Into The Forest Of Darkness

[Energy: 19 - 10(Dungeon Entry) = 9]

The pitch black darkness that covered the area. That kind of feeling that some kind of woodland monster would kill you on sight. The questionable texture of the ground under his talons. The trees letting as little light touch the forest floor as physically possible. All of these things confirmed it; Horochi was in Shadowhue Forest. The reason for him being here was because he wanted to explore the Monochrome Falls. He had heard that they were just a colorless waterfall with nothing else special about it. However, Horochi wanted to know WHY they were colorless in the first place, so he decided to take it upon himself to explain this abnormal phenomenon.

{Energy: 21 - 10 (entry) = 11}

The darkness was extra-thick in this forest, rendering it a bit more creepy than the other parts around Grassveil Town. Still, that was what made this place all the more appealing to the Charmander currently making his way through the trees. After all, the wild and feral Pokémon that lived here were used to the dark. So when Hidon wandered around, his tail flame acted similarly to a beacon in the shadows, drawing a lot of Pokémon toward him, friend or foe. And that was exactly what he wanted. After all, the whole reason he was here was to train himself. He needed to catch up with his teammate, after all. What kind of team leader was the weakest member of the team? He certainly couldn't let that Taillow stay stronger than him....

The Shadowhue Forest had been nothing but disastrous for him in the past. So what better way to get stronger than to overcome those disasters and come out of this forest victorious? He grinned at the thought, more than ready to press onward and finally, after three previous attempts, emerge from these woods as the conqueror, rather than the soundly defeated. He had heard of the falls in the heart of the forest, as well as rumors about the ruins that lay beyond them. That was what quickly became his goal. After all, if he could reach that, which he'd never found before and managed to leave afterward, he'd know for sure that he was stronger. However, there seemed to be a slight problem....

The Charmander had yet to encounter any sign of sentient life since stepping foot in these woods.

"Geez, where is everything!?" he grumbled in a frustrated tone into the otherwise completely silent forest. How was he supposed to show improvement if he couldn't even find a Pokémon to fight against?

Horochi was walking through the pitch blackness around him when he heard a voice say "Geez, where is everything!?", and when he turned his head to see (more or less) the source, he saw a small flame on an orange tail. To Horochi, it appeared to be a charmander. Horochi was very familiar with the species of fire-types since their final evolution charizard was extremely popular among many retro communities, so he was pretty familiar with their evolutionary tree. Horochi decided to take advantage of the opportunity he had just been granted to have a little fun; he made sure that he was a fair distance away from the small flame-on-a-tail and spoke in a deep voice "Waddya mean "where is everything!?""

Hidon groaned audibly as he made his way through the dark, growing more and more frustrated the longer he went without finding anything. Why did it always take so long to find something of any interest? He was like a beacon in this forest. How could nothing be coming? The Charmander scanned the vegetation around him, taking in everything and looking for any signs of movement that weren't caused directly by the wind. But no matter how long or hard he looked, there was never anything to find.

Finally, however, a voice called out to him not far from where he was standing. "...Huh?" he murmured, turning around to face the source of the voice. "Who said that...?" His eyes quickly scanned the area, missing the Torchic some distance away in the shadows. The deep voice from the darkness was a bit off-putting, he had to admit...but he wasn't going to back away. But just in case this Pokémon wanted to attack, he quickly decided that he didn't want to play the victim. Instead, he'd play the hunter. "Tch...well whoever you are, you'd better come on out. I've been looking for anything to make this little journey of mine a challenge and it's just been a massive disappointment."

Horochi noted the confident tone in the charmander's voice, and decided to use in in order to play a little mind game with him. "Oh, well ain't we a confident one. Either yer just playin' it safe, or yer tryin' t' mask th' potential fact that yer a coward an' a crybaby at heart. Yea, that's it; yer a crybaby, obviously scared all too easily by wa'cha can't see, yet here ya are makin' yerself sound all high 'n' mighty, but if yer bravery's legit, than you'll try an' find me. Well, which is it? Continue just talkin' th' talk, or start walkin' th' walk?" Horochi taunted in the same deep voice.

Hidon was taken aback for a moment by the voice's reply. Whoever this guy was, he was obviously very confident in himself if he wanted to talk him down so much. Well then...he'd be more than happy to prove this guy wrong! He growled and raised one of his fists, pointing angrily toward an empty part of the shadows, hoping that it'd be directly at the source of the voice. "H-hey! I'm no crybaby! I-I'm not scared of anything!" he called into the trees. Although as he stated that, he couldn't help but recall his first journey into this forest, which had resulted in him getting intimidated, and subsequently defeated by, an Ariados. But he quickly shook his head to try to clear his mind of such thoughts.

"F-fine then! You want me to find you, I will!" He then began to take steps forward without a second thought. He pulled his tail in front of him, holding it out like a torch. "You just better hope I don't, o-or I'm gonna how you what I do best!"

"Oh, is that a bit a stutterin' in yer voice?" Horochi replied, taking note that the charmander was obviously intimidated by him bashing his confidence. "Plus, yer gonna show me wha'cha do best, huh? What's that? Crying yerself t' sleep ev'ry night from the fact that achievin' yer dreams is impossible with how little courage ya got? Just do us both a favor and turn back right here an' now, why don'cha?"

"Urk...." Hidon grunted when the strange voice seemed to realize that he had a slight stutter. He hadn't noticed it until now, but the voice had a point. But he couldn't help but allow his voice to shake slightly. The voice was deep and slightly intimidating...though he knew he couldn't back down and run away now. What kind of brave warrior would his father have raised if he turned tail without even so much as seeing any kind of actual challenge? Only a coward would run away from this. Still, though, that knowledge did not help the slight embarrassed blush that appeared on his face.

He growled, adjusting his search according to the direction the sound of the voice seemed to be coming from. He swung his tail around in that direction, toward where Horochi was secretly watching him, and slowly began to approach that direction. "Grr...wh-why don't you come out so I can show you how much courage I've got!?" he growled into the trees. "Or maybe you're the chicken, Mr. Hide-in-the-shadows!"

"Okay!" Horochi yelled bombastically as he lept from his hiding place and landed directly in front of the charmander's face while wearing a creepy smile. "Ya know, yer right, I am a chicken...literally, but with yer attitude I can't tell which one of use is th' real chicken 'round here. I mean, c'mon man, ya gotta show some guts if ya wanna survive in a place as hard t' navigate as here, know what I mean bro?" He continued on in his normal speaking voice.

Hidon let out a sudden cry of surprise as Horochi suddenly shouted in his normal voice, leaping from his hiding place. The Torchic landed directly in front of him, causing the Charmander to jump back in shock. For a moment, he simply stood there, somewhat dumbfounded by the revelation of the voice he'd just been conversing with. So that deep, intimidating voice...had merely been coming from this pipsqueak of a Fire Pokémon? He allowed all of Horochi's words to soak in, his blush of embarrassment deepening when he realized that he'd allowed himself to be intimidated by this little guy. That along with the fact that the Torchic was still talking him down as well, like he were some kind of wimp.

He growled and clenched his fists, instinctively pulling one back as though to throw a punch. Instead, however, he thrust one claw forward, pointing accusingly at the smaller Pokémon. "Wh-what the heck's a little runt like you think he's doing, running his mouth at me!? You want guts, I'll give you guts! Bring it on, here and now!" he challenged, clearly enraged at this final reveal. "I'll show you what it means to make fun of the leader of Team Rising!"

Horochi heard the charmander's battle challenge loud and clear, he originally didn't want to fight him, but he knew that combat was a potential outcome given his joke went far enough, and it did. "Ah, heh heh heh heh." Horochi started happily laughing, then out of nowhere, he launched the first attack: a sharp night slash aimed directly at the charmander's face.

Hidon growled slightly as he awaited Horochi's response to his challenge. for a moment, though, he wondered if maybe the Torchic wasn't going to fight him. The thought caused him to smirk slightly, thinking about how smart the smaller Pokémon was for backing down. In fact, when Horochi began to laugh, he allowed himself to relax and give him a smug look. He knew it. There was no way this guy, who was trying to scare him off not long ago, would-

Suddenly, the chick Pokémon had leaped at him, slashing his talons across his face. "GRAH!" he cried out in a combination of shock and pain. The attack caused him take a step backward. Unfortunately, though, his step was misplaced in his shock and he ended up falling over. His back smacked against the grass belo him with an audible thud. And there he lay, on his back at Horochi's feet after just one attack. The Charmander blinked; his brain still hadn't completely processed how quickly that attack had come.

Horochi looked at the fallen fire lizard, contempt at his ability to knock a physically tougher opponent to the ground with a single attack. "Well, ya gonna geddup, or run on home with yer tail between yer legs?" Horochi taunted, moving a few steps back in case the charmander retaliated on his way up. His initial strategy with opponents bigger and/or stronger than him was more often than not to just attack when their defenses were down and evade their attacks using his sheer speed; the ol' hit & run trick, so there he stood, waiting for a reaction of some kind.

Hidon looked back up at Horochi as he laid there, still confused on what had just happened. Finally, when the Torchic spoke up, his attention was brought back to the battle that had clearly already started. He growled at the smaller Pokémon's taunt, climbing back to his feet quickly enough. Though once more, he couldn't hide that slight blush at how easily he'd been knocked over. "I already told you, I don't run away from anybody!" he growled in response. "Least of all, runts like you!" Then, without another moment's hesitation, the Charmander charged forward. He did not plan on holding back this time. As such, he was already preparing to smash this Torchic's face with his most powerful attack.

As Hidon charged, a blue aura began to envelop his body. A moment later, the aura would take on a draconic appearance, only to shift and form around his arm. At that point, he would be near enough to his foe to attempt to throw a right punch, backed by the draconic energy, and attempt to smash it into the left side of the Torchic's face. He was using his Dragon Rush...though while it was powerful, Horochi would probably find it slightly easier to evade than his other attacks.

Horochi jumped up into the air at a slightly faster speed than when he made his appearance, and upon the charmander being directly under him, he launched an ember attack at his back; not the most effective move in the world against a fellow fire-type, but it was his only damage-dealing ranged move, so he figured that it would do a good job as being his counterattack nonetheless.