Naivety, meet Determination [OPEN]

The sun was shining the and berry filled trees swayed as a peaceful but cheery gust of wind blew between the apertures of the leaves and twigs. The day was young, and as was a small grass type pokemon that was merrily making his way down a path into the forest. It was a skiddo, who had come to train and become stronger, perhaps help his partner Migna to stand up to bullies like the wrumple they had met in the guild!

He wanted to be like his Papa, strong, brave, and confident! The only way he could do that, he figured, was to train!

The skiddo stopped though, what was he to train on? There weren't any rocks here like there was in the mountains, so he couldn't butt his head repeatedly into one like Papa did. He looked around, finding stones too small to take hits, and bushes where he would only plow right through them and have his handlebar horns become tangled.

His eyes ceased their search when he wondered if a tree would be a good substitute for the boulders. He gave a bounce as he landed in the charging position, kicking up dirt with his front leg as he smiled, determined to train and train until he knocked the large tree over.

A huff of willpower came from the skiddo as his eyes narrowed and he charged towards the tree at full speed! His hooves made thudding noises as they trampled the soft and springy grass beneath them and there was a loud knocking sound as his skull collided with the wood. The force that impacted the tree pushed back against the skiddo, causing his head and horns to ache as he cried out in pain.

He tried to pull back and try again, but it seemed that the tips of his horns had dug into the bark of the tree, and refused to leave their cozy new nests. The kid gave a bleat of surprise and tried to yank himself free, only beginning to panic at this predicament and vulnerability to any that might want to gobble him up like the ursaring would like his papa told him would happen if he left the herd!

(Energy 15)

(OOC: Yeah, hopefully I'm not ninja-ing anyone here).
Maybe a walk through a forest is just what I need. After all, I only just reached Grassveil, and I'm not exactly familiar with my surroundings yet. I just need to clear my mind and breathe a little bit. Who knows, I might even meet someone new...

These were the thoughts that ran through Marshall's head as he slowly walked over dirt and grass. He was just trying to take his mind off of his current situation; he was walking through what seemed to him to be an entirely new world, and so far, he didn't have anyone to help him explore it. As such, he decided to traverse a forest bordering Grassveil (Pecha Forest, he believed it was called?) in an attempt to relax and calm his nerves. However, his efforts didn't exactly bring about desirable results, as his somewhat bland walk had only given him more time to worry and stress over it.

Deciding to give his legs a rest, Marshall slumped onto a nearby rock. It wasn't the most comfortable of resting places, but Marshall figured that it would do for a short while. In fact, perhaps he might stay for a little while longer than he had planned-

Marshall's train of thought was derailed by two noises: one, a distinct cracking noise, which was shortly followed by the second noise, which sounded like a yelp of some sort. These noises were loud enough to startle Marshall into tumbling off of the rock, but a quick scan of his surroundings revealed that whatever had made those noises was currently outside of his field of range. Opting to investigate the scenario, Marshall hastily (well, at least as hasty as a Trapinch could) climbed up a nearby hill to gain a higher vantage point.

Energy: 11

Aries couldn't seem to free himself, his panic making him unable to think clearly as he attempted to wrench himself away from the bark that had gripped his horns. His eyes were wide as he put up a hoof and tried to push himself out of the tree, but his plan failed as he did not put enough force in the push.

The kid didn't know what to do! He was vulnerable, weak, and for all he knew pokemon like the ursaring or worse could be prowling about, just waiting to eat him. He didn't want to be eaten, who knew how dark it was inside the stomach of a predator, there might even be bones of its previous prey in there!

His panic only rose as he unleashed another helpless bleat as the naive skiddo quickly tried to think of something else that might free him. His face was stuck looking down at his own hooves as his horns were burrowed away in the tree's hard bark that coated it like flesh. His panic seemed to have grown lonely, and invited regret into the skiddo's mind.

I should have just stayed home with Mama and Papa shouldn't I? Mama wanted me to go though, maybe I should have just trained with Migna? Maybe I shouldn't have even tried to train at all...how would I help Migna stand up to bullies though? She might not be friends with me anymore if I wasn't able to help her stand up to the bullies!

Thoughts of what his partner, Migna the Espurr, in a rescue team rose to his mind, as his frantic fear only began to grow and grow. The skiddo's chest began to heave as he began to hyperventilate from his growing emotion along with lack of courage and confidence.

Upon reaching the top of the hill, Marshall paused for a brief moment to catch his breath, then began to survey the land. At first, he was unable to notice anything out of the ordinary; all he could see from there was grass, trees and rocks. However, upon further inspection he noticed that a particular patch of grass seemed to be... moving? That can't be right... Marshall thought to himself, tilting his head around to get a different perspective. Over the course of a few seconds, he noticed several features attached to the "patch of grass", and thus realized that what he was looking at was in fact another Pokémon with some sort of camouflage. Upon this realization, Marshall decided to approach and get a better view.

Approaching slowly but surely, the Trapinch was able to distinguish several features that he had been unable to see before: a face, legs and a tail. Marshall was unable to identify the Pokémon, as his knowledge of the world outside of the desert was limited. However, he did notice that the Pokemon seemed to be rooted to the tree, and was attempting to get himself unstuck. As such, Marshall stepped a bit closer- close enough (he hoped) to be able to communicate with the Pokémon, but keeping enough distance to be safe in case the Pokémon lashed out. Keeping his voice rather low as to not startle the Pokémon, Marshall tried to start a conversation. "Hey, um, do you need some help?"

"Hey, um, do you need some help?"

A voice! Someone was here, what should the skiddo do? It didn't seem angry or mean or anything, it seemed as if it wanted to help. Aries was unable to look at the speaker of the voice, he only had one choice.

"Um, y-yes. Th-The tree w-wont let g-go of my horns," he managed to speak, fear shaking him and his voice as he hoped whoever was around wasn't going to help him out of the tree and into its stomach. Aries could only assume that the voice belonged to a big fat ursaring that had followed him from the mountains in order to eat him, due to his upbringing to fear anything strange.

The hooves below the skiddo shifted themselves as the skiddo's nervous emotion kept him from being still. It was bad enough that the skiddo almost never stopped moving with his energetic youth, and now his fear was fueling his adrenaline and screaming at him to run away even though he was unable to.

"Y...You're not going to...eat me are you?" the skiddo asked hesitantly, trying to look at the speaker out of the corner of his eye, but unable to turn his head at all.

Marshall thought for a moment before choosing his next actions. It probably wouldn't do to show off his massive jaw to someone to someone who thought they were going to be eaten. Where did it get that idea anyway? Marshall thought, deciding to stay out of sight for the time being. Well, I ought to help him out anyway. "Er, no, I'm not here to eat anyone," Marshall explained quietly, trying to sound calm and collected. "Just stay still for a second, okay? I'll try to think of a way to get you out of there."

Well, getting this Pokémon unstuck was going to be harder than Marshall had tried to make it sound. His options were pretty limited; Trying to Bite through the tree would probably result in nothing more than a sore mouth, while trying to uproot the tree with Earth Power was probably much more risky than it was worth. That really only left him with two options: He could try to push or pull the Pokémon out of the tree. He could probably get more force out of a push, but then he would have to reveal himself, and he was unsure of whether or not he could fit himself between the tree and the Pokémon. This left Marshall with but one option.

"Okay, I'm going to try and pull you out of the tree. I need you to work with me here," Marshall explained. "I'm going to count to three, and then we'll use our combined strength to pull you out of there. Are you ready?" Asked Marshall, preparing to wrap his front legs around the Pokémon's body.

"Yes..." the skiddo squeaked. He felt the stubby arms of the trapinch wrap around his body, unable to wrap around him completely but able to help with pulling. The skiddo felt the trapinch begin to pull, and the skiddo began to pull as well to assist the trapinch's efforts.

The tree made a snapping sound as the horns were finally released and the Skiddo was freed from the bark of the large and hard trunk. Aries had flipped over from the force of the pull, and landed on his back. His head ached from the abuse it had gone though, but he managed to set himself on his stomach to have a look at his savior.

He was big, but Aries was bigger, and seemed to have a large jaw that looked as if it could eat a pidgey or a skiddo if the skiddo were crushed up a bit. It was the mouth of a predator. Aries flinched, he had never seen this pokemon before, he didn't know what it was capable of! His fear had frozen him in place, only allowing him to speak, "Th-thank you...you...you're not going to eat me like you said...right?"

Marshall, dazed from the force of the pull, stumbled back a few steps before regaining his balance. Shaking off some dirt, he turned to the newly freed Pokémon. From what Marshall could see, it was still pretty rattled about the whole situation, and seemed to be scared stiff. Approaching the Pokémon slowly, Marshall decided that he had better choose his next words carefully if he wanted to keep this Pokemon clam and avoid attracting attention; the forest seemed pretty peaceful, but the Pokémon's words were starting to get to him. What is it that he's so afraid of? Should I be afraid, too?

In reply to the Pokémon's question, Marshall repeated his previous statement. "Like I said, I'm not out here to eat anyone. I was just out here to, uh, explore a little bit." Ugh, that was a pretty poor choice of words. "So, anyway, whatever did you do to get yourself stuck in that tree? You weren't, uh, attacked by anyone, were you?" Marshall asked, slightly shuddering with the possilbilty of some hidden Pokémon, waiting for just the right moment to strike.

The skiddo blurted his answer out quickly, eager to cooperate with the predator so it would not become enraged and attempt to eat him, "I was trying to train so I could help Migna, who is an espurr on my rescue team, fight off bullies like the wrumple and bunnelby in the guild that was yelling at me to go home because i'm weak so i wanted to become stronger so I could do that and yeah.." the skiddo spoke swiftly and tripped over his words, repeating himself somewhat out of fear. When he realized he was speaking too much and too quickly he shut his mouth.

The skiddo's ears were back against his head and he seemed like a small and helpless child, mostly because he partially was one. He did not ask the trapinch anymore of his motives, not wanting to be caught between the teeth of the large mouth it held. The skiddo seemed to be relaxing a bit more as they spoke, as he wasn't stuttering or shaking anymore. He felt as if he was getting to know the trapinch a bit more, he was not quite scared of things he had knowledge of, since the skiddo feared the unknown almost more than death itself.

Marshall listened as best he could to the Pokémon's explanation. While it was rushed and rather panicky, Marshall could understand the general gist of the situation. Mulling the Pokémon's words over in his head, Marshall started to think of an appropriate response. Well, he seems to have calmed down a little bit, and I take it he's feeling a bit more comfortable now. I think I can get some more details on the situation if I just play it cool...

"Um, alright. So, you're on a rescue team, and you were trying to train so you could help out more? In that case, how come you didn't ask someone to travel with you...?" Marshall's voice trailed off as he realized e hypocrisy of his own words. I'd better stay away from that subject for now. As Marshall spoke, he shot several glances at his surroundings. He couldn't really explain it, but he didn't like the feeling of sitting in one place for too long. "Hey, do you want to walk with me for a little while?" Asked Marshall, trying to sound as innocent as possible.

The skiddo paused, as if trying to determine whether or not the trapinch was trustworthy.

Well, he isn't trying to eat me. He also isn't trying to attack me and he did help me. I guess, it wouldn't hurt to have someone to talk with...maybe he'll train with me!

The skiddo made a small smile as he began to put more trust in the trapinch that had helped him, "Sure," he got up onto his hoofed legs and twirled before speaking, "I came out here on my own because I wanted to surprise Migna, I didn't think a tree would be able to grip on my horns like that though. The skiddo finally stopped moving, waiting for a response from the trapinch, "Which way do you want to go?" he added before doing so. He looked around, searching to see if there was someplace special they might be going to.

Kat carried out 1 launched of one Pecha Forest :

Marshall nodded and smiled, thankful to have gained some of the Pokémon's trust. Listening to his question, Marshall thought it over in his head. ...Huh. I probably should have thought of that earlier. I don't really need to be anywhere right now, so I guess I could stand to explore this forest with this guy for a little while... Wait, how will I know the way back? Marshall paused for a moment to survey his surroundings. Much to his dismay, all he could see was grass, rocks and trees; it all looked the same.

Oh man, I have no idea where I am! Okay, I need to calm myself... Marshall let out a small sigh. Alright, I guess my best bet at this point is to just wander until I see something I can recognize. For the time being, I guess I'll just pretend to know what I'm doing... Marshall snapped out of his thoughts and faced the Pokémon. "Um, we should go... That way!" Marshall exclaimed, sticking one of his front legs off in a random direction. "I'll bet you we can find a better place to train over there."

The skiddo looked in the direction the trapinch had pointed, and spotted something pink in the distance, "What's that?" he murmurer. He bounded over to it and found it to be a Gummi, he smiled and picked it up between his teeth and ate it, enjoying the taste for a moment before remembering the Trapinch, "Oh...sorry..." he said sheepishly as his tail lowered, "I should have asked you if you wanted it...sorry"

He felt a bit ashamed of himself, he probably angered the potential friend, what if it didn't want to be friends now? Just like Migna would if he didn't become stronger so he could stand up to bullies, although this was just a conclusion the skiddo had drawn from his frantic mind rather than the Espurr telling him this. The skiddo was desperate for friends, after all his mother had told him to make some, if he failed his mother, there was no way he would be able to go back to the mountain even if he remembered where it was!

Kat carried out 1 launched of one Pecha Forest :

(energy remained constant due to the consumption of the Gummi)

Marshall stood stunned for a second, amazed by the Pokémon's sudden burst of speed. When he finally caught up with the speedy skiddo, he caught sight of something- not quite sure what it was- disappear down the skiddo's mouth. A few moments later, he found himself being apologized to by the skiddo, asking for forgiveness for taking the item (whatever it was) without asking if Marshall had wanted it first. "Um, it's okay, I think." Staring in wonder for a few seconds, Marshall suddenly realized something. Wait, I still don't know this Pokémon's name! Opening his mouth to speak, Marshall was promptly interrupted by a vicious Vine Whip across the face.

Thrown off balance by the whip's power, Marshall tumbled over and rolled onto his back. Narrowly avoiding a second Vine Whip in his attempt to get back onto his feet, the Trapinch managed to get a glimpse of his attacker. It seemed to be a massive clump of vines with eyes; whatever other facial features it might have were concealed by the vines. Realizing that he was no match for this strange Pokémon, Marshall's first thought was to put some distance between them. While backing away, the Trapinch launched a Sand Attack at his attacker. While doing no noticeable damage, Marshall did succeed in distracting the Pokémon, if only for a few seconds.

Guest carried out 1 launched of one Pecha Forest :

The skiddo's ears stood up with alarm as the large jawed pokemon was suddenly slapped in the mouth with a vine. The skiddo turned to see a tangela looking at them angrily as it just barely missed hitting the trapinch once more.

Aries watched sand fly from the Trapinch and coat the tangela, causing it to cry out and try to wipe its eyes while other vines flailed about in attempt to hit the trapinch. He gave a bleat, one of determination, for this was a bully. It was just like the event with the wrumple all over again, a bully trying to drive them out of someplace.

This time, the skiddo was useful though. As the skiddo leaped in front of the trapinch to shield him from vines, the skiddo glowed a bright green as he absorbed the vines. The skiddo charged forward to tackle the tangela, he grew bigger as he used Growth to aid his attack as his horns smashed into the Tangela and sent it flying into a bush.

The tangela wasn't finished though, but the skiddo had guessed the trapinch wanted to get out of there due to the type disadvantage. The skiddo turned to the trapinch, looking to see where it was and if it was ready to run.