careas

"Shh. Just.... Try poking them again." Laurel heard the voice in the darkness, all whispery and distorted. She furrowed her brow as a searing pain started to make its way through her head. Then she realised the darkness was because her eyes were fixed closed. She tried to open them. Her vision was badly blurred and the light stabbed at her eyes, making her quickly shield them. "It's awake!" She squinted, tried to look around. There were several blurred figures standing over her. Grey and brown. Looking beside her, she saw familiar colours - the red and orange of Smolder's flames burning brightly on the floor, and the glowing pink of Rune somewhere close by. The rest were just dull shapes. "Wh-where am I?" She uttered. "It speaks!" Called a rasping, old sounding voice. "Somebody hand me the lantern." Laurel squinted, tried to unblur her vision. Then she got an incredible shock when a bright light came hurtling towards her and she realised the light that had been singing her

Laurel returned to the quest board with Stealth, Rune and Frosty, and a bunch of appropriately typed Ground and Rock pokemon in tow. She dusted the teleportation dust from her clothes and adjusted her archery equipment now strapped onto her back. "Ah, archer! You returned as promised!" The dishevelled wastelander called as he shuffled across the town square towards them. "Of course. So where are we heading?" The man pointed east. Beyond the town square, beyond its periphery, out toward the edge of the wastelands. Laurel looked to her pokemon. The new recruits wore various expressions. Gelert looked happy to help, and equally curious about each and every thing in the town square, whether it was alive or inanimate. Jarett wore a glum expression, which was pretty standard for him. He hadn't been especially happy at the prospect of being dragged out to the wasteland. Smolder had tucked himself away beside a short stone wall the second they had teleported in. He sat, flame quills

Stealth and Rune stood in the town square, staring at the quest board. Stealth scratched his chin thoughtfully and let out a laboured sigh. "It's really too bad we didn't manage to retrieve all the lost pokemon." Rune's eyes shifted to look at the bad. "And yet you lead people to believe you only aid them for profit." Stealth cleared his throat nervously. "Well, ah, yes, erm...." He dusted off his fur with his wings. "Nobody's heartless, Rune. Anyone and everyone has it in them to come together at a time of crisis." Rune looked back to the quest board. Then his eyes suddenly flickered. "What on earth has been going on here?" Stealth frowned, turned to look at the Ninetails, ears twitching. Despite Rune's rather out of character question, Stealth replied as courteously as ever. "I know. What has the world come to? All these pokenapping... All these cries for help...." "No. Laurel." Rune responded. Stealth's ears flicked downwards in confusion. "What're you talking about?"

Witch Hazel sat in the pine forest that edged up against the southern side of the ranch, looking for interesting things to use to make Christmas presents with. She loved making gifts. Some people thought it was thrifty, but she believed it really showed someone cared if they put the effort into making something themself. This was her first Christmas in the ranch, and Witch Hazel hadn't made many friends here yet, but she was determined to show how much she appreciated those who had welcomed her here. "Ok, let's see.... Pinecones. They're good." She said to herself as she collected the various tree debris littered across the floor. Once she had plenty of items, she sat down beside a tree and leaned against the trunk to examine the items she had collected. Pinecones, leaves, bits of bark, stones of various shapes and sizes. Carefully, she lined up three pinecones and started to decorate them. At first, she wasn't really sure what she was going to make. She preferred not to plan too

Even after the difficulties a few days before, Glider and Frederik had decided they must go back to the frozen lake before they left the resort. Of course, Matilda had to go with them - she did not trust them to be sensible on a frozen lake. When they arrived, Glider and Frederik immediately bounded for the frozen water. "Woah. Hang on!" Matilda shouted as she hurried towards them. Glider and Frederik both froze comically in their current position. "Can we please at least check that the ice is thick enough to walk on before we start running over it?" Theoretically, the temperatures had dropped since they had last been here, so hopefully the ice was extra thick, but Matlda didn't want to leave it to chance. "I'll check." Glider smiled. She spread her wings and hovered over the lake. Slowly, she poked at the ice with her paw. It felt sturdy enough. Then she very carefully lowered herself until her whole body weight was supported by the ice. After a few seconds walking around, keeping

Faya sat on a hill at the periphery of the ranch, looking out over the lake. It had been some time since she had travelled. Normally she would have moved on my now, but something had kept her here, though she didn't know what. She watched as the various pokemon moved back and forth across the open field. It was very busy. Lots of pokemon lived here. For whatever reason, this ranch attracted pokemon of all types and from all backgrounds... including her. A crunching sound from behind her alerted Faya. She spun round to see Ellie heading up the hill towards her. Faya let out a subtle sigh and got up. She didn't particularly feel like sharing the space with anyone. "Woah, hey... don't leave on my account." Ellie said, looking her up and down, with an expression on her face that read 'someone clearly thinks they're too good to share her hill with me'. "I just... would prefer to be alone." Faya muttered as she turned to leave. Unexpectedly, Ellie hopped around her and stopped right in

An unusual Vulpix trots through the tourist resort, heading for the bakery, its happy, serene aura lighting up the faces of all it passes by. As it reached the shop, it greets the pokemon behind the counter and asks where its friend, Spinda, has got to. The Vulpix is informed that Spinda finished her shift over an hour ago, so it trots out of the shop and, one by one, visits each of Spinda's usual hangouts. But, one by one, each place is eliminated as the Vulpix fails to find its friend. Each time, the Vulpix feels a little more anxious.. "Where ever has she got to...." it mutters to itself. Then it sees something - multiple sets of footprints in the snow. Not all that unusual, given the village is a tourist destination, but the Vulpix recognises one set of prints, and recognises a scent in the air. Spinda. The footprints led out of the village, towards the forest. The Vulpix sniffed at the ground. Who were these other pokemon? Had Spinda been kidnapped, or gone willingly? The

Laurel had split the rooms evenly, so that she, Frosty and Jangle took Room 11, Henry, Gloria and Professor Aspen took Room 12, and Matilda, Frederik and Glider took Room 13. Matilda had needed some convincing to be in charge of the two most giddy pokemon in the group, but once the two of them had let off some steam and calmed down, she'd agreed. The next morning, the group had agreed to meet in the lobby for some outdoor exploration. It was colder than the previous days, so Laurel had dressed in her thickest coat and hat, and had given Jangle an extra scarf to wear. Frosty was unaffected by the cold due to his typing, but he was still curled up by the open fire. Professor Aspen arrived in the lobby about ten minutes after Laurel, with Henry, Gloria and quite a large bag in tow. "You know we're just exploring the village today, right, Professor?" Laurel asked as she eyed the large bag over the professor's shoulders, which presumably contained some of her scientific