Obsessing and Stressing

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Mission Infos:

Shadowhue was known for being dark, hence the name.  So dark that in some of the more densely forested areas it could be difficult to tell the time of day.  It was far darker at night.  It seemed as if this place was now the definition of darkness.  Visibility was little more than a few feet, making for an eerie and dangerous environment.  To top it all off, it was freezing....

Acually, the cold was more of a plus side for a certain glaceon who had decided to venture into the dark woods.  Sova had found that since evolving, he enjoyed the cold.  Likely because of his new ice typing.  One thing was not in a hurry to learn was how he handled something like desert heat now.

"Love what you've done with the place."  The icy fox sarcastically commented to the darkness that was Shadowhue Forest.  It wasn't like he had anyone to talk to.  May as well get used to talking to himself.  At least that would help keep his mind from wandering and playing tricks on him in the darkness.  Or maybe it would do the opposite.  Either way, he was here for the purpose of completing missions and no overly creepy atmosphere was going to stop him.

(37 energy NINJA EDIT)

"Holy mother of everything holy you have to be the biggest idiot in the world not realize you evolved!" the outlaw huffed.
"I-I-I..." The honchkrow spoke, still shaken up by this sudden change. He didn't know whether to be happy or something else. He didn't even get the choice, he didn't have time to think about what was going on. He shook his head, trying to get himself back to the task at hand, take back the murkrow to the group.

Acro was relieved that the glaceon seemed to have been listening now, he had not noticed that the glaceon had said "he" for a split second before correcting it to "I". The archeops sighed though, Sova appearing to have been a bit concerned about what he had said. He figured that it was likely a good idea to explain now that he had gone and opened his big mouth.
"I have a bit of a...bad history with teammates and friends. My first teammate left me, the second disappeared in the midst of a mission, and the third was a dratini named Astrid. We had gone out on a mission, and a rampardos attacked us. I was still an Archen then, still weak and stupid, and the rampardos had sent him over the side of a cliff, nobody could have survived that fall,"

He paused a bit, "It almost happened again when I had gone to Blackmist, a really big pokemon attacked, and I was with Tally, a buizel. Things got bad, really bad. She was so hurt, and I was so weak. She lived, but barely. I almost died as well, but that was when I evolved and kind of got these blood stains..." he spoke, referring to the splatters of blood that were forever etched onto his wing as a reminder of both the day his friend nearly died again and the day he had become stronger and prevailed over his weakness to prevent yet another death.

Sova sat down and listened to the story, actually being interested in knowing what was going on. If it was still important afterwards then they could continue arguing, but for now this seemed more important to him. When the archeops had finished, the glaceon sighed, not knowing what to say to make him feel better.

"I'm sorry to hear that. I guess I've got a bad history too with teammates and friends, but not in the same way. I can't even try to relate, I can't say I know how you feel." he fell silent for a moment, appearing as if he was done talking, before saying one last thing. "But I'm not them. I don't plan to die for a very long time and I don't need or want anyone to protect me. Don't worry about me.... Not like I did anything to deserve your worry anyways." he muttered the last bit, hesitant of admitting such a thing.

He STILL wasn't going to listen to Acro?! The archeops felt frustration boil within him, "I'm pretty sure Astrid didn't plan to die for very long time," he spoke, obviously upset that the Glaceon was still refusing his help. The archeops's tail slammed against the ground behind him, obviously not happy with the glaceon's continuous attempt to tell him not to worry about him.
"Bullshit," Acro huffed, "You're my friend, you didn't leave me to die back at Fiery Chasm, even if you don't plan to die there is still a large risk that you would in this state and if I let you go then i'd never forgive myself! Now sit your ass down and wait for Linus before I MAKE you!"

Linus meanwhile was still flying back, having got a bit lost since it was rather difficult to see the group through the trees. The honchkrow flapped his wings, keeping himself in the air as he looked about. He heard a shout in the distance that sounded rather familiar, the honchkrow blinked, and dove underneath the leaves of the trees and began to search for them from there.

Sova's glare returned as the archeops returned to making demands. He stood back to his feet, considering simply darting past the archeops. The first thing he noticed was a LOT less pain and weakness. The Oran berry had done its job while he wasn't paying attention. Now he could get past the archeops easily with Quick Attack, surely. But for now, having a mental breakdown was far more important.

"The only reason you were in that position in the first place is because I wanted to beat a houndour to death, remember? And unlike you and this Astrid, I don't need anyone's help! I can survive on my own, I don't need your pity, I don't need you looking down on me! You're not better than me!!" he bluntly stated, his voice getting louder as he talked until he was shouting at the end.

"I'm not looking down on you I'm just-" Acro was interrupted by the sound of beating wings, they weren't the fluttering small kind but the large rhythmic kind similar to his own. He looked to see that a Honchkrow had landed near them. The archeops stared, spotting a Murkrow in its talons, he had at first thought it to be Linus, but the hat was notable different, leading him to believe that this was the outlaw rather than Linus.

"I-I got the outlaw..." Linus spoke, a bit uneasy. The two seemed to have been arguing, and the Wigglytuff and Gloom had merely been staring at the two with wide eyes. What had happened while he was gone? Did he do something wrong? The honchkrow stood on top of the other murkrow, she squirmed in his grip in attempt to free herself, but failed.

Sova's attention was drawn to the honchcrow as well. He'd hoped it would be an enemy, as he really wanted something to hit right now, regardless of the risks. Acro couldn't stop him if he ended it fast.... But sadly, the honchcrow clearly wasn't hostile. In fact....it was holding a murkrow....and mentioning it'd "got the outlaw".... "Linus?" he questioned after piecing it together, a bit too surprised to think about continuing his pointless argument with the archeops.

"Y-Yes..." Linus responded, still uneasy about this, "I kind of...accidentally...used the uh...stone..." he spoke, looking guilty. He still was oblivious to the fact that it was not the stone the wigglytuff needed for the gloom. He looked over the wigglytuff to apologize, but found that the wigglytuff still held the sun stone. He blinked, where had that stone come from then.

"That's okay, I didn't need it..." the gloom finally spoke up.

"But you do need this! Wiggly Wiggly~" the wigglytuff spoke, placing the sun stone on the gloom's head, "Lighten Up Friend!"

The gloom blinked, suddenly glowing as it evolved into a Bellosom. The grass type looked to the wiggly tuff before looking at itself, "I...I'm so pretty! Thanks Wigg~" it spoke before jumpnig up to hug the wigglytuff.

Acro blinked, but remained silent. He was still upset over the event with Sova, and the emotion would likely linger in his voice. Linus didn't need to know about his previous partners just yet, it was probably for the best. Or would it be better to warn him? Would it make him miserable knowing that he might succumb to the Archeops's curse of failed partners? The thought train only led to Acro himself feeling miserable. Should he tell? Should he not? What should he do?

Sova rolled his eyes at the honchcrow.  "Well, good for you.  Now you actually look kind of cool." he "complimented," though it likely could have been easily taken as an insult.
He then turned his attention back to Acro.  Now that he'd had a few moments to calm down and there wasn't really anything for him to be held back from any more, he could think more clearly.  He realized he'd been a bit of a dick, surely he could have gotten his point across a lot nicer than he did.  "Ah....Acro, sorry.  I'll....explain it to you in a bit if you want, but lets just enjoy fact that we're down to two missions for now." he offered.

He absolutely dreaded the idea of having to explain his whole situation yet again, but it was the least he could do after his tantrum.  Just....he didn't really want to explain it to Linus.  He didn't really know the honchcrow at all, after all.

Acro remained silent, instead waving as the wigglytuff thanked the group, "Mission Complete~ Mission Complete~ Thank you! Thank you!" the two then went on their way, escaping from the dungeon together safely. Now they just needed to find the big apples and the phantump and they could all go home. The archeops said nothing and instead waited for the Glaceon to shine the explorer badge onto the murkrow and send it to jail. He did not quite feel like talking, the thoughts of whether to tell Linus and thoughts of Sova's anger towards him clouding his mind.

Linus stood on one leg, struggling a bit as he held the murkrow for Sova. He seemed to be a bit depressed though, having taken the comment as highly sarcastic. The honchkrow wondered what he had done wrong, why did this glaceon seem so intimidating? His dark hat tilted downwards as his beak rested against his chest, looking at the ground and waiting for the murkrow to disappear from his grip.

Sova sighed, seeing that neither of the other two were talking to him now. He'd tried to lighten the mood....but it seemed the damage was done. He plucked his explorer badge off his bag and tapped it on the murkrow, teleporting her away before re-attaching the badge to his bag. At least he didn't have to put up with the wigglytuff any more. That was one silver lining.

"So....we just gonna not talk? Come on, yell at me or something." he muttered and hung his head. He actually was serious about the comment on being yelled at, as he kind of deserved it, at least from Acro, and the awkward silence was bothering him much more than the argument had been.

Acro looked to the glaceon, "I'm not going to yell..." he mumbled before turning and leading the way to keep going. The archeops did not quite seem to want to talk, feeling rather guilty of raising his voice in the first place when Linus wasn't around. He was beginning to doubt everything he had even gotten upset for. Was he right to stop the glaceon?

Linus merely remained silent, too frightened to speak up and too scared to express how his feelings had been harmed by the comment. The honchkrow lowered his talon to the ground, and waited for the Glaceon to go ahead. He didn't want anybody to be behind him, what if he needed to stop for some time alone? They would talk to him and he would refuse to speak and just make the entire situation worse most likely.

Sova at least took some slight solace in hearing the archeops' voice. It wasn't much, but it was a sign that he wasn't getting the silent treatment. Though it seemed the newly evolved honchcrow still wasn't interested in talking to him. He knew what he'd done to Acro, but....what exactly had he done to Linus? Why wasn't the crow speaking? "Hey, Linus, are you dead?" he called back to the bird behind him as he started off following behind Acro. He didn't mind following, it was much less work than leading.

Acro walked along, unsure of what to do about the situation. Should he apologize? Should he demand an apology? The archeops was in a rather deep pit of a depression, perhaps one worse than the one he had suffered during his conflicts with himself and the voices that had disappeared in his mind. He did not pay attention to where he was going, and did not notice a shroomish ahead as it jumped off the branch of a tree it had managed to get into and surprised him as it bounced off of his head. The archeops recoiled in surprise, as the shroomish seemed to be tightening its focus, ready to Focus a punch at the archeops.

Linus meanwhile had opened his beak to answer, but something slammed into him from above. he squawked as a Forretress dropped in from above, crushing the honchkrow underneath its weight. The pokemon could have levitated and lifted itself, but the steel type had no intention of unpinning the honchkrow. Linus flailed, getting a taste of his own medicine from earlier with the murkrow.

Sova noticed the shroomish falling onto his ally's head, but his attention was soon focused on the honchcrow as he heard the sound of something heavy falling on the poor bird. A forretress. It seemed to be raining enemies, quite literally. Before he could even react to help either of them, something slammed into him and took his breath away, carrying him into the air before releasing him....sending him flying into the trunk of a tree with a loud thud. "AAA...a...." he whimpered as he bounced off the tree slightly and fell to the ground like a rag doll, just barely catching a glimpse of the purple figure that had done this to him on his way down. ANOTHER venomoth?

The glaceon lifted his head just in time to see what looked like a living pair of pincers charging towards him. Seeing as how his body had been hit too hard to allow him to get up and move in time, he instead fired a quick and poorly aimed Ice Beam at the creature, hitting it in the arm and sending it stumbling back. He slowly and shakily stood to his feet to see the venomoth heading back for the archeops from behind. He opened his mouth to warn his friend, but found himself with the familiar pair of pincers closing around his neck. Out of reflex and quick thinking, he froze the fur around his neck into spikes, then created a thick layer of ice around his whole neck to stop the pincers from simply breaking his neck. He couldn't breathe well, let alone shout to warn his ally, and the ice was already cracking....but at least this gave him time to think.

The archeops noticed the Venomoth, and had taken off into the air and slammed into it before it could do much to him. Acro could feel the frustration welling up inside him, building power into his attacks as he used it to add some more punch to the attacks. He gave a screech as his tail glowed, darting over to the Pinsir and slamming the iron tail down onto the Pinsir. There was a sharp snap as the Pinsir fell, Acro didn't even flinch, for the Venomoth had recovered and spread the same strange dust the other venomoth had over the Archeops. Acro's eyes widened, and the frustration grew and amplified, something had to die.

Linus, meanwhile, struggled from underneath the forretress. He tried to stand, but the heavy pokemon would just lift itself only to drop once more onto the honchkrow. It was embarrassing for the honchkrow, to be pinned so uselessly and humiliated. Linus struggled and struggled, but it seemed that the forretress just would not give in. He attempted to use Dark Pulse to get the bug type to knock it off, but a protective shield surrounded it as it continued to weight down the bird and protect itself from damage.