The forest's secrets

It was early in the afternoon as Darcy and Nightingale forged ahead into Shadowhue Forest.  Darcy gazed up at the trees surrounding her, the Skitty feeling a little awestruck even though this was her third time visiting this forest...  The air was pleasantly cool and shady thanks to the enormous trees, despite it being a sunny and warm day outside.  Perhaps it would have been relaxing, if the forest wasn't so vast and deep and labyrinthine...  But as things were, it was all too easy to imagine creatures lurking in the shadows, and getting lost seemed to be a real risk, even if they stuck to the numerous dirt footpaths that wound their way between the trees like tunnels, surrounded on all sides by dense greenery...  Even the sky overhead was covered by a dense canopy of leaves.  It almost felt like they were indoors, exploring a vast maze or dungeon...

Darcy kept her ears perked up as she led the way.  She was on alert for not only the sounds of any other Pokemon that may be in the woods, but also for the sound of rushing water...  They were searching for a waterfall, after all.  "So, um...  Finding that river is our first order of business," she said, taking a deep breath and coming to a halt as she examined their surroundings.  "When I was here last time, I heard it in...  The northern part of the forest.  ...I think.  I'll lead us there, so just stick close to me and help me listen, okay?"

She looked over her shoulder, giving Nightingale a cheerful smile as her tail swished back and forth energetically.  "Simple, right?  Do you have any questions before we start searching?"

OOC:

His ears twitched at every sound, her words went in one ear and out the other but he tried his best to pay attention. Fear gripped him as he took slow careful steps. His tail was fluffed out in the air and his ears couldn't stand more upright. Darcy smile the only thing that was calming him down. "Huh? Oh, yah...I'll help." His voice quivered as he spoke. He was on the prowl to listen for the river. He knew their goal was behind a waterfall before they had gotten here and he was told to follow the river so it seemed to be common sense to look for it. "And one question. Are we going to run from the bad guys? Yah?" His eyes shifted from left to right; his mind running rampant with horrible imagery of scary pokemon hunting the two of them down and staring at them from beyond the bushes. He was surprised, however, that Darcy seemed to be really calm. Maybe it was because he had been here before.

He stuck close to Darcy, his tail standing upright as it flicked back and forth like a dousing rod. His heart was beating a mile a minute and he was scared and was sticking close to Darcy like she was a floating piece of driftwood in his sea of fear. The cold air sending a chill up his spine and the dark atmosphere of the forest itself making him feel small in comparison, sure, he was the tallest of the two if he stood on his hind legs, but the trees gave off the vibe he was but a speck of sand on a beach.

ooc, dont mind if a suprise ya, yes?:

Perhaps it was too soon but Yooka felt a wierd vibe around Darcy lately. It seemed like she acted differently towards Yooka ever since Yooka had an incident with two exeggutor in Shadowhue Forest... She asked around the guild if anyone saw her, finding out she was walking around the town near the exit to shadowhue. When Yooka arrived, Darcy was nowhere to be seen. Yooka would have just shrugged this off if it wasnt for her overhearing a couple of kids say they saw a pink pokemon get stuck in a bush outside and that a grey pokemon had to get it out. The saying was rather vague but it fit Darcy by color... matter aswell check it out.

It also somewhat confirmed her theory of Darcy being sneaky but a grey pokemon? Does she have any of that color in her team or was it a random pokemon? Yooka doesn't remember there being any grey pokemon in Darcy's team. maybe the Drillbur... but the notion of Darcy being with a pokemon that actually 'helped' lessened the aspect of Darcy being taken.

It also didnt take as long as Yooka thought to find something to point her in the right direction for she found something that gave her the best evidence she needed and it just happened to be in a random bush. A strand of someone's scarf was attached to a stiff twig. Whatever happened, it must have been either pretty bad or embarrassing... getting stuck in a bush 'just' enough that something like 'an explorer's scarf being ripped' and 'that they needed help to get out' had to happen. The color of the strand also matched that of Darcy's scarf too. Yooka was smirking when she found it, taking it aswell.

It was a straight line from Grassveil to Shadowhue from this bush. So Darcy was 'probably' heading for Shadowhue forest... Yooka knew of a plusle and minun that were in there, perhaps she's just visiting them... but why make it off like it was such a secret? Yooka just continued to smirk. Matter aswell find out what she's doing now that I came all this way.

ooc, ignore this one if you want:

ooc:

"Oh, Gale..." Darcy said while lowering her ears, her heart instantly struck by how scared Nightingale looked...  He had seemed so confident and excited earlier, but now he seemed on the verge of panic, his tail fluffed up and his eyes wide with fear...  She slowly walked closer, speaking softly and giving him a gentle smile...  "I know I said that shady Pokemon live here.  And, well...  Some do, for sure...  I've met a couple..." she said.

"But that doesn't mean they're all over the place.  Or that everyone who lives here is bad.  The guild would never let apprentices like me come here, otherwise."  She sat down by his side, touching his fluffy tail with her own while she gazed at him.  "I'm...  Well, I'm a little nervous too...  But I think we'll be alright.  The guild does encourage us go in groups.  It's what the team system is for.  I was too scared to come here alone, but I don't think anyone will bother us as long as we're together.  

"Um...  But if we ever really have to, yes, we can run away," she said while standing up again and giggling a little.  "And you still have that seed that I gave you.  But do you still want to go?  Um...  I want to keep going, but...  I don't want to force you into it.  We can head back to town if you're having second thoughts."

OOC:

He shook his head, Darcy seemed to calm him down as she spoke about the guild. It did make sense that if they brought newer guildies here that this place isn't so bad. His tail slowly lowered, it was still fluffed out in fear but he was trying to calm down. His eyes slowly relaxed and so too, the little chinchilla. The sun above them wouldn't stay in the air for long. He didn't like the idea of the unknown and shady Pokemon watching him. But he didn't want to pass up the opportunity to go exploring and make a story of his own. He turned and looked at Darcy, feeling his tail gently touch hers and he nodded his head. Quiet words left his mouth as he managed to speak. "Lets keep going.." his words a whisper but he could be heard. He kept close as Darcy reminded him of the seed. Reaching around and pulling it out of his old and beat up pack he showed it to her with a nod before putting it back in.

With a bit more confidence he spoke again "We're already out here. It'd be quicker to find what we came for." Maybe it was the fact Darcy had given him a berry and a blast seed before this adventure that made him feel safer or maybe it was the adventurer next to him, the point was that he was almost back to his old self. Twitchy movements every so often from his ears and his eyes looking around at the dungeon itself but other than that he was fine. Confident in his abilities to keep them both going, or at least confident enough to buy Darcy enough time to run before he would leg it himself.

He put one foot infront of the other, slowly, taking careful steps as he started to lead the way through the dungeon, following the sound of where water would be. His ears twitching as he focused in on the sounds. Nightingale was walking with Darcy but he did not want to go too far ahead. While he was feeling confident he didn't want to stray to far from his exploration partner.

ooc, aye! shweet!:

It took Yooka not even a couple minutes to reach Shadowhue's western entrance. She looked around for some hint into which direction Darcy headed but there were no tracks to be seen... infact the ground was too clean. Was Darcy really trying to cover her tracks? Yooka actually laughed at the thought. "What is it you are doing in there, Darcy?" Only a few things come to mind and something she read about shadowhue a couple weeks ago... The plusle and minun friends, She's just playing around with a stranger who probably suggested this area, or the Monochrome Falls located somewhere in the north north-eastern areas of shadowhue.

Yooka didn't think Darcy would actually go there. It's rumored to be a place where fighting pokemon go to train and meditate. Guessing a waterfall helps while fighting and meditating, Yooka doesn't know why or even tried to do it but it was said to help in some way. White-noise? Well, thats a good place to start looking if any.

Yooka checked her bag to see if she stocked her usual. She did. An apple for obviousness, A single reviver seed for just incase, A blast seed for the big threats, a sitrus Berry for when she gets tired, and a few Spikes. Hopefully she wont ever have to use them seriously.

Looking back at the over-cleaned ground. It surprisingly lead into the north aswell. Darcy, your covering your track a little 'too' well that the cover itself is giving it away... She decided to follow the cleaned path for a bit.

ooc, not yet.:

also

energy ¦ 17:

Ravio carried out 3 launched of one Shadowhue Forest :

, ,

ooc:

"Okay.  Umm...  Thank you," Darcy said, flashing Nightingale an appreciative smile as he agreed to keep going.  "...Getting to come out here like this means a lot to me, you know.  I, umm...  I've wanted to practice exploring like this for a long time.  I owe you a lot.  If we find something interesting in this cave...  Well, it'll be my biggest accomplishment as a guildmember, for sure."  She continued walking deeper into the forest, slowing her pace a little to make sure neither of them would find themselves separated by accident.

Darcy fell silent as they walked, focusing her attention on the sounds of the forest once again.  The air was mostly quiet...  The only prominent noise was that of wind blowing its way through its way across the forest, causing the canopy far over head to flutter, occasionally revealing speckled patches of sunbeams on the path ahead of them.  There were other sounds too, every now and again, but none of them were as common or as comforting.  A snapping twig far off in the undergrowth, the sharp cry of a bird Pokemon passing far overhead, a distant chittering sound that could only have come from a bug Pokemon...

...Unconsciously, Darcy found herself sticking even closer to Nightingale than before.  She couldn't deny that the forest was a little unsettling.  Especially when they just walked in silence like this.  ...But while she couldn't say for certain, she also thought she heard the distant gurgling of a stream up ahead.  She smiled, and managed to relax a little...  At least they were going in the right direction.

ooc:

OOC:

The pair of Pokemon walked under the forest, his eyes shifting back and forth as the trees rustled with every blow of the wind. The sun kept setting as they walked, the 'courageous' duo making their way through the forest with relative ease, Nightingale only letting out a yelp when he heard the shrill cry of a Pokemon flying overhead. The sun setting made the night air cooler and made the forest darker. This wasn't your everyday darkness. This was....advanced darkness. And Nightingale held himself close to Darcy; practically pressing himself into her as he walked on all fours. As the sound of the stream ahead hit the ears of the Minccino his eyes widened and a smile grew on his face. "Do you hear that?!" His wide smile filling him with courage as he took off towards the sounds of the river. His feet kicking up the dirt as he looked back at Darcy. "Come on!" He spoke, almost begging Darcy to hurry and catch up to him.

He stood at the what appeared to be a break in the trees. Ahead of him was the river in question as the sun was setting. The orange tint in the sky causing the reflection on the river to illuminate Nightingale. His smile offsetting the yellow and orange of the sky. His white teeth and grey outline making him easily visible from the dark forest. "I can see the river!"

ooc, timeskip huh?:

Followimg the trail didn't last long as the cover-up stopped and returned to being normal footprints. Following these footprints wasn't exactly easy due to the lighting in the forest but the path was practically linear. It was only after a couple of minutes of following the trail did Yooka 'just barely' catch two silhouettes in the distance. She assumed it was Darcy with the stranger and sped up, ignoring the path. The two heading straight for Monochrome Falls or at the least the central river that runs north to south. As Yooka could also hear it. Following the river would make finding the Falls easier. Good thinking... but it's quite easy to go around someone on a set path, such as that.

Taking a separate path, Yooka knew which way was north due to the direction she approached the river and knew she was heading in the right direction due to the noise of the river. Her pacing was a bit rushed as she was trying to get ahead of the two who probably have the faster path. However, reaching the river didn't take long and there wasn't any sign of the two just yet. Perhaps she could set-up some type of trap. Oh, this will be fun. She took off her backpack which looked like her species of pokemon but it was more plushie-like and, just like Yooka herself, it too is also colored Purple.

Yooka took out the reviver seed in her bag for a just in case moment if things go bad while she's hiding. Yooka set the backpack in the middle of the path next to the river like it was just waiting for the skitty. Sitting there, limp, facing the path they should be heading down... It looked funny to Yooka overall. She went back into the brush and started waiting. She'll let them see it and they'll probably know it's hers... but she'll act like strangers were trying to steal her stuff but play it off as a joke to see how well Darcy can hold up. This will determine for Yooka if Darcy should continue and a couple other stuff that should be obvious if things go badly aswell.

ooc, Funny to Yooka, not-so funny to them:

Darcy blinked as Nightingale spoke up, and once she noticed the sound of rushing water up ahead, a grin instantly broke across her own face too.  She wasted no time chasing after him, laughing as she darted through the dark forest and found herself caught up in another short race with him to the river's shore.

But while she had been excited to see the river for their entire walk through the forest, nothing could have prepared her for seeing it in person.  "G-Gale, it's beautiful!" the awestruck Skitty said as she walked over to Nightingale's side.  The trees were thinner around the river, leaving them in a small clearing dappled with brilliant orange sunlight...   They stood on a small cliff, the river a few feet below them, its rushing water reflecting the setting sun in a way that made the surroundings glitter and sparkle in a way that could never have been created by the sunset alone...

"We actually made it..!" she whispered as she turned to face Nightingale, still starry-eyed and captivated by this dreamlike river in the middle of the dark forest.  "I-I think...  I think that even if we don't see the ruins now, this trip was worth it.  I had no clue that a place like this could exist in Shadowhue...  But here it is, bright and pretty...  I've never seen anything like it..."

She gazed over the river once again, watching the sun and the bright orange sky in front of them...  The trees really were thinner here, and the small cliff they were standing on gave them a view of the sunset that absolutely shocked her after spending so long in the forest...

After a moment, she recalled their original reason for finding the river, though it didn't seem quite so important now.  She glanced upstream to see if they were close to the waterfall, but she didn't see one, simply being treated to a sight of the river stretching farther north...  However, she did spot something out of the corner of her eye, lying on the path that ran north parallel to the river.

"Hm..?" she said while padding over to it.  She almost mistook it for a Pokemon at first, but she gave it a closer look as she approached.  It seemed to be...  Some kind of stuffed animal?  One that looked like an oddly familiar purple Kecleon.  It seemed kind of cute, lying there in the middle of the path like that.  It made Darcy want to pick it up and take it home with her.

She sat in front of it and picked it up with her forepaws, giving it a small hug as she examined it closer.  There was something odd about this stuffed animal...  It looked exactly like one of her teammates, of course...  But Darcy also could have sworn that she'd seen it before somewhere, too...

Then her paws felt straps on the back, and noticed zipper where the mouth should be, and she finally remembered.  "...Oh?  This is my teammate's bag," Darcy said, looking at it some more and wearing a confused smile.  "I wonder what it's doing out here.  Maybe she dropped it while she was out on a mission? ...I could have sworn that I saw her wearing it just last night, though..."

She put the bag down in its side, and carefully put her left forepaw through one of its straps...  Then she put her right forepaw through the other strap, pulling the bag onto her back and wearing it as if she were a Dwebble carrying its shell.  "Well... I'm not sure how she lost it, but I think she'll be really happy to see it again.  She had it custom made just for herself," Darcy said as she walked in circles a few times, wearing a tiny smile as she imagined how relieved and pleased Yooka would look when this bag was returned to her...  The Skitty sighed and then settled prone on the ground, looking back towards Nightingale and the river.  The bag was much too big for her, and it was cumbersome to hold, making it a struggle to even move around...  But she looked so cheerful that she was clearly looking forward to surprising her Kecleon friend with it.  Today had really been worth it after all, and they hadn't even reached their goal yet...

Nightingale would have spoken sooner but he watched Darcy just smile at the waves. His own smile could not be contained as well. Until she noticed something and walked away. He was confused but decided to follow. Looking at the rivers current to see what way it leads. His gaze shifting to meet a Kecleon backpack with a purple looking Pokemon bag staring at him. As Darcy spoke he seemed confused as to why she would have assumed it was her friends until the words "Custom Made" left her mouth. An understanding "Oooh.." left the ashen chincillas lips as he didn't continue, he would have said to just loot the bag and run but it seemed as though Darcy knew who it belonged to so they shouldn't take anything inside of it.

The whole experience here still had Nightingale uneasy about this place, and with the sun setting, he knew if they didn't hurry to the cave then they wouldn't make it to the ruins until it was dark out. "Darcy, we should get going. If we don't hurry we might not make it in time." He stated as his gaze moved back towards the river. He dipped his front paw in and watched what way the water moved around it. They were looking for a waterfall so the best bet would be to move against the water current. It was the right idea from a survivalists perspective. You want to move upstream and follow the river; however, he didn't know if other Pokemon would be around it.

His grey eyes shifted back to the Skitty as he watched her try to pick up a bag that was clearly too big for her. Nightingale shook his head and snickered a bit before speaking. "Can you even carry that thing?" He questioned behind his laughter. "Just leave it, I'm sure if your friend is strong enough to come here alone and drop it they're strong enough to come back and grab it."

He mumbled a quiet "That Pokemon on the bag looks familiar, though..." His words quiet, it could be heard by Darcy if she listened hard enough. His tail swishing from side to side as he tried to put a name to the face. "Yooko? Or was it...Youkah?" He let out a huff as he tried his best but to remember the Pokemon but he couldn't. With a shrug of his shoulders, he turned back towards his friend. "Do you need help?"

The moment came a few minutes later. Yooka heard Darcy talk about the scene, touching, but what she heard Darcy say during that gave her a chill. She 'was' heading for Monochrome Falls... worse still the rumored ruins behind it. Then, a familiar voice popped up that made Yooka question the pokemon Darcy's with but she couldn't see it from this angle. Before she could adjust, Yooka watched Darcy trying to put on her backpack which was about the same size as the skitty. Cute, but not just yet... just need to-- ah, there you are...

Shifting her weight silently she was able to see the second pokemon as a Minccino. Funny, he looks familiar and sounds familiar, do I know him? meh... Deciding now is the best time, Yooka slipped behind the Minccino just as quietly and spoke out in a rather slithery voice. "And what do we have here? A skitty and Minccino, messing with my stuff. This part of Shadowhue isn't safe for just anybody..."

Yooka's voice quickly went friendly, "So you shouldn't go on without someone like me! Come on, Darcy... Monochrome Falls? You do know it's rumored to have fighting pokemon right? Your not--" Yooka finally looked at the Minccino's face. "--Wait... I 'do' know you... whats your name again?"

"Yeah.  You're right, we should go..." Darcy said, taking one more look at the sun.  It would be setting altogether soon...  They probably only had two or three more hours of light left at the very most.  She shuddered at the thought of needing to walk through Shadowhue Forest at night.  Not only because of how hard it would be to see...  But because of the kind of Pokemon that were rumored to live here.

But she smiled again, noticing Nightingale's amused giggling as she stood back to her feet.  She must have looked pretty ridiculous with Yooka's bag on her back.  "Awww, I can carry it.  It isn't too heavy.  ...It is kind of bulky though."  She shifted her weight awkwardly...  It weighed about as much as her own bag, so it wasn't too heavy to pick up and carry, but she also didn't want to explore the ruins while being tethered down by it...  "I'll just leave it here.  If we have time, we can pick it up on our way ho--"

Her eyes widened and she stumbled backwards, the weight of the bag making her fall onto her haunches.  "G-Gale..." she stuttered quietly as another Pokemon revealed herself, her voice sinister as she informed them both that coming here had been a mistake... And for a moment, Darcy believed it.  This newcomer...  She loomed over both of them, and seemed none too pleased about what they were doing...

...But then the Kecleon dropped her act.  Darcy kept staring at her, the Skitty's fear melting into confusion, and then into embarrassment...  "Y-Yooka..?" she muttered, flattening her ears and blushing as she let out a sigh.  "...S-sorry.  I, um...  Fighting Pokemon?  I didn't know that..."

She squirmed free of Yooka's bag, then stood up and took a few steps towards the Kecleon, not quite sure what to say...  "U-umm, did you hear all of that talk about the ruins behind the falls, this morning..?  I, umm...  Well, I've been reading so much about how to be a good explorer, and I thought, maybe, since I have Alki to look out for, I could...  Practice?"
 
She sat down and looked away, expecting to be scolded...  Even though Yooka was newer to the guild than she was, the Skitty always felt like the less experienced one when Yooka was around.  The Kecleon was...  Tough, and mysterious, in a lot of ways that Darcy knew she herself wasn't.  It was why she hadn't asked Yooka to come along on this little adventure.  Didn't she have more important things to do?  "I-is it more dangerous than I thought..?  Did you come here to stop us..?" Darcy mumbled.

But then Yooka turned her attention to Nightingale.  "...Oh..?  Do you know Gale, Yooka?" Darcy asked, gazing up at her.  "Gale, have you two met each other before?"

Nightingale would have intervened but the purple Pokemon triggered a memory and the whole day came rushing back to him. "Yooka?" He questioned with a cocked eyebrow before a smile grew on his face. He seemed to cheer up instantly. "You're the smart Pokemon who helped me with the puzzles in Grassveil! You know, the one with the chess pieces and the paper I needed to clean!" He sighed and shook his head, his grin not leaving his face as he looked at Darcy. "I know her, she gave me some cookies you made." He stopped talking for a second to think. He blinked once and rubbed the back of his head. "Oh, I guess I didn't thank you for the cookies. Thank you!" He said with his little chest puffed out with pride. His ears flicked a bit before he remembered that they were in Shadowhue Forest. The sunset and the opening of the trees, as well as his friends being here, seemed to make him forget that they were in a dungeon and only had a limited amount of time.

"Erm...sorry to cut this meeting short, though, but we've got to go." His ears twitching as he seemed to focus more on the dungeon around them. His mind was everywhere but where his two friends were. He didn't want to be rude but he wasn't paying them much attention. His tail swishing left and right slowly; as if he were being careful and trying to stay quiet for one reason or another. "Oh, Yooka." He spoke, not looking at either of them as his attention was focused more on the path they needed to take. "Do you want to come with Darcy and I? We're looking for a cave behind a waterfall."

Darcy and Nightingale both handled the situation rather too calmly, somewhat. Did she give too much time with the bag or were they actually not that scared? It doesn't matter, the points been made, but neither seemed to have noticed it. Darcy 'was' mildly afraid and spilt some info Yooka hadn't considered she'd actually know, while Nightingale went ahead and asked if she'd come along but not after telling her what she didn't need to hear that she already remembered. Yooka sighed, not getting a name but a nickname. She shrugged to herself and decided against repeating her question.

However, the moment both Darcy and Nightingale said they were heading for a cave 'behind' the Waterfall. Yooka looked over them, upriver, as if searching the waterfall that was out of view in the distance. "I guess you could say that, darcy... and I wasn't the 'smartest' one there, did you forget the Alakazam...(?) pff... and we couldn't even beat the fourth puzzle, meh. Monochrome Ruins. That place is apparently huge for there are not that many reports at the guild on it. Not that I didn't sneak into the archives or anything, heh." She looked down at Natingale. "I didn't think you'd go 'there', I thought you'd just hang around the Falls if anything... but If that's the case its actually better to go in at night. I've seen reports of less violent activity during the night and more 'serenity' whatever that could mean. Something about illuminated ... er, I didn't think it was important." Now Yooka panned her view over to Darcy. "Regardless If I wanted to stop you two. I would have been on the otherside of you. No, I'm here to see what your doing and to give advice on the subject. I got my answer... I gave my advice. However, he seems to want me along now and you said you wanted to practice being a guildmember. How about acting like Im the client and your escorting me through the ruins to find out anything on whatever you'd want. Just be warned the place is slightly more dangerous than this forest. Mystery dungeons within Mystery dungeons are more mysterious and chaotic. Which happens to fit in with what I tend to like."

Walking over to her backpack she looked at the canopy of the forest. "I seemed to have stalled your plans a little. I'll make up for it when the time comes for one." Looking at Nightingale, she smirked while putting on her bag. "Or should I say, I owe you one."

ooc, ruins and Yooka: