Exciting Expeditions

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Energy: 49 - 20 = 29 + 10 (oran Berry) = 39
Items:
√ Stamina Band
Trawl Orb (4)
Vulpix Tag: (Raises Defense and Sp. Defense
Oran Berry (3)

The sun warmed Lumina's fur as she walked along the path to Serene Cave. Furret and Linoone were trailing along behind her, bouncing happily and chattering nonsense to each other. They were young, much younger than Lumina, despite their evolved forms, and what little of their conversation she paid attention to, she couldn't help but shake her head and smile. They were 'ultra-super-mega-excited' to see the Grassveil Guild, and see their friend Faye.

It was nice to see such joy from such little things from children, Lumina reflected. "We're approaching Serene Cave now, boys," she said, looking back at them kindly. "Now remember, I have another request I'm fulfilling besides yours. Basically, I have to find Marill and convince him to stay in school, the foolish lad," Lumina shook her head.

She looked up at the cave entrance. "Alright, you guys ready?" She asked. Furret bounced up and down excitedly.

"You betcha, Miss Lumina!" He said happily.

"Yeah, I can't wait to go exploring! It'll be just like when we work at the Guild!" Linoone chimed in.

Lumina chuckled, but didn't say anything, instead pulling an Oran berry out of her bag and biting down on it. Sweetness bloomed in her mouth and she closed her eyes, enjoying the tasty berry. She finished the berry, and then led the small group inside the cave.


School Sucks!

and

Babysit my Friends?

Kestro looked up at Lumina, "Hm? Oh I'm recording who lives here and their general attitude towards strangers. It's how I noticed Serene Cave's locals weren't as hostile as other dungeons. When I was exploring this place last time, my partner and I were a good deal more thorough than I probably will be this time. We recorded communities, secret passages, local traders, leaders, all kinds of stuff to get as much information as we could. All this information should help travelers find safe passage through Serene Cave, and perhaps even help in ways we don't know yet. Of course, some communities didn't want their homes known, so we struck them from the record for the most part, only making a vague statement about various groups who while not hostile, preferred to be left unknown to the greater world," he explained.

As he spoke, a voice called out from the darkness, "Yaaaaaawn, mmm, is that Kestro I hear?" a deep, drawn out voice called out. Kestro turned his head out as a soft clack, followed by the shuffling of a heavy sack, echoed through the darkness. A dim light began to form out of the darkness, swinging back and forth as it grew in brightness. Despite how close the voice originally sounded, it took a nearly a minute for a Slowbro to shuffle out of the darkness and into Lumina's light. Nestled between the Shelder on its tail and his back was a sack nearly twice the Slowbro's size, a cane with a small lantern hanging from it in his hand. "Ho hoooo, it is Kestro," the Slowbro said, though his face didn't match his tone, seeming much more elated than the drawl.

Kestro stood a bit straighter, a smile crossing his beak. "Hey, Finis!" he exclaimed before turning back towards Lumina, ""This is one of those traders who lives here. He doesn't trade in Poke, though. He barters with items or work."

The Slowbro raised his free hand towards the others, "Ooooh, none of these youngsters look like your friend, Saturn. Oh, before I forget, I found some new wares you might be interested in." The Slowbro shrugged off his sack, which landed with an earth shaking "THUMP." Something must have broken inside of it, but the Slowbro seemed unperturbed, simply reaching into a side pocket to pull out those wares. He placed two locked boxes and a few sharpened sticks onto the ground in front of him, "I remembered you mentioning a place that can open these boxes in Grassveil, and while not the best, these sticks can be thrown to distract or strike enemies from afar." Kestro nodded, looking over the items for a moment before he pulled out a few berries. "Will these do?" he asked, even though Finis was already nodding and grabbing the berries.

The elderly Pokemon then looked up over at Lumina, "Hmmmm, I think I have a couple of things for you. Let me see here," he said as he started rummaging through his pack. He pulled out a TM Scroll and an orb. "This here helps a Pokemon learn the move Snarl. I'm not sure if Ninetales can learn it, but if you're heading to Grassveil, I'm sure you'll find someone who is looking for it. The orb is called a Pounce Orb. Useful for closing the distance between you and an opponent, but make sure your aim is right. If you're off you'll either slam into a wall or end up falling and skidding to a stop. Either way, it's gonna hurt."

Energy = 11

Energy: 30
Items:
√ Stamina Band: Decreases all rolls by 2
Trawl Orb (4)
Vulpix Tag: Decreases Pokemon rolls by 1
Oran Berry (3)

Lumina nodded at Kestro's explanation. "That makes sense. It sounds fun; too bad I already work in the Guild, that sounds like a good job to have." She said, almost regretfully but not quite.

"No way, that sounds ultra boring!" Linny said.

"Yeah, there's no way I would get caught dead in a job like that! Boring paperwork is what I call it!" Fuji chimed in.

Lumina turned a stern gaze onto the kids. "Don't be rude, children. Kestro's job may sound boring to you, but it sounds like it is of vital importance to the safety of the public."

The two pokemon looked down, ashamed. "Sorry, Kestro," Linny said.

"Yeah, sorry," Fuji echoed.

When the slowbro approached, Lumina turned her attention to the trader. "Oh, thank you!" she said, pulling out a few berries to trade with. "These will be useful!"

Silver carried out 5 launched of one Serene Cave :

, , , ,

Kestro kept his head cool, despite the burning sensation growing in him with the strikes to his pride in defaming his work. Still, the two boys were young, as far as they acted, and Kestro remembered how he too held similar ideas a few scant months ago. Finis interjected as Kestro's mind started to form an idea. "Well well, boys will be boys, eh? At least they know to apologize for a slight, in time I'm sure they'll learn much more and grow into fine adults. Anyways, it's good to see you again Kestro, come by and visit again sometime," the psychic type said before hefting the heavy sack back between his back and tail. He then began to slowly shuffle off, taking several minutes before he finally disappeared.

"While I'll accept your apology, I still feel like I now have something to prove. If Lumina's alright with it, how about you and I have a two on one battle? I can promise you that my 'boring' paperwork didn't stop me from keeping up my strength," Kestro offered. He acknowledged Lumina's authority over the two Pokemon. He wasn't sure exactly how the guild would look at an escort allowing her clients being harmed, even if they agreed to such a challenge.

Energy: 30 - 6 (Decreased by stamina band and Vulpix tag) = 24
Items:
√ Stamina Band: Decreases all rolls by 2
Trawl Orb (4)
Vulpix Tag: Decreases Pokemon rolls by 1
Oran Berry (3)

Lumina took a start when Kestro proposed the two-on-one battle with the two boys.

"Oh yeah! We can take him!" Linny said to Fuji.

"Yeah, two-on-one will be easy!" They both turned to Lumina with puppy eyes.

"Can we do it, Miss Lumina?" Linny begged.

Lumina gave it a thought. While she didn't really see a problem with it herself, she wasn't sure Faye would agree. After all, she was supposed to be making sure they weren't harmed while on the way to Grassveil.

She dug around in her bag for a moment, making sure she had first-aid equipment. She did have three oran berries, enough for all three of them to feel better after a battle. "Alright, I suppose there's no reason you can't have a small battle. But be careful, please, we're not too far from Rainfront, but I'd hate to have to go backwards," she said.

"Alright!!!" The two kids cheered.

Linny turned to Kestro, eyeing him up and down. "OK, Mr. Tough Guy, prepare to go down!" He declared.

"Yeah, watch us, Miss Lumina!" Fuji said.

Linny took off, bolting towards Kestro without warning, his form glowing in a Quick Attack. Fuji cheered Linny on, his own form glowing and adding to Linny's glow. (Helping Hand)

As the two spoke to Lumina, Kestro removed the turban from his head and the bag at his hip, setting them aside. Best not to be weighed down by such things. He stepped back to face the two normal types, legs firmly planted on the ground. His tail was raised upwards while his front leaned lower to the ground. Meanwhile the scales across his body took on a gleam as he prepared a Rock Polish.

As Linny charged forward with a Quick Attack, Kestro met it head on. There wasn't much point in changing his stance against such a fast move, even if he had the added bonus of Rock Polish. Once that move hit, though, Kestro let out a grunt. Much like when they first met, the Cranidos held his ground. That Rock Polish just barely gave him an edge over Linny's natural speed, and Kestro took full advantage of it.

His head took on a metallic gleam, and Kestro rammed that Iron Head back against Linny.

Linny bounced off of Kestro like a pebble and fell a few paces back, looking surprised.

Lumina chuckled. "Did you really think that would work against a rock-type? Plus, you ran into him earlier, and he barely moved a muscle," she called to Linny.

"Ah!" Linny cried out as Kestro slammed his head into Linny's side.

"Don't worry, Linny, I'm coming!" Fuji called. He screwed up his face, and planted one paw on the ground.

It took a few moments, in which Kestro could have done more damage to Linny, but then a vine started growing beneath Kestro and then pulled at his legs and knees, attempting to ensnare him and trip him up (Grass Knot, Sentret can learn by TM).

Linny got up, hissing in pain. Then he ran at Kestro again, trying to crawl up the taller pokemon and pulling at his head and beating on him roughly. (Play Rough, Fairy type)

Kestro had no intention on letting the Furret sit on the side safely. Instead of pressing the attack on Linny, Kestro charged the other normal type. His scales gained another gleam as Kestro stacked another Rock Polish on top of the first. His speed exploded, and soon his Iron Head slammed against the Furret. He would have kept moving too, if not for that Grass Knot catching him and pinning him where he stood. Kestro let out a pained grunt as those vines tightened around his legs, starting to tug and bite at them where he could at least keep moving.

It wasn't long into him trying to free himself that he found the Linoone atop him, trying to beat his rock hard head senseless. Kestro huffed, even if the pair weren't in sync with their attacks, they were still a combined nuisance. Without an angle to land a true attack on the Linoone, Kestro did what he could, clamping that sharp beak down on one of Linny's paws as soon as he could and pulling hard to force the normal type off of him.

Fuji cried out as Kestro tackled him with Iron Head, and fell to the ground as Kestro was finally tripped up by his Grass Knot. He panted as Linny ran forward and started using Play Rough on the cranidos. Linny let out a yelp as Kestro bit down on one of his paws, using it as leverage to throw Linny off of him.

Fuji ran over to Linny and helped him up. They both turned to Kestro in unison, and ran at him, attempting to strike him from both sides with Quick Attack.

Lumina watch the battle with a bemused expression on her face. They were doing surprisingly well for just kids, Lumina thought, but Kestro was certainly showing them that he was no pansy.

Kestro let out a growl as the pair of normal types charged him. Again he knew better than to try dodging, but he wouldn't let them simply tackle him with their Quick Attacks. His body curled as he bit onto the base of his tail. As he uncurled his body, a loud metallic scrape rang out. Sparks flew from where his beak and tail met, giving his face an eerie glow while his tail took on a metallic gleam. As they closed the distance, Kestro spun, planning on slamming his Iron Tail into the two. If he'd timed it right, he might just manage to avoid their combined quick attacks. If not, he'd just have to try and endure it.

Lumina watched as the two normal-types crashed right into Kestro's Iron Tail, and flew back, landing on the other side of the cave. Linny tried to get up, but couldn't. Fuji didn't even try.

"Alright, looks like the winner is Kestro!" Lumina called out. Linny groaned.

"Man, you thrashed us," he complained. Lumina walked over to him and gave him and oran berry, then did the same with Fuji. They both sat up, eating the berries cautiously.

Lumina then handed an oran berry to Kestro. "Here you go," she said kindly. "Any bruises they left you with should go away with this."

Kestro grinned, panting somewhat as he calmed from the battle. "Not bad for someone who has a 'boring job' eh?" He nodded towards Lumina, "Ah, thanks, you two might be young, but you can pack a bit of a punch," Kestro said before taking a large bite out of the berry.

He chewed for a moment then loudly gulped down the berry before continuing, "You also didn't really work together well until the end. If you two are planning on joining the guild or even the scouts as a duo, that's something you gotta fix. Linny was too aggressive. You didn't really assess the situation, even after Lumina told you how Quick Attack wasn't very effective against a rock type like me. Fuji hung back too long, and you gave yourself away the moment you tried to reassure Linny. Once I saw you knew Grass Knot, I certainly knew you had to be taken down first. My own strategy was simple, take away your advantage with speed and keep you two close for my attacks. A couple of Rock Polish and I'm moving faster than most Pokemon, then just imagine how much harder moves like Iron Head and Iron Tail hit when coming at ya that fast."

The Cranidos popped the rest of the berry into his mouth, swallowing it, "If you had a move like Agility to boost your own speed up, Linny, you might've been fast enough to keep me from reacting. Fuji, next time plan on acting before speaking. Linny already had my attention until you yelled out." With that the Cranidos stretched out, the sound of his bones popping ringing out a bit.

"With that out of the way, shall we continue one?" he asked, moving back to his bag and fixing his turban back onto his head.

Energy= 21

Energy: 24
Items:
√ Stamina Band: Decreases all rolls by 2
Trawl Orb (4)
Vulpix Tag: Decreases Pokemon rolls by 1

Lumina nodded back at Kestro as he ate the berry. Linny and Fuji looked at each other before looking at Kestro.

"Sorry for the insult, Mr. Kestro," Linny apologized.

"Yeah, sorry," Fuji echoed.

After Kestro had finished giving them advice, they looked at each other again. "Wow, I never thought of it that way," Linny said.

"Yeah, I guess we do need to learn to work together better," Fuji agreed.

"So, agility? I'll have to find a TM with agility," Linny said. "Then I can be faster than anyone!" he grinned happily at the thought.

Lumina stepped forward after a moment, "Come on, kids, let's continue on," she said, agreeing with Kestro.

Kestro shook his head at Linny wanting to invest into Agility. "I said a move likeAgility. I've no idea if Linoone can learn speed boosting moves. I know Rock Polish, but I also keep Quick Seeds on hand. Your speed is pretty good, and unlike me who has to invest a move and items to make sure I can keep up, simple training could be all you need. Personally, I'd look to see what your greatest weakness is and if it's worth trying to cover for it. As a Cranidos, I'm super vulnerable to special attacks and can't really hit hard with them myself. I could try to train them and look at moves that'll help me with them, but in all honesty if I invest too much into them, I'll have left no room to actually build on my main strength; my species' infamous physical strength."

"At that point I looked into how to support my attack. My physical defense isn't much better than my defense against special attacks, and after looking further into it, I found that my species can't learn many defensive nor any healing moves. That left my speed. Luckily I can learn Rock Polish, and Quick Seeds are common enough that I can use them to help boost my speed as well. Going back to the battle, if Fuji had used Grass Knot again instead of Quick Attack at the end, I'd have probably lost. Even if it didn't take me down itself, Linny's Quick Attack would have probably dealt the last bit needed."

"Wherever you choose to go, if you plan on having to battle a lot, I'd suggest looking into how your species compare to most. Especially if you wanna be a team together. If you're going to be looking into supporting Linny for the most part, Fuji, look at strategies that can really change the game. Linny's fast, but can you make him faster? That Helping Hand at the beginning was ok, but compared to his other Quick Attack, I didn't feel much of a difference. Grass Knot is a good move to help restrict an opponent's movement, but it works better the bigger your opponent is. Big guys tend to not move fast to begin with, and you're less likely to face those kinda guys wherever you start. If you have to have an attacking move, Maybe something that's super hard to dodge. If someone notices you're boosting Linny, they might try and take you out first, so being able to bare your fangs and..."

It just went on and on and on. Kestro was in full battle technician mode now, and the sheer depth he could delve into thanks to just one short battle with the two normal types was rather astounding. Battling was his passion, whether or not he worked for the Windrose Scouts or any other organization. One could only imagine how Kestro would fair in a field much more focused on battling rather than his chosen path with the Windrose Scouts.

Energy: 24
Items:
√ Stamina Band: Decreases all rolls by 2
Trawl Orb (4)
Vulpix Tag: Decreases Pokemon rolls by 1

Linny and Fuji listened to Kestro go on and on with rapt attention for once. Lumina also listened, but also kept an eye out for any pokemon that were approaching.

Fuji thought for a moment. "Well, I know we don't have much in the way of special attack power, or defenses. But our real strength, both of us, is our speed. So if we train at being so fast anyone can't catch us, that would be good, right, Kestro?" Fuji asked.

"Yeah! I bet if we train real hard, we'll be so fast!" Linny bounced up and down. A sudden growl rang out. It seemed to be coming from nowhere, but Lumina rose her tails, her Hex flames growing and lighting up the cave even more. When nothing appeared in the shadows, Lumina focused on her latent psychic abilities and tried to pinpoint the source of the growling.

Then, a bidoof appeared at the edge of the shadows, running towards them. Lumina knew that wasn't the growling. The growling seemed to come from underneath their feet. "H-hey!" the bidoof called out. "U-um... I'd s-stop that bouncing if I w-were you!" she stammered out.

It was then that the earth beneath Linny's feet burst upward, causing him to stumble back and cry out as a diglett buried its teeth into his paw.

"Be wary of overinvestment. Training your speed is definitely a good id-" he was cut off as he too heard the growl, and then noticed the Bidoof. At the Bidoof's warning, Kestro's body took on that characteristic shine of a Rock Polish. He rushed towards Linny, a psychic glow forming on his head before he slammed it down just behind the Diglett. More of a warning rather than an actual attack, Kestro wasn't sure he could hit the Diglett from this angle without make its bite on Linny's paw worse.

"Let him go, or we're going to start playing Whack-a-diglett," the rock type threatened, listing his head off the ground as he glared at the small ground type. He reached up and removed his turban, his head taking on a metallic shine as he prepared an Iron Head this time.

Dracorexion carried out 5 launched of one Serene Cave :

, , , ,