Beginner RP: Rick [Enigma]

@Rick;

NBP#9

Ranger Ivy Frost

---

Ivy's nose wrinkled at the smell of lingering smoke as she tried to peer down the hall. The cat call had come from farther away than this part of the complex, meaning they'd have to go down one of the sides of the T-junction if Rick wanted to check it out. Thankfully, he seemed to be on board.

“Alright, do your trick!” he told her. Ivy smiled despite it being more of Haji's trick than hers.

She felt the Espeon's energy push out, trying to locate the creature that made noise. Down here, it could be anything. Normally, she didn't use this technique—it was sort of cheating. However, the Ruins were huge. In some places, the complex stretched for over a mile. Rumors were that it connected to various points around the entire island. Ivy sort of doubted that, but they hadn't yet been able to map the entire thing out yet either.

In this case, since it was a Beginner run, they were limited on both time and how dangerous the Pokemon were; she had to be mindful of the low tolerance on both. For that, Haji's sensing abilities were sort of necessary.

Just when she thought he got a lock on the creature, she felt his energy snap back to him. Lifting a brow, she looked at him seconds before he spoke to her mind-to-mind. “It is not reachable,” he told her, which mean in Haji-speak that it was something resistant to psychic energy: probably a Dark-type.

As luck would have it, Dark-types were still detectable—Haji just looked for gaps in the energy he could sense instead of specific signatures. That didn't let him deduce the power level or how aggressive the wild Pokemon was, but it was still handy for location, which was all they really needed it for right now.

He indicated which direction it was, and Ivy waved Rick on as she headed toward the junction. When the hall ended, she glanced both ways, seeing nothing but ever-stretching hallways down each side. “This place is pretty huge,” she told the Trainer. “The maps aren't finished yet, but it wasn't recordable in one whole day. We think it was a permanent residence for the researchers at one point.”

There was nothing lurking down either side, so Ivy turned to the left and started walking slowly, letting Haji have a little time to feel the area out. “Most of the rooms are research rooms that change depending on which Pokemon are teleported in—some sort of environment sensor built into the room's structure we think. It's pretty neat. Hopefully you'll get to see it.” The first room had been a bust with all the junk piled up, but not all the rooms were supposed to be used for research.

The Espeon stopped three doors down from the split on the right. “This must be it,” she said, opening the door carefully—funnily enough, this door was not automatic and had a knob. There was a mix throughout the place.

It looked like the environment sensors were working in this room. A jungle-esque habitat had formed, complete with gentle sunlight through the canopy ceiling and hanging vines. Across the room, she saw what had made the noise.

A tiny black cat was huddled up in a tree, settled in the crook of a branch and the tree's trunk. It's fur was poofed out but its limbs were curled close. It did not look very happy. That could've been partly due to the height; the branch was taller than Ivy.

“I think this Purrloin was the source of the noise,” she said, scratching her head. “I didn't think the holograms were supposed to be this... real, though.”

That was pretty strange. Holograms were just supposed to be that—fake. But this cat was clearly in a tree, and she had been through her enough times to know that there were not free-growing trees in the rooms this close to the entrance.

---

Current Encounter Stats:

??? ??? Purrloin: 100%

Effects: The cat is stuck in the tree.

---

Trainer Stats

Name: Rick
Place: Enigma Ruins
Encounters Remaining: 3
Area Effects: In a room half-filled with desks, chairs, and other debris.
Pokemon Encountered: Tyrogue, Purrloin
Pokemon Captured: Naive M Tyrogue
MCR: 10,155/4,000

Items: Park Ball x2, Energy Powder x1, Lava Cookie x1, Pokedoll x1

Pokemon Stats

Species: Ponyta @ 89%
Nickname: Iris
Gender: Female
Ability: Run Away
Nature: Hardy
Taught Moves: Sunny Day; Solar Beam; Morning Sun

 

Haji started sensing the area, trying to locate the source and direction of the sound, although this time he was taking a bit longer than in the last time. Maybe it wasn't a flawless ability, but it was the best we had in here. He eventually picked something and signaled to the left corridor. Both of them were prety long and we couldn't see the end.

I followed behind Ivy, and she took the opportunity to explain a bit more about the ruins. They haven't maped the whole facility, aparently, and there were rumors about it reaching several areas of the Island. I don't know how large the Park is, but it was defenitely huge to house 10 areas, plus the other free spaces. Also, I was still waiting to see the simulation system, as the previous room was just a disapointment without counting the capture.

We reached what seemed to be the destination. This one was just a regular door without any technology applied to it, at least at first glance. That alone left me thinking that, whatever was in this room, wouldn't be much surprising. It looked like they left this one forgoten without any big development. But when the ranger started open the door, a bright light was coming from there. The simulation system was working in this room, and it had takeen the graph of what seemed to be a jungle environment.

"Now this is exactly what I was looking for!" After long minutes walking in straight corridors with nothing but four walls, this one was a great change. It really didn't look like we were inside a building at all. "So, I guess there's no point in keeping you inside anymore. Come on out!" I said, while holding Iris' ball and releasing her. This scenario was much more familiar to us.

While we were taking a glimpse at the artificial environment, Ivy spoted a pokemon resting in a tree's trunk. This was probably the one making the cat sound, which made sence since it was a Purrloin. What didn't make sence was that everything in this room was supposed to be holographic, and the main characteristic of holograms is that they're not physical... which wasn't being applied here for some reason. They took the word "simulation" to the extreme.

"So... there's a pokemon siting in a hologram, like if there was actually something there..." I said, while staring at the Purrloin, which had already spotted us. Although, unlike the Tyrogue, this one didn't look much happy for seeing us. Not sure if it was because we were disturbing his nap, or if he was just worried about the height he was. Some pokemon are good at climbing, but then have trouble getting down.

"Well, I'll try this once, and then we'll see if help is really what he needs." I said, while steping towards the tree. "Otherwise, we'll just let him be and move on." I did a little knock on the tree's body, just making sure it was really physical. A part of me was theorysing that the Purrloin itself could be a hologram, which would explain the strange feature these ones had, but it was pretty much confirmed that this system was just in a whole new level of development.

I didn't feel like climbing a tree to try and grab a pokemon that doesn't feel confortable with strangers, and I also wasn't telling Iris to jump to that trunk and grab the Purrloin like she did in the last room. Plus, if this holograms were really that realystic, it could probably break.

I positioned myself under the Purrloin. "Alright, if you feel like, I'll catch you in the fall!" I stretched my arms and waited for him to possibly jump down. I was a bit uncertain about this. Thrusting a pokemon that has just saw us less than a minute ago, and with a unfriendly face. I wasn't even sure if he could understand what I was saying. But it was the best idea I had at this point.

(Word count: 677)
(Character count: 3,735)​

@WinterVines
Note: A bit irrelevant now, but are we really "In a room half-filled with desks, chairs, and other debris." like mentioned in the Stats?

 

@Rick; Did that Discord thing ever work out for you? I saw a link was sent but haven't seen you on yet.

NBP#10

Ranger Ivy Frost

---

The Trainer took a step forward, and because Ivy was watching the cat, she watched how it tensed and seemed to shrink a little bit for a moment—not in aggression but in fear. Wild Pokemon came in all types. Unlike the Tyrogue before that was ready to fight when it was uncomfortable, this one was more timid.

Rick thought that he'd try to help the cat, which was a little bold but still neat. At least he didn't try to climb up the tree. Ivy knew some Trainers who would've tried that first. It probably would've held him—as the trees appeared to be solid, strangely enough—but if the Purrloin did all of a sudden become agitated, a person distracted by climbing probably couldn't protect themselves very easily.

Instead, the Trainer walked so he was mostly under the branch and held his arms out. “If you feel like, I'll catch you in the fall!” he called out.

However, the cat didn't immediately respond. Carefully, it stretched its neck out to look down, its nose wiggling as it tried to interpret the scene for danger. It budged forward slightly, inching its paw forward, but then it hunched down again, as if it was too scared of the height to do much about it.

Ivy sighed. Why did cats always climb up if they knew they couldn't get down?

“It looks like it wants to, but it might be a little too scared,” Ivy told Rick.

His intentions were good, and the cat was unlikely to react negatively at this point, since it would've used the opportunity to hiss or something as soon as Rick got close. But him being a total stranger probably had something to do with it. The cat was primarily scared, however, as Ivy couldn't see its tail swishing in annoyance. It was just frozen in place.

“Maybe if you tried coaxing it down?”

---

Current Encounter Stats:

??? ??? Purrloin: 100%

Effects: The cat is stuck in the tree.

---

Trainer Stats

Name: Rick
Place: Enigma Ruins
Encounters Remaining: 3
Area Effects: In a room with a simulated forest.
Pokemon Encountered: Tyrogue, Purrloin
Pokemon Captured: Naive M Tyrogue
MCR: 13,891/4,000

Items: Park Ball x2, Energy Powder x1, Lava Cookie x1, Pokedoll x1

Pokemon Stats

Species: Ponyta @ 89%
Nickname: Iris
Gender: Female
Ability: Run Away
Nature: Hardy
Taught Moves: Sunny Day; Solar Beam; Morning Sun

 

The Purrloin started looking down, trying to interpret the scene. At first, it looked like it would actually jump off. One paw was already inched forward a little bit, but it soon had a change of mind and hunched back. Too much height, it seems... not that the tree was that tall, though.

"I'll never understand this species." I said, droping my arms. It's always the same stuff: cats climb, and then forget they have to get down eventually. They should be good in the whole task, not just half of it. Ivy suggested that I should coax it to come down. I actually could bring it down easily, but didn't want to be too harsh. It would just end up being more freightned.

I picked the Lava Cookie they gave us at the entrance, and took just a small crumb out of it. I didn't want to waste it in something that it wasn't meant for, just enough to try and get this Purrloin's interest. "What if I gave you a reward for the try?" I told it, while holding the treat up. "Not for you, Iris, you can feed on the sunlight." I said to Iris, before turning my atention back to the Purrloin.

"Come on, you're a cat, you should be able to fall higher than that and still walk away unscathed to go climb another one". I said, trying to incentivate it to come down. "You see my Ponyta over there? She had jumped cliffs twice as high, and didn't even splintered a hoove - this one I knew it wasn't the best example - and she doesn't even has sponges on her feet like you do." I continued.

Iris was staring at me - or rather at the treat - and started licking her chops. Alright, these things should be really tasty for some reason, as I can't even show it to a pokemon without being the center of attentions. "Umm... plus, if you don't hurry, someone's gonna eat it first." I told the Purrloin still watching us from atop.

(Word count: 345)
(Character count: 1,808)​

@WinterVines

 

@Rick;

NBP#11

Ranger Ivy Frost

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At the cat's antics, Rick sighed. “I'll never understand this species.” Ivy agreed—few people probably ever would.

After a moment, Rick rumbled through his bag and pulled out a Lava Cookie and broke off a small corner. When he pulled the bar out, Iris' ears perked up and her head straightened. Rick gave the Ponyta a sidelong glance, telling her the treat wasn't for her—at least not yet—and instead held it out to coax the Purrloin.

At the same time, the Trainer tried reasoning with the cat. Ivy wasn't sure how well that was going to go. Cats were finicky—no offense, Haji—she mentally added, since the Espeon line was more cat-like than fox-like, unlike the other Eeveelutions. She felt his amusement return through her mind, knowing he didn't get worked up over anything (and probably agreed with her estimate anyway).

The wild Pokemon took a little interest in the way Rick held out the treat. Its ears perked up and it sort of leaned forward slightly. And it wasn't the only one. Iris had inched forward as well, stretching her neck out as she neared her Trainer, as stealthily as she could.

The Purrloin's eyes flicked up to spot the fiery horse, and it finally seemed to cooperate. Very slowly and cautiously, it rose, stretching a paw out experimentally down the trunk. It snatched it back pretty quickly but then lowered it again. Ivy could see how the cat's paws flexed and its claws dug into the bark, testing it.

Iris nudged the back of Rick's shoulder as she finally tried to sneak up on him. Seeing that, the cat stretched out a second paw and leaned down the tree as far as it could without getting out of its perch. Eventually, though, it had to make a choice, and in hovering there, gravity would eventually win out. Quickly, the cat ran down the bark before it fell. It landed on its feet gracefully, though it did take a minute to shake its fur out.

Then the cat went over to Rick expectantly, for the treat it had been promised. He dropped the tiny piece of the cookie down, and the Purrloin didn't waste any time picking it up, briefly rubbing against the Trainer's leg, and darting out the open door.

“Food is always the motivator, at least with most cats I've seen,” Ivy commented. That taken care of, she looked around the room some more.

She had to lift a hanging vine away from her face as she neared the former cat-post. Touching the tree, she found it as solid as anything out in the wild, which was really odd.

Then she noticed something that she couldn't have so far away from the underbrush. “Hey, Rick, there seems to be another door back here,” she announced, eying the space behind the tree. The dense environment simulation was mostly hiding it, as there was some moss growing over it. But she could see a handle.

That was the tricky part about this place. Not only were there many main hallways with labs and other conference rooms branching off, but sometimes rooms led to other rooms, and that created a webwork where it was easy to get lost if you didn't know where you were going. Thankfully, most of the Rangers had Psychic-types, and if things became impossible or time was running short, they could warp out—so long as nothing was preventing them.

Rick seemed to like adventure, so maybe he wouldn't mind checking this one out. “Wanna see what's ahead?”

---

Current Encounter Stats: N/A

Effects: There is a semi-hidden door behind the tree.

---

Trainer Stats

Name: Rick
Place: Enigma Ruins
Encounters Remaining: 3
Area Effects: In a room with a simulated forest.
Pokemon Encountered: Tyrogue, Purrloin
Pokemon Captured: Naive M Tyrogue
MCR: 0

Items: Park Ball x2, Energy Powder x1, Lava Cookie x1, Pokedoll x1

Pokemon Stats

Species: Ponyta @ 89%
Nickname: Iris
Gender: Female
Ability: Run Away
Nature: Hardy
Taught Moves: Sunny Day; Solar Beam; Morning Sun

 

With a treat in hand, the Purrloin finally got some interest, leaning forward so it could see what I was holding. Though I had to focus on two things. "Iris, you're so stealthy that I can actually detect the way you're coming from with my eyes closed." I said to Iris while she tried to sneak on me. It wasn't that hard to keep track of, pokemon with naked flames are simply bad at it - there's heat coming from them all the time.

Things seemed to be going in the right way for once. The Purrloin started moving, stretching its paws down the bark, trying to get some grip. Even then, it was still hesitant. He seemed to be trying to get the treat without having to get down, though that would be pretty much impossible. He had to come down at some point if he really wanted it.

While I was waiting for it to make a move, I felt a slight push on my shoulder, as Iris got on me from behind. "Alright, I have no idea how you did that... but it's still not for you." I told her. Now the Purrloin felt a need to hurry or lose the treat for someone else. He stretched both paws ran down the bark, and finally landed gracefully, as it was already expected for those species.

"See? Wasn't that hard, was it?" I said, while giving it the promised treat. He happily snatched it and left the room through the door we came from. Iris was looking at him as he was leaving, and aparently seemed to want to give chase. She had a bit of temper, especially when she felt humiliated, and she had just lost a candy to a cat. "Hey, don't arm another fight like before, I can buy you treats when we leave." I said.

Meanwhile, Ivy went to check the tree for a second time. Everything being physical just like outdoors was proving to be a bit hard to believe, but that's what it was. She also spoted another door that was hidden behind the vegetation. "There seems to be another door back here!" She said. So, in this case in particular, we wouldn't need to go back, although we didn't know how far this one would take us.

"Alright, we can check that one too. " I said to Ivy, after she asking me if I wanted to. This room had the simulation working, so I assumed the next ones in this section whould be working aswell, and that's much better than venturing in corridors that look just like any other abandoned place, with nothing special.

(Word count: 444)
(Character count: 2,321)​

@WinterVines

 

@Rick;

NBP#12

Ranger Ivy Frost

---

Iris pouted a little bit as the wild cat ran off with the food she wanted. This time, Rick was on top of warning her not too overreact like with the Tyrogue—they didn't exactly need another hostile fight. Thankfully, she stayed put and didn't dart after the Purrloin.

Rick was on board with trying this other door she found, and thus they deviated from the main path. Ivy tried the door, but it was a little stuck. She had to shove her shoulder up against it pretty roughly before it popped open—the wood had warped a little.

She could easily see why; the humidity difference between the two room was pretty constrasting. In the current one, it was more of a jungle setting, so the humidity was up. And as she stepped through the doorway, she saw that some of those tropical trees did continue into the next place. However, they quickly changed, becoming darker in bark and more spindly—trees for a slightly drier environment.

Ivy breathed a slight sigh of relief as a slightly cooler temperature took over—the vest got sort of warm the more she moved around in it. She immediately noticed which area this room was mocking too.

The trees started to become less thick, and in their places, a dense, tall, dry grass ascended. In some patches, it was about waist high on her. As she ran her fingers over it, the crisp slivers whispered against her hand. They were in a Meteor Valley habitat.

What was odd was that she couldn't see the walls of the room either—they had been replaced by the horizon line, where the brownish grasses stretched on until it hit the tree line far in the distance. On the ground, smooth stones of different sizes and shades of gray dotted their path. The illusions were scarily good in here, she noted.

“Look at that,” she said, pointing to the distance. “It's hard to even tell where the room ends. Probably wise to try to stay in the relative middle or at least move with a hand out. Wouldn't want to faceplant into the wall,” she added. It would be pretty humorous, but hitting the nose hurt.

Then, there was a rustling that she barely caught. She was sure she heard it, however, as Haji's ear twitched. Ivy looked around, but she didn't see anything. The grasses were still.

But then a twig snapped—likely one of the small spindly plants that struggled to grow among the grasses. Whatever it was was small, or crawling around, she supposed, as nothing was sticking up over the several foot tall grass.

“Something is definitely here,” Ivy said. “Maybe you could lure or chase it out?”

---

Current Encounter Stats: ???

Effects: There's something lurking in the grass.

---

Trainer Stats

Name: Rick
Place: Enigma Ruins
Encounters Remaining: 3
Area Effects: In a room with a simulated grassy valley.
Pokemon Encountered: Tyrogue, Purrloin
Pokemon Captured: Naive M Tyrogue
MCR: 2,322

Items: Park Ball x2, Energy Powder x1, Lava Cookie x1, Pokedoll x1

Pokemon Stats

Species: Ponyta @ 89%
Nickname: Iris
Gender: Female
Ability: Run Away
Nature: Hardy
Taught Moves: Sunny Day; Solar Beam; Morning Sun

 

Ivy went for the next door, which was stuck for some reason. She had to force it before it opened. The contrast between the two rooms had warped the wood that composed it. This place wasn't built the same way for all the rooms, but at least it would be expectable for them to make the doors suiteable for anything the systems could emulate.

The entrance to the room still had some of the tropical trees we had in the previous one, so that it wasn't and abrupt change in scenario. A few meters more, we were in a completely different environment. Actually, it looked like we were leaving the facility and going outside. The last room at least had walls, so it was more like a greenhouse. But this looked liked we were leaving the facility and went outside - there were no walls, just the horizon.

Ivy noticed it aswell. "It's hard to even tell where the room ends. Probably wise to try to stay in the relative middle or at least move with a hand out." She said. I was hoping this rooms was originaly like all others, with nothing but four walls. At least that way we knew there would be no problem if we stick somewhat at the middle of it

The terrain was also much different. The forest themed had nothing but earth and short grass, with one or another tall leaf. This one was the opposite - most of the terrain was tall grass with about a meter high. I couldn't see where I was steping at most of the time, and there were some rocks scattered around, some larger than others.

Iris was tittuping, being about the same height as the grass. I was just not sure if it was in a playfull manner or really just to try seeing the surroundings. "You look like a deerling moving like that, you know?" I said to her. "As far as you don't get too far away, you're free to do whatever you want here. Just don't smash into a wall, 'cause I don't know where it is."

While we were at it, Ivy called. "There's something here". Honestly, I didn't hear anything, I was more focused in the environment and was expecting any pokemon to be easily spoted here, since this was an open area. But, since there was nothing at sight, it had to be something small, or crouching. "Maybe you could lure or chase it ou?" She asked.

I was not willing to use more treats to attract pokemon. It shouldn't be made a practice, especially when there's more than one pokemon around. It probably wouldn't work for this one anyways. I didn't even knew where it was, or what species, and unless it had some good sence of smell, it wouldn't get it. This place was also quite wide - at least untill we found where were the limits of the room - so it would be like searching a needle in a haystake.

"We'll force it out of the grass, then." I said. I only had to think of what move would deal the job. This grass wasn't just tall, it was also quite dry. In other words, it would burn and spread quite rapidly. I was wondering "can a regular ember burn anything"? For what I've seen so far, it's more like gunshots than actual flames, but it would still probably be hot enough to produde a spark.

"Iris, come here please!" I called. "Remember that ember variation we've been practicing at home?" She nodded. We have been practicing mane projection for a whoping... 3 hours or so. It wasn't meant to hurt whatever was hiding on the grass, though, so it didn't need to be perfect. Shooting from the mane had its advantages. While internal fire is always too hot, the mane can be controled.

"Okay, so we're gonna test it for real, now." She went on top of a rock in the environment to get some height, and lowered her front so the mane was leaning forward. I also placed a hand on her to test the heat. If it wasn't burning me, then it shouldn't burn anything else. "Careful for how hot you send it, I want minimum temperature in this one." I told her.

"Alright, that's good. Fire at will!" The mane stretched and multiple flames started shooting from it, hiting in a spread area. "Come on, get out of there. Or at least move so I can see you." I muttered. I was hoping this one would know what fire is better than the tyrogue and try to dodge them. If it was curious to to stay in range, it would find out these in particular were harmless.

(Word count: 795)
(Character count: 4,201)​

@WinterVines

 

@Rick;

NBP#13

Ranger Ivy Frost

---

Once, Ivy probably would've been slightly nervous at the prospect of something waiting in the grass—getting trapped in a cave-in her first run of her career probably aided that. But now she was fairly confident she could take anything that came. She supposed being attacked by poachers had instilled that into her.

The Trainer and his Pokemon followed behind her. Now that she looked at it, the Ponyta was approximately the same height as some of the grass patches. The flickering flames were ominous. Ivy was suddenly wary of how dry this area was—the Valley always was, really. Some said it mimicked some of the creepy Pokemon that lived there.

Rick suddenly said, “We'll force it out of the grass, then.” Ivy felt something twitch in her stomach. A bad feeling welled up. “Iris, come here please!” Rick instructed his Pokemon.

Now she knew this wasn't going to go well.

Apparently, they had been working on some technique that allowed Iris to control the flames on her mane more rapidly and with less heat. However, no fire known to her cared what the temperature was when it came to something dry like grass. Fire was fire, after all, and just because she didn't burn a Trainer didn't mean it totally voided all physics laws.

Before Ivy could stop them, the Trainer instructed his Pokemon to jump up on one of the rocks so she was at least out of the grass. But then she dipped down so that her mane was in clear position to spurt fire. When Rick was satisfied, he said, “Alright, that's good. Fire at will!”

In response, several jets of flame shot out in different directions, landing in the fire. Ivy rubbed her forehead. Haji tensed beside her. This wasn't going to be fun.

To the hiding creature, Rick called, “Come on, get out of there. Or at least move so I can see you.”

“How do you wanna do this?” Ivy asked her Pokemon silently. It was only a matter of time before—ah, there it was.

Smoke tendrils were starting to crawl up from three areas: one behind, closer to where they had entered, one off to the left, and one ahead on the right side of the path. As she listened, she could hear the telltale crackling of a starting fire.

“I thought you learned about fire hazards last time,” Ivy commented, trying to think how to tackle this. Her voice was calm and collected considering the growing situation. To her knowledge, Haji didn't have any Water-type attacks. He mentally confirmed that fact. Goodie. “Next time, how about we don't set fire to the room we're in. Better start thinking about how to put them out,” she said, gesturing outward. “Three piles.”

She was starting to smell it now. Red-orange flames were growing, starting to poke through the holes in the grass. They had to move fast or else the entire field would catch fire—and it would surround them. Dry grass lit up in seconds.

Ivy didn't actually know what would happen for sure, but she didn't really want to find out either. On one hand, this was a hologram, supposedly. But the tree in the other room had been climbable, and this grass was touchable. It could be that fire had been set to boxes or something in reality, and that was just as bad. Protecting Park property and all that.

Suddenly, there was a squeal, and something vaguely cream-colored tumbled out of the grasses. It started coughing cutely, but the scrunched up look on its face was anything but cute. A distressed Cleffa was looking around wildly, tears welling up at the corners of its eyes.

“Well, he chased the Pokemon out, that's for sure...” Ivy mumbled mostly to herself.

Now they had an innocent bystander to look out for too. Hopefully, the Trainer was going to pull his own weight. Even so, impactful damage had to be reported and went on a Trainer's permanent record too. If it got too bad, they could be escorted out of the Park and perhaps banned if it was a repeat offense.

Moreover, if the Trainer couldn't do it, she had to stop this fire somehow herself. And she had to do it fast.

---

Current Encounter Stats:

??? ??? Cleffa: 100% [Coughing; distressed]

Effects: The room is going to be on fire in a few seconds.

---

Trainer Stats

Name: Rick
Place: Enigma Ruins
Encounters Remaining: 2
Area Effects: Grassy room where fire is starting.
Pokemon Encountered: Tyrogue, Purrloin, Cleffa
Pokemon Captured: Naive M Tyrogue
MCR: 6,524/4,000

Items: Park Ball x2, Energy Powder x1, Lava Cookie x1, Pokedoll x1

Pokemon Stats

Species: Ponyta @ 89%
Nickname: Iris
Gender: Female
Ability: Run Away
Nature: Hardy
Taught Moves: Sunny Day; Solar Beam; Morning Sun

 

At first glance, as I watched the flames coming down on the ground, it seemed like everything was going fine. The aiming wasn't the best - one of the flames went back towards the entrance - but precision wasn't needed at this time. Giving Ivy a brief side look, she was rubbing her forehead, and didn't look as confident as I was. For all means, we were sending fire into grass. But when I focused on the showering flames again, things started to backfire.

"What the..." smoke tendrils started to form in different spots. Since fire itself doesn't release any fumes, it had to be grass starting to lit up. "Umm... Iris, we've just set a hologram on fire!" At this point she had already stopped spurting flames. "How can it be? You might be at 30ºC at max." I said, still trying to grasp what I was seeing.

"Next time, how about we don't set fire to the room we're in. Better start thinking about how to put them out!" Ivy said. She actually seemed quite calm for the circumstances. "Don't worry, we can handle this... right?" I said. These were still small flames, and fortunatelly only three had caught up, although it would most likely spread, and we didn't have any water types for an easy answear if it got bigger.

Meanwhile, I saw a little pokemon jumping around scared. "Is that a Cleffa? Now that's totally embarrassing..." I said to myself. It was for that we had set up a fire, and its not even a pokemon I had much interest to. But that was the least of the problems for now. We had a fire to put down, or things would get worse.

We were kind of doing what we did on the debries room. If we don't have water to put down a fire, we separate the fuel. Except, in this case, we would just get rid of it. "Let's see if this hologram is just as good at helping us as it is screwing us. Charge Solar Beam!" I said to Iris next to me. It was the first time we were using a sun related move in an artificial scenario. I hoped it was good enough.

"Any burning grass you see, I want it desintegrated. I'm gonna check that one behind." I told her. She nodded, and the mane started glowing, while I turned back at the flame close to the entrance. Getting closer to it, the flame wasn't even hot. I could easily smother it with soil, at least since it was a small one. "If it's just that, we might be alright." I said to myself.

Looking back, Iris was still charging. "How long till it's ready? You don't need a full charge." I said to her. After a few moments, she stopped taking on the light, and I assumed it was ready to shoot. "Ready?" She nodded in response. "Alright, let's see how it goes. And don't hit that Cleffa, please! I had enough of disgraces..." She aimed at the igniting spot on the left, and a beam of bright light shot from her mouth. "There's one on the right, aswell. If you can do it in one charge, would be great." I told her.

(Word count: 545)
(Character count: 2,853)​

@WinterVines

 

@Rick;

NBP#14

Ranger Ivy Frost

---

Thankfully, Rick jumped to attention as soon as he saw that the fire was going to get out of hand. He did look a little baffled, though, and slightly embarrassed—if her eyesight was good enough to catch the hint of red on his cheeks—at the sight of the small Cleffa.

At the attention, the little Pokemon squealed and sort of cowered behind Ivy's legs. On one hand, it was good that it recognized the Ranger at least meant no harm—they were a common enough sight in the Park, she supposed. On the other hand, the Cleffa would make it hard to maneuver.

The Trainer's attention didn't stay on the wild Pokemon long. Instead, he instructed his Ponyta to try and clean up the mess. “Charge Solarbeam!” he told her, pointing to the growing fire off to the left. Rick started heading toward the one in back, where they had come from.

His idea was to remove the grass—a form of back burning, sort of. With no more fuel, the fire would have to peter out unless it caught something else flammable. Like them. But that was worst-case scenario.

Ponyta started to absorb light from around herself, and as a result, there was a slight darker ring around her before a deep glow coated her fur. Then, with a cry, she tossed her head, and a beam came down on the grass to the left. It was engulfed in a greenish golden light with flecks of brightness in it. Some of it hit the fire too.

It was so bright that Ivy had to cover her eyes with an arm. She heard the little Cleffa make a startled sound as well, feeling the slightest pressure against her leg as the Cleffa buried its head against her. When she could see again, the results were pretty good—the fire was trickling out. That was due to most of the grass being gone.

They were lucky that it was so dry and thin. Otherwise it wouldn't have been destroyed so easily.

From below, the Ranger heard an awed sound come from the Cleffa. It was staring at Iris, who had turned to look back at her Trainer, perhaps for praise. However, the horse caught sight of the wild Pokemon too. And then the Cleffa started clapping.

Ivy groaned even as the horse became enraptured. Her eyes became a little hazy and almost... starry? The Ranger knew the move immediately—Encore. The wild Pokemon had been scared and then reacted on instinct most likely. And who didn't like shiny things?

Unfortunately, this was going to hinder putting out the remaining fires. Iris was going to need to recharge her Solarbeam again, and who knew if it would go toward the right target?

“How's that fire coming?” Ivy called over her shoulder, keeping her eye on the far fire on the right side of the path.

Beside her, she felt Haji's mental energies stir. His Hidden Power type was actually fire, and she bet he was trying to control the blaze with his psychic powers—to keep it as contained as he could. Whether or not he could do that, against a wile blaze like this, was another question.

“We're trying to keep this one up here under control,” she said, using the royal “we.” She could feel the Espeon's willpower as he tried to prevent that half of the room lighting up. “I would hurry!”

With the Cleffa sort of still glued to her side and Haji working his hardest, there wasn't much she could do. She did have other Pokemon, but the ones with her... weren't any more suited to fire than Haji was. But still, she had to try something.

Swishing open her vest, she snagged a Pokeball from her belt and threw it out. A bulky Pokemon wielding two heavy, stone pillars came out, the muscles in his arms rippling. He looked back at her with a grunt, but his eyes were crinkled, despite the situation.

Ivy smiled at him. “Hey, Brin,” she greeted the Conkeldurr. “As you can see, we have something of a situation.” She motioned her hands around the room. “Could you help Haji out with the fire up there? I'm not sure if Iris is going to be able to,” she added. The horse was going to need to recharge, and the fire was going to spread farther by then.

With those heavy blocks, Brin should be able to stamp out the fire. She just hoped that he didn't get hurt. While he usually put forth an extreme amount of extra effort when burned or struck with some other affliction, she wanted to keep her partners safe too. They didn't go on the battle circuit very often—they weren't trained for this sort of thing all the time.

---

Current Encounter Stats:

??? ??? Cleffa: 100% [Used Encore]
Hardy F Pontya: 89% [Locked into Solarbeam--recharching]

Effects: One fire is out. The others are growing.

---

Trainer Stats

Name: Rick
Place: Enigma Ruins
Encounters Remaining: 2
Area Effects: Grassy room where fire is starting.
Pokemon Encountered: Tyrogue, Purrloin, Cleffa
Pokemon Captured: Naive M Tyrogue
MCR: 9,378/4,000

Items: Park Ball x2, Energy Powder x1, Lava Cookie x1, Pokedoll x1

Pokemon Stats

Species: Ponyta @ 89%
Nickname: Iris
Gender: Female
Ability: Run Away
Nature: Hardy
Taught Moves: Sunny Day; Solar Beam; Morning Sun

 

"Yeah, right in the spot!" I said with excitement, as I saw the flames being depleted. Just one more, and we were done with the greater ones. However, Iris has turned to look back at me at the middle of the proccess for some reason, and later started staring at the Cleffa that was now cowering behind Ivy. One cannot waste time when solar energy is stored. It dissipates in a matter of seconds when it's not being absorbed anymore.

"Focus, Iris! Just discharge the rest of the energy before... argh, nevermind, its gone..." her coat wasn't glowing anymore, neither was the mane. The distraction has made her lose the charge. This is what I never liked about this attack - you have to do everything in one charge, for you probably won't get a second chance.

"Fine, change of plans. Jump out of there, stomp those burning leaves flat!" I ordered. However, she started charging another Solar Beam, instead. That was a first, as she never ignored an order before. "That's not what I asked for... actually, wait a minute..." Then I started thinking about when she stared at the Cleffa. That little blob started clapping at that moment, and there's actually a move like that.

"So... she's encored?" I said to myself. "Just one of the many reasons why I dislike Fairy types." It wasn't a lie, they always had these kind of hindering moves which, by the way, looked ridiculous at sight. She wouldn't be doing anything else other than charging a shooting beams for the next moments. Though as soon as this one was charged, we should probably be able to finish this. But this thing takes time to be ready - especially indoors, even with the simulation's light source helping out a bit - which time we didn't have much.

"We're trying to keep this one up here under control!" Ivy said, although I didn't see how exactly she was doing that. That "we" at least gave me a hint that Haji could probably be trying some sort of pyrokinesis. Then we would probably have bit more time for Iris to charge, but it wouldn't last forever. I didn't know much about what exactly Psychic types can really do with their minds. We never battled once before, we just knew some species were better at it than others.

The ranger then sent out a second pokemon of hers, this time a Conkeldurr. Now, this one gave me an idea. Fortunately, the system didn't simulate just grass. It had many boulders scattered aswell, some heavier than others. That should do the trick.

"I won't stay here with arms crossed, I can handle this one myself." I said, while turning to the smaller flames at the back entrance. "You can keep charging." I told Iris. It's not like she would do anything else, really. I started looking for the larger rocks I could see (and carry) amongst the tall vegetation, and started covering the flames with those. At least stone isn't flammable. If you cover a fire with it, it petters down. Same works for dirt, although that was in too small amounts to be effective, unless I had a shovel.

"Aha, rock tomb! I think it was super effective!" I said with a smile. The same trick wouldn't work for the last one, though. It needed to be put down a little bit before even trying. "Alright Iris, time's up! Make it count!" I called to her, as she shot the second beam.

(Word count: 587)
(Character count: 3,251)​

@WinterVines

 

@Rick;

NBP#15

Ranger Ivy Frost

---

Brin began stomping out the fire with his heavy concrete pillars as Haji kept it contained. She was relieved, slightly, but Ivy didn't totally relax. There was still another fire to deal with.

The Cleffa made another concerned sound, but Ivy turned to check out how Rick was doing. He was lifting rocks from the environment and trying to put out the fires that way. Good idea, but the problem was that the fire was a little ahead of him. Grass burned pretty quickly. He wasn't going to be able to cover it all up himself, probably. That and being close to the heat and fire was dangerous.

Since her Pokemon had this side covered, Ivy went to shift to help the Trainer. But something resisted.

Looking down, she saw the little Cleffa gripping her pant leg and sort hanging its dead weight so she wouldn't go anywhere. It wasn't a lot of weight, but the message was pretty clear. And moving despite that, trying to avoid hurting the Fairy-type, would probably be difficult. She sighed softly.

Whistling sharply with her thumb and pointer finger in her mouth, she caught the attention of Iris. Even in her Encored state, she was still partially aware. Her mane and skin was starting to glow as she charged up another Solarbeam. Instead of trying to explain things to her, Ivy pointed at her Trainer.

She wasn't really sure it was going to work, but the plus side was that the horse was now pointing the right way to help Rick out. Haji and Brin had one of the fires, so they needed to focus on the other.

Thankfully, the Ranger had diverted her attention as Iris was just about done. Ivy wasn't completely sure how much the Fire-type was registering as far as how important it was to help her Trainer, but it was too late to worry about that.

The Solarbeam charged and fired behind them, toward the last fire that Rick was trying to put out. The light was too bright for Ivy to keep her head turned that way, but she heard the Trainer's shout. Hopefully he moved back far enough and Iris didn't singe him too badly.

When it was over, Iris had cleared a lot of the grasses so that only a few remained. As they watched, the fire was still burning them, but it only took a few minutes for the fuel to be used up. The ashes still smoldered, but now it looked the fire threat was basically over. Not that the grass had lasted.

Brin and Haji looked to be finished at least—that section of the room still had grass patches.

Iris, however, was still glowing. The Encore must've still been in effect. Except now she didn't really have a target except the lot of them.

“Er...” Ivy began.

Hopefully Rick could control his Pokemon—if not snap her out of it, do something to prevent her raining the attack down on them. Or Ivy, specifically, because now Iris was looking at the Cleffa hiding behind the edge of her leg.

---

Current Encounter Stats:

??? ??? Cleffa: 100%
Hardy F Pontya: 89% [Locked into Solarbeam--recharching toward Cleffa]

Effects: The fires are out. Most of the room is burned up.

---

Trainer Stats

Name: Rick
Place: Enigma Ruins
Encounters Remaining: 2
Area Effects: Room with patchy grass and embers.
Pokemon Encountered: Tyrogue, Purrloin, Cleffa
Pokemon Captured: Naive M Tyrogue
MCR: 12,630/4,000

Items: Park Ball x2, Energy Powder x1, Lava Cookie x1, Pokedoll x1

Pokemon Stats

Species: Ponyta @ 89%
Nickname: Iris
Gender: Female
Ability: Run Away
Nature: Hardy
Taught Moves: Sunny Day; Solar Beam; Morning Sun

 

Throwing boulders at the fire, while defenitely helping a little bit, was still not enough. The flames were spreading faster than I could pick a hurl rocks at them. Plus, at the time I started, they had already grew in size. On the right corner, Ivy's Conkeldurr was using the same technique... except he was ten times better than me, and was actually putting it to some effect.

I heard a whistle somewhat, but I really didn't bother with it too much. I was expecting it was Ivy calling to her pokemon or something. While I was distracted , I happened to take a look at them. The only thing I saw then was a ray of light coming fast in my diretion. "Oh my god!" I shouted, doing a jump backwards and falling on the ground by imbalance. At least it was enough to get rid of the flames... and the grass.

I was in shock for a few seconds. "So, the whistle was for that..." At this point, all the three fires were pretty much down, save for a few embers that would eventually die out for the lack of fuel. "Is it over?" I said. However, even though we wouldn't need anymore moves, Iris was still under effect of the encore, and was absorbing light for another attack.

"A third Solar Beam? And I was doubting she could even pull a single one under artificial light." I muttered. This move is easy to use under harsh sunlight, but other than that, it takes a quite amount of effort. I tried to remember when was the last time she used it that many times, and the best I came up with was "never"!

When I looked at the direction she was aiming, the Cleffa was the target. In normal conditions, I would just ignore it and let her shoot until she snaped out of the encore - if she didn't fall of exaustion first. But this situation here was not to be ignored, for Ivy was right in the line of fire aswell. Sure, she could move out of the way, but that little fairy was firmly gripping on the ranger's legs, hindering her movements. Not to mention the chance of hurting it on a rushing step.

"Oh no, you won't..." I snatched out of her ball and was ready to recall her, ending this encored state at once. I was pointing it towards her, but of course, it had to fail to work again. "Oh, come one, don't tell me it doesn't work during move execution, too." I sighed. living and learning. Iris' coat was starting to get brighter as she was reaching the full charge.

"Alright, hold it!" I shouted to Iris, while standing between her and the ranger, with spread arms. "You've done more than it was initially intended to, now break through that encore! You're stronger than that." I said to her. For what I could see by the way she was staring at me, the encore wasn't very well performed. She was still aware to some degree. "And if you're not, then you'll have to shoot that beam on me. It's up to you."

A bit risky for my part - her coat and mane were glowing bright, and I assumed it was pretty much ready to discharge it on us if she wanted to. But I still had thrust on her, and hoped all these months together had paid off. At this moment, I was just imagining it as if it was a test.

(Word count: 592)
(Character count: 3,081)​

@WinterVines

 

@Rick;

NBP#16

Ranger Ivy Frost

---

Out of the corner of her eye, Ivy caught Rick scrambling. He held out his Pokeball, but there was no effect. Ponyta wouldn't return. Subconsciously, Ivy's shoulder's tightened. This might suck.

Thankfully, the Trainer didn't stop there. He rushed forward so that he was standing in between them and the horse—for all the good that would do. Iris might end up just blasting them all at this rate.

Still, Rick stayed put with his arms held out in a halting manner, trying to talk reason to his Pokemon. He was trying to get her to snap out of the Encore effect. “You're stronger than that!” he yelled.

Ivy had to give him credit for staying put. A smarter person maybe would've moved—her included—but the little Cleffa was holding fast, seemingly undeterred or unaware what was about to go down. It was probably fairly young yet, which would also explain its seeming need for attachment and its mood flips.

Iris continued to glow, her skin flaring brighter and brighter. Rick refused to back down. Ivy couldn't move. She felt Haji's senses connect to her, slightly late to the action because he was finishing up with Brin. Even if he warped over here and threw up a protective barrier, it'd probably be too late at this point.

And then suddenly the light began to fade from Iris. Her eyes returned to normal, and her fur went back to its normal cream color.

“Woo,” Ivy said quietly, blowing out some air. Looks like she wasn't going to have a suffer an attack just yet. The day was looking up.

The tiredness crashed down on Ponyta hard—it had just fired off a ton of powerful attacks, as well as the battle with the Tyrogue from before. Ivy could see the beats of sweat on her body, and she was breathing pretty deeply. Even her body seemed to be drooping a little. But hey, she hadn't attacked them. That was great.

Then, from behind her leg, the Cleffa began chattering. It waved its finger in Iris' direction and had a disapproving look on its face, as if it was chiding the Fire-type. It was almost funny. Ivy took the bold move from the wild Pokemon as a chance to step back a little so it wasn't clinging to her anymore. It seemed preoccupied with its new task.

“Let's not do that again,” Ivy said. “Seriously, like more fire and stuff I'll have to report. And too many infractions can get you kicked out.”

---

Current Encounter Stats:

??? ??? Cleffa: 100%
Hardy F Pontya: 89%

Effects: The fires are out. Most of the room is burned up.

---

Trainer Stats

Name: Rick
Place: Enigma Ruins
Encounters Remaining: 2
Area Effects: Room with patchy grass and embers.
Pokemon Encountered: Tyrogue, Purrloin, Cleffa
Pokemon Captured: Naive M Tyrogue
MCR: 15,711/4,000

Items: Park Ball x2, Energy Powder x1, Lava Cookie x1, Pokedoll x1

Pokemon Stats

Species: Ponyta @ 89%
Nickname: Iris
Gender: Female
Ability: Run Away
Nature: Hardy
Taught Moves: Sunny Day; Solar Beam; Morning Sun

 

Iris' coat was still shining. It was pretty much like having a gun pointed at me, and I felt my heart was almost popping out of my chest. "If she fires that thing, we're done." I thought. She was too close for us to even dodge it if it was needed. And after a few moments, the light started to fade. It seemed like the encore was finaly over.

"Thank you..." I muttered, before approaching her. "Are you alright?" I asked, more out of caring than actual assurance - head dropped, deep breathing, sweating, and her legs shaking, were not exactly signs of being fine. "You can get into the ball if you want." She didn't even react. "Well, you better lay down and rest a bit. Just do me a favor and stay awake."

While I was at it, I heard the Cleffa chattering at us, and pointing those fingerless arms at Iris. I didn't know what she was saying, and I really didn't care. If she hasn't encored, the fire would have been put down so much quicker. Iris was narrowing her eyes and gritting her teeth in response. In normal conditions, she would attack an offender. But at the state she was at, flaring a bit was all she did.

The Cleffa wasn't cowering behind the ranger anymore. What a shame, because now she was at perfect place to be stomped and shut down. "Yeah, keep mocking her. Maybe you didn't noticed you don't have your human shield anymore." I said to the chidding pokemon. "But you're in luck, I won't beat you. And it's not because I care about you, I hate your species and your type." I paused, petting Iris' neck before continuing. "It is for her, and because I was half-responsible for this."

Then the ranger speaked. "Let's not do that again. Too many infractions can get you kicked" she warned. "There won't be more fires" I assured. "Because we're not using any more fire moves while we're here, unless I'm sure there's no risk of setting something ablaze that gets out of control." I added.

"So! Where were we before all this went bad? Oh, right, we were trying to find a pokemon in the middle of the grass to see if I was interested. And since I'm not..." - I took a sidelook at the Cleffa - "... and also can't stand seeing that blob anylonger, I assume we can proceed?"

(Word count: 409)
(Character count: 2,190)​

@WinterVines

 

@Rick;

NBP#17

Ranger Ivy Frost

---

Rick seemed aware of how much damage he seemed to be doing while in the Park and was mindful of not doing any more. He assured her that there were going to be no more fire moves unless the area was clear—but Ivy supposed they would see about that.

With a little reminder of what they were doing—and a dark look at the Cleffa—Rick stated that he had no interest in the little Pokemon. It leveled back at him and waved its stubby arm in the Trainer's direction. “I assume we can proceed?”

“You know what they say about assuming,” Ivy answered, watching the wild Pokemon closely. “Sometimes wild Pokemon don't just let people leave without some sort of appeasement. Although this one may be fed up with all of this.” She shrugged. “We can always try.”

The Cleffa got into an arms-akimo stance as well as it could as it gave Rick and his Pokemon a dirty look. Ivy just shook her head and proceeded forward—now that the room was in shambles, she could see a door on the far side of the room.

Haji brushed across her mental senses, making sure she was okay. She assured him she was—Iris hadn't attacked her after all. She was getting a little tired of all the fire, though.

A few feet away, Ivy turned around to walk backwards so she could watch the Fairy-type as Rick and Iris made to follow her. It seemed to want to stay there—lucky, after what just happened. It could've definitely gotten more offended and perhaps struck out at them. The Encore had caused a bit of a rush as it was, and they could do other things too.

But the Cleffa stayed put as they trekked away. Ivy didn't question it. Sometimes the wild Pokemon just lost interest.

They reached the door, and Ivy found it not locked. In fact, it was hardly even latched. The handle was stuck in a half-open position so that the door (a turn-lever style, no less) couldn't even click shut if she'd pushed it.

She pulled, and it gave easily. Instead of another room, however, she found it led into a rather thin hallway. It was pretty dark as she peered down each way. Down the left side, the hall extended into darkness. There didn't appear to be any lights. Down the right, she saw the hallway faintly take a hook around a corner.

“Hmm,” she said, not recalling such a tight passage in the maps they had available. She could easily spread her arms and touch both walls of the hall at the same time. Not great for conflicts. Or hauling things. Or even walking, if she had been a little bulkier.

In fact, this many rooms chaining together was sort of strange in general. What had this been used for? They didn't know much about the Enigma Ruins—why it was so advanced before its time, why it was abandoned, or any other useful information. All they could do was explore it.

“Wanna get Iris in here to light this passage up?” Ivy suggested. “It might be worth perusing one of these routes, but I'll leave that up to you—not sure where it goes. We could always backtrack too.”

---

Current Encounter Stats: N/A

---

Trainer Stats

Name: Rick
Place: Enigma Ruins
Encounters Remaining: 2
Area Effects: Tight, dark hallway.
Pokemon Encountered: Tyrogue, Purrloin, Cleffa
Pokemon Captured: Naive M Tyrogue
MCR: 0

Items: Park Ball x2, Energy Powder x1, Lava Cookie x1, Pokedoll x1

Pokemon Stats

Species: Ponyta @ 89%
Nickname: Iris
Gender: Female
Ability: Run Away
Nature: Hardy
Taught Moves: Sunny Day; Solar Beam; Morning Sun

 

Once asked if we could go for the next room, the ranger stated that, in some cases, pokemon wouldn't just let trainers go. That some would require... "appeasement" apparently. "Huh... the only appeasement it will get is a well placed stomp." - I muttered, doing a side glance at Iris, which snorted in agreement.

The ranger started walking to the next door, which unlike the last room was clearly visible in this one. Because It had to be, after all the mess we've caused. She turned back towards us after a few steps ahead, and kept walking backwards with the Cleffa on sight. "You're good?" Iris steped up and noded. "Nice. Let's move on then." I steped up aswell and followed behind the ranger. We had to walk past the Cleffa - which was still staring at us as we passed by.

I didn't even look at the Fairy, or at least tried not to, so I wouldn't get more pissed than I already was. Iris, in the other hand, was gritting teeth. She has an angle of vision of about 350º, only blind spot being right behind her. Looking away, focus on something else and pretend the creature wasn't there, might be a bit harder for her. "Ignore it" I said. "Even if for that you have to close your eyes."

We reached the door, and while the previous one was somewhat jammed, this one was the opposite, as it was barely shut. Funny how in one room we find cutting edge technology we barely hear about, and the next one we find rudimentary stuff in a poor state of conservation that even my house has in better quality and more well preserved. Maybe the facility was still being developed before it went inactive.

This one didn't straight up led to a room, however. I peered down the hall, and it was just a dark hallway with no lighting whatsoever. Not just that, it was also quite narrow. Walking side by side was almost impossible. For what this place may have been used for, I had a hard time to see how such hallway would be pratical for these guy's job. They would have to walk all in a row behind each other. Imagine how it would be trying to discuss matters here.

Then the ranger called: "Wanna get Iris in here to light this passage up? It might be worth perusing one of these routes, but I'll leave that up to you.". For what I knew, they didn't have the whole facility cataloged. Judging for her pensative expression a few seconds before, this one might be one of those parts, further confirmed when she later said she didn't know where it would lead.

Other than this hallway, we could just go back and check something else. But I didn't think there were much to explore in previous rooms... except maybe the main hall, which had a lot of other options. But that would be too much backtracking, and if I really wanted to explore those, I could just come back here in some other time as a regular run. Plus, we would have to look at that pink blob again.

"Alright, Iris, this one makes your style. You go on front and lead the way." I told her. "Just don't get too far ahead of us." She nodded and went on. After a few steps into the hallway, she looked back as she came into an interception. "Your choice here, too. It all looks the same for me anyways." I told her. This wasn't the first time I let her pick a direction. Pokemon should have a better intuition than we do.

"But you know what we usually do in mazy areas like this? Stick to one of the walls and keep following it." I added. Having said this, she looked at both routes, and was close to follow the right one, before one ear perked on the opposite path, which made her change her mind. "Alright, left it is. Shall we?" I said to the ranger close to the entrance.

(Word count: 683)
(Character count: 3,627)​

@WinterVines

 

@Rick;

NBP#18

Ranger Ivy Frost

---

The Trainer deliberated a moment but then decided they weren't going to go back. Ivy liked that—she wanted to know more about the Ruins too.

Instead, Rick gestured for Iris to take to the front. To make way for her, Ivy stepped to the side. The horse somewhat cautiously stepped into the hallway, and as soon as her foot hit the tile floor in such an enclosed space, it echoed sharply. Still, the flames dancing on her body did light up the area a little better.

It looked like Rick was going to leave the choice of direction up to the Ponyta as well. He added, “But you know what we usually do in mazy areas like this? Stick to one of the walls and keep following it.”

“Good idea,” Ivy confirmed. “It'll be easier to make it back to this spot that way, if any trouble comes up.”

Iris stood at the intersection a moment, then made up her mind. She was about to take a step to the right, where the hallway buckled around a corner, but then her left ear twitched, hearing something that the humans couldn't. Tilting her head, she opted for the left instead.

At the same time, Haji's mental powers flared for a second before quelling. The Ranger looked down at him but didn't say anything out loud. Instead, she asked mentally, “Is everything all right? Should we be taking front?”

It took Haji a couple seconds longer to respond, which worried her a little bit—that meant he was focusing on whatever he sensed. “...no, I think this will be fine.”

Ivy wasn't particularly convinced. Sure, this was a beginner run where they weren't supposed to encounter anything too dangerous. But that didn't mean that something scary wouldn't show up. If it did, hopefully it would be somewhere more manageable and not in this tiny hallway. A powerful attack could do some major damage in an enclosed space like this.

Still, she had to trust that if Haji thought they were in danger, he would've told her right away. And so she let Iris take the lead down the hallway.

The Ranger did make sure to trail after the fire horse right after though, putting Rick to follow behind her. Haji, she noticed, lagged behind to take up the last spot, to cover their retreat should they need it. She hadn't told him to.

Even with Iris' light, the hallway was still pretty dark, like the shadows themselves were absorbing the light and only making the dull orange glow illuminate just a tiny bit in front of them. Ivy thought they would come up to a hallway like the other side of the intersection, but it seemed they walked for a few minutes while the hallway didn't change. It was just a straight shot.

Every so often, they would pass what could have been a light socket at one point but was now just burned out. They stopped at one point so Ivy could fiddle with one, but there was no response. That was probably due to the Y-shaped crack in the bulb stemming up from the bottom. It was almost pretty if it hadn't been a pain. Save an Electric-type Pokemon giving it some false charge, which Ivy didn't have with her, they weren't going to get any more light than Iris.

It wasn't until the horse's flickering flames flashed on another one of those bulbs that Ivy called the party to a halt. Brow furrowed, she reached up again to look at the darkened light more closely.

There was a Y-shaped crack. It was in the same spot as the last one.

“Chances of a bulb cracking in exactly the same place in exactly the same pattern... not good,” Ivy relayed. “I think we're passing by the same spot.”

Suddenly, Iris snorted. The Ranger looked over her shoulder to see the horse tossing her head in frustration. Her feet seemed frozen in place, minus one of her front legs up in the air, like she was mid-step. It was then that Ivy noticed the shadow had not followed her leading leg.

Immediately, Ivy scanned up and down the hallway. “Iris is stuck.”

---

Current Encounter Stats: N/A

Area Effects: Iris is frozen in place. They seem to be going past the same spot.

---

Trainer Stats

Name: Rick
Place: Enigma Ruins
Encounters Remaining: 2
Area Effects: Tight, dark hallway.
Pokemon Encountered: Tyrogue, Purrloin, Cleffa
Pokemon Captured: Naive M Tyrogue
MCR: 3,628

Items: Park Ball x2, Energy Powder x1, Lava Cookie x1, Pokedoll x1

Pokemon Stats

Species: Ponyta @ 89%
Nickname: Iris
Gender: Female
Ability: Run Away
Nature: Hardy
Taught Moves: Sunny Day; Solar Beam; Morning Sun

 

We kept walking further into the hallway. The deeper we got in, the darker it became, and even with Iris' light it still looked pretty dark. But I also wasn't expecting her to be any flashlight. The mane is usually burning faintly most of time, especially on her back, and only gets higher when she turns serious or attacks. That or she could raise it at will.

At one point we were already walking for about 3 minutes or so. It would be fine if the hallway didn't look the same wherever we passed. "Hey, I don't know what you heard back there, but I gotta say: you have really good ears!" I said to Iris from behind the ranger that was following her. There wasn't even a left or right, it was always straight. How could this thing be so long?

Then, after what looked like a kilometer into the hallway, Ivy came into a halt. "Chances of a bulb cracking in exactly the same place in exactly the same pattern... not good," She said. I looked up, and there was the bulb. "You notice all those small details? I didn't pay much attention to ceiling, to be honest." I said.

And aparently it wasn't just the ranger who stopped. As if she later saying that we were actualy passing through the same spot wasn't bad enough, she also let me know that Iris seemed to be stuck for no apparent reason.

"How is she stuck? This is not that narrow." I said while peering on the side. I didn't see anything that could be keeping her from moving, but the way she was behaving hinted something wasn't right. "Umm... ok, let me check real quick. May have something lodged in the hoof, or...".

I got close to her to look for something that could be keeping her in the spot, and she was just trying to move forward and tossing her head. Trying to inspect something that can't stay quiet for a second doesn't help. I reached a hand on top of her neck. "Hey, stop struggling. Guess you're not going anywhere that way." I told her. Then she stopped and went more calm.

Even then, there was nothing to see. Only that her legs were glued to the ground, except for that one she had raised. I even tried to just do the most basic thing and pull her, as she's not very heavy, but it was no use. What really sucked now is that we wouldn't make any more progress until she, in some way, was freed from there. We couldn't see a palm in front of us.

I was thinking for a few moments, at the same time I was walking around her, and only then I started paying attention to her shadow. "You can't move anything other than that front leg, right?" I asked, and she nodded back. Any part of her body her shadow didn't reach, she could move freely. "So... Shadow Tag? How sneaky..." I muttered.

"Oh I absolutely despise when they can't even face their opponents face to face." I said, while standing up with arms crossed. "But that's okay, I'll play that game of Hide & Seek." I looked up on the ceiling and surroundings. "You can control her body, but you can't control the mane." Then I turned to the ranger. "Can you guys stand back a little bit? It gets a little hot."

"Alright Iris, flare up and put a strong flame cloak!" Her mane intensified and leaked, covering most of her body, with the flames on her fetlocks covering her legs. In order for there to be shadow trapping, there has to be, well... a shadow. If we could get rid of it by lighting up the hallway better, chances are she would be free from the trapping. Even if not, it should be enough to at least get a better clue of what's there, or get some reference points.

(Word count: 633)
(Character count: 3,501)​

@WinterVines