Somewhat of a Detour

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Well, I wasn't expecting this. A certain Oshawott thought to herself as she leaned against a tree in the midst of Shadowhue, tossing her shell up and down. Her plan had been to see if anybody wanted to accompany her to Monochrome Ruins, but of course it couldn't be that simple, no, she had to ask a guild member who wanted to take a mission in the area as well. No use worrying about it now. Might as well just get it over with. Avaria decided, watching her scalchop go up and down as she caught it and tossed it over and over. She made sure to listen to her surroundings, wanting to know when one of the two Pokemon would finally show up, or if somebody less friendly would show up.

"...well, that was an...interesting story." Having listened to the story, the Oshawott was surprised to find that she did genuinely enjoy the story, even if she did sound more blunt and sarcastic. That softened the blow of the escort mission a bit for her. Still, Ava couldn't help but feel like something was off. Everything seemed too peaceful, they hadn't found anything else. That was usually when she felt most vulnerable and cautious. I just hope that we can take care of this quickly, and get to Monochrome soon. She thought to herself, sighing.

Nereza blinked at Ava's comment, responding with a small and hesitant smile that was only there for a few milliseconds before the Noibat was had tried to shy herself away from being the centre of attention. She had held the position for long enough in her opinion and wasn't particularly comfortable with all eyes upon her. Instead she turned her attention to listening out for any unwanted guests to the storytelling party.

This dice is not existing.

"Oh, Avaria I was wondering how much you knew about items, I just rem- WOAH!" Sorren lept out of the way of a String Shot from a weedle being accompanied by a roselia.

Mienshao made a High pitched yelp and lept bacwards. "Escourts, Dispose of These Ferals!" She said.

"Don't worry, I'll keep you safe" Sorren smiled. He ran forward an kicked the Weedle in the face, spun around and hit the roselia with an ember. Time to see what The two girls could do. Sorren stood in front of his client and waited to see what would happen.

"You could help out you know, instead of ordering us around." The Oshawott commented with a sense of dull irritation, drawing her scalchop and quickly assessing the situation. Better stay clear of the Roselia, I don't exactly mix well with grass. I can help out with the Weedle though, and they both look like they can take care of themselves. Putting together a plan of attack, she dashed towards the Weedle, slashing her shell down at it before stepping away, not wanting to get stung. The Weedle let out a shrill hiss, squirming towards Sorren and jabbing at him with its stinger, attempting to use a Poison Sting.

"If she was confident enough to face them alone she wouldn't have asked for an escort," Nereza commented, answering for the Mienshao. The Noibat then swooped forwards, not giving time for Ava to answer and letting out a shrill and sharp screech. Both the Weedle and the Roselia flinched at the sound, the Roselia attempting to cover it's head with the roses on it's arms. Before the screech even ended, the Noibat then let out an eerie sound wave, infecting chiefly the Roselia and confusing the grass type Pokemon, rendering it unable to attack temporarily.

Sorren flinched, he didn't expect for that kind of noise to come from the timid bat. then again she was a bat. Sorren put a mental note of don't judge a book by it's cover on his to do list of life changing quests of self improvement.

"Mienshao. Just to let you know. I'm your escort. These two are just coming with me because we have business beyond the falls. You didn't pay for them, so treat them with a little more respect." Sorren said.

"Mienshao Is sorry, She did not know. But if her escort's friends are fighting, then isn't the burden on them as well?" Mienshao asked.

Sorren knew she was right. He could power through this alone. He took the time the others were fighting to pull off a focus energy. The weedle came for him, but he was ready. A charged ember hit the bug square in the face. It flailed around, burned. Sorren turned his attention to the roselia, He started taking swipes at it with cut, and used ember when he had knocked it off it's feet.

Avaria flinched from the horrendous screeching sound, putting her paws to her head and gritting her teeth. Of all moves, did she really have to choose that one? Probably her way of getting back at me a bit...amateur. The Oshawott thought to herself, adding a mental insult for good measure.
"Well, as luck would have it, she has some escorts, so she isn't alone. I thought she might be more comfortable lending a helping hand with company." She retorted, her voice sounding somewhat strained to keep herself from sounding too snappy. Even though they were in the middle of a fight, somebody making it seem like she had missed an obvious fact about someone wouldn't be tolerated in the slightest. Alright, back to work.
The Oshawott moved on from the Weedle, lunging in at the Roselia with her shell, slashing with another Night Slash. The wild pokemon staggered a bit, before holding out one of its flower hands out, pointing it at Avaria and draining her energy. Well, crap... She winced, feeling herself get weaker as the Roselia regained some energy.

Nereza had to admit Sorren had more confidence than she did in telling the Mienshao to not be so rude. Though he also did it in a way that didn't seem rude, unlike Avaria had. The Noibat also opted to ignore the Oshawott's retort. She had been about to fall back and leave the attacking to the other two, preferring not to hurt others herself. However, Avaria had a distinct type disadvantage to the Roselia's attacks and so rather than leave her to get her health sapped by Roselia's absorb, Nereza used Leech Life, sapping energy from the Roselia. Still confused from the Noibat's Supersonic, the Roselia ceased attacking Ava, attempting to attack Nereza but failing and tripping over.

Sorren Danced his way around the battle. The roselia was the biggest threat to them. it had the type advantage on Avaria. Sorren launched several kicks at the small grass type, then gave it a roundhouse kick, knocking it off balance. IT was just enough that soaren got the chance to get in close and use an ember point blank. there was a hiss and a thump. A small amount of smoke was rising from the unconscious roselia.

Mienshao felt insulted by the Oshawott, But could understand that she was not a part of her official escort. Still, she felt like she needed to speak up after her escort had taken down the roselia.

"Mienshao is a pacifist. Even though she loves tales of adventure, Mienshao could never hurt another, no matter the reason. Mienshao paid for an escort because she knew she needed one. Escort's friends are not part of the escort. It is escort's fault for dragging you into this." She said.

"What?! Ok yeah It is kinda my fault, but we were going the same way, we would have encountered the same amount of pokemon with or without you. Why are we even having this conversation?" Sorren asked, catching his breath.

The Oshawott looked up at Nereza and gave her a silent nod, the only thanks she was giving to the other pokemon for cutting off the Roselia's attack, and watched it carefully to make sure the flower pokemon was down after Sorren had attacked. Hearing the Mienshao and Sorren continue to talk, she sighed, shaking her head.
"We can waste all sorts of time assigning fault to one of us, or we can just ignore it and keep moving, because that first option isn't going to get us anywhere. Let's just get going again." Ava said. She was one to enjoy a good discussion or argument, but honestly this one was simply annoying to be stuck hearing. There was nothing interesting going into it. Having said what she wanted to, Ava placed her shell back on her front and began walking in the direction they were going once more.

"I agree with that idea," commented Nereza quietly, much preferring that they didn't dwell on this for much longer. The Noibat however waited to see if Sorren and the Mienshao would start moving again rather than taking off after Avaria and leaving them behind or something. She felt almost like a burden on the group if she were particularly honest. After all she wasn't exactly one who liked fighting either, mostly only making use of her moves to help others or defend herself.

Mienshao was about to say something, but stopped herself. She stayed qiuet and looked a little sad.

Sorren sighed. He started moving again, the Mienshao behind him. He would forget about this. He would make amends later. Now he just had to get through these woods. the dark forrest did little to ease the nerves of the chick, but as he walked he remembered something he was going to say erlier.

"Hey Avaria, do you Know much about items? I have this neat scarf and I really like the color and was wondering if there were any effects on it." Sorren said, mostly to distract himself from the internal conflict that really had little to no meaning.

Avaria glanced back at Sorren, listening to what he was asking her. She paused a moment, thinking about the question.
"I've seen a few things like that with special abilities, but I can't say that one looks like anything out of the ordinary to me. Seems like an everyday scarf." She answered, shrugging a bit as she continued on.
"Why do you care about any affects it might have? Looking for something useful from it?" She asked the Torchic.

Sorren stopped for a second.That must be what everyone thought. He started walking again with a little chucckle.

"Actualy I Wanted to make sure there wasn't anything on it, IT apears like normal cloth. But I'm no expert in these things. But the color. It's like someone riped a piece of the sky and made it into a scarf. It's kinda a good luck charm too. I had a bit of a run around in a doungeon, really messed with me. At the end I found this little thing, and it reminded me of some tresured memories, so i started wearing it." Sorren said, looking down at his scarf and smiling

"I don't hide behind items. That isn't my style. I let my own strength speak for itself. It's the same way my dad lived, maybe it's just the fighting type deep down in my soul. I don't know. But I would be absolutly mortified if it did have any kind of effect on it. I've gotten so used to it, and the color is always a huge comfort. Maybe I'm being a bit sappy, But That's how I feel."

Sorren finished. Meinshao lifter her paws to her mouth. it looked like that was the most buitifull story she had ever heard. But she didn't say anything.

Sorren looked at the sky and back at his scarf. Yeah, He had a piece of that far off exanse on him. The place She loves so much. Sorren hopped over a branch and continued on. He could think more about that later, he had a mission to finish, then some exploring to get done, maybe even have some fun.

When Sorren had asked Avaria about his scarf, Nereza had initially wanted to give the Torchic her knowledge of the object. To her, it was very clearly a Joy Ribbon, fashioned instead to work like a scarf; however, she had hesitated after the Oshawott's question and was incredibly glad that she had done so.

The scarf seemed to mean something emotional to Sorren, much like her own scarf did to her, though she wasn't entirely sure why he seemed to like it so much. Nevertheless, she did not want to rid him of that comfort by telling him the true nature of the scarf's abilities and so kept silent on the matter, though she was unsure whether this was the right choice to make.
"It's a beautiful scarf," the Noibat instead found herself saying, though her voice was quiet as she felt somewhat guilty for concealing the truth from the Torchic.