Yup'ik

[Mura-neechan]

Ferlyn would watch as Coko's ailments wold simply vanish. Taking a moment to look at Kaori as she so casually did something that most trainers would gawk at, she'd smirk a bit to herself. Everyone had their specialties, and now that the battle was over, she'd pull out a small sample of steel wire and hold her hand out. Coko didn't even need to get any more of a command before blitzing right past anyone else as Ferlyn giggled, tossing it up and letting the Aron devour it. Steel and Iron were difficult to get to, and typically an Aron had to go through a lot of effort, and less enjoyable ore and rock to obtain it. As Coko enjoyed himself, Ferlyn would relax, looking at everyone go on about the situation. She wasn't the close friend of Girard, so her calling would be silly. She also wasn't horribly concerned about other trainers passing through, although her suspicions were there. Overall the battle had been good, and Coko was fairly pleased. Using Mega Kick had tired him to the core, he needed a good nap if we wanted to keep doing things like that. Pulling her hat off as moment, her long hair flowed over her coat and she bit her lip, looking to the situation. She had allowed Aron to get paralyzed, with could have ended his ability to battle. In short, she'd made a mistake, and a big one. Choosing to stay silent, partially from her own embarrassment she'd watch the others, and look to their pokemon a moment. Coko didn't seem too fussed, happily eating the string. After all, his strength wasn't to blame, only the tactics Ferlyn had used.

[Steilos]

Marshall finished wrestling with the notebook, tore a page out and slipped into the shadows, before tapping on Koyomi's foot and chucking a piece of paper at his feet. It unfurled as it hit the ground, revealing:




It looked like some sort of.... suggestion? Maybe? Before he could be debated on artistic merit, he was gone with an affable little wave.

Mark noted his pokemon's odd behaviour. Well, not all that odd really. What was the point of having a spy if it couldn't tell you what it saw? That was one of the reasons he had... that one with him to train, although the main reason was admittedly to try and get that telekinetic bundle of hate to calm down for a second. Marshall went back to what he was doing before, flipping his hat up into the air and catching it as he waited for everyone to stop talking.

[IrnBruAddict]

'The pokemon in the trendy hat seems to think people and pokemon can access this cave system from the other side, and I'm inclined to agree.'



((that is what the drawing is suggesting, isn't it?))

[Steilos]

((Yes.))

Koyomi couldn't see it, but Marshall had a massive grin as he caught his hat. Trendy, indeed.

Mark nodded. "Certainly a possibility. And it would explain the apricorn balls at least. I'm fairly old friend Girard would use something harder to obtain and more expensive - not to mention more purple - than Apricorns out of principle."

[Ajadea]

Terra readies a burst of mud - only to find her target downed by Kenshin. She looks around, but all of the others are fainted. The numel spits a bit of mud onto the ground and waddles over to Faith. She strokes Terra's fur. "You both did awesome!" Faith says happily, fishing out a Paralyze Heal from her backpack. No sooner had she found it than a bell-like sound rang through the air. She turns to see Lily doing an aerial cartwheel. With a small chuckle, she puts the Paralyze Heal away. "Well, that's a useful move."

She turns to face Matt when he speaks. "Yeah, no problem. Terra, if that lizard tries anything funny, I give you permission to Mud-Slap it." Terra seems to perk up at this - her eyes open slightly more, anyways.

"So, there's civilization? Huh. Apricorn balls. Kinda oldish stuff, aren't they? And considering Mr. Joseph didn't know squat abotu this place... pretty isolated too."

[Kantolin]

Girard responded to the initial response so quickly that he nearly cut Koyomi off before he could finish his statement. From the sounds of things, he was waiting eagerly by the other radio.

"To answer your question fir- a purple lizard, did you say? Does it have a tail? How about horns - I am very-"

He is then interrupted by what actually sounds like quite a few people near him. When you left (a time which was now several hours ago, admittedly) there were only two, but it sounds now like there are a dozen voices in the background who seem to be urging him to hurry.

He gave a loud harumpf. "Well, to answer your question first - I found no evidence that any trainers had been within the cave during my short foray therein, and used no pokeballs while I was in the cave. Secondly! You mentioned that you discovered new pokemon?"

(Presuming you give him the given information)

You hear what sounds like frantic writing and discussion in the background with each word of explanation - it sounds like quite a few people are writing this down. Still, back came Girard shortly afterwards. "Hearing that there may be other trainers within there is interesting - perhaps very powerful trainers have discovered that location and gone there? It's possible that the legendary trainer has found this location already."

"More focally, perhaps - I am glad you are all unharmed! It seems the denizens of the cave are no match for your combined might. Do be careful - while your discoveries are already quite profound and the discovery of two entirely new pokemon species are in the process of rocking the pokemon world and have many scientists already going through a series of discussions on what would prompt entirely new pokemon we've never seen before to decide never to enter the cave..."

He trailed off for a moment, having completely lost his train of thought, before continuing. "Er, yes - but either way, each of you coming home safe is definitely more focal. Be careful in there!"

~~~~~~~~

The squamata - er, Mojave - seems a bit pouty more than angry in particular. He did look up at Matthew's statement - it wasn't directly clear if he understood all of what Migraine stated, as some was lost amidst translation, but Mojave did seem agreeable, albeit still a bit surly.

The remaining Squamata and Squagila more or less staggered away. There weren't any overt signs of gratitude, although their feelings did also seem quite positive.

[Eshkigal]

Matt smiles, and after removing his hand and the rubber band before working on the others, pats Mojave on the head, between his horns carefully.
"Tell you what, we'll get you tougher and then give you a proper rematch, what do you say?"
After patching the others up, he waves to the wild ones, still smiling.
"Take care! I hope to see you all stronger when we end up back this way eventually! Oh, and be nice to Beta Team, alright?"

[IrnBruAddict]

'Girard!' Koyomi shouts quite loudly into the radio to make sure he got his friends attention. Koyomi knew how over-excited he got. 'If you can, check in with Kurt about anybody ordering apricorn balls from him. That might tells us if they got in through this side. It must be someone from Johto, Kurt doesn't just make balls for anyone. Otherwise .....' Koyomi trailed off, staring hard down into the cave, wondering what lay further ahead. 'Get back to me on that when you can. Oh, and to answer your earlier question, two horns and a tail.'

Kenshin was meanwhile trying to cut away that plant the Aeshna was hanging around earlier. Koyomi would take it as a sample. Maybe Matt could use it if it had medicinal properties.

[Kantolin]

Mojave gives a pouty half-nod to Matthew.

The flower actually has an extremely shallow root system - which made getting it out very simple. It was very... well, very brown, and surprisingly sturdy - sturdy like a vine, though, not like steel. It was very easy for Kenshin to remove it and bring it down.

[Ajadea]

"Wait just one second! What's this about a legendary trainer now? I wasn't told about a legendary trainer. If there's some sort of guy toting around the local Regis or whatever, who may or may not have been down this way trying to catch these guys, I think we've got a right to know!" Faith exclaims. Terra nudges her trainer's knee. "I'm not angry at you, I'm just... well, a bit worried, honestly," she tells the Numel. Even though she could not understand a sound coming out of the Pokemon's mouth, she'd met a few psychics in her day and knew that most Pokemon could pick up on your general mood and were intelligent enough to communicate amongst themselves. That was slightly less than half of the reason she talked to her Pokemon. The other half was that training was a lonely job, and far too often, they were the only living beings she could talk to.

[Mura-neechan]

"Relax."

Ferlyn sighed a bit as she recomposed herself and let Coko finish his snack. Walking forward a bit she would continue to look for any more traces of her particular element. Since none of these pokemon had so far been a relation to it, she was bound to doing it the more difficult way. Her hands would feel the cavern wall a moment, trying to determine what exactly it was made out of, and cross check with how maneuverable it was for the cavern types.

"If some elite trainer was here, they kept it quiet enough. It's not the champion, because Rei-nee is going for that title, and that means it can't be the Indigo Elite either. Gym leaders are out of the question as well, after all, they are too well known, and I've not heard of any of the Johto Leaders leaving their stations.That leaves the rogues, and loners. Trainers who have attained power on their own, like ourselves. Chances are, that anyone who could do something like that, who have made a name for themselves as well. And those that haven't would have none of the most fantastic stories under their belt... let alone with apricorn balls... it would mean any trainer we find in here isn't so much elite as the exploratory type. You cannot become skilled without anyone noticing, and Girard seems the type that wants to notice, along with his army of pokemon professors. "

Ferlyn wanted to get speechy, but she was cut off, at the idle thought of who else might be out there. Furrowing her brow she'd go back to looking for Steel-type traces.

[Nyna]

Kaori Matsuo

Kaori would turn as Koyomi approached, looking curious as he spoke before smiling and nodding. "I only have five with me for now, plus some extra passengers," And her hand would go to the padded bag on her back, "So sure! I'll be happy to take him!" She'd take the ball, looking at it for a few moments as she thought about the name, then look back up to Koyomi. She looked as if she was about to say something, but would just smile again as he began talking to Girard instead through the radio.

Instead, Kaori would climb back up onto Jin, who didn't seem to particularly care about the light girl going up and down and moving all around on his back, as if he was completely used to this by now. She'd pull her camera back out, taking pictures of all the hubbub around her. Koyomi on the radio. Marshall's attempt at drawing, a zoomed in photo of the actual drawing itself, and his pleased reaction from his hat being called 'trendy'. Matt's treatment of the Squa's, her photos catching their leader looking back once at Matt before running off. The girl would grin at that.

A picture of Coko snatching the steel wire out of Ferlyn's hand before beginning to happily munch on it. The somewhat cute, pouty reaction from Mojave as Matt began to talk with it. Terra's mildly alarmed nudge as Faith jumped to conclusions. There were all sorts of things going on, and she almost absently captured most of them as she mumbled to herself. "Mm... Ur...o...? Uro... no... Urto...? to, to... Haoto...? Haoto is good... fits a bug type too... Yeah, Haoto... Haoto Haoto Haoto..." And she'd pull the ball off her belt, hopping back off Jin and taking a few steps away, not wanting to spook the Bug/Ice pokemon by having it appear directly next to her big flaming Rapidash, and would let it out of its ball.

"Nice to meet you! I'm Kaori, um, and this is Jin, and Meiya." She'd gesture to each of her pokemon in turn, Jin simply watching, while Meiya would approach, curious. "If you don't mind, would you like to come with me? Um, and do you mind the name Haoto?" Kaori would give the Aeshna a smile, keeping an eye on both him and Meiya. Meiya tended to be rather attuned to emotions and the like, and in her experience, it was always a plus to have her around when she made a new friend.

[Eshkigal]

"He was just talking possible scenarios, Faith. Besides, what would happen if there was a legendary trainer? We'd talk, maybe get information over a meal, maybe one of us goes for a fight and gets trounced. Possibly get a couple egg clutches going. The trainer would have to be a collosal **** for anything worse."
Confident in Mojave's disposition, he lets Jormungandr slither over to answer any questions, waving down the ground types as he works to stand up, getting it after a minute or so.

[IrnBruAddict]

Koyomi took the flower off of Kenshin and when Matt had stood up he gave him the flower and the radio.

'Tell me if Girard calls back. The sooner we figure out which end these people are coming from, the better.'

He returns Mugen now that the sqaumata group had left. He glanced over at Kaori meeting her new team member and smiled. That was the reason he came here, to find a pokemon for his little girl. If he could do the same for another young one, then why not. He always did have a soft spot for kids. And even if she was young she was a capable trainer, as he had observed during the battle. The aeshna now called Haoto was in good hands.

Kenshin then landed on Koyomi's shoulder and gave the swordsman a look.

'Okay, okay' said Koyomi, knowing the bird wished to continue on and find more opponents. Koyomi spoke loudly, asking the whole group 'So, what are we doing? Should we have a break or keep going?'

[Ajadea]

"Let's keep going. I'd like to see what's on the other end of this tunnel," Faith says. She doesn't cross her arms - she liked being able to catch herself if some Geodude came out of nowhere and decided to tackle her. It might have been nice to do so, though. "And there's a difference between extraordinary trainer, a trainer with legends surrounding their exploits, and someone who trains living legends and carries them around in a pokeball. We're pretty much the first sort of trainer, I'm not worried about the second, but it's the third that can seriously mess people up without breaking a sweat."

[Steilos]

Marshall freezes stock still, the smile disappearing off his face as he realises he has in fact been caught on camera. His eyes flicker desperately from side to side as he searches for an out and comes up nothing. Urgently poking the Captain in the shin, he points randomly at the camera being used to take the shots. "Mmh? Oh. Oh, I see." the Captain replies as he notices Marshall's wild panicky flailings. "Oh, come on, it's just a few random photos. There's no one on the other side of this mountain that will care about you being there." Marshall hisses in a rather surly fashion and disappears into the shadows. "Hm. Kaori? You may want to keep an eye on your camera. I'm afraid Marshall's... not very photogenic. Just tell me if he's giving you problems."

[Eshkigal]

"All of your examples are still people though, Faith. Polite conversation can go a long way with them all, and long legs and fast reflexes even farther. What I want to know is if the squagila and squamata have predators, or hid here due to environmental issues."
He looks down the tunnel the squagila and squamata go down.
"I think we should ask our new friends for some directions first. Avoid another territory dispute if we can."

[Steilos]

"It can go a long way with pokemon, too. They're surprisingly similar when you get right down to it. The Squa family for instance. They're very much the stiff upper lip type - one individual was extremely grateful for Matt's help, but didn't say anything in front of its pack-mates. Look to be a prideful and competitve lot, on the face of it." The Captain scans the area for the mischief maker in chief as he walks along. "That is a good question, though... I mean, about why they're down here. The one we caught might know."

[Eshkigal]

"Well, yeah. Still pretty blatant though. It's easy to tell Mojave's more concerned with losing than being caught, too. Actually, Haoto and Mojave could answer some questions about the population-Lily should be telepathic like Migraine, after all, so we can ask both about things. Maybe we can find a nice joltik for Koyomi's daughter, or another aeshna."
Matt looks at the plant. It was definitely...very plant like.
Jormungandr told you that you should've paid more attention in the botany courses.
Yeah, yeah...think the plant's useful at all?
He limps over to Mojave and Jormungandr.
"Okay, buddy. First question. Is there anything that tries to eat squagila? Nod for yes, shake for no."

[Kantolin]

Girard half-chuckled through the radio. "Oh - this is just me theorizing. I've been searching for information on the legendary trainer, as I firmly believe he exists. If he found this location - complete with powerful pokemon - then this may be where he's secluded himself to."

An exhale. "But this is, strictly, wishful thinking - there's nothing to imply that he's here, as my sources suggest that the last place he was seen was in Orre, and that was several years ago."

"Regardless! Let me not deter you from your expedition any longer. Thank you for the information - and of course, do not hesitate to radio back at any time."

~~

The strange brown plant was noted by Girard and company, but nobody'd ever really seen a plant that matches the description you gave. Regardless, it doesn't seem particularly useful for much - Matthew can't even really see how you'd use it in cooking or sommat, nor does it seem to have curative properties. It is probable that various pokemon enjoy eating it, though.

~~~

"Aeshna!"

The insect pokemon hovered at Kaori's head level, looking her over, then Meiya, then her, then Meiya, and back and forth a few times relatively rapidly.

It paused for a moment at the pokeball. "Aeshna?" From there, it flew about the room moderately rapidly - flitting in front of Koyomi, then a bit behind Faith, then glancing towards Stryker, then near Mojave - which seemed to be when he finally realized that the squamata was present and returned rapidly to being behind Kaori for a moment until it realized that the squamata was not hostile.

Finally, he hovered near Jin, then back to Kaori. "Aeshna!" Haoto called out happily. Whether he was unafraid of Jin due to curiosity or stupidity was up in the air, but he didn't seem particularly bothered by the Rapidash nor the name.

~~~

It takes a couple tries for Mojave to understand the question - which causes the small pokemon to puff himself up a bit. Apparently, at least insofar as Mojave thinks, Squagila are the top of the food chain.

Migraine then has some trouble quite catching the specific pokemon listed, but after awhile gets some pretty good guesstimates - it sounds like there are six primary pokemon within the caves (eight if you include squamata/squagila), all of which the Squagila keep an eye on. A 'shadowy bird' that are hit with sparks, the 'watery plant' which is poisoned, the 'stone seashells' that also witness sparks, and 'frost bugs' which get both. He then notes annoyance with what he calls the 'echoes'.

The 'conversation' goes back and forth a bit, but people are able to guesstimate that he probably is talking about relatively familiar pokemon rather than new ones (Sans frost bugs, which are probably Aeshna).

It's apparently a long hike to 'the current', which is a location he keeps mentioning that is important for water purposes. He does mention an exit on the north end of the cave network, which is the end of the Squagila's territory.

[Eshkigal]

"Huh. That's...huh. Thanks, Mojave."
He pats the squamata's head again, smiling at his pride.
"So, do we look at the Current, or head for the outside? Either way, I'll let Girard know about this when we reach a consensus."

[Ajadea]

"Well, if you're sure the rest of these Pokemon could be found in other regions, we should probably get out of here," Faith says with a shrug. Only Murkrow sounded familiar to her. "I'd like to get some fresh air and natural light again, personally."

Lily raises herself up to the median eye level of the trainers and nods her agreement.

[IrnBruAddict]

'If you wish, we could leave. I would like to visit the Current and see if there are truly Omanyte there, that would be something to see. Ancient pokemon who have survived till now rather than revived from a fossil. I think Girard would be interested in that too. But if you would all rather exit this cave then I'll happily go along. If Mojave is right, we have beaten the biggest threat in the cave by defeating his pack, meaning we should be fairly safe for now.'

Kenshin looked disappointed, clearly wishing for a bigger challenge than they had faced then told he wouldn't find it here. But the little bird with the big ego merely puffed out his chest when he realised he would still be needed either way. Just like Koyomi, Kenshin took the saftey of the group seriously. The farfetch'd scanned the two new pokemon, watching them to mack sure they didn't try anything.

[Steilos]

"We are on an exploration mission. Know what that means? No stone unturned." Mark prepares to set off after the current. "We should go - no, we must go and see this 'current'. This is the sort of thing that explorers do, and I'm damned if I didn't come out here to explore." Stryker idly claws the stone a few times and stretches in preparation. Marshall is nowhere to be see- oh there he is. Stalking Kaori from the shadows. Glaring murderously at her camera.

Kaori had no way of knowing it, but her photos of Marshall were the first shots in a war with one of the most astoundingly paranoid pokemon Mark Ascher knew.

[Mura-neechan]

Ferlyn would subconsciously move to stay away from the zipping Aeshna, her eyes looking to the others as she finally gave up her efforts and leaned on the stone wall. A bit of a nod would come from the talk of the ancient pokemon. She'd tap the top of her cap a bit as she lifted it to let some air in and her hair flow a bit, before replacing it.

"Agreed... if this is the case, Aeshna and these others could be a much older breed. It's possible that this cave, or whatever is beyond hosts ancient pokemon. A discovery like that... it's something worthwhile."

[Eshkigal]

"Faith against, Mark and Ferlyn for, Koyomi wants to but is willing to go either way...Kaori, what're your thoughts?"

[Nyna]

Kaori Matsuo

Kaori would wave at Marshall with a smile, more amused than anything else by the Gengar's reaction to her pictures. Photo-shy pokemon and trainers were always her favorite subjects to capture on film, since it was so much harder to get a clear, natural feeling shot of them than anyone or anything else. Meiya would watch Haoto for a few brief moments before floating over to Marshall, joining him in the shadows, mostly just for the sake of doing so. She always seemed to feel more comfortable in the dark.

Kaori would remain seated on Jin's back with both legs dangling over his left flank, maintaining her balance without an issue as the Rapidash began to walk forward, following the Captain. "Well, I do prefer being outside over dark, damp caves, and I know Jin loves the outdoors too, but... Omanyte? I've never seen one before, but... those are fossil pokemon, and we have a chance to see them in their natural habitat? And I have a chance to capture that on film? How can we not go there?" Her legs would swing back and forth slightly with excitement as she looked ahead. "Besides, if it's big enough, Karei's been cooped up in her pokeball for this whole trip. She could use a chance to stretch."

Smiling, the girl would beckon to Meiya, the ghost coming towards Kaori. "Thanks for helping out, Meiya." And she'd return the Mismagius to her pokeball, then pull out Haoto's. "Since we don't know what we're gonna see or if it's safe, Haoto, I'm gonna have you go back inside the ball, okay?" And Haoto would be returned as well, the two balls going back inside her hip pouch.

[Eshkigal]

"Three for, one against, one neutral. Looks like we're headed down. Mojave, mind leading?"
He leans against his cane, and watches Jormungandr and Mojave. He recalls Tesla offhand, as Jin is out and four is a bit much.
He relays the information to Girard and the scientists, before requesting that Mojave lead them to the Current.

[Kantolin]

The group sets off again.

The cave remained moderately large for another hour of walking before it stopped again. This time, however, it remained relatively flat overall - a definite change from the beginning portion of the cave.

There were, however, an annoying amount of tunnels that started popping up. Mojave just continued through them, but it was a little annoying for the larger pokemon and larger humans due to them not being four-legged. The relative smoothness of the tunnel portions were actually a little eerie - they were all almost exactly the same height, which was precisely tall enough for a Squagila to get about. For all they were strong, it was unlikely that Squagila could actually /tunnel/.

These continued until the group had been walking for a total of what outside would have been a full day, if you include the previous portion of marching as well.

Finally, after yet another annoyingly short winding tunnel sized perfectly for Squagila, the pathway opened up again - this time a heck of a lot larger than even before. No longer were there walls on either side of you - now there was absolutely plenty of room to spread out, and from the looks of the foor a good deal of pokemon went through this area.

And, with occasional frequency on the ceiling and walls, a series of luminescent crystals were plainly visible. Soft blue in color, they produced a sky blue light which seemed to dance from inside, creating a visual effect that looked something like light reflecting through water. The light was bright enough that the entire cave area luminesced softly. These crystals, however, were bitterly cold - going near one was like walking up to a very cold freezer, and should anyone attempt to touch one it would discover that it's a lot like dry ice - an actual touch will leave anyone who touches it frostnipped (Which is a light frostbite).

...at least, for the humans involved. The cold from the crystals doesn't seem to effect pokemon in the slightest - those of more animal intelligence are completely unconcerned by the crystals. Heck, Mojave crawls over a smaller one. The crystals cap out at about a foot long and four inches wide - a lot are smaller than that, but very few are /thinner/ than that.

This, however, was nothing compared to the wonder of actually seeing current.

First of all, it was an underground lake in an enormous cavern. The floor maintained it's almost-artificially-smooth texture. There were numerous of the crystals both in and out of the cold water on the floor and ceiling, and through their light you can see that there is a very wide central pathway - water does in fact run over it, but it is maybe three inches tops at its deepest there. On either side of the pathway, the water quickly becomes a good deal deeper. Said water is exceptionally clear, and it was fed by several underground streams that soared into it, giving the lake a general current which headed in one direction. It was also quite cold - unless interrupted from doing so, Mojave will take a drink.

But aaaaaaanyway, far more importantly than all that nonsense were the fact that some of the streams in 'current' apparently had decided that gravity was no longer in session, and were flowing through the air.

It was bizzare to look at. Koyomi had to duck a little, as a stream was flowing from one cave opening to another at about his head level without arcing up or down. One was bent in mid-air near where Ferlyn was standing, in a fashion which would've made some sense for the faster moving water had it been on the ground like water was supposed to. Two almost ran into each other high above where Lily and the Captain were looking up - one was just a hair higher than the other, resulting in almost an X-shaped cross. They just flowed out of channels in the wall and into other channels across, with absolutely nothing keeping them at whatever level they chose to flow. Some rose a bit, flowing at an upwards angle for additional confusion. Still, at whatever direction they'd chosen to flow at, they all seemed pretty constant - they didn't deviate from their paths much.

Perhaps a tertiary feature was that there was absolutely no life in the area - a fact which directly contradicted Mojave's suggestions that this is where a lot of pokemon usually were. Still... whoa.

[Ajadea]

Faith shrugs as she is overruled and follows Mojave through the maze of tunnels. The ceiling was unnervingly close, and equally unnerving, flat enough that, even considering the proximity, she never bashed her head on it. Lily walked for once, and Terra plodded along beside her trainer. Lily chattered to herself as they went on, but Terra was absolutely silent except for her footsteps - even her breaths were barely audible.

Current was... insane. Faith mouths a silent prayer, eyes wide at the gravity-defying water. She reaches out towards one, then pulls back as though she'd been burned without even grazing the floating stream. Lily is hit by the full force of her trainer's awe and openly gapes, her mouth formed into a perfect O. Terra meanwhile meanders over to the lake and takes a gulp of the water, makes a face that can only be described as horrified, and spits it out - ice cold water did not agree with the digestion of fire pokemon, generally speaking.