[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Iron]

"Would you like to call Director North, or do you need to see him in person? Write this down. Computer! Phone number for Director North, Shelter for Disobedient Pokemon."

A mechanical voice from her desk reads out the number.

[Spiritmon]

Heart was a little blush about that say to challenge gym. "Well I not exactly a trainer who challenge gyms and collect badges, I just a Pokemon rare collector. I meet Pokemon, take notes and meet new species. I pretty mediocre trainer but I can just have some experience heh." Challenge gyms is in true a delicate topic to Heart (a reason only know by the master) so Heart decides to not let anyone notices his feels.

[Lord Windos]

"Would you like to call Director North, or do you need to see him in person? Write this down. Computer! Phone number for Director North, Shelter for Disobedient Pokemon."

A mechanical voice from her desk reads out the number.

Another flick of his wrist to palm a pen from.....somewhere, and his other hand darting in his bag for his journal, Ventus quickly jotted down the Director's number and commited it to memory, before putting both items away and giving a grateful smile to Dagney. "Thank you again for your assistance, Dagney. As for contacting Director North, do you mind if I call him right now and quickly get that matter settled so that Shiva and I can depart immediately without worry or reservation?"

*Assuming she agrees*

The researcher retrieves his phone from his pocket and quickly punches in the good man North's number, waiting for him to pick up or for his voice message system to record his call, before saying: "Greeting, Director North, this is Ventus Zackarieh speaking. Due to grave concerns regarding the recent escalation of the situation involving the Vines and the Skull Ruins, me, Shiva, and my friend have been asked by Dagney to leave the city to seek the means of resolving this crisis ASAP. In light of this, would you be willing to keep our previous offer open to us when we arrive back in Stair once we have resolved everything?"

[Dragonstrike]

"If you don't mind, Ventus, can you ask Director North to tell Rotom it might take me a little longer than expected to come get it?  I still need another $1000 to comfortably stomach the cost, and the odds of me making that money before we head out seem a little low."

[Lord Windos]

"If you don't mind, Ventus, can you ask Director North to tell Rotom it might take me a little longer than expected to come get it?  I still need another $1000 to comfortably stomach the cost, and the odds of me making that money before we head out seem a little low."

Ventus may have great resentment towards Nathan for his recent actions and traumatizing Shiva with Orthros, but that didn't mean he would be an asshole and deny such a simple request, especially since he was talking to the man right now. "Oh, and one of my companions wanted me to request that you hold onto Rotom for him while he's journeys with us to resolve this crisis. He says he only needs $1000 more Poke to cover the adoption cost and is eager to add them to his team, so there is also that to take into consideration as well."

[Iron]

"No problem, Mr. Zachariah. We've actually been a little worried about what this emergency will mean for the Shelter. With a fleet of dangerous Pokemon here, we may have to lock it down temporarily. Send everyone to their Pokeballs, perhaps."

[Lord Windos]

"No problem, Mr. Zachariah. We've actually been a little worried about what this emergency will mean for the Shelter. With a fleet of dangerous Pokemon here, we may have to lock it down temporarily. Send everyone to their Pokeballs, perhaps."

"Thank you for being so understanding, Director. I agree that containing all the Shelter's Pokémon and ready them for transport to a less potentially hostile location and shutting down the shelter would be the wisest course of action. I have faith that Dagney and my group will be able to resolve this crisis before its able to get totally out of hand, so don't fret overly about this. Until we speak again, my friend, I pray that Reshirim will be with you and all beholden to you," Ventus said, before ending the call and stuffing his phone back into his pocket. He then turned to face the Steel Wonder herself and gave a nod of his head to them, a pleasant smile cresting his face that still held a large degree of seriousness despite his improved mood.

"Well, now that is taken care of, I believe that we are all ready to depart to Arrowroot post haste, Dagney. That is, if their is no other business to take care of?"

Order: Ventus is now ready to leave Stair and get start on the sudden plot thread you jump started, Iron. If no one else has anything to say and are ready to get going, then let's get going!

[Dragonstrike]

"Not quite yet, Ventus.  Nobody's said if we want to wait for my mom's Ponyta yet.  I have Swiftfire, so that's not an issue.  I could also grab Yule.  He'll probably be doing his best to keep up with Swiftfire, I'm sure."

(I have an interesting idea if we decide to wait for these Ponyta, btw...)

"Before we decide on that, though...there is one issue to mention: Arrowroot Village is in the middle of a swamp.  And it's a village, not even qualifying as a town.  They only got access to electricity recently, and it's all self generated.  PC access might be limited, healing is likely to be more naturally based than mechanically.  Make sure you're well prepared.  I...actually need to probably consider not bringing Grid.  Unless we can get him to learn to make his own electricity on the way there, he's likely to be a nuisance to the village...oh, and it's also way too far away to reasonably Teleport to and from unless you're going to the middle of nowhere."

"And it's backtracking a little, but...I want to make sure everyone here knows this: if you don't help Kirlia, that means we'd be abandoning option one entirely.  I...think it can be done.  I'll talk with him.  But you need to put in some effort too.  I...can only do so much.  There's no fooling Mesprit.  It will know if Kirlia is acting.  He needs to genuinely care.  It doesn't have to be big, meaningful stuff.  Just little things here and there.  I know he was always happy to see my mom...well, after he got over clinging to me almost constantly whenever someone else walked by, that is...sorry, got sidetracked.  Point is, my mom never really did anything special for him.  She always greets him with a smile, though, did little games and stuff with him and me when she had the time...he enjoys being around her.  I don't think that's changed since he's evolved.  At least, I've not noticed anything that would indicate that it has."

[Dragonstrike]

(Oh, and this is probably a good time for Nathan to get both Heart and Valders' phone numbers as well, so I'll note them down as added to his contacts list.)

[Lord Windos]

Ventus truthfully didn't see the need to wait/obtain some of Nathan's mothers Ponytas , when the Steel Wonder herself has offered them Metagross mounts ready for deployment, and the boy also had his own Swiftfire, Callam, and Yule as to use as transportation himself and others too. Still, the researcher knew that arguing with the young trainer was pointless, especially since it concerned matters of family AND he had a point, so in the end they just shrugged their shoulders, said: "I would rather we leave for Arrowroot ASAP with the Metagross, but that is just my opinion,' before waiting for everyone else to chip in their two cents on the matter.

To Nathan's warnings about Arrowroot, the researcher actually was well aware of the distinct lack of modernization of the village and the general wildness of Hog Potato Swamp due to being briefed about it by Dr. Mallorn, amoung the other topics concerning the particular locations that required research visas for his....well, research(correct me if I am wrong about this, Iron) , and so a firm nod of his head in response.  "I've already restocked on Potions and Pokeballs the other day, and my years of field research should see me well prepared for the pre-modern conditions of Arrowroot, so I am ready for whatever challenges such a local might pose for us," he said, with a degree of professionalism and surprising non-chalance. Then again, the researcher was quite used to rough and natural living due to the hard life he lived/choice of career, so he has reasons to be fairly non-plussed about the place, all things considered.

The matter about opening Kirlia's heart towards others, however, earned the young trainer a slight grimace and a frown from Ven as they gave some food for thought about this. After a few minutes of thinking, the empath gave his own assessment of that option, which was not overly negative, surprisingly, but not exactly the brightest either. "I don't believe I will be able to help with making Kirlia care about others, I'm afraid, due to our relationship being....strained, as it is, but your idea does hold merit with the others given enough time and care on everyone's part. However, I would rather we work on their empathetic problems while we are in transit between Arrowroot and Stair, as the Prophecy and the Vines are quickly becoming time sensitive matters that must be handled with promptness and all the expediency we can muster. If it turns out the village is a dead end to our investigations, we still have the moments up until then and there after to help young Kirlia become a bearer of 'unselfish love' if we put forth serious effort into accomplishing this. Nothing is stopping us from pursuing both avenues of eradicating the Vines and whatever diabolical force that control them, after all."