Persuading the Pidgeys!

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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.

Varda smiled as he noticed the monkey calm down. At least it was calming down in his eyes when the feral Pokémon stopped making noise and even lowered itself from the trees, stepping on the firm ground. While it kept staring at the two of them in a rather skeptical manner, it was clear that there was more than enough water in one river for all three of them. The little bird Pokémon thought that this probably meant they could share it, walking closer to the river and extending his wing to let the tips of his soft flight feathers to break the surface. The water felt cool, not too cold but not very warm either.

The Swablu nodded to Lumina's suggestion, not wanting to bother the wild Pokémon for no reason. While the river was nice, they just had to wash off the juice and head home. They had no reason to stay around as far as he knew. Lowering himself, the bird submerged his own face below the surface of the water, closing his eyes as his feathers grew wet and cool, the sugary juices of the berry around his beak washing off.

Meanwhile, the Murkrow had been waiting, hidden in the shadows. It had kept an eye on the two and waited for a moment when they had stopped paying attention to their surroundings. Spreading its dark wings, it let itself float down as quietly as it could, sneaking closer to the pair of Pokémon while they had their backs turned.

The Aipom was drinking from the river just like the other two Pokémon, a little wary but still not hostile. It cupped it's paws together and brought some water up to it's mouth, watching closely for any sudden movements. It quickly drank up the cool, fresh water, but just as it was about to scoop up some more it spotted something from the corner of it's eye. Something had come out from the trees, and it didn't look too friendly. It took a small step away from the stream and began to chatter once more, it's long tail raised to show it was ready to strike as it eyed a hostile-looking dark bird.

Lumina's attention snapped over to the Aipom as she once more heard the chattering noise. At first she assumed it was going to attack them after all, but it's cold gaze had settled on neither her nor Varda. She glanced behind her, following the purple monkey's line of sight, to see a crow-like Pokémon gliding towards them. It was silent, almost graceful, as it travelled towards them, but this abruptly stopped being the case when the Vulpix noticed it. Hurriedly, it tried to turn around and flee back into the cover of the trees, but before it could retreat a ring of flames had formed around it.

With a loud caw, the Murkrow tried to avoid the fire by flying upwards, but the flames grew in height with it. Lumina knew they could only go so high, but thankfully, the feral Pokémon didn't, figuring that trying to just fly out wouldn't work. Instead it tried to escape the Fire Spin by diving straight through the wall of flames, and this ended about as well as Lumina expected. She watched motionlessly as the fire caught on to the bird's tail feathers, and with another panicked caw, it dived straight into the stream in order to put it out. There was a large 'splash' as the Murkrow vanished beneath the water, and the Aipom scrambled back to avoid getting even wetter.

Energy: 29

Varda allowed the cool water to rush over his face, enjoying the feeling for the short amount he could hold his breath without feeling like he was suffocating. Eventually, the little bird pulled his face out of the water, droplets of water rolling down his beak and feathers. He felt so refreshed, the gentle breeze of the forest feeling so cold against his wetter feathers. The sun's warmth would soon dry him off, he knew that. But the Swablu didn't want to waste this moment, happily submerging his face under the surface of the river once more, enjoying just playing with the water now that he had the chance. The juices of the berry that had stuck to his face most likely had washed off a while ago, but Varda just didn't want to stop!

A strange, distorted garble of a voice the bird heard through the water caused him to raise his eyes, taking a look at what was happening on the other side of the surface. The monkey on the other side was making strange noises and acting a an equally strange manner. Had they been using the water for too long and the feral Pokémon was now angry at them? ...No, it didn't seem to be angry at them, in fact... It was looking at something that was behind them!

Lumina had already turned to look behind them and the Swablu didn't waste more time in doing the same, snapping around to see what the problem was. The familiar dark feather of the crow-like bird flying closer didn't make him think for long. The Murkrow was back, it seemed. Before Varda had time to react to it however, the fox had already blasted the other bird Pokémon with her flame breath, trapping it in a vortex of fire. Even though the feral bird had tried to stop and turn around, it didn't have enough time to escape before it was trapped between the walls of flame. The Murkrow tried to escape, but deemed that flying upwards was impossible and instead did something quite irresponsible: it flew right through the flames!

Even Varda gasped as he saw it, knowing that it would certainly burn the Murkrow as it passed through. The dark feathers weren't obviously singed due to their already dark color, but they had certainly caught on fire, causing the feral Pokémon to quickly fly into the river to put the flames out. Even such a small bird managed to cause a big splash of water, some of it even getting on the Swablu. The Murkrow seemed to be very relieved as it surfaced, no longer needing to panic. Varda shook himself to get most of the water off his feathers before he started to back away, noticing that they might have an opportunity to leave without their stalker following.
"Should we leave...?" The little bird turned towards Lumina, asking with a quiet voice.


Current Energy: 9 (8 +1 from the new page)

Lumina turned back towards Varda and spoke without hesitation. "Let's hurry and get out of here." She figured that the Murkrow would be fine, it had surfaced, after all. It was also unlikely for it to be able to follow them effectively with it's feathers wet, since now it would be unable to fly for a little while. She decided it would be best to leave now. She glanced back towards the Aipom once more, giving it a quick nod. Her words probably meant nothing to it, but maybe it could understand non-verbal communication?

Regardless, she started to walk in another random direction, her only goal being to get away from the stream and the Murkrow. She looked back at the Swablu to make sure he was still following her, she needed to make sure they got far enough away from the feral Pokémon. She didn't want to keep dealing with it trying to take them by surprise.

Varda nodded with determination in his eyes, quickly turning around and heading after the fox as the two made their quiet exit. The monkey seemed to have enough of unexpected and unwanted splashes of water, and the Murkrow was the only thing left for it to blame. With an angry, fast-paced chatter, it seemed to berate the dark bird in the river, surely saying many, nasty things... If feral Pokémon could even communicate with words. Still, such was the sound that rang from the river, the noise growing quieter and quieter as the two Pokémon walked further away. The voice didn't seem to stop for a second, though obviously it died down eventually once the source was too far away.

The Swablu had taken short, quick steps to get away quickly and keep up with Lumina, keeping his head low as if trying to be as stealthy as possible so the Murkrow wouldn't follow them. As their surroundings grew calm and quiet again, the bird could dare to glance behind him, relieved that nothing seemed to follow them. The slight breeze felt cool against his wet feathers, but he didn't seem to mind. Varda smiled a big, cheerful smile.
"Oh, that was close... I wonder what the Murkrow wanted. It seemed a bit mean..."


((You do have tons of energy, so you could be rolling a lot if you want. I don't mind, things might get really interesting if we run into lots of things, hah.))

Lumina made a quick pace away from the two feral Pokémon. The Murkrow would probably be distracted by the Aipom, at least for a little while. Hopefully it would be held back long enough for them to make their exit. She weaved her way past the thick, tall trees, her paws easily moving through the long, almost overgrown grass.

The orange vixen listened closely, and didn't slow her pace until the chattering had vanished into the forest behind them. She noticed Varda looking at her, a familiar smile on his face, wondering aloud what the Murkrow might've wanted. "Knowing feral Pokémon, I'm not sure..." She muttered, her mind whirling with the possibilities. Were they in it's territory? Did it want their things? She paused, reflecting on this for a second. If they had done anything to make it mad, she didn't remember it.

(Alright, sounds good. Here goes nothing. ^^)

PhantomSun carried out 5 launched of one Pecha Forest :

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Varda nodded. It was about the best answer any of them could give to his question, really. The feral Pokémon were strange creatures with odd ways, other times it seemed like they were highly intelligent and capable of communication, yet sometimes they seemed like they were mad and fueled by rage. Who knew what was going on inside their heads? All they had were questions and uncertainty. What they both knew was that at least they had escaped one strange Murkrow!

As their journey eventually continued through the calm forest, the small forest path kept leading them... Well, somewhere. At this point the Swablu no longer knew which way was which, so he followed Lumina, knowing that she would know where to go. Occasionally, his ears picked up a strange, hollow sound, something one might hear if they knocked on some hollow wood. When it happened once, it blended into the forest. When it happened a couple of more times and seemed to grow louder... That was when it got suspicious.

"Can you hear that?" The little bird asked in a hushed voice, not entirely sure if he could trust his ears and he wanted to make sure the sound existed. It wasn't an extremely loud noise, but it still seemed like a sound that stood out because it just did not belong. Growing quiet for a moment, Varda listened as hard as he could, trying to figure out where the echoing sound was coming from. As far as he could say, it was coming from their right, through the small bushes that surrounded the path. Giving Lumina a look, the Swablu waddled closer to the bushes and pushed them aside just enough to see what was on the other side.

The grassy ground sloped down gently and their little path seemed to be on some hilly ground, higher up than the small clearing ahead. In there, two dark bird Pokémon – Murkrow – were doing... Something. They used their beaks to hit something that produced the hollow wooden sound, and when they moved around, Varda managed to catch a glimpse of it. It seemed to be a small stump of some kind, explaining the sound... But the stump was also seemingly moving on its own as it was being battered by the beaks of the two bird Pokémon around it.

At first the Vulpix ignored the odd, hollow sound. In all likelihood, it was only a feral Pokémon, or even just the wind. She continued to move her paws forward without complaint, hoping to eventually find her way back out of the Mystery Dungeon, but of course things wouldn't be that simple. The echoing sound started to grow subtlety louder, meaning that she and Varda were probably walking towards it.

"Yes, I heard it." The vixen confirmed, her voice barely above a whisper. After a few seconds of silence, the Swablu glanced in her direction before pushing some bushes aside with his wings. Lumina considered stopping him, maybe it would be smarter to just walk in the other direction. But, at the same time, doing some scouting couldn't hurt. She peered over the bushes, glancing down a grassy slope to reveal a pair of Murkrow pecking at a stump. She was momentarily puzzled by this before she noticed the 'stump' moving. It seemed to be another Pokémon.

Now what to do? Maybe all three Pokémon were feral, and she and Varda could walk away, pretend they hadn't seen anything and leave these three alone. But what if they weren't? She couldn't risk leaving a non-feral Pokémon in danger, especially with her and Varda both being guild members. "I think we should intervene. Some, or all of them, might not be feral." She mused, trying to stay quiet as to not reveal their location. "But don't attack right away, in case this isn't what it looks like." She also added quickly, not wanting to do something she'd later regret. In this case, attacking a citizen or even another member of the guild.

She didn't wait for the Swablu's approval, although in hindsight, doing so would've been polite. She walked through the bushes, her head held high and her brown eyes narrowed. She stood on the hilly ground, looking down into the clearing below. They had the high ground, for whatever it was worth. Skipping the introductions, she called out four simple words in a calm, clear tone. "What's going on here?" Worst case scenario, these three were all feral and she made herself look like an idiot. But only Varda was here to see, and she doubted he would judge her very harshly.

Varda watched the scene in front of their eyes with a puzzled look, tilting his head to the side a bit. He didn't really understand what was going on... Until he noticed that the little stump actually seemed to have something inside it. A darker shape, and it was clearly moving. The source of the mystery sound was quickly solved: this was it. The pair of Murkrow were hitting the stump, but the stump actually seemed to be a Pokémon! ...Or at least, there was a Pokémon inside the hollow little stump. He was unsure which it was, he couldn't get a good enough look.

The bird turned to look at the fox as she spoke, his wing still holding the leaves of the bush back. She thought that they should do something – and he agreed. Any way he looked at it, two Pokémon were picking on one weaker Pokémon, and that wasn't nice! Lumina added how they should not attack right away, though. She was extremely wise, musing that it might not be how it seemed. Indeed! The Swablu seemed to understand something. What if the Pokémon the two Murkrow were attacking actually wasn't the victim? What if it had attacked first and the two birds were now teaching it a lesson it would never forget?

The fox wasn't waiting for an answer, but she did not have to. The two of them were both in the Guild, in two different teams that existed only to help others. It wasn't right of them to turn their backs in case someone was in trouble. The little bird Pokémon followed Lumina through the bushes and then waddled over next to her, standing by her side to show his support. Most likely the fox was the more intimidating figure there, but the Swablu did his best...

The Murkrow stopped their pecking once they heard Lumina's voice, seemingly only now realizing that they had company. Both of them turned to look at the pair of Pokémon with a slow twist of their neck, staring at them. Finally, one of them let out a caw while opening its wings, and eventually the other one did the same, following the example. The small stump was mostly still, though the dark shape's little arms were trying to cover its head as it lied down on the ground.

It seemed as though the Murkrow were feral after all when they responded with only a pair of caws. They spread out their wings, probably trying to act intimidating, were they trying to scare off her and Varda? Brushing it off for the moment, she eyed the two dark bird Pokemon. They seemed to be feral, and there was nothing to suggest otherwise, but just in case she gave the two a last chance to respond. "If this isn't what it looks like, I'd suggest you speak up." She raised her voice, moving slowly towards the three Pokémon, her words aimed more towards the two Murkrow than the Phantump. This was the last chance she was giving them, already a small purple orb was starting to form in front of her body. She was ready to fire it if she saw them make any sudden movements.

Varda's eyes quickly glanced towards Lumina almost as if looking for some kind of order, but he didn't want to avert his gaze from the Murkrow for too long. The two did seem to be feral Pokémon – or just very good at acting like they were – so he felt like he needed to be by the fox's side and look like he was ready to back her up when needed. He didn't want to think that the birds could overpower Lumina just because she was alone, after all! As the fox started to move towards the Murkrow, the Swablu did the same, his steps just as slow as hers.

The pair of Murkrow didn't seem to appreciate it all too much, as they fluffed their feathers and let out some more agitated caws, trying to look big as they spread their wings and took a step closer to the fox. No one certainly was trying to explain the situation to Lumina despite her request, that much was sure.

Evidently, they were feral. If they weren't, they probably would've tried to talk their way out of this. Or was there some advantage to pretending to be feral that the Vulpix didn't see? Nevertheless, that had been their last chance, and she obviously wasn't going to get an explanation the easy way. The Confuse Ray launched forward, zipping towards the two Murkrow in an erratic pattern. It eerily hung in the air for a moment before diving towards the one on the left. Unfortunately, it managed to duck just in time to avoid the sphere, and the ball vanished without a trace when it hit the ground.

Alright, that hadn't been the ideal way to start off the battle, but Lumina remained unfazed by the Confuse Ray missing. She still had a trick or two she could use if things got heated. She quickly noted that using Fire Spin would likely be a bad idea, because the Phantump might get hurt by the flames. That limited her options somewhat, but she could still make this work. It wasn't like she was without support, either, for Varda was still close by.

Lumina focused her gaze on the Murkrow that had dodged her Confuse Ray a few moments before. Suddenly, without warning, she began to dash down the hill directly towards it. Halfway down, her fur flared with a soft orange glow. Normally 'run in headfirst' wasn't her first choice of a battle plan, but she was gaining speed quickly because she was running downhill. She hoped she could hit it with the Flare Blitz before it had the chance to take to the air, fighting flying Pokemon wasn't one of her strengths.

Varda looked at the fox for guidance, not wanting to do anything without her permission. She had mentioned how they should not attack first in case there was something off about the situation, so he was still a bit uncertain... It was certainly looking like the situation was as bad as it looked and Lumina seemed to be prepared for it, but she had yet to ask, waiting for some kind of confirmation herself perhaps? The little bird had decided to trust the fox and her keen senses and wisdom rather than his own gut, so he stayed by his friend's side, not doing anything that could have caused the two dark birds to attack.

Finally, the fox made the purple floating orb she had generated to float towards the feral birds in a zigzagging pattern, making the Swablu feel rather confused himself when he tried to follow it with his eyes! The Murkrow it was aimed towards managed to avoid it however, ducking down just in the nick of time. Lumina didn't waste time starting to dash down the hill and Varda was quickly behind her when he realized what she had done – though he was quickly lagging behind when he tried to run after her, finally realizing that he should just fly instead!

The pair of Murkrow noticed that they were being attacked as the fox – now enveloped by flames – charged at the two with the blue bird flying right behind her. The dark birds were preparing to avoid the attacks and the one Lumina charged spread its wings and prepared to take off, fast enough that it could have avoided her charge... But it hesitated for a moment when it heard a tune being chirped out. Varda had landed and started to sing, seemingly not affecting the two birds but at least it had been surprising enough to buy his friend at least one extra second...

Something made the Murkrow pause just long enough for her blow to connect, the fiery tackle knocking it off it's feet with a startled squawk. When the Vulpix stopped, she heard a familiar song reach her ears. She almost hadn't heard it past the wind rushing around her as she ran down the hill. It seemed like Varda had tried using Sing. The two feral Pokemon still seemed wide awake, so the attack hadn't been as effective as it had been on the Pidgey, but that didn't mean it had been useless. That extra second it paused had been enough for her to hit it.

There was a downside to Flare Blitz, however, the fact that harmed the user. The Vulpix grimaced momentarily before she managed to hide it, feeling a faint sting in her chest. She noticed the Murkrow she had hit a moment before scramble back to it's feet, it's beak glowing with a faint white energy. It flew towards her with a furious caw, probably planning on using Peak. Lumina seemed to make no move to dodge, however, she had something of a plan.

The bird Pokemon slashed it's beak at her shoulder, and the vixen made no move to dodge. However, shortly after the Murkrow's attack hit, she swung her forepaw at it and knocked it away. Payback was somewhat tricky for her to use, for it was a physical attack and designed more for Pokemon who had fists. But the payoff was worth it when the dark bird tumbled out of the sky. It got to it's feet once more, but seemed a bit weary, the two blows had done a number on it.

Meanwhile, the second Murkrow had focused on Varda after he sang that short tune. Perhaps knowing how much of a threat it would be to fall asleep in the middle of a battle, it turned it's attention towards him. It let out a harsh, loud caw as it flew towards the Swablu, not using any moves at the moment as it wildly slashed at him with it's sharp beak and claws.

Varda didn't manage to sing for very long before a rather loud and angry caw interrupted him, forcing him to stop as he turned his gaze towards the sound. It was the other Murkrow Lumina hadn't targeted – and it had spread its wings and was flying right at him! He had no time to dodge out of the way, so all he could do was brace himself for the attack, his small body tensing up as he prepared for it. It was a strange moment of acceptance and calm in the hectic moment, and the bird Pokémon didn't feel worried at all.

The Murkrow's claws and beak came close and started to scratch the other bird, but the Swablu just turned away enough so his face wasn't in danger, trying to soak up the damage in what fluff and softness he had on his plump body. It seemed to be working rather well. He could still feel the attacks and he knew they were hurting him and connecting just fine, but at the same time he felt like he could have been worse if he hadn't chosen to actively try to defend the attack! The dark, crow-like Pokémon certainly was a feisty one, but as it kept attacking, it was only wearing itself down.

As the attacks grew less frequent due to the feral Pokémon's tiredness, Varda had the chance to stop being so defensive and figure out what to do with his attacker instead. Perhaps he had learned from the best just earlier that day, reaching out with his beak and grabbing the Murkrow's dark tail feathers. The bird let out a caw as the Swablu kept his grip, pulling the surprised Pokémon down to the ground. He hadn't thought of how he would continue it, so Varda was forced to come up with a plan as fast as he could. Never being good at that kind of a thing, the blue bird just... Climbed on top of the other bird and used what little weight he had to keep it down.

The Murkrow was thrashing under him, certainly being the slightly bigger and stronger Pokémon... But Varda's wings were long and he was able to keep the other bird down quite well. He had enough time to glance at Lumina, seeing that she seemed to be doing well. She had managed to attack the other Murkrow back. The little stump the birds had picked on didn't seem to be moving still, but perhaps it was just frightened? The Murkrow that Lumina was fighting seemed to be rather worn down by the attacks, but it still wasn't going to give up. Its wings started to glow as it gathered energy for its next attack, rushing at the fox with a Wing Attack.