On the Road to Rainfront Town

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[Energy: 17 - 10 (Entry Cost) = 7]
[Exclusive Item: White Silk (Reduces cost of every other Pokemon rolled by 1)]

Pilot looked up at the large hill before him, panting heavily. After traveling on foot for hours without rest, he had finally reached the toughest part of his journey to Rainfront Town: Pricklemist Hill. The huge mound of dirt was the only thing separating the exhausted bird from his destination. If he could hurry things up, perhaps he could finish up his business with the DreamCatcher's Service by nightfall... It was a hopeful thought, considering that it was already mid-day, but if anyone could do it, it was him. I wish I could've just flown there, Pilot anxiously thought to himself, twitching his damaged wing. It still hurt from when he had crashed into a tree in Shadowhue Forest. It was beginning to heal, but flying for long distances was simply out of the question.

A dense cloud of mist surrounded the hill, giving it an ominous appearance. The area had a bit of a spooky reputation, but Pilot wasn't scared. There was no evidence of ghost types living there, so why would he be? Besides, as long as he didn't dawdle around, he wouldn't even be in the dungeon for long. Quietly whistling a tune to himself, Pilot began going upslope, starting the exhausting process of scaling the hill. I should've brought that Mim girl with me... He thought to himself, not exactly thrilled that he was traveling alone...

Horochi looked at Pilot run away from him and challenge whatever had just flung that orb. This seemed like a double-edged sword to Horochi, he wanted to see what the little guy was made of, but at the same time he felt like Pilot's handicapped state would give the enemy an advantage against them, and Pilot seemed like he had traveled very far to get to Rainfront Town, so if he was defeated here, then all the agony he had endured up to this point would just melt away like a puddle of water on a hot summer day. Horochi then walked a little bit closer to the young tailow; he would simply observe the melee that would likely occur, and if things got too dicey for Pilot, then he'd jump in the fray and protect him.

"Welp, that was fast." Horochi said aloud as the gastly slowly approached him. The feral then launched another Shadow Ball, only for Horochi to jump past it and counter with a super-effective Night Slash, causing the gastly to howl in extreme pain from the dark-type attack and sending it flying a few meters. The gastly then tried to retaliate with a Sludge Bomb, which was quickly deflected by Horochi's Ember attack. A blanket of smoke from the collision of moves then covered the area. Normally the gastly would've been able to see right through it, but didn't have time to react due to taking another one of Horochi's Night Slashes to the face, causing it to howl in pain again and phase through the ground, defeated. As the smoke was quickly being replaced with fog, Horochi noticed Pilot still sleeping where the feral had nailed him with Hypnosis, so he decided to take the opportunity to have a little fun. Horochi crept up to Pilot, put his beak in front of his ear (or at least where he thought it was), and said in his most feminine-sounding voice possible "Hi honey, I'm home."

[Energy: 4 - 1 (Sitrus Berry) - 1 (Reaper Cloth) - 2 (Fletchling) - 1 (Max Elixer) = 0]

Pilot looked dreamily content as he slept through all of the fighting. He didn't show any signs of getting up, even through all of the noise that the scrap between his partner and the Gastly was creating. The pained screams of the foe had no effect on him whatsoever. What did have an effect on him, however, was his temporary partner's feminine-sounding voice. The Taillow smiled, as if his imaginary mate were actually right next to him, telling him that she was home. Clearly, while he was still unconscious, what he heard had some impact on what was going on in his dreams. Rolling over and snoring, Pilot began to talk to this theoretical girlfriend, although all that came out was completely incohesive mumbling.

Horochi cupped his right talon over his beak to muffle his already quiet chuckling. He was originally planning for his little trick to wake him up, but this was infinitely more amusing. He imagined Pilot at whatever piece of crap he called home, talking to presumably the hot Swellow that was his wife. Horochi then remembered that they were making their way to Rainfront Town and that they were in the middle of a dungeon, and another feral could attack at any time, so Horochi decided to go somewhere else with his practical joke. "Hey, listen sweetie." He said in his girl voice, this time sounding a bit more suggestive. "I know that your wing is broken and all, so maybe I can carry you to somewhere I can make you feel better." He continued on, using the tuft of feathers on his head to imitate a bird wing slowly moving down the side of his head.

Pilot seemed entirely receptive to his imaginary girlfriend's apparent advances towards him. He grinned cheekily, as if he were going to get lucky that night... When his face was caressed by his non-existent mate's feathery wing, the bird's face flushed. "O-okay," Pilot stammered nervously. He knew the implications of the "hot Swellow"'s suggestion, and became rather anxious as a result. The tiny Taillow slightly shifted his positioning, as if to allow the avian Pokemon to carry him... Of course, this would be a difficult task for a Pokemon with no apparent arms. What was the little chick Pokemon going to do, drag him away with his beak? That would almost certainly wake him up, and spoil all of the fun.

Meanwhile, several feral Pokemon were taking notice of the two, hidden by a shroud of dense fog. While the feral Gastly had been defeated, a much more threatening Seviper lurked nearby. It was hungry, and honestly, eating chicken for dinner didn't sound too bad. The snake Pokemon stuck out its two-pronged tongue, circling its prey much like a shark would. The Seviper wasn't the only Pokemon that had qualms with the two young explorers. Only several meters away, a Fletchling cocked its head, curious about the noises coming from close by. Intent on defending its territory, the bird Pokemon prepared to dart at the intruders.

Horochi was liking this more and more, imagining what kind of dream Pilot was having. "Okay, hang on." He said as he grabbed the crippled bird with his right talon and began carrying him on his back as he hopped through the fog with his left talon like a hoothoot, which he was quite used to at this point in his life, and thus had become quite good at it. But Horochi didn't know if his strategy would wake Pilot up or not. (Oh well...) he thought to himself, (Besides, if Pilot wakes up, then that's two more legs for up to travel on I guess.)

After a long time hopping uphill, Horochi heard something circle them, as if targeting one's prey. It sounded like slithering, with the occasional hiss thrown in. There was no doubt about it: another feral had showed up. Horochi decided to wrap up his prank now before they were attacked, so he gently setting Pilot belly-up on the ground. "Alright honey, we're here." He said in his girl voice, lightly touching Pilot under his head with his talon. "This is the perfect place for me to help you feel better." He said as his talon started slowly sliding down the tailow's body, taking his time so that he would be able to react to the feral launching an attack from somewhere, but while Horochi paid attention to the sound of the feral slithering and hissing around them, he noticed the silhouette of another bird pokemon flying above them and around them in the opposite direction. (2-on-1, just my luck.) He thought as he was trying to think of a way out of this. Then, Horochi got an idea as his talon was running out of Pilot to slide down, so Horochi whispered to Pilot in his girl voice, "Now let's get started..."

Pilot continued to sleep, unaffected by being relocated by the chick Pokemon, despite the rather awkward way he was being held. Luckily for Horochi, the Gastly's Hypnosis had lulled Pilot into an extremely deep sleep. It became clear that the effects of the attack were starting to wear off, however, as the tiny Taillow began to fidget more and more. Sometime within the next minute or two, Pilot was inevitably going to wake up from his artificial slumber.

Pilot chuckled lightly as his non-existent girlfriend began to move her wing down his body. Clearly, he was getting excited. The bird opened his beak to say something, but only incoherent mumbles escaped his mouth. Whatever he was trying to tell his hot Swellow girlfriend was (unfortunately) a mystery...

In his dream, Pilot cuddled with his hot Swellow girlfriend, feeling her up. This is gonna be awesome! He thought to himself, knowing what was going to come next. Unfortunately, just when he was getting to the good part, the effects of the Gastly's Hypnosis attack began to wear off. Pilot's eyes fluttered open, and he found himself staring at a stick... Where had that hot Swellow gone? Eh... Why am I making out with a freaking stick!? Pilot thought to himself, shoving the stick off on him.

Dang, I guess that was just a dream, Pilot thought to himself in disappointment. He got to his feet and scanned the area, trying to remember what had happened before he fell asleep. Right, I was on my way to Rainfall, and... Horochi showed up- His train of thought was interrupted when he finally located the Torchic. There was something behind his partner, hiding in the fog! "Hey, Horochi! Look out!" He shouted as a Seviper prepared to strike.

[Energy: 7 + 1(New Page) - 1(Item) = 7]

Horochi spun himself around just in time to notice that the seviper had used bite to try and swallow him up only for Horochi to use his talons to keep the snake pokemon's mouth open. He then shot ember down its throat, causing it to howl in pain from its insides catching fire and allowing Horochi to leap to safety. The seviper was really angry that his meal had just lit it on fire, so it was more determined to eat him than before, and charged forward with a poison tail, knocking Horochi in the side of the head and knocking him to the ground. Though the situation looked bad, Horochi was sure that he could handle it by himself, though the previous bout with the gastly as well as carrying Pilot up the hill had drained him of plenty of his stamina, and even if he did prove victorious, who knew what kind of pokemon that they would be attacked by next? Horochi looked at his partner and yelled "Hey Pilot, if ya wanna help, now would be a good time to do so!"

Pilot rolled his eyes and sighed. Ugh, I just woke up, and he's having me do stuff... He thought to himself, yawning. Spreading his wings, the avian Pokemon took off, flying low to ensure that he didn't get lost in the dense fog. After making a full circle around his partner and the enemy Seviper, he darted at them. Pilot collided with the Seviper at full speed, using his signature Brave Bird technique. Although he had taken substantial recoil from the attack, it appeared as if the target had taken just as much, if not more damage.

After landing the hit, Pilot bounced back up, and began to mercilessly peck at the viper Pokemon while it was down. He wasn't sure if it had been knocked out, but he certainly wasn't going to take any chances. After all, if he let up, he could get poisoned! Remembering the last time he had been poisoned in a dungeon, the bird was making a conscious effort to avoid that from happening again.

Horochi saw Pilot repeatedly pecking at the most-likely-knocked-out seviper, but what he was wondering was how he pulled off the technique beforehand. (Wait, did he just fly? But how? He told me that his wing was busted, so how come he was able to pull off that brave bird just then?) Horochi wondered this as he witnessed Pilot continuing to attack the seviper, even though it was obviously KOed at this point. "Hey Pilot, I think he's as good as fainted."

"...Oh," Pilot murmured, pulling away from the defeated foe. Once the adrenaline rush from the fight wore off, the bird could feel a nagging twinge in his wing. It appeared as if he had been ignoring the pain from the injury, but this came with clear consequences. Indeed, the condition of his wing had worsened due to the strain. Ugh, it's gonna be a long walk back, He thought, not looking forward to his return trip. It was going to take at least a day to get back to Grassveil... Hidon, his partner, would not be happy, no doubt. After all, Pilot had left more or less without notice.

...But that was the least of his worries. The sky was beginning to darken, meaning that the day was coming to an end. If he didn't get to Rainfront Town soon, the DreamCatchers might close! If that were to happen, then he would have to spend even more time in the uncomfortably damp area... And he'd probably have to sleep outside in the rain, too.

As the bird thought about this, he blankly stared at the Seviper, completely zoned out.

Horochi looked at Pilot stare at the unconscious seviper, with the bird showing no signs of emotion on his face. Horochi wondered if it was somehow related to dusk being around the corner for them. Did Pilot need to be somewhere soon? Was he being pursued by bad pokemon? Was he racing somebody? Horochi then decided to get an answer. "Yo Pilot, why d'ya wanna go to Rainfront Town in the first place?"