"I may not be a real detective but this crime is the harsh truth of reality that I'll stop at nothing to uncover! Besides, playing as a detective is always fun!" Archie said with an excited look on his face. While it may look like he's just a kid playing pretend, Archie's actually very passionate about the things he'd put his mind into.

The green-haired boy watched Robbie have a bit of trouble with the keypad. It looked like the old man's not that great with technology, and Archie also took a mental note of what each man was doing at that morning. One of them was resting due to an injury, or was it all just an excuse for him to do evil crime stuff without raising suspicion?

"Alright-o, Sir Robbie. Kindly say out who you are again and how you met Sir Neil. Explain also how long have you been here at the farm and the nature of your work. Aaaaaaand..." Archie got closer to the old man and stared at him menacingly. "I wanna know where you were and what you were doing at the first and the most recent time the Eggs got stolen. I won't take 'I don't remember' for an answer!" The Trainer wagged his finger sternly at Robbie.

Meanwhile, Bravos wandered around the farm to try and help some helpful clues. It'd whimper and try to steer away from the other farm Pokémon; it even ran away a bit when a Torchic started showing its curiosity towards it. When it stopped to catch its breath, that's when Bravos spotted a piece of blue cloth with red somethings on it. It gingerly picked it up and looked at it weirdly. Where did this thing come from?

Jokes you, being a bogan and being broke went hand in hand!

Timid pokemon though? Surely it wasn't another Wimpod right? While she wouldn't say no persay to another one, it wasn't exactly high on her agenda to go around catching multiples of Pokemon right now. Ignore her collection of Magikarp. The learning that this lake could, in theory, contain anything that flowed out of the nearby Mt Yamir, Lake Charity and other various riverways nearby didn't help Steph narrow down what she was looking for. If only because uh...she didn't really know what was in those waters to begin with!

Oh well, she figured it wasn't much point in stressing over the details anyway. Though in saying that, she was disappointed at the possibility of it probably not being a Poliwag. She would love to catch one, who didn't like a good Poliwrath after all? There was a trend to Pokemon Steph liked for the most part yes, and it wouldn't take anyone too long to figure it out. Granted, she was also happy catching most things, so eh.

Not as disappointed when she saw the price of a good rod though! Wait, no, disappointed wasn't the right word. Disgusted? Yeah, disgusted. She would stick with the old rod for now thank you very much. Not that she had much of a choice anyway, but it was the principle of the matter. She would risk another 29 magikarp, it was uh...good exp farming? Sure, lets go with that one. And while she was aware of the 'tourist trap' that would be the price of these pedal boats, it was also really her only current option so happy enough forked over the money and ignored how ridiculous it looked for her and Freya to be using one of these.

And once she was out there in the middle, she settled as comfortably as one could in one of these 'boats' as she expected to be out here for awhile, especially if she was looking for something 'timid'. As a result she nearly fell out of the boat, metaphorically and literally, when she got a tug so soon and reeled in...was this a Basculin? She wasn't familiar with a white stripe though? Though judging by Freya's reaction to it being here, she figured she had her fish.

To which Freya could have a front row seat to Steph's newest catching technique. Truly, she had more ways to catch pokemon than anyone Freya had seen. For this time? Steph just decided since she didnt really have a Pokemon that would be good out in the middle of the lake, bar another water type in Remy or maybe Barra, then she might as well just do it herself. So she would try and pull it out of the water and wrap her arms around the decently sized fish and just attempt to wrestle it. While on the pedal boat. Nothing could possibly go wrong right?

And if it did, well Glory would have to come out and spam struggle bug or something. And if the boat tipped over and she fell in? eh she would just try to wrestle it in the water unless it got out, then the Glory plan would be in full effect. Fight a timid pokemon with a timid pokemon was plan b, but for now Plan A was just make the thing submit via a wrestle.

Vivian simply stares at Valerian for a few moments, blinking slowly as if processing what he said, "Prince... Huh. Neat. Well, pleasure to meet you!" she says happily, completely brushing off his status as royalty... Mainly for the fact that Vivian didn't entirely care about it. Regardless, she was quick to turn to Amelia, rubbing he back of her head, "Oh yeah, no hard feelings! I have a tendency to react pretty strongly to things, but that wasn't even close to some of the situations I've gone through. So there's no trouble, honest! I should be apologizing for Atlas."

With that Vivian put her hands on her hips, looking back at the others, "So like I said, did you guys check out those ruins? They're pretty cool, definitely worth the visit!"

Amelia felt a sense of relief wash over her as Vivian forgave her and Phantump and even apologized for the actions of her Golett again. Amelia didn't think there was a need for the girl to apologize over her pokemon attacking when it was doing so out of defense for it's trainer. If anything...
"I think you should be thanking Atlas instead of apologizing for what they did. They were simply acting out of concern for your safety and if it had been a more hostile pokemon, it's quick actions would possibly have saved your life." She said to Vivian, her tone polite as she looked at the small golem sympathetically. Though, when the older girl asked if they were interested in the ruins, Amelia's expression turned excited. "I do! I bet there are a few ghost-types down there and I want to see if I can befriend any!"

She then paused before looking over at her traveling companions.
"That is... if none of you mind. I won't stay behind if you all want to keep going. I'm sure I can always find more ghosts elsewhere." She added nervously.

---

The longer Nils spent listening, the easier it was to piece together what had happened. So it wasn't actually a fight breaking out, just the first instincts of startled trainers and their pokemon. Seemed like the girls had been gotten good by a prank, and the culprit for all this tomfoolery was pretty obvious even without Amelia's apology. Nils looked at Phantump, still wrangled by Amelia's other pokemon. "You really did a number on 'em, huh?"

His voice was neither accusatory nor encouraging, but there was a little glint of amusement in his gaze now that he understood the situation wasn't serious. He turned away from Phantump then and reached out to help Clarissa onto her feet, making sure she was alright in the process. Tors tilted his head, not completely grasping the full situation just yet, but he plodded over to the buneary to ask. "Bwaa bry?"

With everything seemingly handled and calming down Nils regarded the group, especially the two strangers. When the dark haired girl introduced herself it took a moment for the name to click in his head, but she confirmed it herself not longer after: she was part of the pair of latecomers the one that had texted him back earlier. "Oh, so you're Vivian," he said with a nod and a smile. Then he pointed to himself. "It's Nils, the guy that sent you that message before. We ended up meeting pretty fast!"

Maybe he'd get to find out what had happened in her reply, but honestly he had a feeling he already knew. She brought up the nearby ruins, which Amelia seemed pretty enthusiastic about. If the group wanted to pay them a visit, that suited Nils just fine.

"I wanted to check them out too," Nils said. "I think it'd be neat, and I'm sort of interested in that stuff. Ah, the ruins I mean, I can leave the ghost hunting to the rest of you."

It was a more recent interest, and disconnected from the standard curriculum of Evig's public education, but it was there all the same. Nils scratched at the back of his head (and then seemed to realize his hair was still loose, so swapped to pulling a dark ribbon out of his bag to tie it into a ponytatail) before glancing at the gathered teenagers.

"If not everyone's up for it we could always split up and meet again later, like we did this morning. We should pick out a good spot to camp out too while we're at it."

After saying that Nils' smile turned to a grin. He really enjoyed camping, and it would be all the more fun with everyone around and getting to know each other. The invitation was even offered to the stylish boy with the scraggy, as Nils looked at him with a small tilt of his head.

"Wanna head over there now?"

@Xaltwind

Poark...? Most likely a spelling accident, but I'm watching you.

Well, spelling aside, Evelyn would do her best to make sure not to disrupt the garden in any shape or form. There actually was a sign that explicitly stated that plucking a flower out carried a fine that had more zeroes that neither Evelyn nor I, the narrator, would care to know. So instead, our aspiring model decided that it was in fact time to scour the park and go around carefully as to not to disturb the other parkgoers. This included the Pokemon who in fact, were just as lackadaisical and relaxed in this serene environment.

Walking through one had to admit that it was strange. It was only spring and yet all of these flowers were not only in bloom already, but there were flowers that should not be blooming until summer! And there were plants she recognized to grow in her own hometown of Evertide, plants that leaned towards more tropical that were now hundreds of miles north in a much colder region of Evig. But then again, if she knew nothing about flowers then perhaps it was nothing strange to her at all or if she even cared to notice it. After all, she was on her own little quest for the uncommon Pokemon the park.

In that way Evelyn would be rewarded. She occasionally saw plucky blue bird that did not know when to quit or when it was out matched. Evelyn even stumbled upon a piece of fruit that was not even fruit at all!









What does Evelyn do?

---

@baraquiel

A wide, tooth grin spread along Robbie's face as Archie gave his spiel about uncovering the truth. "Well, I suppose if you enjoy what you do then you never work a day in your life!" The older farmer chortled at the boy's enthusiasm for his role as a detective. He scratched his chin in thought, completely unbothered by the child's attempt to glare at him menacingly. The man worked with angry Tauros and Miltank that were sometimes grumpy and not willing to be milked, so the literal child's attempt at being intimidating went completely unnoticed.

"Well, the first time it happened was at night, about three days ago. I was returning after doing the rounds around the Tauros pen when I saw that the door to the incubators was slightly ajar." He scratched his chin as he recounted that night. "The last one was last night, and we were more on our guard then. We actually laid a trap out for them, but there was the commotion with Danny getting his leg nearly squished by a Tauros when chasing after the thief."

The farmer shrugged and said, "That's all I got. You know, the one thing that's shocked me is that they've been able to get past the cameras pretty easily. I always wondered how they were able to do that."

Meanwhile, as Bravos examined the material he would smell something very familiar, the scent of the ditto. Just as he did, footsteps thumped behind him. "Well, you sure aren't a typical guest. What'cha doing here?" A young man knelt down to the Chespin with a grin. For some reason, Bravos could detect the scent of the Ditto from him.

What do both do?

---

@Lunarlord34

I... What sort of shit fuckery is this?

People from the shore would watch as this red-headed girl in a Swanna boat wrestled with a Basculin fiercely because it turned out no matter how timid the Pokemon, they typically had no desire to be manhandled by strange women. The boat began to rock back and forth, and Freya grabbed the sides of it tightly and gritted her teeth nervously.

"Uh, Steph? I don't think this is a good idea!" She called out with nervousness tingeing her tone. The Basculin, being a three foot long and thirty-nine-pound fish or for those metrically inclined one meter long and eighteen kilograms and, well, it certainly packed a punch. The boat shook violently as the fish struggled to release itself from Steph's grasp until a particularly hard thrash caused the combine weight of Steph, Freya, and the Basculin to lean into one side.

"Steeeeeeeeeph!" Freya called out before the tacky plastic boat poured the three of them out into the lake with a splash. The black-haired girl broke the surface with a gasp for air, her long hair clinging to her face as she looked around for Steph who by some grace of God was still wrestling the Basculin. At this point, it was a question of who would tire out first; the Pokemon or Steph.

Violent splashing could be seen and heard throughout the park, drawing even more attention by the people in the park to watch this girl wrestle with a fish with bated breath. Eventually, the splashing would stop, and Steph could proudly lift up the exhausted fish over her head.



Well, now what?

---

@Shazamrock@Joshua Tamashii@Azure Bubbles@Crusader Lord@Goggy

Frankie looked a bit uncomfortable with the idea of going to the ruins though he was not one to go against the tide. With a stiff lip, he said, "Sure, let's go. Some people I'm traveling with are hanging around there... Not sure what's so great about some old, creepy buildings..." He muttered the last part to himself with crossed arms. His Scraggy looked up at him and chuckled at its trainer's obvious discomfort.

So, with things being pushed along to their natural progression, everyone would make their way down to the ruins, some once again. Dilapidated clay buildings worn down by time covered in green moss loomed over them. Some of them barely had any walls or even a ceiling and some were just a singular column either standing or broken with a jagged end pointing up to the sky like spears. There was a stillness to them, a reminder that whatever this was long ago, was now a fragment of a time long forgotten by history and the people of this region. A stillness that came from a lack of life.

Well, that was not entirely true.

As they walked through the ruins, they would see bits of walls with strange markings pop off from the wall and float before a shadowy figure emerged from the slab. They would look at them curiously before meandering to haunt these ruins though some of them took a special interest in Amelia, floating around her with great focus.

Pokédex Entry #562 – Yamask, the Spirit Pokemon. A clay slab with cursed engravings took possession of a Yamask. The slab is said to be absorbing the Yamask's dark power.

What else resided in these ruins were strange levitation top-like Pokemon with their arms spread out as if to balance them. Their eyes were closed and yet they could somehow tell where they were going.

Pokédex Entry #343 – Baltoy, the Clay Doll Pokemon. It moves while spinning around on its single foot. Some Baltoy have been seen spinning on their heads.

As they continued to explore the ruins though she would enter what she would assume to be the middle and there would find a strange sight. Various walls towering over some of the ruined buildings with strange glyphs and runes she had never seen before even in her own history books though perhaps what was odder were the walls themselves. They were black with an impossible smoothness and sheen, reflecting daylight like the most perfect mirrors.

However, they were not alone. There were others hanging around the ruins, a couple of kids around her age to be more precise. Well, one of them for lack of a better word was a boy dressed up as a cowboy and not unironically either. This young man radiated the aura of the wild west with utmost sincerity and looked like he should have been casted as a leading man in a western. The other was a dark-skinned girl with wild curly hair dressed like she belonged in the early 90s grunge scene with a red flannel and baggy jeans. Vivian though knew them as Sabine and Connor.



Connor turned around when he heard a bunch of footsteps approach from behind. His brows took to the air when he saw Vivian again though this time with an entourage. "Oh hey Vivian, didn't expect you to be back so soon... or with so many people."

Sabine turned back and a smirk played on her lips. "And it seems like they brought the scaredy cat along. Heeeeeey Frankie~" She waved teasingly at him.

Frankie just hid behind his bucket hat in embarrassment.

Regan Calhoun

@Remram

Oh, wow. The Rotom Phone was fancy. She watched as the devicèmon held itself aloft and displayed the information she sought in a way she’d seen on Sci-Fi shows. She marveled softly to herself, briefly, before carrying on.

The restaurant was impressively bland. How’d they manage it? A loud sound from behind the restaurant snapped her out of the eldritch trance she’d been sucked into, after which point she found it easy to keep her eyes away. It was such a bland thing, anyway. Such a great noise was rather concerning, and the aspiring ranger found herself circling behind the restaurant.

She drew her shirt up over her nose as the odor assailed her. It was trash, no mistaking it. The nauseating, moldy pungentness of restaurant trash. She took a moment as she stood before the dumpster, considering how to approach the situation. The smell was awful, Kaebe would hate it. Probably.

Ah.

“Magnemite.” Regan let the metal ball without a nose out from its pokeball. If she could get away without alerting whatever was in the trashbin, she would. Surprise attack it, maybe. She pointed up, indicated her eyes, and then pointed to the dumpster. Magnemite, though disappointed that this was not a power plant, nodded to her orders and elevated, to try and peek in on their target.

@Remram @Joshua Tamashii @Shazamrock@Crusader Lord@Goggy

Valerian walked with the group, one hand thoughtfully resting near his chin as the ruins unfolded around them. His steps slowed as slabs peeled themselves from the walls, revealing dark ghostly forms drifting silently through the still air. “How quaint,” he murmured. “We’ve barely arrived and the ruins are already trying to make contact.”

The Yamask drifted toward Amelia. Valerian’s eyes narrowed, his posture shifting subtly. “Well, look at that. You seem to have a fan club,” he said quietly to Amelia. “That’s either very good… or very bad.”

He released Umbriel from his Poké Ball, the Mimikyu appearing in a brief flash of light. “You should feel right at home here,” Valerian added. “And you can protect us if something goes wrong.” It was his first time sending Umbriel out of the ball, and he quietly hoped that the Mimikyu would behave.

Umbriel tilted its head, then let out a quiet, amused hum. Like it had just spotted something very fun to mess with later.

Then came the black walls. They were smooth, obsidian-like, impossibly reflective. Valerian came to a full stop, staring at them. First things first. He took a moment to fix his hair, admiring his reflection. What better time for a mirror check than in ancient ruins? “I’ve seen royal mirrors that don’t shine like this.”

Then two people emerged. One looked as though he’d stepped straight out of a Pokéstar Studios western; the other could have fronted a grunge band in her sleep. They knew Vivian, which made them allies by association—but Valerian didn’t care for the way Sabine spoke to Frankie. He gave a faint, unimpressed huff. “Hmph. I didn’t realize greeting one another with insults was the norm,” he muttered. “My etiquette must be out of date.”

"Hmmm, interesting..." Archie copied what the old man was doing and scratched his chin as he continued to his story. "Entering the coop seemed hard enough on its own, but managing to evade all these cameras? Something fishy's definitely afoot..." He said, the gears in his head turning before he turned his attention again to Robbie.

"Mr. Old Farmer, I wanna take a look at the camera feed of what happened during the night of the theft. We should maybe get something useful out of watching them, and perhaps catch on to something you guys might've missed. Also, I wanna talk to this Danny guy and get his side of what happened. Maybe he saw what the thief looked like too. Also, what was he doing that made the Tauros angry enough to chase him of all people? C'mon then, let's not waste time!" Archie made a barrage of demands. Judging from the determined look on this lad's face, he'd definitely won't take no for an answer either.

As for Bravos, it's body shook with nervousness as usual due to its anxiety speaking with other people and Pokémon. However, its nose twitched, and its eyes widened in fear after realizing it could smell the scent of a Ditto on this man.

It turned around and tried to flee but it stopped itself. This was Bravos' chance to be a massive help for the investigation. It imagined its Trainer doing all his best to help these people despite them not taking him seriously. It admired his genuine determination to go out of his way to give these farmers a lending hand, just like what a true hero would do!

With a big nervous gulp, Bravos turned around and faced the young man. "Che-Che-Chespin!" It tried to act as cute as it could beside from its very obvious nervousness. Maybe the guy would see it as adorable? Bravos then took his hand in its paws and directed it back to Archie and the other's direction so they could go there. There's no way he would suspect an easily anxious Chespin of anything suspicious, right?

---

---

After her photo-spree was done, the search for uncommon and rare pokemon commenced. While she did enjoy flowers, as much as anyone else who could appreciate pretty things, Evelyn wasn't exactly a botanist. True, she recognized some of the blossoms and blooms, especially those that were native to her own hometown, but to believe that Eve would have any knowledge about the season or climate in whcih they were supposed to flower (get it?) was like asking a Rhydon to do calculous. It just wasn't a realistic ask.

As she got deeper into the park though, new and unfamiliar things started popping up.. First were the blue little bird-pokemon. They were charming, to look at if nothing else, but they seemed a bit... Insistent... Whenever it came to trying to do something, it looked like these little guys just didn't know when to quit. Sure, Evelyn could appreciate a 'can-do' attitude , but there was a time to be bold and a time to fold, and when you fail at something over and over and over again, then perhaps it was time to take a step back and re-evaluate the situation. But, these were pokemon after all, so maybe it was just in their nature?

As she pondered this mightily philosophical quandry about the unyielding feathered beings, the blonde trainer soon found herself almost stumbling over something. An obstacle had suddenly sprung up out of seemingly nowhere! An obstacle that made the girl teeter and nearly tumble onto her face, because she was too busy thinking about her own questions that she hadn't been paying attention to where she was stepping.

Turning back around to locate the source of this near-indignity-causing problem, the youyng trainer's eyes fell upon.... A... Uhm... A giant berry...? No, that... That was a fruit, right? A fruit with... A ... Face... Evelyn blinked. The little creature(?) was happily sitting there, in the midst of the path in the park, just seeming to bask in the daylight and not have a care in the world. Her RotomPhone buzzed to life and identified the being as a Bounsweet. Even, however, just kept staring at it.

The creature, eventually noticing something was looking at it - and we do not disclose just how long this actually took because it wasn't a inconsiderable amount of time - and finally met the blonde Evertide-girl's gaze. The fruit stared at Evelyn. Evelyn stared at the fruit. The wind blew. Petals and leaves danced and rustled. A tailow ... Squawked? It was a tense and heart-pounding shodown...!

And then, SUDDENLY!

"... Boun?"

"....nnnnmmMmmmmmmMmMMMmMmmmMMMMMMMH! OH MY GOSH!! YOU'RE SO CUUUUUUTE~!!"

... An ecstatic Evelyn, losing all composure and self-control, squeed like she had squeed the first time she met her Joltik. Complete with starry, sparkly eyes, hands to her own cheeks and making a very weird, wibbly-wobbly motion with her upper body. the little pokemon seemed largely unintimidated by this clear display of human feroicty. It took a little bit, but eventually she calmed back down, coughed into her own balled up hand, composed her excited outburst and reached for her hip.

"Alright, that's that! You're coming with me, little one! Pokebaaaaal, gooooo~!"

With a twirling flkourish, Eve spun around once, twice, thrice and then lobbed her pokeball straight ath the little Bounsweet she'd almost stepped on (and potentially almost squished?). Now, this might've looked fancy, if not for the fact that Eve was standing like, 5 feet away from the little munchkin. It wasn't like it was a hard mark to hit. And even then, Eve's aim was onlöy just good enough - probably from slight dizziness caused by unnecessary twirling - to actually have the ball fly in the correct, gneral direciton of the Bounsweet.

Evelyn is attempting to Quick Catch a Bounsweet.

Did she expect it to just roll over and give up without a fight? Absolutely not! Well, at the very least she hoped it wouldn't. If it wasn't obvious by the fact she did it, then the big ol grin on her face as she wrestled with the Basculin gave away that she was quite enjoying this. And perhaps concerningly considering she was succeeding, this implied this wasn't her first time at this sort of rodeo.

Which it wasn't, but that was a story for another time.

"Baettah huyng on Freya, else ya gawnna gao undah weeth us!" Steph knew the pedal boat was gonna tip over and capsize. She it came as no surprise when it did, the girl hanging onto the little bastard for dear life as limbs and tail flailed about as she attempted to just fully wrap her arms and legs around the Basculin. She had plenty of experience wrestling with her cousins, especially the older lads. They took the longest to work out how to take down with the weight and height difference they had on her, but she had worked it out none the less so in her eyes this Basculin was childs play in comparison.


Eventually though, the sucker did seem to calm down and go into a Pokeball, the bogan just floating on her back for a moment before letting out a hearty laugh amongst some deep breaths.

"Naow wahsnt thaht fun innih' Freya? Loike bloody struth, thaw' the buggah was gawnna geh' awhy faw a moment, buh' Oy taught the liiel creettah whaws bawss eh?" She was insane. It was the only logical outcome considering what Freya had witnessed in her short time with Steph. Finally deciding enough was enough, Steph swam back over to the boat and would attempt to push it back up. Failing that, she would-wait. Speaking of the boat being capsized, and everyone being knocked off it, where was Dusk?


Panicked for the first time today, Steph began to frantically splash about as she searched for her little candle in crime, only to find him still clinging to the top part of the boat like his life depended on it. How, considering he had no hands? Fuck you, thats how. Seeing her partner safe, Steph let out a sigh of relief and returned him to his Pokeball temporarily for now. At least till they got back onto land, which whether they meant swimming and pulling the boat back or going back while soaking wet on the boat.

Which once they were back on land and the boat returned to its no doubt incredulously bewildered owners, Steph would take a moment to try and dry off once she got Dusk back out. Mostly resorting to trying to wring out as much water out of her clothes as she could. She didn't even bother checking her bag for her spares, she would need to deal with how wet those got later.

"Oh roigh', befoah Oy fohgeh'." Taking a moment to send out her newfound partner in Bandit, she would take a photo and send it to the old man, before finally turning to Freya.


"Daown t' chaeck eow' the triner school Oy heahd abeow'? apparently thyre doin a soht of chohlenge, wahnna say if Oy cahn geh' the egg thy gawt up faw grahbs." Once more, this was an invitation and not an expectation. Freya was free to leave at any stage she wanted, but if she also felt obligated to try and keep Steph's craziness in check and save her from herself, then she was free to do so. But once it was established whether she was accompanying her or not, Steph would make her way to the Trainer School.


Oh and the moment she laid her eyes on a Growlithe, that was being added straight to her team in a quick catch attempt. Do not pass go. Do not collect 200 dollars. And thankfully for Freyja, she would do this the old fashioned way and battle it with Steven, hitting it with a Water Gun and maybe a quick attack two piece combo before going for the catch proper. After which, she would be painfully aware she was down to her last pokeball, a problem for after dealing with the trainer school, which she would promptly finish going to after adding a Growlithe to her growing roster.

Oh and while she was at it, grinding some levels into Bea against some of the local normal types, Dusk with the local grass types and non Duckletts, aiming to team him up with Barra to try and get another level into her loveable magikarp, and then finally Glory against any other Growlithes on their way to the trainer school. Hopefully doing this would buy some time for them to be dryerish by the time they got there, or at least not forming new ponds underfoot with every step they took.

Jason's eyes followed every move that the Pokemon made, listened to each order that the two gym leaders gave. He observed everything he could, even if he sorta get side tracked by the two women when they entered his field of view. By the end of the demonstration, he noted several things he could use in his own battles, but since the question was being asked, "Even when the battlefield was made more advantageous for both teams, Thora wasted no time in erasing that even playing field to reduce Sandslash's options for attack. If everyone's at a disadvantage, it's still a fair fight, but in this case, with Sandslash having Ice Spinner, without the frozen water, it's utility is reduced."

He taps his chin in thought. "I would say a take away is easily be willing to sacrifice some convenience to make the fight harder on your opponent too."

“Clarissa, are you alright?” He asked quietly.

The sore psychic would give a silent 'thumbs up' gesutre to Valerian's quiet inquiry about her current state of affairs. Even so, Jotaro, Sir Lopsalot, and the brave little trashbag had finally finished helping her sit up, and for what it was worth she would look over to them with a rather small smile temporarily appearing for a flash of a moment as she ruffled each of their heads with a free hand. Not that the Igglybuff hadn't laughed at the scene first to her recollection, but all the same he'd still come to help in the end at least. Yet by the time she pulled herself up to stand, and took the offered hand by Nils with a thankful nod, Amelia had presented herself while a Mimikyu held the now seemingly a bit confused little troublemaker in its entrapping and shadowy grip.

"I'm sorry about Phantump. I know he meant no harm but I think scaring you like that while you were recovering from your earlier fall. I hope you can forgive him."

Said Phantump, still trapped, looked between everyone, clearly confused on what it had done wrong. No one got hurt so all should be fine, right?

The wince the girl made at Valerian's words, however, wasn't fully lost on her either. Even so, the psychic let Vivian talk first, mostly as she'd been the primary target, and aside from accepting the smaller girl's apology the clumsy-seeming girl did offer to go with them to the ruins. Indeed, that was something she'd been hoping to bring up as well! So it seemed those interests aligned, even as Amelia piped in with her own interest as well to boot as her face (thankfully) brightened back up before Clarissa's very eyes on the topic.

"Agreed. We should find a good place to camp for the night. I'd like to go to the ruins as well, perhaps even discover and catch some new Pokemon there as well if we can."

She'd then somewhat awkwardly tried to put a reassuring hand on Amelia's shoulder, at least for a moment for the girl to notice, before they left for the ruins proper it would seem.

Dilapidated clay buildings worn down by time covered in green moss loomed over them. Some of them barely had any walls or even a ceiling and some were just a singular column either standing or broken with a jagged end pointing up to the sky like spears. There was a stillness to them, a reminder that whatever this was long ago, was now a fragment of a time long forgotten by history and the people of this region. A stillness that came from a lack of life.

Well, that was not entirely true.

As they walked through the ruins, they would see bits of walls with strange markings pop off from the wall and float before a shadowy figure emerged from the slab. They would look at them curiously before meandering to haunt these ruins though some of them took a special interest in Amelia, floating around her with great focus.Dilapidated clay buildings worn down by time covered in green moss loomed over them. Some of them barely had any walls or even a ceiling and some were just a singular column either standing or broken with a jagged end pointing up to the sky like spears. There was a stillness to them, a reminder that whatever this was long ago, was now a fragment of a time long forgotten by history and the people of this region. A stillness that came from a lack of life.

Clarissa almost drug behind the group near the back as they moved along, letting her hands trace gently over the worn edges of time-worn walls, her fingers dance over the feeling of spear-like columns as she traced them up toward the skies above, and her eyes soak in the moss-covered clay corners that had once housed presumably the ancient people of Evig. Even her powers seemed to gently wake up somewhat in a place such as this, the dance of life and the movement of Pokemon hidden from view at first but becoming more and more present as they moved along. Especially so for Amelia, it seemed, who seemed to draw the attention of ghostly Pokemon that their Rotom Dexes would call out the entries of upon first sighting.

Yet with it all in mind, the psychic felt a thrum of....history from this place that spoke to something deeper inside of herself. Something familiar, and yet also totally alien to her at the same time. A bit sad and yet more deeply fascinating at the same time. She couldn't quite put a finger on it all, nor find a word that encapsulated the sensations running through her body and mind as they moved along. Even the eventual stop where Connor and Sabine were, and their comments about Frankie, were secondary to the psychic's primary focus on the ruins around them.

Even more so...

As they continued to explore the ruins though she would enter what she would assume to be the middle and there would find a strange sight. Various walls towering over some of the ruined buildings with strange glyphs and runes she had never seen before even in her own history books though perhaps what was odder were the walls themselves. They were black with an impossible smoothness and sheen, reflecting daylight like the most perfect mirrors.

If the weathered clay could tell stories, then what kind of stories would these ancient walls and floors and such tell them?

Of lives and lights, and eyes that shined with hope like gleaming gem?

Would they sing of lives and tales and families far gone, and of things left forgotten under the light of new dawn?

Would they whisper of footsteps taken in trepidation at the start of new journeys, or last breaths taken and of tender mercies?

And if the sheen of these mirror-like engravings were lone' left to tell, then what did they hold of times and things that once befell?

Yet before the mirror's sheen of the ancient wall, here at the center of it all, the psychic felt her breath catch in her throat for but a moment and would stop before her own reflection and the captured light of this lovely day in the impossibly smooth contours of the ancient stone. Or, well, she presumed it was some kind of impossibly-wrought stone on first glance at least. Even so, the seemingly inhuman quality of its held a sort of innate beauty of its own perhaps.

Still, Clarissa felt she'd let her fascination run its course before trying to catch some Pokemon. She was interested in a Yamask and a Baltoy at least, though if any others appeared she hoped to see them while they were they. Er, if they could. Not just for the Pokedex either, really, but...well, she was a bit curious what might live in an ancient place like this. Even Sir Lopsalot and Jotaro, who each sat on one of her shoulders, and Scrapper, as he walked along beside her in this case, seemed at least a bit curious about things around them in the meantime to boot for the moment being.

Then with a gentle and careful touch, the psychic would reach out to touch the mirrored wall with her right hand, to use her fingers to gently trace glyph and rune and relaxing her powers just a little to see if she could get any sort of 'feeling' from the wall or surrounding area. Just a small exertion of her powers, nothing obvious or visible she'd hope, though Clarissa had no clue if the wandering Pokemon like Baltoy or Yamask would pick up on it as they had done with Amelia's own seemingly innate psychic abilities. In any case, she wasn't thinking too hard on the matter aside from Kapoc's warning in the back of her mind to avoid revealing things if she could.

[Clarissa feels fascinated with the ruins as they go along; she is also touching and tracing the runes and glyphs on the Mirrored Wall wioth her right hand fingers while letting her powers reach out a little bit to get a feel of the wall and the area as she does so. She is trying not to be obvious or show her hand, as Kapoc warned her of, but has no idea if local Pokemon or such might react to it all (or the wall for that matter)]

@Remram@Shazamrock@Joshua Tamashii@Azure Bubbles@Goggy

---

It was a short trek to the ruins, and when they arrived... well, Nils wasn't sure what exactly he'd expected. It was pretty much as Frankie had said: old, creepy buildings. Not that Nils found them all that creepy, but they were definitely old if nothing else. While Tors stepped carefully through the area, his ears standing tall and alert on his head, Nils ambled through more casually. His eyes wandered curiously from the worn clay structures to the pokemon living among them, trailing after a baltoy for a little bit before returning to the ruins at large.

He didn't know what he should be looking for. It was frustrating to be honest, but far from enough to get him to quit before he'd even really started searching. He kept the frown from his face by turning to the group to see what kind of impression his new friends had of the place. Maybe he could take a cue from the real history nerds about how best to go about looking around ancient ruins for secret information!

...nah, not when he couldn't exactly ask them about it without raising any suspicions. Besides, it was possible that these ruins would turn out to be a complete bust.

Regardless he could easily see who was into the ruins and who was indifferent. It also seemed like the ghost-types were as interested in Amelia as she seemed to be in them. And soon enough, a couple of more trainers joined them. Nils gave the girl and boy who turned out to be Frankie's pals a friendly little wave. He also chuckled at Valerian's reaction to their greeting. Maybe, as a prince, he didn't have a lot of friends around his age to share teasing and ribbing with?

"It makes sense though, I bet this place can get pretty spooky at night," Nils said to justify some of Frankie's nervousness. Ghost-types could get pretty ruthless in their own element after all. Although since it was still daylight, he didn't think they'd run into much trouble.

Nils spent a few moments after that watching Clarissa and Vivian to see if he actually could get a sense of how they went about studying ruins, but it wasn't long until he struck out on his own to look around the place. "Alright, I'm gonna look around."

It wasn't a large enough area to truly be separated from the others, and he got glimpses of them as he and they moved about. He had only the vaguest of clues to go off of, but anything was better than nothing... so he walked through the buildings, around the pillars, and up to the strange, dark walls, keeping an eye out for anything interesting... or, if he was lucky, meaningful.

[ Search ruins for: writing, artifacts, items ]
[ Investigate runes on the black mirror wall ]

Amelia followed the group as they moved deeper into the ruins. From the walls, Yamasks began springing forth, with a few of them floating over to examine her. The young girl giggled a bit and would talk with the little ghosts, greeting them and generally being friendly while Mimikyu and Phantump remained close, ready to defend her as needed. Thankfully, it seemed like there was no need to be hostile with the locals pokemon... yet.

They eventually reached a section of the ruins that was made of a weird, black, glassy material that she had never seen or heard of before. There were two others there already but she paid them little mind as she walked around the room, staring at it in fascination. She just wondered around the room, looking at it before stopping to close her eyes, reaching out with her sixth sense to see what she might be able to feel and also to see if she might be able to feel any ghost-types that were hiding other than local Yamasks that were floating around the ruins and her. Regardless of the results of her search, unless something very dramatic happened to her or the group, she would turn to the Yamask floating around her.
"Are there any hidden passages or the like you all know of. Can you show me?" She asked, hoping there were and that the ghosts would show her the way. There was a chance there were ghosts down there that she could not sense. She knew her powers had limits after all, and the range she could sense things was finite but capable of growing.

Vivian didn't seem embarassed at all that she had come back with a full group. Instead, she enthusiastically waved to the two from before, "Hey! Got caught up with something but found some other assistants of the Professor! They haven't seen the ruins so I thought I would tag along. Especially because you never know if something strange might occur~" Vivian states, already placing her pack down on the ground and retrieving her journal at the same time, "If any of you folks feel a tingle when you put your hand on the wall, let me know! Trying to figure out why that happened with me and not Mr Cowboy over here!"

@CitrusArms

Magnemite would float upwards to examine the interior of the dumpster to find.. a what? It was like some weird dark turquoise creature with big eyes, but tiny pupils. It was also very tubby and had an underbite with two canines peaking up from underneath.

---

@Xaltwind

Well, this is a short and sweet little encounter. With a Pokeball thrown at the Bounsweet without taking an ounce of damage from anything, the little fruit Pokemon was absorbed into the ball and fell upon the ground though this time the ball did a weird shake in the air before it fell down.

It shook once...



So, after searching for this Pokemon in multiple areas, what do you do now?

---

@Lunarlord34

"Oh, sure! That sounds nice... and normal," Freya responded with visible relief. She would just walk along and watch whatever antics that Steph got up to, such as picking a fight with a Growlithe. Now thankfully, Steph used an actual Pokemon instead of just throwing herself at it like the barbarian that was bordering to be. Steve, being higher leveled and having the type advantage was able to make quick work of the pup, which let Steph easily throw her last Pokeball at it.

It shook once...

It shook twice...!



Your party is full. Would you like to switch out?

Anyway, another quick training session where returns are beginning to dwindle and if we include Steve's previous venture...



Once that was completed, 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.

Once inside, 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.

A receptionist waved them over. "Hello there! How can I help you today?"

What does Steph do?

---

@baraquiel

"Well, aren't you a cutie! Where are we going?" The man was completely oblivious to Bravos' deception!

Meanwhile!

"...I guess we don't need to meet anyone else after all." The old man sighed and began to slowly to type on the keypad of his phone, again. Not one to waste time, Archie and company decided to walk towards a little building that was close to the Tauros enclosures. However, just as they were walking together, they would see Bravos dragging alongside a limping man.

"Danny? Why're you getting dragged along by this munchkin?" Neil asked with an arched brow, looking down at Bravos.

"Oh, hey boss! No idea, I guess he just wanted to show me something?" Danny looked down at Archie and asked, "Who's the kid?"

Neil took in a deep breath. If someone asked this question one more time, he was going to let the Torchic's use them as a scratch post. "Danny, this is Archie. He wants to help with our thief problem. Archie, this is Danny, the one who got his leg smashed by a Tauros. We were about to go talk to Hurly and see the footage for last night."

Danny shrugged and said, "Huh, nice to meet you kid. I'll tag along too then."

So, off they went to the building. When they opened it, they found a heavy-set man sitting by several monitors. "Oh, hey there. Is someone finally taking over?" He looked down at Archie and asked, "Who's the kid?"

Everyone in unison said, "This is Archie."

Well, Archie had free reign to look at the tapes and question Danny. What kind of discrepancy does he wish to look for?

---

@Zarkun

Astrid nodded with satisfaction at Jason's observation. "A good answer! Is there anyone else that would like to give their perspective?" She asked to the open crowd.

The flashy boy with pink hair raised his hand and when called up, calmly stated, "Each Pokemon's role was clearly defined and because of that their moves and abilities complimented each other."

This answer elicited a calm smile from Astrid. "Would you care to explain?"

The pink haired boy nodded and continued with an even-handed collectedness. "Sigrid's team was built around her Ninetails ability to generate the snow condition, which doubled their defense stats and allowed for Ninetails to use Aurora Veil, which boosted both of their defensive capabilities. Furthermore, the snow activated Sandslash's Slush Rush ability, doubling its speed. Ninetails' role was to set up weather, bolster defenses and speed while providing long range support while Sandslash is able to rush down." Sigrid nodded in approval of his assessment of her team's composition and strategy.

He motioned towards the electric type-gym leader who was looking up at him curiously. "Thora's team, however, takes advantage of her Electivire's Motor Drive ability when used in tandem with her Rotom's Discharge to deal damage to the opponent as well. Her Rotom is a utility Pokemon that is meant to disrupt and reposition should her Electivire get into trouble while managing close quarters combat." Thora gave him a wide, electric grin and a vigorous thumbs up.

Astrid nodded after listening to the flashy boy's explanation. "That is also an astute observation. You are correct that team composition and roles do play a major role in battle. Is there anyone else that cares to share what they think?" When asked, there was only silence, but the plain brown-haired boy hesitantly lifted his hand.

When called upon he shakily said, "Luck is a major factor."

"How so?" Astrid asked with a grin.

The plain boy cleared his throat, and this time spoke up a bit more, "Well, when electric types moves and ice type moves are being slung around, you'd expect either side to be paralyzed or frozen, but neither happened. Even the Moonblast from Ninetail's didn't lower Rotom's special attack."

"Right you are! Now, we all watched an exciting battle between skilled trainers that took into consideration of field advantages and carefully crafted roles that complimented their teams. However," She paused and let the silence hang in the air for a moment. "They were both lucky and unlucky; should have they received a status effect then the battle would have swayed heavily into one side's favor."

The grumpy orange haired boy sat there with his arms folded. "I could've answered that..."

Astrid took a moment to look around at her audience before leaving them with her final words. "No matter how excellent your strategy is, dumb luck is just as likely to turn the tide in your favor or against you. All you can do is be as prepared as you can and adapt. I hope you all take whatever observations with you and apply them to your own battles moving forward."

What does Jason do now?

---

@Shazamrock

It was exactly what one would imagine ruins to be: quiet, an echo of what once existed in the past. If there was anything left to plunder from these ruins, then they would be somewhere even the archaeologists would have failed to consider looking. You did find a cool rock though, so I guess that counts for something?



You walked around and examined the writing on the walls, strange writing that was foreign to whoever looked at them.

Except, you've seen them before haven't you, Nils? The same symbols that you have seen your grandfather jot down when he thought that you were not paying attention and the way it colored your parents' tongues when they needed to speak privately away from the ears of children. But you were older now, someone just on the cusp of being a young adult. You were taught to read and write these rigid runes because these words belonged to you. However, it was too cumbersome; you were trying to understand rows upon rows texts from walls upon walls and there were words that were too strange, too esoteric for you to even understand. It was a task that would take weeks, if not months to decipher.

However, you were able to gleam something from these runes; he could get a general meaning of things, such as a blinding light, cracks in the sky, and Singularity. There was also something else, something that was supposed to be here, but the question is if he could find it; the entire place was, in no pun intended, ruins. There was a facility, a military base most likely, that had something that he could only guess to be an automaton.

What does Nils do now?

Connected Areas:

Grand Glory City
Starbor Forest

---

@Goggy@Azure Bubbles@Joshua Tamashii

"Or maybe you just have a stick up your ass." Sabine countered. "It's all just ribbing. They don't have that where you're from mister fancy pants?" She teased, leaning forward with her hands on her hips. Clearly, she had no idea who Valerian was, unlike the dashing cowboy next to her.

Connon squinted at the prince as he tried to place him where he last saw him. His eyes widened when it suddenly hit him lack a Machoke's fist to the back of his head. "...Isn't that the youngest prince of the royal family?" He asked, pointing a gloved finger at Valerian.

Sabine looked up at Connon and beamed with mischievous energy. "Oh, so he has a royal stick up his royal ass. Got ya." She made sure to roll the R's really hard in a mockery of all sense of formality.

Frankie placed a hand on the prince's shoulder and shook his head. "I appreciate you helping, but Sabine's a force to be reckoned with."

Meanwhile, Amelia couldn't sense anything beyond the Yamasks though to be fair, there were a there were a lot of them. If there was anything then it would have been hard to detect, but these ghosts were not focused on answering her question; they looked at Clarissa who was about to touch one of the walls.

Connected Areas:

Grand Glory City
Starbor Forest

---

@Crusader Lord

Tracing a finger along a wall, you would send just a spark of psychic energy, a signal to whatever was in these ruins. Except, you failed to take into account one thing: you were not only something that could send a signal, but you were something that could receive one in turn... And whatever was in these walls found you.

It was a flood of energy, a flood of information that travelled through your finger and straight into your consciousness. You were everything and you were nothing. You were everywhere and nowhere. Time and entropy were now only words to you, and then there was darkness.

To everyone else, they watched as you collapsed onto the ground though your eyes stayed wide open, peering off into the sky though that's not what you were seeing right now. In fact, you could say that you were not even in the same moment.

You were standing in a vast city of stone and ancient concrete, the buildings that were once overtaken by time now stood proudly as if they were meant to withstand the tides of history. Wooden carts clacked along again roads as people and Pokemon walked side by side. You wanted to explore, but you couldn't; you were fixed in place. This body was not your own; it moved when it wanted to and saw what it wanted. Hell, whoever they were they were taller than you.

You suddenly came to a stop stood in place, watching as slabs of this strange black material were being carved by tools made of the same stuff by laborers sweating away. You understood exactly the purpose of their labor, what they were trying to achieve and yet you really didn't. It was scrambled, as if two people were peering into the same memory with the same eyes. There was an older man, one that gave off an aura of wisdom while there was a younger man with a look of dissatisfaction.



"Are you sure that these will be needed? Not to doubt her wisdom, but surely ██████ ██████ is overreacting." He complained with scowl that was rather common on this youth's face.

The older man clicked his tongue and glared at him with a furrowed brow. "Enough of that. For all of her abilities, her gift of foresight is what qualified her as a ███████████. We should consider ourselves so lucky that she rules besides ██████ ██████."

"I'd say Witch is a more accurate title." The younger man sneered. For some reason, that snide remark made your blood boil. The young man looked back at the walls with crossed arms. "What purpose are they meant to serve us now? Seems more like a bloody waste of time."

Words came out of your mouth, but you failed to recognize the voice. It was a woman's, strong and shimmering like polished steel. "If there are multiple possibilities, then one must prepare for every possible outcome no matter how unlikely." The older gentleman seemed pleased to see you while the other man adopted a nervous disposition.

The older man smiled appreciatively at you. You felt yourself return the same smile. "Ah, ██████, well said. Your presence always brings a certain measure of order to things. I must ask though, what is going through her head?" The old man said, gesturing towards the black monoliths.

You crossed your arms and silently pondered your words before you broke the silence. "If we're lucky, it's just nothing. If not... A message from us to them."

The older man stroked his beard in contemplation. "Hm, how sullen."



You wake up gasping for air. You didn't know what the walls said, but you know the message it was trying to convey; it was telling you to find something though you don't know what. The only thing that repeats in your head is a single word: Blackbox.

What do you do?

Connected Areas:

Grand Glory City
Starbor Forest

Vivian was in the midst of scanning the monolith walls once more, giving it a look over again in case she missed anything, when Clarissa fell. For a moment, they seemed confused... Then they practically ran over to them, not out of worry for the girl (well, there was a bit of worry) but in fascination, "Oh! You okay? Blink if you are!" she asks, staring at their wide, unseeing eyes for a fraction of a second before snapping back to the wall, "So she was touching the wall before this... Must be that tingling feeling I got before. But there has to be a reason as to why it did this to her and not much to me..." Vivian muttered to herself, writing in her journal while tracing a hand alongside the wall where Clarissa had touched moments ago.

And of course, once Clarissa came back to life with a sharp breath, Vivian immediately tore away from the wall, not crouching by her again, "You're alive! How are you feeling? Did you see anything? What did you feel when you were touching the wall? Do you have any idea why it effected you so sharply?" she asked in a rapid-fire tone, clearly more interested in what she was witnessing than anything else.

---

Nils had figured that finding any physical thing among the ruins was going to be a long shot. Ancient relics had probably been long since collected by researchers, scientists, or roving adventurers that stole stuff and gave it to museums. There was hardly anything left besides the structures themselves, and even those had been chipped away at. Since he was going in not expecting much he wasn't disappointed, and he also was not above taking a neat looking rock along with him. His room back home already housed a couple of those.

Tors sniffed at the rock as Nils knelt down to pick it up. Nils turned the multi-faced stone over in his hand, curious if the mudbray was going to try and eat it... but he didn't, he merely seemed interested in it because his trainer was.

"You can hold onto it if you want, Tors," Nils said, an amused little smile on his face. Tors blew a puff of air from his mouth and wagged his tail.

[ Tors is now holding a Hard Stone ... somehow! ]

Truth be told, Nils hadn't expected to find much in general. It was only the age of the ruins that piqued his interest enough to at least look. So when he continued searching, swept his eyes over the runes, and then had to stop and stare at the high wall with wide eyes he was not only not disappointed, but taken completely by surprise.

This is...! he started to think to himself, but found it hard to even voice in his own head. These were familiar shapes, words he could read, even in a language so different from the common speech of Evig now.

Nils stood frozen for what seemed like a long time, just taking in as many words as he could and trying to piece together the context of what was written. His eyes traced every rune, then jumped to the next line, the next wall. It was a lot. His head was even starting to hurt a little, but his heart... it beat strongly, partly elated that he'd found this, what just had to be a clue, and partly saddened that he was not as fluent as he could have been. But that was what this journey was for. Now, hours after taking his first step and meeting his partner pokemon, he felt that he'd just taken his second.

After a while of committing words to memory and trying to figure out what the message was spelling out (he guessed it was about some sort of cataclysm, but was it a chronicle? A prophecy? A warning?), Nils recalled that he was not actually in the past with the words. This was the modern era; he had a Rotom Phone. Giving his eyes and brain a rest, the boy took a few photos of the carved walls. He doubted he would be able to translate them in full anytime soon, if at all, but he wanted to keep this proof.

Tors had seated himself in the grass, just beginning to doze off when Nils pulled the phone out and roused the pokemon inadvertently. The mudbray shook its head to clear the drowsiness and then hopped back up onto its four feet, looking up at Nils. "Muuu mud?"

"Almost done, buddy. I want to stick around here a little longer though, see if I can't find whatever this is..." as Nils said that, he gently traced the rune in front of him with his hand. He wasn't exactly sure what it said. Automaton... so something like a robot? Did they even have those back when this was written? Maybe it was supposed to be golem instead?

Nils absently petted Tors' head as he thought about it. "It might not even still be here. But it doesn't hurt to look, right? So let's see... I guess we can start by finding a building that might have been a barracks, or something?"

Tors tilted his head, oblivious to what a barracks even was.

Before the two of them could start their search (but really just continue with more direction), there was yet another nearby commotion. This one was not as loud as the girls' screams from just earlier, but since Nils was not as far away this time he heard it pretty clearly. In another part of the ruins a thump of something hitting the ground and the surprised reactions of the other trainers. Tors jumped to alertness, and he and Nils turned curious eyes in that direction. A moment later and they went over to see what had happened, and coming upon Clarissa on the ground once more (she was a bit of a trouble magnet, wasn't she?) with Vivian hovering over her, to then hear what happened following Vivian's enthusiastic grilling.

---

---

".. Squee~!"

While what followed the immediate capture of the small berry-like pokemon was a moment of silence, it was eventually interupted by the quiet, muted and under-volumed noise escaping from the blonde trainer's lips. Before she completely forgot about all decorum and pretenses of pride, and promptly scampered over to the pokeball - now on the ground - like an excited child bum-rushing the presents underneath a Christmas tree. And who could really blame the girlf or her excitement? Up until now, all other of her catches had been nerve-rattling, spine-tingling, breath-holding tests of endurance, having tow watch the capture device shake once, twice and finally thrice... But with this little? It had only taken one shake. A single rattle. Like it had wanted to join her! This was obviously not true, but let's let the girl dream, shall we?

Picking up the tiny red and white sphere, Evelyn's eyes sparkled like gold in struck by sunlight, staring in a mesmerized stupor at her team's latest addition. Until, y'kmow, she finally had her brain catch up with what she was doing and how she was acting, and she put a hand infront of her mouth, letting out a small cough, then straightening her posture and getting rid of that whole 'uwu-girl' look she was giving off.

When Rotom piped up, letting her know that a fresh stack of pokedollars had been added to her account, and asking if she wnated to name the little critter, Evelyn just sighed.

"I haven't given any of the others a silly nickname, so why would I start now? Do you have, like, a setting or option that can be set so you won't ask this every time I catch a new pokemon?" It wasn't a real question, but if such a function existed, welll, that would be nice.

Still, no more time was spent on chastising the living phone for doing its job, it was time to meet the freshest face of her crew! With a flick of her wrist, the ball sailed up into the air, before burping out a stream of light, and the small fruit-pokemon was now released. Standing(?) on the ground infront of Evelyn, looking just as happy and oblivious as it had when it'd been pinged in the noggin' by a random sphere moments ago.

"Boun? Boun! Bounsweet!" It looked around, then hopped happily in place, like it was a bouncy-ball toy or somehting. Eve's heart melted.

"Oh my goooosh, you're so cute! C'mere, you!"

She knelt down and picked the little being up, held it in her arms and gave it a squeeze against her own chest. The pokemon let out a happy noise, that almost sounded like a mix between gurgling and giggling... Which... Was a bit unsettling if you were anyone except for the starry-eyed Evelyn at this moment, but thankfully, nobody else was really close by enough to hear... Right?

"Boun! Bounsweet-boun!"
"Mmmhmmhmm~ You're so tiny and squishy... And you smell amazing too. I just know we'll be the best of friends in no time, Bounsweet."
"Booouuun! Bouboubouboun~!"

As Evelyn was reveling in her newly acquired friend though, one of her pokeballs stirred. With an unwarranted and unwanted 'bzzooorrrt', another of Eve's companions decided to - at their own volition - emerge and greet the new addition. And, surprisingly, it was her previously most recent catch - the little Starly, the one she caught back in Starburr.

"Wha-- Hey! Don't just come on out on your own like that."
"Strrr! Strrly!"
"Boun? Bou~n?"
"Strrly! Strrly-ly!"

Starly apparently was content with circling over Evelyn's head. Botht eh trainer and her berry-mon looked at the little bird as it performed its oddly vulture-circling-esque shennanigans just above them. Eventually, Eve sat Bounsweet down, and the moment she did, Starly swooped down and landed next to the little morsel. The bird stared at the fruit, and the fruit stared with a stupid goofy smile at the bird.

"Strrly?"
"Boun!"
"Strrly, strr, strr!"
"Boun-bounsweet-boun!"

It seemed the two were having a discussion(?) of some sort. However, since Eve didn't know how to speak pokemonese, she could only stand and stare at the adorable sight. In fact, so stinkin' adorable was it that she forcefully nabbed Rotom and began snapping pics of the little pair as they engaged in their little pokemon pow-wow. Well, at least she was happy and having fun.

... But unbeknownst to Evelyn, the gears of fate had finally decided it was time for her to actually do something other than self-indulgent self-gratification for once.

And so...

A sudden and completely random event just so happened to happen!