Autumn Thicket

(16-11=5) Jude was having a bad day. Out of all the pokemon in the world, he HAD to meet a Gardevoir. He "politely" pointed out that he hated them because they were a Gardevoir, and they got really angry! He had no idea why, though. He trudged through the Copse, his face, a frown. Normally when he passed through, he would stop and marvel at the sheer autumnal beauty. Now he didn't even look at the crisp leaves that he normally occupied himself with. Oh well. He let out a sigh, louder than expected, and looked for something, ANYTHING, to cheer him up.

(Energy: 19, Caterpie Belt activated, same effect as cheek Pouch)

Pokkoji had once again found himself in front of the stepping stones that lead to the beautiful island. He was determined to get strong enough to evolve. For that, he had to do some training. Now, getting towards the island was the biggest obstacle. The Metapod knew if he well, that he was not going to be able to get out.

Pokkoji mentally prepared himself and slowly and carefully started hopping from stone to stone. He almost did fall in the lake a few times but he managed to stay on the stones and reach the island. The bug was relieved. He got really scared a few times. Once Pokkoji had recovered from the exercise, he started hopping along a path deeper into the forest.

Jude was snapped from his moment of wallowing in his annoyance. His head snapped up, locating the source of the sound. There it was. A Metapod hopping across the stones to get to an island. Jude grinned, and floated after the Metapod. He giggled and wondered if they were one of those people who were not easily scared. If they were that type of pokemon, he would make it his personal mission to scare them. Or not! He laughed to himself. The small ghost floated over the rocks, looking down at the rushing water. He looked up, and floated into the forest after his new potential acquaintance.

Pokkoji was unaware of the ghost who was stalking him. He never noticed them to begin with. He just kept hopping through the forest. He hoped that once he was done here, he would no longer have to hop over the stepping stones. He didn't like his current body. He might have gotten used to it but moving was difficult and he had no hands to hold things. It was difficult enough to carry his bag around. He was really looking forward to evolve and become a Butterfree. Not only would he have hands then, he would also have wings that would allow him to fly. The Metapod was wondering how it would be like to fly. He was thinking it would be great. The thought did excite him.

(I'm super sorry for making you wait so long! >n< )
Jude assumed Metapod were relatively slow, so he didn't think this would be much of a challenge. Jude momentarily lost sight of the Metapod, then the they came into view again. Jude became invisible, crept up behind the Metapod, brushed their back with his hand, and then darted away. Jude giggled audibly, and watched the Metapod for their reaction so he could determine his next action. Jude forgot completely about his troubles, and was completely focused on this new task. Jude grinned, and thought to himself, "Let's see how this plays out."

Pokkoji kept hopping further. He hoped to be able to find a Pokemon soon. He knew he was really close to evolving and he was a bit impatient. He could not hear or see any other Pokemon around him. It was too peaceful around him. Suddenly, something touched his back and he could hear giggling. The Metapod turned around, but he didn't see anything. He was sure something had touched him though.

Pokkoji looked above him. Nothing to see there either. Had he been imagining it? It seemed unlikely. He had been training a lot lately so maybe he was a bit tired. That seemed likely. Pokkoji, deciding that he had imagined all of it, turned his attention back to the forest path and hopped further along it. If there was really someone there, he would see soon enough. He had to concentrate on training for now.

Evana carried out 8 launched of one Fallen Leaf Copse :

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Jude stuck his tongue out. He frowned. This pokemon seemed so occupied on whatever he was doing, that they completely ignored him. Not even a hint of confusion. Jude's options were very small at this point. He was about to do what he normally disliked doing. He rustled some leaves a good distance away from the metapod, then got in close, and Screeched. Jude normally disliked this because it was blunt, tacky, and crass. He only used it as a last resort or in this case, on tough nuts to crack. Jude floated back out of attacking range, or so he though.

Pokkoji heard something again. This time it was the rustling of leaves. Was there any feral close by? The Metapod turned around, only to be met with a loud screech. It was not exactly nice for his ears. Pokkoji had jumped back a bit from the surprise and was staring angry at the Pokemon who had just made that sound. Pokkoji had no clue what Pokemon it was, but he didn't care.

"Hey, come back here!" Pokkoji yelled as the strange Pokemon moved away from him. Pokkoji was not planning on letting it get away after doing that. He wanted to know why he did that. As yelling probably was not going to work, Pokkoji fired a string shot at the ghost. If it would hit, Pokkoji was going to try to pull the Pokemon towards him to ask what that was all about.

Jude scented the sharp smell of anger. He fed off of it, so enraptured in experiencing the taste as a whole. He spaced out a bit, momentarily forgetting about his situation. He was out of range, so he had nothing to fear, right? Wrong. The small ghost was jarred from his thoughts as he was yelled at. Jude looked at the Metapod and stuck his tongue out at it. He was too busy taunting them and was suddenly yanked sideways. He looked down and realized with dismay that there was a silky substance wrapped around him and that he was being pulled towards the Metapod at an alarming rate. Jude thrashed and struggled, to no avail. He frantically tried to think of some way to get out of this, but it was too late. Jude was already caught.

Pokkoji was rather annoyed by the behavior of this ghost. He had met a feral Ghost before, it had made some funny faces at him. It hadn't done what this ghost had done at all. If it thought this was supposed to be funny, then it certainly was wrong. Pokkoji was going to find out why it had done that.

The Metapod pulled the ghost towards him. It was rather difficult as it was flailing around a lot. Pokkoji didn't let it go though. The Metapod stared at the ghost for a minute before speaking up. "Why did you do that just now? Do you think that was funny?" The Metapod didn't try to hide his annoyance. He wanted the ghost to be honest with him.

Jude stopped flailing. He was silent for a few minutes. It looked like he was just staring at the Metapod, but what he was doing was eating the annoyance that lingered in the air. Then it was the Metapod's turn to stare. Jude was weighing his options. He could be straight up honest, but that never had good results. Jude stared at the Metapod and smiled a very big smile. "Yeah, I actually did think it was funny.", Jude was being relatively rude, because he was still a little upset about the events that preceded this encounter. In the back of the mind, he knew this would't end well. He was immobilized, and there was an annoyed pokemon in front of him. Jude pushed the thought away and stuck his tongue out at the Metapod again.

Pokkoji was not happy with how the ghost was acting, at all. First it seemed like it was not going to say anything, but when it finally spoke up, it admitted it thought it was funny. Actually, scaring others was rather funny, but the way the ghost did it was bothering him. Not only that, the ghost was sticking his tongue out again. "Well, I didn't think it was funny. With that loud sound you could have attracted ferals. That would be a nice training though." After saying that, Pokkoji calmed down a bit. He had come to the forest to train, not to get angry about something trivial like this.

Little did the Metapod know that the sound the ghost had made, actually did attract some ferals. Two pair of red eyes were staring at the Metapod and the Shuppet from the bushes. It seemed some unknown ghost had entered their territory. It seemed like they could have some fun. The Pokemon snickered a bit as they thought up a plan.

"Oh...", Jude has had a few close calls with ferals. He was not eager to repeat that cycle. Jude's grin was gone in an instant, and replaced with a fearful expression. "I don't really have the best history with ferals. Hopefully I haven't attracted any. Jude had forgotten his rudeness, and was now feeling apologetic. He paused and looked down. "I'm sorry. I didn't know that I could attract feral Pokemon. I'll be more careful." Jude managed an apologetic smile. It was amazing how quickly Jude could change his demeanor.

Pokkoji was completely off guard by the behavior of the ghost now. First, it was being mean and all, and after mentioning ferals, it got scared and was apologizing. The Metapod didn't get this at all. He was a bit unsure what to do about this. Would he let the ghost go? Pokkoji didn't see any reason to hold the ghost trapped any longer.

Just when Pokkoji was about to free the ghost, a loud rustling sound was surrounding them. He looked around confused. There were certainly some Pokemon surrounding them. "Hey, stop hiding and come out!" Pokkoji yelled out. The rustling died down. What was going on? It was so weird. Suddenly, a different ghost came out of one of the bushes and quickly floated towards them, talking with a rather eerie and angry voice. "You dare come into our territory? You will pay!"

Jude was looking around anxiously, and realized that the Metapod was about to let him go. Jude sighed, but then jumped when he heard a rustling sound. His eyes darted around trying to pinpoint the source of the noise. Then the rustling stopped. Maybe whatever was making the bushes shake left. Jude looked relived, but his relief was short lived. Another ghost game out of the bushes. Jude wiggled around in his little snare, but didn't get far. The ghost's voice gave Jude chills. Most ghosts weren't the nicest to him because he was being "annoying". PSH. Whatever that means. At least in other scenarios Jude could flee, but he was tied down. Things weren't looking too good.