[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Lord Windos]

An extremely rapid evolution! Even Togetic did not expect this so soon.

As the blaze of evolution recedes, Togekiss is radiant in the gloom and fading Sunlight of Corsage Port. Ventus can feel the positive effects of his Pokemon, partially mitigating the despair. But he doesn't think even a Togekiss' power has had any impact on whatever happens in this town at night.

Togekiss, even more than his prevolutions, is disturbed by this town. As Ventus knows, Togekiss is a traveling blessing, who comes to peaceful towns and places where strife is distant. A wild Togekiss would never come here, and only loyalty to his master keeps Raphael (fully angelic at last) here.

Togetics transformation into a Togekiss was even more radical than its last evolution. It grew even larger than its previous form, but its body become more compact in the process. Their wings grew bigger too, to a point that it seemed like they dwarfed its moderate stature. Raphael spiky head and whole body became colored in festive reds and soothing blue. As the light gave way to it glorious final form, Ventus enveloped in in yet another hug.

"Just like your mother, you have become a miraculous Togekiss, ready to spread joy to a weary world. Though being in this dreadful town's atmosphere puts a damper on our celebration, sadly. I promise that we will leave this place once I have conquered this Gym Leader. You have my word on that, my beautiful archangel," Venus tells them, giving them one last cuddle before releasing them from his hold. Taking a step away from their master, they were soon hovering right beside them, overjoyed with its evolution, but somewhat deflated from the negative miasma that it was sensing. Perhaps it could pinpoint the source of this phenomena, and lead their master to it?

Order: See if it's possible for Raphael to get a read on this dream daemon's location, and inform them of it. If they can/can't, Ventus is going to call Nathan to see where he's at, and head over there. If it possible, could Ven fly over there on his Togekiss? (Not Fly fly, but ride it over to the dojo?)

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

Azurill is convinced by your arguments to work hard at her bubblicious attack.

Shiva gladly accepted the temporary ball back. Going to return it as soon as she'll pick up Cottonee. Lil' fluffball must miss her...

However, it was splendid and adorable to see how eager Azurill was to learn her new move. It worked to perfection! The blue mouse has grown quite a lot since Shiva's been gifted it after Nathan rescued it from the river. It warmed her heart...

After a while using Bubble Beam... "Very well done, dear one. I can literally see how you're eager to try out your new move on a real taget! Don't worry... We'll find a proper opponent to battle with soon enough." With that words, she picked up Azu, and began to look out for Nathan to inform him that she'll leave the Dojo then and head back towards city. He wanted to stick with her, after all, and she's not going to just leave him alone!

[Iron]

Togekiss can carry a person only for a very brief ride. It's a decent sized Pokemon, but not strong, and there's not a great place to sit. Perfect for being carried across rivers or down from a height, but not great for lengthy travel.

Togekiss picks up Ventus in its feet and eagerly carries him a hundred meters south, away from Murkrow Cove. Then Ventus is dropped and must run underneath the Pokemon. It looks like Togekiss has some idea about the source of the disturbance!

[Dragonstrike]

Shiva finds Nathan looking slightly puzzled at Porygon. He looks up when Kirlia notifies him of Shiva's approach.

'Ah, good, there's Shiva. Looks like the training went pretty well for her, too.'

"All done with our business at the dojo, then? Anything else you need to do before we address our other plans? I'm cool with doing them whenever you're ready."

He doesn't have much else to say for now, since he's saving most of it for later.

[Lord Windos]

Togekiss can carry a person only for a very brief ride. It's a decent sized Pokemon, but not strong, and there's not a great place to sit. Perfect for being carried across rivers or down from a height, but not great for lengthy travel.

Togekiss picks up Ventus in its feet and eagerly carries him a hundred meters south, away from Murkrow Cove. Then Ventus is dropped and must run underneath the Pokemon. It looks like Togekiss has some idea about the source of the disturbance

"Raphael, what's with that mischievous glimmer in your- WOW!" ventus cries out, detecting that his archangel was about to do something, but not before it swept them up and carried them somewhere! By his calculation, they were heading towards downtown of Corsage, when he was promptly dropped off midway and force to run after his Togekiss in hot pursuit when it continued on without stopping.

'By the Tao trio, what has gotten into my normally serene angel of fortune? I detect that it's searching for something, but what would be so important to literally drag me along. Whatever it is, it must be important, so lead the way, my archangel!' The researcher thought, baffled but determined to see what has attracted his Togekiss attention so! He hopes it's something positive...

Order: Well, looks like Ven is going to chase after Togekiss, instead of surprising the party/calling them (for now!), Wonder what this disturbance is,..

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

"All done with our business at the dojo, then?  Anything else you need to do before we address our other plans?  I'm cool with doing them whenever you're ready."

Nathan looked like he was having his trouble with his Porygon... Well, eh... It's not like she knew more about this digital creature.

"Hmm? Oh... Yeah, right with giving that Spearow into Sensei's care and Azu was indeed able to learn her new newest move." Another gentle cuddle for the blue mouse! Can't get enough of those.

Other plans... "Ah, nope, I'm fine to return to city then. However... There is one place I'd like to stop by, it's on the way back. Nothing bad, nothing shaddy, it's just a woman fond of collecting all sorts of treasures from all across the region! In fact, she gifted me that shard of duskglass. She even owns a few specialities from the Skull Ruins themselves~"

She hesitated a little before speaking out the next few words. She didn't enjoyed that... But she didn't want to drag Nathan into this issue either. "Eh... But, wait a moment, there's a thing I wished to discuss with her... Again, nothing bad or shaddy. Rather a personal issue. You'd be... fine to...wait for me for short? Maybe enjoy the beachside meanwhile..."


------------
Mechanics:
Paying the Fortune Hunter Lady a visit! I hope she's there and is rejoiced to see me again.

[Iron]

The Fortune Hunter Lady has a sign up in her window, saying she'll be back at a time about 15 mins from now. You eventually see her arrive, clutching in both hands what looks like a stone beehive with Combee drawn on it.

She says, "Oi! Hello, Shiva! What a pleasant surprise. Just let me put this in my garden - oi, by the way, never go rooting around in my garden without permission and guidance. Lots of traps, you know. Shall I put the tea on? How've you been sleeping lately?"

[Iron]

Togekiss drags Ventus all the way out of town, to where the houses stop and a rough grassy-dune-filled country begins. They're really quite ragged and ugly. Quickly, the dunes settle and flatten as Togekiss continues, sometimes swinging this way and that. He leads you to the center of the flat area, on the coast. Here, the beach has turned from off-white sand to a gorgeous pink. On closer inspection, it seems the "sand" is made of crushed pink or white pearls, with occasional tiny shards of shimmerglass.

This strange beach is dotted with a wood of pine trees. Togekiss roosts in one, observing Ventus closely.

Ventus notices two strange things about the beach: 1) an empty hammock is tied between two trees. 2) At weird, 10 meter or more intervals, he sees depressions that could be footprints/pawprints of people or Pokemon. But only scattered here and there on little paths through the very light woods.

He sees no other sign of sentient life.

[Dragonstrike]

"Hmm? Oh... Yeah, right with giving that Spearow into Sensei's care and Azu was indeed able to learn her new newest move." Another gentle cuddle for the blue mouse! Can't get enough of those.

Other plans... "Ah, nope, I'm fine to return to city then. However... There is one place I'd like to stop by, it's on the way back. Nothing bad, nothing shaddy, it's just a woman fond of collecting all sorts of treasures from all across the region! In fact, she gifted me that shard of duskglass. She even owns a few specialities from the Skull Ruins themselves~"

She hesitated a little before speaking out the next few words. She didn't enjoyed that... But she didn't want to drag Nathan into this issue either. "Eh... But, wait a moment, there's a thing I wished to discuss with her... Again, nothing bad or shaddy. Rather a personal issue. You'd be... fine to...wait for me for short? Maybe enjoy the beachside meanwhile..."

Wait, duskglass?  Huh, well how about that...now that he looked, she was indeed wearing a shard of duskglass.  "Hang on, let me see that for a moment...huh...so this is duskglass...treat that glass shard carefully.  Those are incredibly valuable, I know that much.  They're a favorite item of move tutors and those seeking to obtain evolutionary stones, after all."

Alright, good, it was almost time for their...except...hmmm...personal issue, huh?

"Alright, I'll wait for you to finish that and meet up with ya at the beach...and then we'll head to the Center.  Conversation first, then battle?"

When Shiva nodded, that sealed the deal.  It would be easy to segue everything into the same span of time before getting to the battle, anyways.  "Alright, see ya in a little bit.  Just come find me when you're done."

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Time Skip!

When Shiva eventually comes to find Nathan on the beach, he's meditating with Kirlia, to try and clear their minds of some of the invasive gloom.  Neither seem to have noticed her approaching yet.

[Lord Windos]

Togekiss drags Ventus all the way out of town, to where the houses stop and a rough grassy-dune-filled country begins. They're really quite ragged and ugly. Quickly, the dunes settle and flatten as Togekiss continues, sometimes swinging this way and that. He leads you to the center of the flat area, on the coast. Here, the beach has turned from off-white sand to a gorgeous pink. On closer inspection, it seems the "sand" is made of crushed pink or white pearls, with occasional tiny shards of shimmerglass.

This strange beach is dotted with a wood of pine trees. Togekiss roosts in one, observing Ventus closely.

Ventus notices two strange things about the beach: 1) an empty hammock is tied between two trees. 2) At weird, 10 meter or more intervals, he sees depressions that could be footprints/pawprints of people or Pokemon. But only scattered here and there on little paths through the very light woods.
He sees no other sign of sentient life.

When Venus arrived at the frankly gorgeous beach, he could only take a moment to appreciate it. The lovely pick sands, the sparsely dispersed evergreens that forested the area...it all look quite picturesque. There were a couple of strange things to note however: a very out of place hammock, a strange tracks that lead deeper into the overgrowth surrounding this area. He found both thing rather out of place all the way out in the middle of nowhere, making him ponder just why his Togekiss brought him here.

'So this is the area that my Raphael was leading me. While it looks extraordinary, I don't understand what attracted so much concern that they had to drag me all the way out Corsage to here, no matter how relieved I am to begone from the place. Since They finally halted for a bit, though, I very well can uncover that mystery now!' He though, before letting our a tired breath. All that running worn him out, and he was certainly no longer in his prime condition, so the research had to spend a few minutes recovering before he could question Togekiss.

Sensing their master's curioness, however, Raphael soon let a high pitch chirp out, gaining his attention despite their beleaguered state.When they saw their master tilt their head at them, they sent a bombardment of its feelings for this place, chirping along with the changes of emotion. Once they sent their message, they ceased their empathetic broadcast, and quietly let their master pice together the information. They knew their father was smart, and could figure out what they were trying to convey!

On Ventus' end of the exchange, he received their feelings of inquisitiveness in regards to this location, tied to its desire to find something...dismal causing? "Raphael, if I can understand correctly, you lead me out here to find a source of negativity? Why would you do such a...wait. Did...did your evolution and my comment on the town horrid atmospheres prompt you to search for what is causing it?" the researcher asked, receiving a happy chirp of affirmation from them.

. "Reshirim's flame, that is brilliant! We found the location where that blasted dream daemon is residing, or at least frequented recently! Perhaps if we stake out this location, we might catch a glimpse of what is causing Corsage so many terrible nightmares! Baring that, we could always follow its trail using Apsis to pick up its scent. Either way, this is a great find, do I thank you my archangel fior guiding me here!" Ventus continued, giving a bright smile to them at their accomplishment. This earned his a burst of happy emotions from Raphael, clearly pleased with their success for their master.

He was planning on meeting up with the group to surprise them about his newly evolved Togekiss, but this took proirity now. Ttaking out his phone, he sent a quick voice message to Nathan and Shiva (Porygon left her number in there...neat!) saying : 'Camping outside of town at pink beaches tonight. See you tomorrow!', before he started to carefully erase his own tracks in the clearing, and hiding in a bush large enough to conceal him. 'I'm going to find out what's causing this negativity and put an end to it, or I'll try my best to!' Ventus thought, preparing for a long night ahead.

Order: Stakeout beach for the night/morning to see if there is any activity. If not, he'll summon Apsis you try and pick up the trail. If both methods fail, he'll use Slowpoke to teleport him to Corsage's Pokémon Center, and call Nathan there.