Victoria - Adventure Thread (Johto)

Morty actually shows up at the Ecruteak Pokemon Center with Miyako and walks you down to Goldenrod, where you'll be picking up Whitney. It's more of "Whitney invited herself along" than "this person is dangerous and needs extra monitoring", obviously. Miyako may be rather rude, but she's not a psychopath. Whitney, naturally, tries to give everyone a big hug. Miyako is not amused, but Morty finds it to be so. Especially since it annoys Miyako.

At a casual walking pace (Ilex isn't going anywhere, so no need to rush), it takes the better part of the morning to get down to Ilex. Especially when Whitney and Morty fans keep cropping up to ask for autographs (which the pair are happy to offer). Whitney gets this a lot, so she has pre-written signatures to hand out. Morty, at least in his home town, is marginally less popular/approachable than the Kimono Girls, so he has to write it all by hand. One silly girl even tries to get Morty to sign part of her body. He...politely declines, much to the girl's dismay. She does get a regular autograph though.

Once the crowd dies down and they can leave again, it's not long before the party reaches the Ilex Forest-Route 35 Gatehouse. To Victoria's eyes, the little blue box appears once again. It even goes through an over-dramatic animation of fitting a key with Miyako's (annoyed) face on it into the lock that "opens" the Dungeon/Mirror Dimension again. It reminds her that the Dungeon is still 'cleared', so there are no automatic fights within any longer, but otherwise does not stop her from re-entering. Morty and Whitney must be seeing the same things, based on Whitney's excited squealing and Morty's rolling of the eyes (directed at Whitney's antics). Naturally, both Gym Leaders are quite fascinated by this 'Mirror Ilex'. A blur of red and white comes zooming out of the shrine when they approach and nearly tackles Miyako to the ground. As one might expect, Aima is quite eager to see her sister return. She does not, however, know who Whitney or Morty are until they introduce themselves.

A small blue box appears in Victoria's line of sight again, informing her that she has gained a level...whatever the heck that means. (You earned a Milestone for this quest!) After the glomp-fest (which Whitney joins in on 'cause she likes hugs), Miyako gets a very stern talking to from her "older" sibling. After chewing Miyako out, Aima turns to the Gym Leaders and insists that her sister will do whatever is necessary to make up for her actions on Route 37, much to Miyako's chagrin. There is a long discussion between Morty, Aima, and Miyako (though primarily the first two) involving exactly how Miyako ought to be able to make up for her actions. It is then explained to Aima that the destruction of a part of Route 37 is actually the least of her 'crimes'. This leads to a discussion about the legalities of Pokemon Training, licensing, and all sorts of other legal terms that Victoria is only vaguely familiar with. Thankfully, all of this proves an excellent distraction for the weird 'lonely' feeling she'd had earlier. Miyako seems to be giving Victoria odd looks whenever she thinks (you) aren't looking.

Eventually, the Miyako's furtive glances change into 'she's walking over here'. The Gym Leaders seem more concerned with speaking to Aima, which is understandable given she's clearly the more responsible of the two. Miyako stalks over to Victoria and stares her down.

"You. Something happened to you. I can feel it. What did you do?" She demands.

Miyako rolls her eyes exasperatedly. "That's not what I meant, and I'm sure you know it." She begins. "Your spirit is fluctuating more than usual. You're nervous about something. Something that probably happened recently." When Victoria gapes at her she snorts. "What? You thought I was unobservant or something? Hardly. My focus merely lies outside the realm of spiritual nonsense. That's Aima's sphere."

A look of realization washes over Miyako's face. "Ah! That must be what I'm feeling. You interacted with an Unown. Possibly several. That always leaves signs that spiritually aware people can notice." She seems content with this answer, surprisingly (or perhaps not so surprisingly). "I suspect that if I can notice it, Aima has as well and is just waiting for a better time to pester you about it. Expect a much more thorough questioning from her. I don't really care, now that I know what the weird feeling is all about." She flinches some as her left arm (the mechanical one) randomly spasms. She curses softly at it as she wanders back to her room to find her tools; likely to perform proper maintenance she hasn't had a chance to do yet.

The talk between the Gym Leaders and Aima begins to wind down, and ends with Aima announcing that there is space and futons enough for everyone to spend the night. She then leaps up to go prepare a meal for everyone, insisting that as the host, she will take care of it all while guests settle in. Once Aima has bounded off to the kitchenette, Whitney sidles over to Victoria.

"Hey there, Bestie. What's up?" She asks. "Ya look like ya got something on your mind."

Whitney tilts her head in confusion. "Huh. I had heard that the Unown were getting out and about and scaring off the local 'mons, but I dunno about any weird soul stuff." She confesses before brightening again. "But! It sounds like it's nothing to worry your cute little head over!" She then proceeds to smirk playfully at Victoria before demanding she 'spill the deets, girl!'. Presumably this means "tell me the story".

Whitney's expression is, naturally, one of shock. Even Morty, who overheard some of it and came over to listen to the rest is quite intrigued. Whitney immediately gives Victoria a big ol' hug to "welcome (her) back". She also (jokingly) asks Victoria to do her best to make sure Whitney can join in on these wacky adventures as well! Or, y'know, at least tell her all about them after the fact; she's still a responsible Gym Leader, after all. Whitney mutters some comment to herself about 'maybe I'll have another Whitney take over the Gym for awhile and go on crazy adventures too'. If Morty overhears this comment, he chooses to ignore it/pretend he didn't. It is at this point that Aima strolls back into the main room and sets the bowls of fruit/berry salad down at the traditional Johtonian table. There is also a kettle for tea. Aima gives Victoria a look that says 'I want to talk later' as the group (including a now one-armed Miyako) settle in for food.

Morty takes charge again and explains things. Obviously, he does not want to isolate the siblings any further by attempting to force them to remain in this alternate Ilex. Even presuming such a feat was possible. Instead, what he would like to do is get them licensed properly for the current time period so that they will be free to explore Johto/the world as they see fit. Miyako will still need to do some community service for Ecruteak to make up for the damage caused, but no more than 30 days, tops. Morty will also give Aima (and later Miyako) access to the Burned Tower if they desire it, and speak with the Sages of Bell Tower on their behalf to see about allowing them to visit there as well for spiritual reasons. Miyako merely scoffs, saying she doesn't care either way about that. Aima shoots her sister a withering glare which seems to silence her. The point is: Morty is going to do his best to smooth things over. The League bureaucrats don't need to know about the girls' dimension-hopping status or whatever, though he'll at they very least need to inform Champion Gold, which would include informing the rest of the Elite Four.

Aima, for her part, is nervously optimistic about this. She's been here at the shrine for so long that she honestly doesn't know how to deal with being away from it. It feels...wrong...somehow. As she mentioned to Victoria in the past, there has been no word from Celebi either way, so it's not as if she must stay here. She's just...never had cause to leave before. In light of her younger sibling's recent antics, however, and how much it hurt just being apart from her for even a week, she feels like, if nothing else, it is her duty to keep Miyako in line. Especially if Miyako is planning to leave their version of Ilex again to go traveling or what-have-you.

More mundane things are discussed after this, with Morty eagerly inquiring about this 'Boss Tree' that Victoria battled before. He is interested in getting as close as he can to where that battle took place, so he'll be heading out to explore once supper is finished. His own Pokemon will protect him, on the off-chance something takes offense to his presence, though he'll try not to upset the locals too much. Whitney declares that Aima (and Victoria) need cuddles, and says that she will be the deliverer of said cuddles when the other two are ready for bed. She offers cuddles to Miyako too, but isn't upset when she vehemently turns them down (maybe it's because she's blushing a little? Huh. Maybe Miyako is just a Tsundere).

Aima pulls Victoria aside after dinner to have that talk. It starts out with a big hug and lots of professed thanks for returning Miyako to her, even if under less than ideal circumstances (which are Miyako's fault, not Vicky's). After that, she politely asks about the "weird feeling" she is getting from Victoria's spiritual energy. She describes it as 'somewhat alien', but not to the extent of actual aliens, like those...solar and lunar rock-Pokemon (solrock/lunatone). More like...the feeling itself is simply indescribable. Whatever the case, this prompts Victoria to share her story of being turned into an Unown while visiting the Ruins of Alph. Like Morty, Aima is fascinated by the idea of this. If she ever gets the opportunity, she'd certainly not mind visiting these 'ruins'. Especially because she does not recall any such ruins existing in Johto during her time.

Aima, seeming to sense Victoria's unease, says she's more fascinated by the fact the Unown are even capable of such feats, rather than that it specifically happened to Vicky. She doesn't mean to come across as overly clinical. On the flip side, Morty is more than happy for the company. Whitney tags along when she learns Victoria is going (is Whitney just that good, or is she sneakily eavesdropping?); adventures are more fun with friends!

Ultimately, there isn't much to do out there. Victoria shows Morty where the 'warp point' was (thankfully, it appears to still be active), and the trio walk through the woods towards the ruins of that old manor house. There are a few local Ghost Types that pop up along the way, but none of them are hostile. They just sort of...hang around Morty. When questioned, he says he's just always drawn Ghost-Type Pokemon to himself. Especially more recently, as his bond with his primary team (the Champion-level one) has grown stronger. In all honesty, he's rather curious as to what the effects (if any) of a long-term bond with multiple Ghost-Type Pokemon are. The other Ghost Masters, Old Agatha (who even Morty swears is immortal and/or a ghost herself) and Phoebe of Hoenn are the ones he's closest to, but they're fairly tight-lipped about it. It doesn't help that he's a fair bit older than Phoebe as well.

Surprise of surprises, when the group reaches the clearing where the manor house was and begin to pick through its rubble, Whitney begins gushing about the style. Apparently, she's got a huge interest in "antique houses" as she calls them. She *loves* this old style of home, and goes into much detail about it before realizing that it's all definitely going over Morty's head and probably is only confusing Victoria as well. She blushes sheepishly and apologizes for ranting.