Persuading the Pidgeys!

Crash the Tyrogue, a member of the guild, found himself in the Pecha Forest once again on a request from Wurmple. Apparently, according to his cry for help, there were simply too many Pidgey in the area! For him, it must have been scary for a bug-type like him with all of those birds around. It was good for him that there were explorers like Crash around to keep the peace. Usually, a fighting-type going into a job like this would seem like a bad idea, what with brawns over brains. However, this Tyrogue was going to try a "diplomatic" approach before he did anything rash. The pokemon walked through the forest at a brisk pace, trying to find the pokemon who were plaguing this forest.

The day in Pecha Forest was pleasant, as usual. Warm and bright, the forest always seemed to enjoy the sunlight and a calm atmosphere. And in Varda's eyes especially, the so-called "dungeon" had quickly turned from a strange, confusing place into a friendly playground. He had explored the forest often after all, and even he could slowly feel himself growing stronger and braver, more confident in his own abilities. Pecha Forest especially always just looked so inviting and fun – unless one happened to bump into an angry Pokémon of course, but the bird had promised himself to be very careful!

Training his wings a bit more, the Swablu had taken to the tops of the tall trees, flying from one branch to another and causing the leaves to rustle and occasionally even fall all the way to the ground. He didn't pay all that much attention, panting a bit already as he was pushing his little body to its limits. But ultimately, he felt good about it! Growing strong was good for all of his goals and the future of the team he was a part of, and he knew the road to that had to include growing tired, too.

Varda's beady eyes managed to pick some movement down below, noticing a Pokémon walking in the middle of the healthy green grass. A strange one he had never seen before... And well, he hadn't seen that many Pokémon in the forest today, either! He felt himself grow curious, spreading his wings as he gently floated down to another tree, slowly making his way down using all the branches he could see. The Swablu wasn't rushing things, wanting to make sure he wouldn't be harmed by this stranger first and foremost.

Finally the bird landed on a branch rather close to the new Pokémon, some feet high up into the air and actually almost right above them! It gave Varda a rather good vantage point and even the needed distance in case he had to quickly run – or in this case, fly – away. A couple of leaves floated down from the tree from the slight impact of the bird's landing.
"Hello?" The Swablu asked with a cheerful chirp, looking down from the branch he had perched on.


Current Energy: 19 (24 -5 from entering)

The Tyrogue heard a slight hint of movement through the trees above him, and thinking that it was the flock of Pidgey he was looking for, he reached into his bag for an Iron Thorn, just in case. His well-trained eyes looked around him for any trace of movement through the leaves, but what he didn't do was look above him. That's when he heard the chirp, and jumped a couple of inches straight into the air. The startled pokemon looked straight above him, and sighed in relief that it wasn't a hostile. If it had been, he would have been taken completely by surprise.

"Hello. Who are you, little dove?" Crash placed the Iron thorn back in his bag, and gave a smile to the bird above him. "Would you mind coming down to eye level? I'm afraid I'll get a cramp from looking up for so long."

Varda watched with a clueless smile as the Pokémon below him seemed to jump in surprise, blinking slowly and seemingly oblivious to the fact that it was his fault that he had scared this other Pokémon. His smile only grew wider as he got a response, realizing for certain that this Pokémon at least wasn't a feral one about to hurt him! ...Well, of course there was the possibility that he still could be hurt by the stranger, but honestly, it didn't even cross the Swablu's mind.

"Hello!" The bird gave another, more certain and cheerful chirpy greeting now that he knew for certain that they could hold a conversation,
"My name is Varda," he introduced himself without any delays as the other one had asked for that detail and he never really was one for holding it back. For a moment Varda just looked down with that simple smile of his, looking over the branch and not saying a word, occasionally blinking. Once the other Pokémon mentioned how it would have been better for the Swablu to actually come down so he wouldn't be forced to stare up, it was the bird's turn to jump in surprise a bit as he realized his own mistake.

"Oh! I'm sorry," Varda cooed as he spread his cottony wings, flapping them a couple of times as he jumped off the branch and floated down gently, landing on the grass. He turned around to look at the stranger, finding himself quite small compared to the Pokémon. As usual, the bird was wearing his usual Guild supplies, his bag and the pink scarf tied around his tail feathers.
"Is this better?"

Lumina was back to her guild work, after what felt like a much longer time than it actually had been. She had only been on her break for a week or two so she could explore Shadowhue Forest and Rainfront, and the Vulpix liked to think it had been a good call, for she learnt a lot on her small journey. She travelled through her own subconscious by climbing a tower in her dreams, explored some ruins and caught an outlaw, all in no particular order.

But after her past misadventures, she figured that a job in Pecha Forest would be good to help her get back into the swing of things. That was why it had been convenient when she ran into a Wurmple, ranting about how the Pidgeys were overpopulating the Mystery Dungeon and someone needed to handle their growing numbers. The Vulpix took a copy of the mission request, headed out to Pecha Forest, and the rest was history.

At the moment, she was fighting a Nidorina. ... well, 'fighting' was a bit of an understatement, for the poison type seemed especially vulnerable to her newest move, Confuse Ray. The Poison Pin Pokemon let out a loud, vengeful roar, much to Lumina's annoyance. What if more feral Pokemon heard that roar? But fortunately enough for her, as poison type tried to tackle her, in it's confusion it hit a tree instead.

It slumped over, dazed, and the Vulpix kept an eye on it as she walked past in case it was just faking it's defeat. But it seemed to stay down, thankfully. "Good riddance." She murmured, and continued walking forward in search of some Pidgey. She found this mission a bit silly, to be honest, didn't the Pidgey have just as much right to live here as the Wurmple? Oh well... a job was a job.

Energy: 22

After a quick meeting with the strange, non-feral Pokémon, Varda had took off again. While the Pokémon did seem quite interesting and he was very polite, there was still so much for the little bird to do today that he just couldn't afford stopping for too long – especially when the person wasn't in danger or asking for help! Soon the bird was back in the treetops, hopping from branch to branch and soaring through the skies to get to the other trees. He had quickly become winded and exhausted, but the Swablu felt like it was the good kind of tiredness that meant his little workout was working! The only way for him to strengthen his own wings was to use them, after all.

He continued his training for a while, carefree and not even running into any other Pokémon in the trees. However, a strange roar caused him to stop, almost causing the bird to fall from the tree as he just barely managed to dig his claws deep enough to balance himself. With a slow blink of his beady eyes, Varda looked around, searching for the cause of the sound. He didn't see anything... But it did sound like it came from further away, so it made sense! Curious, the Swablu started to head towards where he thought the sound came from, keeping himself hidden by the foliage and off the ground to not accidentally run into the roaring creature.

Varda's search was rather fruitless, as he didn't manage to see anything that might have caused the strange sound... Until he noticed something orange disappear behind a couple of bushes. Immediately, his eyes grew larger as he felt like that might have been it, causing the bird Pokémon to start following the shape as he stayed high up in the trees, trying to get a good look. It wasn't until he was almost straight above the orange-furred creature before he realized what it was!

It clearly was Lumina, someone he had met in the forest before! He also knew that she could roar, though the one he had heard wasn't exactly the same... But it made sense. Maybe she just changed her voice. The Swablu didn't waste any time jumping from his branch and onto his wings, causing some leaves to start falling as the branch suddenly returned to its normal position without a bird perched on it. Varda swooped to the ground and in front of the fox, stumbling a bit as he landed but still somehow managing to stay on his feet.
"Hello!" The bird chirped happily.

Lumina searched the skies, trying to spot any Pidgey that might've been flying about. But there were few of the bird Pokemon to be seen, to the small Fox Pokémon's annoyance. This mission could take a while if she couldn't even find any of her targets. At least the weather was nice, and the sky was clear and sunny. She wasn't in any big hurry.

The fire type abruptly stopped walking when a Swablu landed in front of her. She was surprised, but not worried. He seemed friendly enough, judging from his body language and tone. Lumina might have had trouble identifying it as someone she knew had it not been for the treasure bag he carried and the familiar coral pink ribbon wrapped around his tail feathers.

"Hello." She responded, a smile on her face. "It's nice to see you again, Varda." She greeted, sitting down on the grassy floor of the Mystery Dungeon. A question crossed her mind, which the Vulpix quickly voiced. "Mind telling me what you're doing here today?" She asked the small blue bird-like Pokemon, curious what had brought him here. He was with the guild, so perhaps he was on a mission.

Varda just seemed to beam with happiness as the fox replied to him, even remembering his name. Honestly, he hadn't even thought that maybe she had forgotten all about him, but his thoughts just rarely went that far. Excitedly, he let out a chirp as he spread his wings and flapped a couple of time in excitement, happy to see an old face after such a long time. The Swablu's eyes quickly ran over Lumina, noticing that she had a couple of things with her that she didn't have last time. Then it hit him. Of course, he had almost forgotten about it! The fox had started a team at the Guild some time after the two had met for the first time.

"Oh, me?" The bird was suddenly snapped out of his thoughts as he realized that he had been asked a question. It took him a moment to remember what it was all about.
"I came here to spread my wings a little! To train and become a better flier," he nodded as he responded. It was a good question, and it was quite obvious that Lumina couldn't be here for the same reason! After all, she didn't have wings.
"Oh, oh, but what about you? What about the Guild? Do you like it there, is it fun, have you done missions?" Varda suddenly just started spouting his questions, wanting to know everything. They hadn't really bumped into each other back at the Guild, so he hadn't had any opportunities to actually ask Lumina!

The Vulpix remembered what she both liked and disliked about Varda; all the questions he seemed to ask. Sometimes Lumina has trouble keeping up. Though she had wondered what he was doing here, so she couldn't blame him for asking some questions of his own. "I'm not sure if fun is how I would describe it, but I do like being part of the guild." She replied, adjusting the treasure bag she had slung over her shoulder and back. It felt much lighter, now that she had gotten those treasure chests appraised.

"As for missions... I've done three so far, this is my fourth." She confirmed. It wasn't overly impressive, that much she was aware of, but it wasn't anything to lie about either. Especially to someone she knew. Plus, from what she had gathered about Varda, the Swablu wouldn't judge her for it.

As they mentioned the guild, the Vulpix adjusted the midnight blue ribbon around her lower foreleg, making sure it hadn't loosened from all the walking she had done. Something hit her as she remembered what Noel said, that the ribbon was the same colour as her aura. If Varda had gotten his ribbon from the guild, too, then maybe it was also the colour of his aura? It wasn't a life-changing revelation, but it was interesting to think about.

For a moment, Varda looked very concerned as the other Pokémon said that she wouldn't call the Guild fun. Had something happened? Was someone picking on her or making her do chores she didn't like? Was she forced to have an annoying partner? There were so many questions that instantly filled the bird's mind, quite guilt-ridden as he was the one who had suggested that she joined the Guild in the first place! He had called it such a great and fun place, and if Lumina had only joined because of all his positive words... How did she feel now that it felt like the Swablu had lied to her?

However, she still claimed to like being a part of it, causing the earlier concern to turn into a puzzled look as the little bird tilted his head, the feathers flopping over. How was something enjoyable yet not fun at the same time? It almost seemed like it was a contradiction – and hopefully Lumina hadn't felt like she was forced to make up a lie to please Varda!
"Is everything alright back at the Guild?" He just had to ask, wanting to know what exactly it was that the fox had meant. She could tell him everything!

"Aah, that is so amazing!" The Swablu cooed when the other Pokémon said how many jobs she had done – though then again, the bird probably would have found any just as amazing, whether it was more or less. He even hopped from foot to foot in excited celebration, though he stopped abruptly as he considered the rest of Lumina's words. This... Was her fourth? She was on a mission right now?
"Oh, I didn't know you were doing a mission! I hope I'm not in the way...?"

The Vulpix noted Varda's concerned expression. Had she said something wrong? Had he taken something she said the wrong way, or had she misspoke? "Everything's alright at the guild. I just took a little break to head to Rainfront town, so I have some catching up to do." She chuckled. Technically, no one was forcing her to do anything, but she felt as though she should be trying to make up for her little vacation.

But ignoring the fact that she had only done three missions seemed to be the right thing to do, for in his own words, Varda found it amazing. Maybe that was just because Grassveil's guild had a lack of high-ranking Exploration Teams. She was going to say something else, probably about how it wasn't really that incredible, but her acquaintance hadn't yet finished speaking.

She shook her head when he wondered if he was in the way. "Of course not. It's not too urgent, at any rate." She explained, glancing towards a slip of paper she had rolled up and put in her treasure bag, noticing a small part of the paper sticking out. "There's a Wurmple who lives here, he apparently feels uncomfortable with how many Pidgey are in Pecha Forest." She assumed the client lived in Pecha Forest, anyways. If not, he could've been avoiding the bird Pokemon just by staying in town.

Varda nodded, his expression already much more cheerful as he accepted the fox's explanation as easily as that.
"I've been to Rainfront too. It's a pretty nice town," he chirped, for once actually knowing what someone was talking of. Kind of. He didn't know Lumina's reason for the visit... But at least he had seen the town with his very own eyes! It surely was worth the visit to just go and take a look, if nothing else. At least in his eyes.

"Oh, that's good," the Swablu quickly replied in relief when Lumina said that he hadn't actually gotten in her mission's way with the way he had swept down and stopped her for a chat. He knew how strict some Pokémon were with their missions, so luckily the fox hadn't been stuck with one that had a strict time limit! And even though he hadn't asked, the fox even told him what the mission was about, causing the bird Pokémon to think about it for a moment.

"Hmm, Pidgey," he cooed quietly, closing his eyes to concentrate,
"I haven't seen any today," Varda opened his eyes, his attempts at trying to help the fox Pokémon falling short. If a client was concerned with how many of some kind of Pokémon there was in the forest, it was a bit strange if he hadn't bumped into any the entire day!
"Do you think they all stick together and hide somewhere where no one can find them?" The Swablu offered a reason for this strange phenomenon, the one that made sense to at least himself.

"I guess it is possible that they're all hiding somewhere..." Lumina mused. She didn't find it very likely, personally, but feral Pokemon did act unpredictably at times. It would explain why neither her nor Varda had ran into any yet. The Fox Pokemon was silent for a moment as she considered this, her gaze traveling towards the still-empty blue sky. No Pidgey to be seen.

The Vulpix returned to her paws, stretching her limbs as she stood back up. "I should be on my way. Though this mission isn't too urgent, I don't think the client would want to wait for too long." She explained, hoping that it wasn't coming across that she was trying to brush off Varda. That was when she had an idea. "You could come along, if you're in the mood for a request. I'd be happy to share the rewards."

PhantomSun carried out 1 launched of one Pecha Forest :

Varda let his eyes wander as the fox agreed that it was possible for all the Pidgey of the forest to be hiding in one place, already looking around for them. Maybe they were right on the other side of the bushes?! No, probably not. Surely they all couldn't fit there. But it did make the mission quite hard if Lumina couldn't even find her target. Honestly, Pecha Forest seemed just as quiet and peaceful as it always was, did the client really have a reason to worry?

The Swablu looked back at Lumina as she spoke up, mentioning how she should be going even if the mission wasn't all too urgent. While it was sad that they had to go on their separate ways already, the blue bird couldn't help but smile due to how nicely the Pokémon was treating her client even though there was no time limit! That extra effort really made him happy.

Just as he was about to say his goodbyes and prepare for leaving, the fox-like Pokémon came up with an idea, suggesting that Varda would come along! The bird let out a surprised coo, blinking slowly as he thought about it. Actually, yes, it made sense!
"Oh, I think that's a good idea!" He chirped, excited,
"They're birds and they can fly, but so can I! I could go after them if they're in the air," the Swablu explained, quite happy that he could help.

Bird carried out 3 launched of one Pecha Forest :

, ,

((I'll roll some mission dice too to see if we run into any Pidgey, as apparently it's used for mission Pokémon too.))

Bird carried out 1 launched of one Mission Dice :

4

Lumina nodded in agreement, glad that Varda had agreed. She still disliked fighting flying Pokemon, but hopefully things would be a bit easier if she could confuse them. The Vulpix liked this new move of hers, Confuse Ray, she was ready to try it out again in case danger arrived. And knowing Mystery Dungeons, it wouldn't take too long for something hostile to show up.

She moved forward, spotting something half-hidden in a nearby bush. It's colour, a soft pink, stood out against the greens and browns of the forest, drawing the vixen's attention towards it. She walked towards the pink item, gently pulling it out from the bush and revealing it to be a gummi. "Varda? I've found a gummi here, would you want it?" She called, picking it up to show the Swablu. If he didn't want it, she'd probably just leave it here. Lumina would've preferred to save the space in her bag for more important items they might've been able to find.

Energy: 21