Scouts Need Speed (Open)

First topic message reminder :

(Do note that the goal of this thread is to reach and explore Monochrome Ruins)

Kestro trotted up towards the entrance of Shadowhue rather excitedly. His clawed feet left clear indentions in the ground and leaves covering it as he approached. The fossil pokemon slowly came to a stop at the very entrance of the forest, doing a final check on his items before he'd enter.

Berries, check. Seeds, check. Escape Orb, check. Notebook, check. Pens, check. Small tingles of excitement ran down Kestro's spine, and he wasn't quite sure why. Perhaps the lasting view of Russel's library in Fallen Leaf Copse was it, or the fact that the Mothim let Kestro join his Windrose Scouts. Maybe it was the fact that the scouts gave Kestro a purpose, something he felt he's lacked up until now.

In any case, here he was, facing Shadowhue. Granted the forest wasn't his true goal. While he'd certainly take notes of it, what Kestro really wanted to do was find the supposed ruins deeper in the forest and make a report on them. He hadn't seen one while at the library, so it felt like the perfect first report to submit.

Energy = 19

Kestro's thought wasn't entirely foolish. From outside the bushes burst a trio of shroomish, all panicked out of their minds and nearly bowling over the group of five in their attempts to... flee? Wherever they were going, running into the impromptu exploring party prompted them to change directions immediately, seemingly instinctively registering them as threats or at least obstacles.

The frenzied squeaks of one of them shed a little bit of light on things. "Outta the way, dummies! Move, move! Incoming!" it squealed, nearly tripping over itself as it stumbled against Dreyar in an attempt to change direction. A puff of pollens exploded in the squirtle's face and he likewise staggered, coughing and waving the air out of his face. The heck was that?

"Jeez, watch it, yeah? Wait—" the hero-wannabe called back. "Incoming what?" He'd been afraid for a minute of the trio of grass-types—pokemon that had an advantage over him—but what did they have to be afraid of?

His question was answered a moment later by echoed... chittering. The squirtle took a fearful step backward as the noise intensified, glancing around nervously as he tried to place the cry. The hobo cried out an instant later with awful news. "Look up, slowpokes! Company!" he barked his voice thick in a way that mirrored Dreyar's; had he gotten a faceful of that poison, too? The turtle pokemon glanced at him, seeing the eevee gazing upward into the dark treetops. Against his better judgment, Dreyar did the same and nearly fainted at what he saw.

A myriad of fuzzy, angry pink bodies with sharp mandibles, beady black eyes, horns, and way too many eyes. The figures skittered across branches, some climbing naturally while others hung from them with stringy webs. It was a cluster of Ariados... and they looked like they were grocery shopping. He gulped nervously.

Toys:

fuckin' everybody except sekita got status conditions smh how does the blind one dodge all the bullshit

Things moved so quickly. Sekita backed up from her position in front. Her ears swiveled and twirled as she took in the sounds around her. She could hear things move around, but so much happened at once that it was hard for her to keep track. Fortunately nothing bumped or smashed into her, but new voices hinted that they should get out of here. What was going on? As much as she would have loved to turn-tail and run, she needed to stay near the new friends who were going to help her. At least, she thought they were new friends. They certainly seemed like it.

Vulcana was far more aware of the situation at hand than the eevee by her side. The larvesta looked up just in time for her face to be splattered with a silky web. Her muffled scream was hardly audible through the substance. Without any time for her to react, she suddenly felt herself pulled upward. Her feet left the ground and flailed about uselessly in the air, her half-eaten oran berry fell to the floor. Pure terror pushed her to flail about as wildly as she could, but nothing seemed to help.

As the ariados attacked, it seemed even more pokemon came in to help the Ariados out in their shopping. Just behind Dreyar, a dark shadow appeared behind him. A small form rose up out of the ground, hesitating only briefly in attempt to aim their strike, before they lunched forward to latch themselves onto the squirtle's back.

Kestro started at the shroomish bursting through the bushes in a panic. The situation deteriorated around the fossil Pokemon fast. Dreyar and the hobo appeared to have gotten poisoned while Sekita somehow avoided everything. Though the most worrying thing for Kestro was the muffled scream of Vulcana.

The Cranidos turned to find the Larvesta being pulled up towards the hungry looking Ariados. No thoughts, just instinct pushed Kestro to leap up. His sharp beak clamped onto the thread. Unfortunately the strong, sticky web didn't give, and instead as Kestro yanked his head down in an attempt to cut it, the sudden force pulled the bug type out of the tree. It crashed into Kestro and Vulcana midair, all three tumbling down in a tangle of bodies and webbing.

A powerful force struck Dreyar in the back, sending the squirtle staggering forward, almost tripping over his own feet at the surprise attack. It knocked the wind out of the water-type, but his attacker's poor choice of target meant there was no serious injury; it had hit him square in the middle of the shell that protected his back.

Instinct took over from that point, and not the kind Dreyar was proud of. Instead of whirling on the spot and surging forward with a series of moves and maneuvers hammered into him by his mother, the aspiring hero... withdrew into his shell, retracting his head and limbs. His eyes clenched shut while he despaired over the situation; his second expedition, and it was spiders. Spiders in the dark, no less.

Nearby, the hobo had his own troubles to deal with. As chaos erupted and a multitude of attackers descended on their impromptu group, Cel prowled off to the side and surveyed the action, a telltale glint in his eyes not at all dissimilar from the one in Sekita's moments earlier. The move detect was the right call, because while a surprise shedinja went after the squirtle and one ariados was dealing with the bug and the rock lizard thing, the rest of the spiders descended menacingly on the group's leftovers.

That meant him. And the black eevee that had yet to do anything, merely staring off into space during the ambush. Thanks to detect, he was able to see every pair of toxic mandibles and sharp pointed leg lashing out at him, the eevee weaving and ducking under attempts to put him down left and right.

His evasive maneuvers, however, brought him distinctly away from the group... and there were only two ariados in front of him, leaving the last one unaccounted for. Cel rolled his shoulders as his eyes flickered around, looking for openings to move around in. That other eevee could probably take care of just one - if not, one of the others could help.

Vulcana's squeaks of terror intensified under the silk as she went from being dragged upward...to something kicking in her face. She flailed her arms uselessly about as she begged for both parties to stop. Nobody could hear her pleas, but her prayers went answered. As if the world hated her, however, the ariados crashed down on top of her...as well as a very heavy cranidos. She could feel her breath knock out of her as her body was crushed underneath all of the weight. She was thankful that she didn't simply pop like the soft little bug she was under it all.

Fearful, she wriggled and writhed until she wormed her way free of the burdens atop her. She was swift in her action against the enemy. She whirled around and thought back to her time with Adamantine. The power she collected together and sent forth. Even a little flame would do, especially with all of the silk that raveled around the Ariados. If Kestro was fast, he could get out of there before she did it. She took in a deep breath, held it there as her horns took on a light red glow. She felt it. It was here! She just had to care for the flame a second longer...and...release!

A small puff of smoke was spat into the face of a very unhappy ariados. The black-charred face of the ariados leered at her before it reared back its foreleg threateningly. She cried out in terror before she turned right around and ran. The Ariados crawled along the forest floor after her, abandoning the Cranidos and focused on trying to skewer the abdomen of the little larva that couldn't.

Wow, that was a whole lot of sound she had to process. Sure was a shame that she didn't know what she should focus on first. She could hear something fall, things moving, Vulcana's crying, and a whole lot of angry ariados sounds. Fortunately, she could pinpoint that one of the ariados were in the process of sneaking its way towards her. Her ears twitched before she suddenly leaped off to the side, narrowly avoiding a spat of silk. Her steps almost seemed to dance about as the Ariados tried again and again to wrap her up in silk, but every time she was able to pick out the movement of string flying through the air.

This wasn't going to last long though, she was aware of that. As useful as Detect was, it never lasted forever. She gave another graceful pivot off to the side before she took on an odd glow. A smile quirked onto her as her movements became much more flamboyant and confident-as if she were leading a cheer to give a Helping Hand to everyone in the area...that was friendly, of course. The Ariados abandoned its String Shot, the bug dropped down onto the ground in order to get up close and personal with the pest.

Kestro groaned as he felt the Larvesta squirm her way out from underneath him and the Ariados. Poor Vulcana did what she could to help, but all it seemed to do was get the ire of the hungry bug type. It practically ignored Kestro, chasing after the now fleeing larva.

At the very least that worked in Kestro's favor. He'd just recently learned a move that was perfect for chasing targets. As he righted himself, the Cranidos' vision focused solely on the Ariados. The rock type showed a sudden burst of speed as he went in pursuit of the bug type, and was quick to pull its attention back to him.

Once he had closed the distance, Kestro bit onto the Ariados' hind leg. Every ounce of strength at that moment went into trying to fling the poison type and get himself between it and Vulcana. The Cranidos, though, overestimated how... attached the spider's leg was to its body. A sickening rip and pop echoed out, followed by the chittering screech of the now amputated Ariados.

Faced with two angry, hungry spiders, Celio did what Celio did best; run. The two lashed out at him one after the other, and it was as simple as listening to his eyes to find the best way to avoid them. He ducked under one swipe and swerved around the following attempt at a piercing horn thrust, nimbly making his way back over to the bulk of his group. As he did so, the eevee seemed to... flicker. Where one little brown fuzz ball had been, there were now two.

His otherworldly evasiveness was on a timer, after all, and he wanted a safeguard or two against any handy spidies once it ran out. Double team would help him avoid their clutches.

Meanwhile, Dreyar was much less successful at making headway. His mind was rampant with frantic thoughts while some wild pokemon lashed out at his shell up above, hammering down on it in vain. It wasn't until it circled him in its assault and Dreyar caught a glimpse of it through the opening in his shell that his courage returned to him; it wasn't one of the ariados! It was... something else.

That was all he needed to see. Waiting for it to circle him again, he picked the best possible moment to spring up out of his shell and onto his feet, a quick flex of his throat bringing forth a surge of scalding hot water. It flowed from Dreyar as a strong, brief torrent, but to his confusion, it went right through the pokemon,  continuing to flow past it! His eyes widened in confusion and fearful anticipation as the shocked ghost-type processed this development... then it came down on him once more.

(yall do with that wayward scald what you will /shot)

The helping hand didn't seem to do much for any one. Huh. She heard the sound of a snap-the screech afterward informed her that it was nobody important, some more shuffling, even more angry Ariados noises, but nothing seemed to change. Perhaps this meant she needed to put a bit more effort into-OH GOD SILK!

Sekita squeaked in surprise as she was suddenly thrust backwards and splat against a tree. Her whole body was confined to the spot. She struggled and squirmed, but nothing seemed loosen the bind. The glow around her intensified as she shouted at the top of her lungs, "SMALL BLIND EEVEE CHILD IN NEED OF HELP OVER HERE DAMN IT!" The Helping Hand made another round, further boosting the power of her allies. "YOUR SUPPORT CAN'T SUPPORT IF THE SUPPORT DOESN'T HAVE SUPPORT!"

The eevee's shouts confused Vulcana, but she did feel a bit of power surge through her. It was just enough to give her the confidence boost she needed. This time, she'd do it! For sure! The larvesta whipped around once more and took in a deep breath. She readied her flame with a glow of her horns and-Kestro ripped off an ariados's leg. Her eyes went wide in shock as the bug's cries burned into her mind. Her tiny hands lifted up as if to cover her mouth. She backed away from the crandios and his victim as the spider turned right around on the cranidos, complete attention on the little brat that took its leg.

She didn't feel as if sticking around was a good thing for her. She couldn't help any of these people. She couldn't burn any of these bugs and they were so much bigger than her too! Her eyes snapped around, unwilling to help the cranidos now after what she'd seen. Her eyes settled on the squirtle who was faced off with a shedinja. Oh-those were supposed to be really weak right? Just-a pain to hit! The tiniest amount of flame would send this thing up in smoke! She could do it!

The little bug steeled her determination and charged forward. She took in a deep breath as her horns took on a glow. "Taaaaaake thi-!" her dramatic battle cry was cut off as a blast of hot water sprung from the back of the phantom and into her face. The bug cried out as she was propelled back from the force a brief distance and tumbled onto the ground.

Kestro blinked at Sekita's cries for help, but certainly felt an extra surge of strength. His attention returned to the opponent in front of him. He spotted Vulcana moving away out lf the corner of his eye, having not noticed her shock and fear from him dismembering the other bug type.

Either way, that didn't quite matter, as the Cranidos glared at his opponent. All this time that spiny leg struggled in his mouth, as if wanting to reattach to its owner. The rock type huffed, snapping his jaw shut. With a loud crunch he split the leg in two, both shocking and enraging the Ariados more.

The Ariados charged towards Kestro, who stood firm as a sheen spread across his scales. A moment later Kestro charged to less than an inch in front of the bug type, a purple wave of energy covering his thickened skull. Another screech rang out as the Ariados was flung away into a tree. He may not be evolved like these bugs, but the Cranidos was quick to show his species infamous strength.

The sheen on Kestro's scales grew brighter as he turned his attention towards the trapped Sekita and the ariados closing in on her. He quickly began to close the distance, a huge swirl of leaves and dust following him as his boosted speed and power combined to make the rock type and his Zen Headbutt a force on the field.

Sekita's plea for help rang hard in the squirtle's ears.  Dreyar may have been in danger, but that didn't stop his desire to save others from danger. Silently cursing, the squirtle turned on his heel and fled from the shedinja, heading right for the source of the cries for help.

Unlike Kestro, he didn't spend time finishing the fight he was in to come help. Also unlike Kestro, his speed wasn't at all boosted, so there was a chance they'd arrive at the same time; either way, Dreyar steeled his gut and silenced his fears as he threw himself bodily forward in a desperate tackle at the biggest spider he'd ever seen. Someone needed help, and he wanted to be a hero - that's all he knew. It shouldn't matter how terrifying the monster was.

Off in his own little private corner, Celio was forced to dance around in an effort to preserve his life. Only now, it was much less elegant, as it was just him and his incorporeal doppelganger; no more detect to cheat with. He slipped by a burst of sticky webs before flickering once more, bringing a third Cel into the fight to mask his movements. The three eevees crossed paths frequently in an attempt to keep the ariados from keeping track of which was the orignal.

He recognized the surge of power in his body, knowing the move helping hand himself, but he couldn't afford to go on the offensive yet. Not until he was sure he wouldn't be hit; but when the squirtle turned tail and ran from his fight, he felt the overpowering urge to secure his escape. Knowing it was useless, Cel pounced upwards and through the shedinja with a powerful rendition of Covet.

It had no effect, of course. He knew it was a ghost type, but it was more an effort to draw the pokemon's attention, and draw it he did. While Dreyar inserted himself clumsily into a situation that probably didn't need him, three Celios were left squaring off with three hostile pokemon... and two of the eevees were fake.

He hoped they finished their scuffle quickly, because he knew in a matter of moments he was going to be mincemeat. And these guys looked hungry.

Huh, would have known asking for help brought help? It touched her that half of the group present came to her rescue upon her cry, if it weren't for the fact that she was still strapped into the tree she might have expressed her gratitude a bit more. Instead, the eevee decided that perhaps the group had enough help for now. She needed to make sure that their attacks struck home against the Ariados. She closed her eyes and relaxed her body.

She took a deep breath in and held it as she focused the power. A hot pink aura thinly veiled her body before the ground around the ariados began to rumble and bulge. Just as the pokemon was about to leap out of the way of both of the pokemon's attacks, vines broke through the ground and wrapped around the bug type. It was plucked out of the air and dragged straight back own onto its stomach. The ariados wriggled its body and tore at the vines. It snapped itself free, but by the time it could move again, it was too late. Both the squirtle and the cranidos were upon it.

Vulcana, in the meanwhile, struggled up from the blast of water, how steam rose up from her horns while the rest of her body struggled with the miseries of being totally doused. She whined pathetically as she stumbled back and forth. She made the mistake of taking another panicked look around just in time to see the ariados with a broken leg be flung off and into the tree. The spots left on the tree as the ariados fell struck fear in her heart yet again.

She backed away, but her continued observation allowed her to see that the hobo currently had a fair amount of pokemon on his hands. She was in awe of the way he danced right through the shedinja. Even if he didn't hit it or do any damage, it was still a pretty cool maneuver she would have admired more if she weren't so terrified. Wait-right! She could take care of the shedinja!!

With a new wave of strength and energy, she forced herself forward and skittered off into the normal eevee's direction as quickly as she could. Instead of trying to summon her flame once more, she decided to try and simply lob her entire being at the shedinja with a determined battle cry that bards would write songs about. "Aaaaaaaah!"

She fell right through the shedinja. She rolled through the ground again and found herself right in between the three bugs and the eevee duplicates. She picked herself up, shook her head clear, then looked up to the eevee, "H-Hi! I-I'm here to-..." she trailed off. She turned around. Oh...yeah...the pokemon were there. With a soft whine, she stepped back and away from the approaching trio. The shedinja was the first to make the move. The still husk floated forward with everything it had and slammed right into the Larvesta. Vulcana squeaked. She was forced to flip onto her back, however, the impact caused just enough shock for the slightest billow of flames to spew from her horns.

This small spark happened to catch the shedinja. In that instant, it seemed as if the bug type was set ablaze as the fire spread across its body. Panicked, the shedinja stepped away from the battle, but didn't get far before it crashed into the ground and disappeared beneath it, leaving only the charred shape of a shedinja in the grass.

As Dreyar deperately tackled one end of the Ariados, Kestro rammed against the opposite side. And then he kept going. Or more accurately was that he couldn't quite stop, and it took several feet before the combined weight of the Ariados and Squirtle slowed him down. Kestro was panting by then, having put in as much force as he could in just the first few moments of the battle. There were still more Ariados to deal with, though.

Kestro prepared for another charge, only for a pair of Ninjask to suddenly decend upon him and Dreyar. "Oh come on!? More!?" he roared out in frustration, beginning to struggle with the Ninjask gripping onto his back.

Dreyar had never before known the true meaning behind the phrase "guts and glory." He felt both, as disgusting as that was. His tackle struck true, but he struck with nowhere near the amount of force as Kestro, who ripped through the Ariados, caking them in spider blood and guts. Gagging and choking, equal parts disgusted and horrified, Dreyar stumbled back out of fright just in time to accidentally dodge a swipe from yet another pokemon, this time an invading ninjask.

Still somewhat in shock, he missed any opportunity to retaliate before a sharp strike caught him in the face, rocking his head to the side hard, blood spraying in the air. He remained on his feet, but only just.

Celio had the opposite problem. Up till now, he had no real issues evading attacks, but for the first time he found himself fighting side by side with someone else! ... However brief it lasted. He had no time to express gratitude or warning before the two ariados surged forward toward the downed bug pokemon.

Instead, he moved. The two illusionary Celios rushed the ariados on the left, causing it to briefly flinch back out of self preservation. Meanwhile, he took the one on the right. He'd been hoping to strike it with a Covet and send it bustling back long enough for him and the larvesta to make distance, but instead what had happened was him bouncing right off the larger creature to collapse on the ground right in front of Vulcana.

Never one to pass up a free meal, the poisonous spider pokemon saw no issue with getting a hold of the slippery fox while it had the chance. The much bigger and heavier pokemon pinned Cel down against the ground, sharp mandibles lowering down to bite down hard on the eevees collar.

For his part, Celio merely let out a drawled, pained yip as toxic venom infiltrated his system. His eyes shut tight as he rode out the pain.

"Well that had to hurt..." Sekita mumbled as she heard the death of the Ariados she assisted in. She was still caught up in the web on the tree, but she still had plenty she could do from this position...like listen to the sound of her people in agony. The other eevee seemed to have a bit of trouble with his monsters. As if on cue, she could hear the rapid fluttering of wings. Oh, great, more trouble. She was conflicted in her plans at this point. She could help the fellow eevee out with some good ol' Secret Power, or give everyone a bit more of a boost with Helping Hand.

The eevee would benefit more from the Secret Power, but then she'd leave Kestro, Dreyar, and...Vulcana?-She assumed Vulcana was with them-in the dust. She didn't exactly have the leisure to sit here and contemplate the morality of her actions even if she cared to do so. She turned her head off in the direction of the eevee. She focused the energy as the pink outline intensified around her. Vines violently ripped out of the ground once more and wrapped around both of the Ariados. They squeezed with all they could, but they were no match for the ariados's strength.

They tore away at the vines, but that was alright, they were just meant to buy time for the hobo. To her luck, however, one of the ariados fell limp in the vine's grip. She wasn't aware of it, but pollen lingered around the vines that slowly sedated one of the trapped Ariados, reducing the problem to a single Ariados for now.

Vulcana, in the meanwhile, struggled and flailed her legs as she tried to pick herself back up. She rocked side to side, but found that she couldn't quite get anywhere. She was stuck! Worried hums pitched as she tried desperately to free herself, but to no avail. One of her horns was actually impaled into the ground, which made getting back to her feet properly a little...troublesome.

Kestro continued his struggle against the Ninjask. The rock type bucked and stamped around like an enraged bull as the sharp forelegs of the cicada cut into his shoulders and back. All that attack power that ended two of the Ariados made completely useless with Kestro umable to really fight back.

In his struggle, Kestro failed to notice a Paras popping out of its burrow to see what all the commotion was about. The Cranidos' foot plunged into the open hole, and the shocked Paras let out a puff of poisonous spores onto Kestro and the Ninjask clinging to him before it retreated back down into the safety of its tunnel.

The Cranidos coughed and hacked, his exhaustion from before now exasperated by being poisoned. He found himself unable to free his foot, and now at the mercy of the Ninjask on his back. The only saving grace being the bug type was also poisoned, and thus distracted from attacking him.