[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Lord Windos]

...If you are set on this, I suggest modifying your post so that you have all your other Pokémon out while trying to kill Ekans. That way, if it tries to attack you, you have back up on hand. And don't try to sell the items; that will just land your character into Officer Jenny's hands. I would also recommend you don't tell the party in game; just say that you went out to the wood to release Ekans. Nathan, Ventus, Shiva, nor perhaps Valder would get on your ass in that case. Pokémon murder, on the other hand, is something that they would very much likely object to!

[Super_trainer_Larry]

Larry after fighting recalled his ekans and walked to a deep part of the forest Larry could be seen by Nathan, Valder, and Vetus (hint on who could stop me) Larry let ekans out of his ball and said "ekans I cant control you anymore if this keeps up i'll have to trade you release you or even kill you and I don't want to do that. Look im sorry for not treating you right its my fault of not caring for you please forgive me ekans, it would help a lot if you just forgave me." Larry then let oshawott and abeja out and told ekans "look ekans we're you family and we love you we just didn't care for you the right way" Larry then gave the ekans some left over sandwich meat

[Dragonstrike]

Ventus was silent as his young friend threw his argument back at his face, angrily disregarding his whole perspective of the situation. When the trainer launched into a diatribe about humanity's negative impact, the scientist stoic façade melted away, and was replaced with sad, worried one.

As he saw Nathan attempt to leave the group again, Ventus spoke up again to the boy. He sounded quite reluctant to speak with him, but he pressed on anyway. For both the group's sake, and the boy wellbeing. "........I believe I am beginning to understand you anger with at my actions, Nathan.... and have an inkling of your morality as well. No wonder we have never have quite got along; we have very different perspectives on life, as well as the value of life itself. .....Its doubtless I'm just driving you up the wall at this point by prolonging this arguement, but I still need to assure you safety, my friend . Promise me you will stay close to the group, and fight with us, and I'll drop the conversation until later. We, least of all I, don't want you to battle these Combee without backup and possibly......." Ventus paused for a moment, struggling to say his next words. His hands were tightly balled into fist, and he looked like he was about to cry in despair. He finally managed to choke out what he wanted to say in a half sob, half plea to the younger trainer.

"Please don't go, Nathan. I don't want to another person I care about die because of my stupid actions. Please."

' Don't go away. Don't disappear. Don't repeat history in front of me. Don't make me relive my worst experience in my life. '

Nathan almost yells again.  Almost.  But that plea...it stops him in his tracks.  He's still shaking.  He says the following, as calmly as he can manage: "I said I need some space.  Not that I'm leaving the group behind nor fighting the combee on my own."  He and Swiftfire continue walking, though they stop a short distance away and wait for the group to start moving before continuing.

While somewhat separated from the group, Nathan recalls memories he hadn't wanted to dredge up.  The fear and anger was all too familiar to him.  Evenings spent pacing, just waiting for news of anything, ANYTHING.  Was the Ralts he had found going to be okay?  Was...his father?  He hadn't been home in days, and nobody knew where he had gone...

Nathan shakes his head.  No time for those memories right now.  And yet they still lurk at the back of his mind...trying to distract himself, he looks up...just in time to see what he thinks was the glint of a shiny, black blade as it disappears over the top of the wall he's looking up...was he seeing things again?  Or was that actually an absol?  He looks back down, shaking his head again.  No, surely someone else would have seen it too if an absol was in the town.  But if it was one...what did it want?  Was it the same one from the forests at Mt. Molten's base?

[Lord Windos]

Ventus almost collapses in relief at hearing Nathan response, but he manages to keep himself from falling. Afraid to agitate his comrade any further, he just gave a quick nod to the boy, before he marched back over to Larry and Valder. As he was walking, he slowly unclinched his hands and wrestled with the emotional storm brewing within him. By the time he reunited with the two, Ventus had school his expersion into one of stoic calm, as if the argument with Nathan didn't faze him.

"Don't be alarmed, me and my friend just had an argument about the Combee. He's keeping his distance for now, but has agreed to stick close by the group and fight with us if and when we encounter other swarms in this hive. Now that we had a moment of rest, and time to collect some honey, let us move out," the researcher said to Larry and the mercenary, sound like he was doing reasonably well. Inside, his emotion were spiking and bouncing all over the place because of the arugement and the...memories it brought back.

'Stay strong, Ventus Zachariah. You can't afford to breakdown now; enough tears have been shed for what has been lost. I vowed to move on, and I intend to do so. We need to get going, and stop that Vesipqueen,' Ventus thought to himself, doing his damnest to stabilize his feelings and continue being productive for this mission. Stay focus on the goal, and keep moving forward.

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

"Dratini are attracted to those with ancestry going back to the old King. I have just a touch of his blood. I actually caught this in the wild, at Vapor Falls. They are extremely rare there, and even blood of the King is not enough to guarantee seeing one."

At Vapor Falls... were those these falls she can see from the Daycare's backyard? Appearantly. The Guidebook from Prof. Mallorn mentioned them being a great hideout for rarer Pokemon, but in the same sentance it said how hard it is to actually get there... Hmm.

"Well, thank you for the information. I don't think I have a royal blood line, but if I happen to see one Dratini, I'll surely think of you! Be well then, and thanks again for the nice battle~"

That 'thanks for the nice battle' was an honest one. It surely went rather smoothly, without trouble and was a nice activity for Cottonee, given she could literally sense how the fluffball rejoiced alongside her owner.


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Thanks to the nearby Nurse Joy - did she came especially to take care that none got hurt during the battle? Shiva didn't spotted her until just now... - Cottonee was healed without any lasting damage. Wasn't a big deal, given the damage it did take was quickly fixed with a Paralysis Heal and an Oran Berry. How splendid!

A check-in in the Pokemon Center revealed that none of the other party members has returned yet from the Combee-Issue. A check-in in the mailbox of her cell releived no new messages from any of them. Well, if there were trouble, they would probably have messaged her. Well... looks like some more free time. Too bad, she actually hoped for a chance to show Nathan the photo of the sign the Murkrow led her to - given he was native to Chreshire, maybe he knows more about it than she does? But... oh well. Not today, no more. There is no need to hurry.

So, what to do now... Meanwhile, hours have passed and it will get dark. To bed early? Eh, nope. More battles? Neither... Siting around worrying where the others are, how they're doing and whether Plusle and Miltank will be fine tomorrow? Ah... On the other hand, the Festival would surely look great if illuminated... why sit around when you literally can do what you wish for now... With the Sawsbuck Event tomorrow and the work at the Daycare maybe you won't get a chance like this again...


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Mechanics:
As said, the Combee-Encounter seems to take longer, so instead of waiting for it to be finished, I'll be visiting the Festival once again. First, please bring up these free attribute-competitions. More money never hurts in this game.

[Iron]

Shiva plays High Striker, just for fun, even though she knows she can't compete with the strong trainers in front of her in line. If she's lucky enough she could still win some money.
(4)

Then it's time to take the High Wire Challenge.
(3)(5)

She competes in the Dragonbreath breath-holding game too.
(3)(3)

And finally, she tries to guess the number of fake berries in the jar, which of course has been swapped out for a different jar since Ventus tried.
(2)(5)(5)

That's 4 successes, at $151 per success. However, not high enough in any one contest to win a CarnyCoin. $604.

And don't forget about the Sawsbuck Token which is worth $600 worth of games and things.

[Iron]

Larry's Ekans calms down when presented with a sandwich. They do like food that is live and wriggling, but they'll happily eat just about anything. There are very few obligate carnivorous Pokemon in Creshire.

It's going to take a while to gain Ekans' trust, though.

[Lord Windos]

(Hey Larry, I assume this event is happening in the future, after the Combee quest? Please don't give everyone a panic attack by going missing mid-mission...)

[Iron]

It could either happen 'round the bend of the maze, or later in the day, yeah.

Ventus, your Ekans does eat a Combee and moves around bloated for a while.

[Lord Windos]

Glancing over where his Ekans was devouring its prey, he noticed that she finished, judging by how pudgy she looks right now. "Ah, I see that you have finished your treat, Apsis. I hope you enjoyed it, because we are not going to hunt these Combee anymore for the time being. My friend said it might cause the rest of the hive to go berserk in anger over the lose of a few workers. While I believe that trespassing is enough for the Vesipquenn and her brood to kill us, I would like to err on the side of caution," He said to Apsis, looking sternly at her. She might throw a fuss about this, but since she just finished a nice meal, he doubt she would.

Sure enough, while Apsis was a bit disappointed at her master's decision, she understood why. Regular bees where bad enough; the whole hive and the queen swarming her over eating their friends was worse. She nodded her head at him, a gesture she picked up from watching her master interact with the other humans. While she didn't understand it entirely, Apsis knew that it at least meant 'yes', so that was good enough. Slowly, she travel over to Ventus side, belly pleasantly full of sweets. It would take awhile for her to digest it, but hopefully she'll be mobile enough for the next battle.