[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Lord Windos]

That slight impatience was a little audible in her voice. She's done with the issue. But there was a hint of sadness dwelling in it as well. "Ven... You mightcleraly know why I am unable to give straight answers - The Daycare Owners prohibited it. And I will not break my promise with them. Also, I assured you that I know what I am doing, so if you'd please just trust me on it... Nathan will taw up over time, I'm sure. Give him a few other things to think about, like the Gym Leader Challenge, and he'll be fine. Hell, I might even try to take his mind off-things by initiating a friendly battle by myself to show that we're good with one another." Getting bold here? But that's indeed an idea.

*Confrontation Time!*

Hearing that all the fuss was about Shiva business with the Daycare made Ventus particularly incensed. Stomping up until his presence was towering over the lass, he spoke to her, his tone filled with barely restrained anger. His gaze, however, let her know just how displeased he was about this issue.

 
"Shiva, do you remember what I promised you. That I would not investigate your dealings with the Daycare unless it start causing problems with the group. I believe that, given the grief you have given both me and Nathan about this, our deal is now null and void. I can no longer trust that whatever you are doing is crucial enough that its worth sowing seed of discord among the group. For now on, I will be closely investigating you activites with the Daycare to find out what is so Reshirim damn important for you to close yourself off behind a wall. I will also inform Nathan of my suspicions and theories, and work with him to uncover whatever illicit job you are doing for them, so that he will become invested in your Daycare activities as I currently am. Eventually, we'll find out what you are keeping us, and I doubt we will be too please by that point in time. You can save yourself that trouble if you just tell me what it is, Shiva. Please...."

(Not moving on to the next part until we get this argument is resolved. Depending on the outcome, things might change between them...)

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

How about a theme for this revelation-issue? --> Unkind...


Okay. OKAY. This was no good. This was not how she expected Ven to react. Definitely not... Hell, she never thought that the Sociologist can be that intimidating, both in gesture and voice. Least of all towards her.

It was...frightening... And Shiva could not deny that Ven was filling her with terror currently.


...
... ...
... ... ...
... ... ... ...Maybe it was that what settled the decide.
Maybe it was the fact that Shiva was outright scared of what would happen if Ven would start digging into things on his own
With Nathan, on top of that.
Hell, she doesn't want to think about how he'd react if they reveal truth together.
This thought alone gave her cold shivers.
She wouldn't want to have her journey through the region overshadowed by all this.
Least of all, she would want to break bridges with Ven.



Still, he gave her the offer to prevent all this... By just, well, revealing on her own.

...So be it then.


"Ven... No. Please don't start investigating on your own. Just...don't. It will endanger things even more. I mean, more than if I just tell you, alright?" He could clearly hear the fear and sadness coming from her at this point.

"So... However, you have to promise me not to tell A SINGLE THING TO NATHAN, NEITHER TO THE DAYCARE OWNERS, you hear? Not a single thing. Please. You'll see why." ... "After you engaging in Project Silverfish, you should be experienced in keeping things hidden, shouldn't you. So be it then. Promise me, and you'll hear the truth."


(I just assume Ventus agrees on this, since Windos told me he would.)


"Thank you." She knew he would not disappoint her. Not on this.

After doublechecking that there's none around who could catch up on sensitive information, Shiva looked down to the table. In gloom. ...She was unable to face Ven wile speaking. Her voice clearly showed exhaustion over this issue.

"So... There's that... You know Daycares. Sure you do. They raise Pokemon for you, some specialise rather on active breeding of qualitative like my father does, others provide a home for old and tired Pokemon to spend pleasant sunset years after battle after battle for years, others specialise in the care of younger Pokemon completely."

"You know, I was overly excited over working here in Ginger Town's Daycare for a few days. First real contact in the job I'm after. Hell, if I'd get high enough up in the ladder, I might even lead my own Daycare at some point. Thing is...from the first day on, I felt that the owner-couple was putting trust in me. Respect. They valued my help and advices I gave them over how to breed this or what species would be benefital to get this trait on the desired offspring. It was great fun to me to help them out, and seemingly they returned this towards me."

"Soon enough, they entrusted me with the black-spotted egg they received from Vincent. This raised my spirits even more... The first egg I'd hatch on my very own, a rarity on top of that: Because never neither me nor Dad knew about a Pokemon egg having BLACK spots. It'd fill the heart of a future professional Pokemon Breeder like me with delight, you'd surely agree on this."

"Day Three came, which meant we were supposed to part ways. My stint was done. Still, I offered to come back - because I enjoyed my work there. I even began to develope real hopes for an apparenticeship there, and believe me, I bet it would be a qualitative one."

"However... At some point, they revelaed something to me. Something I did not expected to hear. The Daycare Owners... They were no simple old couple enjoing caring for other people's Pokemon. Nope, they had a mission. It was - bringing down The Almaniac. You know, scimitars...mages...whatever. I quickly understood that those were the organisation that harmed Ralts before Nathan found and took care of it. Plaqued by curiousity and boldly folloing my heart insead of my mind, I accepted to help on the issue... which was, the breeding of an Infiltrator-Pokemon. It shall be a gift to the organization, and the bring them down from the inside like a lethal toxin. It didn't took me long to come up with a suggestion for a species and desired traits to breed on it." ... "Won't tell you which species it is, though."

"They thanked me for my suggestion, waved and hugged me goodbye after assuring that they'd keep me updated on the progress of the Mission."

"So the days passed, where I hear nothing from them. But I noticed Ralts behaved strangely around me. He seemed...smug. For some reason. Well, I let it be and did not care much about it. Until...You remember Ralts' evolution? I forgot whether you witnessed or not...sorry for that. Thing is, that call I received on my cell... It was from the Daycare. The Infiltrator-Pokemon has hatched. Everything's fine. Now he will be trained and raised especially to follow his mission... Ralts must have noticed, though. He must have picked up somehow that from then on, I was involved into bringing his archnemesis down... Helping him and Nathan on their mission by pulling some strings in the background. by weakening their core. It made Ralts rejoice like he has not rejoiced before... Well, in the end, evolution has been triggered, much to Nathan's suprise..."

"From then on, Kirlia must hold some sort of liking towards me. Nathan noticed. I told him that this must come from me being a Fairy-Type-enthusiast as well as being a person with a vivid and sensitive pool of emotions, which seems to drag Fairy-Pokemon and elusive species - like Fennekin - to me. Both things speak the truth, although they were not the cause why Ralts evolved. I felt that Nathan was not that satisfied with my answer... But I was unable to tell him more. I promised the Daycare owners to keep my mouth shut..."

" ...Well, until now, that is."



Silence begain to fill the room than. Meaningful silence... Sometimes, it expressed more that 100 words could.

[Iron]

You look around the empty area before speaking, making sure you are alone.

Shiva's Insight+Survival: (1)(2)(5)(1)
Ventus' Insight+Survival: (4)(2)(2)(3)(4)(4)(6)

The sharing of secrets is always a nervewracking thing!

[Lord Windos]

It brought him no sense of pleasure to both see and feel cowering at his threats, but sometimes one has to resort to such harsh, blunt means in order to get what is need. Still, that doesn't mean he feels any better with the way he treated her, but he didn't let that show when she, with great hesitation, decided to tell him the truth. On the condition that he tells no one else about what is disclosed, but that is an arrangement he can honor completely and fully.

'Its as she said: I have experience in keeping crucial secrests. If I didn't, I would be rotting inside a Luxery jail suite by now. Speaking mum is a language I know intimately, so the information I'm told will not trouble me unduly. Even if it does, its not as if I don't have experience dealing with my own negative emotion, so it all comes to one conclusion, in the end,' Ventus though, staring long and hard at Shiva, before sharply nodding his head. "I promise, my friend. Now, reveal unto me what is going ..."

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(After the Reveal!)

.......Oh. Oh. Silence reigned as the researcher took in all the detail outlined to him, backing away Shiva and just hanging his head in though, before he put his head into his head. Mumfled swearing could be heard for a moment, before he looked back to the lass again, looking far less severe now. "Shiva....I understand. A secret such as this...its monumentally valuable information. If Almanac heard even a whisper of it, who knows how they will react to a wolf among the Mareep? Not favorably, I know, but if they choose to escalate their dubious and cruel actions in response to this....countless people and Pokémon will adversely affected. Such a catastrophe can not be allowed to happen, so I now understand why you kept it hidden from us. Reshirim forgive me, for forcing you to divulge such information...." Ventus told her, appearing to be the perfect picture of Regret at the moment.

Letting out a tired sigh, he gently massanged Shiva's, trying to do his best to comfort her after his...rude behavior. "I'm sorry Shiva. My concern for the group left me apathetic for yours. Its small consulation, but you have my solum word that no one else will hear about this, not even Nathan.I won't pressure you for anymore information about this, but you can always share anymore information you receive with me, if you need advice on the matter. I don't like the way he's been treated over this issue, but its better he not know anything about this, rather than him do something rash. My only hope is that he recovers from this sadness we burdened with him, and finally be his regular self again. Now, before I lose myself in regret, what else were you going to tell me? From what I could detect, it was something fairly important..."

(End of The Daycare Reveal Argument!)

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(Now for the Kissing Scene)

To say that Ventus was shocked by the chaste kiss from Shiva would be an understatement. His eyes widened rather notably, and he place a hand on the spot she kissed, vacantly staring at her, before blushing and shyly looking away from them. The researcher mumbled that sounded like 'Oh my...do I detect flirtatiousness?', before clearly saying : "Th-thank you, Shiva. I'm glad that my tour of the Aquarium with you brought you so much joy and happiness. ....Your kiss felt nice as well. Anyway, my Pokémon are currently winding done from their rigorous training, so both they and I are ready to depart for Fireweed," he said, facing away from Shiva while he was trying to get his feeling back under control.

First the Daycare assignment, then the Dream Demon, and now romantic feelings from his best friend. One of the Unovian jinn must be bored, and decided to screw with his life, for he's having very interesting times indeed. Oh dear!

Order: Time for everyone to go on a camping trip to Fireweed for a couple of days or more! After this reveal, Ventus despartely what some rest now!

[Iron]

Berry searching:

Shiva: (4)
Chesto berry!

Ventus: (4)(5)(6)
Lum berry! Persim berry! Persim berry!

Nathan: (5)
Rawst berry!

Valder: (2)(3)(3)
Nothingberry!

Other than these berries, your camping trip is quite fraught with misfortunes!

Forest Retreat Encounters - these will be throughout the course of 1 day. Just choose what you want your character to stumble into!

1. Name: Zangoose
Cap: 1 (2)
Bid start: 1
Challenge: moderate

2. Name: Stunky*
Cap: 1 (2)
Bid start: 2
Challenge: pretty easy
Notes: Not a full grown Skuntank. But remember, Ventus doesn't spot this to react to it unless he chooses to be one of the two people who can encounter it, and he can only take revenge on it if the other person doesn't want to bid XP against him before catching it!

3. Name: Rattata*
Cap: 1 (4)
Bid start: 2
Challenge: moderate
Notes: Mandatory encounter! At least one person must choose this before anyone else can choose an encounter. It's an invader.

4. Name: Natural item
Cap: 1
Bid start: 1

[Iron]

Nathan, are you on this camping trip?

[Dragonstrike]

Nathan, are you on this camping trip?

(Yes.)

While he'd had plenty of time to think about who he might have wanted to battle, he hadn't been able to decide how he should approach Shiva with the challenge...it didn't help that both Shiva and Ventus seemed rather...somber but joyful, after their talk. What had they talked about? He didn't want to pry though, and just joined them on the planned camp out to recuperate from the stresses of Corsage's nights...the trip out of town was rather...quiet. Berry searching was fruitful, but...something felt...off...Nathan couldn't quite place a finger on what it was, though...

rustle rustle

'Wait, what was that noise? It sounded like it came from one of those bushes...huh?'

Nathan thought he saw the glint of a black blade again...was that Absol lurking around their camp now?

Kirlia insisted that there wasn't anything there once again.

But Nathan heads over to investigate it anyways. He doesn't say anything to the others, though. If it really is that Absol, this is between it, him, and Kirlia...

Gonna take one of the slots for Rattata! Anyone want to follow Nathan when he suddenly makes to leave the camp without warning anyone?

[Lord Windos]

2. Name: Stunky*
Cap: 1 (2)
Bid start: 2
Challenge: pretty easy
Notes: Not a full grown Skuntank. But remember, Ventus doesn't spot this to react to it unless he chooses to be one of the two people who can encounter it, and he can only take revenge on it if the other person doesn't want to bid XP against him before catching it!

Leaving Corsage gave him a feeling like his old research projects at Castalia University receiving a grant: liberating and positively full of good cheer! His head didn't feel like it was stuffed with miserable Cottenee, his posture became relaxed, and his mood greatly improved, to the point that he was back to smiling non-stop again! 'This camping trip was an excellent idea; I can already tell that everyone else spirits are already improving, and I don't see a reason for that to stop now! A shame that I will have to eventually return to that dreadful town, but that is a journey that can be thought of at a later date,' Ventus though, happily humming as he and his group found a spot to pitch the tent for the night.

Just as he finish driving the last tent stake in, he spot two creatures lurking around its vicinity: A Skuntank and Rattata! He immedianlty still at the sight of the skunk, horrible memories already flashing before his eyes as he watch it staring right back at him. Still staring at the offending creature, he reached out and touched Nathan, but he notice he already went off to go ward it off. With the other rodent being dealt with, Ventus picked up a stone and threw at the Stunky, causing it to retreat deepering into the woods. He quickly followed after it, intent on neutralizing the threat it posed to the group!

Order: Time for Ventus to settle and old grudge through that unfortunate Stunky! The location of the fight will somewhere the party can't see either of them, but still within the researcher's hearing distance!

[Nylon]

Let me know which 2 Pokemon will be fighting, and what their orders are!

 "Ledians. They're evolved, right? They should be good training. Theo, you'll be reserve. Froakie and Ghastly, you're up".

 Thinking it over, Valder gave them the order "Ghastly, Lick the Ledians as much as you can, you can target wichever one you want,
and Froakie, use that Bubble until... you win.

Lick: 1pwr +3str +1stab = 5 dmg. Roll three Cd for paralysis.            3dex + 1fight +0brawl = 4acc (I'm still unsure if I'm doing this correctly)
Bubble: 2pwr +3str +1stab = 6 dmg. Hits all enemies. Roll one Cd for speed drop.       same as ^^ I think.

withraw a Pokemon if it reaches 1HP.

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

Now with the issue wrapped up and Ven showing regret and compassion, things shall be fine, shouldn't they... They'll be better soon enough, he won't investigate on his own nor inform Nathan about her Mission...right? Yeah, they will. It'll be okay. No more suspicion, no more. Let's move on...

Ven's reaction to her thankfullness only increased the smile she gave him formerly, before she stepped out of the room to reunited with Nathan again. Cottonee and Azu were rejoiced to see their Master again, and promptly received a tight yet loving hug. True, after such a revelation, she was in need for the resistiveness and loyality of her Fairies...

Luckily, Nathan did not ask what they talked about nor whether something's wrong, so it was time to leave the Dojo and head to Fireweed Forest for some well-deserved rest. At some point, Shiva asked if it's okay if she finishes some quick business in the Pokemon Center before stepping out of Corsage, which was on their way anyway. Both agreed to wait outside the Center for a few minutes. (I assume they do, since I see no point why they should deny my request.)

Within the Center, first thing Shiva was heading upstairs and gathering back the black-spotted egg. About the Dream Catcher, there was still something odd about it as she stroked through the feathers, yet it was physically unharmed and such... But again, her feelings very barely lied to her. Though... heading downstairs again. At the PC on the counter, she swapped Helios in her party with Fennekin to have him by her side again. Simply because she appreciated his Fire Type for the hatching process now that the group wanders around again, as well as the fox originated from Fireweed Forest and might enjoy being there. Still, it pained her a little to be forced to decide between those two... Oh, the old issue of carrying Pokemon Eggs in the party.

She also asked Nurse Joy whether it's okay if she'd keep the room Shiva resided in reserved for her to get the exact same room again, assuring that she'll come back. Just didn't know when. In that case, she was leaving the Dream Catcher there, as well as a new circle of salt around the bed. Yes, much to Ven's dismay, Shiva was a little curious about that 'creature'...


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The atmosphere in the woods though... Only now, outside of city, it was noticable how refreshing it was to her. It energized her spirits... Not as much as Ven - of course she noticed his change of mood as well as his clearly relieved smile - since the whole revelation exhausted her additionally to not getting enough rest for some days, but it was only a matter of time for her to be better and fine again.

While she has just returned from Berry Search - and managed to indeed find something thanks to Fennekin's knowledge of berry bushes around!~ - she could not miss that Nathan was...sneaking away from them. Why did he do that...? Ah, was it because of that rustling bush there? Hmm. Most likely a Pokemon hiding there... But it was unknown what kind of Pokemon it was, better not think about the possibility of it being a harmful Bug Type...

Seeing that Ven was busy with setting up the tent, she decided to follow Nathan on his way. She put him into enough dismay already, and after all, she still cared for him. Quite a lot. No way she would allow him to bring himself into danger by walking away from the group. Therefore, she made haste to catch up on him and gave him a friendly look as she did so. Eager to show that she did not hold any grudge against him. "Yeah, right... Me too picked up there is something in those bushes. We don't know what it is... But I won't let you tackle it alone. It could be a furious Bug Type, after all."


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Mechanics:
Joining Nathan on the Mandatory-Encounter! A moderate challenge is what I wish for, and I'd like to rebuild bridges with him again.