Adventure Thread - Group A

Doctor Calthor thinks for a moment before nodding. "Yes. Yes, I believe I can secure a handful of permanent passes. More hands would certainly be helpful in the long run. Not to mention it would be much safer for you as a whole. It will take me a few days to get more, of course, so for now if you wish to head back down it'll be just the two of you. I'd offer to send Sarah with you, but she's going to be busy here, as I mentioned before."

Rei nods.

"Alright. Then we will gear up for a trip in the meantime. Thank you doctor. Goodbye to you, and Sarah."

Rei looks back at Sarah for a second getting a thought, but stores it for now. She heads out, and once outside turns to Holly.

"Can I ask you something? And you give me a true answer?"

"Things...?" He glances around curiously, trying to figure out what these "things" are, exactly. He gets a little distracted by Ty. "Whoa. And I thought some of Tiki's Pokémon were big... Guess we don't have to worry about you being helpless, huh?"

He reaches out to speak to the big green Pokémon cautiously, the way he tends to do with Gertrude - it's sort of his "potentially overprotective Pokémon with big teeth" mode. "Hey there, big guy. I'm a friend, don't worry."

"Oh, I guess you should meet my team, too! These guys with me here are Baloo and Mufomono. Mufomono used to belong to a... friend of ours, but he didn't think he could give her enough attention and I wound up with her." Baloo and Mufomono have been following behind Clay, bodyguard-style, since Fan isn't around to do it and Tavi's big enough to attract an awful lot of attention walking out of his ball, these days. Though neither of them is exactly an ideal bodyguard disposition-wise. The crocodile waves a hand lazily, regarding Zoey with her dark-tinted eyes, while Baloo paces back and forth (in imitation of Clay). "I was teaching Baloo my style for a while but eventually he started learning more from the sumo guys; he's kinda bulky for Infernape style. I think he's gonna evolve soon but we haven't found the trick just yet."

He'll call out the rest of his team, one by one, trying not to startle the unfamiliar Pokémon. Tavi watches Zoey's team suspiciously, and Flower very nearly outright hides behind Clay, which is pretty unusual; the Lampent is usually almost disconnected from reality. Then again, these are a lot of Dark-types. Kaa doesn't look terribly concerned, though - possibly because very little really concerns Kaa, and possibly because he's the only one of Clay's current team who can rival Ty in size, even if he seldom holds that much of himself off the ground all at once. Baigu the Marowak just leans on her bone club and watches the proceedings, looking rather jaded about the whole thing.

"These guys are most of my A-team - the rest of 'em are resting up back at the inn. Oh, uh, yeah. I should mention, I can sorta talk to Pokémon? It's kinda like an Aura thing. Just warning you so it doesn't take you by surprise." He gives her a slightly nervous smile. Of course, he's already spoken to ZsaZsa, and just now to Ty, but he's not sure how much Zoey noticed - especially the first time.

Team Cliki Z

Zoey, having finally picked herself up off the ground from her impromptu laughing fit, wanders over to say hello to all of Clay's Pokemon. Giving especially loving attention to Flower, Mufomono, and Baloo. She gushes to Clay about how she absolutely loves Dark-Type Pokemon, and how her mom gave her ZsaZsa as an egg. When Clay mentions he can talk to Pokemon, his and Tiki's ears are nearly busted by the shrill squee-ing sound that Zoey makes. "That. Is. So. Cool!" She exclaims. "Can you talk to all Pokemon, or just certain ones?"

Team Reilly

Holly thinks about Rei's question for awhile. "I'm... not really sure I can answer that, Rei. I know it's rather silly to not answer the question by just throwing it back in your face, but only you can really decide whether or not it was a mistake to do anything that involves you." She then holds up a hand to forestall any objections from Rei. "That said, I'm also biased. I know how to do one thing. Hit stuff. So it should come as no surprise that I would say 'if you want to pick up direct combat again, you definitely should'. I think the bigger question, as cliche as it might be, is 'what do you think? What does Rei want?"

Zoey giggles. "Nope! ZsaZsa is a Zoroark!" She points the Illusion Pokemon out where it is still napping in the shade. When Clay looks away to glance at where Zoey pointed, Zoey seems to have disappeared when he looks back. Instead, there is now a rock at his feet. No sooner has he been distracted by the mysterious rock and looked around for Zoey when she is suddenly back where she was before and booping his nose like she did Tiki's. This, of course, leads to a very strong sense of deja vu when Zoey ends up in the same state of helpless laughter that she was in when he first arrived.

Tiki is probably broken again, but perhaps mildly relieved that she isn't the butt of the joke a second time. Or third, rather, considering ZsaZsa tricked her earlier by turning into a chair and following her around the inn. After another minute or three of raucous laughter from Zoey (which isn't helped by the fact the Clay tripped and fell because he was so startled), Zoey manages to pick herself up once again and catch her breath in order to explain her and ZsaZsa's mutual abilities. They can create illusions around themselves by 'storing' images of things that they want and projecting those images outward to fool others. The main drawback is the fragility of the illusions. If someone interacts with them, the illusion will break, regardless of concentration level. Thus, it's best use is for pranks and ambushes. Zoey, and by extension, ZsaZsa, thankfully seem to prefer the former.

Holly nods. Even without the weird curse-bond that her sister put on them, she can understand where Rei is coming from. "I understand, Rei. It's a really tough decision. With the way things are going right now, I honestly don't think you can safely go without some form of direct-combat ability. That weird seed thingy you do is useful, but it seemed like it was super limited in how often it can be used. Unfortunately, I don't think my fighting style is suited for you. It's too offense-oriented, and it seems like you want to be defense-oriented." She ponders for a moment before glancing down at Honedge. Then she looks back at Rei. "I know! You could try asking Lady Sorra to teach you how to fight with a sword and a shield! I'm sure she's busy, but I bet she'd help if you asked."

Holly nods and walks with Rei over to where Clay and Tiki are staying at the Rich Bros' Manor. Thankfully, as they are already outside, there is no trouble with trying to convince the servants they should be let in.

Tiki is still playing with pokemon, but when she spots a certain pair arrive, her smile fades away. She turns away, and keeps on playing with Star. Guess the good times weren't gonna last forever. She looks to Clay. "Oi. What's the plan today?"