Doggo

Reinaan couldn't help but notice Madelyn eyeing him as she spoke with the others. She was almost staring at him. And so the boy matched her gaze, with confusion at first. But then a slowly mounting irritation. It was like she was challenging him. And he was ready to take whatever challenge. Still, she didn't directly say anything so perhaps he was misreading the woman. It was hard to tell. The Draken still wasn't sure he understood human women yet from his interactions with Keres and Ryia. Madelyn wasn't helping the issue. As Ryia continued speaking with Madelyn, the Earth Chosen indirectly confirmed they were the Chosen in an effort to convince her to work with them. Ackrin made an appearance and introduction, prompting Madelyn to ask about the light spirit. Reinaan's thoughts drifted to Kha and how different their journey thus far might have been had he, and the Dark Chosen remained alive. Never mind losing Gilly, Anis and Pyrrha. The boy tuned back into the conversation as Lindow spoke. He made their task seem clear, use Madelyn's knowledge to find and destroy the gate and ignore all the political affairs of the minotuar. However the woman didn't seem to agree things were so clear cut. "Hmph, as I thought you are a crass man. And what about once its done? Do you think they'll just shrug and move on?" She huffed. "I suppose maybe those pea-sized brains of theirs could forget all about it before long." The Fire Chosen didn't appreciate the insults to Lindow's person or the general dismissal of the minotaurs. But for now he had a handle on his temper. "They'll have to give up their plans. But if they still wanna fight the Chosen, that's on them. We'll take out their leader, then they'd have to listen to us." He responded as a matter of fact. If he had the idea of the minotaurs right in their head, the leader had to be the strongest of them all. So if he lost they'd be the next leader. It seemed clear cut. Not exactly a Draken way of thinking but Reinaan could respect the idea of a Draken village run on that principile. Mostly because it would give him a shot at being the leader well before he was some four hundred years old. Madelyn threw her hands up "I guess." She tapped her forehead a few times "Well, either way, I need a warm meal and a bath. And I'm not taking anyone anywhere until I get that." She obviously wasn't sold on the ideas still. She was getting on Reinaan's nerves with how everything out of her mouth seemed like a demand. She probably never had to do any real work her whole life. Still, he could understand the wants. "Well we've got food. Guess we could find a river or something. Keres you can grab water no problem right? I'll heat it up to whatever temperature." he started. Then he turned back to Madelyn. "Unless you're saying you want us to go all the way back to the city." he said with a somewhat incredulous tone. The boy was clear which path he thought made sense. But Madelyn returned a look of utter disgust. "Of course I mean back to the city, you barbarian." She said. "I've been out here all day." At this point Reinaan was tiring of trying to be polite with this girl. There'd been an awful lot of diplomacy going on today and he was a warrior at heart. His next words would be laced with growls. "It's not like it's gonna be that much different where it comes from! Not to mention you wouldn't be paying out here and we'd get to get moving faster!" he stated, baffled at the logic at play here, or lack thereof in his ind. "I wouldn't expect YOU to understand." She looked over at Ryia and Keres "I'm sure you two get it right?" Keres didn't answer but shook her head instead. The way she spoke, it was becoming clear this woman had low opinions of any race other than humans. But until she insulted his people, Reinaan would do his best to control himself for the group's sake. "I'm trying to save you time and money but okay, sure, I'm the one who doesn't get it." he said with a huff before turning around to get Kloqah ready to go again. "Just what I'd expect." She muttered in response and swiftly looked to the side in a huff. This earned her another glare from the Draken. Already the ice was wearing thin. This trip was going to prove lively one way or another.

Typhlosion Houndoom Grovyle Lucario Buizel Corphish Noivern Rockruff

Kloqah had done well in ushering the group away from the angry minotaur trio but Reinaan wasn't sure when was far enough to be considered a safe distance. He knew the beastmen were strong but had no experience with their speed or endurance. Thus, how good they were at tracking prey was also an unknown. Though cows didn't eat meat the boy was pretty sure. Maybe cow people didn't either. It was Madelyn who ultimately broke the silence of their escape, claiming they weren't being followed by this point and demanding to be let down. What she was basing this on the boy could only guess but still he told his mount to slow to a stop and soon Kloqah began her much deserved rest as the mage girls slid off her back. Reinaan was quick to follow and keep his eyes on their surroundings to watch for the others. Ryia and Lindow arrived very much not in the company of the minotaurs before too long which was reassuring, though Damien remained unseen if he was in the area. "Glad you made it out of there." Reinaan voiced to Lindow in particular as the girls began talking with each other. "Guess we'll be putting off figuring out how we stack up to those piles of muscle." the draken offered in jest, still trying to entertain the thought he could have beaten the minotaur without a triple magical intervention. "Though how did you guys end up in the middle of all that anyway?" he asked, and hearing Ryia and Madelyn's conversation regarding Keres' magic turned to face the new girl. "For that matter, what the hell was even going on in that building? What were those guys looking for?"

The shark girl was growing frustrated as little of what she thought to do seemed to be working. Throwing electronics only seemed to reinforce the creature in front of her. And before she could grab another round in hopes that something would break sharply enough to break its skin if it had any underneath all that, Nanami was hit by the discharge it sent out. Reeling back as all of her impacted muscles spasmed painfully in response, Nanami took a moment to collect herself and think of what to do next to get this asshole actually bleeding. It was at this point that her classmates Kiburi and Juryo started yelling at their opponent. Something about a stockpile of electricity, super secret. Initially the shark might have thought the cockroach had gone mad. But Nanami could sniff out a scheme well enough. Her new roommate had something in mind, and for the time being the group seemed united in going for it. "Well shit, why don't you just tell him all the best secrets?!" Nanami barked at Kiburi in genuine anger. Not that she was mad at the girl of course, this whole situation had her wanting to vent some steam something fierce. "Now I gotta beat the fucker there." she called out as she glared the electrical boy down. She took off running, making sure to make a pit stop by Kiburi on the way. "Where the hell am we trying to take this guy again?" she muttered through clench teeth, only pausing long enough to ask her question and receive a reply before she'd get moving again.

Estellise was surprised to see the shamans were capable of coordinated casting. The two remaining magical goblins had worked together to cast their next spell. The Fereis raised her cape, wondering if she could repel magic cast by two mages at once, only to be surprised as instead a shroud of darkness soon engulfed them, as well as Sergei and the monster he was fighting. The woman could make nothing out of what was inside it. She knew the general direction to aim at the shamans, assuming they had stayed in place after casting it. But this assumed Sergei wasn't also on the move. The last thing the mage wanted to do was hurt her own comrade. "Sergei, choose a direction and get out!" she called out as she raised her hands in front of her chest and began channeling magic once more. If the goblins wanted to hide in shadows she would have to light the lot of them out, and she didn't want Sergei caught up in it. This effort was interrupted as an injured Chris began approaching her. Trusting Sergei to be able to handle himself well like he had on the floor before, the woman turned to Chris and shifted the focus and intent of her magic. A soft gentle light hovered around her hand as she raised it to the shoulder injury to begin mending it. "Do be careful Chris. I can only afford to prevent it restricting your movement. Once we are out of here I shall see it to it more fully." she warned as the magic did its work. Once done she would turn her attention back to the darkness sitting on the battlefield and look to see if Sergei had made his move yet. Regardless she would ready what magic she still had to at least scare the goblins inside out.

Iris found Ash and Noah's interactions somewhat charming as they bickered about the dragon's knowledge of what they were even doing out here. But there wasn't much time to dwell on it or spur it on as the group was interrupted by what was identified as a rocket, crashing off into the rocks afar off. The girl agreed with Ash's assessment that the group ought to check it out, but even she wasn't quite so bold as to go overboard immediately to get on checking it. Ash was on the way and that left Noah, Quill and Orianne standing on deck. Quill though was ready to go overboard herself. "Not so hasty, we should go grab the others." Iris cautioned Quill who reluctantly stopped her attempt to get over the deck. "Coming Noah? i think we ought to take the Aegis over there and try to catch up with Ash before he gets into any trouble." she offered with a relaxed confidence. Whatever his reply she intended to go below to find whoever else was on board. Orianne perhaps would have just wanted to keep the course even though they didnt' really have one. But Iris was going to put her into something of an uncomfortable situation soon. It would be good for her. But for now Iris stayed surface as she caught sight of Juri and Avery and their partners engaged in conversation. "We've got something! It isn't much but it's more than the nothing we've been seeing. We gotta get the ship over there!" she called out to rally the crew together. "Do you even know what you're doing?" Quill asked as Orianne attempted to make sense of how one might go about controlling the Aegis. "Of course.... I don't. But that's your job then isn't it Quill?" Iris responded with a laugh. The Herissmon ultimately agreed and began fidgeting with different devices.

The group was suddenly running, trying to follow Cassius as it raced off to take them somewhere new and exciting. Milla had been taken by surprise but managed to run well enough to keep Nathan in view ahead of her, but also slow enough to keep Nomi in view behind her. The running was difficult on the less than athletic girl, but it seemed much less so than on Nomi who made it an effort to rarely exert herself. Eventually of course, Cassius made it to where it wanted to take the group and thus in a chain Nathan, Milla and then Nomi would all stop running and begin catching their breath. For her part, Milla had been rather amazed at the sights around her and tried to start taking things in even as her body demanded more oxygen. In the immediate area the most curious thing was a door with something resembling writing that the girl couldn't actually read. That was until the strange man wearing a mask came into view and began talking. He seemed to know Nomi but pondered who Milla and Nathan were. Somehow they were special, yet another thought to set Milla's mind racing. And then he seemed to almost read the bizarre writing in what sounded like common sense. A crack would naturally break a whole object if left unattended. Maybe it was a riddle. There were so many things to think about that she had to get information somewhere. No where better to start than with the people she already knew. "It could be the exciting thing we're looking for but um..." Milla started in response to Nomi who wondered if the door was the thing Cassius had wanted to show them. "Do you know this person Nomi?" Milla asked. "No... yes. Saw 'im once." Nomi offered. So the connection was tenuous at best. That left little options to figure out the strange set of circumstances past addressing the masked man himself. "Uh... excuse me sir, my name is Milla Reuter and we've never met as you seem to have guessed. Is there something special about this door?" the girl asked through her nerves. The man tapped his foot rapidly while looking at the door before turning to her. "Aren't all of them? This door doesn't exist anywhere else, correct?" He paused. "Does it?" "Well... naturally this exact door could only be here. And I can't say I've seen one quite like it or any writing like that before. Have you tried opening it yet?" Milla returned curiously. Her own thoughts began to run into various fantasies at the mans words as she pondered the door and a kingdom somewhere in the clouds where all doors could magically lead to if you knew the right words. The man though focused on her question as his eyes widened. Then he turned to the door and gave it a push. Turning back around he responded "Yes. Yes I have." "No luck there then..." Milla trailed off before getting to more actively thinking herself. "It seemed like you understand this strange writing. What is this language called? Have you seen it anywhere else around here?" The man stayed silent before answering this latest question. "I...don't know. Where have I seen it. I...It...." He winced, clutching his head, and shook it. Then his expression settled and he suddenly asked "Who are you?" At this line of questioning Milla became unsettled. The man had seemed eccentric before true, but now he seemed almost disturbed. She was worried about him and wanted to make sure he was okay but hesitated to approach him directly. "A-as I said, my name is Milla. Are you alright?" she asked. "No, half of me is left." He gave a short, harsh, laugh before muttering to himself a bit. Then focusing again on the girl, "you're here....for what?" "We..." Milla struggled to think at this point. She was very concerned about continued interaction with man who seemed more mentally unstable the longer they interacted. She backed up ever so slowly before turning to Nathan. "We were just looking for something new and exciting, right Nathan?" she asked, blatantly dropping the conversation off on the boy so she could avoid directly interacting with the maske man.

As Sergei managed to clear the room without further incident, Estellise became notably more relieved even while adrenaline surged through her body and carried her on down the stairs to the next floor with the others. The next floor held in it their quick exit to the dungeon which seemed the wisest course as their initial decent hadn't been the smoothest one could have hoped for. And sure enough the teleportation device was present in the large cavernous room. But so too were a large number of goblin enemies, some riding beasts, and three of which appeared to be competent in magic if the trend from the kobold's was to hold true. Chris was quick to act and proposed Estelle be the one to quickly disable the magic users. She was the best equipped to deal with them so she didn't argue the point but took to focusing her magic. Lana and Sergei too moved into action, quickly killing opponents, including the non-magical goblin between the entrance to the room and the three shamans gathered by the teleporter. Sergei seemed confident, even offering the first round of drinks. "We shall have to hold you to it!" she called back somewhat cheerfully as she stepped toward the shamans some. She focused her aim on the middle of the three magical goblins who all were already preparing spells themselves. Estelle did her best to fire a light arrow off before they could finish casting but she was ever so slightly too slow. The three both fired rays of cold even as the arrow struck the shaman. The now injured goblin and the right most shaman grouped together quickly after casting at the left most goblin's location. All three rays were heading toward Estelle, no doubt the creatures had seen her magic and had something of the same thought she had about them. What they lacked that the privileged Fereis did was an enchanted cloak capable of deflecting magic from casters weaker than herself. To this day the woman had not met a goblin capable of casting more powerful magic than her and so she assumed it would hold true today as she grasped the end of her flowing cape behind her and swung it forward as the rays connected with the fabric. Estelle could feel a chill in the air briefly but sure enough the magic flowed with her movements and soon the rays were sent flying back at the grouped together goblins. The injured goblin bore the brunt of the offensive and froze solid on impact, ending its life. "To even call this magic would be an insult!" Estelle called out, some of her mage upbringing leaking out in her display of superior magical prowess to a couple of goblins in early floors of the dungeon. A victory was a victory whatever flavor it came in. The mage readied her magic again to fire on the remaining mages to keep their attention on her.

With options of how to resolve things peacefully escaping him, Reinaan was surprised to see Lindow move in to talk to Madelyn directly. He spoke plainly of what they were looking for which only enraged the minotaurs. The relic they had called it. If that wasn't a sign they had it the boy wasn't sure what was. Regardless he readied himself to fight only to see confusion among the minotaurs take hold. Two of them seemed convinced a Roc was circling overheard. The draken saw nothing of course but quickly put two and two together that Keres was casting her illusion magic. Madelyn wasted no time in escaping, a wise course of action as the chosen themselves moved to leave rather than fight the hulking beastmen near or in an unstable building. Reinaan took off to return to Kloqah and the mule and took note of Ryia looking out for Keres on the way to escape the scene. The mage was slow on her feet and the boy knew what he had to do. "Come on girl, we gotta get moving." he told Kloqah plainly as he leapt onto her back. The lizard protested but took off at a moderate pace which the boy only urged to move faster. Another snort and she sped up again, circling back to Keres and Ryia as they fled. "I'll get her out of here, get going as fast as you can or take the mule." Reinaan said in a hurry to Ryia as he passed and quite nearly scooped Keres up from off the ground and onto Kloqah's back behind him. "Sorry if that was rough." he said as a matter of fact. He couldn't take the time to be sure if he'd punctured the girl's skin with his claws at all for the moment. The mount turned about at the Fire Chosen's beckoning and began running away faster than either passenger could have hoped to go on their own. Now they had another goal. It wasn't long at all before Kloqah caught up to Madelyn who, like Keres, wasn't particularly fast on foot. The scooping procedure repeated and now Kloqah's back was rather crowded with the Draken, Madelyn and Keres in that order from front to back. "Get your claws off of me!" Madelyn cried several times in protest to the maneuver. Reinaan struggled to get her into place as his mount continued moving but ultimately he was much physically stronger than her. Still, some verbal reassurance was probably in order. "I'm not trying to hurt you I just wanna get you away from them! We could use your help but you can decide what you wanna do when we're back at the city." Reinaan nearly shouted over the girl to get her to stop complaining and resisting him. More than that he didn't want her diving off the mount at this point or she might hurt herself. "Ugh, I suppose I must once more suffer to achieve my goals. As always. Very well...though could you not have gotten a more spacious mount?" Madelyn returned as she ultimately settled down. "Use those legs a little more and I wouldn't have to escort everyone." Reinaan snorted back, wondering just how many humans would never make it on their own with how slow some of them ran. "How crass." Madelyn returned with a huff. As Reinaan looked back to ensure the safety of his two passengers he took note of Keres making a concerted effort to not look at Madelyn. The boy had his suspicions this was another former acquaintance but knew the Water Chosen would likely never raise the subject herself. "Hey, Keres, keep an eye out behind us. We don't wanna leave the others too far behind but we don't want those bulls on our tail either." Reinaan called to her as he kept his eyes forward. He needed to guide Kloqah effectively as a misstep in this situation would create quite the uncomfortable pile up. But also stating her name was his own way of seeing if the two knew each other. "...Right" Keres returned, terse as ever. "Hm. Interesting name..." Madelyn commented as she shifted. Reinaan mentally wished her luck in finding a comfortable position. But more important was her reaction. These two definitely knew each other but were being stubborn about bringing up how. "What, you know a Keres or something?" the Draken teased. "No, no, I don't....I don't believe so." the ruins expert returned. Despite her statement she was clearly in thought. They must not have known each other well. Regardless, Reinaan didn't feel like really grilling her with questions until they were sufficiently far away from the big bull-men. How far away that was he could only guess. More importantly they needed to regroup with the others.

I'm Going Ghost!

With the group's engagement on the collapsing trio of mushrooms, Estellise took off with Chris and Lana to get away from the spores her attacks had released. There wasn't much time to ask them if they were feeling any adverse effects but so far they had managed to keep running. In fact they had made it to the exit of the room without further incident as they had done nothing past running. Only when the Fereis heard her given name shouted from behind her did she turn about to see Sergei still trying to make his way to exit after his maneuver to distract more of the creatures. He was mostly in the clear but needed help slowing one more mushroom down. A task the mage certainly felt up to as she channeled her magic again. She drew her hand back and let fly another arrow of light to strike the remaining mushroom. As before the creature reeled back at the hit and let loose a cloud of spores which would prove detrimental to Sergei if they made contact with him. But what mattered was he now had the window he needed to reach the exit with them. "Please hurry Sergei, it cannot be safe to stay in the spores!" she called out as she readied another arrow. For the moment the man seemed to be in the clear, but she wasn't going to let something go wrong this late into things.

The cat Jaeger sat in quiet curiosity as the fortune teller went to work. That the spirits needed ambiance was cute in a way yet Wadjat seemed committed to the idea. Her craft meant a lot to her clearly. To add to the affair her crystal ball began glowing as she started to speak. She spoke of Catriona herself, alone and distressed in a dark room. She was in her cat form but she sounded as though she'd been roughed up a fair bit. Regardless of what thought it meant, Madam Wadjat seemed convinced it was a bad omen, an ominous future ahead of her guest. Catriona herself had remained rather stoic throughout the telling, a rather rare disposition for her to take. When the fortune was concluded she breathed in deeply and let the mood and Wadjat's words hang in the air for a moment. As if the universe might yet speak some other truth to the woman. But as nothing came of it, the jaeger shifted in her seat and regained some of her usual vigor. "Hmmmm... seems a bit too easy doesn't it?" Catriona pondered aloud to herself as she contemplated the words Wadjat had spoken. "Well, I suppose you're the real deal after all. Thank you kindly Madam Wadjat. I've always known the general gist of my fate but that you've so clearly grasped it cements it well enough. I do hope you won't hold it against me if I change this fate and invalidate your first fortune." the woman said and ultimately teased as she stood. She placed down a small pile of coin for the service without waiting for the subject to come up. With the fortune still lingering in her mind, Catriona decided it was better to be off to the others and see what all they had dug up. And so with a graceful bow she began leaving the establishment to walk back toward the center of town where the group had first dispersed..

If Reinaan had been hoping the minotaurs and Madelyn would just play into his hand, he was at this point feeling pretty disappointed. Mentioning there being anything else seemed to make the minotaurs convince themselves Madelyn had been holding out on them but she very clearly wanted to be on her way. Ryia attempted to play off his lie but it still wasn't helping very much. All the while there was still the issue of the partially exploded building that LIndow and Damien were still inside. The draken's confidence levels had been fluctuating pretty rapidly throughout the whole ordeal but by this point he was seeing killing the minotaurs as the only way out. He wanted to avoid that at the moment with the group divided up as it was and some of them awfully close to the ever increasingly irritated bull people. Then came the offer of meeting with the chief. While the idea had its appeal, it came with some conditions that all but assured they wouldn't get out alive unless the chief was so inclined. Tied up and weaponless wasn't a way to go about anything. "Can we get everyone away from the unstable building first?" Reinaan ultimatley interjected as he slowly began backing up himself. The lead minotaur looked to him and then the tower then with a grunt and some gestures moved his fellows and himself away from the tower. The three now stood next to each other in a group, the one closest to the building still keeping an eye on Lindow and Damien inside the building. At least with this much they should be able to get out. Lindow being in the open was a powerful bit of a strategic advantage if a brawl broke out. "As for your offer, we're gonna have to pass on getting tied up or any of that. But how about we give you that magic coin from the competition and you let the woman go on her way? Then we'll all just get out of here and enjoy our day." he proposed. The minotaur who had been competing with Reinaan seemed angry and started pointing at himself but the leader shook his head. "Not worth it." he started as he took stock of the situation. "We must talk with chief. He will know what to do." he concluded. That seemed to be their only acceptable course of action. Whatever was going to happen had to go through the chief. At this point maybe Reinaan could create some more friction. "I don't know that your chief's gonna be all that happy the place blew up. Or that one of his men was losing a contest of strength to someone half his size. Would probably be better to give him something, however little, and just ignore the rest of this happened don't ya think?" The Fire Chosen taunted, not entirely sure he would get away with it unscathed. On cue the one he had been competing with stomped toward the boy and reached out for his neck only to be stopped by the leader barking at him. The minotaur stopped, clearly frustrated, and looked back to his boss as the two began arguing with each other in their own language. At this point Reinaan was fairly certain anything else he did was going to start the fight he wasn't keen on. He eyed Keres, Ryia and further away Lindow. He didn't know what to try to communicate with his look but it clearly conveyed he was out of ideas but that they should probably capitalize on the argument. However that was going to work.

Milla definitely didn't know how to respond to Nathan's compliment. Her, a great trainer? The thought seemed so foreign and yet somehow embarrassing. Andante and Rondo seemed to agree however which led to ultimately not protesting or challenging the idea. The others seemed inclined to want to stick together and agreed to explore the ruins with her which was comforting. And so before setting out Milla recalled her pokemon and left the alleyway with her friends. The walk would prove pleasant enough anyway. The girl made mental notes of shops to revisit with her winnings from Tavares afterwards. Upon arriving where they had done the bulk of their training, nothing much seemed immediately different. The abandoned buildings hadn't changed, the ruins themselves were as impressive as ever. Though oddly there did seem to be something of an encampment with no one around. Upon getting closer it seemed to have been made very recently and it was rather small. Perhaps only a single person. Milla was ever curious but her attention was shifted to Nomi who presented the one question she wasn't ready to answer. What were they doing here exactly? "Well..." the girl started, the uncertainty showing plainly. "Yeah I was hoping to see what the inside was like. We spent so much time here yesterday training but we never went in. There must be something wonderful hiding inside. At least if all the stories about desert ruins are anything to go off of." Milla explained her thought process. With nothing else to do but go in, that was exactly what the group did. And what met their view was nothing too out of the ordinary. It seemed like something of a city past the wall. An assortment of buildings with maze-like streets to navigate to them. Pokemon roamed the area, which made sense. Nathan had mentioned this being Cassius' home. It seemed wonderful though and the girl was absorbed in trying to take everything in. But that left her with very little idea of where to start. "So... you mentioned you're familiar with these, right Nathan? I wonder then if you might take us somewhere you haven't been if there's anything." she asked casually of her newest friend.

The Fereis hurried along as best she could while keeping her magic ready to intervene. She was somewhat alarmed as Sergei separated from the group to draw the attention of as many of the other monsters as he could. But the man was fast on his feet and as yet hadn't been swarmed by the mushrooms. Her stamina was going to be the main roadblock to the group getting out safely so she couldn't afford to stop moving. But as she continued with Lana and Chris nearby, it became more apparent they wouldn't make it to the exit of the room without encountering the same group of mushrooms again. Chris realized this sooner than the rest and turned to attack the most immediate of the cluster of three closing in on the group. Lana soon turned to aid in his assault. Estellise kept running past the other two as they turned about, not entirely sure what they were doing until she turned to get a better grasp of the situation. The mage raised her hands to ready to fire light at the creatures again. The first she had fired on the stem of the body and it had done ultimately little to stop the creature's advance. This time Estellise took aim at one of the two mushrooms Lana and Chris hadn't directly engaged and fired an arrow at the creature's cap. This seemed to be more effective in that it did more damage and halted the advance more readily than her previous attack. But this maneuver released more spores into the air over a wider area. As yet they weren't headed the group's direction but there was a clear trade off being presented. Attacking the caps was the trick to besting these creatures but doing so would release more spores, the effects of which were still entirely unknown. Still, this wasn't the time to hesitate. As long as the group made it off the floor she was fairly certain she could treat any negative effects they might have. And so she turned her aim on the last of the three mushrooms closest to the group and repeated her shot, landing another blow on the creature's cap and spreading more spores into the air.

Between the apparent irritation of the minotaurs and the accusatory point he had received from his opponent earlier, Reinaan backed up somewhat nervously from the building. This would be a less than ideal situation to get attacked up he felt. If each of the beastmen were as strong as the one he'd been wrestling a fight with three at once seemed less than safe. Of course, the feeling soon shifted to confusion as a human woman walked out of the doorway, with Damien and Lindow coming into view soon after. The woman and the minotaurs argued for a bit, apparently she'd been trying to help them find something but the results seemed less than ideal. Ryia soon began speaking with the woman who eventually introduced herself as Madelyn. Apparently she specialized in ruins and there were abandoned cities in the area, this building being but a part of the available spoils. If the minotaurs were hiring a woman like this to take them to various ruins, was it possible they didn't actually have the Gate yet? Regardless, it seemed wise to get more information out of the woman before she left with the minotaurs but they didn't seem very keen on letting her talk more about the subject. "We were just looking for something super magical and mysterious..." Reinaan started. Despite the minotaur's silencing Madelyn he had to hope he could goad them into agreeing to what he wanted again so long as the appeal was good enough. For that matter he had to hope the woman took enough pride in her expertise for this to get them anything. "But it's really out there, I guess you probably wouldn't know." the draken said, trying to hold back just how cheeky he wanted to be with this despite lacking the ground for such an attitude about things. Someone would have to remind him he was only about to win his competition because of three different magical interventions.

Estellise took to the rear of the group as they took to moving about the perimeter of the cave on the left side. This was never intentional, merely a result of a difference in physique and stamina between herself and her companions due to her life as a mage. She needed to keep magical solutions in mind in the event she lagged behind enough the mushrooms caught here where otherwise the others would have been able to evade the enemies. However, it seemed conflict as inevitable as Chris went into intercept the closest mushroom with Lana following suit with the next closest right after him. The Fereis was concerned as she watched her companions strike and paid close attention to the spores released. She had to be ready to counter any negative effects on the group but oddly the spores didn't fly out into the room or even their way at all. They seemed to hover close to the wound Chris had inflicted. The monsters were shrugging off attacks in a very troubling manner. One that left Estellise less than eager to stay and fight ten of them. With her companions fending off the nearest she shifted her focus to the next closest approaching mushroom. Readying an arrow of light she fired at the stem of the creature which reeled back but seemed mostly fine for the attack compared to the kobolds who crippled under one or two of them. The woman continued running, her magic still channeling into her hands with additional shots ready. They would be easy enough to hit but she couldn't slow her pace.

"Thank you so much Tavares!" Milla managed to call out somewhat cheerfully as the gym leader took his leave of the group. The girl hadn't immediately caught on to Nomi's cue with her raised arms. She thought the girl was making a joke of her fatigue or else just stretching. But the longer it went on, eventually she realized Nomi wanted help standing which Milla offered frantically to get her friend up on her feet. The two would come to Nathan's side from their position out of the way of his battle. Nomi proposed they go somewhere, she clearly didn't have something in mind. But moving out of the alley seemed like a good idea regardless. "I agree. I think it only right we should stick together. I still can't believe we all did it.." She started in awe of the group's accomplishments. More than anything she was still in disbelief she had herself won. "I couldn't have won without your help with the training Nathan. How can I ever thank you?" Milla said while making a concerted effort to look in the direction of the boy's face rather than off to the side as would have been her norm. Andante and Rondo meanwhile were playing with each other behind the girls, imitating the highlights of their fights at which point Rondo quite unexpectedly produced a small Icy Wind which shocked both Sneasel and Litleo alike. "Perhaps this is a bit presumptuous as you're both no doubt eager to get to Neo Sonis for the next gym, but I was quite curious about the ruins we trained near. Perhaps we could poke around a bit more there. It might be nice to relax a bit in the area before going back out in that heat." Milla ultimately proposed as a course of action.

The cat jaeger was amused with this fortune teller. She seemed different from other humans. If she'd only been here two months it was likely this profession of hers had her on the move. But for what reason? Her own boredom or perhaps the general frustration of the locals the longer she dwelt among them? In either case, wanderer or outcast, Catriona and her were quite alike. The woman sat confidently and pondered the amount of similar stories they might share with one another. The fact she knew ultimately little about the new monsters plaguing the town meant they could spend more time on other matters. Creatures of shadows, attacking the people to instill fear for a month now, and this psychic could discern nothing about them with her powers; it was all something Catriona would tuck away in her mind for later if she bothered to share with the group. Hopefully they'd all figure that much out on their own. "Yes, please, Madame Wadjat. These creatures are troubling but I'd much rather see you and your crystal ball at work. Tell me all about my future." Catriona accepted the invitation with a sly smile, wondering what sort of vague statements might be made that could apply to most women.

Reinaan was frustrated with the whole situation. He just wanted to win and yet he couldn't do it on his own. And even with Ziiyol he still couldn't do it. But thankfully, the other two Chosen had intervened stealthily enough to not draw attention and the boy was now really gaining some ground. At this point, he'd talked such a big game and lied through his teeth. His pride needed the win more than it needed it to be done fairly. With the minotaur's footing in a bad shape the boy rallied his strength for another great push to end it all when the attention of everyone on the scene was taken away all at once. A large booming noise from inside the tower as Ryia and the two free minotaurs rushed to the door to inspect what had happened. But that wasn't all. Reinaan's opponent had relinquished his grip on the boy and rushed to the side of his fellow minotaurs, leaving the contest unfinished and the Draken feeling deflated and conflicted. Adding to this, he released Ziiyol from his body, the brief combination draining some of his stamina. "Did we win?" Ziiyol asked as she reappeared, giggling near uncontrollably. Reinaan just stared at the tower and how close he now stood the line he had to push his opponent to. "No... no we didn't." he said in a defeated tone. After a moment he slapped his hands to his face as if trying to make himself focus and made his way to the front of the tower. "That sounded like it had to be magical. We'll help you if we can." Reinaan offered to the Minotaurs, uncertain if they'd want to humor them anymore. But they hadn't directly outraged them yet and Reinaan wanted to keep things that way. He wasn't asking for information since he hadn't won the contest and doubted they would want to let them inside. He only hoped it wasn't Lindow and Damien getting into trouble.

Sergei's answer of respect, self-fulfillment and a joke about how often he'd be hired after obtaining the spark settled the group's discussion on their motivations. Estelle was content to know something more of each of her companions though felt somewhat unhappy she had not been more straightforward with them in her own answer regarding her desires for the spark. It was held so close to her heart, it was difficult to discuss. And at least in their current situation, she felt it better not to get emotional. With the time taken to rest and relax, Estellise could feel her control over her magical power returning. With her friends recovered and her magic back online to an extent she could still help them, it felt like time to move on. The next floor greeted them with something of a familiar sight. A circular room like the goblins had occupied with a pool of water. And quite like the large gathering of goblins, here there were large mushroom creatures. But these seemed much more quick to take notice of the explorers. In fact they were already on the move toward them. Thankfully they weren't very fast, but still it seemed less than wise to linger. Estelle agreed quickly to Chris' proposed circumventing the enemies altogether by hugging the walls of the room. For now she readied no magic as the room had more light to offer on its own. "Let us do our best not to attack them unless we have no other way forward." she warned as she moved to the sides of the room with the others. "There is no telling what sort of spores they might have."

Milla had gazed with her two pokemon, still out and about to celebrate their victories with her, at the Ruins badge. It seemed almost unreal that she had actually acquired one. She held Andante and Rondo close as they cleared out of the way for the other two to battle. As she pondered what to do with the TM and money, the fossil lady from the market the day before came to mind. She now had the funds to buy that cute fossil she'd been interested in. She made a mental note to go back that way after the others finished. It seemed rude to leave them now before they were done after they had waited for her to challenge the gym leader. And so she watched the proceedings with her pokemon. Nomi was up after her and she made some meager attempts to cheer for the girl during her battle. It ultimate came down to her Rhyhorn having do a lot of the work. But ultimately her friend won as well. Somehow Nomi seemed more tired than any of her pokemon. She really could just sleep anywhere. In fact that's exactly what she did right then and there. Princess joined her but Milla was still a touch worried. "N-nomi, you shouldn't sleep here." she managed to say through the concern as she moved to the girl's side. Andante and Rondo followed close behind as Milla did her best to try and move the girl somewhere ever so slightly more comfortable. At the very least she needed to be out of the way of Nathan's battle with Tavares. With one battle over it seemed Nathan was well on the way to joining the two of them in gym battle victory today. Milla hoped he would be successful given he'd already lost once. After all that training there was no way he could fail right? As with Nomi she would attempt to cheer but she lacked the confidence as the sole observer. Had there been something of a crowd maybe she'd have been able to actually shout and cheer.

Iris could only really laugh softly to herself as the two before her interacted. They weren't any more certain what was going on than she, Orianne or Quill were. And while that wasn't exactly the best situation to be in, it was at least somewhat comforting to share in the boredom and discomfort together. As Ash bowed while introducing himself, Iris playfully curtsied in return, while Quill's energy just starting bouncing more waiting to introduce herself. That was until Iris was caught off guard by Noah's comment about her hair. "O-oh, thank you. Heh, it's almost embarrassing to say this isn't my natural hair color. Not that this digital place knows any better." the girl said while running a hand through her hair to flip it dramatically. "The name's Orianne Martel, a pleasure to meet you Noah, Ash. And thi-" she started before Quill jumped up between the other three. "I'm Quill! That's my name, dont wear it out. But if you do I guess you can just call me Herissmon. If you wear that one out then we're in trouble." the hyperactive hedgehog energetically offered to the group. "Oh? I thought you were Prince Ago-Oba." Iris teased her partner about the many emails she'd sent to recruit her onto the Aegis. "Look, I know I went a little crazy but you're here right?" Quill responded, somewhat sheepishly. Iris could only laugh healthily about it before reassuring her partner she was just teasting. "So Ash, you've been doing patrols for a while huh? Ever seen anything out there? Where are we even going for that matter?" Iris questioned. These were of course the questions Orianne want answered but her own curiosity was no less real.

Nanami's entire body tensed up at the sensation of electricity coursing into her from the contact she'd made with Juryo's assailant. Still she could feel some resistance as she clamped her teeth down. She just had to clamp down harder and she'd find his vitals eventually. Before she could attempt the feat, the appendage of the electrical being turned back into what looked like a human hand and knocked her off, though the impact wasn't painful at all. In fact just how little it did to her was more surprising than biting into the electricity had been. But after a moment the shark processed it and smirked as she readied herself to trail her opponent who was now plugging in as many appliances as he could. "Get back here you light weight!" she yelled out as she ran after him. But directly attacking again was just going to get herself shocked again. Nanami wasn't quite that dumb or bloodthirsty to keep trying that until it either worked or got her killed. Not yet anyway. She grabbed the nearest appliance and threw it with some ferocious speed at the objects he was plugging in. Whatever it was this dumb thing wanted she wasn't going to let him have it. She was going to rip that tv and everything else he plugged in out of the wall and try chucking them through his head.

Catriona was initially less than pleased to see a woman answer her entering the store. How the cat jaeger longed for the touch of a human man. And yet this wouldn't be all bad. Madame Wadjat as she had called herself seemed human enough and there was always something fun they could do. The jaeger took her seat gracefully as it was offered to her as she pondered the fortune tellers words. She had asked for a name. That was easy enough to start. Though she had to think for a moment where it was she was exactly in the world. Jekyll's unnatural moving fortress had made tracking their location a touch difficult and she'd never visited this particular town before. But it didn't take long to settle on something. "I believe I'm known as Nemain in these parts. But really, it doesn't much matter what you settle on calling me. As long as its cute I'll answer to most anything." Catriona teased as she settled into place and gave Wadjat a good look over. "I've been needing a supernatural eye. It's been so long since my last love and I parted, I can't bear to be alone. Surely the spirits will have good news for me." she explained her current predicament, more concerned with her own amusement than the task at hand. But she figured she ought to do something so she didn't have to outright lie about helping the group out when next they met up. "But I suppose that might not be in the cards with what I hear is roaming the town at night... but you wouldn't know about them would you?" she shifted forward in her seat, her eyes intently studying the fortune teller. Were there any tricks or sleights of hand she wanted to catch them. Anything shy of actual magic would be an insult.