Trees at mid-day

A Pikachu, bristling with sparks about the cheeks, pattered through the forest, looking for companionship or adventure.

(If this topic bores you, let's switch it to something else. i just want to RP with someone. I wish this board wouldn't die.)

An Eevee is running around frantically, dragging an unwilling Poochyena around with her. With your keen hearing, you can likely hear their whispering.

"Collin, I really don't want to go! I heard it's dangerous!"
"There's treasure there! So does it matter?"

The Pikachu comes running up to the pair. 'Did I here you say treasure? Now there's an adventure! Can I come with you?' he voices excitedly, with a hint of apphrension at the possiblity of being turned down.

The Eevee brings a triumphant grin and does the tounge pbbbbbt thing at the Poochyena. "Told you it would be fun Max." The Eevee turns back to you with her grin. "Yaup! We're looking for Dragon scales in the mountains. It catches a HUGE price on the market. But where there are scales there will be dragons. So... Can I recruit you to the cause?"

The Poochyena quiets down with a calm expression. He's likely used to her strong will, so he doesn't choose to interrupt. He's obviously going to tag along if she's going.

'Thanks for the invite, Max and Collin,' grins the Pikachu, picking up their names from their conversation. 'I'm Sunrise, and i'd love to go with you and befriend some dragons.' Sunrise's cheeks sparkle with wattage as he excitedly leads them through the forest toward stone and elevation.

Collin leads Max by his hand, scrambling up the slope quickly and excitedly, until she needs to stop to rest and pull a map out of her fur. Max settles down, apparently exhausted, and attempts to scavenge for nearby food. It seems Collin and Max have actually been out here for days.

"Max, bring back some Pecha if you can. I'll love you for it!" Collin calls out with a tone of teasing in her voice. After there's no response, she turns her attention back to the map, before yelling in frustration. "I can't figure this D--- Thing out! Sunrise, can you help me out?"

'It didn't occur to me that we'd need food on the trip,' says Sunrise sheepishly on observing Collin instruct Max to forage. 'But here is my mid-day snack.' He snaps a cord off his tail, on which were strung two Rawst Berries. He offers one to Collin and eats the other as he examines the map.

As the Pikachu screws up his concentration, a nearby Nincada approaches the party. 'Eh, i have a splitting shell-ache. Care to help me out?'

'No problem,' assents Sunrise, flipping over the grounded bug with a hefty Mega Kick.

'Hey!' exclaims the surprisingly overturned insectoid, a moment before his shell splits. 'Thanks,' says the newly emerged Ninjask as it Speed Boosts a couple times.

'Bzzt,' comments the leftover Shedinja, starting to float in one direction.

Sunrise: 'I can't make Headbutt or Tail Whip of it.'

The Ninjask waves at the party and zips off. An idea comes to mind, so Sunrise rattles off, 'Following the fastest Pokemon should get us there fast.' As the Ninjask zooms out of view, Sunrise adds, 'We probably don't have a ghost of a chance, so alternatively we could follow the ghost-type and there's a chance we'll get there.'

Collin eats the rawst berry you offer her, grimacing at the bitter taste. She begins to mumble after, "Pechaberry icecream is so much better... MAX! We're gonna go!" Collin turns to you after everything you said. "I like your train of thought. Oh... and that was a horrible pun."

Max rushes through the brambles unfazed, offering Collin an armful of apples, and handing you a few. Collin stuff all of the apples but one into a bag to prepare for the journey as you here a small click. The ground around Collin explodes, and max jumps neatly away, then falls to the ground laughing at the burnt Collin.

Collin doesn't bother to roll in the dirt to put out the fire, completely pissed. "I'LL GET YOU DAMN KIDS IF IT'S THE LAST THING I DO!" She grumbles venomously to her self, not noticing the burning of her coat.
By a miracle, the bag is unharmed.

Sunrise looks very surprised at the explosion, but doesn't worry about the inflamed Eevee. The Rawst Berry she just ate should cure her of the burn, thinks he.

Turning to Max, the Pikachu asks, 'Do you have an extra bag? I think I'll need all four legs for the journey.'

Turning to Collin, Sunrise keeps a straight face while inquiring, 'So, Crispy Cream, shall we follow the direction the Ninjask took or trail the Shedinja?'

Collin begins to mumble, seemingly chanting, and then her fur seems to melt back into the way it originally was, no sign of burns whatsoever. She runs to a tree and pulls out a makeshift motorbike, seemingly tinkered with, though what it may now do is hard to discern. She motions to Max, who hops on behind, squeezing his eyes shut as he wraps his arms around Collin, ready to hang on.

"We follow the Ninjask! Hop on Sunny! And for that joke you owe me a cheesecake! Preferably razzberry!"

(How do the Shedinja and Ninjask and Ninjask know where to go?)

How in Zapdos' name can an Eevee drive a contraption like that? wonders Sunrise. She's a quadruped and lacks the fingers needed to monkey grip the handles. It's odd that she has to murmur for a Berry to take effect, but i'll just ignore the old lady's mutterings.

Sunrise hops aboard with a smirk. So we've decided to trail the fastest of all Pokemon, who for all we know may be going nowhere fast? I suppose that's about the same odds as following a Pokemon that may or may not get there, having only a ghost of a chance.

"As you've probably never seen this thing before, it was modified to run based on my thoughts, or aura, by a very intelligent friend of mine!" The Eevee yells. It's obvious she seems to love talking about it, as she trails on for so long that even the most patient pokemon will either yell at her to shut up or nod off, or just not pay attention before she starts up the bike. The scenery flies by quickly, and you eventually end up passing the Shedinja, who enraged at being beaten in it's fast new form, begans to try to match the speed of the bike.

Max is doing nothing but holding on for all his worth, likely unnacustomed to the speed.

(Oh crap. I regard the pokemon as slightly antrho, and the quadrupeds can stand up here, at least for in terms of mystery dungeon anyways. Collin'g been standing this whole time ^^;

And old lady I think not! She's only fifteen!)

The Pikachu opts for listening to the Eevee the first minute or two, then commenting, 'Yeah, yeah, we get the point. This this a sweet ride.' Sunrise hangs on with a one-armed grip, welcoming the swift breeze sweeping through his fur and pulling back his ears and tail.

They reach a point where the rocks jut out and the way becomes impossible for something with wheels to tread. The Ninjask buzzes in victory, but just as it is about to pass them, the bike lifts up and floats a couple inches off the ground, skimming at its previous speed over the rocky slope.

They aura-biking trio arrive at a thick arch. Entering reveals a domed campus which as well as containing the expected implements of academic study, is dotted with patches of quartz protruding from ponds. The winged ears of a bespectacled Dragonair flicker and it swims out of a pond to coil up on the quartz nearest the entrance. 'Welcome,' it greets the bikers, then waits for them to state their business.

The Pikachu introduces himself and his comrades, 'I'm Sunrise, and the Eevee is Collin and the Poochyena is Max. We're here to acquire some dragon scales.'

'Just look around,' suggests the Dragonair, 'with all our students' Shed Skin, glistening scales litter the place. They're free of charge. Enjoy your stay.'

(Shedinja's the bug/ghost. You probably meant that they're racing the Ninjask. I suspected you regard your characters as anthro, but Sunrise and i were hoping that you don't. i suppose Max stands sometimes too, given that Collin was leading him by the hand and he was carrying an armful of apples. That's why i love Pikachu. They can switch from quadruped to biped at any moment and their forepaws are mousy enough to be useful to run on, yet have fingers to pick up things.
Sunrise doesn't actually think Collin is old; he's making a joke of the phrase, 'Please ignore the old man's mutterings.')

Collin leaves infuriated, stomping out and not even bothering to pick up the scales. She crosses her arms, and she doesn't speak for the next few minutes. Max runs out to follow her, likely attempting to calm her down, and you can hear a few minutes of yelling from outside.

After a few more minutes, mostly of silence, Max trots in bleeding in three stripes up his arm, but he doesn't seem concerned about it. "She... was angry."

(I'm sorry. They're not overly anthro, they're just able to stand up. More like being bipedal. I don't really care for hands. Thus the reason the bike runs on aura. Sorry if that bothers you. But it's not going to change.)

Sunrise nods. Taking the bag Max gave him to carry the extra apples they had gathered, Sunrise climbs onto the quartz where the bespectacled Dragonair is coiled and barters most of the apples in the bag for a sturdy Tauros-hide zipper-equipped sack.

Sunrise asserts, 'I'm guessing the students like to relax on these rocks after studying and a good swim, so here is where they're likely to shed their skins.'

Swinging the bag over his his shoulder, the Pikachu hops from quartz piece to quartz piece, sometimes having to swim through a slice of pond. He finds a small pile of the sparkling treasures and gathers them into the sack.

Max wanders around, looking at all of the beautiful sights, asking curiously about them with questions to the Dragonair. After many minutes, Collin walks in with a pout and browses the bookshelf, before picking out a book about the possibility of using aura to create a form of magic, nodding and mouthing words, completely enthralled in the read. Despite her weirdness, she seems to be intelligent after all.

As Max catches eye of you, he runs over slightly frantically, as he watches you load up the treasures. "Isn't that stealing?" He seems very worried about it, but he doesn't do anything to stop you.

The Dragonair is busy engaged in a conversation with Collin about the possibilities of time travel.

Sunrise replies, 'Why would it be stealing? To quote our new friend: "With all our students' Shed Skin, glistening scales litter the place. They're free of charge."'

Sunrise chances upon a small group of Dratini frisking about and asks for their assistance. They split up to search and knowing where the major portions of scales are located, return in two or three minutes with more scales than Sunrise can fit into his sack. The Dratini just nod their head and smile in a gesture of 'you're welcome' and Sunrise knows he doesn't have to pay them for their labor.

'The legendary Dialga is said to time travel with its move Roar of Time,' the glass-equipped Dragonair discusses with the Eevee, 'and i would speculate that an aura-producing rarity such as yourself could bend the threads of space-time if in the possession of a very special zing.'

"Oh. It's just that they didn't look much like scales from a distance." Max looks like he wants to take as many scales home as possible for Collin, but after her outburst, he seems several times more reluctant to do so, and you still don't know what the outburst was about.

"Dialga was able to seperate time from the space stream though, so your suggesting this item will be able to do so without halting the flow of either and causing rips or injury? Does anyone know where it is?" Collin doesn't seem to be interested in finding it, she just seems to be curious this time.

(WHOAH! The dragonair is russian?)

'Say, Dratini buddies, I'm feeling a bit peckish; how about getting me and my mates some sup?' suggests Sunrise.

'That is well, Pika-thingy,' reply the Dratini, and they slither off, returning a minute or two late with some Wrap-choked Magikarp.

'Forgive me, but i don't eat fellow Pokemon,' says Sunrise in an apologetic tone.

'I suspected that was so, but nobody would believe me,' pipes up one of the shorter Dratini. She produces two clumps of berries, one Razz and one Persim, along with a few Dragon Rage-charred minnows.

'Thanks, sister,' says the Pikachu, bowing. 'Let's dine together, everyone. Help yourself, Max, and share some with Collin once she and our host are done pontificating.'

The Dragonair waxes eloquent on the various theories of how time travel may work. Where the traveler in some cases may be able to change history with disastrous consequences or small miracles, in other theories the traveler may only be an observer and have no effect at all, like a ghost, or if the observation-only traveler took a solid form, whether rain would drill him fill of holes. Perhaps the tesser or the sario rip effects might occur, the former being better than teleportation and the latter potentially causing beings to wink out of existence. The Dragonair belabors Collin's cute Eevee ears with a nice long speech, but here the remainder is omitted.

(No, i'm not savvy enough to have given the Dragonair a Russian accent on purpose. 'Zing' here is used to describe item, special ability, or technique. i was referencing The Legend of Lightning Larry. For interesting takes on the theories mentioned above, try C.S. Lewis' The Great Divorce, Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time, and at least two of the books in K.A. Applegate's Animorphs series, one of which is titled Megamorphs #1 In the Time of Dinosaurs IIRC; sorry i can't remember the second.)

(Did the Eevee's outburst happen to be related to how she wanted to go on a grand adventure to acquire a rare treasure but it turned out easy to get, with so many that they could flood the market, and the circumstance of acquisition turned out to be a just a school, albeit with beautiful scenery, and where the dragons pretty much consider their dropped scales as trash - in short, disappointment? Sunrise thinks Collin's angry response, since not done in his presence, is really none of his business.)

Max doesn't bother to eat the berries, he's busy worrying about why Collin has been so obssessed with time traveling lately, unknowingly voicing his thoughts out loud.

Collin nods and voices her own thoughts in discussion with the Dragonair, taking serious deep thought on the matter, before smiling as she comes back to eat berries. After she thinks, she turns back around and asks if the dragonair knows where the item might be.

'I'm guessing she's obsessed with time traveling because she loves adventure. Maybe that's the next thing we're going to go do,' speculates Sunrise as he dines on berries and minnows.

'Many regrets, good Eevee; I haven't the foggiest,' answers the Dragonair, 'thoroughly studying the tomes of might, magic, and mystical awesomeness may Defog a few clues. Lady luck be with you, because you're certainly going to need it.'

Max shakes his head, and he suddenly answers your question. "She probably wants to prevent the war she was in. She killed a lot of pokemon who she beleives were likely good pokemon, and she wants to put things right." He seems to snap up and awake, and blushes from embarassment as he distracts himself with a berry.

Collin drapes over and sighs. She didn't expect it to be easy, but she immediately browses over the shelves, and selects a book about mythical items, starting with the basics.

After many hours of reading, her eyes widen and she pours more of herself into the book, then gets up and snaps it shut. She begins to quiz the dragon pokemon about the location of a place who's name you can't hear, and she smiles as she comes back.

"I know EXACTLY where we need to go. Hey Max, we're going back to the Floating Island. We're going to need supplies, so see what you can grab. We might be there awhile."

Max doesn't seem to notice, as he's too busy trying to distract himself that he doesn't realize he's succeeding. Collin wanders off to try to converse and thank the Dragonair.

(Would you like to also do another roleplay with me? Maybe a tickle roleplay or something else with very little plot?)

'No need to thank us,' the Dragonair concludes its conversation with the Eevee. 'If you pull it off, it will be by your own efforts. `Tis a pity you don't wish to stick around. With your rapid rate of discovery, you would likely graduate with highest honors. Happy time tripping!'

Should i go with them? Sunrise asks himself. I don't seem to be invited on this one. What would Yipster think if he knew i was going to try to mess with the time stream? He is a pacifist, so if we're trying to prevent a war, it might be worth the risk.

'Perhaps we should go back to your home city first?' suggests the Pikachu. 'That way you can exchange these dragon scales, use the profits to buy proper supplies, and gather any items you may need for your mission.' His Dratini pals tilt their heads back and forth as if weighing the options.

Collin unwillingly agrees after a long muted conversation with Max. She seems to be urgent to get started and to prevent the war if possible. Collin tugs on Max's tail and pulls him back, adding her own other bit to the conversation, leaving Max with a worried look, before she takes of on her won, leaving Max behind. Max gives you a single worried look, before he tags along and tries to change her mind, trying to scoop as many scales together as possible for selling.

The Dratini all stare in their direction, each one looking to eachother with a glance of confusion before Max pops back in. "Sorry, Thank you all very much for your hospitality, but we have to leave." Max darts out again immediately, trying to catch up to Collin, who he soon finds out took the motorcycle.

He trots back in wearily, looking slightly depressed, and plops down on the floor, trying to catch his breath. "Sorry for all we've put you guys through, but is it possible that you might know a quick way to Leonmuir?"