[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Dragonstrike]

Nathan chuckles at Ventus's surprise, as does Kirlia.  He doesn't know if it was him or the statue that surprised the researcher more, but it was funny regardless.  A surprisingly light hearted reaction given his current expression.  "Different wedges apparently do different things, though the only other one the Chief Ranger has seen was the Red one, and that's missing.  I take it you found one of the missing wedges if you were investigating the cannon?"

Scratching the back of his head in slight confusion- why hasn't he exploded in his face yet?- Ventus gave an affirmation, before sticking his hand into his satchel and slightly revealed the Burn Drive to him. "Yes, I managed to retrieve the Burn Drive from the pond. It was lodged in the underwater entrance to the Pinsir guys getaway route, so I had Apsis pry it loss and obtain it for me," the researcher said quietly, not wanting to reveal to the whole world what he had done.

Against his better judgement, he decided to tell Nathan about his encounter with Lumen, as he figured that if boy had to find out about his...briefing with the dubious man, he might as well be the first source of info he hears about it from. "Speaking of the Ranger Chief...I meet him on the way back to town. He had some question for my activities at the medicine man's house, and...well, I need to go to court in Corsage to sort the mess out. Luman, that's his name, though...I don't trust him, though. While we were returning to town, he approached and accused us of assaulting the Pinsir trainer, saying that bastard already informed him of what went on, even though the encounter happened relatively recently. He says that they had an anonymous source supplying the details of what went on and that that sodden wreck, but I did not believe his claim. Even if that source turned out to be you or someone that concealed there location by the lake,  I departed immedianlty for town after what transpired, so it should have taken twice as long for them to meet up with us, if not at all."

Ventus then proceeded to launch into a detail explanation of his 'interrogation' by Chief Lumen, sparing no detail about what said during the whole exchange (Now Nathan is filled in what happened their!). The only thing he left out was the fine and mark against him on his Trainer's License, as he didn't want Nathan worried or concerned about the consequences of his actions. 'There is time enough yet for that,' he though somewhat ruefully, taking a few deep breaths before continuing. "Given what I told you, and his suspicious behavior, I recommend not filling him in on our operations in town. If he truly is collaborating with that monster, I don't want to tip our hand early to him..."

(Explosion immanent in 3...2...1...)

Nathan takes a moment to process it all.


"So...let me get this straight...you met this 'Sage' on the way to the hut, everything was going fine, and then the stranger decided it was a good idea to knock that trainer into the pond, and everyone then followed suit except Valder, who was napping?"  Nathan puts a hand to his temples.

A pause.

It's a reeeeeaaaalllly long pause.

"Good...grief...Ventus, do you even know how BAD that looks?!  For all you had known, that was just a random guy!  That anonymous call?  That was probably the doctor who lives in that hut, seeing as he was the only other person around, and you weren't exactly discreet about what you were doing!  The trainer calling the Rangers?  He probably did that while you were investigating that underwater door, and the Rangers were already on the way there because of that anonymous call!   There is NOTHING wrong about what Lumin and the rangers thought of the situation based on what they had heard!  Of course the Pinsir would try and stop Aspis!  Its trainer had just been attacked at random and sent flying into the pond!  Even if it was the same trainer that I encountered, he'd given you ZERO reasons to attack him like that as far as anyone knows, so he's not the one at fault.  If you'd stopped attacking the trainer and had instead tried to stop that stranger, maybe you could have avoided this whole mess!

"Ventus, you've landed yourself in an INCREDIBLY sticky situation.  Everything you did then looks malicious to an outside observer.  Unless you can give a VERY good reason for why the battle started.  Which you can't.  You have no footholds.  Nobody will care if the trainer had done wrong before, because he was the one who was wronged in this situation!

"His Pinsir?  There's scorch marks, bite marks, wrap marks, bruises, wet patches...and what reason did you have to do that to the bug?  It certainly wasn't because of the message I'd left you if you didn't hear it until after the battle was over!  And it certainly wasn't because you knew he had a Mega-Pinsir if it wasn't even out of its pokeball until the trainer had been knocked into the pond!"

Nathan stops, catching his breath.  He's not used to going on such long rants.  He hopes he's gotten the point across though.  Ventus and the others have set themselves up for getting in trouble with the League, and they don't have any reasonable way to escape the coming punishment.

As much as Nathan wants to help Ventus, he can't help but agree with the Rangers.  He puts his head in his hands.  "Ventus...you've screwed up.  You've really, REALLY screwed up."  Kirlia comes over and puts a hand on Nathan's shoulder (Nathan's sitting down and leaning forward slightly, so Kirlia is BARELY tall enough to be able to reach up to his shoulder).

(Side Note: Nathan still has more to say.  He's just...shocked at what actually happened.)