Vibe Check

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Peirce: [Energy: 22 - 16 = 6]
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Scorchfall Desert. Often described as a place “that very few dare to venture through.” That wouldn’t stop Pierce, however. He was determined. Determined to wander aimlessly, because he had mistaken aimlessness for determination. The small bird stood atop a particularly pointed rock, taking in the sights before him. It was a marvelous sight—he had never seen anything like it. It was like a vast sea—except made of sand, which made it strictly better than the see in every way; because it wasn’t full of water. No, it was full of sand, and mystery. But, probably mostly sand.

He felt moved by what he saw before him; overwhelmed by raw emotion at the wonder before him. He was compelled to vocalize this emotion—to express the complete and other wonderment at the scene before him. He took a deep breath, and then...

…

”SAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNND!!”

The little bird jumped from the rock and face planted directly into a dune. He frantically flapped his wings and kicked with his feet trying to unbury his beak—the entire time still trying to express his excitement, but it was now muffled by the very thing that excited him. ”SSSSNNNNND!”

[Energy + 1 (Page) = 1] [Weather Band]
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This thing was not what the archen was after. He was after the thing under this thing. Pierce raised a wing, and in one quick move, he slapped the little reptile out of the way with a Wing Attack. He then proceeded to pick up the thing he was after—a shiny, sparkly box, partialled wrapped by some kind of cloth—with his beak.

He dropped the box into his bag, keeping the cloth-thing in his beak. ”Mine,” he announced to the little Desert Croc, who was still reeling from the slap he’d just recieved. Pierce proceeded to tie the band around his head. Now he looked like a pirate! He turned to Dreyar and gave his best pirate impression. ”Ar!”

Then, as if instantly bored of playing pirate, he wondered back over to the piplup. Out of sight of her peripheral vision, he withdrew an orb—a Hail Orb— from his bag. He dropped it onto a rock and it shattered quite loudly. Upon its breaking, Pierce started flapping his wings and hopping in place excited. ”Ice! Ice ice ice ice ice!”
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Used x1 Hail Orb

Dreyar watched, eyes wide and stupefied as the sandile quickly skittered out of the way of Pierce. Evidently, the rock-type's swift reprimanding of the creature served to intimidate the little thing, and by the time Pierce had moved on to more important things—like becoming a pirate—the wild ground-type was long gone. Dreyar eyed the sand at his feet with a little bit more respect. There were apparently freakin' sand crocs under there, waiting to pop out as soon as he got to poking around the wrong dunes. Scary stuff.

The squirtle then turned, a little baffled as the atmosphere quickly shifted from hot, oppressive sunlight to chilling winds, strong snowfall, and hail. "That's... very helpful, Pierce." Dreyar said, a dryness in his tone that clearly emphasized how unhelpful the archen's actions were. He covered his face not a moment too soon, a particularly thick hunk of ice smacking him in the forearm as the hailstorm kicked in.

As if in response to the sudden weather change, a multitude of diglett heads popped out of the ground. Four of them to be exact—or just one diglett and a dugtrio, judging by how close they were to each other. The pokemon rapidly tore through the sands, beating a clear path away from the coldness and raining ice. Dreyar almost envied them.

Wish granted. She got ice. Except, there was a problem with that: despite being a penguin, she wasn't an ice type. The dark clouds above began to rain down with a pelt of hail that smacked her right in the eye. The piplup cried out and sat up, flippers over one eye as the hail rained down on the rest of her.

She looked to the squirtle, accusatory, only to find that he wasn't the one that caused this mess. It was that archen she chose to ignore. "No it's not!" she cried out despite being the one to ask for ice, "Now we're all going to get beat up by hunks of ice! This is just great," her sarcastic yet whiny voice complained.

---

He couldn't get the charizard's attention. He was now seated right on the dragon's head with two vines wrapped around each horn. He crossed his arms as he hummed thoughtfully. Something wasn't right with this charizard...and if this truly was Garnet, which was odd to think about with the strange markings that coated his body, then there was something wrong with Garnet.

Even if it wasn't his long-lost friend, he was still compelled to try to help. He needed to snap whatever daze this beast was trapped in out. He looked up as the sky above began to rumble. Moments after a curious hum, hail began to rain down....hail? In a desert? That wasn't right...he didn't think. There must have been someone around here. Perhaps they could help? Although...how was he going to get the charizard to go a way he wanted? He'd already tried steering.

As if to answer his problem, the charizard suddenly began to sniff the air. Jade was startled by the sudden action, he clung tightly to the beast's head in response. Without missing a beat, the charizard turned and began to follow a scent.

Guess they were going this way...?

[Energy: 1] [Weather: Hail] [Weather Band]
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Namataki wasn’t quite right: they weren’t all going to get beat up by hunks of ice. The Weather Band that Pierce had donned, though he didn’t know it was such, was protecting him from the hail. No matter where he stood, the hailstones never seemed to land on him.

Dreyar seemed to appreciate his help, but the person he had done it for didn’t. He didn’t understand. He made the ice happen, which she wanted, but she said it wasn’t helpful. Then she said they were going to get beat up by ice, and that that was great. He was confused. Did he do a good job or not? Why did she want to be beaten up by ice? Maybe he could help more if he threw the ice at her.

Yes. Surely this would get her to tell him that he did a good job. Pierce started darting around the area, trying to gather as many chunks of ice as he could as ammunition. He had a good number gathered up with his wings in little time, and was about to start chucking them when he suddenly tripped, tossing them all at once weakly in the penguin’s direction instead.

He looked down to see what it was he had tripped on, only for the ground beneath him to rise up and lift him into the air. This spooked the little bird, causing him to cry out incoherently in panic as he flailed his wings wildly. From his perspective, the ground was moving, and roaring! The ground wasn’t supposed to move or roar, and he didn’t like that it was.

In reality, the ground was still. It was just the very, very annoyed hippowdon he was standing on opening it’s wide mouth, roaring angrily.

Dreyar refrained from sighing once more, but he did pinch his nose in vexation as Taki resumed... voicing her concerns, and Pierce kept doing Pierce things. A few calm breaths later and he reminded himself that a change in scenery would solve everyone's problems; Namataki would be someplace free from heat and hail, and Pierce would have incentive to go cause problems somewhere else. And then he could get on with his scheduled training for the day, hunting ground and fire types in peace.

By the time he worked out such a plan, however, Pierce had gotten a headstart on that latter step. The squirtle's eyes bulged as a hippowdon lifted up from the sand, evidently having been camouflaged. And it was upset. "Move, Pierce!" he barked out urgently, stepping to the side so Taki and the archen wouldn't be in his line of fire. Then he inhaled, flexed a muscle in his throat, and spat out a torrent of scalding water at the ground-type hippo, blasting it right in the side.

He was mostly hoping to distract it from the very childish bird it was seconds away from eating, and from the looks of things, he succeeded. The hippo's roar shifted from simply expressing its anger to angrily expressing its pain, and it one smooth movement it turned to face the turtle that had interfered with whatever it had planned. Dreyar, for his part, swallowed a nervous lump in his throat as the evolved pokemon stared him down. It was what he came here for, but this was not how he wanted it.

...Oh.

There was a big hippo here now. A bit terrifying hippo that could squash her head like a watermelon in its big mouth. She could already imagine herself being killed, popping like a bubble. She watched as Dreyar took on the attention of the Hippowdon...and promptly turned around and started to run.

She absolutely had a more powerful move that could have helped in that situation, but she held little to no interest in actually doing it. Like the coward she was, she fled from the scene. The only thing to stop her, was the sudden rise of another pokemon from the sand. A carbink shot straight into the air underneath her. She was launched into the sky with an absolutely terrified scream.

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The charizard picked up the pace. The next thing Jade knew, the charizard's wings were moving and taking them into the air. He cried out in surprise, fear, and awe as the dragon took him up into the sky. He held onto the horns for dear life, with both vines and his hands. His tail wrapped around Garnet's neck, which effectively made Jade out to be a fancy snivy-hat.

He couldn't stop himself from crying out as they flew, fear and excitement flowed at the same time. Any minute now, this charizard ride might turn terribly. He didn't dare to try and distract the charizard now that they were in the air. Wherever this charizard was headed, he guessed that he had no choice but to go along.

[Energy: 1] [Weather: Hail] [Weather Band]
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Dreyar’s warning didn’t inspire any reaction from Pierce. The incoming water attack, however, did. The little archen dove off the Heavyweight Pokemon just before the jet of water struck it. He landed quite ungracefully on the sand and darted to the safety that was provided by hiding behind the squirtle. He heard the cry of Taki, and looked around to see her high in the air. This saddened him somewhat. Another bird Pokemon that could fly. He couldn’t fly, no matter how hard he tried.

He turned his attention back to the big scary monster with the giant mouth when it let out another, louder, angrier roar. It didn’t seem to like water, either. The big ground type got up onto its feet. It seemed like it was reading to charge the two. Fortunately for them, it wasn’t very fast. Unfortunately for Dreyar—the one who had attacked it—it was also kicking up a Sand Tomb to keep its target in place.

The hippo was quicker than he expected. Drey thought he might have time to evade its first blow, but the Sand Tomb that rose up and enveloped him was faster than him, the whirlpool of grating sand grinding against him harshly. The squirtle cried out at the sudden pain, eyes wide as the behemoth ground-type in front of him began to charge, fear flaring up in him. At that point, there was no strategizing in his head or planning his assault.

The turtle pokemon moved on instinct, old reflexes trained into him by his mother kicking in. He kicked off the ground as harshly as he could, withdrawing into his shell as he rose up into the air before whirling in place. The Rapid Spin rotated quickly, instantly tearing him out of the Sand Tomb and carrying him out of the miniature sandstorm. By the time Dreyar emerged from his shell to land, the move had dissipated, and the hippowdon was instants away from bowling over the area he had been a moment earlier. It was a very humbling sight.

He stumbled backward, breathing heavily not out of exhaustion but raw panic. It occurred to him to counterattack while the big hippo wasn't facing him, but Taki's terrified shout drew his attention, and he was treated to the site of the piplup careening through the air briefly. There was another pokemon in the mix; a carbink that struck from below. Was this some kind of ambush, or were they simply in the wrong neighborhood of the desert?

Whatever opportunity he had to lash out again was lost. Dreyar backed up cautiously, eyes flickering between the two hostile pokemon. "Pierce, play fetch with the shiny rock!" he shouted, blurting the words as soon as the idea struck him. For emphasis, he pointed a hand at the carbink that had set its sight on Namataki.

Of course, the squirtle would ask the idiot bird to fetch the rock and not her. The piplup's screech was cut off as she plummeted face-first into the sand. Her face smacked straight into the sand and-...well, she blacked out. Her body collapsed belly-down onto the sand with her beak planted firmly in the ground that steadily turned a dark color as moisture collected around it.

It didn't take long before Jade spotted something in the distance. It also didn't take long for the two to be on the scene once he spotted it. A roar ripped out from his ride as the dragon became more responsive than it had ever been for as long as the Snivy knew it for that day. Jade couldn't help but cry out in fear as the charizard zoomed straight over the ocean of sand and towards the massive enraged hippowdon. Sand kicked up behind the charizard as the surface was disturbed, but the splash of sand especially erupted when the charizard collided with the hippo.

Bellows and booms from each of the fighters attacked his ears. He had no choice but to cling as tightly as he could with his vines to the horns while his arms covered his ears. The hippowdon was completely knocked over onto its back. The creature squirmed and struggled to get back on its feet, but his ride wasn't willing to give it the opportunity. The outrage of the charizard continued as it slashed into the opponent repeatedly, pressing weight down on the sand-summoning pokemon to ensure that they remained helpless to the attacks.

[Energy: 1] [Weather: Hail] [Weather Band]
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Fetch? He knew that game! Pierce turned his attention to the specified shiny rock, and ran at it with a fierce determination. The carbink, in turn, fled with an equal amount of determination—although whether it was because of the approaching archen or the sudden existence of a charizard was unclear.

Fortunately for the carbink, Pierce lost interest in the chase with the charizard coming onto the scene. The little bird was transfixed by the dragon-looking Pokemon. He stood beside the piplup, not realising the current status of the penguin.

”Look! Dragon! Look Tiki!” He flapped his wings in frantic excitement, hopping up and down as if to emphasize his short, one to two word sentences. Eventually, he realised that she wasn’t responding. He looked at her puzzled. Now was an odd time to take a nap. She was missing all the excitement! This was exactly why he didn’t like naps. ”Wake up Tiki! There’s dragon!” He poked at her head with a wing.

Drey nodded to himself as Pierce went after the carbink—that was one less pokemon he would have to deal with. He didn't like his odds against this hippowdon, type-advantage aside; it was evolved, it had a lot of weight and probably a lot more experience on him, and it seemed a whole lot meaner. The squirtle backed up warily, focusing his full attention on the hippo pokemon, arms hovering at his hips in preparation for another Rapid Spin in case it attempted to trap him again.

Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you looked at it, something else had its sights set on the ground-type behemoth. Before either Dreyar or the hippowdon could react, a third party had blitzed into the fight and swiftly dropped the massive hippo on its back, and it did not stop there. While the pokemon—a charizard... with something else on its back, Dreyar realized—viciously and ruthlessly tore into his former opponent, Drey took the opportunity to retreat in an act of self-preservation.

He came to a stop at a pace in front of Pierce and Taki, watching the charizard go with a look that was caught somewhere between afraid and astonished. It settled into a look of grim resolve, though, as he held an arm out in front of Pierce in case he got any bright ideas. "Quiet, bud," he said. He didn't bother with whispering; the sound of the hippowdon's beat down would prevent him from being heard, probably. "T-try not to let it hear you." The hippo was one thing—it was big, slow, and Dreyar had a few advantages over it—but if this new one got the wrong idea, they were dead meat.

"Tiki" was out of operation at the moment. At the very least her head fell off to the side, so that she wouldn't suffocate. Still, water drooled out of her like a a broken faucet.

Jade, meanwhile, was absolutely terrified. The charizard's head swung back and forth as the Outrage pummeled the unfortunate sand-hippo. It probably would have been wiser to let go and allow himself to be flung out, but in-the-moment fear caused him to wrap as tightly as he could around the horns. "P-PLEASE STOP!" he cried out, both for the sake of himself and whatever unfortunate victim was beneath him.

It didn't work. Instead, the wings of the dragon began to beat against the air. He elevated himself into the air as the weakened Hippowdon struggled to right itself back onto its feet. It rocked back and forth as the Charizard found a height he was comfortable with...then he dove back down towards the ground type. Jaden screamed in terror as the charizard suddenly flipped around so that his tail was beneath him at the last moment. A strike landed against the Hippodon's stomach, a small shockwave sent out from the force as the Earthquake threatened everyone around...except the Archen.

Because typings are stupid sometimes.

[Energy: 1] [Weather: Hail] [Weather Band]
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Violently did the ground shake. The sands that made up a majority of the desert floor around them shifted, dangerous and unpredictable. No single place was safe from the threat of the Earthquake. The moving sands threatened to take the purchase out from under everyone’s feet and bring them low so that they would be better pummeled by the violent quaking.

Pierce didn’t like it. He made this abundantly clear by violently flapping his wings, hopping in place, and announcing very loudly ”NO! BAD! NO SHAKE! NO SHAKE BAD! BAD! SHAKE BAD! STOP BAD! STOP SHAKE! STOP! BAD! Dreyar’s suggestion to keep quiet immediately disregarded and forgotten. Miraculously, his flapping and hopping seemed to keep him off the ground for the worst parts of the charizard’s attack.

Dreyar had been proven wrong in hindsight in most of his decisions today, but at least his hunch had been correct that this charizard was bad news.

Because even if it had shown up and summarily pummeled the absolute crap out of the hippowdon that had been threatening not just his safety, but also the two pokemon's he'd just met, it didn't take long for the creature to go overboard. At least he had a few different warnings; the first was the fire flying-type's dramatic and frightening ascension into the air; it was gearing up for something, clearly. The second was the pokemon on its back actually screaming for it to stop the beat down. When the charizard made a rapid descent, that was all the clueing in Dreyar needed to withdraw to safety.

Well, as safe as it could get for a squirtle caught out in the open by a raging dragon. The blue turtle's limbs quickly vanished into his shell, along with his head; Dreyar closed his eyes in resignation and terror in the instant before the strike landed. Then he felt it; a massive shockwave that rebounded right off the hippowdon and sent nearly everyone flying back, him included. Dreyar was sent flying through the air, his everything throbbing worryingly as a shockwave carried him straight into a nearby sand dune.

It summarily collapsed onto itself, burying the shellbound squirtle in the sand. Underneath, Dreyar's equilibrium was shot, his world feeling like it was spinning around in response to the massive force he had just been subjected to.

Namataki's body was subjected to the aftermath of the earthquake just as much as everyone else. Fortunately, this served as a wake up call just as much as it was a painful experience. Her eyes popped wide open with a terrified scream, only to find that the furious storm of sand whipped up by the attack made her cough and choke with the stuff.

She covered her eyes with her flippers and curled up into as much of a ball as she could manage. She kept her beak shut as much as she could, but the fits and coughs drove her to struggle in the simplest of tasks.

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Jade managed to avoid the wave of force-seeing as he directly held onto the charizard's head. He clung for dear life and pure terror, only daring to open his eyes when he heard the labored breaths of the charizard. The moment he did, he regretted it. The sight of the hippowdon was not a pretty one to see.

Was...no, this couldn't have been Garnet. The charmander would never do something like this, would he? The snivy looked about, just barely managing to catch the colorful bird and the shell of a squirtle in the corner of his eye. Oh...Oh dear...was this charizard going to attack them next? Perhaps...he should do something...

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Garnet marveled at his work. It satisfied him. The way sand leaked out of the hippowdon's mouth and the lack of movement being his favorite. This felt right. So right. He couldn't at all remember why he even fought this hippowdon in the first place, but he grinned at his victory...until he realized there was something hooked onto his horns.

With a quick and intentional fling of his head, he threw whatever it was on his head off. It helped that the victim was already so exhausted from previous attempts to hang on through the fury. A snivy was slammed into the sand. A snivy that looked...familiar...and terrified. It looked back at him with wide round eyes before it opened its mouth to speak, "H-Help!"