Naivety, meet Determination [OPEN]

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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)

Marshall watched in amazement as the Skiddo shielded him from the incoming vines, standing unflinching as the vines attacked to seemingly no effect. He was arguably even more amazed when he saw what happened after: the Pokémon started to glow a bright green, grew in size, and sent the wild Tangela flying into a nearby bush with a ferocious tackle. At this point, what Marshall was to do seemed pretty obvious; he should back off from the Tangela as to not risk further injury. However, even as his body and instincts insisted that he run away, Marshall just couldn't bring himself to do it. Look at me, I'm pathetic. This is my first real fight, my first chance to prove myself, and already I'm backing off like a coward. The only way I'll be able to help my friends and family is to become stronger, and the only way to do that is to face my fears...

Suddenly, Marshall's body was pumped full of adrenaline. He wasn't going to allow himself to sit in the sidelines, hoping that everything would be okay. If he was going to start changing, well, his transformation would start here. That being said, he couldn't risk getting close to those vines, so he needed a way to fight from afar. As luck would have it, Marshall found that lying close to him were... Two moderately sized sticks. Well, I guess that it's better than nothing. Marshall winced in pain for a second as he picked up one of the sticks, but he decided to power through it. Taking aim at the bush, Marshall turned his his head, swung it back forward while releasing the stick... And missed spectacularly. Dang it! Marshall started to panic as the Tangela emerged from the bush. I'd better make this next one count. Picking up the next stick and repeating the process, Marshall was able to make his mark and hit the Tagela, knocking it off balance and causing it to stumble back.

Energy: 10

The skiddo seemed to grow once more as he utilized his Growth move some more. He charged towards the tangela with his head lowered, aiming to knock into it while it was stumbling. His hooves pounded as he felt a force meet his own on his horns. The skiddo bleated and started to push against it harder, not sure what was going on.

The tangela had sent its vines forward and was pushing against the skiddo, as both sides seemed to be struggling against each other in the power struggle. Each side pushed against the other, occasionally knocking one side back an inch or two before regaining the ground soon after. The tangela seemed to finally have enough of this as it twisted its vines on the unsuspecting skiddo and caused Aries's head to twist and force his body to fall over with a surprised bleat.

The tangela's vines seemed as if they were about to smash down on the skiddo, but thought better of it due to the previous attempt that only resulted in making the skiddo stronger. It thought for a moment, before turning to the trapinch while the skiddo was still down.

Maybe a hostage might help?

Marshall stared in panic as the two Pokémon began to push against each other in an attempt to knock each other over. Unfortunately, it seemed that the Tangela had other ideas, as it found a way to manipulate the Skiddo's body and cause it to tumble over. Marshall, frozen in place, watched as the Tangela prepared to send its vines crashing down onto the Skiddo... but stopped itself from doing so. For a moment, all was still and silent as the Tangela locked eyes with the Trapinch. Huh, what could it want with me? After all, I don't exactly have anything it could take from me... I guess that only leaves one option; it wants easier prey.

Marshall stood still for the next few seconds while determining its next move. It looks like it isn't willing to risk making that Pokémon stronger, so I don't think it's in any immediate danger. However, I highly doubt that's the only attack it knows, and I don't want to see what else it can do with those vines. A ranged attack is just too risky at this point, so I guess that only leaves me with one other option... I need to get up close to it. Keeping his eyes locked onto the Tangela, Marshall reluctantly approached it, steeling himself to deal with the sting of its vines.

The tangela seemed to think for a moment, before its vines began to move once more. Its eyes began to soften and the vines created a heart-like shape and the tangela winked through the center, using Attract on the Trapinch that it must have learned from a TM it had been given by some pokemon somewhere.

Aries, meanwhile was getting himself back up, trying to deal with the bruises and pains in the neck he had been given from the powerful twist. He looked up to see the Tangela seemed to be doing something rather odd that he had never seen been done before. The skiddo tilted his head as he stood, a confused look on his face as he watched the Tangela flirt with the Trapinch, he himself was unaffected due to not being the target of the attack and being too young to truly understand love in the shape the attack brought upon its victims.

Marshall braced himself as the Tangela's vines began to move. This is going to hurt, Marshall thought to himself as he readied himself for the worst. Fortunately (or unfortunately, as the case may be), the Tangela wasn't looking to strike this time around. Instead of lashing out, the Tangela formed a heart with its vines and started to unleash an Attract attack. Marshall, confused at first, stood still as the Attract took affect. What is it even doing? were Marshall's last thoughts before a succumbed to the Tangela's charms.

Over the course of a few seconds, the situation had changed drastically in Marshall's eyes. The Tangela was no longer wild and ruthless- it was instead peaceful and harmless. Indeed, the Attract had effectively wiped Marshall's memory of the battle, and had rendered him all but useless. "Hey, what's a Pokémon like you doing in a dangerous forest like this?" Marshall asked, harmlessly wandering towards the Tangela. "There could be vicious Pokémon out here, you should leave before you get hurt..."

The skiddo was astonished to hear the trapinch suddenly begin to speak with the tangela as if it had not attacked them at all. The skiddo took a hoofstep towards the trapinch, "Hey...are you okay? What did the vine-thing do to you?" he asked the large jawed creature.

The tangela gave a squeak as it hid behind Marshall, as if scared of the skiddo.

Aries's mind struggled to put together what just happened, but he saw the tangela start to move behind the trapinch in what he assumed was about to be another attack. He only had one thing in mind, to save his new friend who's name he still did not know from being in more danger. The skiddo gave a bleat and charged towards the Tangela, his head lowered as his horns glowed a faint white in the form of a Tackle attack.

Marshall, still trapped under the Attract spell, happily welcomed the Tangela as it moved closer to him. What happened next confused him, though. As the Tangela jumped behind Marshall in an attempt to defend itself, Marshall returned to his senses for a brief moment. As the Skiddo entered his sight, the recent events came rushing back. Dislodging the Skiddo, getting smacked in the face by a vine and hurling sticks at some vine-monster-thing. Speaking of which, where did that Pokémon get to?

Marshall's thoughts were rudely interrupted by the Tangela, as it quickly wrapped its vines around him and began using its Constrict attack. Marshall felt pain envelop his body as vines pressed against him from all sides. Beginning to struggle Marshall caught sight of the Skiddo he had met earlier, preparing a Tackle attack. Argh, I'm going to get skewered if I don't do something! Attempting to turn the situation around, Marshall bit down on a vine that had wandered too close to his mouth, taking the Tangela by surprise. Then, taking advantage of his massive jaw, he summoned all of the strength he had left to throw the Tangela over his shoulder and in front of him.

The throw was just in time, for as the tangela landed and had little time to react, it was tackled by Aries. The tangela gripped onto the horns on the skiddo out of panic, causing the skiddo himself to panic and begin to toss his head back and forth as he attempted to throw off the tangela.

The scene lasted for half a minute before the skiddo finally launched the tangela into a tree, causing it to slam into the bark and fall back to the forest floor. The tangle made some frightened sounds before the sound of rustling leaves began to move farther and farther away, signaling the tangela's flight.

Aries's chest was heaving as his legs, neck, and the rest of his body began to ache from the workout. He turned to the trapinch with a sheepish smile that faded before he asked, "Are...are you okay?"

Besides having a massive headache from taking a super effective move to the head, Marshall concluded that he was otherwise without injury. Shaking out his legs, Marshall turned to the Skiddo to answer its question. "Yeah, I'm fine," Marshall replied, trying to act tough. "Thanks for helping me out back there, I don't know what I'd do without you. You're pretty strong, you know that?"

Marshall stared into the distance for a few seconds before he remembered how they had gotten into that situation in the first place. After I freed him from that tree, we walked for a bit. Then, I was interrupted before I could ask his name... Wait, his name? Marshall had once again come to the realization that he still didn't know this Pokémon's name. "So, um, your name is...?"

The skiddo gave a forced bounce despite his tired legs, "Oh! I'm Aries, of team Everglade. My partner is Migna the Espurr."

He thought for a moment, wondering if it would anger the other pokemon to ask of their name. He decided to take the risk, "And your's? By the way what are you? I haven't exactly seen a pokemon like you before, so I kind of freaked out earlier because of your big...er...jaws...sorry if I sound mean..." the skiddo's ear lowered as he felt as if he spoke too much. Was the other pokemon going to be angry with him now? Was he going to glare at him and shout at him to go away? The skiddo could only pray, wait, and listen.

"Oh, there's really no reason to be sorry about that. In fact..." Marshall looked away for a second and thought about his time in the desert. "I'm kind of flattered that you think I have, uh, big jaws. I mean, you should see some of my siblings! You wouldn't believe the size of things that they could fit in their mouths..." Marshall trailed off as he realized he was quickly derailing from the topic. "So, er, yes. Um, my name is Marshall, and I'm a Trapinch, a kind of Pokémon that lives in the desert. You see, we have these jaws so we can bury ourselves in the sand, and then when someone- " Marshall caught himself before he could go and run his mouth about something he'd regret saying. The Trapinch desperately tried to change back to the topic of names. "So, um, Aires, is it? I'm pleased to meet you."

The skiddo was a bit curious as to what the trapinch was going to say, but he seemed to cut himself off as if changing his mind. He decided not to push the questioning, and spoke, "Marshall? That's a cool name!" the skiddo gave an excited bounce in a complete circle once more despite his aching muscles.

He was glad that this trapinch seemed to not hate him, perhaps the two could be friends! That would be great, he would have someone to hang out with-but what about Migna? How would he hang out with Migna if he was hanging out with the trapinch? Did the Trapinch even want to hang out with him?

"S-So, did you want to train with me or would you rather do something else?" the skiddo tried to derail himself from his current thoughts in attempt to calm his panicking self down.

Marshall listened to the Skiddo's question and thought it over for a few seconds. It was a pretty good question, and it didn't really have a definite answer. I guess it wouldn't hurt to train with this Aires kid for little bit. Although... We got pretty roughed up in that last battle. We might want to play it safe for a little while. I should probably ask how he feels.

Marshall turned to Aires to answer his question. "Well, if you're still feeling alright to train, then I'm willing to stick around here for a little while longer. After all, you were looking to surprise your partner, right?" Marshall paused for a second. "Although, we could also go back to Grassveil if we want to wrap things up here. There's gotta be plenty to do in a place like Grassveil, and I'd be interested in meeting your partner if we happened to run into them."

"Of course i'm feeling alright!" the skiddo bleated, happily bouncing about as he proved he was alright. The small goat bleated, not quite hearing the rest of the trapinch's words and failing to realize he had said anything at all. Aries's ears shot up, "Oh!" he turned to the trapinch, "What should we do? I can't headbutt anything around here like Papa does, since the tree stuck to my horns and no rocks seem to be around here," the skiddo looked around him as he spoke, as if checking to make sure he wasn't missing any rocks, "Got any ideas?" he looked back to Marshall with a smile.

I guess we'll be sticking around for a little while longer, Marshall thought as he listened to the Skiddo's words. It seemed that the Skiddo was eager practice his tackling ability a little more. He's right that this particular area is pretty barren, and it's pretty apparent that tackling trees isn't going to work. It looks like we're the only ones here... Huh, that gives me an idea. We're both looking to get stronger... The Trapinch turned to the Skiddo and frowned. He probably wouldn't have any of it, though. I guess our only option, then, is to keep walking until we find something- or someone- else. Marshall spoke up from his silence. "I think that our best bet is to keep exploring this place. After all, who knows what we might find?"