Meet the Makers - First chamber (Dorthea~Aglaia~mod)

[Tarlar]

Freyr kept his calm and smiled apologitically to the young torchic.
"You could fall in and hurt yourself," he explained and nodded towards their trainers again, "and the battle is over, remember? That means I cannot run off and find all the interesting things, I have to do as they expect since I'm not young as you."
He didn't really expect Diarm to understand, he was too young for that, instead he tried to get him to focus on something else.
"Oh! Look!" He exclaimed as the shining of the double evolution lit the ruin, if that couldn't distract Diarm nothing would.

~~~

Aglaia was really pleased with herself and what she had managed to do, once again it had paid of she had made her ground work and knew what they were heading into.
A bright shining light pulled her out of her mind-applause of herself and she looked surprised to see what was going on. She covered her eyes from the strong light from not one, but two evolutions and when Dorthea's two newly evolved and stronger pokemon stood there instead, Aglaia gaped and felt more than just a bit jealous, and imediately felt guilty about that.
She followed Dorthea's reaction to how Madam had "cheated" her by becoming part flying, and she frowned as her cousin promised to "kill him". Madam wasn't a male, she knew that much and the small wingspots only confirmed that, so who was it Dorthea wanted to kill?
The only one her cousin really disliked was Grandad and Aglaia tried to remember if there had been something between them when they had talked with him, but she couldn't. She guessed there had been something there she had missed and pushed it away as less important and returned to fight her jealousy.

Yes, Wystan had probably evolved as the first one and he was the first fully evolved, but now Dorthea had even two evolved and a double evolving was quite impressive too!
Aglaia wasn't really sure what she was envious about other than it made her feel a bit left behind and like Dorthea was doing something right, which Aglaia probably couldn't copy with her planning, and perhaps her own method were wrong, but she couldn't do as Dorthea and therefore she would fail at this training-thingy...
..Oh well, she knew why she wasn jealous.
She also somehow had thought that Saury would have evolved before Squirt since she had got him earlier, but that obviously didn't have anything to say in that matter.

Aglaia decided she wanted to be happy on Dorthea's behalf, if nothing else her cousin could protect and help her through this, and was pushing the guilt and envy away as Dorthea coaxed Madam down to her as well.
It was crystal clear to Aglaia she would have to participate in more battles herself, if she wanted her pokemon to keep up with Dorthea, and she didn't look forward to it.

It was a face full of mixed fealings that greeted Dorthea, when she turned to Aglaia.
"I think so," Aglaia answered slowly and looked questioningly at Dorthea was she tried to guess what the other girl thought about the situation.
"Congratulation?" She asked tempting and hoped Dorthea would be happy about it as well, and then she returned to what she had learned.
"I have figured what the walls says, but I don't know if you think that is interesting," she said and if Dorthea was interested, she would briefly show her some of the letters and what was written on the wall.

It wasn't much as she had remembered that she had had a pokemon out as well, and she looked around to see if she could find Freyr anywhere.
She noticed Freyr and saw how he stepped in the way of the torchic.
"What are they doing way over there?" Aglaia mulled and walked over to them. She crouched beside Freyr and the hole and glanced down.
"I can't see the bottom. I think Freyr stopped Diarm from falling into it accidently," Aglaia said as she expected that Dorthea was right behind her and easily could her what she said.
"Well done Freyr," Aglaia said and paused as she noticed a writing on the wall just above the hole.
"E..s.. es.. esc.. esca.. escape.. Escape? Escape from what?" Aglaia said out loud and would look after Dorthea.

Needs an answer from Dorthea first ^^

[Thirdie]

Diarm chirped at Freyr's reasoning, trying to argue back in his own childish fashion. 'I'm not going to fall down, I'm just going to peck at it a bit. Maybe it's food.' Diarm jumped a bit, but then looked at the light Freyr pointed out. 'What's that?' he asked and tried to understand what was happening. The blue turtle had grown bigger, and the ball in Dorthea's arms was suddenly something else, when the light was gone. 'Where did the ball go?' He looked to Freyr for an explanation.

~~

Dorthea had a hard time reading Aglaia's expression, and didn't know what her hesitation meant. Maybe her angry outburst had scared Aglaia, but she hoped it wasn't it, and Aglaia didn't look particular scared anyway. In the end she rolled her shoulders, completely dropping to solve that mystery, and accepted the congratulation as gracefully as possible for her. "Thanks, though it's all the work of the Pokemon, so it should really go to them. I doubt I have much to do with when they decide to evolve." She patted Squirt on the head and smiled to him, and then smiled to Aglaia. "Let me hear what you've got." she changed the subject, eager to investigate further, instead of talking about things you couldn't control anyway.

She tried to glimpse Aglaia's notes on the letters, while Aglaia told of her findings. She recognized the form of the E, which looked like the Pokemon they had just fought, and tried to guess what letters fit the other figures, but Aglaia had obviously cracked the code already and learned to recognise most of the 'strange' alphabet. She didn't mind that Aglaia halted her explanation to check up on Freyr. The Pokemons were more important than some ancient alphabet. "That's a clever fox, to keep an eye out for the small ones." she praised, and followed Aglaia to get ahold of Diarm. She didn't feel like calling him back in his ball, but she better make sure he didn't try to jump into the black hole again.
After having made sure Diarm stayed put she leaned out over the hole to have a look herself. It was true you couldn't see the bottom, but that just made it even more exciting than before. She wondered what was down there. At the same time Aglaia read aloud from the wall, and Dorthea frowned in thought. She didn't think for long before she started digging into her bag. "I don't know about escaping, but the rope I bought the other day, was called an escape rope. It might be long enough for us to climb down into the hole, so we can check out what's down there."

(Ooc: Finding an Escape Rope to use)

[Tarlar]

Freyr chuckled of Diarms argumentation. "There isn't anything for you to peck, it's a hole, its just air," he told him before the evolution helped him distracting the chick.
"It's called an evolution, it means they got enough strength and knowledge to change to a stronger form. The ball didn't disappear, it grew into the things with wings, just like the blue one got a bigger tail. Your wings will probably also be bigger when you evolve," he explained and nudged the flaps at Diarms sides.
A bit bitterly he thought that he himself probably never would get the chance, since human girls found him too pretty to fight and kept him out of it.

~~~

Aglaia relaxed a bit when Dorthea did nothing else than give the honor of the evolution to the pokemon. She was right, it was them who had made all the work, both in the training and in the evolution itself.
She had just been nervous about what Dorthea had thought about the situation and if she had preferred that Madam hadn't evolved. Not that they could do anything about it, which also seemed to be Dorthea's point of view and Aglaia happily changed topic.

Aglaia smiled to Freyr, happy for the praise he got from Dorthea though the fennekin himself seemed unfaced. She guessed that since he didn't seemed interested in battling, his former owners may have used him to look after other pokemon or something. She didn't know much about his background actually and she hoped he would like the life she could offer him.
It wasn't like she was home in the shop and he could help out there without getting his paws dirty.

Her attention was drawn back when Dorthea found a rope in her backpack.
"You want to go down there?" She said surprised and looked doubtfully at it.
"But we don't know how far it goes or if it becomes to small for us to go through further down," she continued doubtfully and she thought about it for a bit.
"I know!" Shen then exclaimed and a moment later Paloma and Thanh stood in front of them.
"Could you fly down there and see if there is anything at all?" She asked them and pointed at the hole. Both birds looked a bit hesitantly, but when Thanh asked Paloma if it was dangerous she puffed out her feathers and declared she could handle anything and dived into the hole. The ducklett tripped a bit at the edge before he spread his wings and carefully glided down after her.
"They should be able to get up and down without any trouble, or else I can recalle them," Aglaia said to Dorthea.

They didn't have to wait long before Paloma flapped up through the hole with Thanh closely behind her. The pidgey landed and proudly lay a bit of grass infront of her trainer's feet. Thanh were looking intently at the pidgey before he mimicked her proud behavior and waddled to lay his portion of grass on top of Paloma's.
It was not what Aglaia had expected them to find down a hole!

"Let's see what's down there," she agreed and helped Dorthea find something to secure the rope to, and let her cousin move down the hole first, before she recalled Freyr and followed.

Ready for a mod

[Marchbaby]

As Dorthea and Aglaia made their way down the hole they came across a small chamber that was a bit different from the rest of the ruins. While the rest of the ruins were filled with the Pokemon who looked the same as the hieroglyphs on the walls the Pokemon who called this area home were completely different. One of the native Pokemon had been watching the pair with great curiosity as they entered the chamber as few humans ventured into this part of the ruins. The small Pokemon crawled along the ground trying to remain unseen as it approached them however it did not take long for it's cover to be blown as other Pokemon in the room began to make noise scaring the poor Pokemon so badly that it jumped up and started to run towards the pair.

As stealth was no longer an option the young Shinx had to come up with some other plan as they were not a common sight in most parts of Johto and Shinx did not doubt that the pair would try to capture it if they knew how uncommon it was in the rest of Johto. Trying not to act too aggressively beyond the early showing Shinx continued to approach the pair with cautious optimism, the cat Pokemon could not help it's curiosity trying to figure out exactly what these humans were doing here. It's friends watched from a nearby corner shaking with fear as it was the only Pokemon currently brave enough to approach them. The Shinx yawned as it stopped right in front of the pair and tilted it's head still pondering over who these people were.

As the cat waited for the humans to make a move it's friends continued to watch from the shadows, a few wanted to approach the humans as well to help their friend but most were terrified that they would be captured and taken from their homes if they wandered out to greet these strangers. All the brave young Shinx could do was hope that it's curiosity would not come back to haunt it as it looked at the pair with it's big yellow eyes as if it were begging them to show it some kind of mercy. 

A wild level 12 Shinx appeared. Please select a Pokemon for battle. 



Ooc: Let me know if you would like for this to become a double battle and I will glady edit this post to become a double batte.

[Thirdie]

Diarm looked at his small downy things that Freyr called wings and compared them to the Beautifly's spotted, paper thin flutter-things. He couldn't imgaine that it would turn out the same, but he supposed it would be funnier to be bigger and able to reach more things than now.

~~

Dorthea tried to edge away unnoticed, when Aglaia decided to let her two birds out to investigate. She cramped her fingers around the rope she was readying, and told herself she was being stupid. Aglaia's birds wouldn't harm her. Aglaia wouldn't let them. Despite the logic in this, she couldn't help but flinch, then the two flapped their wings and dropped down into the hole. For a short moment she was relieved, when she couldn't hear the beating of the wings anymore, then they were back presenting their findings, and Dorthea tried to piece the sight of green grass together with the dark hole in the floor. At the same time she tried to ignore the presence of the birds. It wasn't easy. "Good," she said, and was actually surprised her voice came out steady. "Let's get going."
It was a good thing Aglaia helped secure the rope. Dorthea didn't trust her hands entirely that moment, as she spend half her mind trying to forget the birds in the room. At least they weren't moving much. She was glad to finally get down the rope, and almost forgot to recall Squirt and Diarm, that otherwise wouldn't have been able to follow. She didn't have to worry about Heidrun that still hid herself underneath her shirt.

The way down was just Dorthea and the rope, until her eyes got used to the dark and she began recognizing contours in the form of shades. Though hard to see, it looked like another chamber of a kind, and the feeling was a bit different from the one above. Dorthea had only just set her feet on solid ground again, and waited for Aglaia to do the same, when she heard the first rustle of other beings present. Heidrun had jumped down from her trousers and was taking a small walk out into the chamber alone. The figure that emerged from the shadows startled Dorthea and Heidrun both, and though it didn't do much else than look at them curiously Dorthea went into action. Her nerves already a bit frazzled from keeping her fear in check, and the knowledge that Heidrun really wasn't in a position to defend herself, made Dorthea reach for her emergency ball. She only had the one, but to Dorthea no time was better than now. Dorthea threw her Quick Ball.

(Ooc: Heidrun, the Joltik, in front, while Dorthea throws a Quick Ball.
Shouldn't Escape Rope have been removed from Dorthea's bag?)

[Tarlar]

Aglaia didn't notice that Dorthea was uncomfortable around her two birds, they weren't even getting close to her cousin and though Paloma was hard to control she didn't really believe the pidgey would attack any of them unprovoked.
When the rope had been secured and the non-flying pokemon recalled, Aglaia followed Dorthea down into the deep hole.

It was really dark down here and Aglaia stayed close to Dorthea, especially since there was a rustling all around them, indicating there were wild pokemon around. Where Aglaia wasn't directly afraid of most of her own pokemon, she was very uncomfortable with wild pokemon as you never knew what they would do if they thought you got too close or was about to take their food.
Particulary a mostly blue pokemon appeared and Aglaia was perfectly fine with letting Dorthea handle that one, while she herself stayed behind her and looked around to see if she could find an opening out of the tunnel. If her pokemon had found grass there had to be a opening somewhere.
It was difficult to see much, if anything and she called Freyr out again. Both to see how he was reacting so she could get to learn him, which she had read was important, but also because she hoped he could spread some light with his fire. As he didn't have any other fires than his embers that would be too unsteady to be useful.
"There must be a way out," Aglaia mumbled to herself and tried once again to spot it without moving away from Dorthea.
Freyr glanced at her and attempted to sneak away.

Paloma was cleaning her feathers and pretended she didn't care about what was going on around her. Thanh mimicked her to begin with but quickly got bored and instead trottet towards the closest rustling to see what it was and greet whatever he met.

Ready for mod.

[Lamont]

The rope dropped the two off at the end of a tunnel, the long stretch of darkness pinned with a tiny point of light way down the pathway. Patches of grass poked up from the hardened ground to provide an ambient rustle as a breeze trailed down the rocky channel underneath the ruins; though the breeze wasn't the only thing stirring the greens as the girls discovered.

The soft roll of light making its way down outlined the darkened shape of the shinx, of who seemed to have no problems edging up to the pair surrounded by pokémon the wild being hadn't ever seen before. Its curiosity was peaked, ears twitching back and forth as it stared up at all these new wondrous sights. Dorthea's movements, digging through her bag, drew its gaze. A green static spark crackling down its body as it spotted the sharp blue-yellow ball withdrawn. The ball looked just like it! A moment of happy excitement was replaced with a renewed fear however, when the young girl reeled her arm back and threw it at the wild pokémon.

With a frightened yelp Shinx spun around and tried to get out of the way, but the ball whipped through the air with amazing speed and slapped it on its side. In a burst of red light Shinx disappeared into the device. It dropped to the ground with a loud clack, rolling to be upright and wobbling slightly. Only a couple seconds passed before the red glow of the quick ball's button dimmed and a satisfying click echoed through the passage.

---

Congratulations! The wild Shinx has been captured!

Please fill in the information below:

Shinx
Name: [Choose]
Gender: [Choose]
Level: 12
Attacks: Tackle, Leer, Charge, Baby-Doll Eyes
Ability: Intimidate OR Rivalry
OT: Dorthea Lund

[img src="https://pldh.net/media/pokemon/gen4/platinum_action/403.png"]
[b]Shinx[/b]
Name: [Choose]
Gender: [Choose]
Level: 12
Attacks: Tackle, Leer, Charge, Baby-Doll Eyes
Ability: Intimidate OR Rivalry
OT: Dorthea Lund

---

Heidrun grew to LV 4!
She would like to learn Thunderwave; delete an old move?

[Thirdie]

As soon the ball had clicked Dorthea rushed to Heidrun's side to make sure she was okay. The small bug gladly crawled into her hand and back under her shirt, small waves of static making the hair on Dorthea's arm rise. Dorthea shivered and brushed the feeling off, picking up the new capture with great relief. Her emergency ball had worked just right. Now she just needed to figure out what she had caught. Unfortunately, with her team already at maximum it would have to wait for later, and she stored the Pokeball away, looking at Aglaia for what to do next. "So far so good," she began and let her eyes roam the dark place. "Do you hear anything?" Dorthea thought she heard a continuous rustle. It could very well just be wind, but that would have to mean there was an opening somewhere, and light for the patches of grass to turn green.

"Is it wind?" she asked, to ensure she got Aglaia's opinion on the matter, and heard her mumble about a way out. Dorthea nodded in thought. "Could be. Let's see if we can find it." She was ready to barge ahead, if Aglaia gave the go. Or at least stumble into the darkness trying to find any passage leading from the chamber. They should probably have brought a flash light. She saw Aglaia had let Freyr out again and opted to do the same for Diarm. Two fire types might have a better chance together to get some light flowing. For a while she had forgot about Aglaia's two birds, and was startled to find one of them nearby preening itself. "Where are your blue bird, Thanh?" she asked suddenly. If they had to be about, she wanted to know their location.

(Ooc: Heidrun learns Thunderwave and forgets Spiderweb)

[img src="https://pldh.net/media/pokemon/gen4/platinum_action/403.png"]
[b]Shinx[/b]
Name: Heru
Gender: [font color="lightblue"]Male[/font]
Level: 12
OT: Dorthea Lund
Attacks: Tackle, Leer, Charge, Baby-Doll Eyes
Ability: Intimidate
Nature/Personality: Naughty[font size="1"](+att,-sp.def)[/font]. A manipulative trickster with a foul personality that enjoys watching others get into trouble. He is especially pleased if others get punished for something he did, and he plays all kind of tricks behind the scenes to accomplish just that. To avoid getting caught himself he plays very sweet and adorable when humans are around to see, and sometimes other Pokemon too. He is rather mad to have been caught without the opportunity to fight back, but can't entirely blame the human girl, as he himself took the risk of getting close, and actually wanted the chance to get away from his home. He does his outmost not to show his true colours to anyone of importance, and is happy as long as he can cause as much mayhem as possible.

[Tarlar]

"You caught it?" Aglaia said surprised when quick flash left her blinking in the darkness.
"Why?" She asked puzzled as she hadn't expected Dorthea to be so eager to capture that pokemon, which Aglaia wasn't entirely sure of what was yet.
"Hear anything? I hear a lot, I think this place is crawling with pokemon like the one you caught," Aglaia said and looked around nervously, though she couldn't see much more than before.
"I really think we should try to find a way out again, or a way to find some light," Aglaia said and tried to sound calm. She usually wasn't afraid of the dark but she didn't know what down here and she couldn't see it and plan ahead! Perhaps it was best to try with Freyr's ember even though it wasn't very effective.

"Wind?" Aglaia asked dumbfounded, "the rustling? I don't think so."
"Hey wait!" Aglaia exclaimed as Dorthea suddenly left her. They didn't went far before Dorthea asked for the duckletts whereabouts.
"That's a great idea!" Aglaia exclaimed happily and stopped to face Paloma.
"Hey Paloma, can you and Thanh show us where you found that grass? That would be a great help," Aglaia said relieved, where there grew grass there had to be some sort of light and water should be able to reach it as well. It couldn't be anything than out in the open, why hadn't she thought of that to begin with?

Paloma looked at her trainer and seemed to consider the thought before she strode forward with dignity, before she spread her wings and flew towards where she had found the grass.
She was pleased the human was appreciating her help and that she was necessary for their trip down here, of course they couldn't do without her. She didn't do anything to make Thanh to follow her since even though it was nice with someone looking up to her, she was not his babysitter.
Aglaia didn't thought much of having track of her pokemon, she wanted to get out of this cave until she was prepared to venture inside, and she half expected her pokemon to want the same and follow her.

Freyr was sitting calmly and watched as his trainer hurried after the pidgey, pleased with the situation. His attempt to sneak away hadn't been fruitfull but now they made it all too easy.
He stood up to saunter over to Thanh, who hadn't noticed the others had left, to see if he had any succees in getting contact with what was hiding down here.

Ready for mod
(ooc: Please, let any encounter happen at Freyr's and Thanh's position)

[Lamont]

As the two trainers stumbled about the darkened tunnel toward the pinprick of light which provided the only sense of direction and glimmer of shape, there were two pokémon meandering around the mysterious rustle that permeated the passageway. It was faint and soft, with somewhat of a rhythmic motion. The noise had drawn the full attention of the curious duck, pulling him closer and closer to the cave wall as the group got further away. All except the mischievous fennekin of course.

A dark shape of grey lunged along the wall from behind a large rock. Whatever it was it hadn't seemed to notice the two stragglers as it tip-toed by. The source of the scratchy noise was something being dragged softly along the wall. A curious thing. No doubt something a young ducklett couldn't resist investigating further. The figure of interest didn't seem to be following the trainer pack; not directly anyway. It reached high and low, side to side, making elaborate motions along the tunnel wall in quiet thrusts. Upon getting closer it would be notable that there seemed to be a trail of color left wherever the figure had moved.

With a muffled chortle of glee the being spun on the spot and dabbed at the wall, then froze. It stood, a statue on one foot, for quite some time before its head darted to the side to look at its secret audience. The wild pokémon withdrew its arm and almost looked like it was going to shrink back and flee, but the darkness was only playing a trick. The figure suddenly lunged forward and thrust a bright bushy tail at Thanh & Freyr, holding it in an en garde fashion.

A wild Smeargle (LV 9) challenges Aglaia's pokémon to a sporting fight!
Which one will step up?

[Thirdie]

"I had to. Heidrun isn't trained for battle yet. I want to be able to see what's going on, before getting her mixed up in a fight." Dorthea explained absentminded, while she put the new capture away. "That was my only emergency Quick Ball though, so I'll have to be more careful from now on."

It was incredible difficult to navigate in the dark, and Dorthea felt about her with her hands in her stumble. It was ridiculous so long her eyes took to get used to the dark, and letting Diarm out hadn't helped much. In fact he seemed to have disappeared in the dark as well. "What's a great...?" Dorthea began to ask at Aglaia's exclamation, and a moment later almost facepalmed as the cousin addressed the Pidgey. At least she didn't have to worry about hiding her wince in the current lack of light, but she did suppress a groan, when Paloma took flight, and ducked to ensure no wings hit her. A shiver ran down her back at the sound of the one bird taking flight, and she waited with held breath as she anticipated the next set of wings. That never came. "That was only Paloma... Where is Thanh? If we absolutely have to rely on their help, I have to know where they are!" Her voice rose half an octave in her agitation, and she clutched her sweaty hands. "I don't want him sneaking up on me!" Her mind was going highwire. She was panicking. With effort she forced a big breath down and held it for a moment before letting it go. She focused on Heidrun's tiny toes creeping around on her skin, and managed to calm down enough to listen to Aglaia's voice. She discovered she had squatted down, completely halting their progress forwards. She didn't feel inclined to move. In front was the sound of beating wings, and she still didn't know where the other bird was, and if there were even more wild ones down here. She considered what would be the lesser 'bad', and listened to Aglaia's worries, which were different from her own. "I don't think Diarm followed us either. I haven't heard him tripping around." She finally said, just to feel ordinary and concerned about something normal. In the end she forced her legs to move again and got up. She fixed her eyes on the light up ahead, making a decision. "If you want to go back and see if they stayed behind, will it be alright with you, if I continue following Paloma to the light and grass? - We can shout to each other, so we can hear where the other is." She suggested. She wanted to get out in the light, where she at least could see what was making which sounds.

~~

Diarm had been let out in darkness. Though some sounds had been strange, others had been familiar, and he hadn't thought much about it, other than he felt safe as long as the sounds of humans and Pokemon together was there. He stumbled his way around and fell just beside Freyr from before, and with a happy chirp followed the fox. When Freyr stayed still as the humans walked further away Diarm didn't question it. He stayed put too and pecked at the ground, curious to see if anything were edible.

(Ooc: ~)

[Tarlar]

Aglaia was surprised that Dorthea had had a backup plan in hand for emergensies, did Dorthea usually think ahead? Perhaps she was beginning to learn, Aglaia hoped that.
At first Aglaia didn't noticed Dorthea's rising panick as she herself were too relived by having found a way out and away from what was hiding in the darkness.
If not Dorthea came along immediately she would attempt to grab her arm and to drag her along, and first now would Aglaia realize something was off with Dorthea as her cousin was sitting down.
"Dorthea, what's wrong?" Aglaia asked and would help the other to her feet if she was allowed.
"Don't mind my nervousness, I'm just a scaredycat," Aglaia laughed nervously and looked around as Dorthea talked about her torchic.
"I'm missing Thanh and Freyr too," Aglaia said slowly and glanced at Dorthea, perhaps that was what she had tried to tell her when she asked where the ducklett was.

Aglaia's face darkened when Dorthea suggested that Aglaia should go back into the darkness of the tunnel, while Dorthea continued out, which was what Aglaia wanted to do as well at the moment. But perhaps she should stay and try find the missing pokemon? Aglaia did not like it and reluctantly made a decision against it.
"I need some fresh air as well, and I'm sure they will be able to handle themselves for a bit, they have each other after all," Aglaia said and resolut took Dorthea's arm to guide her in the direction Paloma had showed them, though the pidgey were already far ahead.
"Young pokemon are able to handle themselves in the wild and I have read other pokemon often are careful around them. It will probably be good for them to get a bit experience on their own," Aglaia continued to argue, mostly to convince her own guilt that it was alright.
"But what is wrong Dorthea? You usually don't act like this, always so full of energy and confidence, what has shaken you?" Aglaia asked her cousin.

~~~

"Come with me," Freyr said to Diarm, pleased the torchic chose to stay with him and stayed close.
"What have you found?" Freyr then asked Thanh curiously.
"I don't know, but it's coming this way," the ducklett answered excited and then called out to the strange pokemon: "Hello! Do you wanna play?!"

Both Thanh and Freyr flinched when the smeargle lunge forward and they looked between it's eyes and the tail it pointed at them.
"I think.. that is a yes," Freyr whispered to Thanh who flapped his wings happily and ran forward to slap the smeargle with iron hard wings. He would have preferred to fly but in this dark and confined place he didn't dare to do it, he had to stay on his feet.
He rather elegently turned around to face the smeargle once more and try hit it with another steel wing.

Freyr sat down to look at the battle, curious to see what tricks this pokemon had hidden in it's fur.
"What do you think it uses its tail for? It looks funny with all the color dripping of it, doesn't it?" Freyr asked Diarm.

(ooc: Running shoes exhausted for Thanh to use Steel Wing twice)
Ready for mod

[Dan]

The bundle of Pokemon had certainly came across quite the rarity in Johto! Smeargles were quite the prize for many collectors across the land and any trainer would be lucky to be in one’s presence. Of course the bundle of younglings didn’t quite understand the fine print of Pokemon collecting, but if they did they’d be quite surprised to see this Pokemon in the flesh and blood!

The Smeargle looked at Thanh and began to paint. In a ferocious manner, the little Picasso was jotting down the dimensions of the duck Pokemon, filling in the lines with a baby blue color. No doubt that the bundle of Pokemon were quite puzzled by this move, what was it doing? As Smeargle finished the painting, it began to light up! Thanh went in for a Steel Wing attack, attempting to stop this weirdo from its stalling. In return, the Smeargle retaliated with a Steel Wing itself (use your imagination)! How odd! Thanh went in again, hoping to deplete this Pokemon once and for all, but it would prove to be a much longer battle than they had first anticipated.

Battle

---

Weather: N/A

Smeargle | Level 9 | Technician | No hold Item
HP: 65% (20/31)
Status: Normal
Used Sketch! Used Steel Wing!

VS

Thanh | Level 5 | Keen Eye | No hold Item
HP: 82% (18/22)
Status: Normal
Used Steel Wingx2!

[Thirdie]

Dorthea was a bit surprised when Aglaia didn't want to look for the missing Pokemon immediately. If she had to be honest with herself, she was a bit disappointed too. She had hoped to get a moment to get completely back to herself. "You are probably right" she conceded, and let Aglaia guide them out in the light. "It's nothing, really," Dorthea tried to play it down, though she knew it wouldn't work. She sighed. "The birds make me uncomfortable. Even more so, when I can't see them. Just the sound of their feathers drives me crazy." She tried to explain the feeling, and shivered just at the thought. It didn't feel adequate, but she didn't know how else to say it.

Dorthea blinked when they reached the light, and she immediately breathed easier, feeling lighter when she saw no other bird was there but Paloma. Even so she made sure to keep her distance to the Pidgey, and found a spot in the grass to sit down with her back against the stones of the ruin they had just come out of. "It's silly, I know, but I just can't stand them near me. Sorry." She smiled apologetic, and forcible tried to imitate her usual bright smile in an effort to lighten up the conversation.

~~

Diarm shuffled beside Freyr, not caring much for what they were doing. He was too young to think anything wrong with the situation, and as long as Freyr and Thanh stayed calm, he would too. Diarm startled when Freyr and Thanh flinched, but looked on curious when the playing began. It was the same as before with Squirt and the black floating Pokemon, but different too, and not as threatening to Diarm, who had been instinctively frightened by the water. This time it looked sort of fun, and Diarm wondered if he would be allowed to play like that too sometime. "It's holding it like when Dorthea is making scribbles on paper" Diarm chirped in wonder. "That writing thing." he added, remembering the word, and he looked proudly at Freyr

(Ooc: ~)

[Tarlar]

Aglaia listened to Dorthea and scolded herself mentally for not having paid more attention and noticed it before. When she looked back now it was so obvious and something she could have talked about a long time ago.
"Don't say it's nothing," Aglaia protested but didn't say anything else before Dorthea had finished, and then she was thinking until they reached the outside.
Aglaia looked around to see if there were a way out or if they would have to go back and climb up the rope now neither of her birds were big enough to fly them out. Honestly Aglaia didn't trust any of her two birds enough to let them carry her, had they been big enough.

"It isn't silly," Aglaia protested and looked at Paloma who was tasting the grass and paid them little attention.
"I don't complete trust any of them either, Thanh is still so young and Paloma you know can be hard to control, but you don't have any problem with Madam, do you?" Aglaia asked and looked at Dorthea for her answer.
"You know I'm nervous around most pokemon and that I didn't even wanted to go on this journey in the first place. My fear comes from how big and strong the pokemon can be, and that they can be quite unpredictable, one wrong move and you are pulp," Aglaia said dryly and clapped her hands together to empathize her meaning.
"So where have this worry of flying pokemon come from?" Aglaia asked Dorthea. She was determined to help her cousin over her fears, she needed her support and to be strong since Aglaia found it hard to be the brave one when she was unsure of most pokemon. And she didn't like that her positive cousin should be held back by fears.
Aglaia would listen closely to what Dorthea had to say to find the best way to help her.

~~~

The smeargle didn't answer Thanh's call out to it but since it didn't say no and Freyr meant it's reaction was a yes, the ducklett eagerly started the game of battle.
He paused when the smeargle made some funny movement and quacked by surprise when it mimicked his movement and hit him with something that both looked and felt like steel wing, it just didn't have wings.

He withdrew and looked awed at the smeargle.
"How did you do that?!" He asked, he wanted to know that and then looked a bit thoughtful at it, before he used a Water Gun to see if it could mimick that one too.

"Oh, you are right," Freyr commented, he hadn't made any connection between the smeargle's colorful tail and what the humans did on paper, "You are clever."
"Do you think it looks fun?" Freyr asked and then took a step back when Thanh started to play with water. "Oh, or at least until water became involved. Let's make sure to keep a safe distance to that," Freyr said and attempted to guide Diarm a bit away from the battle.
"Could you be interested in trying to play battle yourself?" He would then ask the young chick.

(ooc: Thanh uses Water Gun. It doesn't have any affect on the battle, but isn't it the wild pokemon's ability usually kept blank so the player can chose? I'd probably chose that anyway if I managed to catch it, I just wanted to ask.)
Ready for mod