So The Ninetales Lied

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This wasn't Grassveil or Blackspear. This wasn't anywhere near the two. The tyrantrum's steps shook the very cavern around them. Dirst and pebbles fell from the roof as she grumbled and griped to herself. They were given faulty directions and now they were stuck in this cave for safety while the blistering sandstorm and heat outside raged on. It would have been fine for a pokemon such as herself, but Osiris was a different story. On top of that, it wasn't like her species was immune to overheating.

"I am never taking directions from the word of locals again," she grumbled to aloud. She puffed a harsh exhale through her nostrils, a pocket of sand flying out. She could still feel the grains between her toes and scales. It was irritating, coarse, and everywhere. Normally she wouldn't mind, but this was just a cherry on top of the horrific day she had. Night was going to fall soon at the very least, so the two could get moving again eventually...hopefully.


(52 - 35 = 17)

"Well, we can probably take 'em if they get any funny ideas," Osiris mumbled back, leaping up onto the tyrantrum at her request. He made it a point to keep his tail pointed up and away from the much larger dragon, just in case the thunder-wave slipped out. If trouble did come, it would be best if she wasn't paralyzed because he was a dummy. "They seemed scared of you. I don't think they'll do anything dumb."

He wouldn't if it were him in their positions. What were you even supposed to do when a tyrantrum showed up at your doorstep and decided to accompany her noodley friend on a tour of your cave? You sat down, shut up, and hoped she decided not to conquer your puny little abode in the name of her kingdom, that's what.

The dratini raised himself up nice and high, surveying the scope of the cavern from his new vantage point. "Can we go that way?" he asked politely, gesturing to a natural-looking corridor at the end of the room that presumably led deeper into the cave. Silly natives aside, he still wanted to investigate their surroundings for as long as they were stuck waiting for the sandstorm outside to pass.

+11 energy (new page and a munchy mix)

the sunset hero carried out 10 launched of one Sandstone Cave :

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She already knew the big nosed pokemon feared her, but that did not make her lower her guard. Her response was to grumble in irritation accompanied by a mumble, "Fear can just as easily incite action as it can prevent it." She lifted her head off the ground once the wyrm was aboard, but took special care to keep it from being too high, otherwise Osiris might have had a little scrap with the ceiling.

She continued along the path the dratini pointed out without question nor any real response. She could spy a mawile just at the edge of light retreat further into the darkness, but it too seemed a little too fearful to try anything. The ground beneath her became softer, turning from stone to sand. She paid little to no attention to it. Despite her diligence, she failed to see nor hear the near-silent rumbling of two mounds just behind her that closed in at a high speed.

(Consume Munch Mix +10 Energy)

Kat carried out 10 launched of one Sandstone Cave :

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It was a small thing, but it felt incredibly empowering for Osiris to give directions to the freaking dinosaur queen he was riding and for her to follow them. She was just humoring him and his childish desire to explore, of course, but that didn't make it feel any less awesome. "Really?" Osiris shot back, a little disbelieving. Fear could be a motive for a lot of things, but attacking someone like Victoria? "I mean, I get it, but who'd want to run up on you in a place like this-"

The dratini was cut off by the loud, gravelly sound of the cave floor cracking and splitting open. Twin krokoroks burst up from the ground, claws swiping and jaws snapping at both him and his companion - he proved to be a harder target to hit on account of his size, though he was probably a better-looking snack. Iris squeaked in surprise, his concentration slipping from him, and an instant later the crackling of electricity in his tail stopped. The light provided by the immobile thunder-wave flickered out, and all of a sudden they were left floundering in total darkness with two hostile, possibly hungry desert crocodiles.

He froze momentarily as the awful situation dawned on him, and thus provided no resistance when a precisely aimed claw-swipe knocked him clean off the tyrantrum's back, sending the dragon worm sprawling onto the cave floor.

The moment she felt something touch her, she knew something was wrong. She didn't have much time to react to the feeling of something run up along her back and jump off of her, taking the kid with them. Immediately her eyes grew wide as pure fury began to swell. She felt something latch onto her ankle, but she was far more concerned with the idiot that thought it was a good idea to take a shot at the child. She immediately turned and snapped at thin air, missing the krokorok by a long shot.

The one on her ankle bit and tore, not quite doing much against her rocky scales like the ursaring had. It was enough, however, for her to lift a leg and kick the pest off. The krokorok was flung into the sand just behind her. She completed her turn around to face the one that attacked her. She didn't see where it was, but she knew its general direction. A deep grumble built up in her that quickly escalated into a bone-chilling bellow that shook the caverns much stronger than her weight ever could.

The sheer volume of her voice echoed and resounded through the caverns as a blast knocked into the krokorok and sent it flying into the depths, away from the group. It left the one that attacked Osiris alone, which she found to be fortunate...until she felt another set of jaws latch onto her tail. A third krokorok joined the fray, a team working in unison to try and bring down a big tasty meal accompanied by a small snack.

Victoria's bellow continued, though it lacked the same strength as it did before as she turned back around to smack her tail into the side of the cave, uncaring for any potential cave-ins she may or may not cause. Her feet stomped about carelessly, unaware of whatever she may or may not crush beneath.

Osiris hit the ground hard, sprawling across the ground helplessly before coming to a stop. The dratini opened his eyes and looked around frantically, but only vague shapes rushing through darkness could be made out. The sounds of a fight breaking out between Victoria and whatever had ambushed them was hard to ignore, though. So when he heard the footsteps of something else approaching him, he had plenty of time to react.

He strafed to the side and took off like a bullet, speeding away from the big blotchy figure. Whatever it was, it was out to get him, and obviously felt comfortable fighting in the dark. That didn't go for him, and probably didn't go for Victoria, either. Osiris briefly considered lighting himself up like a flashlight again to give his tyrantrum ally some measure of sight in this battle, but the idea of making himself a big flashy target for however many pokemon had shown up was... very unappealing.

So he remained on the outside, squinting his eyes at the darkness and blasting off with extremespeed every time that big scary shadow came after him. The first few times it just lunged toward him with claws or jaws, but then it resorted to diving back underground, forcing him to stare at the cave floor to catch a glimpse of where it was coming from.

Which then conversely left him wide open for a much smaller, stealthier baby croc to sneak up behind him and bite down hard on his tail, capturing the bulk of his behind in its jaws. "Yeeaowch!" he squealed, eyes wide and voice high-pitched, echoing throughout the cave. "Are you kidding me?!" Osiris hissed out, whirling on the spot angrily. He sucked in a short breath before roaring out a blast of dragon rage, catching the little sandile in the side and sending it tumbling away. Iris shivered on the spot for a moment, his entire rear-side throbbing and stinging in pain.

Her tail slammed into the side of the cave, but the creature on it let go just in time. Her breath caught the dirt and dust she stirred, but she continued her furious shouts. Nips and bits felt from all over. First it was on her hip, then her arms, then her ankle, then all the way back to her tail again. The new krokorok felt as if it were running circles around her.

Her breath chilled as she snapped and attacked every bit of movement close to her. She missed every time as her icy jaws failed to clamp onto anything. Anger boiled. Dust and dirt stirred all throughout the cavern from her reckless actions. She could hear Osiris' voice ring out, but she had no idea where he was, just a general direction. She just needed to get her teeth on one of them...

Something was beneath her.

She snapped at the shape, this time, she struck gold. A foreign shriek pierced the air as she bit into the krokorok with as much force as her jaws allowed. She could feel the tiny thing scratch at her ice-coated teeth desperately, but it was no use. The Uproar of the ground type assaulted her ears, but she would refuse to let this one go. Perhaps its friends might just show themselves to her and leave Osiris alone if they heard their friend in pain...

Staring down at the little sandile that had joined the fray, Osiris had to wonder what the point of it was. Did these pokemon just see dragons on the menu and make the decision that they were going to just go for it? There were a million other things that could satiate their hunger—things in this cave, even!—but they just went for the biggest, baddest dinosaur in the neighborhood. He huffed a bit, turning away from the fallen ground-type to see if he couldn't make out where Victoria had ended up in the melee.

Then he was full-body tackled by a much bigger croc than the sandile, and the two of them went tumbling down into the ground in a mess of limbs and flailing tails. Instinctively, Osiris was leaning and scrambling backward to evade the snapping jaws of the krokorok, leaving himself open to take claw strikes in lieu of getting a bite taken out of him. The larger reptile elected to grab hold of him, one claw gripping his tail tightly while the other took hold of his torso. Osiris was helplessly raised up into the air and slammed back down on the ground, a soundless, pained gasp escaping him.

He flailed out with his tail in a panic, viridian hues enveloping the bottom-most part of his body as it swung at the krokorok. The taller pokemon easily swayed backward, watching it pass almost lazily. Osiris gazed upward with squinting eyes, his expression wound up painfully, waiting for the ground-type to start beating on him. But a frantic cry of pain echoed from a different, close by part of the cavern, and the krokorok's attention was instantly drawn to it. It rose up and zeroed in on the area in the darkness, hunching down low to the ground as it took a moment to contemplate...

... and then it bounded away from him easily, electing to ignore the easier prey for now in order to assist its kin with the bigger problem. Iris watched it lope into the darkness, dumbfounded at what just happened. Then he felt anger, suddenly equal parts enraged and insulted as he was ignored like he was a problem that could be solved at this stupid crocodile's leisure. His face twisted up in a visage of petulant fury, and he sucked in a great breath before letting loose a muted roar, his dragon rage manifesting as a viridian shockwave blasting right toward the krokorok heading for the group fight.

The spare krokorok was quick to try and assist his friend, but the shockwave blasted into him far too quickly for him to avoid. A strangled squawk of sorts sounded from the creature as it was blasted into the side of the cave. It lacked the particular force of Victoria's tail, but it was enough to stun the krokorok in place. He stumbled and staggered, stupefied by the dratini's ability.

Victoria refused to let go of her catch. She could taste something metallic touch her tongue, but it only served to encourage her rather than repulse her. What did repulse her, was the feeling of tiny pin pricks on her toes. She couldn't see what was going on, but something was trying to latch onto her foot. All it took was a quick stomp and she could hear a sound akin to the squeak of a growlithe pup's toy. The tiny croc didn't even squirm.

The krokorok in her jaw's movements were becoming slower. The uproar was put to a swift stop, but still she didn't release. Instead, she laid in wait. There was still one more krokorok and it was entirely possible that the one she blasted away would return. If she couldn't see where they were, then she just needed to wait for them to strike first.

In the darkness of the cave, the only thing Osiris could rely on were sounds. The krokorok squealing in pain, Victoria snarling in the distance, the shuffling of claws on the stone floor, muted thwacks and slaps of limbs striking out - a chorus of violence that he had to be in tune with if he wanted to know what was happening. It was easy enough to tell his dragon rage had hit the mark, and that Victoria was really upset somewhere around here, but beyond that, he had no clue.

Well, almost. A quiet growling sound was audible from the direction the krokorok had run off in, and it was suddenly growing closer again. It didn't take a genius for him to realize that it had second thoughts about leaving him alone now that he'd demonstrated an ability to hurt it. The problem was that he couldn't exactly see it coming—its snarls bounced off the edge of the cavern walls, making it hard to pinpoint the crocodile's exact location. Osiris knew that it was in front of him, but that was about it.

He resolved to simply take the hit. It wouldn't be a surprise hit if he knew it was coming. The dratini sucked in a breath and waited, tense and ready to lash out when it came. On cue, the krokorok's growls rose into a frenzy as it was suddenly close, and suddenly Osiris' world was dominated by the crushing sensation drove into his torso, forcing him back up against the wall powerfully. He slammed against the rocky cave surface roughly while the krokorok stumbled off of him, evidently in pain after its double-edged tackle. Having prepared for the blow, Osiris grit in teeth as he ignored the painful warnings his body gave him. The dratini leaped up off the cavern floor and lashed out with a flashing viridian tail in the direction he'd heard the ground-type move - an instant later, he felt his tail crash against the jaw of his foe, and heard it fall limply onto the ground.

Osiris landed with a wince, slithering out of arm's reach of the unconscious pokemon. It dawned on him that he'd dealt with two of their attackers. "V-Victoria?" he called hesitantly, hoping it was all over. In the time that it'd taken him to fend off a krokorok and a sandile, no doubt she'd packed away the rest of them.

Something small was under her foot and it didn't move. She couldn't even feel its feeble attempts to breathe. She could hear the scuffle of Osiris and the other Krokorok, but there wasn't much she could do without taking the unappealing risk of harming Osiris. With how quick she was to crush the small pokemon that nipped at her toes, she could imagine that Osiris would have faced the same fate if she weren't a tad more careful...which was at least a better mindset than she had before with all of her reckless stomping and flailing.

The krokorok in her jaws ceased movement. She could hear it muster a squeak before it fell silent. She held on despite this for a moment longer. She could hear Osiris's voice call out to her hesitantly. He sounded either frightened or at the very least shaken up. She dropped the sack of meat, "I'm here," she spoke affirmed with a strangely soft yet firm voice than her typical rough demeanor. It was close to the mocking tone she'd taken with the Ursaring, but had a distinct lack of sarcasm.

She lifted the weight off of the sandile under her foot. When she was certain that it wasn't going to move, she stepped off of it. She took in a deep breath, but kept her senses alert. "Follow the sound of my voice. When you're close, could you light things back up?"

Osiris didn't even wait. As soon as Victoria put the idea out there, he channeled another thunder-wave in his tail, static electricity flickering up around him and inconsistently lighting up the cave. He cast a glance at the knocked out krokorok now that he could see it properly. He studied it for a moment before exhaling softly. Maybe these guys were wild or whatever, but he'd never get the appeal of hunting things for food when there were just better options. Especially when your food could beg you not to eat it.

"This place just a got a lot more lame really fast," he informed his companion, spotting her in the light of the cavern and slithering up to her easily. "For a second, I thought the people here were cool. But nope, we round another corner and there's a bunch of jerks tryna make dinner out of some tourists. They even drew the kids into it!" he exclaimed, spotting the sandile at her feet and glancing back at the one he'd knocked out.

The dratini shivered for a moment, and only for a moment. He was getting used to this whole fighting-for-your-life thing, slowly but surely. It still felt like fireworks were going off inside of him, adrenaline, fear, and wild energy wrestling around his body and refusing to simply disappear, but he was growing accustomed to ignoring it. "I think I'm good," he put forward, voice a little hushed but not shaky. "A few cuts and bruises, but they'll be gone the next time I shed skin." 'What-about-you?' was the unsaid question that lingered in the air - he wasn't going to ask immediately, as he wasn't sure quite yet if she'd take offense to that kind of thing.

She was admittedly irritated that the dratini failed to listen to her command, but she decided not to pursue any real expression of it. There were far more dire matters at hand. The light illuminated the mess she made, the squashed Sandile and the bloody krokorok. It was clear to her that both of these two foes would likely not be waking up...ever. A brief sorrow crossed her at the mention of the sandile being...well, children, but it was quickly pushed out of her mind.

She stepped over them and closer to the dratini, "This is a dungeon. It's far more common for locals to be hostile than they are friendly." She felt as if she pointed out the obvious, but continued on anyways, "We should leave this area-in case they have even more friends that decide they're not happy with how wrong their little hunt went." At the very least, she knew she'd be pissed if some of her subjects were killed on a mission. She didn't want to take the same chances.

She left the question of her condition up in the air. Not because she disregarded it, but more so she didn't really realize it was there to begin with. It being unspoken just left room for it to fly right over her head.

"Yeah," Osiris echoed softly. "That's probably smart. Sorry," he went on, kicking himself for letting his immaturity guide him once more. It would've been smarter to just wait out the sandstorm in the safety of the cave's entrance like Victoria had wanted. In the presence of a powerful adult that happened to be a species he admired, he'd let himself feel childish again, and in a weird way, two pokemon had died because of it.

It'd taken a moment to spot in the soft lighting his tail-light provided, but it looked like Victoria had actually killed the pokemon that attacked her. It was as much their fault for attacking her as it was his fault for bringing the tyrantrum over, of course, and it wasn't as if he knew a fight would end this way... but the possibility of a fight breaking out in a mystery dungeon was always present. And he'd asked his companion to come along with him despite that. Osiris sighed, shaking his head slightly and trying to put the thought out of his mind.

It felt weird - these were the first dead pokemon he'd ever seen, he was pretty sure... but it didn't feel life-changing or anything like that. He just felt queasy and slightly off-balance, like something was wrong in a very minor way inside that he didn't know how to fix. "Where to, you think? Back where we came from?" he asked, slithering up to her. Osiris was happy to put the metaphorical reins back in her claws - he felt like he'd ruined the whole experience with just one silly decision.

Her mind moseyed away from the thoughts of the two she'd put down and focused instead on the dratini's question. The control of the situation was back in her claws, but she didn't quite care much for it. The sandstorm outside was likely still ongoing, which meant there was little to really do. Her head moved slowly as she cast a glance back the way they'd come and then back forward to the way they were headed.

She could feel her stomach turn. She was growing hungry. There were two perfectly good snacks here at her feet. A deep rumble echoed from her chest as she evaluated her options. The moment of silence went on for a long uncomfortable portion of a minute before her voice cut through it, "Going back with fresh blood will likely antagonize the folks living back there...and I don't believe they'll let us leave without a problem."

"It would be best to wait before we go back-less likely to face conflict that way," she grumbled. Her gaze lingered on the bodies momentarily before it ripped away to the tunnel before them. She started on her way without any hesitation under the assumption that the dratini would hop on or at the very least keep up.

Right. Osiris hadn't even thought of the possibility that the locals would be upset if they came back metaphorically—and literally, in Victoria's case—dripping with the blood of their neighbors. Even if they were the ones who were technically innocent. Osiris sighed, staring at the sandile and krokorok for a long moment after his companion started walking away. It was a very gruesome picture, and he wasn't sure why he didn't want to look away from it.

The notion of being left behind by the one pokemon who had his back in this dungeon was enough to prod him into moving, though. Osiris turned and followed after the tyrantrum, slithering quickly to catch up to her. He didn't hop back on, merely keeping up behind her. "You know a lot about this kinda stuff," the dratini said as they walked along. "Like... what to say to people when you're not sure if they're gonna be dangerous, and how they'd react to certain stuff. Did you learn how to be a queen?"

He was asking mostly to distract himself from his own disappointment and the nameless, faulty feeling in his stomach. But there was a part of him that was curious - for all her brutality and power, Victoria had quite a few moments in the short time he knew her that she came off as almost wise. She couldn't have been the latest in a long line of queens, seeing as her kingdom was new, but maybe she was raised to be one by someone else?