A Storm Grows

Night lay heavy on the forest, the air heavy with the tension that always seemed to come before a storm. In the distance, a flash of lightning lit up the sky that was full of storm clouds. A rumble echoed after the spear of light, signaling ominously of the coming storm.

Beneath the trees, a lone pokemon glided through the darkness, dragging behind it a small stone. The whirling entity was made up of 108 different spirits, each with the agenda of chaos and darkness. The leading spirit was a female known as Ko, and she was bent on the destruction of the pokemon world.

She hated being bound to the keystone, just as she hated all the other spirits bound with her. At least they all agreed that something had to be done about the state of the pokemon world. Not a one of the 108 spirits that made up their body disagreed on Ko's stance. They all longed for chaos and destruction.

Currently, though, this body was weak, and had no allies with which to make her stand against the world with. She had to lower herself to other pokemon's standards just to get along in this world, and she hated every moment of it. She wanted to lash out, rip apart those who annoyed her, but there was little she could do at the moment. She couldn't even pick up items for herself! Not until she learned psychic, at least. She was trying, but having the hardest time doing so. Using just her mind to manipulate the world around her was harder than it seemed.

Lightning lit up the sky again, and a second later, a thundering boom rang out across the sky. It began to rain heavily, dousing the traveling spirit in a torrent of water. Ko looked up at the sky, imagining herself flying through the clouds, free of this damnable keystone, ready to cause chaos and destruction like she had as a wandering spirit.

(Energy: 19 - 5 = 14)

Mille wandered through the forest, her ears pricked, eyes flitting from silhouette to silhouette in the darkness. The Fennekin had come into the forest in the late afternoon with the intention of picking some more pecha berries so that she could make some pecha syrup for her stall but had very much lost track of time. It was now well into the night, and Mille very briefly glanced up at the sky, spotting the stars that peaked through the forest's canopy.

The young Fennekin had been here for hours now, and quite honestly, she was a little lost. She carried a bag upon her back, a small pan and a box of ingredients within it, along with a number of pecha berries that she had picked during her time in the forest. But nothing within the bag was particularly useful for finding her way. This was only her second time in the forest and it was her first time alone. The last time, Maryam had guided her.

After that particular trip, Mille had felt confident enough to head back to the forest if she wanted to do any pecha specials at her stall, but she was beginning to wonder if coming alone had really been a good idea after all. At least she'd told Erica and Joaquin where she had been heading. Perhaps they could send help if she didn't return.

Mille paused at that thought. Would they put a job up at the guild? She chuckled weakly at the idea of sending an exploration team after her. She'd made the journey from her home village without much hassle and it was here, in a wood right next to Grassveil Town that she got lost in.

The sudden flash of lightning and boom of thunder overhead made Mille jump, rattling all of the belongings in her bag as she did so. She glanced back up at the sky, eyes wide before she calmed herself and continued onwards. She'd wind her way out of here sooner or later.

At least... she hoped so.

Ko Energy: 23 - 5 = 18

Rain lashed against the trees as the lone spiritomb drug her way under the forest's canopy, reducing the rain to a few drops making it through the leafy ceiling. Lightning flashed and thunder boomed loudly as the storm picked up, the wind winding its way through the forest quickly. Ko squinted her eyes up at the leaves above her, wondering how they would stand up to the storm.

Leaves spiraled down around her, torn from their trees by the rushing wind, and Ko winced as several leaves whirled through her insubstantial body. It wasn't like it hurt, but it was uncomfortable to feel things going through her body. It tingled as her body phased around the physical objects. Get outGet outGet out. The phrase repeated itself in her mind like a broken record.

She hissed angrily. "Shuttttttt upppppp," she muttered. "I knoooooooow whaaaaaaat I'm doiiiiiiing." A sense of doubt echoed from the other spirits, but she dismissed their concerns. She wasn't afraid of no storm, even one as bad as this one. It wasn't like she could die, anyway. The worst case scenario was that the keystone would break. Sorry, did she say worst? She meant best!

Of course, she had no idea what would happen if the keystone broke. Best case scenario, it would release her and the other spirits from their entrapment. Worst case, they'd all be sucked into the dark world. Not that the dark world was unfamiliar to Ko. She'd been there a couple times before being entrapped, and it was a world of chaos... So really, only good things could come from the keystone breaking.

Of course, she highly doubted the keystone would break easily. The pokemon who'd designed the keystone as a means of trapping evil spirits would have made sure the keystone was strong enough to withstand the spirits' attempts to rid themselves of their prison.

Ko was lost in her thoughts, so when she bumped into someone, she phased through them halfway before she realized she was running into them. The other pokemon would likely feel really cold as Ko passed through them, an aching kind of cold that only came from touching the dark world and those that came from the place. Ko reared back, phasing out from around the pokemon.

When she had backed away, she focused on what kind of pokemon she had run into. It was a small, fox-like pokemon. For a moment, her heart raced with glee as she thought she had run into Illiad again, the pleasant zorua she'd met in Shadowhue Forest once... But then she realized the fox pokemon was no zorua. It had huge, fluffy ears and a small body that was hard to make out in the darkness, but she eventually realized it was a fennekin.

"Ooopsssssss..." She hissed. "Forgive meeeeee, fennekin... I wassssss nooooot loooooooking where I wassssss goiiiiiing," she said, her voice echoing with the other spirits trapped within the keystone.

Mille couldn't help but sigh as the rain began to pour down from the sky. It seemed that first strike of lightning really had preceded the beginning of a full storm. The young Fennekin was normally only too glad to spend time in the outdoors, but the combination of being both horribly lost and now soaking wet was beginning to get to her.

The long fur on her face drooped with the weight of the rainwater, and Mille paused to shake some of the moisture from her fur. The droplets scattered from her body, only to replaced by more rain shortly after. Before Mille could ponder her situation further, she felt a sudden chill. She was unfamiliar with the feeling. It was worse than any cold she'd felt from being outdoors and was almost eerie in nature.

She glanced back to see what had caused it, spotting an odd pokemon. She'd never seen anyone like it before, their form a large purple and green swirling mass attached to what looked to be like a small stone.

"O-oh! No problem!" she replied, immediately turning to face the new individual. The eerie cold feeling was quickly forgotten as the other pokemon removed themselves from her, and she seemed to perk up immensely at the prospect of being able to ask someone else about where to go, her equipment rattling as she turned.
"Do you happen to know the way back to Grassveil Town from here?" she asked, not hesitating out of any contrived sense of timing, but more questioning immediately so that she wouldn't miss a chance to ask.

Ko Energy: 18

Ko couldn't help but chuckle at the startled look on the fennekin's face. Then confusion coursed through her as the fennekin seemed to perk up upon looking at her. She didn't expect the other to like looking upon her. Most pokemon screamed and ran away upon spying her. Most pokemon hated her kind. Perhaps the fennekin just was naive and didn't know what Ko was.

Her thoughts were interrupted as the fennekin continued speaking, asking her if she knew the way back to Grassveil Town. Ko eyed the fennekin. "Whaaaat dooooo I geeeeet outtttttt oooooofffffff theeeeeee deaaaaallllllll?" Ko asked frankly. She wanted to know what the fennekin would do if faced with a not-so-helpful pokemon.

It was always interesting to see how different pokemon responded to different stimuli. Ko liked to see pokemon get frustrated with her, see how they reacted to a pokemon who only acted in their own self-interest. Most pokemon had some level of empathy for other pokemon, but not her. She usually played the 'normal' pokemon, but every once in a while she would play with the occasional passerby and she just didn't care enough to hold up the facade.

The spiritomb reputation was well deserved, it seemed.

Rather than giving her any directions, the odd pokemon before Mille asked what they might get out of the deal. The Fennekin tilted her head to the side a little in brief confusion, the question giving her pause. The pokemon in Grassveil were usually just happy to help her if she asked, but she supposed she shouldn't expect the same of everyone.

Mille glanced back at the cooking equipment she carried in the bag on her back, trying to remember what she had brought with her. It should be enough for something at least?

Turning her amber gaze back to the -unbeknownst to her- swarm of spirits, she shrugged before posing a potential answer.
"If we can find somewhere dry, I could cook you some pancakes?" she suggested, wondering if the other would be interested in such an offering.

Ko Energy: 18

Once again, the fennekin surprised the spiritomb. Instead of getting all huffy or whining about how unfair it was that Ko wanted something in return for asking directions, instead she got right to the point and offered something in return. Though... pancakes? What in the dark world were pancakes? The spiritomb frowned. "Whaaaaaatttttt aaaaaaarrrrrrrrreeeeee paaaaaaannnnnncaaaaaakkkkkkkeeeesssssss?" She questioned the fennekin. "Iiiiiiiiii'vvvvvvvvvvveeeeee nevvvvvvvverrrrrrr hearrrrrrrrrrddddd offfffffff theeeeeeemmmmmmm beffffffffforrrrrrrreeeee," she said, revealing her newness to the world of pokemon, or at least her isolation so far.

Truly, the spiritomb hadn't gotten out much since she'd awoken inside her keystone, trapped with a hundred and seven other spirits. Most of her time had been spent subduing the others and getting them to semi-listen to her. That had been taking up most of her time for the past.... who knows how long it had been, honestly? Possession wasn't something she recommended to other pokemon. It was tiring to have to fight for every bit of control.

Mille looked a little shocked that the other pokemon didn't know what a pancake was. She glanced up at the sky as she attempted to put into words what they were, "I guess they're like... flat cakes? You can put lots of different toppings on them, like fruit or syrups..." she trailed off, hopping on the spot for a moment before she continued.

"But! If you haven't had any before then I'll definitely cook some for you! I don't know if I have much that can be used as toppings though... that's what I was in the forest for, well... before I got lost." She stopped and did a quick twirl around, looking for somewhere dry that she could set up a fire to cook on. There didn't seem to be anywhere close so she turned back to the spiritomb, "C'mon, there's gotta be somewhere relatively dry around here!"