The Hunt is On!

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So this was the Fallen Leaf Copse....the thing Sova had failed to find first. It was certainly beautiful enough to be a treasure, but the real treasure was within....somewhere. Perhaps it wasn't too late for him to be the one to find the treasure. Of course, having someone as enthusiastic about treasure as Mirage with him was sure to help as well.

"This looks like a nice place to live...." He said.

Mirage gave a flick of her tail, "You helped me out with my paw back there," she spoke, "I can't be helped all the time. Independence is kind of important when you're out on your own."
Her limp remained the same heavy stomp of the front paw, though she was getting a bit agitated with the Glaceon's offer of helping over and over again. To her, she was fine. The only time she should have accepted help was getting out of the trap or if she collapsed like in Mt. Frostmeer and couldn't verbally object even if she wanted to.

"But you're not on your own." Sova pointed out. "I'm with you. I don't plan to abandon you, if that's what you're thinking....not everyone's like that." He assured, knowing very well himself that trust could be a difficult thing to have. He himself hardly had trust for anyone.

If he couldn't get Mirage to trust him, how could he protect her....? He wondered for a moment, then decided on a solution. He would make absolutely sure they found the treasure. If it was money or something worth money, he'd give it all to Mirage so that she could buy things instead of having to trick others into giving them to her or steal them.

"So what you're just going to follow me around like a lost puppy instead of going and actually doing your guild work? What if you were assigned a mission to hunt me down dead or alive? What then? I'm an outlaw, I'm a Dark Type, if i'm not an outlaw I am nothing and I will die. That is how the world works," Mirage stated, this was getting confusing for her. Here this glaceon was, offering her an easier lifestyle and yet she had been told all of her life that she had to live a certain way. She thought for a moment, thinking of what it would like to not be an outlaw.
...
That seemed rather damn boring.
"Besides, I wouldn't get to fuck with pokemon as much," she added on.

Sova had so many things he wanted to say, but waited for Mirage to finish before he spoke. "Okay, first off, I don't know what your type has to do with anything....I'm an Ice Type, you're a Dark Type, no problem. I don't know much about where you came from but type doesn't mean anything here. Second, I don't get assigned missions, I choose them my self, and if I WAS assigned a mission to hunt you, I'd fail it, no one could prove anything." He paused for a moment.

"Last....if you aren't an outlaw, you're still something to me. If your current occupation as a criminal was all that mattered, why would I be your friend?"

Mirage fell silent, instead just walking along the golden leaf-littered forest floor. She didn't know how to respond to that. Who would want to be friends with an outlaw? The zorua could only be silent as they moved along, not paying attention to where she was going and staring down at the path ahead of her as she limped along. Even if she was to abandon her life of thievery, she would still be hunted for her bounty. She would still be chased after and hated for being one at one point. What about the other outlaws she had encountered? Would they laugh at her and call her weak? She didn't know, she just didn't know.

Sova stayed silent as well, not knowing where else to go with the conversation.  He'd said all he wanted to say and was expecting a reply from the zorua, but there was no reply....  He thought for a moment on what a good topic would be.  Something to lighten the mood a bit.  "So, what do you think the treasure is?"  He asked.  Perfect topic, Mirage obviously liked treasure since she'd agreed to go searching for it and had an occupation as a thief.

(34 energy)

Lord E V carried out 5 launched of one Fallen Leaf Copse :

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Mirage thought for a moment, letting the topic change from its current course to this new path the glaceon had laid out for it. What exactly was the treasure? Some kind of crown? Jewels? Money? Obviously it had to be something valuable that would give reason for all the ruckus this dungeon seems to have caused. The whole nationwide search across the lands for this dungeon, the riddles, the paying off of the land owners, and now they finally had something to explore! Question is...where IS the treasure? What did they have to do to get it?
"I don't know, something valuable I guess from all of this trouble," she finally spoke.

Sova thought about what HE thought the treasure was. Surely it was something valuable....or was it? "Hah, what if it turns out to be something really dumb like.... "The copse is the treasure!" That'd be the biggest letdown ever." He mused, hoping to spark a bit of laughter in the zorua. He hadn't seen Mirage laugh much....Actually, had he seen her laugh at all yet? Or even smile? Did this zorua ever feel happiness?

It all made sense now. It would have to be the glaceon's goal to make this zorua laugh at least once today. But what does a hardened criminal with stunted emotions laugh at?

"Yeah it would," she huffed, continuing on with her path without even a crack, "especially when it's entirely up to opinion whether or not this place is a treasure," she added on. She could go on with reasons as to why this would be a horrible treasure for that Xatu to reveal, but she decided to stop there instead of ranting on and on. She'd probably drive the glaceon insane if she continued, she looked ahead and noticed a Teddiursa up ahead who seemed to be sticking its paws inside a tree, perhaps trying to gather some honey?

She stopped, "Hey, we should probably go around it and avoid a fight or somethin-"

The teddiursa turned and noticed them, "Huh?" a smile grew wide on its face, "Oh boy! New Friends!"

Before Sova could even agree or disagree with the suggestion to avoid the teddiursa, it had noticed them. At the very least it seemed pretty clear it didn't intend to attack them, but the glaceon kept ready to defend himself, knowing from past experience that some pokemon could be extremely misleadingly friendly in greetings then attack.

"Uh....hiii." He said, accompanied by a wave of his paw at the teddiursa. Maybe at the very least it could give them some directions. Or maybe it could help him make Mirage laugh....

The teddiursa stood up, staring at them. It tilted its head, "Well you going to invite me over or what?" it asked.

The zorua blinked in confusion, what was this all about? The teddiursa seemed to act like it was an old time friend of both of their's. She didn't know about Sova, but she had certainly never seen this small bear before. She was unable to wave though, due to one paw being injured and the other being the only think keeping her front half elevated.

Sova shrugged.  "Sure, why not.  You seem friendly enough.  I'm Sova, this is...."  He stopped himself, remembering that Mirage had previously tried to keep her real name seceret.  Perhaps she would want to do so again with this teddiursa.  He nudged the zorua.  "Tell it your "name"....what ever that may be."  He suggested.

Mirage spoke when the Glaceon finished, "Foxy," she spoke, picking the first thing that popped to her mind.

The teddiursa clambered over and seemed delighted to meet them, "Hi Foxy and Sova! I'm Freddy!" he puffed out his chest as he did so, pointing to himself as if he were proud of the name. The vixen's tail flicked as the teddiursa sat before them, "So, what are you guys doing here? I'm looking for Golden!"

"Golden?" Mirage asked.

"Yeah! The sticky sweet yummy stuff that builds up in trees sometimes!" Freddy responded.

"Honey?" she asked again.

"No, Golden!" Freddy piped.

(31 energy yay for Lucky Ribbon doing work)

TOO. MANY. REFERENCES.

Foxy? Well, it wasn't the worst name in the world. Sova didn't mind the idea of calling Mirage Foxy for some odd reason. "Nice to meet you, Freddy." He replied to the bear. "So....if you're looking for....uh...."golden"....you must know your way around the Copse, or at least this area, right?" He asked. Hopefully this teddiursa would be able to help them find their way to what ever they were aiming to find here. But at the very least, they weren't being attacked, so that was a plus.

The teddiursa nodded, "Yeah! My mommy and daddy are the strongest Ursaring in the area~" Freddy piped, "we can go anywhere we like without any big twouble!" the small bear puffed out its chest once more in pride.

Mirage nodded slowly, "Uh-huh..." she soon debated whether or not to trash the bear or keep it around. The benefit of keeping it around would be that it would probably ward off enemy pokemon, the cons however...how old was this thing? It sounded rather young from the looks of it, that and it seemed a little bit too friendly. Mirage looked to Sova, "Should we keep it?" she whispered to Sova, low enough for the bear to not hear.