Mus Mortuus

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It was a rainy day in the Pecha Forest. The sun had all but disappeared behind the grey clouds and the droplets of rain were running off of the leaves all around. The fresh smell of clean air was carried through the area by a gentle breeze, making the twigs sway with its force.
While this weather was something most Pokémon would rather avoid, Chie the Duskull didn't mind it. In fact the monotonous sound of rain falling had a calming, almost soothing effect on her psyche even though she usually preferred to listen to it from the safety of her home.
The Ghost type didn't leave her home often in general - usually only to go look for books she hadn't read yet, to buy some neccessities or to go on the odd mission with Sorren, her leader.
But today she was walking - or floating rather - through this sea of green and grey to clear her head.
After a rather lengthy period of reading she had overexerted herself and put too much of a strain on her mind and eye, both reminding her to take some time off with their burning.
And thus the Pokémon, who would usually rather have stayed home found herself floating through the Pecha Forest, hoping for the rather monotonuous colours and general structure of the area to soothe her mind.
It certainly had a sort of melancholic aura, the Pecha Forest in the rain. And it reminded Chie once more of why she had become who she was.
All living things move towards death from the moment they are born.
But some do so much more quickly than others, leaving those who survive alone in life.
And if that was the case - then why form relationships at all if you are inevitably going to get hurt?
Chie sighed.

And...of course there just had to be a feral Pokémon to face. But maybe they were lucky and this Pokémon actually didn't want to fight. So why not try talking first?
"Uh, hello. My name is Chie. Is there anything we can help you with?".
Involuntarily the Ghost type tensed up. A Grass type didn't have any ad- or disadvantage over either one of them, but still it might be a dangerous battle for someone as inexperienced as the Electric type.
Hopefully the Pichu would not be led to believe that this was an inevitable battle and attack right away, when there still was a chance to get peacefully around this.

Unfortunatly it seems that the Tangela ignored Chie, it seemed to be in a rage, and not willing to talk, using Vine Whip to try to hit the ghost.

The Pichu wasn't going to stand idle as a feral Pokémon threatned an ally, he charged up his electricity, using Thunder Shock to attack it back, unfortunatly it wasn't very effective, the Grass type had a resistance to his electrical attacks.

Luckily for Chie however she had long since learned that most Pokémon in the area weren't all too friendly and thus had anticipated an attack, barely managing to dodge the Grass type attack by floating backwards. Now it was time to do battle.
Charging straight at the Tangela, the Grass type attempted the obvious, trying to counter the charge with a lashing of its vines in front of it. However Chie's attack wasn't as ill-thought of as it may have appeared to be. Using her Feint Attack the Duskull disappeared right as the vines were about to strike her spectral body, reappearing behind the feral attacker, attempting to strike the Grass type.
It was an attack of the Dark type and thus one Chie didn't like too much, but she couldn't deny that it had its uses in certain situations.

The Pichu looked at the ghost, surprised that she could do such an attack. The Tangela took the attack without chance of defending himself, he jumped away from Chie right away to maintain distance to attack its vines, only to meet Raze's Volt Tackle to it's side, feeling the recoil take it's toll on him, he had to be carefull on how many times he was going to use that move, even though it is much more powerfull than Thunder Shock the the fight seemed unfair, he didn't know why the Tangela would even want to battle a 1 vs 2, perhaps it had more feral Pokémon coming to help him? He hoped that it wouldn't happen, and that this Pokémon was in rage for some reason, as he recomposed himself.

The battle seemed to be going well, despite the unwise choice of attack the Pichu had made.
Volt Tackle was a powerful move for sure, but it was severely exhausting as well and considering that this would most likely not be the only battle the two of them would be parttaking in here conserving one's energy seemed to be a better strategy.
Well, the Duskull would have time to educate the Electric type on matters like these later, when the situation wouldn't be quite as urgently requiring their attention.
Levitating into the air to stay out of the Tangela's reach, Chie then channeled energies of dark in the crimson orb that served as her single eye, launching them in a beam of the attack Night Shade, hopefully dealing further damage to the enemy.

The Tangela was about to jump away to dodge the attack launched at him, but with quick thinking, a Thunder Shock hit him from behind, limiting his mobility even though the Grass-Type had some resistance to it, with tis now limited mobilty, he was hit by the Night Shade, falling over, unconsious, Raze looked at Chie, smiling about this victory, "For someone who said that they weren't a good fighter... you fight pretty well." He said to her

"T-thanks.", Chie stuttered, her skull taking on a slightly reddish tint as the Ghost type was blushing.
"But I'm sure there are much better fighters out there than I am. I can only fight enough to get myself through theses Mystery Dungeons."
This was an unexpected compliment from the Pichu. Then again maybe it just hadn't seen someone with actual fighting talent do battle before. If that was the case, then the Electric type would believe for any fighting that was superior to his own to be quite impressive, even if it was only barely enough to get by.
"You might want to conserve your energy however. It seems that you keep using all your powerful attacks. At this rate you'll be exhausted before we're halfway through."

He looked at the Ghost, it was most likely true that there were alot of Pokémon that were alot stronger than them, but thinking about that made him want to train even more.

Chie was right, he had used Volt Tackle a bit too much, although it did take it's toll on him, he felt slightly weakened, but that wasn't enough to stop him, he was still ready to carry on, "I'll keep that in mind." He said to her.

Chie smiled. Even though she had read quite a few books about fighting techniques and tactics, many Pokémon tended to disregard her advice and suggestions when it came to fighting due to her lack of practical experience with the subject.
So it was quite the refreshing and even a bit exhilliarating experience to see, that there still were Pokémon who valued what she had to say.
"Shall we venture further in then?", the Duskull asked, hoping to get away from the site of battle before the defeated Grass type could get up once more, attacking again.
The sooner they got out of here, the better. And the next time the Electric type would be to venture into a dungeon, he would hopefully bring more experienced company.

He looked back at the Tangela, it seemed to be somewhat shuffling, thinking that it would get up soon, it would be best to move forward before the feral Pokémon got back up and attacked, or worse, "Yeah, let's go" He replied to Chie, walking forward again.

Luckily the Pichu seemed to have understood the Ghost type's point. But what was it that made these feral Pokémon so determined to do battle that they would charge one right again after they got up from defeat? Did they care this little for their own wellbeing? And what kind of force could make previously peaceful Pokémon act like that?
It was something very scary - that was for sure. Hopefully it would be found and destroyed soon to prevent all this suffering that was caused by them.
For now however it was time to continue aiding the Electric type with his training and to venture further into the Pecha Forest.

The Pichu smiled as they walked away from the Tangela, hoping that it wouldn't find them again, it certinatly wasn't a good idea to fight an enemy that had a resistance to your attacks, especially since the Raze only had Electric-Type attacks, but then again, since they were in a forest, there would be alot of Grass-Type Pokémon, thinking about this he realized that wasn't the best place for him to train, "You know I don't think is might have been the best dungeon for me to train in..." He said to Chie.

"Actually it probably is. This dungeon is right next to Grassveil Town, so if you get into trouble the guild is nearby. Additionally the Pokémon here are comparatively weak and there should be the occassional Flying type."
Indeed there were few places better suited for training a new explorer than the Pecha Forest. Many explorers had started their carreers here.
"However maybe you shouldn't have come here alone. You're lucky you've run into me. Everyone I've known to have ventured in here had brought backup thus far. Four - or three in our case - eyes see more than two after all. And with teamwork a lot more can be accomplished."

Raze continued to walk forward, perhaps she was right, having Grassveil town so close by was reassuring if anything went wrong, and it was true that there were some flying types roaming around this forest, unfortunatly just not as common as the grass type, perhaps he really should bring company the next he was here, "I see... thanks for telling me that" He said

"You're welcome. The guild is meant to cultivate teamwork, is it not?", the Duskull responded.
If only more Pokémon would work together then maybe the Mystery Dungeons would be under control by now. Then again there were many things that could go wrong with social interaction.
And Chie had had all too much experience with this. It was a conflict. Should one work together with others so problems would be overcome more easily, or should everyone rather keep to themselves and thus avoid the pain inherrently involved in interacting with one's fellow Pokémon?
Slowly but surely the Ghost type began to question what really was important.