Adventure Thread - Group B

"Absolutely!" Selena proclaims with a smile. "I think this time, we're going to go all the way in! So let's hit the road!"

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Raven looks over at Salena holding the Odd Keystone. "Why do you still have that thing with you? I thought we had just established that it was a dangerous, soul-stealing item? What in the hell possessed you to just carry it along, even knowing that?"

"Granted, but are you going to tell me there was absolutely nobody you could trust it with while we go spelunking in Rock Tunnel? Like, I don't know, your parents? A Gym Leader? Somebody?! I'm glad I didn't let Natalie faint, else that thing might have stolen her soul as well."

Raven sighs.

"I'm sorry, Salena, that's unfair of me. Let's go back up to the surface and see if we can't find somebody in town who can help us. If not, we can take it to the Saffron Gym Leader, since they're the closest, and they can use their resources to deal with it."

Salena's face falls ashen she removes her finger from the Wigglytuff's neck.

Yep. Dead. Stone cold, dead.

The fact that it was dead surprisingly didn't bother her that much. When she thought about it, that kind of made sense. Most of her Pokémon, for all intents and purposes, were already dead. Ghosts were like that. Then there was another fact. When most wild Pokémon goes into a battle, some part of them has to accept the eventuality that their actions may lead to their death. The circle of life- eventually, they were destined to die. Everyone was. Of course, you do avoid wanting to kill someone's trusted partner. But no one bats an eye at Magikarp on the dinner table or Tauros steak.

But imprisoning a soul, even on accident, drew up a great stone and thrust it on Salena's stomach. It denied them the right of passage to the world beyond and trapped them here on earth. Mr. Fuji, Ms. Christie, Mr. Verne; they were all here because they wanted to remain. The Pokémon they killed weren't given that choice.


"No. Y-you're not wrong. I didn't realize that the stone was this powerful. I thought that I had sealed it well enough; that it had gained souls because we were in Lavender Town. I didn't know that... The seal wasn't strong enough. That it could take a soul from a Pokémon that isn't even dead."

She rises up shakily. The truth made her sick. But she couldn't run away from it either. It only be used to break her spirit or galvanize her resolve. She decided then to choose the latter. "But... I can't just it let it be like this. That would be... Unforgiveable."

"There's got to be another way to make use of the stone. Something that doesn't result in so many souls being trapped for no reason. Something that... Provides a choice, rather than an inevitability."

The group quickly heads back up to the surface, encountering no resistance on the way out. Once outside, Raven turns to the others.

"Alright, so now that we're out, what exactly is the plan? Are we taking it to Saffron's Gym Leader? Somebody else? Dumping it in the deepest, darkest hole we can find and calling it done?"

"Right. We'll travel to Saffron tonight so as not to waste any time, and speak with the Leader in the morning. If you left anything in your room at the Center, go get it now if you don't want to leave it behind."

After everyone has acquired any remaining belongings from the Pokemon Center, Raven meets them just outside of Lavender Town on Route 8. Then she leads the way back to Saffron City and heads right to bed when they reach Saffron's Pokemon Center.

Salena is only willing to sleep in the Pokémon Center with great reluctance. Gah! Everything would have been much safer to keep it in Lavender Town for just one more night. But she did need sleep, so she horked the stone into the farthest corner of the room and practically smothered it in cleanse tags. There! Cleanse tags didn't stack of course and they weren't working anyways, but any port in a storm.

Since Mrs. Christie had been awake with her all day, she releases Mr. Fuji from his ball and asks him to keep a vigil on the stone. If something did happen, she wanted to know immediately. Mr. Fuji nodded solemnly. Yep.

He got this.

Waking up after a surprisingly blissful sleep, probably due to exhaustion, Jane yawns and then slowly gets dressed. After a generous helping of the complimentary breakfast (that didn't seem to serve any Bluk Berries - shame! That could have saved her a bit of money) she heads outside so she can train her team and some future substitutes. Augmented by bribes for the Hoothoot the session goes well. Hopefully Raven and Lavenders mornings would also be this peaceful and they would soon show up to join her!

"Mm, I slept like a stone." Jane confirms with a grin and turns to Lavender. "Yesterday was exhausting, so I don't think I had any energy left to dream."

Hmm? Jane started to notice that Lavender didn't look exactly bright and full of energy. Almost like she had seen a ghost - though actually that was probably a really poor comparison considering the pokémon Lavender seemed to love ... Anyhow!

"Are you okay? You look a bit pale..." Her tone rapidly transition firmly into 'worried'. "Did something happen?"