘CUTIECRUEL, HELP ME!’ Vivia called. She then jumped and braced her legs against one of Cutiecruel’s tentacles, and the Tentacruel was prepared to snap with said tentacle just as Vivia pushed off with her legs, and…

The result was Vivia blasting off like a torpedo through the waters of Flooded Lakewatch and a very surprised Rotom as Vivia slammed into him and then forcefully returned him to his Pokéball as they hit the wall on the other side of a mildly confused-looking Whiscash. At that wall, Vivia spun around, bracing her legs on the wall, and then thrust away sending her gliding through the water back to the dive-bubble, which she gasped in air as she stumbled back into it.

‘… Woah. You got some strong legs, girl…’ Lin couldn’t help but comment.

‘L-let’s move on…’ Vivia requested, as she picked up Venonat to place on her shoulder again. ‘I can sense it, too… Let’s go see it.’

‘… Sense what?’ Lin asked, sort of confused, but still. The swimmer could follow their directions.

Seeing how they were doing no exploration, they headed quickly through the slight maze that was the underwater architecture of Flooded Lakewatch. The path eventually 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. That is, they were totally in the super-ancient mystical language of Braille, but let’s not have Skylar stop to read them all.

‘… Huh. I’m supposed to be your guide, but I don’t know what this is…’ Lin commented, as she then had Cutiecruel guide them up, and there they breached the surface, and arrived somewhere new.



__________________________

@Joshua Tamashii

Dorian wished her well on her journey as he went to take his leisurely walk with his Stoutland, and Amelia went on her way. She found someplace to stay, and then there’s the next day.

Amelia went through the city to the harbor, the air becoming considerably more festive and hectic as she did. After all, here’s where boats from all manner of regions arrived at Isson. There were workers everywhere, helping people and wares to get onto and off the piers, and there was this big marketplace where all sorts of things were for sale. Mail to be sent to other countries, different kinds of exchangeable items collected on distant shores, a wide variety of flutes produced overseas, weird scents from Orre that probably has no practical applications, nectar from Alola that ALSO doesn’t have any practical uses in Isson, mulch, and also a weird amount of decorations, accessories, props and décor. And, of course, clothing and fashion. There is also food, from all over the place, which may or may not be interesting to a Pokémon trainer.

There were delicacies from elsewhere around the world. Like, Rage Candy Bar from Johto, Lava Cookie from Hoenn, Old Gateau from Sinnoh, Casteliacone from Unova or the Lumiose Galette and Shalour Sable from Kalos…

Anyways, that will totally do. But that’s not what Amelia was here for. She was here looking for the ghosts she was sensing… and she found a pirate ship docked at the port. There appeared to be a positively ancient-looking yet very genuine pirate ship, crossbone flag hoisted in all honors, but also very peacefully docked here like something out of a completely different world. The ghosts in question were within the ship. … A ghost ship?

In front of said ship, stood a man looking like an exquisitely stereotypical pirate captain, with a hat, his right hand a hook, his left leg a pegleg, his hair black and cape red, and with what looked like a sword sheathed on his side. Behind said pirate captain stood two blonde girls, also in pirate-like outfits that might seriously threaten the PG nature of this roleplaying game (at least the right one). And behind them, stood a towering giant white polar bear of a Pokémon. They were currently conversing with this awkward-looking young man that Amelia had never seen before.



And, if Amelia should wish to arrive at such a point, she might also have seen them conversing with Jacques earlier in this same post, in @hatakekuro’s segment. All up to her.

What will Amelia do here?





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.

And Zachery left him alone with the two women and the giant ice bear. It almost felt like a setup to a joke, like a person walks into a bar sort of scenario except it was his awkward self. Basil was certainly looking a little skittish considering who his company was, not that they seemed to actually be bad people, but they were still pirates.

The poor boy stiffened when one of the pirates asked him about about living on the sea. "Life at sea? Um, I've never considered..." He trailed off while the other pirate thankfully told her to stop with the questions though there was something else that brought his attention; the Beartic and the girls staggered back when a shadow was cast over the pier.

Looking upwards, he saw what appeared to be a flying prehistoric beast diving downward from the direction of Kalmia's lab. "What in the?"

His Pokedex scanned the Pokemon and in its robotic voice it said, "Pokédex Entry #142 – Aerodactyl, the Fossil Pokémon. A Pokémon who roamed the skies in the age of dinosaurs, it has today been regenerated from genetic material found in amber. It’s a savage creature that is known to go for the throats of opponents with its sharp claws."

If this thing was alive during the age of dinosaurs then why the hell was it flying around in a modern day sky? It had to belong to someone and Basil was certainly right in that assumption; someone jumped off its back and that someone was Jacques. Basil had to step back to give the man some room to land.

Seriously, flashing attire, flashing attitude, and flashy entrance. What isn't flashy about this man? Still, he found himself in a state of awe and said, "Likewise, Jacques." He just observed his interaction with the pirates and he could only wonder what their relation is. Obviously they are fond of him and respect him though if one of them can casually ask about having a battle with him then she must be confident in their strength. In that case, how strong was their captain, Zachery?

Before he could even ask, Zachery came off that ship with a thunderous thud right in front of Basil, causing him to jolt into the air. The captain seemed quite proud of what he came up with and he gave him a Pokemon, technically. Basil reached out and grabbed the Pokemon egg from the captain. It was so large, much larger than he thought they were and yet, it was almost as light as air. His eyes lit up as he held it close to him, so happy that he gets to raise a Pokemon from an egg that he did not notice Zachery's question on whether or not he grabbed the right egg.

"Thank you so much, sir!" He said gratefully, perhaps with a bit more pep than he typically has, but his gratitude was overshadowed by the presence of Jacques.

It looked like he was there to talk to Zachery about the ship hull filled with foreign Pokemon. The way they talked made it sound like they were old friends, which was definitely the case. They certainly were on good terms enough since Jacques was helping him make some serious coin while steering Zachery away from his idea from releasing all the Pokemon into the wild. It was almost like watching someone help a child solve a problem. Was Zachery an actual pirate? First, he wanted to release all the Pokemon in the hull in the wild to populate the region, gave Basil an egg for free, and now it took someone else to lay out what a pirate should be doing when they have treasure, which in this case are the Pokemon.

"Oh, I see." He whispered back to Jacques. Zachery was looking less and less like a pirate with each passing second. At least he had a good heart and a sense of honor so as far as Basil was concerned, the pirate captain was alright with him.

Again, the captain went back to his ship and it was just them. There was a question that had been on his mind ever since Jacques had arrived to the scene. "So Jacques, I've got to ask. Is the captain affiliated with the league? His presence seems to be quite too...large if you were called down to smooth things out." Jacques could respond to that question in the gap of time.

Basil wasn't going to stop Jacques from leaving, after all, he was a busy man after all. He only had one thing to tell him before he left. "And at the end I'll stand at the top of the league." Just one look in his eyes anyone could tell those weren't hollow boasts, he was completely serious. Even if he was an anxious, shaking leaf of a person he was still a trainer with a clear goal and he would get there by his own efforts.

He could not help to chuckle at Zachery's proclamations about pricing the Pokemon at ridiculously high prices for the upper crust of society. While he, if he were in Zachery's shoes, wouldn't sell a single Pokemon to the bloody nobility, Basil knew that Zachery had an operation to run and he certainly was not going to tell anyone who to sell to. Besides, he gave him a free egg so he really couldn't talk. "Um, thank you again, Captain. If you ever need a favor of me in exchange I'll gladly accept it." It was only polite to offer since Zachery really did not have to give him a free Pokemon.

Now if nothing else happened and if Amelia chooses not to interact with Basil, he was going to explore the city more. What he wanted to do was to buy some lunch for Cecil and himself so they could have a little picnic at the park. That is if Amelia does interact with him that does not happen, yet.

@Eklispe_{@Rune_Alchemist}

‘Yeah, you do that. Good luck for now,’ Dunstan told Dawkin, as he headed off.

‘Er, I’ll, um, I’ll see you later? If you want?’ Florrie also said, not entirely sure, but still, let’s get a move on.

Now, there was still a commotion in Raremine Town, but Dawkin was heading somewhere else. He was heading to Route 7 to train.

Now, then. Training in Route 7 for his various Pokémon…

Atlas would definitely have trouble against the various Ground-types around here, but fortunately there was Cacneas around, which he could easily train against, if it wasn’t too disturbing to watch for their resident Cacnea.

Wooper had no trouble against any of the Ground-types, Sandshrews, Sandiles and Hippopotas all fair game for her.

Pichu was a bit harder, but at the very least he wasn’t at a disadvantage against Darumakas, which there were a ton of running about.

Tyrunt had ALL the advantages against Darumakas. Slam into the fire-beasties and make mincemeat out of them. Or, well. Stomp and Tackle them, anyway.

Cacnea’s grass-type was very useful against the varying Ground-types around. Yeah, that’ll do fine. And now, the GM feels like being generous.



Now in Route 7. What here?



Current Condition; Relatively Clear - It’s still decently calm, but who knows about later today? The usual sandstorm blows over the path to the Mystic Oasis, though.



Connected areas:
Raremine Town. A town of miners and research, on the tip between the plains and the desert.
Desert Mines. What Raremine Town stands here for! These mountains are filled with dough!
Old Tombs. Across the desert, an old and chilling place awaits those who wants to visit…
Mystic Oasis. Somewhere within that sandstorm, that is.



Or if he’d like to go back to town…





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.

---

---

"We're here." Skylar claimed with a smile. He stepped forward into the Drain with a bold smile on his face, though the smile was immediately washed away as he felt the almost overwhelming urge to turn back. To leave. To not continue forth with his mission.

But he didn't falter, especially when he had to answer the new person in the room. "No, we're not locals, Mister Wilhelm. I'm Skylar, from Freecape. This is Seabreeze and JoJo, two of my pals, and over there is Vivia and her Venonat." Skylar said while pointing in almost the right direction, give a few yards. "Though, I do think we're heading in the right direction." Skylar smiled as he pulled out two Pokeballs again. He was afraid for what this test was, but he knew what he had to do.

"Alright, guys. Join the rest of the others for just a little... bit..." Skylar said as he looked at the two red and white balls in his hands, putting one away as he called back one member of his team. This left him with only JoJo.

"Rral?"

"I don't think you can help me with this next part, JoJo, but I don't want you in your Pokeball just in case something goes south." Skylar said, gently placing his buddy onto his shoulder. "Just hang on. Worst case, we'll put you at the top of my bag."

"Ral!" JoJo chirped.

"Alright, so now we need to find our own way deeper into the Drain... and unfortunately for me, I'm blind." Skylar looked about the incredibly blurry room before glancing over to Vivia. "Vivia, you see anywhere that we could go from here?"

As Amelia made her way to the end of the docks, she couldn't help but stop and take a second or two to examine the wares of some of the stalls, especially the one that had foreign sweets as her massive sweet tooth almost completely distracted her from her original task. Some might swear that they saw sparkles coming from the young girl as she gazed at the sweets. However, her desire to possibly make new friends won out and she managed to pull herself away to get back to the task at hand. It also helped that her pokemon also attempted to drag/push her away, Driffloon almost succeeding.

Eventually, Amelia would see the ship and her pace slowed almost to a stop as she stared at the majestic vessel. This was the first time she had seen such a vessel outside of pictures from book. Now, however, she was in front of real life ship and it was much bigger then anything the pictures could convey. But while Amelia was busy looking at the ship, her pokemon spotted the people talking to each other next to it. And two of the ghosts saw something they wanted or wanted to do.

Before she realized what was happening, Phantump and Pumpkaboo used their ghostly abilities to float underneath the docks and move closer to the group of people. As sneakily as they could, both floated up behind Jacques before acting.

Phantump did it's usual thing, shouting as loudly as she could, basically using Astonish.
""

Meanwhile, Pumpkaboo went to knock over and steal that oh so enticing hat Jacques was always wearing. Such a fascinating thing.

Needless to say, if Amelia didn't notice them before, she definitely did once Phantump shouted. She rushed over to the group and quickly scooped up the shiny phantom stump and floating pumpkin.
"I'm sorry, so sorry." She quickly said, giving everyone a slight bow while her cheeks grew a bit red from embarrassment. When she straightened up, she quickly recognized one of the members of this group. "Oh... Mr. Jacques... I didn't expect to see you so soon."

---

---

"Ah, alright, I'll seeya then," Cyril merely gave the girl a thumbs up and a wink to Chloe as she made her grand escape, "hope you find a Growlithe!" And with that said and done, (I assume) she departed for the time. Wait, does she have any pokéballs? Eh, she'll get that sorted out.

Raising an eyebrow, he turned his own attention to his own Holo Caster, tapping a couple of things and sifting through some information before checking the time and sighed. The little Budew peeked over, waggling its little bud as it rest belly first before tilting to the side in mild confusion. Cyril merely looked up, smiling at his partner before giving Aster a reassuring pat.

Afterwords, he tapped it off and sighed, ruffling the side of his neck with an almost hurt expression, weakly sighing as he hunched over for a second, shaking his head. Aster noted this and curled his little feet around Cyrils hair. "Maybe they'll take interest?"

As he was murmuring to himself, he returned to his much prouder, goofier state, back straight with a much stronger smile displayed. "I really need to get going as well; hopefully she isn't too long, otherwise, I'm gonna have to skedaddle." He chuckled, looking down at the younger fellow, giving him a thumbs up before walking to the door making his exit.

"Fwee?"

"Hm? Oh, it's fine, I just have some work t'do," looking behind him at the crowd of people, he gave a wink and a coy smirk as he made a finger gun on his chin, as if he were thinking.

"If I'm gone 'fore she gets her, tell her Cyril Desrosiers will pay her cakes back in interest, alright?!" And with that, he gave a little pivot, gently shutting the door in the process. With that said and done, he brushed his hair up, tickling the little Budew on accident as he revealed his forehead to the world.

With a huff, he hopped to the side and rest against the building, staring up into the sky, watching some of the Wingulls sing their songs as they headed over to the ocean.

---

"Aaaaaand sent, name an' all; maybe she'll look cuter if she's mad."

With a deft tap and a glowing, coy smile, the message was sent through the Pokédex, from Cyril to Ellyn who would probably be fuming at being stood up. Either that or not getting her cake. He hummed, nodding a bit, satisfied as he crossed by a couple of kids, one of which who looked painfully tired as he stopped to catch his breath. Cyril looked over to the other side of the street, seeing a Mienshao and their trainer looking at what appeared to be a gym. There was other action going on in the streets, but it generally seemed peaceful, outside of the occasional battle he happened along.

Hard to believe that all happened years ago, but then again, same goes for most events that transpire, at least that's what he thought to himself. "How you holdin' up partner?" Cyril gave the little Budew a nudge on his side, causing him to giggle sheepishly, as if being tickled.

"Seems like you're lovin' the sights; a whole new world to you I'm guessin'," Cyril smiled as the Budew bobbed its bud up and down, causing Cyril to sneeze, as well as anyone else within a couple of feet within the trainer.

"Though you don't need to scrunch up so much when someone passes by, that's how you'll get wrinkles," wait, can plants get wrinkles?

Either way, it wasn't too much longer till he slipped into a pokémart and began browsing through all the wares. First thing he did was scale up all the items, waltzing up and down the aisles before realizing that, yes, he was technically a new trainer. Upon this realization, he clicked the roof of his mouth before forming and o with his lips.

"Riiiiight, I'm not... supposed to... hmph..." As he murmured awkwardly to himself, lightly wincing as he blushed a little, he quickly dragged his feet to another aisle and swiped a couple of things, such as two escape ropes and an extra pokéball. Cyril sighed, murmuring about how he should of brought a little more money for this all as he soon exited the door with his gains staring upwards.

There was always that other option, buuuuuuut...

"Fwee!"

"Hey lil' buddy, you up for a couple of more battles after possibly meeting a new friend?" The little Budew looked puzzled at the statement, not sure whether to wiggle its little bud in excitement or to shiver and shrivel up. Either way, Cyril chuckled and picked the little guy from his head and nestled Aster into his arms.

"Hey, no need to be so shy, I'm sure they'll be like me!" Aster tilted his head, looking up like a small child towards his mother. "I mean, they probably won't be as weird as me, buuuuuuut still~." There was a mirthful smirk and a glib nod as he marched forward, pondering to himself while the little Budew settled in.

Now then, where was this school located?

@hatakekuro

So, fortunately Jacques arrival meant Mila couldn’t continue badgering Basil, because she 100% looked like she would have. Anyways!

Jacques gave Basil a nod for that first statement, before turning to the girls and the conversation followed until Zachery arrived and handed over the egg.

The conversation went on until Zachery went inside the ship again to look for what Jacques had asked for… and that’s when Basil asked his little question of Zachery’s connection to the Pokémon League. Jacques smirked a bit, and took a moment to consider the answer. Mila and Elma both also looked at him, given the question was apparently his to answer.

‘We’re old friends. At a time where I was in trouble…’ Jacques started, reminiscing a bit.

‘He was accused of being a Pokémon thief by the noble he was serving,’ Mila said with smirk.

‘… and technically he was right, he just left out the part where he was mistreating them. I did the first thing my significantly younger mind thought was right at the time and stole them from him,’ Jacques said with a shrug. ‘So I was on the run from authorities, and in my time of need, Zachery was the one I hid with, who wholeheartedly trusted my words and helped me uncover the truth. As a result, I’m a free man, an Elite Four and his friend at any time he needs me. … That was a tangent, but Zachery himself is…’

‘A Pokémon League Champion,’ Elma told, nodding happily.

‘ALMOST a Champion,’ Jacques told, with a smirk. ‘He won the tournament and beat the whole Elite Four in a row, only to fall short against the Champion.’

‘He’d have won if you hadn’t exhausted him with your nonsensical Elite Four gauntlet!’ Elma insisted, frowning with a look that definitely looked like she thought her captain had been cheated.

‘Now, now,’ Jacques replied with a smile. ‘I have no doubt Zachery COULD beat the Champion. However, we can’t have the Champion title switch owners due to just any loss. It’s a marketable title, after all,’ he continued, doing an explaining gesture with his hand. ‘But there’s a reason we have this system to ensure becoming the Champion is hard. We want our Champions to prove themselves capable of overcoming the impossible. Zachery probably COULD overcome it one day, but the Elite Four has become stronger since he travelled across the world. If he ever comes again, I’ll make sure to stop him short,’ Jacques insisted with a smirk.

‘Yeah, I’m sure your rocks will give our sea-captain a hard time~!’ Mila told with a teasing smirk on the side that Jacques deigned to ignore.

‘You’re not the only one who has gotten stronger,’ Elma said as well crossed her arms with a frown, and it may have been unclear if she meant Zachery or herself. Still.

That was around the time that Zachery jumped down, handed Jacques said Pokéball, and Jacques nodded to it about to leave. Then he blinked a bit in awareness as perhaps Basil’d notice the two ghosts sneaking up behind the man.

‘Oh,’ Jacques made a noise of realization just before it actually happened.

_{Amelia is free to have overheard all that above.}

@Joshua Tamashii

It is hard to say if Jacques flinched at the screaming ghost or not. Some could swear that he did, others might assure them that Jacques stood calmly with a blank expression throughout the whole thing, enduring the supposed fright. Still, Pumpkaboo successfully snapped up Jacques hat… only for something blindingly fast swooping past and knocking it off Pumpkaboo in turn, Jacques holding his hand up to catch his hat back as Gliscor settled down next to him.



Jacques placed his hat back on his head as Amelia appeared. ‘Do not worry about it, Amelia, it is all in good fun’ he said with a smirk towards Phantump. Then to Amelia. ‘I hadn’t yet left Pureplain City since last we spoke. Besides, if you’re here for what I think you are, it is by no coincidence that we’ve met again, for both of us had business at this dock today.’

He turned to Basil, who had been handed a Pokémon egg by the captain. ‘Amelia. Basil. You’re both trainers that got their Pokémon from Kalmia. Say hello. And Zachery…’ he then said, turning to the pirate, still smirking. ‘I believe you have your first customer,’ Jacques said, gesturing to Amelia. The pirate grinned.

‘Alright! This business venture has weighed its anchor!’ Zachery proclaimed, before turning to Amelia as well. ‘I am Zachery, master of the seas! I have travelled far and wide to collect the Pokémon unavailable to the trainers of Isson, and now I offer them to trainers at a price, depending on their rarity! Describe to me what sort of Pokémon you want, and then tell me how much you’re giving me for it, and I’ll pick you out something I feel fits the bill! And no takebacks!’ Zachery proclaimed, and it was Amelia’s choice what to hand for it. Zachery made up that last rule on how much to give on the spot, for he didn’t know what to charge for them.

Still, time for Jacques to address that last thing Basil told him. In fact, he chuckled a little.

‘Fufufu. Having ambitions is all well and good, but focus on short-term goals for now, young hopeful. Still. I will hold you to your words, young hopeful. Don’t disappoint me,’ Jacques told with his usual smirk, and then turned to Amelia. ‘Now, I’d love to stick around, but they’re waiting for me at Kalmia’s lab, and I really must be on my way. Another new hopeful just arrived, you see. So, good luck, Amelia. I believe we’ll see each other again,’ he said, and with that he was very much intending on jumping up on his Aerodactyl and flying off, Gliscor following along. If Amelia had something to say to him before he left, then she could do so, but yeah, he’s really needed on that other scene whenever the individuals there post.

So, what now? There’s a Zachery there looking expectantly at Amelia. There’s also two pirate girls and a giant polar bear.

Otherwise, you’re 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.

@PlatinumSkink@Eklispe

---

"...hmm, I see." Claire replied to the professor with a grin. "Alright, thanks professor. Sorry for wasting your time!~" Ralia waved bye as she soon followed Dawkin out and headed back to Raremine town. With that in mind, maybe she should go read up on the incident some, hm, but that'd require a bit more reading and she was short on time...well, no need to think about it too hard right now. Claire left the lab, not really having gained a whole lot in the way of leads as to who exactly the 'bad guys' in this situation were.

"Well...whatever, lets go to the bug garden."

Well, that was unexpected. Who would of thought that Jacques would have been a wanted man? Of course, Basil knew all too well what nobles were like; treating Pokemon like fashionable accessories before they are tossed aside. His fists balled up just at the thought though that went away when he was told that Zachery was essentially a champion level trainer.

Basil's face was completely vacant, sort of like an anxious slowbro if they could feel anxiety though it was not because it went completely over his head, but the sinking realization that he was surrounded by Elite Four level trainers and beyond. Imagine being a beginning hiker, full of vim and vigor, and ready to take on the first mountain ahead. It is not the biggest mountain, but it is a first step. Now imagine being that hiker and the bloody mountains that were supposed to be the final stretch were suddenly just there looming over him before he even got to the first one. That was exactly what it felt like to Basil, absolutely small and feeble compared to these absolute monsters. He really had a long way to go.

With the shock out of the way, he laughed nervously and said, "Jeez, you guys sure are..." Basil trailed off as he saw something approach Jacques from behind.Huh?, was all he said before he realized what was about to happen.

Basil flinched with wide eyes as he took a step back away from the ghost Pokemon, holding his egg even closer to his chest in fear that they would try to snatch it too though he really had nothing to worry about considering who he was keeping company with, especially with that Gliscor. "Whoa." He said in completely awe at the Pokemon, scanning it with his Pokedex. Wait, 'it’s said catching a single light breeze once could carry it around the globe?' That cannot actually be true. Who in the world writes these entries? Do they just write whatever they feel like and everyone just accepts it?

Puzzlement at grossly improbable claims aside, he definitely would not mind adding one to his team should he encounter it.

His attention was turned to the owner of the two ghost Pokemon who rushed over and scooped up the trouble makers. The owner was a young girl, much younger than him though to his surprise she was acquainted with Jacques as well. Basil looked at Jacques inquisitively and then nodded when told that Amelia too was a trainer that Kalmia scouted for. He smiled kindly at her and said. "A pleasure to meet you. I just got my starter so I guess I've got some catching up to do." Somehow it was easier to talk to children than it was with others around his age...although this girl was a more experienced trainer so could he really treat her like a child? Seriously, she would wipe the floor with him in a battle.

And there was Zachery with his sales pitch. Looks like Amelia will be his first ever real customer, since Basil was technically not one considering he got his egg for free. Something told him that this was the only time he would get something free from Zachery; he could feel a hole being burned through his wallet just at the thought of buying any Pokemon from him. A pirate has to get his booty somewhere.

Basil glanced back at Jacques, who understandably told him to aim small for now, but expects him to keep his word. "See you when I see you." That was all he had to say to Jacques before he flew off back to Kalmia's lab. Jacques wasn't the only one who was going to take off as well; Bail brought his attention to Amelia.

"Sorry to just say hi and bye, but I'm meeting some other beginner trainers at Route 1 and I want to explore the city before then. Feel free to join us later if you want." He offered, but she probably had other things to do than be around some new trainers.

Whatever final words were exchanged with the two of them, Basil left to go explore Pureplain. What he wanted to do was to get Cecil and himself some lunch and eat it at the park by the Trainer School. It would be a much needed reprieve from the craziness that filled the day. What could possibly go wrong?

---

^{Lakewatch Town || Day 5: Noon || @PlatinumSkink}
“Oaken?” Eryn’s eyes were wide as she spoke, but the next second she was grinning as she walked over to him. “I could ask you the same thing, but wow, this is some coincidence, huh?” She looked between the two directions he’d been muttering about, then back to him. “Don’t stop because of me though! Go ahead, do whatever you were about to do.”

With the Pokedex in her other hand, she scanned the strange floating Pokemon, skimming their entry before looking back up at them. They were strong Pokemon, no doubt about that. Her Pokemon would have next to no chance against even one of them, much less against five. Thankfully, though, the challenge banned Pokemon, meaning there was likely another way to get past them.

“Well, I know I’m not allowed to get my Pokemon to help me, but you’re not a Pokemon, so… how about it?” she asked, looking to Oaken. “Two brains are better than one, and it’s not like whatever is down here didn’t want us to meet up. They probably could’ve gotten around that some way or another, with the amount of Claydol and Beheeyem floating around here.”

It occurred to her around then that Wilhelm was also technically not a Pokemon, but it was a bit late for that. Plus, taking the chance for him to poke around the place at his own pace away from him wasn’t exactly fair, given that he was the one who’d led her here in the first place, so Oaken it was. As far as she was concerned, Oaken was irritable but smart, and Eryn could deal some prickliness if it meant a better chance at getting through this maze. She’d already had a close call with the Claydol a few minutes back, and she wasn’t interested in getting turned into Psychic Beam fodder. When it came to Oaken, though, she suspected that he was more concerned with her slowing him down than the other way around, which was somewhat fair. It didn’t seem like time was of the essence, so she had been fully prepared to put progress off if something interesting came up. If he agreed to team up, she might have to be a little more on top of things, but she didn’t believe for a moment that she would slow him down.

“Hm, have you tried talking to them?” she asked, pointing at the Beheeyem. Then, turning to the floating Pokemon, she waved, smiling. “Hey, sorry to bother you all, but is this path closed, or is there some way we could persuade you to let us through?”

Sure, if they didn’t respond, she might end up looking like an idiot, but Eryn was of the opinion that it was better to ask than not. Worst case scenario, she ended up looking like an idiot. Best case, well, best case was what she was hoping for.

---

Amelia didn't get the hear most of the conversation only arriving after her ghosts had failed at their objectives. Needless to say, upon seeing their failures, both of the tiny ghosts were rather disappointed and it showed. Upset though she was at them doing what they had, considering no harm was done and they hadn't really succeeded and couldn't help but feel bad for them. She knew pranks were usually what ghosts got up to and enjoyed, as it was a part of their nature and personality. So, she decided to cheer them up a bit once she was done with the ship.

Listening to Jacques, she would turn to Basil when he was introduced and gave him a kind smile.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Basil. I hope your adventures treat you well." She said. When the boy offered for her to meet him and some other trainers on Route 1, she considered it for a second. "If I can make it. I don't know where I'll be going or when I'll be going yet. I just go where my feet take me right now."

Turning to Zachary as he spoke before turning to Jacques as he left.
"I'm heading back there later as well. Maybe I'll see you there Mr. Jacques?" She said before turning back to Zachary. "I want to see... The ghost type you have... there... there... there..."

She would point to every location on the ship she sensed a Ghost-type on the ship with unnatural accuracy. To Zach, who had never seen the girl before, it might be unnerving. Or maybe he had met individuals like her in his travels. One never knew.

@Savo

So Cyril made his way through town! He went past the Pokémon Gym, as part of other things, so he could probably read the signpost, and here’s that.

Pureplain Pokémon Gym - Major League
Gym Leader: Dorian
“The Master of Normal”

And, indeed, there was a whole group of tough-looking trainers awaiting to make their challenge, and despite them looking tough there was a fair bit of tension. Clearly, they knew they were up against a hard battle, and any victory would be one they’d be fighting tooth and nail for, if they could obtain it at all. Still, that didn’t exactly concern Cyril right now! Moving on!

… In a slight bit!

__________________________

@hatakekuro

Basil got waved goodbye from Jacques and Zachery and his girls, before Zachery turned to handle Amelia. With that done, Basil was free to explore Pureplain City on his own. He’d eventually easily be able to find somewhere to purchase the goods to eat a picnic if he so desired. So, with that said…

__________________________

@Savo @hatakekuro

Besides the Pokémon of the various trainers around, there were also wild Pokémon! A couple of them, anyway! Basically everywhere he went there were the little birds looking about, who while common, could be a great boon to any trainer that took the time to train it.



There were also random cats about, just lunging, lazing about during the day, taking advantage of if any humans wanted to give them food and otherwise just looted any shiny objects they could.



Finally, there were what appeared to just be regular puppies, running about in whatever grass they could find, and… what could they even find to eat around here? Eh, who even knows, they looked considerably happy living here, anyway!



With that, Cyril and Basil eventually sought their ways to the Pokémon School, where… well.



__________________________

@Rune_Alchemist

The Bug Garden was a building, a fairly large building with plants around it and promising more plants inside.

There were signs.

“Bug Garden

Feel free to visit and enjoy
Vivillons for the purpose of finding the Mythic Oasis can be hired for 750P per day
They are not for fighting
The Pokémon in the garden are wild, but we appreciate avoiding holding battles in the garden

Thank you for your consideration”



If she headed out, here’s Raremine Town again.





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.



__________________________

@Typical


Oaken positively winced when Eryn came close with a grin and sounding supremely positive about this.

'You…! You didn’t answer my question! This place is dangerous, properly dangerous, you shouldn’t get yourself involved in what you don’t understand! Get out of here and have a normal Pokémon journey!' Oaken, clearly, was not nearly as on-board with having Eryn help him out with this trial as she was. 'I studied all the cryptic notes about this place in my hometown of Rainrock City, we have all kinds of legends that are too “vague” to be included in the Worldedge Libraries. Just you wait, I’ll get to the bottom of all of this, you don’t need to get yourself involved…!' Oaken said, then turned around to look at the cracked wall.

'… That said, my best plan of action right now is to get Claydol to fire a Psybeam at this wall, cracking it open. I can predict every single one of Claydol’s motions without fail, I studied him for a while and know he’ll be moving over here in around five minutes. I should have the reflexes to be able to dodge away in time, but that will need you to not be here-'

Eryn suggested talking to the Beheeyem. Oaken positively glared at her.

'Are you mad!? Wait! Worst case scenario, they hack into your mind and break apart your memories and identity, leaving nothing behind…!' he stepped forward to attempt to stop Eryn if she actually tried to walk closer to them.

So, the Beheeyem didn’t react in the slightest to Eryn talking to them. They just floated there in mid-air.

'You can’t risk it. That path is effectively blocked. If you have to stay here, then at least listen to what I say,' Oaken’s going to say, clearly not entirely happy about this turn of events.

Anyways! What will Eryn do, now?



__________________________

@Gardevoiran

‘Well met, Skylar, Vivia! So, I’m going to stay around here and wait for miss Eryn to return, say hi to her if you run into her, will you?’ Wilhelm requested, giving a smile before turning to investigating the wall as well.

‘… Yeeeaaah, it sort of feels like I’ve done my part, and this place feels dangerous, mind if I opt out? I’m just… gonna rest right here… okay?’ Lin says, letting herself lie down on a hard surface that didn’t in the slightest look comfortable, but she was asleep in seconds.

‘Oh. Right,’ Vivia made a noise as Skylar reminded that he was blind. ‘There’s three different routes we can take. To the right of here is a decently bright, traversable direction, it’s the direction that Claydol went, it immediately heads to the left so I don’t know where it goes…’

‘Eryn went that direction, came back saying she went the wrong way before going that way,’ Wilhelm said, pointing left.

‘That’s left. Left is a long corridor, it twists right eventually so I can’t see what’s more after it, there’s a bunch of strange things that will need to be walked over and there’s Elgyems floating in the air over there, but seemingly they didn’t do anything to Eryn when she headed there?’ Vivia asked, turning to Wilhelm.

‘Not a thing!’ Wilhelm confirmed.

‘Right. That leaves forward, which is… darker than the other two ways, and twists eventually to the left. There’s… not much I can tell about it. To be honest, it sort of creeps me out. Whatever it is in the air is trying to tell me to turn back, and it’s not making me any more comfortable with this… and it feels especially strong when I look in that direction…’ Vivia told, sounding unsure about herself. Still.

‘Quaaaagsire!’ Quagsire said. For no other reason than because.

__________________________

@Joshua Tamashii

‘Perhaps we will. Until next time,’ Jacques said before finally getting onto Aerodactyl and flying away, Gliscor following.

Now, then. For Zachery. Zachery blinked a bit as he looked over at the ship, as Amelia described the location of Pokémon after Pokémon after Pokémon, the pirate captain raising an eyebrow as he looked over at the ship. On his side, Mila fished up a document and blinked a bit at it.

‘This girl just reported the position of every single Ghost-type Pokémon we have on-board!’ Mila remarked, stunned.

‘Did she now? Impressive,’ Zachery told with a smirk, and then looked down on Amelia again. ‘However, I can’t just bring you on-board. That’s too simple. But, you’re curious and tiny, so I’ll give you a discount,’ he says, as if he had any prices established in his mind to begin with. He crossed his arms and looked down proudly at Amelia.

‘Tell me which one you want! Depending on how rare it is, I will charge either 2,000, 4,000 and 6,000 P! Of course, if you buy more than one, I’m going to increase the price on the next one! Fair is fair, after all!’ he told, sounding confident. ‘… Or give me 10,000 and I’ll make sure to put all the ghosts in the same room and let you pick a single one of them. But that should be way more than you can afford, right? Hahaha! My apologies, missy, but a pirate must earn his keep!’

… What will Amelia do here?

_{And holy gosh, I do not want to need to write the Pokédex entries for every single ghost in the two latest generations at once just because Amelia wants to see all of them! XD}





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.

---

---

"Straight it is." Skylar bluntly said, stepping forward and moving on. He began to feel the same darkness and grim nature of the path as he got closer and closer, his cane bapping into all sorts of rocks and clutter, but he didn't fret. He was certainly scared, though, and anyone could've seen that after a good look at the boy, but Skylar pressed on through the darkness. After all, what's darkness to someone that's blind anyway?

"R-r-raalll..." JoJo stammered. He felt the overwhelming presence and wanted to turn back, patting Skylar's head gently to try and coax him.

"I-it's gotta be a test. If not, we'll turn around and hot-foot it back. We'll be fine...!" The voice of Skylar seemed to reassure the Ralts, if only slightly. Maybe the boy was right. Maybe this wouldn't be too scary?

"C'mon Vivia. I won't know when to run if it is bad if you're not around." Skylar joked, but wasn't that slightly true? That's a sick twist, isn't it?

If there is one thing to know about Basil it's that he has an appetite that rivals a Munchlax, something one would not expect considering how scrawny the boy was. The boy won the genetic lottery in that whatever he ate did not show up as much of a pound for him. So when he was at a local cafe to get food for a nice picnic, well, he certainly ordered enough sandwiches that he was given an odd look by the cashier because really, no one needs that much to eat and asked if he was ordering for more people.

Basil stiffened and with a nervous smile he said,"Oh, uh, I'm sharing with my pokemon." Not entirely a lie, but not entirely the truth either.

The cashier squinted at him doubtfully. "Right..."

Well after that awkward encounter, Basil walked through the city and had at some point let Cecil from her pokeball so she could walk along side him. They both observed their surroundings, which were mainly trainers and a variety of wild normal types. While the idea of catching some was tempting, it was something that he could do later though those Lillipups were certainly adorable.

And that aside, the duo arrived at the trainer school. It certainly was a school alright; it was filled with those eager to learn before they head off into the world, but Basil was more interested in having a hands on experience than cracking open books though that the fact that there seemed to be there own challenge here made it far more interesting. However, it was still a bit to early for him to try so he was more than happy to just go to the park and see what's there.

Kids were strewn about hunting for Pokemon and from what he could tell from his observation there was a great diversity with what could be caught. There was the water type, Finneon. Catching a Finneon to cover his rock and ground type weaknesses certainly would be beneficial to his team, but as his team was right now, Cecil would be at a complete disadvantage if they even attempt to catch one. It would have been unfair for him to force her to do that so he decided against it, after all, they were to eat.

Basil had just placed his backpack and the bag of lunch down on a cozy patch of grass and Cecil sat down, eagerly looking at the bag of sandwiches. One of them being a marmalade sandwich that caught her eye and was all too excited to eat it. They were just about to set up for their picnic, but Basil and Cecil's ears(?) perked at some very interesting news; are rare Pokemon was somewhere around the park. Kids were all over the place searching for it to no avail with the supervision of a lady who he assumed was their teacher.

"What do you think Cecil?"

""Dar! She said with a firm nod. Apparently they were on the same wavelength.

Figuring that it was safe to leave their stuff alone for a few moments, the two of them walked towards the teacher. "Um, excuse me, miss." He said to get her attention if she did not notice them approaching her. "We could not help, but overhear something about a rare Pokemon. What exactly is it?"

Amelia watched and listened, tilting her head a bit to the right when Zack finished, all of her pokemon mimicking the motion in unison in a possibly adorable away.
"That's rather pricey. But then again you are selling pokemon I guess. But having to pay money and then you pick what I want just won't do. Why don't you show me which of the pokemon I asked for at each price point? You can start with the ones worth two-thousand, then the ones worth four-thousand, and finally the ones worth six-thousand." She said. "Besides, your customer should be able to know what their buying, in order to make sure they're happy and come back, isn't that so? That way you can make even more money.

Only letting people see what their buying once they pay ten-thousand seems like a scam. Suppose they aren't happy with what they see and want their money back then? If you decline their refund at that point, they won't be happy and might tell others, driving them away. And then you'll make less money.

Also, is this even legal? You're not with Team Virtue or Amethyst are you? Then again, you're friends with Mr. Jacques so, that doesn't seem likely."

---

^{Lakewatch Town || Day 5: Noon || @PlatinumSkink}
“Well, that’s awkward,” Eryn said, stepping back from the suddenly intimidating line of Beheeyem. Psybeam fodder or fractured psyches seemed to be her choices here, and those choices weren’t promising.

“Okay, fine. You got my attention. So, what’s the plan?” She looked between the Beheeyem and the cracked wall, thenn back at Oaken. “A Claydol, huh? Well, I ran past one earlier. Ran away from one, actually. I made a right turn after coming in, but that turned out to be the wrong way since the Claydol I was following turned back with lasers at the ready, but I got away okay.” She shrugged. “I don’t think they’re that hard to hide from, since it doesn’t seem like they go around trying to kill people, but like… can we just hang around here and wait until one comes over on patrol, or are we going to have to lure one over? Because I don’t like my chances of dodging lasers while running.”

She paused, then grinned again. “As for how I got here, well, I can’t say I did any of the fancy stuff you did. I met this mining enthusiast while I was battling people around the area, and he told me about the place. He said he needed help getting down here since he didn’t have a swimmer, and I told him I’d find him one. One Quagsire later, here I am. Ta-da.”

When Oaken didn’t look amused enough for her tastes, she slapped his shoulder, grinning again. “Cheer up! We’re both here, and now you have one extra pair of hands and legs to help you bust that wall down.” She sobered up a bit, giving him a more serious look. “Now, if you insist on having me hide instead of help, well, I won’t like it. But since you’re a lot more prepared than me, I can do that. But since when did studying something’s movements make someone better at dodging them in real life? Unless you actually practiced, I’d wager that we’d have around the same chances after you explain the Claydol’s movements to me. So, tell me: how can I help?”

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@Gardevoiran

‘Eh… Well, of course it would be that direction…’ Vivia sounded a bit unconvinced at first, but eventually nodded and got ahead of him to guide the way. ‘Alright. Let’s just… let’s just do this.’

And so, they headed on. The path went into the darkness, and the ground was considerably uneven. ‘There’s a step. Let’s keep to the left here, there’s some strange contraption on the right. Here’s an indent, let’s step over it…’ Vivia had to explain a bunch of such things, as they walked forward, to the left, and then the path started leaning somewhat downwards. As they kept walking, it grew more and more difficult to get past things, and…

This path. It grew worse. A chilling pressure came from the long hallway, warning that with each step they took, it grew less and less pleased. Thoughts came unbidden to Skylar’s mind. Sentences or worries that perhaps would never normally occur to him, yet they did so here. Ideas like…

If I don’t turn back now, things will never be the same again.
Am I truly prepared to take on what awaits at the end?
I am putting Vivia in danger by making her come along.
Shouldn’t I go back and continue aiming for becoming the best bird-trainer?
There are no birds in here. I don’t get anything I want from this.
Mesprit didn’t say anything about this. I’m not ready.

… And thoughts along the like, poking at his mind to see what he reacts to, and should any hit harder than others… the thoughts would start focusing on those.

Regardless of how well Skylar was handling it… Vivia eventually came to a full stop in front of him. The girl was shaking a little, having a bit of trouble putting the next foot in front of the other, eyes sort of wide, breathing slightly more rapidly.

However… JoJo was unaffected, past feeling the presence and the effect of knowing what was happening to his trainer and Vivia. But, should he decide to do something… I must not interfere. … Would be the one unbidden thought that occurred to him.

What would Skylar do here?

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@hatakekuro_@Savo

‘Hm?’ the woman looked over, as Basil asked what exactly the rare Pokémon was. ‘Oh, it’s a small, pink baby-Pokémon,’ she said, before giving him a bit of a smile. ‘We don’t tend to tell people what we’re releasing in the park, it’s for them to find out. The thing you just heard called out was a rumor from someone claiming that they saw it. Now, of course, sometimes we give hints in the shape of telling some students “hints” that develop into rumors. It’s to encourage young to-be trainers to go out and explore on their own. How about you? Will you go explore?’ she asked, looking at him with a kind, teacher-like attitude.



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@Joshua Tamashii

Zachery raised his eyebrows a bit as Amelia made her little speech about business practices and such… and Elma frowned at that last little potential accusement.

‘Watch your tongue, little girl. I won’t stand for you insulting our captain by associating him with such scum,’ Elma said, glaring at her.

‘Now, now, she’s just talking business, but she sure knows a lot about such for someone so young, heh,’ Mila said on her side, not actually looking at any of those talking but at the ghosts by Amelia instead.

‘Hahaha! She has a bit of a point, however,’ Zachery said, grossing his arms a bit. ‘Doesn’t matter if it’s legal or not, we’re pirates! That aside! Here’s how we’ll do. Lesse… how does this work…’ Zachery said, pulling a phone, because that’s just useful to have, as he then maneuvered into the net and getting a list, and…

‘Here you go!’ Zachery handed over the phone, and he’d just searched a list of all Pokémon native to Alola, sorted by type, stopped at the ghost-type segment, and left a tab doing the same for Galar. ‘2,000 is for the common unevolved ones, like Galarian Corsola, Sinistea or Sandygast. 4,000 would be for rarer kinds, like Oricorio or Mimikyu. Finally, 6,000 are for fully evolved or very rare, like Alolan Marowak or Dreepy. … Still, I don’t think I’ll sell you the evolved forms unless you show you’re at their level. When you've picked one, I'll bring you it, and then you can confirm if you're happy with the transaction or if I should go get another one. How about it?’ Zachery said. So, like. How about it?

To note is that Zachery does not have legendaries.

The phone may or may not have cracked software. Don’t underestimate Mila’s technological prowess.





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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@Typical


'…' Oaken was quiet for a bit as he still frowned and watched Eryn talking a bunch, winced a bit when she slapped his shoulder, grinner and spoke encouragement. His frown slowly lifted, then he sighed a bit. 'I must admit that I am not too thrilled about putting you in danger when I could do this myself, but I suppose this is bigger than both of us and I could possibly need a hand, since you’re here already. With no idea what you’re getting into. Okay. Thank you,' he said, looking over towards the east exit of the room.

'No need to lure one, from analyzing their patrols I know one will arrive from that corridor in around three minutes. The tunnel you followed loops back to this room, you didn’t miss anything. Fortunately, the rooms around here are full of obstacles to hide behind. Still, Claydol has to turn to fire at what it sees, so I’d give you three seconds before it can fire after seeing a target. It has an effective range of 15 meters, but will attempt to fire further than that, and then follow after where it saw the target. It’s not particularly good at hitting a moving target, fortunately. It needs to fire straight at the crack, we will need the force to be applied directly…'

'So if you could lure the Claydol to the middle of the room, where I show up to make it fire at the cracked wall. It is a bit worrying that we don’t know what’s behind the wall, in case there’s more danger behind, but regardless. After it has fired, it may be to our advantage to evacuate the room until Claydol leaves. It tends to go south back to the entrance after this room. … One minute until it arrives. Any questions?' Oaken asked Eryn, pushing his glasses up a bit as Claydol would soon show up at the end of the corridor approaching. If she didn’t say anything that otherwise prevented it, Oaken would go hide behind a specific pillar that was decently close to the cracked wall.

What would Eryn do?

Well, he should have guessed that asking a teacher for an answer was going to be vague as hell though he can't necessarily blame her considering its meant to encourage kids to explore and find out on their own. Still, he at least knew what to look for."Actually, yeah, I will. Thanks for the info, miss." Basil said ever so politely before he and Cecil walked back to the patch of grass where he placed his bags.

Okay he said that he would explore, but really, where would he start? Basil scratched the side of his head thinking when a thought came to him; baby Pokemon probably require more food than others since they are at their lowest stage in their evolutionary line and are growing. It was very likely that this Pokemon was foraging for food though that was just a wild guess on his part. For all he knew it could just be playing around somewhere without a care in the world. Still, it was at least a starting point. Pokemon are still food motivated too.

"Alright Cecil, here's the plan. We're gonna look around for places that have food, but low enough to the ground for it to access it...Unless it can climb trees, then look up if you hear anything weird."

She did not even respond to him; her gaze was too focused on the bag of food.

Basil could only roll his eyes and chuckle. "Alright, alright." He crouched down to hand her a sandwich, much to her eager pleasure.

"Dar!"

Sandwich in one happy Darumaka's hand, the duo began their plan to explore the park for places that a baby Pokemon could graze. If that doesn't work, they have a bag full of sandwiches as potential bait, but that would have been a last resort.