Veiled in Shadows

First topic message reminder :

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 remained in his spot. Still too exhausted to even move. "I... I tried." he said as he remained there. "I'm sorry." he said feeling quite upset about what had happened to them.

His face that normally  showed energetic demeanor seemed to be of the opposite result right now. Seeming really tired and run down. "We still didn't find the scarf..." he said quietly as he sighed. "I... don't want to give up... but..." he broke out. "Why do pokemon do this... Why is there a need for fighting..." he in a very quiet and sad tone. Clearly becoming sick of the chaos some pokemon can cause.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nearby there was a sitrus berry on the ground. Just a little ways behind Varda. If Varda were to turn around. He would see the berry clearly as a light shown on it from above, despite the large amount of darkness the canopy made.

((Feel free to split the berry in half or whatnot between both characters for energy. Just state the ratio for the energy to add.))

Varda continued lying on his back, his eyes looking into the deep darkness above them. He wasn't moving a muscle either, but he got quite the puzzled expression as the Pichu suddenly claimed that he tried and he was sorry. The bird didn't quite understand.
"What for?" He chirped, as oblivious as ever,
"I don't think I see a reason to apologize here, they attacked us first," the Swablu cooed. Maybe that was a part of the problem as he listened to the Pichu explain. Joey seemed like a more of an inexperienced explorer, so perhaps he wasn't very used to this kind of Pokémon. Varda, unfortunately, was.

"I don't really know... But it seems like some Pokémon in these places are, well, strange. More primitive in a way? I'm not sure if they can even talk, it's like they're feral," the bird Pokémon didn't have answers to Joey's questions, as he honestly did not know why some Pokémon acted in such strange ways. But maybe that was the reason they lived in the wilderness rather than towns or other kind of communities like Varda and Joey?
"But that's why Guilds exist! Our client couldn't come here herself and risk fighting all these Pokémon, so we have to do it instead," he nodded, not looking like he had been brought down by their current bad luck. There was only so much bad luck in the world before it ran out for a while and they would start having good luck, right?

The scarf was somewhere, it had to be. They wouldn't give up now, would they? But some rest definitely was in order, both of them were completely exhausted. Having a little break wasn't all that bad now, was it? He was sure that breaks were a part of having a job!


Current Energy: very dead


((Might not want to use the berry in this thread, as it seems more probable that these two wouldn't be able to continue for much longer consider all that happened, hah. This seems like it would be our last page and the Pokémon we encounter might work better as non-aggressive ones. So let's have them rest for a while and find the berry once they are rested enough to lift up their asses!))

Joey continued to lay there... Still not quite capable of moving. Joey had some tears form in his eyes as he felt completely defeated. He remembered that one day in his village... One of the elders there stated that a guild will come and protect them. However that fateful day... The guild never showed up and the village was destroyed.

This memory... of the attack on the village haunts the little pichu every time he is reminded of it. The pain has slowly gone away with time. Only to have it be shown to him time and time again in various forms.

"Yes... The guilds are here to help others... We are here to help them!" he said as he attempted to get up. "grrr.."

The pichu was now forcing himself off the ground slowly. "I won't give up!" he said as he fell back down. "Umf... I..." he started but noticed a floating flower pokemon off the side in the bush. Joey remained in his spot silently as he stared at the pokemon. It seemed a bit startled as it noticed the tiny pokemon spotted it. However it approached slowly... It seemed to have been one of the pokemon it saw earlier during the horde that attacked them.

Joey hadn't really seen this one even start to attack them during that engagement... It was more on the sidelines. The pokemon slowly floated over to the two cautiously... It did not seem to be aggressive at all.

A faint cloud started to come from the pokemon. It seemed to have a soothing effect as Joey breathed in.

((This pokemon may have been removed from my tracker, But they weren't KO'd so it is fine... Had asked an admin about this last month and it was fine. Plus it was the previous page.

This pokemon is not aggressive and is using Aromatherapy. Although not a healing move. It does remove all status affects. In the anime it had the affect of boosting another's energy after going through a tough battle. This is not going to heal the two but is going to be helping them feel better.))

Varda smiled as the Pichu seemed to regain his hope, determined to see the mission to its end no matter the setbacks. Of course the bird liked that, as they always had to find the final ounce of strength to bounce back when they were down! Though in this case, he hoped it wouldn't have been so literal as they really didn't have to get up right now. Both of them were tired and honestly? They needed the rest. Yet Joey attempted to get up, putting his all behind fighting the gravity. Ultimately, forcing it didn't seem to work.

"Oh, you don't have to force yourself to get up... Sometimes you need to rest for a moment so you can be truly ready to continue," the Swablu offered his advice in situations like these, always wanting to take things easy when it was clear they shouldn't keep going... Well, just yet at least. Surely the Pichu would understand it as well, seeing how he wasn't getting off the ground himself. And Varda? Well, he wasn't even trying...

A pleasant smell wafted into the bird's nostrils, causing the little Pokémon to take a deep breath. It smelled like... Flowers. It kind of reminded him of how the Guildmaster smelled like, in a weird way! Very flowery... And relaxing. The Swablu's eyes ended up closing as he relaxed, sighing. He could see the floating shape of some kind of a flower for a while, but his eyes shut tight before he managed to take a good look.
"Aah... That smells nice..."

Joey didn't quite understand what the pokemon did... However he felt better then before. He even tried to get up for a moment. Even though he was a little unsteady, he managed to get up. The flower pokemon backed up a little, giving the pichu room. It must not have been sure whether or not that the pichu was going to attack or something. However he decided to take Varda's advice and rest. So he sat back down. As so, the pokemon returned to its original spot when it let out its soothing scent.

"Umm. What was that?" Joey asked as he looked at the pokemon. However it didn't seem to respond. It remained there silently with a smile on its face. Joey could only guess that it couldn't talk.

Varda enjoyed the relaxing scent for a while, almost managing to drift to sleep despite their rather spooky and unsafe surroundings. It was just nice to lie down on the soft grass, listening to the slight rustling of the leaves as the wind touched them... But no sunlight made the forest kind of a cold place to nap! Pecha Forest was a much better place for this kind of thing, honestly! The bird slowly opened his eyes, unable to see much new as the shadows of the leaves above them turned into a dark abyss. He glanced at Joey to see the Pichu sitting next to him, so the Swablu slowly pushed himself up on his bottom as well.

"Oh, I don't know, but it smelled so nice," the bird Pokémon cooed in a dreamy tone, certainly having enjoyed the little perfume show. He didn't really have the best sense of smell and many things didn't smell like much to him... But the flowery scent was just perfect in his eyes! The little flower-like Pokémon he had seen for a moment seemed to still be there, and while it didn't respond, it didn't seem like it was attacking them, either.
"Ah, thanks for that! At least I think it was you who did it," Varda chirped to the new face.

The Swablu's eyes started to wander slightly, not able to see far when the trees shaded the place so well... But something bright near their current position caught his interest. Tilting his head, he hopped on his feet and slowly waddled over to a certain bush, pushing the leaves aside slightly with his wings. It was a berry, a yellow one. A Sitrus berry, wasn't it? They were pretty tasty.
"Oh, oh, Joey look!"

Joey let a small smile form as he noticed Varda had enjoyed the scent the flower pokemon released. "Yes... I feel much better, thank-you."

Joey then turned to look at the glowing object that Varda spotted. A luscious looking yellow berry. "A Sitrus berry!! Those are delicious!" he said as he jumped up quickly forgetting that he shouldn't push himself too hard regardless of how good he felt from the treatment the flower pokemon gave them.

He half tripped as he got up. "Woah!... hehehe... I guess that doesn't fix everything..." he said as he caught his balance. "It still feels better being able to move." he said as he started at a much slower pace this time. He walked over to the berry and picked it up. "We should save this." he said with a bright smile. "They are very helpful from what I know." he finished as he turned towards the two pokemon. The flower one seemed to nod despite not understanding him properly. It seemed to get the sense that the pichu must of been happy about the berry.

Varda looked over his shoulder as the Pichu exclaimed happily, knowing exactly what the berry they had found was. Well, of course! The Swablu himself might have been very oblivious when it came to many things, not knowing what many items did... But the berries, now those he knew. They ate those things, so it was only natural! And Sitrus berries were delicious. Unfortunately Joey got up a bit too fast in his excitement, almost tripping and falling back down.

"Oh, yes! You should be careful and take it easy," he chirped and nodded, agreeing that they weren't in the best shape yet even if the relaxing smell of the flowers was nice. It wasn't some kind of smell that could heal injuries...
"You're right," the bird nodded twice, an agreement to both the idea of holding onto the berry and that it was a very helpful one,
"You should hold onto it," Varda added, as Joey had already taken the berry, so he might as well keep it. Besides, the Swablu had some berries of his own waiting for him back home...

"Last time we found berries, there were other ones nearby... Maybe we should search this area in case there's more?" Varda chirped his idea, tilting his head slightly as he looked at Joey.

Joey looked at Varda as he stated that there could be more in the area. Joey nodded and looked around for a moment. This time if there was any... It wasn't painfully obvious like this one.

Joey walked around slowly as he searched the surrounding area. He didn't exactly find any more berries. So he started making his way back towards Varda and the odd flower pokemon.

"I couldn't fi--EIIIND! OW OW OWWW!" he started but broke out into a squeal as he stepped a bunch of seeds.

Varda started to waddle around as well to see if there was anything interesting to see around this area, keeping an eye on the bushes. This little clearing they were in seemed to be rather bare however, almost as if it had been picked clean of everything that might have been in it already... Or maybe he was just imagining things. The Sitrus berry seemed rather odd all alone in the bush at least. Perhaps they should head deeper into the bushes? It was an idea he had planned to suggest to Joey, but the mouse-like Pokémon's sudden yell caused the bird to turn around in confusion.

"Oh, oh, what is it?" The Swablu chirped his worries, not noticing what the problem was at first so he quickly dashed over to the Pichu. He didn't want to take any risks with the other Pokémon hurting himself again after all that had happened already, but as Varda's eyes traveled down, he noticed some seeds... His gaze ended up looking above them and he thought that he saw something on a branch high up, almost right on top of them. Two long furry arms with long claws were dangling down, but they weren't moving. Perhaps the Pokémon up there was sleeping? Perhaps it had been eating so messily that seeds had fallen down? Who knew...

After the painful step Joey had taken. He looked down to see that the offending items he had stepped on were seeds. 2 blast seeds to be exact. "Stepped on some stupid seeds... They were pointing straight up." he replied as he shivered. "I hate seeds." he grumbled. Joey hadn't really noticed the pokemon above them. However, just as he was about to walk again. A shell fell on his head... A shell from a seed.

"Huh?" Joey looked up and noticed the pokemon eating seeds from above. It went to bite into another seed however it stopped short of the bite as it smelled it. It then tossed it to the side without a care in the world. As it fell and hit the ground. It seemed to explode, not even phasing the pokemon that tossed it carelessly.

From below, Joey was a bit away from where the seed was tossed. However, the explosion was still enough to startle him. "Hey! Watch where you are tossing those!" he shouted up to the pokemon.

It seemed to look down at him, grunting as it continued to eat its seeds. It seemed to ignore the three pokemon below. Joey decided to just leave the pokemon be as he started walking away from the pile of seeds. He didn't want them... Never would... He hated seeds.

((Heh, silly hate for seeds... You should ask why))

Varda tilted his head slightly as the Pichu gave a reason for his earlier yelp: he had accidentally stepped on some seeds! Indeed, putting all of one's weight on a paw that happened to be on top of an uneven surface that might have even been a bit pointy like seeds could be... It didn't feel good at all! But as Joey continued with a grumble saying that he didn't like seeds, the bird felt rather confused as a puzzled and slightly concerned expression appeared on his face. He himself was a bird with a beak perfect for eating seeds, so of course they made one big part of his diet. Yet it seemed like the Pichu didn't share the same like...

Something fell on top of Joey, causing the little Pokémon to look up. The Swablu did the same and noticed some movement from the arms he saw earlier, appearing like their owner wasn't sleeping after all! Another seed fell from the branch high above, but this one exploded as it hit the ground. A rather sudden turn of events that caused Varda to jump up from the surprise!

It was very dangerous, so it was good that Joey tried to tell that to the Pokémon munching on some delicious seeds so that it didn't accidentally hurt someone with the explosions... But it didn't seem to care much. At least it didn't seem to react much. The pile of seeds that had gathered underneath the branch seemed to go ignored by the Pichu, so Varda instead waddled over them and used his wings to scoop them up before walking to where Joey was going. He didn't want to get exploded himself, either...
"You don't want these? Seeds are pretty good..."

Joey shook his head as Varda asked if he didn't want them. "No... I don't like seeds. I haaaate em..." he said as he cringed from a thought of what happened last time he ate a seed before... That was way back in his village when it still existed...

"I don't trust them...." he added as he shook his head once more. The pokemon from above seemed to look down once more as it heard Joey stated that he hated seeds. The pokemon seeming to be able to understand them had a few words of its own to state.

"Seeds good... I like seed, why not you..." it stated as it continued to eat more seeds. Joey seemed to cringe as he remembered his reasoning. "I don't like em! They made me sick..." he said as he turned away.

"Sick?" it repeated. It then grunted and returned to eating its seeds.

Varda seemed to look even more puzzled as the Joey repeated how he hated seeds. It was just so... Strange of a thing to hear when seeds tasted pretty good in his opinion! He couldn't imagine a life without eating them, those delicious little presents. But how the Pichu followed up on it made him very confused indeed. Not trusting the seeds? As was as the bird knew, the seeds weren't exactly, well, alive. Capable of thoughts and treachery. There was no reason to not trust something that couldn't even lie. Surely such questions were very apparent on the blue bird's face as he looked at Joey with a furrowed brow.

A voice from above made the Swablu glance up, seeing that the seed-eating Pokémon seemed to be able to speak as well – and these two certainly agreed on one thing! Seeds were good indeed! Though of course the Pichu was allowed to have his own opinions and not everyone would like the things they liked – something the Pokémon in the tree might not understand – but Varda had to admit it: he too was quite curious what the reason for it was.
"Oh? Did you eat a bad seed?" The bird cooed as he tilted his head, looking back as Joey when he mentioned getting sick...

Joey looked at Varda for a moment. "I don't know. It was with my meal the one day where I came from... I ate one of the seeds and I couldn't move for the whole day... I felt sick from it... I hate em! I do not trust them..." he said as looked up at the pokemon in the trees. "I can't trust them!" he shook his head once more...

How many times he would repeat it... Arceus only knows... However it was apparent he really hated seeds. It would probably be worth looking into though since they were very beneficial to oneself.

"hrmm... Not bad seed... Just not good to eat... Sound like stun seed... You eat stun seeds?" the pokemon from above responded. "Why would I! I hate seeds!" the pichu retaliated.