"Whoa. Old soda." Despite the statement's almost innate sarcasm, she actually was impressed. She wondered what they'd do in Ever Grande in terms of analysis. And, of course, she wondered if any of the techs there would give it a sip after they finished running their tests. It could taste very good, especially if it wasn't actually expired.

Though. She felt little desire to try it herself. This place gave her the heebie jeebies far more than the Border ever did. The absence of activity in the city felt far more unnatural than the ghostly vibes of a deserted land. The juxtaposition felt deeply inhuman. "Yeah," Robin agreed. "I'm eager to get out of here." She felt a headache coming on, and paired with the anxiety she felt over the Poipole... she was not in a rush to explore the land.

SFPEhIP5

The poipole held its distance, but Robin's body was thrumming with tension as she waited to see what it would do. However, the pokemon stayed away, evaluating them all. It was unsettling to sense that predatory examination, but she didn't want to force further combat against a pokemon she knew something about. She triggered the pokeball's return feature again, forcing Toxel inside despite his earlier disobedience.

"This kind of disaster must have been sudden for there to be no signs of intelligent life," she added on to Shalin's observation. There were no notes about where survivors could go or even any indication of them. Perhaps it was a disaster not dissimilar to Kanto. She belatedly turned from her staring contest with Poipole to see Shalin had shifted towards something else: she was examining some sort of machine.

Robin followed, looking it up and down. The diamond hole caught her interest; she wasn't sure there was anything that could be shoved into it besides... hmm. "Perhaps the crystals lying around would fit?" She cast a wary eye at Snorlax to ensure the mention of them wouldn't compel him to grab more and crunch on them. "Certainly wasn't designed for PD or a key..." The shape was too odd, too distinct.

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"Feeling okay." She stretched a little more, feeling a bit cramped from the positioning she'd taken. Yes, she'd definitely prefer flying to climbing, but it was fun to try it alongside someone so experienced in riding. She followed his gaze to the sky and watched his flying and dragon types above. She really did want a sanctuary like this for ghosts someday, but she wasn't sure how to begin setting roots down. Her entire time as a Ranger had been characterized by moving, by running from home and the baggage there and continuing to move to avoid thinking about it all.

Where in Hoenn could even be home?

She shook her head to clear the grim thoughts, bringing her attention back to Josh. "Yeah, I'm good for a flight." She wanted to race him, but she didn't want to issue the challenge. She liked a lot of things, but losing wasn't one of them. As if overhearing, a Skarmory dove down between them, moving so quickly that Robin had flinched back. "Whoa," she uttered as she looked the metal bird up and down. Even Sinistea came over and chimed with intrigue as the Skarmory preened.

Robin's brow furrowed as Gwen snapped at her, but before she could offer much of a retort, the gabite was fleeing the scene and the two of them were following it all the way to a group of Rocket members. The sight of them made her blood run cold, her first run-in with Rocket since The Incident. These guys were less intimidating than the masked one that'd almost abducted her successfully, but she couldn't afford to underestimate an enemy again.

"Earthquake," she instructed of Snorlax without a doubt, her voice purposefully devoid of emotion and warranting no back-talk from Mun. He stepped hard on the earth, generating the earthquake at a magnitude that the civilians inside the bank most certainly felt it, but its magnitude was only great enough to disrupt the earth into cracking around the grunts, not so much as to crack the foundation of the building. The disruption of the ground forced the grunts to the ground. Their pokemon team broke out of their pokeballs, revealing a tropius, klefki, and magmortar -- strange pokemon for grunts, but whatever.

Robin considered if surf-then-blizzard or giga impact would do more damage, unthinking of the damage it would certainly do to the environment around the bank and the building itself.

"A playground?" Robin hustled over, Snorlax in tow. This place gave her the heebie-jeebies. "Why do those things look like that?" She asked as she got far enough down the street to see it: the playground filled with husk forms and a particularly large one in the back. They were unmoving in the darkness, which made her feel worse, because she could tell something was moving out there...

A poipole shot out from behind a husk and struck Robin in its speed, knocking her down as it pushed past her and used venoshock on Snorlax. Robin worked her way back to her feet, feeling one of her pokeballs shift eagerly in her belt. She pulled it without a second thought, but it wasn't Marshadow as she thought.

Toxel arrived. "Toxel, return!" She waved his pokeball around and looked at him incredulously -- he'd been acting up lately, itching for something she wasn't giving him. Instead of listening, he used shadow rave on the poipole as it flew their way, creating shadow spikes that pierced the poipole as it was caught off-guard and forced it to gain some distance by hovering by the playground, leaving several yards between it and the trainers.

Toxel seemed raring to go, but he was still a baby and largely incapable of defending himself. "I wasn't expecting to find pokemon here. This place is so deserted."

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"W-wait, what is--?" Her questions were cut off. The thing was eating power whips, but Robin wasn't going to deprive it of the onslaught she figured Shalin wanted. "Hit it, Mun!" She kept her feet firmly planted to the floor, head on a swivel for any other things like the one before her while Snorlax used hammer arm on the husk. A buzzing emitted from the abandoned building beside her, making her flinch.

The city was creepy. She had done her best to keep her spirits high, but this place was far more foreboding than the Border. The Border was unclaimed and uncivilized land, but this place was so... developed. Lived-in. Its history was clear despite the mystery that surrounded it to her. She preferred the literal ghosts of the Border to the figurative ones of the Megalopolis. At least, she thought they were figurative.

"Aren't we just going to attract more with all of this?" She hoped Shalin could hear her. She hadn't seen the Ranger connect to another pokemon the way she had Flygon, but here she was with a Venusaur and a suit to embody their bond. Even with the show of strength, Robin had no interest in facing a horde of zombies...

"That's a whole lot of pokemon..." His plans to have just about everything that can be saddled was ambitious, but she hadn't expected any less. He was very much a 'go-getter' and hard to deter. She'd never seen him brought down by anything he'd encountered. His optimism and unwillingness to give up were definitely admirable, though she was concerned he often took on more than any one person should.

Fire Eyes let her control their movement, which was harder to do while balancing than just letting Salazzle take the lead, so it took a few moments for adjustment. "Never before," she admitted, "and maybe not again. This climbing thing is scarier than flying." She hoped she wasn't put on any missions that required mountainous travel on climbers as opposed to fliers. She would certainly never trust the aid of a psychic type to move her, so she would have to succumb to climbing in such a situation.

She directed the Salazzle to the top of the slope, letting herself dismount and stretch, feeling a light ache in her abdomen from balancing. She did a lot of traveling, but she wasn't necessarily doing crunches or a full gym routine as an on-the-move Ranger, so this was definitely a workout. "Geez, I've been getting more ride experience than I expected. I'm going to be a professional if I keep this up." She laughed as Fire Eyes stretched out to get comfortable. "I suppose it won't be long before I challenge you at this rate." She was still nervous at the prospect of gym challenges, but she had been warming up to them lately.

"You chased down the author?" Robin pushed at Gwen's shoulder in disbelief, exclaiming, "Gwen, you're such a nerd!" Gwen's intellect had never been disputed, but she was always surprised at the lengths the other went to learn something. The redhead was very determined and studious. It made Robin consider the relative challenge of dragons, though she had lucked out with Hydreigon's easy-going nature... Dragapult was more of a handful, though.

She appraised Gishath, but she wasn't sure what to make of him. He looked a little freaky, but she was used to that as a ghost type fanatic. She wondered how hard-headed he was. "I wanna see him in action. What does he do?"

She then considered Gwen's questions about the rest of her team and felt her mood sour. "Toxel's still... all shadow-y. No changes. Gengar's same old, same old. My Alolan Vulpix evolved, though. And dealing with Dragapult instead of Drakloak has been a better challenge. He's grown into his chaotic energy, believe it or not." She pondered the question a little furhter. "Oh, and I hatched an egg! It was a Sinistea. I'm so fortunate." She beamed.

"What's in your mouth?"

She turned a quizzical eye to Snorlax, who had been travelling behind her but recently had made some suspicious noises, making her think he was eating something he shouldn't be. She gave him The Look, but he averted his eyes, avoiding her gaze. "Mun," she warned more seriously. He considered his choices. Then, he chewed again, choosing the worst case scenario.

"Mun!" She socked him in the stomach, a soft punch that he didn't really feel through his natural layers. He relented and stuck out his tongue, some darkened crystal falling out. Her eyes nearly bulged out of her head as the crystal chunks fell to the ground. She was sure they'd already been in small pieces by the time he grabbed them, as he was no Sableye, but still. "Mun, who knows what that could've done to you!" Her voice rose in her exasperation, unaware her voice was echoing throughout the defunct city.

She didn't notice anything was amiss until she saw a large blob in the distance coming closer, little whips or something coming off of its form. "Mun... get ready for a fight."