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Post by lichlord on Jan 26, 2020 8:53:51 GMT
Victoria heads out after healing up, and heads to the center and the PC. She's got a ranch to finally get installed! She chooses a point right inbetween Goldenrod and Ilex, off to the west of route 34, as close to the coast as it'll allow her to place it. She's also going to order Cultivated Wilderness for some berry growing. She also decides to take on a retainer, because she'll be gone for potentially long periods and doesn't have a flying pokemon right now, so she might be gone and back often. Hopefully they are nice!
After that, she decides to just explore for a while, now that she's out of money, (route searching) before she heads back at 7pm to talk to Whitney!
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Post by Raven on Jan 26, 2020 9:22:33 GMT
It's a tight fit, and there's not a lot of room available (limited to a maximum of 2 additional upgrades; Poke Mart is not available due to proximity to Goldenrod), but Victoria is able to get the location she desires for her Ranch. It will still take a week or so for her Ranch to actually be up and running and able to accommodate her excess Pokemon (currently, they're staying wherever her default location is; often this is the regional Professor's lab). When it comes time to have that date meet-up with Whitney, she heads on back to the Gym. Whitney just so happens to be locking up when she arrives and greets her with a smile and a wave.
"Hey, girl! Perfect timing!" She exclaims. "So, where ya wanna go to celebrate your big win? I know all the best places, but this is your party, so you decide!"
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Post by lichlord on Jan 26, 2020 9:34:13 GMT
She'll be a little impatient to see her ranch, but she knows it's gonna take some time, so she'll have to wait. For now, no more waiting for Whitney!
She waves as she approaches, but no longer giving the stern voice. But she a little flustered when Whitney mentions throwing her a personal party.
"Hey! Ummm, I don't know. I mean I've lived in Goldenrod all my life but I don't know a lot of the big places. We tended to eat in mostly as my Mom was a big proponent of her home Alolan cooking and it's rare to find authentic. So, your choice! I guess just quieter so we can actually talk? I'm not a big fan of really loud places anyway."
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Post by Raven on Jan 26, 2020 9:47:15 GMT
Whitney's eyes light up. "Oh, that's so coool!" She squees upon hearing about Victoria's Mom's "Alolan cooking". "My parents were like, super into the 'traditional Johtonian lifestyle' for most of my childhood. It was cool stuff, and the food was always interesting. So many things you can do with rice!" She giggles. "Anyway, anyway, so! I think I know just the place we can go! A neat little hole-in-the-wall place where you can get just about anything you can think of!" She rambles on a bit about the place while practically dragging Victoria along by the hand. She's got a really strong grip!
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Post by lichlord on Jan 26, 2020 10:04:29 GMT
"Yeah, my Dad tried... and mostly failed, to get her to change her pallet a bit, but didn't really work. I think we even tried some of the traditional Johtoian as you mentioned and she kinda was into it but next day it was back to the same."
Victoria laughs a bit before Whitney grabs her by the hand, which leads to more blushing from her being dragged along by her idol. She just tries her best to keep up.
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Post by Raven on Jan 26, 2020 10:34:58 GMT
Whitney takes Victoria on an ever-blurring series of twists and turns through the back streets of Goldenrod City before she finally stops. "We're here!" She announces, finally letting go of your hand. The place...does not look like much. At least, not on the outside. On the inside though, it's really nice-looking. Whitney explains that the only way to discover this place is to either stumble upon it or hear about it through word of mouth. They've got literally no social media presence at all, and they like it that way. Those silly people who like to take pictures of their food at a restaurant and chat about it online? They're encouraged to simply eat and enjoy the food. They can talk about it all they want once they're finished.
Whitney drags you to a corner booth and plops down on the opposite side with a grin. A waiter strolls right on over to greet you both and get drinks and such started as needed. When they leave, Whitney flashes you a bright smile and waits for you to be ready to talk.
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Post by lichlord on Jan 26, 2020 21:40:22 GMT
Well this place is cool. She's glad that Whitney showed her it's here. It's a little intimate, which isn't helped that her idol/crush brought her here, but Victoria tries to focus on storytelling for now. Once their drinks are ordered, she begins.
"Ok so I was heading through Ilex on my way here a few days ago. Once I got there, there was this little popup that asked me if I wanted to enter deep Ilex. Yeah, like a computer, and yeah it's silly, but the story just gets stranger..."
She goes onto describing her first foray into Ilex, meeting the sisters for the first time, Aima telling her this is an Ilex only certain people can see and that she might be blessed by a legendary, meeting and losing to Miyako, and then abandoning searching cause it was too strong at the time, or so she thought.
"Well after that I thought it was too strange and I wasn't gonna go back. But then I fought you the first time... and couldn't even get to your Miltank... and I was a little sad and frustrated... So I went back cause I knew it would have tough pokemon to train on or maybe new ones to catch. That's actually where I got my Seviper and Escavalier actually."
She goes on to describe her second time in, fighting a million times and wearing down, warping to an even deeper Ilex, and then finding the abandoned Mansion, seemingly it's residents leaving suddenly, and then the basement where she found the 'Heart of Ilex' and the evil tree that had haunted her the whole time finally showing up in the ghost fight club and fighting her. First with warped minions (Which she caught one), and then itself. And how she nearly lost in the final moments but Grazie managed to finish it off like a true heroine.
The only thing she doesn't mention is Aima's issues at the end. Because Whitney is a lot like herself, and Victoria believes that if she said it, Whitney would probably want to jump in and help, and she shouldn't have to do that. She's too busy being a gym leader and she's already got responsibilities!
"And then I made it back after some rest, and here we are."
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Post by Raven on Jan 26, 2020 22:10:23 GMT
Whitney listens intently, reacting in an appropriately dramatic fashion in all the right places. A fake gasp of shock when Victoria mentions 'potentially blessed by a Legendary', righteous anger at the "evil tree", giggling at "Ghost Fight Club", etc. "Well! That is quite the story, Victoria! I gotta be honest, it's pretty hard to believe." She pauses for dramatic effect. "At the same time though, it's too crazy to be made up! There's just...so many little details that it'd be really hard to keep track of them all. So, consider me convinced. It'd be awesome if you could actually show me this place, but I doubt that'd be possible."
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Post by lichlord on Jan 26, 2020 22:35:10 GMT
She giggles when Whitney is overdramatic at points of her story.
"I mean 'I' didn't trust my eyes when text boxes started appearing but it happened. I even have a Ghost-shifted Serperior to prove it."
She pauses when Whitney says her last piece, thinking about the lock thats on the area now.
"I mean maybe if you were with me at the time? But once I left the second time I guess I 'cleared' it and it won't let me back in without help of some kin- Wait."
It hits Victoria pretty quickly. She saw it before, but dismissed it as tiredness but if Ilex was real...
"Wait. Union Cave had it too! But I thought I was just loopy so I ignored it, but is there a scary dark world Union Cave too?"
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Post by Raven on Jan 26, 2020 22:57:47 GMT
Whitney quirks a pink eyebrow. "Really? Well, even if you didn't think anything of it at the time, maybe you should talk to Bugsy about it. It's a lot closer to him than it is me. Although, I suppose that begs the question of 'would Bugsy be able to enter it?'."
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Post by lichlord on Jan 26, 2020 23:04:21 GMT
"Uh yeah maybe I should talk to him. Not sure if he could get in on his own but I suppose that could be the test if I can bring people with me or not! Or maybe it is it's own thing and doesn't have anything to do with the Ilex one."
She leans back.
"Although this whole thing makes me curious. How the heck can 'I' get in any of these? You'd think i remember if I met a legendary. I'd be telling everybody!"
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Post by Raven on Jan 26, 2020 23:09:46 GMT
Whitney shrugs. "Couldn't tell ya. It's definitely the most plausible theory that we got, but that doesn't really help anything either. Who knows? Maybe it's got nothing to do with Pokemon (legendary or otherwise) at all, and it's just some weird thing like... 'your life has aspects of a video game in it because....reasons!'." She giggles.
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Post by lichlord on Jan 26, 2020 23:14:22 GMT
Victoria laughs.
"I guess that's as good a reason as any! But... does that make me the main character?"
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Post by Raven on Jan 26, 2020 23:16:49 GMT
Whitney continues giggling uncontrollably. "Y-yeah! Totally! I mean, you went into this Dark/Mirror/Alternate Ilex, which you said was labeled as a 'dungeon' and beat up the Boss. The other people you met inside had no idea it was there. You were the big hero! That's totally something that a game protagonist does!"
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Post by lichlord on Jan 26, 2020 23:25:29 GMT
Victoria laughs back.
"I guess you are right, but this might be one of those one-life games. I don't remember a save point anywhere."
She makes a face when she says that. Weird game analogies aside, she shouldn't downplay the danger of what she went through. It was scary!
"Hmmmm, wait hold on."
She pokes the air in front of her like she's pushing a button, giggling the whole time.
"Lemme see if I can bring up your stats."
She acts like a menu popped up and 'hmmms' as if she's reading.
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Post by Raven on Jan 26, 2020 23:42:44 GMT
Whitney giggles right along with Victoria. "So, what's it say about me?" She queries with a cheshire grin. Naturally, there isn't actually a text box there (strangely, they only seem to appear near the 'Dungeons'), but hey, that just means she can make up whatever she wants!
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Post by lichlord on Jan 27, 2020 0:02:15 GMT
"Uhh lets see."
She 'swipes screens', and looks at it.
"Hmmm. Starts with 'Cool', 'Strong', 'Cute'. I'll agree to those. Oh hey your measurements are there, I'll just keep those to myself..."
She giggles at that one.
"And your pokemon are on here too, I see the team I faced. Ohhh, there's just another Miltank with a skull instead of a level. I think I know who 'that' is."
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Post by Raven on Jan 27, 2020 0:10:19 GMT
Whitney snorts with laughter at the measurements comment. "Hehe. Oh, but how do you know those measurements are real? Maybe the system is lying to you. Only one way to find out for sure." She winks slyly as your face slowly turns red.
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Post by lichlord on Jan 27, 2020 0:21:44 GMT
Victoria's face does indeed turn really red.
"I uhhh... *cough* I'm not sure! But uhhh... It sounds like you are issuing a challenge there, Miss Gym Leader."
She's clearly still blushing, but if Whitney's having fun messing with her, Vicky will keep giving it to her!
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Post by Raven on Jan 27, 2020 0:28:35 GMT
Whitney can barely contain her giggling as she teases Victoria. "Hm. Perhaps I am, Miss Victoria. Will you accept this challenge?"
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