Cortoza - The Volcanic Island

[Myrrh]

.:Myrrh:.

The man’s saddening story reveals what the village was like in its prime, and you can’t help but wish that you had arrived a few years ago. Galina, the man’s wife, clutches the Magby tightly in her lap as the story reaches its climax, and you can see a glint of tears begin to form across her cheeks. At the end of the tale, surprise is written clearly across you face. How could the village have gotten itself in this sort of predicament? “That was some story,” you acknowledge to the man. “It’s too bad all of this had to happen. But like I said before, I’m willing to help in any way I can. I can leave right away too, I’d just need to know what direction to take and any other information I might need to know. You said the back of the village…” At your pause, the woman arises from her chair and rummages in a nearby cabinet. Turning, she offers you a rolled up piece of parchment weathered with age. She smiles at you as you take it. “Slate and I would be forever grateful if you could help. That’s a map of the village. A red ‘X’ marks the spot of the cave. Most of the noises we hear happen at dusk and early in the night. Judging by the sun, it looks to be an hour or two before dark, so if you set out right away, you should be able to find the cave just in time.” You thank her and Slate, heading towards the entrance of the hut. At the entryway, another question emerges in your mind.

“If I may ask,” you begin, “why don’t you let your granddaughter go check out the cave? Is she too young to be exploring on her own or is this cave much more dangerous than I think it is?” Your question hangs in the air for a few seconds, as if Slate is debating on how to word his answer. “Umm, no,” he finally ansers. “She is actually sixteen years old, it’s just that we’d never send her out to investigate something like this. We don’t know if the cave’s dangerous, but something is definitely amiss up there.” His answer seems genuine, so you thank the elderly couple, leaving the hut to start out on this unusual adventure. As the cloth door falls over your shoulder, you can hear Slate’s voice call forth: “May Pele watch over and guide you on your quest.”

His words send a faint chill through your body as you set off towards the back of the village. Unfurling the rolled-up map, you see a faint red ‘X’ imprinted at the base of Mt. Ceniza, as Galina had said. By looking at the distance from the ‘X’ to the tiny houses etched on the parchment, it looks like the cave’s a mile or two north of your present location. Adjusting your traveling direction accordingly, you set off down a side path that branches away from Slate’s hut. Signs of abandonment are clear in this part of the village, for many of the cottage’s doors stand wide open or aren’t even there at all. Inside you can view grimy, dilapidated objects: chairs, tables, boxes, even some rotten food. A movement out of one of these very huts catches your eye as you walk past it. Suddenly, a Spearow darts out of the doorway, flying straight towards you. It pecks at your hands and face, causing you to drop the map. Cawing delightedly, the dastardly quick bird leaps down, grabs the parchment, and starts to fly away! “Great job, Spearow!” a voice calls a few houses ahead. Looking up, you see a girl running alongside the flying bird. A shock of red hair tops her head. Your map has just been stolen!

How will you respond?

Myrrh slowly made his way out of the village, his mind filled with even more questions despite getting some answers. "Pele, who's Pele?" Myrrh said to himself quietly. "I wonder why they were so cautious about their granddaughter? Sure, she might be the only one they have left besides themselves, but if she were a capable pokemon trainer she might have been able to do something about.....this." He continued to quietly ponder his thoughts to himself as he saw more of the village, It was hard to look at in its current state. "Oh!, Pele is the Goddess these people worship....huh?"

Myrrh suddenly noticed the Spearow come at him from a hut, but he couldn't react in time. His hands and face get pecked and he drops his map as a result. He notices a red-headed girl start to run off with the Spearow with his map. "Aw, dammit! Quick, come on out Scout!" His Houndour materializes before him, she looks rather happy, like it wants to play. But there is no time for that. "C'mon Scout!" Myrrh starts to take off as soon as he has her attention, Scout quickly follows behind. "They took our map, we need to go after them, hurry!" The boy and his dog were now trying to catch up to the girl and her bird.

[gmoyes]

.:gmoyes:.

Questions plague your thoughts upon seeing the fire dog roar. How could a cavern thousands of years old contain a Pokémon ready and willing to fight? Dismissing the question for a later time, you focus on the matter at hand. “Theta,” you call through the microphone, “stay off to the side and get a good view of the area. Echo, it’s time to battle. Let’s see if we can end this quick.” The Bronzor listens to your commands, then shoots forth a wave of Hypnosis towards the regal Arcanine. It seems it was expecting something along these lines, for the fire-type manages to barely dodge the Hypnosis by putting on a burst of Extremespeed. The Arcanine zooms and feints this way and that before jumping straight up in the air above Echo. Flames surround the canine as it Wheels back to the earth, hitting the Bronzor head-on. Thanks to its Heatproof ability, the damage from the fire-type attack is weakened, although pain still races through the steel-type’s innards. You yell encouragements through the microphone upon seeing the effectiveness of this particular ability, realizing it was a very smart choice to include Echo on this expedition.

Not stopping there, Echo retaliates with an Extrasensory. A golden beam of psychic energy coalesces around the steel-type before it’s propelled a few yards towards the Arcanine. It tries to dodge this attack like before but fails to do so in time. The psychic attack knocks the Pokémon back a few feet further. Taking advantage of this time of weakness, Echo follows through with an Ancient Power, summoning forth a few rocks and boulders that fly towards the Arcanine. Growling in anger, the fire-type defends itself by using its Iron Tail to smash many of the rocks. It fails to smash all of the rocks in time, for one manages to knock the Pokémon off its feet. The battle has only just begun, and it appears that both sides are even… for now.

What’s your next move?

Alex gave a little grunt as the Hypnosis failed. Of course it wouldn't be that easy. The miss left an opening for the fire type to charge in and ram Echo while surrounded by flames. "Come on Echo, you can take it!" he cheered. He was glad for the steel type's resistance to fire, coupled with its natural levitation pretty much gave it no weaknesses. While ones without the Heatproof ability were more attuned with levitation, survivablity, he thought, fit the species more.

Alex continued watching as the golden wave of psychic energy struck the Arcanine, followed by an Ancient Power, though some of the rocks were blocked by the Iron Tail. It wasn't a bad start, but they had to put on a lot of pressure in order to win. "Echo,Confuse Ray. If it gives you a clear shot, use Ancient Power. If not, hit it with Extrasensory. Follow up with a Shadow Ball."

As the Bronzor went to follow his orders, Alex felt tempted to call out some orders to Theta, or even get Phi in there. It would be much easier if everyone ganged up on it, though with his Magnemite's electricity useless and Phi's inexperiance and the fact that he would have to teleport to get in there made the thought pointless. Echo would just have to hang in there and get this done.

[Plight of Leon]

Just like to say hello everyone, my name is Blaze, although Joe is also good, and I am the new ZA at Cortoza Island. Welcome one and all to my updating fun show! So far, I am taking coolz8 and darksearchman, though, I have room for four more. Have fun!

Mt. Senica
Cinder Village
Coolz8

You try to find some Pokemon in the water by throwing rocks into the water. The rocks hit the water, dispelling the ash and showing the water's oddly clar nature. You think about how the murkiness must have only been an ash layer deep, and find bigger and bigger rocks to throw in the water. You clutch a rather large rock that makes you stagger, and go to throw it into the water, when a hand clutches your arm and squeezes it. You squeak from the mystery person's grip, and you turn your head back to see who this person is. He is a man, who easily has a foot or maybe even two over you and has a definite weight advantage. With a stubby beard and rather muscular arms, he reminds you a bit of a lumberjack. Behind him is a Golurk, a Pokemon who lurks(harharhar) over you. You are unsure which to be more afraid of.

"Now listen here kid. You better pay attention and you better pay good too, because there is no refunds. Now, what is God's tarnation makes you think that throwing rocks into the hot spring was a good idea? People come into this hot spring all the time. Imagine if you hit one of them with one of these rocks. You could have hurt someone, hell, even killed them if you were an unlucky kid. What exactly were you planning on?" You tell him that you were just throwing the rocks to try and get some Pokemon. "Oh really? Well, truthfully kid, I dont believe you at all. I think that you need to come with me so we can sort out what you can do for punishment." You were confused and scared about the whole thing, but more scared about what this punishment could be. He draggs you along a trail that leads away from the hotspring.

At the top of the trail is the bathrooms that were put here for people who wanted to use the bathroom and not go in the hot springs. "Now, wait here. No funny business either, or, Cassius here is going to give you a rude knock on the head." The man left, and the Golurk moved over your field of vision, grumbling ominously as it makes sure you know what's what. You nod your head yes, and it stops. The man comes out a second later with a couple of mops and a bucket. "Alright kid, here is what you have to do. You need to wash the bathrooms. You have got everything you need here, and I want to see that bathroom sparkling so much I can't see my reflection. You got that?" You nod your head yes, grimacing over what you had to do. "Alright, you can bring a Pokemon in their with you if you want. And no trying to run away either, alright?"

What will you do?

Mt. Infernus
Scenic Walk
Dark Searchman

Your Seviper Amethyst and your Druddigon Sarkahn seem more than ready to go adventuring, and all three of you start going up the trail. The walk is a long one, but is not short of sights to see and things to gawk at. As you climb a set of stairs that were carved out of the native rock, you notice a flock of Wingull below you, too far to reach, but their flying is beautiful and reassures you that there are Pokemon around here. Sarkahn notices a rock that kind of looks like him, and roars happily. You guys are having a pretty good time here, when you notice something in the bushes near you. It rustles with a loud noise, and Amethyst comes close to it, hissing and wagging its rear end ready to pounce. It launched itself at the bushes...only to come out, screaming and hissing. Pieces of his hide is steaming, and he is hissing violently. Seems his attack did little.

Out comes a little Larvesta, steamed himself about being attacked. He also seems not to fear either the large snake nor the dragon, and makes this known by TAKING DOWN Sarkahn, causing him to flip back and roar in pain. He then goes after Amethyst, launching a furious EMBER his way, causing the snake to his and shrink back from the flames. The little tyke seems more than ready to battle you, though, it seems to have been stalking you the entire time.

What will you do?

[Dark Searchman]

Just like to say hello everyone, my name is Blaze, although Joe is also good, and I am the new ZA at Cortoza Island. Welcome one and all to my updating fun show! So far, I am taking coolz8 and darksearchman, though, I have room for four more. Have fun!

Mt. Infernus
Scenic Walk
Dark Searchman

Your Seviper Amethyst and your Druddigon Sarkahn seem more than ready to go adventuring, and all three of you start going up the trail. The walk is a long one, but is not short of sights to see and things to gawk at. As you climb a set of stairs that were carved out of the native rock, you notice a flock of Wingull below you, too far to reach, but their flying is beautiful and reassures you that there are Pokemon around here. Sarkahn notices a rock that kind of looks like him, and roars happily. You guys are having a pretty good time here, when you notice something in the bushes near you. It rustles with a loud noise, and Amethyst comes close to it, hissing and wagging its rear end ready to pounce. It launched itself at the bushes...only to come out, screaming and hissing. Pieces of his hide is steaming, and he is hissing violently. Seems his attack did little.

Out comes a little Larvesta, steamed himself about being attacked. He also seems not to fear either the large snake nor the dragon, and makes this known by TAKING DOWN Sarkahn, causing him to flip back and roar in pain. He then goes after Amethyst, launching a furious EMBER his way, causing the snake to his and shrink back from the flames. The little tyke seems more than ready to battle you, though, it seems to have been stalking you the entire time.

What will you do?

Hyrem and his reptiles were really enjoying the scenery around here. Plenty of sights of the other mountains, the lush forests below... oh, and the flock of tasty Wingull that was too far out of reach for either the snake or the dragon, much to their chagrin. For Hyrem, it meant there were definitely some Pokemon here to look for, and just seeing the Wingull in flight lifted his spirits. Later on, they saw a jagged looking rock... it looked strangely like Sarkhan. He was elated by this, and he gave out a happy roar before posing beside it. "Hahahaha, what a ham you are, Sarkhan!" Hyrem laughed alongside Amethyst's hissing giggle. He took a picture of it with the camera on his Pokedex; that would be a keeper to show Connor sometime.

Further down the path- a rustle comes from the bushes. That was a dinner bell for Amethyst. She could definitely taste something in there, and she hissed a warning to Sarkhan; this meal was all hers. She slithers in close, her tail waving from side to side in excitement and her neck craning back, ready to strike at the hidden prey. Finally, she lashes out into the bushes to grab some free food...

"SAAAAAAH!" she shrieks as she recoils back, hissing in pain and anger. Her coils also looked singed a little; whatever was in there was apparently too hot to handle and swallow easily.

Then it revealed itself, and at first Hyrem didn't really know what it was. Then it dawned on him. "No way..." he said dumbfounded. "It... can't be!" He takes out his Pokedex to confirm his suspicions:

Larvesta, the Torch Pokemon. Legend tells of eggs being shot down to the earth from the sun and hatching into these Pokemon. They live at the base of volcanoes, whether active or dormant, and they will shoot fire from their horns to ward off predators or intruders. They evolve into Volcarona by enveloping themselves in a flaming cocoon where the internal temperature is said to reach 5000 degrees Celsius.

This was it! A Larvesta! Hyrem figured there were rare Pokemon here on Mt. Infernus, but he never thought he'd encounter something this rare. Capturing a Larvesta was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and he wasn't about to let this chance pass him by! "Ohhhh, this Pokemon has got to be mine! Amethyst, I know what you're thinking right now, but no, you are NOT going to eat this one. I plan on capturing this guy, do I make myself clear?" Amethyst looked back towards him with an astonished hiss. Catch this one!? But it tried to burn her! She was NOT going to let that go unpunished!

Larvesta then proved itself to be even more feisty by Taking Sarkhan Down a notch with its reckless ram into him, causing the Druddigon to reel back for a moment and roar in pain. Man, willing to take recoil from its Take Down attack AND make contact with Sarkhan's Rough Skin? {you may want to take that into account if you haven't, Blaze} That's double reckless! And then he had the nerve to shoot some Embers at Amethyst, causing her to shy away from the small flames and hiss vulgar obscenities towards the sun moth larva. Something told Hyrem that this bug was more than ready for this; it was preparing for this to happen, even following the threesome around! It wanted to make its presence known, daring the reptiles to make a move against him. What a bold Pokemon! Hyrem wanted this Larvesta even more now, and right now, his Pokemon looked like they were actually shying away from it.

"Hold on, guys, don't tell me you're actually backing away from a bug!" he calls his Pokemon out.

Both of them stop and look back towards Hyrem with deadly stares. That snapped them out of it for sure!

"Ah eh heh heh, I guess not!" he chuckles nervously before regaining his composure. "Now, are we going to take this lying down, or are we gonna accept this bug's challenge!?"

"DRUUUUUUD!" Sarkhan roars confidently.

"HAAAAAAA!" Amethyst hisses vehemently.

"That's what I thought!" Hyrem shouts out. "Now let's synch up and battle! Both of you start off with a Scary Face and let him know you guys aren't Pokemon to take lightly! Then we'll go on the attack! Amethyst, use Aqua Tail for the type advantage while Sarkhan Cuts it down to size!" Larvesta may have been ready for a fight, but so were Hyrem's two reptiles. And it was two against one, they'd have this battle in the bag... right?

[LucarioArtcunoSuicunLover]

Cortoza
The Volcanic Island

The Island

The constant heat seeping up through Cortoza's volcanic soil has given the island a distinct tropical feel, a vast and winding rainforest taking up a large percentage of the land's mass and surrounding each of Cortoza's mountains. The rainforest is humid and full of life, but also very dangerous. The ground is unstable in certain areas making hiking through the forest dangerous even for the most experienced of guides. Several patches of arid, rocky land dot the island, where no vegetation will grow, and it's there that some of the strongest and most fearsome Pokémon roam.

Ignatius River: Flowing from the base of Mt. Infernus and winding throughout the island before eventually flowing into the sea, the Ignatius River is a popular destination for travellers who wish to picnic by its banks, or take a dip after a long day of hiking. Many wild Pokémon can be found wandering around here, and most are rather friendly as they've become accustomed to seeing humans wandering along the shore.

The sound of trickling water is considered by most to be quite soothing. It was for Lass El too, despite her phobia, something she was highly grateful for. No matter where she went, she was always attracted to aquatic environments. Not that she dared entertain the thought of taking a dip. For starters, she hadn't brought her bathers. And, well, the memories...

Bah, she was thinking about that again. No she was here to have fun! Explore! She was on a volcanic island for whatever deity you so choose's sake! The sky was clear, the breeze was pleasant and it was the kind of day where you could just run with no goal in mind. The variety of life around was so different to that around the small town she'd grown up in, she couldn't wait to see some of it. Toss aside the fear because it's pointless, useless. Besides, she was far from alone and if worst comes to worst

Uh

She looked over at her spearow, who she'd let out to have some R&R. The TinyBird pokemon was hopping around happily, something in the grass seemed to have caught her attention. Peck peck hop peck, she was maybe getting a little chubby. Shame that most exersise routines for flying tpes involved, well, flying.

"Having fun there Sparow?"

"Spea!" She flapped wildly, though not hard enough to get off the ground.

"What do you say to going for a jog?"

Sparow looked at her legs, then at El's as if she was increadulous that the human thought she could keep up.

"Alright, alright, I'll walk. But I won't stop for you, you need the exersise." At that, El took off at a brisk pace heading upstream. Sparow hopped as fast as she could just to keep up. Everything seemed to be wonderful, and both of them felt like it was going to be a great day.

[CyberBlastoise]

Cortoza
The Volcanic Island
Mt. Infernus

The second largest of Cortoza's mountains, Mt. Infernus is now extinct. Many Pokémon have made their homes within the vast network of tunnels and caverns deep within the mountain, and aren't all that accustomed to seeing people. It's become the primary breeding ground for many of the rarer Pokémon who tend to shy away from humans, and due to the protective nature of the parent Pokémon, quite a hazardous area to traverse.

Areas:
The Rock Pool: Deep, deep, deep, within the bowels of Mt. Infernus there is rumoured to be a secluded water-filled chamber where extremely rare and ancient Pokémon dwell. Some even say that Pokémon have mutated over the centuries to create new breeds, never before seen in the land of Fizzy Bubbles. This has never been confirmed or denied, as those who have stumbled across this chamber have never been able to defeat the Pokémon they've encountered, let alone capture them. When told to bring proof of their existence, those who have tried to return to the chamber have never been able to find it again. Who knows? If you're lucky, you may just stumble across it...

Bill could not believe that he was headed back to Cortoza Island after his last encounter, which did not end well at all for him. Although this time he was not going to Mt. Pele, he was headed to Mt. Infernus to look for evidence of a mysterious place. Mt. Infernus was already a place of great dangers and excitement from the rarer Pokemon about, but for him, he was in it for the adventure. Accompanying the trainer was a Pokemon he felt comfortable traveling with in this region, Shelly his Kabutops. The volcano itself was thankfully extinct, which meant that Bill could more easily roam this area without any volcanic eruption making bad situations go worse, and his luck led him to things like that. Good for adrenaline he supposed, but not good for his health. He decided that the first thing he needed to do was find a cave that entered into the mountain and try his luck from there, even if this Rock Pool didn't exist, there was sure to be some secret he could unlock from the mountain's bowels. The anticipation just made him excited.

"Well, here we are," Bill said as they came to the base of Mt. Infernus. He turned to his Kabutops, who was enthralled by the mountain's 'beauty'. It's normally small pupils widened at the very site of this place, she was visibly taken in. Even though he could tell this, Bill still asked, "You ready, Shelly?" The Kabutops just nodded her head as she looked at her trainer. "All right then, let's head onward."

[Plight of Leon]

I hereby welcome LASL and CyberBlastoise into my group. This leaves room for TWO more people. Hop on so you can have some fun!

Mt. Infernus
Scenic Walk
Dark Searchman

You take notice on how reckless that Larvesta really is, and how it is actually scaring your Pokemon off. A Pokemon with that fiesty of a nature is a sure rarity, and coupled with the already rare nature of the Pokemon, you have to have this one. Both your Seviper and you Druddigon look ready for battle at you give them a little bit of introductory pep talk. They start off by glaring hard at the Larvesta, giving it the most intimidating and SCARY FACE they can give. Larvesta looks a little on edge, but his innate confidence and his brazen nature means he doesn't take the full effect of each one. But, his speed is lowered a little bit. Larvesta knows about the specialty of this move, and immediately cloaks himself in FLAMEs. He CHARGEs after Seviper, who looks a little frightened himself about the closing in flaming missile. He is able to dodge some of it, but his own large size gets to better of him, the Larvesta hits him on the end of the tail, doing some nice damage and increasing Larvesta's speed, overcoming the past attack. Amethyst looks at the bug again and hisses at it, maybe like some sort of warning or signal. His sort of singed tail becomes covered in a cloak of water, before the Seviper spins around and smacks Larvesta with the sharp end of the tail "LARRRRRRRVVVVESSSSSTAAAA!!!" it screams as it gets smacked around by Seviper's tail, being pushed over towards Sarkahn, your Druddigon. Druddigon takes the cue, and lowers his hand to the ground, white energy covering it, before he swings it upright, catching the Larvesta mid air for a powerful CUT. Larvest yells again as the pain hits it, and it looks to Sarkhan with revenge in its eyes. Larvesta breathes in before releasing a loud bunch of orange sound waves, with hit Sarkahn's ears and cause him to groan as the buggy energy rattles his ear drums.

At the end of this climatic battle scene, it seems that while both Amethyst and Sarkahn took some damage, they are still felling pretty well. The Larvesta seems to be bruised and beaten, but is nowhere close to breaking or giving up. You got quite a fight on your hands here!

What will you do?

The Island
Ignatius River
LASL

Your fears about drowning in the water and your doubts on Spearow's condition may have been disquieting and distracting at first, but you soon quickly find out that as long as you focus on the scenery, you are going to do just fine. You enjoy looking at all the mountains and trees and people. Many people have come by here to picnic and have a good time. People are also playing in the river, though, it doesn't fill you envy. You understand your fears and have a healthy respect for them. You mindlessly walk around, looking at the scenery, when you crash right into a woman's chest. You blush for a moment before backing away, and see that the woman was dressed in a very formal dress, hardly the clothes for the weather on the island. She had a parasol on her right arm and a Oriental fan on her left, and was also busy looking at the scenery not too notice you, though, she wasn't walking either.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry madame. It seems that I didn't notice that you were there and accidentally bumped into you." You get kind of confused at first, but realize she is only trying to be polite. You kindly explain that it was you who knocked into her and that you were sorry for what you had done. "Oh no madame, or is it mademoiselle? I can't quite remember my French. Truthfully, it is actually a blessing that you came along. See, my adorable little Gulpin, Vacuum, had gone missing on the river, and I am trying to look for him all over. I haven't been able to find him, though Lord knows that with his green color he might just blend in with the foliage perfectly. If you could spare some time for me, could you help me look for my little Vacuum?"

What will you do?

Mt. Infernus
The Rock Pool
CyberBlastoise

You have for some reason come back to Cortoza Island again, despite your last time being hardly what one would consider a success. With you is your faithful Kabutops Shelly, who at the moment in enthralled with the mountain's natural beauty. And who wouldn't be? The mountain is tall and majestic, and covered in lush mountains where plants and animals live in harmony. It is truly a beautiful place, and the fact that you are not going to take it in is kind of sad really. But, you came here for one reason, and that ws to find the fabled Rock Pool, a place where it is said that ancient Pokemon dwell that is nigh impossible to find. You have your suspicions, but, you know in your gut it exists. All you have to do know is to find it. You turn to Shelly and ask her if she might have any idea where the cave might be, being an ancient Pokemon herself and all, but she can't remember even hearing about the place, let alone knowing where it is. After a quick sigh, you start to trek up one of the trails.

The jungle is lush at some parts and would be nigh impossible to travel through for most people, but you have the trusty scythes of your Kabutops to slice through the thickest brush. Shelly clears the path for you while you keep a mental track of where you are going, because if you are ever going to find your way back, you are going to need a good idea where the cave. Suddenly, Shelly stops, and turns around, She nods with her head to look over her, and what you see is startling. There is a massive barren section in the forest, with a sign right in the middle of it. You waste no time going over to reach the sign, which appears to be faded and worn out at a far distance. However, as you get closer to the sign, you see that it becomes newer and newer until it looks like it was just posted yesterday. Puzzled by the strange phenomenon, you look at the sign for clues on what it says.

In a cave far down
Lies a stone unturned
A color like a goose's gown
And a home that is undisturbed

It shows the tragedy of the island
In one simple look
Because something washed over the island
And left the stone in a live nook

Now it has grown big and round
For all those to gather around
In the humble flesh of a shell
It lives and grows each day.

It seems like some sort of riddle, but you aren't sure. You are not even sure how to answer the riddle, and Shelly offers no advice.

What will you do?

[LucarioArtcunoSuicunLover]

I hereby welcome LASL and CyberBlastoise into my group. This leaves room for TWO more people. Hop on so you can have some fun!

The Island
Ignatius River
LASL

Your fears about drowning in the water and your doubts on Spearow's condition may have been disquieting and distracting at first, but you soon quickly find out that as long as you focus on the scenery, you are going to do just fine. You enjoy looking at all the mountains and trees and people. Many people have come by here to picnic and have a good time. People are also playing in the river, though, it doesn't fill you envy. You understand your fears and have a healthy respect for them. You mindlessly walk around, looking at the scenery, when you crash right into a woman's chest. You blush for a moment before backing away, and see that the woman was dressed in a very formal dress, hardly the clothes for the weather on the island. She had a parasol on her right arm and a Oriental fan on her left, and was also busy looking at the scenery not too notice you, though, she wasn't walking either.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry madame. It seems that I didn't notice that you were there and accidentally bumped into you." You get kind of confused at first, but realize she is only trying to be polite. You kindly explain that it was you who knocked into her and that you were sorry for what you had done. "Oh no madame, or is it mademoiselle? I can't quite remember my French. Truthfully, it is actually a blessing that you came along. See, my adorable little Gulpin, Vacuum, had gone missing on the river, and I am trying to look for him all over. I haven't been able to find him, though Lord knows that with his green color he might just blend in with the foliage perfectly. If you could spare some time for me, could you help me look for my little Vacuum?"

What will you do?

"O-on the river? As in, actually in the water?" Lass El couldn't help but clam up slightly. No, no, not gonna fall for that it's too nice a day to scramble up a tree and cry (oh deity that had been so embarasing). She shook her head before really thinking, simply trying to clear her mind. It then clicked that she had probably just accidentally refused the lady she ran into. Oh, what was it she wanted? To find her Gulpin. Green, stomach with not much else. Yes, El knew what they were, she could see what the lady meant by the camoflage. Couldn't understand the adorable part either, but that was coming from a girl who dreams of hugging goldeen and shellos. "Of course I'll help you! It's only fair after I walked into you." Okay now what um um, "Just, I probably won't be able to help if he fell in the water, I, uh, I forgot my bathers." That's it, she couldn't bring herself to admit that she'd come to a place where people liked to swim despite being deathly afraid of doing so herself. "Oh, and Sparow here isn't too great of a flyer, so she won't be able to help from the sky. She still has some keen eyes though, she'll probably be a good deal of help."

Speaking of the bird, she'd managed to flit up to El's shoulder, about as high as she could go without freaking out. "This is Sparow by the way, say hello to the nice lady!" Sparow chirped happily. "I'm technically Lass El, but I'm not much of a lass so just call me El. What's you name?"

[Charminions]

.:Charminions:.

Apollo listens intently to your orders, cawing quickly to let you know he understands. Suddenly a strong wind picks up, causing the plain grass to shake. The Donphan finds that the sand in his eyes is now nearly gone from the heavy gale…

Not wanting to waste any more time, Apollo summons the Grass energy inside of his body, and unleashes this Hidden Power in the form of bright-green orbs. The spheres of light rocket towards the Donphan; it bellows loudly as it sees the incoming attack. “Quick, Donphan,” Zaire calls from afar, noticing that his Pokémon’s accuracy has been restored. “Use your own Ancient Power to intercept the Combusken’s attack. Then go in close for an Iron Tail, followed by a Slam.” Rocks and boulders strewn across the plain rise up as the Donphan obeys its trainer’s command, launching them towards the orbs of energy. The impact of the two attacks sends a rumble through the air. Much of the rocks shatter upon impact with the Grass-type move, which leaves the field wide open for the remainder of the Hidden Power to deal its damage. A few orbs make contact with the elephant, opening up the wounds that the Donphan had sustained from the earlier Will-O-Wisp. Biting back the pain, Donphan rushes forward as Apollo begins to Swords Dance. It looks like the Ancient Power had an interesting side effect on the elephant Pokémon’s speed! Just as Apollo finishes his move boosting his attack, the Donphan side-swipes the fire type with its steel-hardened tail, pushing him back a few yards. Taking advantage of the closeness, Apollo jumps up into the air with a Bounce as the Donphan slams into his lower torso, causing the Combusken to get off-balance and fall to the ground. As the dust from all of the attacks clear, you can see that both combatants are panting pretty heavily. The Donphan winces as the burn continues to take its course. It looks like Donphan’s health is a little lower than Apollo’s, although Apollo’s energy use is beginning to drain quickly as well. The battle can turn in anyone’s favor.

What will you do next?

As the next set of orders are given, Apollo gives a loud caw as he surrounds himself in multiple green orbs of energy. The orbs soar towards the ground elephant as he responds by raising the rocks near him off the ground and fly into the orbs. A majority of the Hidden Power gets shattered by the rock move, but luckily a couple orbs still hit their mark on Trunphan's burns. A grin meets Charm's face, "Not bad."

Apollo then initiates the next order, boosting his attack by with a dance of swordsmanship. Trunphan doesn't like the look of this and begins speeding towards the Young Fowl, a stat boost from his earlier Ancient Power further powering him, as he spins around and smacks Apollo with an Iron Tail. "Oof. Atleast, you resisted that one bro."

The young Combusken shakes off the blow, and starts to bounce upward, until a quick Slam to his lower half knocks him off balance and falling over. Some dust blows over as Apollo stands up once again, looking quite tired at this moment.

"Hang in there, Apollo! Let's try to take it a bit easy while capitalizing on your attack boost ..." Charm contemplates on what he should say, "Alright. Give a Crush Claw onto his opened burns! Then a nice Cross Fire for more scorching pain!" Charm orders out, giving a slightly evil grin. Battling brings out the devil in Charm indeed.

[Plight of Leon]

The Island
Ignatius River
LASL



"Well, hello there little ones. Nice to meet you, Lass El, and nice to meet you Sparow. You have a very interesting name." the woman said as she shook your hand and tapped Sparow on the head, to which he coos to as he enjoys it. He looks a little tired from having to flap up to your shoulder, and you look a little shocked about the prospect of having to possibly somewhat go into the water. After the near drowning you had, you were not ready with a close encounter with the fear kind, and wanted nothing to do with the water. "And, it is only good manners that I give my name also. My name is Miranda. Miranda Hesson. I come from the Sinnoh Region from Eterna City. I am charmed to meet you, El, and I really hope that you find my adorable little Gulpin soon. I am concerned about him, he gets a little eclectic when he gets hungry." You were unsure what Miranda meant by the word, "eclectic", but it did not sound good at all. You call your little Sparow to the ground, and begin the hunt.

You make sure the search the areas farthest away from the river, because you did not want to even have a chance to trip and fall into the river. You look and look around, but you find little that seems helpful. A candy wrapper, a water bottle, an Armor Fossil, a quarter...wait what? Oh wait, that was not an Armor Fossil silly, it just really looked like an Armor Fossil. XD. You slowly look closer and closer to the river, asking people whether they have seen a Gulpin or not. All of them answer in the negative, "No, we have not seen a Gulpin anywhere." It seems to become more and more clear that he is either somewhere in the water or on the other side of the river. As soon as your situation seems hopeless, you notice something rustle in the bushes behind you. You turn around, but you see nothing out of the ordinary. You remember that the Gulpin could probably disguise itself in the brush. You motion with you finger for your Sparow to go into the bush, but he seems a little too scared to. You understand, and slowly approach the bushes. you pull the grass back, and you find a Ralts in the bushes. It has tears in its eyes and immediately grabs your legs. You wonder what has this guy so flustered, and if it may have something to do with the Gulpin.

What will you do?

[LucarioArtcunoSuicunLover]

The Island
Ignatius River
LASL



"Well, hello there little ones. Nice to meet you, Lass El, and nice to meet you Sparow. You have a very interesting name." the woman said as she shook your hand and tapped Sparow on the head, to which he coos to as he enjoys it. He looks a little tired from having to flap up to your shoulder, and you look a little shocked about the prospect of having to possibly somewhat go into the water. After the near drowning you had, you were not ready with a close encounter with the fear kind, and wanted nothing to do with the water. "And, it is only good manners that I give my name also. My name is Miranda. Miranda Hesson. I come from the Sinnoh Region from Eterna City. I am charmed to meet you, El, and I really hope that you find my adorable little Gulpin soon. I am concerned about him, he gets a little eclectic when he gets hungry." You were unsure what Miranda meant by the word, "eclectic", but it did not sound good at all. You call your little Sparow to the ground, and begin the hunt.

You make sure the search the areas farthest away from the river, because you did not want to even have a chance to trip and fall into the river. You look and look around, but you find little that seems helpful. A candy wrapper, a water bottle, an Armor Fossil, a quarter...wait what? Oh wait, that was not an Armor Fossil silly, it just really looked like an Armor Fossil. XD. You slowly look closer and closer to the river, asking people whether they have seen a Gulpin or not. All of them answer in the negative, "No, we have not seen a Gulpin anywhere." It seems to become more and more clear that he is either somewhere in the water or on the other side of the river. As soon as your situation seems hopeless, you notice something rustle in the bushes behind you. You turn around, but you see nothing out of the ordinary. You remember that the Gulpin could probably disguise itself in the brush. You motion with you finger for your Sparow to go into the bush, but he seems a little too scared to. You understand, and slowly approach the bushes. you pull the grass back, and you find a Ralts in the bushes. It has tears in its eyes and immediately grabs your legs. You wonder what has this guy so flustered, and if it may have something to do with the Gulpin.

What will you do?

Shh, Sparow's a girl!

Lass El knelt down to the trembling Ralts, this was certainly one way to forget about the false-alarm fossil (what, fossils are cool!). Poor thing was awfully upset. She didn't know much about them as a pokemon. Psychic type and rather popular, native to Hoenn if she remembered correctly. It didn't matter really, it needed help and, well, wouldn't a psychic type be a good thing to be in the good graces of? But on the other hand, she was already helping someone else, she wasn't superwoma--

Oh deity the Ralts was pulling the look-utterly-adorable trick now. It, he? She? Oh, that's annoying, maybe she could ask the pokemon, a psychic type should be able to-- focus, El! The Ralts was begging now, as if sobbing wasn't pitiful enough. Argh, she couldn't take it anymore. Sorry Miranda, the draw of the tiny helpless pokemon was unbelieveably strong. Turning around, she called out to her own (somewhat) tiny (somewhat) helpless pkemon. "Come on Sparow, it's safe, just a Ralts. Come and say hi." As Sparow tentatively hopped closer, El spoke to the Ralts, putting on her best soothing voice. "It's okay, Sparow and I are going to help you. Shh, shhh, there's no need to cry I promise everything will be alright." She gently stroked the Ralt's head as well as she could with those red things getting in the way. Sparow finaly approached, El making an open palmed gesture towards her. "See, this is Sparow, she's my friend. Now come on, what's bothering you? We can't help if we don't know."

[myahoo]

Cortoza
The Volcanic Island

Floating serenely in the middle of the ocean, Cortoza is a secluded land mass which was once a beautiful and highly populated tropical island. Two hundred years ago a powerful oceanic earthquake resulted in a chain reaction of death and destruction as Cortoza's active volcanic mountains erupted in a series of cataclysmic explosions that churned out a spectacular display of ash, rock, and molten lava, and finally ending with Mt Fumi's stupendous paroxysmal eruption. All of Cortoza's vegetation was destroyed, while humans and Pokémon not fast enough to flee perished in the resulting destruction as the western end of the island collapsed beneath the sea, generating a series of devastating pyroclastic flows and immense tsunamis that ravaged adjacent coastlines. The events of that day marked the last 24 hours on earth for over 50,000 people and 300,000 Pokémon, as the wave of destruction flowed across hundreds of coastal villages and towns. For the next hundred years nobody dared approach the island due to the constant seismic activity and mini eruptions, but for the past several decades all has been quiet. Pokémon have returned, and with very few people drawn to the volcanic island, wildlife has been given the chance to thrive. Although wary, people are also beginning to venture to Cortoza again, some of the more opportunistic seeing this land as their chance to strike it rich due to its fast-booming tourism industry. Most are curious though, as the island has shown amazing regenerative qualities, and many are eager to explore and to witness the miraculous regrowth for themselves. The tropical jungle is flourishing once more, Pokémon have returned, and as far as everyone is aware most of Cortoza's volcanoes have been laying dormant for almost one hundred years.

The Island

The constant heat seeping up through Cortoza's volcanic soil has given the island a distinct tropical feel, a vast and winding rainforest taking up a large percentage of the land's mass and surrounding each of Cortoza's mountains. The rainforest is humid and full of life, but also very dangerous. The ground is unstable in certain areas making hiking through the forest dangerous even for the most experienced of guides. Several patches of arid, rocky land dot the island, where no vegetation will grow, and it's there that some of the strongest and most fearsome Pokémon roam.

Areas:
Shale Beach: Shale Beach stretches around the outskirts of the island itself. Its sand is gritty and black, not at all the postcard picture you want to be sending home.

Melissa shaded her eyes from the sun as she watched her Cydnaquil scamper happily along the beach. While she had wanted to head over to the Open Plain supposedly only a short hike up Mt. Fumi’s slope, Wildfire had immediately protested. He had loudly complained that she’d gotten to choose every single place they’d been to so far and that he wanted a chance to pick their destination. Especially after she’d made him go to a reservoir, of all things.

The teen glanced around with a sigh. She had to admit he could have chosen worse places and at least the gritty, black sand was something interesting to see. She half-wondered whether the sand was made up of pieces of broken obsidian as she began following the little indentations her starter had left in the sand, quickly catching up to the Fire Pokemon who had stopped and waited to see whether Melissa would follow.

“Cyn-da-quil. Quil, quil, cyn-da-quil,” he said, tapping her right leg and looking expectantly up at her. She looked down at him and then to the Pokeballs sitting at her waist.

“You want me to bring out one of the others?” she returned, wanting to make sure she hadn’t misunderstood. He nodded. The teen shrugged and complied, pulling out another Pokeball and releasing a Misdreavus to float above the Cyndaquil. The young Ghost Pokemon let out a giggle, twirling in midair before she really took a look around their location.

“Where are we?” she asked curiously, turning to look at the black sand underneath her.

“Cynda-quil.”

“Shale Beach?” she repeated. “Why?”

“Because Wildfire chose the place.”

“Oh.” The young ghost blinked blankly.

Melissa continued, seeing Imp still looked blank. “Wildfire got to choose because I chose our destination the last few times and he wanted his turn.”

“Ooooh.” Imp nodded comprehendingly. She then turned to Wildfire. “Let’s go explore, Wildfire!” The Misdreavus then floated off with the Cyndaquil following along sedately and Melissa bringing up the rear.

EDIT: If/When Food Guy posts, I'd rather he get picked up first, if you don't mind.

[Coolz8]

Just like to say hello everyone, my name is Blaze, although Joe is also good, and I am the new ZA at Cortoza Island. Welcome one and all to my updating fun show! So far, I am taking coolz8 and darksearchman, though, I have room for four more. Have fun!

Mt. Senica
Cinder Village
Coolz8

You try to find some Pokemon in the water by throwing rocks into the water. The rocks hit the water, dispelling the ash and showing the water's oddly clar nature. You think about how the murkiness must have only been an ash layer deep, and find bigger and bigger rocks to throw in the water. You clutch a rather large rock that makes you stagger, and go to throw it into the water, when a hand clutches your arm and squeezes it. You squeak from the mystery person's grip, and you turn your head back to see who this person is. He is a man, who easily has a foot or maybe even two over you and has a definite weight advantage. With a stubby beard and rather muscular arms, he reminds you a bit of a lumberjack. Behind him is a Golurk, a Pokemon who lurks(harharhar) over you. You are unsure which to be more afraid of.

"Now listen here kid. You better pay attention and you better pay good too, because there is no refunds. Now, what is God's tarnation makes you think that throwing rocks into the hot spring was a good idea? People come into this hot spring all the time. Imagine if you hit one of them with one of these rocks. You could have hurt someone, hell, even killed them if you were an unlucky kid. What exactly were you planning on?" You tell him that you were just throwing the rocks to try and get some Pokemon. "Oh really? Well, truthfully kid, I dont believe you at all. I think that you need to come with me so we can sort out what you can do for punishment." You were confused and scared about the whole thing, but more scared about what this punishment could be. He draggs you along a trail that leads away from the hotspring.

At the top of the trail is the bathrooms that were put here for people who wanted to use the bathroom and not go in the hot springs. "Now, wait here. No funny business either, or, Cassius here is going to give you a rude knock on the head." The man left, and the Golurk moved over your field of vision, grumbling ominously as it makes sure you know what's what. You nod your head yes, and it stops. The man comes out a second later with a couple of mops and a bucket. "Alright kid, here is what you have to do. You need to wash the bathrooms. You have got everything you need here, and I want to see that bathroom sparkling so much I can't see my reflection. You got that?" You nod your head yes, grimacing over what you had to do. "Alright, you can bring a Pokemon in their with you if you want. And no trying to run away either, alright?"

What will you do?

Frinth simply smirks at the authoritative officer, and got to work around his assigned duty. Before he started, he picked out a single red and white metallic ball from his pack and clicked it. A bright flash of red burst out, revealing its own contents.

Trick.

He had been trained rigorously for various environments, occasions, and situations. A simple clean-up would neither pose as an obstacle nor hinder them from continuing forth. "Trick. Please help me clean this up as fast as you can. Please wear this, just in case..." He brought out two transparent garments, an once he placed one onto Trick, it unfolded and proceeded to completely envelop his body, yet allowing needed movement.

Frinth Placed on his own, and they initiated their assigned task.

Trick started sweeping, and he had no significant reaction to something simple. On the contrary, he found it a nuisance that he had to complete such a task while consuming valuable time needed to fill Frinth's squad or possibly to find items of value or of interest.

[Son_of_Shadows]

Cortoza
The Volcanic Island

Floating serenely in the middle of the ocean, Cortoza is a secluded land mass which was once a beautiful and highly populated tropical island. Two hundred years ago a powerful oceanic earthquake resulted in a chain reaction of death and destruction as Cortoza's active volcanic mountains erupted in a series of cataclysmic explosions that churned out a spectacular display of ash, rock, and molten lava, and finally ending with Mt Fumi's stupendous paroxysmal eruption. All of Cortoza's vegetation was destroyed, while humans and Pokémon not fast enough to flee perished in the resulting destruction as the western end of the island collapsed beneath the sea, generating a series of devastating pyroclastic flows and immense tsunamis that ravaged adjacent coastlines. The events of that day marked the last 24 hours on earth for over 50,000 people and 300,000 Pokémon, as the wave of destruction flowed across hundreds of coastal villages and towns. For the next hundred years nobody dared approach the island due to the constant seismic activity and mini eruptions, but for the past several decades all has been quiet. Pokémon have returned, and with very few people drawn to the volcanic island, wildlife has been given the chance to thrive. Although wary, people are also beginning to venture to Cortoza again, some of the more opportunistic seeing this land as their chance to strike it rich due to its fast-booming tourism industry. Most are curious though, as the island has shown amazing regenerative qualities, and many are eager to explore and to witness the miraculous regrowth for themselves. The tropical jungle is flourishing once more, Pokémon have returned, and as far as everyone is aware most of Cortoza's volcanoes have been laying dormant for almost one hundred years.

The Island

The constant heat seeping up through Cortoza's volcanic soil has given the island a distinct tropical feel, a vast and winding rainforest taking up a large percentage of the land's mass and surrounding each of Cortoza's mountains. The rainforest is humid and full of life, but also very dangerous. The ground is unstable in certain areas making hiking through the forest dangerous even for the most experienced of guides. Several patches of arid, rocky land dot the island, where no vegetation will grow, and it's there that some of the strongest and most fearsome Pokémon roam.

Areas:

Garland Basin: A large basin near Mt. Ceniza where many varieties of herbs grow. A large number of natural hot springs are found here, making it a popular tourist attraction. The effects of the herbs in the warm spring water can have various effects, some very soothing.

A somewhat weary Joshua had come to the tropical island of Cortoza for some much needed rest and relaxation. His recent adventures had been trying to say the least... Seemed like just about everything was trying to murder him in some grisly fashion. Maybe he was being stalked by GLaDOS. His back was now aching from it all, so the plan was simple - take a dip in the hot springs... If this hot volcanic air didn't suffocate him first. "God!" he cried, "Why is it so damn hot!"

Near volcano. Jo expect cold? That was the unbelievably relaxed (though still not 100% eloquent) telepathy of Steven the Munna, arguably Joshua's most adorable partner to date. The pink tapir floated alongside him, curious to find out what exactly a "hot spring" was. Joshua wasn't exactly a fan of being called "Jo", but it would do for now. Steven was still only a young Munna, and he hadn't been fed much in the way of Gummis to boost his IQ. So his telepathy was a little broken, but he could at least get his points across. So there was that.

"Ah Steven, I know you're right... But I'm still going to complain about it." The duo had now arrived in the Garland Basin, and Joshua immediately took to scanning the area for the nearest hot spring...

[Plight of Leon]

(Attention all updators! There are a few quidelines I would like to put up:

Grammar: Make sure that your posts are all grammtically correct and spelled correcty. I am not a Grammar Nazi, but if you are a blantant offender, I will try to notify you and may drop you. Don't worry, you guys are good.

Replies: Try to make your posts somewhat large. The more you reply, the more I have to work with. This is mostly to coolz8 at the moment, you need to try harder. I don't mind if you reiterate what I post(infact, I encourage it), but no two or three line replies. Or else, you might get minimal updates from me. Or get dropped. :/

Self-Updating: A little bit of creative license is encouraged, feel free to slightly tweak dialogue, or to add your own thoughts on events while they are happening. If, however, I feel that you have changed something so that it is not the original meaning, you will be notified. This is a definite way to get dropped.

Reply Time: I update often, so, it should be a signal to reply often. However, if you are not replying, it is a strain on me to have to try and remember my plans for you. If you don't reply for over a month without notifiying me, you will get dropped. If you are leaving or have something that is keeping you from replying, PLEASE TELL ME!!!

And the most important guideline of all, HAVE FUN! )

Also, with Food Guy, I have seven updatees/


The Island
Ignatius River
LASL

The little Ralts could sense your emotions, and knew that you and your Sparow meant no harm. He puts an arm up to your head(or at least as high as he can get it) and closes his eyes. You wonder what the little Ralts is doing, before you feel a little thing come into your head. There really is no way to describe it, it is like a little thing just magically transported itself into your thoughts. You panic a little bit, causing your thought world to rattle and shake, but you here a voice that sounds like a child who has been crying for a while, "D-Don't worwy. I am not heer to hurwt you. My name is Turt, and I need your helwp. My famiwy and me were out in the forwest, picking berries, when a big grween thing came at us, trwying to eat all the berries. My mama got hurwt bad, and she needs some help. Plwease, plwease will you help my mama!?" Just then, the Ralts pulled itself out of your thoughts, though, it was still clutched to your legs.

You look down on the Ralts and think about what it had just said. You realize that the "big green thing" it had mentioned must have been a hungry Vacuum, attacking the family for the berries. But, you realize there must be something wrong with this picture, as Gulpin are Poison type Pokemon while Ralts and Gardevior are Psychic types, so, they should hae easily been able to fight off a Gulpin if it tried to attakck them. You try to think of what other Pokemon it could be, but, you draw up a blank. It HAD to be Vacuum. The Ralts looks a you with large, endearing eyes. It obviously trusts you a large deal. You feel Turt come back into your thoughts, and he says to you telepathically, "Please, please help my mommy!"

What will you do?

The Island
Shale Beach
myahoo

You look as both your Cyndaquil and Misdreavus go ahead to go exploring, and get a happy look on your face. Despite the not-scenic look of the beach, you are actually quie content here. The waves lap luxuriously onto he black sand, the sun is shining brightly, and the wind is little more than a light breeze, and you feel good. You walk along the beach when you step onto something hard and big. You look down onto the sand and see an oddly shaped white thing sticking out of the sand a little ways. You call both your Cyndaquil and Misdreavus over to see what it is. When you ask wha they think it could be, both Cyndaquil and Misdreavus seem to think it is just a seashell of some sort, and lose interest in it. But, however, you haven't. You take your hands and begin to dig into the sand, which is oddly heavy. You get a couple of cuts and nicks from the slightly large and sharper pieces of obsidian sand, and dig until you can see more and more of the item. It doesn't look like a shell at all, but more of a sort of bone. You again call over Wildfire and Imp, and Imp looks a little bit annoyed being called over again, but, thankfully, loses it when she sees the thing. She is clearly impressed with your find, and both Wildfire and Imp help with the dig as much as they can, until the item is clearly visible. It is some kind of staff carved from bone, with a few strands of hair still left on it and some writing on the side of it. You can't read the writing at all, it appears to be some kind of ancient writing that is lost today.

Just when you pull the artifact from the sand, a hand comes onto your shoulder. You jump a little bit and look back, and see a African man standing behind you in a khaki shirt and shorts, sort of like an archeologist would be wearing. "Wow, you got quite the find there. That is an ancient Lufenian staff right there. The Lufenians were a sky people who had amazing technology. They were rumored to have a city above the volcanoes, but one day, it crashed into the sea, never to be seen again. Every now and again we see artifacts like this staff or some pottery. Never any of their technology, so we think that is just a legend." You see that the guy is some sort of archeologist, and look at him with a questioning glance. He laughs, and says, "It seems you still have some questions about the Lufenians. Well, we have not been able to decipher their language, it is completely foreign to any tongue known to man today. There is talk of there being a stone which may have a translation, but no one knows where it could be. This is the first time a Lufenian artifact was found on this beach, so, there could be something here. My name is Cid. Cid Maple."

The man turns to walk away, so, if this was the time for any questions, I'd better act on that!!

What will you do?

Mt. Senica
Cinder Village
Coolz8

(Hey, you can't just find a Pokemon and capture it, you gotta work for your Pokemon! :P)

You and your Pokemon Trick go and start to clean the bathroom, which you find is actually a lot harder than it originally seemed. The floor was covered in soap scum and whatever else scum had come in here, and it never seemed to go away, it seemed to be permanently stuck onto the floor. The sinks were covered in scum as well, but they came clean a little bit easier than on the floor. The worst part about the cleaning, however, was the toilets. They stunk to high heavens, hell, above high heavens, and were covered in crap. It seems that people didn't like to flush here, or they got a bad case of Moctezuma's revenge. You and Trick get bust working, and afer what seems like hours go by, you finally get the bathroom cleaned up. You can see the original color in the tiles, which is a baby bird blue, instead of the white you had seen earlier. The sinks sparkled and gleamed like chrome, and even the toilets were a pearly white. You and Trick looked on your work, and were proud, even though this was a nuisance to do this, at least you had gotten it done quickly, and good to.

The man came in right after you finished, probably to see if you were slacking off or what not. His Golurk stayed outside, it was too tall to fit inside the bathroom. He looked around the bathroom, inside the stalls, under the sinks, in the toilets, and looked at you. He gave you a smile, and said, "Well, you look like a good kid after all. Or, someone who has been cleaning bathrooms all their lives." He laughs at this, and you cannot help but give a giggle too. "It seems I took you wrong. Hell, it happens. I guess that you guys are free to go. Wow, this is probably the cleanest I have ever seen the bathroom. She is good enough to get a date now." Again he laughed, and saw that you were walking out the door. He remembered that you said you were looking for Pokemon, and remembered something he had seen. "Hey, wait a minute kid. What is your name?" You tell him that your name is Frinth. "Frinth, what the hell kind of name is that? Oh well, my name is August. August Brown. I am what you would call the local law enforcement here at Cinder Village. I try to keep hoodlums and no-gooders out of here. People come here because they want to relax...and occasionaly want to find Pokemon too. Nobody gets by me and Cassius here, you bet it." He takes a deep breath in, and looks out window. "Trust me kid, there is no Pokemon in that spring you were looking at. It was man-made for people. But, I can tell you a place where you can find special Pokemon that like the hot water. If, of course, you are interested..."

What will you do?

The Island
Garland Basin
Son_of_Shadows

Steven, your absolutely adorable Munna, and you go looking for a hot spring nearby, so that you can relax and think about what you are going to do next. The area just seems to be full of various plants, but soon, you notice that the plant variety is beginning to change and that the plants were beginning to get bigger and bigger. You also began to notice that it was getting slighlty warmer, and it kinda smelled like water was nearby. You know how a hot spring is nereby, but you first have to try and get past the vegetation first. Steven and you push past some of the trees, but their leaves were often bigger than you were and pushing past them was a chore and a half. And you had a chore a day limit. Soon, you here the sounds of bubbling water and can see steam. You are almost there! You begin to run, your Munna bearly able to stay behind you. "Jo. Slow please." You heard Steven, and slow down a little bit, and can sense that he is very thankful for that. Soon, you see one of the largest trees you ave ever seen, and sneak around its base. That is when you see that hot-spring. It was not very large, but you could tell it was pretty hot...just the way you like it. "Jo. Hot spring. Look warm." It did indeed look warm.

You strip down into a pair of bathing shorts, and get inside the water. You dip down, and the water was very warm, but it also was very relaxing. You immerge yourself fully in the waer, with only your head visible, and begin to relax. You can feel the ache in your back loosening up, and it felt good not to be in pain anymore. Steven tentatively touched the water, and then got it himself, cooing as the also felt the waters soothing effects. "Well, hi there." You nearly scream as you here the voice. You look in front of you with fear-striken eyes as you see a man, in his near seventies, in the hot spring with you. You are SURE you did not see him in here before, infact, you were nearly convinced you were the only one to find this hot spring. "Oh, I see I startled you. I must have been under the water when you came in. I love this hot spring, it is so soothing on my back. By the way you were relaxing, I would say the same for you. You have some back ache son." You were surprised to he was able to see so much in you, but, he was old. Old people tend to see these things. "If you got a back ache, I know an herb that will set you right real good." He picks an herb from the grass, and puts it in the water. You are somewhat concerned about it, but soon, you are completely enveloped in an euphoric sensation. You feel like you had just had, well, there really was no good way to describe it. It was like being on a pleasure trip. Your Munna also coos, as it appears to effect him too. You begin to relax even more...until you pass out.

When you awaken, you find that you can barely open your eyes. Or, is it because it is really dark where you are. You try to move around, but find that you can't. You are not in the hot spring, that is for sure.

What will you do?

[Dark Searchman]

I hereby welcome LASL and CyberBlastoise into my group. This leaves room for TWO more people. Hop on so you can have some fun!

Mt. Infernus
Scenic Walk
Dark Searchman

You take notice on how reckless that Larvesta really is, and how it is actually scaring your Pokemon off. A Pokemon with that fiesty of a nature is a sure rarity, and coupled with the already rare nature of the Pokemon, you have to have this one. Both your Seviper and you Druddigon look ready for battle at you give them a little bit of introductory pep talk. They start off by glaring hard at the Larvesta, giving it the most intimidating and SCARY FACE they can give. Larvesta looks a little on edge, but his innate confidence and his brazen nature means he doesn't take the full effect of each one. But, his speed is lowered a little bit. Larvesta knows about the specialty of this move, and immediately cloaks himself in FLAMEs. He CHARGEs after Seviper, who looks a little frightened himself about the closing in flaming missile. He is able to dodge some of it, but his own large size gets to better of him, the Larvesta hits him on the end of the tail, doing some nice damage and increasing Larvesta's speed, overcoming the past attack. Amethyst looks at the bug again and hisses at it, maybe like some sort of warning or signal. His sort of singed tail becomes covered in a cloak of water, before the Seviper spins around and smacks Larvesta with the sharp end of the tail "LARRRRRRRVVVVESSSSSTAAAA!!!" it screams as it gets smacked around by Seviper's tail, being pushed over towards Sarkahn, your Druddigon. Druddigon takes the cue, and lowers his hand to the ground, white energy covering it, before he swings it upright, catching the Larvesta mid air for a powerful CUT. Larvest yells again as the pain hits it, and it looks to Sarkhan with revenge in its eyes. Larvesta breathes in before releasing a loud bunch of orange sound waves, with hit Sarkahn's ears and cause him to groan as the buggy energy rattles his ear drums.

At the end of this climatic battle scene, it seems that while both Amethyst and Sarkahn took some damage, they are still felling pretty well. The Larvesta seems to be bruised and beaten, but is nowhere close to breaking or giving up. You got quite a fight on your hands here!

What will you do?

Neither Hyrem nor Amethyst or Sarkhan could expect how much determination the little Larvesta was willing to show them. Both Amethyst and Sarkhan figured that one look at both of their Scary Faces would send it scurrying instantly, but, though the intimidation got to its nerves a little, the Larvesta held its ground, taking a small drop to its Speed... which it quickly got back by attacking Amethyst with a Flame Charge. She did not like any sort of fire coming towards her at that point, so she wanted to dodge, but due to her size she got hit on the tail, hissing in pain. She was ticked off now, so she charged up Water energy into her Tail and smacked it into Larvesta for some great damage... Now that's an Aqua-fresh attack! It also knocked Larvesta straight into Sarkhan who charged up his claw and struck the bug with a slicing upperCut which also causes it to scream from the damage. This time, it would be Larvesta getting some payback, and when Bugs Buzz really loudly and with orange sound waves coming from it... it's usually not a good sign. Sarkhan groans and has to cover his ears in order to try to stop the attack from ringing in his head.

Hyrem could see both sides had taken some decent damage, but all three Pokemon were still in great shape and determined to keep battling. Larvesta was totally holding its own against a Seviper and a Druddigon! They needed to keep the attacks coming in order to even wear it down. "Yeah, here we go!" Hyrem said, smirking. "Now that we have an opponent that can actually challenge you two, let's see what you can do! Let's have both of you do a Poison Tail and see if we can get some poison to wear this guy down! During the next round, Amethyst, try a Venoshock--hopefully, Larvesta's poisoned by then--and Sarkhan, use all that pent-up Dragon Rage and get him good!" Sarkhan and Amethyst were likely surprised by the tenacity of this creature, but they still welcomed the challenge to take on the celestial moth... and so it would continue!

[LucarioArtcunoSuicunLover]

[size=1]
The Island
Ignatius River
LASL

The little Ralts could sense your emotions, and knew that you and your Sparow meant no harm. He puts an arm up to your head(or at least as high as he can get it) and closes his eyes. You wonder what the little Ralts is doing, before you feel a little thing come into your head. There really is no way to describe it, it is like a little thing just magically transported itself into your thoughts. You panic a little bit, causing your thought world to rattle and shake, but you here a voice that sounds like a child who has been crying for a while, "D-Don't worwy. I am not heer to hurwt you. My name is Turt, and I need your helwp. My famiwy and me were out in the forwest, picking berries, when a big grween thing came at us, trwying to eat all the berries. My mama got hurwt bad, and she needs some help. Plwease, plwease will you help my mama!?" Just then, the Ralts pulled itself out of your thoughts, though, it was still clutched to your legs.

You look down on the Ralts and think about what it had just said. You realize that the "big green thing" it had mentioned must have been a hungry Vacuum, attacking the family for the berries. But, you realize there must be something wrong with this picture, as Gulpin are Poison type Pokemon while Ralts and Gardevior are Psychic types, so, they should hae easily been able to fight off a Gulpin if it tried to attakck them. You try to think of what other Pokemon it could be, but, you draw up a blank. It HAD to be Vacuum. The Ralts looks a you with large, endearing eyes. It obviously trusts you a large deal. You feel Turt come back into your thoughts, and he says to you telepathically, "Please, please help my mommy!"

What will you do?

The feeling of a foreign mind is interesting to say the least. It can take a little getting used to, especially if your first experience with it is later in life. Lass El had very little experience with psychic types, and as such she fell squarely into the 'later in life' party. Doubled with the fact that she hadn't been expecting it at all, the least she could do was avoid depositing her lunch on the Ralts she'd just promised to help.

"Oh, oh whoa. S-sorry, wasn't expecting that, whoa. Just let me, ugh, deep breaths deep breaths." She sat down and took her own advice, desperately trying to stem the queasy feeling. After a few seconds, she'd adapted to the connection, but was still a little uneasy. "Okay, don't wait for me, please. C-carry on, I'll be fine."

Lass El listened as the Ralts explained what had happened, somewhat amazed that this was actually happening. For the longest time she had thought there was no way for human and pokemon to converse without aid or unusual circumstances, telepathy had always been a lame plot device in crime shows to her. Listening to the poor thing was heart wrenching, he sounded so completely and utterly distressed and wait a second, pokemon have names? Oh dear sorry Sparow or whatever your name was before if you had one. Maybe it was restricted to certain species? But that wasn't important now. Here before her was a little boy (who appeared to be wearing a dress, that was just uncanny why did they have that thing?) who's mummy was injured, leaving no choice but to beg a stranger for help. What kind of twisted soul would ignore such a desperate cry for help? What cold, heartless person--

"Spear?"

Oops, she'd forgotten about Sparow, seems the bird had missed out on the explanation. "This is Turt. His mummy has been hurt by something that fits the description of a Gulpin. DOUBLE ACT OF KINDNESS ACTION BOOYEAH."

There was an awkward silence. It wasn't really like El to get so excited about anything that wasn't a water type, she just hadn't quite fully recovered from the benevolent mental invasion earlier. Speaking of, Turt was the one to break the 'silence' with more telepathy directed at El. "Please, please help my mummy!"

"Of course I will! Lead the way Turt! Sparow..." El trailed off, wondering what to do with the bird. "Sorry girl, but it'll probably be faster if you take the pokeball express." A bright flash of light, and Sparow had been returned to the safety of her pokeball. Turning around, El noticed that her guide had already taken off, probably desperate to get back to his parents with help. The girl jogged a little to catch back up (Ralts don't exactly have long legs), feeling pumped for whatever was to come at her.

[Son_of_Shadows]

The Island
Garland Basin
Son_of_Shadows

Steven, your absolutely adorable Munna, and you go looking for a hot spring nearby, so that you can relax and think about what you are going to do next. The area just seems to be full of various plants, but soon, you notice that the plant variety is beginning to change and that the plants were beginning to get bigger and bigger. You also began to notice that it was getting slighlty warmer, and it kinda smelled like water was nearby. You know how a hot spring is nereby, but you first have to try and get past the vegetation first. Steven and you push past some of the trees, but their leaves were often bigger than you were and pushing past them was a chore and a half. And you had a chore a day limit. Soon, you here the sounds of bubbling water and can see steam. You are almost there! You begin to run, your Munna bearly able to stay behind you. "Jo. Slow please." You heard Steven, and slow down a little bit, and can sense that he is very thankful for that. Soon, you see one of the largest trees you ave ever seen, and sneak around its base. That is when you see that hot-spring. It was not very large, but you could tell it was pretty hot...just the way you like it. "Jo. Hot spring. Look warm." It did indeed look warm.

You strip down into a pair of bathing shorts, and get inside the water. You dip down, and the water was very warm, but it also was very relaxing. You immerge yourself fully in the waer, with only your head visible, and begin to relax. You can feel the ache in your back loosening up, and it felt good not to be in pain anymore. Steven tentatively touched the water, and then got it himself, cooing as the also felt the waters soothing effects. "Well, hi there." You nearly scream as you here the voice. You look in front of you with fear-striken eyes as you see a man, in his near seventies, in the hot spring with you. You are SURE you did not see him in here before, infact, you were nearly convinced you were the only one to find this hot spring. "Oh, I see I startled you. I must have been under the water when you came in. I love this hot spring, it is so soothing on my back. By the way you were relaxing, I would say the same for you. You have some back ache son." You were surprised to he was able to see so much in you, but, he was old. Old people tend to see these things. "If you got a back ache, I know an herb that will set you right real good." He picks an herb from the grass, and puts it in the water. You are somewhat concerned about it, but soon, you are completely enveloped in an euphoric sensation. You feel like you had just had, well, there really was no good way to describe it. It was like being on a pleasure trip. Your Munna also coos, as it appears to effect him too. You begin to relax even more...until you pass out.

When you awaken, you find that you can barely open your eyes. Or, is it because it is really dark where you are. You try to move around, but find that you can't. You are not in the hot spring, that is for sure.

What will you do?

The bushier, larger vegetation was the most obvious sign that the duo were approaching a spring, since it would obviously be receiving more nutrients. "We're onto a winner here Steven. Let's go." Some tiring struggling through foliage later (This had better be worth it, Joshua mused to himself), they came to a gigantic tree, with a tiny spring at the base of it. Perfect. He could feel the heat rising off it, and his back would be cured in no time, no doubt about it. Nobody else around to spoil the atmosphere too. Or perv on him. Same thing. He stripped, slipped in, and immediately started to feel the muscles in his back begin to relax. So much better already. Steven also seemed to enjoy it, cooing adorably as he relaxed in the spring. Yes, peace and quiet. What could be better?

"Well, hi there." Maybe not. Out of nowhere, an old voice, and a shocked Joshua was greeted by an elderly man sharing the spring with him. Um... Where had he come from? He didn't know. Steven's Forewarn hadn't alerted him to anything, then again, he wasn't sure if his Munna's ability was that powerful. "Oh, I see I startled you." Yeah, you don't say... "I must have been under the water when you came in. I love this hot spring, it is so soothing on my back. By the way you were relaxing, I would say the same for you. You have some back ache son." This guy was perceptive. Then again. pensioners tend to know more about back pain than most. Seemed logical. Arthritis and all that. No, wait, that was joints. Whatever. "If you got a back ache, I know an herb that will set you right real good." Hmm, interesting. Well, Joshua would try pretty much anything once, so he figured, what the hell, why not? Still, something about all this seemed fishy... He was sure he'd been the only person at the spring. Could the old man really have been underwater? It wasn't too long before he simply stopped caring, and let the water take him. It was a magical relaxation, and he wondered if that was what it was like to get high or something like that. But this heat, this warmth, this feeling... It was so... relaxing, so dreamlike. He felt like he might fall asleep... Though he knew he mustn't, he might end up drowning... But he could at least rest his eyes a moment...

---

When he opened his eyes again, Joshua saw nothing. Just darkness. Maybe he hadn't actually opened his eyes. Weird. He couldn't feel the water any more, so he was definitely out of the spring. Steven was beside him, telepathically asking where they were. Something was wrong here. "I would assume we're not in Kanto anymore Steven... Can you try using Teleport at all? I realise it's a long shot... Maybe if I tried calling out Bisho- Oh, right. Still in the shorts. No other Pokéballs... When we get out of here, I'm gonna get that old man, I swear."

[myahoo]

The Island
Shale Beach
myahoo

You look as both your Cyndaquil and Misdreavus go ahead to go exploring, and get a happy look on your face. Despite the not-scenic look of the beach, you are actually quie content here. The waves lap luxuriously onto he black sand, the sun is shining brightly, and the wind is little more than a light breeze, and you feel good. You walk along the beach when you step onto something hard and big. You look down onto the sand and see an oddly shaped white thing sticking out of the sand a little ways. You call both your Cyndaquil and Misdreavus over to see what it is. When you ask wha they think it could be, both Cyndaquil and Misdreavus seem to think it is just a seashell of some sort, and lose interest in it. But, however, you haven't. You take your hands and begin to dig into the sand, which is oddly heavy. You get a couple of cuts and nicks from the slightly large and sharper pieces of obsidian sand, and dig until you can see more and more of the item. It doesn't look like a shell at all, but more of a sort of bone. You again call over Wildfire and Imp, and Imp looks a little bit annoyed being called over again, but, thankfully, loses it when she sees the thing. She is clearly impressed with your find, and both Wildfire and Imp help with the dig as much as they can, until the item is clearly visible. It is some kind of staff carved from bone, with a few strands of hair still left on it and some writing on the side of it. You can't read the writing at all, it appears to be some kind of ancient writing that is lost today.

Just when you pull the artifact from the sand, a hand comes onto your shoulder. You jump a little bit and look back, and see a African man standing behind you in a khaki shirt and shorts, sort of like an archeologist would be wearing. "Wow, you got quite the find there. That is an ancient Lufenian staff right there. The Lufenians were a sky people who had amazing technology. They were rumored to have a city above the volcanoes, but one day, it crashed into the sea, never to be seen again. Every now and again we see artifacts like this staff or some pottery. Never any of their technology, so we think that is just a legend." You see that the guy is some sort of archeologist, and look at him with a questioning glance. He laughs, and says, "It seems you still have some questions about the Lufenians. Well, we have not been able to decipher their language, it is completely foreign to any tongue known to man today. There is talk of there being a stone which may have a translation, but no one knows where it could be. This is the first time a Lufenian artifact was found on this beach, so, there could be something here. My name is Cid. Cid Maple."

The man turns to walk away, so, if this was the time for any questions, I'd better act on that!!

What will you do?

The teen watched her two Pokemon move on ahead of her, smiling slightly at the sight of the pair. The oldest Pokemon in her current team, the one with the most experience and her closest friend, walking along behind the youngest Pokemon, the newest addition and the most inexperienced. From her location a few steps behind them, she barely caught her Misdreavus say something that made Wildfire laugh.

Melissa paused after her next step, immediately feeling the difference under her foot. She called her two Pokemon back as she lifted her foot and looked to see what she'd stepped on. Something oddly shaped and white glinted back at her, starkly contrasting with the black sand.

"What d'you think it is?" she asked her Pokemon, glancing up at them as they arrived. Wildfire peered at the thing with his head tilted to the side, before shrugging. "Cyn-da-quil?" Imp floated closer to the ground to look at it closer and nodded. "That's what I think, too." She stared at it for a moment. "It looks really pretty, though." She smiled up at Melissa, who sighed, casting a critical eye over the object. "I highly doubt it's a seashell," she told them, waving at the rest of the beach as she continued. "Do you see any other seashells out here?"

The two Pokemon shrugged and, as Melissa crouched down to unearth the object, Imp decided to drag Wildfire over to something that had caught her eye, having quickly lost interest in the funny white thing. The teen continued to dig, thinking that the sand was oddly heavy, but she attributed that to the obsidian pieces that made it up. She hissed and paused a few times as the sand made cuts in her hands, but she continued digging, her curiosity rising as it became clear that the thing was more bone-like than shell-like.

"This doesn't look like any kind of shell I've ever seen," she muttered to herself, before she called her two Pokemon over again. "Hey, you two! I could use a little help." It took them a few moments to come over, Wildfire having to convince the younger Pokemon to return to Melissa's side, but they eventually came over, Imp looking a little put-out. At the sight of the bone-thing, though, both Pokemon perk up, one in excitement, the other in curiosity.

"Ooooo, what's that?" Imp floated over to the emerging discovery, staring curiously at it. Wildfire tilted his head in curiosity as he looked at the object, before moving to help dig.

"No idea, Imp," Melissa replied, still working on unearthing the object. "Looks like some sort of bone thing." The two worked a little longer, with Imp just floating around and staring, until the thing finally became visible. The trio stared for a moment. "Actually, it looks like some sort of staff...with some weird writing...and is that hair?"

Melissa reached out to pull the staff from the hole she and Wildfire had dug around it when a hand lands on her shoulder. With a surprised squeak, she scrambled away from the hand, whipping around and preparing to have Wildfire blast fire at whatever it was when she registered the African man that practically appeared out of nowhere.

"Wow, you've got quite a find there. That is an ancient Lufenian staff right there. The Lufenians were sky people who had amazing technology. They were rumored to have a city above the volcanoes, but one day, it crashed into the sea, never to be seen again. Every now and again we see artifacts like this staff or some pottery. Never any of their technology, so we think that is just a legend."

As he spoke, Melissa was able to get her heart rate back to something closer to normal and she looked him over, Wildfire and Imp moving closer to her as she did. The khaki shirt and shorts reminded her of an archaeologist and the way he was speaking made her think he actually was one. Still, she gave him a questioning glance; not only did he seem a little out of place, the Lufenians he was talking about sounded interesting, as well.

He laughed at Melissa's glance. "It seems you still have some questions about the Lufenians. Well, we have not been able to decipher their language, it is completely foreign to any tongue known to man today. There is talk of there being a stone which may have a translation, but no one knows where it could be. This is the first time a Lufenian artifact was found on this beach, so, there could be something here. My name is Cid. Cid Maple." He then turned and she stared after him for a moment, his speech and abrupt departure leaving her mentally scrambling for a train of thought.

Grabbing one quickly, she got to her feet, placed Wildfire on her shoulder, and said, "Wait! Cid! Mr. Maple, wait! How do you know so much about Lufenians? What else can you tell me about them and this staff?" She glanced at said staff, feeling as though she shouldn't leave something so valuable and rare just lying on the beach where anyone could take it. "Should I be on the lookout for anything concerning the staff or the Lufenians?"

"Why are you worried?" Imp suddenly said, peering at her curiously.

Melissa shifted and glanced at the staff again. "It's an ancient artifact, Imp, from a people that we know almost nothing about," she replied after a moment. "Who knows what they could have done to protect the things they made? After all, if they could put a city in the air, what else could they have done?" She trailed off soberly, looking in the direction of the volcanoes, Imp glancing between her trainer, Cid, and the staff.

[Plight of Leon]

Mt. Infernus
Scenic Walk
Dark Searchman

The Larvesta was showing itself to be a truly feisty beasty, and the fact that it was able to hold its own against both a Seviper and a Druddigon is truly comendable. But, you are determined to get the little guy into your party as quickly and as neatly as possible. Sarkahn is the first to move, his tail glowing a bright purple color as special toxins fill he iinside of his skin. Impossible you say? Well, seeing as every Pokemon except Magikarp, Burmy, Wynaut, and Wobbuffet can use Toxic, it really isn't that weird. Sarkahn swings his tail towards Larvesta, who tries a dodge, but unforunately is unable to, taking a somewhat small hit in the process. He gives a little grunt as he gets back up from the attack, The Larvesta looks confindent after than attack, and gives out another screech into the air, a giant BUG BUZZ racing through the walkway. A few trainers who had been paying attention grunt and cover their ears, and Sarkahn roars again from he pain. Amethyst looks at his brethen in oain, and goes to help him out. Amethyst's tail becomes covered in poison energy itself, mimicking the same attack Sarkahn had used. The tail becomes filled with poison, and Ameythst swings ti. Larvesta does not see it coming, and takes it right to a weak spot, screeching as it flies into the air, and hit the ground, taking a CRITICAL HIT!

Larvesta gets up, not poisoned from either attack, and looks at Sarkahn, who has just recovered himself from the powerful Bug Buzz. His mouth fills up with powerful draconic fires that burn a spectacular blue color, and seemed to be fillled with rage from having his ears ringing after those two attacks. He breathes out a large fireball of flames, smashing into Larvesta, sending him flying from the powerful attack. He gets up again, and this time, directs an attack at Seviper. True to his hot and bold nature, he birst into flames, charging at Seviper with vicious intent. He slams into Amethyst in powerful flames, and Amethyst yells out from the powerful FLARE BLITZ. He gets back up, and looks at Larvesta, shooting some poison from its fangs at the little fella. They hit him, but, since he has not been confused, it does some decent damage and just sits there, doing nothing, harmless with another poison. Sarkahn took another large hit, and it a little worn down, but he is not bad. He might be able to use a few more Poison tails at this point. Amethyst is a little better off than Sarkahn, but is a little bit more worn out. The Larvesta is really taking a beating, and it showing its fair share of bruises and marks. It is more worn out than both Sarkahn and Amethyst too, but his strong attitude is keeping him in there.

What will you do?

The Island
Ignatius River
LASL

The Ralts has already gained quite a lead ahead of you in the forest, and you have to race to catch up with him. You nimbly moves through the forest, jumping over logs and dodging branches. However, the Ralts cannot get run as fast as you can, and you do slow down at times to let the Ralts get ahead of you. After a while, you wonder how much longer it will take to find the Ralt's mother, and are astonished that the Ralts had run so far. Just then, you hear a rustle in the bushes, but it more sounds like something moving really fast than if it was a Gulpin, who actually it pretty slow by comparison. You take some note of the the noise, but, you concentration broke a little too soon, and you run head first into a rather large branch. You smash your nose into it, causing you too fall over onto the ground. You feel a little dazed as you look up at your Spearow and Turt, who enters you mind again. He interestingly enough is able to dispel the dizzyness in your mind, and says, "Miss, I think yowr nose is browken." You touch your nose, and you feel an instant of pain rush into your head, though the little Ralts tries to dispel it. You get up, but with the blood running down your face, you have to keep your head up in order to keep from losing too much blood. You keep walking until you hear the cry of a Gardevoir ring out. You lower your head, and SMACK into some sort of barrier, injuring your nose even more. You groan from the pain, when you feel the pain beginning to fade away. You see the Gardevoir with a hand up in the air, releasing a wave of energy towards you, a HEALing PULSE coming your way. However, it stops abrubtly, not repairing most of your nose but stopping the bleeding.

You feel a much stronger force enter your brain, and again, that sensation of foreign prescence is dizzying. "Do not worry, young trainer. I have tried to repair your broken nose, but, I am too weak to go on. I am barely able to keep this Reflect barrier in the air. I am hurt badly because a large green flash attacked me and my son. It took our berries, and it keeps stalking me, waiting for me to lower my guard down. Whatever it is, it wants more food, and it thinks that I have some. Please, help me trainer." You aren't sure what to do, when Turt screeches. You look up and see tha Turt is being held in the air by a large green Pokemon. One thing is true, this is not a Gulpin. This is called a red herring. This large Pokemon has two scythes which it is using to hold up the Ralts. This is a Scyther. He screeches at you, probably wanting your food, before zooming off, dropping the Ralts high in a tree. It begins to cry as it has no way of getting down, and the Scyther gets in front of you with lightning speed. "Be careful trainer. This Scyther may be a weakling compared to others, but its speed is near unmatched. You need to find a way around its speed!"

What will you do?

The Island
Garland Basin
Son_of_Shadows

You can feel the telepathic prescence of your Munna, but, oddly enough, it feels kind of mellowed out and droggy. And, actually, you feel kinda of groggy yourself, and look around the room. You still cannot see anything, but can smell a sickly sweet smell in the air. It must be some kind of mind-affecting substance. It makes your head seem like it was wrapped in a fog, and you can't quite tell what it going on. Your Munna tries to Teleport out of its own bindings, but it finds that it can't, not having the mental concentration to do so. You sigh a bit as you think of your own predicament. You were in the hot spring, when a man dropped some herbs into the water. It is probably the same thing that it making the powerful incense, but, it seems to be a lot weaker than the herbs in the water. You are bound by your hands and your feet, and you are off the ground, though bound to what you do not know. You can't see anything outside. Your Munna tells you in broken thoughts about how hopeless this situation seems, and mumble a response, though, you don' t think he heard you.

Just then, a door opens up behind you and fills the room in beautiful light. Just like that, the drug's effects wear off on you...it is clearly meant to subdue someone in the abscence of light. You look at your Munna, but it does not seemed to have helped him out at all, he must be under the effect of a different drug. You can see that the Munna is in a cage made of sticks, and that you are bound in iron chains attached to a stake. You have no idea what is going on, but a man in walks in front of you, topless, with some sort of tribals paints all over his body. He is a white man though, and does show a little bit of the chubby side to him. Seems this is not a true native man. He grabs the pole along with another man, who you notice has really strong arms, and carries you over to a large crowd, who appears to be chanting some chant, but whatever it is you are not sure. You see they are a diverse group, with all kinds of people. Definetely not a native group. You are planted into the ground, along with your Munna, who is planted in front of you. Things have gone from bad, to worse.

What will you do?

The Island
Shale Beach
myahoo

Cid heard you and looked back, with a big smile on his face. It was literally grinning from ear to ear. "You my friend are a very curious one. That is what makes a person a good scientist. The endless curiousity about it. Well, I can tell you some more things about the Lufenians and the staff you have, but, I do have to tell you that our knowledge is very limited without the ability to translate the language. The Lufenians believed, or at least we think they believed in some sort of sky god, and that this sky god would bless them the closer they got to the sky. They supposedly built a city in the sky, despite no evidence of the technology needed to be able to do it. For some reason, the city vanished without a trace. No one knows why. One tablet seems to show a large dragon of some sort, but no one has any idea. It is very partial, and all we can see are two heads, and a neck. That staff you have there seems to be another staff we have back at the Musuem of Lufenian Culture. It appears to be exactly the same. It must have gone to some sort of ritual, though, why there are two makes no sense.

"Well, there are a few things that we are planning to do. For one, the discovery of an artifact here means that we are going to have to plan a dig here. You can join in on that if you want. With some amazing amount of luck, we might even be able to find that stone with the translation that we need so dearly. Another thing that we can do is bring that staff back to the other one, and compare the two. You can come along with both of those if you want, though, you might be a little full on knowledge at this point. I won't blame you if you don't want to." The man grabs that staff out of your hand, and both your Misdreaus and Cyndaquil look at you for an answer.

What will you do?

[LucarioArtcunoSuicunLover]

The Island
Ignatius River
LASL

The Ralts has already gained quite a lead ahead of you in the forest, and you have to race to catch up with him. You nimbly moves through the forest, jumping over logs and dodging branches. However, the Ralts cannot get run as fast as you can, and you do slow down at times to let the Ralts get ahead of you. After a while, you wonder how much longer it will take to find the Ralt's mother, and are astonished that the Ralts had run so far. Just then, you hear a rustle in the bushes, but it more sounds like something moving really fast than if it was a Gulpin, who actually it pretty slow by comparison. You take some note of the the noise, but, you concentration broke a little too soon, and you run head first into a rather large branch. You smash your nose into it, causing you too fall over onto the ground. You feel a little dazed as you look up at your Spearow and Turt, who enters you mind again. He interestingly enough is able to dispel the dizzyness in your mind, and says, "Miss, I think yowr nose is browken." You touch your nose, and you feel an instant of pain rush into your head, though the little Ralts tries to dispel it. You get up, but with the blood running down your face, you have to keep your head up in order to keep from losing too much blood. You keep walking until you hear the cry of a Gardevoir ring out. You lower your head, and SMACK into some sort of barrier, injuring your nose even more. You groan from the pain, when you feel the pain beginning to fade away. You see the Gardevoir with a hand up in the air, releasing a wave of energy towards you, a HEALing PULSE coming your way. However, it stops abrubtly, not repairing most of your nose but stopping the bleeding.

You feel a much stronger force enter your brain, and again, that sensation of foreign prescence is dizzying. "Do not worry, young trainer. I have tried to repair your broken nose, but, I am too weak to go on. I am barely able to keep this Reflect barrier in the air. I am hurt badly because a large green flash attacked me and my son. It took our berries, and it keeps stalking me, waiting for me to lower my guard down. Whatever it is, it wants more food, and it thinks that I have some. Please, help me trainer." You aren't sure what to do, when Turt screeches. You look up and see tha Turt is being held in the air by a large green Pokemon. One thing is true, this is not a Gulpin. This is called a red herring. This large Pokemon has two scythes which it is using to hold up the Ralts. This is a Scyther. He screeches at you, probably wanting your food, before zooming off, dropping the Ralts high in a tree. It begins to cry as it has no way of getting down, and the Scyther gets in front of you with lightning speed. "Be careful trainer. This Scyther may be a weakling compared to others, but its speed is near unmatched. You need to find a way around its speed!"

What will you do?

As worrisome as the situation was, El couldn't help but relish the chance for a good bit of exercise. Dashing through the trees, darting in out over and under, yeah, what better way to get the blood pumping? Sure, she had to slow every now and then to avoid overtaking Turt, but how often does one get a chance to vault over fallen trees? It was actually quite difficult to keep an eye on her little guide and avoid running into something, but she was an expert at following Sparow. And as much as she hated it, her body forced her to slow down a little after a while, sprinting is not the same thing as long distance running after all. But she forced herself to keep moving, put one foot in front of the other and WOAH.

Whatwasthat it just overtook her and man it was fa-CRUNCH. Oh, right, running in a forest. Lots of trees. She landed butt first on the ground. Her nose stung quite a bit, but no biggie, she injured herself all the time. Turt had stopped for whatever reason, nice to know she wasn't about to be abandoned in the middle of a forest with no clue how to get out.

"Miss, I think yowr nose is browken."

Broken? El reached to her nos and OUCH. It was flatter than it should be and covered in blood. But she's a strong girl she can take it, after all, it's no biggie. Turt was trying to heal it for her it seemed, not that he was having much luck. As she staggered up, El spotted a Gardevoir lying on the ground, looking awfully helpless. She dashed up to it and BANG there went any chance of her smelling much ever again. Ah well. No. Biggie. The Gardevoir reached out and tried her own hand at healing her broken (shattered) nose. The pain was soothed a little, but not much else happened. El once again felt a presence worming its way into her mind, but this time she was able to avoid vomiting. Thankfully.

"Do not worry, young trainer. I have tried to repair your broken nose, but, I am too weak to go on. I am barely able to keep this Reflect barrier in the air. I am hurt badly because a large green flash attacked me and my son. It took our berries, and it keeps stalking me, waiting for me to lower my guard down. Whatever it is, it wants more food, and it thinks that I have some. Please, help me trainer."

Lass El couldn't help but feel that she'd just gotten involved in something far beyond her. But it was too late to turn back, and even if she could she wouldn't. Even though it was probably monumentally stupid. That had never stopped her before though and it wouldn't stop her now. She reached for Sparow's pokeball, ready to call her out if need be.

A cry echoes through the trees from behind her, where she'd left Turt. Stupid, stupid she'd left the child alone. Spinning around, El took her first good look at the culprit. It was a massive green bug, carapace shining in the leaf-filtered light. In stead of forearms, it had two wicked-looking scythes it was using to hold up poor Turt. Scyther, oh sweet deity a scyther. One move and, well, suffice to say she could easily come out of this encounter missing something more vital than her nose. She watches helplessly as the bug leaves Turt up a tree.

"Be careful trainer. This Scyther may be a weakling compared to others, but its speed is near unmatched. You need to find a way around its speed!"

Okay thanks Gardevoir. Spearow are kinda fast aren't the OHHOLYDEITY. El dropped Sparow's pokeball as the scyther had decided to get RIGHT UP IN HER FACE. She had nothing against bug types, lots of people are scared by them and she felt that was stupid. But that opinion might have to change now that she had gotten up close to a wild one with scythes for arms. It was taller than her for deity's sake! She got out of the way as fast as possible, clamouring on the ground for her dropped pokeball. As soon as she had a firm grip on it, she released Sparow from its confines and got up to run. It was quite clear that this was not one of those battles they televise on TV at prime time, she was the headline news. "Girl found dead in the forests by Ignatius River."

"Sparow! Help me please! You're a bird! Birds eat bugs right? Do something please!" She called out desperately, but it only seemed to confuse Sparow who had landed without a clue of what was going on. That didn't last for long as the scyther took a swing at her, Sparow barely getting out of the way. El screamed as she saw her precious partner attacked, but she was her only hope. Somewhere in the back of her mind the thought that flying types have an advantage over bug types had taken hold, and she wasn't about to throw it away. "Quick while you're close to it! Peck! And then, and then Growl! Twice! Make it weak stop it stop it! Please!" By this point El was clinging to a nearby tree for support, sobbing in fear. This was not what she'd signed up for when she came to visit. But she got it and there was no running away.

[Son_of_Shadows]

The Island
Garland Basin
Son_of_Shadows

You can feel the telepathic prescence of your Munna, but, oddly enough, it feels kind of mellowed out and droggy. And, actually, you feel kinda of groggy yourself, and look around the room. You still cannot see anything, but can smell a sickly sweet smell in the air. It must be some kind of mind-affecting substance. It makes your head seem like it was wrapped in a fog, and you can't quite tell what it going on. Your Munna tries to Teleport out of its own bindings, but it finds that it can't, not having the mental concentration to do so. You sigh a bit as you think of your own predicament. You were in the hot spring, when a man dropped some herbs into the water. It is probably the same thing that it making the powerful incense, but, it seems to be a lot weaker than the herbs in the water. You are bound by your hands and your feet, and you are off the ground, though bound to what you do not know. You can't see anything outside. Your Munna tells you in broken thoughts about how hopeless this situation seems, and mumble a response, though, you don' t think he heard you.

Just then, a door opens up behind you and fills the room in beautiful light. Just like that, the drug's effects wear off on you...it is clearly meant to subdue someone in the abscence of light. You look at your Munna, but it does not seemed to have helped him out at all, he must be under the effect of a different drug. You can see that the Munna is in a cage made of sticks, and that you are bound in iron chains attached to a stake. You have no idea what is going on, but a man in walks in front of you, topless, with some sort of tribals paints all over his body. He is a white man though, and does show a little bit of the chubby side to him. Seems this is not a true native man. He grabs the pole along with another man, who you notice has really strong arms, and carries you over to a large crowd, who appears to be chanting some chant, but whatever it is you are not sure. You see they are a diverse group, with all kinds of people. Definetely not a native group. You are planted into the ground, along with your Munna, who is planted in front of you. Things have gone from bad, to worse.

What will you do?

Steven seemed dejected at being unable to Teleport them away. It seemed the hot water, combined with the herbs and the incense had completely messed up his mind, and with it, his psychic power. Joshua wasn't feeling too great either, but he had to try and stay positive. "Don't worry Steven, we'll just have to find another way out of here..."

Jo, I read mind, know how feel...

"Oops." The scent was obviously affecting his brain more than he thought if he'd forgotten that. He tried to take a step, and found himself unable to go anywhere. He was chained to something? What the hell was going on here? He still couldn't see... Until the door opened, and light filled the area. The scent disappeared too, and Joshua felt as though he'd snapped back to reality. Could whatever drug this was only be effective without light? Did that even make sense? Not the issue. C'mon Joshua. He looked over to Steven, to see him trapped in a wooden cage, while he was bound to a stake. This just didn't bode well, especially when two men covered in tribal markings carried him and the Munna into the middle of a crowd, planting them in the centre together. An ethnically diverse group was chanting something he couldn't quite understand, and it all just had the most ominous feeling he could imagine.

Why is it that every time I go somewhere, something inevitably tries to kill me...

He had only one hope. Steven was currently incapacitated, and it wasn't like Joshua was any sort of fighter either. He'd have to use his brain to get out of this. "I demand to speak to your leader!" he called out. Did they even understand English? If not, well, damn, that was probably death right there. Fun times for all!

[Takeo]

Mt. Infernus

The second largest of Cortoza's mountains, Mt. Infernus is now extinct. Many Pokémon have made their homes within the vast network of tunnels and caverns deep within the mountain, and aren't all that accustomed to seeing people. It's become the primary breeding ground for many of the rarer Pokémon who tend to shy away from humans, and due to the protective nature of the parent Pokémon, quite a hazardous area to traverse.

Areas:
Waterfall: A large waterfall cascading down the side of Mt. Infernus and into the Ignatius River before flowing out to sea. Many tourists and trainers love to bask in the sun by its banks which are much more pleasant to visit than the uninviting Shale Beach surrounding the island.

The sun was bright and sunny, the undergrowth of the rain forest and the cascading waterfall made for a wonderful back drop.

A boy of around 20 with black/brown hair and shorts, sat along the banks of the river, his legs resting inside the the pool of water, cool and refreshing.
His brown eyes watching his Frillish playing in the water,
Narcissa was enjoying the deep blue water while Grace was taking a nap by a near by tree where Hallow had set up camp.

He jumped right in to the pool and swam for a bit, the roar of the waterfall relaxing his body,

The sun was starting to paint colorful arrays of blues, purples, and reds in the sky,
He swam back to the edge and jumped out to cook dinner for everyone,

He dried off, changed to jeans and a jacket.
Quickly he got the necessities needed to cook,

By the time the food was ready the night sky had set in and everyone had gathered to fest,

"Alright everyone, lets eat!,'
everyone loudly ate their food, which was music to the chef's ears. He was no longer alone, he had built himself a nice little family, and he was content.


[Stats.]

[Food Guy]

Cortoza
The Volcanic Island


The Island

The constant heat seeping up through Cortoza's volcanic soil has given the island a distinct tropical feel, a vast and winding rainforest taking up a large percentage of the land's mass and surrounding each of Cortoza's mountains. The rainforest is humid and full of life, but also very dangerous. The ground is unstable in certain areas making hiking through the forest dangerous even for the most experienced of guides. Several patches of arid, rocky land dot the island, where no vegetation will grow, and it's there that some of the strongest and most fearsome Pokémon roam.

Areas:
Shale Beach: Shale Beach stretches around the outskirts of the island itself. Its sand is gritty and black, not at all the postcard picture you want to be sending home.

"We're going to the beach!" declared Karmas, Sheldon slowly dragging himself by his trainer's side.

Initially Karmas had been a little apprehensive about coming to Cortoza with Sheldon, especially since Sheldon was a turtle, and they weren't exactly well known for their prowess on land. However once he saw that there was a lot more water related places in Cortoza than he has actually thought there was, well he was pretty happy to go and give Sheldon a little adventure.

As for the turtle himself, all he could think about was actually getting into the water. The sweet, sweet water, then Sheldon could get nice and wet and cool and wet, just like a water type should be. Though he did sort of wonder why Karmas didn't just keep him in his ball till they got to the sweet wet cool water, but Sheldon was still happy that he was allowed out.

And so the pair ventured forth, both looking forward to their destination, Shale Beach.

[Dark Searchman]

Mt. Infernus
Scenic Walk
Dark Searchman

The Larvesta was showing itself to be a truly feisty beasty, and the fact that it was able to hold its own against both a Seviper and a Druddigon is truly comendable. But, you are determined to get the little guy into your party as quickly and as neatly as possible. Sarkahn is the first to move, his tail glowing a bright purple color as special toxins fill he iinside of his skin. Impossible you say? Well, seeing as every Pokemon except Magikarp, Burmy, Wynaut, and Wobbuffet can use Toxic, it really isn't that weird. Sarkahn swings his tail towards Larvesta, who tries a dodge, but unforunately is unable to, taking a somewhat small hit in the process. He gives a little grunt as he gets back up from the attack, The Larvesta looks confindent after than attack, and gives out another screech into the air, a giant BUG BUZZ racing through the walkway. A few trainers who had been paying attention grunt and cover their ears, and Sarkahn roars again from he pain. Amethyst looks at his brethen in oain, and goes to help him out. Amethyst's tail becomes covered in poison energy itself, mimicking the same attack Sarkahn had used. The tail becomes filled with poison, and Ameythst swings ti. Larvesta does not see it coming, and takes it right to a weak spot, screeching as it flies into the air, and hit the ground, taking a CRITICAL HIT!

Larvesta gets up, not poisoned from either attack, and looks at Sarkahn, who has just recovered himself from the powerful Bug Buzz. His mouth fills up with powerful draconic fires that burn a spectacular blue color, and seemed to be fillled with rage from having his ears ringing after those two attacks. He breathes out a large fireball of flames, smashing into Larvesta, sending him flying from the powerful attack. He gets up again, and this time, directs an attack at Seviper. True to his hot and bold nature, he birst into flames, charging at Seviper with vicious intent. He slams into Amethyst in powerful flames, and Amethyst yells out from the powerful FLARE BLITZ. He gets back up, and looks at Larvesta, shooting some poison from its fangs at the little fella. They hit him, but, since he has not been confused, it does some decent damage and just sits there, doing nothing, harmless with another poison. Sarkahn took another large hit, and it a little worn down, but he is not bad. He might be able to use a few more Poison tails at this point. Amethyst is a little better off than Sarkahn, but is a little bit more worn out. The Larvesta is really taking a beating, and it showing its fair share of bruises and marks. It is more worn out than both Sarkahn and Amethyst too, but his strong attitude is keeping him in there.

What will you do?

{Amethyst is actually a female, not a male. (No, stop, Amy, he'll get it right, I know it! *tries to hold her back from attacking you* >_<)}

Sarkhan and Amethyst may not have been as enthused about the idea of having this Larvesta as a teammate, but they were at least motivated to take this spunky Pokemon down a notch. Sarkhan would start by filling Poison into his Tail then trying to smack it into the bug. Larvesta tried to dodge the attack but got clipped by the tip of Sarkhan's tail, wincing from the damage. It was ready to dole out some more payback in the form of another Bug Buzz attack, making everybody, especially Sarkhan, cover their ears. Sarkhan was roaring in pain and annoyance from this nasty sonic attack; he had enough of it! Amethyst had enough of the Torch Pokemon's defiance, and was ready to show it her own Poison Tail. This time, Larvesta's guard was dropped and got sliced by the tail blade as a result, screaming in excruciating pain!

Then Sarkhan gathered some of his draconic power and spat out a Dragon-shaped flame which would engulf Larvesta in its Rage, knocking it into the air once again. Then Larvesta wreathed himself in more flames and shot out at Amethyst again, this time forcing her to shriek from getting hit by the powerful Flare Blitz. She retaliates with her Venoshock which hits Larvesta, but, unfortunately, since neither Poison Tail was able to poison the bug, the attack doesn't nearly do as much damage as it could do. Between the two scaly Pokemon, Amethyst had a little more health, but Sarkhan had a little more energy. However, both Pokemon were ahead of Larvesta in health and energy and were starting to gain an overall advantage over their quarry. The battle looked a little shaky at the start for Hyrem's snake and dragon, but going up against a tag team was clearly starting to take its toll on Larvesta.

"All right, we're starting to win it here, so let's go for the KO!" encouraged Hyrem. "Sarkhan, try to slow it down with a Rock Tomb, then do another Poison Tail! Amethyst, use Aqua Tail for some more type advantage against Larvesta, then do another Poison Tail with Sarkhan!" He thought about throwing a Pokeball after that round would end, but decided against it; up to this point, Larvesta had shown phenomenal energy against them... who knows how much spirit it still had left in the tank? No, not yet... maybe a little later...