This will take place near the town of Starfort, where ancient ruins have recently been uncovered while the miners were trying to open a new shaft. your OCs can be visiting the town or here on business, doesn't really matter as long as you can find a way to involve them logically. Z was walking with his pokemon to look at the new mine that was being dug out. His pokemon were helping in the construction by using their strength to help move large piles of earth and stone out of the way. The miners had hopes that this mine would bring more profit to the town as the soil had been rich with minerals. they would have planted crops, but the weather in the plains isn't the best for planting crops and keeping them alive.
Nicole sighed as she stopped for a while to rest, Nero doing the same after their journey. They were making their way back from Ignacia after they had gone to visit Akane. Looking around, Nicole tried to figure out where they were. It seemed like they had made it halfway to Starfort town from the looks of it, and that meant that somewhere along the way they had made a wrong turn from the direction needed to head back to the Jagged Ridge. Giving another sigh, she looked at Nero who looked just as frazzled as she felt about the revelation. “Well, it looks like we have two options. Continue going this way, or retrace our steps to find home again. It has been a way since we have been this way though. Maybe we could see Z again. I still owe him a rematch.” Nicole said, trying to see her Pokemon’s reaction to her words.
Nero looked back at Nicole with an eager look, possibly thinking about the fact that he needed to have a bit of payback for his last battle. Nicole couldn’t help but give a small smile and a laugh at this. Guess that answers my question. We’ll go this way. Keep in mind that we may catch Z when he’s busy and that we may not get our match just yet.” She said as she began to move forward once more, with Nero following after her, towards Starfort.
"I guess normal was never supposed to be a word for me." - Nicole
"Alright!" said a foreman, "lets bring in the diggers!" Several Sandshrews and Sandslashes were called forward and they began to dig through the soil and sand. Z watched as Kit walked forward and began to help by using dig to help them tunnel. When they hit a layer of bedrock, Sparky and Kenichi walked forward and used their brick break moves to smash through the hard layers, allowing the pokemon to continue digging. After a while, the pokemon stopped and Alloy helped the workers put supports in the tunnel walls to prevent cave ins using his psychic powers.
As Nicole and Nero continued forward, Nicole kept track of how far they had moved. Since they had left Ignacia at around four in the morning, in hopes of getting home in about a day instead of the three to seven it normally took them, and that depended on what time they left wherever it was they had stayed. As she had calculated earlier, they had to have been about halfway… But they could probably make better time if they were running instead of walking at the pace they were moving. Looking down at Nero, she decided to voice this opinion. “Hey Nero, maybe we could lessen the amount of travel time if we ran.” She said to the Ninetails who nodded and stopped while kneeling down so that Nicole could climb onto his back.
Getting onto the Pokemon’s back, Nicole wrapped her arms around Nero’s neck, and the Pokemon began to, at first, jog before taking off at a full run. Hopefully this would reduce time, and they would be a lot closer to Starfort before it got too dark.
"I guess normal was never supposed to be a word for me." - Nicole
Z watched as the construction teams and his own pokemon worked hard to build their new mine shaft in the plains outside of the city. they were hoping that this one would provide a rich harvest of precious minerals and elemental stones, as it had been dug in some mineral rich, yet too dry to use for harvesting, soil. The digging pokemon jumped out of the hole as the builders installed more supports and checked the gas content of the air in the mines with gauges, before letting sparky down into the mines to help with the heavy lifting. (lets wait for Maya)
Wind whipped her twisted ponytail around wildly as Aki zoomed through the air. "There Aki!" She called, pointing, squinting through the goggles safely secure on her face. "I think thats Starfort." She had changed out of her usual priestess clothes she wore around the temple and was back in her traveling priestess clothes from Snowpoint City. She hadn't even bothered trying to keep the hood on her head.
Aki gave a happy trill, thrilled to be back in his desert kind of environment. He slowly dropped getting closer to the ground and with a powerful flap of his green wings of a whoosh and landed gently on the ground.
"Buh, it's hot..." She groaned but was happy to have made it. She looked around not sure where to go though. Where was Z?
Z watched as sparky hauled loads of rocks that were the remains of boulders that she had smashed in order to clear the path for the digging pokemon to finish the mine. Alloy used his psychic powers to help lift her out and Scorpio and Haxorus used their large size and strength to haul carts of the rocks away to be examined for any trace alloys or elements that could be sold in the markets.
"Looks like we're almost done," said a miner.
"great," said Z before spotting Nicole and Maya approaching, "hey"
Nicole was surprised to find herself in the middle of a construction project outside of the city she was heading for, let alone find Z in the middle of it as well, though him being there made a lot of sense. “Hey Z, it’s been a while.” She greeted back before notice another familiar person approaching. “Maya? Hey, long time to see!” She greeted the other, once again surprised. Nero made a huff in greeting as well before lowering himself to a point where Nicole could get off his back, which she did. Standing up straighter she gave a small smile to the two people she had greeted, Nero moving to lean his form against Nicole’s after he too stood back up.
"I guess normal was never supposed to be a word for me." - Nicole
"Ah, hello Nicole," said Z as he waved, "don't mind the work. the town is getting ready to dig a new mine shaft. The soil here is full of trace elements and we hope to find some valuable minerals buried beneath the surface. How are you doing?" Some of Z's pokemon stopped what they were doing to wave hello before going back to work. Ruby flew over to the newcomers, cackling in a mischievous way. She floated around them, getting in close and cackling.
Maya slid off Aki, trying to keep her dress from hiking up too far up. She hit the ground with a crunch, her sandals hitting the dusty ground. "Oh I didn't expect to see you Nicole," Maya said, a small smile breaking out on her lips. She figured Aki could use some walking around and enjoy the desert atmosphere. She looked around at the construction site, eyeing the minerals.
"Well I you offered for me to come visit..." She said looking at Z with a small smile. "I was curious... So what is going on?"
"Nothing much," said Z, "We're just building a new mine shaft. Thanks for taking the time to come and visit. Feel free to stay the night. stargazing is the best here. Also the food we serve is all home grown in the mineral rich soil that is in the region." Sparky hauled another load of of large rocks onto a truck to be pulled away by Haxorus and Scorpio while he said that. Ruby turned to Maya and flew in her face, trying to scare her. When should we start the main event?
Nicole gave a small smile at the Sableye trying hard to scare her and Maya, before giving a small nod to Z’s comment about what they were doing and the invitation to stay the night. “Sounds like a plan. I’m sure Nero’s tired.” She said looking down at the Ninetails who was glaring at Sparky, still displeased with her after so long. “Nero, don’t be rude.” She chided only to have the other turn his head away with a huff. Nicole sighed at this and then looked up to give Z a small apologetic smile. “I’m sorry about him.” She apologized before looking to Maya.
“I haven’t seen you in a while. It would be cool if we could catch up, especially since we’re both in the same area for once.” She said giving the girl a small smile.
Whenever you feel ready to start it. It is your plot.
Z smiled and nodded, "that sounds nice. We all haven't been in the same area for a while now. Maybe after the construction here is finished."
As the workers continued to dig, they hit a hard layer of metal, "hey! There's some layer of metal blocking our way here. We can't break through it."
Suddenly, the ground and the mine shaft began to shake and the metal layer began to move and a roar was heard. The shaft began to cave in as the workers climbed out and a large metal hand punched through the layer of topsoil.
A chill went down Maya's sound at a sudden roar... it sounded garbled and metallic like someone was screaming into a metal pipe and she was listening on the other end. It also sounded eerily familiar. What was going on?
Aki made a concerned deep trilling kind of sound, cocking his head slightly.
"I don't know whats happening," Maya replied to the sound. Her knees were starting to quake though she couldn't figure out why. "Z what is going on? W-what was that sound?" She exclaimed.
"I don't know," said Z, "but something tells me I won't like the answer to that question." Z watched as his pokemon scrambled to his side and took up defensive positions as a large metal titan tore its way out of the mine shaft that they had been digging. It had a round body and four fingered hands and on its 'face' was a circular pattern of dots that blinked with energy as the creature let out a roar. Z's eyes widened as a sphere of silvery white energy began to form in front of the creature's 'face.'
"SCRAMBLE!" yelled Z, causing his pokemon to dash to the side with Sparky grabbing Z to get him out of the way faster, as he had a smaller and younger body and insufficient reflexes. The workers barely managed to dodge out of the way as the titan unleashed a powerful Flash Cannon that tore through the ground and destroyed one of the carts carrying the rock that they had cleared out.
"This is really bad," said Z, "Everyone clear out! I'll try and keep it from getting to the town! Get the people to safety!"