It was slightly embarrassing and all - revealing to others that, yes, she was the 'inheritor' of the Dragon Den. Not only was it always a sharp reminder of the weighty duties that would, one day, be her own, but...ah, her grandmother tended to not leave the best first impressions on others. And while she learned at a young age that apologizing for the elderly woman's antics were a waste of time, they were still...something else. Still, thinking about her, the woman couldn't help but smile, as she soon offered Aramis a small, perhaps almost shy smile as she rubbed the back of her head. "Really? Me?...Heh, thanks!"

Perking up significantly as he agreed to wanting to try her, admittedly bootleg and possibly questionable, dragon flakes, that smile quickly turned into a grin. A slightly concerning one. "Really? Okay, okay, perfect then!" She quickly scrambled about, rummaging through her pack and taking out a container. The smell the small, almost popcorn-like flakes emitted was...as though dragon fire itself had roasted them. "tada!" She placed a few into his hand before eagerly swallowing down a few herself. Truly, these things were spicy, but, held a distinct sweet tang to them. However, the spiciness was...intense. Enough to make the faint-hearted's chest feel like it was burning, or even inducing coughing, it was nothing to be taken lightly. Quite literally, it could make even a fire-type cry from how hot it was.

"You okay?" She asked after a moment of idly enjoying her homemade treats. 

As much as the pinkette loved a good action story full of fighting, chaos, and triumph, there was something she loved far, far more. And that...was a good love story! Suddenly, those 'hardened' features of hers grew softer, the fire that flickered in her eyes turned to mere embers as a light pink dusted her face. 'Just imagine it's Mateo,' she encouraged herself, as Venus carefully lowered her closer to the man before her.

"There's not many in these lands who can match my might," she began, "and I must say...I'm quite smitten, sir knight! For as many times as we've clashed blades, I've felt myself falling more and more..." The wooden sword she held abruptly dropped to the ground, as her hands reached forward to clasp and hold onto his own. "I shall give up my life of conquest, if you take my hand in marriage." A shy smile came to her lips, "so, what do you say, sir knight?"

"Cyle. With a c." Noelle repeated the statement without a lick of shame. She was pretty proud of it, to be honest. Why wouldn't she be? It was adorable! "Don't you like it?" She gushed with a happy little sigh. The pinkette currently laid on her stomach, the palms of her hands holding onto her cheeks and perking her head up as her legs occasionally kicked at the air as she offered kyle her undivided attention.

"i might need some help training him though, he's really stubborn," the woman complained, "but I can't ever be firm with him because he's so cute," she sighed.

it was hard to miss kyle's shout - given how loud it was. which was...sort of her fault. she'd.. apologize for it later. maybe bake him a cake or something.

either way, she quickly looked over at mateo, giving him a little nod. "dragonite's the fastest flyer here, right? that means you're the 'chosen one'," she turned back towards the few remaining hypno, "i'll clear out the rest of these guys. kyle, you back me up, okay? thanks!" with that, her hydreigon and drapion once again sprung into action with dealing with the rest of the remaining hypno. what they'd do with them after defeat, she was positive kyle could shed more light on that, given that he was a ranger and all.

"be careful, sweetie!" she gave mateo one last farewell. 

The only thing Noelle focuses on in the moment of utter chaos was the distraught look of Bryony. For a moment, she felt helpless. What should she do? What could she do? For a moment, she's briefly frozen, oblivious to most else that went on around her. She heard the briefly snide words of @valyx , and aside from a look and a twitch of her lips into a frown, she didn't do much else. It was only at the beckon of CHANCELOR MCQUEEN that she was roused back to reality, and her legs carried her towards @bryony without her mind telling them to do so.

She offered Chancelor a small, thankful smile before practically draping herself around the woman the moment he stepped back. Always touchy and overly affectionate, she doesn't think much of the gesture as their cheeks pressed against one another. She wanted to apologize, cry that it 'wasn't fair' and that it 'shouldn't have happened'. But...that wasn't what Bry really needed right now, was it? So, instead of saying anything, Noelle simply...hugged her. Perhaps a bit too tightly, and maybe for a bit longer than what was needed, but, like a security blanket, she practically suffocated the other woman in her presence. The angry glares of others from different elevators were blocked out by her, and she gave a pointed, daring glare to any who stared for too long.

Like a dragon protecting its treasure, she held onto Bryony fiercely, until, finally, settling down by her side and letting her hands hold onto hers. "It'll take more than just some...'dream' to get rid of me, okay?" She had no intention on moving until her companion was ready to - if she ever was ready to. "I'm here with you. Until the end. I promise." She gave her hands a small squeeze. "You know, when we're together, there's nothing we can't do, right? So, when you're ready, we'll face this - together." 

This place was...huge.

The pink-haired woman stared in wonder at the grandiose building, looking a bit frazzled and lost as she headed inside. Really, she had no place in being here. But, she wasn't here for sightseeing or some rabid fan trying to get a tour. Clutched in her arms were two neatly wrapped boxes in an eastern/oriental sort of fashion.

Despite their fanciness, there was nothing incredibly special about them, they were just bento lunch boxes. Specifically, for Mateo...and, Kyle, she guessed. Bryony said it'd be rude to 'only bring Mateo one'. Given she didn't ask many questions about their league life, she could only imagine that they were hard at work doing...whatever it was they do. So, she figured it'd be nice to bring them both a home-cooked meal!

But, she had little idea where to find them. Already, she'd been stopped by security several times due to 'looking suspicious', and after confirming her identity three times, it was getting a bit old. That aside, she couldn't help but feel as though something were...watching her? But, she did look pretty out of place, no?

"Seriously Mateo, where are-" A quiet, complaining grumble left her lips, only to be sharply cut off when she walked straight into someone. She stumbled back a little, dropping the boxes onto the floor - they, thankfully, didn't break nor open or anything.

"Oh, geez, sorry!" She had to be on her best behavior here, didn't she? Something about, 'not making the other two look bad' and blah blah blah. And so, she offered a polite dip of her head, even if she stole a few childish peeks upwards to try and see who it was. "Ah, seriously, sorry!"

Noelle sniffled loudly, shoulders shaking a bit at the thought of that poor little Goldeen as she tried to hold in her tears. She didn't mean to drop him...Maybe, taking him on the roller coaster wasn't a good idea. But, he was her...precious little boy! She had won him! He would've fit right on in at home, but now...

Before long, tears were genuinely streaming down her face, which had turned a bit red as she tried to stop her small bout of sobbing, but, it was hard to. Not only had she lost Kyle Jr, but, now, she was 'forbidden' from getting another one. The scientist's offer made her head abruptly perk upwards, as she stared at him with big, teary eyes and an occasional hiccup.

"C-Can I? Please?" But, wait, what if she dropped this Kyle Jr? What if he died too? Oh god, oh god, she felt sick. "W-what if I drop him?!" Her shoulders began to tremble once more, as another bout of wailing looked like it was about to begin. "I-I don't know if i trust myself to..."

Twitching slightly at the stupid nickname, Noelle followed the noise of Mateo's voice. And it wasn't long before she came across him, being eaten alive by a...Haunter? Seriously? All of this was one little haunter? Even her dragonair looked a bit annoyed by the situation. Noelle though? She snickered at the sight of the obviously irritated man. Before long, she was nearly on the ground, holding her sides and in tears. "You...you look ridiculous! And to think, you were scared of this!" True, she'd been scared too but...details!

Kneeling by his head, she smirked, not exactly 'saving' him just yet, if just to continue to poke a bit of fun at him. "Seriously, when- if I save you, I want a kiss, okay? It doesn't even have to be on the lips! But, I'm serious, okay?" Pleased with herself and her terms, she gave his head a little pat before giving the giggling haunter a glower. "Sorry, but, you gotta go! Odessa?" The dragonair let out a heavy sigh before approaching the haunter. A sole Dragon Tail was what sent it flying, and otherwise out of their lives.

All at once, the shadowy mess it had created was gone. The haunted house their home had turned into was gone, leaving the mateo laying on the floor as though nothing had happened. kneeling by his side and staring down at him, noelle smiled. "you're welcome!"

All she can do is focus on one thing at a time, regardless of the whirl of chaos and events around her. Cutting elevators? Dropping people to their death? Groudon? This wasn't real. And yet, the naturally superstitious side of her said not to take such belief for granted. That aside, dream or not...

Her green stare swept across her gathered family members. As cruel as it was, and as much as she didn't want to hurt anyone, they were her priority. As long as they were safe - by any means...A hand twitched towards one of her pokeballs, trying to decide if she'd aid with felling the other elevators. In the end though, the woman quickly shook off the foul thought when she noticed that there were other ways rather than violence to protect themselves. she briefly pondered cadis von klaussner 's words, but, she can't help but find cruelty in them. perhaps they held some truth though? 

Slight guilt dared to welled up in her throat at her near failure in judgement, but, she didn't let it hold her back. As optimistic as she wanted to be, if there was no other choice - if the other elevators decided it was hopeless and decided to 'go for it', she wouldn't hesitate like she was now.

With a touch of a hand to her pokeball, two pokemon revealed themselves. Alongside the others, both slowbro and chansey's bodies lightly glowed, as they utilized psychic to try and forcibly pull their elevator up.

A sigh of relief came from the pinkette as she, somehow, convinced the scientist to allow her to spend the night. His house was far different than the eastern, johto-esque style of her own home with her other clan members was - it was pretty interesting!

As they headed towards the kitchen, they briefly stopped to look at a cute little annorith swimming about in a tank. The woman couldn't help but let out a little coo at it. It looked weird, but, in a cute sort of way? Although, her whole face seemed to pale at the mention of 'kyle jr'. With a loud clatter, the plates fell onto the floor, and she soon followed as she fell onto her knees. Tears began to form in her eyes as she remembered the goldeen she had sworn her love and protection to, only to end up killing it in that same day.

"I-...I'm so sorry, Kyle Jr!" She wailed out in an ugly sob. she began to crawl towards the tank, hugging it as she sobbed like a mother who'd just lost her child.

Lounging in her garden with a cute coloring book, she was coloring with her venasaur, who idly scribbled nonsense in green using a vine. He seemed pretty happy though, and so was she. Until the ground began to shake, as though being 'rend asunder'. soon, a head popped from out the ground, much to her surprise. it was massive, with dense, rocky skin...an onix? why?!

she quirked her brows slightly, jaw clenching firmly in slight irritation of her garden possibly being ruined. however, she wasn't at all scared of the giant rock snake. to the point where she walked right on up to the head, arms folded across her chest. "that's really rude, y'know!" she scolded, "i'm trying to grow these berries to make a pie for a certain someone, okay? and if you ruin them, i'll be really, really upset!" glassy eyes stared at her with a look of confusion. perhaps the onix was puzzled as to why the trainer wasn't battling it, or trying to run it off.

"look, you're a," noelle paused to take a good look at an onix before nodding, "girl, aha! i thought so! so, girl to girl! me to you! you have someone you admire in life, right?" the onix gave her a rather stale face, but, the pinkette wasn't dismayed. "oh come on, i know there's some stallion stud steelix out there you're just hopping will notice the way your rocks curve, right?" now that got a reaction. if rocks could blush, the onix certainly was, as it attempted to burrow a bit of its face back into the ground. "no, no, don't be ashamed! love is wonderful, it's beautiful!" she let out a dreamy sigh, hands clasping to her chest.

"lemma guess, you're thinking these bright, ripe beauties will gain his attention, right? and to think you took them from a 'big bad trainers' garden, right, right?" thinking this was one of her cheap 'romantic flicks' her eyes nearly glowed.

"instead of doing all that though, why don't we help each other out? a girl to girl thing! i think your lover would find berries you've grown yourself much more meaningful than someone's you've taken. sure, you're huge, but, you've got a gentle look in your eye. you'd be fantastic help not only in my team, but, with gardening too! we can watch each other's dreams of romance blossom, sounds fun, right?" somehow, somehow, she'd managed to convince the rock snake, whose body trembled with excitement and promise, causing the land to shake once more. with a smile, she gently tapped a pokeball onto the creature's head. 

The gruesome sight of pokemon being torn to shreds and blood staining the dark ground made the pinkette's stomach swirl. It felt hard to breath, and her eyes felt a bit blurry with tears. Even if she hadn't lost any of her team, thankfully, the feelings of terror, grief, or even pain experienced by those around her was practically numbing the highly empathetic priestess.

Returning both of her pokemon, who stared at her in slight worry, she wanted to immediately seek out the first two people on her mind; @bryony and kyle lopez . However, they had to keep on moving. With a charging howl from the mutated manectric, those alive were sent into a frantic jumble of forcing themselves into the massive castle, with the large doors thankfully closing shut behind them.

Not breathing too hard at all from the sprint, she didn't immediately seek out an elevator nor even her friends. Lingering by the door for just a few moments, she clasped her hands together, letting them press into her chest as she offered up a quick prayer for those lost. Usually, deaths were handled far more ceremoniously and traditionally, given how sacred they were to her clan - it was there responsibility to deal with them. Perhaps it was a bit pathetic though that, despite being the heiress, the sight of ones life ending, especially so violently, made her feel like this.

She sent an additional prayer for the voice whom called out 'help'. Whether they aided it or not, she didn't know.

Completing the prayer, she moved to the nerd elevator after spotting the familiar sight of Bryony. Not caring if it fit her or lack thereof, she wanted to simply be there for her. Quickly placing herself within the elevator in a painfully quiet manner, she hovered near the other woman. Touchy as usual, she raised a hand to perhaps intertwine their fingers, but, hesitated, before her hand inevitably fell back to her side, and her gaze flickering off elsewhere.