World Tree MUSH

     After a spirited performance and a long chat with Duncan at the beach, Miwa has worked up an appetite for some dinner, and since she has company she suggests they head into town to find something. Heading north from the beach, the pair eventually make their way through Ula'ula Meadow, and next will be a short bit of Route 17 before they can cut through some forest to a path leading into town. "Be on your guard, we're going to be staying close to Po Town, it's a town that was taken over by a gang of thugs who call themselves Team Skull, they use it as their base." She warns Duncan as they begin heading onto the stone path of the route, and it begins to rain.

    Duncan frowns a little bit at the warning. "Why are we getting close to it if it's an enemy base?" he inquires. "It seems like the forest would be safer." The rain doesn't bother him at all, really. His guitar case protects the instrument within -- and the OTHER thing that's hidden in it -- from the rain, and he himself won't melt.

    Luke is apparently 'camping' on one side of the path, the boy just sitting besides the road, testing a small tent, while a small group of pokemon, both his and local, enjoy the spectacle of him struggling to get the darn automatic thing to stand in place. The fact that one of the pokemon seems to want to bat away any small components and play with them the moment Luke is not watching is not helping.

     Miwa nods to Duncan. "Well, it's just a shorter path through a less dense part of the forest, so it'll be easier going, especially for me. We're not going all the way up to the town, just the southern part of the path leading up to where the town is on the north side. Wouldn't go that far up unless you're looking for trouble." She explains, before hearing some struggling and turns to see Luke struggling with a small tent. She wonders why in the name of Arceus he would be trying to set up a tent here of all places. Heading a little closer she waves a flipper. "Hey Luke! Didn't expect to meet you here. What's with the tent?"

    Duncan nods. "A good idea, definitely," he agrees. Though he'll remember that little tidbit of information for later...

    He blinks as Miwa says a name he's heard before, and then looks up. He has to hide a bit of a smile. "Hello," he greets. "Do you need some assistance?" he asks Luke politely.

    Luke turns around when Miwa speaks, and of course that causes another shiny item to join the small collection the pokemon was making, hidden from Luke's gaze at least, next to his Bewear. The boy chuckles, "Oh, I was given this tent as agift and never used it, so was trying to see if I cna figure it out, I think I am done for now, maybe I am missing some pieces." he muses.. Duncan's offer gets a grin, "Oh, hey!, I am fine, I appreciate the offer."

     Miwa smiles as it becomes clear that Luke and Duncan have met. That certainly explains how Duncan had some knowledge of Pokemon. "Oh, ok, if you're done fussing with the tent, Duncan and I were on our way from the beach to Malie City, heading into town to figure out something to get for dinner if you wanted to join us that'd be great!" She offers warmly, though as she heads up the path closer to Luke, she hears the sound of Pokemon attacks and human voices further up the route, and frowns. "Sounds like something's going on, and considering where we are, I'd bet my tail it's not good..."

    Duncan once more chuckles at the tent shenanigans. Though he nods to Luke's response. "That is understandable," he agrees.

    As Miwa notes voices and sounds of battle, though, he turns his gaze in that direction. His expression changes, becoming unyielding and stony, and he listens as well.

    "Should I go and see what it is?" he inquires. He's accustomed to going first into danger -- he's a tank, after all!

    The boy nods and begins to pack in the tent, minus the leftover bits. "Sure, I think that sounds good." he replies, while the small pokemon crowd begins to disperse. As he sweeps things back into the tent's bag, his bewear casually stuffs the stolen things back into it as well, while the sneaky cat glares, mad the shiny things it 'obtained' were being returned.
    "I think dinner sounds great, right guys?" he offers to his pokemon, who all cheer.. There is a pause as Miwa mentions hearing things, and finally gets up, "Maybe we should, perhaps it's nothing, but doesn't hurt to be safe."

     Miwa nods to Duncan and lets him lead the way, while she and Luke can follow behind. Just a little bit further up the path, there are four Team Skull grunts, two male, two female, and they and their Pokemon are surrounding two of the panda-like Pancham and a Scraggy, which is a rather odd looking lizard-like Pokemon. The grunts are battling with a Slazzle, a lizard like poison/fire type, an Alolan Grimer, poison type notable for its rainbow-colored sludge, an Alolan Ratticate which is basically a giant fat black rat, the arachnid Pokemon Ariados and ghost type Haunter. Miwa scowls at the scene. "Wow, they're not even fighting strong Pokemon, and still they feel the need to outnumber them... Horrible."

    Duncan pauses before he leads off towards the noises though. He pauses long enough to open the OTHER side of his guitar case... and pull out a two-handed sword. Yeah, he's not going to play around with other people's safety.

    Though once they do discover the source of the noises, he scowls. "The rest of you -- I know you can probably fight, but I'll not ask it of you, if you don't wish to," he notes quietly. He's actually talking to Luke's Pokemon here too, not just Luke and Miwa.

    "But if you do... I will serve as a distraction, and the rest of you can easily overtake them," he points out. "Perhaps, as Miwa says, once they realize their advantage of numbers is gone, they will flee. If not, I will begrudge none of you an escape."

Luke tries to keep up with Duncan and Miwa, with most of his team returned to their pokeballs, except Bewear and Dynamo, just in case. Luke just stares at the random 'battle', "They are just kids, they might not even know how to properly battle." he mumbles. It's weird to see a boy talking about older teens like that. "Still, that seems a bit too much." he mumbles, and takes a few steps closer. His Bewear actually walks next to the tall man, and pats his shoulder, before cracking its knuckles... how does it do that... does it even have digits in those huge floofy paws?. "I think Bewear appreciates the offer, but is confident we can take them."

     Miwa gets a little more angry as she gets a little closer and can see the 'battle' unfolding. Luke would be right to say they don't really seem to know what they're doing, or perhaps they just don't care. The three first stage Pokemon they are battling are looking rough. One of the Pancham are poisoned, along with the Scraggy, the other Pancham is burned. They have been weakened to the point that they can barely fight back, but instead of just tossing some Pokeballs and getting it over with, they keep attacking, making them suffer needlessly. "It's a wonder they haven't knocked them out by now, but they're hanging on." Miwa comments as she moves closer still and fires a Moonblast into the air where it explodes, as a warning shot. "Hey, why don't you leave them alone. You shouldn't have to outnumber unevolved Pokemon five to three." The grunts, hearing the voice turn toward the group, and look a little surprised as they don't immediately realize where the feminine voice is coming from. "These little jerks stole food from us!" They complain. "Ok? And that makes it OK for you to beat them into the dirt?" Miwa responds with an icy glare. "You don't deserve to call yourselves trainers." That is enough to make the grunts mad, and they turn to focus their attacks on Duncan, Luke, and Miwa, while the little Pokemon they were fighting attempt to flee, slowly. As the grunts call out their attacks, Salazzle moves close and tries to use Poison Fang on Bewear, Haunter fires a Shadow Ball at Duncan, and Grimer aims a Sludge Bomb attack at Miwa. It appears they at least know their type matchups.

    Duncan looks at Luke and notes, "Not to worry. This is why my blade is so wide. I will only use the flat." Looking at the Bewear, then, "You want to go in with me?" he inquires. A nod. "I would be glad of your assistance."

    It doesn't take long before Miwa's got these guys riled up, and the Pokemon start attacking them! Fortunately for Duncan, he is not limited to 'Normal'-type moves. Unfortunately for the Haunter, that also includes abilities that are... probably most closely identified with Dark type.

    So as that Shadow Ball comes at him, a change comes over Duncan's features. They seem to be more shadowed all of a sudden, their lines sharper and more pronounced. And a purple-black aura surrounds the sword in his hand.

    He'll try to bat the Shadow Ball away with the flat of his blade. Though he still winces at the impact -- either the impact itself or the interaction of Dark-on-Darkness must have hurt.

    "I do not wish to harm you, ghost... neither you or your trainer," he states. Is his voice deeper? No, maybe not... but it does suddenly sound like it's echoing from somewhere roughly underneath his feet... "But if you do not yield, I will have no choice."

    The Bewear nods to Duncan, stretching and growling to the group of Skulls. When they begin to attack, the young trainer takes a few steps closer. "Bewear, let's end this quickly." he offers, taking a note of the large group of non combatants around. "Rock tomb on the Salazzle first, we don't want to start fires." he calls. 
    The fluffy pokemon takes a few steps away from Duncan and powers up for a moment, white energy gathering in its 'paws' for a moment, as it eyes the rapidly approaching poison/fire thing, before slamming both paws into the ground!. Nothing seems to happen at first, before the ground explodes under the opposing pokemon, large rocks shooting from beneath it, both damaging it nad trying to slow down its movements.

     The female grunt with the Haunter looks a little worried as she gets a better look at Duncan's sword. "Haunter, Hypnosis!" She calls, and the ghost type fires out a strange beam at Duncan in an attempt to put him to sleep. Bewear's attack hits the Salazzle hard, and her trainer winces, then throws Salazzle a sitrus berry, which it catches and scarfs down. "Now, use Belch!" The large lizard nods and opens wide, letting out a loud burp while it's mouth grows white and powerful purple waves of poison energy flow toward Bewear. Miwa reacts quickly to the poison move heading her way, using Hydro Pump to blow it away and attack the Grimer at the same time. The Grimer looks to be in pain but absorbs the water, but how much can it take?

    This... could prove problematic. Damage? Sure, that's not big deal for Duncan usually. Kick him around, knock him down, he'll just get back up and keep coming at you.

    Sleep, though? That's not something he has a lot of defense against. Particularly when it's a strong enough form of sleep to temporarily put down a creature used to these sorts of fights. Duncan's only human.

    So of course he's going to try to get out of the way, since it's a beam that does the damage. He's not exactly the most agile fighter though, but the callout is a tell. He's not completely out of range when the beam passes by though, so the Haunter and its trainer get a pass this time. Duncan's stumbling and fighting the effects of sleep. The aura also fades from around his sword, and his features go back to normal.

    The Bewear seemed to have been lucky so far with the poison bite, so he wastes no time to keep pushing further. "Bewear, finish them off." he calls. "Bulldoze!". The attack seems similar enough to the first one, the fluffy thing, now with a visible bite on one side, raising its arms, paws glowing even brighters as it does a powerful smash on the ground, sending a shockwave towards the group of Skulls. Luke meanwhile, moves to check on Duncan.

     The super-effective Rock Tomb had certainly done some damage to the Salazzle, which was only partially healed with the sitrus berry, so when the devastating Bulldoze attack hits, the fire/poison lizard is knocked flying and crashes into the Skull grunts, knocking them all over. The grunts get back up but the lizard is down for the count. In the commotion though, that Ratticate that has been notably absent from the battle so far suddenly appears behind Miwa and leaps at her, using Super Fang as it goes for a bite to her tail. Miwa doesn't see it coming and screams as the attack hits hard. The Grimer also moves closer and goes for a pound against the Primarina, but Miwa fights through the pain and creates a powerful blast of ice shards and frigid air as she uses Blizzard on both of the Pokemon fighting her, and when it clears, the Grimer is frozen into a block of ice. She then kicks at the Ratticate with her tail and turns to face it. "That was dirty, but you're not going to sneak up on me a second time!" Haunter tries to take advantage of the drowsy Duncan and goes for Shadow Punch.

    Duncan's on a knee here, shaking his head and trying to shake off the sleep. He'll notice Luke there, though. "Ah, I'll... I'll be all right..." he tries to reassure Luke, voice slurring a little.

    Miwa's yelp of pain draws his attention then, and he looks to Luke. With another shake of his head, he notes, "Help Miwa. I will be fi--"

    BAM!

    That's a hard-hitting punch he didn't see coming. Though even if he'd been paying attention, he wouldn't have been able to see it; it literally came out of nowhere! About all he can do is shift so that Luke (if he didn't move fast enough) doesn't also get hit!

    It might be a bit surprising to the grunt, though, that Duncan doesn't go flying. He's definitely awake now, though! Thusly, as he stands again, that aura appears around his sword again, and his features appear in sharp contrast once more. Except they might even look more frightening now that he's actually in pain.

    He channels that pain into the aura around his sword, making it all the sharper. "I believe it's my turn now," he growls, his voice again sounding like it's coming up from underneath him somewhere.

    He swings the sword horizontally in a slash that wouldn't really hit anything... except the darkness seems to hang in the air a few seconds more. Just long enough for him to swing a second time, sending the blast of pure dark energy out.

    Not at the Haunter. At the grunt. This shouldn't kill the grunt, but it's likely to feel like a really solid punch if it does hit.

     The grunt that Duncan attacks is clearly surprised that the attack was directed at him instead of his Pokemon. He's knocked down by the attack and when he gets back up, he starts to complain. "Hey, that's not.... fair..." He realizes partway through that he's attacking a person directly too so it kinda was fair. Miwa is done playing around. She charges up a Moonblast and fires it at the Alolan Raticate, and the beachball sized blast of energy does super-effective damage against the dark/normal type, the fat rat is barely hanging on when Bewear follows up with Hammer Arm, sending the fat rat flying into a palm tree. It then faints. Seeing that they are clearly losing, and noticing that the Pokemon they were trying to catch after they beat them up, had escaped, the grunts decide that they've had enough. They call all their Pokemon back and go running back toward Po Town. Miwa sighs and shakes her head, then rubs the spot on her tail where that bite had landed earlier with one of her flippers. "Oww, that rat really got me good." She says with a slight wince, then turns to Duncan and Luke "You both ok? Don't see a human fighting Pokemon directly every day, I guess it threw them off a bit too." She says with a grin.

    Duncan makes a show of being scary right up until the grunts and their Pokemon leave. Then he sags, propping himself up with his sword. The aura fades and his features return to normal once again.

    "Yes, I will be fine," he assures Miwa. Wryly, he adds, "It isn't every day that I need to fight a ghost..." But then he tilts his head up, looking to Miwa with a more serious expression. "What of you? I did hear a pained sound..."

     Miwa nods, and grins a little at Duncan's quip about fighting a ghost, she's glad no one was seriously hurt, she probably took the worst hit of all, but has certainly been in worse shape after a battle with Team Skull. "That fat sneaky rat snuck up behind me and bit me on the tail, and Raticate has some nasty sharp fangs. I'll be fine though, just a little sore for a while. At least I avoided the poison attacks. That is the big problem with me running into Team Skull, especially alone. Lots of them use poison types, and being part fairy type, makes their attacks stronger against me."

    Duncan tilts his head here. "My understanding of these typings are rather elementary, I admit," he notes. "Aside from the more obvious ones -- water over fire, fire over ice, and the like." As he speaks, he puts his sword back in the back side of his guitar case.

     Miwa nods again and smiles softly. "I guess it is a lot to learn for someone who didn't grow up immersed in Pokemon, especially for the less obvious weaknesses like grass types being weak to flying, and dragon type being only weak to ice, its own type, and fairy type. Then when you add in dual types like myself it gets even more complicated with what type weaknesses get canceled out by the other type, and so on."

    "I see," Duncan replies. "Since there are these people roaming about, I should study this, so that I may be able to tell what I can do that might be more effective in a battle against these people wielding their Pokemon such."

    He also realizes something else. "It might be easier if you could rest while we went back to the town." Duncan pauses, to whistle, and there's a strange sound from the forest.

    "WARK!"

    And in short order, a pale-feathered bird much like an ostrich comes running towards them. It has red eyes, and its yellow beak has a chip knocked out of it. Looks kind of mean, actually. Though Duncan shows no fear.

     "I'm sure we can pick you up a Pokemon guide book at a shop in town, that should help you out with the basics." Miwa offers with a smile, then turns toward the Chocobo as she hears that loud sound and sees it come running. "I'm assuming this is a feathered friend of yours?" She asks with a grin, looking it over curiously but keeping her distance for the moment as between the look in its eyes and that beak, it did look rather mean, and she's been bitten enough for one evening.

    Duncan nods. "This is Nemesis, my steed," he introduces. Fortunately yes, the bird does come to a stop next to them, and slowly. No one gets sprayed with dirt or anything. "If she can carry me while I wear full plate, I have doubts that she will have trouble carrying you. Though I will need to lead her, since she does not take to others well unless I hold the reins still."

    Meanwhile the bird eyes Miwa, and it's hard to tell if the thing is glaring at her or not...

     Miwa giggles a little. "I probably weigh less than you, even without your armor, though I've never ridden a bird before, or anything else really now that I think about it. Going to be more awkward with me having a tail instead of legs?" She asks curiously, looking back at the bird, feeling like she's sizing her up or something.

    "You will need to ride side-saddle," Duncan replies. "The saddle isn't made for that, but so long as you 'hook' your tail over the saddle, it should not be too difficult. That and I do not intend to move quickly, so you've little fear of falling off."

    Of course, he also pets the bird's neck. "Nemesis, old friend, you'll need to help us both," he says quietly, softly, in a soothing tone for the chocobo. Nemesis scratches at the ground with her feet slightly, but emits a quieter sound, a 'kweh'. Once more, Duncan nods. "She should sit still for you. Shall I help you aboard?"

     Miwa nods, moving closer now, and grinning slightly as she finds that soft 'kweh' kinda cute for such a fierce looking bird. "Ok, I think I understand, and yes, if you could help me up that might be better than me trying to stand on my injured tail and then climb on by my flippers. I might manage it, but I don't know if your bird would be too happy through the struggle."

    "Exactly, yes," Duncan agrees. He'll move to next to Nemesis then, and indicate Miwa should approach. There's a narrowing of the bird's eyes once the Primarina does get closer, but aside from some foot-scratching, there's little reaction. Duncan will assist Miwa up onto Nemesis's back carefully, making sure he's not going to drop her in the process, since he doesn't know how much she weighs until he actually picks her up. And he's not going to be rude and ask -- one must never ask a lady her weight!

     Miwa tries to be helpful and sort of move into Duncan's arms as he tries to pick her up, and she speaks soothingly to Nemesis as she reaches out to gently pat the bird on the back with one flipper. "Thank you for letting me ride you Nemisis, you're a very pretty bird and I'll try my best to be a good passenger." She turns her gaze then back to Duncan and continues with a curious question. "How long have you and Nemesis been together?"

    Nemesis makes a squawking sound when Miwa's put up there, but quiets down when Miwa pats her back. Duncan smiles as well, rubbing Nemesis behind what would be her ear, if she had ears. He'll take up the reins then, and the bird finally settles down. Duncan starts to walk towards the town they're heading for. He hears the question and notes, "Most of her adult life... a handful of years. A poacher mistook her for a white chocobo, which are veritable fonts of mana. She is a normal chocobo, but an albino. The mistake saw her abused for a number of years, until I found her at an auction meant to sell old birds for stewing."

     Miwa tries to follow what Duncan had said earlier, hooking her tail around the saddle and using her front flippers to keep herself balanced as the ride gets going and she listens to Duncan talk about how he came to have Nemesis, the story brings a frown from her and another gentle pat to Nemesis' back. "That's awful... Is that why she's got such a... fierce temperament?" She asks, trying to not sound like she was speaking negatively of the Chocobo.

    Duncan nods. "She almost took a finger off of my hand when I was examining her in the auction," he confirms. "She is willful, and I might be the only one she trusts. I have been trying to get her to calm, but I fear she never will. Not without my instructions."

    The gait of a bird is a lot different than the gait of a four-legged creature, to be sure. There's a lot more dipping and rising, but most of the side-to-side happens over the back legs. If Miwa keeps most of her weight balanced forward, she'll avoid a lot of that side-to-side motion that could spill her.

     Miwa nods, frowning again. She takes a moment to adjust how her tail is positioned in the saddle, moving forward a bit and leaning that way as well, with her slender torso she's very bottom-heavy. "I've heard about Pokemon in a similar state. They've been abused by their trainers or worse, several people, and after that they just have a really difficult time trusting anyone. It's... very sad. Maybe with enough time she will come to accept others, but they will probably need to be patient also."

    "And that she trusts me helps," Duncan adds. "If she didn't trust me, she would never have let me put you upon her back." A pause then. "I suppose that lot we met were some of those who abuse their Pokemon to make them that way?"

     "Exactly." Miwa agrees. "She'd have tossed me off in a second if she didn't trust you. I could tell by the way she was looking at me that she didn't trust me, it was like she was trying to decide if I was a threat or not... Also yes, they are a perfect example. If they had managed to catch those Pokemon, they would have obeyed them out of fear, not trust. To give you some back story, there is a tradition in Alola called the "Grand Trial'. Every new Pokemon trainer in the region is invited to participate. Basically how it works is the trainers are given a number of small tasks by trial captains on each of the islands, which often serve to show their bond with their Pokemon, or somehow help make the island better in some way. Once they complete these trials they are given the honor of challenging the corresponding island Kahuna, one of the strongest trainers on the island. If they can defeat them, then they are given a stamp on their trial passport and allowed to move to the next island. Most of the members of Team Skull are teens who either failed the trial outright or just got bored and gave up. Now they have little to do but to cause trouble around the islands and attempt to avoid being caught by the local police."

    Duncan listens to the account of the trial and Team Skull, and frowns. "Somehow this does not surprise me," he replies, when the connection between the two is stated. "That seems to be a commonality all worlds share -- a subset of the population believes that because they have failed at life, they should make that everyone else's problem."

     "Yeah, they make it their mission to bring everyone else down because they didn't try hard enough to succeed themselves." Miwa says with a sigh. "A while back some of them were basically claiming that beach we were on earlier as their own and causing trouble for anyone who wanted to use the beach. I called in a few friends and together we drove them off, but I got poisoned and then hit with an attack called Venoshock, which is doubly potent if you're already poisoned. I woke up in a Pokemon Center the next day."

    Duncan winces. "I have been poisoned before... it's unpleasant," he notes. "I'm relieved that you seem unhurt, though." A pause here. "This lot seems to need a bit of chastising... Do you think they would respond well to being frightened?"

     "Maybe... Their leader acts real tough, says he's never been defeated. He does have some strong Pokemon, but I question the truth in that. I've heard of him avoiding fights and making an excuse or saying there is no point because it's clear he would win, he just doesn't have time for a battle or whatever. His name is Guzma." Miwa explains as they make it through the forest and into a city that has the look of a Japanese village. https://cdn2.bulbagarden.net/upload/b/bc/Malie_City_anime.png

    "Hmm... there could be something there," Duncan muses quietly. He pauses as the city comes into view, though. "This is a style I've seen before... I quite like it," he notes. "Though never in a city this large. Most cities with this style seem to abandon it once they grow to about half this size."

     Miwa nods and smiles to Duncan's reaction to the city. "It very closely matches the architectural style of the Johto Region, glad you like it, I like it too. It's one of the reasons I like this island, and choose to live here over one of the other four."

    "I've not been to Johto," Duncan admits. "My exposure to this world is fairly limited. I should do something about that." A smirk. "You mentioned a 'Pokemon Center' where you woke up when injured. Is this where injured Pokemon go to have their injuries seen to?"

     Miwa grins a little. "Well, we shall have to fix that, yes. I'm sure Luke, myself, and perhaps others here would be happy to show you around and visit other areas of the world with you. To your question, yes. A Pokemon Center is basically like a hospital for Pokemon, maybe we should go there first and either order in some food or go out after."

    Duncan nods. "That was my thought -- you did say you were injured," he notes. "I would rather make certain your injury isn't too severe. A... Raticate may not be a typical rodent, but it does look like one. Rodent bites can easily become infected."

     "Well, they aren't the cleanest of Pokemon, so... you might have a point there." Miwa agrees with a nod. "It's a larger building near the center of town, with a big Pokeball logo on it."