So An Emolga and a Mawile Walk Into a Forest...

First topic message reminder :

Shadowhue Forest: dark, dense, teeming with life hidden away in treetops and undergrowth. It was wilder than Pecha Forest, and many folk avoided the place if they didn't have good reason to enter. Explorers often had reason to enter. Why had Maxie come here? She was not an explorer—although she had intentions on being one. So why come here and not go directly to the Grassveil Guild to sign up? She had a few reasons. The first was that she wanted to get a sense for what she would be in for. If she couldn't handle what was right next door to the guild alone, what chance did she have in trying to climb the Guild's ranks? Another reason was to find things. Anything really. It was ideal to know what resources were avalible to you in close proximity to home base.

A third reason existed but it wasn't necessarily tied to the location; in fact, the likelihood the mawile would find the tertiary thing on her list was pretty low in this place. That tertiary thing being a friend. She had come from the desert in the east alone. She had plans on join the guild, and while there was technically no rules saying she couldn't form a team of one—herself—she didn't particularly want to be alone. Maxie's jaw-like horns drifted into her view, seeming in response to the idea of being alone. "Okay, I'm not entirely alone. But you don't really count for much in conversation, Gilbert." Maxie said to her own horns. They snapped to their original position behind her head. "Hey, don't get all pouty. You're still the MVP in combat." The steel jaws gnashed the air as if demonstrating their ability.

"Now let's find us something."

(energy 11+1[new page]=12)

Pulling himself up from the ground yet again, he quickly dusted himself off, strangely finding a lone black gummi lodged behind his ear which he promptly placed in his bag as he did so. "I'm perfectly fine, if you don't know how to safely crash than you barely know how to glide; that's what I always say. Also ya know, if I they hadn't of confused me or we were in a wider space I'd have totally had that under control. I'm actually quite a good flier, I'm just having an off day today." He scampered over to Maxie seemingly unphased by his crash once he shook off the residual confusion.

The bugs were struggling to get away, the fight seeming gone from them after the duo's display. "Should we just let them go? I mean they're not that big of a problem anymore, and it looks like you really hurt them there." Glancing at Maxie Arlo was clearly looking a little embarrassed over how poorly the fight went for him, and was trying to change the subject.

[Energy: 0 + 1 (Natural Restoration)=1]

Confusion. That was it. Maxie hadn't noticed the venomoth use the attack, but it made sense. She felt bad for doubting Arlo—or at least doubting him as much as she had. "I'm sorry if I sounded i bit over critical. It only just dawned on me that you might have been hit by Confusion." She glanced back at the fleeing bugs, who where at that moment exiting the clearing. "I think we've done enough to them. Hopefully that'll teach them to go picking any fights with guild members—or soon to be guild members, I suppose."

The mawile gestured for Arlo to follow her again. She made her way around the tree Arlo had collided with and reentered the thick of the forest. "I'd ask you to tell me about yourself but I wouldn't feel right doing so without first telling you a bit about me. If we're going to be in a team together it's important that we get to know each other," she said, changing the topic from combat to personal history. "I come from the desert in the east. I grew up reading and hearing tales about adventurous guild members and explorers. That's what inspired me to travel all this way and join the guild. It's also what inspired me to read about the more logistical side of exploring—what useful items do and whatnot. So what about you? Where are you from? What's your motivation?"

Badger carried out 1 launched of one Shadowhue Forest :

(Energy: 12+2[Roost]=14)

"It's alright, many people doubt how good in a fight I am, or how many times I can crash and get back up." Arlo took a moment to center himself and Roost for just a moment before dashing off to catch back up with Maxie near the tree; lighting up a bit when she mentioned becoming guild members.

He paused slightly as she shifted the conversation to history and motivation, her little tid bit of a story making it much clearer why she was out here and wasn't quite what he might have expected. He listened intently drawing in the details. "Well I grew up in a large family, was treated like I couldn't take care of myself and had a really boring childhood. So I sweet talked one my older siblings to teach me how to fight and came here for the more exciting tastes life has to offer. No books, no stories, just flew off one day to answer the call of the thrill. So far not much has happened in that department to be honest. But that's why I'm going to the guild, they should be able to help with that."

Arlo scurried up onto a low branch a few feet up the tree, taking a small hop to catch some air glide just above Maxie keeping pace with her. "As for useful stuff, I don't have anything. That's part of why I came out here. Ya know kill three birds with one stone: practice narrow flying, scout out the area near the guild, and find stuff that may come in handy... The desert doesn't sound like it's very nice, no clouds for storms, no tall trees, lots of sand and flat ground. But I do plan to go visit everywhere sometime or another. See anything interesting by the way?"

TheViolet carried out 5 launched of one Shadowhue Forest :

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((punched in the dice roll code wrong, so I had to go back and edit  it to be correct. Sorry))

[Energy: 1-1=0 used Reviver Seed ↑19]

"Thrill seeking; a valid reason as any, I suppose," Maxie looked up at the now gliding Arlo. "I'm still against trying to glide around here. You're going to end up caught in a web or something. But I am with you on the topic of deserts. I've seen enough orange rocks to last your lifetime and mine. But if I ever happen to be on a mission there I'll at least have home field advantage." The desert was a hot, dry, miserable place that the mawile was glad to be free off. Shadowhue Forest was  stark contrast to that environment and was a nice change of pace. It was also noice to be in a place were she tended to have type advantage.

Maxie's eye caught note of a small red berry on a particularly pathetic looking plant. It was a cheri berry, and while it was in fine condition the same couldn't be said for the rest of the plant. "There seems to be decent variety in the edibles around here," she murmured, not speaking at Alro in particular but not trying to keep the thought from him either. After picking the berry and putting it away, she stopped and stood still. "... I think i hear movement."

Badger carried out 9 launched of one Shadowhue Forest :

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(energy+2[roost]+10[oran berry]-16=10)

A wave of relief washed over Arlo as Maxie agreed with him about her home; after he'd finished talking he was a little worried that he might have offended her about where she's from, but that thankfully wasn't the case. "I guess you're right about gliding, hitting a web is why I nearly crashed into you in the first place after all; and we're not in a rush." Landing gently a few feet ahead of Maxie he noticed a blue berry just hidden within a bush a few feet away across from where Maxie found her cheri berry, an Oran berry with blast seed stuck to its side.

Alro quickly Roosted while he munched on the berry, placing the blast seed squarely in his bag. "You're right, this place is just teeming with food. but you know what that means right? It's gonna be a hotspot for pokemon, more than just those Venomoth we sh-" He was cut off by Maxie's sudden stop, and warning. Listening intently, Arlo's ear were bigger and more sensitive than Maxie's and once he started paying attention he heard it. Two sets of heavy footsteps lumbering toward them from deeper into the forest. Whatever was making them they were big. "Quick, hide!" Arlo whispered as he darted into the bush beside Maxie hoping she would follow.

Long seconds passed as the footsets became louder and closer. Looking around frantically Arlo spotted the sources. Two Pinsir which towered over the Emolga and his friend, stomping through the woods with purpose headed right toward the spot he was just standing. But something was especially odd about this pair of pokemon, moreso than the Venomoth. One of the Pinsir had a Slakoth hanging off of one of its horns. Well that's something you don't see everyday.

[Energy: 19 - 32 = 0. Makes sense.]

Maxie acted quickly. There were plenty of places to hide in a place like Shadowhue—bushes and overgrowth where abound. She sunk into the thick of the nearby bush and ceased all motion and sound. From an outsider's perspective she was probably hard to spot, what with the physical obstruction and low light of the forest—however that didn't mean that some passersby couldn't just happen to stumble through the bush and into her or Arlo.

She knew some things about pinsir. She knew that they could be quite vicious, and that they were able to cut through a tree with their horns if they so choose. I wonder who's horns are stronger, theirs or mine? She decided she didn't want to risk it if she didn't have to. She decided to warn Arlo, just in case he didn't know what she did about pinsir. When she spoke, her voice was hush quiet. "Avoid the horns—they can split trees in half. They hate cold, and I have Ice Fang, so if the do notice us, I think I've got us covered. I think my horns are stronger, too." Sure, a pinsir could break trees like sticks, but a mawile could cut steel beams with their horns.

She watched as the pair of pinsir reached a point where they could probably hear her even if she was wispering, assuming they were paying close attention to sound. It was only now she noticed the third Pokemon on one of the pinsir's back. Huh, that's not a typical example of symbiosis. These three might be a bit more cunning than I thought.

The Pinsir were within a few feet of the hiding pair now, they didn't seem like they were hostile or even know the two pokemon were in the bushes not three feet from them. The two Pinsir were looking upwards, scanning the skyline for something. The Slakoth didn't seem to be doing much; Arlo supposed a yawn as he looked at the Slakoth growing a little groggy instantly. Ugh I hate those things, just make me want to take a nap where I'm standing. With the Pinsir so close and distracted by looking upward, Arlo didn't want to risk drawing their attention back down to him and Maxie by talking. Nor did he want to spring into action and risk either of them being hurt without Maxie making the first move, partially because he knew they were going to be for a little while longer and wanted to preserve their strength, partially because he didn't want to risk any trees being destroyed in the melee. So he lightly tapped her shoulder and made a series of hand motions.

First he motioned to the Pinsir, then upwards, and mimed looking around.
Then he motioned to himself, then her, then the Pinsir, then he punched both his fists together and made a quizzical face.
Finally he motioned to himself and Maxie again, pointed behind him, placed a single finger to his mouth and blew quiety, then used two fingers on his right hand to walk across his left.

After all that he looked at Maxie hoping she got the message, and awaiting her response.

Maxie was pulled away from her observations upon Arlo tapping her shoulder. He was trying to convey something through the means of gestures. First the pinsir, then toward the treetops, following by a motion clearly meant to imply searching or scouting. She made the connection in a moment. The pinsir are surveying the treetops, like they're looking for something or someone. Arlo's next silent message was even simpler—Maxie inturpretted it as she recieved it. It was a simple question; he was asking if she thought they should engage the pinsir or not.

Admitedly, she was curious to test her mettle against a pinsir. However, her drive for self preservation was greater than her curiocity. They where out numbered, for one thing. If it were just one pinsir she would have jumped into the fray without hesitation. But this was two pinsir and a slakoth. She wasn't too familiar with slakoth and didn't like an additional unknown factor added to a combat scenerio. Deciding it would be better to avoid this encounter, she mimiced Arlo's last gesture with a slight nod. She'd let him lead their escape. That way, justi n case it went south fast, her horns would be between them and the pinsir.

(Energy: 10+2[Roost]=12)

If Maxie didn't want to take on this fight that was a pretty good sign to avoid it. The forest was starting to come alive with pokemon, must have been the time of day or something, so now was as good a time as ever to find somewhere else to bum around. Arlo slowly and silently lead Maxie through some underbrush, around a cluster of large rocks, and across a small stream until he felt that they were far enough away. They walked for a few minutes and he caught himself moving at a much faster than Maxie as he lead them, losing sight of her more than a few times as he was not used to moving on his own at his own pace instead of matching someone who was quite a bit slower than himself. Each time he apologized, but old habits are hard to break.

Once they'd stopped they found themselves in a slightly denser portion of the forest, with leaves covering the entire ground beneath them obscuring the dirt, and smaller trees taking up residence around the area. "This is a lot more exciting. Lots more pokemon down here than up there." He motioned towards the sky, as he sat down in front of Maxie to Roost. "I don't know about you, but I think we should look around this general area for mabe a few more berries, fight off anything that comes at up then head to the guild. I'm getting a pretty good feel for the area personally and it's started to get a bit late."

TheViolet carried out 2 launched of one Shadowhue Forest :

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"Agreed. I think we should try splitting up a bit. Keep in calling range, of course. We'll cover more ground this way." Without actually awaiting a response, Maxie separated from Alro. She had sort of unintentionally fallen into the role of leader—at least, in her head she was leader—and assumed Arlo was already in agreement. A little more than a bit arrogant, perhaps, but she had failed to realise this.

She wasn't very far from Arlo—just around a tree and through some brush—when she quite literally stumbled over a new find. Or rather, another of an old find. "Another unusual box..." she muttered to herself. Along with it, another cacnea spike. Perhaps a cacnea is leaving these things lying around. She didn't make it but four more steps before finding another item of interest. A scarf, folded neatly, lie on the ground. She picked it up, unfolded it, and found a TM and a seed. She identified the seed to be a blast seed. She opened her mouth to alert Arlo of her prosperous find, but stopped upon noticing a glittering yellow-gold powder falling around her. "Eck—" The sound was quiet and short; an unintentional reflex upon sensing the forced tensing of her muscles.

Stun Spore. Paralysis. Something I'm not immune to. After a quick run through of all the Pokemon she knew dwelled in this forest, she knew what had happened. The tree behind me isn't a tree, it's an exeggutor!

Before arlo had a chance to say anything Maxie was already gone. He didn't disagree so to speak, it was a good idea, he just didn't expect her to leave quite so fast. "Well okay." he muttered to himself as he turned to go the opposite direction to Maxie.

Scrounging around Arlo didn't find much of anything, a Strange Ticket was all the reward for his snooping. Hm, the forest must just be a bit empty, I'm sure maxie isn't finding anything too useful either. Maybe it was the fact that he was on the ground and was more used to a higher vantage that he couldn't find anything but he doubted it.

Heading back towards Maxie he called out "well this place isn't much better than before. I can't seem to find anything. I think we should call it off for the d-" Arlo was almost immediately cut off by a loud rustling and snapping beneath his feet. Oh no, a pit trap! He didn't have much time to react, and without being able to spread his wings due to the debris falling around him he screamed as he tumbled a solid ten feet down crashing into the bottom of the pit with a heavy thud.

The pit was surprisingly slick with mud along the walls, making it difficult to climb. Not usually a problem if time wasn't tight, but looking out of the hole Arlo's fall and subsequent scream seemed to have attracted the attention of a wandering Shedinja which was now floating directly over the hole Arlo was stuck in. Oh that's bad, that's really bad. Immune to electric attack, and normal attacks. I can't hurt it, man would it be good to know a flying attack. I mean, I could use my blast seed but it's one of the few things I've actually found in this forest, I'd rather not leave nearly empty handed. Maxie can't help either, it's immune to her too. But I guess it could be worse.

Arlo slowly started to try to climb out of the hole without drawing attention, but that didn't go well as the Shedinja almost immediately glared at him, and started Absorbing his energy. OKAY, WORSE, THIS IS BAD.

TheViolet carried out 2 launched of one Shadowhue Forest :

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((Had to edit to fix the roll code again, I'll get the hang of this eventually))

Maxie attempted to turn around and face the exeggutor only to find her muscles stiff and neigh immobile. Alright, stay calm. Maybe it's not even aware it's stunned me. That's possible. And if it has, well, Arlo will show up to help any moment. Assuming I even need help. It's not attacked me y— At that moment her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden pain. It was strange; it was like being hit by a harsh wave of sorts, but with no real physical feel to it. Despite this oddity, the damage it dealt was, in fact, physical.

She collapsed to the forest floor after the wave diminished. Still paralysed, the mawile failed to catch herself properly and practically face-planted into the dirt, only just avoiding doing so by her horns, which she had had in front of her the moment the Stun Spore took effect. She resisted psychic attacks, but this attack was quite strong, and she suspected the exeggutor was quite a bit more experienced than she was. She managed to get out a strained and panicked "Arlo!" before feeling another odd psychic blast. She suddenly felt a bit dizzy and faint.

((You should make a reminder like I have in my signature.))

Being in this hole was draining; mainly because the Shedinja hovering overhead was quite literally Absorbing his energy at an alarming rate and Arlo had no way to fight back. Well, he had one way, the blast seed he found earlier was in his hand making its way up to his mouth. You've gotta be kidding me. I'm going to leave this forest with nothing but a stupid ticket, and a worthless gummi. Talk about bad luck. As he placed the seed in his mouth and bit down, the spicy flavour filling his mouth. He way aiming right at the unsuspecting Shedinja when he heard Maxie weakly cry out for help.

Well that's not great if Maxie is in trouble she must really need help fast. It'll take me at least a minute to climb out of this hole after the Shedinja is dealt with but I don't want to leave Maxie hanging for that long... This is going to suck. With renewed energy knowing that Maxie needed him, Arlo took a deep breath in, leapt up to and clung to one of the walls of the pit trap he was in and turned his head down towards the brambles of twigs and leaves that were used to hide the pit initially. He let out of a torrent of flame onto the kindling below igniting it all in an instant and blazing himself with searing heat at the same time. Dropping off the wall over the fire Arlo spread his wings and caught the draft made by the heat, rocketing up and out of the hole. He sailed past the Shedinja being careful not to look at it as he passed lest he saw its hole catching about five feet of air in the process, plenty enough for a good glide.

The open wind stung newly acquired burns as he weaved past the few trees between him and where he saw Maxie head off to. Quickly locating her lying in front of a tree? No, that was an Exeggutor! Without a moment of hesitation, a wave of electrical energy enveloped Arlo as he hit the tree with a Quick Attack mid-glide, pushing off the pokemon to take to the air again before it could react and do whatever it did to Maxie to him. "Maxie, I'm here. Are you alright? Can you move?"

((I'm using yours, I just keep fucking it up))

A sense of relief rushed through Maxie upon hearing the sound of impact against the exeggutor followed by Arlo's voice. She tried to lift herself off the ground to test her motor abilities. She could move, but not enough to be particularly useful in a fight or in fleeing. "No, paralysed. Stun Spore," she said in a pained voice. The exeggutor was strong—significantly stronger than the venomoth they had fought earlier. Mawile were resistant to psychic attacks, and it still did a great deal of damage to Maxie. She herself was surprised she'd avoided fainting outright. Arlo doesn't have much of an advantage here. Even if I could fight and hit the exeggutor with an Ice Fang, it wouldn't be enough...

She had grown too confident in this place. She had foolishly assumed that because of her type advantages that she'd be capable of handling any threats. She had failed to consider a difference in sheer power or the potential factors of Sleep Powder or Stun Spore. I can't believe I didn't even think about the possibility of sleep or paralysis; let alone a power gap. Now how am I going to get out of this mess? Suddenly, the mawile recalled a particularly useful bit of information. She would have facepalmed if hse had the freedom to do so. She reached for her bag, the process slowed due to her condition. Upon reaching it, she withdrew a red berry and brought it back up to her mouth. Cheri Berry, what luck!

Upon eating the berry she immediately began to feel the effects. Muscles relaxing, stiffness diminishing. "Update: Yes. Cheri Berry," she announced, climbing to her feet. Her jaw-horns were beginning to ice over in preparation for an Ice Fang. She continued to face away from the exeggutor, deciding it'd be best to keep her horns between herself and her foe. She lashed out with her freezing jaws, catching them onto the tree trunk-like side of the exeggutor. Frost formed around the points of contact; not enough to disable it, but the damage was noticeable. Maxie proceeded to release her horn's grip on the foe and cautiously took steps away from it—what would have been backstepping for others; mawile had a peculiar fighting technic in which forward was backwards, backwards was forward. "It's stronger than us," Maxie called to her airborne ally. "Fight or flight? Your call."

Fight or flight. The decision was easy to make, between the Exeggutor and the Shedinja which was more than likely making its way to where they were it wasn't exactly smart to stick around. "It's time to leave. We could probably take the Exeggutor alone, but a Shedinja ambushed me just now, and neither of us can hurt it. Well, I could have but I used my only Blast Seed to get out of a trap faster, in case you were in serious trouble." Arlo was circling the Exeggutor as he shouted this down to Maxie, doing his best to distract the troublesome tree."I'll distract the Exeggutor, then catch up once you're away. Go!"

Arlo unleashed a Thunder Shock directed straight at one of the Exeggutor's faces, pausing mid-air to make sure the attack landed home. It did, and the Exeggutor paused, swaying in place as the attack paralysed it for a moment. He continued to fly around the heads, ready to blast again should they come to their senses before Maxie was out of the way.

At this point, the Shedinja finally made its way around the brush that separated it and the battle moments ago. It paused in the air gathering its surroundings in the midst of the battle, trying to decide whether to continue pursuing Arlo who was zipping around the Exeggutor and pay him back for the near burn or go for Maxie who was grounded and a fresh target.