Dense Thicket

[Pixel]

A single spearow burst from the cut tree as it splinted apart into pieces to lay at his feet. Clawdia primly groomed her gleaming claws, quite proud of what she accomplished with a few powerful swipes of her dainty paws. Peering back at Adrian, she awaited his praise and he gave it, patting her head as he examined the cut wood. The splintered chunks were uneven, but that was to be expected of an inexperienced pokemon who was just trying to break something rather than cut down with precision. 

"So this is the move they use to make charcoal?" Adrian mused, wondering if there was a particular wood somewhere in this forest that was better than others and if the wood had to be chopped a certain way. It wasn't as if he wanted to start up a wood cutting business of anything, but he was admittedly curious. 

As he knelt there, examining chunks of broken timber, his radio crackled to life, notifying any officers in the Azalea and Goldenrod area. Apparently, there was a missing child that they suspect had gotten lost in Ilex, and if the officer found said child, they were to bring them to the Goldenrod side of Ilex forest to be reunited with their parents. Adrian listened to the description. A young boy under the age of ten, blond with violet eyes and freckles. Last seen wearing a green shirt and cargo shorts. 

Adrian lifted the radio so he could speak into it, "Officer Hartt here. I am currently in Ilex Forest, at the Dense Thicket, heading towards Goldenrod. I will start looking for the child. Over." The radio crackled to life to confirm his location and status and Adrian quickly made a few adjustments as he pushed through the bottleneck he had been trapped in. With some more room for his elbows to flex, he started to return pokemon to their balls and use the boxes through his pokegear to rearrange his party.

"Heimdal, you can help me traverse the forest faster." While Sarge was an excellent navigator, he wasn't very fast or well equipped for riding. The large hound wuffed as he was released from his ball, clearly intrigued by this new job! Adrian climbed on the arcanine's back and sent out Guardian ahead of them. "Guardian, keep the path ahead of us clear. We are looking for a lost child."

The gallade nodded back at him.

Time to go. They all knew their assignment. Flicker lifted high above to light their path as Guardian ran ahead and started slicing through grasses and shrubs that stood on the path with ease. Adrian double checked the vest that Heimdal wore, signifying he was an IPF officer's arcanine, before leaning low against the arcanine's neck to avoid getting hit in the face with branches. "We're looking for a child. Keep your nose to the ground."

He earned a wuff of confirmation before Heimdal leapt forward, running like the literal wind, blindingly quick, paws seemingly barely gracing the ground itself as he surged through the cleared path in the trees. In a weird way, this was the perfect distraction from his own recent encounter in the tunnels that left him unsettled and introspective. As well as from his own dislike of forests and his propensity for getting lost in them. Right now, there was a job to do and a person to help. 

Adrian could and would focus on that instead of his own fear. Because if grown adults can get turned around in these trees, then no doubt a young child was likely to get horribly lost.

—

Word Count: 600 | OOC:

Going to forest shrine!

(Adding an NPC and mini side quest for fluff)

Swapping out Glameow and mightyena for Arcanine and Gallade visually in my bottom bar to show who is here. Not for battling.

[Venominon]

Comin' back from the Forest Shrine

Having finished his work in the Ilex Forest for the time being, Shinya was headed back to Violet City for the next Alola trial that he was told was there. Or to be more precise, inside the Dark Cave. Shinya had never actually been there before, but if that's where the next trial was, then that's where he was headed. Thankfully, the fog surrounding the Ilex Forest and Azalea Town had finally lifted, making it much easier for the Bug type trainer to find his way back to the forest's exit. Upon reaching the Dense Thicket, Shinya observed several more trees that had been cut down since the first time he passed through it, stepping over the very same tree his Pinsir originally cut down in order for him to advance further into said forest. Beyond this, all the remained in his path was the Shady Glen. In other words, cake.

OOC: Moving on to the Shady Glen.

[Pixel]

"So why did you need to go into Ilex to find your husband?" Freya asked, her voice a little muffled from her scarf. Both she and the older woman were on Arcanine's back being carried through the forest, their heads down to avoid the worst of the sand blasting from the wind whipping the earth into a fury. "Oh! And I forgot my manners entirely, my name is Freya. Freya Baxton."

"A pleasure to meet you Freya, dear, and thank you again for helping me. I need to go find my dear hubby because his first grandchild was born and our darling daughter wants her father to come meet her baby girl of course!" The woman said. "And you may call me Lola." 

"Wait. Your daughter was pregnant with her first child and he went wandering into the woods so close to the birth?"

Lola chuckled and patted Freya's side, "My dear, he has been in the forest since before that baby girl was a twinkle in her mama's eye. But he was so terribly excited when he learned she was expecting. Alas, with his memory, I believe he forgot how much time had passed. So to surprise our daughter, I decided to go fetch him myself!"

"And it is normal for him to just...be in the forest for months at a time?"

"Yes." 

Lola just smiled and Freya had to accept that some families were just a little different. Lola seemed to be happy and feel this was normal, so Freya accepted it and moved on. After some travel, they ended up in an especially dense part of the forest where it became too narrow to travel, so she sent out that rattata she taught CUT to yesterday.

"Widen the path up for us," Freya called out, watchful as the rattata scampered about, biting and slicing through the branches and vines with keen accuracy. Quite useful indeed! Once the path started to widen, Freya realized that she was staring into the deeper part of Ilex itself and that she might lose access to her boxes if she went much deeper into the forest. "One moment, I promised a friend I would do something for him." 

She released Sandy from her ball and the little spewpa was nearly blown away by the wind.

"Sorry Sandy, I know you're probably really confused, but your trainer asked me to help you evolve during a sandstorm...and well..." The sand indeed raged around them. She rummaged in her bag and offered the spewpa a candy. "Here."

—

Word Count; 422 (+400) | OOC:

Cutting down the small tree blocking the path!
Also, I would like to feed one xs exp candy to Sandy the Spewpa. Would like another mod confirm the candy and the Sandstorm wing pattern.

(Adding an NPC to my journey for flavor)

[Caramell 🍬]

While wildlife teemed in abundance, they remained locked out of reach. Birds with colorful wings swooped in the skies above and darted through the tangled web of thick branches within the canopies overhead. Some blended in with their environments, drab greys and browns muddled in the mix of greyish trunks and brownish limbs. Whilst others blushed against their terrain, wings with pink hues that darted in and out of focus. Many of these braver birds darted the tops of the small yet overgrown thicket and stared down angrily at Freya and her team, quietly plotting their demise.

The small purple rodent worked fastidiously on the large brambles and thick trees that stared back at Freya of equal height. They were shrouded together in large clumps, with some towering over and others coming just under her chin. Though it was reasonable to assume she could hack and chop away at the smaller fair of foliage blocking her path, too many larger trees with bases whose diameters would make difficult work of any tools she might have brought stood as stubborn obstacles along her path. Rattata easily knocked them down, scratching and clawing at the wood with her powerful moves until they collapsed on the ground to the side, creating a decent indention that Freya could easily step through.

Something else glimmered under the pile of bark and leaves. The emerald and dark green leaves clung to their offshoots in quiet determination to remain apart of the one lively and vibrant tree, though time would surely dilute their hues as it stole what was left of their life. The small technical machine sparkled when individual rays from the hot sun above hit it just right, causing the lights to seemingly dance all about them. Surely Freya wouldn’t just leave this wondrous item behind? No! She would just have to pick it up and take it with her, of course! Along with this new discovery, her small bug would bounce and bobble as evolution soon overtook its form.

Freya cleared the path!

She found TM20: Safeguard!
-->
Sandy gained +1 level to [Lv 12] and evolved into Sandstorm Vivillon!
-1 XS Candy deducted from inventory.

UljZkFIPp_1-81-8

[Pixel]

Freya watched as Sandy eagerly ate the candy, despite the weather, and after a moment, she began to glow! She stepped back and watched as brilliantly patterned wings emerged and unfolded from the spewpa's back...and a dutsy colored butterfly formed. Interesting! She snapped a pick for Adrian as Sandy fluttered about, seemingly too excited about her own evolution to care about the sand ripping at the edges of delicate wings. After a minute, Freya realized that the poor vivillon was probably not resistant to the storm, despite the pattern, and returned her.

"Mkay, I still have access to my boxes...I'm going to send you back to Adrian. And put that rattata back into my pc," Freya said to herself as she opened up her PC app on her phone. The wonders of modern technology. She swapped around her party again until she was satisfied, and when she started to put away her phone, that was when she noticed the shiny thing in the broken debris. "What's this? Oh. A TM! Neat."

She would pocket it before it could become too scratched up.

"Is the path clear, dear?" Lola asked from atop Arcanine.

"Ah, yeah. One sec. I'll get you to your husband in no time! Where was he again?" Lola explained and Freya realized that the man was on the Goldenrod side of the forest. Oh. Well. This would be quite the walk. At least she planned on going all the way through anyway. 

Climbing onto Arcanine's back, the duo headed out deeper into the forest.

—

Word Count; 256 | OOC:

Swapping the rat and the butterfly for Orthworm and Wooper.
Heading to the Shrine!

(Adding an NPC to my journey for flavor)

[Venominon]

Arriving from the Shady Glen

Even with the seemingly unending assault of the very sandy elements, the Team Skull grunt was still able to find his way back to the Dense Thicket. But, of course, he only made it about halfway before his path was blocked by another inconveniently placed tree. One that made it next to impossible for Shinya to proceed on his own. Luckily, he wasn't alone, remembering how to deal with this obstacle, thanks to his last visit to this forest. "Nice try, Mother Nature, but you're gonna have to do a lot better than that! Pinsir, you're on!" Having exchanged his Yanma for his Pinsir ahead of time, Shinya grabbed the Stagbeetle Pokemon's Pokeball, activated the round device, and tossed it out onto the path ahead of him.

Through the dust storm, a bright flash of light appeared from the red and white orb, which quickly gave rise to Shinya's trusty woodcutter. And boy, was he angry about the weather. "Blah! What the heck?! Why'd ya call me out in this mess, boss?! It's already in my eyes and mouth!" Pinsir struggled to get the sand out of his eyes and mouth, while Shinya did his best to guide his Pokemon towards his objective. "I know it sucks, Pinsir, but you'll only be out here for a few minutes! Just use Cut on the tree directly in front of ya!" Somehow, Pinsir managed to follow Shinya's intructions, charging forward until he hit the tree, then cutting right through it like butter with his pincers, opening the path up for his trainer in moments.

OOC: I know that Shinya needs Cut to advance through this area. So, can we just say that Shinya exchanged his Yanma for his Pinsir, cut down the tree, then immediately switched Yanma and Pinsir back again? I'll just wait for a mod to make it official before moving Shinya forward if that's cool. Thanks.

[vartio]

(OOC) Okay Venom, here's how it's going to happen, you can swap in your Pinsir. However, if you roll the Spearow encounter, it will need to stay in your party until the encounter resolves! Enjoy the RNG!

XKXOFgIrp_1-8 p_1-4 p_1-2

---

Shinya's Pinsir stood fast before the great terror that was THE TREE ^TM. Upon its charge THE TREE^TM would hold its ground as the Pinsir wrapped its Pincers around its trunk! THE TREE^TM would not yield easily, requiring the full force of Pinsir in order to pierce through it!

The sound of the wood creaking and groaning underneath the cutting force of Pinsir's horns showed that THE TREE^TM was not willing to give up without a fight! Yet in the end THE TREE^TM would begin to yield, cracking sounds fitting as those massive pincers cut through its body, causing it to topple over. Somehow, someway, when Shinya would approach the structure of the tree, he'd find that on top of the center of it was...

An Antidote for him!

How did that get there anyhow? Perhaps only THE TREE^TM knew.1-8·1-4·1-2

[Venominon]

This was the second time Shinya had watched his Stagbeetle Pokemon topple a large tree in this forest, but it still amused him, making him smirk as he watched it fall to the ground. "Timber!" The Bug type trainer yelled out as the wooden pillar fell, unable to resist the urge to do so. Pinsir found it to be rather amusing as well, snickering after hearing what his trainer had to say on the matter. "Anyway, thanks for the assist, Pinsir. Return for now, pal." Shinya called the Bug type back to his Pokeball, then immediately sent it back to his PC, retrieving Yanma's Pokeball in its place. Now that that was done, Shinya once more continued his trek through the Ilex Forest.

However, as he past the fallen tree, he came to a stop, as something caught his eye. Something that didn't belong amongst all the logs, branches, and leaves. Growing curious, the Alolan trainer approached the item he saw, and was a bit surprised and confused to see that it was a lone Antidote. And a full one at that. A fact he immediately clued into after bending over to pick it up. "Seriously? I get that there are ghosts here and everythin', but c'mon, people. What a waste of money and a perfectly good item. Oh well. Someone's loss is my gain." Shinya stated with a shrug of his shoulders, tucking the Antidote into his bag before continuing down the path, headed for the Forest Shrine next.

OOC: Looks like I won against RNG this time. Also, vartio, this is Shinya we're talkin' about here. Not Venom. And since Vartio didn't add the Antidote to Shinya's inventory, I'll just take care of it myself right now with my Technician privileges. Thanks. And finally, Shinya will be headed over to the Forest Shrine now.

[Caramell 🍬]

ZAIDEN KABILA Aspiring Champion Bike Mode: On | Time: Day Quiet thoughts ran rampant through the vacant mind. Zaiden pushed his way through a tangled webwork of trees and brambly bushes along his trek towards Goldenrod. Large brown eyes widened with fear, their brain sputtering old wives’ tales about little kids getting lost inside of forests and disappearing forever. Some were stolen away by the malevolent spirits that haunted the area, always seeking the next life to claim. Some were consumed by the bloodthirsty, monstrous wild Pokemon whose fantastical and whimsical designs often only lived in the minds of slumbering souls. He pulled a few limbs back on a prickly barberry bush. The bright red leaves shivered in anticipation and slapped Zaiden in the face as soon as he released his grip on the plant. Zaiden rubbed the spot where the plant struck him whilst glowering at the thick bush angrily. His Pokemon, annoyed, slammed into the branch and broke it into two pieces when it came swinging back in his face. Zaiden laughed and shook his head as he watched Shio attack the large barberry bush while shouting incoherent syllables that just sounded like his species’ namesake. “It’s not the plant’s fault.” Zaiden reasoned, turning with a nod back to their trek. It would come to a screeching halt in front of a thick tree blocking their only place through. There were some bushes and wild vines wrapped around the other ways through but…Zaiden gulped, wide eyes staring at the monstrous form before him. While the small conifer wasn’t the biggest tree Zaiden came across in his time traveling the region of Johto, it was certainly a great deal bigger than he’d expected he would need to handle. After careful consideration, Zaiden immediately pulled out a small ball and called forth a carnivorous plant with a large yellow head to stand before the tree. Moyashi blinked, pressing one vine to the underside of her chin, and turned curiously to Zaiden. “I need you to cut this tree down. Ok?” Zaiden gestured towards the conifer. It’s many limbs sprouted out from the tip of the tree all the way near the ground. Thousands of needle-like leaves coated their long branches and shivered as a short breeze slithered through them. Moyashi blinked a few times and tilted her head in confusion. What? “Just how do you expect me to do that? I’m not a lumberjack!” She huffed firmly, using two of her vines to gesture at the small conifer herself. “Hire someone to do this for you, instead of trying to be cheap!” Was he serious?! Zaiden shook his head and laughed. How could he expect her to understand what he meant? He pulled out a small disc and passed it over to Moyashi, who blinked at it as she accepted it in her vines. “Just what do you think this is supposed to do for me? I’m already thin enough, I’d rather bugs for food!” Moyashi humored. Zaiden plucked it gently from her vines, then showed her how to use the hidden machine, helping Moyashi learn how to cut. She turned to the tree, with Zaiden nodded his head encouragingly, and raised her vines up as a strange glow coated them. “Oh…k…” She shrugged, slashing at the bark wildly. “Here goes nothing…I hope!” She stated flatly. OOC: Coming from Shady Glen. Switching Moyashi into the team and putting Shio back up in the PC. Teaching Moyashi Cut and having her forget Wrap in its place! Self-Updating. Waiting to see what happens. Words: 553 | Speech. Thoughts. | Pokedex Moyashi | Mandoru | Tako | Kiji | Goshikka | Cho | Zaiden Sprite by Redwerecat!

[Pixel]

Here goes nothing would have bee the preferred out come of this whole tree cutting adventure. However, Zaiden chose the exact WRONG tree to cut down today. Sure it was blocking his and everyone else's path deeper into Ilex, but there was a certain spearow who called that tree home. A certain, very irate spearow. As soon as the tree started to fall, a feathered form burst from the branches, wings as bright as fresh blood in the dim light. It let out a menacing caw and instantly started to menace Zaiden for his absolute, insufferable AUDACITY for not only daring to exist, but for his life forfeiting foolishness. HOW DARE HE?! This was its home! You idiot boy. You stupid, worthless, tree cutting human.

With all the fury of a thousand spearows, this single bird began to harass, peck and try to otherwise chase off Zaiden, screeching the entire time. 

Oh how it would make Zaiden rue the day he was born even more.

---

An irate [LV 18] Spearow is furious you cut down its home!
Continue this encounter here.

Rare? NXKKTv_Up_1-8 Uncommon? p_1-4 Common p_1-2 p_10-181-8·1-4·1-2·10-18

[Caramell 🍬]

ZAIDEN KABILA Aspiring Champion Bike Mode: On | Time: Day Although Spearow’s words tickled Tako’s auriculars, he could hardly believe what he was hearing. When did a fellow bird refuse to prove itself amid a tough and arduous fight? Tako scoffed, swooping up high into the air with a loud caw, before spiraling back down with a blast of air that helped to lift his wings higher. “This is my trainer. Everything that concerns him, concerns me.” Tako puffed his chest feathers up and bapped his chest with one of his wings. “A true bird should never turn down a fight!” Tako snapped firmly. Taillow ripped and clawed at Spearow’s feathers as he chased the other bird through the air. They were a tangle and danced on the winds as their wings soared through the canopies. Tako darted through two thick branches and spiraled around a large, scraggly one that presented itself as a roadblock. Spearow chased after in a heartbeat. Zaiden gripped his hair and watched with widened eyes, his heart beating as though it might tear its way out of his chest. He could only see them as small blurs between the entangled network of thick greyish-brown branches and bright green leaves. When they broke away, Tako managed to toss the inferior bird back onto the ground. He landed, strutting his feathers with his wings outstretched wide. A loud and mighty caw arose high into the air in announcement of his triumph. Zaiden smiled, relaxing himself and patiently waited as his heart slowly calmed back to its normal beats, then walked over to his Pokemon with a small treat. “You did amazing, little fella.” He agreed, rewarded Tako with a small bit of fruit that the powerful bluebird easily gobbled up. He only nodded his head firmly, hopping onto Zaiden’s shoulders to nuzzle up against the trainer quietly. “But, of course, I am!” He chirped. OOC: Headed to Forest Shrine! Words: 311 | Speech. Thoughts. | Pokedex Moyashi | Mandoru | Tako | Kiji | Goshikka | Cho | Zaiden Sprite by Redwerecat!