Not That Cold [Mod/Open]

[Kris Parker]

Tags: at least Mod Kurt for whatever you want.
Pokemon Happiness: Vulcan - Max

"I guess not all islands can be tropical," Kris murmured as she tugged the collar of her jacket closer. It was a windbreaker rather than a parka, something that she should probably invest in soon. Vulcan beside her huffed and she raised an eyebrow at him.

"Of course it's not that cold to you," she said to the Houndoom, and the pair continued on.

Kris was glad she chose Vulcan to join her -- with Nike and Hoshi as backups in their pokeballs -- on this day trip. Trek hated the cold, and Vulcan's typing helped them deal with the Ice- and Steel-types they had spotted so far. Snorunt, Aron, and Kris believed they saw a Sneasel ducking down the pathway ahead of them...

Nothing too troublesome, of course. Kris wasn't planning on bothering the wild Pokemon they saw. This trip was merely to observe and record what Pokemon they found on the island.

Although Vulcan probably wouldn't mind a little exercise, Kris was sure. She just didn't want him overexerting himself, of course, not when they still had so much more to explore.

[Mod Kurt]

While the weather was chilly, it was a mild temperature for the majority of the Pokemon residing among the White Tops. As such, those out and about were casual and not quite looking for trouble. Instead, most cast the human and her partner Pokemon a glance full of curiosity if they noticed the strangers, but otherwise didn't seem inclined to do engage.

A pair of Magnemite levitated high above Kristen's head, the two swirling around the rockface of the mountain and climbing higher with barely a look at the human. Perhaps the two were looking for a third to join them in becoming a Magneton.

On the flip side, a seemingly young Cubchoo spotted Kris and Vulcan before dashing ahead of the pair. It glanced back occasionally at the human but was conscious enough that they were strangers to the mountain paths. It didn't want to be caught by them.

In fact, the Cubchoo ducked into the shallow opening of a cavern off the beaten path leading up and around the mountain. Half-hiding behind a stalagmite, the Cubchoo peered out with wide eyes as Kris and Vulcan got closer.

It seemed that the Cubchoo's cavern wasn't the only cave that was formed amid the White Tops. Nearby was another cave where a cluster of about half a dozen Rolycoly were rolling in and out of the cavern on their singular wheel. The coal-like Pokemon seemed to be moving in an assembly line, nudging along snow and ice back into the caves. Occasionally, moving the snow would unearth a yellow apricorn with it rolling off the Rolycoly's path.

Kris Parker

[Kris Parker]

Tags: Mod Kurt
Pokemon Happiness: Vulcan (Max), Nike (Max), Hoshi (Max)

Kristen paused a moment to watch the Magnemite float up and away before jotting their species down in her notepad. She quite felt like she should have made a bingo card out of this day trip. She'd seen a good handful of Pokemon species so far, and it seemed like she was still discovering more on the regular.

Vulcan's light growl brought her attention back to the present and she saw the Cubchoo running from the pair of them as well. Kris lightly patted Vulcan's back before gently steering him in a wide berth around where the Cubchoo had gone to hide. "Let's walk around," she murmured. While she was sure Vulcan could handle a Beartic, Kristen didn't want to possibly agitate a Cubchoo's parent.

Further down the path, Kristen and Vulcan came across a group of Rolycoly seemingly working on... something. She spied and pocketed the yellow apricorn, sure it would become a good Pokeball, as she contemplated their next move. There seemed to be space for Vulcan and her to skirt around the Rolycoly and perhaps investigate the cave further... Granted, Kristen hadn't had the pleasure of encountering Rolycoly often in her life. As far as she knew, they were native to the Galar region, a place that Kristen hadn't had the pleasure of traveling through.

Still, she was curious. With a wordless gesture to Vulcan, Kris tried to give the Rolycoly enough space while passing them by to take a peek into the cave.

[Mod Kurt]

The Cubchoo, fortunately, did not alert its parents of the strangers, watching Kristen and Vulcan warily until they were out of sight.

The Rolycoly, on the other hand, either didn't notice or didn't care that there was a human and a Houndoom passing them by. They continued to diligently go about their work, bringing in snow and ice through the cave. There was more than half a dozen Rolycoly in this assembly line, it seemed, as they all carried on further down a pathway to the right in the cavern. The left pathway was darker, but there seemed to be a glint reflecting off some light that happened to be in the caves.

Other than the glint and the glow of the coal-like parts of the Rolycoly, the caves themselves were rather dim. A familiar call of Zubat and Woobat could be heard down either path.

Kris Parker

[Kris Parker]

Tags: Mod Kurt
Pokemon Happiness: Name - Vulcan (Max), Nike (Max), Hoshi (Max)

Vulcan huffed out a small puff of fire if only to give their surroundings a little more light for a few seconds. It gave Kris a few, brief seconds to gauge their surroundings.

She reached into her belt for her small flashlight, but she hesitated to turn it on. She could hear the Zubat and Woobat above them. A light may disturb the Pokemon.

Instead, Kris let Vulcan guide her. She placed a hand lightly on her Houndoom's back and nudged him to the left, hoping to see what was glinting in the dim lighting. If it was too far and too dark, however, she had no problem turning to head down the right pathway. At the very least, the glow of the Rolycoly's coal-like bodies gave off some sort of light. Kris may be able to see further that way, if the Rolycoly didn't mind Vulcan and her tagging along with their little assembly line.

While she was conscious that she didn't have much -- if anything at all -- in the way of medicine on her, she was confident in her Pokemon's abilities and wished to see how far she could go spelunking.

[Mod Kurt]

Vulcan's fire didn't reveal much, but the Houndoom was able to make use of his other senses to lead his trainer down the left pathway. It was a narrow path, with Vulcan's hearing picking out a Geodude or two resting amid the gravel and dirt. Ultimately, the left pathway was a dead end, but with the help of Vulcan's occasional flame, the glint was a comet shard.

Upon finding the treasure, the only course of action was to turn around. Unfortunately, one of the Geodude wasn't too thrilled with having its nap interrupted and decided to attack.

With a groan, the Geodude rumbled the ground with an Earthquake. The cries of Zubat and Woobat were heard as the cavern walls shook, dislodging small pebbles and dirt around everyone.

Geodude

HP (100%):

| male | sturdy

Level: 50
Hold Item: Everstone

Explosion | Double-Edge | Stone Edge | Stealth Rock | Rock Blast | Earthquake

>> Geodude used Earthquake

Kris Parker

[Kris Parker]

Tags: Mod Kurt, this may be a shorter expedition than planned, .
Pokemon Happiness: Vulcan - (Max), Nike (Max), Hoshi (Max)

"Shit." Kristen braced herself against Vulcan as the Geodude made the world around them shake and rumble with Earthquake. Vulcan was unfortunately in the line of fire as the earth cracked and ruptured, the attack bringing the Houndoom momentarily to his knees.

Nevertheless, Vulcan emitted a steady stream of fire, using Flamethrower on the Geodude. The fire seemed to scorch the Geodude, Vulcan's higher level doing a decent amount of damage despite the Geodude's resistance.

The Geodude grumbled and used Stealth Rock, setting jagged stones on the ground and walls around them. None of the rocks touched Kristen and Vulcan, thankfully, and Vulcan was able to maneuver around the stones just enough to use Crunch on the opposing Pokemon. The Geodude groaned, may have cursed Kris and Vulcan out, and burrowed its way back underground.

"Vulcan, good job," Kristen praised, moving around the jagged rocks to reach her Pokemon's side. Vulcan was breathing heavily and Kristen wondered if the comet shard she had pocketed was worth getting caught in a Geodude's earthquake.

Once the pair reached the main pathway where it had split into two -- seeing the line of Rolycoly again -- Kristen thanked her Houndoom again and returned him to his Pokeball, citing that he should rest. Kristen glanced back outside the cavern before looking down the right pathway. After a moment's decision, Kristen released her Staryu, Hoshi emerging from its Pokeball with a battle cry.

"Hey there," Kris said, and Hoshi bobbed up and down from levitating in the air. "Mind accompanying me for a little bit? We won't go too far, but I'm curious as to what is down the right pathway."

With its shining gem, Hoshi stayed by Kristen's side as they began to explore the other pathway.

Vulcan

HP (100%):

| male | flash fire

Level: 60
Hold Item: None

Crunch | Flamethrower | Feint Attack | Fire Fang | Nasty Plot | Beat Up

>> Earthquake took off 77% HP
>> Vulcan used Flamethrower
>> Flamethrower took off 90% HP
>> Geodude used Stealth Rock
>> Vulcan used Crunch
>> 2HKO on Geodude

[Mod Kurt]

The Rolycoly, on their part, had continued their work, their assembly line only slightly diverging from their original course due to the disturbed earth from the Geodude's Earthquake. It seemed that none of the Rolycoly had been directly impacted by the Geodude's attack. Whether other Pokemon in the caverns had been remained to be seen.

Regardless, the Rolycoly trekked onward, each of them bringing a little bit of snow to some endpoint. They passed by a trio of Roggenrola, who stared curiously at Kris and Hoshi passing by but didn't seem inclined to bother the human and her Pokemon. In fact, they scattered from the human, darting down towards the left before abruptly making the decision to make a sharp turn and dash further down another path of the cavern. There was something glinting in the shadows down where the Roggenrola had made their sharp turn. It could be an item or it could be something that spooked the Roggenrola.

Glancing back at the line of Rolycoly, it seemed they were passing along their snowballs to their evolved form Carkol. There were fewer Carkol than there were Rolycoly, and it seemed the Carkol were taking snowballs from multiple Rolycoly before turning and continuing further down the caverns. While Kris and Hoshi received a few odd looks, the Carkol deemed them unimportant at the moment and continued their task.

Kris Parker, Vulcan gained 50 exp. points!

[Kris Parker]

Tags: Mod Kurt, treasure! xD
Pokemon Happiness: Vulcan - (Max), Nike (Max), Hoshi (Max)

Kris had half a mind to take a few pictures of the Rolycoly and Carkol, impressed and intrigued by their assembly line. She wondered where they were taking all that snow and what it was used for. It would melt before long being in the caverns and among their heat, right?

She glanced down and saw something else glinting. The comet shard was heavy in her pocket and Kris took a moment to wrestle with the decision to chance going after treasure again. Hoshi was nearby, bobbing up and down as it looked around as well, and Kristen figured that Hoshi's typing would be more appropriate than Vulcan's if they met any other wild Pokemon.

"C'mon down here real quick," Kristen said, leading Hoshi down towards whatever was glinting. They could follow the Carkol in a minute.

[Mod Kurt]

The glinting item was a hard stone, something that some of Kristen's Pokemon may be able to use to help their power during battle.

However, guarding this hard stone was a Nosepass. The Pokemon had been hidden in the shadows of the cavern, practically blending in with the rocky walls around them. Upon seeing Kris and Hoshi, the Nosepass attacked by hurling a couple of large rocks with Rock Blast.

Nosepass

HP (100%):

| female | magnet pull

Level: 40
Hold Item: None

Power Gem | Rock Blast | Discharge | Sandstorm | Earth Power | Stone Edge

>> Nosepass used Rock Blast

Kris Parker, roll for initiative. XD

[Kris Parker]

Tags: Mod Kurt
Pokemon Happiness: Vulcan - (Max), Nike (Max), Hoshi (Max)

If Kristen had seen the Nosepass that guarded the hard stone, she would have left it alone and turned right around. However, she saw the treasure first and picked it up, resulting in the Nosepass attacking.

Hoshi was quicker, though.

The Rock Blast didn't do much damage to Kristen's Staryu, and Hoshi retaliated with a well-aimed Hydro Pump. The powerful Water-type move pushed the Nosepass away back into the den and shadows it had originally been hiding from. When the Nosepass didn't reemerge, Kristen laid a hand on one of Hoshi's appendages and said, "Thank you. C'mon, let's turn around before it comes to."

Hoshi

HP (100%):

| genderless | natural cure

Level: 60
Hold Item: None

Hydro Pump | Cosmic Power | Psychic | Power Gem | Surf | Minimize

>> Rock Blast hit 3 times!
>> Rock Blast took off 9% HP
>> Hoshi used Hydro Pump
>> 1HKO on Nosepass

[Mod Kurt]

With the Nosepass being no match for the Staryu, nothing else appeared to challenge Kris for the hard stone, allowing her to take it.

With Kris and Hoshi returning to the main path and following the Rolycoly and Carkol assembly line, the pair weren't bothered. However, eventually, they reached near the end of the line where a large Coalossal was digging at a dead end. Its coals burned bright and one could hear the sizzles of snow rapidly melting as the Carkol delivered the snow. Everytime a pile of snow hit the Coalossal's body, its digging grew just a bit faster. It was digging a tunnel eastward, with a pile of rubble and some interesting-looking stone piled up somewhere to the left of it.

The Coalossal noticed the trainer and her own Pokemon, but it seemed that if Kris and Hoshi didn't bother it, then the Coalossal wouldn't bother them.

Kris Parker, Hoshi gained 40 exp. points!

[Kris Parker]

Tags: Mod Kurt
Pokemon Happiness: Vulcan - (Max), Nike (Max), Hoshi (Max)

Kristen gapped at the large Coalossal. She had heard of them, knew that they were rather tall, but considering she was in short stature, she hadn't dreamed of craning her neck up quite this much to look at a Pokemon. And it was native to Galar, a region she had heard that had a curious phenomenon of Pokemon growing even bigger and more powerful... Vaguely, she wondered if such a thing ever happened in the Ascua region. Professor Cypress would probably know.

Hoshi hovered close by Kris, especially as the Coalossal gave them both a brief look. Kristen waved, not truly expecting a reaction in return, but figuring it wouldn't hurt to be polite. She took out her notebook to detail what she was seeing, figuring that Coalossal was using its steam engine ability to gain speed from the melting snow that its pre-evolutions were delivering it. Where the Coalossal was digging towards, Kristen had no idea, and it wasn't exactly something she could ask. Perhaps they migrated and were going closer to the center of the mountains with the colder weather.

The pile of rubble and strange-shaped stones caught Kristen's eyes and, with a glance towards the Coalossal and nearby Carkol asked, "Are these being discarded? May I look through them?"

After being attacked twice by poking around at things glinting in the low light, it seemed that Kris finally learned her lesson.

[Mod Kurt]

The Coalossal seemed to turn minutely to acknowledge hearing the human but otherwise didn't pause in its work in digging the tunnel. A couple of Carkol nearby paused but were quickly nudged back into the assembly line by others of its kind.

Seeing as the Coalossal wasn't objecting -- of course, it may just be totally ignoring the human and Staryu, but it didn't seem bothered by them at all -- it appeared that the pile of interesting-looking stones was up for grabs. Most of the pile was of rubble, pebbles and small boulders amid the dirt, but there were a few shining gems among them.

On the left-most side, within arm's reach, there was a slightly-battered record, black and light blue in color. The top-right of the pile had a rock that had a peculiar pattern etched into it, standing out amid the other stones. At the bottom of the pile right by the trainer's feet was a small stone in lighter color, an almost pinkish-lavender hue.

However, the pile of dirt and rubble was arranged in such a way that Kris would only be able to grab one. The pile will then shift and cover the others.

Kris Parker

[Kris Parker]

Tags: Mod Kurt, figured we could end this after you tell me whatever it is that Kris chose, . Thank you!
Pokemon Happiness: Vulcan - (Max), Nike (Max), Hoshi (Max)

Kris, presuming and hoping that the Coalossal was giving her its blessing to go through the pile of rubble, inspecting the stones and rocks closer. There were a few things that caught her eye, but she was conscious of the ever-shifting nature of the dirt. One wrong move could send most of it tumbling down.

After a few moments, and with the help of Hoshi, Kris plucked out a rock that had a strange pattern on it. She tried to hold it up closer to Hoshi's gem, the light from the Staryu's middle trying to be of some use as Kristen figured out what the rock was.

Regardless, and knowing how many texts she had been getting from Kurt throughout this small adventure, Kristen figured that this was enough spelunking for the day. She needed to take a quick trip to a Pokemon Center for Vulcan, anyway.

"Thank you," she said to the Coalossal and Carkol around, and gestured for Hoshi for the pair to take their leave of the cavern.