Proving Ground

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Osiris had pre-gamed this particular adventure with ice cream and love.

Well, maybe not love, but hot dang it if he didn't really like this sylveon tagging along with him to Shadowhue this evening. Maybe it was the infatuation with his temporary dungeon buddy, maybe it was the ice cream, or maybe it was the encroaching desire and need to prove himself to someone who just got it, but the dratini was particularly jittery tonight. He felt high-strung and metaphorically coiled, really to lash out and spring at the first chance to show off what he was all about. And they hadn't even gotten to where they were going yet; The coolest dungeon around town (by default, really.)

Shadowhue Forest was always somewhere that Osiris wanted to go. Like everyone else, he'd been to Pecha and played around for a bit, pretending to train like all the other kids, when really he just wanted to feel like he was on a real adventure. Shadowhue kind of was that adventure, at least in terms of atmosphere and...well, he assumed it would be a tougher dungeon to run through. Maybe not tonight though. Tonight, he had himself a killer partner in the form of a fun-loving, adventurous sylveon who was all too happy to take some time out of her day to mess around in some spooky woods with a kid she just met.

"You said you'd been here before, right?" Osiris said over his shoulder. "What kindsa stuff do you usually run into? Ghost-types probably, yeah?"

Wrestling a giant mushroom was pretty difficult when that mushroom was way bigger than you and you also didn't have hands. Iris grit his teeth when it rolled onto him, and when the fat grass-tye hauled itself to its feet and actually stomped on him, he gasped in pain. What a bugger! Instinctively, he wriggled about and tried to make himself a harder target, but in the process, he just tangled his body up around the pokemon's feet... wait.

Suddenly, all at once, Osiris jerked every bit of himself to the side. The movement caught the shroomish off guard, and as a huge chunk of him was wrapped around its ankles, it sent the pokemon tumbling. Seizing the chance, Osiris' tail crackled briefly before he channeled a thunder wave directly into the creature, paralyzing it without a doubt.

"Hehehe! Dumb mushroom! You thought your feet were your strength, but it turns out - EOUFFHGHG!!" His victorious taunting was cut off when a burst of spores and gas erupted from the top of the shroomish - right in Osiris' face. Immediately, the dragon-type started coughing, jerking his face away from the cloud of vapor. It might have concerned him that he immediately started aching with just about everywhere, but the weird stinging in his eyes, nostrils, and mouth took precedence.

Geo wasn't dumb enough to just run right back at the shroomish and do the same thing that had just failed so horribly for her, but she also wasn't exactly much of a strategist. What was she supposed to do here. "Mmmmh..." she hummed to herself, muffled by the handle of the sword, as she thought hard on how to handle this.

Fortunately, it seemed Sterlie had a suggestion. "Try holding the cloth and swinging me by that," it directed, "You know, kinda like a nunchuck?"

"Mrf?" Geo did her best to make a confused noise since she couldn't exactly talk.

"It'll be more range," the sword insisted.

Geo shrugged and decided to just trust the sword's wisdom. She ran straight for the shroomish again, but this time, she released the hilt of the blade and bit onto the end of the cloth, swinging the sword in a larger arc than before as a result. This seemed to catch the shroomish off-guard; it tried to leap away as it had done before, but this time it was clipped by the end of the sword. It was hit by the flat side of the blade, however, so it was smacked aside instead of being cut. Maybe that was for the best?

Just before making contact with the foe, the blade began to glow with the same shade of red it bore. "Woah, cool!" Geo responded, dropping Sterlie in the process.

"Don't just stop! I'm imbuing myself with holy power!" Sterlie barked.

"What-" the sylveon began, only to be cut off by the eager sword.

"I'M MAKING MYSELF STRONGER, KEEP FIGHTING."

Without another word, Geo obediently picked the sword back up, biting onto the hilt and using her feelers to help lift it. Then she stopped and glanced at the glowing blade... Holy power, huh? She paused for a moment, closed her eyes, and began to glow with the sword's red hue. Suddenly, Sterlie was feeling lighter.

Osiris managed to at least clear his sinuses, hacking and coughing furiously until he was sure nothing was left in his throat. The back of his eyes felt heavy, though, and all over he trembled in pain. Fungus was definitely weird, he decided, swaying uneasily. He kept hold of the paralyzed shroomish, though, not willing to let go of it. If he had to suffer, then he was going to take this little victory along with it.

With that in mind, he reared his head back and thought angry thoughts, like how mushrooms were a stupid plant and the only thing they were good for was eating. Then, he jerked his head forward and expelled a wave of force, a surge of draconic rage blasting right into the captive grass-type. It seemed to be the ticket - either it was out of it or it just gave up, because it stopped struggling altogether. The dratini sighed heavily, beginning the process of untangling his serpentine body from the shroomish's stubby legs.

As awful as he felt immediately, face, mouth, and nostrils stinging, and a faint aching all over his body, he'd just won a fight! The knowledge brought a small amount of cheer to his disposition, and curiously, the dragon-type peered over to see how Geo was doing with her shroomish. Maybe he could sweep in and rescue her, all heroic like?

Geo raised the sword with newfound ease and charged for the shroomish with greater speed now that she could lift the weight. It was caught off-guard once more by yet another change in her ability to close the distance, and this time it stumbled and tripped in its rushed attempt to flee. The blade managed to nick the side of the grass-type, and the red glow subsided as it made contact.

Immediately, Sterlie piped up, "Again, keep swinging!"

Geo listened and adjusted the blade around to the opposite side of her mouth before stepping forward and swinging again. It merely managed to nick the shroomish as it got back up, but this strike left a bigger cut and even managed to knock the thing back down.

"Faster!" Sterlie pressed.

Geo struggled to keep up with the demands, but she swiveled the sword around again and swung as fast as she could. This time however, the shroomish ducked before rushing toward her with a headbutt. She responded by pointing her right shoulder out and thrusting straight into it. With the "holy power," the sylveon overpowered the shroomish and slammed into it, knocking it to the ground in a heap of shroom.

Little did she know there was a third shroomish. She was so distracted trying to live up to the sword's absurd combat standards that she didn't even notice it leaping down from a treebranch above her. From an outside perspective, it may have looked like she was in serious danger, and she was.

Then, at the last second, Sterlie spoke. "Look up!" it exclaimed, prompting Geo to tilt her head upward to see what was wrong. She brought the sword in her mouth up with her, causing it to smack the falling shroomish just in time and send it flying aside...

Osiris studied the fight between Geo and the shroomish, eyes a little wide as Sterlie audibly urged her on and on. It was honestly pretty impressive. Iris didn't know much about the sylveon, but given what she told him on their little ice cream getaway, he didn't imagine that she was proficient with blades and whatnot. Not that she seemed like an expert, but she used the sword pretty well for what he imagined to be her first time.

He was so immersed in the one on one conflict that he, also, failed to notice the third shroomish. When Sterlie shouted her warning, he was equally caught off guard, but unlike Geo, he wasn't in the middle of moving. He could help! He could swoop in and save her, and that was all that he needed to know to get moving. The dratini coiled up tight against the ground just like a spring, eyes trained on the grass-type descending on his friend. And then he sprung.

"I'll save you, GeooOH NOO-" he shouted triumphantly before the triumph turned into panic. She smacked the thing sideways! Toward him!!

Dratini slammed into shroomish at speeds truly admirable. The little noodle bounced right off the giant shroom, spinning as he spiraled into the ground, bouncing twice over before he came to a miserable stop. The shroomish, for its part, went through pretty much the same thing, having been smacked by the flat side of Sterlie before Osiris honed in on him at prodigious speeds. It rolled over sadly until it gently nudged into the shroomish Iris had fought, forming a nice little clearing full of half-dead things, with Geo standing in the middle.

It took a moment for Geo to even process what was happening. From her perspective, she had been told to look up just in time to completely unintentionally smack away an attacker she didn't even know was there. She barely even caught a glimpse of the shroomish before accidentally hitting it, and then suddenly Osiris was ramming right into it in midair and... ow. The scene that unfolded looked painful to both the dratini and the shroomish, to say the least.

"Oh no, Iris!" the sylveon exclaimed, dropping the sword and rushing over to his side.

"Hey, don't leave me here!! HEY!!" Sterlie piped up, "DON'T LEAVE ME ON THE FILTHY GROUND, WHAT THE HECK!?" The sword's entire demeanor shifted to something that didn't resemble a holy artifact so much as... a child. It was clearly upset at being left on the ground, and maybe even about not being the center of attention for 5 seconds.

But Geo wasn't worried about that right now. Regardless of the blade's protests, the important thing to her was to make sure everyone was alright! "Dude, are you okay?" she questioned as she approached the dratini, looking over him for any signs of serious injury. She had no idea what that would be beyond a bunch of blood everywhere, but surely she would be able to notice something.

Osiris groaned wordlessly in response from his resting place on the ground. He certainly didn't feel okay, but as far as injuries went, he figured he probably wasn't going to die. The dratini had a heck of a crick in his neck and an ache in just about every part of his noodly existence - the whiplash from the sudden collision and the force behind the shroomish flying into him did quite the number on him.

"Ugghhhyeah, I'm good," he groaned, picking his head up from the ground lamely. He took that opportunity to look around, realizing that all of the mushroom pokemon were handily taken care of. "Are you good?" he rhetorically asked, simply for the sake of it. Of course she was fine - everything else was on the ground and she was the one checking up on him.

But for some reason, putting the question out there made him feel a little better. Like it was a step towards ignoring the fact that he nearly knocked himself out on a flying mushroom and managed to look like a total tool in front of the person he was trying to impress.

Geo, being the gifted medical professional she was, concluded that the lack of blood everywhere and an ability to speak meant Osiris was definitely completely fine. She nodded affirmatively in response and gave a cheery grin, happy to see that the dratini hadn't been hurt too bad by her accidentally smacking a shroomish into him. She felt a bit bad that she hadn't really gotten hurt much in the fight while her friend seemed so worn out, but then again she had an awesome sword to help her so she was kind of cheating. Actually... she hadn't really done much of the work; the sword had directed her a fair bit, and she had hardly done any fighting on her own at all.

But that just made it a cooler sword! "I'm fine thanks to Sterlie. You sure you don't want a turn?" she offered, not wanting to hog this amazing badass holy weapon... thing. Osiris hadn't seemed very interested before, but if he had a change of heart or mind, she certainly didn't want to be the one to deny him.

"I DON'T CARE WHO IT IS BUT SOMEONE NEEDS TO COME PICK ME UP!!" the sword shouted, waving its cloth around desperately.

"Uh, I think... I think I'm good," Osiris decided, staring at Sterlie over on the ground, its mouth-cloth thing lashing about wildly. Maybe in the future when he had hands, and if it was still around.

The dratini shook himself out like a dog, eager to cast off that lame moment of his and get their adventure started for real. Not that it wasn't interesting up to this point—he won a fight against a shroomish and they found a cool sword, which was nice—but there was more exploring to be had. He didn't want to waste this opportunity. "Maybe we should keep moving before it blows up or something." he pitched, tilting his head toward Geo as he watched the spectacle Sterlie was making. He checked to make sure his satchel was still fastened tightly to him, and then he was off at a casual slither.

He made his way over to where the sword lay on the ground, confident that Geo would follow as she lacked anything else to do at the moment. "Caaaalm down," he pleaded, crawling over next to the sword but neglecting to pick her up since he lacked hands and everything. His buddy would get it, he was sure. "We're right here." Iris noted that she wasn't nearly this vocal when they found her in the trees a few moments ago - did she just get comfortable with them that quickly or what?

Geo giggled at the dratini's remark. She couldn't help but think the sword's outburst was a bit endearing herself, and she was glad she wasn't the only one because that made her feel like less of a bad person for being so entertained by it. Surely the ground wasn't going to hurt Sterlie or anything, so it seemed harmless. Still, she didn't just want to leave their new sword-friend there all hot and bothered forever because that seemed mean, so she followed along behind Osiris to pick it up. "Yeah, we're not gonna leave you or anything, don't worry," she added on as she pranced over to the sword to pick it up.

To her momentary surprise, the cloth immediately lunged for her and began wrapping itself around her waist. She recoiled at first, but then remembered that this was how Sterlie had previously wanted to be carried. She calmed down and allowed the sword to pull itself into the position it seemed to like so much, lifting its body up and wrapping itself around her by the cloth. "Better?" she questioned playfully, unable to help but poke a bit of fun. She gave Osiris a glance, assuming he would probably appreciate the situation more than the temperamental little weapon.

Sterlie seemed almost hesitant to respond, contemplating at first. "...I need my sheath," it finally responded, the cloth lifting slightly to point back to where the sheath had been dropped.

Geo nonchalantly made her way over to where the sheath had been dropped and allowed the sword to pick it up and... go back... inside it? She supposed it was probably a nice thing to have. That way the blade didn't have to worry about cutting someone who was carrying it, right? Maybe there was some kind of sentimental value too for all she knew. Once Sterlie seemed to be situated and happy, Geo looked to Osiris to see if he had any personal ideas for what he wanted to do.

Osiris watched the interaction between Geo and the blade, a little smile pasted on his snout all the while. For a sword, Sterlie sure had an awful lot of personality. It made him feel curious about who it was and where it came from - who forged it? Why? He wanted the story behind the blade. The only thing keeping him from asking, though, was the predicament they found her in. Maybe it was uncharacteristically thoughtful of him, but he imagined it would suck to get interrogated right after you'd been rescued from abandonment, or whatever happened to it.

"D'you like fighting, Sterlie?" he settled for asking instead, taking the sleuth-y route. "I was kinda busy, but I heard you guys over here tangling with that other shroom. You sounded pretty, uh... adamant." Iris noted, looking over at the two grass-types that Geo handled. They looked pretty roughed up - even Geo had given Sterlie props. Maybe he should give the sword a try when he could swing it around.

Geo looked down at the sword as Osiris spoke to it, and it seemed to have answers. It certainly talked a lot for what would generally be an inanimate object. "Well no, not... exactly," it began, sounding uncharacteristically hesitant at this. Geo's attention was suddenly piqued by the change in attitude, although she already had plenty of interest in the magical talking sword before.

"I am a holy blade, so of course I know how to fight!" Sterlie suddenly boasted, sounding more like normal. This air of confidence broke once more, only for a moment as she continued, "...But I don't like violence." Its voice seemed oddly solemn and serious... but once more, this small shift in her attitude did not last long. "A-and if you get any blood on me, you had better be ready to clean me!" it demanded.

Geo was suddenly relieved that she hadn't actually stabbed or sliced any of the shroomish. She wasn't trying to kill them, but now she was just relieved she didn't have to polish an angry sword. "But I dunno how to clean a-" she began, only to be interrupted.

"You'll learn!" Sterlie declared in a very matter-of-fact manner, as if it had already decided it would be around long enough to warrant anyone... learning... that...

Geo was beginning to wonder if she had made a mistake in picking up this sword.

"Blood is kinda icky," Osiris replied thoughtfully, nodding his head. "Okay, cool, I just wanted to make sure b'fore we went further. You sounded like you were into it, is all."

Far be it from him to drag a magical talking sword along on an adventure when it wasn't all that into being a sword. But between Sterlie agreeing and apparently knowing how to fight—was there like a holy sword school?—it seemed like Geo just picked up a really cool piece of equipment. Even if it was shaping up to be a little bit... high-maintenance. Maybe there was a dagger somewhere deeper in the forest that he could use.

"So... onward?" he asked, slithering forward a few paces while keeping his gaze on Geo, and glancing courteously at the sword she carried. "Could be more cool stuff to find." he tacked on uselessly, his eagerness getting the better of him as he actually started moving before they answered in the affirmative or made to follow.

Geo opened her mouth to agree with her noodly friend, but to her surprise, the sword spoke first: "Of course!"

The sylveon turned back to the weapon in surprise, but offered no resistance since she was in absolute agreement. Besides... everyone else was clearly all for continuing, and she was no coward so she wouldn't have said anything regardless. She started off after Osiris without hesitation, hurrying along eager anticipation for what next awaited them on their adventure. As she walked, she wondered why a sword would be averse to blood. It seemed odd that something made for... cutting... people... wouldn't like blood, but who was she to judge? As far as she could tell, the sword didn't like getting dirty, so maybe being covered in the blood of its enemies counted as being dirty.

She wasn't going to just ask about that, but... she did want to try to fill the silence with conversation. What was something they could all enjoy talking about? Well, she didn't really know Osiris or Sterlie very well, but there was one thing they all seemed to enjoy... "So what made you guys like exploring?" she asked. It had already been made clear that the dratini loved adventures since their shared interest in that was the whole reason they were here in the first place, but the sword seemed pretty on-board with continuing through here too, so Geo was just assuming what she felt to be obvious here.

"S'kinda the only thing worth doing in Grassveil, in my opinion," Osiris replied, kind of arrogantly. He seemed to realize this a moment later and hurriedly added, "Not that - you know - it's either you join the guild or you don't, you know? You join the police and do kind of the same thing at home, or you join the guild and you get to do everything else on top of it. Or you get a regular job and just kinda live out your days, which is nice for some people, but..."

The dratini trailed off, searching for the words. Aware that he might have just made himself look like an asshat in front of not one, but two different people(?) that he liked and wanted to impress, he tried desperately to vocalize the feeling that had him chomping at the bit to get out of his home town. To his frustration, he couldn't magically make it happen, so with a sigh, he stopped thinking and just tried.

"I dunno, it's just as soon as I realized it was an option, I knew it was the only option for me. Exploring's a part of that, but I want the whole package. Exploration, adventure, travel, excitement, treasure... I guess I'm just a little greedy, heh." he finished, going silent as he waited for either Geo or Sterlie to give their peace, ears hot with embarrassment.