The crunch of grass echoed quietly as Dasha made her way across the top of the island. The tower loomed much taller now, and as much as this probably should have unnerved or even terrified her, a sense of excitement penetrated instead. Just as she was about to head inside, however, a light coming out caught her eye. Dasha stopped then took a step back, a hand reaching to a Pokeball. But what finally flooded her field of vision had her eyes sparkling anew. Oooooh? Wait a minute? That appeared to be a Minior didn’t it? (With an incredibly long shadow that she didn’t quite realize was there just yet). Starry would love one of those!

Dasha tried and failed to keep her features from lighting up as she flicked a Pokeball out, releasing an Amaura that she, in fact, needed to train up quite a bit. The small winter dinosaur blinked upon being released and looked around uncertainly. Hmmmmm??? “Sweetie, mind battling that Minior for me?” The Amaura looked forward and perked up almost immediately. Oh yay? She was finally being allowed to battle! A quick nod was given in response. She was ready! On realizing it was being challenged, the Minior rather immediately started off with a Cosmic Power, drawing strength from the starry heavens above.

“Start out with a Discharge, try and paralyze it,” Dasha encouraged in turn. The Amarua sparked with power before shooting it at the Minior. The Minior cried out, but what neither expected was the Duskull to cry out from the shadow as well. Flinging himself outwards and writhing a moment from the shock, the Duskull shook tremendously. Dasha’s eyes grew, but right after so did her confidence. Oh yeah? If she could encourage her smol to do well in this, then maybe they could also take down the Duskull as well.

The Duskull himself was rather shaken by the sudden force from the shadow of the Minior and shook a moment before regaining himself. A Haze began to fall on the area as he focused. Meanwhile, the Minior began to Swift stars at the Amaura in retaliation— the latter whimpering at the star crash but otherwise taking Normal damage rather easily with her Typing in tow.

Dasha’s lips pressed together some. “Stay calm and focus, get ready to use Avalanche,” she called. It would be a powerful attack if the Amaura could pull it off, but it would also mean one more round of sustained hits. The small dinosaur gave a nod and shimmered with icy power, readying herself and strengthening herself. The Minior took the chance to release another Swift that had less effect as before, and the Duskull went for a Payback that did a little more damage to the Amaura but was not enough to break her focus. “You can do it!” Right. Mama said she could do it.

A cry hit the air as the Amaura finally released the burst of Ice power. A hard gust of cold and winter slammed into both the Minior and the Duskull, fainting both of them immediately after. “You did it, sweetie!” Dasha called. The Amaura squeaked in pride and went running back to her to press against her. Dasha smiled and pet her briefly before tossing a Pokeball at the Minior. She was sure Starry would love that.

After that was assured, however, something would catch the Amaura’s eye, and a small noise escaped from her. Wandering to it, she fished up a sphere and handed it back to her trainer. Dasha blinked and flipped it around in her hand. It looked like a Mega Stone, but she’d have to go and look it up later.

Returning the Amaura to her Pokeball for now, Dasha moved onwards into the actual building itself. Blue eyes flashed around uncertainly, drawing in the first room. It was dark, dark enough that she found herself flicking on her phone’s light to draw it all in. The room was thourally thrashed but had, at one time, probably been some sort of reception area. A hotel? Actually, from the exterior, this made perfect sense.

A crunching sound drew her attention away, however, and a Tyrogue’s voice hit her ears right after. Immediately Dasha backed up some, but as she did so, the small Fighter stepped forward even more, his body tense, his eyes alive. Behind him, a Throh could also be seen. Oh, this was… clearly a challenge. Tch. Dasha grabbed both Pokeballs again and released a Fletchinder and her Amaura again. “Fletch, Acrobatics that Tyrogue, Sweetie use Discharge but focus on that Throh,” and with that, another double battle came about.

The Throh was quick to throw up a Wide Guard, protecting the Tyrogue as the Fletchinder came down. He could not, however, protect himself from the hard shock of Electricity that came at him instead. He winced, finding himself paralyzed and unable to do anything about it now. The Tyrogue, meanwhile, was aiming a much belated Fake Out that would hit the Fletchinder and keep him from attacking yet again. “Amaura,” Dasha called, and sure enough another Dishcarge came down. The Throh tried and failed to successfully issue another Wide Guard and both Pokemon took the brunt of the electricity again.

“Fletch, you ok?” The Fletchinder gave a sharp nod and shook out his wings and feathers some. “Acrobatics! Take out that Tyrogue!” With a swift motion the bird came down hard upon the Fighting type again knocking him straight out right after. The Throah cried out in anger and released a Superpower decimating the Amaura in turn. She fainted hard, and Fletch came back around without warning to hit with yet another Acrobatics, fainting the Throh for his attack.

Dasha exhaled slowly returning her Amaura and then looking to Fletch. “Thanks, bud, good work,” even if she was vaguely pissed the baby would have to suffer such a hard attack. Taking out a Pokeball, she tossed it at the Tyrogue at least.

It was only after that that Fletch caught sight of something: the bird whizzing to grab it. Dasha’s brow quirked, but she didn’t press him until retrieved it from the space on the far side and came back with it. What was— wait a second, she knew what this was. The reddish color reminded her of a Fightium Z, but this was much more red than that. Firium Z maybe? She’d have to look later. Blue eyes raised to the Fletchinder, and a small nod was given. “Good work, Fletch, can you look onwards?” The bird gave a small salute, turned, and flew further into the building, scouting what there was to see.

Flying through the tower, Fletch would come across another sparkly thing on a table, and with a quick motion, he’d scoop it up in his beak and start to fly back. “Sol” escaped into the air, however, and had him pausing to look aro- OH MY ARCEUS. The bird squeaked as an Absol came Slashing at him, clearly pissed that someone was messing with his treasures. He’d pursue, chasing the bird all the way to the lower floor again much to the confusion of Dasha who was hearing it all.

What was— “FLETCH?” That was indeed her Fletchinder flying at and around her as an Absol came lunging straight towards her. Dasha was faster, however, releasing a Salandit to take the blow. The latter hissed irritated and frustrated but got off a one off Toxic on the Absol. The Absol doubled back and hissed irritated. Poor Fletch was not done, however, as he flew sideways and knocked into a crate— that very much had a Pokemon under it, apparently. Whoops. The sleepy Drampa reigned up his head and looked around confused. Hmmmmmm???? What was with all this commotion? A battle was going on? Hmmm. A Hyper Voice hit the air causing the Fletchinder to finally drop his treasure in favor of doing an Acrobatics at the Drampa instead.

Dasha, meanwhile, had her focus split entirely too much. “Salandit, Venoshock,” she ordered right after. The Absol, meanwhile, was too quick and Detected it, bounding out of the way. “Again!” the Salandit growled and shot more shock substance at the Absol causing him to yelp this time and become more aware of how the toxin was hurting him. Ugh. “Keep at him!”

And with that, her attention went back to Fletch and the Drampa that were now duking it out. “Fletch, Flame Charge, speed up to dodge its attacks!” she called. The Fletchinder called out circling faster and faster, hitting the Drampa over and over. The latter was growing more and more frustrated, however, and released a Dragon Pulse that had the Fletchinder toppling back and hitting the ground. “Fletch?” He struggled but managed to get up at least. It would take more than that to get him down!

And sure enough, with strength and resilience, they managed to weaken the wild Pokemon. The Absol was the first to go down, succumbing to the poison. Dasha was quick to throw a Pokeball at him. She knew of one home that would be good for him. The Drampa took a little more effort, and the Salandit’s efforts were rerouted for a short bit to deal with that. Eventually, however, a Pokeball was tossed at him too. She might actually keep this one.

It was as everything settled, however, that Fletch recovered enough to swoop back and grab his treasure. Finally grabbing it, flying to her shoulder, and showing it to her, the Fletchinder looked pleased as punch as she took it and looked over it. This was… a shard? A comet shard? Dasha squinted and nodded. A hand reached up and pet him gently. “Thank you sweetie.”