Graceful Garbage Grabbing.

A group of Trubbish has been littering on Pricklemist Hill! Could you please clean up after them? But don't hurt the envirionment with Poison type moves!   » Client: Leafeon » Objective: Retrieve 3 pieces of trash (Uncommon item) » Place: Pricklemist Hill » Restrictions: Don't use Poison type moves. » Difficulty: F » Reward: 250 Poké » Exploration Points: 10

Tsukishiro wandered through the grassy areas taking note of the surroundings and looking for the base of Pricklemist Hill.
"Leafeon said the base of the hill was somewhere around here... so I guess we should just start heading upwards?" mused Shiro, half to herself and half to the Gastly that accompanied her.

"I guess, that would make sense...", William replied. Or can you think of a place Trubbish would most likely be? I haven't really been here that often.", William replied, floating slightly above the tall grass, that was growing in the area.
"It's surprising actually...why would one be willing to spend this much money only to protect the environment? It's not as if that rubbish would cause any damage to anything important."
William had always failed to see a reason, why the environment should be protected. Maybe it was due to his Poison typing, maybe it simply was his mindset. But since it was a mission, that held a reward and more importantly the chance to redeem himself, if only a little, so the Gastly didn't mind. It was a job and it would be done.

"I've never been here before," blinked Shiro, "So the best I can do is explore and keep my eyes peeled." The Absol glanced around, trying to identify any areas where Trubbish might hide. Even if there weren't any Trubbish there right now, they could work on helping to clean up the area.
"Grass types like Leafeon like to keep the environment clean because plants and flowers grow better in those conditions," blinked the Absol, "I guess it's more important to them because of they're typing and the conditions they prefer to live in."

"Yeah, but what's so great about those things? Flowers don't have any practical effects. They just stand around and don't do anything of importance. But a job's a job, I guess..."
As he continued to float through the area, William was looking everywhere for garbage, but he didn't do so with his full attention. His mind was still trying to process, to understand, what had happened. He was actually part of a rescue team. There wasn't a team to kill him, HE was part of a team. There were Pokémon working with him, not against him. What would happen in the future? Would the team stay together? Only time would show...

"I always assumed that perhaps those are the ideal conditions for a grass type to be at their most powerful, so that's why they prefer it," smiled Shiro. She then fell silent as she walked, continuing to scan the grassy hill for garbage, or the related garbage Pokemon. Tsukishiro had never personally encountered a Trubbish, so she wondered what they were like. They didn't seem like very nice Pokemon however if they were just leaving trash around.

William could kind of understand the Trubbish. There was no reason to clean up, so why should they waste energy on that? If Grass types got stronger in natural areas, wouldn't Trubbish get stronger in dirty areas? So it would actually be rather selfish of the Leafeon to request them to remove the garbage.
Still lost in philosophical questions, the Gastly floated through the grass, deciding not to tell Shiro of those thoughts as they would only unneccessarily draw out their mission.

Shiro was walking silently still, keeping her thoughts to herself when she noticed something a short distance away, bounding toward it she realised it was naught but a small rock.
"Ah well, I thought that would be something to clear up but apparently it's just a rock... moving on," she chuckled. Surely we'll find something soon, thought Shiro as she dug through a patch of longer grass.

This dice is not existing.

As William heard, that Shiro had found something, he looked over to her, but a quick glance was enough, that the item wasn't of any particular importance, so the Gastly decided not to bother with the specifics.
Although he kept looking for something, there was nothing extraordinary to be found in the grass.
Was there even any garbage or was the Leafeon just being paranoid?
Nevertheless, William continued to look around, trying to discover something, that wasn't grass for once.

All that was to be found in the longer grass was an Oran Berry, which Shiro decided to put in her bag for later. After all a berry that heals would probably come in handy somewhere along the line.
"You found anything yet?" Shiro asked William, turning around to see that he hadn't.
"I guess the litter that Leafeon is on about must be further up the hill..." she reasoned, though she continued to keep her eyes peeled, just in case.

This dice is not existing.

"Maybe...if it even exists...The only things around here are grass, grass, grass and grass...", William complained. Picking up garbage wasn't the most honorable thing to do, but they had to start small, he assumed. Still...couldn't this be at least a little more interesting?
Just as he had finished the thought, William spotted something in the grass. Floating closer, he tried to find out, what it was. And then the something jumped out of the grass, biting William in the face. The thing, which revealed itself to be a Raticate, was now jumping up and down angrily.
"I just had to ask...", William mumbled.

"I'm sure Leafeon wouldn't have put the job up if there wasn't anything to find here," blinked Shiro, continuing her search before whipping back around as she heard the sounds of the Raticate attacking William. After it moved back from the Gastly, jumping up and down angrily, Shiro crept towards it, hoping to get a surprise attack. Crouching in the grass behind Raticate, she parted her jaws, a Dark Pulse forming between them. She had been careful to pick an angle where she would not hit the Gastly by accident if the Raticate dodged her move in time... and with that thought in mind she fired the black pulse towards the rat pokemon.

"Well...there certainly are enough strange Pokémon for this to be a possibility.", William remarked, once again unwillingly remembering the horror that was Astrid.
Since Ghost type moves wouldn't have an effect, using Poison type moves had been forbidden and Curse would be too dangerous in William's injured state, the only choice left was to use Hypnosis.
Just as the Raticate got up again, after it had been hit by the Dark Pulse, William was floating in front of it, humming a strangely soothing melody as he looked deep into the Normal type's eyes.
However, the only reaction from the Raticate could be summed up as "mildly annoyed", so William quickly floated away again to avoid a counterattack.

The Raticate began to glow with a faint red aura, the sleep effect doing nothing but upping Raticate's attack because of it's Guts ability. Shiro blinked, getting to her feet and preparing to attack the rat pokemon with Quick Attack, attempting to get in another hit before the Raticate could retaliate with it's upped attack. Having felt the Dark Pulse from before, Raticate turned and attacked Shiro with Bite, meeting the Dark type half way and latching onto her scythe-like horn with it's powerful teeth, pulling her onto the ground. Shiro shook her head, trying to get the Raticate's grip to dislodge. She failed and so she used Feint, her normally black claws glowing white as she rolled over scratching at the Raticate's stomach in an attempt to get it to let go.

Seeing the two Pokémon struggle, William couldn't do anything but simply float there, none of his attacks being of any use for the moment. Even a normal attack might accidentally hit Shiro,so the Gastly was forced to watch.
Since there was nothing to do, William began to wonder, why Dark type attacks were effective against Ghost types. What made a bite different from a punch or kick? Would the world ever know?

Raticate let go of Shiro's horn as it's stomach was scratched, and the Absol used her legs to fling the rat Pokemon away. This gave her enough time to get back up onto her feet and shake the dust from her fur. Giving herself some time to recover from the attack, Shiro made a small growling sound, trying to intimidate the Raticate without the use of a move.