:|: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon RP :|:

[P-chan]

[[For future reference, pictures of the guild can be found here.]]

"Maybe I shouldn't have come..."

Kido had imagined that there would be other Pokemon than him waiting outside the guild doors when he arrived. However, there was no one else there yet. Oh well, he was used to being alone.

The Growlithe sat uncomfortably in front of the humongous grate on the ground before him. While he was wandering through the forest the other day, he had spotted a Pidgey reading a sign hanging from one of the trees. (What was his name again? Was it... Bidgey? Bodgey? Boygey? Kido didn't remember.) He had seen this sign many times before scattered throughout the whole region of Kanto but had never taken the time to read it. Kido felt an impulse to read it this time, though, partially because he was curious but more because he wanted some company and thought he could find it in the Pidgey.

The sign advertised an exploration team run by a Charizard, and Kido was excited to join it immediately after he read it. He thought he managed to befriend the Pidgey (though Kido wasn't so sure about this, he had become friends with others before to have them just abandon him in the end), and they both agreed to meet at the guild entrance later on in the day.

However Kido sat there alone now, anxiously glancing around, searching for any sign of someone else. The only things remotely close to a Pokemon that he saw were the giant stone Charizard head towering over him as it hung above the guild doors and a few (creepy) totem poles. He let out a soft whine as he gazed into the dark grate. If no one else came in the next few minutes, he would just leave...

[[Yes, just imagine that that's a Charizard head instead of a Wigglytuff, kthxbai. o3o Also sprite rips found on The Spriters Resource.]]

[Arynielle]

Inia half-flew and half-hopped along the trail. She had read about the exploration team and was unbelievably excited about joining; she was up for a new adventure. There was a smile on her face as she arrived at the guild, overflowing with a naive eagerness. "Hiiiiii~" she called out to the first Pokemon that she saw, an anxious-looking Growlithe who sat in front of the gates. "Who are you?" Inia asked, her voice a light note in the day's breeze. "Ooooh. You must be here for the exploration team! Me too!"

[Aleu]

[Pidgey]

He didn't have a name. The little Pidgey fluttered through the branches, towards the guild gate. Didn't need one. Names were for Pokemon who didn't have anything else to be known for. If someone was truly great, you just knew. Names were frivolous.

Which was, of course, his excuse for not really remembering that Growlithe's name from earlier. He'd taken a liking to the little dog off the bat: he was a cute fellow, really shy. His timidness had triggered Pidgey's guardian instinct a little, and he already felt a little mentally protective of the young puppy, which made it a relief when he saw that the Growlithe had made it to the gate in one piece.

"Hey, I'm here. Waiting long?" Noticing Inia: "And a friend, I see. How are you, miss?" (What... what was that...? Some kind of Pokemon, and definitely feminine, but... Pidgey was a Kanto born and raised, and those outside of his familiar 150 were certainly... different.)

-----
~Neva~

Unlike the little crew of critters outside of the gates, Neva had already gotten a bit ahead of the game. She'd arrived at the Guild a few days ago, and pleaded her story to the guildmaster to be allowed shelter at the guildhouse. She'd been given asylum under Guildmaster Charizard's wing until she found a partner and was inducted as a proper member. Until then, though, the young Eevee had found comfort in the guild tower, and peace from the painful past that had driven her here. She slept, covered by her thick bed of straw on the third floor, sinking her mind and memories into the comfortable, musty darkness, learning to forget.

[P-chan]

Kido's ear twitched at the sound of the new voice. It didn't sound (or smell) like the Pidgey from earlier, and he was surprised to see a Mantyke when he turned around. Mantyke, a water-type Pokemon. The only water-type he was familiar with was Magikarp. (He had eaten one before, actually. They didn't taste very good, the scales were too hard to get into, but anyways.) Seeing the new Pokemon fascinated him. Kido remembered his old pack telling him to stay away from water-types unless he was looking for a hurting, but those were the same Pokemon who went and left him all alone. He could probably trust the Mantyke more than them.

"H-Hi there," the Growlithe quietly started before pausing for a second. He sounded awfully timid right now, and he was starting to revert to his old habit of stammering around others again. If he really wanted to make new friends in this exploration guild, he had to be more confident.

Taking in a small breath, he straightened out his posture and put on a smile. Talking to this Mantyke without stuttering was the first step in creating a new, more assertive and composted Kido. "I'm Kido, a Growlithe as you can see. I'm glad that others are here for the exploration team! I'm waiting for a friend-"

A rustle cut the Growlithe off, and Kido glanced around the Mantyke to see the familiar Pidgey. He was overcome with relief after expecting to be abandoned once more. "P-Pidgey!" he exclaimed happily, immediately getting to his feet. (Oh... wait, dang, the stammering was coming back. Oh well, he was happy.) Kido grinned at the Mantyke. "That's my friend, Pidgey," he announced proudly. He hadn't had any friends since the old days with the pack. "We're going to be partners! Pidgey, this is..." Kido paused, realizing he didn't know the Mantyke's name yet. "...I actually don't know yet. What's your name?"

-o-o-o-o-

Guildmaster Charizard knocked quietly on the door of Neva's room. He stood patiently in the hallway, listening for a response, and after not receiving one he stood there silently. The Eevee was probably sleeping, and he didn't want to disturb her... However, this news was pretty important. "Neva?" he called out, knocking once more. "Neva, dear, I believe we have found a partner for you. He's waiting to meet you on the first floor."

Charizard waited outside the door, his wandering eyes spotting one of the vines on the wall. It was overgrown and looked extremely out of place. If it continued making its way across the cavernous walls, it might find a crack to get into and make the whole guild come down. "I'll have to get on that," he grumbled to himself. "I wonder if Torer wouldn't mind taking care of some housekeeping with me later..."

[Aleu]

~Neva~

The white ashes stung as they blew into her eyes, lifted by the wind, dry and hot. The fire was too bright for her to look, and every time she tried to turn her head towards the flames the intense light seared her eyes. Burning embers dug into her fur, and the dust filled her throat and made her hack harshly. Was this hell? She was drowning in fire. Someone screamed in her ears. Help... I'm burning... N... Neva... H-hell... helll...

"Neva." She jerked awake. In her sleep, she'd thrashed her way out of her little nest of straw and lay sprawled on the floor beside it. Freed from the flames, Neva suddenly felt the ice-cold terror rush into her body. She tensed, instinctively curling herself into a small ball, and began to sob helplessly into her fur.

"Neva, dear..." She didn't want to say anything. She didn't want to answer the kind Charizard who'd taken her in after everything had been torn apart again. Not even the quiet darkness of sleep was safe anymore. The nightmares were merciless, and every time she woke from them she collapsed into the same full-bodied, breaking sobs she cried now.

Charizard was still waiting outside. Neva hiccuped. Maybe he'd come in on his own. She didn't have the strength to open the door.

[P-chan]

There was still no response, but Charizard could have sworn that he heard some cries from inside. He silently pressed his head against the door, listening quietly, and his suspicions were confirmed. The sounds could be nothing other than uncontrollable sobbing, and he pulled his head back. It was hard to continue listening to the crying so closely for more than a few seconds.

Two options were before him. He could leave the fragile little Eevee alone for a while since she might just want some space from the outside world. Company wasn't always wanted. Charizard knew that sometimes even he just wanted to be alone and not bothered so he could fight off some inner demons by himself. Or he could go inside without Neva's verbal permission and see what was wrong before telling her that an Absol had signed up to be her partner in the exploration team.

Charizard sighed and a whiff of smoke billowed out of his nostrils. The perfect circles dispersed into the air and he entered Neva's room. "Neva? Are you alright?" After seeing the Eevee laying in her straw bed trembling, Charizard knew the answer to his question. Maybe he shouldn't have come in, but there was no changing that now. The cries she was making were painful to continue listening to, but he walked over to her and sat down by her side. "Neva?"

-o-o-o-o-

Emrys had been waiting on the first floor for ten minutes so far, but that was already too long for the Absol. He was never good at waiting. The Guildmaster had told him that he was headed up to the third floor to fetch his "partner", but it was taking far too long. Emrys decided to take matters into his own hands. The Absol got to his feet, stretched his limbs out a bit with a small yawn, and began to meander his way up to the third floor.

Other than waiting, he also wasn't good at talking to other Pokemon. He wondered exactly how he would make it with a "partner" to work with, but such was the price to pay when one was looking for rare items. He wasn't interested in helping out other Pokemon, either. Still, if that was what was necessary to get ahead in life, he would do it.

He just hoped that his partner could hold their own without his help, because he sure wasn't going to care about what happened to them.

[Arynielle]

"Waaaaah?" Inia whined in surprise. "Oh, another one!" she cried upon seeing the Pidgey. The little Mantyke was new to the world, very young, and she had just recently wandered away from her mother for this adventure. She never had much socialization with others other than her fellow Water Pokemon. It was nice being able to see all of these new faces, and her eyes sparkled in sheer adoration. "Hi, Kido! My name's Inia!" she said upon being prompted. "I grew up in the ocean and came all the way here to see Guildmaster Charizard!" She waved a stubby fin in the direction of her home.

With a large smile on her face, she flapped her fins several times in excitement, finally settling on the ground. "Is the guildmaster going to open the doors soon, do you think?" Inia couldn't suppress her great eagerness to begin this adventure; she hardly even though of the possible dangers that she would encounter. Really, she just wanted to explore and help others.

---

Torer slashed his arms here and there, practicing his moves before leaving on this next adventure. He was up for anything that Guildmaster Charizard would assign to him, but there was nothing wrong with being prepared. By practicing right now, he would be stretched and warmed up in the event that some not-so-friendly Pokemon came along. A wary eye glanced at the clock.

It was time for him to get going. With a flutter of his bug-like wings, he descended through the hole in the floor, not even bothering to use the ladder-- it wouldn't have served much of a purpose anyway, considering that Torer had no arms to grab onto the rungs with. He was perfectly fine with flying anyhow. Along the way, he bumped into someone he had never seen before. Perhaps Torer might have been more confrontational, but it wasn't uncommon that Guildmaster Charizard let strangers into the guild, especially those who were injured or volunteered to help out.

The Scyther merely slid to the side of the ladder, landing on the second floor to let the Absol pass before continuing along his way. He figured that he could at least open the doors for those who were waiting outside, if only to comfort them and let them know that there were at the right place.

[Aleu]

[Pidgey]

Pidgey settled himself on top of Kido and sat down on top of his head, perching comfortably abut being sure not to injure the young Growlithe with his claws. He dipped his head a little towards the Mantyke at her greeting, and responded with a murmured "Good to meet you."

Strange girl, she was. Really chatty, too. A little overwhelming. Not bad, but he really would not mind keeping his distance from her. The ditzy, chatty types were nice and all, but really not suited for him.

He leaned down quickly against Kido's ear and whispered quietly, "Everything alright? You know who this is?" He spared a second to give Inia a swift but penetrating glance. "And, uhm, what was your name again?"

~Neva~

She quivered, wet sobs still racking her small, balled-up body. "I'm... I'm... -hic- I'm alright..." The little Eevee tried her best to stymy her tears, but all she succeeded in was choking herself and coughing violently. "I just had a nightmare... I'm sorry."

A few minutes passed while Charizard patted her gently on the back. His claw on her small body was strong, heavy and comforting. The gentle firmness soothed her a little, and Neva focused on that to try and put her dreams from her mind. The floor was nice and cold. She untensed slowly, letting the sweet chill seep into her body.

"Thanks..." The tears had finally passed, and she lay splayed on the floor, exhausted. "I'm sorry..."

[P-chan]

"Yeah, everything's fine," Kido whispered back, not really able to say his words back into the Pidgey's ear. That was sort of impossible. "This is a Mantyke I met just before you got here. And my name?" The feeling of a bird perched on his head was completely unfamiliar, and his ears began to twitch involuntarily again. "It's Kido. I don't really remember your name, either, actually..." He tried to look up at Pidgey, but whenever he tried to raise his head towards the voice it caused Pidgey to move as well. He gave up after a second try.

Even though it felt a bit awkward at the moment, Kido was glad to have the Pidgey's claws lightly grasping his head. Having his new friend (or at least he thought they were friends) gave him a sense of belonging that he hadn't felt in a while. He was sure that he would soon start to like having Pidgey on his head.

"Well, we'd better head inside the guild, then." Kido probably could have gone in by himself before, but he didn't want to go in alone. He didn't know why, maybe it was the thought of the humongous Charizard that must have been waiting inside that intimidated him. "You can come on, too, Inia! I'm sure they have a partner waiting for you inside..."

Kido turned to start towards the guild doors. The moment his front paw touched the grate in front of the doors, a loud voice called up from it, echoing through the underground tunnel as it caught Kido off guard. "Pokemon detected!" the low voice exclaimed, and Kido jumped back, feeling Pidgey's body weight shift on his head.

The Dugtrio far below in the grate stared up confusedly. "Pokemon detected!" they repeated. "It looks like... a Growlithe with wings? Not an expected visitor! Entry not permitted!"

"Whoa," Kido muttered, lowering his gaze down to the grate as he stared into it. "What's down there?"

-o-o-o-o-

As Emrys arrived on the third floor, he thought of the Scyther he had passed on his way. That's the kind of partner I'd be looking for, he thought to himself. Someone powerful but silent who wouldn't bother me too much... The Scyther couldn't have been his partner, though, because Charizard would have been with him if it was.

Emrys' eyes scanned through the hallway to the right and spotted a glow emanating from one of the rooms. Charizard's tail? Probably. He started towards it, curious at first, but as he heard the voice accompanying Charizard's deeper pitch he frowned. It must have belonged to a girl, which would have been alright if it didn't sound like she was crying as well.

He paused outside the door, mentally bracing himself for who his partner was. After taking a deep breath, he peered inside. At first all he saw was Charizard's back, and as he silently entered the room and circled around the back, he saw the other Pokemon in the room. It was a little Eevee who probably would barely come up to his knee if it was standing up instead of laying there on the ground.

"That's my partner?" Emrys dully asked. He saw Charizard flinch at the sound of his voice and guessed that neither of them heard him come in. "It's just a little Eevee," he concluded, his eyes narrowing a bit as he stared at the helpless looking Pokemon.

[Arynielle]

The Scyther came closer, his sharp eyes focused upon the door that would lead him outside to the newcomers. They would be introduced to the guild members and then assigned to some sort of mission, maybe even with a bit of training. It all depended on what Guildmaster Charizard wished to do with them. Maybe they wouldn't even be assigned to an adventure yet-- they could be told to rest here until they were needed for something else.

But through the door, he heard a familiar voice. It was the Dugtrio assigned to guard the doors for any intruders. After all, every base or station needed someone to serve as the sentinel, the one who kept watch. It was how the explorers here was kept safe in the rare case of an attack. "Let them through," Torer said, figuring that these Pokemon were merely here for the missions. Besides, if anyone came in who was unwanted, Torer would just tear through them with his scythes.

He was ready to greet these strangers, as much as he hated public speaking.

---

Meanwhile, Inia bounced up and down outside, flowing with energy. "Oh, I wonder what sort of mission we'll be given!" she cried, her large eyes closed as she grinned at her newly found friends (yes, she already considered them her friends). She couldn't wait to get started, mostly because she would have the chance to get to meet new Pokemon and explore the world. It all seemed terribly exciting to the little Mantyke.

"Come on, you two! Let's go in! Her voice was high and almost squeaky, a small cluster of bubbles coming forth from her mouth as she giggled. The stray bubbles floated from the ground and into the air, soon to pop.

ooc;; 'ello~ I leave for Taiwan in a few days, but while I'm gone, feel free to control Inia and Torer for your own purposes. ^_^ Just don't kill 'em and I'll be happy.

[Aleu]

[Pidgey]

Pidgey watched with some amusement as Kido tried to look at him while speaking, tightening his grip just a hair so as not to be tossed off the young Growlithe's head. Frisk, one way. Frisk, the other way. The sensation reminded him of sitting on a thin branch in the wind, albeit a somewhat rounder, furrier branch than he was used to.

"Hey, it's alright. Settle down." Pidgey sat down firmly, and spread his wings to pat Kido comfortingly on both sides of the head at once. "I'm gentle, promise. And you don't remember my name because I don't have one. You can call me whatever you like. I'll know." Pidgey patted Kido once. "Let's get inside. Thanks for waiting for me." He nestled himself more comfortably amongst the fur, bobbing slightly with Kido's motions as they made for the door.

"Pokemon detected!!" The echoing triplet of voices from inside of the gate startled Pidgey, and he spread his wings and flapped hard to keep his balance as Kido recoiled. "You alright?" he murmured into Kido's ear as the two of them peered into the grate.

"It looks like... a Growlithe with wings? Not an expected visitor! Entry not permitted!" Oops. Guess this wasn't the best of perches for the moment. Pidgey tilted his body backwards a bit, and gently slid down Kido's neck to rest on his back, from where he dropped softly to the ground. "Ah, sorry, it's just one Growlithe and one Pidgey. And, uhm..." He looked blanky towards Kido. "What was Inia, again?"

- Ellie -

"And so was I, Emrys," said Ellie, strolling smoothly down the hall towards Neva's room. She'd sensed the pain and fear in the young Umbreon's mind, and had made her way there after Guildmaster Charizard to check up on things. "Something tells me, though, that you'd be not quite as quick to say those words about me." Her gentle, almond-shaped eyes briefly glinted with a mischievous danger that belied the power and experience that lay within her otherwise soft, small, and motherly form. "Call it intuition, hmm?"

She commanded a healthy amount of respect within the Guild. After she'd parted ways with Lance, her Jolteon partner, the adventure-seasoned veteran had returned to the Guild to take care of the little ones and mentor the newbies in the way of the world. She was a playful, good-natured and witty Pokemon, with a naturally charismatic and confident disposition, popular with those attracted by her friendliness and approachability, and somewhat frowned upon by those who took offense at her blase disregard for rules, health and Pokemon safety, environmental conservation, fiscal planning, and just about everything else under the sun.

Ellie tweaked Em's nose with a paw as she made her way into Neva's room. "Relax, you goof. I know it's not your style, but take care of her for a while. I promise it'll work out." She flicked her two-pronged tail at him as she passed, and flashing him a sly grin. "Trust me. I can tell the future, remember? Now, what's wrong with my little girl here?"

~Neva~

"N-nightmare," Neva whispered quietly, trying not to look back at Emrys. The disdain and disgust in his voice already filled her stomach with a sense of dread and a strong desire to crawl into the wood floor and die somewhere out of sight. A spark of anger seeped through her, and choked in her throat - it was barely audible as a muffled growl. Why the hell was everyone so ready to pounce on her all the time? After a moment, she muttered, "... it's alright," her voice filling with growing venom. Neva turned around slowly, looking up towards the door. "Who else is her--" Her eyes widened slightly, her pupils dilated, she reeled as if she had been struck and then stood frozen, all emotion drained from her body save for dread, piercing her like ice.

It wasn't the tremendous blade that grew from his forehead - Absols always had those. The skull-like pattern on his face, the hard red eyes, none of those. His bone-white fur filled her mind, transported her back to the ashes. Dusty, clotted smoke filled her nose, and the crackling roar of fire still came from the remains of the home. Neva looked into the blaze, her eyes seared by the light, tearing from the soot that billowed from the house.

And then, burnt, ashen white bones.