[IC] Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of the Void

[KaBling]

I woke up with a startle. Eye rapidly flicking to every corner of the cave. The strange was that I didn't have a nightmare, so much as I had a dreamless sleep instead. I calmed down rather quickly as I lifted myself off the ice... well, slush actually. I had a right to be startled originally, because I thought that ring of fire meant we were caught in Arceus' underworld domain. Daniel seemed to thank Reshiram rather calmly as if it was a regular occurrence, Anthony apparently stirring awake as well to his greeting. Reshiram boomed in his sleep (no surprises there) as I spied on the wall of fire, crackling and snapping beyond my eye as if there were an invisible well of tinder.

I looked back towards the group, no longer entranced by sleep as the heatwave of the fire suddenly passed away. I was a little more than impressed at the legendary's abilities, silently commanding flames to his whim (in Kyreum's own den of places). "Hopefully that wall of fire doesn't annoy Kyreum too much." I scoffed, somewhat sarcastic in my tone as I looked beyond the narrow corridors of the cave. A few dark shapes was enough to raise an eyelid as Anthony moved forwards, unimpeded by danger and supported by non-slippery dirt.

Of course, that led to the gag of Anthony slipping on the dangerously slick ice. My expression became more alarmed as it turned out he fell and slipped all the way to one of the dark shapes; a lone Rockruff in the dim lighting. "My goodness." I muttered to myself, readily charging my magnets for any potential problems.

[Riddles]

[Josh]
Josh could clearly recall that the ground was covered in ice when he fell asleep. By the time he woke up, though, that wasn't the case. There was a wall of fire surrounding them as well, to keep the wild Pokemon at bay. This was all Reshiram's doing, to make sure they were well rested and prepared for whatever happens when they reach Kyurem. After hearing what Miles said about melting the ice, Josh was somewhat concerned. Hopefully the diplomatic route was still possible. They got lucky during that last fight, and even though they had Reshiram on their side now, Kyurem probably wouldn't go down easily.

After everyone else woke up, Reshiram lowered the fire wall so they could proceed. They were almost instantly thrown into a fight after Anthony slid across the room again. It was only one Rockruff, so it was nothing they couldn't handle. After aiming carefully to make sure he didn't hit Anthony, Josh fired a Hydro Pump at it.

---

[Dexter]
Dexter hadn't quite woken up yet when Rebecca arrived with the Chesto berries. He didn't open his eyes until he heard Nina say...something. Honestly, she was speaking so fast that he couldn't make out what she was saying. "Seriously, Nina? It's too early in the morning for this shit." Dexter said, though Nina was well out of earshot by that point. He let out a long sigh, and took one of the Chesto berries that Rebecca offered them. "Guess I got no choice but to wake up now. Come on. Let's follow her."

As Dexter entered the cafe, he was greeted by the sight of their "client" attacking one of his teammates. Dexter acted fast, running up behind Nina's assailant and spewing flames at him. "Backstabbing motherfucker." He was convinced that the Bronzor tried to knock Nina out while she was alone, so the rest of the team would be easier to deal with.

[Evanist]

The next morning, Celes woke up, having had lot of issues sleeping a bit. She kept having nightmares about losing Spruce, about him dying and having nothing that she could have done. It was kinda why she decided to sleep in the same room as he was right now, not wanting to leave his side. She woke up, ate just a bit, and then waited near Spruce bed, hoping for the best right now.
"Please Spruce... do wake up... please be ok." she says. She just didn't know what else she could do. At least he was still alive. At least he seemed, at least for her, to be in a better shape then before. She think a bit. If only she had psychic powers for this. She could possibly try to check his mind and figure out what was going on... but as she remembered... the only psychic move that was really useful for her was psyshock... which she wasn't sure was useful here at all. It might just hurt Spruce... which was really REALLY not what she wanted. She just stood there, thinking. She could always try to find it though to use it in battle... and it would end up useful against poison types that would try to attack her... but if she did that, she would lose her hidden ability power probably, and considering what she saw about it being ground type, that would make her in trouble against steel and poison types. So she was in an impasse here. Although.. psyshock would give her a mean to do physical damage of people instead of usual special. It was lot to think about. She just looked at Spruce. She decided to stay as she was right now. If she ever wants to learn it, it would be later on... but not now.

---

Eralion woke up the next morning by Larry yelling. He grumbled a bit as he started to get up, annoyed.
"Can you lower the tone a bit... I mean... seriously... ugh... " he says as he looks at Larry.
"One day you might wake up the wrong person and have issues... just saying." he says as he shakes his head and then get up, thinking a bit.
"Morning..." he says before yawning. "That was lot of action yesterday... for not much reward unfortunately..." he says, a bit sad about this. Well.. at least the group helped those people out of that situation.

[Kamen Evie]

Rebecca smiled when Nina woke up, though she was patient enough to wait when she fell back asleep again. What the young Ralts didn’t quite have the patience for was when she said something too fast for even her to decipher and bolted off, presumably headed for the cafe.

“Hey!” Rebecca said. “Stay here so we can think this over! I’m technically still the leader here, you know!” Nina was clearly out of earshot, though. Whatever, she could totally work with this... probably... She sighed along with Dexter, their annoyance cutting through the momentary silence in the room. He suggested following Nina.

“Sounds like a plan.” She agreed. They entered the cafe. It was early enough that the shop was pretty much empty except for Nina and that Bronzor. Who, as it happened, seemed to be using Confusion on her friend. Dexter was quick to act, making sure to get behind Nina’s assailant before he could cause any more harm. Rebecca was pretty mad, but she couldn’t say she was completely convinced that attacking them here would have been a good idea.

“Hey Dexter,” Rebecca said. “Don’t rough him up too much. We can’t grill him for information if you melt him down, okay?” If he wanted to attack them, why not do it at his base, with all of his buddies to help him out? Unless he still wasn’t with them, even though that raised more questions than it answered. The Bronzor seemed awfully undisturbed by this commotion, though... Wait a minute... What in the world... Was he still asleep?!

[Lugia]

[Spruce]

It was a long, hard battle with Giratina, and I didn't know if it was going to end, but, eventually, after another one of my attacks, which he didn't seem to respond to, I saw a bright light, a rip in the space behind Giratina, and an opportunity. I made a mad dash for what seemed like a rip in the universe, knowing that Giratina couldn't do any damage to me as I did so, and I somehow found myself on a somewhat tough hospital bed, my vision blurry, I could make out the colors white and pink. "Celes...?" I called out to the shape forming in front of me. Once I could see that it was, indeed, Celes, I got up, and asked "Was that... all a dream? Did we even fight Reshiram? Did we team up with Anthony?" of course, once she got close enough, I tried to hug her, still recovering from what just happened. "Celes... I don't know what happened back there, but thank you for not leaving me alone," I didn't know what else to say to her, though I did notice an oddly familiar wooden badge in one of her ribbons. The doctor finally came in, and she seemed... somewhat happy, maybe? "Oh... good... you've... made... a... recovery... but... you... still... need... more... rest..." she explained extremely slowly, which was annoying to me. I tried my best to hide my annoyance with that, and she left the room... apparently, I didn't need rest badly enough that I couldn't take on a mission of some sort. Once we were alone, again, I asked Celes "Celes... are you sure we're doing the right thing by taking these crystals? I... I'm not so sure, myself, anymore..."

---

[Anthony]

I was about to use Muddy Water on the rockruff, but it seems like Josh had it covered with nothing more than a single Hydro Pump expertly aimed at the tiny rock-type dog... poor thing didn't have a chance, but I just shrugged, and continued on, Daniel following behind me. Reshiram seemed to answer Miles' sarcastic comment with "Indeed! I hope my brother won't be too mad at us for that wall of flame, as well," surely, Reshiram knew that Miles was being sarcastic, right? Either way, continuing on lead us to a slope downwards. I tried my best not to slip on the ice, again, but, unfortunately, I had little to no traction on this stuff, and I slid all the way down as if it were a slide, or something. Daniel just flew alongside me, probably just making sure I don't hurt myself, and it seemed like Reshiram was having some trouble with the lower ceiling around the slope, but he made sure to let everyone else go in ahead of him, just in case he couldn't follow us. The other side of the slope seemed to present us with an icy maze, of sorts... the ice was also clear, and reflective, making it even harder to figure things out... and worse, I could see some shadows just beyond the first turns, or at least, where I thought the first turns were. "Hm..." I seemed to wonder out loud, before finally coming to the conclusion of "Maybe we should try to see if we can get Reshiram through here... I'd rather not have to deal with a maze of mirrors, and invisible walls, especially if one of us is capable of melting the maze," I then looked back to see Reshiram still struggling... I suppose a larger size has some disadvantages.

---

[Nina]

After a short while, I came to my senses, just to see Dexter attacking our sleeping client. "Dexter! Rebecca! That attack was my fault, I should have known better than to try to shake a psychic type awake," I then tried to have our client talk, and even though he took an ember to his back, he simply muttered "Mister Badguy couldn't have possibly been in that room, and these mints prove nothing... stop wasting the court's time... I find the defendant guilty..." he... he was still asleep after that. After getting shaken, and taking a super-effective attack. "Rebecca... you wouldn't happen to have enough extra money for a double-chesto coffee would you? Or... failing that, some smelling salts, perhaps?" I then wondered if they actually heard what I said, but unfortunately, I couldn't quite recall what I said, myself. The bronzor just floated there, almost completely unresponsive to the world around him, and I really have to wonder why he decided to just fall asleep in the cafe, of all places. Surely he didn't live here, right? I then had to wonder what, exactly COULD get a response out of him, and pictured a few humorous events that he could probably sleep through. With how this guy sleeps, the entire cafe could be on fire, and he'd just sleep through it, waking up in a broken building, wondering what the heck happened... was among the situations I thought of while he slept there, muttering about some sort of court case involving a washing machine, somehow.

---

[Bonnie]

Once Larry came in and shouted everyone awake, I heart Tini say something about 'almost having him', and I asked "Were you dreaming about fishing, Tini?" of course, that only assumed that anyone on this planet could understand Tini's dreams. Eralion seemed to mumble and grumble a bit about Larry's yelling, to which I responded with "Well, it's kind of his job to be loud... that being said, I wouldn't mind if he didn't yell at us every morning," he then said good morning to me, and I added "And a good morning to both of you, of course," with my unusual happiness and pep. With that same pep, I decided to check out the job board for anything remotely interesting, and I found, on the outlaw board, an all too familiar gallade. Last time one of us saw him, he was with my father... this... couldn't be good. The mission statement read...

'WANTED: Unknown Gallade
(Insert picture here)
Location: Mt. Pinnacle
Bounty: 4,000 poke
Reason: Has been suspected of kidnapping, torture, and possible murder.'

This was a bit of a departure from the usual two-bit con men, or petty criminals that were usually on the board, and his crimes seemed to fit the brief and not very detailed description of his actions in my father's temporary house. I hesitated for a moment before picking it up, just to make sure that nobody else would go there, and try to take on this mission.

[Evanist]

Once Celes saw Spruce wake up.. she could not resist. She hugged him close to her.
"Thank god your alive Spruce.. I was so worried.. I ... I though you were going to die... I though I was going to lose you... " she then says, worried, keeping him close. When the doctor arrive, she looked at him and listened. Well... he was probably really tired or something. It was then that she heard what Spruce asked... She looked at him, worried.
"Spruce... Deep down I feel like we are doing the right thing... I know it might be though to believe that... but no matter what.. we need to keep going and try to save the world. " she says, staying close to him.

---

Eralion looked at Bonnie, and saw the job she took. She looked at it, and smiled a bit.
"So.. we are gonna try to take on your father henchman... I do feel like beating him down after all that he did last time... We will need to be extra careful though, if your father ends up near... we will need to deal with him also, and god know how that might end difficult. Lets just hope that everything will be ok." he says, moving forwards, determined a bit. This time, considering his new form, he actually felt more ready then before. This time, the group might be able to take him down.

[Card Captor]

Kamina

Kamina's first instinct was to charge through all the mirrors with his body on fire, in order to break/melt them. However before he did, he remembered something; 'wait...I've tried this before. This stuff isn't normal ice; it's super ice.' Kamina fired a quick volley of Ember at one, which had no noticeable effect 'yeah, that's what I was worried about. I'm sure I could break through these with enough effort and fighting spirit...but it might leave me too tired to help when the next fight breaks out. I don't like it, but I think I shouldn't try it.' With his default response not a viable option, Kamina was at a complete loss. Not knowing what to do, he decided to just wait and see that the others tried.

---
Tini

"There was a bad man" Tini began to explain his dream to Bonnie "he threw pies in a lot of people's faces. We finally caught him and put him on trial, and I had just proven that he was lying about where he was at the time of the pieing...when I woke up." Tini shook the tip of his tail in adorable rage "next time Mister Badguy...next time! You shall not escape my minty fresh justice!"

[Riddles]

[Josh]
A somewhat steep slope led them deeper into the cave. At the bottom was a room that appeared to contain some kind of maze, with clear, mirror-like walls. Honestly, it was quite disorienting, but as long as they all stayed together, it wouldn't be too much of a problem. Anthony proposed that they have Reshiram melt the ice, a plan that Josh wasn't a huge fan of. "Hold on a second, Anthony. We're still trying to solve this without getting into a fight. We don't want to anger Kyurem more than we already have."

Josh noticed that Reshiram was having some trouble getting through this part of the cave. It was quite narrow for someone of Reshiram's size, and getting him through this maze wouldn't exactly be a cakewalk. Melting the ice may be their only option. Of course, they wouldn't know that for sure unless they tried getting through without it. "Let's try to get Reshiram through here first. If it turns out to be more trouble than it's worth, then as a last resort, we'll have him melt the ice."

---

[Dexter]
Nina snapped out of it just in time to tell them that the Bronzor was still asleep. Dexter found it hard to believe that he slept through all of that, but sure enough, he was completely comatose. Dexter turned around, and began heading for the door. "Screw it. He's just gonna go apeshit every time we try to wake him up. We might as well just leave him here." He didn't really care what Nina and Rebecca thought at this point. He wasn't about to sit there and wait for this guy to wake up on his own.

[Kamen Evie]

“Oh well,” Rebecca sighed. “I guess we’ll have to beat down someone else for information at some point.” The Ralts shrugged. She guessed that their client really was still asleep. She did take the time to listen to his muttering, though. It seemed oddly familiar. It did give her some idea of how to wake the poor thing up, though.

“I guess you’re right, Dexter,” Rebecca said, feigning defeat. “There’s no point in wasting our energy on him. It’s a lost cause. I suppose we’ll have to come back to him after we finish the mi-” The Ralts quickly teleported next to the Bronzor and stared him right in the face... or body, she wasn’t quite sure where the distinction was.

“HEY!” she shouted, “NEXT EPISODE OF THE STEEL SAMUROTT IS ON IN TEN! IF YOU WANNA JUST SIT THERE AND MISS HOW HE’S GONNA GET OUT OF THE EVIL MAGIKARPS SCHEME TO PIT HIM AGAINST THE JAMMIN’ SHEDINJA, THEN GO ON AHEAD AND SLEEP RIGHT THROUGH IT! OTHERWISE I WANNA SEE THOSE EYES OPEN AND READY FOR ACTION!” She was a bit surprised; even she didn't know that she could be that loud. Hopefully her scheme would pay off, though.

[KaBling]

I gave Reshiram a bit of a look as Anthony climbed back up unscathed, though quickly slipped back down from the permafrost and ice. I peered down at the slope Anthony was stuck on (or rather slipped), watching at another opening across the slope that seemed to lead to a place of mirrors and turns. It seemed Kyreum's domain became more hostile and dangerous the deeper we went, with Reshiram struggling to duck under short ceilings and icicle stalactites.

I hovered down the slope, a coating of frost wavering around my magnets. It also seemed to seal any remaining scars shut, most of them apparently wished away by my evolution. Whilst waiting for Reshiram to follow through, I began to chat and converse with the other party's members. "Can I ask what you guys been up to since we last met?" I inquired, eye on Anthony as we idled briefly. However, I quickly jumped at the sounds of rapid steam and fires, swiftly turning to Kamina as my surprise turned to relief.

"K-Kamina? I don't think we're breaking this stuff any time soon, unless you're some hidden legendary." I added after Josh spoke, shouting from the bottom of the slope. I remained observant as I turned back to the others, the shadows almost putting me off. "Yeah, what's the story around this place again? Rather outside I mean."

[Lugia]

[Spruce]

As soon as I got out of bed, Celes decided to hug me, and... she didn't seem to want to let go, and, of course, I tried my best to hug her back, even in this condition. She talked about how she was worried that she'd never see me again to which I responded with "I was worried, too... I was in the void world, again, and fighting Giratina, himself... I'm really glad that was just a dream," she then said that we were doing the right thing, and, while I still had my doubts, I knew that Celes would never intentionally do the wrong thing... ever. "Hearing that from you... it really comforts me. I'll put my faith that you know that we're doing the right thing, here," I smiled at her, and noticed that she was carrying a weird, wooden badge. "Celes... what's that badge for? It looks familiar, but... I can't quite remember why," I was fixated on the badge after I found it, and I tried to remember who or what would have badges like that... faint memories of my early childhood flashed by, but I still couldn't quite figure it out. Just as well, I also felt nostalgic about it for some reason... maybe it was just the fact that it used wood instead of metal, which would imply that it was a much simpler badge with... probably far fewer features in it... and the pin was glued on with a chewed up gummi which has long since lost its color. The name on the badge was somehow worn away, making it impossible for me to figure out whose badge it was just from looking at it.

---

[Anthony]

Suggestions were being thrown around, and it was deemed a bad idea to have Reshiram melt the place, again, but I really didn't want to get lost in this kind of place. I then moved, a bit, and noticed a trail of slime... I didn't notice it before now, but, then again, it's not often that I look behind me. Was I doing this all along? Why didn't anyone tell me!? I thought as I moved slightly and carefully, again. I then came up with an obvious idea "Hey, how about we try to solve this maze, and I'll use this slime to mark where we've been so we don't get lost as easily?" of course, it was still probably not going to be easy to just solve the maze, otherwise, it probably wouldn't be here, right? I then waited for the group's response to this idea, and tried to make sure I was behind everyone... which, given that I'm not very fast, was actually pretty easy. The mirrors seemed to show a goodra, which seemed to be heading our way. "Uh-oh..." I ended up saying, which only seemed to alert the goodra to our presence. Said goodra started wandering around in the maze until it finally found our group, after which, the goodra immediately attacked, starting off with a power whip attack aimed right at Kamina... apparently, they weren't too familiar with Kamina, since, given his extra type, that probably wouldn't do too much to him. I then looked the thing right in its eye, and used a body slam on it, dealing some damage... but unfortunately failing to paralyze it, this time.

---

[Nina]

Dexter seemed to want to ditch him, and I was about to agree with him, but then Rebecca decided to get up reeeeal close to him, and shout at him about some show, or another. The bronzor jolted awake at the shouting, and shouted back "NOOoooOO! I HAVE to see what happens to him, this episode! I can't be sleeping, or I'll be late... huh? Oh... um... I'm sorry you had to see me like this, but, yes, ever since the organization cut my pay, I've had to live here... and sleep on that chair. Honestly, I'm just glad I can levitate. Is it tomorrow, already?" I decided to respond with "Yeah, it has been for a while, now, so, are you going to come with us, or not?" he just nodded and started floating alongside us, saying "I'm so excited to finally be helping a real rescue team... or are you an exploration team? Aw, who cares, apparently there's enough overlap that the two terms are interchangeable around here," he couldn't seem to stand... er... float still, either, which made me less enthusiastic about letting him tag along. I hope he's not going to act like some sort of fan boy, or something... and I really hope he doesn't get in our way, too much. I thought as I waited for the rest of the team to start moving, after all, Rebecca was still the leader, right? It would be rude to... do... exactly what I did, earlier, when I had too many chesto berries to eat... whoops.

---

[Bonnie]

I simply nodded as Eralion put away that mission statement, and even if he was only a henchman, he was still probably extremely strong, and I didn't say a single word as we all left for Mt. Pinnacle, making sure that Tini was coming along with us, as well. This... can't be... we're all just marching to our deaths, and they both seem happy about it... this gallade... he's going to kill us, and both of my teammates either don't care, or don't know. I thought as I continued on the path that only seemed to be grim to me. I'm sure they were seeing just the usual springtime weather, with flying type pokemon chirping, and krickitune occasionally chiming in, as well, but to me, it was a worn, grey path that seemed to lead to my inevitable doom. They're just joking around, as they usually do... I have to say something. I thought as I tried to gather up enough strength to speak... it didn't work, and I ended up thinking Why can't I speak? I have to warn them about this! of course... I still couldn't, at least, not until we reached the base of the mountain we were supposed to be climbing. Once we got there, I ended up shouting "WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE! THIS GALLADE'S GOING TO KILL US!" I didn't know why I shouted, rather than just talk to them, but at least that was better than saying nothing, right? I looked down, and away from the group in embarrassment about the whole situation, and hoped that they weren't going to be too mad at me for that.

[Card Captor]

Kamina

Kamina tanked the Power Whip with little effort "it's going to take far more than that to take me out." He was about to charge at the Dragon Type, but he halted once he saw Anthony go in 'gah! I almost hit him!' Once he was out of the way however...there wasn't anything else holding him back. With a might roar, Kamina lit himself on fire and rammed into the Goodra, sending both of them into an ice wall. "Oh yeah, now my blood is really pumping. I'm feeling wide awake now!"

---
Tini

Bonnie's sudden outburst caught Tini by surprise, but he didn't let it stop him for long. 'Bonnie needs comforting! Initiative hugs!' Tini coiled his body up and launched himself at her, his body wrapping around her once he came into contact. "There, there. Everything is going to be alright Bonnie. Whatever you're freaking out about, I'm sure it'll all turn out just fine" he gently stroked her back with the tip of his tail. 'Poor Bonnie. She's always loosing her head over all sorts of things. A clear sign of severe hug deficiency. I can only hope that one day, I'll be able to make up for all the hugs she never got. I should be better at hugging once I evolve again...so there's that.'

[Evanist]

Celes looked at Spruce, and took the badge, before going to give it to him on his hand.
"That.. was from Vine.... he wanted you to have this. He said he never forget you, that he would never forget his little bro." she says to him calmly, looking at it.
"I know he actually does care about you a lot... he was really worried also." she says at him, smiling. She sit downs.
"I... I think we should head to get something to eat.. you must be starving after so much time and all." she says to him calmly to him.
"I...could always make more soup though if you want..." she says smiling at him.

---

Eralion hear what Bonnie said after fallowing her, and looked down as he moved forwards, and hugged her also with Tini.
"It's going to be ok Bonnie... never give up... Don't be scared... we are stronger then before. We need to stay courageous for this. We need to stay determined for this. " he says, looking at her, giving a patient smile at her. He just stayed there.
"I understand your scared Bonnie, but it is something we need to do... only everyone together can we defeat that bastard... alright?" he then said.

[Riddles]

[Josh]
Anthony proposed that they use his slime trail to navigate through the maze. "That could work." Josh said. "As long as we stick to the paths we haven't explored yet, we're almost guaranteed to get through eventually."
He was about to answer Miles' question about what they'd been doing since the last time they'd met, but before he could respond, he noticed a Goodra heading towards them. Thankfully, due to the reflective walls, they could see it coming well before it actually got to them. Josh tried to stay closer to the back of the group for this fight. That Goodra probably had Dragon-type moves, which he really didn't want to get hit by. While it was occupied with Kamina, Josh tried lobbing a few Sludge Bombs at it.

---

[Dexter]
Just as Dexter was about to leave, Rebecca teleported right up to the Bronzor's face. She began screaming something about Steel Samurotts and Evil Magikarps at him, which, for some reason managed to wake him up. "Are you serious?" Dexter said. "He just slept through an Ember to the back of the head. How the hell did THAT wake him up?" As eager as he was to ditch the Bronzor here, it looked like they would be bringing him along now. He could only hope that their client didn't get on his nerves too badly.

[KaBling]

"Uh, go right ahead Anthony. Just be weary slime isn't a string though." Anthony suggested using a rather timeless idea, part of a mythology that not even Davis knew well involving a bull-like creature. I thought it was rather clever until came the untimely arrival of a Goodra, waddling around transparent corners quite aggressively and sizing up everyone through its weary eyes.

Despite its intentions, I didn't even charge up my magnets. The battle was gonna be quick for this one, giving me enough time to see Kamina shrug off the Goodra's whipping action. There was a violent cracking sound, but frankly it seemed to impact Kamina's red skin like a light tap... and just downright weak when bowled into by the fiery mass of fish. With that in mind, it seemed only mostly staggered against the glossy ice walls, still not out and ready to pummel us with its legs alone. "My goodness, you'd think they would come in groups or something." I muttered, watching the action from a fair distance, spinning my magnets again and aiming for a clear shot against the Goodra. Although it was unlikely, I was posturing myself in mid-air and willing to block attacks for the others.

[Kamen Evie]

Rebecca smiled when her technique did its job. Another problem solved! Now she just needed to work on the ones that were actually kind of important. Dexter seemed fixated on the fact that she managed to wake the Bronzor up in the first place, though.

“There’s a certain finesse to it,” Rebecca said. “I think. It’s kind of hard to describe. Are you all ready to go? This is probably the last chance we’re gonna get to stock up on things, unless we happen across a travelling merchant on the way selling high explosives or something.” She began to leave, hoping that such a thing might actually happen. Or at least one of those magic orbs. She was reminded of something as she went along.

"So you really don't have any better place to stay?" Rebecca asked the Bronzor. "The exploring-rescuing business is pretty nice right now. Free food, beds, a little bit of spending money, that sort of thing." She personally wasn't too sure whether they were an explorer team or a rescue team herself, admittedly having forgotten already. She didn't think there was really any difference, though.

[Lugia]

[Spruce]

Celes explained the badge to me, and I remembered... it was the first badge I ever had. Somehow, it was still in good condition, too, and given how long Vine must have had it for... not to mention the fact that he actually kept the badge after I tossed it to the ground in rage... I was mad at him because he never let me go on any missions with the rest of the team, always assigning me to 'hold down the fort', which involved doing pretty much nothing. At the time, I thought he didn't really care about me, that he didn't want me going on the more exciting missions. Celes then asked if I was hungry, and, after what I thought was a brief reminiscence of before rescue or exploration teams were even an organized thing, I nodded, saying "Yeah, some food sounds real good right now," I then put the badge where it belonged, pinned to my explorer's pack, and next to the newer badge. Sure, it didn't have the same functions as a real badge did, but I guess looking at it would always bring back that nostalgic feeling of exploring with my big brother in a world I didn't know much about. Celes then asked if she could make some soup, but, I've never really been to this so-called cafe that was supposedly right next to the guild, so I answered with "Why don't we stop by the cafe? I don't think I've ever been there, before," at that, I headed towards the cafe, confident that Celes would follow me... however, before I could go in, I noticed yet another team of explorers, this one consisting of a bronzor, a ralts, a female nidoran, and a growlithe... odd... that growlithe almost seemed familiar, some 'lone wolf' who didn't want to be a part of a whole team, but the rest... not so much. Since I figured we were all members of the same guild, I simply asked "So... what are you guys doing, right now?" that question seemed to shock the nidoran, and the others didn't seem ready to answer, either.

---

[Anthony]

In what seemed like only a few moments, a flaming mass of scales and teeth slid past me, and pinned the goodra to the wall. Once I could get some time to think, I figured out that the 'mass' was, in fact, Kamina, using his flame charge move against our enemy, not to deal damage, but to more or less disable him. Josh floated by a bit later, and started lobbing sludge bombs at the enemy, which seemed to eventually poison them, while M tried his best to get a clear shot at him... not an easy task with Kamina pinning him to a wall. As soon as I could, I made my way over there, slipping on the icy floor, as usual, but, at least, this time, the enemy was next to the nearest wall, so after that, all I had to do was attack, and I did so with another dragon breath, aimed right for the goodra... since it couldn't move, it was pretty easy to hit the thing, and somehow, I feel as if that SHOULD have paralyzed the goodra, but didn't. Either way, the goodra continued flailing around, pinned to the wall, and eventually using power whip, again, this time, aimed at anyone who was nearby, which meant myself, M, and Kamina... though, it didn't actually do all that much to me, and I could tell that Kamina barely felt it, I couldn't say anything about M... even if his typing would suggest that the move would do as much, if not less than what it did to me. Finally, after all that, I manged to congratulate Kamina with "Good job pinning him to the wall, really made this fight easier,"

---

[Nina]

I managed to hold in a laugh at Dexter's reaction to our client waking up, since the whole scene was just too funny, and Rebecca informed the apparently homeless bronzor about the rescue and or exploration business, and she seemed to be right about everything. I didn't realize just how good I had it until she explained everything to him. He responded with "Well, yes, I suppose I could look into it, after all, I probably won't have a job once we're done here," and, after I said "We should probably stock up... my bag's looking real empty," we all left the cafe, only to run into a grey colored snivy. I tried to ignore him, but apparently, he was just more than ready to stick his giant nose where it doesn't belong, and he pried by asking "So... what are you guys doing, right now?" and... I almost froze up at that. I had no idea how to respond to it. We were on some sort of secret mission, so I couldn't really say anything, and, not only that, but our mission was stolen by some other group not too long ago... that group was pretty high-ranking, and he seemed to have a gold-rank badge, as well... maybe he was in league with them? That was just about when I noticed the bronzor apparently just about ready to speak, ready to spill the beans about this whole thing. "S-someone shut him up," I muttered to the group, hoping at least someone would hear me, and know that I meant to shut up the bronzor, not the snivy.

---

[Bonnie]

Tini's hug, and Eralion's encouragement, I calmed down a bit, and agreed "Yeah... I guess we are stronger than we used to be... and I guess we could take him on. There are three of us, and only one of him," after that, I heard some rustling in the bushes, and turned my attention towards them. "Someone's here, already," I pointed out to my team. Sure, Eralion could probably hear the rustling, but Tini didn't really have ears, let alone big ones, like mine. I hesitated before entering the cave ahead of us, and I head the bushes, again... something was going to try to ambush us. Once everyone was in the cave, a riolu jumped out of the bushes, only to pull a lever, closing the door behind us. "Well, I guess there's no going back now, huh...?" I asked. I tried to make that sound like I was joking, and happy... but truth was, it only served to cement the idea that this place would be my doom even more. The fact that the place was dark, save for a message reading 'The power of mint will light the way' didn't help things, either. Sure, the message seemed kinda funny, if not just plain weird, but even now, I could hear something approaching... something heavy. "Whatever this is, we... we should figure it out fast. I don't want this... thing to catch up to us!" I ended up shouting by mistake... and once I did, the footsteps seemed to start heading in our direction... seems like I messed everything up, again.

[Card Captor]

Kamina

The fight over, Kamina's adrenaline dropped back down to normal levels (for him). "Alright then, what's next?" Last time he checked, Reshiram was still stuck. So until that could be fixed, they weren't going anywhere. "We still need to help him through" Kamina gestured at Reshiram "And I don't have a clue how to do that. So does anyone else have any idea how we're going to fix this?"

---
Tini

Tini was confused (shocking, I know) "Why would we want to go back, we just got here. Silly Bonnie." Tini began to advance further in "well guys, let's go! This place isn't going to adventure itself...or is it!? Are there places that adventure themselves, or even other places. Oh wow, what would that even look like" So caught up in his strange thoughts, he failed to notice the sound of footsteps. Then again, Tini being Tini, he might not have payed them much though even if he wasn't distracted.

[Evanist]

Celes heard what Spruce said about going to a cafe near the guild. She smiled a bit.
"Sure.. why not.. it could be interesting to actually see..." she says, before going and following him, only to see him talk to another group that didn't seem to want to talk at all to them. She looked at them, confused a bit.
"Uhmmm..." she says before seeing the bronzon going to talk, and then having people saying to shut him up or something. She stares.
"Hope you guys aren't doing any criminal work here... would be a shame to have people thrown into jail for something like that... especially considering how young some of you guys are." she says to them, worried a bit. What were they even hiding right now? She had no idea at all.

---

Eralion fallowed the group into the cave as they do, and then saw what the riolu did, and frown.
"Seriously... I mean seriously.. " he said, looking at the door, before hearing the movement and what Bonnie said. He frown as he moves forwards.
"Bonnie, just show me the way to go... I will deal with the attack that might come." he says, serious right now, counter ready right now for all this. When that thing will come, he would hit it real hard with that... that is for sure.. an eye for an eye. He was not afraid right now, not one bit. He dealt with worst before.

[KaBling]

I didn't quite receive my fair share of the fight, anxiously steering myself into position and figuring how I'd hit the Goodra without hurting Kamina. He was rugged and tough enough to shrug off most hits, but I wouldn't know much about having electricity coursing through him. However, the Goodra wasn't waiting patiently; I had my doubtful scenarios slapped out of me, my magnet instinctively raised and blocking much of his power as it went around many of us. It definitely stung afterwards and almost knocked me out of air though.

When my vision cleared up, the Goodra was clearly slumped against the icy walls, still rearing to go besides its poison and fire marks on its skin. Anthony seemed to cheer a little early as I ensured we'd get to saving the town quickly. "Just let us through this damn place." A quick flash of yellow followed as I pointed at the Goodra, letting out a bright thunderbolt that cracked at ears and struck the Goodra down with its force.

After that, it was mostly silence and talking amongst ourselves, alongside some heavy breathing. I looked to the others, Kamina explaining there was still an issue with how Reshiram was getting through. We'd likely have to get creative... or bad news, we'd have to fight Kyreum ourselves. Now, I can't quite say if there was or wasn't some improbable lever made of ice at the end of the maze, because that would spoil the story for now...