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)

Varda nodded in anticipation, his eyes sparkling as the other Pokémon offered him a tip. He listened carefully while still sitting and resting his tired body, realizing that he might have been able to prevent his current sickness by following Lumina's tip. Yes, it did make sense and the Swablu nodded again to show her that he understood. Next time he would try to not breathe and see if it would help. The poisonous spores probably wouldn't do anything then – though when it had happened just now, he had been quite surprised himself and hadn't even thought of such a solution!

"I think that maybe we should try avoiding the fights if we see more of such strong Pokémon!" The bird chirped, slowly getting back on his feet, his movements careful. He didn't seem to be having any issues getting up however, able to stand just fine and without any shaking. Indeed, it looked like Varda was back to being as cheerful and healthy as he was before, no longer showing any effects of ever having been poisoned.

The Swablu nodded happily to signal his own readiness, already looking quite bouncy. However, he seemed to stop as he hesitated and thought about something.
"I am but... Are you?" He asked, tilting his head to the side,
"You're not hurt, right?"

Lumina paused. "No, I'm fine." She offered the Swablu what she hoped was a reassuring smile, thinking it would help hide the fact that she was lying through her teeth. "The only thing that really hit me was the Solar Beam, and while it was a bit rough, I resist it."

She changed the topic quickly. "But you're right about avoiding fights with Pokemon like those two. Speaking of them, let's get moving before the Murkrow comes back or the Weepinbell wakes up."

(Energy: 8)

Varda seemed to visibly brighten as the fox Pokémon claimed to be alright, of course believing her fully. She did support her statement quite well after all. The bright flash of a beam had looked rather strong, but the bird had never actually seen how it had hit Lumina. And it made sense for a Fire-type to resist such an attack, surely! He couldn't help but smile and hop from one foot to another, happy and relieved.

"That is good to hear!" The Swablu chirped happily before coming to a stop, nodding in determination. They should be going and he certainly was ready to go. He was a bit sore after the Murkrow's attacks, but he would survive. He was certain that he wouldn't even feel it after a while, getting used to it and forgetting all about it.
"Where do you think we should go next?" Varda cooed as he started to waddle, obviously wanting to hear what the leader of their little expedition team would want to do.

Lumina considered that for a moment. Varda actually raised a good question, where should they go? "We'll go forward, I presume. Unless we find a path or something of the like, then we might want to take it." She nodded to herself contently, that plan was a bit simple, but it would do.

The Vulpix weaved her way through a few trees, moving this way and that to get around their tall trunks. She almost envied Varda, because if he wanted to, the Swablu could simply fly over all these trees. "This probably goes without saying, but let me know if you see anything." She called to somewhere behind her, assuming that her partner for this Mystery Dungeon was following her lead.

Varda nodded, forward sounded like a really good idea to him! Never one for long and complicated plans, everything probably did sound good to him, so it wasn't difficult to impress him. With a cheerful, springy step, the bird waddled after Lumina, letting her lead their way through the forest. Twisting around the tree trunks, the pair kept on walking and exploring.

"I'll keep my eyes open!" The Swablu cooed, doing just that. His little beady eyes scanned their surroundings intensely, though there wasn't really much around that he could see. Just green leaves and then some more green leaves, bathing in the sunlight.
"Lumina," Varda suddenly started as a thought popped in his head, looking back at the fox Pokémon walking in front of him,
"You said that you just explored for fun, right? You didn't take jobs from the Guild? Don't you like the Guild? I think it would be a great idea to do a job on the side if you had a hobby that already took you into these places, you could help others while you had fun!"

Bird carried out 2 launched of one Pecha Forest :

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Lumina slowed her pace a little, listening as Varda spoke. "I've thought about joining the guild before... I don't have anything against it, really." She didn't really care too much about helping total strangers, to be honest. But the Swablu made a good point. She was already coming into Mystery Dungeons anyways, right? Why not get rewarded for it?

"I'm just not sure if I'm cut out to be a guild Pokemon like you are, if that makes any sense. I wouldn't just be entering Mystery Dungeons for fun anymore, I'd need to go take jobs if I wanted to stay in the guild. Besides, most of the time I go exploring on my own, and I don't really want to be part of a team..." She drifted off. It was hard to explain why she wouldn't want to be in a team, even though it made sense in her head. It was just her personality, Lumina would guess.

Varda blinked as he waddled after the other Pokémon, smiling. To him it almost sounded like a good idea that Lumina would have joined the Grassveil Town's Guild, as she didn't really have anything against it like she said! At least he thought it would have been a good idea, there were many jobs and she could help so many by taking them. Everyone would surely be happy!

The bird Pokémon tilted his head a bit, not understanding what made him something that could join a Guild in her eyes and what made it so she couldn't. Of course it was Lumina's decision, but he wasn't sure if he completely understood her issues.
"Oh, I don't think you need to be something like me to be able to join the Guild, I've seen so many different types there!" Varda chirped as he flapped his wings a bit, his voice cheerful,
"I'm not sure if you need to do jobs, either. At least they have never told me that," he continued happily, jumping over the roots of the trees that to him with his small size, were quite large objects to get over on foot.

"I think there are many solo teams, too– Ah," the Swably suddenly stopped as he seemed to notice something, quickly rushing over to a nice little stick he had seen on the ground. Grabbing it with his beak and lifting it off the ground, it certainly felt like a nice, sturdy stick. His eyes hadn't betrayed him.


Current Energy: 7 (10 -1 from item roll and -2 from encounter roll. Got 1 Stick.)

"Hmm." Lumina considered this for a moment longer. Varda did make it sound like a good idea. Maybe joining Grassveil's Guild really would be for the best. It would give her something to do, and who knows, maybe the idea of teams would grow on her. "I'll consider it. Maybe I'll have a talk with the Guildmaster once we're out of here, to ask her more about the guild."

The vixen looked over as the Swablu suddenly cut himself off, rushing to go grab something. A moment later she caught a glance of what it was, a stick. That might come in handy, some Pokemon knew how to attack with sticks, stones and the like. Lumina was never big on using items like that, mostly due to a lack of opposable thumbs, but maybe Varda could find some use from it. "Nice find." She noted.

Varda just beamed with joy and pride as the other Pokémon complimented his find, the stick still firmly in his beak. Clearly, if Lumina thought the stick was good just like him, then of course it was a great stick he should take with him! Quickly opening the satchel he was carrying with one of his feet as he balanced on the other, he stuffed the stick in his bag carefully. It would be safe and sound there.

"You should! The Guildmaster is very nice," the Swablu returned to the previous subject at hand before he had been distracted, waddling over to the fox Pokémon as he chirped,
"And she's very big. Like a big, pretty flower," he cooed happily, obviously having met the Guildmaster before as he was now a part of the Guild as well. The bird at least thought it was a good idea if many Pokémon joined the Guild, there would be more people helping everyone and it – to him at least – sounded good if the Guild grew very big!

The rustling of the leaves up above caught Varda's interest, looking up as he heard the sound. However, he didn't manage to see any details – but he did see something. A figure of some sort flying from one tree to another, flashing by so quickly the Swablu hadn't managed to see it properly. It couldn't have been another Murkrow... Right?

The Guildmaster... was like a flower? Lumina would be lying to say that this metaphor wasn't a little confusing. Perhaps the Swablu meant a flower-like Pokemon, such as a Vileplume or maybe a Bellossom. He had also said that the Guildmaster was nice, so the Vulpix would hopefully be able to ask her some more about the guild.

The Fox Pokémon's attention snapped upwards as she heard leaves rustling. "That Murkrow better not be back." She muttered, glaring up at the trees. She would need to watch her fire here, unless she wanted to hit the trees and possibly start a forest fire.

Varda looked back down, turning his gaze towards Lumina as she spoke. Pecha Forest did seem to have many Murkrow according to his experiences... But could it have been the same one they fought earlier, the one that had decided it had enough and escaped after the poisonous attack of the Weepinbell? The Swablu let his eyes rise again, seeing if he could notice any more movement. It would have been silly for it to come back and fight, right? Maybe the Murkrow was back and wanted to apologize? He would have liked that idea more!

Nothing happened, however. Everything was so quiet and there was just the blue sky peeking in from the gaps in the canopy to be seen. No more rustling or shapes rushed through. The bird's anticipation quickly waned and his gaze dropped just as fast. He doubted that anything would happen anymore, either. It was just a false alarm, so Varda decided he could check the area where he had found the stick again, in case there were some other goodies hidden in there too.

He didn't seem to be finding anything, though. However, maybe he just wasn't looking hard enough! The bird Pokémon waddled over to some nearby bushes and used his wing to brush the leaves aside as he took a look... And two large, red eyes were right there in front of him, staring. The Swablu let out a little squawk in surprise as he fell on his bottom, losing his balance. The round little owl in the bush flapped its wings and flew out of it, rising to the skies above and leaving the bewildered Varda sitting on the ground, not entirely sure what had just happened.

The Vulpix was getting ready to fight once she saw a pair of reddish-orange eyes. A small, round owl-like Pokemon popped out of the bushes. She readied an Ember, preparing to fire whenever she saw an opening. Lumina silently cursed her luck. She hated fighting flying Pokemon, since she found it hard to hit something that was in the air.

What happened next, though, the Vulpix wasn't quite expecting. It flew off, and with a surprised sounding chirp from Varda, it was gone. "Maybe it's not in a fighting mood since it's daytime..." Lumina suggested, padding up to her companion to make sure that he was alright. "Hoothoot are nocturnal, and the sun's still up." She pointed out.

She couldn't be completely sure, though. "No real matter, I guess, since it's gone now." Or at least, she hoped it was gone. Lumina wasn't sure if she could handle another battle right now. "It didn't hit you, did it Varda?" The Vulpix was pretty sure that the Hoothoot hadn't done anything more than surprise him, but it couldn't hurt to make sure.

Varda was still on the ground when the fox walked up to him, looking at Lumina as she got close. He realized quite fast that any possible danger there might have been was over, the strange bird Pokémon was gone already. They were both safe and unhurt.
"That surprised me," the bird let out a relieved sigh, smiling happily as he now found the entire situation a bit funny. He had been a bit silly and overreacted, nothing had even happened!

The Swablu rocked himself back on his feet and stood up, turning towards the fox Pokémon. With a soft coo, he thought of her words. It was clear that she knew so much! Despite being so close to the other bird, he hadn't managed to see it properly, but now he knew what it was. A Hoothoot wasn't completely new to him, no. Still, it was obvious that Lumina was the one with a lot more knowledge, seeing how she was able to identify so many Pokémon and even know what they were like! It was quite amazing, honestly.

"No, I'm just fine!" Varda chirped in his usual cheerful manner, flapping his wings as he showed that there was nothing wrong with him. Even his behind had been mostly shielded from the impact by his own soft fluff that covered almost every inch of his body, so he hadn't hurt himself in the fall at all.

"That's good." The Vulpix agreed. She sent a glance up in the vague direction that the Hoothoot had taken off. If she had to take a guess, since it wasn't attacking them, it was probably looking for a better place to sleep until nightfall. Good riddance. She silently added. The two of them didn't need another battle.

It would probably be a good idea to keep walking, and so that was what Lumina decided to do. If they stayed in one spot for too long, then feral Pokemon would be able to find them easily, and that was the last thing she wanted at the moment. They had probably attracted enough attention with that noisy battle between the Murkrow and the Weepinbell. She continued to make her way through the trees, motioning for Varda to follow her.

PhantomSun carried out 1 launched of one Pecha Forest :

Varda chirped cheerfully, happy that his new friend cared about his well-being and had been so worried, even though there hadn't really been a need for it. At least she wasn't too worried, so he didn't have to feel bad for scaring her like that! It hadn't been bad at all. With a nod, the Swablu started to follow Lumina as she continued to walk and motioned him to come with her, waddling through the forest. Doing his best to keep up his pace and stay close to their expedition leader, the bird stayed concentrated and stayed quiet for a moment before opening his beak.

"You know so many different kinds of Pokémon, don't you?" He started, wanting to bring out the little detail he had noticed about the fox during their adventure,
"It's quite amazing! I don't know what many of these are called," Varda let out a little high-pitched chuckle as he complimented Lumina, wanting to give credit where it was due. He certainly was learning a lot as he listened to her!