[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Iron]

Spoiler

Perceval looks a little skeptical at the thought of an Aron flying through the air, but OK.

Your Pokemon have a lot of fun training today! Especially Tynamo, who is getting his first crackles of his own electricity.

Tynamo training roll: (3)(1)(5)(3)(2)(6) He gains 2 bonus XP in addition to his normal 1 from the training session.

Heart notice the skeptical look from Percival then he begin to explain. "Well to be short and honest Percival, Aerial Ace dont exactly make you fly. Its fast slashing attack who make you move so fast that create the ilusion you are flying. It gives that impression at first."

Heart give a smile for see everyone doing their best and showing the results of the training. Including Tynamo who begin to show results of his own eletricity. "Great job everyone. But we not done yet. Acording to Dagny in some place around this place, a group of people was trying to find something about a secret library around here. We will take a search in this place. We will find that place and see why the Scimitars is eager to find that secret place. "Heart them release Gustav. "Gustav, since you receive your ground typing from that Sage, you might help find something in this place with your Ground essence. I hope. And Tynamo I might need you. Since you begin to control a little better your magnetic field, perhaps you can find that Library if she have some sort of metalic properties. Viktor, Rose, you return for now. I dont know what we may find so its better to keep you safe for now. Okay everyone lets begin the search!"

Action: Search Mt. Sentry for any odd clue! Sherlock Heart one the case!

Not a bad idea. This'll take an encounter slot.

*roll*

You search endless tunnels of Mt. Sentry, and soon find yourself quite lost somewhere in its depths. You know the Library is down, not up. 
At one point you can feel an Onix rumbling below you! Carving out new tunnels and flattening old ones.
After three hours of somewhat random searching, you don't find anything except Sentret and Furret and a single Zigzagoon. Most of the tunnels are abandoned. 
Luckily, Gustav did remember the way out - his antennae sniff out the right ground and the rain above!

[Spiritmon]

Spoiler

Spoiler

Perceval looks a little skeptical at the thought of an Aron flying through the air, but OK.

Your Pokemon have a lot of fun training today! Especially Tynamo, who is getting his first crackles of his own electricity.

Tynamo training roll: (3)(1)(5)(3)(2)(6) He gains 2 bonus XP in addition to his normal 1 from the training session.

Heart notice the skeptical look from Percival then he begin to explain. "Well to be short and honest Percival, Aerial Ace dont exactly make you fly. Its fast slashing attack who make you move so fast that create the ilusion you are flying. It gives that impression at first."

Heart give a smile for see everyone doing their best and showing the results of the training. Including Tynamo who begin to show results of his own eletricity. "Great job everyone. But we not done yet. Acording to Dagny in some place around this place, a group of people was trying to find something about a secret library around here. We will take a search in this place. We will find that place and see why the Scimitars is eager to find that secret place. "Heart them release Gustav. "Gustav, since you receive your ground typing from that Sage, you might help find something in this place with your Ground essence. I hope. And Tynamo I might need you. Since you begin to control a little better your magnetic field, perhaps you can find that Library if she have some sort of metalic properties. Viktor, Rose, you return for now. I dont know what we may find so its better to keep you safe for now. Okay everyone lets begin the search!"

Action: Search Mt. Sentry for any odd clue! Sherlock Heart one the case!

Not a bad idea. This'll take an encounter slot.

*roll*

You search endless tunnels of Mt. Sentry, and soon find yourself quite lost somewhere in its depths. You know the Library is down, not up. 
At one point you can feel an Onix rumbling below you! Carving out new tunnels and flattening old ones.
After three hours of somewhat random searching, you don't find anything except Sentret and Furret and a single Zigzagoon. Most of the tunnels are abandoned. 
Luckily, Gustav did remember the way out - his antennae sniff out the right ground and the rain above!

After hours of searching Heart and his pokemons finally return to the surface. "Thanks Arceus we back! Never in my life I would be so much happy in see such rain. Great job finding the way out Gustav. Your ground side help us to guide our way out, and you water side detect the rain. Its a little shame we couldnt find anything. Perhaps when we have the chance, we would try to search again with the others." Then Heart make his way back to the city. "Well, I guess I should make a pokemon battle. Viktor still needs a few more battle and training to finally conqueror Phantom Force. Lets see if I can find someone around here..."

Action: Find any trainer and make a Pokemon battle! 500 Pokedollar and a 3x3 pokemon battle and finally get Phantom Force hopefull.

[Iron]

You find a man in white face makeup, with black circles under his eyes. You ask him his name. He says it doesn't matter. You ask him if he'd like to Pokemon battle. He says it doesn't matter. You send out your Pokemon.

[Spiritmon]

Spoiler

You find a man in white face makeup, with black circles under his eyes. You ask him his name. He says it doesn't matter. You ask him if he'd like to Pokemon battle. He says it doesn't matter. You send out your Pokemon.

(Or he is some kinda of Neo goth, or he is kabuki artist)

"You see some kinda of gothitc person, so lets go our show Viktor!" Then Heart bring his ghost pokemon.

[Lord Windos]

Spoiler

(...)

That train of thought caused her issues to actually sleep in once she and Ven were back at the dorm and she was OVERLY delighted to finally find some well-deserved rest, eventually she must have doozed off from mere exhaustion, keeping sweet Marill close to her for this night, Cottonee directly beside her head on her side of the bed.

Luckily, no bad dreams this night, Haaah, Shiva was silently thankful for her dream catcher's aid.

When Ventus would wake her up, he'd find her in reluctant state to actually get up. For the likely first time in Shiva's life, she was subtly fearful of what may await her if she would step outside into rainy Stair City. She knew that she MUST get out though, as work at the Shelter awaited. She does not want Ventus to leave though, apart from maybe getting down the Lobby to get breakfast, and would silently try to get a hold of one of his sleeves in an attempt to keep him by her side for only a little longer.

Similarly to the shock and fear that plagued Shiva in one form or another due to her near abduction at the hands of those heinous Scimitars, Ventus was practically swamped by his own fretful feelings for her peace of mind and emotional stability and MORE as he journied back to the Center with her. If it wasn't for his iron grip on himself in general and his own dogged determination to not let these chaotic and sinister events get to him, he would have been consumed by his own turbulent emotions too. Well, that, and the fact that his life experiences up until present times have....... desensitized the dubiously sane researcher to such calamities. That too.

Point is, despite how it appeared that Ven was unfazed by the Near Little Cup Blackout Incident, his emotions and state of mind was hardly untarnished. His worries, apprehension, and utter hatred of the Scimitars and all they represented united with his growing fears of them, which could have easily lead to a disaster feedback loop had the empath not been HEAVILY focusing on/managing/controlling etc. his emotions to forestall the possibility. The more the Ventus had learned of the vile, evil cabal of mages and fiends, the more treacherous and insidious they seem to become, which in turn amplified and strengthen the negative feelings he harbor for those repugnant wizards. On top of that, the sociologist ALSO had his dearest friend and not as secret as he would like love wellbeing to carefully manage along with his increasing paranioa that the Scimitars were ever searching/hunting for the group to put an end to their crusade against them......

......OR they were most likely already have found them and were just watching, gathering data on their every move and sequence of action, recording their behaviors and scrounging their personal histories for every morsal, actively searching for all their weaknesses and faults to weaponize against them, and just waiting and watching for the right opportunity to Ambush them all,  utterly destroying them and dooming all Cheshire and perhaps the world OR capturing and torturing them for all the intelligence they have before slaying him, Nathan, Heart, Valder, SHIVA, and feasting on and defling their corpses or corrupting and brainwashing them into loyal MONSTERS of their cause with their own horrendous magics and technologies into twisted mockeries of who they are just like his own Mo-

'ENOUGH! BEGONE!! CEASE TO BE, TENEBOROUS PREMENITIONS!!!'
'...'

'...'

'.....My fears will not rule me. My doubts will not consume me. My paranioa will not cripple my thought process, my sense of logic, OR my good reason. My emotions and feelings inform my decisions, color my moods, and  alter my perception of things, but THEY HOLD NO DOMINION OVER ME OR MY WILL. I shall not be made lame by my rampant emotions, nor have them wage war and sow turmoil on my mind or others. I can not afford to succumb to stress, let myself be crippled  by anxiety , or become deranged because the growing severity and expansiveness of the enemies I....no, we face.'

'I must be ever strong, resolute, and ready to support myself and the others in the face of adversity, or they will be rendered prey to this harsh reality we live in. I shall never allow myself to falter or show weakness in times of duress, or my companions will pay severely for my negiligent lapse. I must be keen eye and ever prepared for threats leveled against me and my own, but I shall not let such alertness to become perverse and cause me to jump at shadows.'

'My name is Ventus Zackarieh, and I am the undisputed master of myself. '

'Each and every aspect that makes up my being in under my complete and total control. '

'This is the Truth, and if it is ever not, I will make it . '

'Let all of this be so.'

.......And so he had finally managed to wrestle and conquered with the malestorm of negatively, fear, and paranioa that had so briefly escaped his tight grasp. All without alerting or even giving away the tiniest of hints to his brief panic attack and the inner struggle that result from it. All without letting Shiva know or realize this, as he neatly divided his attention between dealing (lesser priority) with himself and making sure she was amply comforted (greater priority).

That was an ever present danger for him as an empath: letting his and others emotions consume him to the point he goes wild. Letting his uncomfortable past and the dire effects it has had upon him erode his clarity, paralyzing him their orneous burden or worse, overly affect his decisions. He had to learn and acquire his Iron grasp control over himself at an early age, and ever strengthen his that and his own mental fortitude over the years to meet and overcome the challenges life or he himself has deemed to burden him with. It was something he rarely discussed with others, as he did not think or desire to worry them about himself.

After all, he's managed this well despite it all, has he not?

When he and Shiva had turned in for the night, Ventus patiently waited until his most blessed friend was peacefully slumbering, before giving her a sweet smile and a light kiss on the forehead.

"Sleep well, my dear Shiva. When the sun rises, let yourself rise with it. I will be by your side."

Then, he finally allowed himself to pass out into dreamless nothingness.

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

As the new day arrived, the researcher was up at the crack of dawn as per usual, feeling much better after a good night's rest. Seeing that his mystical darling had yet to mimic his morning patterns, he silently and gracefully slipped out of bed and commenced his morning routine, before quietly exiting the room to pick up breakfast at the mess. He got himself his standard bowl of oatmeal porridge (Heavily Spiced and fixed with fruit, of course!), and decided to get Shiva a rather hearty breakfast of biscuits and gravy, crispy hashbrowns, a bowl of her favorite fruit (finely dice and fresh!) and nicely seasoned fish fillets (Not Pokémon fish!) .

Accompanying them was a whole pot of coffee, two cups, and plenty of cream, sugar, and other flavorants to go around. The research had an strong inkling that his dearest friend would need all the substance to be able to function after that intensely stressful battle at the Little Cup + Nearly Being Kidnapped, so he came fully prepared for this!  If she didn't manage to eat all of it, he would just end up sharing it with his Pokémon! Waste not want not!

Ventus was indeed right on his money as he gently shook her awake once he returned to their room, with breakfast lying in wait on the table. "Shiva, morning has now come. I brought breakfast up here this time, and we need to eat before it cools off, dear....."

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

@Lord Windos
-----------------

True story, Shiva did not notice how the morally dubious researcher that she nevertheless has grown a liking for was struggling heavily with his own demons as they made their way back from Dagny's Gym to the GPC, with raindrops colliding on her pitchblack umbrella, taking them for these two Unovians. Rainfall in a big city had its own charm whenever it occured, but now it seemed like the rain was trying to wash away the aftermaths of that Incident at Little Cup.

Neither of them spoke a word along the way, which made the way back feel endlessly long. Plenty of time to digest all that has been discussed and revealed, enough time for Shiva to distract herself by actively trying to not step into any puddle the rain has created, all while keeping her umbrella in one hand and one of Ventus' hands in her other. She merely ever faced him for the rest of this day, pretending to concentrate on the paved path that inevitably lead the back to the GPC, to their dorm - to well-deserved rest. While Ventus did not show it at all, Shiva had the strong assumption that today's events, that run-in with the Scimitars and the fact that his dearest friends was nearly abducted, have barely even left him untouched. 'Let the demons rest for today, for all of us', she hoped, too bad however that hers had insomniac characteristics.


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Morning came rather quickly it felt, and way too early for Shiva's taste Ven was gently waking her up. His touch and voice were soft to her, but nevetheless a part of her wished she'd be just left alone. Nope, she won't get up right away, she does not want to greet the new Day and the city with all its sensations. She just wanted to stay in bed; for how long she didn't know. But she did knew that it was cozier here, Ven's attempt to wake her up only caused Shiva to tun around in bed, facing away from him, and cuddle up into the pillow and into Marill even more, grumbling a toneless "Morning, Ven... Don't want to...get up..."

Marill however was in a suprisingly high state of energy. When Ventus shook her Master awake, the blue fae mouse was opening her eyes almost immediately, gave a good-morning-hug to her Master's arm and a high-pitched good-morning-chirp to that orangehaired young man - Oh, she knew him! Was the one who handed her to her now-Master!! Good person!!! - and then crawled out of Shiva's arms to nudge her awake, casting a joyful expression and calm rings of her Soothe Bell all along. Something has reached Marill's sensitive ears, must show Master!!!

Eventually, all of that became to much for Shiva, and she rather relucantly arouse from bed, put on her glasses and followed her Marill to...the window. Vaporeon was laying there on the windowsill, still peacefully sleeping. Or pretending to sleep, since she has used the whole distraction to snatch and devour a few of the seasoned fish Ventus has brought for breakfast.

Shiva gave her Eeveelution an absent-minded scratch behind the headfins, earning a wagged tail and a look that somewhat said 'It's raining outside! Didn't you want to summon rain?~', before she loweres her head again. She has been within the PC for sooo long, and Shiva somewhat wanted to spend a little time with her Vaporeon maybe, the first step was letting her sleep outside the Pokeball last night after taking her into her party. Marill was showing Shiva the exact same thing Vaporeon told: 'There's rain outside! I like that! Can we go out later, Master? Pleeease!' Shiva however, only sighed as she watched how raindrops fell onto the city outside. She knew she had to get out there, whether she wanted or not... Work at the Shelter awaited.

Averting her gaze from the world and city outside the dorm, she now tried to give Ven an appropriate smile as a good-morning-gesture (which turned out rather weak, but sweet), before placing herself there at the table where he...already brought mentioned breakfast. Certainly she appreciated the gesture, greatly, but given that she doesn't eat much in the morning and simply lacked appetite, she ended up eating slower and not everything of it, there's enough for bothe their Pokemon to consume. The taste was great, however.

Shiva didn't speak much during that warm+hearty breakfast, most of the time she was busy enough with the food. When she spoke up though over the cup of coffee as a finisher, her voice was a bit lower; it must have lost a bit of its shine alongside herself. "Ven, thank you... For that brekfast... And for your care yesterday... Really. I, ehm...what will you do now? What are your plans for this day? W...Will you accompany me to the Shelter? Can you stay with me, I mean, for a little longer...maybe?"

During the last sentence she very softly touched his hand with ony the fingertips of hers alongside making eye contact for only a few moments. But the message was clear enough: 'Don't go away'. The past events must have...made her realize something. Seems like she has made up her mind, but would he agree...?

[Nylon]

Valder thought she would know. He scratched his head, not sure if he should continue. "Can we... can I ask you some things after this meeting? There's something I think you can help with".
Valder is now anxious.

That anxious demaneour from Valder did worry her a little, but she did not express that on the outside. "Certainly you can. If your...boss allows?"

She casts a questioning look to Ven. She feels safe to speak with Valder alone if he desires this, but the question was Ventus/@Lord Windos fine with this too? He probably was, but Shiva wanted to be sure after she has been targeted by the Scimitars.

FB:
 Valder nods his head in a direction, wanting to talk with some distance from the others, he felt safer that way. He also gestured to Nathan (@Dragonstrike) that he would like him to come as well, "Could you tell us about the Relic Stone?" Valder wasn't trying to keep his boss, Heart or Dagny out of it, he was moving on intuition.

Assuming both come along to the other side of the room, Valder starts, "Nathan, could you tell m- us what a Relic Stone is?
To Shiva he asked, "Did the mystery man tell you to find anything? Like a rock or somethin'?"

 The mystery man is that guy that knew stuff about the library.

[Dragonstrike]

FB:
 Valder nods his head in a direction, wanting to talk with some distance from the others, he felt safer that way. He also gestured to Nathan (@Dragonstrike) that he would like him to come as well, "Could you tell us about the Relic Stone?" Valder wasn't trying to keep his boss, Heart or Dagny out of it, he was moving on intuition.

Assuming both come along to the other side of the room, Valder starts, "Nathan, could you tell m- us what a Relic Stone is?
To Shiva he asked, "Did the mystery man tell you to find anything? Like a rock or somethin'?"

 The mystery man is that guy that knew stuff about the library.

Nathan raises an eyebrow when Valder motions to exclude Ventus, Heart, and Dagny from this conversation, but follows anyways.

"Well, from my understanding, a Relic Stone is a powerful, almost magical artifact.  The one in Agate Village in Orre is a tall pillar of black, semi-circular stones, with strange symbols and writing on each one in various locations.  It's said it's located where Celebi once resided, and that the pillar still contains a fraction of the mythical's power to this day.  Something that nobody from outside the village fully believed until about 10 years ago, when Celebi itself was said to have appeared there once again."

"I do have a theory that it's not the only Relic Stone, but it is the only one recorded history is awareof to this day from my knowledge.  A sacred landmark touched by a Legendary or Mythical's power...in short, that's what a Relic Stone is..."

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

(...)
To Shiva he asked, "Did the mystery man tell you to find anything? Like a rock or somethin'?"

 The mystery man is that guy that knew stuff about the library.

Now Shiva WAS somewhat worried, anxious, yet kinda curious if she's very honest. If Valder wants to talk about something...then it must be important, she just felt it was.

'Mystery Man'? Who's th- Ah. "Y...You mean Dr. Hypericac by 'mystery man', Valder? That Pokepsychologist from Orre, purple suits? Yes, he...uhm, told me about an artifact that opens a Pokemon's heart - described it as a dark black stone, a pillar, often dozens of meters tall. Seemingly very old and often decorated with strange designs."

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

"Wait a moment, Celebi? THE Celebi, mythic being capable to traveling through time, the 'Voice of the Forest'?"