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Blue_Flash4

Previously Blue_Flash4 de Lafayette
Zen had been traveling around this new region for a while. He was walking in the forest where he saw someone reporting something. He moved a bit more and hid behind a tree. He sent out his Charmander and said to it “Scout around this area see if there’s anyone else.” His Charmander nodded and ran off.
 
Collax considered what Madison had said, feeling a little stupid having not considered it before. Madison was, as hard as it was to admit it, certainly more versed in this category than he was.

Skorupi skittered behind Collax, disappointed that he wasn't able to help much. Barkley looked to Collax, who nodded and pointed at the grooves. "Yeah, prolly should have thought of that to begin with. Barkley, try Ingraining yaself into that there hole. Might do better than trying to break it open." And so Barkley floated over to the rock wall, preparing to do just that.

"You know, you surprise me sometimes, Maddie? With what you actually DO know? I guess I didn't expect that much. Should probably avoid having low standards for anyone, hm?" Collax admitted, looking to Madison out of the corner of his eye. He had meant more what what it sounded like he did through that statement, and he could only hope Madison picked up on it. Barkley, meanwhile, had placed himself directly in the indent and begun to use Ingrain, planting roots into the rock face. The roots followed the grooves that branched out from the indent, and crept deeper into the rock with little resistance.

All at once, the stone wall began to shake and rumble, causing Barkley to panic and release his roots. The stone face that held the indent pulled backwards and sunk into the rock in which is sat, pulling away and revealing a particularly clean open passage.

Collax was left mildly confused and completely intrigued. Something new to explore, and whatever this was was certainly not natural, like he initially suspected. This was something different, and very likely something that could be heavily related to whatever happened to this strange region.

"Be my guest, your majesty."
 
She had made her way to explore the forest on her own with Forrest her Sawsbuck in summer form, Bella her Glameow, River her Popplio, and Ribbon her Eevee who rested on her shoulders. She returned Bella and River for now until she came upon a big part of the forest that was open spaced before grabbing Ribbon and placed her on Forrest's head. "Alright, girls let's practice our coordinating style ok" she smiled looking at them both as they smiled. "Sawsbuck!" "Eevee!" "Alright, Forrest Energy ball! Ribbon Shadow ball!" she called out as both girls leaped up. "Eeeeevee!" "Sawsbuck!". Both the Shadow ball and Energy ball collided before sparks were created afterward giving a pretty shine as it fell. "Well done girls" she smiled sweetly as Ribbon leaped in her arms. "Eevee!" "Saws!" She gently placed her hand on Forrest gently petting her as she gently nudged it. "-At least.....you guys understand me...-" she said in thought as tears welled up in her eyes.-
 
“Of course. Why would you want to have low standards? You can’t just accept anyone, when you can do much better. Unless,” retorted Madison, “you meant low expectations, in which case drunken sailor boy doesn’t know the difference between words, let alone how to move a wall.”

As she walked ahead she couldn’t stifle a satisfied smirk, which worked itself onto her face like Barkley’s roots into the slab and passed through her stone-faced delivery. While she wasn’t any easier on Collax, Madison enjoyed teasing more than berating him like she did everyone else.

These delightful moments eased her bewilderment, because she could familiarly poke fun at someone in unfamiliar surroundings. She hadn’t expected the rock to sink into the ground like a fully functioning door that Barkley had keyed open. She’d thought it would shatter like a simple obstacle. The girl was just as intrigued as the boy beside her, and banter took her mind off it.

It helped that the grass softened beyond the wall, as if growing any more was desecration. Otherwise, Madison would have to wade through unkempt blades, overwhelming her further. The retreating monolith, however, didn’t add to her disappointment with the region as the abandoned hospital had.

No... this ancient gate wasn’t the work of man and his advanced technology. They couldn’t produce the mystical atmosphere that surrounded this place. The natural, beating heart of the wilderness was a piece of the Lasryn puzzle incongruous with the dilapidated medical building. Indeed, like a chamber of the heart the jungle canopy trapped them, thickening and choking the light filtering from above. The dense growth overhead must have denied Barkley vision earlier. Nature was throwing up barriers to the sky now, and Madison hoped this meant that there would be no more impasses ahead. This path had to lead somewhere, culminate the mounting suspense already.

So she was visibly frustrated when another wall stood before her, grooveless this time. Equally smooth was the flow of water that ran over paved stone, perfectly clear but so shallow that the moat looked more like a flooded sidewalk.

“Perhaps I’m foolish for expecting a good response from you... but how is this stream, far away from civilization, so pristine?” Madison wondered aloud to Collax. “And how is it so perfectly contained? There are no banks, no signs that it was dug. It’s literally a perfect step into the ground. And it runs over impeccably paved stone...”

Through her confusion, she managed a look of satisfaction.

“Well, we may not need to filter our own water after all,” she conceded. “And it doesn’t end here. The river flows parallel to this wall. We can’t pass forward, but if we cross and walk along it, we could get somewhere.”

Madison decided, stepping over the moat, walking the grass narrow between it and the solid rampart. Gible poised herself, then hopped the water and landed behind her.

“Gib!”

The little dragon couldn’t float over with Barkley’s ease, but would follow her trainer nevertheless. Thankfully, the leaves progressively drew back where Madison led her, the light slowly returning.

Until they turned a corner. Right then, the sun shone suddenly, and brilliantly. The thick foliage surrendered completely here. Another clearing. More trimmed grass.

Madison wandered into it, feeling like she had wasted her time. But when she turned back to Collax to rant, she froze.

A magnificent step pyramid towered above them, two statues of a snake Pokémon she had never seen before guarding its gaping, pitch-dark entrance. Whyever this ancient structure was here, it wasn’t chiseled by human hands... Madison could feel that as she followed its walls.

But this one certainty didn’t stop her from expressing all her uncertainty.

“What even is Lasryn?!” she shouted across the eerily quiet temple-front. “An abandoned hospital, and now a-!”

From the pyramid’s summit, where the blinding sun had obscured its form to a silhouette, a pink blob dropped and thumped down in front of Madison, clearly visible now, startling the girl into silence. A Pokémon she knew all too well.

“Chansey!”
 
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Collax initially had little to say as Madison stepped past the stone Barkley bothered to open. He held his tongue and followed her, not entirely sure how to respond to her retort. By now, however, he was beginning to pick up on Madison's teasing of him. Though he didn't really appreciate it, he noted that it was better than having her beat him down over everything he did, like she seemed to do for others. So he just went along with it.

The pristine, tiny stream they came across interested him further. He was easily convinced that this was not made by humans at all. Something about the door already gave him that feeling, and this perfect stream confirmed it. Something else was at work here. He had no answer for Madison's wonders about the stream; He simply stared up at where the water came from, as far as he could see. He felt like he was supposed to look for something or someone, but whatever it was, he couldn't find it.

He followed Madison over the stream, taking a hop over the water with care to not touch it. Skorupi had skittered up and latched onto his shoulder in order to get across, while Barkley and Inkay floated after him. Barkley was staring at the woods that surrounded them, as well as the grass, with awe. Inkay stuck close to Collax, not quite sure what to make of the area yet. Skorupi, meanwhile, had lept from Collax's shoulder and begun skittering forward. It almost caught up to Madison when she turned around and saw the pyramid.

Collax was, again, at a loss for words. He could tell as much as Madison that this was definitely not made by or for humans. It was almost mystical in appearance, the snakes that arced over the entrance. Skorupi had already begun for the temple, excited. The insect was feeling abnormally drawn to the structure, as though it had been here before. Inkay and Barkley were on either of Collax's shoulders, sharing his awe, until a Chansey suddenly decided to show itself. And Madison seemed to know it.

Collax looked at it and the pyramid a few times, trying to make out something about it. He wasn't sure if he knew what the carved snakes were that beheld the entrance of the building, but Skorupi was certainly not deterred by them. In fact, the insect had already skittered up to one of them and begun inspecting it. Collax, meanwhile, stood a reasonable distance away as to get a solid look at it.

"Ancient... and damned beautiful. Somethin' had to have made it, but..." He considered the state of the region. Volcanic activity, seemingly destroyed civilization, and some lunatic who's trying to search out the trainers who landed here. Even if the foliage near the pyramid was thick, there was no way nobody who was here before whatever "disaster" happened had ever seen this. But the hospital was decrepit. Destroyed. There were lava tubes under the jungle, so there was volcanic activity that likely did that job. But the pyramid here showed no sign at all about this having affected it. No whitening from fallen ash, no scorch marks. A perfectly carved, clean irrigation line, that was probably what the stream they had come across earlier had been. Actively trimmed grass. Not a sign of disturbance in the area for ages. This structure had been sitting long before the hospital, but it was is almost pristine condition, save for some plants that sprouted here and there. It must have been protected somehow.

Collax had a moment of short realization. There had to be a reason this place needed to be unlocked through a door with Ingrain. There had to be a reason the forest in this area was in such clean condition, not just the temple. There was something special about this part of the region in general, and if this temple had nothing to do with it, Collax didn't have any idea what would. As Skorupi skittered around in front, interested in exploring the inside, Collax looked back at Madison, noted Chansey, back to Madison, and gave her a serious look. He didn't say anything else.
 
Aura was sent to this new area in the region but even though this was new to her she could tell where to go. Snow, her Alolan Vulpix walked beside her as the crystal's on her bow gleamed every once in a while when the sun directed on it. She made her way through the forest before hearing voices of other trainers. She went to investigate cautiously as Snow leaped on her shoulder to rest using her nose to sniff around the area as she was in battle mode just in case something went wrong. She watched from a distance before spotting a male and a female looking at the front of the pyramid as she quietly came out as Snow held on tight. She placed her mask on to hide her face before slowly making her way up a tree quietly as pyramid's seemed to interest her a lot. She looked around carefully at the structure outside. Snow was amazed as well as her crystal bow gave a gleaming shine with the sun. "-Such an amazing structure, this is probably why I love seeing pyramids well built like this-" she thought as she sat upon a tree looking from above but wasn't sure if the male and the female would notice her up here.-
 
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Madison would've followed her surprise with an outburst, but Collax shot her a serious look, and the Pokémon before her had something she wanted. So she lifted the corners of her mouth as if they weighed a ton under her temper, the smile faltering midway before sticking plastically. Hopefully, it would at least be convincing enough to coax a delicious egg out of Chansey.

Unfortunately, someone else's appearance further tested her kindness. The atmosphere was so quiet that it only took a rustle in a nearby tree for Madison to dart her eye. She normally dismissed people, and this monkey girl on a branch was no different. Collax swung from them all the time, so they might get along.

Now was not the time for hard truth, however. If she wanted to cook a tasty omelet later, the girl needed to sugarcoat her own words and reserve her judgements.

"How interesting to see you up there," she began with a smile that was barely surviving at this point, twitching like the spinal reflexes of a dead person pricked by each word. "You should come down."

Saying "interesting" and leaving out why she should descend was the best Madison could do.

"We don't bite," she added more convincingly. She wasn't really being kind but setting an example, showing that unlike Aura she wasn't a biting savage. It was nevertheless enough to fool the optimistic Chansey, who cried happily and handed Madison the egg. Not a second later, she took a small step toward the pyramid, and the Pokémon eyed her warningly. She didn't have time to dwell on the uncharacteristic gesture as the pink blob waddled away, peaceful and oblivious as before.

Tucking the prize away in her purse, a similarly undeterred Madison advanced into the temple. Ultimately it was Aura's decision, but she had to catch up soon if she wanted to follow, because the light spilling from the entrance tapered into total darkness. Gible, as intelligent as her trainer, breathed a controlled Flamethrower to illuminate their path. The murk quickly reclaimed what they left behind, and in a matter of seconds they'd be no more than a dying flame to fellow explorers.

Devoid of mummies, booby traps, and other clichés, the pyramid's inside was as uninfluenced by humans as the outside. But there were more statues of that same snake Pokémon on either side, again, and again, and again... another two every few feet. Odd hieroglyphs were carved into the walls, and the path they walked was even more irregularly formed than the symbols. It often veered left and right for no reason whatsoever, dead ends turning them from the current stretch. Why not just allow straight passage, if there was nothing else stopping them? Perhaps the temple would've been a challenge had they gone in blind, but they'd solved that problem.

Where the broken road ended was even more puzzling: a massive, torchlit chamber. Its back wall was the only one indented with characters. Otherwise, the room was blank, not a single door gaping in its virgin faces.

But it was what the area contained, not what it lacked, that bewildered Madison. In the center floated a ring of Yamask, following each other in fast revolution and staring into the back of the ghost ahead. They seemed distressed and confused, as if they'd lost something but couldn't remember what it was. So the Pokémon continued to go in circles.

Madison and Gible avoided the wildly spinning Yamask, creeping along the walls and closer to the lone hieroglyphs. If they were instructions that detailed how to proceed from here, these writings were their best chance. Otherwise, she was trapped.

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Collax followed behind Madison and Gible into the pyramid, Inkay's glowing providing a slight source of light. Skorupi skittered along the ground happily as Barkley's eyes watched the long hallways. Eventually, they reached the room in question: A lit room with nothing but glyphs on the back wall and Yamask circling frantically in the center. To Collax, this was all exciting and confusing. As Madison crept along the wall to reach the glyphs, Collax followed her lead and did the same on the other side, keeping a generous distance from the ghosts in the center of the room.

They both seemed to reach the back wall at around the same time. It didn't look like the Yamasks were reacting to them yet, so he felt safe enough to stare upon the glyphs on the wall. He glanced around at them for a moment before looking to Madison.
"Unown hieroglyphics. I'm sure you know how t' read 'em." He said, looking at them and immediately speaking them out loud despite his comment a moment earlier. He had seen these before in books and heard stories of them. The glyphs weren't too difficult to read, but the Pokemon they are drawn after are that to be wary of. Unown were particularly mysterious creatures. Veritably weak on their own, but potentially disastrous en mass. Their intentions tend to be ambiguous in all their forms. They are apparently also used often for writing by Pokemon. Collax once wondered if Unown glyphs were Pokemon's attempts to communicate with humans.

"The... masks of these Pokemon hold the memor...ies of their past lives.
They are in a state of.. confusion.
Carrying the face of... another.
But they can...not see that.
If they find their true faces
A door opens.


...What, are they asking us to sort them out? Like a sock drawer or somethin'?"
 
She huffed about the girl trying to scare her but to no avail, she leaped off the tree as Snow held on. She decided to follow the two inside seeing how magnificent it was inside. She had spotted Unknown hieroglyphics as she was able to read them easily, however, the man with a Skorupi and an Inkay lighting the room had beat her two it to open the door. She stood slightly behind a bit with arms folded across her chest as she was very curious but cautious about the door as she stood silent. Snow, on the other hand, leaped off her shoulder lowering her nose down to sniff the floor before raising her head up to look into the door at a distance. "Vul?" she said moving her head to the side a bit in confusion as she stood to where she was smart enough to not go through it without her trainers ok but the crystal's on her bow seemed to gleam again by a sudden light to the sun as what Snow didn't know was that an ice stone was held on it for her evolution once the time was right. She opened a guild involving about the Unknowns as she had studied them closely but what she couldn't figure out was how was this pyramid connected to the Unknown which made her determined to find this out.
 
"Aron, wait up!" Shaynuh shouted as she and her Charmander ran after the steel pokemon, wondering what had gotten into him.

She was about to call Aron back into his pokeball until he began to gradually slow down, enough for her to finally catch up with him. A sigh of relief was let out once he came to a complete stop at the edge of a flowing creek, making her smile as she knelt close to the edge, scooping up a handful of water before drinking it. The water was cool and refreshing as she removed a canteen from her bag, opening the top before putting the entire container underwater, allowing it to fill up to the rim.

Once the canteen was returned to her bag, Shaynuh sat by the water's edge, wanting to relax after having to chase Aron for so long. Charmander was also relieved to rest, sitting not too far from his trainer as he stared at the water, watching curiously as something under the water moved around. It piqued the pokemon's interest and curiosity as he stood up, staring at the water intently until a blast of water shot out, hitting Charmander square in the face.

The sudden attack caught Shaynuh's attention as she quickly stood up, searching the water for the unknown culprit until her gaze landed on a blue skinned pokemon that was in the water. For a moment, the pokemon stared back until it decided to jump out from the water, landing just a foot across from Charmander as the fire pokemon hastily shook the water from its face. The water pokemon seemed to laugh at Charmander's dislike for water, angering the fire pokemon as the flame on its tail burned bright and tall.

"A Totodile!" she said with a grin. "It would be awesome to have a water pokemon! Charmander, it's time to battle!" she exclaimed.

Charmander glared at Totodile, readying itself to battle the water pokemon. Aron stood next to Shaynuh to watch as Ghastly remained out of sight to observe.
 
“A glorified sock drawer...” considered Madison. “I suppose so, if socks needed convincing. The way it’s worded implies that the ghosts need to find their own faces. We have to open the Yamask’s eyes, not be them.”

She looked away from the engravings and back to the center of the room. The spirits, their energy boundless and immortal, were still spinning in one large, constant circle—too fast and too many.

“If we try every possible combination until every Pokémon is satisfied, we’ll rot. I refuse to join these lowly phantoms in revolution,” Madison declared. “If we can make them recognize that the masks are not theirs, then this puzzle solves itself. Of that I’m certain, but my mind is spinning in circles of its own as to how. So we have to slow two things down—the ghosts, and our thought process—to find a way out, because we can’t bring order to anything that is moving so chaotically.”

She eyed Gible, then Collax, Skorupi, Barkley, and the Inkay that also floated beside him. Rummaging in her purse, she tossed out Sandile and Probot’s Pokéballs. The hunk of metal wasn’t going anywhere, but she’d discipline the thieving croc if the shiny masks piqued his covetous curiosity.

This was their combined party—all the moves they had at their disposal. Madison was contemplating whether they should just attack the spirits now, or somehow make them realize that they carried false memories, as she’d suggested earlier.

So she opened her mind and toned down her previous determination, taking Collax’s analogy more seriously.

“Or perhaps it isn’t as complicated as I’m describing. If we do treat this like a sock drawer, then we’ll collect all the masks, hand them one by one to a particular Yamask, and if any of them calm it down, we have a match. The rest proceeds by elimination. Does that make more sense, Collax?”
 
Collax looked at the Probot for a moment, not quite sure where Madison would find a Pokemon like it, until he remembered the hospital. New Pokemon. That's a good sign, at least. The region did have something going for it.

He considered the actions Madison provided, dwelling a little longer on the final one. Take all the masks, sort them out, and try to find the proper owner. As reasonable as it sounds, the idea gave Collax a very distinct bad feeling. Barkley had shook his head in response to the idea, chirping up a few times.
"Eugh... Ok, apparently Yamask ain't real fond of their masks being taken. And given the count of that mob, I'd rather not be on their bad side. Barkley's telling me it'd be like someone cutting down a Trevenant's favorite tree. If you didn't already piss it off bringing an axe to the forest, you'd already have nailed your coffin shut. I guess we can assume these guy's're gonna feel the same way about us messing with their masks, even if they're not the right ones. Seein' what that message on the wall there said, they don't know they've got the wrong ones. And I'm lookin' at 'em now- they ain't checkin'. We gotta convince 'em to let us see their masks, or somethin'. Maybe just get their attention long enough to make 'em hold still."

He, too, stared at the combined team they had. Barkley looked around, back and forth, between the team and the Yamask, before turning to Collax. He shrugged in response.
"...'S worth a shot. See what you can do." And off the little Phantump went. Being a ghost-type, he wasn't in any immediate danger around ghosts, most of the time, but he was still cautious to seem friendly in the presence of the many, many other ghosts. He wove his little hands around, speaking the language of Pokemon, in an attempt to grab ahold of at least one of the Yamask's attention.

Collax, meanwhile, stared past them and to the other side of the room, where he came in. He noticed someone else standing there, smaller forms of Pokemon around her. A trainer, of course, given the way she was dressed. Probably on the boat with everyone else. He didn't notice her before, but she must have followed them in for whatever reason. He shrugged. If it were him, he'd probably follow people into a mysterious ancient pyramid too.
 
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Brandon

Brandon was still searching. Nothing so far. Absolutely nothing in sight.

But then, he saw electric sparks fly up into the air. “Alright, that must be our cue,” he said. He ran towards the sparks and saw his Blitzle facing off with...

A Pidgey.

“This thing is hardly interesting,” he muttered to himself. “Probably can’t even fight. Why waste a team slot on something so pathet-“

He was cut off by the Pidgey using Peck on his leg. “Ow, damnit!” he shouted. “Get in the ball, you stupid bird!” He threw a Pokeball at it, and it shook three times before he heard a small click.

Anthony

Anthony had made his way back to the camp. “Where is Brandon this time?” he asked himself. He looked around, but saw nobody in sight. “Guess I’ll have to wait for him to return.”
 

BoredSnowglobe

Previously OtisRolePlays
The forest was filled with new and wild Pokemon. Justice sighed, he and his Oshawott were in here in search of a fun adventure. He had been away from some other people who seemed to form some kind of group. Oshawott was sitting on a tree branch, as bored as ever. Justice sat on the tree trunk, looking around for something to do. Then he spotted something in the distance. It was a Blitzle, trotting around the forest. The Blitzle was with a Pidgey, then it shot some electricity in the air, and a trainer ran up to the Blitzle. “Huh, guess someone was catching some Pokemon here.” Justice got up from the branch, and walked towards the trainer, with Oshawott behind him. “Hey there, what brings you to this place?”
 
Brandon

Brandon looked back at the person who had asked him a question. “A group of people who wanna kill us all brought me here, as they did you, and everyone else here,” he said. “This whole expedition is a sham, you know, we’re here because those people wanted us to either help them or die.” He walked off, back towards his camp.
 
That Collax was showing evidence of higher function and reevaluating his sock drawer analogy was promising, but Madison was skeptical. Confirming her suspicions, the Yamask were similarly unconvinced, paying Barkley no mind and continuing to rotate wildly.

"Taking the peaceful approach and talking to them doesn't work," she concluded. "Forcibly collecting their masks and sorting them is also a precarious route. That much I'll concede. But when a direct confrontation in the form of an attacking move fails, we battlers get what we want through status moves. So thieving croc, use Embargo! Render them incapable of carrying their masks!"

The plunderous smirk with which the Sandile obeyed gaped open and shot chains of dark energy, which wrapped the Yamask and melted into their wispy forms. Still revolving, the phantoms dropped their faces as abruptly as they'd dismissed Barkley. No, they were spinning faster now... Affected by Embargo, the spirits seemed to lose their minds further, something Madison had thought impossible. If they kept this up and whipped up an eldritch twister, she and Collax would leave this heart of the jungle in the same fashion that they'd arrived.

But it didn't seem that the Pokémon were trying to. They weren't retaliating, because, as Madison had said, her move hadn't been an attack. She'd kept her distance, leaving the frenzied ghosts unable to trace the status to them.

Nevertheless, it was a lose-lose situation. She'd gotten their masks to fall to the floor, but she couldn't do anything now. Embargo left all the phantoms empty-handed, let alone without a match. Thanks to her folly, it was impossible for them to hold a new item, even if they wanted to.

That was the whole point, resigned Madison, seething through the five minutes it took for the status to wear off. In this ancient temple where no human had likely set foot, they couldn't force these Pokémon to do anything they didn't want to. Indeed, the solution to this puzzle had to be some form of persuasion, but a stronger one than Barkley's. The Yamask slowed to their earlier pace, the entire circle of them dipping briefly to pick up whatever mask lay in front and bringing them back to square one.

"I didn't even attack them, and these stubborn spirits still won't fall in line. Can't we do anything that slows them down, instead of ignoring us at their usual speed or going even faster? Thunder Wave? Trick Room? Doesn't Inkay know Trick Room?" she grasped at straws. Madison couldn't believe that she had failed, too.

So when she spotted Aura at the other side of the room, the girl made no attempt to be kind this time, questioning her indignantly. "Why are you just standing around?"
 
Collax watched on in silence as Madison tried using Embargo. He stood without moving, thinking. He had a thought, eventually, after he watched the ghosts dip down and pick up the first mask they saw. He noticed how they neglected to look at the masks when they picked them up; They simply grabbed the first one available. This made Collax think. Perhaps if he could force them to see their own masks without attacking them, they might finally react. But how would he make them do that?

It was then that Madison started throwing out suggestions. She was frantic, and considering how insistent she was about success, he could understand why. Though, when she suggested Trick Room, he was struck with an idea. Trick Room would be useful, but Inkay didn´t have it. But he remembered Barkley. Barkley was a Phantump. The only Pokemon capable of learning Forest´s Curse. That was it.

Collax looked to Barkley, nodding at the swirling mass of Yamask.
¨You know what t´ do. Hold ´em down, but don´t do it violently.¨ Barkley nodded and floated forward. His eyes shone a dark purple, and all around the Yamask sprouted purple vines. The vines didn´t reach for the Yamask, but it began to surround them, herding them in as it tried to close through in front of them. Barkley tried to use the vines to cut between the Yamask´s path, stop them in place but not grab them. Whether or not this worked, however, he needed the time. While Barkley tried to detain the Yamask, Collax turned to Inkay.

¨Lessee.... Light Screen? No? Ok, uh.. Reflect? Reflect, you got it? Ok. Ju´s wait for the go. You´ll know when ya see it.¨
 
The single-minded Yamask bumped into the obstructive vines at each point of the circle, backed up, and bumped into them anew, determined to pass and stubborn to avoid. Deeply confused, they were oblivious to the path of least resistance. Madison withdrew Sandile, a tacit admission that Collax could handle the rest. She'd understood from the beginning that convincing Pokémon to do something they'd rather not involved some kind of Psychic move, but Inkay and specially bred Sneasel were the only Dark-types that possessed it, as far as she knew.
 
As the Yamask held their place, Collax pointed forward and spoke to Inkay.
"Aight, now get in front of 'em and give 'em a Reflect. Make sure they're lookin' at it when you do. Make as many of 'em see their reflection at once as you can."
The little Inkay floated forward, stopping beside the Yamask. They were more or less in their place, bumping into the vines over and over again in an attempt to move foreward. At the moment they backed up, and their faces were revealed, Inkay released a Reflect directly in front of them, the wall of light bouncing back each Yamask's reflection back into their faces, mask and all.
 
The cursed vines surrounded the ghosts completely now, leaving them nowhere to go and nowhere to look but at their mirrored images. Paling at their reflections, they dropped their masks instantly.

Similarly, Madison's earlier vexation paled in comparison to her current feeling, for there was no greater frustration than the return of each face to its proper owner. A tedious and time-consuming process, it took forever to find the mask that the Pokémon wouldn't reject. Probot could hardly grip anything and Sandile would steal whatever he did, but thankfully Gible helped her trainer and sped the process. It wasn't as hard for the shorter dragon to bend down and pick up masks when they didn't pass the phantoms' evaluation.

Consistently, Aura didn't pass Madison's. While she wasn't on the floor like the discarded faces, she might as well have been dirt in the prissy girl's eyes for standing around and doing nothing. Lasryn's future queen said little more to the idler, focusing solely on matching each ghost with its memories.

"I get things done," she concluded, handing a mask to the single faceless spirit that remained. It was as much of a passive-aggressive jab at Aura as it was a self-aggrandizing remark. The engraved wall rumbled and sank into the ground, allowing passage, but the walls that Madison put up between her and others stood firm, denying respect.

"Let's go, Collax," she said flatly. Only when she reached the open door did she look back at him and the now peacefully floating Yamask, adding with a smile. "You did well. ...I should say."
 
Collax helped sort out the Yamasks as Barkley kept them in place. When the last Yamask was pleased and the wall opened away, Barkley chirped happily and floated away, relinquishing the Forest's Curse and following after Collax. Inkay joined him, and they stepped behind Madison, leaving Aura in the room. Collax only smiled in response to Madison's comment. Every step they took in this temple seemed to further prove that they could work as a team just fine. A team, Collax guessed, nobody would expect, much less either of them. But here they were, passing through the temple with hardly any concern. It only just proved that Madison and Collax could get along.

Skorupi scuttled along the ground happily. There was something about this temple he liked, but the insect couldn't say what it was. He was just in his element, much like Barkley was, for whatever reason. Perhaps because of the fact the temple was in the middle of the deep jungle? Possibly. Collax only knew as much about it as his partner did, and neither were completely sure why this place felt so familiar to them. Not that they had ever been here, but they were just as natural in this temple as they were out in the jungle. This place was certainly significant. Perhaps they would discover why, the deeper they delve.
 
Madison stopped abruptly and nearly lost her purchase, for only a step away the ground disappeared. A chorus of hissing accompanied the crackling flames of the torchlit darkness, and the girl stared down at their source: green sclerae, red slit pupils, and teal, serpentine forms writhing in a massive snake pit below. These were the snakes whose statues she had seen outside the temple, in the flesh, creatures of whose existence she'd known nothing but their ancient likenesses. The Pokédex similarly drew a blank, returning a message that it had failed to identify the species. There were too many to be legendary or prehistoric, so why were they so revered? Madison's purse offered few Pokéballs and the floor below, little space to throw hers. She'd run out of them sooner than she'd successfully capture a snake, and Gible would be attacked by the whole pit before she could even weaken one.

So the girl gave up on learning, as a trainer, the answer to her question and looked away from the undulating serpents. The path continued at the far side of the room, but she couldn't rest safely in a tiny Pokéball as her dragon now did. If Barkley and Inkay carried Collax across, maybe they'd come back for her.

"I need your help again," Madison conceded.
 
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Collax and his posse of Pokemon approached behind Madison, Collax plenty capable of hearing the hissing from where he stood. At reaching the edge, he looked down to see the writhing mass of strange snake Pokemon, all equally eager to welcome whoever was unlucky enough to drop by. Experimentally, he kicked some dust from the ground over the edge, not quite sure what he was doing. Maybe he just expected something to land before it hit the snakes, revealing a path? This wasn't Indiana Jones, here.

Barkley and Inkay could float, but neither were particularly strong. Skorupi was plenty capable of clambering over the walls, nearly vertically sideways, but wouldn't be of help getting across. Collax stood, pondering the situation. It was worth giving it a shot, seeing if the only two floating Pokemon in their party could make it across while carrying someone. But the last thing he needed was to make it halfway across and plummet, so he didn't want to risk tiring out his Pokemon by testing their capabilities. If he wanted to try that, it was all-in or all-out.

Collax called Inkay and Barkley forward, and they floated over to him.
"Aight... I ain't sure if this is gonna work.. but I'm gonna need to see if y'all can at least get one of us across. Better startin' with Madison, so ya don't tire out- Well, then again, maybe y'all can't do it in the first place. What ya think, Barkley?" The Phantump was skeptical, but he didn't seem too abstinent to try. He chirped a few times, and Inkay rubbed his tentacles together in with concern. "Ergh. Is that so. Well, if 'at's the case, y'all are better off getting Madison o're before me. Give 'er a shot." And he turned to face her.

"Listen, Maddie. Inkay and Barkley are only so strong, so if we wanna try gettin' one of us across, we'd best start with you. You're a bit lighter than I am, and I don't wanna end up droppin' ya if they get tired. How's 'at sound? Unless you got a better idea, in which case, feel free to air it." Inkay and Barkley floated over to Madison, one on each side. They were ready if she was.
 
"That sounds," paused Madison, considering the worst case scenario that she might fall. For the girl who hated being dirty, Hell was a pit of Ground-type serpents. But she had no better ideas to float, so she could only float across herself with the aid of Inkay and Barkley. "I have no choice in the matter. Your Pokémon are our only recourse."

Poised and eloquent, Madison held onto Phantump's branch and Inkay's tentacle. Whether she was looking down the blade of Jax's sword or down into the writhing mass, fate stared back at her wherever she lowered her eyes. The piercing reptilian gazes caused her throat to retreat in a swallow. Not as confident as she let on, Madison forced her attention ahead.

She wasn't prepared to admit that Collax was right and she shouldn't have such low expectations, but she couldn't deny that Inkay and Barkley were flawlessly supporting her. Instead of sealing her relieved sigh with a grateful smile, she pursed her lips and regained total composure upon safely reaching the other side.

"Your turn," she called to the now distant Collax. "And while your name is dangerously close to a word that means fall, don't."
 
Barkley and Inkay may have supported her plenty, but they weren't very strong. Even though Madison crossed with hardly a fault, both Pokemon were struggling to keep her afloat. After a quick cessation, however, they were back over to Collax's side of the pit.

Collax, this time, understood the small joke Madison made after she turned around. Unlike Madison, however, Collax wasn't as worried about the fact that the snakes below were ground type. His concern was on the matter that they were snakes, and a lot of them. That would not be a comfortable landing should he fail to make it across. And it would be an even more uncomfortable few seconds afterwards.

When Barkley and Inkay had returned to Collax, the Phantump chirped twice and looked back down the pit. He was concerned, but he felt they would be capable of doing it again. So, Collax took a breath as Inkay grabbed one arm with both tentacles, and Barkley pushed up on his other from below.

Progress was significantly slower than it had been for Madison. The small Pokemon were mildly worn out from carrying one of them, but Collax was heavier than Madison was. As the three inched over the pit, suspended in the air unstably, quite a few dozen thoughts ran though Collax's head. One of them was his poor planning. He knew that Barkley and Inkay would be tired by the time they got to carrying him, but he didn't think ahead as to anything that might help make it easier, like taking his bag off and tossing it to the other side before carrying him. It certainly would have made a difference.

As he held still, keeping his mind busy, Barkley let out a struggled cry, snapping Collax's attention back to reality. He looked at the Phantump with worry. The little ghost was beginning to falter on one side, and Inkay wasn't able to compensate for it whatsoever. Panic began to set in as both Pokemon began to slow and dip lower.
"Woah- Barkley, just get a little closer if you're wearing out! For-FORWARD-" And at that moment, Inkay lost his grip. Collax's right side immediately dropped much too fast for Barkley to be able to stop or even have hope of slowing his decent. His small arms proved too short to grab him as he dropped like a stone. "BARKLEY-!" He cried, in a futile attempt to stay with his partner.

In a split second, Collax had gone from mere meters away from the other end of the pit to tumbling headfirst into it, halfway to the writhing mass of snakes.
 
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(I haven't rp here for a while so I'll try my best to catch up here)

Aura


She had seemed to follow the two towards the hole pit seeing how the two went down. Snow looked down as before looking to her. "Vul?"she said. "I know Snow we are going to go down there but I heard a loud thud so lets go down check to see if one of them is ok"she said. "Vulpix!"she said before leaping on her shoulder. She placed her hand on Snow to prevent from falling off her before she leaped down into the hole following after them. She did her best to make a safe landing down before she told up looking behind her seeing the male with an Inkay had fallen wrong. She made her way over to him reaching her hand out. "Quite I fall you took, you alright?"she asked him.-
 
"What did I just say?!" shouted Madison in desperation as Collax sailed headfirst through the air. She'd taken Inkay and Barkley's efforts for granted and assumed that they had an easy time carrying her, not noticing how they were barely managing. Tightly shutting her eyes, she resigned herself to her partner's demise.

So she didn't see the ghosts that swarmed the room and came to Collax's rescue, the Yamask from earlier returning the favor. She didn't hear, either, the loud thud and aggravated hissing that she'd expected. It was this absence of sound that caused Madison to open her eyes, slowly and curiously, to see the boy dangling from the arms of the spirits, uninjured. A relieved girl couldn't help but smile as he drew closer. He looked just as ridiculous upside-down as he did right-side-up, but all that mattered was that he was safe. However cold she usually was, Madison had already seen death here and didn't want to see it again. But watching the phantoms deposit Collax unceremoniously onto the ground before her, alive and well, was still entertaining. He'd just taken a nasty drop himself, so she reserved her words of chastisement, not a single nasty drop of belligerence on her smirking face.

The disappointment set in only when she looked up and saw the rest of the Yamask towing Aura, who for some reason had thought it was a good idea to jump straight into the pit. Maybe her intentions were good, but the Pokémon had swooped in and caught Collax midair long before her hand could reach him. Were she to succeed and stop his fall, had she even considered how they would get out of the hole with the snakes closing in on them? Aura had willingly put herself in that situation, so Madison was less sympathetic. The differences between them were striking, but as she saw it, it was better to be blunt and get things done than be nice and get nothing done. Ultimately, the ghosts had to ferry her across the River Slith, setting her down in the line of Madison's disapproving stare.

"I don't know why you're following us," she told Aura distantly, "if you're not contributing anything."

Her words were less of a scathing indictment than a brusque dismissal. She turned away and proceeded, rudely disowning the silly girl but trusting the filthy Collax to pick himself off the ground. As the corridor down which she continued swelled with torchlight, Madison had no more words, her speech contrastingly extinguished by the follower's utter hopelessness. With so many flames illuminating her path, it appeared that she was nearing some kind of royal chamber. But she didn't feel any more like a queen, since her future subjects were so incompetent.

The girl ascended a series of dusty steps, where she paused at an ancient altar fronting a massive door. Its surface was indented with grooves unlike those into which Barkley had planted his roots. The troughs were noticeably smoother, as if a specific liquid should flow here to affect the foreboding monolith that stood before them.

"Something tells me," Madison finally spoke up, ominously, "that the temple ends here. I can't fathom what lies ahead, but it seems that the key is water-based."​
 
Collax was only able to catch his hat before hitting the ground, when the Yamask intervened and saved his very life. After he had been placed back on the platform which he was so close to before the mishap, he looked up and thanked the ghosts for their help. Inkay and Barkley floated over to hug him, which he returned gratefully. He didn't say anything afterwards, he just looked at Madison and followed on after her, nodding back at the Yamask one last time as they disappeared deeper into the temple. As he did, he paid Aura almost no heed, despite the fact that she had tried to save him by hopping into the pit after him. This was only because he didn't realize it at the time; His mind was preoccupied with the fact that he was about to die.

Skorupi had scaled the pit by clambering around the walls, and was following behind Collax as his team. He and his three Pokemon trailed Madison by a meter or two, Collax examining the walls as they progressed. He noticed faint murals growing more and more numerous as they stepped down the corridor. A few times, there were additions of faint, luminous stones that glinted in the torchlight. When they reached the stairs and altar, the murals made a little more sense. They weren't Unown glyphs, and they weren't letters. They were pictures of Pokemon, some recognizable, some not. But they didn't seem to explain anything, or tell any story at all. Collax couldn't tell what they were. But they weren't important right now. The altar was.

Skorupi began to cling to Collax's leg again, attention behind them. Collax figured it was because of the ominous surroundings, but the insect was actually clingy because it had been watching behind the group. Skorupi was lagging behind for most of the walk, but very quickly caught up when he thought he heard something. He clung now because he could have sworn that he saw something behind them.

Barkley floated forward to see the altar. Closer inspection didn't yield anything for the little Phantump. He only suspected what Madison had just said: the solution was likely a water-type. But Collax had no water-types on his team. He sat and thought as his Pokemon surrounded him again, Skorupi watching the corridor behind them suspiciously.
 
She glared at the girl who had a rude tone. "Its none of your concern as to why I am following you so I suggest you keep your comments to yourself! It will be the wrong idea to start a fight with me!"she said sternly but coldly. "I can be just as cold as you possibly even worse so if you don't like it then stay out of my way and keep your distance!"she added coldly glaring at the girl as Snow seemed to become agitated with the girl talking back to her partner like that. She a huffed before walking slightly ahead to the alter seeing that it was water based. "-Water based hm Wally should help out here-"she thought before pulling out her Pokeball as a Spheal came out. "Spheal!"she said turning to her trainer. "Wally could you investigate this alter? It seems its your element typing"she said gently to her. "Spheal!"she smiled before she hopped her way towards the alter, Snow seemed to follow her because of her curiosity. Wally made her way closer to the alter before noticing the indents on the door as if water show flow there. She turned to look at Aura before using her flipper to point at the smooth indents. "Spheal! Spheal!"she said. She made her way closer to Wally before looking at the smooth indents on this massive door. This gave her the idea that water might flow through.

"Oh I see Wally, makes sense here that water may flow through here on this door"she said looking down at her. "Vul!"Snow said agreeing with Wally. "Alright then, Wally help us out use your Hydro pump"she commanded. "Spheal!"she said before turning to the massive door and shot a huge amount of water at the alter

As Wally figured out the water seemed to flow from the alter into the smooth indents until each and every one of the smooth indents was filled on the door. She had looked up at the door seeing it completely filled with Wally's Hydro pump until the ground started to shake grasping the alter to remain her footing as Snow and Wally quickly held her from her legs. She saw the massive door start to open which was probably the cause of the ground shaking.-
 
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The water flowed through the grooves of the altar with little resistance, but the ancient door lifted slowly. The crackling torches disappeared beyond this point, leaving a pitch-dark entrance and a constant, eerie dripping. An indignant Madison stopped just before it and turned to face Aura.

"You should stay out of my away," she countered, recalling what she'd told Zander, "because I'll be the Queen of Lasryn, and anyone who stands in my way gets crushed! You followed us in here! Now you're no longer needed. I could've opened the door myself anyway!"

She slapped her purse assertively, where the Chansey egg was tucked away. While she might've briefly hesitated to part with the delicious item a second time, Madison would've cracked it over the altar and filled the indents with its liquids. She could've easily opened the door her way and filled her stomach with something different. In fact, the proud girl felt that the egg was the intended key, that the rare Chansey's presentation thereof and reappearance before was no mere coincidence. If anything, Aura had simply saved Madison food for later.

For now, the future queen stepped into the cavernous room and let the blackness consume her instead. Whatever the towering slab had portended, all that intensified was the distant sound of rushing water, choked by cave walls and muffled to a drone.

"I can hear water pressure in this room. I imagined no such thing in a dry, dusty place like this. Otherwise, it's completely empty," Madison observed. "Gible, come out and use Flamethrower to see if I'm right."

She usually was. When the dragon materialized and produced a small fire, however, a larger pair of green and red eyes returned a piercing gaze to its soft glow. Madison discerned the creature's serpentine form uncoiling from a sturdy pillar and its crimson tongue hissing in warning. But the mustard snake wasted no time, flying at the girl with a full, gaping mouth.

She and Gible leapt out of the way to dodge its strike. Not even a second after their respective landings, the temple rumbled anew, further disorienting Madison. The giant slab was sinking back to the ground and trapping them inside. Acting quickly in the aggravated confusion, the land shark swept the entire room with a full-powered Flamethrower, catching in sconces on the wall and temporarily allowing vision.

The gorged reptile retracted its scaly neck and now loomed overhead, in all its unobscured monstrosity, staring down the trespassers with no intention of letting them escape.
 
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Aura

She laughed with amusement at to what she said. "Oh really, not where I was standing, you looked stuck once you had found out the door was water based so if it wasn't for me the door wouldn't have opened! Also I don't need to listen to your nonsense of words so stop acting like your the boss of everyone and shut your trap! It's irritating but stand in my way I won't show you no mercy towards me. I came here on my free will not because you asked me to! Honestly you always think you know everything another nuisence!"she said coldly but had seemed to be to notice a giant slab trapping them inside as she felt more irritated.-
 
A different kind of trap was shutting on them, so Aura's yapping fell on deaf ears. Madison was too busy avoiding the mustard serpent's elongated body to listen to the stupid girl. Here, words were as distant and insignificant as the faraway rush of water, and actions were as precious as the quickly dying light of the sconces. Every second, the newly rekindled torches grew dimmer and dimmer, darkness reclaiming the room. Her visibility increasingly scant, Madison couldn't afford to stand still and engage Aura in a verbal battle, for she needed to survive a physical battle with this towering reptile.

"Gible!" she called to her separated partner, who had dodged in the other direction earlier. "Hit it with Iron Head!"

The dragon obeyed her trainer's command and charged toward the snake's neck. But a jagged stone tail whipped from behind and clashed with the attack, successfully stopping her. No, the creature had swung it with such force that it was pushing Madison's Pokémon back! Her prized, expertly raised Pokémon! The small land shark ultimately yielded under the immense pressure and hopped out of the way. Nothing blocking it now, Mesasauga's tail finished its swing and slammed the ground.

She couldn't believe it. How could the untamed wilderness of Lasryn produce a Pokémon that overpowered hers, which culminated months of intensive breeding? These thoughts raced through her head as she raced across the room, dodging a rapid succession of Rock Blasts that further separated Madison from Gible.

"Earthquake! Use Earthquake!" she cried.

But the tremor only exacerbated the chaos, dislodging stalactites and raining them down. While Mesasauga swept the falling stones and crumbled them to dust, Madison barely skirted out of their path. What was she doing? She should've known not to shake the foundation of an ancient temple. Why was she making such careless mistakes and causing problems for herself? Perhaps the murky surroundings impaired her sense of strategy? Her very worth as a trainer was being put to the test in this precarious situation.

There was a second round of questions in her head. Why was the temple's final chamber a cave with dripping water and natural rock formations? Where did the stalactites come from, if this was a construction? It was as if... the pyramid was indeed built by someone other than man, and nature remained entirely intact within its walls.

Suddenly, a loud thud interrupted Madison's ruminations. The door had closed anew, preventing them from escaping the stony barrage.

"Watch out!" she alerted Collax and Aura, hating the latter but not wanting her to get crushed.

~~~

Deep in the desert biome, an imposing red beast dragged its cumbersome tail along the sand, leaving an army of fainted Diglett in its wake. For miles, nothing else dotted the stark and lifeless dunes. The Krookodile bared its bloody fangs one last time and retired to its lair.
 
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Aura

She leaped out of the way following Snow and Wally dodging the attack but had hit the wall hard knocking the air out her for the moment before regaining it. The snakes tail swung at her as she jumped back but had knocked her mask off hard as it broke in half once it hit the wall causing her hood to fall as well her face being revealed. She knew she had to find a vulnerable point on this snake in order to defeat but she was going to need help from her even thou she hated it but she wasn't heartless as she didn't want her to get badly hurt either. She made her way to her standing next to her.
"Listen, we need to find a weak point on this snake in order to get out of here and in order to do so I need your help with this!"she shouted so she could hear her. "You must remain calm and focus on the snakes movements to find its vital point. If your not calm you will be reckless on hitting the snake without paying attention. I may be stubborn but I'm not heartless as I don't want you to get crushed either. Please at least work with me so we both don't end up dead in here!"she finished looking at her.-
 
Collax had been entirely lost in the chaos, having no idea what to do or what was going on when they ran into the giant snake. Skorupi already panicked and fled to the safety of his trainer, which proved to be fruitless as he and his team took to frantically dodging the falling stalactites, thanks to a forewarning from Madison. Collax noticed a change in her disposition as she gave Gible orders, and it was obvious that this wasn't going to go smoothly from here out.

Collax rarely found himself thinking of battle strategy, considering his usual tactic was "get out and get away as quickly as possible" when in a sticky situation. There wasn't any escaping here, though. Barkley prepared himself and sighted his target- the Mesasauga's tail. With a flash of his eyes, the purple vines of Forest's Curse erupted from the ground and reached out to constrict them, with intent to stop the snake in its tracks and prevent it from swinging its tail around like the weapon it was. But this would be a precarious result, as the snake most definitely had the raw power to escape it, but as long as it would last, it would give them the time to act.

Collax looked to Skorupi, who was entirely unfit to fight this snake. The insect was not only disadvantaged and inexperienced in battle, but it was cowering on his leg. His other option was Inkay. Collax knew about Inkay's move Topsy Turvy, which would likely prove useful if the snake began to empower itself. Unless, they did the empowering first.

"I got a stupid idea, Inkay. You got Topsy Turvy, right? Of course ya do. Well, what about Swagger? Perfect, use it on that snake! Attack boost an' all, make that thing lose its mind!" And Inkay did exactly that, floating forward and sounding an annoying chirp at the Mesasauga. The snake would become desperately confused, whilst its attack skyrocketed. Collax called Inkay back to avoid the incoming wrath, as there wouldn't be enough time to use the next move. He prayed that Barkley's vines would keep the snake mostly still in its strengthened confusion.
 
Madison was relieved that Aura was okay, so she wasn't irked that a second-rate trainer was lecturing her.

"Fine! I'll work with you for the time being," she resigned, "so no one else has to die here!"

When the falling rocks no longer interrupted her vision, Madison was met with a promising sight. Collax and Barkley were already on it, probing the snake's weaknesses and constricting its tail with Forest's Curse. Normally, she'd chastise him to no end over his unnecessary risk-taking with Swagger. The serpent's resistance immediately fiercened, quickly thinning the Phantump's strong vines and snapping the weaker ones. If her battle instincts proved correct, the move would only hold Mesasauga down for a few seconds.

The creature didn't idle for one, thrashing wildly and illuminating all areas of the room with Dragon Breath. The torches on the girls' side of the room died, leaving them in a dark corner, an approaching wave of purple fire their only light. Madison leapt out of the way and took off, running in total blackness save Inkay's soft glow.

"Cancel it out with Twister!"

She’d lost sight of her Pokémon in the chaos, and the command fell on deaf ears.

"Gible?!"

Where had the dragon gone? Was she okay? Had Mesasauga’s super-effective move fainted her? Was she next, a bewildered Madison asked herself. The confused serpent was whipping its head about, spraying Dragon Breath like a hose. It was only a matter of time before the girl tripped in the murk and could dodge no more.

She and Collax had erred once again. Her Earthquake only sent a storm of stalactites to the ground, and his Swagger only sent blasts of purple flames across the room. Both moves only made the situation worse, and whatever success they’d had in restraining the snake was fleeting. Mesasauga ripped through the last of the vines with ease. Now without a Pokémon, Madison looked to Aura, the only person in the room who had yet to make a fool of herself.

"We need to do something about Dragon Breath! A super-effective move that can push back against it! If your Spheal has Ice Beam, then that’s our best chance!"
 
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(She already had four party members before arriving in this region, Snow the Alolan Vulpix, Wally the Spheal, Ember the shiny Flareon, and Glacie the Glaceon as she perfectly calls Glacier her partner)

Aura

She became irritated with this creature but remained calm as she looked to her then at Wally. "Yes she knows Ice Beam and so does Snow"she said before looking at the girls. "I have a third team member that can light this room up again!"she said recalling her shiny Flareon named Ember. "It's hard to see in here and we need to make sure your Gible is ok!"she shouted before pulling out Ember's Timer ball. "Ember I need your help!"she threw the Timer ball before a Shiny Flareon appeared out in from of her. "Ember quick use Flamethrower to light up the room again and stand by this girls side to prevent her from being hurt!"she commanded. "Flareon!"Ember said before using Flamethrower to light the torches again giving light.

She has to distract this snake for the time being as she faced the snake again. "Wally! Snow! Ice beam together quickly! Take out that Dragon Breath!"she commanded again. "Vul!" "Spheal!" Wally and Snow used Ice beam together before it collided into one big ice beam. It collided with the snakes Dragon breath as it was a war between the two moves but could see Snow's and Wally's Ice beam had the upper hand before it broke off the Dragon breath hitting it directly as this caused it to be frozen around the eyes but had noticed that Snow and Wally used Ice beam again at the lower part of its body to prevent it from moving as she could hear the cry of the snake. "Now's your chance!"she said calling out to her but for some reason she couldn't see the Gible anywhere so she had prayed that she would be all right.
 
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Collax hadn't considered special attacks. The Mesasauga's thrashing and breath attack had blown out additional torches, which Aura had already taken to relighting when a wave of the breath expelled by the snake was flung towards the boy and his Pokemon. With the incoming blast of Dragon Breath, Collax scrambled to move Inkay and Barkley to safety, Skorupi already on the run for cover. However, the ghost Pokemon's focus failed when the Mesasauga escaped the grasp of Forest's Curse, and he didn't respond to Collax's call to evade. Even as Aura blasted the wave in an attempt to stop it, it happened merely a split second before it reached Barkley. In a last-second action, he dove to grab Barkley and pull him down, out of range of the Dragon's Breath, but the thrashing of the beast threw him off further. Instead of moving Barkley out of the way, he put himself directly between his Pokemon and the incoming attack, right when the last of the torch flames were blown out, leaving nothing but the darkness and the vivid glow of the Dragon's Breath in Collax's eyes as it plowed towards him.

The Breath collided with Collax, sending him flying past Barkley and tumbling to the wall, head over heels and landing with a resounding thwack. The boy flopped down and slumped over after being slammed to the solid stone, his hat falling over his eyes face as he went silent. Barkley was still floating where he was, paralyzed with shock and fear. Inkay, no more fit to battle alone, began to panic as well. He had lost his first trainer to a similar event, and he now might lose Collax. It was only Skorupi that kept a semi-level head in the situation. The insect scrambled over to the unconscious trainer and screeched at Inkay. The squid responded with gibberish. Skorupi screeched again, louder and more violently, which better caught the Inkay's attention. This time, the squid carried out the orders given prior to the snake's chaos.

Inkay flipped over, facing the now-frozen Mesasauga and proceeding with Collax's initial plan: Swagger, then Topsy Turvy. The first move risked making the snake significantly more powerful, but then the second would flip it on its head and make it significantly weaker. The psychic Pokemon released the odd energy at the snake, causing its power to drastically reduce.

The snake would now be severely weakened and frozen. However, Collax was not present to give his Pokemon any further orders. Barkley had joined Skorupi at his unconscious body, attempting to bring him to, whilst Inkay floated in place, trying to think of what to do next. All three were in a state of panic.

Barkley clung tightly to his trainer and closest friend's chest. The ghost was trying frantically to shake the boy awake, to no avail. The little Phantump began to sob in desperation as Skorupi pinched at his arms with his claws. Collax was breathing, but he was not moving or responding to anything the Pokemon did to stir him. When Flareon once again illuminated the room, he could be seen laying crumpled against the wall, surrounded by his Pokemon, as smoke rose from singes in his clothes and burns on his skin, courtesy of the Dragon's Breath.
 
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StellarWind Elsydeon

Armblades Ascendant
Staff member
Administrator
I'm going to have to interrupt you for a few seconds.

E.K.A.N.S. was potentially setting something up here with losing track of the Gible in the darkness. By stating that your character "as she could see her Gible clearly now." that's... kind of a mild form of autoing. It's not up to you to make that decision regarding someone else's character / Pokemon. You can take the action, but its particular influence on other people's characters is up to that other person, not to you.
 
Aura

She didn't expect the snake's move to go after the male with an Inkay and Phantump, never the else become knocked unconscious. "-....This isn't good....with him unconscious.....he is going to need some extra protection and from the looks of it his Pokemon seemed unsure what to do without their trainers commanded. "-I have no choice....I can"t just leave him unguarded...tsk...-"she thought before she had stood in front of him with Snow and Wally in front of her as Ember was beside the girl for protection of her. "-...tsk...I just have this feeling....that I may be next...I must be cautious...of my surroundings..-"she thought again watching the giant snake.-
 
"Collax!"

The returning light accompanied a fading hope. A second ago Madison had thought that they would leave alive, but the sight of the boy's unconscious body cast a shadow of doubt on her newly illuminated face. The usually composed girl was trying not to panic, focusing on the positives: his Pokémon had successfully executed his final command and reversed the effect of Swagger. Wally and Snow had finally overpowered and frozen the serpent. But the fear that she might see death again similarly froze her.

So when Mesasauga's freed tail whipped around and shattered the ice on its front, Madison was caught off guard. Depleted of Dragon Breath, the snake lashed out at Aura's Fire- and Ice-type Pokémon with a succession of super-effective Rock Blasts. It fired aimlessly, compensating for their reduced strength with sheer quantity, turning the room to a cacophony of stones hitting the wall and crumbling. She scrambled for a Pokéball—Probot, Sandile, anything in her purse that could help in this situation—and swiped an empty capsule.

A Rock Blast then hit Madison square in the stomach and pinned her to the wall. Perhaps it was a testament to her hard-headedness that she didn't lose consciousness, but the girl was prone and coughing blood. Mesasauga was gradually snapping out of its confusion, drawing ever closer in a predatory slither. Pokéball in hand, she weakly wound back her trembling arm to a point that it wound no more.

"I'm dirty... and humiliated," Madison admitted. Too proud to accept her fate, she preoccupied herself with the minutia. It was a different kind of demise, the slow and undulating kind, compared to the quick, lopping motion of Jax's blade. But she resisted it all the same, keeping her eyes wide open as the snake advanced. It had ceased fire, allowing the ringing in Madison's ears to claim the silence that the rocks left behind.

Not for long, though. The ground beneath Mesasauga exploded suddenly, and in the cloud of dust she could discern the silhouette of her missing Gible, using Dig and striking the creature directly in the throat. The blurry-eyed trainer realized then how badly Aura's Ice-type moves had weakened their enemy, for the serpent sailed to the floor as harmlessly as a streamer. When it fell flat, Madison's open mouth pressed into a smirk.

"Where Collax and I fail..." she concluded, snapping her ball-wielding arm onto the defeated Mesasauga, "...our Pokémon succeed."

Madison's foe disappeared into her Pokéball. The future Queen of Lasryn slowly picked herself up and instantly clutched her stomach. Taking a few encumbered steps forward, she smiled through the pain, enough to give her expectant Gible the praise she deserved.

"I concede that I may have overthought my commands in such a high-pressure situation..." wheezed Madison. "That's why... it's important that a Pokémon knows what to do, when her trainer doesn't."

"Gib!" the land shark chirped.

"...And the same goes for Inkay and Barkley, too," she added, before facing Aura, "and you. You did well, despite your earlier folly. Though I don't know your name..."

Madison turned away and dragged her feet to the comatose Collax. She moved the filthy flaps of his coat out of the way and hoisted him onto her back, struggling under his weight but determined to get him out of here. She gave Inkay, Barkley, and Skorupi the most reassuring look that she could manage.

"Don't... slam against walls... ever again, knight," she scolded. "You can only die if I command it."
 
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