[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Dragonstrike]

"Piloswine! Haunter! Theo! We're going to play some Hide and Seek! Be very careful, and practice alertness just like you would in a real battle!"

Between 5 pokemon and 2 trainers, Masq can't hide for long, right?

Well, no, not really.

Masq ends up staying as still as he possibly can since a stranger has wandered closer...

And when Valder ends up standing right next to him, the jig is up.  Masq ends up startled once more, and quickly flaps over to Nathan, leaving a trail of sparkles as he goes!  (That oughta leave Valder with an interesting reaction)

"Ah, there you are, Masq! I see you've met Valder.  Don't worry, he's a friendly face."  Nathan's stroking Masq's feathers as he soothes the timid bird.

Unfortunately, this happy moment only lasts so long.

Shiva, Ventus, Heart, and Kirlia have finally caught up now.

Yule makes a beeline for Swiftfire since he hasn't seen her aaaaalllll day.  And Kirlia immediately Teleports next to Nathan and tackles him with a hug.  Which startles Masq once again, prompting him to dive into ANOTHER patch of magenta flowers to attempt to hide.

"Wha...good to see ya too, buddy!"

...

"...is something wrong, Kirlia?"

...

When Nathan looks again, he notices Kirlia's holding a potion of all things...he looks only slightly less pained than earlier, though...(finally at 4/7 HP).

...

The pure joy Nathan was experiencing fades quite quickly as Kirlia conveys to him all the boredome, loneliness, nervous worry, and frustration he felt over the past few hours.

"...I see...well, I'm here now, buddy.  I'm here for ya..."  He takes the potion from Kirlia, but it's late enough in the day that he doesn't need to use it right away and just bags it for now.

Nathan helps Ventus with pitching the tent, and then wanders off to a corner of the camp opposite everyone else to give Kirlia the attention he needed earlier.  And also get Masq introduced to the rest of his party of pokemon.  Yule gets to spend some time with Swiftfire too, though she's not very enthusiastic about it.

Nathan also checks in with Valder to make sure Sarah and George are doing okay.

And there we have it.  That's why Nathan's not participating in the current conversation with Heart, Shiva, and Ventus.  He's certainly ready for the next day now after closing it out on a rather sour note.