Welcome to Gaia! ::

Andarien let out a sigh of relief. "Good," he murmured. "I'm glad." He waved the two strangers over to them without thinking about what he was doing.

At that moment, Iorlas and Lancaeriel also appeared at the top of the cliff. Lancaeriel set her bag down gently and turned to help up the next person, but Iorlas tossed her bag aside and ran to her husband and threw her arms around him.

Kyrie meanwhile had thrown a blanket over Shiro and a second one over Kaito and was in the process of building a fire.

"Nana, can I have my Pokéballs back?" Andarien asked Lin. "I'd like to let Eon and Ponydash out, especially if we're going to be here a while."

He looked over his shoulder for Miyuki. "Mi, how are the babies?" he asked her. "I think that's Zeus's first time in the bag since he grew, it might be different for him ..."

Not that Zeus was really a baby anymore.

Earendil and Wren were the last of the climbers to reach the top, and Wren turned immediately and began to pull up one of the ropes.

"What's the story?" Earendil asked as he headed over to join Lin and Andarien.

Andarien took his Pokeballs eagerly and pressed the buttons, and with a flash of red light, Eon and Ponydash appeared. Zeus jumped out of Miyuki's bag, his fur crackling and snapping with live electricity. He yipped and started running in circles, using one paw to rub behind his ear and alongside his nose.

"Zeus," Andarien said worriedly, kneeling down and holding out one hand to the agitated Pokemon. "What's going on?"

Zeus snorted and started rolling in the grass, still yipping.

Earendil put one hand on Lin's shoulder. "Well, hopefully we'll find out soon enough," he murmured. "I'm just glad you're safe."

He hoped the nekos were fine too, but he couldn't help but be relieved that Lin also was, and that she hadn't had to do any fighting.

The two strangers had almost arrived by now. The taller one was a dark elf, and the younger one looked like he could be his son - mostly because they shared the same eyes and mouth, since the boy's skin was an earthen shade of brown. The elder of the two said something again, once more in a questioning tone, but Andarien was too preoccupied with Zeus's odd behaviour to pay attention.

Iorlas, satisfied that Daeron had not been injured, had relaxed, and she had been about to go for her bag when Lin called her name. She nodded at Lin's question. "Certainly."

She moved to join Lin and Earendil, and Daeron followed after her. She spoke to the two strangers, who looked relieved that someone spoke their language and replied quickly. Iorlas blinked slowly at them, then turned to Lin.

"They're eager to know how Shiro is," she told Lin softly. "They wanted to help earlier, but they thought it might be too dangerous for them, considering that it's their fault he was injured ... and you and Daeron were watching over him and Kyrie with your swords drawn."

Andarien looked anxious. "I think it is ... being loose in the bag might have built up static on him ... Zeus, use Discharge on ..." He looked around for something that would be able to handle it. "... that rock." He pointed at a small rock that was safely away from the rest of the group.

Zeus leaped to his feet and braced himself. With a yowl, he let loose with a bolt of electricity, lancing it at the rock. Thunder crashed, and the rock channeled it into the ground.

"True," Earendil agreed softly.

Iorlas smiled and turned back to the strangers and spoke to them again in their language. The anxiety on their faces eased immediately, and the man hugged the boy gently. The man began to speak to Iorlas, gesturing with his hands as he did so.

Both the man and the boy jumped with Zeus let off his excess electricity, and though the man continued speaking with Iorlas (though a bit more softly now) the boy pressed himself into the man's side and stared at the Jolteon fearfully.

Andarien put out one hand and stroked Zeus's head, knowing that now that he had discharged it would be safe to do so. Zeus padded up to Andarien and rubbed his head against the youth's leg.

"I think you're right about those Pokeballs," Andarien murmured. "And I'm going to have to train Zeus to discharge on his own without being commanded."

Iorlas glanced at Lin and nodded and began to explain about Zeus to the two strangers.

The man seemed impressed by the explanation, and the after a moment the boy smiled faintly. He spoke up and gestured towards Andarien and Miyuki, and Iorlas beamed and nodded.

Andarien put one hand on Miyuki's shoulder and gave it a light squeeze, trying to encourage her.

"We'll be staying here for a few days at least, now, Kyrie says," he told her with a smile, "so you'll have time to work on it now. And I have faith in you! I know you'll get it eventually!"

Eon barked his agreement from where he was nuzzling his family to make sure they were all all right. Andarien looked down at his Pokemon and grinned at them, and out of the corner of his eye he saw the brown-skinned boy coming over to him and Miyuki, smiling shyly.

Andarien also waved, but Ponydash moved to stand between his master and the stranger.

"Down, Ponydash," Andarien told his pokemon firmly, putting one hand to the ponyta's shoulder and pushing him gently aside. "He's not going to hurt us."

"No, I never would," the boy agreed with a nod. "Not meaning to, anyways. Hitting you friend just an accident."

The boy nodded and rubbed the back of his head, looking very chagrined. "Well, he has reason ... my father teach me shoot today and I have bad luck to shoot you friend ... who know what else I do?"

"Hey, you didn't mean to," Andarien protested. "That's the important part. And Shiro is going to be fine, Nana says."

Ponydash pawed at the ground and snorted, but he didn't try to push his way back between the boys.