[PRP] Adventure

[Suudonym]

Shoyo wanted to catch a pokemon. Though early September was still summer as far as he was concerned, he had mere days remaining of his summer break before regular classes and assignments started consuming all of his time. Of course that wasn't the only reason he wanted to enter the pokemon course - naturally, his goal to become an ace trainer was still bright in his head, and he was excited by the prospect of traveling around the region and training and battling - but at the moment it was his biggest concern since he still wanted to practice a lot with Nicolette.

And so today, he was doubling up, having scheduled a walking trip to the nearby mountain range with Nicolette for the sake of a bit of tough exercise and the opportunity to find a pokemon he could catch (and hopefully use to talk his way into the pokemon course). Fortunately, the rain that had persisted in the area had finally cleared up the night before they were to set out, and though the ground was a bit soggy, the sky was blue and the sun was warm.

The hike up the lower parts of the mountains was forgiving enough to be suitable for complete amateurs, and Shoyo, who was acclimated to hilly places from living and traveling in one for the majority of his young life, frequently forgot Nicolette's company to rush ahead and see what he could see. Although he was used to the terrain, he was not used to seeing so many different kinds of pokemon around, and he loudly and enthusiastically pointed out the different species as they fled the immediate area in his wake.

"That's the fifth Pidgey!" he announced, pausing on the trail and turning to wait for Nicolette. "There sure are a lot of them around here! D'you think there are Absol and stuff deeper in the mountains?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

The prospect of going up into the mountains was exciting for a number of reasons, though the biggest two were the fact that she hadn't been there yet, despite how long she'd been in Kodo, and because it sounded like a great way to exercise. She was a little concerned about the rain, because if the ground was all wet, wouldn't they slip and fall a lot? It would be all right though, she was sure; there were probably proper paths to walk on and those were probably fine, plus it hadn't rained at all that day. Still, just to be sure, she wore attire appropriate for a walk through the mountains and potential slips in the mud, though she still hoped there would be none.

Originally she'd had Pascal out to walk with them, but the lopunny had quickly retreated back into his pokeball upon finding the ground muddy and wet - apparently he didn't want mud between his toes - and since none of her other pokemon wanted to be out, Nicolette proceeded with all of them, plus some snacks and bottles of water she'd packed, in a small backpack. "Oh, is it? I thought that was the fourth one," she said with a soft frown as she followed after Shoyo a little more slowly, since she wasn't used to walking along hilly areas. "I might've miscounted, though. Um, I haven't been here before, so I'm not sure, but probably? There seem to be plenty of pidgey out here, so I think there should be more pokemon around, especially further up in the mountains," the girl reasoned out, though she wasn't sure if that was actually correct or not. She did hope so, because she loved seeing different kinds of pokemon as well.  

[Suudonym]

"Huh, maybe it was the fourth," he replied thoughtfully, wondering if maybe he'd counted twice one of the ones that went into and out of a tree. It didn't much matter in the end, though. "I wonder if the ones further up will be less skittish!" He turned to the sloping ground and looked towards the distant peak, raising his hand to shield his eyes. "You're not supposed to catch the ones that run away, right? Only the ones that are willing to fight?" He didn't really understand the rule since it seemed to conflict with the collector's motto of 'gotta catch 'em all,' but he supposed it at least made sense not to bother a pokemon that looked like it didn't want anything to do with him.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Maybe they will be," though she really had no idea. Out of all of her pokemon, she'd only caught one of them in the traditional way - the others had either been gifts or had wanted to join her. She halted next to him and similarly lifted her gaze to the mountain peak while she gave his question a little thought, mostly to remember all of the rules she'd spent so much time learning herself. "Yes, that's right." She paused with a soft frown, then continued, "Though sometimes they're friendly and want to join you without needing to battle them first. That's how I got Lulu."  

[Suudonym]

"Ohh... That's kinda weird!" Pokemon battled first to make sure the trainer was someone they would want to go along with, right? Training, battling, and catching pokemon... they all went hand in hand. Maybe some pokemon just didn't like battling - but then why go along with a trainer? "What kind of pokemon is Lulu?" he asked, spinning to face Nicolette with thoughtful curiosity. "Does she like to train? And what about battling?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Weird? Why was it weird? Was it weird? She didn't think anyone else thought it weird, so maybe it wasn't..? His question distracted her from worrying over whether it was weird or not, and she brightened as she turned to Shoyo to answer, "She's my vaporeon, and she's very pretty. She doesn't really enjoy training or battling, but she does it anyway, usually. You can meet her later, if you'd like."  

[Suudonym]

"Sure!" he agreed readily, starting up the path again, "That sounds like fun!" He did wish that he could communicate with pokemon properly - there were all kinds of things he wanted to ask that would be difficult to answer with a simple yes or no gesture - but the fact that he couldn't certainly didn't make it any less interesting to meet the pokemon and learn whatever it could teach him about itself.

He picked his way up the path carefully but energetically, a smile on his face at the prospect of meeting pokemon, both wild ones and ones owned by another trainer. As if summoned by his thoughts, a small fluffy bird dropped out of the trees a short ways off the path, puffing up its chest and stomping a foot in an apparent effort to attract the humans' attention.

"Whoa! That's a--" Shoyo halted for a moment as he tried to recall the species; he wasn't as studied on the species from Unova or Kalos. "It's a Rufflet, right?!"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Nicolette was more than happy to let Shoyo meet Lulu - and Angeline, given how the vaporeon would be too anxious without the eevee out as well - but the sudden appearance of the little bird made her halt as well. She knew most of the species she'd seen around Kodo thus far, as well as a number from Hoenn, but she had no idea what this one was. "Oh, I don't know - I haven't seen one of these before," she admitted a little sheepishly. A thought struck her suddenly, and an abrupt "oh!" of realization escaped her as she pulled her bag off her back so that she could rummage through it and produce her pokedex, which she made sure was on before pointing it at the little bird. Information readily appeared on the screen, and Nicolette nodded once after scanning it quickly and confirming, "Yes, that's a rufflet!"  

[Suudonym]

So it was a Rufflet after all, though Shoyo thought that they were a bit darker in color normally. He admired the bird for a bit before realizing that, unlike the other pokemon they'd seen, this one wasn't running off. In fact, it wore a fierce expression - as fierce as it could be with its small stature and fluffy plumage, at least - and stood its ground boldly and expectantly. "Oh!" Shoyo exclaimed, fishing a capsuled pokeball from its place, "This is one of the ones that you can battle and catch, isn't it?" He ran off the path to approach the bird, releasing his only pokemon from its ball, "Hey Giant, let's catch a pokemon, come on!"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

She had been going to join him in her excitement to study this new pokemon - well, new to her - up close, but paused to reconsider, and decided to stay where she was for two reasons: One, so she could continue to focus on her pokedex and check out Giant - another pokemon she didn't recognize - and two, this was between Shoyo and the Rufflet, and she should stay out of it.

With that decision in mind, she remained firmly planted where she was, and aimed her pokedex at Giant to see what information came up. Hawlucha; flying- and fighting-type? Interesting... "Oh!" She frowned at her screen, scrutinizing it carefully for a few moments, blissfully ignorant of the fact the mud just a few feet in front of her had begun to slowly shift downhill, "I don't know if you know or not, but Giant is weak to flying-type attacks." Did he know that? He was excited about training, she knew from previous conversations, but she didn't know how much he knew about battling or type advantages or disadvantages - she didn't want him to be upset or disappointed or anything by finding out through this battle, if he didn't know.

She put her pokedex back into her bag, since she wouldn't need it to watch the battle, and returned it to its place strapped to her back. With that done, she turned to Shoyo, mouth open to make some comment, but the ground's sluggish but persistent movement a scant few feet from her finally caught her attention, and her brow slowly furrowed in confusion. "Hey, um, Shoyo," she began with a bewildered frown, "is that... supposed to happen? I don't really know much about mountains--"

The slow movement of earth suddenly escalated as a landslide began further up the mountain and a shallow, muddy wave came lurching towards them with ever increasing speed, carrying rocks of varying sizes with it. Trees with roots near the surface were slowly pushed over, though some with deeper roots merely slanted a bit and otherwise remained in place. Accompanying the slide was a cacophony of sounds; the clacking of rocks knocking together, the creaking and snapping of trees as they were uprooted, and the sound of mud still saturated from the recent heavy rainfall carrying everything in its wake down the mountain.  

[Suudonym]

"Huh?" He turned briefly to acknowledge Nicolette's statement then returned his attention to the unfolding battle, "Oh! Oh no, you're right... Well, Giant's a flying-type too! We won't lose!" His Hawlucha's dual-typing had little bearing on his advantage, but saying it as though it did made the match-up feel more even. A type disadvantage was nothing that couldn't be made up for with hard work.

The Hawlucha, being more observant of their surroundings, swiftly took notice of the shifting ground and lifted off from the ground with a beat of its wings, making quietly troubled sounds as it did. The pokemon's movement didn't go unnoticed by Shoyo, nor did Nicolette's confusion and concern - though what suddenly began to happen on the slope couldn't have been ignored even if he wanted to. Shoyo had lived on a rural mountainside for much of his life, and this phenomenon was not one that he didn't recognize.

"Get back!" he shouted to Nicolette over the building sounds of the earth, moving back towards the path. "Get as far away as possible!" Getting completely out of the landslide's path might not have been possible, but they could at least place themselves on its outskirts and be less susceptible to being buried or--

Shoyo stopped in his tracks and looked over his shoulder. The light-colored Rufflet bounced in place, apparently angry that its challenger was running away from their fight. "Don't just sit there; go on, shoo!" He waved his arms at it, hoping to startle the bird away, but evidently only succeeded in kindling its fighting spirit further. "Agh, jeez...!"

He didn't know if he stood a chance of running in, grabbing the Rufflet, and getting out of the way, but he wasn't willing to just let the little bird get crushed by the flowing debris. Frustrated, determined, the small trainer rushed forward, away from the path, and scooped up the little flying-type.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Nicolette had spent the vast majority of her life sheltered quite comfortably in the city of Devoirue, and had hardly even been to mountains before, let alone seen anything like this. Rocks that had just been sitting shouldn't just be rolling downhill, and trees definitely weren't supposed to just casually lean over further and further until their roots snapped. The sounds verifying what she was seeing only succeeded in making the entire thing all the more frightening, and she didn't need to be told twice that she needed to get as far away from this as she possibly could.

She turned to do so, but Shoyo's following words gave her pause, and she looked back to see him... running in the opposite direction, which was almost assuredly not where he should've been running. "You get back too!" She yelled in return, her hands clenched into small fists as her heart threatened to beat out of her chest in her fear - fear at the mountain heading towards them, fear at being swept up in it, and fear of Shoyo willingly running right back in the middle of its path to save the Rufflet he'd been about to battle. It was brave of him to save it, of course, but that didn't negate her worrying even the slightest.

Running away should've been both of their first priorities as the slide grew ever closer, and she hesitated a moment longer to gesture frantically for him to follow his own warnings, "Hurry!" That said, she started running as fast as she could away from the path of the landslide, but she didn't manage to get too far before it finally hit the trees around them, pushing them a bit and making them creak, and though Nicolette was near the edge of it, she suddenly found herself swept up in it regardless.  

[Suudonym]

Shoyo's stellar athleticism was his pride - running and jumping were probably the only things that he was really good at - and his effort to escape the path of the oncoming debris was valiant. He thought that he shouted a reply to Nicolette, a confirmation that he was getting away as quickly as he could, but the words didn't leave his head. Volleyball could be called a battle against gravity, but this was something different: a battle against gravity, against momentum, against the earth itself. Rather than continue on in futility and inevitably be mowed down, Shoyo stopped abruptly, crouched down close to the ground with his back to the landslide and his torso shielding the little Rufflet, and raised his arms to protect his head. Rather than fearful or anxious, Shoyo's thoughts as the ground darkened the sky above him were base and instinctive, blank of any distinct words and filled only with the impulse to act in whatever way would best ensure his ability to endure.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Whether or not Shoyo said anything mattered little, since the slide caused too much noise for her to hear over as it swiftly carried her downhill. She couldn't ever remember a more frightening event - the day she arrived in Kodo didn't even come close to this - and while in the past she had feared for her safety, right now she feared for her survival. Despite her complete ignorance on landslides, she somehow managed to bump rather painfully into a tree that seemed too sturdy to be knocked over, and held onto it for dear life with her eyes squeezed shut as mud and debris slid past her.

Only a couple minutes passed - though Nicolette swore to herself it had been forever - before the mudslide slowed to a halt, though she didn't open her eyes right away, just in case. A few deathly quiet moments passed, with only the lingering rustle of settling trees making any sort of noise, before Nicolette opened her eyes. What she could see was mud, mud, things half-buried in mud - including her - and more mud. While the amount of mud that surrounded her did frighten her for obvious reasons, what frightened her more was what she couldn't see. "Shoyo?" She called out uncertainly in a wavering voice as she craned her neck around to try and locate her friend. She was behind a tree though, and half-buried in mud, so her vantage point was rather poor and perhaps he was just in a spot nearby that she couldn't see just yet. "Shoyo, are you okay?"  

[Suudonym]

In response to Nicolette's calls, a black, feathered form circling overhead alighted beside her. The Hawlucha fixed its round orange eyes upon her briefly before casting its gaze out across the disheveled ground, crowing quietly but urgently.