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Post by urmmuxunbidden on Mar 27, 2017 20:37:32 GMT -5
Edward's hearing wasn't the best, especially for high-pitched noises, which may have spared him the worst of the gliscor's attack. The wretched sound still forced him to cover his ears, and left him with an echoing ringing for the next few moments. He thought about saying something, but figured more noise might just be irritating at this point.
The group of wilds continued to circle ahead. They didn't like that the intruders ignored the warning. They liked it even less that the chessnaught was now prodding at the fence-line. The first gliscor paired off with the gligar, and both of them dove at Checkerface. The diving gliscor attacked with acrobatics, using fancy maneuvers to flip around the intruder as it struck. The younger gligar stuck to a basic slash, attempting to tear across his arm with its stinger.
The second gliscor attacked Vogun, smashing into him with an aerial ace. The reflective barrier helped a little bit, but the attack had the grass-type at a distinct disadvantage. The weepinbell was tempted to give up; he could easily have passed out. The attack inflicted more pain than he'd felt ever since he joined Edward.
No. He knew he could push on, and to not give everything would be a disservice to Edward, to Checkerface, and even to his opponent. The weepinbell retaliated against the gliscor by launching bright yellow spores. With any luck, the spores would latch on and drug the gliscor with powerful sleeping agents.
While the battle began, Edward carefully got out of the sidecar. He was worried about Vogun, of course, but there was little he could do to intervene.
---
Hattie considered the Cherrim's explanation. It made sense, but it was disappointingly useless for her own purposes. The petilil looked down where she stood in the water.
"I don't have feet," she said. "But I'll get some when I evolve! I bet I'll be able to dance wonderfully then."
Mentally, she added one more reason she needed to find a sun stone. It occurred to her that someone from outside the oasis might know more about this. She didn't have much luck with Vogun on this subject.
"Do you know anything about evolutionary stones? I've been keeping my eye our for a sunstone, but I know they're pretty rare."
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Post by skaravich (Alyssa Johan) on Apr 9, 2017 16:49:55 GMT -5
<font color="#187116">Madelyn</font>
<font color="#b93dc8">Alyssa</font>
<font color="#2c6d7a">Checkerface</font>
Checkerface grit his teeth and kicked sand forwards. He wanted them to come towards him, the cowards, but knew they would not follow. Once those attackers came, Checkerface rolled into a ball. Spines jutted out of the shell and threatened to impale all those around him! While damaging, he figured the Flying-types would struggle to follow the Chesnaught in his path!
Unfortunately, the Weepinbell did not have the same potency, and despite Checkerface's bloodied palms, the Gliscor's attacks bore far more weight on the pitcher than the chestnut. Once the protective shell ceased, Checkerface rose his limbs, and started moving the Weepinbell's way. Gligar or otherwise, the fight was still two against three.
"Mr-" Alyssa, meanwhile, brought her hoverbike to a halt. She scrunched her cheek. Their defensive stances had already been revealed, and the flying scorpions proved a little too agile to kite away. A search for a mating call, in an are this remote, proved fruitless. Still, the fight was not balanced in their favor. Those scorpions needed to be grounded. One Shadow spared her the work, flying right out of her other occupied Ball. Standing at roughly two-and-a-quarter feet tall, the Hawlucha folded an arm under his beak. Then, he set his eyes on the other Gliscor. Alyssa called him back some steps, which he didn't take...and then the Hawlucha broke silence, to risen brows from his Trainer:
"You, Gliscor. Give me a good reason to help you, and I will."
The flare of contempt about Liuxang had been quite active.
---
Madelyn's brow rose as the Petilil's posture shrunk. Initially, Madelyn had a hard time seeing the Petilil's perspective. She didn't have much in the way of legs, either; she was about three pounds from taking that same form. Only from a closer look did she see its form: flat, stubby, and barely balanced.
Not that Madelyn attempted to emphasize anatomy. "Oh! Didn't notice." She hummed at her response; while not one to put down a Pokemon, she figured it'd probably be easier for the Petilil with more evenly-distributed feet. Tongue twisted before a response came through: "Either way, it's less the part then being 'in-tune' with yourself. Knowing what you're doing now and what you're doing next."
Maybe for the better, the topic shifted to evolution. While the actual mechanics of stones were far beyond her, finding them was not. Madelyn adjusted a blossom, and smiled. "Every so often, they can pop up in dust clouds." Unfortunately, despite the Cherrim's will to adventure, she didn't have a lot much else on the subject, nor many of the dangers of prodding these clouds.
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Post by urmmuxunbidden on Apr 11, 2017 11:55:25 GMT -5
Thankfully, one of the gliscor dropped out of the sky, lulled to sleep by diving through the sickly spores that Vogun put out. The other two wilds were hurt by Checkerface's spikes. The grass types were still at a disadvantage, but things didn't look quite as bad.
Until the Hawlucha asked his question. It wouldn't matter what kind of tactics they used, there was seemingly no way the two grass-types would overcome four type-advantage opponents at once. Vogun's heart sank. What kind of pokemon is so quick to turn on their allies like that?
At least whatever conversation took place would buy them some time. Vogun intended to capitalize every moment of it. He lashed out at the sleeping gliscor with a couple long vines, slamming them down over and over as hard as he could muster. It didn't take very long for the gliscor to wake up, and Vogun had exhausted himself. The reflect he had put up flickered away.
Meanwhile, one of the gliscor landed near the howlucha, leaving the gligar to continue to slash at checkerface.
"This is our territory, our home! These trainers have no right to be here!"
As traitorous as the Howlucha seemed, he opened up dialogue with the gliscor. Edward saw this, and tried to think of the right words to say.
---
This advice was a lot more helpful. "In-tune, then. I'll have to work on that. I'll practice a lot, and maybe when we see each-other next I'll be really good."
She was done being in the water for now, so she waded back up onto the shore.
"I've seen dust clouds out in the distance of the wasteland sometimes, but the desert is super dangerous. There's no water anywhere. Before Edward came I don't know what would have happened to me."
She actually did have a pretty good idea, but it was an uncomfortable subject. There wasn't any need to unload all that on the Cherrim.
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Post by skaravich (Alyssa Johan) on Apr 12, 2017 16:55:06 GMT -5
On one end, the conflict between Grass and Flying types started to settle. Checkerface, with a little more stamina than the Weepinbell, found a way to keep the fight a two-on-two. He begun with a wood hammer, roots forming around his arm, but rather than slam the Gliscor directly, he planted that wood around the Gliscor, hoping to pin it in place with a series of heavy roots.. Nevermind the fact that the force of a wood hammer would've probably knocked the Gliscor out directly, but the Chesnaught wanted to take zero chances with the flying scorpion Pokemon. They were annoying enough as is. The scratch didn't seem to matter in comparison to locking down the Pokemon.
Already irked, the Hawlucha's sudden heel-turn, and the Gliscor's following speech, left the Chesnaught turn his head: "The hell?" He surrounded the Weepinbell, half believing his presence would ward the Gligar off.
"I see." On the other, dialogue between the parties opened rather explosively. Liuxang nodded simply at the explanation. Wide vision spared Liuxang the trouble of turning his back, the luchador Pokemon instead twisting his head, cricking his had like an old wooden doll. "You hobgoblins brought me to this Pokemon's home. Tell me why I'm standing here, too."
Alyssa rolled half a curse off her tongue, and shot a death glare Liuxang's way. Even if to appease the Gliscor temporarily, she did not take these attacks lightly. Even still, no apologies were granted by either Trainer or Shadow. She could also empathize with the Gliscor, on the grounds of nearly having their home broken into by Checkerface - which in hindsight, was even worse for conflict's sake. At the same time, this let Alyssa define a starting point. One that started with a dry cough: "We're here due to reports of a toxic sludge potentially destroying vegetation around the area."
Alyssa wasn't sure if she needed more or less detail for the wild Pokemon, but despite her status, Alyssa could not deliver it. She was not a biologist. She could understand why the ground dried and the plants died, and could imagine the toxin concoction had something to do with that, but could not explain as...diplomatically. She turned to Ritter. She omitted mentioning the oasis for the same privacy concerns that the Gliscor likely shared.
---
"I'm sure you will! Hopefully we'll meet again~" Maddie flashed a brief smile, wading out of the pool with Hattie. She didn't mind that her leaves got wet, nor that she didn't actually complete all seven stages of the dance, and her jubilant, cherry-red cheeks sold it.
Hattie could be a realist, for sure. Maddie admitted, "You aren't wrong-" Then, Hattie's trail of consciousness drew Madelyn's attention. A Grass-type from the wastelands? She found it difficult enough living on the edge of the city's laboratories; how did that work? Of all questions, she could only form the simplest: "Are you from around here?"
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Post by urmmuxunbidden on Apr 14, 2017 21:20:17 GMT -5
Checkerface's strategy worked, and the gliscor was pinned completely to the ground. With the first one still in conversation, all that remained to pester them was the gligar. He tried to get at the vulnerable weepinbell, but the chessnaught's spiky frame deterred him. He slashed at the chessnaught again, but lacked the power to inflict any real injury through the tough shell of the guardian.
Vogun appreciated Checkerface's protection, and didn't take the gesture lightly. The pause allowed him to catch his breath.
"Thank you."
From beneath the chessnaught, a vine shot out and wrapped around the gligar, pulling it to the ground. It didn't do any damage, but hopefully it would pin the little bugger down enough for the chessnaught to finish the job. The gliscor began to wriggle out from the roots of the wood hammer, but would be stuck for at least a couple moments.
Edward stepped up to the plate.
"These buildings that you've nested on used to belong to Sibrunn industries. This is where they took large amounts of toxic sludge, and buried them in steel barrels. You can still make out the depression in the ground where the hole was dug." The old man pointed it out. "This disregard for the desert, your homes, can be found all over the region. All I, and people like me, want to do is to restore some of that respect. I want to bring life back. Unfortunately, the toxins in the ground kill things. What they don't kill, they corrupt. It is best for the both of us to get that poison out of here. I'm sorry that it means temporarily intruding."
While the speech was addressed to the gliscor, Edward couldn't help but glance at the Howlucha at the end of it. Part of his explanation was for his benefit, too. It was unfortunate when a pokemon and their trainer didn't see eye-to-eye, and he hoped that he could help him understand the noble goal Alyssa was undertaking now.
Even if Liuxang was still being stubborn, the gliscor at least seemed to take Edward's words into consideration. He wasn't entirely convinced, so he also looked toward Liuxang. The wild pokemon could be sure that the howlucha wasn't a part of the deception. If he bought it, then the gliscor would too.
---
"I am, actually." Hattie responded. She continued to try to dodge a very unpleasant fact. "Grass types usually don't last very long out there, but I've heard that the wasteland wasn't always so..."
Deadly, was the word she was thinking of.
"It wasn't always so mean. There used be several liligant families scattered across different oasis, like this one. What about you?" Hattie asked, "Where are you from?"
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Post by skaravich (Alyssa Johan) on Apr 18, 2017 22:48:27 GMT -5
Checkerface's defensive position seemed a far greater success than the previous efforts. Not even noticing the chinking from the Gligar's occasional slashing, the Chesnaught held hs position, only angry he couldn't move forward with his defensive stance. A flurry of blows would satisfy the checker-scarred Chesnaught more than a Snorlax at a buffet; seeing his enemy ground to dust before him, despite their advantages. No worries. They turned their attention almost immediately back to the then-strggling Gliscor, and starting to boil with anger, fumed to the trapped Gliscor: "One more dumbass stint from you, and you'll be mine, forever." They unfurled a flap of grass, revealing one of Alyssa's spare Pokeballs. He seemed rather content where he was, only taking a precaution to put a foot over the end segment of the Gliscor's tail. On Alyssa's end, quiet and even a little jealous, that she couldn't manage such a trick. Still, she wouldn't ignore open opportunities when they opened, and responded quite diplomatically: "I also apologize for the disturbance." It seemed that the Gliscor, with Ritter's forewarning and Liuxang's last words, would be allowed entry. With some consideration, Alyssa decided that catching one of the three, at least temporarily, could completely cripple the link Liuxang established. But the turncoat didn't seem to care too much about the investigation, and scoffed: "Should've said that beforehand. Whatever." Alyssa'd been quite fortunate her and Ritter's goal had been rather benevolent; if this were an actual raid, she'd have resorted to other, more dangerous and scarring, methods. With that peace negotiated, Alyssa folded her arms, addressing the Gliscor, with a plan that would grant some temporary security to the homeworkers: "Can we agree to a truce, while this problem is fixed?" IF the Gliscor needed, she would explain that definition quite strictly, with more focus on anti-war than the exchange. --- "Woah." The Cherrim gasped of amazement. Even a 'weaker' Grass-type from there tended be far stronger than city-Pokemon or imports - herself included - even if it meant having to take residence in another oasis. Sucks that the terrain hadn't been favorable to the other oasises, though it was an interesting segment of history. "Didn't know that. I take it they're royals?" Maddie's tone intended a fair It lopsided the Cherrim's discussion of her homeland pretty easily: "Born on a construction site. Kind of fell out of a tree. Ran from Murkrow...lot of running around." At this point, as Maddie dug around for info, she came to the realization the two were a lot closer than she expected. For better or worse. urmmuxunbidden [/font] |
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Post by urmmuxunbidden on Apr 21, 2017 20:04:03 GMT -5
The conversing gliscor nodded to Alyssa.
"A truce then. It does sound like something that needs to be taken care of."
He turned around to call back to his allies.
"Hold off! These trainers are working with us!"
It was hardly necessary for him to do that, though. Both the trapped gliscor and the young gligar had already stopped fighting. The gliscor that Checkerface had subdued stopped struggling under the imposing threat of the chessnaught, and the gligar gave up trying to land a meaningful blow.
Vogun stepped out from behind Checkerface, no longer needing to cower under his protection.
"You have fought well to defend your home. I assure you we'll work just as hard to restore it."
The lead gliscor flew over to the chain link fence that the chessnaught started to work on, and moved a section of it over to the side.
"I'll be watching you closely," he warned.
"Thank you," Edward responded as he made his way to the hole. "I promise we'll make this as quick as possible. I'm sure you'll find your home is more comfortable afterword."
The old man stopped and turned to Vogun for a moment.
"How are you feeling? You took a nasty blow. If you need to stop here and wait for us that's fine."
The weepinbell tried not to be offended. He just cares, he reminded himself. He took a lot of damage, but everything was still functioning fine. He had plenty of effort to give.
"I'm still coming, of course. I'm not down yet. Don't worry about me."
---
"I think so. I don't remember much, but my mother kept the oasis in balance, so that several different pokemon could live there. Kinda just like Edward's doing. I'm told that there used to be several of us ruling over little pockets throughout the wasteland."
The petilil perched herself on top of a vine.
"Your story sounds pretty scary too. Did you have much family back at the construction site? When did you meet your trainer?"
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Post by skaravich (Alyssa Johan) on May 10, 2017 1:14:46 GMT -5
Alyssa nodded, and looking back to the Chesnaught, folded her arms. Liuxang's gambit had admittedly concerned her, as despite the result a rogue Shadow would've threatened the integrity of the mission. Alas, for the most part, her party seemed aligned. She motioned to Checkerface and motioned: "Alright, we're fine!"
"Bloody g-" The battle-scarred Checkerface, never a fan of the acrobatic and flighty techniques, hesitated to maintain the engineer's professionalism. With a low, watchful grunt, he started to release the weakened Gliscor. Branch of chestnut wood started to decay in the arid weather. So, too, did his respect for the mission, dented armor and all. He decided to follow Ritter and Vogun instead, checking in on the injured Weepinbell. The plant's fighing spirit, on the flipside, was what the Chesnaught liked to hear about! With a gruff smile, Checkerface said: "Bwahaha, I knew you had the spirit!"
"Thank you," Alyssa said to the Gliscor, in unison with Ritter. She even offered a glance, if to make sure the two were alright. As the Gliscor opened the territory to Alyssa and company, Liuxang taking a close side, she pondered if she should start conversation. She wasn't sure if the family history or home would be all that valuable to the overall group sanity, so she instead focused her efforts on getting to one area:
"We'll need to start with the hole, right by the building."
But Checkerface interjected: "I'll stay by the bike. Just...contact me when necessary."
Alyssa, who had the keys, did not object to the Chesnaught's offer. If he wanted to be a staunch protector, he could do so while she tried to diagnose the area's problematic leak.
---
Encouragingly, Madelyn said of Hattie's custom: "Ah, so like royalty over a kingdom. Cool!" On the flipside, Madelyn daisy-chained vines to reach the Petilil's position, then able to to hear her out. Her expression mellowed by a flower that hadn't even blossomed yet. Madelyn's excited tone seemed to continue even well into self-explanation:
"I guess I just kind of walked around big loud things and dodged Staravia for a while. Was real small, so it was hard to get caught! All that struggle until I realized, hey, you could live in a building! So I squatted for a while until I met Alyssa and I never really left." Madelyn looked back to Hattie: "Weird how things work out, huh?"
She never did meet her mother, Madelyn realized. A light jealousy bloomed in an equally light hum.
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Post by urmmuxunbidden on May 15, 2017 0:15:45 GMT -5
Vogun beamed, almost embarrassed by the chessnaught's attention. There were few feelings in the world better than earning the respect of someone you look up to. Keeping Edward safe was its own reward, but Checkerface's single sentence made the pain not even matter anymore.
Before the chessnaught split up from the rest of them, Edward grabbed his hand to shake it.
"Thanks, Vogun and I appreciate your bravery. It's always a pleasure to work alongside pokemon such as yourself."
Edward and the weepinbell then made their way under the chain-link fence, toward where Alyssa mentioned that they would start. The gliscor flapped a couple times to get height, and then circled above the group, watching their every move.
"So uh, what's the best way to do this, do you think? Do we just start digging? I'm afraid that I don't have any supplies for digging currently. Usually Grandius handles that."
Perhaps timing this while Grandius and Wyndra were away wasn't the best idea after all. Edward realized the duo would probably just now be getting back to the oasis.
---
"Yeah sounds like it turned out all right," the petilil responded.
There wasn't much more to add to that, so Hattie just perched on the vine in silence for a moment. It didn't take long for the silence to be broken. There was a heavy shuffling through the vegetation; it sounded like something quite large.
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Post by skaravich (Alyssa Johan) on May 23, 2017 20:31:44 GMT -5
The Chesnaught, nodding to Vogun after Edward's statement, retreated to the hovercar. Checkerface folded his arms by the vehicle, his expression unwavering in a thin air and great heat. He did not access - or was unaware of - his bult-in water reserve.
---
As Alyssa stepped through the desert, the aridity begun to annoy her. Oft running on, the sweat of the desert had not been terribly common. At the same time, she showed no signs of giving in. The sweat by her brow rolled down to her shirt-collar, reminding Alyssa somewhat early: "As we approach the site, please put these on." Not one to let a "neurotoxin" slip through, Alyssa offered Ritter a medical mask. For one, Alyssa opened a pouch by her shirt, and unfurled a pair of folding goggles. She also begun to peer through the pool, "i'm going to determine this fluid's viscosity and any mixtures it might have. From there, I'll be able to determine the best course of action. More severe measures will be necessary if this toxic compound is too viscous - too liquid."
Gloves already around her hands, Alyssa scowled at the vat of toxins. Hand spun around a test tube, snuck from her testing pouch, but not. Other hand maneuvered torwards tongs, but as she did so Alyssa kicked a small rock down the pool. Eyes watched as this material fell into the Shadow compound. Liu, looking up to the Gliscor and back to Alyssa, asked: "You're scared. This is abnormal material, I know."
Based on Alyssa stare, both observations may have been affirmative. If nothing happened to the rock, Alyssa would begin to lever her arm down to collect her sample.
--
"Alright, yeah!" Maddie's enthusiasm dwindled down somewhat on the combined forces of her memory and the quaking nearby. Her curiosity left Maddie turning around, and at one point she begun to turn torwards the quaking nearby.
Recounting the old days, she stood silent, and awaited the thing's approach. Hopefully the foliage offered both herself and Hattie decent protection.
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Post by urmmuxunbidden on May 26, 2017 15:25:15 GMT -5
Edward nodded and didn't hesitate to put the mask on. The heat was also starting to get to him, and he was breathing rather heavily. His skin was already starting to redden into a sunburn, but the old man just ignored it. Vogun was starting to wither slightly around the edges of his leaves.
"Excellent. It sounds like we're making progress. Just let me know however we can help. If it's okay, I'm just going to sit down for a moment."
He masked his stress well, but there was a chance Alyssa might see through his demeanor. Edward made an effort to steady his breathing, and propped himself up against one of the walls of the nearby building. Vogun stayed with Alyssa, and watched the rock drop into the muck.
The rock bounced once as it rolled down the depression, and then hit the surface of the fluid, where it stuck. The dry desert air had desiccated the black-greenish sludge into a thick slime. Eventually, the rock subsumed into the mixture, giving off an audible hiss and wisps of white smoke. Vogun was careful to the breathe the vapors in.
"So is that good or bad?" He asked.
It was caustic, sure, but maybe the thickness would allow it to be easily contained.
---
The quaking revealed itself to be a large tropius and torterra. The tropius was leading the two, while the torterra was carrying a couple different ferns on his back. Hattie hopped up to greet them
"Oh nice! Those ferns look great! Weren't you after grasses though?"
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Maddie staying completely still.
"Maddie, this is Wyndra and Grandius. They're a part of my team. They've been working on this oasis much longer than I have. Guys, this is Maddie, she's cool."
"Maddie, great to meet you," the tropius responded, "I'm sorry if we startled you, we weren't expecting company."
He turned back to the petilil, "Is Edward back yet?"
Hattie shook her head no.
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