Big and Small - Joy for All!

First topic message reminder :

The sun was shining brightly onto the rugged, sharp cliffs of the Black Mist Mountain, as a small, white spot was crawling across these black plains, an easy target for any Flying type choosing to attack.
"Why...why did my clan...no, the clan have to live that far away from anything resembling civilisation again? Couldn't they - I dunno - live in a town or something?", the white spot asked himself, breathing heavily. It was Ned the Nincada, having recently fled from his old clan and now searching for a place to stay. On his journey, the Ground type had traversed much of the land, but a civilized Pokémon he hadn't encountered yet. He had no idea, where Grassveil Town was located, but he couldn't just return to the clan either. They would just continue their dirty work, without any concern for morals or truth.
Who knew, maybe he would even take them out one day?
That was if he would manage to find the guild or any Pokémon for starters.
Hopefully that would happen soon - the little bug wasn't sure, whether he would be able to carry on  much longer.

"Uh, thanks, but I don't have any need for such an item either. They may be useful, but for a being of my size, they are rather difficult to transport. Furthermore, there are two types of encounters. Pokémon of my size, for which a seed would be difficult to employ, or Pokémon of larger size, for which it would be better to run away right away without trying to use an item."
Ned found himself envying the hughe Water type. He had far superior sight, size and style.
He didn't have to worry about suddenly being assaulted by a Flying type, or pretty much any other Pokémon for that matter. The Gyarados was so powerful, and Ned was so weak.
How would it feel to be that powerful? Ned would probably never know...

Proteus wasn't too sure on how to react so he simply carried on. The landscape seemed barren of life, but sure enough there was probably thousands of pokemon living under ground or in between the rocks. For all Proteus knew there could be a pokemon stalking them under ground right now. Although Proteus was huge, he still had to look out for pokemon looking for a tough to catch meal. He may have been big and intimidating, but that just might attract those that want some fun in their hunt.
"So...what's bringing you to Grassviel, I don't mean to be nosey though..." Proteus quickly added that last part, since he was merely trying to keep the conversation going.

"Heh...it's a long story. In essence there's a rather large colony of Nincada and their evolutions quite a distance away in the jungle. It's where I was born, but not the place I should live in. The Pokémon there serve as a sort of mercenaries, taking on the jobs of questionable legal and moral backgrounds with their motives being money and power. It was not a place I wanted to stay in, so I fled without a plan. Now I'm just looking for any signs of civilisation and Grassveil happens to be the nearest town."
Ned figured, that it wouldn't hurt telling Proteus about his past. After all he would probably find out later anyway, and the Nincada couldn't find any reason to lie to his saviour.
Furthermore the Nincada hadn't done anything wrong, and by telling others it would be more likely for the organisation he fled from to be shattered, so that no vile deeds would be carried out anymore.

What's a mercenary? Proteus wondered along with just what the nincada was trying to get across. He registered the fact the nincada had spoken of them working for money and pieced the rest together. The atrocious pokemon nodded, "Yeah, that doesn't sound like the best of places. There's a guild that I plan on going to that does something similar, but it's quite different. The guild helps pokemon and takes down the baddies called outlaws. A lot of the high ranked pokemon there are admired and known throughout the town...I'm waiting on a few friends of mine to go and make a team."

"Yeah, I've seen it some time ago. They were one of the main things, that showed me, that there were other things one could do. More...honourable things."
It was still a mystery to the Nincada, how someone could forsake morality and truth that easily. Did they really feel no remorse at all? At least he had managed to get away from them. Otherwise he might have...no. Ned shuddered at the thought.
But now he had more favourable things to look forward to.
Much, much more favourable things.
The Grassveil Guild.
But should he seriously consider applying there?
What if they knew of hi-...of the clan's modus operandi already?

Proteus had nothing else to say on the manner, and the conversation seemed to be dwindling. He wondered why he had to be so awkward when it came to talking. He had figured, and was correct in figuring, that it was because of his size. He was terrified of intimidating other pokemon and appearing as a bully or similar to the outlaws that sadly littered the outlaw bulletin board in the guild.
"Yes, but it's still not a charity service sadly. The guild may be doing good, but pokemon tend to like free things and not think about the expenses of others..."

"Heh, I guessed as much. Sadly nothing in this world works without money, doesn't it? Even I understand that. But while the guild's way of handling this problem is acceptable, what the others did...it is just wrong. Maybe the guild could consider some sort of donation system. It could help finance the system without putting much of a strain on the poorer clients."
Of course the guild took payment for their jobs as well. It was only natural.  But the guild only did honourable jobs and kept their word from what Ned had heard. They didn't steal or carry out random beatings. They didn't suddenly demand much higher prices than those they agreed on before.
In practically each and every way they were the better choice.

"Maybe."
Proteus concluded the thought the Nincada spoke of. He moved along at a decent pace, scanning the ground for items and not really paying attention to what was ahead of him. The gayarados was unable to see the beast that lurked ahead of them, that planned on an attack. They wanted a meal, and these "explorers" were sure to have it. Even if it was going to be tough, it was rare to find explorers as prey around here.

This dice is not existing.

This dice is not existing.

(I swear if this ends up as a herbivore i am going to laugh my butt off..)

"Uhm...are you smelling, what I am smelling? I don't think we are alone here."
Just as he finished his sentence, a small, greyish Pokémon jumped out of a rock's shadow, apparently having decided to go hunt for Gyarados today.´While Ned could not possibly imagine, how any sane being could come to such an idea, the fact, that the Dark type seemed to be trying to hunt them remained and had to be dealt with.
Jumping off off Proteus' head, the Nincada tried to land on the Poochyenna, wanting to utilize his Leech Life attack on the more or less threatening predator.

The poochyena screeched in pain as the predator became the prey and healed the Nincada as damage was done to it. As it was attacked, it began to shake, Rattled. The ability that boosted speed when struck with a bug, ghost, or dark type move. The poochyena growled as its teeth seemed to cackle with electricity, Thunder Fang. It was a useful move to have in this area considering the plentiful spearow that hung around the area. The poochyena attempted to throw off the nincada and bite it.

Proteus, meanwhile, was looking down at the scene, worried and afraid to do anything. What if he stuck the nincada in the midst of an attack? He certainly couldn't use any of his attacks without hitting the nincada, the target was just too small for him.

While the Nincada was shaken off rather easily, there was a factor the Poochyenna had not accounted for, namely the Ground type's...well...Ground...type.
Although the attack managed to hit Ned directly, the Nincada, who was now firmly being held in the Dark type's jaws, could barely feel the surge of electricity passing through him.
But despite Ned being safe at the current moment, one could never know, when the Poochyenna might try using another attack, so it would be best to act now.
Carefully taking aim, the Shedinja attempted to replicate the results from the battle with the Spearow, aiming for the Dark type's eye.

The poochyena screamed in pain and released the nincada. It howled and growled, the attack had barely missed its eye, but the pain pinched it closed. The poochyena glared through one eye, unleashing a howl into the air with was cut off by a powerful ring of water, Water pulse. The water logged poochyena glared at them before retreating, the howl still echoed in the area slightly, but the cry for help had not been long enough to summon other pokemon to come help him. Proteus watched the soaked poochyena limp away in dissatisfaction before turning down to the nincada, "You okay?" he asked, spotting a box near the nincada.

"Guess I am. Immunity against electricity has it's advantages. Although - just as everything else that ability comes at a price. I can't swim because of it. In general water is something my species needs to be careful around. At least I got some blood out of this ordeal."
Once again Ned was envying the Gyarados. He had no predators to fear, he would definitely be respected whereever he went and he was capable of exploring the vast depths of the sea. Meanwhile a Nincada only was a tiny bug, not powerful in the slightest and vulnerable to the most trivial things. Water. Fire. Birds. Snow. It was a miracle, that he had survived thus far.
The Gyarados didn't have those problems.

Proteus spotted a box out of the corner of his eye, he managed to pick it up and place it in the pouch his joy ribbon created. The gyarados looked to the nincada, nearly towering over him despite being low to the ground, "You ready to keep going? Also electricity is a huge issue for me...and rock...which you'd think a lot of rock pokemon would be around here. It seems to be mostly birds and poochyenas around here though." Despite being powerful, the gyarados still had his weaknesses, the red being was weak to the tough rock types and the energetic electric types.

"Still, those are only two weaknesses opposed to my four, and you are much stronger in general. My species is so weak, that we usually don't evn leave the underground until we evolve. And we aren't much stronger after it anyway."
Although he attempted not to let it show, Ned was a bit surprised to hear, what the Gyarados considered to be problems. Electricity and rocks? When would one ever be faced with that in a Water type's normal environment? Meanwhile Fire, Water, Ice and especially birds were threats one would constantly have to watch out for while being in a forest.
The lucky just don't know, how lucky they are, he guessed.