The Gang Joins a Cult

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"Help the little skiddo who's gonna get himself killed," the note said.  Well, perhaps not those exact words, but that was how it'd been interpreted by a very moody glaceon.  The injuries he'd received in a recent, stupid, STUPID endeavor had just recently healed and he was already looking to get himself killed again.  He couldn't help but notice a particularly dangerous mission that some guy had been reading at the guild - a Pikachu named.... something - and so, he did the only reasonable thing.  He snatched the notice paper from the pikachu and told the guy to go do something less dangerous.

It didn't work.  Instead, he now had the bipedal rat following him on this mission, along with the client, an arcanine.  He'd hung his head the entire trip and mostly ignored any attempts made at conversation, merely giving one-word answers when possible.  He was afraid of speaking to anyone or even looking at them.  It wasn't a fear of endangering himself, more like.... having others see how weak he was.  They'd see it in his eyes, they'd hear it in his voice.  They'd see that there was something wrong with him, that he needed help, that he'd failed countless times!  The pikachu, Nate or whoever, probably knew of his oh-so-impressive escapades already.  Surely, the guy who'd managed to triple Giratina's power would be well-known by now.  How was he even still in the guild after failing so miserably two times in a row?

Trying not to look at or talk to anyone also served a second purpose: it made it easier for Sova to control himself.  He didn't want to say.... or do anything he'd regret, but in truth, he didn't feel too up to controlling himself at the moment.  Nate seemed like a nice guy, one he didn't want to make an enemy of just because he was seeing red.  They were already to the destination of the Monochrome Ruins; he could make it long enough to finish this.  He could make sure no one was hurt while keeping himself under control.


Keith had been yelled at by his leader recently.  A lot.  So had his teammate, Skylar.  Maybe he'd done something wrong and just didn't know, but he knew for certain that Sky had done nothing wrong.  They were just worried!  Sova kept leaving and yelling at them when they tried to tag along, then he'd come back half-dead and not give any explanation as to what'd happened!  Skylar was willing to respect her leader's wishes despite being confused, but Keith?  He was worried Sova was going to get himself killed.  He couldn't just stand by anymore.  He barely knew Sova, but he'd also been saved by Sova.  What would he be worth if he left his savior alone in a mental haze to end up dead somewhere?

Good intentions were fine, but Keith wasn't very strong and he knew that.  This time, he'd managed to figure out what his leader was planning on doing by talking to a pikachu who'd just had an encounter with the glaceon.  It was a mission, but one that seemed absurdly dangerous, and Sova apparently wanted to do it alone!  The pikachu seemed intent on still going, so that was good, but would just two be enough?  Doubting it, he went looking for the guild for someone to come with him and back the two up.  As if by some miracle, he did indeed find someone who was capable of doing such dangerous missions: Acro of Aileron Guild.

It was weird to see a member of the flappy-bird-aristocrat guild in the earth-bound Grassveil Guild, but the jolteon wasn't going to question that.  After a brief explanation of the problem, the archeops agreed to come along and help.  The two followed the path of the others, staying hidden on request of the jolteon as he didn't want his leader to be aware of his disobedience unless it was necessary.  He didn't like being alone with someone he didn't know very well, nor did he like going against a very clear order from someone like Sova, but his heart was saying something very different from that of his mind.  For once, he was listening to the prior.


An eevee had been wandering through the darkly forest, accompanied by an oshawott.  The two had recently done the bidding of Arceus himself, and while the companion of the eevee didn't seem particularly interested in her faith, she was still appreciative of the help.  "Maybe we could even be friends," she thought idly to herself.
The two had decided to travel together since they were both headed for the same place - being nowhere in particular - and strength in numbers something something she didn't care.  It was disappointing that the oshawott was no longer willing to be a bag-slave, but that was reasonable.  Besides, with nearly all of the contents gone, it was now much lighter.

Just when Ivirar had decided to try and spark up some conversation, she and her companion were met with a kabutops.  It had a very vile attitude, but there was something about the sharp claws and death threats that made her decide not to comment on it.  If not for her own sake, she still held her tongue for Ava's sake.

Jk.

"You seem bothered.  You should allow Arceus to guide you through this hard time in your life," she suggested with genuinely good intentions.
However, the kabutops didn't take her friendly advice too well, responding by "asking" the two to come with it and low-key threatening to kill them on the spot if they didn't.  Oh.  Ivy and her companion followed along without much choice in the matter and she couldn't help but wonder if this was going to affect that whole friendship thing.  She wasn't stupid; she knew this was her fault.  Maybe Ava wasn't one to hold grudges?

They were led into the maze-like ruins and shoved inside a jail cell where the kabutops was switched out for a charmeleon.  Not only that, though: anything the two had on them was confiscated.  While Ivy was actually okay with this since it meant she'd gotten rid of the Prism Ruff without having to willingly give it up, her company seemed to have something a bit more important taken.  Then, to top it all off, they were bound.  The eevee just couldn't help but comment on this: "Woah, I didn't know you were into that!"

....

The lizard just gave a deadpan stare to show how unamused it was before deciding to add an extra, entirely pointless measure.  It took a bit of extra cloth and gagged the little eevee to shut her up before leaving.


Not too far away, another eevee was roaming the area of Shadowhue.  However, this one wasn't interested in getting into any trouble.  Uthinare simply wanted to relax and have some time to herself.  Pecha forest was a much nicer place, but that was an issue because it meant everyone went there.  So, in the end, she picked the less-appealing forest to wander through in the hopes of it being more peaceful.  She was right.

After a while of walking, she began to grow fatigued and decided to pick a tree to rest under.  In such a shady forest, being under a tree wasn't really necessary, but there was something comforting about being so near to such a big structure.  This particular tree was lifted off the ground by the roots just enough for a very small creature such as an eevee to slip under it to hide.  If anything happened, she could just dart under her little hiding spot and she'd surely be fine.

With this reassurance in mind, Uthinare decided to take a nap next to the tree.  She tended to be a light sleeper, so if anything approached, she was confident she'd wake up.

The pikachu had been thoroughly demoralized and everything was now in its rightful place.  The group could finally move along now that the leader had been decided upon, and since that happened to be Sova, he moved along without hesitation.  The group was silent for a bit, which he had no problem with since he wasn't particularly interested in idle chatter.  The environment around them began to shift from a normal cavern to something more... intentional as they moved forward, the walls being engulfed in structure and order.  There were markings that resembled some kind of language, which Sova inspected briefly to check if it was Unown or footprint runes, but alas, it was nothing he recognized.  He kept moving without questioning the odd runes, not wanting to take up any more time than necessary on sightseeing when he had a job to do.  There was still a missing skiddo who needed to be rescued, and he needed to stay focused to ensure he could adequately protect his allies in the event of a fight.

Rather than conflict, the next thing that appeared before him was a room, which was almost a welcome change from the stagnant hallway.  The only problem was that this room came with multiple paths forward, and since he had assigned himself the role of leader, that meant he would have to choose what path they took.  He opted to simply listen as the other two discussed amongst themselves what to do about this situation.  He was curious as to their thoughts on the topic, especially since he didn't have many of his own.  Right off the bat, there was no clear correct way to go, though there was a hole in the wall directly opposite to them that definitely didn't look like a good choice.  The arcanine was clearly too large to fit through it, and it didn't appear to be a natural gateway, which meant it was probably unsafe to travel through.  Not to mention it was unknown where the hole would lead, and turning back would be a bit difficult to do once inside.  With this in mind, the other two pathways seemed like infinitely better options, though there was one argument to be made for the hole.  Simply put, if there were any hostiles in the area, they would almost certainly be using the paths intended to actually be used, which meant that traveling along the obvious routes would be more likely to present an attack.

He didn't get much time to himself to decide on what to do before he was brought into the conversation, his opinion on the matter being desired.  He hesitated for a moment, though not due to his own uncertainty; rather, some distant noise had attracted his attention, but he was unable to clearly identify the source.  He decided to simply shrug it off for the time being, assuming it ot be nothing worth worrying about, at least for himself.  "Well, we could obviously split up, which would be stupid," he proposed what he felt to be the worst plan of action first, wanting to get it out of the way and clarify that he did not want for the group to split up.  He was by no means concerned for his own safety, but the other two...  Well, they weren't in much danger as long as they remained with him, but in the event of splitting to check all three paths, he wouldn't exactly be able to protect them.  At least one of the group was bound to run into trouble, and if it happened not to be him, it would probably be bad.

Next, there was the most obvious option, which was also pretty good, at least relative to the alternatives.  "We could always just pick one of these two paths at random, like you said.  It's not like we have any better ways to choose between them, after all," he spoke in what probably seemed like agreement with the client, turning his head toward one of the two large, open pathways, then the other.  However, he didn't agree entirely with this course of action, mostly since it left out the third potential way forward.  After all, the arcanine wouldn't be able to go through the hole, and in fact, it seemed like a bit of a tight fit for himself as well.  It wasn't something he couldn't manage, but he would almost certainly be a bit slow getting through, which was a bad thing since getting in and out quickly would quite possibly be important.  However, the pikachu of the group was small enough to easily get through the hole at a fast pace, which was the source of his next idea, and perhaps the one he agreed the most with.

"But we should really check out door number three before doing anything else," he continued, turning his attention to the hole in the wall.  It only seemed logical to get this one out of the way first, since they already knew they wouldn't actually be taking it as a way forward, and thus, they only needed to scout it to see if there was anything useful on the other side.  "Wanna do the honors?" he glanced over to the pikachu with a slight smirk, figuring the little rodent probably wanted a chance to prove himself after being humiliated.  He would have volunteered himself, but the smallest member of the group would get through with the most ease.  Being quick was the top priority in this situation, which meant the best option was the little pikachu.  If anything happened to go wrong, Sova was confident he could get through fast enough to help, making any risk minimal.  Perhaps it wasn't necessary to check the random hole in the first place, but he wanted to know what was on the other side before simply leaving it behind.


Doing great honor to the ideal of a guild member, Keith sat idly by and watched his ally leave to go help those in need while he cowered in fear.  He wanted to feel useful, but he was too timid and cowardly to be afforded such a luxury.  He couldn't bring himself to be brave and heroic, hence why he had enlisted Acro's help in the first place.  He was inexperienced, weak and timid, so he didn't trust himself to assist anyone alone.  On that note, the travelers being attacked were surely better off without him intervening, as Acro alone would obviously be enough to handle the assailants.  And if he wasn't, well, what was someone so much weaker than him going to do to help?  The jolteon followed the archeops with his gaze, watching the bird fly off to assist the ones being attacked while he sat on the sideline, too afraid to help.  It seemed Acro was dealing with the situation rather easily, though, so there was nothing to worry about.  There was a little ghost who was clearly being a pest, but it was dealt with in moments as soon as Acro blessed the scene with his presence.

At first, it seemed the situation was going to be resolved with ease, which was a great relief.  Then, however, one of the individuals Acro had just saved suddenly turned and attacked him for no apparent reason.  Were they hostile, and had the jolteon just allowed his ally to get in the middle of them alone?  Would he be alright by himself in the midst of this fight?  Keith took a few steps forward, but found himself pausing, fear driving him away from the scene.  Acro needed help, but he was too scared to provide it, and even if he weren't, he was still too weak.  There was nothing he could do but watch and hope for the best.  Fortunately, the archeops managed to get away from the danger and back to the safety of the air, but not before taking a few unpleasant-looking attacks.  Keith hoped to see him simply turn and leave after being attacked by those he was trying to save, but that was probably wishful thinking.

Still, it seemed odd that Acro had been so abruptly attacked, since ghost was clearly not on the same side as the tropius doing the attacking.  There was obviously a fight between two sides going on, and at first glance, it had seemed like Acro had chosen the correct one.  The tropius and company were clearly on the defensive, and while he couldn't make out what they were saying, he could still hear their voices, showing that they were at least civilized enough to communicate.  So, then, why were they attacking someone who was obviously trying to help them?  Come to think of it, only the tropius had attacked Acro, so perhaps this action did not reflect the intentions of the entire group.  Maybe he was just some really aggressive jerk who liked fighting and happened to be temporarily aligned with some strangers.  It was also possible that the situation was just a misunderstanding; perhaps the tropius hadn't been paying attention and didn't notice the new face was friend rather than foe.  That being the case would be ideal, but Keith didn't want to get his hopes up just to be proven wrong.

Perhaps it was wrong, but he found himself wanting this situation to hurry up and resolve itself.  He hoped Acro would just give up and come back over to him so that they could do what they had come here for and pursue Sova.  He knew he would not get his wish so easily, but he wished for it all the same.  He also knew it was... at least questionable in regards to morality, wanting to simply leave endangered travelers to fend for themselves.  After all, it was quite literally supposed to be his job to help others, and even outside of that, it was blatantly wrong not to help someone in danger.  Perhaps if they had been winning, leaving them would have been more justified, but that didn't seem to be the case.  The only one who had yet to be put in an unpleasant-looking situation was the tropius, the rest of them clearly all experiencing their own struggles.  They did need help, even if it wasn't clear whether they actually deserved such a thing.  It was obviously not okay to simply walk away from that, yet he wanted to do so anyway.

He couldn't help but wonder why he had even been allowed to join Sova's team in the first place.  He was no hero, nor even useful in most areas, so what reason was there behind it?  Sova clearly didn't just want to have company, and even if that actually were the case, a timid introvert like himself was a terrible choice.  He had virtually nothing to offer the team and nothing to offer Sova on a personal level, so what was the point?  In fact, what was the point in him even bothering to stay in the guild?  He had romanticized it all to convince himself that joining a guild could somehow change him, but clearly, he was wrong, otherwise he would have been going out with Acro and helping random strangers.  Sure, he hadn't given it all that much time, but he was beginning to understand that it was just illogical to assume he would be magically changed by simply joining Sova's team.  In fact, perhaps it was illogical to assume that he could change in the first place.


Ivy acted as cooperatively as she could while her bounds were loosened, relieved to find Ava still willing to cooperate with her.  She hoped to make up for what she had done wrong and earn the oshawott's trust back, if she had ever had it in the first place.  She also wanted to ensure a successful escape for herself as well as the other two, and she felt her plan was the best way to do that, even if it wasn't a particularly enticing concept.  She was reminded that the situation with the cult was the one they were currently in, effectively ruining her joke, but she chose to ignore this until they were in a better situation to rant about her glorious humor.  She watched idly as the oshawott put her own binds back on so as to play pretend that she was still trapped, the footsteps in the distance coming closer.  The eevee closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled, trying her best to focus.  She didn't need to steady her nerves thanks to not being particularly scared in the first place, but that didn't mean this would be easy.

The footsteps grew close before falling silent, a shadow appearing under the doorway and simply looming there in silence.  Then, after a moment that seemed like an eternity, the door slowly creaked open.  Ivirar knew her friend would probably harbor some initial disagreement with her plan upon actually seeing it, but nothing could be done to stop her now.  She quickly slipped her legs out of the bindings and calmly got up off the ground, standing tall with an idiotic, perky smile when the door opened to reveal the charmeleon from earlier.  "Hi!" she greeted, raising her right paw and waving it in a gesture of mock-friendliness.  She then slowly backed toward the wall - and skiddo - behind her as the charmeleon stepped forward, its eyes narrowed in clear agitation.  "You know, you all should really be more careful with how you tie your prisoners up.  Someone could just escape if they wanted to," she gave advice to the enemy nonchalantly, as if it were somehow a normal interaction.  The lizard seemed to grow more agitated, picking up a bit of the discarded rope on the ground as it crept closer to the eevee.

Ivirar hopped back as the charmeleon lunged forward in an attempt to grab her.  "Nope!" she taunted, watching the rope-wielding opponent fall forward, which only served to enrage it further.  It growled as it pushed itself off the ground, clearly not particularly interested in chatting with the pest who was making its job harder.  Ivy knew she couldn't actually fight this thing, but hopefully, her allies would be a different story.  She slowly backed further away, intentionally trying to get the charmeleon as close to the chained skiddo as she could, just to ensure everyone could help... if they wanted to.  She normally wouldn't be one to put herself in danger in such a manner, but she knew this situation was her fault, at least for Ava and herself.  She wanted to do something to make up for what she had done wrong, concerned at the prospect of losing a new friend.  Perhaps it was a bit soon to be thinking of Ava as a friend, but she was doing it nonetheless, and that was all the more motivation to solve the problem she had caused.  

Even if they managed to defeat the guard, what were they going to do afterward?  They had been fortunate enough that there was only the single charmeleon at the moment, but there would surely be more hostiles roaming the halls, which was something even Ivy knew.  Her stealth capabilities were underwhelming to say the least, so she hoped there at least wouldn't be much of that.  Just avoiding any trouble altogether would have been ideal, but that was wishful thinking.  Whoever their kidnappers were, they were clearly somewhat organized, which meant leaving would likely prove more difficult than simply incapacitating a single guard.  She wasn't entirely sure how skilled a fighter Ava was, but she hoped to be pleasantly surprised.  She doubted the malnurished skiddo would be of much use in the long run, and she knew her own limit was relatively unimpressive, which left Ava as their only hope.

Ivy backed up until she felt her tail press against the wall behind her, indicating she had gone as far as she could go.  "Okay," she began, sitting down and lifting her front paws up as if to offer them to the guard, "Go ahead and tie me back up, I guess.  Just make sure to do a better job this time."  The lizard's guard would be at its lowest when it went to tie her back up, surely, which would put it in the perfect position to be attacked.  She had made sure to maneuver it close to the skiddo, and it didn't seem to think him a threat, willingly trotting right into the area.  Hopefully, the other two prisoners would know to wait patiently for the foe to make itself vulnerable before striking.  Otherwise, taking it down would probably be easier said than done, and Ivy really didn't want to get stuck in an extended fight with something that was obviously capable of hurting her if it wanted to.

"I hate my job," the charmeleon growled as it approached the eevee, its voice gruff and unamused.


Already experiencing phantom pain from the duskull having shared its own pain with her, Uthinare was finding the new sensations to be a bit much.  Now she was being assaulted by nonexistent pains from multiple sources, all of which felt far too real to ignore.  It felt all too real, and it was keeping her on the ground in pain, teeth gritted as she forced her eyes to stay open.  She could only manage simple thoughts, so it was all she could do to focus on not allowing herself to instinctively curl up and shut down from the pain, instead trying to remain aware of her environment to avoid any further assault.  She could feel the sensation of being impaled beginning to dissipate, but the pain was still intense enough to stop her from getting up, which meant she was an easy target even while trying so hard to remain attentive to her surroundings.  She was defenseless, and in the event that something decided to attack her and no one was available to protect her, she would be in trouble.

Thankfully, it seemed her wish for protection was granted as she caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of her eye, drawing her attention toward the large bird just as it came down on a familiar - and infuriating - ghost, knocking the little critter out instantly.  The pained cry was perhaps a bit too pleasant to the eevee's ears, but she felt she had a right to be just a bit sadistic toward the creature after it had forced her to endure such an unpleasant feeling.  She opened her mouth to give thanks to the newcomer whom she had immediately decided would be her patron savior, but speaking was still proving difficult despite the pain beginning to dull.  She figured the bird would keep doing his good work regardless of whether she said anything or not, though, so there was surely nothing to be concerned about.  She now had someone who was clearly competent and clearly cared about her well-being to protect her!  The newcomer was probably trying to help everyone rather than just her in specific, but it was still better than what the big leaf man had provided so far.

Speaking of the big leaf man, he seemed eager to further prove his own inadequacy as he suddenly lashed out against their new ally.  Seeing the poor bird's services repaid with such injustice was enough to motivate Uthinare into forcing herself up through the pain, though it was admittedly not as debilitating as it had once been, which also helped.  She watched the bird manage to get away from the rude, idiotic assailant as she pulled herself up to her paws.  "S-stop!" she demanded as she stumbled toward the big green idiot, the spike within her suddenly vanishing.  She still felt pain despite the source of the attack apparently having vanished, but it was still nowhere near as bad as it had been prior.  "The bird is helping us, you moron!" she exclaimed as she came closer to the infuriatingly incompetent creature, her steps weak and shaky as her voice.  If this was how GreenGuy treated allies, then perhaps she didn't want his "protection" after all.

The eevee's attention to the environment faltered as she focused instead on the thing most immediately concerning to herself.  She paid little attention to the state of the others, having nearly forgotten about them somewhere around the point of being spiritually impaled.  She took a quick look in their direction just to get an idea of how many shields she had around, but it was immediately clear that both the absol and snivy were... busy.  In fact, the prior seemed to be in a situation about as pleasant as her own, having a leg stuck in a foe's pincers.  It looked painful, to say the least, and unlike her own phantom pains, this was obviously causing real damage.  She assumed the force assaulting her own body probably wasn't too dangerous in and of itself, or at least, she certainly hoped so.  This absol, however, was in significant danger due to being at the mercy of an opponent and apparently having no way to fight back.

Sadly, Uthinare was in no place to assist, partly due to her lacking combat prowess and partly from a distinct lack of energy due to the stress her body was being put through.  "How about instead of attacking the only one here who actually cares about me, you go be useful and help them?" she spoke to the annoying oaf once more, pointing her left paw in the direction of the other two just in case it wasn't already obvious who she was referring to.  She glared up at the rather large pest as she awaited his response, lacking any form of restraint toward him thanks to an assumption that he was not going to hurt her even if she antagonized him.  At first, she had only been particularly concerned for herself, but having seen the pain the absol was in... she simply couldn't remain so selfish.  Despite thinking highly of herself, she was no sociopath, still being perfectly capable of feeling bad for someone else.  She didn't want to see someone who had yet to do anything to her in so much pain, and she doubted the snivy would be able to handle the situation.

(Sova - 74 energy)
(Keith - 1 energy)
(Ivirar - 1 energy)
(Uthinare - 1 energy)