Jason wanted to argue with her, to say that taking a natural course to strength might not be fast enough, but he knew the Amazonian woman was probably right. Trying to rush to strength like a bullheaded idiot with more brawn than sense wasn't going to help him and panicking about what could or could not happen wasn't going to help either, so when she said he needed to rest, he nodded in agreement. "Yeah...yeah, you're right. Rest is probably the smart thing to do here." When she asked him to sit down, he did, humming to himself as he waited and trying to figure out his best route forwards. The woods had to still have their secrets, their undiscovered species of Pokemon. Avem was a good little guy, Starly tended to be, but Lucha and he were both flying types and he knew he didn't want to double up on typing. Actually, I think I'm tripled up on flying right now, with Occisor, Avem and Lucha... His typing for the team could use some work, that was for sure.

@samreaper

The Lombre repeatedly smacked the Leafages as they came, getting ever closer to and closer to its opponent. With more leaves scattered about Tristan ordered Angel to spin once again and... nothing happened. The leaves glowed faintly with green light, but for some reason they would not take off from the ground again Perhaps it was something that needed to be practiced in order to be pulled off consistently.

Its hand came down and smashed the opposing grass-type back though it was a trade of blows. After all, Angel still used Rapid Spin. The Lombre was smacked in the face by an errant leafy hand before it landed its blow against Angel. The little plant was sent flying back and perhaps that would've scared Tristan though perhaps he had not really noticed it yet, but the diva was somehow nimbler than before. It was like she was gliding about in the air though that should not have been a surprise. After all, Rapid Spin and her previous attack increased her speed by two-fold. At this moment, she was just barely faster than her opponent.

"We still have the momentum! Use Mega Drain!" Ordered Ramos.

A sickly green energy glowed around the Lombre and it then it darted forward towards Angel.

What does Tristan do?

---

@Zarkun

"Of course I'm right. Now, relax. I'm going to make some food." She placed some kindling in her woodstove, small sticks that were made from cutting logs down further and further until their diameter resembled that of a matchstick. Carefully she placed a match in the heart of the kindling pile, and it took a little bit of time for the fire to really catch, but eventually it became strong enough that she threw three smaller logs inside it and slammed the door shut. Jason would feel the room become warmer, if not slightly uncomfortably so if he was heavily dressed, as the logs caught fire.

It was actually quite the device that stove. It had rivets on the top that allowed for stove top cooking and an oven. If Jason watched, he would see that she was rough chopping various vegetables, onions, carrots, peppers, celery, potato, and so on before throwing them into a pot filled with premade stock. It was a sweet smell; warm spices filled the air and was soon accompanied by the smell of bread baking in the oven. Obviously, she had made the dough prior to Jason arriving at her doorstep. Then at some point she pulled out a grate full of mushrooms of various shapes and sizes that she soon chopped up and fried on the stove. The scent of mushrooms was accompanied by rosemary and thyme.

Now that Jason had a moment to sit down and actually look around there was something off about the cabin; there were no personal effects. Yes, there was furniture, but they looked like they were scrapped together crudely just to be functional enough to be used for moderate comfort and durable enough to take some punishment. They were tools with no emotional sentimentality attached to them. What was weird was that there was nothing in the cabin that was not like that. There were no pictures, no meaningless knick knacks, or anything, nothing that showed anything about her life or whatever her life was before living in these woods. It was all rugged and cold utilitarianism.

However, those thoughts would probably have been pushed to the side as food was placed in front of him. A bowl of soup with a red surprisingly red stock packed to the brim with vegetables, a big hunk of bread with butter on the side, and a pile of mushrooms on a plate. Now, it was questionable if the food would've been good. After all, her coffee would've been considered cruel and unusual punishment. However, this was actually good. The soup was light and refreshing with an acidic kick towards the end, the bread was light and fluffy, and the mushrooms were very much meaty, herbaceous, and savory.

So, they could act out the meal or just move forward.

---

Tristan was nervous and anxious as he watched the battle continuing to unfold and when the flickering glows from the flowers started had him tensing.

Only for it to falter shortly after, leaving the teen disappointed and frustrated.*Hngh! Why didn't it work? Ugh... guess it requires some special conditions?* Thought Tristan; irked by this fact, but this also meant there was something there and it was possible. He needed to figure out what it was that triggered the incident.

Something that he unfortunately had no time to focus on, amidst the on-going battle against a most rather aggressive Lombre. Contemplating whether to try again or not, when he saw Angel getting pushed back; indeed scaring him both from the shock and surprise at Angel's improved nimbleness.

With that bit exchange over, Tristan took a moment to release his breath, having not noticing doing so.

Though his initial plans failed and while Lombre was seemingly landing decent hits, he could see Angel was still in pretty good health, to his relief. And apparently faster?.* Was this a side-effect of the rapid-spin?* The perplexed teen thought. This was unexpected and showed just how little he knew about pokemon and how their moves worked. Then there was whatever Angel nearly pulled off; a feat they would definitely do.

"We still have the momentum! Use Mega Drain!"

The man's words caught Tristan's attention." Tch, we will see about that! Don't underestimate Angel's nimble beauty!" He called back in challenge.

Deciding to put off on attempting the leaves again, instead chose to take on a risk. With Angel's current state and taking into account Lombre's attack..." Don't worry about dodging, Angel! Instead charge and build up speed with rapid-spin and slam into that mega-drain with your all!" Tristan cried out, the teen clenching his teeth at knowingly having her take the hit.

But, if this worked out then the benefits might get him the edge needed.

@samreaper

Ahem, perhaps it was not something that needed special conditions, but practice? Or bullshit anime logic? Who knows? I'm just a disembodied voice that no one can actually hear.

Well, Rapid Spin's speed boosting effects would actually work if they made contact with the target. However, fate decided that Tristan rolled high enough. Anime bullshit logic it is. Angel's speed was beginning to pull up the leaves from her previous attack and spun around her. The leaves ripped up the grass up from beneath and sputtered all over the crowd watching them. A particular large patch of earth hit Louis square in the chest, leaving a brown blotchy stain on his nice suit.

"Are you bloody-?!"

But we don't care about Louis. What was important that Angel rushed towards the energy sapping beams of light with her swarming leaves and broke through! The Gossifleur charged and the Lombre was slashed by a series of leaves before being knocked on its back with X's for eyes.

Louis, in his ruined suit, lifted a handkerchief towards Tristan. "Lombre is unable to battle! Gossifluer wins!"

Just has he said that Tristan's Pokedex rang with notifications.


Meanwhile, Ramos rubbed his chin with a grin. "Oh ho? How interesting. Maybe my instincts were right about you, sprout. Don't celebrate just yet. The real fight starts now." He grabbed one more Pokeball from his belt and out from it came his final Pokemon. It was this large green and red bipedal lizard with a singular long leaf protruding from its head and leaves protruding from the sides of its wrists and two leaves for a tail. It stared at Tristan with cool, collected yellow eyes.

---

@Zarkun

After a meal and a rest, Jason stood outside the cabin with Helga by his side.

"Well, I guess this is it. You better see that scientist or whoever ask you to check down the shrine." In case Jason forgot, he originally went to find the shrine at the request of Professor Jacquelyn who was probably still waiting for him in the Scholar District. It had been a while, so it would've been easy to forget.

Anyway, the titan of a woman stood there with her arms crossed, uneasy. "Again, I'm sorry. I never imagined that things would've escalated like this." There was definitely guilt there, but acceptance of what she had done. However, she still had that look that she knew more than what she was letting on though her lips were sealed. "Remember the favor I asked in return? Consider it null and void since I never really expected you to actually do it. However, what I said wasn't a lie. The moss found on Ekans in Blue Lichen Cave is quite useful for medicine. If you do catch one, bring it to me and I will reward you. The least I can do after all of that."

Goodbyes were said, yada yada yada.

Well after all of that, Jason had the reigns returned for his journey. What do he want to do?



If he decides to leave.

@Joshua Tamashii@Remram
Well first of all, Steph was just bored now with all the wild mons avoiding her. Couldn't really blame the poor lads, but it certainly put a dampener on her mood.

Steph's reaction to the scenario was just a simple sigh and shake of her head. She was a real pushover ain't she? Not spineless, just a pushover, the too nice for ya own good type of pushover. Well, if she wouldn't punish the little shite head then Steph was going to have to-wait where did the little bastard go?! Seems like he scurried off and up further into the tree, so Steph just sighed again and followed after the others.

As they went deeper in, the presence of the Spinaraks and their effect on Feya gave Steph a good little thing to chuckle at. She knew she wasn't the biggest fan of bug types, no offense Glory, but this was just humorous to her. And while the temptation to maybe catch one was there, none of the bugs available really caught her interest at this moment.

"Sao haow much fuhthah in eh? Dunnao if Faya's heart cahn tyke much moah of these craypy crawloys heh." Taking the chance to give her newfound friend a gentle little ribbing, even making a wriggling finger gesture like moving spider legs at the taller girl. "If yah daon't loike em thaht much Feya, should use yoah Growlithe t' kayp em awhy. Wehkin a chahm roigh' ovah heah, ine't thaht roigh' Dusk?"

None of the bugs had really bothered her since they saw her decimating the local wildlife earlier. Though seeing a Beedril did give the girl a few more dangerous thoughts, she still didn't care much for them so left them bee. Though as she spoke, she would give her partner a little chin scratch and he would make Torchwick noises in return.

Otherwise she was ready to combat whatever might stop em from heading further in, if anything did. She had enough methods to deal with bugs after all.

Amelia was glad when the Aipom gave up on bothering her without much effort after she made it a point to just let it get away with it's prank. She was happier still that Steph didn't try to pick a fight with it. Sure, Amelia probably looked like a total pushover but she was fine with that. The Aipom had simply been trying to get her upset and there was no need to amuse it. So with that done and out of the way, he lead the way deeper into the woods.

The woods only got darker as they got further in and soon a slight fog was surrounding them. Amelia smiled and almost relaxed as she felt the familiar sensation of the visible condensation as it played across her skin. Mist and fog did not bother her and she welcomed them both, as they made things feel cooler and to her they just felt nice. What did not feel nice where the webs left by the bug types in the area, causing Amelia to slow down as she carefully navigated around them while her partners helped warn her of any dangers on the ground. The presence of the Bug-Types did not bother her, save the Beedrill, which put even her one edge. Afterall, the large Bug/Poison types were territorial and therefore unpredictable since their party didn't know what they might consider to be their territory. Plus, with her heart, she was sure she would fall victim to them fairly easily.

Her attention so focused on her surroundings, Freya suddenly letting out a scream that would probably reach Arceus' place in the heaven. The young girl turned to face her companion, thankful to see she had just been freaked out by a Spinarak. When Freya asked her question concerning the Ghosts, Amelia took a second to answer, noticeably taking a second to check her pulse and take a deep breath to calm down and steady her heart, all the while listening for any possibly aggravated Beedrill. Once her heart stopped beating in her ears and she didn't hear any buzzing, she took a second to focus on the ghostly presences she felt. Once she knew where they were, she turned in their direction, pointing ahead.
"They're a bit further that way. Watch your step and lets try to avoid making any more loud noises. I don't think the Beedrill will be happy if we disturb them and I don't think I'll last if I have to run away from them. Not to mention we'd probably get caught in all the webs if we did try running." She said. "I know it's hard Miss Freya but we should take our time. Rushing seems like it'll just result in more trouble for us, in more way then one. And Miss Steph, please don't pick a fight here. One wrong move and we'd have a swarm upon us I think."

With her part being said, Amelia would continue to move on, watching her surroundings and especially the Beedrill. If she got any sort of indication they would be stepping into their territory, she would begin trying to find a work around before continuing on.

As he started heading back out of the deep woods, Jason found himself unsure of the exact path forwards he wanted to take. On the one hand, he knew he needed to get stronger, raise his team and get them ready for whatever shenanigans he was going to find himself involved in moving forwards. He also needed to get back to Jacquelyn, update her on what he had actually found. What do I even tell her? Turned nothing up? Nah, I've been gone too long for that...Could give her a false story, just some ruins that indicated a shrine elsewhere...actually, that might work. At the very least it would give her a boost of serotonin for a bit, maybe convince her to actually rest. Jason could still see the coffee Zombie she'd been when he last saw her clearly in his head and shoot it. Seemed it was back to the Scholar district for him then. Then he'd go find that Blue Lichen Cave, mainly cause he was a fan of spelunking and he hadn't gotten to put his gear to use this whole time. And so he followed a Pumpkaboo back out, listening for anything out of the ordinary around him.

---

Tristan could only stand and wait with abated breath; hands up covering his face to protect against the wind and leaves being kicked all about.* Holy Arceus! Angel?! My hair!* The teen mentally screamed with panicked anticipation.

Then the clash ended and with it, the swirling leaves died down leaving Tristan stunned in place. He had not expected such a move to occur, and it wasn't until he heard the beep of his pokedex signaling an alert.

Angel is now level 11!
The combination of Rapid Spin and Leafage created a new move. Would you like to name it?

As the voice spoke, Tristan felt his mind return; shocked at not only having such insane results. Incredulously, somehow seemed to have led him to create a combination move? This, combined with the sight of Angel standing victorious; made all the better upon seeing Loise's annoyance at having his suit dirty his suit. The teen might have smirked about it, if his attention wasn't on the field, though he did feel for the suit, dreading the mud seeping into the fabric.

With this, Tristan found himself in an unexpectedly advantageous situation, his opponent was already down to their last and he still had his full team. And yet, still, Tristan couldn't bring himself to cheer or brag in his usual manner.

He should be celebrating and cheering Angel on, but Ramos's lax attitude, even now had him standing anxiously as nervous beads of sweat dripped down his face, then the older gentleman spoke.

"Oh ho? How interesting. Maybe my instincts were right about you, sprout. Don't celebrate just yet. The real fight starts now."

Ramos last words left Tristan tensing up; hands balling up, almost as if he could feel that this final Pokemon would be different. As such, he could not bring himself to respond, his throat too dry.

And much like the fear the silver-haired teen felt was soon proven warranted as Ramos's Grovyle revealed itself, but immediately something was different. Tristan's concerns weren't over as he soon got the prompt on Raid Boss, who was now amped-up on some grass seed buff?!

" ....The hell old man!?" Spluttered the exasperated teen, who had since lost track of new techs and capabilities of pokemon. And now he had that monstrous, yet intricately cool grass mon; one he would admire were it not about to shred his team to pieces.

At least that was how it appeared to Tristan. Gulping, Tristan tried to think on how to proceed. Sticking with Angel was a bad idea as she was probably winded from going so hard on the spinning and the match-up. But it would mean giving up Angel's buffs and grass type defense buff.

He appreciated Ramos giving him time to plan out his next move, as the Grovyle was definitely overwhelming for the inexperienced newbie trainer. Regardeless, Angel needed a break; after some more contemplating, while scanning the field.

One thing was clear, a direct confrontation was not going to work, especially against such a buffed grovyle. And its speed would likely be terrifying too.

With these thoughts in mind, Trista decided on a multi-step plan." Hmph, about time someone recognized my skills." A moment's pause to enjoy the compliment." And neat trick with this raid boss surprise, but unfortunately, this time you're up against a Glory, and when this is over you will all revel in mine!"

The teen responded in challenge before holding out Angel's Pokeball." Wonderful job, Angel. Get yourself a breather." After recalling Angel, he swapped and called out the glittering Magenta bird, King!

A red beam followed by frantic chirping upon being hit by Grovyle's intense presence." I know things look scary, king. But don't worry I got a plan." King gave a fierce cry, showing his confidence against the overwhelming odd before the small bird.

Determined, the two were ready to go." Quick, King! Use Haze to obscure the field and use it as cover to hide, use the covering to try and hit Grovyle with feather dance! Most of all avoid getting too close for now!" Giving his orders, straining to maintain a brave face, the sweat and nervousness in his eyes betrayed such attempts.

Okay, Rosa had a point. She hadn't actually stopped to think about the fact Tristan was kinda cute, but then there was the fact that she heard him rant about being the greatest trainer ever before she ever really got a look at his face. So maybe her opinion was skewed. Something else that she wasn't exactly cluing Rosa in on was that Tristan had been willing to go along with her reckless plan to go into the forest earlier. Before she lost her own nerve. So a willingness to go along with her hairbrained plans was a bonus. What fun was it to get into trouble alone when you could have someone watching your back?

"Well, you're welcome to join us to see if you get an idea. Like I said, Tristan's not as bad as he first seems."

Which reminded her of the stone in her pocket and the Eevee at her side. Just in time for their ride to get there. His help getting all the pokemon healed up at least crossed one more thing off her to-do list. And giving over the bit of metal she had on her - some can goods and her camping saw) to the Tinkatink that helped her checked off another thing. Partially.

While Faye may have missed opportunities to snap some pictures of the Tinkatinks working on their weapons before she interrupted them, she seized the chance to capture a plenty of pictures of the pokemon working with the burly rancher to get the engine relocated. Mr. Anderson was even nice enough to give them a ride directly to Critical Capture, which Faye was especially grateful for given she knew she'd be hiking most of her entire journey just to avoid missing as much as she could avoid missing. With several parting thanks, she entered the store.

Maybe she shouldn't have been surprised by how excited the shopkeep was, but at least she didn't look it given even in his excitement he still voiced what he had before - that it might not have been something she could fix. "Yeah, well, it was easy once it got down to it. Glad it was something relatively easy to settle. Though I'm still not entirely sure why the Tinkatinks thought an engine would be better for their clubs than any of the tools the farmer had laying about." She shrugged lightly, and a smile brightened her look.

She blinked when Rosa piped up, and looked a bit sheepish. "Oh, yeah. That'd be awful kind of you to spare some for her too. If it wasn't for Rosa here, that truck might not be getting repaired and on its way here. By the way, do yo have any scrap metal you could sell me? Thanks!

With that paid for, and Rosa's deal done, the trainer stepped outside. There were two conversations with Pokemon that she needed to have, but the most pressing one first...the tinkatink she had put in a pokeball to just help take it for healing before she realized Rosa's dad was going to help them out with it. The purple haired trainer released the Tinkatink she hadn't rightfully caught from its pokeball and crouched down. She held out the scrap metal to it. "I promised you lot you could have some metal if you gave up that engine. While we took it from you, I still want you to have something to make better clubs with. The other one got the metal I offered before, and this is for you. You're welcome to come with me, but I'm not going to make you. If you do come with me, I promise I'll keep you safe and help make sure you always have the best club you can. Just like I'm going to do for Titania. So...will you come with me? Or do you want to go join your other friend - just promise not to steal any more engines, okay?"

@Lunarlord34@Joshua Tamashii

She had no idea what was worse; an eleven-year-old was trying to comfort her or the fact that the woods was filled with angry bugs that would jump them just for looking at them funny. "This is my hell," was all Freya said before they trudged through hellscape that was this bug infested misty woods. Sticks, leaves, and other debris crunched under their feet and besides the presence of countless other bug types that were lurking around every corner, they noticed nothing out of the ordinary. Yup, not another soul could be sensed. Well, in the metaphorical sense.

In reality, Amelia would feel that they were getting closer that she could indeed feel another soul and there were a lot of them. Beyond that, the bug-type Pokemon that made their home in the forest were watching the group of travelers with wary eyes. It was clear that they were not going to attack the travelers unless they were given reason to though that could easily change depending on whose territory they stumbled through. Perhaps they got that feeling when they say the deep slash marks in the trunks of the trees courtesy by something that was big and sharp, but they were smart to skirt around whatever's territory that was.

As they walked, they began to slowly descend downwards from the craggy path deeper into the woods, into the mist. The sound of running water drew nearer and the path became much more developed and cleared of debris. Eventually, they found themselves standing at a clearing.

---

@Zarkun

Once again, Jason sets off through the woods though luckily one of the Pumpkaboo that were floating around the cabin decided to help lead Jason through the winding path. While Jason kept a vigilant eye and an open ear to his surroundings, the only thing that he noticed were just the occasional creepy crawlies that skittled scuttled about the trees and the sound of his own footsteps. However, there was a brief moment when he thought that he heard something through the trees though chalked it up to just the wind. Yup, totally just the wind. That's what the dice said at least.

Eventually the fog would begin to dissipate, and light would begin to peek back through whatever clearing there was in this forest until he was back into the main area proper of Starbord Woods and then would trek through the forest to the village. Needless to say, he would eventually return to the village and would eventually take a gondola lift to the Scholar District. The gondola would shift occasionally with the breeze, but it would eventually come to a gentle halt.

---

@samreaper

Ramos with a kind elderly smile said, "I can only hope so." He stood there, waiting to see what Tristan would do to fight such a Pokemon. Even though he looked carefree, there was still a sharpness in his eyes. He was not waiting for Tristan to make the next move; he was assessing him not just to predict the greenhorn trainer's next move, but his potential as a trainer. Not that Tristan noticed it since he was wracking his brain to think up of some sort of strategy to defeat the green leafy demon in front of him.

Then the rich boy decided that he needed to switch and then sent out a very different kind of sparkling creature. "Oho? Another shiny? You're just full of surprises." He said with an amused mirth, but he soon became serious as Tristan gave his orders.

"Detect." The Grovyles eyes shimmered with a faint blue light as the haze rolled in from the Murkrow's mouth. Tristan would have no idea what it would do though perhaps he would be able to figure it out. "Now use Energy Ball and follow up with Leaf Blade." From the haze they could see green light grow from within and then a sphere of crackling energy blasted through the cloud and vaporized the feathers that were launched towards it. Then with great speed the green blur sped through the air with green energy scythes protruding from its wrist to swing down on the magenta bird.

What does Tristan do?

---

@Sanguine Rose

The little pink gremlin looked at Faye thoughtfully and of course at the piece of metal. There really wasn't much for it to think about. "Tink!" It tapped the Pokeball that Faye had caught it in and returned to it.



"Two Tinkatinks huh? Gonna train them to bash Tristan's shins in?" Rosa joked with a malicious grin that may suggest that she was more than hopeful that Faye would. "What're you gonna do now? It seems like you're open again, unless you're going to dive headfirst into old, dilapidated farmhouses again."

Yeah, there really wasn't much to say about this. What was she going to do?

Stella Lumite

Stella woke in a sweat. She’d let Kaebe cuddle up overnight, and he sprang up after she jolted underneath him. It took her a moment to collect herself, placing herself in the pokemon center in Florasong, “o-oh,” and identifying the big ass lizard staring at her as her ancient dinosaur pokemon, “Kaebe. Sorry, sweetheart. I, uh..” she didn’t know how to even begin explaining besides, “weird dream. Let’s, eh… breakfast, yeah.”
What was that dream? A ticking clock. Time? Louder and louder.. what, was she supposed to interpret that as ‘stop dawdling’? Dawdling? Dawdling on what?! Hmnn. She got herself something to eat from the Center’s continental breakfast, and some kibble for her ‘mon.
“What do… Gastly… eat…?” She stared at Spoop’s pokeball as the others ate and she had her own breakfast. An engli- I mean, uh, kanto muffin and some jam, hash browns, a bit of scrambled eggs. Juice. She opened up her pokedex to Gastly. “Mostly gas.. _poison gas.. remainder believed to be souls? So, what, you eat souls? Ooh, no, what have I done? I’ll have to ask the nurse what to do to feed you. Do I have to take you hunting..?” She would ask the nurse on the way out.
That old man had been insistent she be paid, but he never did pay her. After she left the Center, she would approach the mansion once more, going up to the door and giving it a knock, just as she had before. She didn’t really expect it to open again. At least, not by the old man. Maybe renovators had come by now? Did the garden look any different..?
Barring an answer at the door, “hey, Spoops,” she let the ghost-type out, “are you able to sense the living, or souls? Do you… sense anything?”

---

"Oho? Another shiny? You're just full of surprises."

A compliment Tristan would have reveled in, but pressure of the grovyle left the teen too tense and focused to really pay attention to Ramos words.

Said tension only worsened as the old man made his move though what he did merely left Tristan confused, with the haze and this detect having no real physical sign of it. And just like that Grovyle destroyed their plans.

Tristan felt his anxiety rise with a hint of panic starting to bubble. A moment to catch his breath was needed, but this was a battle and, unfortunately, his opponent proved to be quite the fast one as neither King nor Tristan expected the Grovyle to appear so suddenly in front of it, as if bursting out of thin air, at least to the inexperienced rookie.

Oppressive and fast." Oh arceus!" Tristan cried out in shock, panic etching his meticulously maintained beautiful face. It was too fast, the teen cursed internally; given no real chance to think up a plan, having to scramble with the first thing to come to mind.

" Tsk! Q-quick! King, use feather dance but aim them at Grovyle's face then try to use quick attack to get away!" Bellowed Tristan, sweat glistening on his forehead, worsening by the second. He could only hope that King can react in time to blind or throw it off in time in the hopes of an opportunity to get away.

The trip from the depths of the forest all the way back up to the sunlight, or what at least made it around the massive trunks of the trees that were here, saw the aspiring champion mulling over things, the details of which kept popping into his head as he reached the village. He had travelled, so far at least, by himself, from the Professor's lab all the way to Starbor, had fought off a poacher, had outbattled a Hawlucha, avoided getting decapitated by a Scyther and now had won a battle with a flaming specter from the forest's past, met Celebi, and-Stop, stop, you're gonna send yourself into a fucking spiral. Just...shoot a message to a couple of other aspirants, see if they'd be up for meeting up and traveling together. Maybe I'll be less likely to keep dodging death by the skin of my teeth that way... As he reached the lift to the Scholar District, he pulled out his Pokedex, picked two names he didn't recognize from the people he'd interacted with and sent the following message to them, hoping they were fellow aspirants.

Hey, names Jason. I, uh, hope you're also aspiring to become a champ in the region, and if you aren't, just ignore this text. I'm just lookin' for a travel companion and potential friendly rival, someone I can sit and BS with around a campfire and have friendly battles with when the urge takes us. If you're interested, I'm in Starbor right now, but can meet ya somewhere else if that works better for ya. @Lunarlord34@Sanguine Rose

He sent the text and then leaned against the railing in the cart, praying one of the two answered and were up for the idea. When the lift stopped, Jason stepped off and headed to the library, where the coffee addicted scientist seemed to be more human today and helping out by working the front desk. However, when she saw him, she rushed him with excitement, saying she was glad he was save and then asking how he was and what he learned. This was where he had struggled to decide. The Professor had warned against talking about it and Helga likely didn't want a bunch of people snooping around, so he improvised, though some of it he'd decided on earlier; a white lie in many ways, but mingled with some truth. "I'm doing alright, Jacquelin, just tired. Spent a lot of time out there, but, well, I didn't find anything concrete. There were some areas that looked like they could be ruins, but with all the wild Pokemon there were, I wasn't able to get close enough to confirm much. Sorry."

@Joshua Tamashii@Remram

When told not to pick a fight, Steph went from all smiles and rainbows to a deep frown. She didn't pick fights, she ended them thank you very much! Ok, so maybe she went and got herself in some, she couldn't deny this. But they started it! Ahem, regardless, she was quick to shrug it off. She had no reason to pick a fight with the bugs anyway, so long as they stayed away from them, she had no qualms right now with letting em be. She was confident though that even if they were swarmed, she had enough partners good against bugs to deal with it. Dusk not least of all.

Mind you, when they came across the slash marks and she lingered by them, one hand tracing over the deep cuts there might've been a fear of her going to investigate what caused them. And if she had been by herself? Or at the very least, only had Freya with her? Yeah, she would've. She had her suspicions as to what might've caused this, and if true she would adore the chance to deal with one. But not even a bug like that interested her much, so eventually she broke away and continued after the other two.

Well, at least until her pokedex buzzed. Seeming puzzled, she pulled the device out and flipped it open. Thankfully, she already knew how to operate the device so it spared her the embarrassment that might've otherwise followed if she didn't know how to. She wasn't the best with tech, and barely knew how to operate a mobile phone as she never really had to use one before. Pulling the message up, she somehow managed to not trip over as she read the mail from Jason while she walked.

Not to say she didn't nearly trip over every tree root nearby, but Dusk managed to sway one way or the other to keep her balance or turn her in a direction that wasn't the middle of a tree trunk. If the others asked her what she was reading, she would simply respond with;

"Some guy cohled Jason just messaged me, wahnts t' mybee taym up aw somethin, buh' Oy'm troyin t' remembah who...hmmm....'faellaow aspirant'? Ah! Oy gawt ih'!" Clicking her fingers after mulling it over for a good ten seconds, a face came to mind. She hadn't seen him for long, nor even really got a chance to talk to him. But that was probably him, right? He was the only other guy there bar that Tristan, and not even considering the fact their names were entirely different, she figured there was very little chance he would ever message her. Not that she ever wanted him to, bloke could choke on an ekans for all she cared right now.

Sure! I'm with a couple of others already, but the more the merrier right? We're in Starbor Woods at the moment checking something out, but when we're done we were going to head to Starbor anyway so can meet you there. Always down for a good brawl, so if nothing else wouldn't mind testing our mettle if we get the chance!

@Zarkun

With a speed that required to be seen to believed, such was how slowly she typed this message, it took her the rest of their journey to the cabin to type up and send the message back to Jason, promptly putting her pokedex back in her pocket just in time to not walk into the railing of the steps up to the porch.

Eh? When had they stepped into a horror movie? This was just ripped out of one right? Steph took a moment to register her surroundings and blinked, having not paid it much heed till now because she was entirely focused on her message. Taking a step back, she did so to take several steps forward as she almost immediately stomped up the steps while Freya talked.

"Well, no bettah why t' foind eow' than t' ask roigh'? Lets go see if anyone's home eh?" Without an ounce of hesitation in her, she approached the door with an almost menacing aura before...politely, even if a bit loudly, knocking on the door. Like, maybe there was a momentarily fear she would kick the door of its hinges, and while sure the idea was tempting, it was a bit rude if someone lived here right? If no one answered, sure kicking the door down would be more appealing by the second, but for now she would knock a few times before patiently waiting for an answer, or for someone to answer.

"It'll be okay. They might not like us being here, but as long as we keep our distance, they should disturb us. They might approach out of curiosity but unless they're Beedrill, I doubt they mean to be hostile." Amelia said to Freya. Her personal experiences with Pokemon so far hda all been positive, even if thy had started out hostile like Mimikyu had. But, that didn't stop her from trying to keep seeing things in a more positive light and with that, she continued to lead the way, taking her time as they continued deeper into the forest. The young girl seemed very comfortable in this kind of setting, as if the ambient creepiness of the woods was something she enjoyed.

Eventually, they would reach a dark clearing with a single cabin in the center of it. Amelia looked around the clearing before spotting what she had been sensing: A swarm of Pumpkaboo, in particular the very large variety. As she was considering how to approach the floating pumpkin spirits, Steph walked right up the cabin and knocked on the door. Amelia was happy that her companion stuck to knocking on the door, as if someone did live inside it would be easier to be friendly with them.
"Why don't you join her Miss Freya? Being inside will get you away from all the Bug-types and I'm sure it'll be safer in there than out here. I'm going to talk to the Pumpkaboo." She said to their other companion before making her way over to the closest of the Grass/Ghost mon. Once she was sure it had noticed her, she would give it a wave and a smile. Her pokemon stayed near their trainer, ready to defend her if things turned hostile. "Hello there. Would I be able to have a word with you or your companions?"

@CitrusArms

Strange nightmares aside, Stella had a relatively normal morning. She could hear a faint ticking in the back of her mind, but eventually it went away.

The Nurse Joy smiled when approached by Stella and when asked what Gastly ate she said, "What do Gastly eat? If they're like any other Pokemon, they're probably picky with what they like, but they eat normal food." She squinted at her and followed with, "Just don't hunt people down for their souls. I don't know where people even got the idea that they eat souls from." Clearly, she was not the first person to have the same thought.

Anyway, back to the house!

The house looked exactly the same as she left it yesterday. It was still falling apart and entering it was a hazard to her own health, but it looked the same. Time rotted away at it every second, not just the mansion per se, but the memory of what it once was to the people in this town. It was just another building that needed to be renovated though the history and the memory of the people was long gone, except it was partially untrue. The only true remnant was the maintained garden that stood in stark contrast with the rest of the estate. That and the potential ghost tethered to the building.

"Gastly gaaas!" Well, yes, it could. From what it could, there was something inside of the building. What it was, was the question. The dead are dead, and the living were living. The distinction was clear. However, there was a difficult, borderline undetectable distinction between the souls of humans and of Pokemon. There was something off though; Spoops could not tell if whatever inside was dead or alive. It was as if it was teetering on the border of the two.

The door slowly creaks open, but there was no one there to greet her this time. There were no builders either. It was eerily quiet, they could almost a pin drop.

If she went inside, then she was free to investigate as there was no one there to actually stop her at the moment.

Does Stella go inside?

---

@samreaper

Blades of nature's energy were ready to come down and cleave the magenta bird, but there was a catch about being in midair; one would struggle to be able to maneuver through the air if they needed to and that was the exact problem that the Grovyle was facing. In that instance, it ate a face full of glittery feathers. It cried out in annoyance as it swung randomly, but instead of drastically lowering its attack in its case it lowered its accuracy, so it was only hitting air.

The Grovyle's momentum carried it forward through the air and with no way to see where it could land with its currently obscured vision, it took a tumble along the ground. Back on solid ground, it ripped the feathers right off its face to show it gritting its teeth and glaring something awfully fierce at King.

Ramos, not leaving a moment of Tristan to breath, yelled out "Grovyle, keep a cool head and keep use Energy Ball!" Balls of swirling green natural energy and one after another they were being thrown up towards King.

What does Tristan do?

---

@Zarkun

The good professor demeanor went from an excited puppy to that of disappointment in a blink of an eye. Her shoulders slouched upon the news, and one could almost imagine she deflated on the spot. One could only imagine the amount of work that she poured into her research only to go up in smoke. "Oh, that's a shame. And here I thought I was finally making a breakthrough after all this time." She said with a heavy sigh, not suspecting that Jason was withholding information from her even if it was possibly for her own good. Hopefully Jason was happy with himself, the monster.

"Well, I shouldn't let you leave empty handed. Here's your reward." She rummaged around her pockets and pulled out a small golden sphere for Jason to take.



Yup, Jason was holding a sphere of gold in his hand. Before he could leave, Professor Jacques asked, "By the way, I heard that you may have gone to see Helga. If you did see her, could you tell me how she is doing?" From what he could tell, she was asking with concern, but thankfully with some emotional intelligence helped by a die roll, he could tell that it was not concern for him. She was concerned for Helga.

What does Jason do?

---

@Lunarlord34

"Isn't this the part in the movie when one of us becomes the first victim?" Freya said with apprehension while she walked side by side with Steph towards the cabin. It was actually quite odd; the closer they got to the cabin, the bigger it got. Now, that's normal, but the thing was it was abnormally large for the average human being. Walking up the steps, they stand before a door that was well over 12 feet tall with a door handle made of iron that looked like it was made for the hand of a giant and it sure looked like it was beaten and twisted into shape by one.

They could hear something inside, some clanking and clinking of something. When they knocked on the door, it came to a stop and was followed by a pair of heavy boots stomping and another pair of skuttling bones making their way across a wooden floor. Eventually, there was a clunk and shift of some lock from inside followed by the weight of the door shifted and was pulled back to reveal the inhabitants of the cabin. What they saw was an elderly woman, except this elderly woman was eight feet tall and built with muscle on muscle beneath her wrinkly olive skin exposed by her white tank top. Her hair, pulled back into a loose ponytail, was long and straight with a color akin to gold that had lost its luster and share stared down at the two girls with equal parts curiosity and annoyance in her brown eyes.

However, there was something off about her. She wore an apron, and it was covered in a suspiciously red splotches of color. That and she held a serrated knife covered in the same liquid. "Huh, more of you?" She said with a calm, gravelly voice.

Standing next to hear was a skeleton dog with a tombstone on its heads, panting with its tongue lolling out. Despite its eyes being covered by silver purple strands of hair it was easy to tell that there was not a thought behind them. Still, it was 6'07" so it was rather hard to ignore it's presence.



"Borf!" It barked out at the two girls with its constant skeleton grin.

Freya, who typically was not one to crane her neck up when speaking to others, looked like her soul was escaping from her mouth.

@Joshua Tamashii

Meanwhile, Amelia approached one of the Pumpkaboos and it looked at her with great curiosity. "Pumpka?" It said before it circled around her. Other Pumpkaboo noticed this and drew closer to her, also curious due to the strange tinge of death that emanated from the girl. It was a little uncomfortable with how close they were getting, but they meant no harm.

She had their attention at least. Now what?

Stella Lumite

“Something's inside? You don't seem..” Stella studied her Gastly’s reaction. Something was bothering him as he studied the building. “Is something strange?” He nodded (or bobbed), and she turned toward the open door. “Alright, well. It's probably that old man I talked to before, right?”

Spoops gave a half-hearted, “gaaas.”

“Keep an eye out for me, then.”

It's a good thing she asked Nurse Joy about the Gastly diet. It was a relief to know she didn't have to figure out how to feed him some kind of soul substitute. She also wouldn't have to worry about him trying to eat the old man's ghost. Probably. Just because he could eat normal food doesn't mean he couldn't eat a ghost, too.

Oh, right. “I didn't feed you breakfast earlier, right. Sorry, I wasn't sure what you'd eat, so I asked nurse Joy. Here, I'll feed you as we go.” She reached back into a side pocket on her backpack and pulled out a small satchel of food. She plucked out a morsel and held it up for Gastly to come and eat.

“Hello? You're Mr. Osman, right? I delivered the flowers for you, to her grave.” It was a little awkward, calling out to a seemingly empty space, but Gastly seemed to think something was in here.

Her reaction to the information, though it was certainly for her benefit and safety he had lied, made him feel bad about the information and as he accepted the nugget, which was really more than he thought he'd get for what he had initially thought to be ruins and not a pocket of time that one of the Gods of Time could use to enter the region. So, while there was a quiet moment, he decided to try and lift her spirits. As he spoke, he felt his Pokedex go off and he smiled at the response he got from Steph, sending a thumbs up emoji as he spoke to the Professor. "If it helps, I did find some indicator that there's a couple of other locations I can check into. I'll get back to you about those." And then she moved on, asking how Helga was, which caused the aspiring champion to chuckle.

"That Amazonian hard ass is doing just fine. She's not hugely keen on sharing much about herself, though she drilled me with a lot of questions. Over all though, she's good."

Faye wasn't certain what she was expecting, but when the pokemon tapped the pokeball to return into it she realized how excited she was that it agreed to be with her. She was smiling when she stood and hooked the pokeball back onto her holder with the others. It was a small team, but it was building. Now she just needed to get them a bit stronger. Hearing Rosa's quip made her chuckle. "Honestly, your sister kicking him might be enough to flatten him, much less Puck or Titania hitting him."

Of course the real question came up quite quickly. What was she going to do now. There was the chat she needed to have with Sage, but she also needed to meet up with Tristan at some point, probably. At least if she wanted backup for ever going into the forest. Which also meant she needed to do more research. This place was more likely to have information based on the history here. If anywhere had information on such a mysterious forest, it was going to be where Aria's estate was, with the park that likely hosted numerous rare flowers. Which, come to mind the park was worth seeing too. That wasn't even to think of the various shops to explore that Tristan surely browsed already. And...

"Dilapidated farmhouses...no. A rundown house with creepy vibes, maybe. Want to go ghost 'mon hunting?" She laughed, but mostly because she doubted that was truly an option. One house on the verge of collapse was enough for her for at least the day. It'd be interesting to see how the tinks did against ghost type, but Sage wasn't capable of fighting them. Not unless he evolved. Plus, there was the matter of eventually needing to meet up with Tristan still.

Then her pokedex buzzed. She pulled it out and glanced at the message. "Huh..." She read the message again then laughed. "Maybe we could ditch Tristan for an upgrade in traveling companion after all..." Let's be real, Tristan was barely interested in traveling with her in the first place. She essentially bullied him into it ultimately because she wanted to not travel by herself. Her father said the trainers that did the best were ones that learned about and trained pokemon with others. The pictures he shared of her mother when she was still an aspiring trainer were always group pictures of her mother's group of friends and their favored pokemon.

She pocketed her pokedex for a moment and scrolled back through the pictures she'd taken while they were in Kapoc's lab to see if she had any pictures of this Jason guy. Process of elimination was easy, and she showed the image of the guy to Rosa. "This guy just texted me to ask if I wanted to travel with him. But...He's over in Starbor. Crossing Lake Charity is the most direct route there at this point." There was the side fact that her Rowlett and Eevee had made friends with Tristan's Murkrow and Roilu. It would be a shame to just ditch their trainer without the pokemon getting to say goodbye. "I think the responsible thing would be to stick with Tristan though...at least for a bit longer." she sighed.

Maybe there was a different option. Faye pulled out her pokedex and opened the map app on it. After a quick scan, she switched over to her messenger and start typing but soon enough she sent a response.

Hey, Faye here. I'd totally take you up on that except I'm traveling with Tristan right now, and we're in Florasong. Maybe we can all plan to meet up in Vastille City in about three days? Florasong has a gym we're hoping to tackle before we head out. There's other intersections between your route and mine that we can plan for later if that timeline doesn't work. Let me know.@zarkun

She tucked her pokedex away again, and looked back at Rosa. "Honestly, right now, why don't we head over to Aria's Park? I haven't actually done any sightseeing here, and it'd be a great stop to check out before we head off to find Tristan, don't you think?" And if Rosa agreed, she'd head off to the park.

@CitrusArms

Stella called out, but there was no response. Her voice echoed through the rotting manor; her steps loudly rung out against the wooden flooring. It definitely would have felt weird to just call out to an empty space, but considering who she was actually speaking to then maybe it wasn't? Or maybe it was even weirder since, well, she was talking to what she assumed to be a ghost, or whatever was haunting this house.

Now, this was the first time that Stella had a chance to actually look around the house. Before, she followed Mr. Osman through and had no chance to explore, but now that there was no one particularly there to stop her from snooping around if she so chose to, or not. It would've been fair if she had the Heeby jeebies being all by herself in a haunted house and not being able to electrocute a ghost to unconsciousness like she had done so to that graverobber the night before. That and Spoops would've felt agitated; he felt like that there was something watching them, but to reiterate again, they were alone in that space.

She was free to leave, but if she did then there was a chance of not getting the reward that she was promised. Then again, she found Spoops so maybe the real award was the friends that she made along the way? That and the charred electrocuted body of a criminal. If she does stay however, what exactly investigate first? There were many things such as old furniture that smelled mustier than an old folks' home, photographs, paintings, pottery, and so on along with the actual peeling paint on the walls and the floorboards that squeaked beneath her feet. That and the other rooms of the house.

Well, what would she do?

---

@Zarkun

There was a sign of relief when Jason told her about Helga. "I see. I'm glad that she's doing okay. It's just been years since..." She cut herself off, realizing exactly what she was about to say and knew that she had to stop. "Right, you're not from around here. You wouldn't know what happened. It really isn't my place to say." Jacquelyn was definitely a bit shifty on the subject on Helga, but perhaps she could be swayed if Jason asked.

However, there was soon a spark of hope in her eyes when Jason told her that there may have been more locations. "If you do find them, then report back to me. I'll reward you in whatever way I can." If she had any sense of distrust in her body, she would have found him suspicious considering he said that he had not found him much in the shrine before, but now found something that led him to two different locations. However, she had the trust of puppy and rather than press him on this information, she gladly just accepted it completely on face value. Again, for shame Jason, for shame. The narrator was totally not just giving him shit.

What does he do?

---

@Sanguine Rose

Rosa gave an amused chuckle and said, "Well, he's a bit of a twig. He looks like he doesn't eat enough. I swear, I thought my mother was going to have to shove his dinner down his mouth." Memories of last night dinner of her mother less asking him to eat more and more she kept piling his plate with more and more food without taking a single no for an answer. It must've been a traumatic experience for him. Anyway!

"Yeah, I'm kinda done with rotting buildings," Rosa said with a shrug. She watched Faye pull out her buzzing Pokedex, wondering if speaking of the devil actually summoned him, but apparently not. "Huh, you know, I forgot that all of our numbers were shared among us." Under any circumstance, it would have been creepy to suddenly get a text from somebody that they didn't know to meet up. Then again, if anyone was creepy, they'd have to answer to either Professor Kapoc or Adrianne.

Anyway, she arched her brow at the strange wording Faye had when regarding to traveling with Tristan. "Responsible? It's not like you have to travel with him. Did you make a blood pact with him or something?" Rosa asked, not knowing what exactly Faye actually had planned out with the rich boy. "Sure, let's go, but you better explain to me what you meant by that."

For the actual first time, Faye finally decided to actually look around town. They would walk along the cobblestone streets and pass by the many cafes and street musicians who were bouncing ideas from one another as they played. Flowers were everywhere at every turn, planted in any pot, any plot of earth, and so on. It was quaint little town with an array of color at every turn. Eventually, the sound of music would begin to die down as they approached an area surrounded by a black wrought iron fence with an arch that acted as entrance. Walking through...