Mt. Battle

"She's my granddaughter." Eagun said with a chuckle. "Ah! I honestly couldn't tell since she looked nothing like you or your wife. Still your family must be incredibly lucky to have an aura user be born from it, we are very rare for a good reason after all. All living beings are born with aura but as a result few are also born attuned to the stuff as well, a small mutation if you would outside of the normal." I said honestly. Like any good grandparent Eagun asked me a bunch of questions about what it meant to be an aura master out of concern for Rui.-

I answered what I could and reassured him that unless she suddenly turned evil for some reason the gift was in fact just that. Despite what most myths about the gift said there wasn't any actual responsibility that came with it just like there wasn't any that came with an ability. Aura masters were more in tune with nature and as a result were more likely to act for the betterment of the world but by no means did they have to.-

After that I left the village on rune and headed for Mt. battle to get my last objective completed for this first part of the chain quest. Thanks to the village being at the bottom of the volcano I merely needed an hour to circle around on Rune and find the starting point of the place. It was a deceptively plain looking place with an open area outside the reception area that was clearly designed as a landing area for flying pokemon as it was just big enough to allow them to land and take off without an issue.-

It was clearly rare however as the ground was without grass from the many terrestrial feet that constantly tamped it down. Rune and I got some looks when we landed but no one seemed all that bothered by how we got here. Like one would expect from an active volcano the air was hot even here at the foot where no lava flowed. The reception area was cool though as they had the AC blasting and it reminded me a bit of a pokecenter in design with clean tan tiled floors and three desks along with a single door leading up the mountain guarded by a sleeping Abra.-

The whole building was also incredibly well maintained which was a first in the region for me and I couldn't help asking about it. "Mt. Battle is the only spot where trainers can fully go all out in training their teams in the entire region regardless of the time, day or week. Naturally this means that nearly all serious trainers within the region pitch in funds and effort to keep it up and running smoothly. You must be from out of the region if you didn't already know this." the woman behind one of the desks said after I asked. -

"I came here from Hoenn in fact to research this regions unique lack of pokemon. I am a trainer first and foremost though." I said with a smile. "A strong one too if my judgement isn't off. You get a sense for these kind of things after working here for as long as I have. I take it you'll be wanting to start a challenge run then since you are here?" the woman asked with a smile of her own. "Not at the moment, rather I am here to scout of the local places and establish contacts in each of them for my research. Would you perhaps be interested in helping in this regard?" I said casually.-

The woman shook her head "I'm afraid that I'd be no use for something like this since I barely talk more than a few minutes per person so I rarely have any rumors or information that would help in this regard though I do know of one person here who would definitely be able to help you." she said with a sly look. "Let me guess this person can only be reached through the challenge?" I asked and the woman nodded.-

"Area leader Loko is well known for her regular rumor gathering and treasure hunting out in the sands of the desert. Unfortunately without serious luck you are unlikely to come across her outside of Mt. battle but when a trainer appears to be approaching her area we contact her to get her to take her place as the leader there." the woman said honestly. I sighed "What area is she in charge of?" I asked knowing that there was no avoiding this challenge. The woman smiled "Area six, be warned though you won't find it so easy to reach her." she said filling out the challenge paperwork before I even agreed.-

"Unless I have a misunderstanding about how this place works I won't have any issue at all reaching that place since the trainers are at most barely ace level." I said confidently. "And what level are you at since I need top know for the records?" she asked not believing me. "Elite level." I said flatly and she froze. "I'm sorry but did you say elite?" she asked after double taking. "Indeed, the same level as a league recognized gym leader, the rank above ace." I clarified so there was no misunderstanding.-

"I must be losing my touch to say that an elite will have trouble reaching the sixth area leader, bad luck for me I guess. Still you are all set so good luck I suppose." the woman said while handing me a card that had my information on it and ten empty spaces that I imagine were there for the area leaders to stamp as me completing the area. Accepting the card I went straight over to the entrance to the challenge and got waved through. I didn't even have to battle for the first four areas as the trainers took one look at Tank and Hades that I set as my fielded pokemon and went "nope!" before sending me on ahead.-

In the fifth area I had to "battle" maybe twice before I got waved forward again. Even those battles weren't worth mentioning as Hades and Tank curb stomped the opposing pokemon in less than two seconds. The sixth area was little different and so it only took me maybe thirty minutes to reach the woman called area leader Loko. She was about my age with a long tailed bandana and tight athletic thermal clothes and tied up shoulder length blonde hair.-

"You know when I got a message about an elite tearing through the challenge to meet me I was doubtful but I must admit now that you are here I can't help but feel rather flattered. If you are here to profess your love to me though I must disappoint you as you aren't my type, too much muscle unfortunately." Loko said with a smirk. I shrugged "I don't really have a type beyond not being revolting to look at. I am actually here about your rumor gathering and treasure hunting. To be clear I am in Orre to research this regions history and the reason why it doesn't have a local wild pokemon population and was told you'd be the perfect fit as my information contact here at Mt. Battle." I said calmly.