Past Friends and Future Foes! Ned and Akuroma Meet as Common Pokemon for the Last Time!?

Akuroma panted, a mint green light fading off his arm. A tree in front of him looked like part of it was repeatedly hit with a long blunt object, but gave no sign of falling. He pulled the hood of his Raging Storm Cloak off of his head before leaning against his knees to catch his breath. He'd been training for the past half hour or so on perfecting his newest move, Psyshock. It felt so strange, focusing his psychic energy into something that would do physical damage. It was quite a change from Confusion, where he simply had to control someone's, or something's, movements with his mind.

When he finally caught his breath, he straightened himself back up and began focusing his psychic energy back onto his arm before swinging it down, sending the wave of energy into the tree. When it made contact, the tree gave a loud groan, and began to lean backwards. For a moment it looked like it was about to stop, until it's own weight finished itself off, a loud snap echoing through the woods before the tree fell down.

12/23 Energy

From under the roots of the tree a small creature crawled out, visibly distraught.
"What under earth is going on here?!"
Looking around, the Nincada discovered, that the tree he was hiding under had fallen over, now lying on the ground. A familiar Psychic type was standing nearby.
"Huh? What are you doing here, Aku? I don't think this is a safe place. Anyway, do you have any idea what happened just now?"
Ned's confusion was something Akuroma would hopefully be able to alleviate. And hopefully something that wouldn't happen again soon. It was quite shocking to see the tree vanish all of a sudden after all.

Akuroma blinked when he saw the Nincada crawl out from where the tree was.

"Ned? I'm training, and Shadowhue's not that dangerous to me as it would have been if we came here when we first met," he said, walking up to the bug type and sitting down in front of him.

"I was working on a new move I learned called Psyshock, I essentially have to compress my psychic energy into an area the size of my arm then fling it out. I just smashed the tree down from using Psyshock on it a few times," he said, holding up his arm as it began to glow a mint green again before the glow disappeared.

He took his clock off and began to use it as a rag. He felt like he was in a Heatran's belly from how hot the training got him.

"Anyways, what're you doing in Shadowhue? I thought you would've joined the guild by now," he said, not seeing any badge or explorer's bag on the Nincada.

"So that was your doing...you should be more careful with that. And I mean, that you could have chosen a safer place to train. There are more Dark types here than there would be in other areas."
The Bug type didn't really understand a word of the psychobabble the Ralts spoke, but he pretended to listen to it anyway. He didn't want to be seen as rude or impolite after all.
"Well, I don't think I am ready for a team yet. I believe for it to be better to wait until after my metamorphosis is complete. That is what I have been waiting for here."
The Nincada looked around. For now there didn't seem to be any Pokémon nearby. Good.
It meant, that he would probably just find another tree and wait in that one.

"My Fairy typing helps to mitigate my Psychic typing's weakness to Dark types, not to mention I now know plenty of moves to take on the Pokemon of this forest," he said, smiling a bit. He gave the little Bug type a pat on the head.

"In either case, I would suspect it'd be quicker for you to evolve if you trained a bit more. Speaking of which, I don't suppose you know much about your evolutions, Ninjask and Shedinja? There's precious little information on how the single Nincada becomes the two Pokemon, and if the two Pokemon are truly connected or if the Shedinja is simply the possessed shell left behind by the Ninjask after evolution," the Ralts said. He tilted his head a bit as he looked at the Bug type. He almost wondered what the Nincada would think if he told Ned about his little adventure with Mirage and Cracker.

"Fairy? Oh yeah, that stuff happened recently, didn't it? I keep forgetting. Anyway, I believe myself to be fairly informed concerning the evolution of my species. Still noone has any idea, what exactly Shedinja are. Not even they themselves."
It surely was confusing to think about this matter, but Ned guessed, that he wouldn't have any other choice than to just try it out for himself and to see, what happens.
Maybe a second consciousness would awaken. Maybe he would think for both halves. It would definitely be an interesting experience.

Akuroma sighed and laid back, his hands behind his head, "The few records we do have conflict, though. The oldest record says that the original consciousness of the Nincada was left behind in the shell, and it clung to the shell, creating a Shedinja. The next oldest record says that both the Shedinja and Ninjask shared a single consciousness, and the two would commonly call themselves by the same name, and sometimes forget which body it was seeing through. The next oldest record says that the Shedinja and Ninjask share the same memories as a Nincada, but are separate beings themselves, and normally take different aspects of the Nincada original personality and fill in the missing pieces during evolution. The final and newest record says that Shedinja are completely separate from the Ninjask, retaining no memories of being a Nincada and instead claims to be the spirit of some ancient creature that is not a Pokemon," the Ralts said with a sigh.

"The only evolutionary chain more confusing than a Nincada's is that of a Slowpoke," he said as he stared up at the canopy. Though most of the light was blocked, every now and then a ray of sunlight would break through the leaves and reach the forest floor.

"So, why were you trying to evolve here? Wouldn't Pecha Forest be safer? The scent of the Pecha Berries would probably have masked your scent from outlaws and native Pokemon as well," the Ralts said, sitting back up and looking at the Nincada.

"Yeah, it's a mystery, really."
Ned slowly shook his head, trying to imagine how it would be like to control two bodies at once.
"But I think it would be safer to remain here. There are more Dark types in this area, which I have a type advantage against. Meanwhile the fewer trees in Pecha Forest make it more easily accessible to those dreaded Flying types."
The Nincada shuddered as he thought of his times in the Blackmist Mountain Range. Terrible times they had been with no cover from the birds soaring overhead at all. Hopefully he would never have to go through that again.
Did Akuroma have such a fear of other types as well?
He did jump upon first seeng the Buy tpye, but he didn't seem to be too afraid afterward.
Ned decided not to ask for now.

Akuroma chuckled a bit, "Heh, I don't really mind any type, even though Poison and Steel types can pack quite a punch against me, it's not really their fault, I am the one who gained a type, and Poison types were always weak against my Psychic attacks. I guess we're on even playing fields now," he said, "In any case, would you like to explore a bit? Attacking trees has grown a bit boring, plus we can catch up. I'm sure you've got some interesting stories since we last met." He stood up and smiled down at the Nincada before putting his cloak back on, "Who knows, you might just evolve from a few battles."

"I doubt you'll find any of my stories to be interesting. Most of my time I have just spent drinking tree juices and waiting. I guess it is a Nincada-thing."
Ned took a while to consider the possibility of exploring. On the one hand it was dangerous and there was no gurantee, that it would help him evolve.
On the other hand he had been sitting under a tree for more than a week now and things were beginning to get boring.
"I guess we could do that. Hopefully it will work. Why do I have to be this terrible in battle again? I simply have too many weaknesses..."

Akuroma chuckled a bit, "How do you think I feel? For the longest time I only knew Growl and Confuse Ray. Then I learned Confusion which turned out to be very hard to master. By the time I had mastered it... Well, I replaced it with this," he said, lifting up his arm, letting the mint green psychic energy collect on it before disappearing again.

"Anyways, what did you do despite drinking juices and waiting? I'm sure you met more Pokemon than Keyami and myself," the Ralts said as he began to walk deeper into the woods.

Dracorexion carried out 2 launched of one Shadowhue Forest :

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"No, that's pretty much it. It may be boring, but at least it is safe. Well, relatively speaking at least."
Following the Ralts further into the forest, Ned was always feverishly watching out for any sign of possible danger. Just one wrong move and his dreams of evolution would be over, crushed because he hadn't been careful enough.
"I have met a few Pokémon on my less-than-plasant journey to Grassveil though. I wonder whether I will be seeing any of them again some time. Hopefully under better circumstances than those in which I had met them."
Once more Ned reminisced about his journey. It had been long, arduous and painful.
The Nincada definitely was glad to have it behind him although it saddened him, that it had not been enough to cause his evolution. How much more would he have to do?!

Akuroma was about to respond when his horn twitched, "Looks like we've got company," he said, looking over at two mushrooms sticking out of a low bush. Normally the mushrooms themselves would've stuck out like a sore thumb, but would've still been thought to be mushrooms. However, Akuroma's psychic sensing capabilities allowed him to see that they were not simple mushrooms. Akuroma got into a battle stance as the mint green light yet again began to cover his arm.

"So, who're these Pokemon you've met?" he asked, as if they weren't about to go into battle. Akuroma didn't think of the Pokemon before them as much of a threat. However, when the Pokemon, noticing it had been found, scuttled out of the bush and revealed itself as a Paras wearing a defense scarf, the Ralts frowned.

"Any physical attacks it takes won't do as much damage," Akuroma said before swinging his fist down, a line of psychic energy flying towards the Paras.

10/23 energy

(Ability: Effect Spore; Moves: Scratch, Leech Life, Cross Poison, Poison Powder.)

"Long story, really. Gyarados, Charmander...and quite a few others. It had been a long journey after all."
A strange smell was being noticed by the Nincada's antennae. Some very fragrant mushrooms were nearby. But...wouldn't some Pokémon have found those already? Something was not right here.
Just as these thoughts went through the Bug type's mind, Akuroma's words confirmed his suspicions.
"Obviously it couldn't have been peaceful, could it?", Ned sighed.
Just what could be the cause of all those feral Pokémon? What would drive one to attack poor, defenseless Pokémon? And why did half of them seem to focus on Ned all the time?

The Paras scuttled out of the way of the wave of psychic energy, which crushed the bush it had been hidden. Seeming to get angrier at this the Paras's claws began to glow purple before it slashed them in an X-pattern. The X-shaped wave of poison flew towards Akuroma. Not having enough time to deflect it with another Psyshock, the Ralts instead brought up his other arm. A mint green, shield-shaped, force field grew from his arm and shielded him from the Cross Poison.

"Heh, I've met quite a few Pokemon myself. I traveled with the old dojo's owner for awhile. I also traveled with an Aipom and Zorua. There were a few other Pokemon I met, but none of them were as memorable as those three," he said as the Protect field broke away form in front of him.

"We're intruding on it's territory, and with more and more exploration teams forming, it's territory is being invaded at least twice daily. Wouldn't you be mad to have at least two groups of Pokemon just taking items and knocking out your neighbors, and probably yourself, a day? Not to mention something about these Mystery Dungeons makes the native Pokemon more aggressive," the Ralts said.