---

---

"Nice!" Skylar cheered at Dawkin's success. He didn't have a lot of doubt that he couldn't actually do it, but he was still kind of happy to see that the trainer was successful. Now that the whole kerscuffle was over with, Skylar could get on his own personal mission.

"Alright, well, now that he's got everything under control, I think I'm gonna head off and get to the Pokemart. Gotta restock on Pokeballs, grab some goggles for the gym, and then I'm heading to the shore to hopefully find some fossils." Skylar told Vivia his plan of action as to move forward, and he turned towards the Pokemart. "You're more than welcome to come with, Viv, but I totally understand if you wanna catch up with your friend here."

Regardless of Vivia's decision, Skylar's heading to the Pokemart to buy some items.
- Ten Pokeballs of the best quality there (probably Great Balls, since he only has one badge), so he can cop that extra Premier.
- Go Goggles!

... and after that shopping was done, Skylar was off to the Stone Shore to find some fossils! Hopefully a Plume one would turn up.

"Rrrallal." JoJo looked up at Skylar, admittedly looking slightly worried about the upcoming battles.

"Don't worry, bud. We'll be fine so long as we're all together. We're gonna try and keep this town like the last - seeing the sights, training in our free time." Skylar assured to Seabreeze and JoJo of his master plan. He certainly had no idea if this gym leader was willing to go all out on the battle like Lorette was, but he'd take his chances.

Oh dear god he had never walked more in one day than he had in his entire life. Sure he wasn't the most active person in the world with his spindly legs and all, but he thought all the times he snuck out and ventured through Worldedge would at least give him some more stamina! When this adventure is over he is going to have some seriously toned legs. At least this trek through the wood was thankfully not fraught with peril unless someone counted the flabebe and shroomish going about their lives and staring at the visitor walking through their woods.

It was not long until he found himself shielding his eyes from the sudden bit of sun cracking through the sky. Basil had spent long enough in those dark, rainy woods that he had almost forgotten what the sun looked like. Considering that this place wasn't engulfed in rain, he assumed that this place was Route 11. Actually, he had heard of this route before mainly because it leads to Route 12, the that route breaks off to many major cities, and for its numerous vacant buildings. "What a waste." The homes of Pokemon were torn down for these buildings and now they aren't even in use. Perhaps nature was beginning to reclaim what had been lost.

Okay, so where to begin his search? There were any number of side roads that lead to god knows where so unless he wanted to spend his time using the process of elimination by going down each path, he was at a bit of a loss where to even start. It's not like he could ask a random passing person if they knew anything about a lost shrine because if any layman could provide clear cut instructions of where it was then it would not be exactly 'lost.' Lorette really didn't give him much to work with did she? What exactly did he need to find on Route 11 in order to find the Shrine?

Perhaps he needed to get a better view of the route to find whatever he's looking for. There were plenty of buildings so if he went on the roof of the tallest building then he would definitely have a wider field of view. With that idea in mind Basil searched for the tallest building in the area and if there was nothing stopping him, enter it.

Dawkin's teeth ground against each other as he watched the two moves soar across the battlefield, both Pokemon taking the full impact. Dawkin crouched down on one knee and used his hands to cushion Pichu as he came sliding back from the Waterpulse. "Hey little guy you ain't gonna let something like that take you out right? You and I both got something to prove to these bozos!" Pichu let out a little ~chuuu, and shook himself like a wet dog, managing to get to his two feet. Upon looking across the field and seeing his opponent not so fortunate he let out a triumphant ~pii... ~piii....

Then a glowing light enveloped him and his shape changed slightly, the light faded followed by a smug ~PIKACHU. Oh, he'd evolved! Pikachu was excited about it too, and ran in circles for a bit to make sure everything was working. Meanwhile Mia, in a rage at her loss, suddenly jumped at one of the encircled miners like an animal and leapt off him, escaping the circle and leaving his sight rather rapidly, though she was followed by a rampage of miners. Dawkin wasn't confident they could catch her, but that was ok. It looked like the other guy had also given them the slip. Dawkin looked inside the package to see... Something? Sciency? "Good work Pikachu, now let's get you feeling all better soon!" after Pikachu seemed content with his running about, Dawkin returned him to his Pokeball.

Well it seemed like he should probably visit the lab one more time. Then there was the matter of the secret base and what not... Argh there sure was a lot going on in this little town. First thing's first though, he needed to visit the Pokemon Center!

Actions: Heal up at the Pokemon Center, then head to the lab to ask Dustan about the vial and where he got it.

---

Amelia looked in the direction that the Palpitoad had pointed and after hearing the trainers squabble over what appeared to be a missing Water Stone that the Palpitoad was the owner of. Frowning, she looked between the three before turning back to the Palpitoad. She didn't feel like getting washed away. If she was honest, she had never been swimming before and going for one now did not seem like a good idea. So, she would need to handle this in a way that wouldn't result in her getting washed away. Thinking for a bit, she eventually turned back to Palpitoad.
"Hey, how about we let them present their cases? If none of those three took your Water Stone and it was simply moved, you could be washing it away with all these tidal surges. So, how about we let them come down and give them a fair trial, okay?" She said to upset pokemon in as soothing and calm a tone as she could. "If we find out any of them took it, I'm sure the others will punish them for getting them involved in this situation. So, let's do this calmly and carefully and see if we can't get your Water Stone back."

@Gardevoiran

‘Eh… We’re… not exactly friends, I just happen to know who he is…’ Vivia said, and eventually decided to hang along with Skylar on the way. Still would have been cool to perhaps talk with Dawkin about what had been going on, but he was heading off somewhere so maybe not.

Skylar went to the Pokémart, that despite the kinda desert setting looked exactly the same.

Go-Goggles was 1,200P. 10 Great Balls is 6,000P. Minus 7,200P.

Then, they headed off to the Stone Store, a rather big and crowded enough place. It was one of those things that brought outsiders to Raremine Town, after all. The walls were yellow, like they wanted to inspire gold and riches, combined with red carpets and rocks hanging around on pedestals where people could inspect and decide if they wanted to buy them or not. Anyways, here’s the available stuff.



What will he do next?





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

Nature was indeed starting to reclaim what had been lost, as multiple Pokémon on the route had started nesting inside the area of the abandoned buildings, a couple Blitzles running away as he came close. There was a bunch of Zigzagoons as well, their heads popping up here and there. Still, Basil ignored those and went up to the tallest building that he could find. It wasn’t hard, and he found most doors to be open. Assuming he was fine with climbing an abandoned, unlit staircase he eventually found his way to the roof, able to gaze across the area, see across the buildings, and…

There. On the south side of the route, barely touching the edge of Silent Forest (not where he came out, of course), was something that definitely stood out as out of place.

If he went there…



And if he didn’t want to do that, what would he do next?





Connected areas:
Redcoast City. To the west. A pretty straight road.
Rainrock City. To the east. Requires a bit of a climbing road.
Route 12. Requires crossing Route 11 on the way north, also pretty well-traveled.
Pokéball Factory. A turn east on the path north should bring you there.
Northern Silent Forest. Going south, one can breach into the rainy forest.



__________________________

@Eklispe

A bright, glowing flash originating from Dawkin’s encouragement enveloped the little yellow critter, and…!






_{Because missing out on moves because you weren’t a Pikachu at that level makes no sense.}



And that was that. Afterwards, some of the remaining audience congratulated him on his victory as well as Pikachu on his evolution, and asked if he was alright. Assuming everything was fine, Dawkin then took this weird vial he’d found and brought it to the Pokémon lab.

He found Dunstan sitting at his table, examining a couple samples. He blinked a bit as Dawkin showed up into this decently dark lab lit only by the green samples around here.

‘You’re back sooner than I expected. What are you…’ Dunstan started, then his eyes went to the vial, containing something that looked blue compared to the green all around Dunstan’s lab.

This was the first time Dawkin saw Dunstan with wide-open eyes.

Then it was like the professor had used the Pokémon move Snatch, because all of a sudden Dawkin wasn’t holding the vial anymore. Dunstan spilled some of the contents of the vial on a tiny glass platter, put it under a microscope, and peeked down at it.

‘These… are cells,’ Dunstan said. ‘Pokémon cells. But… that’s…’ He then grabbed a different machine and directed it at the sample, frowning as he was getting data to his computer, which was saying things that Dawkin couldn’t possibly interpret.

‘These should be long dead. They’re far too old to have survived on their own. They’re from a multitude of different Pokémon, yet the ones in the middle…’ he said and then looked over into the telescope once again.

‘… Are shimmering in varying colours, and as I look at them, it feels like I’m-’ Dunstan suddenly tore himself from the microscope. He lifted his glasses, placed them back in front of his eyes, then lifted them again. He blinked a couple of times.

‘… The cells are keeping the other cells alive. Healing cells. Cells of the life-giving Pokémon…’ he said, breathing out heavily as he lifted up the vial of blue once again, staring at it. Eventually, having taken his samples, he hands the vial back to Dawkin.

‘Where did you get this?’ he asked, utterly serious.

If he feels like it afterwards, Dawkin can head off to do other things.





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.

@Joshua Tamashii

‘Palpa…!’ the Palpitoad blinked at Amelia about the idea that he might be washing away the Water Stone. He promptly stopped washing water everywhere, but regardless glared at the three trainers and called out at them. ‘Palpitoad!’

‘Wait, why must WE present our cases? If all three of us were occupied, why can’t mean that you weren’t-’ the Bug Catcher randomly started asking Amelia.

‘She wasn’t even on Route 2 at the time, blockhead,’ the Lass said, sighing a bit, and the Bug Catcher halted his accusation. ‘Okay, if we have to start somewhere, why don’t the one who found it missing start?’ she continued, looking towards the Backpacker.

‘Uuuuuh… I mean, if I must…’ the Backpacker said, looking somewhat worried for whatever reason.

Palpitoad looks at the inquizically... but encounters the problem that he's unable to question the witnesses himself. As all three of them are the suspects, the only one around he could turn to was Amelia. ‘Palpitoad!’ he tells to her, skips over, and gives her a small yellow stone.

Attorney's Badge was submitted to evidence.

So, time to hold the trial.



Leila submits her Pokémon, a Barboach, as evidence. She also submits her belongings.



Annica submits her Pokémon, a Murkrow and a Fletchling, as evidence. She also submits her belongings.



Eric submits his Pokémon, a Surskit and a Ledyba, as evidence. He also submits his belongings.

… And now it was time for Amelia to cross-examine. Want to Press any of them for additional information on any point? Present evidence as to that they might be lying? If so, go ahead!



Or she could leave. That, too. If so, here.



Connected areas:
Pureplain City. You can get back without complication.
Infested Woods. You’re right next to it.
Wet Caverns. May need to cross a bridge or two to get there.

There was totally nothing nerve wracking about walking up a flight of unlit stairs in an abandoned building. It was totally fine that he went up with no possible clue that something could have been watching him the entire time, waiting for the chance for him to let his guard down. The thought of being stalked by something or someone was totally a comforting thought.

By the time Basil had reached the roof, his legs shook like jello and was just about ready to fall onto his back. Stairs, not even once.

"Heck of a view." He muttered to himself as he approached the edge of the roof. It was almost immediate that Basil saw something stick out like a sore thumb on the south side of the route. Could it be...? "Let's check it out, but first..."

Basil had already made the effort to scale the building so while he was already there, he had two things he wanted to do: one was he wanted to look around the building and see if there any items that he could scavenge that may be of use to him. He also wanted to see if he could find any hints of any Pokemon living in the building that he would not find out normally. To aid him with this, Basil tossed Lupin's Pokeball and out came the Sneasel. Since this was a Pokemon that used the cover of night to shroud itself, perhaps it would be able to aid him in exploring the darker parts of the abandoned building.

@hatakekuro

Basil and Lupin started going through the abandoned rooms. A Sneasel, indeed, was pretty good at getting through the darker rooms and could investigate with relative impunity. What could be interpreted from the various things, various magazines and various items, is that they were definitely big on contests around here. Still, there wasn’t that much useful around here, but Sneasel still managed to find one or several things that could maybe be of use.



As for Pokémon, there was a lot of the same that can be obtained across Route 11. There were Budew that had their plants take over various rooms and enjoyed their time, often having brought in water for no apparent reason, causing floodings. There were Pidoves flying about a bit of everywhere and Zigzagoons making nests here and there in the buildings where they probably weren’t meant to, and the scratch-marks from their fur was everywhere.

Then there were rats. … Small, part-fairy part-electric rats.


Mostly running out of sight and laying low before they could run off to Redcoast City to poach some electricity. Still, they gathered and looked kind of curiously at the strangers walking about on the compound.

Then, they entered a specific room…

Basil and Lupin entered a room, which had a mock ring built in the middle. There was human training equipment spread across the modestly large room. There was posters haphazardly attached to the walls, all depicting strong humans and Pokémon that had competed in boxing, wrestling, or battling. Everything looked modestly haphazard, the posters were attached by debris being rammed into the walls holding them in place rather than more elegant solutions. The battle “ring” in the middle consisted of a mix of scavenged rope and vegetation from the forest.

That… was when a Pidove jumped up onto the side of the net, and a spotlight lit down on it.


‘Pi! Pi-pidove! Pi, pipidove! Pidove!’ it made little noises, like if it was holding a speech. If one looked up, one could see that the “spotlight” was a flashlight held by a Dedenne sitting on an unlit ceiling lamp. A small crowd of Dedennes cheered from various hiding places in the room. ‘Pi, pipi! Pido, pidove, pidopi-DOVE!’ the bird called, and waved a wing towards a door on the other side.

‘Welcome, everyone, to today’s competition!’ called the bird, translated because Lupin could understand it. ‘One one side, our reigning champion! He’s the magnificent, the brilliant, the amazing HIM!’

Dedenne pointed the flashlight onto the door on the opposite side of the room. It swung open, and on the other side stood something in a cape. Said cape blew, because the entity was standing on the railing of a balcony with wind blowing past, it’s arms crossed and back turned towards the battle. Then, it jumped backwards! It made a backwards somersault, twice, before spinning in midair, skipping on the net of the ring once, feathers flying all over the place, as the dramatic Pokémon that looked like it was wearing a mask landed in the midst of the ring in a battle stance. It turned towards Basil, looking ready to fight.

‘Hawlucha…!’ it called in challenge. The Dedennes cheered.


‘Pipipi, pidove…!’ the bird called, and the flashlight was turned to an empty section of the ring in front of the Hawlucha

‘And his challenger is…!’ sounded the Pidove’s translated announcement, and the eyes of every Dedenne in the room turned to Basil.

What would Basil and/or Lupin do now?





Connected areas:
Redcoast City. To the west. A pretty straight road.
Rainrock City. To the east. Requires a bit of a climbing road.
Route 12. Requires crossing Route 11 on the way north, also pretty well-traveled.
Pokéball Factory. A turn east on the path north should bring you there.
Northern Silent Forest. Going south, one can breach into the rainy forest.

Man, having Lupin out was definitely a great idea! Lupin did not leave any pile of trash, leave, and old furniture unturned and what he brought back was pretty useful. He even found a TM for Charge Beam, which was a pretty good to find lying around in the dust and clutter of an abandoned building.

Basil looked at Lupin and then the TM, flipping it around in his hand as he inspected it in puzzlement. How exactly do Pokemon learn moves from TMs? Eh, he'll ask a Nurse Joy or Lorette when he sees her again.

The two of them began their search for Pokemon that can exclusively be found residing in the buildings and well, there wasn't much luck there. There were the Budews that reminded him of Aster and Cyril and many Pokemon from outside have made their nests in crooks and crannies that were definitely not meant to be inhabited. Basil did catch glimpses of the Dedenne scurrying about, trying to stay out of sight though there were some peeking at him with curiosity

Then they found an odd room with exercise equipment and what he could only guess to be a ring of some sort in the middle of the room. There were any number of sports memorabilia plastered haphazardly on the wall. Upon closer inspection, the ring was made out of worn rope and vegetation from the forest nearby. "The heck?" He muttered to himself, but his attention was brought to a Pidove with a spotlight on it. The little bird acted as if it was announcer for some big time event and there were Dedenne cheering in the makeshift stands. Did...did he just stumble upon a fight club? Was this a fight club for wild Pokemon?

As if this was completely rehearsed, the spotlight shone on the door and it slammed open with some caped figure standing on the other side before it put on an acrobatic display. It was fast, real fast, but its dexterity and nimbleness was also a sight to behold. The Pokemon was stanced up and if there was thing that Basil was certain of it was that it wanted a fight.

Lupin glowered at the mucho macho Pokemon. "Snease snease!" What a blowhard!

Meanwhile Basil was more curious than anything else. "Hawlucha?" That really was one showy Pokemon. Basil grabbed his Pokedex and looked for its entry.



So judging by the Pokedex entry it was a fighting/flying type? If that was the case then Hawlucha hard countered almost his entire team then! Lancer and Crocus would get blown away by a flying type attack and Lupin was quad weak to fighting type moves so he was not an option either... Speaking of which.

"Oh no you don't!" Basil grabbed Lupin's Pokeball and with a beam of red light, retrieved him before the cocky little Sneasel could recklessly jump into the ring.

He stepped up to the ring with a Pokeball in hand. This was a challenge and he certainly was not going to be one to back down. "Don't underestimate me."

Okay, so his only options then were Cecil and Aria. Cecil had the attack power and modest physical defense for eating hits, but if the entry was true and it prefers to attack from the air then she would be in a world of trouble. Aria was literally a balloon, but when he checked her move set there were buffs, debuffs, and status moves along with Disarming Voice.

He weighed his options and there really was only one choice to make.

"Take the stage, Aria!" Basil tossed out a Pokeball and with a flash of white light the Jigglypuff he had just caught has now made her debut.

"Jiggly!" She puffed up and glared at the Hawlucha who was hogging the spotlight.

So the strategy for this was simple; Basil would order Aria to use Sing on the Hawlucha and if it worked then he would have her use Defense Curl as many times as she could just so when it wakes up, she would be able to fight without getting absolutely one shot by this beast of a bird.

@hatakekuro

There were some cheers from various Dedennes as Aria took to the stage.

‘Pi-pi-pidove! Pidoooove!’
‘A diva of the southern forest! A Jigglypuuuuuuff!’ sounded the Pidove. ‘Pi-DOVE!’ ‘And FIGHT!’

With the match having begun, Aria immediately began singing! Hawlucha, wary of the balloon Pokémon’s signature ability, immediately darted towards her before leaping into the air to avoid the immediate front of the singing Pokémon! Aria attempted to track after the leaping fighter, but the wrestling Pokémon was just too fast! He descended upon one of the four poles holding up the ring, bending his knees, preparing for a leaping tackle on Aria and-

and the pole broke.

‘Haw-!?’ Hawlucha cried out in alarm as the not-exactly-stellarly-made pole beneath him collapsed, the net snapping a bit around him as he descended prematurely into the floor. The pole, too, had been made from scavenged material by the Pokémon themselves, it appeared. Hawlucha collapsed onto the floor, slamming into it not by his own choice as his balance was shot on account of his footing collapsing under him, and then Aria was free to put him to sleep with a sweet lullaby.

Pidove had to momentarily relocate, having been sitting on the net on a side connected to said pole. Momentary break in announcements. After that, Hawlucha had the ill fortune of being asleep for the full three turns that are possible, letting Aria Defense Curl, making her already round form even rounder, somehow.

How many times exactly will she Defense Curl?

As soon as he wakes up, Hawlucha’s definitely going to charge directly at her for a Karate Chop/Wing Attack!

What does Basil and Aria do?





Connected areas:
Redcoast City. To the west. A pretty straight road.
Rainrock City. To the east. Requires a bit of a climbing road.
Route 12. Requires crossing Route 11 on the way north, also pretty well-traveled.
Pokéball Factory. A turn east on the path north should bring you there.
Northern Silent Forest. Going south, one can breach into the rainy forest.

Oh no, he knew that the Hawlucha was fast, but he did not think that it would be running around Aria in circles and dodge her attack with absolute ease. This was bad, this was real bad... And then the Hawlucha accidentally broke the pole it was bouncing from and hit the floor with relatively loud slam.

That...that was just unfortunate.

Still, this was a moment of opportunity! Basil had ordered Aria to use Defense Curl for the full three turns to boost her defense as much as possible. Now Aria could probably eat one non-critical hit, but he was not done yet.

"Aria, Play Nice and follow up with Disarming Voice!"

---

---

Skylar, though definitely pressing his face against the glass of the fossil cases to see if there was one that piqued his interest, sighed at the sight of the ones available. While 100% all great investments, no doubt, but none of them were the birds that Skylar was looking for. He remembered what colors the fossils from his childhood books were, and none were close. Not to mention that he didn't even have the money for any of them anyway, what with the recent purchases of Great Balls and Go-Goggles. All that said, the Dusk Stone was a little tempting, since Skylar did have Smiley in the PC. Maybe that'd be a worthy investment in a little while...?

He waved his way out as he made his choice. "I think I'm going to go check out the mines first before I make any decisions. Thank you!"

... and with that, off Skylar went to the- wait a second...

"Um, actually, before I leave..." Skylar walked back over to the counter of the Stone Shore, reaching into his bag and aimlessly feeling around for an item before JoJo's horn vibrated and shone in the light, the Relic Vase appearing in Skylar's other hand.

"Thanks JoJo! Um, would you happen to be interested in this vase?" Skylar held it up for whoever was behind the counter to inspect. "Forgot that I had this, and I wouldn't exactly know where to take it."

(No matter how this interaction continued, Skylar's heading to the Desert Mines after this.)

@hatakekuro

Aria used Play Nice, making her opponent somehow subconsciously hold back a bit by just looking so dang pure! Still, that did not stop Hawlucha from reaching her and striking with a ferocious Karate Chop from above! Fortunately for Aria, she’d boosted her defense significantly, but a poor defense boosted meant it still couldn’t keep up with a Hawlucha’s attack, even with that attack lowered! Still, being a balloon meant Aria bounced straight up in the air after the wrestler’s attack. He blinked up at her, and up there Aria had a perfect chance to unleash her Disarming Voice down at him!

Disarming Voice cannot miss, so it didn’t matter that Hawlucha dodged aside as if to dodge it like sing, the sound-waves of the charming cry converged on its target regardless! Hawlucha gave a cry of emotional pain, somehow, the Super Effective damage coursing through his head. He glared up at Aria, and then jumped after her for a Wing Attack…!

Hawlucha had far more Attack than Aria had Defense, even with Aria’s thrice Defense Curling. However, Aria was dealing Super Effective damage with Disarming Voice. While Hawlucha was still the one who did the most damage, as a Jigglypuff Aria could take advantage in the single stat that was superior to that of a Hawlucha; Health. Hawlucha did more damage, but Aria could take more damage. That, and Aria would never miss with Disarming Voice, while Hawlucha had to chase the balloon Pokémon down. As a result…

The battle was even. If the two kept just trading blows, there was no telling who’d win. Hawlucha was definitely just going to charge after Aria and Karate Chop or Wing Attack interchangeably.

What does Basil and Aria do?





Connected areas:
Redcoast City. To the west. A pretty straight road.
Rainrock City. To the east. Requires a bit of a climbing road.
Route 12. Requires crossing Route 11 on the way north, also pretty well-traveled.
Pokéball Factory. A turn east on the path north should bring you there.
Northern Silent Forest. Going south, one can breach into the rainy forest.



__________________________

@Gardevoiran

‘Ooh. That’s pretty cool vase. Looks really old,’ the shopkeeper said, looking over the offered vase. ‘Not something I’m personally interested in. After all, it’s not a stone,’ he said, shrugging. ‘But I do think I know who might be interested. There’s an eccentric super-rich dude in Freecape Town who fancies himself a collector of interesting things. I bet if you take that to him, you’d fetch yourself quite the price. … That, or maybe the researchers in town would be interested in it?’ He chuckles a bit. ‘It looks old, so maybe they’d like to do research on it. Don’t expect a particularly handsome reward from them, though. At best, maybe they have a fossil around they don’t need anymore.’

To go to the Desert Mines, Skylar needed to pass through Route 7. So…



If he’d like to just head over to the Desert Mines, here we go.

---

---

Upon entering the Desert Mines (Skylar overlooked the previous route for now, since he'd have to go back through it anyway), Skylar immediately was faced with not knowing what to do exactly. There was certainly a lot to do, definitely, but as it stood at a moment's glance... well, maybe he could do a lot at once. At least, for the immediate moment, Skylar grabbed a tool, gave his sunglasses to JoJo, and reached into his bag to grab a bandanna he might have had. "I doubt any of these miners would want to trade a fossil with me right now, seeing as I'm empty handed and low on cash, so..." Skylar's brows furrowed over his cloudy grey eyes. "I guess I better get to mining! Whole team's coming out, get ready guys!"

Skylar knew JoJo and Seabreeze were out, so he took out the last four Pokeballs he had and sent each of his other buddies out, one by one.
"Tro~!"
"Torrrrchic!"
"Scattabattabee!"
"Emu!"

... and while he was releasing, Seabreeze and JoJo chimed in as well.
"Wingull!"
"Rrrallal~!"

Skylar looked at all his pals, everyone perching onto Paradise in some way. "Alright, buds! Let's get some training done!"

@Gardevoiran

Some training was done against the predominantly Ground-type Pokémon of the Desert Mines! Truth was, both Jeebs and Royal was a bit underleveled compared to the Pokémon of the mines, but they had some handy help from their fellow Pokémon and could get some experience in!

They had to be careful, though. The Sandshrews and Geodudes around both knew Rollout, which coincidentally is Super-Effective against ⅚ of Skylar’s Pokémon and could keep going. In comparison, Sandile’s most dangerous move was Bite, while Digletts and Drilbur were pretty harmless with Mud-Slap and Fury Swipes being their currently most dangerous moves. Drilbur isn’t Steel-type yet, so Mac wasn’t Super-Effective yet, but he could still engage them for a modestly fair fight! _{I will interpret this as that he’s being intentionally trained to level 16.}

With Seabreeze and Paradise taking out many of the Pokémon around here in one shot to save their lower-leveled allies to let them level up…!



…

What?



…

What?



While that was happening, the blind guy took to mining! He took to striking at the wall and needing to have JoJo next to him to know if he was making any progress or not. It took a significant amount of time and was a pretty tough work-out, but he got plenty of encouragement from miners around, telling him he was owning that wall and that he’d have a great future as a miner if he wanted!

Numerous hours into the process…

Skylar must have hit a frickin’ vein or something, because wow.



So that’s something.

Then he went on to challenge a couple miners to battle.

Wasn’t any “Miner” trainer class, so here’s two Hikers.


‘Being a miner is all mining and battling! You got the mining down! How’s your battling?’

Hiker Jase would like to battle!




‘I had the scientist dudes make Pokémon out of the fossils I brought them! Want a look?’

Hiker Brendon would like to battle!



What does Skylar do?





Connected areas:
Route 7. Right behind you.

Even with those Defense Curls and those blows looked like they were dealing some heavy damage! Aria's HP stat is very high, but it can only hold out for so long against a bruiser like that Hawlucha. If this keeps up she's was going to kept bouncing around like a balloon with every hit.

Wait a minute... Balloon?

"Aria, deflate to dodge and follow up with Disarming Voice!" What Basil ordered her to do was to forcibly force out the air in her body so that she could propel herself in the air away from the Hawlucha as to avoid the incoming attack and maintain distance so that he could whittle away at it with fairy type attacks.

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"Aw yeah! Now we're cookin' with gas!" Skylar pocketed the fossils he had just acquired, smiling at the bounty and putting them neatly into his bag along with the Fire Stone and Icy Rock. Solid grabs, and not to mention that Skylar had two new stronger team members at his side.

"Combuuuusken!" "Spewpew!" The two evolved Pokemon cheered in confidence, Mac running up to Skylar and offering a boastful pose of confidence to the young trainer, who returned it with pleasure.

"Let's go! With a fighting type on you, we've got nothing to fear for quite a while!" Skylar smiled at the progress this group was making. No doubt the crew would be more than able to keep this momentum up going forward. Tomorrow's plight for a second badge looked great as it stood.

Onto the more current problem, if you could call it that, the Hikers nearby were ready to rumble with Skylar's new teammates, and the boy was happy to deliver.





Assuming that's where Skylar leaves the battles, we're going back to mining and training. Hopefully these battles go well, since Rollout as a move is completely destructive on his team.

@hatakekuro

So, funny thing about Jigglypuffs and deflating. While they CAN deflate, it’s not something they’re naturally taught to control.

Upon being commanded to deflate, Aria did indeed open the metaphorical valve to let out air… and promptly started blasting around the room like a balloon with a leak and no control whatsoever where she was going. Pidove had to dodge to the floor to avoid a particular arc, the Dedennes had to scatter as she bounced around the audience, Hawlucha had to come to a complete stop to try to track where she was going and probably heading, and at one point Basil probably had to dodge her because she took a wrong turn towards him (or maybe she hit him, who knows).

As soon as she came to a stop in the corner of the room, Hawlucha jumped towards her. This was when Aria was supposed to use Disarming Voice. But, funny thing #2 about Jigglypuffs, she needs to have her disproportionately large lungs filled to use her voice, and as such, she cannot use that move in a deflated state. She opened her mouth to refill herself with air, but the amount of time that took was enough for Hawlucha to reach her and deliver a FLYING TACKLE (qualifies as Struggle, but Hawlucha isn’t picky atm) straight into her corner, resulting in a slam and a crack in the wall.

It was silent for a couple of seconds, Hawlucha having seemingly crushed Aria against the wall…

When he was suddenly blasted off and the “charming cry” of Disarming Voice sounded out, a damaged but not out Aria filled with just enough air lying about under. Critical Hit! Hawlucha fainted!



‘PiDOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE!’ Pidove gave a cry that needed no translation, and the crowd of Dedennes gave a cheer for their crowned victor, the almost-fainted Aria. A couple Dedennes ran down and presented her with a black piece of garment for her victory…



A couple Dedennes brought a bucket of water and poured it down on Hawlucha’s head, somehow making the Fighting/Flying-type flinch and restoring him to 1 health. The wrestling Pokémon flew up on his feet, stumbled a bit, and then crossed his arm-wings as he nodded respectfully to Aria.

‘Haw. Hawlucha!’ he congratulated her on her victory. Then, he turned to Basil, looking mighty pleased with himself.

‘Hawlucha!’

Weather he actually got that across with his announcement or not, basically he’s offering to join Basil on his journey!





With that, the residents of the little room were satisfied and ready to wave Basil farewell, unless he has more business here.





Connected areas:
Redcoast City. To the west. A pretty straight road.
Rainrock City. To the east. Requires a bit of a climbing road.
Route 12. Requires crossing Route 11 on the way north, also pretty well-traveled.
Pokéball Factory. A turn east on the path north should bring you there.
Northern Silent Forest. Going south, one can breach into the rainy forest.



On a final note. While a Jigglypuff straight from the wild will not be able to effectively use her balloon-features well in a fight, Basil perhaps saw the glimmer of a hope that she could be trained to do so?

__________________________

@Gardevoiran

Fortunately for Skylar, didn’t seem like Jase realized his Drilbur’s steel claws would be ineffective against Mac, because the Drilbur and Mac charged one another, one with Metal Claw and the other with Double Kick. They trades slices and kicks, and it became pretty immediately obvious who had the upper hand as Mac successfully kicked down the Drilbur. Not so baby bird now, huh.

Mac definitely outsped Golett and immediately shover a handful of sand into the ghost automaton’s eyes, staggering it. How much the Golett is actually using its eyes when it curls up into a ball and rolls at its enemy is probably kind of debatable. Still, despite the reduced accuracy the first roll successfully impacted Mac, despite his attempt to dodge and the sand lowering accuracy. They then exchanged an Ember and a Rollout, as Golett hit again. However, the turn after that the loss of accuracy finally showed itself and Rollout missed!

After that Mac was hit with one more lowest-power Rollout, but managed to dodge the next accuracy-deprived roll, hitting two more Embers in the process, and then with a final fourth Ember Golett fainted. Mac was kind of beat-up after taking slices and three Rollouts, though. That new Fighting-type was serving him well.

Then, he kept Mac out against Roggenrola! … which may have been a mistake, because Roggenrola precisely managed to survive the two kicks of Double Kick, and then proceeded to Rock Blast him thrice, the second time which became a Critical Hit! Mac fainted. Not without getting some juicy exp, though.



Seabreeze then promptly showed up and Water Pulsed for an instant victory.



‘DEFINITELY got your battling down! What would you say to becoming a miner? It’s tons of fun, and you’ll be in good company!’ Jase says, before taking his leave.

Then, against Brendon.

Kabuto doesn’t know any Rock-type moves, yet. Best he got is Scratch and Mud-Shot. Royal flies. Royal has Thundershock that is Super Effective. In a thorough display of unmistakable type-advantage, Royal wins a basically flawless victory!



Paradise VS Cranidos is a bit rougher, simply because of the Pokémon’s massive attack. It survived the first Magical Leaf and delivered a painful Headbutt that did a decent amount of damage, and then turned out to be faster and headbutted her AGAIN, before going down to the next Magical Leaf.

Then the next Drilbur wasn’t able to do enough damage to her with just Fury Swipes and went down quick to more Magical Leaf.





‘Hahaha! Figures my newly resurrected untrained Pokémon would lose a real fight!’ Brendon laughed at his little incident, then inspected Skylar about to go mine some more. ‘Hey, say, I happened to see you bag an Armor Fossil, didn’t I? I’ve been looking for one of those. Could I perhaps ask if you would like to trade? Lesse, I got a Dusk Stone, a Shiny Stone, a Helix Fossil, a Plume Fossil, and a Sail Fossil…’ Brendon said, going over his findings…

If Skylar continues to mine or train, do write in a bit more detail what he’s focusing on then.

What will Skylar do now?





Connected areas:
Route 7. Right behind you.

He didn't think this through; Aria was flying around in every other direction with absolutely no way of controlling it. Heck, she almost hit him square in the face if it were not for the fact he was able to duck in time. Even when she got away from the previous, the Hawlucha was still able to smash her into a wall since she needed time to refill her lungs with air. It looked like it was going to be their loss, but they.. they won? Holy crap they actually won! "Aria, you did amazingly well." He walked over to her and scooped the worn out puffball into his arms.

The Hawlucha approached him and made a declaration, which he was not exactly sure it was, but assumed that it wanted to join his team considering he just defeated it in combat and that's kind of how it goes with wild Pokemon."Welcome to the team." He poked the Hawlucha with the Pokeball, allowing itself to be absorbed into the device in a beam of light. The young trainer looked at the ball, shaking with absolute joy as he pumped his hand in the air as he was completely unable to hide his elation at his latest accomplishment. "Awesome! I caught a Hawlucha!"

Returning the audience's friendly goodbye, Basil had made it out of the building with his spoils though it certainly was not without any scratches. It would be dangerous for Glory, his new Hawlucha, and Aria to be at such low health so it would be in his best interest to heal with, but the issue was that the Jigglypuff's health stat was simply too large for just one potion to take care of it, and Glory was not in much better shape either. There was a simple solution to this, however; he simply had Hawlucha use Roost as many times as needed to heal himself while Basil would use as many potions that was required to heal Aria.

"There, all patched up now." Basil patted Aria's head.

"Jiggly!"

He did take note that while her deflation was definitely out of control, there probably was a possibility that he could train her to do it later. She only was just caught so it's not like it would be a natural thing she would need to do in the wild.

Well, he definitely side-tracked from his main objective, but there was still daylight to burn. After returning his Pokemon to their respective balls, he headed towards the direction where he saw the shrine when he was on the roof earlier.

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When Mac fell, Skylar winced pretty hard. Though Seabreeze cleaned up the battle easily, it was still a little hard to see Mac go down like that. Mac could take a good rest in his Pokeball for just a little bit from there. He'd probably head on to the Pokemon Center anyway after this for a quick rest before returning.

Then Brendon went down handily by Paradise and Royal's combined efforts. Cranidos was a little unnerving, but everything ended pretty well, even better after Brendon asked if he could trade for Skylar's armor fossil. As he went through his list, Skylar heard Plume and immediately got a wide smile on his face.

"If you don't mind passing up on that Plume Fossil, I'd be more than happy to trade my Armor fossil for it. That being said, mind if I trade my Fire Stone for your Dusk Stone? I've got a Murkrow in the PC that sure could use it, heh." Regardless on whether the Dusk Stone trade went through or not, Skylar'd hopefully get his 'grimy' little hands on the Plume Fossil, and from there he would immediately know his next steps.

... so, immediately upon receiving the Plume Fossil, Skylar put up Jeebs, Royal, and Paradise for just a little bit. They'd be back here soon, no doubt, but he had another step to do first. He packed up his bag and began to walk out of the mines, waving to the miners as he left. "I'll be back! I just wanna go heal up my Pokemon real quick!"

He left the Mines, and to say he was hustling through Route 7 was an understatement. That boy was schmovin' on through to Raremine, not stopping for anyone or anything. He was on a mission of friendship! Nothing was stopping him.

"Ral?"

"Don't worry, JoJo. I think you're a mainstay on the squad. I don't wanna do it to Jeebs, but with all those Rock types in the mines I think that it'd be better to put him up for just a little while." Skylar smiled as he saw the blurry skyline of Raremine. "I wish I could have the whole group out and about together, but it's a lot to handle. You and Seabreeze are mainstays for sure. Maybe we'll find some Pokemon to train you in the deeper parts of the mines, when we get back." He looked up at Seabreeze. "Either that or we'll have Seabreeze help you out a little bit."

"Wingull!" Seabreeze cawed affectionately, confirming his opinion on the matter.

"Then it's settled. We might need to grab some kind of dinner on our way out of town, but we'll be juuust fine." It did seem to be getting dark for the trainer. To be fair, they've had quite the journey today, for sure.

After a few more minutes, Skylar made it back into Raremine, and with no brakes he went to the Pokemon Center to heal up his squad and put Jeebs into the box. He had the feeling he might need a free team slot for this next member, so he had one open just in case.

After the center, he started off to the Research Lab. His first priority? Resurrecting the Plume Fossil, and adding another Pokemon to his team.

(Whatever happens in the Research Lab can 100% happen, but Skylar's going to resurrect the Plume Fossil as soon as he can when he's in there. Since I don't know how it looks, uh, just assume when he walks in he's going straight to the resurrection person.)