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)

Sova listened in to the conversation about the princess, trying to think of any useful information. But alas, he had none. "Nope, sorry, I can't say I recall ever meeting anyone like that. I'll let you know if I see her and can find you though, Veriq." He replied. It would have been disappointing that he couldn't help, if he was the same as earlier in his life, but he was long past the point of caring. He couldn't help and that was all there was to it.

He then remembered that the swablu had asked him something as well. How rude of him to ignore the first question. "And in response to you, Varda, lets just say there was a zubat. It may need a trip to the dentist. Maybe mouth surgery. It bit my....ribbon. The ribbon bit back." He joked, purposely being vague to see how confused the others would get at his explanation. If they cared to know what actually happened, he would be more than happy to explain seriously, though.

There senpai noticed you.

Varda was quickly distracted by Veriq's words as he started to explain what a princess was. He nodded, finding it an easy enough explanation that he couldn't get wrong – and he learned some new words while he was at it! But as the story continued, the little bird seemed to grow more concerned as he seemed to empathize with the incident of the grass giant losing his memory.
"That's awful," he cooed, his voice mournful as his gaze drooped down. The Swablu kept walking like that for a while in silence, just listening to his comrades speech. Finally at the end though, he raised his head and looked at Veriq.
"What is a monar-key?"

The blue bird had already forgotten all about his question by the time Sova returned to it, reminding him in the process. His face lit up as he looked at the other Pokémon, but he quickly tilted his head in confusion as Sova told of the incident – though he still kept his smile. Varda hopped a bit closer as he took a look at one of the dangling... Ribbons as the Pokémon had called it, noticing that one of them was stained a bit red...
"Do you have a mouth there?" He asked, curious. He knew how strange Pokémon anatomy could be sometimes, he wouldn't be too surprised about that.


Senpai...

Spoiler:

"A monarchy is when you're ruled by a king and queen, I think grassveil is more of a community thing, but basically the king and queen make all the rules, they work together to keep peace and protect us from the outside world so that we may live peacefully," the tropius explained happily. He chuckled at the bird's comment about the glaceon having a mouth on his ribbon. The tropius had gotten the point about the ribbon being a thing the Glaceon did not want to be touched, but it seemed the little puff ball didn't. Veriq remained quiet, waiting for the two to settle this small misconception.

"Wanna touch it and find out?" Sova joked to the little ball of fluff. He obviously didn't have any extra mouths, but the apparent confusion of the swablu was just too good to resist messing with a little. Though the joke gave him an idea. Perhaps he could explain to the swablu what he meant if it touched him. "No, really, touch it and I'll show you. I won't hurt you." He offered.

While he awaited the swablu's response, the glaceon decided to jump into the monarchy topic. He felt it needed to be told that this kind of leadership also had its down sides. "Veriq, I'm guessing you know monarchies aren't always as good as you make them out to be. The king and queen can easily become horrible dictators. It's something to watch out for." He commented. Living under a monarchy definitely wasn't something he would willingly do, having to listen to all of the commands of someone else like that. He hated even having to work for the guild because of all of the rules.

Varda let his eyes turn towards the much larger Pokémon as he started to explain this new concept to him, still walking with the rest of the group. He thought for a moment, trying to make sure that he would remember the explanation later as well. A monarchy didn't honestly sound too bad, being safe and living in peace was a great thing, right? And as far as he knew, Grassveil Town didn't really seem to have official rulers, so it couldn't be a monarchy...
"Was my father or mother a king or a queen?" The little bird asked, curious.

It seemed like the Swablu fluffed up his feathers a little as he was offered to touch the ribbon thing to see if it had a mouth, a bit intimidated by the offer yet oddly curious at the same time. He looked at Sova's eyes for a moment before his gaze quite visibly fell to stare at the dangling bits swaying as the Pokémon moved. It was quite impossible for him to look away now, mesmerized by the mysterious mouth-ribbon. Furrowing his brow slightly, the bird most likely would have been covered in sweat if he was even able to do so and wasn't covered in fluff. Finally, he stretched one of his cottony wings towards the ribbon to touch it, hoping that he wouldn't get bitten...

Veriq shot a glare at the glaceon, offended by the suggestion of the king and the queen being horrible dictators.

"I'll have you know, that while the king may have been strict, he and the queen were some of the nicest pokemon i've encountered," the tropius started, his tone rather harsh and venomous with the feelings that rose within him, "To even think that they would do such horrible things is as if it were an insult upon me myself. The queen was the kindest and the king was the strongest, they protected us from harm, they would never do such a thing! Everything they did was in our best interests!"

The whismur made a slight whimpering sound becoming intimidated by the tropius's sudden anger. Though his voice was nowhere near as loud enough to make it wail, nor did he make any sudden movements. The tone struck fear into the whismur, but it soon went away as the tropius stopped speaking.

As the little living cotton swab touched one of Sova's ribbons, the glaceon began lowering his body temperature, ignoring Veriq's rant for the time being in favor of someone who was interested in him. He made sure not to lower it too quickly or too low, knowing he was with a Grass type and a Flying type, but just enough for the swablu to be able to tell what he'd done to the zubat. "I can lower my body temperature and freeze my fur like needles, so it's like touching a frosty cactus." He joked to the swablu.

Now that his explanation was out of the way, he looked back to the banana man, who seemed to be getting pretty heated. "Relax. I didn't say YOUR king and queen were bad. I just said the system isn't as fullproof as you made it sound. It's possible to have bad rulers, which results in an unhealthy kingdom." He explained in more detail while keeping his voice low. He didn't seem to care at all that he'd gotten Veriq mad, definitely not intimidated despite the size difference. Though he did want to try to make sure they got along, at least until they were out of the cave.

Varda's cheerful attitude seemed to change into that of worry as Sova's words seemed to agitate the largest Pokémon in the group. While he was having trouble pinpointing why, exactly, it didn't really matter: the results were noticeable and Veriq's voice was getting louder – dangerously so, considering the company they were in and the cave with plenty of sleeping, loud Pokémon that might wake up any second. As could be expected, the little Whismur was growing fearful again in the more hostile environment, forcing the bird to worry about their client's health as well.
"Um, w-we shouldn't shout," he reminded those in the group, not making eye contact with anyone to imply that he meant anyone in particular, but perhaps it was quite clear that he was talking about Veriq.

The Swablu's feathers brushed the dangling ribbon he was offered the chance to touch, his little body tensing up in both excitement and anxiety. He had no idea what to expect, as Sova had refused to explain him in detail – but the Pokémon had promised that he wouldn't get hurt touching him. He did kind of expect the ribbon to open up and reveal a mouth and little teeth, but instead, all he could feel was the ribbon growing colder. At first Varda thought that maybe he was imagining things and that the cave's chilly atmosphere was getting to him, but no. It was clearly Sova that was getting colder, forcing the little bird to shiver as he fluffed up his feathers to fight the cold, pulling his wing back.

He looked up at Sova as he offered and explanation, cooing as he tilted his head. What an interesting ability this Pokémon had! Soft and fluffy was an easy target, but something spiky would be better protected from most predators, right?

Veriq needs a gif now:

The tropius remained silent, still angry with the glaceon that he would even give a hint of suggestion such a thing. The tropius's mood was spoiled, and he did not feel quite so jolly any more. He wondered if he should wait for the two to finish determining whether or not the glaceon had a mouth on his neck or just keep moving. The whismur probably wanted out of here as soon as possible, so wasting time did not seem like too much of a good idea, but on the flip side, what was the rush? They were pretty strong, they could handle anything that popped up...right?

Noticing the silence, likely from the swablu's interest in the glaceon's ability and the tropius' disdain towards the thought of a ruler not being perfect, Sova took it upon himself to attempt to continue the conversation. "Hey, I didn't mean to say your rulers are bad, just that not everyone is good." He said in an attempt to lighten the banana man's mood a bit.

"Now, I guess we should get going so we can get this whismur out of here." He continued, beginning to walk in the direction he had originally come to the cave from. Or at least he hoped. He didn't think he'd gotten lost, but it was possible.

It took a moment for Varda to notice the silence, looking up from the dangling ribbon he had found so mesmerizing before to see what was happening. Their little group was still moving and the Whismur... Well, the Whismur didn't look comfortable, but it didn't seem like there was something horribly wrong, either. It was Veriq who felt a bit off now and the bird furrowed his brow as he cooed quietly. It seemed like Sova and the grass giant had a fight that had soured the atmosphere.

As Sova spoke up and tried to fix the damage, the Swablu seemed to perk up as well, noticing their chance to cheer up Veriq again. He nodded in agreement to Sova's words and looked up at the taller Pokémon.
"We know when a Pokémon is good or bad, right? It's pretty easy to see when things are wrong, so you just have to trust your gut," Varda chirped as he continued to waddle along and follow Sova's lead,
"You'd know better than any of us."

"Sure seemed like you were suggesting that. Either way, if either of you find the princess and can notify me I'd greatly appreciate it," the tropius was still sour about the Glaceon's words, but seemed to have calmed down a bit. He looked ahead, his mind turning back to the princess as he wondered if he would ever see her again. It had to be possible! What if she went somewhere with other tyrunts? Did she run off to go find some prince? His eyes widened at the thought, she was too young for romance, at least in his opinion. He only remembered the small young Victoria that many in the kingdom's staff had been fond of, he could not possibly see her as grown enough for that phase of life.

Sova laughed quietly in relief at the banana man's response. It wasn't the most forgiving thing in the world, but it would have to do. "Will do. That is, if I find her then somehow find you again." He agreed to Veriq's terms, resisting the urge to make a joke about kidnapping the princess for him. It wasn't that he was afraid of offending the jolly green giant again. He just didn't want to make the guy so mad that he started shouting and freaking the whismur out.

As the three-way intersection the glaceon had come from came into view, he sighed again, this time in frustration. Which path was it again? He couldn't remember all that well. Maybe he could remember before they reached it. Hopefully. He didn't really find the idea of having to take the wrong path then go back to take the right path very appealing.

Varda seemed to brighten up as the large Pokémon finally spoke up and seemed less angry about what had been said. He gave a couple of quick nods as Veriq asked both of them to notify him if they happened to run into the princess, something the bird could easily agree to. He did want to help and he had already pretty much agreed to do so earlier – and he wasn't going to eat his words now!
"Of course," the Swablu chirped happily with a great big smile,
"You should tell us where you are going to search first so that we can find you if we find something..."

As they continued to walk, the little bird Pokémon just blindly followed Sova, their leader. He was certain that Sova knew the way, at least! That and well, the tunnel they were going through hadn't split in a while, so there was only one way to go... At least, until it did split into more paths. Varda turned to look at Sova, his little eyes growing hopeful as he expected their leader to work his magic and lead them through the right path. Though perhaps such expectations only made the situation more stressful...

The tropius thought for a moment before responding, "Well, if she's going where i think-even fear she's going, then she's going someplace with other tyrunts and tyrantrums. I'm going to look for someplace that has then and search there," the grass giant seemed to shiver visible at the thought, his leaves on his wings rustling as he thought of the princess deciding to join some...some peasant in marriage. She was to marry a prince, it was absurd to think that she would marry anything else. He gave a sigh, his head hanging a bit low, "Hopefully I can find her before something horrible happens to her, if something did happen, I wouldn't know what to do with myself. I haven't seen nor heard of the king or queen, and it seems that most pokemon around here are completely ignorant of the idea of a monarchy..."