Crisp Forest Air

[Rin]

Starly turned into a burst of light and vanished inside the Pokeball. For a few moments, it looked like it would be an easy catch - the bird had fainted, after all. Suddenly, the Pokeball started rocking violently. Inside, Starly had woken up and began thrashing against the wall. Oh, the little girl Trainer wanted to catch him? No, no! He had lived wild and free his whole life, there was no way the young whippersnapper was going to tell him what to do! Yet the Pokeball was unyielding, and indeed, very soft and cottony on the inside. Perhaps he might be able to live with it. He flopped back down, exhausted and joints aching, and he heard the Pokeball ping. He had been captured, fair and square.

Starly has been caught! Used one Pokeball. 

Nickname: [none]

Level: 8

Gender: Male

Ability: Keen Eye: Opponent cannot lower this Pokémon’s accuracy. The Pokémon ignores evasion boosts of the opponent

Moves: Tackle, Growl, Quick Attack

Nature: Adamant – Starly is stubborn, belligerent, judgmental, quick to frustration and anger, often believing that what he's doing is right despite what others may think. It is hard to convince him to change his mind and to earn his respect, but once it is earned, it is well-earned and he can become sort of a protective grandfatherly type, even though he retains his stubborn nature. Starly is an older Pokemon, and loves telling stories about his youth with phrases such as "Back in my day," "When I was a wee lad," etc. - he is basically a gruff old man who likes yelling at younger people and telling them to get off his lawn (even if there isn't a lawn in sight). He has much experience in battling because he is usually eager to fight, but sometimes his temper can keep him from seeing the fight clearly and acting in the best way to ensure victory. Additionally, he has a not-so-secret love for monocles. He's always wanted one.

[Birdybot]

Luna rushed over to pick up the Pokéball when she saw how still it was, but as her hand reached down it began to shake violently. She panicked for a moment until Lazarus brushed her leg with his forked tail. Then she waited patiently to see what would happen. To her relief, it finally fell still for good. She picked it up with a sigh, minimizing the device and pocketing it. Another addition to the team! "What are you going to call him?" Prometheus asked from her arms.

"I don't know. I think I'll wait until he's had a nice rest so I can ask him myself," she said, stroking the Vulpix's fur gently. "Would you like a rest? I can put you back in your Pokéball for a nap if you want," she offered. He thought about it for a moment. He preferred to be outside, but he was tired after that battle. He nodded.

Once he had been returned, that left Luna, Lazarus and Romulus walking through the woods. The Poochyena happily bounded about and sniffed at everything, excited to explore. A couple of time he ran off out of sight on pursuit of some scent, but he always came back. The group didn't stick to any path that well, wondering a little in case there was something more interesting further out their way. They didn't mind what happened now, but Luna at least was keen to see or meet something interesting.

((Bit rushed, sorry))

[Rin]

The crisp autumn wind warmed slightly as the day drew out. No other Pokemon revealed themselves to Luna, Lazarus and Romulus as they walked down the peaceful Route. It seemed that most of the Pokemon were content to sleep in the underbrush today. Once again, there were a few sightings of other Pokemon – an Aipom chittered at them from the trees, playfully tossing a nut in their direction before scampering upwards, causing the branches to bounce up and down. Later they saw a Tangela appear from the hollow of a tree, who watched the party with doleful, rather melancholy eyes before withdrawing back into its home. It seemed as if there just weren’t too many Pokemon out today.

As they progressed, however, in the distance they began to hear a voice, off some distance in the undergrowth. Drawing closer, one would find it was a male voice, although he was speaking in low tones. A female voice replied, also at a quiet volume. It was easy to guess that a person and their daemon were speaking. True to that prediction, suddenly a young man, perhaps in his late teens or early twenties in age, strolled out of the undergrowth. He was unlike most young men his age though – over his left, pale yellow eye was a strong red stripe, and through his white air poked two long furry ears, one red and one white. Through his dirty jeans poked a fluffy white tail and from his elbows both his arms were covered in white fur. Near the end, the fur on his wrists and hands turned vibrant crimson red, with long black claws that extended over his fingers. He was, fairly obviously, a Zangoose Pokemorph. On his shoulder was a Quilava, whose firey fur seemed a little redder than a normal Quilava’s – presumably his daemon.

Within a few moments, the young man noticed Luna, and jumped back a little, looking nervous. ”Oh! Oh I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there. I didn’t mean to get in the way,” he said politely, stepping to the side of the road (even though there was plenty of space).

[Birdybot]

Romulus looked up at the sight of the Aipom, barking at the nut flying towards the group. He dashed across Luna's path and jumped to catch it in his teeth, tail wagging triumphantly. He crunched on it, then spat it out with a whine. Way too bitter. Luna laughed and he narrowed his eyes sullenly. Wasn't his fault the nut was disgusting.

The three carried on for a time until they heard the voice ahead. Lazarus' ears pricked up. Human voices, either a girl and boy travelling together or a human and their dæmon. It wasn't long before the Zangoose 'morph was in sight. He didn't seem to notice them at first. Luna gave him a smile when she did, slowing to a stop. They'd been a while without seeing another person, it couldn't hurt to stop and chat for a while. Unless of course he wasn't up for that. It wasn't often she met Pokémorphs, so the sight of a young man with fur, a tail, Zangoose ears and claws was new to her. The urge to stare was great, but she resisted. That would be incredibly rude when the guy was so obviously polite. Romulus, having spent his life in the wild, had yet to learn to treat people normally however they looked. "Why does he look like a Pokémon?" he asked Lazarus, nudging the Espeon-dæmon to get his attention. He was staring at the tail and the furred, clawed hands.

Lazarus nudged him back, harder, to tear his gaze away. "Romulus, that's rude! He's a Pokémorph, he can probably understand what you're saying even if his dæmon doesn't translate. He's just like any human. It's rude to stare," he scolded the Poochyena in a hushed voice, who sat looking down at the ground. "Sorry. I didn't know," he said in a small voice.

Lazarus looked up and spoke to the young man. "Sorry if he's offended you, sir. My name is Lazarus, and my human is Luna."

Luna had no idea what had just happened, watching bemused. She couldn't understand Romulus' speech and Lazarus hadn't translated for her. "Hi. You weren't in the way, it's fine. What brings you to Route Two?"

[Rin]

It seemed that the Zangoose-boy did understand Romulus and Lazarus, because he looked even more nervous as Lazarus scolded the puppy and shrank back closer to the trees. "Well..." He closed his eyes briefly and appeared to collect himself, then he looked Luna in the eye. "I'm Julius - I'm on the road from Professor Pine's laboratory. My daemon's name is Elle. Are...are you a Trainer too?" It seemed as if he was not used to talking to people - by the end of the sentence he had lost eye contact with Luna and was talking towards Romulus and Lazarus. It seemed like he was more comfortable around Pokemon. It also seemed like he was quite nervous. On closer inspection, one would see that there were some cuts on his arms, and there was blood matted around a cut in one of his furry ears. Leaves were stuck to his white tail and it seemed like his claws were dirty, as if he had been scratching bark or digging in the dirt. His Quilava-daemon seemed nervous too - she scampered around his shoulders and gave a polite nod to Lazarus but didn't say anything.

"I...I'm trying to get to the next town as soon as possible," he confessed. "Well, I was lost before, but I guess...are you on the path right now? I think following the path will be okay."

[Birdybot]

Luna thought the young man looked quite nervous. She presumed it must be the way some people got anxious talking to new people simply because it was in their nature to feel that way, but there was no knowing if there was some greater underlying issue. Having just met the guy, it would be far too personal a question to ask, so she left it as it was. She wanted to tell him there was no need to be nervous but didn't want to come across as rude and was worried her letting him knowing she'd noticed it would only make him more nervous. Instead she left it as it was. "Yeah, I'm a trainer. I'm fresh out the lab too. My starter was a Vulpix named Prometheus, but he just battled so it a bit tired right now. How about you? Have you seen anything interesting so far?" she asked.

Lazarus noticed more detail than his human, and Romulus smelled the blood in the air. He took a step towards Julius, looking at the blood around his ear. The Espeon-dæmon saw the leaves in his fur and dirt on his claws. He glanced at Luna to get her attention, then looked back at the dirt, knowing she would follow his gaze.

She wasn't sure what to say to that. Ignore it? Julius' nervousness and scruffy appearance might well be linked, as Elle looked pretty nervous too. She listened to his question. Being lost might explain it if he had got himself into a pickle and tried to climb something or carve a shortcut. "I'm pretty sure this is the path. We're heading to Aniford too. Getting lost in a forest can't have been much fun; everything looks the same," she tried to feel her way around asking him about his battered look without asking directly. Exploring around that area might be a gentler way of asking than being direct.

[Rin]

Ooc:// Darnit I wrote a long response for this and my internet zonked out when I clicked submit So might be a bit rushed feeling, sorry.

Ic:// Julius seemed to relax a little, hearing how friendly Luna seemed. His tense figure seemed to loosen a bit, and his expression became friendly himself, albeit still shy. "That's pretty cool! I'm guessing that um, Romulus here is one of yours as well? Good to meet all of you! I caught a Swablu so far, she's really sweet! My starter is a Houndour named Repede. He's resting and tired from the battle, though." The Zangoose Pokemoprh seemed much more at ease when Elle, his Quilava daemon, cuffed him gently around one furry ear and whispered something in it. He frowned, then started to look nervous again. They traveled for a few moments in silence, then Julius spoke up again. "So...I guess I should um, mention...actually, I was lost before, but uh, I wandered into the territory of some Mightyena. There's all far stronger than any of my Pokemon, so I had to escape...I think they're still coming after me. I'm not sure if you really want to be travelling with me," he winced as he gave a side-glance at Luna's Poochyena, Romulus, as if he expected the pup to have a grudge against him as well. 

Unfortunately it was at that moment that they heard faint howling in the forest. "Oh no!" cried Julius. "They're back! Elle, we've got to get up a tree!" The Pokemorph sprinted for the nearest tree and hauled himself up, his claws making deep score marks in the trees. He quickly turned around and reached out a hand for Luna to grab so she could hoist herself into the tree as well, but it was too late. Loud snaps and cracks of breaking twigs along with deafening barks announced the arrival of the Mightyena. They ignored Luna and swarmed near the tree -there were four in total, snarling and barking up the tree to where Julius and Elle were crouched. "You were in our territory, Zangoose-boy! We can smell your scent! And even worse, you stole one of Kogorh's puppies! We know it was you - we'll tear you to shreds!" they snarled in Pokespeech, trying to leap up the tree to no avail. "I swear I didn't do it! I might have gone in your territory but I don't know Kogorh or any of your kin! Believe me!" Julius yelled back, looking close to tears. 



The growling and howling at Julius continued for a few more minutes, then one of the Mightyena noticed Luna and walked over, baring his teeth at her. "Who are yo--hey, wait, is that you, cousin? You remember your big cousin Raven, don't you?" Evidently the Mightyena named Raven recognized Romulus, because the teeth-baring stopped and he trotted over to Romulus, giving the puppy a hearty lick across the ear. "Whoa, are you partners with this Trainer now? That life never appealed to me, but hey, suit yourself, little cous. I hope she and her daemon treating you right though!" he glared at Luna. "Is she in cahoots with that puppy-stealer? Your aunt Kogorh's daughter went missing you know!" 

[Birdybot]

Romulus wagged his tail at the mention of sightings of his evolved form, but it quickly dropped between his legs again when he realised they were not friendly. He could never fight off a pack of Mightyenas! Not even with help from Arget! Prometheus and the newly caught Starly would still be too tired to be of much use, and he and the Shinx were far too low levelled to put up any sort of fight! Luna was more relaxed, confident Julius must have given the Mightyenas the slip by now. She was about to say as much when the howling began. "Mightyenas are renowned for being relentless hunters. They don't give up," Lazarus commented, looking to Romulus as if for confirmation. He was paying little attention to the dæmon's facts, distracted somewhat by the impending danger.

Luna reached for Julius' hand but had reacted too slowly to the shout to get up the tree; the pack shoved in front of her, pushing her back. Lazarus could have climbed up without a problem, but he wasn't about to leave his human stranded on the ground. The two were at a loss of something to do. Luna feared for what the vicious wild dogs would do to the scared young man when she realised Romulus, having been timid and meek at the threat, was now sniffing at the pack and wagging his tail.

"Raven! Yes, this is my new trainer. Her name is Luna. With her I'll become really strong and travel all over the place!" he beamed happily. "Kogorh's daughter? Oh no! That's terrible, but I don't think this guy could have stolen her. Right? In fact, it's the opposite! We can help you find her, can't we!" he promised, looking up at Julius. He truly believed the Zangoose-morph was innocent and hoped that he would go along and help the pack out. Some of them were his family, after all.

Lazarus translated for Luna. She was surprised by the turn of events, yet pleased a solution had been presented. "You know these guys?" she asked the Poochyena, who nodded. "We can hardly say no to helping a teammate's family, can we? We'll see what we can do if you'll just let Julius and Elle come down."

[Rin]

Raven squinted at Luna suspiciously for a few more moments, but his affection for Romulus got the better of him, and he large wild dog Pokemon nuzzled the Poochyena's ruff. "Well, whatever you say! You were always the adventurous type, I'm sure you'll see lots of great things out there." He looked back at Luna. "I hope you two do each other well. 'E's young, but bright and strong, that's for sure." Hearing Romulus defend Julius seemed to give Raven second thoughts; the Mightyena's lip curled, showing ivory fangs at the mention of Julius, but he didn't snarl or bark and he bounded over to the tree, barking, "Wait, guys, wait. Khroma's son here - he's dubbed Romulus now - says that the Trainer in his pack knows the Zangoose-boy. Apparently they don't think he would steal one of our puppies. I'm not so certain myself - I know we smelled his scent in our territory, but Khroma's son - er, Romulus - always had a good head on his shoulders. What say you all?" The three other Mightyenas pulled back and looked at each other, their hackles lowering and their fur bristling a little less. Julius looked extremely relieved, and Elle made eye contact with Romulus, nodding her thanks. They both climbed back down the tree.

Eventually, one of the Mightyena, a female, stalked up to Luna and Romulus. From the way she held her tail high and her ears perked, it was obvious that she was the leader of this pack. "I am Mordito, and I am the leader of this pack," she introduced herself, speaking equally to Romulus, Lazarus and Luna. "I do not know why you wish to bring back the honor of an outsider, but so be it. We will stop pursuing the Zangoose-human and his soul-Pokemon if you all aid in the search for Kogorh's daughter. You would know her daughter if you saw her. She is but a small pup, but unlike the rest of us, her fur shines like pale gold. We suspect that is why despicable thieves would want to steal her," Mordito snarled, narrowing her eyes in anger. "Shall we lead you all back to the area where we believe she was kidnapped?"

[Birdybot]

Luna smiled when Lazarus translated for her. "Thanks, I'm sure we will. He certainly seems very capable so far!" she agreed. Romulus wagged his tail at the compliment. Lazarus nudged her gently as Julius and Elle climbed back down from the tree, bringing her back to the more serious matter of the stolen puppy. She nodded respectfully to Mordito, and Romulus lowered his tail to show he accepted her authority over him. Luna did not know how to convince the pack of Julius' innocence, but for now they were at least willing to trust Romulus' word. There was a chance the Zangoose 'morph had been lying to her the whole time. She very much doubted that. He did not seem the sort to steal Pokémon. Wild ones were a bit more iffy, but it was still wrong to catch one that was clearly too young to leave its parents or one that clearly did not want to be caught. If she ever caught someone that didn't want to be by accident, she had already promised to herself she would try taking it back to where it lived to release it.

"Yeahyeahyeah, her fur was amazing! She was one of those shiny Pokémon, I think you call it, like Arget," Romulus added, remembering the young Poochyena. Luna turned to Julius to fill him in. "Arget's a shiny Shinx my parents gave me," she explained.

"Yes please. Then we can try finding her trail. Your pack, Romulus and my Shinx, Arget, may be able to catch her scent. I have a Starly who may be able to help search from the sky," she told Mordito, allowing the Mightyena to lead her and the others to the location of the kidnapping. She would need to use a Revive to restore the Starly's health, and then it might be an issue getting him to cooperate since she had yet to interact with him since catching him. She didn't want to make him battle yet, however - she wanted to get to know him a bit better first and wanted to allow him more rest.

[Rin]

Mordito nodded, throwing back her ruff in a purposeful sort of way as she turned. "So be it. Come," and she bounded off into the forest. The other Mightyenas followed fluidly, Raven trotting around back and taking up the rear. They moved quickly, but not fast enough the humans wouldn't be able to keep up. Julius fell at a jog next to Luna. "Th-thank you so much," he said, still looking quite relieved. "I didn't know what I was going to do or if I was ever going to get down! They don't believe me and keep going on about my scent, and my...umm...white fur..." he motioned to the soft Zangoose fur on his arms. "Do you think we'll be able to find that puppy?"

With the fast pace that the group was moving at, it wasn't long before they got to the location the Mightyena pack were apparently looking for. They gathered around a tree that clearly had snapped branches and small paw marks around the ground as well as scuff marks - unmistakable signs of a struggle. And also unmistakably, on the ground crushed by several of the pawprints, were some long tufts of white fur. Mordito sniffed at it, then frowned and looked at Julius. "On second investigation, Zangoose-boy, we owe you an apology. This fur is longer than yours is by several claw-lengths...and your scent is faint. Now that I have been able to smell you better, I know you were here, but before the struggle occurred." She dipped her head briefly in apology, then twitched her ears. "Still though, Kogorh's child is missing. And now we've wasted time following the wrong person." The regal Mightyena's lip curled, briefly flashing razor sharp teeth. "The leaves have shifted and scattered the scent...let's split up and go through the Route. They couldn't have gone too far yet, especially if they are searching for other Pokemon. You two, search the north and west areas, around the large grove of trees and the rocky parts. Raven and I search the south - perhaps some of my contacts there will know something. You all-" she gestured to Luna, Julius, their daemons and Luna's Pokemon with a sweep of her tail, "please search the east. I'll send Raven to you once I can to help." Raven nodded, and despite his worried expression he gave Romulus a wink.

[Birdybot]

Luna jogged alongside Julius after the Mightyenas, Lazarus bounding lightly with more ease while Romulus dashed ahead closer to his former pack. "I hope so. They have good enough noses to track you down, I'm sure they can do the same for the actual culprit," she said. By the look on his face she could tell Lazarus was less confident. He figured that the true kidnapper would be trying to hide so would be a lot harder to find than the 'morph boy without cause to cover his tracks. They could have gone far, depending on what had taken the puppy, and however many of them there were it must still be hard to search such a large radius.

The white hairs were not from Julius, she could just about tell. She tried to think of what might have fur such as that and be able to overpower and drag away the puppy. It wasn't necessarily too high-levelled given Kogorh's child's age, but it was probably at least a little bigger than her. There wasn't a lot she could deduce. Soon enough they'd find the culprit. She'd know then. The Mightyena distributed themselves around and she nodded in agreement when asked to search the east. Romulus barked back at Raven happily before bounding off to help his trainer search.

Luna released Arget from her Pokéball, but paused on the Starly's. She looked up. "With all these trees, how much can even be seen from the sky?" she asked.

"I'm sure it can't hurt to have any extra help we can get. Starlys have sharp eyesight, even if he won't be able to fly as high with the trees in the way," Lazarus was in favour of giving him a chance to help. Luna nodded and released him from the Pokéball. He was still exhausted from the battle, so she used a Potion to heal him.

"Right, I need you three to help us search for a missing Poochyena. Whatever took her left some white hairs behind, and their scent should be around here if that helps. We're going to look over this area," she waved a hand eastwards, "and try covering as much ground as possible. Starly, do you think you'll be able to see much from the air?" She hadn't thought of a name for the bird but was prioritising finding the lost puppy.

"Of course, I've lived with these trees for years and years, you think I don't know how to see through them..." he huffed and continued to grumble as he took to the skies. "Look, I'll help you find the young 'un, but this doesn't mean you can start using me for everything, you hear?" He wanted to make it perfectly clear that while he did now have a trainer, he wasn't entirely happy about having to work for said trainer. Luna nodded and began walking. The Pokémon spread out, Starly flying ahead with his keen eyes scouring the ground for any sign of struggles, white fur, or hiding spots, Prometheus and Arget trying to catch the scent of the culprit, Luna and Lazarus using their eyes.

[Rin]

Elle the Quilava daemon nodded as Luna released Starly and Arget, face growing serious. "That's a good idea. You should release your Pokemon too, Jules." "Right." Julius nodded, fumbled around with the two Pokeballs on his belt, and tossed them into the air. In a flash of red light, a Houndour with a striking dark blue coat and a Swablu appeared. "Umm, Repede, remember those Mightyenas that were chasing us earlier? Apparently they were looking for a lost Poochyena with golden fur. Someone took her...now they've forgiven me, so I want to help them find Poochyena too. Can you help look from the sky with Starly, Estelle?" The Swablu nodded vigorously and drifted up to fly next to Starly, while Repede shook himself and trotted up next to Arget and Romulus. "Greetings," the Houndour growled in a bit of a gruff tone, but politely touched noses with Arget and Romulus.

They walked off-path in the forest for a while, Julius anxiously scanning the ground for signs of struggle while the Pokemon seemed to be enjoying themselves more. The scent was unfortunately hard to catch, as the leaves had blown around in the wind and was scattering the scent everywhere. Eventually, Romulus came across several pawprints in the ground. It didn't look small enough to be the puppy's, and it was bigger than both Repede and Romulus's pawprints, but not by too much. Looking even more closely, there were a few fragments of golden fur sparkling on the ground. The pawprints seemed to be going off to the left of where the group was, but at that moment the wind blew a strong scent of iron and oil from the right, so strong that even the humans would be able to smell it. "Now what?" said Julius, looking even more worried.