[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Dragonstrike]

Spoiler

Botanville is a winding town built around a hill, with the university occupying the peak. It has many outdoor and semi-outdoor classrooms, including caves, pavilions, platforms, and campsites. It's well known that the university has many tunnels and secret passages in its ancient elaborate main building. 

Another famous feature of Botanville is its hedge mazes. They run up one entire side of the hill - these are the gardens belonging to Telperion University, with its colossal tree at the center. There are other hedge mazes, and scions of the colossal tree, throughout Botanville. In the past, a famous Grass trainer named Coty planted them, laid out the town, and donated heavily to the university. Occasionally they host Pokemon tournaments in there, or Bug-catching contests.

Botanville is a town of cafes, coffee shops, bookstores, and Telperion-themed souvenirs. Sports are big here, some involving Pokemon and some not. Unlike Cress or Stair City, it is a balance of nature and technology and quaint nostalgia. It's a diverse place where all types of people and Pokemon are welcomed. In all your adventures, you haven't seen a whole lot of expats aside from Shiva/Heart/Terra, but this is the place where they all tend to end up!

The Gym is on campus, so students can come practice. It belongs to the descendant of the original architect, Mason. He welcomes a famous trainer such as yourself into the finest, most ornamented stone room - but you notice it has seemingly been rebuilt many times. In fact, Mason explains that it is modular, a bit like Tanuki's playground, and is designed to be involved in the combats and rebuilt every now and then.

Mason is a short, stocky man, with callused hands, neat clothing, and a tidy mustache. He has a pencil behind one ear and a stylus behind the other ear. 

"I've heard about your exploits, of course. The dust cloud rolled over this city like a... well, you'll see. Nathan, one of my duties as Gym Leader is to research new Pokemon species, new forms, and new behaviors. These are all things my students want to study in their battles. I hope you're ready to do the same, and to tell me about the weird Pokemon you've seen in your adventures. Let me know when you're ready to challenge me."

Botanville's quite the lovely place, now that Nathan's had a chance to actually visit the town and look at it himself.  A mix of the progress of Stair and the nature of Cress...he can't deny it certainly has its own charm to it.

Though he's not sure he'd like to live here.  Achilles's offer has given him a lot to think about concerning his future, and that's at the forefront of his thoughts while he's looking for Mason.

Fortunately, the gym leader's not too hard to find.  Nathan listens carefully to what Mason has to say, definitely very interested in the history of the gym.

Once Mason brings up the topic of his research, though, Nathan smiles.  "Well, I can promise you that I definitely have some strange and unique pokemon to show off.  Let me go reorganize my party real quick, and then we can get started."

Nathan's ready, so all that's needed is Mason's team before I can get typing!