The Island Mystery

First topic message reminder :

The cool lake breeze brushed past the purpled-haired monkey as he shouldered his custom-made napsack composed of leaves, twigs and grass. He'd set out half a day ago to make his way to this peculiar island following a curious summons addressed directly to his tree dwelling in Pecha forest. It still wasn't clear who sent it or why, but the letter requested his help and he couldn't help but be drawn to the adventure. Of course, danger and excitement wasn't really his thing, but life in Pecha had grown stagnant and a change of scenery was exactly what he needed. The only problem was... He'd reached the last branch before the edge of the lake.

Cracker stared down at the forest floor where it transitioned from tall grass to a thin bar of sand leading into the water. It had been a while since he'd last set foot on solid ground, and he wasn't particularly looking forward to it. Safety was in the trees for him, and he just couldn't get over the texture of grass and dirt, with all those little twigs and bugs to snap and squish underfoot. Still though, the Aipom had come this far, it wouldn't make sense to give up and turn back now.

Wrapping his tail around the branch he stood on, Cracker closed his eyes tight and dove off backwards, swinging in a short arch before letting go and landing firmly on his feet. Immediately the prickly sensation of the grassy ground shot up his legs, making him dance uncomfortably. "Ooooh, why does it have to be so pointy!" he whined, shifting from one foot to the next as he quickly raced towards the shore. The sand was moderately better underfoot, but the way it squished between his toes made him shudder nonetheless.

With his tail hand, the Aipom reached into his pack and pulled out the little letter he'd gotten, perusing it once more. The neatly written words said: Please, help me. You're my only hope. Fallen Leaf Copse. That was it, no details beyond where to go. It was kind of exciting, actually. Like a mystery.

As he stood on the small beach, Cracker's feet sank into the squishy sand, the occasional wave of water helping to bury them. He could see the pathway leading to the island nearby, but the Aipom was considering an alternative means of transportation. One that would get him off his feet in particular. Shaking the sand off his feet, the monkey began scavenging pieces of driftwood scattered across the shore with the intent of constructing a boat. As he worked, Cracker started humming a terribly out of tune song.

((Energy 12))

"Right right, leaves. Leeeeaves... Not enemies, right," Cracker babbled to himself, trying to contain his high energy levels. He'd honest never felt this pumped up before. It was a very different feeling for him. He took Akuroma's words to heart though and leaped off his head back into the trees, intent on burning off the extra energy swinging through the trees.

The little Aipom was too energetic for his own good though, and it eventually led him to miss his intended target. He smacked into a tree instead of the branch he was aiming for and slid to the forest floor. Emerging from a bush at the bottom, he stumbled about dizzily for a moment and shook his head. "Wow... You're right, I really need to calm down," he said, rubbing a spot on his forehead as he rushed to catch up to the long-legged Gallade. "I've just never had so much energy before, y'know? It's amazing!"

((Energy: 30 + 1(new page) = 31))

Akuroma blinked again, "Maybe you're close to evolving? I've never seen a Pokemon become so energized after healing, but I have read about it just before evolution. At least... that's the only part I can remember. You're not an electric type, so you can't be overcharged, in fact, being a normal type, there's very little chance it's anything but evolution." The Gallade pondered the thought, he was unsure of how Aipom evolved. Other than his own evolutionary line, the Gallade knew little of how other Pokemon evolved, other than some needed stones like him, some just need to get stronger, and still others needed specific moves or times. The Aipom wasn't quite strong, so perhaps they evolved through learning moves? Actually, do Aipom even evolve? Akuroma didn't remember the Aipom mentioning anything other than Aipom in his home village, though he did rarely speak of it.

[55 energy]

Dracorexion carried out 5 launched of one Fallen Leaf Copse :

, , , ,

The Aipom tilted his head as Akuroma suggested an approaching evolution as the reason for Cracker's overly energetic state, then he promptly giggled and waved a paw. "Wow, I mean I wish that were the case, but I doubt it. My Gram used to tell me it takes a real long time for us Aipom to evolve. And a lot of work. Normally too much work for somebody like me to take it seriously, y'know? But lately, I've been doing more fighting than normal. Still, I think I've got a ways to go. Gram didn't evolve into an Ambipom till she was all grown up, and she would defend the village on the regular in her day." As he spoke of his Grandmother, the Aipom made grand gestures, as he always did when referring to his aged idol.

"Nope, I think those berries were just really good, and I'm already feeling a bit better now. I've just never had a Sitrus berry before, let alone two. So it was a new experience, all that energy! But I'm totally pumped up now! We'll find those leaves in no time now!" Cracker giggled again and raced ahead a few feet, beginning his search anew as he dug through piles of leaves and bushes. "I've honestly never had this much fun in my life, y'know! Not even during one of my best pranks! I never could've guessed that battling for leaves of all things would be such a blast!"

As the Aipom dug through another pile, a Wurmple suddenly burst forth from a bush. It tumbled out into the path and immediately spotted Akuroma and Cracker. "Ah! Help! Please, help! This Silcoon won't stop chasing me! He wants my purple leaf! He's such a bully--!" Just as the Wurmple was recovering, the Silcoon emerged from the bush, firing a String Shot at his quarry. "Hand it over, twerp! It's mine!" the cocooned Pokemon growled, flexing it's spiky shell angrily.

Akuroma stood there as the scene unfolded in front of him. To be quite honest, he didn't care what happened to the Wurmple or Silcoon, so long as they got the purple leaf. However, simply crushing them wouldn't be any fun. The Gallade stepped back some, sitting down on a fallen tree. "Cracker, how about you deal with them? We need the Purple leaf, so our end goal is to retrieve it. You can decide how we'll go about doing so," the Gallade said, content in simply watching. It might be best to do so, the Aipom might be able to burn off some of that excess energy.

[43 energy]

Standing by the pile of leaves he'd been browsing through, Cracker watched the scene as well. He was surprised however, to see Akuroma decided to sit this one out. As though he wanted nothing to do with the moral dilemma. Maybe he didn't. From what the Aipom knew of his friend's new attitude, he was the sort to take a punch and give a punch, regardless of who it was he was put up against. There was no doubt in the monkey's mind that Akuroma would sooner knock both Pokemon out and take the leaf than deal with the problem they presented.

Cracker on the other hand, was much more apathetic. Thus it seemed, the Gallade was content to let him take the reins in dealing with this situation. Something he was quite content to do. He liked helping, unlike his current counterpart. But he also knew that Pokemon who requested help often did so with the intention of offering a reward after the fact. Heck, even his old home had a billboard filled with requests for help, all offering something for the Pokemon's trouble.

"I'll help for the leaf," Cracker said bluntly, despite his big friendly grin.

"Deal!" the Wurmple cried, frantically dodging String Shot attacks. "He woudn't take it anyway, he just wants to fight!"

Bouncing up into the air, the Aipom squealed with delight and promptly launched himself at the Silcoon, trading places with him mid-air as the webbed beach ball sailed into a tree and got stuck on one of its spikes. "There, problem solved!" Cracker declared, holding out his paw to accept the leaf. But the Wurmple wasn't handing it over. Instead, he was pointing at the blob stuck to the tree. "Oh yeah, then what's that?!" it yelped.

"How dare you get in the way, this is between me and the twerp!" The Silcoon snarled as it launched a flurry of Poison Sting. "If that little tart won't fight back, then maybe you will!" No longer stuck to the tree, the Pokemon bounced up into the air and continued to rain down Poison Sting at the Aipom and Wurmple.

Akuroma rolled his eyes as he watched, "Nasty little bug ain't her, Cracker? You'll have to do more than get him stuck to stop him. Most cocoon Pokemon are very resilient, I suggest knocking him out quickly before he attempts to guard himself." The Gallade leaned back some, enjoying the relaxation he was able to get while Cracker dealt with this. Hopefully he wouldn't need to get involved. It'd probably be quite the blow to the little Aipom's pride, if Cracker cared for it, if Akuroma had to get involved.

As the Poison Sting rained down, Cracker and the Wurmple frantically attempted to dodge the attack, both of them dancing left and right in a panic. Eventually it came to a stop as the Silcoon returned to the ground, but just as Akuroma made his suggestion, the Pokemon used Harden to increase its defense. It then bristled with anger and used its spikes to launch forward with a Tackle attack.

"Oh jeez, now you tell me--oof!" the Aipom grunted as he collided with the spikey ball of webs. "You make this look so easy!" Groaning, Cracker returned to his feet as the Silcoon took up position a few feet away and launched itself again. This time though, the monkey jumped to avoid the attack, using his tail to boost himself up and catch himself on the return. Rather than hit him, however, the attack carried on to strike the Wurmple, who wasn't nearly as agile as the monkey.

"Hey, leave him alone!" Cracker screeched, winding up with a mid-air spin to strike the angry ball with the beefy end of his tail. The Silcoon sailed straight up into the air as the Aipom quickly used his tail to move the Wurmple to safety. Then, as the Pokemon returned to the earth, Cracker wound up for another strike, spinning like a top as he leapt into the air. His tail struck the Silcoon, but not before it struck him with a String Shot, effectively knocking both Pokemon back and pinning Cracker to the ground.

"I hate this stuff!" the monkey snapped, squirming in his binding to loosen its hold. As he did so, the Silcoon, having landing upside down, quickly corrected itself and positioned itself to attack again. Cracker was almost free though when the Pokemon launched an Electroweb. He narrowly avoided the electrified webbing and was back on his feet.

"You're not so tough at all!" the Silcoon cackled, his gaze shifting towards Akuroma. "But I bet he is!" Digging his spikes into the ground, the Pokemon lunged towards the Gallade, intent on throwing all his weight into a Tackle attack, but before he could get close enough, the Aipom swung out with his tail as hard as he could, rocketing the Silcoon off target and somewhere deep into the woods nearby.

"I'm tougher than you," Cracker snorted, sticking out his tongue after the Pokemon. Then he dropped to the ground and let out a sigh. "Whew... that wasn't easy, though..."

Akuroma chuckled at the Aipom's complaints, "I'm also a lot more powerful than you! However, if you have time to talk to me, you should be focusing on your opponent more," the Gallade said. Sure enough he saw the Silcoon attack again, though the Aipom didn't appear as distracted as Akuroma first suspected, able to to dodge the attack, only to leave the Wurmple open.

The rest of the battle was a flurry of the Aipom's much more agile movements against the Silcoon's bouncing body, at least until the bug type attempted to attack the Gallade. Akuroma simply sat there with a blank expression, clearly unafraid of the Pokemon's oncoming attack. However, the little Aipom stopped it from ever reaching him, and thus ended the battle.

"Welp, looks like the show's over. Time to pay up with that leaf," the Gallade said as he stood up, looking down at the Wurmple.

"Oh right, I totally forgot!" The Aipom gasped, bouncing back up onto his feet. He rushed over to the Wurmple who lay curled up on the ground, seemingly in expectation of the next wallop he might receive from his recently departed tormenter. "Uh, hey... Sorry about that hit you took, but the guy's gone now, so your safe!" Cracker said encouragingly. "Though you might wanna take off in case he comes back."

For a few moments the bug didn't move. Then he uncovered his head and looked up at the Aipom and Gallade standing over him. "You're... sure? Really? He's gone?" The Pokemon sat up and looked around for himself to be sure they were telling the truth. "So he is... Well how about that! Thanks! And deal's a deal, I guess." Extracting the leaf from his buggy carapace, he handed it over to Cracker, who subsequently handed it over to Akuroma. "Thank-you again," he said, directing his gratefulness to both of them even though the monkey did all the work.

"Pleasure doin' business with yah!" the Aipom replied with a smile, waving off the Pokemon as he quickly retreated back into the bush he'd emerged from. "What a nice guy! And look, now we've got another leaf! This really is a lot of fun." Turning around, the Aipom dusted off his paws. "Thanks for letting me handle it, by the way. It was a wonderful experience!"

Akuroma placed the leaf in his bag, "No problem, now then, let's keep moving, we don't want to be here either. It'd be a bad day for us if that Silcoon suddenly evolved or something." With that, the Gallade trudged on deeper into the forest. They had gathered quite a fair amount of leaves now, enough to probably attempt the Shrine's riddle again. The Gallade decided against it for now, best to gather more just in case they're wrong again.

"You mean bad for me," the Aipom snickered, picking up his pace to keep up with the Gallade as they carried on through the forest. "I mean you didn't do anything. I kicked his butt. And like you said, you're way stronger. You'd probably just swat him outta the sky! Like a big ugly... moth thing." As he followed, the Aipom actually grew a little worried thinking about it.

He'd only just barely beat the Silcoon as it was. If he evolved, Cracker probably wouldn't stand a chance, and Akuroma would have to step in and save him again. Which seemed to be happening a lot on this journey. He didn't much like being that third wheel that keeps breaking; he wanted to help as much as he could. That's what friends do.

Lumin carried out 5 launched of one Fallen Leaf Copse :

, , , ,

Akuroma chuckled, "You're thinking of Dustox. Beautifly are actually revered as one of the most beautiful bug type Pokemon, whereas their counterparts, Dustox, aren't really something you want in a beauty contest." It was then that the Gallade noticed a pair of Deerling and a Phantump traveling just on the other path, the Ghost type carrying two leaves on its head. The Gallade smirked as he sat back down. "Looks like you're up. Let's see how you handle three opponents."

"Ooooh, is that what comes from a Silcoon? I always get it mixed up with Cascoon," Cracker replied, giggling to himself as he followed along. He didn't really fancy getting beat up either way, whether it was by an ugly Dustox or a pretty Beautifly. Though the latter at least wouldn't be so hard on the eyes, heehee. And fun as it was to entertain a Dustox taking part in a beauty contest, their journey abruptly halted as they came across a group of Pokemon heading their way.

Opponents? That's what Akuroma had said. Did the Gallade really expect the little Aipom to start a fight over those leaves the Phantump was carrying? The idea made Cracker have to stop and think. He still really respected the Guild, even if they mistreated Outlaws, but at the same time he respected his friends as well. It was a dilemma, but maybe he didn't have to fight them. Maybe they'd just hand them over nicely. Either way, he and Akuroma needed those leaves.

"Um... okay," the Aipom said slowly. "Are you sure though? They look friendly enough. Maybe they'd accept a trade. I can go ask!" Without waiting, the Aipom bounced up onto his tail and launched himself ahead, cutting off the trio as he landed. The two Deerling reared up in surprise and the Phantump vibrated as the only sign it was caught off guard. "Hi!" Cracker greeted in a really friendly manner. "I like those leaves on your head. Wanna trade something for it?"

Both Deerling looked at one another in a quizzical manner. Their brows quickly sinking into angry scowls as they turned back to the happy little monkey. "You're just another dirty Outlaw, aren't you?" one of them accused. "We've already run into a scoundral like you!"

"Yeah! Come to steal our leaves again, huh? Well, we're not giving them up without a fight!" the other cried, striking a defensive stance.

"Oh no, I'm not a--" Before the Aipom could finish, the second Deerling summoned a collection of glowing balls of light in its head flower and fired at him with Hidden Power. Cracker narrowly avoided the attack, throwing up a Sand Attack to dispel the orbs. The dust pushed through and temporarily blinded the attacker, causing the first Deerling to take action as well. Without warning it charged in with a Double Kick.

The Gallade shrugged at the Aipom's proposal of a trade. It could work, it could not. He could try if he wanted. However, when the Aipom put his proposal to practice, the Gallade saw that the two Deerling of the trio were less than pleased with the idea. At the mention of another outlaw, the Gallade groaned. The two Deerling he had saved early might have not been native here at all, if these two were the same ones. However, he hadn't seen the Phantump in the area the first time. They couldn't be the same ones, could they?

Thanks to his agility, Cracker was able to avoid the two kicks thrown his away, but only just. One of them grazed his cheek and the force of the attack forced him back a couple feet. The pair of Deerling weren't prepared to just let him go though. They continued to come after him with a flurry Double Kicks, one after another after another. They were quickly wearing down the Aipom's ability to evade, until finally one of them pegged him square in the forehead. The impact knocked him clear off his tail support.

Landing roughly on his back, he stared up at two really angry Deerling and one slightly bored-looking Phantump. Clearly he wasn't interested in the battle, but his friends were. Rather than fight he simply watched on quietly, as if his two companions weren't about to beat the snot out of somebody they'd only just met. How he could agree with the senseless beating of a random stranger, Cracker didn't know, but that seemed irrelevant at this point. Flat on his back, the two Deerling growled at their quarry.

"We're not gonna let you get away with stealing from anyone, anymore," the first Deerling snapped, stomping his hooves against the ground near Cracker's head.

"But I--" the Aipom attempted to explain, but the second Deerling cut him off.

"Get ready for the beating of a life-time you thief!"

"Oh boy..." Cracker groaned, throwing up his arms in defense as a swarm of angry hooves flew down at him. Both Deerling began working him over, pummeling him over and over with their feet, like they were trying to pound all of their hate into him. And the Phantump just sat there and watched like a statue. "Aku, I--ow! I could really use some--ow, wow! Some help!"

((Energy: 31 - 11 = 20))