Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Walking is just fine," Caleb said. He perked up a bit when Route 17 was mentioned. It was finally Sneasel time!

The group left their submarine to sit in the sun and exited Anistar City. Upon exiting the terminal, the Aquans were greeted with a blast of cold air. Blizzards were commonplace on Route 17, and only through the assistance of Mamoswine were travelers able to cross the rocky pass. A Momoswine herder gave the team a Mamoswine and a blessing each.

On his stumpy Mamoswine, Rei called out to his partners, hoping his voice wasn't carried away in the snowstorm.

"Meet up at the other side of the route. See you there!" With that, he ambled off. The snowstorm made for poor visibility, but after living in the Hoenn desert for years, Rei found navigating the route no trouble. He reached the end first, handing off his Mamoswine to another traveler. In his hood, his Zubat sneezed and shook snow off her head. A Pokémon, lying in wait, took the opportunity to attack Rei and his Zubat.

The Countess shrieked, and Rei whirled around just in time to watch a Sneasel punch him in the rib. He groaned.

"Figures." He coughed and lifted himself off the floor, casting out a PokéBall as he did so.

"Go on, Vulpix! Flamethrower!" A Vulpix hopped out of the ball and immediately set fire to the Sneasel, taking care not to burn its own blue scarf. The Sneasel cried in retaliation and slashed out at its opponent, landing a heavy blow. Instinctively, Vulpix bit down on the claw that tore its face, and the fight became a comedy, with Vulpix hanging onto the paw of a frustrated Sneasel.

The two were at it for a few minutes before Rei finally recovered from his laughing fit.

"Go on, Flamethrower again before it slams you into a rock." The Vulpix obliged, and Sneasel received a nasty burn on its paw. Undeterred, it used its other arm and dished out another painful slash, its claws glowing a dull purple. Rei admired its fighting spirit, but knew he had already won. With a final Flamethrower, the Sneasel collapsed to the ground, defeated. Rei dragged its limp body to the side of the road, returned his Vulpix, and waited for his group to show up.

Navigate through the route. Encounter at least one Pokémon. Catch one if you like. Happy hunting.

Michael arrived at the gate and hopped on a Mamoswine. The blizzard was horrible but he just pulled out his go-goggles from his backpack, the goggles protected his eyes and allowed him to see. He looked back at Squirt who was shivering his butt off. Michael wrapped his pokemon up in the jacket he was wearing and continued on. Before long the were nearing the end and they saw a little green and white pokemon. Michael recognized it to be a Snover and looked at Squirt, before nodding. Squirt jumped down and began using skull headbash on the Snover the attack hit and Michael saw his chance and threw a greatball. Once twice thrice the ball shook which Michael grabbed and they headed out the route.

Michael nodded, headed to the pokemon center, placed Angler in there, and pulled out his new Snover. He then returned to the group ready to go.

Rei thanked a Nurse Joy for her services and led the team out to Route 15. The climate was noticeably different from Route 17, with lush trees and heavy foliage.

"From what I understand, there are a lot of troublemakers who hang out in this area," he remarked while eyeing a spot of graffiti.

"I think this way's the entrance to Laverre City." He led the group to a path littered with leaves. A rather frightening, skeletal woman leaped out at the group.

"You! All of you! OFFER YOUR SOULS!" With that, she grabbed Rei by the arm and dragged him to a pile of leaves.

"Ack! Get off of me, you crazy-"

"BECOME ONE WITH THE HIVE!" It seemed to be a rallying call; various maniacs seemed to creep out from the woodwork and attack the group.

"Ugh, no way, you psycho!" He wriggled free from the woman's grasp and threw a PokéBall at her head.

"Menart, help me out!" The Gible jumped out and glared menacingly at the Hex Maniac. She broke into hysterics.

"Suit yourself. I tried to save you, you know. But I guess there's no redemption for murderers. Shuppet, give Gible the darkness his trainer so freely hands out." The Shuppet used Night Shade upon exiting the ball, dealing even damage to the Gible. The Gible cried in surprise; it was not very good at dealing with ghosts, thanks to his Bagon friend telling him so many ghost stories. Rei groaned. Were all of his Dragon-type Pokémon to be afraid of the ghosts?

"Menart, Dragon Claw. Don't you dare try to dig away from this battle." The Gible's claws glowed brightly, and the Pokémon swiped furiously at his assailant. The Shuppet snickered evilly and cast a wicked curse on the Gible, more than happy to cut its health down in exchange.

Gible could feel the curse coursing through his body already. It frightened him, so much so that he dove underground and refused to pop out until the curse went away. Rei's palm met his face, and he did his own cursing under his breath.

"Menart, return. That's just embarrasing." He pulled out another ball.

"Emo Cloud, this is all your fault. Finish this up." The Bagon leaped from the ball and faced the Shuppet.

"Crunch its face off." The Bagon happily obeyed the command, and a weakened Shuppet floated to the ground and landed on a pile of leaves.

Fight one Trainer Maniac of your choosing. They carry only one Pokémon, so it should be short.

Michael saw the people and realized what was going on. He looked at Squirt and shoohis head before pulling out a pokeball and throwing it. Spike popped out and grpwled at the trainers. One maniac pulled out a pokeball and out popped a beedrill. Spike let out a thundershock and hit the beedrill which countered with twineedle. It hit but Spike hit it with tackle causing it to faint.

Michael looked at the scanner and was puzzled by its remarks. When asked if he knew why, he just shook his head while trying to make sense of it.

Rei was stumped.

"Well, heck if I know. Let's just ask the locals, that always seems to work. Maybe they know something about Xerneas." He walked to the café and began asking around. Within ten minutes, Rei gathered all the information he could from most of the residents, all with no luck. He sat down at the closest booth and sighed.

"This is crazy," he grumbled to himself. His Zubat sighed.

A young girl approached the group.

"Hey there, mister. I heard you were asking about fairies. I know loads about fairies!" Her eyes gleamed. "Ask me anything! I bet I know!"

Rei sighed. "Unless you can tell me what makes this place so special, I don't think you can answer my question."

The child laughed. "You're silly. Everyone knows that answer! It's 'cause of the trees!" Rei blinked.

"What?"

"Yeah, the trees! A pretty deer made the trees, and then fairies lived in the trees, and then nothing ever died! Grandma told me about it, so it must be true." The girl frowned at the Zubat perched on his shoulder.

"Eww."