[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Dragonstrike]

'Uh oh.  Cavalry's here...I guess I should have expected that, though...'  That mankey had been making a lot of noise, Corporal Wake had been running around...it wasnt all that surprising his mom had finally noticed and rode out to see what all the commotion was. Hmmm...now how was Nathan going to explain this to her though...however he did so, she wasn't likely to be very happy about it...probably better just to put it off for now...

"Well, uh...friends is a, uh...loose term, in this case.  No time for that now though.  Let's just, uh, go over to where that mankey is.  Regardless of whether it's still standing when we get there, I'm sure you'll hear the full story from everyone when they also get there..."

Nathan gets on the ponyta, grateful he won't be the one running now.

Meanwhile, Ralts murmurs happily at the greeting Nathan's mom gives, despite the uncomfortable feelings coming from Nathan now. He gets a seat right between the two humans so he doesn't fall off the pony pokemon.

[Dies Irae]

We have to move faster, he says. How neat. He's the one who's tired, not her. And nevertheless he doesn't show any weakness on the outside. Impressive...

As she spotted Vincent coming towards them, she waved him over with one hand (not to drop dear Cottonee), glad to see another familiar face. Finally one after another's coming back...  "Vincent, nice to see you back again! You said you were heading off to Route 1, for some training or captures... Any successes?"

Before he was able to reply though, Ventus already continued with running... better follow him before he's out of sight. After all, he took the effort to pick her up from the Center, it would be rude to leave him alone now.

"Eh... I guess I better follow up... We'll probably meet up again later, though." With those words, she left Vincent where he was, trying to catch up on Ventus again.

"Some. But we can discuss this over dinner. Larry's outside going toe-to-toe with a stray Mankey and Winston's too dead tired to fight. If you can pull him out of the fire, that'd be great!" He wheezes.

Vincent barges through the door to the Pokemon centre and practically slams the pair of Pokeballs down on the counter.

Not going to be in time. Beyond my power. Hope the kid is alright.

[Dragonstrike]

As the ponyta gallops up to the battle, Nathan issues a command to Ralts.  Both remain seated on its back with his mother.

"Ralts, use Growl to weaken the mankey and get its attention if it doesn't go down!  Let's not take any chances with this one!" 'Aside from, well, the obviously dangerous chance that it will turn to attack us since I was one of the ones that disturbed it originally...'

Order: Use growl and potentially distract the mankey. If mankey faints before Growl is used, Ralts will growl in pleasure instead since the source of Nathan's worry will have been neutralized
- Growl: 3 dex + 0 fight + 0 canalize/contest
- Effect: We all know what this does by now, right? Ralts has certainly used it enough times...

[Iron]

Mankey Round 5

Scratch
Accuracy: 5 dice -2 pain penalization
(6)(6)(1) - 2 success, hit

Damage: 2Str+2power -1 intimidate -1 vitality defense = 2 dice
(1)(6) - Ekans takes 1 damage

The ball of fluff catches some of Ekans' sheddable skin with a claw and tears off a long strip.

Before Larry can give an order, Ekans decides to keep firing poison stings.

Acc: 1 dice
(6) - Hit!
2 dice of damage.
(6)(5) - Mankey faints.
Ekans eyes the unconscious body hungrily.

Poison resist: (6), the only result that prevents damage.

The cavalry arrives. Nathan and his mother are just in time to see the wild fighter go down. His skin has a nasty purplish tinge to it.

One or two at a time, the others who were coming arrive.

[Dragonstrike]

Some music that's a little more melancholy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vNHBRL8mOM

As they arrive on the scene and see the mankey go down, Nathan assesses the situation.

'Well, better late than never I guess...wait a second...is that one of the Ekans from that snake nest earlier?  It doesn't look like Larry is able to handle it too well right now...wait, that mankey is poisoned!  It did attack me, but I don't want it to die...nor get eaten by a snake for that matter...'  Nathan's filled with uncertainty about what to do here.  He comes to a decision though.  He won't be able to blow this off as if it was nothing.  Without saying a word about what he's going to do, Nathan jumps off the ponyta and runs over to the mankey to use an antidote on it, then stands between it and the ekans.  "Larry, recall the snake.  Now.  This doesn't have to get any uglier than it already is."

Despite having been attacked by it mere minutes ago, Nathan is prioritizing the mankey's safety over his own.  If he didn't, he wouldn't be able to walk away with a clear conscience.  It's not the same protective feelings he has for Ralts, but what's coming from him now is definitely similar in nature.  Ralts is, understandably, quite confused.  Nathan's feelings have been jumping all over the place within the last hour or so.  Scared, worried, happy, relieved, determined, protective...Ralts isn't quite sure what to make of it all.

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

Finally, after they've been running for ages through the woods ist seems, Ventus and Shiva arrived. However, what was that...? She couldn't spot any sign of a battle... Meaningful Silence dwelled instead. Tension filled in the air. Where they too late already...?!

Wait, there was Larry, alongside an Ekans *ugh, snakes again!*... near them, a Mankey. Appearantly defeated. Appearantly poisoned. Nathan was standing in front of it, seemingly protecting it? Oh well - was this the threat Ventus mentioned? Looks like they are indeed too late, but at least the danger has been averted already.

Shiva didn't even realised how much breath she spend on the way and had to catch up on that now. Sport, especially if it's endurance sport, is definitelly not her thing... She nudges Ventus on the shoulder. "Eh, Ven?...Was this the... danger you... were talking about?"

[Iron]

Nathan's mom puts her hand over her mouth, torn between apprehension about the Ekans danger and pride of her boy's kindness.

"Come on back, Nathan. I'm sure this nice boy will recall his Pokemon. Giving it medicine is enough."

XP
I give Nathan 1 XP for kindness to a wild Pokemon, in keeping with his character.
Winston gains 2XP, and Vincent gains 1XP as part of that. Then I grant him (Vince) a Will Point and 1 more XP for defending the weak even while exhausted.
Ekans gains 2XP and Larry gains 1XP, +2XP for heroism for standing alone.
I'm giving Ventus 1 Will point as well; though he had no Pokemon out, he was still heroic.
Shiva already has her art's XP.

[Dragonstrike]

Nathan's mom puts her hand over her mouth, torn between apprehension about the Ekans danger and pride of her boy's kindness.

"Come on back, Nathan. I'm sure this nice boy will recall his Pokemon. Giving it medicine is enough."

"Not until the ekans is recalled.  That snake isn't entirely obeying him."  Nathan's look is of the utmost determination.  'Guess he's not as seasoned a trainer as the stories said after all.  First he charges into a snake nest alone, then he can't control a newly caught pokemon sufficiently.'

Ralts can feel the protective determination coming off of Nathan in waves now.  He stays on the ponyta though, still confused by the wide range of emotions Nathan had been feeling recently.

[Super_trainer_Larry]

Larry went to his ekans to look at where the mankey pulled his skin and pulled out a potion and sprayed the wound "get better soon ekans ,ok return ekans" and returned ekans, Larry said to Nathan "what? I was checking out his wound I would hurt him at this state if I did I would have been in team rocket." Larry takes a the rest of his and goes to the prof and ask if he could buy a revive for the mankey Larry says "hey professor I got a question? can I buy a revive for a mankey that I fainted for $200?"

[Dragonstrike]

Nathan just watches as Larry walks off without another word towards the professor's lab. He sighs..."Well, that's that. Now, what are we going to be doing about this mankey now that it's out cold? If we revive it, it's not likely to be any less angry...in fact, it'll probably just be angrier. We can't exactly just stick it in the nearby sections of the forest though...it wasn't even supposed to be that close to the base of the mountain to begin with..."

Ralts gets off the ponyta and goes over to Nathan now, ready to be there as emotional support should Nathan need it.