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

Dreyar shrugged as the hobo was the only one who took him up on his offer. Chewing and swallowing the pecha, he exhaled a sigh of relief as he felt it already working its magic; the congestion and burning he felt in his eyes and throat began to ease ever so gradually until the sensation was simply gone. The sizable cut on his cheek still remained, as pechas didn't do anything for injuries, but he had another solution to that problem.

Walking forward to join the formation, Drey placed himself in the middle of their marching order, in front of Kestro and behind the others. Cel, eager for whatever the squirtle had mentioned, trotted directly in front of him. "This won't help with the mess or the smell, but..." he said, shrugging his shoulders before working his magic. The turtle pokemon gathered his hands together, a cloudy, colorful aurora of water and mist gathering between his palms. As soon as it coalesced into a more solid form, Drey threw it up into the air directly above him. There, it burst outward, droplets of water scattering all around the group and falling onto them.

It wasn't a heavy rainfall, but it was a brief little shower of water managed to cover the entire group. It didn't make too much of an impact on the guts and blood smeared onto Dreyar, nor the dirt caked into Celio's fur, but both pokemon felt a bit rejuvenated after the trick. In particular, the cut on Drey's cheek had ceased its bleeding and closed up somewhat, and the ever-present ache in Cel's neck from the Ariados' bite had ceased. They both walked with a bit more spirit after that. "If anyone still feels rough, speak up and I'll do it again," the squirtle spoke after it died out, the last droplets of Life Dew falling around them. "I know it's kind of a modest heal."

(+25% energy to all characters, rounded up to the nearest whole number)
(Dreyar: +6 energy via Life Dew, + 1 energy via new page)
(Celio: +7 energy via Life Dew, +1 energy via new page)

The soothing rain was, well, pleasant! Sekita slowed her step just so that she could stay in range just a moment longer to feel the effects of something she didn't quite need. The eevee hummed in gratitude, before an excited bounce propelled her forward. She followed her nose along the trail. She traveled a few more feet before she stopped suddenly. Her ears perked right up in high alert. Before she could say anything, however, a loud sound cracked behind the group followed by two soft thumps. Ahead of them, the very trees around them rustled and bustled. A small yip escaped Sekita before she was quickly silenced. The eevee disappeared.

Vulcana wasn't sure how to feel about this rain, but found herself feeling a little more replenished by it. A small "Thank you," sounded up from her, but it was quiet and easily missed. She didn't really care to make sure she was heard, instead a little worried about the cranidos in the back. What if he decided he didn't like her any more and just squashed her? What if-

A loud sound came from behind them. The larvesta squeaked in fear. She turned right around and faced the direction of the noise. She cold see a slakoth on the ground, struggling on its back to right itself back up. A squeak from up front caused her to pivot back around. Where...where did Sekita go?

Just as she wondered that particular question, a purple large figure dived down from the trees straight towards the remaining Eevee with the intent to sweep him away.

Paras (x2), Trevenant, Exeggutor, Heracross (x2), Ledian (x3), Bellsprout, Venomoth (x4), Stantler (x5), Slakoth (x2)

(9 energy from page and life dew)

Kestro let out a pleased chirp at the feeling of the rain, the bug juice still coated his scales, but at least his fatigue abated. "Ah, that's nice," he said, "thanks." At the very least it looked like things were looking up. Maybe th-something fell behind Kestro. He turned to see two Slakoth having fallen out of the trees. Were they trying to attack or just happened to let go on accident? The Cranidos couldn't dwell on it long as a squeak up front caught his attention. Sekita was gone. And not the, "She's a dark color in a dark forest she's hard to see," kinda gone. She was truly not where she was before.

Just as the second Venomoth dove towards the hobo eevee to kidnap him, two more flew towards Dreyar and Kestro. Though these two suddenly stopped, fearfully looking at the Squirtle and Cranidos for a moment before immediately fleeing deeper into the forest. Kestro blinked, tilting his head a bit before it clicked. He and the Squirtle were still covered in the remains of the Ariados, and probably would freak out any bug nearby. Any....bug nearby. It finally dawned on Kestro that Vulcana might feel the same way about Kestro as the Venemoth did. Now he really wanted that bath. He probably looked like some monster to her now.

Sadly the bath had to be postponed. What with Sekita disappearing and another Venomoth barreling towards Celio.

A couple of thank-yous were the responses that Dreyar expected from his gesture. The brief yip of alarm was decidedly not, which caused him to look ahead in curiosity and a bit of alarm. Like Kestro, he picked up on the quick absence of Sekita, but was nearly blindsided by a venomoth that bum-rushed him. Fortunately, though, the creature apparently thought better of trifling with the squirtle, veering off to the side after a brief instant of contemplation and disappearing. "Again?! Heads up, it's moths this time!" the water-type immediately called out, his previously wavering voice a bit more steady now that it was a kind of bug he wasn't irrationally terrified of.

His warning did little for the hobo tagging along behind him, though, who didn't have the excuse of blindness when he was yoinked up by a big purple poisonous baddie. A yip emerged from him as well when small but deceptively strong legs closed around fur collar and sides, carrying him off into the trees as easily as a mother carries a babe. The eevee began to immediately thrash and vie for freedom but gained no ground, struggling against the evolved pokemon's might.

Cel did slow the creature down somewhat though, his inept flailing serving to cause the creature to sway into a nearby tree and gaze it, disrupting its flight path long enough for Dreyar to spot it. A rush of scalding hot water struck where the bug-type pokemon had been an instant earlier, steam wafting off the tree it'd struck. A near-miss. "Don't let it get away!" the squirtle cried, already beginning to rush after the pokemon. Maybe he should've rethought his grinding area to be someplace less... dark.

Sekita was now held once again, by another tree. At least, that's all she saw as claws gripped around her and dragged her a small ways off. The eevee struggled and squirmed, her mouth covered by the long fingers of her captor. She could hardly breathe, but the trevenant that'd taken her didn't seem to care. Instead, it marveled at its catch, curious of the black-furred fox that'd wandered by it.

The larvesta found herself in a whirlwind of excitement and terror. The venomoth that were about to attack saw the same before they fled, but one was brave enough to steal away with the last eevee of their little troupe-and it was the nicer one too... At least, she thought he was nice. Vulcana skittered after the squirtle, but knew that she wouldn't make any real progress on keeping up like this.

She focused her attention on the departing form of the Venomoth. She took in a deep breath and suddenly spat out a large web that rocketed toward the poison type. If it hit, then the eevee would be in for a rough landing, but at least he wouldn't be...well, abducted. It was bad enough that Sekita already disappeared. She just hoped she got the trajectory right-if she missed then there was a very real chance that she could pin the wrong person...

Paras (x2), Exeggutor, Heracross (x2), Ledian (x3), Bellsprout, Stantler (x5)

Kestro's beak clattered in frustration. What could he do? He was much too slow to react to the eevee being abducted. Unlike Vulcana and Dreyar, who had ranged attacks, Kestro was limited to up close fighting. Worse still, the Venomoth disappeared up into the trees, leaving Kestro completely unable to follow. Even still, he followed Vulcana and Dreyar. Not like he had much of a choice. "I might be a rock type, but I'm not that good at fighting Pokemon that fly. Any ideas?" he asked as she followed behind the pair, doing his best to let them lead with their ranged attacks.

Celio's heart had risen up into his throat as he felt himself get carried away. It wasn't the sudden ascension into the air or the deceptively strong limbs pinning him in place that bothered him, but instead, it was the overpowering sense of helplessness that came with them both. No matter how he thrashed, he made no headway against the venomoth's hold, and his mouth wasn't in range to bite down on anything.

Before he could seriously panic, though, someone intervened on his behalf. A mess of web blasted into both him and the Venomoth. Instead of separating them, the two of them were caught by the webs and pinned rather forcefully into a conveniently nearby tree, sticking them against it with enough oomph that Cel's head bounced right off of it. The Venomoth that had taken him captive immediately set to work escaping their bindings, and it was making serious headway, but for the moment the both of them were sitting ducks for whatever the rest of the group had to offer... for better or worse.

"Nice!" Dreyar yelled, one fist subconsciously pumping as Vulcana blasted the bug and the hobo into a tree with a spray of webbing, effectively stopping it from getting away. It wasn't a permanent solution, but all they needed to do was get the eevee free.

The squirtle urgently but cautiously neared the struggling poison and bug-type, eyes trained on it as he tried to figure out what to do next. Kestro's words prompted an immediate response, though, and they were pushed for time. Whatever had taken Sekita needed to be dealt with before they lost track of her. "Me and this guy can take the bug - find Sekita before that thing gets away!" Dreyar called out, the words leaving his mouth before he even thought about them. "T-try to do the same thing, maybe?! Find it and shoot it down with your webs, Vulcana; Kestro, you can cover a lot of ground with your speed move, right?!"

He tried to explain his hastily-formed plan, reasoning pouring out of his mouth only after he split up their duties. Still, it wasn't the worst strategy they could have come up with, he reasoned with himself.

Vulcana's heart swelled as the webbing struck its mark. She hit it! Oh my Arceus she actually did it! She held her breath, afraid of doing much more in the event that something horrible would ruin this stroke of skill that absolutely wasn't just luck. Her exhale shivered with nervous yet happy laughter, but just as she suspected, the moment she did, she had a new problem.

Everyone was expecting her to be able to do that again. Her soaring heart crashed back down and began to sink. Oh no...they were going to rely on her to do that. She quivered in the spot, but nodded. She'd try. She had to try. At the very least this was a far easier task than trying to burn the bugs. She looked over to Kestro, fully willing to follow the squirtle's plan despite her concerns with the ability to pull off such a feat again.

"...Could you carry me? I'm...slow..." she requested.

Sekita struggled and squirmed in the spot. If not for the wooden claw that kept her mouth shut, all sorts of obscenities would be thrown in the trevenant's way. A big glowing eye leered down at her, a sight that would normally scare someone like herself, but the factor of being unable to see helped with her ability to stand her ground. If she could just free her mouth a little...perhaps she could bite this thing and get it to cry out. The others were surely looking for her...right?

Kestro nodded as he trotted over to Vulcana. Already his scales started to glisten as he began stacking his Rock Polish. With a soft thunk, the rock type lowered himself to lay flat on the ground so the Larvesta could climb on top of him easier.

It hadn't really crossed his mind how heavy Vulcana might be, but he doubted she was too heavy. The more he thought on it, the more confident he became that he could do it. He was big for a Cranidos, and knew he could carry his sister without any trouble. Plus Vulcana was a bug type, and those were normally pretty light, right? Yeah he could definitely carry her.

"Make sure to hold on tight, kay?" he asked as he looked over at the fire type. Last thing he'd want is for him to tear off and Vulcana go flying off.

Vulcana and Kestro agreed with his hasty plan, and to Dreyar, it felt like a godsend. With one of their allies currently pinned to a tree in the hands of a venomous moth and another one mysteriously absent—probably snatched up by something else, given what was happening to Celio—he felt a lot less safe in this awful forest. Even if they were splitting up, their forces were tackling the enemies preying on them, and he much preferred fighting back to cowering away from danger.

Now, he just had to figure out how to fight back against this particular danger. Dreyar inched closer to the struggling venomoth, who had at this point torn a significant portion of its torso free of Vulcana's webs. It thrashed furiously, hissing, chittering noises placing emphasis on its efforts. From its position clutched in its arms and absolutely covered by webbing, Celio was doing the same, but making no progress. It was a precarious situation for the eevee... but to Dreyar, it actually looked like a pretty clear shot.

Unceremoniously, the squirtle spat out a torrent of scalding hot water, spraying down the venomoth's head directly. Its struggles paused before intensifying for a moment, but it was more thrashing in pain than it was attempting to disassemble its sticky bindings. As soon as his torrent died down, he summoned another blast of scalding water, refusing to give the hostile pokemon a break. From his position to the side, Cel resorted to biting down on the webbing holding him in place, chewing through the sticky substance since brute force wasn't working out.

It was weird struggle on all accounts, what with a turtle practically waterboarding a moth who was holding a fox captive while it was webbed to a tree, but what happened in Shadowhue stayed in Shadowhue. Or something.

The larvesta was, to put it bluntly, terrified. She had no idea if she was going to be able to do this, but at this point...well, she had to. Right? The pressure was on...and man did she not do well under pressure. It was fortunate that Kestro reminded her to hold on, otherwise she absolutely would have flown right off of the cranidos like a paper in the wind. Her little legs gripped a little tighter, though she couldn't help but be wary of snuggling up too close to the cranidos. She may have been lacking in the fire department, but that didn't mean she wasn't scorching hot to the touch.

"I-I think I'm ready, w-we can't wait anyways..." the more they waited the more she doubted. The more she doubted, the more she wanted to crawl right back off and apologize for being successful earlier and getting their hopes up.

---

As Sekita struggled and squirmed, but it was to no use. The more she did so, the more it seemed to tighten its grip. She struggled to breathe under these circumstances. She found herself much more appreciative of the group she once had at this point...not that she ever took them for granted! The trevenant released one hand on her, but kept the other firm. It moved slowly and carefully. She could already think it. This thing was about to strike her down! Kill her! Turn her into a ghost eeveelution!

She felt something brush against her cheek...specifically, the Trevenant's finger. Her once high ears flattened as her brow furrowed. Her wide empty eyes stared right through the ghost type as it ran the tip of its claw along her cheek...multiple times. It sent a shiver down her spine. A shiver she did not appreciate. Bad touch. That's what this was. Bad. Touch.

With a newfound surge of strength and motivation, she squirmed just the right way to free her big fat mouth. She could cry out...but in that moment, she felt it far more necessary to show this ghastly creature just how much she didn't appreciate this sort of interaction. Her mouth opened wide and with a glint of her pearly fangs, she bit down into the hand of the trevenant.

It did the screaming for her.

Kestro did his best to ignore the heat of Vulcana on his back. He certainly didn't expect her to be so hot, but there wasn't really any time to try and adjust for comfort. Once those little nubs for legs were gripped onto him tight, the Cranidos hefted himself back up onto his legs. The added weight was definitely more than he expected. The rock type simply clicked his beak, putting one foot in front of the other. He started heading towards the direction he thought Sekita was taken, slowly gaining speed as he grew used to Vulcana's heft on his back.

A sudden scream echoing out caught his attention, "Sounds like she's not cooperating," the rock type commented before adjusting. He made a beeline for the source of the scream, those first few slow steps replaced with a steady, heavy charge forwards.