Crowded Coppice

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Isolation still seemed like a far-off dream for him.

Goro the Croagunk normally spent his days battling wild Pokémon in his home Dungeon, Cattail Marsh, and his evenings taking in the beautiful scenery provided by the Firefly Pokémon that were native there. Unfortunately, it seemed most of Rainfront Town had the same idea-- it seemed like he was chasing out more and more tourists every evening he spent at home, as citizens from both Grassveil and Rainfront swarmed the Marshlands to observe the sights. He couldn't rest easy knowing that there were visitors just a few stone's throws away. The Croagunk wasn't sure if it was the summer season that made the humid, wet Marsh so appealing, or if it was simply easier to reach for the nearby populace.

Either way, his home was overrun with tourists and Goro was distinctly chafed with the whole situation. It stood to reason he needed a place to unwind; he'd heard stories about the Fallen Leaf Copse, the small forest island nestled on the lake to the west of Grassveil. The scenery was supposed to be to die for; the eternal autumn colors reflecting off the surrounding lake waters creating a gorgeous visage. Goro wasn't normally one for sightseeing this way, but witnessing the similar view at Cattail Marsh seemed to have sparked a passing interest in sightseeing for the normally hermit-like Croagunk.

At times like these, all he wanted was some peace and quiet. The Copse seemed like a perfect place to lay low for a while-- he'd go for a stroll, maybe train against some feral Pokémon home to the Dungeon. Goro strode forward on the cobblestone trail, the lake's island in clear sight. He could make out a path of stepping stones in the distance-- it stood to reason that there was a path for Pokémon unable to swim.

Goro was resolute and ready for action after he glanced back at the Sandshrew behind him, his fists eager for action and curled in preparation. The Ursaring and Teddiursa behind it looked much less excited for the upcoming battle than he was, but he chalked that up to fear and regret for attacking his group. No, the great bear had ambushed them, and if he had anything to say about it, she'd pay for her insolence and arrogance. He came to the Copse for a good fight, and by the legendaries, he meant to leave with his bloodlust sated and his fists tired and bruised and content. So when the lizard behind him erupted with a frustrated outburst, it was all Goro could do not to turn around and bring the fight to her.

No, instead, he turned to the side, keeping track of the bear and her cub in his peripheral, but focused on Yooka as she trailed off about morals and rules and all kinds of circumstances that he didn't give a shit about. To someone like Goro, one didn't need a reason to fight. One fought because it was as natural a thing to do as sleeping or eating - it was a part of life, and it happened for all sorts of reasons. You fought someone because they offended you, insulted you, trespassed on your territory. You definitely fought someone if they ambushed you, and if they backed off once they got a taste of your strength, then they were not to be let go. The best thing to do in a situation such as this was to teach your opponent the futility of their surrender, and drive home the point that you were stronger than they were. And that was what Goro had every intention of doing to the Ursaring.

It had ambushed them after he'd defeated her cub. Whether or not she was justified to do so, Goro didn't care - the Ursaring had issued a challenge, and they met it. Now this lizard wanted to cry mercy and let the ferals go? Did she understand that as soon as they turned their backs on the beasts, they were liable to attack them? Maybe they were and maybe they weren't, but the possibility was all the justification that Goro needed. And when Yooka started talking about herself, about how her fist was as strong as the Ursarings, it took all that Goro had not to assault the Kecleon then and there.

They'd fought once before, at Cattail Marsh. They'd been relatively even in terms of strength, only stopping their battle to fend off a pack of ferals that attacked them, but Goro had trained and grown stronger since then, and all of a sudden he was incredibly interested in finding out if Yooka had, too. The Croagunk's teeth ground together as he stood between Yooka and the Ursaring, his fists hovering dangerously at his side, his posture screaming hostility. As much as he wanted to fight both of them, however, it was entirely likely that once he did it'd turn into an all-out brawl. And Goro didn't trust his chances against both of them. He didn't even trust his chances against the Ursaring by himself, let alone if Yooka decided to fight as well.

The fighter was just about to snap out his reply to the Kecleon's words when she bumped up against something during her pace backward. His gaze traveled up to take in what it was, and the Croagunk's heart nearly sunk into his stomach when he realized that there was Sawsbuck in the clearing, with a Deerling at its side. When Yooka spun on her heel and drove her fist into the buck's wide chest, causing the animal to stumble backward in shock and pain, his eyes widened in shock and fear. Here he stood, in a clearing with a hostile Ursaring, her cub, a Sawsbuck, and its offspring, as well. The fact that Yooka's instinctual attack had actually hurt the wild Pokémon was surprising as well - perhaps she wasn't bluffing when she said her move improved her strength with each use. Either way, this was a time for action, and Goro was not about to hesitate during such a crucial moment.

Goro only just registered the Deerling charing at the Sandshrew behind him as he surged forward at the Sawsbuck that Yooka had struck. His left fist began to glow with a dull hue, the image of it resonating in the clearing as he tucked it into his side and dashed at his chosen enemy. The Sawsbuck was primarily focused on Yooka, the Kecleon having swung at it instinctively with a strong fist, but it was by no means ignorant of the Croagunk circling around it. Goro had meant to attack it from its flank and catch it by surprise, but the Season Pokémon saw him coming and swung its head and antlers at the approaching fighter. Instead of sinking his fist into the Sawsbuck's side, like he anticipated, Goro's arm was batted aside by its sharp and deadly antlers, his fist scraping against the stag's defense and sending a lance of blood into the air.

Entirely shocked at the deflection by the feral Pokémon, Goro stumbled back with his left arm dripping blood and more furious than ever. This trip was not going the way he thought it would when he left home.

When the tree was pushed back a fair distance was when Yooka blinked and had to relook at what it was. She instantly grabbed one of her frills in regret and watched as the Sawsbuck got it's footing back and stared right at her. She cringed just as Goro passed by her from the side, knowing what was probably going through his head. She also noticed a deerling charge at Yigo trying to be something it won't be. It was happening again. Why does this happen when she just wants to relax from things like this.

The instant the deerling hit Yigo, Yooka knew it was too late to stop this. She matter aswell finish what she started. Yooka took in what was happening...
The Ursaring pushed the Teddiursa away before stepping forward. Towards Yooka.
The deerling continued it's charge after knocking Yigo back.
The Sawsbuck completely denying Goro of a blow.

Time to change the pace of the fight, Literally. Turning to face the closest enemy, the Sawbuck, she concentrated on everyone in the clearing. Everything's speed shall be reversed. Everyone except the deerling and Yigo slowed down in comparison to Yooka. All of them are immune to her shadow except Goro and Yigo. She charged the sawsbuck getting underneath it and punched out both back ankles. Hearing only one of them break. She then slipped away before it could swing it's head at her. She stood just out of the Sawsbuck's reach and stared at the Ursaring. She remerged her shadow with Goro when she stared at the Ursaring. Yooka's right fist started to glow as she raised it at Goro, mostly just pointing it. Her voice had given in, completely void of sympathy. "Fine, have it your way." She hollered at Yigo soon after. "Run Yigo, I'll meet you at the entrance as soon as Goro here feels satisfied." She turned around to face Goro when the Ursaring stopped moving towards her and the deerling gave up on Yigo when it heard the Sawsbucks leg snap. "Hit me with drain punch with your injured arm. I've decided, but you really need to learn that the Guild can stop you. I won't, not here... but they can and they will."

((ooc: from new slowest to fastest:
Sawsbuck, Ursaring, Goro, Yooka, Yigo, Deerling.)

The fight was on. The Deerling managed to separate Yigo from Yooka, forcing him to stand by himself. The Deerling stomped the ground with force as it unleashed its full power with a second charge. As usual, Yigo found it to be a nice opportunity to shower some sand at his attacker, trying to blind it. With that advantage, The Sandshrew was easily able to sidestep the attack, leaving the opponents´ hide wide open for a clear strike. His arm swung back, claws got unsheathed and the target was in position. However, the Sandshrew´s focus broke due to a wild scream. Both he and the deerling lost interest in the battle, the latter running away from Yigo to attend to its parent´s cry with one of its own. Al that left Yigo alone and unsettled, observing how Goro and Yooka worked together to bring the alpha deer down. He felt out of place in that fight as his stance relaxed. He could potentially help but he was ordered to stay back and run away by Yooka.

Yigo knew that it was a bad idea. The last time that he had wandered off by himself caused them to be in this situation in the first place. But Yigo knew how to keep himself safe. At last, Yigo had a chance to use his claws as they were intended to. They struck the ground below him, digging out a small hole one clawful at a time. The hole became a tunnel in no time, just wide enough for him to enter but sturdy enough not to entomb himself. Even if someone entered the tunnels trying to get him, the size of the tunnel made anything that entered it unable to fight using their limbs. He was relatively safe inside that tunnel, away from all the fighting. No... that was a far dream. He might not be able to see it, but he could hear it and even feel the ground shake under the feet of the battlers.

The injury on the Croagunk's arm seemed to look worse than it was - despite the gouged flesh and seeping blood, Goro seemed able to move it well enough. He clenched and unclenched his fingers into a fist, over and over again, shaking it out and testing the limb anxiously. The Sawsbuck's antlers were sharp, indeed, but it seemed that he'd gotten a lucky break and avoided anything other than some torn skin and perhaps something deeper. The numerous cuts stung harshly, bared naked against the muggy air of the forest, and Goro had to resist the urge to bring his other hand to cover the wound. None of that, now he thought, his eyes flickering between the different Pokémon in the clearing. I got plenty o' targets, here, and they'd all love the handicap. His eyes caught Yooka, and he peered confusedly at the Normal-type Pokémon as she seemed to be concentrating on something. Whatever she was occupied with seemed to be over with, as she shot forward with a speed that she didn't have moments prior.

The Sawsbuck was clearly shocked by its change in speed, as was Goro. Whatever the Kecleon had done, it seemed to have slowed the Sawsbuck down a lot. The Croagunk watched in equal parts fascination and fury as Yooka swept underneath the great buck, placing strategic strikes on its hind legs and snapping one of its ankles. The wild Pokémon buckled beneath the pain, but it didn't fall, swinging its head around to strike at the Kecleon, but she'd already moved out of its reach. Looking at her now, and comparing her style back to their battle in the Marsh, Yooka seemed to fight like a dancer, weaving in and out of her opponent's range and placing strikes where they'd get her the most mileage. The Sawsbuck looked just as shocked by the revelation as Goro did all those days ago.

"I don't need yer pity," Yooka's offer was perhaps the most insulting thing he'd heard in weeks. Sure, if he nailed her with Drain Punch then some of the damage to his arm would alleviate, but he was not about to go around taking handouts like that. Her instructions to Yigo to flee also seemed faulty, as Goro didn't think it likely the Sandshrew would get very far with the Teddiursa and Ursaring hovering around, let alone whatever else lurked in the forest. In the end, though, the kid's welfare wasn't any of his business, and Goro resolved to simply focus on the fight in front of him.

Cautiously, Goro set about shuffling forward some, testing his speed in contrast to the Sawsbuck and Yooka. He was slowed down a little - not a lot, like the Sawsbuck, and he definitely didn't get a boost from the strange move. He'd be a little slower on his feet, but taking another look at the struggling stag, Goro didn't think he'd need to be a speedster to outmaneuver the beast. He started forward abruptly, bringing his good right hand around to tuck at his hip while he crossed the distance between himself and the stag in front of him. It stood faultily, with one of its hind legs being lame now, but it still stood as proud as it could. Its antlers hovered in front of it dangerously, and as soon as Goro moved it seemed to recognize that the fight was back on. Resolutely, the Croagunk brought his right fist, suddenly glowing with that telltale hue, swinging around in the air, tearing a path for the beasts' head.

It was an extremely telegraphed haymaker, charged with Drain Punch and all. The Sawsbuck seemed to recognize this, as well, as it immediately went about swinging its antlers at the attack. With a crooked grin, the fighter aborted the motion, bringing his right hand back and watching as the Sawsbuck's antler swipe struck nothing but air - the momentum of which left it vulnerable on its right side. The stupid feral had fallen for the oldest trick in the book - the ol' bait and switch. Instead of swinging the extremely obvious Drain Punch at his opponent, Goro took the opportunity to lash out with his damaged left fist, his hand glowing silver and rocketing forward to crash against the Sawsbuck's exposed cheek, sending it tumbling backward in confusion. Bullet Punch worked wonders in those kinds of situations, he was slowly beginning to realize. The Croagunk took the liberty of backing up away from the beast, his spirits raising from his first successful strike against the wild Pokémon, and stole a brief glance around the area.

Yigo was missing, but there was a telltale pile of freshly dug dirt where the Sandshrew last stood - meaning he must have dug a hole and crawled in it, fleeing as Yooka bid him to. Perhaps that order wasn't so foolish, taking in consideration that the shrew could probably travel underground. The Ursaring and its cub lingered in the back hesitantly, unsure of whether or not to enter the fray again, while the Sawsbuck shook its head as if to steady itself after getting socked by Goro's Bullet Punch.

(I know you want Goro to Drain Punch Yooka for the type change, but he doesn't know that and it would take some time to explain it to him.)

ooc, Indeed, Indeed and dang....... XD I actually had anticipated that though considering the last time they met:

Ofcourse he refused the free Healing. He probably didn't even know what her species can do, or maybe he did and didn't want to give her an advantage. Yooka annoyingly sighed just as he hit the Sawsbuck with a rather fast attack. She didn't really pay attention to it as she watched Yigo dig a hole. "There goes that idea, Goro... not that you'd understand." Too much time to explain anyways and dang it Yigo...

Noting Yigo's location she rushed passed the Sawsbuck towards the Deerling. It seemed to move faster than before, probably from her spacial trick. But it doesn't matter. It attempted to push her back but she grabbed it's ear forcing it to either bend it's head towards where she was pulling or risk breaking it. It didn't have enough time to yelp, she followed this by chucking herself into it's side draining whatever air it held and held it's neck with her other arm effectively grappled the Deering to the ground, while still holding it's ear. She followed THAT up by turning the hand that held the ear into a P-up punch with the target being it's head, release with a quick hit. The Deerling didn't even have a chance, it went limp and she didn't even check, she knew.

She set it down and stared at the Sawsbuck, who was abit dazed and still concentrated on Goro. She was semi-surprised she didn't get trampled. It instead went for a horn-based attack rather than using it's legs to crush her as she went underneath it. She wondered why it didn't and she also was semi-surprised it's leg snapped so easily. At first she thought it was the boosted attack, but after the Deerling it had to of had some old injury or something, perhaps old age making it frail? Either way the deed was done.

It was also evident the Ursas were watching and not rejoining. Great, but they should be leaving if they know what's happening. Yooka may or may not be in the mood to just stop with the Deerling and Sawsbuck.

[Page regen (0 + 1 = 1)]

Stomps. Impacts. Screams.

All of that could be heard from the little hole that Yigo just dug. Despite Yooka´s orders, Yigo couldn´t just dig his way out of that place. What he was hearing were sounds of nightmares. He could imagine Goro smashing the creatures just for fun while Yooka tried to regain control of the situation. Not being able to see anything got him nervous, his claws tingling yet frozen. Each step echoed through the small shelter, loose dirt falling and showering the shrew before and after each certain blow. Curiosity finally took over him, forcing Yigo to surface again to check on Yooka. With that objective in mind, his claws jerked into motion, digging a new way out just in case some feral was waiting for him on the other side.

The tunnel was now completed. Yigo´s snout surfaced, trying to smell something unusual before his whole head got through. His first sight went to his surroundings, catching some subtle movement nearby. Steps, light, in the bushes and on the grass and, most importantly, close. His hears twitched before locating the source of all that noise. A few steps away from where he had decided to surface Yigo crossed sights with a brown furred familiar Pokemon. Another Sentret! However, this one didn´t seem that aggressive as it stepped back upon noticing Yigo. Yigo felt safe where he stood, he just needed to retreat back inside if he ever felt in danger but, this time, his curiosity and fear won out. He scanned the area near the Sentret. Apparently, it was not alone. Another Sentret and a Furret seemed to be working together, trying to lift... the fallen Sentret from before? They managed to carry it between the two Pokemon while the free Sentret stood nearby, apparently watching. They were startled, they were scared, they sensed danger.

Yigo continued examining the opening after some heavy steps made the earth tremble. Right behind him, he had found what was causing it. The Ursaring, the beast that not long ago was endangering the whole group, carried its child with one of his arms while it decided to run away from where he stood and back to where it had previously come. Its steps were clumsy, uncoordinated and heavy, the feral´s face unable to hide the pain it was suffering each time it had to take a step forward. What was going on?

Another scream was heard from afar, right where the Ursaring used to be. Yigo´s head had to turn around to actually see what was happening. The spinning motion made the aperture a little wider, enough for his arms to slip to the surface as well. Once he was in position, he observed the last point of interest. Yooka and Goro were still near the creature that sneaked up on them. Some blows between the two were exchanged, the great feral unable to hold both of them alone. The smaller feral had its chance to shine, but Yigo was watching when Yooka had grabbed it by its hear. What followed was violent. Yooka showed no mercy with it, slamming it against the dirt without releasing the ear and hit it directly, fist to face in one rapid move.

Yigo found himself returning to the safety of his hole after watching Yooka defeating the Deerling. He crawled to the deepest and dug it a bit deeper before curling in and wait for everything to be over. Yooka and Goro were winning, sure. They were facing just one enemy and, just like the last time, they were going to overwhelm it between the two. Victory was in their reach but... why did it all feel so... wrong? Why wasn´t Yigo feeling safe anymore?

Despite all her grandstanding and talk of fighting being mindless violence, Goro was amused to note that Yooka joined in on the scrap readily enough. While he had danced around the Sawsbuck, she'd zeroed in on the fawn and wrestled the feral to the ground, before finishing it off ruthlessly. Personally, he'd have let the Deerling go after a stern lesson, as it could grow stronger and challenge him again someday, but nobody was perfect. If Yooka wanted to finish her opponents in that manner, then it was none of his business - he just had to focus on his own foe, and beating it as quickly and efficiently as he could. Whatever move Yooka had performed had him moving slower, and it had the Sawsbuck moving the slowest of them all. The swing of its antlers before was almost comically easy to dodge, and when faced with the speed of his Bullet Punch it wasn't even a contest.

Still, while the Craogunk and the Sawsbuck were staring each other down, the great stag noticed its offspring's fight with the Kecleon. More specifically, both Goro and the stag were keeping an eye on the battle between the two other Pokémon, and it witnessed the defeat of its child. Immediately, the stag flew into a rage, lowering its head and aiming deadly sharp antlers at the victor of the little bout. Ignoring Goro completely, the stag charged at Yooka with lackluster speed, but the force behind its charge wasn't to be ignored.

Goro himself was happy to let the Sawsbuck veer off and try its luck against Yooka again. He was finding himself more and more interested in the Kecleon the more he saw her fight - against him and the Sawsbuck, she fought like a dancer, weaving between attacks and carefully staying out of range until it was time for her to strike. But against the Deerling, she'd been fast, aggressive and dangerous, favoring offense in her attack and unyielding power. Instead of chasing after the stag, Goro merely ambled after it at a rather lazy pace, ready and able to intervene should the opportunity arise, but more curious to see how Yooka fared with her new speed boost.

Oh, they did leave. Yooka made a quick check thinking she heard the Ursas nearby, but thankfully, no. She saw them just as they left the area. And just when she was gonna relax a bit, she heard the Sawsbuck coming. A slight limp in it's footsteps.

Noticing Goro staying back made her growl to herself as she had little time to think. She instantly thought to dodge out of the way, but she had an after thought of her four or Five stacks of power. By the time the thought of actually moving occured the Sawsbuck was practically on top of her. She instinctively put her hands out to grab the large antlers. In which five things occured.

First, Her hands got pierced by the antlers as they were deceptively smaller and straighter than she envisioned, she thought they curved with the leaf-like 'plumage'. second, her trick room ended with the loss of concentration upon the sharp pain. Third, she stopped the Buck in it's tracks but not without being pushed back alot and almost even being picked up, she could of easily been picked up if she wasn't so focused on snapping it's neck for doing this. Fourth, She broke one of it's antlers mostly on accident, she was trying to and semi-successfully ground the Bucks movement by pushing/rotating it diagonally towards the ground, it's resistance was definitely stronger but only because of size and leverage. and finally Fifth, Yooka took the still attached antler and yanked sideways in the opposite direction in it's surprise successfully putting the Buck's head into a place that she has control if only for a few seconds.

She took the antler pierced free hand and jabbed the Buck in it's eye. That caused it to back off and free her still caught hand but she wasn't finished. Despite the pain she used it's existance as a mask for any other pain she's about to feel. She regrabbed the antler before the buck can get away and Slammed her antler pierced hand into it's head for a second time causing it to become either dazed, or worse, as it seemed to swoon around before buckling to the ground awkwardly.

Yooka cringed and almost winced as she stared at the Pokemon and backing off while pulling the broken antler out of her hand. "The hell was that?!" her complaint to Goro had a hint of pain and annoyance but it was more towards the surprise from the antlers. She backed off some more when she dropped the broken antler and she didn't dare look at either of her hands. She'll have a look at them after they healed, which may take hours. However, she too, fell after a few more seconds despite being more than aware of what just happened. She didn't catch herself for fear of hurting her hands more and she felt dizzy but she wasn't confused. Nothing new, just a common occurance with minor flesh wounds followed by loss of blood. The returning pain made her go stiff as she laid there. 'She's been in worse', she likes to assume. "ooo, uh, guo" You. suck. Goro. she could only manage to moan as her arms started to tingle.

[Type is now Bug]

OOC, I said this once I'll say it again.:

Yigo had heard the combat from below. He had heard the pain, the struggle, the fall of a foe, too heavy to be Yooka or Goro. However, something had caught him off guard. Yooka was... complaining? There was just someone she could have complained to, that being Goro since he was the only one that could have understood it. The nature of the complaint was common yet confusing. The Sandshrew had heard something heavy fall, wasn´t that the Sawsbuck?

Yigo gathered as much bravery as he could to uncurl himself and to surface again. If the battle ended, it would be natural for him to return to Yooka. He put his head out of the tunnel and took a peek at the situation. The explorer was down on the floor, her hands bleeding and moaning what he could only guess that it was some sort of curse by the tone and her focus on Goro. The amphibian, on the other hand, stood still, proud and with a sly smile, looking at Yooka and the pair of quadrupeds, now unconscious. Yigo managed to put two and two together and have an accurate guess of what has happened. Goro had betrayed Yooka while she was fighting to defend them both. The only thing that the stranger wanted was to prove himself through violence. Yooka was a skilled fighter, there was no way in which that Croagunk would have defeated her in a fair fight even if the explorer agreed on having one in the first place.

His theory of what had happened left him shaking... but not out of fear. His blood was boiling, his heart was racing, his eyes sharpened and his claws unsheathed at the sight of that treacherous poison type. He was raging, unable to think straight or to act rationally. He felt like beating Goro in his own game while a sense of bloodlust started to grow inside the Sandshrew.

"Bastard... was that all you wanted?" he asked the Croagunk in a deep tone, getting out of the hole where he was hiding and stepping forward "If you want to fight so desperately... STAY AWAY FROM HER!" he growled, showing his teeth to him and getting on his fours. He shook nervously one last time before neves became irritation, an itch produced by idleness "DO IT, I´LL GIVE YOU THE BATTLE YOU WANT!" he said in a hard to understand growl. There was no more talking to be had. Yigo´s mouth could only do two actions: bark and bite.

Goro didn't know what he expected when the Sawsbuck charged at Yooka, but it sure as hell wasn't that. He watched in equal parts admiration and shock as the Kecleon met the buck's charge head-on, grabbing it by the antlers. The stag, naturally, managed to push her back quite a ways before Yooka got a handle on the situation, yanking its head sideways and actually breaking off a piece of its forested antlers. From there her movements were efficient and businesslike, jamming the sharp piece of antler into her enemy's eye and beating it down with her fists, all surgical brutality. It was a fascinating to watch her do work - if he were in the same situation, he'd have simply met the charge head on and tried to overpower the beast, rather than using its strength against it in more ways than one.

Unfortunately, it seemed all the fighting had taken more out of the Kecleon than he assumed. At first, she seemed rather incensed with him, uttering a sharp exclamation and backing off from the fallen buck. But whatever damage she'd taken during the battle before and now seemed to get to her, and whether it was from blood loss or simple overexcitement, Goro watched with a palpable sense of disappointment as the Kecleon fell to the ground. He didn't feel much if any guilt, to be honest. Yooka and him were merely passing acquaintances, having actually fought before. If it weren't for them getting ambushed by others during the tail-end of their battle, they might harbor some hard feelings, but things as they were, Goro only sort-of admired Yooka.

He'd wanted to see if he could probe a reaction out of her using the Sawsbuck, and fight her afterward, but that simply wasn't possible now. The Croagunk was seconds away from heaving a mighty sigh and cutting his losses before he was interrupted by the shrew from before. He actually did a double-take at the approaching Sandshrew, as it appeared completely furious and bloodlusted. From an outsider's perspective, the scene did look sort of suggestive, what with Yooka and the Sawsbuck out of commission while he looked down on them. Still, he was completely at a loss as to why the Sandshrew was so upset - just how close was he to Yooka?

Instead of meeting Yigo's challenge by rushing into a fight, like he would with anyone else, he merely rose one hairless brow at the shrew. Goro was many things, but he wasn't one to beat on kids, even if they were asking for it... well. Maybe if they asked for it. And this one was, but at this point, all Goro wanted out of this trip was another round with Yooka, or something else equally interesting in the Copse. The Croagunk ignored Yigo's command to step away from Yooka, only turning to face the enraged Pokémon.

"I ain't interested in you, shrew," Goro gave Yooka a meaningful glance as if to illustrate the point. It wasn't that Yooka was inherently special - well, maybe she was a little bit - but it was more-so that he didn't think the young Sandshrew could put up a good fight, type-advantage be damned. If a Sentret could tear him to ribbons, then Goro's fists would crush him to dust. That's what he thought, anyway. "Run along home, like she told ya to. Else I'll have to discipline ya, and trust me, that's not what you want."

The tingling sensation in Yooka's arms was Recover at work. There were also a few other places but they were not as severe, mostly bruises or tiny scrapes. She heard the entire somewhat heated conversation between the two while she wasn't exactly downed from the pain and exhaustion... Just overtired, she didn't rest outside of the slight break next to the water's edge. By the time Goro finished his bit towards Yigo, Yooka was sitting up and practically giggling. She wasn't angry nor happy, she was way too tired for that, but it was definitely close to annoyed. She wasn't giggling because of them however, she was giggling because she found the pain to be funny. She was so used to it and used to it vanishing within seconds but this was the first time the injuries lasted longer than half a minute. They'd usually heal over with the pain still going but perhaps her Recover was reaching it's limit. At least it got rid of most of the pain in her hands just enough that she was able to stand up using them without complaints but they still showed signs of being pierced.

Despite the annoyed giggling as she was getting up her voice returned to it's usual tone, as if nothing occured or everything weird was normal. "You should know I'm alot tougher than I look, Yigo. If I'm not knocked out, I'll just get back up." She, however, could of just stayed down and listen to the rest of their talk, but it was a bit to much for her to listen to. She turned to look at Goro. "As for you Goro, what ARE you even interested in? I'm still saying, 'fighting here is not a good idea'. Your better off at that Ice whatever places to the north, or maybe a more extreme place like the Desert or that Volcano over there."

She then looked at the Sawsbuck, She blinked as it didn't move. Did she knock it out or-... She looked over at the Deerling, she can guarantee that she definitely knocked them both out. How badly did she knock them out? She didn't even want to re-check. She looked away from them and spaced out retracing whatever had occured. She noticed the surrounding forest was much more silent than normal. What did she do? She scratched her head trying to think. She wasn't really trying to not pay attention to the other two that she interrupted. She was aware of what they were doing, sure, but she was just more focused on what just happened or what she did. She did fight before but it was mostly Pokemon with either extremely tough skin similar to steel, ghosts who don't even feel pain, or much stronger pokemon in which she had to run from. She never actually ended a fight herself, it was usually someone else or it ended abruptly by something. She really doesn't even know why she hates it as it solves alot of problems she ends up getting into. Ah, but that causes way more, that has to be why.

Yooka continued to get off-topic in her own thoughts.

OOC:

Yigo was ready. It was a strange sense of readiness as it wasn´t exactly caused due to his focus on defending Yooka. Every other thought just got repressed as the Sandshrew looked at the teasing Croagunk. His mind was able to catch Goro´s answer. He didn´t want to fight, but not because he was afraid or because he thought that it was something unnecessary. He rejected Yigo´s challenge because the Sandshrew was weak.

His rejection did nothing to appease Yigo. It only made him shake... no... Yigo wasn´t shaking this time, it was the ground below him, following his heart´s pace. What was that strange feeling? Could he control how the earth moved under his feet? Luckily for him, Goro seemed to have just ignored him, in favour of Yooka, still on the floor. He was still looking down at her, probably thinking about killing her off right there. There was a final suggestion, the last warning directed at Yigo for him to just leave. Yigo didn´t even need to consider it, Yooka had previously set an example for him. Yigo couldn´t run. If he did he´d just stay weak!

Still, before he had a chance to act, he had noticed Yooka laughing lightly. Yigo wondered that for a moment. She had said something but Yigo was not paying that much attention to it. He was satisfied just knowing that she was alright. Her new condition surely meant that she was going to stand up and join the fray, defending herself against that monster that was Goro. With those thoughts, Yigo stopped showing his teeth and calmed down for a moment, grinning. The ground shook below where he stood but he finally understood how to control the small earthquakes around him. His smile grew, now noticeable to anyone that was paying any attention to him. Yigo stood on his two feet and raised his left arm as high as he could. He only needed a second to have it crash down against the dirt on which he was standing, causing the earth to tremble in front of him. The pulse travelled from below in a straight line, turning into dust everything that stood on its way between Yigo and his target: Goro. The pulse stopped where he wanted to, making the earth around that area shatter into chunks of dirt.

Yigo felt more than happy with the results, he was surprised. Did he have that much power available? He wondered that for a moment, his rage quelling after witnessing his new move.

What was he interested in, Yooka asked? Well, to be frank, it was her. Fighting her again was something he was finding himself more and more interested in as he saw more of her - back in their first fight, she fought like a dancer, afraid to take damage or go head-to-head with her foes, and she made it a habit to strike from outside his range. As a fighter, it was the type that he hated to face off against the most, but apparently, she'd changed since he last saw her, and in more ways than one. The obvious being the pigment of her skin - he could care less about that bit, or whatever caused it - but it was her evolution as a fighter that piqued his real interest. She was just as surgically efficient as ever, but now she was... ruthless about it. Cold. Unafraid to take risks and meet her opponent on their playing field, and she fought smart even then.

Unforutanely, it seemed she didn't fight for the sake of fighting. She was no kindred spirit - violence was merely a means to an end for her, rather than a reason to live. While it was disappointing, it was still something he could work with. If he pissed her off or used the little shrew against her, for example, he was sure he could prod her into another fight. Neither of them were at their best, but it was still a chance he wanted to take since he had no idea when he'd come across her again. And he wanted to fight her very much; she'd faced off against him when he had just settled in the Marsh, so battling her was a great way of seeing how much he'd grown since then! And her, as well.

Goro was just beginning to contemplate how to provoke her into a battle when he felt a tell-tale tremor beneath his feet. It was a feeling that was all too familiar, and he knew instantly what was happening. A Pokémon was using Earthquake. Instantly, his gaze snapped to the shrew that he'd taken his eyes off of, and sure enough, the kid had just smashed his arm against the ground in a commanding fashion, setting the earth to tremble beneath him. Impressively, it seemed he had a degree of control over the technique, as instead of spreading outward in all directions from where he used the move, Goro watched it surge forward in a straight line directly towards him. It was fast enough that he was startled and caught on flat feet.

Immediately, he felt the sensation of a super-effective attack deep in his bones. The trembling from beneath his feet resonated up through him, and the poison in his veins writhed uncontrollably - an all-too-familiar sensation that he wanted no more of. Clouds of dirt exploded in front of him, and it took all that Goro had to stay on his feet. As it was, the attack sent him to wobbling precariously, stumbling backward drunkenly, shock and pain visible on his face. A surprised and agonizing shout crept up from out of his gullet, betraying the maddening throbbing surging through his body. For all that the Sandshrew was young, he was still a ground type with a powerful move at his disposal. Toward the tail-end of the fissures, Goro fell to one knee despite himself, the nature of the move just too potent to bear stoically.

The dirt clouds dispersed in the air, and the trembling beneath him died down slowly but surely. Once the realization of what just happened sunk into him, Goro was overcome by an intense feeling of rage and offense. How dare that little shit strike out at him like that? Did-- did he honestly think he had what it took to win against him, or was he just feeling particularly daring with his mommy next to him? Either way, Goro was furious. He surged back up to his two feet as fast as he could, the only visible sign of pain being a slight stumble on his way back up. His fists curled in on themselves painfully, and just like that he was back into fight mode.

"You're going to regret that," His voice was bitter and raging, all low-tones and radiating offense and hostility. If their plan was to take him out together, then Goro was more than happy to do the pair of travelers a favor and teach them the error of their ways. The only question of his next step was how he planned on teaching them a lesson - would he raise his own fists up and show the Sandshrew what a real earthquake felt like? Or did he jump in close and beat him into unconsciousness? Either way, there was Yooka to consider as well, since no doubt she would leap into the fray in defense of her charge.

And that... wasn't such a bad thing. The shrew might have even done him a favor - here he had a reason to fight! And he could squarely pin the blame on the kid trailing behind her. He'd waste no more time on words. Suddenly, Goro surged forward toward Yigo, his left fist tightening painfully and radiating with a glowing hue, the sign of his Drain Punch. The upturned earth between him and Yigo was a little difficult to navigate, considering it was broken and upheaved, not to mention the faint trembling in his limbs after the Earthquake made dashing a bit of a chore, but Goro still stuck to his guns. The distance between them wasn't all that great to start with - only after a few seconds, the Croagunk was up close with the Sandshrew, and from there it was just a matter of lashing out. His left fist, glowing strongly with a Drain Punch, lashed out and tore a path toward Yigo's face in an overhand-fashion, chopping down toward him cruelly.

Fighting was always one thing that oddly interested Yooka despite not actively looking for one or ever actually looking. It mostly depended on the motive behind the fight and/or the reasoning for why and how it started. Yooka did not notice the slight tremors happening while she was semi-lost in thought till Goro made a far too familiar sound. She turned back around just in time to see Goro getting up and charging Yigo. From the looks of the ground Yigo had used a familiar move but she couldn't quite pinpoint what the name was.

She didn't really dwell on the thought as she was focused on Yigo. She wasn't happy. Infact she too charged at Yigo but not before attempting to stop Goro with her shadow...... that was no longer fused with his shadow. She quickly realized it must have dissipated when she nearly fainted. She spent no time outside of that little setback sending out her shadow to intercept whatever Goro had planned on doing. She didn't even think of dialing it down, she was in too much of a rush and wasn't in the mood. The power of the shadow could barely be seen in the ground as it raced faster than Goro's charge. By the time Goro was making his attack, the shadow had settled inside Yigo's shadow and aimed for Goro's attacking arm. It shot up not only to block but deflect it away from Yigo. However, it wasn't going to retaliate any further.

Despite the terrain advantage Yooka was still slower than Goro in their advance on Yigo. Goro had reached Yigo first but before her shadow. If the shadow's power was still weak despite the stacks, this is going to hurt. Yooka was gunning for Yigo. A look of focus and void of emotion besides serious, not necessarily mad or dissatisfied as Yigo didn't know any better, probably. She planned on a Grab'n'Run. She would basically tackle Yigo, bind him if he would struggle, reactivate Trick Room to slow Goro that ever so bit it did like last time for whatever advantage it could give, and then just book it out of there. This place may have been the best place to calm down but this is now becoming annother annoyance. It would just be better to return to Grassveil and deal with the Guild than stick around here any longer. Something didn't feel right about that thought though...

The move had struck with all its power. it´s potential holding true to the expectations as it had made the ground that used to be Goro´s support crack, shatter and turning most of it into dust and chunks. The racketing noise joined by his opponent´s moaning was simply replaced by a relaxing silence that managed to calm Yigo for a bit, allowing him to focus on his priorities now that the Croagunk has been dealt with. The thing that was left was helping Yooka get back on her feet and exit the dungeon.

Even though he was forced to fight twice that day, the Sandshrew felt better than when he entered the forest. He had released the stress he was carrying with him since he had fleed from the egg incident. Letting his guard down for a moment, allowing him to relax his muscles and exhale a long breath while he waited for the cloud of dust to clear. The move he had just used... it looked quite similar to one of his mother´s, Magnitude, but not quite the same. Was that something new? It didn´t matter as long as it continued to be useful.

"You're going to regret that,"

Apparently, someone hadn´t learned his lesson. Goro still stood there, willing to strike back at Yigo. The ire of the amphibian only matched by the one induced to the Sandshrew when he realised that he ready to fight. How could he still be conscious? And, even if he was, how dared that excuse of a warrior to threaten Yigo with those empty grunts. That was what he was spitting, grunts, something that Yigo gladly returned tenfold. If Goro was not going to step out of it now that he had the chance, Yigo will have to remove the poison type from that clearing.

Unfortunately for Yigo, he had already shown Goro how his fighting strategy functioned: blind target, open weak-spot, strike at said weak-spot. That new move could mean the difference; however, it was still unreliable and Yigo doubted that his opponent would fall for the same attack twice. It didn´t take Goro too long to make his move, leaping forward with his glowing fist ready. That move was familiar, the fighter had been using it to strike at his foes many times. Before Yigo could react, he was upon him. Uncharacteristically, Yigo tried to strike back with his claws. If he was going down, he was going bring someone with him. Both strikes could be clear strikes, being speed key to declare the victor. If Goro managed to hit him, it was over. Yigo was betting everything on that strike, on that crush claw that could finish what his new move started.

A second passed, and his arm wasn´t able to get into motion. Something made contact with him, resulting in him being lifted from the ground. Was it... over? Had he just lost? No... he wasn´t hurt. Something else was going on. Yigo found himself in between Yooka´s arms! Where did she come from? How did she move that quickly? And, most importantly.... why had she stopped him from defeating Goro? He was being grabbed in such a way that it was impossible for him to move. His arms were pressed against her arm and hip while his back legs were left on the back, kicking about with an urge to escape the grip "LET ME GO! LET ME GO!" he demanded, almost growling the commands while trying to slip out of Yooka´s grip. What was she doing? Why wasn´t her fighting? The only thing she was doing was making sure that Yigo was undefended and easy to strike! The thought of Yooka refusing to fight infuriating him. What was he fighting for if it wasn´t for her? If she didn´t want to fight, it was fine for him but doing what she did? It was almost like she wanted Yigo to lose. "RELEASE MEEE!"