Manic Marsh

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It was another gloomy night, that had fallen upon the Cattail Marshes, the fog slowly creeping up from the swampy ground, forming a white blanket over the unstable ground.
A few swarms of bug types, mostly Volbeat and Illumise were dancing in the air, their few rays of light casting pale shadows on the ground below and forming bizarre images, taking the dreamy viewer's mind on a journey to worlds unknown.
And in the middle of all that, a lone, dark figure was floating, wearing a black cape, his face obscured by a cowl he had pulled over his face.
That figure was William the Gastly, having taken a break from his team members to calm down and dream in the serenity of the strange, silent aura, that surrounded this place in the middle of the night. The night had always been William's favourite time. It was a time of calmness and thought, only the moon and stars as distant, silent companions on his journey through his own mind and feelings.
In the past, William had often gazed into the nightly sky, dreaming about a better future. One, in which he didn't have to live a secluded life, all alone.
Now, that he had a team, he sometimes took the time to return and stare into the celestial abyss again to reflect. He thought of what had happened, he thought of what was, and he thought of what would be..

The Toxic Frog got back up with a vengeance and jumped up, looking like it was about to use another pursuit yet instead jumped over Auctor's head and to the oddish "A-aaaah!" The oddish screamed but before the Toxicroak could reach it a strange dark sphere hit the attacker in the side, sending it into a tree "Nice one William!" Auctor cheered and then looked back to the Toxicroak to see it get up wincing "O-okay okay! No more! My 2 friends went east! L-let me leave!" The enemy croaked before fleeing the scene, yet something dropped out of his hands as he leaped away

This dice is not existing.

At that moment the severely weakened Gastly decided to leave the cover of the fog and floated towards the two others, quivering as he did so.
After a quick look around, a small, blueish sphere was found, apparently a Quick Orb the Toxicroak had dropped. In an unstable voice, William began to adress the Corphish:
"D-don't worry about t-that Tox-Toxicroak...my Curse will finish it off soon enough...but did you...did you hear, what it said? There are...two others apparently. We should follow them, I supose. But first...you should calm that Oddish down, I guess...My species certainly...isn't the best choice for that.
Oh...and should we...run into any...any additional battles, I think you'll have to do most of the fighting...the power of the Curse is incredible, but it...it is immensly draining as well...I can barely stay afloat right now..."

Auctor nodded with a smile and picked up the quick orb "Hey pal, can ya tell me ya name?" He walked up to the Oddish slowly and smiled at it "H-herba... and thank you" The oddish stuttered with a frightened expression on its face "No probs, thank William over there, if it weren't for him we'd still be fighting that son of a..." He stopped himself and patted his head with a pincer "D'ya think you could get out of here safely? The exit is right out there, I'll watch you on your way out" The oddish nodded and went on his way as Auctor looked intently

William was still unsure, whether the Oddish would safely escape the marshes, but he didn't have the energy to do much about it. Thus, he wearily watched it waddle away, hoping, that it would be safe.
"So...do you know, how one can find out, where east is? If not, that would certainly be something I'd heavily suggest to learn for you. It can be a lifesaver if you get lost, which every adventurer, rescue team or whatever will eventually get. So since you refuse to train correctly, you should at least do that..."
It was now, that William questioned his own logic. Why hadn't he brought some items with him? Why hadn't he anticipated this possibility? He had stacks of healing Oran food back at the guild, but he didn't take it with him. And now it came back to bite him in the...somewhere.
Sighing, he silently prayed for the Corphish to possess at least basic survival skills.

Auctor nodded boldly and looked around "Now... let me think... to tell the truth we could just follow the footprints the other pokemon left behind" He looked around at where he saw the 4 other pokemon run away and saw possible footsteps "This a way" He pointed forward and ran forward making sure not to stand over the footprints, he followed them, eyeing them intently. He kept on running following them until he heard voices "Where the hell's boss!?" Auctor hid behind a tree and listened, careful not to make any noise whatsoever. He felt so... agile for some reason, kind of powerful at the same time

This dice is not existing.

This dice is not existing.

And once again William was disappointed in his apparently completely overblown expectations.
The Corphish had resorted to footprints. In a marsh. Where the ground was more liquid than solid and twice the population of Grassveil was constantly running around. Where the other outlaws could simply have been swimming the entire time. And he resorted to footsteps. Of course.
Yet, thanks to some sort of minor mirracle, the duo had finally reached, what seemed to be the Toxicroak's colleagues. Two of them. And William was almost useless.
Quietly, in a voice, that had grown raspy from the exhaustion, William whispered:
"Are you sure, you want to do this? Once you attack them, you are most definitely dead. There is no way we, or rather you can beat them..."

"Shhh, its those pokemon" Auctor looked from behind the tree to see a Quagsire and a Gulpin that seem to have a Hoothoot and a Sentret tied up, both of them quivering with their eyes closed "How the hell am I supposed to know!?" The quagsire answered and proceeded to turn to the captives "I woulda thought Boss would've handled your little friend by now... must have been quite the fighter" Auctor cringed at the thought of them hurting the poor pokemon "Look I got an idea which you'll probably agree to" Auctor whispered with a grin, before taking out the Quick Orb and used it, it dissipatng and seemingly Auctor too. Suddenly the ropes around the pokemon got cut and the 2 criminals for hit by a swift corphish

"Oh yes, it's not as if that had been obvio-...and where are you now? Why couldn't I travel with a potato...it would cause less trouble at least..."
William silently sighed again. This was a battle they couldn't win under any circumstances short of Arceus itself arriving. That battle against the Toxicroak had been close, but now William was exhausted, there were two hostages  and two criminals as well. The only thing William could do was to draw the inevitable out for a bit longer, so Auctor might realize the hopelessness of the situation and try to flee.
Since the Gulpin seemed to be a bigger threat for a Corphish, the Gasly floated up into the top of the tree they had been hiding behind and launched a Shadow Ball at the Poison type.

The gulpin took the shadowy blob to the face sending it rolling into the waters behind it, which gave the recovering Quagsire an idea, it took the sentret and dove into the murky swamp below "William you handle the... green slimy thing if you can!" Auctor exclaimed before diving into the waters too, chasing after the Quagsire underwater. This was also his forte, underwater battles yet a Pokemon's life was on the line, although he knew the Quagsire wouldn't do such a thing and wouldn't kill him he wasn't going to take the risk

Meanwhile the Gulpin had spotted William hiding in the treetop, using its Sludge attack to hurl a clump of toxic waste in his direction.
The Gastly, not having expected to be seen, got hit by the attack and while his typing prevented most of the damage, in his weakened state even that was a dangerous amount. Hoping for the Corphish to know, what he was doing, which was a lost cause, but one can still try, William tried to keep the Poison type at bay, descending from the poison-soaked tree, whose leaves had almost entirely fallen off, and focussing his negative emotions once again and directing them against the Gulpin.

In the murky waters of the marshes, the Quagsire periodically lifted the Sentret's head out of the water, barely high enough to allow it to breathe for a second and descended again, trying to escape from the Corphish. Although it could probably defeat the crab easily, unneccessary fighting might draw attention to them, which in turn might get the guild on their trail. Quagsire especially dreaded Faye and her Grass type attacks, wanting to escape her at any cost. Thus, he used Mud Shot underwater, to prevent the Corphish from seeing it escape.

The gulpin, already being hit by that same attack once before didn't appeal to it so it swiftly, as far as gulpins go, dodged the dark move and countered with another sludge being launched at the ghost type, as it hasn't got much else at it's disposal to use against it.

Auctor closed his eyes at the mud then instantaneously opened them back up "Damn it now where did he..." He rose from the water to see a Sentret being pushed up to the surface then pulled back down "Gotcha" He muttered and went in that direction while charging his superpower, once the sentret rissen again he rushed forward the fastest he could swim, attempting to hit the Quagsire with his pincer

William had anticipated the attack, not expecting the Gulpin to have any non-Poison attacks anyways and thus dodged with relative ease.
Yet, he himself only had his Shadow Ball as a viable attack as well.
Hypnosis would make him too easy of a target, while he was far too weak to use Curse once again.
Smog on the other hand would have almost no effect on the enemy, but might severely endanger the hostage. But his Shadow Ball would be expected and thus dodged, so he had to think of something...
Not having too many options open, William came to the conclusion of hastily creating another Shadow Ball and firing it to serve as a distraction while he tried to use his normal attack against the Gulpin.

While the attack hit the Quagsire, slightly dizzying it, the kidnapper emerged out of the water soon thereafter, holding the Sentret in front of it and grinning maliciously.
"Hehehe...now, that the little ghost is gone, what are you going to do? Come on...hehe...hit me. Do it. You can't, can you? You couldn't bring yourself to risk hurting this poor, defenseless Pokémon. You are pathetic. And your little quest ends here..."

Auctor chuckled, swimming closer to the Quagsire with a smirk "Yeah you're right, but ya know.... you won't harm the sentret any more anyway.you don't want to get in trouble with the guild now do ya? No no that would be bad, very very bad" He snapped his pincers open and shut idly as he swam even closer to the criminal and hostage with a smirk.

"The guildmaster would really pack a punch to you huh? Yeah that's right... oh and also I can't hit you, that's true!" He shouted, hoping he would get the Ghost pokemon's attention. The gulpin, still focusing on the Gastly thought of using a dirty move and begun to yawn at William, sure that it would make a sure win for the Gulpin

While William was battling the Gulpin, he heard someone shout in the distance, which luckily drowned out the Yawn, so it didn't affect the Ghost type.
While William was curious about what it was, that had caused the sound, Auctor had commanded him to take care of the Gulpin and he couldn't simply leave the Hoothoot there, could he?
Thus, the Gastly decided for it to be best to ignore the shout.
This way, they might be able to save one hostage at least, while the Quagsire battle probably was a lost cause. The distaction by means of Shadow Ball had worked, leaving the Poison type wide open to William's attack, knocking it against a tree, which it stuck to, but didn't move anymore, save for breathing.
It seemed to have fainted.
Sighing in a mixture of exhaustion and relief, the Gastly then floated towards the Hoothoot, trying to protect it from whatever may come. Sadly he didn't have any hands to free it, so that was the only option he had.

"H-he...the guild...really? They aren't here, you know. And if I defeat you now, n-noone will ever notice this. B-but at least you realize, how futile your actions are...Do you have any last words, crab?", the Quagsire stammered, mentally reassuring itself, that the Meganium wasn't even remotely close to its position. It then prepared to kick up some dirt to use it as a Mud Shot attack.

"Yeah Yeah I do" Auctor pointed his pincer to the ground as it begun to glow and he smirked "I'm a lobster actually" Auctor then proceeded to use superpower as a swipng motion on the ground, knocking a lot of dirt up into the air and using the confusion to grab the sentret and push him behind himself, feeling a slight burden lifted but the Sentret was still in immediate danger "Stay behind me little dude, I got this" Auctor attempted to reassure the scared pokemon behind him as he grinned at the enemy in front of him. Feeling quite proud of himself he chuckled, but to no avail as he saw the Quagsire at the dust disspated, infuriated at his slight downfall