Vanity Fair

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(OOC: Discussed in this thread.)

[Energy: 19-10=9]

T'was a windy, chilly day in Shadowhue, the kind of day in which most pokémon would sooner spend time near the comfort of a pleasant fire in Grassveil than running about in the woods. But for whatever reason, a particular pokémon didn’t seem to be spending time getting cozy and warm, and was instead moving forwards, away from the comfort of civilization and towards the dark woodland of Shadowhue.

This pokémon was a piplup named Clovis, a local of the general area, albeit not one too familiar with the in and outs of such a dark and dungeonlike place such as Shadowhue. He had found himself on the outside of the forest as the result of an aimless afternoon meander, and as he had far too much free time, he decided that he would stay.

Clovis blinked before looking into the dark, thick forest. Many 'mons he had met in the past warned him to avoid such a place, but he paid these warnings little mind. So long as these woods existed, and ferals roamed them unrestrained, there would need to be civilized pokémon like himself to explore the unknown and shine metaphorical light into the literal darkness. So he walked into the forest, prepared to spend all afternoon learning whatever secrets lay in the gloom in front of him...

Alki squinted as she saw a... something climbing down the walls towards her. Was it friendly? Was it not? Alki couldn't really tell what it was, she was tired and it was dark, and the tears blurring her vision wasn't helping either. Alki tried to ask "Who's there," but only a quiet, raspy noise escaped her mouth, nothing coherent, nothing meaningful.

Alki realized there was absolutely nothing she could do. If it was a feral, then so be it. It's not like she could fend for herself without the poison, and she felt as though she were about to pass out. Indeed, she could pass out, at any moment, and if she fainted, alone, in a forest like this... Alki wanted Darcy to be there. She'd feel so much safer, but there wasn't anything she could do there, alone, weak and miserable and pathetic...

Alki felt herself being picked up, and it felt familiar. And not just because it was Yooka, wasn't this how things had gone when she'd first been in Grassveil? She'd been alone and helpless and pathetic then, and it seemed as though nothing had changed. Alki tried to wriggle free, out of Yooka's grip. "I can walk," she tried to say, but with her voice gone, she seemed like a fish out of water, as her mouth opened but nothing came out.

Alki's attempts increased as she heard a voice calling out her name... no, both of their names. Did Yooka hear it? It seemed to be a bit far away. Alki tried to tell Yooka, "Hey, hear that?" or maybe just a simple "Hey, Listen!" But the half-fairy couldn't do either, just open and close her mouth stupidly. Alki got out, and stumbled towards the source of the noise. Yooka would follow her, right?

((oh gawd, no navi references please... »п« ))

{εοз}:

Indeed Yooka did hear Clovis's voice. Not that far off either. However, Alki's voice was too faint to be heard. There wasn't anything Yooka could do except keep the seed nearby. Infact, how the igglybuff still hasnt managed to drain the seeds power is astonishing. Yooka heard that it's ability activates even while it's in the bag or being held. Was that wrong? She hoped not...

The Piplup's voice was just dead ahead a few meters, but Yooka didn't hurry. There was no real need to. Yooka could sustain a normal poisoning with her own recover. Alki has the seed. Hmm, well... there was that Piplup, but considering the strength of his voice he seems quite well. Maybe a few more hours tops. Yooka doesn't really know.

Maybe I should just speak out... Meh. Yooka did a monotonous meep. Rather reluctantly or even loudly. She growled to herself and decided what the hell. "Oi! Just a little farther..." or you could've gone in the opposite direction of my voice to get out... meh. Pff, how did you even lose Alki...? well, I guess it's not THAT hard to do. Yooka sighed, continuing ever closer towards the direction the Piplup's voice came from. Every now and then she did see a bit of darkened blue pop in from all the blacks and greys.

Just a little while after Yooka called out a clump of fabric fell ontop of her. She meeped rather spooked. Nearly dropping Alki and stopping in her tracks. She quickly looked around as she put it in her bag. The fudge did this come from? Noticing nothing besides the sound of the Piplup, she growled to herself once again. "Stupid forest... scaring me... mmmrr."

There it was! A shout! Yooka had responded to his call with one of her own, and said that she wasn't too far away. Clovis made haste in the direction he had heard the noise. Yooka wasn't lying when she said that she wasn't far away, it took but a manner of seconds for both the kecleon and the igglybuff to pop into view from behind vegetation. Alki was tottering about on the ground in a clumsy manner; her ability to walk was likely being impeded by whatever manner of poison the venemoth had inflicted. That didn't bode particularly well, as he himself had received the exact same toxin. There was a bit of a gap between their respective weights, however, so perhaps he would be more resistant. Then again, his short legs weren't exactly the most efficient at walking on land either.

Not too far away was Yooka, with a... rag? On her head? The kecleon quickly took it off, and looked around the area, seeming rather annoyed. Clovis gave a snort, and dove back into some bushes, so that he wouldn't be seen by either of them. Then, he began to laugh. First quietly, but progressively louder and heartier. This little bit of humor made him feel much better than he had a minute ago, showing that laughter really was an effective medicine. Although Clovis' laughter quickly descended into a 5-second coughing fit, so perhaps that saying wasn't quite true. Clovis decided to reveal himself to the two other pokémon; they had probably heard him by now anyway.

When Clovis spoke, he spoke warmly, and made an effort to seem in good spirits. "Yooka! Alki! I almost thought I'd seen the last of you when that heracross came out of nowhere. How'd you two find each other?" All smiles, Clovis.

Alki heard a sort of laughter. She didn't understand what was so funny. Was it her? She hadn't even payed attention to Yooka. She felt sick. What if another Pokemon came? What if something else happened, Alki could barely walk, and now someone was laughing. There wasn't anything funny about anything...

Soon enough, the laughing devolved into coughing, rather violent coughing too. Alki was reminded she wasn't the only one suffering. Clovis was too. She wanted to help... didn't she have something to help? A seed... or something like that. She still had it. Maybe it would help Clovis more. Arceus knew he'd be more helpful than she was.

She tottered over towards the Piplup, slowly and disorderly. She was filthy, and quite clearly scared. She opened her mouth, before remember her voice was gone. She closed her eyes, and took as deep a breath as she could manage, before handing him the reviver seed. Alki looked down, she felt more than a bit guilty about all this. She'd distracted them from the Venomoth, and now both she and Clovis were paying the price. If it had just been her, then so be it, but it hadn't just been her. Her own stupidity had gotten someone else hurt... she felt herself began to cry. She wanted to go back to Darcy... she wanted to go home. She hadn't meant to cause anyone any trouble, but that was the only thing she'd caused so far... with no words to express herself with, she tottered off behind some nearby foliage, hoping to escape before Yooka or Clovis could notice much wrong with her. Yooka, at least, was probably used to her uselessness.

Mada carried out 1 launched of one Shadowhue Forest :

OOC:

((

ooc, no meta-gaming was done here... coy face.:

))

The laughing that the piplup did when the defense scarf fell on her made her regret her decision but it was soon followed by a rememberance of the poison he has. He's definitely gotten worse. Luckily the exit wasnt too far off. She hoped. She was just about ready to head off when the piplup spoke up and Alki moved forward.

Yooka managed to answer before Alki was able to do what she did. "luck and shadow distractions, and also found her in a pitfall." She showed off her shadow-sneak skill by practically wiggling her shadow directly behind herself in the air like it was waving hello. "it has it's uses..." Once Yooka registered Alki handing the seed over to the Piplup, she got a little annoyed. Yooka sighed. When the igglybuff tried to get away, Yooka just took a step and placed a hand on the igglybuffs head.

"That seed was ment for you. I don't have a pecha berry so you'll need to recover using the seed. Anyways, you should be able to keep him health...y-ish by using your heal pulse skill, it's actually pretty nifty you even have such a skill and it's very valuable in and of itself. Not many can learn it normally. From the looks of things he seems capable of getting back with us just fine right now. I don't want you dieing before we get back alright...?"

Before Yooka took her hand off the igglybuff she spun her around and tried to... smile. It's not easy for someone who honestly didn't care about the situation. She did however, care enough to cringe about the igglybuff's situation when she said the word healthy. Things were just a bit hectic for a few moments. They are near the edge of the forest so things should be easier, however they still have ways to go overall. Yooka looked at the Piplup. "Think you can manage incase she doesn't have it in her? She's still just a kid afterall."

((ooc: end at end-of-page, Question mark, Coy Face.))

Luck and shadow distractions, was it? Yooka provided a brief demonstration. He had seen visual manipulations like that from other pokémon before, although it wasn't something piplup, prinplup or empoleon ever did. The notion of Alki falling into a pitfall sounded a little strange though. Her body was so light and bouncy, it was hard to imagine gravity ever being a problem for her. On the topic of Alki, Alki seemed to be approaching him. She was filthy, as always. At this point, Clovis didn't think much good would have came out of telling her to get cleaned up. It wasn't as if she was going to listen anyway. Without a word, she gave him a seed; perhaps the one he had passed over when that heracross appeared? Alki walked off, though Clovis didn't pay much attention to where she was going. Instead he looked the seed over, trying to find anything special about it. What could it be, a joy seed? Reviver seed? Oh! I hope it's a heal seed!

Clovis didn't eat, or crack open, or use the seed just yet. After studying it for a bit, he looked back up at the other pokémon. Yooka had a hold on Alki's head, and was giving her a lecture about something. Or... maybe it was a pep talk. Clovis didn't hear all of it, but he did hear that the seed, a seed which would be good for their health, was meant for Alki, not him. He supposed that this was fair, Alki was younger and her species had a notable weakness to poison. When Yooka looked at him and asked if he would be alright without it, he responded in the affirmative. "Sure, I'll be fine." Though 'fine' was probably an inaccurate term, and a rasp in his voice reflected this.

(Well, coy face to you too, I guess.)

[Energy: 3 -1 = 2]

Alki wasn’t going to die, they were over-reacting… she’d be fine. She didn’t deserve the seed. Clovis should have it instead. She opened her mouth to say something to Yooka, who seemed to be trying to cheer her up. Still, nothing came out, and with no way to argue, she simply obliged, and took the seed back from Clovis. So it was meant for her? It really shouldn’t be used by her, she didn’t deserve it as much…

The reviver seed wasn’t very useful unless she fainted. Although she figured that the way she felt, that felt more and more likely by the second. She took the seed back from Clovis, regretting what Yooka had pretty much told her to. The Piplup deserved it much more than her. Still, she didn’t have much choice in the matter, considering she couldn’t even argue with Yooka. She couldn’t even apologize to Clovis.

Once she’d taken the Reviver Seed, she simply tottered off towards a tree. If fainting was what would help them, then Alki would do her best to faint. And if what they wanted was her Heal Pulse, then she’d be happy to oblige in that regard as well. They'd just have to wait a bit for the Igglybuff to regain consciousness. Or lose consciousness. How fast did a reviver seed work anyways? She grasped it tightly in both her hands as she simply waited to pass out.

Mada carried out 1 launched of one Shadowhue Forest :

Mada carried out 1 launched of one Shadowhue Forest :

”OOC”:

ooc, uh, when did this happen?:

Starting Type¦ Fairy:

nodding to Clovis's affirmation she looked back at Alki. To see she's walking off, "aaand what do you think your doing? Alki, I want to see if we can make it back before it gets--" She was cut off by a tickling sensation on the top of her head. Yooka instinctively ducked and looked up. A flabébé was floating above her, what it was doing exactly... she didn't want to know. It was just floating there looking happy.

She knew of a Flabébé that warned her of an incoming attack but this one was just laughing. Yooka growled to herself and straightened. "Having fun there floating flower fairy? mmrrr..." She turned to face alki again but just as she saw Alki, she felt a sting in the back of her head. She knew exactly what it was. Another instinctive action occured as she didn't really think; she just did. Her hand glowed orange as her body swung around and she backhanded the flabébé for using vine whip on her.

Directly after smacking the fairy, a thought occured. Was the fairy responsible for that scarf? Yooka cringed to that and looked away. She was pretty annoyed by the Fairy but the scarf was a defensive one. Maybe the fairy was just playing around...? (("...唸る..."))She groaned, or more noticeably, an uncaring sigh/growl was all she managed to make. Her mind was pacing faster than she could keep up.

ending type¦ Grass:

ooc, something important about that poison:

Ah, what were they even doing? Clovis' perspective wasn't particularly well-informed, but he knew what his goal was at the moment: to get himself and the pokémon he was with out of the woods and somewhere safe. Alki took the seed from him with no resistance on his part... then she wandered off towards a tree. But Yooka didn't seem to like that, and she told Alki to get back. Where was Alki trying to go, anyway? Clovis doubted that she would get very far on her own, unless she was incredibly lucky, and standing next to that tree wouldn't help anyone. He didn't particularly feel like shouting, too, so he just rubbed his eyes and tried to stay balanced, all the while his aching parts began to feel numb.

Yooka said something about a flower. Or a fairy. Or both. The piplup's perceptions were a bit unfocused, but he still saw the flabébé flying around, a moment before the tiny little thing was smacked silly. A bit rude, but Clovis had more urgent concerns than the well-being of one little, possibly-feral fairy. Presumably, the sprite would fly away, though it was a bit too tiny and Clovis' vision too unfocused to tell for sure. The only thing that was for sure, was that no good could come out of playing with fairies and making no progress towards the exit. "Come on, come on." He commanded. "We've got places to be. Move it, onward, march!" Clovis gestured for the others to follow him towards the exit.

Alki felt her grasp on reality beginning to slip. She closed her eyes, letting her body go limp. The poison really hurt… The colors of the dark forest began to blend, turning darker and darker until everything she could see, the only thing she could see was black. And this black became more and more uniform. Alki fainted.

A couple seconds passed, before the seed Alki was holding in her hands began to do it’s work. Her eyes began to open, the eyelids lifting up slowly. She coughed weakly, and glanced down at the now-used seed. She wanted to throw it away, get it out of her sight, but instead, held onto it. It’d serve as a reminder, of what not to do, of what she needed to work on. None of this would’ve happened if she’d have had any sort of competence. She sighed, her voice still raspy. But it was returning to her, and that was a marked improvement from her lack of speech earlier.

“I-I’m… I’m fine now. Sorry I fainted...” She managed to choke out. It was something she deserved though, considering how badly the fight had gone earlier, because she was holding the group back. She was an embarrassment of a guild member. Still, she’d do her best with what little time they had left. She wouldn’t get poisoned again! She’d help! She began to use Heal Pulse, the soft, soothing feeling surely washing over her company. After a few seconds, she stopped. “I… I hope that helped.” She said quietly, before looking between Clovis and Yooka her eyes worried and embarrassed at her lack of skill or overall usefulness.

A low rumbling off in the distance seemed to be approaching them. Alki tried to look and see what was causing it, but the darkness didn’t allow her tired eyes that sort of freedom. “I… I think something’s coming towards us.” She said, unaware of the Pinsir that was approaching.

This thread...:

The moment of the flower fairy passed by quickly. Not like it's much of a threat. The thing is tiny but they do pack a rather strong wind. Speaking of Fairy. Yooka noticed Alki was laying on the ground. She sighed as there goes the time of saving the seed. The effects of the seed were very noticeable. All injuries vanished and stuff, however not much has actually changed really, just signs that the revival seed worked when the igglybuff spoke. It was now that Yooka registered what the piplup said. Her headache continued as she herself spoke up to acknowledge it, "Aye--"

The bit about the pinsir was heard by her but her mind was more focused on leaving with the group intact this time. The presence of the pinsir was noted and she put some of her senses on the surroundings, instead of looking around she just listened. Her headache hurt enough to disrupt her thoughts. Impatience kicked in as she herself practically repeated the piplup's command. "--let's go already, this place is starting to kill my patience aswell." Simple enough, yooka would rather follow than lead... unless the leader was incompetent more so than herself.

Oh, boy, oh... Alki had, supposedly, fainted, and then woken right back up. The igglybuff sounded a bit healthier as she spoke, presumably because of that seed she had been given, the lucky little thing. The only things granting Clovis relief from his poison were a heal pulse from Alki, and knowledge of the fact that empoleon didn't have to deal with this sort of thing anyway. It was a pleasant feeling, that heal pulse, just as it had been before. The brief moment during which he was being hit with it directly served as a brief and much needed moment of respite for his aching muscles, and some of the relieving effect continued even after Alki had stopped using the move. It certainly helped to distract Clovis from his affliction, at least for a little while. And he would definitely need to be able to focus on something other than poison, if what Alki said about something coming was true.

While he was glad that Yooka agreed with his initial decision, this decision had changed, as Alki had brought forth new information. "Wait, wait. What's coming towards us?" Clovis asked, with about as much urgency as would be expected in such a situation. If it was another large feral, well, that would be a bit of a hindrance to their escape plan, now wouldn't it?

“Y-Yeah, t-t-there’s something... c-coming… t-towards us...” Alki mumbled, trying to peer into the darkness. The longer she waited, the better and better she felt. Her head cleared, and the poison that had resided in her body for what seemed like so long finally began to disappear. Still, it was hard for her mood to improve. They were still in the forest, after all, and until they left it far, far behind, Alki would not be in a happy mood. After all, there were still plenty of ferals in the forest. And those ferals knew poison type moves, and Alki felt rather certain that there wasn’t an unlimited supply of seeds that would heal her up.

And with these thoughts swimming in her head, Alki suddenly felt ready to cry as a Pinsir showed up in the clearing. Hadn’t she just been healed by the seed? And now a gargantuan bug Pokemon had turned up, just to ruin her day even more.

“I… I b-bet y’know poison moves, too, don’t you?”   She mumbled, her attempt at a sarcastic remark somewhat ruined by the fact the Igglybuff sounded on the verge of tears. She looked up at the feral. It didn’t look like a Pokemon from Grassveil or Rainfront. It looked crazy. Certainly not civilized, and Alki felt a certain, primordial sense of fear run through her body. She wanted to run away, as fast as she could go, because to a feral, she was prey, and she certainly didn’t have any intention of getting hurt, or worse, by some crazy, uncivilized Pokemon in some remote part of a mystery dungeon.

     With no warning whatsoever, Alki began to sing, as clearly and pretty as she could. Not just for the sake of singing, however, but things would be so much easier, if the feral in front of her just went to sleep. And if Alki could speed that process along, then all the better.

Even though it wasn't long at all. Clovis delayed their leave by asking a question Yooka could've answered. She didn't want to even if the question was aimed at her. she was annoyed and getting more so, aswell as impatient, as time went on. She didn't listen to Alki as the Pinsir went into their clearing. She was staring straight at it even moving towards it cracking her hand and neck. She ran from the heracross due to it's potential of knowing fighting-type moves, but a pinsir has much less such type advantage.

She was about ready to engage when she was interrupted by a sudden voice. She found it easy to ignore but she stopped all forward momentum to the Pinsir asshe turned to face the noise anyway. Same with the Pinsir except it seemed to relax, it even almost tipped backwards but it tried to lean lean forward as it sat down. "Eh...? The he-- oh, singing." Yooka crossed her arms and faced the Pinsir once again. Unsurprisingly, it was asleep. Knowing the danger, she walked over to it and poked it. Twice. She scoffed, Bugs are still wierd when they are in a deep sleep.

disregarding the aspect of being quiet because she knows the infamous sleep status doesn't end straight away, she went ahead and gave the Pinsir a whopping P-up punch on the top of the head and spoke up to the others, "Alki... did you just sing because you-- nevermind, let's just go before it wakes up." The Pinsir fell on it's face but remained asleep. Either she knocked it unconscious or it really was in a deep sleep. Yooka just continued to stare at it annoyed, waiting for it to just suddenly get up.

Dearie, dearie, me. There was most certainly something approaching. A large, noisy, primeval presence became increasingly difficult to ignore. Clovis looked in the same direction as the rest of the group, and a pinsir of about five feet in height manifested itself in the light. It was big and it was strong, probably bigger and stronger than the rest of them combined. It was an unsettling situation, with the big bug gazing aggressively at the three smaller pokémon, but it wasn't a hopeless one. They had escaped from another big bug before, surely they would have the same luck with this one as well. Even if they couldn't run away, Clovis had faith in his own abilities, and faith in those of Yooka. Alki would probably have to flee, though.

From Alki, Clovis heard a short little quip about poison. Her voice betrayed a terrible sense of fear, despite how well timed the little joke had been, but still, Clovis was glad to hear that she had a bit of humor left in her. The piplup shifted his legs a bit in preparation for a Hydro Pump attack. He took aim with his beak, and concentrated on the pinsir. Steadily he prepared, waiting for the right moment to loose a torrent of water, before being... distracted. A soothing melody sounded out from the igglybuff, like a lullaby. It was a very pretty sound, he had to admit. Clovis found himself unable to focus on much more than the igglybuff's song. He looked over at the rest of the clearing, where the pinsir had been lulled onto the ground, and at Alki, singing. The pinsir was downed... so what did Clovis have to worry about? He let himself fall to the ground, too; carefully, of course. He had been feeling lethargic before. Something about Alki's singing had drained him even further. That was a natural thing with igglybuff, wasn't it? Either way, Clovis settled himself into a comfortable position on the ground and shut his eyes, seeing little point in trying to resist.