He was between her and her pokeballs. She didn't think he'd go for violence, as she hadn't seen 'play with your food' behaviors from any Marshadow before. She didn't want to stay up all night waiting for the pokemon to make a move. "I'm not playing games with you. Get out of here." She made a shoo'ing gesture. The Marshadow flickered backwards, knocking into one of her pokeballs.

Spiritomb popped out, and Marshadow looked at it with a strange expression. Instinctively, Robin dove between the two of them, awkwardly not on all fours but on three, with one arm braced outward to add distance between Marshadow and Spiritomb. "Don't touch him," she insisted steely.

She stared him down. Marshadow blinked.

"Did you come here for my pokemon?" It shook its head no. "Did you come for me?" It nodded. "Why?" It blinked.

Okay, that's on her. Yes or no questions only. "Are you here to hunt me?" No. "You want a fight?" No. "You here to explore the non-Border land?" A pause. Then, a nod. "Okay. But you're around me. You think I'm a tour guide?" No answer. She exhaled slowly, trying not to give into her frustration. Marshadow pointed at Spiritomb. "My pokemon," she observed aloud. "You want to see them?" Slow nod. So not quite true? "You want to see Hoenn with them and myself?"

An enthusiastic nod.

Okay, so he did want to use her. At least he wasn't trying to knock all her pokemon out and contribute to her abduction. This Marshadow had a low bar to clear in terms of being the best Marshadow she'd ever met. Even still, she didn't need this thing on her team. It did not listen, it still brought up raw memories, and she wasn't knowledgeable enough about anything from the Border to feel comfortable keeping a Border pokemon close to her out here.

"No, I'm not going to do that. You can find someone else." 

"Oh, yes! I remember. It's been a while, but I remember Drakloak busted into your place in the Woods that one time." She'd learned a lot from Shalin that day. And the off-the-grid living had looked pretty convenient at first, but Robin's constant camping over the region while travelling as a Ranger had slowly been grating on her. She missed have a solid home, and she wasn't sure she wanted something so aligned with nature with how much time she spent exploring.

She followed Shalin to the ice slide. It was probably fun, but she couldn't see where it'd land from where they stood. What if it got really narrow? If the ceiling came in close, she could totally hit her head on a stalactite. She took a deep breath. "I'm okay. Dragapult's strength is more important, but he's pretty robust. He lasts longer on expeditions than I'd think with how energetic he is." She pet his head, then descended from riding him so she could get down the slide. "Alright, I'm hoping this is very sturdy."

She investigated the beginning of the slide, pressing her foot against it in case it was actually fragile. However, Vulpix came too close and nudged her, eager to go, and the duo went down the slide with Robin crying out in surprise. Vulpix made a pleased note as they went all the way down. The momentum was gentle enough that she was able to land on her feet, taking a few steps forward with the energy of sliding down. The cave was darker down here, no small holes in the ceiling to let in light. All the same, the sparkling of stones -- ice stones -- were barely visible, bringing a big grin to her face. "Man. This cave really has everything."

Sinistea chimed happily at the idea of the Kingdra, so Robin finally relented. Josh had never led her wrong. She would at least play with the Kingdra, even if riding felt out of the question. She came closer to the tank to rest her hand in the water whether Josh whistled for Keiga or not. She couldn't help but smile at the idea of Josh making room for a Wailord here. "Yeah, they're kind of intimidating. They're no Joltik. I think you could host a million of those in your gym, easy." Her pokemon teams were mostly standard-sized, ranging from half her height to only a little taller. Dragapult was her largest, and he was just nine feet tall.

"Sensitive to control? I didn't know there were still challenges you had to face as a rider." It was light teasing. Josh was a well-seasoned rider, so it was hard to picture a pokemon too hard to for him. Still, she wasn't she could even hold onto the Barraskeweda, even with a saddle. They were so smooth and physically dynamic for their rapid speeds. "If I experiment with more ride pokmeon in rotation, I might get the practice to get into those celebrity races. Though... I'm not sure that's what I want to be known for." She laughed. "I think it's gotta be hard to juggle the needs of all these pokemon on top of your responsibilities. You let people tour your pokemon often? I bet the interaction's really good for 'em."

"That's Marshadow," Robin introduced, looking torn about his performance. He was strong -- all Marshadow she knew were -- but she needed him to be a team player. She meant to say more, but a Shalin-like shadow appeared, creating a deafening noise. Hydreigon roared in anger and pulled her up into the sky to try to get away from the noise, moving erratically as his heads bobbed with disorientation. "Easy, easy!" She struggled to stay on as the Hydreigon played evasively.

Marshadow took the brunt of the disorienting, deafening noise. He threw a thunder punch at him. She didn't want Marshadow to fight solo or to encourage the independent plays when she still needed to work on their bond. "Mar, return!" She didn't want to get closer to the bridge, and Hydreigon was not following her cues to land on the ground again. Neither pokemon was cooperating. She hoped Shalin could tackle the new shadow opponent without much help.

Manifesting and reflecting for Wintertide?

I haven't done something like this since I was a kid. Oh well, it's pretty harmless. For Wintertide, I want to show Gwendolyn Conway all that I've learned from my time in the Border with Shalin Nariya. I've become a stronger trainer, and I want her to know that I've grown from the events that hurt me earlier this year. And we should have hot cocoa.

My past is my past. Of course, my life would've been easier if I'd been a psychic like all my family, but. Then, I wouldn't have the team I have now. I wouldn't be a ranger. I don't think I'd change anything. Maybe win that fight I should've won out in the ocean routes.

Right now, I want to keep moving forward. But I'd like to cherish my time more. I keep moving too quickly between areas of Hoenn, and I feel like, honestly, a ghost. I need to set down roots. This is my home. I've got to act like it.

Um. If I do really well, I think I could be the Ranger Captain of Dewford! But I have a lot of growing to do. I need to get better at battling and strategy. And I'd like to be more comfortable with more pokemon than just dragons and ghosts. And I want to get to know more people. And stop Rocket operations that are moving in the shadows. In the future, I'm going to be brave and strong enough to tackle it.

This Wintertide is going to be my most successful yet, but not my most successful ever. I'll tell you all about it next year.

"Nice to meet ya," she said, hoping Elise knew her Hatterne well. She didn't mess with psychic types, so she didn't have a good set-up for calming down others. Her spiritomb could put them to sleep, maybe. "It'd be cool to see your Hatterne in action. My spiritomb can help the pokemon, ah, feel sleepy. It might calm them down a bit." She pulled a pokeball to bring out Spiritomb, but she didn't see a good opportunity to toss her into the brunt of it. She didn't want the pokemon to get tossed around before she could use hypnosis.

Then, she decided Spiritomb would be fine. She tossed the ball out, but she hadn't been holding Spiritomb's ball at all --- it was Toxel that she tossed out into the battle grounds. "Oh no!" She took a hurried few steps forward, but the Primeape immediately surrounding the Toxel paused to pick up the baby pokemon and inspect it. The Primeape made a cooing noise and held it close, some kind of parental instinct kicking in.

With wide eyes, she turned to her Ranger partner. "Um. Do you think Toxel is safe over there...?" She was torn between charging in with all of her pokemon to save her Toxel and letting things go if the Toxel would calm pokemon down.

The scene was gorgeous. Her jaw dropped at the sight of the Glastrier. It was regal, though she had a thing about horse-like pokemon and wouldn't approach it herself, ever. "It looks hard to ride." It carried itself so... formally? Majestically? It was hard to look away. "I had no idea all of this was under here. It almost makes the danger worth it."

She scratched Dragapult's head, looking around. "I can see why you might have made a few trips down here. What else have you seen that compares? Maybe you should run some Hoenn tour guides." She had lived in Hoenn her whole life, but even travelling constantly as a Ranger, there was so much she was missing.

His collection was eclectic, though she was coming to expect that from Josh. She was most impressed with the Greninja. It was a pokemon she had considered getting for herself. She reached out to the Lanturn instead, letting its feelers approach her hands. "I want to get Seadra to Kingdra, but we've got some trust issues right now to work through. Unfortunately, the reason for that is also why water travel is so, uh, anxiety-inducing."

She loved the diversity of water pokemon, and they looked so free in their habitats. But she wasn't ready to get into the water yet. "More for you," she insisted. "I recently saw a Wailord in person for the first time and gosh... I think there are a lot of water types I'm not brave enough to ever try, haha." They were docile enough, but they were so gigantic. Sea travel only, those guys. "I heard Barraskewda is the fastest water pokemon. Can you keep up with one on any of your others?" As she asked, Sinistea came close, as if sensing her discomfort with sea travel. She chittered around just above the water, watching the pokemon in the tanks.

"A Hydreigon?" The two shadows were barely distinct; the one on the ground was far enough that she wasn't worried about it, but the air-bound shadow was a more immediate threat. "Use hyper beam!" The Hydreigon launched the heavy attack, but the shadow launched several beam types to cancel it out. "Geez, this place gets more dangerous every time," Robin observed.

She felt a pokeball shift in her bag, the only warning she had before Marshadow broke out. "Mar! Get back!" It soaring fast to hit the shadow Hydreigon with drain punch, knocking the dragon backwards. "Return, now!" Despite its efficacy and its comfort in fighting in this realm, it was a bit of an emotional trigger to not be able to control the Marshadow.

She sighed. "What's up with the shadows in this place?" She couldn't forget that moment her own shadow had disconnected from her body for no reason. This place was something else.

It moved towards her; she hated it, but she flinched, instinctively.

For all her work with re-normalizing her life or whatever after the events at the water routes, she still had that stupid animal instinct to hide. Because fighting hadn't worked and running at come at a cost. It was a bitter pill to swallow, her failure, and it was exacerbated by the cruel way she treated her pokemon afterwards, like salt in a wound. Her shame was two-prong, almost three with the way her fear lingered around her, the way she cowered away from the Marshadow before she steeled herself, straightened her posture and leaned in towards it.

She hadn't looked away when she flinched and she wasn't now, even as shame made her want to. But she was Ranger Robin Coello, friend of ghosts, and she couldn't afford to hide. She couldn't afford be scared of any ghost -- it would betray her entire message, her foundation, her purpose in life. "What." She repeated, tone even but forced.

And it turned its head in curiosity. "Why'd you follow me?" She gestured wide with her arms, voice raising in her anger and confusion. "Why not stay in the Border? No one asked you to come here! You don't belong-" She cut herself off and looked away this time. She wanted ghosts to belong, that wasn't what she meant. But Hoenn felt safe to her, outside of the water routes... she didn't want the scariest pokemon she'd ever faced to ruin her sanctuary. But. This wasn't the same Marshadow that she had been attacked by earlier in the year. Her baggage wasn't its cross to bear; she was a hypocrite for trying to do that to it.

She exhaled slow, then met its eyes again. "Why are you here?" She asked quieter.

Like a flash, it flew into her tent. "Hey!" She chased after it, but the Marshadow was resting on her pillow like a person would, staring at the ceiling of the tent.

"Bro-" she started informally before she checked herself. "I-- c'mon. You came here to take my sleeping bag?"

Marshadow had followed her out of the Border without her realizing it until she was at her campsite. She had been inside her tent about to sleep, but the sight of the Marshadow's shadow cast upon her tent, the visual of its outline pressed against the fabric by the moon's light, jolted her to full awareness. Her heart raced, nearly beating out of her chest. "What the hell?"

She wasn't going to be terrorized by Marshadow, not when she had pledged to everyone that she would be stronger. She pushed herself out of the sleeping bag and out of the tent, coming out swinging and with a battle cry, but the pokemon was gone the second she opened the tent. She looked around, but it was nowhere.

A nightmare?

She put her hands down, sighing. Her shoulders dropped and she let her head hang, too. The relief and embarrassment flooded her, but she didn't let it overtake her. She exhaled evenly, determined to sleep well tonight without nightmares of the Marshadow that'd attacked her. But as she touched the flap of her tent again, she felt it before she saw it: the Marshadow just a centimeter within her peripheral, waiting.

"What." She asked between clenched teeth. She took a breath before turning her head to look at it.

Stupid Marshadows weren't as expressive as Snorlax or Gengar. Still, she knew how they were feeling because they put out a vibe or presence that she picked up on like she did with all ghost pokemon and most others, that intuition of hers that picked up on some other level of energy. And this one.... was curious.

About her? Why?

She held its gaze, but it did nothing. She blinked at it, unwilling to break first. She sensed no aggression, but she also didn't feel any affection from it. But why else would it follow her?

Robin nodded at Shalin. "Yes, I'll be good for exploring any worrying bridges." She released Hydreigon and got on his back as he lowered a head for her, the other two looking at the curious location. He'd been before, but something about the ghostly environment always seemed to pull at her pokemon and pique their interest.

"I'm getting a little better at navigating this place. I think." She was more confident in directing Hydreigon, at ease on his back because he'd demonstrated a more level head than the rest of her team. But when they arrived at a gap between floating islands, the bridge between was more ephemeral than she'd seen in the wilds, and the bridge looked oddly elastic, almost pushed to its limit as it stretched and yawned between the islands.

Robin shook her head. "The more I see, the less I understand..." she commented, unaware of the shadow figures on the other side of the bridge that were beginning to make their way over to them, fast.

Robin could do little but flinch as Gengar took a beating, biting his large tongue and being flung off like trash. She was grateful when he returned to her side, but no one else's contribution seemed to be working out too well, either. She pet the side of his face, sympathetic, but the duo had no time for rest and recovery. Their perpetrator was going to make things worse way before he made them any better, and they had to act.

She sent out Snorlax to help Gengar tank the air cutter attacks, Gengar using shadow ball and Snorlax using giga impact to force the cutters to dissipate before they could hit her or her teammates. It would free up some time for her team to focus on offense since they wouldn't need a defensive action. Snorlax took a breath to recover, and Robin thought her options through.

"Could we create a wall and limit its area? It'd be easier for all of us to slam this thing down if it couldn't go anywhere. I'm afraid if things keep going like this, we're going to recreate unforgivable collateral damage, not just this thing." She really wanted Snorlax to use Earthquake to throw the assailant off its rhythm, but it wasn't worth the risks to the area, or her team.

Rrww50EB

tl;dr: sent out snorlax; both gengar and snorlax tank the air cutter moves so everyone off the train can focus on offense.