Obsessing and Stressing

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Mission Infos:

Shadowhue was known for being dark, hence the name.  So dark that in some of the more densely forested areas it could be difficult to tell the time of day.  It was far darker at night.  It seemed as if this place was now the definition of darkness.  Visibility was little more than a few feet, making for an eerie and dangerous environment.  To top it all off, it was freezing....

Acually, the cold was more of a plus side for a certain glaceon who had decided to venture into the dark woods.  Sova had found that since evolving, he enjoyed the cold.  Likely because of his new ice typing.  One thing was not in a hurry to learn was how he handled something like desert heat now.

"Love what you've done with the place."  The icy fox sarcastically commented to the darkness that was Shadowhue Forest.  It wasn't like he had anyone to talk to.  May as well get used to talking to himself.  At least that would help keep his mind from wandering and playing tricks on him in the darkness.  Or maybe it would do the opposite.  Either way, he was here for the purpose of completing missions and no overly creepy atmosphere was going to stop him.

(37 energy NINJA EDIT)

The honchkrow's neck snapped towards the glaceon as he stared in utter disbelief,"Tauroshit!" Linus snapped, the fear and frustration from the tense situation getting to him, "You bite hella hard! You practically took out all five of them on you're own, you had this crazy ass grin on your face and went Infernape sh*t all over them!"
Linus paused before adding on, "right when it started talking to you when it was done with him you practically went MENTAL. I don't know who's reaction to that is worse, his sobfest or that THING that you did. All I know is I am staying RIGHT here, far away from BOTH of you until it's certain that neither of you are going to pull that again and take it out on me this time, like a sane bird would do!"
The bird hopped back deeper into the tree branches, a moment passed before he realized that perhaps he had been a bit too harsh. He hopped back onto the lowest branch, "S-sorry about that...I-I'm just a bit stressed and...I don't know...things just got so weird after that thing started talking about the stuff that happened to Acro's partners...I don't want that to happen to me and I just...don't want to die..."

Meanwhile Acro was doing the exact same thing he was doing the last post.

Sova sighed, both in relief and disappointment.  At least he hadn't attacked his friends.  The honchcrow's explanation of what had happened was at least jogging his memory, though he couldn't remember the parts Linus seemed so paranoid about. It kind of hurt hearing about it from someone else, though.  "Look, Acro's one of the best guys around to be on a team with if you don't want to die.  He's really strong and really protective.  He's just had an unlucky past." he explained his take on Acro's situation, which was probably right considering he hadn't had anything horrible happen to him on the archeops' watch.  He purposely spoke loud enough for Acro to hear him.

"As for the whole mental thing.... if you come talk to me down here I'll explain it.  I won't hurt you, I'm fine now." he promised to the crow.  If there was one thing he knew about his.... condition.... it was that it only happened in emergencies.  As long as he still had consciousness he could stop that.... thing from taking over.  Though it didn't seem keen on hurting his friends anyways.

The honchkrow hesitated...before leaping from the tree and gliding smoothly towards the Glaceon. He made sure to be ready to veer to the sides or take off in a heartbeat if the glaceon decided to lose it in front of him again. He approached the glaceon and spoke his response, "Sure didn't sound like it was all just luck from what I heard..."
He landed to the side of the Glaceon, his back away from the Archeops who was still curled into a ball pathetically. What had he done to deserve this? Linus just wanted to make himself useful to the world, so why did it have to result in being shoved into a dungeon with a psychotic glaceon and an Archeops who's friends had a history for either dying, mysteriously disappearing, or getting very VERY hurt.

"It was trying to target our emotions to make us vulnerable. It said what Acro felt, not necessarily the truth. All that matters is it's true to him." Sova explained as he dodged the topic of his little psychotic episode a bit longer.

"As for me.... I like to think I don't suck quite as much as that flabebe claimed. But one thing I can't deny is that.... thing it talked about, the thing that "helps" me when I can't help my self. Since I.... confirmed my parents are dead, I've been having nightmares about.... me. But it's not really me, it just looks like me. He acts like a complete psycho and turns every dream I have into a nightmare. I don't get much sleep now, needless to say. When I'm really stressed or close to fainting, I can hear his voice in my head. It's my voice, but there's a big difference in tone. I don't think I could ever mimic it." He fell silent.

He was so worried if he continued any further, Linus would freak out again. But there wasn't much left to say. There was no point in waiting.

"And if I faint in a fight.... I don't really faint. He just takes over."

Linus was silent as he thought about what he was just told. "So you're possessed by some ghost?"
He took a deep breath, before speaking, "If what you say is true, then you should get rid of it. It held no mercy from what I saw, if he attacks the wrong person you can kiss the life as an explorer goodbye and say hello to being hunted down."
The honchkrow ruffled his feathers, still unsettled about the whole thing in general. He made no move to go help Acro, not wanting to take the risk of suffering from the archeops's curse. Sova only added onto the suspicion the Pokemon had given him. Sova was a friend of Acro, and here he was with some psycho killer in his mind. It must have been miserable to be unable to run away from something, having a monster in your head and no ability to just fly away from his problems freely.
(Typed from phone cut me some slack >_>)

Sova let out a sarcastic laugh, clearly holding no actual positive emotion in it. Just a "Hah...." Get rid of it? If only there was an instruction manual for such a thing. "I don't know how to get rid of it. Besides, it doesn't attack innocents or friends, at least from what I can tell." He wanted to just end his defense there, but there was one more thing that needed to be said if he was being honest....

"And.... he's probably the only reason I'm not dead. I'm useless. He's not. Even if I tried to get rid of him, it'd probably just do the opposite if anything." he admitted, then laid back down with his head on the ground. Even if he did get rid of the thing plaguing his mind, he'd just go back to being useless again. It was a lose/lose situation.

The honchkrow stopped speaking, thinking that he should probably cease talking. He wasn't in the place to just assume that it was that easy, so why try to convince the glaceon to stop being a psycho? The honchkrow hopped up to the lowest branch of a tree nearby. He planned to stay there. He finally spoke, "I don't know how to help you then, Or even if you need help. I don't know how to help any of you. I'll just be up here when you two decide its time to get moving."
The honchkrow readjusted his grip on the branch, his shoulders hunched slightly giving him a rather menacing appearance without actually meaning to. The symbol of misfortune merely standing there, lost in what to do and regretting his choices of life.

Sova watched the honchkrow fly away back to his tree and took that as his cue to stop being mopey and get Acro to do the same. He stood to his feet and nodded to Linus, who was now back in the trees. "Well, first I've gotta cheer this guy up. You should think about helping, he's on the same team as you after all." he suggested to the crow before approaching Mr Mopey the archeops.

"Aaacroooo. Are you alive? Wanna talk?" he questioned to the bird, half expecting not to receive an answer.

Someone was talking to him, but who? The voice was familiar...Sova. That was it. What did he want? To explain to him how he couldn't protect him? No...he was asking if he was still alive. Was he? He had to be, he was breathing, but he certainty did not feel alive. The archeops suddenly seemed much older than he once was, but at least he had stopped shivering. Acro made the attempt to respond in comprehensive words, but all that came out was a small warble that Across didn't even know was a sound ge could make.

Linus watched as the glaceon approached the archeops after suggesting that he should help. Him? Help that cursed Archeops? No way! The honchkrow pressed himself against the side of the tree, wishing he could just be hugged by his mother and taken home. He wished all of this just never happened. Maybe...he could pretend none of this happened? Would that be the same?

Sova sighed. "Acro, come on, get up. That thing said some pretty hateful things about me too....and they may be true, but dwelling on them won't do any good. We still have missions to do. And if you would get up and make an effort to speak, you could at least let me be sad with you.... You aren't the only one that flabebe talked about, after all. Misery loves company, right?" he spoke in a rather calm and nonchalant tone despite how depressing the whole situation really was for him.

All of his darkest secrets were revealed. His friend was reduced to a depressed pile of mush. Said friend's TEAMMATE was seemingly refusing to try and help him. Yet he managed to look calm. Why? Because something, anything, needed to go right tonight. This situation needed to be fixed.

Acro's response was to merely lay there for a moment. The thought of moving seeming to be the most horrible thing in the world, but he forced himself up and onto his hind legs. He moved almost mechanically, looking down to the ground as if ashamed of himself. His limbs were tired and he felt as if he had carried the weight of the world on his shoulders. He said nothing, feeling as if nothing was needed to be said anyways. After all of his hard work and evolution, all of the missions and search for strength. He had it, but where was it when it mattered? He should have been able to stop the flower, but no. He had to go off and be weak.

Linus watched from the tree, keeping his eye on the two and observing. He said nothing and did nothing.

This situation was beginning to become agitating. Sova was trying and trying to make it all better, but it wasn't working. Acro was refusing to speak and Linus was still being antisocial out of fear. Was he really the only one who wanted to fix the situation? This kind of made him want to scream, but he restrained himself, knowing no good would come of an outburst. But if this kept up, it was going to inevitably happen eventually.

"Acro. Talk to me. If what that creep said about you is true, that means what it said about me is true too, so you know you don't have to suffer alone. You KNOW I'm in no place to judge you." he pleaded to the archeops, showing a slight bit of emotion in his voice but still remaining relatively outwardly calm.

The glaceon was ordering him to talk, funny how the glaceon had asked Acro not to order him around and yet he was here ordering Acro around. The thought disappeared as he attempted to speak, desiring to ask what he had meant by what the voice had said about him. The only thing that came out were raspy garbles, unable to speak correctly because of how upset he had been. He had no clue that his body would have done this, and tried to speak again only to fail. His depression had turned to confusion. The hell was happening?

Linus remained where he was, making sure not to lift a single feather to help. That archeops was cursed, he didn't want to be affected by that curse. He'll just have to make sure he's not really friends with him. He could still be a part of the guild, he would just have to make sure to only look out for himself and not this Archeops. He wasn't his friend, he wasn't going to die or worse.

The look on Sova's face from the archeops'....attempt at speaking was a look of utter confusion. He had absolutely no clue what in the world that was supposed to be. How was he even supposed to respond? "Uh.... It's.... gonna be okay?" he hesitantly spoke.

"Linus, you gonna help??" he shouted, more like pleaded, to the crow to assist him in getting Acro out of....what ever was happening to him. Devolution to primitive language by means of emotional trauma, it seemed. What ever it was, he had absolutely NO clue how to handle it and really wanted some assistance.

Linus flinched as his name was called, the honchkrow ruffled his feathers and merely fled deeper into the tree. Nope. No way. Nu-Uh! Linus did not however verbally reply, leaving the glaceon to silence. His wings hugged against his body tightly, feeling guilty about it, but the desire to live outweighed the guilt. He waited, ready to go when they decided to go search for that phantump.

Acro sighed, trying to take deep breaths and regain his voice. His throat felt clenched up and it was slowly releasing the clench and allowing for him to talk. He swallowed and finally spoke, "I-It's f-ine.." he finally managed to speak, he tone was rather dejected, as if from someone who had given up on all there is to this world. The Archeops continued to avoid eye contact, not quite wanting to look at anybody at the moment.