Amelia sighed, getting a little frustrated at this point. It would seem Palpitoad was not enemies with any of the pokemon listed to live on this Route in her pokedex. That didn't mean it didn't have enemies though. It was possible that some pokemon that wasn't in the pokedex but that lived on the route might have taken it. But it still seemed more likely that one of the trainers in front of her had taken it.
Maybe I've ruled Eric out too early? Annica admitted that she caused the earthquake at least and she said she lost the nerve to take it with Leila nearby She thought to herself, trying to think of where to go from here.

Sighing, she turned to her pokemon.
"Driffloon, can you go scout around a bit? See if there are any other pokemon or trainers nearby. And while you're at it keep an eye out for something that looks like this." She said before reaching down and taking the Fire Stone from Leila's belongings. "Except it'll be blue and seem a bit like solid water. And please be careful. I don't want you getting hurt. If you encounter anything hostile, come back here if you don't think you can handle it."

"Loon!" The Ghost-Flying type said happily before floating off to search the area.

Returning the Fire Stone to it's place, Amelia sighed before turning back to her suspects.
"We're really getting nowhere right now. Leila, your Barboach... can it possible search the water the earth underneath it for the Water Stone, incase it got buried somehow? Since you caused the Earthquake, I think it's the least you can do." She said.

Meanwhile, Pumpkaboo and Phantump, growing bored and curious of their surroundings, began floating about and poking into things that were around the campsite, wether it be bushes, nests in tree branches, or even the other trainers bags. They were simply looking to entertain themselves. Maybe find something interesting.

"Lupin, what did you tell it?" Basil said not angrily, but more shocked that his Sneasel had such a cutting tongue. The taunts were supposed to make it angry, not break its spirit! Maybe they needed to work on toning down his taunts in the future.

Anyway!

Pebbles were hailing from above and while the attack itself wasn't very impressive, getting pelted by rocks when Lupin was weak to it was not ideal. Does he use Quick Attack to outrun the attack or was there something else he could do? Even if Lupin was fast, there was no way of predicting the random trajectory of the rocks so there had to be something else.

"Lupin, use a flurry of Scratches to deflect the rocks!" And with that order, the Sneasel used its razor sharp claws and impressive speed and superior strength to knock away what pebbles that came its way though very likely still took some damage since it was very improbable that Lupin would have gotten them all. Of course, this was not really a solution since the Pokemon would not be able to hold up against this type-match up forever, but there were ways of getting around it.

❄Erika Olson❄

---

---

The chase felt close so much so that Erika dove into a different length of tunnel. When the dust settled, Erika was relieved she wasn't going to get squished or, you know, minced by a giant drill. She picked herself up, waving a hand across her outfit, dusting herself off. She was a bit miffed but relieved that she and her friends were okay after that excitement. Tara even landed on her shoulder with a chattering of concern muttered, "Swaa~". Erika stroked the top of Tara's head as everyone came together.

It appears their well-being was quite the concern to the people who nearly ran all of them over. Erika frowned, quietly watching on as she considered the information before her. Elana and Ewan looked tense, but Joshua might have been in the same mind as her. Accidents happen, but it still would have been better for these people to apologize.

Wait? What's that machine for? Erika tried to decipher the information coming at her. A Kirlia... looking for something with only one in the whole mountain... !!!

He was going for her Dawn Stone! Gallade was a Pokemon she was very familiar with as her mother had one. It was only a small part she wanted a Pokemon that evolved via a Dawn Stone to emulate her mother a little. This twerp was going to try and take that stone. Erika was prepared to protest but something a little more pressing came to light. "Oh." Erika muttered as she realized why Elana was concerned about that big hole. Erika didn't know anything about Pokemon ecology, but it certainly sounded bad. The question was, could they find a way to seal it? They'd need a strong Pokemon... or many.

Returning Tara to her Pokeball and strapped it into her belt tightly. Elana was already running off, but there was another problem. That drill was going to come back. Erika turned to Ewan and Joshua who remained and finding quite a bit of authority she started planning. "Even if she seals the tunnel somehow, that drill is going to come back and make another hole. Ewan, please go with Elana and see what you can do to help. We will return. Joshua." Erika turned to him and gave a slight smirk. "You and I are going to get an army of help. Follow me."

With that Erika began to run off, her map out in her hand just in case. She needed to get to the higher levels. Joshua felt like the natural pick as he was a little more enthusiastic, which would definitely entice a bunch of bored looking Machokes and the like if the two of them can really sell the potential for a challenge.

"You and I are going to round up all the high level Pokemon we can and lead them back to the tunnel. We can seal that hole and stop that drill for good, too." Erika kept her face hidden, hiding the tense scowl on her face. She had her mother's wrath the moment someone pushed one too many buttons. That twerp will realize that soon.

---

---

Oh, she was a Ground-Type leader? Like, instead of Rock-Type? That made Skylar relax just a little bit. It was good to know that he was going into this with a decent advantage rather than a big disadvantage. Maybe things were going to turn out okay.

"Finding you in a sandstorm? Interesting challenge, but I'll be able to track you down!" Skylar responded to the idea of the challenge, reaching into his bag for the goggles he bought for this explicit purpose. They'd be nice to have on.

Alas, the sandstorm kicked up, and Skylar put on his Go-Goggles just to make sure he'd be fine. His sunglasses were passed to JoJo for the time being, who rocked them with absolute flair. "Alright, so if we can use any means at our disposal... Seabreeze and Paradise might be good for this." Skylar pulled the two Pokeballs out of his bag and flung them into the sky, letting out his pals.

"Wingull!" ... and Paradise was silent as usual.

"Okay you guys, we gotta find the gym leader! Breeze, keep an eye through the storm, since it's not nearly as bad on you as it is for me. JoJo, you do something similar with emotions, try to pin her down if you can. Paradise, stay on standby. We might need you to disrupt the sands every now and again... oh?"

Skylar felt the pull on his leg from JoJo, and was directed to the footprints in the sand.

"Footprints? But these have to be from a quadruped... wait, did Kristy return her Hippopotas?"

That was the sign for Skylar to start walking in that direction. He didn't use his cane, since it'd only be fuzzy anyway. The only thing acting as his eyes right now was going to be his pals, namely Seabreeze. "This way, towards the footprints! Seabreeze, call if you see her!"

"Wingull!" With the approval of the birds, the crew started their quest to find and beat Kristy.

@Joshua Tamashii
_{appropriate music}

Drifloon scouted out the area, but didn’t exactly find a Water Stone. This thing looks slightly blue, though, albeit not very rock-like. And these berries sure looked blue.



‘Oh, sure! I can do that!’ Leila said, turning to the water and sending out her Barboach in the water. Barboach looked up at her curiously. ‘Could you go looking for a Water Stone, Barboach? Water-like rock. That should do nicely.’

Meanwhile, Pumpkaboo and Phantump started looking around the place, which was sorta drenched in water but that wasn’t a particular problem for the ghostly grass-types. They did find some odd things.



Upon trying to enter the bags, however, they got interrupted.

‘Oh, no, you’re not rummaging around our bags. Fine if your trainer does, but you don’t,’ Annica objected, hurrying over to prevent them going through the bags, and had a Murkrow that could intervene if they were to try again.

Still, that was it for now.

What will Amelia do?









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

Lupin used Scratch to deflect the incoming pebbles! It decently worked, the Sneasel’s swipes hitting the flying rocks out of the way as they descended towards him, but some still got by, doing small bits of super-effective damage at him. The rain of pebbles eventually abated…

‘Rock Slide,’ Lorette commanded, and with some focus from Shuckle the pebbles took form anew, raining down on the battlefield once again, piling up across the wooden platform.

What would Basil and Lupin do?

Having Lupin constantly deflect rocks wasn't tenable even against a Shuckle. Eventually he would give out against the hail of rocks and Basil would be down a Pokemon for the rest of the battle. The Sneasel would have been barely able to do any damage to it anyway, well, under normal circumstances. "Quick Attack to close the distance and grab a handful of the rocks!" Lupin had no idea why in the world why Basil would order it to grab handfuls of the pebbles while using Quick Attack, but it sure wasn't going to question it.

Now if nothing happened to stop Lupin like slipping on some pebbles or getting critted to no tomorrow, as soon as the Sneasel closed the distance between it and the practically immobile Pokemon, Basil would have given his new order. "Bash it over the head with the rocks and don't let up!" There's a funny thing about rock-type Pokemon, they don't resist their own typing and in the Shuckle's case being part bug was a detriment to it. So when Lupin had a handful of rocks from the bug Pokemon's own attacks and was going to smash it against its very squishy noddle head, it most likely would not be able to resist it so easily with its own defense nor did it see the possibility of its own attack being used against it.

So, uh, Lupin used Rock Punch? Accelerock?

@Pirouette

Ewan looked back and forth between Elana running off and then to Erika who was giving him a request of action. He got a determined expression and nodded.

‘I will. Good luck,’ Ewan said, the spitting image of dependability, before he spun around and ran after Elana. What they’d be doing went unseen by Erika, who had other things planned.

‘An army? We’re going to-’ Joshua looked stunned for a moment, when he took a deep breath, eyes widening, his hands going to his cheeks. ‘Oh my goodness.’ To call him ecstatic would be an understatement. ‘Absolutely! Are we splitting up to get as many as possible, or do we go together to back one another up? Ooooh, this is such an adventure!’

They headed up through the mountain, up through the tunnels. Somewhere in the distance, they heard the drill start again, as the boy was off on his own quest. Erika arrived back to the first floor without issue, and following the map she also easily found the pathway up to the second floor as well.

Up here, inside these large, rocky corridors there were the intermittent sounds of fighting. There were more than enough Machops and other wild Pokémon just milling about, but Erika wanted to go where she could find the most amount of Pokémon, correct? If so, here were three of her options. She could go to one of them, or to all three in turn. The choice was hers.







What will Erika do?

__________________________

@Gardevoiran

Skylar went off in the direction of the four-legged mammal’s tracks. His birds scouted from up high, but didn’t actually see anything new except for where the other tracks were going. Skylar himself wandered on out into the desert, following the tracks for as long as he could. Eventually, the tracks ended, in the midst of the desert. He’d walked all the way to the end of the tracks, when-

A blast of sand shot out from in front of him! In front of him, bursting out from underneath the surface of the desert came one of said four-legged mammals, and with it came a human!

---

---

Ah, well, that was to be expected, right? Couldn't be the perfect run he was hoping for again, could it? Oh well, maybe it'd still be alright. Unfortunately, for both of these Pokemon, Skylar already had two at the ready for this to turn into a DOUBLE BATTLE (because the strats there make it more fun in my opinion.) "Ah, damn, it's the blindness that got me there. But, hey, let's go a round and see how it ends!"


Hippopotas is kinda odd, but Skylar had a Pokemon out that feels juuuust right to handle this thing. What Pokemon, you ask? Well, the Magical Leaf heading straight towards the Hippopotas was certainly indicative of Paradise firing at the Hippopotas, no doubt the attack going to do solid damage with the type coverage. Plus, it can't miss! Big ups!

Now, the attack that can't miss was fired at the Hippopotas, so what's going on with the Sandshrew since it has higher evasion?! Well, fun fact, Keen Eye ignores evasion boosts! What luck! That, and Seabreeze has a move with 100% accuracy in Water Pulse! Not only that, but type coverage! Huzzah!

They'll just repeat this until a major change. If a foe goes down, Seabreeze/Paradise will do the same attack on the other to help finish the fight out.

Also, yeah I'm using 8882be to explain my thoughts for fights. It just works.

"Alright buds! Paradise, Magical Leaf the Hippopotas! Seabreeze, Water Pulse the Sandshrew!" Skylar called to his Pokemon, hoping that everything would run well.

❄Erika Olson❄

---

---

Erika's mother had coached her a lot in her childhood in the art of Pokemon battles. This wasn't a Pokemon battle but it was a battle of another nature. Some of it felt familiar to her as she enveloped herself in a tactical mind, moving pieces on the board. Of course there was a lot more moving pieces here than in a battle, but it was doable. In fact, Erika hardly thought about how difficult it was, only on how to maybe try it.

Ewan was the right choice to help Elana. He was diligent and mindful and would be the best choice to help Elana without doing anything reckless. That recklessness, however, was something Erika needed because Fighting Pokemon always seemed to love that boldness of it. You need not look further than some of their moves with dangerous recoils with misses. Plus a whole mountain dedicated to bold expression of strength? Yea, Erika was sure Joshua could find a way to do that. When it came to his question, Erika quietly considered it but she made up her mind at the start. She just wasn't sure if she needed help or not.

"Joshua, I think if you head off in this direction.." Erika paused in her stride and taking a longer look at the map. She traced her finger to a highlighted area of the cave referred to as "The Dojo". "..You'll end up in a cavern with a lot of training Pokemon. I'm sure you could try and convince the Pokemon Dojo leaders that their training or something is going to be ruined by that drilling brat. Hopefully you'll get some help because I'm going to try getting the strongest of them to help us."

Erika glanced at her map before looking down the cavern, straight ahead. From the very moment this plan formed in her head, she knew she had to go for the strongest of the strong. With Joshua that might weaken her position but alone, she'd at least appear brave, if a bit foolhardy. Of course Fighting Pokemon could be all for that reckless move.

"I'm going to try to convince the King of the Mountain." Erika clenched her hands, suppressing that feeling of fear. Even a Machop could seriously hurt you so whoever was on top of all these Pokemon could easily kill her if she made the wrong move. A scary thought.

--

With Joshua now on his own task, Erika made her way to the Throne Room. The map lead her right to it and she entered among the strongest Pokemon in this mountain. Her entrance was progressively noticed as she strode forward, approaching the throne. She had her eyes locked on the scarred Machamp seated on his throne. She couldn't bare the thought of all the other Pokemon looking at her even though she could see their focus shift to her in the peripheries of her eyes. A nerve that might have helped her case as she looked intently at scarred king as if she was here to challenge the greatest among them.

She stopped just short of the stairs leading up to the throne and glared up at the crowned Machamp, assuming none of the other Pokemon tried to stop her. She didn't think they would interrupt an intent challenger to their leader, at least that was the hope.

A few moments went by, the anticipation of this encounter building among all the other Pokemon watching no doubt. Finally Erika spoke firmly and proudly as best as she could. "I challenge you, strong and noble leader of Mount Strength." She paused just enough to let the stirrings among the audience cease. "I challenge you to do your duty to this mountain and all the Pokemon who work hard to be strong. Not long ago a boy tunneled his way from Mount Edge to the bottom of this Mountain, your kingdom. He did this not by strength, but by a machine. He's done all this and endangered your kingdom with all those Psychic Pokemon from Mount Edge potentially following. Psychic Pokemon who don't believe in using their physical strength and skill like the Pokemon in Mount Strength."

With the recap finished, Erika withdrew a Pokeball, her shaking hand suppressed by clenching tightly to the ball device. "Help me protect Mount Strength. In return, I will do my duty as a trainer." Erika released her Pokeball revealing Chic, the Combusken appearing at her side with a bit of stun and awe as she looked around the room filled with such strong Pokemon.

"This is Chic who, like me, wants nothing more than to prove herself above all others. She wants to be the strongest and even though she isn't now, she will be. I will train with her until she is and when she is ready, I will come back and we will give you." Erika pointed her free hand up at the scarred Machamp. "The toughest fight you have ever seen."

Erika tried to utter something else like asking if it was a deal or anything, but she slowly dropped her finger and stood waiting, a bit too scared to even do anything else.

@hatakekuro

With a new tactic in mind, Lupin surged forward, using Quick Attack to dodge the rain of pebbles as best he could, while also collecting pebbles on the way. Then, suffering only minor pebble damage on the way, he got his second command. Lupin blasted forth, and with an improvised Rock-type move, he slammed the surprised Shuckle right in its squishy face, and the Pokémon let out a cry…!

‘Shuckle…!’ Lorette sounded a bit alarmed.

… But Shuckle wasn’t out. Just as its head slipped down into its shell, a sudden storm of tentacles erupted from the other holes in Shuckle’s shell, stretching further than one could have imagined they could and gripped onto the limbs of their attacker. This was Wrap, and Shuckle’s limbs were very much intending on holding onto Lupin and not letting him move!

And that’s just about when Taunt went away.

‘Shuckle, Power Trick!’ Lorette commanded, and if it was let to pass a purple energy surged over Shuckle, changing something. It would then glare at Lupin. One thing for sure, the next attack wouldn’t be pretty.

But that would be another turn away. Lupin’s turn, albeit he was being bound by Wrap. What will Basil and Lupin determine to do against this adversary?

And bam, that attack connected! It was such a clean blow that even Lorette finally showed any bit of concern for the first time in this battle. "Good job Lupin! Now... huh?" Yellow tentacles burst from the Shuckle's shell and wrapped around Lupin's arms. Both trainer and Pokemon were caught completely off guard That thing was still able to withstand a direct attack like that and retaliate?! Just what was the level difference between these the two of them?

That bloody Shuckled wasn't done trying to bind the Sneasel up; it was going after its legs! He wouldn't be able to order Lupin to break his arms free or else he'd be trapped! "Lupin, flip forward over it!" Considering that the Shuckle's attack stat was so much lower its target. it would be a miracle to keep in in place even with Lupin's arms wrapped. The Sneasel would leap forward over the Shuckle to avoid its legs getting tied up.

They may have avoided getting tied up, but it looked like Lorette had something planned. "Power Trick?" Basil thought to himself out loud while he looked at the purple aura that flashed briefly over the Shuckle. Something was changed, but something in his gut told him that it was dangerous. Judging by its name, it was probably a move involving its attack stat though he wasn't sure what it was. Either way he couldn't allow it to make it easy to attack. "Use Quick Attack and take it for a ride!"

What Basil essentially ordered Lupin to do was use its high attack stat to drag the Shuckle around like a person bound by rope and dragged around from a horse. Of course, Basil didn't know what Power Trick did though it didn't matter; considering that Pokemons defense was miniscule, being dragged and bounced around was probably not going to feel good. That is if Lupin's attack stat was enough to pull this off to begin with.

@Gardevoiran

So, in this Double Battle that ended up playing exactly the same way it would had it been a Single Battle, it opened up with Paradise and Seabreeze using Magical Leaf and Water Pulse to do Super-Effective damage on their respective target, heavily damaging their opponents but failing to faint them. In return, Hippopotas yawned at the Tropius, making her drowsy. Sandshrew used Defense Curl, in preparation for Rollout. Both Paradise and Seabreeze took some Sandstorm damage, and then Magical Leaf/Water Pulsed again, fainting their respective opponents. The battle ended too quickly for Paradise to fall asleep, and Defense Curl never amounted to anything.

Besides sandstorm damage, a perfect victory.



‘Woah! Uh, yeah. Keep heading forward, you’ll find her eventually!’ he said.

Now, back to the tracks.

1. Four-legged Pokémon. These are the tracks of a quadrupedal Pokémon, walking calmly across the sand, out into the desert where the tracks then suddenly end.
2. Tiny line. There’s a miniscule line of something having dragged along the desert. It’s too small to be a wheel. They lead to a rocky pillar randomly standing around.
3. Bike tracks. These are obviously the tracks of a bike, in the desert. It leads off into the desert, towards the eternal sandstorm of the Mythic Oasis.
4. Raised from Digging. Something has been travelling underneath the sand, the tracks obvious because the sand has formed a bump over the tunnel. It leads to a large rock formation.

Seabreeze had been able to tell one thing through the sandstorm at the start. The one who headed off on a bike had definitely not been female. As for where the Gym Leader had gone, she'd basically disappeared where she stood...

What will Skylar do?

__________________________

@Pirouette

‘Got it! Off to the Dojo with me!’ Joshua excitedly agreed, checking Erika’s map briefly before running off in the indicated direction. This left Erika to head for the center of power of Mt. Strength…

The majority of Pokémon in here were Machokes and Gurdurr, but quite a few Pangoro, Conkeldurr and a couple Machamps, but only one like the old and scarred Machamp sitting on the throne.





Erika certainly attracted the gazes of many powerful Pokémon as she ventured through the hall. Nobody stopped her, just looked at her with interest, crossing their arms or otherwise looking amused by her courage. Of course nobody stepped in her way as she approached the king. For one, if the king needed bodyguards, he wasn’t their king. Secondly, they’d learned long ago that the king didn’t appreciate others challenging his challengers.

The old Machamp was tilted sideways when Erika arrived, lying slumped in his throne with one elbow on the right armrest and his head resting in the raised hand from said elbow. He almost lazely watched Erika approaching him, like he could tell she wasn’t anywhere near his level just yet, but there was still a bit of interest in his eyes about what she could possibly have come here for. She made her initial announcement, and…

The primary reaction was chuckles. A couple Pokémon shouted in support, because challenging the strong when they were absurdly outpowered was the bravest thing they knew. The king raised one of his four arms, and they quieted down. There was certainly something curious in his gaze. Now Erika could continue her explanation. The event at hand caused murmurs, Pokémon names sounding a bit hesitant, but ultimately looked to their king.

Machamp stayed quiet for a couple seconds, but there was no mistaking the smile on his lips, his eyes gazing at Chic when she’d appeared. He slowly lifted himself up, then stood up straight. Compared to when he was sitting slumped, the scarred Machamp was truly tall, oozing confidence and power when standing straight. He walked down the small set of stairs towards Erika and Chic…

He stood slightly diagonally away from her, crossed his top set of arms over his chest while one of his remaining arms held forth an empty hand to Erika, palm upwards, looking at her expectantly.

What would Erika do?

__________________________


@hatakekuro

Lupin’s hands had been caught, but quick reflexes allowed the Sneasel to skip over the tentacles trying to grip his legs! He was still held by his arms by the tentacles that had gripped him, but with Quick Attack, Shuckle was thrown back and forth behind him! Fortunately, a Sneasel is heavier than a Shuckle, allowing Lupin to control the ride and smack the shell bound to him around a bit, onto the floor here and into the railing here…! Shuckle didn’t seem to be appreciating the trip…

‘Shuckle, let go, and Rock Slide!’ Lorette commanded. Now, Lorette intended Shuckle to let go at the pause at the end of a Quick Attack, but Shuckle mistimed it and was sent flying across the battlefield! It was last seen focusing before it crashed straight into a wall on the side! Shuckle fainted!



And with that move, that particular battle of Lupin VS Shuckle was won…!

… Or, so it would have been, except then the shadow of a huge boulder blocked out the light. A final Rock Slide had been managed before Shuckle fainted, and they weren’t pebbles this time. A rain of boulders descended at the battlefield with wide range and massive firepower. Lupin almost certainly would be unable to Quick Attack through that to safety.

Does Basil or Lupin want to try anything?

There were times when victory was so clean cut that there were no worries to be had. This was not one of those times.

Basil and Lupin looked up at the literal boulders raining from above, knowing that they had absolutely no way of avoiding the devastation of the attack. "Snease. (Shi-)" "Shi-". And then Lupin was buried by the Rock Slide with only its twitching arm poking out of the rocks and then absorbed back into its Pokeball. All things considered, this wasn't the worst possible outcome.

"You did a good job Lupin." He smiled at the Pokeball before placing it back on his belt and grabbed another. "Let's wrap this up, Glory!" Coming back for the finale of the gym battle, the wrestling bird came flying out t-posing in an assertion of dominance.

❄Erika Olson❄

---

---

Erika stood tall and proud as best as she could. It was all she could really do at this point. She hadn't angered the King Machamp yet, so it seemed to have some positive effect. She even managed to get some support from the audience, which made this encouraging. The smile was definitely encouraging on that grizzled face, but Erika still had her doubts about herself, hidden internally as that Machamp casually approached her. Was she actually good enough?

Yes, yes she was.

That extended hand from any other might have made Erika hesitate in fear of being backstabbed, but this was the King of Fighters, an honorable titan in all of Isson, right?

She immediately reached out and tried to take that hand in what was likely a pactful shake. Erika kept her grip for a moment and reached around and grabbed Chic's wrist and pulled her in to make her cup the pair of them. "You're in this too, Chic. You're seeing the strongest and that's what you have to beat and I'll help you get there okay?" Erika had finally taken her eyes off of Machamp to focus in on Chic. She looked a bit awestruck and probably was lost in her idol was Erika's assumption. She always liked to tried to mimic strong Pokemon as a Torchic, and now she was seeing the strongest. It was a huge thing for her.

With that done and the pact sealed, Erika nodded withdrawing her hand. She kept Chic out to let her experience this with her. "Alright. Let's go save your mountain."

Amelia sighed as Phnatump and Pumpkaboo ended up getting into a bit of trouble.
"Phantump, Pumpkaboo, no going through other people's stuff." She said, though she did find something odd about Annica stopping them. The bags should've been empty after all.

The two tiny ghosts looked at each other. They had been told not to go through the bag. But, they hadn't been told to leave the bags alone. So they floated away for now and gave Amelia the items they had found to their trainer, who smiled and gave them some pats on the head before the two little ones floated away again. Driffloon returned a short time later, and Amelia once again accept the items and fed one of the Oran Berries to it as a thanks, figuring it deserved the food. Once that was done, she turned back to the trainers.
"So, back on topic. Leila, something just occurred to me. You said Annica had many pokemon, but she only brought out Murkrow and Fletchling. Does that mean she only brought those two along with her today or does she have more on her that she hasn't brought out yet?" She asked.

Meanwhile, as Amelia had the trainer's attention, Phantump and Pumpkaboo had returned to the bags and began playing a game of catch with them. Words had been chosen poorly by their trainer and Annica.

@hatakekuro

‘For those keeping track, I have two Pokémon left,’ Lorette said, not that Basil probably needed it. ‘Alright, let’s finish this little match,’ she said, throwing a Pokéball, and out came a Pokémon that Glory had previously escaped.



Lorette’s strategy was obvious.

‘Avoid his attacks, and use Confusion!’ Lorette commanded, and Butterfree drifted into the air on butterfly wings and focused power to use Confusion!

Basil and Glory’s actions?

__________________________

@Joshua Tamashii
_{appropriate music}

‘Oh, huh,’ Leila blinked a little, and looked towards Annica’s Pokémon. ‘One, two, and-’

‘Hey, where’s the last one? The one with all the status-moves?’ Eric suddenly flared up, asking Annica with a frown.

‘I didn’t bring her,’ Annica responded without pause, then her eyes widened at a noise in the background, and spun around, pointing intently at the play in the background.

‘Murkrow, Fletchling, get our bags back!’ Annica commanded, and her two birds swooped in to try to grab the bags in mid-air and try to take them back! The GM will note this is just because Annica doesn’t like others playing with her bags, not that she hid anything in the empty bag.

Is there anything noteworthy about this reply?









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.

She sure could bet that Basil was keeping track! It was a 5-2 lead and he was close to winning this whole thing! If he somehow blew this lead he would absolutely never forgive himself!

And there was that Butterfree again and from what he knew last time, her strategy was obvious.

"Detect and Wing Attack!" The logic is that if Glory could predict the timing of the Confusion, he would be able to use his superior speed to close the distance before the Butterfree could get the attack off and land a one hit blow.

@Pirouette

Erika immediately took his palm-up hand to shake. There were shouts of support in the audience as their hands met. The king chuckled in amusement, respectfully gripping her hand back. Then, there was the part with Chic was to put her arms/wings/what those are around the grip, too. Machamp looked at her, regal and powerful in posture, the scars adding several layers of toughness to his appearance.

‘Macha-champ?’ he asked her. Basically translating to Do you share her ambition?

Regardless of the reply to that statement, the shake eventually passed and it was time to go. Machamp looked out over the crowd… and slammed four hands together with an echoing slap.

‘MACHAMP!’ he announced. He was met with a roar of a crowd of Fighting-types raring to go, arms and rocks and fists raised as their shouts rocked the mountain with their volume. The group immediately funneled towards the exit, and from there, they split up. One could at first question why the Fighting-types seemed to be going in different directions, but then it became apparent that they were heading for every other notable gathering-spot in Mt. Strength. Soon enough, Fighting-types from across the mountain were going to start heading for them…

‘Hey! I got reinforcements!’ Joshua showed up, smiling brightly with Dojo-Master Medicham and a slew of other Fighting-types with him that’d come along. ‘As did… you… wow, that is so cool,’ he then said, his eyes falling on the king Machamp and the fact Erika had just come with a substantially bigger army than Joshua had.

Dojo-Master Medicham approached and bowed respectfully to King Machamp. It was clear that this Medicham was pretty old, too, and dedicated to passing on what he’d learned. Machamp nodded to him, and then when Medicham looked up… they suddenly punched at each other, their fists meeting with an echoing slam, delivering the most powerful fist-bump known to Pokémon. After having probably almost knocked everyone around them down with their motion, the two grinned at each other. They were ready to head out.

So, where to?



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@hatakekuro

Glory advanced, and using a expertedly timed Detect he managed to dodge a Confusion! This allowed him to get closer without taking fire on the way. He then leapt at Butterfree while his opponent was charging another Confusion. Butterfree wasn’t fast enough to dodge his attack, but he also couldn’t attack without lowering his guard to take a Confusion. It simply became best at this range to trade blows. Butterfree charged Confusion, Glory flew in for a Wing Attack, and-

Butterfree took an incredible hit! The butterfly spun from the super-effective damage, whimpering and damaged… but barely held on, despite the heavy damage! It looked towards Glory with a determined glare…

Meanwhile, Glory had landed gracefully down… but then shook from a lucky hit of Butterfree’s Confusion! It had been a super effective Critical Hit! Yet, despite this massive damage, Glory had yet to fall, barely holding on as well! He didn’t become Confused, either!

‘… Again!’ Lorette commanded, seeing no other way out of this, and Butterfree eagerly started charging another Confusion!

Basil and Glory’s actions?

That attack was right on the money! That Butterfree was on its last legs just from that one Wing Attack! Just one more and this round was as good as theirs. Awesome! Now let’s- huh? Basil’s excitement took a back seat the moment Glory shook as he realized that his Hawlucha was not fast enough to prevent it from getting attacked.

One more hit and his Pokémon would not be able to continue battling. Rushing to get the final hit in was not possible and Detect’s success rate falls off the more it’s used so he had to think of something else. The thing was that the terrain of the battlefield had altered dramatically from the meteoric landslide from earlier. [color=882be]Take cover begins the rocks![/color] The basic idea is Butterfree couldn’t land an attack on anything if there was something obstructing it’s vision.

If this gambit worked out, Basil would order Glory to move from rock to rock to keep the Butterfree from figuring out its location.

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"Nice job, you two! Let's keep going!"

Back to square one, eh? That's alright, it'd be fine. Skylar looked at the other options and ruled out the bike one, seeing as the writer of this had learned the secret knowledge that it's not that path. Left with the rocks in the distance or the trail through the desert, Skylar figured maybe heading towards the rocks was a solid bet.

"Alright, to the rocks! Maybe that'll be one step closer." Skylar started off towards the rocks again, cane dancing on the sand and with team in tow. Thankfully the sandstorm didn't hurt unless you were actively in a battle!