Once we had eaten and cleaned up, I decided to bring up the resolution I made yesterday. I clapped my hands together to attract everyone's attention. *loud clap* "Alright everyone; I know we've talked about it yesterday, but emotions were running a bit high at the time, so I've decided to discuss the issue again right now," I opened and I could see everyone staring at me.
"Should we continue exploring the channel, or should we go back to exploring the main chamber spaces first before returning to the channel?" I inquired, causing a bit of murmuring. "Let me say from the get-go that I'm fine with either, so whatever the majority settles on is what we'll go with," I followed up with, and I felt some heightened excitement from the younger ones at that. There was a moment where everyone waited for someone to speak up, and Wartortel ended up being the first to speak.
*Wa, wa, warto. War, to, wa, wartor, wa, to, warto, tel (shudder).*/"I think Withdrawing for a bit is fine. I'm actually curious if the Tympole tunnel is still there, but I also think that no one's going to try something like yesterday again," Wartortel said before pausing for a moment and I caught him shiver for a second after he said that as he let his eyes wander between Mothra, Azuraid, and BossBro, who as a fellow explorer had joined us for breakfast.
*awkward chuckle* He actually laughed a bit while scratching the side of his chin/head, before he finished saying his piece. *Wa, war, to, tel*/"So I think we'll be fine even if we stay." I saw him sag a bit after he finished talking, and I had to suppress a chuckle at that. "Alright, that's fair," I followed up while giving him an encouraging nod since he seemed to have felt some pressure as he shared his piece while being stared at by everyone.
"I guess that like me, you're fine with either option," I summed up what he said. "And I agree that we are unlikely to encounter another ambush after Jellicent's example," I added since that was an important point to consider. *"Don't forget the Gyarados, and possibly that Whiscash we saw,"* Horus/Xatu cautioned, and I was not the only one who had to nod at his warning.
*"Milotic did warn us that the Gyarados might try to ambush us in revenge,"* Mothra/Butterfree said seriously, catching a few of our fellows by surprise since we rarely saw her being serious. It also made the atmosphere a bit more stifling, though following a short *giggle*, she quickly returned to her usual self. *"If they try something I'll just whack them up the head a few more times,"* she said while throwing out a few playful jabs. There were more than a few chuckles as well as giggles at that, and I could feel Mothra's satisfaction at having lightened the mood once more.
*"The chances of us coming across a second Pokémon with a slippery talent like that Jellicent are negligible. The fact that we came across someone like Jellicent in the first place is actually rather unusual,"* Tatsumaki commented drily, which had Thor/Raichu beside her laugh for a moment. *"What she's trying to say is that Mika's luck struck again, this time literally,"* Thor followed up before getting smacked from behind by Luna/Clefable.
*"Not funny,"* she snorted, which had Thor grumble while rubbing the back of his head with his tail. *"I thought it was funny, he was so lucky that it was unlucky,"* he protested just loud enough for us to hear him. *"I can help with that,"* Fortuna/Togekiss cheerfully chimed in. *"The next time he wants to go out, I'm going to hug him before he leaves, so he won't get unlucky again,"* she declared proudly, and the others beside her excitedly agreed with her idea.
I did not have the heart to tell her that that likely wouldn't help. In a way, Thor had been right. Coming across a Jellicent with a talent like that could be seen as a very rare encounter, so in a manner, we/I had been lucky. Even the subsequent development did not change that, especially since I survived and had the chance of capturing Jellicent. Well, I would have had the chance to capture it if it had not been made an example of.
In that vein, Fortuna's luck, especially the rubbed-down/over version, would not prevent an encounter like the Jellicent one. I was aware that most of the older and smarter ones had realized that as well, and even Thor gave Fortuna a sympathetic look, though no one had the heart to disagree with what she said. "Well, I've got to thank you then," I said to Fortuna, who returned a happy *"Leave it to me"*. Thankfully Optimus/Butterfree spoke up right after, steering the topic back on track.
*"While I agree with what Tatsumaki said earlier, we still could raise the number of members that accompany Mikail when he's out exploring,"* Optimus proposed, which earned a lot of nods as well as affirmative comments. *"We are ready to join him anytime,"* Tiamat/Milotic said. *"I've been hoping to join since we saw those strong Milotic,"* Abzu commented right after her, and the Gyarados Squad followed up as well.
*"We want in as well,"* Medusa/Gyarados chimed in, and the others all agreed with her. *"I've been itching to get out ever since I heard that Gyarados insult Mothra; Count us in; Let's go; Same; I can't wait,"* They said at pretty much the same time, though Stan's comment stuck out. Some chuckled, but overall a lot of us nodded in agreement at his remark.
Still, adding 6 Gyarados and 2 Milotic to my escort was a bit much, especially considering their size/dimensions. We might even have trouble advancing side by side if all of them joined us. Not to mention that it would definitely attract even more attention from the Gyarados as well as Whiscash, and likely cause a lot of panic with the weaker/other channel inhabitants, which would be detrimental to my goals. I honestly cared more about the latter than the former. Shino/Yanmega speaking up just as I was about to say so had me pause to see what he was planning to say.
*"Well, I could stop something like the ambush from happening again, if I stayed by Mikail's side,"* he said, causing everyone to halt for a moment and me to involuntarily nod, before excited exclamations followed. I heard stuff like *"Yeah; That's right; The Tingle; Shino Tingle, The Shino Sense; Why did I not think of that?"* and while it was true that Shino's Danger Sense would have caught Jellicent's ambush before me/us, they were neglecting one thing.
*"I thought of that, but it's not feasible, at least not here"* Tatsumaki spoke up, drawing everyone's attention, including mine. Seeing how everyone was staring practically screaming "why" at her, she explained what she meant. *"You're forgetting that Mikail and the others are underwater while they are out there. Not every bug type is like Mothra,"* Tatsumaki reminded and Mothra puffed out her chest.
*"Shino would have a hard time moving through the water and he would need to take a breather every few minutes, maybe quicker to ensure he stays fully alert. The slowed speed along with the frequency of breath breaks would be a hassle for Mikail as well as the others, and it would also cause a distraction that could be taken advantage of,"* Tatsumaki finished explaining, perfectly encapsulating the problem I had noticed as well.
Nearly everyone had a "ah, that's right" moment, and I could feel that Shino was disappointed with the truth, but he also realized that Tatsumaki was right. Still, not wanting him to be down after one of the few times he spoke up like he had, I urged my brain to come up with something. I actually ended up with a sudden inspiration.
"Shino, I appreciate the offer to help, but Tatsumaki is right, you'll have a hard side outside," I began, and I felt his perk up a bit at the first part before falling a bit further than at the start at the latter part, so I swiftly continued. "While taking you outside is not feasible, I could open a portal at my side and yours that you could use to directly follow the situation around me. That way you could use your danger sense to warn me even from Utopia in case something like Jellicent's ambush happened again," I explained, and I felt Shino light up with excitement.
*"I'll do it,"* he shouted excitedly, and the others agreed that it was a good alternative. Tatsumaki gave me an impressed look that seemed to say "Good job; I did not expect something like that from you" which made my eyelid twitch for a moment before I let it go.
Nevertheless, while the idea had merit, it was not realistic in the long term since it would distract him/occupy Shino's time, costing him either training or rest time. In the short term, that was okay, but in the long term, I would not accept a cost like that. Still, I did not mind letting them go with a measure like this for a while, at least until their feelings/worries had fully settled down.
"Alright, I'll make sure to leave a little portal for you once we leave," I said to Shino, before addressing the Gyarados issue that had come up earlier. "Stan, Tiamat, everyone, I really appreciate the offer, but we can't have all of you join in. The channel would be crowded if we did that and we would either be scaring or provoking the channel dwellers," I declared, and I could feel that they were about to protest, so I quickly continued with the compromise.
"I can't let all of you join, but 1 Gyarados and 1 Milotic joining us is still fine," I followed up, and I felt them hesitate at that. *"That's not fair; There are a lot more of us than there are of them,"* Medusa/Gyarados said, which was true. The others of the Sinister Six echoed her complaint. "How is that our fault?" Abzu rebutted, which was also true, causing all of them to stare at me.
"Is it my fault now?" I complained, before letting out a *sigh*. "How about we take you guys, (…) and gals as one group and you just alternate which two of you get to accompany us," I proposed, which had Ryujin/Gyarados and the other Gyarados nod enthusiastically. *"That's not fair; There are a lot more of them than there are of us,"* Abzu complained, nearly mirroring Medusa's earlier words. "How is that our fault?" Medusa shot back copying Abzu's earlier rebuttal.
They ended up staring at me again, and a lot of *pffts* as well as *laughs* escaped from the rest of our family. I could not help but chuckle as well, even while feeling a bit helpless at the issue. "Nothing I can do about it now; You've got to settle that among yourselves," I said with a shrug, avoiding a headache I knew would have followed. Seeing them want to protest, I once again quickly changed the topic.
"It's become rather apparent from the way the discussion has gone until now, but let's focus back on whether we should continue to explore the channel or if we should finish exploring the main chambers first before coming back to the channel," I inquired, causing everyone to look at each other.
*"We've said enough, let's just vote. We'll go with whatever the result is,"* Horus finally spoke up, and everyone nodded at that. "Alright, those that believe that we should go back to the main chamber and finish exploring that area first before coming back raise your hands," I declared, "or any other limb," I followed up after noticing the stares of those without hands.
I then began to count the number of votes; 18 had voted for a return. Usually, that would mean that the majority was in favor of staying, but I still asked those who were in favor of staying in the channel to raise their hands. As expected, the number of votes in favor of staying was much higher, though I noticed that some like Wartortle and Vendrak/Salandit had voted in both cases. When I brought that up, they just said that they were fine with either, so they voted for both, which caused some chuckling among the rest.
"Alright, the vote is over. We'll be continuing our channel exploration," I declared before turning towards Stan and Tiamat. "Make sure to quickly come to a decision; We'll be leaving in 15 minutes," I informed them, which had the 6 Gyarados and 2 Milotic stare at each other before they began to argue who should join us and why.
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I'm sorry about vanishing for 10 or so days; Work related stuff came up and I had to deal with that since I need the money. I forgot to bring along my tablet, and had no time to retrieve it, which is why there were no updates during that period. Anyway with that out of the way….
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