PokèDruids [PkmnWattys2016]

Tournament Pt 1

Hallucinations weren't the only thing on Eros' mind as he walked back to the fort, all three of his Pokemon at his side as he did so. He's traveled the forest many times now, his adventures in the forest often crossing paths with itself, giving Eros a good idea of location every time he navigated the area. He had to admit that he enjoyed all this walking and exploring, since he'd not only see many kinds of Pokemon in the forest and be able to understand their language and culture, something he's only now realizing he took for granted at first, but also the fact that his very own Pokemon were ecstatic at this kind of adventure, the kind in which any other series of events would make impossible. Even if this journey back to the fort was but a few days on foot rather than weeks, he truly learned something by taking a step back and looking at his life. In all honesty, despite that his family was dead... Things couldn't be better.

It never left his mind, though, when he started thinking about how he owed Articuno for ditching him at Blackreach, but he didn't respect his decision to go to war and even less him wanting Eros to join him. In the end, he did justify to himself that he didn't have to help Articuno, although it still bugged him that he really still had a debt to him. He considered means to repay an immortal being with power massive compared to his, but came up blank. In time, he would surely pay for this...

On the other hand, he also owed Xerxes a trip to her father; Unfortunately, that was also beyond him. The only thing that came to mind was asking one of his Druids to divine it for him, assuming there are enough Druids to do so. He also owed the Druids some kind of leadership, which he'd have to manage when he could. Of course, he knew that panicking was no way to deal with all of these problems, and neither was complaining or waiting for some kind of direction; No, he'd to take things into his own hands, one step at a time, planning carefully and thinking wily to come up with a plan for this.

After the strenuous journey that lasted for a few days, the group walked right into fort alpine and went about their own business for a few hours; That was, everybody except for Eros. Eros was well aware that he needed to do something to show that he was there and that he cared, as well as something to break the monotony for the students, since they never seemed to leave the fort on their own; When he tried to come up with ideas, however, he always drifted to the thought of some kind of tourney, something that was both safe and entertaining, both for anybody watching and anybody participating. This would be, at his hand, truly a gauntlet for the ages if he could pull this off...

As for some sort of prize, Eros drew blanks. There was no way to obtain any valuable magical items, since they were devoid of an enchantress. There wasn't any money to give away, either, since Eros was downright broke and had never encountered a single Poke across his adventures. All he could do was dog through his personal possessions and look for anything valuable, but there was no way that he's have anything worth... Wait! That was it! While it wasn't necessarily anything special, he did have a spare Ultra Ball lying around from way back when he started his adventure.

While he had to ask Cerci on what would be appropriate and feasible for a tournament of this sorts, she seemed pretty happy at the opportunity to talk about this kind of thing, despite being retired. In fact, she seemed much happier and calmer over all, especially along side with Hank at her side (and also at a few other places, which she was less than subtle in implying). None the less, she still had a hint of her former all-business attitude and gave a rundown on all the special rules and precautions, such as how any blow to the head could permanently hurt a human, should combat be part of it. All in all, she was having a great time back in Ashport, where Hank's nearly limitless funds supported the two's modest lifestyle. The only negative part of the conversation was hanging up, since Eros already missed her.

Before he started letting people sign up for the tournament, which will have a total of sixteen contestants due to the way it was planned, he needed to find a way to locate Xerxes' father; As a result, he asked one of the sorcery-based instructors if they knew anybody, receiving a response that led him to another one of the Druids, one who was quite adept in the art of divination. Asking what he could, the divining Druid was more than happy to put their skills to use, although it would take quite a while, since they were only capable of asking yes-or-no questions at their stage of spell casting. As long as he had a day or two, he'd be more than happy.