Echoes in the Dark

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Mission Details:

Today was a nice day.  The sun was shining and it was warm.  What taunting weather....  Sova the glaceon stood at the entrance to a cave, peering inside.  Dark and cold awaited him.  Not that it made a difference to him.  He just wanted to do missions and gain ranking....  Eventually he would have the undeniably best team in the guild.  It wasn't really much of a "team" since he'd done most of the work, but that just made it even better for him.

"Well, this is definitely the spot.  Never been here before."  The glaceon spoke to himself, a bit bored and slightly lonely.  He took a step into the cave and sighed in boredom.  Hopefully something eventful would happen soon.  He didn't find the idea of being alone and bored for an extended period of time to be overly appealing at the moment.

(23 Energy)

Most of the comments made no difference to Sova. How strong the enemies were, the safety of the whismur, these were not of his concern. If the pink thing was dead, there was nothing he could do about it. If it wasn't dead, he could and would save it....then he'd get this bell that could supposedly promote happiness. This was all there was to it.

However, one comment caught the glaceon's attention. A compliment.... He couldn't remember the last time he'd gotten one of those. He hadn't noticed while being distracted with attempting to comprehend that he'd received a compliment, but his ears had perked up upon hearing it. Sure, it probably wasn't meant solely for him, but it was at least partially pointed at him....right?

He turned and questioned the ball of fluff, "What, me?" Genuine curiosity was evident in his voice.

Varda happily skipped along, staying close to the other two Pokémon that had proved to be quite good protectors. He was certain that with their help, he was even able to go back outside to see the sun again! But that was after the mission, of course. Veriq started to speak, bringing up a point that the Pokémon in these caves might be using the Whismur's sensitivity to sounds to their advantage. It did make the little bird's expression grow quite concerned as he thought about it. What might other Pokémon want to do to a poor lost Whismur? Something like that would just be awful...

It was a train of thought he couldn't follow for very long, as Sova suddenly spoke, sounding like he had been quite surprised to hear what the Swablu had said. The little Pokémon in question turned to look at the fox-like Pokémon, nodding with a great big smile and a small, chirpy giggle.
"Of course you," he giggled, though he gave Veriq a short glance and a nod as well,
"And Veriq, both of you did something to drive the Pokémon off. They left so soon after they started the battle, it looked like they got scared because they bit more than they can chew," Varda chirped, waddling along happily. At least in his eyes, both of the Pokémon currently traveling with him were quite strong.
"If they even had a mouth to chew with..."


Current Energy: 8 (7 +1 from the new page)

Veriq did not seem to mind that the bird had forgotten to thank him as well in the compliments, he instead followed along silently, allowing Varda and Sova to converse as he watched and listened. He stopped as he heard a faint ding sound as the two were talking.
"Hey, did you hear that?" he asked.

The ding sound sounded once more, followed by a whimpering whisper that was amplified by the caves, "H-H-Help..." the voice cried. Veriq blinked and stepped towards the noise, not considering the possibility that it had been a trap. He ventured forth, and watched as the cave curled into a dead end, with a small pink fluffy thing cowering in the corner gripping to a strange bell like object and shaking like a madman.

"Well, you just didn't get a chance to attack. I'm sure you coulda helped as w-" Sova began, but was cut off by Veriq. He listened intently, hoping to hear what ever sound the banana man had now that he wasn't talking over it. He approached the sound along with Veriq, quietly so as not to startle the client.

The glaceon tilted his head as the fluffy pink thing of legends came into view. It was apparently alone, in a corner.... But if they'd heard its cries, why hadn't any hostiles? "Hi-" He was cut off by the feeling of something grabbing onto his tail. He turned to see what at first glance appeared to be a rock, but upon further inspection was a geodude. He simply glared at it, since its grabbing him wasn't really hurting him and he didn't want to risk scaring the whismur with an attack.

"Ahem....let go, kind sir." The glaceon said, trying to be as polite as possible. "No." The geodude bluntly replied. No? Why no??

(17 energy....not for long.)

Lord E V carried out 3 launched of one Serene Cave :

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Varda looked up at the slightly taller blue Pokémon, tilting his head to the side as he stared with large, clueless eyes and a big smile. He wasn't really worried about not having attacked Pokémon himself, he didn't really enjoy fighting... But they didn't manage to talk about it with Sova as the large leafy Pokémon suddenly spoke up, asking if they had heard something. The bird looked at Veriq, a bit confused as he hadn't heard a thing – except once he did. A faint ding followed by quiet whimpers – and even a cry for help! The Swablu gasped, his eyes widening as he looked at the other two, knowing exactly what was happening.

He nodded, but said nothing. They were so close to a Pokémon sensitive to sounds – if he had guessed right – and he wasn't sure if he could keep his voice down in his excitement and worry! Following the other two, he walked with soft steps and bated breath. And there it was, at the end of a tunnel... A small, pink Pokémon. This had to be the Whismur, they had found their client! Varda's mouth opened as he was about to call out, but he knew that he shouldn't yell and decided that maybe someone else should be allowed to speak first.

But Sova's words were cut short in an odd way, causing the bird to turn to look at him. At first he saw nothing wrong – until he noticed that the rock close to them had a hand that was grabbing Sova's tail! It was another Pokémon – and even though the fox-like Pokémon asked the thing nicely, it quite bluntly refused to let go. The Swablu felt quite conflicted!
"Um," he started, his eyes flicking from Sova to Veriq and back to the rock with arms and hands,
"It would be... Really nice if you could let go. Pretty please?" The bird tried with a careful smile.

"Veriq, do you think you could make sure that the Whismur doesn't get hurt..?" Varda glanced behind his back and at the bigger Pokémon, worried of the Whismur's safety! The poor thing was there all alone!

Veriq nodded, approaching the quaking whismur, "Hey," he spoke softly, seeing the need to be silent and calm, "We're here to help you," he told it, "My friends are a bit preoccupied with something at the moment, so please be a bit patient and we'll be helping you out of here shortly."

The whismur stared at him for a moment before nodding slowly, the large leafy pokemon blocking the view of the others without meaning to. He decided that he would allow his friends to deal with the geodude alone, seeing as the Glaceon was more than capable of defeating a mere Geodude. He lowered his head to the level of the whismur, so that he didn't tower over it intimidatingly, "So, how did you get stuck here?" he asked it, hoping to keep it calm with a small quiet talk.

Sova stared at the geodude with a bored, slightly annoyed expression.  "No."  It replied again.

"Dude, what do you want?  My tail's not for sale."  The glaceon stated in the hopes of learning why this geodude had latched onto him.

"I don't want you waking them up."  The sentient rock said as it directed its gaze to the ceiling, turning its attention to a sleeping noibat and swoobat.  "They're so annoying and loud...."  It continued.

"Oh....we're just here to get that whismur out of here.  The fluffy pink thing.  If it stays and gets upset, it'll scream really loud....I guarantee that'll wake your friends up.  So please, let me go so we can get out of here without waking them up."  Sova insisted, keeping his voice down as the area had essentially become a sound-based minefield.  The geodude seemed to ponder his words for a moment before releasing his tail.  Immediately, he made his slow and quiet way over to the whismur and Veriq, who'd taken it upon himself to keep the pink thing calm.

He could hear the whismur speaking from where he was, "I-I was trying to find my way through the cave and I g-got lost....  This b-bell won't stop ringing...."  The whismur replied to Veriq, seeming to come closer and closer to crying as it spoke.

Varda was already starting to grow quite concerned as it looked at the rock-like Pokémon, his expression telling of his inner feelings quite obviously. It wasn't letting go, even when they asked nicely... But they couldn't fight here! Not when the poor Whismur was so close and watching! What would the poor Pokémon even do, they would only upset it greatly seeing how sensitive and delicate the Whismur was!

...But that wasn't the issue. As the Pokémon that had grabbed Sova's tail looked up to point at something, the bird allowed his own gaze to rise to the ceiling of the cave. Up there, two bat-like creatures were sleeping peacefully – which according to the rock Pokémon, were very loud and annoying if they woke up. Immediately the Swablu's eyes brightened as he smiled, while he had at first thought that this Pokémon was trouble, it was actually helping them out a lot!

"Thank you," Varda whispered to the rock as it released its grip and let Sova's tail go, nodding to show his respect,
"We'll be very careful and quiet," he added before turning around and heading after Sova, reassuring the Pokémon that everything was going to be fine. This Pokémon might have very well saved their mission, if they had been too loud here... Then everything would have been lost!

Veriq was already reassuring the poor little Whismur that was almost in tears. The poor thing was just so frightened! The Swablu drew in some air as he was about to speak, but quickly remembered that he should be much quieter.
"It'll be alright, we're here to get you out," he cooed quietly as he took a couple of steps closer to the Whismur, not wanting it to feel like it was alone,
"Maybe we could put the bell somewhere so that you can't hear it? Like a bag? I'm sure a bag would keep the sound away and we got a couple of those..."

Veriq nodded to the whismur and agreed with Varda, "Perhaps Sova since he's the one that took the mission?" he asked. Once that was determined he turned back to the wismur, it was shivering and seemed as if it were just too scared to make a single movement!

He thought for a moment, and decided to make the offer he rarely gave.

"Hey, if you want you can ride on my back on the way out?" he offered the small pink fluffy thing. His leafy wings lowered, in case the whismur decided to answer by hopping on rather than a vocal answer. He could only think about how lucky the group was about this, they could have wandered for hours without finding it, and here it was! Tucked away at a corner cowering its small fluffy fur off.

The whismur sniffled and pondered the suggestions for a moment, then nodded to both offers, cautiously approached Sova and held the bell up. The glaceon opened his bag and allowed the pink thing to drop the bell inside it, then closed his bag to keep his client safe from the bell. He really wanted to try the bell on immediately to see if it would work and make him happier....but he'd have to wait until he was away from his sensitive-eared client to do so.

The whismur then hopped onto one of the lowered leaf-wings of the banana man, struggling to climb it, but still managing. Upon reaching the top of Veriq-mountain, it let out a sigh of relief, feeling safer on top of the jolly green giant.

"Alright, everyone ready?" Sova questioned in a quiet tone, doing his best not to trip any of the metaphorical mines in the area by being too loud.

"That's a great idea," Varda nodded as Veriq offered a further suggestion, smiling as he looked at the Whismur. The little thing was starting to calm down a little and it seemed like the offer took off. Slowly, the Whismur waddled over to Sova and dropped its little bell in the waiting bag. That was one issue taken care of and the bird couldn't help but smile. He of course didn't really like looking at such sad faces.

The Swablu looked at Veriq as the giant Pokémon offered to give the smaller pink Pokémon a ride, if it so wished. He was a bit surprised to hear something like that – but he liked it, his little beady eyes happy and approving. It was a bigger and older Pokémon's job to look after the smaller ones, he was sure! While the Whismur had some trouble climbing on top of Veriq, it didn't fall and nothing really went wrong. It seemed like the little thing was finally feeling safe and secure, not shivering or whimpering anymore.

"Y–! Yes," the blue bird quickly lowered his voice, almost speaking much too loudly out of excitement again. Varda turned his gaze towards the tunnel they had used to get to the Whismur, knowing the way... Up to a point. He had been lost in the first place, so he actually didn't know the entire way out! Slowly, the Swablu shuffled up to Sova.
"Um, which way are we going...?" He asked, his voice even quieter than usual. He didn't really want to worry the Whismur by implying that they didn't know how to get out...

"The way we came since this is a dead end I think, if Sova can remember his way back then we'll be able to get out of here safely.." Zeriq pondered, keeping his head low as he noticed some strange bumps in the ceiling. He had not heard the geodude speaking, having been preoccupied with the client, and had no idea that the shapes in the ceiling were slumbering pokemon that would be bad news if they were to awaken. The bat pokemon were naturally noisy, screeching and using echolocation to find their way about the darkness. To wake one up, would be a death wish for the little whismur.

"Uhhhh...." Sova looked around nervously. "I thiiiink.... I guess we'll find out how well I remember." He said hesitantly, not too worried about never finding their way out so much as running into trouble and scaring the whismur.

The glaceon began walking towards the way they'd come from, but ceased as he heard flapping. Despite the urge to jerk his head upwards, he slowly directed his gaze to the ceiling so as not to spook the fluffy pink thing. He just barely managed to catch the swoobat flapping its wings in its sleep. False alarm, but it was enough of a scare to make him move even slower. He couldn't help but sigh in relief that the bats hadn't been woken up.

Varda looked in Sova's direction with hopeful eyes, trusting their new leader with the task of getting them out of the caves, just like Veriq seemed to be doing. He actually didn't know how the large Grass-type Pokémon had gotten into these caves in the first place... But if Veriq was looking at Sova for directions, then that seemed like the best idea. The Swablu had been quite uncertain, but he didn't seem to realize how uncertain Sova seemed to be. He just nodded happily as he started to waddle after the leader, certain that they would be out in no time!

A strange flapping sound caused the little bird to look up as well, seeing the bat Pokémon still snoozing peacefully as they hung upside down from the ceiling. It actually reminded him of their existence, making him look at Veriq as he started to speak very quietly.
"We were told to be very quiet... Those Pokémon wake up easily," he whispered, letting the rest of their group to know that they should keep their voices down – but then again, with the sensitive Whismur in their party... That was probably a given already.

Bird carried out 1 launched of one Serene Cave :

"Ah," Veriq nodded, he kept his head low, the whismur on his back clinging on for deal life as if falling off would be the death of it. The large long necked pokemon hardly felt the tight and fearful grip of the small weakling, and continued on, not desiring to stay in one place long enough for some devilish pokemon to come and make some noise that would startled the client. They just needed to be calm, collected, cool, and even more calm. He found himself good at being those kind of things, he didn't know quite why, but nothing seemed to really bother him, putting aside the red liquid that pours out of wounds of pokemon. He shivered at the thought of it, no, need to think about something else...