[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Dragonstrike]

Spoiler

Music: Pokemon XD OST: Sadness

Ventus shrugged at their opinion, not finding it offensive or particularly inflammatory. "If that you main problem with the beverage, I do know how to concoct several milder brews that stimulate the sense without overwhelming them. That is, if you would like to try them some time."

Then, Nathan finally asks the just the question he was looking for. 'Not a direct statement he knows about them, but its damning all the same.'

His smile seemed to grow ever so slightly wider as he carefully choose his own words.

"Many things, Nathan. I'm not an historian, but I do know how to pull scatter pieces of information together, read between the lines and infer meaning not found to cursory glance....."

The empath then tilted his head, and gazed deeply in their eyes, his own kindly and sharp, like a knife hidden in velvet.

".....and it hasn't escaped my notice you've been rather evasive about a certain set of topics."

"Celebi. The Relic Stone. Orre."

Ven listen them out idly, three fingers raised for each.

"You possess a comprehensive wealth of knowledge about them all, among other things. You answer all question pertaining them to a sastifactory degree.....but you seem rather......selective of what information you give.

"You closely guard your words, subtely divert away interest into deeper probing of these topics, reinterating the same data in new ways to avoid having to say or reveal too much.....all ways to avoid elaborating on a subject, or showing only a narrow slice of it. All indicative that you know something else connected to all of them, but don't wish to spoil the surprise, so to speak."

He then steeples his fingers together, and calmly, peacefully rests his head on them.

"Care to enlightment about these details you've been obscuring, Nathan? Or I could take a wild guess, if you are uninclined to say anything right now."

Silence.

Silence broken by only a few words.

"Go ahead.  Guess."

Kirlia can practically feel the tension physically...

[Lord Windos]

He closes his eyes, and lets out a sigh, neither disappointed nor tired.

"Always choosing the path of most resistance, Nathan, though this time I believe I can forgive you for being so reticent. After all....."

Ventus re-opens his eyes, his gaze dispassionate, cold, and serious.

"....Shadow Pokémon and Cipher are things best left forgotten about. Much less whispered of, in sanctuaries like these."

[Dragonstrike]

He closes his eyes, and lets out a sigh, neither disappointed nor tired.

"Always choosing the path of most resistance, Nathan, though this time I believe I can forgive you for being so reticent. After all....."

Ventus re-opens his eyes, his gaze dispassionate, cold, and serious.

"....Shadow Pokémon and Cipher are things best left forgotten about. Much less whispered of, in sanctuaries like these."

"Go on.  I'm eager to hear what you know."

Nathan's leaning forward on the table now.  Still strangely unreadable, though...

Kirlia's looking back and forth between the two trainers.  He doesn't really understand why everything's so tense, and is rather confused.  What the heck is a Shadow Pokemon, and who is Cipher?

[Lord Windos]

Spoiler

"Go on.  I'm eager to hear what you know."

Nathan's leaning forward on the table now.  Still strangely unreadable, though...

Kirlia's looking back and forth between the two trainers.  He doesn't really understand why everything's so tense, and is rather confused.  What the heck is a Shadow Pokemon, and who is Cipher?

"Hmm....now why should I do most of the talking? A informative conversation cannot be held if only if only one individual is carrying it for the most part, and I feel that your silence does a disservice to be myself and to the wealth of Knowledge you have. So please, speak more freely, Nathan...."

Ventus is calm, cool, composed, and still smiling despite the ever rising tension in the room, as he waits for their next rebuttal. He knows what the boy is trying to take control of the conversation, get him nattering and cause them to reveal all their cards so that he knows which ones he can safely hide away.

'I will not be played for a fool, or taken for granted like so. Nathan will divulge what they know of both Cipher and Shadow Pokémon if they what to mine own Insight on them, or........'

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

Ventus gives the young and ever so slightly weary boy a nod of his head, saying as they did so: "Alright then, Nathan! I will not to tarry too long here if I can help it, so hopefully we'll reunite again in short order! Oh, and if you could grab me some coffee while you wait, that would be lovely!" He then watched as he and Kirlia Teleport straight to the Center, looking liking the friendly, charming, and caring person that his companions know him as, when in fact he was carefully and meticulously planning how to 'broach' the topic of their upcoming discussion with utmost serious concern.......

That was, until he just caught as sense of disquiet from Shiva after he lowered his guard/stopped focusing so intently on Nathan. The researcher turned towards his mystical friend as she voiced her own choice regarding his upcoming 'discussion' with the boy (Which was much to his liking, though he carefully concealed that from her so as not to give the wrong impression) with a curious and concerned look, and walked forward to place a hand on her shoulder. "My dear, is something cast a dour pale your thoughts? Moments ago you were perfectly bright and cheerful, but now you seemed......troubled and uncomfortable. *Looks thoughtful for a moment, before it comes to him* .......Is the cause of this negative change in your mood either mine of Nathan comments on your team for your upcoming battle with Dagney? If so, I sincerely apologize for imposing my own consideration without first asking whether or not you already had an ideal strategy in mind. While I want nothing more than to support you in any way I can, I must remember not to let my aid become negative by being it becoming overbearing or exclusionary....."

After he finished his subdued by none the less heartfelt apology, the sociologist suddenly blinked a couple times, until a look of faint surprise arched across his face. "Oh, I almost forgot! Here you go," Ventus said as he flicked his wrist,  palming Plusle's and Minun's Pokeballs from.....somewhere, and handed them over to her with a almost bashful look as he rubbed the back of his head. "Plusle and Minun worked up to quite a feverous festiveness cheering Nathan on, so I imagine they enjoyed themselves thoroughly and got some decent exercise too!"

The empath then unexpected pressed close and gave his most blessed friend a nice, warm, and comforting hug, telling her in his gentlest, most compassionate tone of voice: "Worry not, my dearest friend. I'll restrain myself so that I neither conflict nor blather with Nathan senselessly, so our discussion over history should be a none to lengthy and pleasant affair that will keep either of us all night, and keep me abscent in bed. Until then, I wish you a good night, and traquils dreams should I arrive after you slumber."

Having said this, Ventus detached from her and slowly made his way back to the Center, pondering how he blessed he was to have a truly wonderous friend like Shiva care for him so, and steeling himself for 'historical conversation' with the young scholar.....

....Oh. She has been hiding it well, but by now Shiva should really know better and keep it in mind that even such subtle decreasings of her mood are detectable for Ven. Nevertheless she casted a faintly suprised expression as he immediately mentioned it towards her, asked what may be wrong, and even cottoned on what may be wrong. Part of her felt blessed that he cares for her wellbeing so much, another part of her was wondering in what direction her own empathic? skills will develop - will she one day be able to read people similar like she could feel with Pokemon...? She didn't know - but she'll keep the options for herself open, these skills fresh, then she'll eventually see.

The dear and dark oddball f researcher APOLOGIZING to her somewhat caught her off-guard and busted, and that was visible as she seemed pretty insecure in expression and bodylanguage about how to handle it, so in the end it developed into her giving him a coy nod of the head to express that he was indeed right in his assumption what may have caused this drop-down, before she went back to bashfully investige the paved street they were standing on. However, even if she wasn't looking him in the eye, a subtle smile showed that his apology has reached her and is appreciated. She only looked up again to accept her Electric Rodents back from him, and this was also where she found her voice back. "Thank you...for taking care of them, Ven. It's sweet to hear how they've cheered on Nathan in return for me... If you, ehm, if you'll watch me battling tomorrow as well, would you be so kind to get a hold of them once again?"

Regardless of what his answer was, this hug Ven gave her topped everything as she could literally feel how it was dripping with warmth and care, eventually alluring a faint blush before she returned his hug for a little. She didn't manage to bring out more words than "Thank you... I'm, well, wishing you luck, and until later or the next morning then..."

She watched Ventus leave then after he detatched from her, immediately feeling colder on the outside but warmer on the inside - doesn't matter how dark or erratic or weird he was, she was quite glad and thankful to have him by her side.


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


Shiva kept the Pokeballs containing Plusle and Minun at her person, well aware of.... Ah, it started right away, that blinking that showed that she was carrying more than 6 Pokemon on her person. She didn't bother too much however, as she looked up to the meanwhile darker sky until she spotted her Tropius circling up there and giving Vaporeon a free flight on his back, before Shiva waved him down to the ground to fly on his back to the GPC - she has never flown on a Pokemon yet so she was a bit shy about that at first, but given that it was her own Pokemon she'd fly on and he's definitely big and strong enough to safely carry her (plus, he didn't suffer any Pain Penalization from the battle C: ), she simply decided to give it a try...

In the end, it was a short flight of a few minutes to the GPC, and if Shiva made sure to keep her arms wrapped around her Tropius' neck despite carrying Vaporeon as well in them, it was...less bad than she may have expected or feared. To be honest, it was cool to see Stair City from a few meters above the roofs.

Having arrived at the Center then, Tropius received his thanks for the flight via her hugging neck and more died berries to much on, before she collected the Nanab Berry from him and withdrew him for the night. Braixen and Nightshade were given into the professional hands of one of the many Nurse Joys on duty this night, letting her know that she'll pick up her Pokemon tomorrow. Ah, that blinking of the Pokeballs has stopped the moment she gave the Pokeballs to Joy. Shiva felt pleasant to have her Electric rodents outside of their Pokeballs for the rest of the Day, they even accopanied their Master during a relatively rich vegetarian dinner consiting of a bit of curried rice, a plate filled with an assortment of fried and steamed vegetable and a big bowl finest ceasar salad which she ended up sharing with them.

...As expected, Ventus has not returned yet as Shiva entered the dorm they are sharing. Having closed the door behind her, she couldn't help but to wonder whether they...will continue doing so once they've left Stair City... The sensation that she would have nothing at all against that caused yet another wave of bashfulness overroll her. Good thing that he wasn't there to see it...

Hmm, what to do with some alone time now, Shiva didn't feel like turning in for the night yet, way too early yet. Plus, the excitement of what will await her tomorrow likely won't make her sleep in right away even if she'd be very tired. Watching her Pokemon enjoying their own dinner (consisting of Dry Food and Spicy Food on the usual orchid-patterned ceramic plate her mother has given her for the journey), she was paging through her own journal without much of an aim... She got caught up on the printed out picture of Torren's Mega Eevee, causing her to think about Spectral and Vaporeon - before Nucleon came to her mind a little later as a typical shower thought. If... If the Almanac ever launch that foster program for Nucleon or make that alternative evolutionary item available, she could... But even if they wouldn't or only in some years, she wanted to have or better hatch an Eevee, if only for her own enjoyment and because it being among the Pokemon that are bred the most among Professionals... But both her Vaporeon and Spectral were female, the latter can't be with Shiva as long as she's in Chresire... The Daycare... Hey, wait a moment. Golda and Wir had an Eevee at their Daycare. Shiva even played with it, battled it, recommended letting it evolve into an Espeon to be a guardian of the pasture... Hehe. Breeding partners found, that Destiny Knot Nathan has once gifted her will become quite handy here.

Ventus was still not back as Shiva has returned from shower dressed for the night, so she continued looking through her journal a little more, stumbling over the list of shrines she meanwhile has transfered from the cell photos into a written list. Reading through it, she considered for a while... Which one to choose...Cresselia caught her. Landorus reminded her of Abundant Shrine. Sylveon caused her to go 'awwwww, sweet!~'. But in the end Shiva decided for Gi-Go-Ti, the sunken shrine of Giratina somewhere in Chresire's southern sea. How fitting it felt to ward of Ghost Types by the Lord of the Distortion World themselves, hehe... It was also partly a dragon. With utmost carefulness and concentration to not prevent any mistakes on this part, Shiva painted the symbol of this shrine on her enchanted piece of wood, using a new and fine paintbrush and some black color she used during creating plushies of Cottonee fluff.

Ventus was still not back after Shiva has placed the piece of wood onto the windowsill to allow the yet fresh paint to dry off during the night, so after having checked the time on cell and cleaned up any remains her Pokemon left from their dinner, she got herself comfy in bed with Kyuu and Cottonee close to her and her Almanac in hand. But before Shiva would end up trying to beat her record in 20Lines-Mode of Pokemon Tetris, she checked on her second Mystery Egg's gestation process, before looking up what the Almanac had to say about Eevee (hey, it's an interesting Pokemon for scientists after all, given its unique instable gene pool), Gothitelle (naturally, is it's skill to read within the stars useful for science?) as well as whether and where in Chreshire Illumise can be found, all while faintly humming the tune of one million fireflies Illumise.


----------------
Mechanics:
Keeping Shiva occupied with avrious activities... Whether she'll be sleeping or not when Ventus comes back depends.

[Iron]

Shiva has enough points in Craft to have no difficulty engraving/painting that tag. But it's still missing one thing: life, represented by the name of a Pokemon spirit.

[Dragonstrike]

Spoiler

"Hmm....now why should I do most of the talking? A informative conversation cannot be held if only if only one individual is carrying it for the most part, and I feel that your silence does a disservice to be myself and to the wealth of Knowledge you have. So please, speak more freely, Nathan...."

Ventus is calm, cool, composed, and still smiling despite the ever rising tension in the room, as he waits for their next rebuttal. He knows what the boy is trying to take control of the conversation, get him nattering and cause them to reveal all their cards so that he knows which ones he can safely hide away.

'I will not be played for a fool, or taken for granted like so. Nathan will divulge what they know of both Cipher and Shadow Pokémon if they what to mine own Insight on them, or........'

"Learning is a two way street, no?  And I've already divulged plenty of information for no charge, done most of the talking already on this subject, so I feel it's your turn to speak before I continue.  I'm afraid this one's not going to be free.  It very much has a price, and I need to know that you aren't just blowing a load of hot air.  Connect the dots I've given you already, then we'll talk."

It's a very flat, toneless response.  All the while, Nathan's not loosened his grip on his journal.

[Lord Windos]

Spoiler

"Learning is a two way street, no?  And I've already divulged plenty of information for no charge, done most of the talking already on this subject, so I feel it's your turn to speak before I continue.  I'm afraid this one's not going to be free.  It very much has a price, and I need to know that you aren't just blowing a load of hot air.  Connect the dots I've given you already, then we'll talk."

It's a very flat, toneless response.  All the while, Nathan's not loosened his grip on his journal.

Ventus looked thoughtful and ponderous at their response, eyes closed as he sat silent for several minutes.....before he shrugged

"Then we are at an impasse. You nor I will not divulge our information until we first receive what is due, and neither of us are in much of a sharing mood. Not a favorable outcome....but its one I entirely expected coming from you."

The researcher then easily gets up, and stretches his arms a bit......and then turns around and heads for the door. Just before he did so, though, however, he had one last thing to say to the secretive young scholar.

"Since no progress will be made, I believe I'll take my leave this of this conversation.  I do not find myself wanting or without from our brief exchange, though, and hope much the same for you. However, if you ever desire to learn more.....then we can always schedule another time for discussion, one hopefully me free spirited than this one. Have a good night, Nathan."

Afterwards, he exited the private chamber, and made his way to his shared room with Shiva. Like promised to his most blessed friend, the sociologist avoided unnecessary conflict with the stubborn boy, all while learning a great deal more than before.

' Even though he said relatively little, what was and showed has already confirmed my suspicious and uncovered what I sought to know. He knows about Cipher and Shadow Pokémon, and most likely their activities, their past plans and exploits, and perhaps even how they.....manufactured those tragic creature. Most likely knows about the Purification Processes to reverse the Shadow State, if what he has and has not said on the Relic Stone is any indication, and important details about the Shadow Legendaries. The question remains how or why they acquired such buried intel, but given his personality and past behavior I highly doubt the underlying motivation is nefarious.'

'One thing is for certain beside that, though: I can't have much trust nor faith in Nathan, and the reverse is true as well. Not much of a surprise, honestly. We are already estranged from one another and rarely interact unless given good reason by this point, so I suppose this hardly a mind numbing revelation. It just means I should no longer confide in him about anything, unless for give due cause for such an admission. Which, again, is not much different from the way things stand before hand.'

'Such is how it shall remain between us, until we redeem ourselves in each other's eyes and can forgive each other for our grievances with one another, and I suspect that will be a hot day in Kyurem's Frozen domain before either of us budge on this. Oh well. '

Such were his thoughts on the matter, before he dispelled them and quickened his pace to his room, and right by Shiva's side. It wouldn't do to keep her waiting for any longer, and he needed plenty of rest for his Gym Battle with Dagney tomorrow!

Order: Aburptly end conversation with Nathan, and head to bed to begin the new day. Hey, its better than an argument or them going back and forth on this forever, so horray? That, and the new day can start that much sooner, and Shiva doesn't have to fall asleep alone, so double horray!!

[Spiritmon]

Spoiler

Gym Leader Dagny vs Heart Round 6

Porygon crawls forward on tank treads, not floating for now. As Rose approaches for Close Combat, Porygon crawls right onto her! She begins wincing as the tank treads bind on her over and over.

Gear Grind
8 brawl -2 actions -2 acc = 4/3 dice
(6)(5)(3)(6)
(2)(5)(5)
3 Str + 2 power +1 STAB +1 Technician -3 vit = 4d6 dmg.
(4)(2)(4)(2)
(6)(3)(4)(1) Rose takes 2 dmg 3/7hp -2 pain. (That's from both attacks, each doing 1).

Close Combat 1
(2)(2)(2)(4)(1)(1) Miss! Rose is already a little too close to hit Porygon.

Mach Punch 2
(6)(4)(5)(1)(2)
(6)(3) Porygon takes 2 dmg 6/8hp -1 pain

Mach Punch 3
(6)(3)(2)(5)
(5)(5) Porygon takes 3 dmg 3/8hp -2 pain

Both Pokemon have 3 hp! Porygon goes first.

Dagny whispers an order to Porygon and settles back into her wheelchair, clearly very tired.

Heart was trying once again to hold together and he almost fall in his kneels after this round. He was hoping this round might end after this last attack. "Rose, we must finish this once and for all. They are planing something, so we must be very careful. If they use some sort of attack, dodge then retaliate with one strong Close Combat, and if this do not work, finish with two Mach Punchs! But if they use Conversion or Conversion 2 only Close Combat. If you feel they using a status move, dodge and retaliate with Close Combat. With your ability Blaze, you might be able to finish him I hope." (Using Will point to ignore pain)

In case he attack, dodge and Close Combat.


Dodge: Dex (3) + Fight (3) + Evasion (2) - Actions (2) - Pain (2) = 6d6
CC Acuracy: Dex (3) + Fight (3) + Brawl (3) - Actions (3) -  Pain (2) = 5d6
Damage: Power (5) + STR (3) + Black Belt (1) + SE (1) = 9d6+1


In case CC doest work:

Dodge: Dex (3) + Fight (3) + Evasion (2) - Actions (2) - Pain (2) = 6d6
CC Acuracy: Dex (3) + Fight (3) + Brawl (3) - Actions (3) -  Pain (2) = 5d6
Damage: Power (5) + STR (3) + Black Belt (1) + SE (1) = 9d6+1

Mach Punch Acuracy 1 and 2: Dex (3) + Fight (3) + Brawl (3) - Actions (4/5) -  Pain (2) = 4d6/3d6
Damage: Power (2) + STR (3) + Black Belt (1) + SE (1) = 6d6+1
Notes: Priority move

If in case Rose feel Porygon will turn to a type with defence against Fighting Flame Wheel in the place of Mach Punch:

Flame Wheel 1 and 2: Dex (3) + Fight (3) + Brawl (3) - Actions (4/5) -  Pain (2) = 4d6/3d6
Damage: Power (2) + STR (3) + Blaze ability (2 I think) + SE (1) = 6d6+1
Effect: Dice chance to burn

[Dragonstrike]

It's all Nathan can do do to stay silent and keep a straight face as Ventus leaves.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's quiet in the room.

Really quiet.

Kirlia's looking questioningly at Nathan.  What was the big deal about?

...

"...no, I can't tell you, Kirlia.  I can't tell anyone..."

Silence.

...filled with quiet tears.

Nathan wishes he hadn't stumbled upon this information several years ago...it was...heart wrenching to read about and listen to.

...and worrying that it could still happen again...

...what hurt the most now though was the knowledge that they could make not only Legendaries Shadow Pokemon...but also pokemon like Ralts, Togepi, Chansey...pokemon almost never known for their ruthless aggression and selfish personalities...pokemon defined by the emotions that Shadow Pokemon lack...

...

...Nathan agreed with Professor Krane and Michael's father on this, though: this kind of tragedy should never be forgotten.  If it was, it would just happen again, and nobody would be prepared for it...

...so Nathan keeps the knowledge of what happened with him...and prays that Ardos never manages to find another Ein or Lovrina and resurrect Cipher once more...

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Nathan can't seem to fall asleep tonight, no matter what he tries.

White noise, changing positions, fetching Orthros...none of it helps.

...

...he doesn't fully understand how it all went downhill so quickly...

...

...for once, he can't seem to get one of his plans to work, no matter how hard he tries...

...

...it's a long, long night for Nathan...