A Poison Wind

Small clouds of poison were already in sight, blots of purple gas floating here and there. Was it poison?  No, it was supposed to be called something else. Alki didn't quite care. She hadn't come here to ponder over whether or not the purple-ish looking gasses were called poison, after all. No, she was here for something else entirely. What it was... Well, she was still figuring out the specifics, honestly. All the balloon knew was that she didn't feel very happy with how things had been going for her in town, or at the guild. She didn't really feel like she belonged, at least, not right now...

This place was dangerous to her typing, right? If she remembered right... Of course, she did feel a bit apprehensive about coming here. She didn't particularly want to get hurt, because then Darcy might notice, and begin to worry too much for her. The last thing she wanted was for the Skitty to worry any more about her. But... Well, she also wanted to prove that she deserved to be a guild member. To herself. Yes, she'd screwed up with the Glaceon and the Vaporeon and she'd ruined the really nice Deerling's night and was all around a horrible person, but that didn't mean she couldn't still earn the right to be a guild-member, in her own mind...

And what better way to prove such a thing than to venture out into a place like this? One of the most dangerous places around for her... If she could prove she was tough, then maybe she'd feel a bit better about herself... Maybe...

The thought was nice, at least. If she believed hard enough, maybe it'd happen?

The girl pulled a blue scarf she'd borrowed from her sister around her neck. A bag with supplies hung loosely from her ear, the only appendage she could adequately place the bag on. A pair of yellow glasses clung tightly to her face, and a red feather adorned the opposing ear. All things considered, she looked quite silly, but she didn't really expect anyone to see her. What sane pokemon would come here, after all? "Well, here goes..." The girl mumbled to herself. She pulled the scarf she'd borrowed from her sister over her mouth, and ventured further into the poisonous, smog-filled plains.

[Energy: 42 - 16 = 26]

[Energy: 22 - 16 (Entry) = 6] [Weather Band]
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Venen Gulch was very dangerous, to just about anyone but those Pokemon immune to the effects of poison. Pierce was not one such Pokemon. But, to be fair, the mad little archen could find danger in even the safest place, so it didn’t make much difference to him. Still, he certainly shouldn’t have been here. But there was no one telling him what to do and what not to do. Which was probably a bad thing, given his history with throwing himself into dangerous situations.

So why Venen Gulch? What possessed the little bird to throw himself into this hellish place? The purple smog. It looked interesting from a distance. Now that he was walking among it, however, he had learned that it was in fact the worst thing in existence, and he regretted running directly into a cloud of it immediately upon arrival. Which was a significant development for him, considering he was rarely aware enough ol a situation for him to realise a feeling such as regret.

Really, he should have just left after such a bad experience, but he didn’t. He kept moving forward in the hopes that he’d find something exciting, and now he was hopelessly lost. He couldn’t go back the way he came if he tried—he didn’t know which way that was anymore. He felt a tinge of something bad forming within him—what was it again? Despair. Yes, that was it.

He was not having fun. The little bird perched himself on a rock to try and get his bearings.

Alki blinked as she noticed a Pokemon, far off in the distance. Well, not really all that far in the distance. He was perched on a rock, seemingly confused about... something. He was looking around all sorts of ways, and while he was a bit too far away for her to make out what species he was, exactly, he did seem to have the rough shape of a bird. The jigglypuff picked up her pace from a walk to a brisk trot, hoping to get to him before he decided to fly off. She pushed her glasses up, hesitating as she drew closer. What if he was dangerous?

Well, there was only one way to find out... Besides, hadn't she come here to prove she could be tough? She oh, so desperately wanted to be tough... Alki pulled the scarf down, uncovering her mouth, and allowing the noxious, irritant gases to begin to enter her body. Gosh, it even tasted bad. She didn't know air could taste like anything...

"H-Hello..." The fairy mumbled, her stutter less out of shyness (for once,) and more out of a struggle to even get the words out. There was a lot of poisonous air around, and the annoying purple stuff made it uncomfortable to speak up. More uncomfortable than usual, anyways. "W-Who are you? Are y-you from here...?"

[Energy: 6] [Weather Band]
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Pierced did a one-eighty upon hearing a voice. There were other Pokemon here! He had yet to see any up until this point. He didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he stared at the balloon Pokemon, trying to figure out what exactly it was he was looking at. His expression was blank, as if processing the visual information he was taking in required all of his effort, rendering him unable to present any distinguished emotion.

Then, he tilted his head. He hopped off the rock and started pacing around the jigglypuff, inspecting her from every angle. So many accessories. So round. So pink. Seemingly friendly. Yes, this must be a friend. Therefore, he would introduce himself, and answer her question.

”Pierce!” he announced, loud and proud—perhaps too loud, considering how close they were to each other. What was the other question again? Was he from here? No, he was from another place. ”Nope! Your turn!” He was quieter the second time he spoke, but not by much. He seemed to have forgotten his previous feeling of despair, suddenly quite excited at the prospect of encountering another Pokemon—and one that didn't want to eat him, at that.

Alki grew more and more nervous as the Archen circled her. She had no way of knowing if he was a friend or a foe, and while she knew that she couldn't back down, it didn't make it any less nerve-wracking. She hated fighting. If she needed to, she'd fight, sure, but that didn't mean that she would enjoy it. And the way he paced around her, silent, was disconcerting...

At least, it was , until the Archen suddenly announced his name, in the loudest voice possible. Did the poison not bother him? How did he manage to be so excited, with all this purple stuff? The balloon pushed up her glasses, trying hard to ignore her instinct to flee. Pierce's introduction was over as quickly as it had started, clocking in at four entire words.

So he wasn't from around here. That was odd. Who would want to come here? At least she had a reason! A very good, very reasonable reason, of course. At least, it made sense to her... The fairy shifted uncomfortably, feeling quite irritated from the influx of poison. At least it wasn't thick enough to really hurt her... yet... Maybe... "Um, i-it's nice to meet you, P-Pierce, I'm Alki." The girl extended her hand, offering a handshake, before she continued. "I'm not from around here either... Why are you here, though? If you're not from around here, I mean... this place is dangerous..."

[Energy: 6] [Weather Band]
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Pierce didn’t seem to notice the offered handshake. He stared at the pink Pokemon with an earnest curiocity, as if she was the most interesting thing he had ever seen. He almost didn’t register the fact that she had asked him a question, and a long and awkward pause was sure to settle in before he answered.

”Oh! There’s purple!” he finally answered, excitement still carried in his voice. But that excitement shifted to something more like irritation as he continued. ”But the purple is bad! Smell bad, taste bad! No good!” He flapped his wings and shook his head vigorously for emphasis.

He heard Alki describe the place as dangerous, but that didn’t deter him from the idea of staying at all. His dad often told him the places back home where he had the most fun were dangerous, so as far as he was concerned dangerous and fun were practically synonymous. ”What ‘bout you? Why’s Alki here?”
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Badger carried out 6 launched of one Venen Gulch :

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Alki retracted her hand, already feeling quite guilty for having offered it in the first place. Was there something wrong with a handshake? Maybe he just already didn't like her. Instinctively. That wouldn't be a bad instinct... Nor would it be wrong. The girl went back to lightly rubbing her wrist, coughing softly. This place sucked. Why couldn't mystery dungeons be nicer places? The only nice ones were the grassy ones, like Everspring Vale, or the snowy ones. This one? This was one was horrible.

And the reason that Pierce gave didn't impress her one bit. Purple? And he even recognized how much it sucked! Why wouldn't he leave if he'd already noticed that? His sentences seemed quite... Well, Off. Stilted. He didn't speak like most other Pokemon she knew, like Darcy, or Synd'r, or Robin. Maybe it was a regional thing?

Now he was asking her why she was here. Well, she didn't want to tell him. He'd think she was silly, and she probably was. "Well, um, I-I'm from the guild..." That was all she said. Typically, that sort of thing was explanation enough for other people, even if it didn't actually tell them anything. She wasn't lying! She just wasn't telling him anything either. Anything at all...

"Y-Yknow, if the... Uh, p-purple is so bad, t-there's nothing stopping y-you from leaving. I t-think it might be d-dangerous..."

[Energy: 6 - 32 = 0] [Weather Band]
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If he really wanted to, he probably could leave. It wouldn’t be too terribly difficult to find his way out if he were to try to do so—perhaps Alki could even help him. But he didn’t want to leave now, because Alki was here, and he wanted to know more about this guild place she was apparently from. That, and she had once again affirmed that the place was dangerous, and he was pretty sure that meant fun.

”Where’s Guild?” Pierce asked in a genuinely curious tone. He assumed it was a place. He had never really heard of any of the guilds before. He was from Rainfront, and Ancient Island before that, both places that lacked any guild of their own. He had yet to properly interact with any guild members—at least not any that have introduced themselves as such. This was new information to him.

"G-Guild..? You don't know...?" Alki responded, not quite sure how to respond to this. How could someone not know...? In her experience, just saying she came from the guild seemed to carry with it quite a bit of prestige, and no one had ever asked her where it was, as if it was some small shop or bookstore in some remote corner of grassveil... It was difficult to believe. She knew she didn't belong, so it's not like she was too terribly indignant over this revelation, but it was just... strange. "It's... Um, it's in Grassveil. You really don't know...? It's... P-Pretty famous..."

The girl looked around absently, unsure of what to make of the Pokemon in front of her. He didn't seem too scary, and he sounded sincere enough, but he probably didn't come from a town... If he didn't know what a guild was, how could he? It was common knowledge... She found herself having trouble re-establishing eye contact with the Archen, so instead chose to observe on a rock off in the distance behind him. "W-Where are you f-from, i-if you're n-not from here...? A-Are y-you sure you d-don't want to go home...?" The jigglypuff finished, having trouble maintaining eye contact with the rock now. Instead, she focused on the ground before her, afraid to look up at the Archen. He seemed loud and boisterous, and when she'd decided to explore this place, she hadn't really counted on having any company at all...

Mada carried out 1 launched of one Venen Gulch :

Mada carried out 1 launched of one Venen Gulch :

Mada carried out 1 launched of one Venen Gulch :

Mada carried out 1 launched of one Venen Gulch :

Mada carried out 1 launched of one Venen Gulch :

[Energy: 0] [Weather Band]
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Where was he from? This was not a simple question to answer. Did she mean originally, as in, where he was born? Or his most recent place of residence? Or did she simply mean the last place he was before here? Answering was made even more difficult by the fact that he struggled to remember the names of the places.

There was a second question, too. Spoken quieter, as if Alki didn’t really want him to hear it. Unfortunately, he did. ”Nope! Not going back! Raintown bad! No good!” He squeezed his eyes tight and shook his head indignantly. After a pause, his expression returned to something more neutral. A new thought seemed to occur to him. ”Maybe back to nest, though. But that’s back home, ‘cross the sea. And sea’s bad. No good, sea. No swim, can’t fly, no sea.”

His nest was on Ancient Island. His grandparents had taken him from there a while back. They could fly. Pierce had been excited to see the world beyond the sea, but after spending a while in Rainfront—and in particular, with his grandparents—he decided that he wasn’t a fan of it. Then he found out there was more than just Rainfront, and he’s been wandering around since. So far, it’s been a pretty mixed bag.