The Second Expedition Attempt

First topic message reminder :

Missions:

Jet glanced down at the papers in his paws that he had taken from the Grassveil Guild's bulletin boards. He had been out here on a mission before from the guild but it had ended in a failure. However, this was one Buizel who was determined not to let this one defeat get the better of him. This time, however, Jet had decided to be a little bit more bold. His new mission as to rescue an Egg that had been stolen from a Beautifly. This one was an Outlaw mission, and it was one that he knew that he needed to start doing to try to toughen himself up. Perhaps, he figured, a more drastic situation could spark the strength he needed, rather than sticking with a safer escort mission. His other mission was all-too-familiar, however. It was to rescue a Meowth's "beloved." A side note had been placed on the latter mission's note saying that this "beloved" was actually a bag of money that needed to be returned. He recognized this mission as the very same one that he had failed previously, and this was his chance to try again.

The awkwardness of the second mission aside, Jet knew that these would probably be the perfect missions to take for now. Not only was he slightly familiar with the contents of the Pecha Forest, due to a previous excursion into these woods once before, but it was a very straight-forward mission with very little that would interfere with him, as far as he was aware. Sure, the layout of the woods was sure to change due to its nature as a Mystery Dungeon, but that didn't concern him. He was always good at mapping terrain in his head anyway.

The only thing that worried him was this gang of Pokémon that had supposedly taken the Meowth's bag. Hopefully, he would not have to deal with them directly...but was he actually that lucky...?

In any case, he made his way between the trees, finally entering the Pecha Forest, and started hunting for his mission's objectives. He was slightly nervous to be heading off on a mission by himself...but he wanted to get stronger for when Team Mizuchi took on their first mission together as a full team.

[Remaining Energy: 22-5=17]

The Ledyba hadn't been expecting Zephyr to free himself from the tree so quickly through his Confusion status. But by the time he realized that his target was free and no longer helpless, his momentum was too much to stop. His Tackle attack was relatively harmless compared to the strength of the Nidoran's incoming Peck attack. He let out a cry of pain as the Nidoran's horn slammed into his body, throwing him backward and onto the ground on his back, just as Zephyr had planned. And soon enough, he had his limbs pinned to the ground, the small Poison-type standing on top of him. He was laid out in a supine position underneath his adversary....

Jet smiled as he watched Zephyr pull himself free from the tree and manage to slam the Ledyba right out of the air with a Super-Effective Peck attack. "W-wow, that was great!" Jet called out to him. He not only wanted to help Zephyr feel better about his loss earlier...but he also meant what he said. It was impressive to fight through Confusion status so well. But then, he turned his eyes over to the Murkrow, realizing that he was still trying to retreat against the tree again. Perhaps...he should go comfort him somehow. With that in mind, Jet made his way over to the tree that the Murkrow was hiding himself under and stepped between him and the Ledyba.

"H-hey, are...are you alright?" Jet asked. "I-I don't want you to worry. Zephyr's too strong to lose this fight.... H-he'll knock that Ledyba out for you."

---

Wild Pokémon!

Name: Ledyba
Moves:
- Tackle
- Supersonic
- ???
- ???

The bird seemed to freeze as the buizel approached, and yet relaxed a bit as the buizel pointed out that the Nidoran had been strong, and was defeating the crazed ledyba that had been following it. The fear seemed to have been soothed from a roaring river to a still one, as the Murkrow watched the Nidoran take care of the bug type.

Zephyr snapped out of confusion and found himself sitting on top of the Ledyba, it struggled underneath him while he sat on top of it almost comically. He blinked, wondering if he should continue attacking or to sit there and let it suffer humiliation of being sat upon and left helpless. He looked to the buizel, his weight pinning the bug, "Ey, should we just knock it out or do you think it's learned his lesson?"

Jet looked down at the bird Pokémon, glad that he could have at least calmed the Murkrow down at least a little bit. The fear seemed much less active, at least. He didn't seem to be intentionally cowering anymore. And for now, he supposed that that was all he could hope for. At least until the Ledyba was taken down completely. And on that note, the Buizel turned his attention back to the battle at hand. Well...the term battle would have to be used rather loosely here. It was more like a total stomping at this point. The Ledyba had started strong, but now he was simply struggling uselessly against Zephyr's weight. And to make things even better, the Nidoran seemed to have snapped right out of his confusion.

Jet watched Zephyr stand atop the Ledyba, keeping him pinned down with his weight alone. The sight left the Buizel slightly torn. On one hand, the situation was probably awfully humiliating for him, and that did not sit very well with his conscience. On the other hand, however Zephyr was probably enjoying himself and enjoying his act of dominance. And since he himself felt partially responsible for making the Nidoran feel worse about himself due to the fact that he had won their battle, he wondered it would be right of him to interfere.

Thankfully, the Buizel's inner struggle was relieved when Zephyr himself asked him for his opinion. He looked down at the Murkrow for a moment before looking over at Zephyr again. "O-oh, I uh...I think that maybe...he's been embarrassed enough. M...maybe we should give him a chance to fly away. A-and...and if he doesn't leave us and the Murkrow alone, then you can knock him out...." It seemed fair enough to him at least. After all, why should they knock him unconscious if they didn't have to? "I-I mean...violence and battle isn't always the answer, right...?"

The nidoran pondered the thought for a moment, before jumping off of the Ledyba, his hindlegs giving a slight kick in the ledyba's stomach as he did so, though not willingly. He landed on the ground before turning around to see what the bug and flying type would do. He was more than happy to give the bug type a beat down if it decided to perform this little trick again, and if it fled then he would just get the joys of watching his opponent retreat. The only way this would have a sour outcome for the Nidoran is if the Ledyba had decided to fight, and somehow beat him to a bloody pulp.

The Buizel watched Zephyr carefully for a moment. At first, he almost wondered if the Nidoran was simply going to ignore his words and decide to make his own decision anyway. After all, he did take a while to act. However, in the end, his partner decided to ultimately jump off of the Ledyba at last, much to Jet's gratefulness. If the Nidoran had decided to continue humiliating the Bug-type Pokémon like he had, he may have decided to stop him himself. After all, that would practically be bullying the small Pokémon, even though he was the one that started the fight in the first place. He nodded to the Nidoran in an attempt to show his gratefulness that he had listened.

The Ledyba let out an audible grunt as the Nidoran smacked his leg into his stomach as he kicked off. He coughed slightly as he tried to climb back to his feet and kick back off into the air. He stumbled slightly for a moment, clearly off put by the pounding he had just received. He looked at the Nidoran for a moment, relieved that the Poison-type Pokémon had let him up. But suddenly, his gaze turned fierce and he rushed forward. He attempted to strike quickly while the Nidoran was still sitting there, hoping to get a hit with his Tackle attack before he could strike back. He did not like the idea of turning tail...especially after such a humiliating pin. He wanted to really get back at that Nidoran.

---

Wild Pokémon!

Name: Ledyba
Moves:
- Tackle
- Supersonic
- ???
- ???

Zephyr cried out in surprise as he was tackled, knocking him into a tumble before he stopped his tumble and tried to stand properly. He collapsed, nearly blacking out again, the wounds that the buizel had done to him still causing harm and distractions. The nidoran attempted to ignore the pain, and stood up once more, before forcing himself into an all out charge against the Ledyba, attempting to use Peck once more to finish the Ledyba or at least cause it some wounds as food for thought about attacking those who show mercy.

The Ledyba watched as Zephyr was taken down by his Tackle attack. For a moment, he thought that, perhaps, the fight was over. The Nidoran had collapsed, perhaps having taken the final blow at last. But before he could do a midair loop-de-loop of celebration, Zephyr was beginning to climb back to his feet once more. His expression immediately resumed his look of seriousness and decided to try to attack again quickly. But, before he could even make a move, Zephyr was already charging at him again. Suddenly, his mind seemed to enter a 'panic mode' as he recalled how strong that Peck attack would be. He shuffled around in the air, looking left and right, trying to make up his mind on his escape route. But by the time he finally decided, it was too late. The Nidoran's horn slammed up against his body and he let out a cry of pain. He was knocked backward and sent tumbling in the air, soon coming to the ground with a crash on his back at the trunk of a tree. But it was clear that he still was not knocked out yet. But he was definitely on the verge. He struggled to get off of his back, legs scrambling at the air in a desperate attempt to right himself on the ground.

Jet's eyes had widened and he had let out a concerned exclamation as Zephyr had been taken off-guard by the Ledyba who had decided to continue the fight, despite the Nidoran's gesture of mercy. However, it seemed that Zephyr was more than capable of getting back up and getting back at his enemy. That allowed Jet to stop and let out a small sigh of relief. "W-well...I guess you can knock him out all you want now." he murmured.

---

Wild Pokémon!

Ledyba
Moves:
- Tackle
- Supersonic
- ???
- ???

The Nidoran seemed way ahead of the buizel, he charged forward with yet another Peck attack, aiming to puncture the soft belly of the Ledyba if need be. The poison type's hustle ability made his path waver however, as he was too busy focusing on trying to get to the Ledyba and attack it that he sacrificed Accuracy. Zephyr neared the Ledyba, his eyes wide as his horn glowed, the Peck attack ready to attack the ledyba, and retrieve revenge for the previous attacks the Ledyba had pounded him so harshly with. This was his moment, his time to shine, to make up for that embarrassing loss to the water weasel!

The Ledyba was finally successful in pulling himself up and off of the ground. He shook his dizzying head for a moment, still struggling to so much as remain airborne. However, by the time his head had completely cleared, he realized that something was wrong. He had been down for far too long and still he had not-

Nope. There it was. A powerful horn slammed up against his stomach. He let out a cry of surprise as the Peck attack found its target. However, it wasn't just any ordinary hit. This particular blow felt even stronger than the last. His eyes went wide as he was thrown back, his body slamming up against the same tree as before. His body collapsed onto the ground and he lay at Zephyr's feet, finally knocked unconscious.

Jet paused when he saw the Ledyba fall at Zephyr's feet. He smiled slightly when the Ledyba stopped moving. It looked like the Nidoran had finally managed to defeat the Bug-type for good. "W-wow, that was amazing, Zephyr!" he called out, stepping toward him. "I-I don't think I could have taken him down so easily or quickly. Y-you really are something...." His smile was bright and genuine. This was perhaps another Pokémon that he could look up to....

Zephyr huffed at the ledyba, looking down at it with disgust and triumph. He got onto his hind legs, and looked to the buizel, "Eh, it was nothing," he spoke, playing it off as if the fight was no trouble. He felt a sense of pride welling within him, he had done it! He had defeated that stupidly "strong" ledyba on his own! Surely he would grow from this, get stronger from his experience. He would be able to hit harder, better, faster, and be stronger...right? The nidoran returned to his four legs, "Now, what were we doing before this happened?" he asked, completely forgetting about why he was even fighting the ledyba in the first place.

Jet listened to Zephyr and nodded to him. He certainly seemed happy and proud of himself. Why should he ruin it by pointing out that the Pokémon he had just beaten was a relatively weaker one and he had been using a super-effective move? "I-I like that you did it without relying on your Head Smash, too," he commented, complimenting him further. "Had you used that, you might have hurt yourself even more from the recoil."

He paused as Zephyr asked what they were doing before all of that. Oh yeah! That Murkrow had been hiding in fear. He turned his attention behind him so that he could look at the Murkrow who, last he had seen, had been cowering in fear at the foot of a tree. "H-hey, alright. My friend defeated that Ledyba, Mister," he said, trying to give him a smile, but only betraying how nervous and uneasy he felt, a familiar feeling when talking with complete strangers.

"Well duh, if I used that it'd just be the battle I had with you all over again," the nidoran grumbled. He returned to his four legs, and looked to the murkrow, who seemed to be overjoyed that his insectoid stalker. It thanked the two, shaking Zephyr's paws eagerly with his wings a bit too much and causing the Nidoran to fall over once the murkrow had released his paw. The flying type moved to the buizel, trying to shake his paws.
The nidoran huffed in annouance as he lifted himself back up to his feet. he took a seat and waited for them to get moving. He had lost all care he had for the Murkrow, and desired to get moving. Onward to the next opponent, was his thought process. Who cared if he was exhausted or even a little hurt? Not him! That's for sure!

Jet nodded to the Nidoran, more than happy to see that he had apparently learned his lesson from their last fight. Now, perhaps, the next time they fought, he would end up as the one on the ground as he would normally expect. Now that Zephyr wouldn't be relying solely on his most powerful attack, despite the risks, he would likely be a lot more durable and thus a much better fighter. Or at least, in theory.

Jet paused when he saw Zephyr's paws get shaken by the Murkrow and his own eyes widened slightly in surprise when he turned to him. "E-eheh...." Jet murmured, bringing his paws up to the back of his head as the bird Pokémon moved to shake with him. He had seen what happened with Zephyr. And he was even lighter on his feet than he was. He was not very keen on getting thrown to the ground with overly strong paw shaking. "Y-yeah, it's, erm...n-not a problem," he said. "That's just us Guildmates doing our job." He let out another nervous chuckle before he made an obvious attempt to step around the Murkrow and stand beside Zephyr. "B-but for now...we've got other jobs to tend to. S-so if you'll please excuse us...." With that, he glanced down at Zephyr and gestured for him to come and turned to leave.

Zephyr followed the buizel on a dime, not caring for the murkrow as it took to the skies and flew off. He waddled just behind the buizel, moving about quickly as he forced one leg after another to tail the buizel.
"What were the missions again?" he asked, also having completely forgotten about them during his scuffle with the beastly Ledyba. His eyes were focused on the ground ahead of him, his short height making it difficult to have a large field of view that looked at more than the ground and above any nearby bushes and tall grass. His mind was once more set on the mission, knowing that they had to fight something, but he couldn't quite remember what.

Jet looked back at the Nidoran as he began to speak up again. He paused at his words, thinking about the missions he had originally taken that sent him out here in the first place. "Um..." he answered, thinking and trying to recall what had been written on the forms. "Let me see.... I think we had to retrieve an egg from a Tranquill for one of them, and then we had to rescue a Meowth's 'beloved' from a gang of Sableye." He gulped slightly as he said that. "I'm...still less than confident that I have what it takes to handle an entire gang of Pokémon all at once."

Jet looked at Zephyr again. "Do you think it might be a better idea to avoid conflict with them entirely? Or...do you think that we could take them? I know you're really strong and all, but..." He trailed off there. He didn't want to accidentally say something that the Nidoran might consider insulting.