Starting Line (Open)

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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)

Lumina suddenly stopped. She eyed something green and yellow that almost blended in with the forest, if not for the pinkish colour of it's lips. Then she spied something, or maybe even someone, a moving flash of black. The Vulpix did a quick mental check, listing different Pokemon off in her head, trying to deduce what the two things were.

"I think there's a Bellsprout, Weepinbell or Victreebell over in those bushes." She said in a hushed tone. "Then I saw moving else moving. It was black in colour, and it looked pretty small, but I didn't really get a good look." She wondered what it could be. If would definitely be useful for her to know her enemy. Was it a Zorua? Unlikely, but possible. Maybe it was a Blitzle? A Murkrow? Lumina couldn't rule any of them out. Not yet, anyways.

"You ready, Varda? I'm going to take a guess that these ones aren't other explorers." The Fox Pokemon called. She walked slowly towards the Weepinbell, watching carefully to see if her opponent made any sudden moves. Although the Vulpix probably looked like quite a fool when the ground crumpled beneath her to reveal a Gust Trap, which swiftly blew her into a tree that was a few feet away. Thankfully, she hadn't hit it very hard, but that didn't help her pride very much.

(Energy: 7/16, -5 from Trap, 1 from the new page.)

Varda stopped in his tracks when the other Pokémon did the same, following the example of the leader – though with a slight delay. He was a bit worried. Lumina had said how she had noticed something and now she looked like she had noticed something... Bad. The little bird ruffled his feathers a bit in anticipation, furrowing his brow as he quickly glanced at the bushes his partner pointed out for him, listing what she believed was hiding in there.

"I'm not sure what those are," the Swablu said in an equally quiet tone, clueless as to what it exactly was he should be worried about. However, the talk of something small and black he felt like he might have figured out, as it too had been something he had seen countless of times before... Even in this very same forest!
"I have met this one Murkrow here a couple of times," Varda's voice grew a bit more serious, though his high-pitched chirps didn't exactly make his words sound ominous,
"But she was really mean. I hope it's not her. B-But if you saw this blue ball of vines, then it might be her. They always seem to be together,"  he continued cautiously, following after Lumina when she started to approach the bush.

The bird's heart was starting to beat harder as he concentrated, cooing a bit when he was asked if he was ready. He wasn't really sure about that. He hoped they wouldn't get attack, he didn't want to fight anyone! However, it was the Pokémon hiding in the bush that got the hit on them. Suddenly, Lumina sunk slightly before a powerful gust sent her flying, almost pushing Varda off his feet as well! He was fine, but Lumina... She had flown quite the long way, hitting a tree that was on her path. The Swablu quickly rushed to her side.

"Oh no! Are you alright?" He chirped, his eyes glancing at their surroundings occasionally. Was it a Pokémon that had attacked her like that? He hadn't seen anything in the spot where the attack had come from! Maybe it was an invisible Pokémon? That was a frightening idea. But what he did see was how the Pokémon he believed Lumina had seen pushed itself out of the bush and inched closer, looking rather bewildered. It probably hadn't expected the fox to go flying like that either. But Varda did realize that it wasn't that Murkrow's partner. This one wasn't vine-y enough, it looked too much like a normal plant...


Current Energy: 10 (-6 from the encounter rolls, +1 from the new page)

Because she had lost a lot of momentum before actually hitting the tree, Lumina was fine, if a bit disoriented. The Vulpix had hurt her pride more than anything else. Really, Lumina? You've been exploring for how long now, and you fell for a trap like that? She silently chided herself. With a faint groan, she rose back to her paws, trying to shake off a lurking feeling of dizziness.

She heard Varda's voice from somewhere nearby, and the Vulpix nodded slowly. "I'm fine... just a Gust Trap..." She muttered. She probably didn't sound very convincing, looking back on it. But she had more important things to worry about. Like the duo of feral Pokémon who seemed to want a fight, as feral Pokémon always seemed to.

Lumina planted her paws into the ground, trying to steady herself. She surveyed the two attackers, and sure enough, the Swablu was right. A Murkrow hovered nearby, looking far from happy. The Fox Pokémon tried to think quickly. "Alright... I think I can handle the Weepinbell, but since the Murkrow can fly, it'll be some trouble for me." She wouldn't be able to hit the Murkrow with Flare Blitz if it was in the sky, after all, and Ember was a relatively weak move. Her only other 'attack', Tail Whip, wasn't about to help them. "Varda, do you think you could handle the Murkrow? Or at least keep it off my back until I'm finished with the other one?"

Before hearing an answer, the Vulpix had to spring away. A Sludge Bomb had hit the ground before them, presumably fired from the Weepinbell. She sent a harsh glare at the Grass and Poison Pokémon, an Ember attack forming in the back of her mouth.

"Be careful," Varda chirped with worry coloring his voice as he looked at Lumina, watching how she forced herself back on her paws. Surely she couldn't be completely fine after the hit she took and she certainly did look like her stance was a bit uneven... But luckily, the Pokémon herself at least claimed to be okay and he took her word as the truth.
"Oh, that's good," the Swablu felt extremely relieved, relaxing for a moment before he turned his gaze back to the Pokémon creeping towards the pair. He couldn't completely relax here, they weren't out of trouble yet!

The bird Pokémon was still a bit worried of Lumina, but she seemed to be quite certain that she could take care of the... Weepinbell. Varda made a mental note of that, now having some name to call the plant-like thing with large eyes and an even bigger mouth. The Murkrow was more familiar to him, though he couldn't seem to recognize this one either. He was a bit saddened by that, having hoped that it could have been someone he knew... But maybe a stranger was better than the bully of a Murkrow he had seen so many times already!

"Mh, well," the Swablu tried to tell what he thought of "handling" the Murkrow, but he didn't really have time to answer. Lumina's own jump had caused him to jump up instinctively as well, only later realizing that one of the feral Pokémon had already attacked them with a sludgy attack on some type, causing the ground in front of them to stink. Now in the air, he was quickly picked as a target by the dark shadow flying above him. The Murkrow was very fast, it was something the blue bird noticed right away!

"Um, hello!" Varda tried rather hopelessly, hoping to try to chat with the stranger rather than fighting him, but it wasn't helping at all. The attacks were rather vicious and fast, and the slower bird didn't really seem to be able to dodge them all that well. The Murkrow didn't seem to be in a chatty mood at all! The Swablu actually was starting to think that he would have been too slow to even attack the other darker bird if he tried – or if he was even given a chance to try to counterattack. He did his best to dodge in the air, not having any time to attack. However, what he could try to do were a series of high-pitched, chirpy growls as an intimidation attempt, which... Well, obviously didn't work as it wasn't intimidating in the least. It was rather amusing to listen and watch, however, which did seem to be having an effect of some sort on the Murkrow...

The Fox Pokémon gave a low growl as she stared at the Weepinbell. She wasn't much of an offensive fighter, she considered herself more of a defensive one. Waiting until the opponent made a blunder, stumbled or broke their stance, and then she would strike. That time had come now, when the flower-like Pokémon was reeling from shooting that acid at the two of them.

Lumina took a deep breath; feeling her mouth warm with heat as she did so. The hot air inside her mouth whirled and whirled until it formed a small flame which the Vulpix shot at the Weepinbell; an Ember attack. It wasn't a direct hit, although it did singe the Weepinbell's right leaf. But that only really seemed to be making it angry.

The feral Pokémon suddenly stopped, and seemed to be focusing on her. It almost seemed to be glowing. Was it going to attack? That was what Lumina suspected, and so she stayed light on her feet, ready to jump away. It turned out the Weepinbell was going to attack, but not how the vixen had suspected.

A large beam of light came from the Weepinbell's maw. A single word flashed through the fire type's mind - Solarbeam - before she was forcefully brought back to the present. She leapt to the left in a single swift and fluid motion, but her enemy had predicted that and adjusted it's aim accordingly. The Solarbeam struck Lumina right on her flank, knocking her over and sending her skidding across the grassy terrain. Even if she resisted it, an attack that powerful would do quite a number on most Pokémon, and Lumina wasn't exactly a high level.

Varda didn't have any time to take a look at how Lumina was dealing with the other Pokémon down on the ground, being quite overwhelmed by the much faster bird's attacks, barely even seeing the dark flash of the feathers before he already felt the other one's beak peck at him. Luckily for him – and despite his looks – the Swablu could take some hits before going down. Or perhaps his softness and round body told exactly of that despite his innocent eyes and fluffy wings that most likely would make anyone assume the blue bird was a weakling.

Perhaps he was, but such assumptions seemed to be working for him right now. His rather pitiful growls hadn't scared the Murkrow off, but the attacks had changed. It didn't hurt as hard anymore. Clearly, the bird Pokémon wasn't trying very hard anymore. Perhaps he had been angry and wanted to take out his anger on Varda or perhaps he was just feeling threatened and wanted the intruder to be taken care of, but the Swablu was now seen as an even less of a threat than he had before. The fluffy, round bird just looked like it was lost, like it was a harmless child. The pecks had turned surprisingly gentle, but they were still coming, almost as if just trying to make Varda leave. He wasn't fit for the battle the Murkrow was trying to have.

A flash from below caught the Swablu's eye, looking below to see a rather frightening scene. The Weepinbell had gathered energy to send a devastating beam of light towards Lumina, the bright light causing him to squint his eyes shut for a moment as he flew in place, flapping his cottony wings. Not wasting any time, he quickly looked back to see that the fox had been hit!
"Lumina!" The bird squawked, quickly rushing down and leaving the Murkrow behind him, not even caring about the bird anymore. And luckily for him, the other Pokémon had looked at the bright beam as well, becoming quite dazed as the Pokémon tended to be more active at night and had quite sensitive eyes when it came to sudden flashes of light...

Varda dived at the Weepinbell, not wanting to let it go after Lumina while she was down. With the mightiest peck he could muster, he hit the squishy plant Pokémon with his beak before flying back up into the air, trying to at least distract it so that his friend could get up without any further harm.

The red vixen gave a faint groan, her mind feeling a little blurry. ... well, more than a little blurry. She groggily cursed her own carelessness, she should've expected a Solar Beam once she saw her enemy stop to gather light. Stupid, stupid, Lumina. First the Gust Trap, now this? Her conscience hissed.

Still feeling dazed, she blinked her eyes back open, turning her head a little to check what was going on. The Murkrow that Varda was fighting looked like it had seen a ghost and seemed just as dazed as the Vulpix was; although Lumina wasn't sure why. But it was out of the picture for the moment, that much was good.

Then her gaze settled on a Weepinbell, the same one that shot the Solar Beam. The Vulpix felt a flare of panic, it was going to attack her while she was down! She struggled back to her paws, but her body protested at the motion. Lumina was back on her feet, although she only felt more dizzy.

Shortly after, however, a blue bird with cloudy wings dived at the feral Pokémon, jabbing it with his beak. Now turning it's rage at the Swablu, the Weepinbell let out a roar (or at least, as close to a roar as a flower could muster) and fired a vine at Varda. Lumina felt equally relieved for herself and frightened for the flying Pokémon. The Weepinbell wasn't attacking her anymore, but it had set it's sights on the Swablu.

Varda flapped his wings hard as he flew past the Weepinbell after his attack, making a hard turn to take a look at both Lumina and the attacking Pokémon. It wasn't looking too good, the fox had managed to get back on her feet but she still looked like she was hurt – even her legs seemed to wobble, though that might have just been the quick glance the bird could give to her before he was forced to look back at their attacker, hearing how it shrieked in anger.

"Are you alright?" The Swablu chirped in his worry, just barely managing to turn his attention back to the Weepinbell to be able to dodge the vine shot in his direction, feeling the swoosh and how it caused the air to rush towards him. His small and light body was set a bit off-course by the sudden wind the whip had caused... And he hadn't noticed – or even paid any attention to – the Murkrow he had fought with earlier was now ready for action again.

Varda didn't have a chance to react, not noticing the attack before it hit him from the back as the black bird seemed to just tackle him, causing them both to fly in the direction of the Weepinbell. The attack was still oddly weak, but now the pair of birds both hit the body of the squishy plant, surprising the thing. As an act of desperation and surprise, it released a sudden cloud of spores into the air, covering the area – and the two bird Pokémon – around it in a fine, purple powder that gently floated towards the ground.

The Swablu coughed, finding it quite difficult to breathe inside the thick cloud. Carefully he did his best to wriggle free from under the Murkrow and off the plant-like Pokémon, waddling away – as far as he knew, not seeing properly. Finally his lungs managed to get some fresh air as the little bird emerged from the poisonous cloud, which was about when he realized that he was feeling quite sick and dizzy, his head feathers drooping down...

'Are you alright?' Lumina nodded once Varda asked that. "I'll live... thanks." She panted, starting to get used to standing again. She still wasn't at the top of her game, but she wasn't quite as dizzy, either. And her enemies weren't going to wait for her, so she would have to make do. She steadied her stance, ready to fight again.

The Vulpix took a swift look around their makeshift battleground. The Weepinbell was nearby, but not close enough to attack them. ... well, unless it decided to fire another Solar Beam, which it hopefully wouldn't. Lumina doubted she could take another blow like that. The Murkrow... where was the Murkrow? She turned to look at it, just in time catch a glance of it flying right at Varda.

"Look out-" She barked, but she was a moment too late. She watched as the black bird tackled the Swablu, sending the two of them flying into the Weepinbell. Lumina cringed as a purple cloud erupted around the three of them. She coughed softly as a few stray flecks of the purple dust drifted in her direction. That wasn't enough for her to get poisoned, hopefully...

Something cut off her train of thought. That something was a small, blue bird who was walking unsteadily in her vague direction. "Varda?" She called, making a quick pace towards the Swablu. "Are you okay? Did you breathe any of that purple dust?" It was a bit of a pointless question, he probably he inhaled some of the powder, judging from the way he was walking. But she needed to make sure, it was possible he was just dazed from the impact, right?

Varda was breathing heavily, feeling quite off. He wasn't really looking anywhere – and even if he was, he wasn't really making a note of anything, feeling sick enough that his thoughts just didn't seem to be registering much. It took him a while to notice the movement of a certain orange Pokémon, looking up to see Lumina rushing to his side. At that point, he wasn't even thinking of the Murkrow and the Weepinbell anymore, though they too most likely were stirring behind him.

The bird Pokémon plopped his behind on the soft grass with a quiet coo, sitting on the ground before his body made the decision for him either in the way of loss of balance or just his feet becoming too tired to keep standing. This was one of those moments when he wasn't going to be able to stand for too long, he needed to rest now.

"O-Oh, yes," the Swablu coughed, his feathers having specks of the purple dust left here and there,
"I think... I'll sit here for a while," he continued weakly, though perhaps sitting so close to the Weepinbell wasn't the greatest idea. However, Varda didn't think he could – or should – go walking around any longer. Or maybe he just didn't realize how bad of a place he had picked.

Before the poison cloud managed to disperse, the Murkrow flew out of it in great hurry. The quick flapping of its wings was spreading the dust though it also made it thinner and less effective as there were less poisonous spores in one area. The dark shadow rose to the sky, leaving the scene. It wasn't worth it anymore. Most likely, the bird had been poisoned as well.

Lumina's expression hardened. Yup, her suspicions had been correct, the Swablu was poisoned. “You do that. I’ll handle the Weepinbell.” She stopped. If this was a place placed Pecha Forest, one would think that you could find Pecha Berries here. “Look around for any Pecha Berries, those would make you feel better.”

Too bad that the Vulpix didn’t have any Pecha Berries, or really, any supplies at all. She had left most of her exploring tools - berries, seeds and the like - back at her old home. Lumina felt a brief rush of nostalgia at the thought of the small town where she used to live, though she rushed to ground herself once more. Now wasn’t the best time for reminiscing.

The thick, purple cloud that surrounded the flower Pokemon was growing dispersed, being blown apart by the wind and the beat of the Murkrow's wings. Lumina wasn’t in the best shape, so she was hestitant to use Flare Blitz, but it might be the smartest choice. Ember wasn’t strong enough to take it out. After a moment of weighing her options, she decided to use her egg move, and a soft orange aura seemed to surround her.

The vixen rushed at the Weepinbell, putting as much speed and power as she could muster into her blow, before she violently slammed into her foe. A fleeting, satisfied smile crossed her face when she saw the Pokemon go skidding back.

Then the recoil from her attack hit her, a pang of pain rushing through her body. Lumina had been expecting that and had braced herself, so it didn’t hurt too badly. But it was enough to wipe the smirk off her face, and make the Fox Pokemon subtly cringe. She eyed the Weepinbell, her fangs bared. “You had enough yet?” She challenged, trying to look imtimidating. Maybe that would scare it off.

Varda nodded rather weakly, his feathers on top of his head flopping with the movement. He certainly did have to sit this one out and let Lumina handle it, but he did trust that she could do it. He was in no shape to try to help her, his legs feeling weak even though he wasn't standing anymore. The bird closed his eyes for a moment, giving the fox Pokémon another nod when she told him to look for Pecha Berries. However, obviously he wasn't getting up or even moving much. He didn't feel like he was strong enough to do anything, even if a Pecha berry would make him feel better. He just couldn't. He had to rest.

The Weepinbell was rather agitated at all that had happened, huffing and puffing as the poisonous cloud it had used for protection finally spread too thin to be effective or even visible, the fine purple dust only occasionally glinting on the blades of grass below when the sunlight hit it. The Grass-type Pokémon rustled its slightly burned leaves, giving Lumina a vicious glance. It wasn't amused in the least – though luckily, at least it targeted the one capable of fighting.

With quick hops, the plant rushed towards the Vulpix, noticing how she had done the same and trying to match it up – and most likely believing it had more oomph behind its tackle. However, perhaps it hadn't quite considered that a Fire-type Pokémon might actually use fire in such a form as well – and before the Weepinbell had a chance to dodge, the fox was on fire and the attack had connected, causing the plant to slide backwards on the slippery grass.

For a moment it stood there, looking at Lumina and not making a move – either to attack one of the Pokémon or to escape. However, it had grown weak and it lacked the power to stay up after all the attacks it had suffered. It slumped to the ground, tired and hurt.

"You stay down." Lumina muttered under her breath. She had half a mind to finished the stupid flower off, but she instead padding back towards Varda, her head held high. (She was careful to avoid the Gust Trap this time, triggering it again would've just been embarrassing.)

For this supposedly being an easy dungeon where Exploration Teams came to train, she and her temporary partner weren't in the best shape. Lumina had a faint scowl on her face. If this was considered simple, it was no wonder that most villagers tried to avoid Shadowhue, which was supposedly harder. Or maybe Pecha Forest really is easy, and I'm just weak. Even though she disliked the thought, she couldn't find a good counterargument to shake it off.

She looked over at the blue bird-like Pokemon. "Do you want to rest for a while?" She asked Varda, trying to keep a neutral tone. "That fight was pretty rough, and with some time, you might be able to shake off the poison."

Varda only occasionally opened his eyes, almost looking like he was taking a nap there right in the middle. He did see how the attacking plant Pokémon finally went down after Lumina's fierce attack, not able to get up anymore. He certainly knew that feeling himself, and hoped that the Weepinbell truly would decide to just stay and rest like him. There had been no need to fight in the first place – and there was even less of a reason to keep fighting now.

The Swablu looked up as the fox spoke up, a smile finding its way on his face. All the resting he had done was already starting to make him feel better and less tired. Slowly but surely, his energy was starting to return and he didn't feel as sick anymore.
"Oh, I think I'm feeling much better already, I heal pretty fast," Varda chirped, still sounding a bit weak but his usual cheerful self seemed to be returning. Even his eyes seemed brighter now, full of life and wonder just like when they first met.

"I have never seen one of those before!" The bird wondered as he looked at the Weepinbell that was still lying on the ground,
"I'll try to be more careful next time," he continued with a chirp, now knowing that a Weepinbell definitely was no joke. Perhaps next time he would know to look out for the poisonous powder it seemed to be able to spread – and speaking of which, the Swably gently shook his feathers to get some of the purple dust that had gathered on him to fall down, gathering on the grass around him.

If he was already feeling better, well, Lumina didn't want to be the one holding the two of them back. Although it would've done the Vulpix some good if they could've stopped for a while, she was determined to pull her weight, for better or worse. Once Varda mentioned the Weepinbell, her gaze drifted over to the defeated Flycatcher Pokemon.

"Here's a tip for you." She paused, making sure that the Swablu would be listening, as she didn't want to repeat herself. "If you run into anything that uses Poison Powder - that move that made the big purple cloud - sometimes you can avoid being poisoned if you don't breath in any of the dust." She had learnt that the hard way, and while it wasn't a bulletproof solution, it had come in handy a few times.

Lumina flicked one of her multiple tails, gazing further into the forest, as if trying to see what would be up ahead. Like she had predicted, easy or not, it wasn't a wise move to underestimate Mystery Dungeons. "Anyhow. Are you ready?"