It was a little unsettling that they were talking battle strategies. It hadn't saved anyone so far... but Kimiko supposed if they had to eventually confront this thing, they might still have a chance in a group. "Olivia's my team's heavy hitter, anyway. Got calm mind and shadow ball, and we just learned dazzling gleam. If we're considering the possibility of battling this thing, though, I think we have plenty of competent battlers among our ranks. I'm more concerned about the defensive end of things."
She paused to think. The biggest problem they'd face was... "First, we'll have to figure out a way to neutralize that flash that's been blinding everyone. Olivia could just usually sense any foes, but if this really is a hoopa, I don't know if she'd be able to sense it if it changed forms to a dark-type. And... that wouldn't help anyone else but herself, really."
"A Hoopa?" Steven repeated. "Like Orzo? Or Orzo himself? I hate to suspect one of our host's own pokemon, but Jenny's notes did say the dyes were used to make the same colors that Hoopa are..."
She listened further as they discussed possibilities of who the culprit was; consensus seemed to lean towards orzo himself being somehow involved. Might as well throw her voice in there for consideration, despite generally agreeing with what was being said. "It never made any sense to me for there to be another hoopa involved. If the culprit is pretending to be a hoopa, why would they then poison the pokemon they're masquerading as? That would just blow their cover."
After a moment's pause, Jade realized that she should probably relay what he'd said for the humans who didn't know Pokespeesh. "I... think this is a sign we should practice some new moves. Maybe something like Play Rough? Or something for trapping, like that one electric net move... Or Sleep Talk, in case of sleep?" The options were dizzying.
"A trapping move would honestly be pretty beneficial. I don't think we have access to many of those." Again, she stopped to think... one of the trainers had a nosepass with block, but that had already proven ineffective... not to mention the fact that he wasn't on their ship, so she still had that nagging doubt as to his trustworthiness. "I think the only one on our side with a trapping move that we can trust is possibly that girl with the ninetales. Which means if we got into a battle, they'd be a huge target. Having more than one trapper would be really handy."
Then, as natural as ever, a small white and green hedgehog trotted out from the brush.
Kimiko simply fell into silence and stared as another mythical pokemon just... casually walked into their midst. And then completely ignored them as it went about healing the area. After a few minutes, the shaymin eventually spoke. Kimiko stayed silent; she'd already engaged with one mythic so far, she was content to let someone else have a turn. Even so, Steven was the one to respond to it. She agreed to help Clink, and then...
Shaymin turned and looked up at Jade, before letting her gaze drift across the forest, which even now appeared to be healing slowly. She trotted over and sniffed at a patch of grass, her nose wrinkling immediately. She began to examine the other patches of grass, talking softly as she walked, her tone somber. "Steel-types are immune to battle poison. But the natural poisons of a pokemon may still be effective..."
She returned to stand in front of Jade. "The poison here. Its very potent. It appears to be from a Roserade... but it is very strong. The Roserade intended to harm their target."
"Wait, there's a difference between
battle poison and natural poison?" Her voice was loud compared to Steven and Jade, a result of her disbelief. She shrunk back with a slight blush on her face; still, from her perspective, it was a valid question. She'd never heard of such a thing... but perhaps it was just a feature of this particular universe?
"I am sorry. I should not dislike a fellow mythical pokemon, or speak ill of them. We all have roles to play. I have no reason to dislike him, it is nothing more than a vague, silly feeling."
Steven seemed content with Shaymin's answers, but Kimiko was not. As he left the group, she addressed Shaymin again herself. "Sorry, this might not be any of my business, but... I feel it's important not to rule out anything at this point. Could you elaborate on this feeling you have? About Orzo?"
[[ @Flyg0n ]]
