[C] The Whisperers [Ad][P][Pa]

[.~.Nellie.~.]

Lyra had spent her first moments so captivated by the vast expanse of lake before her that the sight of Magnolia had eluded her. It was only after receiving a sudden tug on her trouser leg from Jekyll that she was alerted to the stranger who had not too far from where they stood.

Her body stiffened at the unfamiliar person ahead, it was only upon making out the small form of a Pikachu beside the person that she settled. It seemed like this would be a safe person to approach after all. Flashing an eager smile down to her Riolu she began to move confidently forward to where Magnolia was. There was no need to be strange about things, it seemed sensible to get familiar with those who had the same talent as her.

'Hi there.' Lyra called out as the pair approached close enough to be within earshot. 'Did you get a letter too?'

Jekyll paced alongside her, his gaze seemed more suspicious of the individuals, but he remained close nevertheless. As the pair drew to a halt near Magnolia and the Pikachu his gaze fell to inspect the other Pokemon. A low but nonthreatening growl echoed in his throat.

[SaRo|Rapidash]

Having left the vast plain surrounding his neighbouring town, Oliver knew he was not far from Summerlake. He looked to his Deerling, who appeared to be somewhat fatigued by the seeming eternity they had been walking.

"We'll be there soon, don't worry." Oliver promised, and almost as if scripted his Deerling began its beautiful transformation from it's pink spring coat to the vivid green coat of it's summer forme. At this, Oliver looked to the horizon to see the town of Summerlake.

He hastened his pace to a run, his Deerling cantering behind him, both eager for answers and rest.

Upon arriving, Oliver opened his letter to find the address which the sender had arranged to rendezvous at. As he turned the corner, he realised he was at the right address, as stood a few doors down were two girls - or woman, impossible to tell - with Pokémon, clearly apprentices like him.

"So, the letter? Which one of you sent it?" Oliver asked, walking toward the women.

[Kerou 犠牲]

Dennis had quickly made his way through the deserts situated outside of Mageburn; the heat, whilst stronger than expected, was not problematic and had not slowed their pace. They were now past the sand and had entered the plains where the cool and welcoming breeze created the perfect zone for a break. Dennis elbowed a tree hard, causing a few apples to drop onto the ground as Draco began to swing wildly with its mouth, hoping to devour anything in it's way. As his Pokémon ate, the teenager stared into the distance, seeing the town he had been searching for. He crouched next to Draco and began to stroke his head.

"We're almost there, which means you've got to keep your mouth in check. We don't want to make enemies straight away," Dennis stated sternly as he watched the last apple disappear into Draco's stomach. He let out  a small cry of satisfaction before closing it's mouth, trying as hard as it could to follow the instructions given. The pair moved onwards at a consistent pace and, once at the meeting point, leant on a nearby wall, awaiting further revelations.

[Wolstenholme]

As Sans and Lenna had gotten closer to Summerlake, Sans had been growing increasingly uncomfortable - there was a lot of standing water, almost like the floods and there was no sandy or dirty areas for Sans to burrow. More than once he had curled into a ball for defense against some strange sight or another. Even the flowers nearing Summerlake were different, they were round and bountiful - shooting up into the air to greet you while in Ironmerrow the only flowers were heather and snowdrops with dipped heads. Lenna found the scenery refreshing.

They entered Summerlake around late afternoon and felt the unfamiliarity of the surroundings. Rather than looking for a specific address, Sans and Lenna wandered around the town before eventually they had spotted a small group of people a similar age to herself surrounded by all different types of Pokemon. She walked coyly up to the group. She noticed not a single exception was made to the news that all of the Whisperers had died, it really was just the apprentices. This bothered Lenna somewhat because if the Whisperers couldn't survive whatever was going on then how would a group of teenagers. "Is this where I'm supposed to be then?" She said openly, scooping an exhausted Sans up into her arms.

[The Shrub Dragon]

Frances arrived at Summerlake tired, dirty, cardiganless, and in need of a good new pair of britches and a clean blouse.  Nevertheless, she powered on – if just to let whoever had called her there know that she was not best pleased with the map she'd been given.  Ralts followed at her heels and was looking around the front of Frances' legs every now and then just to make sure there was no funny business up ahead that Frances had missed.

Somewhere half a mile or so from the meeting point – surrounded by water on all sides, which was not usual and should not have been taken as such – Ralts' neuroticism got the better of Frances.

"For goodness' sake, Ralts!" she snapped, "you can either actuallystand in front of me so that you're the one on the lookout for danger or you can just accept that I know what's good for me!"

Needless to say, Ralts stayed firmly behind Frances for the rest of the journey, even as Frances stumped up to the gathering of new people brandishing her map – which, like her britches and blouse – had torn and crumpled going through a thicket of brambles in the forest between the borders of Coldmount, Landwald, and Summerlake.

"You couldn't have written a better map, could you?"

[.~.Nellie.~.]

Lyra could not help but be surprised as the extent of people accompanied by Pokemon had begun to gather. It did not take her long to realize that each of them seemed to possess the same letter and map that she had received, it was this that sparked her curiosity even further. Who had initiated this?  It really felt a little overwhelming at first. It was risky in a sense that they had all met together. A part of her almost wondered if it was safe. They were all out in the open. They each had a Pokemon but they weren't big or as strong as others could be. If a threat were to make itself known what would they do?

The girl was drawn to Frances, the unfamiliar girl's chiding of the small Ralts that accompanied her had a great sense of energy about it. At the mention of the map, Lyra gave a laugh, looking to her crumpled copy. 'I'm just hoping this thing was made to be so vague in case it fell into the wrong hands!' With a smile she settled alongside the stranger, holding out her hand. 'I'm Lyra and this is Jekyll. If you don't mind my asking, where abouts are you from?

The girl could not help but be curious. She had not met many others like herself, not to mention having seen so many different Pokemon. The small Riolu stood confidently by her side, eyeing the timid looking ralts. The Pokemon cocked his head slightly towards the psychic type, making a small but friendly noise in a curious but careful greeting.

[Shaymin]

Mags felt like she had been waiting forever when Thunder's ears perked up. They only ever did that if Pokémon were near, and Pokémon didn't tend to come in to Summerlake for fear of the humans who would try to hurt them or use them for their own cruel means. That meant that the other apprentices were still alive, and they were here. She tried to look important, but in reality she was actually terrified. Dex had told her that she was probably the oldest apprentice - not because she was bad but because no village needed her as a fully fledged Whisperer yet - so she should take on the role of leadership in some way.

The first apprentice arrived - and judging by the Riolu beside her, she was from Marbletown. Thunder peeked curiously at Jekyll, ears twitching and nose sniffing. "Pika!" he exclaimed, gently bumping the Riolu on the head with his palm before scooting up on to Mags's shoulder to point out more apprentices arriving.

A boy with a Deerling, probably from Oakbank or Marshpond, another boy with a Deino - a Mageburner - a girl with a Sandshrew, Ironmerrow maybe, and then a girl with a Ralts, Coldmount. Some of them would have taken weeks to get here. The Coldmounter didn't look happy, but Mags remained silent until everyone had settled.

"I sent you the letter, and I'm sorry about the maps. Art isn't really my thing," she said with an apologetic shrug. "I'm Mags, the apprentice here at Summerlake. Obviously you all know about your mentors... unfortunate passing. My mentor, Dex, seemed to know this would happen and warned me before he left. All of the Whisperers were called to the city, which if you look at your maps, is across the lake," she said, giving the others time to look at their maps. "Now, I know we're all pretty young here, but as far as I'm aware, there aren't any Whisperers left, and we're the last of us. We need to find out what happened, and stop whatever is happening." Mags said defiantly.

As far as she was aware, Dex had mentioned something of a crisis over in the city, but had failed to mention much more. No boats would take them across - not with their Pokémon anyway. For all the damned help they did, normal people loved giving the Whisperers bad treatment.

"Now," Mags cleared her throat. "As no ferry will take us to the city, we're going to have to find some Pokémon big enough to carry us across the lake," quickly pulling out Dex's book, she scanned through it. "The Lapras are currently up north in their breeding grounds. It's rare to get Wailmer in the lake, so we can look for them. Blastoise can be temperamental and wary of any humans, Whisperer or not, so unless we help them out they may simply warn us off. Whiscash are another choice, though they can be a bit... slow in realising where we want to go and we could end up miles away from where we want to be. I'd avoid the Feraligatr like the plague at this time of year - they have young and won't hesitate to kill anything that gets too close. Gyrados I wouldn't touch with a fifty foot barge pole... Quagsire's are in the swamp at the moment..." she bumbled on for a while before looking up. "Well, whatever Pokémon you manage to befriend, try to make sure it can carry more than one person."

[Wolstenholme]

When Mags finished speaking she wasn't looking at Lenna, but Lenna nodded in understanding anyway. They were stood near the lake but somehow she doubted that it would be easy finding Pokemon at all considering the conflict. And another thing, Lenna had never befriended water Pokemon before only ground, rock and steel types. She wasn't entirely sure but she thought that water Pokemon would have a completely different way of thinking and acting to the Pokemon at home. A challenge then?

Lenna stepped uncertainly away from the other Whisperers and towards the water, it was clear and apparently shallow. She put Sans down a few metres away from the water. "Don't run off." she said, calmly. And, after taking her shoes off, began to wade into the surprisingly warm shallows. Lenna was careful not to go too far, she knew that lakes and oceans had a 'drop off' point in which the water suddenly became much much deeper. The best way about this, Lenna decided, was to wait until the Pokemon were cofortable swimming around her ankles. She tried to breathe as steadily as possible to avoid scaring them. If she was comfortable, they would be comfortable too.

[The Macintosh Ninja: SOH CAH TOA]

Player 9 enters the fray!!

Name: Jason Alexander
Age: 17
Gender: Male
Appearance: Standing at 6' 2", Jason is a farmer's son who looks the part. Years of milking cattle, fieldwork, and other physical activities have made him fairly muscular and, for lack of a better term, beefy. His skin is tan from time spent in the sun, he has a few scars here and there from injury (mostly caused by a particularly rebellious Miltank), and his hair is jet black and cut short. He typically wears a plain white cloth shirt and brown frayed pants with heavy boots he purchased from Oakbank. He has dull gray eyes and wears a small green scarf soaked in water to keep him cool during times of heat.
Personality: Jason doesn't have as much education as those who live closer to the city. He learned mathematics, knows how to read and write (though he never got around to reading much literature), and knows some science as well. His knowledge is mostly in physical work: he's pretty handy with a wrench, knows about animal behaviour, and knows how to fight. He speaks in a rustic manner, often using slang or improper grammer. He has some anger problems, though his status as a Whisperer forces him to hold back until the urge to punch someone's face overcomes the urge to be a good role model. He is wont to swear, though he usually catches himself when in the company of people he shouldn't swear around. Most of his life can be summed up as farmin' and fightin'. If it ain't one, it's the other. And if ain't either, well then that's new.
Partner: Cuddles / Cleffa / Female / Calm / Pound, Charm, Sing, Thunder Wave
Town: Landwald
Starter Post: Jason continued walking down the beaten path. The letter told him to go to Summerlake, and given that this letter appeared shortly after his mentor up and vanished it seemed like the best course of action to take. Besides, Summerlake wasn't that far. He walked further for more trivial matters. He had some supplies with him: tools to build a basic tent, some food, a canteen, and a modified carrier that was used to hold human babies and worn like a backpack. In the carrier was Cuddles, the Cleffa that was fascinated with the new world and smiled brightly when Jason tied a small green bow in her fur.

The Pokémon babbled and let out some sqeaks as they pressed on. There was a slight breeze, which helped cool off both Whisperer and Pokémon, and Jason picked some berries as they went along and fed them to Cuddles, who very much enjoyed the treat.

After some walking, and an unexpected nap courtesy of a certain companion we won't name, Jason arrived to a hill overlooking his destination. Others were already there and he could just make out that some had Pokémon with them.

[SaRo|Rapidash]

Oliver took Mags' insinuation that Gyarados was impossible to tame as a challenge, a challenge he was going to rise to. He still wasn't entirely sure whether he liked the woman, but regardless he wanted to show he was better. He looked to Mags, who now appeared to have finished speaking.

"So, we just need to tame something big? Sounds easy enough." Oliver said, departing to the west. Truthfully, he'd never tamed water Pokémon, but, how hard could it be? As he walked along the shoreline, he noticed shoals of Goldeen and Finneon swimming away from a bay in the distance. That must be where he would find the Gyarados. He approached the bay and saw that it was filled with swarms of Magikarp. He looked in the water but couldn't see a Gyarados anywhere; it appeared they must be deeper in the lake. He turned round to go and look elsewhere, only to see a shadow slowly creep over him, the stench of the sea air getting stronger and stronger as he felt the breath of a monstrous creature slowly sending shivers down his spine. He concealed his fear and turned round, looking the Gyarados that lay before him square in the eye. Gyarados stared back for a good few minutes before Oliver began to speak.

"Gyarados, I presume?" He began, in a calm yet stern voice. He was met by the slow, deep growl of the creature. It unnerved him slightly, but he knew he couldn't let it show. "I require your assistance; would you be so kind as to take me across the lake?" Oliver asked, his voice eloquent and calm. The Gyarados looked for a minute like it would accept, but then it opened its jaws and struck. Oliver jumped, being hit just by the crest of the Gyarados, sending him hurtling towards the deeper end of the bay. He was sure he'd land in the deep water, which would be embarrassing given he could not swim, but fortunately he hit the back of what he could only assume was a Pokémon.  Close inspection revealed this to be a Lapras! Composing himself, Olive began to speak to it.

"So, why are you not with the other Lapras breeding up north?" he asked, being met by a low pitched call. He took this as a request to look at the Lapras' shell, which he noticed was cracked. This Lapras was badly injured, it must have had to rest in the bay while it healed.  "I can fix that, I'm sure!" Oliver offered, the Lapras only too pleased to see if he would. It rode Oliver to shore, and he began to run toward the main market of Summerlake, the Lapras following him from the water.

He approached the market, and received the herbs necessary to treat it's wounds. He knew it would take hours at the least for the Lapras to begin healing, and likely days to be surfable. Days he did not have.

[Kerou 犠牲]

After Mags had finished Dennis moved off without verbal response and found a spot away from everyone else. He sat down on a rock and began to strategise as Draco hunted around for food. He knew at this point it would be foolish to chase a Gyarados and he knew helping the Blastoise could be time consuming but at the same time he did not want to just find any old Lapras. He almost wanted to make a statement.

"It's a shame you can't Surf quite yet Draco... Draco?" Dennis muttered before realising that his Pokémon had wandered off. Immediately panicking, he rotate his head around in an attempt to find him. He knew he could not have gone far; being unable to see made him prefer to stay in close proximity and let food come to him. All of a sudden, a large crash of waves could be heard in the distance. Frantically sprinting towards the sound, Dennis began to worry even more, whispering explicits to himself. Not before long, he reached a large area in front of water, noticing his Deino backing away slowly as a large roar could be heard.

"Draco, are you okay? Oh... we're not okay..." He said, heart sinking as a Feraligatr began to rise from the water. A small sigh followed as the Pokémon began to growl viciously at the pair. Instinctively, Dennis grabbed Draco from his position and once again began to sprint as fast as he could. He did not even bother trying to look back; he valued his life too much for that. Continuing for almost a minute, he began to tire and paused to pant heavily. Dennis slowly rotated his head behind to make sure they were safe.

"Looks like we're alive for now," The teenager stated reassuringly as Draco nodded in acceptance. He placed his partner carefully onto the ground and began to direct him to a nearby beach-esque area, hoping that the Pokémon here would be less temperamental.

[Shaymin]

(( Yo Ninja you are accepted! Watch this space as I've just woken up and coherent posts are not my thing in the morning. yes i know it's like midday but i still slept til just like five minutes ago whoops ))

[The Shrub Dragon]

((I'm just popping up to say that as school has started I've got extra-curriculars from Monday to Wednesday so don't expect a post until Thursday at the earliest, if that's okay.))

[The Macintosh Ninja: SOH CAH TOA]

Jason approached the rendezvous point and saw some of the other Whisperers. They were a varied lot, each with their own Pokémon. Some looked fearsome, others looked more relaxed. Cuddles turned in her carrying pouch, given that she was a squishy sort, and looked over Jason's shoulder at all the new faces and (hopefully) new friends they'd make. She let out a curious squeak as Jason made his way to where some others were gathered.

"Hey there. Ya'll the ones who got this letter too?" he asked, holding up the letter. "I just came down from Landwald. Weren't much of a walk. Kinda refreshin' really."

[Wolstenholme]

((Eeps don't wanna let Loz's lovely RP fall flat on it's face - c'mon kiddos!))

Lenna had watched the boy with the Deerling flounder around in the water, attempting to tame a Gyrados and for a minute she worried that he might be scaring the Pokemon away but soon forgot her troubles as she laughed at him splashing about. The fish, it turned out, had not been scared away and Lenna almost jumped out of her skin when a wary Remoraid tried to take a nibble at her leg. She sent the shoal rather mad but the Pokemon calmed very quickly. Despite her pleasure at the curious Remoraid, these were not the right size for surfing.
When she shooed the Remoraid away, Lenna noticed a shuffling on the sea floor. A small displacement of sand which revealed a Mantyke. He circled her a couple if times, seeing if she was safe. Mantyke were big enough to carry one person. Lenna sighed, a Mantybe would be better. She bent down to the Mantyke "Hey there little fella." She began softly "Do you think you can show me where your family are?" The Mantyke wriggled around her feet. Then without warning he took off down the beach, staying in the shallows. Lenna followed at a run.
When she caught up with the Mantyke it was being fussed by its gargantuan mother, she was at least two metres across, she could carry three people! But Lenna couldn't take the mother away from her babies, they would have to come too. Lenna could try and tame the whole family. There were three Mantyke and the large mother. Together they could carry six. She approached them cautiously.