[Game Thread] Pokerole: Mount Coronet Mystery

[Dragonstrike]

It's about time for Lucas to walk into the lobby!  Nurse Joy was about to come over herself, but she stays at her desk (for now) when the Champion walks over to the group.

"Hey guys.  I just finished talking with the Professor.  He's got some errands he needed to run, so he doesn't have time to meet with us before we leave.  I'm ready when you guys are, though.  Just make sure you've got your pokemon parties in order."  (Please tell me if you're swapping pokemon in to/out of your party before I post encounters, similar to how we treated the PTC in Skull Ruins.  When everyone has their initial team of 6 ready and you're ready to go, let me know.)

It's then that Lucas notices how upset Karen looks.  "...is something the matter?"

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

(I'm still waiting for a response from @Mikaruge108 at this post and one from @Lord Windos on this one, but I guess now is a good moment have Kee go and conduct the trades that I wanted him to take. I'll get to typing it up now in a seperate post.)

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

With everything handled and dealt with, Kee eventually steps out of the Pokemon Center and into the frigid air. He still dislikes that he has to be up and about at such an early hour AND how cold it is (at least it's not hailing today), but all that commotion and a cup of the blackest tea one can imagine worked 'okay' to wake him up properly. 'Waking him up properly' = He's wake enough to get stuff done. He's not pestered by hangover-headaches this morning either, hooray!

His party consists of Octavia (by his side), Stella (in his arms), Yurei (sleeping in her DuskBall), Core (blasting his ears off with the new playlist), Mercury (humming and flicking his tail to keep the beat) and Draven (by Kee's other side). His outfit today keeps that flashy glowsticky style, thankfully not featuring rainbow colors at the moment. Now he's also carrying his electric guitar around because he doesn't know whether he'll be able to return to his dorm up the Center or not before they all will leave town, and he will NOT leave his prized instrument of choice behind. Never!!!

Shield your eyes again

Yes I like putting him to the most colorful fashion I can imagine
Forgive the checkered paper, this started as a rough sketch

His destination is the local Gym, but he's not approaching the building with the intenton to face the Gym Leader - actually, well, he DOES, but not for the sake of battling her. He doesn't hesitate to walk through the door, but he does appear a little nervous all faintly behind his steadfast facade because he's holding an overly-cute Baby Vulpix cuddled up to him in his arms and has a CuteCharm-Sylveon, shiny on top of that, walking close by his side and he wouldn't call himself bad-looking, so that faint nervosity is steming from the question whether he's able to reach Candice without the female Gym Acolytes swarming him and how Candice herself reacts to this believed? new challenger. This will determine his further reactions.

[Dragonstrike]

The first person Kee runs into is the Gym Guide.  "Howdy!  Looking to challenge the gym?  If you're looking for the Leader, she's doing her morning warmups out back, behind the gym."

Kee does get a few curious glances from some of the gym trainers, but they don't approach Kee right away since he's still standing at the door.

A note on Stella: her single tail has turned fully red by this point.  Those Vulpix tails don't typically stay white for very long.

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

Oh right, these Gym Guides.... Even Roxie hired one of these curious people, and Kee never fully understood why in the first place. She never cared to tell him either, and he prefered to concentrate on his given tasks instead of playing detective.

He gives THIS Guide a unimpressed look in response, and Octavia returns the curious glance from every Gym Trainer that her most-beloved caretaker receives. "No, I'm not lookin' to challenge the Leader. Though, I AM lookin' for HER, so thanks for the info. Is it safe to disturb her in these warmups or should I better wait right here 'til she's done?"

If the former

Then he'll go find her and greet her, introducing himself, Octavia and Stella, and open up that he came to her with a trade request. "D'you remember that some were heading down the temple yesterday? Found something that you or one or your Gym Trainers might like inside this icy 'n stony palace." He displays a faintly smug smile that comes off rather alluring intentionally.

If the latter

We'll, then he'll find a place to wait (not by the door), passing the time by brushing Stella a little and hoping that none of the Gym Trainers jumps at him. He can feel her inner fire having reached the tip of her tail and turned it red, aww.

[Dragonstrike]

"It should be safe to go up and talk to her.  She might not notice ya right away, though.  She concentrates pretty heavily on whatever she's doing at the time.  As she likes to say, 'it's all about focus!'  Can't say I don't admire her enthusiasm!"

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

Out back, Candice is skating with her pokemon (Snover and Sneasel at the moment) on a frozen pond.

*rolls*

It takes Candice a few minutes, but she does eventually notice Kee waiting for her on solid ground.  She skates on over.

"Well hi!  Are you looking for Candice?  What can Candice do for you?"

She hears Kee out, then chuckles.  "Oh, so you were with everyone else yesterday, too?  Let me guess: you're looking to trade an Ice type Sandshrew or Sandslash, right?"

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

Hooray for the icy lady having noticed Kee eventually, as this saves him the act of catching her attention with one of his birds. Hooray for his colorful clothing style as he feels this partially catch her eye.

Octavia by his sides gives her a charming~♡ smile and graceful bow just because. Kee, well, he's giving himself calm and courteous, you gotta treat the females well and accordingly, and his voice is full of that melodiousness and freed from sarcasm for this time. "Right you are. There's been a batch of these nice creatures, but ya appear to know that already." Why and from where, he preferes to not ask. "The others traded A LOT OF 'EM already so the market's saturated, but they did so to the good professor while I wanted to come directly to YOU~~ for that sake." *semi-obvious sweet-talking, ugh* "*cough* Well, well. Ya....noticed how it's thankfully not hailin' t'day? I'm glad it doesn't, hail's hindering me and the precious Pokemon under my care. Caught up that the sky DOES rain down hailstones at innocent creatures with glee on the Routes leadin' south, and that's the direction me 'n the others want to - have to - head, so I'm searchin' for something in particular that'd protect from this rough weather. Something.... that saves them from the experience to fight with the knowledge that this hail might bring them down, bereave 'em of their last bit of power, ya know.... And you've certainly got Snowboarders at your Gym, who might know what I'm talkin' bout. Something like....."

Spoiler

"...Or somethin' that has the same effect. Is one precious exemplar on an Aolan Sandslash that'll listen to orders all fine enough to ENTICE~ you into parting with an exemplar of these? I'd throw in the pre-evolution form AND a Grip Claw for your Sneasel as well for some additional rarer Berries, including Type-resisting ones and exluding the obvious one." (He gave Candice his name. No Lum nor Sitrus Berries either please.)

(I've been so hoping that Candice or one of her Gym Trainers own an exemplar of these that I'm lost what I'd want to trade for if they don't.... ( -_-); Definitely no Pokemon or Ice Type TM though, prefering Held Items that can be put into direct use.)

[Dragonstrike]

"Of course Candice knows about them.  Randolph traded some to her last night."

 Candice frowns and shakes her head in response to Kee's main question.  "Sorry, but Candice and the Snowpoint Gym trainers don't carry around items like that.  No need to since all their pokemon are immune to being damaged by Hail anyways.  You could try looking at the Trade House, though.  Maybe someone there will have one they'd be willing to part with. A rare Ice/Steel type immune to Sandstorm and Hail damage definitely sounds like a fair trade for one."

She perks up a little again.  "Candice has lots of berries, though!  Type resist, Pinch...you name a niche berry, and Candice has it!  You wouldn't believe how hard it is to grow them here."

[Mikaruge108]

Spoiler

That's the moment Kee arrives at the scene, didn't make it in time due to being concentrated in business with Ran. Octavia greets him with a chirp. He looks hasted and eager to do something, and he also offers a hand to help her up. "Alright....", he starts, "You usually give yourself so bold, what has messed with you SO much? ....Was that Houndoom that scary? It was just an illusion."

Karen looks up, her eyes still watery, and rubs them, when she notices the illusion is gone, she stands back up; "...dogs...", she mutters, "I... *sniff*... am scared of dogs..." She says this part more clearly.

Octavia looks pleased and relieved as the young lady with the eyes of gold and silver calms down, she rubs her head against her for more comfort. Kee hands his faeevlution a cookie full of pink chunks (Pirsif Berries) from his bag for her brave action, which she eagerly accepts and starts to nibble on. He himself, well, he hands her (Karen) a tissue imprinted with a cloud-pattern. "Well, okay, that explains your strong reaction. Nono, ya don't have to tell me why you're scared of 'em, and I won't pry. Just...." He obviously hesitates for a moment, looks away, then looks back to face Karen. "....just call for me the next time there's a dogmon around that makes you uncomfortable and I'll deal with it... If you like. You could have just send out a Pokemon yourself to handle it, but if you're too stressed to do that, that's fine." How adorable.

In between bites of the cookie, Octavia hisses and snarls at Diam to chase her off. Where the heck is that mean beast's Trainer?

"I... I'll be fine, thanks."
concerning doggos: It's at this point Karen does something unexpected: she hesitantly grabs one of the Pokeballs that she is carrying, and summons her Mightyena long enough for the others to see, before recalling him, "...See, I've been doing my best to do something proactive about my fears." (OOC Note: She's using a type of phobia treatment commonly called Systematic desensitization)

Spoiler

It's about time for Lucas to walk into the lobby! Nurse Joy was about to come over herself, but she stays at her desk (for now) when the Champion walks over to the group.

"Hey guys. I just finished talking with the Professor. He's got some errands he needed to run, so he doesn't have time to meet with us before we leave. I'm ready when you guys are, though. Just make sure you've got your pokemon parties in order." (Please tell me if you're swapping pokemon in to/out of your party before I post encounters, similar to how we treated the PTC in Skull Ruins. When everyone has their initial team of 6 ready and you're ready to go, let me know.)

It's then that Lucas notices how upset Karen looks. "...is something the matter?"

I'd say this happens just after she recalls Mightyena, "Just had someone pull an awful prank... I'll be fine, though."
now, for her team!

Spoiler

-Magneton (Metal Coat)
-Nidorina (Poison Barb)
-Lopunny (Loppunnite) [Indeed, it's great Klutz doesn't prevent Mega Stones from working!]
-Aspid (Expert Belt)
-Lotus (Big Root)
-Mightyena (Razor Fang)

[Lord Windos]

Spoiler

Haha, that worked perfectly. It looks like Kee now knows how to catch Ran's attention if he has too, how fortunate!~ Or unfortunate depending how to look at this matter. He looks pleased of himself over Ran's reaction and 'I'm sorry for that' towards Beethoven, he would even go so far to offer him some birdseeds as an apology if he wouldn't have fled so fast from the toxic catbat: About that, Draven actually didn't care, he appears to not be interested in hunting birds. Must origin from the two birds Kee's keeping, he made extra-sure that Draven knows for certain that it is NOT appreciated to prey on companions.

Musical rave-guy himself crosses his arms comfortably and gives the blacksmith a direct stare in return for that deadpan frustrated one. "Yes, ICH BIN ES. *cough* Wouldn't have approached ya if I wouldn't have something to handle out with ya, it's lucky for both of us that we didn't miss each other as otherwise...~" He goes ┐(︶▽︶ )┌ "Otherwise, I'd have some more cash to spend and you'd have one possibility to further evolve a companion of yours less. Draven, if you may...." Said vampire takes the time to have a deeeeep sip of the cocoa before huffing, putting a paw into his wing-cloak and pulling out a small round stone from it, he tosses it for Ran to catch in a swift Here you GOOOO!~''-movement before overly demonstrative holding out the same paw to Kee. Who understands quickly and pulls out a small paperbag from his bag that appearantly not only holds a laptop and a ton of bandpatches but also carries a whole assortment of Pokemon Food and respective supplements: Some more acidic crystals are handed, which Draven EXPRESSIVELY sprinkles into Ran's his cocoa. 'Yes, right you are, that's my chocolatey stuff now. MINE, you hear? *joyful cackling à la plotting villain*'


Kee sounds somewhat indifferent as he speaks up. "Take this stone, that's the Mega-one from one of the Abomasnow yesterday. Use it well or sell it yourself, I don't care, but you at least HAVE a Snover AND a Keystone, and you don't look like you'd catch a ton of Pokemon just because and then never use them. Those poor ones, crammed together in a PC Box, stuck there like in limbo! (ノ_<。) .....*cough* Could have sold it to buy nice stuff, but abstained because I've chosen so." He takes a deep breath and discreetly looks around to see whether Kogeki/@Spiritmon is around, he'd lower his voice a little if he is. "'Cuz you know, it's PRETTY devious and sneaky to go 'Here, that's for you because you appear to be not bad in the art of Pokemon Fighting and seem to be a cool guy' one moment and then change your mind to 'Actually, no, give me that item back, my words a few minutes ago meant nothing', that's HURTFUL on top of that. And somewhat illogical. It's like..... Oh yes, like being gifted selfmade chocolate on V-Day from a girl you're actually not indifferent about, only to be rejected an hour

[quote pid='67104' dateline='1565991877']
later if you ask whether she wants to hang out after school because she doesn't quite get that platonic love is the highest I feel." That pouting expression Kee's displaying suggests that this may not be a made-up story. Octavia's with Karen at the moment, so no comfort-cuddle from the faeeveelution.


"ANYWAY", he continues boldly, not up to deal with aromatic misconceptions now, "That's all already, enjoy your new Megastone and do stuff with it that someone that can and likes to use this power would do. Or not, up to you. I was about to head to town for some restocks and trades... Do you still want me to program that AI of that....arm? I assume so since you said 'program it'." He holds back for a moment before outright opening up that he'll do that if desired. "Once I am back, that is. Programming and scripting isn't done in five minutes - not...normally - so I'll do that once my other business's finished, 'kay?" He begins to picks up his stuff at that point, Draven made haste to empty the cup, then Kee hesitated for a moment. "Wait, you dropped 'concert'. For Catherine. What.... do you mean by that?" For now, he actually sounds curious and 'tell me more~', but he thankfully spares Ran an alluring smile to get him to spill the beans.
[/quote]

Beethoven's deep within Ran's inventory right now, so unfortunately he didn't catch the sour dandy's somewhat remorseful expression. He's not coming out until he smells/hears that the toxic cat bad is true and welly gone, as he doesn't know they wouldn't pounce of them and suck them dry like a bottle of bird soda.

(Btw, I don't think Acid Crystals would make Draven more Poisonous, as those usually DESTROY such substances while acting as a corrosive agent which could technically be considered a Poison. If you want to make something toxic, toxic alkaloid compounds and/or heavy metal powders are the way to go with making something VERY deadily. However, that's just my interpretation of things, so  take it as you will!)

They're serious answer gets an even stare back and a *Hmm* from Ran, followed by a raised an intrigued eyebrow at the rest of what they said, despite their flippant and devil may care attitude doing it's level best to irritate such curiosity right out of him.

"Oh? Then what is it that you or your little cocoa stealing fiend trying to proposition me on....."

He was then cut off by their Abomanite being reveal and lobbed straight at him, causing him to fumble to catch it and nearly tip over the side of his chair. It takes him a good minute to recover from that and staring at the Mega Stone (During which he missed Draven taunting him - it's for the best, really!), a look of confusion on his face that didn't disappear when he turned toward Kee.

"......I'm normally not one to look a gift Ponyta in the mouth, but.....why are ya just......handing the Abomanite over to me?  Treating it like it's nothing more than fancy trinket that can be handed out willy nilly, instead of the invaluable babble it is? Recall rather distinctly you weren't being sly with how much you enjoyed getting it in the first place, or Taunting me about it, what's with the Heart Swap all of the sudden."

As for their none too charitable but admitably justified comments on the masked shinobi, Ran let out a low *Sigh....* and shook his head, before he made a modest attempt at defending what was likely his only true friend and partner he didn't have a problem with at the moment (Not counting Lucas, of course).

"That's just the way he is, Kee, from what I can tell. He makes his decision in a snap and on a dime, and doesn't seem to consider the consequences of his actions much, and wastes even less time executing them. He just does, far as I can tell. *Shrugs* Probably comes from his......ninja training and the culture's he's from so don't hold too much a Grudge against him. He really hasn't done anything to piss on your bran flakes in me that deserves you start fortifying his own breakfast cereal in my opinion, so don't make a mountain out of a Diglet hill. "

*Sighs* 

"And that hypothetical ya presented ain't making me sympathize with ya much over the girl in it, when it's likely the only reason she left you high and dry is because you did the same to her emotionally. *Shrugs* Could be her way of coping with learning she'd never be able to hook up with ya due to his orientation, or you just plain disinterest in having a relationship with her , so I can't say which side is the hurt party in that scenario. Or more hurt, as it were. Hypothetically speaking, of course."

His attention is diverted away from analyzing the story the sour dandy told he to the matter of their assistance  before he could dig further into it, giving them a quick nod to their first question and a.....curious frown to their second.

"Yes, I do. You're the only one I know that can do the job I'm asking, and while you're a pain in the arse to work with, that won't top from working with ya to get the job or an important objective over and done with. Once I get the Arm built and set up, I'll get in touch with ya to finish up the rest of it. As for the Concert, don't ya remember me bringing it up to ya back in the Temple? Need for ya and Beethoven to play her some songs, as part of the reason and price for she coming aloig with me with me is cause I bargained I made to convince her otherwise. If I don't deliver on my promise, I'll be making a dishonest oathbreaker and pissing her off something fierce, so please help me with thist, Kee...."