"Pleased to meet you! Flynt's my name. I'm just a humble gardener, no special titles or anything. So to be in the presence of a gym leader and elite ranger is a bit... Well, nerveracking."

He couldn't help but offer an uneasy laugh. But the moment that Josh introduced his pokemon, it seemed Flynt had moved quickly to greet the various (mostly) quadrupedal team. Flynt had no qualms to reach out and greet each electric type individually as he offered his hand out for each of them to sniff. Once they welcomed it, Flynt stroked them each on the head, then looked over to Kara. For a moment, his body went stiff, as though he'd been reminded of the violence in her Rondez-View route. But to save face, he smiled politely.

"You're... Kara, right? Sorry, I know it's weird that I know your name even though we've never met. I just played your Rondez-View route is all. It was fun! Well at first..."

The smile turned nervous as he emphasized the 'at first' bit. But soon he turned his attention back to Josh and heaved out a breath. It seemed the gym leader himself was pretty excited to get this mission started, but they needed to gain their bearings at first. This was new territory for all of them, so they had to inspect before they dove right in. And it seemed Josh was the type to speed right in.

"How about we establish a base first? It wouldn't hurt for us to build shelter because this place seems pretty... Violent? I suppose? We wouldn't want to be taken out by a stray lightning strike."

Flynt looked around carefully. There wasn't much that stood out given the wasteland the place stood out as. The only suitable material seemed to use the scrap metal that lied around. It wasn't long until Flynt let out his Ditto, that seemed to immediately make itself comfortable on Flynt's head. He couldn't help but laugh and reach up to stroke the creature.

"Hey, little buddy. Let's get to work, huh?"

The Ditto cried out a happy little 'diii!' as if to agree. However, the issue that posed was keeping the scrap metal welded together. In that moment, he looked to Kara and spoke up. He could only hope that she could be their saving grace in that moment as he slowly gathered scrap metal to work with.

"Erm, any chance you might have a fire type? It seems Josh here is primarily electric, I've got mostly grass and ice types..."

tl;dr
- greets both josh and kara
- suggests building a base
- brings out his ditto to help
- asks if kara has a fire type to weld together scrap metal

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Josh Devlin Kara Li

after introductions, kara nodded at flynt's request for fire types. unleashing her two torchics, they seemed more than happy to be put to use by means of becoming chicken welders. the more devilish twin sported a pair of goggles it spawned from seemingly nowhere while the other simply sighed, ready to go to work despite not even wanting to be out here in the first place.[break]
wordlessly, kara simply started putting her pokemon to work - her ditto being used as a hammer while the torchics went about helping scratch away, break away, then meld back together pieces of metal nearby. "will this do, mr. devlin, mr. ziegler?" she asked as she had managed to form some kind of makeshift hut out of pieces of metal. interestingly enough, she had the foresight to even evade building too close to magnetically strong pulls so the small building wouldn't heave and be pulled away at some unforeseen point.[break]

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@flynt Josh Devlin

Maybe it was best to take Josh's advice and use one of his pokemon. But before they could wander too far, Flynt couldn't help but eye Kara, almost concerned. Perhaps his venture in getting to know her at first was clouded with the recent Rondez-View game, but he found himself on high alert with the farmer. (Safe to say he was scarred from her particular route.) Sweat trickled down the back of his neck as he parted his lips to speak, but felt his voice die in his throat. Perhaps now wasn't the best time to ask about it. Instead, he turned his attention back to the Boltund in Josh's team.

Maybe they could ride ahead and he could get his mind off the topic that plagued it so heavily. But he couldn't help the way the words left his mouth. He didn't want to make it blatantly obvious, but maybe he was just overthinking it all.

"Um, this is probably a bold statement considering I don't have any flashy titles but... I don't want to let any of us die out here, ok? So please don't die," he insists.

Flynt sucked in a breath and patted the top of Crash's head before he carefully shifted on top of the electric canine. Flynt carefully wrapped his arms around the dog's neck in a way to hold on.

tl;dr
- wants to ask Kara about her rvl route but relents for now
- tells the group to be safe/not die
- takes Josh's Boltund Crash as his mount of choice for the time being

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Josh Devlin Kara Li

"hello there, lil' buddy," kara marveled at the manectric - the ai route she had played with josh suddenly coming to life before her very eyes. she would also marvel up at josh, eyes watery with tears to show how moved she was at the offer to get to ride one of his pokemon. "is it really alright?" she asked cautiously, giving the manectric the best pat she could muster - unsure if it preferred horse-like patting or something more dog-like. the pokemon was large enough to be a mix of both and she was amazed by how robust it was.[break]
unfocusing from the manectric just momentarily, she nodded at josh - ready to go about the task assigned to them. she hopped on the manectric and smiled happily, her attention then placed on flynt who seemed to say something a bit alarming. [break]
"don't think any of us are gonna die out here buckaroo, i'd hold my horses on that one. we're just out patrolling, right?" she was aloof - perhaps too much so given they were in a new and dangerous area. regardless, she seemed excited enough to explore to the point of not really caring about the looming danger. "on yer mark," she said to the two as she signaled them with a two-fingered salute to say she'll follow them closely.[break]

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@flynt Josh Devlin

It wasn't long until the trio sped off. Flynt held onto the Boltund for dear life as the dog took off at a breakneck pace. For a moment, he was panicked, scared he might fall off. But next, he felt... Dare he say, excited? He'd never experienced speed quite like this before. For a moment, Flynt loosened his grip on the Boltund and simply allowed the crackling air to breeze through his hair. It felt liberating, it felt like he didn't have a single care in the world... Perhaps that's what made Josh so passionate about riding pokemon. The feeling of freedom that came with it.

But before he could truly relish the feeling, they came to a halt so Josh could properly investigate the power station. Flynt moved a bit closer to see if perhaps they could pry off something to properly investigate the power station. Flynt tried to find a proper place to grip onto part of the metal, but no luck. Thankfully he had a second idea.

"Go, Galahad!"

Flynt threw a pokeball to allow his Escavalier out. It wasn't long until the pokemon fired an acid spray at the power station. As it ate away at the metal, some of the inner machinations became visible. Maybe if they were able to piece some things back together, they could do something about it. Though they weren't left to their devices for long as a few Stakataka surrounded the trio. They were guardians of the realm, and it seemed they didn't want the trio to bother with the power station any further. Flynt withdrew his Escavalier and replaced it with his Leafeon.

"Seems they don't want us near this thing!"

tl;dr
- rides on to the power station
- uses escavalier to fire acid spray and get a better look at the power station's inner machinations
- surrounded by guard stakatakas, swapping out his escavalier for his leafeon

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Josh Devlin Kara Li

"oh, we'll be --"[break]
kara wasn't even given a chance to finish her thought as the manectric under her took off, knocking the breath out of her. well - it wasn't so violent as knocking the breath out of her but moreso the idea that if she didn't close her mouth, she'd be catching many a fly in it with the way it just bolted across the land. josh wasn't specialized in fast pokemon for nothing and kara soon came to realize this. as for flynt, he seemed much more terrified. it made kara ease up on the rideable pokemon she was using, almost cackling if the wind rushing over her face would have allowed.[break]
all became still in front of a strange electric pillar. [break]
-- and soonafter, a group of pissed off xurkitrees that seemed to flail their spindly arms in anger.[break]
quickly applying metal coat to her ditto, she ordered a panicked 'transform, damn you!'. the poor metamon tried its best, but it wasn't capable of forming the full xurkitree. instead, it formed the large candy rock structure of the head and lay there in its owners arms - covered in metal coat and useless. the familiar ditto face smiled up at kara. she glared back down at it.[break]
fortunately enough, the ditto formed a lightning rod in this form - absorbing a lightning move from one of the xurkitrees. the other attacks were diverted just enough by the ditto's pull that they missed the trainers as well. "i don't think they're out here to beat up our pokemon, guys. seems they're aiming for us instead."

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@flynt Josh Devlin

It seemed that the Xurkitree and Stakataka were ready to strike them down where they stood. As Crash took off, an attack from the Xurkitree wildly swinging its limbs caused the dog to veer just a bit too much to the side. Because of this, Flynt went flying off. After a rough bounce and roll offward, he lay there for a moment and clutched his side. It seemed his ribs had taken quite a harsh hit. His breath came out labored as he pushed himself up. The Boltund, even if it tried, would likely be unable to make it through the sudden influx of Stakataka that surrounded Flynt.

There he was. Alone. Likely to die that way, too. The air fell thick as the gardener attempted to catch his breath. Panic settled in as he tried to get up. His leg buckled due to the sprain his ankle had taken from the fall. Here he'd hoped that they'd all make it out alive. But loneliness flooded back into Flynt. Maybe he'd have to accept that he'd be the sacrifice so Josh and Kara could at least make it back. Tears welled up in his eyes as he looked at the gathering before him, unable to move, utterly galvanized by the mixture of fear and overwhelming loneliness mixed in one.

tl;dr
- flies off of crash due to a sudden veer to the side
- cracked ribs + sprained ankle from impact

prompts completed
🗺️ FLYNT ZIEGLER's large well of compassion and/or his inner loneliness (or experience of) must be explored in some way.

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Josh Devlin Kara Li

well, that ain't good.[break]
while josh was heroically and single-handedly frontlining for the entire party, kara took up the mantel as the momentary healer - rushing to flynt's side as he seemed to succumb to himself. he seemed pathetic lying there, but she wouldn't tell him that. no use kicking a downed horse, after all. "come on flynty boy, let's get you up on your feet." he was likely in a bunch of pain, but magical leaf mixed with some overripe energy root made a sedative capable of numbing his pain at least fractionally for now. with this out, she force fed flynt in order to start pulling him onto her back - dead weight against her muscles that strained to help him up but did so with relative ease after the initial 'hup' and push upward.[break]
"let's get the hell out of here!" she echoed josh as she went to rush flynt onto a mount while getting on behind him, shrinking against flynt's frame in order to compact him against the mount's front end and her own body to make sure he wouldn't flail and fall off during the ride.

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@flynt Josh Devlin