bottlecaplogs | mist on the grass

[ A problem he can't work towards solving somehow itches at him mentally, sticks like a burr he can't dislodge. If it were just him, if it was something he could do or think or adjust it'd be fine. Actionable. See the intended destination, set course, follow the tracks to their final stop. Might not be easy but at least he would know he was doing something to try to progress.

Having to carry on like usual when he knows there's something wrong, giving it time— that's more difficult. But that's all there is for how things are, isn't there? It happened in the past and Ingo insists he should not let it affect his own conduct. He does not like it but there is nothing to be done about it. He will have to be something he isn't really all that good at, in that case: patient.

If that is all Emmet can do then he will do his best. ]

Can't hurt to try. As long as we aren't relying on them alone, right? They said you can't really trust what you see in the fog here.

[ As seems to be a recurring trend with this forest, though the clinging fog already seems to be of a distinctly different quality than what they'd run into at the other end of the woods. His ears twitch a little as he subtly scents the air. ]

I wonder if other senses are affected too.

It could be. The scent trails did not work right, that time.

[He, meanwhile, lowers his head to sniff the ground. It's easier, he thinks, if he can either keep Emmet fully in view or out of it entirely. Seeing him in his periphery is what really gives him a start. It's something he has to work past; in Hisui, he could mostly get by without having to spend too much time around Zoroark, but here his conduct is simply unacceptable. It's been years since he had a real incident. Shouldn't he have gotten over it all by now? He's good at letting everything else from the past go...

Well, nevermind it.]

We should probably check with one another, if we see something strange! Or even something not that strange!

[ Moist soil, decaying wood. Yep. Sure smells like forest... and overwhelmingly that and not much else. ]

Regular check-ins. Yes, that sounds good. We'll have to be careful with the path forward too. They did already mention it, but after what happened last time...

[ With the cave-in, and all. ]

Though I guess there isn't exactly an easy way for us to test if the ground will hold.

[ It might easily be able to support the weight of any random sticks or pebbles they toss forward, and then collapse underfoot only after being subjected to their combined full weight. ]

Especially given we cannot trust our own eyes.

[What if they see something proving it's safe, but it's a lie? There's really no telling...]

We can move slowly. It is not as though we are in a rush!

[ A bit of a huffed sigh. If only it were as easy as fighting illusion with illusion, huh... not that Emmet has enough of a grasp on it to really extend them all that far beyond himself yet. ]

You are right. They just want information. Not a rescue, nothing time sensitive. No need to hurry.

Safe driving, proceed with caution. [ a nod, mostly to himself. ] Okay. How far, ideally, do you want to be spacing the markers?

[ Ideally, because if precedent holds then they're likely to get turned around somehow simply just going in a straight line. ]

[Ingo glances over his shoulder and sighs.]

We will not be able to see the previous ones unless we place them nearly on top of one another, I fear! But we may as well leave them close enough together to easily trip over in the fog. Arrows, maybe.

[He can also imagine they'll get turned around, so just leaving them in a trail back won't quite work.]

[ Also glances back at the way they came. Right. Fun. Even here, the dense fog makes it practically impossible to see more than a few lengths in any given direction. ]

... As long as the directions don't get turned around too, maybe.

[ Hmm...

Experimentally, Emmet tests his claws against the bark of a nearby fallen log. Another glance back at the direction they should need to go to return to the city, provided the forest doesn't play its usual tricks, before he carves three simple lines into the wood: an arrow pointing back.

That said, he's also going to do the same to one of the still standing tree trunks nearby. For good measure. ]

That's true.

[Really, with the way their perceptions can be played with, there's nothing they can truly rely upon. It's worth the small effort it takes to leave a sign anyway, though.]

I suppose this is all we can do. [He moves forward a little, and rises up onto his hind legs to carve into another tree himself.] It does make me miss Probopass...but I suppose he would have just as much trouble as my compass.

Probably means Eelektross and Klinklang would have trouble too.

[ What must it be like, to have those kinds of extra senses and also have them confused on top of the others? Emmet lets himself fall to ask fours before glancing at their path forward. ]

What do you make of it, anyway? How the woods here are, I mean.

[ A sticky, clinging fog that feels almost alive; treacherous to an oddly insistent degree, all that. ]

It seems entirely too much to be the work of ordinary ghosts or psychic types. Even if there were a group of them coordinating - I have never heard of such an extreme and sustained effect. And over such a vast area, too.

[It makes him wonder if space and time warping isn't at play. But if so, it's far, far more subtle than anything that ever happened in Hisui. The difference is vast enough that he doesn't even believe the theory himself.]

Is there anything like that in the future?

Not like this, at least in Unova. Lostlorn Forest is known for leading travelers astray, sure. [ A half-beat of pause, but no stumble. ] Zoroark are known to reside in the area even if they mostly keep to themselves. And the forests around the centralmost region of Unova can be— odd. But neither of them is really like this.

[ Lostlorn Forest, the forests of the Entralink and the like, those can be handled with the normal considerations for being out in the wilderness. Maybe a few extra considerations for if one presses further onwards, closer to Unova's heart, where the lines between reality and dreams can sometimes blur at the edges.

But that's not the same as what's going on here. Emmet might suspect Musharna or Zoroark or some number of other ghosts or psychics whether Pokemon or otherwise were it not for the reasons Ingo's already mentioned. ]

Wayward Cave can be a little tricky...but, yes, it's certainly nothing like this place.

[That, he thinks, is a property of the cave more so than any Pokemon. There's ghosts around, certainly, but more in the ruins than the caves.]

I cannot help but think it may be connected somehow to our own arrival here...

[The timing just doesn't seem coincidental.]

And yet we have not been given any direction save those from the guilds.

[ Not a disagreement, not quite a lament, just a comment. Unless the weird state of their dreams is related? There are those who are sleeping well and those who aren't ... isn't the polar nature of it not unlike the contrast between — the fuzzy recollections of that bleak void, and the warmth of the voice that found them in it? ]

I wonder. What it is about this place specifically. Is the forest supposed to be difficult to cross on purpose? No way to answer that but...

[ That all of them have found themselves in a place that is, in a way, 'protected' on all sides also seems weirdly coincidental. ]

Well. We can talk as we go, right?

We can!

[They'll just have to move slowly and carefully!

Of course, the downside of the fog is that they cannot see much of their surroundings. There's little to comment on, save for the fog, which they've already talked about at length. Without that help...Ingo's not quite sure what to say. The only comment that's coming to mind is about how this is certainly Zoroark weather, which would be asinine.

It takes a little bit before he comes up with something else.]

...I am a bit glad that we do not have any children with us this time.

Hm? Oh. Right. I am Emmet. I can agree with that, yep.

[ Pause. ]

Not to say that they aren't capable, I mean. But also, purposely taking them into a place like this when we don't know the lay of the land ourselves seems a little ...

[ It certainly does not pass safety checks. Though, the children were the ones who approached them first, so maybe they realized that too, in a way? ]

It does.

[Ingo agrees! He doesn't think anything too out-of-hand has been going on, but even so - he'd hate to be the one bringing them out here.]

They're all old enough to be considered adults in Hisui, at least so far as I can tell. Firepaw's case is a little strange... [Presumably cats also age at different rates than humans!] But even so, they would not be sent out alone on serious tasks!

Still children in Unova, I think. [ It is a little hard to tell with Firepaw, who acts very young in some ways and more like ... a teenager? in others. ] Old enough to be allowed to travel and go on their journeys alone, though. Well, with a partner. If they'd grown up knowing about and around Pokémon, anyway.

[ In a kinder world, where Pokémon and humans are more used to existing around and with each other. ]

But with the way things are, especially when they seem so unaccustomed to what Pokémon can be capable of...

[ Emporio's reaction to Emmet asking Ingo his thoughts regarding that first complication on their trip previous kind of illustrates this particular point. ]

What we are used to. What they are used to. What we expect. What they do. These things diverge. We can try to explain as much as we want. But we are starting from completely different stations. The shared foundation just isn't there.

[ Hearing and reading about it is one thing, but. A lot of these things, they're kind of just learning by way of experiencing it in action, aren't they? Part of Emmet kind of wants to ask whether this is what it was like in Hisui, where people might have been aware of Pokémon but were afraid of them instead. ]

Quite true. I was very lost when it came to wilderness survival, initially.

[Some common knowledge, at least for Clan members, just wasn't there. It's possible he learned and then forgot, but Ingo has come to suspect that much of those skills just weren't necessary in the future. That's...well, it's probably a good ting, isn't it? For peoples' lives to be easier?]

But one can always learn! All it takes is a bit of -

[Ingo has been paying attention. The fog makes it difficult to see, of course, but it's not like he wasn't looking where he was going at all. Still, he doesn't see the drop-off until he's already stepped off of it.

Instinct has him curling into himself, shielding his head and trying to roll. It's a good instinct! But he's only ever practiced falling with a human body. He lands a little awkwardly, and from the sudden flash of pain in his ribs, possibly on a stone.]

We didn't really need it—?!

[ Emmet hastily lunges forward when Ingo starts to fall, of course he does, but he's not quick enough for his claws to close around anything more than empty air as the trailing ends of his words pick up into a sharp yelp, a whine through the click of his teeth as his mouth audibly snaps shut on the final word.

The rushed movement means he overbalances, of course, but he's prepared for that, a split second's forewarning about the cliff's edge still counts— his shadow stretches, and as he goes over the edge as well Emmet lets go of whatever innate instinct it is that keeps him in a mostly tangible, solid form, slipping into the myriad shadows across the cliff face and forest floor. Not here, not here, he needs to be down there—

It's not that far a distance, it turns out. A puddle of intent dark darts its way across the heavily shaded bottom of the drop-off and then back. Can barely see anything in this mist... ]

Ingo? Ingo, are you— how are you doing?

Edited 2025-05-07 03:16 (UTC)

[His flames guttered out in the fall. It's dark now. For a second or two, Ingo lays where he is, taking stock. His paws flex without issue, and he can move his limbs. There's no head pain, and though he feels rather jarred, he's fairly sure his vision's normal. All good signs!]

I'm alright!

[He rises gingerly to his feet, pain flaring somewhere in his torso. He did land rather heavily on his side, he thinks. There may be a small cut, but twisting to try and see makes him hiss a little. It's not broken-ribs pain, but there will most certainly be a serious bruise.]

[ He's responsive, okay! That's good. Not that far a drop. Also good is how hearing Ingo makes it easy to find him, the Zoroark beelining in the direction of the Typhlosion's voice. In clear view of the other, Emmet hauls himself up out of his shadow, hovering nearby and practically vibrating as he looks Ingo over, especially around the ribs, but holds himself back from getting too close. ]

... Accident-prone. [ he tries, smile fixed and teasing. ] Shouldn't scare me like that. Didn't I already say?

[ But, more seriously: ]

That cliff wasn't ... there until we fell off it. Was it?

I apologize!

[Though it wasn't too bad a fall, as things go! Not his fault either, he's fairly sure.]

I don't...believe it was. I feel we ought to have noticed something before walking right off it!

So perceptions again.

[ Uuuuuughhhhhh. Nothing for it, though, unless they, what, somehow get on the forest's good side? ]

Well. That will be fun. You are doing okay, though? Continue on this track, or should we try to find a way back up?

Ah, well.

[Ingo sighs. He doesn't want to be the reason they turn back after so little progress. Certainly, he has pushed through worse than this! But...if they get in a battle now, he won't be the trainer; he'll be one of the Pokemon battling. He cannot support Emmet as well if he's hurt.

Besides. He is starting to feel a little strange. Cold, or...dreamlike, maybe. Like a memory scratching at the other side of that locked door in his mind, except that this time he cannot even see why.]

Perhaps I could eat a berry or something like that...

[One of his ears flicks, and he turns to glance off into the fog.]

[ He's already going through their packs for an Oran Berry as Ingo suggests it, but ...

...? Did Ingo hear something? Hearing, Emmet's found, is one of his better senses now...

But if there's something out there that's caught Ingo's attention, Emmet hasn't noticed it at all. Even glancing towards the same direction, pitching his ears every which way to try to get a better idea of what might be lurking in the fog doesn't net anything of note. Either the uncanny, clinging fog has stifled Emmet's own senses, or. ]

What is it? Did you hear something?

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