❄Erika Olson❄

---

---

Erika was ready to do battle and so was Chic by the looks of her. The clash began with Machamp rightfully charging in, the numerous Psychic Pokemon making up the front line were all impressively engaged by the King of the Mountain. "Yeeeaaaah Machamp!" The normally reserved Erika found herself quite pumped as she ran past. Chic also gave a warrior's bellow as she ran alongside Erika, adopting the Mt. Strength attitude quite quickly.

They run slid to a stop among the water and fire of more opposition. The hirelings of the rich number and Erika was quite ready to step up to do batt- "Ah alright good luck you guys." She nodded at her friends, Ewan and Joshua letting them tussle. She carried on only slowing when she heard the drill being fired up. It would have been quite the issue to work around that, but thankfully she didn't have to as unexpected help had arrived. Maple and her apparent pyromaniac tendency was certainly a surprising ally at this time but an appreciated one as the combined efforts of Maple's whole team created a roaring fire. Erika pressed on towards Julian following Ellyn's taunt.

"Yea that's right, Julian, but unlike you, I am going to earn that Dawn Stone." Erika snarled with her expression tightening into something fierce. Chic chirped fiercely at her trainer's side but in rare form as she tried to step up to take the lead for the battle, Erika stuck her arm out halting Chic. She turned to face her trusty Pokemon, her expression softening. "Sorry Chic, I know what this would mean to you if you could battle before the King, but this is personal to me. I'm going to make this a rout, not a challenge."

Erika turned back, her expression growing serious again as she plucked a Pokeball from her belt and gave it a toss. Out came, Kay, the Dark Psychic type, appreciative that her opponent played his hand early with the number of Psychic types displayed so far. Her choice of move was obvious and in spite of her intense demeanor, Kay appeared quite jolly in her cockiness going up against a Psychic type. Foul Play was sent back towards Julian's side.

---

---

Wow, what a long wait.

Skylar weighed his options momentarily as he threw out his trusty old pal, Seabreeze, accompanied by trusty friend, Paradise. The two stood... err... flew firm as Skylar thought of a plan in the moment. He had a trusty chance with his allies, though there was no way either of his team could outspeed that Diglett, but Skylar was prepared with the side that he had with Paradise. No matter what was happening, Skylar threw his cane forward and declared his assault.

"Breeze, Water Pulse towards that Cubone! Paradise, Razor Leaf! Hit 'em both hard!" Sure, the sandstorm would start to chip the team more, but they could survive decently well. Regardless of what was coming next, whether Lisette was going to switch or if she kept her team in, something was about to get absolutely devastated.

The plan would continue from there. Even if Water Absorb was coming in, Razor Leaf would be utilized in tandem with Water Pulse to lay waste to whatever could be sent out.

"Tropius!"

"Winguwing! GULL!"

@Joshua Tamashii

_{appropriate music}

The GM has literally forgotten what the contradiction in Smergle’s last testimony was. I believe it was something to do with the last line. I don’t remember. However, I will now make it significantly easier.

A search was conducted on Ledyba, and no stones were found on him.

‘Smergle, smergle!’ Smergle called in Smergle-language while painting a picture of Ledyba hiding a spiky orange stone in a bush.
‘Smer-smer! Smergle, Smergle-mergle!’ the orange-tailed Smergle claimed in Pokémon language while painting a picture of the spiky stone with sticks and leaves all over it.

‘I bet he hid the Water Stone somewhere!’
‘Bet he might even have somehow disguised the stone to look like something it isn’t!’













Or she could leave.



Connected areas:
Pureplain City. You can get back without complication.
Infested Woods. You’re right next to it.
Wet Caverns. May need to cross a bridge or two to get there.



__________________________

@hatakekuro

Cecil went over and started to Headbutt the tree! And, immediately, Burmys started falling around, making upset noises and hurried away.

‘Um, perhaps try some different trees as well,’ Anise suggested, because unlike in the case of pure Pokémon logic, trees can actually run out of Pokémon. But, with the assumption that they went from tree to tree and headbutted, they’d make some more Burmys and some Slakoths come tumbling down against the fortunately pretty soft forest floor… but eventually.

‘PINSIR-!’ … And the creature suddenly emerged from BENEATH the tree that just got headbutted, its pincers appearing to the left and right of Cecil!





‘Woa, it worked, but…!’ Anise commented, astounded. However, she immediately took a prepared stance and was ready to command her Pokémon to help, because…!

Pinsir immediately gripped the offender with its pincers! It ambushed Cecil with a Vice Grip! She’d be pretty hard-pressed to escape on her own!

What will Basil and/or Cecil do?





Connected areas:
Route 3. To the east.
Route 11. If you head directly north for a while.
Silent Shrine. Go south, you should be able to find the road there.



__________________________

@Pirouette

Julian grunted as Kay came out and completely no-selled the Confusion. Erika’s opponent wasted absolutely no time retrieving the Pokémon with a beam from the Pokéball.

‘I don’t only have Psychic-types… Go, Magnemite!’ Julian called, throwing his Pokéball forth and a new mon took shape! A metal sphere with magnets attached to it!





… Magnemite was immediately struck by Kay’s Foul Play! However, that’s a move that uses the opponent’s attack against them, and Magnemite’s defense is double its attack, so it didn’t do as much as it possibly could have!

‘I’ll show you. Magnet Bomb!’ he commanded… and Magnemite launched a number of tiny metal balls, which floated into the air before suddenly surging forward at Kay! These balls were homing, following their opponent’s every move!

All during this, Joshua and Ewan were fighting it out with Mia and Allan, Machamp was fighting the goons, while Maple was pelting at the giant machine with fire attacks and Ellyn was satisfied standing with her arms crossed, watching Julian battle like this.

__________________________

@Gardevoiran

To say Skylar was prepared to take on the Ground-type Gym Trainer would be quite the understatement.

Seeing that Tropius was there, Liselott decided not to switch any Pokémon. Seeing how she didn’t have any other attacks that were effective, Cubone rushed forward to Headbutt and Diglett sped its way forward at a blinding speed to scratch. However, Diglett is very tiny, and both of Skylar’s Pokémon were in the air, correct? So the tiny Pokémon unable to leave the ground couldn’t really do anything. Seabreeze Water Pulsed and Paradise Razor Leafed… and after that there wasn’t much left of the opposition.

In the second round Liselott commanded Wooper to cover Larvitar so that Larvitar could get off a Rock Slide, but both Seabreeze and Paradise outsped their opponents. It was a simple matter for Seabreeze to just fly around the Wooper or for Paradise to just Razor Leaf the shield first.



‘Wow! You’re pretty good! Now, here’s a clue!’ Liselott said, then leaned forward for a mock whisper. ‘For the last part, the Gym Leader was on someone’s back!’

So it was. Now back to where the path split off. Where would Skylar try now? … Wait, did the whole rock over there just tilt a little? Not that Skylar could see, but his Pokémon sure could.

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

---

^{Wet Caverns || Day 5: Afternoon}
Braith was always easy on the ears, Eryn found. His mention of dragons being proficient with electricity and martial arts sent her deep enough down a mental rabbit hole that she almost missed her cue to speak, but she recovered fast enough that the conversation, she hoped, had only an imperceptible hiccup. And, of course, his tips on how to get to the dragons were invaluable. Sure, she had just about mapped out the do’s and don’ts of the cavern, but having confirmation—having the guarantee of someone with experience, and perhaps firsthand experience—was more than she could ask for.

“You better!” she said when he brought up keeping her updated. “Good luck though. Hopefully the rematch will be easier, now that Lesley’s team isn’t a complete mystery. Though, I suppose, the element of surprise went both ways… But I’m sure that wouldn’t stop a seasoned trainer!”

With the phone call over, Eryn was off again, following the path Braith had outlined for her. The Zubats overhead were curiously tolerant of the noise this time around, and it just so happened that Peri was by far the loudest in her group.

“Do you figure they’re scared of Onix?” Eryn mused, scanning over the hordes of sleeping bats. “Or do they recognize the difference between the noise of Onix and normal wilds in this cave, as opposed to trainers and non-native Pokemon?”

Dei snorted, Kylie smiled, Peri grunted, Eri gave her an apologetic shrug, and Tula wiggled in her arms, prompting Eryn to lean down and nuzzle the hard-carapaced fish as they came up on the split into the deep path.

“Very dark indeed,” Eryn said, peering into the shadowy path up ahead. “Well, in terms of light, Dei’s something. But…”

She turned to the Nuzleaf on her team with a grin. “Hey Eri, what’s the best you got? Surely we’ve seen some pretty shiny Pokemon by now.”

Eri balked, eyes wide as he looked between Eryn and the rest of the team. Dei snorted again—pointedly even—and Eri stared at him for a second. Then, scrunching up his brows, he thought for a second before looking back at Eryn, excitement in his eyes.

Eryn nodded. “Let’s see it!”

Eri’s Nuzleaf form darkened and wavered, then widened a bit. Yellow rings coalesced in the dark, and a pair of red eyes opened amongst the black.

“Oh, Umbreon!” Eryn jumped over, rubbing Eri’s head through his Umbreon disguise—something that was rather strange to do as the disguise was largely incorporeal. “Good job, you. Now, let’s see those lights!”

---

❄Erika Olson❄

---

---

Erika kept herself surprisingly cool as she watched Julian switch out to a more effective Pokemon. Magnemite was a little bit of a surprise for her but nothing that Kay couldn't handle. "You won't show me anything because I don't take the easy road! Kay! Reflect to protect yourself and hide behind it!" She called out to her Pokemon. Kay, floating in mid-air, lifted a few of her tentacles to wave them about conjuring a faint purple glass to appear. Kay did her best to put the Reflect glass in between her and the homing metal orbs, though a few did slip past.

"An easy road that harmed others like all the Pokemon who earned their right to be here! Kay! Swagger!" Erika hollered, motioning for Pokemon to continuing. Kay did exactly that from behind the Reflect screen, smugly irritating the opposing Magnemite to a flustered rage if it worked! "What have you even done to earn anything?" Erika prodded in her own Swagger to try and fluster Julian to make a mistake as well!

@PlatinumSkink



Hallelujah it's raining Burmy.

Cecil, bless her tiny soul, smashed her head repeatedly against the tree until there was nothing left. There was probably a Darumaka sized indent in the bark with the number of times she headbutted the tree.

Basil turned to look at Anise and nodded in agreement and said, "Looks like we're gonna be here awhile."

The duo went from tree to tree and Cecil continued to headbutt them, which made the residents in the canopies upset that they were knocked out of their home. Thankfully they did not form an angry mob and chased them out of the woods. Not like they could even with those numbers. Actually, could Slackoths even form an angry mob?

Eventually, after headbutting enough trees Basil felt the earth stir for a second. "What was that?" he asked though quickly found out the answer was one raging huge bug that erupted from the ground beneath Cecil, aka, the Pinsir that he was looking for. In a flash the Stag Beetle Pokemon caught Cecil within its pincers and held her tightly with great strength. The Darumaka cried out in pain and Basil gritted his teeth.

He held his hand out Anise as if to keep her from interfering and said without looking at her, "This is my fight. Cecil, use Fire Fang!"

From her position, the Darumaka's complied with a flaming mouth (beak?) that would try to chomp down onto the oversized bug's head. Can't really miss from Hustle when the target was holding her in place.

@PlatinumSkink

---

Honestly, she still wasn't sure how to process all of this.

On one hand, she had just found a Team Amethyst base, making them objectively the bad guys that she should be beating up. On the other hand, she had just been offered a prime opportunity for...sleuthing. Information gathering. She frowned, accepting the card and mulling over her options. Ooh, wait, she was like some undercover noir novel, and Isabella was the dangerous blond that she was getting involved with.

Yeah okay that made this a whole lot more fun sounding.

"Mammoth Squad, Steppingstone Street, ask for Onyx. Not sure how telling a pokemon about you is going to be helpful but sure." She pocketed the card, Ralia trying her best not to let her subtle fear of this woman get the better of her, clinging tightly to Claire's shoulder. She didn't have any more questions for now. She just needed to keep a level head and get out of here. She returned all her pokemon to their pokeballs before turning towards the Lass that brought her here. "Hey don't look so uncertain." Claire smiled, walking over and giving her a winning grin. "Now that I'll be part of your operations, everything will go a hundred percent smoothly."

The Pokédexes, which double as phones, made a small noise that announced that you had all received a message from Professor Kalmia. The message could wait until you wished to listen to it, but when you did, you found it was an audio-message.

‘Hello, trainers! Professor Kalmia speaking! I’ve called you today to inform you of some going-ons!’ Kalmia’s voice was heard, and she sounded kinda excited.

‘First things first, I got a deal through with the Pokémon League! They’ll now give the Freecape Ferrymen some payment, and offer you guys the ability to go to their offices in all towns of Isson! For 500P, they’ll fly you to any city or town in Isson that you have previously visited! _{This goes for Jacques' trainers too, apparently.} That should speed up the backtracking! Of course, if you get your own rideable Pokémon, you can skip the fee!’

‘Secondly! You might have heard the news? A pirate has appeared with a hull filled with Pokémon not originally found in Isson! From Alola, Galar, Paldea, maybe more!’ For when he suddenly carries things from future generations. ‘His name is Zachery, and he sails around Isson and can be found wherever there’s seawater! I came into contact with him, and he offers each trainer of mine a free Pokémon of their choice! Any beyond the first you’ll have to pay for, however.’ _{Now, should I count that Basil already got his free Pokémon?}

‘Besides that, you’re not the only people in Isson to have visited Zachery! Many others have, too! And, some of them are willing to trade! In every town and city in Isson, there’ll be some Zachery customers that are willing to trade their picks for a Pokémon that is actually available in Isson! Each town will have three trades, and all of them will be of the type that the town is associated with! For instance, the traders in Pureplain City are all trading Normal-type Pokémon, yeah. Each town has one Alola Pokémon trade, one Galar Pokémon trade and one Paldea Pokémon trade. Funny how that works out.’

‘So if you want a very specific Pokémon, you can find the town specializing in that type, and see if it is being traded there! Though, note none of the traders will carry any “special” Pokémon, just normal ones.’ No Ultra Beasts, hybrid fossils or Paradox Pokémon. ‘And, if it’s not there, well, then guess you’re going to need to find Zachery and get it from his hull. This includes alternate forms of other Pokémon.’ Though, Zachery will not have Legendary Pokémon. ‘There’s also some new evolutions for Pokémon existing in Isson… something tells me their evolution methods might work if applied to Isson Pokémon?’

‘I will note. The Pokémon from outside Isson are NOT part of the mission you received from me, the one to map the Pokémon native to Isson. … That said, it’s cool to have foreign Pokémon, isn’t it!? You can bet basically none of the natives are going to have any of them!’

‘That’s all for now! I wish you good luck, and let me know if you need or wonder anything! Kalmia, out!’

__________________________

@Typical

Eryn bid her goodbyes with Braith over the phone and then headed on. Getting by the Onix, she’d find that Braith’s directions were practically perfect. Highly probably he’d been here before.

That said, while Eri could replicate the outside appearance of the Umbreon they’d seen, actually emitting light was beyond the scope of what the illusion could do. It was more of an in-place illusion. Sure, he could make it LOOK like he was shining… but he wasn’t actually, and it didn’t particularly brighten up the area. However, perhaps the light of Dei’s tail would do. If nothing else, he could breathe fire occasionally to brighten up the surrounding area.

Regardless, she was soon able to head down into the depths… where there were a bunch more Geodudes lying around, and Gravelers, but she’d simply have to dodge those again. Nothing else to it. Soon enough, she found herself on the path by the river that Braith had described. Somewhere on this route, dragons were supposed to be able to appear. Due to the presence of the water here, it was just a little brighter than the previous area… and…

There wasn’t just one dragon. There were three.




♀♀♀ _{I rolled for gender thrice and got three female results}


Three Bagons stood in a circle, looking from the one to their left, to the one to the right. They eyed each other suspiciously. In the very center between the three of them…



… Lay a single Dragon Scale, clearly an item of importance to the three Bagons.

It appeared they were having some form of Issonian Standoff, or something.

What would Eryn do, if anything?

__________________________

@hatakekuro

Anise stopped on Basil’s command, nodding and awaiting the result.

Cecil felt the strong grip of the Vice Grip on her sides… but decided to counter with a Fire Fang!

‘PIIIIIIIIIINS-!’ Pinsir shouted out in anger from its head being gnawed on, but refused to let go! Instead, it just tightened the pincers even tighter around Cecil’s sides! And, in response, Cecil gnawed on…!

Now, Pinsir is a block of stats. A fully evolved Pokémon, on account of being the only Pokémon in its evolutionary line. It was stronger and tougher than Cecil… but Cecil made up for it by being Super Effective! A biting battle took place, where Cecil’s fangs burned Pincir’s head while Pinsir’s pincers dug into Cecil’s sides, both Pokémon taking damage by the second…!

Over time, both Pokémon were considerably weakened! It wasn’t clear who was going to come out on top… but that’s not what the goal of this encounter was, was it?

<after checking with player> Basil threw a Great Ball!

The Great Ball hit the Pinsir, and the giant bug was absorbed into the Pokéball in a red flash, and Cecil fell off the being and rolled away a bit. The ball itself landed just below where it hit.

It rolled once!

It rolled twi-







Connected areas:
Route 3. To the east.
Route 11. If you head directly north for a while.
Silent Shrine. Go south, you should be able to find the road there.



__________________________

@Rune_Alchemist

‘Um… Onyx is a person… Specifically, a codename… You know, like the black gemstone…?’ the Lass asked in reply to Claire’s joke, but Isabella just chuckled and was on her way, giant floating Golbat following along. That was there the whole time, by the way.

With Claire being so confident, though, the Lass simply shrugged. ‘Alright, if you say so. Okay, can we exchange info so that I can send you messages? Guess you’re my responsibility?’

If Claire was fine with that, then information was exchanged. After that, the Lass intended on escorting Claire out of the secret base they’d built. With the assumption that Claire wasn’t about to resist, she’d find that she wasn’t led to the same entrance as the one she’d used to enter this place. Instead, she walked up some stairs to a random normal building in Raremine Town, and expected to simply walk out the front door. If she wanted to get back to the secret Amethyst base, she’d know where to go now. Still, based on what they were saying, Team Amethyst expected the base to soon be discovered anyway.

Claire was back in Raremine Town. The group of people had dispersed by now.

Small possibly interesting thing. Cathia, the very person that Claire just fought in the underground Amethyst lair, was sitting on a bench in the middle of town with the papers that she’d stolen, resting and reading the documents. Claire could coincidentally run into her.





Connected areas:
Route 6. The Vast Plains open up to the north of Raremine. The shorter paths lead to Route 8 and 16, while west far enough leads to Lakewatch Town.
Route 7. The single rocky desert of Isson, it connects to the Desert Mines, the Old Tombs and to the Mythic Oasis.

---

---

"On someone's back?" Skylar blinked at that idea. "That's... odd. Good to know, though." He could start ruling things out with that information, though with his eyes, it was likely just going to be a different sort of deal. More importantly, he needed to thank his valuable team members.

"Way to go team! We'll be cruising through this with ea-" Skylar ran over to Paradise and Seabreeze, patting them on the head for a job well done, before he heard his Pokedex buzz and stopped. Pulling out his device, Skylar listened to the message from Kalmia and hopped onto Paradise's back, Seabreeze taking position on the top of her head.

After a moment of thought, Skylar put his Pokedex away. Surely there wouldn't be a problem if Skylar went back to town and went to go get a new Pokemon... right? Surely not. "Paradise, we're going back to Raremine!" He could return for the gym challenge in a little bit, there were new friends to make.

Popping back to town, Skylar stopped at the local Pokemon Center (just quickly to heal up his team and put some friends in the PC, he needed to rethink some things for the gym)...



... and while he was on his way towards the Freecape Ferry Service, he overheard the commotion going on at the research lab. He wondered if his Old Amber was doing okay in the process, and he figured going back to see couldn't hurt. So... he did.

Riding into the lab, Skylar looked around. "Howdy! I was passing by to get a ride somewhere when I remembered my Old Amber!" Skylar held Pretzel in his arms, a piece of rope in the birds mouth to chew on. "Wanted to check on it before I left for a little, just in case."_{"Grgrmgrgrgrmg-"}

Basil did a quick fist pump for joy, but was trying his best to not jump for joy. It would've been embarrassing to display such a sight in front of Anise. Meanwhile, Cecil was just rollin, rollin, rollin across the ground before he returned her to her ball. He looked down at his partner's Pokeball with a smile before picking up the one containing his new Pinsir before the ball disappeared to the PC. For now, he thought it would have been best to give the newly acquired bug some time before he released her though he could only wonder how Kalmia would react to his latest catch.

Basil focused his attention to Anise who seemed to be quite uneasy with the prospect of catching herself a Pinsir of her own. "I can't really blame you. That was straight out of a horror movie," he said with a nervous laugh.

His Pokedex soon vibrated and lo and behold it was Professor Kalmia with an audio message packed with very important information. It looked like Zachary was no longer going to be bargaining chip for Basil to get information from those stingy Bug and Pokemaniacs. Oh well, it was probably for the best anyway and hey, fast travel was now a thing.

"How did I get that message in the middle of a forest? The wireless coverage must be insane," said Basil aloud. He flicked through his Pokedex to its map app and opened it. It was already agreed that the two of them would eventually meet up in Stillwood Village to find someone who could tell them what the berry Landorus gave them even was, which would eventually lead them, or at least Basil, to Raremine Town where Professor Dustan was located. That man would definitely be of great help to teach them about any legends pertaining to Landorus and the berry it gave them.

However, they were both tasked with wrangling a legendary Pokemon. Well, Anise more than him since she's the guardian of the Reveal Glass, but should he run into Landorus again he would have to be able to hold his own against it. That meant that he would need to get some serious firepower and that is not even taking into account the other two that Lorette mentioned. Well, he needed it anyway if he wanted to get ahead in the league anyway and there was one place that definitely could provide him just that power, assuming they don't tear him a new one.

But first, it was time to leave this forest. He would head back to Route 3 and then make his way back to Highhill Town.

@PlatinumSkink

---

Claire simply gave the lass a look that pretty much said 'are you dumb.' As she stated the obvious joke. She was completely fine exchanging information for now. She had an in to one of the most evil organizations in Isson, and she wasn't about to let that go. Not for...nefarious purposes of course. No, she was more like Crobatman or something, at least that's what she was going to tell herself to make this make sense.

After saying a brief goodbye to the disguised lass, Claire let out a long, tired, drawn out sigh.

"...that was...an adventure alright, wasn't it girl?"

"Raaaal." Ralia agreed, looking up at Claire from where she sat in the girls arms.

"Mngh...you don't think I'm gonna get in over my head do you?"

"Ralts~"

"...you always are going to say that though, aren't you?" Claire said with a light chuckle and a chirp of confirmation from Ralts as Claire moved away from the hideouts entrance. Well at leas the plan of action was...somewhat simple here. Talk to Dunstan again, see if she could get more information out of that guy now that she had some reliable tips against Team Amethyst...but first, she spotted something pretty interesting. Cathia, sitting on a bench not too far away in the middle of town. Now this would be playing with fire...but also might be a good idea. "Hey, girl, stay in your pokeball for a bit." After putting away Ralts, Claire approached the bench, slid right up to Cathia on the bench.

"HEY! You're one of Jaques trainers aren't ya?" She offered a handshake a totally winning irresistible smile to Cathia. "Claire Blackwood. One of Kalmia's trainers. You got a name and can I challenge you to a battle huh, or are them papers more interesting then cute little old me?"

Smooth, heh. Just slid right into her dms without seeming too sus. Nailed it.

@Gardevoiran

It turns out that the commotion at the lab was most of the inhabitants of the lab leaving said lab. Dunstan and Leila among them. The scientist that was in charge of resurrecting fossils walked by Skylar as he came to ask his question, and…

'What? You’re concerned about that stuff, at a time like this!?’ Resurrection dude said, albeit maybe with the change of circumstances Skylar wouldn’t actually ask about that. 'Come on! There’s a historic occasion to witness! Let’s be on our way!’

With that, the whole group of scientists were heading off through Raremine Town. With the assumption that Skylar would head along (this plot kinda won’t progress if he doesn’t) he’d find that they were heading out of Raremine Town, off north. If you look at a map of Isson, do you see that there’s actually a river going inland right above Raremine Town? Logically, it was emerging from some underground channel or something.

Well, there was a gigantic pirate ship on that river. Flying the crossbones, piraty crew, captain standing grinning at the helm. There was absolutely zero doubt. Now, unsure if Skylar had some particular way of noticing that there was a pirate ship there, but some scientist could probably fill him in.

Standing at the helm was, alongside his giant ice-bear…!



Oh, and Zachery’s two female helpers were probably around here somewhere, too.


Approaching the ship were Dunstan and Leila, the chief scientist on legendary Pokémon, and the representative of the scientists at Raremine Town, albeit she herself wasn’t a scientist. Just a really powerful Pokémon trainer.



‘Ahoy, there, Dunstan!’ Zachery called with an energetic tone. ‘I got the thing you wanted! Special delivery, straight to you! Am I doing a good job, or what!?’ he called, chuckling as he did.

‘You’re doing excellently. Thank you, Zachery.’ Dunstan. Leila meanwhile took out a Pokéball, and a Pidgeot emerged.



‘Help with the preparations, Perseus,’ Leila commanded, and the Pidgeot took off.

“Preparations” turned out to be lifting out a giant wooden ramp that Perseus the Pidgeot and the Beartic cooperated to place from the ship to the ground beneath. Then, they went over and started carrying something else. A giant cargo-crate, slowly carried down from the ship while crew and scientists were all eagerly watching.

‘Finally, an ace which I can call my own,’ Dunstan muttered. Probably not actually heard by anyone, as he watched the container reach the land before him. ‘I’ll have to thank the Aether Foundation for this. Perhaps, with this, I’ll be able to…’

However, his talk was cut short by the ground suddenly starting to shake.

Suddenly breaking through the ground were suddenly a bunch of Ground-type Pokémon, emerging around the startled scientists. Leila immediately got a very annoyed expression as she turned towards the place where her very own rival came out of the ground, while Dunstan ran for the crate as if to protect it and Zachery just stood looking surprised. The Pidgeot and the Beartic released the crate and it fell onto the ground with a somewhat loud impact.

‘Heeeeey, there, Leila!’ Kristy said, smirking from atop her Claydol, right above the hole she just created, and Leila was confronting her. ‘You know, for someone claiming to not be smuggling Pokémon, this sure doesn’t look good!’



Now, I don’t expect anyone to remember, but these two have a history.

‘Kristy! You know fully well who Zachery is! This is a perfectly normal transaction! Believe me, you do NOT want to mess with us right now!’ Leila shouted at Kristy.

‘Ma’am, you can call this a lot of things, but there’s absolutely nothing normal about it!’ Kristy chuckled. ‘Unfortunately, a lot of sneaky deals have been going on around Raremine lately, and I’d like to know what’s going on. You wouldn’t mind showing me, would you? As a token of trust?’

‘Not a chance! You’ve attacked our transport trucks too many times in the past! We have no reason to trust you!’ Leila answered.

‘Only because we were pretty sure those were illegitimate transports. I have no idea what this is. Please show me?’

While the two of them were arguing, a loud crack was heard from the crate that had been carried down. Kristy and Leila continued their squabbling, but Dunstan, far too concerned about the crate, turned and started pressing a couple buttons on the futuristic Aether Foundation crate, it started opening up. And… on the inside was…

‘NO!’ Dunstan shouted out. For those who had a good view… the bottom of the crate was breached. Something had dug in, snatched the contents of the crate, and then sealed the hole behind them.

Leila spun, noticed the state, and then spun to stare in an absolute rage at Kristy… who looked confused.

‘Eh? What? What happened?’ Kristy asked, and- ‘WOA-’ As if responding to Leila’s feelings, Perseus the Pidgeot shot a sharp gust of wind, forcing Kristy to jump off the Claydol. Claydol took the wind-hit, and shot a Psychic attack back at Pidgeot… and while that happened Kristy ran so she could get a view inside the crate. She stopped as soon as she got close enough, running by Leila in the process.

‘Oh!’ Kristy made a noise of realization of the discovery, eyes widening a bit. She started reaching for her other Pokéballs. ‘Alright, let me release my Ground-type Pokémon, and-’

SNAP. ‘Wha-’

The tail of a dark snake suddenly lashed out, snatching Kristy’s arms from behind, tying them up and causing the Gym Leader to fall forward, falling restrained onto the ground.

One of the scientists… took off her hat and coat and suddenly didn’t at all look like a scientist anymore.

‘I was told to keep watch in case anything suspicious happened… I didn’t expect this, however,’ a girl with very purple hair said. Numerous what appeared to be police-officers also showed up right about now to restrain the other Ground-type Pokémon that had appeared with their Growlithes.



‘Geesh, Sylvia! I know you like your secret police stuff, but I need to use my Ground-type Pokémon to see where the REAL criminals went…!’ Kristy complained to the girl, apparently named Sylvia, who had her Seviper restraining her.

‘I’m sorry, Kristy,’ Sylvia shook her head. ‘But I’m not about to let a primary suspect search for the criminal,’ she said. Kristy groaned in light annoyance and tried to shake herself free, but turned out the Seviper was really good at restraining.

‘You brought this on yourself,’ Leila scoffed at her. ‘But how are we going to find them now!?’ she called. Meanwhile, Dunstan was just collapsed by the crate, and Zachery was scratching his head under his hat with his hook-hand. Had the enemy gone undersea, he could have helped, but underground…

‘That is…’ Sylvia frowned, for she didn’t have a good answer to the question…

That’s when Skylar felt some shaking from right underneath him. Specifically, the shaking was traveling from away from the crate, under him, and then on the way back towards Raremine Town.

In fact, Seabreeze with his Keen Eye might actually spot the minor movements of small pebbles or other things on the way to actively follow where the digging was taking it.

What would Skylar like to do?

It might be hard to continue the Gym Challenge while Kristy’s like this.

Also, if you want your price, probably don’t bring everyone. No time, or something.

__________________________

@hatakekuro

It was honestly a short and easy enough trip to get out of the rain and get back to Highhill Town. It looks the same as it did, but now the Freecape Ferrymen Office was open. And, as promised, there were three options of trading to get Pokémon from outside Isson… read the bottom of the suggestions to actions for details.

‘Okay. What’s your plan, now?’ Anise asks, as she needs to head back to Redcoast City to prepare for her own Pokémon adventure that she intends to depart on. She did tell Basil this earlier. She was just okay with going back to Highhill first because it was a lot easier than going straight through Silent Forest.

What will Basil do now?





Connected areas:
Route 1. To the south, is the common route of first journeys. Green and straight.
Route 3. To the north, the route to Rainrock or the Silent Shrine. A wet woodland.
Route 14. To the east, the lake known as the Dragon Lake, potentially for crossing.



__________________________

@Rune_Alchemist



Cathia visibly flinched when Claire slid in beside her, and gathered up the papers in a hurry before looking towards Claire with a startled expression. She recovered quickly enough, returning to her regular supposedly graceful expression…

‘Oh, you’re… yes, I do seem to remember,’ Cathia said, taking Claire’s hand as offered. ‘I’m Cathia. And… I’m not sure I can battle right now…’ Cathia said, looking down at the papers. She then looked up at Claire. Now, Claire could totally say something about this or interrupt Cathia’s speech, but…

‘You’ll do. I’m going to unload a little,’ Cathia said, before picking up the papers again and reading them. ‘So, as we speak, there’s a Team Amethyst base right below Raremine Town. Sure, we can invade it, but the problem is, it’s done. They’ve already achieved their goal here.’

‘They stole many… MANY ancient Pokémon, resurrected from fossils or mined out of the ice of Frozen Caverns. They did so in a manner that made the two factions of Raremine Town, the scientists and the workers, led by Leila and Kristy respectively, think the other side was to blame. Their intentions were to find the cells of ancient Legendary Pokémon, hidden within the fossils or bodies of these should-have-been long-dead Pokémon… and they succeeded,’ Cathia said, holding out a paper that described a vial filled with…

‘The cells of the lifegiving Pokémon… they’ve found them. Of course… it doesn’t say what they’re going to use them for. Something about using them to find the real thing, but that’s not all. I can but theorize what they’ll do with them…’ She sighed. ‘I should tell someone, but Amethyst is notoriously brilliant at escaping when Pokémon League people try to hunt them down. Almost like if…’ Cathia shook her head.

‘I’m sorry. That was not your problem to hear. I am alright with having a battle. Maybe I could use it to calm my nerves. I prefer fighting with open display rules. We both show each other our whole teams before we start.’ If there’s a better term for the kind of fighting where you know the species of the opponent’s team beforehand, please, the GM wants to know. ‘Does that work with you?’ Cathia asked, sorting the documents into her bag before standing up to make ready. Assumingly, she too had gone to the Pokémon Center.

Did Claire interrupt anywhere in that or let her say all that? Does she want to do something herself? _{also, a note. Cathia’s team is pretty strong, as per what you saw underground}





Connected areas:
Route 6. The Vast Plains open up to the north of Raremine. The shorter paths lead to Route 8 and 16, while west far enough leads to Lakewatch Town.
Route 7. The single rocky desert of Isson, it connects to the Desert Mines, the Old Tombs and to the Mythic Oasis.

---

---

Scientific discovery? That sounded really interesting. Skylar pat Paradise on the back and she started to walk towards the commotion, the trainer simply listening to the commotion with his cane against the ground off the side of Paradise. Arriving on the scene, Skylar witnessed not only an actual Pokemon pirate but an actual crime bust! That was so cool! It was one thing to have something coming from the Aether Foundation (he overheard Dunstan, it's hard not to with that kid's hearing), but with the security of this whole entourage, it had to be something incredible. He tried to get a look, but quickly realized something.

"Oh, right." He waved a hand in front of his face. Still, listening in was cool enou-huh? Getting distracted from the crime bust that was going on, Skylar felt a sensation in the ground. Sure, there was a scuffle of a few Ground Types nearby, but that wasn't it. It couldn't be it. It was heading towards Raremine. Thankfully, he wasn't the only one to notice the shaking, and Seabreeze hopped down onto Skylar's head and hushedly cawed at the lad.

"Wiwiwingull?"
"You saw that?"
"Gull."
"Good, because I heard it. What do you think it is?"
"Troooh troh?"
"You're right, I'm gonna need all hands for this. Breeze, follow those rocks, and Paradise follow Breeze - we waste no time!"
"Tropius!"

Seabreeze leapt off Skylar's head and started to fly after the shaking rubble, following it as fast as he could with Paradise following behind. Skylar lifted Pretzlcoatl onto his head to sit there and watch behind the group.

"Pretzel, I'll buy you a whole pizza if you keep an eye out for any people following us. I hope we won't have to worry, but better safe than sorry."

Pretzlcoatl didn't even respond, instead watching with eyes as wide as the pizzas he hoped for. He was ready.

"Sorry, I guess it slipped my mind," he apologized when she asked of his plans. Basil had been so absorbed with his next step in his own journey that he forgot to consider Anise in the equation."I'm going to take a detour to Lakewatch Town and then make my way from there to Stillwood Village. I think it will be a good... way..."

He looked at Anise with a blank expression and then sighed as if he was kicking himself. "We really didn't plan this out, did we? We just agreed that we needed to go to Stillwood and then left it at that." With everything that happened it had never occurred to them to actually talk about how they were going to do this.

"If you want, I can wait for you to come back and we can travel together, but I understand that if you need to take time to prepare. This was sprung onto you without warning so there's no hard feelings if you can't. We could just meet at the village's Pokemon Center," Basil said with an understanding tone, well, because he understood her circumstances. If she could not join him for the first leg of the trip then he would not pressure her to do so, especially if she wanted to spend some time with her loved ones. It would be some time before she would return home from her journey.

Whether or not if she wanted to join him for this part to the village (or if the GM found either option more interesting), Basil would eventually walk over to the docks. There were any number of fishermen there though he was not itching for a fight at the moment. He would just head over to wherever they sold fishing rods and tickets.

"Hi, how much would a fishing rod and a ferry ticket cost?" He asked whoever ran the establishment, stand, or whatever it was.

---

^{Wet Caverns || Day 5: Afternoon}
Eri didn’t actually end up shining, and while Eryn was a bit disappointed, the disappointment that covered Eri’s face was much more devastating, and she quickly recovered her smile. “Hey, it was a nice try. Plus, you basically did grumpy ol’ Dei a favor in letting him feel important for a bit.”

Though she whispered the last bit, Dei wasn’t exactly far away. He snorted at her words, tail swishing, and she just laughed in response, leaning over to pat him on the head as well.

Down the tunnel they went, Dei leading the way through Geodude and Graveler alike. While the rolling was rather terrifying the first time around, this time, perhaps by virtue of Peri being much larger and intimidating, Eryn and her team maneuvered past without a hitch. Soon enough, they were walking along the river, with Eryn peering curiously into the waters, when Eri let out a soft Umbreon mew.

Up ahead, Eryn could just make out three small shapes amongst the stones. They were gathered in a circle, facing each other, and once she was closer, she made out the silver-crowned head of three dragon-types—Bagon.

“Yes!” Eryn ducked, forgetting to temper her volume, but then decided trying to play off revealing herself wasn’t worth it, especially given Dei’s tail. So, she instead straightened, giving an awkward wave. “Hello! Don’t mind us. We’ll wait for you all to finish your little, er, face-off.”

And that’s what it looked like, for between the three Bagon was a single, glimmering scale. Why they wanted it and whether they would fight over it, Eryn wasn’t sure, but she wasn’t about to interrupt nature at its finest.

If anything, she’d catch the victor.

---

Huh, Dawking could've sworn he was holding the vial but when he blinked it was gone, the contents under inspection. After some interesting muttering, the professor asked him about where he got it. Dawkin thought about the answer to that question and just settled on confidently saying, "I won it from a pokemon battle." He thought that sounded better than saying he'd mugged some team Amethyst grunts for it. He'd tried peeking at the screens, but he wasn't really able to make heads or tails of it. "Is it a big deal? I don't think I'll be able to find out where the original owner got it from. Can I use it for anything? Other than making scientists excited that is."

---

@PlatinumSkink

---

"Woah, woah, girl a little was an understatement." Claire said with a chuckle. This however, was some good information. Amethyst already completed whatever objective they had, which meant that it was useless in trying to stop them for the moment. They needed to know what their overall goal was to even do anything or think about their next step. More importantly immediately problematic though, was that battling here was a terrible, terrible idea. She didn't want to get her cute butt kicked that badly.

"But hey, maybe I can help! If we put the battle on the back burner a bit, I don't know about Team Amethyst a lot but, erm, well...professor Dunstan seems like he might be trying to stop whatever it is they're up to and uhm...well...I met...Uxie and it gave me something and I might be able to help." She was fairly confident she could trust Cathia at least, with this information since well, she had actively been trying to take the Amethyst base down. She still wasn't super sure about Dunstan but it was a lead regardless.

@Gardevoiran

Seabreeze flew after the tiny movements in the ground that indicated something was digging through the ground at that location, and Skylar flew right after on Paradise’s back. Pretzlcoatl was placed on Skylar’s head to look for pursuers, and, well…

There weren’t any pursuers, but the girl referred to as Sylvia, the one with the Seviper, did turn her eyes to look in their direction. But, you know, someone flying away on a Tropius was decently eye-catching, and she was in the midst of trying to look for anyone suspicious. Regardless, nobody actually initiated a chase before the group of people went out of view.

The flight took them to a warehouse at the edge of Raremine Town. The rumble went into the building, and didn’t pass, as it had for a lot of other buildings. A rather unremarkable warehouse, as perhaps could have been expected, but the large doors at the front of the warehouse were closed and locked… except there was a wide-open window on the second floor.

The second floor was more like a platform, allowing one to retrieve items from higher up in the shelves. It wasn’t a complete second floor, it allowed peaking down at the ground floor. Speaking of which, there was a hole in the floor, and a giant mole with spiky metal appendages down there.



Before the Excadrill stood two people. Amethyst grunts.



‘Yeeeaaah! That went AWESOMELY! Thanks to my new EXCADRILL! High five, to our many future adventures!’ a Team Amethyst grunt down there was saying, raising a hand to “high five” the Excadrill…

The Excadrill lazily dropped onto his rear. Excadrill is loafing around!

‘Wh-what!?’ the grunt looked so startled.

‘I guess, since you just bought the Excadrill, he doesn’t respect you as a trainer, yet,’ the other, female Amethyst grunt, suggested.

‘B-but, I spent all my savings to get him! Why? You obeyed so well during the operation…!’ the male grunt panicked.

‘I… would guess it was because of Isabella? Remember how she approached Excadrill, not you, and said she had an important job for him…?’ the girl suggested.

‘Oh… right…’ the guy said, and at the mere mention of Isabella’s name the Excadrill got a very silly smile and a mole-blush. The Amethyst grunt gave him a “are you serious”-look, then shook his head. ‘No matter! Because… look what we got!’ he said, lifting his arms, presenting what they had in the corner…

A quadruped Pokémon, dark in color, a fin as a tail, mismatched limbs, and a giant metal mask on its head…



‘Look at this splendor!’ the guy said, advancing on Type: Null. ‘I have no idea what this is, nor do I care! You are amazing, my dude! Oooh, Isabella is going to give us so much credit for stealing you! We might even be made Elites of Team Ame-’

As he spoke, he got closer and closer to Type: Null… until he got too close and Pokémon rammed him with the side of his helmet. ‘KAAAAH-!’ the grunt shouted as he was sent flying. The quadruped landed in a tense stance, ready and very willing to do battle!

‘E-Excadrill! Help me!’ called the flailing grunt over there.

Excadrill was picking his nose with a giant claw!

‘Bah,’ the girl shook her head, then reached for her Pokéballs. ‘We’ll just have to beat it into submission ourselves!’ she said, picking out two.

‘R-right!’ the male grunt got onto his feet and pulled two as well.

‘Go! Tirtouga! Archen!’ the girl called, sending out a tag-team of ancient Pokémon, one of the sky and one of the seas, preparing themselves for combat.



‘Go, Mankey! Vulpix!’ the guy called, sending out a probably less impressive duo of a monkey and a multi-tailed fox.



Type: Null stood, simmering with rage, as it inspected its four opponents…

What would Skylar do?

__________________________

@hatakekuro

‘… Tell you what. I still have to hear about the berry and that. I’m heading home to tell my family that I’m heading off on this journey. You can do whatever you want, but let’s meet up again in Stillwood Village. Does that work?’ Anise asked. If they hadn’t exchanged contact information they could do so now. With that, with all likelihood unless Basil stopped her, Anise turned to hurry off back to Redcoast City to get herself ready. After all, she hadn’t told people she was going on her journey yet.

Now that I read it again, maybe that’s exactly what Basil was suggesting, so that works out.

Basil then made his way down to the docks of Highhill Town. There, he found he could look out over the great lake located in the south-west of Isson.



Also at the docks are numerous fishermen, fishing at the docks.



‘Oh, hey, a new trainer, wait right there,’ a random fisherman said before Basil reached the place that sold tickets. The fisherman then walked over to a box containing a bunch of fishing rods, grabbed one, then headed over to Basil.

‘Here, have this. Hope ye grow fond of fishing, lad,’ he said, handing it over.



The fisherman didn’t explain anything and then just went back to fishing.

The rod is collapsible so it can take way less room when stored away, but the quality is a little lacking. Still a fine and, by the looks of it, experienced fishing rod, however.

If Basil, at any point from this point on, in ANY water, tries to use the Old Rod…



There’s a ferry here, offering a ride to either Lakewatch Town or Stillwood Village.

Lakewatch Town - 750 P
Stillwood Village - 750 P

Otherwise, he can always go back to the rest of Highhill Town.





Connected areas:
Route 1. To the south, is the common route of first journeys. Green and straight.
Route 3. To the north, the route to Rainrock or the Silent Shrine. A wet woodland.
Route 14. To the east, the lake known as the Dragon Lake, potentially for crossing.



__________________________

@Typical

The three Bagons suddenly tensed up when Eryn was heard. She gave her assurance that she’d wait for them to be done. So… they continued.

They stared at each other intently. In fact, it qualified as Leer! All Bagons had their defense lowered twice, once per other Bagon!

Then, finally, their patience ran out.

‘BAGOON!’ one of them called, and suddenly all three of them were dashing at full speed at the center, their heads lowered to headbut! … But none of them are actually high enough level to have learned Headbutt, this is just Struggle! They crashed into one another, sending the three dragons toppling backwards…!

One of the Bagons, first to recover, got up and stumbled forward to try to pick up the Dragon Scale… which none of the other two Bagons seemed to like. They all of a sudden both came for the Bagon with the Dragon Scale in her mouth. She tried to lower her hard head to defend herself, but it was two VS one and not a fair fight! She was hit twice and knocked back, the Dragon Scale flying out of her grip! The first Bagon had fainted!

The two remaining Bagons locked eyes. Both knew what they had to do.

‘BAAAAAAG-!’ Both Bagons cried out in unison as they dashed into one another, heads lowered! Doing their best to headbutt one another in what looked to be basically Bagonian ritual combat, they refused to use any other moves and just knocked their heads into one another, over and over, their movements slowing as they took more and more damage, their willpower basically equal…

But in the end, only one could win.

One Bagon fainted, and the other, already very damaged and exhausted, breathed heavily before giving a loud ‘BAGON-!’ shout, a declaration of victory, before starting to stumble towards the Dragon Scale price they’d been fighting for.

Yupp, that happened. What would Eryn do now?

__________________________

@Rune_Alchemist

‘Oh. I’m sorry,’ Cathia immediately said, about having unloaded more than a little. However, then Claire started talking about the fact she could potentially help. Cathia looked on a bit as Claire spoke about Dunstan… and then looked startled when she suddenly spoke about having met Uxie. ‘You met…?’

Cathia took a moment to consider that, eventually arriving at a conclusion. She nodded.

‘If it is about legendary Pokémon, then he would know best, wouldn’t he? Very well. Let’s go to him,’ Cathia confirmed, and they could be on their way.

Feel free to walk into the conversation Dunstan is having with Dawkin in Dunstan’s lab below at any point you feel best. Maybe let Dawkin reply first, since you’re going to be arriving with new information.

__________________________

@Eklispe

‘W- won it in a Pokémon Battle, okay, I see,’ Dunstan replied, sounding a little incredulous. He continued inspecting the cells he had spilled beneath the microscope to inspect it, quite wide-eyed. ‘Is… is there any more?’ he just immediately asked. Then, the question if it’s a big deal.

‘Is it a big deal, he asks. We just got the cells of the life-giving Pokémon here. No big deal at all…’ He took a deep breath, stood up straight, and then held up the vial of blue matter so that Dawkin could see it again.

‘These… are the cells of the life-giving Pokémon. They’re filled with limitless basically magical energy capable of granting life. The Pokémon they came from is said to be able to grant immortality, and while that might be overblown it is true they contain untold healing capability. The treatments doctors could possibly make with these… They could also possibly supercharge a Pokémon they’re used on, granting enhanced capabilities. Aside from that, the self-replicating energy within can be used as limitless power-sources, powering machines far more magnificent than what we can imagine…’

‘Are they useful? Are the cells of the immortal Pokémon useful? Not to the regular trainer, no. To scientists, extremely useful. But, should these happen to end up in the wrong hands… It would be a problem. Which shouldn’t be a problem, because of the tiny little detail that these shouldn’t possibly exist.’

Dunstan turned fully to Dawkin, his expression very serious.

‘I ask again. Where did you get this? From what kind of trainer? Did they say anything about it? Do you think there’s any more of it? What can you tell me?’ he asked. He probably didn’t expect Dawkin to know the answers to all his questions, but he was absolutely pleading for anything else. Dawkin, of course, didn’t know the answers to all these questions, albeit I will remind he did overhear it was going to be delivered to Bigfjord City.

@Rune_Alchemist That said, Claire might, if she walks into this scene.

I will remind her that she overheard Isabella saying they’ve sent multiple messengers with their results, including Isabella herself.

If they want to share this is up to them, of course.

Or, if you want to completely ignore that and do whatever you want instead…





Connected areas:
Route 6. The Vast Plains open up to the north of Raremine. The shorter paths lead to Route 8 and 16, while west far enough leads to Lakewatch Town.
Route 7. The single rocky desert of Isson, it connects to the Desert Mines, the Old Tombs and to the Mythic Oasis.

---

---

Flying into the window, Skylar brought out Mac at the first sign of trouble, having all 4 of his current team out and ready for the situation at hand. Of course Team Amethyst would be here to cause a ruckus, but that last Pokemon there... that wasn't anything Skylar had ever seen or heard of. And it looked... angry. Filled with rage, even. Of course, Skylar didn't see the array of mismatched body parts or recognize the giant helmet, but frankly, he didn't even care. More importantly, this was a sure sign of trouble, and Skylar was getting in there to keep it from happening whether these Grunts liked it or not!

So he moved, his feet clanging across the top of the building before he vaulted over the fence and down to the floor below, landing with a loud crack! Even though he was definitely wincing from the pain of jumping a full story down, he quickly stood up and threw his arms out as his Pokemon fell down and each got into a fighting stance.

"Wingull!"
"Troooopius!"
"Combuskennnn!"
"Charrrrch!"

"Listen up, you Team Amethyst Fools! I dunno what you think you're gonna do with this Pokemon, but I'm not gonna let you take one more step towards it without comin' through me and my team first!" Skylar decreed to the shallow outlines to the both of the grunts, his team ready to fight beside him.

Presuming Type: Null was at his back, Skylar's Pokedex rattled off the description, and he looked over his shoulder to glance at the Pokemon with a smile.

"Don't worry, pal, we're here to help you." That had to be the thing from the cage, and given the onlookers... there was no way Skylar was letting them fall into the wrong hands of those scientists or any of those Amethyst or Virtue Clowns. Even beyond any personal desires, Type: Null deserved much better than it had already been shown. This fight might be one of impossible odds, with how scary that (admittedly disobedient) Excadrill was, but Skylar wasn't gonna let these grunts just take it!

"So what'll it be? Turning around, or will you deal with us? We already stopped a few of you at the Silent Shrine, we're not afraid to do it again!" Skylar was shaking, likely from a mix of confident anger and hidden pain. He did not take that fall gracefully.

Basil smiled at her and said, "That works with me. Have a safe trip back."

So after exchanging numbers and goodbyes Basil went to the docks to buy a fishing rod and get a ticket for the ferry when a random fisherman gave him an Old Rod. It certainly wasn't the best quality, but free was free so it was not like he could complain.

Thank you, sir? Random fisherman did not need his thanks. He simply did what he did and went back to fishing. Truely a hero.

Well, considering that he had just received an Old Rod, he gave it one cast out into the lake and without much effort reeled in the depressingly weak Magikarp. It stared at him with a vacant expression though it was hard to tell if it had no thoughts or if it was staring into his soul. Never before had Basil seen such a pathetically weak Pokemon and yet, he felt an odd kinship with the fish. He tapped it with a Pokeball and let it be absorbed into the ball.

Eventually, Basil would buy a ticket for the ferry for Lakewatch Town. After a while being on the ferry, he would ask any passengers about their destination. Nothing to fancy, he just asked about the town itself beyond general information. After that he would just sit around and play some random tunes on his mandolin just to kill the time until they arrived.