[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Dragonstrike]

His next decleration however... Well, it was like he hit a switch that turned on the serious side in her, and quickly her smile faded. It took her a little to get the words he was saying there and as soon as her mind marked them as 'true, he indeed said he'll participate', she gave Nathan a concerned and somewhat confused look while adjusting her glasses to make sure that these words came indeed from Nathan. That Nathan that formerly... "...well, alright then... Just as I did with Ven, while I'm not very fond with any of you people participating, I have to respect the decision. Just...do tell me, what has caused you to change your mind? Thought you are strictly against The Running, find it overly dangerous, and mentioned that only reckless Trainer join the Pokemon... Wait. There is nothing you need to proof us, alright? Or did your cousin talked you into joining him?"

He shakes his head.  "I'm joining on my own terms.  Sort of.  I all but have to participate, much to my distaste.  I'd rather not, but nothing seems to be going my way recently...besides, I can probably keep a better eye on Ventus and my cousin if I'm out there myself.  Got a bad feeling something bad's gonna happen this year, and I hope to be able to do something to mitigate it..."

"....In that case, I'm going to participate in this year's stampede of Pokémon as well. If one of my friends is going out there in that Thrashing avenue of Rampaging Pokémon, then I can't in good conscious let them do it without offering my support/assitence. Besides that, I have a suspcious that whatever prompted you to make this contrary decision of yours, it must have absolutely critical and of utmost significance to you on a personal level. Your tone of voice and skirting around the actual reason for your participation is indication enough of that. Tell me, what is it that is so important in the Running that it practically forced you to join it against your will?"

He sighs, then makes sure there's nobody eavesdropping on his phone call before quietly continuing.  "Don't tell ANYONE what I'm about to tell you.  I mean it.  Nobody.  You breathe a word of this to anyone, and you'll cause a panic and ruin everything.

"There's a very, very, very specific pokemon that I'm almost certain is going to be showing up in this year's run.  One that Kirlia and I have business with.  And also one that bodes very, very badly for this year's event, since everything seems to go terribly wrong when the species shows up.  An Absol.  This one has a scarred left eye, and my best shot of getting to it is during the run.  If you're going to participate, you should know that runs involving an Absol are usually much, much more dangerous than usual.  The last time one showed up was 20 years ago, and things didn't end well for most of the runners that year.  The Absol itself was bad enough, but there were a lot of rare and unusual pokemon that were much more ornery than usual that year as well.  Well, and the Tauros.  You can probably imagine what happened with those.

"And before you ask why I have business with a very specific Absol, that's a short story for another time.  Kory is going to be helping me prepare for and during the event.  Ick...I REALLY wish I didn't have to participate, but it seems fate's decided otherwise..."