Naivety, meet Determination [OPEN]

First topic message reminder :

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)

Well, I'm glad that he's happy, Marshall thought as he attempted to determine what direction to go next. I guess we could just wander again, and I'm not exactly familiar with this place... Oh, I know. I'll let the wind decide for me, because I honestly think it knows better than me at this point... Waiting a few seconds to feel the breeze, Marshall started to walk in the direction that the wind was blowing. Over the course of a few seconds, Marshall also gave himself a pep talk. Okay, you can do this. The last couple of fights might not have gone your way, but if another one starts, you'll be ready this time. Let's move!

Guest carried out 1 launched of one Pecha Forest :

The skiddo followed the Trapinch along, giddy with excitement as he joined his friend in embarking on the adventure once more. His cheerfulness seemed to maintain itself as the skiddo no longer seemed to worry that the friend would suddenly leave once more. The sun was shining once more to the skiddo as the pink spotted trees rustled with a blow of the wind. Aries finally spoke once more to invite the trapinch into conversation as they walked, "So, uh..." he hesitated, not sure of just what to ask. He thought for a moment, trying to come up with a topic, before the memory of his father telling him of a big bad ursaring that would eat him if he left the herd. What was an Ursaring though? He had never quite seen it before, so he decided to ask Marshall, "Do you know what a 'ursaring' is?"

Marshall thought for a moment, considering the Skiddo's question. An... Ursaring? Is that some kind of Pokémon? If it is, it's not any Pokémon I've heard of before. "Um, sorry, I have no idea what that is. You see, my knowledge of the world outside of the desert is pretty limited." After answering, however, Marshall couldn't help but wonder why the Skiddo would ask such a question out of the blue. In fact, he might have asked that out loud if he wasn't interrupted by a strange sensation in one of his feet. The sensation was a feeling of warmth, feeling warmest at the bottom of his foot. When he lifted his foot up to examine it, he found the source of the feeling: a lone seed that he had stepped on, sitting on its own in the grass. It hadn't cracked on impact, and when Marshall touched it again, he once again felt warm. "Whoa," he exclaimed out loud, marveling at the strange object. "What is this?"

The skiddo had been about to question the trapinch on just what a desert was, but it seemed that he had found something more important and worthy of their interest. The skiddo moved his head closer to investigate the strange seed the trapinch had uncovered. It was small, round, and seemed like it was just any other old seed. The skiddo's curiosity began to burn as he became afraid of the object at the same time. What was this thing? Was it food? Would it taste good?
"I...I don't know...is it something you eat?" he asked the trapinch.

"...Well, it sure looks like a regular seed that you could eat, but has really strange properties, unlike any other seed that I've ever seen. When I touch it, it feels like it's just filled with energy, like it was unstable and could burst at any moment. I mean, it even feels like it's radiating heat because of how much energy it holds."

Marshall pushed the seed around for a few seconds to see if he could get a reaction out of it. When his experiment returned no meaningful results, he turned to the Skiddo. "Here, do you want to feel it? I can't really make anything of it, but maybe you can."

The skiddo moved forward cautiously and bravely despite his fears. Aries touched the seed with his nose, as his hooves felt nothing no matter temperature or texture, and it was indeed warm as he confirmed it to the trapinch. He pulled back his nose, this was a rather strange discovery. It excited the skiddo though, what if they found something completely new! Nobody could possibly know about this and they would get a lot of new friends for finding this new item-but wait. If nobody knew about this item, who knew what it could do? What if something bad happened while they were showing the people back at the village and they would be to blame and everyone hated them!?

Marshall took a few seconds to think before deciding what to do next.  When he had made up his mind, he spoke up. "Well, I guess if we don't know what it does, we should take it to someone else who can identify it. After all, there ought to be at least someone who knows what it is." Grasping the seed with his mouth, the Trapinch turned his head to survey his surroundings. Of course, he didn't really find anything interesting; like before, all he could see was a bunch of trees and rocks. Marshall decided to travel in a random direction again, hoping to make some more progress. Unfortunately, he wasn't prepared for what happened next.

As the Trapinch walked, his foot found its way onto a stray rock, throwing him off of his balance. Stumbling forwards, the Trapinch's legs could no longer support him, and he fell forwards to the ground. When his body hit the ground, the impact caused the seed to crack under the pressure, and its special effect was put into action. In a flash of light, the seed created a small explosion. The force pushed Marshall's jaws open, allowing the majority of the explosion to take place outside of the Trapinch's mouth.

The skiddo gave a loud bleat of fear as the trapinch's mouth suddenly began to spit explosions. He reared up, kicking his front legs at an invisible foe before freezing up and falling over completely. His fear had paralyzed him, and made him unable to move. He could only think of all the horrible things that could have happened to the trapinch because of that seed? It was only bad news! He should have trusted his doubts, if he had he could have told the trapinch to put it down and leave it, then this wouldn't have happened!

Marshall sat there stunned for a few seconds, trying to make sense of the situation. What... just happened? Did that seed just explode? It doesn't hurt, so I don't think it did any permanent damage, but still... Climbing back on to his feet, Marshall started to brush dirt off of his body. Well, I guess that was... enlightening. I should be able to identify this particular seed in the future, so I should be able to use a more careful approach next time. As for this seed, though, it looks like it's done its job. Turning around to face the Skiddo, Marshall caught the frightened look in his eyes. He looks like he's seen a ghost! Arceus, I should have been more careful with that thing. I could have badly hurt someone with it... Starting to feel guilty, the Trapinch tried to calm the Skiddo in an attempt to make up for the situation. "Um, sorry about that. I really wasn't expecting such, uh, surprising results. Are you alright?

The skiddo was still frozen, his eyes seeing almost nothing as his fear had him in a near state of death. It was a mechanism similar to that of a possum, playing dead. The skiddo shook his head fiercely, snapping himself out of it and popping right up with a bounce, "I'm fine!" he said in a rather high pitched voice, "But what about you? That looked like it hurt! You aren't hurt or anything are you? I'm pretty sure exploding things in the mouth isn't really a good thing right? Or is that just something that happens? Please tell me that's normal or you're okay..."