[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Iron]

It's now day 12, but feel free to flashback as always if you weren't done with these conversations.

The road you travel on today is very well maintained, paid for with the tariffs of a thousand seafaring trade vessels. No wild Pokemon are here other than those harmless creatures who can survive on the fringe of civilization: Rattata, Pidgey, Spearow, and you pass one rare Grimer being chased by a Ranger.
There are also river Pokemon: Poliwag, Slowpoke, and Psyduck in abundance on the shore.

A steady stream of sailors come from Corsage Port. They typically have Poliwag, Machop, and their evolutions. Some have Staryu if they have enough experience at sea. You can trade with them as if they were a PokeMart.

Since these Pokemon all exist in multiple, you don't need to bid XP or choose slots unless someone wants to battle Grimer. But there's one more thing worth mentioning!

About five miles from the last set of encounters, the party spots 1, 2, 3, and then 4 Deyo flowers, each growing singly and shimmering in the sun.

[Dragonstrike]

"Not to be the bearer of bad news, but those aren't the only worrying things concerning the fortune and vision. The fortune teller said something about you getting attacked but coming out relatively unharmed, right? Think that was the Scyther attack? There's also some other strange things...that ball of light in Kirlia's vision, and whoever was siting on the Throne of Skulls. Then there's also the matter of the fortune teller not recognizing the portion of the Skull Ruins that she saw...and the fact that you, me, and Shiva were all in Kirlia's vision as well.

"There is good news though, I guess. Those are all, presumably, visions of the future, not present. Whatever is going on at those ruins, it might not have happened yet. There's time to prepare if our involvement is inevitable."

Nathan looks down and scratches the back of his head.

"To be honest though...I don't really want to go to the Skull Ruins. Not unless we're absolutely sure we can handle it. Even just the ground floor is dangerous, and few of us are well prepared for an army of ghost pokemon..."

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

Quick Flashback!



The next thing Shiva tried out, was the phone function of the Pokedex. Professor Mallorn mentioned something about that function, didn't he...? With stll shivering hands, she selected 'Phone Function' from the Main Menu and began typing in the number.

... No luck. Not even with a Pokedex she was not able to reach home. Ah... Awaiting the Pokemon Center then. They must have the Pokemon-Equivalent to Skype installed on their PCs... Nathan of course got his Pokedex back as soon before they decided to call it a day.

The sleep Shiva got that night was...weird. A little restless, but she was outright tired from the day, emotionally and physically. She literally fell asleep with the fainted Spearow and Azurill in her top hat right beside her, and...that Snivy Plushie Ven gifted her held very close to herself. If those were indeed some last tears she shed over his bad past while desperately trying to actually fall asleep, she just whiped them away and hoped that none realized.

She clearly felt better though the next morning. Oh, what a night of rest can do... Literally wonders to a person's mood.


Flashback ends here. @Lord Windos, if you want to talk with Shiva after you cleared matters with Nathan, feel all free to initiate that. I'll hold off with approaching the Deyo Flowers until conversatins are all wrapped up, I feel things get chaotic and hard to read if I do so now.

[Dragonstrike]

Flash Forward!

When Nathan spots the Deyo Flowers, his eyes go wide.  Shiva had just found a really rare pokemon yesterday, right?  Or was Grimer the pokemon that popped up this time? Or maybe something else?

"I'm going to go investigate those flowers real quickly.  Be right back."

(I agree with Phantom though. Let's try and wrap up these conversations first before we start this)

[Iron]

Ronin Spearow does regain consciousness, but spends most of its time sleeping whenever it can. It does not seem to bear a grudge against Ventus, choosing instead to treat him as an honorable opponent who happened to be victorious in battle!

[Lord Windos]

*Flashback!*

"I didn't think of my encounter with Scyther being a part of the fortune, but you're most likely right on the Pokedollar. Oh dear, things just continue to escalate, do they not Nathan? Kirlia vision also fills me with foreboding, as it just compound more issues concerning what seems our inevitable departure to the Skull Ruins. Blast it, why does the future always seem bleak, instead of a shinning beacon of hope? I believe we all had our fill of drama for one lifetime, but Cheshire seem to love sinking her claws into us..." Ventus replied, raising his head out of his hands to just morosely stare at the young trainer. While the saying 'Nothing is as it appears to be' chimes in his mind, it was hard to stay optimisitic with so many opposing forces out to get them.

Resting his hand into his lap, he shook his head at Nathan's plea, not exactly in full agreement with his assessment. "Nathan....despite our reservations, its all but inevitable that we'll venture into the Skull Ruins, so I believe prolonging first contact with them is ill advised. Trying to avoid them will just cause the forces of Fate to push even harder against us, so we should start preparing right now for those cursed ruins, and enter them ASAP. The sooner we start probing its depths, the quicker we can exert control over those future insights, and curtail any plans involving the places," he said, before getting up from his spot by the fire and heading towards the tent.

"*Sigh* Today has been more exahausting to me than the norm, so I'm going to bed for the night. We can discuss our plans for the Skull Ruins at a later date, so let just take the time to rest and contempolate what we know," the researcher commented, before wishing the boy good night. Before he entered the tent, he thought about the conversation he had with Shiva prior to Nathan's arrival to the campsite, but he decided not to return to it for the night. Like he said before, he had enough drama for one lifetime now, and he didn't need anymore tonight especially. When he went into his section of the tent and rolled out his sleeping mat, a shadow loomed behind him, causing him to turn around and see that it was Apsis. She didn't look too displeased with him, and they couldn' sense any hunger from her; perhaps she went out hunting for herself while he was exploring the woods?

Letting out a slight hiss of what he detected as relief, the might Arbok began to curl around his sleeping spot, now content her master turned out to be safe and sound. She knew it was unlikely he would get injured in his treck, like his encounter with that ruthless Scyther, but it doesn't stop her from worrying about him! Chuckling from the slight worry radiating from the normaly fierce snake, he patted her scaly body, before he layed down a dozed off to sleep himself. Lucifer was still napping in his shirt, so he made carefully took them out of it before returning them to their ball. The thought of all his Pokémon made Ventus smile as he drifted off to dreamland. 'No matter the task or trail, I'll always have my family to support me. Always.'

(Ventus went off to bed without talking to Shiva, so we can save that conversation for a later time. If she doesn't initiate it, the researcher will eventually. He doesn't like leaving loose end when he can, after all!)

*End Flashback!*

A good night's rest with Apsis did wonders for his good mood, so he was ready to face the day with gusto when he awoke. After his morning rituals, he returned Apsis to her Pokeball for the time being, and let Lucifer and Raphael out. He wanted the two to get to know one another more, and the though of his little angel and devil getting along brought a radiant smile to his face. 'They may be opposites when it comes to typing and naming, but I have a feeling that the two of them will become the greatest of friends. After all, both are curious little buggers, and seem to love investigating new things to no end!' Ventus though, cradling the chick in his arms while the drake perched on his shoulder. Both of them where chattering to one another amiably, proving the researcher assumption mostly right...for now.

He was beating feet on the trail to Corsage, enjoying the sights and sounds of all the people and Pokémon traviling the route like him and his group. Spotting a Grimer being chased by a ranger, he decided to avoid both of them for now- he didn't want to run amuk with the law right now, or take any chances at all! Spotting a trainer horking his wares, he was about to go over their to see what he could get for the Leeks and Statue (He loved it to bits, but he needed to pay off his debt pronto, sadly), when Nathan's proclamation about flowers rang in his ears.

Ven's head immedianlty snapped to the young trainer, and he quickly responded with: " I'm coming with you. Worry not about me torching the flowers, for I still remember our promise, but I want to accompany you regardless. Someone needs to be with you, in case things start going amiss, and to process those flowers into a...less dangerous form."

[Dragonstrike]

Flashback!

Nathan sighs. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Not much point in worrying about it right now. Well, goodnight to you then. I need to go talk with Shiva now about why she wanted my pokedex..."

Nathan exits the tent, and sees his pokemon have been relatively well behaved so far. Grid wasn't quite socializing with the others, but Kirlia notified him that everyone was acquainted now. After nodding in response, he goes over to Shiva and sits down across from her.

"So, find your mystery pokemon?"

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

"So, find your mystery pokemon?"

Oh... They're finished with conversation. It did not take as long as Shiva actually thought it would, which is nice to hear!

She looked up from the Pokedex to face Nathan and welcome him back. She was just browsing through the learnable moveset of her Fletchling while petting Cottonee - so many physical attacks the bird learns.... Given the bird's owner was relaitively fragile, this could be interesting. Agility surely was a nice move, though.

"Fine... Eh... Hehe... Sadly, nope. There's no entry in the...Pokedex... " ... "You, eh, want to take a look at it?" Doubleclicking on the 'modified Roggenrola' before she handed the Dex over to him. Her hand was still clearly shivering, and the smile+expression she was displaying had something...delirious in it. If this thing she caught here would turn out to be 1. shiny - it was not, since Shiva spotted none of those typical sparkles during the encounter, or 2. even rare to find in the region it originates, she would probably faint and be knocked out for some hours. After all, this rock had her OT.


(I believe the Pokedex shows me the Stats, ability and current + learnable moveset of Comite, but instead of the Pokemon's name is shows '???'. Therefore, Shiva does know what moves it has if it comes to battle with it.)

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

(With the only yet-open conversation is the one with Nathan concerning Comite, I'm fine to flash forward as well~)


Sailors were nothing new to Shiva. Castelia City had a huge harbour, after all. Still, she always felt like there was something intimidating about them... Surviving out on the sea was no loose business. It deserved tough nerves, determination and what else... However, she also knew that she had Grass and Electric STAB on hand as well a Psychic-Type moves to defend herself from the Fighting-Types some sailors owned. Looks like there will be plenty of possibilities to train in Corsage! There also was the Gym... What she caught up from the Guidebook, the Leader was somewhat of a local hero to the citizens. That photo of him that was imprinted as well practically scared her at the first sight... There is NO WAY she's going to battle such a guy! Let's await the next Gym and see what it beholds.

That Spearow she picked up yesterday has regained consciousness, upon waking up Shiva found the bird beside her nestled up with his beak concealed by the wings as if in sleep. How cute! Was still weak though. Against what she believed after Ventus has told her about his encountering of the bird, it didn't seem to behave aggressive towards him. Not at all. She picked up though that the bird was keeping an eye on him. Hmm...
Currently, she was keeping the Spearow on her shoulder, and it was seemingly sleeping again. She knew that she could EASILY try to capture it in a Pokeball now, but somehow she did not wanted to do that. It wasn't clear yet whether she'll keep the Spearow or set it free, and she wanted to have the bird recovered to full health until this matter will be brought up.

Another thing that crossed her mind was that Ven said something about conversation yesterday... But he didn't mention it again so far. Couldn't help but being curious what the issue is to be talked about... Well, if he decides to initiate whatever there was, he knew where to find and how to approach her.

Due to alll this mulling over things, she didn't realized there were some of these strange, bad, but lovely flowers growing nearby until Nathan mentioned he's going to investigate those. Oh, she'll gladly come along! Out of pure curiosity, nothing else... She still held some sort of grudge against thos flowers for splitting thr group. However, Cottonee was thrilled to bits by these flowers... Maybe it'll have a smilar effect on Azurill, given the mouse was part Fairy-Type as well? And what about Fennekin and Helios who kept some Psychic powers in them... Ventus' comment on he'll follow suprised her a lot. I mean, A LOT. Didn't he hated these flowers? He clearly showed that towards her as well as Nathan and Vincent upon encountering those the first time... She gave him an expression from the side that showed suprise, wondering and curiosity what has cause him to change his mind about the flowers.

... ... ... Wait a moment... Deyo Flowers... A field of wild flowers... Fairy-Types dwelling there, whispering things and slowly but surely changing the mind of...


--------------
Mechanics:
Following to the place the Deyo Flowers grow! If possible, I'll pick one or two of these to take with me. Just to see what effect they have on my other Pokemon, before selling them to Professor Mallorn for money - if we run into him in Corsage - or burning them up with Fennekin's Ember - if we don't run into him in Corsage. I rather not craft pain killers out of these.

[Dragonstrike]

Nathan takes the dex back, easily noticing the tremble in Shiva's hand.  'Hmmmm...what did she find...let's see here...hm?'

Nathan blinks a few times.

He puts the dex down, rubs his eyes, then checks it again.  Yup, the rock with a single purple eye, a gem on top, four legs, and access to the move Confusion was still there...

'Wait...is that...it can't be...I've never heard of that pokemon appearing in any region except Tandor...'

Nathan has to take a moment to compose himself before explaining what the mystery pokemon is.

"I'm not surprised the 'dex has no info, Shiva.  Thats an incredibly rare pokemon.  They're typically only found in the Tandor region, and even over there, very little is known about them.  It's called Comite, and it's a rock pokemon with limited psychic abilities.  I've heard its evolutions, Cometeor and Astronite, are more attuned to those psychic powers, but info on them is difficult to find.  I have no idea how it evolves, and the only other thing I know is that they're rumored to come from space..."