---

---

"Er, uuuhh, yeah," Cyril awkwardly chuckled as he glanced to the side as a small sweat droplet formed on the side of his face. Right, she had a cute lil' Pidgey. "Yeah, faint is probably a better term," he gently murmured to her. Smooth Cyril. Regardless, he could apologize to her later as he returned his attention to the battle as Chloe followed along with his plan.

Cyril merely observed what was going on before shaking his head with a wry smile on his face as the man brought his own partner to a screeching halt, skidding and digging its body into the dirt, leaving it not only paralyzed but basically embedded in the ground. Yeah, it was little more than a turret until it dug itself out... or someone else did.

That dry smile only seemed to grow wider as he gloated, unaware of what was to come as Chloe announced their own plan in tandem whilst Cyril nodded as well. "Also, what are you talking about," he tilted his head as he put an index finger to his lip inquisitively.

"Your partner did hurt your ally!" As he bellowed this, he held one arm out before snapping his fingers with it whilst holding his other hand up, wide open and nearby his face, "Missy, have Growlithe grab the Spheal with a Bite and toss them directly at Grimer, Budew, assist Growlithe in tossing Spheal with your buds!"

Until he issued that attack, Velvet was staring at him in bewilderment, pondering on what alternate reality Cyril was living in before uttering a single "Bun." While that was going on Cyril deftly swooped down and scooped up Cation into his arms, prompting the little Shinx to not only paw at his face for a little bit, but remember who he was talking with and now paw at her.

"Shiiiiii!"

While that small tangle was going on, Aster peered behind him and nodded to Cyril whilst taking a gander at his unfurling bud. He had no idea if he was going to be as physically adept as the Growlithe but he had to try as he puffed out his chest, stuck his tongue out at the two opposing trainers and ran over to assist Growlithe.

Should there be some success, the duo would heave the Spheal together and hopefully make him take the brunt of the poison, if not all of them whilst having its fat body slam directly into the Grimer, dealing some damage to it in the process. Following this success, if it was, Cyril smirked as he began rubbing his chin before eyeing Chloe briefly.

"A'ight, since the Spheal is poisoned and both our partners are speedier than these two, I've got a handful of other strategies up my sleeve," he extended his arm once again and tugged on his sleeve in an exaggerated manner with his other hand before chuckling and placing a hand on his hip, "Whaddya feel like going for, safe and slow but boring, or fun and fast but risky?"

Amelia nodded as Eric gave his testimony in regards to what he and his pokemon had been doing at the time of the earthquake. She also doubted that Surskuit and Ledyba had tried to take the Water Stone. With their trainer taking the time and effort into making them stronger, they would probably be too tired to try and risk stealing the Stone in question. Kneeling down a bit, she gently petted both of the bug types.
"You two must be putting in a lot of effort. Make sure your trainer doesn't push you too hard though." She said to them gently before standing back up and turning to Annica and Leila. "What about you two? Were either of your pokemon out of your sight after the Earthquake occurred?"

He wasn't sure what was going to happen, but it sure as hell wasn't that! This was literally nothing short of magic and this was coming from the guy that lives in a multi-layered floating city because of a strange gravitational phenomena. Did this region run on magic or something? "Just when I thought this day couldn't get weirder." Basil said aloud as he walked to the also impossible greenery living in a dark cave for centuries. It was beautiful don't get him wrong, but just as Paulie explained this just should not have been possible though he had to judge that man's priorities when there was a perfectly preserved shrine that was the center piece of all the impossibilities. Well, at least he got something out of their venture.

Anise was troubled by what they found and rightly so, it was just a shrine. "It raises more questions, but I doubt that Lorette would have put us up on a wild goose chase." They weren't done yet; the last thing they needed to investigate was the shrine itself. Basil walked towards the structure, his hand went straight to his Pokeballs when he heard the loud impact from within the shrine. "Only one way to find out."

He climbed his way up to the shrine platform and helped Anise up, if she accepted his help. Basil turned to the door and gulped before he pulled the doors open. What did he find?

---

---

"Okay, jeez." Skylar stepped back with Mac stepping forward, just a little bit. Skylar pulled him back by the shoulder and smiled. "Alright, then. Tomorrow morning."

... back to the present...

"Y-yes! A few things, actually." Skylar offered a wave and a smile to Florrie before he pulled out his Pokedex, flipping quickly through the few photos that had been taken before pulling up the few that would be of note. The photos of Entei, Mesprit, Palkia and Azelf to be specific. "I read outside that you were specialized in Legendary Pokemon research, and I figured that maybe some of these photos might be of use. Entei, from the plains near Highhill, sometimes it goes to catch a Mareep from one of the farmers. Mesprit, lake guardian, very secretive but very playful. Azelf and Palkia, well, both at the bottom of a grand sort of depth, though I doubt they're wanting any sort of company..." Skylar trailed off for a moment before he looked down at his wrist. "I... uh, actually have a bit of a deeper connection to Mesprit. They chose me for something, actually. Something big is going on in Worldedge, apparently, and I was willing to try and help out when I got there."

Skylar jangled the Crystals of Emotion in front of Dunstan and Florrie. "Was going to go find Uxie and get another badge or two before I made it there. Raremine here was actually one of my stops, and I was training in the mine when... well..." He pointed over to Florrie. "Florrie and I met there when some Virtues were looking for something. She said you guys might need help with something?"

Seabreeze and Mac looked around the lab at all the pretty artifacts and objects, Mac in particular looking up at the green beakers and crowing softly with how pretty the place looked. Skylar reached up to scratch along the had of Seabreeze in particular, who cooed with some joy.

"Oh right, uh... Professor Dunstan, Florrie. This is Seabreeze, and that-" Skylar pointed over at the Combusken in the corner. "is Mac. Two of my team members that I couldn't do any of this without."

@Savo

‘Alright, you heard him! Throw the Spheal at the Grimer!’ Chloe commanded, and Growlithe bit into it to throw! As Growlithe spun around, Spheal shot a Water Gun into him, doing significant Super-Effective damage, but the throw still happened!

Now, a Spheal is twice Growlithe’s weight, and maybe 30 times a Budew’s, but fortunately Spheal is a round ball and they only had to throw it a little bit to make Spheal roll on its own towards Grimer who was already spewing the poison gas!

‘Hey, stop poisoning!’ the white-haired told his companion.

‘It’s too late!’ the red-haired one grunted in reply.

Cyril gave the choice between slow or fun… and Chloe smirked.

‘I’m not planning on becoming champion by taking things slow!’ she said, turning with determination towards the battle. ‘Fast and risky it is!’

As commanded, Chloe returned Growlithe, who had been damaged anyway, and… ‘Go, Pidgey!’

Pidgey, who had been acting as their guide, swooped down from the treetops and mercilessly gripped Aster with his talons, carrying him way up into the air and making Spheal’s next Water Gun miss!

‘Darn it! Switch to Powder Snow!’ white-haired guy commanded. ‘You, help!’ he told his companion.

‘I can’t! Pound or Mud Slap can’t hit when they’re in the air!’ red-haired guy complained, and both looked up rather powerlessly at the flying duo.

So, uh. What exactly was the plan from here?

Because if you leave it to Pidgey, Pidgey’s going to dodge the next Powder Snow behind a tree and then drop Aster on Spheal!

__________________________

@Joshua Tamashii
_{appropriate music}

The Surskit and the Ledyba were a bit surprised when they were patted, but after getting a bit more comfortable, the two bug-Pokémon looked happy and called their affirmation to Amelia’s words.‘Ledyba!’ ‘Sursk~’

‘… No. They were right by my side,’ Annica said, with a rather blank expression.

‘Ah, er, no, mine was in the Pokéball the whole time…’ Leila said, looking nervous.

Now, this would make it appear none of those present could have done it…

‘Palpitoad…!’ the Palpitoad skipped to her side, looking 100% super determined, also totally filling the role of the assistant here. Problem was, she couldn’t really understand him. ‘Palp, palpa, palpitoad! !’ the Palpitoad insisted, directing at the other three. Somehow, he’d get his point across.

There was a lie here somewhere. Maybe more than one. Could Amelia find it? Or perhaps, simply a minor contradiction that would be the first strand that would unravel the entire web? Perhaps more investigation of the evidence would be in order?

Now, what would Amelia do?

>> Evidence renamed Court Record, because the GM changed his mind









Or she could leave.



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.



__________________________

@hatakekuro

They approached the shrine, and Anise nodded towards the fact Lorette wouldn’t have sent them here for no reason. He approached the shrine, and for some reason, he could feel his hairs standing on end. Like there was some form of strength in the air that he could pick up from a distance. It got stronger the closer to the shrine he got.

Anise seemed to feel it too, frowning as she started approaching it with him. She really didn’t need his help to get up, she could climb up herself and did so as if it proved some point, but still nodded to him as they approached the door of the shrine. Anise too was intending to grab one half of the doors. The doors were pulled open, and-

Orange.

A great, orange man towered above them, his muscular arms crossed before his chest, red dots spread across his body here and there. He didn’t tower over them due to his length, but because he flew, his lower body enveloped in a fluffy cloud. On his head, small horns stood out in front of white hair, below his closed eyes a magnificent white mustache extended in both directions. From behind him, a massive, brown tail extended, as if threatening, a very similar tail to the tail of the beast in the mural from earlier…

The man’s eyelids opened, and his yellow eyes glared at the new arrivals. He was asking why they had come.





What will Basil do?

__________________________

@Gardevoiran

Skylar started by showing the picture of Entei. Dunstan didn’t actually look particularly interested.

‘Yes, I’ve seen him. Humans built Pureplain City on the plain he used to live on. We’re fortunate he doesn’t do more than steal sheep every now and then,’ Dunstan told, very idly, and then it was on to the next picture…

‘… Oh?’ he made an interested sound at the picture of Mesprit. ‘There has been a couple sightings of her, but this looks like she presented herself to you…’ he said… and then his attention was caught by the pictures of Azelf and Palkia. He was suddenly instantly awake. Then Skylar mentioned his connection to Mesprit, and Dunstan lifted his gaze to stare at Skylar and the crystals for a bit. Florrie looked confused, but Dunstan, his gaze was fixed, eyes somewhat wide. Skylar finished telling his story about going into the mines, and now the focus was on Dunstan, Florrie also looking at him.

Dunstan looked to his computer screen during the introduction of the Pokémon. He took off his glasses, and polished them just a little before putting them back on his nose. He stood up before Skylar with a little sigh, taking out his phone, clicking a bit on it, before giving it to Skylar.

‘This is my phone number. Never mention what you’ve seen to anyone else, and especially never show anyone those crystals. Call me after you become the champion.’

With that, he sat back in his computer chair, identical to how he’d been when Skylar arrived.

‘Uh, professor, that’s a bit…’ Florrie said, sounding a bit worried.

‘Ah, fine,’ Dunstan said with a shake of his head, not looking away from the computer. ‘After you become a powerful, elite trainer. Then call me,’ Dunstan adjusted to a maybe less extreme goal.

‘But, professor…?’ Florrie asked, still not satisfied.

‘… Guh,’ Dunstan made a noise, and then turned his chair towards Skylar, entwining his fingers. ‘There’s something you could help with. In fact, it’s something you’re uniquely suited for, thanks to those crystals. But…’ Dunstan said, raising his neck to look at Mac, and then to Seabreeze. ‘… you’re not nearly strong enough, yet. Come back when you’ve built your team, your bonds, and grown that friendship. Come back when you feel ready to take on the world. Come back when, let’s say,’ he said, picking up a Pokéball. He opened it, and with a flash of light, an utterly giant dragonfly Pokémon suddenly stood on his arm, lightly waving its wings to support some of its weight.



‘When you can beat me in a Pokémon battle. I’m not an expert at battle, but I’m not an amateur, either. You’d have to be able to beat me to know you’re a cut above the rest. Then, and only then, should we continue talking…’ So Dunstan said.

Florrie looked a bit more put back in her place by this, but… ‘… But there’s still something he can do, right? Even if we already entrusted that to another trainer. They could, like, cooperate…’ Florrie asked.

Dunstan looked at her a bit, then sighed. He returned Yanmega to its Pokéball, then started looking through some files on his computer.

‘… What Team Virtue was seeking was Zygarde, the Legendary Pokémon. Unfortunately for them, and for us, someone got to Zygarde first and split him into a hundred pieces. Literally,’ he said, and pulled out a picture of a cell. With eyes.



‘We believe they’ve been spread across Isson. There’s a hundred of them. Florrie has diligently been seeking through the Desert Mines, the place where he split up, and found ten of them…’ Dunstan said, and Florrie took up her last Pokéball, the one with the remaining Pokémon.

‘Come out, Zei…’ she said, and opened the Pokéball. With a flash, a green/black dog creature formed, staring idly at Skylar for a bit, before turning around to Florrie to get pet a bit.



‘I really didn’t want Team Virtue to see Zei…’ Florrie said with an apologetic smile, as she pet the dog that had happily walked up to her.

‘Zygarde is the Order Pokémon, with a natural sense of where someone is about to commit crimes against nature and is known to attack those who threaten the ecosystem, and as such we figure whoever broke him cannot have good intentions at heart. So, we figure it’d very much inconvenience him if we were to put Zygarde back together. 50% will do. With 50%, they can call the remaining 50% back on their own.’

‘Unfortunately, the rest of the cells are nowhere to be found in the cave or the desert, so they must somehow have transported themselves across Isson. We need trainers to track them down. We know Dawkin has already found one at the Mythic Oasis, no need to look there. To even be able to see them, you need one of these,’ he said, opening a box beside him.

He fished out and placed down a truncated octahedron, with green lines across black sides.



‘This is the Zygarde Cube. Whenever you encounter one of the cells, you can store it inside this. It’ll also give you a hint if there’s a Zygarde Cell in your current area. I have a couple, so if there’s anyone else with a Pokédex that you’d entrust with this mission, you can send them this way and you can hunt side-by-side. Leave the desert and the immediate area around here to Florrie, while you go seek far and wide over Isson for the rest. That should work out, right?’ Dunstan said.

‘Now, we don’t know who broke Zygarde. That’s why this is a very secret mission. We can’t have a leak, and have him find out we’re rebuilding Zygarde, or he may just pay us a visit. We trust extremely few with this information. However…’ he said, but then pointed at the crystals in Skylar’s hand. ‘… I’ll trust Mesprit. I have no reason to believe Mesprit would choose an untrustworthy person. As such, we could use your help…’ he sighed a bit.

‘… But of course, only if you don’t want to. I won’t blame you if you’re frightened. Whoever broke Zygarde… must have been really powerful…’ Dunstan said, sounding like he was despairing a bit himself.

Well? What does Skylar say?





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.

"Oh my god." Basil bit off way much more than he could chew. Holy crap he bit off way too much than what he could chew. He felt his heart drop down to his stomach as he realized that he just woke up an ancient deity that looked very, very pissed off at them for entering his domain without permission. Is this what Lorette wanted him to find? She could have told him that this was beyond his capabilities, but instead she had sent him on a mission to wake up a legendary Pokemon of all things! Why the actual hell would she do that?!

By instinct he bowed in apology to this mighty pokemon to hopefully spare them from whatever punishment that it possibly had in mind. The poor boy was shaking in his boots. It did not take a genius to connect that the Pokemon on the mural was the same one floating in front of them, albeit with a very different form. "We are so sorry Landorous! We were trying to figure out the mystery of the never ending rain and of the mirror, but we did not realize that we would enter your domain!" Basil lifted his head back up and looked at the legendary in the eyes. Every fiber of his being was telling him to run, but he refused to after coming this far. "If it pleases you to accept our request, can you please answer our question? What was the darkness you were fighting?" At this point he could already assume that the reason for the never ending rain was because of the other two legendaries that Landorus presided over.

"Actually, I have one more request, a selfish one." Basil pressed his palms together in pray and bowed once again. "Today has been the first day of my career as a trainer. I am inexperienced and have no confidence in myself, but I wish to receive your blessings." He was silent for a moment though he started shaking harder and harder until he was constantly bowing again and again, blubbering many apologies for his selfishness and for asking so much from Landorous considering they were the ones that intruded.

Amelia listened to the other girls speak before glancing at Palpitoad once it began acting upset. She reached down and gently patted the pokemon on it's head, letting it know she understood with the simple motion, hoping it would calm down. Once she was sure it wouldn't try to wash everyone away, she looked back at Annica and Leila, a frown on her face.
"Those aren't very convincing statements. Neither of you are giving much information, unlike your friend here, and that's not really helping either of you look less guilty." She said before reaching for her pokeballs. Deciding that a little display might be in order, she tossed them all up into the air, releasing her army of ghosts, Phantump coming out with a large shower of sparkles because of it's shiny nature, who all floated to position behind her, save Litwick who landed on her head. Glancing around, she motioned to Shuppet, who floated over curiously, glancing around at the situation. "This here is Shuppet. Shuppet knows a move called Knock Off. I don't want to resort of violence and possibly harming your pokemon, but if we can't get to the bottom of this through testimony, we might have to resort to such measures. So, will either of you give me more details?"

---

---

Alright, now here was her grand slam of a plan! Cyril merely watched as the Pidgey took Aster out of range of the attacks as well as the frantic wiggling of his partners legs. Despite the planning, most of his other friends seemed a little worried for the safety of their friend, especially with a panicky Mimi tugging at his pants.

"Ha... hap, h-hapi?" She posed this question to Cyril, staring up at him with those big round eyes of hers as she alternated between that and Aster being hoisted into the air. This prompted Cyril to give the Happiny a gentle smile as he crouched down and scooped her into his arms, positioning herself by the much more curious Cation.

Who then proceeded to lick her face.

"Happhtthphhth," she could barely get a word out before giggling a little at Cations antics as she found it somewhat ticklish. That got a chuckle out of Cyril, "Heh, well, no need to worry Mimi, Aster will be fiiiine," he calmly proclaimed to her over the frustrated voices of the Virtue grunts.

"Pidgey isn't gonna drop him!... yet."

Despite the calm they all felt moments before, they were left with stunted silence as Mimi was extremely flustered, wiggling around constantly in his arms. Velvet was a lot more relaxed, but giving him this sort of "really" look, eyebrows up and frown to boot. And Cation, well, was being Cation.

Aster on the other hand was a smidge pale from hearing that. Dropped?! From this height?! There was no way he was serious! The Pidgey most likely felt Asters buds tightening around their claws, as if praying to some god that they would not let go, "FWEEEEE!" As exciting and heart stopping as this was, he was starting to lean more into the former as he stared directly at the two enemies.

"Uh, Missy, you do have other commands other than to send Pidgey out, right?" Cyril turned his head, still looking quite collected, albeit a little laid back as he tilted his head a little. "Right," OK, now he was a little worried, despite it only be evident in his slightly wavering voice and flickering eyeballs between her and her partner.

Clearing his throat, he took a deep breath before breathing out and leaning in to whisper to her, "I know I said I was gonna leave it to you, but your Pidgey looks ready to drop him. Don't go for that just yet," he hissed, looking back up to the two Pokémon in midair.

"Instead have him soar around the attack and while the Spheal is recovering, get Budew in close to do a quick Absorb and get out," Cyril rapidly jabbered out this plan, relaying it as quickly as possible before she left it to her Pidgey.

"Have him hide around the trees and use that as cover, but also try to have him come from either an odd angle or from behind those two," Cyril continued his instructions before pointing and wiggling his index finger between their opponents. "Then you can have Pidgey chuck Budew directly at the Spheal and leave them little time to react. Maybe after the first hit and run you could direct your partner on where to go by doing stunted pointing so they struggle to follow along?"

With that set of advice out of the way, Cyril partially felt he was helping a little too much right now, but maybe that could be sorted out later. For now, he merely watched and waited for when it was his and Asters time to play their roles.

@hatakekuro

It bears to note that Anise looked at him kinda surprised when Basil suddenly bowed down and apologized. Slightly taken aback, she was somewhat hesitating at what was the appropriate thing to do, but eventually decided maybe she should bow to him, too, maybe?

Landorus glared at Basil as he asked his question, arms perpetually crossed. He didn’t reply to the question, merely glared, until Basil came to his other request. A request to be blessed. Landorus raised an eyebrow, and then…

He laughed.

A stifled laughter of a mighty being that felt itself recognized. Honestly, this little human scum was sort of flattering, wasn’t he?

Landorus drifted forward, Anise (and probably Basil) moving out of the way as the man-creature exited out into the cave outside the shrine. Landorus took a deep breath, like breathing the free air for the first time in quite some time…

Then stuck his tail down into the ground!

‘Woah-!’ Paulie stumbled to his feet and a couple meters away, as the rock and earth itself was formed before their eyes!

The earth took a recognizable shape. Raised rocks at the appropriate place, dipping down at other places, forming a recognizable circle, and larger peaks… he’d made a map of south-west Isson, formed from the earth itself by the Ground-type legendary Pokémon with Earth Power. Landorus put little raised bits of earth that shaped themselves with remarkable detail. Tiny humans tending their crops on what once was Pureplain Plains, all the way to Highhill Town, albeit they were disproportionately huge compared to the scale of the map itself. There was also that little shrine, from the location was the Silent Shrine. Then… Landorus gave Basil a look before pointing towards something just outside where Pureplain City would one day appear.

Something huge suddenly took shape. Earth rose to take a great form, something towering over the manifested landmass, and the little stationary earth-humans were turned to look at it in horror at it. The form started spinning, tendrils launching of it, taking a massive, threatening form… until the details settled in, and it became a very much recognizable form. Landorus had, using only earth and rock, sculpted a recognizable phenomenon that the humans had every right to fear…

A massive hurricane.

Landorus depicted the humans fleeing the hurricane, as their fields were overtaken by the storm. There wasn’t anything they could do about such a natural force… except now, Landorus gestured towards the Silent Shrine. There, a single human sat on his knees, praying to the shrine… and a small entity showed up in front of him. There wasn’t any recognizable shape to it, but with a burst of sand, the tiny entity raised its tiny arm, and with a flash of earth and power, three recognizable entities took shape. Landorus, and his two brothers.

The tiny entity gave a small circular item to the human, really too small to see what it was, but then the three Pokémon and the human headed to face the hurricane. The human raised the tiny circular item, and the three transformed into three shapes, a beast, a bird, and a dragon(?). The beast commanded the two other deities, and they approached the hurricane, and quelled it. Not quickly, but they tamed the massive winds, turning it the other way, sparing the humans holed up in Highhill Town. They defeated the “darkness” that had been threatening the primordial humans and their Pokémon.

Next, he showed how the humans worshipped them, and built three more shrines to celebrate them. That would be the Deepforest Shrine, the now Abandoned Shrine, and the shrine inside the mountain for the earthly one. Each settled into their various shrines, and remains there, including the tiny form that had summoned them to begin with in the Silent Shrine.

And so it remains.

Now Landorus thrust his tail into the map, and it erupted into plants, grass and flowers in all their colours, the Abundance Pokémon sharing his nutrients with the ground itself. Then… a plant grew up, and spontaneously sprouted berries. Orange berries that was somewhat pear-shaped. Landorus snapped up two of them with his tail, before gently lobbing them over to Basil and Anise.


… Landorus then stretched, flexing his shoulders, his back, his waist, and…

‘Wait, is he-’ Anise started, but-

And then Landorus took off in dramatic, overwhelming speed, blowing straight out of the opening and out into who knows where! He probably blew straight out of the entrance of Rainrock Caverns and out off into the skies!

‘Woah. And there… he goes,’ Paulie said, breathing a bit heavily after that experience.

‘Aaaaah…’ Anise made a complaining noise, still holding her own Abundance Berry. ‘I just found the Strong One, and he blows off…!’ she complained. She sighed. ‘Oh, well. I did learn what I wanted. Whenever the storms DO go out of control, I know who to find, now. Finding him is just going to be a completely different issue. I’ll need to get strong and build a team worthy of the task,’ Anise determined, nodding to herself.

So that happened.

What will Basil do?

If he goes back to Rainrock City.





Connected areas:
Route 3. To the south, the route around the mountain, leading to Route 4 or Highhill Town. A wet woodland.
Route 11. A semi-populated road west under heavy rainfall, starting with a descent down towards Redcoast City. Abandoned buildings on the south side facing Silent Forest.



__________________________

@Joshua Tamashii
_{appropriate music}
‘Hey, I’ve told you what I can!’ Annica frowned in reply to Amelia resorting to threatening, not looking particularly scared. ‘But if you want to fight, I can oblige! My Murkrow has an advantage against your whole little ghostly team!’

‘Y-yeah! And my Barboach knows LOTS of moves it shouldn’t know yet! It can Aqua Tail, E- Mud Bomb and Magnitude on you!’ Leila also called, sounding quite a bit more scared, eyeing the multitude of ghosts that just appeared…!

‘Palp…’ the Palpitoad considered something. Hmmm. Would you like a hint?









Or she could leave.



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.

How does one react to a god laughing at them? In this case, Basil was just happy that he wasn't turned into mulch for Landorus' garden on the spot. He followed it out of its hide away and just watched it tell its tale with the very earth itself, a tale of the legendary and its siblings stopping a hurricane from annihilating the population of Highhill Town by transforming into the entities from the mural when presented with a small object. By thinking of the context of story, Basil could infer that it was most likely the mirror that they've been using all this time. If it can open secret cave passages from impossibly durable material so why wouldn't it be the case that it couldn't transform these Pokemon too if it seems so closely tied to them?

Landorus thrusted its tail into the map and from it flowers bloomed and then a plant burst out and bore a strange fruit that Basil had never seen before. The legendary Pokemon tossed one to him and another to Anise. What was he supposed to do with this? Lorette probably knew considering she was the one who sent him on this quest to begin with.

"Ah thank...you..." Wait, why was it stretching? Before he knew it, Landorus had left in a complete gust of speed out back into the world. There were many reactions to them encountering a mythical being such as that; one was awe, one was inspiration, and the other? Basil's legs gave out and he fell down on his knees with a thousand yard stare. That was probably the single most terrifying experience he ever had and now he released a being of unfathomable power upon the world. Whatever the case it was over. He heaved a great sigh of relief and stood back, placing the fruit in his bag, and then dusted his legs off. "I'm fine, sorry about that. It's... it's been a long day." He smiled sheepishly at the other two.

The young man glanced around the cave. It was definitely getting late and he was exhausted, but he just wanted to do one more thing before leaving the cave. "Well, I'm going to go catch a Pokemon. I can find my way out so you both don't have to stay. We have a lot to talk about tomorrow anyway." Regardless of what they say, Basil was set on catching Pokemon; he did not want to trek through the cave again.

Quick catch! Basil was quite interested in catching one of those Nosepass while they were making their way through the ruins. They looked like they were quite sturdy Pokemon and lord knows that he was missing a wall for his team. If he found one, he would use Crocus and just spam Vine Whip and Leech Seed because that was just a winning strategy at this point.

Whether or not he catches a Nosepass, Basil was just done with the day. He would leave the cave and go to the local Pokemon Center, rent a bed, and just crash. It was his first day as a trainer, but it feel like a year.

@Savo

Pidgey flew about with Aster, and dodged Powder Snow because that’s the one attack that came flying. Spheal’s aim was completely off and almost hit his trainer, the partner’s Grimer and a Wild Petilil that was just flying by out of sheer coincidence. Aster got close enough to Absorb a couple of times, and eventually it became too much. Spheal fainted!

‘Nice!’ Chloe called for the interaction. ‘Now, just-’ Then Pidgey dropped Aster straight into Grimer all on his own. ‘- not that!’

Still, a couple gusts later, and probably Aster helping in some form or another, Grimer would faint, too.

‘W-we won’t forget about this!’ the white-haired called.

‘We’ll be back!’ the red-haired also called, as they beamed back their Pokémon and started running.




‘Phew! We got them!’ Chloe could comment, but anyway, that was an event. Where would they go now? Pidgey could still escort them to town.





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



Or they can stay where they are.





Connected areas:
Route 1. To the south.
Route 3. If you head north-east for a while.
Silent Shrine. Go north, you should be able to find the road there.



What will Cyril do now?

__________________________

@hatakekuro

‘Will you be fine? I can lend a hand, if you like?’ Anise looked at him with concern, not quite that affected by the appearance

‘I’m going to stay here. I have a LOT of samples and pictures to take…!’ Paulie said, wide eyed and exploring like the Ruin Maniac he is.

Anyways!

Basil engaged a Nosepass! The instant he threw out his Pokémon against the seemingly immobile statue, it sprung to life! Of course, it still faced north, but for some reason that didn’t seem to hamper its fighting ability the slightest! Not that it mattered a lot, the wild Pokémon started with a Harden and a Block, making it so that it took less damage and that Basil could no longer escape if he wanted to. That wasn’t the intention, however, and after dodging a few Rock Throws Leech Seed had gotten its health down enough and Basil threw a Pokéball! Nosepass was absorbed into the ball with a flash, and the ball fell down onto the cavern floor.

It rolled once. It rolled twiiiice…



Afterwards, he went to the Pokémon Center and ended his first day. Quite a day, eh.

The day after, he’d find Rainrock City just as he left it, except maybe the morning newspaper reporting on the blur that had burst out of Rainrock Caves and that Professor Paulie had sectioned off a portion of the caves for scientific investigation, no civilians allowed. Anise could be found in the Pokémon Center inspecting a map of Isson, if so desired.

What will he do now?





Connected areas:
Route 3. To the south, the route around the mountain, leading to Route 4 or Highhill Town. A wet woodland.
Route 11. A semi-populated road west under heavy rainfall, starting with a descent down towards Redcoast City. Abandoned buildings on the south side facing Silent Forest.

Nosepass caught! Another good addition to the team. Basil picked up the Pokeball and smiled at it though now came the part of deciding who he keeps on his person and who he stores. For now seeing as he did not have a way to evolve Lancer yet and lacked a Pokemon that could eat a hit, Basil thought it was best to store the bug-type for now... Which, actually disappeared in a light of a data? What?

And so he had left the cave after finishing what he set out to do and found himself in the Pokemon Center where he healed his team and then found a bed where he crashed face first without even getting changed.

The next day certainly had an interesting start; the strange 'blur' that came from the caves and that the professor had closed off parts of the cave from the general public. It was hard to believe that he was involved in something that incredible. Basil noticed that Anise was in the Pokemon Center too, looking up at a map with a serious expression. "Morning Anise. Trying to figure out where it went?" He asked as he approached her.

"I'm going back to Highhill to report back to Lorette. Do you want to come with?"

---

---

"Eheheh, about that bit with not telling people. Um, I had found Mesprit with a friend, actually. One of Professor Vivia's new trainers, like me, named Vivia. I don't... I don't think she would do anything rash or bad with the knowledge, though. In fact, she seemed like she was willing to help out with this as well, though she's... honestly, not the strongest trainer." He didn't want to mean any offense with that, but he felt like if push came to shove Skylar could handle her in a battle. Skylar nervously rubbed his arm as he remembered the other two that may be a problem. "There were two other trainers, too, that were there when Vivia and I were meeting with Azelf and Palkia. Oaken and Eryn. While Azelf chose Eryn to embark in their name, Oaken... I don't feel like he'd be good for anything. Seemed to be really focused on making teams without bonds in mind. I doubt either will be problematic, but just in case you needed to know that they know of all this. Outside of that... I don't think I've told anyone about any of this." Skylar genuinely couldn't remember if he did, so he shrugged.

When Zygarde was brought into the equation, though, things shifted a bit. "I think I remember some things about Zygarde from the books my dad had regarding Kalosian mythology. Whoever managed to break it..." Skylar shook his head. "Best not worry about that, I guess." He listened carefully as Dunstan explained the 'cube' that he put down on the table, and when the offer of Skylar taking it came up, well, Skylar nodded and gently grabbed the cube. "I intend on getting every badge. Couldn't hurt to look around while I search." He placed the Zygarde cube into his bag. "Plus, if I'm gonna be the strongest Flying Trainer in the whole region, I've gotta have some credit under my belt to truly hold it as a worthy title." He chuckled.

Skylar obtained the Zygarde Cube!

Mac ran up to Skylar, holding an empty beaker. "Combusken?"

"Wingull wing. Gull." Seabreeze immediately answered on Skylar's behalf.

"Comcombusken!"

"Wing."

"Combusken..." And just like that, Mac put down the beaker.

"Thanks, Breeze. Sorry about Mac moving that beaker, Professor. I'll keep an eye out for any cells, once I leave town with the gym badge, anyhow." Skylar offered a smile of confidence before he stepped over to the door. "Need me for anything else?"

If Skylar could leave, he was gonna go get some shut-eye and turn the world daytime, get some more training done later. If he was needed, he'd stay juuust a little longer.

"Yes, Murkrow does have an advantage against my pokemon. However, it's only one pokemon against six. Even if it knocked out one or two of them, it isn't likely to knock out all six. You also have Fletchling but it will only have an advantage against so many of them. As for your Barboach, it might know those moves but I got Phantump and Pumpkaboo who can resist all of them. Thus, I have an advantage against you on that account." Amelia said to Annica and Leila respectively, keeping her tone even and polite despite not being a fan of her pokemon being looked down on. "As I said, I don't want to resort to violence if we can avoid it. But something one of you said isn't sitting right with Palpitoad. They're sensitive to vibrations. They could sense that once of you might be lying. So, where were you pokemon during the time of the earthquake?"

---

---

Hah, and just like that their victory was claimed. With a smile and a wink, Cyril performed a pirouette and extended one of his arms out to the side... which Cation seemed to freely hang onto without a care in the world, "Shiiiiiiiiiiiiii~!" Now it was time to get some answers from th-

"H-hey, wait a sec," Cyril suddenly exclaimed as he quickly scrambled around and stumbled forward a bit, calling out to the two virtue grunts as they both darted off. Still, that was... annoying. Cyril could only pout as the duo fled from him and Chloe, leaving a victorious young lady and her stylish compadre behind.

For the long look on his face, it wasn't going to last long as a happy little Aster wobbled on over to him, bouncing in glee as he cried out, "Fwee, fweeeee!" That certainly quashed any sorts of negative vibes as he shined a small smile to his partner, "Nice work out there lil' Buddy, you, Buneary, Growlithe and Pidgey sure put on a wondrous performance."

And of course, he didn't forget his other partner as well as he stood up and glanced over to her with a thumbs up as Cation blissfully hung on his arm, with Mimi peering over nervously, "Hapi?"

And aye, indeed we did Missy; you did a great job taking control of the battle at times and formulating your own strat," Cyril proclaimed, grinning widely at the lass before peering off in the direction those two grunts ran off in before slightly wincing, "But beyond that win I am a bit worried about a couple of things." He could only ruffle his hair as he stared blankly at the ground, lost in a couple of thoughts.

"Sure they never got our names but our faces is another story," Cyril grumbled to himself as he felt Aster rest against his leg, "and based on my limited knowledge of Amethyst, I am a bit worried about what they could be doing with some of the Pokémon in this forest." Cyril merely sighed crossing one arm over whilst propping his other arm on top of it to rest his head as he rubbed at his chin.

And then Cyril snapped his fingers, "So, how about one more decision from our future champ? You wanna figure out what's going on with those Amethyst chumps, or head back to town for some shopping or put that on hold for now?"

@hatakekuro

‘No. I’m figuring out what route I want to travel myself. Before I even have chance of tracking him down, I need to get a lot stronger. It is time I left the nest,’ Anise said, nodding about this. Then, Basil said he was going to Highhill to report to Lorette, and… ‘Yes, that sounds good. I want to hear what she has to say, as well,’ Anise said, nodding, her eyes somewhat softer than the constant frown she’s had most of this trip before they arrived. ‘Also… Your arrival was the push that led to solving the mystery that has been on my mind for a long time. It’s a great load of my mind. Thank you, so very much,’ she said, giving a slow, short and sincere bow to Basil. ‘Now, let’s get going.’

To get back to Highhill Town, they had to go through Route 3. Still raining.





Connected areas:
Rainrock City. Across the route, north.
Route 4. Head east just before Rainrock.
Silent Shrine. Head west just before Highhill, through the forest.
Highhill Town. Just south.
North Silent Forest. If you jump off the road west.
Route 14. If you went onto the water to the east.



If nothing there, they’d eventually arrive to Highhill Town.





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



He was going to the Gym to talk to Lorette, correct? He eventually found said Gym. It was an older wooden building, but it was bigger than other buildings in Highhill Town and had a pond built around it. Someone had dug out a ditch and the Gym stood on this little island in the middle, a wooden bridge going to the entrance. A sign stood in the front.

Highhill Pokémon Gym - Minor League.
Gym Leader: Lorette.
“The Shrine’s Bug-Maiden!”

‘Hello there!’ said a guy out of nowhere, having appeared and wandered up to Basil and Anise. He nodded to Anise, giving her a smile. ‘Anise, it’s interesting to see you somewhere else than the Redcoast City Gym! Are you finally taking the Gym-challenge yourself?’ he asked, giving a happy smile to her, before turning to Basil. ‘And you, you’re our newest contender to be the next champion, aren’t you? Going to challenge the gyms of Isson and prove yourself the best there ever was? Well, regardless! If you need it, I’m here to explain the details to you and answer any questions you might have! I’ll also be giving you tips specific to each Gym, so it’s worth speaking to me even if you’re experienced!’



‘Oh, and, you’re in luck! There are long periods of time when the Gym Leader here isn’t home, but today she got in nice and early to prepare! Did she know you were coming? Did she feel destiny approaching? No idea! But here’s my explanation on the Pokémon League!’

Now, Basil can gently explain to this guy he’s not here for battle, or any other kind of explanation, but here’s what the guy will say if he lets the guy talk.





Regardless, here’s what if Basil actually does enter the Gym. Anise will head in with him.



What does Basil do?

__________________________

@Gardevoiran

‘Hm. Duly noted,’ Dunstan said about the people Skylar had already told, and quickly opened a new document and wrote numerous notes and names of the people Skylar had mentioned. Then, Skylar agreed to help, and Dunstan nodded to him, a small sign of gratitude entering into his eyes. ‘Thank you. I gave you my number. Do keep me updated if you find more Zygarde cells.’

‘Leave the desert and the mines to me. I’m not going to go very far from here for now. I need to get stronger myself…’ Florrie said nodding.

‘That will be all. Good luck,’ Dunstan said, turning back to the computer and starting to type some more. Florrie bowed to him before he left. ‘Th-thank you for helping us…!’

Then he could leave and go to bed at the Pokémon Center or elsewhere. What would Skylar do now?





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.



… Oh, and if he just makes a brief stop back at the lab…



__________________________

@Joshua Tamashii
_{appropriate music}
‘Grrr, we didn’t get you involved to have you knock down our Pokémon!’ Annica replied to the strategy. ‘I already told you, my Pokémon where right by my side.’

‘And mine was in the Pokéball…’ Leila said, giving Palpitoad an odd look.

‘…’ Palpitoad doesn’t actually have the power to sense lies, but he is giving Leila an odd look.











Or she could leave.



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.



__________________________

@Savo

Chloe first looked happy with the praise, but then had to consider that part about what to do now.

‘Mmmh…’ Chloe frowned a bit as she considered. ‘I don’t exactly feel prepared to take on a villainous team just yet. For now, I’d rather not worry. Maybe tell someone in charge at Highhill Town, maybe. So, hold that for now, let’s go shopping, and maybe check out the Gym at Highhill Town while we’re there!’

Chloe said her part.

In case Cyril goes along with that, they’d eventually make it to Highhill Town.





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



Or he could stay here for a bit himself.





Connected areas:
Route 1. To the south.
Route 3. If you head north-east for a while.
Silent Shrine. Go north, you should be able to find the road there.



What will Cyril do now?

Wait, she was bowing to him? Uh, actually he had no idea how to react to this. He held his hands up almost as if he was ready to push her away, leaning slightly back. "Uh, wait you don't have to thank me! It was all totally random; I picked to investigate this on a whim." Well, whatever. They were on their way out of the Rainrock.

There wasn't anything of note while they travelled to Highhill Town and there wasn't anything that caught his eye when they arrived. The two of them were in town for the gym and they immediately made a b line towards it, which Basil assumed was the biggest building in town. What he didn't expect for there to be a moat surrounding the building so yeah, that was a thing. Basil read the sign and said, "Huh, Bug-Types huh? I think I- Ah!" He yelped in surprise from the sudden appearance of a man that was familiar with Anise. He didn't have any ill will towards them. Maybe he just has a flair for the dramatics?

"Actually she probably knew we were coming..." He said in response to his talk about destiny approaching.

The gym guy went on to give his expose on how the gym system worked in this region and the general advice he had for the type match up for the Pokemon that Lorette specialized in. The thing is that Basil was already very much quite aware of how the gyms worked already and was pretty knowledgeable of type match ups, mainly because he was a fan of watching battles and watched plenty of documentaries of wild Pokemon, but gym guy was so into it that he did not have the heart to stop him.

"Uh, thank you very much. Have a nice day." Basil awkwardly said before he quickly walked his way down the bridge. He found himself in a dark room that was eerily reminiscent of a shrine and lo and behold, Lorette was there. She had expected that they would arrive considering what had happened in Rainrock last night.

"Why do I get the feeling that you won't tell me unless I beat you in a gym battle?" Lorette didn't make it easy for him before, why would she now?

@hatakekuro

Lorette giggled at his question, finding it significantly amusing.

‘What an interesting idea. Maybe I'll do just that...’ Then she giggled some more. ‘No, I'm not quite that cruel. Your challenge to find the source wasn't exactly related to the Pokémon League Challenge, after all. They're unrelated, and as such I'm not going to force you to chase one goal to achieve another,’ she said, sighing out at the end of her giggle. ‘I'm here if you want to ask anything. Oh, but before you do, PLEASE do tell me what happened over there. And...’ she smirked a bit more. ‘While I won't force it, I am open for if you'd like to challenge my Gym~’

Anise was currently standing a bit behind Basil, simply listening in. _{and possibly judging}

Sure, it was great that it wasn't required that he needed to battle her to get some answers, but he was not out of trouble yet; he could feel the judging eyes of Anise burning into the back of his skull. For some reason he felt like if he didn't challenge the gym leader now then she would lose whatever respect she had for him. "Actually, since I'm already here... Sure, may as well challenge you. If you have time to talk afterwards that." Perhaps it was not a good idea to be peer pressured into challenging a gym, but it was a bit too late to take back his words now.

@hatakekuro

Lorette brightened up, looking pleased with Basil’s statement.

‘Alright. Then let me begin from the top with the “Gym Leader’s introductory speech”,’ she said, with a little giggle and then took a deeper breath.

‘I’m Lorette, Gym Leader of Highhill Town,’ she introduced herself once again. She gestured around herself at the surroundings.

‘More people probably know this Gym from when my mother was the Gym Leader. She was the great and amazing Major League Gym Leader of Highhill Town, one who’d make people who looked down on the Bug-type think twice, admired by people far and wide…’ There was a glimt of sadness as she recounted.

‘I’m not her. I’m not even going to try to live up to her name just yet. Instead, I’m leading this Gym the way I want to. And I, I like to play nice. Being this close to Pureplain City, I’m often the first Gym Leader many young trainers face. It wouldn’t do to demoralize young little trainers, now, would it? I tend to hold back and be nice.’

‘Buuuuut.’

‘You’re a little older than the regular newcomer, aren’t you? You aren’t some reckless ten-year-old who just got his first Pokémon and marched straight to the first Gym expecting to stand a chance. No, you’re a strategic Pokémon Trainer with a full little team, who wouldn’t have challenged me without genuine reason to expect a victory. Sooo, you don’t mind if I just… let loose a little, do you?’ So she asked, crossing her legs and smiling a happy, yet somehow dangerous, little smile.

‘Three or six Pokémon? I’ll let you pick. One at a time, no items. That’ll do,’ she said, and reached behind her to pick up a couple Pokéballs.

‘So, with that out of the way… Let’s start, shall we?’