An Archen's Ambition

An archen wandered on the rocky surface of the Peak, he had come to the volcano in search of items he could sell perhaps. The prehistoric bird had finished his adventure with William the ghastly on Blackmist mountain only a few days ago, since then he had been wondering about what he had said himself on that adventure. He had told the Ghastly that dreams don't just go away, his own words had made him begin to wonder just what was his dream? He was in the guild, that was his only dream aside from flying. He was beginning to think he had useless dreams, only thinking of being able to fly AND just joining some guild. He pondered his thoughts, nearly walking into a stream of lava in the process but stopping himself just in time.

At the peak of the volcano, a certain riolu had found himself also traveling to the top, after having decided that the peak would be a good place to train. It had some tough pokemon, probably some quiet areas to meditate, and all around seemed like a good idea. Having found himself a spot on a rock nearby a few lava flows, Lincoln found himself sitting there for a bit, eyes closed, meditating and trying to focus on his mind to see if he could clear it himself. This would probably be easier for a psychic type, but I don't have that luxury. Guess I'll just have to work on it. He thought to himself, before noticing the aura of another pokemon nearby. Acting quickly, and unsure if they were hostile or not, he opened his eyes and swung his paw a few times, creating a Vacuum Wave attack before sending it at the archen. Friendly or hostile, it'll be good for them and/or me. They could use some training. He rationalized in his head, waiting to see if the attack made contact.

The archen heard something move behind him and looked to see what it was, only to get smacked in the face with the vacuum wave. "OW!" he called, his guild bag was sent flying a foot or so before he could get back to his feet and recollect it. He glared at the riolu, "What was that for!?" he shouted in disbelief, he then found the question redundant. This was a hostile pokemon, it had to be. Why else would a pokemon run around attacking others for no reason? He screeched in anger and set up a double team, flitting about and creating copies of himself so the chance of being hit was less than it normally was. He hated pokemon that randomly attacked him like this. It was just not fair in his opinion to attack without warning for no reason. Acro had his copies grow closer as he prepared to use a Pluck Attack on the Riolu in revenge for the Vacuum Wave.

Lincoln winced slightly as the angered archen seemed to be getting even angrier. I assume he is, well was, friendly. I should probably explain this. He thought to himself as the other pokemon created copies of itself before swooping in for the peck attack. Lincoln quickly jumped off the mound he had been on and landed on the ground.
"Alright, apparently you're not a hostile pokemon. At least unless provoked. I'm sorry about attacking you, but you surprised me."  He said, not making any movement. Not only was it a battle he probably couldn't win, he didn't trust the archen to not seriously injure him.

Acro calmed down at the apology, but was still on edge. Last time he had trusted a Riolu it had given him a roundhouse kick in the beak. Acro perched on the mound that the riolu used to be on and spoke, "H-how c-could I surprise you? I-I was walking around doing my own thing," he huffed in annoyance and shook his head as his feathers seemed to puff out a bit. He was annoyed by his own stuttering from his nervousness, at least he was getting better control over his own fear than he used to. He studied the Riolu for any signs of aggression that could mean that it would attack once more, Do all riolus attack anything that move? he thought with a hint of annoyance.

The Riolu shrugged, looking up at Acro. Although he had stopped attacking, he certainly looked on edge still and maybe just a bit nervous, at least to Lincoln.
"I had my eyes closed, and I couldn't really pick up on your aura until you got closer. It would be like if you were standing in a pitch black room and something popped up." Lincoln tried to explain to the Archen.
"Maybe I should introduce myself. I'm Lincoln, nice to meet you." He added, deciding to try and make things friendlier and reduce some of the tension.

"I'm Acro...i'm a Guild Member of Grassviel..." Acro tried to relax more, but found that he couldn't so decided to apologize for it, "Sorry, but I just can't relax. I've had bad experiences with Feral Riolus nearly breaking every bone in my body and pulling dirty tricks.." he gave a nervous laugh and sighed. Why am I always so on edge!? I know he's not going to hurt me but still... he thought. The archen hopped down from the mound, flapping his wings to slow his descent. He wouldn't be able to fly, but he could at least slow descents and glide a bit.

"You're a member there?" Lincoln asked in a neutral tone of voice, not showing surprise or any other emotion about the statement. He found it somehow strange that the pokemon, who he had attacked one time and seemed to have bad memories about others in his species attacking him, and was unnerved by that could deal with being in harm's way on a day to day schedule.
"Well, it's not nice to hold grudges against a whole species for a few incidents. It is smart, though." He added afterwards, in response to the Archen's comment about his experiences with Feral Riolus.

"True that, I just can't help it...I-I'm sorry..." Acro seemed a bit disappointed in himself. He knew he shouldn't be so uneasy when this pokemon was clearly friendly. He hated being such a coward, always on edge and overly cautious. He laughed nervously once more and said, "Yes I'm a member at the guild...Leader of Team Roark..." He spoke once more. He fell silent, unsure of what else to speak of to the Riolu. He debated asking the Riolu to accompany him in his travel to try and make up for his behavior. He decided to wait to see what the riolu's reaction was for now before speaking anymore.

"Well don't apologize about it. Just try and work on changing things I suppose, if you want to change." Lincoln mused, feeling slightly bad about Acro apologizing to him for being on edge. Plus, as he had said before, it was smart. Now if only he could be confident. He thought to himself.
"Leader? That's a pretty important job. Is that why you're here, getting some kind of mission done?" He asked the Archen, wondering if he was doing something on his own. If so, maybe he could tag along. It would be a good way to get some experience working on missions, even if he wasn't exactly planning on joining the guild.

"N-No...I just came to look for something for my teammate, or at least something to sell that could get something for my teammate..." The archen replied. He had never thought of being leader as an important job, seeing as he didn't seem to do much in his opinion. His definition of a leader was to bravely lead teams into dungeons and do missions, all he did was be dragged along by Astrid and let his team suggest different things instead of making decisions himself. He didn't think of himself as the team leader, but he made the team himself which had made him a team leader since he had done that.

Lincoln nodded his head, figuring that it seemed like a good reason to be out in the area. He must really look after his partner then to be out here alone to get them something. The riolu thought to himself.
"Well, I mean I'm kind of bored, and you already inadvertently distracted me from my current training. Need any help?" He asked the archen, deciding that if Acro let him he could help out the pokemon a bit. He did attack him out of the blue, Lincoln figured he should probably do something to get on Acro's better side if he wasn't already.

Ok, he asked me...I should probably accept it...but what if-Arceus I have to stop being to suspicious of others! he thought before speaking, "Yes...please, if it'll make up for my behavior that is...I guess..." Acro had ended up confusing himself with this thoughts and his words. He knew he was probably just going to hurt himself like this so he calmed down and studied the Riolu, friendly: Yes. Strong: Unknown. Part of a team: Maybe...what am I a Porygon? I should just stop...
He shook his body feathers, which were becoming a bit sweaty from the heat of the area. He hated how his feathers had begun to cling to his body. He wished he could just hop in the air and fly, maybe that would cool him off...or would that only make it worse? His mind was going off track once again...

This dice is not existing.

"Right...uh, you want to lead the way or something?" Lincoln asked, starting to feel a bit strange as he rubbed the back of his head with his paw. I could deal with the temperature in the Grassveil area, but this? It's starting to get a bit too warm for comfort. He thought to himself as he felt some sweat coming off of his head. Wrapped up in talking with Acro and their conversation, he hadn't noticed a purple shape slithering over to the duo, staying hidden by a few stray rocks and scoping out the two pokemon as if to see which would be an easier victim to attack.

"Uh...sure, I guess" Acro spoke, "How about we go-"
"ACROOO" A enthusiastic voice squealed in delight as Acro was suddenly tackled by the blue snake like creature that was Astrid, "AcroAcroAcro I got bored so I followed you, who's your friend? What are we going to do? What are we searching for? Are we looking for treasure?"
Acro was overwhelmed with surprise and questions as the dratini seemed to have come from no where. He was about to question the dratini himself but the pokemon had slithered away and up to the riolu, "Hiya! Who are you? How are you? Wanna be my friend? You look cool! What pokemon are you? I'm a dratini, Astrid the dratini!" The dratini was ecstatic to meet someone new that seemed to be friends with Acro.
The purple shape seemed to hesitate from the sudden appearance of the new pokemon, but quickly decided that it looked fairly weak. Should it strike now?