July Tasks (LL)

Snuffling through the leaves that littered the forest floor, S.T huffed before snorting and shaking her head to try and get the scent out of rotten leaves out. It was messing with whatever scent she had caught at the moment, mixing with everyone that was about them. She had to keep focus though or else she’d get left behind.

Her partner seemed indifferent to the danger about them though her ears were perked and her tail raised as if scenting trouble. Even so the two stuck close to each other while winding their way through the forest, each alert in their own way.

Dried leaves crunched underneath as the group shuffled along, the Tepig casting somewhat fearful glances backwards as she heard whispers that she assumed weren’t caused by the Pokemon surrounding them. They weren’t a particularly large group, consisting of one or two Teams that had decided to join them, Gavina, and Little Love. She hadn’t even glanced over to see who they were and didn’t want to look now, concentrating on whatever laid ahead.  

The reason they were traveling through the forest was that the dual type needed help searching for a dungeon entrance that the statue had told the Researchers about, who then relayed it to the Explorer guild. The entrance was hidden away in one of the tree stumps that littered the forest, but there were whispered of a childish Phantump gang that roamed that loved to play tricks on travelers..so they had to be careful of that.  

Upon reaching the stumps that littered a good part of Subseed forest they rested for a bit and decided on a plan after a few minutes had gone by. Since Little Love was one of the few of the group who had the most sensitive hearing they would be the ones listening for a hollow noise while the others knocked, considering Rai’s paws were too short and S.T was worried that she might kick too hard by accident and cause a hole, thus disturbing the forest and earning them a strike.  

The first few were duds and it didn’t seem promising as the group traveled through the forest, paws beginning to become numb and sore from all the rapping on the stumps. Wandering about seemingly endless forest didn’t seem like a good idea for the most part and they were getting tired, weariness taking its toll. Even so the leader of the Explorers Guild pressed on, rallying the exhausted Pokemon with her own tireless energy and soft but encouraging smile.  

Even with Gavina to make them feel strengthened the group had to take another rest. Rai had taken to sitting on the tree stumps and while chatting with another one of the groups who had come with them thumped her tail on the one she was sitting. It made a hollow noise much to everyones surprise and with a shout of excitement they called to the rest of the group that was examining stumps over yonder. The Pachirisu was praised heartily as the Tepig looked on with a very small smile on her face. She was glad it was her partner had found the entrance and not her, for crowds made her nervous and being praised even more so. The only mons she would allow to give her positive emotions were her friends and family, which included only certain Pokemon. Other than that she simply blushed and mumbled that she hadn’t done anything special.

After finding the hollow stump it was time to head back, which was a relief to the exhausted Pokemon. They spoke little as they made their way back, though through hushed tones most of them conveyed to each other their excitement on where the hole would lead them. S.T listened with half an ear as she walked alongside her partner, who was unusually quiet but piped up to voice her opinion. She hoped that the place they would go next would be informational and yet exciting. Adventure was enjoyable to her only if life altering situations weren’t thrust among the mix, which seemed to happen a lot..at least to her.  

Lost in her own thoughts she didn’t realize that the familiar noises of the others walking beside her were gone, the only sound to be heard was some faint rustling and the soft moan of a fickle wind that had chosen to blow through the forest. Her heart thumping loudly in her ears, S.T was about to call out for her partner when a very familiar soft voice made her freeze, her blue eyes wide as her breath caught in her throat. She began to shake as a figure visualized from the fog beginning to surround her, their paws making no noise on the grass as they made their way slowly but calmly towards the fire pig.

“Hello little bird.” Came a silky smooth voice filled with relief, though S.T knew that underneath it was seething with distaste and loathing  “Are you lost?”

She couldn’t move, stuck in place as fear caused her to be stock still. Warning bells rang in her head as her body screamed at her to run but even as this was happening she couldn’t tear herself away from those eyes that seemed to stare straight into her soul. That gaze tore her into pieces, ripping apart who she was and shredding it into pieces. She could feel the blows afresh now and began to shudder in an almost violent manner, her tail tucking in between her legs.

Seeing this, the figure gave a smile and raising a paw, beckoned to the young Tepig who choked and willed herself to stay still, using some sort of hidden strength to rebuff the voice that was echoing in her head.

“Don’t worry; I’ve got a nice, safe cage just waiting for you back home.”

No. She couldn’t go back there; she didn’t want to go back there. Shutting her eyes tightly S.T began to spark in fear at the fact that this Pokemon was going to bring her back..she didn’t want to go!

“Come back little bird..come back..”

“NO.”

The shriek sprang from her mouth unbidden as sparks danced about the Tepigs body as she stood her ground, ready to launch an attack at the figure without regard to anything about her. She was too frightened to think about anything else but herself at this point, though a trickle of thought came into play that this wasn’t a good idea, but the fear shooting through her system overwhelmed it entirely.  

Before she could do anything there was a loud shout and something slammed into her soft body, causing S.T to fall over and skid a few feet from where she had been standing. Cries of “”Get out of here you brats!” and S.T’s own name was shouted as a softer body encircled about her own. In a dazed state she tried to focus on whoever it was that had saved her, only to fade out of it and snap back as two familiar paws gently placed themselves on each side of her face. Rai gazed at her partner with eyes full of concern; she looked so haunted and she wanted to ask what was the matter but before she could do so the Tepig sat up and in one swift motion, pulled the Pachirusu close to her own body with her hoove. Burying her snout into the electric types shoulder she began to weep, her body wracked with shudders as she tried to recover from what she had just saw.

The spunky Pokemon could do nothing but wait until her partner was done and simply sat there, murmuring soothing noises and using her small paws to rub the brown coloured back. “It’s all right S.T..I’m here.” she comforted, softly stroking the fluffy fur of the fire pig. “You don’t have to worry about anything now.”  

What exactly had her partner seen in that fog that had scared her so badly

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On their way to the next task, it was clear that the Tepig was still in a bit of shock from her ordeal in Subseed forest but was plodding along steadily while Rai had regained most of her zip and was shooting along, though doing her best not to leave her partner far behind.  Their mission this time was to help the other leader of the Guild build an outpost nearby dungeon entrance so that they wouldn’t have to go through the entire forest to find it again. It seemed simple enough, but there was always a catch. This one in particular was that neither of the pair could build really well, but the mission stated that Luke would help them out so it didn’t really matter if they had any experience or not.

“Hey, there he is S.T!” Rai called, picking up the pace in her excitement at seeing the large Swampert who was calling to them and waving cheerily in their direction.

The Tepig stiffened slightly when she saw Luke, skirting backwards a bit and stopping in her tracks while her peppery partner bounded past at a rapid pace, only looking back when she didn’t see the familiar flashes of orange and brown slightly behind her. Trotting back to the flustered fire pig she gently rested her head on her partners cheek and taking her paw in her own, carefully guided her bit by bit closer to the other Leader of the Explorers.  

“Come on, come on” she murmured to the frightened and shy Pokemon “He’s not that scary, just like your other friend you were telling me about. He might be water, but I bet you anything he’s like that other water type we met.”  

“He at least was full of fur..” S.T muttered, her ears going down in a bit of embarrassment and shame at the fact that she had to be led about because she was too scared to go nearby the larger Pokemon. “This one looks..scary..his paws are really big.”

“Well,” the Pachirisu whispered as she leaned closer to the fluffy Pokemon, a sly smile on her face. “You know what big paws compensate for..”

With that statement the pigs orange coloured face turned crimson and she tried to stammer a reply, only to be cut off by a loud giggle from her partner who let go of her partners paw as she bounded off towards Luke, a flustered S.T stumbling behind her. Upon reaching the Swampert she was huffing slightly, but a warm smile creased Lukes features upon seeing her, Rai snickering to herself behind one of the taller Pokemons legs.  

“Hello you two; just got back from adventurin’ with Vinnie am I right?” the larger Pokemon chuckled to himself before smiling once again at the pair, causing the electric type to perk up even more while the fire type shrank down, her face turning red in embarrassment at the greeting he was giving them.  

“Y-Yes sir.” the Tepig mumbled weakly as Rai piped up “Right!” and skittered out from behind Luke’s legs, taking a stand next to her partner who simple shrunk down more, her floppy ears covering her face.  

Laughing to himself as if getting a joke that only he knew, the water and ground type turned about and began to walk towards where the mission was to take place, Little Love following after him at their own pace. Along the way, he explained what he needed their help with to build the outpost that was going to be set up in this particular area, but cationed that if something was too heavy for them they didn’t need to try and lift it by themselves. He would help out in any way possible, so there wasn’t any need for injuries.

It didn’t take them too long to get started, the wood already having been placed nearby for constructional purposes. Though it was a bit of a rough start for Little Love, neither of them being strong enough to lift any of the planks by themselves; it was even a struggle to try and lift them together because S.T didn’t have paws and Rai kept staggering underneath the weight. So in the end they simply held smaller items for the Swampert to pick up and place where he saw fit, or to nail the planks together while he held them still.

In one incident S.T had to help Luke steady a post while Rai hammered in nails. They both got a “good job” and pats on the back, the fire type being reminded of her friend once more and with this, warmed up slightly to the dual type, who responded to this with even more cheer than his normal nature.  

After a long while the outpost was built and now all they needed to do was find accessories for the inside, which was looking slightly dreary. The outside was fine, but as for the inside, not even the Tepig would want to stay there overnight and she had stayed in some pretty scary places. She also noticed that while Luke was keeping up his cheerful face, there were bags underneath his eyes and she heard his breath coming out in somewhat harsh huffs. Vaguely wondering when was the last time he had slept or at least gotten a good rest, the fire type moved her ears back to begin nosing about area around the outpost, searching for something to help make it more comfortable.

Finding nothing after a few moments she returned to see that Rai had come back with some old blankets, given to her by the Furfrou who worked at the fashion shop. Upon asking she said the poodle had simply said “I have no need for these ugly things” and thrown them at the Pachirisu, prompting a “thank you!” and a run back to where the outpost was placed.  

Setting them up inside was a somewhat easy task, but they had to make sure that none of them caught on anything or tore, because no one wanted holey blankets. After that was finished they all settled down to make sure that it was comfortable enough, the fire type found herself sitting close to Luke. Looking over at him she could still see that he was tired and a sudden flicker of understanding on what she had to do to make him feel better sparked into her mind, like a match being struck. Edging closer she gently tapped on his left with a hoof, causing his red eyes to travel over wearily to where she was. His responses to her quiet questions were cheerful enough, but they lacked the usual pep that someone who slept well had.

“Mr Luke, did you always want to become an explorer?”

“Mm, fer as long as I can ‘member that is. Don’t member much o’ my home town cause o’ that darned fog, but I’m happy as so..”

“Isn’t it lonely, living with no memory?”

He seemed a bit startled by that question but answered to her open face, shifting to stretch his other leg out so that it wouldn’t cramp. “No no, not really. I’ve made friends here and they’re the memories that I’ve got so I’m happy as is..though I kinda wish I could remember, but it don’t bother me as much as before.”

Mulling over that, the soft furred pig then let out a wide yawn, causing anyone in the hearing ranger (her included) to become drowsy. She knew it was a risky gamble because she had a bad habit of falling asleep after this move was used, but she didn’t want one of the Leaders of her own Guild to pass out somewhere or make a mistake because he hadn’t gotten the rest he needed.  

“I’m sure..I’m sure you’ll get your memories back soon.” she mumbled to the sleeping Swampert, trying to shake off the need to sleep that was slowly creeping up on her.

S.T blinked drowsily after those words, feeling the effects of the status move herself before she succumbed to sleep and leaned against the softly snoring dual types leg, one of her long ears sliding down to cover her face.  

She didn’t even feel it when her partner curled up about her for a well deserved rest.