Frog Gigging

Goro sometimes wished that no one had ever found him in the swamp.

Not that he had anything against his new lifestyle, of course. On the contrary, Goro loved the way he was living life nowadays. He got to wake up every morning with a sense of purpose beyond just 'walk around this vague area surrounding my house to assault and eat things that don't belong.' But there was definitely something to be said for the peace and tranquility that came with the simple life.

The freedom, the lack of responsibility, the feeling of being a big fish in a small pond... the isolation. Right now it was just him, his shack, and the various distant, ambient noises to keep him company. Nowadays, any chance that he had to enjoy moments like these, he took them. Today, in fact, saw the croagunk on his back spread out on his own front lawn like some kind of idle sunbather. His trusty bindle lay at his side as he watched the clouds float by like some kind of hippy, perfectly content to waste the afternoon away.

He knew it was a matter of time before some inane bullshit distracted him from his leisure time, be it some nosy pokemon or simply the sun drifting into his eyes, but until that came around, Goro was determined to do absolutely nothing.

Picture an extreme action sequence full of explosions, adventure, and high-octane moments. That's what today was like for a particular buneary... but only from her own perspective. Every day was an adventure to her regardless of what reality said, and she was determined to make this one no different. Since she had nothing in particular to do, she'd taken to aimlessly sprinting around the marsh and doing parkour, or at least her best attempt at it. Running around and leaping between areas of solid ground with her arms outstretched behind her, she felt very cool.

But really she looked like a complete child. And that was just fine to her. Silk didn't care what anyone though or how many judgmental looks she got from the many people she rushed by, as long as she was having fun. Where was she running to? She didn't know. She'd heard something about some "legendary pokémon" that needed help, but she had no idea where... so her plan was just to run around randomly until she found the victim and saved them for truth and justice. Because that's what a hero would-

OH LOOK A SHACK. Immediately she knew what she had to do. She had to jump it. It was, like, the perfect size to be kind of a challenge but still doable, and it was pretty much the only thing that stood out in this environment of trees and more trees. She began to pick up speed as she approached the strange shack; it looked old and rundown, so she'd have to be careful to clear it or else it'd probably cave in on her or something. She could do it though! She lowered herself forward as she neared and prepared to leap, intently focused on the abandoned shack and paying no mind to her environment. Closer... closer... and then, all of a sudden, she felt her foot catch on something. Actually, it was more like it slammed into something with how fast she was going. A sharp gasp was all she managed to get out before it was too late.

Pain shot through the buneary's leg as she tripped over the lumpy object that she'd failed to notice laying on the ground. Her momentum propelled her forward, sending her rolling over the croagunk, then skipping off the ground and slamming straight into the shack. She could hear the wood splinter from the impact as she made a buneary-sized hole in the structure and landed with her body awkwardly positioned halfway inside it. "Auugh..." she groaned in pain and confusion as she tried to process what just happened.

Well, at least she hadn't brought the whole thing down on top of her. She lifted herself up and tried to stand, but a mix of pain and dizziness caused her to fall right back down. She decided to stop trying and just lay down for a minute after that, surveying her surroundings to check out the damage and see what in the world she'd tripped over...

"Why are we back here again?" the little dull-colored deerling asked as she struggled to wade through the murky waters of the marsh. The young grass type struggled and failed to keep the basket in her mouth over the water. The sacks on her back were already soaking wet, but fortunately those had the fortune of being more water proof than the basket.

She pulled herself up onto the little island with the assistance of a vine from her companion. She didn't mind the gesture, if anything she appreciated it. She was exhausted already even though they hadn't been there for long. Just the mere thought of being here made her tired. Last time they were here, it was nothing but misery and fear.

----

"I-I don't know..." Aries admitted, his voice at the point of a quiver already. They were supposed to be on a picnic, yet somehow they ended up right back here. His wide fearful eyes swept the area. He could not see any signs of danger so far, but he was fully aware of the dangers that could lurk within places like this. He still had nightmares of such encounters to this day. What he did see, however, was a structure. Oh! Buildings usually meant not-terrifying pokemon, right?

He nudged the deerling lightly before he gestured to it with a nod of his head. The two looked at the structure before they looked back to each other.

"I don't know about this..." Aries spoke up.

"Well...it's better than...roaming around lost?" Yera spoke up hopefully.

"I guess..." He mumbled.

----

Yera was not at all certain herself, but she needed to be he stronger one of the two at the moment. She led the way hesitantly. Her sharp and cautious eye caught the sight of a form on the ground in front of it. A pokemon. Well...she wasn't exactly good at...chats with strangers. Aries could probably do it...she thought.

She gave Aries a nudge of her own with a point towards the croagunk. He seemed to understand. The two remained close together as Aries stepped forward with the intent to speak...

Except he didn't because apparently something just blasted right into the croagunk and smashed into the little hut.

Both of their jaws snapped shut in unison with flattened ears and wide eyes. Did something just attack the croagunk?? What in the world was that? Neither of them had even noticed the flash of brown fluff before it rocketed straight into the stranger...and now they weren't so certain that they wanted to approach.

In hindsight, Goro could at least say that he saw this coming.

The croagunk was roused from his semi-peaceful daydreaming by the sounds of mushy, rapid footsteps. Very rapid footsteps. He hauled himself up into a half-sitting position, bracing his previously broken and for quite some time untreated hand against the ground in front of him, very carefully, so as not to upset the sensitive injury. The plan was for him to assess whatever was coming his way, but what was coming his way had already came, and bowled right over him in the process.  

All Goro could say about the experience was he felt, simultaneously, an earthquake rupture and a volcano erupt inside his left hand. A crushing weight stomped down on it hard and instinctively, he began to shout in pain, but something with significant speed and body weight crashed right into his half-raised torso, slamming him right back into the ground spread-eagled and dumbfounded.

Of course, he immediately seized his left forearm with his other hand and groaned in absolute agony, eyes clenched shut while hot angry tears leaked out against his will. His back seized up and he flopped over, crawling around in visible and audible in pain. If the pokemon in question hadn't been a half-homeless, disgusting, degenerate criminal enforcer whose only goals in life were to cause others pain and humiliation, it might have even been sad.

The croagunk did what he could to power through the pain of his broken hand getting even more broken, and lifted his head from the ground to stare up at what attacked him. And what he saw was half of a still-warm fuzzy brown corpse, halfway lodged into his beloved home. His beloved shack, which he had found himself. It had housed him, sheltered him from the elements and hid him from other pokemon. If this little brown shitrag hadn't crossed a line by crashing into him, it definitely did by hurting his much-loved hovel.

"You," he snarled, his voice rough and pained. One painful step at a time, Goro hauled himelf up to his feet. "are dead. You are so dead!"

His bindle lay forgotten on the ground as the croagunk stumbled toward the buneary in a rage and pain fueled stupor, his good hand clenching and unclenching rapidly.

It took a moment for Silk to notice the croagunk, having been paying more attention to the hole she'd just put in this rickety shack. She was just beginning to wonder why it was even here in the first place when she finally spotted him. Of course, her first thought was that it may have belonged to him, but she didn't get a chance to inquire before the frog got up and started threatening her. "O-oh..." she muttered as she tried once more to stand, this time with a bit more conviction. The other pokémon seemed... agitated, and she didn't want to be on the ground if he decided to take a swing at her.

"I, uh, haha... I'm so sorry," she spoke nervously, and weakly stumbled forward a bit before falling to one knee. She hoped he would accept her apology and decide she was allowed to be less dead, but if this guy was living out here then there was a good chance he was an aggressive native. With that in mind, she prepared for the worst. She wouldn't be able to run away very well until her leg stopped hurting and her head stopped spinning, which left only the option to fight if she couldn't talk him down... but running probably wouldn't have been her first choice anyway.

Since the buneary was already pretty much at knee-level with the croagunk, she decided that if he got any closer, she'd just... hit him in the legs. She lowered her head a bit in an attempt to calm the lingering dizziness, but also in preparation to whop the angry man in the knees with her ears if he tried to attack her.

Flaming ears, of course. They would be flaming.

It was quite an interesting sight to see a thick tumbleweed crash into someone's house and actually make a dent in it. So much so that Aries questioned it enough to realize that it was not, in fact, a tumbleweed, but a buneary. The skiddo flinched when he heard the croagunk's cry, but his heart only began to beat faster as the croagunk threatened harm against the buneary. His hooves moved about nervously, unsure of what to do. Should he help? Should they just leave? Was this none of his business? The correct answer sequence would have been no, yes, and yes...but of course he could not make up his mind.

---

Yera, on the other hand, found herself to be a bit braver than Aries. The deerling's ears perked up with a look of concern and surprise as the croagunk declared the adorable buneary dead. She failed to think much of it as she instead decided to try and slip herself into the scenario to help the buneary. She bolted forward with a few hurried bounds, "H-Hey, wait! Mister-uh, are you alright?" She completely neglected to think of the fact that she essentially ditched Aries behind her, but it's not like there was any real threat around here. Right?

"That looked like it hurt a-and..." she struggled to think of anything to say. The original idea was to distract the croagunk from his anger or even delay it...but she couldn't think of much to say. "I saw what happened-and uh...wait-hey are you listening???"

----

Aries was frozen to the spot as he was introduced to his old friends, loneliness and vulnerability. Unfortunately for them, he didn't want to stick around to chat. He followed the deerling with a panicked gait of his own, too fearful to even speak at that moment.

As self-absorbed in his own pain and anger as he was, Goro didn't even consider the potential risks of just walking up on a defensive buneary. He merely cocked back his good hand and stared down at her vengefully. Just before he started his swing, however, he was surprised by a flash of light and blur of movement. An instant later, and a scorching, crushing force slammed into his knees, blowing them right out from under him. The croagunk hit the ground face first, mud caking his face, torso, and forearms as he failed to catch his fall.

He rolled to the side and out of the rabbit's presumed range mostly on instinct. If there was one thing he had learned in recent weeks, it was that simply laying still after something laid you out was a bad idea, unless you fancied getting clobbered. Goro stopped a whole two feet away from his intended victim, his bad hand throbbing, knees aching, covered in muck with the scent of burnt smoke in his nostrils. Safe to say, it was the angriest he'd been in a very, very long time.

"I am going to eat you." he muttered hatefully, loud enough for the normal-type to hear. "And I'll get to you in a minute." he snapped loudly, sparing an angry glance at some nosy looking deer pokemon that was entirely too close for comfort. First on the list was educating this insolent little maggot. Afterward, he could run off any busybody spectators looking for a show.

His method of approach honestly barely changed. The croagunk looked at the buneary who dropped him, curled his lip in disgust, and hunkered down slightly, leaning forward so that his knees were a very awkward target. Then he simply walked forward. His chest, gut, and face were all completely open. The poison-type's left hand was behind his back, out of range, but his right hovered very conspicuously at his hip. The only thing on his mind was revenge.

Silk didn't give the deerling much more attention than the angry croagunk did, but she noted her presence, at least. She would have loved to respond if not for something a little more pressing demanding her undivided attention right now. But at least it made her decision easier: now there was someone else this guy could end up hurting if she tried to run. She didn't hesitate to assault the croagunk's knees when he showed no signs of backing down, but it didn't seem to do much beyond agitating him more. A lot more. She wrapped her arms around herself in recoil and stumbled back as he threatened to eat her. "What??" she responded in a tone that was somewhere between fearful, confused and disgusted. Suddenly her leg didn't seem to hurt so bad.

"Oh jeez, come on, I'm sorry..." she continued while backing up against the shack, not expecting words to do much at this point but trying anyway out of obligation. She turned toward the deerling for a moment and quickly spoke up, "Stay back," before putting her arms up in front of her in a fighting stance.

The croagunk seemed to be making it pretty obvious which hand he was going to swing with, and he didn't look very fast, so it was Silk's hope that she'd be able to dodge his first strike. Then she could hit him once or twice and move out of his range before he could react, she hoped. Even if she couldn't hurt him much, maybe she could knock the wind out of him with a well-placed bop in the chest from her ears.

She did not consider, however, that she was now leaning against his shack and essentially leading his fist right into it.

Yera's heart practically jumped out of her chest when the little rabbit knocked the frog off of its feet-even more so when she witnessed the burst of fire that came from the buneary's ears. If she were not busy panicking over the fact that the croagunk just threatened her, she would have been both impressed and terrified of her as well. Her gaze flicked back and forth between the two opposing parties as worried ums and uhs escaped her. The buneary didn't want her help, but she still felt compelled to. The buneary was the first friendly looking pokemon they've come across for hours!

She looked to Aries. "H-Hey, Aries, you gotta do something!"

Aries's eyes snapped open wide, "Wh-What!?" he exclaimed. The skiddo looked at the menacing poison type and stepped back with a shake of his head, "N-No-I mean-she doesn't want help? M-Maybe we should just stay here like she said..." Aries always favored doing what he was told. Whether it was his mamas or a friendly pokemon, other pokemon generally knew better than him. He was naive and ignorant and he knew it.

Yera, on the other hand, had different ideas on what to do than her fellow grass type. "B-But what if she gets hurt? It wouldn't hurt to help at least a little, right?? C'mon Aries, isn't this the kind of thing Tyler would do?"

"I-It's Skylar...and...uh..." The skiddo remained hesitant, but the pressure of resisting Yera's demands were becoming a little too much. The skiddo's nervous gaze flicked to the croagunk then back to Yera. She...was kind of right? Aries wasn't that familiar with Skylar, but it certainly sounded like something the idolized version of her that exists in his head would do. He wanted to be like her...so...here's goes nothing.

Vines erupted from the skiddo's mane as he fearfully closed his eyes, only one opened slightly as to see what he did. He braced for whatever inevitable doom was coming to him as the vines reached out to the croagunk and would attempt to wrap around the fighting type with the intent to lift him up and keep him where neither he nor anyone else could get hurt. If he succeeded, he would take caution with the croagunk's arm, as he did not actually want to end up just making it angrier.

"What, are you just gonna sit there and wait for it?" Goro asked spitefully, staring down at the little rabbit pokemon.

It looked like it wanted to fight, striking a stupid pose while it faced him, but it did nothing as he approached. He didn't make his intentions a secret at all; it was hard to misinterpret the situation when an angry frog threatened you and then walked up with its fist cocked back... twice in a row. Well, he couldn't be blamed for the stupidity of others. If she wasn't going to run or strike first, he'd just wallop her.

Before he could throw his right hand forward, though, he felt a lot of long, lithe, deceptively strong somethings take him from the side. It wasn't like the fire punch from the buneary. Honestly, it was kind of like a gentle kidnapping, like smooth ropes wrapped all around him, circling around his waist and arms and just... lifting him up into the air a bit. "Wha... what the hell?" he asked, momentarily just as confused as he was upset.

His gaze naturally followed the vines enveloping him, and lo and behold, it was the deerling he had ignored. Well, not quite, but there was a skiddo unmistakenly with her and it was behind it. At this point, something occurred to him. "You're all in on this together!" he accused, his good hand grabbing a fistful of the vines on him and squeezing hard. "Who are you and what do y'all want?! I ain't giving you nothing!!" he spat out, beginning to thrash in the grass-type's hold. The surprise behind his accostment was mostly the reason why he hadn't done so already.

Silk gave no response to what felt like a taunt from the croagunk. She didn't want to fight in the first place, so yes, of course she was going to "sit there and wait for it." She wasn't going to just run into him and hope she could win, either... but fortunately she ended up not having to worry about any of that. To her surprise, the deerling she'd just told to stay back seemed to be doing the opposite... or at least, some friend of the deerling's was. On one hand they'd just totally ignored her advisement, but she couldn't pretend not to be relieved at that. She slid down the side of the shack and let out a sigh of relief, feeling that the fight was over.

"Thanks..." she muttered to the two bystanders who'd been so kind as to intervene. Then, she looked up at the frog being held in the air. He seemed a lot less intimidating now. "Hey, I don't know them, and I don't want anything from you! It was an accident, I'm sorry!" she responded, wanting to make it clear that she was no burglar and these two had nothing to do with her mistake.

But she doubted that alone would be enough to calm the aggressor down. She'd already tried saying sorry, which had done nothing as far as she could tell. "And who eats someone over a dumpy shack?? It's not even a big thing; we could fix it in like an hour, tops!" she continued. It wasn't as if she had intended to damage someone's property, but even so, she felt like this was just a bit of an overreaction...

The skiddo was already shaking from the fear he felt in this situation, being in direct contact with the aggressor only made it worse. He could feel their tight grip on his vines and every struggle they made to liberate themselves. He wanted to let go, but he didn't want them to start attacking everyone.

The buneary spoke up, which in turn made the skiddo speak up, "I-I'm sorry! I just didn't want anyone to f-fight and we just kinda want directions and we don't know each other and please stop struggling like that or I might accidentally drop you and i'm reaalllly sorry I don't wanna hurt you." His voice faded as he ran out of breath to speak with. He couldn't even get the courage to take a deep breath.

Yera, on the other hand, shut herself up. She got Aries to do something, so everything should be fine, right? She doesn't have to talk to these pokemon, she just has to wait until Aries and the others settles things down. Her heart was already racing over concern for both the buneary and herself, she did not even want to imagine what it would do if she had to actually talk with these people. Especially after she kinda nosed her way into their business and dragged Aries into it too...

She stepped backwards, ready to hide behind Aries seeing as he was now the "man" of the hour. She was happy she helped, but she decided not to count her chickens before they hatched. The frog was still hostile. Her glance shifted over to the buneary with a pleading look, hoping that the buneary would be able to de-escalate the situation from here without resorting to violence.

Goro wanted to hit the ground running and bash the buneary's head against something hard over and over again until he felt better or she coughed up money he could use to fix his house. He wanted to turn around and do something similar do the goat who had the nerve to pick him up like a child. And he felt a little hungry so he'd also like to rob the deerling with the basket and the sacks and see if there was something good to eat in there.

He pointedly did not do any of that. He did keep thrashing, though, and yanking vines off of him until he felt their grip loosen and his toes sink back into the wet soil of his front yard. The croagunk breathed in deeply, eyes clenched shut, looking frustrated for a long moment. He told himself that if he wanted to, he could level this entire area over and over again and put all three of these trespassers down in the process. It helped, but he still felt very crabby.

"We could fix it," Goro agreed tersely, staring down at the buneary leaning back against his shack. His angry gaze flickered to the rabbit-sized hole in it next to her. "You broke it, so you're gonna help fix it now. If ya do that, and get—off—it—right—now, then I won't eat you." he finished, sounding and feeling very gracious.

With that said, the frog pokemon turned to face the timid couple. He was going to work with the rabbit so he could fix his house. He failed to see how this nosy deerling or arrogant skiddo who thought he was capable of hurting him fit into the equation. "Tell me where you're going. I'll tell you the way to go, and then I expect you to go."

Silk tensed up and became alert as the croagunk pulled himself free from his bindings, but that didn't last long. Apparently she'd managed to say the right thing, at least to stop him from immediately trying to attack her again. Okay, so she'd be helping fix this big jerk's shack; no problem. And besides, yeah he was mean and seemed a little crazy, but she did basically break his house when he hadn't done anything to her. "Okay, seems fair," she spoke with a nod even though that wasn't entirely how she felt.

Yes, of course she was going to fix what she broke, but "fair" wasn't exactly how she would have described the situation. This definitely didn't justify threatening to eat someone, especially when she'd already done her best to make it clear that it had been an accident! But she didn't see the point in trying to argue about this and risking provoking him again, so she just decided to take what she could get here. Plus there were two bystanders she didn't want to get caught up in any danger.

Fortunately, the croagunk seemed interested in getting rid of them as soon as possible. But his offer to them made her remember her own reason for being here, and made her wonder if perhaps he could help her too. "Oh, hey, maybe you could give me some directions too? I mean, once we're done?" she requested, putting on her best cute face and stepping away from the small structure. If she had to help this guy who already seemed rude and dangerous, she at least wanted to try to get something back.

Aries froze to the spot as the croagunk released himself from the bonds. Part of him told him to grab the poison type again, but he simply could not move. He was far too terrified. The vines simply hung in the air in front of him up until he realized that the croagunk had at the very least calmed down at least a little bit. At the very least it wasn't threatening to eat people anymore. That was a positive.

The little skiddo's vines retracted into the bush of his mane, but the frown on his expression remained still. He couldn't get rid of that sunken feeling in his chest. His heart refused to calm down. He wanted to do nothing more than leave at that moment, so when the croagunk offered both instructions and an excuse to leave, his head nodded furiously.

But of course, Yera disagreed. Before Aries could say a thing, even if he was capable, the deerling stepped out from behind him with a newfound courage. "A-Actually! Maybe we could help? A-Aries is good at carrying things-with his vines and stuff-and I could do...anything else that I can help with?"

Yera didn't like the idea of leaving the buneary alone with this volatile pokemon. She could here the world's quietest "What?" from behind her, but she chose to ignore that for now. She'd explain to him later.

"Then after we get your lovely home all fixed up then we can all be on our way together?" she cast a glance in the buneary's direction that was both apologetic and pleading at the same time. She didn't want to have to brave the swamp all over again with just her and Aries. Even though water types were abundant in the area, one wrong bug pokemon could send the both of them into a world of pain.