[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Lord Windos]

Once Apsis defrosted Cottonee, Ventus could not help but be relieved as the young lass finally withdrew her little pixie and surrendered the fight. The battle was over the moment Fennekin fell to his snake mighty Bite, and he didn't find any pleasure prolonging a losing fight, even at her insistence. Walking over to his Arbok, he started to check over their injuries, contemplating his own view on the match he just had with Shiva.

'Despite what many would say about my merciliess approach towards conflict, I don't find it enjoyable crushing the opposition under my might. If its serve both you and your Pokémon better by forfeiting in a match, rather suffer needlessly against terrible odds, then you should do so unless under extenuating circumstance. Still, a candle burn the brightest when its about to flicker away, so I can understand why some fight with all their might against impossible odds,' he thought, before nodding in sastifaction as his examination only turn up minor brusing. A few hours rest will heal it all up, certainly! Patting Apsis' scaled battle as thanks for her merciful behavior in battle (And earning a slight huff in response from them), he returned he to her ball, before walking forward to Shiva with an apologetic smile on his face.

Just as he was about to advise her, she stopped him and began to...teasing and flirting with him? Oh dear oh dear! 'Did I accidentenly managed to enrapture her with my natural charm? If so, I must take steps to correct this! I don't want to take advantage of the wonderful friendship I share with her, especially since she so much younger than I!' Ventus though, about to try and gently dissuade them of their romantic notions of him, before she hushed him with both touch and her sight. The now bashful researcher immedinantly started to color from her actions, and was starting to grow even more uncomfortable when she (mercifully) asked him for his Insight on their battle. Clearing their thought (And getting his errant feeling under control), he began to talk at length about it. But not before congradulating her for doing so well in the first place! 

"Shiva, even though you were not the victor of this exchange, I still am quite proud of your strength. You did managed to by Apsis bulky body to wound Michael enough for him to have to retreat, and managed to get land a solid blow up my snake. However, there is always room for improvement in any field, especially in Pokémon battles, so here is some advice from me," Ven said, before clearing his throat and began his small lecture. The researcher with him is eager to educate others, even if its learning from their mistakes!

"To begin, I noticed that while you had you fox use Howl to boost its power against Apsis, you instead left your Cottenee rely on its base prowess to inflict damage upon Michael. While it obviously worked it taking him out of the battle in the end, if you had used Growth in the first phase of battle and THEN started to use Fairy Wind, its liable that my mushroom would have been taken out of the fight before it even had a chance to weaken Fennekin. That might have allow it to fire off a Blaze Ember at Apsis and turn the tide of battle in your favor, but that is but a possibility at this point. The other problem I noticed in your fighting style is that you don't make full use of your Pokémon potential in battle. By honing you own skill and practicing them with your teammate, you can have them preform multiple actions per turn, which include buffing or debuffing, attacking, defending, or evasion."

"Other than that, you did a fine job against me, and you can only continue to improve from this point onward! I do hope you don't mind my own...battle style, my friend. My experience and the advice given to me by the Ace and Veteran trainers stationed at my old University makes me more...relentless in Pokémon battles. Well, I'll leave you to tend to your Pokémon, while I go over and see how Michael is doing. You are welcome to join me, of course, but I do not mind if you prefer some time to yourself after our battle," the researcher said, wrapping up his speech and taking a small breath. He give Shiva one last radient smile, before walking over to where Michael was at. He was currently checking over his own injuries, grimacing in pain at both the sight and sensation that each of his battered body. That Cottenee, in spite of its weak appearance, was extremely tough! It hurt his pride that something that fanciful managed to beat him down, but it goes to show that he still has a long way to go before he's a mighty Breloom!

Wincing at the sight of his mushroom in pain, Ventus tried to think of a way to help them recovery, when he snapped his fingers in sudden inspiration. A flick of his wrist, and Ariel was in a flash, looking around her sceneary for a moment, before turning to stare at both Michael and her master. There was no windows to wash or opponenet for her to face, so why did he call upon her this time? Michael was also confused at the sight of the Corsola; how was she going to help with his injuries? That was cleared up when their master told them : "Ariel, would you mind letting Michael Absorb some of your energy to help him recover from his wounds? With all the experience you have gained up until now, you should be able to use Recover to fully heal yourself in between Michael's Absorb attack, so would mind help us out in this endeavor?"

Order: Give some advice to Shiva, before teaching Ariel Recover by having Michael healing himself to full HP and having her self-heal the damage off. After that, if there is still time left in the day, time for another Training session for Michael, Ariel, and Lucifer! If not, its straight off to bed, unless someone else what to converse with Ven!

[Iron]

Yep, that would work if Michael takes it slow. It doesn't work as well in an emergency, because eventually the rolls might go badly and Ariel would eventually become exhausted, but when you have all day, you can do it.

[Lord Windos]

Yep, that would work if Michael takes it slow. It doesn't work as well in an emergency, because eventually the rolls might go badly and Ariel would eventually become exhausted, but when you have all day, you can do it.

(Then Michael will slowly and carefully use Absorb to speed up his recovery, while Ariel practices Recover to heal off her wounds in between Michael's draining. If this takes up an encounter slot, I'm fine with that. Ariel has to learn Recover eventually, and I rather have Michael fit for further training and battles sooner rather than later!)

[Iron]

An encounter slot is a great way to time it.

[Dragonstrike]

(If Shiva wants to talk with Nathan, she can go find him during his second training session of the day if she doesn't want to wait for him to return to camp during the third encounter slot.)

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

Oh... He's quite proud of her strength? How neat! She gladly accepted such a compliment. Although she knew very well that there is room for improvement. Especially when it comes to her battle skills. But given the fact that she only began to develope skills in that field of Pokemon, it was absolutely within the scope.

She thankfully listened to what Ven had to tell her as an advice for further battles. Making mental notes of all of those. Especially about honing one's own skills, multiple actions were surely a thing to ry out on the next opportunity. She did not replied to him on his advice, practically speaking, but she knew he'd understand nevertheless that his advice is accepted and gladly taken int consideration.

When it came to his own battle style... "Hehe, nope, that's all fine. I believe everyone has their somewhat own style to manage battles... My, there are a whole ton of strategies and combinations to explore in one has sen enough battles over time, after all. I hope that...eventually, I'll find my own as well, one that both me and my Pokemon are fine with. One that brings out their hidden power in them at full lenght. Yes, I DO believe there is some invisible power within my team... Like, there's energy surrounding them. Energy that just awaits to be refined and slapped into the opponent's face."

After returning his radient smile - oh, she loved those on him! - she turned to leave, sleeping Fennekin cozily nestled in her arms. Eventually, fox will awake after a good rest and be up and vivid again to run around munching on sticks. She wished the same could be said for Cottonee... "So, eh, thanks for the offer! But if you're fine, I'll go back to camp now. There's a thing...I'm waiting to try out today, might not get the chance that soon again... But I bet we'll see one another in no time! Be well and safe until then." She eagerly and honestly delighted waved him goodbye then.


Here's what she's going to ask Nathan then:

As expected, he was still there near camp. Hmm, she wondered whether he saw anything about her battle? Eh, unless he sneaked up to watch... Didn't matter though, it's not like their battle was something personal or such, so he'd be all free to observe~

"Nathan... Listen, there's one thing I'd like to ask you. See, Cottonee isn't doing very well after being frozen solid by Apsis' Ice Fang, although we tawed her up and stuff. I'd like to bring her into professional care right away if possible, which is Corsage's Pokemon Center. Would you agree that Kirlia could teleport me to it? He can teleport back to you right away then, since as soon as I left Cottonee there for revoering over the night, I'll pick up Helios from PC and use his Teleport to come back here. All in all, this whole thing shouldn't take more than a few minutes."

"You'd be fine with that?"

[Dragonstrike]

"Oof...I don't know if that's a good idea if it's not urgent...Corsage probably isn't the best place to Teleport to, currently. You know how hard that atmosphere of gloom and despair hit us when we entered the town the normal, gradual way? I don't know how badly you two might react if you were to enter that gloom near instantaneously after getting away from it for a few days..."

Nathan has to think for a moment...

"Tell you what, though. I'll help you with keeping an eye on Cottonee. And I was actually planning on spending some downtime with my pokemon later. You know, relax, bond, snack on some honey...you and Cottonee can join in if ya like. Maybe some honey will help warm him up."

[Lord Windos]

When it came to his own battle style... "Hehe, nope, that's all fine. I believe everyone has their somewhat own style to manage battles... My, there are a whole ton of strategies and combinations to explore in one has sen enough battles over time, after all. I hope that...eventually, I'll find my own as well, one that both me and my Pokemon are fine with. One that brings out their hidden power in them at full lenght. Yes, I DO believe there is some invisible power within my team... Like, there's energy surrounding them. Energy that just awaits to be refined and slapped into the opponent's face."

After returning his radient smile - oh, she loved those on him! - she turned to leave, sleeping Fennekin cozily nestled in her arms. Eventually, fox will awake after a good rest and be up and vivid again to run around munching on sticks. She wished the same could be said for Cottonee... "So, eh, thanks for the offer! But if you're fine, I'll go back to camp now. There's a thing...I'm waiting to try out today, might not get the chance that soon again... But I bet we'll see one another in no time! Be well and safe until then." She eagerly and honestly delighted waved him goodbye then.

*Flashback to conversation*

Ventus give a firm nod at Shiva's statement, happy to see that defeat has not left her bitter towards him. 'Kind hearted, eager to learn, and so very understanding. What more could you want- No stop! That thought will not finish!' he pondered, doing his darnest to repress his fledging feeling for the young lass. She's at least 7 years his junior, so why is he having these thoughts? More over, why is he having such a difficult time controlling these feelings he has for her? All of this inner conflict was completely conceled by that winning smile of his, though, so at least he's not cottoning her on to his guilty desires...

"Indeed your are correct, my adorably beautiful friend (Wait, I didn't mean to say that! Nooo!). Everyone has their own strategy and tactics when it come to conflict, both with and without Pokémon. I like to weaken my opponents first or hobble them with status, while what I observed from Nathan like to strengthen his Pokémon before laying into them with a blistering assault. How you develop your own style is up to you, ultimately, but I am eager to see it once its fully developed."

"As for that 'invisible power'...it may be perhaps your own latent potential that they are channeling. Its been theorized that by many researchers that, upon capture, a Pokémon begins to draw upon their trainer's own well of power instead of relying on their own. Their are many suggestions to this phenomena, but the one I believe most firmly fits is that they limit themselves so that we can properly handle their power. As we grow stronger and more capable of channeling their might, they hold less and less back, until they can give it their all with consequence or concern for us. Drawing upon our strength also let them add it to their own, so they can become much stronger than what they are capable of becoming in the wild. In the end, both people and Pokémon need and rely on each other in order to reach their full potential," Ventus said, briefly dipping into his more intellectual thought process. Pokémon, their powers and the bonds they share with others...he wants to understand them all someday!

When she bid farewell to him, he just waved her off himself, watching her approach Nathan with some request, before he went over to help treat Michael's wounds. Now, just how will he do that now...?

*End Flashback!*

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

"Oof...I don't know if that's a good idea if it's not urgent...Corsage probably isn't the best place to Teleport to, currently.  You know how hard that atmosphere of gloom and despair hit us when we entered the town the normal, gradual way?  I don't know how badly you two might react if you were to enter that gloom near instantaneously after getting away from it for a few days..."

(Eh, there's a reason I need Helios in my team now! Because.... Tutor Session as a second Encounter of the day is what I wish for...)


Nathan struggled... But she picked up he's more worried over her entering Corsage again instead of using Kirlia for a quick teleport. That's rather noble of him, and appreciated. However, it does not change her mind.

"It's not... urgent, practically speaking, that may be true. I gladly join you once I am back, but thing is, I need Helios in my team right away, Pokedex cannot withdraw Pokemon from Boxes on PC. We cannot evade Corsage forever on top of that, I'll be back right away and... don't know, but once one got used to this gloom and flair in Corsage, it actually feels somewhat nice. Something very special, that is. So much different from Castlia... The city itself did not 'do' anything to me beside sleep issues by the way, so I should be all fine to step into the gloom."

[Dragonstrike]

He sighs. She certainly was persistent...this just didn't sound like a good idea to Nathan, though...he thinks for another moment...

He shakes his head. "Even if it didn't have any effects initially, Helios doesn't know where we are right now. And Kirlia would likely be too tired to Teleport back. I'm sorry, Shiva, but I don't think I can agree with that plan if it doesn't need immediate attention. Again, I'm more than willing to help you monitor Cottonee to make up for it, and you can join me and my pokemon for some relaxation time later."