[attr="class","rosepost"]She focused on her breathing. The small footfalls of the Litleo as it came up to Miltank were impossible to ignore, but thankfully, the two pokemon interacted kindly. If the Litleo were bigger, perhaps it would have attacked Miltank. As it was, they were seeming to be unlikely friends. Keiko removed her attention from the two of them and instead re-centered it on herself. She needed this mindfulness.

[break][break](normal/fairy/ghosts) (skip)[break]

[attr="class","rosepost"]The hills were serene. These small moments of peace were treasured in such tumultuous times. She sat with crossed legs at the top of the hill while her Miltank grazed. Often, time seemed to pass at breakneck speed. She had to consciously take opportunities to slow down and breathe. She trusted Miltank out here to alert her if there was any Rocket activity, so she closed her eyes and focused only on herself.

[break][break](normal/fairy/ghosts)[break]

[attr="class","rosepost"]She sucked in a sharp breath as Silverio touched the book. Death wasn't something you could catch, but the sight still made her reel back. She whined nervously at the back of her throat, hesitant, but she stepped closer anyways to look beside him at the book's contents. [break][break]

Perhaps these people had been studying the odd creatures in these rifts. [break][break]

Had they been killed for doing so? Or did the bodies predate the author, and someone else had documented the beasts while preserving the folks that had once lived along side them. The chronology was unclear. [break][break]

"We need to get out of here..." Should they take the book with them? Was that unethical? The research could be valuable, but it would also be contaminating the site, wouldn't it? Behind her, a tear appeared in space, a new rift opening that connected their realm to Hoenn. The spontaneity terrified her, but... why look a gift Rapidash in the mouth?

[break][break]silverio delfino |[break]

[attr="class","rosepost"]She slowly registered with Rex said, his soothing tone trickling into the stormy waves of her anger that kept her arm wrapped around Pelipper violently. She was so focused in throttling him that she didn't notice anything had popped out of his mouth until she heard the warning tone from Rex - one that had her instantly dropping Pelipper to turn to him with concern. [break][break]

But it was no tragedy. The pokeball shot out and captured Gogoat with barely a fight. Keiko stalked towards it while Pelipper celebrated his newfound freedom by flapping to Rex as if to rest in on his head like his tangled hair was a nest - though he would settle for the ground if Rex so much as waved a hand at him. Pelipper couldn't risk two trainers angry at him, after all. [break][break]

Keiko picked up the pokeball and inspected it as if it were a small venomous seviper. Her gaze lifted meaningfully to the ocean, wondering if she could toss it and leave the Gogoat sunk in the water for an eternity. The thought, however, was interrupted by a coming boat on the horizon. [break][break]

"Boat. Here." Perhaps she had suffered a traumatic brain injury, or perhaps the surprise at seeing Pelipper actually accomplish his mission left her dumbfounded.

[break][break]Althus Rex [break]

[attr="class","rosepost"]Keiko's shoulder ached from the heavy bag slung across it, but she wanted to walk with Rhea the Ribombee, and the little bug was unequipped to lug such a thing around. Rhea's presence was naturally relaxing, and she needed all the help she could get in that area. The rising tensions immediately following the loss of Petalburg left her uneasy. [break][break]

Still, she'd come to Hoenn for the exact purpose of delivering necessary parcels and intel during the war, so she couldn't let the nerves get to her. The problem was these little in between moments; she was totally fine in the thick of it, but everything else gave too much opportunity for thought, which meant too much opportunity for worry. They were back in the real world, no longer confined to an island that had been isolated enough to push the war to the back of her mind. Sometimes, it felt like she was still getting her land legs back after being seabound.[break][break]

"Maybe we should pick up the pace." She looked at Rhea, who offered a chirp of encouragement. Keiko spared a glance at the sun's position. "We have maybe an hour before dusk. We might want to set up camp and continue tomorrow." They'd made decent progress from Rustboro anyways.

[break][break]Althus Rex Grigori Sokolov Alba Evovae | 50 MP have your character recall a past thread or event that they have participated in or not (link the thread).[break]

[attr="class","rosepost"]She spares a single precious moment to look back at his mega evolved Greninja, awed by its appearance and its power as it used ice punch to clear much of the swarm. "Yeah," she repeats as she turns back to the depths of the tunnel, "deeper it is!" [break][break]

She moves down the path as quickly as possible, attentive of any stones jutting from the walls. The tunnel eventually drops into a large, circular room. There are no durants, though she recognizes their little footprints here, too. [break][break]

There are bodies around the room, but it is immediately clear that they're dead despite their immaculate condition. It looks like they could have died just minutes ago, but she knows in her heart that this is not the case. The bodies are blue in hue, and their clothing is strange, so she knows these are megalopolans. What that means, she can't really say. Her understanding of these rifts is too fresh to understand that they're almost like snapshots into megalopolan life, to some degree or another. [break][break]

Her hand hovers around her camera. It feels wrong to take pictures of this, but it also feels like something they ought to document. She looks to Silverio questioningly - what is his take?

[break][break]silverio delfino |[break]

[attr="class","rosepost"]"If I'm right, then there's a chance that we may run into them sooner or later..."[break][break]

The moment his thought trails off, the inevitable happens. She stops short as a Phermosa steps into the path to block her passage. Behind her and Silverio is a cluster of Kartana. [break][break]

"Well," she utters as Slowking strikes at Phermosa with a headbutt, "what's a little pandemonium on this oh-so-uneventful trip?" Silverio's facing the swarm, and she's ducking out of the way of Phermosa's lunge, throwing herself to the ground. Slowking gets between her and the Phermosa as the UB strikes with a double-kick. He takes the kicks to the face, then growls and launches himself at her, wrestling the tall UB to the ground. [break][break]

Keiko's got Slowking's back, though, and she launches a pokeball at the UB as it prepares to bite him, interrupting its assault. "We can't go back the way we came," she states in a rush, since the opening to their secret tunnel is filled with Kartana. "We gotta go deeper before we can get out." She looks over to his end to see how well he's handling his swarm of paper-y UBs.

[break][break]silverio delfino | 🗺️ SPECIAL HUNT[break]

[attr="class","rosepost"]Keiko's brow furrows at his concerns. "What are you hearing?" She strains her ears as they meander through the maze, but then she catches it. At first, it seems like buzzing. Then, she hears what is distinctly a slicing sound, like metal tearing through paper with precision. "What the hell sounds like that?"[break][break]

The sound's getting closer. [break][break]

"Slo' take the lead," she insists, and the Slowking bravely does. "Keep alert." She hopes the psychic will receive a premonition or some other sixth sense advantage against whatever's coming. Instead, however, the Slowking steps on a weird plate in the floor and the ground shakes once more, revealing some tunnel to their left. "Almighty Sinnoh, forgive me if I indulge in unhealthy vices after this trip." She needed a drink. [break][break]

She turned to Silverio with a reserved expression. "Visit the passage or try to find the source of the sound first?" The buzzing and slicing seemed to get ever closer, soon to converge on them.

[break][break]silverio delfino | 13 involve quicksand, secret passages, or being buried alive.[break]

[attr="class","rosepost"]Maisie's got maybe too much enthusiasm. But Keiko feels camaraderie with someone who approaches Combee with something other than disgust, so she knows she can't back out of the challenge before her. Maisie downs it first, and Keiko follows a few seconds behind with visible apprehension. [break][break]

It's disgusting. Keiko's face scrunches up and she turns her head pre-emptively, but she successfully fights the cough. She thinks gasoline might've been better, since the sweetness does a bad job of covering up the harshness of the drink. [break][break]

Keiko tentatively places the cup on the counter and tries not to think about what she's just done. The barkeep's review is more positive than anything Keiko can offer. "Um, definitely unexpected. Could work as a secret ingredient kind of deal." Please don't serve this to a human being, she wants to say but doesn't. "I think I'll abstain from testing out any concoctions made with that thing, but I might bring a friend to try it." Someone who needs a little punishment, maybe. [break][break]

"I ought to head out before it gets late. I'll see this little fella out." She gently taps the Combee, which lifts from its refreshing drink and settles into the palm of her hand readily.

[break][break]MAISIE MAUDLIN [break]

[attr="class","rosepost"]Worth exploring? She hoped so. "One way to find out," she said, following the opening to the underground that the obelisk left behind. [break][break]

She didn't voice her concern that they would enter the tomb and never come out. [break][break]

The tunnel was well-lit with torches. Small bug-like footprints adorned the ground, but occasionally, she saw a large human footprint. "Well, this looks intentional," she commented, given the torches, "but it also seems to primarily be a place for pokemon, right?"[break][break]

She followed the turns through the tunnel as it forced her to, until she met a fork. Was... was this a maze?

[break][break]silverio delfino | 19 involve following a trail of durant, or their underground mazes.[break]