The next room upped the ante, introducing a Sky Battle of all things, except only one Pokémon was actually in flight. Much like that Kindler earlier had given them a history lesson about Moltres, the Emolga-cosplaying man gave the group a brief lecture about Rayquaza. Having grown in Fallarbor Town, which was right next to the historical land of the Draconid tribe, Andrea was a little more familiar with that myth. "Sure, Rayquaza could beat the two titans if he wanted, but that wasn't the point. The point was to get them to stop fighting." She explained to Violet.

Enough banter for now, though. They still had a challenge to surpass. Luckily, Andrea had used the PC on their way in, allowing her to switch Pepper for another creature that happened to be ideal for the situation. "Go, Donna! Lay the SMACK DOWN on that Aerodactyl!" She commanded her roaring Rhydon, who threw a large rock straight into Aerodactyl's mouth, stunning the prehistoric jabroni and causing it to fall to the ground (hitting rock bottom, if you will).

With that, the dragon-costumed girl turned towards Nagi. "So, what do you think about this new poem? It's mentioning an almighty god. Do you think it could be talking about a legendary Pokémon? Legendaries are kinda like gods." She pondered aloud.

//Smack Down can hit an opponent using Fly

☉

you don't publish a 600 chapter-long escapist fantasy webnovel without being deeply cringe on some primordial level.

cryptic riddles? strange poetry? nagi is living.

still, he’s not excited to the point of distraction. (not yet, at least.) he pulls a pokeball out of his pocket, and sends a dragonite out into the field. “use, uh — ” what was the move called? unlike with sherlock, watson or even mineko, he hasn’t quite studied up on what the new addition to his team is capable of.

“uh, up high?” nagi says, pointing up at the aerodactyl.

the dragonite gives him a withering stare, but, thankfully, takes his cue, and sends a hurricane skywards, buffeting the aerodactyl with wind.

task finished, nagi peers around the room with andrea, pen out and scrawling the next verse onto his forearm. “the last poem was based in sinnosian myth,” he replies, head tipped to the side as he thinks, dredging up whatever he can remember from his superficial knowledge of the region’s legends. his litwick hat stays unmoved on his head. “moltres, almighty sinnoh, rayquaza and the titans — it’s not an unlikely guess.”

who is you, and what’s the wish, though?

hurricane can hit pokémon during the semi-invulnerable turns of fly

☉

So, they were getting more gimmicky the higher they got, eh? The last one had mostly been busy talking weird stuff about legendary Pokemon. But this one was giving them some rather odd requirements. Be hit by Yawn but not sleep? She didn’t really know how that would even work. Somehow, these sorts of things were way too technical for her liking. Though during ranger training she had at least learned of some moves that helped with sleeping overall. Hence, she decided to bring out the Aromatisse that she had randomly caught one day. She had it on retainer for some occasionally useful support moves. This was one of these times…maybe?
[break][break]
Honestly, she wasn’t really sure about it, but at the very least the getting hit by Yawn part seemed to work. That little one did immediately drift away a little, as if getting drowsy. “So, um, this is decidedly not what I thought of with all that fire imagery. But I guess we can just try and like, use this? Aromatisse, throw up some Misty Terrain,” she tried, head tilted to the side since she wasn’t exactly certain about this all. But hey, worth a try.
[break][break]

+ using misty Terrain

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

The third challenge would test not only Nagi's ability to scribble an accurate drawing of Moltres on his arm, but also the group's ability as a whole to cope with drowsiness. "How are we supposed to endure a Yawn? The sign outside said we're not allowed to switch Pokémon." Andrea objected, the house's iron-clad rules preventing her from switching Donna out of battle.

The Rhydon yawned back after being hit by the opponent's attack, lazily scratching her striped belly. Oh, she was getting drowsy alright! However, after the entire room was filled with enchanted steam courtesy of Violet's and Elinor's Fairy types, the drill-nosed rhinoceros seemingly snapped out of it.

"She's not falling asleep. The MISTY TERRAIN works! Thanks, guys!" Andrea rejoiced, giving a thumbs up to her teammates. "Don't you think that's *cough* too much smoke, though?" She added, pulling her arm in front of her mouth and coughing, as the excess fog hindered her vision.

//Misty Terrain affects all allies, preventing Rhydon from falling asleep after getting hit with Yawn

☉

everything past the tip of nagi's nose has been enveloped in a translucent, pink haze. it would be fine without him, but —

"mr. mime, misty terrain."

pink billows out into pink. the view turns opaque.

oops, overkill.

“should we... make a run for it while he can’t see us?”

though in that visibility, they were just as likely to go rushing headlong into the nearest wall. the mist and his myopia make the scrawled notes over nagi's forearm swim before his eyes. rather than test his coordination, and attempt to draw one flamin’ hot chicken from memory alone — he has a fair assessment of his own artistic skill, which is that he has none — he makes do with scribbling moltres birth carving on wall?

misty terrain prevents drowsy pokémon from falling asleep

☉

“You guys do realize that we only need one of these, right?” The draconic girl was right, this was a bit overkill. Fortunately, the over-abundance of fog did not cause any actual problems for them, even though it was certainly weird. Violet had to squint to see in this annoyingly strong glow, but she did manage to discern that they were making this challenge, too. Her idea had worked after all. These random partners of hers should really show more appreciation for that.

Still, despite her huffing, she followed along as they moved along to the next room. Only this time, they did not have to figure out a weird challenge, but instead were offered items once more. And this time, she was not going to just take whatever came last, even if she was just being contrarian there. Instead, she went ahead and simply picked one. “I will just take this one,” she decided, picking the Ring Target. “All the challenges so far have been really weird and specific, so I figure taking something weird and specific will help most.” This was not necessarily about beating someone in battle, after all, so a Focus Sash that usually would be the best item seemed like a trap to her.
[break][break]

+ Choosing Ring Target

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

The group luckily managed to escape the mist-filled room, and found themselves at a checkpoint of sorts - a much needed breather after the challenges they had faced, while the toughest challenges had yet to come. There, they were offered new items as well as a new cryptic poem to read.

After depositing her Pokémon in that floor's PC for them to get some well-deserved rest, Andrea studied this new inscription, feeling profoundly melancholic over what she read. "So, he lost his loved one AND his friends? That's so sad. I dunno what I'd ever do if I lost Chomper..." She mused somberly.

Woken from her stupor when the other gals started picking their items, the cosplayer stared long and hard at the selection available, before grabbing a Focus Sash. "All items are weird and specific in a way, so why not pick the more fashionable ones?" She reasoned, tying the sash around her wrist for the time being. She then gave her unused Rawst Berry back to the custodian. "You can have this. I wasn't hungry after all."

//exchanging RAWST BERRY with FOCUS SASH

☉

as his teammates make their respective selections, nagi absentmindedly scrawls the next verse onto his forearm — what he’s going to do when he runs out of space there is a worry for the nagi of a few floors later — and trying to extrapolate the oncoming challenges from the items displayed on the table. when it’s his turn to make his pick, he reaches out and exchanges his mental herb for the one item left behind — the shed shell.

they'd made it through without too much of a fuss so far, but he had a feeling that the main course was yet to come. it couldn’t hurt to cover all bases.

in most sports manga, this would be when the team captain gives a rousing, heartwarming speech to rouse the hearts of their team. except, they never did settle on a team captain here, and nagi has the oratorical skills of a wet tissue — so he settles for pointing a thumb at the staircase and shrugging. his litwick hat nibbles on a jam biscuit, raining crumbs and sugar crystals down into his hair. it’s all very inspiring. go team.

taking shed shell

☉