Approaching borders

[19 - 10 (entry) = 9]

There were very few places Pepper wouldn't go for adventure. If she could get there she would go there. That, however brought the predicament that she was in right now. When Pepper noticed a rolling mist start to surround her she didn't even mind it, now she seemed to be lost in a sea of haze. She tried to retrace her steps and head back where she came from but that only got her more lost. The ground under her feet was starting to incline, and she felt like she was moving up a slope.

She wasn't keen on showing fear but being lost in such unfamiliar territory made her shiver slightly. If she got into a fight here she wouldn't have any help, not that she needed it. She huffed slightly and resolved to get to the top of the hill she was climbing. Maybe the mist wouldn't be as thick there, and she could see the road back home.

A small snapping noise made her stop in place and swivel her ears. It sounded fairly close, she started to look around. Was there someone here or was she just imagining things?

"Hello" she said, "is anyone there?"

(Energy: 16-10 (Entry)=6)

Pricklemist Hill had seemed just fine this morning. Nice and clear, with a pleasant and mild temperature even though the year was entering its colder seasons. A perfect day for foraging, if you'd ask Leander. So that was what he had ventured out to do. He had even bothered to bring a little basket with him, which he had attached to his backpack. Perhaps a little unnecessary since he had the backpack, but foraging just wasn't the same without it. But now the fog on the hill was thickening again for some reason, obstructing the seedot's view of the terrain.

His strategy when foraging in dungeons would usually be to snag some items, avoid contact with feral pokémon, and get out fast. But today he had stayed for a little too long, apparently. Following his usual plans would be a little difficult in the dense mist. How was he supposed to know when pokémon were approaching him? Just going back the same way he had come would have been a good solution, had he not spent most of his time in the soup-thick fog constantly turning to different directions because he thought that he heard something. He had gotten himself hopelessly lost, and was growing increasingly nervous as he blindly stumbled up the hill. The nut was by no means a skilled fighter, even with his rogue-ish past, so running into ferals would mean trouble.

That was why, when he heard a voice higher up on the hill, he instantly became vigilant. Ferals usually wouldn't talk. He knew that some could, but he had not met many who had bothered to chat with him before they attacked. So the fact that this stranger was talking probably meant that she wasn't wild, but he could not be sure. A foggy place like this was perfect for a baiting-ambush, since he wouldn't be able to tell that the bait was surrounded by ruffians ready to attack. His parents had taught him as much. With a low groan, he pushed the thought of them away. Thinking about them wouldn't make him less lost, so he wouldn't bother.

But hadn't that voice asked if someone was there? Did she know that he was around? Or... Or maybe there was something else out there? Leander could feel a shiver run through his body. Had he possessed normal skin, he would have grown pale. No, he was definitely not going up there just yet! Instead, he waited, trying to listen and make out whether there was one, two or possibly a whole gang of others on the top of the hill.

(Gonna apologize in advance if something's weird in this post. It's really late here -3-)

Silence was the only response Pepper received. She strained her eyes to try and see anything in the mist. There was a silhouette of a... Rock? She took a step toward the shape, but then thought against it. She turned tail and puffed out a breath she didn't know she was holding. If it was anyone who could help they would have responded. It was probably a feral, and as much as she liked scrapping with them, Pepper knew that fighting in this weather wouldn't be advantageous. Besides, she'd feel stupid if she got worked up over a rock in the mist...

But... What if it wasn't just a rock? The thought had Pepper shivering. She had to make sure, just to be safe.  Her fur stood on end and her muscles tensed in anticipation. A threatening heat started to expel from her fluffy ears. If it was a rock she'd have a laugh about it, if it wasn't she'd be ready for danger. Her eyes stayed trained on the shape in the mist. She took slow steady steps towards it. Unfortunately, this intense focus made her miss the wobbly rock in the dirt under her paw. When she put her weight on it, her leg slipped and she started tumbling down the hill screeching in terror.

Leander couldn't hear much at first. Maybe he was being paranoid when he guessed that something up there would be out to get him? That voice did likely belong to someone civil. What if he was avoiding someone who needed his help? In this weather, getting lost was easy. He had already experienced that first-hand today. Figuring he was still not being particularly effective in his "become a better person"-quest, the seedot sighed. All right. It was time to take a deep breath, and go check the top of the hill. If the pokémon calling out was friendly, then great! Maybe they could find the way out together. If not, he knew there were trees on Pricklemist Hill that he could make a getaway to. And good luck to any ferals wishing to find a disguised seedot in this horrid fog.

He was all set to continue scaling the hill, when a loud scream broke out from higher up on it. The nut's pupils shrunk, and he took some rickety steps backwards. There really was something up there! And whatever it was, it must have gotten to the poor pokémon he had heard. While he had been hard on himself for not doing the right thing earlier, Leander still ended up bolting off to save himself. That quest of his wasn't picking up any speed quite yet. He, however, currently was. Until he reached a muddier part of the hill, anyway. The ground sunk under one of his feet, trapping it and effectively preventing him from reaching one of his precious trees. This was bad. Very bad. Especially since the screaming sounded like it was getting closer. Oh Arceus. That thing and the pokémon must have been running towards him!

Trapped and shivering, the acorn turned to face whatever was approaching, expecting the worst.

Pepper felt every bump of the ground while she rolled down the hill. I wonder if this is how Pokemon who know rollout feel, she thought to herself. Her descent started to slow when the dirt softened into a muddy slurry. Her fur collecting mud the entire way down. Eventually she slowed to a stop in a muddy pile in front of Leander, who she still hadn't noticed. Her vision was dizzy and she rested for a few moments before picking herself up.

"Rapidash dung!" She exclaimed, assuming she was alone. "Lost and now filthy! Why did all this need to happen today!" She lifted a paw, caked in mud, and shook free some of the brown sludge. She planted her paws and shook whatever mud would come free from her golden coat. When she was done she tried to get a feel for her surroundings, but she was still restricted to outlines in the mist. At least I got to that dumb rock.

The object she had been suspicious of was now in front of her. "Time to put this spooky mess to rest." She reached out her paw to poke at the silhouette in the mist. She was sure it was just a rock. It wasn't moving much after all.

It was approaching, but was starting to slow down. The creature did not seem move in a conventional way. Leander couldn't see any feet moving- just a mass traveling downhill, most of its features obscured by fog. It appeared to be dark brown, though, with glistening, sloppy skin that seemed to either slowly dry up or run on different parts of its body. The Creature of Pricklemist Hill. That was what the seedot had opted to name it. Being eradicated by some nameless and unknown force seemed scarier to him than facing the same fate at the hands of something he knew what to call, for some reason. So it would be called that by him, at least. For the brief time he expected to last after having met it, anyway.

The Creature eventually stopped in front of him, remaining still for a little before getting up. Apparently, it had not been standing at its full stature before. As it began moving again, Leander froze. He was not even shivering now. Every part of the acorn felt numb, and time seemed to pass by slower than usual. Like it had suddenly decided that it would rather be berry jelly than fast, fluid time. The Creature was small, slightly shorter than even him, yet he feared its might. It had come down alone, meaning that whoever it had been chasing was gone now. And it had hardly taken it any time at all.

"Rapidash dung!"

Wait, what?

The Creature could apparently speak. It even had a foul tongue. But that voice... He could have sworn that was the voice that had called out to him earlier. Had it been the Creature all along? Or maybe, just maybe... he had been wrong about this? What his supposed "Creature" said next made his reluctant guess seem even more likely.

Lost and filthy? Then, its mud-like skin... really was mud. Mud covering an otherwise normal pokémon, probably. The answer was revealed as it shook the slop off, revealing a golden, although still a little dirtied coat of what he assumed was fur. The view was still not ideally clear, although it was much better than before at this distance. It didn't seem as scary now. And now that it had shaken some dirt off, it was raising one of its feet, seemingly to prod him. Was it testing whether he was alive or not?

"Hey, wait..." he uttered right before the paw would meet his face, his voice still a little shaky from the whole "Creature"-misunderstanding. The way this pokémon was acting now, talking, apparently being lost and feeling sour about it - it made Leander really start believing that it could be a civil 'mon. It, or rather she, wasn't acting in a typical feral way. If he could talk to her, they could possibly help each other out of the place. He didn't know anything about this "spooky mess" she was talking about, unless she had been referring to herself from mere minutes ago, but it likely did not matter to him. Finding out what kind of person he had run into was more important.

"You're not feral... right?"

"Hey, wait..."

Pepper's paw stopped mere centimeters from the object in front of her. It was speaking, but it wasn't attacking. She felt like she should be wary of it, but maybe it was a pokemon that could help. She stretched her paw out and brushed it against the Seedot's shell like body. Upon closer inspection she even saw a pair of eyes staring back at her squinting face.

"You're not feral... right?"

No, of course she wasn't. She dealt with a lot of ferals back home and she knew what it was like to try and talk to someone on the wild side. She couldn't be sure she could trust this talking shell. Everything being what it was though, she just needed to know if he could help her. Even if he couldn't, the fact that she hadn't been attacked yet was nice. That was worth at least a few answers to her.

"No? What makes you think I'm feral?" She looked back down at her paw, covered in muck, and realized that she must look like a mess. "Oh uhm...  My name is Pepper. I came here looking for some food and someone to play with, but the weather turned so nasty!" As if on queue, the mist seemed to have cleared just enough so that she could see the seedot in front of her, at least well enough to tell it was a seedot. "I got lost in the fog and was just trying to find my way out. I don't think that it's the right time for adventure. I could get hurt if I ran into something dangerous out here!" She stopped for a moment, looking around. She still couldn't see too far ahead of herself, but things were clearer which was nice.

"You wouldn't happen to know the direction to Shadowhue forest would you?"

Leander became less tense when the stranger confirmed that she was, in fact, just some lost pokémon like him. Now that the fog was thinning out some more, he could tell that she was a fennekin. A muddy one, but nonetheless still a fennekin. So the beast he had feared would kill him had been this cute little fox all along, who had only come here to eat and play. This was almost embarrassing, although it was also a relief. If she was comfortable enough with this dungeon to come here to play, she would probably have no issue with fending off the ferals living in it. Then they'd at least have one capable fighter should the need arise. Cute pokémon weren't necessarily weak, after all.

"I'm Leander," he began saying, while trying to pull his sunken foot loose. It remained stuck, and with a sigh, he moved his focus over on speaking."Shadowhue Forest, huh? That's a few days from here, even with a clear path." Had she traveled all that way just to play around? Kids these days were wild. "Right now I don't even know the way home because of this fog, sorry. But if we can find the way out of here, I should be able to point you the way to Shadowhue, too."

Shifting his focus back to his foot, he resumed his attempt at trying to lodge it out. At last, it slipped out of the mud with a "plop". The seedot then carefully moved away from the mud, facing his new acquaintance as he found solid ground to stand on. "Gah, finally. The soil's terrible here. But yeah, Pepper, why don't we look for the way out together? I live nearby, and often come here to get berries and stuff. Shouldn't have trouble finding my way around here once the fog clears a little more."

Scypho carried out 2 launched of one Pricklemist Hill :

,

Pepper tilted her head at Leander's explanations. Had she really been away from home for THAT long? That probably explains why she was out of food then. She was just looking for fun, but a lot of the forests near Shadowhue were full of weakling Pokemon. Not to say that she wasn't a part of that group still, but she didn't want to spend all that time slowly growing stronger. She wanted to be strong NOW! And what better way, than fighting strong Pokemon she thought.

Pepper's train of thought was interrupted by a wet 'plop' as Leander pulled himself free from the mud. She followed him onto solid ground, and shook off the mud clinging to her paws. When Leander offered that they should stick together she wondered if it was a good idea. She had barely met him, what were the chances she'd get attacked from behind? Probably slim. She settled on bringing her new acquaintance along for the ride.

"I guess thats okay, where do you live? Actually, do you mind if we find something to eat first? I've been snacking on twigs but I could use something actually filling."

Pepper turned from Leander to sniff at the air, her ears twitching cutely to pick up the sounds in the wild. Her nose wasn't the sharpest in the world, but she was confident she could at least find something. Her nose picked up a faint scent and she started walking toward her senses, up the slope of the hill.

DoReMeme carried out 4 launched of one Pricklemist Hill :

, , ,

(Energy: 6 - 5 = 1
We both lasted with 1 energy left lmao)

"Rainfront," he answered to her first question. "If it hadn't been for this fog, it'd be impossible to miss it. Not with the parties and music, ka ka." After finishing his little chuckle, he momentarily shifted his focus to the sky, thinking he had heard something. Like the flapping of wings or something. The noise did not appear again, so he shrugged it off. The fog had made him overly suspicious before, so it was probably just his mind playing tricks on him. At a poor time, too, seeing as he was in the middle of a conversation. "But yeah, food. I did say that I usually find berries here, didn't I? They probably haven't run away just because it's foggy. Let's see..." Leander looked around, seeing a few outlines of what he thought might be trees before he got distracted.

Ears. Cute, wiggly ears. Seeing as Pepper was still serious about her scouting, she likely had no idea how adorable she looked when she twitched her ears like that. Which made it even cuter. Not even the muck could ruin that. Leander could say whatever he wanted about his luck, but at least it was good when it came to stumbling across likable companions. Sadly, that distracting cuteness was not going to be his friend today. While he was busy secretly gushing over the fennekin's looks, a fletchinder took the chance to land just far enough behind them to be shrouded by the receeding fog. From here, it would silently survey them, deciding on what strategy to use for its first move.

As Pepper moved higher up on the hill, Leander snapped back to reality. "Er, yeah. There are more trees uphill. Should be something tasty growing there," he muttered as he saw the fox go up. He would follow her shortly afterwards, more careful about the mud this time. But as they moved, the fletchinder would move, too, looking for an opening.

(Energy: 9 - 8 = 1)
Rainfront? Pepper might have heard that at some point in her life. She just couldn't remember right at this very second. She brushed off the thought when a tasty scent wafted into her nose. It was unmistakably food, but it was a little up the hill.

"Er, yeah. There are more trees uphill. Should be something tasty growing there,"

Based on the scent she could smell, there was probably truth to that statement. Pepper was more than happy to find out with her own two eyes though. She bounded up, cresting the hill, her poofy tail wagging gleefully behind her. When she got to the top of the hill she yapped out happily. There WAS food there. A pair of Spoink danced around a low hanging apple, it was ruby red and absolutely scrumptious looking. The pair cheered gleefully at the sight while chanting "Spoi! Spoink!" Their coiled bodies bounced closer and closer to the fruit. Pepper yapped noisily at the two Pokemon.

"Hey! Hey! Guys! Fight us for the apple?! If we win we get to keep it!" The Spoink's attention was drawn to the yapping vixen, but they didn't seem to understand what she meant. Regardless, without being denied, Pepper took it as acceptance to her challenge. Without a moments notice, and Leander's wishes taking a back seat on her quest for food, Pepper ran forward at the pair of swine. "Let's get em Leander!" She bared her claws and jumped at the closest enemy in her view.

Far above any of the action, a haunter watched from his perch on the upper branches. He was mildly amused at the scene below.  

OOC:

(Judging by what I know, I'd say you're doing just fine so far. The combat system is pretty open, anyway ^^)

As the fennekin flew up the hill, Leander was left trailing after her, with some distance between them. He couldn't catch up to Pepper as she sped up, not in a slope like this under such poor conditions. Perhaps not even on straight ground. But even though they had a bit of a difference in speed, he eventually did arrive at the top of the hill, just in time to hear the vixen cry out in happiness over something, presumably food. Although this behaviour was cute as well, he was too out of breath to walk over to her and watch her do whatever she was doing. No, just stopping in his tracks and regaining his energy was enough for him right now. And thus, he didn't get close enough to his ally to notice what situation she was getting into before it was too late.

She got his attention again when she called his name, along with a "let's get em". Get em? Get who? Then he saw them. Two spoink, underneath an apple with a delicious, carmine hue. And Pepper, leaping at one of the hogs. This wasn't going as he had planned. That fennekin was supposed to keep them safe from danger by fighting off any potential opponents they should run into, not go dashing into every fight she could get! Especially not for a single apple! He hadn't told her that, though. And if he did, he risked sounding selfish. Like, "Hey, how about you just go fight all the dangerous guys for us? And uh, only do it when I tell you to, like I dictate your decisions or something?" That sounded awful. And even though he technically could sugarcoat it, he disliked doing that to cute pokémon like her. It was simply unfair, and such pure beings should be spared of that in his opinion. He did want her power, and he wanted it to protect himself. It was simply better not to bring up what he had planned, and go do the right thing instead. And as such, the nut sucked it up and reluctantly joined the skirmish, saying no more. He did permit himself to sigh briefly, though, mostly directed at himself. Along with him came a glowing wave of green that soon swept over the entire top of the hill, causing grass and wild flowers to grow wherever the wave had traveled. Grassy Terrain. If he was going to fight, he was at least going to fight safely.

And while the acorn started biding and waiting for hits to counter, the bird who had followed them reached the last and highest part of the slope, surprised to see all of the plants that the terrain had generated. Recognizing the weird occurence as a move, she pressed her body closer to the ground, exploiting the taller grass to hide herself as she came closer to see what kind of battle her targets were in.

(Grassy Terrain lets us regain 1 energy every time we post, until the end of the page, where it ends and withers away. It can be reactivated on the next page, though
Energy= 1 + 1 (GT)= 2)

The Spoink who Pepper attacked was caught off guard by her sudden aggressive move. Without much of a tussle Pepper had the larger creature pinned under her very small weight. It didn't seem like it was doing too well. Off of it's coiled bottom, the spoink looked like it couldn't breathe well. It paled and squealed in panic. Just as the grass around the fallen spoink started growing, the second Spoink finally processed what was happening and it let out an angered cry.

A dull purple light grew from the gem on it's head into a blazing light show of power. When the move finished charging, the carefully aimed beam hit Pepper clean off of the fallen spoink. Pepper let out a pained gasp while she sailed back a few feet. She flipped in the air and landed on her toes with the grace of a meowth.

She couldn't keep a strong face though, that Psybeam knocked the air out of her. She panted slightly while she tried to regain her composure. Thankfully, the ground itself seemed to be giving her energy, she wondered if that was leander's work. She looked back to see Leander standing at the edge of the fight. At least he didn't run away. But why is he standing still?! She thought to herself. She took a deep breath and fired a small gout of ember at the spoink. From their distance and the way they bounced around so fervently, her move missed and smoldered away into the dirt under their springs.

The recovered spoink turned their attention to the new acorn looking pokemon. Both spoink, now springing around in a flurry of angry oinks charged psychic energies into the gems on their foreheads aimed at the still pokemon. A wave of Purplish hued energy combined with a beam of similar energy and flew at a fast speed at Leander. Pepper yelled out a warning in desperation, hoping that the acorn wasn't frozen in fear from some psychic attacks. "GET OUTTA THE WAY!"

The two spoink did not seem aware of there even being a battle at first. Maybe they don't understand what we're saying? This must look like an assault! Leander realized, looking at the panicked spoink trapped under the vixen. Didn't spoink rely on bouncing to survive? Though these guys were ferals, a chill crept through the nut as he imagined them accidentally forcing the life out of the spoink through cardiac arrest. He was about to yell at Pepper to get off the pig, but it turned out he didn't have to, as the other hog managed to blast her off of it using a move. They would have to find a way to get these pigs to scamper off without knocking them over for too long, he figured. Or else it would end badly for their opponents.

Pepper seemed to be alright after the scuffle, although a bit tuckered out after being hit full-on by that move. Nothing he would have to look over for more serious injuries. But it wasn't like he could do anything to help her right now, anyway. Just focusing on keeping Bide going was enough of a drain. It seemed like the move would be useful now that the spoink were changing targets, though. The enraged swines were now heading towards him, mysterious, wavering energy building up around their precious pearls. It was time for him to brace himself, as little as he liked the "charging" progress of Bide.

His ally's shout did not make him budge an inch. He wanted to reply, but figured that doing anything but handling the force of the moves right now would break it and leave him with lots of pain, but no gain. Instead, he kept staring at the wave and the beam as they rapidly came closer. And closer. And then hit him right between the eyes with a bizarre and distorted BOOM! Remaining conscious, on his feet and quite focused, Leander let the power of the two moves reside in his body for a moment, where it would build up to twice of the moves' combined power. The power then lit up his body in a bright, white glow. That glow grew more intense, until all of the energy would shoot out of his body and at one of the spoink in a wide, blinding beam.

"Don't worry! Focus on them!" he yelled back to Pepper as Bide was fully launched. He then nearly fell over, barely catching his balance again after the energy left his body. It was being replaced by the pain of the psychic attacks he had previously been hit by. But that was just the price of a countering move like Bide. "We need to... to make them run away. If they're down for too long, they'll... die..." he explained, taking breaks while speaking to breathe and rest. His own attack had been more held-back than his usual ones when using his last move, though Bide was hard to control in general. Hopefully he would not cause casualties over that apple.

Meanwhile, the Fletchinder was nearing the battlefield, having assessed the situation to a level she was comfortable with. She had even seen one of her targets receive a few moves, namely that seedot, so she knew who to attack to bring down the enemy count before diving into the main struggle. Ready for action, she began flapping her wings, raising her body into the air above the battle as she let her slow flame sac start to heat up.

Pepper watched horrified, thinking that the acorn pokemon might have actually gotten obliterated by the combined psychic power of the two angry pigs. Leander, for the most part, surprised Pepper with a light show of his own. The energy that Leander had to have been double, no, TRIPLE the Spoink's combined power! She bounced around excitedly when the wild energy hit it's mark. This seedot had to be incredibly powerful to hit THAT hard! Her initial guess that he wasn't going to be much help in a fight were blown away.

She took his advice and decided that she'd ask him to show her how to do that move when they were done with the Spoink. She took stock of the pair and noticed that the hit spoink was fleeing the scene and the Spoink in front of her seemed to be scared stiff. It wouldn't take a lot to make him run too. She wagged her tail in the air and vented searing hot air from her ears, The growing plants around her paws rapidly dried and caught flames. Pepper dug her paws into the dirt and charged at the stunned Spoink. She jumped in the air and swung her fluffy tail at the poor creature, making it look as if the impact was going to be painful.

When the soft tail hit the remaining spoink, it did no damage, but the shock of all that happened finally snapped it out of it's stupor. It squealed in fear and started bounding in the same direction as it's friend. Pepper landed gracefully on her feet and turned in small circles wagging her tail behind her. The apple that started all this hung heavily over her head.

"Yes!!! That was soo much fun! Leander you have to show me how you did that! Was that a hyper beam? OR, or was it a solar beam?! Cmon, you have to teach me!

The Haunter in the trees watched the girl prance about below and disappeared into ether with an ominous cackling. It seemed as if it had decided on it's action now that there wasn't so many pokemon to focus on.