The Ulti-Mutt Showdown

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[Content Warning: Things get a little heated up ahead, proceed with caution.]

Sniff. There was something here. It was close. The fog didn't at all bother him in this odd part of the world. His paws ached, but his drive for...adventure(?) drove him forward. It wasn't necessarily adventure, but a desire to find someplace to call home. The houndoom needed to find someplace to settle. Settle down, perhaps find a nice girl, and make a pack of his own. Be the boss of said pack. He had no other goal beyond that. There was no part II to his plans. It was a simple desire that he craved as a very simple pokemon.

The houndoom's nose pressed against the ground with his gaze hyper-focused on what was in front of him. This smelly-smell...it smelled awful. Still, curiosity got a hold of him. He wanted to know what this awful smell was. Perhaps it'd be a pokemon, something he could make an example of-just like that mawile he met back at Blackmist-except with less embarrassing results.

He was close. He perked his head up and surveyed the hazy area around him.

Where was the smell headed?

44-10 - 34

Goro almost smiled at the response. If he wanted, he could make this easy for himself.

It would be all too easy to direct Zera to Rainfront Town. A little bit of ass-kissing and schmoozing, something like "if you're building a gang, I know some schmucks in the town over that are worth the time," and he could lead the houndoom right into his gang. Krikka, Solus, and he could descend on the hellhound and, if Krikka learned the truth of what had just happened here, it was likely she'd end the dog's life on his behalf. He could have this whole mess sorted out within the hour, probably, if he had a mind for it.

Goro knew that. But Goro didn't want that. Goro didn't want to take this fucking hound anywhere near his newest base of operations. If anyone learned what just happened here, it'd destroy him. He wouldn't be able to bear the humiliation. He had to do this his way and he had to do it smartly—no small task for the meathead croagunk.

Step one was playing his part, though. "Forming a crew, huh," he settled for echoing, forcing his forearms underneath him to push himself up in a sitting position. "We doin' that now, then?" he asked, the question coming out as a pained wheeze. No matter how many times he tried wiping the sludge off of his face, the burning sensation remained. So did the awful quality of his skin; it was scorched, probably blackened from the harshness of what he just withstood, if he had to guess. He hoped rawst berries could fix that.

"What's a crew?" Zera asked on impulse, though he didn't really expect a response. He continued on anyways, "I'm gonna make a pack...and we're gonna be the best pack. Get lots of territory, lots of members, lots of fun." His tail wagged eagerly at the thought. It's not even the power that came with being in a pack that quite appealed to him. It was just...a pack. He was a very simple dog with very simple needs. It was unfortunate that the world was so much more complex than that.

He distanced himself a little from the croagunk unintentionally as he sniffed about. He looked up and over to the croagunk, "C'mon Omega, go this way." He could absolutely see the state of the croagunk's health, but it didn't exactly occur to him whether or not the frog should move at that moment. He just wanted to get moving-find the next addition or even just find an interesting patch of territory to camp out in for a while.

ooc; feel free to cave in next post.

Goro exhaled roughly in frustration, steeling his nerves for what came ahead. Almost immediately pushing his boundaries as Zera's apparent subordinate, Goro didn't move to instantly follow his command. Instead, he took a few moments—a few long moments, considering how scorched and fatigued he was—to wander over and retrieve his fallen bindle. The whole time, he bit down hard on the inside of his cheek, both visibly in pain and obviously struggling not to utter a single sound of his suffering.

He treaded a slightly different path back to the houndoom, using the stick of his bindle as something of a walking aid as he did so. The fighter's pride had taken such a beating moments prior that he didn't even bother with the pretense of pretending he didn't need it. Keeping his mouth shut was one thing, but anyone with a pair of eyes could see just how crispy he was. As he walked, though, he felt something... give way beneath his foot as he completed a step.

It was a small thing, like stepping into a puddle of mud. Goro's foot sunk down to the top of his ankle, and he waited another moment before shrugging and figuring he'd happened across some moist soil. Stepping forward again, his other foot sunk even further, and this time he felt the ground around him shift precariously. The croagunk raised a curious eyebrow, watching as the modest area of ground he was standing on visibly sunk downward. Then it started to drop with certainty, slowly but surely.

"Ah, shit." he muttered, the realization of what was about to happen dawning on him. He was going down. And he... didn't have the strength or the willpower to throw himself to the side in time to avoid it. "Looks like I'm goin' this way instead." he went on, shrugging helplessly at the houndoom he technically implied that he would follow. He could hardly be blamed for this, right?

The ground beneath him caved, and Goro fell like a rock through the earth. Absently, on his way down, he wondered what the fuck the deal was behind the whole "Omega" thing.