That's the right idea! Everybody, look ridiculous! Err, use the rocks...


Wait! Better idea! Gather up some of that sand from up the stairs, and bring it down here!

"No way, this is much easier. And much more fun!"

Making it on to the other side, Nitori shouts, "Hurry up, or I'll leave you all behind!"

Well you heard her!

*Follows Nitori*

*Silver shrugs* Okay, then.

*Silver hops across, making an entire stepping stone path out of rocks as he goes*

We'd need to wait for Casu and Mizore though...

"Go Skarmory!"

*skarmory lifts TJ over the ice and onto the other side*

"That was easy."

Mizore watches what everyone does, and then goes to mimic them.
Mizore has successfully crossed the ice path(on try 2), Nya~

"Now, onwards we go, everyone!" Nitori marched triumphantly ahead of everyone.

"Way to be a leader Nitori."

*TJ sends Skarmory back to grab the_casualty and drag him along.*

I wonder if I can catch a Spheal.. It'd be useful...

Hey Tj how many Pokeballs do we have? I really want to catch a snorunt.

mike345 : Mega already has a Snorunt. And most acquired Pokemon will be scripted.

So Nitori... Lead the way!

"Me?" Nitori pointed to herself. "Alright, follow me!" And so the group continued to trudge on in the cave, with Tj's Skarmory towing Casu along.

As they went deeper, the natural light grew dimmer and dimmer. For some reason, torches lined the walls, and provided the light. For a while, there weren't any sounds except the echoing footsteps of the group and occasional drip of water from the ceiling. The smell of wet stone and mold pervaded the inside of the cave. Being so deep in, the air was cool, chilled by a small wind blowing through the cave.

After a couple minutes of silence of the awkward kind, there was a change in the sounds of the cave. Mixed in with the dripping water were some voices. They were quiet, so they must have been far away, but the cave was amplifying their voices. "Hey, do you guys hear that?" Nitori whispered to the others.

They couldn't see the strangers yet, but they could still make out a bit of what they were saying. The natural cave noises blocked out some of their words, however. "...a great success... 99% stronger... more experiments now... trainer's Pokemon... any doubt about it? If it becomes a reality, the studies show that they'll reach heights never before conceived. I say don't questions the morals of it."

"Uh oh, sounds like they're headed towards us," Nitori said. "Should we run out or keep going?"

(Is that all okay? Or too much? x3)

Someone70 : (OOC)Sounds good Nitori. An RP won't work if I lead you along the whole way. I want more member participation.

(Back in character) "We have to decide whether pursuing this is a good idea or not. It could be dangerous."

"Well, is there any way we can sneak past them? From what I'm hearing, we probably don't want to attack them head on. But, we still need to find that... Whatever that Steven told us about."

Mizore says "From what little bit we've heard, it doesnt sound like going further is a good idea, Nya~. We could hide and hope they leave, though, and then go on. But now, it sounds just too dangerous."

((OOC) So, uhm, yeah, are we waiting for something?)

(Sorry, just trying to think of what to do next. x3)

As the pair grows closer, the group decides to split up and hide from them. There are a few rocks scattered about that seems sufficiently big enough to conceal them. Silver, Mizore, and Nitori head off to the left while Casu, Mike, and TJ head off to the right.

Barely breathing to keep silent, they kept as still and quiet as they possibly could. The strangers started coming even closer, though they actually couldn't be seen from behind the rocks.

"Fantastic, we're moving right along schedule, too," said a high female voice. "What's next for us?"

"The alpha stage of our experiment is complete," said a more frail voice, like that of an older man, "So we'll move on to our beta stage. That means you can move forward with what you said earlier."

"Finally," spoke a man with a deep voice. "This is the part I've been waiting for. Pass the order to HQ that we'll begin the operation immediately."

"Roger that," a seemingly unimportant character said. His footsteps started moving in the opposite direction.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" the old man said.

"I'm well aware of the risks, Professor Gray," the big man said. "But like you said, we shouldn't question the morals of this. There should be nothing that..."

TJ, trying to get a better view of them, was trying to get a view above the rock, but he was a bit off balance and tripped over, his Pokedex crashing to the ground.

"Hey, who's there?!" The man shouted.

*TJ, thinking quickly, picks up his Pokedex, snatches Mike's Mudkip, and throws it out*

"Oh, just a wild Mudkip that made that noise. Pretty common around watery places like this" says the older man.

"You know, those things are actually kind of adorabale" says the female voice with a sigh.

"SO I HERD U LIEK-" The old man was teasing the woman.

"Shut up!" the female says fiercely.

They walk past the Mudkip without another word. When they are out of earshot...

"Whew, that was a close one." TJ says casually.

"What a close call..." Nitori sighed. "I wonder what those people were talking about earlier."

tj4bigred : Hey! That's my Mudkip!! and you should treat it nicely.