@samreaper

Well, it was totally in character for Tristan to ignore the literal wealth of information available at his fingertips, but that was totally on the narrator for forgetting that Tristan did not like studying or for that matter, anything that required hard work. Well, he did study for what it's worth, but there was something that he completely misunderstood, but that was up for him to realize it later.

With feelings of frustration, Tristan left the library and again made his way through the manor. He would follow the instructions left by the receptionist to what would essentially be the backyard of the manor, which meant all he had to do was go through the front and then around the manor or through the dining area where visitors and employees dined. Dealer's choice really. Either way, he would eventually after plenty of walking find where the festivities were being prepared. He would find himself standing on a patio paved with stone that then stretched out into the rest of the garden where the Gracidea Flower was said to be. One could just sit down and enjoy the view with a cup of tea and maybe some pastries.

Except it was absolutely bloody bedlam. People were rushing around frantically to set up the party. Tables were being placed, lights were strung about, a dance floor was in progress of being put together, and that was just the tip of the iceberg. One could only imagine seating arrangements for the guests, the menu, and the entertainment that had to be put together. Frankly speaking, the employees looked like they were just a step away from being whipped. The one responsible for it was plain to see or to be more accurate, heard.

"No, you dull edge of a Slowpoke I told you to hang the lights higher up! Are you trying to blind our guests? And you! Yes, I mean you, you Rhyhorn brained idiot! The tables must be arranged as so! Do you want them to be sandwiched together? And where in the hell is my cup of tea?!"

Tristan would have followed the onslaught of abuse and eventually found the source: a man in his early 40s dressed in a gray three-piece suit with an equally gray tie, black shoes, and maybe not surprising, but a white carnation on his breast pocket. His black hair was slicked back neatly and had sharp green eyes that commanded authority and at the moment, exasperation. He would have no idea who this man was, but the same could not be said about the man that stood next to him. In fact, Tristan specifically would have recognized him because at one point he could've been considered a Kalosian celebrity due to his status.

Coincidentally enough, they were standing by the flower patch of Gracidea Flowers. What does Tristan do?
 

---

@Sanguine Rose

The remaining three Tinkatink shouted at Faye's Pokemon and of course only they would understand what they were saying.

"We have no choice! We must improve our weapons! We must defend ourselves!"

"We cannot rest with that thing's darkness in our home!"

"Prepare yourselves!"

Tensions were high and it looked like things were about to go down, except the Tinkatink hesitated for a moment. They looked like they were peering behind Faye and just a moment later she would hear a familiar voice.

"Pawmi, Thundershock!" A bolt of electricity flew past Faye and collided with one of the Tinkatink. It skidded back and twitched from the electricity coursing through its body, but soon recovered and took a fierce stance.

If Faye turned to look behind her, she would see that it was Rosa that stood there. She looked a bit yesterday though. Rosa dropped her rancher attire and was dressed a bit sportier with one of those varsity baseball jackets with a stripe that went down along the sleeves, light blue jeans, red flattops, and her hair was now pulled back into a ponytail. Next to her was some orange marmot chinchilla thing.



"Questions later. We've got a fight." said Rosa one of the Tinkatink jumped forward swinging its club down at her Pawmi.

For Faye, it turned into a two on two. One of the Tinkatink dashed forward and lunged towards Faye's Rowlet with its club, which acted as its catalyst for Metal Claw. The other Tinkatink kept back and summoned a gust of Fairy Wind, which sent a pink magical gust of wind at Sage.

How does Faye react?

---

@CitrusArms

"No, no I must insist. You are entertaining the selfish notions of an old man, so you must be compensated for your efforts. I will not take no for an answer," the elderly man said quite sternly. He absolutely was adamant about giving Stella the payment that he promised her, but there was something odd about it. For some reason there was an anxiety about it, but she could not put a finger on it. Maybe it was because he was old and didn't have much time left or maybe it was something else. Either way, she was not getting out of getting a reward.

Still, he was relieved that Stella was helping him. He smiled sadly at her and said, "It's okay. I couldn't face her anyway. Please, pick some blue hyacinths. As I said, her grave can be found in Mellow Grove along Route 2. Thank you again for doing this."

Whenever Stella would leave the manor, she would pick the blue hyacinths just as the old man requested. However, she received some strange looks from people who saw her.



Does Stella go immediately to do the request or does she have any other plans?

Connected Areas
Route 1. A hilly route filled with many ranches and farmland.
Lake Charity. A massive body of water. Used to travel between Starbor Village, Valstille City, and Florasong Town.
Route 2. West of Florasong.

---

@Zarkun

Mud Slap luckily smothered the light of Confuse Ray and with not a moment wasted followed up with Shadow Punch. Murus threw punch after punch against the dwindling mass of sparks. At this rate, only just a few blows were needed to finally put it down. It countered again by smashing its own flaming fist against Murus' shadowy punches, but it could not react quickly enough for the other punch.

Murus' fist rammed into its abdomen and the creature bent forward in pain only to take an upper cut straight to the head. It stumbled back in a dazed confusion, unaware of the next punch that went straight towards its face again to deal the finishing blow!

.

.

.

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.

.

.

.

.

.

.

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Did he really think that it would be that easy?

The Echo caught one of the shadowy fists with a flickering ember for a hand and held it in place. Murus could not budge its arm out of its grasp. The clay golem felt its hand being bent backwards from a strange newfound strength from its opponent.

Its flaming body erupted and flamed rushed and licked from it like violet lashes of whips. The Echo's form was no longer recognizable for it was just a mass of humanoid flame, an incarnation of absolute destruction. From what Jason could tell, it recovered half of the damage that it received and that its fire type-attacks were certainly enhanced if its raging form was any indication. Even from where he was standing Jason would begin to feel the heat creeping along his skin.

With its free hand it lifted its hand up with its palm facing towards Murus. The palm glowed with a fiery rage and the construct used Ember though this time whatever it shot out was much bigger than before, much more powerful. Murus, who had been chipped away at from Fire Spin would certainly not be able to withstand the attack.

What does Jason do? 

---

After a somewhat longer trip than normal due to his poor direction sense or lack of a constant guide, Tristan wound his way to the back of the building. He made his way onto the patio to be hold a most chaotic sight. A pure bedlam of overworked and overstressed staff workers running about frantically. All the while, the voice of a somewhat older man barking out orders and insults in a manner all too familiar.

For most others, such a minefield of accidents or incidents could occur by the smallest misstep, but for Tristan it was like he was back at home. Or more precise; one of the many any countless galas he had visited thanks to his status and light modeling. Sometimes having even helped put together some galas.

He did absolutely horrid. And it was downright awful to go through too and for that he could feel the rather sharply dressed gentleman's frustrations.

He almost caught glimpse of the flowers right by the two men...wait two? His eyes then went wide with an awed shock as they rested on the elderly chap.* N-No way!?* He mentally screamed in a panic; suddenly ducking down, his back against the patio and all the while his hair was frantically fussing with his hair.

* I was told there was a vip...but...but no one said such a legend would be here too?!* Of all days to skip a quick groom sesh! I'm hardly looking my best and these clothes!* The fretting teen scrambled into his pack pulling out his compact make-up kit using the mirror to inspect and clean his face. Some final touches and tweaks to the hair.

* Ugh, there's only so much even I can do under these intense circumstances....but it will have to do.* The teen closed the compact with a begrudging snap, slipping it back into the pack.

Standing up where he would take a few moments to take some deep breaths.* You've been nearly attacked by some brutish she-beast and caught an egg thief. I can do this.* He started to think with some confidence; adjusting and fixing the wrinkles out from his shirt.

Turning on his heels only to finally see and realize the flowers were right next to the two gentleman.

Said confidence waivered as he found himself leaning against the railing of the patio.* Oh bloody hell! The field I can handle...* But to have to initiate his plan right in front of the man whose good side he absolutely must get on. Now having to avoid embarrassing himself in front of one of his idols?

Curse whatever cruel unseen force to concoct such a test.

Sharply inhaled." Ok..Ok, yeah. I think I'm gonna need a moment." He exhaled slowly.

"No, you dull edge of a Slowpoke I told you to hang the lights higher up! Are you trying to blind our guests? And you! Yes, I mean you, you Rhyhorn brained idiot! The tables must be arranged as so! Do you want them to be sandwiched together? And where in the hell is my cup of tea?!"

The man's complaints could be heard even among all running workers. Taking note of each of these, his eyes opening and now properly paying attention. He could see the mistakes made; it was clear a number of the staff were either rookies or simply too tired; combined with the man's barking intensity adding stress.

" Phew...Ok. Time to do the one thing I hate.... put in effort." A pinch of his cheek to shake himself out of his self-imposed jitters.

From here, Tristan would come to do the most unexpected thing as he stepped down from the patio. He moved to take control; starting by assisting the those struggling with light placements." Excuse me, I see you all are having a bit of hard time. May?"

With grace, Tristan stepped onto the footstool where he lifted the lights till it was at the best angle to get the best lighting without being too overbearing or blinding. Demonstrating the opportune height a few more times before stepping down.

Making sure they got it correct before moving on to deal with the table situation.

A shake of the head at seeing how miserably close they were putting the tables together and the spaces of the chair were all wrong too.

Stepping over." Apologies, I know you are all quite agitated and annoyed. If you like, I could offer advice on how to make this task go much more efficiently and easily."

Tristan advised them to spread the tables at least the width of two and a half people standing side to side. This would allow for enough walking room even once people were placed. Next, he would advise them to separate the tasks with chair placement. Instructing that they are to be placed at bent elbow length and around an inch to allow the patrons comfortable space without being too spaciously apart.

Taking a step back, Tristan would check to see what and if the two gentlemen had been watching and whether the Lead had gotten his tea.

Jason's perception of time seemed to slow down as the Ember was launched at Murus. His Golett was a big, beefy fella who could take a hit and keep going, but he'd been hammered by that fire spin and letting him tank the clearly empowered Ember was a bad idea and he had one, but...it was a gamble. "Murus, return!" He called back his wall and dove to the side, trying to avoid getting hit by the ball of fire as well before he pulls out the Pokeball he didn't think he'd end up using. "Lucha, hit the bastard with Wing Attack! Dodge and keep hitting it with Wing Attack!"

Amelia was silent as Freya gave what was an even longer speech that was Amelia had given on her point of view. Still, she paid attention to all of it, even though most of it was the kind of philosophical questioning that was a little above her, especially the more... questionable implication. When Freya finished, Amelia was silent for a bit once again before she finally spoke.
"I never said that our pokemon were entirely unwilling. I simply said that I do not think it's fair to have them battle and I don't think they enjoy the suffering. You are right that they are very intelligent. As I said, all my friends here CHOSE to join me willingly. If they want to battle, I will take part in it. If I need to battle for something I believe in, I hope they will help me.

In regard to most of your questions, I am not able to answer them at this time. I would need time to think on them and sort out my thoughts on such things. But I don't think I will be doing so for a while, as I simply want to go around the region and enjoy what it has to offer.
I think the journey is the most important thing and one should enjoy it. While I might not agree with how everyone enjoys it, I don't see a point in telling them not to do what they're doing unless it's actually causing harm to others or pokemon who shouldn't be dragged into things."

Her speech done, she turned towards Steph's battle, watching to see how it would go.

Stella Lumite

His anxiety drove her to take care of the task sooner than later. It was hard to tell an old man to wait, when he's already old, y'know? She had a little bit more conversation with him before taking her leave and his flowers.

She couldn't help but give the flowers a gentle whiff after she left the manor. Floral fragrances were so nice. As she let out a soft sigh, post-sniff, she began to catch some of the strange looks she was getting. Hmm... She was going to have to teach Niblet about cup phones. As the strange looks continued, she'd finally had enough and approached someone she caught giving her such odd observations, the way to Route 2 just ahead.

"Hello. Uhm," She looked back down the street the way she came, "you're not the first to look at me like that just now, is, uh, is there... Something I should know?"

@Joshua Tamashii@hatakekuro
...what? Wasn't he out to get revenge for losing his fish? Why was he mentioning-you know what, it was better Steph didn't think about it too hard lets be honest. She does better the less she thought really. But with the fish laid low and the angler defeated, Steph could finally claim what she viewed as her first win. While she did beat the thief of course, she still refused to acknowledge that as her first trainer battle and no one could really blame her.

With a beaming grin, she gave Glory a quick little pat on its...head? Shell? Whatever, she petted it before returning the mon back to its power and gave a disappointed-looking Dusk a glance, nod and thumbs up.

"Its oolroigh' Dusk mite, yah'll geh' a chahnce naext toime assumin ih' isn't anuhthah wottah type triner ok?" Turning back around to face Amelia, Steph was pleasantly surprised to see her talking with Freya already. Suppose she had caught up already, that was good! She didn't catch a word of their conversation thus far but her ears did prick up at the mention of travelling and journey as she approached.

"Ah sao yah two hahve maeh'? Haow' s ih' gaowin Freya? Slayp waell?" Trying to not interrupt their little talk as she made her way over, Steph gave her taller friend a curt wave and grin as she still looked rather pleased with herself with her win. Right, the fishing store!

"Yah heah t' geh' a rawd oolsao aw just cahtchin up weeth me? oolsao Oy say ya maeh' Amelia, good kiied ine't she?" Now it was the younger girls turn to receive a little pet on the head and ruffling of her hair. Though afterwards she didn't seem to want to hang around in one spot for two long as she would begin making her way to the fishing store, she still had a rod to buy after all!

@samreaper

Now there was the thing; Tristan was dealing with not only an absolute taskmaster and a perfectionist, but he was dealing with someone who did this for a living. The man had both hands gripping his hair with a look of horror when this random kid just started fiddling with his lights and ordering his staff around as if they were his own. Frankly, even the narrator was wondering why Tristan thought that this was a good idea.

"What are you doing?!" He shouted at the boy. The man clearly was beginning to reach his breaking point for having to deal with this unexpected guest.

He was absolutely seeing red and that was not because his eyes were bloodshot from one could imagine the lack of sleep due to working on this party. "Kid, I do not know who you think you are or who you think I am, but I do not need a literal child to tell me how to do my job or give my advice when you know nothing. Everything is meticulously planned out down to the absolute minute detail. Months of my life were spent organizing this one event, months! The placement of tables, seating arrangements of the guests, the menu, the lighting, everything! You are being a nuisance!"

The shorter, older man in gardening attire pat the man on the back and smiled warmly. "Now, now Louis. The whippersnapper was just trying to help. Well, that and he probably wants something."

He focused his gaze on Tristan, not that he could tell since it seemed like his eyes were closed all the time.

"Don't be so obvious next time. Now, how can we help you?" He said with a wise, knowing smirk on his face.

---

@Zarkun

So, Jason saved Murus from being purged by holy fire and sent in his Hawlucha. The feathered luchador, in its debut battle, was engulfed with flame and was blasted into the wall where Jason narrowly avoided being smacked by his own bird. However, Lucha withstood the attack and launched forward with her own Wing Attack and slammed its wing across the flaming beast's head and then, the bird, which is surprisingly smaller than one would expect, used its nimble gliding abilities to avoid a Fire Punch to the torso and retaliated with another Wing Attack. A burning arm blocked the attack and it jumped backwards to widen the distance while at the same time hurling a vortex of flame (fire spin) at her.

There was something else that Jason would notice; the Echo's fiery form diminished when it used that powered up Ember. In Pokemon game terms, its own attack caused the Echo to take recoil damage in relation to how much damage was dealt.

---

@CitrusArms

The person she approached was a young woman that was pretty much unremarkable in appearance as one would imagine a nameless NPC to be. She, however, looked quite nervous when Stella approached her. It was strange because it was almost as if she was suspicious of her.

"You don't know? No one has lived in that house for years. They cancelled all the tours since they were going to convert it into a community center. No one should have been able to go inside it," the woman explained, which also explained why everyone gave her such strange looks.

"I don't really know the story behind it myself. The one thing that I know is that the only reason why it hasn't been torn down is because of Mr. Teerlink. He's the gym leader around here."

There were no other bits of information that Stella could get from this woman.



Otherwise, what does she do?

---

@Lunarlord34@Joshua Tamashii

Again, do not question trainer NPC logic. It's the same logic as an NPC asking them if the player was looking at them when the NPC clearly was the one who initiated the fight.

Freya dropped the conversation with Amelia. Amelia had her mindset and she had hers and all she could do was to just respect it. Instead, she focused on Steph who had just won her battle and was now aware that her companion had arrived.

She flashed a grin at the Bogan though it was a bit sheepish. Freya chuckled nervously and said, "As well as anyone can be. I'm absolutely nervous. I've strayed far from home like this before, but that's what adventure is I suppose! By the way, I didn't know you were travelling with someone so cute!"

As the trio entered the store, they were greeted by rows and rows of fishing rods of various qualities. Some looked like they cost an arm of the leg and some literally looked like a stick with a string. Walking through the store, he would see various jars containing bait from different brands. It would make anyone wonder what the difference between any of the stuff was. At the counter was a very heavyset man with burly arms and a large gut that spilled over his pants. He had a big salt and peppered beard that was well maintained and wore a fishing cap over his head. Despite him being an absolute goliath of a man, he looked to be quite friendly.

"Bahahaha! Welcome to ol' Bo's Fishing Mart! Now how can I help you?"

Old Rod: 500P
Good Rod: 5000P
Super Rod: 7500P
Bait: 250
Good Bait: 750
Superb Bait: 1000

Meanwhile, Freya had a question for Amelia. "So, Amelia I do have to ask. When you say that you are drawn to ghost-types and vice versa, is that the same for Pokemon that evolve into ghost-types?"

Steph's battle seemed to have ended in her friend's victory, something Amelia was happy about as it wasn't Steph's fault the fisherman had run into her. She just wished she had watched a bit more, so she could possibly pick up some tactics or possible strategies. Sure, she didn't like to battle, but she knew she would have to at some point. Maybe, is only for the sake of safety and not being a burden further on, she could do some practice with Steph or Freya later. As long as the battle had purpose, then she didn't mind taking part. It was the pointless ones or the ones for sport she didn't entirely agree with.

She was dragged out of her thoughts when Steph suddenly placed a hand on her head and ruffled her hair while calling Amelia a nice kid, causing Amelia's cheeks to turn a bit red in embarrassment. Next thing she knew, Freya had called her cute and Amelia's entire face turned red, causing her to quickly pull up her hood to try and hide her face, not saying anything as she wasn't used to being complimented this much, even though it really wasn't much.

When the older two finally headed inside the shop, Amelia followed after them along with her ghostly partners. Inside the shop, Phantump and Yamask floated around, examining anything that caught their interest, mostly the shinier objects. Amelia kept a close eye on the pair, making sure they didn't touch anything or cause any damage while Mimikyu helped from in her arms and Golett just followed after, looking at the occasion object in the store.

When Freya came over to speak to her, Amelia lowered her hood again, her face back to its usual pale complexion as she put Mimikyu on the ground and grabbed Phantump and Yamask so they didn't cause trouble while she was distracted. In response to Freya's question, Amelia shook her head.
"No, I don't think I can. I've only ever met pokemon who were already ghost-types and I've never been able to sense any other type of pokemon. I've never met a Nincada or Snorunt but even if I did, I doubt I would be able to sense them as they were. They're still alive after all." She replied before looking around before focusing on a distant direction. "I can faintly sense some ghost-types that way. If... if it's okay with you and Steph, could we go that way later?"

"Lucha, use Detect and keep up your attack! Don't let that bastard breathe!" The fact it was dimmer after that super-charged Ember gave Jason ideas, but he didn't want to risk Lucha absolutely having to tank another one if he could have to. And while Detect was a potent move to aid in evasion, there were only so many times she could use it. "Mix Aerial Ace in there as well, keep it guessing!"

---

Tristan stood waiting; hands crossed over his chest albeit in a lower and more relaxed manner. It was clear by the reaction of the taller individual that his actions did not please the man one bit. The teen was nervous of course, but this had been a possibility; hence why he knew his plans were going to be reckless.

Especially since he had dealt with and been around perfectionist, which in turn led to his abysmal attempts. And in this case, Tristan also knew very well that stepping in like he did without knowing any of the manager's actual plans or design; not to mention insulting.

Yet, still Tristan chose to do as he did. As since Tristan's options were limited as well as time, or, more to be exact he had no patience for concocting some slow plan.

And now, thanks to his seemingly stupid course of actions left Tristan being approached by a raging bull with stinging words surely to follow.

" Months of my life were spent organizing this one event, months! The placement of tables, seating arrangements of the guests, the menu, the lighting, everything! You are being a nuisance!"

Sting was an understatement as the silver-haired teen could do little else but take it while struggling to maintain whatever bits of confidence he was able to scrounge up.

"Now, now Louis. The whippersnapper was just trying to help. Well, that and he probably wants something."

The smaller gentleman's kind words were nice to hear after some harsh, albeit truthful words insults.

"Don't be so obvious next time. Now, how can we help you?"

Kindness with a bit of painful advice.

No clearer sign of his inexperience. His face might have been flushing with embarrassment had he not been sneakily clenching his fingers against his palms. The pinching pain was the only thing keeping Tristan on his trembling feet.

* Setting my wounded ego aside for the moment. Whew, alright, don't buckle now, me.* Taking a moment to give himself a tiny mental peptalk; body shuddering in disgust at the fact he used advice from his brothers. Loathe as he was to admit, due to the mere fact that despite the end results, he now had full audience with the two he needed.

Now came the truly difficult part. Thankfully, Tristan was able to gleam a few things from this brief exchange and the overall intense situation. That whoever this vip, whoever they may be proves to be someone of some significance to have even such an experienced and skilled manager in simple terms, freaking out. And secondly, something could have gone wrong or be missing adding to why things are so disorganised.

*Now, to get the flower, I am really gonna have to sell it.* His final prepping thoughts as he exhaled.

Putting on his most dazzling smile with a light bow of his head." Apologies, my good gentleman. *cough* Ahem, I regret being such a nuisance, of which many apologies. A shame on the Glory name I need to amend. But, first and more-so of course repair the damages that has come about from my... actions. Troublesome they may have been, but done with a goal. My thanks for giving me this... opportunity to explain said... goal."

A nervous chuckle left his lips as beads of sweat sprinkled his forehead, having realized he was starting to ramble. If he didn't get to the point.... The on-set signs of a panic attack coming on; just moments from his mental distress reached peak, did a red beam shoot from one of the pokeballs on his belt.

The Riolu, Princess appeared and stood at Tristan's right foot. A look of confusion, turned to recognition then immense gratitude. The touch of her tiny paw, though barely sensed through the fabric and yet a gentle warmth filled him. Almost like a reassuring pat on the back.

" Princess?!" He sputtered out in surprised exclamation at first before coughing to clear his throat." I mean, yes! Princess with her most wonderful entrance gives perfect juxtaposition to show that I am, a pokemon trainer. And as the kind sir had pointed out from before, but a slight correction. I do not want something, but I want to offer-"

* Where the hell am I going with this?* Was his literal thought before forcing himself to continue." And what I want is... to offer a proposition. The mystery of both Lady Aria and connections with the mythical forest. The mystery of the moon petal pokemon. All of these, I offer to help solve and as a bonus for my horrendous screw-up, could also find and receive an item from said forest."

Pausing for dramatic effect.

" And all of these I can help bring to fruition with merely... a single flower.... a-and a bit of your time to explain and prove I'm uh..heh worth taking a bet on." His words became quieter until nearly a whisper by the end.

Yeah, no. This whole plan was stupid. Last time he listened to his brothers.

Stella Lumite

"Oh? Oh." Stella looked surprised at the news that the home was uninhabited, because she was. She looked at the flowers in her hands, "oh. Hm..." She shouldn't have been so hasty to pick the flowers herself, but what else was she supposed to do? Let the feeble old man do it while she could do it herself ten different ways, half of which were her pokemon? No. Ah, but maybe that would have been more symbolic. Ah, but there wasn't any point in wasting thought on it.

"I wondered how that little old man in a wheelchair was able to care for his garden. I suppose it wouldn't be impossible to manage, but... So no one sees a gardener in there, ever? Hm." Well, whatever the case, she had in her hands a bouquet of flowers to deliver to a grave. Simple enough.

~Route 2~

Calm steps marked the path of the studious young lady. She was letting herself enjoy the scenery and scampering pokemon while she walked with her bundle of flowers. They were well cared for and smelled lovely. She was tempted to let her pokemon walk with her, but thought some of them might not be trained enough for her to safeguard the flowers at the same time. One thing she saw that she couldn't have, however, "Niblet, perch on my head and be ready to 'web any flying types that try to get at us." She tapped the ball to let the tiny pokemon out and onto her hand, before lifting the bug type up to her head.

@Joshua Tamashii@hatakekuro

"Amelia?" At the mention of her cute little adventuring buddy, Steph just shrugged. "Found hah in the ruins nawt fah frawm heah, spooked eow' of hah moind. Couldn't raylly just layve the kiied boy huhself and seence she's oolsao paht of the chohlenge Oy figured she could tahg alawng. Adventure is bettah weeth some cawmpuynions aftah ooll!"

It was good to see Freya was good though, even if she too seemed nervous. Of course Steph had a bit of nerves as well; but that was the fun of it! Of finding new and exciting things, perhaps never seen before, maybe nearly die a few times here and there, discover some ruins, get into some trouble, make some friends, some rivals, maybe keep the making enemies on the downlow. All the good stuff people read and wrote about in novels! Steph couldn't wait to see what each day had in store.

And speaking of in store, as they entered the fishing store, Steph began to run her gaze over a few nearby rods while the other two began to talk amongst themselves again. Upon hearing the man call out to her, she made her way over to the counter and looked at the board. What did a 'good rod' even mean? Super rod? Who the hell named this shit? It was dumb as shit, and that was coming from Steph. Not that she was going to comment on it, because like, if it worked, it worked she guessed. Nothing she said would change that.

"Noice t' mayt ya Bo, nymes Steph." Assuming he was the Bo in the stores name, the girl flashed him a similar grin in return and stuck her hand out to shake. "Just lookin faw a foine rawd t' cahtch some mon's weeth, probahbly one of thaese...'good rawds', and just some regulah old bigh'"

@Joshua Tamashii@Lunarlord34

The jovial grin on his face was soon replaced with a scrunched up confused expression. For all the years that he owned his shop, he never once heard an accent like that and believe him, he had heard a lot of strange ones over the years. He busted out laughing though there was nothing mean spirited about it. It was a friendly, almost joyous laugh where his belly wobbled with each hearty chortle.

"And here I thought I've heard every accent, but you got me! It's thicker than Helga's coffee. Believe me, that stuff is a war crime, but uh, I think I know what you want," He lifted a finger to her to tell Steph to give him a moment as he looked around in the back to collect what he assumed to be her order. It looked like a relatively standard fishing rod. The fishing rod was certainly flexible, but had the tensile strength to fish up most Pokemon and on the side was a jar with the label 'Bait' with a cartoon image of a fisherman giving a thumbs up. Yeah, the GM felt really creative when he made that up.



"Alright, just need to explain a concept to you since you seem new to it. Bait helps us catch Pokemon consistently, but the higher quality bait can have a chance to drawn in certain Pokemon. Be careful with it though. There are stories of fisherman being pulled into the water by catches they could not handle."

Meanwhile with the Freya and Amelia duo:

"Oh yeah sure we can totally do that." said Freya as she rifled through some fishing rods until she abruptly almost turned her head in a complete 180 degrees to show an incredulous expression on her face. One could almost hear the comically loud crack of her neck as she turned around to look at Amelia. "Wait what?"

Yeah, she was processing the fact that Amelia just dropped a bomb that she was a medium. To be fair to Amelia, it's not like mediums and shamans were an unknown concept to the world of Pokemon, but it was another to meet one. "Amelia, sweetie, when I asked if you were drawn to ghost-types I just thought you meant you just had a knack for them. I didn't think you could actually sense the dead."

She cleared her throat with the attempt to look like she remained composed. "Um, anyway how about we get ourselves some fishing rods and some bait? Maybe you'll be able to fish up some potential friends."

Whatever happened, Bo would ask the trio, "By the way you kids are new trainers, right? A couple of trainers like you popped by yesterday. First a cowboy and then some blue haired kid in hiking gear bought some rods though he was a bit more curious about the latest happenings. Well, that and he met Bary the old loon."

"Huh, the first one sounds like Connor though I have no idea who the other is."

Now what?

---

@Zarkun

Now for balance reasons, any time that Detect is used after one use per post it will still have a chance to fail. Anyway! Lucha deftly dodged the spiral of flame and closed in on the figure of flame and smashed it with a critical hit Aerial Ace! The figure stumbled back; its flames flickered dimly as it tried desperately to maintain its shape. It held its hand up to try to try and summon any attack, but only meager embers sputtered out. Jason could finally see the flute piece in the chest of the creature that was unable to fight back and only try to maintain its shape.

How do you want to do this?

---

@samreaper

The more Tristan spoke the more confused the two men looked. Nothing that this kid was saying made any actual sense. What was he talking about? Why was he talking about the Elusive Woods and what did Maria Eberg had to do with it? And why was he pointing to the Gracidea Flowers? By the time he finished speaking, the poor boy looked absolutely diminished and silent. The two men looked at each other who looked as uncertain as the young man as to what they should do in this situation.

The older, shorter man walked over to the young trainer and patted him on the shoulder. "Hey sprout, why don't you take a deep breath and properly explain what you are talking about. Maybe we should start with some proper introductions," he said with a warm smile. There was no judgement, only someone who sought to understand.

"I'll start us off. My name was Ramos. I was once the grass-type gym leader in Kalos before my retirement. These days I spend the rest of my golden years as the head gardener of this lovely park." He motioned his hand over to the other man and said, "This is Louis Osman. He belongs to one of the old families of Evig and is the current estate manager."

He rolled his eyes at Ramos and crossed his arms. "You flatter me Ramos, but the Osman name is practically non-existent these days. Gods I cannot wait for them to renovate that disgrace of a house." Clearly he did not like to be reminded of his family's fall from grace.

What does Tristan do?

---

@CitrusArms

While that was a good idea to have Niblet out just in case a predatory bird came to snatch the birds, the problem was that the birds were predatory. As in they were carnivores with no interest in attacking the bouquet of flowers that Stella held. Also, hyacinths were actually quite poisonous and were not fit for consumption unless they were being fed to a Pokemon that could process poison without becoming ill. Really, what she should have been doing was watching where she stepped.

Stella felt her foot step on something solid, but definitely had a bit more give than just the dirt she was walking on.

"ODD!" A little blue orb with feet and three leaves of grass on its head popped up from the ground and looked up her with its beady red eyes in anger.



What does Stella do?

There was only a moment's hesitation for the aspiring champion, but that was it. He knew that Lucha was hurt from the Ember, though not how much, and Sable and Murus needed to get healed up. So he did the one thing he could, lunging forward and plunging his right hand into the fiery form's chest and wrapping his fingers around the flute piece, even as Lucha watched and was stuck between awe and concern at her trainer's willingness to hurt himself on their behalf. "Time to go back to sleep, you piece of history!"

@Joshua Tamashii@hatakekuro
Oh right, the accent. At the mention of it, Steph gave the man a sheepish grin before he walked off. She still needed to work on that, but suppose habits were hard to break. There would still be plenty of time to fix it up at least but she needed to remind herself to slow it down a bit at least.

Also who the hell was Helga?

When he returned, she gratefully took the items with a brief nod as she listened to what he had to say. Now, most people took that as a warning right? Most people wouldn't think of trying to do that right? Most people weren't Steph though. And that sounded like a challenge to her. Now she was sad she just didn't have enough money to get higher quality bait, but suppose that was something she would have to try later down the line!

"Yah..uh stahted...yaestuhday." Once more she nodded when he asked if they were newer trainers, though this time when she spoke she was making a bit of an effort to speak slower. Did it help much? A little, the effort was there at least. It seems like Freya knew whoever this cowboy he mentioned was, however it was now Steph who took a moment to think, stroking her chin as she looked upwards. Newer trainer? Blue hair? Hiking get up? That all sounded familiar, and that was obvious to all who saw her thinking hard on the matter.

Wait a minute!

"Don't remembah his nuyme, don't theenk Oy talked t' him befoah he laeft. Buh' Oy theenk he's one of the chalengers who stahted yaestuhday with me." She wasn't even sure if she got his name to begin with, but that was the person she immediately thought of. So that means he went this way? And he was ahead of her! While honestly not surprising considering the amount of time she spent in the city, this fired up her competitive side a little. Just a little. Only a smidgen. "Sao, whaht diied yah taell hiiem thaen? and do yah knaow wheech why he waent? Oolsao who's old Barry?"

Annnnnnnd there goes her efforts to talk slower to be easier to understand. It was nice while it lasted, but one could almost see the fire in her eyes as she spoke.

"Well, I... suppose I have a knack for them. I like them and they like me. I'm not sure how I'll do in battle with them, but my teacher did say I was... decent enough? I figured I was just performing within the minimum expectations of a new trainer." Amelia said before it finally registered to her that Freya might actually be a bit scared of her now. She knew her powers were unusual, She knew most people wouldn't really accept them. But Freya and Steph struck her as different. Steph might simply think Amelia was making it up, but Freya was friendly enough that Amelia figured that even if she believed Amelia's words, she would also be accepting of her abilities. But it seemed she had underestimated the creepiness of what she could do.

Sadly, it seemed she had thoroughly creeped Freya out. As the conversation steered in a whole new direction concerning some people that the older girls seemed to know, Amelia turned away, looking at some of the nearby fishing supplies and gently poking them to at least appear interested in them while she waited to see if Freya would be interested in being with her a Steph anymore. Maybe Steph wouldn't want to stick around if she found out. What if Freya told her and both left her behind now? She guessed it would be okay, after all she hadn't know either of them very long, but it would be nice if they could be friends. But if this was how someone as friendly as Freya reacted, would anyone actually want to be her friend once they found out?

Stella Lumite

When she felt the unusual give underfoot, the young trainer reflexively buckled her knee and shifted her foot. Her other foot, holding her up as it was, couldn't move until the first foot has firmly landed. The position she landed in was quite awkward and off-balance, she managed a couple of stumbling foot steps before she fell. She managed to place the hyacinths on the ground as she fell, and pitched herself over them so as not to crush them. "OOF." She ended up landing flat on her back. The studious young lady groaned and rolled over, looking up at what she'd stepped on.

"Oh, an Oddish. Was that you I stepped on? Sorry about that; I'd be mad, too. Can I offer you a potion?"

She gasped softly, "the hyacinths. Where did I- there." She scrambled to the flowers she'd dropped between herself and the pokemon and scooped them up, "Oooh, they're ok." She breathe a sigh of relief, slumping a little before she looked back at the Oddish, "sorry. Potion?"

@Zarkun

Fatali-!

Wait, wrong series.

Jason's hand delved into the chest of the flaming construct, and he could feel the fire singe his flesh, but he quickly ripped the flute piece out before the lunatic could do any serious damage to himself. The Echo dispersed into loose sparks that scattered around the ground unceremoniously. The only thing left was the smell of his burned flesh and the seared marks of dead skin that travelled from his hand up to his forearm like tendrils. One did not need to imagine how much it hurt because Jason could feel it. The burning, stinging sensation was nauseatingly painful to the point that he would feel lightheaded, but it just wasn't that. It was a throbbing pain, aching pain that crawled all the way up his arm.

However, he was still the victor and despite the fact that he landed the finishing blow his team still earned experience.



With no warning, a voice rung out. It light and sounded youthful like a young child. Jason heard it, but he did not hear it from within the shrine itself; he heard it in his head.

"A new champion?"

The space in front of him began to twist and not just air, but the light and even the room itself was almost being ripped from its seams. A green beam of light burst through followed by another and then another until light just gushed through the center of the distortion like a dam about ready to give way. It was blinding as if the sun descended upon him and blasted him with absolute radiance. All that anyone could do is cover their eyes.

He heard heavy, very recognizable footfall rush towards his location and the Amazonian ran in with a complete panic. "Kid what is going on in here?!"

The distortion grew brighter and brighter... and them it stopped. All that was left was a sphere of light. It dissipated into beads to reveal something else entirely.

Green.

A green, fairy-like creature hovered in place in front of them. It has round toeless feet, three-fingered hands, and clear wings on its back. It has a round head that comes to a curved point. It has large baby-blue eyes with thick black rings around them, and a pair of green antennae with blue tips. The creature was small, no taller than 2 feet (0.6 meters for the metrically inclined) and yet its presence had strength. The hairs on the back of Jason's neck stood up.

---

@Lunarlord34@Joshua Tamashii

It had not escaped Freya that Amelia was more diminutive after what she said. The anxious bean of a girl did not exactly have the best poker face in the world. Mentally Freya kicked herself as she watched the little girl enter this downward spiral of insecurity.

"Come with me for a sec." She knelt down and grabbed the girl's arm as gently as she could before pulling her off a bit to the side while Steph pondered on the trainer that Bo mentioned. The tall girl once again kneeled down to her eye level though she had a very serious expression instead of that warm smile like she did before.

"I reacted poorly, I'm sorry Amelia. It's just if you are telling the truth then it's a bit shocking, but it's not something to be ashamed of. It's a gift. Sure, it's surprising, but it's not something that reflects poorly on you. You're a smart and kind little girl who was selected by one of the strongest trainers in the region to have a Pokedex. They see potential in you, so hold your head and be proud."

Her expression then softened back into a smile, and she patted the spooky girl's shoulder. "You do need to be careful where you say it though. There are very bad people who would take advantage of you for your abilities. Okay?"

As if to ruin the moment, Steph excitedly listed off her questions in her thick as hell accent, but there was one question that she should not have asked.

"Wait don't-" Bo tried to stop her, but it was too late.

Like some sort of cosmic entity with a comedic sense of timing, the door swung open and who came limping in was this bone thin, hunched over man with one normal sized eye and then one bulging eye. He only had small tuffs of hair on the sides of his head and a long, mangey grey beard that curled upwards. He was dressed in oversized blue overalls with a stained white-T underneath and black boots. This man was balancing himself with a cane. To the others, he was just a deranged old man. To Amelia, this man reeked of death.

"Did someone ask about me?!" He shouted with his high-pitched creaky floorboard of a voice.

Bo face palmed and groaned loudly. "Not again... Bary stop freaking out the customers!" Clearly this was a common occurrence.

The shopkeeper turned back to Steph with a less than joyful expression though he thankfully he was still amicable. He held his hand up and began to list out what he told Jason yesterday, lifting up a finger for each one he mentioned. "Let's see... Well, he was asking about some rumors and myths. I told him there were a bunch of slash marks on the trees in the forest and that drew out all the bug catchers for some reason. Bugs ain't my thing so you'd need to ask 'em. Then there is the unusual levels of agitation and violence from the Pokemon inhabiting the Corrupted Marsh, but that shithole is dangerous. Not a chance in hell I'm going to go in there."

He shuddered at the thought, his loose jowls and body fat wiggled like fearful jelly.

"I told him about the myth surrounding the forest and the 'Forest Deity'. How a great fire destroyed the forest and razed the villages to ash, but after praying for a miracle, the Forest Deity raised the forest that we know today from the earth and taught them how to live alongside nature. Apparently, there's a shrine, but no one has been able to find it." Bo shrugged with indifference towards the subject. Clearly, he did not believe that it existed, but if a shrine had not been seen since ancient times, then perhaps there was reason for his disbelief.

However, like fingernails scraped against a chalkboard, the crazed looking beanpole interrupted the conversation. "Why aren't ya telling them about the sky?! The sky cracked open, and a person fell out of it! That Adrianne girl was there! I saw it! A blonde boy fell out of the sky!" It sounded like the crazed ramblings of a madman. Bo tiredly looked at him and shook his head.

"Don't listen to him. The poor bastard's been Night Touched. Some say it's an omen, some same it's a curse. It happens when people are asleep. They see visions of something in their sleep, but the one constant is that they all see the moon in their dream. The effects actually vary; some people don't experience anything afterwards, but then there are people who see strange things after their dreams and then there are those like Bary. Whatever Bary saw in that dream of his shattered his psyche." He quickly explained because frankly speaking he could already guess that Steph was a foreigner was not familiar with the strange happenings of the region. Actually, even Amelia and Freya would have never heard of this strange affliction. It was not common knowledge, like someone could just look it up in this world's equivalent of WebMD and look up the symptoms.

Bo glanced over to the essentially cursed man and said, "Hey Bary, lift up your right hand."

The crazed old man lifted up his wrinkled right hand. It was skinny and veins were pushing against the skin as if they were trying to break free. On it was a black crescent moon and for Amelia, she would have sensed that it was the source of that undead energy. Amelia could get a sense that whatever it was, it was powerful. It wasn't malevolent and violent as what she had encountered in the ruins though it wasn't good and pure like whatever the source of the light in the ruins was either. It just existed like a force of nature. It was purely neutral.

"That's the sign of the Night Touched. Everyone that wakes up from those dreams all have that mark. Frankly speaking, I didn't think it was real until it happened to him."

What do Amelia and Steph do?

Connected Areas:
Grand Glory City
Starbor Forest
Lost City

---

@CitrusArms

While this was meant to be a wild encounter, a non-violent solution was always appreciated as well.

"Odd? Odd." The Oddish nodded, however a circle with legs nods, and accepted Stella's treatment. For the sake of fairness and because it was not a severe wound, the potion was not consumed from Stella's inventory. After receiving the treatment Oddish thanked her and went on its way. However, before it did it gave her something as payment or as a thank you gift. It was a little yellowish green seed with a darker leafy ripple pattern.



Does Stella continue to the Mellow Grove, or does she have any business on Route 2?

Connected Areas:

Florasong Town
Mellow Grove
Route 3
Rheinvale Valley

For the time it took him to pull the flute piece from the apparition's chest, all he could feel was extreme pain as the fire scorched the skin on his arm. But he didn't bask in the flames like an idiot, he quickly ripped it out, and watched, albeit with a heavy grimace, as the green flames scattered. Before the pain set in, he began contemplating the intelligence of reaching into a flaming effigy of any kind and cursing his impulsiveness that, most likely, would strike again later. For the first couple minutes once it did, however, his mind was largely pain and the smell of seared flesh, his flesh, and he could barely think of much else. The intensity and pulsing nature of it caused him to feel light headed and he fell to his butt as Lucha rushed over to look at her trainer's arm, panic in her eyes. "Halucha! Ha!" The trainer himself was barely registering anything around him as the pain started to take over his mind as it crawled its way up his arm.

He barely even registered the voice in his mind as it asked about a new champion. If he was honest, in that moment, he was about ninety-five percent sure it was a pain induced hallucination. Jason muttered a yes in response, trying to say he had been selected by the current to run the region's league challenge. The light began coalescing as Helga ran in, asking him what had happened. And then he was face-to-face with a green...pixie? He still thought it was a pain induced hallucination right up until it healed his arm and removed both the feedback loop of pain and the scarring he'd earned for his efforts. At which point, he blinked in surprise when he realized not only was it real, but Helga saw it too. His Pokedex beeped at him about a lack of a picture and he kinda acknowledged it out of habit, and it quickly took one. Jason, however, eventually stood and moved his arm before his brain caught up to what the Pokedex had said. "Wait, wait, wait, did that...you're...I'm...Celebi?! I...I'm honored. And...kinda surprised."

He looked down at the flute piece and then remembered what the fairy had said before. "Wait, you asked about a new Champion. What...what did you mean?"

Sage relaxed his aggressive stance for a moment, tilting his head ever so slightly as he considered the words the Tinkatinks said. Tilia didn't seem as hesitant to attack if told. In fact, she was ready to preemptively attack as suggested by her trainer when the pink pokemon seemed to look past them. The flying pokemon turned slightly, just in time to see the attack launched at the engine thieves.

Faye blinked, tensing slightly as the bolt of electricity passed by her. Then another blink and her muscles relaxed as she realized she kind of knew that voice. No, not kind of. She spent hours talking with the owner of that voice just a few hours ago. It couldn't be, could it? Sure enough a glance over her shoulder confirmed the rancher girl - Rosa - was there with a pokemon of her own. Surely she had questions - who wouldn't have questions about a complete shift in appearance from the person she met the other day? - but none came to mind at the moment. Just shock, confusion, and a hoot from her rowlet reminding her that they hadn't even begun the battle.

Right, the battle. The purple haired trainer nodded, and what she knew was a mix of confusion and surprise vanished from her face. "Right." She turned back to her pokemon and pointed at the Tinkatink before them. "Sage, you're faster, dodge out of the way and use Sand Attack to disorient it. Tilia, fly up out of reach then try a divebomb Tackle. Both of you try to keep out of reach of those metal clubs.