Starting Line (Open)

Lumina was stationed in front of a forest, her same old perpetual frown on her face. This Mystery Dungeon seemed nice enough; it was bright and sunny, with green leaves and seemingly weak Pokemon inside. But the Vulpix knew better than to let down her guard, lest she end up fainting and making herself look like a fool.

The reason she came here, to Pecha Forest, was twofold. On one hand, she had always been interested in Mystery Dungeons. This seemed like as good a time as ever to get a chance to explore one. If there was one positive to her new home in Grassveil, it was that there was a pair of Mystery Dungeons right at her doorstep.

On the other hand, she just needed a break from the hustle and bustle of the town. She was already in a better mood, now that she had some room to breathe.

Lumina had decided to tackle the easier of the two Mystery Dungeons first; it just seemed logical to her. And so here she was, ready as ever to get the job done. The Fox Pokemon padded into the forest, her eyes narrowed as she silently scanned for any sign of trouble.

(Energy: 11/16)

Pecha Forest bathed in the warm sunlight that got through the holes in the canopy, dappling the vibrant green grass with beautiful golden spots. The forest just seemed to be so full of energy, enjoying the continuous light, warmth and the occasional drizzle that kept it healthy – and as such a pleasant place to visit. The slight wind made the leaves in the trees rustle quietly, though not many other sounds could be heard. It truly was a quiet, peaceful day in the forest, with no signs of danger and no sounds of quarrel.

Well, other sounds certainly joined the peaceful ambiance when one happened to approach the right area. The leaves were making a lot more noise, shaking like something was crawling inside them or hopping from branch to branch – and that was exactly what it happened to be. Varda had decided to give his wings another little workout, taking advantage of the sunny, warm day. He was feeling rather sure about himself, so Pecha Forest didn't scare him at all! With his new map in his bag, he was certain that it would lead him home. He didn't even have to stay close to the path snaking through the forest if he didn't want to! Of course, the map was rather useless when the Swablu hadn't been keeping an eye on it and didn't even know where on the map he was...

As he kept flying and pushing his wings, he did happen to notice something down below that caught his eye. Something slightly familiar. A fox-like Pokémon that quite reminded him of one of his friends, even! But another, closer look made it quite clear that this one couldn't possibly be her. Clearly, it was a completely different species of Pokémon despite the similar foxy looks! Still, the bird didn't let that stop him, quite happy to have seen someone else in Pecha Forest as well. Training alone certainly got lonely after a while, so he enjoyed the company he was certain he would get!

Spreading his cottony wings, Varda hopped off his branch high up in the air and flew gently closer, giving the other Pokémon wide berth just in case. He stopped his glide in front of the fox-like creature, a polite distance away... Though his small feet seemed to slip a bit as the bird actually tumbled on his soft behind, mostly cushioned by the grass underneath as well as his own fluff.
"Oof. Hello!" The Swablu chirped quite happily and didn't seem to show any signs of pain as he hopped back on his feet, his beady little eyes positively sparkling as he looked at this other Pokémon in front of him.


Current Energy: 15 (20 -5 from entering

Lumina took a quick glance and around, and content that there seemed to be no danger, she continued to walk forth. Her paws were silent as they pressed down on the lush grass, and the Vulpix had to admit, this seemed like a nice place. If it wasn't a Mystery Dungeon, she wouldn't have been surprised to find someone living here, or maybe even a small town.

Her ears were still perked warily, and her brown eyes were still scanning for any sign of movement, as they normally were when she entered one of these places. Truth be told, the Vulpix fashioned herself as a solo adventurer of sorts - She had quite a bit of experience with Mystery Dungeons, as her mother had taught her a lot about the crafts of fighting and exploring when she was young.

So as she was getting ready for another adventure on her own, it threw Luminia for a bit of a loop to see a Swablu.

"Er, hello." She responded with a simple nod in the other Pokémon's direction. "Mind if I ask what you're doing here?" Was he a guild Pokemon on a job? Or maybe a civilian like her? Maybe he was just doing some training? Well, she'd probably find out soon, whatever the case.

Varda seemed to grow quite happy when the other Pokémon noticed him and actually responded in a kind manner! She didn't attack him at least, which was a good thing. He hadn't bumped into any angry Pokémon today, so he did quite enjoy the fact that things continued that way!
"Of course!" The Swablu sounded quite cheerful, smiling as he flapped his wings in excitement,
"I was training! Up there, those trees have many nice branches," he continued his chirps, waving a wing towards the direction he had flown from, high up towards the tops of the trees. Of course, maybe it was a bit silly to be telling someone of nice branches they probably never would see, Varda didn't seem to let it stop him.

He looked back at the Pokémon in front of him, still smiling as he adjusted the bag he had gotten from the Guild when he had joined his team.
"I'm Varda," the Swablu went ahead and introduced himself without being asked, doing his best to be polite,
"Are you looking for something in this forest, Miss?" He tilted his head to the side, his feathers on top of his head flopping to the side. Hopefully she wasn't lost like some he had bumped into while in the forest. Or perhaps she too was looking for Grassveil Town and the Guild, like many others?

Lumina blinked to herself, trying to take in what the Swablu was saying. His comment about the nice branches confused her momentarily; all the branches that the Vulpix had seen so far had been thickly covered by leaves. Then she realized that it probably looked different to this stranger, he could see it all from the air, after all. Duh, Lumina. She silently scolded herself, but quickly continued on.

She listened for a while longer to the Pokemon who introduced himself as Varda. She shook her head as he asked if she was looking for something in the forest, instead clearing her throat. "My name's Lumina. I'm just here to check out the Mystery Dungeon. Exploring is something of a hobby of mine." She explained.

To be honest, if he hadn't spoken up first, Lumina probably would've attacked him. Pokemon rarely acted civilised in Mystery Dungeons; most of them were feral, and running into another explorer was rare. But now it had happened, and this Varda character seemed nice enough, or at least he wasn't hostile.

Varda waited with bated breath as the other Pokémon denied that she was out here to look for something with a simple shake of a head, the bird's dark eyes large and just growing bigger in anticipation. He got very curious, as he thought his guess had been the most sensible answer! But no, it wasn't the case here. This turn of events was quite interesting to him!
"It's nice to meet you, Lumina!" He chirped happily as he hopped from foot to foot, enjoying his current company already even though they had only exchanged a couple of words.

The Swablu cooed in his excitement when this newly-introduced Lumina said why she had come to Pecha Forest, explaining that just exploring was her hobby. The small blue bird's hops did die down and stop, though his smile and bright eyes still told of his cheerful mood. He was just getting a bit tired now, having trained for a moment already and the excitement wasn't able to force him to keep going anymore.
"Do you explore here often?" Varda asked, wanting to know more about this hobby of the other Pokémon,
"How do you explore as a hobby? Do you need to finish some goal before you can go back home? Oh, or do you know all the best places for berries here?"

Lumina paused, trying to catch up with the Swablu's questions. She wasn't the best with Pokemon like him, the type who seemed constantly cheerful. It was throwing her a little off-beat. "Well..." She began, "... I do explore, and I enter Mystery Dungeons quite often, though this is my first time in Pecha Forest. I moved to Grassveil not too long ago, you see. I haven't had a chance to come here before now."

"I explore as a hobby... well, it's just that. A hobby." She shrugged. "Sometimes I like to set goals for myself, like finding a set amount of one item or beating a set amount of Pokemon before I go back home. But at the end of the day, I just like to explore because it lets me just stronger, and, well, it's fun. I don't take jobs like you guild Pokemon do." Or at least, Lumina assumed he was a guild Pokemon, judging from the bag. Anyways, that was question two and three down.

"And no, I don't know the best places for berries yet." She finished, mentally checking off the final question.

"Oh, me too!" Varda was quick to interject when the other Pokémon started telling him about herself a bit more,
"The moving part, that is. I came to Grassveil Town very recently myself! I've been to this forest a couple of times now," he chirped in his usual cheerful way, continuing his trend of offering tidbits no one even asked for without skipping a beat. The bird Pokémon certainly was happy to find something that the two of them shared between them, both being new to the town they now lived in. Of course in the Swablu's case, it most likely would be temporary. Hopefully. Or unfortunately, how one wanted to look at it.

"I haven't taken that many jobs yet – or explored that much, either," the bird didn't seem to find it at all strange that he had been called a Guild Pokémon even though he hadn't said it himself. In his mind, it was obvious of course. It was obvious to him, so he seemed to assume that it was just as obvious to others as well. It was a strange title that was going to take some getting used to, but doing jobs for the Guild was a good thing to do and the title was surely just as good of a thing to have!

"Every time I try to come here looking for berries, I just run into scruffy striped things and they're mean," Varda let out a small sigh before regaining his composure and content smile,
"You would think a place called Pecha Forest would have more Pecha berries, but I haven't seen all that many of them around," he voiced his slight concern for the situation, though he didn't seem too phased. Maybe someone just got to them first or he had looked in the wrong places. It wasn't like he even needed Pecha berries, but... It still felt strange.

"Scruffy striped things...?" Lumina raised a metaphorical eyebrow, unsure of what the Swablu meant. He was referring to a Pokemon of some kind, most likely, but she was no idea which one he was talking about. The fact that the Vulpix had no clue what kind of feral Pokemon lived here didn't help matters. "And yeah, that thing about Pecha berries is sort of strange..." Not that she was a big fan of Pecha berries, or sweet foods in general, but having a few could be useful for curing poison.

It seemed like they had a few things in common. Or maybe it was just the way that Varda was wording things. The Vulpix reflected on this momentarily. They had both moved to Grassveil recently, and neither of them had done too much exploring around the area. It was far from impossible, but it was a bit of a coincidence, wasn't it?

Varda nodded as Lumina raised her question, believing that she just wondered if she had heard him right when she repeated what he had just said. Scruffy striped things indeed.
"I don't know what they are called, I never saw them before I came here," he decided to continue, as it didn't seem like the other Pokémon knew what they were, either! The best he could do now would be to warn her of their existence.

"They're often hiding in those bushes. They're so hard to see, and then when you get closer," the Swablu started to tell Lumina of his own experiences when it came to these scruffy striped things hiding in the forest, growing more serious,
"Before you know it, they bop you! On the beak. I don't understand why," he cooed, puzzled about the motivation of those aggressive Pokémon as she shifted his position slightly. He didn't even know what he could have been doing wrong to make them angry... But it kept happening to him!

"I wonder if someone gathers all the berries before I get to them," Varda changed the subject into something slightly more pleasant, once again seeming a lot more cheerful when he didn't have to think of the mean Pokémon,
"I haven't heard that someone would come gather all the berries as a group, but they must go somewhere, right? But... I feel like if I wanted to gather Pecha berries, I would ask Violet if I could pick some from her garden instead of risking the scruffy striped things!"

Lumina still wasn't sure what these scruffy striped things were, but maybe it would save her a headache to abandon the topic. She briefly searched her mind for another thing to talk about before she remembered the obvious: They were in a Mystery Dungeon, weren't they?

"Hey, Varda?" The Vulpix wondered aloud, glancing over at the cheerful Swablu. "Since we're both here already, would you like if we went through this Mystery Dungeon together? You could point out these, er, scruffy striped things if we happen to run into them."

"Yes?" Varda tilted his head, happily answering any questions the other Pokémon might have had! Assuming of course, that he could answer them in the first place. At least the bird seemed quite comfortable and certain that he could aid Lumina in some way, at least. And her question certainly seemed to but the Swablu in a better mood, if that was even possible! His eyes grew large and bright as he opened his beak in excitement, drawing in some air.

"Yes, of course!" The bird chirped cheerfully, so happy to have company and even happier to have been invited to spend even more time with this new Pokémon he had met. Surely he had trained enough already – and a walk in the forest could very well count as another training session, couldn't it? Varda didn't know how long Lumina had planned to stay in the forest or how much they were going to walk, so it could very well help him as well!

"I will! They have seemed to be quite common every time I have been here, so we might very well run into them. Though I hope we don't, it would be a bit more peaceful," the Swablu folded his wings neatly against his back as he smiled at the other Pokémon,
"That means we should stay away from the bushes. It might help. Or not. I don't know if you want to see them," Varda started to walk, his steps springy as he made his way closer to Lumina, not wanting to be too separated. Besides she was probably the leader, so it would be better for him to follow her!

Lumina nodded, a small smile on her face. She wasn't sure if she wanted to go near the bushes or not. On one hand, she was interested to see what the heck these 'scruffy striped things' were. On the other hand, her companion made them sound quite unpleasant. After a moment of consideration, she nodded. "Let's stay away from the bushes. If we run into one, well, we'll deal with that when we get there."

Normally she liked to plan things through, but she wasn't sure how you could plan for something if you had no clue what it even was. And so, she brushed aside the thought of the scruffy striped things for now. It would probably save her a lot of stress.

The vixen-like Pokemon took a few steps forward, feeling the grass weave beneath her paws. It was a nice feeling, one she much preferred to the roads of Grassveil. But that was just her, personally. Her gaze swept around her, as alert as ever, when she paused. "Hey, Varda? I think I see something."

The member 'Fllicker' has done the following action : Dices Roll

'Pecha Forest' :

Varda gave the other Pokémon a nod, quite happy with her decision. While staying away from the bushes probably meant they would find less items, it also – probably – meant that they would be safe from any Pokémon lurking in them! Neither of them were looking for something in particular, so it's not like it was a terrible loss. After all, they both were just exploring like Lumina had said. And after the workout he had given his wings, he was quite happy to be back on ground and pass the baton over to his feet!

"O-Oh? You do? Already? That's amazing!" The Swablu chirped in excitement when his new exploration partner claimed to have seen something – and he saw no reason to doubt her words. Why would she lie now? Why would anyone lie, ever? It just wasn't nice. However, the bird was having a lot of trouble actually seeing what it was that Lumina had seen. No matter how hard his little beady eyes tried to scan his surroundings, he saw nothing out of place...

"...I don't think I see it. Can you point me in the right direction?" Varda asked, glancing at the fox-like Pokémon before giving their surroundings another sweep with his eyes just in case he saw something...

Bird carried out 2 launched of one Pecha Forest :

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