Forum Thread

The brunette had lost count of how many times she'd paced the length of the station's single platform in the... She glances at the pink Pokétch on her wrist-

17:07

Mio had now been there just over two hours and yet there was no sign of the newcomers. She huffs in frustration, crossing her arms over her chest in a fed-up manner. The young goat Pokémon, on the other hand, seemed to be having the time of its life, taking no notice of it's panicking trainer as it tirelessly frolicked around.

"The train couldn't possibly be late now, could it? Surely not..." But with no sign of the trainers and the dinner party starting in less than an hour, she would have to make her next decision quick. "If by any chance they arrived early, or I arrived late, then they'll probably be in town by now. Skiddo? Skiddo! We're heading back now, buddy, come here!"

Alora-Rose got up from her seat, and started to walk around and grabbed some food such as apples, cauliflower and cucumbers while her Rookidee followed her. As she grabbed her food, she wonders where are the other trainers, and hopefully Alora-Rose will understand the situation with the shadow Pokemon, "I must remain defiant because I am curious to know what's going on and what should the other trainers do, though I am training to become a Pokemon breeder", Alora-Rose said.

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ѕнιи
тнє вσυffαℓαит'ѕ нєα∂ | ιи∂ιffєяєит

Shifting a bit awkwardly at being addressed, Shin put on a polite smile keeping a more or less professional face. "I'm sorry miss, but I'm not sure. Though becoming a breeder is an admirable career to pursue." Shin replied politely. A motion in the corner of Shin's eye caught the young adult's attention as the owner of the inn discreetly called the employee over.
"There's a dinner party in an hour. Care to help set up?" Shin's employer whispered with an apologetic grimace directed to Shin. There was genuine remorse in the owner's words and without even knowing it, Shin had already agreed and was walking back out into the main lounge area.

It wasn't hard to get everything in place, with the area in which the party would be held already decorated to look like a dining hall. Changing the tablecloth was enough to make the hall take on an elegant and refined look and when Shin turned off the overhead lights in favour of using the opulent and dusty chandelier hanging from the ceiling, the change in atmosphere was palpable. All in all, it took Shin no longer than half an hour to transform the inn from a run of the mill pub-like space into a dining hall fit to receive new residents

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꧁༺ 𝒦𝒶𝑜𝓇𝓊 𝐻𝒶𝓀𝒶𝓏𝑒 ༻꧂

𝒯𝓇𝒶𝒾𝓃 𝒮𝓉𝒶𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃 | 𝒜𝓅𝑜𝓁𝑜𝑔𝑒𝓉𝒾𝒸

Having spent a fair bit of time simply sprawled on the beach and familiarizing himself with the foreign yet familiar crash of waves, Kaoru glanced down at the watch decorating his wrist. He felt like he was forgetting something, he mused as he took out the letter to read over the contents. Ah. There was apparently someone waiting for him at the train station. Glancing between his watch and the letter he let out a small wail of distress at the time disparity. Hiking up his duffle bag, Kaoru didn't even bother putting his shoes back on as he made a mad sprint for the train station.

With his feet pounding against the pavement, his heart in his throat, the only thought that ran through Kaoru's brain was "oh my god, I'm so dead". His feet scrambled against the rough terrain, toes desperately gripping onto any semblance of support as he passed confused onlookers. Please please please still be there he thought desperately, seeing the telltale shadows of a train station begin to grow closer and closer, a lighthouse within Kaoru's frenzied panic. A lone figure was pacing across the platform and Kaoru gulped in one last breath of air before skidding to a stop before Mio, nearly slipping on the smooth surface.

"I'm -- so so sorry." He panted out, hunched over his knees as he attempted to catch his breath. God, the last time he ran that fast was... no let's not go there. Coughing a few times, he quickly checked that everything was still with him. Shoes, check. Socks, check. Duffle bag that has been properly zipped, check. At least whatever deity was out there took a tiny bit of pity on Kaoru. "I uh, got off a station early and got lost."

---

After hearing the words from the fine trainer, Alora-Rose was surprised, "Well at least this trainer understands my point about becoming a Pokemon breeder but at this rate I am not so sure if I can trust that trainer, only time will tell", she continued eating her cauliflower while her Rookidee ate some bird seeds, then she heard a strange noise from outside and started to become a little nervous. "Who's there, I need to know?", Alora-Rose asked.

---

Baffled: she was. Even the Pokémon beside her appeared a tad puzzled as it tilted it's head, checking out the new arrival. Golden eyes, too, flicked over the trainer, narrowing in confusion upon noticing the lack of shoes on his feet. Did he seriously run all the way here like that? The thought of running along the mountain trails without shoes had her cringing but braved a smile as to not make the newcomer feel any more awkward than he probably already did.

"I-is that so, huh? It can't be helped, I suppose. We have some nice scenery around here, I'd have probably done the same, aha~" She pauses briefly, before remembering there was little time for small talk, with a list of things still to do and not many hours remaining before curfew, "Well, I hope you're okay and didn't get injured on your little trek. My name is Mio Blossom, and I'm serving as Mayor in the place of my father for the next couple of months as he has had to go out of town for work. You can tell me all about yourself on the way back but, for now, we have to get going."

Mio grips the trainer's hand, gently tugging him along back on the same route he had speedrun just moments ago.

"Can't have you running away again, can I?" Mio asks, rhetorically, grinning to herself, "Skiddo! You too, come on! Oh- By the way, did you arrive with any other trainers? I had been expecting a few others too.."

꧁༺ 𝒦𝒶𝑜𝓇𝓊 𝐻𝒶𝓀𝒶𝓏𝑒 ༻꧂

𝒲𝒾𝓉𝒽 ℳ𝒾𝑜 | ℱ𝓁𝓊𝓈𝓉𝑒𝓇𝑒𝒹

Finally lifting his head, Kaoru gingerly slipped his shoes back on still slightly winded by the impromptu jog. He wasn't exactly the most athletic of people and while he did keep in shape but running across unfamiliar sloping terrain did tend to take the breath out of someone. Slowly looking over Mio, he felt his mouth go dry for a second before he was jerked off his feet as Mio tugged him along. "Oh uh, yeah sure. I'm a pretty open book though so what you see is what you get." He stammered, awkwardness sitting heavily on his tongue. He didn't really know what to do when faced with a situation like this, his cheeks dusted with pink. "Didn't see any other trainers though, no." He finally managed to say once he had resigned himself to such a fate, to be dragged around for now.

---

Enduring a close call, Alora-Rose continued her dinner while waiting for the other trainers coming along, "I need to know about the shadow Pokemon, I want to conquer my fears, I just hope there's going be answers about this shadow Pokemon situation", Alora-Rose said curiously but still at times feel nerves coming at times so Alora-Rose took a deep breath and still waited for more trainers to come.

---

Hiryta had already finished choosing Grunts for the assignment and sent out emails informing them that they were part of the group. Once she had done that, she hesitated a bit. She was tired from last night-staying up so late that Isabelle, her Absol had to break out of her Pokeball and wake her up. Maybe she should go to bed...No, that wouldn't do. She could still do more. She opened her laptop and started viewing the security footage from that day. Everything looked normal....wait. She frowned. Why was there a note on that door? It looked important...and Hiryta made it her job to know about the important things. She stood up. Should she go? Or should she send a Grunt to figure out what was on the note? Hiryta knew that notices were often posted in this town's little "community center". Hiryta had a silent debate about it with herself, before deciding to go and find the Grunt who would be handling communications between her and the group. Along the way, she would decide what the best course of action would be. As she was about to open the door, she glanced at the mirror that had come with the office, noticing the bags under her eyes were becoming more visible. Hiryta made a little noise of disgust. She hated looking anything more than neatly professional, and anything less or more than that was unacceptable. But that wasn't important. She smoothly closed the door and headed off in the direction of the Grunt's Training Room, where Hiryta determined would be the best place to start looking for them.

---

Alora-Rose realized it was a false alarm, "Whew, it's only the wind", she said. So Alora-Rose continue to explore around the Bouffalant Inn and hoping to grab some food for her and her Rookidee, then once more she heard a knock on the door of the inn, "Uh oh! I think more trainers are coming, I know that I shouldn't be nervous all I have to do is be defiant and be a confident future Pokemon breeder", Alora-Rose said and her Rookidee smiled.

---

Hiryta stuck her head in the doorway. "You...you, and you." she said, beckoning to three grunts. As they left the room and stood before her(totally not nervous or anything.) Hiryta paced in front of them before looking at all of them. "There's a note posted on this town's little," she paused and made air quotes with a disgusted look. "Community Center. Now, with the New trainers coming in, and the threats that can pose, I want to know everything that's going on in that little town. Any move they make could be a danger to us, and I don't want to be caught unawares, and I sure hope you do not either. So I want you three to figure out a way to find out what's on that note. Is. That. Clear?" She stared them down until they nervously nodded. "Good. You'd better be off then." She walked away. As she walked, Hiryta thought. She had heard a lot of stories as a child, about former organizations, such as Team Magma, or Team Skull. All had failed in their endeavors. But Hiryta...no, Hiryta wouldn't let that happen. She had worked her way from nothing, from poverty and loneliness and abuse, to the Admin of a largely successful organization. But she wasn't about to stop there. Hiryta was ready to go as far as the world would take her. And if it wouldn't take her to the top, Hiryta would make it. She wasn't about to throw that all away. She wasn't going down again. And if that meant being paranoid, then that meant being paranoid. Hiryta opened the door to her office, shut it behind her, and collasped on the seat, looking at the open laptop. "I'm doing this right. That's the only way to get ahead."

---

'This woman-'

Although Blakely didn't know her well, or any of her admins for that matter, she sometimes got the feeling that the raven-haired woman was a tad too into her job. However, Blakely commended her efforts, reckoning that if she continued doing as such, Hirtya could easily dethrone the big boss. Well, she'd have to locate him first. In the months of joining Team Umbra, Blakely had never met Mister once and was sure that he had never even shown his face since the factory was erected. Now, intercepting and reading into private emails from him to her leaders, she'd done several times before. What they didn't know wouldn't hurt them, right?

Lilac eyes followed her senior until she disappeared from sight. She finally exhaled a sigh she'd been holding in before glancing back at her colleagues that would be accompanying her on this seemingly basic mission - if you could even call it that.

"We'd better get a move on unless y'all want to be demoted to 'test subject', i.e, like that grunt in the testing cubical this morning. I 'eard it wasn't a pretty sight... And cleaning up the aftermath? Yeah, no thank you. I'll be waitin' outside so hurry up and get ready."

Blakely briskly walks away in the opposite direction, leaving to wait at the entrance of the factory for the other grunts.

---

17:51

The Bouffalant's Head is one of the oldest buildings remaining in Pokédew, because unlike most others, it has kept its original structure - only needing a few minor repairs here and there - whilst others have been renovated with time, giving the tiny town a bit of a modern touch.

It's currently a few minutes to six, residents begin to arrive at the inn. Thank to the handful of staff that work there, as well as even a couple of volunteers, the dining area has been neatly dressed with white tablecloths and silver cutlery. Whilst, at the very back, a longer table is occupied with a buffet and ceramic plates. The bar would remain open to serve drinks.

But, as always, the lonely old taxidermy Bouffalant head remains mounted on the wall, a few cobwebs collecting between its horns as it watches over the inn's guests. Some may say quite literally as there have been reports of the trophy's eyes moving..

Alora-Rose was caught off guard after seeing the Bouffalant eyes moving, "Whoa, I never seen anything like this", Alora-Rose said. Then she sees more residents coming in the inn which made Alora-Rose very happy, "Thank goodness, there's more people coming in, I guess there are also here for the important meeting just like me", Alora-Rose said. Soon afterwards, Alora-Rose returned to her seat and her Rookidee followed her back to her seat, together they both waited for the dinner party to start even though they had some food to start before the important meeting began.

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ѕнιи
тнє вσυffαℓαит'ѕ нєα∂ | ιи∂ιffєяєит

Putting on a stoic customer service smile, Shin got to work behind the bar, pouring patrons various requested drinks. It wasn't the most glamourous job by a long shot but there was a comfortable familiarity in the easy actions of mixing various concoctions and making small talk. As a well-known face around the area, Shin was saddled with the duty to entertain the whimsy of familiar clients as promises to stop by and work for a while passed thin lips. Such was the life of a person who helped everyone with everything, Shin supposed, fetching a jug of Mago Juice for one of the younger members of the party. Shin's pokemon were also helping out, with Mismagus helping serve the guests while Roserade acted as a host.

There was no shortage of work to be done tonight, and Shin would ensure that the party would run as smoothly as possible.

---

Alora-Rose wanted to speak to the trainer who was helping out at the Bouffalant's Head Inn, so she got up and soon asked the trainer, "Excuse me, do you think there's anymore trainers coming tonight, and do you know anything about shadow Pokemon?", then Alora-Rose looked at the drinks menu and her Rookidee flew to see what was going on, Alora-Rose petted her Rookidee and afterwards grabbed her book on Pokemon breeding so that she can get a headstart on her learning about the Pokemon daycare.

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