Veiled in Shadows

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My Precious Scarf! Mission Info:

The trees started to grow larger and more frequent the further into the forest the pair of Pokémon went. With that, the canopy above became fuller with less holes, letting in less and less light. In the Pecha Forest, the sunlight was filtered through some leaves, but not enough to really darken up the place. But Shadowhue Forest? It was an entirely different beast altogether. As barely any light managed to get through the thick foliage, the ground was shrouded in shadows with some of the darker spots looking like there was nothing but complete blackness. Who knew what could be lurking in there... But the forest was deathly silent with just some very soft footsteps treading on the patchy grass, barely even audible except to the pair that was causing them.

Varda hopped along, finding it very easy to keep going forward when the ground seemed like it had some kind of road. He didn't have the best sense of direction, oh no, and while the paths and roads in this forest were clearly less traveled, some still existed as Pokémon had walked here before. Occasionally the bird would take a look at the smaller mouse-like Pokémon by his side, smiling happily as if there were no worries in that little head of his. Indeed, the Swablu wasn't afraid of the dark at all. That might have been one reason why he had agreed to help the smaller Pokémon out, as he had been to the forest before and didn't find it very scary at all! He was certain he could help...
"It's a bit dark in here, but I'm sure we will find the scarf if we keep our eyes open!"


Current Energy: 32 (42 -10 from entering. Sky Powder in use, every other Pokémon encounter costs 1 less energy)

Joey stared at his stone for a moment as the bird asked him if it was broken. He shook his head lightly no. His eyes closed as he did so. "No... it isn't that." he said rather softly.

This was a bit different from the usual energy the Pichu gave off. He was normally pretty energetic. He has not really shown any of the guild members otherwise. So this was probably something that would cause them to worry.

Eventually he had tears start to form in his eyes. As this happened, he turned away attempting to hide it. However he was doing a rather poor job at hiding it.

He then fell to the ground holding his stone close. "I... *Whimpers* I miss home! I... I need Azeral!" he cried out. At that moment, the stantler had lifted its head as it stopped drinking from the river. Looking towards the clearly upset pichu. The pokemon however remained there, seeming to understand what was going on.

Varda seemed relieved when the little Pokémon shook his head and even said how the stone hadn't been broken. That was good! If the stone was something Joey treasured, then it would be very unfortunate indeed if he lost it due to something like a crack! But the bird seemed to have missed how the Pichu didn't look any happier, being so happy for the stone not being cracked that he had forgot everything else. It wasn't until Joey suddenly burst into tears and cried out, causing Varda to even jump from the surprise.

The Swablu could understand being homesick, but he didn't know if he was the best in situations like these, feeling quite lost as his eyes darted from side to side as if trying to find something useful. The only thing he saw was the deer that was on the other side of the river and... Some kind of large purple moth that had been scared away by the Pichu's crying, flapping its wings as fast as it could as it tried to get away. The bird however, hopped closer.
"Oh, um, um, it's alright," Varda chirped as he tried to reassure his friend,
"Who is... Azeral?"


((The other Paras was actually met before, so you can remove that one too!))

Current Energy: 14 (13 +1 from the new page)

Joey continued to hug his stone as Varda tried to comfort him. Still having tears go down his face, he looked up towards Varda. "She... She helped me... When I was lost..." he whimpered. "She is my team mate, and friend...She even helped me find Jak." he continued.

He closed his eyes. "I ca-can't ever ga-go back home..." he started to choke on his words.

The pichu still clinging to the rock, remained on the ground in tears. The poor thing seemed to be in terrible greif over his lost partner... Only to bring up even more memories of his home that he had lost.

Varda actually understood what the Pichu was talking about. In a way, his own story and how he had ended up in Grassveil was very similar! He too had been lost and was helped by someone who ended up being a future teammate of his once he joined the Guild. But it still felt like there were so many mysterious and questions to be asked, so much the bird didn't understand – and as many would usually find out with Varda, he really did need things spelled out for him to understand.

"I'm not Azeral, but um," the bird started with a chirp, of course not knowing what this Pokémon's fate was as he didn't even know anyone with that name. As he saw it however, the Pichu and that Pokémon were in the same team, most likely having split up for this single mission. Why? He didn't know. But it was simple to assume that and perhaps Joey just was so used to doing missions with his teammate that being separated made him feel bad!

"But we're a team now too! Kind of. Not officially, but we are working together so it's a team, right?" He continued with his usual innocent smile and naïve thoughts, looking at the Pichu,
"Did you get lost...?"

Joey looked up towards Varda at the comment about being a team. Even though it wasn't official.. It did cheer him up a little. He then looked back at his stone, sighing slightly.

"No... My home was destroyed... This is all that I have from it... That is why... It is my personal treasure." he said as got up slowly as he held his stone close to him. Joey still being upset, at least looked a little happier from Varda's comment about them being a team.

"We should continue looking for that scarf... The client might get more worried if we don't find it." he said in a tone was definitely not the same as when he first started the mission.

He kept the stone in his hand and his bag hung onto him as he got ready to move again.

((Pondering whether or not to through raverous in here.... The cause of Joey's home's destruction.... He is lacking threads and needs to get more pages))

"Oh," Varda's remaining smile was quickly gone when the Pichu actually explained the reason why he was missing his home. He wasn't just lost, he... Didn't even have the chance of going back, ever. The bird himself knew that with the way he was lost, it sometimes felt like his home had disappeared from the world as well... But he also knew that it did exist, so if he kept looking, he would get back home. Joey wasn't that lucky.

It was difficult to say anything else to that. It was impossible to say that everything was fine and the Pichu shouldn't worry, because that was just a big fat lie. Luckily it was Joey who ended up breaking the silence, reminding them of the task at hand. Right, the scarf.
"Ah, yes. It's still missing," the bird cooed as he picked the Leaf Stone and put it in his bag for safekeeping.

The Swablu started to hop in any direction the Pichu seemed to agree with, keeping an eye on the smaller Pokémon. Joey certainly looked like he was down after all that and Varda really felt like there was something he should be doing to take his friend's mind off such a horrible thing... But what? He wasn't very good in this kind of situations!
"I'm sure it can't be too far..."


((Maybe not a good encounter for babby's first mission thread, hah. But maybe in some kind of a future thread? I'm always up for threads as long as I have free slots!))

Joey followed the Swablu in the direction they had left off at since their previous encounters. Wondering how much of the forest they had covered so far... Still having those painful thoughts of his lost friend and home fresh within his mind. He kept a close eye out for anything that resembled a ribbon or scarf that was colored pink. Varda stated that the item couldn't be too much further. Joey did wonder how cotton bird pokemon would know such things...

At some point he thought he caught a glimpse of something past some bushes for a moment. This seemed to cause him to stop walking for a moment. Something being out of place just past the bushes. "Hey, wait a second... Something is over there..." he stated as he kept staring in the direction of the bush.

((All pokemon in roll may be encountered right away, use any hostility you wish. I like to get a second mission for Joey at some point in. Might want Joey to work with Varda more for sure... ))

Coaster carried out 3 launched of one Shadowhue Forest :

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Varda kept walking and honestly, the forest just looked the same everywhere! He wasn't even sure where he was going right now, but luckily the river proved to be some kind of a landmark that would help them not get too lost... Right? As long as they kept going to new places and kept their eyes open, they would find the mission item – of that he was certain! Or perhaps he was just awfully optimistic like he always was, but the simple bird just was the kind of a Pokémon who saw good in everything...

As the Pichu stopped, the Swablu did the same – after a moment of course, as he seemed to be a bit distracted by his own thoughts and it took a moment for him to register what was happening. Varda tilted his head and looked at Joey, his gaze then directed at the bush ahead. He squinted his eyes real hard and tried to see what it was that his friend had noticed, but... Nothing. He couldn't see anything. It was always possible that Joey had just thought he had seen something, but the bird Pokémon wasn't one to believe someone had been wrong very easily.

A stronger gust from behind the bush blew through the forest, snaking through the trees and shrubs. The bush gave the small Pokémon some protection due to their position, but the light bird did feel the pull in his feathers, digging in his claws deeper to make sure he would keep his balance. Varda wasn't the only one affected by the wind, as two colorful flowers soon emerged from behind the bush, twirling in the wind rather recklessly.

And it wasn't just two flowers, no – both of them had some kind of tiny Pokémon hanging onto them! The Swablu followed them with his eyes and an open mouth as he watched, at first worried that the two would be blown away by the wind and hurt... But no, it seemed like they managed to straighten their course in the end and gently kept floating further into the forest.
"Ah..."

Joey stayed in his spot as the wind throw a nice gust for a moment, not realizing that Varda had trouble in the brief gust of wind. However he was more focused on what came out of the bush. Two flower like pokemon had flowed along with the gust of wind. Seeming to be out of control.

Joey was about to jump after them, in case they needed the assistance due to the wind. However the wind must of died down enough to regain control as their paths straightened out.

Blinking a few times, he wondered... What is was like to follow the wind all the time. This was a thought he had before when he saw other pokemon that relied on the wind for travel.

A smile grew on his face with those thoughts as they somewhat took away his other worries. He seemed to stare off in the distance still as he thought.

The object he thought he saw, still remained behind the bush. However his attention currently wasn't on it at the time due to his trailing thoughts.

Varda kept staring at the two floating Pokémon with Joey for a while, and the pair seemed to grow quiet as they just stood there and looked. Perhaps it was nice to see some color in a dreadful place like this, who knew such nice flowers could grow in the shade of all these shadows? There were many distracting thoughts to be had and it wasn't until later when the bird even remembered what they were supposed to be doing and why the bush had been so interesting in the first place. The Pichu had seen something in there!

"Oh, the bush!" The Swablu cooed as he realized, turning to look at the leafy plant ahead. He couldn't see anything out of ordinary when it came to it, but Joey could have been right in any case. The thing might have been very small or perhaps it was moving... But Varda was definitely very curious about it now.
"What was it that you saw, Joey?" He questioned as he started to waddle closer to the bush, reaching out with one of his fluffy wings to bush aside the branches so he could peek inside...

Joey shook his head as he snapped back to reality. "Oh the bush! There was something a little ways past it..." he said as he ran towards the direction of the bush. He then went around it to see a pink scarf in the middle of the area. It looked as if someone just left it... Directly in the middle of the clearing there. However Joey didn't take this as a hint of danger during this time. He got extremely excited to see the ribbon matched the description pretty well from a distance... He had to get a closer look at it.

"I think this is it!" he said as he ran towards the ribbon. Little did he know, there were pokemon surrounding the area... Remaining hidden from view. Making almost little to no noise at all.

((Any or all pokemon encounters should be considered hostile at discretion. Items could be counted as if the pokemon had them as belongings or something if you wish))

Coaster carried out 10 launched of one Shadowhue Forest :

, , , , , , , , ,

Varda pulled himself out of the bush and quickly waddled after the Pichu as his friend told him that there was something on the other side of the bush. The two went around and came to a small clearing in the forest, the slightly thinner canopy above letting in just a bit more light again... And indeed, in the middle where the rays of light touched weakly, there was a pink scarf of some kind! Just like Joey, the Swablu felt excitement build up inside him, believing that the second time would be the charm! He too ran after the mouse Pokémon, eager to take a closer look...

"Oof!" The bird exclaimed as he suddenly tripped on something and fell down on the grass, the air forced out of his lungs by the impact. It seemed like there was a rock or something he hadn't noticed... But when he turned around to look, he noticed the husk of a bug float up from behind him. Seemed like he had accidentally tripped on one of those Pokémon, he had seen one in this forest before and it hadn't been hostile. But this one... Actually looked a bit different, coming closer in its floaty way.

"Oh um, I'm sorry," Varda chirped in case the Pokémon was angry because of being accidentally stepped on, as it certainly wasn't his intention! He hadn't even seen the Pokémon! Actually, the bug seemed to be very well hidden. Perhaps it shouldn't have slept in a place like that – if it even was sleeping in the first place? Whatever it was, his thought were quickly stopped short as some kind of blue beetle with a tall, single horn on its nose rushed from the bushes, trying to attack Joey!

Joey continued to run up to the item as he was unaware of the pokemon that were not showing up from the bushes. However when he got to the item he noticed right away it looked like the same item they had found before. He then stopped just a few feet from the item.

After a brief moment he realized there was noise coming from all around. "Va-varda! W-we are surrounded!" he shouted as he started charging his energy up. At that moment a dozen or so copies of some strange flying bug surrounded him. Just as that had happened a blue long horned beetle came charging at him. Catching him completely off guard due to his focus on the flying bug type.

It slammed into him with its horn as it tossed him into the air. Joey shouted in pain as he got knocked into the air.

Varda quickly looked at the Pichu as he yelled about them being surrounded, momentarily forgetting about the Pokémon he had tripped on – but the thing he managed to catch the best was seeing how some kind of beetle rushed at at Joey and sent him flying! The bird chirped in worry and opened his wings, but before he managed to soar up into the sky, the husk of a bug used its hands to try to slash at the Swablu. Unfortunately for the bug, Varda really couldn't stick around and deal with it!

With fast flaps, the bird rose into the air and dashed to the Pichu that had been thrown into the air. It didn't take much force to cause something so light as the two of them to become airborne, but the Swablu had a hunch that the beetle was a rather strong Pokémon! Was this an ambush of some kind? There was really no time to think about why this all was happening.

Varda grabbed the strap of Joey's bag with his feet and flapped his wings as hard as he could. He wasn't really used to carrying extra weight, especially something that was about the same weight as him – and more! He couldn't possibly fly like this, losing altitude. But if there was one thing he managed to succeed in, it was slowing down the fall as the pair drifted towards the ground. The Swablu did his best to try to direct them away from the aggressive Pokémon, however...

An Ariados had been on the side of one of the trees as the bird had caught the pichu. Having its creepy bug smile cross its face. It shot a web towards the two Pokemon as they slowly drifted towards the ground.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Joey, not knowing which direction he was facing as he was airborne. He felt his bag tug on him as it held him in the air. Slowly coming down, he noticed Varda had grabbed his bag to prevent him from falling. Joey quickly regained his sense of direction after figuring out which way was down and watched as they had flown away from the direction of the scarf.
As they drifted