Eerie Wood

[Pixel]

The bat was promptly yeeted away.

Silas was on his feet now, not exactly pacing, but his explorations weren't exactly that of a trained scout. He would poke into a push now and then, lifting up branches and then promptly getting smacked by them. He rubbed his face and grumbled out a few swears of frustration before trying his darndest to not kick the nearest clump of dirt and call it a day. Sure it was getting insufferably hot, but there was shade...miserable shade. 

Urg. He huffed and puffed and fanned himself, feeling exceptionally gross after the sandstorm blew through. Now the sand was making his skin feel sticky and gritty and almost muddy. Blah. He ran both hands through his hair and grimaced at the texture. He needed so many showers. At least three. Maybe four. And a day at the salon. A good shampoo and conditioner plus a trim might be what he needs to feel human after this series of miserable days.

With that decided, he breathed out through his nose and just, shed his outer layer. He hung it up on a branch and smacked his face. Just a little more. A little longer. He would find one of these miracle trees that supposedly sheltered the rarest of rare pokemon...OR he would find this pink stuffed menace that his superior wanted for some baffling reason.

Maybe he should catch two just in case.

Urg. The heat was making him stupid.

Silas slumped against the trunk of a tree to recover a bit, idly watching as Ace flew high above, tawny wings pumping and stretching, the feathers gleaming the sparse light the made it through the canopy above. Not too far away from where he stood was his parasect, a bright red-and-yellow stain of color against the dreary backgrop. The fungus controlled insect prodded at burrows with a claw and shuffled about, trailing spores in its wake. 

He thumped the back of his head against the tree trunk.

"Let me find SOMETHING," he groaned. "Anything of use." He was rapidly losing motivation to the heat. This was even worse than that pouring rain, because he wasn't even able to finagle some kind of trap out here. He just had to sit here, far from civilization, and wait. Maybe playing with his phone would distract him from this mind numbing hellscape. He had some apps on it he could play.

—

Word Count: 400 | OOC:

Looking for a honey tree or an encounter! 
 BIKE MODE.

Silas is staying put.

[Tiki]

A (Level 10) Zubat just had a great lunch at honey tree. It cried “Bone Apple Tea” in SuperSonic if you can hear it.

Weather is heat wave

Honey tree GKJwTWBVp_1-8
Uncommon p_1-5
Common p_1-3
Level p_8-15
Shiny p_1-421-8·1-5·1-3·8-15·1-42

[Pixel]

Silas tried to grab the bat but its friends carried it off. He groaned and kicked a rock. Swore a bit. Fortunately nobody was here to see his outburst. "Bah. I will find a honey tree by myself. I don't need a damn bat." He wasn't even here originally for THAT but if he was going to be teased by creatures who clearly had seen the rare trees then he might very well get a bug up his nose about finding one for himself. Sure he was here for that annoying stufful, but if he could find a honey tree out of spite that'd be perfectly fine as well.

The gentleman huffed and returned to pacing, trying to ignore the pressing heat. Just a little longer. If he could have a successful day out here, then he could leave and maybe never come back to this accursed forest. That was a plan. A good plan. A perfectly flawless plan as far as he was concerned. But how did he keep from losing his mind until he found what he was looking for? 

Maybe he could just...start a list. Pretend he was out here doing research or a survey or something to relieve the boredom and the awfulness of the sweltering heat. Silas got out a pen and paper and started making marks. Thus far since arriving he had seen two zubats, one hoothoot and one cascoon. All were relatively common in the area. He double checked the little guide for the area. Also to be found here were Illumise and Ferroseed, but the Ferroseed often weren't reported by very many trainers at all. Most who had reported seeing them were very experienced, likely due to the keener eyes and battle sense they were able to detect them.

Silas, despite his ego, didn't think he would be able to see the feroseeds. Also found here were duskull, but apparently they only showed up when other pokemon expressed distress. 

Lastly there was the honey trees that were said to be in the area. Rare to be found, those who reported seeing them most commonly found aipom, heracross and burmy feasting on the honey there, though combee and cherubi were sometimes discovered. Rarest of all, though only in rumor, it was said that munchlax could be found. A laughable rumor, really. Had anyone ever actually seen and caught one? He doubted it.

Which was why he was focused on that stufful. His mission.

—

Word Count: 410 (+400) | OOC:

Putting the cleanse tag on parasect.
 BIKE MODE.

Silas is staying put.

[Professor Oak]

The dense foliage of Eerie Wood blocks most sunlight, casting an unsettling gloom on the forest floor. A twig snaps underfoot and a pair of glowing red eyes appear from the inky shadows. It's another Zubat (level 15)! The bat Pokemon lets out a high-pitched screech, its wings beating frantically in the latent heat.

Weather is heat wave.

Honey tree V1Yj81anp_1-8
Uncommon p_1-5
Common p_1-3
Shiny p_1-421-8·1-5·1-3·1-42

[Caramell 🍬]

ZAIDEN KABILA Aspiring Champion : On | Time: Day They managed to place enough distance between themselves and the strange shrine, causing Zaiden to relax as he crawled up onto a nearby stump and sat down. He pulled out a small bottle of water and peeled the cap off, easily gulping the refreshing liquids down his throat. It was a hot and tiring day, where the young teen had been recently attacked by a wild avian. He pulled out some gauze and alcohol wipes meant to help clean up wounds and dressed the scars the wild Spearow scratched along his face and arms. They hurt, aching loudly like a buzz in the back of his ears, as he quickly cleaned himself up. What a fight! “Ugh.” Zaiden grunted, studying the wounds a little bit better now. He was rushing through the wild overgrowth so heavily that he had forgotten to stop and check himself over properly. In his naivety, Zaiden assumed he would have managed to find his way to the heart of Goldenrod City by now. How far away was the place, anyways? Those rich chocolate hues searched in different directions, though only towering trees and prickly bushes greeted him back, promising him that any direction he took would just lead him in one, long and lost, circle. What was he going to do now? Another trainer lived with them now, making the young teenager less alone. Something about Silas felt…weird. It had to be the strange way this man seemed to insist on looking his best despite them both being lost in the forest. It could have also been Zaiden’s natural weirdness where he found it hard to communicate with others. He seemed stuck in the heat of battle with a wild blue bat, causing Zaiden to smile a little with a soft laugh. “Those things are really a nuisance.” He remarked, more to himself than Silas, though it was easy enough to overhear. “They don’t really understand, though. They’re just using their echolocation to tell them something alive should be there. You’d think it’d also tell them that something alive is too big to be a tasty bug.” A simple shrug. Zubat were less aggressive than other species of Pokemon Zaiden ran into and usually it seemed to be almost incidental that you’d run into one anyways. It was man’s folly wanting to claim every inch of land. The wild Pokemon that lived in them just had to learn new ways of living around everyone else. It still didn’t make the sentiment feel any less true, though. They truly were nuisances. OOC: Coming from Majestic Grove. Waiting on an encounter! I have not started the quest and should not see ghosts yet. Tako forgets Wing Attack and learns Aerial Ace. Self-updating. Words: 428 | Speech. Thoughts. | Pokedex Moyashi | Mandoru | Tako | Kiji | Goshikka | Cho | Zaiden Sprite by Redwerecat!

[Pixel]

Above Zaiden shifted a large creature in the trees. One of that was startlingly bright in coloration and most certainly NOT supposed to be up there. Perched on a thick branch that supported its weight was a parasect. It looked ready to leap down like some kind of apex predator, but in truth, all it wanted to do was help scout things out. Trying to help its trainer find pokemon was hard to do from the ground where there were bushes and tangles of roots. Up here, it had a bird's eye view. Almost literally at that!

Ace, now down chasing off the bat, flapped nearby, eyeing the parasect dubiously.

<If you fall, it will be your own fault> she sneered at the mushroom-bug.

<I know> chittered the Parasect, rubbing its forelimbs together in an almost self-soothing gesture. Its crab-like legs scuttled a little further out on the branch, testing its limits in weight bearing. The branch swayed and bent a little, forcing the perched parasect to shuffle back, disinterested in causing the branch to break. <...Another human has come.>

<A boy child> Ace observed. <Looks nervous. If I bit him he would probably flee into the woods and leave us alone.>

<That seems needlessly cruel.>

<The master hasn't asked it of me, so I am refraining. But the temptation is great.> Ace gave her wings a good flap to cut through the quiet before gliding away, still circling to catch sight of anything of note. The pink of a stufful. The gold of honey. Surely SHE would be the one who found it! She was the superior pokemon after all. Parasect was just here to...well, she wasn't quite sure why it was here. Probably has something to do with their line's tendency to fling spores everywhere. Maybe when the stufful showed she would be able to see why Silas brought that seemingless useless thing around.

Speaking of Silas, he straightened up when he noticed Zaiden and put his mask back on, smiling at the boy, "Hello there! Ilex is a busy place today. I just recently saw two ladies pass by on an arcanine...say, have you been troubled by any ghosts? Seems like lots of folks have stories of them as of late around here." Play nice. Surely this kid wouldn't stick around TOO long and make things awkward. 

With luck, the brat was just passing through and would wander off as soon as nothing interesting caught his eye.

—

Word Count: 410 (+400) | OOC:

Cleanse tag on parasect.
 BIKE MODE.

Silas is staying put.

[Marchbaby]

Shortly after the two trainers started their search a strange pair of Pokemon approached. Both were bug types but while the one was part of a pair of bugs known for their intense love the other had a face not even a mother could love. The Illumise and Cascoon quickly took notice of the two trainers and got into a defensive stance ready to fight for their freedom.

Cascoon (Level 15) and Illumise (Level 15) appeared. Please battle them here.

SPOILER: Click to show

Pokemon #1:

Rare?l4rQX6Tip_1-8
Uncommon?p_1-5
Which Common?p_1-3
Shiny?p_1-42

Pokemon #2

Rare?p_1-8
Uncommon?p_1-5
Which Uncommon?p_1-2
Shiny?p_1-42

1-8·1-5·1-3·1-42·1-8·1-5·1-2·1-42

[Pixel]

Between the fearow and the taillow, those bugs didn't stand even half a chance. A few quick slaps of wings and beaks and bodies, and those bugs were sent flying away, vanishing into the hazy gloom. Silas' violet eyes caught an errant beam of light, bright like chips of cut stone as he turned to face Zaiden, still wearing that overly-friendly, Colgate-white smile. "Ghosts or ghost type pokemon you say," he mused. "From what I have heard, both might be true at the same time. Not just pokemon living our their lives in this complicated ecosystem, but humans who have died here in Ilex for some reason or another. Violently."

He recalled the grim illusions he was shown. The scenes he witnesses. Of men who lived fast and loose and high on the thrill of their misdeeds and ultimately paid the price at the hands of those they thought they could trust. Because you could trust nobody in truth. 

"They say these spirits are at large because of some curse that has befallen the forest guardian. Quite the story, no? Just local legends, I'd muster...riling up those that pass by so they don't disturb the forest shrine. It's in quite sorry shape, though. Could use a good cleaning." 

Silas motioned for his pokemon to keep looking around. One of them would have to be able to find a ridiculous pink creature or a honey covered tree. It wasn't THAT hard. Now shoo. Go. Bring back news beyond yet another bat or bug or beetle. There was more here now FIND IT!

"What brings you here, then, if not ghosts? Training? Searching for that pesky stufful that is said to be swarming in the area? Honestly, I have been here a great while and haven't seen a single pink hair anywhere!"

—

Word Count: 300 | OOC:

Cleanse tag on parasect.
 BIKE MODE.

Looking for an encounter or a honey tree.

Silas is staying put.

[Tiki]

A (Level 15) Zubat would want to tell you about the latest sale! Buy one bite get one bite free!

Weather is Heat Wave!

Battle here

Honey Tree? L1u2wdRhp_1-8
p_1-5
p_1-3

p_1-421-8·1-5·1-3·1-42

[Pixel]

With the pesky zubat banished by Ace, Silas would groan and glare at the tree Parasect had climbed. "I have decided this one has a bat infestation. If you must watch from up there, try to keep the zubats from coming down here." And then he moved a little ways away from the tree to start poking around a different one.

"So, you don't talk much do you, young man? Well, if you spot a pink bear, just shout. I haven't seen a hint of one yet, but I'm certain I will find one. If I have to make a bet, they were probably drawn here by the smell of honey. There's a sweetness on the air if you focus on it. Which means somewhere around here is a tree with a hive living inside of it."

Silas knew he was talking to himself at this point, but what else could he do while trying to keep up his 'good person' act?

—

Word Count: 000 | OOC:

Cleanse tag on parasect.
 BIKE MODE.

Looking for an encounter or a honey tree.

Silas is staying put.

[Marchbaby]

Cascoon (Level 13) is trying to offer supplementary healthcare insurance! Make your decision here.

SPOILER: Click to show

Honey Tree?nzaJmPKap_1-8
Uncommon?p_1-5
Which Common?p_1-3
Shiny?p_1-42
WHat Level?p_8-15

1-8·1-5·1-3·1-42·8-15

[Pixel]

His original intent had not been to level up his fearow on a bunch of low level forest pokemon. Honestly. There were better ways of getting Ace stronger than hours of mindless grinding. However, right now, this felt like his companion would be in the mid thirties by the time he found anything! Since the boy wasn't talking, or maybe he'd gotten distracted by something else, he kept on carrying on. He watched as parasect climbed yet another tree, despite falling out of the last one quite spectacularly, eager to be a look out again. It must enjoy the view from on high for some baffling reason. Silas shook his head. Now was not the best time to question such things. 

"Ace, your eyes are keen, I am relying on you," he said, feeling like he had 'reassured' his pokemon far too many times already that they weren't mess ups. Because honestly, how hard was it to find a bright pink bear or a tree filled with honey? Surely ONE of those would have appeared by now after the countless zubats and cascoons. 

He knew he wasn't the nicest person in the universe, but it was like he was being punished for his crimes by nature itself. Honestly, why would a forest CARE if he stole some pokemon. Or money. Or worked for a giant criminal organization? All of that was hardly relevant! He was here, eyes wide open, tuned in and READY.

So where was his prize? His ego was starting to ache and his calm starting to crack. He had to keep his composure. He had to in front of the boy. But he certainly WANTED to lose his marbles and start shouting at things—his pokemon, the trees, that suspicious shaped rock. But no. He had to stay calm. Breathe.

"Maybe the bear is attracted to the honey trees? Find one and find the other?" Silas suggested wryly. His logic felt sound in a grim sort of way, given that those trees were just a rumor...one with backing given he had seen one sticky zubat covered in the stuff. So he kept searching and searching, wandering a little further from Zaiden as he expanded his radius.

The parasect and fearow did the same, searching high and low for one of these mysterious wonders of Ilex.

All the while, he absolutely boiled on the inside, filled with wrath.

—

Word Count: 400 | OOC:

Cleanse tag on parasect.
 BIKE MODE.

(Moving nighteye from Silas' party to Adrian's PC. Taking Webber out of Silas' PC and placing in party)

Looking for an encounter or a honey tree.

[Caramell 🍬]

A large tree loomed in the distance with a strange bark that carried a sweet smell. Would Silas like to slather a lil honey?

---

Tree? GvvQIAuUp_1-8
1-8

[Pixel]

It was parasect who found it. While climbing a tree, the mushroom bug SLIPPED again, claws digging into the wood, and as it slid down, deep grooves were carved into the bark. Sweetness filled the air. Suddenly this part of the woods smelled strongly of honey and Silas' anger sputtered out in an instant. Hello there. He moved towards the smell and saw his parasect dangling off the side of a trunk, looking quite ridiculous. He grabbed the giant mushroom and hauled it off the tree and saw the gleaming gold of a combee hive that had been ripped open.

A honey tree.

So they did exist. Silas snapped a picture of the tree to document its location. Then he stepped back to look said tree over. It was large, larger than most of the surrounding trees, with wide over-hanging branches that blocked out much of the sunshine from above. He peered up, higher, into that canopy, and swore he saw pokemon scampering about that weren't the usual fare. 

"I suppose this is as good a place as any to rest for a while," he said to himself. Maybe the opened up hive would attract something rare and interesting to catch. Or just a swarm of angry combee. Who knew? But he found a rock to sit on and spy on his findings. What he didn't realize was that the sprig in his back, a little something he traded for along the way for some work when he was trying to keep money in his pockets so he could eat, was creating a strong scent as well. 

Silas had basically created a Lure. One aligned for the capture of rare pokemon should they be present in the area.

But he wasn't thinking of distant rumors. Rather, his mind was occupied by thoughts of a certain pink bear that kept eluding him. And that quiet child that he wasn't sure was still around or if he had wandered off to some other part of the woods when he wasn't watching. Either way, he settled down to just...watch the tree. He kept a hold on Parasect to keep it from scurrying over to eat the exposed honey. Ace he trusted to behave herself and sit pretty beside him. The fearow folded her wings and perched on a nearby rock, head craned to the side, eyes alert to any movement, ready to attack!

—

Word Count: 400 | OOC:

Cleanse tag on parasect.
 BIKE MODE.

I am indeed slathering honey on the tree + using mistletoe for a Rare/Ultra Rare encounter. 

Not touching my inventory, leaving so staff to confirm.

(And according to bulba, Munchlax hold leftovers
100% of the time)

[Caramell 🍬]

Lil blue bear wants to know why such a sharply dressed man is hanging out in the forest.
Are you hear to sell limited time honey comb warranties? Combee been buzzing about comb breakages lately...

---

A Wild Munchlax appeared!

Level 10. What will Silas choose to do? Decide here.

Shiny? Df4IuPMmp_1-42

SPOILER: Click to show

Pokemon: (level) p_8-15

-1 Honey & -1 Mistletoe removed from inventory.

1-42·8-15