[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Lord Windos]

Yawning, Ventus finally woke up after a long, troubled night's rest. Yesterday's events triggered some rather....unpleasant memories from his past that haunted his rest, ones that he wished would just fade into the mist of time. 'Mother...' he thought, before shaking his head and getting up. 'Best not to deal on bad memories, least I go into another fugue state,' he thought to himself, glancing about his general area as he stretch his legs.

By the looks of it, someone came into the tent last night and bedded nearby. Probably Nathan or Vincent, or it could have been Shiva keeping watch over him. As he though of the former police officer and the young ranch hand, he facepalmed and sighed. "I...could have handled the situation about those... flowers much better than I could, but there is no changing the past. I just have to live and learn from my failures, and hope that those two will forgive me some day..." he quietly said to himself, before he decided to exit the tent.

Hearing chirping from his feet, he noticed that his Togepi was already out and about - it must have somehow gotten out of it Pokeball during the night- and was looking rather worried for his sake. 'Oh dear, it must have been sensing my disasterous emotional state since yesterday, and is rather concerned about me,' Ventus thought, reaching down and scooping the little bundle of joy into his arms. "There there, my tiny angel, I'm alright now. I just had an...episode is all. I don't want to worry about the details, but rest assured that all is well with me now, Raphael," he said, gently petting it all the while.

Soon it began to giggle under his caress, and appeared in a much better mood than before, but he could still tell it was worried about him. Sighing a bit, he finished up petting his Raphael, before returning to its Pokeball. He'll have to make it up to his darling in the future before he can erase all its unease concerning, so it seems. After his little moment with Raphael, he went over to Apsis, and found she was still sleeping from yesterday outing. Gently nudging her, the Ekans awoke from her slumber, sluggishly looking around for what disturbed its slumber.

Finding the one to be her master, Apsis sluggishly uncurled itself and looked expectantly at him and hissed at him hungerly. From what he could detect, it seemed that she didn't like being woken so early from its rest, but if it had to get up this early, they might as well go out for some hunting. Nodding his head in asset, he motioned for Apsis to follow him, and they departed from the campsite. Before he left, however, he remember that he had not told Shiva he was leaving, so he wrote a note for her using his journal and left it for her, and put it in front of the firepit. On the way, while he was looking at the wonderful flora that grew in this route, he happened across a Lum Berry in stroke of odd luck. He decided to give it to Apsis to hold, since it was currently out and was his main fighter at the moment.

Searching for possible Pokémon to study/hunt, he spots what looks to be a Carnivine out in the more swampy portion of the route. Looking at Apsis, and remembering what he knew about the carnivorous plant Pokémon, he decided that he wanted to go and engage it, both to study it in closer detail, and to get more battle experience with his Ekans.

[Dies Irae]

Vincent is in the process of tapping out a response to Nathan when the officer leans in and interjects.

"HE JUST SAID YOU SCARED HIS HORSE, DUMBASS."

Ah. Right.

He puts the phone away sheepishly, and plods on towards the crater site, whistling a jaunty tune as he walks.

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

Shiva was the last one to go to sleep yesterday and the appearntly last one to get up today. Given she wasn't a morning person and never slept outdoors, that didn't bother her much though.

Nathan indeed arrived soon after Ventus retired to the tent to get some rest and she finished removing any remains from these...vicious flowers from Cottonee. Nathan wasn't as talkactive as he usually was, and went to sleep alomst immediately. Oh well... She could sense that he still held some grudge against Ventus for what has happened. Hopefully he will catch himself again, and he and Ventus will be able to clear the matters soon; if not that, at least get to talk with one another normally again... Before it developed into hostility.
Vincent didn't showed up at all... Well, she assumed he knew what he was doing and should be able to defend himself if needed. Hopefully though, he was fine.
Larry met up with the others a little later as well, and seemed overall totally fine. Lucky, he did not have to deal with what some flowers have caused, he did not witness an argument inside the party. Because of some strange flowers that grew on a hidden meadow. The more Shiva thought about this, the more ridiculous it sounded... And the more she found herself disliking these flowers.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sun has already risen and nature was awake and vivid for hours as she herself stepped outside the tent. The fireplace was cold and ashy, and Ekans was nowhere to be seen. Just as she was wondering where it and everyone else was, she caught sight of a paper laying in front of the fireplace... That was Ventus' weirdly cute handwritting, she remembered it from watching him taking notes about the Poliwag from yesterday. It declared that he went for some research and possible battling, and will return soon enough. Hopefully he was feeling a little better by now, and wasn't off to do something...stupid... Taking out a pen, she wrote below his writing that she hoped that he's a little better, and that she went for some training with Cottonee, before placing the note down where she found it, calling mentioned Pokemon out of its Pokeball (it has been withdrawn for the night) and leaving the camping side.

Upon following a main path with large trees on the left and Greenbiar River streaming a few meters away on the right, she rather casually checked if there were any new messages on her cell, and there indeed was one from Nathan. Did he really went to back near the meadow with the Deyo Flower once again...? Such determination – Hopefully he knew what he was doing.

Shiva soon found a small flat section a little closer to the river. It was warmed by the morning sun, full of fresh green grass and scattered with lots of daisies. Splendid. Cottonee seemed curious of this spot and happily placed itself in the grass to enjoy the splashing of the river and vitalising rays of sunlight, before it turned to its Master who sat down next to it, wondering what she was up to do here.

„Okay, lil' fluffball... Guess it's about time for you learn a new move. It will be Growth, a Normal-Type boost-move most plantlike Pokemon can learn either normally by training or by breeding. Given you already know two STAB-moves, this will come in rather handy for us.“

Cottonee carefully listened, although it didn't quite understand what Master was talking about... It didn't know what a boost-move or STAB was.

„It's mostly about concentrating and actively use the sunshine to engage in photosynthesis using the plantlike cells in your body, which will result in a feeling of increased strenght and vitality.“ … „Come on, give it a try.“

[Iron]

I'm going to assume Larry is training Oshawott for now, since he's quite close to Water Gun. Larry, you can come back later and change this if you wish. That means we can get started.

[Iron]

Ventus was correct. It was a Carnivine, growing in marshy water, patiently waiting for flies to pass it by. Once, it almost got a Pidgey. The researcher can learn some interesting things just from observing this plant:

-There's a noticeable difference between snapping at prey and using Bite. No gathering of dark energy at all.
-Carnivine looks like it hasn't quite got the hang of Vine Whip yet, though it's getting close. Instead, it uses a Bind attack to strike at prey, utilizing its long teeth and curling vines and prehensile leaves.
-This Pokemon wears an eternal grin, paying very little attention to anything too big to eat, until it poses a threat. Thus, if you provoke combat, you'll get to go first.

[Iron]

Nathan and Vincent are investigating the crater, snacking as they go.

Ralts shows Nathan how the stems of Deyo indicate the crater's proximity, how ancient the crater is, and how there are little veins of sparkling holographic mineral along its edges. Then he excitedly points out a Staryu surfacing in the clear water! Point made, Ralts sits back with satisfaction.

Staryu fires a Water Gun in the general direction of Ralts, who grins a bit as the attack fails to make contact. Then Ralts' state of consciousness seems to shift a bit, his tiny moment of fate and precognition fading.

Staryu's intiative: 1d6+2 = 4

[Iron]

While Nathan is thus distracted, a Pidgey tries to steal Vincent's breakfast.

Pidgey's initiative: 1d6+2 = 4

[Iron]

Tis a nice sunny day, perfect for training Grass types. Cottonee struggles to learn Growth, though, anxious to please her master. For some reason she isn't quite getting it, not yet, and looks to you for more advice.

[Dragonstrike]

Cue the trumpets! It's a wild pokemon! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWFjcKzPmtY

"What the...why is there a Staryu here? They normally live in the ocean, don't they? Why's there one all alone in the middle of a pond in a meadow?" Nathan's genuinely confused at this. He's never heard about an occurrence such as this one. The staryu did attack Ralts though, so if it wanted a battle, it was going to get one! "Alright Ralts, let's put that training to the test! Use Confusion!"

Initiative: D6 + 3
Order: Use Confusion on Staryu
Accuracy: 3 Dexterity + 1 Fight + 0 Canalize
Damage: 2 Strength + 2
Effect: Confusion (1)

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

Tis a nice sunny day, perfect for training Grass types. Cottonee struggles to learn Growth, though, anxious to please her master. For some reason she isn't quite getting it, not yet, and looks to you for more advice.

(Aw, no colour this time...?)


"Not quite getting the spirit...? Nevermind - we'll start from a little different angle then."

Funny thing - Cottonee were a primary Grass-Type, so Shiva actually expected that her alive cotton-ball knew about photoshynthesis... On the other hand, it wasn't a Leafeon who engage in this process on a daily basis.

"Listen, you see how warm and bright the sun shines today? ...Yes? Good. Try to concentrate on that... You may close your eyes, if that helps... Feel the rays. Notice how they slowly vitalise you. Try to catch that feeling in all its facets... See how well this feels to you... Let this feeling flood your whole body for a while."