The green-haired boy was easily amused from wearing actual farmer's boots, showing them to Bravos with awe as they followed Mrs. Frida for a tour of the farm. They happened upon her partner Mr. Neil, the big scary guy who didn't actually seem that scary after he was introduced by Frida. With the way he smiled at her and looked at her like she was a beautiful flower, Archie would think Neil was a big softie!

"No worries, ma'am! Please take care on the road and thanks again for the help!" Archie waved to Frida as she left, with Bravos now cowering a bit behind his legs from Neil.

"We're happy to be under your care, Mr. Neil! We're so stoked to be able to help around too!" The young lad cheerfully said as they followed the burly farmer towards the pen. Archie looked at the Pokémon grazing at the grass and Frida was right, they did seem a bit tense. Probably it was because of that Egg Thief going around. He listened to Neil's explanation while he looked around, trying to see if anything's out of the ordinary.

He then excitedly held out his hands and offered the snacks to the nearby Mareep. Meanwhile, Bravos looked shyly at the sheep Pokémon infront of it. It didn't know if it was nervous with their presence or judging them with their side-eyes. It was probably both.

"Here ya go, soft boi! That's it... We're here to help you guys..." Archie smiled brightly at the Mareep while talking with a reassuring voice as he looked at Neil. "Um, sir? Mrs. Frida mentioned something about a thief stealing Pokémon eggs. If you don't mind, can you please show us the place in the farm where they last stole these eggs? Also, uh..." He paused for a bit to think. "Did you report this to the police? What did they say?"

Archie thought this was his chance to help those in need, the first test in becoming a true hero!

Vivian blinks, several times in fact, as she processes what just happened. Then she abruptly seems to notice the fact that the two individuals behind her actually existed, “Oh, hi! Sorry- I get a bit excited when it comes to this stuff” the archeologist spins around on her heel, “I’m fine though! I think. I’m actually going to need you for a test-” abruptly, Vivian grabs the cowboy’s hand, pressing it firmly against the black wall, her grip… Surprisingly strong for a girl her size, fueled entirely by her dedication to her craft, “Okay, do you feel any static in your head? If so is it rising in intensity”

Once she got her reply, she took a step away, freeing the cowboy from her grip and quickly scribbling in a notebook, "So what are you two doing up here? Are you enthusiasts for ancient history too? What do you know about this place, it's so near to the city but it seems to untouched!"

Audrey looked around as she began wearing the boots Frida had given her for the tour, she was definitely not a farm kid so Audrey didn't really know if the lady was exaggerating or not, but hey, fun boots! Spotting the big big guy, Neil putting haybales before he walked over. Wonder what he wants.

"Honey what's going on with those kids?" ... "Oh, just going to give them a tour of the place since they've already here." ... "Honey, you have an appointment in Florasong, remember?" ... "Could you please give them the tour then? Surely you could take a break from work? I promised them."

What a suprise, Audrey had never expected for the guy to tour them. Well, hopefully they were in very safe hands, not like she distrusts him or anything, just wished everything had gone as promised. Hm, Florasong. Ah, how could she NOT know that oh so beautiful town? Especially that exclusive, like really exclusive music school and the music everywhere! , OH and she almost forgot to say "Bye ma'am! Hope your jourmey is safe!" Audrey happily said to Frida. The girl travelled and toured the magnificient farm, so cool. Stopping at the pens as a first detination, THE PENSSS!! THE PENS ARE SO COOL. Audrey awed in, well, awe, looking at the mareep and wooloo. Whilst she did know that mareep definitely stored electricity in their wool, Audrey did not know how it'd feel. And preferably, she'll keep it that way.

"Hold out your hands." If they did so, he would place small little brown cubes into his hand. They looked like snacks. "Try your hand at feeding them."

Audrey's hands rapidly shot out, holding them out at the VERY exciting mention of...FEEDING POKEMON. Given small brown snacks and feeding the cute wooloo and mareep, "Zooorrr..." Rift whined, probably wanting one too. Audrey giggled but continued, as she finished Archie was asking the very question that was in her mind too! "Yeah sir. We'd love to know, and what Pokémon eggs were stolen?" Audrey stated with courage, she's definitely up to help after having her Pokémon healed.

It's only fair, and Audrey will definitely send those thieves to prison in no time!! Hopefully.

---

Things were going about as smoothly as they could be. The two Igglybuffs were on the backfoot, Sir Lopsalot was holding his own well despite his condition, and Tors was performing admirably. More than admirably even, he was doing great! Nils was proud of his partner, and when his pokedex floated up in front of him with a notification of a new move Nils almost didn't hear it since his attention was on the developing battle.

Mudslide? A new move... and it was stronger, wasn't it? Let's do it!

It was lucky that the swap could be done later, since as Nils was deciding the battle was already moving onto the next stage. He glanced from his pokedex to Scrapper who'd been swapped in and the two balloon puffs in time to see the beginning of their combo attack. Nils pushed his pokedex out of the way for now and it floated off to the side as he gave his attention back to the battle. Switching out moves would come in a bit!

As the fireball formed, Nils made a spilt second decision based purely on the fact that mud was just dirt and water, and both could be used to put out fires.

"Tors, try and douse those flames with your mud!" Nils said.

Tors brayed in response and with his new temporarily increased speed, moved up in front of Scrapper and used another Mud-Slap to throw a blanket of mud up to collide with the fireball.

With luck it would stop the fireball in its tracks and give Scrapper a clear path to counter attack... but even just weakening the fire would work!

The switch out was successful, and the blow connected, but their opponents were seemingly just as ready to keep things going. The two Igglybuff were seemingly ready to hit both the swapped-in Scrapper and Tors with quite an explosively fiery combination. Poison Gas and air-igniting voices created a fireball of respectable proportions, one headed right toward the trainers' two Pokemon! They had to think of something, and fast, to avoid their two Pokemon getting hit full-force with it. Tors' defense was good, but he'd taken hits already it seemed (to her eyes) and Scrapper hadn't any moves that would seem to help the situation unless a good Acid Spray might help douse the fireball headed toward them.

As the psychic pondered her own Pokemon's next move, however, the wounded Sir Lopsalot and Scrapper would share a glance at each other and a tiny nod as the former swapped out and would hop up from the ground and onto Clarissa's left shoulder. The tough little Buneary would nearly fall off as well, however, woozy from the sustained damage and ticking poison in his system. Likewise the single-arm-carried Pyrite would glance to the side and lean his rocky head fin over for the bunny to grab onto for emergency stability. Thereafter the Buneary would let out a small but grateful sigh, sit on his trainer's right shoulder now, and look back down tiredly at the Pokemon that had helped him-....wait a second, he hadn't seen this new addition to the team yet.

His trainer had caught a living....rock? It didn't even have a normal face like a Geodude did! Hmm. Evig was a rather strange place indeed. Even so, the two seemed to stare at each other for a moment of silence before looking back to the ongoing battle as well. Not much needed to be said at this point in time between them in any case.

Indeed, now a different voice would break through the tense air of the oncoming fireball soon therafter!

"Tors, try and douse those flames with your mud!" Nils said.

Were the psychic not focused on the fight, she'd have nigh cracked a small grin at what Nils had said. Well, almost have done so at least. Indeed, Clarissa had been thinking that something like Tors' Mud-Slap would help in this scenario! Maybe. Hopefully. Wet mud worked well to help put out a fire and to smother it, yes? So hopefully it would blunt the combo attack of their opponents, and then-

"Scrapper, follow up after that Mud-Slap hits the fireball with an Acid Spray at our opponents!"

The brave little Trubbish would ready himself to make the commanded move in kind. Once that Mud-Slap hit the fireball, he planned to charge through and unleash a surprise Acid Spray at the two Igglybuff in kind! Hopefully the Mud-Slap would help with the fireball situation, either weakening or stopping it perhaps, but with his good HP at the moment he felt he could do this plan to the best of his ability! If the poisoned murder bunny, he did remember he was kind of the one who had poisoned him prior actually (and for good reason at the time), could fight hard in his condition then he had to do his best as well! So he would follow-up as he'd been instructed, moving to time his run forward toward their opponents with the Mud-Slap hitting that oncoming fireball.

Would their plan work? Would they get the jump on their opponents with their own clever counterattack? Or would their efforts be reduced to kindling and....go up in flames?

Either way, Clarissa prepared the Pokeball in her right hand and continued to wait for the most opportune moment to throw it at one of the Igglybuff to catch it. At least if she got the chance to properly of course, though she didn't want to wait for both to be gone and be unable to be caught if possible. Hmm. Only time would tell.

[Scrapper is following orders, and will follow-up immediately after the Mud-Slap hits the oncoming fireball to run forward and use Acid Spray at the opponent Igglybuff!]

[Clarissa is still ready with a Pokeball in her right hand, ready to toss it when the best chance to do so to try to catch one of these Igglybuff presents itself!]

@Remram@Shazamrock

"Asta and Seeggy huh? Plezshah t' maytcha, nymes Steph." Offering the two of them handshakes at the same time, because she has two hands, she can dual wield handshakes, she in fact wouldn't press Freya for an answer. For now. That time might be later, but the time now was for them to begin moving out to find this fisherman.


"Jayz, thuhtayn? Oy reckawn we hahd soimilah oolsao. Dunnao whoy he nayds sao many, buh' hy moah rivuls am Oy roigh'?" More competition was always better to Steph, meant more reasons to get stronger and improve. She didn't want to be caught lacking, especially since there was at least double what she had already met wondering around! And that was just between two groups, who knew how many people he had working on this. She would give a grin and hearty laugh now though as she continued. "Though sohry t' buhst yoah bubble, buh' oym the one whaws gawnna wiien ih' ooll. gawt someone Oy wahnt t' foind, figured the baest why was t' become the baest. hahppy t' be proven wrawng if yah cahn though! Hahahaha!"


Though watching the interaction between Siggy and Asta had her side-eyeing the two. A noble girl and her butler? Embarking on a quest to grow stronger together, for each others sakes? To be each others reasons for growing stronger? And he was just coolly admitting he couldn't live without her? Oh yeah, Steph was digging this. Steph shipped this. Steph was all for this. All of it.

Without a word, she would reach over and put a hand on Asta's shoulder, nod knowingly and approvingly, not uttering a single word. With her only further elaboration being a simple thumbs up. No words were uttered, only a silent 'go for it girl', perhaps even a 'slay queen', take your pick as to whatever version you wanted.

As they walked, Steph felt herself grow hungry again as they passed a few pubs, bars and food stalls. The food she had gotten before was plenty enough for a normal person, but lets be real, everyone knew Steph wasn't normal. Even Steph herself knew this. She would probably stop by some generic random food stalls and munch on some more food as they passed through looking for the fisherman, mouth stuffed with food as her neck shot in the direction Freya pointed.

Quickly scoffing whatever might remain, Steph would pipe up as they approached and were subsequently questioned by the man.

"G'die old mite, nymes Steph." Ah, the Steph greeting grin and handshake technique. Truly nothing seen before. "nawt frawm round heah, sao Oy was lookin faw some advoice on feeshin around thaese pahts. ya knaow wheah ahh good spawts, whaht soht of pokemawn ahh around, wheah Oy cahn foind some raeh cahtches, thaht sohta stuff, and Oy heahd ya a good bloke t' tohk t' abeow' thaht. coahss Oy steell nayd t' geh' a new rawd, laeft moine on the fahm bahck home in guylah haeh, buh' plaenty of good plyces t' geh' one round heah frawm whaht ive sayn."

Regan Calhoun

@Remram

Ooh, good. The difficult part of the job was just cornering the thing. A relieved smile softened the trainer’s expression, “alright, then. Here, I’ll transport you in a Pokeball.” Regan retrieved an empty ball from her belt and held it out for the Magnemite to come and boop itself on.

Once that was done, it was time to collect her payment and go. Oh, but first, she made a mess in that maintenance closet. Mum always said to clean up after yourself. She couldn’t remember how the cabinet had been organized, but she could at least pick it back up and put everything back on the shelves.

To the receptionist, to secure her payment, she would show her proof of service, her captured Magnemite, “here’s the source of your power outages. Cute little guy, isn’t he? If he weren’t so much trouble, perhaps.” She’d have to find the power plant, but that shouldn’t be too hard, right? Maybe the receptionist knows where it is. Or, maybe one of the brochures she picked up from the Association could help her.

At any rate, her business at the apartment complex was complete. Without knowing where the powerplant was, exactly, she had to gather some information. Someone at a restaurant near the complex complained about a creature leaving a mess that morning at the dumpster. Apparently this was not an uncommon occurrence. It didn’t seem like anything too out of the ordinary, but perhaps it warranted checking out?

While asking about a power plant, Regan would investigate this dumpster-diver pokemon.

Okay, so the obvious best way to get people's attention was just shout for it. Only trouble was she knew there was the chance of people claiming to be the owner when they weren't. Faye figured she could trust the Snubbull to turn away people that it wasn't familiar with - it had no problem passing on David's attempt to help it - so there was at least that. And Sage was here to give support if anyone insisted on being a problem. And if the trainer wasn't in the area, she could always see if the Snubbull would accompany her to either the Pokecenter or Kapoc's lab so she could get more help in tracking its trainer down.

Well, here goes nothing.

She shifted the strap of the camera and let it rest across her so the camera rest on her hip as she stepped up onto the edge of the fountain. Cupping her hands at the sides of her mouth, she shouted "hi! Excuse me, everyone! My little Snubbull model is having some trouble finding her trainer! Please come see me! Thanks!"

Faye offered the Snubbull a smile and hopped off the fountain edge. "That should do it. And if not, you can stick with me until we find your trainer, okay? Sage and I will keep you safe."

Sage offered the Snubbull a smile and nodded. "Ee! Eev ee vee eev." Then he sat down beside the Snubbull to watch for its trainer.

@Xaltwind


The man flashed a friendly smile at her. "Ah, you must be a new trainer if you don't know about it. Allow me to explain!" He said eagerly.

"You see, typically when Pokemon get stronger they will naturally learn moves, but there are methods of teaching moves they can never learn in nature. This can happen with Technical Machines or TMs for short, or in this case, with a Move Tutor. For a fee we can teach them new moves if they can learn it and even have them remember old moves. Heck, we can make them even remember moves that they never even remember having! Evolution can be weird like that."

The move tutor continued their sales pitch. "We also have an app that allows you to swap out moves that your Pokemon may have learned over the journey, even tutored ones. Say you want to change a Pokemon's move-set for a particular challenge, but you already sunk time and money into it? Well, with the app you swap moves in and out as much as you want though it only works with moves that it learned previously. You're gonna need to come here and get those extra special moves hidden in them!"

He gave her an apologetic smile and then said, "We reserve teaching stronger moves to stronger trainers though. It's kinda a bad idea to give any Youngster Joey's Ratata some powerful move. Would you be interested?"

(GM note: If they could learn it in a past generation or spin off, they can learn it here. This includes via breeding.)

What does Evelyn do?

Connected Areas
Starbor Forest. A forest filled with ungodly huge trees.
Lake Charity. A massive body of water. Used to travel between Starbor Village, Valstille City, and Florasong Town.
Blue Lichen Cave. South of Starbor Village.

---

@Azure Bubbles@Joshua Tamashii

The Mimikyu looked up sadly at the medium, listening to her empathize with its loneliness. "Mimu..." Its shadowy hand reached out and grabbed hers gently. Perhaps it was because of the promise of friendship and companionship as well as the act of kindness that it has repeatedly received from her, but it nodded its head (torso?) as if to accept her proposition.

With a gentle press of a Pokeball, it would have been absorbed into the Pokeball though unlike most instances the ball didn't even shake.



Meanwhile, Pikachu looked up at Valerian and gave him a look that said is this bitch serious? He was the one responsible for getting him into this fray! It was the most-vile side eye that Valerian has and would ever receive from either Pokemon or person before it walked over to Amelia. Now there was something that was perhaps difficult to notice before given that it was surrounded by ghosts, but this particular Pikachu held a ghostly potential inside of it, one that could perhaps flourish under her care as a ghost-type specialist. Perhaps that was another reason why the Mimikyu they fought thought it was one of them except in bad cosplay.

"Pika pika. Piiiiika chu. Pika pika chu chu." It said with a deadpan expression and even tone. While Amelia would have no idea what this Pikachu was saying, it was fair to assume that she would've gotten the gist. It would have translated to something along the lines of Can I go with you? You seem more reasonable. I don't even mind if that one tries to kill me, just get me away from him. It was also still wearing the garbage bag still.

So, what do either of them do?

---

@Goggy

Somehow, maybe out of the cowboy's surprise, he was tugged along by the much smaller girl and had his hand pressed against the glass like surface of the wall. He looked at her as if she had Clauncher's crawling out of her ears. "Uh, what static? Maybe you were just imagining it?" He suggested with a nervous smile as if he was talking to an unwell person.

The girl by him gave him a look before focusing back on Vivian. "Well, I certainly have always held an interest in history though this place is a mystery to me, and to every other archaeologist. What they do know is that this must have been constructed around the era of the first king of Evig, the Great Unifier, the Conqueror King that gathered all of the nomadic tribes that came to Evig under one banner 3000 years ago during The Great Unification."

The cowboy crossed his arms and arched his brow at the girl's knowledge. "Huh, you're pretty knowledgeable about Evig history for someone not from here."

She tilted her head back to look at him with a smirk. "And why is it a Paldean more well versed in your own history? Didn't you learn this in school?"

"Well, I..." He shifted uncomfortably where he stood trying to find an answer when he knew very well that he was just caught out.

With an air of satisfied superiority, she glanced at Vivian before looking at the surrounding ruins. "Interesting place though, isn't it? A place within our grasp and yet we know nothing about it. Then again, almost all records of the era of the first king were wiped. We don't even know his name beyond that he is the first Hadrada, but we know enough that he existed and he did unify the region. What's just as puzzling to me is this wall." She gestured towards the alien wall.

"There is no known recorded language that's even similar to this and engraved on this material no less. I heard when they tried first tried to collect a sample of this wall they broke their tools. Pretty sure tungsten couldn't even scratch the surface. It's odd, isn't it? It's like it's from a different time, a different place, and yet, here it is among what's left. What I would give to know its secrets..." She almost had that same look Vivian did, a passion for the past and the lives for those that had come before them looking to decode what was lost to the erosion of history.

However, she looked like she realized that she was probably on the cusp on giving a lecture and smiled embarrassedly. "Ah, sorry. I get a bit chatty when it comes to ruins and all things old and dusty. My name is Sabine and mister Spaghetti Western over there is Connor."

Connor shot her an annoyed glance. "First of all, that is offensive. Second of all, what she failed to mention is that we are one of the many assistants to Professor Kapoc. We had a third guy with us, but he's out on Route 4 recording Chattocks. Seriously, how many assistants does a guy need?" He brought his attention back to Vivian. "So, you've got a name?"

How does Vivian respond?

Connected Areas:

Grand Glory City
Starbor Forest

---

@GremlinAgain@baraquiel

Neil had a soft smile on his face as he watched the two feed the Wooloo and Mareep. The Pokemon in the pens while initially wary of the two eventually warmed up and ate out of their hands. However, both Archie and Audrey would notice that there were cameras placed on one fence posts on the pen.

Upon being asked if they had called the police said, "Well, of course we called the police. The problem is that they haven't been able to figure out how they did it. They just stole whatever they could grab though we had the Torchic eggs locked up with extra security, so they haven't been able to get in there yet. Only a matter of time I suppose." He shrugged as if accepting the fact that they would lose more Pokemon before they caught the criminal.

Seeing that the two kids were eager to check out the facility where they store Pokemon eggs, he gave another shrug. "If you want to look so badly, I suppose there's harm in it." He walked them over to another facility on the farm, not very far from the pens though nothing really was that far in general. This building though was not very farm like; it was very sturdy and well insulated with no windows. It looked quite impregnable.

On the door was a key panel that looked aged those some keys were more worn than others, in particular, the 4, 6, 7, and 0 keys. However, he didn't press them this time and with a beep the door unlocked. Neil opened the door for them and inside there were rows of eggs in incubators

"Well, here we are. Take as long as you need."

Well, what do Audrey and Archie do? What do they want to ask or look for?

---

@Lunarlord34

Asta's cheeks flushed further in embarrassment when Steph gave her silent encouragement and then looked at her as if she wanted to try and tell her that she had the wrong idea though she remained silent and just followed along with the rest of the group. Said group would watch with various expressions of amazement, concern, and indifference as Steph ordered more food than what a person could typically eat and then just scarfed it down quickly like a god damn cartoon character.

Were they going to pretend that it never happened? Yes, absolutely yes.

Anyway, the fisherman squinted his wrinkly eyes at her. "You're pretty blunt about what you want, I respect it. No need to beat around the bush." He said, fully turning around from where he was sitting. He was sitting on a cooler. What was the cooler for since people weren't allowed to eat Pokemon in Evig? Who knew. "I watched your battle with that guy earlier. Good stuff. You may actually be what I am looking for."

He nodded with crossed arms as if he made a decision.

"The name's Daryl. Here's the deal, kid. I am looking for someone to pass my knowledge onto, but kids your age are barely interested in the art of fishing anymore. They're so busy on their Rotom Phones with their Chattocks and U-Tubes, having their attention spans shrivel up by instant gratification that they cannot even begin to fathom the idea of sitting peacefully and fishing the day away. Even my grandkids won't fish with me anymore..." He muttered the last part rather bitterly though focused on Steph and pointed a gloved finger.. "That's where you come in. "I am going to provide you with a series of different challenges and when you complete them as a set, I will reward you with a different fishing spot each time.""

How does Steph respond?

---

@CitrusArms



Well, the janitor and maintenance workers that used the closet were definitely going to be confused as to why everything wasn't where they were supposed to be, but it was the thought that counted.

The receptionist glared at the Magnemite, the little troublemaker that was the source of his sorrows for the last week. "Just get it out of the building. Here's your reward." His Rotom phone pressed against hers and her phone made a 'ding' sound.



"Oh, I almost forgot. If you come back here at night, then that bird will probably be back. I'll leave the door unlocked for you." Well, at least he kept that part of his bargain. He frowned at the question about powerplants. "There are several. It's a big city kid, but I'm gonna have to be honest with you, I am not sure if they'd take it, but you can try your luck I guess."

Well, with that she left to continue her journey. Powerplants were not exactly tourist destinations, so brochures were not going to help Regan in that regard. However, if she just used a map function, she would be able to find her pick of powerplants though as she explored and tried to find information on the dumpster diving Pokemon.

A person she randomly asked said, "Huh? Oh, it recently ransacked Le Meh's dumpster. You may want to try and around there."

Well, what does Regan do?

---

@Sanguine Rose

People looked towards the source of the yelling. Some girl shouting about a Snubbull that had been separated from its trainer. Most people were indifferent or simply had no information that could be of help and went on with their day. However, someone did approach Faye.

"Hi, uh, you said something about a missing Snubbull?" They asked, looking down at the pink Pokemon. "I may actually know something about it. There's a blonde woman near the gym saying that she lost her Pokemon. It could be the same one?"

What does Steph do?

---

@Crusader Lord@Shazamrock

So, the answer to stop a fireball that was hurtling towards Tors and Scrapper was to kick mud at it. The mud was consumed by the fireball, seemingly unweakened by it, and Scrapper with as much bravery he could muster jumped through fire. Needless to say, it was a burning and painful experience coursing through the flames and under any other circumstance it would have probably knocked the little trash bag out. However, perhaps that Mud Slap did enough for Scrapper to just hold on by a thread. A very, very stinky thread.

Tors would have also ate the brunt of the attack, suffering a great amount of damage from being consumed by the fire, but the Mudbray did its job. Scrapper shot out an Acid Spray, green globs of green liquid shot out forward towards both of the Igglybuff because Acid Spray was also a spread move. Neither puffball expected them to actually just take the attack and were caught off guard, allowing Scrapper's attack to land.

They both recoiled in pain from the super effective damage and looked weak enough where they could be caught.

What do they do?

@Remram @Joshua Tamashii

Valerian stood frozen in place after the Pikachu glared at him. He blinked once. Then twice. “…It— it walked away from me.”

Aurelia Rose buzzed nervously, glancing between him and the departing Pikachu. Camellia wilted slightly, sensing something dramatic was about to happen.

Valerian took a dramatic step forward, clutching at his chest. “Do you know what this means?!” he exclaimed, voice trembling with raw anguish. “I have been rejected! By a Pikachu in a trash bag!”

He turned slightly, eyes wide in disbelief, as if appealing to the heavens for answers. “It didn’t even look back!”

Somehow Umbriel’s pokeball shook. As if he were watching this situation and laughing from the inside.

Valerian groaned, throwing his head back dramatically. “First I’ve been attacked in the pokemart, then I nearly got mudered by the two of them, and now I’ve been emotionally betrayed! Truly, this journey tests not only my endurance but my heart!”

Despite the theatrics, there was a genuine note in his voice as he added, softly, “…I only wanted to give it a home.”

Then, straightening his posture, he flicked a speck of dust off his blazer and composed himself once more. “So be it,” he said with a regal sigh. “If it prefers the company of spirits and mystery, who am I to deny it? Still… how rude.”

Aurelia Rose fluttered up and gently patted his cheek with her tiny legs.

Valerian sniffed dramatically but smiled again, though it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Don’t worry, my darling. We still have Umbriel… and we shall make him the most well-mannered Mimikyu in the region.”

With that, the Fairy Prince turned on his heel and made his way toward the Pokémon Center. His held high, dignity mostly intact.

The attempt at getting the trainer's attention went...well, roughly as expected. Most just kind of paid her no mind, which was actually relatively good given she wasn't looking to fight someone over a false claim of ownership. But one stepped up and gave her information. Perhaps near the local gym.

Faye offered the helpful bystander a smile. "Well, that's as good a place to start as any. Thanks for your help!" She turned to the Snubbull and crouched down. "What do you say? Let's go check it out. If she's not it, then we'll head over to the PokeCenter in case your trainer headed there to look for you. And maybe get you two some treats too."

The photographer-trainer pulled out her Rotom Phone and pulled up a map so she could plot a course that would take them to the Gym fastest. Once the path was memorized, assuming the Snubbull agreed, the three of them set off to track down this lead.

Amelia remained still while waiting for Mimikyu's response to her offer. After letting out a small, sad cry, it reached out and poked the pokeball in her hand, being taken inside and caught without so much as a shaking.
"Don't worry. I promise to take care of you." She said softly while giving the ball a hug.

The moment was promptly ruined by Valerian's outburst. Turning towards her acquaintance (friend was starting to seem questionable), she saw the Pikachu from early was now next to her and giving her it's full attention. Once it saw she had noticed it, the electric mouse began talking. Amelia listened, even though she had no way of knowing what it said, she could infer a bit. Her response didn't come right away as she mulled it over. The Pikachu has some ghostly energy coming off it and she thought she recalled reading about a rare evolution they could experience. If she took it on though, she would need to be careful with Mimikyu, as it would most definitely be upset if it saw Pikachu with her.

After a minute of internal debate, she decided to take the risk and pulled out another pokeball and offered it out to the Pikachu.
"Welcome to the team. If you want, you can take the trash bag off now but if it's important to you, you may keep it. Just be aware, it might get damaged." She said.

Once Pikachu was in the pokeball, she would get to her feet before turning to Phantump and patting his head.
"Good job. You did well." She said, getting a happy cry out of the little phantom. She then returned him to his pokeball and headed towards the pokemon center as well. Once she reaches Nurse Joy, she handed over all her pokemon to be looked over but warned the nurse about the Mimikyu and Pikachu, so that they wouldn't be released at the same time and start trouble.

While waiting for the examinations to finish, she checked to see if she had gotten anything from Clarissa and Nils. Nothing yet and she was starting to worry. She quickly figured out how to send a message to both of them before typing one out.
Are you both doing okay? I'll be at the pokecenter, if the two of you are stilling wanting to travel with me.

The last sentence let slip a little insecurity that was beginning to gnaw away at her.

Ah, so it turned out that a Mud-Slap wasn't enough to...well...stop a giant fireball attack. Or weaken it a bunch. Ahem. The psychic felt something drop into her stomach upon seeing that at the very least, though her mouth began to open right afterward. Perhaps Scrapper would be able to know to duck and cover at least, or she could call out something in time to get him to do so. Might be enough to mitigate a tiny bit if he did't get fully hit by it, perhaps, and she didn't want him just running into it and getting-

"TRU-BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISH!!!"



-hit...face-first...by the full fireball. Oh no, oh no no no, he actually just ran stright through it.

In reality it had beena bit too late to stop the ordered plan, as it had turned out, with the brave little trash bag having committed everything he had to what lied before him without hesitation. Before the two trainers' very eyes, and to the catching of his enemies off-guard, Scrapper belted out a war cry at the top of his little lungs as he crashed through the fireball and landed his mighty Acid Spray on the two Igglybuff right after!

Albeit right after this, though, the Trubbish seemed to have steam coming off of him as he kept standing...somehow at least. It had hurt more than anything he'd felt before in his little life, and yet he...he'd done it! Barely able to keep one eye open, all while standing on his two little trash bag feet, Scrapper's little right arm then struggeled to be pulled up, but ultimately did so and gave a humble but distinct 'thumbs up' without looking back. Simultaneously, Sir Lopsalot's expression would go from something sober and much more akin to 'let's see what this guy can do' to some rather genuine shock and a touch of horror that the Trubbish had literally blitzed through the inferno and come out on the other side not having been fainted (or worse). Clarissa's bottom jaw briefly lost its strength as well at this time, lightly falling open in her own expression of genuine shock and mild horror as well. Further Pyrite, unreadable as the Roggenrola's expression was, seemed to fall into a deep and somber silence...but was most likely thinking very similar to the other two for that matter.

Beyond this, however, Clarissa noticed that the two Igglybuff were in the prime range for catching...or faiting...alike. The scene, and smell of semi-burnt garbage, would be put to the side for a brief moment more as her mind and expression snapped back into the reality of the situation and her usual stoicism. Likewise her right hand, gripping a Pokeball, would calculatedly cock back and fling it sure and true toward the nearest of the two opponent Igglybuff. The moment she'd been looking for was here, and in lieu of that she had to pounce on it! She just hoped that Nils would either take action to stamp down their other opponent or catch it alike....they really needed to end the fight and get out of this place before more trouble arrived.

"Let's end this, and book it out of here!"

Hopefully Nils and her would be on the same page for that much at least. Plus, well, they needed to meet back up with Amelia! She had no idea what the smaller girl had gotten up to, but they had to get the kidnapped punk here and leave the cavern network down here first. Otherwise all she'd be sending was static (again), and she didn't want to abandon the other girl either. Not after making a promise to travel with her!

[Clarissa is throwing a Pokeball to try to catch one of the Igglybuff!]

@Remram@Shazamrock@Joshua Tamashii

Jason looks at the ball the Riolu now sat in and smiled to himself as he considered the old woman's offer. "Honestly...Might be good to see where I stand by taking the challenge, though Riolu could probably stand a visit to a Pokecenter first. He's a determined little guy, that's for sure." He looks at the old woman and smiles. "I think I'll come with you, if that's alright. At least that way I'll know where I'm going after I go to the pokecenter."

---

---

Eve listened to the apron-clad man's words as he explained the service. It seemed this Move Tutor-deal was some sort of complimentary service that would allow one's pokemon to remember or learn old and new forms of attacks or powers. A beneficial thing for sure, but the man's latter words was a bit off-putting... They didn't teach more powerful moves to new trainers? Why? Was there any point in gatekeeping newbies from veterans? With time, new trainers would likely get a hold of pokemon who already had, or would learn, powerful moves too - and if the goal was that new trainers weren't ready for those, they'd still acquire them eventually anyway. It seemed a bit redundant, at least to Evelyn. But, she kept her mouth shut and just kept hearing the guy out until he was finished. Didn't want to interupt or be rude, after all.

"Hmm... That seems interesting. Could you set me up with that move-swapping app-deal then? It sounds very useful." The girl requested.

She wasn't in the market for learning new moves at the moment. Especially since it apparently cost money, and if her 'mons weren't allowed to learn an poweful moves, it honestly just seemed like a waste of money at this point in time. The abiltiyto let her pokemon swap between the different moves they'd learned over time though? Now that seemed like a worthwhile thing to have. She then recalled something, right out of the blue, having hit her like a thunder from a rainy sky.

"Oh, and... I was in the Starbur Forest a bit ago and I- well, my pokemon, found some things while running around. Is there any place here that might be interested in buying these things?"

She put her bag down next to herself and began rummaging through it. Eventually, the blonde found what she'd been looking for, and began to place these items on the counter of the Move Tutor.

Meanwhile, Growlithe was happy just sitting next to his trainer, sniffing the air and looking around at all the strange things and strange people inside the Pokemon Center.

She produced;
1x Leaf Stone
3z Tiny Mushrooms
3x Oran Berries

Then waited for the guy to reply and either hook her up with the Move Swap-app and appraise her wares, or to be told off and head to the PokeMart to sell them, or whatever else might happen.

"Lead the way, Sir Neil!" Archie quickly petted an adorable Wooloo's head before following the owner of the farm. He looked around the farm itself and noted how peaceful and serene it was, far away from the city life Archie was used to. He'd even bet his parents would love it here, but they couldn't bear to be too far away from the stage for far too long anyway.

Once they arrived at the facility, Archie was impressed by all the Pokémon eggs inside. He placed a hand against one of the incubators, feeling its warmth as he looked at the egg within it. He couldn't imagine anything bad happening to these babies, and how worried their own parents would be for them.

"Can you think of anyone who might do this, sir? Is there anyone angry at you enough to steal eggs of all things?" Archie asked as he began looking around, hoping to see if there were some sort of hidden hole or crevice that someone, or something, could go through. Bravos was helping along too, sniffing through the air to see if it could get something.

"Hey, there were a lot of Ekans out there too. Maybe they were stealing these eggs for food...? Wait, is there even a Pokémon who eats other Pokémon's eggs?" He further asked aloud.

Blunt? Steph? That was an understatement, and anyone who knew her knew it. Calling her blunt was like saying the earth was round.

"Noice t' maytcha Daryl, and ye thaht was praetty good innih'? nawt one t' toot moy own hohn ooll thaht often, buh' Oy reckawn naows one of the toimes Oy cahn. raylly gawt the ol nohggin gaowin ya knaow?" If anything, it proved that despite her behavior, there was some form of intelligence in there....somewhere. Somehow.


Listening to the old man, Steph also crossed her arms over her chest and nodded along, agreeing with everything he said about kids her age more interested in being absorbed by their phones than spending it outdoors. Seriously, some of em needed to touch grass. Soon. Right now even. Though at the mention of challenge, everyone present could feel a shift in intensity. Before, it was curiosity. Now it was her full attention.

"Haeh, Oy ineh' afride of anythin yah cahn thraow daown Dazza, if nawthin else Oy look fohwahd t' ih'. The hahdah the bettah ye? Nao use troyin t' be the baest if ya ineh' gawnna chohlenge yoahsself aftah ooll roigh'? Sao whahtcha gawt in moind?"

The cowboy’s response caused Vivian to nod, not out of agreement to his words but rather to herself as she quickly wrote down some more notes, before turning to the girl and listening to her with rapt attention, “Ooooh, fascinating! So this is a subject not many people actually know about. That’s great! I was hoping to pioneer some archeological investigations. I actually come all the way from Sinnoh, and from Celestic Town in particular. We had a big mural depicting the two gods of Sinnoh, and just being near them always gave me such a fascination with ancient ruins, especially when I learned about the Ruins of Alph all the way in Johto-” Vivian began, only to catch herself as she launched into a rant, “Oh, sorry, my name is Vivian. I didn’t question why the Professor wanted so many aides, maybe to make sure as much information was gathered as possible? Either way, I’m ecstatic to be given this opportunity!” the young girl says, bouncing on her feet as she turned back to the wall to continue her investigation… Only for a Pokeball on her belt to activate, sending out Atlas once more.

Before she could even question the Pokemon’s appearance, Atlas stepped towards the wall, its head tilting upwards to scan the solid black material before it entered a stance, rearing its arm back as far as it could before punching the wall with all its strength, a surge of fire erupting from their fist just before contact.

---

Nils had given the impromptu plan all the confidence of a fifteen year old boy who'd been on a winning streak since the early morning, which was to say quite a lot. His faith in Tors remained unbroken even when the plume of fire washed over both the Mudbray and the Trubbish, with the later bursting through to the other side with a valiant warcry. He watched Scrapper delivery what was possibly the victory blow to both Igglybuff, but immediately after his gaze snapped to his own partner to assess his status.

The mud hadn't been strong enough to douse the big fireball, and though it was clear now that they'd tried to reach farther than they should have the sight of Tors still standing filled Nils with a sense of pride for the pokemon. He was worried too though, especially when he noted that the donkey pokemon's legs had a slight tremble in them.

“Tors!” he shouted, leaving the edge of the battlefield to rush to the mudbray's side. He ended up sliding next to Tors, one knee hitting the stone ground as his hands hovered over the pokemon. Without any potions left there wasn't much he could realistically do to heal Tors, but he pat the mudbray's flank soothingly anyway.

Thankfully it didn't look like Tors had been left with a burn. Tors turned his head toward Nils, lighting bumping his trainer with his snout.

“I'm so sorry buddy,” he said. “I'll get you patched up soon.”

“Brrry,” Tors replied. Behind them they heard Rau hissing as the Rattata kept it's eyes on the battle, which had not technically ended yet.

"Let's end this, and book it out of here!”

Nils looked over at his fellow trainer as she took the lead, returning Tors to his pokeball and standing up. “Right!”

Clarissa had already thrown a ball for capture so Nils followed suit, chucking a fresh one at the second Igglybuff. This was for the best he thought, if they left the two pokemon down here there was no way to guarantee they wouldn't keep luring other people to them even after they'd been defeated. Relocating them would be safest!

At the same time Rau bounded up next to Nils in case one or both balloon pokemon broke out, giving the injured Scrapper a nod of respect.

[ Capture attempt on one Igglybuff ]

@Sanguine Rose

So, with new information on where they can find the Snubbull's trainer they proceeded to head towards the Gym, which was luckily not actually that far from where she was. What she had found was a large stadium reminiscent of a sports stadium or the colosseum back in King's Cross, something that could fit thousands upon thousands of audience members who paid good money to watch trainers of various levels of strength challenge the region's gym leaders. It was very clear that this was inspired by the Galar region's league.

The stadium had a massive screen on it though it appeared to not be operational or turned on though the Evig's League's hovered by the entrance; a Pokeball surrounded by roots and a tree protruding from the top. Yes, it all seemed completely normal... except for the sight of a fashionable blonde woman cornered by one of those strange cats with those crazy eyes that she saw earlier.





It was odd; for some reason Faye recognized her, but where? Well, that was an issue for later.

"Where's the gym leader?" She said, looking around before called out, "Can someone help?!"

---

@Zarkun

The elderly woman smiled kindly at him and nodded. "Very well, follow me." They would walk through the park and this time return to the typical walkway that all the other guests used. The duo would eventually stumble upon a building made from the same pale bricks that made up the fencing that surrounded the park. It had picture windows that let in so much of the natural light into the building. Outside of the building was a campus area where people of various ages wandered around, some who looked more like seasoned trainers and some that were obviously just small children barely starting to understand how type interactions work.

There were outdoor facilities that looked like they were used for trainer battles though there were none at the moment.

"And here we are. Now if you follow me, I can make an educated guess where she would be." Jason would follow her inside of the building and into a lobby. On the contrary to the exterior of the building, it was more modern, sleeker, and definitely fed the idea that whoever funded this school was pumping a lot of money into it She pushed open a pair of doors to reveal an indoor arena with several battlefields. The battlefields themselves were standard dirt fields though there were panels with various buttons by each field.

There were some kids that looked like they belonged to a class, but there were a few that looked like they were guests. They sat further away from the kids. One was a grumpy looking red headed looking boy who really looked like he didn't want to be there. He gave off a very fiery aura or in other words, a hot head.



Sitting by him was a flashy looking young man with pink hair that reached the bottom of his neck, wearing any number of accessories. One could tell right off the bat that he exuded a bubbly aura and highly excitable, kind of like a dog.



Then there was a rather plain boy with medium-longish brown hair sitting between the two boys. He reeked of mediocrity, as if he was just the essence of an NPC distilled and given flesh. He looked very uncomfortable with where he was sitting.



@Typical
There was also this girl, one that gave a frightening cold aura, the very definition of no nonsense. She looked like that she wouldn't talk to him unless engaged with.

Then on the battlefield there were two trainers standing opposite of each other. One was a girl about Claris' age with long wild blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail pinned with feathers in her hair. Her gray-blue eyes crackled exuberance and stood with confidence. From the other side was a woman in her mid-thirties with an aura of self-assuredness and elegance of carved ice though her lips curled in a warm smile. No matter what though, Jason could tell that they were not students; they exuded sheer strength.



"Oho? Now what have we here? A battle between gym leaders?" She commented with grin on her face as she leaned against the railing.

Standing between them was a woman who when she looked up curiously at the sound of the doors opening, looked at the elderly woman with wide eyes as if to ask what the hell are you doing here? The old woman just chuckled in response and waved her hand at her as if to tell her to keep going.



The woman cleared her throat and then said, "If there are no questions, may our guest battlers go to their station?"

A smirked crawled upon the old lady's wrinkled faced and she told Jason, "Why don't you go sit down, dearie? I think this is going to be a much more fun visit than I thought."

What does he do?

---

@Xaltwind

You really want to let little Timmy have a nuke on a rat because they were allowed to have a super powerful move? Because that's how you get a nuke on a rat.

Anyway, the Move Tutor would ask for for Evelyn's Rotom Phone. Once it hovered in front of her, his would hover in front of hers and then tapped it. If she looked at her phone screen, she would see a new app on it; a green and white Pokeball with a lightning bolt on it.

"And here we go! The Move Bank app was downloaded." He said with a grin though looked a bit perplexed when presented with the goods she found in the forest. "Oh, uh, I don't actually deal with wares, but a Pokemart would be able to tell you though apparently there's someone in the upper layer that will buy mushrooms for above market price. I think they own a restaurant. Something about them being a rare ingredient."

He glanced down at the items and inspected them. "I do know that the berries aren't worth selling, but they are useful to keep your Pokemon healthy in battle, and the stone, well, you'll get a hefty chunk probably, but it will evolve certain Pokemon, like Eevee or Gloom. Finding evolution stones in the wild are not a common occurrence and evolution items that can be bought have a high markup so if I were you, I'd keep it unless you're that hard up for cash."

Meanwhile the Growlithe would find nothing of note, besides the fact that it smelled like a forest in there.

Now what?

Also, if you do want to sell the stone anyway that can be a quick footnote.

Connected Areas
Starbor Forest. A forest filled with ungodly huge trees.
Lake Charity. A massive body of water. Used to travel between Starbor Village, Valstille City, and Florasong Town.
Blue Lichen Cave. South of Starbor Village.

---

@Lunarlord34

There were various forms of intelligences so there was something that Steph was intelligent about... somehow. Maybe.

He held his hand up towards Steph as if to tell her to slow down. "Now hold on there. You talk the talk, but now you've got to walk the walk. I'm gonna start you off with something simple. You need to fish up three specific Pokemon from different parts of the city: one from the pier, one from the park, and one from the sewers. As to what they are, well, I'll let them be a surprise, but I'll give you a hint."

He began to list the hints up, lifting a finger for each one. "Here at the pier, you're gonna be looking for a fish that resembles a gun. At the park, you won't find it near the edge, so you'll need to get in the middle of the lake, and in the sewers, you are not fishing for a water-type."

He then handed her a fishing rod that was basically a stick with a lure and a few containers of bait. "Can't fish without the gear though, so make the most of it."



When you're done, just send me a text and photo as proof. Now, you got any questions?

Well? Does she and if not, what does she do?

---

@Goggy

Connor smirked at Sabine as they both listened to Vivian ramble on about her hyper-fixation. "Oh god there's two of you."

Sabine punched his shoulder playfully and then smiled at her like she found someone that understood her very well. "It's all good. As I said, I get like that too. It's nice to meet you Viv. Is it alright if I call you Viv?"

Meanwhile, Atlas made its appearance and sized up the wall with its robotic little eyes as if its mere existence was an insult to the Gollett. With its clenched, flaming fist, it punched the wall with all it had with a resounding pow... Atlas' received recoil from damaging the wall, its knuckles scratched up. There was nary a scratch on its pristine surface despite punching it will all its might.

Connor winced at the sight of Atlas' hand. "Oof, that's gonna leave a mark."

"Yeaaaah, I don't think it would be wise for your Golett to try that again. I think it will break its hand before it begins to scratch that wall." She returned her focus back to Vivian. "So, you got any plans or are you just winging it?"

Yeah, what exactly was she planning to do?

Connected Areas:

Grand Glory City
Starbor Forest

---

@Azure Bubbles@Joshua Tamashii

The Pikachu glanced back at Valerian and made a 'harumph' noise before nodding at Amelia, shedding the garbage bag off its body and tossed the paper bag on its head to the side before shaking its fur around. It then tapped the Pokeball and was absorbed into it.



Oh, the pain of rejection! Valerian surely has a long road ahead of him. So, with a regal sigh of acceptance that maybe not all Pokemon were going to want to be his friend, he would head on towards the Pokemon Center with Amelia with now filled out slots in their teams although in the case of the smol medium one was not entirely like the other just yet.

Oh, and because the GM is a forgetful dumbass, here is a level up for the following Pokemon:



Once they arrived at the Pokemon Center, they sat there as their Pokemon were in the middle of receiving their treatment. Amelia while waiting sent a text to Nils and Clarissa though they have yet to send a text back. Then again, things have been weird since Clarissa sent that strange video that was basically just static.

They soon received their Pokemon.

What do they do? Does Valerian stay with Amelia while she waits for a response or does he go out on his own adventure and leave her behind?

---

With Pokeballs in hand, they threw them with such precision that they smacked straight center in the swirl patterns on their foreheads and were absorbed in a beam of red light. The Pokeballs fell to the ground and began to shake.

They shook once...

They shook twice...

They shook thrice...!


@Shazamrock@Crusader Lord

And now everything had come to a still. It was funny, after an intense battle the only thing that was left was the peaceful sound of silence. As they went to pick up their Pokeballs, there was something that they had not noticed that under any other circumstances they should have been aware of as soon as they entered this chamber were not for the fact that they were on a rescue mission: there was a mural of the region of Evig painted on one of the walls though it was incomplete, the entire southern region and parts the western landmass were simply not there

There were several things odd about it, but what was odd were the symbols on them: a flower near Florasong, a sundial near Starbor, and a crown in the Jormun Trench.

Yes, many things to ponder about...

"Oh, thank god!"

Well, things to ponder about for later. The wannabe punk boy ran over to the two them and clasped his hands on their shoulders with tears in his eyes and snot dribbling down from his nose. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! I thought I was gonna be char siu for those Igglypuff! I just wanted to explore man, I just wanted to be free and be my own man, not dead!"

From the distance the three of them could hear soft chanting. It sounded like, "Tuff, tuff, tuff, tuff!"

The boy almost squealed and said, "Come on, get me out of here before they get here!"

Luckily, they had a headstart, and it was only really a straight shot to get back to the small entrance they crawled through. Eventually, after taking turns with crawling through they made it back to the sewers.

Dudley stood there waiting for them and had a look of relief when he saw Nils at least. "Looks like you saved your friend and the kid." The greasy look detective said with a friendly smile.

Also, when they both returned to the sewers, they instantly received a text from Amelia that read as such, Are you both doing okay? I'll be at the pokecenter, if the two of you are stilling wanting to travel with me.

Now what?