Ground Shakes and Bone Quakes

(Energy! 22 - 5 = 17)

Rouge wandered into the forest; how long had it been sense he walked out to this place, he wondered? This place was familiar to him, and pecha berries were plentiful. Slowly, he walked further into the forest, his bone dragging behind him leaving a slight trail of disturbed grass in it's wake. It didn't matter much though as unless a wild Pokemon stronger than he started tracking him, he'd be safe. Rouge gave a smile as he walked out into a fragrant clearing; the smells of the fresh forest dew and pecha berries were strong, but pleasant. He walked out toward the center, in the direct sunlight and looked to the sky, adjusting his bone helmet accordingly to keep the sun out of his eye. Surveying the sky for any signs of flying pokemon, he was startled when he heard a bush rustle on the edge of the clearing.

Startled, he cautiously approached the rustled brush, bone at the ready in case it was a hostile Pokemon. The rustling had stopped by the time he reached the brush making him more curious. With his club, he pushed the brush aside only to find the remnants of a few pecha berries and a trail of a gooey, stringy substance. Rouge assumed it have been nothing more than a weedle or caterpie eating its fill and chuckled at his own paranoia.

(Energy 16 - 5 = 11)

At the edge of the forest, a Sandshrew was debating if he should venture forth. He was certainly hungry but the forest was not like the desert he used to roam in: the grass was no sand, bushes were no tumbleweed, hills were not dunes and rain was definitely no sandstorm. He had a lot to learn but he felt ready, the wilderness was his for the taking.

At first, he thought that it was as simple as following the guidelines that he had followed through his entire life. Yigo only had to find enough food to be sustained with. A couple of berries would do it for that day.

Minutes had passed since he finally decided to sneak in. It was harder than it seemed at first glance: foliage got always in his way, the various odour of the native fauna made it difficult to track a specific scent and many of the berries he had found were either hollow or rotten. If he was a bit hungrier he might try to eat the berries skin but he was not that desperate... yet.

A sound from relatively near broke the monotony of the scavenging run. It sounded like a feral messing with its surroundings loudly. Perhaps it found food. It was time to find out if it that was true and, if it was indeed true, snatch it from the feral Pokemon.

He began advancing towards the source of the disturbance, sneaking in at first. However, he had problems with his environment too. He found himself stumbling upon every root that happened to be on his way. One of the aforementioned trips happened just when he was going to approach the feral Pokemon. He was on the ground, fortunately behind a tree trunk, seeing how a Cubone was having a nice laugh in front of a brush. It seemed like he was having a great time bashing it but the Sandshrew was certain that it must have heard of him. He didn´t have much time to recover before it realised he was there.

Rouge heard a thud as something heavier than a berry hi the ground. His attention turned in the direction of of sudden sound. His eyes grew wide when he saw the sandshrew laying on the ground. His grip tightened on his bone, but kept it lowered so not to look threatening. Slowly, Rouge made his way to the downed pokemon, keeping a small distance from him. He spoke, his voice still clumsy but getting better day by day.

"N-need H-help?" Rouge questioned, looking at the sandshrew. He tried to give a friendly smile, but feared it may come off as threatening. With his face twisted in a half smile, Rouge shifted his weight between his feet, awkwardly standing there waiting for a response.

Yigo could hear it clearly. The Cubone was getting closer, slow but steady. He had been spotted! Not only that, he was completely unprepared. The Cubone was getting the first strike no matter what he tried. He didn´t have enough time to curl in either.

Yigo closed his eyes, waiting for the Cubone to make his move. A second passed... and another... and another. The Sandshrew opened his eyes to check out what could be happening. The Cubone was standing in front of him, waiting. It had his bone lowered but it was smiling. It had finally found a prey... and it was Yigo. At least, that was what he though before it had time to talk to him. It was wondering if he needed help.

Yigo blinked twice and twitched his ears in order to tune into any other sound around. It looked like no one else was near. The Cubone was still waiting for a response, so the Sandshrew nodded and raised his hand in order to be helped standing up. It was nice to see another friendly desert dweller, even if they were not where they were supposed to live. Besides, he would be safer having someone else around if he happened to fail again.

Rouge reached out and grabbed the gold colored pokemon's hand and pulled it to its feet. He was glad the pokemon accepted his help rather than try and run in fear; this place was nice enough alone, but having someone to talk to would give him practice. This put a smile on rouge face, and interest in his mind. Many questions came to his mind, 'who is this pokemon? where did they come from? were they hurt? how old are they?' and so on, Rouge shook the thoughts away and settled on a single simple question.

"W-whats your N-name?" he wanted to know what he could call the pokemon that now stood before him. His grip on his bone loosened to a normal grip and his muscles relaxed, there was no danger for now.

It was a strange moment when the Sandshrew´s hand met the Cubone´s. The way their fingers intermingled shared more than words could about them. The Cubones grip was strong and steady while Yigo tried not to cut his helper´s hand with his claw. If they were in another situation, he would have played a bit with his new acquaintance, but he guessed that none of them was in the forest just to meet new people.

Yigo got back to his feet but not back to reality at all. The Cubone´s smile grew bigger and more sincere. It was no longer considering Yigo its prey. Had the Cubone accepted him as its partner?

A very familiar question woke him up from his thoughts. "Yigo" he simply replied in high-spirits. However, he had noticed that the question was oddly pronounced. It didn´t seem that the Cubone was nervous, on the contrary, it seemed quite relaxed. He set that concern aside and followed the conversation as expected "What´s your nam- ?"

A growl interrupted their conversation but he soon realised that it wasn´t from any feral Pokemon. His belly had enough chit-chatting and wanted to continue with the scavenging run.

"I-I guess that you have already figured out my... intentions" he laughed a bit to hide his insecurity while patting his belly with his left arm "I guess that I wasn´t lucky today... hehe..."

PrimordialPrim carried out 5 launched of one Pecha Forest :

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Rouge noted this golden pokemon's name to be Yigo, a fine name in Rouge's eyes. The typical response to his question was cut off by the sounds of a growling stomach; Rouge gave a chuckle. Yigo must be fairly hungry, and Rouge knew where the best place to gather berries was. Before that, He thought, it would be a good Idea to give Yigo his own name.

"R-Rouge Bone." He state bluntly; it was all he had time to say before bushes started shaking. Startled, Rouge turned on his heels to face the bushes, club ready to swing defensively. His eyes narrowed as he braced for what might attack. Even being at the ready didn't help the small cubone as a Weeping bell fell from a tree, engulfing him down to his arms. Unbalanced from the sudden weight Rouge stumbled backwards and over a root, falling directly into a bush. A supersized Hoothoot Flaped it's wings to get out of the way of the tripping cubone, becoming enraged at the sudden disturbance and proceeded to peck at him.

After making a fool of himself, Yigo found in his companion´s eyes understanding. The hunter shared its name with him, Rouge Bone, with that peculiar pronunciation. A strange accent, he supposed.

Not long after that, though, Yigo sensed movement. He was about to warn Rouge but the surrounding flora had already tipped him off. The Cubone decided to go to investigate it, the same way it had approached him before. The Sandshrew was fine letting it go first, he´ll be on the rear just in case. After all, he was not a fighter. He would consider himself more of a scout or a scavenger.

But danger came indeed, from nowhere to be expected. A bell-shaped plant-thing dropped from the sky right into the Cubone. It was trying to devour Rouge! His companion was struggling to get free but only made matters worse, tripping and falling upon the bush where a wild avian Pokemon was lying in wait. It seemed that they were not the only ones teaming up for a hunting party.

Rouge got completely surrounded in a moment while Yigo was watching from a distance. His first reaction was to charge into the fray but, in the midst of it, his mind had gone blank. He looked back at the Pokemon engaged in battle. They were all bigger and stronger than he was. Besides, if he tried freeing Rouge from the plant-thing he may harm his partner in the process, the Cubone was still inside that thing after all.

The Sandshrew raised his claws but... he was unable to put them to work. Without noticing it, he had started to step back looking for safety while the predators were distracted. It was a horrible way to act but, what else could he do?

Guilt and remorse crawled on his sandy back, making it shiver and shake in desperation. Drops of sand contrasted with the green grass, surely giving away his position if those Pokemon were to give him chase. It was one of the few times he regretted having sand on his back. It was now useless, just like himself. No... he was proud of his sand. It was his heritage and he was proud of it. Moreover, it was convinced that it would save them both.

With a fistful of sand in hand, he charged against his enemies. The golden dust flew towards the Weepinbell. A sand attack would surely blind it or at least, make it switch its target. His only hope was that his distraction was enough to let the Cubone escape. However, the manoeuvre did not end for he wasn´t the only one that had golden powder to share.

The surrounding breeze became a furious gale carrying yellow powder. Yigo was able to resist the winds wake but there was a nasty surprise waiting. He couldn´t move!

(Status ailment: paralysis)

It was dark, hot, and moist inside of the Weepinbel's mouth, and being pecked near his stomach and legs didn't nothing to make him more comfortable. Rouge nearly cried out, but knew that would only result in him losing his energy faster, Rouge's only hope was the sand covered pokemon he had just met.

Suddenly brighter and cool, The weepinbell had gotten some sand into it's mouth causing it to cough him out. Freedom from the mouth, but not danger. The hoothoot pecked at Rouge's freshly exposed chest as he swatted it away with one hand while looking for his club with the other. It felt like an eternity had passed when he finally clutched it. With a wide arc, Rouge swung with all of his strength nailing the hoothoot right in between it's eyes. As the avian pokemon stumbled back Rouge sprang to his feet and hopped back to his partner.

"G-good T-toss" Rouge complemented his partner's sand attack and turned to him only to find that the sand covered pokemon was paralyzed. At this point the Weepinbell had recovered and charged forward towards Yigo. Rouge did the only thing that came naturally to him, he stood between them and started swinging his bone to meet the charging pokemon. Rouge was bused and battered, but he was still able to fight to protect Yigo.

The open side of the bell-shaped predator got wider after he got struck by that sand attack. Rouge took that opportunity to get free and joined the battle. There was only a slight problem, the Cubone still have to beat two foes alone since Yigo got paralysed. It was a strange sensation, his body was itchy and shaking due to the sticky powder that the Weepinbell segregated. However, it wouldn´t allow him to move on his own. The roles had been reversed: Yigo was now the one defenceless. But the battle progressed well. With a couple of hits, the Cubone managed to strike the winged beast down, at least for a while.

On the other hand, the Weepinbell was unhappy with Yigo and, unsatisfied with the taste of his first victim, it decided to go try the other choice on the menu. It had even spiced Yigo for the occasion. Vines came out from the back of its head to regain balance and momentum for its next strike. Using the nearby trees as its support, it charged toward him. It was a nightmarish sight, it seemed like the whole forest was supporting the creature trying to eat them both. What were the odds of defeating such an intimidating foe in its own terrain? In the blink of an eye, the Cubone got between Yigo and the Weepinbell, making it stop in the middle of the rush. Rouge had no doubts about Yigo. They were partners, and partners got eachothers´ backs.

Needless to say, the Weepinbell was not impressed and had other ways to get to the Sandshrew. Yigo could see the plant-thing glowing green... but it was getting difficult for him to maintain focus. His head... something was wrong with his head. Despite being paralysed, his twitches began to fade. He was getting weaker, to the point of dropping to the floor.

"W-what... is..." was the only thing he could say, staring at some green orbs floating in the air. The orbs... were coming... out of... his body.

ooc:

Rouge swing had stopped the charge, but the Weepinbell was doing something odd... it seamed to be sucking in air and drooling. Thats when he saw green orbs flying from behind him to the Weepinbells, each one that touched seem to heal it. Rouge dashed forward trying to intercept as many of the orbs as he could to prevent it from healing a large amount, though it didn't do much. He looked back to his partner that had fallen to the ground, still paralyzed. This situation looked bad, and it became even worse when the Hoothoot came back, recovered from being hit.

Rouge wasn't sure which was worse, the hoothoot or the weepinbell being ready to attack. Rouge braced for another attack, but then something strange happened. The hoothoot seemed to be more annoyed with the weepinbell at this point as it attacked it's own partner! Rouge walked backwards while the two wild pokemon fought with each other in an attempt to reach his own partner. Rouge turned and picked up his partner pulling him back behind cover.

"R-recover F-from s-stiffness. not f-find you h-here." Rouge said to Yigo before dashing out into the fray again. He was still bruised and battered, but hopefully one of the wild pokemon had fainted, as it would make things a lot easier for himself.

The power of the forest had judged him: he was an intruder, unworthy of entering that place. That was why the forest began draining his energy, turning it into those glowing fireflies, right? They were flowing to the guardian of that place, the Weepinbell, to help it fight the intruders back. Not even Rouge was able to stop it.

The Sandshrew was on the brink of fainting but he managed to see something showing up behind the plant-thing. Its partner, the Hoothoot, was back and started attacking… the Weepinbell? That strange act of betrayal was what the Cubone needed to withdraw from the ambush, carrying Yigo with it. He tried standing up again but, being too weak to fight the paralysis back, Rouge decided that dragging him was their best bet.

However, Yigo couldn´t help but wonder… How were they going to flee if he was a burden to his partner? Sure, the struggle between the two Pokemon was going to distract and delay the victor but Yigo was unable to fight. A quick glance at the Cubone confirmed his suspicions, he seemed injured as well. If the victor managed to find them, it would be their end. The Cubone stopped in the middle of a great mass of vegetation and hid Yigo inside some bushes. "R-recover F-from s-stiffness. not f-find you h-here." it had told him before rushing back from where they came. It was going to return to the brawl!

“Why you…go back…” he muttered, not understanding the benefit of fighting a battle that no longer concerned them. If he was Rouge, they would have hidden in those bushes until signs of danger were no longer noticeable. Yigo raised his arm towards the now distant Cubone. “Don´t… go… don´t leave… me”

The sound of Rouge´s steps didn´t stop, they just faded as the distance between them grew. It was of no use. It had chosen to fight until the end. But what if the end was Rouge´s end? At least the situation got better for Yigo, he could feel the twitches caused by the paralysis grow weaker as time passed. Moreover, he had been able to lift one of his arm moments ago. Of course, he wouldn´t be able to run for a while and fighting was out of the question, but at least he would be able to follow Rouge without… getting in its way. The Sandshrew then had an idea: he didn´t need to use his legs to travel. The Sandshrew curled into the size of a ball, rested a bit and began rolling towards the opening where they got ambushed. With a bit of luck, he´ll still be useful to Rouge.