Dual Pokemon Quest

[Blacksheep]

Crunchbite was still a relatively new addition to the team. It was clear that Lee approved of the trapinch, and Archer was happy to have someone new along, but he wasn't well known. So their human choosing to spend time getting to know the little trapinch was well welcomed. Crunchbite was happy to take in the attention too. Currently his main interests were in observing the world around him and taking his time to investigate things. He didn't like being rushed, and would snap if pushed to go too fast. Once he had settled on something however he moved as quick as he could. The little fellow could be very fast once he had a chance to gain speed.

Training him to use Dig properly was a task Crunchbite took to with a level of unexpected enthusiasm. He had an idea of how it should go about, and actually had to be corrected on that, as he wasn't activating the move properly. Once he got it, he really got it, and was tunneling everywhere. Archer was delighted by this new game of pop up that Crunchbite had come up with, fluttering over the holes to try and guess which one Crunchbite would pop back up from.

It was traveling around on the trail that lead to one of the more interesting encounters. A couple around Lee's age was traveling through the mountains with plans to head into the desert. The girl explained excitedly that she had heard there were ruins in the desert that only appeared when the sun was starting to set, and was supposed to hold all kinds of secrets. Her boyfriend was much less excited about the whole adventure, but was exceedingly doting on the girl. They both had full teams they were training. They had taken their pokemon journeys in Kanto, and were now traveling through other regions.

[ ]Ask for a battle with them
[ ]Ask about what their journeys were like
[ ]Ask about training
[ ]Ask more about the ruins in the desert
[ ]Write-in

 

[Blacksheep]

Kate was more than happy to ramble away about her pokemon journey. Jasper joined in more sparingly. Despite dressing in black it was quickly becoming apparent he was rather withdrawn and more secure interacting with Kate and his pokemon than anyone else. Kate was a walking disaster. Her stories were filled with constant minor mishaps, tripping and falling and somehow managing to almost die before she was rescued. It was becoming clear that her pokemon journey had been less about battling and more about the fight for her pokemon and boyfriend to keep her alive on such an adventure.

Jasper was the one to answer about the ruins. He explained that it was supposed to be something built by an old civilization that worshipped pokemon as gods, and supposedly some rare pokemon that had once been worshipped could still be found there. There was no evidence of it, so they would likely be wandering the desert for some time before possibly getting lucky. It was known that there had once been people who lived in the desert, though they had been a nomadic group who hadn't stayed, and wouldn't have been the sort to build anything like the ruins the stories talked about. Still, it was an interesting idea to pursue, and would be fun.

Kate was very enthusiastic about having another travel companion, especially once she got to meet Archer and Crunchbite. She couldn't stop cooing over the pokemon and introduced her own starter, a haunter she called Snowflake and her spinarak Sunshine. Sunshine was very happy to meet Archer and Crunchbite, while Snowflake remained hovering protectively around his human.

The group began to travel towards the desert. Traveling together took some adjusting. Lee was a new addition to their group, if a welcome one, and such a change always took time. Jasper slowly warmed up to Lee as they traveled, introducing his own team who was far more evolved than Kate's.

It was during a day of travel that a group of bandits with fire pokemon stopped the group. They claimed that the desert was off limits, and they would beat anyone who tried to go into it.

[ ]Turn around and leave
[ ]Try to reason with them
[ ]Challenge them to a pokemon battle
[ ]Try to outwit them
[ ]Write-in

 

[Blacksheep]

"We're new recruits. We've been sent to help," Lee lied. The bandits looked at Lee in disbelief glancing at the group. Lee looked back to them for help.

Jasper sighed and stepped forward. Then he straightened up. Jasper is a tall guy. It's not something that was really obvious most of the time. He tended to slump, and had a fairly quiet presence. He was easy going too. Now however, he loomed. "Just recruited them," Jasper rasped. He let out his houndoom. The houndoom let out a low huff. It was easy to envision the houndoom losing control, ripping through and shredding the fire pokemon in front of them to shreds. An effect of the dark typing, one that would emphasize fear and danger when looking at a dark type that was feeling aggressive.

The bandits were clearly thinking things over, trying to decide if they had in fact tried to stop their own group, or if this was someone trying to lie their way past. Jasper cracked his fingers. The bandits backed down calling their pokemon back. "Fine. Admin Tabitha should be able to find something for you."

The trio headed further into the desert. "Well that's something. Do you think they're looking for the mirage ruins too?" Kate asked. She was very cheerfully unbothered by the whole encounter.

"Could be," Jasper said calmly. He had relaxed back into his easy going self as soon as the bandits were out of sight.

[ ]Look into the gang combing the desert
[ ]Focus on looking for the Mirage Ruins
[ ]Write-in

 

[Blacksheep]

Kate grinned at Lee's suggestion. "Full vigilante justice, huh? I could get behind that."

"Will be dangerous," Jasper pointed out quietly.

"We're out on a pokemon journey, it's always dangerous," Kate replied.

Jasper sighed. "Alright. Guess we're going hunting." Kate cheered. Her haunter let out a chilling laugh.

Jasper released his arbok to join walking with his houndoom as companions while they traveled. The intimidation factor would hopefully help against anyone in the gang in the desert that they would run into. They traveled for another hour before they spotted another pair of bandits that were searching out in the desert. They had a poochyena and a cacnea with them.

"Hey! How'd you get here?" one grumbled.

"New recruits." Jasper repeated their lie from earlier.

"Ah. Been in to see Tabitha yet?"

"Nope."

"It's the desert, ain't it? Impossible to keep track of where things are here," one bandit complained. "Don't know how we're gonna find these mirage ruins."

"But when we do, it'll be worth it," the second one said. He looked over at the trio. "The camp's set up couple hours west from here. Admin Tabitha should be coordinating the search from there. Good luck."

They turned and headed in the direction the bandits had indicated. It was hot. Crunchbite was fine, but Archer was obviously wilting under the heat, even with his attempts to keep up a cheerful outlook. When the camp finally came into sight it was obvious that it had been thrown together as something temporary that was being adjusted on the spot for a longer term stay. A bulky man stood at a table in the center of the camp pouring over paper and barking out orders to those running around.

[ ]Talk to Tabitha
[ ]Try to sneak around the camp and snoop
[ ]Write-in

 

[Blacksheep]

"Here for our assignment," Lee told Admin Tabitha with all the assurance that he could summon.

The admin scribbled down some notes and passed a paper over. "Here. Report back if you find anything that looks like it might be ruins. And not interesting rocks. I have no interest in whatever rocks you find unless I can sell them." The admin glanced towards the trio only to be distracted by a crash in the camp. "Groudon curse it! What now?" He got up and headed towards the crash. "Don't forget to drink water!" he shouted over his shoulder as he ran.

Kate leaned over the desk Admin Tabitha had left examining the map. "They've covered a fair bit." It was clear the group's search was far more random than expected from how they were laying out their search, groups assigned where to look at complete random. "Do you think they know the ruins are only supposed to appear at dawn and dusk?"

[ ]Try to get as much information from the desk as possible
[ ]Head to your assigned search area
[ ]Head to a random area that's not searched yet
[ ]Write-in

 

[Blacksheep]

The trio took photos of the papers laid out on the desk before hurrying back out of the camp. Of course Kate tripped and almost knocked down one of the tents, but Jasper picked her up and carried her the rest of the way out.

"Guess we start searching now." Lee was practically vibrating with excitement at what they could discover. They would have to go over the papers later, maybe once they set up camp for the night. They traveled out, Crunchbite being released and asked to help keep them heading in the right direction towards where their area to search was set up.

They reached the area they'd been assigned to and started looking around to familiarize themselves with the place while they waited for the sun to set. As it began to come down, a tower did in fact shimmer into view. The architecture was unfamiliar, with odd curls on the edges and unown writing marking the entrance. A pair of vulpix came out of the tower and paused in surprise at the sight of the humans in front of where they denned.

[ ]Enter the tower
[ ]Talk to the vulpix
[ ]Try to catch the vulpix
[ ]Write-in

Really lucky rolls, on both vulpix appearing and the tower

 

[Blacksheep]

Kate squealed and grabbed one of her pokeballs. For a moment Lee feared all was lost, that she was going to engage in a battle and cause them to lose the ruins. Instead she released a vulpix. "Look Enat!" She promptly charged forward to greet the wild vulpix. They did not look very impressed or pleased by a human charging at them, but from the way Jasper and her pokemon reacted, this was very much a normal reaction for her towards pokemon.

Her haunter followed after her, keeping her safe as the wild vulpix found themselves being fed and petted. It was clear they were more than a touch unnerved by the aggressively friendly girl that was snuggling up to them, but didn't know what to do about it when there was a haunter right behind her watching to make sure they didn't hurt his human.

"Can you ask them about the ruins? What's inside, if we'll be attacked?" Lee asked.

Kate nodded and quickly repeated the question. Her own vulpix and her haunter repeated it again to the wild vulpix. They conferred for a bit, before managing to escape Kate thanks to Enat scrambling up into her arms instead, and spoke back. Her pokemon listened before looking back. "It's safe, it's mainly empty besides a room that they can just squeeze into with a sleeping golem. They like it cause it's normally quiet and safe to live in."

"So they're fine with us going in?"

"As long as we're out the next day, yeah," Kate said.

"The next day?" Jasper asked.

"Can't go in or out when it isn't visible," Kate explained.

[ ]Make preparations to enter it tomorrow at dawn
[ ]Enter it now
[ ]Write-in

 

[Blacksheep]

Jasper raised a brow. "You think that's safe?" He looked pointedly at Kate, who was still busy cuddling with her vulpix.

"We're not in a rush," Kate pointed out calmly.

Jasper hummed. "Gonna camp here then?"

[ ]Camp in this area and start looking through the info
[ ]Report the area back as clear first

 

[Blacksheep]

They set up a camp near where the ruins had been before they blink out of sight once more. Kate's more than happy to just collapse into a pile with her pokemon and snuggle up with them. Jasper hovers near her protectively before crossing over to look over the information they'd photographed with Lee.

The gang calls themselves Team Magma apparently, and they're looking for what seems to be tools from ancient times to control legendary pokemon. The reason why is vague, and it is clear in the notes that Admin Tabitha is reporting to someone else. This is just a branch of a larger group on one mission. It's unnerving to know that criminals like this are looking into legendary pokemon. Hopefully it will amount to little. Safely contacting legendary pokemon is extremely difficult and uncommon. Only dedicated priestesses will mention regular interactions with them. There are stories the legendaries interact with others as well, but no one can confirm it happening.

Whatever treasures Team Magma is looking for here is likely to have more historical value than actual use for them. Still, the knowledge rests like a sliver in Lee's thoughts.

[ ]Go about helping to make the search more difficult for Team Magma
[ ]Pretend to search around the desert
[ ]Look for pokemon to catch
[ ]Write-in

 

[Blacksheep]

The trio stuck around a while longer looking around the area they had been assigned to search. Jasper actually found a shed shell from a nincada's evolution, and decided to pick it up just in case it evolved into a shedinja. There was a pretty low chance of that, as it had been discarded for a while, but it was still an interesting find.

Back at Team Magma's camp the admin was still busy trying to keep things under control, assigning them yet another area to search through in the desert. Lee cheerfully took on the duty and headed off, with the true location of the mirage ruins now struck clear as a place to search.

Camp Actions
[ ]Talk with Kate about her travels
[ ]Talk with Jasper about his travels
[ ]Battle with either Jasper or Kate
[ ]Play games with the others
[ ]Write-in

Pokemon Actions
[ ]Train pokemon in battle
-[ ]Train Archer
-[ ]Train Crunchbite
-[ ]Train the team together
-[ ]Write-in specific training (speed, offense, dodging, train a move)
[ ]Play with your pokemon
-[ ]Archer
-[ ]Crunchbite
-[ ]Play with them together
[ ]Write-in

Gonna be doing general rolls for Team Magma and Encounters in background for the next few posts