Berry Collecting (WIP)

[Perri]

Perri dug her claws tightly into a small branch, her heart racing rapid-fire and her ears drooping limply. <I've...I've stopped falling...am I out of danger? It doesn't look like it'll take too much effort to get back to the tree trunk, and from there to the ground...but I can't stay here too long. Out on this branch like this, I'm a prime target for noctowl...>

The little plusle extended her good forepaw forwards carefully, letting her claws hook in farther along the branch. <That's it, slowly and carefully. At least there doesn't seem to be anything else out here with me...>

The smell of eevee - much stronger and fresher than it had been from within the tree top - tickled at the edge of her senses, and she sprang up in panic; the sudden movement causing the branch to creak ominously. Slightly exposing her teeth in fear, Perri swiftly turned her attention to the ground, looking for her perceived adversary. A small eevee - Perri wondered if it might be only a kit - was staring up at her, yipping something in excitement - a message to someone named Skyla about her situation. <Is she calling this Skyla over...to wait for me to fall? So they can eat me?> She trembled, clenching her teeth and fluffing her fur anxiously. <And I don't even know if I'm strong enough even to take on a little eevee or two. I don't have a minun partner, and even if I did, I don't even know how to use my electricity properly. But I know I have to try...this branch won't hold up much longer...>

The wood creaked again, and Perri clung even closer, whimpering. <You've had a lucky first year, but everyone's luck runs out...>

OOC: As per the rules, Perri's a Level Five plusle in game terms, and knows only Growl and Thunderwave - no offensive attacks , so she's understandably nervous. ^^'

[skystar]

Skyla stuck her head out as she herd Pechina cry out. She looked up the tree and spoted the Pusle clinging to a branch. "Don't wory I'll help yea" she yipped. She quickly started to climb the tree up faster than ever before. She jumped from branch to Branch untill she finally Reached the Branch she was on. It was a little thin one that wouldn't hold Plusle's weight for long any les her's to She was older than Pechina and larger. She clubng to a big thick branch above them and reached her paw out to the Plusle. "Grab it I'll pull you to safety" She yipped strtchen her paw as far as it could go without letting go of the branch.

[Perri]

Perri looked at the extended paw, the fur along her spine fluffed. Another eevee, bigger than the one at the base of the tree, was reaching out to her; trying to convince her to grab on. The little plusle had no idea if she could trust the other pokemon, but in her situation, she felt she had no choice but to take the risk. <This branch won't hold me much longer...and if these eevee plan to eat me, I can try and fight. Staying where I am and letting myself fall won't do any good. I can't fight fallilng...>

Lifting her ears bravely, Perri took the eevee's paw in her teeth, digging in as tight as she could. <Please don't be hungry...>

[skystar]

Skyla felt the plusles teeth dig into her paw she cringed in pain but quickly pulled her off the stump and to the base of the tree. "You ok day i thought you where a gonr there. "The name is Skyla that's my friend Pechina down there don't worry your going to be just find" she smiled than started to climb down to tree quickly and set the Plusle on the ground. "You might want to stay near the base of a tree when climbing ok. Wait here I'll be right back. Skla ran up her tree and in her den she grabbed in oran berry in case the Plusle was hurt and climbed back down and handed it to her. "Here eat this it will heal any scratches or bruises or pretty much any wound you got ok. She smiled and held the berry out to her.

[Perri]

Perri curled up in a small ball at the base of the tree, her good forepaw resting over the offered Oran Berry. <This is...for me?> She wondered if she should say anything - to thank this strange eevee for her help, perhaps, or to enquire after the other pokémons' appetites - but it had been so long since she had last spoken, she wondered if she even still knew how. <Oh, dear...what if they think I'm rude? They'll eat me for sure, then...I have to say something. I have to thank them, and then figure out what I'm going to do. Living in a tree just isn't working out for me...>

She opened her mouth, testing her jaws and tongue tentitivelyu as she thought of what she would say in the first place. She didn't want to sound as scared as she felt - eevee could likely pick up on fear, and even if t hey weren't hungry now, her fear might remind them. She had to say just the right thing...

"Thanks," she gasped finally, in a small, light voice she almost didn't recognize as her own; it had been months since she felt she had had the need to use it. "Berry. Mine?" She sniffed the fruit carefully, taking it up in her jaws and sinking her teeth delicately into the firm flesh. Reinvigorated by the food, she ate carefully; licking juice and bits of pulp carefully from her forepaws and muzzle. "But why would..you help me? Eevee....eat plusle, don't they? Are you...going to eat me?" She looked carefully at Skyla, and then to little Pechina. "I warn you...I don't taste good..."

[skystar]

Sky held back her laughter. Well one I'm not like most Evve I only it Rattata and Raticate's they taste good but plusle they have to much of a spice in them from the electricty. Know my firend Pechina I don't think she would want to eat you and yes the Oran berry is for you. Skyla could tell she hadn't talked in a long time by the way her voice sounded and little she talked. "I helped you because I would help any pokemon I don't like to see anyone get hurt and I don't kill unless i'm hungry and I am stuffed I have bean piging out on berries all day." she smiled at the Plusle.

[Perri]

Perri felt her body relax as she finished off the last of the berry, enjoying its filling effect upon her belly and its healing effect upon her tired body. "You...like to talk, don't you?" She smiled weakly at the chatty eevee; lifting her ears in a friendly position. "And I'm......relieved you don't.....like the way we taste. But if....you've eaten....one of us before-" she made a face at the thought "- than that must mean you've seen other plusle. Where did you find us? Other than........my family......I've never seen another." She rested her muzzle on her forepaws, flicking an ear idly as she contemplated how she had, months ago, been kicked out of her nest along with the rest of her siblings; to make her own way in the big, wide world. "And even though........I know it's silly....part of me really wants a mate. Someone who will want me around, even....with me the way I am." She indicated to the eevee her rich yellow and crimson fur; which sparkled faintly in the dim moonlight. "No one seems to want a shiny plusle like........myself around. The sparkle just attracts predators to the group." Shaking her head, the little plusle flopped unto her side, showing her throat slightly in a submissive gesture. "And now I bet you don't even want me around, either. No one ever wants my cursed fur nearby..."

[skystar]

Skyla smiled and though she already knew she didn't care for th taste she gave the plusle what she hoped to be a comferting lick than stepped back. "You may stay with me in my den on the tree it's much lower than the nest you made and it will hide your shine from prediters at night. And I had Plusle ounce and Minun to be true but it was when I was just a kit my mom and dad brought one hoe from hunting and i tried a little bit of both but to be honest electric types just have to much spice for me Rattata are much sweeter. She smiled licking her lips at the thought of it. Just than she herd one scampering in a bush nearby at snuck up on it and before it knew what happaned it was dead. She carried it back to Pechina and the Plusle and sat it down. "Want a bite" she asked then bit into the fairly big Rattata.

[Perri]

Perri couldn't help shuddering slightly as she watched Skyla kill the rattata; a pokemon not that far removed from her own species. Still, Perri was a wild animal, and not sentimental about the deaths of those that she did not know - and when Skyla asked if she wanted a bite, she accepted the invitation swiftly.

Hesitantly, Perri licked at some blood along the dead rattata's side, letting the salty liquid trickle down her throat. While plusle, like many rodents, were hardly vegetarians, she had never eaten an adult rattata before - only a few babies she had snagged from their spring nests, crunching them down - bones, flesh and all - in two or three bites. Compared to the babies, the flesh of the adult rattata was tougher, but sweet and juicy all the same - and she tore into the flesh of the downed pokemon's throat with wild abandon.

"It is...sweet...." Perri said shyly, running her good paw down along her muzzle, rubbing away drops of blood. "You are...too kind to me. You...really want me to live....in your nest? If something...sees me leaving and coming back....they'll know right where you live. That, and...I don't want to stay here forever. Somewhere, I know, must be someone I could call 'mate...'" She sighed wistfully, giving the eevee a gentle look. "Are you old enough to know what it's like to really want a mate? Perhaps we could try to find one...togoether."

[skystar]

Skyla took another bit as well than licked the blood off around her muzzle. "Of course I don't mind I'm strong enough to protect myself and you if I most and nothing to big can get it the whole it's just big enough for a good sized Evee to get in you could fit in easily. "It's a bit tougher than the babies but I don't like to kill the babies I also don't kill if I now it has babies and there to young to be on there own this way the babies have a fair chance to get old and breed so a certain breed doesn't grow scarce. And know you don't have to stay here forever just untill you can find a place to call your own and a mate andyes I'm just old enouth to find a mate of my own."

[wynnyelle]

All the while the pokemon had been talking, they had failed to notice Pechina get grabbed up by the paws and jaws of a stranger and carried away, her mouth covered. She was gone.

[Perri]

Perri had to admit she did not understand Skyla's ethic towards baby pokemon. "You are...bigger than I am. And stronger than I am. You can......afford your strange way of thinking. But for me.......the babies just the right size for me to hunt. I couldn't take on a full grown rattata the way I am now. Not at my...size and strength." She lifted her nose suddenly, smelling the arrival of a stranger, but by the time she turned around, there was nothing there - whoever the stranger was, and the little eevee she had seen earlier, were gone.

"Skyla," she said suddenly, fluffing the fur along her spine anxiously. "Did your little eevee friend go off with someone you know? Or could...something...have happened to her?" All thoughts of a mate out of her mind for the moment, the little plusle sniffed the ground, pacing warily. "You've been so kind and accepting of me, Skyla...if something has happened to that little eevee, and you need me to help you...I will."

[skystar]

Skyla nodded her head understanding Peri's thought. "yeah I understand no problme there you got to eat what you can get." All of a sudden she senced a stranger jurked her head up. She looked around but Pechina was gone. Her tail bristled and her pelt fluffed up making her twice the size she was. "You didn't happen to see where Pechina went did you." She sniffed her scent and figured which way they where going. "help me please I need to save my friend" than before waiting for Plusle's reply she dashed off quickly following the scent. She would havelicked to wait for a reply but the longer she waited the farther away Pechina would be taking. She ran as fast as she could she could tell the scent was getting stronger meaning she was getting closer. Than she spotted Pechina for a milasecound before she disapeared around a bend.

[wynnyelle]

The stranger carrying Pechina was moving swiftly, more so than those in pursuit of it. Pechina kept on whimpering but her tiny voice couldn't be heard from so far off.

Leaves and twigs rustled and snapped.

[Perri]

Perri ran as fast as she could in an effort to keep up with Skyla, pushing her wounded forepaw to the limits of her endurance. <What use would I be, anyway? I can hardly even keep up with the eevee...

Still, I can't give up. All my life I've done nothing but hide. It's time......it's time I learn how to face the world, to build skills that make up for my coat. I have to be brave!>

Clenching her teeth, Perri tried to run even faster, thankful that speed was an inherent trait of many electric types, including plusle. Not too far ahead, the type of Skyla's tail came into view, and Perri tried to call out to her weakly, qasping for breath. Her wounded paw throbbed with pain, and the rest of her body was not much better - she felt her heart would burst from exertion. <I might not...be able.......to make it after all.......but no...can't give up....>

With a final push of all the energy she had, Perri sped up until she was level with Skyla, spittle foaming about her jaws. "I hope..." she gasped in between breaths, trying to pick up the stranger's scent, "I hope I can keep up with you..."

[skystar]

Skyla soon lost site of Pechina agian she to was getting tired and started to slow done mainly because she could tell her new friend was in pain. She stopped for a secound. "I understand if you can't keep up go ahead and go back to the den I have plenty of berries in there to last a long time I'll be back when I get Pechina be carefull my friend" she said before continueing on kcking up the speed she lost distance when she stopped and had to gain some back fast.

[Perri]

Perri couldn't let herself give up. Putting her nose to the ground, she started to follow Skyla's scent at her own pace, keeping her hurt paw close to her chest. All about her, trees creaked and waved slightly as the wind started up, and stiff, dry berry bushes, picked clean by hungry pokemon, dipped and rustled. The night noises served well to conceal the arrival of any potential predators, and Perri shuddered, watching streaks of light refract off her fur and unto the trees and ground about her. <All my life, I've gone and hid in a nest instead of facing the world. Even if I get eaten...I have to take that risk. My new friends need me..and part of me needs them. I need to be brave...>

She picked up her pace, ignoring the heaving pain in her chest. <Have to keep walking...with luck, I'll catch up to Skyla and Pechina eventually...>

[skystar]

Skyla continued to race but unsure how long she could keep this up. Her paws where aching and she was starting to have trouble breathing. She had to rest she would be of no help to her friend if she arived to tired to help her. Finding a thick bush that what hide evan a shiny pokemon she crawled under it and laid down. Her auds her up and listening to the slights sound and her nose twitching for any new scents.

[wynnyelle]

They found her in the clearing, standing tall and protective over the tiny, struggling Pechina in her pouch. The kangaskhan saw the others coming but made no effort to run from them. Why should she? She was seven feet tall.

[Perri]

Perri kept traveling through the night, not allowing her body to crash and rest as it so badly wanted to do. Skyla's scent hung thick and heavy in the air, and as long as its source was not nearby, she had to keep going. With a sigh of exhaustion, she pressed on, her nose almost dragging along the ground.

Finally, after unknown hours, the little plusle reached a thick bush, from which the eevee's scent emanated. <Skyla...> Whimpering softly, Perri pushed herself within the plant and curled up in a tight ball near the eevee's fluffy tail, too tired and exhausted for any instinctive fear of being so close to a predator to get in her way. <I finally.......caught up......>

[Perri]

OOC: Drat, wynnyelle hadn't posted at the time I wrote my post - I had to run off somewhere and didn't send it until now, and didn't see there was an update. Now, to fix my mistake...

IC: As Perri huddled under Skyla's fluffy tail, she slowly became aware of another presence a little ways off, in a clearing a few feet away from where she was huddling. <What was that?> She lifted her head slightly and sniffed, listening closely. A scent she didn't recognize, and hadn't noticed at first because she had been so intent on finding Skyla, tickled at the edge of her senses, and she shivered, wondering what it could be. <Is this...the stranger?> She nudged Skyla quickly with her nose, wondering if the eevee would respond. <Something...is right over there!> Chattering softly in her throat, Perri assumed a warning pose and carefully approached the clearing, determined not to cower and hide as had been her habit for so long. <If that little eevee needs me...I'll try my best.>

Upon catching sight of the kangaskhan, Perri couldn't help a small chitter of fear at the sight of her. <She's so tall...I'll never be able to do anything. Can I? Dear, and she's bound to have noticed my fur...I have to be ready to fight. I have to be brave!> Baring her teeth, the little plusle looked straight at the much larger and more powerful pokemon, although hoping deep in her heart she wouldn't have to do any fighting....

[wynnyelle]

The kangaskhan patted Pechina's tiny head with her huge yet gentle paw, not only being kind, but keeping her in the pouch. "Don't try to steal her. She's my baby now."

[Perri]

Perri tried to keep her breathing calm and even. "Does...does she want to be your baby?" She posed the question slowly and softly, attempting to relax her shivering body. "I...I won't interfere if she's....happy with you...but if being with you....isn't what this little eevee wants...I...I...I'll have to try and help her. No matter how......big and scary you are."

[wynnyelle]

Pechina was afraid to answer at first, but she finally found her voice. "I--no, I dun REALLY wanna be your baby, I'm not, I'm small but I'm not, really a baby anymore..."

"You will come to like being my baby," said the kangaskhan to her captive/adoptive child.

[Perri]

Perri leapt lightly into the clearing, sitting up on her haunches as she tried to look up into the tall pokemon's face. "She...she doesn't want to be with you," she said as fiercely as she could manage, trying to look dangerous and threatening rather than small and cute. "Now you...have me angry. I'm strong and powerful, and I know Thunder, and Last Resort! You'd better give the eevee back or I'll....I'll..." She let her bluffing trail off, thinking over her actual level of power. She knew only Growl and Thunder Wave, and even then, she'd hardly ever had to use them. And even a plusle who DID know strong attacks like Thunder and Last Resort fought much better with a minun partner. <What can I do, what can I do? I don't think she's going to buy my bluff...but I have to try. Thunder Wave is better than nothing...let's go!>

Tensing her hind legs, Perri jumped up into the air, feeling electricity start to tingle and spark about her paws. The kangaskhan was a big target and hard to miss, but she knew the pokemon could end up being much faster than it looked. That, and there was the risk of hurting both the enemy pokemon and Pechina...but it was a chance she felt she had to take. "Here I come!" Closing her eyes, she focused her body and let her Thunder Wave fly, wondering what would happen next...

[skystar]

After Resting up Skyla quickly took off. After a few minutes she spotted the atacker and Pechina .. Perri? Skyla ran at the kangaskhan. She growled at tha kangaskhan baring her fangs at her. She was three times the size of Pechina. She was older and new more attacks. "Leave my friend alone or I will use Take down and Bite on you" she growled. Just than she saw perri use Thunderwave. She smiled that was smart if it hit it would paralize the pokemon. She ddug her paws into the ground before runnig at the pokemon at ful speed and using Take Down on it She knew the Kangaskhan couldn't dodge them both one would have to hit.

[wynnyelle]

The kangaskhan was easily hit by both attacks. The Thunder Wave paralysed her, and she toppled forward, unable to stand while paralysed.

[skystar]

Skyla ran to Pechina and gently grabbed her from the kangaskhan. She carried her away from it and set her down beside Perri. "Good Job Perri" she than turned her atention back to Pechina. "Are you ok did she hurt you why did she take you don't worry I won't let her take you agian" she said than turned around to the kangaskhan and growled ready if she tried to get Pechina back.

[wynnyelle]

Pechina did not answer. She was unconscious, having been fallen on by a two hundred plus pounds kangaskhan.

[Perri]

Perri licked Pechina carefully, trying to bring her back into consciousness. <It's not working...we'll have to carry her out of here...> "Skyla," she said softly, turning to the eevee, "Can you carry Pechina by....yourself? We've got to get out of here......as quickly as we can........." She turned her attention to the kangaskhan, flicking her ears back. "That Thunder Wave....won't last forever. We have to.....get out of here..."