[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Lord Windos]

Spoiler

Seeing Nathan slowly snap out of his almost trace like daze ('A sign of becoming overly dependent on his partner, no doubt....') and looking towards Calam and......whatever Wolf Pokémon that Ditto had decided to Transform into today, he nods his head approvingly, as he could easily guess how their inherent skills/Move could be put to good use.

"Nathan, are you okay now? Do you wish to go on ahead with Raphael with Calam and Ditto, or do you want to stick with us?"

He says this partially to confirm they are okay, and partially to get their mind back onto the plan(s) he and everyone else had laid out. Here's hoping this subtly works.....

Nathan shakes his head.  No, he's not okay.

When asked if he wishes to go on ahead, also no.  Nathan looks at Solosis next.  Calam still needs to keep an eye on the little bugger, so Nathan can't go charging off even if he wants to.  It'd be easier to keep an eye on Solosis if they remain with the rest of the group and don't have to worry about watching their backs as much.

".....We'll find Ralts, so persevere the best you can Nathan. We'll find them all...."

The boy's meaningful look at Solosis almost make Ventus comment they could just Faint them and stuff them into their bag, but he manages to hold his tongue and only nods his head in response. No need to push him over the edge once more by making such comments in the state of mind their in.

Ven's all ready to go too, if Nathan and the rest of the group are (Hearts long gone by this point, I assume). Question now is if everyone is onboard with using all those Pokémon I mentioned and Lucifer's Tailwind to catch up with those Pokémon by following their tracks/scent, or continue on foot?

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

Ven's all ready to go too, if Nathan and the rest of the group are (Hearts long gone by this point, I assume). Question now is if everyone is onboard with using all those Pokémon I mentioned and Lucifer's Tailwind to catch up with those Pokémon by following their tracks/scent, or continue on foot?

"Ven....there's enough room....on my Tropius back Haaahhh......... for two and it's......comfortable to fly on him. Haaahh...." She's not really letting to of Ven's arm, not totally at least. If he agrees on flying on Tropius with her (she in the front, it's her Pokemon) and Valder+Nathan mount Swiftfire plus our other Pokemon out following while we all are sped up by Lucifer's Tailwind and possible my Tropius' Gusts, it should be fine, I guess.


(It's after 2am however, I'm tired. Night~)

[Lord Windos]

Spoiler

Ven's all ready to go too, if Nathan and the rest of the group are (Hearts long gone by this point, I assume). Question now is if everyone is onboard with using all those Pokémon I mentioned and Lucifer's Tailwind to catch up with those Pokémon by following their tracks/scent, or continue on foot?

"Ven....there's enough room....on my Tropius back Haaahhh......... for two and it's......comfortable to fly on him. Haaahh...." She's not really letting to of Ven's arm, not totally at least. If he agrees on flying on Tropius with her (she in the front, it's her Pokemon) and Valder+Nathan mount Swiftfire plus our other Pokemon out following while we all are sped up by Lucifer's Tailwind and possible my Tropius' Gusts, it should be fine, I guess.


(It's after 2am however, I'm tired. Night~)

(Ven would agree to ride with Shiva on Tropius, indeed! Guess Mr. Finder can ride on Yule by himself, which should be able to keep up with Swiftfire! Shiva and Ven are going to get left behind no matter what due to having 3 DEX VS Nathan's 5 + Tailwind boost, but hey, only makes sense given he's the one that lost most of his mates! Since Malphena can't sense anything, she gets returned to further recuperate and Raphael stays out to help track down his friends!)

[Iron]

The foreign Ditto Pokemon puts its nose to the floor and starts running onward excitedly! In fact, it completely outpaces its trainer at first! Your first thought is the Ditto is boldly running to battle, but eventually you catch up to it. It has its hand over its nose and it's whimpering. Its eyes are flickering very oddly.

When Shiva and Ventus try to open their empathetic senses, they immediately get an OVERWHELMING mental urge to run headlong and recklessly down the tunnel!

[Lord Windos]

Spoiler

The foreign Ditto Pokemon puts its nose to the floor and starts running onward excitedly! In fact, it completely outpaces its trainer at first! Your first thought is the Ditto is boldly running to battle, but eventually you catch up to it. It has its hand over its nose and it's whimpering. Its eyes are flickering very oddly.

When Shiva and Ventus try to open their empathetic senses, they immediately get an OVERWHELMING mental urge to run headlong and recklessly down the tunnel!

As he had already braced himself to feel everyone's Pokémon negativity/unease and had......experience with dealing with external mental influences, that urgent desire to charge off into the abyss whether willing or be dragged there screeming only caused him to recoil and his eyes to bug/his heartrate to accelerate for a brief moment. Then, with a snarl and a violent twist of his head, Ventus clamped down viscously on that urge and utterly eviscerated it, before shutting/deadening his empathy in such a way that it was like slamming a door closed and battering down the hatches. His mental defenses now fully fortified and ready for such a threat dared tried to brench the sanctity of his mind, and he would not be taken off guard like that again!

He then, knowing that Shiva was no doubt experiencing that very same as he was but had zero experience in handling such powerful emotional influence, reaches forward and wraps his arms around her to pin her to him, before shouting: "Shiva, do not succumb to that trechorous desire! Resist, and close your mind to its influence! Resist!"

The researcher then twists his head to shout at the others of the group: "Something ahead.....it tried to ensnare Shiva and I and lead us astray! No doubt it is responsible for bewitching our Pokémon and stealing them from us, so everyone strength your resolve and proceed with extreme, utmost caution and deliberation!"

Ventus then recall Raphael to their Pokeball, as he doesn't want to chance his child suddenly falling to that siren's song like compulsion to charge on ahead and become ensnared by whatever was generating it. Given his deep bond with Lucifer that bordered on being tangibly connected to them, he could trust they would not fly off ahead with him supplying/sharing with them some of his own iron clad Will.....

[Dragonstrike]

...given Nathan's deep bond with Ralts, it's VERY difficult for him to resist a very similar urge that's of his own creation.

Actually, 'maybe of his own creation' is probably more accurate right now.

At this point, he doesn't know how much of that is his own fears and desires and how much of it might be artificial...

Seeing Ditto physically stop sniffing and hold its nose...that weird look in its eyes as it whimpers...it's enough to make him pause...

Nathan knows this species.  Well, knows of it.  He's read about its tendencies...he thinks that Ditto is probably going to be trustworthy and reliable in this form...

"...d-do you think th-there's...d-danger ahead...Ditto?  C-Calam?"

[Iron]

Ditto nods and points forward dramatically, twitching his cape.

Calam nods firmly. His teeth are gritted. This is going to be the greatest challenges he's ever faced.

[Dragonstrike]

Ditto nods and points forward dramatically, twitching his cape.

Calam nods firmly. His teeth are gritted. This is going to be the greatest challenges he's ever faced.

Nathan is genuinely worried with very good reason now.

"...pl-please be all r-right, Ralts..."

Well, if Calam is this worried about the situation...no way he'll be able to spare any of his attention for Solosis in a moment when they proceed...Nathan's down two pokemon already, too, which doesn't help matters any at all either...

"...s-sorry, Solosis...C-Calam, KO it."

He knows Solosis probably doesn't care about much except being in danger of dying...but it's not a request Nathan enjoys asking of Calam.

Once Solosis is KOed again, back in the bag it goes!  Time to fully focus on the problem at hand!

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

When Shiva and Ventus try to open their empathetic senses, they immediately get an OVERWHELMING mental urge to run headlong and recklessly down the tunnel!

As he had already braced himself to feel everyone's Pokémon negativity/unease and had......experience with dealing with external mental influences, that urgent desire to charge off into the abyss whether willing or be dragged there screeming only caused him to recoil and his eyes to bug/his heartrate to accelerate for a brief moment. Then, with a snarl and a violent twist of his head, Ventus clamped down viscously on that urge and utterly eviscerated it, before shutting/deadening his empathy in such a way that it was like slamming a door closed and battering down the hatches. His mental defenses now fully fortified and ready for such a threat dared tried to brench the sanctity of his mind, and he would not be taken off guard like that again!

He then, knowing that Shiva was no doubt experiencing that very same as he was but had zero experience in handling such powerful emotional influence, reaches forward and wraps his arms around her to pin her to him, before shouting: "Shiva, do not succumb to that trechorous desire! Resist, and close your mind to its influence! Resist!"

The researcher then twists his head to shout at the others of the group: "Something ahead.....it tried to ensnare Shiva and I and lead us astray! No doubt it is responsible for bewitching our Pokémon and stealing them from us, so everyone strength your resolve and proceed with extreme, utmost caution and deliberation!" (...)

As Ventus adviced her, Shiva also has braced herself to anything malicious she might probably ('Hopefully not.... Hopefully...........not....H-Hopef...' she wildly thought and repeated to herself) pick up when concentrating her senses - but it didn't do anything on minimizing that OVERWHELMING urge, that DESIRE to just screw everything and get running, sadly. She has worked on honing her flourishing skill, that's true, but she hasn't worked at all on shutting her mind and nerve ends from anything that might be less pleasant yet. Ventus has promised to aid her in that as it was something he naturally was capable of - 'later however' he said, as it's something that 'needs time and dedication'. In fact, she has always cared to keep herself open for any influences from outside, this completely backfired at her in this situation.

Backfired in the means of 'hitting her raw and recklessly', causing her to gasp audibly, freeze at the spot after an unpleasant shiver has ran through her body (it made sure to not miss any fibre, nice) and being at high danger of mentally drowning in that urge.

She instantly reached out and made clear attempts to leap forward and follow that siren's song, but thanks to the star's and Reshiram's aid Ventus prevented Shiva from doing something very stupid as he wraped his arms around her, pulling her close to himself. He was stronger, but that didn't mean that the fae enthusiast didn't TRY to break free.

Oh, and HOW she tried! She made use of anything she had in order to get her love from setting her free, struggling and squirming in his grasp like a Barboach that has just been grabbed by a hungry bird Pokemon. Only barely Ven's words of asking her to not succumb reached her. "Ven, what are you doing there? LET ME GO, P-L-E-A-S-E! Can't you...feel that, hear that? Need to... Have to...follow!! Can't....." She jolted her head to him, facing him directly - they were only centimeters apart from one another. In her expression, there was agony, fear, her eyes threathened to fill with tears, a low and weak "No...." escaped her among the hitched breaths of hers.

Anything that'll cause her to avert her attention from that urge to run down the tunnel and focus on the moment/current situation instead and/or shock her will probably do the trick of calming her.

Also, if Calam's so serious, how does Dizzy react/behave to the scenery?

[Iron]

Ditto nods and points forward dramatically, twitching his cape.

Calam nods firmly. His teeth are gritted. This is going to be the greatest challenges he's ever faced.

Nathan is genuinely worried with very good reason now.

"...pl-please be all r-right, Ralts..."

Well, if Calam is this worried about the situation...no way he'll be able to spare any of his attention for Solosis in a moment when they proceed...Nathan's down two pokemon already, too, which doesn't help matters any at all either...

"...s-sorry, Solosis...C-Calam, KO it."

He knows Solosis probably doesn't care about much except being in danger of dying...but it's not a request Nathan enjoys asking of Calam.

Once Solosis is KOed again, back in the bag it goes!  Time to fully focus on the problem at hand!

Calam has no qualms in KOing the Solosis. The Pokemon itself is pretty resigned to its fate, and not fast enough to Evade anyway.