Family Matters

Mission Thread That mean Scraggy has been terrorising my family far too long now. Please go and teach him a lesson! But don't hurt my family, please. They already went through so much... » Client: Sneasel » Objective: Defeat Scraggy » Place: Blackmist Mountain » Restrictions: Don't fight any Sneasel or Weavile » Difficulty: F » Reward: 100 Poké, Blast Seed » Exploration Points: 10

Nate reread the mission details to himself as he found himself at the foot of Blackmist Mountain. The whole area seemed a bit strange to him, as he had been there before once a long time ago. Before I even got to Grassveil, now that I think of it. A lost of stuff has happened since then, and I'm stronger now I suppose. The pikachu thought to himself, placing the mission details back in his bag. And I've even got myself a team now. Hope Shiro and William are doing well on their mission. He continued to walk through the dark and somewhat ominous fog, feeling a bit alert and jumpy as he glanced around. He was on his own, and with how heavy and dark the fog was anything could be hiding in any place. Which would most likely be bad for him if something decided it would attack.
"Whatever, just get on with the mission. Simple as that." He murmured out loud, wondering when he would find the scraggy he was looking for.

Izumi was sneaking around the base of the mountain with a very ticked look on her face. She glared up at the peak and pondered over just how the heck she was going to get up there without being mauled until she was inside out. Her impatient pacing quickened as she shot down idea after idea, getting frantic over the situation.

"I just need one look at the mural in the stone up there... One quick look, that's all....." she grumbled aloud to herself; a little louder than she had meant to, actually. She noticed a blur of yellow fur and looked over to see a Pikachu standing there all by his lonesome. She started to feel a little self-conscious over the outburst; releasing her natural introvertedness.

"Ah... Sorry." She muttered bluntly. Boy was she glad she was the color red, or she might have possibly blushed out of embarrassment. She probably looked crazy or at least pretty darn stupid to that guy right about now. Her foul disaster-bringing reputation, seeing as she was an Absol, was already enough to scare most everybody away. She didn't need to look like a loon on top of that.

The pikachu jumped at the outburst! glancing around in the fog for who it was. Who was that? Maybe the Scr-oh, an Absol. Hope she's friendly. Nate thought to himself, seeing the blurred figure of Izumi and noting the slightly unusual strange coloring.

"Uh, don't worry about it. It's fine. As long as you're not going to attack me or something." He responded, trying to sound light and chuckling a bit at the last part. Honestly, he wasn't very unnerved about the Absol being a natural disaster Pokemon. A whole tribe of them lived on the mountains, and he was in a team with one.

"What was that about a mural?" The pikachu asked, intrigued by what she might have been talking about. Yeah, talk about it however much you want, just remember the mission. He reminded himself, waiting for a response.

"Attack you? Pfft. Do I look like a dungeon crawling feral pokemon to you?" Izumi snorted, although her eyes remained fixed on the mountains peak. "Besides... I'm already going to have enough trouble as it is the second I put a paw on that Arceus-forsaken hunk of rock." She added in a little more of a serious tone.

"See... I was reading about this secret item while I was minding the shop one day... I wanted to try and get it for my little sister. She just joined a rescue team and all so I thought I'd get her a gift to celebrate. Something meaningful and useful." Izumi explained absentmindedly, her nose twitching. Her nose was like a little radar; she could pinpoint the location of a lot of the Absol she was trying to avoid by tracking their scents. "There's a mural up there; it's the only clue to where this item is. I need to get to it, but buh-LIEVE you me, they do not like me up there." She continued, chortling a little at her last statement. "My sister has been really busy lately so we haven't gotten to talk in a while. I figured I'd surprise her with a surprise visit and her present, but that's gonna be kinda hard to pull of if I get torn to bits..."

Trouble getting to the peak? The pikachu asked himself, listening to what the Absol had to say.
"Uh, if I can ask, why don't they like you up there? I mean usually when someone says that in that way, there's a bit of backstory. And a chance of becoming collateral damage." Nate asked the Absol, watching her as she stared up at the peak. Sister just joined a rescue team? Funny, sounds like it could be Shiro. He chuckled, thinking about his teammates. He didn't think that Izumi's sister was actually Shiro, but he knew that if he were in the position to do something for a sibling he would want to try whatever it took to do it for them and make them happy.
"Well, anyway, I'm actually a part of a guild team. I'm here because I've got a mission up here to complete, so away be we can work together. You help me with my mission, I'll help you get up to that mural. Sound good?" He negotiated with the Absol.

Izumi chuckled at the "collateral damage" comment. She finally turned her head to look the Pikachu in the eyes, sizing him up in a friendly manner. "Yeah, my sister and I made this huge pilgrimage to Grassveil Town in order to start a new life, and I snagged this before we left." Izumi explained, indicating the strange item she was wearing. "It's the most revered and sacred relic the tribe has- well, had. An item only an Absol can use. And they sure as heck aren't happy that it's gone." she grinned devilishly.

Izumi was surprised by the Pikachu's offer. She had been under the impression that when rescue teams usually stuck to doing one mission at a time, and they usually traveled... well, as a team. She was definitely interested now.

"Really? Well sure, that sounds pretty fair to me." Izumi responded with another slightly-less-unnerving grin. "But just so you know, I have no clue where that hint in the mural is sending us, in case you were planning on sticking around for the whole trip. Probably a dungeon off the beaten path; could even be full of ground types."

"So let me get this straight. You stole your tribe's most sacred possession before you left, and now you need to come back?" Nate questioned, looking at the item Izumi was wearing. The thought of stealing it didn't sit well with him, but he hadn't seen any reports of it in the guild. Maybe the tribe wasn't exactly the kind of Pokemon to report them, maybe taking matters into their own paws.
"Maybe you should have thought that through a bit more. But I'm still willing to help. Maybe I'll stick around depending on how things go." The pikachu smirked a bit, nodding his head. "Just don't forget, I have a mission up here too. I've got to do that." He pulled the job paper out and held it in front of the Absol, letting her read it so she knew what he was doing.
"You should probably be careful, it's a fighting type. You might not be able to do much." He added, just thinking of it.

"I didn't technically steal it, per say....." Izumi responded jokingly with a slight eyeroll before getting a little more serious. "It was my family's line that brought it here in the first place. Really, they were being kinda greedy with something we were sharing." she stated. "And they don't even know the second thing is up there so it's all good!"

Izumi grinned as the Pikachu consented, not all too concerned with the threat of a fighting-type pokemon. "Aww puh-leeeeaze, we'll cross that bridge when we get there. What's important is you've got yourself some travel company, pal~"

Nate nodded his head in response to the Absol, hearing what she had to say about the tribe's possession she had taken. He couldn't help but chuckle a bit as she talked about dealing with her type disadvantage later.
"Alright, well if you say so then." The Pikachu smirked, looking around in the fog. "Now, uh, which way is up? Can't really see too well in this fog." He commented, unsure of which way to go. He heard a few noises coming from around the area besides him and Izumi, making him pause for a moment. He ears twitched, quickly looking around to try and find what was causing it.

This dice is not existing.

This dice is not existing.

"Into the bushes!" Izumi whispered urgently, diving into a nearby clump of foliage large enough to hide her completely. Her nose was telling her one of the guards was coming around, as well as another member of a neighboring tribe. Sneasel, she believed. "It's a guard. They might have caught wind of me coming...." she sighed aggrivatedly. "There's a pokemon from another tribe too; no doubt a hostile one. We're going to need the element of surprise." she paused to think for a moment. "If you can stun one long enough for me to land a direct hit, I think I can do a good chunk of damage...." she wispered, looking at the Pikachu. "Just remember; don't shoot until you see the whites of their eyes." The pokemon came closer and closer, and the situation got tenser and tenser.

Nate blinked and didn't ask any questions, quickly diving into the bushes and staying quiet, landing next to Izumi. He looked out, some sparks bouncing off his cheeks as he prepared an attack.
"Alright, we'll take care of the guard first, but we need to be careful. There's a restriction on the mission, we can't fight any Sneasel of Weavile. I'll stun the Absol, you attack them and I'll check what the other Pokemon is. Sound like a plan?" He whispered, watching ahead. Seeing the guard come into view, he waited, his breathing staying low and controlled as it neared.
"No time to argue, now!" A stream of electricity shot out from the bush, heading right towards the other Absol as Nate speed a thunder wave attack. He quickly darted out of the bush and looked around, searching for the second Pokemon.

"GOT THIS!" Izumi exclaimed, leaping out of the bush. Her horn was glowing brightly and had grown slightly. She descended upon the shocked guard and hit him squarely in the back with her Megahorn attack, seriously knocking the wind out of him. Remembering how she had smelled Sneasel earlier, she called over to Nate, "Hey! Pretty sure it was Sneasel I smelled earlier, just FYI!" She turned back to the guard to see if he would try to get back up.

Nate paused for a moment, turning to look at Izumi and the currently fallen guard. Hearing it was a Sneasel he started to walk back over to her.
"I'd rather avoid any contact then, don't want to get into a fight I can't-" The Pikachu felt something behind him, heard the swishing of something in the air and dove forward, barely avoiding a scratch to the back of the head by a Sneasel. He turned over on the ground and looked back at his attacker before getting up and running back to Izumi and the Absol.
"I suggest we run!" He simply advised, continuing to run and looking back to see if izumi was going as well as the Sneasel headed towards them.

"WEEEEEEEEE!!!" Izumi exclaimed joyfully as she darted forward, all four legs pounding the ground with quadripedal power. That was one of the many advantages to having long legs; one could run very fast when it was needed.

"Don't worry, I know this place like the back of my paw!!" Izumi shouted behind her, exhilarated. "Me and Shiro used to run these trails allllll the time; be a good taser and I'll have you where you need to go in no time flat! Just don't blink too much!" she joked as she flew onto what looked like an actual footpath leading to somewhere on the mountain. Izumi looked just as free as a bird; blazing through trails she had memorized in her childhood.

"Izumi, wait!" Nate called after his current companion, breathing heavily from the running and trying to keep up with the much faster Absol. "Can't you just wait for me or maybe pick me up and take me with you? That way we'll get where we're going a bit faster." The Pikachu suggested, looking around him nervously in paranoia of getting the attention of anything less then friendly. I can definitely see the resemblance between Shiro and Izumi. Though I think Shiro might actually be a bit clalmer. He thought to himself, sighing slightly as he heard the Sneasel somewhere behind him.