---

The archaeologist was somewhat flustered as she watched the group, or rather two of the three, as they rather hastily ran into the ruins. She still had a lot left to tell them, and so before the last one, who had just healed one of his Pokémon up, left after them, she hastily placed a hand on his shoulder, telling him “Hey, don't get in over your heads… I'm still hesitant on letting you guys in, but if something goes wrong, we’re waiting for officers and a nurse from the Pokémon Center in the nearest town. We notified them as soon as the commotion occurred, so they should be here soon… Just, don't get yourselves hurt, okay? I've seen enough trainers scurrying away from the entrance today…”

As the trio would begin to delve into the ruins, there was an odd absence of Pokémon in the rather decently lit area... You know, for having seemingly no light sources whatsoever inside the ruins. The entrance corridor was, while long width wise, simply a long stretch of a hallway, with several of the arches were doors would have been are covered in rubble, along with collapsed and intact pillars on each side. Regardless of interesting yet probably not noteworthy pillars, the only way to move was forward due to a majority of the other rooms either being blocked off by rubble or just simply dead ends. Unfortunately, it didn't seem like there was much of an alternative on how to proceed, and while they could see what was up ahead, so could anything that may hide behind rubble, which there was plenty of as the group could see. Most notably would be what appeared to be a door in the distance...

At least, if there was any consolation to this scene, was the occasional painting on the wall, some faded to time, others recreated by the archaeologist to their former glory. Of course, it was rather hard to distinguish what they meant, or even if there was anything noteworthy, but it helped pass the time for the beginning of the trip. After all, art is said to be an expression of thoughts or actions, or maybe it's some sort of depiction of history. The trio could probably assume those basic figures meant something. There was also strange lettering on some of the walls as well, but due to being rather faded thanks to time, it would be nearly impossible to read without prior knowledge of what each symbol meant or what each symbol would have looked like.

But soon, the trio reached the rather giant and probably disproportionate door, which upon opening it, the group would be blasted with a large cloud of dust and sand, similarly to their experience with the sandstorm in the cave. The once eerie lack of sound was soon replaced with a soft hum of machinery, far off in the distance. Unfortunately, even though the dust cloud would be settling after these observations, there was still plenty in the air due to whatever was going on. This also would lower the visibility in the area, along with affecting the lighting and causing it to dim slightly, along with a constant need to cough on occasion to clear their throats. Roxanne especially felt the choking feeling that the dust would bring, as if she had just drank a gallon of sand and was now heaving it out with each breath. It was coarse, rough, irritating...

The hallway they would have been in after opening the door would then branch into 3, the left leading downwards deeper into the ruins, where the light would be far more scarce. The right leading upwards to a crumbling staircase, yet various sounds could be heard from above if someone decided to venture up to investigate. Lastly, there was the obvious middle hallway, a continuation of the long previous ruined area, but this time with low visibility in what would be ahead.

All three areas appeared worthy of investigation… But what would the group do? It seemed that, regardless of what path they would take, or if they split up, each would eventually lead into some sort of...

Choke Point.

"Well, this appears to have been an unexpected encounter, thankfully nothing has been damaged", commented Jonathan. The battle between him and the leader of the assault demonstrated some serious skill. Many of the people present would know this old man as a member of the Elite Four, but it seems to be more common knowledge among the students that attend here rather than the normal populace. He turned to the young trainers who had joined the fray,

"And you lot, it does my heart well to know brave and valiant trainers still do exist", he was praising them.

"I would like to thank you all properly, I believe such valiance must be rewarded, thus, I will give you all access to the reserve behind the university. Normally it is only accessible to staff and people conducting observation experiments, but I think I can trust you all to be kind and considerate to the Pokemon that dwell there, we have tried very hard to make it as untouched as possible. Also, if you are interested in any of the fossil Pokemon, later today we'll be doing this little experiment again to revive some more, I will allow some of you to pick one for your journey if it pleases you. I will arrange everything soon, so don't go running there just yet, there's a bit of cleaning up to do", so that was their reward. He turned around and had some of the aides and students begin cleaning up the place.

Meanwhile...

"Ahahaha, wow you sure know how to sleep, slept through all the noise and all that", York was knelt down beside the sleeping Tyrunt, poking it, before it snapped it's jaws around his entire hand. He lifted the Pokemon wit it's firmly biting onto his arm.

"Wow, those are some powerful jaws, I might actually start crying, hey Tal look at this little guy, look how tightly the jaws hold on", he yells as he starts waving the little Pokemon around like an accessory stuck to his arm. The little guy was clearly not happy it's nap was disturbed.

"Hey professor, can I keep him?", the professor turned his attention to see a young man with a Tyrunt stuck to his arm.

"Hmmmm... I suppose... He does already seem quite attached... In fact how has your arm not come off? Well, regardless, this is the Tyrunt's Pokeball", he stated, pulling a Pokeball out of the Fossil Machine. It seems there was a setting where it would automatically attribute the Pokemon to an affixed Pokeball, and just like that the Tyrunt was returned to it's Pokeball, and handed to York.

"Ahahahahaaa, I don't know. Oh well. Thanks. Hmmm... I think I'll call you Marlock, yeah", he received the Pokeball for the Tyrunt, and already named it.

"You're not at all what I'd expect from the son of a professor, Nina especially. I hope to see you near the end of your journey, for now I shall tend to things here", with that he was off, and York got a Tyrunt.

@Alexfangtalon@I-Am-X@Floodtalon@Sho Minazuki@Lord Szall@Broyeabro

Amalgam University

Leo sighed in relief as he watched Team Arclight's retreat. He turned to the revival machine, sighing in relief. It was okay. He had done his job alright. He wasn't a failure.

"Gira, good work. Get some rest." A red light enveloped the long-necked Girafarig and it returned to its Pokeball. He hadn't noticed it while they were battling, but his heart was pumping something fierce after all that commotion. Well, all's well that ends well, he supposed.

"Are you all okay?" He turned to several of the other trainers as he returned to the group of people originally spectating the event. Just then, the old man who had intervened to fight the fearsome trainer and his Metagross came to greet them. He had to admit, it was embarrassing to be praised for bravery, even if said praise wasn't directed towards him personally.

More interesting still, he was actually being offered one of the pokemon set to be revived during a later demonstration. He found it odd that they would even consider continuing the revivals after what had just happened. He would be a liar if he said the prospect of getting an ancient pokemon didn't excite him, however. Well, it sounded like they had a lot of time to spare until those actually happened. There was something important he had to do beforehand...

-----

"How do you feel, Nado?" Leo looked at his downtrodden Gible with kind eyes. He pet the Gible on the head, despite the rough marks such physical contact left on his skin. "C'mon, don't feel bad...this one's on me, not you. If I had the attack earlier, maybe you wouldn't have..."

Nado continued staring at the floor. His words were falling on deaf ears, evidently. With a sigh, Leo returned his companion to its pokeball. He had made it a point to heal his pokemon up at a nearby center on campus before claiming his fossil pokemon. That was the first thing he wanted to do, the second?

Leo walked up towards a nearby phone booth and dialed his house number. It was a bit later in Sinnoh than it was in Chromis, so he was positive that everyone was in the house right about now.



Later on in the day, Leo returned to the university and noted that a good portion of the fossils had already undergone the revival process. One pokemon in particular had just been resurrected. It was a turtle-like pokemon, a water type, if he had to guess. But who needed guessing with a working pokedex?

"Tirtouga: The Prototurtle Pokemon. Restored from a fossil, this Pokémon can dive to depths beyond half a mile. About 100 million years ago, these Pokémon swam in oceans. It is thought they also went on land to attack prey." Interesting...

Soon after, Leo would claim the mon as his own and be gifted it along with its pokeball.

"Eh? A blackout? That doesn't happen often around here!" The idol girl who had been viciously fighting over an article of fabulous clothing paused for but a moment during the blackout, just to start pulling and tugging on it from the other rabid shopper. This was no ordinary fashion shopping, it was a war amongst the top fashionistas of the city; fighting for what it takes to be 'the diva'. This was where Ruby shined before the top coordinator dream.

After what seemed like a decade, Ruby emerged victorious with new outfits and accessories for her and Berry, the Sylveon. Being late to the whole 'cashier is busted please stand by' party, the little girl simply smiled. And STOMPED her clicking high heel on the floor, to the point of creating a dent. "Ruby's happy shopping time is ruined....~?" Eyes covered with the shade of her bangs, the not-so-innocent young girl beamed a creepy crescent smile as she slowly approached the cashier lady.

Suddenly, Ruby could feel a nudge against her leg before she could do anything and noticed it was her partner, Berry. "Hm~? What is it Berry, Ruby is a little busy right now~" The Sylveon directed herself towards Danilo and Ven.... but where did Lucy and Danilo's Eevee go? "Oh well, Ruby can buy them next time then! Bye bye cashier lady~!" As if what had happened a moment ago did not take place, the strawberry blond girl giggled and waved bye to the now creeped out cashier.

"Danny~! Venny~! Where did Lucy and Zappy go~?"

Jack was happy about the idea of having a prehistoric Pokemon on his team. But even more so, he was glad that nobody was seriously hurt during the attack on the college. Curiously, the professor seemed to have no such trouble with battling Damian, and this made Jack wonder how strong of a trainer the professor really was.

Nonetheless, he hadn't been harmed. As they went on to revive more Pokemon, Jack stayed and watched over the revival process of each individual Pokemon. As they went through to explain the complicated process, Jack pulled out his Pokedex, making sure to add each species as they were reborn. He couldn't believe how many prehistoric Pokemon there were.

After they had finished, Jack put away his Pokedex made his way to the reserve.

RYZIN

AMALGAM UNIVERSITY

After watching all the other trainers get there fossil pokemon, Ryzin waits with a growing anticipation to receive his reward. When the next fossil is starting to be revived holding Dm in his arms there both staring intently at the process, after the bright light of resurrection passes, Ryzin and Dm see the cutest pokemon sitting on its hind legs, slowly it starts blinking its somewhat biggish eyes trying to greet the new world. Dm leaps out of Ryzin's arms jumping up and down pointing at this new pokemon, "Yes Dm I am quite found of this myself lets take a closer look".

As they approach the little cutey the professor approaches them as says, "This is called an Amaura its a rock and ice type pokemon what do you think?". "This has to be one of the cutest things I've seen", Ryzin reaches out to Amaura, "hey little buddy how would you like to journey with me and Dm here?, it would be lots of fun". Amaura looks at him tilting his head to the side, then leans in to sniff his hand, HAAACHOOO!, Amaura sneezes and lets out a puff of snow flakes from its nose. Dm starts cracking up laughing at Ryzin seeing his face covered in snotty snow flakes, Ryzin just looks at Dm and shakes his head, then turns back to Amaura not realizing Amaura is right in his face. He gets a little bit of a shock, then Amaura gives him a big slurpy lick across the face trying to clean up the mess he made all over Ryzin. "HAHAHAHHAHA I think you three are going to get along famously here is Amaura's pokeball, I hope I get to see what becomes of you and your pokemon young man". "Well now all we need to do now is decide on a name for you, what to call you, how about Shiva? what do you think?, Shiva does a little jumping, nods then taps his head on the pokeball, then returns safe and sound.

Ryzin then looks to his faithful companion, then back to the professor and humbly asks him "Hey Professor you wouldn't by chance have a spare pokedex would you, I'm kinda new to the whole trainer thing and my buddy Dm here loves to battle, So I thought Id do some battling maybe look into the pokemon gyms aswell, I just learned from this old guy about the pokedex and I really need one, I thought you might have one lying around?"."Well young man since you asked so kindly by chance yes I do have one here on me, I was going to give it to one of my assistants but I can always get him another one from my office, I also assume you haven't got a trainer card or registered for the pokemon league?"."Well short story nope not at all." "Not to worry I will fix you up since you were a great help here, follow me".

After a while Ryzin got all set and ready to go he moves back to the entrance of the reserve and stops for a moment. He then pulls out his pokedex and points it at Totodile, "Lets check this thing out", Totodile. Resembles a blue crocodile with red spines on its back and tail, despite the smallness of its body, Totodile's jaws are very powerful. While the Pokemon may think it is just playfully nipping, its bite has enough power to cause serious injury.Ryzin thinks to himself, wow this is neat then notices Dm posing like some sort of hero. "Really Dm, yes your jaws are strong, you're such a blowhard its so cute, look at the little cutie Totodile all strong and cute like". Dm turns around folds her arms, stamps her foot and gets all flustered with embarrassment. "HAHAHHAHAHA I am only teasing come on buddy lets go to the reserve see what awaits us there".

Within the passing few hours after the battle at the University main hall, Jack was able to find a Center and restore his Pokemon's fighting strength, as well as restock on potions and food. Satisfied, he continued on his way to the reserve once more...

Midday approach as the entrance to Silumin loomed over Jack, as he yawned while walking towards the edge of the university grounds. It seemed spending a night on route 9 didn't grant him the shut eye to get through the day as well as he had hoped. Though his body wasn't well rested, his spirit fought against it. He couldn't help feeling anxious over the battle he had against Team Arclight. Though it felt dangerous to cross them, it had only been Jack's second trainer battle and all it had done was drive an excitement through him. He needed to battle once again!

He stopped as he finally reached the entrance to the reserve. There were people around, yet none that he could point out to be the professor. This worried Jack slightly."If Professor Jonathan was letting people come through,is it alright for me to just go through on my own?" he thought aloud to himself. Awkwardly placed, Jack stood in front of the entrance, a finger pressed aginst his bottom lip while his other hand fiddled with the cube in his pocket.

After that little debacle had concluded, things calmed down as the time of day approached afternoon. The sun was still high in the sky, so there was some time for them to look around the reserve before needing to set up camp for the night. The University's Pokemon Center had guest rooms available, and the 24/7 student lounge too.

For now they were headed to the reserve. York seemed to be quite eager, despite what status he had as the son of a professor, he was actually not allowed in here. It seems part of the requirements was to be an adequate trainer too, alongside being given permission. They were not allowed to stay after dark however, and some specially assigned rangers start their patrol in the reserve around that time too, so too bad they won't get to see what comes out at night. Even so thinking about all the rare Pokemon they could see was likely worth it anyways.

"So this is the way to the reserve hm?", it was quite obvious. There was a big sign saying "Silumin Reserve". Regardless for now he was getting permissions processed with the gate guard for now.

---

As Dan and Lucy chased after both their Pokemon, and each other, pursuing something or someone darting around the shopping center and entering the back room, they quickly lost sight of whoever it was. As Danilo turned a corner he was grabbed and hand placed over his mouth, he can see whoever this was was holding his Eevee, also hand over mouth, but before either could appropriately panic, he simply went,

"Ssshhh... They'll hear us", he whispered. Their eyes darted to their side and saw two suspicious men.

"Ugh, this mall's a damn maze, what was the way back again? Some of these shutters closed up because they botched the initial hack", as the two calmed down he let them go, and pulled out a Pokeball.

"You two, and the girl, just wait here", he said. He spotted Lucy from behind the corner.

The two peered out as the man walked out to fight. Now that they weren't in some random corner, they can see who it was quite clearly. The two suspicious men turned to see him, and both called up their Pokemon. The man called forth a Kingler, and subsequently made short work of them. After they were beaten he tied them up against one of the pipes, after which he turned to Danilo and Lucy.

"Alright, first, what are two young trainers doing all the way back here during an emergency?", he asked.

Talonite walked to the Reserve alongside York, stroking his Wimpod in an effort to calm it down and Necro floating beside them happily. When he had discovered the Wimpod he was overjoyed to find out that this was what Guzma had given him and it probably overshadowed how terrible the rest of his day had been. He was still trying to come up with a name for the little guy though. It had calmed down a bit and now it was mainly curious about what was going on around it, trying to make itself look tough.

York was feeling pretty excited about the Reserve and Talonite couldn't entirely blame him. There were sure to be some great Pokemon inside, he was hoping to find a good fighting type to help round out his party. There were a few other trainers around, likely some people who helped to stop Team Arclight during their raid on the University. Strange thing that was, the Admin clearly had more Pokemon available on his belt, yet he ran away when that one Grunt got done with the machine. Perhaps they were trying to sell information on it to someone else? That's what Skull would've done.

Talonite shook his head and placed his Wimpod on his shoulder, letting it chill put for a while. The Wimpod started trying to look intimidating and big upon his shoulder and Talonite shook his head. Perhaps Goliath was a good name for him. Intimidating, yet likely to be brought down by a single stone.

---

Soon the group of three trainers and their pokemon slowed down a bit to a more reasonable pace as the light dimmed and the dust grew heavier. It was eerily silent too, apart from the vague rumble of machinery deeper into the ruins. It was eerie-- everything else already left, by the looks of it. Did the pokemon that live here think the place was gonna collapse in on itself if nobody could stop the machinery...? Hopefully that wasn't gonna happen with them in it. Or well, like, at all. The ruins were ruined enough.

The ruins themselves were spectacular visually-- the ancient architecture was amazing to look at, art on the walls gave cryptic insight to past culture, and the collapsed arches and pillars weirdly added to the look. It was disappointing to see the more interesting and presumably more historically important parts of the ruins inaccessible due to cave-ins and whatnot, but at least it made their path linear. There wasn't much of a question where the gang could've gone, really. It pissed Nov off a bit just thinking about these kinds of things, though. He wasn't much of a history buff or anything, but it still sucked not being able to take in the cool sights! They couldn't delay at all if they wanted to save the ruins from whatever the enemy's plan was, and it wasn't like they could focus much anyway.

After a bit of navigating past a few frustrating dead-ends, the party found themselves standing before a giant stone door. It took all three of them heaving to get it to crack open, but once they did, it practically flew open with a cloud of dust blasting into them. More importantly though, the sound of machinery became significantly louder now that it was open-- they were getting close, but there was still the hall before them to deal with. Nov cleared his throat and waved the dust out of his face once the cloud disappated. It would have bothered him more if they hadn't just dealt with pretty much the exact same scenario but worse; sandstorms in a tight corridor weren't too intimidating anymore.

He gave the others a moment to recover from the blast of sand before continuing forward, but they were soon stopped again by a discovery: the road forked three ways. One was a sloped hall downwards, one just continued forward, and the right had stairs climbing upwards. This was... concerning. Going down the wrong path would be a major time-waster, so maybe it would be best not to go as one group?

Nov thought about it for another minute before turning to the others. "We can't waste too much time if we choose wrong here, so maybe we should split up. I dunno if they meet up later or something, but at least that way one of us will have to find the right way." Without waiting for the others' responses, Nov casually walked over to the right side with the staircase. "I'll take this path. You two can take the others, and we'll meet up later, yeah?"

RYZIN

AMALGAM RESERVE

After observing a few other trainers enter the reserve, Ryzin was content in the fact he could now enter with little hassle from other people. He then proceeded to ask to the guard if he could enter and be on his way. Ryzin and Dm entered into the forest part of the reserve, sneaking around trying to map out the area being as cautious as possible. Seeing various types of pokemon Ryzin pulls out his new pokedex and begins a little learning curve, he then notices something hes seen before but is unsure of the name of the Pokemon.

Ryzin quickly uses his pokedex and checks the pokemon,Scyther. It confuses its prey with its quick, ninja-like movements. Then, in an instant, it cleaves them with its scythes."Oooooooo Dm this looks like it could be rather difficult, think your up to it?......wait a second why did I bother asking, I can tell your pretty keen to battle, lets get a little closer first and watch it for a bit, it could be stronger than we think".

Caught in a bind, Jack had no idea how or who to ask about going into the reserve. slightly frustrated, he pressed his finger harder against his lip and turned to try and look around for the Professor one more time. That's when two trainers came by that made Jack stop for a moment. One of the trainers looked oddly familiar. He couldn't say he ever met him, but he swore that he remembered seeing him somewhere...

And then he remembered, the trainer he was looking at was one of the people with Professor Jonathan after Arclight attacked! Jack smiled to himself. Perhaps he knew whether it was okay to go in. Still smiling, Jack walked over to the two trainers and introduced himself. "Excuse me, you guys were at the University when Team Arclight attacked, am I right? Do you know if we're allowed to go in yet?"

A kid with their Totodile rushed past them without even a greeting, but he seemed really enthusiastic about getting in, but as demonstrated if they had the permits they can go in and out quite freely. Well in any case, as they were about to step through they were addressed to by another trainer. He was asking about whether or not they could go in.

"Aaah, you guys need to get a permit. The professor should've handed you one already", he explained as he pulled out from his bag a slip.

"You guys didn't get one?", he inquired back.

---

Danilo blinked in confusion as he could have sworn that Lucy was standing there just a few seconds ago. Looking around bewildered he caught the sight of the blue pokemon outfit she wore as it disappeared into a door, which obviously was a staff only area. But alas, that didnt matter as he sat out after his travel partner. Hearing Ruby voice after him, but not paying it attention. She would follow or stay with Ven. The young happy lady will be surely safe with the silent trainer. Briefly noting he was doing a lot more running today than usually as he went through the door as well.

He was burning with curiosity and there were good chances his Eevee was probably around here as well. Holding his staff thought he was just slightly out the breath. Around the corner he went and from behind a hand reached swiftly covering his mount. His arm twitched and it was only thanks to the words that man spoke that Danilo didnt follow up on his instinct and slammed his staff into the person full force to free himself. Because really which bad guy would give a warning out about another danger?

He relaxed seeing Maria as well being well and up. Voices coming floating from up the hall. Initial hack? Yup this was highly interesting. Something big must be happening? Thief of a crown jewelry?.... He was in a mall not a museum, silly him. A shady exchange of money or rare pokemon maybe? .... That was silly as well making such a ruckus would be contra productive. What could it be?

"You two, and the girl, just wait here"

The unknown man spoke and Danilo gave a polite nod, in understanding. He looked down at Maria who shifted under his gaze but gave a nod of her own. She could feel her trainer had something to say about her behaviour. Yet, that could wait for later, at the moment there were more urgent things going on. Danilo peered after the trainer and watched him fight...well more like make a quick process with the assumingly evil doers. Dan approved of the other trainer style. It suited well with the aura of confidence that he was proving to have all right to.

"Alright, first, what are two young trainers doing all the way back here during an emergency?"

"Ah, it wasnt my intention to cause trouble in such dire moment. But alas, my run away eevee run away, in pursuit of a lead of some sort. I presume so it had been, Maria?" The last part of his words he directed to his eevee who looked sheepishly and nodded adding a soft bark. Danilo was smiling as he continued quickly to not waste time."So simply, I had to follow my heart and my pokemon. Speaking in my own name, being already here...a extra pair of hands or eyes may be from use in this intense crisis?" Danilo spoke hoping his offer of help would be accepted, or at least the man would it find to troublesome to help them find the way out the maze of hallways and let them tug along. It would be a shame if he missed the amazing mystery in front of his nose.

Jack thought back for a moment. Then, he remembered back when they were reviving Pokemon, Professor Jonathan had handed out the permit to him while he was adding the fossil Pokemon to his dex. Frantically, Jack began to check all of his pockets, finding the permit underneath the color cube in his Pocket. Laughing, Jack blushed in front of the trainers. "Ahahahaha! I forgot, I guess I had it all along. That's embarrassing..." Jack admitted to the two. Talking to them seemed to have allowed Jack's thoughts to ease, enabling him to enjoy conversing with these trainers a lot more casually without his next goal in mind. "By the way, I'm Jack Schreiber. If you guys plan on going on ahead anyways, perhaps we could inspect the reserve together?" Jack asked the two trainers, smiling as usual.

Interacting With: @Shadeflare123 @Sen @MechonRaptor

Equipment:
4/5 Pokeballs
4/5 Potions
0/1 Revives

Aiden was well on his way to following Novis and Roxanne when he felt the stern yet, warning hand on his shoulder. Hearing the words of the woman and nodding to her as she spoke. When she was done and pulled her hand back Aiden said, "Don't worry, we'll be ok and I'll make sure that they dont' do anything really bad." In an effort to reassure her that everything would be ok. Zorex and Acano seemed to agree and both gave a cheer, Acano jumping in front of both Zorex and Aiden to give what may be considered an uplifting speech given how much he called out and gestured, but Aiden didn't speak Pokemon.

From there the little gang ran after the rest of their friends to catch up and follow through the dusty and eerie ruins until the sounds of machines and gusting wind. When the door was opened up and the dust cloud was ripped through the room Aiden was quick to respond by pulling up a bandana he had around his neck to cover his mouth and nose. It may be a tad odd to have that ready but when your best friend made a habit of gusting up massive sandstorms it paid to have something to save your lungs. At that stage when the path split with each way seeming intriguing in itself Aiden almost wanted to agree with Novis' suggestion of splitting up, however... "Hold on are you sure we should split up? I mean we were told that a bunch of bad people are here and I don't wanna get jumped again." Though being said the more he thought about it the more it seemed to be a good idea. They were good trainers and Aiden was sure he and his team would be fine and they didn't really have a lot of time to spare. "Look I know what we need to do. Just... be careful guys." He said correcting his last statement and from there he went left, ready to head into the darkness with his flashlight fetched from his bag and ignited to light the way.

RYZIN

SILUMIN RESERVE

In a panic Ryzin returns Shiva to his pokeball scoops up Dm and runs away. Ryzin reaches what looks like a clearing in the forest, he then checks the area, coming to the conclusion its safe, he then brings Amaura back out, he reaches into his bag and sprays them both with a potion. Looking at both his pokemon with a defeated look says, "Im so sorry guys that was a really bad judgement call on my part, I should have known better than to try take Scyther on, im sorry". Dm looks at him not pleased with her utter defeat, she falls on her butt and begins to cry. Amaura looks at them both kinda carefree about the whole situation, he just lies down and closes his eyes. Ryzin looks to Shiva and thinks, 'wow he is so carefree, he didn't even care he got beat or anything, haha tough little guy just wants a nap hahahaha. "Dm come on there's no need for you to be like this, we will just have to work harder, train more and come up with better strategies, we got this buddy". Ryzin picks up Dm and just holds her close and reflects on the situation which had just past, he then tries to think of what he could have done better.

Amalgam--->Road to Damascus

@Floodtalon

"Your name's Tirtouga, huh?" Leo asked the newest member of his party. He got down on one knee to pet the creature's head, but it's neck shied away into its shell before he could make contact. Not the most outgoing little thing out there, was it? Fair enough, it had been revived after what could have been thousands upon millions of years into the past. The new civilization and technology all around the world would take a bit of time to get used to. According to a brief scan by Leo's pokedex after the Tirtouga was gifted to him, it was actually a girl.

"Well, Toga sounds like a good enough nickname. How about it?" Toga responded neither positively nor particularly disagreeably. "Guess I'll take that as a yes." Leo said with a sigh, returning the pokemon to its ball. He wished he could connect to some of his new companions at least slightly better. Maybe in the near future he would be able to understand them more. Now certainly wasn't that time.

Leo left Amalgam with awe written on his face. From visiting one town alone, he had managed to make such vivid memories. That, to him, was amazing. He secretly hoped that something similar would happen at his next destination, Damascus. He had read in a brochure that Damascus was home to a gym. Now that he had such a large party on his hands, he felt more comfortable taking on a gym. It would be tough. All he could do was hope for the best.

With that, Leo set out on the path to his target, Bee sleeping peacefully on his head.

Talonite was jolted out of his internal monologue when another trainer approached them to join their group in the Reserve. "Oh yeah, sure, whatever. I'm Talonite." He didn't bother reaching for a handshake, or even acknowledging Jack very much. It didn't matter to him honestly, the new guy wasn't interesting enough to note. Maybe his opinion would change once they got in though. He seemed to have potential. "Let's go in." With that being said Talonite started to enter the Reserve, with or without them.

---

As Leo ventured onto Route 10, something began following him up the mountain, trying to be stealthy but failing miserably. A lone Torchic had escaped from the Reserve in search of adventure and glory! Its whole life was spent in the Reserve, battling other Pokemon who were mean and hurt other Pokemon. Most of the battles it had lost, convincing the Torchic that it must leave to gain experience and learn more about being a Hero. This was its first adventure into the outside world and it had already spied a suspicious creature which walked on two legs yet was enormous in comparison to the other Pokemon it had seen. The Torchic smelled all kinds of Pokemon on it, yet none of them were nearby.

The strange creature must have done something to them! The plot thickens. All that was left now was to question the monster on where it's captives were. It jumped out of "hiding" and screamed "TORCHIC!" which roughly translated to "Halt! Where are your captives!" What a curious little fellow.

Road to Damascus

@floodtalon

Leo looked back at the Torchic following him. He noticed that it was trying its damnedest to follow his trail without making its presence known. It failed. Miserably. Leo pretended not to realize it for the Torchic's sake. With the amount of effort it was putting in, he would feel guilty destroying whatever illusion of stealth it had in its mind. Thankfully, there was no need to keep up the charade for much longer. The Torchic jumped out and let out a loud cry! Although, he felt as if it were angry with him for some reason or another...just a hunch.

Whatever, if it was a fight it wanted, it was a fight it would get! He was contemplating sending out Toga for her first battle in literal centuries, but Bee seemed intent on fighting this match. She floated off of Leo's head with her flower and furrowed her tiny brows in anger. She then let out another loud "Bee!"

Roughly, it translated to "Don't ever call me a captive again!"

The Flabebe stood opposite the Torchic, raring to fight.

"You want to handle this one, Bee? Fine by me, let's take him down!"