The Abandoned Villa

Tropical fluttered his wings nervously as he looked up at the scattered remains of the ruined mansion that dominated the dark skyline. His eyes narrowed in worry as they darted to the black clouds that prevented the sun from shining down on the land. Tropical's normally sunny disposition and positive attitude had faded with the sun. He had worried wrinkles pulling at the corners of his eyes and across his forehead, and his typical carefree grin was replaced with a concerned frown.

The disease that had followed the black clouds across the land was a serious one, affecting the very minds of the pokemon, turning them into even less than feral pokemon, driving them to insanity and violence. Tropical's own mother had recently been affected by the disease, explaining much of the worry on Tropical's countenance. It had driven him to this sunless place that stank of rotting wood, where the air trembled with a dangerous energy.

When his mother had contracted the disease, Tropical had gone into a frenzy, trying to find a way to reverse the madness and cure her sickness. He had traveled to the lower lands and found Xatu giving strange advice: a riddle, almost. He had stuck around for a while, trying to get more out of the mysterious but wise psychic. He'd managed to catch some mumbled ramblings, but that was all she wrote.

Tropical had never really been one much for riddles, preferring to garden and bake over anything else, but Xatu's words seemed to be rather straight-forward. After asking around and examining some maps of the lower lands, he concluded that the 'house of haunts' that Xatu spoke of had to be the Ruined Chateau, given that it was an old mansion overrun by ghost pokemon. He hoped to piece together more clues once he was inside and had the chance to look around.

Sosio: {36 - 16 (entrance) = 20}

Sosio scampered up to the towering mansion, stopping at its entrance, quite hesitant and taking in the view of the place on its own. It seemed almost as if the house itself was living, and technically it was. Haunted by so many poltergeists, the house seemed ever-moving, even seemingly breathing. The rain-less storm clouds above were so unearthly, it was as if the house spawned them, or created the illusion that it was darker outside than in reality. Every instinct within Sosio was keeping her mortified before the haunted house. Was this really a good idea?

Counting up all the factors... On the bright side, at least Sosio didn't have a moveset containing all normal-type moves, like she used to, now that she has Ember and Peck. Fighting ghost types shouldn't be too much of a problem, especially if she could burn them. The downside was that she had no idea what could possibly lie ahead. According to Xatu, there was a throne. The Fletchinder highly expected a powerful Pokemon to be taking this throne, perhaps even the king of ghosts--or the chateau at the very least.

When she heard "haunts" within Xatu's telling, the bird knew exactly who to confront. Her ghost-type acquaintance, the one who gave Sosio some items a few times, would often talk about a great ghost, one so great that an entire ghostly town atop a mountain put their faith into it. Could this be that being? Something so powerful that Pokemon only look to it in either awe or fear? Or is this a joke, a spam, a prank, all to be forgotten? Was she even in the right place?

Swallowing her fearful thoughts in a single gulp, she approached the gaping entrance. She felt like she was about to be eaten by a giant. Judging by the door ajar, it was fairly clear what would happen after she entered. It was the oldest trick in the haunting book. Yet the bird's trembling body and fearful mindset was embracing for the scare so intensely, it would somehow scare her more than if she wasn't acting this way. But it was no time to ask an intelligent 'mon about this, but to simply accept the fact she was here and simply enter.

Energy: 22 - 16(Entrance) = 4

Tropical let out a cry of shock as a blur of red and orange rushed past him, nearly knocking the large grass-type over. He blinked after the pokemon, who had ducked into the mansion ahead.

"Whuuuut...." He murmured to himself in confusion. He walked forward slowly, peeking his head around the doorway, wondering why the pokemon had been in such a rush.

He looked into the ruins to see a Fletchinder hovering a few feet away from him, its back to him. "Uh... h-hello?" he called to the fire-bird nervously, hoping against hope it wasn't a feral pokemon or affected by the disease. He didn't like fire at all, not one bit, and his wings fluttered nervously at the thought of the fire-bird turning its flames on him.

Sosio: {20}

Dashing by a Pokemon she didn't even notice at first, the already-startled bird stumbled over her own feet in reaction to seeing it and flailed to get back up, turning on her heels and taking another look at where the voice came from. How could she miss it? It was glorious. It was like a wonderful tree, but it wasn't a shrub, rather it was an animal. The Fletchinder always loved trees, but tree Pokemon? They were bound to become her best friend. The hyper fire type suppressed the longing to sit on its head and decided to start some small-talk, hopefully not sounding awkward.
"Hi! Oh man, you look really cool... I've never seen a Pokemon like you before! Nice bananas."

Where Sosio grew up, there were no Fletchling. In the jungle, the greatest things were the trees, and her adoptive family of Venusaur. She learned to fly as soon as possible, using the trees as comforting shelter from dangerous Pokemon of the ground, and scouting out as a messenger to all her friends. She wanted to carry out such a job to this town, but that never turned out. Instead, she's happily exploring and journeying, which brought her here, searching for some music box of some kind? She wondered if this tree Pokemon was after the same thing.

Tropical was taken aback by the bird's sudden outburst of language, thankfully one he understood. At least it wasn't attacking him on sight, he reflected. He dipped his head at the fire-bird's words.

"Why, thank you, kind missus!" he responded to her compliment. "I am Tropical, and I am a Tropius," he answered her implied question, folding his wings against his back so as not to seem threatening.

The comment about 'bananas' confused him for a moment, before a flash of understanding coursed through him. "Oh, my fruits? They're not bananas," he chuckled after a moment. "They're a little closer to mangos, if you've ever tasted those before. They just have the shape and color of bananas, for some odd reason."

He smiled at the bird kindly, glad to have found some good company, even if the fire-bird was, apparently, a bit excitable and certainly more quicker than him in the air.

Sosio: {20}

Sosio tilted her head in several positions with quick jolts. Her head stayed cocked to one side as he referred to her as 'missus'. She liked his voice, but it was amusing to hear anyone talk to her respectfully. The bird was extremely surprised when he moved his leaves at will. No Venusaur could ever do that!
"Haha. Why would I ever want to eat a part of your body? Speaking of which, I need to get a load of those leaves!" She said, peering over the Tropius' shoulder to the long pieces of foliage that stuck out of its back. It was so graceful and interesting. It made Sosio want to strap giant leaves to her wings when she flies, but it could never look as fabulous as this plant dino.

Tropius chuckled at the Fletchinder's excitable personality as she peered over his shoulder at his folded wings. He rustled them a little, bemused at her fascination of them.

"The fruits aren't really a part of my body, necessarily," he explained in response to her previous comment. "They grow, ripen, and fall off twice a year. They're rather sweet and juicy -a lot of the birds from Aileron love them, so my family gave ours away each year amongst the children."

Tropius extended a vine from beneath the leaves that served as a collar around his neck to feel at the fruits beneath his chin. "They aren't quite ripe yet, or I would offer you one to try," he said kindly.

"What brought a kind pokemon like you out to this dreary place?" he asked, wondering if the fire-bird had come to the ruined mansion for the same reason he had.

Sosio: {20}

The Fletchinder grinned delightfully. Not only was this Pokemon friends with birds, but he's been to Aileron. But it hit Sosio after a while... Wasn't Aileron part of the floating islands?
"Wait... Can you fly? You've been to Aileron? I've been trying to get their my whole life!" So much emphasis was put on the word "life" that she was practically breathless as she said the word. This made the grass type before her all the more amazing. She couldn't care less about the fruits now.

As her awe was peaking as she learned more about this Tropius, the small talk discussing why they came here finally bubbled up from the broiling pot.
"After hearing word from Xatu, it was next to impossible not to come here."
The fledgling bird left it at that. If she were lucky, maybe Tropical didn't hear about the issues and just came for a stroll. Lucky as in so she wouldn't be embarrassed if she truly did come to the wrong place.
"Oh! I almost forgot. I'm Sosio. Nice to meet you!"

Tropical grinned at the Fletchinder's shock. He knew a big ol' grass dinosaur like him probably didn't look at all like he could fly, so he stretched out his wings and launched himself into the air, beginning to hover to show the fire-bird that he could, indeed, fly.

"I can fly, indeed. As for Aileron, not only have I been there, but I was actually born there," he said.

His eyes darkened at her next words, and he looked away, the darkness returning to his face as he thought on why he was here. "Yeah, I suppose so," he responded. "I heard his words as well, and... well... m-my mother-" he broke off, unwilling to say more as the image of his beloved family flashed before his closed eyes.

Sosio: {20}

As the large, heavy-appearing Pokemon took flight, Sosio looked up at him with sparkling eyes and a great grin. She never thought there could be such a thing as a flying tree, but it combined two of her favorite things. Trees and flying types. Somehow the Pokemon she could only dream of was right in front of her, and was purely distracting her from the gruesome building that lie like an giant obstacle before them. However, the topic on their location arose, and there was no evading the darkness around them. Tropical seemed to have something Sosio didn't. First of all, he had a mother, and second of all, something was wrong with that.
"What about your mother...?"Sosio breathed softly, ruffling her feathers in sheer discomfort. She didn't expect an answer, but pure-heartedly hoped nothing horrible happened to her--or anyone else, for that matter.

The bird knew no boundaries, none whatsoever. None of logic, reason, power, and in others. There was always more, and if she didn't know that more, she would ask, not realizing she could potentially offend, hurt, or bother another. And even worse was, she didn't realize when she did it. The only basic facial expressions she could recognize were pretty much just fear, anger, and happiness. Other than that, Sosio couldn't take a hint.

Tropical winced at the question that spilled from Sosio's beak, clear curiosity emanating from the fire bird. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying not to cry as.he choked out: "S-she... she c-caught the disease, she.... she's gone mad.... s-she's the most g-gentlest pokemon you can find, b-but now... s-she nearly killed my father...."

Tropical felt several tears slide down his face as he spoke od his mother's condition. "T-that's why I have to do this. I have to find answers, find the cure. Otherwise.... my mom will be gone forever."

Sosio: {20}

Sosio's crest fluffed up as her eyes grew wider. She had nearly forgotten of the disease the Xatu spoke of. All she could focus on was carrying out the crazy task he hinted towards. But Tropical had a real reason to be doing this. A family member of his was in desperate need of a cure, while not even a friend of the Fletchinder was directly affected by it.
"Well in that case... We have to do this! For you! ...For her! If we work together, surely we can do this and defeat whatever it is we have to in order to fix this mess..." the bird aspired aloud, her feathers smoothing down as she did so. She wasn't even fully sure of what they were to do, but hopefully her confident mindset inspired the Tropius to do this with her.

Tropical opened his eyes and stared at the Fletchinder in surprise. He hadn't been expecting this kind of reaction from the fire-bird. He'd noticed that beyond the boundaries of Aileron, pokemon were a lot harsher and more close-minded than the small floating town he'd been born in. He'd been expecting the bird to mock him or at the very least be uninterested in the pain he was going through.

"You.. you'd really help me?" He asked incredulously. "You'd come with me and help me find a cure for my mother? Really, truly?"

Sosio: {20}

"Well we can't just sit around and do nothing, can we?" In Tropical's doubt, Sosio thrust her wings outwards to either side, placing her right wing over her chest. "I'll do my best to help you, especially for such an important cause! I'm in this with you! Till the end!"
Besides silly and immature, the Fletchinder was surprisingly loyal and helpful, all thanks to her amiable attributes. The bird really was all over the place, leading in one instance, and following in another, but what she did was in assistance of others. She had the inexplicable urge to serve for, most likely, the greatest Pokemon she'd ever witness. If helping him out could form a true friendship, then she would do whatever it takes. "On my oath," she promised.

"I... thank you!" Tropical burst out, spreading his own wings and engulfing the smaller flying type in gratification. It was wonderous to the sensitive Tropius to find a pokemon so helpful and kind after so long of cruelty and disinterest.

Perhaps it was the flying type in her, Tropical reflected after a moment. Perhaps flying types were inherently kinder and more helpful than other types? It seemed plausible, seeing as how Aileron consisted of primarily flying types, and this kind Sosio was a flying type herself.

A sound suddenly echoed out across the ruins, breaking Tropical from his embrace of the Fletchinder to whip his head around towards where the sound had come from, his heart suddenly beating quickly at the unexpected noise.

Silver carried out 1 launched of one Ruined Chateau :