Amelia sat in the lobby, humming to herself as she had Mimikyu in her lap, trying to calm the little guy down, gently stroking where she knew the real body was. As she waited, she glanced over at the crying child, feeling bad for the boy. She wished she could help but the city was big, and it would be impossible for her to find a single pokemon. It still hurt, but she knew reality and could only hope the pokemon found its way back home.

When the Ratata was brought back out, Amelia got up and moved over to the little rat-pokemon so Mimikyu could say good-bye. To her surprise though, the little mouse ran off and over to the crying child, who seemed to immediately recognize it as 'Chewy'. Realizing what this meant, Amelia moved over to them and was soon noticed by the other. When asked if she had found the missing Ratata, Amelia quickly shook her head before kneeling down and gently moving Mimikyu in front, keeping a gentle hand on it's back.
"Mimikyu here was the one that found it. I only found Chewy by following Mimikyu." She said. "Mimikyu was stealing food for Chewy and trying to protect it, since it was injured."

Turning to the child, she gave him a smile.
"If you want to say thank you to Mimikyu, move slowly and be gentle. They're on edge and don't really trust humans. I know it looks a little creepy but I think it only has the best intentions in mind." She said, ready to attack to protect either Mimikyu or the child as needed.

---

The silver haired teen gave a nod to Bill as he departed to relay these findings to their boss then turned his attention to Robbie expecting his offer to be taken. Only for the man to suddenly take on the mannerism of a man in panic as he turned down his suggestion. Not only was the injured man rejecting an offer to have an eye from the sky, but his expression was one of desperate and something about him was making Princess press closer to him while somewhat trembling." ...Yes, I suppose having someone that knows on the camera would be of extra help." A nod of his head; maintaining a calm composure; watching the man limp away fast as his feet could take him.

Waiting till he was sure out of earshot before turning his attention to his pokemon." Sorry for the rush, you two but we need to be quick. Princess, I want you to get King's scent. And King, forgive me as I know you just got back but I need your help again. I want you to follow and tail the man that just left. Keep an eye on him and if he does anything shady or suspicious then you are to act and do what you can to hinder him, if possible, send out an alert." He quickly relayed the plan of action to the two who were understandably confused though understood the seriousness of the situation.

Tristan felt bad for putting the two through all this when he only just got them and would be sure to reward them once this was all over with. Hopefully with the thief caught whose identity was now sure of; a thief that was also now panicking which made this a most dangerous and vital moment as he had no idea of the man's circumstances or how far he was willing to go. Without wasting time, Princess took a few deep whiffs of King having his scent memorized and once done, King gave a motivated caw then flew off after Robbie while making sure not to get too close.

"Be careful, King. Ok, Princess. Try to pick up his scent and lead the way." Petting the bipedal canine as a small way of thanking her, feeling especially bad to put her through all this right after their proper introductions." Riou!" She gave a determined cry of her own and padded her way outside to start sniffing around her and along the ground.

Okay, so this was a much tougher fight than some preschoolers' pokemon. Sage didn't seem like he would handle the next attack the rowlett sent his way, but thankfully the sand cloud stopped the rowlett enough for him to get another solid hit in on it. That glow was weird though. It almost - oh! There's an ability that did something like that. What was it? Ugh.

It didn't matter. Aside from the power, it didn't look like the bird could handle another hit from Sage. Not that Sage could handle another hit from the rowlett either. If she was ever going to catch it, now was her shot.

She pulled out one of her starter balls, expanded it, and "Pokeball, go!" threw it at the rowlett. Please please please

@Zarkun
The Breeder smiles and takes the Pokeball from the counter. "Excellent. I'll just take your Pokemon to the back and begin to tutor it." The Breeder went to a backroom behind him and for a few moments there was silence before there was a loud crash and yelling only for him to come back out with tattered clothes, bruises, and Jason's Pokemon back in its ball.

Oscissor learned Ominous Wind!

"Thank you... Can I help you with anything else?" He said shakily and a forced smile.



What does Jason do?

Connected Areas
Starbor Forest. A forest filled with ungodly huge trees and many secrets.
Lake Charity. A massive body of water. Used to travel between Starbor Village, Valstille City, and Florasong Town.
Blue Lichen Cave. South of Starbor Village.

---

@Joshua Tamashii

The kid was hiding behind his mother, holding his Ratata as he kept his distance from the Mimikyu. Meanwhile the mother smiled at the strange, creepy creature and said, "Is that so? Well, thank you very much Mimikyu." She looked down to the child behind her legs peeping over to look down at the ghost-type Pokemon with great apprehension.

"Aren't you going to thank it too? It found your friend." said the mother.

"Um, thank you for taking care of Chewy." The child finally said before quickly hiding behind his mother again. It was only natural that this child was afraid of the Mimikyu. Ghost types have a terrible reputation and the fact that Mimikyu looks like a deranged voodoo doll thanks to its scuffed cloak only made it worse, but luckily, at least someone seemed to be more eager to show its appreciation.

The Ratata popped out of the boy's arms and ran over to the Mimikyu to give it an affectionate head bump before running back to its owner where they would walk away while waving the Mimikyu and Amelia goodbye until they left the Pokemon Center.

The Mimikyu was looking up at Amelia, not in a way that could be said expectantly, but hopeful that she would keep her word and take it along with her on whatever journey the girl was on. It was better than being alone again. "Mimu?"

What does Amelia do?

---

@samreaper

Thus, the escapades of King began once again. The Murkrow flew above Bill and managed to keep his distance away from the farm hand while he followed him though it did not actually matter. Bill was simply too preoccupied.

This man rolled a nat 1 in not just the game, but in life in general. He would have not noticed the magenta-colored bird even if King was flying so close to his ear and breathing in it. No, he was in a complete state of panic and pain as he limped his way through the fields instead of going to the security station like he said he was going to with King trailing not far from him. King could see from his vantage point in the air an old, dilapidated. forgotten cabin, an unpainted, dingey gray building with a dark roof that was slumped and looked like it was slowly caving in on itself. This seemed to be where Bill was heading towards.

Meanwhile, Princess was having some slight issue with Tristan's order. There were two trails that had King's scent: one that led to King and the one that led to the Pokemon that was covered in King's feathers. However, it seemed like she was able to find the right trail, which after about five minutes led to a large, empty ditch though really it was an empty irrigation channel where the water is shared between farms though judging by how dry it was it was pretty plain to see it had not been used in years. Princess could smell that the trail continued down in the old irrigation cannel. They would need to go down it.

---

@Sanguine Rose

In her desperate attempt to catch the Rowlet, Faye threw a Pokeball at the bird with as much force as she could muster. The ball smacks against the top of the bird's head and is absorbed in a beam of red light. It lands and begins to roll.

It rolled once... it rolled twice...it rolled thrice!



"Huh, not bad. I was expecting it to floor you, but I suppose you're a bit better than I expected." The young farmgirl said with a smirk. She looked as if she had been thoroughly entertained and at least in a good mood again. "By the way, I realized I never introduced myself. The name is Rosa Andersen." She said holding her hand out for a handshake. If Faye were to reciprocate, it would feel like her hand was caught in a calloused vice.

"If you ever need a place to crash for the night after adventuring and all, just head over to Frida's Ranch. My parent's own it and if you tell them that I told you to come they'll probably be cool with it. They're nice folk. Pa is especially a big ol' softie so he may even let you get away with getting a Pokemon from our ranch if you ask nicely enough."

What does Faye do now?

Connected Areas:

Grand Glory City
Florasong City
Unmarked Woods

Taking his new partner back, Jason smiled apologetically and shook his head. "No, but I'll keep the service in mind for the future." Waving farewell to the tutor, Jason takes his leave of the Pokecenter and looks around, once more taking in the sights and sounds of a city built literally upon nature's foundation. While he did think that investigating the marsh was important, not to mention he wasn't done with the deep woods yet, he also wanted to familiarize himself with Starbor and so, with that in mind, he would begin to do exactly that, chatting with the locals and looking around, learning all he could.

---

King followed after the human Tristan told him to tail even while not completely sure why but as he flew a short distant away, he could tell the man was in a clear state of panic. So much so that the magenta bird could literally fly right up next to him if he chose to but decided it safer to keep a small distance. Never know what a panicked man might do. Whatever was going through Robbie's head it was clear he was a man pushed to the brink of desperation and without knowing more, attacking him now would be pointless. A good decision that soon had him unknowingly leading King to some shoddy run-down cabin. The murkrow decided to fly on ahead towards the cabin wanting to check its surrounding to see if there were anything out of place then flew down to peer through any hole or window to see what's inside.

Meanwhile, during this time Tristan was following after Princess who struggled at first to pick up the right trail. But Tristan kept quiet and waited; not wanting to pressure or throw off her focus as this was her first time tracking something by scent for all he knew and rushing her would only throw her off when she was probably reeling from whatever she sensed from Robbie. Still, the silver haired teen could not help but be tense and a bit impatient when time was of the essence. Thankfully though she eventually seemed to pick up on the trail which ultimately led them to a...dried up irrigation channel? And by the looks of it had not seen use in a fairly long while at that. A strange place for it to slip away too as he looked around; initially seeing nothing of the transforming pokemon." Are you sure this the way?" He asked Princess wanting to be sure who gave a small yelping nod of the head in reply." Hm...alright. Let's proceed but stay alert in case this pokemon might try to ambush or flee." Princess nodded and took on a slightly more reserved posture as she continued sniffing out the trail.

Amelia watched as the mother, son, and Chewy gave their thanks, some more reluctantly than others but for understandable reasons, before the family left the pokemon center. When Mimikyu turned to face her, she caught the note of possible worry in its tone. Smiling down at it, she reached into her bag before pulling out a pokeball and pressing the button in the center, enlargening it in her hand. She then presented it to Mimikyu.
"I'm more than happy to have you come along. But I ultimately leave that up to you. If you want to come along, come on in. After all, it would be bad if someone decided to try and take you away from me because you didn't have a pokeball." She said gently. She guessed Mimikyu would jump on in but she wanted to be sure the pokemon was certain of its decision.

The ball hit and sucked the Rowlet in. The fear she may have overthrown or underthrown or missed her aim at least subsided. But now was the anxiety of watching it roll. Once, twice, a third time....It settled to denote a successful capture.

"Yes!" the exclamation came with a fist pumped jump into the air before Faye ran over and scooped Sage up into a hug. "That was amazing, and we officially have our first new member." She couldn't stop grinning. A quick spin with Sage later, and she put her Eevee back down and collected her newly caught Pokémon ball.

She looked back at the girl that had lead her to the Pokemon, almost as if she just realized the girl was still there when she spoke up. Her joyful grin turned a bit sheepish at the girl's first statement. "Yeah, I'll be honest. I wasn't entirely certain I was going to capture it," she gave a sheepish laugh and rubbed the back of her head. The smile came back when the girl seemed to brighten up and introduced herself. Faye accepted the handshake, swallowing a wince as she tried (and failed) to match the grip. "Nice to properly meet your acquaintance, Rosa. As I said before, my name is Faye Wrexlyn. This is...kinda my first day as a trainer."

Which reminded her...her new Pokemon needed to be checked to make sure it was still okay enough to continue forward instead of needing to go back to Grand Glory to heal both of them up. Sage was hurt but if both looked about the same, they could wait to see if the Daycare maybe had a healing station before she really made up her mind to backtrack. She released the Rowlet from it's pokeball. The Rowlet fluffed its feathers, giving a full body shake with its wings spread to help settle everything back down. "Hoot hoot." She flapped her wings again before flighting up to land on Faye's offered arm.

"You're not a boy though, so Mr Hoot doesn't quite fit, huh?" "Hoot." Faye tapped her finger to her chin. "I think Tilia would be a good one. How about it?" The rowlet tilted her head a little, looking Faye up and down for a second before ruffling up and settling its feathers again with another hoot.

Faye turned her attention back to Rosa. "Frida's Ranch? Like, a Pokemon ranch? That's pretty cool. What's it like on a Pokemon ranch? Ooo, what kind of Pokemon do you guys raise there? How much further down the road is it?" She stopped herself before another question tumbled out of her mouth. "Sorry for the questions, but I'd love to get to actually see a ranch with my own eyes before I continue on my way. I was gonna head off to the Daycare nearby to see if they could identify an egg I was given in Grand Glory. But, first, I think I should still go check to make sure those kids got their Wooloo back. I'd feel awful if any of them got hurt getting him back after Sage knocked him down that hill." She returned Tilia and Sage to their Pokeballs to rest up. "We can head back to check on them together," she offered.

Whether Rosa decided to stay where she was or join her, Faye started off to go check on the kids and their Pokemon. She'd also still wanted to offer to take pictures in her semi-professional manner of each of the kids with their Pokemon - and maybe get a picture with them as a commemoration for her first official battles - as thanks for the opportunity to capture a rowlet.

It seemed like violence wasn't always the answer; apparently, just the perceived threat of potential violence was enough! Not that she had any intention of being so right now...honestly this day had been pretty draining and she was just in a bad mood, as was evident for any and all to see and not many would blame her for being in such a mood after having to deal with that thief. Let alone that encounter with that rich prick was still freshish on her mind, which honestly paled in comparison to the thief. God he was a piece of shit.

Watching as the man left in a hurry, she just returned the whimpod to its ball and shrugged as she retrieved the money she had intended to pay with. He was an obvious scam artist, but if he didn't want her money she wasn't going to complain.

With Freya seeming to have a place in mind, Steph just nodded and followed after her, tossing her new friends ball up and down a few times as she pondered over a name. She wasn't sure why, but Glory seemed a good name for the cowardly pokemon. Oddly fitting in her mind. It didn't take long to reach their designation, and honestly it wasn't the type of place that Steph had expected Freya to go to. The place was in dire need of a fresh paint job, and the noise and buzz of people inside was quite audible even though they had yet to even open the door. It seemed like the occupants were having a good time....

And they certainly were! Upon opening the doors, she was greeted with the loud chatter of people, the clanging of glasses in toasts and the extremely audible laughing of those under the influence. This atmosphere seemed to perk Steph up though, a small smile on her face. Not just the design of the place, but the atmosphere in general just seemed to remind her of home. Of Galar. Ah, she wondered how her aunt, uncle and cousins were faring...

Taking her seat, she raised an eyebrow at the dieno and pointed down to it and the growlithe.

"Wheah diied yah geh' such a raeh pokemawn? ooh roigh', and Oy wahnted t' ask yah wheah yah gawt thaht cute leettle pupah! Who's a good boy~....or guhl." Reaching forward slightly, she extended a hand out to pet the growlithe as she spoke. As she did so, Dusk hopped onto the table and was curiously glancing around the pub. It was his first time being in such a place, and there were so many humans....

While she just let Dusk roam around and near the table as he pleased, though making sure he didnt wander off too far, Steph kept her ears peeled. You see, going to a pub was good for a meal and all but it was also a hub of activity; which meant all sorts would come through. travellers, locals, the lot. And one could learn a lot just by listening even remotely, let alone a lot of...interesting sort could be found. So if anyone interesting was to be seen, or if she had anything interesting; this would be one of the places to do so!

"Sao whaht type of grub do thy do heah? Oy'm fuymeeshed."

@Zarkun

So, Jason decided to ask the locals to learn about the village and its happenings.

"If you're looking for fun, head towards the Entertainment District. It's at the top of the village and generally has something for everyone though if you're a trainer you'll probably like the Battle Square. Funnily enough, a wild Pokemon has been challenging and beating trainers there."

"Oh, if you're looking for information you can go to the Scholar District. There is a library and a lab where a pretty famous professor who researches the ecology of Pokemon works. It's also where the local Pokemon Breeders are located where they specifically breed a regional variant of Voltorb that went extinct in their original region a few hundred years ago. There is someone there who is interested in researching something about the Forest Deity."

"They're some Pokemon in the Agricultural District. We are mainly a self-reliant, so we grow our own crops, but every now and again Pokemon decide that they want to snack on them to the frustration of the farmers."

"The Market District doesn't really have a department store, but more like various stalls and storefronts. At the top of my head, there's a farmers' market where the local farmers sell their goods, some useful for trainers like yourself. A wacky craftsman from Frostford that will sell you some random stuff has a shop set up there. Of course, there are other stores, but half of the fun is the exploring!"

Of course, this information is all incomplete and would need to venture into the areas himself to learn more about them though this was a start.

What does he do?

---

@samreaper

King would not notice anything really strange about anything around the house other than the fact that it looked like it would keel over from a strong gust of wind. It was a wonder how this place hasn't been taken down yet given much of a safety hazard that this thing was. Even flying down, King would not have noticed that were was anything odd, save for a single magenta feather on the rotten wooden floor. The thing that King had marked had been inside, or maybe still inside.

Meanwhile with the Princess and Tristan team, they went down this oversized, dried out irrigation channel to see where in the fresh hell it could've led. They walked down for only a few minutes before Princess would stop in her tracks. It was not that she lost the scent, not really. Rather, she just looked confused as she looked around because the thing was that she could still follow King's trail. The issue was that it would've been impossible to follow the scent because it would mean having to go through solid earth.

Princess was facing one of the walls of the channel.

What does Tristan do?

---

@Joshua Tamashii

Without a moment of hesitation, the Mimikyu slapped the button on the Pokeball and was absorbed into it. The Pokeball would begin to roll in her hand.

It rolled once... it rolled twice...it rolled thrice!



A few moments later after whatever celebration that Amelia may have had, she felt something... odd. Not from the Pokeball that contained from her newly acquired Mimikyu. No, in fact it was something that typically would not, should not be possible. For a split second, maybe even less, she felt an explosion of spectral energy wash over her though it seemed to be quickly cut off by something. Every hair on her body would've been standing and even Amelia, the ghost girl, would've felt chills creeping down her spine. Of course, only Amelia would be able to notice this given her unique abilities.

What was odd about it is that Amelia's ability to sense this sort of thing had a limited range. She would have been able to gather that this was not happening anywhere in the city; such an occurrence would've actually been disastrous. If this was the case, it would mean that it was happening outside of the city and if that were the case, then it would mean that whatever this was it was powerful enough to trigger her sixth sense from a distance and as far as she knew was the only one aware of it.

For that split second, she would've been able to tell that the general direction that this energy came from between routes 1 and 4, towards Lake Charity.

(From the DM: This is an optional dungeon. Once you enter, you cannot leave until you succeed in clearing whatever objective you find or fail. Do whatever you need to prepare if you wish to go through with it.)

---

@Sanguine Rose

"Yeah, I could figure that out on my own. You didn't hide your nervousness when battling children very well." She said with a bit of a smirk in response to Faye's confession. It wasn't that hard to see when someone looked tense over battling with small children that barely had any idea what strategy was, but hey, at least she was decent enough that she could actually win. Well, that was a really low bar anyway.

Rosa just watched the interaction between Faye and her new companion, pretty amused that Mr. Hoots was actually a Mrs. Hoots. It wasn't really that surprising though. Who would expect preschoolers to properly check the sex of a Pokemon? They probably just said the first thing that came to their minds and stuck with it.

When asked about what life is like on a ranch, Rosa just shrugged. "Ehhhhh, it's fine, I guess. I tend to help out after school a bit though it's fun when we get to take care of the hatchlings. It's a bit far from here, considering we're off the beaten path, but once we get back on track it should only be a few minutes by foot."

They were in the middle of a field after all. They would need to come back the way they came in order to get back on the route proper. Seeing as this was the case, Rosa shrugged again and said "Eh, sure. Why not? We're heading back the same way anyway."

With that, they made their way through the fields again until they were back on Route 1 proper. Eventually, they would find that the kids had indeed caught up to the Wooloo and was now safely just napping under a tree.

One of them asked, "Did you catch Mr. Hoots?"

---

@Lunarlord34

"Oh, my brother gave me this little guy when I was selected to take part of the League. It's his Hydreigon's kid though he's a bit..." She glanced at the Deino chewing on the table before she loosened its jaw and pulled its head back. Its tongue popped out in a derpy manner as it seemed to stare into space though it was hard to tell due to its fur obscuring its eyes.

Meanwhile the Growlithe happily received some head pats from Steph, instantly gaining its favor. When asked about where she obtained this fire puppy, Freya said,"Oh, there are some Growlithes back in the park by the Trainer's School. The park is typically used as a place to help new trainers learn how to catch Pokemon, among other things."

When asked about what people usually eat in this joint, she leaned out of her seat as if she was looking for something. "Oh, yeah, menus." Freya waved down a server who brought a really cheap looking menu that was stained in some sort of sauce and reeked of booze.

Steph was handed a menu and really, it was standard fair pub food such as burgers and fish and chips though there was an entire section dedicated to curry, which in a way makes sense because that was Galar's favored dish and they were in a Galarian pub. Of course, the menu had a drinks section that both contained a list of beers, wines, and the like, but because they were both underaged, they were not allowed order these drinks, so they were only allowed to order only non-alcoholic drinks, including mocktails if they were so inclined.

While Steph was looking at the menu, she'd hear a few conversations that may have been of interest to her.

"Hey, have you heard about some weird Pokemon coming out from the sewers at night?"

"Yeah, no idea what's going on there. I wonder what the deal with that is though I'm sure as hell not exploring those sewers looking for it."

From another table, she could hear another interesting conversation.

"I'm telling you, when I was hiking outside the city, I felt the fear of god in me. For some reason when I was heading closer to Lake Charity, every fiber in my being screamed at me to run. I've never felt this fearful in my life."

"Sounds like a you problem. Ever thought of getting a new hobby?"

"Screw you."

Before Steph could eavesdrop more, the server returned and asked, "Freya, miss. Any drinks first or are we ready to order?"

Jason sat on a bench near one of the lifts up and hummed thoughtfully to himself, Occisor's pokeball bouncing up and down in his hand as he tossed up and down. A wild Pokemon kickin' butt in the arena, invading Pokemon in the agricultural area and a person curious enough to be trying to research the Forest Deity. After a moment of debate, he gets on the lift and rides it to the top, where the Entertainment district was. Finding the Battle Square wasn't hard and once he arrived, he went looking for the wild Pokemon that's been kicking everyone's rear ends.

---

King was worried even landing on the window still would make this cabin topple over with how bad of a state was in. The bird was careful not to move too much as he peered inside only to see nothing of interest besides one of its own feathers? He let out a curious caw wondering if the ditto had been here. Knowing that Robbie would be arriving shortly, the Murkrow decided to remain hidden and wait to see what the human would do.

As Tristan and Princess made their way into the canal ready to take on whatever they might find down there. Except, there seemed to be nothing at all as he soon saw Princess to be at a loss after having lead to one of the walls of the canals." What..that's it?" The rich teen look around in both directions but saw nothing." No..you can't be serious!" Throwing up his arms in exasperation before rummaging his hands through his hair in frustration as Princess let out a whimpering cry feeling like she was at fault for failing his trainer. Tristan took a few deep breaths trying to contain his growing frustration." You did nothing wrong, Princess....you did everything right. Both you and King..it was just me that was wrong." Shifting his hands to rub his face as he let out a growl.

" Wrong...just like always..damn it! This was supposed to be a special day where I become a trainer and..and finally do something to get father to notice me!" He scowled snatching up a rock and tossing it in some random direction with a huff." Damn that prof and that wicked dragon and damn that she-beast and giant!" Shouting his pent-up rage that and shame that had boiled in him for no one to hear but him and Princess who wanted to try and comfort him but the sudden bout of intense anger and shame was a tad strong for the inexperienced canine.

She could only wait for Tristan to get it out and let his strong emotions relent.

Tristan glared up at the sky as if expecting a reply or sign when he saw some birds fly by causing his eyebrow to twitch and face redden." And damn that fucking bird!!" The teen shouted as he spun around to deliver the hardest kick he could at the wall which he instantly regretted as he was hopping back on one foot clutching the one used to kick." Agh, damn it alllll-" His heel caught a rock causing him to trip and fall onto his back with a thump.

A small cloud of dust settled shortly after as the silver haired teen was left lying on his back panting with his dust covered face wincing in pain." Ugh..just my fucking luck. I just wanted to help the nice couple with their ranch...and because of my dumb decisions the thief has likely made their escape. I've failed that sweet couple...and my favorite designer shirt is all ruined on top of it all." Resting his hands over his face once more to let out muffled scream as his head thumped against the ground.

Lying there panting feeling tired and defeated, unsure of what to do when he felt a small warm embrace against his chest as Princess nuzzled against him trying to offer him comfort. A sharp inhale followed by a slow exhale before Tristan slid his hands from his face to place his right hand on her head petting the mon." I'm glad I have you here with me at least. You did amazing Princess, really...If only your trainer wasn't an idiot." He sighed saying nothing more letting the comforting warmth of Princess wash over him as he tried to figure out what to do as he already dreaded telling the ranchers he likely let the thief get away.

It was difficult to tell who was happier with the headpats and chin scritches the growlithe or Steph. She had grown up with a couple of growlithe and the like up on the farm, so it was a great reminder of home. Upon hearing you could catch some in the park...well she made a mental note to get one later. After getting some more pokeballs as well, she only had the 3 left....

Handed a stained menu, Steph didn't even bat an eyelid at its condition. If anything, this reminded her of the pubs from back home more. A more rustic feel despite their inner city location, Steph could most certainly appreciate this as she scanned the menu. Her ears twitched slightly as she caught a few words said here and there between patrons.

A weird pokemon in the sewers? And only at night? Steph had planned on leaving Grand Glory city before nightfall...but maybe staying the night and investigating these sewers could be well worth the reward? She could always leave first thing in the morning along route 4 anyway.

And speaking of route 4, something about the Lake that ran beside it and route one also crept into her other ear. An odd sensation that creeped people out by the lake? Something of that nature...always excited Steph! For a moment, Freya saw her eyes light up. Weird and occult things and Steph had always had...an interesting relationship. They were drawn to her, and she was drawn to them for reasons she hadn't really understood bar maybe her parents had had an interest in such things? She had found a book from her parents on the matter after all. So maybe it was her way of trying to understand her parents, who she had never really known?

Well, she knew her next designation. She imagined she could reach it via route 4 anyway...should probably check on a map later.

Though now her attention was firmly back to earth, reality snapped back into place as the waiter returned. So Freya was something of a regular here then? Steph had assumed as much seeing as well...she had brought her here, when honestly this place didn't seem like it was for someone like Freya. But looks were deceiving on that front anyway....but now that the waiter knew her, well it solidified the assumption in Steph's head.

Either that or Freya was a super famous hotshot and Steph was completely oblivious to it.

"Uh yayh a soda pawp thighnks...and Oy'll tyke the pahmi and cheeps weeth some vaegeh'ables on the soide."

@Zarkun

At the cable cart stop, he would see this yellow and red cart slowly come down and halt to a stop. Its doors slid open, and people flooded in and out of the cart. The interior looked very much of that like a bus; it had seats where there were probably not enough seats and some poles that people could hold onto. It would stop every now and again to let people off and in from the different districts and give him a peek of what the other districts were like. One looked a bazaar filled with stalls and other storefronts with people all about looking for deals and another district looked like it had academic buildings and various cafes where scholarly people were hanging about.

These were not a quick means of transportation; the cart was slow, which was not helped by the many stops that it made. Occasionally at the higher levels, there would be a gust of wind that would jostle the cart. Eventually, the cart would stop one more time and the electronic announcer finally said...



It wasn't a long walk from the cable cart stop and the Battle Square. In fact, it was not very hard to find it at all. Sure, the Entertainment District was typically a bit crowded, but as he walked long the wooden platforms that made up the layer, he would see people pressed together as they were trying to get a view of something. That was until they all seemed to jump out of the way as some rando was sent flying by his own Pokemon being smashed into them. This earned a lot of pained 'oooos' and other grunts.

The culprit for this was this bipedal bird standing just slightly over two inches and looked like it was ripped straight out of some wrestling program. It was posing in celebration for its glorious victory over another trainer, a complete and utter blowhard of a Pokemon though one cannot deny its results.

Jason would not have a clue what this Pokemon was given that he was from the Hoenn region, but his handy dandy Pokedex sure knew what it was.

---

@samreaper

Robbie approached the house, not noticing King in his state of panic, and went inside. The man seemed obviously shaken and looked around in a frenzy. "Come on Ditto, I know you're here."

A blobby, pink thing that still had a few magenta feathers moved out appeared from underneath an old, broken sofa. "Ditto?"

Meanwhile...

There was something that Tristan did not notice given that he decided to not investigate the wall that Princess was facing, which had the scent of King still lingering through. It was actually a bit different compared to the rest of canal; the dirt looked less packed together, as if the dirt was a bit looser for some reason. In his fit of despair, when Tristan first punched the ground, a bit of the loose earth fell off. When Tristan then fell on his back, more of the dirt fell this time in a larger chunk that fell on the poor lad though it was a stroke of luck. There was a dusty, still half covered in dirt, wooden door.

---

@Lunarlord34

The waiter just looked at Steph as if she had Caterpies crawling out of her ears, but again, Freya was there to help translate for her, who is also translating for the narrator because what in the fresh hell is a 'pahmi?' Well, maybe the prospect of food was improving her mood because the fact that the Galarian's eyes lit up did not escape Freya. However, the gossip was actually what escaped her as she caught none of what was said around them.

"You seem to be in a bit of a better mood now." Freya commented with a smile as she leaned back in her seat though she did sigh as she did seem to be a bit bothered herself. "I can't imagine that Evig has made a very good first impression on you considering what you've seen today. Well, except for that guy with the Kalosian accent. We take no responsibility for that."

Really, it would have been reasonable to have a bit of a tainted image of what Evig was like after the kind of people that Steph had met. Thugs, scam artists, a Kalosian... it would be amazing that her view wasn't altered somewhat.

So, do Steph and Freya have a nice lunch and move on or is there something specific that Steph wants to do at the pub?

Jason winced as the poor trainer and their partner slammed into the wall and groaned in pain and listened to the Pokedex entry on Hawlucha. As he stood there watching as a group of other trainers argued with each other over who was going next, he debated with himself. This thing is strong and just looking at it, I can tell my team won't be besting it as they are now. Maybe if we go put in some training first...yeah, actually...yeah, let's go do that. Putting a marker on the map with his Pokedex to where the Battle Square was. After that, he decided to spend some time preparing his team to go up against that monster of a Pokemon. "Right, I'll be back for you."

And with that, Jason was off to train up his team against whatever wild Pokemon he could find, also trying to catch a Starly, including backtracking out to the forest to battle there.

(Grinding levels and attempting to quick catch a Starly using Sable's Leer and Scratch.)

---

King soon witnessed Robbie enter the cabin in a state of pure panic while shouting out for ditto. The bird nearly let out a caw of shock had he not covered up his beak with his wings when seeing the magenta feathered pink blob ooze its way out from beneath the old sofa. Now the Murkrow understood why his trainer asked him to tail this human. Remembering what Tristan told him, King chose to keep observing to what Robbie would do next.

Back at the canal, Tristan was still lying on his back feeling sorry for himself in a pity fest with Princess trying to comfort and console him when her ears perked at the sound of falling dirt. Lifting her head to notice the door and let out a bark while pointing her paw to get her trainer's attention." Princess, can't you see I'm brooding here." He muttered out in a tired voice but the riolu jumped up onto his stomach and barked again with an annoyed huff." Ugh..alright already. What got you all in a tuff." Begrudgingly lifting his head to see half of a wooden door revealed on the part of the wall he had kicked.

Blinking up at Princess and the door with a dumbfounded expression a few times then abruptly the teen stood up prompting the bipedal canine to hop down. She turned to look up at her trainer to see him dusting himself off." Just as I suspected! I had a feeling there was something hidden away and my ploy to be a frustrated teen for in case anyone nearby might mistake me for being up to something shady has worked swimmingly." He gloated shamelessly while fixing his hair as if all of what just happened was part of his plan.

Princess definitely didn't believe him and just stared up at her trainer with annoyed pity before letting out a sigh as she patted at his leg. A pat that Tristan could tell was one done out of pity and disbelief which he coughed to clear his throat." A-ahem. Yes..right. Anyway, now we just need to get the door uncovered and we can see what waits within." Wanting to move on and save face as he saw the dirt that still covered it then looked down at Princess." Hm... Princess would you be a dear? I would help but...I just had my hands manicured this morning and....well you understand, yes?" Smiling down at the blue canine with almost pleading eyes which elicited another sigh from the small mon as she padded over and gave the dirt covered parts of the door a good could of punches from her paws.

"Excellent! I think we've wasted enough time here. Let's get this door open and see what awaits within." Tristan exclaimed; his mood having done a 180 as he made for the door working on opening it though waited before heading through the opening." We do not know what awaits within or if the thief has any other allies so be on guard." Saying this both to Princess and himself as he needed a moment to shake off the sudden bout of nervousness. After a few deep breaths and slow exhales." Shall we?" The two then ventured inside unsure of what lurked within or where it led to.

Amelia smiled as Mimikyu quickly got into the pokeball and was easily caught. She was happy she was able to capture the Pokemon without having to battle. She really did prefer to avoid that if at all possible. She quickly let Mimikyu out of the ball before scooping it up into her arms.
"Welcome to the team Mimikyu." She said before she felt something she had never felt before. It was as if an explosion of energy hit her, and with no small amount of force either. The way it felt caused her to lose her balance for a second, which in turn caused Mimikyu and Phantump to look at her and let out cries of concern. Amelia quickly recovered and quickly left the pokemon center, looking around. She could still sense the spectral energy and the direction it was coming from, given how powerful it was. It was likely something very powerful, something she wasn't prepared for. But her curiosity was stronger, and she wanted to see what it was.

She wanted to rush off towards the energy, but she knew that something that could release that much was likely much stronger than she was. She still wanted to see what it was though, despite the high possibility of her being unable to catch it. Before she left town though, she would buy five Potions from the closest Pokemart, using her newly acquired cash. Once she had those, she would be on her way, out of town and towards the energy, Mimikyu in her arms and Phantump floating over her right shoulder.

Hearing Freyja speak about her mood-lifting, Steph just shrugged. Honestly, her mood could only have improved all things considered.

"Eh, shiieh' hahppens. theah ahh crooks nao mahttah wheah yah gao, espaecially in the biieg citees." She dismissed any notion of today leaving an impression on her of Evig very quickly. She hadn't expected much from a place that Cipher had done a number on anyway. If anything, maybe this pointed to the higher possibility of her finding a lead? It was optimistic, but Steph always tried to find a silver lining anyway.

"If Oy laeh' thiies much kayp me daown faw lawng, moy aunt and uncle would whiiep me intao shype in nao toime flaht haeh."

With their lunch dealt with, the next stop on their trip would be the pokemart. Steph was running low on pokeballs and other things, and with a bit of cash she should invest in a bit more than she was originally given. If along the way she happened to find a chip stealing Wingull swooping around and being an overall asshole, then she would most certainly look to put it in its place with Jack but otherwise upon arrival at the store she would aim to get 10 pokeballs and 3 potions and see if the shop keep knew anything else interesting going on around.

Like sure, she had heard some gossip at the pub but even if it was just tips for her journey, never hurt to learn more about the region or talk to people.

"That still sounds fun. My dad works with Pokémon, too. He helps Nurse Joy run the Pokémon Center in King's Cross, though he mostly works doing house calls and running the errands between Centers and such. I considered following in his footsteps, be a Pokémon doctor too, but he says I have too much wanderlust. Can't say he's wrong." Faye laughed softly. Even when she accompanied him on when he went off to other locations on tasks by the Joys, she always ended up wandering off to see the sights and explore. No, a job that kept her in one place wasn't for her.

But she'd definitely be stopping by that ranch on her way down the road to find the Daycare. Maybe one of Rosa's parents or one of their ranch hands would know what kind of Pokémon egg she had been given. It would certainly save her a trip to the Daycare before heading off into the forest, but that didn't mean the Daycare wouldn't be on her list. The list was already being rearranged, so why not jumble it further? No harm in getting sidetracked.

When they got back to see the kids had recovered the Wooloo, Faye felt like a weight had lifted from her shoulders. At least the Pokémon was fine and safe. "Oh, yes, I did manage to catch the Rowlett. Though, Mr. Hoot is actually a girl, so I renamed her Tilia. Sage and Tilia had quite the bit of a battle, so they're both resting in their Pokeballs right now, though." She offered the kids a grin. "But I wanted to make sure you guys got the Wooloo back safe, and say thank you for the tough competition to get the opportunity to capture her. So, as a thanks, I wanted to offer to do a bit of a professional photo shoot for you guys with your Pokemon." She looked at Rosa. "If that's okay with you, as their current caretaker."

@Zarkun

For the sake of simplicity, let's say that Jason decided to hunt for the Starly and really, it was not that hard to find one since they were all over the canopy of the village. He found this one literally just minding its own business until Jason so rudely interrupted its good vibes by throwing a sparkling bipedal gator at it.

The bird would counter its defense drop by using Growl to lower Sable's attack and would begin use Quick Attack to strike a pace faster than the Totodile could predict. However, it would still get hit with the Scratches that Sable would retaliate with. It was not a very exciting battle full of strategy; it was just two Pokemon beating the ever-loving crap out of each other until that bird was weak enough to go into a ball or until Sable went down. Fortunately, Jason did throw a Pokeball before Sable would go down and was absorbed into it.

It rolled once... it rolled twice... it rolled thrice!



Let's assume that Jason went to a Pokemon Center to heal up before going back to the woods.

Training in the woods, the main targets were just grass and bug type Pokemon, one of them being Shroomish. This Pokemon was particularly annoying to fight against due to physical contact moves triggering Effect Spore, which imparts a random status effect on the attacker.

Still, he got some training done and even trained against a the occasional uncommon Pokemon.







What does Jason do now?

Connected Areas:

Route 4
Corrupted Marsh
Starbor Village

---

@samreaper

"Okay, we gotta disappear. There are no bones about it, if we are found out then the police will be the least of our concerns. We'll leave through the tunnel and sneak our way out of the property." He tried to walk, but he winced in pain and had to sit down on a very old, creaky wooden chair. The pink blob concerningly moved over to him, but Robbit said, "I'll be fine. I just need to rest a bit. Please get the stash, Ditto."

The pink blob did some sort of nod and began to slide away as it seemed to be rummaging through some old furniture in

"God dammit, why me? Why did this have to happen to me?" He hid his face in his palms.

Meanwhile on Tristan's end, Princess removed the rest of the dirt from the door and opening it revealed an obviously manmade tunnel if the door wasn't an indication. There was an eerie silence as there were no Pokemon or any sound in that tunnel let alone any light source save from using something like his Pokedex's screen to light the way. Eventually, he wound find an end and there was a ladder and above him were now cracks of light.

What does Tristan do?

---

@Joshua Tamashii



She now has 1500P left.

After buying what she needed from the Pokemart, Amelia has now begun to look for the source of this spectral energy. There was no clear way of walking straight towards the source from Grand Glory so she would have to actually leave the city by one of its two routes. Considering that she wanted to avoid Florasong as much as possible, she would head south of the city. The further she went, the more he would notice that size of the buildings were less grand and sparce the greater the distance she walked. There was both a main road for vehicles to travel and a well-maintained dirt walkway for travelers making their way to the Starbor Woods and beyond if they were so inclined. She began to hear the sound of running water.



What does Amelia do?

---

@Lunarlord34

After a quite modest lunch, Steph and Freya went to a Pokemart and got her supplies after paying a very confused cashier though because she bought ten Pokeballs she also received a free Premier Ball.



Steph was left with now 400 P.

After that, Steph had decided to do some asking around just to learn about the region with... varying results. Her accent didn't really help that much though thankfully she had a friend to help clear some misunderstandings up and was given some general info about the region though nothing really all that notable really. The thing is that a lot of people gave a lot of answers that sounded like they were for tourists, offering things that either equate into tourist traps, restaurants, or extremely useless trivia that would only be useful for pub trivia night. However, there were some sensible people that actually had something that would be at least somewhat helpful to tell Steph.

"I've heard that there's something going on in the Corrupted Marsh. The Pokemon are agitated for some reason and are attacking anyone that walks in."

"Have you checked out the ruins on Route 4? Strange things they are. They're covered in writing that no one can understand though ghost types seem to love it around there. I wonder what they say."

"Tourist huh? If you're gonna head north, then I suggest you buy something warm. Route 8 and Frostford snow all year round and trust me, you don't want to go there unprepared. I swear, it ain't natural."

"Huh, exploring the region, are you? Word of advice. If you are ever in Neon Shore City, do your best to keep your head low. Not much good happens getting noticed there."

"Oh? If you're heading to the Starbor Woods, then you should get some tree climbing equipment. You can find some pretty interesting things up in them."

"Did you know that some of the Pokemon in Evig have regional forms? Some of them are a bit harder to find than others, but I if you're a trainer I'm sure you'll want to seek them out."

Speaking of thieving Winguls, Steph would see one of these water rats with wings not steal some chips, but a full-on sandwich from a very portly dark-skinned man with dreadlocks and glasses. "My manwich!"

---

@Sanguine Rose

Rosa took a second to think about it though it was really just a second. "Eh, sure why not? As long you aren't posting it online it should be fine. Gather around kids!"

It didn't take a lot to wrangle the kids though there was the challenge of taking the photos of kids; they do not know how to sit still. There were so many failed attempts of getting a single photo of them sitting still and looking at the camera. Eventually though, Faye would get a singular photo where they just sat still and looked straight at the camera much to Rosa and our photographer's relief.

"Ah, sorry about that. Herding kids is like herding Purrloin." Apologized Rosa for the amount of effort it took to get one photo.

What was Faye going to do now?

Connected Areas:

Grand Glory City
Florasong City
Unmarked Woods