Type restrictions? Had she heard something about that before? It wasn't something she'd ever had to deal with, and somehow she felt grateful. It seemed like a stifling thing to her, but she could just be resisting change. There certainly was a particular deciding factor, though. That old trainer in her wanted to know if it was even worth her interest.

"Hey, you mentioned that before, didn't you. About your league. I think I picked up a brochure at the Pokemon Center," she slung her bag around from her bag to dig around in it "but I'd rather hear from a trainer's mouth. Your League sounds way different than what I'm used to," she pulled out the object of her search, closing her bag and slinging it back around so she for focus her eyes on reading, "what's this about type restrictions?"

Watching the battle reminded her of herself, in a way. Was she getting old? "You did well enough. Weedles don't have a lot of tricks, so you have to work with what you've got. You made good use of what Weedle can do. There is, though... Hmm... How do I say this..."

She started out like any other trainer, herself. Just catching what she wanted. It's how she got Rapier, and look. He still followed her around. Of course, she usually just let him fly around, so maybe he just likes being at her side. But, as she journeyed, her attitude slowly changed.

"It seemed like you might have been able to coax it into joining you, instead of having to battle it. It liked your compliment. Well, maybe it would have wanted to fight anyway, in the end."

"I mean, you do it however you want. It isn't my place to tell you your method of training is any better or worse than mine. That all comes out in the League. I just want to help you out."

Sarah listened in all seriousness to the advice and thanked the Ranger for it, especially the part with only coaxing and perhaps not battling got her thinking before she recollected her thoughts about the earlier question about the league.
She had read about the other leagues in other regions and noticed not a lot had special rules like the type restriction on the Rorie Islands, one day perhaps she would spectate some other leagues but first, she wanted to focus on this one. The other leagues seemed easier with no restrictions but she couldn't know for sure yet.

Sarah glanced at the brochure, she had seen it and of course and read it, there was nothing wrong with the brochure and the information was short but correct but she enjoyed explaining it nevertheless.

"The League is themed around the four basic elements. The gyms on Rhando, Indelgy, Ornitan and Resto each represent one of the basic elements, Earth, Wind, Water and Fire. Because it is the theme it is ruled that trainers can only use the types that correspond with the basic elements so ground, flying, water and fire pokemon types are only allowed in the Pokemon League on Evoru. It has been a very long tradition really and the restriction makes it more challenging in my opinion as you can't just randomly catch and use pokemon, you have to think before you act. You know, at first, they only allowed single type pokemon that fit the rules. It's relatively recent in the history of the Rorie Leagues that dual types that have at least one of the four types were allowed. The gyms do allow other pokemon types in their battles though. And you have to be careful, pokemon that evolve and loose one of the allowed types can't continue the battle."

Even though Sarah was more than willing to start a monologue about the entire history of the league and the islands she didn't know if the Ranger was that into local history so she kept at the summary for now with only sporadic sidetracks.

"So it's an old tradition? And a strict one. Hmph." The ranger already didn't appreciate the restrictions, especially since it went against her favored type. The classical elements, huh? Back when she was participating, she might have been able to put a team together, with the recent leniency. To think, they used to compete with single type pokemon! She wondered if there was a long-standing exception for rock/ground, or flying/normal.

"While the restriction is a challenge, it also limits what your opponent can do. It might be difficult to go from this league to another. Ghost trainers are tricky, for one thing." Even though she said that, single typers could be very powerful. The various promotional starter pokemon were usually very powerful, and many were single type.

"Does it have to be the primary type, or does the secondary type count, too? Though, I... Don't think my league team had any primary fighting types, actually. No, wait, Lucia is fighting first, steel second, that's right. I always get that reversed." She was wondering how much of her old team would have been allowed in this league. Then again, if she wanted to pull rank, would she even have to worry about that...?

Sarah nodded to the first question. She glanced at the ranger, she didn't seem overly enthusiast or thrilled by this particular kind of league. Ofcourse, to each their own and Sarah was the last person to judge the likes or dislikes of others but to her a different kind of leagues she was used would be a challenge.

"Doesn't matter wether it's the primary or secondary type. As long as one of the types are water, flying, ground or fire the pokemon is accepted into the league." She replied the easier question as she thought of a reply to the earlier statement.

"While the restriction poses a challenge as you have to really think about the pokemon you might encouter and which you can use, it doesn't limit yourself or your opponent that much. You have to have the right type, but nowhere is it said that you can only use type-specific attacks. If you taught your Mudbray rocksmash you might surprise an opponent with a flying type and a headbut or stomp always hits hard."

While she was talking she was already thinking ahead to how her league might look. She brought herself to the present, up to now she only had one pokemon eligible. "Well perhaps not against ghosts" Sarah admitted with a smile, as the ranger had mentioned ghost trainers. She had to think of Litwick right away, a ghost-type that would qualify for the league.
"You still don't know if your opponent has only water types, or one or more of each type, or one flying and the rest fire. Or what they taught their pokemon. You have to think outside the box and be creative. Use the enviroment to your advantage." Sarah continue.

She thought a while about what was more challenging, being able to use all kind of pokemon and have no idea against what type you would find yourself at all or knowing it would be one of the four types, although not knowing for sure which you would find against you, but knowing your opponent knows what kind of types you have too and both wondering what the other had thought to make the most restriction and get the upperhand. Wether it was a powerful single type or a versitile dual-type.
"I think that within it's limitation, there is a wide range of options to get an advantage over your opponent." Sarah said with a nod.

She had some good tactics. Having a good team was such a satisfying feeling, but it was so much more than that. "I had a powerful ace when I went for the league. Naien, my Blaziken, knows Solar Beam. Set it up with Sunny Day and you're unstoppable."

"It'd be difficult to take away that unpredictability without making things boring." It let trainers focus more, and prevented boring matchups, largely. You wouldn't run into a normal-type trying to fight a ghost-type.

Ghost types were such a pain.

Then, she heard squawking. She hadn't seen Rapier in a while, either. Were there territorial birds here? It didn't take her long to spy the cloud if Spearow, with their Fearow in the center. "You gotta be kidding me. Pfff, aaah, hey, you haven't got anything to handle a cloud of birds, have you? Like... Thunderbolt or, uh..." Rapier was better for a good one-on-one, he couldn't handle a whole flock like this. He'd take that Fearow out in a flash, but...

"If not, we might have to, uh... Y'know. Get scarce." Oddly, she never really got her hands on a hard flying-type counter. An electric or rock type would be great. Maybe Umi could do something, though? But she'd need a lake or river or something, for the Lapras...

"Solar beam?!" Sarah uttered surprised. A fire-type with solar beam, she had never heard of that before. She almost lost track of the conversation as she nearly losing herself in contemplation, she hardly heared squawking.
When the spearow and Fearow were brought to her attention Sarah blinked twice as she looked up. She swallowed down a curse. Where was her brother Gabe with his Mareep when you needed him.

"Besides Gira I have a grass, a bug and a sleeping psychic type. Oh and another grass type." Sarah sighed, making a mental note to try and get some more diversity to her team.
"Gira isn't strong enough to do anything against a flock of them." "And I'm not fast enough to outrun them if they are aggresive" she thought. She could ride Gira though if needed but she wouldn't leave the Ranger behind. "Gira I need your help." She glanced at Regan. "Where is Rapier, is your pokemon alright?"

---

Gabe walked next to Bakuto and was pointing out some interesting formations and sharing anekdotes about earlier escapades while still keeping an eye open for pokemon like Gible for the trainer.

He looked at the sky and saw in the distant something that looked like a moving cloud. "Be careful on the Rorie islands though, groups of pokemon can be dangerous. I've been pinned down by a group of spinarak once and you definitely never want to encouter an angry flock of spearow and fearow." He frowned. "If that are Spearow and they are circling in the rocky area here that usually doesn't look good."

He looked at Mareep and Mareep glanced back before she shook her head vigorously. "I'm not gonna zap some poor flying types!"

"Rapier can take care of himself. ... Usually. This might still be trouble, that's... A lot of Spearow. And a Fearow." The previous conversation was forgotten, it was time to get serious. Getting both of them out of here might be trouble, so would the better option be to stand their ground? That night be difficult. None of Sarah's Pokemon were going to be good here... Bug and Grass, mostly. Shit.

"There. They're chasing him... They must see him as a threat to their territory. I'll have to help him out... Is there a river nearby? A lake?" Probably not deep enough for Umi. Damn! "Don't worry, Sarah. You're under my protection," the protection of a Pokemon champion. "Kawaken, get ready for defense! Leave a path for Rapier." She took a deep breath as she strode toward the danger, Kawaken emerging and throwing bubbles into the air. "RAPIER! LET'S GO!" She gathered her aura and let it swell. No holding back now, not with someone to protect.

Above, Rapier heard her and knew her plan. He drew them in, toward them, before banking hard and increasing speed toward the team's battle partner. She watched him carefully, waiting for the last moment to turn and put her arm out. He landed near her wrist and she took his momentum, pivoting and spinning while she gave him her Aura. "Extreme Speed - Close Combat!" She took all that momentum and threw Rapier back the way he came, launching him through the cloud of descending Spearow. As he drilled through their formation, his talons lashed out, carving his way through. "Rapier, hold back that Fearow with Aerial Ace! Kawaken, Bubble Beam the rest of them!" Kawaken wasn't as strong, but he had ranged attacks. The Spearow would have to get close to them, and the field of bubbles would make that difficult.

Damnit, Ice Beam would be really handy here! But without a body of water, Umi would just be a target.

Sarah shook her head top the questions about a river and lake. There were waterways on Rhando and a big lake in the centre but that wouldn't help now it wasn't near enough. Besides before she could tell about the location of their big lake the Ranger had already ordered the strageties and attacks. It was an impressive combo. Sarah shook herself up, she could stand there in awe or she could be useful herself too. Going over her options, there weren't many.

"Gira, come on out. Use confusion on any Spearow you can." The Girafarig looked at the bubble beam and Spearow behind it and started using confusion on Spearow trying to dodge the bubble beam.
Sarah shook her head, it was of little use going against a flock like that. If only they could dissipate the flock. Abra! what if Abra teleported Fearow away, would the Spearow brake up?

She waited till Rapier was in between attacks on Fearow before she let Abra get out, Abra sighed and lifted his head a bit. "Abra! Teleport to Fearow and teleport away from here. Return afterwards without Fearow. Can you do it?" Abra looked up and vanished. Reappearing on the Fearow it got hit by some bubbles from the bubble beam and pecks from Spearow. Moments later he dissappeared with the Fearow.
Now she hoped the Spearow would go search for Fearow or loose there focus. Worst case they would continue to attack but at least they would have a temporary relief of not having to deal with Fearow right now. Depending on how far Abra had gone it could return sooner than they would like.

---

He looked at Mareep and at the other trainer. "Come, let's find out if someone needs help! let's hurry!" he said as he dashed off.
he had run only for a short time, as he thought, when he abruptly halted as in the sky he suddenly saw a not so happy Fearow. "Uh oh..." Gabe said as the Fearow locked eyes with him. A cry emerged from the flying type and when it started to dive towards Gabe he called for Mareep to use Thunderbolt. Mareep, who usually was reluctant to attack flying type, jumped into action when she saw the treath Gabe was in and procused an as big as possbible thundershock.

Abra teleported away when Gabe ordered the attack and when Gabe saw the glimps of the psychic type he realised it could be Sarah who was in trouble. Eventhough Mareep had a type advantage, the Fearow could still be stronger. "Use Thunderwave!" he said, if the Fearow would be paralyzed they could go in the direction where he had seen the vague cloud-like shape of which he was now fairly sure it were the Spearow belonging to this Fearow.
With the big flying type at least temporary disabled he quickly ran off again without fearing an immediate threath from Fearow. He had to see if his sister was allright.

"Kawaken, I'll direct you, come." Her Poliwhirl came to her side and Regan directed him, pointing at Spearow as they came through the loose bubble dome. The little birds started picking at the dome, bubble by bubble, while the smartest or most agile slipped through. She saw one bird get thrown by an invisible hand. That must have been Sarah. She turned, and saw her Girafarig! "Good thinking. Focus more on the ones picking at the outside." Gira was more of a physical attacker, wasn't he? Well, he seemed to be doing alright, despite. Small fry, then? Usually, a flock this size would have Spearow of a wide range of strengths. She was too busy to try and find them, though.

Above, Rapier was a little baffled that his target had disappeared. Fearow were too big to do that... So what happened. He hovered for a moment before evading a Spearow diving at him and rolling into a dive. They'd come to reinforce? Heh, they would have been trouble before, but now, he'd have little difficulty. There were more climbing on him from below, and he blew past them, striking a few as he did. He had an idea.

He swooped past the group of Spearow gathered below and grabbed two, using his gathered speed to pull back up and come around on his pursuers. With a quick vertical U-Turn, he flung his captive Spearow at them, missing with one but hitting with the other. That was worth a good laugh, at least, hah.

Regan saw her bird pass by close and looked up. The Fearow was gone? Had Sarah done something with her Abra? She'd noticed the Pokemon was out, but she had a hard time hearing with all this flapping. No matter, Rapier was freed to deal with the rest. He seemed to be having fun, though.

Rapier let out two Air Cutters, knocking down a few of them, and then drove forward the dome again. He rolled to the side and used Steel Wing to attack the Spearow and to help him make his curve around the dome of bubbles, clearing out a swath of them.

"Whew. Alright, ready to make a break for it?" Regan identified a chance, and knew she should take it, but... Where were they going? They couldn't outrun birds, maybe they could find a cave? She really wished she had a vehicle, after all. Or that she had Terra, the flygon could sing to the Earth with her wings and hear it in return. Ah well. She could try to mimic the technique, but she needed to focus and wasn't nearly as good at it. They'd have to be on top of it, practically. "Look for a cave or something while we run."

It was impressive to watch Rapier take care of so many Spearow at the same time. Gira did her best to make sure the other pokemon could do as much damage as possible.
Sarah was familiar in the region but not that familiar that she knew every cave. She did know a rock shelter not too far away, it was more towards the edge. Not the most ideal hiding spot but it would keep them safe enough especially since it would be better defendable than being out in the open.

"This way," she said as she ran off after calling back any pokemon that couldn't keep up or would slow her down. She wasn't particulary good at running. She hardly had any stamina, and she was rather short so she couldn't cover as much ground as others. That is where her Girafarig came in. Her Girafarig was strong and fast and with her being relatively short and and slim she wasn't too heavy for her pokemon.
"It's not that far." she panted, "Gira, check if it's safe, Stairway Shelter." It took a little imagination and a certain tilting of the head and squinting of the eyes to see any kind of stairs there but it was the name that had gone around for generations now.

Gira dashed off ahead to make sure no pokemon would be resting there and might get startled or get aggresive.

---

Gabe's stamina was a whole lot better. He was taller and spend a lot more time running around. Mostly jogging with his Machop and Mareep. His reluctant Tepig following suit.
He heard another cry from the Fearow and feared it might already be recovering.

Despite all the noise, she did hear Sarah shout for them to retreat. She glanced over her shoulder to see the girl running off and followed, "Kawaken, we're moving!" She'd really have to find him some fresh water after this, really give him a nice reward. The Pokemon jumped up to her shoulder to continue defensive fighting while they ran.

In contrast, the Ranger had little trouble keeping up with Sarah. She was able to maneuver around her as they fled, defending her from dives and actually slapping one aside herself. Maybe she should catch more Pokemon, this was ridiculous. She'd have to keep an eye out for something good.

The cloud of birds they were dealing with was thinning, "Rapier! Find that Fearow and drive them off!"

Her bird peeled away and took to height, searching. He heard the cry if the massive bird, and needed only follow it that way. Some of the other Spearow were searching, too, he could see. A creature, big like that, should not be hard to spot... There! Rapier banked and dove. If he hit the thing hard and fast enough, it might just retreat.

Sarah's side began to ache and her breath came in short pants. Gira was waiting patiently and watched her trainer reach the shelter.
It took the trainer a bit to catch her breath and she leaned against the wall.
"Welcome in the Stairway Shelter." she managed to squeeze out. "Gira, watch for the Spearow."
Girafarig placed herself more towards the edge and watched the swarm. It looked liked they weren't regrouping to follow. It seemed like without the Fearow to follow they stayed behind.
"We shouldn't stay here too long, if the spearow stay away we could sneak off and head back."

---

Gabe stopped as he saw Rapier fly over his head looking, and spotting, the Fearow. "Awesome!" he stopped to watch until Mareep nudged him, urging him to go on. "Right, lets not wait."

There! Rapier pitched his body and dove on the large target. With his height advantage and superior maneuverability, landing a meaningful blow was easy. He swooped back up as he struck, pushing off of the Fearow's back and gazing down at it triumphantly where it could see his superior position. The Fearow glared and decided retreat was best, cawing loudly as it flew back to roost. Good, now to get back to Regan.

Eventually. He'd earned a break. He circled, slowly bleeding altitude until he felt the Fearow had gone far enough away, at which point he dropped down to roost on a nearby high point. A small tree, snuggled in among some high rocks. There was a male human nearby, with a M-... Hmm... a Mareep. He watched them wearily.

Regan, meanwhile, left Kawaken with Gira at the cave entrance. "Whew... Made it." She looked back at the Spearow outside, considering them before she heard a cry in the distance. "You hear that? I think something took care of that Fearow. Probably Rapier, though I can't say for certain." The Ranger turned back to the student she was escorting, and then the cave behind her. "'Stairway Shelter', huh? Is there a natural stairway deeper in or something? Dangerous?" Sarah had said they shouldn't stay. "Well, I'm the one escorting you, it'd be strange if I told you where we're going, right? If you want to return, we should take the opportunity and go now. Hmm, we never did figure out where that onix went, did we. We encountered it, so it's around here somewhere, but your professor will probably want more than that, right? Of course, your safety is foremost. If you're tired, we can go."

Sarah nodded as she also heard the Fearow, "Must have been Rapier, he was going after Fearow."

She was glad Regan asked about Stairway Shelter, so they wouldn't have to leave right away.
"No, it's a pretty shallow cave, if one can call it that at all. If you stand in front of it you can somewhat make out the shape of a stairway. I suppose it was more prominent in the past and that erosion played its part. But still, if you stand at the right distance, squint and turn your head sideways you can still see it. Old names of places don't die around here and it can be confusing to people not native to these islands when islanders give direction using landmark names that are hardly recognisable."

She smiled, "I'm very grateful you came along, I would have a serious problem with the flock of Spearow on my own, let alone that Fearow." Sarah opened her backpack and grabbed two small bottles of water and handed one to Regan.
"We saw the Onix, registered as asked. We don't know where it went and it would be looking for a needle in a haystack again, I doubt we'll be lucky enough to stumble across it twice in one day." Her eyes started twinkling amused, "if you didn't scare Onix off with berating it like that."

Sarah drank her water as all the running had made her extremely thirsty. "I'd like to go back, with that cave-in earlier I think it's best to let some of the lab take a look at tunnels first and look for more geological hazards, besides."

Sarah put her backpack on her back again and walked to Gira. "Everything alright here?" Gira nodded.
"We're going back, lead the way Gira and keep an eye on any wild pokemon ahead of us. We're taking the shortest way but we're going to avoid the forest. I really don't want to deal with a group of Spinarak as well."