Alone in the Dark

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[Energy: 19 - 10 (Entrance Cost) = 9]
[Held Item: Lucky Ribbon (Reduces cost of every item rolled by 1)]

Ashen slowly padded her way through the dim, depressing forest known as Shadowhue. Normally, she stayed away from the area, but if she couldn't conquer her fear of the dark, how would she ever become an explorer? I need to be brave, like my mother, The young Houndour thought to herself, but despite her efforts to calm down, she remained very nervous. Her head was constantly swiveling from side to side, scanning the area for any potential ambushers (not that she'd be able to see them). After all, who knew what was hiding beyond her range of sight? In all likelihood, there was at least one Pokemon watching her... The eerie thought made her skin crawl.

Still, Ashen forced herself to press on, as much as she wanted to turn around and go home. She felt a strong sense of urgency, as if her future with the Grassveil Guild was riding on this trip through Shadowhue Forest...

The hound Pokemon stopped in her tracks, sensing that something was off. She sniffed the air, noticing a powerful, rancid musk. Smelling it made her nose scrunch up, and she recoiled in disgust. Eww, what is THAT? She thought to herself, looking around. The scent reminded her of rotten eggs... Could it be possible that a Pokemon produced such an odor?

Ashen watched as the Pinsir got up and attacked the Minun yet again, this time with a Feint Attack. I knew that the ferals are aggressive around here, but... Wow, this one really seems to have a grudge against that Minun, She noted, wondering whether or not to help the electric rodent take the foe out. I might end up just getting in the way, She thought to herself, not feeling particularly confident at the moment. When the Minun shouted to get back, she obliged, diving behind a tree just moments before a devastating Discharge attack was released.

"Wow, that looks... Powerful..." Ashen murmured in awe. I wish I had an attack like that... Maybe I could spar with this guy later. He'd definitely be a challenge, She concluded, looking out from the tree to see what had become of the foe.

Kaori backed out slightly as she looked over at ashen, the dog Pokemon really looked amused by what was happening, which was good because it kept her mind away from what she did to her, and at least she looked slightly more happy too. Then the minun shouted for them to get away, which called up her attention to the attack the pokemon was preparing.

"Yikes! that does NOT looks safe!" She said as she ran behind of ashen thinking that it would most likely be the safest place for her to hide from the discharge attack. "I really d-don't want to be in the way whenever he uses THAT" She thought looking rather amused, yet also scared of how much range that one attack had on its own.

Energy: 0

Seeing that the Pinsir was struck head-on with his attack, Raze took this opportunity to celebrate a small amount. "Yeah, that's what's up! Not so big and tough now, are you?" he taunted, not realizing that the Bug type was the only Pokémon hit by the attack. While the Cheering Pokémon was busy gloating over one attack, he failed to notice the Flabebe and the pair of Slakoth who had taken the attack and were glaring at him. Though not necessarily hostile, the Minun mumbled his apologies to the nearby Pokémon once he noticed their stares. Too good to be true that Discharge would aim right for once... the thought with a sigh.

Looking back to the Pinsir, it had been paralyzed by the blast. "You guys want to finish this sucker off? I'm happy as he is." the mouse said in a relaxed tone. Raze placed his hands behind his head in a casual, nonchalant expression. The moment of pride in his attack went down the drain, so he had nothing really to think about. "Name's Raze, by the way. I don't suppose that you two are partners or something...?"

[Energy: 0 + 1 (Natural Regeneration) - 1 (Poison) = 0]

"...P-partners..?" Ashen asked, tilting her head in confusion. What does he mean by that? Oh, I guess he thinks we're from the guild... She realized, flattered that the little electric mouse Pokemon thought that she looked tough enough to be on a team. "Uh, n-no, we just met a few minutes ago, a-actually," The fire type explained, forcing a smile. The friendly expression was wiped off of her face when she suddenly remembered how bad she smelled. After giving the Stunky a quick glance, the hound Pokemon let out a long, pained long sigh. Maybe if I don't mention it, he won't say anything... She thought to herself in humiliation. "Uhm... But yeah... My name's Ashen..." She said sheepishly, avoiding eye contact with Raze.

Ashen slowly padded over to the Pinsir, who was paralyzed. It glared at her as she approached. I might as well finish it off... There's no good in leaving it there like that, She decided, throwing a quick Sucker Punch to the side of the enemy's head. It was knocked out instantly. However, it seemed that the Pinsir wasn't the only feral around. Two Slakoth were staring at the group from up in the trees, while a lone Flabebe cautiously inched closer to them. Looks like we have more company...

"Ummm....partners....us?" She laughs a little, not in a rude way. but rather on a more shy tone. "As if anybody would even want to be my partner" she mutters very quietly to herself. She wondered of why the minun thought they were partners. considering how unlikely she thought that it was for her to get any partners because of her way of acting. "Yeah...we just met a while ago...heh..." The skunk Pokemon said on a fake upbeat tone as she looked away feeling slightly guilty about what she did again, seeing ashen break down crying really did soften her up, so instead of going for her usual way of interacting she took a way more shy approach not knowing what to do.

"err...well..." She decided not to say her name, at least for now she thought that it was not good to say anything, mostly out of guilt. she attempts to think on something else to say but to no avail, she couldn't think on anything to say right now. She mostly hoped that the minun would assume that the scent was because of her rather than the houndour, after all she did not wanted her to feel even worst about it.

Energy: 0

He was genuinely surprised as to how these two had just met. Whoops. Well, I can't really blame myself for that; these two actually looked like they knew each other, but whatever. the mouse thought with a shrug. Considering the smell was coming from both of them, that was his first thought. Then how... Oh. She got sprayed, probably... Better not mention it. Besides, what would it really prove to say "Hey, why do you both smell like a dead Rattata?" "Really? So sorry about that, you two just look like you're acquaintances."

"Ah, alright then." Raze replied to the Stunky. If he was in the same situation with a stranger who they just met, he would be hesitant with telling his name as well. "Hey, wait a second... No way!" the Minun said excitedly, running right past his two companions to find a faded red box sitting within a knothole inside of a nearby tree. The chest was quite peculiar in color and shape, so he decided to pull it out and drop it into his bag. Inside of the three-pocketed bag shined a Trawl Orb: the item that was produced from his Light Box. Shaking the Unusual Box, he wondered what could possibly be inside of it. Guess I should add opening this to my list of things to do; maybe this one's even rarer than Light Boxes...

Ashen froze, staring at the three remaining ferals. She wasn't afraid, but rather, she wanted to wait until one of them made the first move. The hound clenched her left paw, ready to Sucker Punch whichever Pokemon attacked her first. She made no sounds or sudden movements, trying to bait them into rushing at her. It didn't work. They simply were not aggressive enough to charge without any kind of encouragement. If she wanted to battle them, she would have to go on the offensive.

After letting out a low Howl, Ashen trotted towards the ferals, zeroing in on the Flabebe. She opened her maw and released a cloud of embers at the fairy Pokemon. Despite the type disadvantage, the attack seemed to do a significant amount of damage. It retaliated with a Fairy Wind, which barely even harmed Ashen. "This shouldn't be too difficult," The Houndour murmured to herself.

Suddenly, the two Slakoth dropped from their tree and formed a triangle around Ashen. ...I shouldn't have said that, She realized, now surrounded by enemies. "Uhm, I could use some help!" She called to her teammates, getting in a defensive pose.

She looked over to ashen as she began to enter in combat with the weak fairy Pokemon, at first she thought this would prove to be easy for the hound Pokemon, looking at her attack the flabebe with relative ease. but then two more Pokemon came in, and ashen was surrounded. She was now worried about what might happen to ashen.

She takes a deep breath trying to calm herself down, it was still three against three, they it was perfectly even so there was no reason for her to fear this, yet she really disliked the plan of rushing in and getting within their attack range. Then she had an idea, perhaps if she fired poison gas at them there would be an opening for ashen to run out to safety."I-i think i have an idea. Ashen hold your breath and rush out when i attack!" She said as she got on stance and fired a cloud of poison gas at the Pokemon, she hoped the noxious fumes were enough to make them at least back off or distract them from attacking Ashen. "Now! run out from there!"

Energy: 0

The Flabebe had managed a Fairy Wind in response to Ashen's Sucker Punch, causing the attack to barely miss Raze. The Slakoth took their attention completely off of him and focused solely on the Houndour, completing a triangle to surround them. Luckily, the Minun was directly on the outside and took the opportunity to sneak out. "I'll keep them busy, just go on your friend's signal!" he asserted, focusing solely on making Double Team copies. The two fakes went to distract the Flabebe and one Slakoth as he drew the attention of the second. This one in particular, however, didn't seem in the mood to be distracted.

It's like he's ignoring me completely... I've got it! the Electric type thought, grabbing the stick that was simply collecting dust in his bag. I don't care if this thing attacks me, but it's gonna do that with a pounding headache! Swinging the branch back, Raze brought it down hard on the feral's head. A growl produced from the sloth as it leveled a furious glare. He backed up nervously as the Slakoth slowly approached. The Stunky's warning came just in time as the Cheering Pokémon ducked down and covered his nose. His two clones fizzled in unison as their duties were fulfilled. Ugh, this isn't working! I can still smell it; God, that's awful! he cursed himself, coughing and attempting to shield himself from the fumes but to no avail.

Ashen cocked her head, clearly confused by the Stunky's command. Hold my breath..? What does she mean by that? What is she planning on doing? The hound Pokemon questioned, not perceptive enough to put the pieces together. For a few moments, she froze, trying to figure out what her new companion was about to do.

"Now! Run out from there!"

Everything clicked at just the right moment! Wasting no time, Ashen snapped back into reality, and took a deep breath. She took advantage of the distraction that Raze provided, and bolted from the feral Pokemon, leaving them to suffocate in the poisonous gas. Whew, that was smart! Thank Arceus the Stunky came up with that... I don't think I could've handled all three of those Pokemon, She thought to herself, feeling a little embarrassed that she had let herself get surrounded like that. It's a good thing that I had someone watching my back... If I was alone like I usually am, I would've been done for.

"Uhm, th-thanks for that..." Ashen rasped to the Stunky between her heavy breaths as she approached her. She looked back, as if to check if Raze was alright. She couldn't see him, but she heard his violent coughing. Did he get caught in the gas? Maybe I should go back to help...

Guest carried out 10 launched of one Shadowhue Forest :

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She smiles due the fact that ashen had made it out of there safe, as the devastating fumes hit the group it was a rather cheap move, but it wasn't like ganging up on ashen like that was too fair either.
she was rather happy that she managed to get them off her. as ashed thanked her. "No problem Pal!" She said in responce, she then smiled, seems she was already warming up to ashen.

She looked over at the cloud for a while noticing the Minun was there "O-oh wow! i think i got him too!" She said trying not to laugh, quickly regaining composure as she rushed into the noxious cloud without thinking, clearly she was immune to it. as she then starts to pull the minun out of the cloud. "Sorry! i did not expected you to rush in" she said hoping that he wasnt too intoxicated.

Energy: 0

Lungs burning, Raze almost had to fall over to something that wasn't even a real attack.

Never before had he smelled something so foul as to render him gagging and struggling to hold down his lunch. Wait, what are you doing, you idiot! Don't make that face, just get up and shake it off! the Minun screamed in his head, pushing himself to his feet. At this point, not even the crisp air from the forest remained noticeable to him; all he could sense was the stench. The mouse switched to breathing through his mouth for the time being while he waited for the scent to fade. "Heh, s-sorry about that! I thought you needed some time to plan, so I bought you some." he explained with an embarrassed grin. Even though the smell was bad, Raze considered it worth it to help his new acquaintances disperse the ferals... that he had attracted. Did the ferals seem hostile in the first place? Meh, too late for that now. What's done is done; if they didn't want to fight, I guess I can't fix that now.

"Besides, I bet it washes out easy. So nevermind that, I'll get over it. I don't suppose either of you know how to fight- oh, wait! Stupid question, we just finished! Well... Either of you two up for a little sparring? Er... If that's okay with you, of course." he finished with a satisfied look. So what if he'd just completed a battle? At the guild, there might be more than one battle for missions. Raze wanted to be well-prepared for it and decided to issue a challenge. One-on-one, free-for-all, and even a handicap was okay with him at this point! Adjusting the Joy Cape around his neck, the Electric type took up a more relaxed composition. "So, how about it?"

"...I'd be up for a quick battle," Ashen offered, shifting awkwardly. She still didn't feel particularly comfortable with either of her new acquaintances, and it showed. She refused to make eye contact with them. Instead, she looked straight down at the ground. Maybe a sparring match will help calm me down a little bit... I still can't help but feel nervous. Why do I have to be like this around strangers? The hound thought, frustrated with her lacking social skills. If I keep acting like this, they'll think I'm weird...

Taking a deep breath, the fire type took several steps back, and got into a battle stance. "Y-you can make the first move," Ashen said, giving him a lascivious look and a warm smile. Unbeknownst to the Minun, she had just used a Leer technique, intending to throw him off and lower his defense. It felt painfully awkward to give a stranger such a suggestive glance, but it was just a battle, right?

"Well guys i will just be looking around back there while you two do that!" She said smiling on a reassuring way hoping that it would help the hound feel less nervous, maybe helping her loosen up a little bit and relax. "well now...lets see here" She said to herself as she began to wander and gather some items she found on the floor. "Why there's so much stuff around here?" She kept walking unaware of her surroundings until she bumped onto someone.

"Hey watch out you i-" She looks up to the pinsir which had woken up again going pale out of fear ".....NOPE!" She ran out back on the where the group was. "Guys! the pinsir is back!" She yells obviously scared, hoping they would hear her. "And it is NOT happy!" the pinsir was running after her trying to hold her with those huge claws it had.
-energy: 0

Energy: 0

"Sounds good to me. I'm not holding back, though!" he boasted whilst building up another Discharge. If he was going to make the first move, this would be the one to knock her out, if possible! "Get ready, because this match was over before it even started!" Just as the attack was about to release, a cry rang out in the air and halted Raze's attack. The electricity settled back into his body painfully and kept him well charged, yet a bit stiff from the recoil. The mouse turned to the source of the voice: the Stunky had been scrambling back over to their position running from the Pinsir. His eyes widened as he panicked. "Or maybe not, we're going to have to do this later! Right now, a certain bug needs to know when to stay down!"

Rather than wasting time preparing for another Discharge, the Minun let sparks radiate from his small body as he charged shoulder first into the feral. He could almost feel the connecting of the attack... until a powerful, well-timed strike knocked him backwards. Raze struggled to keep a steady breath; this was the same weak spot that his Charmander friend had found. As he lay supine, staring up at the sky, the world seemed as if it was spinning faster and faster. When he tried to get up, only an aching pain erupted large enough to halt him in his tracks. His bag contained no items that really healed this kind of pain, and it wasn't like he could grab it anyways. The bag had flown about five feet away from his position, its contents spilled onto the floor.