Amelia accepted the Water Whistle with a smile, thanking Palpitoad before leaving, letting the three friends sort out the dispute they were now having. That was none of her business, as she had only agreed to find out what had happened to the water stone. The fallout of the truth would be up to the others to decide.

Thus she eventually made her way towards and into the Wet Caverns. If she hadn't been taught better, she would have been caught off guard by the swarms of Zubats that suddenly appeared around her. But, she had been warned of such things so they only gave her a little fright before making her way deeper in, watching out for any Geodudes as well so that they would remain undisturbed. She had no desire to battle any pokemon right now and simply focused on exploring. As a result, she would eventually make her way to the intersection, looking at the possible three paths in front of her. All seemed like they were sort of bad options but the third path that led in the darkness was of interest of her. She didn't even question what she felt down there, she knew what she was sensing: Sableye. It was the only Ghost-Type that made it's home in natural caves, looking for gems to feed one. She couldn't think of any others.

That being said, trying to go down there would be tricky. She had no good form of illumination right now. Sure,she could use Litwick's flame, as long as he made it big enough, but feed off the life force of others might be seen as an attack by the other pokemon and result in trouble for her. So, for now, her best option seemed to be to turn back and find a new solution.

As she walked out of the cave, she was lost in though and failed to notice the two trainers ahead of her. How they got there without her noticing them passing by was up for the imagination of others. Phantump, however, did not fail to see the two trainers ahead of them and immediately knew what needed to be done. Without a single thought towards the consequences, the little phantom silently floated over to Eryn and her partner, floating behind and between them before suddenly letting out a loud cry.

""

---

^{Wet Caverns || Afternoon}
The woman’s statement that her background made her “easy to find” was a bit unsettling. Easy to find for what?

“Oh, that’s pretty cool!” Eryn said, grinning. “You’ll have to give me some tips on training a Bagon. Do you? Breed Bagon?”

It didn’t slip Eryn’s attention that the woman had dodged through giving her name, and although that was again quite suspicious, the fact that the woman might be a dragon breeder was much more exciting. It also explained her general wariness towards Eryn having caught a wild dragon-type, so Eryn held onto her reservations for now.

“Alright, give me just a second,” Eryn said, heading into the Pokemon Center. There, she recalled all her Pokemon and turned their Pokeballs over to the nurse, heading back out after she got them back.

“Alright, Atha,” Eryn said, pressing the trigger on the Bagon’s Pokeball. “Hope you’re feeling better.”

Atha emerged from the glow in one piece, looking around quizzically. Her gaze quickly zeroed in on the woman in red armor with her two dragon rivals draped over her shoulders.

Just then, a loud cry from beside Eryn sent her flinching back in surprise. Somehow, a black, spirit-like Pokemon wearing some sort of horned helmet had crept up next to her without her noticing.

“Woah, is that a ghost-type?” Eryn peered at it, trying to place it. Its mask was strangely shaped, the rough surface riddled with grooves, and the red things attached it the projections on either side were shaped rather like leaves.

“Oh!” Her eyes grew round. “A shiny Phantump? That’s so cool!”

---

@PlatinumSkink

---

"Keep telling yourself that, Cath." Claire smirked, flashing her a grin as Dunstan spoke. "No questions...but uh, here." She'd give Dunstan her number. Might be better to keep in contact some way after all. "Here, call me if you need anything. I'll keep ya informed if I can occasionally but for now probably better if I get to Bigfjord sooner rather than later. Isabella seemed to uh, seemed pretty eager to recruit me and I don't know how I feel about that."

"Rral~"

"Yeah yeah, keep talking you little midget." Claire rolled her eyes, giving Ralia a few pats on the head. "Hey, Cathia?" Claire glanced back at the other girl. "Uh...you seem to know a bit about Isabella, and if I'm gonna do this any information going in might be super useful." A small request. She wondered if Cathia would accept - she had no reason to really trust her, especially after that scuffle but at least they seemed to believe her for now.

@Gardevoiran

So Paradise did take that Ember from Vulpix and Mac took a Karate Chop of Mankey, taking some damage but they’d still be alright. However…

Skylar returned Mac, saving him from Excadrill’s charge. Mankey and Vulpix wasn’t as lucky, Excadrill knocking the both of them to the sides, the two Pokémons crying out as they flew aside!

However, Excadrill charged forward, and the two remaining combatants on Skylar’s side did their thing. Paradise blasted out a Sweet Scent, making Excadrill less evasive, that plus all the other bonuses to accuracy… but honestly, Excadrill wasn’t even dodging in the first place, and Seabreeze successfully Supersoniced the giant metal mole! … But Excadrill seemed unbothered, charging all the way forward towards Type: Null!

Meanwhile, in the background, Vulpix was slowly coming around, struggling to stand up, looking a bit confused and trying to figure out what just happened… And then Pretzl bounced into the scene and knocked it in the head with a rock. Vulpix promptly fell over and fainted!



‘EXCADRIIIIIIIII-!’ The big mole Pokémon, however, was still charging. It was Confused, yet undeterred! It charged in at full speed, and Type: Null wasn’t moving, merely awaiting the incoming giant mole. Excadrill quickly came close enough to attack, raising one metal arm-spike to stab down at the masked Pokémon…!

When Skylar jumped in, trying to push Type: Null out of the way!

Type: Null looked startled, and was indeed pushed out of the way. That’s when, the still confused Excadrill proceeded to stab downwards with the blade, not even knowing what he was aiming for! For a moment, it looked like it had been a very bad idea, like Skylar was about to be struck by the giant mole…

When Type: Null actually leapt, straight into the way that Skylar had just pushed him out of. Specifically, he struck his own helmet straight into Excadrill’s blade…

klang

… and the helmet proved impervious to harm. The blow was stopped short, and a gust of wind blew off the impact right in all directions. All motion had come to a stop, helmet against blade. So much so that maybe nobody noticed when the door opened just a little to Skylar's right. Nothing moved for a second or two…

‘EXCA-!’ the Excadrill shouted, weaving around to strike with its other arm at Type: Null…!

A blue blur suddenly smashed into the Excadrill from the side, sending the whole mole flying with a cry into the wall on the side, saving Skylar and the quadreped from being struck once again!

The Pokémon before them was blue, frog-like, with a red sac under its face and holding out a fist with a red claw that it had just struck Excadrill with.



The Toxicroak had leapt from the open door, where the pink-haired girl from the incident before now stood, with numerous police-officers around her.

‘Special Investigator Sylvia, reporting. Team Amethyst Grunts, you are hereby under arrest,’ the girl said with resolution.



‘Crap, it’s Sylvia!’ called the female Amethyst grunt, suddenly scrambling to get onto her feet.

‘Nu-uh! No way! I am NOT getting captured in this- AH!’ ‘GAH!’

The two grunts all of a sudden didn’t have much of a chance when the girl’s Seviper descended on them with a snap, swirling around them and acted as rope as it knocked them together with the sheer force of the noose tightening around them and successfully tied them together, knocking both of them out because their heads knocked together as it tied them to one another. Seviper hissed triumphantly.

All of that may have happened, but to Skylar, what happened was that Type: Null still stood motionless in front of him. Slowly, the creature turned around to look at him… and there was something new in its gaze. Something respectful, thankful.

That is, before Type: Null suddenly collapsed towards Skylar, because it still took a Level 50 Excadrill Metal Claw to the head.

Toxicroak stood eyeing Excadrill intently, just in case it was about to get up. It wasn’t. The battle was won.



With the criminals tied up and the police officers going around picking the Amethyst grunts and their Pokémon, the girl that had just invaded walked up to Skylar and the fallen Type: Null.

‘I must thank you. I was only able to find this place and find the true perpetrators because you led the way. I’m Sylvia. I’m a special investigator from the Pokémon League, it’s my job to look into it when things happen. Are you two okay?’ she asked, looking towards Skylar and then to Type: Null with concern.

What did Skylar and co want to do?

__________________________

@hatakekuro

Crocus attempted to Sleep Powder again! … For whatever reason, it failed to afflict the rolling Marill, who simply thundered through it! It smashed once again into Crocus once again…!

And the gods of fortune were extra fickle today. Critical Hit! Crocus fainted!

Marill was still rolling about the battlefield, gaining even more power, and the crowd was now calling Boey’s name as he stood there with arms crossed, looking smugly towards Basil.

What was Basil’s next move?

<then we can say you went to the Pokémon Center after that>

__________________________

@Typical@Joshua Tamashii@hatakekuro

‘Oh, I don’t think you’re gonna need that much to train a dragon-type. They’re known to cause a ruckus, but, anyway. Bagons in specific have a strange need to fly built into their minds, so maybe not let it be next to a cliff, or you’re going to need to find a way down to pick it up. Don’t worry about them hurting themselves, though. They’re tough enough to shatter boulders, and often do just that for stress-relief. They love headbutting everything and anything. Do be careful or they just may do so with the walls of a building, haha,’ the woman laughed, when Eryn asked for tips how to raise a dragon.

So, after some wading and getting their legs a bit wet in the Wet Caverns, they eventually arrived back to:

And, for Amelia, following them also eventually led her back to:



Now, before the woman and Eryn momentarily parted, both of them were startled by the cry of Phantump.

‘WHAC-!?’ the armored woman flinched and spun around, staggering away with wide eyes, apparently not having expected the shock. A couple random Pokémon Center goers laughed around them at their reactions to being startled. ‘W-wha. Ghosts. In the middle of the city. Not safe anywhere, huh? I thought I could let my guard down here, hahaha,’ she laughed, though, smiling as she held a hand to her chest, trying to get her heart to calm down through the armor.

Anyway! Eryn called Atha back out! Atha looked, and found this woman…

Notably. To Atha, this woman is basically her second mother. Or aunt, maybe. She was there when their eggs hatched. She comes by often and plays with the various dragons of Dragon Lake and Wet Caverns. She gives them food and headbutts with them. Takes care of them when they’re hurt. Protects them if they’re in trouble. All of those things one could imagine someone doing.

‘Heeeey, Bagon! How are you doing? Want to headbutt?’ the woman grins and asks Atha, putting on her helmet again while crouching and grinning to Atha. Atha’s free to interact as she likes, and the woman would comply. But the woman was definitely intending on playing with Atha a bit, after having handed over the other two Bagons to the nurse.

But, in the midst of it, the woman looked more serious.

‘Hey, I heard this girl caught you,’ she said, and then looked… very serious. ‘Did you actually want to go with her? Or did she catch you without you wanting her to? Just give me the word, and I’ll handle her. Just give me the word, and I’ll make her-’ and what followed were a couple words in a row that together painted a picture of a scene that Quentin Tarantino would have been forced to censor. ‘… So, do you actually want to go with her or not?’

How does Atha reply?

Of course, Basil over there will have seen the whole thing.

In the meantime, Eryn and Amelia can keep talking, if they wish.





Connected areas:
Wet Caverns. Water-filled caverns that are located to the east. There’s a small hill to climb to get to the entrance.
Route 5. The main exit of Lakewatch, leading to a grassy incline connecting mountains, forests and plains.
Route 14. The waters of Dragon Lake are also known as Route 14. It connects Lakewatch Town, Highhill Town and Stillwood Village.



__________________________

@Eklispe@Rune_Alchemist

‘Er, I don’t, I don’t know that much…’ Cathia replied to Claire’s question. ‘I just know, uh, exactly what noble family she’s from and what they do. That family runs a big company that makes props for Pokémon Contests, as well as other toys for Pokémon, and they fund the Dreamer Studios. The Cute Queen, Valerie, is her big sister… but Isabella has been disowned by her family. She wasn’t willing to take over the business, so she went on a Pokémon journey. So far nothing out of the ordinary, but after that we don’t know what exactly happened, but she evidently fell in with the wrong crowd.’

‘She was identified leading Team Amethyst grunts in bigger raids, and with her fearsome battle prowess she was able to let them slip away time and time again. When she’d been identified by name, she was disowned by her family, but as far as we can tell, she doesn’t care. While the Team Wars ended with Amethyst’s defeat and they sunk back into the shadows, Isabella was never captured. Nor was the boss of Team Amethyst, whom… whom we still don’t know who they are,’ Cathia explained.

‘Team Amethyst works in layers. In the bottom layers are the grunts. They do minor tasks and usually don’t even know why they’re doing things. Over them are the Elites, who lead grunts on more important missions. There’s been many elites over the years, and they seem to come and go. Over them, are at least two Admins, one of whom is Isabella,’ Cathia apparently had more to say.

‘From the outside, the Team Amethyst business model is simply to allow people to purchase Pokémon from them. Someone gives them money and a specific request for a Pokémon, and they obtain it for them. If that was all it was, it’d technically be legal, but unfortunately they have nothing against hunting rare Pokémon to the edge of extinction or even steal them from trainers if they can. They had these terrible auctions, too… But surely, they have even more sinister intentions, seeing how they’re now apparently gathering aspects of legendary Pokémon,’ Cathia said… and now all of a sudden she realized she might have been rambling a bit.

‘… I would like nothing else than to see Team Amethyst destroyed. Raised to the ground. Utterly annihilated. That… that would be good,’ Cathia said, getting kind of quiet towards the end, there.





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.

---

---

Skylar's eyes widened behind his where his sunglasses would be, if they hadn't been knocked off by the sheer wind gust. Having seen the beastial Type: Null tank the hit without so much as flinching was... honestly, quite incredible. Just as the scene was infiltrated by Sylvia and several police officers, her Toxicroak sending the Excadrill into the nearby wall and the grunts being apprehended, but Skylar didn't even notice. All he was watching was Type: Null. Then as the Pokemon collapsed, so too did Skylar, falling to a knee and clenching his leg. "Ohh in the names of Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres- WHY DID I RUN OVER HERE?!" He fell even further, clenching his ripped shirt and holding back tears as Seabreeze, Paradise and Pretzlcoatl came over to surround their trainer.

"Yow! That does not look good!"
"Skylar? Helmet?"
"Both, frankly! Why would he do that?!"
"He good kid! He good!"
"I guess, but... what a stupid idea!"
"Calm. He will be fine."
"Yeah! He need food. That always make Pretzlcoatl better."
"... ghhh...!"

Skylar, after a moment of noticing his Pokemon arguing for his well being, finally pulled out the Pokeballs for Pretzlcoatl and Paradise and put them up too. They were the worse off of the group, not counting Type: Null. He tucked himself into a sit and kept his hands down against his gut as he finally addressed Sylvia.

"... to be honest, I've been a little better." Seabreeze, still annoyed, picked up Skylar's sunglasses in his beak and pulled them over, the kid touching them before realizing one more thing. They were also broken. "But canes and sunglasses can be replaced. I-I need your help!" Skylar pulled himself up a little more, staggering as he climbed to his feet but still able to move. "W-we need to get Type: Null to a Pokemon Center!"

The boy slowly moved down and grabbed Null by the helmet, attempting poorly to lift the fallen Pokemon up before realizing that was definitely not going to work. About that time, Seabreeze tapped his beak on one of Skylar's Pokeballs, Mac coming back out and running over to put himself under Skylar.

"What'd I miss?! There aren't five Mankey around anymore, right?!"
"There never were. Help Skylar keep his balance, that fall and that Ancient Power hurt him kind of bad."
"Uh, why is Null down? Who are all these people? What's happening-"
"I'll explain later, just help Skylar!"

Mac was surprised by Seabreeze's bossiness, but nodded anyway. Skylar, meanwhile, kept looking at Sylvia.

"Help us, please? I'd ask Paradise to carry them, but she's not doing so good as is. I-I don't wanna stress her out more than I have to, a-and I don't think any of my Pokemon and myself could carry them in the states we're in..."

Well, so much for Crocus, but the Bulbasaur did his best so there was no blame to be placed. Basil returned his Pokemon to its Pokeball and looked up to see the smug face of Boey. Wasn't that kid a bit too proud of just knocking out one of Basil's Pokemon? And was there always a crowd?

"Hey Boey, don't be too mad after this. Glory come on out!" Basil threw out a Pokeball and from a flash of white light appeared his trusty Hawlucha striking a pose. He then ordered it to use Detect to guarantee his Hawlucha from being flattened and then follow up with Wing Attack to strike the Marill as it passed. If that did not finish the Marill off due to its increased defense, then Basil would repeat the sequence of orders to finish it off.

---

So, yeah, Basil saw all of that.

He was just a bit awe struck at the woman cladded in red armor because who in the current era wore armor? Then again, he met a pirate, and he knew plenty of flamboyant nobles though the person she was interacting with was definitely a bit normal by comparison. Still, he could not hide his surprise when he saw that normal girl (that being Eryn), let out what appeared to be a dragon. Well, it probably was a dragon. It was scaly, but by that logic Crocus would have been classified as a dragon type.

Things would only become weirder when he spotted a very familiar ghost with sparkles and a petrified tree stump for a head though he could not place the time and place where he saw it. Basil just watched as it sneakily approached them from behind and practically screamed at them. Even he jumped and he watched it happen!

Then to his surprise again, he watched the lady in armor put on a helmet and proceeded to have a bloody headbutting match with the bipedal blue lizard thing. Was that why this lady wore armor? To rough house with Pokemon that could easily cave a person's skull? She was absolutely nuts.

This was getting Basil nowhere quickly. Originally, he was going to ask her if he could take a few photos of her in that armor that he could use as reference, but it was apparent that she was just trouble. Basil was about to leave when a certain challenge seeking Pokemon sensed an overwhelming surge of violence and popped out of its Pokeball. Glory, after Atha responded, rushed over to the woman with great purpose. It stood before her, posing as it usually did.

"Haw! Hawlucha!" It did not take a genius to figure out that this luchador bird was picking a fight. Glory looked up at her with a proud and defiant look in his eyes that longed for glorious (no pun intended) combat.

Meanwhile, Basil rushed over with a pit in his stomach. "I'm so sorry ma'am! I don't know what got into him!"

Total destruction. No half measures huh? Dawkin could respect that kind of drive. "Well I'm not sure I can single handedly bring down an organization like that on my own yet, so I better do some more training first." Dawkin said, only half joking. "Thanks for all the help professor, I'll make sure to stay in touch. I plan on heading to along Route 16 and beyond, anything you think I should know before I go?" He asked as he prepared to head out. "Oh, and if either of you need any help, you can try to contact me as well. Wingulls of a feather flock together and all that." If they wanted, he would share his contact information. With that, as long as nothing else demanded his attention, he would prepare to head to Route 16.

---

Amelia was so lost in thought, she didn't even realize she had returned to town and made her way to the pokecenter. When it finally did dawn on her, she had to look around in surprise, wondering just how hard she had been thinking about this. It then dawned on her that Phantump had floated away. She cast a quick glance around and thankfully, the little ghost didn't float too far away. Infact, it was in front of her and the next thing she knew, it had tried to scare the people it had targeted, a pair of people ahead of her, one of them clad in armor. Amelia's cheeks turned red as she moved forward, grabbing the little phantom, as her other ghostie friends floated around her.
"Sorry about that. I hope she didn't scare you." Amelia said while Phantump was just snickering in her trainer's arms, blissfully unaware of the possible trouble it might have caused.

Shortly after, another trainer approached, this one with a Hawlucha. Amelia glanced at the boy for a second, feeling as if she saw him somewhere before but she couldn't remember. So, she made to try and slowly move away, uncertain if she was interrupting anything.

---

^{Lakewatch || Afternoon}
A flustered girl apologized on behalf of the Phantump, marking her as the ghost-type’s trainer.

“Well, she definitely got both of us,” Eryn said, looking at the snickering Phantump. Its mischievousness was rather cute, even if its sport was scaring unsuspecting strangers.

Atha, on the other hand, seemed to regard the Phantump with some form of hostile contempt, watching the ghost-type return to their trainer’s side with narrowed eyes. But, once the threat had left, her attention was quickly absorbed by the woman in red, and she lowered her head as soon as the woman did, a smirk on her lips.

The woman’s concerned questioning quickly transformed into threats that had Eryn’s eyes wide, but Atha simply grinned, chirping in amusement.

“Bay!” Atha said once she stopped chirping, and she nodded her head towards Eryn, starting on what was, in Eryn’s opinion, a rather long-winded story about their meeting. But, judging by Atha’s clear eyes and easy smile, Eryn figured she had little to worry about. It seems she had a storyteller on her team.

When Atha had finally finished chattering, she paused, then smirked again, lowering her head. She hadn’t forgotten about the armored woman’s challenge, it seeemed.

Unfortunately, it was at this moment that a multicolored bird burst from the sidelines, leaping into the fray with a call. Atha raised her head, a scowl evident as fangs peeked through.

“Well, nice to meet you two too!” Eryn said, rather amused by all the people gathering around them. But, considering the bright red armor the woman sported, she supposed it wasn’t that surprising after all.

---

@PlatinumSkink

---

She was detecting some character plot there but for now, Claire kept her mouth shut.

"Hmm...humph~" Claire hopped over and gave Cathia a little poke in the side. "What ya getting all gloomy for all of a sudden? Come on, with ya best girl -that's me- helping ya we'll have this cracked and solved in no time. I can't stand people that hurt pokemon, isn't that right girl? And team Amethyst sounds like some bad guys. Ralia gave an affirmative giggle before teleporting to the top of Claire's head. "Jeez why does my head always look like a seat to you?" Claire huffed, frowning lightly before turning back to Cathia. "Right well...Guess I'm off to Bigfjord. Uhm...here, my number." Claire would make sure to give it to Cathia. Wouldn't hurt at least to have some back up on speed dial. "Just call. Or text. We don't even have to talk a lot, but if I'm heading behind enemy lines, gotta make sure I got some good backup, yeah?"

She'd give Cathia a little finger gun.

"Righto, welp, see ya around Cath." And so, Claire would hop on her Mach bike, and proceed to zoom out of Raremine, heading towards Route six.

Game plan? Head to Freecape through Route six and eight. Stop by there for a bit of training and R&R before continuing on through Route 10 and 13 to bigfjord...

@Eklispe@Rune_Alchemist

Dunstan nodded to Dawkin’s statement of keeping in touch, and then to his next question…

‘Route 16, huh,’ Dunstan remarked. ‘It’s pretty much the most dangerous Route in Isson, crossing those haunted waters is no joke for someone who doesn't have strong enough Pokémon to back them up. No worries, Stalford’s Ferry exists to let young trainers cross the waters safely… though I believe he only lets you cross if you have Kristy’s Gym Badge, thereby proving you’re strong enough to defend the ship should something happen,’ Dunstan commented, possibly changing Dawkin’s plan of what to do next.

Meanwhile.

‘Ep-!’ Cathia flinched at being poked by Claire, startled out of her gloomy thoughts just a bit. Still, she was more than happy to exchange information, and with Claire heading to Bigfjord… ‘I wish you luck. I’ll also head in that direction, after some training. If something happens, or if you’re planning to make your move… let me know. Unfortunately, Team Amethyst knows my face, so I don’t know if I can invade them freely now, but if you find me some coordinates… I can strike,’ Cathia said with determination.

That’s though, when Dunstan thought of something else to tell Dawkin.

‘Though, now that I think about it. I believe Zachery’s ship is currently docked right next to the coast there right now, so if you go right now you might catch him there,’ Dunstan then said, loud enough that Claire probably heard it, too. The both of them might remember Zachery’s name from Kalmia’s message from not that long ago, and could also thereby know what heading to him might result in.

Would this change their current plans?

__________________________

@Gardevoiran

Sylvia listened to Skylar’s request, and nodded.

‘Toxicroak, help carry the Pokémon,’ Sylvia commanded, and the blue frog excitedly jumped over, keeping its red claws away as it used its Fighting-type strength instead to heave up Type: Null on its shoulders. Sylvia picked up a phone and made a call. ‘The true culprits are captured. They’re Team Amethyst. The Pokémon is safe, but damaged. I’m bringing it to the Pokémon Center,’ she said, before looking to Skylar. ‘C’mon, let’s go.’

With the two criminals handled by the actual police-officers, Sylvia could instead handle helping Skylar and Type: Null back to the Pokémon Center of Raremine Town. With the criminals properly cuffed, her Seviper was instead slithering behind them as they headed through the streets, keeping an eye out in case someone else wanted to get a piece of them.



The nurse was quick to come retrieve the Pokémon, and probably Skylar’s too. With that, they were left to wait. While they were waiting, the door opened and numerous individuals came through. It was Dunstan, Leila and Kristy, the latter currently in cuffs and with two police officers with her.



‘You saved the Pokémon!?’ Dunstan asked, all agitated. Sylvia smiled back to him.

‘Yes. All thanks to this young Pokémon Trainer here, without whom I wouldn’t have known where to go,’ Sylvia said, presenting Skylar here beside her. Seviper also made a gesture towards him with its tail.

‘Skylar… I’m in your debt,’ Dunstan said, bowing to him again.

‘Yea, thanks for that! Because that means I’m not guilty, right?’ Kristy asked with a grin, and Sylvia nodded towards the two police officers, who then brought out the keys and uncuffed Kristy, who immediately started stretching in delight.

‘It’s your own fault, you know. Your little “rescue missions” made you a prime suspect,’ Leila frowned at Kristy, but Kristy just shrugged.

‘Love, I really don’t want to argue about that right now. Thank the boy instead,’ Kristy said, just smiling. Leila frowned at being called “love”, but otherwise shook her head then looked to Skylar.

‘As Dunstan said, we’re in your debt. Thank you,’ Leila also said, nodding to him.

Here I could probably end the post and let Skylar reply, but I do know what will happen right after.



__________________________

@hatakekuro

Glory came in, and with Detect he perfectly avoided Marill’s Rollout! And for whatever reason, that completely stopped all of Rollout’s momentum! After that, it was just a matter of Wing Attack, which did more damage than Marill could withstand. It tried to Rollout again, which hit once before Glory Detected again, making it never get any speed, and so Glory secured the win with another Wing Attack.



‘I must find more Pokémon that can learn Rollout,’ Boey sagely nodded, for that must have been the reason he lost. Not enough Rollout.



Now, back to the present!

__________________________

@Typical@Joshua Tamashii@hatakekuro

So, Atha shared her little story, and the armored woman went from the serious look she had to first a slightly surprised one, and then to a smiling amused one.

‘Uh-huh. Ooo. Wow!’ she said, at varying points that sounded appropriate while nodding her head. Of course, she couldn’t actually talk Pokémon, but regardless she picked up on the most important thing. ‘Sounds good! Well, it seems I have nothing to worry about!’ she said, and then…

A Hawlucha burst into the scene, followed by an apologetic Basil. The woman took a moment to look between Amelia+Phantump and Basil+Glory…

‘Wow, deja-vu. You two wouldn’t happen to know each other?’ she chuckled. ‘It’s fine, let Pokémon be Pokémon, I’d say! So, did you want a duel? I totally can give you a duel!’ she responded to Glory, raising her fists excitedly and chuckling. ‘Or should I leave this one to you, Bagon?’ she asked Atha.

That’s when a random trainer walked into the Pokémon Center, saw the woman, and immediately spoke up with a big smile.

‘Ey, Lesley! Funny to see you playing with Pokémon here. Don’t you have a Gym to look after?’ asked the random Pokémon Trainer. The armored woman chuckled, relaxed the stance, then answered him.

‘I would have, but I just had a REALLY tough challenger, took all I had to win this once. He’s probably gonna win next time, because unlike me, he can adjust and adapt his team, haha. Anyway, I took a moment to take a break by wandering the Wet Caverns, and…’ her eyes wandered to Eryn, smirking.

‘Alright, it’s a little late, but hi! I’m Lesley, Major League Dragon-type Gym Leader of Lakewatch Town and also the leader of the Lakewatchers, the guys looking out for the dragons around here. How do you do?’ she said, smiling. ‘Sorry for not saying anything, it was a little funny with you not knowing who I was. I also wanted to make sure Bagon’s fine with you. But, after hearing what Bagon had to say and with you being one of Kalmia’s trainers and all, I figure you’re fine! Hahaha!’

After saying so, she reached and happily patted Eryn’s shoulder with an armored hand.

‘Right, did you want a duel!?’ she asked, spinning back around to Glory, fists raised!





Connected areas:
Wet Caverns. Water-filled caverns that are located to the east. There’s a small hill to climb to get to the entrance.
Route 5. The main exit of Lakewatch, leading to a grassy incline connecting mountains, forests and plains.
Route 14. The waters of Dragon Lake are also known as Route 14. It connects Lakewatch Town, Highhill Town and Stillwood Village.

Basil glanced at the armored woman and at the brown-haired girl who thankfully were not bothered by his Hawlucha's sudden outburst. However, the small child across from him was obviously uncomfortable with him showing up as abruptly as he did. Still, there was something oddly familiar about her and that Phantump. He stared at her as if he was wracking his brains to place the faces with a name and a time and place until a look of realization washed over him.

"Wait, yes, we've actually met before in Pureplain. It was at the docks briefly when we met the pirate, Zachary. Amelia, right?" said Basil to the tentative girl. Still, he was uncertain himself. After all, their meeting could not have been more than five minutes, but not many people owned a Phantump like hers and he certainly could not forget how it made his heart jump out of his chest with its shenanigans.

Meanwhile, Glory glanced at the Bagon with an unimpressed expression in response and then back to the woman. "Haw? Haw lucha." There was no mistake that the Hawlucha just said that the Bagon was too weak to fight him. The haughty bird almost looked insulted that the Bagon was even given a choice to fight someone that was out of its league.

Before anything else happened, a random trainer popped up and started speaking to the woman... Wait, she's the gym leader? That was Leslie, the leader of the Lake Watchers? It was something that made sense when someone just said who she was, but it never occurred to him that he would meet the gym leader in the first few hours of being in town. Basil thought she would have been in her gym like the passing trainer was or doing whatever she does back at the Lake Watcher base.

However, Leslie said something very interesting about the brown-haired girl. Basil asked, "You're one of Kalmia's recruits too?"

Meanwhile, Glory was holding his feathered fist towards Leslie enthusiastically. "Hawlucha!" He happily cried out as it bounced in place. It was not satisfied with its last battle and this woman was far more formidable. Well, that was unless the Bagon had anything to say about it.

---

---

"Thank you." Sylvia's help would go far, and the group made their way towards the Pokemon center. Around halfway there, Skylar was able to hold himself up and didn't need Mac to help as much, but the Combusken stayed close just in case. Once everyone was in the center, be they police officers, gym leaders, researchers, or weird blind kids. At the mention of Dunstan and the others being in Skylar's debt, Skylar brushed it off. "Ahhh, it's nothing. I'm sure you'd do the same if you were in my shoes." Regardless on whether that was actually true or not, Skylar didn't let it hang in the air for long. He was worried about his team and Null.

Eventually, his team would return, Seabreeze being the one let out of his Pokeball given the sheer amount of people in the center, and then Type: Null came back. Skylar rolled his eyes at the immediate request of Dunstan to have Null join him and fight the evil of the world, but then something the kid didn't expect happened. Type: Null walked up to him and started to rub it's head against him. Whoa! That wasn't expected.

"Hey, pal. Sorry we had all that trouble." Skylar apologized as the older people bickered back and forth about their best course of action, eventually the decision to let Null travel with Skylar being placed on the table. And naturally, the boy smirked.

"If Team Amethyst really has nothing better to do than hunt a blind kid down, then we're overestimating them. If Null's happy to come along, they're more than welcome to."

And with that, after pressing Skylar's only Premier Ball against Null's helmet, the Pokemon disappeared in a flash of light.

The ball shook once. It shook twice. It shook thrice...!

Skylar obtained Type: Null! Like, for real!

Letting out his new friend, Skylar looked the Pokemon up and down. "A new friend needs a new name. Something that isn't so... mechanical." Skylar placed a finger to his chin as he thought, finally pounding his hand onto the other. "Forge. How's that?"

"... groooo." The beast nodded affirmatively.

"Heheh, alright then. Forge it is." Skylar stood up, still a little shaky but petting Forge on the back as he stood. He listened to Dunstan momentarily, nodding after. those were weird discs, but he supposed it made sense they might serve a greater purpose later. He nodded to the group, and turned towards the door of the Pokemon center.

"Unless you guys need me for anything else, Forge and I are gonna go for a walk where they don't have to worry about cages or anything. That, plus I need a new cane and I owe a certain Archen a whole pizza."

If Skylar wasn't needed, he was back out to Raremine once more, new friend in tow, and some new ideas for training. He wondered if Mac's new move could be used for something interesting...

❄Erika Olson❄

---

---

Kay summoned Reflect to guard against the Magnet Bombs! It was pretty effective, shielding her from the homing metal orbs that came flying for her, even if a couple slipped through!

‘Peh, no matter. Thundershock!’ Reflect guards against physical attacks only, for whatever reason, and it appeared Julian had studied enough to know that. So, instead, Magnemite shot a blast of lightning as a reply to the Reflects (and since he had to get two moves since you did two moves). The thundershock did some damage, going through too fast to be dodged. Fortunately, despite being a squid Kay is not a water-type, so she only took regular damage.

This was when Erika shouted her bit about having earned her right and not taking the easy road, causing Julian to shudder a bit. Swagger hit Magnemite straight on, boosting the magnet-Pokémon’s attack but also confusing it. Julian, meanwhile…

‘What are you talking about? What did you expect me to do? Fight my way through an endless kingdom of Fighting-types?’ Julian asked, frowning. ‘Gr, it’s risky, but I could use that attack-boost. Magnemite! Magnet Bomb!’

‘Magne…!’ Magnemite prepared to do a boosted attack against Kay…! … And then suddenly rammed itself into the ground at full speed, bouncing back with a one-eyed expression of pain! Magnemite hurt itself in confusion!

‘Darn it!’ Julian grunted in annoyance.

Kay winced as the blast of lightning hit the little floating squid, providing a light show. ”Kaaay..” Yet in spite of that the Inkay held on. Erika nodded at her Pokemon partner and then focused back on Julian. ”Yes! You robbed yourself and your Pokemon of the challenge and adventure together. You skipped the part where you grow stronger and closer together!”

Erika was annoyed. She had seen people like Julian all the time in Cooldome city. Her mother would tell them that many of them would try to skip to the top by flying up Mt. Chill but the vicious blizzards often put them at risk!

Having seen Magnemite fall due to its own confusion, Erika pointed at the opportunity. ”Aha! There, now Kay, use Foul Play!”

”Kay!” Erika’s Inkay rallied and cast a glowing dark translucent shadow to appear around the opposing magemite that would use that own increased attack strength against itself!

Kay shot out the Foul Play, and it hit! Magnemite’s boosted attack worked against itself, and it took a sharp blow that sent it flying back to Julian! Magnemite fainted!


Julian returned the Pokémon, looking annoyed as he deposited the Pokéball and retrieved a new one.

‘Adventure…? As if I could. No. I can’t. The world… is far too scary,’ he said, sounding as if he believed what he was saying. He then released the Pokémon, and…

‘FAKE OUT!’ Before the Pokémon was even properly out of its Pokéball it was flying at blinding speed at Kay, a cat with a spring-tail launched as if having bounced on its own tail! Pretty sure that’s not what Glameow does, but it sure knows Fake Out.



Fake Out, being what it was, was way too fast for either Kay nor Erika to react to, and it struck Kay straight on. There was, however, time to react to the next move.

‘Faint Attack!’ Julian called, and Glameow was faster than Kay and already up close. Now, with Reflect up, Kay should be able to survive another hit, but Faint Attack was an always-hit move that certainly wouldn’t let the shield stand in its way, even if it did reduce the damage. One Faint Attack would be fine. Two, no.

Erika flinched as Glameow darted out and hit Inkay without a moment to react. Even though there was nothing she could really do, Erika still considered that a failure on her part to not be fast enough. She glanced at her Pokedex as it instructured her on what she was looking at before folding it into her back pocket. “Nice work Kay but I think it is time for a change.”

She raised Kay’s pokeball and withdrew her before nodding towards Chic who was still eagerly awaiting a fight. They met each other’s eyes, trainer and Pokemon, “You’re up, Chic. You got this.”

”Coooombusk!” Chic slapped her face and leapt in, taking the first faint attack with ease as it was a dark attack and reflect was still up to slow the blow.

“It is supposed to be scary but you’re supposed to do it anyway. Because it is something you overcome. It shows your resolve as a trainer and leader for your Pokemon! Chic, double kick!”

Chic darted towards her opponent and threw out both feet in a dropkick!

Kay excited the field, and Chic came in instead! Chic was immediately struck by Faint Attack, but it was Not Very Effective! Glameow jumped back while Julian grunted.

‘Glameow, use Hypnosis!’ he called, and Glameow spun around! The cat waved its circling tail in a way that would be hypnotic to someone who saw it… except Chic was already mid-dropkick and struck the cat twice!

‘Glam-!!’ the cat called before being launched back by Super Effective damage! Glameow fainted. Julian grunted as he returned his Pokémon.

‘I’m not… looking for an adventure,’ Julian said, taking a moment before sending out his next Pokémon so that he could speak more calmly. ‘I just want to have the strength to defend. And… Pitri… my partner… I want to reward him after all the support he’s given me!’ he said, before throwing his next Pokéball forward. Out if it came a living wind-chime, a Psychic-type floating in mid-air before Erika and Chic.

‘Chimecho!’ the Pokémon introduced itself, an echo following its cry.



‘Hold it…’ Julian waited with his next command to see what Erika did.

Pitri the Kirlia was standing right behind Julian, watching intently.

Erika felt her cheeks tug as a frown as she considered Julian. “So that gives you a right to tear up Pokemon habitats and homes to plunder what you want? I get it, Pitri is your best friend but you can’t roll over others for him. Besides, maybe it would have been nice to spend the time together on your journey to find a dawnstone.”

Chic stood at the ready but Erika motioned for her to come back. “Sorry Chic, need you ready in case we have to fight some more. Instead…” Erika fished for her first Pokeball on her belt, ”Let’s go, Sno!”

Out came the little snow hat Pokemon. ”Snoorunt!” Erika pointed across the way. ”Let’s try to cinch it from here, Sno. Double team!” And Sno began to move fast enough to create illusionary copies of herself.

‘I… geh… What does it matter if there’s a new tunnel and some battling and looting? Trainers battle wild Pokémon and pick up things they find all the time!?’ Julian said, seriously not understanding. Then, Erika switched to Sno.

‘That’s… that’s a Pokémon that can evolve with Dawn Stone…’ Julian suddenly realised, and his expression got annoyed. ‘Fine. You want to make it an experience? I’ll make it an experience by having us beat you together. Chimecho, return!’ Julian returned Chimecho to its Pokéball. And then…

‘Pitri, Double Team!’



‘Kirlia!’ Pitri suddenly leapt forward, stopping where Chimecho had floated, and, just like Sno, started splitting up into many.

Erika nodded, ”That’s right and my ambition to make Sno into a Froslass is no less important than yours.” Erika turned her attention to the battle where it was now filled up with many Pitris and Snos alike. ”Alright Sno, bite and see if we can’t guess which Pitri is the right one!”

And so Sno would jump at a nearby Pitri, biting with its rather impressively sized mouth!

Sno started chasing Pitris, biting as she went! However, at least for right now, the true Kirlia escaped her jaws, as the various Pitris started dancing in varying directions, creating a rather confusing visage! In return…

‘Pitri, Disarming Voice!’ Julian called, and all the Pitris together braced, and then called out in unison, sending a sound-wave that cared naught if there were many copies of Sno, it hit anyway, doing Fairy-type neutral damage!

‘We… should have the advantage in this chaos…’ Julian reasoned, looking a bit mentally drained from the battle.

Erika pouted as she did the mental math of the situation. Sno might never hit but Pitri will always hit with Disarming Voice. It might have made sense to retreat, use a sturdier Pokemon like Eep in this situation, but Erika did like the poetic battle between the two would-be dawn stone users.

”Alright, Sno, change of plans! Ice Shard but forgo going first to try and spot the real Pitri! That sound has to be coming from only one of them after all!”

The group of Snos did as Erika had asked, all turning to look upon the line of Pitris as a collection of icicle shards hovered around them, waiting and watching.

‘Sh-shouldn’t matter. We’ll have a two-hit advantage… Disarming Voice!’ Julian called, and once again, the many Pitris together made the gesture of tensing up, before calling out altogether and sending a wave of Fairy-type sound knocking into Sno for some damage!

… But there! Sno could detect where the correct Pitri was, and direct an Icy Shard at him! Pitri was struck, and for a moment all of the Kirlia’s flailed a bit, and there was a bunch of snow-effects all around! Pitri was more than prepared to get up and continue to battle, however!

Sno staggered but she was still hanging in there as she stood up. ”Hanging in there Sno? Alright we go again!” The many Snos found their foothold again dug their little feet into the earth, ice shards forming around their heads ready to lash out at the sound of Pitri’s voice. ”Sno-Snorunt!” The chorus of duplicates rallied, ready to trade blow-for-blow!

Having the advantage of a priority move, Sno blasted her next Icy Shard at high speed and hit Pitri once more! Julian smirked, and looked like he thought he was smart.

‘Teleport,’ he said, and suddenly the Kirlias all shifted their location in the room. It wasn’t clear who the real Pitri was anymore. ‘Heh, now you don’t know who the real one is again…’ … Then it was his turn to do the mental maths and realised that, if Sno just found Pitri again the same way, and then Sno gets two hits for every his one.

‘Gah. Nevermind. Just Disarming Voice!’ Julian called, and indeed, once again the Kirlia sent out a Disarming Voice and did some damage to Sno, and once again Sno could find which was the real one from the hit!

”Go on Sno, Ice Shard but wait to find the real Pitri!” Erika called out, content with trading blow-for-blow until this fight ended. With Ice Shard being physical and Kirlia being weaker to physical attacks, Sno should be able to hang in there she thought. It was sound in her head, at least. Sno did so, taking a blast of Disarming Voice before letting loose a few shards of ice at the assumed real Pitir.

However, Erika thought of a little trickery to hopefully tip the scales into her advantage. When finding the real Pitri, her next command would be a sudden change with the real Pitri identified. “Sno use Bite on the real Pitri!” Erika pointed at the real Pitri like a general to watch as Sno charged, opening her wide mouth to take a chomp of Pitri!

Pitri shot away another Disarming Voice, and it left Sno really damaged! But, in reply, Sno shot an Ice Shard and hit Pitri in return! Pitri was about to cry out again, when Sno instead dashed in and bit onto Pitri, making the cry instead one of pain. This is when Lucian looked like he’d decided it was enough.

‘Pitri, return! We’ll have the others finish this-!’ he called… but that’s when.

‘Kirl-!’ Pitri actually jumped sideways, dodging his trainer’s call back.

‘P-Pitri?’ Lucian asked, but, of course, as someone who knows as much about battling as Erika, she’d know this phenomenon. It’s when the Pokémon itself wants to fight. For its trainer, or for itself.

Pitri now grabbed onto Sno, focus in his eyes, and then…!

The landscape changed for Sno. That is, as we know from Teleport being able to teleport the trainer home, they can teleport others. Pitri just teleported the both of them up into the air, intent on striking down his opponent down into the ground, in a move that would be truly worthy of a future Fighting-type!

”Sno!” Erika’s blinked, losing sight of her Pokemon with Pitri’s battle-focus taking the duelling pair out of sight! It wasn’t going to matter that Erika couldn’t try and direct the battle because Sno was battle-focused as well and determined to defeat her immediate rival!

With the impending and improvised seismic toss by Pitri’s teleport, Sno huffed and quickly came up with an attempt to soften the landing! Powder Snow was blasted behind the falling Sno at full force to quickly pile a snowy mound on the ground right where the pair were falling and thus, hopefully, cushioning the fall!

The two Pokémon slammed down into the puddle of snow, blasting a wave of white in all directions! When the snow cleared, Pitri was standing, heavily damaged, but conscious. Sno was half-buried in the snow.

‘Pitri…’ Julian looked stunned, absolutely not having expected his Pokémon to do something like that.

Pitri staggered back, panting from effort, but then slowly turned to slowly walk back towards his trainer, giving Julian a triumphant little smile…

Erika frowned as she saw the splash of snow all around after their impact. A Pokemon who finds that determination to fight hard is truly a wondrous thing so even though it seemed like her side had lost, she was fascinated to experience it first hand at least! ”Well, it was…” Erika started, drawing her Pokeball before catching a glimpse of Sno’s move.

The little Snorunt moved fast, too, leaping out of the snow mound and lunging with her big toothy mouth to chomp down on the confident Pitri in a surprise bite! ”RUNT!” Sno bellowed!

Julian's eyes widened more than Erika had seen them so far, and pointed desperately.
‘PITRI BEHIND-!’

Pitri just stood stunned, staring at his trainer for a tad too long. He turned his head just in time to see Sno's maw clamp down on him.

chomp

Pitri let out a light gasp, then fell motionless in Sno's grip.

His trainer just stared for a moment.

‘What… What was the point of that? If I had switched, you wouldn't…!’ Julian complained, frowning as he reached for another Pokéball… when his hand hesitated. He briefly looked down at them. He still had more Pokémon, but his determination had left his eyes.

‘… No,’ he sighed, his posture slumping down, his eyes looking decidedly not at Erika. ‘I… I've lost.’

Her opponent no longer wished to battle.



Erika let out a held breath. She had tensed up when saw Sno wasn't moving in her pile of snow. The sudden attack had even startled her but it turned out Sno might have wanted this more than Erika! "...Well that is that." She muttered finding it disappointing that her opponent's will to keep going just ended there. In a way Erika understood, she would have faltered, heck, was faltering as she saw Sno laying there.

She walked over to her Pokemon giving a light pat to Sno's pointed head. Sno was tired, huffing in air but the fight was over. "You did good, Sno. I'm proud of you!" Erika looked down and met Sno's lifted gaze and smiled. Then her attention turned to Julian. "I'm sorry Julian but I think it was the adventure that Sno and I had together to achieve something. We didn't take a shortcut here and faced everything together. You robbed Pitri and yourself a time together. That is what, I suspect, gave Sno that little bit more to overcome Pitri. You both did well."

Erika shrugged, not really knowing what else to say in this situation. "Oooh shooot!" Erika turned to look at the rest of the chamber. The Psychic Pokemon and the Fighting Pokemon were they still battling? "We need to seal the cave after we kick all the Psychic Pokemon out! Chic!"

"Cooombusk!" Chic flared as she reached Erika's side. One battle into the next, hopefully things were going well enough...

Seeing as she was being mostly ignored at the moment, Amelia turned to try and leave the group of converging trainers when the boy's words reached her ears, mentioning the pirate at the docks before calling her by name. She immediately turned to face the boy, looking him in the face and trying to remember who he was. It had only been a brief encounter after all, and she was not the best with people as it was. Trying to remember them all was hard. It took her about a minute but eventually, she did remember a name that might be right.
"Yes, I'm Amelia... and you're... Basil... right? I'm sorry if I'm wrong, I don't mean any offense!" She said as she gave him a small bow, her tone a bit panicked as she didn't want to possibly offend someone, even if it was only by accident.

Around her, her partners sensed her distress and as per usual, they floated or moved closer to her, letting out cries of comfort, though thankfully it seemed that they didn't direct any ire at Basil... yet.

Dawkin frowned. He hadn't known route 16 was THAT hazardous. Zachery's ship offered a nice alternative however. Dawkin did want to spend some time with Feebas at the coast among other things, and he was curious about the Pokemon Zachery had to offer. "Thanks for the heads up. I'll put route 16 on hold for a bit and check out the ship."

---

@PlatinumSkink

---

"Got it. Anyways, i'll be going now-" Claire had gotten about halfway through the door before Dunstan mentioned something about Zachary. She had seen Kalmia's message, but at the same time she had been rather preoccupied to really respond to it, but if he was docked here..."Right after I visit Zachary." Immediately changing directions and getting out her Mach bike, Claire made her way towards the docks and where Zachary was.

She didn't have anything in particular in mind as far as a pokemon goes, but when did she ever?

"Now lets see...where is this Zachary at? See anything girl?" Ralia was on top of Claire's head, hand over her eyes and peering over the horizon like she was looking a long distance and very hard for something

@Gardevoiran

‘Thank you, once again,’ Leila said, before turning and following Dunstan.

Skylar didn’t have that much to say to the people gathered, but before he leaves, there’s a little scene.

With everything else solved, Sylvia walked up to Kristy, who smiled as she approached.

‘So, uh. I’m sorry, restraining you wasn’t part of my list of things I wanted to do. It’s just, I was under orders to-’ Sylvia started, somewhat awkwardly talking to Kristy. Kristy replied by interrupting her with a hug.

‘Aww, I know you didn’t~! There’s no way you’d betray me~!’ Kristy called, very clingy and happy.

‘Y-yes, yes…’ Sylvia didn’t seemed a bit uncomfortable with the tight hug, but nonetheless embraced back. ‘I didn’t think you’d hold it against me, but on principle I wanted to apologize…’

‘Yeah, yeah, I know, I know. Pay for dinner and we’ll call it even and make you feel better, okay~’ Kristy said, smiling. ‘Oh, hey, kid!’ Kristy suddenly called, turning towards Skylar. ‘If you’re hunting badges, maybe you can catch another one here? Besides being “special investigator” whatever, Sylvia here’s also the Poison-type Gym Leader of Goldshore Town! She might just be here to visit me, but it might be your golden chance!’

‘Oh, no,’ Sylvia shook her head. ‘If he wants that badge he’s going to need to find me in the Gym in Goldshore Town,’ Sylvia said. ‘And… I wasn’t really here for you, I was here because to investigate as investigator…’

‘But you were happy to come here to see me at the same time, right~?’ Kristy asked with a big smile.

Sylvia was silent for a small second. ‘… Yes.’

‘Haha, there you go,’ Kristy laughed a little.

‘Right. That aside. Do you need a new cane and glasses? Do you want help?’ Sylvia asked, clearly concerned about the poor blind kid.

‘Oh, yeah. If you want a guide, I know my own town!’ Kristy offered.

Otherwise, Skylar could walk off with Forge. To say he’d get a bunch of looks from astounded Raremine Town citizens would be an understatement. Sure, it happened sometimes that strangers came walking with impressive Pokémon, but nobody here’s ever seen or heard of a Type: Null before!





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.



__________________________

@Pirouette

Erika turned around with Chic, intending to join further fighting, but…

‘Don’t worry about that. It’s been handled.’

Erika spun around to see Elana arriving at the scene, looking kind of dirty from all the battle she’d gone through. She was carrying her tired Slurpuff on her back, and arriving along with her was a whole horde of satisfied-looking Fighting-types, a lot of them looking scuffled from some form of battle.

And since it was a while ago, here’s pictures of everyone.



Besides that, her battle wasn’t the only battle that had been concluded.

‘Woooo! Good job, Pikachu!’ Joshua cheered as his Pikachu had just shocked Allan’s Growlithe to faint.



‘There we go. You don’t stand a chance against us, Team Amethyst!’ Ewan told as Theresa the Treecko knocked out Mia’s Minccino.



‘Th-they got us! And there’s more of them coming!’ Mia called out in alarm, returning her last Pokémon.

‘Drat,’ Allan said, doing the same while frowning. ‘This’ll look bad on our records, but… Escape Ropes!’



‘On it!’ With that, the two Team Amethyst members threw out their ropes, they attached to something and pulled both of them straight up into the ceiling and teleported them out of the scene.

Besides that, the small army of Psychics lay stunned and overwhelmed. Standing above their horde of fainted Psychic-Pokémon stood the king Machamp, flexing and grinning.

‘Ma-champ!’ he gave Erika a single thumb’s up while all the other arms were flexing.



‘YOU ARE SO COOKED!’ Maple shouted out at the giant drilling machine, which after a continued barrage by her now tired-looking Fire Pokémon the metal drill had just melted and its crew evacuated as the metal was somehow on fire.



As for the parts that Erika told Julian…

‘... Bah,’ was the only reply Julian gave, looking deflated.



‘I hope you learned your lesson,’ Ellyn said, still standing blocking the way to the throne and the stone for Julian. Julian frowned and turned to glare at her.



‘... Why… why are you standing over there? Why are you helping them? You’re a noble… like me…’ Julian asked Ellyn… who tightened her fists a little.

‘In case you couldn’t tell by what I’m wearing, I’m not exactly trying to broadcast where I came from… but fine. True, originally I didn’t see much reason to put much effort into anything, but…’ she then looked over towards Maple, who was still making sure that the metal machine would never drive again. ‘… This journey has started to teach me that there’s some things worth fighting for. That aside, I think it’s time to present the victor her reward.’

As she spoke, the king Machamp came walking. He stepped right by Erika, Julian hurriedly got out of his way and Ellyn freely stepped aside. Then, one of his mighty arms gripped the stone embedded in the throne, pulled it out with one mighty stroke, then turned back to look at Erika. He grinned at her.

‘The mountain king is thankful for your warning, and has seen fit to reward your efforts,’ Elana translated/interpreted.

Following Elana’s words, Machamp held forth the one of his many hands that held the stone, presenting it to Erika to do as she willed with…



__________________________

@hatakekuro

Basil’s Pokédex suddenly made a sound, as he’d gotten a voice message. Or, in case he answers immediately, it can be a call.

‘Heeey, Basil! How’s your Pokémon journey coming along?’ Kalmia’s voice would come from the Pokédex if he chose to play it. ‘Just in case you were wondering, I got your Pokémon over here! Whenever you put a Pokémon in the PC, I can take them out here! You don’t mind if I take them on a couple walks, right?’ Pretty much simultaneously he got a message that was just a picture of Kalmia smiling at him with Sabbah, Aria, Pamina and Titus in whatever fashion you feel fits them.

‘Right, I actually had a different thing I wanted to talk to you about,’ Kalmia said, suddenly looking a bit more serious. ‘There’s another little trainer of mine. Her name is Amelia. She’s a young little ghost-specialist, who I have high hopes for. Thing is, she came to me with a request; she wants to be able to bring all her Pokémon with her at the same time. Unfortunately, they’re more than six, and the laws of the Pokémon box-system forbids bringing more than six Pokémon at once. … But do they really need to?’ Kalmia gave a smile.

‘I see no reason for stopping this little darling from bringing all her friends with her. But, unfortunately, that’s one of the oldest rules of the Pokémon world that we’re trying to break, here. And, well. We’re not doing that without the permission of the one who owns the Pokémon Storage System in Isson… You know the one,’ Kalmia said. And just in case Basil didn’t know… ‘We need the permission of David, master of the Private Palace, owner of both the Pokéball Factory and the Power Station… yeah.’ Just pretty much the most famous noble in Isson. Because, for regular people, they go to the PC where they deposit Pokémon and see “David’s PC”. You guys see “Kalmia’s PC”, though, because she has a little off-shoot PC-system only used by her trainers.

‘I’m not entirely sure what’ll take to make him agree to this, but I did send Amelia to go on a quest to go to his house and ask. You know, because a little girl asking tugs on the heartstrings better than if I show up and do it. I wanted to ask if you perhaps could head with her? You may be better suited to telling Amelia what to expect. I am, of course, not forcing you to do this. But, if you want to help, I could give Amelia a call and find out where she is right now…’

Of course, by sheer coincidence, Amelia’s right there beside Basil. Oh, and Eryn, too.

__________________________

@Eklispe@Rune_Alchemist

Dunstan simply waved to them then sat back, studying the sample again.

‘… Later, then,’ Cathia said with a small wave.

So, the two of them, Claire faster than Dawkin on account of having a Mach Bike, headed out of the lab and also out of town towards Route 6.



However, that was not their destination. Instead, they headed east. Once again, one a bit faster than the other. Still, they came upon something that looked like a dock. They reached their destination. A powerful ship awaited them.

---

^{Lakewatch || Afternoon}
Eryn’s jaw dropped. Lesley? All this time, she was talking to he Lakewatch gym leader who specialized in dragon-types?

“Oh, Braith!” Eryn grinned. “He’s definitely going to utilize that to his advantage.” And flattered to hear that the match had been so close, Eryn figured. Unless he already knew that.

At Lesley’s apology, Eryn chuckled. “It’s fine! It was a bit weird being interrogated, but I get it.”

The other two trainers introduced themselves as Basil and Amelia, and they both knew each other—and went through Professor Kalmia too. What a small world.

“Yeah! I guess we just missed each other,” Eryn said. “I’m Eryn.”

Basil’s Hawlucha let out another cry, challenge clear in his eyes as he looked between Atha and Lesley. Atha, futher clarifying her future track record, smirked and met his gaze with a huff, and Eryn figured it’d be good to step in there.

“Alright girlie, let’s take a moment to get to know each other before you start picking fights,” Eryn said, reaching down to pat Atha’s head.

Atha dodged out of the way, shooting Eryn a glare. Another proud, stubborn personality for the tally. Eryn was getting good with those.

“Well, I’m not one to say no to a battle,” Eryn said, looking to Basil with a grin. “How about a 2-v-2? Just to give Atha a taste of the action, with some backup?”

---

Wow, someone that was somehow more anxious than him really existed. Basil stood there awkwardly at the little girl that bowed towards him and with all of her ghosts surrounding her though he could feel that one wrong move he would soon be become a member of her team. "Don't worry, you got it right. Uh, please stop bowing. It would've been fine even if you didn't remember."

His eyes darted to Lesley and Eryn in some desperate plea to ask for their help and thankfully the other trainer introduced herself. Basil almost sighed of relief to have that tension broken. "It's nice to meet you too. I'm Basil. Wait, uh, you already heard her say that." He smiled awkwardly at her because yeah, he really wasn't that much better than the little girl across from him. It was a wonder how this anxious white-haired boy with one too many piercings was able to be the trainer of such a haughty, arrogant bird.

Speaking of that bird, it looked down with all of its .2 meters of height at the Bagon with crossed arms. He was ready to throw down and test the rigidi of Atha's head with a few karate chops. Basil was about to step in himself, but Eryn beat him to the punch. Still, that little dragon had some fight in it and with a grin Eryn asked him a question that was bound to pop up whenever two trainers meet.

"I was wondering how I compare to the other trainers chosen. Sure, I'm game," said Basil with a grin though this time it was a tad more confident. Oddly enough, he was starting to feel less nervous about battling than he did before and was starting to feel something a bit bubblier. Was it excitement? Well, the question had to wait because his Pokedex started to ring. Basil grabbed it from his belt and looked at the caller ID.

His brow pushed up in surprise and he looked at Eryn and said,"Sorry, I have to take this." He held it up to see the screen since this seemed like a facetimed call."Professor Kalmia?"

‘Heeey, Basil! How’s your Pokémon journey coming along?’

"Uh, well my journey has been eventful to say the least. I hope you are doing well."

‘Just in case you were wondering, I got your Pokémon over here! Whenever you put a Pokémon in the PC, I can take them out here! You don’t mind if I take them on a couple walks, right?’

"Oh, um, not at all. Some exercise would do them some good. I don't want them cooped up in their Pokeballs or in the lab all day." At that moment he got a picture of his Pokemon back in the lab on their walk. Aria the pink puffball was center stage as she should while Sabbah hid in the shadows and Pamina gave the peace sign. Titus was just flopping around to no ones' surprise.

‘Right, I actually had a different thing I wanted to talk to you about,’ Kalmia said, suddenly looking a bit more serious.

"Oh, uh, sure. What is it?"

Professor Kalmia then proceeded to explain the quest that she sent Amelia on to bypass the six Pokemon capacity limit and his heart sank with the slow realization of why she called him specifically. Basil heaved a sigh because he knew what his answer was going to be, and he loathed it with all of his might.

"Yeah, no, I get it. Nobles can definitely be a bit much, especially the ones higher on the food chain. I'll help, but I promised someone that I would stop by Stillwood to investigate something regarding the incident in Rainrock and I'd rather not make her wait." While he did want to explain his own situation, he was afraid of letting off more than he intended to anyone in earshot. The walls have ears and what not.

"Actually, she's here with me too along with Eryn and the gym leader of Lakewatch." He held his screen out to the three of them to show them the professor before turning it back to him. "Eryn and I were about to have a battle, but I will talk to Amelia. I'll let you know what happens. Have a nice day."

After exchanging goodbyes, he hung up the phone and looked at Amelia,

"Hey Amelia, you heard all that, right? Are you free to talk after Eryn and I battle?" He asked, but then he looked like he just remembered something. He turned to the gym leader in scarlet armor. "Oh, um, Ms. Lesley I'd hate to take up more of your time, but could you please ref our match? I did come here to speak to you as well."