Mach Speed

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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

Round and round the world went, where it stopped? Acro didn't know. He couldn't figure out where the breloom was, where its allies were, or where Astrid was...wait...no...Osiris...not Astrid. Where was Osiris? He couldn't get a grip on himself, but he could hear the heinous laughter of the pokemon as they watched the Archeops stumble and tumble around. It got on his nerves, to say the least.

Acro stood himself up and spread out his wings. "OOOH LOOK! BIRDY'S GONNA TRY TO FLY LIKE THAT!" the bandit's voice cried out.

"I can't see..." The aron huffed, its legs limp as it gave up trying to get right-side up. Acro's clumsy wings flailed as he struggled to get himself up into the air. It was difficult to tell up from down once he was a decent height up, but that was alright. All he needed to do, was let himself fall. The Archeops pinned his wings to his side and allowed himself to drop. His legs outstretched, he took on a particular brown glow as he collided with the ground. His weight shook the earth more than it should have, cracks spidered out from him as the pokemon around them struggled to stand themselves.

The earthquake rumbled mercilessly as the shock wave ripped through the nearby pokemon. They fell, one by one, until none of them remained. Acro stood himself up, unsure of whether he got all of them or not. He struggled still, his own legs sore from the aftermath, though one of his ankles hurt to put pressure on. The archeops limped out of the very small crater he made.

"O-Osiris??" he called out for the little dratini.

"Hey, I'm standing!" he heard a little voice proudly declare. Well, that wasn't the dratini.

Osiris shook his head rapidly as if casting off the shock of the duskull's attack. He was just trying to make it apparent that the ghost couldn't run away from him, not... not to bully him into fighting back! The dratini looked up and saw the duskull with its wispy arms spread, looking ready for a fight. That was fine with him. If it wanted to play hardball, they'd play hardball!

Only, Iris didn't think he could win in a straight fight; this guy could float around and do that wind attack thingie - if it wanted, it could just do that from the air and he'd be helpless. It seemed to be its strategy now, but Osiris had an idea. The duskull waved its robey, wispy arms at him once more, and Osiris saw the gust of ominous wind coming at him. Slithering out of the way was a simple enough matter, and then it was just a matter of aiming himself.

One more time, he burst into the air with extremespeed. He soared up and up and up, and instead of phasing through the duskull, he latched onto the coin purse in its hand, closing his jaw around it tightly. "What do you think you're... let go!" it yelled at him, shaking its robe around frantically. "Stupid kid!!"

It was probably quite the sight to any and all onlookers - a duskull floating in the air, waving around a coin purse wildly with a dratini stubbornly attached to the end of it.

One of said onlookers, was an Archeops. The colorful bird saw the amusing display from afar and decided to have a look at whatever the heck this scene was. It certainly wasn't Acro, but it seemed interested in this. The wild pokemon tilted its head as it watched the little dratini struggle with the duskull. After a moment, it decided to speak up, "Issssss everything alright over here?" he spoke up, though the answer was quite obviously no...

Acro, meanwhile, still struggled with the confusion inflicted by the dynamic punch. He couldn't fly, could hardly make out what was in front of him, and his leg hurt to walk on. He managed to make it about a foot or two away before he collapsed yet again. He needed to get back up. That dratini was still out there. He attempted to pick himself back up again, however, this time he would be interrupted.

A ball of energy barreled right into him. He sprawled across the floor again with a weakened cry. Yep. That felt like a Shadow Ball. He was being attacked again. Just when he wondered just what was even attacking him this time, he could hear the snarls of a larger canine...and a puppy yapping just behind them. Oh. Wonderful.

Third time's the charm, get back up-annnnd the Mightyena was latched onto him. He managed to stand, but the mightyena was latched onto the scruff of feathers at the base of his neck. His legs kicked out with their razor sharp talons to kick the hound off, but either he missed or it didn't seem to care. He felt the pin pricks of razor sharp puppy teeth on his tail as the duo attempted to try and drag him down. Panicked squawks escaped him as his foot pounded the earth below him. He tried to utilize Stone Edge against the Mightyena as spires of rocks erupted from the ground, but he instead ended up nearly impaling himself in the process.

Oh come on why did this have to happen when the dratini was on the mountain a l o n e?


(Pokemon Left: Aron, Cubone)

For a moment, Osiris thought that Acro had come to put down the duskull and they could be on their way to go find that combusken. Then the archeops spoke, and Osiris realized that this... didn't look good. Like, at all.

"Mmffphpf! Mmpfpf, mmmpfpfh, mmpfh mpfh!" he tried. Nope. As much as the archeops seemed to be a neutral, helpful party, Osiris probably looked like a robber who was really bad at his job, trying to steal from this duskull. "Mmmpf..." he sighed, going limp but maintaining his hold on the money bag.

"This brat won't let go of my purse! He's been chasing me all over the mountain, and now that he's caught onto me I can't seem to shake him off!" The duskull, as expected, seemed to catch on to Osiris' line of thought. "Give me a hand, will you?"

For his part, Osiris merely dangled there and looked at this new archeops with as much of a pitiful look as he could manage. All he needed was a chance to speak - he couldn't fly, here, but if it held him up for a minute he could state his case.

The friendly neighborhood Archeops looked between the two. The duskull spoke, but the dratini seemed to have something important to say. The bright bird studied the situation for a whole second before it labelled it with bright big letters, "Sketchy." He picked himself up and approached the duo, circling them briefly as he analyzed it further.

"Suuuure...I'll just..." The bird stripped the duskull of the bag and held it-and the dratini- itself. The bird looked down at the little lizard. "Now what is it you were saying?"

---

A pup on his tail and a mama at his throat, literally in both senses, he was having a bad time. The teeth of the mightyena sank into him. Only now the confusion started to disperse. The world ceased to spin at an unnatural place and now only seemed to do so at a more leisurely place. Ooooh he was bleeding. Oooh that's pain. Hi. Yes, he was familiar with that.

The archeops prioritized the mutt at his neck more so than the one in the back. Again, he attempted the Stone Edge attack. This time, he managed to nail the mightyena right in the gut. The canine yelped, releasing him to fall back away. She was far from done it seemed, as she paced around him. He couldn't turn his back on her-not without risking her latching onto some place he couldn't shake her off from. He struggled to keep up with her turns as she dashed to and fro with his leg.

She looked frustrated, but the pup on his tail seemed to have the time of its life back there. So much so, in fact, that it teeth started to crackle with electricity. "Ow-OW! HEY!" he cried out, though he caught himself just before he tried to turn and deal with the pup. The mother very nearly ran in to jump him again.

He kept his eyes on her, unable to take off from here and unaware of just where the little dratini had run off to. As crazy as it sounded, he would have appreciated some support here. Still he would rather the dratini not be here with the hungry duo of dogs.

Osiris blinked in surprise when the archeops scooped him up and he discovered his mouth was free. That was really all the cue he needed to immediately proclaim his innocence and the duskull's evil nature. "I'm not a thief! He's the thief!" he exclaimed, wriggling in excitement. "There's a, uh, a mission!! I'm not a guild member yet but I'm helping a guild member, his name's Acro and he's an archeops JUST like you, and we're here to help a combusken and get back some money for a, uh, a cubone, I think. There's an evil breloom that stole it from him!" he blabbered, dangling slightly in the air while he pleaded his case.

The duskull, meanwhile, scoffed immediately at his story. "That is a load of bull. Brie's the one who got my money back from your archeops friend!! A thief and a liar, the two of you, and you're not getting anything else from me." it harrumphed, crossing its wispy little arms while it spun its story.

"Liar!! Fibber!" the dratini spat up at the ghost-type, unable to reach him with his tail. Instead, he settled for blowing a raspberry at it.

The friendly neutral Archeops looked between the two, utterly baffled by the scenario he was presented with. "Uhhh..." he started up, uncertain of who to believe. Fortunately, Osiris said just the right thing for him to prove his innocence. "Oh...well, If you're on a guild mission and you're helping a guild member...then where is he?"

----

Okay. Stay calm. Well, it wasn't like he was blind with panic, but he needed a level head to get himself out of this mess. He couldn't fly out, he couldn't really fight out either. If he charged towards the Mightyena, it would just run out of reach again. The crackling of the Poochyena's teeth was getting to him, making it difficult to move any faster. the base of his neck was definitely in pain, but he couldn't even risk a look to check the damage. He could only spread out his wings in an attempt to keep his balance and stay on his feet. The moment he went down the Mightyena would certainly be on him again. His tail waved around in attempt to fling the mutt off, but it seemed to hold on with a locked jaw.

He definitely couldn't Earthquake again, Roosting was a bad idea too. They were stuck in a stand-off of sorts. Then, an idea struck him. If he could leave a substitute, the Mightyena would attack it instead of him. Then he could have just enough space, but still close enough, to hit it reliably with a stone edge. Yeah, that could work...maybe...

Using what little energy he could, he suddenly bolted to the side. The mightyena chased after him, snarling and barking all the while. Then, as luck would have it, the poochyena's teeth crackled. A screech of both frustration as the jolt of electricity shot through his body and caused him to fall flat on his face. As he expected, the Mightyena wasn't hesitant or slow in latching onto him from the safety of his back. If only he still had Ancient Power, then he could have just slapped this bitch off with a rock.

The archeops struggled as the mightyena's own jaws began to crackle with electricity. Seriously? The Thunder Fang jolted through him once again, though at the very least he managed to fight against the Mightyena's strength and roll himself over. No longer in a comfortable position and risking the strike of his talons, the Mightyena let go with a quick retreat once more. The flying type pushed himself up as much as he could onto his one working foot, but the poochyena also finally released him. The pup landed on the ground with a light thud before being thoroughly smacked off to the side with a sweep of Acro's tail.

The mightyena chased after the pup, giving the little one a concerned sniff before turning and baring her fangs at Acro. Why couldn't he be left alone when he wanted to be left alone? Ever? This time, however, the Mightyena didn't attack. Instead, it just watched him. He felt confused at first...until it dawned to him that this Mightyena decided that it was best for them to wait for him to wear himself out. The damage done to him was surely going to take a toll and they were perfectly willing to wait for their meal.

"Yes, please, where is your thieving friend? Which way do I have to look over my shoulder next time he gets the urge to poach the rewards of my hard work?" the duskull cut in, its voice smarmy, indelicate, and way too full of itself. Maybe he should have just attacked the guy, in hindsight.

Osiris swallowed a thick lump in his throat, coming across the first element of his story that was a little suspect. This big bird had been reasonable so far, though; surely, they'd see the truth and do the right thing when presented with what happened. "Well, uh, the bad breloom threw the money pouch to this guy. And Acro said my job was to keep an eye on it and not let it get away! So he's probably trying to catch that outlaw or get away from him right now..." he said, a little hesitant. Why hadn't he shown up by now, honestly? He didn't think the mission objective was to catch the breloom so much as recover what had been stolen...

Maybe it was a tough fight for him? He had been through a lot these past few days, between the cloysters and the seviper and now the breloom. Osiris hoped he hadn't slipped up and gotten hurt.

Not!Acro looked at the duskull with a bit of disdain, while the dratini was given a look of doubt. Awfully convenient for the dratini that this "Acro" person wasn't around...and that they happened to be an Archeops just like him. The archeops hesitated, but seemed to be confident enough himself to find another solution, "Can you bring me to where you last saw him then? So I can speak to him myself?" If the dratini could prove that Acro exists and that he was an explorer...then it shouldn't be any issue...right?

----

He wanted to get a move on. He needed to find Osiris and get the kid out of here. There was no way he was going to last on this dangerous mountain all on his own...though was he really even helpful to the kid? The only reason Osiris was ever really in any danger so far that he's seen was because of him. His shoulders sagged, not only because they felt weary, but because he steadily began to realize that his insistence on protecting the kid only ever really put him in more danger. He should have turned around and told them to go home right from the start. No. He had to keep going. It would have been better for everyone if he just came back tomorrow.

He was at fault here. He was always at fault. No matter how it was or what he did, it always lead back down to him. He wasn't just useless, he was a hindrance. Wonderful. If it weren't for the fact of there was still a dratini out there probably in danger for all he knew. He had to find a way out of this. It was still difficult to think, but he managed for formulate another plan. Now that the Mightyena seemed convinced he was doomed to fall, he had a little more elbow room to do a little more.

The mightyena sat down, panting the heat away while he struggled to maintain his breath. He waited a few seconds before a wing dove into his bag. The Mightyena's ears perked up. They got up to make a move, but it was too late. Acro snatched an orb out of his bag and launched the orb with a smack of his tail. The Mightyena picked up their kid and tried to move out of the way, but the few split seconds to pick up the kid was too great of a cost. The Warp Orb smashed next to the enemies. Acro shielded himself from a bright light with a lift of his wing. With a bright flash, the two were gone.

Acro hesitantly lowered his wing to look at the spot. They were both gone. He was free to go.

"Uh, yeah, totally." Osiris replied, blinking a little as the archeops seemed to be actually giving him a chance. The duskull pitched a bit of a silent fit, scoffing slightly. "We were, um, southwest of here, I think? That's the way I came from when I chased this guy all the way out here, so he and the breloom should still be over there." he mumbled mostly to himself.

If they weren't there themselves, then the breloom's little flunkies might be. Or they might have followed Acro and their leader off as their fight moved. Iris was just happy that this giant bird wasn't taking the duskull's side out of principle; the sight they must have been greeted by when they looked up into the sky would be very suspicious.

"I'm Osiris, by the way," he said to the archeops holding him. Never hurt to be polite.

"Darin," the duskull muttered, floating alongside the archeops with a roll of its eyes. "And this is a waste of time. He's feeding you nonsense, and you're gobbling it right up."

"If it's a waste of time then we can just make him pay for it," The archeops stated simply, "Just like if you're fibbing, then we can make you pay for wasting my time." The archeops had a smile on his face as he spoke. It wasn't exactly a sadistic smirk, but more of a look of confidence. His cheery demeanor certainly could come off as quite intimidating, however, as he showed no amount of hesitance or even second thought to the idea of maiming someone for wasting his time.

----

Man, it sure would have been a shame for Osiris if Acro were to move from the spot. He stood on his two legs while his left shot messages of pain up his leg. He leaned onto his better foot, but it still wasn't enough. The archeops knew he could move, but at the moment it seemed a bit more like a daunting task now than ever.

Ever so hesitantly, he took a step forward. Ever so quickly and painfully, he collapsed on the spot. As much of a rush as he was to go find Osiris, he quickly decided that perhaps he should rest at least a little bit. Even a simple Roost could do him some good for now...he hoped.

Osiris gulped nervously at the archeop's words. So it wasn't helping because that was the right thing to do? It was... looking forward to making one of them pay, whatever that meant. The smile on the bird's face was a little offputting, especially when you had to look up at it beause that same bird had you clutched in its talons.

Putting that to the side though, the little ride through the air was quite nice. He let himself go limp in the flying-type's grip, enjoying the view as they glided through the air. The vast mountainside was kind of beautiful once you removed yourself from all the stuff that wanted to kill you. Maybe it was just something in the atmosphere that made everyone violent, he told himself, watching a cubone and an aron push each other around a few hundred feet away from him.

"Hey... Hey, I think that's him right there!" the dratini piped up, spying an archeops laying on the ground a distance away. It was slightly off the mark from where they were before, but that looked like Acro! "Down there, laying on the ground... oh, no, I hope he's not hurt. Can we check on him?!" he blurted, suddenly in a panic. Did the breloom win the fight?

The duskull, meanwhile, paled significantly. The downside was that they actually found the freaking explorer... but maybe Brie had gotten the best of him? The ghost-type didn't immediately flee, knowing that running from the archeops wasn't a viable option, and this situation could still pan out in its favor.

(popping a munchy mix +10 energy)

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

, , , , , , , , ,

Oh yes, he was absolutely hurt. All because a breloom and two mutts got some cheap lucky shots on him. Not!Acro was genuinely surprised by the appearance of the fellow Archeops, quick to ignore the Duskull entirely at this point and rush a bit closer to the fallen bird.

Acro could hear voices, specifically the dratini he was so worked up over living for at the moment. He opened an eye to see...shapes and shadows. Oh, wonderful.

"Hey, are you alri-oooh you are not." Not!Acro questioned him only to notice the ruffled feathers, teeth marks, and ever-so-wonderful blood. The archeops lifted a leg and nudged Acro a little with a foot. Not!Acro's attention focused on the explorer's bag, more specifically the neat-o little badge that shined in the light. "...Huh." The archeops commented. Without missing a beat, the Archeops set down the bag fairly quickly, swiveled around, and moved to smack the duskull straight in the face.

Acro, meanwhile, decided to take the moment to rest still. He could hear the dratini, but it didn't sound too urgent. If anything he was just relieved the dragon type was alright.

Off in a small distance, a red and orange chicken-like creature watched on from behind a rock with wide eyes. He could hardly believe what he was seeing! However, still, he decided to camp out for a little longer rather than immediately call for help...just in case...

"Oooh, no, no, no, no..." Osiris mumbled to himself, slithering right off the archeops and up to Acro with panicked concern. "Acro? You're okay, right, Acro?" he asked nudging the explorer's face none-too-gently with his tail. "I-I got the money, for the cubone." he went on, hearing the quiet thunk of the coin pouch landing on the ground.

He also heard—and saw, to an extent, out of his peripheral—the other archeops spin like a top and whack the duskull with no real warning. Caught totally off guard by the sudden attack, the duskull offered no resistance and had no time to phase through the blow, taking it on the chin and crashing into the ground miserably, where it twitched a few times but didn't really move. Osiris couldn't bring himself to care a whole lot at the moment. The rotten ghost-type had contributed to Acro's condition one way or another - it served 'em right.

The dratini's voice was much clearer and closer now. He could hear footsteps of something else followed by the "CRACK" of...well, he wasn't sure. He opened his eyes, feeling a little more rested now that the Roost did its magic. While he felt more energized, it didn't just magically heal the wounds over completely. "Y-Yeah, I'm fine..." he lied. Using the second wind granted to him, he attempted to force himself back up. Pain shot up his leg again, but he could stand a little steadier. He couldn't imagine that he could run though...and he'd have a limp.

"Yeaaaah, that's a whole load of croc," Not!Acro spoke up after returning from his divine retribution upon the duskull. "Come on, even an explorer should know not to pull that kind of crap. It's dangerous not just for you, but those in the team."

Acro's gaze flicked to the other archeops, a little baffled by the other pokemon's words. It...was true, but he didn't think he'd get...lectured? Huh...he was so bad at being an explorer that some stranger saw it fit to criticize him. How great was that?

----

"Explorer" the word struck the combusken like a train, "H-Hey! D-Did you say explorer???" the chicken called out to the trio. "You wouldn't happen to be from Aileron would you?" All the fire type looked for was a nod from Acro, so when it happened, the bird was completely willing to hop out of it hiding spot on one foot. "Ohthankgod I thought I was gonna die out here! PleaseGetMeOuttaHereOh-FU-" the combusken was cut off as it fell flat on its beak with a little trip.