(Not So) Lonely Island

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[Energy: 22 - 11 (Entrance Cost) = 11] 
[Held Item: Lucky Ribbon (Reduces cost of every item rolled by 1)]

Just a few hours prior, Ashen thought that she had finally found a partner to start her exploration team with. But then, as usual for the Houndour, everything went wrong. She ended up returning home alone after a huge argument with her Stunky companion. 

How could I have been so stupid? She asked herself, kicking a pebble in frustration. All I needed to do was ignore it and let her have her fun... But she just kept spraying everyone that walked by. I couldn't just stand there and watch! I had to say something... The hellhound let out a defeated sigh, and continued walking down the dirt trail. After such an emotionally draining experience, Ashen needed to unwind, and she knew the perfect place to go: the Fallen Leaf Copse. The small, wooded island was easily the most beautiful place in the entire region. Perhaps if she spent the rest of the day there, she could cool down... 

After a brief walk along a dirt path, Ashen found herself at the shore of the lake which contained the copse. Now, all she had to do was use the stepping stones to get across... But what if she fell in the water? She knew from her experiences at Cattail Marsh that she coild barely swim... The Houndour stood there for what seemed like hours, worriedly staring at the lake.

[Energy: 11 + 1 (Natural Regeneration) = 12]

Ashen felt a wide grin stretch across her face as Cirrus voiced her agreement. She's right, if we could make her smile... That would really make my day. It would make up for everything I said to Kaori... The Houndour quietly mused, her smile faltering for a moment when the other Stunky entered her thoughts. I guess I'll have to find her later... I hope she's still in town.

The shy Houndour waited for a couple of seconds, fully expecting her Togepi companion to ask Twinkle if she wanted to come along. She did seem to be the talker of the two of them, after all. "Great, uhm... Y-you can tell her," Ashen told Cirrus, sheepishly looking away. I don't want to risk screwing up again... It'd be safer to just let Cirrus handle this. I wish I was as good with other Pokemon as she is...

(Energy: 9+1=10)

"Alright." she simply replied. She didn't really need to say much more on this. Cirrus had pretty much caught on to Ashen's anxiety by now and understood why the Houndour was wanting her to do all the talking here. She threw in a knowing little look and then turned towards Twinkle, gathering her words.

"Ashen and I were just about to head into that dungeon over there. Do you want to come along with us?" she asked, one of her hands held out in an inviting way. "We'd be happy to have you in. If your friends really have abandoned you then I'd say that they're missing out..."

Gengarzilla carried out 10 launched of one Fallen Leaf Copse :

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She smiled as soon as she heard the togepi asking her to come with them, she could hardly believe that anybody would even want to do that to begin with, she wipes her tears and smiles at them
"C-come with you two? Of course i want to!" she said on a cheerful tone walking up close to them she felt way more happy just by having somebody with her, to the point that she was completely distracted from those problems that were bothering her earlier. At least for now she could settle down and just help them with the dungeon however she could.

Despite her obviously shy tone of voice she was also both cheerful and glad right now."S-so where are we going anyways guys" She asked while looking over at ashen. Wondering how far in this place they planned to go.

(Sorry for the delay...stuff happens) Current energy= 7+1=8

(Energy: 10-27=0)

With that matter now decided and set behind them, Cirrus headed onwards behind Ashen. She looked apprehensively at the rocks as she heard the Houndour ask how deep they wanted to go into this dungeon. "I don't really have much of a preference. I'll stick along for as long as you'd want to be here." she gave her as an answer.

It took one look at the water for the Togepi to somewhat understand Ashen's hesitance. "Tell you what, I'll go first and you can follow." she said as she leapt onto the first rock, gladdened by her light body. After three more rocks worth of progress, she fished out a familiar looking ticket from the water and slipped it into her little bag with a smile on her face. This exploration had gotten off to a seriously wonderful start.

She slowly wandered slowly behind of the togepi, staying near of ashen, after all, ashen was bigger and she looked fairly stronger. This made her feel safer. For now she decided to remain quiet. Trying to get a grip on how they were like before she started to make up some chat with them, That...and she also felt too shy to simply go out of her way and start talking right away, So for now she focuses on calming herself, maybe if she waited they will start talking to her instead. That of course, would be more than wonderful. She cant help but to smile while looking at them. It was nice to be with somebody.

Great amounts of relief came crashing forth into Cirrus when she saw Ashen successfully make the first jump. "That's good, you're going to be ok. Just keep on moving like you did then." She greatly considered backtracking to do each rock alongside her but decided that she'd only end up taking valuable rock space that the Houndour could be using.

The girl continued moving onwards while encouraging her. Ashen was right; Cirrus wasn't particularly good at swimming. Not that this would stop her from using that light form of hers should her stepping stone companion miss her mark or otherwise stumble off of it.

OOC: Since PurpleSoul is currently on an unannounced hiatus, we will continue the thread without them. It will be assumed that Twinkle is still following the other two (since she's generally very shy, we can get away with that). However, if PurpleSoul doesn't return soon, we will RP as if Ashen and Cirrus lost her at some point while on the island.

Okay, only about twenty-five rocks to go, Ashen thought to herself, shuddering when she saw how far away from the Copse she actually was. Of course, Cirrus's encouragement was nice to hear, but... The hellhound was still terrified, and nothing was going to change that. To make things worse, it had rained a few hours before the three arrived, making the rocks more slippery than usual. 

"Uhm... O-okay, th-thanks," Ashen shakily told her companion, nodding and preparing her next jump. After a few moments of quiet deliberation, the Houndour took a step back, and leapt onto the next stepping stone... Only to slide off, falling into the water! Yelping loudly and trying to grip onto the platform with her claws, Ashen splashed about in the water for a little bit before finally realizing that she was in the lake's shallow end. The young fire type stood in the belly-deep water for a moment, too embarrassed to move or address what had just happened.

Immediately, Cirrus turned around in concern at the sound of Ashen falling in the water. She made to jump backwards and help her out before noticing that the Houndour wasn't actually in any real danger. "It's alright, don't let any mistakes get you down. I'm sure you can do this."

She hoped that they could at least get into the dungeon proper at some point but this went unspoken. Cirrus did not want to come across as impatient. "Just follow my lead and remember the first jump, ok? You did really good on that one." she called, jumping across a few more in an attempt to show that they were still solid rocks despite being a bit slippery.

Twinkle slowly followed, clearly lookinf slightly scared of the current situation. "U-umm...i dont know if i know how to swim either...I-is it deep?" She said looking slightly embarrased of having to say that out loud. truth to be told she feel slightly intimidated by those jumps more than the water itself, perhaps she needed some motivation to jump, some sort of encouragement. since right now she lacked the confidence on herself to even try the fist jump. "G-guys...c-can you help me?" she said while looking over at them.

She wondered how ashen could even make the fist jump, she must be really brave considering she was a fire type, maybe she could actually do it...but then again...she didnt felt confident enought to actually go out of her way and try it. maybe ashen could carry her. if she didnt then she would have to actually attempt the jumps herself. and she wasnt looking foward to it.

Ashen was about to climb onto the rock she had fallen off of when she heard Twinkle calling for assistance. She turned her head back, and found that the Stunky had yet to make a single jump. I should go back and help her, but... How can I help her when I can't even help myself? Ashen asked herself, sighing. No... I can't think like that. If I'm going to lead an exploration team, I need to be brave! Something stupid like a little lake shouldn't be holding me back... 

The hound managed to get on the stepping stones, and hopped back to Twinkle, showing a little less hesitation than before. "Uhm... I-I might be able to c-carry y-you over..." She started, cringing slightly when she accidentally looked down at the water below. "B-but... I-if I can't do that, m-maybe we could go through this together, side by side... Uhm, y-you know, because it might make it easier for us both of us..."

For a brief moment, Ashen looked back towards an impatient-looking Cirrus, biting her lip. Something as simple as jumping across stepping stones was probably child's play for the Togepi, and Ashen could completely understand why she appeared so... Well, bored. Don't worry, I don't want to drag this out any longer than I have to... The faster this is all over and we can explore the island, the better.

Looking back at the pair of nervous Pokémon, Cirrus soon managed to swallow down her own hopes on this matter and began backtracking through the stones to join them. "It's not all that bad once you pass that first rock. You've just got to stop thinking about that water and get into the rhythm." she said to the Houndour and Stunky as a form of encouragement.

"What I'm doing is looking ahead, at where the destination is. The rocks might be a little slippery but they're not going to sink. I'm sure you can do this if you put your mind to it." Cirrus cheeringly told them before making a jump forward, not looking down.

She can't help but to feel encouraged by both pokemon! She had to at least give jumping a try"a-alright this will be fun...t-theres no reason to feel scared....l-lets go!" She said as she got on stance and swiftly performed the jump making it to the first rock "hey! Look I actually got here! " she said as she jumps to the next one, now with way more confidence on what she was doing, her tone of voice even becoming just a bit louder and more playful, seems she was starting to grow comfortable around them, she even attempted to encourage ashen "A-ashen! This is actually kind of fun!" She said smiling at her as she waits for her to come along.

She smiled at cirrus, she obviously wanted to thank her and ashen for the encouragement once she got back on land, after all, it has been a while since she had seen pokemon be this nice and patient to her, perhaps she could even ask them to be friends with her! The thought of possibly having Pokémon that were that nice as friends made her quite happy. Even made her a little more confident.

"F-fun...?!" Ashen repeated, shaking her head. "I-I wouldn't g-go that far, b-but..." She trailed, shuddering slightly when she looked down at the water. The Houndour had already received an accidental bath when she fell in before, so she was probably even more terrified of slipping than on her first attempt... Still, now that the other two seemed somewhat comfortable about the crossing, she felt more of an obligation to press on. She had already stalled long enough.

Sighing, the hellhound followed closely behind her two partners as they made their way across the lake. With every stepping stone, the jumps became easier and easier, but she was still visably nervous. Upon finally reaching the copse, she let out a heavy sigh of relief. Now that she was on dry land, she could finally smile again. "Uhm... I-I guess it wasn't so bad," Ashen admitted, bashfully looking down at the ground.