Something about Anything

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Silverdawn slithered through the shaded grasses of Shadowhue Forest, her tongue flickering out to taste the air. She used her senses of smell and the vibrations of the earth to tell where she was going, since she was blind. She had no real reason for coming out to Shadowhue Forest, but she was rather bored this day. Her shop hadn't had many customers, and she was finding herself spending more time wandering around the town or exploring Shadowhue or Pecha Forest. She wondered if she would meet any new pokemon this day.

Silverdawn had noticed no sound, nor had she felt any vibrations of the earth, so she fixed her blank eyes on Cracker with a confused expression on her face. "What on earth are you going on about now, Cracker?" she asked in confusion. She wondered if maybe the Aipom had gone through a little too much excitement and was now imagining things.

The Aipom turned around sharply when he heard the faint cry for help, straining his ears further as he returned to the bush. He was certain that he wasn't just hearing things, but without a visual, let alone the Ekans' support, he was beginning to doubt himself. "I swear I heard somebody call for help," Cracker replied poking around the exterior of the bush. As he dug around, he removed the scarf then pushed deeper, past branches and leaves.

"Hello? Is anybody there?" he called, searching the forest for signs of life. There were none, so he kept going. He was almost to the other side of the bush when his foot met empty space. "Where are--" he started to say, before suddenly dropping out of sight. The Aipom cried out in surprise as he tumbled into a sink hole disguised by the bushes around it.

((Energy: 9 +1 = 10))

Lumin carried out 3 launched of one Shadowhue Forest :

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Silverdawn hissed in surprise as suddenly the earth around her was vibrating violently as Cracker slid down the sinkhole. She bolted forward, wrapping around one of Cracker's legs, while her tail wrapped around the roots of the bush. The inertia of the two moving pokemon caused them to slam into the wall of the sinkhole and Silverdawn found herself spitting out a mouthful of dirt. "A-are you OK?" she asked Cracker, her voice strained as she tightened around his leg to avoid him falling further down in the hole.

"Yeah... I'm alright." The Aipom was stunned for a moment, hanging upside down by his leg where Silverdawn had caught him. Staring down into the pit, he could see something moving around. It looked like a Pokemon and it didn't look happy. It was staring up at him. Cracker held out an arm and waved, grinning. "Hey down there, do you need any help?" he asked.

"If it isn't too much trouble," the Slakoth below replied. "Fell outta my tree earlier an' landed down here." She climbed up onto a stone to get closer to the two Pokemon hanging into the hole above her.

"We're here to serve," Cracker replied. "Well, not really. We're just passing through but, we'll help all the same. Right, Silverdawn?" Reaching upwards the Aipom grabbed onto the Ekans' head. "Can you lower me down a bit more? I got an idea."

Silverdawn was surprised to hear a response from beneath them. She tasted the air to scent a female Slakoth in the hole below. It seemed like Cracker hadn't been hearing things after all.

Silverdawn hissed under her breath in annoyance as Cracker grabbed onto her head but sighed in resignation. "Hang on," she warned Cracker before loosening her coils and lowering him down a few more inches. Her whole body trembled a little under the pressure of holding onto the monkey pokemon. She hoped the slakoth didn't weigh too much, or she'd lose her grip and then they would ALL be stuck in the hole.

As Silverdawn lowered the Aipom down, stretching herself straight out, he held on tightly, not wishing to take a dip in the pool of water below. Near as he could tell it was a sink hole, with no way out except up. It was too deep to climb and the walls were slick with mud and stone. So it was lucky he and the Ekans showed up, because this Slakoth was well and truly trapped.

Once his companion had stretched out as far as she could, Cracker slid down slightly and lowered his tail to cover the remaining distance. "Can you reach?" he called to the Slakoth.

"Nice..." the trapped Pokemon uttered at the display above her. Standing up, she reached out for the beefy end of Cracker's tail, missing her initial attempt. "Almost! Can you spare an inch? Wait, nevermind. I think I can..." Crouching down for a moment, the sloth sprung upwards, wrapping her claws around the monkey's tail. "Hah!"

Both Cracker's tail and Silverdawn's body were pulled taut with the extra weight. "Nnngh... Climb up!" the Aipom shouted, trying to keep himself from slipping. There was a moment of shuffling below as the Slakoth worked her way up the Aipom's tail and then she was scaling both Pokemon like a living ladder. Once she was safely at the top of the sinkhole, Cracker did the same, climbing up Sliverdawn's scaly body. As he reached the top, the Slakoth took his paw and hoisted him free of the hole.

"Hah, thanks, hon, if it weren't for you two, I'd have never gotten outta there," the Slakoth said gratefully.

"No problem, always happy to help. Uh--gimme a hand would yah?" Following Cracker's lead, both Pokemon grabbed a hold of Silverdawn and started pulling her out of the hole. "You alright, Silverdawn?"

((Energy: 6))

Silverdawn gave a sigh of relief as the two pokemon pulled her up and out of the hole. She lay on the ground, panting faintly, unable to move as every twitch caused a jolt of pain through her over-exerted body. "N-never.... do... that.... again..." she gasped out eventually.

Once Silverdawn was safely out of the hole, he stood by her head as she spoke. He suddenly felt a pang of guilt. He'd essentially forced her to help save the Slakoth, but what else were they to do? Surely he couldn't have just left her there. Cracker liked to help others. It made him feel good. Like he'd accomplished something special. But in the process he'd clearly caused some level of harm or discomfort to his companion.

"I'm sorry," Cracker apologized, crouching down beside Silverdawn and gently patting her back. "I didn't mean for you to get hurt or anything. Are you okay? Do you want me to get you something? I... don't really know what'll help, but you know I'm always willing to."

"Oh! My scarf!" the Slakoth spoke loudly, picking up the blue piece of cloth. "I must've dropped it when I fell. Good thing for this, and you probably would've never found me. I suppose I'll just... leave you two to your business. Thanks again!" Adorning her scarf, the Slakoth promptly headed towards the nearest tree and climbed up into the foliage above.

Cracker waved to the Pokemon as she left. "You're welcome!" Turning back to Silverdawn he smiled. "You have to admit it feels good to help a 'mon out, right? I think it feels good. Even when it hurts."

Silverdawn raised her head weakly and rolled her eyes in the direction of Cracker's voice. "Yessss, yesss, sssure," she slurred slightly, drawing out her 'esses' in her exhaustion. "Helping pokemon... is... fun.... but exhausting..." she lay her head back on the ground, eyes closed. "Exploration Teams... you'd be... better off... in one," she said sleepily to Cracker.

Cracker blinked in surprise when Silverdawn made her breathless comment. He'd never really considered it before, joining an exploration team. There wasn't a better place to find adventure and excitement, for sure, but he couldn't really be the sort of Pokemon they'd accept into their ranks, surely. The Aipom grinned, but his heart wasn't really into it.

"Heh, yeah. You really... think so? I dunno, they'd probably want stronger, braver Pokemon. Not somebody like me," he said awkwardly. His uncertainty was quickly replaced by concern as Silverdawn seemed to be falling asleep. "Hey, are you sure you're alright? Do you want me to take you back to town? You look kind of... tired. I don't think this is a good place to take a nap."

Silverdawn closed her eyes tiredly. She shook her head. "I.... I'll be fine..." she said sleepily. She turned her head towards her pack, which was tied about halfway down her spine. She dug through the pack until she had dug out an apple, which she consumed without much more ado. She felt her energy return to her as she ate the apple, and she turned back to Cracker.

"If you wanted to continue through the forest, I'll be ok now. That rescue attempt just took a lot of energy from me." she said.

(Energy: 10 + 1*Page* + 5 *apple* = 16)

Cracker watched quietly as the Ekans produced an apple and fed on it, regaining a modicum of energy. He brightened up when it seemed to do her some good. She immediately appeared less tired and was even willing to continue their journey through these dark, unpleasant woods. Normally he wouldn't be happy about spending time here, but with Silverdawn it was much more tolerable. If she was willing to stick it out, how could he refuse?

Bouncing up onto his tail excitedly, the Aipom hopped out of the bushes and back into the open, turning back to face his companion. "I'm glad you're feeling better, Silverdawn. 'Cause I wasn't quite finished with this place. Still got more berries to find!" Dropping back down onto his feet, Cracker waited for the snake before heading off through the brush, eagerly searching high and low for more items. It felt a bit like a treasure hunt, this trip through Shadowhue; when it wasn't a rescue mission anyway.

"So did you really mean what you said back there, or was that just the exhaustion talking?" Cracker asked, half joking.

Silverdawn rolled her sightless eyes -it was becoming her signature move around just about every pokemon she met, it seemed- as Cracker bounced up and down around her in his excitement. "I rarely say things I don't mean," she stated simply -let Cracker decide what she meant by that.

She turned her head then, tasting the air with her flickering, forked tongue. Sharp scents of the forest flashed to her mind and she decided that they were safe for the moment. "Well, did you want to go on?" she asked her excitable companion.

Still searching the brush for items, Cracker turned to Silverdawn. "Well, so do I, but knock me around a bit, and I might not be able to tell up from down," he said with a giggle. Actually the words that came out of his mouth were rarely thought out, but they were always honest. In fact he didn't have much tact when it came to a lot of things. Which was partially what got him in so much trouble. That and his incessant pranking of other Pokemon.

"I'm ready to go on if you are, Silverdawn," he replied to the snake, giving up his fruitless search for the time being. "So if you're feeling better now, then lets go!" Bouncing up onto his tail again, the Aipom tossed himself onto a narrow path through the brush and turned back to the Ekans. "I think we should go this way. I mean I don't really know why you were out here in Shadowhue, but we can probably go back to Pecha for now. It'll probably be safer. Plus I can just pick up whatever I
find on the way back. Sound okay to you?"

Lumin carried out 2 launched of one Shadowhue Forest :

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Silverdawn hissed and lowered her head at the mention of the Pecha Forest. "Not that place," she hissed fearfully. "Never that place.... It's the most dangerous forest in the region!" She declared. "We can take the long way back to Grassveil, all the way around the Shadowhue Forest." She said, shivering at the thought of returning to the Pecha Forest.