The Eevee was first to jump into her arms as the Pokémon was then treated to petting, nuzzles and every other affectionate term that could be used. She laughed at how cute the little fluffball was, grinning eagerly. "Aw, you're so adorable! I have a Sylveon of my own, she'd love to meet you herself~" While Ribbon was no doubt going to be envious of the affection the Eevee received, Vanilla threw out her own Sylveon onto the field. The fairy type looked at the other Eevee, sniffing around it curiously. Once it seemed content, Ribbon would waggle its ribbons at the Eevee, almost wanting to play.

Noel's words did cause the teen to understand the importance of exercise and warming up. She'd hum along to him, although internally roll her eyes at his worry about her not being able to keep up. In her usual bout of defiance, Vanilla beat her chest a single time, taking a prideful stance. "I've been through worse. Ultra Space, a tomb, the list goes on." The RotomDex buzzed along, adding, "We're tougher than you look. Maybe even tougher than you kekekekek~"

Noel Parker

Once the Druddigon had lowered itself to show that it no longer meant any harm, Vanilla would finally be able to move more than an inch at a time. The rest of the man’s team wandered closer as she carefully walked forward to the group. So many interesting Pokemon, enough that she just wanted to shower each one with affection! She took Noel’s hand offered to her and used it to pull herself up. Once on two feet again, she’d smile a bit. "Nice to meet you, Noel. Sorry about that. I’ve never seen a Pokemon that big before. Aside from the Corviknights back home." The girl knelt down and offered to hug and pet any of his Pokemon that would approach.

"Since you were training, would you mind if we joined you?" The RotomDex hovered beside his owner, with the Rotom possessing machinery looking across at Noel and then to his party. "Are you guys warming up for the Gym Challenge too? Or is it just some regular routine?"

Noel Parker

Vanilla nodded in agreement, casting the Sheriff with a knowing glance. "I agree. He comes off…a certain way, but deep down, I think he’s way more nice than that aura he gives off. At least, to me anyway." Sure, she was a bit biased from him saving her Fuecoco and all of his assistance, but Vanilla did think that Thomas did have a good heart in him. It was just buried underneath a lot of excess baggage that made it hard to see sometimes.

Navy warned her about him as she’d nod her head along and continue down the stroll the two of them were engaged in. They stumbled across a pond that he used to travel over to her side, in a rather confusing way. This place didn’t exactly have all of its laws altogether. It was like watching a Basculegion swim up a waterfall, if said waterfall was half of a donut of her perspective. The man reached her, another weight off of her shoulder. One less thing to worry about. She’d hesitate to open up as he gave the go ahead. A slow breath came out of the teenager as she tried to settle her mind as they walked again.

"I know you said being a trainer isn’t innocent. It’s a cruel world. I know it’s dangerous, b-but just after everything I’ve been through…" Her brows furrowed as her mouth was left agape, struggling to find the exact words for her issue. After a second of thinking, Vanilla began again. "Have you ever talked to somebody who hasn’t gone what you’ve been through? You just…feel weird? I have friends at school and class, stuff every kid has, but when I talk to them I just…don’t feel like a kid anymore. It’s like listening to a baby complain that they didn’t get their favorite snack or something. I don’t know, I just…They don’t know what it’s like to be through what I’ve been through, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but I just feel like an alien to them."

Vanilla vented, her gaze lowered in shame. It had gradually lowered until the girl couldn’t make a conscious effort to meet Navy’s eyes any longer. "And the nightmares. I keep having the same one. Just swimming in an endless ocean. I swim and swim and hear people calling out to me, but eventually, I just sink."

She stopped, her emotional dam finally breaking as Vanilla wiped her eyes, the waterworks starting. "I know it’s part of what we do, b-but it feels like I’m just alone with kids my age. I just want it to stop."

Navy

The ground quaked around the group, causing Vanilla to scurry away alongside most of the group to safety. Her feet hit the ground as fast as they could as the ground gave away beneath her. By some stroke of luck, the Galarian had leaped towards safety just in the nick of time. The other people in her party, roughly half the group, hadn't fared too much better about this. Vanilla turned around to see a giant hole where everyone else had been through. A few coughs escaped through her covered mouth, doing her best to limit how much smoke was being let in. The rising temperatures close to the peak wasn't helping matters any, and right now was already being overwhelmingly hot. "Navy!" The girl yelled down to the other half of the two that had scolded her at the beginning of the trip. It looked deep, but she knew that everyone down there could fend for themselves. They were an elite squad of people from Hoenn, after all.

Well, and herself.

El Sunderland seemed to take this development the hardest, having cried out for their brother. The two had interacted briefly as Vanilla carefully walked over to try and offer a sympathetic smile. They cared deeply for Isaac, although she didn't know exactly why. They could be family or just extremely close. "He's gonna be alright. Trust me, like half the people down there wouldn't let a fall take care of them." Even kyle lopez shared the sentiment to try and ease El's mind. But in a more confusing display, the boy would summon two familiar Legendary Pokemon out of nothing. The act had left Vanilla speechless, having not witnessed such an act before. The Raiku and Suicine would each be only barely corporeal, made out of some kind of dust or something. They were mirrors of what once were likely proud legends of the Hoenn Pokdex. She pulled out a Pokedex and tried to scan each in some vain attempt at obtaining their data, but even the camera would fail to register their shape. "How did you even do that?" she asked, then looked at Kyle for a moment. She waited, as if he had forgotten about the third and final canine brother that the two dusty versions had. Once it became clear that it wasn't coming or El or her, she'd huff and turn her attention back on the people in the hole until they were leaving.

"W-Wait, we're just going to leave them down there?" Vanilla asked, motioning to the hole. Even if any were to reply back or scold her again, she knew that time was of the essence. That expression of conflicting about the decision was as clear as day on her face. After the reminder, the teenager cursed to herself and followed behind, but not without huffing in belligerence.

They continued on while she did her best to keep up. Sweat drenched her forehead on the walk over, wiping it with the back of her head to try and cool down somewhat. While not as well equipped to handle something you might need an ash version of a legendary for, Vanilla could at least offer her assistance where it was due. She walked alongside the group and paid attention to their surroundings. Everything still seemed to be growing tired of their existence here, and there was no guarantee about whether or not those weird Pokémon from before were going to reappear. During this little trek, she noticed that Yuina Higashi had been staring at the black plumes above. She looked along with her while she summoned a Feraligator and would proceed to try and cull the magma flow that created this little airspace. It took a Waterfall to stop the flow of magma as they could finally make their way around to pass through the narrow passageway.

Vanilla walked along as her Iron Thorns trudged alongside her. The atmosphere was as hot as it was tense, with everyone on edge for what could attack them next. They came across a vantage point as Vanilla ventured close to the edge. It was seas of magma for as far as the eye could see. But she did spot a small group of Pokémon on the other side of the mountain before them. Were they being followed or watched? The road before them was winding around and hard to follow, especially as it came to a towering wall of earth with the path leading to the side. They could continue down the path as normal, although Vanilla had other ideas.

"Electrolyte, gimme a boost." she said to her Iron Thorns, the Paradox Pokémon slowly leaning against the Rocky wall and helping her to grab a hold of some small rocky outcroppings. The stone was hot to the touch and felt painful the longer she stayed put. It reminded her a lot of that time she accidentally held a hot pan without checking to see if the oven was on. But as long as she moved quickly, it could be a pretty ascent. Her grip slipped, almost causing her to hurdle back down towards the ground, but she recovered. Once she had reached the top, Vanilla would look out at the vista she had climbed on top of. Some faint silhouettes were visible in the sky, and she carefully went to the edge to gaze out at the surrounding places. One of which caught her eye.

"Hey guys!" Vanilla called down to the party, a decent amount of distance upwards of where they were. A hand pointed westward, towards an outcropping of rocks. "I can see a bunch of Pokemon going over the ridge to the left! There might be a shortcut to the peak there!" Of course, this proceeded to cause her throat to inhale a bunch of heavy, scalding hot air alongside some smoke. She’d look for a way back down so as to not give her location away to their predators.

---

TL;DR:
↳ Vanilla has no Sygna Suit equipped.
↳ Vanilla's Iron Thorn is currently active.
↳ Begrudgingly leaves the hole party be
↳ Walks alongside the party on their way down the path Yuina made
↳ Uses her Iron Thorns to scale a rocky wall and found a shortcut to the summit past a ledge
↳ PROMPT: Vanilla Kingsley’s past experiences in unfamiliar environments must in some way be critical to the team finding their way to the summit.

"RIght. There's gotta be a way out of here somewhere. Knowing wormholes, there's probably an exit somewhere." Vanilla felt a little better at his optimism. She'd breathe a sigh of relief while craning her head up to meet Navy's vision while the two stood on parallel planes with each other. They began a slow walk while Vanilla was offered some chance to talk and just be normal for a change. Sure they were stuck in whatever fresh hell this was, but that wouldn't stop Vanilla some. Their footsteps trekked down the beaten path while they walked.

They walked on as she gazed around the sky. Just around them just faintly visible, were orbs that moved as they continued to walk down the path. They almost looked like eyes of some kind, following their target with great interest. It only further put Vanilla on edge and would have had her panic had Navy not been there to get her mind off of things.

"It's been something." she said, beginning her recollection. "Since the gym challenge, I've been to the Safari Zone and catching Pokémon for my team. I got a Charcadet and I might evolve it to match somebody else's. Thomas Benoit." She said while her gaze went to the sky with a smirk. "We met one day when some Rocket thugs had caught Proxii and I fishing. They dumped my bag and threatened me when he came by. We tore through those Rocket grunts together and he's the coolest guy. Maybe as cool as you." Through her recollection, Navy could make out her perception of Thomas. Even if he didn't know the guy, the former Elite Four had left his mark on the girl.

They chatted some more, but Vanilla would begin to grow wary. Her tone softened until she'd go quiet for a moment. Could Navy know what she was feeling? It was something he could have went through before. She spoke up after a while before the teen would look back at him after what felt like a solid minute. "N-Navy, can I ask you something? I know you've dealt with this stuff before, and I was hoping maybe you could help."

Navy

By some small miracle, the girl that Vanilla had been with would waggle a bag of antidotes in front of the two bickering friends while piping up about a lesson learnt. Proxii got a huge grin on his monitor face as his trainer gave a pout, shaking her head in defiance. "Th-Thank you." She cautiously grabbed Proxii and shoved him inside of her coat pocket. She had almost lost him in one of these expeditions before, and she would be damned if she'd let it happen again. Vanilla gave a nod towards the older girl as she followed her descent.

As she trailed behind, Vanilla pondered how she knew of Navy. For whatever reason, much like Thomas Benoit, Navy had somehow been intertwined into her life. They crossed paths a few times since that fateful day in Navy's gym. She appreciated his help and dedication to ensuring she wasn't going to kill herself by ignorance, although she was hopefully not going to be smothered to death by him helicoptering over her. Vanilla looked back to the other girl. "So how do you know Navy?" she asked curiously. "Were you a gym challenger as well?"

An unsettling silence drifted over the two. It put her at ease for a moment, until she would begin to feel her fears circle around her head. Silence was usually not the greatest thing to be around in the Ultra Space. A hand shot to her belt, fetching a Pokeball while preparing herself. "Ready to go. I've been to this place two times. What's one more into this aquatic hell?"

Hyakkaryōran Tsubaki

"I guess you could say I'm not just some kid." Vanilla laughed to herself, standing in pride as she'd nod towards the mysterious man standing before her. Kicker would mirror her sentiment, letting out a taunt cry while his trainer would speak. "I've been through a hell of a lot more than most kids my age." The guy sent out a Scrafty as she hadn't seen that one before. Her RotomDex flew out of her pocket and hovered beside her, quickly scanning the Pokemon as it was added to its PokeDex.

"Scrafty, huh? Let's see what it can do!" Kicker looked at his opponent and started things out by launching the Pyro Ball it had been kicking about towards the Scrafty.

"And yeah, I'm going for the Gym Challenges. I'm gunna be a Pokemon Champ. What about you?"

Kouji Matsubara

The Druddigon seemed to have noticed them, as the massive Pokémon would swing around and claw at the trees where the two were hiding behind. The act had made the girl freeze in fear, having found her cover torn away and thrown off into the distance. Amazed by the power, Vanilla trembled in fear as a man had come from close by to see what had caused his Pokémon to lash out like that. Seeing as how the teen was too shaken up to talk, the RotomDex had taken up the responsibility to speak with the other trainer. "We were looking for Pokémon to expand our team and saw your..." Proxii quickly scanned the Druddigon as his PokeDex let out a soft whirr to confirm the data obtained.

"Druddigon and wanted to try and catch it. We didn't know it was yours." Vanilla nodded her head up and down to confirm this, still frozen in place as she'd keep her eyes locked onto the Druddigon. "I'm Proxii and she's Vanilla. What about you guys? Any reason you're out in the middle of a route doing yoga?"

Noel Parker

Another day, another life threatening, but educational adventure. This time, Vanilla had been with Navy by the beach when a sudden feeling of vertigo came over her. She felt herself falling endlessly into some sort of void. The details were sparse, but it didn't take a Rocket scientist to know that something didn't really add up all that much. Vanilla clutched Proxii in some vain attempt to stop her fall but it just kept going on and on. Eventually they reached an end as she blinked and found herself that definitely wasn't Hoenn.

"Huh?" Vanilla looked all around at the foreign landscape. This was like something out of some nonsensical dream. Stairways and paths looping all around in ways that didn't seem possible. Waterfalls moving up instead of down, and most noticeably, Navy being upside down. "Where are we?" Vanilla asked aloud. Proxii, the ever vigilant Rotom, would pull out a digital map of the area, or he would have if one existed. His screen was crossed out with an error message lacking a signal. "Wherever we are, this definitely isn't Hoenn. I don't even see any map data."

Navy seemed to have been in good health despite their fall while the teen looked up to him, heeding her words once more. "You don't have to tell me that again…" she replied, the gravity of the situation settling in. "There's a way back to Hoenn. We're not going to be stuck here, right?" Vanilla's mind couldn't comprehend this place as much as she thought she could from the first glance. But if they just fell into an open wormhole like this, then how were they going to get back? What about the gym challenge? What about Biscotti? She couldn't stay here forever!

The teen gave off an aura of anxiety, a general uneasiness when faced with the thought of being stuck here. Vanilla's hand went to mess with the jewel around her neck, nails gently digging into the surface of the gem out of habit. "I think we should try and meet up first. Maybe look around and see if we can both get on the same plane. Just be careful about platforms and things here, Navy. "

Navy

Everyone around them would suddenly jump into life as the time for boosts and whatnot came. Vanilla still held onto Cauli while Josh and first place would rush on by. She huffed, having thought she could get the jump on the gym leader by now, but he still had a few tricks up his sleeve for now. He rocketed forward as Vanilla wasn't too far behind, rushing behind Josh as the turn ahead would be coming up faster and faster. The teenager would motion for her Altaria to glides low in order to brake properly on time, and to not crash headfirst into some of the barriers of the race.

Josh Devlin

Vanilla had been up to her usual adventures, busy roaming the many routes outside of the cities and towns of Hoenn. She had been looking to expand her team somewhat beyond its current scope, having needed something that was a fierce contender to lead the charge in a battle. Her RotomDex hovered along with her while the two would find themselves walking down a familiar road.

"Ugh, we've been walking for an hour now and not one Pokémon out here seems like a good fit. I already have fire types taken care of, but what about Psychic?" Vanilla mused to herself, busy looking through some binoculars to search for something that caught her eyes. Proxii had remained busy calculating the data from other trainers of what Pokémon were usually caught along this route, his screen flickering between charts, a map of the area, and his own digital face. "We would have more luck if we moved away from populated areas. The best of us don't really stick with humans." It was a good point as the two continued down the path as Proxii would catch sight of a pretty large Pokémon out of the corner of his eye.

"Hey, what's that?" Vanilla perked her head up to see a massive shape across from them. It looked like some sort of great lizard. Her eyes came to life with excitement as she slowly walked closer to observe the Pokémon. It was busy doing something, but the teen would stick to the shadows and watch it with glee.

"So cool…"

Noel Parker

It had been a pretty boring and slow day in class so far. Vanilla had been busy lounging around after spending enough of her days wandering about, when a strange new voice would speak up to her. The teenager swung her neck around to face the stranger she had never seen before. He wore a weird little mask and didn't really seem to be here for an afternoon study session. Thankfully though, neither was she.

"Sure do." Vanilla said with a confident nod. She dipped into her bag and pulled out a Pokeball, calling out her Cinderace, Kicker. The rabbit Pokemon would kick out a ball made of flame around as he awaited his opponent. "You looking for a Pokémon battle then? If so, call out your best! I can take it!"

Kouji Matsubara

Once again, into the wild blue yonder. Vanilla found herself saying that phrase more and more often as these excursions into Ultra Space had continued. Her previous adventures into the Ultra Sea hadn't produced much information about her father's whereabouts, much like any other time, but she couldn't just throw in the towel just yet. "Here we are." Vanilla said idly, looking around at the surroundings as the scent of coral and salt greeted her. Her trusty RotomDex, Proxii, flew up to come beside her as he scoured the land. "Blegh. This place still looks as dumpy as the last time we were here."

They weren't alone this time. A woman with white hair and a more fanciful way of speaking was leading the charge of the two. Proxii raised a plastic eyebrow at her speech about what the other Pokémon had found in the depths here, but followed along. "Even the Ultra Beasts here haven't found where this ends? I bet that will be totally safe. Definitely nothing down there that's going to want us dead." It was followed by a sharp elbow into his case as Vanilla perked up about hearing her name called.

"Born ready!" she said happily. "I've been down here a couple of times now. I think I know what's going to be waiting down there for us."

"Try not to get bit this time." Proxii remarked with a trademark snicker. "Navy's not here with any medicine."
"It was only once! I'm not letting that happen again."

Hyakkaryōran Tsubaki