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)

"Yeeah." Sova agreed to the swablu as he quietly crept along through the cave. As long as they stayed quiet and didn't disturb the sleeping ceiling-dwellers, they were fine. He heard another flap of wings, but no screeching. The little bats were still sleeping.

"I'm pretty sure I still remember the way out....it was a fairly straight path for me...." The glaceon said, mostly to instill confidence in himself. He'd never felt very obligated to be a leader before....he felt pressured. But in....a nice way.

Varda followed Sova, looking like he was concentrating extremely hard on being as quiet as possible, really putting his all into this. He could hear the soft flaps of wings and shuffling above them, knowing that they were in a very dangerous spot where one loud voice could wake up every single bat Pokémon nearby, most likely spooking the poor Whismur to, well, maybe even death!
"You can do it," the bird whispered to Sova as the other Pokémon tried to remember their path back outside. He knew he couldn't do it himself – but he trusted that Sova could.

As they continued to walk quietly, more flapping could be heard from the tunnels in front of them. And these wing beats were clearly coming from something that was actually flying, something that was awake. A very soft, quiet squeak followed, echoing in the cave. The Swablu started to look a bit more worried as he listened. It was hard to say where exactly the sound was coming from with the way it bounced from wall to wall... But it was possible that they could run into the source of the voice as they continued.
"I think there's something ahead," he chirped quietly, looking at the rest of the group with worried eyes – though he quickly tried to look a bit more certain once the Whismur gave him a look.


Current Energy: 6 (8 +1 from the new page, -3 from the encounter)

[Energy: 5 + 1 from last page and +1 for this page.]
The tropius came to a halt as the swablu spoke, his mind immediately setting to work as the years of being a tactician came to him out of muscle memory he did not realize existed. If they continued on, they would risk running into the thing ahead whatever it was, and scare the whismur. If they tried a different path, they might get lost and take forever in getting out of this eerie place.

He looked to Sova, "Hey, what if you and Varda or somebody went ahead to take care of it? I'll stay here with Whismur and keep it calm while you two clear the path ahead," his gaze turned back to the bird, the whismur on his back beginning to shake a bit out of fear of the situation.

Sova considered the suggestion from Veriq, not really having much of an idea what to do otherwise. Going ahead to take care of it would be the best option, but he didn't need any help to handle what ever was making the screeching sounds. "Sounds like a plan, but there's no need for Varda to come, hitting things is what I'm best at. No offense Varda, you don't seem like the type to want to fight." He replied, hoping to not come off as offensive.

The living cotton swab was nice and all, but it didn't really seem like he was very into hitting things. Why make him? The glaceon was perfectly capable of taking care of himself and taking down an enemy alone. Besides, it meant he didn't have to look out for anyone other than himself if it came to a fight. Perhaps Varda would be able to help Veriq keep the whismur calm, anyways.

Varda stopped to look at the much larger Grass-type Pokémon when he heard the heavy footsteps come to an end, not wanting to rush ahead when a team member decided to stop. He tilted his head as he heard Veriq's plan, following it with a smile and a nod. He did agree that it would be better for the Whismur to stay behind as there might be trouble up ahead, but one of them would have to stay behind. The grass giant volunteered and the Swablu had no reason to object! He turned to look at Sova, wanting to know how he felt about it.

Sova agreed with the plan – except he didn't seem to think that the little bird had to come along. Varda let out a quiet coo as he pondered. Perhaps that was true. He wasn't one to want to let others do all the work... But Sova had proven to be quite powerful – at least in his eyes. And it was true, he really wasn't one that enjoyed fighting. Maybe Veriq needed more help with the little Whismur!
"I can stay behind if you want," the bird Pokémon chirped, his smile returning,
"I'm sure you can handle it just fine."

"Okay, I guess that means Sova goes alone," Veriq shrugged, he would have rather had the Swablu go as back up in case something went horribly wrong, he would have gone himself! It seemed that the whismur had grown rather attached to riding on his back, and did not seem too keen on hopping off until they were out of the cave. Veriq did not mind much himself, these two were likely stronger than him, well maybe not the swablu. He had not seen the swablu in action yet, but from how it seemed to be inspired by Sova and him, it was likely that it either was weak, or thought of everyone in this way.

"Alright, it's settled then. I'll be right back." Sova spoke back to his allies as he ventured forth towards the sound, disappearing from the view of the others before too long in the darkness of the cave. He kept his attention focused on finding the source of the noise and silencing it at all costs. The cave was luckily not maze-like in this section, allowing him to locate the source easily.

A zubat came into view from within the darkness of the cave, slowly but surely, flapping around and being a noise machine that could not be tolerated. "Hey, buddy, can you keep it down for a few minutes? I've got a friend who's really sensitive to noise." He requested of the bat in the hopes it would listen. If not, he was more than ready to just freeze its mouth shut or knock it out.

(Leaving control of Sir Batsalot to Bird, given Bird rolled it :D)

"Take care," Varda chirped as Sova finally started to leave, waving his wing as temporary goodbyes until the other Pokémon disappeared from the view. Even after that, the bird kept staring at the darkness, perhaps hoping to catch one last glimpse of Sova... Or perhaps he hoped that the issue would be taken care of so fast that they could continue right away. But Sova didn't return, forcing him to turn his attention elsewhere.

"There's no need to worry, Sova will take care of it quickly," the Swablu cooed with a nod as he looked at the Whismur, not sure how the little thing felt about this whole thing. But as he wasn't very concerned himself, he felt that the Whismur could feel the same way! Varda avoided moving too much, but that just made him realize another problem: the cave was actually quite chilly. With a little shudder, the bird fluffed his feathers.
"Um... Veriq. You said you were looking for someone, right? Guild members travel a lot, so if you told us how this person looked like, we might be able to help you find her?"

The Zubat had been searching the caves for food, letting out very high-pitched squeaks as it navigated its way through the tunnels without eyes. Its sensitive ears picked up footsteps from far away, causing it to stop and fly in place as it tried to figure out what was gone. The other Pokémon let out some noise, causing the Zubat to almost immediately swoop down, rushing fast at the bits that dangled on both sides of the Glaceon's face. It opened its mouth, ready to chomp on them with its small, sharp teeth.

I can't stop making this joke i'm sorry:

Veriq nodded at the swablu's question, not worrying about the glaceon as he went off alone.

"Yes, she's a tyrunt, she has a silver and blue amulet gifted to her by her parents. A tyrunt has large jaws with sharp teeth, tiny arms, big feet, and a collar thing around the back of their neck. She's brown and about as big as Sova except more bulky" Veriq recollected his memories of the tyrunt, he could remember her clearly, it was one of the few things he remembered before he woke up in those ruins. He just knew he had to find her, the entire kingdom disappeared, and she was the only one he could remember clearly enough to chase after.

Sova simply watched and allowed the bat to latch onto his head ribbon, wincing slightly at the pain. He knew he could take the attack and didn't want to risk making any loud noises avoiding it, so this seemed like the best option. As the bat clung to him, he began rapidly lowering his body temperature. Before long its mouth was freezing from keeping contact with him. As it was still latched onto him, he decided to take the punishment a bit further and freeze the fur on his....ribbons(?) into icy spikes, causing the bat to finally release him with a bleeding and frosty mouth.

As it fluttered away, he fired an Ice Beam to finish it off and make sure it didn't get back up before turning back and walking in the direction of his allies, with a rather bored expression on his face. As they came into view, he whispered, "All clear." Hopefully they could hear him alright. It seemed they were talking about something.

Please imagine cherry blossoms here:

Varda tilted his head as he listened, letting out a long, quiet coo. He had never heard of a Tyrunt, but luckily Veriq quickly explained how a Pokémon like that looked like. He definitely hadn't seen a Pokémon like that, but he nodded, trying his best to remember the description he was given.
"I'll keep my eyes open in case I see her," the Swablu chirped happily, hopping from one foot to another with the softest of thumps,
"And then I'll tell you... Err, if I can find you. Are you going to stay at Grassveil?"

Sounds from behind didn't go unnoticed by the bird, his entire body seemingly perking up. They sounded like... Footsteps? The little Pokémon spun around, squinting his eyes as he peered into the darkness of the tunnels. A great big smile appeared on his face as he recognized the shape as Sova, waving his wing at the Pokémon before he looked at Veriq and started to slowly hop towards their friend.

"I don't know really, I passed through there but I didn't see any signs of her. I was planning on trying to travel around and see if I could catch word of her, since if she's moving about then its likely I wont find her just staying in one place," Veriq sighed, "I need to find her soon though, a Princess shouldn't be out on her own..."

The whismur's ears perked as Veriq spoke of a princess, it seemed interested in the topic, but did not question further, deciding to keep to itself.

The tropius looked towards the glaceon, and began to follow. His mind turned completely towards the princess, wondering where she was. What was she doing? Was she still even alive?

Sova waved his paw in response to the swablu, waiting for his two allies to catch up to him before continuing. When he felt they were both close enough to keep up, he turned and started off towards the exit, hopeful there would be no other interruptions. The last thing they needed was the whismur getting disturbed and making their ears bleed. He would probably be especially effected by a loud sound such as a whismur crying, given his ears were quite large and good at picking up sounds.

Of course, the whismur was clearly far more sensitive to sounds than him, so it would likely be even more hurt by its own screaming. What a horrible little existence, not being able to make a remotely loud noise without putting oneself through such a pain. Sova found himself feeling sorry for the whismur, relieved that he had a totally different set of problems. Having such sensitive ears seemed really inconvenient.

"So, what were you guys talking about?" He asked back to his companions in the hopes of taking his mind off depressing topics. He needed to stay focused, in case anything needed hit really hard or something.

"Hello," Varda chirped at Sova as the two were close enough, smiling. He was quite happy to see Sova return – and so fast, too! Their group was back together again and their journey would continue... Probably. The Swablu tilted his head a bit, realizing that maybe something had come up.
"Did everything go well in there? What happened?" He asked with a coo as he kept hopping after the blue fox-like Pokémon, curious about the source of the sound himself now as well.

The bird Pokémon seemed to be reminded of Veriq's words as Sova requested to know what the two had been talking about before he came back. This Pokémon Veriq was looking for wasn't in Grassveil, so it didn't do him any good to stay there... It made things a bit difficult if Varda did happen to find the right person – but he was sure that if he could find one Pokémon, then surely he could find such a large one like Veriq!

"About the Pokémon Veriq is looking for – and princesseseses," the Swablu explained happily, not having any reason to keep their words a secret. Though, he then furrowed his brow slightly as he pondered really, really hard.
"What is a princess?" Varda chirped, looking over his shoulder at Veriq.

"A Princess is the daughter of the King and Queen, where I come from we were ruled by a monarchy. I can't remember much of it though, I must have hit my head a bit hard at some point because the last thing I remember is waking up in some ruins and only knowing of the kingdom, myself, and The Princess. She disappeared one day, and it is my duty as a servant to the kingdom to find her and be with her to protect her. Have you happened to see her Sova?" The tropius asked, repeating his description to the glaceon.

The tropius would have loved to hear some kind of word about her, so far he had been following a blind path hoping to come across her. He had asked countless pokemon in Grassveil, there was mention of a strangely colored tyrunt, but none that matched what he remembered the princess to be.