PlatinumSkink

Pokémon: Start

@hatakekuro

‘Ah, Kalmia’s new assistant? It’s a pleasure to meet you! Has she decided what she wants to research, yet?’ Paulie asked with a lighthearted smirk. Then it was Anise’s turn to be introduced, and she nodded to him. ‘Ah, Hector’s disciple. I’ve heard the training is really hard! Can you keep up, lass?’

‘… Not always, Hector doesn’t really hold back, but one day,’ Anise told.

‘Haha. Hang in there!’ Paulie said, then turned to Basil… who said something quite interesting. Paulie frowned in interest, a little spark lighting in his older eyes. Anise unrolled the map at the cue, and Basil continued his explanation of the trip they’d taken so far. He started scratching his chin a little in interest as Anise placed the mirror on the table on the second cue, and he immediately leaned forward pulling forward his magnifying glass to inspect the mirror closely. Eventually Basil finished, and Paulie sat back in his office chair.

‘Hm. Hm. Hm, hm, hm,’ Paulie made several noises, poking his face as he thought it over. ‘Well! It’s worth a try, isn’t it!’ he called, spreading his arms out wide, grinning widely. ‘Come with me. There’s something I’d like to show you two. If it’s that or not, eh, we’ll see!’ he said, standing up, grabbing his backpack and being on his merry way. ‘You needed it right NOW, right? New discoveries waits for nobody!’

If Basil would prefer to stay in Rainrock City.

Rainrock City

Rainrock City

Passing over the rock bridge to enter, you’ll find Rainrock City to be a lot of exactly what’s in the name. Rain and rock. At the base of Mt. Strength, the city is on the top of a steep cliff, and has grown right where two rivers flow down from Mt. Strength to meet. A lake has grown in the center of the city, and the city has grown around it. The architecture of the buildings takes influence from an older time, as on these rocky cliffs larger buildings are difficult to construct, the streets made of cobblestone rather than asphalt. Given the near constant rain, it’s a largely silent mountain city where a lot of older people live, listening to the falling rain and taking it easy. You’re unlikely to find the town square bustling with attention.

Behind the town lies ancient caves, thought to have been inhabited in ancient times. By Pokémon, by men, who knows, the writing on the walls remain untranslatable to this day. It is perhaps due to these caverns, as well as a general concentration of old and wise people, that caused Rainrock City to house both the Rainrock Library as well as the Rainrock Academy. If Pureplain City house the schools for young children to learn, Rainrock City is where they finish their studies at the Academy, studying old texts under the calming noise of the rain. Rainrock Academy also happens to house the Pokémon Gym, due to Gym Leader being an esteemed professor.

Also notable, around Rainrock and on the streets there are Geodudes in town despite the rain, just lying about. Oh, and small crab-like bugs that make home in the rocks around here.

Suggestions to actions

1. Find Pokémon. Can still search for Pokémon in towns~
2. Talk. In cities, there are considerably more people one can talk to. Talking can give you info on local rumors and such.
3. Exit. Exit the town to any of the connected areas.
4. Specify. If you specify what you want to do, the GM will take it into account and tell the result.
5. Trigger random event. Force the GM to use his imagination to make a scenario for you.
6. Notable Places. Visit any of the places in the city!
6.1. Pokémon Center. Heal all your Pokémon.
6.2. PokéMart. Go to a store and buy things.
6.3. Rainrock Academy/Gym. A higher-level Pokémon academy for higher-level studies. Also doubles as the Pokémon Gym for ???
6.4. Rainrock Library. Information stored throughout the ages. Are you interested in any particular subject?
6.5. Rainrock Lake/Rivers. Powerful currents flow beneath, a calm lake lies midst the town. Surely, some water-Pokémon got to inhabit these.
6.6. Rainrock Caves. Ancient, shallow caves in which contain numerous Rock-types. Something lived in here in ancient times.
6.7. Old Street. Many old people live here. Careful, they don’t actually have much else to do but battle.

Connected areas:
Route 3. To the south, the route around the mountain, leading to Route 4 or Highhill Town. A wet woodland.
Route 11. A semi-populated road west under heavy rainfall, starting with a descent down towards Redcoast City. Abandoned buildings on the south side facing Silent Forest.

Rainrock City, known Pokémon

Common:
#74 Geodude
#557 Dwebble

Uncommon:

Rare:

Otherwise, Paulie led them straight past the academy, through town, and in a very specific direction. The caves behind town. Straight for the opening, no hesitation.

Welcome To

Rainrock Caves

Rainrock Caves is an older cave, within which Pokémon and people once lived within. The whole area is mapped and mostly exhausted of new discoveries, lights have been set up to allow people to traverse without fear of the darkness but there’s also many natural holes in the cavern ceiling letting in natural light, albeit things to cover them up exist at each. There’s remains of old construction work, mostly made out of stone, standing unused for hundreds of years. There’s little left of interest, unless you’re an archeologist.

‘Careful not to step on Geodudes!’ Paulie warns.

Yeah, as Paulie warns… In here there are… Geodudes. Loooooooooots of Geodudes.

Pokédex Entry #74 – Geodude, the Rock Pokémon. Found in fields as well as mountains. They commonly rest, half-buried in the ground and indistinguishable from normal rocks. There are always way more Geodude around than a traveler will notice. Stepping on one by accident may trigger their rage.

There’s also these weird rocks walking about, a single strange sensory organ in front. Whenever people came by, they started following them in strange disorderly lines. Like with Paulie, Basil and Anise, a strange little group of seven of them started following them for no apparent reason.

Pokédex Entry #524 – Roggenrola, the Mantle Pokémon. First discovered around a hundred years ago in an earthquake fissure, it was compressed to be hard as steel underground. Inside each there is an energy core that keeps it moving. It’s only anatomy is the hexagonal ear in front, making out the world through sound. It has a tendency to move towards sounds.

Here and there were these strange insectoid Pokémon with mushrooms on their backs crawling about, sometimes planting their mushrooms. They were largely ignoring the newcomers.

Pokédex Entry #46 – Paras, the Mushroom Pokémon. It lives in caves and damp forests. It is doused with mushroom spores when born. The Pokémon burrows underground to suck nutrients from tree roots, and then the tochukaso mushrooms absorb them. These mushrooms are highly valued for their life-extending medical properties.

Then, here and there, there’s these weird immobile statues just standing around, their noses always pointing in the same direction, and metal objects start being pulled towards them when you go too close… wait a second, the statues are Pokémon!

Pokédex Entry #299 – Nosepass, the Compass Pokémon. These Pokémon stand like statues for all year round, always facing north. They hunt with powerful magnetic fields, pulling in prey towards them. Should two meet, their noses will repel one another. While they move less than a centimeter per year in the wild, they become more lively when captured by a trainer.

‘Now, I could tell you everything we know about the people that once lived here,’ Paulie said, waving a little at some ruins. ‘I could tell you what tools they used, what their average day looked like, what Pokémon they had with them, what Pokémon that lived here by themselves without there being any humans involved… but that’s not going to help you in your mystery. You’re looking for a mysterious shrine that we’ve somehow not found. I’d normally have told you that there’s no such shrine… but there is a mystery that we haven’t been able to solve,’ Paulie said, leading them through multiple chambers and corridors, towards a sanctum deep within the Rainrock Caves.

There. On the cavern wall, there was ancient cave drawings that were remarkably well preserved.

‘We unfortunately don’t know what these drawings represent, or if it has any connections with the legends we know today. Lots of theories are being thrown around, but…’

Depicted on the wall, is a bird, a dragon, and a beast. By what can be seen, it seems like there’s some form of darkness approaching from the left and right sides, and the bird and the dragon are fighting it, or at least depicted as aggressively charging it. The beast stands above the both of them, watching them, depicted as significantly bigger than the other two. It looks calm, its eyes focused on the bird and dragon, looking superior. There’s a crowd of humans and vague Pokémon under them, worshipping them, or perhaps cheering them on, whatever those raised arms are supposed to signify.

‘What’s interesting with this wall, however, is not only that it depicts what must be a fantastical story of ancient times,’ Paulie said, with an expression looking like he was getting to the good part. ‘It’s the fact we can’t sample it. We can’t take a piece of it to sample it. Specifically, it’s impossibly hard, our equipment can’t pierce it. … What do you think?’ he asked, looking pretty excited.

Anise turned to look at Basil, still holding the mirror herself.

Basil’s actions?

__________________________

@Gardevoiran

‘Oh! A-alright, then! I’ll see you, there!’ Florrie said, hurrying away for now.

He eventually headed back to the resurrection researcher…

'What? Nope!’ Resurrection dude shook his head. 'One at a time per person! We don’t have an infinite amount of these machines! They’re not popcorn machines, popping out Pokémon in the hundreds from the fossils at once! You’ll have to wait until tomorrow!’ he said, crossing his arms, looking defiant. Trade-off tomorrow it is.

Skylar then headed off to Dunstan’s office instead. He knocked a couple of times, and said his line…

‘Ah, that… that’s him!’ he faintly heard Florrie’s voice on the other side. There was the noise of a chair in need of some oil being leaned back, and then a significantly calmer voice.

‘Alright, come in.’ With that, Skylar could open the door.

A dimly lit lab presented itself, one where a bunch of machines glowing with light green were orderly placed in squares with plenty of room in-between, many documents of research on varying tables as well. There were tubes of who knows what liquids, primarily green ones, that shone a bit and gave the whole place a green shine were placed to the side, along with flasks and vials of similarly green nature that made one ask what chemist was using only the same green fluid for all their experiments. Also inside this very same room, was a man sitting by his computer…

Dunstan

‘I heard you had something to show me?’ Dunstan asked, looking up at Skylar from where he was seated, letting Skylar speak. Florrie was standing next to Dunstan, looking exactly like a couple minutes ago.

What does Skylar do now?

Raremine Town

Raremine Town

_{no cat-eared girls here, sorry}

Raremine Town is a moderately large, bright town on the edge of the only desert in Isson. By some twist, the largest mineral deposits in the land is located right under the desert, making it an attractive place to build mines. From that, Raremine Town naturally sprung into being as a merchant town on the edge of habitability from where the mineral could then be delivered to the rest of Isson. The temperature is hot, sun blazing down on this land where plains slowly become desert, the atmosphere dry and unfriendly… yet, life and trees blossoms among the buildings of Raremine Town.

The ground is still the grass from the Vast Plains, with buildings on top of them. The modern houses stand tall with plenty of architectural skill put into them, tools for building and living sold inside the houses. Everywhere, one can see workers walking about, but they’re happy workers, with their families living close at hand in the town and with the finest equipment available. Oh, and of course, plenty of Pokémon that assist with the finding of ores and such! The trees, which appear to have been planted and grown all over town by the residents themselves, gives plenty of homes for local Pokémon to live.

Overall, it’s busy, with people walking and talking all over, an active town indeed.

Suggestions to actions, Raremine Town

1. Find Pokémon. Can still search for Pokémon in cities~
2. Talk. In cities, there are considerably more people one can talk to. Talking can give you info on local rumors and such.
3. Exit. Exit the town to any of the connected areas.
4. Specify. If you specify what you want to do, the GM will take it into account and tell the result.
5. Trigger random event. Force the GM to use his imagination to make a scenario for you.
6. Notable Places. Visit any of the places in the city!
6.1. Pokémon Center. Heal all your Pokémon.
6.2. PokéMart. Go to a store and buy things.
6.3. Pokémon Gym. ???
6.4. Desert Miner’s Hangout. The workers of the Desert Mine live around here. They can give tips about the desert!
6.5. Research Lab. For archaeologists, those who want to talk to Dunstan and those who want to resurrect fossils.
6.6. Stone Store. Where all the stones of the Desert Mines or Frozen Cave eventually end up! Lots of evolutionary and other kinds of stones!
6.7. Bug Garden. A garden within which bugs thrive. Vivillons can be hired here for tracking down the Mythic Oasis!
6.8. Warehouses. Because the things they mine here needs somewhere to be stored. This includes Ancient Pokémon, apparently, as some of the warehouses are pens.

Connected areas:
Route 6. The Vast Plains open up to the north of Raremine. The shorter paths lead to Route 8 and 16, while west far enough leads to Lakewatch Town.
Route 7. The single rocky desert of Isson, it connects to the Desert Mines, the Old Tombs and to the Mythic Oasis.

Raremine Town, known Pokémon

Common:
#290 Nincada
#529 Drilbur
#664 Scatterbug

Uncommon:

Rare:

__________________________

@Joshua Tamashii
_{appropriate music}
As simple as that would have made the case, there was no Water Stone among Leila’s collection of rocks. There was a Fire and a Leaf stone, however.

>> Evidence updated: Fire and Leaf Stone.

‘Oh. Yeah, they were both out!’ Eric responded pretty quickly, smirking. ‘We’ve been making trips to and from the Pureplain Pokémon Center here to train! Then camping on top of it, because, yeah, why not? So, yes! They were both out at the time of the earthquake,’ he told. Then about taking his eyes off them. ‘Well, uh. I wasn’t training both of them at the same time. I was training them one by one, so I suppose one could have snook off while I was training the other… but you guys didn’t snitch the stone, did you?’ he asked, turning to his two Pokémon. Both the Ledyba and the Surskit shook their heads to the best of their ability.

‘Yeah! Then I trust them!’

Was anything in that important enough to add to the testimony?

Also, may as well add the Earthquake Testimony to evidence.

>> Earthquake Testimony added to evidence.

TESTIMONY: Backpacker Leila

‘So, the three of us are friends. We came to Route 2 together.’
‘We came across the Water Stone, but Palpitoad protected it.’
‘I went with Annica, and checked the waters for rare rocks while she set up camp.’
‘I can confirm Annica was with me the entire time, until I left.’
‘I did so to check on the Palpitoad and the Water Stone, and found both to be gone.’
‘Nothing else of note happened.’

TESTIMONY: Lass Annica

‘I went to set up camp for us for later, because we were going to spend time here.’
‘I didn't do much else, just watched Leila nearby by the waterside.’
‘There was this odd earthquake out at the water at one point, maybe a different Palpitoad?’
‘Leila eventually left towards the site where we found the Water Stone and Palpitoad.’
‘It was shortly after that Palpitoad started washing over the route with water.’
‘Anyways, I don't particularly have a reason to want a Water Stone.’

TESTIMONY: Bug Catcher Eric

‘Yeah, while those two were doing boring things, I went Pokémon hunting!’
‘I was battling the wild Pokémon of Route 2 the entire time!’
‘There was that weird earthquake at one time, and I saw Palpitoad depart to investigate.’
‘So there was a time there when the Water Stone was unguarded.’
‘… I was tempted. I would have wanted to gift Amy a Water Stone for her Staryu...’
‘But I'm in no rush! I'll find her another one!’

Evidence

• Attorney's Badge. … This is a Sun Stone.
• Earthquake Testimony. An earthquake happened that distracted Palpitoad. Would have been hard to miss.
• Leila's Barboach. A healthy Barboach. Has inherited a bunch of moves from parents.
• Leila's Belongings. Hiking equipment. A fishing rod. A ridiculous amount of peculiar rocks and stones. A diary with a ton of writing about wanting to compete in contests. There’s a Fire and Leaf Stone among them.
• Annica's Murkrow. A healthy Murkrow. Looks pleased with itself.
• Annica's Fletchling. A slightly damaged Fletchling. Looks a bit nervous.
• Annica's Belongings. A couple Pokéballs and Potions. A phone. The wrapped-up-in-a-hurry remains of the tent they were going to camp in. A pair of tickets for a ferry from Pureplain City to Sunyshore City.
• Eric's Surskit. A damaged Surskit. Still pretty peppy.
• Eric's Ledyba. A damaged Ledyba. It's suffered a Burn.
• Eric's Belongings. Bug catcher net and cage. Bunches of Pokéballs and Potions and Repells and anything else a good Pokémon Trainer needs. A photo of a young girl together with Annica.

Or she could leave.

Suggestions to actions

1. Find Pokémon. Can be specified what kind of Pokémon is being searched for, and how you search.
2. Train Pokémon. With this command, we can jump ahead in time and skip posting about grinding.
3. Seek trainers. There should be some here and there. Note, some may challenge you, regardless.
4. Talk. There’s some other travelers around. Maybe seek answers to any burning questions you have.
5. Move along. Move along normally, letting any events that may come happen naturally.
6. Hurry along. Intentionally avoid confrontations and try to get safely to the next destination.
7. Specify. If you specify what you want to do, the GM will take it into account and tell the result.
8. Trigger random event. Force the GM to use his imagination to make a scenario for you.
9. Area Specific: Fishermen Huts. See what the fishermen over there's got going.
10. Current Event: Palpitoad Flooding. Random event.

Connected areas:
Pureplain City. You can get back without complication.
Infested Woods. You’re right next to it.
Wet Caverns. May need to cross a bridge or two to get there.

Route 2, known Pokémon

Common:
#13 Weedle
#16 Pidgey
#161 Sentret
#270 Lotad
#283 Surskit

Uncommon:
#60 Poliwag

Rare:
#158 Totodile
#420 Cherubi
#536 Palpitoad

__________________________

@Savo

‘Um, don’t you mean faint two poor Pidgeys with one Rock Tomb?’ Chloe asked, sounding like she didn’t like the idea of Pidgeys being Rock Tomb, and especially not to death. ‘Anyway, yes! I’m in! Growlithe, after!’ she turned back seriously towards the battle, and Growlithe turned to dash after Aster!

To they lined up in order to make Spheal crash into Grimer…

‘I see what you’re doing! I’m not going to have Spheal hit my ally again! Spheal, STOP!’ the white-haired shouted. Spheal started spinning violently in the other direction, kicking up dirt and creating a little crater as the round seel slowly came to a stop in front of Aster and Growlithe…

‘HAH! I did not hurt my own ally! Your plan has failed! What are you going to do now, huh!?’ white-haired sounded out, stupidly proud, crossing his arms. Chloe stared at him a bit, then…

‘I suppose we can beat you?’ she suggested.

‘Wha-’

‘Growlithe, Bite!’ Chloe commanded, unless Cyril had a better idea, and Growlithe jumped forward to bite at the suddenly immobile Spheal.

‘W-Water Gun!’ white-haired dude commanded, Spheal intending to shoot a Water Gun at Growlithe if it survived for it.

‘Poison Gas!’ the red-haired one commanded, and Grimer spewed out a Poison Gas towards Aster and Growlithe, and Spheal because it’s right next to Growlithe. Probably didn’t know Aster’s part poison-type.

Their strategies after this will probably exclusively be to have Spheal Water Gun or Powder Snow depending on effectiveness, and Grimer to Pound or Mud-Slap, because Grimer early moveset is not very good.

Cyril’s actions?

Darkest Before the Dawn: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

‘Hahaha! I did!’ Mayra just laughed as MDP jumped over to hug her. Meanwhile, Mariette was very confused. Why was a member of the enemy force hugging Mayra? Why did they seem friendly? So confusing.

Dina made her command, and Mayra nodded. ‘Alright, guess I'm jetting! Are you coming?’ Mayra asked MDP, before blasting herself off towards the portal as commanded. If anyone intended to, like, attack Mayra while she was standing still in the previous post, that's still OK, but Mayra's intention is leaving with Mariette in her clutches right now.

‘Wait, but, Eli-’ Mariette started, still clutching her black Bunny, but Mayra took off before she could finish. Last she saw before Mayra turned around with her, Hilaria was looking out for Eli. Ah, good, then she should be safe…

---

_{Small collab with @FamishedPants}

H i l a r i a

That frightened Eli. Why would an enemy commit to such a suicidal charge against her, of all people? Aim for the weakest link? Fortunately, Hilaria intercepted the enemy charge, and Eli breathed out in relief, however slimes breathe. She was going to turn and run for the portal herself. Still, wasn't there something familiar about the attacker? Almost like… but no, it couldn't be… 

Ronin staggered to a halt as Hilaria fired, flinching as she did. She looked over with a troubled look. Every newly given samurai-instinct in her tiny body told the same thing. She didn't stand a chance against this foe. However, she was too close to stop.

This person… she wasn't a champion of Asengav. She must be some ally that Mariette had called in. In that case, Ronin saw a fraction of a possibility. If it failed, she'd be leaving herself high to dry. Nothing else to it.

‘I'm going to save my sister from a Horror. Please don't stop me,’ Ronin told, giving a happy if tense grin.

‘Huh? Sist-’ Eli's eyes widened, looking over at the speaker. Surely, it couldn't-

Two things happened at once. The beacon that the primary soul of the Twinned Soul carried to alert its partner activated, telling Eli its location… right in front of her. Only the real soul could possibly do such a thing. Eli was in shock.

Secondly, Ronin leapt at Eli. It was now that Hilaria had the chance to intercept her for real.

The eternal knight did not take the chance, however, and repeated what the small samurai had said. "Sister~? Is that so~?" the word seemed to give her quite some pause and she stood, choosing to observe the two as they clashed.

Despite this supposed revelation, Eli couldn't believe it and naturally still raised her wing-blade and shield as Ronin leapt at her. However, infused with her own enhancements along with Aurelio's, Ronin was quicker and stronger. She struck aside Eli's sharpened wing with her sword wielded in one hand, and pushed aside Eli's reinforced wing-shield with her other arm.

With all arms spread out now, Deni used the rest of her momentum to fly straight into Eli's slime-body, used reinforcement to not actually go inside her amorphous body, and then swung her limbs around to clutch around her sister in a tight, tight hug, warm with her love.

‘D-Deni…?’ Eli asked, enhanced wings still spread.

‘I'm sorry… that I took so long!’ Deni said, smiling and crying a little.

‘Wh-why are you-’

‘Shush, little sister. Long story, not now. Listen. You're about to be sent to the Djinn Sisters' home. You'll be safe there,’ Deni said, and a slight glow started surrounding them.

Hilaria, who was still watching, chose not to interrupt the sibling's touching moment. She sighed to herself although it was probably too quiet to hear, and then wordlessly took off in the direction of Mariette and the others.

Deni noticed that Hilaria was leaving, and had also previously noted she hadn't been struck in mid-air earlier. She mouthed a silent 'thank you' that went unheard. Eli was a bit confused about what Deni had just said, but the Djinn Sisters were their friends, so. Still, what was that about… 

‘What did you mean by saving me from-’ Eli was about to ask.

‘Can you please do something for me?’ Deni interrupted her.

‘Uh…’ Eli was confused and couldn't reply.

‘Clear your mind. Don't think too hard on it. When you arrive, put a sleeping curse on yourself. I'll come wake you up, and everything will be fine. Please, please do this for me, Eli. You can trust me.’

Eli had a lot of reservations about this, especially the part about cursing herself to sleep. But… this was Deni. She could feel it. As impossible as it sounded, this was Deni. Eli felt herself overcome with joy at this tiny fact alone, so… 

‘… Alright. I'll trust you,’ she said, removing the enhancements on her wings and closing them around Deni, hugging her back.

Deni smiled so widely. 

‘I'm so happy to see you again,’ she said.

And then, the glow subsided, and Eli had disappeared from the battlefield, Deni standing there looking content for a bit.

…

Unless one of you decides to be a monster and interrupts, that is. That was at least 10 seconds of conversation, after all.

Darkest Before the Dawn: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

Yeah… probably best Taihei does nothing. As much as she'd wanted to assist her allies, her bad luck would probably just make everything worse. She started running towards the portal Dan opened as quickly as her abysmal agility could achieve. She'd rather not that her bad luck got her locked inside a collapsing dimension.

Dina made her position absolutely clear, and gave some commands. Ronja wasn't about to not follow.

‘I'll support the flight,’ Ronja told, intending to head over to the edge and run down, but she'd head to the corner to check how it's going for Suzette, Esther and Josefin, preparing to possibly shoot web and pull them in to save them from whatever they'd gotten into.

---

Josefin apparently managed to save Su from a sword and caused Leena to drop said sword. Her luck strikes again! Then she flinched as her wrist was grabbed and Leena used her as an impromptu weapon… but that, too, may have been a case of Leena fighting Josefin's fortune. 

‘Don't touch… what you can't handle!’ Josefin twisted herself so the hand of her grabbed wrist grabbed Leena's wrist in turn. Suddenly, Leena'd feel her mana being sucked out of her through her hand into the grinning mana-thief, the one titled the Perky Pilferer. Of course, not all of it at once, but prolonged contact would be problematic.

Josefin was ready to swing her sword in her other hand to block attacks aimed to sever her arm. She was also prepared to blast out her drained or own mana at skin-level to slow down impacts as she was swung around at things. She didn't have a way to prevent herself being swinged at Su, though, so up to Su to dodge that!

And if she looked like she was about to die, she'd let go, fall down. She'd done her part, time to survive.

@Ariamis@BrokenPromise

Esther was a strong magical girl, but as a physical magical girl that supplemented her considerable might with not-inconsiderable amount of magic, it was no surprise FanFan had more options in the Void World. As the saw chipped into her mana, it became clear Esther would not win in a direct physical one-on-one, that's what they had Freya for. The expressionless voiceless tree-girl was staring at FanFan, unable to counter, when… 

‘ESTHER, DETACH!!’ A command came from above. Esther immediately detached her roots from the mansion and jumped outwards, wrapping her wooden limbs onto FanFan's rotary blade and other hand to prevent her from moving, lifting FanFan's arms and guard as the tree-girl jumped out and over the metal-armed girl!

Under, coming dashing down the side of the mansion, was…!

An older girl in a purple dress, blonde with yellow details, grinning as her cloth-gloves and eyes glowed with a massive boost of empathic magic. Behind her, her cloth had formed into two giant purple bat-wings, streaming behind her as she dashed down the side of the mansion directly for FanFan!

‘Let me show you…why I'm the Emptiness Empath!’ Suzette boasted, as Esther focused on holding FanFan immobile as gravity was starting to grab her, but Suzette was dashing down far faster than gravity. With her Training, Suzette predicted how FanFan would attempt to counter her, her Wings perk on in case she needed to leap into mid-air to pursue her. Suzette charged all her magical power into her right arm, which glowed in sinister purple energy, and…!

‘Willpower Blow~’ Suzette called, slamming her clothed fist at FanFan!

Despite the Power's name, Suzette's Killing Blow was not made to kill… 

After, hit or not, the plan was for both Esther and Suzette to fall down to the ground, Esther releasing the grip on FanFan to avoid getting cut more just as Suzette passed. From where they could then join the flight to the portal.

@Ariamis

---

So, Freya was ready to fight with Justine, cooperate with Jenna in the battle… except she was suddenly enveloped by this dose of joy and love that wasn't even meant for her.

‘NO!’ Freya cried out, clutching her arms around her chest, the lamia's tail curling up next to her as well, her body-language almost looking as if she was in pain, yet she couldn't stop smiling, tears falling as she felt so loved.

‘It… it happened again…’ she said, before her gaze lifted and looked towards Aurelio as she was trying to force down her smile. ‘And once again… it's  when YOU'RE here…’ This despite Aurelio not being the cause this time, from her perspective. Freya shook her head and turned back to the battlefield, relatively recovered, but heart still beating quickly.

Yet, she was bothered.

She was supposed to be a stone-cold warrior and killer for Asengav, caring little for who lived or died among those unrelated. Yet seeing Eliza dash in the way of that stab… 

Freya suddenly didn't want to lose anybody. She wanted to keep this happy feeling, as long as possible.

She blasted off at Justine once again, intending to strike Justine's attack aside so she couldn't injure either Eliza or Jenna, this hopefully without disturbing Eliza's attack. Freya attempted to dodge any counter-attack as well, for she had no intention to sacrifice her life, either, then she'd definitely lose the happy feeling. 

Should she arrive on the other side of that attack unharmed, she'd quip to Eliza and Jenna.

‘I'll support you,’ she said, simply.

Then I imagine it's now Silhouette called out about Sonia's condition. Freya braced herself to take advantage of any lapses of judgement Justine may make or prevent any allies from being given fatal blows.

Though, then there was Sakura. And at the time she showed up, Freya got an expression of alarm at the massive amount of power Sakura was gathering, and was prepared to grab Eliza and Jenna to pull them back if they looked like they were about to become collaterals… or she could fall back to Sil and ask if she wanted to be evacuated, that works too.

@Ariamis@Majoras End@twave@FamishedPants

---

So, the mansion cracking in half was obviously not a good sign. Still, it gave the girls inside a very convenient exit.

‘Let me just put on a fake appearance…’ information girl briefly said as she applied some of her own magic on only herself. In moments, she now had the most generic background character girl appearance ever. ‘Good. I'm now ready to escape.’

… And then Victoria cracked through a wall because perhaps exiting through a place the dimension is ripping apart is not a good idea. She then picked up the Black Mirror and leapt out, followed by Tullia, Olivia, a totally generic girl and the crowd of surviving magical girls, currently making a beeline for the portal. Just as long as Victoria didn't try to exit with it before everyone else evacuated. That'd be inadviceable.

Darkest Before the Dawn: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

Lea was about to be engulfed in flames, but was then spontaneously enveloped in darkness instead, Asengav removing her from the dimension. She'd suffer the consequences of risking herself later.

_{this was the Retrieval benefit}

Pokémon: Start

@Gardevoiran

If Anton had actually noticed the Old Amber, he’d have been interested. It was, however, a grunt that unearthed that particular pocket, who didn’t know what it was, and the fact this girl had stumbled out at the same time as that part of the wall crumbled was rather distracting.

The girl looked at Skylar’s reaction finding the Old Amber with curiosity, though then quickly returned to speaking. ‘I’m Florrie, assistant of Professor Dunstan at the Raremine Research Lab…’ … and her eyes widened as Skylar took out his cane. ‘Oh, god. You’re actually… I did wonder, but those glasses are actually because you…’ she swallowed a bit, and then was quick to walk to Skylar’s side.

‘Let me help you back to town. It’s the least I can do. There’s… there’s nothing to find down here, anyway,’ she said, with a slight bit of regret in her tone, in a way that definitely sounded like she knew this for a fact.

In any case, she could take Skylar back to Raremine Town, if he wished! Would assume so, since he has no Pokémon currently. She’d lead him to the door of the Pokémon Center. After which…

‘I should go back to the lab. You… seem dependable. You saved me, so. If you’d like to… uh, if you’d like to help us with a thing, the reason I was in that cave and what they were likely looking for, you could come to Dunstan’s office at some point.’ Triggered by just going there at any time. ‘You don’t have to, of course, if so, good luck on your journey!’ Florrie said, before running off. Note, this is just the opening for that particular side quest that Dawkin’s already on, but Eklispe hasn’t posted in a while, so, eh. Not sure. Oh, well. Thought I’d leave it open for all players anyway.

nurse

‘Hello, and welcome to the Pokémon Center. Would you like to rest your Pokémon?’

Assumingly, yes.

‘Okay. I’ll take your Pokémon for a few seconds, then.’

She’d then accept the Pokéballs and put them into the machine, and…

Di, di, di-do-da!

‘Thank you for waiting. We’ve restored your Pokémon to full health.’

She says as she hands the Pokéballs back. She then bows to her customer and gives a friendly smile.

‘We hope to see you again!’

So, what will Skylar do now?

He can prevent Florrie from leaving if he feels like, or head on. It’s probably late right now.

Raremine Town

Raremine Town

_{no cat-eared girls here, sorry}

Raremine Town is a moderately large, bright town on the edge of the only desert in Isson. By some twist, the largest mineral deposits in the land is located right under the desert, making it an attractive place to build mines. From that, Raremine Town naturally sprung into being as a merchant town on the edge of habitability from where the mineral could then be delivered to the rest of Isson. The temperature is hot, sun blazing down on this land where plains slowly become desert, the atmosphere dry and unfriendly… yet, life and trees blossoms among the buildings of Raremine Town.

The ground is still the grass from the Vast Plains, with buildings on top of them. The modern houses stand tall with plenty of architectural skill put into them, tools for building and living sold inside the houses. Everywhere, one can see workers walking about, but they’re happy workers, with their families living close at hand in the town and with the finest equipment available. Oh, and of course, plenty of Pokémon that assist with the finding of ores and such! The trees, which appear to have been planted and grown all over town by the residents themselves, gives plenty of homes for local Pokémon to live.

Overall, it’s busy, with people walking and talking all over, an active town indeed.

Suggestions to actions, Raremine Town

1. Find Pokémon. Can still search for Pokémon in cities~
2. Talk. In cities, there are considerably more people one can talk to. Talking can give you info on local rumors and such.
3. Exit. Exit the town to any of the connected areas.
4. Specify. If you specify what you want to do, the GM will take it into account and tell the result.
5. Trigger random event. Force the GM to use his imagination to make a scenario for you.
6. Notable Places. Visit any of the places in the city!
6.1. Pokémon Center. Heal all your Pokémon.
6.2. PokéMart. Go to a store and buy things.
6.3. Pokémon Gym. ???
6.4. Desert Miner’s Hangout. The workers of the Desert Mine live around here. They can give tips about the desert!
6.5. Research Lab. For archaeologists, those who want to talk to Dunstan and those who want to resurrect fossils.
6.6. Stone Store. Where all the stones of the Desert Mines or Frozen Cave eventually end up! Lots of evolutionary and other kinds of stones!
6.7. Bug Garden. A garden within which bugs thrive. Vivillons can be hired here for tracking down the Mythic Oasis!
6.8. Warehouses. Because the things they mine here needs somewhere to be stored. This includes Ancient Pokémon, apparently, as some of the warehouses are pens.

Connected areas:
Route 6. The Vast Plains open up to the north of Raremine. The shorter paths lead to Route 8 and 16, while west far enough leads to Lakewatch Town.
Route 7. The single rocky desert of Isson, it connects to the Desert Mines, the Old Tombs and to the Mythic Oasis.

Raremine Town, known Pokémon

Common:
#290 Nincada
#529 Drilbur
#664 Scatterbug

Uncommon:

Rare:

---

@hatakekuro

The Lass showed them the way through the campus towards the offices of the professors, up to a door clearly labeled with Paulie’s name, and then departed for her own business. Inside the door, after knocking a bit the voice of an older gentleman called out ‘Come in!’ they were free to enter.

Paulie is, without question nor doubt, a Ruin Maniac, and there’s no reason to give him any other appearance or trainer class.

Hider

+ professor coat when not field studying

He was currently on his knees with a fully packed bag checking on the lowest level of his shelf with a magnifying glass.

‘I swear, I put it somewhere here…’ he muttered for himself before shrugging and standing up, stretching his back a little. ‘Eh, it can wait. Hello!’ He said, turning towards Basil with a friendly smile. ‘What can I help you with?’

Rainrock City

Rainrock City

Passing over the rock bridge to enter, you’ll find Rainrock City to be a lot of exactly what’s in the name. Rain and rock. At the base of Mt. Strength, the city is on the top of a steep cliff, and has grown right where two rivers flow down from Mt. Strength to meet. A lake has grown in the center of the city, and the city has grown around it. The architecture of the buildings takes influence from an older time, as on these rocky cliffs larger buildings are difficult to construct, the streets made of cobblestone rather than asphalt. Given the near constant rain, it’s a largely silent mountain city where a lot of older people live, listening to the falling rain and taking it easy. You’re unlikely to find the town square bustling with attention.

Behind the town lies ancient caves, thought to have been inhabited in ancient times. By Pokémon, by men, who knows, the writing on the walls remain untranslatable to this day. It is perhaps due to these caverns, as well as a general concentration of old and wise people, that caused Rainrock City to house both the Rainrock Library as well as the Rainrock Academy. If Pureplain City house the schools for young children to learn, Rainrock City is where they finish their studies at the Academy, studying old texts under the calming noise of the rain. Rainrock Academy also happens to house the Pokémon Gym, due to Gym Leader being an esteemed professor.

Also notable, around Rainrock and on the streets there are Geodudes in town despite the rain, just lying about. Oh, and small crab-like bugs that make home in the rocks around here.

Suggestions to actions

1. Find Pokémon. Can still search for Pokémon in towns~
2. Talk. In cities, there are considerably more people one can talk to. Talking can give you info on local rumors and such.
3. Exit. Exit the town to any of the connected areas.
4. Specify. If you specify what you want to do, the GM will take it into account and tell the result.
5. Trigger random event. Force the GM to use his imagination to make a scenario for you.
6. Notable Places. Visit any of the places in the city!
6.1. Pokémon Center. Heal all your Pokémon.
6.2. PokéMart. Go to a store and buy things.
6.3. Rainrock Academy/Gym. A higher-level Pokémon academy for higher-level studies. Also doubles as the Pokémon Gym for ???
6.4. Rainrock Library. Information stored throughout the ages. Are you interested in any particular subject?
6.5. Rainrock Lake/Rivers. Powerful currents flow beneath, a calm lake lies midst the town. Surely, some water-Pokémon got to inhabit these.
6.6. Rainrock Caves. Ancient, shallow caves in which contain numerous Rock-types. Something lived in here in ancient times.
6.7. Old Street. Many old people live here. Careful, they don’t actually have much else to do but battle.

Connected areas:
Route 3. To the south, the route around the mountain, leading to Route 4 or Highhill Town. A wet woodland.
Route 11. A semi-populated road west under heavy rainfall, starting with a descent down towards Redcoast City. Abandoned buildings on the south side facing Silent Forest.

Rainrock City, known Pokémon

Common:
#74 Geodude
#557 Dwebble

Uncommon:

Rare:

Pokémon: Start

@hatakekuro

They went to Rainrock Academy. It’s an impressive, rocky building that is mostly frequented by young adults and adults, given its higher education purposes and intentions of research. However, besides that, it had an unnaturally large foyer for the purpose of Pokémon battles, for it doubled as the Rainrock City Pokémon Gym. The sign in front said as much in very clear terms.

Rainrock Pokémon Gym - Major League
Leader: Clement
“The Genius Geologist!”

… As probably evident, Basil wasn’t here to challenge the Major League Gym of Rainrock City, he was here looking for someone to possibly show him the way inside the Rainrock Caves. Let’s assume he asked someone for a bit of guidance, a student or so. Like this older Lass here.

‘Hm? Someone to ask about the Rainrock Caves? Oh, I’d recommend either Professor Paulie or Professor Clement. Paulie’s an archeologist that researches the ancient population in Rainrock Caves, while Clement’s a geologist that could tell you everything about the composition of the caves themselves. Depending on what you’re looking for, both could serve you well! If, uh. If they decide to help you, which I must say Paulie’s more likely to. Our dear Gym Leader is brilliant, but often too busy to be friendly…’

That would be. What will Basil do?

Rainrock City

Rainrock City

Passing over the rock bridge to enter, you’ll find Rainrock City to be a lot of exactly what’s in the name. Rain and rock. At the base of Mt. Strength, the city is on the top of a steep cliff, and has grown right where two rivers flow down from Mt. Strength to meet. A lake has grown in the center of the city, and the city has grown around it. The architecture of the buildings takes influence from an older time, as on these rocky cliffs larger buildings are difficult to construct, the streets made of cobblestone rather than asphalt. Given the near constant rain, it’s a largely silent mountain city where a lot of older people live, listening to the falling rain and taking it easy. You’re unlikely to find the town square bustling with attention.

Behind the town lies ancient caves, thought to have been inhabited in ancient times. By Pokémon, by men, who knows, the writing on the walls remain untranslatable to this day. It is perhaps due to these caverns, as well as a general concentration of old and wise people, that caused Rainrock City to house both the Rainrock Library as well as the Rainrock Academy. If Pureplain City house the schools for young children to learn, Rainrock City is where they finish their studies at the Academy, studying old texts under the calming noise of the rain. Rainrock Academy also happens to house the Pokémon Gym, due to Gym Leader being an esteemed professor.

Also notable, around Rainrock and on the streets there are Geodudes in town despite the rain, just lying about. Oh, and small crab-like bugs that make home in the rocks around here.

Suggestions to actions

1. Find Pokémon. Can still search for Pokémon in towns~
2. Talk. In cities, there are considerably more people one can talk to. Talking can give you info on local rumors and such.
3. Exit. Exit the town to any of the connected areas.
4. Specify. If you specify what you want to do, the GM will take it into account and tell the result.
5. Trigger random event. Force the GM to use his imagination to make a scenario for you.
6. Notable Places. Visit any of the places in the city!
6.1. Pokémon Center. Heal all your Pokémon.
6.2. PokéMart. Go to a store and buy things.
6.3. Rainrock Academy/Gym. A higher-level Pokémon academy for higher-level studies. Also doubles as the Pokémon Gym for ???
6.4. Rainrock Library. Information stored throughout the ages. Are you interested in any particular subject?
6.5. Rainrock Lake/Rivers. Powerful currents flow beneath, a calm lake lies midst the town. Surely, some water-Pokémon got to inhabit these.
6.6. Rainrock Caves. Ancient, shallow caves in which contain numerous Rock-types. Something lived in here in ancient times.
6.7. Old Street. Many old people live here. Careful, they don’t actually have much else to do but battle.

Connected areas:
Route 3. To the south, the route around the mountain, leading to Route 4 or Highhill Town. A wet woodland.
Route 11. A semi-populated road west under heavy rainfall, starting with a descent down towards Redcoast City. Abandoned buildings on the south side facing Silent Forest.

Rainrock City, known Pokémon

Common:
#74 Geodude
#557 Dwebble

Uncommon:

Rare:

---

@Gardevoiran

Battle

Mac seemed to be a little faster than the Klink on the opposite side of the battlefield, and he ran up viciously. Skylar called from behind the hot bird with his command. "Double Kick! One for each of their gears!"

youtube.com/watch?v=_T91TAmept0 - Music of choice.

The slightest change in expression told that Anton appreciated being addressed by his name. Still, then Mac came out... "Of course," he said, biting it together. Then... "Gear Grind!" The pair of gears sped up their spinning as they swung to meet with the fiery chicken in the middle of the tunnel. Mac struck first, kicking each of the two gears from various angles and sending them spinning with Super Effective damage! However, Klink spun around and cut into Mac as well with two fierce, albeit Not-Very-Effective strikes of Steel-type! Mac did around 80% of Klink's health with those kicks, while Klink did around 40% back. Gear Grind is a surprisingly powerful move. But now, Mac was faster…

“Good job, Mac! Keep it up, buddy!” Skylar cheered on his pal before realising that it might be a little difficult to land another set of kicks. “Go for an Ember!” Mac nodded, sprinted up to the Kline, and let loose a puff of flaming breath from his beak...!

Mac jumped back from the spinning cutting gears, and unleashed an Ember! Klink was unable to dodge the fireball and was slammed back from the burning impact, the Super-Effective damage too much! Klink fainted. Anton sighed as he returned Klink to its Pokéball. "Regrettable," he said, and then spun his spear a bit. "but now I'll have the bothersome chicken out of the way." The spear stopped by his shoulder, and Clauncher jumped excitedly onto it. Anton then grasped his spear with both hands and swung it, Clauncher leaping off mid-swing for a decidedly dramatic landing, where she aimed her gun for Mac. "Clauncher!" she called. i.imgur.com/fOgD4DQ.png Pokédex Entry #692 – Clauncher, the Water Gun Pokémon. Its massive claw is a water-pistol firing compressed water using controlled expulsions of internal gasses. The shots it fires can shatter rock at close distances, it uses this to shoot down flying prey. It is known to use this expulsion to travel fast, jetting water out behind it to accelerate. "Take aim...!" Anton called, pointing his spear forward at Mac, and Clauncher mimicked the motion with her gun...!

“Predictable choice. Water types being good against fire was the first thing they taught you in Trainer School.” The switch-in wasn’t good, but Skylar didn’t have much of a choice here for potential counter. The best thing he could do is either switch Mac out for Paradise or Royal early and let them take a hit, or try and get something off before Mac had to switch out. Skylar went with the latter.* “Mac, Sand Attack! Get ready to dodge!” Skylar cried to his cohort. Mac nodded and kicked up the ground, flinging what he could at the Clauncher.

"... ICE BEAM!" Anton cried out, at the same time as Skylar made his call. Anton then frowned. "Wait, why wouldn't you switch to-" Clauncher launched a fierce, icy beam of chilling energy straight at the fiery chicken! To nobody in particular's surprise, the shrimp is a master marksman and had no trouble sniping Mac despite the effort to get out of the way... but it sure didn't do a lot of damage! It kinda blew away the Sand Attack as it passed through, though. Anton grunted, looking annoyed.(edited)

“I had faith in my bud to take a hit, though now you’re faced with a dilemma, Anton.” Skylar taunted, letting it hang in the air. “You better hope that you come up with something fast, because I know just what you’re planning now! Mac! Double Kick! She’ll have a harder time aiming if you go from the sides!” Mac nodded, running up to the Clauncher and swinging his foot around in a roundhouse. That Clauncher better have good aim, or else this’ll hurt!(edited)

"Grr." Anton clearly did not appreciate the taunt, and very quickly decided to just be way more... "Bubble Beam!" ... direct. An amusing detail is that Bubblebeam is not a single powerful burst like other beam moves. It launches an array of bubbles like a bubble-machine-gun, which allowed Clauncher to aim her gun to try to intercept the charging, kicking Mac...! Both fighters rolled terribly, meaning Clauncher wasn't hitting but Mac had trouble getting close with the stream of bubbles he had to dodge!

“Keep going, buddy! Don’t let up!” Skylar called to his pal. He could get closer and closer before landing a hit, he just needed to close that distance.

"Shoot him down!" Anton called, which Clauncher interpreted as 'more bubbles'. Mac dodged around and came side-by-side with Clauncher... when Clauncher precisely managed to aim her gun and fire just where Mac was going, proving to have exceptional aim and firing a whole Bubble Beam into Mac! Super Effective damage...! But Mac didn't faint. Just, barely, didn't faint. And instead Mac slammed two of his feet into Clauncher and sent the little crustacean flying with moderate damage!

“HECK YEAH! Let’s go buddy! Good job!” Mac was definitely not feeling too well, and it was showing hard. Poor bud could hardly stand without a ton of difficulty, but he was smirking. “Just one more time, pal! Knock that lobster out cold! Go all in with another Double Kick!” Mac crowed in approval, charging in with reckless abandon and ready to give it one last Double Kick, no matter what it took.

Mac dashed in, before Clauncher had time to adjust her aim, and managed to kick downwards first, slamming down one beautiful kick! Slam! Critical Hit! ... And then another normal kick on top of that. Then Clauncher raised the gun from a prone position and fired a Bubble Beam. He's done well, but it hadn't fainted Clauncher, and this next beam was a bit too much for someone already on the edge. Mac fainted! "... Hmpf." A clearly unhappy Anton waved for Clauncher to make her way over to in front of him again, ready for the next one.

Skylar pulled out Mac’s Pokeball and called him back, looking down at the orb and smiling. “Good job, bud. Really awesome job. Take a good rest, now.” Skylar readied a new Pokeball and looked over at Anton. “I wonder, what exactly do you think I’m gonna pull out this time? Unfortunately, I think I’m gonna keep my Tropius in my reserve. Don’t need an Ice Beam ruining my day, after all.” The boy threw out Seabreeze, a smile washing over his face. “I wonder what you have for Seabreeze. I have to say, it better be enough to impress me.” Skylar mocked Anton, doing a shoddy imitation of the Virtue member’s voice before breaking and giggling a little. “Wing Attack, buddy! Finish the job!”

"..." Anton wasn't exactly looking happy. Aside from his frown, his face was currently blank, yet something about him was making his grunts back away from him now. Skylar finished his taunt, and Seabreeze was away... and Anton gave his command. "Dragon Pulse." A sound broke off from Clauncher's gun-claw, as the effects of purple power emanated from the gun. Mega Launcher powers up pulse moves! Seabreeze flew in, way faster than Clauncher would have been able to move. Yet, not so fast that Clauncher was unable to fire before he got there. Seabreeze made an effort to dodge the shot, something he's pretty good at, but Clauncher proved to be too good a marksman and fired a perfect shot which hit straight onto Seabreeze, blasting him back! He could probably have handled that at full health, but in addition to the damage from poison and Mega Drain before, it became too much! Seabreeze fainted! "... Being an elite at Team Virtue grants me privy to TMs and tutoring of my Pokémon. I couldn't care less about their self-righteous imbecility," Anton said, making numerous of his grunts gasp. "... but I'll spout it all day if it means they'll make me stronger. That shot..." Anton looked to his Pokémon's smoking gun with pride, "was more powerful than Hyper Beam, thanks to Clauncher's ability, and I can use it over and over again... I've personally tutored her to be as accurate as possible... With just a couple levels, I'll make the most powerful sniper in Isson." Anton crossed his arms again. "How's that?" he said, his tone dark. He clearly didn't appreciate being mocked.(edited)

“... well you certainly got their self-righteous imbecility down.” Skylar raised Seabreeze’s ball and pulled him back. That certainly wasn’t super good. Who on the team could take a Mega-Launcher Dragon... Pulse... hold on a tick. “JoJo, Confusion as quick as you can!” Skylar sent out his Ralts, the little fairy’s horn glowing white with psychic energy. He really hoped this would be enough to take the Clauncher down, or else things might start getting ugly.

"... Yeah, yeah, part-fairy, can't one-shot, Clauncher, return!" Anton held forward a Pokéball and returned his pride-and-joy to her Pokéball, and then sent forth a new Pokéball! Emerging in front of him, and taking JoJo's Confusion, came a grassy, happy-looking goat of some sort! i.imgur.com/P7rTVih.png

Pokédex Entry #672 – Skiddo, the Mount Pokémon. It is believed to be one of the first Pokémon to start living with humans in harmony. It is known to have a placid disposition, and only really battle if used by a trainer. If it has sunshine and water, it doesn’t need to eat, because it can generate the energy it needs to survive from the leaves on its back.

Skiddo took the Confusion, albeit didn't take particularly much damage! There was a moment there where it faced Ralts... and then it turned around! Behind him, Anton went down on his knees, and Skiddo happily skipped up to him. "Good job, Skiddo! You're so good at taking a hit! Who's the best little boy? You are! You're the best little boy! You'll get all the best-boy treats after this!" Anton transformed and petted the happy goat, Skiddo making happy noises as he got scratched here and there and praised by a confusingly nice-looking Anton. "Alright, now," Anton transformed right back into irritated Anton as he stood up and swung his spear to point forward at their opponents. "Return." And the happy Skiddo skipped forward with an unquestioningly happy cry.

“Double Team!” Skylar called out, watching as tons of Ralts started to fill in a circle around the Skiddo. Clearly the Clauncher was on some kind of ropes at this point if Anton needed to switch out of that. That bid very well for Skylar, indeed. “Just try and shake him up, JoJo! Run around in a circle with the clones!” And so JoJo started to float off the ground slightly, and the clones began to circle around the Skiddo in an effort to disorient the little goat so he wouldn’t hit a shot.
Skiddo ran forth and attempted to strike JoJo with its horns! It was a powerful swing of Return that clearly contained considerable love for his trainer! ... That said, it went straight through a duplicate! "Hmpf," Anton muttered, contemplating his next move.

“Confusion, JoJo! Keep circling!” As bold of a move as this was, Skylar wanted it to work out. His whole team would be done in from Clauncher if they got the chance, but if Skylar kept up this tempo with the clones, then... At once, all the clones had their horns glow with psychic power, and whichever had JoJo loosed the psychic attack out at the Skiddo!

"Jump out! Razor Leaf them all!" Anton commanded, and Skiddo jumped aside, out of the encirclement and spun around, sending out a storm of leaves! Confusion hit Skiddo, doing some damage! However, some of the leaves hit JoJo! Spread Razor Leaf meant it wasn't major damage, but... "That's the one!" It was enough to find the real among the duplicates! Skiddo locked on!

“Eep! Uh...” That wasn’t a great situation, but it seemed like it was at least a little bit of a better strategy then what Skylar had prepared. Unfortunately, Poison kept ticking, so the longevity of this would be a little worse to reckon with as it continued. “Another one!” As much as Skylar didn’t want to admit it, JoJo might have to go down. He had a backup, of course, but this was still a bit risky to work with. That Return would pack quite a punch...

"... Synthesis!" Anton commanded, and while Skiddo took another Confusion, he then healed up the value of two Confusions with one move, due to the lack of weather! "Good boy! Nobody takes a bit like you!" Anton said with a confident smirk, glaring at Skylar while Skiddo made happy noises and JoJo took more poison damage.

Alright, so if that didn’t work because he healed it off... maybe they could at least stall things off or set up for a potential defeat? Skylar’s mind was racing with plans, trying to figure out the best step forward. “JoJo, Growl!” The trainer had some kind of idea boiling in his head. If JoJo couldn’t secure a safe victory, then he could at least help tip the odds in the favor of another. “Rrrrrrrral!” JoJo growled, much to nobody’s surprise.(edited)

"Return!" Anton commanded, and Skiddo skipped forward through JoJo's Growl with reduced attack but still arrived to slam its head against JoJo and back to Skylar! JoJo fainted! "Good boy, Skiddo! You got him!" Anton praised his Skiddo. "Now watch it, something with wings is likely coming..."

Skylar brought back JoJo and clenched his next Pokeball. The weaker Returns were a good sign for some kind of aid, but everything from here rested on Paradise, Royal, and Jeebs. He was, honestly, just a little concerned. “Jeebs! Struggle Bug! Keep yourself high so you don’t risk getting hit by a Return!” Skylar tossed out Jeebs, the Vivillon immediately raring to go from the sky and raining down a Struggle Bug as best as he could manage...!

"Tsk, height," Anton muttered, knowing distance-attack Razor Leaf would be ineffective. "Jump off the wall! Return!" "Skiiii-!" Skiddo took a full speed charge at the wall, jumped up at it, and jumped from it towards Jeebs! It took a Super-Effective Struggle Bug doing this, taking considerable damage, but he kept going! Doing it like this gave it reduced accuracy, but Skiddo pulled it off and slammed into Jeebs mid-air before falling down! Jeebs took basically half his health! "GOOD BOY! You're the best boy, Skiddo! You're getting treats for that!" Anton called, sounding so weirdly happy. Skiddo made a happy noise. Then Jeebs probably Struggle Bugs again because this will hit first and faints Skiddo, immediately making Anton drop his happy front and returned Skiddo to his Pokéball. OhbtwJeebsgrewtolevel16earlierinthegruntbattle so Jeebs grew to Level 17! Jeebs learned Psybeam! "Well done. But, if you thought Clauncher was the only one I had left, then you're mistaken," Anton said, smirking. Then, he addressed... not Skylar. "You can come back, now." With that, remember the Rufflet that fainted near Skylar's feet? Something tiny crawled off its body. It crawled back to Anton before turning around in front of him.(edited)

Pokédex Entry #595 – Joltik, the Attaching Pokémon. As they cannot charge their own electricity, they attach themselves to electrical sockets in houses or to large-bodied Pokémon to absorb their static electricity, which it then uses for battle. It is the smallest known Pokémon in existence.

"Had you not accepted a fair Pokémon battle..." Anton mentioned... and then chuckled a bit. In any case, next turn!

“Yeah, but typically when I accept a fair battle I don’t have to fight 4 other trainers first.” Skylar groaned, looking at the Joltik that had just scurried out from practically nowhere. Grand, so it was a 3v4. That didn’t bode super well. “Alright, you caught me, maybe I won’t get out of here with a grand victory.” Skylar raised his hands to the side. “But hopefully by now that girl’s left the area and on her way out of the cave. That was my goal.” Skylar snapped a finger. “Protect, Jeebs. Scout out a plan, if you could.”
January 17, 2021

"Electroweb!" Anton commanded, and the tiny bug sent out an electric web that shot out towards Jeebs! It hit the barrier that Jeebs raised, harmlessly falling off!

“Struggle Bug, but be careful buddy!” Skylar was a little sweaty, worried about whether or not things were actually going to end with his victory or not, and that was a little intimidating in the long run to consider. Jeebs flew up in the air and let out a puff of dust, their Struggle Bug blasting off their wings and into the area.

Jeebs shot first, hitting Joltik with Struggle Bug and doing fair damage, and reducing Special Attack! In return, Jeebs got shot with the electrifying web, doing Super-effective damage... but thanks to the attack of Return and the special of Electroweb both being reduced, Jeebs barely held on! Unfortunately, his speed was reduced by Electroweb, meaning that as it is, Joltik's gonna shoot first next!

“Hold on for one more, Jeebs! Just one more Struggle Bug!” Skylar called to his buddy, and Jeebs looked back. It was going to be a risky play for Jeebs, but maybe he could just barely get out one more Struggle Bug before he went out. “Vivi!!” Once more the dust poofed off of his wings, and he went through with the Struggle Bug...!

... but unfortunately he was shot with another Electroweb and fell back with the electric shocks before the Struggle Bug came out. Jeebs fainted. "Hmpf," Anton stood with crossed arms, and tiny Joltik stood ready for the next opponent.

Skylar called back his butterfly pal, looking at the last two Pokeballs on his belt. Yeah, this was gonna be rough. “Quick Attack, Royal!” Skylar sent out his Emolga, and within a flash the Emolga was in there right up against the Joltik. After a hit, it was pretty obvious that the Emolga was ready to get back into the skies and out of the heat of the battle.

"I really hope that one doesn't have an ability that makes this ineffective, Electroweb!" Anton commanded. Royal flew quickly and impacted the tiny bug! It did... a bit of damage. Still, this close, Joltik now hit a straight Electroweb! It didn't do much damage, either, but Royal was already damaged from the tussle with Rufflet, it doesn't look good like this!

“Ok, Royal! Go for another!” This was... really all Skylar’s plan could be. Thundershock would do basically nothing to this Joltik and he was down to the wire here. There... might need to be an item used. For a moment, he considered giving the Heat Wave Potion from Earl to Paradise, but he decided that it wasn’t a great idea for the moment. If all else failed, that might be the course of action...

Royal Quick Attacked again! Joltik was decently low on health, but not enough. It shot another Electroweb, which caught onto Royal and did too much damage! Royal fainted! Anton was looking content with himself. Like, it hadn't gone as he wanted, but it seemed to still be shaping up.

“I have to ask, Anton. Why even work with Team Virtue outside of the resources?” Skylar asked, pulling back Royal and grabbing his last Pokeball. With a deep breath, he sent out Paradise and just needed to hope this battle somehow worked out. “Paradise, go for a Stomp!” Skylar called, seeing his Tropius materialize out of the Pokeball and fly over to the Joltik. Maybe... he could do it?

"... It's a job. I get paid. I get stronger. One day, when I feel I've helped them enough to make up for how much I've been helped by them, I'll leave them behind to take the Pokémon League by storm. I'd rather that parting be one which doesn't lead to them hounding me for my debt to them," Anton replied, no-nonesense like. Then, Paradise came out, and... "Good work, Joltik. That Emolga's Quick Attack was the last threat to Clauncher. You've performed your job admirably," Anton said, not even bothering to give a command as a pretty terrified little bug got crushed under Paradise's Stomp. Joltik fainted! Anton returned it to its Pokéball. "Now, then... final Pokémon against final Pokémon," Anton said, throwing out the last Pokéball, Clauncher emerging once again... a significant distance away from Paradise.

"Take aim..." a tense Anton commanded, and Clauncher glared at Paradise, not going to fire until she knows for sure she's going to hit. With Clauncher at so low health and Paradise so weak to ice, first to hit wins.

“Then why not leave now? Avoid their debts entirely. You’re a great trainer, you don’t need them to find your way.” Skylar spoke as he thought, needing to create a plan. Paradise couldn’t safely Razor Leaf here since Ice Beam would surely hit, but if she focused on dodging then any attack she’d do would likely miss... Magical Leaf. “... Paradise, delay your attack and dodge the Ice Beam! Then hit it with a Magical Leaf!” Skylar called. “It doesn’t need to be at its full power, just make sure you don’t get hit!” Paradise turned to look at her trainer, then she began her flight into the air of this cave. Leaves began to swirl around her, not nearly as much as a Razor Leaf, but definitely enough to hurt, but her eyes kept trained on that Clauncher. This wasn’t going to be easy, but Skylar had faith she could maybe, just barely, dodge an attack...!

Anton looked genuinely surprised for a second, frowning at Skylar. Then... he chuckled, developing into a laugh. Lips widening a bit and his chin dropping as he chuckled, before raising his eyes to look at Skylar again. "What is this? 'It is not too late, come join the good guys'? You'll find no black-or-white here. Just good old-fashioned grey opportunism. Until my debt is paid or Team Virtue goes off the deep end..." He pointed his spear forward. "Ice Beam!" Clauncher charged her attack, as Paradise took off in the opposite direction, winds swirling as the sizable dinosaur of a flying Pokémon took evasive actions, and at the other end the lobster with a sniper aimed for her. All she had to do was survive a single shot. Clauncher directed her gun, and Paradise evaded, as the gun prepared to fire...! It was a frankly beautiful shot. Expertly led, flawlessly predicted and absolutely on-point as the blue chilling beam surged through the cavern. The marksman Clauncher proved her capability as that icy blast flew directly into Paradise's attempt at dodging. It didn't just hit. Critical Hit! Paradise fainted! "... And so, it ends," Anton breathed out, full of pride as he turned to look at Skylar. "Now, let us return to the matter of-" Clauncher shot again, another large, icy beam, surprising Anton, who looked with alarm in that direction. There, flew a couple of glowing, multicoloured leaves that defied all rules of gravity as they homed in on their target. "Shoot them down!" Anton commanded, like Clauncher wasn't already trying to. Yet, the homing leaves dodged like magic, parting to let the Ice Beam surge in between them, as they came in as a group and cut by Clauncher! It wasn't at full power, but it didn't need to be! Clauncher was already heavily damaged from before! And with that damage... Clauncher fainted! "... Gah..." Anton staggered a bit, glaring forward at Skylar. And so, at the end of this battle, no Pokémon remained standing!

Everyone whited out! ... No, not really.(edited)

“... really... AWESOME! Great job, Paradise! Seriously!” Skylar ran over to his Tropius and pat her head, returning her to her Pokeball and nuzzling the ball. Sure, it might’ve been a little weird, but it worked out. “We’ll get you healed up right well in just as soon as we leave this mine.” He looked over at Anton. “Team Virtue is already off the deep end. I was on Route 3 and they thought I was a Team Amethyst Grunt hunting for something. You don’t need them to seek out your opportunities.” Skylar shrugged. “It’s a thought.”

So, Skylar’s team got a bunch of experience throughout all that.

Seabreeze grew to level 19! Seabreeze learned Quick Attack!
Paradise grew to level 19!
Jonathan grew to level 18!
Mac grew to level 18!
Jeebs grew to level 17! Jeebs learned Psybeam!
Royal grew to level 17! Royal learned Nuzzle! Royal learned Pursuit!

That said, they’re all fainted right now, so.

‘… We have different definitions of the “deep end”,’ Anton eventually started calmly replying. ‘As long as they aren’t intentionally hurting people or trying to displace the government, I’ve got no reason to leave them behind. Look at these idiots,’ Anton said, gesturing to his grunts, who looked a combination of appalled and confused.

‘Hey, you,’ he told one.

‘Wh-what?’

‘Don’t mention this conversation to anyone. Regardless of how I think, as long as I fight for Team Virtue I’m an asset to the justice of this world. If you reported me and I was thrown out of the team, it’d be a blow to the forces of justice hunting Team Amethyst. Isn’t that right?’ Anton declared to them.

‘I-I… I can’t say you’re wrong…’ a very conflicted-looking Team Virtue grunt replied.

‘You see? They are harmless. Irritating, but harmless,’ Anton said, shrugging and sighing as he turned around. ‘… But Team Amethyst did do SOMETHING in this cave. They were looking for something. They may even have found it. This much we do know, even if we don’t know what it was. I’d keep my wits around here if I were you,’ he said, a tone of caution.

‘… I’ll win next time,’ he finished, before he walked off into the cavern, confused and unsure grunts following after him into the darkness…

…

‘A-are they gone?’

Turns out the girl didn’t flee the cave. She was hiding around the corner.

‘I-I know you told me to run, but, uh, grandpa said there’s no running from a trainer fight… and you were in a trainer fight… so…’ she peeked out unsure, her surviving Spritzee floating out to glow a bit pink on the scene. ‘… You saved me. Thank you. I was ready to try to save you after, I, uh, I have one more Pokémon that I only show if it’s absolutely necessary…’

In any case. Looks like Team Virtue had their own little mining operation going on here. It didn’t seem like they cared about the vast majority of what they dug out, despite there potentially being a bunch of valuable materials in what they’d been digging out. But, there was something lying on the floor of that tiny collapsed hole that the girl had come out of…?

If Skylar picks it up...

Skylar obtained Old Amber!

Pokémon: Start

@hatakekuro

‘The mirror…’ Anise muttered as she picked up said mirror and looked at it, as Basil said that part about it being the key. ‘It’s worth a shot,’ she said, invested in this thing now. Also that thing about finding someone to help them out.

Anise listened to what Basil said about the egg, looking a bit surprised when Jacques was mentioned. ‘Huh. You have some friends,’ Anise commented, and then shook her head at the “being full of himself” line. ‘No, don’t worry about it. You were just explaining. Alright, then we go to Rainrock City. There should be plenty of archaeologists at the academy or library there,’ Anise said, and then they were off.

Skipping a fair bit of travelling through the forest again…

Eventually, they got back to Route 3. Been a little while.

Route 3

Route 3

Route 3 is partly covered by the Silent Forest, but a path has been made through the trees for people travelling by the northern path from Rainrock down to Highhill and onto Pureplain. It is a fairly decently travelled road, as it’s the main road from Pureplain to the other cities of Isson. But, that doesn’t change that it’s almost constantly under a heavy downpour from the many clouds known to gather in the routes around Rainrock City. The atmosphere is constantly damp, thanks to the rainy weather. Chances are large that Pokémon preferring a rainy day will be found in this route.

While there’s likely a road for vehicles, the route for travellers is much different. With the proximity to Highhill, there’s actually a fair amount of hills in the area, and the route goes up and down. The path itself is fenced in with wooden fences and stairs up and down the hills, following those would lead to a fairly easy traversal to Rainrock City. But, step outside, and you’re officially in Silent Forest. The path is mostly cobblestone and stairs. The trees are mostly green with leaves but some blossom in pink or stranger colors. And of course, plenty of Pokémon if you just stray slightly from the road.

Due to the high amounts of rain and vegetation, few people live on this route, and besides the route itself there’s little in the ways of civilization. Just a very long, very wet route, with two splits. One near Highhill Town going deeper into the forest to the Silent Shrine, and one close to Rainrock east for those heading to Route 4 and Mt. Strength or Stillwood Village. Regardless… the rain will feel like it ends very suddenly, in either of those directions. But it has been like that for so long, people have just accepted it. “It rains on Route 3”, “water is wet”. And so, reality continues.

Suggestions to actions

1. Find Pokémon. Feel free to specify searching for a specific kind, if so.
2. Train Pokémon. With this command, we can jump ahead in time and skip posting about grinding.
3. Seek trainers. There should be some here and there. Note, some may challenge you, regardless.
4. Talk. There’s some travellers traveling along the rainy route. They can be talked to.
5. Move along. Move along normally, letting any events that may come happen naturally.
6. Hurry along. Intentionally avoid confrontations and try to get safely to the next destination.
7. Specify. If you specify what you want to do, the GM will take it into account and tell the result.
8. Trigger random event. Force the GM to use his imagination to make a scenario for you.

Connected areas:
Rainrock City. Across the route, north.
Route 4. Head east just before Rainrock.
Silent Shrine. Head west just before Highhill, through the forest.
Highhill Town. Just south.
North Silent Forest. If you jump off the road west.
Route 14. If you went onto the water to the east.

Route 3, known Pokémon

Common:
#69 Bellsprout
#270 Lotad (in water)
#285 Shroomish

Uncommon:
#425 Drifloon
#455 Carnivine

Rare:
#252 Treecko
#704 Goomy

From there, they could head a bit north. Finally, after a decently steep climb, they arrived.

Welcome To

Rainrock City

Passing over the rock bridge to enter, you’ll find Rainrock City to be a lot of exactly what’s in the name. Rain and rock. At the base of Mt. Strength, the city is on the top of a steep cliff, and has grown right where two rivers flow down from Mt. Strength to meet. A lake has grown in the center of the city, and the city has grown around it. The architecture of the buildings takes influence from an older time, as on these rocky cliffs larger buildings are difficult to construct, the streets made of cobblestone rather than asphalt. Given the near constant rain, it’s a largely silent mountain city where a lot of older people live, listening to the falling rain and taking it easy. You’re unlikely to find the town square bustling with attention.

Behind the town lies ancient caves, thought to have been inhabited in ancient times. By Pokémon, by men, who knows, the writing on the walls remain untranslatable to this day. It is perhaps due to these caverns, as well as a general concentration of old and wise people, that caused Rainrock City to house both the Rainrock Library as well as the Rainrock Academy. If Pureplain City house the schools for young children to learn, Rainrock City is where they finish their studies at the Academy, studying old texts under the calming noise of the rain. Rainrock Academy also happens to house the Pokémon Gym, due to Gym Leader being an esteemed professor.

Also notable, around Rainrock and on the streets there are Geodudes in town despite the rain, just lying about. Oh, and small crab-like bugs that make home in the rocks around here.

Pokédex Entry #74 – Geodude, the Rock Pokémon. Found in fields as well as mountains. They commonly rest, half-buried in the ground and indistinguishable from normal rocks. There are always way more Geodude around than a traveler will notice. Stepping on one by accident may trigger their rage.

Pokédex Entry #557 – Dwebble, the Rock Inn Pokémon. It finds a rock of suitable size. It melts a hole in said rock using a liquid secreted from its mouth, then crawls in and lives in it. A rock-less Dwebble is known to be aggressive until a replacement is found, so be careful should the rock break.

Suggestions to actions

1. Find Pokémon. Can still search for Pokémon in towns~
2. Talk. In cities, there are considerably more people one can talk to. Talking can give you info on local rumors and such.
3. Exit. Exit the town to any of the connected areas.
4. Specify. If you specify what you want to do, the GM will take it into account and tell the result.
5. Trigger random event. Force the GM to use his imagination to make a scenario for you.
6. Notable Places. Visit any of the places in the city!
6.1. Pokémon Center. Heal all your Pokémon.
6.2. PokéMart. Go to a store and buy things.
6.3. Rainrock Academy/Gym. A higher-level Pokémon academy for higher-level studies. Also doubles as the Pokémon Gym for ???
6.4. Rainrock Library. Information stored throughout the ages. Are you interested in any particular subject?
6.5. Rainrock Lake/Rivers. Powerful currents flow beneath, a calm lake lies midst the town. Surely, some water-Pokémon got to inhabit these.
6.6. Rainrock Caves. Ancient, shallow caves in which contain numerous Rock-types. Something lived in here in ancient times.
6.7. Old Street. Many old people live here. Careful, they don’t actually have much else to do but battle.

Connected areas:
Route 3. To the south, the route around the mountain, leading to Route 4 or Highhill Town. A wet woodland.
Route 11. A semi-populated road west under heavy rainfall, starting with a descent down towards Redcoast City. Abandoned buildings on the south side facing Silent Forest.

Rainrock City, known Pokémon

Common:
#74 Geodude
#557 Dwebble

Uncommon:

Rare:

So, what does Basil do now?

Darkest Before the Dawn: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

While holding MDP’s hand, Mayra dashed past the rest of her crew, up the stairs to the second floor and up the stairs to the third floor. Up there, they find a convenient hole in the ceiling!

‘Oh, great! Saves me the trouble of making one!’ Mayra cheers a bit, and then turns and smiles at MDP. ‘Then here we go!’ she says, grabbing MDP’s arm with both hands and then swinging and throwing her upwards through the hole!

Then she kneel, charged some magic, and rocketed up herself! … And was presented with this strange scene that’s gonna take a turn for her to process and react to.

---

‘They’re not listening!’ Josefin called back to the rest. ‘Also, they’re climbing the mansion!’

‘Then up we go!’ Ronja called, as she grabbed a number of the girls and headed out the window. To an onlooker, it was suddenly that a giant spider-monster girl climbed out the window after Leena, carrying numerous individuals. There were two blondines, a tree-girl, and an aquatic monster girl.

Ronja quickly carried them up on the roof and deposited them. With Dina falling back, the whole unit went to fill up the open space that had been created. Esther, being physically capable, jumped in to engage FanFan in close combat, the relatively slow but powerful and tough wooden magical girl showing that magic wasn’t the only thing she could dish out, and any scratches in her wooden skin could quickly be healed with Regeneration and her own Wood-specialization on short range.

‘I’m ready to help!’ Josefin said and skipped in front of Leena, who was already mid-engagement with Su. Josefin didn’t really know how she’d best contribute right now, but if she just swings her giant sword in the general direction of that battle, her massive luck should take over and make it do something useful, RIGHT!?

‘… WHERE THE HECK DO YOU THINK YOU’RE GOING!?’ Suzette cried out and opened fire on the running Ronin with an automatic rifle, sending a spray of bullets after the running mini-samurai. Said rifle she’d been given by ??? to make up for the fact Suzette had lost her magic, it was in that box earlier. Ronin, who hadn’t been attacked yet, yelped and charged some reinforcement magic on her skin to block bullets as she crouch-ran towards the engagement…!

‘Hm,’ Taihei got behind the rest and raised her aquatic tentacles, standing motionless and ready to support. She was simply going to be the tank, if someone got past they’d have to deal with her, and she’s exceedingly tough to deal with. She wasn’t about to actually try to help with any of the engagements in front of her, though. Her massive bad luck would just mean she somehow hurt her allies, probably.

‘Oh, dear,’ Ronja said, looking back at Lily attacking Mariette. The spider-girl looked to Alexander. ‘Come on, we need to stop your friend,’ Ronja said and started to hurry towards the Mariette engagement… but what she was actually doing was preparing to attempt stopping Alexander, should he try to take his girlfriend’s path of attempting to lay claim to Mariette. She was ready to oppose him with Reinforcement magic and spider-web.

Notably, both Ronja and Josefin also had rifles given to them by ???, they just can’t fire them right now. Nobody with their right a mind would give a rifle to Taihei and Esther isn’t that useful with one. Wood isn’t that agile.

---

So, that’s the one. The “maid” that enabled this invasion of a private dimension. The one which, should she survive, would enable Justine to attack over, and over, and over again…

She had to be dealt with.

It was time to teach the enemy commander a lesson.

From the second-floor window, Freya blasted herself directly at Justine. A sudden enormous physical threat flew like white cannonfire, with a claw swiping directly for Justine’s torso, to tear it apart. Predicting herself to be dodged or blocked, Freya was going to spin immediately upon hitting a block or the ground, seeking to slam her tail into the vampire girl. Predicting to probably be counter-attacked, Freya was going to evade, using her Awareness and Martial Training to their fullest to evade being struck. After that, it was a matter of duelling the girl with strike upon strike of deadly claws, evading what counter-attacks she could muster, and slice at her until the deed was done. Freya’s not so easy to kiss.

If Eliza, Sil or whoever else is also there, Freya’s more than happy to team up with them against Justine, using her own attacks to make Justine not look at them or vice-versa, attacking from different directions, etcetera.

Freya was their strongest physical entity. If any of them could defeat Justine in this magic-less world, it was her. Still, perhaps the best term for what she was doing was still, “keeping Justine busy”. She was more focused on staying alive than she was killing Justine. Because, she was also there to distract Justine from the other assassination attempt that’s taking place.

Because…

From the other second-floor window, Lea blasted herself directly at Sonia. It was like an immense physical threat flew like green cannonfire at her, striking with a deadly kick at Sonia from someone with ridiculously high Agility… but even if it hit, it was like there was not that much strength behind the kick. Or, to be more precise, 6 strength, which’s still more than a normal human kick, but not much on a Magical Girl scale. Yet, there was something strange about the green girl that had come flying down. Specifically, the surface of her skin and dress was crawling with bugs.

Without it mattering if Lea had been dodged and she was now standing on her own, or if her leg was in contact with a blocking something, Lea smirked as her bugs came off her like a pulse.

‘… Turns out my Oddball: Insect specialization is almost entirely unaffected by the Null Field. My bugs remain enhanced, the only difference being the commands I give them has to be given at a significantly shorter range,’ Lea told her.

Lea darted past Sonia, leaving a trail of bugs as she went. She would use her 21 Agi to circle and keep Sonia from escaping with some classic kicks and swipes and hand-to-hand combat, all while a cloud of enhanced bugs, mosquitoes and butterflies and wasps, was descending on her from all manner of directions intent on biting and poisoning her with Lea’s homebrewn poison, which would without doubt take down most infected without much trouble.

‘Asengav needs you to die.’

---

‘Olivia!’ Tullia ran into the treasure room, startling the poor treasure that was hiding inside it. ‘We must run! The dimension is collapsing!’

‘A-ah. Alright!’ Olivia called, quickly getting up from the lone chair she’d been sitting on this whole time. All her research things had been stuffed into her Hammerspace Handbag while the rest was fighting, and Olivia, being a non-combatant, had simply been waiting for the battle to end. But with the new development, someone simply had to go save her, too, and that became Tullia for her high agility, and the fact magic is Tullia’s main skill and her magic is blocked. Olivia didn’t fail to notice that Tullia was carrying an automatic rifle in addition to the usual staff for whatever reason…

‘Wh-what’s the plan?’ Olivia asked as they ran out into the corridor, going west.

‘We’re joining up with Victoria and <>, they’re taking the Black Mirror from the basement and bringing it to Mariette. If Mariette can’t portal to it in this magic-less world, we’ll take it to her!’ And then they were going to run through the library to hopefully meet the others in the foyer…

---

‘Come on, girls! We’re running!’ Victoria shouted out as she slammed open the door to the prison. In there were the surviving girls from earlier that Mariette had dismissed. Around 13 of them, or so. Victoria turned around, and with them at her back ran back to the Mirror Maze… that was now entirely useless because of Void World magic. See how no plan ever survives contact with the enemy. The information girl stood there, her phone connected to the wall and an automatic rifle strapped over her shoulder, before she managed the technological bypass they’d installed just in case they’d lost all magic in the Mirror Maze and a special mirror moved, showing the way to the Black Mirror, the mirror that Asengav had put them to guard. It was no longer safe here, better bring it to Mariette.

‘Alright. Victoria, it’s yours to carry. Remember that it’s heavy, and also, Asengav charged us with protecting it, so if you destroy it it’s all our live-’ she started, before Victoria just waltzed up to the Black Mirror, grabbed the frames and easily lifted the big mirror above her head, making the information girl wince as she did.

‘Huh. Lighter than I was expecting,’ said the physically strong Magical Girl. Victoria grinned, and information girl figured that, okay, guess that’s fine as long as she can handle it.

‘The dimension is collapsing. C’mon, we need to get to Mariette,’ information girl said, and together with the surviving regular Magical Girls they started running for the stairs up to the first floor.

Pokémon: Start

@Gardevoiran

‘Hmpf. Good choice,’ the officer said, and then deposited one of those two Pokéballs back into his clothes. He held forth the other one at Skylar, while still holding his spear at the ready as his grunts scattered.

‘I am Anton, Elite of Team Virtue! You will know the consequences of facing us!’

Team Virtue Elite Anton would like to battle!

‘… KLINK!’ Anton calls as he sends out his first Pokémon, which materializes into a floating pair of cogs in front of him, spinning while fixing their eyes on the target ahead of them, which was currently Skylar.

Pokédex Entry #599 – Klink, the Gear Pokémon. Two minigears mesh together and are then joined for life, their magnetic charge will rebound other gears. The two gears are constantly spinning against one another, producing the needed energy for it to survive.

He then spun his spear a bit until he could hold his arms crossed while the spear stuck out to his right in the midst of the cross, Clauncher still perched on his shoulder.

‘Go ahead. Make your predictable choice,’ Anton told Skylar, clearly believing himself to have utterly outsmarted the boy already.

Pokémon: Start

@Gardevoiran

Mac Double Kicked the Lillipup! Lillipup fainted! Yeah, not much surprise there.

Seabreeze Wing Attacked Foongus! That was too much for the mushroom. Foongus fainted!

Royal Quick Attacked Rufflet! Rufflet wiggled in the air a bit, before diving and hitting the ground kinda close to Skylar’s right. Rufflet fainted!

Jeebs shot Struggle Bug at Espurr and Bellsprout! With Light Screen up, it didn’t do a lot, but Espurr and Bellsprout’s Special Attack fell! Espurr used Confusion on him back, but with Special Attack halved, it didn’t do a lot!

The girl sent Sandile to Bite Espurr! Espurr took SIGNIFICANT damage, and is barely holding on! This is when Paradise Razor Leaves all that isn’t Bellsprout, and that’s just Espurr! Espurr fainted!

JoJo Lucky Chants! The enemy can no longer Critical Hit them! JoJo also used Trace to copy the ability of the closest un-fainted enemy Pokémon closest to him. JoJo traced Swarm!

Bellsprout realized maybe this Sandile was way more dangerous than the weak not-water thing. Bellsprout Vine Whipped the Sandile for HEAVY Super-Effective damage, but Sandile held on!

Azurill was sent to Charm Bellsprout, punishing it for not fainting it by sharply lowering its attack! Spritzee shot a Fairy Wind at Bellsprout… which didn’t do a lot due to Light Screen and Bellsprout’s poison secondary type!

Seabreeze, JoJo and Paradise took some poison damage. They did last turn, too, even if I didn’t write about it.

With all that, only Bellsprout wasn’t fainted. The grunts were looking a mix of frustrated and panicking, glancing back at their officer, who was holding his arms crossed as he stared unsatisfied at the scene.

‘I-I think I should be able to handle one Bellsprout, yes!’ the girl said, albeit she’d actually have some trouble because all Azurill and Spritzee could produce were ineffective special-based water and fairy-type moves, and Sandile was about to faint to Vine Whip, but she’d probably handle the lone grass-type eventually.

‘Oh?’ The voice of the Team Virtue officer was heard from over there. ‘Leave the rest to her, so that you can focus on something else, then?’ His free hand, the one not holding a spear, swung off somewhere and came back holding two Pokéballs between three fingers, in addition to the Clauncher on his shoulder.

‘Do you want to win through strength in numbers, or are you going to take me on like a proper Pokémon Trainer in a proper Pokémon battle?’ he asked, his eyes scanning over Skylar’s amassed Pokémon. A little smirk emerged. ‘I don’t know which option would be worse for you. You’re going to lose badly either way.’

What does Skylar do?

__________________________

@hatakekuro

‘Er. I don’t think it’s ON the mountain, either, or people would have seen it from above, they fly there all the time,’ Anise said about the “scaling” of Mt. Strength, which sounded like outside. ‘High up on Mt. Strength there’s some form of “magnetic platform” which flying Pokémon or people riding flying Pokémon can land on. For really strong Pokémon Trainers, it’s a place they have reason to go to, apparently. Hector told me. We at the Fighting-type Gym tend to go inside Mt. Strength to train, occasionally. There’s a LOT of Fighting-types in there,’ Anise told.

‘The higher you get, the higher level the Pokémon get. But, like, maybe they wanted their shrines to be level with one another? In any case, if the shrine is in the west side of the mountain, there’s actually two entrances. There’s the main entrance of Mt. Strength from Route 4, east from Route 3 and then eventually north, and you’re at the middle of the mountain. From there, we could try to follow the tunnels west… depending on how good our senses of direction are. If it’s a place nobody has found before, how would we know?’ she said, sounding a bit worried.

‘The second entrance is in Rainrock City, actually,’ Anise said. ‘They tend to be called the Rainrock Caves, not connected to the caves just called Mt. Strength. It’s said an ancient population lived inside the Rainrock Caves, for it’s built a little like an underground village, complete with ancient writing and graffiti of things and Pokémon… but it’s a dead end, scientists have already charted the whole place, so if we’d go look there we’d have to find something they missed. There, too,’ she said.

Then, Basil pulled up an egg, and Anise had to take a moment because she, too, got curious as to what this was. Sure, she knew it was an egg, but seeing things up close was still interesting…

It appears to move occasionally. It may be close to hatching.

In any case, that covered, were they heading somewhere, then?