[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Lord Windos]

Spoiler

Nathan frowns as Ventus inquires further.  The only reason he brought that up specifically is because Shiva did first, and he was honestly trying to avoid getting into the specifics for now.  "...yeah.  It has a lot to do with it, actually.  I'll explain more later if you want to hear the story, but...I should warn you that it probably won't be a very...comfortable tale to listen to.  Heck, I'm still unnerved by the whole thing...we're really far away from the center of the Eye's influence right now, though, so I don't expect major trouble, but it pays to be prepared regardless..."  Nathan puts a hand on the hilt of the Sword to emphasize the point.


Then he realizes what Ventus just said.  "...wait, you've seen more of the Eye too?  We definitely need to exchange information later if that's the case.  Maybe not now, since we have more immediate things to worry about, but...definitely later."

As for the matter of Terra: "I'll see if I can talk him into it.  Having the Hauberk would be better than not if we want to do crazy things like assist the Lake Trio.  I'm not entirely happy with his decision either, to be honest, but...well, I'm trying to move on.  It's...hard."

"Oh, and uh...speaking of our resident overprotective person, I know Terra texted you about this, but I wanted to ask in person.  If you want to help us with the Lake Trio after we're done with our spelunking here, you'll be more than welcome.  I...know you probably don't want to get wrapped up in stuff like that, though, so it's fine if you'd rather not for...personal reasons.  If you do decide to help, though...well, Mesprit was fairly certain that Uxie and Azelf would be willing to grant boons in exchange if requested after we do...whatever it is we need to.  Mesprit would probably do the same, I feel.  It's a difficult to pass up opportunity, honestly, provided you're confident you can be of assistance and can handle...whatever happens.  Personally, I don't really want to ask any major favors of them myself, though.  They've been through a lot...anyways, if you could give it some thought, I'd appreciate that.  I'm fine with whatever decision you come to."

And as for Porygon-Z and Pulse: "Programmer, huh?  That's not a bad idea, but...well, the only ones can say I've met are Dagny and Bill, and they're usually rather busy, so I wouldn't want to bother them with that.  I think I'll stick with some simpler methods for now, see how they work out."

"My original idea for Pulse was actually...similar to that.  Ideally, I'd like to...encourage some of their more mischievous behavior so they can assist Porygon-Z should I never need them for...certain activities.  I'm not going to assume I won't have to deal with computer systems in some fashion in the future."  Or in other words, Nathan wants to be prepared in the event he has to infiltrate another Scimitar base.  It definitely won't be as easy as the last time if he has to do it again...

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Whatever might help with making Seadra's evolution as smooth as possible, Nathan welcomes it.    He's completely expecting to deal with an incredibly Disobedient Dragon since he only just caught Seadra.

As for the HMs, Nathan is completely fine with Ventus teaching his pokemon a few of them.  "Meowth's out of the bag on ROCK SMASH, by the way.  League doesn't have any issues with me holding onto it until I decide if I want to strike a deal with them for it, though.  I've also got the HM for CUT, which Deoxys extracted from Mt. Molten.  Nearly got eviscerated by the move myself...*shudder*..."

"Heart's holding on to FLY for now, which my dad retrieved for us, so you'll have to wait for the collector to arrive if ya want to learn that one.  And Shiva should still have FLASH, which we have on loan from Mallorn.  He'll need it back before long, so I'd go ask Shiva about it sooner rather than later."

And that should be all the HMs that the group has on hand currently!  By the end of this trip, we should hopefully have DIVE as well.

You manage to get a message to Keni in his current location at a hostel.

Seadra doesn't lose any Loyalty, thanks to your combined Ancestry. It will gain 1 point of Loyalty as soon as you make for Garlicburg.

Perfect!  Hope he's looking forward to what Nathan will show him when the rare pokemon is ready!

And thanks!  I was really hoping that'd work out like I thought it would, because otherwise we'd have a really hard to control Dragon on our hands because they have a whopping 5 Disobedience after evolving.  4 Loyalty should be manageable.  If anything, Nathan wielding the Sword should give the winged king reason enough to respect Nathan's authority to some degree.

But oh boy, do I bet they look majestic compared to a normal Kingdra.  That single, large fin on its back is two instead (correct me if i'm wrong), and they're much larger than usual and still allow Kingdra to take to the skies!!  His dominion over sea and air shall be unparalleled now!!

Nathan lets Kingdra try out his new 'wings' for a bit before signaling to them to land.  It takes a few attempts to get the newly crowned royalty to listen, I'm sure, but when he does, he decides to be...creative with his landing, using SURF to create a large patch of water for him to DIVE into.  Thankfully, they're in the middle of a desert and there's plenty of space, so nobody gets hurt.  Besides, it's understandable that Kingdra would want to be a bit damp considering how dry it is here.  Despite being able to FLY, he is still a creature of the sea, after all.

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As for Nathan's squad of pokemon, he's planning to bring:
- Gallade, obviously
- Winged Kingdra
- Juliet
- Servine
- Mizu
- Yet to be nicknamed Dratini

That should be most everything that needed to be addressed on Nathan's side, so he's ready to go to Garlicburg when everyone else is!

".....I see. Or rather, Eye see, if you can pardon the pun."

His tone and delivery of it was flatter than his face at the moment, which he maintains as he finishes his statements about it.

"......Under most circumstance I would refrain from delving into such.....august topics, but seeing as we've all been harried and encrouched upon by The Eye, further ignorance about it on my part would be most unwise I think. So yes, we should converse about this at a later date after our little group vacation. Can't have it spoil the fun we have planned, hmm?"

Ven's gaze turns critical when the young historian gestures to The Sword, saying nothing about it but showing a clear interest in the Artifact that supposed helped slay the mad 'scientist' Deoxys.

When they entreated his aid themselves for their upcoming quest of behalf of Mesprit, the eccentric researcher expression somehow becomes even more featureless, every line of imperfection on it smoothed out as he listened, staring softy but intently after they finished. About half a minute passed in disquieting silence between the two, before he abruptly started to speak slowly and deliberately.

"Mt. Sentry, Anthenuem. The events thereof concluding to make my friends more than any human should be, nearly threatening to permanently estrange and shattering my trust and faith in them all and pushing me over the edge into full on mental breakdown. That foul matriarchal Legendary Bug Queen Seikamater, whom our encounter with nearly ended with multiple of our Pokemon dead and eaten along with the rest of us, and nearly caused me to have a panic attack that probably would have costed my life. That eremit , whom I've begun to suspect was a Legendary Pokemon in the guise of man, ensnaring you and the rest of us sans I and Terra in that Kyurem awful oath pact in order to stop The Vines from chocking out all life in Cheshire, and tried to entrap me along with you all in a path I had no interest in. Our foray into that nightmarish hellscape that ended with you obtaining Orthros, whom regrettably acted as a catalyst that nearly drove the group's trust, respect, and good will in you to ruin on more occasion I care to admit. The Scimitars, those diabolical cabal of mages that have caused us and so many others incalculable vexation, grief, and pain. My own past, which tumultuous times need no re-examination. Ah, and yes, lest I forgot, those delightful involuntary trips through Cheshire's history I somehow got dragged into, despite being nowhere near you all when they started occurring with alarming frequency."

He hammered each event into Nathan, nailing an argument to a cross that was only now being to take shape.

"Each and every time I've been involved in Legendary and even the most remotely supernatural or arcane business, I have suffered dearly for it, and gained not a whole lot I appreciate or could have done without receiving in such auspicious occasions. All these trails and ordeal I never wished to be a part of, yet inexorably being dragged into their viscous, rending currents, like a pieces of floatsum caught in a tidal whirlpool. The entire culmination of these events nearly causing me to lose what is left of my sanity and become a paranoid, hateful, and fearful mess of a creature that would indiscriminately lash out at the one I once held so dear to my heart."

Ven went silent for several seconds afterwards, letting what he said hang heavy in the air like a thick, smothering blanket, before he resumed speaking, this time in an air light, feathery, and reminiscent tone of voice.

"Do you remember why I came he to Cheshire, and why I ultimately left my group of friends, Nate? I wanted nothing more than a second chance for a peaceful life, which had been denied to me in my homeland ever since I was but a young child. Create a family here with the Pokemon I caught, perhaps with someone I came to care for and would accept me for who I am, and have a light hearted journey through the region, gathering data for my research on Pokemon Empathy and Communication and just enjoying the whole novel experience of being a Pokemon Trainer. A new beginning, in sum. One that ended up being constantly near ruined by how interesting everything become almost immediately at the start of it all."

*Chuckles*

"You know, I'd almost say I'd been cursed with interesting times, but considering everything that befell my and my family....perhaps that's not too far from the truth. And now here you are, trying to bring me back into the fold for yet another Legendary quest that will almost certainly be prove more than even you could bargain for or conceive. That eventful destiny I barely managed to escape from, and only am now beginning to learn to cope with and recover from."

Silence. Then, gentle reassurance

".....I know you only mean well by your offer, Nate, so I am not trying to condemn you for it. I only want you to see why I am so reluctant about accepting it. The Lake Trio's boons are indeed an enticing lure, but what good will they be for me if what they ask me to do costs far too much from me? If I am to subject myself, my family, and the ones I love to that dire level of self-risk, what I will ask of them in exchange will be very heavy indeed. And ultimately, what good am I to our group at this point, for matters of this particular kind? You've all far eclipsed me in terms of power, and what Skill and talents I have can and probably already have been assumed by one of our numbers. What sort of help would an above average Pokemon Researcher be to a group of Trainers that rival this region's Elite Four in power individually on quests that require, nay, demand such capability?"

"You have to already know all this by now at some level, for you're a very intelligent young man. Stubborn and foolish young man at the worst of times, but very intelligent none the less. So I ask this of you: why? For what reason do you want me to be a part of this, in spite of everything going against my inclusion?"

As for the rest of the topics they've discussed....well, they've sorta fallen off to the wayside in light of this tangent by the empathetic researcher. Maybe the two will come back to them later after its been resolved.

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Considering the fact that Iron just autoed the whole process, I'll refrain from actually writing a detailed response, and just say that Ven described the Trade Evolution as 'a means to greater power to guard and protect what you hold most dear' , and that it would only be a temporary discomfort to overcome for it and their companion (Nathan) to reap the rewards of it, so long as they continued to hold faith in them. Ven's Kingdra (whose name escapes me right now) conversation would probably be something similar along those lines, if far more gruffer and sagaciously told. That, and I have to imagine they'd show some 'nice enough' curiosity and interest in his own sub-species, no matter how tempered it was by their Draconic Disobedience.

As for the HMs, then Ven's going to teach ALL the family members he has access to (Sans Corsola, who's still chilling at the Ranch and probably has had oddles of Eggs by now) the HMs , and later get Heart and Shiva to teach 'their' HMs to his eligible Pokemon eventually (Lucifer being taught FLY almost immediately, since they're with him almost all the time!) ! His family is armed to the teeth with near Legendary power now, which is good for their well being AND his research down the line! The ever charming man frowns at the mention the League knows about ROCK SMASH, but since it seems that Nathan has that whole matter taken care of he doesn't raise any questions about it.

Finally, I believe Ven would ask to be taken back to Shiva before Nathan goes off to visit Keni, since he does want to spend some more actual holiday fun time with her before the group gets started on the real task they wanted to do. As such, by the time Nathan gets to Keni, they may have received Terra's gift of restored Youth by that time, in which case should come as a shock to the boy!

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Finally, Ven's Team for the trip will be as follows:

- Lucifer the Noivern
- His Kingdra
- Malphina the Mismaguis (Ven should have had the off-time / just working with her during his research [she WAS interested in learning what he did] both build her Loyalty to 4 and teach her Grudge, and the money from his job + connections with Dagny to get a Dusk Stone for the Evo itself)
- Haziel his Natu
-Azrael his Deino
- And last but not least Aspis his Arbok

With that, Ventus too is ready for the Garliburg Mission!