(Egg) Laying the foundation

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(Energy: 17-5=12)

"Pecha Forest again..."

Cirrus didn't expect to have too much troubles with the dungeon this time. She had been able to purchase a TM for the move Double Team and gotten some practice in on the new technique. Clearing Pecha Forest wasn't her plan for today though. What she intended to do was gather herbs.

On her last visit, she had met up with a Shiny Houndour and learned about some of their effects. Borage, Cirrus recalled, could bring down a Pokémon's fever. She had since done her homework and was now returning to collect more varieties. To expand her knowledge...

"Well, in I go~" the Togepi said while walking in to the forest, her eyes open for anything.

Motivated and boosted in morale by Darcy's desperate encouragement, Cirrus concluded that Metronome with an added amount of gusto. Standing firm, she blew hard to create a Whirlwind that sent the oncoming Leech Seed flying harmlessly away before catching the Exeggcute in it, the winds soon scattering all six entities and sending them flying back into the undergrowth in separate directions. The Togepi carefully listened out for any sounds of them returning after they gathered again, but after a short while she concluded that they'd fled.

She turned round to see both the vines and seed still binding Darcy suddenly disintegrate, freeing her. "Darcy... Y-you're... safe now." Cirrus said in a deeply relieved voice, taking a single step towards her before the adrenaline of that battle was substituted for... nothing less than unrelenting exhaustion. With all that activity having overexerted her and aggravated the poison within her system, the only thing she could do next was collapse in a dizzy and faint daze.

This was, without a doubt, a new low for her. Cirrus had never felt so... debilitated in her entire life. Tears begun welling up out of fear as she shuddered, she really didn't know how to deal with this.

Darcy sighed heavily with relief as the Exeggcute was blown away, but her relief was immediately mixed with concern as Cirrus collapsed to the ground.  The Skitty immediately staggered to her feet, her entire body burning with pain and exhaustion, and slowly stumbled forward.  It felt like it took hours, but eventually, she arrived in front of the egg Pokemon.  "Cirrus..?" she whispered as she gently nudged her friend upright.

She met the Togepi's tear-filled eyes.

Wordlessly, Darcy sat down on her hind legs and pulled Cirrus close with a hug.

"It's okay, Cirrus..." she murmured after a moment, wrapping her fluffy tail around the Togepi. "We're safe now...  You'll be alright..."  As she spoke, she blinked tears of her own out of her eyes, utterly relieved that her friend was okay.  She would have been absolutely crushed by anything less.  For a long moment, she stayed there silently, nuzzling Cirrus gently as she gave the two of them as much time as they needed to recovered from the situation.

"We're almost out of the forest now..." she said after a while, still not letting go.  "Do you think you can climb onto my back?  I'll carry you the rest of the way, alright?"

Truthfully, Darcy was probably hurt at least as badly as Cirrus, but she had been through something like this once before.  She remembered how scared and helpless she had felt the first time she had been overwhelmed by wild Pokemon, and while she was still thoroughly shaken by today's events, she was sure that this little Togepi was doing even worse.  And even though they hadn't known each other for very long, they had been through a lot together, and Darcy...  Really found herself caring about Cirrus.

Without anything else to do, Cirrus wordlessly let herself become swept up in Darcy's hug. Amidst all her exhaustion, this gave her a welcoming sense of comfort. She blinked away the tears as more took their place.

She let herself calm down a little bit in this embrace while listening to Darcy's murmurs. She was right. The feral was gone and they were safe. Cirrus let this breach her tired mind and managed to pull herself together in time for the Skitty to speak again.

"I want to but I don't think I could make it up... I still feel really faint..." she said to her as the tears were wiped away, hoping that Darcy's tail would help her up instead. "T-thanks for cheering me up though."

Darcy was relieved to see that Cirrus was feeling a little better.  "Don't worry.  I think I can lift you," she said as she pulled away.  She sprawled out on the ground, trying to get her back as low as possible.  "All abooaaaard~" she sang as she scooped Cirrus up with the fluffy part of her tail and gently pushed the Togepi up onto her back.

In spite of everything, the Skitty couldn't help but giggle a little.  This reminded her of giving piggyback rides to her little brother back at home.  If they both weren't so badly hurt, this would have been fun...  But her thrashed body wouldn't let her forget that they were still in a dungeon.  Careful not to disturb the Togepi on her back, Darcy slowly reached into her bag and grabbed her Blast Seed with her mouth.  She kept it in her cheek, ready to chomp down on it should the two of them run into anymore trouble.

While Cirrus was surprisingly light, standing up again was still a struggle.  Darcy grit her teeth and shakily forced herself back to her feet.  Her entire body burned in protest, but for the sake of both of them, she tried to ignore it.  They just had to go a little farther.  Slowly but surely, she began trudging on towards the forest's exit.

Cirrus giggled back in response. When she first met Darcy looking down upon her from atop a tree, she certainly hadn't predicted that this Pokémon would be giving her a ride out of the forest. That was only one of the things she couldn't have expected though. Pretty much everything in this exploration had been a surprise ever since the Tangela jumped her.

She saw Darcy put the seed in her mouth to store and decided to refrain from further conversation, letting thoughts accompany her and the poison instead. Cirrus had ultimately enjoyed her company in the dungeon despite all the bumps and close calls. If she had been interested in joining the Grassveil Guild, well... she already knew whose team she wanted to be with...

Keeping securely on the Skitty's back, the tired Togepi slipped away into a dreamless sleep. She had no inkling as to where exactly she'd find herself waking up but she had enough trust in Darcy to feel safe with surrendering to fatigue...

((I guess we're calling it a wrap soon?))

Darcy continued walking, on high alert for any threatening sights or sounds.  More than ever, she felt responsible for both of their safety.  But as she pushed forward, the trees slowly began to thin out, and then fade away entirely...  and she found herself outside of the forest, standing in one of the grassy fields that surrounded Grassveil Town.

Colored gold by the late afternoon sun, the town had never before seemed so welcoming.  Darcy breathed a sigh of relief turned to say something to Cirrus, but paused.  She hadn't noticed it until now, but the Togepi had fallen asleep at some point during the walk through the forest.  The little egg Pokemon must have really felt exhausted...  Darcy smiled and took care to walk gently as she set about crossing the final stretch of their journey.

At length, Darcy arrived at the cozy little garden situated behind the Grassveil Guild, and practically collapsed onto one of the stone benches lining the grassy area in the center.  The air smelled heavily of pollen...  It seemed like the Guildmaster had found time to plant some new flowers for the summer.

Struggling not to fall asleep, Darcy pulled the Blast Seed out of her mouth with a paw and examined it carefully.  It still seemed usable, but...  She wouldn't feel very good about selling it to someone else after keeping it in her mouth like that...

Ah, well.  She tucked it back into her bag.  The price she could sell her little haul for was far less important than the fact that she and Cirrus were safe.  If either of them had gone into the forest alone, things could have turned out much worse than they did.  That was enough for Darcy to call this outing a success.

...And even more than that, she was just happy to have made a new friend.  Bumping into Cirrus had definitely been the most fortunate part of the day.  Today had been rough in a lot of ways, but throughout it all, the egg Pokemon had been nothing but kind, and determined, and forgiving.  Darcy turned her head and regarded Cirrus fondly, the little Togepi still sleeping soundly atop her back...

...Maybe she should have woken Cirrus up sooner, come to think of it.  She might have been able to drop the Togepi off somewhere on her way to the Guild.  Darcy wasn't even sure that Cirrus lived in Grassveil Town, now that she thought about it...

"Cirrus...  Time to wake up..." she sang as she gently brushed the tip of her tail against the Togepi's face.

((I guess so, as soon as the two of them part ways.  Thanks for the thread!  It was really fun.  c:))

The sleeping Pokémon let out a cute little snuffle once Darcy's tail had been brushed against her face, followed by a pleased moan at the smell of this pollen before she slowly opened her eyes. "Mmm... A lovely awakening..." she murmured as Darcy came into focus before her eyes. She took a moment to take in this pollen infused air, getting a wonderfully nostalgic feeling from this. Just like the valley nest...

"I guess we're near the guild?" she said after this wave passed her by. "Thanks for... everything today, really. I owe you one for all of this." Sliding off of the Skitty's back and sitting down next to Darcy on her left side, she really couldn't see how one of them could have managed things without the other one either. She still had some of the dandelions from earlier so this could easily be called a successful trip on her end too, thanks to Darcy.

Admittedly, all good things must come to an end eventually. "I'll be able to get back to my home in Grassveil from here, so I guess this is goodbye for now..." Some more words got caught up in Cirrus's mouth as she recalled Darcy's initial intentions in the forest. "Don't worry about that gift for your new teammate. Just promise me that you'll gift them with your friendship and look after them. After what we went through in the forest today, I think that they're very lucky to have you watching their back. Any Pokémon would be lucky." the Togepi continued firmly before she got down from the bench.

With her possibly inspiring statement now spoken, Cirrus begun the walk back home for another thoroughly well deserved snooze.

((You're welcome, I've really enjoyed it too. Let's finish with Darcy's response.))

For the second time today, Cirrus' words made Darcy's heart melt.  They were words she had never expected to hear, and words that she hadn't even known she needed...  Words stating that despite her shortcomings, simply doing her best for those she cared about was good enough.  It meant so much to the Skitty that tears crept back into her eyes.  Cirrus was truly a wonderful Pokémon...  Darcy couldn't remember the last time anyone had made her feel this way.  Like her soul was burning with hope and joy.  To Darcy, things had never felt as profoundly right as they did in that moment.

"I promise!" Darcy called as she jumped to her feet and blinked tears out of her eyes.  "Cirrus, no matter what, I'll take care of him!  Thank you so much!"

With that, Darcy hopped down from the bench and made for the guild's back door.  Her teammate was sure to be home by now.  She didn't have a gift for him, but thanks to Cirrus...  She had a feeling that as long as they cared for one another, they would still become an inseparable team.