[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Lord Windos]

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He's rather quiet on the way out of town.  Ventus had done an excellent job of humiliating him if that's what he'd been aiming to do...he was finding it difficult to focus on much else...he hadn't even been as angry as everyone had expected when Mallorn had mentioned Almanac had stolen something from him!  Oh dear...Kirlia seems way more concerned than usual, as well...

Ventus had noticed that Nathan had been emotionally withdrawn ever since he showed Shiva those pictures from yesterday (Which almost caused him to laugh again...almost), but didn't think much of it beside the boy simply recovering from embarrassment. When that didn't dispel when Dr. Mallorn mentioned Almaniac's recent activity AND Kirlia's subtly trying to cheer him up on this leg of the return journey, the researcher was started becomming more and more worried. 'I didn't think these photographs would cause this level of distress in the boy. Dear Reshirim, he's remarkably fragile, when it comes to his emotional stability. Its a wonder how he continues to function semi normally around me and Shiva with our....perculurarities,' he thought, before calling out to the boy as he going after that Wobbuffet.

"Nathan, we are going now, so stay safeand be on guard for trouble. And....can we meet together later today and discuss our plans once more? We hashed out the basic course of action last night, but going over the fine details again would help of solidify what exactly will happen when we set foot in Winesberry," the empath said, trying to set up a line of dialogue to get him to talk with him later subtly, rather than air his issues out in the open. If doing that last time caused him to retreat into himself, doing so again would likely yield just as positive of a reaction....

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

Oh, right... Hehe, his empathy. Should have known. That Wobbuffet must be emiting strong emotions if he was able to pick hem up while it's out of sight. The mentioning of it giving an off feeling only got her a little more curious!~

"Hehe... Thank you. If you'd be up to catch it, feel free to do so, while they are rare like nothing home in Unova, I aleady own enough Psychic Types and am busy enough with the raising of my companions."

Ventus is also right on his guess that she is by far not yet back on being her olf self again, but the depression is not overly hindering her when there are other things that occupy her mind. In calm and quiet moments, it might come back.

Braixen chirped in delight at this. Fox is likely delighted that this young female came to his lair that glory night with a book in her hands and some free food... He might have never experienced what it felt like to have a Master that cares for one. He might have never evolved if she wouldn't, either. He was all up for the challenge of the Wobbuffet they were talking about, eager to try out his new powers. Especially that gift Master presented the fox yesterday evening...

Quick flashback to yesterday evening, up in dorm after her Pokemon enjoyed dinner

Watching her beloved Pokemon enjoying the cookies, dried berries and dry food while she herself was packing things for tomorrow's departure, she found back that Charcoal the cruise's captain has gifted her for the victory over Nightshade. She stared at it for a while, before her glance moved to Braixen... Since fox has finished dinner and was practicing the enlighting of his stick when it's drawn from his bushy tail, Shiva turned to him to get his attention. "Fenn... BRAIXEN, I see you're already enjoying your new form. That's right, now you have your arms free and can ward off enemies when you use your basswood stick as a torch... Listen, you still have that Incense I once gave you when you were a Fennekin? You were there when we searched for herbs it is made of, maybe you remember..."

Braixen did remember, and pulled out the incense stick he has hidden away - but not that burnt one Ventus has gifted him - in his tail before handing it to his Master.

"Thank you." She showed the Charcoal to him. "I'll give you this item to carry instead. Its a special kind of charcoal, while it is warm an' burnt, it never turns into ashes. You will notice that it will enlight the fire burning in you even more... Please take good care of it." She handed the Charcoal to Braixen to carry instead of the incense.

As for the incense... Shiva knew very well who would get to carry it. Her overly loyal and dear fluffball! Looked like Cottonee was overjoyed of the gift from Master and carefully hid away the item in her fluff.
 
There also was that pink Apricorn nut Shiva wanted to hand to a Pokemon of hers, but now there was no time to try out which of her Pokemon would react the strongest to it. The berry vendour in Ginger Town mentioned that some of these nuts are beloved by some Pokemon, after all.

(@Iron, how does Braixen react as Ventus handed him a burning incense? I feel this goes beyond what I can have my Pokemon doing.)
EDIT: Lolz! But the gif is not moving, if it's indeed a gif. ._.

[Iron]

Braixen is certainly not afraid of fire, and is interested in good smells. So he accepts the Incense and keeps that in his tail too, interested in how it leaves a cloud of smoketrails wherever he goes.

https://i.giphy.com/media/UPKEIi0z6wJ9u/200_s.gif

[Dragonstrike]

Nathan doesn't respond to Ventus's question.  What was there to hash out about it, anyways?  He tries to refocus on the training and not think about the utter humiliation...

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

Neat... It seemed there was some tension developing between Ven and Nathan. Again. My, she thought they'd get along after their victory over Corsage's Gym Leader... Fool, actually it wasn't very hard to guess why Nathan was as icy and sensitive to approach as a Cryogonal during the warm season. Silently, Shiva was biting herself for joining the Ven's delight over the pictures, but she decided to leave things as they were and wait for both of them clear things on their own. Or for Nathan's hurt pride restore. Either of those options was fine to her, she was busy enough with her own issues. If someone would still express a desire for compassion, she'll be there, but she was a tad bit unsure how well she could provide support to someone just now...

Eh, anyway, better focus on things that were just slightly more important now. While she was walking beside Ventus, Braixen following her, on search for that elusive Wobbuffet, something came into her mind...and imnediately raised the anxiety level over the thought of battling this species. She won't back away now, though. Gently nudging the researcher on the shoulder, she carefully expresses her thoughts to him... "Uhm... Ven, you know that it'll likely come to a battle 'gainst that Wobuffet... I'm down with the challenge, but h-how do you think we could face it properly? The species are known for being rather bulky, prevent runing away with his psychic powers (speaking of its ability, Shadow Tag) and know i.a. blasted Destiny Bond. Braixen here knows how to call for good fortune though, I hope this wil help a little..."

Mentioned fox picked that up and mentally prepared for lucky chanting and a challenge in general.

[Lord Windos]

Eh, anyway, better focus on things that were just slightly more important now. While she was walking beside Ventus, Braixen following her, on search for that elusive Wobbuffet, something came into her mind...and imnediately raised the anxiety level over the thought of battling this species. She won't back away now, though. Gently nudging the researcher on the shoulder, she carefully expresses her thoughts to him... "Uhm... Ven, you know that it'll likely come to a battle 'gainst that Wobuffet... I'm down with the challenge, but h-how do you think we could face it properly? The species are known for being rather bulky, prevent runing away with his psychic powers (speaking of its ability, Shadow Tag) and know i.a. blasted Destiny Bond. Braixen here knows how to call for good fortune though, I hope this wil help a little..."

Mentioned fox picked that up and mentally prepared for lucky chanting and a challenge in general.

Ventus gave her a reassuring smile at her worries, and briefly outlined a plan, both for her peace of mine and to help them work together efficiently in taking it down:

"Wobbuffets seem like daunting enemies, but they have one critical weakness that is highly exploitable: they have zero access to actual decent attacking moves. It only has Mirror Coat, Counter, and Destiny Bond to harm us, so as long as we do not attack it, it almost impossible for it to harm us. It has Strike and Struggle in a pinch, but those attack will be rather ineffectual at best, and detrimental to it own health at worst. If I have Raphael use Yawn on it and dodge any Destiny Bond, then it literally can not do anything. If it uses Destiny Bond or Strike/Struggle, then my archangel can use Encore to trap them in that move and THEN use Yawn or an offensive move to safely weaken it. All else fails and it somehow deprives either of those options, then Raphael still has access to Air Slash, which has a high chance of flitching them regardless of whatever else I do. Braixem has Lucky Chant and Ember to quickly set up and where them down, and prevent us from suffer deleterious mishaps. Overall , as long as we take this encounter slowly and carefully, neither us or our Pokémon will be in danger what so ever. Well, baring Kyurem displease making itself know...."

[Dragonstrike]

Mid-training, Nathan has to have a good ol' sit-down, rubbing his temples once more.  

He was tired.  Very tired.

He hadn't slept too well last night.  He'd slept, but...

Was stuff like this normal?

Did friends really make fun of each other like this for laughs?

He didn't get it...he knows if he'd been on the observing end, he wouldn't have found that situation funny at all...but who was he to judge?  He was more used to books and web articles than living, breathing people, after all...but at least they didn't laugh at your expense...he'd experienced all too much of that back in his single digit years...this was bringing back a few bad, almost forgotten memories of always seeming to be the odd kid out in a small town...being made fun of for having no pokemon of his own, being called a 'bookworm,' never seeming to be accepted by anyone barring his family and their ponyta...it's stuff like this that had kept him from making friends in the first place...

They were headed back into the forest now...and there was STILL no sign of that Absol...what the heck did that brief vision mean?  It had been five days since he and Kirlia had dreamed about it, however vaguely, and there hadn't been a peep from Absol ever since...

They were gearing up to head into a Water Scimitar base to see what they could find on Genesect down there...all because they couldn't afford to alert the region to Genesect's probable presence there...who knows what the Unovan officials might do if they found out about this...or Creshire's residents, for that matter...Wineberry was already rather enraptured by the mere existence of such a pokemon, after all...

All of that and more had been on his mind last night...and still are, in fact...

Sure, they'd won their gym battle against Chuckles yesterday...and with relative ease too, all things considered...his planning had been near flawless in the end...but Ventus being very non-enthusiastic about the challenge that battle had posed was really grating as well...if Ventus was acting like that in a no holds barred Gym Battle, how much would Nathan be able to rely on him in the future?  Things weren't going to get any easier from now on, after all...and if they were eventually going to end up at the Skull Ruins, he didn't want to have to deal with Ventus having a mini panic attack because of all the ghosts that inhabit them...

He has to rub his eyes...bah...hiding how tired and stressed out he was from Ventus wasn't making it any easier on him...he didn't want to, but...none of it was anything he wanted to bother Ventus with currently...he was fairly certain they both had a lot on their minds, anyways...though that reminds him that one of those things is probably his mom seeing those pictures...ugh...

Kirlia takes a break from his training to come sit by Nathan.  Nathan was trying to carry all these burdens by himself, and it was worrying the dancer.  He understood why...but what could he do to help other than just be there for his friend?  Asking Ventus to try and help certainly wasn't going to help matters any...maybe Shiva could help?  Kirlia wasn't picking up anything from Nathan concerning not letting her know, even if she had furthered his embarrassment by laughing at the pictures as Nathan had feared she would...but that could mean a few things...or was there something else he could try?  Hmmm...or did he just continue to be there for him and let Nathan snap out of it on his own?  (@Iron, if Kirlia tries to help, what he does, and when is up to you to decide!)

[Iron]

Kirlia tries a few things, knowing this is a learning experience for Nathan.

He encourages the Pokemon who are training to give it their all, helping keep Nathan distracted. He keeps a serious expression on his face, reminding Nathan that here is one friend who will never think ill of him, will always understand exactly why he reacts the way he does. He uses Calm Mind, offering to help Nathan attempt the same. He even considers doing a funny dance, if laughter will help deal with laughter.

(If any of this would offend Nathan further, Kirlia would know and wouldn't try it.)

At this point, Kirlia's Loyalty toward Nathan is peaking. It won't be long now til he reaches that all-important 5 Loyalty. They've journeyed across half the distance of the Creshire peninsula together, fought many battles, and even faced death a time or two. At the moment, Kirlia just doesn't care if Ventus and Shiva experienced joy while laughing, he just loves the bond between himself and Nathan and wants it to be as happy a bond as possible.

[Iron]

Normally, Ventus needs some kind of sign - anything, really - before his intuition can pick up on the presence of a Pokemon or an emotion. A rustle of plants, a hint of body language, a sound that isn't quite normal. Usually he isn't even sure what it is he picked up on (or he may believe he didn't pick up on anything!) because his subconscious mind does all the work. But this time he is more sure than usual that he didn't actually spot the Pokemon or anything to betray its presence. Something actually drew him to its location.

Soon Shiva can see it too - the wayward Wobbuffet, ambling in a zigzag pattern to wherever it thinks a Pokemon nest might be. The upper part of its body sways comically and its simple face is twisted into a scowl. It's a younger Wobbuffet, not fully developed. Probably didn't have the benefit of maturing as a Wynaut; instead it must have hatched as a Wobbuffet.

The Wobbuffet reaches a Pidgey nest on the ground. Two Pidgeotto poke their heads out before Wobbuffet even arrives. They shake their heads at him, and he wobbles on.

Shiva and Ventus both get the distinct, sharp impression that Wobbuffet seeks help. A very very brief, fuzzy image of two mature Wobbuffet disappearing in a flash of Pokeball light appears in their heads.

Ventus' Initiative: (4) + lots
Shiva's initiative: (4) + some
Wobbuffet's Initiative: (1) + 1 Dex + 0 Survival

[Dragonstrike]

Well, at least he has Kirlia...heh...it still didn't help entirely, but at least he got a good reminder that he still has one solid friend.  Nathan manages to crack a smile seeing his best friend try so hard to keep him happy in so many different ways, and working it into his training to boot.  A sad one, but a smile nonetheless.  There's just way too much on his mind right now to completely solve the problem...he still has to go back and face both Ventus and Shiva, after all, as well as continue hiding how tired and stressed he really is...and they still have to deal with those Scimitars when they get to Wineberry...Absol could potentially appear at any moment out here, and without any warning whatsoever...

He didn't think he was willing to talk with Ventus still, either.  That needling had hit a pretty bad nerve...

Still, things were slightly better.  Still an improvement.

(Kirlia's still free to try other stuff later as well)