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)

The answer wasn't quite what the skiddo expected, but then again he didn't really know what to expect! A race certainly wouldn't have worked seeing as it was obvious the skiddo was much faster, and sparring would only result in them hurting each other and making themselves vulnerable to anything that might want to devour them whole.

He gave a leap, "Great idea! Which way first?" the skiddo looked around once more, wondering if there was anywhere special the duo could go to while they were training in this unfamiliar fashion. His ears flicked up and a smile beamed on the skiddo's face as excitement overwhelmed him and energizes his sore muscles once more.

Energy:13

Kat carried out 1 launched of one Pecha Forest :

Marshall pondered the question. Once again, he was rather unsure exactly which direction they should head towards. After all, the forest was still pretty unfamiliar with Marshall, as it was pretty new to him. I guess we'll just wander until we find something else. After all, that worked pretty well last time... I guess... Marshall's gaze landed on a clump of trees. Stretching out one of his front legs to point at them, he spoke of his thoughts. "Hey, maybe we might find something in there." Marshall began to approach, only to be interrupted by a Hoothoot, shooting itself out from the trees.

The Hoothoot didn't attack at first, instead opting to swoop directly over Marshall's head in an attempt to confuse him. It worked to some extent; it certainly startled Marshall and forced him to look around to see where it had gone. Only a few brief moments passed before the Hoothoot flew in again, hitting Marshall with a Tackle attack before flying upwards. Marshall, taken by surprise, stumbled back a few steps before looking up to see where the Hoothoot had gone. Darn, I can't hit it with anything as long as it's flying around like that! I wonder if Aries can do something about it... Marshall shot a nervous glance at the Skiddo.

Energy: 10 + 1 natural regen = 11

"Hoot...Hoot...Hoot...Hoot!" the hoothoot gave a rhythmic call as it flew past the two pokemon it had decided to pick on. It landed on the branch and continued its rhythm in a more mocking tone as it stared maliciously at the two, its round body giving a puff of feathers with each hoot.

Aries was just as surprised as Marshall, a bit more even due to his lack of experience in battles. Sure he had been in one or two, but it was not enough to hone the kid's reaction into immediate action. He looked about wildly, trying to figure where the sounds of the calls emitted from. His ears finally discovered the source to be a tree to their right. The skiddo knew the location, but did the trapinch? How would they even reach him?

The skiddo wished he had a longer range of attacks, if only he could just reach out and grab the hoothoot, just to drag it down to their level and fight fairly if it wanted to fight so much...

Once more to the skiddo's shock, something else happened that quite surprised him. Two large vines emerged from the bushes around his leafy mane and shot into the tree, twirling around each other in a double helix pattern as they went. The skiddo took control of the attack, his instincts having shot the attack rather than just him, as the vines wrapped around the hoothoot's feet and the strange arrow like lashes on its eyes. The vines pulled down the pokemon as it let out a long and surprised screech. The victim of the attack spun as the double helix unraveled itself, and disoriented the hoothoot, causing it to stay on the ground now that it had been dragged so far down.

Marshall watched for a brief moment as the Hoothoot fell and crashed into the ground. Wow, that was a pretty creative use of that move. Huh, I have to give props to Aries for that one, that was some pretty quick thinking. Maybe I could learn something from the way he battles... Marshall was pulled back to reality by the sight of the Pokémon beginning to regain its footing. Oh shoot, I forgot about the Hoothoot! Ready for a battle, Marshall charged as quickly as he could towards the Hoothoot.

By the time he had reached the Hoothoot, though, it was nearly too late to to anything. In fact, had it not been for the Trapinch's large mouth, he surely would not have connected with his Bite attack which he had used at the very last second. The Hoothoot, having its takeoff interrupted, was once again returned to the forest floor through the force of Marshall's Bite. Unfortunately, the Hoothoot had a trick up its sleeve; something that the Trapinch was unprepared for. Turning to face its attacker, the Hoothoot locked eyes with Marshall and began a Hypnosis attack. Oh man, not this again... Marshall thought to himself as darkness closed in and he promptly slumped over onto the grass.
The Hoothoot, now able to shake its leg free, once again prepared itself for flight.

Aries, who was a bit startled by this new development about his power, merely watched, stunned as the hoothoot tottered about while trying to take flight. He shook his head fiercely, trying to recollect his thoughts and gave a bleat and reared back, his forelegs kicking the air before he charged forward and rammed his head and horns into the hoothoot. The body did not give off the satisfying crack like the rocks did, as it was substituted with a cry of pain from the hoothoot as it was bashed into a tree.
"HOOT! HOOT!" it cried, seeming to beg for mercy. The kid was confused, what was going on with the hoothoot? What was wrong with Marshall? Why isn't he getting up? Did he go on a journey to where Aries's brothers and sisters went?!

The skiddo ignored the hoothoot, darting over to the sleeping tranpinch, without being aware that he was just sleeping, and gave the ground type a nudge. He didn't want to be left alone, why didn't the trapinch just ask him to come with him?

(Note: Aries's brothers and sisters died, but the parents didn't tell him that and said they went on a journey, so now he associates death with traveling and doesn't quite realize that death is permanent or what it really is. He is also in a bit of a panic mode thus why the quick jump to thinking Marshall is "going away")

Marshall... "awoke" lying on his stomach in the middle of a grassy field. A quick survey of his surroundings revealed that most of it was, in fact, nothing but grass. The only thing the Trapinch could distinguish from the grass was a lone tree; it was quite large, but otherwise similar to any of the other trees Marshall had seen thus far. ...How did I even get here? I could have sworn that I was in Pecha Forest... Marshall's head ached as his thoughts started to cloud and run together. I must have fallen asleep somewhere... I- I guess it's best not to think about it... Giving a few more glances around at his surroundings, Marshall decided to approach the tree; he didn't know where he was, and the tree was the only thing remotely different from anything else.

As the Trapinch became within only a few steps of the tree, he felt a strong wind beginning to stir. The leaves of the tree began to rustle, not only because of the wind, but because of something else that caught Marshall's eye after a few moments. A shadowy figure emerged from the leaves; Marshall couldn't quite tell what it was at first glance. Over the course of a few seconds, the creature started to reveal itself. Several long blade-like appendages stuck out from its body, and its "feet" appeared to be talons of some sort. For a split second, a glint of light shone over its body, revealing that it was composed of a metallic substance. For Marshall, though, the light revealed something much more important to him: the creature's eyes. Marshall had seen them before; he had unmistakably met this creature some time, at some place. Before Marshall could open his mouth to speak, he was knocked over by the powerful force of the wind that had been building all this time. As the wind began to pick up dirt and small rocks from the ground, Marshall closed his eyes to shield them from the barrage.

When Marshall finally opened his eyes again, he was face-to-face with his new accomplice, Aries. Going a few moments without saying anything, his memory of what had happenned before his dream rushed back to him. As the Trapinch slowly got back onto his feet, he saw the Hoothoot escape into the sky out of the corner of his eyes. Still rattled by his dream and the recent events, Marshall gave a shiver before finally speaking. "...Um, sorry about that."

The skiddo's ears were back against his skull from his worry for the trapinch suddenly leaving him like it had seemed like he did. He listened to the trapinch apologize and came to the conclusion that perhaps he did not mean to start going on that strange journey like that. The skiddo began to cheer up and hadn't noticed the hoothoot flying away. He gave a small bounce and spoke, "Yay! I thought you were going to leave without even a goodbye." The Young Kid was still ignorant towards the idea of death and the idea that the Trapinch was merely sleeping. He didn't quite know the signs of sleep, having rarely seen others asleep himself even back at the herd since he was usually the first to sleep.

The Hoothoot disappeared into the sky as Marshall started to brush dirt off of his body with his leg. Still disoriented by his dream, the Trapinch gave a small frown as he assessed the situation. Geez, why did this happen to happen now... I-I just need to calm down. Deciding to shift his focus in order to keep his mind off of his dream, Marshall stared at the Skiddo for a few seconds. He's a pretty strange case, alright. I wonder why he was scared that I "left". I mean, I was here for the whole time, and it's not like he could know that I was dreaming...

"H-hey," Marshall began to ask. "Um, are you okay,? You looked pretty distressed when you got over to me..."

"Well...yeah...i'm okay?" the skiddo checked over himself as if to check for any wounds he could not feel for some odd reason, which would have been an adrenaline rush if he had any wounds he could not feel. The skiddo looked to the trapinch, confused about the question when it was obvious that he was fine.

"I was worried you were going away, my brothers and sisters went away and left me with the herd. Some of the other mothers went away sometimes to. When you go on that kind of journey you sometimes don't come back my mom told me," the skiddo was still oblivious to the topic of death, his innocence was untouched and he saw only a sunny outlook on life other than his panic and gullibility for making friends.

Marshall had a small, but noticeable, frown on his face as he listened to the Skiddo's explanation. Um... Going away? I really hope that there isn't some kind of deeper meaning behind that... Well, I guess there would have to be, as, clearly, I hadn't moved a bit from this spot from when I fell asleep... For a few seconds, there was dead silence as Marshall tried to see the situation from the Skiddo's point of view. Well, the way I see it, the situation could have been seen two ways. I could be unconscious, or, er, permanently unconscious. Considering the circumstances, the latter basically wasn't possible, and the former doesn't really fit his description. I guess that either means he sees something that I don't, or that he has a... different perspective on this issue.

Still confused by the Pokémon's words, Marshall stammered as he spoke. "A-ahem. Mmm, er, yes, okay." Nailed it. "Right, so, I think we should change the subject. So, uh, sorry again for letting that Hoothoot get away," Marshall apologized while idly pushing around a singular brown feather that had been left behind. "...I bet you thought that was pretty foolish of me."

The skiddo gave a bounce, "Are you kidding me? You showed that bully who he shouldn't mess with!" he bounced up and down happily as he spoke, his sore body forgotten as excitement of his friend being okay over ruled it. The skiddo finally stopped bouncing and looked at Marshall, noticing he felt down, "Well...why would we want him to stay right? He was being a bully and we wanted him to go away....didn't we?" the skiddo was growing confused again. This friend wanted the bully to stay? Why? Had he messed up by letting the hoothoot away?

The skiddo's eyes widened as his fears and worries returned and his ears pinned against his head once more.

"Uh-um, yeah, okay," Marshall agreed, not wanting to upset his new friend. However, the Skiddo's words had sparked an inner conflict inside the Trapinch's mind. Huh... why did I want it to stay so badly? ...I guess it's because I'm always trying to become stronger, but is this the way? Was I pushing it too far? Marshall tilted his head down to look at the recently dropped feather. ...After all, the last thing I want- and need- is someone getting hurt. I've... certainly learned enough about that. I need to be more careful in the future if I don't want to experience that again.

Having finally recovered from the shock of the recent events, Marshall turned back to Aries, who had returned to a state of anxiety. Gee, he sure does that a lot. I mean, when he folds his ears back like that... I always feel like there's some huge noise that I can't hear for some reason... Aaaaand I'm off topic again. Marshall once again opened his mouth to speak. "Sooooo, what are we gonna do now?"

"I...don't know really...you wanted to go exploring right, or did you change your mind?" the skiddo asked, one ear rising as his fear was quelled slightly, but the other ear was still back against his head. His hooves shuffled against the ground as he hoped he wasn't messing up making a new friend, if he messed this up...what would his mother think? If he lost one friend would his other friends hear about it and stop being friends with him because he wasn't friends with a certain friend? Why did making friends have to be so complicated? The skiddo just wondered why they all couldn't just say they were all friends and leave it at that while treating each other so.

Marshall spoke, now with renewed energy. "I, uh, I say we keep moving. You know, the whole getting stronger deal... thing." Huh, maybe I am getting a little tired. That's not enough to keep me down, though. A couple of fights and a bad dream aren't enough to stop me from reaching my goal. I need to see this though. Marshall's eyes looked forward with a blank stare for a few seconds. ...And I suppose that I can't really get even more lost. Sitting still isn't doing anything for me.

For the first time in his trip, the Trapinch started to feel confident in himself. It was observable, too; his legs straightened as he stood tall and a determined expression appeared on his face. The ground around his feet gave off small vibrations as Marshall's body surged with energy. ...Alright, I'm ready. Turning to the Skiddo, Marshall spoke once more. "Hey, are you ready?"

The skiddo grew bubbly again his fears melted away, "Yeah! Of course!" his hooves gave the grass a good pounding as he looked at the trapinch, waiting for him to lead the way. The skiddo was an odd one indeed, his fears came and left as quickly as water pouring out of a cup. His sheltered life style making him a bit fearful of the outer world, and slightly homesick, but never the less his excitement seemed to top it all and crush it down the like grass to his hooves. His ears, which seemed to be like obvious flags for his emotions he did not realize could tell what he was feeling, were both natural and high as the skiddo awaited for the adventure to continue.