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Ah --

[Avey tenses up in Lucas's arms; the boy casts out his thoughts and -- ]

I can feel it, too. There's something angry...

[A slight pause as Lucas turns in a half-circle.]

They're going to attack!

[Almost before he finishes speaking, a crackle of electricity lashes through the air towards the group; the enemy bursts out of the brush! Two wild Shinx - led by a Luxio!]

Oh no--here they come!

[Thankfully, neither Cecilia nor Raftina are weak to electricity. She still gets shocked; she yelps and leaps backward, before she holds a hand up into the air.]

[A cool mist wafts over Apollo, increasing his defenses. At the same time, Raftina leaps forward. The little Eevee rushes, and then swipes its front claws down at one of the left Shinx.]

[Apollo twists and brings up his arm the moment he sees the electricity coming towards them, shielding Fletchling from the brunt of the attack and clenching his teeth at the pain of the shock. Cecilia's defense boost arrives too late to help immediately, but it won't be long before it'll come in handy.

Fletchling takes off to make it harder to hit him and circles around while Apollo blasts messages telling the attackers to back off into their minds. Going for a show of force, he mentally signals Fletchling and they both dart at the Luxio, Fletchling from behind using Quick Attack, Apollo from the front attacking with enough speed to effectively be a version of Quick Attack that deals typeless damage. They're both aiming for a knockout, not a kill, and hoping that if they take out the leader the other two will back down.]

They're not listening...!

[It's true. The three Pokemon don't seem to respond to Apollo's mental prodding in any meaningful way, nor to Lucas's. The psychics will pick up a great deal of anger - but also an intent focus. They weren't simply attacking blindly here.

At Apollo and Fletchling's charge, the Luxio simply Roars, a blast of sound that sends even Lucas, standing a ways behind Apollo, tumbling back. The left Shinx, in the meantime, bristles with electricity as Raftina swipes at it; the second Shinx sends a jolt of electricity towards the Fletchling, which it recognizes as being an easy target.]

Avey -- !

[Avey leaps out of Lucas's arms as he picks himself up from the ground and launches through the air - a burst of energy will suddenly flow into Apollo, Cecilia and their Pokemon as Helping Hand comes into play.]

[They'd stopped for a break once they had reached the canyon, taking the opportunity to have something to eat before they started asking the locals if they'd seen any iron ore. Apollo had stepped away from the group for a moment to find an unobtrusive spot where he was unlikely to be leaving marks in someone's territory (and because he'd long ago learned that most humans would prefer not to have to watch). His business completed, he starts heading back to the others, using his Child of the Verdant Forest ability to mentally "listen" for any Pokémon who might be nearby.]

[Few people make it out to the canyon - the Pokémon here are brasher, more open about their activities. Apollo will hear a veritable chatter of thoughts and emotions as he opens up his mind... It is uncertain, therefore, how close the nearest Pokémon truly is.

The forest has given way to dust and looser dirt at the edge of the canyon. From where Apollo stands, there seems to be a path leading down, although it might be foolish to head off on his own.]

[Cecilia raises her staff up into the air. A wind stirs around her, a few faint glimmers of pink light whipping about her. Then, the blast of wind goes flying at the right Shinx, trying to knock it back into the wall. She isn't aiming to kill, either, but simply drive back.]

[Raftina drops back, shocked by the electricity surrounding the left Shinx. She hisses; then she drives forward, and she lunges forward with a speedy attack, claws swiping at the Shinx. She isn't aiming for deep blows, at least.]

[Apollo's used to filtering through multiple Pokémon's thoughts, but this many minds in one area in the wilderness isn't common, and it piques his interest. His Fletchling is still with the others, and a quick exchange with him tells Apollo that his traveling companions aren't ready to move quite yet. Telling Fletchling what he's doing, he picks up a fallen branch that had ended up nearby and cautiously moves down the path, tapping it with the branch to make sure it's stable and being prepared to both retreat and call Fletchling if need be. He has no intention of going too far, but he'll scout ahead a bit to see if it's worth bringing the whole group this way.]

[Fletchling is fast, but he still can't completely dodge the attack and has his wing clipped, shocking him and making his flight erratic. Apollo mentally tells him to retreat for now, and Fletchling reluctantly struggles away, trying to shake off the tingling in his wing.

Apollo, meanwhile, has his charge aborted by the Roar and has to strain to hold his place, but still slides back a fair distance. The moment it ends though he's moving again, curving around to circle the Luxio and occasionally pass behind a tree for a moment. Whenever he does he changes his running speed, trying to make it harder to predict where he'll be. Noticing their focus, he switches to a different track and starts mentally asking what exactly they're after.]

[The response is a bit complicated - more hostility, a warning to stay out, a need for food.]

...

Wait, us?

[Apparently they would suffice.

The two Shinx focus on Raftina, now, and as the second Shinx is about to strike a blow from behind, the blast of wind strikes and knocks it reeling back. Avey leaps into the fray proper, kicking up a pile of dirt into the first Shinx's eyes - a Sand Attack, dimming its electricity in time for Raftina to strike a blow full on.

Luxio, in the meantime, has properly identified Apollo as the most significant threat amongst the group of humans and shoots off jolt after jolt after electricity - most of them strike a tree, but perhaps a few will get through.]

Fletchling --

[A light blue glow surrounds Lucas and he quickly sends a wave of psychic energy at the injured Pokemon as it flutters by him. The healing would hopefully keep it from being too badly hurt if struck again.]

[Apollo will be able to descend about twenty foot or so down a narrow path before it widens into a sort of ledge overlooking the rest of the canyon.

The edge is quite steep but it seems possible to continue further down if one takes great precautions. ...Alternatively, there appears to be an identation off to the right, set into the side of the cliff. It seems to go a ways in, and there is something like a large boulder visible deep inside.]

Us? What happened?

[Cecilia can't follow the thoughts. She sees Raftina come under fire and shouts out a warning. That proves unnecessary; Avey leaps to the rescue, and Raftina follows her first strike up with a swift headbutt at the Shinx that it was fighting.]

[Cecilia turns to focus on Apollo for a moment. She swings her staff out, and sends another pink sparkle-laced gust of wind flying, directly at the side of the Luxio, to try to throw its balance off.]

[Apollo has a few close calls, including one where he has to bend backwards to avoid having lightning hit him in the face, but manages to avoid being struck. The response prompts him to change his tactics, and the next time he passes behind a tree the only thing that comes out is a pair of boots that arc through the air. He's no longer behind the tree, but exactly where he is isn't clear, since he's gone into full stalking mode and what sounds he is making are timed to be similar to the normal sounds of the forest. He's actually moving through the forest canopy above the attacking Pokémon on bare feet, trying to find a good position to attack from.

Unfortunately, that the Pokémon are attacking them for food means that they eat meat, and Apollo doesn't have any in his pack right now that he could offer them. He starts mentally projecting loud warnings of attacks from every possible direction, including from underground and his own location. Mixed in with the distracting warning are mental images of the humans happily eating their attackers, Apollo grinding up their bones and fertilizing plants with them, Apollo wearing their pelts sewn together into a cloak...

Fletchling thanked Lucas and circled around, trying to come up with a way to attack without being struck by lightning.]

Edited 2014-01-17 13:22 (UTC)

[Apollo took a look at the path farther down and decided that it would be a good idea to let the others decide if they could handle it. He could, but the others didn't have his sense of balance. The view was quite nice though, and he paused for a moment to take it in. Noticing the indentation and that it appeared to have an end point, he made his way inside to see if anything that he could recognize as iron was visible. He wouldn't take any branching paths if they appeared of course - he wasn't about to get himself lost.]

Um.

[Lucas finishes healing up Fletchling and turns to Cecilia with an awkward smile.]

I think they're hungry.

[Apollo's new psychic strategy succeeds in making the group angrier, although perhaps this will lead to greater carelessness. Luxio fries the boots as they come its way, though it doesn't abandon its position yet to chase after wherever Apollo has gone. Being much heavier than its younger brethren, the wind is only enough to cause it to anchor itself firmly into the dirt, scrunching close to the ground - it retaliates by turning its attention to Cecilia, who receives an electric shock arcing her way for her troubles.

The Eevee are faring a bit better against the Shinx. The second one recovers from the wind to charge back into the fray with a Spark, knocking Avey away, but Raftina's headbutt successfully drives the blinded Shinx back against a tree.]

...We should take out the Shinx first - then everyone can fight together against the bigger one!

[As Avey goes tumbling back, Lucas leaps forward now, wielding his... trusty yo-yo. The toy flies through the air with uncanny accuracy, striking the Sparking Shinx straight in the nose - once, twice, three times before it veers off to the side and rapidly begins to entwine about the small creature's legs. It appears the toy responds to Lucas's psychic ability in some manner.

...Unfortunately for Lucas, the next crackle of electricity flickers up his yo-yo string quite easily and the boy is momentarily paralyzed by the electric shock.]

Ah!

[Nothing quite so clear as iron and no branching paths - the indentation appears to extend further in and tapers off into what seems to be a small passage about three feet high. Apollo might fit, but there's certainly no room to turn around if he gets stuck.

The boulder sits next to the passage. It's about two feet tall and presents with an aesthetically pleasing, mottled pattern of brown, gray, and tan.

...The boulder also has eyes. And is quivering.

A wild Hippopotas has appeared!

It seems to be just on the verge of awakening!]

[The Luxio's lightning blast hits Cecilia. She gets knocked backward and hisses, her movements slowed, and a sharp burning in her limbs. She swings the staff, until she hears a cry.]

Lucas! Hold on!

[Cecilia isn't sure where Apollo went, but doesn't have time to worry about it. Lucas is shocked and paralyzed -- and she doesn't have any healing spells. She does have a staff, though, and it's made to shoot fire if need be. She levels it at the Shinx that isn't wrapped up in vines, and looses a fireball off towards it.]

[Raftina dives forward, swiping claws at the Shinx in tandem with her trainer.]

[At a mental signal from Apollo, Fletchling uses Growl on the Luxio and the nearest Shinx, both to lower their Attack and hopefully to distract them.

Because at that moment, without making a sound, Apollo drops from the canopy with a hunting knife in one hand, aiming to land on the Luxio. If he does, he'll hold the knife to its throat and be clear what will happen to it if it's not careful. Otherwise, there's a good chance that he'll get hurt, and another good chance that the party will be having meat for lunch today if he can't threaten their attackers into leaving.]

[Apollo won't risk getting himself stuck and is about to turn back when he sees the "boulder" move. He stops and carefully sets down the branch, not wanting to look threatening. His mental attention focuses on the mind before him, the relative quiet of a sleeping mind having been harder to pinpoint through the noise of everyone else, even this close. He begins sending calmness and a sense of safety at the Pokémon, being careful to be gradual about it and not jolt them awake; he wants to make sure that his presence isn't a source of fear and alarm when the sleeper awakens.]

[Hippopotas slowly blinks awake, having vaguely sensed in some fashion that there was something nearby it should pay attention to. It hefts its head in Apollo's direction and stares dully.

...
...
...

Then it sneezes a thick cloud of dust and sand, following which it sniffs a few times.]

[The first Shinx is down! The fireball, the slashes, and the headbutts are too much - it bounces back against the ground and stays still, weakly growling. The second Shinx, the one still entangled in yo-yo string, shakes loose and bounds to its companion's side in anger. Raftina will be on the receiving end of a Spark attack as well.

Avey and Lucas, having both been shocked, struggle to their feet together now. With some effort and no little amount of twitching, he raises a hand to his own chest and he heals himself of his own paralysis.

As for the Luxio, Apollo lands successfully after the Growl strikes! ...But is it wise to contact something that generates electricity from its body? The Pokemon roars once more, not an attack, but simply out of anger, and the lightning courses up and down its fur and mane. If Apollo can keep his grasp through this, his strategy might just work...]

[If there was any reaction that Apollo was expecting, that one wasn't it. He coughs at the cloud of dust, lifts the collar of his coat to cover his nose and mouth, pulls it back to sneeze a few times, then recovers his lower face and blinks rapidly as his eyes tear up to get rid of the dust.

Once he can focus a bit better, he mentally sends a greeting and asks if the Hippopotas has noticed any iron around, sending his own impressions of what iron is: what the ore that's fed to the Aron in the habitat tower looks like, what rust is like, what worked iron looks like, and so on. He's well aware that this is a complicated concept to get across, especially when he isn't sure how intelligent his conversational partner is, but he's going to try his hardest.]

[The Hippopotas still seems rather sleepy, so all Apollo will get for a few moments is confusion and a blank sort of expression. When the image of the rust comes through, though, it will blink before sluggishly getting to its feet and meandering over to the wall.

It will concentrate before releasing another snort of dust that settles over the walls of the cave. The powder is reddish.

Ta-da~

Red rock.]

[...Could it be? If this unknown Pokémon eats metal it could be. Apollo will move over to one of the now-red walls, being careful not to make sudden movements, and rub some of the dust between his fingertips to see if it leaves a rust stain on his skin.]

[...It leaves a dirt stain.

The walls of the cave are some sort of red-tinged clay.

Hippopotas looks satisfied and seems ready for the heaping accolades that are sure to be bestowed upon it.]

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