@Joshua Tamashii@Remram

"Ah raylly? Thanks, Oy'll geeve ih' a good gao. Say if theah's anythin inteahstin theah faw ya Bazza."

Pocketing the map, she did make sure to glance at it to see just where it was. It was kind of on the way with how Steph wanted to travel, though she wanted to keep south and not follow the Lake round it was only a little out of the way so she figured it was worth at least a little look over. Her curiosity was brimming after all. But you know what they said about curiosity and cats...

"Nahh Oy theenk thahts ih', oolraydy clayned me eow' of maowst of moy monay. Thanks anywhy, hahve a goodun!." Steph said, sheepishly rubbing the back of her head. But if someone else wanted to buy something, then she wasn't going to stop or hold them back from doing so. Regardless if that was the case or not, she would look to exit. In the event of someone else looking to buy anything she wouldn't go too far once she was outside, maybe just see if there was anything interesting going on around them.

Otherwise if everyone else was done also, unless there was something interesting going on then they had a Woods to get to. Something about needing to actually get their journey moving forward or something crazy? Places to be, things to do and whatnot.

---

Tristan, gave a sly smirk which he covered through a quick peruse of his Pokedex. Taking delight in both Ramos motivational words and Lois's Displeasure though the sturdy portion left him wondering.

" Y-Yes! Don't expect your elderly age to have me hold back!" The silver-haired teen responded in kind; trying to follow the family no sympathy for losers and to a Glory, everyone were losers.

Then Ramos revealed their first mon and with it the chime of his Pokedex relaying it to be a gogoat." Ah-hah! A plant type just as I-" Tristan was about to exclaim smugly his solving accomplishment, that is until he took notice of the the glowing green petals on the grass goat.

What followed was a rapid string of quick that had Tristan shouting-

Glowing petals." What? "

Pokedex chiming with mention of field effect." What?!"

Flower power! The garden's terrain has activated Skiddo's Grassy Pelt. Its defense stat has increased by 50%." WHAT?!"

Flabbergasted at the unexpected train of mechanics wholly new to the rookie trainer. This left him thrown off briefly, needing pinch his cheek." I'll worry about it later!" Growled out the teen, who while annoyed had that sly smirk come back as he thought about what this so called field effect does.

With that, Tristan tossed his pokeball; a click and flash of red light as Angel popped out with a cheery melodic tune ending with a cutely posed wink. The newly acquired grass type would look at the gogoat with a somewhat curious and confused expression then back to her trainer." Apologies, Angel. I'll do proper introductions after this, but for now we battle."

Still a bit confused, but with a chirpy hum she bounced forward with a elated sing songy cry.

Faye barely had time to process the how fast Tinkatanks, let alone the very thing she wished to avoid was about to happen, when the one fighting Tilia ran up the wall. The pit fell out of her stomach. Then the next moment, another Tinkatink smashed the one that was fighting Tilia. What? She blinked then looked at the ground beside her, then back at the new Tinkatink in the fight. She felt bad about the fight but worse now that the pokemon was fighting its friends.

"Thank you, um, Tinkatink." She had assumed the Tinkatink would sit it out rather than fight. She was grateful it was help, absolutely. Hopefully Tilia didn't get confused about it. "Tilia, tackle it again!" Depending how that one was looking after another tackle, she'd try to catch it. Catching them seemed the only way to really deal with them without completely making her feel awful about everything.

Thankfully Sage was holding up well enough after taking a hit from the Tinkatank and his determination to help managed to get it out the door. Maybe that hit was hard enough to daze it enough for the trainer to finally step in to eliminate the threat. Only one way to find out. The pulled out a pokeball, prepared it, then threw it at the Tinkatink. Fingers crossed - otherwise Sage had more fighting to do.

Jason began to retort when Helga stopped midsentence and then dismissed herself, disappearing back into the stairway. I...sound so much like who? He wanted to reach out and stop her, to ask her questions, to ask her to explain what she meant, but the giant of a woman was already gone and that elicited a sigh, even as Celebi said he had time to ask one question after giving him the Shard of Time and the Time Flute Piece. Fuck, only one? There's...there's a lot to clarify on...But...what's actually important enough to ask right now... He knew he was on a timer and that he had to get something out, and while the sins of men three thousand years ago was important, what he wanted to know about in that moment was more critical.

"What can you tell me about the truth of that rumor I heard from the Night-Touched? You seemed to sense a ring of truth to it."

@Lunarlord34@Joshua Tamashii

Yeah, what a crazy concept it was to actually move on from their journey. But yeah, it was time to move on and since Amelia was following Steph and Freya's lead there was not much else keeping them unless any of them gotten the urge to start fishing. And as a reminder, backtracking is indeed possible if someone wanted to take a detour, but then go back to their original plan. Just a thought.

Anyway! The trio would give their goodbyes to Bo and good ol' Bary, that crazy bug-eyed bugger. Tall, feisty, and spooky walked along the quay where fishermen were just minding their business and then were back on solid earth and walked on the rocky pathway. It was funny, they could not really appreciate the scale of the forest until they started to approach it. Off in the distance, the forest looked normal, but as they drew closer and closer it was as if they were approaching a series skyscrapers. They were impossibly large and the shadows they cast stretched on and on.

With nothing else holding them back, they marched forward.

---

@samreaper

Workers began to gather around curiously to spectate the battle. They were just watching casually, eating their lunch and chatting amongst themselves while they had free entertainment fall upon their laps.

The elderly gardener rubbed his chin with a big grin on his face when he saw what Tristan sent out. "Oh? Now isn't she a pretty thing." It was not every day that someone saw a shiny Gossifleur. Even some of the spectators could not help, but admire her too.

Louis waved down the two handkerchiefs to signal the beginning of the fight. "Fight!"

Ramos had a big ol' grin on his face. Even retired, no one could take the trainer out of the old man. He pointed a finger forward and ordered with great enthusiasm, "Alright Skiddo, use Defense Curl and then Rollout!"

The goat curled up the best that it could to defend its weak spots though it did something that Tristan or really anyone would expect. It spin dashed towards Angel with great speed. How it did was not the important part; what was the important part was something that Tristan most definitely did not know and is actually niche knowledge. Defense Curl doubled the power of Rollout. Better not get hit.

What does Tristan do?

---

@Sanguine Rose

The friendly Tinkatink gave Faye a thumbs up.

Luckily, Tillia had not gotten it confused. The owl dive bombed towards the baby dwarf fairy thing though the Tinkatink held up its rattle and blocked the incoming attack though it stumbled back, which gave enough of an opening that the friendly Tinkatink just smacked it upside the head with a club, finally knocking it out.

"Tink tink! Tinka tink!" While Faye could not understand it, it was pretty obvious that it was just done with the situation. Like it knew that they were going to get caught, but neither of them actually listened to it. Go figure.

Meanwhile, with an opportunity to catch one of these strange things Faye threw a ball at the dazed and confused Tinkatink and it was absorbed into it in a beam of white light.

It rolled once... it rolled twice...



Meanwhile, Faye heard the sound of a Pokeball shake and then click. Rosa picked up the Pokeball that she used to catch the Tinkatink that she battled. "Man, these things really put up way more of a fight than I thought. What the hell did they want with a car engine?"

---

@Zarkun

Celebi looked quite surprise that this was the question that Jason decided to ask.
 
"There's always a bit of truth with legends, but yes, it is real," said Celebi. "People call it a curse or an omen, but it is none of those things. They are the unintended consequences of a Pokemon like me trying to communicate with humans."

The forest deity waved it hand in an arch, creating tiny whisps of green light. They hovered in the air, flickering like flame. "It was once known by many names, such as the Nightmare King and the Silver Eye though it appears that humans have forgotten. It's a mighty Pokemon that resides in the space between reality and dreams, the progenitor of its kind."

As Celebi spoke, the green light danced and twisted. A creature that resembled tattered cloth with a cloud like plumage, a jagged crown, and cold eyes like a crescent moon.

"As you would expect it communicates through dreams, but it would be like trying to understand a hundred mouths speaking to you once. It's chaotic, but it is never incoherent. There is always meaning to be pulled from it and always a reason. He is not a villain that enjoys driving those to madness, but one of the guardians of Evig. After all, it once was one of the trusted companions of the First King before it rebelled when the king committed the original sin, the-" Celebi's eyes widened and it curled up into a ball, hugging itself as it started to shiver.

With no warning, Celebi's body flashed with a red light though it wasn't just that; the forest guardian looked out of focus, as if Jason was seeing double though that was not what happened. It stared down at its hands, pupils shaking like "This is different. Something is-?" The forest deity strained physically to keep itself in this time period as if it fought the tide of a river that tried to rip it away. Something was wrong. It was suffering and confused.

Celebi looked at Jason desperately and said, "Become strong. I fear that you have no choice."

With a flash of red light, it was gone.

There was only silence.

What does Jason do?

---

The praises and attention were proving quite effective in getting out blushing reaction from the glittering gossifleur who shown with an added green glow of the field effect. Elated to be able to demonstrate to a crowd; a part of her frustrated at her trainer, however, for having her debut so unexpected thrusted upon the poor grass mon. Unable to properly prepare, but she readied herself anyway.

Tristan, on the otherhand; normally one to relish much like Angel was, albeit in his egotistical manner, but the teen was trying to wrap his head around the multiple things he was taught just now. He thought this would be simple until this field nonsense came into play and with it alarm bells were ringing with some beads of sweat forming.

All while his attention was on that blasted goat...just standing there looking all cute... no, menacing.

"Fight!"

No point dwelling on it anymore and if there was one good thing to come of this is his own poke-

"Alright Skiddo, use Defense Curl and then Rollout!"

The seemingly simple buff move, while annoying with the field effect that also confirmed to the novice teen that Ramos looked to be a defensive style guy. Yet, that sudden speed had snapped Tristan from his thoughts.

" Holy Arc- hngh.. darn it all! A-Angel, quickly use scen- gragh- sweet scent in front of you to try and throw the skiddo off then side-step it and follow up with a sing right in its face!" The silver-haired teen ordered through some bits of struggling, finishing with a frustrated huff, face slightly flushed from the near heart attack.

He could only help but be nervous at this plan he fumbled onto after looking over Angel which he chose on, banking on Ramos using grass type.

Stella Lumite

At first, she had been worried that she'd actually offended the ghost with her question. She had to wonder if it was just being tricky, since it actually did know who she was talking about. She gave the ghost a wry but kind grin, "ah hah. It's not so strange to know your neighbors after all, huh?" She gave a little giggle before following along after the ghost-type.

The walk through the graveyard was quiet and uneventful. She didn't feel much like disturbing the peace with a lot of conversation, it felt like she might be shattering something precious.

When she spied the movement ahead, she was curious and apprehensive. It didn't take a genius to tell that the two men were up to no good in this neighborhood. She made sure to move quietly, herself, and not step on any twigs.

“Gastly,” her voice was the barest whisper as she found something to crouch behind. Maybe it couldn't hear her at that volume, but she couldn't risk spoiling her element of surprise. “Rather rude of these guests, no? I'll make the first move, if you'd care to join me.” Stella lifted her hand up for Niblet to crawl out on, before giving orders, “approach through the grass, and then hit them both with Electroweb. Tie 'em up good. I hope Gastly heard me, maybe they'll help you out. Be quiet and quick, and disappear into the grass again to lose them.” Niblet nodded and waved her arms in the air.

Then we’ll go get the night watchman and- Wait. Is the night watchman ok? I never did speak to them. If these two were confident they wouldn't have to deal with them, then their lack of stealth would make sense… better to make a little bit of noise and get it done quickly, before someone else shows up. She thumbed Scamp’s ball, but decided against releasing him to go check. The burglars would hear the noise of the release. She'd have to do it when Niblet attacked, in the immediate confusion.

“Go.”

Holy shit I caught one. The thought had only two seconds to float through Faye's head before she had to get back into the battle. One down, but one left to go. Which was when she saw the friendly one knock its friend out. Poor thing. She was definitely happier to catch the pokemon (outside of it clearly being part of the requirements of being a trainer) than simply beat them unconscious given they didn't seem like they wanted to do harm so much as they wanted metal to make their clubs. They didn't really do anything wrong except refuse to return the engine.

As much as she didn't like the idea of it, she still threw a ball at the unconscious Tinkatank. She needed a way to bring the thing back to a pokecenter to get healed, at the very least. Then to stop somewhere to get them some proper metal for them to make their clubs. She was a person of her word, and these mon deserved it. After that, she'd figure out where these were from and let at least that one go. Or find it somewhere safe to let it go. It wasn't fair to it or her to force it to stay with her. If the ball didn't work, she'd just have to carry it back in her arms and still planned to help get it whatever it needed to avoid it stealing engines from farmers.

She plucked up her new Tinkatank as Sage trotted to her side. Tilia joined them, landing on her shoulder, a few moments after. The purple haired trainer looked over at the friendly Tinkatank again. "I'm sure that wasn't easy for you to do. Thank you. I promise I'll get your friends fixed and get you guys the metal, just like I said. Please, stay with us until then."

Her attention turned back to Rosa. She finally let out a soft sigh of relief. "Well, when I got here, they were making clubs out of metal so I think they snatched it to use in making better clubs. Sage and Tilia tried helping me reason with them. The three we fought said something to my 'mon that I really couldn't fathom a guess as to what was actually said, but it sounded serious. And, well, they weren't all willing to give it up peacefully." She glanced at the engine then Rosa. "Okay, I gotta know, what got you all the way out here? Figured you were probably helping around the farm or stuck on babysitter duty again today. Actually - no - that question should probably wait. Right now, the most important question is how the heck are we getting this engine back to the orchard?" She laughed softly. "With one of them unconscious, and I think it took all four of them to move it here...We're a bit shorthanded I think. Got ideas?"

Jason listened to Celebi's tale without looking away, making sure that he didn't miss a single detail. Admittedly, it wasn't what he asked about, but this was just as important and useful. When Celebi showed him the image, Jason blinked in surprise, as he recognized it. That's...that's Darkrai. I know a bit about it, it's been seen in Sinnoh and a couple of other regions. But i- His train of thought was interrupted when Celebi suddenly doubled over and curled into a ball, its eyes widening in surprise. Before his eyes, it flashed red and the focus that had been there a moment before was gone, confusion and desperation in its place as it muttered that something was different. It was clear, even to the aspiring champion, that something was very wrong.

Before vanishing in a flash of red light, it locked eyes with Jason and said simply, "Become strong. I fear that you have no choice." And then it was gone, leaving Jason in the shrine with his partner. A sense of foreboding came over the young man and he returned Lucha to her ball before practically sprinting out of the shrine, taking the stairs two and three at a time before finding the exit and Helga.

"Something just forced Celebi out of the timeline, out of Evig. It said that what was happening was different."

@Joshua Tamashii@Remram
Starbor Forest. The sigh of the woods made the girl crane her neck up at the towering timber above. She didn't pay the bug catchers and maniacs much mind, instead she had been mostly to herself since leaving the fishing store. She would respond to anything when spoken to, otherwise she seemed quite content with talking with Dusk and otherwise thinking over what she learned from Barry. Now having had time to process it, even she couldn't deny how outlandish it sounded. Did that dent her belief he was telling the truth? Not one bit. Man seemed to be genuine, and she wasn't going to doubt that. Now did that meant he wasn't delusional? Different subject.

But she was here to investigate something. And she figured if this was true, then there was every chance that anything suspicious like that could be related. She had no leads after all, so looking around without a proper goal was pointless. So why not just investigate every suspicious activity in the hopes of finding something? Not the best plan, but it was all the girl could think of.

Also wouldn't it be awesome if it was true? She was really hoping it was.

But back to the Forest around them, as Steph eyed off the trainers and pokemon around them, also glancing once in Amelia's direction. She really wanted to train, but she knew Amelia wasn't overly...enthused about such a thing. At least for herself. She wasn't sure how far that extended. Then again, she didn't seem to mind or say anything when she fought the Angler before. So maybe it was just her own choice? Gah, she couldn't understand that in all honesty. Seemed like a good kid, maybe too good. But why participate in the Gym Challenge if you weren't going to...participate. Eh, it was her choice so she would respect it so long as she respected hers. Maybe Amelia would come around, who knows.

What Steph did know was that a Shroomish caught her eye. Now, she didn't really have any real plans on what to catch persay, but she did have a list of most wanted Pokemon. She had one in Lucky the Growlithe, and a Shroomish was also on that list. It wouldn't take her companions long to catch onto her plan to catch one also, as she stared at it intently before slowly reaching to her belt, only hesitating once she reached it as she pondered who to use to aid in the capture. Pretty much her entire turn was a good match up, all of them having a super effective move against grass types. But that probably didn't aid in her current endeavour. She wanted to catch it, not knock it out.

Finally deciding upon Jack, despite Dusk seeming rather keen about the matter, she would call out her Sneasal and the plan was simple.

Hit it with an ice shard, maybe a second depending on how hard it hit. Otherwise weaken it with scratch before going in for the final strike with a pokeball. Shouldn't be too difficult, so long as the dice played nice and didn't draw the affair out.

@samreaper

Tristan, faced with very little options lest Angel and the rest of his team be steamrolled by a spin dashing goat, decided to face the threat head on! Angel would emit a pink powder with a tantalizingly floral and sweet aroma like a fine honey or for something that related to Tristan a bit more, a luxurious perfume. Even the spectators enjoyed the scent wafting about the impromptu battlefield, which included the rapidly approaching Skiddo. It turned out a move that attracted Pokemon to the source of a scent was highly effective at doing that.

Luckily for Angel she was able to elegantly sidestep like she was dancing with the wind and sung a lovely lullaby for the leafy goat. Slowly the Skiddo lose momentum before it just slumped on the ground and ever so adorably was sleeping with its hooves neatly tucked underneath.

"Huh, well played," said Ramos with a mildly surprised expression. Not at that his Pokemon fell asleep, but more at the fact that the trainer that said 'Plant Type' was not flailing about.

What does Tristan do?

(GM Note: Instead of turns, a Pokemon inflicted with sleep will wake up within 1-3 actions. If withdrawn, the counter starts up again.)

---

@CitrusArms

As Stella approached, she would see that they were men in all black that wore balaclavas to hide their identities. One was an overly skinny man, an absolute bean pole and the other was built like an Emboar with a great barreled chest and thick, massive arms and surprisingly stumpy legs. They still were blissfully unaware that they were no longer alone and completely unaware of what was about to happen to them.

On Stella's mark, electricity crackled, and this had not escaped their notice.

The lunk turned his heavy form to look for the source of the sound. "What was da-?" It was too late. A net of electricity flew towards them, and the bean pole managed to dodge out of the way. However, his partner was ensnared and like a tree he fell with a great thud, well except it wasn't just a fall. It was a web made from electricity. His body twitched and convulsed as he made strange unintelligible sounds that certainly was not the sound of screaming, but he was definitely not having a good time. The net eventually faded because it was not design for long term confinement, but the heavy was not going to get up. He wasn't dead, just unconscious and a bit smokey. His leg still twitched though that may have been the electricity.

The other looked down at the sight in abject horror and legged it with no hesitation. "Gotta get out of here, gotta get out of here!" He chanted to himself. The robber had made quite a fair distance before the Gastly popped out of nowhere just a couple of inches away from his face, which caused him to freeze up instantly.

"Gas!" It licked him with its big ol' tongue, a thick layer of saliva coated his face.

"What the fu-?!" Suddenly, he felt his body freeze up and collapsed on the ground. Yeah, turned out that it was not just disgust that caused paralysis when Lick was used on some unfortunate sod.

Well, uh, that happened. Now what?

---

@Sanguine Rose

For the sake of convenience, the unconscious Tinkatink was absorbed into the ball.

"Don't worry, I got you," In most cases, one would expect someone to pull out a cellphone. Except she didn't. Rosa fished from her jacket pocket a Pokedex just like the one that Faye was given the day before. She tapped on the screen and held it up to her ear while it buzzed, tapping her foot impatiently until someone picked up. "Hey dad, I... No, I'm- Oh for the love of God, we need your truck! Yeah, we. Faye's here. What? Rosa looked at Rose and said, "Dad says hi."

She focused her attention back on the call. "Look, we need find a way to get truck engine back to Voltorb Orchards. Long story. Are you gonna help? Cool, we're by the abandoned farmhouses. See you soon." Her eyes widened for some reason followed by a pout. "Come on, don't make me say it right now."

Whatever her dad said, she turned her back towards Faye and held her hand up in some attempt to keep her voice from projecting. "Love you too"

The young woman hung up and sighed like every teenager when dealing with their parents. However, it had not escaped her attention that her Pokedex was directly in Faye's line of sight. "Oh, uh, I can explain."

---

@Zarkun

True to her word, Helga indeed was waiting for Jason to finish up her business. She stood by the doorway to the temple arms crossed wearing a scowl that would cause the typical person's skin to crawl back. However, she could see that Jason had a panicked look about him and her scowl became a look of concern, which then turned into disbelief. "You mean intentionally?"

Helga stood there processing what Jason had just said, struggling to really grasp it. "That's... That shouldn't be possible. It's weird enough that Celebi can't enter Evig anymore, but that's another order. That would mean that whatever it was, it was aware that Celebi was here." She was no longer looking directly at him, but there was fear in her eyes. This was not what had expected to hear though there was something else. Jason would not be able to decipher it, but he could tell that there was something she was holding back.

Through her fear though there was a look of realization. Helga's gaze returned to Jason. "The fact you're still here could mean two things. One is that whatever dragged Celebi isn't aware of you yet and that's why you're still in the present or there's the real head scratcher. It is aware of you, but it can't remove you from this time for some reason." The way she looked at him said it all. He was in deep shit. There was pained guilt etched over her face though she quickly turned around just so he would not be able to look at her face.

"No point in thinking about it. There's nothing you can do it about it now." She peeked over her shoulder. "Come back with me to my cabin. I'll tend to your Pokemon's wounds. I think we all need a rest," gruffly said by the woodswoman.

Does Jason follow her back? If not, what does he do?

---

@Lunarlord34@Joshua Tamashii

Well, no one was going to stop her from investigating every strange oddity she found.

Anyway, Steph decided to go after one of the adorably grumpy looking mushrooms and decided to send Jack the Sneasel out to fight. The Shroomish bravely let out a war cry and braced itself for battle. The Sneasel shot an icicle that darted through the air straight towards the grass-type far too quickly for the Pokemon to avoid. On impact, the Shroomish bounced along the ground until it landed on top of its head. Its nubs for legs kicked the air as it tried to correct its position.

It eventually rolled back onto its feet and let out a triumphant roar even though it had a large bruise on its forehead. Before Steph could throw a Pokeball, the Shroomish shook its body, and a cloud of yellow spores was emitted from its body. Jack was unfortunately caught in the collection of spores, and it stood there stiffly. It was paralyzed!

Steph eventually threw a ball, and her aim was true; the ball smacked against the same spot where the Ice Shard hit it and it was absorbed into the ball.

It rolled once... it rolled twice...



Meanwhile, Freya politely clapped for Steph. Like it was really a golf clap. "Nice job." She glanced over to Amelia who probably was uncomfortable with the whole thing. "Hey, did you want to do that thing you asked about?"

If Jason was concerned before, he was now filled with a sense of such existential dread that he didn't know what he was going to do to continue to avoid getting shot somewhere else in time and that it could happen at any moment, including the worst possible moments. "Well...I'm not sleeping tonight..." Helga continued on for a moment before indicating he should follow her so he and his team could rest up, an invitation he wasn't going to turn down. The trip back through the woods was quiet as Jason contemplated his road forwards, trying to work out what he was going to do. Now that he knew the voice that had reached out to him in his dreams though...Maybe I should try and contact Darkrai...surely it might have an idea of what's happening... He also needed to get stronger and he very much intended to do so.

---

The silver-haired teen had been stressed and thrown off from all the unexpected surprises. Yet, the soothing sweet scent and witnessing Angel not only succeeding with the strategy, but did so beautifully at.

Now pumped and his mind relaxed once more, Tristan regained his composure with a delicate brush through his silky soft hair." Absolutely splendid!" He called out the compliment which only added to the delight of praises she was getting making her giggle and blush.

From there, Tristan held up her pokeball, quickly recalling her." Stunning work, Angel." Pleased to see this battle going better than the previous one so far. And from it, the teen felt a strange sense of excitement and a teen like him living the rich like him having experience many, but none of them could compare to now.

* Is this what a real battle is meant to feel like?* And if just this was satisfying then..how would victory feel.

A victory earned by his hands and not his family.

Determined and eager to see how this goes, Tristan moved to replace the pokeball.

A red beam of light as a scared chirp rang out as Ace stood revealed with a surprised like squawk.* Ugh....I really got to work on Ace's scaredy-cat antics.* Something he had no clue on; have to wait for later." No need to fear, Ace! Your opponent is asleep! Just keep your distance!"

His trainers words helped Ace to see, that indeed his opponent asleep which did help comfort the fiery birb." Ace! Keep your distance and let loose embers, but first a growl for good measure! Make sure to keep your guard up too!" Tristan gave the orders.

One thing was evidently clear. Rushing into direct battle was definitely wrong, defensive and range was the safe bet until he had Ramos on their last leg, only then would he risk a full confrontation.

Faye had reached down to pick up the unconscious Tinkatank's ball and hadn't seen the Pokédex. She'd assumed it was a phone, until she glanced over to Rosa upon hearing that Rosa was calling her dad. That definitely didn't look like any cell phone the young trainer had ever seen. It almost looked like... The thought blinked out of her head as her companion caught her off guard with the comment. "Oh, hi back?"

Yup, there were more questions. She could feel them in the back of her head, but none of them were fully articulated yet. Kind of like when she started researching areas; there was one main question which typically gets answered easily then everything else is just following threads without any tangible question to answer by tugging on it. That was how this was going to have to go. She answered the one question she had to ask - how to get the engine back to the farmer. The rest...was all about getting to know this girl a bit better. Obviously a girl that was outfitted as a trainer for this region given the style of the Pokédex. Which meant sometime within the last few weeks, months - year? two? - the farmgirl was outfitted as a trainer. That didn't necessarily mean her goal was to hit gyms and face the league though.

The purple haired trainer laughed softly at the dumbfounded look on Rosa's face. "You've said that a lot. Sounds like we have a bit of time, though." She motioned for the other girl to sit as she herself took a seat beside both her pokemon. "I think the more relevant question at the moment is what lead you to this farm house? Not that I'm expecting upset at the help, couldn't have done it without you. Just, I guess, wondering why you showed up. I mean, there's also how long you've been a trainer, and what other Pokémon you have, and if you're going to compete with the gyms...but again, we'll have time I think."

@samreaper

With the Skiddo asleep, Tristan had a potential short space of time to get away with some free turns. Luckily, Tristan was able to make a free switch into the Ace the cowardly Torchic as his first action and for his second action the fire chic let out some sort of intimidating noise to lower the attack of the sleeping kid though by all logic that should've not done anything because it was asleep. Unless it somehow gave it bad dreams or something? Who knows.

What was important though was that the Skiddo woke up to see a series of flickering sparks fly straight towards it.

"Skiddo, dodge and then use Rollout!" The Skiddo jumped out of the way of the embers and once again spin dashed straight towards Ace though unlike before, it was much weaker since the Torchic's Growl did somehow lower the grass goat's attack and it had not used Defense Curl like before.

What does Tristan do?

---

@Zarkun

Well, existential dread aside Jason was left with quite a lot to think about though no matter how many questions he had there were not going to be any clear answers. All he could do was walk through the misty, dark woods with Helga as the lead. She was quiet, not saying a single word the entirety of their trek through the woods. The giant of a woman merely glanced back to check if he was still following her or not. Eventually, they would arrive at the marshy clearing surrounded by floating gourds.

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@Sanguine Rose

"That's... actually a reasonable question," said Rosa, who was a bit surprised about how nonchalant Faye was about well, that. "Mom and dad made me deliver some milk to Voltorb Acres when they told me that someone was helping them with their truck troubles. A girl with purple hair and an Eevee. I was able to two and two together pretty quickly and went to help you out after they pointed where you went. Like, how were you planning on getting a truck engine back on your own?" She looked at her questioning what was going through Faye's mind when she agreed to get the engine back, but that was probably giving her way too much credit because who are we kidding? Faye probably went in winging it though Rosa wouldn't know.

Anyway!

Rosa found an old pile of lumber to sit on and heaved a sigh. "As for the trainer thing, well, a week. Sort of. You know how parents act like they are suggesting something, but they really aren't to do something because they think it'll be good for you? It's like that." To say that she sounded less than enthused about it would have been understatement. Everything about her screamed 'I hate my situation' if what she said earlier had not already given it away. "When the league opened up, my parents kept nagging at me to sign up because they think it will 'broaden my horizons' and 'let me see the world.' Believe me, as much as I can rough it out on a ranch, I'm more of a homebody, but I signed up just to get them to stop nagging me about it. I didn't actually expect to be accepted." An exasperated breath of air pushed through teeth as she leaned back on the pile of logs.

"If you're gonna ask why now, you can blame Tristan. After everything that happened on the farm, they decided it was time for me to get going. They said I should be more like him, gross." She shuddered with disgust.

Jason nodded to Helga and let his whole team out of their balls, allowing Helga to work on them while stepping outside and looking at the Pokedex/cellphone combination and sighing. Kapoc would be trying to reach him as he discovered that there was some great evil out there that was out to keep Evig...actually, he wasn't sure what the end goal was, but it couldn't have been good. After some debate and internal arguing, Jason would listen to the five messages that the professor had left and then, with a heavy sigh, call Kapoc back to try and distract himself from the sense of dread that had settled into his bones since Celebi had been forced out of its own shrine.

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A bit irksome to see the attack failed to land, but the growl seemed to work. Now that his head was clear again, Tristan saw a plan forming after the hint of seeing the skiddoo slowed down briefly by the growl.

With how Ace was, this would be the best approach for the fidgety bird." Quick! Ace fire off an ember at the skiddoo to slow it down then wait till it draws close to dodge back with a growl! Once you land go wild with ember!" The silver-haired teen relayed his orders and hoped for the best.

"I actually was hoping to convince the 'mon to bring the engine back and avoid a fight all together," Faye admitted with a laugh. "Planned to figure out another way after the fight once that stopped being an option." She would have figured out something. It just would have taken a bit more thinking than Rosa needed. Or a lot more waiting if she tried the same method Rosa was able to employ and call a relative to help. Little thought out, but the main goal at the moment of assessing the situation was keeping the engine from getting destroyed.

When the farmgirl explained her predicament, the other trainer listened. It made sense why Rosa's parents thought it was a good idea. Most parents would, wouldn't they? But it sounded completely opposite of what she dealt with to get into the league. She had to convince her mom to let her, and even then her mom still didn't seem okay with the idea. There was more to unpack with that, but she figured she'd discover the depths of why as she developed a better understanding of what it might be.

Though being told to be more like Tristan brought an involuntary reflex to make a disgusted face. "That's only because they only know the fancy face he put on for them."

Then she laughed softly. "They probably wouldn't have said that if they knew how he departed Kapoc's lab." Faye blinked and pulled out her phone. It took only a second to pull up the first picture she took with Sage, then another moment to zoom in above Sage's head on the background image of Kapoc's Hydreigon dropping Tristan on the curb outside the lab. She offered her phone to Rosa to share in the laugh.

"Though, to play devil's advocate, it might not be bad to travel a bit. Not necessarily to see the world, but - like wouldn't it have been nice to be able to solve whatever problem it was that Tristan helped your folks out with? Think he could have handled that without at least one Pokemon? Think we could have saved the engine without Pokemon? I certainly tried." She laughed. "The stronger our Pokemon partners, and the better our bond with them, the easier it will be to help solve problems presented us. I'm not saying you should have to travel far and wide, but I think it might be good to at least travel a little. And you don't have to do it alone. You could come with me - though I suppose I should warn you I am traveling with Tristan for now."

Amelia would follow behind Steph and Freya as the trio departed from the fishing store and made their way into the woods. The young girl, while comforted by Freya's words, was still concerned around what had happened earlier. It was now a bit of a nagging thought in the back of her head, a concern about how others might react if they learned about what she could do. But she knew there was no point in dwelling on that just now, so with some effort, she pushed such a thought to the back of her head.

Watching the older girls, she noticed Steph looking in every which direction, even glancing in her direction, causing the young preteen to give her older companion a shy, nervous smile and a wave. Now, while Steph was looking for pokemon and trainers, Amelia was less focused on that and more focused on their surroundings. She could still sense the Ghost-Type pokemon in the distance and was keeping track of where to go but she wasn't sure when to bring up her desire to head in that direction. It just made her nervous to interrupt what someone else was doing in order to fulfill her own selfish desire. So, to try and distract herself, she kept an eye out for any berries or items that might be on the ground that could prove useful down the line as they walked.

When they stopped so Steph could battle and catch a wild Shroomish, Amelia remained silent. She knew that this was not her preferred way to catch pokemon but she also knew it was the most common and possibly the easiest for almost everyone. She held no ill-will towards Steph for using this method, but she still couldn't stop herself from feeling some disapproval and she hated herself for feeling that way. Afterall, she was not in a position to thrust her views upon others. Thankfully, it was a quick battle and it didn't seem like the Shroomish suffered too much. When it was over, Freya seemed to make it a point to bring up that Amelia had something she wanted to do, causing the young girl's face to turn red.
"I-I do but... I'm not sure that it's a good idea. It's a bit out of the way after all and I'm sure Steph would like to get to the next gym sooner rather than later." She said, quickly looking at the ground while twiddling with her thumbs nervously. She fully intended to travel with Steph but she had no plans on getting in Steph's way. Steph had a goal in mind while for Amelia, simply being able to travel was the goal.

Stella Lumite

… That was quite a smell. She hoped she didn't over-do it. She got up from her hiding place and approached the first robber, nudging the slightly crispy fellow with her foot. “Wow. That really did the job. He’ll be ok, right?” She stepped past the would-be grave robber and approached the grave herself, examining it for damages. From the conversation she heard, she would guess they'd only just located the gravesite, but had they started to dig?
“Good job, Niblet. I'll stand still, climb me so I can find you.” Stella stood still long enough for Niblet to get into her leg. Once high enough, Stella knelt down and placed the flowers on the grave, taking a moment to find the name. “Hello, ma'am. You don't know me, but your husband asked me to come give you flowers. I told him he didn't have to pay me, but he stubbornly refused. Hmm.. now that I think about it, I'm not sure how he will. That's fine, of course. I told him it was fine to start with.”
“I suppose that's my task done. I hope you enjoy the flowers, ma'am. I'll go tell the night keeper about the robbers.” She lifted Niblet’s ball as she stood, putting the cute bug away within. She looked around for the ghost-type that had shown her the way and launched a surprise attack with her. “Ghastly, thank you for your help tonight. I've got a spot open on my team currently, if you'd like to come along with me. This is a nice home you've got, though, I'd understand if you wanted to stay.”
At any rate, she'd better go get that night watchman. She'd make her way back at a jog to the cabin before knocking firmly, “excuse me, it's urgent! You've got robbers! At the [Name from grave] site!” She was ready to enter, if no one answered or came to the door. She didn't expect those goons to stay still all night, after all.