@hatakekuro

Butterfree intended to use Confusion…! … But found there was no target! Glory had deftly dodged in among the rocks, making Butterfree lose her target! There were a lot of these rocks!

‘Fly high above to find his location! Keep your eyes down, Confusion if he tries to get close!’ Lorette commanded, and Butterfree did just that. Fluttering its wings, Butterfree lifted upwards, keeping her many eyes looking downwards and around the rocks Glory likely was in as she intended to drift above to find him.

What does Basil and Glory do?

__________________________

@Gardevoiran

The sandstorm had waned when the battle came to a close. Things would be different if they’d actually headed for the area in an active sandstorm!

So, without actually heading after any specific one of the trails, he headed closer to the rocks that two of the trails were heading for. There was the one with that was a singular small line, which ended in a rocky pillar. He’d need to get closer to actually check what that was. Then there was the area of sand that’d been raised by something digging through…

Which he found, went behind the rock before splitting again! Specifically, there were three small trails that split off the major large one. All four of the new trails went for different areas of the rock formation, where there were a couple… oddities.

1. Tiny Line. There’s still a miniscule line of something having dragged along the desert. It’s too small to be a wheel. They lead to a tall rocky pillar randomly standing around.
2. Footprints. There’s a trail of small footprints that could be the Gym Leader’s that suddenly split from the main digging path. It leads to a low rock and into a pile of boulders that would make a good hiding spot.
3. Sporadic lines. There’s suddenly a vast array of individual dig-lines that split from the main path. They’re small, but they disguise if there could have been footprints here. They lead to a small cave in the bottom section of the rocks.
4. Stumble. A set of large footprints emerge from the line, before promptly stumbling on a very visible rock, leaving a large imprint of a decently large person in the sand who then hurried to climb onto the rocks and into a crevice.
5. Main Digging Path. Something has been digging underground. It reached the highest rock… which had been carved into a giant eerie rocky face with a big crown on the backside, it’s mouth hanging open and the trail went inside. Was a high-detail construction, indeed.

What will Skylar do?

The plan was a success though he was now in a different spot of trouble; that Butterfree was high above the arena, which made it hard to close the distance between the two Pokémon before his Hawlucha could land a finishing blow. They needed to be able to create some diversion to sneak around and deliver a clean hit. Well, it turned out that Glory was a much sneakier bird than he let on.

The bird Pokémon kept itself covered behind the rocks, sneaking a peek over them at the Butterfree. There were plenty of pebbles from the Pebble Slide from that Shuckle earlier. Without Basil giving him any orders, he tossed a pebble at a rock to make a noise for the sake of misdirection. If it worked , Glory would do so again from another location and Basil caught on.

If there was a moment of opportunity from the misdirection, Basil would yell out”Leap our and use wing attack!”

❄Erika Olson❄

---

---

Chic nodded her head. "Com-combusk-en!" which translated to 'Ever since I was little, I looked up to strength!' and she meant it. If she could be the one that others look up to, she'd feel all the more justified in her goal. Clearly seeing these Pokemon around her, she had a ways to go. Yet she knew it was not impossible with Erika's determination, she had already seen her strength grow incredibly and she knew she can continue to advance. Maybe one day this would be her mountain? In due time.

---

"Yea. I thought finding the strongest Pokemon here would be the best ally to have. Nice work but we have to move quick before Ewan and Elana are in any more danger!" Erika gasped in practically one breath as she met up with Joshua. She was relieved to see he had succeeded, but she had other things on her mind. Off they went.

Erika's expectations for being a Pokemon Trainer did not include leading a battle charge. She was more surprised however, and perhaps not thinking clearly at this adrenaline filled point, that she was actually keeping up with everyone. Or was it that they were following her? Either reality was a real jolt to Erika to drive her on!

It felt like it did not take too long for transfer her way back through the cave. She just hoped she wasn't too late and that Ewan and Elana were alright, though...

---

Erika lead the army all the way through the cavern to the crafted drill tunnel.She could see her Ewan and Elana fighting. Erika and Chic right next to her surged forth. "Seal the tunnel and Fight!" She bellowed, her command echoing in the tunnel but probably a bit drowned out by the rampage of foot falls from a charging army.

An opposing army from Mount Edge appeared to have gathered to make this a little more intense, it seemed. She expected a few but definitely not this.... Yet in spite of the danger, Erika charged anyway. She was kind of leading this, right? Besides backing down in front of Machamp like that wouldn't look good. The Psychic Pokemon looked surprised? Or prepared? That was the last thing Erika tried to thought before she suddenly found the lines of Pokemon around her clashing in battle!

Chic rounded forth and lead with an ineffective drop kick (double kick) to try and greet the face of a Kadabara who was in front of Erika. She had slowed to a stop since she couldn't really fight since, you know, she was an average human and not a powerful Pokemon. Chic tangled with the Kadabara on her own instinct, while Erika looked around and took stock of this battle.

They outnumbered their opponents, but Fighting types against Psychic types meant this was going to end badly for her side. Sure, the Mt Strength forces might want the glory of a whole fight but they had an objective. Seal the tunnel.

Erika pulled off, Chic acting like her general's bodyguard while the fighting all around intensified. She joined where Ewan, (Joshua maybe), and Elana had likely moved to in order to avoid being trampled. Erika slowed and exhaustively caught her breath, hands on her hips. "Whew... okay... seal the tunnel. Let's... do that. How do we do that?"

@hatakekuro

Glory managed to avoid being detected by Butterfree. Butterfree flew around, focused for an attack, when the sound of that pebble being thrown was heard. Thinking it may have been Glory accidentally knocking a pebble with a foot or something, Butterfree spun around towards the target… only to realize its mistake.

Glory launched himself from the cover at his target! Butterfree was utterly unable to dodge in time, and was only just turning around to look at the incoming bird that was coming to slap it out of the skies! However, Butterfree was able to leave one last present for its opponent. Something was created on its wings, and-

With a solid strike of Wing Attack, Butterfree was struck out of the skies! … Yet, from the force of the impact, a cloud of powder erupted from its wings and covered its attacker! Butterfree fainted… and Glory fell asleep from Sleep Powder!



‘Teh-heh… Down to my last Pokémon, am I?’ Lorette asked, standing up, giggling a little. ‘This one… this one is the child of my mother’s strongest Pokémon. One day, he will match her strength. For now, however, he’s just getting experience!’ she said, before throwing up a Pokéball, catching it back in her hand and then spinning once before throwing it onto the battlefield.

Emerging from the ball was a white-maned moth-larva Pokémon with five red horns sticking out its mane, pieces of fire blowing out of the varying holes.



‘Larvesta, Flame Charge!’ Lorette commanded, and the five horns of Larvesta blew out fire, lifting the creature up into the air and surging towards his opponent!

Currently out was a sleeping Glory on almost no health. What will Basil decide to do?

Bloody hell it could never be that easy could it? That Butterfree went down, but not without its own little parting gift of powdered chloroform putting Glory into a bit of a snooze. Lorette meanwhile had sent out her next Pokemon, a Bug-Fire Type if the entry from his Pokedex was anything to go by and now it was rocketing towards Glory in a trailing blaze of flames.

There was only one thing that Basil could do; as he watched the Larvesta charge at Glory, he did nothing and just let the attack knock his Hawlucha out. "Sorry Glory, it had to happen." The trainer returned his Pokemon to its ball and grabbed another from his belt, tossing it into the air as the familiar rock-type came out for another round. "Roxanne, keep using Rock Throw and don't let up!"

The Nosepass would hurl an assault of rocks at the Bug-Type as fast as she could, trying to crush it faster than the poison still in her system could hurt her.

Phantump and Pumpkaboo quickly retreated once the two birds came flying in, laughing a bit as they returned to their trainer, who quickly grabbed them and held them close.
"No. Bad!" She said to them, somewhat sternly. "I'm fine with you scaring people, that's a harmless prank. But you do not play with other people's things without their permission, understood?"

The two little ghosts seemed surprised that their trainer was not taking their side but Amelia's other pokemon quickly chimed to help their trainer. In the end, the two turned towards the other three trainers and let out what sounded like regretful cries, though whether it was because they got in trouble or to apologize.

Still, Amelia was thankful for the little distraction was was not going to punish the two any further then making sure they didn't slip away from her. Glancing around at the evidence again, her eyes fell on Eric's Ledyba... then she quickly glanced at the list of pokemon on her pokedex again before looking back up at the Ledyba.
"Eric... how did you Ledyba get a burn when there are no pokemon on the Route capable of applying a burn to it? After all, you said you were battling wild pokemon. But all I see here are mostly Water, Grass, and Normal types. Not prime candidates of afflicting burns to pokemon." She said, glancing up at him. She could think of a plausible reason and it would make sense but why would he lie about it if that was the case.

@hatakekuro

‘That one’s poisoned, correct?’ Lorette tilted her head and looked at Roxanne. ‘Larvesta, take cover among the boulders!’ she called, and the fiery horns on the bug blasted so it got in among the rocks before Roxanne’s first shot. It was definitely hard to hit a target that there wasn’t a direct line-of-sight to with Rock Throw. On the plus-side, there were no counter-attacks, so if they wanted to do something on their own they could do so without fear of being punished for it.

What will Basil and Roxanne do?

__________________________

@Pirouette

Machamp nodded to Chic’s conviction with a big smile! ‘Machamp!’ He’d look forward to her, then! Now, onto battle!

---

The Psychic-type army hesitated as the sounds grew louder. Then, with Erika’s arrival, a thunderous stampede of muscle barged through the tunnel directly at the Psychic-types, the elder Machamp in front! The Psychic army lifted their limbs and spoons, and a shocking blast of concentrated Psychic energy shook many Fighting-types off their legs and fainted them with Super Effective energy! However, the elder Machamp was the first to simply shake off the damage, and then the stampede continued right into the opposing army! And Psychic-types in general weren’t very good up-close and personal…!

‘I’m, uh, impressed,’ Ewan mentioned, having called his Pokémon back and went to stand with Erika and Joshua who came running. Elana kind of stood with a somewhat parted mouth, and a raised phone. It appeared that she had started filming the event at some point.

‘I KNOW, RIGHT!?’ Joshua happily called. ‘Hey, there’s a tunnel for potential invaders! I’m gonna go MAKE A DEAL WITH THE KING OF THE MOUNTAIN AND RALLY ITS WHOLE ARMY TO COUNTER! Erika, you’re badass!’ Joshua said, laughing about it.

Then Erika asked about sealing the tunnel, and how to do that. Elana looked towards her incredulously.

‘How? Are you kidding me?’ she asked, before turning back to the battle at hand. ‘It’s already taken care of…’

There, in the midst of the battle, a couple powerful Fighting-types were gathering at the walls. The dojo-master Medicham, a couple Machamps and Conkeldurrs. On the dojo-master’s command, they all gathered for a single, mighty punch… and SLAM! The power echoed through the whole tunnel, and it started shaking as the walls started to crumble. The elder Machamp took a single look, and…

‘MACHAAAAMP!’ he called out a command, and Fighting-type and Psychic-type alike found it in their best interest to comply. Fighting-types quickly grabbed their fallen with great strength and leapt back, while Psychic-types used their abilities to keep the tunnel from collapsing for just long enough that they could safely levitate their fainted backwards to their side of the tunnel. A couple foolhardy fighting-types had decided they wanted to be on the other side of the tunnel when it collapsed, but they hit a Psychic wall and had to be grabbed and carried back. The Alakazam on the other side gave a frown at Machamp, who just smirked back at him, and then the Psychic field fell.

With a thunderous crash, the tunnel collapsed in rock and boulder, shaking the earth as the tunnel that wasn’t to be was sealed in mountain-rock once more. A cheer went through the army of Fighting-types, and Machamp turned around to the group of four humans with all his four arms crossed, smirking and nodding to him.

‘Machamp,’ he told, satisfied.

‘… Well done, your highness,’ Elana said, sighing out, and retrieving her Pokémon back to their Pokéballs… then sighed again, very well aware of many Fighting-types eyeing her intently because of the power of the team she’d just had out. ‘Right, I’m going to be busy for a couple minutes, don’t you have somewhere to be?’ Elana told Erika.

As she said so, she gestured with her head in the other direction, where the digging-machine had continued up Mt. Strength.

__________________________

@Joshua Tamashii
_{appropriate music}

‘As long as you understand,’ Annica seemed to accept the two Pokémon’s apology, easing up and nodding to Amelia and her Pokémon’s apology. Murkrow looked really amused by this exchange, while Fletchling looked pensive.

Ledyba blinked a little as Amelia’s eyes fell on it, looking like he tensed up for some reason. Amelia asked the question, and…

‘Huh? What are you talking about, Ledyba isn’t-’ Eric replied, then went forward to investigate his Pokémon. ‘… Wait, what the… You ARE burned. How did you get burned!?’ Eric asked, suddenly wide-eyed and very concerned. ‘… Hold on. I was training Surskit when… Ledyba?’

Ledyba was, if that’s a term that can apply to a ladybug, sweating bullets. The very tense Ledyba’s eyes darted around kind of helplessly. Not replying.

‘Uh… It’s weird that he managed to get Burned, but does this have anything to do with this case…?’ Leila asked, looking confused.

Well? Does Amelia have anything recent in mind for that?









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.

"Roxanne, return." There was no point in making her suffer if there was no way for her to end it quickly. She was absorbed back into her Pokeball with a red beam of light and Basil now had to make a choice of who to send out. Aria wasn't going to be of much use and Crocus was already close to fainting so there was only one Pokemon that he could send out for this situation. "You're up, Cecil!" He tossed out a Pokeball and out came the Darumaka though there were not follow up orders. It was pointless to give orders to attack something that was hiding so he was just going to make it a waiting game.

@hatakekuro

‘Oh? A Darumaka?’ Lorette looked sort of curiously at the Pokémon she wasn’t entirely familiar with. ‘That one should only know fire moves right now, right? That puts us relatively even. Larvesta, Flame Charge!’ she commanded, and the fire-moth blasted out of the boulder-canyons to rocket over towards Cecil, intending on colliding with her!

What’s Basil and Cecil’s plan?

---

---

"Interesting." Yet again Skylar was at an impasse. He looked up to his buddies and he surveyed his options. "Which way to go..."

After a moment of thinking himself, JoJo grabbed Skylar's hand and started to pull him towards the footprints in the sand. "Kirlia?"

"Yeah, we can check that way. I just wish this challenge wasn't designed without blindness in mind..." Skylar paused for a moment and looked around. "... well, actually I guess it was, what with the sandstorm and all."

Wait, didn't she remember Cecil from when they tried to set the arena on fire? Either way it seemed like that the only thing she knew about Darumakas is that they were fire-types and therefor they know fire-type attacks though, it was a mistake on Lorette's part to send her Larvesta charging in so brazenly without testing to see its move set.

The bug-pokemon was fast and closed in with each second passing. Basil knew that this thing could fly from its entry so it was very possible that it could easily change its trajectory if deemed necessary so there was a gamble to take. He waited until it was half way over until he yelled out, "Finish it with Rollout!" And with that order the Darumaka would begin its very rolly strike against the flame charging bug.

❄Erika Olson❄

---

---

"Well... I'm glad you guys approve!" Erika blushed bashfully from receiving such praise and tried to play it off. "I'm sure you guys could have managed it, too~" Of course, it was nice to hear their praise!

It was also nice to see that the issue of the cave was being solved by their army. "Oh... I was a bit worried all the Fighting types wouldn't back down from a fight, if I am being honest. But that's great that they went and sealed that." Erika admitted but also admired that the Fighting types weren't all Brawn. Was it bad to think that? Erika briefly went up in arms internally with this question until Elana finally chimed in.

Erika felt herself slightly drop after Elana reminded her of their other objective. They still had another confrontation, sure, but was Elana upset about something? Erika wasn't exactly emotionally mature enough to decipher through those sighs. She did just rally an army to help Elana... well there were a whole ot of reasons to help, but that little extra bit of going above and beyond was urged on by wanting to get in someone's good graces...

Alas, Erika thought she missed the mark. "Oh... Right. The snotty boy." Erika sighed and turned to Machamp.
She nodded back at the King of the Mountain. She masked her dejected look with a smile as she hailed her ally. "You and your friends were great, Machamp! We've got the mountain sealed, but I know that punk is just going to make another cave on his way back. So if you are up for one more march, I'm sure we can catch him. Besides, how weak is it to just drill your way through the mountain! I came out here willing to dig with my hands for what I wanted." Erika sounded annoyed as she ranted for several reasons. "Speaking of, Machamp, I did come here for something, but I'll explain on the way because I think that boy is going after it, too!"

And so Erika began to lead Chic and whoever else would follow down the artificial cave. If Machamp followed, she would talk about the Dawn Stone and how there might be only one in the mountain. She'd rant a bit more about how unfair the boy was, all at a moderate pace at first. There was no urgency like sealing that a cave but then it dawned on Erika that the boy might evolve his Kirla as soon as he got the stone and thus, she picked up her pace...

@Gardevoiran

They followed the footprints, and there approaching the rocks, and JoJo felt the emotions of a very eager though kindhearted soul in the midst of the rocks. Although-

‘YAHA!’ came the sound of of a woman crying out happily as she burst out of a bunch of rocks. ‘YOU FOUND ME!’ she called so excitedly.

She remained with her arms in the air and smiling so brightly, until she realized she’d probably hadn’t had her intended effect.

‘… What, don’t I look exactly like her? No? Oh, well, let’s battle!’



__________________________


@hatakekuro

She did, ignore the previous comment. Anyway!

She did perhaps make a premature assumption about Cecil’s move-pool, however. As she realized what move Cecil was charging up, she was quick to command.

‘Larvesta! Evade!’

But, it’s difficult for a charging high-speed fire-bug to quickly change course like that. As Cecil rolled forth, she impacted the high-velocity bug, both Pokémon doing damage to the other. But, one of them was Not Very Effective (albeit highly damaging anyway), while the other was double Super Effective.

The two crashed off one another, Cecil taking less than half her health while Larvesta took far more than that, but not quite enough to cause him to faint. His speed was boosted again, making Larvesta a really fast bug now.

‘Larvesta, stay high! She’s locked in a roll, now, stay out of her range with your speed and fire String Shots to slow her down and trap her!’

With that command, Larvesta remained in the air, blasting fire to maneuver in directions it looked like Cecil wasn’t heading in, and started firing String Shots trying to slow down her otherwise very dangerous Rollout, trying to take all speed out of the roll and leave her stranded!

What’s Basil and Cecil’s plan?

__________________________

@Pirouette

‘Yeah, I… I can see your point,’ Elana nodded at that part about being worried about the Fighting-types. It did make sense, after all. It just so happened that the Machamp held such sway that he could order the rest of the Fighting-types back.

Machamp chuckled at the praise, nodding rather proudly. Then, there was the invitation to come along because there was one more thing she wanted. Machamp shrugged with a smile, and then went on to run along with her! Just so happened to have the king of the mountain along with the journey! Also coming along was an eager Joshua and a determined Ewan, hurrying through the tunnel dug by the giant machine. Machamp notably wasn’t bringing his army, though.

‘Alright, I’ll be… I’ll be right behind you,’ Elana said, staying behind for now, because she had a significant amount of Fighting-types that wanted to challenge her because of the amount of strength she’d shown off earlier, so she’d be stuck there for a while. With that, they ran on, up the mountain…

…

…

…

The machine had dug up through the floor in front of an empty hall. It was the throne room, built in mighty rock from ages past, with a throne on a raised platform standing empty currently. The jewel in the throne glowed as it did when Erika had been there last. The machine slowed to a crawl before stopping, the hatch on top opening once again. The boy, Julian, poked out his head to inspect the surroundings with a mildly impressed expression.



‘… Huh. It seems your plan worked. They didn’t leave any guards at all,’ Julian said, looking around the empty hall, as he stepped out of the machine, Kirlia by his side, as he jumped down the machine and onto the ground beneath, his hit to the ground slowed to a safe falling speed by Kirlia’s psychic power. After him jumped the numerous Psychics that were his grunts, and after them… climbed two individuals in suits out of the machine. A girl with cyan hair, and a boy with red hair.



‘Ingenious, isn’t it!?’ the girl with cyan hair remarked proudly, climbing down from the craft and triumphantly putting her hands on her sides. ‘If there’s an army of Fighting-types to battle, we just have to lure an army of Psychic-types to keep them occupied! Digging a hole and luring the Psychic-types through was all part of the plan, and the plan is flawless! As a result, the place is unprotected! That’s what you get when you hire the likes of us!’ she boasted.

‘… No. We’re almost out of time,’ the boy with the red hair said, frowning. ‘It went too quickly. We were counting on that the Psychic army would lay claim to the lower levels of the mountain before the fighting began, but at this speed I wouldn’t be surprised if the Fighting-types intercepted them in the tunnel. Master Julian, I urge you to hurry up and grab the stone before they come back, or your investment may go to waste.’

‘… Right away,’ Julian agreed, turning to his Kirlia, and the two nodded and turned to the throne. ‘… There. Who would have thought, the one Dawn Stone in the mountain would be attached to the king’s throne.’ he said, stepping with his Kirlia up the raised platform, extending a hand for the glowing “jewel” in the throne. ‘All the more worthy a price for me to collect. Only the best for my Pitri…’ he said, and with him this close, it looked like nothing could stop him from-

A blast of fire and a psychic strike suddenly burst in from the side and exploded together right in front of Julian’s face, not burning him only because Kirlia raised a Psychic shield as the both of them recoiled back from the throne. The suited boy and girl with red and cyan hair-colors respectively drew Pokéballs and glared to identify the unknown attackers, and-!

‘WHERE IS EVERYONE!? We were supposed to meet up with Joshua, Ewan and Erika, but nobody’s here!? NOT EVEN THE POKÉMON!? What did you do to them!? And why are you stealing from them!?’ Maple cried out in stunned shock, Maggy the Magby taking a prepared stance in front of the throne.

‘I think the boy from the machine had a nasty plot and hired some criminals to make his will be done. How does that sound, Julian? Team Amethyst?’ Ellyn asked, standing oddly straight and with Bird the Natu placed squarely and battle-ready on her shoulder.



‘… Ell… lyn…? What in the blazes…’ Julian was starting to pronounce, recovering from the daze.

‘No time, we must overwhelm them at once,’ the red-haired boy said. Cyan-haired girl nodded and they each grabbed numerous Pokéballs, and the Psychic grunts all picked up a Pokéball each for good measure. The two agents sent out a Growlithe and a Ducklett each, while the grunt Psychics sent out a mix of Abras, Drowzees, Elgyems and Chinglings.



‘... Yeah, that’s right. I can’t be stopped here. Do you truly think you can take us all on, Ellyn!?’ Julian asked, Maple feeling just a tad left out but also incredibly interested in the fact Ellyn seemed to know this boy, albeit not on good terms.

Still, they were quite critically outpowered here, Maple and Ellyn facing a myriad of enemy Pokémon, preparing to unleash a hail of Psychic attacks plus a pair of fire and water-attacks. Still, outmatched as they were, they had bought time.

Enough time.

Erika’s actions?

"It could have something to do with the case. It could have nothing. You need to eliminate all possibilities, do you not?" Amelia said to Leila in a friendly tone before turning back to Ledyba. "The fact is, we don't know of any pokemon on the Route that could burn Ledyba. It would make sense if it fought a trainer who had a pokemon like my Litwick but Eric said he was battling wild pokemon. However, there are no Fire-Types here."

Pausing for a second, Amelia closed her eyes and thought about it a bit further.
"However, there is a possibility. There is a move I remember hearing about. It's Water-Type and it can burn the targets. I can't remember what it's called but I know it's typically learned by more powerful pokemon. Like say... a Palpitoad or something of a similar level?" She said, trying to recall from her lessons and studies. She needed to try and remember the move. She had planned to use it incase she ever got a Frillish.

@Joshua Tamashii

‘You're talking about Scald? Um, the problem with that is that only the Panpour line learns that move in the wild, and they live up at Route 23, I think, not this far south,’ Leila pointed out the issue with this line of thought, blessed with this knowledge only because it became very relevant to the matter at hand.

However, perhaps there was another matter recently brought up that could be relevant?

❄Erika Olson❄

---

---

Erika was off and though she didn't have an army with her, she certainly felt confident with Machamp backing her up. Her party went through the winding tunnels, Erika reciting her desire to bring Sno up to be a Froslass.

"...Because it is kind of a story which, I don't know if anyone is interested in hearing it. I basically met a Froslass when I was younger and wanted one ever since. There is more to it but I..." Erika slowed as she was slowing coming to a realization. "We've been working our way up back to the... throne room?" She inquired, trailing off in volume as she rounded the last bend to discover a massive hole in, yep, the wall to the throne room. Just beyond, the rear of the drill and the sounds of battle.

She lead her group forward, and she finally unveiled the action going on inside. The little drillboy was here with his entourage, sure enough, but two others had made an appearance: Maple and Ellyn. It appears her arrival was not a moment too soon

"Hey!" Erika hollered, "That's sooo rotten to outnumber them in a battle like that! Another thing..." She started, slowly panning her gaze over to the boy now holding her precious dawnstone! "Hey! You can't just take that after all you've done!"

Chic rolled up right next to Erika and glared at the boy and his Kirlia. "Now you better hand it over because now I'd say things are a bit more even so you can't bully your way out of this one."

And so Erika and Chic were ready to enter the fray!

@Pirouette

‘Oooooooooooh I love stories like that!’ Joshua eagerly cried out. ‘We must do everything in our power to see your dream fulfilled!’

‘I concur,’ Ewan nodded mid-run. ‘You’re far more deserving than that guy…!’

Those calls of support aside, they arrived at the throne room and took in the scene. Erika made her announcements… and the boy grunted and turned back towards the throne.

‘You’re a nuisance. Psychics! Mia! Allan! Take care of them!’ Julian commanded, and the crew of Psychics turned their Pokémon towards them!

‘It would be our pleasure!’ Mia called rather excitedly.

‘Hmpf, as our client requests,’ Allan said, tossing a used cigarette aside. Because it’s in his image. Definitely wouldn’t be in a real Pokémon game, but eh.

A crowd of Psychic Pokémon amassed from the crowd of Psychics that were making up the front line, and even if each was comparatively weak, it would take too long to fight through them! That is, unless-

An all-powerful leg swung through the air, causing a blast of wind that sent the Abras, Drowzees, Elgyems and Chinglings flying and the Psychics to cry out in terror. Machamp gently put his leg down, gave Erika a smirk and pointed with his thumb in the direction of the throne for her, through the opening he’d just created through the line of Pokémon of the Psychics. He then cracked two sets of knuckles, smirking at the Psychics, who while many and with a type-advantage definitely felt like they were facing something impossible…!

So, Erika, Ewan and Joshua were free to dash ahead towards the throne…!

‘Not so fast…!’ Mia called, her Ducklett flying up and shooting a Water Gun to stop them!

‘We won’t let you get to our client…!’ Allan said, his Growlithe firing an Ember to dissuade them from continuing.

Mia and Allan would like to-

‘OH, NO YOU DON’T!’ Joshua called out as his Mudkip came out and blocked the Ember without taking much damage. ‘Erika’s dream is on the line, and I won’t let you stand in the way of it!’ he called, facing up against Allan.

‘Besides, letting you guys do as you like would leave a sour taste in my mouth,’ Ewan said, as Duessel the Psyduck took Ducklett’s Water Gun, similarly without much damage. ‘Erika! Get your price! We’ll hold up these guys!’ he continued, facing up against Mia

‘Tsk…’ Mia made an annoyed noise.

‘You little…’ Allan wasn’t super-happy about this turn of events.

‘Geh,’ Julian made a noise, frowning back at them, then turned to… ‘Pilot! Start the engine! Block the hall!’

As he called, the giant drill started firing up, starting to move intending on turning so it’d block their progress…

‘FIRE!’ Maple called. She’d all of a sudden called out her entire brigade of Fire-types! There was a Magby, a Flareon, a Growlithe and a Tepig, all starting to fire a hail of Embers at the expensive-looking machine! They were doing significantly more than scratching the surface, the steel-typing of the drill coming to a definite disadvantage as the fire was starting to burn into it, slowing its progress! ‘FIRE! FIRE! FIRE! THAT THING ISN’T LEAVING!’ Maple commanded, holding her shovel forward as her fire-brigade were now occupied.

Julian grunted as he turned towards the throne, and Ellyn stood before it with a sharp look.

‘Are you sure you can afford looking at me? Someone’s coming for you, Julian,’ Ellyn said, smirking and nodding her head towards behind him.

Julian spun around, and (assuming Erika did as her companions intended and headed on) she’d arrive in front of him, the boy grunting as he looked at her.

‘You…’ he frowned at her, not looking very happy. ‘You’re after the Dawn Stone as well?’ he asked, the Kirlia next to him nodding at this assertion. ‘… Fine. If I beat you, it’s mine. I’ll show you my conviction is stronger than yours…!’

Oh you've gotta be kidding! How much more was it going to take to win this battle?!

The bloody fire bug was boosted and now trying to pin it down with its sticky webs. It goes without saying that if Cecil gets caught in that String Shot then she was absolutely a sitting duck for whatever attacks came her way. He needed to think quick, something that would both save Cecil from the situation while taking down the bug in one more hit. An idea did pop in his head, a very risky one, but it really was the only option for him to win at this point.

"While using Rollout, use all you've got for Incinerate to propel yourself!" What Basil had pretty much ordered the Darumaka to do was use all of her strength for one last ditch effort to blast fire with enough force to send her flying at the bug to finish it off with one more hit.

"If that is the case, then we're back to this being the result of some trainer attacking Ledyba. Now, there are many trainers here along the Route. It would be illogical for us to run around accusing them wildly of attacking Ledyba or of taking the water stone, assuming the two events are connected in some way. Instead, we need to see if our little friend here might know who attacked and burned them." Amelia said before turning to Eric. "Since they're your pokemon, would you mind treating them and seeing if you can get them to help us figure out who might have hurt them."

@hatakekuro

Larvesta fired String Shots, and it looked like Cecil would be tied up in it! Basil hatched a final idea that could potentially save the day! Cecil was to fire all he had for the one chance to hit the bug spewing web at it, slowing it down as more web tied between the floor and the spinning Pokémon…

Now, Darumakas have weak firepower. However, by absolutely exhausting herself and putting everything she had into the fireball, directed downwards, it still managed to blast her off the floor! There was no way she’d be able to continue battling if this missed! So the spinning ball left the ground, the Incinerate burning through the web tying it to the floor and letting the strands flatter off Cecil’s red body as she flew into the air!

‘Dodge!’ Lorette commanded, and Larvesta, while surprised by the suddenly launched red spinning ball coming at him, was fast enough to blast himself aside, looking like he was going to avoid being hit by a wide margin…

When a strand of String Shot hanging from Cecil’s body caught onto Larvesta as she passed by.

Larvesta, too shocked by the sudden pull to figure to burn the strand, was suddenly dragged and spun by Cecil’s rolling momentum, thrown by the string of String Shot that had attached itself between them, as the both of them flew over and crashed into the wall of the gym, creating a visible indent!

Cecil took recoil damage from her unorthodox strategy! It wasn’t just Rollout anymore, and that makes it Struggle! Kind of, anyway! But, that didn’t matter, Cecil had enough health to avoid fainting! She was completely drained from the Incinerate, however.

Her opponent, Larvesta, had been slammed into the wall by the string of web that had been attached to him… and he fell fainted to the floor, defeated and out.

And with that, Lorette was out of Pokémon.


‘Hahaha! That was… some finish! Well done!’ Lorette chuckled as she stood up on the opposite side of the arena. ‘I knew I was right about you! You’re more than capable of passing my little test!’



Lorette returned Larvesta to his Pokéball, and then walked forward towards Basil, over the platform, smiling all the while.

‘Here, you’ve earned this,’ Lorette said, handing something over.

Basil obtained the Shrine Badge!

‘Oh, and have this, too. When facing many different challenges, it’s a good idea to often switch Pokémon to deal with the current obstacle. This move should help with that! It does decent damage AND returns your Pokémon for you. It’s pretty handy!’


‘Don’t worry about if you happen to lose the badge, your victory has already been registered into the Pokémon League database, meaning your feat today won’t go lost with just that. It also means stealing badges won’t get anyone very far. It feels special, doesn’t it, holding a badge for yourself? You’ve now taken your first step towards battling in the Pokémon League itself. Don’t let up now! You’re going all the way, aren’t you~?’ Lorette asked in a happy, playful tone.

‘That aside, you actually came here for something else, didn’t you?’ Lorette asked, chuckling some more.

Anise stepped forward from where she’d stayed in order to watch the battle. There was some respect in her eyes when looking at Basil, at the moment.

So, what did Basil have to say? Or perhaps he had Pokémon to tend to first?

__________________________

@Joshua Tamashii
_{appropriate music}

‘What Ledyba knows…?’ Eric asked, and looked to his nervous bug. He eventually nodded, kneeled down and picked out a Potion, he hadn’t figured to bring a Burn Heal, but he could go to the Pokémon Center later in any case. ‘Right, Ledyba. Tell us what you know,’ he told his bug.

Ledyba swallowed, as far as a giant ladybug can, nodding to his trainer and then looking towards the rest of them. Leila looked on curiously and Annica crossed her arms.

Ledyba focused his attention, and then… it was time for testimony.



‘That… that doesn’t help us,’ Annica said with a face covered in doubt.

‘Palpitoad…!’ Palpitoad objected. To Pokémon present, it meant plenty! It’s just a matter of how they’d translate it to human.



Soooooooooooo. How would the Pokémon present, in case they were listening, get this across?









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.