Poached Pecha

(Energy: 16-5=11)

"Pecha Berries... Pecha Berries... Stupid trees being stupid and tall and... stupid."
A Pokémon passing close to this area, whether or not they lived in the forest or were visiting it from the nearby Grassveil Town, would have been able to hear this complaint. Depending on individual dispositions, they might find it to be either amusing or cute if it were even worth their time to investigate in the first place.

For those Pokémon, they would discover it to have originated from a Togepi trying to reach the Pecha Berries growing in a tree of an actually normal size, only appearing to be astonishingly tall to her as a result of her small figure.

"Ooooh...!" the Togepi named Cirrus moaned to herself, holding back the urge to use Metronome for the chance of a lucky Vine Whip. Last time she tried that, it had resulted in her nearly setting the forest ablaze with a Lava Plume attack.

Short on all other options, she ran at the tree and headbutted it, sending an audible clunking noise throughout the general vicinity upon impact. This probably wasn't her best of days.

(22-5=17)

It was a rather nice day in the forest. The sun was shining and there was a pleasant breeze. Clouds were drifting along in the sky. The weather could not have been better for the small, blue Houndour that was making her way through the forest. The hound was rather happy to be able to explore the forest. She was wondering what kind of herbs she could find there.

The Houndour perked her ears and stopped. She could hear a voice. That would mean someone was nearby, but where were they? The hound looked around. Was there something moving a bit further ahead? It seemed that way. The shiny Houndour slowly moved closer, trying her best to make no sound. She was getting closer, and closer, until the other Pokemon came into view.

The Houndour recognized the other Pokemon as a Togepi. She didn't know the Pokemon, but she was sure about something. It was not a feral. The Houndour saw how the stranger headbutted the tree. The tree didn't seem to budge at all. The Houndour stepped even closer. "Um...Excuse me. What are you doing?" She asked in a calm and friendly tone. She didn't want to scare the Togepi.

Amongst her slight daze, she caught wind of that voice. Whomever spoke to her just now clearly didn't sound feral. Their voice was much too calm for a feral and possessed a friendly tone to it, as though they could have scared her off without a single moment's notice but chose not to. She took a moment to shake her head clear and shrug off its recent collision with the stupid tree before turning around to see who it was that spoke.

A Houndour, and of a different colouration to most. Not that the stark visual deviations were anything to judge about, Cirrus had seen her mother treating one similarly unusual Pokémon just the same as any other visitor and had been learning from such an example.

"Collecting Pecha Berries. Or, trying to..." Cirrus replied to the newcomer. "I'm Cirrus"

The Houndour smiled. The Togepi seemed determined to get some, considering she had just headbutted the tree. She looked up at the tree. There was something she noticed. "Well, you won't get any berries from those trees. The berries are not ripe yet and are unable to cure poison. If you want to find ripe berries, you have to look elsewhere." She stated. The Houndour knew a lot about plants, so she could see that even from that distance.

The small hound turned her attention back to the Togepi that she now knew was named Cirrus. "It is nice to meet you, Cirrus. My name is Niracamda. I came to this forest in the hopes of finding any herbs that could help the sick and the injured." Nira's voice was friendly and had a hint of respect in it. The Houndour was wondering why the child was in this forest alone, but in reality, she probably also seemed like a child to other Pokemon, so it might be a good idea to not think of the Togepi as a child. Even children can take care of themselves.

She quickly found herself amazed by this little tidbit of information about the berries up on the tree being unripened. That was new to her. What also caught her attention was the mention of herbs that could help those sick or injured, and of Niracamda searching for them.

Cirrus made up her mind on the spot. The Houndour appeared to really know her stuff, tagging along with such a Pokémon would be very beneficial to her own knowledge.

"Is it ok if I... tag along with you? I'm hoping to get into the medical field, so I'd like to see what sort of herbs you're looking for." she replied with a sincere touch to her voice. If the Togepi had opposing thumbs, she'd also be twiddling them by now.

Niracamda was rather surprised. It was unusual for a Pokemon to be interested in becoming a medic. Most wanted to join the guild or explore the world. It made the blue Houndour rather happy. "Of course you can come. I would love to share my knowledge with you. I don't come across a lot of Pokemon who are interested in learning about those herbs. So many lives could be saved if more Pokemon knew about the uses of those plants." The shiny Houndour looked in the distance, a sad tone audible in her voice as she remembered all the lives she could not save because there was nobody nearby that had any knowledge about medical herbs.

The Houndour realized she was probably looking rather grim at that point and snapped out of it. "Anyway, you are planning to become a doctor? That is a pretty big dream. May I ask what your reasons are?" Nira looked rather curiously at the Togepi. She was not going to press it but there was no harm in asking.

Evana carried out 2 launched of one Pecha Forest :

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Even for her rather limited experience, especially so in the area of failing to save lives, she understood what Niracamda was saying about the apparent importance of knowing about these herbs. She was indeed interested in being aware of them and their individual effects. Cirrus kept close, resolved to listen carefully to Nira.

Then the question arrived. The question about her reasonings behind why she had her plan. Cirrus somehow managed to put it into words however.

"Well, Niracamda... I guess you could say that it's in my blood. My mother was quite a good doctor before settling down with a nest of me and nine other Togepi. She taught me the basics before sending me to Grassveil Town so I could learn in the world as my own Pokémon instead of staying tucked away in the nest." She remembered it rather well. "I want to help Pokémon just like she did."

Niracamda smiled. It seemed they had similar reasons as to why they wanted to become a medic. The shiny Houndour was looking up to the medics in the hospital in her village and wanted to help others like they did. The difference between them was that Niracamda had studied and worked into a hospital and could be considered a medic. Niracamda had a lot of knowledge and she was still trying to learn more. The Togepi didn't seem to know a lot of things. The least she could do, was pass some of her knowledge over to the child.

"That is rather admirable, wanting to help other Pokemon like your mother did. You must really look up to her." Niracamda remembered when she was like this child. She was working really hard to become a doctor. She felt like Cirrus was rather determined to become a medic. "Shall we get going then? You won't be learning anything if we keep standing here, right?"

Cirrus smiled back and clasped hold of Niracamda's words, nodding in response to them. She really did look up to her mother, beyond any shadow of a doubt. It made her happy to meet and talk with someone else in that field too, and she found Nira's smile to be a supportive gesture. The Togepi could hardly believe her luck.

"I want to learn, so let's get going" Cirrus could already tell how much of a valuable learning experience this would prove to be. She had been left in Grassveil to seek out her own knowledge and lessons, so she was intent on doing just that.

Niracamda smiled, but she was rather concerned about something. "We should be careful, this forest is rather dangerous. I don't want to encounter any ferals here. I am no use in a fight." She admitted to the Togepi. It was better that she knew before they encountered any other Pokemon.

The Houndour looked around and noticed some sphere laying under a tree. Niracamda walked over to it and picked it up. Now that she had a closer look to it, she recognized it a Petrify Orb. "This can actually be really useful. If we encounter a feral we can use this." Niracamda was rather relieved. This would allow them to avoid fighting and run away from ferals if needed.

Possessing an entirely passive movepool outside of possibly Metronome, Cirrus decided to stick close to Niracamda regardless of her admission. She wasn't particularly useful or reliable in a confrontational situation against ferals herself and would like to not be reminded of such if it could be helped. Being so, she was similarly relieved that the Houndour had found them a one-time free pass in the form of a Petrify Orb.

"It's certainly worth holding on to, if it can do that" she mused as it was collected. She didn't really wish to fight any difficult ferals if she had the choice, and the orb would grant them both that very opening if it were to prove necessary.

Gengarzilla carried out 2 launched of one Pecha Forest :

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Niracamda nodded and looked around the forest. There didn't seem to be anything else around there that could be of use. The forest was rather quiet, except for the rustling of the leaves by the wind. It didn't seem like there were any ferals around so far, of course, there could always be one nearby who was asleep or who was watching them. It was hard to say.

The shiny Houndour couldn't see, hear or smell anything suspicious around them. She came to the conclusion it was safe for now. "We don't have to worry for any trouble yet. That is good." Niracamda spoke more to herself than to her companion and started heading deeper into the forest. They still had to be careful, but that it was safe now was kind of a relief to her.

(Energy: 11-7+5 if that trap is actually giving me +5 energy =9)

Putting her trust in Nira's nose, Cirrus headed onwards alongside her, a few possibilities and questions already taking form in her head. Being impressonable, she already felt an admiration for the Houndour beginning to blossom and couldn't help but wonder to herself if Niracamda would take her as a pupil of sorts. For the time being though, she hoped they would find plenty of herbs.

A rustling noise inside one of the trees then proceeded to snap Cirrus out of her reverie, a Hoothoot emerging from it and diving down to Tackle the duo before Cirrus used Charm, sparkling eyes and sickly sweet expression causing the feral Pokémon to hesitate upon seeing her adorable self. An opening had formed.

Niracamda had been unable to notice the Hoothoot until it flew out of the tree to attack them. In a reflex, Niracamda stepped inbetween the Togepi and the Hoothoot. The Houndour noticed the feral was hesitating. The cause seemed to be the charm attack Cirrus had used.

She was unsure why they were attacked but she didn't want to fight. The Houndour tried to keep calm as she looked towards the flying type. "Please, let us go. I promise we aren't here to cause trouble. We only came to look for herbs to help others. I am sorry if we disturbed you." The houndour spoke with a somewhat calm and clear voice. She didn't want to fight and it was always a good idea to try to talk if they didn't attack.

After a visible moment of consideration, within which the intentions and tone of voice possessed by this outsider were set under scrutiny, Hoothoot decided to let them off the hook before turning to fly back into the thicket. Cirrus let out a sigh of relief upon the outcome, she hadn't expected Niracamda to completely diffuse such a situation with a feral Pokémon like that.

"That was close... and actually pretty cool." she remarked. Talking one's way out of a fight with a feral was definitely something that she'd have to try for herself sometime. It would certainly help when she'd get to starting her own herb gathering explorations. "Let's keep going, perhaps it'll spread word."