Hidden Bravery

(Energy: 9 + 10 (Oran Berry) = 19)

Trucy kept her high altitude as both her partner and herself closed in on the Dungeon that was written on the request... Monochrome Ruins. But before they entered the Dungeon, they were greeted by a powerful waterfall that wouldn’t stop... glowing! It was truly a sight to behold, especially from all the way up in the sky! You could even see how the waterfall’s flashy glow seemed to brighten up the nearby area...

Trucy finally tore her eyes away from the dazzling waterfall, and onto a certain Pokémon below, it was their client, a Kirlia. She seemed a bit nervous as she paced around the front of the dungeon, though her nervousness seemed to somewhat alleviate itself as she saw the incoming guild-mons, the Kirlia forced herself to stop her nervous pacing, and stood in place, awaiting the incoming guild-mons.

Trucy quickly descended from the skies, and found herself a perch on a nearby tree, with her partner close behind, the Kirlia finally found it within herself to call out to the both of them. “A-are you two both here to h-help me find my b-brother...?” the Kirlia called out to the two, already knowing the answer, she just felt the need to confirm it one hundred percent.

The Fletchling figured she would respond quickly to the Kirlia, and did so, “Yep! You can count on us!” Trucy said with confidence. She looked back at Julie, “Right, partner?” The fletching said with a wink.

(24-15=9)

Julie was glad to find her partner didn't seem to notice the exhausted zangoose laying on the ground. She was sure the Kirlia did, despite their bangs, which seemed to be why they asked such a seemingly... redundant question.
"A-are you two both here to h-help me find my b-brother...?"
Who else could they possibly be in this scenario...?!
She felt rather embarrassed and overwhelmed with awkwardness as she jumped up to attention, to avoid letting Trucy see her in such a pitiful state.

"R- right, we're here to help you!" Julie confirms with a toothy smirk and an attempt at a confident stance.
The Kirlia seemed rather relieved by this, though it still spoke with a nervous stutter regardless. "A- alright, that's awesome! G- great, even, uh- I- I should lead the way, right?"
Julie looked to Trucy, and simply shrugged.

Trucy dived off of her vantage point and toward the ground. In a blink, she landed slightly to the left of Julie, and stretched out her wings with an air of confidence. As the fletching looked towards the Kirlia with matching state of mind, she responded to the meek psychic type. “As long as that’s what ya wanna do, then it’s fine! We’ll be here for you every step of the way!” Trucy said, reassuring the Kirlia. “We’ll find your brother in no time, no matter what!” The tiny Robin continued.

The shy psychic type showed off a small smile in response towards the Fletchling’s optimism, “A-alright, Let’s g-go.” The Kirlia said, before making small, cautious steps towards the coming dungeon. With this next dungeon being a cave, the tiny robin’s maneuverability would be taking a huge blow, with not being able to fly high to scout out the area as effectively, and not being able to use the trees as vantage points, Trucy did feel a bit daunted by the coming mission, but pressed on nonetheless, it was the tiny robin’s first mission, along with her partner, she couldn’t fail!

With Kirlia leading, they made their way towards the bright, lit-up waterfall. There the Kirlia scanned the waterfall, looking up towards the peak of the falls and then straight ahead. The Kirlia seemed to be daunted by the falls, but knew that they had to persevere, no matter the cost. With bated breath, the Kirlia dashed right through the waterfall, and into the Ruins. Trucy, not wanting to leave their client hanging, followed suit. “See ya on the other side!” She said to Julie, before focusing her attention to the waterfall. “I’m gonna blast right on through, here I go!” She said with a confident stance as she readied up a tailwind. With the winds at her back, she darted straight through the waterfall.

She didn't expect another member of their group like this, though she wouldn't really be complaining. She was just glad there was someone new to bounce off of after such a long walk through the forest.

The shy Kirlia takes the lead as they said they would, and Trucy follows after, but not before starting up another tailwind to help herself go through.
Julie looked up at the waterfall with a raised brow, then ran through as fast as she could after her friend and the client. Despite everything, she wasn't quite fast enough to not get soaking wet, her fur hanging off her body and dripping.
She shakes her fur off, causing her to flood up and look even more round, before continuing to move on.
"Nice. Well, could have been worse." She muses.
The Kirlia began moving again, and she followed after as quick as she could. They were finally in the ruins...

While Julie was just a bit too slow to avoid getting soaked, Trucy was in the exact opposite side of the spectrum. She had blasted through the waterfall just a bit too fast, which basically caused the falling water to slap her in the face. The pain wasn’t at all tremendous, but it was enough for the bird to tear up. She tried her best to cover up this embarrassing, self-caused pain by continuing swiftly into the Ruins, “A-alright...! Let’s g-go!” The tiny robin said with her usual optimism, only cringing slightly due to her pain.

Her efforts were a bit wasted on the Kirlia, who had both seen the bird hit the water way too quickly, and had heard the bird’s impact with the water, and it’s quiet echo throughout the ruins. The Kirlia called out to Trucy, “Umm... are you...” the Kirlia was curtly interrupted by the tiny robin. “I-I’m fine, I-I swear! Just watch me!” she said, flustered yet still carrying her natural optimism near the end of her interjection. With those words, the Fletchling set off further in the ruins, with Kirlia following only a bit behind, their nervous look still intact, they were still very much worried for their poor brother’s safety.

Though she was a little concerned for her friend, who seemed uncomfortable for some reason she did not catch, Trucy insisted she was fine and flew off. Julie ended up following after the Kirlia, the fast bird Pokemon and the anxious psychic-type being too quick for her and quick to move.

After a while, Julie's fur stood on end - not from the frizz and floof, but instead from a familiar feeling...
Something might be coming soon.
"It's best we be careful, wild Pokemon could be just around the corner. Maybe our new friend should stay behind us to be safe?"

As Trucy kept her lead from the others, she pondered to herself about her partner’s question. She turned around slightly to meet Julie’s eyes with only one of her own, “My only worry then is if we were to be flanked somehow, we’ve seen a good couple of times now that, despite their upbringing, ferals can be pretty tactical with how they go about attacking.” Trucy said, still a bit oblivious towards the coming danger that Julie seemed to have sensed.

With her partner’s question answered, Trucy continued, “I could fall back and cover our backs, and you can stay in front of us. Though we could always just stick close together, it’s your call.” She said, reluctantly turning all the way around, though with the pain she was graced with by the waterfall seemed to have been quelled a fair bit, her reluctance wasn’t exactly very necessary.

Julie nods in understanding after listening to all Trucy had to say. She makes a good point - it might be dangerous for Kirlia to stay behind if ferals are as smart as they've seemed...
"F- f- ferals...? Oh no, I hope Ralts is okay..." The Kirlia pouts slightly as the group continues moving. Julie begins taking the lead, turning her head back to the two.

"That's a good idea, Trucy! Take the back and in case something happens, we'll be able to protect Kirlia!" She seemed a little confident they'd be able to protect the Kirlia, despite the last two battles resulting in one of the two being badly hurt...

Trucy was quite satisfied with Julie’s compliments. She had learned a lot about basic battle strategy from reading all of her favorite Fantasy novels, “Heh, it was a pretty good idea, right?” said the Fletchling with her classic overbearing confidence. Getting back on track, she flew past the others and began to keep watch on the group’s back. She was ready for anything, or she at the very least hoped she was.

With the formation settled upon, the group continued forth around the dungeon in search of Ralts. With Trucy watching the back, she decided the best way to go about it was to simply fly backwards, but that seemed like an almost impossible task, she never thought that such a simple concept was so difficult to perform.

With that approach out of the way. She just simply kept up with the group, making constant and routine looks back, making sure no ferals sneak up on them. As she started to get into a routine, she figured she’d check up on her partner’s status. “Everything good up there?” She called out, a bit worried. The deafening silence of the Ruins making her alone with her own thoughts, even the crashing of the waterfall was barely audible. “Where are the ferals the reside here? You would’ve thought they’d of charged at us by now...” she said to herself. “When those dang ferals show up, I’ll be sure to put em’ in their place...” she continued thinking aloud to herself.

Julie was keeping an ear out for all noises nearby, listening intensely... At first, she didn't hear anything. She tried her best to keep ahead of the party so that when she stopped to let Trucy and the Kirlia catch up, she would be able to listen out for threats, but that wasn't so efficient it seemed.

"You said it yourself Trucy, they can be surprisingly tactical. I'll let you know if I hear anything bizarre..."

And almost like that she swore she heard something, stopping suddenly and putting a paw behind her to tell Trucy and Kirlia in a non-verbal fashion to stop. She halts her breath, and looks around...

ThePromiseIncarnate carried out 1 launched of one Monochrome Ruins :

“Got it, I’ll be on the look out as well.” Trucy quietly responded back. Before she could fall back into her routine once more. She received Julie’s signal, with that, she landed on the the Ruin’s floor as discreetly as possible, making sure not to make a single sound. As she waited for the potential threats to show themselves, Trucy readied up a tailwind, she wasn’t sure how effective it would be in the ruins, but she figured she would at the very least try.

The Kirlia decided to emulate the other’s reactions, and stood still alongside the two guild members. In the midst of the quiet yet foreboding atmosphere, The Kirlia closed their eyes, and sent out a message to the others, telepathically... “I’ll scan the nearby are for any nearby enemies, be on your guard.” Trucy, a bit confused by what just happened, as she had never been spoken to through her mind before, gave a nod to the Kirlia, not being able to shake off the visible shock on her face, she then turned back to face the group’s backside, ready for a fight.

Keeogree carried out 2 launched of one Monochrome Ruins :

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(9-1=8)

Julie was rather taken back by the telepathic message as well, feeling almost... distracted by it. Yet she quickly regained concentration, and kept a good eye out for anything moving in the shadows...

Yet nothing came.

'I... don't sense anything.' The Kirlia told Julie and Trucy, once again telepathically.
Confused and honestly a little more on edge than earlier, Julie steps forward.
Slowly and cautiously she walks a little further ahead, and after squinting her eyes, she sees something and chuckles.
"Heh, that's kinda funny... we were scared of items. Goodies, loot, treasure- whatever you want to call it." She sighs in slight relief, yet... She still found it rather suspicious.
She carefully picks up the Warp Seed, then looks around for any other dangers. She didn't seem to see anything immediate...

(Energy: 19+5(+5 Energy Trap) -1 (Iron Thorns x3))

Trucy loosened her guard as she came to the realization that what they were so afraid of was just a couple of inanimate objects, was that really all there was to it? Well, for the time being, yes. Trucy saw Julie pick up a seed from the ground, which made her want to look for something for later use. She did end up finding something, up on the ceiling of the cavern were a group of three Iron Thorns. Trucy flew up to the nearby ceiling, and saw that the thorns were hanging by a thread. The slightest touch of the thorns sent them falling to the floor. “Well well well!” She said, content with her findings, as flew back to ground level.

As she placed herself onto the floor of the cave, to collect her prize, she seemed to place herself on an odd looking tile of the floor without even thinking about it, was it a trap?! “A-ah!” she instinctively blurted out, “I-I...!” she continued, with a horrified look on her face. However, her frightened expression melted away slowly, as it turned to... a relaxed smile...? “I... feel great?” She said, confused herself that she’s saying something of the sort. She stretched out her wings and took flight, not too far from the ground. “Sorry for the false alarm everyone, let’s go!” She said with newfound energy, thanks to the generous trap. Trucy then finally collected the Iron Thorns carefully, and waited for the others to press forward.

A shock went through her as she rushes to Trucy's side upon her panic attack. When it turned out to just be a false alarm, she became a little pouty, though she was relieved to hear they were safe.
"Glad to hear you're okay, seems we were really scared of nothing after all." There was still a slight sense of unease with what she had said. Tension was still in the air for her.
Still air is often a sign that something will go wrong, after all.
Despite her concerns, there was nothing stopping them from continuing on and there was no reason to hold up.
She sighs to help release some anxiety, before looking at Kirlia and giving them a head motion to keep following them.
Then Julie keeps walking, back in the previous formation, on guard for threats...

Normally, Trucy would’ve felt bad for making her partner worry about her, however, the good feeling the hospitable “trap” gave to her was a bit mesmerizing, maybe it was due to the quick transition from shock to fear to comfort…? Trucy didn’t think about it too much, she focused more on keeping her gaze where it should be, looking for any approaching ferals who dare attack behind their backs.

With the danger level supposedly lowering, the Kirlia decides to speak, “I can’t help but feel, uh, a bit weirded out by all of this…” they said as they kept scanning around for any hostile signals. “We’re a fair bit into this dungeon, yet nothing has come out to fight us…” She looked back at Trucy, “Not to mention what just happened with that trap…” Trucy didn’t respond, not out of contempt though, maybe it was because she was focusing too hard on what lied behind them… or maybe it was because she was still a bit frazzled by the kind trap’s effect.
“I just hope my brother is as lucky as us…”