I Guess I'll Never Stop Coming Here. [Event]

Izumi's large paws caused a dark rock to go skidding over the darker landscape as she plodded casually to a very familiar meeting place, one she had set up a long time ago when meeting a certain Pikachu who's presence she had come to enjoy, back when subtly/protectively bullying her sister's teammates had been a priority. Now she was just here on business again - well, sort of. It was kind of missionary work for a dear friend.

"...Why did you need to bring me again?"

Izumi's striking blue eyes rolled back to address the red dyed cat relaxing on her back. She smiled with a knowing coyness that Chiyako could not see but could have felt radiating even miles upon miles away. "Well, for starters - when was the last time you got out of the inn since you took on managing??"

Chiyako brought a paw from her lute to her chin. "Oh... I'm not sure, really. There was a time when Iva was taking me out to the forest on "training missions-""

"That does not count."

"...Okay, you know, that's fair." Considering the most iconic of which had had her building a dam of all things, she supposed that they had been work more than they had been anything else. "I guess I don't really get off my normal routine very much. There's just no time, yeah? It's a busy place - but I guess that's a good thing. Everybody seems to love it."

"Well then, consider me the break-maker. I hadn't heard from you in months; I worried you worked yourself to death," Izumi chortled back in response. "Besides, you can't always be inspired by the same things, right? And you've never been to the mountains before."

"If I have... I certainly can't recall," Chiyako mused in agreement. She felt Izumi moving to sit down, so she prepared herself to have a graceful slide down the buff quadruped's back. It was fun, in a childish way. Chiyako couldn't contain a gleeful grin from the experience, and she began to wonder when the last time she had experienced a smile like that had been?

Izumi watched as the sun began to peer up over the mountain's slope, smiling with something wistful and nostalgic. "Well, here's a chance to see something new. Look - I used to watch this sunrise all the time."

Chiyako turned to greet the first few rays of sun as they poured out from behind the mountain, shading her eyes with her paw as her red fur glimmered with light. It was much like the sunrise that she enjoyed at home on the beach, but there was... something deeper to it. Perhaps the contrast between the sun's light and the way the terrain stayed dark in spite of it resonated with her somehow. Breathless wasn't the word for what she felt - no, entranced was more fitting.

"It's beautiful."

Izumi smiled, but there was melancholy to it. "I thought you might like it."

Chiyako enjoyed the silent, mutual appreciation between them for perhaps just a bit longer than she needed to. Long past the point where the sunrise ended, and the terrein's natural dark hue set in again. It was at this point that she noticed that they were still alone. "...Who are we waiting for again?"

Izumi the Absol - 17 energy
Chiyako the Purrloin - 11 energy

OOC:

He hadn't been to Blackmist in a long long time. He was quiet around the pokemon that accompanied him ever since they grew near. Ever since he evolved here, he avoided this place. He saved a friend's life here, only for them to disappear without a word. He wondered how long it had even been since then? How far had he come since he was just a little Archen that stuttered along constantly? He was so fearful back then, but nowadays...he was just depressed.

He may have advanced just the tiniest bit since he was younger, but it wasn't enough. He was still just as pathetic and small as he was back then. He couldn't even blame it on that dreadful inherent ability of the Archeops line. It was just him that was weak. How long until Dusk would realize her mistake and leave? How long until her stubbornness lead to her demise?

The thoughts swirled in his head and kept him quiet as they approached the meeting point. If Dusk tried to speak to him, he would fail to keep much of a conversation going. He could see Izumi's white and red fur stand out like a sore thumb against the terrain. It was enough to pull him out of the spiral, even if for just the tiniest bit to say something first that wasn't a response.

"There they are. Are you ready?" he asked the umbreon.

ooc//Leaving it up to Dusk whether they're flying or walking.
Also:
Acro Ability: Defeatist -Cursed Amulet-> Synchronize (Dusk)

. . .

Dusk hadn't been looking forward to this trip, mostly due to getting up so early for it, but she had figured out a solution of sorts to that problem. It seemed best for both Acro and herself if they flew, and that meant she got to ride on his back... which in turn meant she could just... lay down. A while later and she had managed to lull herself into such a comfortable state as to fall right asleep. He was warm and his feather-fluff was comfortable; laying on a moving bed was a bit of a jarring experience to get use to, but she trusted Acro not to drop her. It helped that she sort of had a big edgy blanket attached to her, especially with how surprisingly chilly it could get up in the sky.

Umbreon were supposed to be nocturnal, she was pretty sure, but her body still hadn't adjusted to that yet and she had recently found her sleep schedule to be very chaotic. Between that and her other... issues, sometimes she didn't get much sleep at all, so she was thankful for the extra nap. Alas, this peaceful sleep couldn't last forever.

It wasn't just laziness that made her feel disappointed when she was prompted to wake up, but rather, concern for her own... stability. She had to keep herself calm and under control, with which being all tired and grumpy wouldn't help. But, nap-time was over and now she needed to get up... especially since she hadn't exactly asked the archeops ferrying her through the air if she could use him as a bed in the first place. She opened her eyes and stretched her legs a bit, not too worried about falling, and the first thing she saw was the beautiful sunrise across the mountain landscape. This, admittedly, was a pretty sight... and almost made it worth having to wake up so early. For just a moment, it brought a smile to her face.

...And then her tired gaze slowly drifted down toward the ground, a mistake that quickly ruined her morning. Seeing how high up they were... suddenly, she felt her heart begin to race. She knew she was in the air, sure, but her eyes had been closed the entire time and part of her had forgotten what "in the air" really implied on account of being asleep the whole time. But she wasn't even afraid of heights! She...

She had never been afraid of heights, and so she stubbornly tried to fight the impulse to cling to the archeops and look away. Another mistake. As she force herself to face this strange feeling of distress, she began to recall the horrifying sensation of falling through the air in sheer darkness, helpless. She became entranced in the experience, almost to the point of feeling like she was somewhere else entirely.

There was a very noticeable delay before she finally managed to snap herself out of this trance and respond. "N-no, why'd we have to wake up before the sun?" she spoke, trying to suppress the sudden quivering in both her body and voice. She looked away from the ground below and tried to focus on the beautiful sunrise, but it was now doing significantly less to help her mood.

With all of this distracting her, the umbreon failed to even notice the other two pokémon.

Goro would find treasure on this big stupid mountain, or he'd die trying. That, or get distracted, forget, and then go home.

Ever since an ever-so-helpful bisharp had told him that there were plenty of goodies to be found in this particular area, Goro had developed something of a fixation with Black Mist Mountain. The last time he was here he'd found some neat little trinkets, sure, but nothing to write home about. He had things similar back home in the marsh, and he figured that said enough on its own. Today, he was chasing the good stuff. Trinkets that'd sell for money, things that were useful to a guy like him looking for some extra oomph, or maybe just stuff that looked fun to play with.

And he had no distractions this time! Company made a trip like this more bearable when it was good company, true, but that also meant you had someone else to look out for. That wasn't the case today. Goro was totally free to poke around the mountain and hunt for valuables - he was operating on his own time! No boss to answer to, no kids to babysit, no mouthy twerps to knock around... just him, his trusty bindle, and the whole day to himself. It didn't get much better than that.

What could possibly go wrong?

(18 energy)

Izumi's head rose at the sound of wing beats behind her. She turned her head with a knowing smile, her eyes only confirming what her mind was certain of. "Acro," she half-answered, half-greeted as that familiar face finally showed itself. "...and Dusk, right? Sorry if it's creepy that I know that. I've been talking to Mr. Melancholy Frostbutt- Sova- a lot since he decided to run headlong into psychic traffic. He told me a little about you." Granted, it wasn't like the Umbreon's face was completely foreign to Izumi without Sova's introduction. "I'm pretty sure I've seen you in the swap shop, too. Glad we'll get to hang out a little in a place where people probably won't throw things at me while we're trying to socialize, heh." 'Probably' being the operative word.

"I don't know if you guys are acquainted at all yet, but this is Chiyako. You might have seen her around when she was living in the shop?"

Chiyako shrugged at that. "Probably not, if we're being realistic. I didn't get out a lot before now. Nice to meet you, though." At this point, she hauled herself up onto her own two paws and turned to walk over and join the group. She addressed the Umbreon fittingly named "Dusk" specifically next, as the other dark type's previous statement was some kind of mood. "As for being up at ungodly hours, I really wish I had any right to ask the same question. Because I would."

Izumi couldn't help but chortle at Chi's misfortune, knowign full well that while the purrloin willingly subjected herself to the early morning schedule, she had had it imposed on her long before she ever embraced it. "You guys can blame the early hour on me. It'll just be easier on us - well, me especially - if we operate around the tribe's schedule. I've gotten good at avoiding them, so I don't actually know what their reaction to seeing me will be..."

Chiyako had heard a fair bit of Izumi's self-emancipation story, and she still wasn't sure what to make of it.. It barely had anything to do with Izumi now, outside of being where she came from. Chi couldn't really think of her being anything other than an archeology nerd with a penchant for weird items. She decided to break the tension surrounding the needlessly dubious statement now hanging in the air. "Aren't they just shunning you still?"

"Presumably," Izumi shrugged back. She was very outwardly casual despite the potentially heavy subject matter - it wasn't something she thought much of anymore. "It shouldn't be a problem to us. Acro, you've been here right? You remember the way?" she asked, turning to a hidden trail with the intention of starting on it.

It was a little weird to have a pokemon sleep on him while he's flying-especially given his track record of unfortunate events-but he wanted to take it as somewhat of a compliment. He used to be so clumsy and rough with his flight that it was difficult for anyone to hold on, but now he had a whole Umbreon just taking a nap on his back...either that or she was just tired enough to sleep through it. He would immediately begin to assume the latter as the thought came to mind.

He wanted to make a promise of not dropping her, but he couldn't exactly bring himself to have the courage to say in. He didn't want to jinx it. Guilt tore into him as she suddenly started to panic after waking up. What did he do wrong this time? He didn't ask.

He swooped in for a landing just behind the brightly coated absol and gave a small nod in greetings to her. He tried to take extra care for a smooth landing, instead opting to run onto the ground from a glide instead of dropping himself down. He slowed himself to a walk. As the purrloin and the absol conversed, he would stay silent. He didn't care whether the umbreon stuck to riding on his back or hopped down to walk on her own, but he would dare to glance back at her to check on her.

Suddenly he was addressed. He hesitated, but spoke, "Yeah, I do." He followed along on foot before he looked back at Dusk again, "You can uh...go back to sleep if you want. I-I'll wake you up if something's happening. I won't be flying from here on so y'won't need to worry about uh-falling anymore." It's the least he could do for dragging her out so early and apparently terrifying her with the final few moments of flight.

ooc// maybe not this post but Acro will hug her at some point or i'll eat my hat

As the ground grew closer, Dusk's racing heart slowed. She was eager to leap from the back of the archeops the second they were low enough for her to safely do so. Her legs were a bit weak when they touched the ground, causing her to nearly fall, but she caught her footing and quickly straightened up as if nothing had happened. Acro seemed to have noticed her behavior, which prompted an immediate response. "I'm not worried," she spoke quickly and a bit defensively, before adding on more calmly, "...And I'm fine to walk from here."

Trying not to give Acro a chance to question her further, she turned her attention to the other two, having just acknowledged their existence now that she could think more clearly. She hadn't exactly missed what they were saying, but her attention was admittedly fractured and it took a moment for her to process what they had said. Something about her comment on the time; apparently they were to blame, or at least, the absol was. And the absol seemed to know her... from Grassveil? It took her a moment to recall, but she did recognize the absol from the guild there.

"So what again are we doing?" the umbreon questioned, still groggy and wanting to better understand why she was here.

Plus she really wanted to change the topic before Acro could say anything else about her behavior. She didn't need him worrying about her. Technically she already understood why they were here, but it was the best conversation topic she could come up with in the moment and she figured it wouldn't hurt to go over it now that they had met up with... the absol whose name she didn't remember, and the purrloin she didn't recognize. Actually maybe it would be a good idea to try and get to know them in general if they were going to be traveling together today.

(o rite Dusk - 25 energy)

Precisely nothing could go wrong, that's what!

It seemed like every other time Goro asked himself that question, something cosmic immediately threw something horrible at him. The croagunk looked around for a minute, realized he was truly alone, and smiled to himself. No property-damaging rabbits, no weird bratty fluffy wonder twins, and no mean rescue team members with too-sharp-teeth. He heaved a long, peaceful breath and continued on his merry way, trying and failing miserably to whistle a jaunty tune while he walked.

Said jaunty tune immediately died out as he caught a blur of movement in the sky and instinctively followed it with his eyes. Goro hunched down slightly and frowned to himself - whatever it was, it was obviously a flying type or at least capable of flight, which spelled out bad news for him. The mystery pokemon touched down for a landing quite a bit further up the mountain than Goro was at the moment; if he wanted to find out what it was, he'd have to go out of his way to check it out. The line of sight he had right now was a bit too obstructed by big stupid rocks and the cliff side.

Well... it seemed more interesting that whatever else he had going on at the moment. As keen on treasure as he was, he had no idea where to actually look for it. Maybe this thing had directions. There was a possibility that it could be hostile and he could get his ass kicked, but Goro's mama didn't raise no bitch. He'd cross that bridge when he got to it. 'Til then, it was time to investimagate.

the sunset hero carried out 5 launched of one Black Mist Mountain :

, , , ,

For a moment, Izumi looked deathly serious. "Well, I don't know how much you've heard about all this hubub going on, but uh... well, recently my sister's ability has been showing her some "things" concerning the future," she explained as she began to plod along up the path. Her eyebrows furrowed with concern. "Pokemon from all over are being gathered for... something violent. She seems to think that the odds in favor of nothing changing are... declining. She seems to think this place holds a key. I've got a real deep knowledge of these dungeons since I lived in them, so I offered to lead some pokemon up here real fast-like and check out what's going on."

They approached a fork in the road, but Izumi chose neither branch like one might think. Instead, she hopped off the road entirely and started scaling a steep rocky hill. "This way," she called back, "There's a rift up here that leads into the mountain. It's dark but it's not too cramped."

Chiyako was silent during Izumi's explaination, contemplating everything with a still expression on her face. "There's... something violent happening? I guess that explains the spooky mood in the tavern..." She sighed. She hoped it had just been the melancholy of passing seasons that had been making everyone's mood strange. When she thought about it a little harder, she realized that she could pick out pokemon in her mind that seemed more... tired than others while she had been observing the strange atmosphere. Had they been somehow involved in all this?!?

She looked back at her two new companions to see if they had anything to say on the matter. Her spine crawled at the thought of encountering something on this mountain that they could not handle.

Dusk was quick to jump off and change the subject. His attention was quickly diverted as Dusk's question prompted Izumi to explain their purpose for this area once more. His gaze looked up at the dark cloudy sky above as she did so. He just wanted this whole mess to be over with. Why did the legendary pokemon have to go and mess things up for everyone else? It was kind of a dick move and just made it seem like Zygarde was the only remotely decent one.

The archeops was a little surprised as Izumi suddenly seemed to jump off the path, but he trusted her to know where she was going. He would continue the explanation for Izumi, "The sane one asked pokemon to bring stuff to the peak. So that's what we're doing...so maybe things'll go back to the way they used to be. It doesn't seem like it should be difficult...I think...unless we come across someone trying to stop us."

Dusk followed dutifully as she listened to the others speak. She barely hesitated when the absol jumped off the path and into the more rugged terrain. If some other quadruped could do it, then clearly so could she! She followed the apparent guide with conviction and gave a simple "Oh," just to show she was listening while she thought of more to say on the matter.

She knew a bit about this whole situation even though she hadn't exactly tried to interfere in it until now. It was hard not to, with how big a deal it all was. "I've heard about all this, but I guess pretty much everyone has. Nice to know we're working for the good one though," she remarked, trusting Acro's judgment. "And if anyone tries to stop us, we'll just deal with it. I've seen you fight," she added on, looking at Acro as she commented on his fighting. As long as he could stay focused and not break down in the middle of a fight, they would all be fine.

Dusk felt like she could take care of herself too, of course, but she understood that she wasn't particularly strong. The cloak certainly seemed to help though, and she knew she could take a hit if nothing else. She had taken many, many hits before.

"I'm Dusk, by the way," she added on and looked to the others as she realized she had yet to properly introduce herself to them.

"Beat it, kid," Goro stage-whispered to a nearby Aron, standing in his path. "I'm tryna be sneaky."

The croagunk had been trying to turn a corner to continue up the mountain path towards the mystery bird, but out of either ignorance or some other silly reason, he found a dumb little aron blocking his way. Goro took to nudging it roughly with his foot, trying and failing to move the thing by force - the thing was fat. It wasn't until he brandished his good hand at it threateningly did it lazily shimmy over to the side, giving him room to pass, more fed-up with the croagunk than intimidated.

With that taken care of, Goro had a straight shot to where he last saw his target. Just in case the big mystery bird felt hungry, he felt it prudent to crouch down and move slowly as he made his way over. A glimpse of colorful-looking feathers told him told him he'd found the right place, and urgently Goro ducked behind a large rock so the flying-type couldn't see him. He poked his head out from behind it to get a glimpse of who he was about to walk up on, and immediately his ugly features twisted up in distaste.

It wasn't just a bird. It was three other pokemon, all fuzzy and four-legged. Two of them were species he recognized, more or less; there was an Umbreon, and... well, he wasn't sure what the cat-looking one was called, but he half-remembered meeting one on the best/worst night of his life. Subconsciously, Goro shivered as he recalled what little of that night he could. The last one looked pretty similar to the umbreon, but it was taller, leaner, lightly colored, and had a wicked-looking scythe thing sticking out of its head.

Outnumbered four-to-one, it was a really bad idea for Goro to purposely reveal himself. Instead, he just focused on breathing lightly and quietly as he tried to eavesdrop, to get a sense of who they were and what they were doing here. Maybe they were hunting treasure, too...

Chi's powerful ears flickered on top of her head as the group continued on ahead. She could have sworn she heard something... lightly metallic? She looked around, but she couldn't determine any source that she saw probable. That only made her feel more paranoid. She wanted to ask if anyone else had heard the noise, but... she suspected maybe it was just a native pokemon and she shouldn't be too concerned. She was still listening to the conversation, but... she was distracted.

"It's nice to meet you, Dusk..." Chi finally said, suddenly seeming lost in thought but trying her best to be polite.

Meanwhile, Izumi was fully engrossed in the conversation between the three pokemon. "I've been a little out of the loop, honestly. I saw all the upset happening around Serene Cave, but I thought it was just an isolated incident until recently." She smiled at Dusk and Acro interacting. They seemed like good friends, and she was feeling pretty confident that travelling with such an experienced pair would make this task that much easier. Speaking of "this task" and "items", she looked over to the large pack strapped to her back. "How many items do we need again? I brought whatever wasn't crucial from my stock room. I hope that's enough of a contribution from me. She looked around. She knew there were items on the mountain, and she knew where to find them.

"Maybe I should try and pick up a few more, just in- ..."

As Izumi's eyes drifted, she suddenly frozen in place. An archeops and a mightyena... standing there. Locals. Seems like they were having a conversation. She suddenly made an effort to conceal herself. "Rats... Already?!?!" she hissed. "I knew we would encounter somebody... but I didn't expect to see locals so soon. If they're collaberating with the tribe... I don't want to talk to them directly, just in case."

Izumi's sudden panic caught Chiyako's attention. There were pokemon ahead... so wait, was that noise from earlier a pokemon too?!? Were they being followed- wait, when had she become so paranoid? Probably immediately after Iva hired her, if she had to guess. Chiyako looked back to where she had heard the noise again in thought.

"There are pokemon... so..." she muttered, processing her thoughts aloud. "...Um, I heard a noise behind us a bit ago. I didn't think much of it before, but now I think it might be a good idea to consider the possibility that we're being followed...?" She didn't sound especially sure of herself, given that she wasn't entirely convinced that this wasn't all just her nerves working up. "I'll go check quickly. I'm small and easy to conceal, plus I have items and moves for incapacitating pokemon. I'll let you guys know if I find anything." With that, she snuck off towards the rocks.

She began wandering a bit away from the group, searching for the exact place where she heard the noise. She didn't want to make too much noise, but she also reasoned that perhaps being spotted was the best way to bring out any potentially concealed guests. "Hello...? Is anyone here....?" she called softly, readying static electricity for the worst case scenario.

"I've seen you fight." Dusk remarked. Acro wan't tooo suuure about that. His discomfort was visible, but he said nothing. Dusk had seen him fight alright, she'd seen him get smacked, frozen, and get thrown into a depressive spiral where all he could talk about was how worthless he was. He wouldn't really count that as "strong" or "capable of dealing with things."

"Uh...a lot." he responded to Izumi, "a hundred or something like that-" He too was cut off by the appearance of locals. The two stared down at them as Izumi would speak to the group about them. Izumi didn't want to talk with them. They looked pretty menacing up there. His attention was a little focused on the fact that there was an archeops right there in front of him. It kind of disappointed him how every archeops he seems to ever come across are total jerks. The only exception was the guildmaster and uh...well, he hardly ever spoke to her.

His heart grew heavy as he looked up at the pokemon. Izumi didn't want to talk to the locals. In all honesty, he didn't even want to fight them. The weighted feeling spread all throughout his body as the will to fight seemed completely drained from him. It was no special move having an impact on him, he was just...tired of fighting.

So, he decided to try something new. "Can you please leave? We don't mean or want any trouble..." he called out to the mightyena and the archeops. The duo looked utterly baffled by the Archeops' request. The two looked to each other, discussing something in hushed whispers. The mightyena looked back to the group and nodded as the Archeops turned and flew in the opposite direction of the group. The mightyena followed.

...That worked???

Dusk listened as the others discussed the basics of a plan, which was sounding like just sacrificing their stuff. Knowing the forces supposedly involved in this whole thing, that was probably exactly what they were going to do. Good thing she'd just gotten a nifty new bag from the guild to keep all her junk in. She wasn't the biggest fan of Acro or herself giving up anything that wasn't strictly useless, but the bright side was that this sounded like a fairly easy "mission." With a guide who knew the area, they would hopefully be in and out without much trouble...

Aaand all hope of that dissipated for the umbreon when the group came upon two other pokémon. She was immediately on-edge, but not because she was afraid of fighting. She was more concerned about having to control herself if a fight broke out. She didn't want to end up going out of control at all, let alone around Acro and these other two. Fortunately, her concerns were proven to be for naught when Acro somehow managed to talk the unfamiliar faces into just... leaving. Dusk was speechless at this, having rarely seen such an easy resolution to an encounter, but she wasn't going to complain. "Wow. Wish that could happen every time," she remarked in bewilderment.

It was only when she could finally relax that she noticed the purrloin was suddenly gone. She had been so focused on the potential threats, so anxious about their presence, that she had completely missed Chiyako leaving. She knew the cat had said something, but she had paid absolutely no attention to what. However, nobody else seemed to be questioning it, and she didn't want to say anything and look like an idiot, so she just... decided not to.