Scouts Need Speed (Open)

(Do note that the goal of this thread is to reach and explore Monochrome Ruins)

Kestro trotted up towards the entrance of Shadowhue rather excitedly. His clawed feet left clear indentions in the ground and leaves covering it as he approached. The fossil pokemon slowly came to a stop at the very entrance of the forest, doing a final check on his items before he'd enter.

Berries, check. Seeds, check. Escape Orb, check. Notebook, check. Pens, check. Small tingles of excitement ran down Kestro's spine, and he wasn't quite sure why. Perhaps the lasting view of Russel's library in Fallen Leaf Copse was it, or the fact that the Mothim let Kestro join his Windrose Scouts. Maybe it was the fact that the scouts gave Kestro a purpose, something he felt he's lacked up until now.

In any case, here he was, facing Shadowhue. Granted the forest wasn't his true goal. While he'd certainly take notes of it, what Kestro really wanted to do was find the supposed ruins deeper in the forest and make a report on them. He hadn't seen one while at the library, so it felt like the perfect first report to submit.

Energy = 19

Elsewhere but relatively close by, two other pokemon lurked in the forest.

The first, like Kestro, was here with a clear goal. Aqua-colored with a sturdy yet scarred shell, a young squirtle strode throughout Shadowhue with purpose, confidence, and caution. His name was Dreyar, and he'd come here with the express purpose of finding pokemon equal to or relative to his skill level so that he could practice battling, gain experience, and repeat the cycle once he'd recovered from today's activities. In other words, he was here to grind. Strung around his shoulder and hanging at his side was a modest pack filled with some supplies—food, seeds, berries, and the like. A youthful and determined visage scanned the horizon for potential threats as the water-type made ground. He was the picture of duty and courage.

The second, unlike either of the other two, had no fuckin' clue where he was. Celio knew he was in some kind of dungeon, of course, and he was psyched about that, but the little eevee had honestly just been wandering the world since he'd left his home days ago. His travels had taken him northward through a brief excursion in the Icy Lands before he'd turned tail and said 'to hell with the cold.' Some time had passed since then and now he found himself in a dark forest on the edge of the warm grasslands, brown eyes excitedly peering around as he investigated his new surroundings. Similarly, he came with a satchel, but unlike the other two journeymen in the forest, it looked rather depleted. Still, Cel forged onward, either uncaring or unconcerned by how unsafe this could be. He was the picture of curiosity and rashness.

Unbeknownst to both of them, their current paths through the woods were set to soon converge with one unaware and probably quite unlucky cranidos...

Dreyar: 9 energy
Celio: 15 energy

After ensuring he had the right items, Kestro strode into the forest. It wasn't long before the canopy blotted out most of the sunlight. Cranidos squinted his eyes to try and adjust to the lack of light, the few shafts of light able to peek through doing little to help brighten the thick layer of leaves and other debris covering the forest floor. Once adjusted, though, it didn't take long for him to spot a rather bright blue, bald head moving towards his path.

Kestro slowed his pace as he watched the Pokemon. An exploring partner could help, especially since he'd never been deep in Shadowhue and never even seen Monochrome Ruins. On the other claw, the blie Pokemon looked raring for something. Whether it was being cautious or hostile, Kestro had no idea, though.

Continuing on his way, Dreyar found himself pushing through more and more thick bushes in lieu of a clear path. He was hoping to find one soon, to have some gravel or trail underneath his feet instead of constantly looking over his shoulder for something wild to pounce on him. When he pushed through one more, though, stepping into another stretch of the dark forest, he spotted someone else.

Roughly around his size, a grey and blue reptile pokemon stared at him, moving slowly in response to... his presence? Drey felt a little flattered that he was apparently intimidating enough to be wary of, but he definitely wasn't out to hurt anybody. It was quite the opposite, in fact, if he found a situation he could help in. The squirtle smiled disarmingly and waved at the pokemon, pausing about ten feet away from the other pokemon. It was a polite yet wary distance.

"Hey there," he probed, tone cautious but friendly. If this pokemon wasn't feral or civil, it would likely ignore him or attack in response. If not, well, then maybe he'd found a partner out here to grind with. "You cool?" he asked, tilting his head as he studied it.

Not far off, Cel heard the sound of a voice. His ears perked up and, practically vibrating with curiosity and anticipation at the thought of finally finding something, he bounded off in the direction his ears told him.

"Y-You're really heavy...you know...?"

"Well, duh, that's kind of the point. If you wanna be strong, you gotta get-well, strong. That means doing a bunch of hard things and this is hard...right?"

"Well...yes...? But I don't see how this is going to help-"

"Wait did you just call me fat?"

"N-No! Not at all! I mean-I don't know what eevee typically weigh but..."

Two voices chattered on with one another, one after the other in a bit of a banter. One small and quiet while the other held little to no fear of who or what heard them. The contrast between them was drastic, but both of them held a friendly voice tone as if neither were strangers. Well, they were strangers, the duo just didn't particularly care as much.

The soft meek voice that struggled to correct herself came from a large bug known as a Larvesta. Her name was Vulcana, a trainee in search of her inner flame. The voice that rang with confidence and youth came from a much smaller and strangely colored fox-like pokemon known to be eevee. Her name was Sekita, a melanistic eevee who'd lost her way in the depths of Shadowhue. They came across each other a while ago and Sekita, ever so willing to help, offered to do what she could to assist Vulcana in her journey in exchange for help. It was a mutual agreement that seemed fair at the time, but as time went on Vulcana began to doubt whether or not this would work.

The evolution pokemon hopped on top of the larger bug for a ride with the claim that the effort put into carrying her might help her work up her blood a little. It was a true statement that Sekita genuinely believed in, but Vulcana had to wonder if this was just a cheap attempt to get a free ride out of her. At the very least, it wasn't a very effective ride with how slow-going everything was. Vulcana struggled and stumbled along, she found that the weight of the eevee was a little too much for her to bear. Still, she was bound and determined to complete the task assigned to her-even if it might have been a little abusive in nature.

The eevee's ears perked and twitched at every sound, but one in particular interested her that she managed to catch over Vulcana's nervous ramble. She hesitated, but eventually patted on the larvesta's head, "Heeeey," she interrupted the fire type, "Go that way, I heard something over there. Maybe it'll be something we can beat up-or even just Roku. Roku would love sparring with you." And by sparring, she meant more of using the bug as a chew toy, but hey, the pressure might build up the bug's spark a little.

Vulcana looked up at the direction the eevee pointed, hesitated herself with a worried whine, but changed her course with a bit more pressure to her pace. With the weight of an eevee on her back, she hurried off closer to the direction Cel bounded past. At the same time, they drew closer to Dreyar and Kestro. By the time she wriggled her way through the foliage of a bush, however, she dropped onto her stomach with labored breaths. She hadn't even the energy to speak, but her partner, on the other hand, seemed to favor a more grandoise entrance.

"Bitches, I have arrived!" she declared proudly to strangers with a paw on her chest, a smile on her face, and a glint of Detect in her eye...just in case.

Well, at least he wasn't attacked immediately. "Uh, if ya mean I won't attack without reason, then yeah I'm cool," he responded, still a bit unsure of the situation. The Pokemon was definitely trying to be friendly, with the easy going tone and smile. The rock type shifted where he stood, deciding to relax himself. Kestro's lack of knowledge on other pokemon really hampered him, as he had no idea what Dreyar was, least of all being a Water type.

Not that it really mattered, as the pair were soon interrupted by what might as well have been an piece of Shadowhue itself jumping out to greet the pair. Sekita startled Kestro enough for him to jump to face her, beak clicking rapidly. What on earth was this thing he was looking at? If anything Sekita managed to be somehow darker than Shadowhue itself. At least she was loud enough to make herself clearly known, or maybe that's the reason she was being loud, Kestro thought.

Still, Kestro found it a fair bit difficult to tell what the Eevee was doing in the dim light, and naturally his attention moved towards the panting piece of white fuzz on the ground. "Um... Hello, are they alright?"

He was happy enough that the cranidos wasn't hostile that even a lukewarm reply put a smile on Dreyar's face. He opened his mouth to introduce himself, but they were suddenly interrupted by a very theatrical child and her poor bug mount.

The squirtle stumbled back at their approach before studying the two of them intently. She was pretty coarse judging from what she called them, but that wasn't so bad. "H-hello! I'm Dreyar, not, uh...you know." Dreyar trailed off, blinking in stupefication at the eevee's introduction. Like Kestro, his attention drifted down to the worn out looking bug pokemon underneath the black eevee. "That is a good question," he found himself agreeing. "Do you need some help down there?"

If she did, he wouldn't hesitate to try to lighten the bug's burden, in any way neccessary.

Celio, meanwhile, slowed his pace as he approached the source of voices. He was bored and eager for something to spice up his trip, not dumb enough to jump into the middle of a group of strangers and hope they weren't hungry. The eevee crouched down low as more pokemon spoke, eyes flickering between them as they spoke. Quite the diverse group was in front of him; there was even another of his kind, dark in color, though hard to see in the dimness of Shadowhue. It seemed they were all strangers, running into each other for the first time. That was the impression he got after a few seconds, anyway.

He waited to introduce or reveal himself. Cel was many things; headstrong, confident, and even rash at times, but he also liked living. He would wait to see if these pokemon reacted well to meeting each other before trying to insert himself into the group - if trouble broke out, he wanted to stay unseen for as long as possible.

Dreyar:

the sunset hero carried out 9 launched of one Shadowhue Forest :

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Celio:

the sunset hero carried out 10 launched of one Shadowhue Forest :

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The larva, still determined to get a move on just enough to leave the bush she arrived from entirely, reached out with her forelegs and pulled herself forward ever so slightly by an inch or two. Once she was spoken to, she finally seemed to register that other people were around. Her eyes snapped open before they darted around from body to body. A squirtle and a cranidos-oooh no. Both of these were pretty scary looking pokemon. They could absolutely kick her around if they wanted to-more so than the obnoxious brat on her head.

"U-Uh-Thanks, but-"

"She's training!" Sekita butted in, just a little annoyed that she'd gone thoroughly ignored despite her grand introduction. The larvesta shrank in response to her sudden outburst, but didn't say any more. "She's just a lil' tired is all." Despite her annoyance, she kept up her happy and upbeat demeanor. At the very least, she hopped down from her exhausted mount and onto the ground below. Her ears twitched and twisted in each of the pokemon's direction, but she didn't particularly look at either one of them. "Her name's Vulcana," she introduced her new friend with a pat of her paw on the soft white fuzz of the bug's mane. Her paw returned to her chest, "And I'm Sekita!"

"Y-Yeah."

"So! It's very nice to meet you Dreyar and Unnamed Guy. You two wouldn't have happened to have seen a lil Rockruff runnin around would you? Or a lycanroc? Glaceon? Torterra? Medicham? Literally anything? I got a lil' separated from my family. Vulcana here was nice enough to help me try and find 'em and I was helpin her train up! Right Vulcana?" The eevee didn't look to the bug, but she still sat close to the larva. Close enough to notice the bug flinch as the attention was directed back towards her.

"...Yeah that's right. ANYWAYS! You going to name yourself Mr. Unnamed Guy or am I going to have to give you one?" She spoke instead of the larva.

Kestro's beak clicked in annoyance at the dark eevee's words and domineering relationship with the Larvesta. He could feel his rage building as his thoughts broiled in his head. The fossil pokemon took in a deep breath, before letting out an exasperated sigh. He knew better than to attack. He had no idea what Dreyar or Sekita were, and on top of that he was keenly aware that instigating a battle could quickly turn into a three-on-one situation.

Instead he trotted towards the Eevee and Larvesta, the forest floor crunching beneath his weight. "My name is Kestro, and no, I haven't seen any of those Pokemon," he saod before kneeling down in front of Vulcana.

"Here, this should give you some energy back," he said as he fished out an Oran berry and set it in front of the Larvesta. "And this should help with training. There's a shop in Grassveil where you can use this to get stronger faster," he added as he set a Joy Seed next to the berry.

Dreyar frowned a little bit - not at Kestro's serious generosity (Joy seeds were pretty rare, right?) but at the brusque and almost oppressive way this Sekita was treating the bug. She agreed to it, but the dark eevee even went as far as speaking for the poor thing. It was a little bit of a bummer that she didn't take them up on their offer for help. He wanted to to something for her.

"Well, if it gets too much for you, I could... take over?" he offered, so uncertain of how much help that would be that it came out as a question. "I mean, I'm sure you can walk on your own, of course, but... well, I dunno. I've also got food I can share if you want to take a break, at least." Dreyar said, at first speaking to Sekita but ending up making the offer to just about every one, so as not to be rude.

He sighed afterward, looking around the area of forest they were in. "I haven't seen anyone around except you all, to be honest with you. I came from west from here, so-"

The squirtle was cut off by the entrance of a fifth pokemon, and the second eevee. "Nobody from the south, either!" he pitched in, stepping away from the bush he was in to get a bit closer. He felt it was safe enough, with how friendly and nice they all were to one another. "Hi, I'm Celio, nice to meet y'all. Why are you black?" he directed his query at Sekita, making either the best or worst introduction of all time.

Cel may have been smart in one or two ways, but nobody ever accused him of being socially graceful. "It's just, you're an eevee like me, but I thought you needed to be an umbreon to be so dark." he went on a heartbeat later... not that it would probably help.

The terrifying rock-dino approached. Was he going to attack? Was he going to do something to her? The larvesta took a step back and off to the side, a feeble attempt to hide behind the pokemon much smaller than her. Sekita may have been loud, but at the very least she drew attention away from her so she wouldn't have to worry about it. Somehow, however, that made her the absolute center of it all! Once she realized that the cranidos wasn't some secret hostile being out to squish her, she became...in awe.

Was...was that a joy seed? The larvesta's eyes sparkled as the crandios offered her not only something that was guaranteed to help her, but a berry to help rejuvenate her strength as well. She skittered back out from her terrible hiding spot and accepted the items with glee. Her excitement overwhelmed her. She tried to speak-but all that could really be heard from her was strange blubbering that was hardly intelligible. It was clear that she tried to express some sort of gratitude towards the kind stranger, but couldn't seem to decide on what to say let alone get more than half a word out.

Sekita, on the other hand, could do it for her. A giggle erupted from her, entertained by the larvesta's struggle, "I think she's trying to say "thank you" to you."

Embarrassment flooded through Vulcana as she lowered her head. She nibbled on the berry slowly with a quiet, "Mmhmm..." Silently grateful that Sekita saved her from further embarrassment.

"But-I can walk myself. I just thought it'd be good training to practice carrying some weight around for her. Y'know, work out an stuff..." at least, that's what Sekita assumed. Dreyar continued on to answer her question in regards to whether or not he saw someone around. Unfortunately, nobody saw anybody...including the random hobo that strolled up and questioned her appearance with the grace of a spinda in a glass shop.

She wasn't too bothered by it in the slightest, "I have no idea!" she responded merrily, "I was born and it just kinda happened. My mom said it was a sign that I was special but my dad thinks it's just a random thing." She looked in the direction the eevee approached, but it looked more as if she looked over his shoulder more than directly at him.

"It makes you look like a black hole..." the larva whispered quietly, though she focused on the berry that Kestro had given her.

"Aww, thank you!" the eevee chimed, genuinely touched. She paused for a second as she processed the information further, "I...think?"

Kestro gave the Larvesta a smile as she fumbled around trying to thank him. To be fair Kestro had already eaten two of the meals he mentioned to boost his own strength, and that Joy Seed was a spare. In his mind he felt that he should focus on growing through actual training for now.

Besides, Larvesta and their evolved form was one of the few Pokemon Kestro actually knew about. Several folktales and myths about the Pokemon were told back in his old home. Several Pokemon, his caretaker included, even revered Volcarona as dieties. Kestro himself wasn't quite so sure, but if anything, he knew evolving into a Volcarona must be a challenge. Every story talked about it taking great effort for Larvesta to evolve, so at least that part must be true.

Kestro's private reminiscing on his life before moving to Grassveil was cut short at the offer of food. Kestro shook his head as he turned towards the Squirtle, "I'm fine for now. I fed before coming here."

Almost on queue, yet another Pokemon made his presence known when Dreyar mentioned not seeing anyone else. Another Eevee, he was just about as socially subtle as his black counterpart, and Kestro wondered if this was just some personality quirk all Eevee shared.

Kestro attempted to contain a chortle at Vulcana's comment on Sekita's appearance, though failed for the most part. "Are you not just a shiny....whatever you are?" he asked, trying to deflect. Granted doing so did just reveal his ignorance on what Eevee are.

"That'd be my guess," Cel echoed, agreeing with the cranidos - Kestro, he believe. "Especially if you never dyed it or anything." He'd wondered for a second if it was because her dad possibly being an umbreon or some other darkly colored pokemon, but no, his own dad was an umbreon and he was normal. Whatever - it was cool, no matter what was up with her.

Dreyar, meanwhile, stared at the eevee that had showed up for a moment. Apparently, he was just gonna hang around. It seemed like they were all just gonna hang out. The squirtle scuffed his foot against the soil as he waited for the chance to speak without cutting anyone off. "So... you lost your family, right?" he safely interjected, looking at Sekita. This struck him as more important than the mystery behind her fur color. "Are they looking for you? I can help you too - we could probably help you, actually." he said, gesturing around at the pokemon that had gathered around to chat in the forest.

Cel pretended to think on the matter when the squirtle trained earnest eyes on him before shrugging. "Sure! I was looking for something to do for a while, anyway." he said easily and smoothly. This was the one that had offered food, too. It was best to stay on his good side unless Cel felt like foraging... which he did not.

Satisfied, Dreyar looked to Kestro, the obvious question evident in his expression. There was safety in numbers, especially in a dungeon like Shadowhue with so little natural light.

Not that light mattered much to the likes of Sekita. The blind eevee stared onward at nothing in particular as her ears twitched about. To her fortune, it seemed as if at least two of these strangers were willing to help! "Nah, shiny'vees are grey. My color's much too dark for that. But-uh, Daddy's back at home and my little brother-Roku, probably hasn't even realized he lost me yet-otherwise he would have sniffed me out by now. I would very much appreciate the help though! I'm sure Daddy'll make it worth your time, we've got tons of things you might be interested in-oh-and I could even give you a reading of your future when we get back! I'm a bit of a fortune teller myself~"

Vulcana heard every word of the conversation, but it looked as if she'd clocked out of the interaction entirely with her focus on the oran berry. The center of the conversation was focused entirely on Sekita, but she was fine with that. It meant she didn't have to do anything. Her interest was drawn in herself, however, as the eevee declared themselves a fortune teller. She looked up from her berry and glanced in the direction of the "Black Hole."

"...You can see the future?" Vulcana inquired.

"Yes!" Sekita proclaimed with pride.

"...I thought you couldn't see?"

"I...can't." Sekita quirked an eyebrow in confusion, her face directed to the Larvesta's general direction now.

"Then how can you see the future...?"

"I just...can?" The eevee seemed about as confused as the larvesta by this point. She shook her head, "It's hard to explain.

"Can you see my future?"

"I'm not doing fortune readings in the middle of a dungeon." Sekita's fell back into annoyance, her tone flat and clearly disapproving. Almost as if to prove her point, the trees above them rustled. Sekita's ears shot straight up with special attention to the foliage above them. "What was that?" she questioned.

Vulcana > 29-10 = 19:

Kat carried out 10 launched of one Shadowhue Forest :

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Sekita > 19 - 10 = 9:

Kat carried out 9 launched of one Shadowhue Forest :

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Kestro followed Vulcana's example and zoned out of the conversation as Sekita went on and on about her father and such. He came here for a specific purpose, amd getting dragged around helping any strange 'mon just felt like a distraction.  He did tilt his head curiously when Sekita mentioned being a fortune teller.

She could be lying, for all he knew, but Kestro couldn't tell one way or the other. The revelation that the Eevee was blind did push him towards wanting to help her, at least. While Dreyar and the hobo could have easily been enough, Kestro was already having worrying thoughts of the trio being ambushed. He at least planned on escorting Vulcana to Grassveil so she can rest, and maybe get proper training at the dojo if she wanted it, hence why he didn't think to include her in his worried thoughts.

Then the leaves above them rustled. Kestro, a bit foolishly, thought that it'd just be another civilized Pokemon looking to interject themselves into the quintet below.

Dracorexion carried out 10 launched of one Shadowhue Forest :

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