[attr="class","robinsgift"]



Fog chases her as she breaks it with her footfalls. Her vision clouds from the environment, but her path is clear. It's as if she's guided forward by a magnetic force. Her journey is thoughtless, guided purely by intuition, until she has a moment of awareness. [break][break]

She stands on a spirit bridge.[break][break]

It yawns and stretches around her precariously, small spots of emptiness breaking open before closing, before opening again. The observation trickles into her mind with the same speed a komala consumes its leaves. She's distracted, then, by another presence. She turns to see a woman she's never met before. And, belatedly, she waves.

[break][break]notes[break]
31 encounter spiritual bridges that are slowly breaking apart, as if they are being stretched...

[attr="class","robinsgift"]



It's a good question, but no answer comes to mind. Instead, her gaze falls on the moving shadows - and there appears to be two. "Be careful," she warns the other woman, but any other commentary about the potentially-attacking shadows falls short as her feet find a yawning opening of the bridge. She descends for a brief moment before one of the shadows besides the newcomer flickers out to her. [break][break]

Dhelmise. Ah, so that's where it'd been. It phantom forces to her and uses anchor shot to launch a chain back up to the other trainer, dragging Robin up in the blink of an eye. [break][break]

Robin looks completely unfazed by the experience and dusts herself off. Finally, an answer comes to mind. "I'm here because the ghosts want me here. You should be careful, though. I see they want to play with you." Her gaze flickers past the other's shoulder - and behind there is a shadow visage of Robin coming towards them both. It leads the charge of several ghostly soldiers behind it.

[break][break]notes[break]29 encounter shadowy copies of yourselves or your pokemon that mimic movement, form, and more.

[attr="class","robinsgift"]



Robin follows her away from the shadow, spirit figures, letting Dhelmise tie up the shadow Robin with its spectral chains. "Ghosts are pretty playful. We're in their domain." They go North, where more human figures appear. Some of them might only be visible to her, she's not sure. She seems to hear ghosts when others can't, but she's not so sure about the sight of them. In any case, she hears the haunting whispers of summer, summer, summer... [break][break]

"Is your name Summer?" As she posits the question, she gets a feeling. A familiar one, one that comes before a Marshadow. "Hold that thought," she urges with a raised finger to hush Summer. "Are you familiar with Marshadow? One is coming."

[break][break]notes[break]

[attr="class","robinsgift"]



Summer's been emotionally distant the entire time, but this is a new layer of iciness that Robin hadn't expected. It's delightful, if only because it shows that Summer is paying attention to Robin. She should, however, be paying more attention to the world around them. "You don't hear them, do you? It can be hard. Some of them are not as potent as other ghosts."[break][break]

Her eyes are glued to Summer's, but she ducks in time to avoid a Marshadow - one moving like a bullet with its spectral thief that fails to land, despite how it came from her blindspot. Robin leans in close, disregarding personal space, and stage whispers: "I'm a psychic." How else could she have intuited the Marshadow's position? How else could she be so attuned with the dead? Oracle, ghost whisperer, psychic. [break][break]

"You didn't know it when you saw me, but I'm the best guide you can have in the Border." She jams a thumb to her chest, a spark of the usual Robin burning through the fog of the possessed one. Dhelmise launches an anchor shot to tie the Marshadow to the ground as it approaches again. "Now, come, have you seen this one before?" She steps close to the downed Marshadow and leans in close to it, unafraid of its supernatural prowess. She's already claimed one. But the Border is her true home, and she wants to be a good host. If Summer seeks the rewards of the Border, Robin will help her claim it.

[break][break]notes[break]🗺️ SPECIAL HUNT: ROBIN will now be able to encounter and catch a MARSHADOW. you must be able to defeat or prove to the marshadow that you are worthy of training them, but this will be no easy task. they quickly learn you and your pokemon's movements, able to mimic their movements by analyzing or hiding in their shadows.

[attr="class","robinsgift"]



Summer had the right idea. Most psychics did scam. The Clairvoyant Coellos were the peak example. It could be true that Robin was the only true psychic on the planet, though she hoped that was untrue. In any case, she couldn't fault Summer's disbelief, but Robin knew the woman would come around if she stuck with Robin long enough to see the truth in action. [break][break]

"They're easy," she assured. "They learn quick, so you have to avoid fighting for a long period of time, but they struggle when others use shadows against them." Marshadow approached Summer's Emboar with a thunder punch. Whether it was pushed back by the Emboar or not, Robin's Dhelmise would phantom force underneath the Marshadow, popping out of its shadow and using power whip to hold it down, sapping it's strength with a mega drain. The repeated onslaught of attacks would come too quickly for the Marshadow to adjust. [break][break]

"If you stick with me, I can help you catch one." She wanted to share her love of the Border. She extended a hand, feeling for a brief moment like she was a bright-eyed and brand new Ranger again. "Robin Coello, at your service."

[break][break]notes[break]🗺️ SPECIAL HUNT

[attr="class","robinsgift"]



Robin lowered her hand and offered Summer an intense staring contest. After a beat, she broke into something more animated and 'natural' as she took strides to the subdued Marshadow. Without looking back at Summer, she answered. "A ghost told me."[break][break]

She tossed a pokeball at the Marshadow. "If you want to learn more, follow me deeper into the Border. We can get to a place where you see the dead more easily. They have a lot to share, if you're willing to listen." At her core, teaching others to embrace ghosts was her goal. Nothing had changed since the day she determined that as her purpose, except the acceptance of her Fate. "Since you don't have the abilities I have, I'll be an open book for you to even the playing field. How's that?"

[break][break]notes[break]