”Any sign of it, you guys?” Lucia asked, her eyes looking out at the wide open space of the safari area. There were a few other areas with some more Pokemon that she had already caught before. A group of Mimikyu wandered close to one of the natural berry trees that provided food for the inhabitants here.

But still no sign of their quarry.

Hero huffed out his answer, much the same as Vulcan. The latter of the two sounded more annoyed than any sort of fear or intrigue. Lucia did know about how competitive he could be and wanted to find a wild Riolu as quickly as possible so he could wear himself out. Maybe it would help with their bonding, like Eris Halla had mentioned.

Nearby Vulcan, one Pokémon did wander out of the brush unexpectedly, a medium sized Sheildon! It was still pretty young, considering how it still quaked at seeing eye to eye with Vulcan, who was considerably smaller. The Charmander let out a stream of fire in front of the poor Dino, sending it scrambling away in a flurry of yelps and chirps.

Lucia winced at the display. Hopefully they could get some kind of challenge for him before he got bored and started to find his own way to provide some “entertainment” for the group.

”Keep looking! It's gotta be out here somewhere…”

{skipping}

☉

And just like that, Ranger Shalin to save the day! Lucia was happy to see that somebody could find their way back home to civilization instead of just getting lost in the woods all day. It was lucky considering that Lucia didn't have a phone, on the count of technically being homeless.

”Northeast of Oldale? But that means that we passed right by it!” Lucia groaned.

Hero tried to offer some sympathy for her plight by bumping into her leg and letting out a soft noise. Although not enough to push aside her frustration, the sentiment was appreciated

”Riding a Pokémon? You can do that?” Lucia asked. It was a pretty dumb question considering what Shalin had been on top of, but maybe she was part of an ancient family that could ride Pokémon like that. ”I don't really have anything.”

She was covered, as a strange Pokémon she had never seen before would be called out by Shalin. Lucia's eyes went across the surface as her eyes widened at the mysterious creature. ”Who is this?” She asked Shalin, carefully attempting to pull herself on the saddle while keeping hold of the incubator in the same hand.

One aboard, the trailer offered some small signs of affection to the Pokémon. ”She looks cool.”

Shalin Nariya

☉

With the Mimikyu caught in full, Lucia pumped her fist and ran over to collect her prize. The captured Mimikyu was stuffed into her bag just in time to catch the Charmander gloating about its win. The fire on his tail burned bright while he continued to stomp about.

”You did amazing, Vulcan! Thanks for the help!” Lucia praised the fire-type.

The Charmander let out a fierce growl that made Lucia flinch. Yet it wasn't directed at her. Behind the girl was a Seedot who had wandered too close. The noise had scared it off so that only a dust trail remained, but she only discovered that after turning a corner to check around her back. Vulcan let out a sated "humph" and continued to wander off in search of more Pokemon to battle against.

"H-Hey, wait up!"

Lucia called out and trailed after him. Hero squiggled off behind her though kept his distance from the Charmander, lest he be the next target of his fiery rage. Once walking beside the Charmander, Lucia smiled down and tried to engage him a little bit more.

"D-Do you want to find more Pokemon to battle?" A long period of intense staring at her passed. For a brief moment, Lucia prepared for another torrent of fire before Vulcan nodded in agreement. Finally, something that they could come to terms about.

"Alright, there's actually one Pokemon in specific I think would be a good challenge for you!"

{skipping}

☉

The man Lucia had approached didn't appear to be too caring about who he was speaking with. His masked head tilted up until the two of them met mask-to-mask with one another. The lack of any sort of energy or movement had caused the child to back away out of habit. Needles dug into every part of her body as his response back to her was short and lacked explanation.

His head tilted and off came the mask with his hand. The movement had really surprised her given exactly how long she had been wearing this thing. Something about its embrace just felt as if it had been locked that way for the rest of her life. Yet it was the name the man spoke that made her pause.

"Sophy?" she repeated, shaking her head. "Sorry, I'm not her."

Copying the movements that the man had made, Lucia had tried to quietly pry the mask off of her face. The display was awkward for a long couple of seconds but after an audible click, the mask was raised. Lucia was able to take her first breath of fresh air in a day.

"I'm Lucia. I just woke up here and I don't know where I am."

John Sullivan

☉

Lucia looked up at the giant Arbok as it was staring straight at her, or was it the egg inside of its warm home that it had been eyeing? Either case, it definitely wouldn't be too filling for the snake.

”Nice to meet you, Rumble.” Lucia said with a muted wave. She was much too on edge from the intense stare of the snake Pokémon to really calm herself down. ”You're, u-uh, cool.”

Luckily, Shalin had agreed to assist her in delivering the egg just in time for the festival. That was one problem down, but the force preventing the mission was still ever present in front of the child and ranger.

”Really? We could use the help! Do you know the way out of here?”

Hero puffed himself up at the Arbok, I flaring himself to bulk up and not appear so much as a snack. His trainer noticed this and quietly put a hand onto his head to help him calm down.

”I really don't even know if we're close to Oldale anymore…”

Shalin Nariya

☉

Hideo Kino had at least tried to keep her safe, as the masked Pokemon would come back and lash at the two. Lucia had received some marks of pain. A scratch here and there and maybe a small cut, but otherwise was in overall good health minus the mental torture that she was weathering. Just as fast as it had come, the Pokemon rampaged off onto something more interesting, leaving the two to themselves.

Before everyone could breathe, a torrent of cold, wet water splashed down upon them. The sheer difference in temperature was enough to have the child shiver a bit, though thankful for the shower to get the sweat off of them.

"Y-Yeah, thanks." Lucia said again, smiling up at Hideo behind her mask. He was able to introduce himself as an audible gasp escaped her lips. "Wait, Hideo?! Like, THE Hideo!?" That little bit of childlike wonder had sprung forward again as the younger trainer gushed over Hideo. To think that she'd be able to meet one of the gym challengers here of all places! "Thank you so much for protecting me. It's such an honor to meet one of the gym leaders. I just...wish it wasn't here."

One quick conversation later, everybody had gone and gotten new clothing from the prison guards here. There was a small little comfort in new clothing, and the mochi was still peach flavored. A small comfort in these trying times. But Lucia returned to her cell alongside Atreyu Hargrave and slowly falling asleep, whatever position that the two would come to terms with.

TL;DR:
- Thanks Hideo for protecting her then fangirls over him being a gym leader
- Finishes her shower and new clothes! Yay!
- Mochi is good, nom nom nom
- She heads back to her cell and falls asleep quickly

☉

Where was she? Was this some dream or something? She had been inside of the prison and now, this was someplace else...

Lucia woke up on the streets of the city, face down in the middle of the sidewalk. Still dressed in the same clothing that she had been wearing in the strange jail thing. She looked all around her at the strange sights and cityscape that lied around her. Bright, towering screens of neon lights and more.

All muted behind the black visor over the mask still on her face.

"Where am I?" she asked herself, tapping her foot on the concrete and beginning to wander around this strange city. It was clearly like some of the capitals of regions she had visited before, but...it was oddly different. Maybe it was the way some buildings warped around or didn't look like they fit in reality.

A lone figure stood in the middle of a town square that stood before her. Lucia paused and debated about what she should do, though their clothing suggested that they had come from the same place they have. The child had slowly began to walk over towards the squatting person and trying to look down at whatever they were staring at.

"Excuse me," she said in a shaky voice, "D-Do you know where we are?"

John Sullivan

☉

Lucia looked up at the next Pokemon who had stumbled out in front of her, and boy was it even cuter than the last! She recognized it as a Mimikyu, one of the more popular Pokemon that roamed around back home in Paldea.

"Oh, another strong Pokemon! This'll be easy Hero!" she said, looking down at Dunsparce before something popped back into her head. "Wait a minute, I just remembered..."

Normal attacks weren't going to work here, since this was a Ghost-type. Lucia frowned and looked down to her buddy, who was eyeballing her, waiting for her to come up with a solution. Lucia looked down at the available team, crossing her arms in thought.

"Darn it, who should I call out next?"

Her hands rumbled around on her belt at her options. Pinky and Muck could be strong fighters, as well as her father's...Pokemon. But she didn't want to call him out. Not after what she wanted to avoid once more. But there was one other pokeball with her. One that she hadn't used since talking to Eris Halla . Lucia pursed her lips in thought as the echoes of Eris run through her head.

"Whether they want to test their limits. Whether they're happy with how quickly they're progressing...They're more likely to listen if you know what they want."

After a moment of reflection, Lucia grabbed the pokeball and in a sudden flash of white, the Charmander was called out. He let out a threatening growl and turned to face Lucia again as she flinched and held her hands up in remembrance of the last time she had talked to him. Her coat was still a little charred from the last time.

"I know, I know! You wanna get stronger, right? But we need to practice if you want to push farther. But I need your help..."

The Mimikyu had overheard their discussion and chirped out a ghastly cry to intimidate the two of them. Vulcan faced the offending Pokemon and let out a fearsome streak of fire, not one to run from a fight. Lucia looked over at their opponent and smiled a bit as her Charmander at least seemed to be allowing her to help it.

"Fire Spin, Vulcan!"

The Charmander reared his head back and blew out twirling embers that settled around the Mimikyu. Harsh flames licked the sides of its body and continued to prevent it from charging in. The ghost-type's head drooped form the attack, though it was still being dealt slight damage from the attack. Vulcan charged forward and was ready to attack as she belted out the next command.

"Finish it off with a Fire Fang!"

Vulcan chomped down on the Mimikyu with burning teeth, sending the ghost-type with a shuddering blow. Mimikyu pushed back to try and free itself as it had then suffered a burn, though had been overpowered by the sudden attack. Lucia fetched another Safari Ball out and tossed the empty capsule at the wounded Mimikyu.

☉

Lucia was enjoying her time with Sammy so far. Even with the age difference between them, it felt so nice to just be a kid again. To forget that she was technically a runaway and in Hoenn illegally and perhaps even being hunted down to return back home. It was enough to feel “normal”, whatever that felt like anyway. Hero was spooked by the kid's exclamation and calmed down quickly afterwards. For such a calm type of Pokémon, it came to him easily. He did enjoy the affection given, put on display but his tail swaying side to side.

”I bet Blizz is pretty cool, just in a different way.” Lucia said, happy as a Clampearl in the deep sea. ”You two must be super close.”

Her feet kicked one after the other while she sat on the swing, sometimes attempting to match Sammy's speed. It was just a cute little time for the two of them. Children dealt bad hands in life but making the most of their time together. Lucia couldn't judge the boy much, even with her limited world view. Sammy had been attempting to answer her question about going to Paldea before a strange man had approached the two of them.

He held Sammy back from her and there was some kind of intent written on his face. Lucia made one movement to sit up and prepare to take off in a dead sprint from the swings. She had run away several times ago and had gotten pretty good at it. So why did she stay? Her eyes looked over at Sammy and the other man behind him. He was lonely as she was, it was written on his face as clear as day. But why was she hesitating? Why couldn't her legs move? A fear gripped her heart, even as this man who had been nearby pulled out his phone to show her a picture.

”...!”

Two faces of people's she's never seen before. They're well dressed but not to the point of being "rich people" like. Her eyes forced themselves upon Nikita's and her answer was given. A quiet shake of her head. Her Dunsparce had let out a soft growl. He puffed himself up in an effort to look bigger than he actually was though it was more akin to a Teddiursa trying to look fearsome.

”N-No.”

Nikita Sokolov

☉

There came a disturbance from afar as the brushes and shrubbery of the woods would shake along. Lucia looked around for any signs of trouble and frowned, wondering what could have possibly been lurking around in an area that was among the most peaceful in Hoenn. Yet as it grew closer, she reached to pull the incubator closer to her in an effort to protect it. It meant a lot to people, so she had to ensure nothing would happen to it!

"Do you he- Gah!"

Hero looked around with her until the Dunsparce emit a soft hum to let her know the direction they were heading in. The danger came in the form of a large Arbok that had made a bid to try and make a mad dash towards the egg and swallow it whole. Yet as it neared, Lucia scooped up the incubator and then scooched back on her behind.

"Nononono! Please don't eat us, please don't eat us..."

The top part of the snake-like Pokemon reared up just in time before it would come to rest right before the young trainer. But sitting on top of it would be a familiar face.

"Shalin?!" Lucia nearly shouted as the adrenaline coursed through her body. After managing to calm herself, Lucia stood up to meet the eyes of the ranger she had met at the VCT. "Yeah, we were on our way to Oldale to delivery an egg and I kinda...got us lost. What're you doing here?"

Shalin Nariya

☉

The sounds surrounding the area were anything but peaceful, as the sound of hushed conversations had come around the corner from where Thea was. As they inched closer, inch by inch, the voices could finally be heard of. What painted a picture better was of the shouts coming from afar.

”She's getting away with our haul!”
”Yeah, thanks to you, genius!”
”Shut up and move! Gengar, go get ‘em!”

The scrambling body of a child in an oversized coat tore through the bushes in front of Thea. On her back was a bag of pokeballs that she had been carrying for a while, based on the redness of her face. A Dunsparce slithered behind her that was keeping an eye behind them.

Before the two could fully escape, Lucia suddenly shot up into the air and flailed around as an unseen force had spun her upside down. The bag of pokeballs fell to the ground while she kicked to try and get out of whatever had held her.

”Lemme go!” She whined, attempting to squirm free of her restraints as the trio of Rocket goons were quickly approaching. She looked down at the Dunsparce with a concerned gaze and used what energy she had left to issue. ”Hero, run!”

The Dunsparce puffed itself up and refused Lucia's order, aiming to fight against the Rocket forces alone.

Thea Naito

☉

It had taken a while for Lucia to recover from the overwhelming pressure of being stuck as slaves in this mysterious location. Even behind her mask, the child's tears could still be heard dribbling down the side of her cheek. It was still terrifying to imagine spending the rest of her life here, but Lucia recovered soon enough with a sharp inhale. The mask was muggy and humid from her own tears, but she found it in herself to glance up at Hideo Kino and nod her head.

”O-Okay.” She murmured to him and bit her lower lip in uncertainty. Their wardens spoke up to usher everybody into the weird platform or elevator, while Lucia hesitated for a moment, then walked beside Hudeo as everyone gathered one one platform.

It was hard to discern voices from faces, as many people here were still unknown to her. She didn't even really know the person who had comforted her, unable to identify them based on the voice alone, but they sounded young like her. It was a small comfort to have somebody like that nearby and it helped with her confidence immensely. She quietly took her place beside Hideo Kino and remained quiet alongside everyone else.

Lucia could have sworn she heard the voice of Eris Halla around them previously, but didn't dare to look anywhere but forward now that they were directly nearby some of those weird looking Pokémon.

The trip down to the new destination they had in store was a bit longer than before, leaving Lucia with only her thoughts and fears to keep her company. She thought back to some familiar faces that had crossed paths with her, though, worried they too, were stuck in this hell. It was a scary thought but she just quietly prayed they were far away from this. John Sullivan no doubt would be able to save them from the moment they woke up. But Lucia had to stay strong so she could learn more from him when they met again.

”I wish you were here, Doug. You'd know what to do right now.”

The floor's descent had ended with Ana audible click as machinery settled into place and people were allowed to move once more. Unfortunately, they had been helped to get a head start on the punishment offered to them as the green canine would suddenly throw them off of the platform, including Hideo Kino.

”H-Hey! What are you d-”

In a minute, she was airborne! Lucia sailed through the air before landing on…something. It wasn't solid, which was nice, but it was gooey and very clearly not fun. She looked down at the vat of substance they all had fallen through. It looked familiar and purple, as Lucia held up a sample to her face. ”Mochi?” She asked aloud, though spinning it around would reveal some fleshy red bits inside. One of which just so happened to be…

An eyeball.

Another terrified Lucia scream later, she tossed the glob of mochi away and got to work quickly. The person that had helped coax her through the last task had buddied up to her again and got to work cleaning the floors. Their punishment, however, only showed itself in the middle of their duties, as a bipedal masked Pokémon would stumble out of the area above and join them.

And by that, they meant it would be their torment through the duty.

Lucia worked quickly to deposit the mochi in the bowl, though would oftentimes get a kick or a lash aimed at her. The person had done their best to keep it away, as Lucia stopped to look up at whoever this person was.

”Why are you doing this? I don’t want you to get hurt worse if I have to.” She whispered to Hideo Kino. ”I’m used to it.”

vWAdsC8K

TL;DR:
- Consoled by Hideo Kino and is slowly gaining confidence
- The smol and tol meet, as the smol sticks around him
- Taken alongside the other people who failed the first test
- Thrown into the disgusting mochi and begins to help clean it
- That strange masked Pokemon continues to try and attack her while cleaning up, though Hideo Kino interferes to her dismay

☉

"Damn it, this should be an easy job!"

Lucia held an large incubator in her arms, currently standing a long ways away from Oldale Town, where they had been expecting the delivery of said egg for the latest spring season for their garden's harvest. She wasn't told what the egg exactly was, but only that it was to be taken to Oldale. So that must have meant it was pretty important!

At least, it was until she had tried to take a shortcut through the routes there and ended up hopelessly lost in the woods surrounding it. She huffed and looked down at the Dunsparce by her, who would look up at its own let out out a noise. Lucia huffed, still lugging the heavy incubator around.

"I told you, we were right on track by the clearing back there." she complained. "Let's rest a minute, this thing's heavy..."

The two stopped by a fallen log as the child groaned. The incubator slowly slid down onto the grass before she followed with a tired slump onto the grass below them.

MISSION: Eggs In One Basket

Shalin Nariya

☉