Autumn Hues

OOC: While this thread was originally intended for just aMEWzing and I, it'd be nice to add one more person to the mix! The topic is open until someone else joins. =]

[Energy: 19 - 11 (Entrance Cost) = 8]
[Held Item: Lucky Ribbon (Reduces cost of every item rolled by 1)]

"Wow... This place is really pretty..."

That was all Ashen the Houndour could say as the Fallen Leaf Copse finally came into sight. She had traveled for hours just to see it, and it was already well worth the trip. Just as her mother had described it, the secluded little island was unlike everything else in the surrounding area, with its trees covered in autumn orange leaves. It was as if time had stopped on a brisk November day, but only in that one spot... Strange, yet beautiful nonetheless. For the next couple of minutes, the hound Pokemon circled the lake in which the island was located, searching for the stepping stones that allowed land-based Pokemon access.

Upon finding them, Ashen carefully hopped her way across the lake, admiring the scenery as she went. Several times, she nearly went into the water due to being distracted. She eventually reached the island itself. Looking around, the dark Pokemon wandered into the wood, unsure of what she would encounter...

Sosio: {38 - 11 (entry) = 27}

Sosio flapped towards the forest that had the same hues of her own feathers, twittering joyfully to a chipper tune as she swirled and swooped in the air. The Fletchinder had gone through a lot in the past moon, yet she was unshaken. The bird was, of course, still concerned for the well-being of all those who had been corrupted by the darkness and where no longer innocent, but she just wanted some time to herself for a bit and to enjoy her future home.
I really should be continuing my journey... the fire type realized. Oh well. If a bird could shrug while flying, that's what she did.

Taking in the scenery as she flew over it, her yellow wing undersides clashing against the gray, cloud-filled sky, Sosio sighed, inhaling the crisp and cold air that drowned her lungs with chills and exhaled wispy visible heat which could instantly be seen since the fire-flying Pokemon had a heated body. With a slow lift of her wings to pump them down to her sides, she dove to the orange canopies, gliding through one of the many gaps the foliage had failed to cover and landed on the leaf-covered ground, the frost-covered morning soil tickling her scaly feet.
Good to be back...

A lone Absol made his way towards the location of the Autumn leaved island, heading there from the general direction of Grassveil. The Absol, Deimos, was merely seeking another quiet location to rest at first. He knew however there was more to this than that... He could still feel it stinging when in contact with external stimuli.

Specifically, it was the wound on the Absol's side that was causing his pain. Two deep incisions created by the fangs of a Seviper during the Absol's last visit to the endless sea of white surrounding Pricklemist.

As the Orange coloured canopy of trees came within sight, Deimos thought back to his one past foray here. It had been extremely quiet and peaceful last time, be that the result of a lack of visitiors or just good timing on his part, he wasn't certain. He remembered specifically how the Absol was to reach the Island, a number of stepping stones.

Cautiously and quietly moving around the waters edge in search of the aforementioned stones, Deimos closed his eyes and exhaled. The feeling of the cold air passing through his fur felt soothing in comparison to the muggy warmth of the constantly fog imbued locale. Locating the stones, Deimos cautiously made his way across, he still didn't know how aggressive it's possible residents could be after all.

Ashen padded through the autumn forest, trying to enjoy the beautiful scenery. Everything looked so pristine... Other than the giant storm clouds looming over the area, of course. She had to wonder: what was this "darkness" that everyone was talking about? She had overheard several stories of civilized Pokemon losing their minds due to this malevolent force, but were they true? Surely, they had to be exaggerated, at least a little bit. When she asked her mother about it, the Houndour simply replied that the world was a strange place, and that sometimes, strange things happened. Ashen was not satisfied with her mother's nebulous answer, but ultimately decided not to press any further.

Suddenly, a loud whoosh interrupted the hound Pokemon's train of thought. A yellow winged bird suddenly darted through the dense foliage of the forest, gracefully landing several meters in front of her. Ashen let out a surprised cry, and jumped back a few feet. Her heart began racing, and she couldn't think straight. Was it a feral? Could it be an outlaw? Immediately, she assumed the worst.

Sosio: {27}

The tickles of the cold frost made Sosio shiver, her feathers rippling from her bright orange head down her black wings to their yellow tips, across her pale white-blue belly and finally to her tail, which fanned a few times as her head darted back and forth before hopping forwards. The satisfying crunch of the leaves beneath filled the bird with an untold joy, one that somehow kept her grounded in this place when she could easily be flying. This euphoria produced extra heat from her flame sac, the heat radiating and escaping from her, melting the frost that was nearby. She quickly jumped off the ground and flew above the leaves. She had the temptation to sneeze, as the cold always did to her beak, but whenever she did sneeze, she would shoot an Ember by mistake.
I oughta be more careful... It's dry season, after all. Sosio couldn't even begin to imagine what guilt she would experience if she knew she had caused a forest fire.

Suppressing the sneeze, the Fletchinder continued onward, cautioning that her wings did not brush the ground or any of the open-spaced trees around her. At that, she had to wonder, why where trees so spaced apart? There was plenty of room in between, why couldn't more just grow there? When the fire type was still just a normal-flying Pokemon, she had lived in a jungle with her Venusaur family. There, the trees and plants had been so full that scarcely any sunlight leaked down under the full canopy. The only point where it did was at the river from where she was rescued, and no trees there could grow in the deep water. She supposed it had to do with how much colder the weather was here.

Arriving on the Autumn leaf covered surface of the island, Deimos closed his eyes for a moment and let off a sigh. He could already feel an odd difference in the air, Abnormal heated air that wouldn't be present unless another being was in the area. Not knowing if it was friendly or not, Deimos intended to take his time and try to identify the source first.

Cautiously stepping forwards towards the source, the wounded Absol tried his best to limit how much sound he made. He eventually came to the conclusion that it didn't matter however, the crunch of leaves underfoot wasn't going to leave anytime soon. "All I can do is hope it isn't overly hostile... I'm not particularly in the condition for combat right now" Deimos quietly muttered to himself as he approached the section where the other two were present, intending to use the tree's as some form of cover, if possible.

For what seemed like an eternity, Ashen stood completely still, trying her best to avoid attracting unwanted attention. Maybe if she waited long enough, the bird Pokemon would fly off... She just hoped that the avian wouldn't look back. Just as she thought this, the hound heard the percussive sound of crinkling leaves coming from behind her. Immediately, Ashen's heart started racing again! She anxiously swung around, only to find that there was nothing there... Was she just imagining things? The canine cautiously sniffed the air, but since the wind was blowing in the direction of the unknown entity, she couldn't pick up its scent.

Finally, curiosity got to Ashen, and she gingerly made her way towards the the source of the noise. "Wh-who's there?" The young Houndour nervously asked in a raspy voice. She hadn't spoken in hours, and it was quite cold outside, so her throat felt scratchy. Maybe I shouldn't have said anything, She regretfully thought to herself, almost expecting a huge Ursaring to come out from behind the trees and attack her.

Sosio: {27}

The bird was exhaling smoke very purposefully, humming a new tune now as she bobbed her head in curiosity of of how it was possible to see even just her own breath in the cold. She wouldn't think about it for long, however, because she was quickly adverted to another source of events that grasped her curiosity. Beyond her own singing voice, Sosio heard that of another's, scared, low, quiet and croaking. The Fletchinder's response was to slide her tongue, producing an escalating whistle of inquisition as she strut over to the source of the other.

"'Tis I, the feathers of fry," she responded jokingly, staring ahead in search of who might be speaking in the bird's forest. "There's nothing to be afraid of here, really. Except for the Phantump... yeesh..." Sosio twittered on, even despite a lack of response. "So what brings you here, whoever you are?" At this point it was too late to ponder if she was going insane.

Quietly peering through around the tree he had remained hidden behind, Deimos looked at he two entities in an analytical fashion. One bird like entity... The species... He wasn't the most familiar with to be honest. The more so canine Pokemon however he was able to recognize the species of. He recognized it as a Houndour.

It had appeared that the Houndour had caught on to his presence, having turned to face towards his general direction and spoke. The bird Pokemon however took it as it's cue to speak, seeming to use a friendly manner in comparison raspy one of the Houndour. This left Deimos with somewhat of a dilemma... could he trust these two?

He understood that there was some risk to doing so normally, even more so with the incisions within his side and the sore bruise that had eventually formed from the Flame Charge prior. He'd not thought of it at the time, but he really was lucky that is snow white coat hadn't caught fire at the time... Being surrounded by burning fur or hair isn't fun, or so he heard.

Since his presence had already technically been detected, Deimos felt like he'd only cause further troubles if he hid. Quietly walking out from behind the tree, he heard a faint crack up above. Glancing upwards slightly, he saw a branch falling down towards him, a relatively large one at that... It'd seemed to have been damage prior. Quickly moving to the side, he evaded it mostly, only feeling the cold wood run down against his side, against his incisions.

Flinching in pain, Deimos took that as his cue to exit the treeline. Moving out and into clear view, The wounded Absol moved as if to head past, his bruised side and the small patches of red running down his side from the irritated area being clearly visible. He kept his head low for the time being, not wanting to cause trouble.

Ashen flinched when she heard the Fletchinder's voice, her normally relaxed posture becoming visibly tense, like that of a thief caught in the act. "I-I... Uh..." She stammered, trying to formulate a response. Why do I have to be so bad at this? The Houndour asked herself, disappointed in her own lack of social skills. All I have to do is introduce myself... Why is that so hard for me? It felt like her tongue was tied in a knot...

Thankfully, the awkward silence was broken when a tree branch cracked. The hound's head instantly shot upwards, and she watched as the debris fell to the ground a few meters in front of her. To Ashen's surprise, however, it had actually hit a Pokemon on the ground, likely the one that had been hiding from her earlier.

Her keen sense of smell confirmed that she was looking at the same Pokemon... But she smelled something else, though. Something... Metallic. Blood. They're bleeding... Maybe I should help them... Ashen thought to herself, but remembered that she hadn't brought any Oran Berries on the trip. Still, the Houndour padded towards the mysterious white quadruped Pokemon, intending to examine the injury.

Sosio: {27}

Cocking her head to the sound of the voice returned, quite soft and hard to pick up on with the rustling of the dry leaves in the wind, the bird chirped cheerfully in response once again.
"No need to be shy! I'm not gonna peck anybody," Sosio insisted, pushing her way through the woody rough, to emerge before the other Pokemon and introduce her appearance. She glanced about a bit and tried to remember which direction she had heard the voice come from.

This shouldn't be that hard to find a Pokemon in the middle of an open space, but it's like the Pokemon are invisible! Startling her, the dry snap of a large branch made her skit and disrupt her flapping pattern, hiccuping in her flight and bouncing onto the ground, tilting her head and raising her wings cautiously to ensure she was ready to break into flight. Hesitance had an overbearing hold on her, waiting for a cue for the fire-flying type to respond. Spotting a figure's slow approach to another one was good enough for her, so she flew over to investigate.

Deimos kept quietly moving forwards, hearing the voice of the bird Pokémon yet again. He didn't intend to make any comments or speak, no point on wasting his energy after all... His body was already beaten enough, no point on angering one of them into attacking him with his current lack of energy and strength. He noted that the Houndour was quietly moving towards him, causing to release a faint sigh... brilliant.

He didn't want to interact or anything of the sort, he just wanted to find somewhere he could clean his incision... better to clear it before the possibility of infection after all. He didn't physically move as if to allow the fire type to inspect it... best not to give them hints of his weakened state visually beyond his injuries.

Ashen took notice of the Absol's discomfort, but she willfully ignored it, getting closer to the stranger and inspecting his injury. "Y-you m-might want to w-wash that out so it doesn't get infected," She suggested, motioning her head in the direction of the lake. While not normally the one to start a conversation, she felt morally obligated the help this poor Pokemon. After all, he was hurt... She couldn't just stand around and watch him ache in pain!

Just as she spoke, Ashen could hear the flapping of wings coming from behind her... It was the Fletchinder. The canine's ears lowered, feeling quite overwhelmed at the moment. One stranger was enough to make her really nervous, but meeting two at the same time? She let out an inaudible whimper of anxiety.

Sosio: {27}

The bird flapped over and soon hovered over and nearby the others, taking time to comprehend the sight. The wounded fluffy Pokemon seemed to have been hit with the large branch that lay on the ground not too far from the Absol, and a small darkish fire canine spoke, concerned and quiet, to the largest of the area. Her reaction to Sosio, however, was disheartening. The bird was perfectly affable; was there anything to fear of her?

If that weren't to happen, Sosio might've continued blabbering, but she remained in silence, and soon not even the sound of her wingflaps reverberated as she landed gently on the cold soil, giving a look of concern with her tilted and disappointed face. Reaching into her bag, she pulled out a ribbon of a golden color and held it in her talons, flapping over to Deimos and looking at his wound.
"You probably won't like or accept this, but it's best to apply pressure to a wound. Or... so I've heard. I hope you don't mind me wrapping this around," she said calmly, refusing to make eye contact with either of the Pokemon as she heeded to her work. She didn't need the ribbon anyway, so she didn't mind giving it to another for a more important matter.

The surrounding darkness of the world was changing her so much, she could cringe. Never before had Sosio been so sympathetic, two-sided, nor having any other feeling but positive ones until the blackness spread and inflicted others. Since then, she's fallen into a depression, done things she never would've done before, and has made such little progress on her journey that it couldn't be due to aging and the gain of wisdom and experience. Perhaps this wasn't a bad thing, but all the bird wanted was to be happy again.

Deimos had become motionless, allowing the two Pokemon to do what they wished at first. He personally didn't want to invoke anger from either of the two, what with his already bruised and damaged form. The Houndour had merely advised him to do as he had originally planned, as of such he help no problem with it.

The Fletchinder however immediately produced a ribbon nd moved it to wrap it around his side, aiming to cover the wounds. Though he lacked his prior strength, he quickly pulled away. He understood that it has good intentions but applying pressure and pushing on his wound not only stung, but he also thought that the Fletchinder was acting in the wrong order.

"Too soon. It'd be better wash clean first, instead of applying pressure only for it to be removed and then reapplied again" Deimos spoke. Although his tone was calm and collected, he was tempted to immediately move away. Bowing his head slightly at the Fletchinder, Deimos resumed heading over towards the water as was originally planned. The one thing he'd not considered however was that... How he planned to wash that specific part. He didn't have hands like some species after all and using his paws wouldn't be the most accurate. He also had to take into account that they weren't exactly the cleanest underneath.