Welcome to Gaia! ::

The two managed to outrun the Mareanie for now, instead encountering another Stunfisk that decided to unburrow itself for the time being. "Right... Moving on."

[Side Area A – Beach]

Looking back, she'd also see a Staryu end up coming into contact with the Stunfisk, shielding her eyes from the blinding shock that followed. "Glad I didn't step on you..." She said to herself, hurrying off elsewhere. Best leave those two be.

[Side Area A – Beach]

"Um... hi again..." Amaranth spoke up, gulping as she saw another of those odd lizards. Hearing a hiss, she decided not to stick around. Yet another part of the beach she'd go, hoping to see something slightly different. She was beginning to fear that she had overstayed her welcome.

Another Stunfisk. Aile couldn't tell if it was the same one or different, but she at least knew that she wasn't going for it.

Finding herself simply wandering by this point, Amaranth would finally stop for a bit and sit down in the sand with a sigh. "Should be safe here... I think," she said to herself, looking around. Eventually, she'd turn her gaze to the ocean, listening and watching as the waves crashed upon the shore. It was quite a relaxing sight; were it not for the Pokemon nearby at the moment, she'd contemplate just staying here until the contest was over. A few minutes would pass before she decided not to press her luck further, getting back up and looking around to make sure nothing was about to blindside her.

While nothing seemed to be ready to attack, she did spot one thing nearly buried in the sand. It looked like an odd rock, shaped almost like a star. If the star in question was trying to look as bloated as a Snorlax, anyway. Looking down at it curiously, she couldn't make much sense of what it was. Kneeling down, she'd poke it and discern what she could already guess: It was indeed a rock of some sort. It probably wasn't valuable, but maybe it'd make a nice memory of this place. She carefully went to pick it up, only to fall backwards when it began to move on its own. Shifting around, the rock shook the sand surrounding it as it started levitating, the two darker spots facing Amaranth.

Seeing all of this, she had the feeling that this wasn't just some rock laying in the beach. If those spots were facing her, then maybe they were eyes? If so, she thought, she had made a grave mistake in her actions. "I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to disturb you. I just thought you were some weird rock!"

While... whatever the heck this was didn't appear to be hostile, it wasn't too happy about what had happened. A strange glow would emanate from it, seemingly making it more sturdy with a Cosmic Power. Afterward, it would just float there as if observing to see what might happen next. "Don't think I've seen anything like... what is this?" Amaranth would take out her SNAG in an effort to figure out something about this thing.

The response she got wouldn't be very useful. "Could you maybe wait? I'm still in the process of gathering the limited data available. I'm sure whatever is before you won't kill you."

"...thanks..."

GRAY may have been right, though. It didn't look like the sort of thing that would want to attack if it had to, maybe. Perhaps it'd still be worth taking along, even... sighing to herself, she'd let her Pidgey out once more. "Careful this time...!" She said at once, trying to keep the bird from going completely crazy.

Though she tried to strike the odd rock Pokemon with Wing Attack, it seemed to do nothing to it. It shrugged the attack like it was nothing, but now it appeared to be oddly nervous. It didn't like what was being felt by Pidgey, and tried to defend itself all the more. The glow around it would intensify, taking in more Cosmic Power just in time to take another Wing Attack. It'd also be shrugged off, the Pokemon wondering if that was it.

"Back here, I don't think that's gonna work," Amaranth spoke up, thanking her luck when Pidgey returned to her instead of keeping up the assault. "Maybe a Twister will do better?" Trying to ignore the annoyed glare from her Pokemon, she'd watch as Pidgey flapped its wings to make a harsh tornado. With strangely draconic energy coming from it, maybe it'd make more of a difference.

At least, that was the hope when it started tossing the opposing Pokemon a bit. Even so, it didn't seem to be any worse for wear. Neither it nor Amaranth could've fully anticipated what would come next, Pidgey deciding that none of this was working and maybe a much harder jostle would yield better results. This resulted in the fourth Shadow Rush from her, emotions finally getting the better of her as she chirped angrily and tried to make a war cry.

"Oh no..." Amaranth had a feeling that this wasn't going to end well.

[Shadow Meter, Pidgey: 10/10. Now in Hyper Mode.]

There wasn't much time between the cry and yet another Shadow Rush, Pidgey refusing to give the odd Pokemon any sort of respite. Both attacks were enough to make it falter in the air a bit, an improvement over nearly nothing. However, the sudden shift in behavior from the shadowfied Pidgey was enough to tip it off that maybe it'd need to fight back. It'd start slamming itself into the ground, making its own cry before seemingly bashing against itself.

Parts of the rocky body would break off and crumble, with the occasional hint of something else within. Eventually, the rock portion would break entirely, both from the impact and its own take on Shell Smash. Suddenly, the orange-colored remains of the Pokemon shot out to strike back, slamming into Pidgey with Take Down and sending her reeling back towards the sands below.

"Hey, snap out of it!" Amaranth called at once, trying to get her Pidgey to return to her senses before things got any worse. Her call would fall on deaf ears, however, between Pidgey's sheer refusal to follow at this point and the odd Pokemon's continued assault. A few gem-like rays would fire out to ensure that Pidgey stayed down, the Power Gem proving to be an effective follow up.

Both attacks saw to it that Pidgey was back to the shape she was in after the earlier Krabby and Pikipek, only managing to stay up through sheer force of will. And maybe an awful lot of anger. Though she tried to get up to fight back, the opponent would have other plans as it fired a Swift attack to keep the bird at bay. She'd end up finally collapsing soon after, though how calm she'd be was another matter.

The same could seemingly be said about the odd Pokemon. What was hiding within the rocky exterior was almost wisp-like. It still very much had a star shape to it, but after everything it just did, it didn't look to be in good shape. If anything, the form Amaranth saw looked almost pained. Like it regretted being out like this. "Um... here, maybe I can still help?" She asked, tossing an Ultra Ball to see if maybe it'd be safer and less painful in there.

As Aile and Eisley were walking, the two would come across what looked like a red shovel in the sand, scoop down. "What in the world? Why is there what looks to be a red kid's shovel in the sand? Isn't this place supposed to be abandoned?"

Eisley shrugged. "Ex ca?"

"Right... Let's go check it out then." The two made their way over to the shovel, and Aile was about to reach out for it when two eyes and a mouth suddenly appeared on it, causing her to jump back scared. "Waaaah! What in l'enfer is that?"

"Saaaand!"

"Right, I can tell you're made of that, but what are you?" Aile shook her head. "You know, we'll figure that out as we go. Eisley, start off with Slash!"

Eisley darted forward, much faster than the pile of sand in front of them, and took a good slash at it. However, while some of the sand initially moved away, it would only rejoin it again, looking none the worse for wear. In fact, that only gave the Sandygast an opportunity to bring up a smaller mass of sand and slap Eisley with it, taking him aback with Astonish.

"What? That looks like it didn't even phase it!" A look of concern on her face slowly shifted to thoughtfulness, then suddenly changed again as a realization hit her. "Wait. Slash is a normal type move, and if that didn't do anything, that that means that this is at least a ghost type! You might make a good addition to the team then, if you're a ground or a rock type. Probably ground," Aile mused to herself, nodding. "Alright, Eisley, snap out of it and go for a Drill Run!"

"Ex? Ca drill!" Eisley shook his head and then saluted, giving himself a running start before jumping and bringing his claws up to his metal head, going into a fast spin. The Drill Run would collide with the Sandygast with some devastating concequences for the sand pile, but also allowed for a point blank Shadow Ball right to the gut. "Ca!"

"Eisley, you're doing well, shake it off! Go for a Rock Slide next!"

"Driiii..." Eisley backed up and rubbed his belly, growling before bringing up some boulders from the ground with rock type energy before throwing them at the Sandygast. The unexpected boulders from out of nowhere startled the little Pokemon enough to where it forgot to retaliate, probably wondering where they came from.

"Alright, let's go for a try here..." Aile would pull out an Ultra Ball and throw it at the ball of sand, crossing her fingers.

"What? Whoa!" Dan exclaimed as a small lanky critter went running past his legs. It looked to be in a chase after another Pokemon...probably should just let nature run its course.

[Pokemon Defeated: 1]
[Main Area – Island Forest]

The moment Grubbin popped up, Dan ordered Shelgon to attack. And the burrowing bug was gone beneath the ground just that quick. It seems they'd need to try a different approach for this one.

[Pokemon Defeated: 1]
[Main Area – Island Forest]