A First Guild Mission

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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]

"Umm... yeah." Valen replied. "I was just thinking... how are we going to find this Hawlucha in all of this marsh? I was worrying about it the whole time, and I still don't know!" Valen paused for a bit. "Sorry if I was a bit too loud now... wait, maybe being loud could get the Hawlucha's attention! HELLO, WE'RE HERE TO CHALLENGE YOU, HAWLUCHA!" Valen shouted. It wasn't quite as loud as his pecking could be, unfortunately. Maybe it was loud enough, nevertheless?

Valen looked around but couldn't see the Hawlucha or hear any reply. But then, he saw something when he looked behind him - now, a small blue Pokemon with four very long legs was somehow standing on the water itself, staring at Valen and Tempo. It reminded him of the Yanma that had been staring before. Maybe this one is harmless too? Valen wondered. He did not say anything and turned back to Tempo - and then Valen was hit by a spray of bubbles.

Valen turned around - and sure enough, it was the Pokemon behind him that had attacked. Valen was about to prepare a counterattack with Mirror Move (it wouldn't have been very effective, but it was Valen's impulse to do that much of the time), but then the Pokemon lunged almost too fast to see and struck Valen full-on.

It didn't hurt quite as much as some of the previous attacks that Valen had experienced, but it was hardly pleasant. At least, now the blue Pokemon was closer to Valen than before, close enough for Valen to use short-range attacks. Valen used Peck and managed to land it on his opponent.

It seemed to have done quite a lot, as the Pokemon shuddered...and then Valen noticed the thick fluid leaking from it, and the truly horrible, cloying taste in his beak. It made him shudder as well and recoil. By Arceus! Is that blood? Please, please let it not be blood... Valen was horrified at the thought that he could have possibly hurt another Pokemon, even a feral, so much as to cause bleeding.

(OOC: No, it's not actually blood. It's the syrup that a Surskit can produce, as noted in its Pokedex entries - but Valen doesn't know this. The Moon entry in particular notes that the taste "disgusts bird Pokemon," which explains the horrible taste Valen noticed).

"Valen! Be careful, alright? What if you attract the attention of someone else besides the Hawlucha!" Suddenly, he sees bubbles appear from behind him. They weren't from the Surskit, however. Suddenly, a Greninja popped out with a loud gasp before holding onto the Oshawott as if angry at him! "You... You hurt... my friend... I thought he was dead..." It spoke... Wait, was it the Frogadier from earlier? How did it- *SPLASH* The two splashed underwater.

The fight broke between the two. The Greninja was super powerful, now, and Tempo was still in his base form... He tries to keep him away enough to get back to the surface, but the fight continued, Tempo being held onto the bottom with all of the Greninja's strength! Tempo couldn't reach his scalchop, but with his Tail Whip, he was able to use his tail to distract Greninja long enough to break free and surface for a loud gasp. But the battle was far from over, and he sinks under with another deep breath.

The Greninja, meanwhile, can stay under for a very long time, so he doesn't need to worry about the otter lasting longer than him... At least, not yet. Tempo focused on making sure the frog doesn't attack the Pikipek on the surface, using his tackle and Assurance attacks as best as he could, while Greninja kept firing Water Shuriken at him. It took lots of their energy, but Tempo was losing...

While Valen was staring in shock, the blue Pokemon fired another spray of bubbles. Not only did these hit Valen, but many of them clung to his feathers, weighing him down and slowing his movements. Now, he used Mirror Move. He instinctively tried to defend himself, but also definitely did not want to peck the creature again, even if it did seem to be a very effective move.

Valen spat his own spray of bubbles back at his opponent, but they barely did anything to it. On top of that, Valen heard a loud splash and saw Tempo dive underwater - and caught a brief glimpse of what looked to be some other Pokemon going with him. Again?! Tempo's being attacked too - again! And it really is my fault - I should have thought before I shouted, like Tempo said! Valen thought. His opponent used this as an opportunity to attack with yet more bubbles, further hindering Valen. Now, Valen even had some difficulty seeing through all of them. Things didn't seem to be going well...

"Hi-yaa!" Valen heard a shout. Suddenly, the blue Pokemon was knocked unconscious as a red one swiftly swooped down and slashed at it. Valen could recognize this red Pokemon - it was a Hawlucha!

"Thank you!" Valen exclaimed. It was great that they had finally managed to meet - but Tempo was still in trouble!

"No problem." the Hawlucha replied. "You've come here to fight me, haven't you? And it wouldn't be a fair fight if you've been hurt by someone else first."

"Okay, but my partner Tempo has just been dragged underwater by another Pokemon over there!" Valen pointed his beak in the direction where he last saw Tempo.

The Hawlucha quickly flew in the direction, but once there, said "I am very sorry, but I can't see anything right now... and I can't fight, fly, or breathe if I'm underwater, so I can't do a rescue dive." Now, what am I going to do? Valen feared.

(OOC: I'm using the color #ff3333 for the Hawlucha's dialogue. The move he used to defeat the Surskit was Aerial Ace. I've decided he also knows Flying Press and a damaging pure-Fighting move. I'm not sure on the specific identity of the pure-Fighting move, the other moves, or the ability, so feel free to decide those if you wish.)

Under the water, everything was going wrong for Tempo. Each attack drained him of energy and air, and the Greninja was still fighting without any hesitation! As he swam for the surface to catch his breath, the Greninja suddenly grabbed a hold of the Oshawott and brought him back down to the bottom! He lets out many more bubbles in fear as he kicks and squeals painfully... Everything was growing black...

...he can't give up... not yet...

In a burst of adrenaline, he suddenly lunges at the Greninja with a point blank Assurance, smashing it against the ground and disorienting it once more! It released a plume of bubbles from the force of the attack, causing it to retreat to the surface! Tempo did the same, too, but was panicking and moving more slowly due to how much breath he has left...

As the Greninja surfaced, it lets out a pained gasp for breath, holding onto the side, with another pile of bubbles appearing close by... The Oshawott popped out from them, holding the edge and pulling himself up with a weak gasp and cough. He was clearly exhausted, now that his adrenaline wore off, making it hard to stay on the edge and breathe.

And then, Valen saw Tempo surface, along with the other Pokemon Valen had seen briefly - Valen realized it was a Greninja - the evolution of Frogadier. That's a final form! Valen thought. How did Tempo manage to defeat it? Wait, did he defeat it? Is it going to attack again?

The Hawlucha, meanwhile, shouted "Now! Flying Press!" Before Valen had an opportunity to do anything, the Hawlucha flew into the sky and then dived down, smashing into the Greninja. That move was Flying Press? Valen wondered. How effective was it against the Greninja? I can't tell. As Valen had thought before, he didn't know what the type effectiveness of that move was, so he didn't know that it was super effective.

The Greninja’s eyes widened in surprise, the attack smashing against the Greninja, seemingky knocking it out! ”That... wasn’t your partner, right?” The Hawlucha asked with a bit of a chuckle.

The Oshawott nearby lets out more pained coughs and gasps, trying to recover as he saw... some strange bird thing? His vision was blurry, due to... well, nearly drowning, and without any energy due to his adrenaline rush. ”Wh... Who... you? Valen...? Did... evolve?” He said, as the two red blurs were blending together due to how exhausted he was... He climbs up and weakly crawls over to the two...

"Huh? No, the Greninja definitely isn't my partner - this Oshawott called Tempo is! Thanks for saving him!" Valen exclaimed.

Just then, Valen heard Tempo's words. But the Hawlucha was already replying: "I guessed so. I've seen feral Greninja here before, as well as Frogadier and Froakie, but I don't think feral Oshawott live here." he quickly explained.

Then, Valen turned to Tempo. "Evolve? What do you mean? As far as I know, I don't think anybody here has evolved. Except for the Greninja, I guess, but even that must have been sometime back. But at least you're safe now, and I'm really grateful for it."

"That's great, as well. You've come from the guild to fight me, but neither of you look to be in the best of shape now... I want a challenge, so I'm fine with taking both of you on at once, but... maybe we could wait just a little bit before the fight starts? I don't have any healing items, unfortunately." the Hawlucha said.

(OOC: The irony - Valen doesn't know that this Greninja has in fact recently evolved from the Frogadier! Plus I'm thinking that the Hawlucha, at this moment, doesn't know that Tempo is not a guild member, especially as Valen keeps referring to Tempo as a "partner.")

As his vision slowly recovers, he did notice the two red blurs... separating, in a sense. He could see Valen more clearly from the new Pokemon that appeared between the whole fight. "...O... Oh... I... see... I... I'll just... rest some... more... Everything kinda... hurts..." He breathlessly spoke, still out of it...

...a few moments later...

"Ugh... I just wanted a fight and this Oshawott just had to come in here and ruin the flow... Why did he even come when he's just gonna drown himself!?" The Hawlucha impatiently spoke. However, the Oshawott did finally wake up again, feeling much better, although still a bit weak from the previous fight. "Urgh... Finally ready... Let's get going, then, shall we?" The Oshawott took off his scalchop and ran in to start.

Valen had to wonder whether Tempo actually was in any state fit to fight right now. Valen himself had been hurt right before as well, but it was still not as bad as Tempo had been. Now Valen felt almost entirely fine, with the hindering bubbles having come off him.

The Hawlucha didn't seem to mind, however, and without saying anything, changed his stance to get ready to take Tempo's attack. Valen thought I have to fight too, especially if Tempo is still not feeling well. He could have just went in and used Peck, but his love of Mirror Move came through yet again.

Staring at the Hawlucha, Valen tried to use the power of Mirror Move to copy the last move that the Hawlucha had used. But the move hadn't been used on Valen, so it didn't actually work. Embarassingly, Valen had forgotten about that part of Mirror Move! He quickly collected himself and rushed in, landing a Peck directly on the Hawlucha.

It didn't do nearly as much as Valen had hoped it would do. It was super effective, but it wasn't a very strong move, and the Hawlucha was pretty tough. "So... that's it?" the Hawlucha just said in a contemptuous tone.

The otter was in a much better shape, at least, but it was just in time to see just how little damage they were gonna do to the Hawlucha. Were... they really in over their head? Should they just give up? Go home with this failure of a first mission? Tempo sighed... No. They had to at least attempt the fight...

To weigh the Hawlucha’s wings down, he fires a Water Gun at him to get him soaked. While it didn’t do much damage, his plan worked, as Hawlucha’s attempts to use his Flying Press barely got him off the ground. ”Urgh... Stupid water... Fine! I’ll take you on first!” Hawlucha said as he targeted the Oshawott with a Karate Chop, causing Tempo to slam into the ground.

”Ha ha ha! What a waste of my time! You barely put up a fight, despite you trying to weigh me down!” The Hawlucha gloated, not noticing the Oshawott slowly get up and throw his paw straight into his gut, launching him away towards another tree with an Assurance. While it didn’t deal much damage directly, the tree caused the Hawlucha to become a bit disoriented. “Maybe you shouldn’t focus so much on bragging until the fight is truly over!” Tempo said, preparing his scalchop for another attack, despite the powerful Karate Chop.

(OOC: Hawlucha’s dex entries mention it likes to showboat, leaving itself open. I feel like that’s how they’ll get in damage.)

Valen was getting a bit annoyed by how the Hawlucha kept boasting, even if he really was quite strong. So when Tempo managed to weigh down the Hawlucha and hinder his flight - and then use the boasting to get another attack in, Valen was overjoyed. Now he had a chance to at least get another super-effective attack in!

Similarly to his last attempt, Valen rushed in and used Peck. But this time, the Hawlucha was prepared. Despite being weighed down by the water, he managed to gracefully step away and dodge the Peck, causing Valen to fly right past him. When Valen realized he had missed, he turned around to try and attack the Hawlucha again. But when he got to the Hawlucha, just as Valen was about to attack...

The Hawlucha landed a Karate Chop on him. "Nice try." the Hawlucha said. Now that made Valen hurt - both the pain of the attack itself and the smug tone in the Hawlucha's voice.

Now, Valen used Mirror Move, and as the Hawlucha's move had been targeting him, it worked. Despite his lack of hands, Valen managed to bring one of his wings down on the Hawlucha as the Hawlucha had to him. But it did barely anything - even less then the first Peck had.

"Really? So now you're just copying me?" asked the Hawlucha, as he - almost leisurely - used another Karate Chop on Valen. This one knocked Valen down, and now he could feel mud and water on him. Only a relatively small part of his body was actually touching it, as again, he had managed to land mostly on some marsh plants, but now Valen wasn't even sure whether he could fly and it hurt so much...

I will not give up. I will not be weak. I will do this mission successfully. Valen told himself. He tried to get up, and then he saw the Hawlucha looking at him. Is he going to attack again? Valen wondered. Now, despite himself, Valen really was scared. And though he had a feeling that it would be showing weakness... he started making a certain noise, a strangely cute-sounding cry. "Huh?" the Hawlucha asked. "Do you admit defeat?"

(OOC: The cry Valen made at the end is Growl, which lowered the Hawlucha's attack. The reason Valen used his wing to perform Karate Chop (through Mirror Move) is because a Hawlucha's hands are on its wings, so a Karate Chop from a Hawlucha would partially involve its wings, meaning the closest imitation of the move Valen could perform would be that way. Also, I'm making a Pickup roll because I realized I could on this page but I never did. Even if I roll an item, Valen probably won't find it until after the fight.)

Pickup roll:

Shield carried out 1 launched of one Cattail Marsh :

Tempo watched the fight brew in the distance, seeing the poor Pikipek being beaten down... ”Valen! No!” He called out, soon hearing the cute, sad cry... Does that mean... Wait... Tempo turned around and wagged his tail cutely.

”What’s going on, now!? First the Pikipek admits defeat, now the Oshawott tries to do dances with his tail?” Hawlucha was clearly confused by the two’s actions... which was why when Tempo suddenly attacked, he was open for damage, knocking the Hawlucha down to the ground near the lake. Tempo dives nearby, causing a splash of the murky water to hit the Hawlucha. ”Gblwaagh! What is this, more water!? What, you want to give me a bath!?” Hawkucha seemed... annoyed, but when he got up, Tempo launches out of the waters with another tackle, pushing the two further from the water’s edge.

Seeing Tempo manage to attack the Hawlucha again was quite encouraging to Valen. Valen managed to get up as the Hawlucha was distracted by Tempo's actions. He tried to take off, but his body still hurt quite a bit and some mud was sticking to him, weighing him down. Somewhat like the Hawlucha had been weighed down, actually.

I don't have the advantage of flight anymore, Valen realized. That is not good at all. The last time he had tried to run here, he had fallen down - and Valen remembered that. So this time, he stumbled across the surface towards the Hawlucha - who, very luckily, was still distracted and did not really notice him. And once he got there, Valen used Peck again - and this time, he managed to hit.

This Peck managed to do somewhat more to the Hawlucha than the last successful one. "Ow," said the Hawlucha, but the tone was more mocking than serious. "Seems like you've become a Ground-type now. Maybe you should take a bath?"

The Hawlucha used another Karate Chop, but this time it was Valen who was prepared and managed to dodge it. Now, some of the mud was coming off. Valen thought that he might actually be able to fly again soon, as he hadn't been soaked nearly as much as the Hawlucha had been.

Before Tempo could continue the fight, the Peck suddenly distracted him a bit in surprise. But... why wasn’t Valen flying? Wait... Is that...? No wonder it took a while for him to catch up. At least it’s better, but... Tempo takes the opportunity to use a Tail Whip to distract him again. ”OK, this is just ridiculous now...” The Hawlucha said as he used Flying Press, despite his weighed down body. Although he was able to jump high enough to jump on Tempo, pinning him to the ground.

Tempo squirmed and kicked to get free, but the Hawlucha was too big and powerful for the Oshawott. Hawlucha lifted his hand up... ”SAY GOODNIGHT!”

Valen heard what the Hawlucha said to Tempo as he pinned Tempo on the ground. What?! No, please no, it can't be! This Hawlucha isn't a feral and this isn't - shouldn't be - a fight to the death! Valen thought. He wasn't sure exactly what was going on, but he definitely feared the worst. "STOP!" Valen cried.

"Well, you've given up too, so guess I win now," the Hawlucha said, dropping his hand without making an attack.

"I just don't want Tempo to... lose his life!" Valen shouted, not entirely willing to publicly acknowledge his worst fears about this situation. Now, he was shaking, which had the effect of getting the mud on him off quicker. "Please! We're civilized Pokemon, don't do this!"

"Wait, did you really think... I didn't actually mean what you're thinking! I was just telling this Oshawott that the darkness of defeat was going to fall on him! And now you've interrupted this fight for a completely idiotic reason!" the Hawlucha exclaimed.

"Well..." Valen said, "I'm not going to give up. So come at me and let's end this fight!" And with that, Valen shook the last clumps of mud off and managed to take to the air.

That got the Hawlucha back into action, but Valen was now less weighed down than the Hawlucha was, and so was able to fly around, staying out of the Hawlucha's range. However, Valen could not attack the Hawlucha from a distance, either. Well, except for items - but Valen had a feeling it may not be fair to use items in this fight, as the Hawlucha hadn't used any. Valen wasn't that worried anymore about the Hawlucha seriously hurting anyone, as well, as he had stopped his attack on Tempo when Valen had asked.

And then, with some more time to think, Valen got a new idea. Maybe he could try to get the Hawlucha to do something that would let Valen land a strong attack - such as a strong move that involved flying. Valen moved closer, flying past the Hawlucha while saying "Not so agile in the air now, huh?"

The Hawlucha took that opportunity, despite still not being able to fly well, to attack Valen with graceful slashes - the same move that he had used on a feral that had attacked Valen before this particular fight had started. Aerial Ace, a strong (stronger than Peck, at least) Flying-type move that never missed. Valen was hurt, but he managed to maintain his composure and his position in the air. His plan had worked!

Now, Valen used Mirror Move, and copied the Hawlucha's attack. Valen swiftly used his claws to slash at the Hawlucha in return. To Valen's joy, he saw that this actually managed to do a lot to the Hawlucha. I really am close to winning this! Valen thought.