Week 12.

[azumods]

WEEK 12 For the time being, it would seem that you're back on the routes again. Route 202 is thankfully a simple one - it's straightforward as compared to the winding paths of Eterna Forest, with a clearly marked path surrounded by trees. The usual patches of tall grass are present here, though they can be avoided if you really want to stay clear of them; it's a fair easier walk than most of the routes you've traversed so far, and mercifully it's also a far shorter one. It seems August is being kind to you in that way; there's decidedly less walking required of you, which is likely not all that unwelcome after the frozen hellscape that constituted most of July. As before, the changes to the world are still present, particularly in your own Pokémon, are still occurring but seem to be slowing down a bit as the month continues on; a worrying trend, perhaps, but they haven't stopped altogether. That said, however, there's a change to the route that you may see from time to time - patches of those bright flowers in varying colors will show up along the routes themselves here and there. Perhaps a sign of gratitude from a friend you've helped out... By Tuesday morning you'll find yourself in Sandgem Town. It's very small, similar to Floaroma Town in size, and the town itself smells vividly of the saltwater of the ocean; the main points of interest seem to be the research lab and the beach to the south of town proper, though there are a few locals present as well. Your stay here shouldn't be long; you're actually very close to Lake Verity, and it won't take you long to reach it given how relatively simple and straightforward the routes here are. Thursday morning will see you on Route 201 - it's just as easy a walk as the previous route, if not easier, and if all goes well you should be able to find the lakefront by Friday evening... CURRENT LOCATION: SANDGEM TOWN POKEMON AVAILABLE: WITHIN CITIES / NEAR WATER SUNDAY | MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY [OOC: Welcome to week ten of Azume; feel free to make as many top levels as you'd like and tag out to other characters! This post is for all of your interactions this week... at least until the weekend.]

Comments

SUNDAY

[azumods]

[niceoppai]

[Rolly is a little less listless these days, but the Spheal still spends most of his days, well, rolling along or falling asleep. And thus you'll find Chelsea chasing after him down a slope after he's done both at once and is currently barrelling down the hill.]

Oh, come on!

[Otherwise, the path is pretty easy, and she finds herself battling wild Pokémon in the grass a lot. Lemonade is still a bit chicken, but that seems to be channeled these days less into hiding behind her trainer and more into dodging attacks, so it's going well! Sunflower...

Well, Sunflower is currently the entertainment of the afternoon as wild Pokémon are starting to gather and watch the indignant Munchlax try and fail to punch an Abra that just keeps teleporting around him. Chelsea laughs nervously.]

Uh... go, go, win?

slope

[swiftasacoursingkawa]

[Sena and his motley crew of Pokemon happen to be at the bottom of that slope when Rolly comes...well, rolling down.]

Wha-wha-wha-!? W-w-wait, hold on a - yikes!

[Sena dodges the little 'mon with ease, so do most of his Pokemon. But it's Monta who jumps after the Spheal with a flying leap and catches it with a screeching cry.]

N...nice catch, Monta...

[He keeps half-expecting his starter to screech out "CATCH MAAAAAAAX!" at any given moment these days, judging by the resigned expression on his face.]

Er... [He turns to Chelsea, probably still huffing her way down the hill.] Sorry?

[perfectselfie]

Try it like this, Chelsea.

[Aya looks around, picks a few flowers, and holds them like pom-poms.]

Let's go, let's go, go fight, win!

[She's waving the flowers and doing a jump at the end of the sentence.]

[eudaimonikos]

[For someone who took two weeks to even bother naming his starter, Michael's managed to accumulate quite the menagerie these days. He lets them all wander freely while the group's traveling. Some of them are training - in particular, his new bright pink Heracross seems to like battling a whole lot. Almost as much as tossing its horn and flexing after each and every victory!]

Yeah, yeah. Get over yourself, Pinkie.

[But Michael seems a little pleased as well. It's a strong one, isn't it?

Others in the party have graduated to making their own independent mischief. Cat Janet in particular has recently rediscovered her capacity to find things funny. Unfortunately, her sense of humor is brand new and not at all refined, which means she's experimenting with childish pranks today. You may find her just throwing a piece of Combee hive at you and fleeing, or goading poor Quaver into screaming the Spiritomb scream at random. At one point, she also flips a Bonsly over on its side and spends a while rolling it around like the most fun cat toy ever, while it ineffectually kicks its tiny legs. This game ends once Jane Doe notices, and the Haunter spends the rest of the day carrying the little Pokemon around in a claw.

Michael's been letting Cat Janet roam free, so it's entirely possible that he's not even around for most of this. Maybe you should tell him to come collect his cat.]

pranks

[discutio]

[Ignis was not necessarily a jumpy person by nature, but some things were startling to even the most hardened soldiers. Among them, the tormented shrieks of the damned. So hearing the Spiritomb shriek without any obvious context to it, he jumped nearly a mile in the air and instantly snapped into what looked like a fighting stance. Hemera bristled at his side, growling at Cat Janet and Quaver as if the pair of them were ready to throw down immediately.]

[...Basically, what the fuck, Michael.]

childish pranks

[enjoymyatelier]

[





THERE'S HONEY IN HIS HAIR NOW WHAT THE FUCK oh god it's michael's fucking cat. okay. okay. he's going to take this up with michael whenever he finds him, so he's just going to kind of yell when he can't find him immediately.]

Michael, control your cat!

[divinedescendant]

[Apparently leaving Jubilife is too much to ask of Duma, who has absolutely no interest in cooperating even a little bit—like, more than has been true of the past week. Emmeryn spends longer than he probably deserves trying to bargain with him to do anything but stand in place; anyone else would just put their Pokémon in the ball and move on with their life, but she almost always has him beside her...

Once she's done bargaining with a toddler, Emmeryn sets out in the morning with the solution to the Duma problem, and also the one where she needs to keep track of a whole trio puttering along behind her now: a cute little wagon with all three of her Pokémon piled in.]

Now, when the terrain gets rough, you'll either walk with me or return to your ball, do you understand?

[But it doesn't, at least, and Emmeryn spends the hike pulling her team behind her in their wagon like she's humoring some kids. But then, isn't she always. Sometimes Latona gets restless enough to want to walk, and when she does, Ralts immediately makes way to sit on her back like a noble steed. Duma just looks real grouchy about it all the time.

In the evening when the group settles in for the night, Emmeryn gains some self-awareness about the whole situation as she tries to strike a balance between not pushing Duma out of her lap now that he actually wants to show any amount of affection, and being able to fold up her wagon and put it away.

softly, but with a lot of feeling:] Children. I am taking care of children...

[it's like what if chrom was nine years old again but also he could breathe fire]

Morning

[eudaimonikos]

Is this really what children are like? I thought this was pets.

MONDAY

[azumods]

[discutio]

[As always, Hemera walked ahead of him along the path; Ignis listened attentively as she moved and followed her closely, navigating the simple route without much difficulty. All in all, Ignis found he enjoyed traveling well enough. Even with all they had to worry over, it kept a restless mind at ease better than remaining in a single place.]

[And there was far too much to worry over, moderate concern for Saturn around the smaller concerns but no less present in his thoughts when left to his own devices for too long. Still...panic served no purpose. Remaining calm was--as it had ever been--the best and safest option. If nothing else Noctis would look to him when things grew dire, and the advisor certainly had no plans of faltering then.]

[...Though his image had perhaps faltered a bit in Ignis' own opinion, neat hairstyle having changed to one falling in his face through sheer time spent traveling and neglecting to have sought out average styling products. Whether anyone else agreed it was a downgrade was yet to be seen.]

[That night at camp he seemed content enough to sit with his back to a tree and all five of his Pokemon out; Hemera lying dutifully next to him, Highwind and Sonantis in a branch overhead, Favilla shuffling around occasionally shaking faint embers off her horns, and Brennaere on his other side munching away at a berry speared on one of his arms.]

[...It was, he had to admit, an eccentric group within an eccentric group.]

traveling

[nightcure]

[ Ah.

Now that's just unfair. Noctis tries not to stare too much, but dear god, is that difficult. His Glameow looks incredibly smug whenever she catches Noctis staring, too.

Terrible.

(In the back of his mind, he's shockingly aware of the fact that he is batting far out of his league. Damn.) ]

Decided to let your hair down, huh?

[gekkaju]

[So far, being on the road wasn't as bad as Atsushi was initially expecting it to be. He'd been forced on the streets once before and it was horrible, but this was different. He was with others, and they had ways to make a camp and keep one another protected. It made going a bit easier, a bit less nerve-wracking. It wasn't until their second day on the route's that Atsushi had decided to split off from the group briefly to the forest's edge to try and train Chazuke a bit more. Something tells him he's going to be running into wild Pokemon more, and they seem to be a little more bold these days as far as coming up on traveling trainers...

Well, Atsushi's fateful encounter isn't at all intentional. It happens as he's making his way carefully through the bushes with Chazuke perched on his shoulder, not paying attention to his feet as he walks and accidentally steps down on a bushy purple tail concealed in the leaves.

Anyone near camp might see something like a veritable explosion in the distance followed by a strangled cry of alarm from Atsushi. Investigating might be wise...and it won't be hard to find him as the area is punctuated by the remnants of a recently released Posion Gas attack...coupled by a horrible stench...

Later in the evening when everybody has set up for Camp, Atsushi is noticeably missing. Not because he's trying to be aloof or weird, but because the Pokemon he'd stepped on earlier had pretty much ruined him for the next day, and he wasn't about to make everyone else suffer while he did. Anyone seeking him out will find him seated beside a tree with his legs crossed and an unfamliar Pokemon in his lap munching on a berry.]

[anythingforyou]

[Camilla's honestly been enjoying the little journey they're taking to their next destination; really, being able to see those little flowers that reminded her of a place she'd want to call a new home made it easy to enjoy it. Camilla will likely be looking around at various flower patches throughout the day, seeming to enjoy the sight of them while her Pokemon are out and about and training. Altena stays close, though she looks a little sleepy.]

Perhaps it's just our good fortune, that we could see these again. I really do wonder how that little darling is doing...I hope they aren't lonely.

[Altena perks a bit at that, looking to Camilla with some curiosity while Camilla looks down, petting the Glameow on the head.]

Do you want to stay here for a bit, Altena? You look like you're in need of a nap. [An affirmative meow in response gets Camilla to smile, sitting on the ground near one of those little patches. Altena parks herself right on Camilla's lap and conks right out, and Camilla starts to pat the creature with a smile, watching most of her Pokemon seek out some of the wild Pokemon to fight.

...Most of them being the keyword. Because if there's someone who doesn't like those flowers a lot? It's Arion. He was the only one of Camilla's who was there when she was being disgustingly affectionate with the little hedge creature, and he didn't mind it at first. The more he ruminated on it, however, and the more he began to feel things? It sparked something in him, and that something was very negative.

One might actually see him uprooting one of those little patches a good distance away from where Camilla's group is stationed, and he seems to be grumbling quite a bit and crushing the flowers under foot. It's stupid, the creature is stupid, humans are stupid, it's all stupid! Ugh.

By the time evening rolls around, Camilla...well, she should be back at Camp, but she's realized that something's gone missing of hers again. Losing that little charm was bad enough, but now she'd lost at least a few berries and her knitting needles. Quite frankly, she's a little ticked off.]

Alright, this is getting out of hand. Eda, dear, you weren't going through my bags again, were you?

[The Burmy--who pops right out of another end of the bag, gives a small cry and vigorous shaking of the head when Camilla asks that of her, seeming almost offended. She even takes out her trash collection, wrappers, ramen cup and all, to show that she means it.]

Okay, I believe you, darling. I apologize for offending you so...

[It's when night rolls around that Camilla sees herself slightly separated from the camp, but not without good reason; it seems she's found the culprit red-handed with her knitting needles, floating along and messing around with them while Camilla gives chase.]

You know, it's rather rude to steal from others, little one. I would advice you to hand me back my belongings immediately.

[Despite the borderline pleasant tone, Camilla's expression is all business. If the Drifloon is deterred, however, it doesn't seem to let it show and starts to float higher up near a tree, which...

...Results in Camilla starting to climb up to follow it. But every time Camilla tries to catch up to it, it floats just that little bit higher out of reach, as if taunting her.]

I can do this all night, darling. You will give those back, or you'll be quite sorry you didn't!

[...Someone please stop her before she gets too high up, dear god, this is a disaster waiting to happen--]

TUESDAY

[azumods]

Investigation

[hyruglyphics]

[ So like. When they arrive in Sandgem Town the first thing that stands out to Zelda is the fact that there is a Research Lab and as such her very first thing she does in town, pretty much before she even caches his breath is race towards it so she can look inside and explore it. So. She's off to investigate the research lab pretty much immediately. Oops. So that's going to be her bag until she's kicked out, particularly if there's anything there to read, things to play with, or people to talk to??? oops?

That said, that isn't necessarily interesting to all of her Pokemon. Oh, Miphanus is still there and all over it, but in particularly Saber the Lickitung is not here for that. It's boring. There's no food. And as such, if you want to come across the 5' pink dinosaur wandering the town, idly swinging its banana-lead-saber you totally can. Or a Pokemon can, if you want to talk them up. Just be warned that they're on the hunt for food. Be it in the windows of houses, small creatures, or fishing by the shoreline...

But then come evening, Zelda and her Pokemon will reunite. Specially, at the center (or just outside of it) Zelda will be looking through the various items that she took from the teacher back in Jubilife! Some of these are really interesting, and she's pouring through them will in the somewhat familiar position of her and four of her pokemon all in the center of the curled up Bosphoramus the Onix, who is serving as their protection from the cold while leaning in his big head in. Feel free to join them. ]

[bloodspent]

[Jake has mostly been keeping to himself since Floaroma Town; it was easy in Jubilife to simply lose himself in the city and not worry about talking to most people too much, but since everyone is back on the routes - and now this little town here - it's becoming harder to do that.

It's not like he doesn't like anyone, or like he's mad. He's just had a lot to think about lately, he supposes, and he's not sure how he feels about any of the thoughts he's been having, and even if he hates the ocean he's quick to ditch the town itself and disappear south toward Sandgem Beach, because it's quiet and there's nothing to do out here and he can just focus on getting his head on right.

It's at the beach where he comes across the thing.

It's in the mid-afternoon or thereabouts, and he's got Kandža and Cvetka out, because the Sneasel and the Shellos have decided that they're friends - something Jake is not going to argue against, outside of perhaps the notion where neither of them have any sort of idea how to not be idiots and get themselves into trouble; they're having a grand time among the trees lining the landlocked portions of the beach, and this continues until whatever they're doing is suddenly accompanied by the familiar sound of Kandža beating the shit out of something. At which point Jake decides it's probably a good idea to see what she's getting into now, because his Pokémon just sort of tend to do this - ]

Swear to god, if you guys've found some other weirdass cat to beat up...

[Thankfully, it's not a weirdass cat; however, it is, uh... Well, it's. Something.]

Oh my god, leave the fucking vineball alone, it's not doing anything to you.

[At least, he's pretty sure it isn't? The damn thing is just looking like it has no earthly clue why it suddenly has a Sneasel all up in its business.

And that is how Jake kind of ends up sitting on the beach with 75 pounds of vines plunked in his lap; it seems okay with staying there, seeing as it's no longer getting the shit beaten out of it, but otherwise, it's just kind of doing a lot of the weird, blank staring that a lot of the recently-caught wild Pokémon do. Okay.]

God, I don't know what the fuck I'm supposed to name you. [...There is a pause.] Okay, I know exactly what I'm going to name you, I just don't want to commit to it yet. Because I've got maybe one option here, and neither of us are gonna like it.

[...Right.

Either way, despite his dislike of the ocean, Jake can be found there until late into the evening; he's got a fire going on the beach once night starts setting in, and he's kind of poking at it but otherwise not doing too much. This place is going to do his head in eventually, he's pretty sure, but that's. Fine.]

[heritrix]

[Once they reach Sandgem City, Rin is immediately interested in the research lab, buuuuuut... The machines and things inside there put her off some. She'll probably spend a lot of time there at the end of the week, holing herself up among the books, but upon arrival she decides to head for the beach instead. She's gotten a little behind on training her pokemon. As she reaches one end of the coast, however, she and her team are in for quite the surprise. The loud splashing sounds draw them in first, and when they make their way about...

Whoa! There's a large school of Magikarp jumping in and out of the water!

Looking at them like this, there has to be dozens. Watching them flip a good two or three feet in the air, it's honestly quite the sight and puts a grin on Rin's face. She crouches down next to her pokemon and points.]

For the rest of training today, how about a contest? Whoever catches the most Magikarp gets a special prize tonight. [Ooh, that catches some of their interest.] Ready, then? Go for it!

[And with that, they're off in the exciting, Great Magikarp Catching Contest of 20XX!! ...Or, most of them are. To give him credit, Rubin gets as far as the shoreline and touching one fish before noping out, shaking his hands dry then going to sit on a rock. Fish are slimy, gross. The other three are really gung ho about the contest, though; even Abbey, who usually hates going near water. Being able to snatch them out of the air like this sure gives her a leg up.

An hour later, Rin tallies their catches, releasing each Magikarp back into the water as she goes—all of them but one. Partway through counting her Rotom's catches, Rin came across a Magikarp that looked different from the others. On a whim, she decides to add the odd little fish to her party.]

Welcome to the team, Yu Long. [Bop. Rin taps him with a Premier Ball.] And credit where credit is due; that was a nice find, Rotom. We had a two-way tie going for first place, but for bringing in a new teammate... I have to be fair and declare you the champion this time around.

[To which Monkey looks about ready to throw down, stomping his foot and tossing his hands in the air. What?! This loser didn't beat him, it only won on a technicality! The lawnmower wants to gloat, but at the same time its not impressed either. That was a very backhanded compliment?? Why is its trainer so rude. Rin seems to sense that, however, and sighs self-depreciatingly.]

I know, I know. [Pursing her lips, she continues tossing fish back in the water.] I can admit I've been unfair to you. You haven't just pulled your weight lately, you've gone above and beyond and shown yourself to be quite useful... Not just for fishing, but in other scenarios. [Huff.] We probably would have ended up as human sacrifices in a slug-like ritual if not for your help a few weeks ago.

[Hrmm. With the last fish back in the water, Rin looks back over at the Rotom.]

It's been over a month now. I should probably come up with a name for you, huh?

[...which is how a few hours later, Rin heads back to the pokemon center, sitting at a table with a sign and pad of paper. The sign reads Name Suggestions, and the paper is for keeping track of any she gets! Either here, or names she heard back at the beach if you ran into her there.

Rotom's gone unnamed this long because she couldn't come up with a name for it, so help her out!]

WEDNESDAY

[azumods]

[takestheblame]

[This is a quaint town, and a good place to take some lifechanging decisions. Kiryu takes his team to the beach, where he sits down and calls Shoga, taking out a small gray stone]

It seems this will allow you to evolve. I dunno how it'll be like, but I'm not going to force anything on you. It's up to you to decide if you want to evolve or not.

[It's good he has enough of a personality now to decide by himself. It takes a couple minutes before he grabs the stone with his mouth. The effects take a moment to trigger, soon he's enveloped by a bright light.

When it's done, Shoga has changed. He's now larger, much more than you'd think a rodent is. He also looks much less like a rodent, standing on two legs and looking like a spiny mass of muscles. More aggressive-looking, yeah. Kiryu stands up and approaches, appraising Shoga for a moment before petting his forehead, beside the horn]

You look good. Well done.

[Thanking the praise, he nuzzles Kiryu's hand. Kiryu almost can't believe this is the same Pokemon a few weeks ago hatched from an egg. These creature sure grow fast!

Daigo, though, doesn't seem too happy about Shoga evolving too. He and the Snorunt are the only ones who are still yet to evolve. He takes some of the evolutionary items and moves to a side, putting a Fire stone and a Leaf stone underneath his bowtie. Nothing happens.

Later that day, at sunset, they all encounter the last member of the team: a bright red Skorupi. In a coordinated attack, Ni burst out of the water in front of the Skorupi, startling it and forcing it to scuttle back, where it stumbled upon the Snorunt. Eager to fight, she challenged the Skorupi to a fight.

The end result is obvious: when Kiryu returns to the Pokemon Center, there's a very large red scorpion clinging to his head, watching everyone from this vantage point. Hello, everyone!]

[enjoymyatelier]

[Well, it's time to do a little training! They're probably coming up on another lake very soon, and who knows what in God's name is waiting for them there? It'd be nice to have a better chance of being able to fall back on strength if diplomacy ends up failing. So, in the morning, Kayneth heads out to the beach to see if there are any strong-looking wild Pokemon to battle... and well, he isn't really that impressed. Perhaps it's not the best day for it, but he's just running into Wingull...]

...honestly, we're not going to get anywhere with these.

[...though, by afternoon, he's actually having some decent luck... to the point where it's almost a bad thing, considering the Mantine he antagonized seems to have put Benn Gulbainn on the ropes and Velasquez has to tag in to try and finish it off... but it's kind of a rough time. Apparently they accidentally found the strongest Mantine in the area, and so Velasquez's Ominous Winds... aren't quite cutting it? Kayneth is getting kind of nervous, when the two Pokemon... get kind of glowy...???]

...wait, is this supposed to-

[SURPRISE MOTHERFUCKER THERE'S A BIG OL' PIG AND MR. PRINGLES READY TO TAKE THIS MANTINE DOWN! AND THE PIG JUST SLAMS INTO THAT MANTA RAY!!!

Kayneth is just kind of... overwhelmed? they're so... extremely huge now holy shit Velasquez is straight bigger than him. He just. Doesn't know what to do???

...

Well, later, he's hanging out by the Pokemon Center as Velasquez is hovering kind of anxiously beside him... like, after the adrenaline rush of evolution ran out, he realized something terrible happened, and the evidence of it is in Kayneth's hands. His... his bowtie doesn't fit anymore. This can be fixed, right....]

Well... perhaps we should talk to Camilla about it, since she made it in the first place...

[eudaimonikos]

[Michael didn't really take the time to enjoy the beach last time the group was near one. They'd been so recently arrived, with Saturn breathing down their necks, that maybe he'd been a little too stressed. Now, though, it's actually kinda nice? He takes his Pokemon out for a little walk there this morning. The ocean breeze is cool, and the salty smell of it is familiar. Even with the general presence of wild Pokemon, now willing to approach, it's peaceful

His Pokemon are around; some of them are marring the peace a little by battling said wild Pokemon, but Michael isn't keeping close tabs on them. Cat Janet has run off ahead as usual. This time, though, she comes trotting back after twenty minutes or so with a prize clamped in her jaws.]

Oh, hey! Is this breakfast? [He leans down, taking the fish from Janet, who is visibly pleased with herself.] Wasn't planning on trying Pokemon while we had other options, but I guess someone has to do it sometime...yeah, okay. I could eat fish. Geez, this thing's still alive, isn't it?

[Yeah, it's uh. It's still flopping. Cat Janet seems to have missed a crucial step somewhere. But that's no problem! Michael takes it over to a rock, gets out his little camping knife, and kneels down.

The fish looks up at Michael.

Michael looks down at the fish.

The fish continues looking up at Michael.]

......god dammit...

[Fuck. Fine, god. Michael stands up and, in a few sharp and clearly frustrated motions, tosses the fish back in the water.

Despite this, later in the afternoon, you can find Michael stalking quickly around town while a Feebas flops, slowly but doggedly, after him and his party. Cat Janet has disappeared to sulk over not getting to eat her catch, but Jane Doe is here, glancing back frequently to watch the little fish's progress. Once or twice, she shoos wild Pokemon away from it.

Michael is determinedly ignoring all of this. But even when he ducks in and out of buildings, it's still hanging around when he comes out. Ugh, why.]

THURSDAY

[azumods]

[divinedescendant]

[The march ahead looks like it's going to be just as easy as it was earlier this week, so Emmeryn gathers most of her crew into their little wagon in the morning. Latona, who as of yesterday is like six feet and a fucktillion pounds of terrifying rabbit kaiju, takes the handle and pulls Duma and Ralts sitting in there along, walking at Emmeryn's side. Latona isn't actually that good of a babysitter, so sometimes she just...drops the handle and continues walking......but Emmeryn's quick to take her place and trade off until Latona just kind of decides that she wants it back and takes it. Bewildered but amused, Emmeryn allows it throughout the day.

In the afternoon, Duma rolls his way out of the wagon to try putting entire flowers in his mouth at a time while Emmeryn's paused at one of the flower patches, picking a few for the road. The hike here is easy enough that while Latona minds the wagon, she can string the flowers together as she goes; Latona's already sporting a crown made of cute yellow daisies.]

Are you enjoying yourself, Duma?

[Her Ralts, however, does not care for this shit at all, apparently—one flash of movement comes when she teleports into the flower patch, looking stern, and another when Duma charges at her for one of his usual headbutts and she disappears right back into the wagon while he falls into the dirt. Emmeryn gets halfway through a scolding before her Ralts does it again and this time, Duma squawks cheerfully, picks himself up off the ground, and tries to lightly hit Ralts with his face.

Well, they're having a perfectly wonderful time play-fighting, and Duma's finally managing to be excited without being an asshole for once in the past, like, two and a half goddamn weeks, so who is Emmeryn to stop anyone but Latona before she just walks off with the empty wagon. Here and there and back and forth, and for a while Ralts is much too fast—and finally, Duma boops his lowered snout against Ralts and flings her right over his head and onto the ground. She makes a little noise that might be delight, but has approximately as much nothing as Emmeryn does to say when Duma starts to glow.

And you know, you'd expect, maybe, for a dragon of any kind to get significantly bigger, or mightier looking, or winged or tailed or clawed, but instead, once the light has faded, Duma has mostly just gotten...rounder.

All right. Okay. Emmeryn has an orb now.]

Oh, darling, look at you!

[And still, Duma makes a happy sound (a little muffled from inside the Evolution Shell Orb), and runs right into his trainer's open arms so she can pat him and playfully thump his sides and kiss the top of his...hhhhead? Head??? Does the orb have a head????? She's so excited that her weird dragon son is growing up but also what the fuck.

Evening comes and the group settles for the night, Duma making great efforts with his stubby legs to come crawl up onto the log Emmeryn's using as a makeshift chair so he can crawl into her lap like usual. Turns out Duma's like twice her weight now though so she makes an oof noise so startled that Duma rolls right back onto the ground.]

Oh, dear... I think you may be too big for that now, darling.

[Oh, but he just looks so miserable... Since Latona has just sort of flopped over on the ground to sleep like some kind of weird monster rabbit, Emmeryn can lean against her when she sits in the dirt, and her Ralts crawls down from Latona's head to sit in Emmeryn's lap while Duma cuddles up against her side.

She kind of...looks between them, and she's oh so fond of her collection of weirdass monster toddlers, but...]

...I suppose this is where I am sleeping tonight, then.

[welp.]

[hyruglyphics]

[ It's sometime in the mid-afternoon when Zelda is out on the route now they've left Sandgem town. She's got a few of her Pokémon beside her. Bosphoramus and her Porygon are both resting in their balls, but Miphanus floats behind her and as for Urbin the Geodude and Saber the Lickitung... well. They're rolling. Urbin's known Rollout for a while, but Saber only just learned the technique and is having fun rolling on the ground parallel to Zelda. This is a relaxing scene right up until the other of them connect. The two collide and as they do, they change.

An evolution kicks in! And to start with Urbin's sunglasses slide off his face as she's taken on a new form. But that's not all! On this day, humanity learned the true terror that awaited them in the abyss. Saber, too, has changed. Saber is now bigger, closer to 6'5 than not of solid pink mass. And perhaps more to the point, her tongue, too, has also grown. And as she recovers from her collision... she smiles.

The two of them look down at their new bodies, and Zelda and Miphanus both race to catch up and, ]

Oh wow! Oh, look at you two!