Into The Forest Of Darkness

First topic message reminder :

[Energy: 19 - 10(Dungeon Entry) = 9]

The pitch black darkness that covered the area. That kind of feeling that some kind of woodland monster would kill you on sight. The questionable texture of the ground under his talons. The trees letting as little light touch the forest floor as physically possible. All of these things confirmed it; Horochi was in Shadowhue Forest. The reason for him being here was because he wanted to explore the Monochrome Falls. He had heard that they were just a colorless waterfall with nothing else special about it. However, Horochi wanted to know WHY they were colorless in the first place, so he decided to take it upon himself to explain this abnormal phenomenon.

[Energy: 9 + 1(New Page) - 1(Item) = 9]

MagicalMario carried out 1 launched of one Shadowhue Forest :

This was it, Horochi was surely going to win at this rate, he could feel it in his bones. "I think it's about time we wrap this up." Horochi stated. "Ya got plenty a power, but ya need t' think outside th' box more in order t' make good use of it, an' its 'cause a that lack a tactical thinkin' that ya ended up where ya are now, so if ya hope on makin' it through this forest in one piece I suggest ya just ferget on beatin' me an' just continue on yer merry way."

{Energy: 12 - a lot (Pokémon and items) = 0}

Hidon groaned as he lay there on the ground at Horochi's feet. He felt that his strength had been drained. This fight had been dragging on for some time now. And as much as he hated having to admit that he'd been beaten by this little runt, he could hardly deny that there wasn't a whole lot he could do from here. He was exhausted, he was lacking in physical strength and he was slower than his foe. Even if he fought his hardest, was there any way for him to come back from this situation? What could he do at such a disadvantage? On top of that, the Torchic could very easily plant his feet firmly on top of his body if he so chose, easily keeping his body pinned down. And given his lack of physical strength at the moment, he wasn't sure he would be able to throw him off very easily.

"...No way," he murmured weakly, trying to climb back up and onto his feet again. "Maybe you're right, maybe I should just forget about trying to beat you. But I can't...I can't just roll over and surrender to anybody. My dad...my dad always taught me to never surrender until I have no choice." If Horochi did not stop him, which he would be more than capable of doing from his position, he would climb back up to his feet and glare back at the Torchic, looking just as determined as ever. He would be breathing heavier, obviously, but it was better than just rolling over and bowing down to anybody's strength.

[Energy: 9 - 6(Feral Pokemon) + 1(New Page) + 1(Level Up) = 5]

"Wait, seriously?" Horochi questioned. He then lept up into the air and landed directly onto the charmander's chest, pinning the fire lizard in place. "Ya keep throwin' yer strength away 'cause a somethin' yer stupid dad told'a? If so, then he was obviously the town idiot who couldn't possibly put 2 an' 2 together t' save his life. In fact, I'm surprised that he managed t' find anybody who was willin' t' help him conceive ya, or actually, teach him how t' do it so that he actually could in th' first place. Well, I guess that's just proof that th' apple doesn't fall far from th' tree, eh Dumdum?" Horochi sneered.

Before Hidon could climb back to his feet, Horochi made his move. The Charmander had barely gotten his head up and off of the dirt when the Torchic's feet planted themselves solidly against his chest, pinning his body to the ground. "Urk...!" he grunted as the Chick Pokémon's weight suddenly pressed against his body, preventing him from rising. Normally, he'd blush in embarrassment at the very idea of being pinned like this by a Pokémon half his size. But instead, Horochi's words caused him to overlook that minor detail. His expression quickly changed from determination to one of pure anger. "Grr...d-don't you dare talk badly about my dad!" he roared furiously, struggling with all of his strength in a desperate attempt to throw Horochi off. Embarrassingly enough, however, his body's exhaustion coupled with his diminished physical strength could not even remove such a lightweight so easily.

"My dad was the greatest fighter that ever lived! He trained me personally and I won't let you get away with talking bad about him!" he growled. "I'm proud to have been taught everything I know by him!" He continued struggling, reaching up and trying to grab the Torchic's talons, hoping to lift them off of him somehow....

"Yeah yeah, ya don't wanna admit that yer dad's an idiot. What is it with you traditional-types an' slappin' yer family legacy on a gold pedestal anyway? My parents were idiots too, yet ya don't see me tryin' t' tell myself otherwise." Horochi snarled. However, in the back of his mind, he always believed in giving a fight everything you got to the point of unconsciousness, but that was only when there was still hope for him coming out on top. Though this guy just seemed to believe in throwing your life away to whatever looked at you funny. Horochi couldn't believe in something like that; what would be the whole point of something like training if you were to just commit suicide using whatever was within a 10m radius?

Meanwhile, a venomoth, paras, and two shedinjas were spying on the scuffle of fire-types, believing that they were fighting over who would steal the bug types' territory. Seeing as though they were at a pretty big disadvantage, they decided to wait until one of them was knocked out and then immediately attack whoever emerged victorious.

Hidon blushed slightly as Horochi continued to insult his father, with him unable to do anything about it. He growled in frustration, struggles stopping for a moment. "You can insult me and drag my name and strength through the mud all you want," he growled up at the Torchic. "But you'll stop talking about my dad like that if you know what's good for you!" He suddenly began to renew his struggles, though still being just as unable to throw this light, yet stronger Pokémon off of him. He could hardly believe this. How could he have let himself get into this position!? He was down...that much he could handle. It wasn't like he hadn't been defeated before. But he just had to get put down like this by somebody who was so willing to continuously insult his dad's training!? How pathetic could he get!?

"My dad is not an idiot," he growled again, trying to get back up despite the Torchic's weight pressing down on his chest. "I don't care if I'm a traditional-type or whatever! You'd better take it all back before you really tick me off...!"

Hidon continued to glare up at Horochi, unable to remove the small Pokémon from his chest. Finally, however, he got an idea on how to get him off. He wasn't sure why he hadn't thought of it before, but he was definitely going to jump on it now! He started to open his mouth in preparation to unleash his Ember attack, something which wouldn't be hindered by all of those previous Growls. Surely that would do it! But unfortunately for him, he didn't get the chance. A moment later, the Torchic's foot cane crashing down onto his face with a Scratch, successfully shutting his mouth quite easily. "MPH...!" he growled, shaking himself in an attempt to pull his mouth free. But just like his typical struggles, they were to no avail. Once more, he found himself helpless.

His blush was deeper than it had been before, with his humiliation clearly growing with each passing second. Well, at least he didn't have any witnesses to this pitiful performance...right?

Hidon had finally had enough, though. Struggle as much as he want, he couldn't move and couldn't speak...let alone find the ability to launch a fireball. And so, he decided to do the one, desperate move he could make from here. He clenched his right fist, scraping claws against the dirt for a moment, before swinging his arm upward. He attempted to punch the Torchic in the left side of his face with a basic attack, with nothing behind it but his own muscle. But since his physical had been diminished to almost nothing earlier...the results could very easily be less than satisfying.

The group of feral bug-types continued to watch as the charmander flailed helplessly under Horochi's weight, feeling pretty sure that the torchic had won the fight, so they then decided to begin their ambush on the two intruders.

Horochi noticed the charmander's fist flying towards him as if it were headed there at a magcargo's pace, but since his left talon was keeping him down and his right one was keeping his mouth shut, he couldn't help but take it, which he found pretty easy to do since all of his growling had physically weakened the charmander by a lot. This was it, with one more attack he could KO this self-absorbed idiot of a charmander, and decided to do so as he was about to launch an ember attack...before noticing something rushing out of the darkness and towards them, so Horochi jumped up into the air, and managed to dodge the venomoth and paras' combined poison powder attacks. The charmander however...

Hidon felt his fist connect, but he quickly realized that it had done almost nothing to his enemy. He couldn't believe how pathetic he was right now. Pinned to the ground by a mere Torchic. Maybe he should just stop now and accept his defeat. His dad had always taught him not to give up, but what could he do? He had literally tried everything. He wasn't strong enough to push the Torchic off, and he couldn't even make him flinch or let up with a punch. And with his mouth shut by Horochi's foot, he couldn't launch any fireballs with Ember, either. He had been thoroughly dominated. 'I-I'm sorry for disappointing you, Dad...' he murmured in his mind when he saw the Torchic reeling his head back to unleash another Ember, likely to finish him off. He flinched, fearing losing the fight in such a humiliating way.

But suddenly, the weight from the Torchic's feet disappeared. Hidon's eyes opened again and he realized that Horochi had leaped off and away from him. "Wh-wha-?" he started, but soon got his answer. His eyes widened in fear as the two simultaneous Poison Powders washed over his body. "URGHK!" he cried out, writhing slightly as he helplessly inhaled the poisonous gas. He coughed violently, trying to desperately clear his lungs. But no matter how much he tried, the powder lingered uncomfortably in his system. And at that point, he knew that he had been poisoned. Hi tail flame, which had been running low after his beating to indicate his exhaustion, decreased slightly in size to match his condition. "Wh...what...in the world...?" he growled, rolling weakly over and onto his stomach to get a better look at where the attacks had come from.

As Hidon got a better view, three Pokémon emerged into the clearing immediately following the Poison Powder. No...actually, one of them had entered during the Poison Powder. After all, as a Steel-type, that Forretress had nothing to fear from the toxic gas. The three Pokémon turned their attention immediately to the Fire-type Pokémon that was still standing, ignoring the defeated Charmander completely. The Foretress, having emerged first, used the lingering Poison Powder as cover. Under this cover, it began to spin around and throw small caltrops all over the ground surrounding where the two Fire-types had been battling the entire time. Each caltrop, however, was laced with poison...it was a Toxic Spikes! He very clearly wanted to restrict the Torchic's movement. After all, if he didn't make his moves carefully, he would end up poisoned himself.

A moment later, the two Shedinja moved into place behind the Forretress. They were well aware of their vulnerability to flames and wanted to stay behind the stronger Pokémon. But that didn't mean that they were against attacking. They both dove toward the ground, sticking the bottom part of their carapace into the dirt, flinging it as powerfully as they could using Mud-Slap, trying to smack the dirt into the Torchic's face in an attempt to not only cause harm, but to also hinder his accuracy.

{I hope you don't mind me taking control of these three for now. I figure you'd rather I control Pokémon that are focusing on Horochi atm. xD}

Hidon status: Poisoned

As Horochi was making his descent, he noticed a forretress show up with two shedinjas behind it as well, with the steel-type using toxic spikes and both shedinjas using mud-slap. However, Horochi's speed boost had given him enough reaction time to use ember to not only soften his landing and avoid both mud-slaps, but also redirect himself so that he could land in between all the toxic spikes as well as score hits on all three of the bug-types ferals, dealing great damage to the forretress while OHKOing both shedinjas, leaving just the forretress, paras, and venomoth to take care of.

As Horochi landed on his feet right in-between all of the Toxic Spikes, the three Pokémon were preparing to attack again. But before they could do anything more, the Torchic surprised all three of them. Bursts from the Ember attack rushed them, causing all three of them to get struck by the flames. The two Shedinja let out loud, garbled cries as the flames caused them harm, crashing straight through their Wonder Guard barrier. They immediately fell from the sky, landing on the ground, knocked out cold by that single attack.

The Forretress, however, was more sturdy. The flames struck it hard, though, thanks to his double weakness to the type. It had to make sure that it didn't take another of those or two. He might be able to handle one, but definitely not two more. And so, without further hesitation, he began to spin around again at very high speeds. As he spun, more caltrops were fired off in all directions, resulting in him laying down a second layer of Toxic Spikes, making it far more difficult to move around freely. Horochi was going to have to move carefully if he wanted to avoid getting poisoned here.

Meanwhile, the Paras and Venomoth were not planning on sitting back and watching from afar. the Paras began walking out into the clearing, its smaller legs easily able to maneuver over and around each caltrop while maintaining its usual speed. The Toxic Spikes were also not a hindrance on the Venomoth, which flew up and into the clearing itself. They both had their attentions on the Torchic, clearly intending to take him down first. The Venomoth decided to start its attack from a safe distance. It began flapping its wings from across the arena, resulting in the wind starting to sharply pick up. The wind went against the Torchic, and in the midst of the wind, sharp, silvery sickle-shaped bursts of were consecutively launched. The Silver Wind attack was clearly meant to damage the Torchic and hopefully also help defend against those fireballs that may have been launched since the last round. After all, launching flames through the wind would probably prove rather difficult.

Hidon growled weakly, knowing fully well how powerful Venomoth were. He knew from first-hand experience. He didn't care how strong Horochi was, he was going to have a tough time fighting one off by himself, type advantage or not. And then there were the other two Pokémon in the battle. He couldn't just lay around...if he did, the Bug Pokémon might manage to actually beat Horochi. And if they did, they would immediately turn on him and knock him out next. He had to really make them pay for turning their back to him and presuming the great Hidon, leader of Team Rising, beaten any sooner than being unconscious! He slowly put his arms up and beside his chest, starting to push as hard as he could. It took him some good effort, but he was able to climb back to his feet just as the Venomoth was unleashing its Silver Wind. But just getting up wasn't going to be enough. He had to narrow down the Pokémon they had to fight as soon as possible.

With that thought in mind, the Charmander turned his focus onto the Paras, who was still making his way toward Horochi to get into range of an attack. His back was exposed...a perfect target for his comeback. They were going to regret ignoring him! He quickly opened his mouth and unleashed a barrage of unhindered flames of his own...launching his Ember attack straight toward the Paras' back.

The Paras was unaware that the Charmander had even been trying to get back up. As such, when the Ember came, it had no hopes of evading the attack. The flames struck it powerfully, dealing four times the usual damage. Unfortunately for it, it couldn't take a pounding like its metallic companion. The Paras was blasted forward, landing lightly on the ground atop the Toxic Spikes laid down by its own partner. Not that it mattered anymore, really. It was already knocked out from just that one attack.

"That'll...teach ya...to ignore me!" Hidon called over pridefully, a wide smirk playing across his face. He was fighting against the pain of the poison that was eating away at him...he couldn't let Horochi see that it was bothering him. He needed to act as though he weren't...if only for the sake of what little pride he had left after that humiliating pin under the Torchic's feet earlier.

{Hidon status: Poisoned}

Horochi was surprised that the same charmander that he had been beating the pomeg juice out of could still go toe-to-toe with ferals in his current condition. Maybe all that big talk from before was actually justified, and Horochi didn't bother finding out if that was the case or not. However, now wasn't the time to be thinking about things like that, since there were still two ferals who wanted both of the fire-types out of their territory immediately. Seeing as how the charmander was in a weaker condition, the forretress launched a rapid spin attack at him while the venomoth tried using tackle on Horochi, which was quickly countered by the chick pokemon's ember attack, causing the venomoth a great deal of pain from the type advantage.

Hidon's smirk widened when Horochi looked over at him with an expression of surprise. Good. Maybe now that Torchic wasn't going to underestimate what he was capable of. "H-hey!" he called over. "Need some help over there?" He would have stopped to laugh and show off some more...but his body was sending him all the signals that told him not to waste energy like that. He'd need a lot more if he was going to deal with both of these strong Pokémon. And sure enough, he quickly became the target of one of them. The Forretress rushed him, spinning around like a top. Its body ended up slamming mightily against the Charmander's chest, causing him to cry out in pain and get thrown backward. His back slammed hard up against a nearby tree. But he shifted his feet, able to land on them well enough to avoid falling over. He then glared at the Forretress, ready to launch his Ember counterattack.

But before the Charmander could get the chance, a sharp noise suddenly exploded his sense of hearing. A sharp, buzzing sound resounded through the clearing that somehow managed to actually cause him physical pain. "AGH!" he cried out in agony, clutching his ears as tightly as he could in a desperate attempt to bloc out the sound. But no matter how much he tried, the pain did not subside. In reality, this was the Venomoth's doing. The Venomoth had unleashed its fourth attack immediately after getting struck by the Torchic's Ember. As soon as it had recovered, it took back to the skies and began emitting a powerful Bug Buzz, harming any of its foes in the immediate area. That would include both Hidon and Horochi at this range.

And to make things worse, the pain stopped Hidon in his tracks; he wasn't able to make a move against the Forretress.

As Horochi was surprised by the charmander's endurance he found himself being subject to a bug buzz attack from the venomoth. "GIYYYAAAAA!" he shouted as the attack tore up his eardrums like an electrode using explosion on a wall of wet paper. Horochi retaliated by launching his ember up and striking the venomoth, ending the attack and sending it plummeting back down to earth; defeated.