[CLOSED] the woods are lovely, dark and deep

[telewarped]

Who: Shoka Sakurane, Narciso Anasui, Conrad Achenleck
What: Exploration of the Northern Forest
When: Late April
Where: Northern Forest
Warnings: Violence against plantlife



More accurately, the woods are lonely, dense and dank. The deeper Shoka ventures with Conrad and Anasui close behind, the more hostile it seems to grow to their presence. The foliage blocks out any shred of sunlight, the ground becomes slick and uneven, and the air turns thick and heavy, smelling strongly of rot.

Not much for leadership, Shoka is only really leading the charge because none of these things bother her much. She can see well even in pitch darkness, and her amorphous body molds easily enough to the unpredictable shapes the terrain takes on as they move. This combined with the goggles she's strapped onto her body (per Akechi's advice), she has the look of a confident, seasoned adventurer... But she's also small—as is Conrad—especially compared to Anasui. Their progress is slow going.

Out of the corner of her eye, she thinks she sees something move for a split second, slithering along the forest floor like a serpent—but when she turns to look, ready (and inwardly almost hoping) for a fight, all is still again.

"Stay close," she pipes up. "But keep those antidotes the doc gave us even closer, got it? If either of you get spore'd and turn on me, don't expect me to hold back."

She isn't being entirely serious, though she still expects her teammates to operate on the same assumption. Trusting Conrad to keep Dr. Denne's medication on hand is easy enough, but as for Anasui... She isn't sure what to make of him at all yet, really—but, if nothing else, he seems determined to get the job done and claim his reward. It's exactly why she brought him along, despite him being a near-stranger.

So she continues guiding them onward, taking her own advice and staying close... Even if that means a slow trek for the whole team.

Comments

[dripdrive]

It might be hard for him to keep anything on hand considering he doesn't have any but the medication is safely in a bag on Anasui's back. The bag has been secured by a pink cloth, matching the one that Anasui had Conrad and Shoka tie around his face to keep the spores off. Anasui doesn't know what to make of his comrades either but they seem competent, which is good enough for Anasui. That being said...

"You're more likely to get spored than I am, being down there," Anasui scoffs. "But you better not hold back. Else you won't be able to stand against me." Anasui doesn't even sound arrogant. He sounds so... matter-of-fact about the situation, as if he wasn't aware of the type disadvantage he had against Shoka. But Anasui knows he's a good fighter and a strategist, even when he's mad. His words are as much a warning to the other two as they are confirmation he heard their leader.

Anasui has gone on a couple of missions to the forest before. Most of those missions were mushroom gathering missions but one was a journey into the Central Forest. In all of those quests, Anasui has had to work with smaller Pokemon and he was used to their walking speed - it makes staying with the pack easy.

This doesn't mean that he's happy about it -in fact, he's rather annoyed he had to slow down his walking pace yet again. It's frustratingly slow, even accounting for slowing down to make sure they don't fall for traps or hazards. For Anasui, this is practically a crawl!

"... There is a better way to do this."

[conradachenleck]

Conrad is trying his best, here. He doesn't exactly have legs, so he has to scamper to keep up, but he's doing an okay job despite his limitations. It's also kind of difficult for him to keep the makeshift cloth mask over his mouth as he walks. It's awkward, as it sort of binds his arms and makes it hard for him to carry anything. Everything is more than a little annoying, so he's already feeling a tad grouchy.

"I don't think we could get any closer if we tried," he grumbles, shooting a glance between his two teammates. "And, yeah, I get it. We'll just beat the hell out of each other if we inhale spores."

Really, he's more concerned about the flickers of movement he catches out of the corner of his eye. He half expects something to snare one of them or jump out at any second. He tugs his mask a little tighter as he gazes out at whatever is squirming around in the darkness, and he almost misses what Anasui is saying as he focuses elsewhere.

"What? What are you talking about? If you really have a better idea, let's hear it."

[telewarped]

"So glad we have a mutual understanding," Shoka chirps in reply to Conrad's first comment.

A brief silence, then, before Anasui speaks up again. She turns to glance at him sidelong, one of her false ears perked up quizzically. She's about to hiss at Conrad not to encourage him... But it's too late; he's already replied (and truthfully, she might be a little curious herself).

"And it better be good."

[dripdrive]

Anasui smirks. It's not that he will enjoy this but the reactions from the other two are going to be funny. The Espathra reaches over to Conrad and grabs him with his beak before hoisting the balloon-like Pokemon roughly onto his back. Then, with surprising speed, he'll do the same to Shoka, grabbing her by her body instead of her false head so he doesn't accidentally take off the robe.

"There. Now you guys can keep an eye out for threats and we can all move at a normal pace," Anasui says simply. With no regard for his newly-acquired passengers, he'll start walking forward at a reasonable pace.

[conradachenleck]

Of course, it's not like Conrad was expecting to be plucked up out of nowhere. He's still busy eyeing the foliage that surrounds them, when suddenly he's being nabbed none too gently. He lets out a rather comical sound, something between a grunt and a garbled yelp, and he swings his little pink arms around uselessly until he's seated on the other Pokémon's back.

"Christ! You could've given us some kind of warning that you were going to do that!"

He is rather displeased by the rudeness and that beak pinched a bit. Now he has to cling to his teammate's back otherwise he could fall and he'd probably bounce away to god only knows where to be swallowed up by the forest. He'd definitely be complaining a lot more if he wasn't so focused on holding on for dear life. It's good for Anasui that he's lightweight, at least, even if it is a problem for Conrad.

[telewarped]

Even compared to the living balloon animal that is Conrad, Shoka is somehow even lighter. It's like lifting a feather (or, more accurately, a handkerchief). Once Anasui has plucked her up into his beak—too fast for her to flee into her shadow, or even react at all—she has no hope of escaping his grip.

"Oh, hell n—o!"

Before she can even finish that sentence, she's up on Anasui's back, deposited between his neck and Conrad. She sputters, then huffs in indignation as she's jostled, flinging out her hands to find a secure (but mercifully painless) hold on Anasui's feathers so she doesn't go tumbling onto the forest floor below... And, perhaps most embarrassingly, she finds that this reaction comes to her automatically, as if she's ridden an Espathra dozens of times.

She hasn't, of course, but A.B.A has done this exact same thing to her too many times for her to count.

(New objective: figure out how to be less pickupable to weird birds.)

To Conrad's complaint, she grumbles, "Well, you did ask..."

Once she has herself fully situated, however, she finally looks ahead and sees that Anasui is right: scanning for threats from this height is much easier—and she doesn't have to worry about dragging the hem of her disguise through the muck anymore!

"Huh. Not gonna lie... The view from up here doesn't totally suck." She squints into the dark for a moment before a thought makes her snicker. "You're like a discount Chocobo or something."

In the distance, hidden beneath layers of decaying plant matter and soil, something begins to stir.

[dripdrive]

Usually, Anasui wouldn't get a kick out of such reactions but that was a lot more satisfying than anticipated. It almost makes up for the fact he's a pack mule again and his lovely, soft, feathers are being used as handholds (At least it isn't painful).

"You did ask," Anasui says to Conrad, echoing Shoka. "Now I'm moving for us, you two have no excuse to not catch danger."

The ride will also be very steady. Though the other two will have to still keep hold, Anasui isn't jostling about. He has perfect control of his movements, and it's almost elegant as he strolls through the forest.

Although usually alert, Anasui will miss the stirring plants and earth because he turns his head to Shoka. He tilts his head quizzically.

"What's a Chocobo? Is that another Pokemon?" He's a discount of nothing, thank you very much.

[conradachenleck]

Conrad is going to grumble in response, but at least he can experience some fleeting amusement as Shoka is picked up and placed in front of him. He scoots back just a tad to give her more room, doing his best not to disturb the medicine as he does so. Lucky for him his mask is still in place after all that. Since he has to hold on tight to Anasui, he can't exactly pause to adjust it.

"Yeah, I understand," he huffs in response to being instructed to watch out for anything that might cause them trouble. Those big shimmery eyes of his aren't exactly great at seeing in the dark, but he'll be on the lookout.

"Chocobos are something else entirely," he mumbles in response to Anasui's question. He could elaborate further, if he has to, but then he sees it... Some movement in the dark as they jog along the forest floor. Or at least he's pretty sure he sees something.

"W-Wait...! There- There's something out there." And he waves a pink arm in the direction of a sleek, tentacle-like shadow branching out toward them.

[telewarped]

As much as Shoka wants to be madder about this entire setup on principle, the ride is actually kind of luxurious—smooth and secure, with built-in extra-soft cushioning. Like when she rode A.B.A, there's something exhilarating about it, too, almost like she's a real Summoner or Beastmaster.

Speaking of which, Anasui asks her to explain chocobos. Apparently pleased to be asked, she perks up, only for Conrad to beat her to the punch. She isn't mad about that either and only perks up even more, twisting around to stare expectantly at him, gray eyes huge and shining.

She knows he's from modern times, so it would make sense for him to know chocobos and Final Fantasy—maybe even FanGO, too (!!)—but somehow it never occurred to her to ask. It's been so long since she was last able to talk about it with anyone that her excitement is palpable...

But then the moment is ruined by quest BS. Of course. As she turns back around, Shoka sees what Conrad sees, too: a long something reaching toward them from the gloom. The tentacle-arm of some Pokémon, she thinks at first, but her night vision shows her that it's green and leafy, like a plant.

"Ugh, come on," she complains, unserious as ever. "I was just about to..."

Out of the corner of her eye, she catches a flicker of movement below them, too, then another: a sudden, strange bulging of the earth by Anasui's feet. The soil itself seems to squirm and writhe.

"Wait. There's something else—right under us!"

She's only just barely able to finish that sentence before those shapes below them twist and coil—then finally erupt from the dirt, rearing up like enormous snakes. The scent of fresh soil fills the air. They're vines, Shoka sees then, outstretched and threatening to tangle themselves around Anasui's legs.

"Run, Choco-bozo!" She extends an arm out into Anasui's field of vision, pointing him in a new direction—forward, away from the vines trying to trip him up, but also veering away from the first vine Conrad spotted. "That way! We've got a clear shot!"

Or so she thinks, at least, judging by what she can see. If there were that many vines hidden right under them, who's to say there aren't more waiting up ahead?

[dripdrive]

Anasui is the sort of guy who enjoys learning random trivia (even if he won't admit it) so he's ready to ask about the Chocobos. However, he immediately locks in when he hears the alert. His eyes flash over to the vines that Conrad spots and then flick down to where Shoka points. Those certainly were vines. Anasui instinctively steps back to avoid the vines and scowls.

"Shit! Hold on!" Anasui can't see much beyond their immediate field of view so Shoka's hand is a huge help. He can't charge at his full speed but he can certainly move quickly, weaving through the trees to avoid the vines.

"Where are these things coming from?" He yells as he moves.

[conradachenleck]

Conrad would have been quite happy to discuss Chocobos and where they come from, but... Yeah, their current situation isn't going to allow them that. In an instant he's basically holding on for dear life as Anasui dashes across the forest floor to avoid the vines that abruptly appear out of the earth and the darkness of the woods.

At least it seems they can outrun them. Or some of them. The three of them seem to be making a pretty clean break when Conrad spies even more vines springing up out of the dirt right in front of them.

"OH FU-! They're everywhere!" he half yells, half grunts, stating the obvious as they run upon the vines.

What do they do now? They can't go back the way they came, so their options are pretty limited. Pretty soon they'll be surrounded as the vines reach out for them. He has to assume they want to ensnare them and drag them off into the dark and his panicked mind tries to think... What can he do? He can't Sing vines to sleep and he lacks sharp claws and teeth to cut them down. This has definitely become a real nightmare scenario and he feels the impending doom as the vines close in on them.

[telewarped]

Shoka holds on tight, the ears of her disguise flapping behind her in the wind as Anasui speeds ahead. This might have been fun, actually... if not for the countless murderous vines.

Anasui makes a fair point. Where are they coming from? Shoka squints through the gaps between the reaching, serpentine shapes, searching for an origin point... But there's nothing.

"H—hell if I know," she replies, unnerved. "I can't see any—..."

Conrad makes a fair point, too. They are everywhere. Soon, they have the team surrounded, forcing them to an abrupt halt.

"I noticed, thanks!"

A pair of vines move to strike in tandem, winding their way toward Anasui's neck—and suddenly, inexplicably, Shoka finds herself thinking of Ayano. Ayano's Noise form, rather, and the vines she produced to subject her attackers to Punishment. There was only one way to get through it, when one member of the team found themselves cornered and trapped: the rest of the team needed to attack those vines head on, as fast and viciously as possible.

The memory stings—and then it makes Shoka angry. The rage puppets her upright, makes her release her hold on Anasui's feathers and take a flying leap at the vines approaching him, swinging her glowing tail-stick at them like a hatchet.

"Back—" Slice left. "—Off!" And another slice right.

She doesn't even expect it to work, really—and yet it does. When she lands on the ground before her teammates, the heads of those two vines land with her, lobbed clean off. What's left of them continue to writhe about in the air, but it's proof enough for Shoka: they can fight their way out.

A Mimikyu possessed, she dives right back in, wildly brandishing her claws and tail-stick. She seems intent on fighting all the vines off herself, using this as an excuse to let out what seems like a great deal of pent-up rage—but there's no way she possibly could. She'll need help.

"Get—outta—my way!"

[dripdrive]

Anasui skids to a halt as he realises they're surrounded. They have a tiny patch of ground but who knows when the vines will break through and grab his legs. He could make a run for it and it's almost guaranteed that he'd be ensnared. Anasui wracks his brains at what to do but Shoka acts before him.

Oh.

Oh!!!

"I suppose this was inevitable," Anasui says with a sigh. However, not one to shy away from violence, Anasui's eyes glow and he raises his head to attack. Immediately, a strange beam of light crashes down on the vines violently, crushing them into the earth.

Still mindful of Connor on his back, Anasui spins around to attack some of the vines behind them. They're a bit too close for him to use Lumina Crash again on but Anasui uses his talons to cut through the thick vines.

"Get a torch on if you can!" Anasui calls to Connor. Whether the Jigglypuff chooses to listen to him or not is irrelevant, really though. Anasui is ready to fight blindly through the fog!