Why Are These Trees Fabulous?

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This dungeon talked a lot of crap for being in Osiris' backyard.

A tiny, cerulean noodle slithered through the tall grass of Shadowhue Forest, eyes squinty and mistrusting. This dratini liked to think he'd been around the block a few times, but when running through his mental resume of being an awesome dude, he realized he hadn't quite explored the depths of Shadowhue yet. He hadn't really explored any of the dungeons close to Grassveil, and while Pecha was excusable because that was boring and for little kids, this place was supposed to be different.

So. It was on. As part of his new resolution to get his act together, get strong and powerful and skilled, and defend his friends and help them out of the awful situations they'd found themselves in, he was going to climb the ladder. He'd start with this dungeon and work his way up to the biggest and baddest of them, and then he'd swoop back into their lives like a superhero and fix everything.

For now, he merely pasted on a determined expression, fastened his satchel to himself, and slithered into the depths of the gloomy forest. The dragon-type's eyes were peeled for interesting matchups and discoveries.

43 - 10 (entry cost): 33 energy

The note of interest from Osiris didn't escape her. It did sound interesting, framed like that, didn't it? Though, she suspected any interest in it would die once she mentioned the mandatory reports... that part would take some getting used to, even on her end. She had to admit she was anxious that she might not be up to par with the rest of the organization. That would be an awful first impression to give. All the more reason to find those trees. Osiris' question gave her a brief beat of pause. Her motives for joining had been completely, utterly selfish, and she could hardly admit such a thing.

I wanted to know how people look at you when you manage to do something important.

"I'm fond of it." She agreed in sanguine harmony, quietly nudging the conversation in a different direction, letting her thoughts wander to the nearest related topic. "But do you know what's funny? As much as I enjoy looking for answers, I hope we never find all of them. If there's no mystery left in the world... I suppose it feels like something of a loss, to me. If that day ever comes, we'll have no discoveries left to chase." Even knowing it would be a victory, something about it would also feel like a loss, wouldn't it?

"I think what I'm trying to say is that I'd mourn the mystery, and the chase."

(Robin's Energy: 1)
+ 1, new page.)

"I think I understand," Osiris said after humming for a moment, trying to consider what he'd been told. The shift in conversation topics didn't even register with him. "Basically, you don't ever wanna stop, right?"

He might have agreed if he'd heard as much even a few weeks earlier. As much as he himself loved exploration, battling, and the life that came with those things... he'd very much like to skip to the end right about now when he was a big strong dragonite that wouldn't get beaten up by any random dungeon pokemon that rounded the corner. But research and investigation were different things, he supposed. "Yeah, I get you," he echoed. "A map sure would be nice though, heh." Osiris went on with a small giggle.

As they trekked through the forest, he stayed alert and kept his eyes peeled for any malicious surprises. To his simultaneous relief and disappointment, no wild pokemon had leaped out of the bushes and challenged them to mortal combat yet. There were a handful of pokemon in the distance that he could spot as they went along—a bellsprout being chased around by a farfetch'd in the distance, only to turn around and chase it right back once a shroomish and flabebe spotted the ruckus and pitched in—but none of them seemed interested in the two of them.

the sunset hero carried out 10 launched of one Shadowhue Forest :

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Basically, you don't ever wanna stop, right?

Robin laughed just a little in response to that, nodding. "Yeah. You hit at least part of it right on the head." She agreed, the spark of wonder not quite gone from her voice. "If only the world could keep getting bigger, huh? Part of me wants there to always be more to discover. It's... weird, but I can't imagine a world where we know everything, and there's no mystery left. And it's doubly funny, because that's the exact kind of world I'm helping to build, huh?"

Even more funny was the fact that there were three defense scarves in front of them, in a neat little pile. Robin held her paw out, motioning for Osiris to stop, raising a confused eyebrow.

"Yeah, that's a trap."

Energy: 17
(Reviver seed from Sun. c:)

Venusian carried out 10 launched of one Shadowhue Forest :

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"Well, yeah, but it's the journey, not the destination, right?" Osiris shot back amiably. It wasn't about wanting the mysteries to be solved so much as actually solving them. He understood that. The dratini wasn't sure if he agreed—if all of them were just about rainbow trees and similar things, that'd bore him to tears—but conceptually it sounded really cool.

And it painted Robin in a more clear light. She was out here doing this kind of thing because this was what she wanted to do, as opposed to anything else. It was admirable. The only thing that separated her from guild members and police was that her work was considerably more mundane at its core. Then again, obviously she had to still deal with the hazards of mystery dungeons, so it wasn't all think-puzzles and investigations.

He found that he liked her quite a bit more with this information in mind.

"Y'wanna spring it?" he asked in response. As far as traps went, it did seem pretty juvenile. One defense scarf might be believable, but why else would three of them be sitting there if they weren't bait? Osiris raised himself up, scanning their surroundings. Spotting no pokemon on the ground-level, his gaze rose to the treetops, but there were no pokemon to be found. "I don't see anything around here, so it's probably safe... but we could just keep going."

The dragon-type shuddered unconsciously, feeling a chilly, passing breeze brush over his scales. Unseen by him, behind the two pokemon, the ghostly form of a trevenant flickered into view. It faded an instant later, mostly transparent as it watched them observe the scarves.

33 energy - 14 (rolls): 19 energy

"Hmm... yeah. I guess you're right." It was a rather perceptive observation from the little dragon, one that made a smile flicker at the corner of her mouth. He was right, wasn't he? She hadn't thought about it so deeply before, but she quite liked that sentiment. She was surprised, herself, to find that her words weren't entirely false. In fact, she couldn't pin down what about them had been an exaggeration. Something there was wrong, she was sure - this wasn't a passion of hers - but oddly, even she couldn't extract just what about her little speech had been a lie.

She gave a thoughtful hum and nodded. "We're prepared this time, so it should be alright, I think." She decided. Besides, it certainly looked safe... had whoever set the trap left? She couldn't see any places that an ambush might be hiding. She poked the ground, unwilling to fall into another pitfall, feeling a bit safer when it stayed solid under her feet. Finally feeling brave enough to put weight on her paws, she stepped forward, comically swinging a scarf around her muzzle.

It was rather hard to tie such a thing, when one didn't have arms.

"Oh, boy!" She called, raising her voice in mock-surprise. "Look at all these amazing items! It sure would be a pity if this was a trap!" Maybe, just maybe, she enjoyed the idea of turning the trap back around, and beating up whoever thought themselves cunning enough to spring it.

Now, where was this pokemon that thought themselves so clever?

Contrary to the little giggle that escaped him at Robin's theatrical baiting, Osiris did his best to watch for any approaching pokemon. He saw no movement in front or around him, and the treetops were clear of any fliers... the dratini frowned, overcome by how anticlimactic the situation was. No trap sprung from underneath the diminished pile of scarves and no pokemon burst from the bushes to ambush them. It was just him and Robin standing around after her declaration, staring at a pile of dinky little blue accessories.

The vulpix had yoinked the one off the top, which still left two scarves just sitting there. Osiris couldn't see anything but grass underneath them, but there had to be something, right? "Maybe there's something underneath 'em and that's the trap," he muttered, fixing his gaze on the scarves.

Behind him, the trevenant grinned. It slowly sunk downward, phasing through the ground unseen before it had completely vanished.

He saw no reason to dilly-dally around about it. Pausing only for a moment, the dratini bit down on the top scarf and threw it off in one smooth movement, leaving only the bottom one splayed out on the ground. There was no indentation in it that betrayed something underneath, and when he took his tail and gently pressed down on the scarf, the ground felt solid and safe. Iris glanced up at Robin, not sure if she felt as silly as he did at this point, but at this point, he was in for a penny, in for a pound.

Swiftly, he yanked the final scarf off the ground, baring only a patch of slightly beat down grass and nothing else. Osiris blinked at this, but before disappointment could set it, the head of a trevenant phased up through the ground at rapid speeds, dangerous-looking claws outstretched comically.

"BOO!" it shouted, lurching in their direction threateningly, but made no move to reach out at them. It was enough to scare Osiris out of his skin though, and he went scrambling backward with a startled yelp.

The Vulpix was... suddenly feeling quite silly. She returned Osiris' confused glance. It seemed as though he'd had the same thought that she did, but there didn't seem to be any traps around here. And she didn't see any pokemon rushing out to rob or eat them yet, either. A visible confusion crossed her face as the Dratini lifted the final scarf. That was odd. There was no way that was natural, was it? Had they just stumbled across someone's treasure stash, maybe? But it had looked like it was in plain sight...

And then, Robin screamed bloody murder, stumbling back from the emerging head and shadowy claws. The scarf slung around her muzzle fell pitiably to the ground. She was raising her head high to defend the two of them, ready to summon a gust of frozen wind, when the Trevenant... fell back... laughing?

... ah. That wasn't the kind of trap she was expecting. It was... a jumpscare?

She suddenly felt a bit silly and small for screaming so loudly, breaking out into an embarrassed giggle when she realized that the ghost type wasn't attacking them. If it could talk, maybe it didn't even mean harm? It seemed satisfied with it's little trick. Overjoyed, even, by their dramatic reactions.

"... heh, we got tricked pretty good, hey, Iris?"

"That was..."

Osiris trailed off, his veins still surging with panic and adrenaline as he stared at the trevenant laughing on the ground, almost rolling around for how pleased it was with itself. He tried to summon the energy to be indignant, but even his own snout was tugging itself into a smile. It was hard to do so with how non-threatening and mischevious the ghost-type appeared.  

"... okay, yeah, that was pretty good," he allowed, allowing the grin to form on his face. He and Robin had been so sure of themselves that they were dealing with some amateur feral pokemon trying to trap some dumb explorers, but they'd been the silly ones in the equation. "Kind of out-of-season, but I guess there's no such thing for a ghost-type." As scary as it had been, he much preferred that experience to the alternative of the trevenant deciding they were its lunch.

The trevenant, meanwhile, didn't even bother to pick itself up off the ground. The ghostly tree merely rolled over, ghastly laughs trailing off into remnant giggles as it regarded them on the ground. Then it phased downward, sinking right into the ground again. Osiris watched at the three scarves gently floated back into their original positions. The trevenant's head poked up out of the ground briefly to wink at them before disappearing again, and then they were suddenly alone.

The dratini shot a glance at the vulpix at his side. "You were totally more scared than me," he ribbed gently.

Despite the ghost's large and intimidating appearance - Robin was decently sure it could rip them apart if it wanted to - it seemed more than content to laugh at them, perhaps for a bit longer than was strictly necessary. Still, any remaining indignity was brushed aside when it winked at them, and even Robin couldn't help but start laughing, shaking her head in incredulous surprise. Dear Arceus. They'd walked right into that one, hook, line and sinker.  It was a very long time before Robin could breathe again, a little embarrassed by just how fiercely her heart was still beating in her chest.

"Maybe a little." She ribbed back, though her very undignified, well, scream, had been evidence enough that it was more than 'a little'. In her defense, she hadn't entered a mystery dungeon expecting to get jumpscared. She was quite ready to continue moving on, when-

A little Shroomish hopped on top of a rock nearby, a pout on it's tiny face. It shook it's body and puffed out a purple powder right in the Vulpix's face. Robin was a bit too slow to keep from breathing it in, and she could only describe it as rough, an odd grainy thing clinging to the inside of her mouth. It was like sandpaper on her tongue. She audibly gagged, trying to force it out before she swallowed it, but she wasn't sure if she was successful.

"Scram!" Huffed the little pokemon. Her high, piping voice revealed that she couldn't have been older than a child. Younger that Osiris, even, from Robin's best estimate. "Get out of here or else the Ultra Bandits of Shadow are gonna make you pay!"

... Robin stared in dull surprise. The what? Despite the poison on her tongue, it was all she could do to stare blankly. This child... certainly looked serious. Even if she'd technically struck the first blow, and declared herself an outlaw... she didn't seem like much of a threat, and Robin wasn't sure if the idea of attacking this... what, Super Bandit of Shadowhue, would sit well with her.

Osiris' excited and companionable grin slid right off his face when the shroomish made itself known extremely rudely. His eyes flickered between Robin, who'd been made to inhale a burst of poisonous-looking fumes, and this dumb little shroomish who reminded him way too much of himself before he'd gotten his butt kicked so much. He slithered up to the grass-type without hesitation, his expression unamused and thoroughly unimpressed.

"Jerk move," he declared, voice strained. "And pretty dumb. You know she's an ice-type, right? Last I checked, those sucked for shroomish to handle. And there's two of us, and I only see one Mega Bandit of Shadowhue right now. Unless you have friends hiding around the corner, that is, but even then you guys got pretty bad odds." the dratini spoke. He was beginning to wonder if this was a trend for Shadowhue—the last time he came through here, he ran into a group of hostile shroomish just like this... kid.

Despite telling himself he'd swat away any and all threats to their little expedition moments ago, Osiris wasn't sure if this mushroom pokemon was a threat. Like Robin, he picked up on how similar in age it seemed to him, and everything about the creature screamed inexperienced and childish. "Look, we're not sticking around even if we have to beat you and any of your friends up," the dratini said, offering something of an olive branch. "We're just looking for something. How 'bout we trade? You answer some questions, and we get out of your, uh... territory. And we'll even spread the word about the Hyper Bandits of Shadowhue."

He actually had no idea what else would appeal to bandit children. Obviously money, but Osiris wasn't about to pay hush-money to some forest thief punk.

Robin could only watch in dull confusion as the little Shroomish puffed out her chest. The poor thing already wasn't born as the most... intimidating species, and it was only compounded by her high, piping voice. While Osiris spoke, Robin reached in her bag for a Pecha Berry, causing the little thing to pout. "You can't heal! That's cheating!" Robin could only blink at the little mushroom's audacity - though, to be fair, she did drop the berry out of shock.

"Uh. Sorry?" Sneak attacks weren't exactly high ground, either, but she didn't want to do anything to sabotage this odd peace negotiation. She dropped her Pecha Berry back into her bag, for now. The poison wasn't too intense, anyways. She could stomach it for a while. It wasn't fun, per say, but she managed to raise an eyebrow and keep from wincing. Or maybe she should ham up how much pain she was in, make the kid feel powerful. That was filed away as a Plan B.

The Shroomish pondered on that for a moment before stamping her foot, her voice high and loud. "There's plenty of us! Come on out, everyone!"

... silence.

"That was your cue! Guuuuys! You're making me look bad!"

At those protests, the rest of the gang finally popped in, scattered and uncoordinated. They had numbers, certainly - Robin coughed as another Venomoth and Shroomish sprayed poison at her, now that was just excessive - but that was the highest praise she could really give them. They were similarly weak and young looking, especially from the Venomoth's shout of "Boo!". It made Robin flinch, but that wasn't exactly high praise. She wasn't the hardest to startle.

The little Shroomish seemed more confident with her friends by her side, hopping down from her rock and trotting up to Osiris. She... seemed to regret this decision, judging by how she hopped back onto it to re-gain her high ground. "Really? You'd tell people about us?" She seemed extremely pleased with that, before re-gathering her composure.

"... oh, shoot, Hyper Bandits is a cooler name... alright, Hyper Bandits of Shadow, stand down! For now. What'd'you want to know, uh- blue noodly thing?"

Osiris drew back, slightly offended that the other young pokemon had the nerve to call him a blue noodle-y thing, but held his tongue. How did anyone not know the dratini line? They were like, the coolest, most majestic looking dragon-types… up until they stopped being that, but then dragonite was pretty strong, so it had its perks too. The wyrm’s gaze flickered from pokemon to pokemon as they all revealed themselves, suddenly not too sure about his ability to keep himself and Robin safe.

”Riiiight… well, we’re looking for trees, actually,” Osiris confessed, suddenly feeling as stupid as he sounded. ”Not just any trees, though! We’re looking for weird ones, like different colors and stuff. Have you guys seen anything like that around here?” the dratini asked, slightly bewildered that talking to the shroomish was actually working.

It was a pretty hit-or-miss idea, he figured. On one hand, these little bandits probably lived in this dungeon, but they all seemed really young and not too good at being… well, bandits. There was a chance they just stayed in their own “territory” and hadn’t seen the rainbow trees, but maybe they’d gone exploring a time or two and happened upon a clue for them.

”We’ve been looking for a while now, actually. If the, er, Hyper Bandits of Shadowhue could point us in the right direction, yeah, I’d tell people all about ‘em.” he tacked on for good measure. ”Especially how many of them there were and how scary it was.”

"Uh. What?" The Shroomish wrinkled her nose as the noodle said he was looking for... trees? But her face lit up when he elaborated that they needed rainbow trees. "Ooooh. Yeah, that place! That's Prism Hollow! My mom said it's too dangerous to go there, though. I tried once and got beat up. I- mean. I was forced into a strategic retreat." Her demeanor fell a bit, then, perhaps her pride stinging at the reminder of this past defeat. "There's this big mean Honchkrow that doesn't let anyone in." A Flabebe whispered something in her ear, to which she pouted and shook her head, debating something with her fellow bandits before turning back to Osiris and Robin.

"You guys better keep your heads up if you go there! And remember to tell everyone about us!"

"Er. Okay! Thanks!" Robin piped up, thankful that they'd gotten through that odd... incident without needing to fight. She turned to leave, then, trusting that Osiris would follow. She didn't exactly plan on keeping her word, but at the very least, she supposed it was something worth mentioning in her Windrose report. Did that count?

She mused on it for a moment before deciding that it wasn't important. A pair of Farfetch'd guards moved to let her out with an oddly formal bow, the Venomoth waving goodbye in a downright friendly manner. When she was sure they were out of earshot, Robin finally let out a brief sigh, somehow both annoyed and amused. "... That was odd. But at least we're getting close, right?"

It could be a lie, but that group didn't exactly strike Robin as... good liars.

It was… definitely odd, yes. Osiris wasn’t sure if he ever had a confrontation like that in a mystery dungeon, ever—and not to brag, but he’d done this kind of thing a lot. They definitely just got almost-mugged by a group of bandit children before trading some PR work for information regarding some rainbow trees. The serpentine pokemon sighed in a mix of relief and exasperation. There was never a dull day in the life of an explorer.

”Yeah,” the dratini murmured in agreement. ”Not just that, but apparently the place comes complete with a cool name and a bad guy to take down before we can get in.” he went on, tilting his head as he thought about it. Sure, Robin wasn’t going to be the first pokemon ever to discover the Hollow, but this probably meant they could ask other people for more information.

Including this honchkrow character… He knew that pokemon. It was the evolved form of murkrow, and it was supposed to pack a mean wallop. Osiris felt a little grin tug at the edge of his snout—this was why he came here. It didn’t surprise him that the shroomish kid lost to a flying-type, but he and Robin fared much better odds between the two of them. She even boasted a type advantage! As long as they were careful and coordinated this time, it should be a cinch.

The thought of being able to go toe-to-toe with something in a fair fight for the first time in this dungeon was tantalizing. After all the shenanigans they’d pushed through, having an excuse to just sock a villain right in the beak felt nice. ”We should probably try to, uh, strategize or something before we go knocking on this honchkrow’s door, though.“ Osiris pitched, feeling just a touch embarrassed for putting the idea out there. As much as he’d like to be able to just smack the thing aside, though, he knew it wasn’t likely. ”I know you can freeze stuff, and your hail-storm’s probably gonna really help lock it down, but what else can you do? So we can put a plan together in case the big bird tries beating us up, too.”

What else could she do? Honestly... not very much. Her nose crinkled in thought as she tried to place her other skills. "Not a whole lot. I do have Hypnosis." She mused. "I don't know if that's going to be useful here, though. I normally need to make eye contact and use a verbal command. The longer I can keep eye contact, the better. But that's going to be tricky in a battle." It wasn't the most useful move in the heat of combat, but it was the only real trick up her sleeve. Tail Whip wasn't even worth mentioning.

"Roar can get a battle to end if you intimidate the opponent enough before hand. It can rattle them enough that they just run off." Again, not... very useful, in this circumstance. She wasn't sure if she'd be able to frighten the Honchkrow. At least on a surface level, the two of them seemed somewhat outmatched. She had a type advantage, sure, but she didn't know how much that really counted for. She knew that battling wasn't her strong suit. And that put Osiris at the forefront.

He certainly wasn't weak, but he was unevolved. She wasn't sure how many tricks he had up his sleeve, either. "I'm afraid that's about it." She admitted, not feeling especially proud. "I'll see if I can find an opening to hypnotize it. From there, we could hit it hard enough while it's down to win. What about you, Iris? I'm sure you have more tricks than me."