Bug Bonding

First topic message reminder :

(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.

Pokkoji nodded. It was best that they would go. He was not sure how he would be able to fight in his new body. He seemed slower than before. He might be able to take more hits but that didn't mean a lot. If he couldn't fight back, he was at a disadvantage either way.

The metapod started hopping further along the path when he suddenly heard some rustling sounds coming from the bushes. The metapod turned around and looked at it. The rustling had stopped when he did. Did he imagine it? He didn't think so. Pokkoji turned to Russel. "What wa-" He got cut off when a Pokemon jumped out of the bushes and tackled him against a nearby tree. It all happened so fast. He only managed to catch a glimpse of his attacker. The Pokemon had seemed brown...or was it white? Pokkoji got up and tried to see what attacked him.

Although the Burmy seemed to almost be leading the way now due to being slightly faster than the newly evolved Metapod who was still getting used to his altered body, Russell was making sure to slow his pace so that Pokkoji was more easily able to keep up.

He froze as he heard the rustling sounds, looking around and trying to pinpoint where they had come from despite his average sense of hearing. It was times like these when he wished he had the acute senses of a furred pokemon. Nevertheless, the noises stopped as soon as he an Pokkoji had halted their own movements, making it even harder to ascertain a source.

The Burmy heard Pokkoji begin to speak from behind him, before he was abruptly cut off. Russell turned just in time to see the poor Metapod being flung against a tree. Wincing at how painful that must have been, Russell quickly turned his attention to the striped tail that disappeared back into the undergrowth.

As it disappeared, Russell looked to Pokkoji, breathing a sigh of relief that he seemed to be fine and was getting back to his feet.... or whatever it was Metapod used to stand on. He was about to say something, when the rustling started up again.

Knowing where to look this time as he had spotted the tail end of the pokemon disappearing into the underbrush, Russell was able to act just in time as the brown and white attacker appeared to target Pokkoji once more. It leaped out of the bushes and the Burmy moved into it's path, quickly using Protect in an attempt to shield the Metapod from further attacks.

Unfortunately for the Burmy, his earlier use of the protective barrier had caused it to be less effective this time around, and the thin material shattered as the Zigzagoon contacted it with it's Tackle move, failing completely and causing Russell to take the full brunt of the attack this time around.

(Energy: 1)

Pokkoji heard rustling again as the attacker moved back in the bushes. He wasn't able to see where it went to. The Metapod looked around. The attacker was surely still around. Pokkoji had a feeling it would attack again.

The rustling started again. The Metapod expected an incoming attack and hardened his body in advance. He saw something jump at him from the bushes left of him. He braced himself for an impact, but nothing hit him.

Pokkoji looked at his side and saw to his surprise that Russel had jumped inbetween him and his attacker. The Metapod didn't recognize the striped Pokekemon. It was no time to wonder what species it was now. The feral just broke through the shield Russel was using to protect himself from the attack. Pokkoji hopped towards the feral to tackle it, but the strange Pokemon easily dodged it. "Urgh....I'm too slow..." Pokkoji wasn't going to be able to hit the striped Pokemon by just tackling it wildly. They had to come up with a tactic.

He was a bit worried about his companion though. "Russel, are you ok?" He asked. He kept his eyes on the feral and couldn't look behind him. Pokkoji was pretty sure the feral would attack him if he did. The feral walked from side to side in front of them, trying to see an opening to attack. The Metapod kept following it with his gaze.

How would they beat a feral as fast as this? Could Pokkoji still use his String Shot? He wasn't sure. He hoped so. He wasn't sure what else they could do. Maybe a distraction? Did they have any items they could use? As Pokkoji was pondering what to do, the striped Pokemon tried tackling him. Pokkoji knew he couldn't dodge the attack and braced himself instead. The Metapod hardened his body again. The attack didn't do as much damage as before. Pokkoji barely got pushed back by it.

The feral was a bit surprised by it. Pokkoji took this opportunity to retaliate with a Tackle before the feral could move away. The striped Pokemon got hit and staggered back. It was far from done though. The feral hissed angry and ran around Pokkoji. Before Pokkoji could figure out what it would do, it ran towards his companion to tackle him.

Russell was flung a little way across the clearing, skidding across the ground a few paces as he landed. The Burmy lay there for a moment, catching his breath before he got back to his feet, ready to metaphorically tackle their opponent head on. He had been surprised when his Protect had failed, and without a back up plan, the Zigzagoon had hit hard. Russell knew that he sometimes relied on the move a little too much when out in the field, but when you had few attacking moves, you had to make do.

Just as he ws considering what move to make, Pokkoji called out to him, asking if he was alright but keeping his attention focussed on their attacker. Russell had nodded dumbly, but then called out to
the Metapod when it occurred to him that Pokkoji wouldn't be able to see the gesture.
"Yea! I'm alright!" he called out, glancing over to where the Zigzagoon was seemingly focussed on the cocoon pokemon.

As it's attention was away from him for the moment, Russell nodded to himself, taking the opportunity to use his Hidden Power move. This time around, he concentrated the psychic energy that Hidden Power allowed him to utilise into a small sphere that hovered in front of him. The Burmy winced as the striped pokemon attacked Pokkoji again, though was relieved to see that it didn't seem to have as large of an effect as it had done the first time.

Pokkoji tackled the striped pokemon, and Russell felt like his sphere of psychic energy had taken enough time to gather energy. As the Zigzagoon changed direction and dashed towards the Burmy, Russell unleashed the energy from the sphere into a beam of pure psychic energy that was speedy enough to collide with the feral pokemon before it could properly dodge in it's surprise.

The feral was too surprised to dodge the attack and therefore got hit square in the face. The force of the attack flung the feral against a tree on the other side of the clearing. It fell down to the ground and no longer seemed to be moving. Pokkoji hesitantly moved closer to it. "It's not moving anymore. You did it, Russel. You defeated the Pokemon."

Pokkoji looked happy at the burmy. He was impressed by how Russel defeated it. "You were amazing. What was that attack? It was so strong. It send the Pokemon against the tree and knocked it out just like that. I don't even know what Pokemon that is but that was amazing." It was a bit hard to follow what the Metapod was saying as he was talking really fast from the excitement. He wished he had such a strong attack.

Russell watched the Zigzagoon warily, as if expecting it to get up again and continue attacking at any moment. He tensed as Pokkoji moved close to it, but sighed in relief as he confirmed it as knocked out. He hoped he hadn't wounded it too badly but at least they could be sure that they could leave the area before it woke up again.
"That's a relief," he breathed quietly. For such a bright and cheerful forest, and so close to Grassveil Town too, the dungeon was certainly full of all sorts of dangers.

The Burmy smiled, blushing a little as the Metapod sung his praises.
"It was just my Hidden Power move," he replied modestly. He'd spent a lot of time working out how to use the odd psychic type power that the move had given him, but at times like this all of his work seemed to pay off spectacularly.
"Oh, and I believe that Pokemon was a Zigzagoon," he clarified for Pokkoji, glad to be talking about something that wasn't him or his fighting skills, "It's jagged fur patterns are what give it away," he smiled.

Pokkoji watched Russel. The Burmy was being pretty modest. It still didn't change how the Metapod saw him. Pokkoji had never heard about the move Hidden Power but it was really impressive to him. "It still looked really strong. I never saw that move before." Pokkoji said. He was still pretty excited about the whole fight.

The Metapod turned around and looked back at the Feral. "This is a Zigzagoon?I never saw one before." He looked at it a bit curious. The fur pattern did indeed seem special. There sure were a lot of Pokemon he had never heard of before. He hoped to be able to see and fight every single one of them one day, although that might never happen.

The Burmy couldn't help but smile at Pokkoji's continued praise. Although he didn't believe he'd done anything special, perhaps it was nice that he had been able to demonstrate that although you were a bug type you didn't have to accept people assuming you as helpless and weak. You could develop your own skill if you practiced.

Russell nodded to the Metapod's question, despite assuming it rhetorical. He'd seen a lot of this species passing through Grassveil when he'd helped out at the market, so he was rather familiar with them. Despite having never gotten in a fight with one before.

The Autumn cloaked Burmy then noticed something odd sticking out of the fur of the Zigzagoon's tail. Although still wary of it waking, he edged closer, until he was near Pokkoji again. The object sticking out of the Zigzagoon's fur didn't quite match the brown hues of its pelt and so Russell poked it.

The poke seemed to dislodge the item from where it had been kept in the knocked out Pokemon's thick tail fur and rolled across the forest floor. One look at it told the Burmy that it was a blast seed.
"Huh. I think we may have just found our trap setter," the Burmy blinked as he put two and two together.

Pokkoji stared at Russel. He was confused why he suddenly poked the tail of the Feral. Was he trying to wake it up or something? The Metapod hadn't noticed the Blast Seed until it fell out of the tail. Was that why Russel poked the tail? Had he noticed the seed being stuck in the tail? Pokkoji guessed that was the case.

The Metapod was surprised when Russel said that this Pokemon had set up the trap from earlier. "This Pokemon made that trap? Are you sure?" It could just be a coincidence that the Zigzagoon was carrying a blast seed. How could this feral even have made this trap? Did that mean this Pokemon was really smart for a feral? Or maybe that this Pokemon was no feral at all? He didn't know. There were a lot of questions going through his head at that moment.

"I'm not one hundred percent sure, no," the Burmy admitted carefully, "I don't think it's possible to be fully sure unless someone admits, but Zigzagoon is well known for picking up all sorts of items it finds, it's only natural that it might want to store and hide them all somewhere, and perhaps take measures to protect the the hiding place."

Russell couldn't help but remember the Pink Gummi that had oddly fallen upon them. At the time, it was almost as if the trap had gifted them with the item to make up for startling whoever was below. But perhaps it wasn't just a prank, and in fact the Gummi was part of a store of items that couldn't be seen from the ground.

"Either way, there's not much we can do about it now. I'll leave the blast seed here though," he chuckled, figuring that after beating the Zigzagoon down they could at least leave it with its item. Even if it was feral, after accidentally stealing from the Murkrow earlier, Russell was a little reluctant to do it purposefully here.

Pokkoji listened as Russel explained everything. It actually seemed far more logical than a prank. They were talking about a feral after all. The Metapod looked at the feral again. "So that trap was meant to protect its items it had collected? Does that mean there are some more around here?" It seemed likely to him.

Pokkoji turned around and hopped away from the feral. Everything seemed normal. Pokkoji wondered why Russel left the blast seed there. It would probably be like stealing if they took it. Pokkoji hopped a bit further. The ground seemed to shift under him on the place he landed. Before the Metapod could figure out what was happening, he found himself having fallen in a small pit. Luckily for him, it was not very deep. "I think I found another trap..." Pokkoji said towards Russel.

Russell looked to the Metapod and nodded, "I'd think it's quite likely for more items to be around here, yea," he agreed, finally moving a few steps away from the Zigzagoon. It really did seem out cold. Perhaps he'd have enough time to stop here and write in his journal about what he'd discovered today.

Before he could think any further, the Burmy heard the sound of the ground collapsing beneath Pokkoji and hopped forward, making to try and stop his descent into the pitfall trap. His tiny feet couldn't really grab on to the Metapod if he'd tried though, so it was a bit of a relief that the pitfall wasn't actually that deep.

Russell peered in and looked at Pokkoji, "It seems so," he laughed, rather amused by the Metapod's statement.
"Is your String Shot strong enough to help you get out?" He asked, remembering that Pokkoji has used the move earlier. Whether it was strong enough or not, Russell could always use his hidden power to help levitate the Metapod, though he wasn't sure just how much weight he could handle yet...

At least Pokkoji didn't get hurt. He wasn't exactly sure what was so funny about his situation but he wasn't really bothered by it. He first had to get out of this pit. When Russel asked if his String Shot was strong enough, Pokkoji thought for a moment. After a while of thinking he spoke up."It should be. I will try it."

Pokkoji aimed for a tree branch above him. Some rustling could be heard from one of the trees a bit further. He didn't pay any attention to it though. Just when he shot the String Shot, a Murkrow flew over. The web hit the leg of the Murkrow instead. The Murkrow, surprised by the attack, tried to flew away. There was a problem though. Pokkoji got dragged along as it tried to fly away.

The Metapod was surprised by what happened. How would he get down now?  "Er....Russel, help me!" He yelled. Pokkoji kept getting hit by tree branches that hung in his way. That actually was pretty painful. He didn't dare to let go though. He didn't feel like falling down on the ground like that. That also seemed like it would be pretty painful.

Russell's amused laughter subsided and he nodded to the Metapod's words before moving his head away from the top of the pitfall so that Pokkoji wouldn't accidentally hit him with his string shot instead of his intended target. The Burmy watched the string shoot out from the trap and as his gaze followed it's trajectory, he experienced the next events in almost slow motion, unable to do anything about them until they'd already happened.

Pokkoji was now attached to a Murkrow by his own String Shot, and was being towed around in the air by the suddenly startled bird.

The Burmy gaped for a moment, unsure what in Arceus's name they were going to do now, when Pokkoji's call for help snapped him out of his dumbfounded expression and whipped his mind into action.

This was one of those times where having wings would have been handy. But nevertheless Russell would have to work with what he had. And what he did have, was a forest full of leaves and the ability to levitate them.

"Hold on Pokkoji!" He called out as he began to gather leaves using his psychic type Hidden Power, levitating them around him. He then hopped after the Murkrow, gathering more leaves as he went. The Burmy couldn't use the same beam of psychic energy as he had utilised to defeat the Zigzagoon previously, lest he accidentally hit Pokkoji whilst he was being tugged around in the air. However, what he could do was provide a soft enough landing so that the Metapod could let go of his own accord.

Anyone onlooking might have thought it quite the sight, to see a Murkrow towing a Metapod in the air, followed by a Burmy towing a multitude of leaves.

"When you get over the top of the leaves, see if you can drop into them!" He called out, placing the leaves down on the ground, roughly in the path of where the bird would fly.

Pokkoji was unsure about what Russel could do to help him. The Burmy couldn't fly and was not fast enough to catch up with the bird. The Metapod got hit with yet another branch. It made him pretty dizzy. He was barely able to hold on. He might fall down before the bird calmed down and landed somewhere.

Just as he was about to give up, Russel called out to him. Pokkoji noticed he had made a bad of leaves further ahead. Did he manage to catch up with the bird or did he take a shortcut or something? Either way, he didn't care. He was finally going to be able to let go. The Murkrow was still in a panic and flew in a straight line over the leaves.

The moment it did, Pokkoji let go. The Metapod watched the leaves get closer and closer and closer until.... Pokkoji landed hard on the ground next to the pile of leaves.