Welcome to Gaia! ::

Matthias walked through the double doors that led down to the basement and locked them behind him. He looked exhausted. He let out a sigh and just quietly made his way down the hallway.
"..."

A groan sounded out from the end of the left hallway of the second floor.

"Oh, really, Countess? You just had to pick the room with the broken lights? We're trying to get a change of scenery here, not more of the same!"

The voice was tired, yet without malice. Shrieks pierced through the heavy door, but the Aquans paid no heed. Such noises were commonplace when a Zubat was around.

Inside the dimly lit room, a frustrated huff escaped from a tall, cloaked man. The Charmander to the man's right mimicked his owner, crossing its arms and leaning against the wall, it's tail's flame casting a warm, dim light over the cascade of tomes, scrolls, and books. The man was facing his Zubat, the Countess. She stared at her owner, a smug grin painted on her tiny face; the game was almost up, and she never lost.

The man threw his hands in the air, his sign of defeat.

"Alright, fine, you win. Keep the closet."

The Zubat shrieked her glee, flying a victory lap around the room. Rei Hikari sighed. At least it's not the library shelves. No bat guano on my books this time. His head turned to the Charmander.

"Scipio, let's get something to eat. I'm craving oranges, and I need a break from unpacking." Rei glanced up at the Zubat, who was giving him a frown.

"Don't worry, I won't tell maintenance about the light issue. We'll just make do with Scipio's tail-flame." The Countess accepted his offer, and swooped into his cloak's hood, getting herself comfortable by Rei's head.

Rei exited his room and headed towards the mess hall.

Rei poked his head into the mess hall. So far, so good. He walked in, sack in hand, and headed straight for the fruits. He piled all sorts of fruits and berries into the sack, taking care not to bruise any. His Zubat, the Countess, watched him from the inside of his hood.

"Oranges, check. Mangos, check. Strawberries, check. Any other flavor you like, Countess?"

She swooped over to the pomegranates, settling on a rather plump one. After grabbing it with her feet, she flew over to the bag and drop-delivered it, returning to the hood.

"Alright, that should be plenty for now. My turn."

He piled his plate with various breakfast items (all of which had oranges) and sat down at a table. He wasted no time in eating.

BL look at a note he was just handed. "Oh! The boss needs me to look at missions!" He put the the note in is pocket and runs off.

Rei looked down at his blinking TADS. He looked from the screen to his Zubat, the Countess.

"Well, a competition, eh? Feeling in the mood for a run at a cave?"

The Countess shrieked her excitement. She was always in the mood for cave exploration. He looked around his room once more to make sure not to leave anything behind, and set off for Granite Cave, his Zubat snuggled in the folds of the hooded cloak.

A short boat ride later, Rei walked up to the mouth of the cave and peered in, his Zubat peeking out from under the hood.

"Hey, you're the guys who sent out the message, right?" he asked, keeping his hands close to his belt.

Rei nodded, and waved goodbye to the duo.

"I guess it's not a competition if there's so few entrants. In that case, we can take our time here, Countess."

The Zubat swooped into the cave, using echolocation to have a layout of the area. Rei looked up at her and grinned. He rarely got lost in caves with his Zubat to guide him.

The Countess did not, however, point out the Pokemon in the area, and so Rei didn't notice the rock in front of him until he tripped over it.

Thunk!

"Ow..." Rei grumbled, his pride wounded more than his toe. Quickly regaining his composure, he stared down at a Geodude. The Geodude immediately threw a rock in his face.

"Hey, watch it!" Rei dodged the rock and grabbed one of his Pokémon. He threw the ball to the ground, and out popped his Horsea.

"Leviathan, make quick work of this. Bubblebeam." The Horsea shot out a stream of water-laden bubbles at the Geodude, each bubble stinging the Geodude as it came into contact. The move was perhaps too effective; the Geodude fainted immediately.

"Well, ok, maybe next time we won't defeat it. I didn't come here to not catch anything. Maybe you're overkill in this place, Leviathan. Return." The Pokéball flashed, and Horsea was back on Rei's belt. He sighed; his Horsea was probably going to be too destructive against the Geodudes in the area, but all his other Pokémon weren't that great against the tough rock-types.

"Ah well. If worse comes to worst, I can just have you Confuse Ray them to submission, Countess." Satisfied with this, he traveled deeper into the cave. Come to think of it, maybe training them against their weaknesses will toughen them up a bit.

The further he descended into the cave, the darker it got. He finally couldn't see inches in front of his face, and was forced to send out his Charmander. With its tail, the Charmander lit up the area somewhat, and so Rei was better able to avoid the pitfalls and many Geodude. A while later, Rei came across an Aron. The Charmander inhaled quickly, about to send out a wave of fire, but Rei dismissed him with a hand gesture.

"No, this isn't your fight." With that, he sent out his Scyther. The Scyther glanced from Trainer to Pokémon, excited at the challenge brought before him.

"Yami, I know you aren't that skilled with these things, but with enough practice, you'll find a way around this. Double Team." The Scyther made illusory copies of itself, in the hopes that its opponent wouldn't hit him so easily. The Aron, undaunted, began charging at the nearest Scyther. Unfortunately, it was only an illusion.

"Swords Dance." The Scyther frantically danced, building up a fighting spirit. The Aron took this chance to swipe with its Metal Claw at another Scyther. This one was a hit, and the real Scyther skidded back a few feet, damaged by the Aron.

"Yami, X-Scissior it near the eyes." The Scyther lunged forward and with its scythes, made a large crack across the face and back of the Aron. The Aron retaliated with a headbutt, and the two clashed. Scyther was relentless, though, and as the dust settled, a battered Aron collapsed, done for the day. Scyther was pretty worn out, though; he did not go unscathed. Rei frowned. Perhaps that's a bit too harsh of training.

"Sorry, Yami. You fought well. We're done with this place. Return." The Scyther bowed its farewell to the Aron, and returned to the Pokéball, glad for some rest. After recalling the light-bearing Charmander, Rei walked back to the entrance of the cave, this time stopping to look down at the now-recovering Geodude.

"Hmm. He's actually pretty weak right now..." But the Countess shrieked in Rei's ear, reprimanding him for attempting to battle the already-defeated opponent. Rei winced, the sound bothering him greatly.

"Alright, alright, we'll go fight another one." Rei started kicking rocks at the entrance of the cave until he came into contact with another Geodude. Hesitantly, he sent out his Horsea again.

"Leviathan, be gentle this time. Don't finish it so soon." Disappointed, the Horsea let out a single bubble against the Geodude. The Pokémon survived the attack and hurdled rocks in quick succession at Horsea. Rei figured he could successfully capture the Geodude at this point, and threw an empty Pokéball. The Geodude struggled, but was captured. Rei called back his Horsea and exited the cave, glad to see the sun once more.

He traveled back to Aqua's base by boat and gave his Zubat a handmade fruit candy as a reward for scouting out the cave. He went to his room and spent some time drawing a map layout of the explored area of Granite Cave, with much assistance from the Zubat.

Ren and Kasumi had heard strange tales about new Pokemon, not seen before in Hoenn, appearing in the Shoal Cave, so they sent out an invitation for others to come and to try to catch something, as a friendly competition. The arrived just as low tide was coming in, and journeyed into the cave. They were halfway here when they sent out the invitation, so they figured if anyone showed up, it would be after they had each caught a Pokemon, and they'd have time to set up and wait to see if anyone showed up.

They had brought a few 4000 meter segments of rope with them that they had stolen, and tied one up near the entrance of the cave.

They started by just observing, and looking around, dragging the long rope behind them. They saw no shortage of Pokemon, though most common were Zubat, and in the watery areas of the caves there were many tentacool and magikarp, and a few wailmer's. Nothing umusual there so far. They were starting to wonder if the stories were lies, but then the first unusual pokemon appeared before them, a cubchoo and a smoochum playing near an icy cave with a mother Beartic nearby. After a brief, and quiet, chat, they decided not to mess with those Pokemon and sought out other Pokemon.

They laid in wait until the Beartic, Cubchoo, and Smoochum left, then wandered into the icy cavern and explored deeper, until they came upon a Sneasel "That one is mine." Ren called quietly, then picked a pokeball and sent out his Axew.

"We're going to catch that sneasel." Ren explained "Use Rock Smash." Axew obeyed, smashing a stalagmite and sending a lt of rock flying at the sneasel.

"Sneeeeee!" the sneasel seemed agressive, shaking off the rocky rubble and it attacked with icy shard, launch ice knives at Axew, but Axew used the terrain, diving behind another stalagmite to avoid a serious injury.

"Good job. Dragon Pulse now!" Ren ordered, and Axew emerged from behind the badly-damaged stalagmite that that saved it attacked with a pulse of force emmitted from it's mouth.

The sneasel first covered it's ears at the attack, as Ren prepared to toss a Pokeball, but before it could be thrown, the sneasel recovered and attacked Axew with an ice punch that sent the dragon type flying through the air.

Ren recalled his Axew before it hit the ground, and sent out his Bulbasaur "Saur, use Frenzy Plant."

Sneasel attempted to dodge, but with all the vines that Bulbasaur created, it was captured and knocked around, and knocked to the ground.Sneasel tried to get up, but it was struck on the head by Ren's Pokeball, and was drawn into it. The button on the Pokeball blinked seven times, then clicked, indicating a successful capture.

Ren walked over and picked up his Pokeball "Lets carry on so you can catch a Pokemon too." he recalled his Bulbasaur as well

Kasumi nodded "Yeah, lets go." she agreed.

Journeying deeper into the cave, they came upon some Vanillite, but there were many of them, and Kasumi decided to leave them alone, and she pointed at a lone Cryogonal "That one." she decided and called out her Meowth.

"Meeee?" Meowth looked around questioningly.

Kasumi pointed at Cryogonal "Echoed Voice." she ordered.

Meowth turned and used the high pitched sound attack.

Angry, Cryogonal countered with an icy wind. Meowth managed to dodge it, but the air around Ren and Kasumi was chilled, so that they could see their breath.

"Echoed voice again. Keep at it." Kasumi ordered.

Meowth faced the cryogonal and released a stronger sound attack and dealing greater damage then the first attack.

"Cryyyyy" Cryogonal used icebeam, and this time Meowth was not able to dodge. the icebeam striking hard, but Meowth managed to remain mobile and used Echoed voice a third time without being ordered to.

As Meowths third Echoed voice attack finished, Kasumi recalled her Pokemon and send out her Mudkip.

"Rock smash!" Kasumi ordered and her mudkip smashed the nearby damaged stalagmite, sending chunks of ston flying at Cryogonal, and knocking it to the ground.

Cryogonal started to levitate, but was struck by Kasumi's Pokeball, and drawn into it, and after three blinks, there came the familiar click of a successful capture.

Kasumi recalled her Mudkip and picked up Cryogonal's Pokeball.

They followed the rope back to the entrance of the caves and put the rope that they'd used into a wheel that allowed them to crank back in all the rope they'd used. then waited to see if anyone would show up to accept their invitation.