The dinner was absolutely delicious. Faye hadn't expected it to taste awful by any means, but it tasted even better than it looked - and it had already looked very delicious to begin with. After many compliments to the chefs, Faye figured it might be good to set out. But her only stop was the Daycare, and it was getting late. When did it close?

She realized more and more quickly she'd done it again. She'd headed off on a journey without actually properly figuring everything out. So now she'd gotten sidetracked from her task and set back. If she left now, they'd probably be locking up by the time she got there. So she'd be camping out pretty much outside their house.

Welp, that kinda settled it. As much as she was interested in finding out about the nightlife around these parts, she supposed her team needed a bit more rest after today. Might not be best to do without properly rested pokemon and - shoot! - more pokeballs.

So, with little other choice, Faye accepted the offer to stay the night. She offered to help clean the dishes from dinner and otherwise help out with anything else they'd let her help out with to repay for letting her spend the night. At first light, she'd set out on the road to hit the daycare - offering to Tristan for him to travel with her so their pokemon could continue to socialize.

---

@Sanguine Rose

After some more coaxing and gentle comforting, Tristan was finally able to make his way into the dining room where he gave some quick apologies for being late. Before he got himself seated at the table he gave his mons their food, making sure to give King and Princess some extra treats for all the hard work they did while the Torchic clung to his left leg shivering too scared to eat with all these people and pokemon around.

Tristan did an internal annoyed sigh at the orange chicken's cowardice as he knew dealing with it was gonna be difficult and time consuming. He just had to hope this Torchic would prove to be worth all extra effort the bird will require.

But that was a tomorrow issue as right now he just wanted to fill his belly. He took a look over the food and from it felt a sudden forlorn pang; a teen so used to eating nothing but five-star quality food from the best chefs from around the world only to find himself reduced to having to eat a meal better fit for the servants or pets. As expected, Tristan had been hesitant to eat at first while struggling to keep a friendly smile on his face as he gave thanks for the meal.

A meal that would likely be served at a diner or a cheap buffet and yet had proven to be the most delicious and flavor impacting dinner he had ever eaten. Hell, this might as well been his first proper meal period. Every bite he took flooded his tastebuds with a whole new world of flavor and then the realization hit him. All them five star meals with top of the line ingredients while tasty, always tasted plain and cold, nothing like Mrs. Anderson cooking where every single bite all but gushed in his mouth. His tired and agitated body filled warmed with each bite; strangely enhanced by the fact he actually had people to share this meal with for once besides the rare times Chives had free time to eat with him.

The pampered teen who had just been hesitant was now chowing down like a person starved. The fact he could eat as much as he like instead of those tiny portions that were nothing more than samples only spurred him on. It took all he had to keep from crying as he ate.

When it was over and the scrumptious high dwindled, Tristan once again thanked them for the meal and graciously accepted the offer to stay the night. Any chance to avoid having to sleep in a tent was one he would happily take.

Tristan spent the rest of the evening taking a nice long hot bath with lavender scented bath salt to wash all the filth and dirt. He spent his time in the bath tub trying to figure out a name for the torchic and thinking over some of the things Bill told him.

A new day and a good night's rest had Tristan waken up refreshed and in a good mood and after gathering his things would have his mons gather together." Now that we had a good meal and night's rest, we can put the awful ordeals we went through yesterday behind us. As today, I intend to have us achieve proper victories and work towards conquering our first gym and we shall do it all with our newest team member!" He proclaimed while pointing at the torchic who jumped with a frightened chirp while receiving a cheer from both King and Princess." Torchic may be cowardly and a weakling that no one will think of much now, but just you wait. I train and turn our little friend here into the ace of team Glory. Thus, King and Princess I want the two of you to give a proper welcome to your new party member...Ace!" Pumping his fist up as he stated the torchic's new nickname bringing out another bout of cheering from the two this time directed at the shivering bird who was quickly overwhelmed by the attention that he ran off to hide behind Tristan's legs." Yeah...its gonna take a lot of work but... that will just make Ace's turn around even more impressive. And come that day it will be others that will be the ones whose scared." Nodding as he peered down at the scared bird.

Some more pep talk and comforting to settle Ace down and Tristan was ready to set out with the magenta bird resting atop his head, Ace and Princess each resting on a different shoulder though Ace was huddled against his neck who would only press closer when Faye approached him.

" Travel together? Hmph, quite bold of you to think I'd allow a frumpy girl with zero fashion sense to travel with me. But, I can't blame you for wanting to travel with me, a Glory. I take it you have seen this gorgeous face before, and my capture of the egg thief having impressed you so much that you feel traveling with me will be safer for you, especially with the impressive team I have." He goaded with a fancy pose and a sparkling grin while indicating towards his mons, each surely not too easy to get, especially the torchic that he figured very few trainers in this region would have." I am in a rather good mood. Very well, I suppose we may travel for a time or at least as long as it benefits us. Might be good for Ace here too." A quick glance at the bird shivering against his neck.

" And by some miracle might be able to help with those absolutely dreadful rags you call clothes..." Trailing off as he glanced Faye over with a distasteful frown." But even miracles have their limits. At least you have some good mons of your own so that's something. Anywho, let us be off then and know that team Glory will keep us safe."

With that he moved to depart only to stop a few steps after and turn back." Where exactly are we even going?"

@Lunarlord34

So, how does one explain the feel of ice shrapnel hitting someone's eyes? No, seriously how? That it stings like hell to get point, serrated bits of glass in one's eyes? Because obviously it would bloody well sting! One of the Trubbish just hit the ground rubbing its eyes to ease the pain and the other one was in so much pain that it rolled around without regard to its surroundings, it fell into the water and was whisked away by the current. So yeah, that just happened. Did it survive? Honestly, who knows.

Anyway, Jack was able to close the distance between the other Trubbish aiming for the shit bird Dennis while it used Leer to lower their defenses. Together they knocked them back with its two Scratch attacks and in retaliation, the two Trubbish used Poison Gas at the two of the Pokemon. How do the two Pokemon avoid getting poisoned, if they can do that?

Meanwhile, Dusk went as fast as a ghost candle can be just to use Astonish on the other Trubbish. Honestly, thing was just now that one Jojo meme of getting its shit beat on by the Litwick and the Toxel got attacking a paralyzed trash bag. Who would've thought the jumped would become the jumpee.

Now given that all of the Trubbish were just getting their shit kicked in and generally had the same amount of health left over so the paralyzed trash bag was the one who would get absorbed into a ball.

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



What does Steph do now?

---

@Zarkun

While Jason wondered how this place was not the capital of the region, it only made sense that Starbor had this much. After all, this was the region of progress and given the technological achievements that have come from this region, it's not surprise. This was the regular standard of living found in the region and was pushed forward even more by the new government that replaced the one previous one infested by Cipher ops and corrupt politicians who stood to gain everything. Just like with Grand Glory City this was an effort to show that the heart of the region, its people, to show that they were strong and able to come back even from the worst disasters. This was something that Jason must've been aware enough given his parents' effort to help repair it. That and this isn't a videogame so there actually is room to fully develop locations to be more sprawling and more to do.

Now back to the matter at hand. It actually wasn't hard for the professor that Jason was talking to figure out who the young man was referring to. The professor that he was speaking too was a short, stout, plump man with puffy gray hair, thick round glasses, and a mustache so bushy one could not see his mouth. "Ah, you mean Jaqulyn. You'll probably find her in the library. If you see her, please tell her to get some sleep." If that was not cause for concern, then nothing was.

Well, all roads pointed towards the library so that is where Jason went. Walking along the streets, walking past students and teachers alike and with a bit of help pointing him in the right direction would find it and he of course eventually would it. The library matched the gray stony aesthetic of the district, built into the interior of the tree. It had steps leading up to the entrance, stone Corinthian styled columns decorating a massive doorway, and large sun windows. Upon walking in, Jason would be greeted with the strange juxtaposition of a library, a place of academic learning and self-improvement, and plant life that seem to grow with little restriction. Roots wrapped around the reception desk as trees seemed to be growing along the walls and in the middles of the corridors. There were even flowers and other strange things growing that Jason would not be able to identify, some even emitting light, but no one else treated it as odd.

Whatever reactions Jason had Of course, he still didn't know what Jaqulyn looked like so still needed the librarians to help look for the woman and they certainly did. The librarians exchanged looks of certainty to each other and one spoke up and said, "Uh, I know where she is. She's in her usual spot by the mythology and religion section near the back. You're welcome to talk to her, but... Well, you'll see."

What does Jason do?

---

@Joshua Tamashii

While talking to the Runerigus, Amelia would feel it again. That spectral energy that she felt back in Grand Glory City erupted spectacularly again and this time it was far fiercer than before. She would feel as if her very being was being gripped by a grizzled, chilled hand and was trying to rip it out of her. Cold sweat dripped down her head as her own breathing would become shallow and every hair on her body stood up while she would feel a sense of dread wash over her. It was a cocktail of every negative emotion possible stabbing repeatedly into the poor girl. Grief, melancholy, bitterness, rage, and above all else was a unified feeling of malice.

Then there was a strange feeling of warmth, gentleness. The ancient words carved into the stone, even the ones on the Yamask and Runerigus, lit up with an ethereal light blue, lighting up encroaching night and that terror slowly began to melt away from her. When the feeling had finally stopped, the light did not fade away, but flickered like a flashlight running almost dry. The ghosts accompanying her rushed over to her side to make sure she was okay though they looked confused with what just happened.

She much closer now to the source. Does she continue?

---

@Sanguine Rose@samreaper

The narrator has left the building because Jesus fucking Christ what the actual hell. The audacity of this man was just outrageous that it is taking all the might of the universe to not have another bird shit on his stupidly expensive jacket, but that would not happen, yet. If Faye left him in the dust, it would be completely understandable.

For whatever reason Faye puts up with the living fragile masculine ego, they walk along the main road passing through the countryside that was route 1. It was just a bit before 9 am and there was a slight chill given that it was only early spring though they were warmed with the beams of sunlight from a cloudless day. It wasn't long though it may have felt longer for Faye until they arrived at a well maintained, small modern wood cottage that Faye was directed to by Rosa. Outside was an old man with a long, bushy gray beard sitting on a rocking chair with a cup of coffee. He was wearing denim overalls over a light blue collared shirt and worn boots. The man was just enjoying his morning only to see a couple of strangers he had not seen around these parts before.

"Ah, hi there. How can I help you both?" He asked with a kind smile.

Ok, so...that was most certainly not the intention with the ice shard but Steph was a bit preoccupied to care much! It took out one, and the capture of the paralyzed one took out two. It was just the two wankers spewing toxic gas everywhere and some unlucky sod who was still reeling back from the ice shard, solid. She could still see that Dusk was up and standing, if only barely so it was maybe time she wrapped this up. The sooner she did and got out of the sewers meant the sooner she got out of the city after all.

"Dennis, troy and kayp the poisawn gahs off yoahsself and Jack the baest yah cahn oolroigh'! Jack, taych thaese roigh' ol' cunts haow hahd yah cahn hiieh' em weeth an ice shahd righto!" With her two mons given their marching orders, Jack backed up away from the gas as best he could while firing ice shards back into the smog where the trubbish's had been just prior, whereas Dennis just...kept flapping his wings I guess. Was he tired of doing that? Maybe, but between the poison gas in front of him and the terrifying bogan behind him, that was enough of a stick to keep going.

Dusk now was turning his attention to the trubbish rubbing its eyes, and an idea popped into the candles mind. What if he tried to knock it into the water to get it washed away also? His trainer was a bit preoccupied after all, so he decided this was currently his best course of action to try and make it easier for her. So now Dusk began charging at the poor trubbish, firing off a couple of embers as he made his way over, before attempting to smash into it with astonish and knock it into the sewer water behind(or beside?) of it.

Faye watched him carry on with a blinking wide-eyed stare. This guy couldn't be for real, could he? No one was honestly that pompous. It had to be just a some way to boost up low confidence - overcompensate that you are the best and maybe you really would look better? He had to be at least somewhat sympathetic to already have a Riolu, right? He didn't start off with one. Unless he was handed it like his torchic. She supposed that was always an option.

Sage and Tilia exchanged looks with each other while their trainer just watched in dumbfounded confusion as to why this guy would ramble on like he was gods' gift to Evig. After he finally shut up and started walking away without even the slightest hint of where she was going to head off, she burst out laughing at his inquiry. It was a solid minute of trying to quell that laughter before she finally recovered and swallowed it down in a few trickling chuckles. "Okay, yeah, whatever you think. I guess you have pokemon food and supplies for when your team gets hurt. Won't need any of my help..."

She started off, figuring if he was going to travel with her he'd just catch up. "I have an egg I need help identifying. Basil told me the daycare should be able to identify it, and Rosa said they were only a little ways down the road. That's the first stop. Then back to the forest we passed to get to the ranch. Supposedly it's a good source of fairy types and not many people have gotten any good pictures of it. I'm hoping to be the first to get decent evidence of life in the forest."

Regardless of whether the poser followed her or not, she was headed on her path. She had her game plan and she was going to try like hell to stick to it. Tristan ranting wouldn't derail her. She'd - at best - just ignore him. At worst, well - they'd be testing how skilled a trainer he actually was then (if she didn't just punch him in the face instead.) But that wasn't going to be the case. Not before they got to the Daycare to see an old man sitting outside.

A kind smile slid into place on her face. "Good morning. I was hoping you might be able to help me identify an egg I received." She knelt down and fished the egg case out of her bag before moving closer to let him have a better look. "I got this from Basil Rivens and he said you might be able to tell me what kind of mon it will hatch.

"I'll...well, guess I should go see her then. I was told by the professor who said she was here to tell her to get some sleep. Does whatever you're talking about have to do with that?" Seems this girl was well known for...well, at least not sleeping thanks to her research. What else was there to do but go through with all of this.

---

@Sanguine Rose

He was uncertain how she would take being given the honor of having him traveling with her though had not expected her to break out into a fit of laughter. After watching her do so for a bit he came to the conclusion that such a privileged opportunity to travel with a person of celebrity status such as he proved overwhelming to the point of laughing out of disbelief. Having come to this conclusion, he chose to let her get it out of her system." Now if you're quite finished, we can get on our way." Said with a little airy sigh of annoyance wanting Faye to get on with what she intended to do; King gave a pat of his talon showing he wanted to get moving too though Princess shook her head and gave the side of Tristan's head a small smack." Rio!" She yipped with a small disapproving look." Hey! Watch the hair and no more hitting." He muttered out in a hushed tone.

Barely catching what Faye was saying at first until he heard mention of the name Basil which called his attention back to her to hear mention about an egg followed by talk of some forest. At first disliking the thought of traversing through some unknown forest where a number of awful things could happen like getting lost or worse, having his clothes ripped by the foliage or getting dirty again but talks of possible rare fairy types had him intrigued. Among pokemon typing, faires definitely had Tristan's attention as they tended to involve grace and beauty and felt such a touch was missing in his team. (mind he meant no slight or insult to his current pokemon of course)

The mention of Basil, however, had him curiously raising a brow.* Basil? Surely it can't be that Basil. No, it certainly can't be." Internally scoffing to himself in amusement at the mere thought.

How she came to acquire a pokemon egg already was also a curiosity though he preferred to not waste time chit-chatting on such topics at the moment, especially if they intended to be done getting through the forest before nightfall." Very well. Let us be off then." A roll of his hands motioning to head off; waiting for her to take the lead for the time being as he followed a short distance from behind.

The trek proved a short one thankfully, but slow nonetheless which allowed Tristan the time to check his social media accounts. The trip would be spent telling his followers of his journey as a trainer so far (albeit omitting the horrendous lost against Freya) and taking pics of his mons. The shiny Murkrow proved to be the only one to enjoy taking pics making the teen proud while Ace was frightened by the flash and hid against his neck, Princess merely rubbed at her eyes with a complaining murr.

As Tristan observed his followers reactions with hopes of getting more, he failed to notice that they had arrived at the daycare. Only just now taking notice of the egg Faye had pulled out to be inspected while whatever she had just said went unnoticed by the teen." I do hope this won't take too long. And a good salutation to you, good sir!" He hummed out before going back to perusing his phonedex.

@Lunarlord34

Critical hit! The Ice Shard hit one of the Trubbish with tremendous force, sending it bouncing along the ground only to hit a wall and was knocked out. Meanwhile, the other Trubbish was so started by Dush's Astonish attack that it slipped and fell into the rushing water like its other friend earlier. So, that meant that there was only one left and it just stared at Steph and the Pokemon that were going to gang up on it. Rather than dealing with getting absolutely rocked, it fell over onto its side with closed eyes and its tongue lolling out. It was pretty obvious that it was playing dead, but it was either that or actually getting the shit knocked out of.

With that out of the way, the Toxel approached the Bogan girl and looked up at her. "Tox, toxel!" Against its better judgement, it seemed to want to join her out of gratitude.





What does Steph do now?

---

@Sanguine Rose@samreaper

The older man arched his brow with very clear skepticism and said, "Basil Rivens? You mean that nice boy that joined our region's Elite Four? You met him and he gave you an egg? Miss, you don't need to make up tall tales just to impress your friend here." He motioned his hand towards the young man looking at his phone.

"Now, let's see what you-" Upon just taking a single glance at the egg the old man's eyes widened and just stared at it in stun silenced for a minute. Not a metaphorical one, but actually just stared at it without uttering a single word without breaking contact from it. Eventually he took a deep breath and said, "It's a Larvesta egg, and a shiny one at that."

He turned his glance back to Faye with a much harder look than before.

"You're either telling the truth or your stole this from someone. There are not many people in the world who have the means to obtain this egg given their rarity and in Evig only less than a handful of people have one. I wouldn't be surprised if the Elite Four have their own, but if we're talking about people who are famous for using a Volcarona, its evolution, then there are only two people: the fire-type gym leader, Geir though from what I've heard he doesn't leave Ashborn much, and Adriane Brand."

What does Faye do?

---

@Zarkun

"Well, she's the kind of person that tends to forget about her own basic human needs when she's focused on something. If I'm going to be honest, I think she's just fueled by caffeine and sheer determination." The librarian said as she led him through the many aisles of bookcases and areas where students were sitting around and studying, some on their laptops writing papers. Definitely some of them looked like they have not slept for weeks at a time. Speaking of sleep deprivation, the living personification was not far off.

There was a desk lined with to-go coffee cups stacked up on each other among towered of texts and notebooks. The only thing that could be seen of the actual person was just a mound of curly lavender hair and a long dark brown jacket cloaked over her. Jason could hear a constant muttering from her. She was completely unaware of his presence.

What does Jason do?

Needless to say, Amelia was caught completely unaware when the explosion of dark, negative emotions and energy swept over the area. The sheer, metaphysical weight and the rather painful sensation of it trying to rip a part of her away caused the young girl to fall to her hands and knees, gasping for breath as it felt as if she was drowning. She had never felt anything like this before and she could feel her heart racing as fear began to take over. She had to run, she knew she had to, but she found herself unable to physically move at all.

Then, the ruins glowed and the negative energy seemed to lose its grip on her before vanishing entirely. The young girl slowly caught her breath before getting to her feet, taking her time as her legs felt rather shaky. Phantump and Mimikyu let out cries of concern, but Amelia just gave them a soft smile before looking towards the entrance of the ruins that would lead deeper in.

Fear gripped the girl again but there was also a lot of curiosity as well. She wanted to get away from this place, move as far away as she could but she also wanted to go further in. If all those negative emotions belonged to a pokemon, it must be suffering. It was dangerous, she knew, but she wanted to see if she could at least help whatever it was that was down there.
"It's going to be dangerous, so I think it's best you two stay in here for now." Amelia said to her partners before returning Phantump and Mimikyu to their pokeballs. She then turned to Golett and Yamask, kneeling down before gently patting their heads. "Thank you for your help. I'm going to go deeper in. If you don't want to join me, you don't have to."

With that, she got back to her feet, taking a deep breath and steeling herself before heading into the ruins, simply hoping that she wouldn't get lost down in them.

@Joshua Tamashii
Well, there was only one way to go. With nerves of steel, she continued to walk along the river further with her ghostly companions, including the wild ones from earlier, and further down through these strange ruins towards the source of the mystery. She would begin to realize that she was soon walking down and down a steep, rocky slope where she needed to watch her step lest she meet a terrible tumble. Walls of sheer solid rock would soon to replace the greenery of her surroundings as the afternoon sky slowly turned into night with stars only just began to dimly peek through. Her trek did eventually pay off; she arrived at her destination.

Amelia stood before a gaping hole in the stony wall that led to a cave system. The only thing that she could see was pitch blackness though thankfully, her smartphone Pokedex thing had a flashlight feature so that was not much of an issue. It was pretty clear that this was the entrance to the source of the hellish malice from earlier, so there was only one thing to do, except something was completely off.

The moment the spirit medium tried to enter the cave, she felt resistance. It was as if she was pushing against a wall of rubber, as if something was giving way but then pushed her back though with a determined push, she would eventually make it through although with a bit of a stumble. Looking back at the entrance, she would see strange runic markings of blue light in the air by the cave forming a web though it seemed as if it was tattered from age. Whatever that was, someone or something was trying to make sure something did not get in or out.

If she still did not turn back, the only way forward was through the darkness. The only thing she would even hear were the droplets of water and the sound of rubber soles meeting stone echoing. The interesting thing though was that instead of the intense burst of negativity coming at her once, it was more like a steady stream that was more manageable though unsettling, nonetheless. However, she though it was coming from a single entity, but she would begin to realize that it was fragmented; Amelia could sense several sources at once.

Amelia would go deeper and deeper into the cave, descending further downwards until she stepped out into an open space and there was oddly, light. It was still dark mind her, but there were sources of light that somehow illuminated this space.

With the Trubbish dealt with, Steph was quick to scoop up Dusk and return Dennis and Jack, the former assuming the poisonous gas was gone now of course, turning to face the Toxel as it approached her. The way it had come up and began to nuzzle against her leg and just the tone it used made understanding it pretty easily, yet Steph still couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.

Yya shooah bud? Oy only wahnted t' haelp aguynst thaem gutless Trecko's cause thy weah troyin t' guyng up on ya, ya daon't nayd t' come weeth if yah ya daon't wahnna." Yet even as she said that, she could see it's determination in the pokemon's eyes. A kindred spirit perhaps? She seemed pretty eager and keen to join anyway, so why not? Steph knew full well how strong a Toxel could become and having a mon that reminded her of home would only be a good thing right?

"Oolroigh', buh' Oy'mma trine and droive ya hahd gawt ih'? Ine't nao pahssengahs on thiies trine, ya ooll gawtta pull ya wuyt gawtcha?" Receiving a furious amount of nodding in return, Steph smiled and accepted the Toxel's resolve, pulling out a pokeball and offering it to her. Which the Toxel immediately headbutted! Activating the button and disappearing in a flash of light soon after. "Hahppy t' hahve ya on the taym Vi! naow. ..laeh''s gao geh' ya foixed up Dusk ol' pahl."

With her new party member in tow, she sent the Trubbish to the pc upon receiving the prompt from her pokedex and went to leave before a strange ooze caught her eye. The hell was that? She wasn't sure, but it looked pretty awesome! Walking over and picking it up like it was the most natural thing in the world, she would soon make her leave of the sewers and rush to get her partner to a pokemon center. Maybe she should invest in some antidotes before she left? She would have to consider it, but first things first, once she was out of the sewer and had her team healed, she would make her way to the park that Freya had mentioned. Well, not before a bath that nurse joy forced upon the girl; because like hell she was having that girl stink the place up while she waited!

On her way, she would flick Freya a text like the girl had said to now that she was done, hair still drying in the sunlight, or whatever remained of it. The context of the message was, unlike her speech, perfectly easy to understand, if a bit blunt and to the point.

Done with the sewers, got a sweet Toxel out of it. Gonna head to the park if you wanna meet up before I plan on leaving the town, if you wanna come with.

With the message out of the way, she now gunned for that park. She wasn't leaving town without one of those cute puppers.

Following the librarian through the building, Jason watched the various students as work as they passed them each, chuckling at one who he watched struggle to stay awake and finish whatever it was he was doing, his eyes drooping and his head drifting forward before he would jolt back awake and rapidly resume typing before quickly fading again. In the time the aspiring champion could see him, this happened three times and each time drew a chuckle from him. He could remember his own late nights researching different types of Pokemon, their various strengths and locations, how close he was to see some of his favorites. Made him realize that without really meaning to, he'd set himself on the path to challenge a Pokemon League a long time ago, though his interest in it came naturally either way.

Upon seeing the desk Jaqulyn was sitting at with everything on it, he began to understand why the librarian said she had a habit of neglecting his basic needs and why he had been asked to tell her to sleep. And, judging from how tall a couple of the stacks were, telling her to eat real food might not be a bad idea either, but one thing at a time. After standing there a moment, he would clear his throat and speak. "Excuse me, are you Miss Jaqulyn?"

Faye blinked and would have laughed about trying to impress Tristan - much less that the guy thought they were friends - if not for the way the man reacted to the egg. He looked amazed, shocked really, to see the egg she pulled from her bag. A Larvesta egg? No way Basil gave a first day trainer a Larvesta egg. She stared at it a bit stunned. She had no doubts she would be able to handle it, but to get one out of one chance meeting was mindboggling. Her father would never believe her that she already managed to get one. Then again, it didn't seem like this guy believed her either.

Her attention turned back to the guy with his more pointed accusation. "Well, I'm not sure if I should be insulted you think I'd be incompetent enough to steal an egg and bring it to an upstanding citizen to identify my haul, or relieved you believe that believe I'm not making it up. But, as it turns out, I do have proof of my tale." She pulled out her phone and brought up her account to show the old coot the post she made of the picture of Basil and her together, as well as his response below it. "My name is Faye Wrexlyn. I met him yesterday shortly after I left Professor Kapoc's lab yesterday. Basil's yamper was interested in my camera - a pretty photogenic pokemon - and after a bit of a chat, Basil said I should take the egg. He apparently got it from Adriane Brand, so at least that mystery is solved."

She put her phone away and picked up the egg. "Wow, so you're sure it's a Larvesta egg? Man, my dad would be thrilled to actually get to see one up close. Maybe it'll hatch before I get back home. Do you think you can tell how long before it might hatch?" The fact that there was even another person around completely slipped her mind. Tristan could be on the ground screaming in pain and her focus would be on the egg in hand and the man that knew about it - though who could blame her for ignoring him?

---

@Sanguine Rose

Tristan was hardly paying attention; being lost in his social world where pictures of his freshly cleaned face and hair. Along with detailing his journey as a trainer so far, albeit omitting the incidents that had him looking uncool and unfavorably while having to hope no videos of his horrendous lost ending up spread around the internet. His fans alone witnessing it was bad enough, but god forbid if his brothers were to see it. They would surely never let him live it down.

In order to lessen any damage, he was working to cover up his misdeeds by showing off his team of rare mons, Ace the popular stand out. Attention King felt he deserved being an actual shiny Murkrow while the torchic wanted none of it and refused to pull his face from Tristan's neck. All while Princess was exasperated at her trainer's stubborn showboating though did some cute poses wanting to make him happy.

All of this going on kept him distracted with Faye's thing since he had little interest on whatever she was doing. He had no reason to care about a stranger who was also a rival.

He did catch that the pokemon in the egg was called Larvesta. An interesting name but one he had no recollection of having him wonder if it was a good or rare mon? And he couldn't help but wonder how a trainer fresh out of the lab get her hands on an egg? One could hardly blame the old man for insinuating she stole it as it was hard to believe a person would give a newbie trainer such an item.

Keeping his focus on his phone became difficult as the name Basil got mentioned yet again and his mind formed an image of the timid and meek Basil he knew.* .... Yeah, no. No way its that same wimpy loser.* He scoffed with an airy huff of his nose.

Then there were other thoughts starting to buzz into his head, things from yesterday that he felt wasn't the time to be thinking about. Otherwise the entire day would be spent doing little else when he wanted to get some progression as it could wait till later tonight... assuming the day doesn't prove exhausting like previously.

" Alright, I think we got it now. You got a Larvesta egg from This Bendril or whatever, yippee." Giving a mock whoopi-doo with a twirl of his fingers." If you're quite finished, we have a forest need traveling and I prefer to be in and out before nightfall so, mind wrapping this up? Please and thank you." He asked with a forced smile and a press of his thumb against the pokedex sending the last photo of a trembling Ace being forcefully pried away from Tristan's neck.

@Lunarlord34

Freya had been back in her home, finishing up her packing when she got a text from Steph in a language that was actually understandable and yet, she read it in her head in a way that sounded how the Bogan spoke. She blinked at her phone for a second and asked aloud, "Am I cursed?"

Steph would feel her phone vibrate and as she got a text back from Freya saying that she was a bit busy at the moment but would catch up with her later if she told her which route she was heading to. So, with that Steph was free to go to park to go catch a fire doggo. She'd walk through the busy streets of Grand Glory City, making sure now to miss out on anything because God forbid she missed out on anything. Eventually, she would reach her destination.

---

@Zarkun

That curly mound of lavender hair suddenly shifted and then suddenly snapped towards him to reveal Miss Jacqulyn in her, uh, less than glorious self. Jason was met by a tanned skinned woman with deep, dark circles surrounding her eyes that had thick lensed glasses though her eyes were forcibly wide awake, bloodshot, and somehow jittering. Sleep and she looked like they were in a long-distance relationship, and she hadn't texted back in weeks. Yeah, she did not look like the picture of health.

"Jaqulynspeaking.HowcanIhelpyou?I'mverybusywithmyresearchsopleasedon'tbothermeunlessitisimportant." That wasn't typed out incorrectly. The woman was not speaking with spaces. She spoke with such a rushed manner that that her words just crashed into each other like a bad car accident on the freeway and it just kept piling up. Unless Jason was reading the text in the post itself, it was probably hard to make heads or tails of what the woman was saying in her sleep deprived, caffeinated high.

The librarian that accompanied Jason looked completely unfazed and was gathering up the parapets of coffee cups that littered the table.

What does Jason do?

---

@Sanguine Rose@samreaper

The old man leaned in to inspect the evidence with an arched brow and well, he was proven to be very wrong much to his own relief.

"Huh, I'll be damned. My apologies miss for the accusation miss. Not every day you see something as incredible as that." He said, leaning back in his seat being able to relax again. "Still, to be trusted with something as rare as that means that he must recognize something in you. From what I've heard on the news that boy is a real prodigy, so I bet he has a real keen eye for talented trainers."

It was the answer that made the most sense. Faye was one of the chosen talents selected and approved by Adriane and the league administration, so it stood to reason that Basil saw something in Faye as well. It was only just luck that she happened to meet him before any of the other new trainers. What exactly he saw in her though was completely up in the air though it was enough to give him confidence that the Pokemon within the egg would be able to grow and thrive with the fledgling trainer.

Still, Faye was still not exactly sure if the old man's assessment of what kind of egg she was given was correct, which prompted him to look slightly offended. He gave gruff grunt and handed her egg back to Faye.

"Lass, I've been breeding Pokemon before your parents were born. I am absolutely certain. The coloring is different, but the pattern is overall the same. From the state of it, it looks like it was laid recently, but considering I don't when it was laid or how long Basil had been holding onto it, I couldn't give you a solid estimate of when it'll hatch. Could be a few days to a week." He said with a bit of uncertainty. Sure, the old man was an expert in his field, but he wasn't a magician. This was the best answer he could give her with the information presented to him.

Then the boy, who was quite rude, suddenly piped up after his already thin patience thinned even more. The cogs in the old man's head were slow to move as he tried to figure out what forest Tristan was speaking about until he looked at the two of them as if they were absolutely insane.

"Hold on, you mean the woods here? Are you out of your minds?" The old man said hardly. "Two things happen to those that attempt to enter the woods: you either end up back where you started, or you're never seen again. Do yourselves a favor and forget about it."

However, Faye already knew that. She already mostly knew the story behind the Illusive Woods and the stories of how to enter it freely. Well, she only knew the broader scope of it, but the finer details were lost on her. What she read from her time studying in the great library of King's Cross was basically just fanciful poetic dribble. When it comes to myth and legends, these were the closest to historical fact that anyone could get. However, there was information that she was able to glean enough that there were two ways to enter the forest though whether or not she decides to share that information with the veritable dickhead that she had the misfortune of spending her morning with.

If one thought Amelia wasn't feeling nervous as she descended into the darkness of this underground area, they were sorely mistaken. The girl's nerves were constantly on edge, and she was very aware of every little change and getting startled any every little, unexpected noise that occurred. Still, she eventually made her way to the bottom of the incline and to the entrance of a cave. Turning on her flashlight feature, she made to enter it, finding a barrier of some sort in her way. Confused, she pressed against it and found that she could pass through with a little effort. Guessing it would be dangerous, she turned to the Golett and Yamask behind her, kneeling down to their height.
"I think it's going to be dangerous from here on out. I don't want the two of you to get hurt but you both seem keen to accompany me, and I would welcome." She said before pulling out two pokeballs, hitting the buttons on them so they would grow before holding them out. "If you want to accompany me even further, please make yourselves at home in these. This way, if something happens to you, I can take you somewhere where you can be taken care of."

Once her two companions made their choices, Amelia would stand back up again and make her way through the barrier. Glancing back and seeing the same marking as what was above, she had to take a second to calm herself. If it had been that powerful on the surface, how powerful would the next wave be now that she was inside the barrier? She hoped she would be okay when it finally hit, as she had no doubt another would.

After gathering her courage, Amelia continued down the tunnel. She felt the malice again as she moved in deeper, but this time around, it was more like a steady stream rather than a sudden, powerful wave. This information didn't really make her feel any better but at this point, she knew she couldn't go back and so she kept pressing onward. She would eventually find herself out of the cave and in a massive cavern, which held a sight that was simultaneously terrifying and beautiful in its own way. A city, old and clearly abandoned yet somehow still lit up by some means. She could also sense that the malice was no coming from several sources now. Glancing around, she took some time to try and figure out the closest source before slowly making her way in that direction.

Stella Lumite

"It's the best way to deliver criticism, after all. Kindly. It takes a while if you're too nice about it, though." She couldn't stop noticing little details about the building. It was falling into disrepair, but the quality was still apparent. It was unfortunate to hear that finances were tight for the old man. She wondered if there was anything she could do to help, but doubted it.

"Oh, tea sounds wonderful. Thank you. Suppose I'll come in, then. I'd love to see the interior." She smiled sweetly, stepping through once invited. "Do you live here with anyone?" It would be kind of lonely, on your own, wouldn't it? If he was here on his own... Would Pokemon set up shop in here? It might be spacious enough. "Hm... Would you be interested in a Pokemon to help with maintenance? I might be able to find a good species for it." There were construction Pokemon, but maybe something else might be a better fit?

It hadn't even occurred to Faye that in her amazement over the egg getting identified that she might offend the daycare runner with her reaction. She blinked at his coarse reaction then finally tore her eyes away from the egg. "Oh, yeah. Sorry. Just that my dad has worked with pokemon for, well, since before I was born and he's always wanted get a chance to work with one, so getting a shiney as an egg is pretty amazing for me. I hope it hatches before I get back to King's Cross so I can show him if he's not out on call."

And then the poser coverboy had to go open his mouth and remind everyone he existed. He couldn't have spared her the reminder of how much of a chore he was? No, had to go continue proving he was as pompous as he was ignorant of the region. Which of course turned into the old man trying to dissuade them of even trying to enter the forest to test the legends she'd read.

She knelt and carefully stored the egg back into her pack. "Unlike pretty boy here, I have researched plenty and I'm confident we'll do just fine in making it back out. Whether we manage to get a pokemon that lives there or not is entirely up in the air..." She stood and got her backpack settled back on her shoulders. "But I'm not exactly looking to catch any pokemon. Just want some pictures, proof of what the forest looks would be amazing for researchers."

"At any rate, I'm sure we've taken enough of your time. Thank you for helping identify the egg. What do I owe you for that? Then we'll be out of your hair." She figured it was the polite thing, offer payment for a service even if she wasn't using the daycare. Once that was settled, they'd set out. If the city boy was too much of a wimp to follow her, then she'd just set out on her own. Maybe he'd even survive making it to Florasong without being traumatized by how far he had to walk.

---

@Sanguine Rose

Tristan was well past the whole egg thing. He wanted to get going; albeit the thought of trekking through some thick forest filled him with some strong sense of discomfort. Then he took notice of their discussion being over and while most of it went unnoticed, the last words the old man said caught his attention.

A look of concern took hold of his previously bored expression." Wait, what was that? Something about being lost?" He asked the passing Faye with a raised brow followed by a quizzical caw from King. Ignored as expected in her passing by him leaving the spoiled teen confused and uncertain.

After some contemplating and delay in his thought process, Tristan quickly moved into a quick spurt to follow after Faye, nearly tripping and stumbling in his attempt to catch up to her." Hold it! I know you heard what that geezer said. No one told us about this whole..disappearance thing." Talking as he followed a short distance behind, worry and fear creeping into his tone as he spoke with a shiver going down his spine. A reaction was also expected for any to have and yet the poorly dressed teen girl went on unfazed." I'm starting to think you knew about this. And what? Failed to clue me on something that is..oh I don't know..life endangering?!" He accused with a mixed growl of annoyance and indignation.

@Joshua Tamashii

The two ghosts looked up at Amelia and both nodded. They slapped the buttons on the Pokeballs and suddenly were absorbed into them in a beam of light.

They rolled once... they rolled twice...they rolled thrice!





Now with new companions in hand, Amelia continued and soon made her choice. She decided to brave the ruins.

They were sprawling for as far as the eye could see. Amelia would be able to easily figure out that this once had been a grand city with great significance to whatever society was there before. The buildings, what were left of them at least, were big and beautifully constructed from white stone that were now stained from dirt and dust from the years that wore them down. There were broken statues littered about the city. Perhaps they were once great people of history that were lost to time? It was all quite strange, really. She had never heard of a ruined city beneath the earth before and frankly, the strange lights that was essentially magic was something of a first time for her. In fact, this would be the discovery of the century though given the obstacles that were put in place, it may be that someone was trying to keep people out and whatever was in here in.

She was getting close to whatever the source of the malice was. Peeking her head around the corner, she finally would see it. Whatever it was, she had never seen anything like it before. It was a humanoid being, standing there listlessly. It had no facial features to speak of. Its entire body was pitch black and it had strange whisps of tendrils coming off it like when a droplet of ink enters water. This thing has not noticed her yet and perhaps it was better that it didn't see her.

What does she do?

---

@CitrusArms

Stella was soon brought to what looked like a lounge area and really, the interior really was not that much better. The once beautifully patterned wallpaper was peeling, exposing the wooden walls behind it. The furniture and paintings, perhaps a prime example of elegance and beauty in the past, were dull and covered in a thick layer of dust with a dire need of restoration. Even the floorboards moaned as if longing for the sweet release of death. Really, it was a question of how anyone could live in such a state of disrepair for so long.

"Ah, there's no need for that my dear. I will be moving in with my daughter soon and the local government will renovate this place into a sort of museum." The elderly man said as he wheeled himself over to a porcelain tea set that looked like they were the only well-maintained thing in the house. It looked like he was about to have tea when Stella knocked at his door.

"Please, sit." He motioned her to sit on whatever chair she wished. She was handed a cup of tea and upon sipping it, she found that it was quite a fragrant, yet delicate black tea with a tinge of sweetness that was natural to it.

Whatever conversation that they make, the older gentleman said, "You're a trainer, correct? I know it's sudden, but would you mind listening to an old man's request?"