Hideo didn't like the sand here. It was coarse and rough, and it got everywhere, even when he was wearing a Sygna Suit.

And that's when it wasn't sandstorming.

It was sandstorming right now.

Ugh.

"You gonna help me out, here?" Hideo asked the ever-present "Ralts" on his shoulder. Uxie answered with a small "nu-uh", leaving Hideo to have to bear the sandstorm. A single Mystical Power could've made a shield that kept the boy safe from the sand - but it didn't seem to want to do that for now.

"You still mad I had to cut your pizza budget?"

The only answer he got was some whistling. A non-answer that was as good as a "yes" to him.

He'd have to ask his other Wilds-goers. "You guys got anything for this sandstorm?"

Involve the weather condition "sandstorm"

Eris Halla Cassandra Kubrick

[attr="class","emapkmn"]

[attr="class","emapkmn"][attr="class","emapkmn"][attr="class","emapkmnteam"]

Cass glances to the "Ralts" accompanying her at Hideo's words and interactions with Uxie. It's strange not to see a third one immediately with Eris, but she doesn't think too much about it right now (as Mesprit's still probably around here somewhere still if Azelf being extremely on guard is saying anything). Like its sibling of knowledge, Azelf doesn't make any moves, but maybe mostly because it's busy braving the sandstorm itself without any help - and watching Cass while it's at it.

"Sorry to disappoint," she murmurs as she turns to Eris and Hideo, quickly huddling up behind Eris' Emolga's Light Screen with a breath of relief. She then takes out her own pokéballs out of her bag so she has a better selection without having to open her bag if another sandy situation should arise. "Zeph, come out and help with the Light Screen!" she calls over the roaring winds for a grumpy Magneton that does help out, reinforcing the shimmering barrier with a Light Screen of his own.

"I really hope it's not that ... though I did also have to think of Registeel, so, ... titans, yeay." She squishes Jon in her arms a bit, which makes crunch noises. "Did you try to eat the sandstorm?" she asks, squinting slightly with disbelief and fondness as there's definitely chunks of sand just falling out of him.

Eris Halla Hideo Kino

Regirock.

"I got to fight against the guy that has Regirock," Hideo said, recalling his battle against that masked man. "He was a dick."

Not the biggest impression he got from that battle (Dynamax Regirock earned that spot), but he still had it in his mind to slap the guy across the face when he got a chance.

Dual Light Screens helped to protect Hideo from the sandstorm - but it did little for the sand that already found him. He'd have to wait for the sandstorm to end before he could shake it off, lest he get sand in places he really didn't want to get sand in.

Maybe he'd be lucky, and Cass's Trubbish could eat the sandstorm up.

"...we got any idea where we're going?" He didn't have any direction in mind, merely going forward.

To his benefit, Uxie was already on it, searching for a safe path with its Future Sight.

Steel/Ground/Psychic - using Future Sight (120p)

120/300

Eris Halla Cassandra Kubrick

[attr="class","emapkmn"]

[attr="class","emapkmn"][attr="class","emapkmn"][attr="class","emapkmnteam"]

"Uff," Cass remarks at Hideo's reveal that he got to fight against the guy who is now in possession of the Regirock. "Let me know next time," she adds, trembling with stupid and unwarranted confidence against the giant that is part of how her hometown's ended up as destroyed as it is now. She wonders briefly how they managed to get rid of all the sand - did they throw it into the ocean? Have pokémon feast on it?

Similiar perhaps to how Jon's been breathing and chomping down on sand, even if it does little to calm the roaring storm around them. A combination of Light Screens however helps a little bit to give them a moment to breathe dry air, to actually have a chance at seeing what they're even doing.

"Let's try and get to it then," Cass nods at Eris' words, feeling the tremble beneath her feet with a vague shock - but she's relieved to see that the source of the Earthquake is one of the other's Woopers. Azelf seems to regard its yellow sibling for a moment, before focusing its energy - a red gem glows beneath the illusion momentarily, before this power pushes out with an Expanding Force, perhaps seeking to expand Uxie's Future Sight as well as the Wooper's Earthquake.

Eris Halla Hideo Kino
TILE: steel/ground/psychic, using expanding force (80) > 300

"Wasn't a fight I really had planned. Was just patrolling outside Oldale, and I met him." A chance, random encounter wasn't easy to plan ahead for. "He tried telling me it was my fault that Rocket was gonna attack Oldale, 'cause I didn't just hand it over to them. Not even he thought that kind of shitty gaslighting was gonna work."

It was an encounter that just infuriated him to no end. He would've loved to have arrested that guy then and there - or at least kick him in the nuts - but Uxie had other ideas that day.

A combined Earthquake and Expanding Force revealed some ruins beneath the sands - the ones Uxie had seen in its vision, and it silently urged the group to go investigate; one part for potential treasures, another part to get out of the sandstorm around them.

Hideo had no objections. It was better than waiting for those unearthed Orthworms to surround them.

Though (one of) the Joltik(s) that had hitched a ride on Hideo's backpack couldn't resist taking a chance to Absorb some static electricity off one of the Orthworms. A little snack before they went adventuring.

Fire/Grass/Water - using Absorb (20)

20/80

Eris Halla Cassandra Kubrick

[attr="class","emapkmn"]
[attr="class","emapkmn"]
[attr="class","emapkmn"]
[attr="class","emapkmn"]
[attr="class","emapkmnteam"]

Cass blinks at Hideo's retelling of the encounter, before shaking her head in disbelief. "That's such a stupid argument, too, like. What," she remarks, "He should've at least put in some more effort if he was gonna try."

She then hurries to follow along Azelf as it looks at the unearthed ruins with both interest and caution, emotions that Jon and most of her pokémon companions share, relaly. "Where are we?" she asks aloud, though her voice's coming out a bit louder than intended - she didn't account for being a bit safer from the storm than before, without it howling around them all the time at maximum volume.

"Hmm, Efitwa, dear," Cass then calls for her Treecko, who looks around the surroundings with as much bravery as she could muster. "Maybe a bit out of the blue, but could you see if there's anything special about the sand?" she asks. And because Efitwa is sweet, she doesn't look at her trainer with vague disbelief, and instead goes to Absorb what nutritients there might be in sand mixed with another soil, now that they're getting deeper into the sand.

Eris Halla Hideo Kino
TILE: fire/grass/water, using expanding absorb (20) > 40/80

Hideo nodded at Eris and Cass's words. "Wouldn't shock me if he really thought that. Asshole thinks destroying Hoenn's how to save it. Guess he really does believe the taurosshit he tried telling me, or maybe he'd actually try to be more convincing."

Rocket really had a habit of attracting the violent nutjobs, didn't it?

For obvious reasons, Hideo didn't take a lantern for himself - rather, it would be used for his Pokemon, Uxie grabbing one psychically. And Uxie was quick to inform him and the others that a promising path forward was blocked by debris - debris that they could safely break down.

But they were gonna need a lot of force. Which, fortunately, they had on hand, his shiny Aurorus firing a Hyper Beam right into the debris.

"Gonna kick his ass if I ever meet him again. Not even gonna give him the time to spew more shit."

Any Type (600) - using Hyper Beam (150)

150/600

Eris Halla Cassandra Kubrick