TEN DAYS OF ODDISH HELL

Mission Details:

Lumina
Energy: 48 - 20 (dungeon entrance) = 28
Inventory:
√ Stamina Band -Reduce all rolls by 2
Trawl Orb (4)
Vulpix Tag: (Raises Defense and Sp. Defense by 3 each) -Reduce Pokemon Rolls by 1
Sun Stone


Lumina stared at the Bulletin Board, seeking out a mission that was challenging, yet open for an Exploration Team of her rank to take. She already had one mission picked out, but it was an open-dungeon mission and seemed pretty simple. She wanted another mission, a more challenging one, that could coincide with her currently-selected mission.

Her eyes scanned the Bulletin Board carefully before finally landing upon one whose client she recognized: Faye, the Guildmaster herself! She read through the mission, noting that the mission would take ten whole days to complete. This is the one, she thought to herself. She reached a paw up to take down the mission for herself, only for a yellow paw to land on hers just as she touched the mission slip.

She turned to see a pikachu reaching up for the same mission. The pikachu was pretty average, with a yellow Guild band tied around his lower neck; a blue thunderbolt stitched in the center. "I believe I had this mission first, sir," Lumina addressed the pikachu confidently, pulling down the mission slip to place it on the floor in front of her.

"but... I want to help miss faye..." the electric type spoke out, seeming disappointed.

Lumina tossed her head. "And I don't?" She questioned, raising an eyebrow at the pikachu.

"hmm..." the pikachu didn't really know what to say. It was clear they both wanted the mission but he obviously didn't want conflict either. He then noticed the second paper the ninetails held in one of her tails. "Two missions? That's not fair..." the pikachu said despondently.

Lumina raised an eyebrow at the pikachu. "How is it not fair? There is no guild rules against it, and I am more than capable of taking on two missions at once, especially when one is simply delivering a letter to Rainfront... I mean, heck, if it bothers you that much, why don't we just do a joint exploration? I'm also going to be training up this oddish for evolution, as long as that doesn't bother you, I don't mind if you tag along or whatever," she said dismissively.

The electric mouse smiled brightly as the fox suggested they joined together for the two missions. "Of course! I would love to join!" Joey burst out excitedly.

Lumina shook her head at the over-excited pikachu, just barely refraining from rolling her eyes. "Haven't introduced myself, have I?" she added suddenly, the thought just occurring to her that she didn't even know the name of the pikachu. "The name's Lumina, of Team Polaris."

"Joey of team Shattered Blade!" the mouse beamed happily.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That's how Lumina ended up standing in front of Serene Cave with an over-excited pikachu and under-trained oddish in tow. Lumina cast an appraising look over her companions, her gaze sweeping past the practically-vibrating electric type and landing on the grass-poison type.

"Is this location acceptable to you, Mr. Oddish?" Lumina asked the client.

The oddish looked up at her and then at the cave, seeming to consider the question. "Yeah, I suppose this will do. You said ten days, right? I'll be sure to evolve at the end of ten straight days of training!"

Lumina nodded, satisfied. She turned her attention to the pikachu. "Are you ready... er, Joey, wasn't it?" she asked the electric mouse.

Post co-written with @Coaster3000. Joey's parts and dialogue written mainly by him

Joey had been walking along happily with his group towards their destination. He was prepared for anything at this point, at least... he thought he was prepared for anything. Once the group had reached the cave, the ninetails started off and asked if the location sufficed for the oddish. The client seemed alright with it, that pretty much gave them the ok to train here as the group traveled to rainfront... correct?

After receiving an answer from the oddish, the next question was directed towards Joey. "Are you ready... er, Joey, wasn't it?" the ninetails asked.

"Of course I'm ready!" Joey smiled brightly as he glanced in his bag to see his two apples and a reviver seed. The electric mouse felt he was ready for anything at this point, after all, how hard was it to walk through a cave to rainfront right? Joey didn't expect much to happen in the cave, just training with the oddish and perhaps the ninetails as well. 'This should be easy, just training with this oddish, perhaps even Lumina! Then all that was left is to deliver this letter.' Now that he thought about it, he might get to know his mission partner better, as he hasn't really met them in the guild before.

Lumina
Energy: 28
Inventory:
√ Stamina Band -Reduce all rolls by 2
Trawl Orb (4)
Vulpix Tag: (Raises Defense and Sp. Defense by 3 each) -Reduce Pokemon Rolls by 1
Sun Stone


Lumina gave a nod to the pikachu's affirmative answer, eyeing him as he glanced inside his bag. She, herself, had a few items in her bag; a few trawl orbs, an exclusive item that raised her defenses, and a sun stone for the oddish. But she wasn't going to mention that just yet. She wanted to make sure that her client was worthy to bestow the evolutionary item upon.

If the oddish was all talk and no walk, there was no need for Lumina to give up a rare item like an evolution stone, when she could find someone more worthy of it another time. She flicked her tails and led the way into the cave.

The cave was cool and dry, thankfully. Lumina did not want to spend the next ten days continuously damp underfoot. Upon walking into the cave, they emerged from a short tunnel into a large cavernous area. The floor dipped shortly into the cavern, the stony ground filled with sand. It seemed like the ideal place to start training the oddish.

Lumina turned to the oddish, eyeing the grass pokemon up and down before jerking her head at the sandy pit. "This seems like a good place to start your training," she announced. "I want to see what techniques you know before we continue, though. And not just elemental-based techniques; I want to know what natural abilities you have, as well."

The grass-poison pokemon nodded, and wobbled into the sandy pit. He proceeded to launch a massive pile of sludge into the air, drenching a nearby rock in the acidic substance. Then he demonstrated two different powder techniques: one to paralyze a foe and the other to put a foe to sleep. He turned his next technique on Lumina, as it needed a proper target to work at all. The technique sucked some of Lumina's energy away and returned it to the oddish. The oddish then stood there awkwardly as it awaited Lumina's response.

"You have no natural abilities?" Lumina questioned, frowning.

"Unless you count this," the oddish replied, burrowing himself into the sand until there was nothing left of him aboveground except for his tuft of leafy hair.

Lumina nodded thoughtfully. She turned to the pikachu. "What are your thoughts, Joey?" she asked, curious as to what the pikachu was thinking. She would reserve her own comments until the pikachu had spoken.

After confirming with Lumina that he was ready, the trio had started making their way into the cave. Lumina taking the lead while Joey remained somewhat in between the oddish and fox. The smile he brought never faded as he travelled with the group. It wasn't very long before they came across a large open area that dipped lower. This sunken area had a lot of sand within it, something that Joey didn't think would be here. However, seeing this is his first trip going through here, he did expect to find stuff he may or may not have known about the location from others.

After stopping within the large cavern, Lumina had asked the oddish to demonstrate what abilities it knew including natural ones. The first move demonstrated by the oddish seem to be some kind of sludge based attack. The smell it had was rather... acidic, especially when it splashed onto the rock nearby. The next two abilities seemed to be forms of powder that spread through the air fairly easily. The last ability seemed to leave Joey confused... He wasn’t entirely sure what the move had done.

When the oddish was questioned about having any natural abilities, it simply dug into the ground and hit. A nifty trick to have if a situation ever turns bad.

When Lumina asked Joey what he thought about the client’s abilities, he was left thinking for a moment before responding. "I… don’t really know. They seem more like defensive abilities which isn’t bad at all." Joey stated as he looked back towards the oddish. Just as he did so, he heard a cracking sound coming from the rocks that had sludge all over them. Joey quickly turned towards the sound to see the rocks beginning to break apart from gravity as the acidic material ate through them. "Wa..." The pikachu was left in shock as the stone crumbled.

Lumina
Energy: 28
Inventory:
√ Stamina Band -Reduce all rolls by 2
Trawl Orb (4)
Vulpix Tag: (Raises Defense and Sp. Defense by 3 each) -Reduce Pokemon Rolls by 1
Sun Stone


Lumina chuckled. "If you call acid that can melt through stone 'defensive,' sure. Not to mention his energy-draining technique. Besides, I wouldn't call his powder techniques defensive, either. What I mean to say, is that they can be used defensively, but they can also be used offensively to great effect. Imagine; a foe that cannot fight back as you chip away at their defenses with a technique that only increases your own ability to fight! You have great potential, Mr. Oddish. You just need to learn how to use your power efficiently."

The oddish nodded in understanding. "What I have the most trouble with is dodging attacks. I don't have great defenses, so most strong elemental techniques can take me out in a single hit."

Lumina gave a short nod. "Good. You know your own weaknesses. Being aware of one's limitations is key in learning to surpass them. Let's do some agility training. I want you to try and dodge as Joey and I fling pebbles at you, first. If you can do that easily, we'll move onto simple attacks: clawing at you and such. Once you can avoid those attacks, we'll try you with elemental techniques, which are hardest to dodge, as I'm sure you are aware. Is everyone good with this plan?" She asked, looking between her two companions.

Joey blinked a few times as he saw the rock crumble before him. It was rather shocking to see this happen because of some sludge. It was the first time Joey had ever seen such a thing occur, it was amazing! 'Wow... I definitely do not want to touch that.' Joey thought to himself as he glanced back towards the crumbled rock.

She had already begun describing the usefulness of each ability and how it could be used offensively. Joey hadn't quite thought about the moves being used in that particular way that was described... but it was clear it that could be potentially devastating to someone that gets caught in the powder techniques.

After Lumina had finished speaking, the oddish began to state what trouble he had. It stated it had difficulty dodging attacks as it explained that it didn't have very good defenses. This meant its best option on any kind of elemental attack was to dodge.

Lumina seemed to already have a solution to that problem, and that was to train their agility. What was suggested was that Joey and herself would start by using pebbles, throwing them at the oddish as they dodged each pebble. Next, they would follow up with simple attacks such as clawing at them, then finally elemental attacks.

This plan seemed fairly solid and Joey had no objections to it at all. "Yea" Joey stated with a smile, unable to help but glance back at the now completely destroyed rock. 'They just need to work on dodging... hehe...' he thought to himself in relief. The idea of having an acid bath was... horrid at best.

Lumina
Energy: 28
Inventory:
√ Stamina Band -Reduce all rolls by 2
Trawl Orb (4)
Vulpix Tag: (Raises Defense and Sp. Defense by 3 each) -Reduce Pokemon Rolls by 1
Sun Stone


Lumina hummed thoughtfully, her tails curling around her feet. She had the idea of what to do to improve the oddish's dodging skills, but not how to do it. Her pikachu companion could just pick up rocks with his paws, but Lumina's own paws were not nearly as versatile as the opposable-thumbed electric mouse. Her red eyes narrowed as she stared down at her tails for a moment.

She curled them at the ends, watching her tails react to her thoughts as she mulled the problem over. She glanced at the pikachu thoughtfully. "Hmm. I appear to have put my foot in my mouth. I lack the ability to throw rocks myself. Would you be willing to do this yourself?" she asked of the pikachu.

“Uh, yea.” Joey stated with a smile. “I can do that” he continued before he looked around the area. He spotted several mid-sized stones piled near the walls of the room. It looked as though these particular stones were part of the wall at some point, but worn with age. One thing that Joey had noticed was that some piles don’t like they just formed… they were piled by hand, perhaps by a resident of the cave.

Joey began walking to the closest pile towards the group to start gathering some stones. Most of which were similar sized stone. Joey then made his way back towards the group before dropping them. The echoes of each stone reverberated throughout the cave. “Got some stones” Joey stated as he picked one of the stones back up.