2nd Charm - Dated to mid-week

[somnambulatory]

[Action - Mountains]

[Jinxie had a lot of luck last week with adventuring around the area surrounding the city, bonding with several new Pokemon even if she wasn't all that successful at finding anything to help with the iron shortage.  Usually she only ever ventures as far as the Forest Shrine or the Lake Shrine when she leaves the city, but with her new Pokemon friends and the ones she's met in town, she's feeling a small surge of confidence in her own abilities lately.  Not quite enough confidence to scale to the upper reaches of the mountains by herself, but certainly enough to go up at least a little ways.  Keeping her wits about her and her senses attuned, Jinxie makes her way up the path, her hand gripping at where she's wearing her Warp Band on the opposite wrist.  Mostly she's looking for Pokemon, but other travelers may happen across her as she's making her way along the trails, or while she and her team are taking a rest near the mouth of one of the caves.]

Comments

[bravenewmods]

[Jinxie will find the terrain much rougher than the forest she's normally accustomed to. ...Not that that's much of a surprise. As half of her team can float, though, they can probably do well enough for themselves.

The base of the mountains aren't too far from the edge of the woods. There's a meandering trail that Rangers use around the base as well as a few upwards-leading paths here and there. An old sign denotes what is likely to be the easiest route up.

As Jinxie progresses, she'll spot a ledge and a cave entrance into the mountain to the right. This isn't the one that the adventuring party took - it's used by Rangers to keep a lookout over the forest. The path can continue further upwards as well, but it looks like this is the last spot to rest for a while.]

[somnambulatory]

[Duskull, as usual, is always right at Jinxie's side. She's got Wooster the Foongus riding on Sable the Hondour's back since it's a little slower, and Jingle the Klefki is floating along at her other side.]

Hmm... maybe we should stop and rest here. Going up any further alone is dangerous.

[She turns to her Pokemon for confirmation. They all seem to concur that this is a good idea - especially Sable, who was the runt of her litter and is a little skittish by nature.]

Let's take a look at the view and then see if we can rest in the cave.

[Jinxie cautiously makes her way toward the ledge to do just that, her Pokemon following along.]

[bravenewmods]

[The ledge isn't too far up the mountain, about 100 feet, but from this height, it's easy to see the forest sprawling out before them. Union is visible from a distance as a mass of towers rising into the sky - beyond is the sea. In the other direction lies the great canyons, but they probably aren't visible behind the trees.

The view is really very nice.

Right up until it's obscured by a mud bomb dropping from the sky, aimed straight at Jinxie's face.]

[somnambulatory]

Aaaaahhhh!

[Jinxie lets out a squeal as the mud hits her square in the eye, hands immediately coming up to try to wipe it away. Her Pokemon all form up around her, surrounding her on all sides and looking around for the source of the attack.]

W-what was that...!

[bravenewmods]

Mankey!

[It's not really too hard to spot. The perpetrator stands about ten feet up and rolls on the ground with laughter.]

A wild Mankey has appeared!

It gets to its feet and scoops up some more dirt and mud!]

[somnambulatory]

Dokuro!

[Jinxie knows what to do in a case like this. Mankey looks like it's gearing up for another attack, so it's time to shut that down with a quick Disable. The Duskull's eyes flash red as it floats forward, ready to defend Jinxie from the naughty monkey.]

[bravenewmods]

[ The Disable flashes...!

The next mud bomb will go spinning towards the ghost.

Actually it doesn't seem like it's using an attack more than it is literally throwing dirt at them because it finds it amusing. If it isn't stopped, all of Jinxie's Pokemon are going to get a mud pie to the face.]

[somnambulatory]

Oh no, Dokuro!

[Well, that was a bust. The mud splatters on Dokuro's ghostly face, sending it sputtering in a random direction as it struggles to recover.]

That isn't very nice of you, you know.

[Jinxie does tend to prefer talking to Pokemon over battling to bond with them, but sometimes you end up with a problem child like this one and there's not much of a choice.

So next up is Jingle, who is deeply offended that this misbehaving monkey is getting its shiny keys all dirty. It takes such pride in keeping them clean and shiny! This is an outrage!

Which of course means the Mankey is going to be on the receiving end of a Fairy Wind. Jinxie didn't even have to tell it - this is a keyring on the warpath.]

[bravenewmods]

[But it's a vast improvement to your face, says the Mankey. Or something along those lines anyway. The Fairy Wind races towards it and the Mankey nimbly attempts to dodge out of the way - it's clipped by the edge of the attack, though, and it rolls off to the side.

OK let's get serious.

The Mankey leaps through the air, spinning towards the Klefki!]

Ki-ki-ki-ki-ki-ki!!

[Fury Swipes!]

[somnambulatory]

[Your Fury Swipes cannot harm me - my keys are like a shield of steel!

Or something like that. But the fact of the matter is, those claws aren't doing much to dig into the hard metal coating that makes up Klefki's body. What they are doing is making it even angrier. Two can play at this game!]

Klef... ki!

[Tackle attack! Time to give Mankey a taste of its own medicine.]

[bravenewmods]

[Mankey seems genuinely astonished as its attacks are ineffective. It has never seen a Pokemon like this before. The pause is enough that it does nothing to defend itself from Klefki's Tackle, and it goes flying back towards the ledge it had started on.

.........After a moment, it leaps to its feet and dances in outrage.]

MANKEY!

[There is nothing quite like an angry Mankey. Mud and dirt positively go flying now towards all of Jinxie's Pokemon indiscriminately and ...

oh god is that...
...
...

another... brown substance.......]

[somnambulatory]

[Oh, now that is just not okay.]

Get out of the way!

[All priority is on dodging right now, and Jinxie's team hits the deck to narrowly avoid having their faces and dignity smeared in the worst way possible.

All of them except Wooster, anyway, since this is basically just fertilizer to him. Jinxie will clean that off of him later. But for the moment, and since he's the only one up...]

Wooster, Absorb!

[Maybe leeching away a bit of Mankey's vitality will calm it down some.]

[bravenewmods]

[The draining attack strikes true as Mankey isn't really in a good position to be dodging right now. Even as they strike the deck, it continues to fling dirt and... other things, blinded now by anger. Its aim has really gotten pretty terrible.

If they keep down through this, Mankey will eventually exhaust itself of its own accord and sit back, panting slightly.]

[somnambulatory]

[Sighing with relief as Mankey finally tires itself out, Jinxie slowly stands up from her defensive crouch and begins to approach. Sable tugs nervously at her long sleeve, but she pats her on the head.]

It's all right. I think he's finished.

[Walking up to the Mankey, she kneels down in front of it.]

You are done, aren't you?

[bravenewmods]

[Mankey considers this for a moment before flinging one more piece of dirt at Jinxie's feet and rolling over.

OK now it's done.

Jerk.]

[somnambulatory]

Dirt is okay, but you shouldn't throw... that other stuff. You won't make very many friends that way.

[Jingle will hate this Mankey forever, there is no doubt.]

[bravenewmods]

[It didn't want to make friends. If it wanted to make friends it wouldn't be throwing stuff at people.

Duh.

What was that stupid Pokemon, anyway? Why didn't it even get scratched?]

[somnambulatory]

Jingle... come on and make up.

[It just makes angry jingly-jangly noises, flailing every which way. Jinxie sighs.]

Aren't you lonely living up here by yourself?

[bravenewmods]

[Jingle will get a raspberry for its troubles.

It wasn't lonely. It had always lived here by itself so it wasn't like it thought about it much or anything. It stole food the humans left behind sometimes and played tricks on them. What else did it need?]

[somnambulatory]

Do you know these mountains well? I want to go further up to help the people in the city, but I'd need a strong guide.

[bravenewmods]

[Yeah. It slept in the forest, but it spent most of its time up in the mountains. The forest was boring.]

[somnambulatory]

I won't ask you to come with me if you don't want to, but when I'm strong enough to come back here and climb a little higher, do you think you could help us and show us the safe paths up?

[bravenewmods]

[The Mankey seems to consider this for a few moments before it sits up with a shrewd expression.

What is it getting out of this deal?]

[somnambulatory]

I'll bring you some food if you'll be good and show us the way. Something you can't get in the mountains or the forest!

[There should be plenty of stuff in the city that this Mankey has never seen before. It's a fairly small price to pay.]

[bravenewmods]

[Mankey considers this proposal for a few moments before thrusting out a hand.

That was good. OK. But it wants more.

...Jingle.

Or, well. It seems to want to bother annoy pester for the rest of their eternal days fight Jingle.]

[somnambulatory]

You want to finish your fight with Jingle?

[Jinxie blinks uneasily at her angry little keyring.]

Is it okay?

[It seems willing enough to get its own aggression out of its system this way. With a bit of fussing about that's more or less the Klefki equivalent of irritated huffing sounds, it floats back over.]

Jingle says she'll fight you, but you have to play fair. No throwing things.

[bravenewmods]

[What. Lame. Fine, whatever, it could take the weird jingly thing.

Mankey hops to its feet and pulls a battle stance. It seems suddenly refreshed.]

Mankey!

[somnambulatory]

Klefki!

[It is on like Donkey Kong.

It is also time for another Fairy Wind.]

[bravenewmods]

[Holy Mankey crap how is this stupid thing hitting so hard. Mankey goes flying backwards again, but maintains its hold this time.

It screeches once again before launching itself forth with a Low Kick!]

[somnambulatory]

[Thankfully, Klefki's half Fairy typing stops that move from being as effective as it might be on its Steel brethren, but that kick definitely still packs a punch. Reeling back from the blow, it flies straight back at Mankey's face, loudly jangling its keys around in a jarring display of bravado.

Which is to say, it uses Astonish.]

[bravenewmods]

[Mankey is not scared by such things as jingling keys! Which is to say the Flinch chance doesn't succeed. Kicking seems to work way better than the claws had, though, and so after recovering from the surprise and snickering a little bit, Mankey will Low Kick again!

Clearly its strategy is perfect.]

[somnambulatory]

[Once again, Klefki takes it in the keys, getting knocked all the way back to where Jinxie is standing to watch the fight. One more good hit like that and it'll be down for the count.]

Jingle...! You don't have to-

[Too late. Its pride is on the line here! Flying back toward Mankey, Jingle lets loose another Fairy Wind. It seemed to work well enough before, so it's going to bet it all on this last attack.]

[bravenewmods]

[And to the surprise of no one, the super effective attack smacks Mankey straight on and it tumbles backwards to the ground. ...Urgh. It can't feel its knees anymore...

Being beaten by a keychain...

So lame....]

((Gonna head to bed, just a warning!))

[somnambulatory]

...You did a good job, Jingle.

[Jinxie walks forward to pluck the little keyring out of the air, carrying it in her arms for the time being as she approaches the Mankey again.]

I think you're both even now. So will you help us?

((No problem!))

[bravenewmods]

[The Mankey mutters something about the situation being outrageous and clearly some sort of chicanery had occurred here but the ball of fur will roll to its feet eventually with a sullen expression.

Fine whatever it can help.

Jinxie has successfully? bonded with a Mankey! It is Level 11 but the remainder of its stats may be chosen at your discretion!

Mankey takes a swipe at some of Jingle's keys as it passes by.]