DIE, DIE, DIE

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Xeno finally arrived into the looming stretch of greenery that is known as Pecha Forest. By himself, Xeno felt much more at home than when he was with Bui and Cirrus. Although, there was a small feeling eating at him as if he wanted to be with them. Xeno shook his head. Come on, we've got this by ourselves. We can handle this. Stretching out his arms, Xeno ventured into the forest, unaware of what dangers might befall him.

(Currently on hold for EV)

~ADMIN EDIT~
~POST MERGE~

(Energy: 19-5=14)

Taking a deep breath, Xeno plunged into the deep undergrowth that was Pecha forest. "Okay, finally. We get a bit of alone time," giving a sigh and closing his eyes, he took in the scent of the growth around him. "Man, wish this could happen all the time honestly." Feeling a bit peppy, he started off towards what might possibly be his next destination. "Things have been pretty hectic lately, 'eh? I mean, don't get me wrong, I appreciated it all, meeting Bui and Cirrus, I guess you could say that's the most fun I've had in a long long time, but I do still appreciate it being just us two, how it's basically always been.

After he thought he had gone a sufficient enough distance, Xeno decided it was a good time to take a break, he stumbled down towards a tree and sat down. "I guess we could just take a small nap while we wait for the other guys." Giving a yawn, Xeno rolled over onto the ground, curled up, he slept quietly.

Xeno relaxed a bit after hearing Riven's words. Maybe I'm just overthinking this, I bet she's just another person that wants to make friends. "W-Well, my name's Xeno" he ventured. Feeling just slightly more relaxed, Xeno calmly followed Riven for a while. Slowly, he began to realize something odd. Moving his paws to his temple, he had to rub his head a bit. Am I really getting a headache now? Of all times, honestly... Shaking his head a bit to try and clear some of the thoughts that were running through him. Still able to at least function properly, Xeno tried to keep himself stable and keep on following Riven.

"W-Well... W-What are you doing in t-this part of the f-forest?"

(Energy: 16 + 1 = 17)

Before lunch? Cirrus knew right off the starting block that this wasn't what Bui was originally going to say, but she decided to try and not completely lose her head over things. "Yeah... before lunch." she repeated, trying to use his cover up to at least keep cool.

This did very little to change her visible concern however, she was still making certain that no stone would be left unturned and no bush would be left unchecked. They needed a sign. A hint. Anything. "Xeno! Holler back if you hear me!" she resorted to calling out in the hope of getting said sign or hint. Of course, this was a double-edged method. Anyone nearby could have heard.

So the guy's name was Xeno, and from his behavior, Krikka could tell that he definitely had social issues. Either that or she was way more intimidating than she was trying to be. The heavy stutter and obvious hesitance told her he was probably shy and insecure, which would be perfect things to torment him over. But for now, she simply wanted to learn as much as she could in preparation for.... well, she hadn't really decided on what she was going to do yet. It wasn't like she was in a big hurry, though. After all, this was supposed to be her version of a nice, relaxing vacation! She had no desire to rush through it.

To answer the buizel's question, "Riven" decided to simply be honest. "I came here to relax. This just happened to be the area of the forest I ended up in, like you," she explained as she began to circle around the buizel.
He seemed to be in pain, which she figured was probably from the poison. It was too difficult to tell for sure, so she decided to ask for some clarification. "What's wrong?"
She wanted to know how long it would take her victim to realize something was seriously wrong and start panicking. He would presumably become a bit uncooperative when he inevitably realized he had been poisoned. Unless he somehow failed to realize it on his own. That would be awkward. One thing she disliked was that she had to waste time on asking for Xeno's status when she could have been asking more.... personal questions instead. Nonetheless, it was important that she kept herself informed.

As she awaited the response of her company, the umbreon's large, sensitive ears picked up a distant noise. It was difficult to hear even with her efficient ears, but she was able to make out the word "Xeno." It seemed her little friend had someone looking for him, which meant she'd need to either cut her fun short or find a way to safely extend it. She assumed Xeno probably hadn't heard the voice since it was hard even for herself, and on top of that, he seemed to be dealing with a headache. That meant she would hopefully just have to steer their little walk very far away from the distant voice.

Yeah, I guess shouting is really the only way to get Xeno's attention... And the attention of anyone else we happen to be nearby. I'm sure everything will be fine. Bui added his own call for Xeno. "Xeno! Stop hiding! Or sleeping! Or... Stop being hidden!"

Bui followed behind Cirrus and scanned the forest floor for any sign of recent travel. "I'm slowly finding out that I hate forests. Nothing good ever seems to happen in forests." After a brief pause, Bui added, "I mean, except meeting you, and Xeno, both of those things were good and in forests. But nothing else good happens in forests."

Bui gave another shout for Xeno, and then addressed Cirrus. "Where could he possibly be—or what could he possibly be doing, that he can't hear us at this point? This forest isn't that dense, surely our voices are carrying well. This place can't be that big, right? Surely we'll get within shouting range with him soon... Right?" Relistening to what he had just said in his head, Bui thought that maybe Cirrus's worried state was rubbing off on him.

Strange... Is it just me or is everything getting a bit... well fuzzy? "U-um, well, no, I-I'm fine" Disregarding the thought that something was wrong with him from his mind, Xeno tried to focus on the conversation at hand. So this... Riven was just sort of hanging out here, and by some unlucky coincidence, Xeno had somehow found himself being lead by this character. Oh well... As far as I can tell she doesn't seem too much of the bad type honestly "W-Well, u-um, g-glad to meet you anyways?" Internally wincing at his own words, Xeno started getting a sense of insecurity about his own words. Am I coming off too strong? Or am I sounding too casual? Ugh... I don't want to deal with this. Forcing an obviously fake smile to the pokemon, Xeno continued with, "W-Well, s-since we're together anyways... Wanna explore a bit more?" You idiot... you're trying to get away from all of civilization and you're method is to try and continue exploring with this pokemon... Maybe she'll be too weirded out and leave me alone.

"I've not had much luck with forests either since we last met..." Cirrus told Bui, taking his topic of conversation and rolling with it. "There was this one tough Exeggcute in here last time that I only escaped from when my Metronome became Whirlwind and blew it away. Complete luck." she recalled out loud. That battle wasn't very fun.

Her heart was wedged in her throat when the Buizel with her began to speak up again. Indeed, just where was Xeno and what was he doing that would make him unable to her them calling out? The young Togepi could only hope that he was ok and simply not in earshot. The fact was that the scenario they were presently embroiled in was one that she was entirely unfamiliar with. Cirrus had absolutely no clue what else she could do outside of search and call, and this was beginning to bring about some major distress.

However, she did manage to produce one idea. "Oh! Bui, try sending a Sonic Boom into the sky! He might see it!" Cirrus told him. Her plan was for Xeno to recognise it as Bui's from the underwater training session earlier and use it to find them.

Not openly acknowledging the faint voice in the distance, Krikka continued walking along, purposely going in the exact opposite direction of the noise. She figured the buizel would follow along willingly, but if he didn't, that just meant she'd have to cut their lovely conversation short. Her company seemed to be trying to hide the effects of the poison, which meant he probably hadn't yet realized it was, in fact, poison. To her surprise, the buizel then asked a question that seemed out-of-character with what little she knew about him: he apparently wanted to keep exploring... together. With how he was tripping over his own words, such an offer was pretty much the last thing Krikka would have expected.

"Sure!" she immediately responded in as perky a tone as she could muster.
She hated pretending to be some fluffy marshmallow. It was annoying and demeaning, plus it was a lot of work. It wasn't like she had to act nice around this guy since he probably wasn't even going to be awake much longer, but she wanted to make this as simple as possible. While she walked, she decided to look her new "friend" over for anything worth stealing, but he seemed to be pretty much empty-handed... empty-pawed? However, he did have a neat-looking necklace that seemed like it could hold some value. The umbreon didn't really care how much it was worth, though; she just liked it because it looked pretty and she wanted it.

Now Krikka had a goal, but she didn't just want to assault Xeno and steal his necklace. It wasn't like she had any moral restraints, but she wanted to have a little more... fun than that. First, she wanted to know about the necklace. "So what's that little trinket y'got? Looks pretty. Does it do anything, oor is it... worth anything?" she questioned, trying to be a bit more inconspicuous than just saying "gimmi." Maybe it had some kind of effect that she needed to know about before stealing it, or maybe it was worthless and tacky. She wanted to know what she was getting into before trying to steal it. If it wasn't even worth her time, then she's just focus on tormenting her little friend and relaxing.

While she inquired about the piece of jewelry, she couldn't help but notice something about the ever-so-faint voice in the distance. It technically wasn't a voice; it was two. Great, so she had double the annoyance to worry about. This just meant she needed to be extra-careful to avoid whoever was looking for her plaything. While she was perhaps confident in herself, she wasn't interested in taking a needless risk by allowing this buizel's friends to find him too soon.

Bui clapped his paws together the instant Cirrus finished her suggestion. "Right! Great idea! Why didn't I think of that?" It was really a quite clever plan—Peacha Forest was not nearly as dense as Shadowhue—if Xeno was close by, awake, and alert, it would be fairly hard to miss.

"Alright," Bui said to his companion, "Watch yourself, and listen for any response." Bui readied his Sonic Boom attack, and quickly fired the attack from his twin-tails. After the briefest pause, he fired another in a different angle and direction, and third in again a different way. If Xeno was anywhere close by, he ought to see at least one of these attacks.

Bui stood still now after the final Sonic Boom. After a moment, he asked in a soft, quiet voice, "Well, hear him?"

Xeno was surprised that anyone noticed his necklace. It wasn't anything terribly flashy, nor did he try to draw attention to it. "W-wah... Well.... It's just... Erm, something I got from a .... friend... n-nothing special." Quietly, Xeno turned red with embarrassment.

With a slight delayed reaction, Xeno spun around to look in the opposite direction. Wait... That sonic boom... Isn't that?.... "O-Oh... u-um, hey, I-I think... I-I thought I heard someone... O-over there..." Xeno gestured in the general direction that he heard the sound. Geez... I kinda hope I can shake him off. Then again... I'm not in any immediate danger. T-There shouldn't be anything wrong with waiting a bit. They'll find me soon right?...

Suddenly, a sharp pain ran through his head like a bullet. "A-Ack... Geez..." Ugh, this headache should not be this bad... Grasping onto his own skull as if he were the only thing keeping it together. Trying not to call too much attention to his pain, Xeno tried to show an expression that portrayed the fact that he was "okay." "S-Sorry 'b-bout this... urk..."

(Skipping Gengarzilla due to copious inactivity)

Nothing special? Krikka's interest in the necklace suddenly decreased. She assumed she had done nothing to make the buizel distrust her, and he didn't seem any more uneasy than usual, so she assumed this to be the truth. However, regardless of whether or not the necklace was anything worth stealing... she still wanted it. The worth wasn't the only factor for her; she wanted to do something wrong solely because it was wrong. However, the the lack of importance in the trinket allowed her to think more freely on how to go about taking it, and an idea began to form in her head. She had just the plan for what to do to her new... friend.

She was going to wait for the poison to start really getting to poor Xeno, then she was going to torture him into giving his necklace to her. She would not take it, no... she would cave his will in and force him to willingly hand it to her. She'd originally planned to torture him anyway, so this was a very fortunate turn of events that complemented what she already had in mind. But alas, it seemed the poison wasn't quite finished... fermenting, as the buizel was still up and walking around, capable of speaking coherently and even noticing what was presumably an attempted search signal from whoever was looking for him. Krikka turned in the direction of the sonic boom at the same time as her companion, though in response to his voiced wonders, she simply shrugged. "Eh, probably just-" she began to weave some likely lie about it being just a simple brawl between denizens of the forest when suddenly...

...

Perhaps he was almost ready. Xeno seemed to be beginning to struggle quite a bit with his head pain, which the umbreon held confidence in being due to her poison. It would surely begin weakening his body soon, if it hadn't already. "Don't be absurd, it's no trouble at all! Let's have a rest for a bit. C'mon," she paused to take a look around, her gaze landing on a shady and inviting tree.
"Over there. You can sit down for a bit and wait to feel better. I'm in no hurry, and I insist that we not move forward until you feel better," she pointed a paw toward the tree as she spoke.
This nice demeanor of hers was close to dropping, and thankfully so, as she was already getting sick of acting so... disgustingly friendly.

Of course, in the back of Krikka's mind, there was still the concern about whoever was searching for her target. Nonetheless, she wasn't too concerned about anyone finding them before she was finished. After all, with what she'd seen of this guy's willpower, she doubted he would last long before giving in and doing whatever she wanted. After that, any and all extra torture would just be icing, and she could leave with satisfaction at any point after.

"Cirrus?" Bui asked, louder than he had spoken earlier, and still with no response. Bui quickly realised that Cirrus must have continued searched while Bui had been making the Sonic Boom attacks. "Okay, I guess we're splitting up, then. That's fine, I guess we'll cover more ground this way," Bui said, out loud to himself. And I'm talking to myself. I am either going slowly insane or I'm REALLY lonely. Or both. Okay focus, Bui. Gotta find Xeno. If I find Xeno then I can relax a bit. Cirrus is strong—stronger than me, probably, and can handle her own if we don't meet back up very quickly.


With this rationalization, Bui moved onward in one direction, following the path of the now dissipated Sonic Boom attacks. He continued to call out for his lost companion and kept his eyes open for any sign of the bright orange fur that is the clear sign of a buizel. He also made sure to keep an ear open for any return call. Bui quickly became oblivious to the fact that he was still in a mystery dungeon where he could be attacked at any given time.

"Xeno! Come on, call back already, this is starting to kill my voice!" Bui stumbled a bit on a raised tree root but managed to avoid falling down entirely. He found himself on the border of a rather small clearing and scanned the immediate surroundings for any signs of recent inhabitants. Bui spoke up at normal volume to no one in particular. "He'd probably put himself somewhere open yet secluded like this, maybe I should search clearings in particular..."

Cirrus looked around at her immediate surroundings after calling for Xeno once more and came to a conclusion that she wasn't very happy with. At some point, she'd gotten separated from Bui.

Although she'd been in Pecha Forest by herself for a few times, those visits were never very successful. She also hadn't been on her own in a dungeon since she ran into Nira here. "Uh, that's not good..." Cirrus muttered, the Togepi moving onwards with her guard firmly up. Should she encounter someone less than friendly later on, she could escape under cover of Double Team.

"Xeno?" she called out again as she began running straight through the forest with her little feet. A leaf came loose from one of the trees she passed and landed over her eyes, causing her to not see the trunk of an incoming tree until she collided head on with it. "U-ugh..." Cirrus grunted after this small accident, blinking away some tears.

"A-Argh......" Xeno could only mumble as he wobbled over to the spot that Riven had pointed out. As he flumped down, he was barely aware of his surroundings, or the fact that his friends were actually just out of earshot from the position he was in. "I-I feel like my head's going to explode..." Xeno could barely breath out. His headache intensified and his vision started blurring. I-Is this how I'm going to die? he thought dryly. One hand clutched his necklace, and the other one pressed against the side of his head as clutched his eyes shut in pain.

The pain started to fluctuate, in turn, Xeno could open his eyes and see that Riven was still sitting next to him with a neutral expression that he could see for a brief glimpse until the pain came back at full force. Xeno shut his eyes back and shuddered in shock.

The umbreon followed the buizel to the tree as if she were his shadow, lurking close to him the entire time.  When the poor thing was finally off his feet, it didn't seem like he was going to be getting back up.  Krikka could still hear the voices calling out for her toy, but she doubted he was in any state to call back even if he did hear them.  Still, she knew it was in her best interest not to waste too much time, especially since she didn't know who was included in this little search party.  Calmly, she sat down next to the ailed buizel and gave him a good look over to decide what shape he was in.  The conclusion she came to: he was in very bad shape.

She swished the golden thorn that I totally forgot about until now from one side of her mouth to the other and gave a relaxed, calm sigh before speaking.  "I'm honestly a bit surprised you're so completely unable to recognize the effects of poison.  Well, either way, it doesn't change much...  My venom will eat its way through your body if you're left as is... probably.  So, out of fear and cowardice, you're going to play a little game with me as an attempt to plead for your life," she spoke in a disturbingly nonchalant tone, as if this was just an everyday thing for her.
It wasn't, but she was considering changing that.  How much fun this little venture turned out to be would help her decide whether or not to do so.

Krikka kept herself ready to shove a paw into Xeno's face if he attempted to call out for help or interrupt her, but she wasn't too concerned about the prior; she doubted he could even raise his voice.  "First and foremost, if you try to get away, fight back or scream for help..." she paused for a moment and raised a paw up to poke the edge of the thorn hanging out of her mouth, as if to test the sharpness, "...I'll take this pretty little piece of gold and use it to start poking holes in you to let all the water out."
She bent down close to the buizel's face with an out-of-place, cheery smile and spoke once more.

"Now, do I have your attention?  I hope you can handle the poison well enough to play...  This would be awfully boring otherwise, and I'd just have to hack you up for fun instead."

She didn't actually want to kill him, but if the poison was affecting his mind too greatly for him to play along, she was alright with torturing him physically instead of mentally.

Bui made his way out of the small clearing in search of any others nearby. Thinking back to the events of yesterday, it dawned on Bui that perhaps he ought to be looking up at the treetops. Xeno had slept up in a tree before, and in these woods that would actually be a pretty smart idea... Bui turned his attention now to the trees in search of any signs of buizel-like inhabitants. However, this drew his attention further away from his surroundings, turning what was a unguarded Pokemon into a stumbling, bumbling, unguarded Pokemon.

"Xeno!" Bui began to call out for the lost buizel again. He found himself in another small clearing—smaller than the one previous—and made another call. "Xeno, call back!" Bui listened to his own voice echoing out through the woods. "Alright," Bui said quietly to himself, "Signal time again. I really hope I'm closer and not farther—not that I could tell without a signal back." Bui quickly unleashed another threesome of Sonic Booms up into the open sky above him. He paused now to listen for any return calls.

As he listened for anything, he looked up to watch the sonic projectiles streak up and soon dissipate. Looking at the sky now, he could tell that a fair deal of time had passed since he and Cirrus had left Xeno on his own—a decision Bui now deeply regretted. Why did I ever think leaving him would have been a good idea? Sure, I haven't known him long, but it's not hard to see that he's not very adept at surviving alone. And yet, that had seemed to be his goal when I met him... In the still silence of the clearing, Bui's thought were interrupted by the faintest of sounds. He wasn't even sure if he had really heard anything. He turned to face the direction he had thought it had emanated from and stood silence once again, in hopes of confirming it was, in fact, real.