Treasure Town ~ Woodland Outskirts

[Namohysip]

Just north of Treasure Town, beyond the roads and buildings, there was a small but dense forest that feral Pokemon called their home. Other Pokemon, too, explored this location, and they generally coexisted peacefully. Even during the tense tremors of Magikarp, the forest remained peaceful and nonchalant.

Tall trees and low bushes decorated most of the landscape, while short grass, dirt, and the occasional mushroom or flower patch covered the rest of the path. Fairy and Grass Pokemon in particular would feel right at home, feral or not. During the day, sunlight poked through the holes of the treetops and left intricate, scattered patterns on the forest floor. The salt of the distant ocean below was drowned out by wet dirt, flowers, and fresh air.

It was the perfect, quiet place to relax and think.​

 

[Adamhuarts]

After leaving the main square, Cynthian walked aimlessly for several minutes till he noticed the subtle of decayed leaves and forest floor.

Somehow he'd wandered into the woodlands. So, he continued walking on until he found a tree that had fallen over. He stopped by and stared at it. It must've been years at least since the tree felled, and it was probably a young tree since the tree's bark was barely wider than him.

Cynthian sat on the tree and held his face. He let out a deep sigh and let the tears quietly flood out of his eyes.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Celeste stood at the edge of the woods. He couldn’t fight with nothing but those scraps of jerky in his stomach, and he couldn’t eat the gummis the others were making with berries.

He needed to hunt, but he was nervous to do so without his disaster sense. What if he stumbled across a predator? He could become the prey himself. He wanted backup.

 

[Disco]

Mellow ran out of energy by the time she reached the little patch of woods, and all it took was tripping over an unseen root to bring her to a complete stop. She felt too exhausted to even cry. All she felt was numb, and she curled up to hold herself, while trying very hard to keep her eyes open...

 

[Tanuki]

The people of Treasure Town had to be some of the most prejudicial he'd ever met—even rivaling his treatment back home! A simple beckoning strangers into a dark alley had them screaming for their lives, calling him that zangoose that "robbed" a store. This brutish, punitive "justice" system didn't end his sentence after his community service. It marked him a pariah for a simple mistake anybody could make.

Suffice it to say, not one person offered to help him, so he only had his own memory at his disposal. Maple had said something about moves in the woodlands, so to the outskirts he went. He didn't have the slightest hint of direction, but he trusted his luck. It can only stay bad for so long, after all.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Most people would’ve gone to the dojo to spar, but it was already in use, and Celeste figured fighting inside of a building seemed rather uncivilized anyways. Instead, he headed to the woodlands. He hadn’t actually checked to see if anyone had wanted to come with him, but he’d make it work either way.

He really, really hoped this radiance thing could give him back his disaster sense. Honestly, if it could do that, he didn’t really care wether it was really from Arceus or not. Either way, Diyem worried about everything, even their allies, so there was probably no basis behind his worries.

 

[Torchic]

Nothing worked. Cino was trying since the early morning hours to find out what this Radiance is supposed to be. He was close to giving up entirely on this. Maybe it hadn't formed in him yet, as Maple said? If he had just touched the orb while he was there...

He walked around in circles, thinking about what his next try should be. Maybe he should just ask someone who already figured it out. Maybe he was doing something wrong. Did he have to use a move for it to activate? No, he tried that already... Did he have to be in danger? Ehh, not much danger out here as far as he knew.

He'd just have to wait until someone responded.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa prowled into the woods in search of no particular prey. Not that she could catch much with her body still so battered from the fight down at the beach.

"Diyem?" she said aloud, unwilling to subvocalise what she intended to ask, even if she would only receive answers in goddamn telepathy. "I'd like that word with you now, if you please."

 

[Namohysip]

"...Now, I'm sure you're all wondering why you were brought here," Soda said, arms crossed as he paced down the grassy path. "This is an urgent mission that three teams have already failed. Karat actually ended up submitting a notice for an unruly feral Pokemon that he was having trouble locating. Now, the fact that he couldn't catch it at all was a little scary to begin with, because Karat is extremely powerful.

"...But the problem is, when the first team there took the mission, they came back in failure. Then Surf and Turf took the mission, and... came back after trying all evening to catch it. They also failed. It was so bad that Team Spice, Balm, and Cepa all went in at once to try to find this strange feral, and then they failed, too. So at this point, it's just a fucking crapshoot and we're desperate, so now we're leaving it to you guys."

Soda spun around to face the group. "Any questions? the mission is simple. Find the feral that's causing trouble for Karat, catch it, and then take it to us when it's contained or incapacitated. I'll take care of the rest. I know we're still waiting for Darkwhite to make a move, so it's not like you guys have a ton to deal with right now, and--"

Without warning, something screeched and lunged toward Soda, who immediately ducked to avoid the attack. It was something black and shapeless, yet incredibly quick. When Soda tried to strike it, his claws bounced off like it had hit an invisible barrier. "Gah! So I was right." He pointed at it. "There! That's the--"

A massive Psychic blast twisted around Soda, misshaping the ground below him to the point where he wobbled where he stood. "You little--Goddammit, Karat!" Soda spun around, pointing at him. "What's your deal?!"

The robed Pokemon grunted. "I almost had it that time," he growled.

Mission: Capture or defeat the massively Shadowed Rattata
Requirements: Total group stamina > 250

"Well, you saw it!" Soda shouted, pointing. "Go get it! We'll help!"

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Ever since Celeste had seen Tendon and his strange bloodred eyes, he’d been wondering something. He’d had bigger things to worry about with Icetales, and then with Diyem, but now it seemed he had time to ask about it.

Cynthian was here, why not ask him.

“Hello, Cynthian. Erm, I have an odd question. What colour are my eyes?”

 

[Negrek]

Nate wasn't exactly the woodsy type, but if you wanted any privacy around this place, pretty much the only way to get it was to head for the trees. If even that was enough; apparently some members of their party came out here to kill and eat other pokémon, despite there being basically any kind of fucking food you could want back in town, one of the charmander was like starting a fucking farm or something, and that was besides the usual people out training or looking for berries or whatever the fuck. Nate followed the rough footpaths until Treasure Town's buildings were well out of sight, then turned and plunged into the undergrowth, striking out for parts unknown. It completely fucking sucked, with his bag snagging on branches and briars, and both those same smacking him in the fucking face all the time because he was fucking tiny, but he dragged his way along grimly until he felt he was far enough out of the way that nobody was going to bother him. Nobody except maybe one of the "feral" pokémon some of the members of the team went on about, and wasn't that a fucking weird concept.

Nate sighed and shrugged out of his pack, resting it up against the side of a tree, and dug out the weird knobbly rock that now contained a shade. He set it on the ground in front of him and sat back to rest a moment rubbing idly at a stinging cut left by a particularly nasty twig. "Hey. How's the weather in there?"

The rock twitched a little. Nate got what felt like a general sense of contentment from it. It seemed like ever since the shade had joined up with that rock, he'd started to feel like he could sense its emotions or something, like it'd gone a little bit psychic. Handy, maybe? He wished he knew what it meant.

"Well, like I said, don't get too comfortable, okay? I dunno how long it's safe for you to stay in there. I got berries and shit for when you get hungry." Of course, the shade might not need to eat at all, if it was feeding on some kind of energy in the rock itself. Nate picked the stone back up and examined it, feeling it shudder now and again in his hands. It sure didn't look like anything special. Hard to imagine there was an infinite energy wellspring or some shit in there.

It really did feel familiar. Nate tossed the stone gently, smiling to himself. It was a stupid fucking idea, but, well, why the fuck not. "Go!" he said, and hurled the rock as hard as he could.

It wasn't a good throw by any stretch of the imagination. Tiny fucking arms again--he couldn't even reach far enough to hoist the rock over his head and chuck it that way. It landed with a thud a couple feet away and tumbled over sluggishly, once, twice, before coming to rest in the leaf litter nearby.

 

[TheGOAT]

[Cucumber -> Brisket]: Hey. You wanna head down the river soon?

[Brisket -> Cucumber]: How do you do, Astrid? Would this be for the noon excursion we discussed last week? If so, I would be delighted. Shall I bring food, or would you prefer to choose the fare? -Yrs, B. Escarpa

[Cucumber -> Brisket]: Yep ^^ I packed some berries and gummies from DV. Meet in 30?

[Brisket -> Cucumber]: Thirty minutes suits me well. I will be there shortly! I have been anticipating this since it was first suggested; I will be glad of it after recent events. -Yrs, B. Escarpa

<><><>​

The sun crawled across clear skies above Treasure Town, full of activity. It was some kind of holiday, probably, because the streets seemed more crowded than usual. Voices were louder; there was less space to move.

Astrid wasn’t here for a holiday. She made her way down to the dividing line between the marketplace and the main square—the river, running down past the border of the town and eventually into the ocean. In the other direction, it ran into the woods and beyond.

Brisa was already waiting for her by the riverside. Astrid slowed to a stop, huffing once. “Hey! Sorry, ran a couple minutes la—“ Her leftmost tail shot forth to catch the jar of berries that had begun slipping out of her bag. “—late, hah.”

 

[Negrek]

<><><>​

It was ages since Nate had visited Treasure Town. Maybe he ought to do it more often--the weather was better for sure, even with summer coming on. The air was cool beneath the trees, and now and again the call of some wild pokémon--some "feral" pokémon, Nate didn't think he'd ever get used to that concept--sounded from deeper in. No obvious signs of Karat or Deoxys. No psychic field or squiggly footprints or nothing.

"Karat probably just wants to be left alone," Rocky said, shifting nervously while he stared into the trees. "I don't want to make him mad again."

"Mostly I'm just worried that he didn't tell us to fuck off when we sent him those texts," Nate said. "Pissiness? Normal. Silence? Not so much."

Rocky made a noncommittal noise of affirmation, but his face was still set in a nervous grimace. Nate thought what he really ought to worry about was less grumpy clone and more getting attacked by some mindless wiggly monstrosity that came of a fusion gone wrong, but whatever. That was definitely a "run away and try again with more backup" situation anyhow. "We all ready to go?" he asked, glancing around for Vix's familiar.