Mach Speed

Spoiler:

Perhaps what he was doing was reckless. Maybe it was even stupid. It's definitely not something he should be doing, but here he was anyways. He should be able to take all these missions on his own...he was supposed to be able to handle these. His team was higher ranked than these missions. Yet, he expected himself to lose.

With a slight twist of his wings, the Archeop swung around into a different direction. His eyes scanned the mountainside in search of either of the two mission targets. One was a breloom, a jerk that stole some innocent cubone's money. The other was a combusken who injured themselves on the mountain. Why they practiced on a mountain of all places, Acro could not understand.

It was kind of a surprise to him that he managed to get through the other two missions relatively unharmed. There was still the scar along his body from the seviper attack last mission, but otherwise fine. The wound was treated back at the guild, the poison was too weak to really get to him from what he was told. He guessed that meant he could go to stronger places.

Energy > 95 -16 > 79

Osiris, as unadvisable as it was, figured the same thing. He didn't get beat up at Pricklemist, he didn't get beat up at the Frozen Stream... why not kick things up a notch? Sure, he'd run into the same bonafide explorer both times, but it wasn't like Osiris was totally useless in both instances. Maybe he could get through Black Mist Mountain all by himself!! Plus, rumor had it this place had some pretty good stuff laying around - his mom even said that his very own joy ribbon had come from here.

If he could get a second joy ribbon, he could wear them both, double up, and get strong twice as fast! He'd be a dragonite in no time, beating up outlaws and saving the world over and over and he'd be super-rich and famous!!

At the moment, though, he was just a dratini that stuck out like a sore thumb, slithering along the rocky ground cautiously, looking for something interesting to mess around with.

35 - 16 (entry): 19 energy

His eyes scanned along the face of the mountain in search of the tell-tale signs of a green or red-orange pokemon. What he saw, however, was blue. It was blue...and long. Was...was that another dratini? Curious, he swooped down a bit lower and sure enough, it was Osiris. Immediately he was hit with sheer confusion and bewilderment. Why did this kid keep showing up whenever he went out to get himself killed?

Same as the last few times, he couldn't just let the kid go out on their own...even though at this point the dragon type was essentially asking for it. His shadow swept over the little dragon type as he circled in for the landing. As he did, he would call out, "Does your mother know you keep going out here alone like this?" He felt like he didn't really need to introduce himself at this point.

It had happened often enough now that Osiris wasn't even surprised when a large archeops circled overhead, flying around and calling down to him. Once was a coincidence, and twice was suspicious... is that how that saying went? He was running into this specific bird quite a lot recently, that's all he knew.  It was at least a cool bird to run into; every time Osiris met him, he got to see the big guy fight something and that was always a plus.

"No," he replied innocently. "Well, I mean, probably, but I don't think she knows where exactly." he elaborated, scrunching up his snout as he wondered. It was kind of a mystery how he kept finding ways to sneak out like this. "Does your mother know you keep going out here alone?!" he shot back, raising himself up dramatically.

It was a surprise to him that the question was turned against him. So much so, that his landing ended in a trip. He collapsed onto his stomach with a squawk. He hadn't thought about his mother in...well, years. Instead of getting up, he resigned to just laying there as he thought about it. "Uh..." he started. Hello unpleasant abandonment memories as an Archen that was the beginning of all of his issues, how do you do?

He probably shouldn't have been honest with the kid, but the sudden surge of emotion didn't really really help him in thinking twice. "She's uh...insistent that i'm dead...." he spoke before he slowly began to pick himself back up. "S-So I don't think she cares..." He certainly would have been better off if his mom were right though. Him and everyone around him.

Acro squawking and hitting the ground wasn't quite what he expected. Most of the time, when he got cheeky with adults, they either ignored him or shut him down. But his question seemed to shock the archeops so much that not only did he botch his landing, but he also just... answered him honestly. And the answer was sad enough that Osiris kind of felt a little guilty.

"O-oh, my bad," he muttered, drooping down a little bit. It was a rough answer, and a bit of a debby downer. "W-well, what about your team members? Most guild members have those! Do they know you're out here all by yourself working so hard?" he went with instead. It wasn't that he really wanted to know—although he was a little curious—but instead he just wanted to... shift the convevsation away from that disaster of a topic.

Team members. Yep, he definitely had those. He certainly hadn't told Dusk that he was out and about here either...mostly because he didn't want her to come. It wasn't that he didn't like working with her or anything, he just didn't want to put her into harm's way. Mentally and physically. Same went for this kid that somehow kept appearing wherever he went. It was actually kind of terrifying. Was this kid stalking him or something?

Still, he would answer, "No..." he admitted, "They uh...they don't need to though. Your mother is a different story." He gave himself a shake, recovering from the harsh landing before he would focus on the little dratini. It would have been normal to say that he could take care of himself, but just like protecting others, that was disproved many many times. He was weak. This streak of missions was just pure luck and even then, he still had a pretty nasty scar to show for it.

Kat carried out 10 launched of one Black Mist Mountain :

, , , , , , , , ,

94-16 = 78

"Well, hey, I'll tell you what. You don't tell my mom I was out here, and I won't tell your teammates you're doing all these jobs without them!" Osiris fired back. He was tired of Pecha and Shadowhue! It was all his mom would have let him done, and if Acro had his way, he'd probably be sitting back in those dumb dungeons playing tag with rattatas or something. "That's why you're out here, right? Another job, I bet?" the dratini fished, wriggling his brow slyly.

The work ethic of the guy was honestly pretty impressive. He'd taken some heavy hits in the past couple days, and those were just the ones that Osiris had seen! It might actually get him into trouble if he didn't take a break sometime soon, Iris realized. He sat on it, though. Maybe it was a guild-member thing, or his guild had some way of treating wounds so good that Acro didn't even feel the effects of the pokemon he'd tangled with lately.

the sunset hero carried out 10 launched of one Black Mist Mountain :

, , , , , , , , ,

He didn't fully understand why this dratini was so adamant about not telling his mom, but unfortunately for the Dratini, Acro valued the dratini's safety more that whether his teammates knew he was out here or not. Specifically because, "But...they can go on missions alone too if they wanted..." he pointed out with a confused tone. It really shouldn't be that big of a deal, but he could maybe see Dusk being a little disappointed. They couldn't exactly tell him what he could and couldn't do, right? If he wanted to overwork himself like this, then he should...he thought. Perhaps he'd work himself to death.

Besides, if Dusk and the other two left the team, then it would be a good thing. Then, they wouldn't get hurt. It was only a matter of time before they did anyways. He shook his head, "Look...Osiris, you need to go back. It's more dangerous here than the other two places and the pokemon aren't as friendly as the others-"

Almost as if on cue, a shadow swept over them. He looked up to see the shadow of a massive bulky bird in the sky. It...looked a little like a Mandibuzz. While it didn't swoop in and attack or anything, it took to circling the two. Its shadow looped around them in a broad circle.

Osiris peered up at the shadow that cut Acro off, curious despite the archeops' warnings. If something was out to get them, he could just take care of it, right? And Osiris wasn't helpless. There were things he could d, and if he and Acro teamed up, they could probably get his work done a lot faster and then maybe he could even put a good word in for him at Grassveil's guild or something. He didn't have his heart set on any specific outcome - he just didn't want to go home.

"That one doesn't look that unfriendly," Osiris said thoughtfully. "And this place can't be worse than the Icy Lands!" he went on, wriggling with excitement. "Besides, I helped you in the last mission, 'member? I still haven't showed you what cool stuff I can do yet! Come oooon, why not let me tag along for a bit?"

"Just because it hasn't immediately attacked us doesn't mean it's friendly," Acro immediately responded with in a quieter voice. He didn't look away from the Mandibuzz as he stood closer to the little dratini. He got the feeling that the dark type might have wanted a little bit of "worm" for lunch today. He couldn't see the bird's expression from here, but once again, leaving Osiris alone was a bad thing.

"And yes it can. A lot worse," he commented. Even more unpleasant memories were brought into mind. Specifically the fact that Astrid died here and Tallulah nearly died here. If the pattern kept up, then that meant that the dratini was in danger.

"You're going to have to stick with me." he commented, unwilling to turn around and bring the dratini all the way back home. Who knew, maybe he'd find an escape orb and force it onto the dratini. That'd send him right on back to Grassveil in an instant.

Well, Osiris got what he wanted. Acro was kind of a big grump about it, but now he got to tag along with this guy while he went on more missions! Assuming that's why he was here - the archeops didn't deign to mention whether or not that was true, but either way, the dratini had secured himself both an escort and an opportunity to strut his stuff in front of a bonafide mystery dungeon explorer. Hopefully, the guy had a lot of good advice for him.

"Okay..." he said, half-pretending to be repentant. Whatever semblance of mock fear he had adopted as Acro did the adult thing of making things super grim vanished when the archeops agreed to take him along. "So, so so, what's the job this time? Are we helping more people or are we fighting more bad guys??"

The excitement the dratini bounced back into disturbed him. He didn't know what to do. The dratini already made it out just fine the past two trips, but as they say, third time's the charm. Acro offered him a wing to crawl up on, seeing as being alone on the ground was less than favorable for the dragon type. "Uhh...I'm looking for a combusken that needs help escaping...and i'll be fighting a breloom that hangs around here. You're going to stay back for that one." he answered. His eyes were still trained on the Mandibuzz above. It circled and circled. Again and again. It unnerved him.

Not too far off, an absol took cover behind one of the massive rocks of the mountain. Crouched low, its eyes flicked up to the mandibuzz then down to the duo. It was uncertain of itself. Next to it, a Marowak seemed to wait for some sort of cue...

"I can chip in, though..." Osiris pouted, slithering up onto Acro's wing without protest. He kind of really dug flying vicariously through the archeops. "If you can get me close to the breloom, I can paralyze him!! That'd help you out a lot, right? Thunder-waving the bad guy?" he pitched hopefully, wrapping himself around the flying-type's big ol' long neck and settling in for a ride.

"And if anyone's tryna get the 'busken, I can fight some, too! I know some attacking moves too." he went on, coiling tightly in preparation for take-off. It probably just felt like a gentle squeeze to Acro, but he was putting a lot of what he had into it.

As much as Osiris expected him to take off, Acro had other ideas. The Archeops ruffled his feathers a little and spread out his wings...only to start running. While it was normal for an archeops to run before they fly, he intended to keep running rather than take flight into the same skies as the Mandibuzz. He zoomed off to the side, much to the surprise of the hidden absol and marowak. The marowak looked over to the absol and pointed at where the two used to be. The absol gave an uncertain shrug before it was doinked on the top of his head by the marowak's bone.

As he ran, he would speak, "If the breloom shows up, you're not staying around." He told the dratini, "I know you could help, but this pokemon may not hesitate to kill you. This is an E ranked mission on top of that, so it's even more dangerous than the usual nobody." He was adamant in his stance. Any threats that were to show up, he was going to make sure the dratini stayed as far away from them as possible.

"If anybody goes after the combusken, then I'll handle it." He wasn't sure if he should even be signing himself up for this. At the very least if he made this clear enough, then the dratini would have time to get away if the breloom turned out to be as much of a problem as he expected. "Your job is to let me know if someone does go after Combusken and make sure we don't lose the item we're going to retrieve from the breloom."