Avery Miller & Abital Ecke
Route 4
Affected RP'ers: @Neo Emolga and potentially @Shruikan

Avery trotted quickly up the route; Abital clung to them with one arm wrapped around their waist while checking their location on the map on the styler in the meantime. In order to proceed through the route they had to leave themselves out in the open for parts of it, something that made Avery really uncomfortable. While they were more used to being a centaur, they weren't entirely confident in their ability to fight or run away in the event they were attack. A pit had formed in their stomach, and the more they thought about it the worse it got. Maybe they should have stayed longer at the hotel.

"Still going the right way?" Avery asked quietly. Abital tapped Avery twice with one of his fingers. That meant yes. "Got it," Avery answered before picking up the pace a little. They began to climb a small hill when they felt Abital suddenly grab them tightly, causing Avery to halt. "What? What's wrong?" Avery asked, looking around frantically. They quickly spotted what was wrong. They were a Drifloon floating in the air a ways above them. Normally a rather innocent sight but not when the Shadowcraft apocalypse led by one of the world's foremost Ghost trainers was going on.

Abital aimed their styler in the air and launched their capture disc. They signaled to Meir as they began to circle the Drifloon in the air with their capture disc. The Raichu leapt off Avery's back and released an electric shock into the air, temporarily paralyzing the Drifloon. With the troublesome balloon frozen in place, Abital was able to successfully complete the capture and bring the Drifloon to their side, at least for now. The Drifloon floated down beside the group and looked at Abital expectantly. Abital looked at Avery and quickly signed, "Perhaps we could get some information out of it about that base. You think you'll be able to understand it as well as you can your own Pokémon?"

"Shouldn't be a problem," Avery answered with a shrug. "What should I ask first?"

Before Abital could respond, a sharp "Eevee!" pierced the air. It didn't take long for the ranger and his partner pokémon to spot the incoming group of pokémon. Electricity began to crackle from Meir's cheeks as he waved his tail in the air threatening while Abital aimed his styler at them, preparing to stop any oncoming attack before it started.

Thankfully for the ladies, Avery intervened before Abital and Meir could attack them. Unlike the other two, Avery had recognized the sound of their own name, even in PokéSpeak. They knew that voice well even if had been four years. "Hey stand down Meir!" they called to the Raichu. Avery twisted around best they could and swatted at Abital. "Don't launch it's okay, they're friendly!" they said quickly.

Abital lowered their capture styler and gave Avery a confused look. "How do you know?" they signed.

"I've met them before. You have too." Avery turned around to the trio and knelt down a little awkwardly, hoping to make their height difference not so significant.

“Didn’t expect to find you out here, but we should be able to undo that centaur issue you’ve got,” Cassandra offered. “That is, if you still want that fixed and didn’t change your mind since last night…”

Avery scratched the back of their head awkwardly and shrugged. "Ah yeah sorry about that. I knew we shouldn't have left so early, but I was feeling a bit impatient especially after Abital told me that they think they figured out the location of one of Agatha's bases. We wanted to get a closer look before they changed locations or something. Figured it'd be a way to chip in and maybe get my lower half cured without having to-"

Avery stopped when they felt a sharp tap on their shoulder. They looked behind them to see a somewhat huffy Abital. "Care to tell me who exactly you're revealing our whole M.O. to?" he signed.

"Oh! Right, sorry. You met them all yesterday, briefly. These are uh..." they paused, "actually I don't know if I should say your names aloud. Probably want to keep your presences a secret still, don't you?" Avery turned and quickly finger spelled each of the ladies' names to Abital (except for Luneth, if she came along, since Avery was not familiar with her).

Abital's eyes widened in recognition. He bowed quickly and signed an apology.

"He says he's sorry for being so aggressive. We're all a bit on edge and unlike me, he can't understand you, so he didn't realize who you were," Avery translated. "Now with that cleared up," Avery rubbed his arm, "You said you'd need to do a Nox Purge to turn me back, right? Didn't you mentioned it'd take a lot out of you though? That's why we waited until this morning to do it." They frowned. "The fact that you're back as Pokémon doesn't exactly bode well. If anything it confirms my suspicions that you're here to deal with this whole mess." Avery crossed their arms and looked over their shoulder, "You're not gonna like what I'm about to say," they said with a smirk.

"Then don't say it," Abital signed back with a flat look on their face.

"Since you're definitely here on important business, I'd rather you not waste your energy fixing me. There's bigger fish to fry, and the main one on the menu should be Agatha, not me." They clicked their tongue and looked in the direction of Paniola Town. "Abital's Ranger Styler tracked a Haunter he captured earlier to the Thirfty Megamart by the Battle Royale stadium. If we cut to route 6 through the town we should be at that supposed base pretty quickly. We could send in Gloria or one of the local Pokémon to scout around, or something." Avery sighed a little. "It's dumb and dangerous, but we just want to help out somehow if we can."

Abital nodded silently in agreement. It might be their honeymoon but this was no time for them to just sit idly by and watch the whole world go to ****. Especially not when they could help.

"So put a pin in turning me back for now. The curse is still spreading but it's moving pretty slowly, so we have time before I fully turn into a Keldeo. In the mean time, let's see if we can help you kick Agatha's tail."