---

Just thankful for it all to be over and done with. Now he could put this whole unpleasant ordeal behind him and look forward to a meal and a torchic, but for now he had to deal with a massive headache which did little to help with all the thoughts of what he went through for the day buzzing in his head.

As he thought it couldn't get any worse though this day refused to ease up on him as he found himself having to watch the little kid." Wait..I am not a babys-" His attempt to refuse but the two girls left the room without even giving him a chance or even a glance in his direction.

He slumped back in the chair with a scowling huff while draping his left leg over his right and arms folded across his chest. The rich teen was starting to wonder if this whole thing was actually worth the humiliation and backstabbing that this ranch saw fit to lay onto him at nearly every turn.

And now found himself stuck having to watch some brat. One that was staring at him all creepy like as he averted his gaze trying to look at anything but the girl and those unsettling unblinking eyes that sent a shiver down his spine.

He began rocking his foot and tapping his finger against his arm in an impatient manner thinking the girls rude for forcing babysitting duties on his hands. Tristan had half a mind to get up and give them a piece of his mind if they left him with this staring child of which he wanted nothing to do with. Or perhaps he could have Princess get her to leave him be but as he saw she was chatting with Sage and King seemed to have followed after Tillia who flew off with its trainer.

Trying to distract himself with a family picture on a nearby wall when the girl suddenly spoke up out of nowhere for the first time. His body flinching was his first reaction to the child's question as it took the uncomfortable teen off-guard." Um...pardon? Magazine?" He inquired; uncertain of her meaning at first due to being thrown off still and the headache though it clicked shortly after." A-ah right, yes magazines. And to answer it is because I am esteemed handsome individual who has done a fair share of modeling for such magazines. You seem to have a good eye for noticing and I would not be surprised if you or your sister have seen this stunning face before. " Doing a small pose with a grand twinkling smile feeling his mood uplifted a bit for having his handsomeness recognized, a first today and a much-needed boost to his morale.

Spotting the scorch marks, Steph raised an eyebrow and called back Dusk to her shoulder, returning Glory and Jack back to their balls, before kneeling down to inspect the marks. Honestly, she wasn't too sure what she was looking at or for, but anything that may hold a clue as to the cause. That was when she would spot the one that still smelled strongly of smoke, and even seemed to be smouldering slightly. There wasn't near where Dusk had been fighting right? Like, the chances of this being caused by Dusk wasn't zero...however, she was already knocking out that possibility. The other scorch marks were way too old.

Maybe if she followed them it could lead her to the source? Maybe it was whatever was the weird pokemon that came out at night that she had heard about, and thus the reason why she was down here? Either that or it was entirly unrelated, but at any rate this was her only clue as of now so suppose it was best to follow it for now. Worst case, it was a waste of her time or maybe she found another odd pokemon down here?

So, standing up and dusting off her knees, she would go in the direction she believed that it had gone, keeping Dusk at the ready in the case that if she were to come across the pokemon, or any pokemon for that matter, and it was hostile, then her partner would be ready and raring to go.

@samreaper

"Nah, I've never seen you before." The little girl stated bluntly though she seemed to be in thought and 'hmmming' a bit to herself. "Well, maybe I just didn't see the ones with you in them. Depends on where sis hides them. She doesn't like it when I look through her stuff, so she tends to hide things away from me."

Can't imagine why Rosa would. Yeah, definitely can't imagine why she would hide her belongings away from someone that does not respect boundaries. Well, at least maybe that explanation would at least save Tristan's already cracked ego. Or not. Honestly, it was hard to tell at this point. For all we knew, his world just got shattered just because a preschooler said he didn't know who he was.

Neil's imposing form entered the room with a six pack of milk and a wad of cash. He looked down at his daughter with a smile and said, "Lisa, sweetie, how about you go help mama with dinner? This young man and I have some business." For Tristan, it was probably a foreign concept to actually be looked upon by one's father with affection and gentleness. Well, he had probably seen it in TV shows and movies, but one would doubt he had ever seen it in real life.

"Okay papa. Bye pretty guy." She waved at Tristan before running out of all room and presumably to the kitchen.

Her father just sighed with relief and turned his attention back to the teen. "Alright, here is your reward." While handing the stuff to Tristan, he fished around in his pockets and pulled out a Pokeball, which was also then held out for Tristan to grab.





After receiving Tristan received reward, Neil then stood there a bit awkwardly as if he had something to say though he wasn't sure how to put it. For such a large man, imposing man with a stony expression he was terrible at hiding his emotions.

---

@Lunarlord34

There was something that differentiated the scorch marks left by Dusk than the ones that were littered about. If the marks were caused by Dusk, they would only be facing a singular direction. The scorch marks left by whatever caused it were pointing in several directions and looked like they came from the center of the blast zone, so that would have been the only confirmation that she needed that this was caused by something other than her sparkly candle. Following them was a good move on her part because while they were a bit sporadic at times, one could figure out that there was path to be found. It was probably the path that the Pokemon took the most often. One could only imagine that whatever that was the cause got into plenty of scraps.

Walking around, she would notice that many of the Pokemon that she fought were giving her way because they sure as hell wanted nothing to do with her or her Pokemon after watching them just beat the ever-loving crap out of their friends though she did notice that some of them were moving stiffly and slowly in comparison to the rest, and occasionally sparking with electricity. Now Steph had seen plenty of Pokemon Battles back home in Galar, so she knew exactly what this was paralysis. She would have to think on this while following the marks until she heard the crackling of electricity and sparks radiating just past a corner of a wall that was obscuring what was causing it.

What does Steph do?

---

A good mood that was short-lasting after the kid admitted to not recognizing him at all though the fact her sister hid the magazines likely explained it. Not to mention that kids didn't really have interest in models or topics regarding fashion so it's not like his pride or ego was hurt, mostly just disappointed having his excitement deflate.

Not long after did Neil walk in and in the big bear of man's arms were bottles of what he surmised to be the Moomoo milk which had him perking up at the prospect of getting his rewards. Hearing Neil talk to Lisa like an actual loving father definitely felt foreign to Tristan and certainly stung him with a bit of bitterness though Lisa's pretty guy compliment more or less got his mind off mainly due to it throwing him off guard.

Waiting for Lisa to run out of the room before standing up, his once tense body relaxing a bit as the mere presence of kids often had him feeling uncomfortable. Though he found he didn't mind Lisa *as* much, her creepy staring aside as she at least had some semblance of manners unlike most." She is an um...cute kid?" His awkward attempt at complimenting the father's child; unsure if it was the right way to do so or if he should say more which left him standing and lightly bouncing on the balls of his feet in awkward fashion.

So, you can imagine how thankful he was to have the awkward air ended by Neil handing him the Moomoo milk. A drink Tristan could not recall having tried before, but a quick inspection told him they looked to be tasty that promised to be a delicious treat for both his pokemon and himself. He happily took the rewards, but the one he was most happy and excited for was the pokeball holding the Torchic, the coveted pokemon he went through this whole ordeal for and now that it was in his hands could dare say was worth it all.

" Thank you, Mr. Neil. I will be sure to take the utmost care for this one." Tristan stated his promise with a smiling nod, turning the ball over in his hand.

He was looking forward to meeting the pokemon, but with Princess and King off interacting with that frumpy girl's pokemon he thought it best to wait till they were with him again before doing so. This would also allow him to think up a name to give the cute chick.

There was also the matter of Neil who looked as if he had some things to say or to talk about, his guess that it involved Robbie. The rich teen clasped the pokeball to his belt for the time being before craning his head back to look up at the giant burly rancher. Taking a moment to think of what to say then cleared his throat." This whole situation is... unfortunate and I can imagine how difficult it must be regarding Robbie." His face showed a number of emotions after mentioning the man's name with anger, sadness and a bit of pity." The man made mistakes and what he did was wrong but... through it all the one thing I can say is that... Robbie was...is a good person." Nodding in the hopes his words were of some small comfort.

Having said that, Tristan started thinking over their interactions and the things Robbie told him. The way he acted and how serious he was regarding the file or the fact he told him about a person he needed to hand it over had him pondering over the things he said. Now that he was actually given a chance to think on it... things didn't add up as only an absolute moron would try to cheat the mafia at their own casino as the plan with the ditto seemed too well thought out which went against the image of a stupid person. But the things that stood out the most was the folder itself. Why would the mafia give someone that stole from them anything of actual importance that could be damning to them? And this person he was to find and hand it over to... it looked to be more planned if anything.

He lacked enough information to figure this out, but one thing was for sure. There was definitely far more to this folder and the situation surrounding it. This only confirmed just how dangerous holding onto it might actually be; hell, he had no way to know if the person he was to hand it off to was even a good person or someone part of a rivaling gang.

Tristan was starting to realize the danger was far bigger than initially thought and needed more time to think on this. For now, the best thing to do was to keep quiet and tell no one about it.

Not going to lie...Steph was slightly disappointed in the timidness of the wild mons around her. She was at least maybe hoping for one to have some spine left but from an outsider's perspective, who the fuck could blame them? This pyschopath and her 'friends' just suddenly came out of nowhere and attacked them without mercy! But at any rate, it made following the trail easier. What kind of pokemon made marks like this? Was it an explosion of some sort? Fire? Elecricity? Was it even a pokemon? A few of these questions went through her mind as a couple of slow moving ratata caught her eye.

Something was off about them. Why were they...oh. Seeing the sparks come off a few, it removed the question before it had even finished forming in her bogan mind. Paralysis? Did that mean the scorch marks were caused by elecricity? Some sort of discharge or the sort judging by how the scorch marks were made and formed. And judging by the amount she was finding....well, it seemed like if she was disappointed by the wild pokemon's lack of hostility, she might find whatever this was was going to be a fair bit more hostile perhaps.

"Lit! Lit lit litwick!" Snapped back to reality by her partner's yelling in her ear, she flinched and looked at Dusk bewildered for a moment before she heard it. She had heard similar noises before on the farm when they had to deal with a broken cable on a power line...of course she hadn't been allowed to help and they got professionals to deal with it, but the sound of sparking was still vivid in her mind. Perhaps whatever was around the corner was the same? In which case...that was potentially very dangerous. Pausing for a moment as she inched closer to the corner, the sounds got more distinct. Was something generating and discharging elecrticity? It was an odd noise, but one look at Dusk who was ready and raring to go calmed any nerves she might've had.

It was fine, whatever this was she was sure Dusk could handle right?

"Oolroighty dusk buddy, laeh''s gao geh' em eh?" Flashing a grin to the Litwick, who simply gave her an excited nod in response, she stepped around the corner to face down whatever was on the other side. Hopefully without being fried in the process, though if whatever it was attacked, then Dusk would leap into action and counter with Embers.

Amelia was not surprised in the slightest when the Yamask that seemed to desire her attention came forth to act as a guide. Thankfully, the Golett from earlier was also joining them as well. This was a relief, as it did seem that the Yamask was a rather needy one. She wanted to catch a Yamask but she wasn't sure this one would be a good fit for her or her team, since it didn't seem to be much a team player. She was worried that if she did catch it, that it would become jealous of the others if she didn't pay attention to it. It was a very tricky thing to consider. A pokemon could be strong, but if she and it didn't get along, that would matter very little.

As she was guided through and around the ruins, her mind moved back to her days in school and the history lessons she had been taught. She didn't really recall that much, as her late night escapades usually left her feeling sleepy, but she did remember enough to know that this was probably back from when Evig had been several smaller kingdoms that had been at constant war. She couldn't help but wonder what kind of events this ruin had witnessed.

As they walked, she made note of all the ghostly presences that seemed to pop up on her radar. It was easy to tell that most of them came from the walls, especially those with markings on them. Given that there were Galarian Yamasks here and Amelia had studied up on Ghost-type Pokemon rather extensively while she had been at home, she could take a guess that at least some, if not all, of these spots were Runerigus. She also knew that approaching to touch those spots might be rather dangerous, it not just being near the pokemon itself. Still, she could help but approach one such spot and speak to it.
"Is there a Runerigus here?" She asked, watching the wall curiously.

@samreaper

"I'm glad you think so, but that isn't exactly what I wanted to talk to you about." said Neil, sitting down on one of the comfy leather chairs. Even when he was sitting down, the man's height was still somehow imposing and just sitting down on it made the reinforced metal frame creak, not because he was fat, but because this man was more than likely made up of mostly muscle. He looked over at Tristan who was still standing and motioned for him to sit down with his large, worn hands.

After making himself comfy, Neil continued, "I can tell that you were hurt by him. You gave him a chance to walk, and he did something to upset you." He shifted around in his seat, looking as if he was trying to find the right words before he just signed in resignation. "I'm not going to tell you forgive Robbie because I sure haven't yet, but I'm also asking you to not let this one experience paint your worldview. It is so much easier to live bitterly and let that poison you than to just let it go. Believe me, I learned that the hard way."

Neil just went silent, and it just hung in the air heavily while he just simply stared into the vid. That was the face of a man that has seen some shit.

What does Tristan do?

---

@Lunarlord34

With nerves steeled for what they could find, the due turned the corner to find the source of electricity and what she found may actually be quite familiar to her as it was native to her home region of Galar. It was this purple reptilian quadruped with grayish electricity crackling from its forehead, four rounded spiky protrusions came from its head, and had grayish circles on its cheeks. It was basically a purple gremlin wearing a diaper that crackled with electricity.



However, that wasn't the only thing that she found. That Toxel was standing crouched as if it was ready to pounce as it was surrounded by a group of angry Trubbish led by a Grimer. They were going to jump the Toxel if Steph did not step in.

What does she do?

---

@Joshua Tamashii

When Amelia asked her question to the wall in front of her, a purple eye opened, and rolled down to look at the inquisitive little girl before its form started to shift from its spot. She was absolutely on the money that this wall and the area as a whole were home to many Runerigus and this was their territory.

Its lumbering limbs pulled themselves out of the stone they were resting in, bits and pieces of stone broke off the wall as the Runerigus freed itself. Once freed, it stood before her while the two wild ghosts that were accompanying her hid behind the little girl because this was a beast that was way beyond what they could handle, but they were lucky as it appeared to not be a bad mood.



Its head, at least what could be inferred to see as such, lowered itself down with its long, shadowy tendril of a neck down to her eye level. "Rune, runerigus?" Judging by its inflection, it seemed to be asking 'What do you want?'

How does Amelia react?

---

Tristan had raised a brow inquisitively at Neil's words having seemingly guessed wrong on what he wished to discuss with him. Watching the huge man sit down and make himself comfortable though even sitting he still proved taller than even if only a little which further signified that this man was not to be trifled with. The teen hesitated at first to take a seat at Neil's behest, but after a moment of uncertainty he moved to join him; curious of what the tired rancher wanted to talk about.

Listening to the man talk with words with clear intent to comfort, but it had a more opposite effect as it dredged up the anger and betrayal he sought to put behind him. And with it came the wounded pride from battling against the man with two against one, not that he felt bad initially since the man was a thief and hardly a proper trainer which warranted no reason to fight him fairly. Yet, he couldn't help but be reminded of the awful lost he suffered against Freya and not just him, but King probably felt awful over it as well, the bird deserving a proper redemption.

While Neil's words did bring out the unpleasant emotions he wanted to forget as there was a lot he needed to work through, they did give him some comfort and perspective.

He has seen and known a number of assholes and scumwads; hell, he practically lived his life surrounded by rich pricks who ran dirty businesses and scams. And of course, the douches much like him though surprisingly Tristan was actually one of the nicer ones who wasn't completely closed minded or thought himself above everyone at least completely outside of fashion. He hated scamming and thieving especially when those of lower class suffered from such constantly and it's probably why he wanted to help this ranch so much or why he wanted to believe and give Robbie a chance. This made the farmhand's betrayal sting worse even though the man was a thief and a stranger to him.

Ultimately, Tristan was confused more than anything; uncertain on how to handle this whole ordeal or how to proceed though Neil's words helped in giving a possible path. His horrid sense of direction proving to be an issue in more than simply physically.

A deep inhale and slow heavy exhale and with it flowed the negative emotions." Thank you for your kind words, Mr. Neil. This has been a difficult day for both your ranch and I, albeit due to different reasons." Nodding his head as he felt his tense body relaxing a bit." You and your family has dealt with enough to worry about the problems of some teen stranger, but I remember your words and figure things out at my own pace. I hope the same for you as I can hardly imagine how much worse it is for you. " He might have come out of this finding it difficult to trust others again for a while but hopefully he meets good, trustworthy people to show trusting and trying to see the good in others wasn't wrong. Robbie was just an unfortunate and desperate man; a thought that there was far more to the man and this whole thing continued to nag at the back of his mind, however.

Of all the things Steph expected to find, it was certainly not a slice of home. Of course, Toxel's weren't exclusive to Galar, but they were most certainly commonly found there and she wasn't expecting to have seen a pokemon native to the region here just yet. But rather than ponder on the logistics, who, whats and whys this Toxel was here, there were more pressing matters.

It seemed like it was in a pickle, and perhaps these explained the scorch marks. It seemed like the local pokemon weren't happy with an invader. At least, that was her assumpting seeing as some of the locals didn't seem to recognize what a Toxel was. With a glance down at Dusk, who simply nodded at her, she stole one more glance towards the ball where Jack was. It wouldn't do to let these mongrels gang up on this tuckered-out little ankle biter now did it? Especially not after what she had promised Jack earlier.

"Oolroigh' Dusk, yah knaow whaht t' do eh?"

"Lit!"

"Ok thaen bud, laets staht thiies shaow weeth an Embah!"

Leaping off her shoulder, Dusk wasted no time in starting things off as commanded, aiming a nice little fiery surprise at the grimer as it seemed to be the boss of this little group. The Litwick would follow up the move with a Minimize as well, before moving to just shoots ember at will at the little bastards trying to gang up the Toxel.

@samreaper

"We always get by. We're not strangers to misfortune. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone that is, but we live with it, and we extend our hand to help others because we know what it is like. When we stop doing that, that is the moment that we fall and become nothing but senseless, selfish beasts."

He smiled at Tristan though one would question if he could even see Neil's smile through the lush face forest that was his beard and stood up. The cushions and the metal frame of his seat made a strange sound of almost relief as they contorted back into their regular shape.

"You're a good kid, Tristan. Things are gonna be tough, but I'm sure your Pokemon will guide you down the right path if you stray. Just take it easy tonight, okay? I'm gonna go see how my wife is doing.", said the Ursaring of a man before he exited the room and as he walked out into the hall, he saw that the door of his office was open, so he made his way over to pop his head by the doorway only to see that it was just Rosa and Faye on his computer.

@Sanguine Rose

Seeing this, Neil asked, "Honey, what are you two doing in my office?"

Rosa glanced over to her father and without missing a beat she said, "Selling drugs. Rare Candy infused with methenamines are a really big hit on the dark web right now."

Neil squinted at her not in confusion, but more of a response to her smart-ass attitude. "I'll never understand where you get your sense of humor from." He then left the girls to their own devices.

After a while, the smell of home cooking started to fill the halls and rooms of the house. The aroma of warm and cool spices and herbs roasted and pan-fried with rich meat and sweet, savory, and bitter vegetables, and toasted bread enticed those who smelled it to enter the dining room that was attached to the kitchen. Like all the other furniture in this house, the dining area in the kitchen had a rustic, yet modern flare to it. The table that was decorated with what was a feast was made from a dark reclaimed wood with chairs made out of a similar material. The table was set with humble, white plates and simple cutlery. It was nothing fancy, but it was something that got the job done.

The table itself was next to a wall next to window that was essentially a wall of glass that looked over the fields that held the Pokemon. Besides that, there seemed to some impressionistic styled paintings of landscapes by artists they never heard of hung on some walls and some family photos as well. If one were to inspect them, they would see that a few of them had an older girl around college age bound to a wheelchair with the rest of the family.

Frida who was standing by the table said, [color=8dc73f"]A'richt a' body, dinner's duin! sit doon 'n' eat before it goes cauld!"[/color]

Dinner time! Do Tristan and Faye converse during dinner or are we just skipping this?

---

@Lunarlord34

Okay, so Steph went in Dusk blazing and immediately hit the Grimer among the Trubbish ganging up on the Toxel. The Grimer recoiled from the impact of the flames though it was still standing, but another impact would certainly put out its lights. Besides the Grimer, there were four other Trubbish.

In response to the surprise attack, all five of the Pokemon used Poison Gas in unison and even somehow shrinking his size, Dusk was hit by three out of five of them, one of them being a critical hit and then proceeded to be poisoned by the gas. Even for Dusk who was at a higher level and resisted poison, fighting by himself against six Pokemon was not going to be an easy task.

That wasn't the only issue. That gas didn't dissipate; it was contained in the sewer, and it was creeping towards Steph.

What does Steph do?

Oh. Oh no.

It seems like maybe she had a little too much confidence in her partner. She was also maybe expecting the Toxel to be fighting them as well, but it didn't seem to be making a move at the moment and you know what? That was fine. This was fine. She had other pokemon like Jack or-was that gas coming her way?

Oh no.

Uh, what was there she could do? She could try and cover her mouth with a rage or a sleeve or something right? Or did that only work in movies? Well...it should work at least to an extent right? There wasn't much choice in backing away either, because presumably the cloud would only continue to spread. And even if she did just cover her mouth to filter it, it still wasn't going anywhere. And standing in a cloud of poison gas didn't seemed pretty bodgie so it was best for her to deal with it now innit?

Which only left one choice.

"Oolroigh' mate, ya probahbly steell nawt moy beeggest fahn buh' eh. Stawp bein a sulk and use a gust t' cleah thiies nawnsaense eow' righto?" Grabbing a ball from her belt, for the first time since she caught the poor bird, she brought out an absolute menance to society.

Dennis the Pidove.

This poor, poor Pidove. Last thing it remembered was being clobbered by a pokeball, and now it was suddenly face to face with Poison gas? Suffice to say, this had been an eventful day for the pokemon now known as Dennis. But it didn't seem all too bothered, staring down the poison gas with an almost angry look. It was mad, and was going to take it out on this gas! Hah take a gust! Flapping its wings with gusto, it would attempt to at least keep the poison gas at bay, not because it was told to but because it wanted to! Yep, def wasn't scared of Steph or anything.

So with Dennis taking care of that, it was probably a bit much to hope he could help Dusk much with the little gust he was generating, so Steph was already grabbing another pokeball and calling out Jack.

"Oolroighty Jack buddy, ya mate Dusk heah nayds a hahnd. Laeh''s shaow em a vawllay of ice shahd! Dusk, use embah t' kayp thaem at bie and kayp usin moinimoize!" Honestly, having to use multiple mons for the first time on her first day was asking a bit much from the new trainer, so it was best to keep it nice and simple for now. She just had to focus on Dusk and the mons he was fighting, and give some support from Jack. Assuming Dennis could keep the gas at bay.

So with a nod, the sneasal would do as asked and begin launching shard after shard of ice into the cloud of poison at the trubbish, mostly leaving the grimer for Dusk. Who, now poisoned, seemed very annoyed and began spraying ember at literally any of the bastards that had poisoned him that dared move closer. Hell, if they came close enough he would hit em with an astonish!

Stella Lumite

Oh. Someone was coming to answer the door. The garden was actually cared for, wasn't it? She couldn't just run off at this point, the person sounded old. Very rude. Erm.

And elderly man answered the door. "Hello! I, uh..." Stella glanced at the building, "wasn't sure if anyone would answer, didn't think this far ahead. Your building's gone a bit rustic, hasn't it? Your garden is lovely, scarcely noticed past the fence." She looked back from the garden, glancing the old man over once, "did you used to do the maintenance work yourself?" That was perhaps the only reason she could think of such a proud manor would fall into disrepair, despite someone living here.

Anyway, "Anyway, ah," why did she come here, anyway? "Your building is prominent in the town brochures, the history in this house must be impressive." Right, being nosy.

---

Tristan wasn't sure what to think of Neil's comforting words and advice. So used to being put down and insulted or told fake compliments by fellow rich kids to get on his good side, but the things this rancher said sounded so...genuine. It took him off-guard and left the rich teen confused which only added to the things he needed to think over and work out.

The conversation had been just as confounding as it had been helpful leaving him with no idea how to really respond other than." Um..thank you, Mr. Neil... I think." Muttering the last part to himself as he gave a small nod to show he heard the ursaring sized rancher; grateful to be alone as his mind was like a buzzing beehive of thoughts and confusion.

He had been staring into space, lost in thought when Frida's thick accentuated voice rang out snapping him out of the trance. The tantalizing aroma of her cooking soon struck his nose reminding him of his hunger and with it made his belly rumble.

The call for dinner had also seemed to be the signal to have Princess and King return to him as the two were clearly hungry and eager to eat after all they had been put through." Right, let's eat then shall we!" Patting his knees twice before standing up only to stop right then having nearly forgotten." Oh, yes. Before we eat I dare say its time to meet our new team member." He said with a nod of his head to which Princess threw up her paws with an excited." Lu!" Though King gave a curious tilt of his head.

Tristan grabbed the pokemon containing his recently acquired torchic and gave it a toss to reveal the small orange feathered chick. The tiny birb gave a rustling shake of his body and head as if just waking from a nap only to realize it was surrounded by pokemon and a human it didn't know and shortly after Princess padded over." Rio! Lu riolu." She chirped happily in greeting with an extended paw as the teen watched the little chick, stroking his chin in a pondering manner." Hello there, little chick. My name is Tristan and I am pleased to announce that you, my lucky little friend is now part of team Glory! Go ahead, Princess and help our new friend take it in." He exclaimed proudly; elated to have another rare mon as a part of his team.

Each of them had failed to notice that throughout their introduction that the torchic was trembling with a scared expression on his face that worsened with every second the human spoke and the Riolu pressed closer. Save for King, who had been silently observing had taken noticed of it and extended his left wing." Murk krow krow murkrow." He called out gently to Princess as if trying to tell the bipedal canine to step back, but by that point it was too late.

A loud shrill terrified chirping rang out from the torchic as he began running about in a frantic panic. Any attempt to calm or soothe the scared bird from Princess only seemed to make the poor bird chirp louder." Agh! The hell is going on..ow!" Tristan cried out in pain, the shrill chirping grating on their ears forcing the three to try and cover their ears as the Torchic ran off to dive under and hide under the couch where faint scared chirping could be heard.

" Ok, um.... what just happened?" The teen said out of an air of annoyed confusion while glancing at the two in turn as both could only shake their heads having no idea themselves." Oh this is just great. After going through all that and the Torchic we get is a big coward?!" He facepalmed with a groan; just his luck and after all the efforts and work only for them to give him a torchic who turned out to be a massive chicken in the figurative sense. And just when dinner was ready too.

" Well isn't that great. The hell am I going to do with such a scaredy cat... or how to even get him to come out?" Tristan who was tired, hungry and confused was quickly agitated and now wondering if this was a trick of the ranchers to give him a defective torchic.

His anger was bubbling up once more and was thinking of going over to force the bird out, when he felt Princess's paw gently pat at his leg. Every pat seemed to melt away his anger till he was simply a bit irritated." Riou riolu lu." She spoke gently before pointing at King who was slowly hopping towards the couch as if to tell him to let King try to soothe and lure Torchic out. Tristan wondered why Princess wasn't the one doing it but after a few gentle chirps from the magenta Murkrow did he notice its frantic chirping die down to a more low, shaky chirp seeming to be conversing.

Unsure of what was going on, but since there was nothing he could really do right now and chose to sit down on the floor." Guess there's nothing to do but wait." Once again the smell of the food hit causing both of their bellies to rumble to which Tristan let out a drawn-out sigh." Go ahead and eat, Princess. We will be there shortly... I hope." Resting his chin against his right palm propped up against his right leg after having made himself comfortable while Princess gave a shake of her head and settled herself onto his lap where she nuzzled against him to both keep her trainer company and to comfort as they waited.

The computer wasn't quite like Faye's - the keyboard and mouse felt completely foreign in her hands instead of comfortable, which would be a bigger problem if she weren't just copying pictures and emailing them to herself. But she hated keyboard keys that stuck and this one seemed to need a little more effort to push down some of the keys than she was used to. Given it was older, and the person that typically used it had hands the size of her head, she wasn't surprised in the least though. It just took a bit more time for her to navigate the unfamiliar setup and get the pictures copied over to the right locations.

"I'm going to leave a copy of all the pictures I took on this computer for you guys saved under a file marked 'Faye Wrexlyn photo shoot' in case any of the other kids ask for a copy. I took a few of everyone in the multiple attempts to get the group picture, so hopefully some of them are ones the kids or their parents would like to see." She worked to find the printer - navigating to the right location once Rosa pointed it out - to print off a few choice pictures of the group and Lisa.

She was working on getting the files copied over to send to herself when Neil popped in. The photographer looked over her shoulder and was about to open her mouth when Rosa interjected with a sassy comment of her own. She glanced at the rancher girl beside her before looking back at the giant man in the door. Not that she wasn't one for snappy comments, but in the home of someone she had offered to help - albeit late - and might potentially score a client...she preferred not to kick things off with sass if she could. It seemed to work out just fine though and the man was on his way before she could actually show him one of the pictures that printed.

Oh well, there was always dinner.

Speaking of which, the smell of the cooking slowly filled the room. Her stomach rumbled when she finally realized what she was smelling. "Eev eevee ee eev," Sage yipped as he trotted in. Tilia landed on Faye's shoulder and just ruffled her feathers.

"You two are hungry too, huh?" The shiny bird on her shoulder ruffled its feathers in a shrug and chirped, ""Hoot hoot-hoot." Faye smiled and nodded. "I figured as much. You two had quite the fight. We can see if they have anything for you guys, but if not I have some food in my pack for you."

The photographer closed everything out properly the way she found it and grabbed the pictures from the printer, offering the best picture focused mostly on Rosa to the teen. "Like I said, I emailed them to myself so I can do touchups and get a better print quality for you, if you want. But they still came out great without needing any editing."

She let Sage lead the way out of the room and was set to follow him into the dining room when she spotted Tristan laying on the ground staring under the couch, and his Murkrow and Riolu were just as fascinated with whatever was beneath it. His torchic maybe? She shrugged and slung her backpack around to quickly - carefully - dig through it. She pulled out a small baggy of pokemon food her father had helped her prepare and offered it to Tristan. "Here. Might be able to lure it out with this. Wait, hold on." She double checked the label then offered it again. "No, yes, this is the right one. Generic mix, but designed for Pokémon with beaks instead of muzzles. I'm sure it'll get used to you eventually." After placing the bag next to him, she turned and headed off to join the others in the dinning room.

"Dinner looks and smells wonderful, Mrs Andersen. Thank you very much for letting us be able to eat with you. I took some photographs of your daughters and Lisa's friends after a little practice Pokémon tournament we had earlier today, and printed them out for you to have; I left the files on your computer for you to have as well, in case you want to make extra copies." She offered Lisa a close up picture she took of the girl and her Nickit, then offered one of the group pictures to Neil and the other to Frida. "Do you mind if Sage and Tilia eat with us too?"

After leaning against the railing for what seemed a couple of months, Jason sighed and smiled. He had a whole adventure in front of him and solid partners to make that journey with. He could handle this, even if he did it one day at a time. Pulling Slayer's ball from his belt, he spins it before letting his first partner out of his ball. "Well buddy, we've had an exciting first couple of days. Fighting that poacher to save Sable, nearly ending up a statistic when we met Occisor, having Avem and Murus join the team and Beating Lucha and adding her to the team. Been quite the rush already huh?" The Ralts looked at his trainer and nodded, smiling as only it could.

"Ralts ral ra ralts!" Jason smiled in return and nodded, patting his partners head before standing up.

"You got that right, buddy. Come on, let's go continue this adventure of ours. The Evig region awaits!" With Slayer in tow, Jason heads for the lift to head down to the ground level and then pauses as he reevaluates things. Actually...I wanted to investigate that myth before heading into the marsh... With that in mind, he instead heads for the Scholar District to see if he could find the person looking for it. After all, things were easier with two heads than one.

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@Sanguine Rose

With Tristan having little to do but leave it up to King to try and coax the torchic out, he simply sat there idly looking over his pokedex and the pokemon that had been scanned out of boredom. At times he would look over to the couch to see no change though torchic's frantic scared chirping had lessened considerably; a sign that whatever King was doing might be working or that the orange chicken was tiring itself out.

The teen wasn't sure if had been scammed or just unlucky on the torchic the rancher picked or what, but whatever excitement he had at receiving such a rare pokemon vanished. And would be replaced with a hunger that grew with every passing second, he was forced to sit there and wait. A part of him wanted to just drag the bird out and get it back into his pokeball though that probably would do nothing but ensure the torchic forever fearing and hating him, plus not a good look to his other mons.

The smell of the food didn't help either and only escalated his hunger. Tristan was pondering on what to do when the frumpy girl whose name he either never got or simply forgot approached.

He leered at Faye; suspicious of her goal and after the encounters he has had with girls today who could blame him. Then he saw her put the bag of pokemon food for birds besides him. Tristan looked at it then shook his head." Hmph, who asked for your help? And as you can clearly see it's not about hunger." Motioning towards the shivering torchic being chirped at by King in a soothing manner." And it's clearly just overwhelmed by my shining presence." Waving her away dismissively.

It was at that moment he received a small bite to his arm as Princess yipped angrily up at him." Ow! What the hell was that for?!" He asked the canine incredulously only to see her pointing at the departing Faye then at the bag with a shake of the head." Riou riou lu." She huffed out at him as if reprimanding him.

Tristan winced at the bite to his arm and pride leading to him feeling bad. He opened his mouth to say something only to get yipped at again by Princess who averted her gaze. After a few seconds, the silver-haired teen muttered before giving a begrudging." Thanks..." A nudge from the Riolu." And... sorry." Keeping his head turned whether to hide the shame or embarrassment he was feeling, even seeing Princess give him a comforting smile did little to help.

Princess thought her trainer was just being a jerk, but for Tristan who was so used to having people help him purely to get something out of him due to his family connections and figured Faye to be no different. Since she had no real reason to help a stranger like him which involved giving up some of her own food. It definitely seemed like an odd thing for someone to do at least in Tristan's view.

At this point though it no longer mattered. The bag was there so he might as well try it or be stuck sitting there for possibly hours. Aiming a small glare at the bipedal canine while rubbing the spot of his arm she bit before grabbing a small handful from the bag and inspected it, unsure if the torchic would even like this kind.

A supportive nudge from Princess got him to stop being hesitant and with a reluctant sigh gently extended his hand forward." Um...here little uh... chicky? You hungry?" Tristan made sure to speak in a low and quiet voice with his palm open in a way where the torchic poking its head out from the couch thanks to King's gentle coaxing could see. A little shake of the food and sniffs seemed to do the trick as the scared chick slowly crawled his way out; nervously stepping over where the orange bird gave a few cautious and nervous pecks before feeling at ease enough to eat.

@Lunarlord34

It wasn't that the Toxel wasn't going to fight. It just stood there frozen not from fear, but from surprise by the sudden appearance of a third- party getting involved because who would expect that to happen in a place like the sewers? So as the gas was being dispersed by a thoroughly angry and very afraid Pidove, the Toxel took its chance and threw itself at one of the Trubbish using, its body crackling with electricity, and on impact it did not do much damage, but the sentient trashbags body sparked with bursts of electricity. The move had paralyzed it.

As previously stated before, Dennis' Gust was able to disperse the gas and pushed it down the various other paths of the winding sewers though there was still a bit that hung around in the air because there is so much that one Pidove can do against a coalesced cloud of toxicity. However, it was enough to stave it away from Steph and her Pokemon to keep them from being poisoned for now.

Making use of the confusion and panic of the would-be jumpers, Jack was able to send an Ice Shard at one of the enemy Trubbish and just nailed it straight in the face with enough impact to make its roundish body roll back though it hopped up on its feet ready to fight. Albeit it, it definitely was a bit wobbly in its step and looked like that just a simple push would be enough to put its lights out. Meanwhile, that one Grimer from earlier just didn't get a chance and just ate another ball of fire from a very grumpy candle and was now knocked out, laying spread out (splat out?) on the ground. Despite that, Dusk would feel pangs of pain as it felt its insides burn from the poison course through its ghostly veins.

Unlucky for Steph, the remaining Trubbish were able to recoup after being caught off guard from the surprise attack and now decided to focus their forces on the other two Pokemon fighting since that Litwick was running on borrowed time. Two Trubbish leaped at Jack to throw down some Pound attacks at the Sneasel and another two went to use Pound to smack down the shit bird that blew away their Toxic Gas. The fifth one was forced to stand still due to the effects of paralysis, which made it an open target.

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@CitrusArms

The elderly man looked quite friendly enough. He definitely showed his years though with a surprising amount of hair, thick rimmed glasses, wearing a very cozy maroon sweater and brown khakis. The old man was also sitting in a wheelchair that definitely seemed to be a bit more of an older model.

He had a kind smile and said with a chuckle, "Rustic is a very kind way of putting it." The way he said it did not show any sort of bitterness, but something else. It was more like a sort of longing, yet fondness. He did catch himself and brighten his expression. "Ah, thank you. I suppose it's the one thing I am able to maintain these days. I used to do the maintenance work, well, as much as I could. I used to have help, but finances aren't what they used to be."

When asked about the importance of the manor to the town's history, he said, "Ah, yes you certainly are correct. This manor and its family have a deep relationship with the history of Florasong. If you are interested, why not come in for a cup of tea and a chat."

What does Stella do?

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@Zarkun

With fresh vigor Jason decided that it was time to continue his journey through the village and begin his investigation of the fabled shrine, starting with the person who seemed to be the most knowledgeable about it residing in the Scholar District. To get there, Jason would get on the cable carts again and descend below the Entertainment District and further beyond the hectic Market District. The noise around the cart itself began to dim as it descended lower and lower beneath the trees. Actually, one could even see the change as the people who rode the cart with Jason seemed to either dress in a more distinguished fashion such as a professor or college aged students working on projects and homework if they were lucky enough to find a seat. Eventually, the cart shifted to a halt and the doors slid open.

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@samreaper@Sanguine Rose

When everything was settled, Trista and Faye would join the Andersons for a lovely dinner, albeit an awkward one given what Tristan had gone through today and getting a rather cowardly Torchic and then there was Faye would have to deal with the existence of Tristan in general. This is reported by a completely unbiased narrator who is totally just not trying to get people off this god forsaken farm.

They could spend the night at the farm and go out to journey tomorrow or they could go out at night. What do they do?

Fighting a multi battle on her first day wasn't exactly on her radar before this whole mess down here, but it seemed like she wouldn't have much of a choice here. They were splitting up to attack Jack and Dennis for the most part, her gaze moving to the struggling Dusk. Not in terms of actually fighting them, but from the poison which afflicted her partner. She just needed him to hang in a little longer....

But first, she had to deal with the 4 attackers coming at her other two pokemon. Time was running out to think of what to do next as her mind frantically ran through her options. If she had Dennis stop using gust, then considering there was no wind going either way, then the gas would no doubt start creeping back this way....but Dusk was a bit far away from Dennis to be of much use plus it seemed like her partner was gunning right for that paralysed Trubbish to smash its head in with an astonish or two. Maybe take out the pain it was feeling with an ember, so she left Dusk to his own devices to do that which allowed her to come to a decision.

"Ook Jack, use ice shahd on the ground t' cause a deestrahction, thaen layp off the wohl and intuhcept the two crooks troyin t' jump Dennis weeth a scrahtch on bawth! Dennis, kayp up the gust buh' haelp eow' Jack weeth a leeuh!" Was it the best move? Maybe not, but she had to try and keep the two off of Dennis, and with any luck she could take them out quick.

Though a thought did occur to her...what if she just caught one of the trubbishs? That would help narrow down their numbers, and if her memory served her correctly their evolved form was pretty strong, so there was only positives for trying to catch one and the only real risk was she maybe wasted one of her pokeballs. It was worth a shot at any rate. So with that thought in mind, she focused onto whatever one was the one that looked like it was nearly down for the count and wound her arm back before hurling the ball in its direction.

As he walked, Jason let out a low whistle at all the scholarly types walking around the area and stopped to look around a moment. Starbor seemed to have everything, but somehow it wasn't the capitol of the region. Well, that actually makes sense on second thought. Where would they put the Professor's lab for starters? First he set to exploring a little bit, seeing if there were any Pokemon that made their home down here amongst the learned before setting to asking, or at least trying to ask, various professors if they could point him to the person who was looking into the legend of the shrine. As he approached the first of the professors he could see, Jason was sure of two things; one, that there were good odds that he would get laughed at at least a few times for chasing a legend and two, that he'd be confused for a student, even though he had Slayer resting on his shoulder to help try and ensure that didn't happen.

However, he didn't get to ask the first professor he saw anything as a sudden throng of students exiting their classes separated him and the educator from each other and the person managed to disappear into the mass of bodies, leaving Jason to find someone else to ask. If none of the professors could direct him to the researcher hunting for the shrine, he would head to the library and see if the librarians knew anything, but hopefully it wouldn't come to that.

Amelia was somewhat surprised when the Runerigus actually detached from the wall and made its presence known to her. She had half expected the creature to ignore her, given that it had seemed content to leave her alone. Either that or it would've just responded while staying in the wall where it was. Regardless, she gave the ghostly stone a smile and a slight bow.
"I'm sorry for disturbing you. It's just that I could feel something all around me and I wanted to see if there were some of you around. I hope you don't mind me exploring your home. I'll do my best not to disturb anything and leave it as unharmed as possible. " She said, keeping her tone friendly. She did glance back at the Golet and the Yamask that where now cowering behind her and gave them a gentle pat on the head, trying to let them know that everything was okay. "If you want to accompany us to make sure I don't cause any trouble, I won't mind. Otherwise, I'm sorry for disturbing your slumber and hope you'll forgive me for doing so."