A Westward Wind Blows

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A warm, desert wind blew across the sandy dunes and rock formations that littered the area, kicking up granules of sand and blowing them across the golden ground. In the midst of all this, a single Absol trudged onward through the sand, her head hung a bit lower as she lazily kicked the sand up with her paws. Shintara had learned over the course of her life in a different desert that when traveling through the area, it was best to keep your head down so the sand wouldn't get in your eyes while it blew around. Of course, not that having her head down was too much of a problem.

As the wind blew through, she could tell not much was around. The wind wasn't bouncing off of much, instead giving the impression of a wide, open area. And with how shifty the ground was beneath her, and the sediment getting throw around in the wind, it wasn't especially hard to figure out she was in another desert. Having lived in one before sort of helped one recognize that. Lowering her head a bit more, the Absol curiously sniffed around a bit, searching for any faint traces of other pokemon around. With the shifting sands and wind, she doubted she would find anything unless the pokemon the scent belonged to was close by. As of now, there didn't seem to be any civilization of sorts in the desert, either. Maybe she should have headed the other way when she left her mother at Blackmist.

"Well, I guess it might be time to turn around...at least I got to check the desert out a bit..." She muttered to herself, still trying to look on the bright side of things as she brought her head back up a bit, her eyes simply gazing right ahead and not moving much, not focused on anything either as she came to a halt, preparing to turn around.

Energy: 6/22(-16 for entering)

Simply staying quiet and nodding her head, Shintara followed Izumi to the water, stepping up to it and staying still, debating jumping in or not. Just as she was about to dip a paw in, the shiny Absol's fake panic made the blind pokemon let a yelp out and jump, falling completely into the water in her surprise. Standing back up in the water and listening to Izumi admit it was a joke, she sighed somewhat.
"Was that necessary?" She asked in a somewhat quiet tone, a bit embarrassed and still recovering from the panic. Tara didn't move to get out of the water just yet though, instead staying still there. It felt...really, really good actually, and it was enough to make her smile a bit despite her panic that Izumi had induced.

Izumi couldn't help but fall over into the water with laughter when she saw Tara's reaction to her "acid water" joke. "Pffft, haha, your reaction was priceless, Tara!!!" Izumi chortled loudly, the laughter escalating. "You should have seen your face... oh, my sides...... ow, my sideeeeeeeessss!!!" she laughed, little tears of pain forming in the quadruped's eyes a she rolled around laughing in oasis water. She took a moment to settled down and stood up, dripping wet and totally refreshed. "Oh man... aww c'mon, lighten up Tara. Don't be such a stick in the sand." Izumi teased playfully, splashing some water at Tara with her paw.

Izumi the Absol - 10 + 1 + 11 Energy

FoxFireAlchemist carried out 10 launched of one Scorchfall Desert :

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Watching as Izumi seemed to go into heavy fits of laughter over her own joke, the other pokemon surrounding the area, including a Diglett and a Dugtrio, seemed to laugh as well, while Shintara began to frown a bit more, watching as she rolled into the water during her laughter. As the shiny pokemon got back up and splashed her with water though, the blind Absol began to grin a bit.
"Yeah, yeah. I guess you're right." She commented with a smile, before stepping towards the other Absol and throwing herself into Izumi's side, attempting to playfully knock the shiny pokemon down into the water as she laughed, doing her best to lighten up while still extracting a little bit of revenge in her own style.

Energy: 6/22(+1 for new page)

Pikashock carried out 6 launched of one Scorchfall Desert :

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"Ack!" Izumi cried while grinning as Tara tackled her in the side. She toppled over back into the cool water, only this time she chose to stay under. She tentatively opened her eyes a crack, testing to see if it was safe to completely open them. When she did, she found that she could actually see quite a distance under the water's surface. She paddled deeper into the water, ducking up occasionally for a breath of air.

"Hey, Tara! The water's really clear down here-" Izumi began to shout, but she caught herself before she said something regrettable. "...There's not much interference down here, maybe you'll be able to hear your way around?" Izumi ducked back under the water. As she did, she began to notice things at the bottom of the water. Reviver Seeds, Orbs, all kinds of things were littered around in the sand. There were even... boxes!!! She swam forward and grabbed a nearby box, so overjoyed she nearly forgot to breathe. "Tara!" Izumi yelped as she surfaced, "look down here! There's stuff everywhere!!"

As Izumi toppled into the water, Shintara was quick to follow, tripping over herself as her momentum sent her falling in as well. She landed with a splash and quickly began to flail and kick around with her paws, hacking up some water as she poked her head back out from the surface. Having grown up in the desert, she hadn't exactly been in the water a lot. She'd learned how to swim and practiced a little, at least somewhat, whenever she'd found some water, but considering the rarity of that she wasn't the best at it.

Feeling the breeze skip across the surface of the water, she knew Izumi wasn't above it or out of it, but she could feel water being splashed around from underneath, and figured since the water was an oasis and probably shouldn't be moving that way, it had to be the Shiny Absol splashing around. The first time Izumi resurfaced, Tara blinked and tilted her head for a moment, confused as the other pokemon mentioned the water being clear, and then mentioned there being no interference. Before she could correct the shiny pokemon, Izumi seemed to duck back down under the water once more.

"Really? It m-must have been dropped down there." Tara responded, as if musing, starting to paddle her way over towards Izumi.
"Also, there is a bit of 'interference' down there. I sort of use the wind to pick out objects, water is a little bit different. I'm not the best with making use of that." She explained, seeming to take it in good humor with a smile on her face.

Energy: 0/22

Izumi chuckled sheepishly. "Eheh. Sorry. Admittedly, I'm still getting used to how your version of seeing stuff works. But I agree with you about the items. I don't see anyone trying to claim them, though, so I'd say they're fair game. Who knows how long they've been down here?" Izumi commented, diving down to get a few more items from the bottom of the watering hole. She brought a few pawfuls back up, offering them to Tara. "Here, I'll get a few more for you! I think I picked up a TM down there if you want it." She looked through the things that she had brought up, keeping a few things in particular for herself. She left plenty for Tara to pick from before going back down.

As Izumi dove back down, a large shadow engulfed the bag she had dropped in the sand. The huge creature's metallic body slithered up through the sand, leaving a massive trail behind in its wake. A few pokemon began to look uncomfortable and decided to flee the area, like a Sandslash couple and a shy-looking Hippopotas. The creature leaned it's massive serpentine body over and began to nose through it's contents while the two Absol remained in the water. It seemed to be having some trouble due to it's size, however.

Nodding her head, Tara gave a small smile as Izumi apologized about not fully understanding her way of seeing things, and waited for the Shiny Absol to submerge and come back up once more.
"It's okay, it isn't something a l-lot of people understand first try, really." She responded, blinking and quickly kicking her hind legs harder to stay afloat as she took the pawfuls of items Izumi brought her, kicking over to the side and dropping them by the bag.

After a couple of trips to and from that spot, the blind Absol hadn't noticed the approaching shade, nor had she paid all that much attention to the fleeing pokemon, or the reason they might be fleeing. At least until she dropped another batch of items down, and suddenly picked up on the shape of the creature waiting there, and how large it was. Shintara's eyes went wide as saucers as she blinked, simply freezing up just by the edge of the water.
"U-uh...h-hi...?" She managed to stammer out, her (would be) gaze kept towards the Steelix's body, as opposed to looking upward at the pokemon.
"Izumi...I think you should maybe c-come here..." She added, waiting for the Shiny Absol to resurface.

Izumi resurfaced in the shadow of of a colossal Steelix, looking down at the two pokemon with a hateful sneer. The other patrons of the oasis had either fled the scene, or they had crowded on the other side of the water. Clearly, the two Absol were in for some rotten times.

"Can I.... help you?" Izumi asked, acting leery of the giant snake as his eyes bore into herself and the other Absol, both of them stranded helplessly in his great shadow.

"Yes. You can help by leaving," the Steelix grunted bluntly, focusing his glare at the mouthy Absol now. His mouth clamped shut in between his moments of speech, as if he were holding back emotion or rage. "We rarely see your species 'round these parts, and we're better off that way. No good comes from that tribe of yours on that Arceus - forsaken mountain."

"Excuse me?!" Izumi retorted, taken aback and clearly offended. "What gives you the right to say things like that? We're travelers, using the oasis like everyone else does. We're not causing trouble, why are we automatically associated with Blackmist?!"

"Don't give me that back-talk; I see what you're wearing. That's their little pagen bracelet, I'm not having this kind of disrespect, now either you two get out of my establishment or I will FORCE you out."

Shintara couldn't help but stay put for a moment in surprise at the exchange going on. Apparently this Steelix wasn't really a fan of Izumi's tribe of Absol in the mountains, and now she was getting grouped in with them as well! Turning to the side of the water, the blind Absol paddled over to a piece of dry land away from the Steelix and climbed out, shaking herself off to dry before turning back to the Steelix.

"H-hey, who put you in ch-charge here? And I'm not part of that tr-tribe, but I've been with her for a b-bit and she seems nice. Y-you don't have any right to kick either of us ou-out!" The blind Absol stood tall despite the Steelix's intimidating stature and her own stuttering, fully prepared to get into a fight with the other pokemon over what was happening. It just wasn't right for Izumi and her to be getting judged and kicked out because they were Absol, and she didn't want this other pokemon to suffer because of that! Besides, she was fine with another fight to hone her skills if it came to that.

Oooooh no. Shintara said the thing. She said the thing that everybody knows but aren't supposed to say out loud. Izumi flinched, now inevitably thrust into a very awkward situation in which she couldn't reasonably continue to vaguely suggest that she certainly couldn't not be from somewhere around that area... or just blame it on Grassveil. She made a mental note to give Tara a bap on the head for that one later.

"HA HA HA, aaaaah, she's a cute one, isn't she?" Izumi laughed unnecessarily loudly, slinging a paw over Tara's wet head and scruffling it. "Yessiree, she is cute cute Cute. What a great kid. Did I mention I'm from Grassveil? Live and work there. Great place, lots of.... grass. Goooood... grass." Izumi dreaded to think of what would happen if the tribe caught wind of one of their apparent "members" straying aaaaall the way out to the Desert boonies. That was unnatural and nearly never happened. The Steelix looked relatively unimpressed.

"I'm in charge here because I made this place. I dug down to find the spring, and it's been an establishment that I protected ever since then! This is a place for the desert pokemon to enjoy, and I won't see another one bankrupt like the last time you invaders tried to set up a post here!" the Steelix seethed through his jaw.

"Oh yeah. That might have been a thing that happened," Izumi conceded as the memory dawned on her. "But look, from what I've heard through word of mouth, the tribe doesn't come here anymore. They're content with their dingy mountain, I doubt they're gonna be trying any bright ideas like that one again. You can't just blame every Absol that needs a drink of water for that."

"There's no trusting you lot now. I'd like to thrash every one of you that comes around here, and it's taking everything I've got not to. Every time I see you lot I have to remember what happened. We Steelix don't die quickly, you know."

"Well if you're still living with it, that's your fault. Come on, Tara," Izumi grumped as she started trudging away from the waterside.

She may not have been able to see anything, but immediately when it happened she could sense Izumi's flinch, and she immediately began to wonder what it was she had said wrong.This confusion was further enhanced by the shiny Absol throwing a paw over her head, ruffling her fur a bit. She had flinched...and now she was getting all close and comfortable with her?

When she started speaking, though, Shintara's eyes widened as she finally realized what her mistake was. Apparently Izumi had been trying to cover up the fact that she was part of the Blackmist tribe, which...seemed somewhat understandable, but at the same time, the blind Absol couldn't quite grasp it. Sure, they had treated Izumi and her sister pretty badly from what she had said, but would she really just cut off relations for it? Wasn't the rest of the tribe her family? Despite the issues she had with her own tribe, and even though she had to leave, she still wasn't going to try to cut them off...

Of course, then the Steelix went on to explain even more that made the blind Absol realize she might have screwed up. It was his establishment, someplace he had built, and therefore in a sense his territory. That was a concept she knew plenty about from her own experiences, and she knew she really wasn't supposed to be there if he didn't want her there.
"I-I'm sorry, sir. It won't happen again. But y-you shouldn't be so tough and sp-spiteful about it..." She responded with a quick bow of her head, before turning and following Izumi off. She waited until they were a short distance away before speaking.

"S-sorry about that...but, I was just w-wondering...do you really hate your tribe enough to not s-say you're affiliated with th-them?" She questioned, keeping her apparent gaze ahead as she spoke to the red Absol, her head hung a little lower in embarrassment about the situation.

Izumi was thoroughly miffed by the Steelix. He thought he had problems with the damn tribe? Nobody ever really had problems with the tribe until they had lived with those tight-asses. Then again... they had done some pretty horrible things to the desert pokemon, from what she had heard. Horrible, horrible things. Izumi knew that he had reason to feel hurt, but.... his grudge seemed stupid to her, regardless. A stupid waste of energy.

"....Hmm?" Izumi hummed as Tara's voice drew her out of her thoughts. "Ah..... well, that's a multi-faceted question, really. I've never been particularly proud to claim ties to the tribe, but in that particular instance back there, that Steelix was a member of a group of desert pokemon that the tribe had.... 'unsavory' relations with. They ruined a lot of things for those pokemon, and the ones who are still alive from that long ago still tend to bear fairly.... violent grudges. I was a bit worried for our physical well-being," the Absol chuckled sheepishly. "As for the tribe itself, it's not just that I'm not a fan. I only had one real strong bond there, and that was to my sister. The abuse we suffered notwithstanding, I just didn't adhere to their way of life. I never really felt like it was part of me, or at least I started dissociating with it early on. My parents rarely came around me, so I never really bonded with them. I bonded with myself and my sister... and that's about it. I just never really shared their identity, believed what they believed. It's probably got a lot to do with the fact that I grew up on the outskirts, with the other's leftovers."

"O-oh..." The blind Absol nodded her head thoughtfully, taking it all in. She still couldn't really understand the line of thought herself, but she could at least appreciate it. Still, though, it brought up some other questions to her. She'd never heard much about a tribe of Absol from the mountains messing with her clan, but then again, she'd spent most of her time training and socializing with younger members. She hadn't heard much about serious affairs. Was it possible that Izumi's tribe had ever had any kind of conflict with hers? And was it possible her mom wasn't completely safe up at the Mountain?

"Well, y-you don't have to w-worry much about my physical w-well-being. I've done a lot of t-training, so I can h-handle myself..." She smiled softly as she spoke, though she still didn't really turn her head to look at Izumi. Considering she personally didn't have any reason to look at someone when she spoke to them, since she couldn't, well, look, it wasn't something she'd quite grasped just yet as a social convention.
"Still, though, I'm s-sorry about what you went through w-with your tribe. I can't imagine th-that kind of abuse, and the separation fr-from your parents...b-but if you're willing, I do r-really want to go to the mountain. I'm w-worried about my mom there..." Shintara continued to say, starting to frown slightly as she worried about all sorts of possible things that could have happened to the only family she had close by.

Izumi chuckled. "Training won't always save you from a massive type disadvantage. I'm worried about both of us knowing insufficient techniques and being faced with something that completely destroys what we have to work with... I mean, unless you've been trained in Fighting type techniques. In that case I'm an ass and I take back everything I said." Izumi wasn't really looking up from her own paws, herself. She was more or less speaking a loose stream of consciousness, the only thing that really existed in her mind after that sudden outburst of emotion. Occurrences like this easily wore Izumi out, and she was just doing her usual remedy of retreating into her brain to try and regenerate the energy she needed.

"Eh, they chose to be separated from me. I can respect that they were just going with what they felt, though it's always more of what the hive mind feels than everything. They're very into traditions." Then, Shintara said something that woke Izumi up, brought her back into the moment. "Your mom's on the mountain? like, with the Black Mist Tribe?" she asked, unsure of what to think, or of how to feel. "Well... I can't really see them doing anything horrible to a fellow Absol, but I agree we should go try to check on her," Izumi nodded. "I'll get you as far as I can, but there might be trouble around the villages. We can escape through the Black Spiral though, so don't worry about it too much. I know some ghosts on the peak who can get us back undetected. You might be at more risk going up with me, though; are you alright with that?"

(Ooc: If you want to end and lock it with your post, I'll start the new topic on Black Mist Mountain xD)

Shintara simply listened silently, a sheepish smile showing as she turned to face the opposite direction of Izumi in an effort to hide it. She hadn't really taken type disadvantages into too much of a consideration, but she wasn't one to really back off from a fight either way. Besides, they'd had a source of water there, right? That probably could have helped them, if the Steelix hadn't had the authority and reasoning to send them off...right? Was that how it worked?

She shook her head slightly, deciding to think about it later. She'd been away from her old clan too long, even if it hadn't really been a long span of time in and of itself. She needed to keep training, to keep working on thinking about these things.
"If you c-can do that, it'd be gr-great. I'm sure the two of us c-can handle ourselves up there, and besides, I'd l-like the company." The Absol turned to angle her "gaze" towards her shiny counterpart, smiling slightly and turning her attention back ahead of them, continuing onward with Izumi. Something told her they had a bit of a trek ahead of them.