A First Guild Mission

First topic message reminder :

Job being taken:

Spoiler:

Finally, Valen had been accepted into the Aileron Guild, and he was now going on his first guild mission. He had to fight a Hawlucha who was looking for challengers in Cattail Marsh. He actually felt pretty confident about his ability to complete this job successfully, despite the fact he currently had no partner. He tended towards optimism in general, and he had managed to remember that his Normal/Flying-type gave him an advantage over the Fighting/Flying-type Hawlucha.

The marsh was a wet, muddy place, making Valen feel incredibly lucky that he could soar over the ground. Just like a Hawlucha can, actually, he thought. However, he could not see a Hawlucha anywhere - and Valen had seen members of that species before in Aileron Village, so he could definitely recognize them. He would just have to continue flying and looking around the marsh.

Or maybe... Should I just shout a challenge of my own or something like that? Valen thought. It could attract feral Pokemon too, but I'm here to be a strong opponent already - I need to take risks. But he wasn't sure how far his voice would carry. Maybe his pecking could be louder - except that just about everything was so soft and wet there wasn't really a good place to peck in this dungeon, at least not one that he could see at the moment. So Valen just kept flying for now.

[Energy: 16 - 15 = 1]

Everything except the otter’s eyes were covered up, and he couldn’t breathe anymore... He desperately squirmed in his bindings to no avail, and it almost seemed hopeless... All he could see was a Froakie with an evil smile, and the eyes of a frog watching someone suffer in front of him...

Suddenly, he noticed a red and white flash fly across and fling the frog off. He moved his head over to see... Valen? He noticed the fight going on, and the Pikipek was winning! How was it able to peck so... His chest suddenly caved in as he tries to breathe through the bubbles the Froakie forced onto him, but all it did was make him more desperate... He couldn’t even use Water Gun, anymore! “GRMMPH! BRRRBM!” He cries out for help, despite this fact, but it barely helped.

Valen’s fierce pecking had managed to do some solid damage to the Froakie. It had been so focused on Tempo that it had been caught off guard by Valen’s attack, so it had little opportunity to attack Valen back. Soon, the Froakie fell down, having been knocked out.

Valen was, all at once, relieved at the sight of the threat being neutralized and proud that this time, he had definitely saved someone. But quickly, he realized that Tempo was still trapped in the bubbles - and seemed to be struggling to breathe. Desperately, Valen tried to use his wings and legs to brush the bubbles off Tempo.

He wasn't able to clear many of the bubbles off, as they stuck with surprising force. However, Valen did manage to get a few relatively quickly. Some of them stuck to him, but not so many that they significantly impeded Valen. And looking at the progress, he had an idea.

First, I need to get the bubbles off his face, so he can breathe - and his arms, so he can help clear off the rest. Quickly, so that he doesn't suffocate!

Valen's pace of clearing sped up even faster than before, and he focused on the areas he had thought about. Soon, he managed to get some more bubbles off Tempo's face and arms. It was definitely not all of them, but at least Tempo could now potentially move his arms to some extent.

[Energy: 0 + 1 = 1]
(OOC: I'm only making a Pickup roll, which takes no energy and only counts items, right now. There's been a lot of excitement and DJOshawott still has a Greninja to encounter, not to mention there's still completing the job about fighting a Hawlucha).

Pickup roll:

Shield carried out 1 launched of one Cattail Marsh :

Each passing second was even more agonizing as he pulls against the bindings more and more, but he couldn’t keep it up. His body needed to breathe, and what would normally let him simply... couldn’t. He closed his eyes in the pain, his chest heaving again, waiting to finally pass out...

...suddenly, he coughs and gasps... His nose was still covered, but an arm and his mouth was free. He was saved! He pulls off the rest using his scalchop, which was surprisingly simple, before gasping a little more. “Kaff! Cwaaah... V... Valen?” His eyes dart around to see the familiar bird next to him. “...Thanks... Thank you... Very much...”

"You're... welcome," Valen replied with a quavering voice. He had seen Tempo manage to free the rest of his body with the shell he was holding. Tempo is fine! And that shell he holds seems to be able to do some pretty useful things, Valen thought to himself. Valen did not know that an Oshawott's scalchop grows from its body, so he thought about asking Tempo about where he got the shell. However, he soon decided to wait until Tempo had some more time to recover before doing so.

The next thing to do was to find the Hawlucha they had come here to fight. But they still didn't know where in Cattail Marsh the Hawlucha was, so they would have to keep searching... which could open them up to more attacks by feral Pokemon. They were truly dangerous. We could have died the last time we were attacked, Valen thought. Furthermore, even if they managed to get to the Hawlucha safely, both Tempo and Valen were still hurt. Could they put up a good fight?

Well, we can't possibly turn back now, Valen told himself. He was a guild member (even if Tempo was not) and flying away like a coward would prove that he had never deserved to belong to a guild. And it would be particularly shameful to his mother, who, while not a guild member, had explored several dangerous places bravely. So, Valen thought, the only choice is to go on.

(OOC: Decided to make one normal roll after all, as DJOshawott has decided to make a few of their own in their next post).

Shield carried out 1 launched of one Cattail Marsh :

He was glad they were able to live, at least... but they still needed to fight the Hawlucha, and with them fighting at this rate, they weren’t going to win... Much like Tempo’s first real exploration underwater, it was his first mission, and they might not even come out alive...

The otter lets out a sigh, sitting over the edge of the water once again. After all, he nearly died due to lack of oxygen. Twice. He’d much rather reduce those risks, but what if something is underwater...? He looks over the edge of the water, taking a breath and putting his head under, checking for anything interesting...

DJOshawott carried out 3 launched of one Cattail Marsh :

, ,

Valen noticed that Tempo was sitting down and had put his head underwater. Resting a bit, Valen guessed. He didn't mind at all, given what had just happened to Tempo, who probably needed a good period of relaxation right now. "I'll just fly around a bit and see if there is anything interesting. I won't go too far," Valen told Tempo, although not totally sure whether Tempo could hear it if his head was underwater.

Valen took off and flew around, although always making sure to keep Tempo in sight. He couldn't see underwater, but he could check whether there was something floating on the water or on land or plants. He didn't see any other Pokemon at the moment, but he did manage to find several items.

Two of them were Orbs which he knew about - a Rainy Orb, which caused rain, and a Shocker Orb, which caused an enemy to cower and potentially aim attacks in the wrong direction. The third was a seed. Although it was an Allure Seed, which would distort a consumer's or target's vision, Valen did not know this because he had forgotten about it. Nevertheless, he decided to keep the seed just in case he could find out what it was useful for later.

Once Valen could not see anything else interesting in the range he was traveling in, he flew back to Tempo and landed besides him. "I'm back," Valen said.

He slips under with a quick breath to see what he could find. Admittedly, though, there wasn’t much. There was a Diet Ribbon, which he remembers getting earlier, and a Quick Orb. The orb actually seems useful for when he does get in a situation like swimming away from the killer frog, but besides that, he didn’t find anything else. Not even “evil tree branches”, as a penguin he met before so kindly put it.

He surfaces near where he dove, holding the edge to recover hold himself up without using too much energy. “Nothing much, sadly... A bad ribbon and an orb, but that’s pretty much it...” The otter sadly admitted.

Valen saw the Oshawott come up holding a ribbon and an orb of his own. Valen recognized the Orb as a Quick Orb, but did not recognize the ribbon. Tempo had called it a "bad ribbon," however, so maybe its identity wasn't too important.

Valen replied to Tempo, "I just found a few items too. I got a Rainy Orb, a Shocker Orb, and... this seed which I can't recognize. Do you happen to know what kind of seed it is?" Valen asked, showing the Allure Seed to Tempo. Valen remembered the other question he had. "Also, your seashell is pretty nice. I think you had it even the very first time we met, I think? Where did you get it?"

”Hm... Rainy Orb would be useful if this place wasn’t filled with Water Types already... And a Shocker Orb? Never heard of it... And this seed...” The otter looked at it curiously... He could bite into it to see what happens, but it was a bad idea... ”Can’t help ya there. You didn’tget some kind of guide book when you joined?” He asked.

“As for my scalchop... Can’t say I know how I got it. It was there since I hatched. I’d be a bit of a... bad Oshawott without it, admittedly, but I can’t really use it much for combat. Assurance uses my bare paws, and putting force behind it with a tackle seems to be the only decent way it can work, but... I feel like if I can sharpen this, somehow...”

(OOC note: I... forgot about the Power Band and Solar Beam TM. I’ll pick those up later, maybe.)

"Okay." Valen said. "Also, I don't think I got a guidebook from the Guild... I just got a gray band and a guild bag to store items in. I did manage to learn about the uses of a lot of different items when I was younger, but there are so many. I suppose it's difficult to remember all of them." What Tempo said about his seashell - he called it a "scalchop" I think - does that mean it is a natural part of an Oshawott? Valen wondered. If so, that's pretty interesting. I wonder why I didn't hear about that species before, then.

Valen wasn't entirely certain whether to talk about the other things he couldn't remember well, as he really didn't like thinking about it. But, after having traveled with Tempo for so long now, he felt somewhat... comfortable with the Oshawott. So Valen continued talking. "I'm not sure whether there are more Pokemon than items in the world, but there are also so many species it's difficult remembering all of them too. And, I guess because I lived in Aileron Village, I rarely got to see any non-flying Pokemon back there. I mean, I didn't even know what an Oshawott would be like when I first heard that you were one." Valen then paused, and started again.

"But there's something weird... even though there are only eighteen types (known so far, at least), I still can't always remember all of the type matchups for some reason. I mean, I can remember them sometimes, like I know Flying is super effective against and resists Fighting right now, but I just keep forgetting random ones."

Then, Valen realized he had been talking quite a lot. The last thing he said was, "Sorry if I was talking too much right now. Umm... Do you think we can move on now to find the Hawlucha?"

(OOC: I forgot about getting a guild bag and a band from joining the Aileron Guild until right now, actually).

He didn’t really know what to say for the time being. A Yanma did watch the two curiously to see what they were doing, but it didn’t mean any harm. ”That’s... kind of annoying. You’d think they’d let you see what you’ll be using, but maybe guilds don’t know much at all...”

“And with all the species... I don’t know, either. I don’t know what a Hawlucha is, actually, so fighting him would be a bit of trouble, to say the least. And I’ll admit, I have the same problem. I go diving in the ocean all the time, so I know many Water Types, but anything else and I’ll likely falter. Typing may be easy to judge from a glance, sure, but what about secondary typings? What if they’re part ghost? How are you supposed to know when a Water Ghost will appear and I... I shouldn’t think about that...” Tempo heard horror stories about a Pokemon like that... He didn’t remember what it was, but it was indeed real... ”O... Oh, right... We’ve been here for a while, huh? I’ll... start swimming again.” He said as he pushed off the edge and began swimming downstream.

Valen silently listened to what Tempo was saying and did not reply, due to feeling that he had talked too much and wanting to give Tempo a chance. He did think things to himself. Well, I thought guilds were useful for becoming stronger and finding Pokemon who need help. But I mean, guilds aren't exactly schools, unlike places such as Peak Academy. Actually, should I tell Tempo that I'm a Peak Academy student? Valen decided not to say it, as he thought it wasn't important at this moment.

Valen, who had been trying to pay more attention to detect any dangers, noticed the Yanma looking at them as well. He was quite suspicious, given the various feral attacks that had occurred already. However, as the Yanma didn't seem to be doing anything besides looking, Valen decided to leave it alone. He knew from his previous experience in Pecha Forest that attacking Pokemon who hadn't proved to be a threat, even if they seemed like a potential danger, could cause a lot of problems.

After Tempo finished talking, Valen flew, following in the direction Tempo was swimming in now. Then, Valen remembered something - right before his discussion about Water-types, Tempo had said that he didn't know what a Hawlucha was. As Valen did know, he decided to tell Tempo, given that it was actually useful information in the current situation. "Well, I know some things about Hawlucha - I've seen them in Aileron Village before. They are Fighting and Flying types, and I've heard that they can learn a special unique move called Flying Press that is somehow both Fighting and Flying type at once, too. No, I definitely can't remember the type matchups of that."

The Yanma wasn't hostile in the slightest, soon flying away as he saw the two head down the river. It didn't want to get into a fight, it seems. "So... I don't know any moves that can counter either of those. But it can't fly if it's weighed down by water, right? If I manage to soak it enough, or make them fall into the water, they most likely won't be able to fight as well as they would when dry." He strategized, although it will likely avoid any water during the fight. Who knows if this "Hawlucha" can even swim.

On their casual travel through, Tempo did see a glint on the bottom of the water. "Be right back. I see something down here." He dives under with a short breath to see what was down there... and it didn't seem to be much. A cute band and another TM, though judging by its looks, it doesn't seem to be usable by him. He lets out a bubbly sigh as he heads back up to the surface.

"Yeah, you could try that." Valen replied. He wasn't completely sure whether it would work, but it was worth a shot, right? Plus, Tempo was a Water-type Pokemon, so Valen thought that he was likely going to use Water-type moves anyway. "On my part, I have a super effective attack, plus I know Mirror Move, so I can copy any strong attacks the Hawlucha uses. I think we should do fine, actually. The real problem is finding the Hawlucha."

Valen saw Tempo dive underwater and come back up with a band and a TM, but decided not to say anything. Valen didn't want to seem as if he wanted what Tempo had, after all. It did make him think about how he couldn't dive like Tempo could, even though Tempo couldn't fly. If they were together, at least one of them could go nearly anywhere. Therefore, could he...join my team? Valen wondered. But he continued flying in silence - for the moment, at least.

Tempo did agree with what he said in terms of fighting. With the Oshawott’s only moves being a Water Gun, a Tail Whip, a normal Tackle, and an Assurance he remembers learning from his parents, he wouldn’t really be of much help...

With a bit of a gasp, he grabs onto the edge and puts down what he found. “Nothing much I can use, unfortunately... I’d use the band, but the ribbon I’m wearing fits me better. Plus this TM doesn’t seem compatible with me. At least, it didn’t react when I touched it.” He explained to the Pikipek. He did notice something was on Valen’s mind... “...hello? Are you OK?” He asked in worry, pulling himself onto land.