(Koribi's pack, but open) Searching for Treasure!

[mintchan]

As the dawn broke over the horizon, Koribi opened his eyes and blearily looked around. THe day before had been so busy, so full of adventure and danger, that he and his friends had fallen asleep straight after eating and finding a safe cave to rest in, but he still didn't feel fully rested. Still, it was morning...with a yawn, he stretched out his forepaws, clicking his claws against the smooth obsidian floor. THen he noticed somethign soft and warm nestling up beside him...he turned to see Faya, still asleep, right by his side. He felt a stange sort of heat rise up into his cheeks and scurried away, afraid that his presence might wake her up. She looked so peaceful when she slept...

"Ugh," he moaned, covering his eyes with his paws and shaking his head. "Why do I keep thinking things like that?!" To distract himself, he looked over to where Blaze was, also asleep, before trotting over to the mouth of the cave and peering outside.

"...What sort of stuff are we going to do today...?" he wondered aloud, plopping onto the ground and resting his chin in between his paws.

[aspinwolf476]

Unaware that the growlithe had risen, Faya slept on peacefully, however, her ears flicked in reaction to Koribi's thought spoken words. Groggily, the vulpix raised her head, blinking her amber eyes, visions of the previous day's happenings still seeming all like a long dream. Though everything appeared blurry, she stood up, stretching her limbs. Once her view had cleared, the pretty vulpix trotted softly over to Koribi, his fur standing out against the smooth black floor underpaw.

"Good morning Koribi. How long have you been up?"

She asked, settling down next to him. At his presence, she felt a warm fluttering feeling inside, and she had to force it away. It had happened yesterday, when she had first met him, and it had continued to persue her endlessly.

[mintchan]

He glanced to her, feeling a smile form on his face as his tongue stuck out slightly. With a wag of his tail he answered. "Oh, just a few minutes...I like this place a lot, you know? It's so nice and warm, I think we picked the perfect place to camp out." He yawned and stretched out some, shaking a few stray embers off of his pelt. "Is Blaze up yet...? I'm sorta hungry...and besides, we haven't even started to look around this place!"

[aspinwolf476]

Smiling at his ever eager nature, Faya looked over her shoulder at the form of Blaze. Still in awe over his rescue the day before, she had never really gotten a chance to thank him. In truth, the escape had been too much for words to say. Sighing, she stood up, looking back over to Koribi and then outside the cave.

"We should let him sleep a little longer. He did use up a lot of strength saving us from that lava. How about we go get some food for when he wakes up?"

She herself did not say it, but she had noticed how brave Koribi had been, using his flamethrower to keep back the magma wave. She wished she could tell him that, but for some reason, whenever she was about to, her fur felt redder then normal and she couldn't bring up the courage to tell the growlithe so.

[mintchan]

"Right...Blaze can sleep...and we'll bring the hero back some chow!" he grinned, wagging his tail as he poised himself to jump out of their cave...he leaped, somersaulting in the air twice before proudly landing on the tip of a nearby cliff, howling confidantly as Faya looked on, impressed, admiring his great skill..

...At least that's what Koribi would like to think would have happened, if he hadn't tripped on a bit of jagged obsidian on the way. "W-WOAH!!" He tumbled down the hill, landing with a crash at the bottom with pebbles flying everywhere. "...I really hate myself sometimes..." he moaned, turning his face to the rocks. Why was it that whenever he wanted to do something cool in front of Faya, he became the clumsiest dog in the world?! "Stupid, stupid, stupid," he muttered, bonking his head against the ground. "Stupid, stupi--...huh...?" It was then he noticed, on one of the times he had lifted his head, that the stones underneath of him were discolored in a very strange way. He cleared the rest of the rocks from the area and examined it curiously. "...A pattern...?"

[crystalblue]

Adena was hiding from her brother in nearby bushes when she peaked out just in time to see a Growlithe tumble down a hill and smash into a rock five feet away from her. She chuckled at first, and then went into laughing hysterics. She also heard the Growlithe say "Idiot" over and over.
"Idiot! Idiot! Idiot!" Adena sang gleefully while still hidden in the bushes.

Meanwhile Aden was looking for his sister frantically. She had somehow once again tricked him into letting her out of his sight for one second.
"If only I wasn't so thirsty!" Aden scolded himself. He then saw the opening of a cave in a mountain where a Vulpix sat.
"Maybe that Vulpix has seen my sister!" Aden thought to himself, and made his way towards the Vulpix.

[namora]

(Sorry for the wait )

Blaze was sleeping peacefully when he heard a crash that jerked him awake. The Ponyta looked around the cave for Faya and Koribi, but it seemed that they were already awake. Yawning, he climbed to his feet, wincing a bit when his back ached a bit. 'Still a little sore from yesterday I guess.'

He spotted Faya at the entrance of the cave and trotted over to her. "Hey, Faya! What's going on? I thought I heard something...." He stopped when he saw a Chimchar walking toward them. "He's got a flaming tail just like I do," he remarked to Faya.

Turning his attention fully on the stranger, he galloped straight at him, almost knocking the smaller Pokemon over in his eagerness. He lowered his head until they were looking eye to eye. "Hi there. Are you new around here? I'm Blaze and....." He pointed his head in Faya's direction. "that is Faya." He gave him a welcoming smile.

[mintchan]

Koribi stared down at the pattern in glee. He had brushed away most of the rocks to reveal the interesting pattern...only to discover several landmarks drawn into it with the lighter-colored rock, things that he could recognize after yesterday's adventure. The caves, the lava pit, the ravine..."It's a map!" he whispered excitedly, glancing at the target-shaped area at the end of it. "A map! Oh, how cool is this?!" ...He then paused...hearing giggling from behind one of the dried-up bushes. He padded over to it softly, and brushed away the branches and dead leaves, to reveal a tiny chimchar, even smaller than he was...and that was saying something. He raised an eyebrow. "...Who're you?"

[crystalblue]

Aden's eyes widened. He looked at the fiery horse, full of shock and questioning.
"N-n-nice to m-m-m-meet you. B-Blaze, and Faya. I w-was just w-wondering i-if you saw my s-s-sister come by?

Adena took a pause in her laughing to look at the Growlithe who had discovered her hiding spot. He looked fun. She decided to mess with his mind a bit.
" I'm nobody, but I am somebody" she said in an eerie way.

[namora]

Cocking his head, Blaze was a little surprised by the Chimchar's shocked expression. Faya and Koribi hadn't reacted this way when they met him, though they'd met on unusual circumstances. Well, if you can call helping him fight off an enraged Charmeleon "unusual."

"The only Pokemon I've seen around here today are you and my friends Koribi and Faya," he answered, shaking his head. "I don't know where Koribi is now though.... Maybe he's seen your sister." He turned his head from side to side to try to spot Koribi, but from where he was standing, the Growlithe was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey, Faya. Where'd Koribi run off to?" he asked Faya.

[aspinwolf476]

Eyes widening, Faya had been about to race after Koribi, anxious about whether he'd been harmed in the fall. However, before she could move, a fire pokemon approached her, and she tilted her head curiously at him. She had heard about chimchars from her sister, but she had never actually seen one. It was what you'd call a 'new experience.'

Opening her mouth to reply, she looked over her shoulder as Blaze approached. Smiling at her friend, she looked back at the chimchar.

"No, I'm sorry. I believe you're the first chimchar I've run into today."

She smiled, tipping her head sideways, hoping he wouldn't notice that this was the first time EVER that she had seen one of his kind.

Looking up at Blaze, she felt a twinge inside her at his question.

"Well, yes, and no. You see, he didn't really run anywhere. More so, he.... Fell."

She said, padding over to the edge of the rocky crevice and then skidding down the slope so that she was beside the growlithe. However, she yelped in surprise and fell over backwards as she spotted a tiny figure beside Koribi. It looked like the chimchar she had seen earlier, except much much smaller, and this one was female.

"Oh, hello there. You're older brother is up there looking for you I believe."

She barked, laying down beside Koribi to look the small chimchar in the eye. She reminded herself to ask for the chimchar siblings' names after.

[mintchan]

Koribi, who had been staring blankly at the female chimchar in an attempt to work out her strange riddle, turned to Faya in a bit of surprise, but mostly embarrassment. She had probably seen the fall. Ugh...he was such a moron sometimes. Though, if he hadn't have fallen, he wouldn't have discovered the map...oh! The map!!!

"Faya, Faya!" he cried out excitedly, bounding over to the strange stained rocks. "Look at it! It was covered by a bunch of pebbles but doesn't it look weird? There's all sorts of stuff colored onto the ground here that looks like stuff we've been by, and look! There's an X, right at the end of this tunnel here!" He traced it out with a claw before looking at her, an excited glow in his eye. The Chimchar had been forgotten in his rush to show Faya his discovery, to impress her with his intuition and findings.

"It's a map!"

[aspinwolf476]

Tilting her head curiously, she examined the strange parchment. Sure enough, Koribi was right. It appeared to reflect the tunnels they had explored earlier. What it was for, though, she did not know.

"Wow.. You noticed this against all the rocks? You have really good eye sight."

She barked, lowering her head to view the map better. She could see the tunnel in the cavern they had entered from, and she felt memories of the previous day wash over her as she spotted the recorded image of the lava ravine that Koribi and Blaze had saved them from.

[crystalblue]

Aden looked over the edge to make sure that Faya landed alright after hearing her yelp. She looked fine, but both she and a Growlithe were looking at a bush.
"I wonder....." Aden muttered to himself, and then made his way carefully down the rocky slope, but he lost his footing, and fell into the bush, and on top of his sister who didn't see that it was her brother who landed on her.
" AHHHH!!! WHO ARE YOU? WHAT DO YOU WANT? DON'T HURT ME! MY BROTHER WILL HURT YOU IF YOU DO!!! HELP!!! " Adena screamed.
"Adena calm down!"
"Don't tell me to calm down!" Aden sighed.
" Fine, do what you want to me then. " he said getting off of her. Adene instantly turned to punch her attacker, but Aden put his hand up to block her punch, and once she saw it was her brother she instantly put away her arm, and looked at the ground.

[aspinwolf476]

Muffling a bark of surprise, Faya watched the two quarrel. Staring at them, she notice then how much younger the female was. Far too young to be without parents.

"Umm... I don't mean to be nosy or anything, but, if I may ask, where might you twos' parents be?"

She murmured, looking down. She herself had not truly known her parents. She had grown up with her sister, Atalaya, and the arcanine, therefore she knew little of the past of other pokemon.

In fact, I don't even know what kind of a life Koribi and Blaze lived before they met me.

She thought to herself, pawing the ground awkwardly, embarassed by her own question.

[mintchan]

Koribi looked up from the map, blinking confusedly at Faya's question. "They aren't just on their own to be, ya know...on their own? They're old enough to be by themselves, aren't they...?" Of course they probably weren't, but Koribi didn't have any way of knowing that. He had gone off by himself after...he stopped thinking about it before he started, shaking his head furiously to be rid of the memory. Last thing he needed to be thinking about was the "Runt" era.

"So you guys, are, um...traveling by yourselves, right...?" he mumbled, avoiding Faya's gaze. He had a feeling that his shaking of the head thing had attracted her attention...

[crystalblue]

Aden and Adena took a pause in their fighting to look at those who were questioning them. Aden and Adena looked at each other, and judging from the look in Adena's eyes, she wanted her brother to explain. Aden sighed, and they both looked back at the questioners.
"Sorry, we haven't formally been introduced I guess. My name is Aden, and this is my twin sister Adena. You may not think it but we are the same age and we are traveling alone. Just her and I." said Aden. Adena nodded in agreement, and then turned to Faya.
"If we knew where our parents were we would gladly tell you." she said calmly, but trying to keep it really friendly, and not rude.

[aspinwolf476]

Blinking in surprise, she stared at the two, trying to figure out how they could be the same age. Then, realizing she was being rude, she shook her head and forced a smile.

Even without parents, it must be nice having a sibling to look after....

Her mind trailed off, and she felt a stab of pain inside, a hollow emptiness that was haunted by the loss of her sister. To her surprise, however, she sensed Koribi was feeling a strange inner doubt too. Glancing at her friend, she noticed him shaking his head.

Perhaps he too, had a rough life.....

Determined to change the subject, she looked up, a half-hearted grin on her muzzle.

"Alright. I think that's enough talking for now. You two seem hungry. Perhaps you'd give us the honor of accompanying our trio for breakfast?"

She barked, her amber eyes glowing faintly as she suddenly recalled the map Koribi had found.

"Koribi, do you think we miht be able to get a better look at that map after we've eaten? I find it slightly harder to concentrate on an empty stomach."

She laughed, her scarlet tails swaying.

[mintchan]

Koribi beamed at the mention of food. "Food! Yeah, let's track some down!" he barked, his old memories wiping away quickly...though Faya's question did sort of eat at his mind some. Why would she wonder about something like that? He would be sure to ask later, but at the moment there was treasure, and before that there was...

"Food..." he muttered, sniffing the ground. He would love a nice little baby Rattata to munch on, it would be a great breakfast...though a Torchic egg would be good too...and the torchic egg was more likely to be inside the volcano. "Right!" He grinned. "Time for a food hunt first! Faya, and...um...you two...what sorta food do ya want?"

[aspinwolf476]

Faya felt her stomach smile at the mention of food, and she scented the air, tracing her appetite for what seemed satisfying at that moment.

"Hmm..... Well, I'm fine with anything, as long as there's some protien involved."

She nodded, imagining the delicious possibilities. Smiling to herself, she looked first to Koribi, and then to the chimchar siblings.

"Koribi, Aden, Adena, what are you guys in the mood for?"

Then a spark hit her mind and she looked over to Koribi.

"You guys decide. I'll be right back. I'm going to ask Blaze what he wants."

With the flick of three of her nine tails, the vulpix had bounded back up the rocky slope, heading towards the waiting ponyta.

[crystalblue]

Adena grabbed a small branch of the bush, and started nibbling on its leaves. Aden glanced at her, and couldn't help but laugh a little bit. He knew his twin sister well enough to know that she was making a point that food for them was everywhere around here. Aden also snapped off a small branch from the bush and started eating as well.

As she ate, Adena looked up into the trees to find some fruit. She instantly dropped the branch she was nibbling on and started climbing the tree. Aden watched her, and when he put together that she was getting the fruit from the tree he also put down his branch and waited at the bottom of the tree to catch the fruit that Adena started to throw down once she saw her brother was ready.

[mintchan]

Koribi grinned, tongue lolling out. Faya was getting to Blaze, and their new friends seemed to be fending for themselves...which meant that he could hunt. He put his nose to the ground and closed his eyes, letting his sense of smell be his guide as he shuffled forwards, searching for meat, any sort of meat as long as it was juicy and rich and... "Aaaah..." he sighed, ears pricking up as he matched the sounds of dirt shifting through claws to the smell of prey. A torchic....he opened gleaming eyes to the sight of the lava, and crouched, creeping forward on his front paws and avoiding the pebbles that would give away his position. It reminded him of play-hunting with his siblings...except this would actually get him something, if he could do it.

"That's it..." he thought, creeping closer as the Tiny torchic's head bobbed into view, relaxing next to the lava pit. "Mmmm.....HAH!" He pounced, snatching it between his paws and chomping down before it could struggle. A painless death, the best he could hope for. Spitting out the feathers, he began to clean away the bird pokemon, almost drooling at the thought of breakfast. "Hehe...and maybe I'll catch something for Faya before she gets back!" he thought, happily beginning to munch on the wing.

[namora]

Walking down the rocky slope, Blaze spotted Faya's form walking up it in his direction.

Grinning, he trotted over to her and opened his mouth to say something, but stopped when he noticed the two Chimchar doing something with a tree behind her. "Wow, fruit! I'm starving!" He walked over to the tree, not realizing that he just answered the question that Faya wanted to ask him.

The smaller Chimchar was throwing fruit down to the other, who he recognized as the one he'd met a few minutes ago.

"Let me show ya how its done," Raising his front hooves up, he placed them on the trunk of the tree, balancing there as he picked out a nearby branch laden with fruit. He grabbed it tightly in his teeth as he stepped back a bit, making it somewhat taunt. He then shook his head vigorously until almost all the fruit fell from the branch. Releasing the branch, he fell back down on all fours.

"Now that's how a Ponyta gets fruit out of a tree!" Blaze added, triumphantly before lowering his head to start eating. "Mmmmm," he murmured, juice covering his face.

[mintchan]

"'Ow can 'u ea' tha' stuff?" Koribi said through his teeth, dragging back two more Torchic that he had managed to snatch up from the nest. He couldn't wait to show Faya...still, the sight of someone eating something as disgusting as a plant gave him shivers. "Reawwy Bwaze, tha' stuff 'ooks nasty!"

Setting down the defeated birds, he looked around for Faya, swallowing the last bit of meat he had gotten from the first one. "Faya! I got breakfast, come see!" he shouted, tail wagging. "If we eat quick we can go searching for treasure--!...Oh! Blaze, did you see it?" He scampered over to the oddly colored rocks. "We found a map, look and see!"

[aspinwolf476]

Faya spotted Blaze, however, before she could ask him what he wanted for breakfast, he had gone after the fruit. Smiling to herself, she bounded down to accompany the four. Landing by the tree, she held back a cringe of distain as she spotted the fruits.

Well, I guess everyone has different tastes.

She thought to herself, and, not wanting to be impolite, she padded over to Koribi. Blinking, she stared in awe at the prey he had caught.

"Wow. I didn't know you were this good of a hunter, Koribi. Thank you very much."

She said, smiling and sniffing the torchic. It smelled delicious, and as Koribi mentioned the treasure, she pricked her ears, realizing that Blaze had not yet seen the map.

"Oh, that's right. Blaze, Koribi found a strange map earlier. We're going to go look for the treasure after breakfast. What do you think? Want to come with us?"

She asked, taking a small bite of the bird pokemon so as to saver the taste.

[mintchan]

Koribi gave a wide grin to Faya's compliment. At least he could do something without being a total klutz! Take that, klutz pokegod! He began to tear off another wing to munch, listening to Faya's invitation to blaze. "Yeah! You should come!" he said in between bites, and the occasional growl that erupted when trying to tear off a bit of meat. "We're gonna find something great, whatever's at the end of the road has gotta be some kind of fantastic treasure!" He grinned, swallowing down another helping before digging his teeth through again."An' 'oo two? Chimchars? 'Oo wanna come too?" He asked, in between a growl as he placed his paws down on what was left of his meal and pulled.

[aspinwolf476]

Faya smiled at Koribi's enthusiasm, and she nodded in agreement at the two chimchars.

"Koribi's right. You two should join us. It'll be more fun that way."

She said, sitting down to lick the remains of her meal off her paws. When she had finished, she paused, looking over at Blaze and Koribi.

"Alright. Is everyone finished eating?"

[mintchan]

"Yep!" Koribi nodded, taking a large swallow of the last of his prey. All that remained were the bones, which he quickly set about burying...well, all but one, which he kept to chew as an after-meal snack. "I'm ready, how about everyone else?"

[aspinwolf476]

"Yup. Fine when you guys are."

Smiling, the vulpix stood up, watching her friends eagerly.

"Oh! I almost forgot to ask Atal..."

As soon as she'd opened her mouth, she felt a shadow of regret creep through her and she slammed her jaws shut, staring at the ground.

That's right... Atalaya's not here anymore. I'm so stupid. I haven't seen her in years, how could I forget she's not here? I just felt so happy though, and excited. So happy that I was able to forget about her.... No! I can't forget about her, no matter what. I have to keep her memory with me....

Closing her eyes and shaking her head vigorously, she suddenly looked up, giving the most cheerful smile she could manage.

"Right then. Should we go?"

[mintchan]

Koribi gave her a worried look for a moment. She was cheerful now...but it wasn't that hard to guess that something was wrong...

"...Hey guys!" he suddenly spurted out, wagging his tail vigorously. "I have an idea!" He pranced over to the map and pointed. "There's two paths see? See, there's two!"...Course it was only a bit of dust that made up the second one...but he was willing to take chances on gullibility. "So Faya and I...we'll take THIS one...and you guys take that one! Okay? Okay, let's go!" he began pushing Faya in the opposite directoin, until the others were out of sight. That's when he turned to her, and the smile was gone. Instead a worried look was in place.

"...Faya...what's wrong...what were you going to say?"

(OOC:...I figured since everyone else has disappeared...maybe this will give them time to remember this is here? ^^; )