[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Iron]

http://pokemonuranium.co/forum/showthrea...8#pid26928
So Shiva actually does know about the timeline of the Healing Machine.

Anyway, moving on.

Gothitelle and Shiva look up at the night sky together. At first, Gothitelle actually seems confused, and she wanders down to the base of Vapor Falls and back up again. As the two stare at the sky, they can see several Southern Hemisphere constellations, including the Southern Doublade, Sableye's Wink, and Delibird's Gift. And a faint backdrop behind the constellation stars, the smudges of distant galaxies and proto-galaxies: the Galvantula Nebula, Alpha Girafari, and the 47 Toucannon Cluster. This last one was named by the Mamo's ancestors on Alola.

Gothitelle points to the pool near the Falls. Reflected within are clearer copies of certain stars. What most of them mean, Shiva has no idea, but clearly they mean something to Gothitelle. One thing she can see is the star of Sirius, which represents any canine Pokemon, eclipsing the Sableye's Wink, which has associations with treasure and ancient battlegrounds.

Promise fulfilled, Gothitelle gains 1 loyalty!

[Iron]

Ralts doesn't seem like he'll lose any Happiness over fainting, but he has some weird blotches from the Shadow Ball. Interestingly, they don't hurt when Nathan prods them, but if he examines them for too long they start to pain Ralts. Should clear up in a couple days on their own, and much faster with any amount of medical care.

[Lord Windos]

Spoiler

Lucifer instinctively grabs Ventus' finger as it passes overhead with the final sprinkles of powder. There is a mild flash of light, somewhat similar to the light of a Pokeball coughing up a Pokemon, but dull and ineffective. Ventus' empathy picks up the jolting feeling of a tangible bond between Lucifer and Ventus. It fills both of you with happiness and loyalty to each other. Your ability to pick up each others' thoughts is permanently heightened - and you notice that Lucifer is not even thinking about gold or apples right now. He's thinking about his brother, Ventus Zachariah. In the bat's mind, you're like a big older brother bat Pokemon with no wings.

The ritual complete, Noibat sneezes and leaps to your shoulder for an uncharacteristically warm cuddle. (...)
For the next couple hours, Noibat wants to stay out of his ball, and he does a little wriggling happy dance the whole time whenever he thinks about the oath Ventus made.

Ventus also gets 1XP for the great poem! That really feels like Mamo style.

(Thanks! I thought I'd blend Haiku style poetry with Epic Poetry/Story telling that's present in Gilgamesh, so I'm glad it turn out so well!)

That lumenesense , which was seemingly conjured up as his little devil snatched his finger, left Ven somewhat startled, as it caused him to blink in confusion and wonder "What in Reshirim's name produced tha-" , before he felt it. The intense, vivid, joy ....the unwavering, deep faith , the undeniable and undeliable connection between him and his brother, seeing that they returned his familial connections.......the empath felt all that even more as the effects of the Bonding Ritual fully kicked in. Its (the bond) suddenness and the purity/concentration of the warm emotions it carried very nearly took him completely aback, forcing to sit down at the table so as not to collapse onto the floor as he proceed/came to grips with what just happened.

'Who-wha-oh my............ That.....this is odd , unexpected, almost overwhelming even .......yet it feels so......fulfilling and right. Almost akin to finding something precious you'd though was lost forever, or never expected to encounter it yourself...... And my bond with my brother......its much more powerful and tightknit,  like our souls are connected with braided steel wire. Is this.....is this all  result of the Bonding Ritual? If so its......Tandel either understated how severe its impact on the participants is......or perhaps my bond with Lucifer amplified its effects? How..... fascinating, if slightly unnerving for its boldness. I'll have to......retest this later my Blue Apricorn later to see if similar results happens, and if so........this could greatly progress my research and goals................'

It was only when Lucifer gave him a tackle cuddle that Ventus was roused from his contemplations , pulling him back into reality as he stared down at them with a sense of wonder......before he leaned in and gently returned it, tears now streaking down his eyes as he finally came to full terms with his newfound and embolden bond with his brother.

"You do......oh, you do. Lucifer......I'm so grateful to have you in my life. For so long as we remain together in this life, I promise that I will to return that love to you, and do my best to make sure it only grows stronger......."

They stayed like this for awhile, now all but true brothers , if not in spirit, until the moment passed and Lucifer hopped off and began to explore the room with joyous and elated energy, occasionally breaking out in dance, while Ventus watched on as he dried his tears and set to task putting this new facet of his empathy under the firm tight yolk of his iron clad emotional grip over himself, though not to the point it be quashed. Eventually, the researcher was able to stand up and move around once more without feeling like his legs were jello, and so with a whistle he summoned his tiny drake bat to him, who promptly flew straight onto him and crawled into his tweed sweeter, head popping out as they craned it upwards to give him a smile and happy/pleased croon. No matter who, what, when, or where, their brother's nice clothes were always sooooo comfy <3~

Giving them an fond smile and a head pat, Ventus motioned towards the door with one hand and said: "As much as I  love to luxate in our closeness, what do you say we get out of our room and explore Stair for a bit, before heading to the Shelter? I rather we spend our day together seeing the sights of the city and render aid to the Shelter one last time before we leave the city, and I'm sure you'd appreciate the chance to stretch your wings and investigate all the nooks and crannies you can!"

Order: Spend one Encounter Exploring the City with Lucifer as both free time and if he finds anything particularly interesting/useful/both, and then head over to the Shelter to do some last minute helping/assessment and saying good bye to everyone there. With that, I'll be all caught up FINALLY! After Iron responds to this post I'll get back to you on your message, @PhantomUnderYourDesk !

Also, the rest of you guys can move on now, since I can have Ventus magic himself to the lobby with Lucifer without much trouble now to take part of things if I want!

[Iron]

Encounter check: (1)(6) = 7, average.

Ventus doesn't find too much during his explorations, though he does deepen his understanding of the city.
He also spots that Geodude again, that you've all been seeing off and on. It is digging away at the roots of Mount Sentry. Mostly just tunneling, perhaps hoping to connect up to the existing tunnels and form a new entrance.

[Lord Windos]

  Instead, there's an unconscious Ralts that Nathan's gently and affectionately holding in his arms.  How odd...

Anyone listening carefully might also hear this being said to Nurse Joy:  "...no, I'll hang on to him for tonight.  I want to be there when he wakes up.  First time he's fainted in over a year, so I want to personally make sure he's okay."

By the time the two brothers had finished exploring the city and returned to the Center, the sky had already begun to darken as the sun began to set. Lucifer was now perched on Ven's shoulder, bobbing his head and chattering animatedly after a long and joyful days of bonding with their brotherly master, while the researcher himself listened with a simply happy smile, humming a tune to himself as he glided into the lobby, a certain peppiness in his step and serene content that has seldom been seen since the group has first entered Stair so long ago. To Nathan, its almost as if yesterday's heavy topics and strained events had not occurred at all, and to the rest of the group it would seem like a fabulous return to form on his part!

When he spotted Nathan at the counter, instead of the now typical apathy/weariness/stress he feels in almost any encounter with them, his good mood was entirely unaffected due to being that happy. However, seeing the boy carrying a Ralts briefly caught him off guard, causing him to come to a stop as he pondered this.......until almost immediately he detected the familiar bond between them, and then just as quickly remembered they had the Neverstone when that befuddled him. Neither of those things stopped his curiousity at the why of such a thing happening, as well as the fact the poor little empath was all bruised and banged up, however.

 'Huh.....so it appears that Nathan has devolved his Kirlia back into Ralts, and that they gotten into a nasty scrap judging by those wounds on him. Strange and a tad mystifying......but nothing that can't be solved by inquiring with him about it,' Ventus though, before he silently walked over behind the young trainer and clasped him on the shoulder.

"Greetings, Nathan! Judging by the condition of your Ralts and the laborious sensation I detect, you've had a eventful day I take it? Would you care to share what lead you here with him like so?"

[Lord Windos]

As Ventus reached over to clasp Nathan on the shoulder, he felt something small and hard on his person......somewhere , which caused him to involuntarily raise his eyebrows in surprise. He also noticed his brother looking rather furitively and suspicious, adding further to his perplextion about this oddity he was sensing on his person. 'How....strange. Hmm....well, only one way to find out what this mysterious thing is, I suppose,' he thought, before promptly flicking his wrist to summoned said unknown from.....somewhere, before raising it up to his/Lucifer's face to examine it. What could it....?

[Iron]

It looks like a small red gem, kind of oval in shape, but cut in half. You don't know anything about its value or anything. Lucifer shrugs. He doesn't know either. He kind of wants it, though.

[Lord Windos]

It looks like a small red gem, kind of oval in shape, but cut in half. You don't know anything about its value or anything. Lucifer shrugs. He doesn't know either. He kind of wants it, though.

Now the researcher was mysitified on top of being surprised and highly upon gazing at the ruby red half of some gemstone, giving it an asckew look as a puzzled expression overtook his previous smile. "........What is this now? I don't recall picking it up, nor some event that could have resulted it coming into my possession, so how in Kyurem's frosty domain.......?  ....What a curious conundrum...... Hmm.....well, it mine now and I don't sense anything amiss from it, so I think I'll keep it for now. Perhaps I can find out what it exactly is later, and the how and why it materialized itself on my person," Ventus said, before he stored it away into his bag for safe keeping, earning him a disappointed croon from Lucifer, which was quickly sorted out with another head pat and rub. Normally he wouldn't hesistate to give such treasure for his dragon's horde, but its not everyday you somehow acquire a mysterious gemstone, and he didn't want to relinquish it so easily until he got to the bottom of it!

[Dragonstrike]

"Hm?"

Nathan turns around carefully...

"...oh, Ventus."

"...quiet, please. He's sleeping..."

...

"...it's been so long since I last saw him sleeping this peacefully...strange sores or no...I'm no doctor, but I'm sure they'll heal just fine..."

Nathan's look turns just a little sheepish.

"...we kinda got roughed up a little by Valder earlier...heh heh...was fun, though...Theo was quite the little wrecking ball, and his Froakie evolved...and he seemed to get a bit more skilled in the process, so I'd call that a plus as well..."

At this point, Viktor arrives with that letter from Heart. Nathan shoots the possessed tree stump (and Heart) a...questioning glance, but he takes it.

Reads it for a few minutes.

...

...

...

...he's...rather stunned by what he read.

He's not entirely sure what to think about it...he puts the letter away with a quiet sigh. There's only a small hint of the anger that he and Kirlia had been feeling previously. Ralts dislike conflict, so Nathan's trying his utmost best to stay calm and reasonable...though he's most definitely far more confused than anything else...

"...well, this has certainly been an...interesting day...kinda looking forward to laying down after I've wrapped up some loose ends..."

[Nylon]

Valder is also present in the room (he is now at least).

 He got Frogadier on his shoulder (still fits, right?) and Theo next to him. He sees his boss and approaches shyly, "Hello". He sees that the girl, Shiva is not present. He's constantly thinking about the trade-evolution she proposed and if it's worth it.