Joint Expedition: Training

Kestro trotted out of Windrose Library, stopping next to the nearest tree to make sure Saturn was behind him. The pair were preparing to explore Serene cave in order to confirm a rumor about a healing spring deep inside, but decided that Fallen Leaf Copse would do good for training and practicing record keeping and map making. Kestro was already trying to get a headstart in that regard, thinking about what he encountered when he met Russel and Deimos here. Sawsbuck... Ribombee... there were a few other Pokemon he couldn't quite remember living in the Copse, and he was sure that there were some he and the Windrose leaders hadn't encountered that day.

As for mapmaking, Kestro barely registered where Russel and Deimos had led him to reach the library, and he'd only left a few times before to check on his family and explore Monochrome Ruins. It'd be nice to get a proper map showing the way to the library from the entrance. And so here he was, not even finished with his first report and already planning another three. One can only hope trying to write up four separate reports won't strain the Cranidos too much.

Once they were outside, Saturn made note of where the sun was in the sky, which was quite difficult with all the trees in the way. Hmm. We should have enough daylight left, assuming we don't dawdle. Of course, immediately after coming to this conclusion, the Cubone started examining a nearby bush. Darn. No berries. Saturn looked over to make sure he wasn't too far behind Kestro, and picked up his pace to catch up.

"So, do you have any favored strategies when it comes to searching for items in a dungeon? Any methods that work better than others?" Saturn wasn't really sure what to do, other than make small talk at this point, at least until they got further in.

He did, however, make a mental note to repeatedly measure the sun's movement in the sky so he could record roughly how long it took to travel from the library to the edge of Fallen Leaf Copse. That seemed like a smart thing to do.

"Items? Mmm, no not really. Items ain't gonna fall out of the sky or jump out of a bush. Thankfully they're pretty unusual colors, or carried by a feral, so they're not too hard to find. I don't remember exactly how rich in items Fallen Leaf Copse is... I've only been through here once, and Russel and Deimos guided me for the most part. If I remember right, there aren't a lot of different berries." The Cranidos continued deeper into the forest, taking note of where the sun was himself before heading eastward. "Luckily for us, most Pokemon in the forest here are pretty peaceful or playful. Looking for sparring partners will be pretty easy without us having to worry about any actual danger."

It didn't take long for Windrose's tree to melt into the colorful mix of the autumnal forest. Kestro thankfully was taught how to find it, so he didn't worry too much when it disappeared. He thought about the journey ahead. By the sound of it, Saturn didn't have much in the way of supplies, and even Kestro didn't carry a massive amount with him. If they truly wanted to thoroughly explore and cross Serene Cave to find this supposed spring, they'd need to stock up. It might be a good idea to stop in Grassveil town to shop for some healing items. He'd heard of Dandy's Dyes reopening under a new name, and there was always the To-Goat Cafe.

Disappointed as he was, Saturn wasn't exactly surprised to hear that there really was no trick to finding more items. Guess I just have to get lucky., he thought. It didn't take very long for the library to stretch out of sight beyond the trees as they continued on. The dead leaves being crushed under their feet reminded Saturn that it's hard for land-bound creatures to travel through this area without making plenty of noise. This served as both a boon and a curse, but Saturn was determined to use it to his advantage. While he didn't quite have the heightened senses that some (usually more predatory) pokemon have, that certainly wasn't going to stop him from trying. Surely I'll get better at noticing small details around me if I practice at it.

Of course, there's always an upper limit to what any one 'mon can do, but there's nothing that can be done about that, short of temporary boosts from items and evolving, of course.

"So, how long have you been with the Scouts, Kestro?"

Kestro scratched his chin at the question, counting out the days in his head. "About a week and a half. I spent the first three days moving and settling in. After that I spent a couple of days picking out which kind of report to start my career off with. After that I spent another day before deciding to do a report on Monochrome ruins. Another day doing what I could to prepare for the trek, and then actually exploring it. I just returned yesterday and after sleeping through the night I had started organizing my notes and maps to write the report today."
His explanation done, Kestro turned the question back onto Saturn, "And you?" He'd assume Saturn was as new if not newer than himself. Kestro felt he probably jumped into the whole scouting business pretty quickly, and understood everyone had their own pace when it came to things.

Dracorexion carried out 10 launched of one Fallen Leaf Copse :

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Saturn thought for a moment, back to when him and Valen first joined together. "Well, I'm not sure of the exact date, but it had to have been about a week ago, give or take. A small bird pokemon named Valen joined with me." Upon talking about Valen, Saturn thought back to when they previously explored this dungeon while investigating a rumor about flowers coated in frost, which in turn made him think of that freakishly strong Ribombee that probably would have beaten him to a pulp had it not been for that guild member swooping in to save him. One of these days I'll join a guild, and be part of a team, and save others like she did for me... I just need to get stronger so I'll get accepted. And find someone to make a team with. Maybe Valen would be interested, or that Tempo fellow I met a while back... The thought of getting accepted and wearing one of those fancy guild bows around town really appealed to him. Yeah, that would be- Wait! Valen has something like that wrapped around one of his legs. Is he part of a guild already and I just never noticed? I mean, when we met that fire bird guild member she didn't seem to recognize him, so who knows? I'll have to ask him the next time we meet.

"So, when we get back from doing all this, maybe I can help you pick up where you left off on your previous reports. Even if it is just as simple as proofreading your work or something. It helps to get other points of view on your work, y'know?"

southpawXlegacy carried out 10 launched of one Fallen Leaf Copse :

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Kestro nodded, it seemed they both joined roughly around the same time. Not much a surprise, really. Neither of them appeared to be well known among the other scouts and visitors to the library. If anything only Deimos, Russel, and Elvire seemed well known. Given their positions, it made sense.
While Saturn seemed to reminisce about something, Kestro noticed something sticking out of the bushes. Before he could look himself, Saturn spoke up about helping with his reports. "Mmm, thanks but I don't know if that's needee. We can collaborate on the reports we make now, though. Hey, check those bushes real quick, I think I saw something there." He pointed towards the bushes, where the edge of something wooden stuck out.

Saturn looked over at where Kestro was pointing, and surely enough, he could see some kind of hand-crafted wooden object poking out. Saturn eagerly trotted up to check it out, but remembered this was no time to let his guard down. Better make sure it's not a trap... he held his bone club by the very end of the hilt and used it to poke at the bush from a relatively safe distance. From what he could tell, there was nothing out of the ordinary. So, he reached in and pulled out, not one, but two boxes from within the shrubbery. One was heavy and almost felt like it was full of rocks, while the other was so light that it almost felt empty. "Wow! This is quite the find, don't you think?" The naive Cubone tried to open them up, all too eager to discover the spoils hidden within, only to find that they were locked. He spent almost a minute trying to fiddle with the locks, hoping he could force them open. "Ugh. I dunno why I thought it would be that easy... Hey, Kestro. I don't think we can open these without some special equipment. Maybe someone in Grassveil can-"

Saturn hatched an idea upon looking at Kestro's hard, shiny, dome-shaped head. "Hmmm..." What if Kestro smashed them open with his dome skull? Nah, that would just break whatever is inside the box, too. It would never work. "Uh, nevermind. We should just see if anyone in Grassveil knows how to pick locks or something. Then we can split whatever's inside. But until then..."

Saturn looked down at the two strongboxes before him, realizing it might be a bit awkward to carry them in his satchel. "How are we gonna carry these out of here?"

Kestro lowered himself to the ground, waiting for Saturn to pull the boxes out of the bush. He found it a bit amusing that the Cubone was wary enough to poke the bush with his stick. They were still fairly close to the library. Not to mention the feral Pokemon of Fallen Leaf Copse were much more docile than those of other dungeons. At least from Kestro's experience. Kestro wondered about that for a moment.

Why would they be more docile? The Cranidos didn't know much about the history of the dungeon, so all he could do was compare it to the other places he'd been. His first home in the desert had particularly vicious ferals. Pecha forest certainly had territorial Pokemon, and Shadowhue and Monochrome ruins' ferals were more so. Maybe it's cause Fallen Leaf Copse had the protection of the lake? Travel in and out of the dungeon was slightly limited, so perhaps that lack of constant intruders just fed into the docile nature of the dungeon's current inhabitants.

He shook his head a bit, bringing himself back to the present as Saturn spoke up. Kestro didn't really follow with what Saturn's initial idea was, but he did confirm his hope of someone in Grassveil being able to open boxes. "There's a shop in the Guild called the...'It's a me' Swap-shop. Mmm that doesn't sound quite right but it is in the guild."

Kestro didn't even pay much attention to Saturn's worry about carrying the boxes. The Cranidos, almost on instinct alone, hefted himself up and walked beside Saturn. The Rock type then pushed one of the boxes apart from the other just enough for Kestro to settle in between them. "Grab two ropes and wrap them around me and the boxes, I can carry them pretty easily," he said, hooking the tip of his beak into the lighter box to lift it up so Saturn could get the ropes under it first.

Saturn was relieved to hear there was a business in Grassveil that dealt in getting into stuff like this. He wasn't sure what he'd do if they were on their own; probably just resort to brute force and hope for the best. He was also relieved to find that Kestro was willing to haul these boxes for him. "Heh. Thanks, Kestro." He grabbed the coiled rope on Kestro's person, and used it to first coil around one of the boxes a few times, then wrapped it around Kestro's torso, and did the same with the second box. After that, he kept wrapping the rest of the rope so it encompassed both the boxes with each pass, to better secure them. "There we go. Let me know if the ropes start to chafe, and I'll loosen them a bit."

After solving that dilemma, Saturn went back to walking, making periodic glances towards Kestro to make sure he was doing alright. It wasn't long before they came across yet another obstacle, however.

"Hey! Give those back!" A small bird pokemon with white and gray plumage came into view as Saturn turned the corner. An even smaller insect pokemon was hovering in place next to it. "Yeah, that's our stuff! Give it back!" The two pokemon seemed to be arguing with a stout, quadrupedal pink and brown mammalian pokemon with a small pile of seeds. "Oh yeah? Well, why don't you wimps come make me?", she said in a low, vaguely feminine voice. She then grabbed the seeds, and what appeared to be an orb, and shoved them all into a leather sack. The bird and insect pokemon did nothing to stop her as she walked past, but definitely did not look happy about the situation. "Heh. Pushovers.", she mumbled under her breath.

As she leisurely strolled down the path, ill-gotten gains in tow, she crossed paths with Kestro and Saturn. "What're you looking at?" The hostility in her voice made her remark sound more like an insult than a question. It didn't take long for her to size up the two and realize how tempting it would be to take their belongings, too. "Actually, why don't you twerps hand over those pretty boxes you've got there and maybe I won't beat you to a pulp?"

"Ok, ok. We surrender. Just let me untie the rope real quick so we can give them to you." The Cubone leaned over and started methodically unraveling the rope. "So, here's the plan, Kestro.", Saturn whispered in a hushed tone. "The instant I take off this dead weight, you charge this brigand in front of us and hopefully catch her off guard. I'll back you up in any way I can. That's probably our best chance." The Stufful in front of them was clearly growing impatient. "I haven't got all day, runts.", she said while impatiently tapping her foot. "...and I'm not exactly the patient type."

[Energy: 20-15=5]

Kestro hefted himself back up, testing the weight of the boxes before he started forward. He had somewhat tough scales. Certainly nowhere near the toughness that most rock types posted, but the ropes themselves didn't bother him in the slightest. He simply trudged along, keeping pace with the Cubone as they made their way through the forest.

Granted it didn't take long for the pair to find themselves face-to-face with the thieving Stufful. Kestro's eyes narrowed, the Cranidos' beak clattering in frustration at the dilemma. Already he was preparing for an attack, the scales along his body appearing smoother, shinier, as if he'd just been freshly waxed as the dual type sized up the Cubone and Cranidos. In all honesty, Kestro was prepared to fight from the beginning, even with the two boxes on him. He'd let Saturn untie them, though, if just to make sure Saturn wasn't going to end up caught up in Kestro's attack.

As with nearly every other battle he's been in, Kestro's strategy was simple. Close the distance between him and his opponent, then beat them down until they either give up or lose consciousness. As soon as he felt the ropes slacken and heard the thunk of the two chests hitting the ground, he put that strategy into action. A flurry of dirt and leaves flew out behind Kestro as he charged forward. A silvery metal sheen covered his head as he closed the distance.

Despite explicitly requesting that Kestro take this bully by surprise, Saturn was still taken aback by the sheer suddenness of his attack. One second he was completely still, the next he was charging towards the Stufful at full speed, an obvious indicator that he definitely was not holding back. If that's how Kestro's going to go about this, then I should do the same. This is an evildoer, after all!

Despite the fact that there was a hulking dino stampeding towards her at a thundering pace, the small bear did absolutely nothing to avoid, interrupt or otherwise mitigate the attack. At first, Saturn surmised that the creature must have abysmal reflexes. Why else would she refuse to do anything but stand there?

As it turned out, he couldn't have been more wrong. Once Kestro's Iron Head attack connected with the bandit, instead of being launched in the opposite direction, the Pokemon hardly moved back at all, with a rather anticlimactic PLOOF sound emanating from the impact, as if Kestro had thrown himself at a large pillow. Saturn immediately sensed something was wrong with the situation, and acted on instinct. "Kestro! Back off!", he exclaimed, while readying an Ancient Power directed at the Stufful. While he didn't really know for sure if this pokemon posed any danger to Kestro, he felt the need to err on the side of caution in the heat of the moment. Right as Saturn started taking action, the Stufful started emanating a crimson red hue, and in the blink of an eye, reared up on its hind legs and tried to smack Kestro on both sides of his head with its paws. It had apparently been charging up a Bide attack this entire time, and the energy it stored from Kestro's Iron Head meant that it was really going to pack a wallop if it landed. Pfft. Amateurs.

Kestro was taken aback as his attack felt like it struck a soft pillow instead of another Pokemon. Worse still was the fact that his opponent seemed just as unimpressed from his attack as he felt it was. As she reared up and began to smack him, though, Kestro found his worries disappear just as quickly. Whether it was just the specific attack, or perhaps the Stufful herself being exceptionally weak, the Bide did little to the rock type.

Kestro simply took the attack, and once it was finished, he huffed angrily at the dual type in front of him. "That all?" he asked. Confident that even if his own attacks were lessened, he was in little danger himself, Kestro's skull took on a purple hue of a Zen Headbutt. Standing erect, Kestro swung his head back before slamming straight down towards the Stufful's attack. He had no idea that the psychic type move would be super effective. All he was doing was trying to find a better way to attack, and he didn't have the room he wanted to use his other moves yet.

Saturn followed through with his attack, propelling a small cluster of pebbles at the Stufful right as it was landing an attack of its own on Kestro. The thief hardly even noticed the attack, as she was much more concerned with the fact that her Bide hardly even tickled the Rock type in front of her. "Oh, so that's how it's gonna be, huh? Well, let's see y-" SMACK! Her snide remark was cut short by the super effective Zen Headbutt that she took full force. Even her dense, fluffy fur did little to protect her from the crushing blow.

Seeing as she was still reeling from Kestro's attack, Saturn figured it would be a lot safer to close in and flank her from behind. Wouldn't want her to flee with the stolen goods, after all. The Stufful tensed up, realizing she was currently in a losing battle. As Saturn went in to deal the finishing blow, the Stufful turned around and put on the most adorable puppy-dog face she could, with tears flowing down her cheeks and everything. "I'm sooooooryyyyy! Please don't hurt me anymoooooreee!" Her outward display of surrender convinced Saturn to let his guard down, much to his regret.

"No, it's an act! Don't fall for it!" It appeared the Starly from earlier was warning Saturn, but it was too late. The conniving Stufful Flailed its arms around wildly, striking Saturn square in the abdomen, knocking the wind out of him. Out of pure instinct, as the Stufful tried to finish him off, he smacked her right on the side of her head with his bone club, finally knocking her out. "Uuuugggghhhh.", she groaned. It appeared she was finally down for the count.

Or was this simply another act?

Kestro didn't really take much of a chance for the Stufful to get back up. He placed a clawed foot down on the dual type's head, pinning it down before he used his sharp beak to snap the sack she was carrying off. While doing this, the sound of flapping wings filled the air. The Cranidos looked backwards towards the Starly and Cutiefly, seeing a pair of Ribombee, a Staravia, and a Starraptor joining the young Pokemon.

The rock type was a bit worried that another fight might break out, but it soon became clear that the larger Pokemon were the Starly and Cutiefly's parents. "Thank you for stepping in," the Staravia said as he stepped towards Kestro and Saturn. "We don't have anything on us to reward you with, but I hope whatever our children found is alright."