Into The Forest Of Darkness

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[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.

While the Charmander was busy trying to deal with the Bug Buzz attack, the Forretress had been given plenty of time to orchestrate one more attack. It turned its attention to Horochi, who was still dealing with the effects of the Bug Buzz while crying out in pain. Electricity then began to surge around it for a moment while it gathered all the power it could. A large sphere of electricity began to form in front of it as it prepared to launch a powerful Zap Cannon attack. It was content with the Charmander completely sure that he would be taken care of. The biggest threat to it was the Torchic. It readied itself, Zap Cannon finally prepared to fire while Horochi was still busy dealing with the Bug Buzz.

Suddenly, however, a barrage of fireballs struck the Forretress in the back, causing it to let out a loud cry of pain before collapsing from the air, crashing into the round with a resounding thud. Hidon, breathing heavily, took a few steps forward. "Huff...huff...." he breathed. "And that's...what you get for underestimating me!" he growled at the unconscious Forretress. However, no sooner had he said that than he collapsed himself. He could no longer keep himself up as his body fell backwards, landing solidly on his back. "urgh...." he groaned, clearly struggling to even hold onto his consciousness.

[Energy: 5 - 1(Item) + 1(New Page) = 5]

Horochi breathed heavily as he looked around at all the defeated pokemon; two shedinjas, a paras, a venomoth, a forretress, and most notably a charmander. The fight started out with just Horochi against the charmander, and just when he was about to deal the finishing blow, all those feral bug-types showed up and made a whole mess of things, causing him to team up with the lizard pokemon, leading to all five of them getting knocked out alongside the charmander from almost losing his scuffle with Horochi, so since he was the only one still standing, he silently declared himself the lone winner of this huge clash of pokemon. Horochi also remembered that the charmander wasn't feral, and needed attention right away, so he decided to postpone his trip to the monochrome falls for the time being. Horochi then used his beak to pull the unconscious charmander to a safer place. Then he remembered something; the charmander stated that he was the leader of "Team Rising", so maybe Horochi could try and find them, whom he could then pass off the charmander's care to and continue his little adventures once everything was all said and done.

Hidon was only barely awake...but he was still very conscious. He could hear the silence of the area, meaning that the last Pokémon must have been taken down. which, of course, left that Torchic as the only Pokémon still standing. He could vaguely make out the sounds of Horochi's talons stepping against the nearby grass and fallen leaves...and eventually, he felt the Torchic grab hold of him and begin dragging him along the ground. He felt the grass and leaves scratch at his back and a slight blush appeared on his face. He couldn't believe this. He'd been beaten by this Torchic and now he was getting dragged around? He figured that the guy was probably just trying to help him, but this was humiliating! What if his teammate learned about this? He'd never be able to live it down! But unfortunately, he couldn't move. He was just too exhausted...so what could he do?

Just as the Charmander began to contemplate his options, something suddenly cut across his vision. While he was being dragged, his head had fallen to the side, giving him a better view of the grass around him. A small, blue orb was resting in the grass not far from where he was being dragged. It was partially concealed by the blades, so it was a stroke of good luck that he'd been able to see it at all in his hazy gaze. "H-hey..." Hidon murmured weakly, trying to get the Torchic to stop. "L-let...me go, will you...? I-I...can take care of...myself...!" With that, he weakly tried to pull away, and would fail to do so unless released by Horochi.

If he could get himself free, he would immediately move to slowly reach for the blue berry resting in the grass. He immediately recognized an Oran Berry. And that would definitely do well enough.

"H-hey...L-let...me go, will you...? I-I...can take care of...myself...!"
Horochi barely heard the charmander's murmuring among the sounds of him dragging the fire lizard across the forest floor, and in response, he let go of his tail and replied "Ah yea, 'cause yer really lookin' like ya can take on anything that comes yer way."

The Charmander felt the Torchic finally release his grip on his tail and he allowed his body to fall limp to the ground. Of course, that didn't stop Horochi from talking down to him yet again. That caused him to blush slightly, remembering the trash talking he'd received earlier, before that full struggle. He quickly tried to shake that off, however, and focus on the task at hand. That said, he immediately reached out, grasping the small, blue berry that he had seen lying in the grass nearby and thrust it straight into his mouth, chewing on it for a short while before swallowing it.

"Oh shut up," Hidon finally muttered once he felt his energy beginning to return to him once again thanks to the Oran Berry's rejuvenative properties. He took a moment to lay there before pushing himself back to his feet again. He still wasn't back up to full strength, but at least he was okay now. And he didn't need the Torchic's help anymore. "See? I'm, er...fine."

{Energy: 0 + 10 (Oran Berry) = 10

Status: Poisoned

NOTE: -1 Oran Berry}

"Oh really." Horochi replied. "'cause from my point a view yer kinda poisoned." He knew that this charmander didn't think too highly of him, but he did trick him, and insult both him and his dad, and since he helped Horochi take down the ferals, Horochi felt like the charmander deserved an apology. "Hey, listen. I'm sorry fer what I did earlier. It's just because a that self-centered attitude a yours that I decided t' insul'cha as much as I did..."

Hidon growled slightly and shook his head. He knew, of course, that Horochi was right. He was definitely poisoned. And he hadn't brought any Poison-curing berries with him this time. He supposed he really should have, given the amount of Bug and Grass types that were in this forest. He had come here awfully unprepared...but he quickly shrugged it off. He'd be fine, surely. He WAS a Fire-type Pokémon after all. Bugs and Grass Pokémon didn't scare him at all.

When Horochi began to apologize, Hidon scratched his head for a moment while he listened. "Whatever," he muttered back in response. "Look, I don't really care. Insult me all you want. It just makes me want to get stronger that much more." He then smirked slightly. "Anyway, thanks but no thanks. I don't need your help. I'm in the middle of training right now. I'm headed to the center of the forest as a test for myself. I want to make it to the Ruins and back in one piece. That'll be proof that I've gotten stronger." And then, without another second of hesitation, he turned away from the Torchic, headed in the direction that he thought was where the Ruins were located.

In actuality, however, Horochi would quickly, likely realize that the Charmander was walking in the wrong direction.

"Wait, hold up." Horochi called out, speeding in front of the charmander in the process. "Okay, A, yer hea'n outta th' forest, an' B, what ruins? I di'nt know there were ruins in this forest." he asked him. Horochi had only come to investigate the monochrome falls, but these "ruins" that the charmander mentioned seemed way more interesting to him.

"Huh?" Hidon muttered when Horochi suddenly sped around him and stepped in front of him. He scowled as the Torchic cut him off and immediately started trying to push past him. However, there was a slight blush appearing on his face when the Torchic told him that he was going the wrong way. "I-I knew that," he muttered. "As for the ruins, it's not really any of your business, but it's something I heard about while I was hanging around the Guild's mess hall. It was some time ago. But I've never been able to get all the way there." He then shrugged. "From what I heard, there's a waterfall in the middle of the forest. And behind that waterfall, there's supposed to be some ruins. And I came here to see if I could make it there and back. If I could do that, I know I've made progress."

"Whoa whoa whoa, back up a bit there. Yer tellin' me that behind th' monochrome falls 're a buncha ruins?" Horochi asked. He was already headed to the monochrome falls anyway, but hearing about ruins behind them definitely made his trip much more exciting. "Hey, listen t' me fer a bit; I'm hea'n t' those same falls that hide those ruins, so d'ya think that we could potentially travel together? Y' know, t' make this whole ordeal easier fer th' both of us?" he asked, expecting the charmander to turn down his offer.

Hidon rolled his eyes and continued on his way. He pushed his way past the Torchic and began walking again. "Well, duh." Hidon muttered, annoyance dripping from his tone. "Of course there are ruins behind the falls. People in the Guild wouldn't be wrong about something like that. What do you think they are?" Of course, he couldn't shake the doubts he had started to form in the back of his mind. After all, the members of the Guild were still just normal Pokémon like himself. And rumors did tend to spread around and get out of control. So for all he knew, what he had heard might have simply been one of those rumors.

When Horochi asked him if he could come along, Hidon immediately reacted. "No." he growled at him. He stopped walking and spun around to face him. "Why should I help you and let you come with me? The only reason I'd let you do that is if I would get a rematch out of you. And even then, I still have my doubts. Besides...the last thing I need is you getting in the way of my training."

Of course, he was completely and knowingly ignoring the fact that he'd been the one to get his tail handed to him on a silver platter in their previous battle. But such details weren't important to him right now.

Upon Horochi's next accusation and pack of insults, he scowled once more. He growled and clenched his fist once more, pulling it back purely on instinct, as though he were preparing to bring it forward once again and start another fight! But, the memory of himself laying flat on his back with the Torchic standing on top of his chest, foot planted across his mouth stopped him from continuing his thrust. Even he had to admit to himself that if he started another fight here while he wasn't at full strength, it would only serve to make him suffer another humiliating defeat.

"You little...!" Hidon growled at him. "Just shut up and get lost, would you? I've got some ruins to find!" Thankfully by then, Horochi was already walking away. He scowled and crossed his arms, waiting until the Torchic was well out of sight before he began to make his way forward again. He'd show that stupid Torchic. He was going to be fine!

Digizel carried out 5 launched of one Shadowhue Forest :

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Horochi tailed the charmander as he walked deeper into the darkness-filled forest. He didn't exactly get the best example of his strength when the two first met, so he just wanted to try and rescue him if he ever needed it, and maybe, just maybe, he'd forgive Horochi, but such a possibility seemed unlikely at the moment. As he was following the charmander, Horochi seemed to kick something that felt out of place. He bent down and picked up what appeared to be a blast seed. Well, this might come in handy, although I've never had much of a reason to carry around something like this, but who knows? Maybe this could end up helping me at some point Horochi thought to himself.

Just in case you wonder why Horochi's thought are more legible, it's because what some may believe to be his accent is actually multiple speech impediments that've built up over the years.

{Energy: 10 - 6 (Forretress) - 4 (items) = 0}

Hidon continued making his way through the dark trees when something caught his attention. He turned his gaze away from the main path when a small flash of light got caught in his peripheral vision. It was rather unusual to have light flash in such a dark environment, after all. Roughly around the time Horochi bent down, picked up and observing his new Blast Seed, the Charmander took a full detour, stepping away from his current path and making his way toward whateer the source of that shine was.

After spending about a minute searching in the dark, he finally found it. Resting on a stump was a box. What he had seed must have been a reflection of some kind of dim light off of its surface; probably a thinner canopy up above his head. "Wow...this is kinda cool," he commented. But that was before he realized something else. Beside the box was more good stuff! There looked to be a Defense Scarf, which he could recognize since he'd seen more than enough of those by this point, and a Cacnea Spike. But what got him most excited was the thing on top of the box that was getting pinned in place by the spike. A ticket was just sitting there, out in the open. He recognized it immediately as that kind of ticket that that Oshawott used at the Dojo. He grinned slightly at the thought. Awesome! He was one step closer to learning some kind of awesome new move!

Little did the Charmander know, however, that as he was checking out the jackpot of items laid out before, him, another figure was already starting to take aim not much farther in. An electrical charge began to form before a large, electric ball was blasted through the air, moving surprisingly slowly for what it was.

However, Hidon was too busy being in awe of his new collection to notice. And by the time the Zap Cannon got into his face so that he could see it, it was too late. He pocketed the items and looked up...only to get suddenly assaulted by pain and electricity. "GAH!!" he cried out as the Zap Cannon struck true. He was thrown backward through the air, back onto the path, flat on his back. But unfortunately, that didn't seem to be the end of it.

Following Hidon back onto his previous path, a Forretress rushed out of the shadows. When he saw the Charmander on the ground, he followed his attack up immediately. He raised himself into the air...and came crashing down powerfully on top of the Charmander's body utilizing his Heavy Slam, all the stronger due to the huge weight difference between victim and attacker. This caused the Fire-type to let out a loud cry of pain...but there was nothing he could do. His whole body was pinned to the ground beneath this heavy Steel Pokémon....