[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Dragonstrike]

Fire swells around the cavern as Arcanine howls, imbuing your souls and the souls of your Pokemon with the power of Fire Pledge. The lava, the cooled igneous rock, and the heat of your Pokemon all respond to his call as Nathan, Shiva, and Heart make their final Pledges to protect these five endangered 'species' of Pokemon.

"I do not have to remind you to keep your Pledges. I would not have allowed you to take up an Egg without being the sort of human who would want to protect the innocent. Nature herself will hold you to her Pledge. Her caretakers are everywhere, and her power is incarnate in all your Pokemon, especially those who bore witness to this Pledge."

"Go now, leave this cavern in peace with your charges."

And Charmeleon gains 1 Loyalty, as stated earlier!  Now he has 3 total and will be mostly obedient in theory once he's evolved!

When the Pledges are finished, Nathan picks up the Absolite and hands it to Calam, then picks up the Dratini Egg and holds it in his arms (he'll wrap the Primal Altaria Down around it once they're out of the volcano, then put it in his bag since he's probably going to need his hands to be free very soon).  Swiftfire will get to hold the Lucky Egg.

Then he turns to Arcanine again.  "...oh, I need to say one more thing before we leave, Arcanine.  Well, two.  The first...my Houndour, as I'm sure you noticed, isn't a normal Houndour.  As far as I know, his variant of the species hasn't been officially discovered until our time, 2017, when I befriended him.  I trust you can keep a secret for obvious reasons, but I just want to emphasize that you might want to avoid talking about my Delta Houndour.  Doing so could potentially cause a paradox, and...well, that'd undo a lot of things that have happened recently.  So...yeah.  The second thing I want to say is...thank you.  For both what you do and your trust in us.  We'll do our best to not let you and Nature down."

And after that, Nathan has to send Orthros and Charmeleon back to Bill.

All done with the two of them.  Charmeleon still has a ways to go before he really understands what's required for Mega Evolution, it seems, but Orthros definitely got the big idea.  I have a feeling we're going to be returning to 2017 soon.  Can I get your phone number real quick so I can call you and let you know when we do return to the present time?  Plus, if we're going to be telling you about our adventures through time in detail, it'd probably be a good idea for one of us to call ahead of time and make sure there won't be any unwanted ears around.  I'll also keep you updated on the situation with Juni, Thrawn, and Spira.

(I reread the initial interactions with Bill, and I think only Heart got Bill's number originally from the brief look over them)

Aside from that, Nathan's ready to continue on with the journey until a Lurch takes them back. Or they can return with the Celebi Egg, potentially...hmmm...