Suspension of belief [Legendary Trio] [F]

[Tarlar]

Astrid's gut feeling had been right, and while she had been in Dark Cave it was clear that Lance wouldn't just hang around near the entrance, and the deeper in they would go, the more rough and difficult it would be. She had skills searching for finding informations, she had lots of experience with that from when she was a secretary, and she had found a few web pages with renowned trainers or cave explorers, and they all warned against Dark Cave. They also warned against Union Cave but less as it wasn't really a problem as long as you didn't stray away from the well lit path.
Dark Cave on the other hand was a maze and even if you had a pokemon with flash, they warned against venturing in too deep if you weren't used to it. There were underwater lakes, steep walls to climb and there were risk of rocks falling down, so if you didn't have several pokemon ready for all those things, you'd be in deep trouble.
Astrid had a pokemon with Rock Climb but had trouble figuring out how to get the other two. She sought help with Morty again (and was let by the assistance without any trouble this time), and he suggested she should go look for Eusine who liked to hang out in Burned Tower, as he had a lot of experience with research and handling dangerous places.

So now she was here, very early morning in a very humid town as the whole night had been nothing but rain.
"I wonder why he likes to hang out here?" Astrid muttered to herself as she watched the ruins of the old tower, it reminded her of Sprout Tower in Cherrygrove, and of course of Bell Tower but that one she didn't know much about other than it was a pretty tower in the other end of the city, which was important to the people living here.
She found the entrance, which had been blocked off but it had been ages ago so the wood barrier had rotten so much away that she could just walk straight through. It still felt like trespassing and she decided that if she didn't found anyone in here, she'd leave again quickly. The tower didn't look very stable as she looked up at the charred pillars which stretched above her.

"Anyone here?" She called out as she stuck her head through the door and peeked around. She set the cane so that it was easier for Janus to crawl down from her shoulder and onto the floor. He was so tiny Astrid felt safe letting him run around and check the place, without risking of falling through.

[Avalon]

The Burned Tower was certainly a sight, even to those unaware of its storied and tragic history. Once a beacon of the people of Ecruteak's devotion to the old legends, now a crumbling ruin and the subject of many a ghost story and tall tale. Of course, that meant it was obviously going to be a frequent training spot or adventuring locale for many an enterprising young Trainer. Anyone who spent any amount of time in Ecruteak would be able to hear the stories from the people of the city. How the tower had been destroyed and the Pokemon within transformed, all thanks to the power of the Legendary Pokemon.

Those tales were what brought Eusine to the rather dingy building on so many an occasion. With his immaculate cape and purple suit, one would be forgiven for assuming him to be too vain to ever want to be seen in a place such as this. But he often found himself brought back to this tower when he came up short on leads in his quest for the Legendary Beasts of Johto. Normally Morty would join him on some of these trips as a way to train, but Morty was busy with his duties as a Gym Leader, so Eusine had come alone.

Of course, there were others hanging about in the tower, as he had seen them descend into the burnt depths of the tower earlier, but on this ground level he stood alone for now, peering into the pit that had formed beneath the tower. Until he was joined by Astrid calling out to him. Eusine turned to the older woman, smiling fondly and waving her over. "Ah, a guest! My name is Eusine, the Welcome to the Burned Tower, home of the Legendary Beasts!" Eusine called out confidently.

If Astrid did not take his invitation to approach, he would be the one to close the gap between them. "I suppose you were here to also look for rare or Legendary Pokemon? I've spent my life dedicated to the search for these beasts, and I think they might be somewhere within this tower." he explained. Eusine was happy to talk to someone after standing here and searching completely on his lonesome for some time now. So eager to enjoy the human company was he that he found himself rambling a bit more than usual.

"If you're interested, I advise you to delve into the basement and see for yourself. It'll give you a good bit of experience, diving into dangerous locations. Besides, you might even get lucky and get to see the Beasts for yourself. I am more than happy to just observe from afar. Too many Trainers going down there might scare off the beasts." Eusine was happy to help other Trainers get the chance to chase the same high as he was doing. There was something wonderful about being able to see a Legendary Pokemon in the flesh, and while he had yet to see one for himself, he knew that if he helped some of these others in their pursuits, it might be enough to convince the Legendary Pokemon that he was a pure-hearted individual. After all, the Legendaries would only appear before a trainer who was strong and pure of heart, so really it was almost like he had to help people like Astrid.

Privately, Eusine was a bit concerned that the woman might be a bit too elderly to be performing such a trek into the Burned Tower, but he kept such thoughts to himself. If she was anything like his own grandmother, hinting at such a thing was likely to earn him something of an earful. Besides, it wouldn't do for him to be so rude to a guest in their town right now. He waited, curious as to whether the woman would take him up on his offer to descend into the Burned Tower.

Eusine has invited Astrid to explore the Burned Tower in search of Legendary Beasts!
Will Astrid take him up on this offer and accept the Quest?

[Tarlar]

Astrid had of course heard the many tails of the burned tower, and she had been visiting the city when on vacation but she had never felt any urge to investigate the tower itself. It looked too unstable to her even if she had been told repeatedly that it was safe to venture inside, otherwise the police would have closed it down ages ago.
She peeked in worriedly and tested the wooden floor with her cane, it seemed solid enough, even though the sides were charred and her nose kept tricking her and telling her it could smell it too. That was impossible though.

A man noticed the old lady and greeted her cheerfully, Astrid smiled pleasantly surprised and carefully walked out to the floor, trying to hide that she hit it in front of her a bit more forcefully than necessary.
"A welcome committee even!" Astrid greeted and would meet him halfway, she wasn't walking very fast normally and even though she did what she could to hide it, she walked even slower now in anticipation of the floor crumbling under her feet.
"Sounds exciting but no, I came here in search for you!" Astrid said with a laugh, "I am Astrid and I am looking for Lance and have learned he is sometimes here and often in Dark Cave. Dark Cave is a dangerous place when you go far enough in and Morty adviced me to ask you," she explained and looked hopefully at him.
The old woman glanced down the staircase, "I must admit it sounds intriguing, it is not often you get such chance," she said, the legendary pokemon were stuff of legend and something you read about in books and saw movies about, not something you met in the flesh. She doubted it was going to happen today but it was easy to get caught up in Eusine's excitement.

She paused and looked disappointed, but then shrugged, "alright, then I will not go and disturb them either. I will be glad to follow you, if you want to show me around, but I did came here to talk with you and not to hunt legends, I leave that to the young ones," she said with a smile.
If Eusine decide Astrid really couldn't go without seeing them, preferably by accepting to follow her down, she would oblige, if not she's just stay with him. If she was going down, she would take a long look at the stairs and then call out Yakul and mount her, the gogoat ws surefooted and could easily carry her down the long flight of stairs.

"So, what would you say I would need to be aware of in Dark Cave other than just the dark?" She'd asked Eusine, no matter if she was standing beside him on top of the tower, or if they were going down the stairs together.

(ooc: hopefully taking up Eusine's offer one way or another )

[Avalon]

Eusine was pleased to see that this woman was in at least somewhat cheerful spirits. It wasn't often that people wandered into a place like the Burned Tower in a good mood; while he found the site significant, it often brought out a bit of a somber mood in others. "I suppose you could say I'm something like the welcoming committee. Morty and I have explored through these old ruins a good bit in our younger days, after all. We are sort of experts on the matter."

Eusine didn't judge her for not expressing direct interest in the legends before her. It wasn't exactly an older woman's game, to be fair, and even some younger trainers he encountered bawked at chasing down the Legendary Beasts. "So, if you aren't a Legend chaser like myself, what lead you to seek me out? Pardon my bluntness, but you don't seem like one of my typical fans." he admitted, blushing slightly. It was still a little embarassing to think of himself as someone with 'fans'.

"Ah yes, the rumors of the Dragon Master training in the Dark Cave. He's not likely to be anywhere close to the entrance, you'll have to go mighty deep into those caves to find Lance," Eusine admitted. Lance was something of a strange individual, who tended to go off on his own more often than not, especially during his training expeditions. But still, with Astrid agreeing and even mounting her goat to make progress easier, Eusine continued to speak as they descended the decrepit staircase that lead into the dark below.

"Dark Cave is flooded in some parts, so a surfing Pokemon is required. There's also been some damage to the terrain; rockfalls and such, that you might need to find a way to move through. Your Gogoat should be able to help you traverse the terrain well enough until you reach the water or the rockfalls, though I imagine if you got this far in your journey that you have more than enough strong Pokemon to handle a bit of water or some big rocks," Eusine continued, taking care to hold his cape as to prevent it from dragging across the soot-stained ground.

As they reached the bottom of the stairs, they found a curious site. On either side of the stairwell sat a pair of brothers, nearly identical in appearance, each spitting out a stream of fire haphazardly. Eusine instinctively placed himself in front of Astrid and Gogoat, out of some sense of chivalry, and glared at the two. "Cease that right now! You're going to hurt someone!"

"It's your fault for going into someplace so dangerous! This is our private training ground, we got the performance of a lifetime coming up!"[/color said one of the firebreathing brothers. The other nodded silently. The first brother turned a little red, either from frustration or from the heat, and reached to his belt for a Poke Ball. "You want to get past us or make us stop so bad? Beat us both in a battle, and we'll see how it goes!"

Eusine sighed, looking to Astrid sympathetically. "I hate to be a bother, but it looks like we might have to deal with these two if we want to continue on. I doubt they'd let us leave with just a telling off at this point, either. If I might trouble you for some help? I can handle one of them, if you can take care of the other."

The Firebreather Brothers will not let you pass!
Astrid will have to battle one of them to get by; please choose either Firebreather Ned or Firebreather Richard.

[Tarlar]

It was probably true that a lot of people who came here was to remember and pay respect, but Astrid wasn't going to let it make her depressed. She knew she had to face death sooner or later, probably sooner compared to so many others and she was dead set on enjoying every bit she had left, and now it looked like she was even going to be able to make an impact to some as well. She hoped so.
Astrid smiled warmly when he blushed, not entirely sure what he reacted on but he looked sweet when he did, and she explained to him why she had been looking for him.
"I expected that much yes, which is why I came to ask for your suggestions," The old woman said somberly, she knew she herself wasn't going to fare well deep inside that cave if she wasn't prepared. She couldn't do as much as when she was younger and she certainly hadn't planned on it being the last trip she took.
She was very pleased when Eusine agreed to come along with her and chat while they looked for the supposedly legendary pokemon who should be hiding here. But really? Why would legendary pokemon spent their time hiding at their death place? She had only heard that ghosts were doing that, so it was probably just fairytales and people hoping so hard they seen them, that they believed they had.
Astrid wasn't a person who believed in rumors.

She was thoughtful as Yakul made her way around a hole in the stairs and stepped over a pillar which was blocking it a bit further down. "So I will need to have a pokemon who can carry be through water, surf should be able to do that, and carry me up over rocks, Egil can do that, he has done so already. So I need to find something which can move rocks safely, and it will probably be a good idea to bring something which can break it as well," She concluded, "but who would be most fitting?" She asked herself mostly and went through her pokemon in her head.

They reached the bottom of this set of stairs and Astrid looked around for the next one to guide Yakul towards, when she jumped at the sight of flames. She exhaled forcefully with a hand on her heart when she realized it was a pair of humans, in strange clothing and breathing fire!
"It will probably be a good idea to get a pokemon to lit a fire and keep me warm, and to carry water and food, who knows how long I am going to walk around in there?" She commented to Eusine and guided her gogoat towards the firebreathers as the next staircase was between them. They stepped out and blocked their way.
"Really? This is a place people come to mourn and respect and you claim it to be your private training ground? I think there is something you have misunderstood, what would give you that right?" Astrid demanded to know.
"The tower can handle it?" Astrid asked Eusine a bit worried, and nodded when he would reassure it wouldn't be a problem "then be my guest."
She looked at the two and shrugged, one could be as good as the other,"I will take the one closest to me then," she told Eusine. Without taking her eyes of their opponents, she would say "Do your thing Janus, electricity will probably be best here." Nothing seemed to happen but Astrid just waited patiently.

The tiny joltik would crawl down from Yakul and try get unnoticed to a burned pillar beside the brothers and up there he would wait until Ned had called his pokemon out. A crackling noise would be the only warning as a web was thrown at whatever was supposed to battle him, Janus would then try crawl to the other side of the pillar and use it as shield from his opponent.

Wordcount: 668
(ooc: Choosing to face Ned. Janus starts with Electroweb on whoever Ned is sending out)

[Tiki]

"Yup, it's good to have Pokemon to help you explore the very secluded part of the Dark Cave. And food of course," Eusine nodded at Astrid, and proceeded to take on the other firebreather. "The tower had weathered a lot of days and seasons by now, I am sure it can handle it." Then, he would become preoccupied with his opponent for a short while.

"I am just cleaning up the pests that's all. There's quite a lot of Rattata here." Ned replied nonchalantly, trying to downplay how he and his brother used this location as a training ground. "No matter how much we fight, these rats keep coming back! It's also hard to practice when they keep coming around."

After Astrid had sent out her Joltik, the flashy dresser sent out his Koffing instead. "Kovee, we got a break from these Rattata! Use Assurance!"

Janus crackled electricity as he created an electro web and shot it from his mouth. The Koffing tried to float away, but the web was faster and caught the Koffing in its track. The poison type screamed in pain as the electricity shocked it for a bit. With its nerves a little fried, the floating ball could felt itself moving slower than before. Then, using the pillars in the vicinity, the Koffing and Janus chased each other and hide-and-seek a bit until the Koffing was able to got close and slammed onto Janus.

Wild Encounter

---

Weather: Clear

[attr="class","qkt-bkgd"]

[attr="class","qkt-wild-pkmn"]
KoveeLV 29
HP 55% [39/71]

[attr="class","qkt-wild-imgbox"]

[attr="class","qkt-pkmn-img"]

[attr="class","qkt-trainer-pkmn"]
Janus LV 33
HP 83% [71/86]

[attr="class","qkt-trainer-imgbox"]

[attr="class","qkt-pkmn-img"]

Janus [Compound Eyes]: Status
Koffing [Levitate]: Status, -1 speed

SP58 Joltik used Electroball!
SP34 Koffing used Assurance!

[Tarlar]

"Yes of course, food and water," Astrid said and bend down to open one of Yakul's saddlebags and pulled outa notebook and a pen. "It is probably best I write it all down, my memory is not what it have been," she said with a wink. She sent the firebreathers a quick glance and nodded as Eusine went to face the one Janus wasn't targeting, there wasn't going to be much for her to do while the battle lasted, but she would have to pay attention if her pokemon would end up needing her help.
"Are the rattatas a threat to the tower?" Astrid asked curiously, calming down now they had given a reasonable reason to be here and train, "It still does not explain why you are going for us though. What if I said I was here to mourn someone I had lost, would you still refuse me entering?" The old lady asked dryly.

Astrid was quite surprised when the Firebreather was ready for her joltik, he must have managed to see the small bug scurry over the floor. The biggest surprise was for Janus though as he had planned on taking them by surprise which clearly fell through, and he sent is electric web flying as fast as possible. He was pleased when he still managed to hit it when it tried to float away, he then dived behind the pillar and avoided the koffing's first attempt to retaliate. Janus continued to dart around the pillar in an attempt to dodge the determined koffing, he even leaped from the pillar and raced for the next one, and he'd probably had suceeded if someone hadn't pointing him out to the koffing. Just as the joltik reached the next pillar and began to climb it, the ball of floating gas came and knocked him off the pillar.

"Up again Janus, you got this," Astrid called out encouragingly as her joltik scurried away to avoid being an easy target. Koffing surely wouldn't let him out of its sight again.
While running zigzag, Janus formed a little ball of lightning between his pincers and then he spun around to face his opponent, feeding the ball with energy and then sent it flying at his target. "Dodge that!" He shouted at his pursuer before he spun around and darted off again.

"So a pokemon to carry me through the cave, over water and up cliffs. One to move and break boulders and rock. A way to start a fire and keep warm..." Astrid said out loud as she wrote down in her notebook, she paused, "perhaps fire is a bad idea, is there not something about there being stale air and therefore less oxygen in caves?" She looked thoughtful for a moment and then continued to write down, "Amanda for light, food and water for all of us for... hm, how many days would it take? I would need a way to keep track of time!"

Wordcount: 494
(ooc: Janus uses Electro Ball)

[Tiki]

"Yeah, they're a threat when we're trying to practice. They'll come sneak around when we trying to practice our smoke entrance and exit techniques," He replied how the Rattatas were a threat to his practice, but not the threat to the tower.

"Well, Ma'am, I have not seen you around here," He bluffed. "Since you're asking what-if's," he paused. "You don't really have anyone here to mourn do you? I didn't see you here before." He wasn't going to back down his secret practice location.

"If you give me three seconds head start, then I can dodge," Kovee replied, nonchalantly. The Koffing had its nerves quite shocked to even attempt to dodge. When it gave a reply to the Joltik, it felt like a millisecond shorter, was it the narrator exaggerating? It was floating away slowly in a direction, but the elecro ball smack right onto the Koffing, hitting it like a planet hit with a meteor.

"Dang it, Koffacino, you're up next!" Ned cried out, and swapped out his Pokemon with a visually identical looking Koffing. "So, what are you doing here?" He asked the old woman curiously, as he wasn't expecting other people. This place also wasn't a museum either, but it wasn't locked as well.

Wild Encounter

---

Weather: Clear

[attr="class","qkt-bkgd"]

[attr="class","qkt-wild-pkmn"]
KoveeLV 29
HP 0% [0/71]

[attr="class","qkt-wild-imgbox"]

[attr="class","qkt-pkmn-img"]

[attr="class","qkt-trainer-pkmn"]
Janus LV 33
HP 83% [71/86]

[attr="class","qkt-trainer-imgbox"]

[attr="class","qkt-pkmn-img"]

Janus [Compound Eyes]: Status
Koffing [Levitate]: Status, -1 speed

SP58 Joltik used Electroball!

---

Janus gained 1450 for winning! (2615/3367)
He gained 1 happiness! Now +14!


Ned sent out (Level 29) Koffacino!

[Tarlar]

"So a threat to you and not the tower itself," Astrid concluded neutrally, she looked around, it made sense that the wild rodent wouldn't damage the old tower more than it already was, she doubted the age old charred wooden planks tasted very good. "I can understand that you want a place to train in peace but you cannot claim a public place for that and order everyone else out. You will either have to accept others being around, ask the officials for permission to close off the area temporarily or you will have to go somewhere else," the old woman said sternly.

The old woman shot the fire breather a tired look, "I am old, I have lots of people and pokemon to mourn. I don't know anyone who has died in this specific tower though but no one who comes to mourn here will, it burned down 150 years ago," she said dryly. "It is used as a place to show respect and remember your lost ones, and you are going to refuse people that?"
Astrid could of course just have pulled her badge out and ordered them to move, but she didn't think their felony was that bad. She rather wanted to try get them to understand what the problem was here and see if it couldn't solve the problem.
It was true that Astrid wasn't here to mourn, but that was beyond the point, she wouldn't want to come here to pay respect as she still felt uneasy in the not very solid looking tower. It seemed strong enough and Yakul had showed no hesitation so she trusted it to be safe enough, but it got all her alarm bells ringing.

Astrid glanced at Eusine who was deeply concentrated on his own battle, "I was looking for Eusine as I needed some advice, and he was adamant that I should see the tower, so here we are," Astrid explained. No reason to talk about the supposedly Legendary Dogs, that would just sound crazy.

Janus didn't see his attack finding its target, he had rushed off and leaped to the safety of the counter attack he was expecting to come his way. The humans said something but he didn't pay attention, he peeked around the pillar and saw a koffing still floating around there and he stomped his little foot annoyed that he had missed.
He crawled out and sent another electric web flying at the koffing, "You're a fast one being able to dodge that, but I'll slow you down so you wont be able to! If you are too slow to dodge I'll win the battle pretty quickly!" He explained for some reason.
"You are already hurt and my last web should slow you down, so you'll have no chance of keep dodging, why not just give up?" Janus called to the koffing he thought was the last one, and would suddenly jump to the left in an attempt to dodge any attack he thought was sent in his direction. He would crawl up a pillar and sent another ball of electricity flying.


Wordcount: 518
(ooc: Janus uses Electroweb and Electroball, using running shoes. Should the battle end, I'd like to use my multiplier on Janus)

[Caramell 🍬]

Ned scratched the back of his neck and grumbled underneath his breath. This elderly woman was starting to really dig underneath his skin. Wasn’t it his brother who insisted that they needed to work inside of this decrepit old building anyways? “Listen to yourself, will ya?” Ned tried to reason with Astrid for a second. He raised his hand and gestured towards the entire tower around them. “How is it safe to let anyone come pay respects in here? It’s practically falling apart! And by your own words ‘no one’ who comes here to ‘mourn’ will have specific loved ones they’ve lost anyways.”

His happy-go-lucky Koffacino floated up high above the makeshift battlefield and smiled down at the tiny tick as Janus worked busily to create large sparks that darted around room. Some of the stray shocks would bounce against old pieces of plywood, which groaned from the effort while some seemed to snap due to their brittle nature. “Koffacino use your Will-O-Wisp! Follow up with a Sunny Day!” If Sunny Day made fire type moves stronger, would it make a burn hurt more? Such were things that Ned often wondered and halfway believed quietly to himself. The Koffing nodded its whole body and released a ring of small flames that it shot directly at Janus.

Janus was quicker. The large electric web wrapped the Koffing up. And while Janus suffered greatly from the burns that buried inside of his hide, the following ball of bright electric pulses would be just enough to knock Koffacino out. The floating pile of smoke immediately shrieked from the final attack and floated over to Ned, who begrudgingly recalled him. “You know, you’re really starting to get on my nerves…I’ll have Fireball show you.” Ned nodded his head firmly, calling forth a really energetic looking tiger-striped dog. “You can go mourn anywhere else. Why are you so insistent on here, anyways?! And your loverboy Eusine? He can go wherever, too!” Ned sighed, shaking his head. He was having a hard time coming to grips with the thought that he might actually lose.

Wild Encounter

---

Weather: Clear

[attr="class","qkt-bkgd"]

[attr="class","qkt-wild-pkmn"]
Koffacino LV 29
HP 0% [0/71]

[attr="class","qkt-wild-imgbox"]

[attr="class","qkt-pkmn-img"]

[attr="class","qkt-trainer-pkmn"]
Janus LV 33
HP 76% [66/86]

[attr="class","qkt-trainer-imgbox"]

[attr="class","qkt-pkmn-img"]

Janus [Compound Eyes]: Normal
Koffacino [Levitate]: Normal

SP58 Janus used Electroweb!
SP29 Koffacino used Will-O-Wisp! Janus was burned!
Janus is hurt by his burn!
Janus eats his berry and is cured of his burn!

SP58 Janus used Electro Ball!
SP29 Koffacino fainted !

---

Janus gained 2175 for winning! (4790/3367)!
Includes Multiplier!
He increased to Level 34 (1423/3571)!
He gained 1 happiness! Now +15!
-1 Lum Berry removed from Janus.


Ned sent out (Level 29) Fireball !

[Tarlar]

Astrid looked surprised at Ned, and then she chuckled. "Touché! I will give you that, it does not really make sense," she acknowledged, it was a gloomy place but people were often glad to come to places like this to pay respect.
"But while people might not come here to mourn their lost ones, they still come for one reason or another, you cannot close it off just because you want it all for yourself," Astrid said kindly, "I do not believe your argument that it is to keep others safe, why would you claim it is your private training ground if you worried you would get a roof on your head? No, that is just an excuse, if the tower had been as dangerous as you now suddenly claim, then it would have been closed off a long time ago and warnings would have been put in place."

Astrid patted Yakul, the gogoat had shown no worries whatsoever of entering the tower and making her way down the charred staircase, and Astrid knew that the goat was keeping her safe and would refuse to carry her anywhere she thought might risk her old trainer. That had been a problem when Yakul had thought a wooden hanging bridge over a little creek had been such case, simply because it had moved under her hooves. The gogoat had wanted to jump over the creek instead but Astrid feared she would not be able to stay on then. The result was that Astrid walked over the bridge herself with a nervous Yakul trotting through the creek. Why the gogoat hadn't just waded through with her was beyond Astrid's understanding.

Janus was busy with his electricity, his unseen ears twitched at the sound of the dry wood, but he didn't worry that much, he was so small that nothing ever really broke beneath him. The web flew and was countered by flying balls of fire, which made him stop in his track and stare openmouthed. Fire?! The fireballs burned some holes in the net as they passed each other but neither of them slowed down, and Janus was far too late now to try dodge them.
He breathed a sigh of relief when the fire turned out to hurt much less than he had feared, but as the burning sensation continued and could hinder him, he was glad he still had the berry Astrid had given him before the gym battle. He gobbled it up and was ready for next round, an electro ball took care of the round gas ball who finally laid still on the ground.

He looked pleased right until he realized he was not done yet, as another pokemon was sent out to face him. He pouted, "why don't you all just give up? I have just eaten a lot of electricity from electronics so my sparks are strong, I don't want to hurt you."

Astrid's mouth fell open, "loverboy?!" She exclaimed and then laughed out loud, "Do you not think I am a bit too old to be a cougar?"
She wiped tears from her eyes, it was rare she got to laugh like that, "I am here because I needed advice from Eusine before I venture into Dark Cave. He was adamant to show me the tower while we were here, so it is really him who wants to be here, not me," she said with a smile.
She looked at him dryly, "I give you my apologies that I am annoying you, but you could just have let us pass instead of demanding we left the tower for you alone."

Wordcount: 604
(ooc: Janus uses Electro Ball)

[Caramell 🍬]

Firebreather Ned smirked as Astrid seemed to agree with him at first. He pulled at the ends of his flame-scorched designed jacket and puffed out his chest, which really just made his round stomach look even larger. “I know I’m right, miss.” He stated firmly, and nodded his head. “And I’m going to send you right back out o- what?” The rest of her speech, however, caught him by surprise. “Don’t interrupt me, you rude woman!” He snapped…even though it was him who had spoke out of turn and interrupted nearly half of Astrid’s speech. “What’s this about a roof on my head? We can practice wherever bro and I want!” He glared.

“Fireball, let’s show ‘em why you’re called that. Right? Use your Ember and scorch that tiny cricket of hers!” Ned snapped his fingers and pointed at the electrifying yellow tick. The tiger striped dog jumped up and down enthusiastically and wagged his tail with several loud yips. He would do whatever his trainer wanted to prove that he was the best Pokemon Ned had ever owned. “Prepare to be deep fried half pint.” Fireball barked, lowering his head and pinning his ears back. Janus moved too quick for the small dog, firing a large ball of electricity that hit the dog in side and caused it to yelp loudly in pain. “I’d never give up while my owner needs me most!” Growlithe howled in pain.

“Come on, Fireball! Don’t give up now! I said fry that flea!” Ned growled as his voice grew louder and deeper. The old woman’s laughter only made Ned’s hurt ego worse. Was he laughing at her? Then he thought that he needed to compose himself before his temper got the best of him. Patting himself in the chest, Ned instead took in a deep breath of air and smile. “I don’t know ya’ll type. Some like ‘em casket style.” Ned laughed along with her instead and gestured towards Astrid as he responded back. “What all advice do you need? Maybe I could help…in exchange of you leavin’ us alone?” He asked, ignoring her request for him to let her pass instead.

Wild Encounter

---

Weather: Clear

[attr="class","qkt-bkgd"]

[attr="class","qkt-wild-pkmn"]
Fireball LV 29
HP 57% [45/79]

[attr="class","qkt-wild-imgbox"]

[attr="class","qkt-pkmn-img"]

[attr="class","qkt-trainer-pkmn"]
Janus LV 34
HP 20% [18/88]

[attr="class","qkt-trainer-imgbox"]

[attr="class","qkt-pkmn-img"]

Janus [Compound Eyes]: Normal [-1 Atk]
Koffacino [Levitate]: Normal

Janus was intimidated by Fireball!
SP59 Janus used Electro Ball!
SP48 Fireball used Ember! It was a critical hit! Janus avoided being burned!

[Tarlar]

Astrid sighed when Ned loudly protested, some people just didn't want to see things any other way than what they originally thought, and fought it with all their might. If there had been a miracle cure for that, the world would have been a better place, less bigoted folks around.
"Were you not saying that the tower is practically falling apart? Why are you wanting this for your private training ground, if its unsafe to be here?" She reminded him, not expecting it to turn him around.
"And yes, you can practice here if you want, but you cannot deny anyone else access to the tower, its not your private property," Astrid explained calmly.

Janus watched the fire dog calmly, he was used to the neighbors dog barking its head off of him, or anything else it saw move. While he hadn't interacted with ones like Fireball, and knew he could be dangerous to him, he wasn't more scared than a human would be to a car. You knew you had to be careful around it, but it was nothing out of the ordinary.
"You'll need oil if you want to fry me, if you just use flames I'll be a charred lump instead," he explained to the dog and looked puzzled at the dog but then shrugged and sent his sparkling ball flying. The dog yelped, Janus got distracted by what Ned was calling him and then he got surrounded by flames. He danced funnily as he tried to avoid burning his feet, until he got his bearings and managed to jump out of the fires.
He winced from the pain and spun around to dart back to Astrid, "tell your trainer I'm not a tic, I'm a spider. A small one but still a spider," he called over his back.

Astrid looked down as Janus waved frantically to her, "do you need healing?" she asked and he nodded, so she pulled a super strong potion from her saddlebag and leaned down from Yakul's back to spray it on him. He waved a leg as thanks and darted back out again.
"Do you know a lot about Cave traveling?" Astrid asked Ned puzzled, he didn't look like one who went exploring deep down underground. "Unfortunately, leaving is not my decision, you will have to ask Eusine about that, I am just keeping him company," she explained with a smile and glanced at her guide. "He looks a bit busy, your friend's pokemon seems to be a strong one."

Janus would dart from side to side in an attempt to dodge whatever was thrown at him by the growlithe and probably fail.
"What.. what do you.. your trainer need help for? He.. he can breath fire him..himself," Janus panted short of breath, trying to focus long enough for form another ball of electricity and throw it at the dog.


(ooc: using a Super Potion on Janus, he uses Electro ball. Not updated)

[Tiki]

"Yes, I said that!" The trainer stammered, yelling angrily. "This place is falling apart, therefore basically no one comes here, except you. This means it's a good place for us to practice our routine!"

"Oil? I'll grill you with glazed honey!" the dog barked back with sarcasm. Then, after Janus was moving funnily to avoid being burned, the dog commented. "You walk funny being that small! And I'll try to tell my trainer. I can't get him to play better music!"

While the old woman was healing her Pokemon, Ned hollered excitedly, "Now it's our chance! Use Double Team!" The dog barked and ran around hastily, and created many shadow clones of itself.

"I don't go to caves. I much prefer the city life!" He replied Astrid quickly, putting his hands on his waist. "Why not? Don't you need time for nap or word search?" He questioned, sounding puzzled. "He looks like he can handle this tower himself." Although Ned didn't know why Eusine was here, he just thought the young man would be fine wandering in this tower.

"Alright, use Ember!" Ned ordered and started a new round of this battle. The small yellow bug fired an electric ball that arc lightning at the surrounding air, and then eventually hit the right small dog squarely on the face. It yelped in pain, as the other shadow copies came toward the fallen dog to cheer it on.

"Are you trying to fry me then?" The Growlithe yelped angrily, and then spit specks of ember at Janus in close range. The flames were strong this time, and left Janus with a burn on his small body. The ambitious dog barked happily as the bug had finally sustained a burn from its attack.

Wild Encounter

---

Weather: Clear

[attr="class","qkt-bkgd"]

[attr="class","qkt-wild-pkmn"]
Fireball LV 29
HP 15% [12/79]

[attr="class","qkt-wild-imgbox"]

[attr="class","qkt-pkmn-img"]

[attr="class","qkt-trainer-pkmn"]
Janus LV 34
HP 41% [36/88]

[attr="class","qkt-trainer-imgbox"]

[attr="class","qkt-pkmn-img"]

Janus [Compound Eyes]: Normal [-1 Atk], Burned
Fireball [Intimidate]: Normal, Evasion +1

SP++ Super Potion used! (78/88)
SP48 Fireball used Double Team!

SP59 Janus used Electro Ball!
SP48 Fireball used Ember! Janus was burnt! (-6HP)

[Tarlar]

"I see, that still does not give you the right to send anyone else away though," Astrid repeated, she didn't really believe that anybody would be around here and using it as a training ground if it was really falling apart. Besides with a great gym leader and a revered man like Eusine around and none of them batting an eye going in here, it couldn't be that bad. It had been something else if the tower had been far from any settlements, then it could easily have gone under the radar, but this one was practically in the center of the city!

"Honey? What could will that be? That is still not frying, then you are honey roasting me instead, that would probably make me very sweet to taste," Janus said thoughtfully, completely missing the dog's sarcasm.
"It might look funny but there is a good reason behind it, when I don't touch your flames I won't get burned," he explained happily as he returned to Astrid to get som healing.

It didn't help him much as the growlithe clearly was quick to learn and changed the way it spread the embers, so Janus' attempts of dancing around them failed and he did burn his feet pretty badly. He looked at them bummed and sighed, "that's on me, I shouldn't have told you that. It was stupid."
He looked over at the fire dog and tilted his little head, "why did you shout asking me if I wanted to fry you? I don't eat pokemon, I eat electricity and you don't have any of that," he said as a matter of fact, "is that what you think your trainer need help with?"
While he was chatting he tried to calculate his best course of action, he didn't like the extra growlithes which was jumping around with the original one. He knew it was an illusion and they couldn't harm him but he worried if he could find the right one, and he worried how long he could last. He stomped a little foot as he made his decision, forming another ball of electricity he flung it off to the side so it whirled wild around, hopefully the dog wouldn't be able to dodge it, and if it should find a clone, it hopefully would just go straight through.

"Good we got that part cleared up, Eusine can help me answer my questions then," Astrid said with a smile and shook her head with a smile when Ned seemed not being able to connect the dots for why she was here with Eusine.
"I cannot leave since we have made an agreement, he will accompany me in through the tower since he was adamant that I needed to see it. I am sure Eusine can handle it himself, that is why I sought him out in the first place, to get some advice and learn from him. If you want us to leave, you will need to talk to him since I am going to stay around as long as he does, I have not yet gotten all my questions answered," he said politely but determined, she was not going to be persuaded.
She frowned and had planned on ignoring Ned's comment about what he thought she should do with her time, but she couldn't.
"Why are you assuming what I should do? It is rather prejudiced to suggest that it is things I will do just because I am old. Are you demanding all women to be in the kitchen as well? And all men to be horrible inattentive fathers?" She asked annoyed.

(ooc: Janus uses Electro ball, this is going to be a win or miss XD If successful I'd like to use my multiplier on Janus)