Bug Bonding

(Energy: 15-5=10)

A young Caterpie was making his way towards Pecha Forest again. He still remembered the last time he had been there. The bug met a Totodile there and ended up getting poisoned. It was horrible. The Caterpie was not able to fight and even fainted. The Totodile had to take him back to Grassveil to recover. Pokkoji was annoyed that he had to rely on his help. This time everything would go better. Or so he hoped.

Pokkoji soon arrived at the entrance of the forest. He hoped to find Pecha berries here. That would really help a lot in case he would end up getting poisoned again. The Caterpie looked up at the trees before following the path into the forest.

Another young bug pokemon could already be found within the forest, having entered the cheerful wood earlier that day. The Burmy, clad in a cloak of autumn leaves from his home forest, hung from one of the branches of the Pecha trees using his one curled antenna. He gazed curiously at the environment around him. It was starkly different from Fallen Leaf Copse in both the obvious and the subtle. Of course the first difference that anyone would notice was the bright greenery that covered the forest, rather than the red and golden hues of autumn.

Russell rummaged through his bag, which hung by it's strap on the same branch he clung to. Within a few moments he'd located his journal and he hovered it in front of himself using his psychic type Hidden Power move.

"I wonder if similar pokemon live here..." he mused to himself.

Pokkoji got deeped into the forest. The sweet smell of Pecha berries filled the air. It actually made Pokkoji hungry. The Caterpie tried to ignore it. He had to concentrate on training. The Caterpie had heard about a guild located on the floating isles when he was recovering from his poison in Grassveil. The only way to reach that place was to fly there. The guild had a good reputation. Pokkoji hoped he would be able to become a hero if he went to the guild there.

The only problem was finding a partner. Maybe he could ask Rai. He seemed able to fly and Pokkoji liked the zubat. As Pokkoji was pondering about this, he passed the tree with a burmy in it. Pokkoji did not notice the bug up there.

Russell had begun documenting some of the plants that gre win Pecha forest that he hadn't seen growing in Fallen Leaf Copse, when a small bug pokemon wandered past the tree he had taken up his position in. Almost startled to begin with as he hadn't been keeping an eye out, he immediately brightened when he realised that this might just me the source of information he needed - that is, if this Caterpie actually lived here.

"Hey there!" he called out from his position in the tree. His single antenna was taking it's time to uncurl from the secure hold that it had grasped upon the branch. When his grey antenna was fully uncurled, the bagworm pokemon dropped neatly to the ground, using his autumn leaf cloak as a cushion to lesson the fall.

"Ah, sorry to bother you," he called out to the Caterpie, "But you don't happen to live here do you?" he asked. He would have waved the other bug over, but his small feet were too short to be seen underneath his leafy cloak. Others had told him before that he was much too trusting of strange pokemon, but honestly it seemed to have worked out fine for Russell so far and so he was a little reluctant to change his ways.

Pokkoji was crawling further when he suddenly heard a voice behind him. The Caterpie turned around to see a Burmy. Something was odd about it though. Pokkoji knew Burmy usually had some sort of cloak made of materials from their environment. The weird thing was that this Burmy had a cloak made off autumn leaves, which was pretty weird. It was not Autumn at all.

Pokkoji moved towards the stranger. He certainly didn't seem like a feral. "No, I just came here to train. Who are you? My name is Pokkoji." The Caterpie greeted. It was nice to see another bug here that wasn't a feral. He hoped they could be friends.

Russell was relieved when the Caterpie heard his calls and turned to see him, as he wasn't exactly the fastest of pokemon and so going after the stranger wasn't exactly an option he could have pursued. The Burmy was however a little disappointed that the Caterpie wasn't actually a resident of this forest, but nevertheless he was not against making a new friend.

"Ah, that's a shame. I was hoping you might be able to tell me a little more about what this place is like... but oh well," he replied, glad that the Caterpie wasn't a feral pokemon. The Burmy's expression brightened a little as the Caterpie introduced himself though, and he promptly returned the favour.
"I'm Russell. Pleased to meet you, Pokkoji."

"It's nice to meet you too. I don't know much except you can get poisoned here." Pokkoji said to Russell. The Burmy seemed friendly enough. The young Caterpie was still curious about his weird colored cloak though. "Were do you come from? Your cloak is pretty weird. It is not Autumn." Pokkoji asked curiously. The bug couldn't immediately think of a place the burmy could have gotten that.

Though only a little tidbit of information, the fact that an individual could get poisoned here was an interesting fact. Russell couldn't help but wonder if that meant that some of the plantlife had the ability to poison, or if it meant that at least one species of pokemon that lived here was capable of poisoning, but he didn't have chance to query further as Pokkoji took the opportunity to ask him where he came from.

Russell had almost forgotten how odd the fact that he was wearing an autumn leaf cloak would be in a place with as much greenery as this, but the answer to the Caterpie's question was easily given.
"I live in a place called Fallen Leaf Copse," the Burmy revealed, "The leaves in the forest there are always red, brown and yellow, almost like they're stuck in a never ending autumn. And since there's no green leaves there, the only materials I have to make my cloak out of are the autumn leaves."

The Burmy paused for a brief moment before continuing, "I actually quite like it, despite how much it makes me stick out in places like this," he chuckled.

Pokkoji thought for a moment. Then he remembered. "Oh, I have been there before. It is really nice. I even met a shiny Pokemon. It was the first time I ever saw one." Pokkoji said excited. "The Pokemon were really nice. I have been there two times and made three friends." Pokkoji explained.

Then the Caterpie looked around. "I have been here once before. Fell in a trap and got Poisoned by a feral. It really was no fun. I hope this time I will be able to train and evolve. Hey, do you want to explore with me?" The Caterpie asked. It seemed much more fun to explore with Russel than to explore alone.

Russell's expression practically shined at the praise that the forest he now called his home seemed to gain from this Caterpie, but found himself intrigued by the idea of a shiny pokemon. "I've heard shiny pokemon are really rare..." he commented absently, wondering what it would be like to meet one.

As Pokkoji continued, the Burmy made a mental note that he had in fact been poisoned by a pokemon native to the area, and not a plant or other cause. However his attention was mainly on the Caterpie's request.

"Of course I will!" he grinned, positively ecstatic at investigating and exploring this new forested area with someone to share the experience with. Even if the place wasn't some far away mysterious dungeon, there were still experiences to be had here.
"I'll do my best to aid your training at the same time," he replied with a bright smile, "Which direction do you want to head in first?"

Solilo carried out 3 launched of one Pecha Forest :

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The Caterpie was happy Russel was willing to explore with him. He was really looking forward to it now. Pokkoji looked around for a bit when the Burmy asked which direction they should go to. "How about we go that way?" Pokkoji pointed between the trees. "Maybe we will find interesting things there, or strong ferals to fight. Maybe I will be a Metapod today. Hehe, I can't wait to evolve." The Caterpie was really excited now. He was going to show any ferals that showed up how awesome he was. No way that he would lose to any of them.

Evana carried out 2 launched of one Pecha Forest :

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"That direction is as good as any!" grinned the Burmy, quickly using his Hidden Power to levitate his bag down from the branch that it had been hanging from and wrapping it's strap around his small autumn cloaked body. Russell toyed with the idea of carrying his journal around, but decided just to replace it back in his bag for now so that he could fully take in the forest around him without being distracted by making so many notes.

"Caterpie evolves into Butterfree eventually, right?" Russell asked Pokkoji, "I don't blame you for actively trying to seek your evolution. I personally can't wait to evolve into a Mothim. Just the idea of being able to fly from place to place with such ease..." he trailed off, his eyes practically shining at the idea. Flight allowed you to explore even the tallest of places, and though the seas would still be unavailable to him, that was enough.

He turned his attention back to Pokkoji, ready to head off in their chosen direction.
"Let's go and find some ferals then~"

(Energy: 10-7=3)

Pokkoji nodded. "Yup. I am planning on going to Aileron when I am a Butterfree. I heard there is a guild there. I want to join it and save a lot of Pokemon. Then I will be a hero." The Caterpie explained. In truth, he felt he would evolve soon for a while. It was making him excited and impatient. He was also feeling uneasy. Even though he wanted to evolve, he was also a bit scared of it. He was not going to admit that though.

The Caterpie tried to concentrate on were they were going. "Lets go and beat them all." Pokkoji said as he started crawling in the direction they decided to go to. Pokkoji hoped to not get poisoned this time.

"Helping others is certainly an admirable goal," the Burmy replied. He'd heard of the exploration guilds, and how their members would help any pokemon in need, but he'd never actually met a guild member himself. In his opinion, the thought was good, but it wasn't something he felt he could dedicate his life to as exploring the unknown with the only purpose of discovering new things was.

Maybe it was a little selfish, but he felt almost as if helping others would always prevail over his other goals, and thus he would never actually achieve his dreams. Perhaps a small flaw in that idea was the fact that he would always help someone who needed it, despite not being obligated to by his chosen profession. Consolidating these thoughts, he said aloud;
"I prefer the thrill of exploration and discovery to the glory of helping others personally, but I can see why one would like to become part of something like that," he smiled as the two of them began to move onwards.

Russell kept his senses alert as they made their way through Pecha Forest. It wouldn't do to be surprised by someone who meant them harm after all. Despite this though, the Burmy was eagerly paying attention to his surroundings for the second goal of noting down the plants and such, so that he could provide an accurate description of the dungeon's environment.

After a short while of wandering, something caught Russell's eye. It was a bush, growing underneath one of the many trees in the wood. However, what made it curious to the Burmy's gaze was the berries that he'd spotted growing within it. They weren't pink like he knew a pecha berry would be, but instead an odd pink and striped pattern. Some of the berries present on the bush were rather large, at least in Russell's limited knowledge of berries anyways. Interested, he moved as quickly as he could over to he small bush to examine the odd fruits.

"Hey Pokkoji," Russell called to the Caterpie, "Have you ever seen one of these before?"

The Burmy knew that he still had a lot to learn about the world. Perhaps rarer berries like this were something he should read up on when he got back to the library. Since he'd made it a point not to permanently carry around his journal, Russell instead plucked one of the jaggedly striped berries from it's branches. Some of the berries present on the bush were absolutely huge when compared to a small bug like himself, so the Burmy had selected a smaller one to take back with him.

Pokkoji liked this Burmy already. Exploring was something the Caterpie also liked to do. The only difference was that he really wanted to save Pokemon. He was tired of Pokemon looking down on him and calling him weak. He would prove everyone otherwise. What better way to do that than join a guild and help others? Pokemon would be looking up to him in no time.

Pokkoji looked up when Russell called out to him. The Caterpie noticed that the Burmy went to some bushes. He asked if Pokkoji knew one of these berries. "I think those are.... uh... What were they again?" Pokkoji thought for a moment. He was sure berries like these grew in the garden he got raised in. Then he remembered. "Oh right, Watmel berries." Pokkoji seemed a bit proud for knowing the name of the berries. The Caterpie had realised during his past adventures how little he knew about the world. Actually being able to answer the question of someone else made him happy.

Pokkoki then heard a cry coming from above them. Surprised, he looked up to see a Murkrow flying towards them. It didn't seem happy. Was it protecting something? "Thief." It schreeched. Pokkoji was confused. They didn't steal anything. "Hey, we didn't steal anything." The Caterpie tried to protest. The bird didn't listen though and Pokkoki barely managed to dodge its claws. What was this bird so angry about?