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Cody nodded, "Ya never know. Small things in large quantities can add up. If he's been keeping tabs on you long enough, maybe he saw something in the way you did what you did." The boy reached up and ran a hand through his hair as he rode, the wind whipping it in and out of his face. "I can only imagine the reason Archie is interested in me. Like I said, I've had a few run-ins with Rocket, but other than that, I'm kinda in your boat other than a few poke-napping runs." He paused for a moment, taking in what he said. "Now that I think about it, my poke-napping might be exactly what he's looking for in me."

Cody dismounted his bike, looking around for a path or even an idea of where their next step would be. He scratched his head as well, not sure if any ruins really existed around here. "Where did you hear about these ruins?" he asked, wondering if they were nothing but a myth or legend. He knew ghost pokemon were pretty standard around these parts, but he had neither heard of nor seen any ruins on any of his trips from his hometown in Fortree to Lilycove, which he used to make frequently. "You wouldn't happen to have a map, would you?"

Cody looked up at the sky momentarily, then back to Allen. "What about Poochyena? He's not really experienced in tracking, but being a dog pokemon, he's got to have a pretty great sniffer, ya know?" He pulled the ball from his belt and twirled it in between his fingers. "Do you think that would help?"

And with that, Poochy's ball was in the air. In a bright flash of light, the Dark-type appeared, ready to go, and it didn't go unnoticed. The bright flash seemed to awaken and disturb a couple of the local pokemon, and in no time, the two Aqua members were surrounded. "Looks like we've gotta fight our way out of this one," Cody said, looking to Allen. The boy balled his fists and braced himself for what was to come.

"Sounds about right to me, man!" Cody replied, excited to get some action in.

The first pokemon was an Absol whose red eyes seemed to look deep into one's soul. Poochy was first up, and launched at the dark type, bearing his sharp canines. "That's it, Poochy! Bite!" the trainer called, but Absol was too quick. It dodged the attack with ease, and fired off a Shadow Ball toward the vulnerable pup. "Poochy, no!" Cody shouted, but it was too late. The pokemon tried to jump out of the way, but the ball of energy collided with the pup and exploded, sending Poochy flying. He quickly regained his bearings and landed easily. Absol shot out another Shadow Ball, but Poochyena was able to dodge before letting out a loud howl, which seemed to boost his morale and attack power. "Let's go, Poochy!" the pokemon's trainer shouted, attempting to raise its morale more. Poochyena shook its head violently, and with that, seemed to be even more ready to go. Absol was astonished, not expecting Poochy to respond so well to its trainer. "Bite, one more time!" the eager trainer commanded. The Dark type launched once more at the unprepared Absol, chomping down and lowering its stamina greatly. The foe stumbled around, dropping to its knees and finally gave in, collapsing to the ground. Cody ran up to Poochy, scooped him up in his arms, and hugged him tight in congratulations before returning him to the ball. "Great work, buddy!" he commented before sending out Pikachu.

The next pokemon was a Marill. Pikachu braced herself for the Bubblebeam that the water type quickly dished out. Digging her feet into the dirt, she took the attack, crying in pain as the bubbles exploded against her fur. "Sparks, Thundershock!" The yellow mouse quickly charged up the static in her cheeks, and let out a fast bolt of lightning in Marill's direction. The Water type tried to use its tail to quickly bounce out of the way, but was too slow. The electricity made contact, and Marill let out a painful wail. Upon recovery, the small blue pokemon charged at Sparks, roliing itself into a ball and quickly building momentum for a strong Rollout attack. Pikachu quickly dodged and returned with another Thundershock. After another painful moan, the Marill went down, and Pikachu was returned to her ball. "Good job, Sparks. That was a really good battle, sweetie," Cody said, praising his pokemon before returning her to his belt.

Axew was up next against a Zigzagoon. The Normal type pre-empted with a fierce growl, lowering Axew's attack, but was quickly shut down with a scratch attack to the face. Zigzagoon countered with a Headbutt, knocking the dragon pokemon back. He rolled backwards a few times, but was able to regain his footing and launch back at the enemy, a blue flame forming in his mouth. Axew continued to charge the flame attack in his mouth as he ran toward his foe, and let it go in a burst of fiery dragonic rage in extremely close proximity. "Yeah!" Cody shouted, returning Axew to his ball as the Zigzagoon went down. "Great job, everyone! Great battles!"

Cody walked over to Allen after returning his pokemon. "Everyone alright? I have a few potions if you need them," he reassured. He took a quick look around and commented, "It seems as though we've hit the end of the road if we wanted to keep going west. From here, the grass starts to get really thick, wild pokemon are everywhere, and we can't ride our bikes." He looked to the sky and located the brightest star. Pointing in that general direction, he said, "If we're going to do this, we need to head that way. It's the only way to go." And with that, the trainer headed off into the thickness of the brush.

((I didn't realize the time. We're gonna have to pick this up tomorrow X__x)) "I think this would've been a little easier if we came from the other direction, to be honest," Cody mentioned and chuckled. Being from Fortree and all, he pretty knew this route like the back of his hand.

"I'm down," Cody agreed, heading for the bridge. It was getting late, but they had come too far to head back now. Cody let Poochy and Axew out of their pokeballs and laid his backpack on the ground. "If this place exists, maybe we'll be able to find it better in the daylight."