Lannia walked beside her master who didn't seem to care for her or Pokemon at all. She was worried for the future and couldn't shake the fear of being just tossed aside later as useless. She had to prove herself invaluable and she had to do it soon.

The pair soon encountered a crossroads and had two choices ahead of them: a treacherous climb up the side of the pass or along the path made for tourists and trainers. It was clear Hark was going to select the harder route, likely to avoid trainers. Lania on the other hand didn't want to go into her Pokeball or climb up the mountain. Tugging Hark's pants she motioned in the direction of the much easier path. He looked down at her and noticed the direction that her hand was pointing and he said to her, "I can carry you up the cliff or return you to your ball." Lannia wanted to do things herself so she shook her head. Sighing Hark muttered, "Fine." Lania wished she could tell Hark her reasoning since he seemed unhappy with her choice. Too bad she couldn't just explain it to...him. Then a sudden thought hit her and she joyfully yelled out Ralts! Which caused Hark to look down at her with a questioning look on his face. Smiling back up at the teenager, Lannia had a brilliant idea: to learn how to communicate with humans, specifically Hark. If she could communicate with him maybe she could reason with him and so he would maybe like her more.
 
Lannia's mind continued to race as they started up the rocky path. Using her psychic abilities she would levitate herself onto or over larger rocks. This was a great way to maneuver her smaller body up the rocky ascension, and the same time allowed her to exercise her control over her abilities. After a few minutes the pair passed by the trainer and the Magby that had defeated Lannia. The small Ralts felt her embarrassment of her defeat return like someone had poured it over her like a bucket of water. Looking at the Magby the Ralts promised herself next time she would defeat the Pokemon, but first she did need to learn how to fight without needing much help. After passing the two and being around 20 feet away Hark said, "Bet you he challenges that other trainer... or if he doesn't he tries flirting with her." Lannia looked up at her master wondering what made him so odd. From what little she knew from the breeder that had raised her, Pokemon training was the most popular thing in the world and every kid grew up dreaming being a trainer. Yet, this Hark didn't, and instead he seemed to dream about machines or humanity becoming better or whatever he had told that other trainer. 
 
After walking down the easier path for another 20 minutes Lannia decided it was time to try a more challenging route. There was a faint trail that forked off the main one. This other trail was much smaller and likely used by Pokemon instead of humans. Instead of just showing Hark the direction she wanted to go, Lania just started off on that trail on her own accord. She started moving up the trail the best she could, but it was quickly becoming a rock climb instead of a hard hike. Suddenly Hark passed her on her right. Getting her attention he smirked and said in a teasing voice, "Sorry you were going too slow for me." The boy's metal arm was enabling him to move quickly up the rock face without too much effort as it seemed to be stronger than his real arm. Lannia took Hark's words as a challenge and she came up with her own solution. Summoning up several magical leaves, she used the attack to cut small slits in the rock face as she climbed. This gave her weaker body plenty of good hand holds and foot holds, but it wasn't enough as Hark still beat her to the top of the ledge.
 
When the tired Ralts reached the top she discovered that her trainer was not alone up there. Four Machops stood in a semicircle around around her trainer, and now her too. One of the Machops then spoke in the Pokemon's language, "You want the honor of ending this human's life?"
 
Lannia's eyes showed her shock as she responded to the Machop's question with her soft voice, "Why would I want to end my master's life? Why do you want to kill him?"
 
"Because your his pet! This is your chance for freedom, and all humans are horrible! They took my parents from me and even some of my friends. One almost took me but I ended that with a shove much like I'm going to end the life of this one," replied the Machop giving Hark an evil glare. "All humans deserve death," hissed the Machop.
 
"I... I can't let you kill him. We will leave you in peace we promise," replied Lannia who was getting rather scared. They were on the edge of the ledge they had just climbed, and she was outnumbered four to one. Even with the type advantage she knew they could beat her.
 
"You can leave in peace if you don't interfere, but the human dies," said the Machop as he started charging forward. The other three also started to charge at the pair, but Lannia quickly summoned up a burst of psychic energy and pushed the one on the left away. Then she grabbed a rock with her psychic power and lifted it enough to trip a second Machop. "Master run!" yelled Lannia, which to Hark sounded like Lannia screaming a variation of her name.
 
Suddenly a Machop tackled Lannia to the ground and then he sat on her and was about to pound in her delicate face with his fist when Hark's foot caught the creature's head in a kick knocking the Machop right off the edge of the ledge and bouncing down the rocky cliff they had just climbed up. The force of the Machop being forced off of the Ralts almost sent Lannia rolling off the edge as well, but Hark quickly grabbed her and pulled her to safety. As he did this two of the Machops moved in behind Hark, but Lannia picked up several loose rocks and stones with her mind and threw them at the two. The barrage of stones stopped them for a second and to allowed Lannia and Hark to recover to their feet. "One down just three to go," said Hark in a cold voice. Lannia glanced up at her master as he stood there ready to fight alongside her. When she saw her master's confidence and will to fight it restored her courage and she suddenly felt confident. She calmed her mind and began to focus herself for the coming battle.
 
  Seeing the human send their comrade off the cliff with a well placed kick shook the confidence of the Machops and made them hesitate until their leader spoke, "I got the human, you two take care of his little lackey." With those words the Leader charged forward and the other two charged at Lannia. Lannia decided to split her focus and she held out both of her tiny hands at her two opponents. She then grabbed each one by a leg and tripped them at the same time. While her attack did almost no damage she was able to delay them as she shifted her focus on their leader, who was almost to Hark. She grabbed him with all her stored energy and was about to throw him into the nearby cliff wall, but Hark struck first. He stepped forward as his hidden blade deployed. The sharp metal blade cut straight through the creature's chest and out the other side. Lannia was shocked to see both her master's ruthless attack and his hidden weapon. The shock caused her let go of the Machop who was now dangling from the blade with an expression of pain and horror. Hark held the creature in midair with his blade for a second before slinging its body to the side. The Machop's limp body hit the hard rock ground and rolled a few times before coming to a complete stop. 
 
  The remaining Machops were enraged by the brutality of the human's attack and charge after Hark. Lannia on the other hand moved to not only save her master, but to prevent him from running another Pokemon through with that blade. She charged forward to intercept the two and as she moved forward she summoned up psychic energy around her hands. Once she was close to the two fighting types she pushed the energy out in a violent burst of energy that collided into the two creatures and sent them tumbling into a nearby pile of rocks. She gasped for breathe as the two Machops stood back up. "Grab your leader and go," ordered Lannia in her soft voice between breaths. 
 
"No!" yelled one Machop as they recovered and started after Lannia and Hark again. 
 
"Idiots," muttered Lannia as she summoned up several magical rose petals. Spinning them around one of the Machops for a second as she summoned more, Lannia prepared to unleash her attack. Just as the Machop reached the Ralts she closed in all the petals from all directions, each petal left a small cut, but the number of them made the attack very potent. The Machop was still able to land a kick on Lannia knocking the breathe out of her and knocking onto her back. The Machop walked up to Lannia and prepared to stomp her face into the rock but she quickly responded with a small burst of psychic energy that tossed the Machop backward a foot and on its back. It tried to get up, but as soon as it was on its shaky feet it just collapsed back down to the ground, and passed out. 
 
Looking over at Hark she saw him pulling his blade out of the other Machop's back then retract the weapon back into its hiding spot. Hark then rushed over to Lannia and asked her, "You ok?" Before she could answer Hark was pulling a potion out of his backpack, and was trying to figure out how to use it. His concern brought a small smile to Lannia's face, he really did care for her. A second later Lannia felt the strange healing mist of the potion wash over her body and it began to heal her. She then looked over Hark and noticed several nasty bruises, and a slight limp from him. However his face betrayed no pain. Seeing her look of concern he said, "I'll be ok... my tolerance to pain is much higher than any normal human you have met... our first fight together. Glad I had you with me... I think they were going to kill us."
 
Lannia nodded as she looked at the three Machops laying motionless on the ledge they were on. "Well that was fun... next time I choose the path we go," said Hark as he slowly tried to climb the next ledge. "Ok we should back track... this one is a bit too steep for me right now." Lannia nodded in agreement. They quickly started back down the cliff wanting to leave to battlefield behind them. Almost a hour later they were back on the tourist's trail, and Lannia was deep in thought as Hark limped ahead of her. She then shook her head and started walking faster to keep up with her travelling master. Who would have guessed out of all her many brothers and sisters she would be the one stuck with this bizarre human who was willing to fight Pokemon. Her life was going to be NOTHING like she had expected it to be.

Team Thus Far:



((OOC: I know short post, but I thought now would be a good time to give Lyssa a small break.))

Lyssa was getting tired after walking for a little while uphill. The winding road was getting harder to trek through, and she honestly needed a small break. She found a tree on the side of the path and sat down next to it, and leaned against it. That feels better... She thought, closing her eyes momentarily and resting her head back. She knew she would be walking a lot, but she had no idea that it was going to be this tiresome. A traveling companion would be nice... Lyssa was more of a people person, and much rather be walking around with one or two other trainers than going solo. This wouldn't have been a problem if she started her journey several months ago like her brother, but even then, the thought of travelling alongside her brother wasn't something she was too fond of. She was really hoping she didn't run into him anywhere, and would honestly feel better knowing he would not come back to their house when he was done with his little journey. He was far too immature, rude, and obnoxious and as cruel as it would seem, she did 'hate' him. Just a little though.

Her train of thought was interrupted by the sounds of Starly flapping their wings, as a flock of them flew out of the tree and into the mountain skies. Lyssa sat there for a while longer, not in any hurry to get going again. She took out a granola bar from her satchel, unwrapped it, and munched on it as she enjoyed the scenery.

Aya and Ladon stood on Lavaridge's lookout for several more minutes, fifteen at least but probably closer to twenty, watching as various flying types flew around the cliffs below the town, but they were dawdling and Aya was eager to move onto Jagged Pass and start her journey. Slowly she and her Axew descended from the tower-like structure, so to give Ladon a longer look, until she reached the bottom of the wooden steps and was on firm ground again.

Soon enough, Aya and Ladon had walked through the small tourist spot that was their home and were proceeding onto the rocky terrain that was Jagged Pass. After walking a ways into the route Aya stopped to survey the area as Ladon frolicked around nearby her doing some surveying of his own. Jagged Pass was beautiful in a strange way it seemed to Aya, it was rocky and lacked a lot of colour save for the odd patches of grass that sprung up and the trees on the route's edges. Despite the rugged landscape, it seemed to possess a certain purity to Aya and it was that which made it stunning to behold. Walking through one of the rarely occurring patches of greenery she progressed, still marvelling at the world around her. Despite its appearance, Jagged Pass was full of life if you looked hard enough. Above the heads of Aya and Ladon flocks of tailow and starly whirled and spiralled in the air, sometimes a rock would roll off a ridge for no good reason – turning out to actually be a geodude and many the spoink or snubbull peered at her from within crevices in the rock or tall patches of grass. It was whilst considering attempting to catch such a snubbull that Aya noticed she wasn't alone in the area. A shorter boy who was probably around her age, maybe a little older, with an outdated haircut and glasses was standing not too far away looking rather lost. In good spirits, Aya decided to be the good citizen and walked across to where he was standing
"Hey, is everything alright? You look a bit lost."
Tact may be something to work on in the future…

Carl Bizarro had his mind focused on the sight of the rocky path ahead. The volcanic ash could not be seen at that part since the hike had just begun, but he could see some Pokémon around. Some of them he had seen for the first time in his life, others, like Machop, Geodude and Snubbull, he had met while travelling with Felicity. He was taking little steps, like a baby learning how to walk, when suddenly, he was startled by someone's voice. He turned and saw a girl there.

"I-I'm g-good, I think..." he said timidly, not very used to wild conversations popping out as if he were walking on tall grass.

He took his eyes off her and took another shaky step forward. He thought about Sting, and what would be of him when they got to the higher part of Jagged Pass. That's where the volcano's summit is! His eyes turned to look at the girl.

"A-Actually... I-I know it sounds crazy, b-but..." he said and looked at his feet, "W-Would you, um, mind, um, t-tagging along?"

Aya was taken aback by the sudden request for companionship that the boy blurted out, although he had tried to act as though he was fine earlier.
Maybe he's not a trainer? But no, that can't be right he has pokeballs... interesting.
"I don't see why not, I'm heading up to the top anyway. My name's Aya and my Axew here is Ladon. What's your name?"

As she awaited answer Aya looked the boy up and considered his shy mannerisms.
He's really not a very confident trainer by the looks of things. He looks to be a rookie like me... but to be this timid on the first route of your journey? Sure it is a bit more treacherous for us than those who start at Littleroot, but if you can't even get started on your journey how are you meant to finish it? Aya smiled lightly at the boy who was soon to be her temporary travelling companion
"Why the sudden desire for company anyway?"

"W-Well," Carl said nervously, as the girl who introduced herself as Aya continued to ask him questions, "I-I'm not very sure that I can get to the top." He grabbed the Pokéball on his belt and sent out the small Weedle that was inside of it. "You see, I'm just starting out, and this first challenge is t-tricky." Sting began climbing up a nearby tree to feast on some leaves.

"Y-You see, Sting over there is a Bug-type Pokémon," he added talking quite fast, "and this path leads to the volcano's summit, which means it's teeming with Fire-type Pokémon, which means he's very likely to get a burn or faint. which means-"

Then he realized what he was doing. He was rambling on, talking so quickly that the poor girl probably didn't get what he said. He timidly looked away for a moment, and took another small step forward. "S-Sorry about that..." he whispered, "And, by the way, I'm Carl." Boy, this is so embarrassing!

Aya kept a calm, pleasant smile on her face. She figured it would probably not do well to let on that she actually felt pity for the boy. He was clearly quite nervous, although he definitely new he was at a disadvantage.
I guess, I approve of his brain power but not how he uses it.

Carl nodded, in response to what Aya said last, and it was hard for him to hold back another of his brainiac ramblings. He had to think of a Pokémon that could balance Sting's typing. Probably a Water-type... Or a Ground-type... Or a Rock-type... A tock-type could handle his other weakness, Flying, so that would be like taking down two birds down with one stone... He chuckled at his non-intended bad pun that he had made, then forced a normal face as both of them went up the mountains. He looked back at Sting, who was staring at the Axew somewhat confused, and the Weedle snapped out of it and crawled up Carl's body, finally settling on his right shoulder.

Aya, Ladon and Carl, who carried Sting on his shoulder, progressed fairly quickly up the pass from their passing the odd trainer or two and plenty of wild pokemon despite the craggy landscape they were travelling upon. The group would often find themselves having to physically pull themselves up and over steep ledges that jutted up from the slope the walked up. Sometimes they'd make small talk, but a lot of the time they simply enjoyed the walk in silence – save for Ladon's consistent exclamations at anything he found interesting.

I wonder if he'll outgrow that the young trainer thought to herself seeing Sting eyeing Ladon wearily from his place upon Carl's shoulder. Keeping an eye on her overly curious Axew Aya looked at Carl through the corner of her eye and found herself asking about his goals
"So, what are you looking to achieve through your journey? I'm in it to become as skilled and knowledgeable a trainer as I can, I figure the gyms are the best start to that goal so I'll be taking them on."
"W-Well, I'm looking to become stronger." he replied shyly, "Strong enough to become an Elite Four trainer. It's a long story, but-"

The conversation was soon lost due to a loud exclamation of not excitement, but pain, from Ladon. Snapping to attention Aya assessed the situation before her, it seemed that he, in another burst of excited curiosity, had disturbed a teddiursa that was peacefully enjoying a honey lunch. That teddiura was now launching a barrage of scratch attacks at Aya's tiny dragon-type.
"Hey!" Aya was talking to both her own pokemon and the wild one, her own for being disruptive and the teddiursa for attacking Ladon, but even as she scolded the combatants and idea formed in her head.
Teddiursa evolve into a pretty powerful pokemon in Ursaring. This would be a good catch for me…
"Ladon, stop taking hits so easily. Throw it off with a Leer!" Lado instantly obeyed, replacing his look of shock with a fierce glare that took the attacking Teddiursa aback and lowering its defensive abilities.
"Take advantage of its lowered defence and hit it with Dual Chop!" A pale blue light encased Ladon's tiny clawed hands which he slammed into the stomach of his opponent twice in succession with a chopping potion. The teddiursa was knocked to its feet but caught Ladon of guard by immediately swinging a branch it hand caught on its fall upward having it collide with Ladon's head and knocking him sidewards. The clever normal-type then proceeded to attack with a barrage of quick slashes with its claws using its fury swiped attack.
I have never seen a pokemon other than Farfetch'd do anything like that… and now Ladon's going to take more hits. I need stop the excessive fury swiping…
"Ladon, use scratch! Straight up through its attack." Aya's stroke of genius paid off, Ladon sliced upwards with one of his clawed hands breaking the streak of scratches from the Teddiursa
"Now use Dual Chop!" Ladon followed through again, hitting once in the normal-types stomach causing it to double over and then once on the back bringing it to the ground. Almost instinctively Aya tossed a pokeball at the fallen pokemon drawing it within in a flash of red light.
I hope this is a success… if it were to fail after such a narrow win it would be infuriating.

Carl meanwhile watched the battle as if he was taking notes inside his head. He wasn't really paying attention to his Weedle, who continued to stare at Ladon as it battled. Wow, she and Felicity make catching Pokémon look like a cakewalk... Perhaps I should give it a shot sometime soon... he thought, watching the Pokéball shake. Once again, he got aboard another train of thought, and it looked like someone would have to make him snap out of it.

Hark limped along the trail slowly watching his Ralts pick up random rocks and toss them around. He felt more confused than ever. He had intended on getting rid of whatever Pokemon he had received once he was strong enough to fight on his own, but now that lingering guilt from his past failure would prevent him. No he would have to wait until she could defend herself as well or perhaps find a safe place to release her close to more of her kind. Right now he was pretty sure releasing her would doom her. While she fought well beside him earlier, he was there doing a lot of the fighting himself and protecting her. Also the Machops where fighting types which were very weak to Lannia's Psychic abilities.

Thinking over the last fight he remembered his blade was still caked in Machop blood. Putting down his pack he retrieved a cleaning rag then once he thought the coast was clear he deployed the weapon and began cleaning the hidden weapon. As he cleaned his mind began to wander on how to make the weapon more lethal. He could add an electrical current to it, simple but effective. Then the idea hit him and an evil grin spread across his face. Perhaps some sort of injector that could send a poison or acid through a wound created by the blade would not only be more interesting to design but the functionality would be greater. His mind instantly began to come up with blueprints for such a device when he was spotted by another trainer.

As he was finishing the last bit of cleaning he heard a voice exclaim, "You have a sword arm!" Looking up shocked, Hark withdrew his weapon back into his arm as he looked at a very young trainer who was coming down the path. The boy, who couldn't have been older than 12, ran over to Hark stared at his arm, "That was wicked cool! Make it come out again! What do you use it for?"

"Protection and no… it stays hidden for a reason so I would like it if you stop talking about it," said Hark glaring at the kid. He couldn't believe he had allowed himself to lose all situational awareness.

The kid frowned and said, "Why be so sneaky? Are you some sort of assassin or villain?"

"No, now go away kid," replied Hark with a hostile voice pared with a disapproving look.

The kid then noticed the Ralts standing next to Hark and exclaimed, "You have a Ralts too! We should battle!" The kid then released one of his Pokemon revealing a male Ralts. "This is Psychic Slicer, he is going to be an awesome Gallade when I get him to evolve! See I already have a Dawn Stone that my uncle gave me!" exclaimed the kid. He then pulled out his Pokedex and scanned Lannia before saying, "O yours is a girl… it has to evolve into a Gardevoir… that sucks."

"No, we are not battling… go away," said Hark glaring at the kid who knew his dirty little secret.

"But we have to Battle, I challenged you so we have to battle," replied the kid looking a little shocked at the refusal.

No, we…" started to reply Hark he then noticed something pulling at his leg. Looking down he saw Lannia trying to get his attention. Once she had it she stepped forward, her body glowing with psychic power. "I guess she wants to battle then," muttered Hark with a disapproving tone of voice thinking Lannia was trying to still impress him.

Lannia wasn't doing this for Hark. No she was tired of being looked down on was angered by this trainer's words. She was tired of being disregarded by humans and then watching them choose one her many her brothers and sisters. Being told she wasn't good enough for this or that. She was merely given away to a Trainer School to be a first pokemon since she wasn't good enough for a serious trainer. She was going to prove she was better than his Ralts.

"Alright Psychic Slicer use Confusion!" said the kid as the more experienced male Ralts quickly summoned up energy and picked up Lannia and tossed her into the side of a large rock. Lannia had closed her eyes and tried to focus and draw power from deep inside herself. She was going to prove she had more power than his Ralts.

Lannia opened her eyes with a burst of energy only to realize that the other Ralts was holding a massive rock over her. She tried to push it away but the other Ralt's psychic energy was too strong. As a last resort she dove away as the rock fell. It should have landed completely on her, but instead at the last minute it shifted so it just landed on her body and legs, barely missing her head. Yelping in pain she started to desperately force away the heavy rock with her abilities. Once she got it off she took a gasp of air and realized the other Ralts was standing over her.

"Give up… I don't want to damage your face… you're too pretty," said the other Ralts almost shyly. Lannia could only stare in shock at the Ralts who seemed to have a crush on her.

"Come on Slicer why are you holding back finish it off!" yelled the other Ralt's trainer. The other Ralts looked back at his trainer and Lannia took advantage of his distraction and shoved him back to the ground with a burst of her own Psychic energy. Standing back up Lannia prepared to attack the other Ralts with a barrage of magical leaves, but he simply forced almost all of them away with a burst of his own abilities. He was clearly more powerful than Lannia, and he picked her up and tossed her to the side. In her mind she could hear him telepathically telling her sorry as he tossed her around.

Lannia tried to fight back, but he was too strong even though he was holding back due to his crush on her. Lannia was so humiliated, but this embarrassing display was ended by Hark recalling her.
Hark looked at the kid with a glare and said, "You won… now scram."

"You're suck a poor loser gezz, well its clear I'm much better than you as I have 3 more Pokemon that could easily beat your one," said the kid as he recalled his love struck Ralts that just staring at the Pokeball in Hark's had. The kid then pride fully marched off down the hill.

Hark smirked and said with a voice that seemed to indicate he knew something the kid didn't, "We will see about that in a few years."

He then released Lannia again and sprayed her down with a second potion and stated, "That wasn't pretty, now let's go." Lannia on the other hand was overwhelmed by her humiliation and started to cry. Hark was about 15 feet away from her when he realized she wasn't walking with him. Looking back to see her crying he muttered to himself, "I don't have time for this right now. I'll deal with this once we are at the top." He then recalled the Ralts back to her Pokeball and then continued back up the hill, his mind more focused on his future plans than what had upset his Pokemon.

(OOC: I know it's a short post but just wanted to set up the interaction between Akito and Lyssa.)

Team Thus Far:



Lyssa was busy enjoying herself, until she saw a figure approach her. "Hello." Lyssa looked up and saw a boy, smiling at her. "Are you a trainer? If so would you like to be my travelling companion on my journey. My name's Akito by the way." The boy extended his hand for a handshake. Lyssa just looked, but quickly realized he was just striking up a conversation.

"Hi Akito, I'm Lyssa. Nice to meet you." She said, smiling back. She grabbed his hand and pulled herself up to stand. Wow, he's taller than I thought. "And yes I am a trainer. I would gladly travel with you to the next town. There's no harm in travelling with someone." She smiled. She as a bit cautious as she had no clue who this boy was, but she supposed someone to talk to until she reached the next town would be good. She paused for a moment to think of something to say. "So, I'm assuming you just started your journey too?"

GM note - Remember, do not move past this chapter in your posts! Have fun roleplaying.

Hark pushed forward alone as the sun began to set. His mind wrapped up with theories, blueprints, and in progress projects. His mind focused on two projects primarily: first was the sunglasses on his head which were almost complete, and the second was the upgrade to his arm. He wanted an advance poison injector, but that was starting to get more complicated the more he thought about it. Sighing he decided to focus on the other less interesting project for now. His mind focused on the almost complete project now that he had all the parts now. Before Hark knew it he was at the top of the volcano and he took a second to look around before wondering why the heck he had come up here.

Shrugging Hark walked over to the skytran, which he quickly discovered was out of order. "I guess it's time to go down by foot," muttered Hark, but first he was going to take a break. Putting down his pack he opened it and pulled out several tools, took off the sun glasses that were on top of his head, laptop, and pulled out his Pokedex. He then pushed the button on Lannia's Pokeball releasing her. He then booted up his computer and got to work.

Lannia watched with tear stained eyes Hark disassembled his Pokedex and start taking parts and attaching stuff to his glasses. She had no idea what he was doing but she was a little intrigued for a couple of minutes, but then she got bored of his tinkering. Yawning Lannia decided to do something which was in her mind bold, she moved over to Hark and leaned her head against his side. Hark looked down at her for a second then went back to what he was doing. Lannia was glad he didn't shove her away, but she did wish for more of a reaction. Closing her eyes Lannia quickly fell asleep.

A choking darkness surrounded her, a terrible smell filled the air and she quickly realized the darkness was actually a thick cloud of black smoke. Then she heard it… the sounds of screaming filled the air. The dream ended as quickly as it had started by her waking up violently, looking around she saw that she was still lying against a working Hark. She lifted her head and wondered what her dream meant. Most of her dreams where nice, or weird. They felt like dreams… this one felt different, and it made her feel very uneasy…

Aya watched with anticipation as the ball containing the Teddiursa she was attempting to catch rocked back and forth. It had only been a short amount of time really but she couldn't help but feel it was taking excruciatingly long to discover whether her capture was a success or not, however she was okay with the wait so long as her capture attempt was a success. Nothing was more disapointing than losing to an audience. After a final rock a distinct beeping noise was heard from the capsule and the pokeball remained still, the capture was a success. Aya breathed an inward sigh of relief, smiling at her catch.
"I think I might have to call you Grizzly after that last battle" she said laughing to herself.

"W-Wow, th-that was amazing! And it looks so easy!" Carl said, as if he was a kid who had seen somebody catch a Pokémon for the first time in his life. "I think I'll be able to pull it off!"

Sting, his Weedle, looked as amazed as his trainer. He was also feeling excited, and itching to have a battle with another Pokémon. He crawled over Carl's back to reach the rocky floor, then moved around in circles to draw his trainer's attention. And he succeeded, as Carl looked at him and immediately knew what was going on.

"Look, he's so full of energy!" he exclaimed, "It looks like he wants to battle, too!"

Aya returned Ladon to his pokeball also, congratulating him for the hard-fought battle and his success in it.
"Both Ladon and Grizzly will need to rest for a while after their battle but if you'd like we can have one a little later" she said to her temporary companion, flashing him a grin "and it wasn't as easy as it looked. I wasn't sure at all if I was going to succeed." Aya didn't like telling people that sort of thing, but it seemed the confidence boost would do Carl well.
"Let's keep heading up for now, it's starting to get a darker and I don't want to have to go up this road when it is pitch black"

Carl nodded in response, a huge grin on his face. Sting looked slightly disappointed, but he would get to battle later and its tiny heart was beating with excitement. Neither of them seemed to mind the darkness that the sunset was generating. Sting crawled back to his trainer's shoulders, and then the boy continued his trek up Jagged Pass.

The closer they got to Mt. Chimney, the harder it was to go upwards. There were more rocks that made the hike hard, and some volcanic ash could be seen over patches of grass and rocks. Nevertheless, both continued, putting all their hearts into the hike.

"H-Hey, Aya..." Carl said timidly. He was starting to get tired, and it was getting harder for him to spit out the words he wanted to say, "H-how longer d-do you think th-this path...is?"

Aya turned at the unexpected noise, the pair had been mostly silent for this leg of Jagged Pass on account of the darkness, it was taking more focus to not trip over a rock (or a geodude) than it had during the day.
"Hmm?" Aya thought for a while "It doesn't look like it is much further, I think maybe we should set up camp once we reach the end of Jagged pass, perhaps have that battle then."

Aya pulled herself up a steep ledge that had seemingly materialised out of nowhere, extending a hand to Carl to help him up.
"That sound like a plan to you?"

Carl grabbed Aya's hand and smiled. "S-Sounds good." he replied and went up the steep ledge. "W-Wow, where'd that one come from?" He looked up and, although it was getting dark, he could see that there were more ledges like that to get past. He was too focused on the volcano's summit that he forgot to look where he was walking and stepped over a rock that made him lose his balance.

"Wh-who-whoa!" he exclaimed and fell backwards. Thanks to Sting's reflexes and part of his survival instinct, he was saved from falling all the way down to his possible doom. The Weedle jumped off his trainer's shoulders and fired a String Shot that left the boy all covered in the Weedle's silk but held him in his place. "Whew... Th-thanks, Sting! I don't wanna know what could have happened without that String Shot!" Weedle squealed happily in response and crawled over to Carl's side.

"Woah!" at the sight of Carl falling to the side of a yet steeper ledge she made a lunge for him, only to be outpaced by a hasty String Shot from Sting "Careful, there are ledges and dips in the most random places up here. We seem to have picked the most treacherous way up we could."
At least I haven't nearly died yet... I guess I'm doing okay next to other trainers.

Aya and Carl continued to travel up the steep, and progressively more dangerous route for a while before a flat, albeit rocky, clearing appeared not to far away.
"Why don't we go that far for tonight" she said gesturing at the location "and set up camp there. It isn't long until we reach the top of Mt. Chimney so we may as well set up camp, eat, battle and sleep."

Carl agreed without hesitation, he was unable to get all the silk off his body and was getting more and more tired with every step he took. "S-Sounds good" he said and made his way over to where Aya had gestured. Sting, who was back on Carl's shoulder at that time, hopped off him and began to crawl in circles again, after hearing that Carl might be battling his companion.

After both him and Aya had arrived at the clearing, Sting began to rub his head against Carl's leg. He understood what the Weedle meant and looked at Aya. "S-so, w-we're here. It's a little early to eat so, um," he said timidly, "why don't we, um, spar?"

"Sounds good to me" Aya said "I figure it will be good to see how well I gel with Grizzly in battle. Aya strode across the clearing to face Carl with a decent space between the two of them.
"Alright Grizzly, let's see how this goes" Aya said to her teddiursa in an encouraging tone as she released it. The flash of white light dissipating to reveal the small orange-brown pokemon.
"Ready when you are Carl."

Carl smiled shyly after Aya sent out her newly-caught Teddiursa. Sting was getting even more excited, and the boy finally said the command. "L-Let's do this, Sting!" he shouted, and his Weedle leaped into the battlefield without hesitation. He looked at his opponent defiantly, and the other Pokémon could see the longing for a battle in the small bug's eyes.