@Joshua Tamashii

The Digletts gave happy little cries, and the Geodudes mumbled something (probably their name) while being a bit too proud-to-be-rough Pokémon to show outward happiness but nonetheless gave a little wave and good-bye sounds as she threw out the Escape Rope. It stuck to something unseen, and before she knew it Amelia was pulled along with it and found herself arriving outside the cave, a Teleport move or something attached to the rope allowing her to be transported outside. She was now at the top of a little hill with a view over Lakewatch Town below as she sent the message. It was indeed not a Geodude, Graveler or otherwise that she sat on.

@Remram

Meanwhile, Basil had his stunned reaction to the Gothita he’d “captured” and the following group of people of around six people that had come looking for some “her” around here. Quickly figuring he’d need to get out of here, he did just that after sending a message to Amelia.

He’d make his way out of town and up the hill, finding Amelia sitting on a rock outside the cave.

So, they’re currently not in Wet Caverns, and they’re not in Lakewatch Town. So, they’re somewhere in between.

Connected areas:
Wet Caverns. Water-filled caverns that you could go into.
Lakewatch Town. The town sitting on the waters of the lake.
Route 5. Grassy incline connecting mountains, forests and plains to the east of here.
Route 14. The lake itself to the north.

For the entirety of his escape from Lakewatch Basil kept looking back to see if anyone was following him. Luckily for him, it looked like no one had figured out that either he had the Gothita or had left the city yet. The thought that he at least had given some comfort while he trudged his way up the hill though his head start could only have given him so much time before they would look around the outskirts outside. Basil looked severe as he was lost in thought about his situation until he reached the top of the hill. His eyes fell upon Amelia from a distance, sitting on a rock while she waited for him.

I need to calm down. No need to stress her out. The young noble exhaled deeply and forced his body to release its tension before he approached her. "Hey there, Amelia. How are you holding up?" He asked with a warm smile. "Sorry if my message scared you. I think I invited trouble upon us." Basil lifted his arm up and pulled his hood down from his head though the arm he used to do that was the one that looked like a crime scene.

His eyes darted at the sleeve, and he tensed up. "Oh, uh, this isn't related. It's my blood. Wait, that doesn't sound better." Great, he looked like a serial killer. If he made it through this then he needed to get that jacket washed. Basil sighed and said, "One of my new partners did that. It's a long story, but that's not important. We can't go back into town. Things have gotten complicated." He glanced down at her leg. "Can you bear weight on your foot?"

Amelia waited patiently, humming to herself to help pass the time as she let out her friends so they could have some fresh air. As they floated around and entertained themselves. She did get Basil's message and while it did give her a tinge of fear but she managed to pusyh it aside by telling herself it probably wasn't that serious. After a few minutes, Basil finally showed up, moving over to her and asking howshe was doinng before saying that they might not be able to head back into town for the near future. Then she saw the sleeve covered in blood and her face lost whatever little color it had as she stared at the blood.

She silently listened to him as he explained the source of the blood. She still looked worried but gave a silent nod to show she understood before slowly getting to her feet, testing her foot before wincing in pain.
"I'll... I'll be able to manage it." She said. "Don't worry about me. I might be a bit slower than usual but I can push through it."

"Litwick!" Her partner said, looking up at her and shaking it's... head body?

"Shup. Shuppet." The little ghosty doll said, looking just as concerned.

"Floon." Drifloon said before suddenly wrapping it's arms around Amelia's shoulders, lifting the girl up into the air, causing her to gasp and be very thankful she didn't wear skirts.

"N-neverm-mind... I think I'll be fine." She said.

@Gardevoiran

The Sand Tomb missed, and Paradise dropped off Skylar and Owlfred before getting back into the conflict. She unleashed a storm of Razor Leaves, the sharp leaves surging through the mass of sentient sandcastles, doing damage to every single one of them! And… Two of them were critically hit! Those two Sandygasts fainted, the little sand-dunes flopping over!

That, apparently, was enough.

‘Sandyyyyyyyy-!’ the Sandygasts cried out as they turned sand-tail and fled, shuffling away from Paradise and Skylar’s team. With that, the man who was being forced to pile sand on a Sandygast suddenly stumbled over from nothing, before grabbing his cello-case, dusted himself off, and then stood up to look towards Skylar.

‘It would seem that I have been rescued. Thank you,’ said the man, gently bowing towards Skylar. ‘Now may I suggest we-’

‘PALOOOOOOOOOOOO-!’ the giant sandcastle behind him screamed out, turning towards them, apparently agitated by the fleeing little Sandygasts coming to take cover behind the evolved Pokémon, the very sand around the Pokémon starting to vibrate with power.

‘- escape in all due haste?’ the man ended his sentence.

What does Skylar do?

The only thing that ran through his mind when he saw Amelia supported by her Drifloon was its entry when he first encountered them on Route 3. This could only lead into so much misunderstanding, but right now he was not going to fight her on this. Basil glanced down at his Pokedex to look at the map to get any sense of where they could go, but to his dismay there really was only one place that was close enough to get Amelia the treatment she needed.

"Okay, we'll just off road it to Route 5. Man I'm gonna have a lot to explain to Anise." He muttered to himself. Sure, they could try their luck with Lakewatch, but if these people were smart then they would have been looking for a trainer matching his description and had a few of their members keeping watch at the entry points. That was if they haven't already figured out that he already left town.

Basil pocketed his Pokedex and turned his attention back to the little girl dangling by a haunted ballon. "We should leave. I don't know who they are, but if they have any sense then they're probably looking beyond the town. I say we have some time before one of them finds their way up here. They're after a Pokemon I caught and if they as strong as her then we're in real big trouble."

Unless Amelia had any protests, Basil was going to take them a bit off the beaten path because he wanted absolutely no smoke with a group of people that were hunting for a level seventy-four Gothita.

---

---

"Noted. Let's make like a banana and SPLIT!" Skylar started to rush up the way he came, team in tow behind him and Paradise swooping underneath the man to try carrying him up. Moving like a unit seemed to help with the idea of getting out of there anyway.

Presumably, with everyone running (and of course, if the GM allows), they'd arrive to a spot of safety and Skylar would turn to the man they had just helped... or at least, his general direction. "Phew! That was a little spooky, if you pardon the joke. Anyway, uh... howdy! I'm Skylar, and I hate to bother you but... oh! Seabreeze!" Skylar looked at the little white blur in his field of vision actively staring at the man with a guitar case, something Skylar didn't catch onto.

"Heh... buddy, it's not nice to stare. He's not gonna... oh wait!" Seabreeze finally turned to Skylar and flew back onto his head. Forge and Paradise, meanwhile, rolled their eyes at the boy's density. Regardless, Skylar fumbled around and pulled out the note he had from a little earlier. "Um, you wouldn't happen to know a 'Darcie' would you? I found this note from them, sounded urgent, and we were looking for someone with a guitar case and coat that would answer to Dad, anyway." Skylar paused for a second. "N-not that I'm assuming you're a musician or dad or off-duty cop or anything like that, haha!"

@Joshua Tamashii@Remram

So they made their way over towards Route 5. Keeping off the beaten path also let them avoid anyone who might get disturbed by Amelia being held aloft by a Pokémon literally known for kidnapping kids. Still, it didn’t take that much effort to get around Lakewatch Town and then onto Route 5.





Connected areas:
Lakewatch Town. Right behind you.
Stillwood Village. In the north lies the forest which hides the village, Mt. Strength lying behind it..
Route 6. Vast plains start in the south-east, this route leads towards Raremine Town.
Frozen Cavern. After an incline up to the ridge of Mt. Chill, a cavern of ice could guide the way to Route 9 and Cooldome City.
Endless Forest. To the south, a dark forest looms. There are no indications as to why you’d ever want to go there.



Still, even here they could stay off the road if they wished for it, just a bunch of Oddishes and Caterpies looking up at the girl flying with her balloon curiously while Deerlings stayed out of their way. With that, they could move on, because so far, so good, nothing that seemed to get in their way. Where to now?

In case they headed north to Stillwood Village…



__________________________

@Gardevoiran

Skylar decided it was a good idea to flee from the giant man-eating sandcastle that was visibly angry at him. Probably a good idea. The Pallosand cramped up and sent an enormous amount of power straight down into the sand beneath is, sending a massive Bulldoze sending a spray of sand off all around it…!

But at that point Skylar was already hightailing out of the range of the attack, and Paradise lifted the surprised man straight over the sand-wave that carried off beneath them. With that, the sand-ghosts chose not to follow, and they were home free.

‘That was a good escape. Well done. Perhaps you’d have it in you to join the…’ the man said, before looking at Skylar and perhaps noticing something about him. ‘… Well, maybe I’ll return in a couple years,’ he concluded. Then Skylar had his realization, and…

‘Oh. Darcie’s my daughter,’ he then said. ‘I’m Dad… to her, anyway. It seems she has tried to contact me. I was waiting for her to return from Witchpeak City, but I was distracted by a report that someone had stolen ghosts from the pirates. I managed to catch one of them…’ he said, holding up and opening a Pokéball, and a little sand-ghost manifested at their feet.

‘Sandy?’ the little ghost asked.

‘… but all of them became a bit too much. I will report it to Darcie, after I get her. I suppose that means I am crossing with the ferry. Will you be coming?’ the man asked Skylar.

So, what will Skylar be doing?

Under literally any other circumstances, Basil would have found a somewhat comfortable spot to sit down and draw the beautiful splendor that laid before him. Instead, he was hightailing away from Lakewatch because he just had to accept a Pokemon that could level city blocks onto his team. Well, that and the main priority was to make sure that Amelia could get medical treatment as soon as possible. The only solace he could take was that at least none of those weirdos attempted to look beyond Lakewatch's outskirts.

Speaking of weirdos, the singular very red house with its door wide open in the middle of the route had not escaped his notice. Then again, there were so many things to explore that it was a little overwhelming. It was as if the region was becoming more open to him. Perhaps when things settled, he could see what that was about, but for now he trudged along the worn-down patches of grass that acted as their path up north. Eventually, he would find himself in a forest.

The first thing that hit him was the aroma of the woods. Basil felt the tension leaves his body and almost melted into a puddle of relaxed muscles. The second was the sight of a village in harmony with nature. In a way, it reminded him of home. It was mainly the calmness. It was like the energies of Worldedge City that kept it afloat, the thing that made its residents feel at ease with the world. In his chest, he felt a twinge of homesickness though he shook it off. There were more pressing things to deal with.

Basil turned to Amelia and said, "We'll head to the Pokemon Center. My acquaintance and I are supposed to meet there. I'm sure a Nurse Joy could look at your ankle." Sure, they weren't people doctors, but surely, they knew how to tend to humans. Trainers were prone to getting hurt, so it wasn't unthinkable.

So, Basil would lead Amelia though with less anxiety about her being held up by her Drifloon. Frankly speaking, most of the people in the village were probably too blazed to even really notice or care. The only thing that made him anxious was making Anise waiting for as long as she did because he probably made her wait considering the misadventures he had.

Amelia was finding the whole situation she and Basil found themselves in.... very confusing. She had no idea what Basil had gotten them into, but from the sounds of it, it was essentially trouble. Something about catching a pokemon that a group of possibly less than friendly people had been after. She wasn't sure why people would pick on them just for catching a pokemon but then again, she had seen people willing to kill a pokemon just because of the powers it had no choice in having. Regardless, it seemed like this group had scared Basil greatly and that in turn made her feel very scared.

As they made it to Route 5, she really wanted to take her time on the route and take in the peaceful splendor of it all. Thankfully, something about the route seemed to have finally calmed Basil down, as she noted him visibly relaxing and slowing down a bit. When he brought up taking her to the pokecenter, both to get her looked at as well as to meet up someone there, her smile returned to her face.
"Who are you meeting? Is it the lady from town that you left with? How did your adventure with her go by the way? Did you catch anything interesting?" She asked, unable to contain her curiosity as Driffloon continued to carry her along, the ghostly balloon watching their surroundings as she carried her trainer. keeping close to Basil.

A quick puff of air escaped his lips while he made a concerted effort to hide a smile. "You sure have a lot of questions."

Basil stuffed his hands in his jacket pockets and looked like he was in thought. The woman that he traveled with? For a moment he had no idea who she was even referring to though a look of realization came upon him. "You mean Lesley? Nah, you've got the wrong person. We're looking for Anise. Red head, doesn't really smile, but she's a good person and tough though that's to be expected from a disciple of a gym leader. Nearly jumped me when I first met her, but that was kinda my fault. It's a long story, but we'll catch you up to speed." That was his excuse at least. It wasn't like he had no idea where to start explaining that he helped expedite the release of a literal god of harvest and said god gave him and Anise a berry that no one had ever seen before or the existential dread that there two more of these things and they were becoming restless.

Moving beyond that can of worms, Basil pulled a Pokeball from his belt and nestled its marble sized form between his fingers. "As for your other question, I'd sure hope I caught something interesting after all that." With a click on the button, the ball cracked open and from a flash of light formed a little dragon with black fur speckled with purple spots and blue scales. Its vision was obscured by a thick layer of fur.

Dein? It tilted its head in confusion because again, the little dragon could not see a thing. It sniffed the air and made its way over with its stubby legs towards Amelia with Basil not too far behind.

"This is Soren. Careful, he can and will bite you if you get close enough." On cue, the little dragon opened its mouth and tried to jump up to chomp on the little girl's leg only for it to get a mouthful of metal. Basil intercepted with the piece of armor on his arm, which the dragon now hung from. It was wagging its even stubbier tail. "Case in point." A beam of red light absorbed the little biter back into its ball.

"I had to convince his mother to even get the chance to recruit him. Problem is that Hydreigons are incredible intelligent and violent with one heck of a malicious streak so you can't just say fluffy words and that be it. I found myself staring down its maw as it was ready to blow my head clean off and instead of running, I told her to do it. Can't say it was my brightest idea, but it worked. Still got lectured for it." He chuckled nervously, knowing that he was probably going to get the same treatment because frankly he deserved it. He was incredibly stupid. The only reason why he was not crumpling into a ball and meltdown from the absolute post-panic was because he had enough adrenaline coursing through his system.

Anyway!

"Anise would've liked to come along if she knew what I was up to. Then again, it was probably for the best that she didn't. She'd totally kill me for how reckless I was. Not like she'll ever know." Well, unless the universe said otherwise.

@Joshua Tamashii@Remram

Of all the places in Isson, Stillwood Village was perhaps the place where you were the least likely to get accosted for being carried by a Drifloon. Everyone here’s so calm and relaxed, even if there was a situation they’d be so sure it’d resolve itself peacefully. It was probably fiiiiine. There was surely just something they didn’t know… and they were right.

Basil did his little demonstration with the Deino that he’d caught, so for Amelia…



Eventually, they headed into the Pokémon Center.



‘Hello, and welcome to the Pokémon Center. Would you like to rest your Pokémon?’

…

‘Wait, you want me to treat a human!!?? I, uh, I don’t know if I’m qualified for this!’ the nurse suddenly panicked. This had never happened before! Probably!

‘I’ll, uh, I’ll do my best!’

The nurse would indeed do her best to patch Amelia up. Fortunately, it wasn’t something super bad, so after using some strangely effective items she could probably get up and walk again. On the way in, though, they might have seen someone else.

On the right side of the Pokémon Center, a young red-haired that most probably would figure as being a Battle Girl was sitting on the floor, staring at her group of five Pokémon. In front of her sat a little blue frog, an onion-headed yoga-creature, a martial-arts inclined mustelid, a small blue bipedal canine and a fuzzy raccoon dog. She looked them over, especially her three Fighting-types… and then sighed.

‘I know I’m a disciple of a Fighting-type Gym Leader… but maybe I should try to make a slightly more balanced team if I’m to actually make my journey? But you’re all my friends…’ she said, hanging her head a little, pondering the little conundrum while her Pokémon were tilting their heads and making small worried cries more worried about their trainer being in a mildly distressed state than anything about wondering about their places in the team.



She’d probably eventually figure out Basil had entered the Pokémon Center. Otherwise, you may greet her as you wish and perhaps introduce the other person, for instance. But here she is.

What would you do now?





Connected areas:
Route 4. Forest route at the base of Mt. Strength leading west to Rainrock City.
Route 5. A grassy incline connecting mountains, forests, plains, Stillwood and Lakewatch.
Route 14. The waters of Dragon Lake are also known as Route 14. It connects Lakewatch Town, Highhill Town and Stillwood Village.
Mountain Valley. A passage between Mt. Strength and Mt. Chill, a shortcut to Worldedge City.

Well, he had never imagined a Nurse Joy to be less than joyful, but here they were. Basil watched the Nurse Joy scramble to patch up Amelia's ankle. Ethically was it okay to use medical supplies designed for the complex physiology of Pokemon on a human being? Probably not. Was it super effective? Yes, yes it was.

The matter was settled, so all that was needed was to find Anise. Luckily, he needn't look very hard. On the way in he spotted a familiar head of red hair sitting in a seiza position on the floor with her Pokemon though it was strange. For someone who was beginning a journey of a lifetime she looked less than enthused. "And that would be my travel companion brooding on the floor. Better let her know we're here before she leaves an imprint on the floor." Basil said before he made his way towards her.
 
"Hey, Anise!" He greeted with a kind smile as he approached though the last time she saw him he certainly did not have a piece of armor on his arm, a suspiciously blotchy sleeve, or a little girl tagging along with him. "It's been a bit. Everything all good?" The young trainer asked though he for some reason he felt like he was forgetting something even though he could feel her presence right by him. Basil glanced down towards Amelia with a look of realization.

"Oh, uh, right. I accepted a request on behalf of Professor Kalmia to help personally introduce another one of her trainers to the owner of the Private Palace. Uh, that will require an explanation. Actually, a lot of things happened after we separated." He chuckled nervously. For some reason, he felt like there was going to be quite a bit of exposition "But first, introductions. Anise, this is Amelia, one of Kalmia's trainers. Amelia, this is Anise, the disciple of the Redcoast gym leader."

Amelia listened as Basil answered her questions, nodding to show she understood what he was saying as shemade it a point to remember that they would be looking for a red-headed female once they reached the pokecenter. When Basil brought out his new partner, Amelia looked at it quizzically as it approached only to gasp as it suddenly lunged at her and Basil intercepted it.
"You're not hurt, are you?" She asked, watching he he returned the Deino to it's pokeball. When he brought up the poke's mother being violent, she nodded in understanding. "My teacher has a Hydreigon. He likes Dark-types and he told me that among those he trained, it was the hardest because of it's temperament alone. He said it got worse as it evolved, so... I hope you'll be safe while raising him."

When they reached the pokemon center, she was patient as the Nurse got to work on her, watching as they tried some unusual mmedicine but it thankfully did the trick, as Amelia was soon was soon able to walk on her own two feet without her ankle hurting. Smiling, she bowed to the nurse and gave her thanks before hugging and thanking Diflooon, the ghostly mon letting out a content and happy cry before being returned to it's pokeball. As they were leaving the building, Bsil seemed to have spotted the person he was meeting here and called out while moving over to them.

Amelia kept behind Basil, watching as Basil began talking to the older girl. Amelia was more interested in the pokemon she had with her, noting that they were mostly fighting-types, save the outliers of Froakie and Zigzagoon. When Basil suddenly talked to her, the girl looked back up at him before focusing back on Anise, as Basil made introductions, Amelia smiled and waved, feeling slightly nervous but decided to speak as well.
"Hello. I'm Amelia Averyonna of Witchpeak. It's a pleasure to meet you and all your friends." She said, glancing down at the girl's pokemon.

---

---

"Umm... no. Not that I don't plan on going there soon, but I've gotta get back to Raremine." Skylar nodded to the man. "I'm trying to get every badge, and Kristy's my second stop on my quest through Isson." He gestured towards his team and pulled his cane back out. "I actually need to get back. I just didn't want Darcie to be stuck forever if I could help it. Maybe when I get to Witchpeak I'll see you there?"

Regardless of anything, Skylar would offer the man his contact information before heading off back to Raremine. Just in case he needed him.

On the way back to Raremine, Skylar looked over his crew. "Alright, Kristy's up next. For real this time, we're not gonna get distracted, right gang?" Skylar's team all nodded and gave an approval, but Seabreeze gave an affirmative "Gull!" especially. Good kid, he was.

"She's a specialist in the Ground Type, and while I'd love to assume we'll be fine, probably good to go over strategy. So..." Skylar patted Paradise first. "Paradise, you're gonna be our bread and butter here. Seabreeze is right behind you, followed by Bejeebs and Forge. Mac'll be waiting in the back for a final fighter, in case we need to clutch up."

He gave a scratch to the Rowlet on his lap. "Owlfred, you just need to learn from these guys. They're pros, and I really don't want to try throwing you out there if I could help it."

"Rowow."

"Good to hear. Now, let's get cracking!"

And with the plans set, Skylar and co. rushed off to go and face Kristy down for real this time.

@Joshua Tamashii@Remram

‘Phew! That went better than I thought!’ the nurse said, looking honestly impressed with how well it had worked. ‘Do come back if there’s any, um, unexpected side-effects,’ she said, looking just the slightest concerned towards Amelia before seeing them off.

They then found and attracted the attention of Anise, who blinked a little at being called by Basil first. She was quickly onto her feet with a respectful nod, her earlier concerned expression going away.

‘Basil. I’m glad you-’ she started, then immediately halted when she realized how he looked. ‘What in the world happened to you?’ she instead asked with a concerned frown. ‘But yeah, everything’s fine.’

Basil explained the bit about Amelia, and Anise now turned to look at the young girl, looking a little curiously at her. ‘Hello, Amelia. I’m Anise, and as mentioned, I am Hector’s disciple. Nice to meet you, too. You’re a long way from Witchpeak, huh,’ she said with a nod. Of her Pokémon, Froakie looked up at her in concern, Meditite gave a gentle smile and a wave, Mienfoo gave a happy little cry, Riolu copied his trained and gave a polite nod, while Zigzagoon stared up blankly at her before skipping forward to smell at her shoes. Probably looking for something to steal.

‘… Tell me if he’s bothering you,’ Anise said about the very curious Zigzagoon.

‘Right. I told my family and Hector that I would depart on this trip. My goal is to find Landorus again, prove myself to him, and bring him to the others,’ she said, then glanced down at her team, who also gave concerned looks back. ‘... Though, in case it becomes a fight, either against him or the others, I’ve become conscious of the fact that perhaps I’m specializing in the wrong type,’ she mumbled a little quieter, seeing how those were all flying Pokémon. Probably.

‘That aside. We came here to see if we could find out more about these berries. That was the case, right?’ Anise asked Basil but also glanced down at Amelia. ‘Have you told her what happened?’

What would they say / do?





Connected areas:
Route 4. Forest route at the base of Mt. Strength leading west to Rainrock City.
Route 5. A grassy incline connecting mountains, forests, plains, Stillwood and Lakewatch.
Route 14. The waters of Dragon Lake are also known as Route 14. It connects Lakewatch Town, Highhill Town and Stillwood Village.
Mountain Valley. A passage between Mt. Strength and Mt. Chill, a shortcut to Worldedge City.



__________________________

@Gardevoiran

‘I see. Very well,’ the man said, nodding to Skylar. ‘An admirable goal. It is quite possible that we’ll see each other in Witchpeak City, yes. We have an office there. If you wish to find us, you can find us at this address…’ Skylar was given the address to a location in Witchpeak City. ‘We’re not always there, as we’re often out on the field. So maybe I should give you this, too.’ … along with general contact information. ‘I wish you luck on your journey.’ he finished with, before the two parted ways.

So, Skylar headed back to Raremine Town…





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



… And then on to back to the “Gym”, which really was just the exit out to Route 7. He crossed the desert to get back to where he was previously… only to find something he might not have been expecting. It was probably hidden before, but not far from where he’d previously been, there was a very, VERY localized sandstorm. It was taking place on an encircled flat area of sand, and within it, two people were facing each other. Of course, Skylar couldn’t actually see what was going on in there. However, just as he came close…

‘Hahahaha! Well, what do you know? You did it!’ Kristy chuckled as she returned her last Pokémon, and also moved her goggles as she did. The sandstorm slowly cleared, revealing who it was that had been fighting the Gym Leader. A dark-haired girl in a white outfit and wearing glasses, looking absolutely stunned at the scene before her.

‘I… I did it…?’ she asked, and promptly collapsed onto her knees, panting a bit. ‘… Oh, my goodness… Goomy, you’re the absolute- You did it! We won…!’ she fell forward and embraced a damaged-looking slimeball dragon that still gave out a victorious cry. ‘Gooooooooooom…!’



‘Hehehe… Didn’t I see the two of you together earlier? Wanna share your victory?’ Kristy asked, her gaze trailing to the approaching Skylar.

‘Huh?’ Vivia made a confused little noise, looking over towards him. ‘Oh! Skylar! I! I won!’ she said, sounding absolutely amazed that she did. ‘It came down to my last Pokémon… but Goomy pulled it off…!’

‘Yeah, haha. You’re on your way to getting pretty strong, I think. That was some trick you just pulled…’ Kristy chuckled, before turning her attention to Skylar. ‘Well. I assume you’re here to make this a double feature? Your friend here kind of solved the Gym Puzzle for you, but, heh,’ Kristy gave a smirk to him. ‘Do you want to fight me, too?’ she asked, putting one hand on her hip, smirking, and holding out a Pokéball towards him.

What does Skylar say?

Basil looked down at his arm and shrugged to play it off as nonchalantly as he could. "Had to use my arm as collateral to convince a Deino to join my team. He likes to bite, a lot." Sure, he omitted what he had to do to get that point of recruiting a dragon, but that was for the best. If he told her what he actually did on that island there was a very likely chance that Basil would have received another lecture that he would not be able to escape from.

But anyway, he watched the brief interaction between Anise and Amelia before his companion asked him to confirm the purpose of their visit to the village. Yeah, we're here to learn more about the berries that Landorus gave us. Problem is that I never really got the chance to tell Amelia why exactly we are here because... well Basil trailed off as he wracked his brain to figure out how to even explain the situation he found himself in because he had no idea what was actually going on.

Basil clapped his hands together and tried his best to not look like a dog that left an accident on the family rug via a forced smile."Hypothetically speaking, I had to skip town because I acquired a level 74 Pokemon though it's more like she used me as a getaway from a group of people that were after her for some reason and now there is a very likely chance that they are now looking for me because there were a lot of witnesses that saw me perform for her and probably me 'catch' her. Hypothetically, I mean."

@Remram@Joshua Tamashii

Anise looked a bit stunned at the whole “having to sacrifice your arm to get a dragon” bit, but she seemed to come around to it decently quickly. ‘Alright, then,’ she simply said about it. She then listened to the rest which Basil told her. She took a deep breath, placed her hands together, then looked straight at him.

‘You forgot your hypothetical question, Basil,’ she just blankly stated. ‘If that is what happened, then I suggest you don’t keep it to yourself. The Gym Leaders and the various police…’ Yes, police exist in this world. ‘… can and will help out if asked. We could ask if there’s someone missing their Pokémon, too. Wild Pokémon usually don’t reach that high a level… Perhaps your Professor might be able to analyze the Pokémon to find out more about it, or something?’ she said, then narrowed her eyes at Basil.

‘What did you manage to get yourself into? Do you need a bodyguard?’ she asked, looking a bit astounded.





Connected areas:
Route 4. Forest route at the base of Mt. Strength leading west to Rainrock City.
Route 5. A grassy incline connecting mountains, forests, plains, Stillwood and Lakewatch.
Route 14. The waters of Dragon Lake are also known as Route 14. It connects Lakewatch Town, Highhill Town and Stillwood Village.
Mountain Valley. A passage between Mt. Strength and Mt. Chill, a shortcut to Worldedge City.

Basil just stared at her in silence after her suggestion seemingly stunned by her suggestion. He blinked a few times as he processed what she said and if Anise noticed, it looked like the corners of his mouth quivered as if they were valiantly doing their best to hold something back. Alas, his lips gave way to a push of air and for the first time Anise witnessed Basil laugh without any anxious undertones. If anything, he seemed relieved. "Bodyguard? Do you offer a hand to everyone, or did I endear myself to you that quickly?" He said in between laughs though eventually he stopped after taking a breath and maybe taking a step back to stay out of roundhouse kicking range. "I'm sorry, I'm not laughing at you. Honestly, you'd be a really good bodyguard. It's just you're just so earnest and straightforward in everything you do that it's actually kinda cuuuoooooool. From his cheeks to the tips of his ears he lit up red when he realized what he was about to say. "It's kinda cool. Totally cool and nothing else," he quickly said in a panic, his words were almost hitting each other. Maybe the spores were making him a bit too honest?

Basil cleared his throat and pivoted the conversation away from his awkward hiccup. "To be honest, I have no idea what I've gotten myself into. What's weird is that the Pokemon hasn't even evolved past its first stage, which is how it was able to go around unnoticed. I didn't even know what I exactly had until after I caught her. Either she was stubborn about not evolving or they viewed her more as a pet." Whatever she was, that Gothita was a mystery. However, there were only a few certainties that he had.

Basil folded his arms and with strong conviction said,"Whoever is after her, they have the resources for manpower to track her down and capture her, so they're not weak. That means they are either a noble, someone of equivalent standing, or a group. Whoever they are, she certainly does not want to be caught and if she had a previous owner then there is no love for them."

The young man sighed, but forced a smile as he clapped his hands together as if to drown out his problems. "But that is a problem for future Basil. We're here because we need to investigate whatever Landorus gave us." He peeked down to look at Amelia and said, "We should get Amelia caught up to speed. How about we catch her up while we look for some leads? I think that Berry Garden will be a good start."

@Remram@Joshua Tamashii

Anise looked a little surprised at Basil’s talking about her as a bodyguard. Anise took a deep breath, looking like she was focusing away some exasperation, raising a hand to rub between her eyes a little before looking towards him once again. ‘… That was a joke. The bodyguard thing… was a joke. I was poking fun at you,’ she explained, very simply. Note that Anise had delivered said joke with the exact same cadence as anything else she says. Then he explained the rest, and…

‘Right. Yeah, sounds like you’ve got an unusual Pokémon on your hands. I definitely would ask your professor about it, or so. Still, with Stillwood Village being the most peaceful place on the continent, more or less, I think we might be pretty safe here, at least,’ Anise said. Meanwhile, her Pokémon had gotten bored and were now playing around chasing each other around her, like Mienfoo jumping for the Meditite that then just floated up in the air above it, and then Riolu tried to do a sneaky jump at it from behind.

Basil suggested she stay and catch Amelia up while Basil look for clues. He got another confused look from her.

‘But, I was going to head there, too? Besides, I can explain on the way. Or right now. It’s not that much. Or maybe it is. I guess I better get started. I could explain as we walk,’ Anise took a deep breath, and then looked to Amelia.



‘Do you have any questions? Do you want to head with us to the Berry Garden?’ Anise asked.





Connected areas:
Route 4. Forest route at the base of Mt. Strength leading west to Rainrock City.
Route 5. A grassy incline connecting mountains, forests, plains, Stillwood and Lakewatch.
Route 14. The waters of Dragon Lake are also known as Route 14. It connects Lakewatch Town, Highhill Town and Stillwood Village.
Mountain Valley. A passage between Mt. Strength and Mt. Chill, a shortcut to Worldedge City.

Basil stared at Anise as he felt the tips of his ears heat up for an entirely different kind of embarrassment. "Oh, a joke. A joke." That was a joke? She said it in the same exact way that she typically did. Maybe she was so earnest and serious that it was hard to separate, but Basil felt like that was not the case. In his gut, he felt like that what he had done was hurtful and she was just covering up how she felt by saying it was a joke. Either that or he was spiraling down a rabbit hole of over thinking

Anyway, to clarify Anise's confusion Basil said, "Sorry, that's not what I meant. I meant you could explain while we look together so I could stop putting my foot into my mouth for longer than a minute. I'm just gonna... just wait I guess." And there he stood awkwardly watching Anise explain the situation, wishing that the earth beneath his feet would open its maw and swallow him whole to escape from his own bloody social awkwardness.