Shadowing Avarice

It had been a slow few days in Pecha Forest. The area was peaceful, calm and relaxing, and whilst that was all well and good for most Pokemon, Vesper was one to prefer a bit of adventure and fun in her days. Pecha Forest was certainly a beautiful and simple place, the Roselia appreciating it for these merits, but the temptation to do something a little more exhilarating was too good to pass up. And so, when Vesper spotted a Houndour passing through the tranquil woods, she took it upon herself to tail him. He seemed to at the very least have a few berries that would be worth stealing if she could figure out how to go about it.

The young Roselia followed the Houndour all the way from Pecha Forest to Black Mist Mountain, all the while playing through various scenarios in her mind's eye, weeding out the downright suicidal approaches and considering a few of the more sensible ideas as she wandered along. She'd pause as the dual dark and fire type occasionally halted to sniff at a tree or rock, but he'd always keep moving, apparently not realising she had been tailing him this far.

As forest drew into rocks, Vesper couldn't help but stifle a small sigh. Perhaps she had taken Pecha Forest for granted after all. Though there was still the rest of the day ahead of them, the skies surrounding the mountain seemed to be perpetually black, as if the mist it was named for had blotted out the sun.
Why on earth would anyone want to come here? she wondered silently, sitting neatly on a rock to watch the Houndour pad around slightly further down the mountain.

Smells, scents, aromas, they were everywhere. Smells of passing pokemon, smells of sweet pecha scents, and smells of everything that had one. The houndour was rather frustrated though, all of the decent territories were taken already, and the ones that weren't were either too populated by those "Civil" folk for him to take charge. He believed himself to be strong, but he didn't want to bother with all of the trouble it would cause. The houndour sniffed about, nearing the strange mountain known as Black mist, not quite realizing where he was or that he was even being followed, for he was too busy searching for an unclaimed area.

Silverdawn slithered to a stop, panting heavily as she finally reached Black Mist Mountain. She cursed softly to herself as she coiled herself around a rock, rummaging in her pack for that Sitrus berry she had picked earlier. She had no use for Sitrus berries in her shop, so she gulped it down without hesitation, feeling much of her energy come flooding back to her. "This is ridiculous," she grumbled to herself. "Is there no dungeon easier to get to where I can collect ash? Ughhhh... I'm just going to have to offer up some big reward at the Guild, just for a high-level rescue team to pick up some ash from Furnace Peak or something. I can't be doing this every day; I just don't have the energy!" She sighed. Well, there wasn't much she could do from here. She only hoped that any missions she requested would be filled.

Energy: 17 - 16 = 1
1 + 15 (sitrus berry) = 16

Vesper sat on the rock, watching the Houndour with her head in her hands -er, Flowers. She'd come all this way and he'd done nothing but sniff around. He didn't seem to even catch a whiff of her on the wind, which posed little to no challenge to her. To be quite frank, the canine-esque pokemon didn't seem all that intelligent, which warranted thieving from such a person even less of an effort than sitting around in tranquil old Pecha Forest. All in all, even more boring.
She was about to give up and just jump the Hounder before she died of boredom, when she heard a voice a short distance away. Blinking, her attention was immediately drawn away from the dark and fire type and she got to her feet, hopping over the rock to peer down the mountain in the other direction.

An Ekans that looked a bit more focussed on finding something more of interest. The snake also carried a bag with her that could promise more than just a few berries. Perhaps this long winded trip to this dull misty mountain wouldn't be entirely in vain after all.

Vesper
Energy: 4
20-16 for entry.

Zera found himself panting, his legs felt weary and he found that he was far from familiar surroundings. This was good, the farther he was from that pathetic "civil" village the less chance of claimed territory. He gave a huff and sat before digging his nose into a makeshift pouch his joy ribbon provided. He pulled out a bright yellow berry, known as the sitris berry. He tossed it in the air and snatched it back out of it in a quick movement. He felt the energy course through him once more, he was pumped to keep looking now. He was still oblivious to the floral pokemon that followed him, since the scent was downwind and he wasn't expecting anybody to mess with him.

[Energy: 19 (20-16 upon entering + 15 because of berry)]

Silverdawn cast around with her echolocation, aimlessly searching for items for her shop. She was alone for now, but with the way her luck had been going lately, another pokemon would probably show up and she'd be forced to be civil and invite them along on her item search. But maybe, just maybe, she'd get some gravelrocks out of the deal. She doubted it though. She continued slithering along, picking up small piles of ash where she could. After a while, Silverdawn got a small prickle along her spine, as if someone were staring at her. She cast around, trilling in the back of her throat, but the images coming back indicated no other life around. She hummed suspiciously, her tongue flicking out of her mouth to taste the air, but the surrounding air was too hot for her to pick out any heat signatures. She would just have to be careful. Thieves were not as common around Grassveil as they had been in her old town, but thieves were everywhere when you looked hard enough.

The Roselia observed the snake for a few short moments, watching as it made a clicking sound with it's tongue. It seemed to glance around, using the sounds to gauge what the areas was like. The Ekans appeared not to notice her despite it's dull gaze looking right in her direction. It didn't take long for Vesper to put two and two together and realise that the serpentine Pokemon was blind.

Great.

It seems that tiny glimmer of hope that this outing would be a worthwhile trip went up in flames with this revelation. Sure the snake might have something worth taking, but if the target couldn't even see you what was the point?

The houndour finally took the time to sniff the air rather than the ground, it didn't have the sweet scent of the pecha forest, but it didn't have the moist and luscious air of Shadowhue. This was a new area, one he hadn't been to before. Confidence bloomed within him as he thought that the farther away from Grassveil he went, the odds of finding unclaimed land would grow. He would be farther from the pesky whining weaklings that ranted about the law. He found it to be utterly ridiculous, obviously a leader is needed. A strong leader makes a strong clan. He would love to be a leader, but he hadn't the strength yet. He wondered if one day he would get strong enough to show them how the world of dominance worked...he seemed to be growing a bit distant as he lost himself in day dreams.

Silverdawn continued on her way through the mountain, unaware of the houndour traveling aimlessly nor the bandit roselia watching her. She sniffed around the rocks near the cliff face, searching for any hidden caves or items hidden under rock piles. She sneezed from a puff of dust in her face, shooting backwards a little. She shook her head, trying to clear it from the dust irritably. Why had she come here again? She cast around with her echolocation, hoping to uncover some hidden treasure.

Silver carried out 3 launched of one Black Mist Mountain :

, ,

Sitting with her head in her hand in boredom, Vesper watched the snake slither around, attempting to gather something in the bag that it carried. She chuckled quietly to herself as the Ekans sneezed, sending itself flying backwards a few paces from the force. The Roselia's attention was quickly diverted however, when she heard an angry screech from nearby. Blinking, her chuckles quickly subsided as she attempted to identify the direction that it had come from. She didn't have to spend too long wondering however, when an Archen dodged around the nearby rocks, heading straight for them. Apparently it had heard the echoes of the Ekans' sneeze, following the sounds to what it hoped would be it's next meal.

Before she knew what she was doing, Vesper had hopped down from the rock she was perched on to come face to face with the prehistoric bird. Now this would be interesting.
With a quick spin on her feet, she summoned a set of glowing green tendrils from the flowers on the end of each of her arms and sent them chasing towards the Archen. They wrapped around it's underdeveloped wings and proceeded to  lift it from the ground, stopping it from getting any closer. The young Archen cried out sharply in alarm and struggled to free itself, but to no avail.

A few moments later a louder, harsher screech could be heard from a short distance away. It sounded more like a roar than a screech, but at the same time sounded similar to the Archen that was trapped within the tendril's of Vesper's Absorb move. After sapping some of the prehistoric bird's energy, the Roselia used the tendrils to gently toss the creature to the side, hoping that it would change it's mind about attacking. However now she had a bigger problem on her hands as the charging form of an Archeops drew closer.
"Uh oh..."

The screeching of creatures drew the houndour's attention to behind him. He finally caught sight of the grass pokemon that had been following him, not to his knowledge of course. The roselia seemed to have vines entangling an Archen, and a Archeops was diving down towards the grass pokemon with an enraged screech as it moved to defend its young.

However, Zera didn't quiet see it like it is. Instead, he saw it as an opportunity to fight. He hadn't been able to battle in a while, and this was going to be something fun to do for once to take his mind off the worries of finding vacant territory. The houndour gave a howl of glee as he dashed forward, the sitris berry having given him new energy in order for him to battle, his jaws began to crackle with electricity as he intercepted the larger opponent, the archeops. He latched onto the bird's neck, not caring that he probably saved somebody's life for that brief moment.

The archeops screeched and landed, flailing its neck before reaching up with its hind leg and kicking the hound off. Zera's teeth felt as if they were almost pulled out, and felt nothing as he was sent flying towards the ekans that seemed to be relaxing and hunting for treasure.

Before the Archeops could reach Vesper or the Ekans, a Houndour, presumably the one she had been tailing beforehand, leaped at the large prehistoric bird, attacking it head on with reckless abandon. The canine seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the thought of a fight, at least until he was thrown off by the Archeops and sent flying.
Vesper's attention was diverted back to the Archeops as it turned on her and the Ekans for the second time. The Roselia was about the act to defend herself when she felt the Ekans gently tapping her shoulder.

"M-maybe t-this would be of use?" the Ekans suggested, offering Vesper a Blast Seed.

"Thanks!" grinned the Roselia, quickly taking advantage of the gift. Vesper span to build up momentum and then threw the seed, it colliding head on with the Archeops who had resumed it's charge towards them. The bird skidded to a halt, flinching at the effects of the seed. It blinked, shaking it's head as if to rid itself of the pain from the blast and restore it's eyesight from the brightness of the small explosion. Vesper didn't just let it be however as she clapped both of her arms together in front of her, a small ball of psychic energy forming in front of the blue and red roses that took the place of hands. After a short moment, a beam of gold, tinged with an assortment of other colours was loosed from the sphere, heading straight for the halted Archeops; Vesper skidding backwards a few paces from the force of the Extrasensory's energy.

Vesper
Energy: 7
4+3 from Absorb

Zera yelped once he struck the ground, but adrenaline was already activated and pain was nonexistent to the houndour in such a small amount. He gave another howl before leaping at the Archeops again, aiming for the neck once more. He managed to latch onto it after quickly running from behind while it was distracted by the seed. He latched onto its throat as it gave gurgled cries and started to fling him about. The hound accidentally intercepted the extrasensory attack, taking the hit and yet taking no damage as if he were completely oblivious from it due to his Dark typing being immune to the psychic forces of the attack.