• Welcome to The Cave of Dragonflies forums, where the smallest bugs live alongside the strongest dragons.

    Guests are not able to post messages or even read certain areas of the forums. Now, that's boring, don't you think? Registration, on the other hand, is simple, completely free of charge, and does not require you to give out any personal information at all. As soon as you register, you can take part in some of the happy fun things at the forums such as posting messages, voting in polls, sending private messages to people and being told that this is where we drink tea and eat cod.

    Of course I'm not forcing you to do anything if you don't want to, but seriously, what have you got to lose? Five seconds of your life?

Frontier Town Drungfield's Remedies

Reader mode
The responses to her apology didn’t fully ease her nerves, but were enough to settle her stomach for the time being. She nodded firmly at Dave, affirming his stance. They needed to find who was causing this and stop it at the source before anything. She also offered a partial smile at Koa, at least content to know he took her apology seriously.

“Keep me updated on the whereabouts of that meeting. I’m looking to run him down at some point myself,” she said.

While throwing the pin in the desert likely was the least risky disposal method, Dave’s insinuation that it was what the drapion followed had her coming up with another idea. But, gods bless Wes, because he was on the same footing.

“I was thinking the same thing,” she said. “Though, perhaps it wouldn’t hurt to do some additional outside investigation before we did that. Who’s to say once it rested it wouldn’t have the power to break out if it saw us again.”

Investigating the Radiance or whatever sounded like a good starting point for that.
 
“Uh,” Archie said, before frowning. Actually, he wasn’t sure if this was the best idea he could be bringing up right now. But, before he knew it, the words were tumbling out of his mouth, anyway, “I noticed that, when you got the Drapion angry again, it only seemed to have eyes for you. Koa and I were right in front of it, and it didn’t make any moves against us at all, even though we were the immediate available target.”

He glanced at the Mawile, then down at the jacket in his lap. “I think Koa was on to something, about trying to reach its heart like the Cloud was saying. So, maybe, if he and I were the ones to visit it, it might not react so violently? Since we were the ones who tried to calm it before, and all.”

He felt kind of stupid suggesting it out loud. Out of all the people here, he probably had the least amount of experience with Shadow Pokemon, so who was he to tell the rest of them what was best? Still, he couldn’t shake the feeling that they were doing the right thing, right there at the end. He thought back to how much they really needed this breakthrough, if the Shadow Pokemon were going to be a recurring problem.

“The Shadows are victims too, you know,” he muttered.
 
Weazel said:
“I noticed that, when you got the Drapion angry again, it only seemed to have eyes for you. Koa and I were right in front of it, and it didn’t make any moves against us at all, even though we were the immediate available target.”
Click to expand...
“Well, I’m sure,” Odette said. “It was mean-mugging the shit out of Kimiko, Ridley, and me. It saw us on the tower. Hell, it already attacked me once. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was fully ready for a round three with me specifically whether I’d screamed at it or not.”

Even acknowledging her own faux pas, she still had absolutely no interest in entertaining trying to quell it. Even in a better mind, she’d rather not put herself back in front of that thing. She’d rather put her angry energy toward the more immediate issues, like getting into the Coven. Anybody else could handle that, and truthfully, the oshawott had a point. The ones who’d tried to calm it probably had the best chance of making progress with it.

Not her, though. It had attacked them. She didn’t have it in her to forgive that yet.

“Perhaps I could give one of you the spike when you visit. Then you can see how it reacts when you show up with it,” she suggested.
 
Last edited:
Archie's words heartened Koa a bit. At least Archie had supported trying to reason with it. He found himself appreciating the oshawott's levelheadedness. They were just pokemon. Pokemon infected or tainted somehow, driven into that frenzy by something else. Someone else.

"Yeah... couldn't hurt to see if the spike does anything." He was much more interested in knowing if the Drapion would be.... normal. It was still a strange concept that this world had feral pokemon who weren't like the ones he knew back home. Still, the Drapion had responded so perhaps there was a chance to reach out to it anyway. "But... Steven's right. Our best hope is this radiance thing." For some reason the word left a tingle on his tongue. He had to find the Escarpa.
 
Weazel said:
“The Shadows are victims too, you know,” he muttered.
Click to expand...

Wes suddenly felt a sharp pang of crushing guilt. He remembered Rui’s words again: Not crazy, just damaged. So maybe the evolved bug wasn’t a sapient mon. And it had tried its best to kill them (not to mention it was ugly as hell), but…it had shown potential to be something different from the raging monster they’d seen.

And shouldn’t you know that better than anyone?

Wes found himself unable to look Archie in the eyes. He tiredly turned his head away and and stared at the opposite wall, chin still resting on his paws.

Maybe…if I can find a cure here, I can cure the ones I left behind.

It was quite the stretch, but the thought ignited a tiny glimmer of hope all the same. He sighed and murmured, “Yeah. That’s a good plan. The Radiance thing, or whatever it’s called.”

Then he closed his eyes, rotating what he could remember hearing about Radiance over and over in his brain even as sleep started to creep in.
 
“Well, if we’re going to try to bring the spike to it in jail, we’d better hope it doesn’t attract other Shadow Pokémon in the meantime.”

Was there reason to think that? The Skorupi being able to track its own spikes made sense, a technique not unknown among predatory Pokémon. Other Shadow Pokémon being able to track it didn’t necessarily follow, especially if Nolan was right that the Shadow energy was gone. Did that mean the tracking method had to be mundane? Not necessarily. Betel was a thing and seemed able to keep track of them.

He sighed, frowning. “The Shadow Pokémon are victims in all this. Drapion’s a feral but Mhynt’s friend isn’t. We need to work out what’s going on and how to put a stop to it. And how to reverse it.”

He hadn’t watched all of the dumb TV show, but there’d been talk of how it involved ‘closing the Pokémon’s heart’, and now Betel was talking about reaching the Drapion’s heart. It sounded like vague cheesy bullshit, but after several weeks here, that was par for the course.
 
Had the others said something about visiting the drapion? In jail?? What had he missed between the Haus and here? Steven's eye pinched tight with concern as he listened in on the conversation. "They may be victims, but shadow pokemon are still dangerous. Whatever you're all planning, please be careful."

"I'll... I'll do my best to join you but..." His eye fell, tilting with uncertainty. "I don't know how long I'll be here. Like this."

"At least I'll have the good doctor to keep me company," he said, trying to inject some cheer into his voice. "Or Bellatrix, if she's feeling charitable." His eye drifted to where their conversation had been heard earlier. Hopefully one or both of them could fill him in on what happened after he lost consciousness.

Speaking of, he was starting to feel faint again. What had already been a sleepless night was quickly becoming a sleepless morning full of aches and pains and the long, slow recovery that he knew mineraloid pokemon underwent. When time and the elements were your worst enemy, it took time and elements to rebuild. It was a small mercy he was so familiar with his species, but he wasn't looking forward to the process in the slightest.

"I... I need to rest," he said, eye drooping. "If you're not here when I wake, I meant what I said. Please, be careful."

It closed all the way and dimmed low. Steven's voice was a sleepy whisper. "And thank you. Everyone."

<><><><><><>​
 
Ch03: Locked in and Locked Out [Wes & Jade]
  • Threadmarks
    • Doing jobs for the rangers meant getting into scrapes more often, and while most of it could get handled with the uncanny berries they were regularly given, sometimes the berries ran out mid-mission, or couldn't quite heal off the last bit of damage, and that meant a trip to the apothecary for some kind of potion or other. This time it was something to take the edge of the last lingering bit of numbness from a run-in with a wild Cacnea out by the ravine.

    It was almost becoming mundane, and yet it was hard to quiet that lingering, human instinct that getting hit was something to avoid at all costs.

    A few days ago, a bunch of the beds in the back had been filled--the chilling aftermath of the attack that'd happened in the dead of night at the Haus. But by now, everyone had thankfully recovered, and things had mostly gone back to normal... aside from the lingering reminder that nowhere was truly safe from the witching beasts.

    So Jade hadn't been expecting to see Wes still in a recovery bed, days after she'd confirmed with Koa that everyone had recovered. Had he... ended up here again for something else? And so soon...?

    She'd always gotten the impression that he was one of those 'don't talk to me' members of the team (there were a lot of those...). And she'd already located the salve that she was looking for anyway. But still, it'd feel weird to just grab it and leave, almost like she was ignoring him on purpose. Maybe he wouldn't care, maybe he'd be annoyed about it all day, Jade really had no idea. But then, when she'd been stuck in a hospital bed for days on end back home, it was always better when anyone stopped by.

    So, only feeling slightly dumb, Jade waved a paw lightly to grab the Rockruff's attention and said, "Hey, um... need me to grab you anything while I'm here?"
     
  • Threadmarks
    • Wes cracked open an eye at the sound of someone entering. Honestly, whose idea was it to keep the beds so close to the storefront? Still, it was a welcome change of pace from sleeping, staring at the wall, trying not to scratch at his bandages, and sleeping some more. He’d started counting the slats of wood on the walls and was certain he was in very real danger of losing his gods-damned mind.

    The mon in question was a Meowth—a sort of familiar-looking one, at that. Wes rifled through his memory until he remembered her from—the wagon. Right. She’d been there, too…Jade, was it?

    He realized with a small start that she’d asked him a question and he had yet to answer. He let out a huff of defeated annoyance. “No, don’t think so. Unless you can convince that tyrant of a doctor to let me out of this damn bed.”

    It occurred to him that Drungfield might still be able to hear him from her office in the back. He decided he didn’t care. She already knew what he thought of her bed rest orders.
     
    "Mm," Jade said vaguely, picking at the label on the bottle she was holding until she noticed and stopped. "Uh. So, are you. Like are you still healing, or...?" Maybe she'd somehow missed that he'd been in here ever since the Skorupi attack, and if that was the case, then she could understand going a bit stir crazy from that. But if this was something that happened more recently, then...
     
    He frowned. “Guess word hasn’t gotten out, then.” That wasn’t good—the team definitely needed to know who they were up against. “Had a run-in with the Wolf some days ago. With Archie. Kicked our asses.”

    Should he mention that the Wolf was his counterpart from a different Orre? Wes decided to leave that part out, partially because he felt it wasn’t relevant to anybody but himself, but largely because he had no desire to talk about it. Not yet. Maybe not ever.
     
    So it was a more recent incident that'd landed him in a recovery bed. But if Archie wasn't in here, he'd probably escaped with less damage.

    Jade winced. "Guess I wouldn't enjoy landing here back-to-back either. Hope it, uh... hope it wasn't too bad." She wasn't sure what to expect. From his tone, it sounded like he didn't think he needed to be in here still, but it didn't exactly look like he was ready to be up and about.
     
    Wes couldn’t stop himself from giving a biting response. “Oh, no, it was great, actually. A gods-damned picnic. I’m obviously only here as a hobby.”

    He saw her expression and cringed a little. “Shit. Sorry, I didn’t mean…” he sighed. “M’ not upset at you. Just sick of being here, is all.”

    He looked at her a little more closely; she sounded young, but it was hard to tell just how young. And she’d seemed rather…unfazed at his mention of the Wolf? Perhaps she didn’t know? Or maybe she doesn’t care because she thinks she’s some hero like the other idiot kid. Gods, just how many teens had been sent with their group?

    “How old are you, kid?”
     
    Last edited:
    Jade sighed. Well, that wasn't... not the reaction she'd expected. It wouldn't have been too hard to respond to coming from Aros, or Starr, or anyone she knew back home. But from someone she didn't know, maybe it was best to just leave him alone.

    But then, rather unexpectedly, his expression softened, and looked almost concerned, and then he asked that question.

    Jade exhaled slowly. "Old enough that I've been involved in stuff like this back home." There was a tiredness in her eyes that came from experience.
     
    Well, damn. What an answer. There was no mistaking that weary, haunted look in her eyes either; Wes was all too familiar with that look. He felt something in his gut twist—sadness for her, maybe? Sympathy? Anger that even in other dimensions, kids had to deal with way too much shit at way too young an age?

    Wes observed Jade for a moment before quietly adding, “I’m sorry to hear that. Do I dare ask what sort of things you got going on where you’re from?”
     
    Jade relaxed a bit--she hadn't exactly been expecting to be asked anything with that sympathetic tone, especially after the previous vibes. It didn't feel right to brush him off, or avoid answering, so...

    "I was in over my head," the Meowth said plainly, tail swishing behind her. "Wanted to make a difference, fight people who were doing really messed up stuff to Pokemon, that sort of thing. And I..."--she winced--"I already know how naive that sounds. It stopped feeling heroic a long time ago."

    "I guess I was hoping that being here in Forlas would sort of be like, a fresh start. Away from everything back home. But I guess being a Pokemon doesn't mean that much when we're up against that much stronger enemies."
     
    Gods, did that sound familiar. Wes let out a dry chuckle. “I know a thing or two about getting in over my head, myself,” he mumbled. “Never felt all that heroic, either. Most of the time, you’re just fumbling your way around trying to figure things out.”

    Like we are here. And like he still was in Orre. Seth’s words and his bitter laughter returned to Wes’s mind, echoing and taunting him. Screw that bastard, dammit—

    He clenched his teeth and growled softly to himself. “Listen, I know things are a mess here, too, but…at least there’s a lot of us. That’s gotta count for something.” As long as we can figure out how to work together. Eventually. Somehow. “And if it helps…stuff like this never feels heroic. You seem like you know that by now, but trust me, it’s not unique to just you. I don’t know what the hell I’m doing—either here or in my world.” He turned his head to look at her more fully. “But we…we try anyway, because that’s all you can do. You know?”

    Awful rich of you to say, his inner voice sneered, Considering you were forced into community service. You’re no hero; you can’t even begin to atone for the things you’ve done. Who are you to be saying this to anyone?
     
    Jade nodded distantly while Wes spoke, the sentiments all very familiar. "Yeah. To be honest, I've actually felt a bit less lost here than back home," she said, chuckling awkwardly. "Sure, we didn't really know what we were doing at the start, but at least it was better than feeling trapped with no options, y'know?" There was a pause, and then against her better judgement, she added, "Was that... Were you also trapped. Back home?"
     
    Trapped. What a fitting word. He laughed, but there was no joy in the sound. “I’m still trapped, kid. Was trapped when I left and I’ll be trapped when I go back.”

    If you haven’t made it of Orre by now, you never will. Seth’s words prickled under his skin once again.

    “Dunno if I’ll be able to do anything of any significance, to be honest,” he said quietly. “But at least here…I might as well try.”

    He gave Jade another sympathetic look. “And you? I sure as hell hope you’ve got a way out of whatever situation you’re in. And if not…well. I’d like to help, if I can.”

    It was a weak offer and he knew it—what could he do for someone probably from an entirely different dimension? Still, that look in her eyes reminded him far too much of himself at her age, of the other kids struggling to survive on Orre’s streets. She was not a Koa; not some starry-eyed, oblivious, naive know-it-all who was convinced real consequences didn’t exist. Not someone who thought she could solve the world’s problems just through sheer willpower. This was a kid who had seen and suffered too much already, and suddenly Wes wanted out of this damn bed more than ever.
     
    Jade finally put the bottle into her bag, which freed up her paws to fidget with the shoulder strap. "Well it's... it's sort of a weird situation. My friends and I had to leave the region we're from. We didn't want to, we just. Didn't have much of a choice." She winced. "So in a way, I guess it's not our problem anymore, but that just makes it more frustrating, not being able to go back without making things worse." They'd gone from trapped in the Legendary war to being trapped out of the Legendary war, and Jade still wasn't sure which was worse.
     
    Reader mode
    You must log in or register to reply here.
    Back
    Top Bottom