[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Dragonstrike]

(And I'll give that happiness to Yule, so now he's at 3.  Yay!)

...

Silence.  Well, relatively speaking, that is...

...


"...The places we are born. The time we spend living... The languages we speak... We are all different. But the presence of Pokémon unites us. We share our lives with our Pokémon and our happiness grows as we all become greater than we were alone. That is why we can battle and trade with anyone we choose... Since there is sadness, we can feel joy. When there is anger, compassion is born..." 

...

"...do you know who said that, Ventus?"

[Spiritmon]

Spoiler

Heart when heading to the pokemart he stops for a second and thinks a little better. "Hmm everyone is busy with other things to attend to. And Shiva might not feel in the mood to dinner too...but that doesnt mean I cant make some food. Perhaps make food for the journey should be a better choice. To avoid the disaster in the forest before. Okay, lets do that then!"

Action: Buy ingredients (in good quality, spending 600 pokedollars to flesh ingredients and good ingredients).

Heart finds some amaaazing trailmix ingredients: dark fancy chocolate, exotic nuts, dried fruit and Berries. 

He buys fancy brioche bread for sammiches, along with fresh greens like kale and bright purple lettuce, fine ground mustard, slices of fish or lab-grown meat. Cheese slices in a couple flavors. Rich creamy peanut butter or hazelnut butter, sweet jam from any fruit desired. 

Blood oranges imported from other regions or bananas grown on Tropius. Power bars. Mild organic energy drinks in glass bottles. 

Cheese in string form or wedge form for snacking.

And brown paper sacks to pack it all in!

Heart instead of take everything in the paper sacks, he decideds to put everything inside a tissue bag, because it is more ecologic (if there is one). And to avoid any kind of problem, Heart decided to check everything he buy to avoid the same problem from the forest. He is he the cook of the group so he needs to maintain the health of the members of the group!

Action: Knowledge+Insight+Alert to see if the everything is okay and dont have any problem for the health.

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

Indeed, such were moments where Shiva was happy that she had that Upgrade of the scientific encyclopedia on her Almanac and since it's not an illegal item at all and none of her party members were currently around, she had no issues to draw the Almanac and look it up there - and to be blunt, what she found there fascinated her. Yay for Natural Science!~

That was not the only thing that caught her though, as hearing that the dear Fortune Hunter indeed displayed some knowledge concerning runes was like a sweet melody to Shiva - one that only grew louder upon the offering of buying one of these weird stones from her, and it all made it's way from the inside to form a smile that way trademarked coy and cutish, but practically dripping with delight. Cottonee warmed herself on this wave of positive vibes from her Master by cuddling closer into her arms, and since the species of Gothitelle is decribed as an empathic species it does certainly notice now how rich the emotional pool of her new Master is - if she hasn't foreseen this already, that is.

"I gladly take one of these dark stones from you," 'even if it pretty likely is not a chunk of a Relic Stone' she added in thought, "here are 300$! Thank youuu!" After handing the money over, Shiva carefully - but not THAT incredibly carefuly as she accepted the Flute from the Fortune Hunter took the stone from her and held it up into the daylight between thumb and forefinger to get a clear look at it and the runes that are engraved into it - so far she couldn't read their meaning and wasn't quite sure what to do with it aside from keeping it as another luckcharm - but one day or the other she certainly will. Especially with...

"...so, ehm, how much would you want for that book containing all the runes? Let's see... do 600$ sound fair, depending how many pages it consists of? Would it let me learn how to read most of the runes in it fluently if I'd invest some time to learn them? And.... Do you think that'd help me on the search for treasures on my further journey through this region?"

[Iron]

Spoiler

Heart when heading to the pokemart he stops for a second and thinks a little better. "Hmm everyone is busy with other things to attend to. And Shiva might not feel in the mood to dinner too...but that doesnt mean I cant make some food. Perhaps make food for the journey should be a better choice. To avoid the disaster in the forest before. Okay, lets do that then!"

Action: Buy ingredients (in good quality, spending 600 pokedollars to flesh ingredients and good ingredients).

Heart finds some amaaazing trailmix ingredients: dark fancy chocolate, exotic nuts, dried fruit and Berries. 

He buys fancy brioche bread for sammiches, along with fresh greens like kale and bright purple lettuce, fine ground mustard, slices of fish or lab-grown meat. Cheese slices in a couple flavors. Rich creamy peanut butter or hazelnut butter, sweet jam from any fruit desired. 

Blood oranges imported from other regions or bananas grown on Tropius. Power bars. Mild organic energy drinks in glass bottles. 

Cheese in string form or wedge form for snacking.

And brown paper sacks to pack it all in!

Heart instead of take everything in the paper sacks, he decideds to put everything inside a tissue bag, because it is more ecologic (if there is one). And to avoid any kind of problem, Heart decided to check everything he buy to avoid the same problem from the forest. He is he the cook of the group so he needs to maintain the health of the members of the group!

Action: Knowledge+Insight+Alert to see if the everything is okay and dont have any problem for the health.

It's all good food as long as no one is allergic to the nuts or fruit. Your companions have never exhibited or mentioned such an allergy.

[Iron]

Your new stone is polished, smooth, and black. The runes are etched onto it but not highlighted, so you have to turn it to get the light to catch them. One looks like a humanoid, another is just a circle with a square inside, one could maybe be a tree, and you have half a sun there. Gothitelle blinks heavy lids at it.

"600$ is perfectly fair. Here you are! You can certainly use this to learn all the runic alphabets. If words are written in modern Common and a runic alphabet, you can read them no trouble. If words are written in some other language, this book helps less. But that is rather rare, since Common has been around since after the First Technical Society, and it's used all over the world in every region. It's changed surprisingly little over the years. Have fun with that! Any other artifacts I can interest you in?"

[Spiritmon]

Spoiler

Spoiler

Heart when heading to the pokemart he stops for a second and thinks a little better. "Hmm everyone is busy with other things to attend to. And Shiva might not feel in the mood to dinner too...but that doesnt mean I cant make some food. Perhaps make food for the journey should be a better choice. To avoid the disaster in the forest before. Okay, lets do that then!"

Action: Buy ingredients (in good quality, spending 600 pokedollars to flesh ingredients and good ingredients).

Heart finds some amaaazing trailmix ingredients: dark fancy chocolate, exotic nuts, dried fruit and Berries. 

He buys fancy brioche bread for sammiches, along with fresh greens like kale and bright purple lettuce, fine ground mustard, slices of fish or lab-grown meat. Cheese slices in a couple flavors. Rich creamy peanut butter or hazelnut butter, sweet jam from any fruit desired. 

Blood oranges imported from other regions or bananas grown on Tropius. Power bars. Mild organic energy drinks in glass bottles. 

Cheese in string form or wedge form for snacking.

And brown paper sacks to pack it all in!

Heart instead of take everything in the paper sacks, he decideds to put everything inside a tissue bag, because it is more ecologic (if there is one). And to avoid any kind of problem, Heart decided to check everything he buy to avoid the same problem from the forest. He is he the cook of the group so he needs to maintain the health of the members of the group!

Action: Knowledge+Insight+Alert to see if the everything is okay and dont have any problem for the health.

It's all good food as long as no one is allergic to the nuts or fruit. Your companions have never exhibited or mentioned such an allergy.

"everything good and flesh for the journey then! Time to prepare the few things." Then Heart return to his room in the pokemon center. Heart take a few hours preparing supplies for the journey. It will be a long trip to Cress City so he prepare the food and make many kinds of desserts: Sandiwtiches to eat during the journey with the cheese and custard, others with sweet flavors, along with other aliments. After a hour of less he finally finish everything he put the sandiwtches along with the others food protec inside aluminum paper to better protect the food and conserve the flavor. The fruits, jams and others fruits he put inside the freezer for better conserve. "Welp, with our lunch ready time to take a visit in the Gym to witness Shiva battle!" Then Heart hide everything and go to the Gym!

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

Such a beautiful stone, now as Shiva got a look at it in detail - finding out what these runes etched into it mean does have to wait for now though. She was just about to safely pack it away as she does notice how her new Psychic Type has shown a small reaction to it - practically, the same one she casted when Shiva spoke with her sometime before. Resting her gaze on her for a little longer than usual, Shiva nevertheless packed the stone away - for now at least.

Next, she just as delighted accepts that book as well and holds it rather close to her as Cottonee respectfully made some room and continued with her observing of the whole scene and soaking up positive feelings from a higher place on her Master's head insted of within her arms. "I'll look through it later for sure, thank you as well for that one! I hope I can put all that I'll learn into good use... But, eh, nevermind, I'll see what can be done! Oh, and I guess I've bought enough for now, thank you..." Shiva's mind was silently screaming at her to buy that Flute, but her rational thought won this time: First, she doesn't even know how to play it; second, the chance that it'll break during the further traveling was too high for her taste; third, she'd rather use her earned money for somethingelse that would either follow her sentiments on a similar level or simply something practical.

"I.... well, there is one more thing I would be interested in, to be very very honest... Along your search for treasures and everything, have you ever stumbled over green Apricorns or the tree that grows them? I've heard they've became extinct in the wild, so I'm not counting my chances that high, sadly." Shiva casted another barely noticable glance over to Gothitelle.

"I guess... that's goodbye then for now, is it? I don't want to hold you any longer than I've already did as... But I was looking forward to see you. 'till we would meet again someday, okay?" If the Fortune Hunter does allow it, Shiva would hug her as a goodbye, because that's totally what she'd do.

[Lord Windos]

Spoiler

(And I'll give that happiness to Yule, so now he's at 3.  Yay!)

...

Silence.  Well, relatively speaking, that is...

...


"...The places we are born. The time we spend living... The languages we speak... We are all different. But the presence of Pokémon unites us. We share our lives with our Pokémon and our happiness grows as we all become greater than we were alone. That is why we can battle and trade with anyone we choose... Since there is sadness, we can feel joy. When there is anger, compassion is born..." 

...

"...do you know who said that, Ventus?"

"....No, I'm afraid I do not Nathan. But the meaning of the message is clear to me. Despite our differences, Pokémon brings all together in blissful harmony, becoming an inseperable part of ourselves that elevate us to become great then who we were, regardless of misery or hate. A beautiful message..."

...

"...Why are you so adamant that I keep the flame of hope that Silverfish returns burning strongly within me? If I just give up like I did in the past, no one would be adversely affect by my decision and we could focus all or energies at stopping more tangible problems like the Scimitars."

...

"Don't think I've also forgotten my earlier question as well, Nathan. I ask you again, what's troubling you?"

(I kinda want to keep Ven in the dark about Cynthia's true identity, so please don't reveal it to him!)

[Dragonstrike]

Spoiler

"....No, I'm afraid I do not Nathan. But the meaning of the message is clear to me. Despite our differences, Pokémon brings all together in blissful harmony, becoming an inseperable part of ourselves that elevate us to become great then who we were, regardless of misery or hate. A beautiful message..."

...

"...Why are you so adamant that I keep the flame of hope that Silverfish returns burning strongly within me? If I just give up like I did in the past, no one would be adversely affect by my decision and we could focus all or energies at stopping more tangible problems like the Scimitars."

...

"Don't think I've also forgotten my earlier question as well, Nathan. I ask you again, what's troubling you?"

(I kinda want to keep Ven in the dark about Cynthia's true identity, so please don't reveal it to him!)

(Wasn't planning to)

"...it is.  Here's another quote from the same person.  'When one life meets another, something is born.'  Quite fitting statements from someone who enjoys meeting new people and pokemon and 'expanding their world', if perhaps a bit ironic considering who Cynthia used to be...unfortunately, not everyone puts a positive spin on the message, and no light can exist without the dark..."

...

"...because there's no chance in the Distortion World that Silverfish was happy with staying where it was after you left.  Particularly if you enticed it with tales of the outside world."

...

"...a bond was made, and a strong one at that if I'm right...those kinds of bonds...no matter the distance or strife...they don't break.  It's something as old as the Yin and Yang pokemon themselves..."

...

"...it's out there.  It has to be...the only question is where..."

...

A pause, punctuated by another of the many, many sighs in this story...

"...I...can't remember...I remember waiting in the lobby, and then...I woke up this morning...I...don't know what haplened..."

...

Kirlia pauses his munching on sugar immediately to turn his attention to the conversation.  Nathan hasn't noticed it, either.  Even though Kirlia is subtly trying to tell Ventus to NOT say what happened.

[Lord Windos]

Spoiler

(Wasn't planning to)

"...it is.  Here's another quote from the same person.  'When one life meets another, something is born.'  Quite fitting statements from someone who enjoys meeting new people and pokemon and 'expanding their world', if perhaps a bit ironic considering who Cynthia used to be...unfortunately, not everyone puts a positive spin on the message, and no light can exist without the dark..."

...

"...because there's no chance in the Distortion World that Silverfish was happy with staying where it was after you left.  Particularly if you enticed it with tales of the outside world."

...

"...a bond was made, and a strong one at that if I'm right...those kinds of bonds...no matter the distance or strife...they don't break.  It's something as old as the Yin and Yang pokemon themselves..."

...

"...it's out there.  It has to be...the only question is where..."

...

A pause, punctuated by another of the many, many sighs in this story...

"...I...can't remember...I remember waiting in the lobby, and then...I woke up this morning...I...don't know what haplened..."

...

Kirlia pauses his munching on sugar immediately to turn his attention to the conversation.  Nathan hasn't noticed it, either.  Even though Kirlia is subtly trying to tell Ventus to NOT say what happened.

".....I never knew you were the poetic or philosophical type, Nathan, but your skill with words and meanings is undeniable. All things can be brought into fruition by even a chance, fleeting meeting between individuals, whether such occurances be good or ill. "

...


"Yet,  even if darkness must exist to bring definition to the light, nothing is so simple and absolute in those boundries. Good beings do horrible things out of a misguided sense of purpose, or to accomplish a given task no matter the cost. Wicked creature can have their redeaming qualities that prevent them from becoming completely monsterious, or sufficient reason to walk the fell paths they do."

...

"Light and Dark.....Good or Evil......Black or White........these are just constructs we use to define behavior as 'just' or 'unjust' , and the broader and small cultures adopt to codify , organize, and regulate any given action. The fact of the matter is that if you stripped away such terminology, everyone and everything is just doing what they think is right and correct. If look past you own perspective and see through another's eyes, you can truly understand why they do the things they do, even if you do not agree with them."

...

"My government and the other researcher thought containing a ferocious Mythical creature made by Plasma would be for the great good of the region and its populous, and that experimenting on it they could find out more about their capabilities to better counter and safeguard it, among other intellectual pursuits. I thought Silverfish needed genuine friendship , trust, and care if they were to ever not be a potential menace to the world, and that even something dangerous as it deserves the chance to be free and happy. "

...

"Tell me Nathan, which of us was more 'right' in our beliefs? My government, and their focus on public safety and containment at the cost of Silverfish, or myself, and my focus on Silverfish's wellbeing and happiness at the cost of many. Or to better phrase the question, can you tell me who's the more at fault?"

...

"I'm under no illusion that my friendship and closeness with Silverfish could have massive negative rammifications for all, but at the time I didn't care. I was more focused on their needs, and to hell and high water with all else besides that. Had I managed not to lose my temper that day and better regulated....concealed my feelings for them..........perhaps I would have taken far more drastic action to ensure their happiness at some point. One with a cost that be paid in blood....or my life...."

...

"So maybe it was for the best we were separated. At least apart, neither of us could made things any worse for others, even if it comes at the cost of our own happiness. Still........I find myself wishing I could still be with them, despite the consequences. Damn the consequences....."

When Ventus finished up his response to Nathan's philosophical and.....comforting words, the next thing they said forced him to curtail his physical reaction of raising both eyebrows, and Kirlia feverant gestures/feelings of 'No, don't answer that! Please!' only made him more concerned and curious as to how and why THAT, and just what he was going to have to do about this.

'Oh dear.....its never anything simple with this boy and his partner. *Mental Sighing* Time to tread more lightly, if I do not wish to re-ignite their past night's woes vividly so....'

"...We were holding a discussion about our region's respective Legends and Mythical beings. Our conversation grew intense and went off topic, until we began speaking about odd or abnormal Pokémon in general, such as Delta species and.......others. You started becoming highly distressed and agitated when we began speaking about........well, about them , so I ended the conversation and bid you good night to preserve your peace of mind and halt the fraying of your nerves. It seems, however, that you ended up blocking out the whole event in lenue of calming down."

Ven let out a sigh to punctuate his explaination, before turning his attention back to the ongoing confectionary feast at hand, the sight of his Pokémon enjoying themselves bringing a smile to his face despite the heavy conversation they were engaged/engaging in. Of course, he would have to scrub down Abaddon to remove that sticky mess he made later, and most likely clean the wings of Raphael and Lucifer to get any sugary gunk out of them, but it was more than worth such effort seeing them all so delighted....

"That is the summarized version of events. We can go into more detail tonight in the privacy of your room, if you have any desire the unabridged version of events and are willing to risk your emotional wellbeing once more. For now, let us watch our Pokémon happily feast on the sugary Swirlix, and then make our way towards the Gym once more. Shiva is due to have her match against them soon, so we best be their to greet her and cheer her on."