Lost in the woods

First topic message reminder :

Trace slogged through the muddy ground as rivulets of frigid water drained from the dense canopy above. His head was close to the ground and he looked at his surroundings with exhausted eyes. Was it morning or night? Did it even matter? No, not in this world of darkness that the Electrike found himself in. How did he get here? The last time he was anywhere was when he was with that young Swablu, what was his name? Varda?? Yea, that must be the child’s name. Trace stopped in his tracks, staring at his immature feet as hot tears welled in his eyes. That bird was probably just as old as he was, perhaps even older. He should be just as carefree as Varda was, and yet- NO! Just Keep on moving forward! If you stop the memories will return…

Trace managed to get himself moving again, although it was difficult. Every muscle in him felt numb and overused. He was cold, exhausted, muddy, wet, hungry, suffering to the point where everything stopped mattering. His first step in getting this lost was when he rushed recklessly into Pecha forest after throwing the surprisingly light bird through the air. By the time he realized he was hopelessly lost he was somewhere in Shadowhue Forest. At that point Trace did the only thing he did best: pick a direction and go. Eventually he would hit something like a road or some other landmark that would lead him to an inhabited place. No such luck however, due to the prevalence of aggressive pokemon that forced him to flee in random directions until he was even more lost than when he started. He did manage to find a good few items, but anything he found he had to immediately eat in order to stave off his only companion. Now he was at the end of his rope, each step harder then all he has done to this point. He didn’t even realize how labored his breath was as he doggedly plowed on.

Just ahead of him something began taking shape out of the gloom. It was an old hollowed out tree, barely even a stump at this point. In a better situation it would fail horribly as a shelter. The stump was small, roofless, rotting, and falling apart. Trace didn’t have the luxury nor the strength to find anything better. If only he could reach that haven! The Electrike’s feet dragged across the ground. Whether or not he wanted it, his body was shutting down. He forced a few more steps, then he collapsed sideways. He simply fell, his body hitting the ground with a weak thump. Trace’s vision got fuzzy and out of focus before his eyebrows smoothly slid to a close. Darkness took him. Why?

He was just three steps from the stump.

(I got impatient or else I would have written a dream and officially set the stage to be in the morning. Feel free to have your character adventuring now or the following day, both could work very well for me. It would be a great start for Jet to find Trace’s unconscious form…)

Now that the Electrike had managed to swallow the Berry, albeit quite a bit more slowly than he would have liked, Jet couldn't help but smile slightly. He tried to reach down and grab him, but something stopped him. He saw the Electrike's eyes opening for the first time since he had actually found him. "Y-you're awake!" Jet exclaimed somewhat excitedly. That was a huge weight that had just been lifted off of his shoulders. Now that he knew that this Pokémon was truly still alive, he could feel certain that his actions were not in vain and were actually very useful.

But his trip did not end there. He needed to lift him off of the ground again and pull him back onto his back so that he could continue on his way to the Monochrome Falls. If he could just get there, then this entire trip would be worth it. Now that Trace had eaten a Berry and restored him from the critical stage, all he would need is some time to rest. If he could just get them to that point, then everything would be good to go. "Don't worry...I'm taking you someplace safe." he said to Trace, hoping to keep him from passing out again. "Once we get there, I'll let you rest and we can head back together. Alright? And-"

He stopped as he realized that his next step on the forest floor creaked. He knew what was about to come, as it had happened to him once before. In retaliation and on pure instinct, he tried to release the Electrike and push him backward so that he would land on the ground behind him. The next moment, the ground beneath him gave way, causing him to fall down and into a pitfall trap. "WAGH!" he cried out as he plummeted unexpectedly and smacked his body hard against the earth at the bottom of the pit. He laid there for a moment, groaning from the impact. His exhausted body couldn't take anymore. He struggled to lift himself up with his arms again, but they failed him. He could only lay there for a good thirty seconds at least. But soon, he came to remember something that he had with him.

Jet grabbed the Apple from his back and sank his teeth into the item. He did not want to waste such a valuable item, but he had no choice in the matter. If he didn't eat this here, he would wind up passing out himself from overexertion. And then there would be no way for him to help the Electrike to Monochrome Falls. He felt the Apple revitalize him slightly and he shook his head, now energized enough to make the climb...but not quite before depositing a stone he found nearby into his bag as well. The Leaf Stone would be sure to come in handy at some point. It must have fallen down into the pit when he broke the surface. But the Buizel didn't think too hard on it. Instead, he focused all of his attention on climbing the dirt wall of the trap and slowly making his way back out.

Once Jet was outside of the trap, he felt more drained than ever...but at least he was up and still able to keep moving. He forced himself back onto his feet and made his way over to Trace again.

"Sorry...I was...careless..." he said, reaching down and picking the Electrike up and beginning to drag him past the pitfall. They were almost there.... He was so close to the Falls. He could barely hear them in the distance. Just a little bit farther....

{Energy: 6 - 5 + 5 - 1 = 5}

(energy: 11 - 8 + 5 +1 for page = 9)

Trace ate and swallowed the berry, taking some delight in the blend of flavors it had while it restored his strength enough to break through the almost death causing fatigue he was in previously. He managed to open his eyes enough to see his rescuer. It was a Buizel, the bright yellow float was impossible to mistake even in the gloom of this forest. "Y-you're awake!" The Buizel exclaimed after noticing that he had opened his eyes. The Electrike struggled to speak for a moment, but all he could manage was a pitiful moan so he stopped trying. Instead he tried his best to convey his gratitude to his rescuer through his black eyes.

The Buizel then picked him up again and began walking in the direction he can hear the water coming from, "Don't worry...I'm taking you someplace safe. Once we get there, I'll let you rest and we can head back together. Alright? And-" Suddenly the floor shifted under the pokemon's foot, Trace could feel it through the pokemon. Reacting quickly the Buizel successfully threw Trace backward, causing him to ragdoll on the forest floor and loose sight of his friend. The Electrike's rear landed on something that didn't fit with the forest floor, Trace felt a light click reverberate through his body and suddenly a brilliant light surrounded him. The light would be easily visible from within the pitfall trap Jet was in.

Caught within the strange, multicolored light Trace felt strangely at peace as if his body instinctively knew that it was not in any danger. He felt more energy surge through his system, strengthening enfeebled limbs and heightening his alertness to something almost on the level of normal. The light faded shortly after that, but now Trace felt strong enough to try standing. He struggled to roll his legs underneath him and push against the ground. His will struggled against his unresponsive body for a full thirty seconds before he managed to get into a standing position. Good, now if I can only stay standing until we reach this safe place...

The Electrike's eyes surveyed the area, easily spotting the hole the Buizel had fallen into "hey, are you all right?" His words were slow and sluggish, but it's better than silence. Anxiously he waited for his rescuer to show himself from the trap he saved Trace from.

--

In the tree canopy ahead of them there was a Slakoth slowly climbing its way forward. It noticed the sudden light behind it just as it was reaching for the next branch. The beast swiveled his head around to get a look at the commotion, peering at their direction with half-lidded eyes. Unfortunately for it this caused him to miss the next branch, overbalance, and fall to the ground with a noticeable thud. Now on the ground it blinked as if only just now registering what happened to it, and let out a startled cry almost a minute after falling.

A wild Slakoth has appeared! Challenge rating: pathetic.
Known moves:
-Yawn
-Slack off
-Scratch
-

After searching for a good while the two Flabebe managed to find a reviver seed, but now they encountered another problem. "uhhh, which way were the two that you mentioned again?" the red Flabebe looked at the other as the blue one scanned the forest. They spotted the sudden light and hoped that it was them. "Over there!" "Lets go. They need our help!" Working as one the two picked up the reviver seed and began floating in the direction of the light.

(sorry about taking a step backward but I feel you may want to do a few things differently now that Trace can move on his own, also on next post: Incoming left! :3)

As Jet slowly made his way back out of the hole, the climb made all the more difficult by his lack of claws on his paws. However, he suddenly heard a voice from above him that caused him to look up. "You...?" he asked as he saw Trace look into the hole he had fallen into. he was...awake and standing again? That was great...! Unfortunately for him, however, the shock was enough to loosen his grip on the dirt wall. His grip slipped and his eyes widened fearfully before falling backward and ending up back at the bottom of the pit one again. "Oof...!" he grunted again as he hit the soft earthen bottom of the hole again.

"Urgh..." he groaned as he pulled himself back up to his feet and started the climb again. This time, however, he was able to eventually make it back to the top again. he pulled himself over the edge of the pitfall trap and he laid himself out on the grass, panting to himself. Climbing the length of the pit one and a half times was really tiresome for a physically-lacking Buizel like himself. From the ground, he looked up at the Electrike that had peered down into the hole to see him. "S-so you're...okay then?" Jet asked, finally forcing himself to sit up one more time. "Maybe you shouldn't force yourself to stand so soon. You were just in critical condition and you might still be in bad shape. Y-you shouldn't exert yourself too much...."

At that point, something let out some kind of startled cry and Jet turned his gaze to the side, looking over at the Slakoth that was now laying on the path ahead of them. "...Uh...hi there...?" he murmured, standing up and beginning to approach the Slakoth without any kind of raised guard. This Pokémon didn't look particularly threatening, so hopefully his guard wouldn't be necessary....

(wow I haven't done anything for a long time here... Perhaps now I'll manage to keep at least a slightly constant activity)

"Ah, be careful!" Trace gasped in a mixture of concern and surprise when the Buizel lost his grip on the loose wall and slid back to the floor. Thankfully the water type began climbing back up without any problems, so he stepped back some in order for the Buizel to have enough room to clamber out of the hole.

Trace seemed to wait patiently for the Pokemon to recuperate after he collapsed in the grass, but really the Electrike could only focus on standing. Why should he try to hide it, his legs were shot. The combined exertion from before asking with being half dragged across the ground have made his muscles sore and raw.

I have to move! Moving is the first step, if he could move then he may have a chance of safely escaping. Plus it would release the burden of having to carry himself from his rescuer. Trace could lay down but he isn’t sure if he would be able to stand up again, so instead he stared at his shaky legs while breathing calmly in hopes to steady himself. It worked somewhat, but he didn’t notice the buizel sit up.

“Don’t worry too much about me, thanks to whatever you fed me and what I landed on I have the strength to stand now. Until we can get somewhere safe, we’ll have to rely on each other.” Trace flashed a weak smile, trying to sound as confident as if he were at full strength. The farce probably wasn’t believable, but there wasn’t much time to dwell on it because a sudden cry from ahead distracted Trace. Apparently a Slakoth had fallen on the path ahead. It seemed really pathetic though, it wasn’t in any kind of aggressive stance and was just lying on the road with a surprised expression on its face.

The Electrike looked between the Buizel and the Slakoth as he started to approach the wild pokemon. “He seems to be very slow, perhaps we could walk around him without any danger?” He whispered to the Buizel as he fell in step with the water type. Yet the Slakoth noticed them approaching and calmly lumbered to its feet, and then puffed up its chest by breathing in. What is he doing? Is he going to shout? Trace wondered, tilting his head slightly in confusion. Then it became obvious what was about to happen as the slakoth opened his mouth and let out a mighty… yawn?

Trace yawned moments later… This isn’t good! he berated himself for being so relaxed. Already he was getting sleepier, this wasn’t a good place to go to sleep but exhaustion clawed at him. His ears almost didn’t pick up the rustling in the bushes to the left of the path, but what happened next certainly had an effect.

There was a violent explosion of foliage as something large and red tore through the bushes. The red cannonball slammed into the slakoth with a powerful smack. The impact rocketed the Slakoth off the path; you could hear it's pained screams a moment later. The red ball floated in the air for a moment before it seemed to split in two, a section of darkness appearing between two hemispheres. A couple of hollow rods made it's way out of the shadows as the Pokemon began turning to face the pair with two menacing eyes. The Forretress began laughing, a sound like a cross between an insect's hum and a low mechanical laugh.

A wild Forretress appears! Challenge rating: Deadly!
Known moves:
-Zap Cannon
-protect(limit uses: 3)
-Mirror Shot
-Take Down

Snapping out of his yawn induced drowsiness, Trace yelped in shock from the sudden appearance of the Pokemon. This really isn’t good! Even though he had previously wandered this forest for who knows how long, this is the first time he encountered something that felt this deadly. The Electrike glanced at the buizel who saved, and is still trying to save, him from an untimely end in this forest. This time Trace couldn’t run; even if he had the energy, his speed would leave the pokemon to fend for himself.

“I hope you have enough strength to fight, because I don’t think we can escape from this…” Trace growled as he dropped into a battle-ready stance. Hopefully the adrenaline coursing through his body would give enough fuel to survive this dangerous situation...

{Heheh. That'd be cool if you could~ But I certainly don't want to force you to do anything you don't/can't do at any time.}

Jet gave Trace a look of uncertainty, clearly hesitant to believe his claims of returning strength. He was also apprehensive about letting the Electrike walk on his own, given his condition a mere minute ago. Healing item or not, his body was in far worse condition than any Pokémon he had ever known in his entire life. Not even he ever found himself so close to death's door while he was being bullied back home. They new when to stop, thankfully for him. However, whatever this Electrike had been through as clearly far worse than anything he himself had ever experienced. He could only guess on how Trace found himself like that.... And now he wanted to help himself?

"Please, just...try to take it easy, okay?" he finally said, deciding to give the Electrike a chance. Although part of the reason for his agreement to letting the Electrike help himself was that he really...REALLY did not want to keep carrying him if he could avoid it and still help. He was surprisingly heavy and after climbing out of that hole one and a half times, his arms were probably too weak to keep it up for long without having to stop and take an extended rest anyway.

Everything that happened next stunned Jet for a few seconds. He watched the Slakoth get to his feet and unleash a Yawn attack at Trace. It looked like this Pokémon wanted to battle with them after all. They could possibly still escape, but he did not want to risk losing Trace while they ran. The best course of action would be to battle. Thankfully, he didn't seem very tough. If there was any Pokémon in this forest that he felt he could handle by himself, it was this one. He nodded and clenched his paws into fists, ready to fight back if he could find the strength. But before he could do anything, short work had been made of the Slakoth already. This time, by a very menacing Pokémon that Jet had only seen once in books while at the library. It was certainly not a very common Pokémon. The Forretress glared at the two of them. Jet looked at the Forretress, which was actually not far from where he was currently standing.

"Y-yeah, I-I should be...o-okay." he answered Trace. "I-I can...I can do this...." However, he was trying to convince himself more than he was talking to Trace. In truth, his legs were shaking slightly, and he was gazing fearfully at the extremely menacing Pokémon before him. Plus, he was still lacking in strength after half-dragging Trace through the forest and climbing out of that hole. He would normally already lack the self-confidence to fight with something like this...but now he wasn't anywhere near his top strength.

He gulped silently, but stole a quick glance back at Trace. The Electrike still needed his help. They needed to fight...and he had to help him. He had already promised that the two of them were getting out of this forest. Now, he had to help Trace. There was no escape for him here. He could only cling to the vague hope that the power of necessity was going to be enough to drive him to victory.

Trace’s eyes shifted between the buizel by his side and the Forretress floating not to far ahead of them, doing his best to size the situation up. Hearing the buizel’s fear-enhanced stuttering reminded him of the other times he heard the same sutter since the time his rescuer first appeared; Confidence was something he lacked. A danger in a fight like this, where a moment’s hesitation could have disastrous results. This was aggravated by the opponent they were facing. The forretress, already larger than either of them, floated a foot above the ground so that its total height was double their individual sizes.

Additionally-hold on, this was getting him no where. Leave analyzing to those who want to make plans. The one thing he knew is that every moment he spends thinking is a moment that the opponent would take to prepare for attacks. Without warning or explanation, Trace recklessly ran forward. As he ran, blue sparks began dancing around his body.

In an effort to intercept the charge, Forretress fell into a take down. It charged down diagonally hoping to slam into the running electrike, but Trace jumped a moment before the would have collided. The electricity he’s summoned rose to a pitch before arcing down and hitting the Forretress. The take down still clipped the Trace’s lower half, causing him to utter a sharp pained sound as he tumbled over the larger pokemon and landed heavily behind it. Yep… that hurt Trace thought as he pulled himself back on his feet, but at least I hit him with that. Trace faced the forretress’s back as the small dirt cloud brought up from its impact with the ground faded.

Small arcs of Trace’s electricity continued to dance along the ball-like pokemon, it was paralyzed. Yet it still rose back to its previous height; certainly strong enough to continue fighting despite the interference. Then Trace noticed something tied around one of the hollow poles of the pokemon. “Hey, this thing has a scarf on it!” He called out as the Forretress spun around much slower than before. Soon two things became apparent: The Forretress was more focused on the immediate threat from the Electrike, and there was a defense scarf tied to one of the rear spikes it sported.

The Forretress lowered itself to the ground, and turned slightly so that one of its cannons were pointed at Trace. A silvery light began glowing out of the hollow spike as it prepared an attack…

Out to the right of the cleared path the pair were fighting, a shadow fell upon a pair of Flabebe. The two looked up, gripping the reviver seed between them tightly, just in time for an injured and startled Slakoth to land on them. Heedless to the cries and protests of the pokemon pinned under its body the slakoth found that this was the perfect moment to fall asleep. Its snores drowned out the noise of the pokemon under it.

Jet's eyes widened when he suddenly saw his Electrike ally rushing recklessly forward, despite the obvious dangers of charging such a large, powerful opponent. "A-ah!" he exclaimed in surprise. "W-wait a second...!" But it was too late to stop him. Trace had already gathered too much momentum and was already sparking. Going back on his move now would be only be worse than finishing it. So the Buizel was helpless as he watched the exchange in front of him. Thankfully, overall, he would have to say that the Forretress got the worst of the exchange, thanks to the Paralysis. But in terms of pure damage output, it was obvious that the Bug and Steel-type hybrid Pokémon was hindered far less than Trace. Especially considering that the Forretress was not turning and aiming its cannons at the Electrike.

Trace was now in great danger. He was already still recovering from his earlier injuries. If he got hit by a powerful attack like whatever it was this Pokémon was charging up, he'd be even worse off. He had to do something. Now.

Jet heard Trace's call, and now knew that there was a Defense Scarf on this thing. As such, physical blows were going to be much less effective. But that did not matter right now. What did was drawing the Forretress' attention. And since there was a Defense Scarf present, he had his doubts that even his Aqua Tail would do much for him. But still...he needed to protect Trace at all costs. So, he decided to go with his go-to move for damage dealing. "H-hey, you!" Jet called out to the Forretress, trying to get its attention. He then, attempting to strike the larger Pokémon as it was turning around, swung his body around and slashed his tail through the air. This would send a shockwave through the air which would, hopefully, smash into the Forretress as it turned around. The Sonicboom attack did a consistent amount of damage if it managed to hit, regardless of type, defense or attack power. That was what made it the Buizel's favorite. It didn't matter if he was physically weak like he was. It would always deal the same damage.

(Perhaps I should lower the apparent difficulty level since he only has one reliable offensive attack now lol
Zap Cannon: useless with Trace's lightning rod, Take down: paralysis renders him incapable of building the momentum for the attack.
Well, I'll still build it up to be a challenge despite mechanics preventing any serious danger)

The attack that the Forretress was charging faltered a moment as it responded to Jet's attempt at grabbing its attention. The moment passed quickly, however, and the light increased in intensity. Either the Forretress didn't deem Jet to be much of a threat, or it was out for revenge for the trick Trace pulled.

The Mirror Shot was almost ready to be fired at the barely-prepared electrike when Jet's Sonicboom cracked solidly against the lower half of the pokemon. The impact threw off the attack, and a beam of light pierced the air a few feet above Trace. The electrike blinked as he tried to avoid looking at such a strong light directly. Certainly if one spent too long looking at that light, with it's high contrast to the darkness of Shadowhue forest, their vision would start to get messed up. A dangerous ailment in in such an intense battle.

I'll have to thank him for saving me even more. Trace thought as he focused back on the Forretress. Being hit by that Take Down really did a number on his legs; add it to the list of damage he's taken to this point. So far he can still stand and move, that's all he needs.

Aggrivated by Jet's attack, the forretress abandoned trying to strike down Trace and began rotating in the air to face Jet. Even though its movements were impeded by the paralysis, it didn't stop the pokemon from charging an attack mid-turn. Trace's fur stood on end, a response to a huge electrical field being generated by the Forretress. Whatever attack it was planning would use electricity, and a lot of it; the raw amperage being summoned caused the air in front of the pokemon to hum and arc wildly.

If that Buizel is hit by such a strong attack, it might end him! Trace couldn't let that happen! Doing the best he could to move fast on his bruised legs the electrike raced to get between the Forretress and the Buizel."Get down!" Trace's concerned voice added to the evidence that a big attack was happening. If he could even get most of the way around the pokemon then his lightning rod ability would do the rest; attract the electrical attack away from Jet and force it to dissipate against Trace's fur.

(don't want to get too far ahead in the action, mind describing what happens?)

{Heheh. Well, also keep in mind that you can give him whatever moves you want. xD You don't have to stick with four specific moves. You could give him an Egg Move, and any of the moves he would learn by level up (up to the difficulty you want him to at least. xP)}

Jet let out a small sigh of relief as his Sonicboom attack managed to at least save Trace. He watched as the silvery light shot out into the air, soaring harmlessly over the Electrike's head. He had to squint against the light, however, and make a desperate attempt to shield his eyes. The bright light had really thrown him for a loop. He had already had his eyes adjusting to the darkness of the Shadowhue Forest. And now, that bright light blinded him for the moment, rendering him completely immobile for a few moments. And unfortunately for him, that was not good enough. After all, the Forretress was in the process of turning around and turning its focus on him. It was apparently angry at him for messing up his shot. He couldn't blame it of course, but he wasn't ready for it to turn on him yet like he had expected to be.

He rubbed his eyes with his paws, trying to open them again, vision slightly blurred. But at that moment, he heard a familiar voice. The Electrike called out to him, telling him to get down. He hesitated for a moment, but quickly obeyed. At this point, he trusted Trace...and he wasn't going to refuse him. He dove to the ground, covering his head with his paws. And just in time, too.

The moment Jet felt his chest hit the ground, he hear a loud, crackling sound as the Forretress' Zap Cannon was launched, blasting toward them at a relatively slow pace for a projectile attack. It was aimed right over Trace's head, right toward where Jet was laying. However, it did not get anywhere. Instead, it somehow became attracted to the mane on Trace's head, rushing toward it like it were magnetic. The large, electrical blast slammed into Trace's skull instead of its initial target. The electricity then began to dissipate as Trace's body seemed to absorb the electricity and charge him up somewhat.

Finally, Jet opened his eyes, realizing what was going on. He had read only a little bit on Electrike, and wasn't familiar with their skillsets. But he did know about the Lightningrod ability when he was researching ways to protect himself from his elemental weaknesses. The Electrike had just absorbed the electric-type attack...and now he was likely slightly stronger as a result. That is, as long as he had special attacks that he could use.

"W-wow, th-thank you...." Jet murmured in awe. "Th-that was fantastic...."

(sorry if there's a noticible mood change, muse was shifted to this song: https://youtu.be/NkYYYew8CUI but I think it makes some sense with what just happened. :D )

After absorbing the electricity, Trace's coat seemed to glow slightly. The dog shook himself, and glittering sparks of electricity dusted off of him like many fireflies. "whew, that was quite the bit of energy there!" He exclaimed, feeling a little invigorated with the influx. "If this thing can create more blasts like that it'd be best if we stayed close together. There's no telling what a blast like that would do to you." Trace commented while looking at the water pokemon in front of him.

The forretress roared after seeing its attack prove ineffective, annoyed that what should be an easy victory against two weakened pokemon is proving to be a trial. Thankfully there were still some things that it could do, this fight was far from over. For now he would just have to maintain pressure until one of them made an error that the other couldn't cover. With this plan in mind the pokemon prepared another mirror shot at the Buizel. Since it was already aiming at Jet with the zap cannon it would be the best action to avoid aggravating the paralysis.

Trace however, was facing away from the forretress. By the time he would notice the incoming blast it'd be too late to stop it. That didn't stop him from trying, as he then rushed under and aimed a tackle up. The electrike's hope was to hit the cannon and force it off target, but it was a wild shot so he was just as likely to slam into the pokemon's body or end up right in the path of the mirror shot moments after it began firing.

{Heheh. That's fine~ xD I'm just glad that you got around to posting, really~}

Jet let out a loud sigh of relief as the electrical blast resulted in no harm done to either of them. He smiled gratefully to the Electrike, knowing full well that he would have been completely fried and probably severely injured from a powerful blast like that. He could be nothing but grateful to Trace for the rescue. But of course, even he had to admit that this fight was still far from over. While it might be a type that's resisted by the both of them, the Metal Shot attack was still powerful enough to cause some good damage. He also had that Take Down attack that he demonstrated earlier. And even still, there was one more move that the Forretress had not used yet. Jet could only guess what it might be...and he hoped that it did not involve exploding and causing extraordinary damage. As that was one of the few things he had found out about Pokémon like this.

Jet nodded to Trace, but didn't respond to him. He acknowledged the Electrike's intelligent advice. It was definitely for the best, so he concurred with him. However, just as soon as he nodded, the Forretress was already preparing for its next attack. The cannon, still pointed straight for him, was now starting to glow with a familiar silver energy. This was undoubtedly the same Mirror Shot that had been fired before. He had to get out of the way. He needed to move now before it was too late. But...his legs suddenly felt like lead.  The Buizel found himself completely grounded, unable to budge. He simply froze, staring up at the incoming blast with a fearful gaze.

Thankfully for him, Trace was not so quick to freeze and reacted, if a bit late. The Electrike had rushed forward and quickly attempted to slam a Tackle attack into the Steel-type Pokémon. The Electric Pokémon's attack had missed the intended target, but he had succeeded in slamming into the Forretress' body. Thankfully, that also worked as Trace hoped...but in a different manner. The Tackle attack caused extremely minimal direct damage, but it did manage to rotate the mostly-spherical Pokémon, which moved its cannon downward. Now the blast, instead of striking Jet, struck the ground right in the middle of the three of them.

In the resulting explosion, Jet found himself getting thrown backward, crying out in shock and pain as his back slammed powerfully up against a nearby tree trunk. He grunted from the impact and fell forward, collapsing onto his stomach at the roots. He had been slightly hurt from the blast...but he was in much better shape than he would have been had Trace not acted when he did.

(posting twice within 12 hours? Pigs must be flying outside my window XD)
Thankfully Trace's speed proved a boon as he managed to slam his back into the Forretress before it hit Jet. However the attack, against a steel type with a defense scarf, there was little else effect. This thing was solid! Its a surprise that the attack didn't hurt Trace, perhaps this scarf the Buizel had placed on him had something to do with that.

Trace landed on the ground, and made the mistake of looking to his ally to see how he fared. At the same time of him looking over to the water pokemon, the mirror shot hit the ground. It also blasted Trace back, causing him to roll and skid against the leafy ground so that he was behind the Forretress. Physically the blast didn't do much damage, but oh man that light! Trace blinked, rolling his eyes as if it would shake off the afterimage. It helped somewhat, although he was having double vision.

What the blast didn't effect much was the Forretress. The thing was built like a tank, and the shockwave simply rolled around it. However it did feel the tackle coming from below, what a perfect opportunity! Just fall and crush the fool that was under it. So, the Forretress used take-down on the spot that held the Electrike just moments before the blast. It slammed in the empty ground with enough force to make the area shudder, likely disrupting hurried attempts of getting back up. You are sure that had to hurt.

Realizing that it hadn't hit anything, the Forretress tried to float back up to its previous position. It couldn't though as the effects of paralysis stunned him for the moment. There was a window of opportunity, but could they get up in time to take it?

For his part the electrike struggled to his feet for the second time after loosing his balance from the tremor caused by their opponent. He had to stand! To lie down was to give up, and he dreaded giving up more than anything.

{Pft. Well then, maybe we should try for more and get more weird stuff to happen~ xP}

Jet shook his head as he hit the grass, trying to recover from the impact as quickly as he could. With an opponent as sturdy and powerful as this Forretress hovering around, he couldn't afford to lay around like this. It would merely make him a very tempting and vulnerable target. Thankfully, he was given additional time to climb back to his feet again. The floating Steel-type Pokémon had attempted to slam his entire body down into Trace, who had already been blasted away from the impact site. Neither of them could afford to take a direct shot from any of these attacks, given how exhausted they both were from simply traveling around the forest. He had never imagined that his second trip into the woods would have brought him to such a drastically different battle. He could only hope to Arceus that the two of them could make it out of this alive.

Once the Buizel was back on his feet, he glared up at the Forretress again, ready to avoid whatever he had planned to do next. Likely another cannon blast or Take Down. However...something surprising happened instead. Jet's eyes widened as he observed small crackles of electricity coursing around the metallic Pokémon's body. The Paralysis had finally kicked in and done its job! This was just the opportunity they needed. An opening to hopefully deliver a good, solid hit for once. There was just one main problem. Jet's strongest attack, aside from relying on his abysmal physical strength, was a physical attack that would hit a physically defensive Pokémon wearing a Defense Scarf. It would likely not be a very effective blow. So instead, he only had one thing he could rely on, as per usual.

Jet shook his head and rushed forward, deciding that he needed to do this. His body ached from the previous explosion, but he tried to ignore the pain. Instead, he jumped into the air, spun his body around, and slashed his tail through the air. He attempted to slam another shock wave using Sonicboom into his target's center. Hopefully, it would do more damage than he expected it to....

{Energy = 9}
The forretress saw the incoming slash of pressurized air and knew it had to defend itself. It activated Protect, but the energy was slow to activate. It's eyes widened as the immobile pokemon willed the shield to form faster. A circle of green energy formed above the pokemon that began expanding around its form as the sonicboom race for him. What would happen first? Would the Protect come in time to guard against the attack? It was going to be close!

The sonicboom skirted by just as the protect completed its barrier. The attack then proceeded to slam into the only vulnerable place on the Forretress, the opening slit separating the hemispheres, for critical damage. In this scenario the protect did more harm than good: leaving the sonicboom to bounce around inside the shield, hitting the forretress several more times in the process, as it dissipated instead of striking through the target once. Suffice to say, it was a truly lucky blow. Yet it still wasn't enough to take the beast out...

Still covered by its protect the Forretress lumbered out of the hole it made after slamming into the ground. It had to end this now! The pride of winning a hundred matches were on the line, it couldn't loose to these weaklings! Even though it knew the attack would exhaust him fully, it had to use That.

Cannons started to poke through the green energy as the light of a mirror shot started to shine in each one. Wait, there was something strange about each opening, they were angled! Moments after that observation could be made, the cannons fired their load causing the forretress to spin in place and throwing wave after wave of the white energy in a near unavoidable attack.

By this time Trace had managed to stand up, but he could do little but stare at the incoming attack. His legs wouldn't move! The first wave (slammed/cut/burned? o.O) into his side and threw him back as he screamed in pain. The electrike rag-dolled through the air before skidding across some loose leaves. He opened his eyes to see another wave coming in to hit. This was the end, the first hit was bad enough. He couldn't survive a second hit. Trace closed his eyes, waiting for the pain to come. It never did. Surprised by the realization, he opened his eyes once more to see why. A tree branch had fallen in front of him. The branch shielded him from further attacks.

Such a wild attack from the Forretress also had an effect on the enviroment. Items and pokemon fell from the trees as the beams slammed into the trunks surrounding the path.

Guest carried out 6 launched of one Shadowhue Forest :

, , , , ,

Jet's eyes widened slightly fearfully as he saw the flickering of a green forcefield that started to be created around the Forretress' body. So that was the final move it had hidden up its sleeve. Well, he supposed he should just be grateful that he was unable to utilize the explosive move Self Destruct. That would have been a disaster for the both of them. But at the same time, the fact that he was about to stop his Sonicboom was rather frustrating. He would have to more carefully plan his next few moves if he wanted to...wait.

What just happened?

Somehow, his Sonicboom had managed to not only score a hit, but manage to end up on the inside of the shield and turned his own defensive move against him. Instead of protecting him like the shielding move Protect was supposed to, it somehow managed to actually trap the attack inside and continue to inflict some serious damage. He wasn't quite sure how that came to be, but he was certainly not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. The Buizel allowed himself a moment of celebration as the Sonicboom finally dissipated completely, allowing him to see just how much damage his simple attack had done. This was a possible fight to win after all!

Of course, as that thought crossed his mind, the Forretress had started to rise again and a familiar energy began to be emitted from those cannons. His eyes widened as he realized what that meant...and soon enough, he experienced it himself. A wild barrage of silvery blasts of energy had been expelled from their opponent's body, launching blast after blast to the surrounding area without discrimination. Jet's body was too exhausted to evade such random blasts for long...and soon enough, he was blasted square in his chest. He let out a loud cry of pain and was thrown hard against a tree that was behind him. But before he could even fall back to the ground...he saw another blast headed his way. And unlike his companion, he was not so lucky to have something block the path of the attack.

His body was blasted again, throwing him back up against the tree a second time. Finally, his body was given a moment of peace and he collapsed, falling hard onto the forest floor on his stomach. There he lay, groaning in exhaustion. Thankfully, though, his position allowed for the remainder of the bursts to sail over his head, though he would feel the occasional branches and foliage fall on top of his back from the random debris.