"Thank you," Tobin gave Dusk a soft and affectionate pat on the head. The gesture was appreciated and the fear that had begun to build up inside slowly ebbed away. Feeling, the baby pokemon's warmth and knowing that Alice had his back made him feel a lot braver. As long as he had his friends with him, everything would be okay. Alice sat down beside him and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. Why wasn't he as brave as them? Tobin swallowed his fear and returned the gesture. He gave Alice a firm and comforting squeeze on the shoulder then smiled kindly at her. "You're absolutely right, it was silly of me to be worry." He was so lucky to have her as his best friend.

Alice peered into the room before declaring that their place was with Scott and Rai. Tobin nodded his head, it wouldn't have felt right, leaving those two to chase after team rocket. Rai was fiery and hotheaded and Scott, he would be a great trainer someday, but now he was still inexperienced. Those two would need all the help they could get, so Alice was right. "Safety in numbers. That sounds like the best choice, and we can't leave them." Tobin was smiling kindly at the duo, he and Alice hadn't known them for long but they were nice people and over the course of the day the four felt like they had known each other for much longer than they really did. It was as sad as it was true, tragedy pushed people together. The quake and loss were what brought the four of them together.

Before Tobin could say anything else, Scott walked out the door, glad to know both his new friends would be coming along. Tobin laughed softly at the flustered Alice before giving Scott a tap on the back. "You can't shake us off anymore." The coordinator joked.

"Mhm, glad you guys will be coming with us." Rai grinned brightly at both Alice and Tobin. "The more the merrier after all, besides, with all four of us together this'll be a piece of cake. Ain't that right, Flamey?" Rai was just as eager and confident as ever. The Quilava poked his head out from under her bag's flap before it blinked at her unconvinced. Chasing after the rockets wasn't going to be a piece of cake...didn't she understand this wasn't a game? The it was real and dangerous and far from a walk in the park?

"Ouch, don't give me that look, squirt." Rai's grin turned mischievous as Flame rolled his eyes at the teasing nickname. "Have a little faith, we're going to kick rocket butt, aren't we guys?" There was a glint of determination in her eyes and Tobin chuckled, raising both hands in mock surrender. 

His new friends were full of spunk weren't they. "We'll do our best to aid this noble cause." He gave both of them a playful salute then turned to Alice with a smile. However, the group's silly banter was cut short when as man asked them if they were headed to Jubelife. He sounded concerned and worried and it made Tobin tensed and on edge. Scott asked the man if there was a problem and he explained how the route to Jubelife had been cut off due to the quake. So, it had hit other places just as bad? The coordinator had a thoughtful look on his face, had the quake hit the entire region of Sinnoh? What about the rest of the world. He'd ask for information at the nearest lab, his parents were all the way in Hoenn, but he'd make sure to call them as soon as he found a signal. Unfortunately, Sandgem had lost communication with the rest of the region. He guessed it was the same anywhere, but took in a deep breath and hoped for the best.

"What?" Rai stared at the man with a look of bewilderment. Had it been that bad? Her mom was in Johto and her dad in Kanto, so she hadn't worried about them. In fact, they were probably the ones worrying about her, but there wasn't a signal anywhere so there was just no way to get in touch. "No way?" Rai stared at the man intently. She refused to be stuck in Sandgem! Not while team rocket was parading around, there was no way in hell!

Alice asked if there was any other way to Jubelife and the man stated they could circle around the lake.

"Is the route safe?" Tobin looked to Scott then Alice then Rai. "I don't want us to jeopardize our safety."

"Thanks a lot," Rai grinned at the man then turned to face her friends. "It should be pretty safe, Tobin. I mean, there are four of us and we've all got our Pokemon to help out." Rai's energy was contagious, but Tobin couldn't shake away worry and it lingered, but he nodded, not wanting to stop his friends. Perhaps, he was just being a worrywart. 

Then Alice said something that fired Rai up even more. 

"You're absolutely right! If we leave now there's a chance we can catch up to them." The trainer gave Alice a determined nod, despite Flame's apprehension.

Tobin wanted them to play it safe, but it was three against one and if they all thought it was no big deal then it had to be fine. "Alright, that sounds like a plan to me...but, promise me, we'll be extra careful in everything we do, please?" The last thing he wanted was someone getting hurt. Tobin didn't like to admit it, but he was like a mother goose of sorts, always wanting to make sure everyone was alright and nobody got into trouble. That was probably the reason he chose coordinating over battling in the first place.

"Now that it's settled, let's go! C'mon we're burning daylight." Rai hooked her arms with Scott's and Alice's before practically dragging them out the door. Tobin simply laughed and followed after the energetic girl. Despite the chaos the quake had left behind it was a sunny day and clouds that looked like Mareep rolled lazily across the blue sky. The trainers made their towards route 202 and it was a slow day filled with chitchat, jokes, silly banter and talking. Eventually they reached the route and saw that the road had been divided by a deep fissure that led to who knows where. "So this what was the guy was talking about, do we turn here?"

Tobin frowned, eyeing the map in his pokedex. "It says we take a left then when we reach the lake we head north." The teens continued to trudge on as morning turned into afternoon. They stopped for lunch beneath the shade of a couple of trees before continuing on however they never came across the lake. "Oh, this is bad." Tobin looked at his friends with a sour expression. "The pokedex has been giving me the wrong coordinates. The broken communication towers have been interfering with the GPS." He stared at them with a look of distraught, the sun would be setting in a few hours and getting caught in the road at night wouldn't be very smart, not when the rockets were out and around.

"I guess we'll have to keep going then," Rai frowned. "Do any of you know where we are?"