CF-001: "Coral Forests"

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Primary Directive: Discover and catalogue.

The mission of the Windrose Scouts, summarized in three brief words. It had been explained to him in much more thorough detail, but the Porygon had diluted it into that simple phrase. That was the objective of the organization he was now affiliated with. As such, it would be a productive use of his time to further said objective. He had selected a mystery dungeon at random that hadn't been written about in their archives, and he set to work. It wasn't impossible that there was a reason none of the organic members had reached such a place. But that was no reason to hold back Tec. He was durable, not to mention unburdened by hunger, thirst, or a need to rest.

The Porygon hovered above the path. The path was made out of a rough, abrasive plant, bleached white and sprouting from the seafloor. Could this be the first anomaly in this mystery dungeon? He hadn't seen it anywhere else before. He took a long moment to observe it, pausing in his investigation to poke it with his beak.

He confirmed that the plant was, as he suspected, rough, scratchy and unpleasant to touch. More like a rock than a plant. Could it be a rock instead? It wasn't too unlike tree bark, though. A secondary test on a different area of the plant/rock/item confirmed that it had a scratchy texture, as did the third test, cataloguing this first finding down in his memory.

Pathways are made of unpleasant white matter.

This investigation was going very well.

Tec's energy: 9
(19 max, -10 from entering)

”Huh? Uh...typically they try to fix what caused the mistake if possible? And...apology accepted.” Viktoria spoke, slightly caught off guard by the question. This is going to be weird in general from what she can tell. She’s stuck being his teacher of sorts, huh? ...Could be worse honestly.

She glanced down at the water as the bird swam through, seeing a Tirtouga gracefully zooming past with ease through the water. If only she could be like that currently- just glide through problems without any trouble. But that’s not her ultimately. Here is she, just resting on a Porygon as he swims through the water. That's just pathetic of her, isn't it.

What had caused the mistake? He didn't know. He didn't know what he'd done wrong. How could he know that, when he didn't even know what the mistake was? His apology being accepted was a start. It wasn't part of the process of what he needed to do next, though. "What was the cause of the error? How do I fix it?" He asked instead, glancing back up to the Riolu on his back. She knew many things. Hopefully she knew this, too.

He scanned his eyes across the ocean as he paddled along, keeping an eye out for any Luvdisc. He saw many water times, most of them he couldn't name. A little blue seahorse, something almost like a child's drawing of a five-pointed star, a mop of blue spikes slithering across the seafloor. No Luvdisc yet, but he doubted they were far now. He hadn't swam that far in the first place.

(Note: Tec has the Winter Laurel Crown now, using it for one free Oran Berry use, and any berries rolled will cost 0 energy.)

Tec's Energy: 11
(0 + 1 from natural regen = 1)
(1 + 10 from oran berry = 11)

Venusian carried out 10 launched of one Coral Forest :

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”Well...you nearly doomed another Pokemon by stating information at the wrong time. That's the mistake that happened. I’m guessing you don’t know what context is, huh... You can start fixing it by learning that.” Viktoria calmly spoke back to the bird, still not seeing Kokoro yet. Guess now could be the time to learn, huh.

”I’m willing to tell you how context works, you just got to well, implement it. Alright, Tec?” She was fully aware of how curious the Porygon was, and if she can use that to her advantage, then so be, she’ll do it.

Energy: 0
Natural page regen nullified by Poison.

He could fix it by learning something new. This was ideal. Sure enough, the Porygon had fallen for the bait, hook, line and sinker. He glanced back up at the Riolu, paddling along the water. A brief inner conflict stirred in him. How could he know if he should implement context without knowing what it was? There was enough wiggle room in Viktoria's order for him to interpret it in a way that would let him abandon it, so there was no risk. Content, Tec glanced back up. "I want to learn." He answered. "Please begin the explanation. I am ready."

Tec's Energy: nope (0)

"Alright. Well...context is using the situation you’re in to decide a decision instead of well, blindly answering a question. For example, and this is an extreme one, I’ll admit it, let’s say you’ve got information two Pokemon want. I’ll call these two Pokemon “A” and “B”. A wants the information, but you know that what they’ll do with it is undeniably wrong, like commit a murder. B wants the information, and you know they want to protect the possible murder victim." Viktoria spoke calmly, looking at the water.

"With the context of knowing why both Pokemon want that information, you’d only want to tell B the information and refuse to tell A, yea? Ultimately does more good in the end. The circumstances on how you can apply context will change depending on what you know or don’t know, requiring different actions to settle things. Sometimes, well, there is no right choice even with context, and that just requires a decision based on what you, yourself, believe. It might seem overwhelming for you, but it’s relatively easy to adjust to, I’m sure."

Tec floated along, trying to understand the concept. There were so many 'whys'. All things being equal, he would want to fulfill orders. And in both cases, he would do so. "I would not refuse to fulfill a task." He answered in monotone as he continued along the waves. He would want to do so because it would "do good", by Viktoria's logic. But then... "It is desirable to 'do good'. Why?" The normal type wondered, waiting patiently for a response.

This was supposed to be easy to adjust to, but the Porygon was barely following her at all. This was infinitely more frustrating than secrets, the knowledge was there, being freely offered, and he was struggling to comprehend it. There was no factor to blame except himself, and so what was wrong with him? He kept trying to understand it. He truly did. But there was one roadblock that he had to overcome, was he broken, perhaps?

No matter how he turned the words over in his mind, they didn't click in the way that he was waiting for them to.

"Why can I not understand this properly?" He asked. If there was anything below that flat voice, it would have been frustration, staring absently at his reflection in the water. "I aim to fulfill my tasks. My current objective is to gather knowledge. And this is knowledge I cannot comprehend. Do you know why I cannot understand it, Viktoria?"

He certainly didn't. The Riolu understood so many things, hopefully she would have an answer for this, as well.

”Hmmm...well, things that are “good” tend to help more than just yourself. Pokemon will inherently want to help others- so that they’ll be helped in turn. And well, it kind of just takes practice to get used to. But I’d say blindly doing tasks isn’t sometimes the best option in my opinion- you gotta think for yourself about it sometimes or simply just ask yourself "Why am I doing this?".” Viktoria responded to him, hoping they’d see the Luvdisc soon.

”I’m probably making things more confusing for you though, Tec. I-if I am, I apologize, I’m not really good at explaining things in general in my opinion…”

Help others so that you, yourself, may be helped. He could see the logic in that. But the rest was harder to wrap his mind around. He noted the words, but he could not fully understand them. He supposed he didn't really need to comprehend it, as much as the thought nagged at him that he simply couldn't, regardless of how hard he tried. It was just an opinion, Viktoria had said so herself. Opinions could not be counted as true information. So maybe he didn't need to think any more about the odder statements she had made?

Why was he doing this? His objective was to gather information. He didn't feel any particular way about that, but it would be preferable to keep preforming his task. But if preforming tasks wasn't in and of itself desirable, then perhaps he shouldn't be doing anything? His objective didn't seem to fit Viktoria's definition of 'good', but if the reverse held true, and he couldn't see it fitting her definition of 'evil', either. So it was fine to carry on. He didn't need to waste any more thought on it. The odds seemed to suggest that it would be fine, at least.

A familiar, little pink fish surfaced, then, sniffling to herself. Another task had been completed. "I have located Kokoro." Tec reported helpfully.

"... o-oh. Um. Hi."

Seems he was having more issues with this entire idea of context compared to what she was expecting. It was fine though, he’ll figure it out! Hopefully! She glanced around before Kokoro was spotted, seeing a Clobbopus and Carvanha brawling with each other far below the surface of the water.

The pink fish however caused Viktoria to quit with the remote sightseeing. ”Oh, hello Kokoro. Well...we saw Sierra, and she told us to tell you she’d be back soon.” The Riolu spoke, hoping that the message alone would help cheer up the Luvdisc even a bit. That was the goal, right? To make sure she could be happy while Sierra was gone.

"O-oh! That's good! Thank you!" The little Luvdisc perked up a bit at the news, looking up hopefully at the Riolu. "Do you know when she'll be back? Oh, maybe I should find some lum berries for her? Those are her favorites." The heart-shaped fish swam in a small circle, still clearly anxious. But at least she was less lethargic now. Tec was unsure whether or not this was progress.

How long did fights usually take? Tec gave his best estimate. "She will not gone for longer than four days." There was no way that the fight would take that long, it was statistically very unlikely. Assuming she won the fight, at least, but before he could mention that, Kokoro had glanced up at Viktoria, casting a skeptical look at the Porygon.

"S-sorry, I don't really understand... but I can, um, try to find something for you guys, you're explorers, right? What do pokemon outside of dungeons like? I can see if we have something for you underwater!" She asked eagerly, her fins flapping. "I have, uh... some... sticks? Do you guys want sticks?"

”I don’t know for certain when she’ll be back to be honest. It should be soon though.” Viktoria responded to Kokoro while glancing at Tec to get him to not say much more than that regarding Sierra’s situation. Don’t say what you just were about to, Tec. Please.

”Sticks, eh? What else is down in the water anyway? I’m just curious honestly- I can’t reliably swim down there in the first place.” Viktoria said, hoping the lure of more knowledge would get Tec to focus on that instead of possibly bombing the situation. At least Kokoro isn't depressed to the point of being lethargic currently.

(OOC: Well, we finally dealt with all the encounters. I…think.)

"We've got seeds and orbs and stuff...? And coral! Lots of coral!" Kokoro offered, trying her best to help. The poor fish was very aware that her answer wasn't the most helpful, dipping her head under the water just a smidge in embarrassment. "Maybe you can help me set up a surprise for Sierra when she's back... what do you think a good present would be?" The Luvdisc wondered, swimming around in a tight circle.

She was still displaying signs of distress, Tec noted, but the fish was at least moving again. That was likely a good sign. "I wish that I could find flowers for her here... hmm." Kokoro gave a thoughtful hum, deep in thought as she looked back up at the other two for suggestions.

Tec perked up, finally, offering an oddly shaped berry that he had collected earlier. It was an oran berry, but with an odd shape, more rounded with an odd bump on it. It looked a bit... suspicious, and the Luvdisc wasn't sure she should eat this one. "A present." Tec explained helpfully.

"Well, it's, really kind of you to try, but I don't think she'd like this..." The pink fish answered meekly.

(Using two Trawl Orbs, come home vitamins and joy ribbons please)

Venusian carried out 10 launched of one Coral Forest :

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Venusian carried out 10 launched of one Coral Forest :

, , , , , , , , ,