Why Are These Trees Fabulous?

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This dungeon talked a lot of crap for being in Osiris' backyard.

A tiny, cerulean noodle slithered through the tall grass of Shadowhue Forest, eyes squinty and mistrusting. This dratini liked to think he'd been around the block a few times, but when running through his mental resume of being an awesome dude, he realized he hadn't quite explored the depths of Shadowhue yet. He hadn't really explored any of the dungeons close to Grassveil, and while Pecha was excusable because that was boring and for little kids, this place was supposed to be different.

So. It was on. As part of his new resolution to get his act together, get strong and powerful and skilled, and defend his friends and help them out of the awful situations they'd found themselves in, he was going to climb the ladder. He'd start with this dungeon and work his way up to the biggest and baddest of them, and then he'd swoop back into their lives like a superhero and fix everything.

For now, he merely pasted on a determined expression, fastened his satchel to himself, and slithered into the depths of the gloomy forest. The dragon-type's eyes were peeled for interesting matchups and discoveries.

43 - 10 (entry cost): 33 energy

"Ah... is that so?"

Robin breathed a relieved sigh that she hadn't even realized she was holding in, feeling, at once, rather silly and small. There was a burst of genuine relief that she couldn't quite place, or rather, she knew this wasn't the time to be draw too deeply in her own thoughts. "No, it... hail doesn't hurt me." She said, mostly honestly: the hail itself didn't harm her, but her concern for the little dragon had been written clear.

It was concern, yes, but to call it purely concern would have been a lie. It was obvious that the Dratini was barely hurt. No, she had been much more worried about his opinion of her, and the fact that it hadn't seemed to have lowered in the slightest... it was written in his almost oblivious curiosity, the beginnings of a smile playing at his face. She wasn't certain if she felt relieved or guilty or perhaps both, only exhaling once more with the faintest possible hint of laughter tracing her tone.

"I'm glad to hear you're alright. Just say the word if you need a rest, alright?" She echoed, the previous tension gone from her posture. It looked like she owed him, didn't she? She mused on it even as she tried not to smile too obviously, a glint of red and gold catching her eye. Treasure? They were shaped like pirate's gold, even. Yes, perhaps that would do to repay him for the kindness.

"Hold on, just a moment." She mused, rummaging through the underground to return with two metal boxes in tow, nudging them forward with her nose. It took an obvious strain on her, her tiny body shaking with effort, though her smile was genuine as she looked back up, pushing the two chests forward.

"Which would you like, left or right?"

+1 energy (new page): 4 energy

That was squared away nicely, in his opinion. The hail was inconvenient, sure, but for a second there at the start Robin seemed apologetic about it; a little silly in his opinion since she couldn't control it, but he was glad she seemed so relaxed in the face of his answer. Maybe he should try to take point if they came across any battles that needed to be fought - the less she had to worry about it, the better.

"Ooh, to the victors go the spoils, huh?" Osiris spoke with a grin once his companion struggled back with a pair of boxes. The ridiculousness of it made him fight to contain a giggle; was this why the farfetch'd picked a fight? Finders-keepers? Well, they had lost. "Hmm... I'll go left!" he impulsively decided, reaching out with his tail to fiddle about with the box's clasp.

To his dismay, it stubbornly remained closed, even when he got a teensy bit rough with it. The dratini sighed, unwilling to break whatever was inside in an attempt to pry it open. "Aw, it's jammed. I think there's a lady in town who busts 'em open for people," he said mostly to himself, frowning at the thing. Iris squarely stuffed the box into his satchel, making a mental note to get that thing looked at as soon as possible. "Y'want me to carry yours 'til we get outta here? I got the space for it." It was a pretty nonchalant offer - he'd seen how she struggled just to get it over here, and he had a bag for that kind of thing anyway.

Osiris' attempt to pry it open was rather fruitless, despite straining with effort. Someone in town who could open them? That was interesting, she mused, even as she managed to place her box inside her bag - no small effort, considering her lack of arms. [color=#c0fff8]"That's alright, I've almost... got it..." She muttered, a victorious grin crossing her face when she finally managed to slide it into place, the remaining box now secure in her pack.

"There! Thank you for the help back there, Iris." She chimed, giving a polite bow before she scampered off again, a bit more enthusiasm in her step. She flinched when she heard something crack under her foot, glancing down with a hint of surprise. A familiar pink berry, which was promptly tucked in her pouch, before a flash of color caught her eye. It was no sooner that her face lit up, though, whirling back to face the dragon with something in her mouth.

It was a piece of bark, splintered and snapped under her foot. Still clearly visible, however, were streaks of leaf-green and a chilly ice blue. "Hey, look at this." She tried to keep her tone calm, but her excitement was betrayed as she scratched the bark. It didn't seem like paint, didn't fleck off no matter how she tried to chip it. It was more like pigment.

"No way..." She muttered, pushing it between the two of them to inspect. She, herself, was surprised by how her heart pounded in her chest.

Robin's Energy: 1 (+1, new page)

"That's... not normal." Osiris replied dumbly, staring at the piece of bark in the vulpix's mouth.

The dratini slithered up closer to the piece of evidence, examining it at Robin's silent request. It seemed pretty obvious that it came from a weirdly colored tree—especially with how alive his companion suddenly sounded—but he was a little less enthusiastic. Not because it wasn't cool, but because it was just... well, it was colorful bark. And it hadn't quite dawned on him that this might mean the tree must be close nearby.

He took in the colors of the wood and tilted his head considerably, trying to imagine a thicket of similarly colored trees. It was definitely pretty enough to investigate. "You think that's your tree?" he asked. "It's... not quite rainbow, but it's only a little piece, too. Either way, we're in the right place." the dratini finished, raising his heads to study their surroundings once more.

The bark was definitely out of place considering the forestry they were surrounded by, but wherever it came from, he couldn't say. The hailstorm made it a little bit difficult to spot any ice-blue trees, what with all the ice-blue specks of hail flying around and smacking him in the face.

"Mhm." She confirmed quietly, tilting her head. He was right, it wasn't exactly rainbow... but it felt like progress, didn't it? She tucked it away into her bag, humming thoughtfully. She couldn't quite glean any other flashes of color, leaving her to trail aimlessly in the direction where she'd found the bark seconds earlier. "You're right. I think we're getting closer." She agreed, her eyes alight with interest. It had to be here somewhere, if she could just find another clue on which direction to go...

It blindsided her, completely, when the ground fell out from under her feet, a surprised yelp pulled from her as she scrambled for footing. Her claws could barely find purchase on the loose soil, slipping away from under her feet and sending her crashing down. She landed on her side, the foliage used to cover the trap doing little to catch her, a dull ache bursting from her shoulder. "Ow-" She muttered, blinking in surprise. Was that just bad luck with the terrain, or...

... no, it was purposeful. That was a pitfall trap, and her fear was confirmed by something just out of the light's reach - something much larger than Robin, with far too eyes. It wasn't until she stumbled back that she caught an odd scent in the air, an odd green powder that was only just fine enough to catch her eye. She tried not to tremble, and failed rather poorly, clawing with at the walls with no avail.

"I-Iris? There's someone down here, there's something in the air- I need-" She stuttered, suddenly finding it very hard to try and fight to keep some scraps of dignity, very hard to keep her head up high. She needed help, was what she was about to say - but suddenly, her eyes felt so, so heavy, and a better idea crept into her sluggish mind. "- I need... a rest..."

And the once-frantic Vulpix collapsed to her feet, slumbering almost peacefully under the predator's watchful gaze. Only the occasional flutter of her eyelids and the twitches of her paws indicated that some part of her may still be aware that something was horribly wrong. That, perhaps, was what her assailant was waiting for.

"Woah!" Osiris exclaimed in surprise, watching as Robin took a plummet into the ground and vanished before his eyes. The dratini nearly jumped out of his skin at the sight, spooked and on-guard instantly. He slithered up to the edge of the pit-fall trap as soon as he heard his companion's voice down below, his heart sinking but his body filling with a nervous energy. Was she in trouble?!

He did quite possibly the stupidest thing he could do - he bounded up into the air and dived into the pit with her, adamant about not letting her get beat up or eaten or whatever by what she saw down there. The fall was modest, but deep enough to be dangerous for anyone who didn't see it coming, which was just about everyone who'd fall into the dumb trap. Osiris landed roughly on the ground at the vulpix's side, sparing the slumbering ice-type only a brief glance before finding himself occupied.

A crushing force suddenly slammed down on top of the dratini, pinning him to the ground roughly. It was a vicious stomp that held down a large portion of his serpentine length, and all the air in his body had expelled before he even knew it, leaving him to wheeze painfully. Eyes clenched shut and suddenly overcome with a throbbing pain all over, it wasn't an unfamiliar situation to him at all, and he was channeling a thunder-wave through his tail before he knew it.

It was pure, dumb luck that it'd been pointed at their attacker, and judging from the startled jerk of the foot pressing down on him, he knew the paralyzation had taken root. Desperately, Osiris scrambled out from the startled pokemon's hold, leaping up off the ground in a frienzied burst of extremespeed right into its chest. The two of them scrambled about clumsily and awkwardly in the cramped space of the pitfall trap, narrowly avoiding the resting vulpix as they stomped around.

In hindsight, he realized, it might have been easier to stay at the top and fire down attacks at the Exeggutor, but too late for all that.

Come on, Robin! Come and play!

The little Oddish was beaming as brightly as the sun as Robin rushed out of her house, hopping up and down in place mirthfully as she approached, giving him a playful bop on the head with her nose. A familiar Yamper bumped into her side, practically bowling her over as the Vulpix sprung back to her feet with a grin. "Low blow, Oliver!" She huffed in mock-indignation, crouching down in a play-bow with a wave of her tails. "Ambushes are no fair! You're gonna get it now!"

"All's fair in love and war." Oliver chimed back, returning the mock bow with one of his own. He charged at her with a wide grin, his tongue lolling as he sprang her way, sparks flickering from his fur. Robin dipped aside with an easy fluidity, waggling her hindquarters as she pounced at him in a counterblow -

- and he dissolved into snow before her eyes, his expression growing panicked, then utterly terrified, as his face melted away before her eyes, turned into little white crystals that blew back in her face. Robin stumbled back in a blind panic, hearing herself make a choked noise of terror. She turned around to run, faced only with hail-dented houses and a rising tide of snow. It was up to her knees, now, when it had been a beautiful summer day just a moment before.

The Vulpix's expression twitched into a dull look of horror, a pathetic whimper escaping her in her sleep. She twitched her paws as the snow piled high and higher still, until she couldn't walk any longer, only able to thrash in place as it buried her alive.

"... ver... ck... col... orr-"

The stomp crashing down an inch from her face barely made her blink, but it was enough to stir her, her hazy mind praying to whatever god may be listening that she hadn't said anything too embarrassing in her sleep. Two figures were thrashing mere inches from her face. A little blue serpent was throwing himself at an Exeggutor again and again, scrambling and rearing this way and that-

... she remembered where she was, at long last, and it was a bolt of lightning to her tired mind. She forced herself to her feet, barely able to stay standing as the blood rushed to her head, black spots obscuring her vision. She couldn't aim like this. She couldn't risk hurting Osiris - but wasn't standing by and doing nothing also letting him get hurt? She could only dip her head and squeeze her eyes shut. "Osiris, move!"

She summoned all her willpower to throw a blast of freezing air at the enemy, frost collecting on it's leaves, it's body, chilling it until it could no longer move and it's unconscious form finally slumped over still. "... I'm so sorry. I should have seen that trap. Iris, are you alright?" There was a faint tremor to her voice as her unsteady posture finally caught up with her, forcing her to sit down awkwardly as she blinked the dark splotches out of her vision.

The suddenly alert and crisp voice of his companion shook Osiris out of his empty-minded stupor, where he'd been absently just throwing himself at the exeggutor over and over again. It was a repetitive and taxing struggle—the big guy hit hard—and he was all too happy to wrench himself to the side and lunge to safety once Robin gave him a signal. The dratini threw himself into a wall of dirt, feeling the chilling air rush past him to finally put down their attacker.

If he had fur, it'd be standing up on end—that just felt scary, coming from behind him. Ice-types hurt both grass-types and dragons, and Osiris had been one late reaction from dropping right alongside the psychic three thing. "I'm... I'm good," Iris said, taking a moment to gain his breath and composure. Brief as it might have been, it was a tough little fight. "Gonna have some gnarly bruises where it got to wailing on me, but I'm good - what about you?"

He turned to study the vulpix at his side, squinting through the relative darkness of the pitfall. "You looked out of it when I jumped down here. Did you have a bad landing or something?" he asked, worried concern tinging his voice again. "Nothing's broken, is it?" Scrapes, bruises, and cuts he could handle pretty easily. It was amazing what proper berries and seeds could do if you knew which to use at which moment. But broken bones were a whole different story.

She hadn't noticed the faint tremble in her legs until the freezing gust died out. She was silent for a moment, glancing over Osiris for injuries. He seemed fine enough - and thankfully free of any frost or snow clinging to his scales, letting Robin know with certainty had he had ducked out of the way in time. That was a relief. She would have felt awful if she'd hit him, especially since it would have hurt him just as badly as the exeggutor.

"That's good. I'm glad." She managed numbly, her voice a bit heavier as the adrenaline rush subsided. That was closer than she would have liked. She shook some lingering dirt and powder from her fur, holding her breath as it drifted to the ground. She blinked, frowning as Iris asked her a question in turn. Was she alright? Honestly, she wasn't exactly sure what had just happened to her.

"I'm fine now. I... think I fell asleep." She managed, wrinkling her nose in thought. "There was something funny in the air down here, maybe that did it? Or maybe I just hit my head..." She trailed off, ruling out that second idea rather quickly. She'd fallen on her side, she was... decently sure. But admittedly, everything was a bit of a blur, between the adrenaline rush and her nap.

In any case, that hadn't been her finest moment. The corner of her mouth quirked in a hint of a smile at Osiris' concern, though internally she was a bit guilty. It was her fault they had landed in a mess like that, after all. "I'm fine, thanks to you. I only got hurt from the fall." Her expression flickered and faded then, frowning somewhat.

... now, they had a different problem. "Now, how to get out of here..." That exeggutor must have come from somewhere. There must be a way out, perhaps a path she hadn't noticed. She poked at the nearest wall in an attempt to find it, her eyes still adjusting to the dark.

Osiris nodded slowly at his companion's words, still unsure of what exactly happened but willing to move on since she seemed alright. It could have been the fall or some kind of pollen in the air, considering the pokemon that had made a move on them. He didn't know anything about exeggutor aside from the fact that they were grass-types, but that was enough.

The dragon wyrm looked around the pitfall they were in after Robin spoke, wondering the solution to their problem as well. There wasn't anything down here he could spot beside himself, his friend, and a tall, sleepy, beat-up, frosty tree pokemon. "Maaaybe we could climb up this thing?" he suggested with a questioning lilt to his voice, as if he wasn't totally sure of the idea himself. Iris gestured to the exeggutor with his tail. "If we could get 'em against the wall, you know, so that the head's facing up. Then we skedaddle up that long neck, and uh... hop out, maybe?" If a dratini could shrug, he'd have done it after pitching his half-hearted plan, but as things were he just glanced at the unconscious creature hesitatingly.

Was there probably a more elegant and smart solution to this problem? Probably, yeah, but he couldn't think of it at the moment.

"Mm, that might work." Robin agreed, though even Osiris seemed a bit hesitant about his idea. It was... less than graceful, was the kindest thing she could think to say. But there must be another answer, even if it wasn't immediately clear. How did the exeggutor get in and out of here? Unless it had also fallen in, which was supposed was possible, but the nagging feeling at the back of her mind thought otherwise. She pawed thoughtfully at the wall, noticing an oddly large rock by the corner. Funny, it deemed round enough to roll, and from a curious touch, it didn't seem rooted in place.

A shove made it shift, though it didn't fully move until Robin threw all of her weight behind it, revealing an odd tunnel dipping into the earth... and sending the rock careering rather precariously towards Iris, tilting down the little hill it had been perched on. Robin's squeak of panic was high-pitched and sharp. She attempted to slow down the rock with a blast of snow, which ended exactly as one may expect: The rock had no change in direction, but it was, now, slightly colder.

"Irislookout-"

Osiris was much more concerned with the handling of their giant grass-type escape route than his companion's investigation. It didn't occur to him that such a big pokemon probably needed a way in and out of its pitfall trap - only that they were stuck and there was a possible solution staring them in the face. The dratini slithered up to it and studied the pokemon's form with a thoughtful look on his face, trying and failing miserably to think of a way to sit it upright.

He'd have been better served at least paying attention to the alolan vulpix stuck down there with him, as when she uncovered the entrance and sent a sizable hunk of stone rolling his way, he was caught completely off guard. Iris' gaze flickered to Robin for just a moment at the sound of her squeaky warning. "Wha-?" he managed to get out, only for the key to their exit ticket to crash into him bodily. It bowled him over immediately, sending him crashing into the ground roughly. The rock kept going, flattening him on its speedy course into the site of the pitfall trap.

It thudded into the wall next to the exeggutor, leaving a trail of frost coated on the ground behind it—and on the entirety of Iris' serpentine body. The dratini wriggled weakly, clenching his eyes shut at the immensely uncomfortable and painful sensation of freezing, biting cold stabbing at his scales on top of the ache from being blindsided with a boulder. "Ouuugh," he groaned weakly from the ground, not quite ready to attempt picking himself up. "W-what'd I do?" Iris asked weakly and rhetorically, as if pondering what misdeed of his in the past had led to this karmic punishment.

Robin, who had officially done the direct opposite of helping, raced over to Osiris with a startled yelp. Oh, dear Arceus. That was bad. "Iris! Are you alright? Anything broken?" She asked frantically, crouching down next to him. At least he wasn't pinned under the boulder, but that was a small blessing. He'd taken a bit of a beating there. "I'm so sorry, you jumped in here to help me and then I hit you with a rock, how did I even manage that, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry-"

She forced her mouth shut at the realization she was rambling, the faint tremble to her legs betraying her anxiety. How did she always make it up to people, after she hurt them? "I don't have any healing items, but I can go look for one." She offered, frantic and shaky, pacing in place back and forth, her mind whirling with ideas. "Or- if you wanted to climb on my back I could carry you out of here. Or you could hit me! That's only fair, since I just hit you. I'm sorry."

She plead silently that he didn't hate her, realizing just how drastic that last solution would sound to most anyone. She didn't even know why tears were prickling at her eyes. "I'm so sorry. That was a joke." A lie, and a rather poor one, considering how frantic she had been, and still obviously was. "But I mean, you could, if you wanted to, I wouldn't hold it against you, I did just do the same thing-"

"I don't wanna—I'm not gonna hit you back," Osiris managed to speak. He almost felt a little insulted by the implication, but all the pain was making it hard for him to feel anything else. The thrum of panic he felt at Robin freaking out so bad took precedence over his ego, though. "I just didn't know you could summon d-death rocks, that's crazy." the dratini went on, forcing himself to speak in an attempt to communicate he was okay.

He kept his eyes clenched shut as he waited for the double-edged pain to subside. He'd never been hit dead-on by an ice-type attack before, and while he got the feeling that wasn't quite what happened, it was an agonizing experience on top of the whole high-speed boulder thing. The pain was fading slowly but surely, though he was a long ways off from feeling "okay." "Nothing's b-broken, I don't think..." he edged out, rolling over onto his stomach and slowly opening his eyes. "It's okay, just give me a second—

"... wait, whazzat?" Osiris cut himself off, suddenly staring at the entrance to the tunnel his companion had sleuthed out moments earlier. He blinked at the sight a few times, not sure if he was hallucinating or not. That definitely wasn't there a few moments ago when he and Robin looked around. Had she found the way out?

Ah. At least he had managed to talk. Robin dipped her head, needing a very long moment to gather herself. The stress of the nightmare, combined with her accidental blow to Osiris, had very quickly taken a toll on her. She breathed in deeply, shoving away thoughts that she was usually much better at repressing. Of course he didn't want to hit her. He wasn't like her, her mind whispered. The thought was a dramatic one, but not one she could fully shake. She had been chipping away at the little dragon ever since they met, simply by being in his presence. The stray hailstones bouncing into the pit was proof enough of that.

Kill you? Of course I'm not going to kill you. Not everyone is like you, you little freak.

"Ah, no, that's not... exactly what happened. That rock was covering up a hidden passage out, right? I tried to move it out of the way, and then it just started rolling, and... I'm sorry." She said again lamely, forcing herself not to apologize again. Repeated apologies were just annoying, after all.

If one was listening very, very closely, they may notice that the pounding of hail outside had picked up in intensity, rattling Shadowhue to it's very core.

What, you've never hunted before? And here I thought you'd be used to having blood on your hands.

Robin was dead silent for a moment, trying to figure out what she could do, what she could say, anything, anything to force things to be alright again. Ah. Was she tearing up? Well, that was just embarrassing. Osiris wasn't supposed to be the one to worry over her, not when she had just hurt him, that simply wouldn't do. Her voice was wobbly, her turn away a bit too quick, a bit too awkward.

Oh, now you're going to cry? This is all your fucking fault. You don't get to whine about it now.

"I'm... I'm ready when you are! J-just say the word."