Autumn Frost?

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[Important inventory: Rainy Orb, Shocker Orb, Allure Seed]
[Energy: 17 - 11 = 6]

Recently, Valen had learned about an exploration organization called the Windrose Scouts and its base in Fallen Leaf Copse. Along with Saturn, the Cubone who had told him about the organization in the first place, Valen had decided to become a member. Especially as Valen was also a member of the Aileron Guild and the Peak Academy, some might have said that it was too much for one little bird - but Valen himself felt confident that he could manage. In fact, almost right after joining, Valen, along with Saturn, had decided to investigate one of the rumours on a Windrose Library bulletin board.

So, someone says "flowers made of frost" are appearing in these woods, huh. Valen thought. Could that really be true? I mean, from what I've heard and read about, this place is basically autumn all the time, so how could there possibly be frost here? Maybe someone mistook white flowers for frost or something - or they're just making things up?

Now, Valen was outside the Windrose Scouts base, but still inside the woods themselves. He looked around. There were, of course, the trees with their beautiful orange and yellow leaves that were everywhere here - but as far as he could tell, no frost, in fact nothing white whatsoever was present. Then he remembered something.

The rumour said they're at the bases of trees and on branches on the ground - and I haven't really looked down yet! So Valen did that. There was a carpet of fallen leaves, and Valen could see some small plants growing as well - including a few flowers. But again, none of these were frosty or even white.

So now, they had to explore some more. At least everything was in the same dungeon as the scout headquarters itself was located in, so Valen hadn't had to travel very far already after deciding to investigate the rumour - one reason he had chosen this one in the first place to start with. But then Valen thought: What if this really is just made up? Then how are we going to prove that there are, indeed, no such flowers? Do we really have to search the whole of Fallen Leaf Copse? Well, we can certainly at least search one part of this place to begin with...

Valen turned to Saturn. "Saturn," he asked, "have you seen anything here now? You know, any frost or anything that looks at all like it?"

Valen looked down at his legs in response to Saturn's question. "Good points. I'm not sure, but I could try," he replied, continuing to hold the flower with one of his feet as he looked around.  Soon, he noticed that at some distance, there were more clusters of white things. He approached the one that was closest by, and sure enough, they were more frost flowers.

Interesting, Valen thought, We didn't find any of these for almost a whole day, and suddenly there are so many. They must only grow in a small area of the whole forest - which could explain why no one mentioned them until relatively recently... or this is all some elaborate trick. But are there any Pokemon here who can learn Ice-type moves? Probably not Deerling or Sawsbuck, and we haven't seen any Ice-types around here...

"Hey, I just found a lot more of these frost flowers in this direction," Valen told everyone, "Let's see if there are any more clues here."

[Energy: 1 + 1 (new page) = 2]

Pickup roll:

Shield carried out 1 launched of one Fallen Leaf Copse :

Saturn examined the frost flower carefully as Valen held it, curious to see how fragile it actually was. It seemed to hold up well enough under Valen's grasp, which was definitely a good sign. Perhaps if we can bring one of them back to the Windrose Headquarters, we might be able to transplant it and grow them in a controlled environment. Although, it would take a lot of trial and error to figure out what their preferred conditions are, and by extension, a lot of frost flowers. It certainly would be something that someone more knowledgable about plants would be better off doing. Regardless, I'm sure the Windrose Scouts would love a specimen of their own.

His pondering was interrupted by Valen coming across a large number of these mysterious frost flowers growing in the same area as if they were a common member of the local flora. "Wow. That's a lot of frost flowers. And to think we were unable to find a single one until just recently. It seems they're quite picky about where they choose to grow. Actually, this gives me an idea." He wasn't very keen on what he was about to do next, but considering the circumstances, he figured it would be well worth it. Saturn took his bone helmet off, flipping it upside down. He began using his bone club to roughly cut out the chunks of soil the frost flowers were growing in, carefully placing them in his bone helmet. "So, if so many of these flowers are growing in this little area, then there must be something special about it. I'm willing to bet it has something to do with the soil." He worked as he talked. He managed to comfortably fit three frost flowers, along with a sizable clump of soil for each, into his helmet. "With any luck, we'll be able to successfully transplant at least one of these in a vase or something in the Windrose Library. I bet they'd make for a wonderful decoration. Plus, we'd be able to research them much more comprehensively and figure out what makes them so special."

Saturn's exposed head had a short, pudgy snout, with two small, triangular ears on the upper-rear of his head. His skin was leathery and a tad bit scaly, sort of like an armadillo. His teeth were small and pearly white. "Now let's hurry and get this back to the library before my arms get tired. Hopefully, we won't come across any hostiles on our way back."

[Energy: 1 + 1 (new page) = 2]

Valen was surprised as Saturn took off his skull helmet. He did not remember the Cubone doing something like that before, but it was a clever way of taking multiple flowers back. Before going with Saturn, the Pikipek looked around one more time, but this time, he noticed a seed on the ground. He went to pick it up.

It seemed to be a Sleep Seed - Valen remembered having found another one earlier in the forest. Might be something else useful to note for the Scouts, that Sleep Seeds can be found here, he thought as he put it inside his bag.

And then, he heard a voice: "H-h-halt! I know Ice Beam!" Valen looked up to see... it was a Sentret who had spoken. Ice Beam??? Valen started wondering.

(OOC: The color I'm using for this Sentret is #cc9933.)

Saturn was quite surprised to be threatened by an intelligent individual; especially in a Mystery Dungeon. "Settle down, stranger! We mean no harm!" Saturn immediately tried to deflate the situation, not wanting to have to engage in unnecessary combat. "We're just researchers! We're trying to see why these strange frost flowers are appear-" Then it hit him. This Sentret mentioned it knowing Ice Beam. And these flowers only seem to have appeared in great numbers near this person.

Was this all just a disappointing coincidence? Did they put all this work into pursuing the truth only to find out it was just a big fat disappointment? "Oh, you're just researchers, huh? Guess you're researching these, uh, 'frost flowers'? Yeeeaaahhhh, about that....." The Sentret fiddled with its hands in embarrassment. "Those flowers may or may not be target practice." The Sentret looked towards the ground as if it thought it was in trouble.

Saturn immediately dumps the contents of his helmet down onto the ground. "Well, so much for taking them back to the headquarters..."

So that was it... Valen thought, But how does a Sentret know Ice Beam? They aren't Ice-types... "How did you learn that move?" Valen asked the Sentret.

"I-I got a TM. Sometime back, there were a few Pokémon from outside giving gifts for the Winter Festival... even though it's never actually winter here," was the reply, spoken in a clearly worried tone.

Really? They're really compatible with Ice Beam? Valen was still wondering, but then he remembered something he had read once long ago, that pure Normal-types in particular were often capable of learning many different types of moves, especially through TMs. Is that really true? Researching that later might be interesting... although I'm Flying-type as well as Normal-type, so I couldn't test that in particular on myself.

Then, noticing how worried the Sentret seemed, Valen said "It's okay, you aren't in trouble. We just were curious about how this happened, and, well, there doesn't seem to be any danger."

"Although we would suggest you not do too much of this. The forest must not be despoiled." Valen realized that it was the Sawsbuck who had led Saturn and him to the flowers who had spoken, and they were walking towards the other Pokémon now.

"I-I won't!" the Sentret cried, and then suddenly ran away. As Valen looked in the direction the Normal-type had gone, he saw what could be some other Sentret in the distance, many of whom were sleeping. Then, he looked at the Sawsbuck. He thought to himself that while they had a point, it was... unfortunate that they seemed to have scared off the worried Sentret. Especially since technically, he hadn't actually seen the Pokémon use Ice Beam. And then he noticed a bit of wetness on his foot.

It seemed that a tiny bit of the frost on the flower he had been holding had melted away, revealing a soggy stem of regular plant matter. Well, that's evidence that these flowers aren't actually made of ice, Valen thought.

At this point the crushing realization that he and Valen trudged through who knows how many miles of woodland, spent who knows how many hours searching, and even had his tail handed to him by a creature a small fraction of his size, and for what? Some false flowers that some random copse denizen had been using as target practice!? Saturn lets out a huff in frustration as he cleans out the inside of his helmet. "Well, this was a massive waste of time....", Saturn says, dejectedly as he places the skull back where it belongs. At least, that's what he thinks, until he looks towards the Sawsbuck.

Well, maybe I shouldn't be so pessimistic. It wasn't all bad. If it weren't for us bumping into that Deerling and her.... overbearing Ribombee friend then she might have never met up with her parents again, which would mean they'd never get a chance to reunite and come to terms with their past decisions. He thinks as he looks down at his bone club, wistfully. ....I miss my mom and dad.... He looks to Valen. "Hey. Let's head back to the headquarters, now. We've got a report to write, after all.", he says, newfound optimism in his voice, along with a healthy dose of exhaustion.

"Yes, let's," Valen replied to Saturn. In response to the Cubone's earlier claim that this had been a waste of time... Valen hadn't managed to say anything, but he didn't really think so. It might not have been what we expected... but we still did find the cause of the 'frost flowers,' so we can certainly write about that. And probably also about the Pokémon and items we saw along the way, even if there weren't that many.

Valen noticed the Sawsbuck looking at them as well. The male one looked as if he was about to say something, but did not. Instead, the female Sawsbuck said "Farewell," and they both walked away. "Farewell," Valen replied. Got to be polite, he thought. He was feeling hungry, though. Once the Sawsbuck were gone, Valen took out a Sitrus Berry and ate it. Besides lessening his hunger, it helped further heal some of the injuries he had sustained in earlier battles.

Then, he flew in the direction he and Saturn had come from - but he didn't get very far at all before a pair of Teddiursa burst out of the trees! But before he could react, the Teddiursa ran - right past Valen, so close that even he could smell the cloying scent of the honey dripping from their paws, but they seemed to ignore the Pikipek completely. What? Valen wondered, Oh no, did they steal honey from a hive and now Combee are coming? But when he looked, he didn't see or hear any Combee or other Pokémon. There was something very strange, though - a swirling, dark blue portal in the direction that the Teddiursa had come from.

[Energy: 2 + 15 (Sitrus Berry) - 5 (Entering Echo World) = 12]

"Yeah, goodbye. Stay safe.", Saturn replied to the Sawsbuck as they left. I hope everything works out for them. They seem like good people, even if past circumstances have forced them to make hard choices., he thinks as him and Valen continue their journey. Not too long after, a couple Teddiursa run into them, making Saturn nearly jump out of his skin! He holds up his bone club in a hostile manner, ready to defend himself at a moment's notice. The Teddiursa, however, hardly even acknowledge the two of them, instead sprinting past them; presumably in a desperate attempt to put as much distance between them and somthing else as they can.

If the both of them are running from something, then it probably isn't good. Or friendly., he thinks. He notices the peculiar swirling blue portal in the direction the Teddiursa appeared from. Saturn was immediately excited and intrigued by its existence. "Hey, Valen! Do you see that?, he asks, pointing at the strange phenomenon taking place before them. "How much you wanna bet that's something the Windrose Scouts would like a detailed report on?", he asks, a newfound vigor permeating his demeanor.

Once Valen had recovered from the sudden shock, he replied to Saturn's question, "I certainly think so! I've never seen this before, and I don't remember anyone or anything from the Scouts having information about something like this... not that I could read absolutely everything there. And it's in the same dungeon as their base."

He looked at the swirling portal again. Was it safe? He remembered the Teddiursa running... but the portal didn't seem to be going after them, or doing anything besides rotating in mid-air. What would happen if it was touched? "I have an idea," Valen said, "I'm going to throw a stick at this and see what happens."

Valen took out a Stick from his bag, aimed, and threw it at the portal. The Stick flew straight through and embedded itself in a tree that was behind the portal. Nothing dangerous seemed to have happened, and Valen flew to check out the Stick more closely. He tried to go around the portal, making sure not to touch it... but now he wasn't careful enough, and his legs went through the portal.

Valen wasn't sure what exactly had happened, and he looked around. Before, the day had been ending, but now, it suddenly seemed as if it was a bright middle of the afternoon. The surroundings - except for Saturn - seemed to be wavering somewhat, and some, though not all, of the trees even looked ghostly and translucent.

Is the portal causing this? Did I go through it? What's going on? Valen wondered. "Saturn... What do you see?" he asked.

Fallen Leaf Copse rolls:

Shield carried out 5 launched of one Fallen Leaf Copse :

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Echo World rolls:

Shield carried out 5 launched of one Echo World :

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Saturn continued staring at the portal as Valen spoke. "Yeah, good idea.For all we know that weird blue swirling mass of energy could be harmful. Or worse..." He then watched as the Stick flew right through the portal, seemingly unharmed. The Cubone then realized how exhausted he was. Hmm. I better keep my vigor up if I want to approach this strange phenomenon with a clear head. Fatigue can lead to poor decision-making, after all. He then grabbed 3 Oran berries from his pack and consumed them quickly, making sure each one was properly chewed up to get the most out of them. Ahh, much better. Now-

Saturn's thoughts were interrupted by Valen seemingly being absorbed by the portal. "Oh, no! Valen!" Saturn paused for a moment, in panic. The near-infinite possibilities explaining what might have just happened to Valen ran wild in his imagination. Did it take him somewhere else? Did it take him nowhere? And then, the most morbid conclusion of all. ....is he gone forever? Saturn's woes were dispelled by the sound of Valen's distorted, incomprehensible voice coming from the other end of the portal. While he couldn't make out what was said, Valen at least didn't sound at all distressed. Relief washed over him at the realization that no harm had come to the Pikipek, probably. Well, no sense waiting around here. Whatever may be happening to Valen on the other end of this, it's something we'll deal with together!

WIth that, the Cubone leaped through the portal, finding himself in the same distorted, ghostly destination wound up in. "Is everything okay, Valen? Are you hurt?", he asks.

[Energy: 2 + 30(3 Oran Berries eaten)- 5(entering Echo World) = 27]

southpawXlegacy carried out 3 launched of one Fallen Leaf Copse :

, ,

southpawXlegacy carried out 3 launched of one Echo World :

, ,

Valen saw Saturn, instead of responding, apparently jump straight through the portal before asking whether the Pikipek was okay. Why did he do that? Valen wondered, It doesn't seem very safe... Could he not hear me from over there?

"I-I feel... fine?" Valen said, "I don't feel like I'm hurt... but everything looks weird. It's like it suddenly became afternoon, except everything is shaking and I can see through the trees... Do you see anything like that?" Valen felt that the last question was key. He was seriously worried that he was going crazy and hallucinating - but if Saturn could see this too, it had to be real. Well, or maybe he was hallucinating Saturn speaking, or something was affecting both of them.

Even as he thought this, Valen noticed something else. If his senses were accurate - which he knew they might not be here - it was a blue glow, somewhat like the portal had been but smaller and apparently on the ground. And if his memory was accurate - something he was also doubting - it was in the direction they had just come from, where they had found the "frost flowers."

(OOC: That blue thing is meant to be the Time Flower from my rolls. If the Echo World is meant to be a distorted version of the area it is entered from, in space and time, it only seemed fitting for one of its flowers to be found in the same area where the flowers of the Fallen Leaf Copse were present and important to our characters).

Saturn took a minute to take in his new surroundings before responding. "Yes. The trees definitely have a peculiar... ethereal quality to them. And the time of day has changed drastically from before we ended up here. Were we... somehow knocked out by the strange portal for a while? Hmm...", Saturn wonders. "But that does very little to explain the alien nature of this place; how it seems to be a completely different region that only superficially resembles the one we belong to." Then, he realizes something that he deems extremely significant. "If this place is under some sort of effect that's causing it to be this way, then everything here, from the flowers to the leaves to even the grass, would make for extremely valuable specimens for the Windrose Scouts! He begins grabbing handfuls of grass and leaves and stuffs them into his pack. "I'm sure they'll be absolutely delighted with our findings once we get back. ......If we get back...." Saturn's enthusiasm was quickly stifled by pangs of doubt. But it didn't last long, as he noticed a small blue nodule nestled in the ground next to his feet that was revealed when he was displacing the nearby leaves. He promptly plucks it out of the ground and is astonished when he realizes what it is. "Whoa, they have seeds here, too?! That's amazing!" Then, he paused, upon realizing something else. "If this place has weird, distorted versions of seeds, then that means it likely has its own versions of orbs, berries..... and even pokemon." He looks to Valen, a suddenly-serious look in his eye. "If that is true, then we need to be extra careful. Whoever they are, they might speak another language entirely, and behave in ways we have no means of understanding. This place could be more dangerous than even the most dangerous Mystery Dungeons from where we come from. This place could have strange new diseases. The food could be poisonous to us. We have no way of knowing without putting ourselves at great risk. Promise me that if you begin feeling strange, or if anything just.. seems off, even under these circumstances, promise me you'll let me know right away. All we have is each other to rely on, here. Also, eating anything we find probably isn't a good idea. Not until we can safely verify that it isn't harmful to us in some way.", he says, his carefree enthusiasm gone entirely, and replaced with cold, serious vigilance.

[Energy: 27 - 1 = 26]

Valen was slightly annoyed at Saturn rambling on - not that the Pikipek was himself immune to the tendency to make long-winded speeches, but he wasn't really thinking about that at the moment. He did, however, have to admit that if Saturn could see the same things as Valen could, he was basically correct. There could be previously undiscovered things that the Windrose Scouts would be incredibly excited to discover... but also entirely new dangers.

"I understand," he told Saturn once the Cubone seemed to have finished talking. "I'll just see what that small blue thing is," he continued, pointing to where the Time Flower - not that he knew what it was yet - was, "I think it might be another new item." Valen had looked at the seed that Saturn had found and realized that both of them seemed to have absolutely no clue about its identity. It was an odd shade of blue, like some of the other things they had just seen were - was this trend going to continue?

Valen moved and saw that the small blue glowing thing he had seen earlier appeared to be not a seed, but a flower unlike any flower he had seen or heard of before, even in the copse. How odd... We found the flowers we were looking for around here, I think, earlier, and now there's a completely different weird flower? A coincidence, or something more? he thought, as he picked the flower and put it in his bag. Nothing special seemed to happen then, so he moved to show the flower to Saturn, when suddenly a memory washed over him. The time when he had first entered the Fallen Leaf Copse, and how fresh and excited he had felt back then, clearly stood out in his mind for a moment. It made him feel a little bit better, but not by very much, and he knew that despite the present excitement of what appeared to be an entirely new discovery, he was actually tired.

Why did I suddenly think about that? Why am I feeling this way? Valen wondered. He didn't feel bad exactly - in fact, what just happened had seemed pleasant - but he could tell there was something that wasn't... normal going on. He remembered what Saturn had asked him to do. "Saturn, I found this flower," he said, taking the flower he had picked, "and..."

He was cut off when he felt another strange thing - a sudden chill in the air. He did not have much time to think before a Gengar stepped out of the shadows... and said "It may never actually be winter here, but happy Winter Festival! Here are your gifts!" while dropping something in front of Valen and Saturn. The Pikipek looked down at his feet, and saw what looked like a Blast Seed, except oddly blue. Near Saturn was a Quick Seed - but it seemed entirely ordinary, possessing the same color as other Quick Seeds.

Valen thought of two things. One was that he had heard that Gengar just naturally made the temperature somewhat colder around themselves, which probably explained the sudden chill. The other was... it wasn't the Winter Festival right now. Not even outside the Copse. It shouldn't be.

(OOC: Well, the Echo World is weird, so I'll be providing OOC explanations for any scenarios here I introduce if I think it might be helpful. The odd feeling Valen had is my interpretation of the Time Echo trap. This Gengar is an echo of one of the Pokemon who had, indeed, been giving out gifts in the Fallen Leaf Copse last Winter Festival [as the Sentret earlier mentioned]. Also, feel free to have Saturn keep the Quick Seed if you want, it isn't terribly important.)

[Energy: 0. Should have mentioned this earlier, but better late than never.]

Saturn, happy with Valen's compliance to his request and his overall level-headed response to the current situation, began to calm down a bit. I shouldn't be so worrisome. Our situation probably isn't as bad as I've made it out to be. I should be more like Valen; carefree and level-headed. At this point, Valen's mention of the flower he found breaks his train of thought. "Oh, isn't that pretty?" He was ready to hear what else Valen had to say, but the strange, albeit very generous Gengar that appeared interrupted that. "Winter Festival? Didn't that take place a while ago?", he wonders aloud.

Regardless, Saturn wasn't about to refuse free stuff. He happily picked up the Quick Seed, thanking the Gengar for the gift. "What did you get, Valen?", he asks.

This place sure is strange, he thinks to hismelf. Little did he know, the situation was about to get a whole lot wierder, as an Alolan Marowak arrives on the scene, bone staff emitting its signature yellow-green flames on each end. It struts up to Saturn with a prideful stance. "Hello, me.", it says, with a strange hint of smug satisfaction in its voice, which is a lot like Saturn's but lower, and more gruff.

In response to Saturn's question, Valen showed him the... Blast Seed? "It looks like a Blast Seed, but it's blue... like a lot of other things here, actually," the Pikipek said, "but what you got looks just like a normal Quick Seed..."

Meanwhile, the Gengar had been looking around, not saying anything... until a Marowak showed up. The fiery staff the Bone Keeper Pokémon was holding was odd enough - Valen knew ordinary Marowak did not have fire - but then it said "Hello, me." WHAT? Valen was really confused. Is that Marowak saying that it is Saturn??? What... how... am I really just hallucinating? Seeing more than one of the same individual means...

The Gengar looked at this new arrival and said "I'm so sorry! I didn't bring enough gifts for you!" before moving away... and seeming to melt away into the shadows of some trees. Now, Valen was feeling a bit awkward, but he managed to say "Hello?" to the Marowak. He wanted to know whether the Pokémon would reply.