Berry Hunt (MonkeySage)

First topic message reminder :

Fall was approaching, and it was obvious near the Pecha forest. The tall oaks, elms, maples, and pecha trees were explosions of vibrant color. Orange, red, and yellow blotted out the sky save for the slivers of skyline that managed to peek through. It was very early in the morning, with the sun only starting to rise up and some of the stars just faintly visible through the thin wisps of clouds.

A morning chill common in Fall pervaded the air along with the moisture of morning dew.

Jeremy took in a chilly breathe before letting it out in a drawn out exhale as his amber eyes poured over the map he had in front of him. The Grass Snake Pokemon had a satchel pack slung over his shoulder and a black bow tie wrapped neatly around his slender neck.

After some time pouring over the contents of the map, the male snivy sighed as he carefully folded it back up before neatly organizing it into his back pack. Kuro and he currently stood near the edge of the large forest as it loomed ahead… Hiding who knows what within its depths.

"Okay," He began, "Our requested item is an oran berry. From what I have gathered, this forest is famous for its pecha berries, but there are other fruit trees further in. That will be the place to look. Good news is that oran berries are still in season, but with winter coming, everyone else is gonna want one before they get eaten up or rot away. We gotta be quick about this… And keep an eye out for any feral pokemon in the area. I mean, this place isn't particularly dangerous itself but who knows whats in there."

He turned to Kuro, reptilian eyes meeting her cat-like maroon ones. "You ready?"

OOC: Its fine.

The snivy was only dimly aware that Kuro went and left to fetch what he requested. In the mean time, he used the small space of silence to close his eyes again and rest for a while. He waited like that for a bit in an almost meditative trance. Time actually seemed to go by fairly quickly until the snivy could pick up on the vibrations of Kuro's approach.

He felt the tip of the leaf reach his mouth, the cool liquid of the life giving water gently brushing his lips. Almost aggressively, Jeremy seized part of the leaf, forcefully tilting it down as he drank his fill. It was almost as if he was starving for it… Strangely enough, the more he drank, seemingly the more desperate and energetic he was. Perhaps there was something to his partial plant-like nature. When all the water was gone, he gave a fulfilled sigh, looking a lot more aware and alert.

"Thank you Kuro…" He stated with some relief evident in his voice. He did furrow his brow though as he gazed at her, small frown on his face. "Still angry about the lock box though." Jeremy gave a sigh, but then his amber eyes suddenly went wide. "The bandits! What happened to the butterfree!?" Shakily, he got to his feet… Still injured and winded, but definitely doing better than he was earlier. Of course, if one were to check the clearing where the battle took place earlier, one would realize that the murderous butterfree seemingly vanished.

A smirk replaced her cheery smile when he mentioned the  "Ah I took care of him after the Glare, nice strategy there but... I mean you could have gotten seriously injured or worse! And lemme say I can't take care of Team Magna on my own" She let out a small giggle trying to lighten the atmosphere. Considering Jeremy was still mad at her she hoped to atleast make him smile at the slightest, she doubted he would but there's no harm in trying.

She stood back up and straightened out her bluish black fur, brushing a few flakes of amber and red off of her. The Sneasel held her paw out to her teammate with a bright smile, happy to see her teammate conscious again. Those few hours he was unconscious made her feel so lonely despite him being right there, she must've been talking to herself throughout it all

The male snivy leaned against one of the still standing trees in the clearing, eyes squinting at the forest canopy above as he avoided the statement for a while, expression thoughtful. "Well… What can I say? I just don't like to lose. Besides, in that situation, it seemed imperative that we were the victors of that particular fight."

His amber eyes flicked to her maroon ones, and for a while he seemed thoughtful as he stared at her before slowly taking her paw. His expression was carefully composed, even unreadable. He felt his leafy hand touch her clawed one, and he got to his feet, using Kuro as leverage to do so. He then brushed the dirt and leaves off of his body, grimacing slightly when he realized how much of a mess he must have looked.

"Let's get our packs and move on I guess. We have come this far, and if anything else wanted to attack us it had ample time and opportunity to do so." He winced as he moved, still sore and in pain from the battle. After they got what they came for, he would need to get his wounds looked at… Take a few days off. His slight, photosynthetic properties combined with his reptilian nature made healing wounds naturally fairly quick, but he still needed treatment.

It unnerved him somewhat that so many bad things happened on their first assignment, but it could be said that they have certainly proved themselves.

As he got the back pack on his shoulders yet again, Jeremy glanced at Kuro, scaly brow raised. "This is a lot to go through for 50 poke each… That client better like his berry…" He sighed as he gazed off into the distance, amber eyes narrowed. "And that butterfree is out there somewhere still… The patrat duo as well. We will need to report about them when we get done here. No beginning exploration team should be in here while they are still around."

Kuro sighed at his attitude towards battle and victory, since she didn't have the same mindset as the Snivy "Yeah yeah I guess you're right, still got me pretty worried at that point.." She let out a light chuckle, nothing in particularly funny yet she still did.

She nodded in agreement and cringed when he winced, still not sure if he would be able to continue with her but he had to. They had to finish the mission, they weren't going to fail their first mission.

"50 Poke isn't that bad, plus if money means that much to ya you can have my share, I get free food and a place to stay either way. I have no use for it!" She exclaimed with a short giggle and shrugged her shoulders. She looked into his amber eyes with a look of victory, despite their being anything to win in the first place, she was just happy to help out.

"It wouldn't be bad if retrieving the berry was all that it entailed. Being savaged by bandits was hardly ideal." He then gave her a sharp look, yellow eyelids narrowed in deep thought as he almost balked at her later suggestion. "Wait… You were seriously just going to give me your earnings for this mission?" He scrutinized her… She was joking surely? She had to be, and by the snivy's expression he didn't seem to think it was very funny.

He was actually very close to her, snout about a breathe away from her muzzle, amber eyes probing her maroon ones. After some time, he eventually broke off, huffing as he folded his arms. Tilting his head away from hers, he seemed to mumble something along the lines of, "I don't understand you…"

He seemed unsure, even agitated before he declared, "I don't need charity. You earned your half anyway. Its your decision on what to spend it on."

She stared back just as Jeremy did, hoping to convince him how serious he was. She let out a soft chuckle when he tilted his head away "I'm 100% Serious, but if you don't want it I can't force you to take my money I guess" She begun to walk ahead of him with short slow steps.

"Hmm now what to spend the 50 poke on... I could head into that Cafe and buy a nice cheesecake" The Sneasel pondered out loud what she would do with her reward, in her head she didn't really want to save her money up, or it didn't come to mind. She treat her money as if it would be gone the next day, maybe Jeremy would change her attitude on that.

Completely flabbergasted, the male snivy just gawked at the female sneasel before shaking his head. "I can't believe what I am hearing… By Arceus, I'm not going to take your money, but 50 poke for a dessert is ridiculous. Heck, even for me that would have been iffy and here it is downright criminal to pay that much."

Jeremy gave her a stern look as he got his back pack more in place, straightening his black bow tie as well. "I guess we will talk about the proper use of money later. In the mean time, lets not check our pidgeys before they hatched. We still need to get that berry, so let us do so."

The Grass Snake Pokemon started moving on deeper into the forest, but a perceptive eye could tell he was in pain as he did so. His complexion didn't seem as colorful before, the scales a duller green. He looked very tired too. Despite the water and rest, it was obvious he was still hurt. He didn't wince or show it outwardly, but the tightness in his face and the determined glint in his amber eyes showed he was trooping through it.

Kuro looked back at the struggling snivy with a sigh "Are you sure you don't need to rest a bit longer? I could look for the item while you go for a rest... actually I think there'll be a body of water around here, maybe a pond. If you want to stop by one" She smiled and waited for him to catch up, she only had to wait a few seconds but by the time he had caught up something caught her eye, dropping from a high hanging branch "Hold on a second, found something" The Sneasel jogged to the spot where the item fell, standing over the object. She picked it up and smirked to herself

"I'm fine…" Jeremy stated with a little snap in his tone. He looked irritated for a little bit, but realization seemed to dawn on the fact that the female sneasel was only trying to help. Letting out a small exhalation of air, the male snivy tried to calm his shaky nerves.

"Look, we won't be much farther until we reach the grove… I think." Jeremy frowned as he dug around in his back pack before pulling out the map. Opening it up, his amber eyes scanned its contents. Yes… Not much longer now. They probably needed to walk about 30 more minutes before they reached the oran tree grove.

He perked his head up from his map though at Kuro's declaration. Folding his map up, Jeremy stuffed it into the pocket of his backpack. "Is it anything useful?" He asked calmly.

Kuro sighed and tossed the item behind her "Just a piece of trash, nothing important" She mumbled to herself throwing the item behind her, the item was actually of use of them but she for some reason didn't click.

She took out her own map, crumpled up and creased "Ya know what would be great... if there was a Oran Forest instead. Then again if that existed then people wouldn't ask for one would they? Or maybe pokemon are just that lazy" Kuro seemed to be mumbling to herself, but spoke as if talking to Jeremy.

Kuro looked up at the sky that was obscured by orange and honey coloured leaves and small beams of light seemed to tear through the leaves to light up the path they walked, making sure they weren't in total darkness throughout their journey

This dice is not existing.

(Lol late roll but ya know better late than never)

Jeremy frowned as he tried to crane his head around to see what Kuro had found. He couldn't quite see it though. The female snivy was bent over the object, seemingly inspecting it as she unintentionally blocked his view. She gave a sniff though, stating that it wasn't important and just trash as she tossed the object behind her.

The snivy's amber eyes widened when a large, colorful object roughly the size of his head came careening towards him. Sidestepping in time, Jeremy managed to avoid it as it bounced harmlessly into the leaves with a crunch. However, the sheer size of it only allowed it to be partially concealed. Only giving a slight glare at Kuro, the snivy stepped forward and brushed some of the fallen leaves away.

If he didn't know any better, Jeremy would think it was one of those cheap, gaudy play balls he had seen the peasant children kicking around. But there was a subtle, sweet fragrance coming from it that Jeremy picked up on. Their surroundings were unusual as well. Feral pokemon did not have toys usually.

Huffing as he attempted to pick it up, Jeremy had to puff his slender chest out and balance it between his head and collar area. His leafy hands barely managed to wrap all the way around it. This was most certainly a berry or fruit… One of the largest Jeremy had ever seen.

"I think you DID find something this time Kuro. Good thing you didn't blow this up either."

Jeremy walked over to show her in more detail, slightly skeptical on just how she managed to miss this entirely. "It's a watmel berry. A small one mind you, but they can get a lot bigger. I have had some deserts that incorporated them into their dishes, and my mom even grew these before. It must have been one of the few left in a patch before the berries start forming in the Spring again."

The snake pokemon seemed lost in thought for a while before shaking his head. The berry had a soft rind with a juicy, soft center. It was lighter than it looked, but such a thing could become bothersome to carry simply due to its girth.

"Hey Kuro… Think you can empty your backup to make room for this? It might fetch a good price, or we might eat it ourselves. My backpack can hold your stuff until we return, and one of us can still carry the oran berry when we find it."

Kuro looked at the watermelon sized berry in awe, her eyes widened and she was almost salivating "Foood..." She shook herself out of the trance she was in when the Snivy spoke in his soft voice causing her to turn her head to Jeremy.

"This is a small one!? Man... we should just come here everyday and then we've got out meals" She let out a soft chuckle and took her bag off and opened it up, taking the few things that were inside the bag out and placed it all in front of the two of them.

Kuro picked up the huge round berry that took both of her paws just to pick it up "Man... this will definitely feed us for the night, and for when you get your rest." She nodded to herself, seemingly making up her mind before Jeremy could agree. She forced the berry into her backpack, struggling slightly to fit the round object into her bag but it somehow fit "So cmon let's find a Oran Berry and get the hell outta here"

Jeremy made a mild notation that Kuro seemed to enjoy the simpler things in life. Stuffing her face seemed to be one of them. THe male snivy wasn't sure if that was just her, a call back to more survivalist times, or a mixture of both in one way or another. At first, he wasn't completely sure he should give it to her, but she seemed content with the idea of eating it later to now.

If perhaps, he was feeling a little bit better and wasn't so stressed for time, he would have taken a little bit more amusement at the antics. For now though, he could only offer a tired look, and an attempt at a smile that looked more like a grimace.

At her suggestion though, Jeremy gave a small nod. "Indeed. Let us go."

It took some time walking through the forest as they went deeper in. The male snivy was on the lookout for fruit trees, and saw a lot of pecha, though their fruit was gone for this season. Being late fall, that wasn't particularly surprising. Eventually though, they reached a well lit clearing.

In the center, all clustered together were oran berry trees. "This is it…" For some reason, he couldn't quite get as much excitement in that statement like he wanted, but regardless, he cautiously approached. After surveying tree after tree, Jeremy's heart sunk when he realized that little of the fruit seemed to remain. However, his amber eyes widened when they caught site of something. "There! Look Kuro, on that high branch. There is one right there!"

And he was right. As he pointed upward, The Grass Snake Pokemon revealed a ripe, blue berry high up on the tree. "Go ahead and take the backpack off and I'll guard it. I would do the climbing myself, but honestly, its already extremely uncomfortable to walk."

Kuro slugged to Jeremy's pace thanks to the huge Watmel berry she had to carry in her backpack, but it wasn't too bad in her head considering later on they would be able to feast on the berry. And what a feast it would be, well atleast for her anyway.

She sighed in relief when they reached the clearing "Finally we're here! Now where are the berries?" Kuro mumbled to herself as she looked around, she knew what type of trees they were. Oran trees, yet something was missing. Normally they actually had Oran Berries growing on them, yet these seemed picked dry.

Kuro was brought out of her daze at Jeremy's words, she looked at where he pointed and spotted the unmistakable Oran Berry close to the top of the tree. She dropped the backpack with a smirk "Okay then, Jeremy I'll show you why I'm known as... well I'm not known as anything but Kuro... well anyway my real point is well... I'm good at climbing"

She took more than a few steps back for a running start at the tree, then like a Bullet Seed from a Breloom she darted forward towards the tree, striking her claw into the bark and then planting another ahead of it. To her it almost came naturally as if she was just running normally. She would sometimes clumsily misplace a claw but as quick as she made the mistake she would fix it. The Sneasel soon got into a more elegant rhythm as she approached the Branch, as soon as she was adjacent to it she grabbed onto it, swinging around it once and then landing on it.

Kuro stood straight and bowed to a invisible audience and Jeremy, imagining a roaring crowd applauding her performance "Oh right, the berry" She walked steadily to the Berry and picked it up and made her way off of the branch. But of course Kuro being Kuro she made another mistake, losing her balance at the last second and slipping of the branch "Ah damnit.." She mumbled as she begun freefalling.

She let out a short scream before hooking her claw on a low hanghing branch "Phew... that was pretty close" Kuro begun laughing and she dropped down to the floor, now able to make it a safe landing while still holding the berry unharmed.

He watched Kuro as she climbed with some trepidation, worry actually evident on his features. The tree was quite tall for an oran, and a fall from that height could be dangerous if one were to land wrong. Jeremy shook his head to dispel the unwanted image of the female snivy landing on her neck or back. With no help nearby if that were to happen, the results would be disastrous.

The female snivy was quick. If Jeremy did not know any better, he would have said she ran up the tree. Although part of him was cross with how quickly she moved up in case she misstepped, he none the less was impressed with her skill and agility.

As she landed on the branch and bowed, Jeremy rose a scaly eyebrow, offering her half hearted applause before he pointed to the berry.

That is very nice Kuro, but we have a job to do.

She seemed to realize this, and was making a move towards the little blue fruit… Until one of her feet suddenly slipped, causing the sneasel to lean too far right to the side and topple over. Kuro wasn't the only one to openly curse when this happened, and Jeremy's amber eyes went wide as a flash of panic suddenly blazed in his mind, holding his breathe out in a sharp, panicked gasp.

Quick reflexes and sharp, grasping claws were her saving grace it seemed. Kuro managed to get a hold of the branch and orientate herself. A large sigh of relief escaped Jeremy's lips, though adrenaline still buzzed in his veins.

She got the berry and eventually met him at the forest floor, earning a weary glance from the Grass Snake Pokemon. "Yes… Very close. Please be more careful Kuro." Despite himself, Jeremy WAS worried about Kuro. It seemed he was relaxing in his composure as far as showing vulnerability was concerned… Probably due to the fatigue.

"Well… Its there." Jeremy inspected the berry with his eyes. "Excellent… Let us get out of here so we finally get this mission done."