[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Dragonstrike]

Spoiler

You all head south along the old rutted road. Most vehicles are heading east, toward Cress. They consist of carts drawn by a variety of Pokemon, from Tauros to Ponyta to a Donphan! A few go west, since this is the gateway to all of western Creshire.

You don't get very far before everything happens all at once!

A stately carriage, pulled by two docile Gogoat, is heading east with an elderly Smeargle at the reins. It's using Telekinesis to handle the reins or to prod the mounts when necessary. It also seems to have a Vine Whip attack it lashes above the goat Pokemon as a warning, but the kindly Pokemon never really makes contact or hurts the steeds.
On the back of the carriage is a Machop wearing a footman's hat.
Inside the carriage is a Chansey, holding a very little toddler in its lap. The toddler clutches a doll. The toddler's middle-aged parents are also in the carriage, his elegant mother tickling him and his father holding his thumb while gazing out the window.

"Smeargle, you see that wagon coming? Give it plenty of room, please, and stay well to the right. Road's plenty big enough." Smeargle nods.

This wagon coming the other way is much less stately. It's moving at a speed a little too fast for this lumpy road, pulled by Rapidash. The wagon is tall and boxy and made mostly of plywood, and it says "Dr. M's Traveling Medicine Show" in lurid letters. It looks like it can open up, but it's all fastened with precarious straps. Four very small, crouched Croagunk are riding on the roof, stuck to it with sticky hands. They hold themselves like Froakie rather than normal bipedal Croagunk.

The driver of the wagon, a man in a purple cape, large tophat, and monocle, waves to the carriage and goes a bit to his right as well. It looks like they will pass in peace.

Then the ground shakes, and an entire ridged, rutted section of the road lifts out of place and rotates slightly. This occurs just as the wagon passes overhead, so the wagon is borne upward and carried forward as an oversized Rhyhorn steps out of a hole! The behemoth has bits of railroad track and a road sign buried in its stony hide.  It's charging at Gogoat.

You guys are slightly off to the side of the road, but near enough you'll be deafened by the collision of these three entities!

But that's not all. A scruffy Stoutland is running determinedly toward the carriage - and so is Dizzy! They both look eager to get their first, but they sure don't look like they have a plan beyond that.

The commotion awakens an Emboar and a Dewott on the adjacent farm, and BOTH come rushing over intending to challenge the Rhyhorn!

Finally, the wagon left a trail of spilled supplies, and a Deerling is sniffing at those.

1925 Encounters Part 1

1. Name: Rhyhorn*
Challenge: Moderate+
Cap: 1 (None)
Notes: May involve helping out the residents of the carriage and wagon. How to handle it is up to you.
Only one person could potentially catch it, but there's room enough for everyone to fight or whatever.
Bid start: 2

Everything seemed fine.  Nathan's a little tired, but otherwise, everything is fine.  He lagged behind the group a little at various points to swap out some of his party pokemon and send Bill a message.  Probably even managed to convince Terra to help cover for him.  He seemed to succeed at pulling that off without Spira noticing, which was good.  He has a stronger party of pokemon now, most of his hold items for them...

For the record, they are...

- Gallade (as standard)
- Charmeleon (holding Eviolite)
- Grid (holding Itching Powder)
- Starmie (holding Mystic Water)
- Ray (would have swapped him out, but I already used him in front of Spira, so...I am going to grab the Hard Stone for him to use, however)
- Calam (holding Leftovers)

Message to Bill:

Got dumped near someone getting attacked by a group of Electabuzz.  Goes by Spira.  Breeder from Hearthome City in Sinnoh and trains a lot of Ghost types.  Was heading towards Elanor, and I don't think that's a coincidence since we were headed in that direction ourselves after paying you a visit, so he's traveling with us for now.  Currently heading towards Teazel Valley.  Still morning in autumn of 1925, and I'm beat already because I've been traveling all day now, but Spira is ready and raring to go because his day only just started.  Ugh.  My head hurts just trying to make sense of that statement...

And the response from Bill:

"I don't see anything in the archives about anyone named Spira except passage on a ship in early 1925. He didn't commit any crimes or anything noteworthy enough to record at all during his time in Creshire. Sorry I can't be of any help to decide if you can trust him."

'...well, Gallade's decided to trust Spira, so that's good enough for now.  And if there's nothing notable to worry about, that probably means him tagging along won't affect anything at all...particularly if he were to vanish from the past suddenly...'

Ironically enough, Bill's response gives Nathan a little less to worry about instead of more.  He thinks Celebi allowed them to meet and rescue Spira for a reason.  That it's no coincidence.  And he has a feeling that Spira is going to be traveling with them for longer than the trip to Elanor...



...and things continue to be pleasant for a time.  He has Calam out along with Gallade.  Gallade's still trying to take it easy, but Calam's fresher.  And also eying the surroundings carefully.  Hmmm...this definitely isn't terrain he's completely familiar with...and yet, there's still that lingering sense of familiarity in some ways...a quiet explanation from Nathan followed, that they're in 1925, that they met Spira, that the Ghost type trainer/breeder is traveling with them...

Calam takes it all in, thinks about it, and simply nods back.  Very well, if that's the situation they're in, then they'll have to deal with it somehow.  Beggars can't be choosers, after all.

All that explanation to Calam happened in the fields.




....and then things were not fine when they got back on the road again.  The moment those carriages passed each other was the moment all of the Distortion World seemed to break loose.

A gigantic Rhyhorn emerges from the ground right underneath the supposed medicine man's wagon.

That same Rhyhorn, unphased by the type and numbers disadvantage, charges directly at the two Gogoat pulling the carriage.  A carriage with a small, happy family in it.

A Dewott and an Emboar show up, apparently looking for a challenging fight to entertain themselves with.

A Stoutland runs out of nowhere towards the Rhyhorn, and Dizzy along with it.



...and Calam soon follows, bursting out of his Ultra Ball (which is currently in one of Nathan's coat pockets) despite Nathan recalling the feline due to the rather rampant superstitions concerning Absol common in the region for a long, long time.  He'd had a feeling something like this was going to happen...and he's going to do something about it, no question.

"...wha...?  Calam!  Wait up!"

That's all Nathan says as he withdraws from a pocket what's clearly a bright red and white pokeball, something odd for this day and age in color alone, and runs after Calam to help stop this disaster.

One toss later, and Nathan's Starmie has shown up, a Mystic Water hanging from one of its arms, the light and sound of its pokeball ringing out in the chaos.  Modern Pokeballs were only invented recently, and haven't even been on the market for a full year yet.  The mechanical sound of the capture spheres is not yet as commonplace and taken for granted as it will be.



TLDR; Calam and Starmie join the battle against Rhyhorn!

Another sudden battle!: Random Battle - Final Fantasy I and II: Dawn of Souls