Rrrhg, heat. Kyle wiped sweat off his forehead. He disliked heat. He'd have to reapply sunscreen a lot. A hell of a lot. Uhg, heat. Maybe get Vahara to powder snow him. That sounded good. Maybe make him a powder snow cone. Oh, yes, that definitely sounded good.

At the moment, though, he was more focused on the pokemon surrounding him. Doduo would be great training fodder; they were weak to nearly all his pokemon. And while cubone was tempting to catch, he was rather sick of slow pokemon. He'd just battle it instead. Yes. Maybe with Muzencab.

He reached into his pockets to send out his pokemon when he noticed the grunting noise behind him. ... Strange. Slowly, he turned to see what it was, hoping perhaps for a huge grunting snow cone or a mobile grunting air-conditioner. Air-conditioners did tend to make strange noises.

Turning, Kyle would find the grunting to belong to a single mankey. The little ape pig pokemon looked crossly at Kyle and grunted again at him, throwing its hands up at Kyle, little paws open.

Well, that definitely wasn't a snow cone.

Kyle opened his arms and caught the mankey, grunting in turn as he bore the weight. He shifted his weight and moved the mankey onto his shoulders, allowing him a free arm. Despite its tiny size, it was heavier than he'd expected, and he had to arch his back a bit with the weight.

"Well, er, hello." This was a bit of a precarious situation, to the say the least. With his free hand he pulled Vahara's and Muzencab's pokeballs, releasing them in front of him. "Er, ... well. Vahara, help Muzencab fight the cubone. Muzencab, iron defense. Vahara, powder snows, and try to dodge incoming attacks." He hoped the mankey would jump off or something. This was just weird.

The mankey flinched at being grabbed, but allowed Kyle to hoist the hefty little ape onto his shoulder. It immediately began ruffling its paws through his shirt, hair, pack, and anything else within its reach, grunting to itself as it worked.

Muzencab appeared, expressionless as ever. But Vahara appeared with a cheerful snort, lifting her wet nose at Kyle in greeting and looking at Muzencab curiously. At Kyle's orders, she turned to the cubone and charged. The cubone heard her coming long before she got there and stood and turned to face this challenger. It stood upon a large rock a good six feet above the swinub. It's eyes were red and swollen and it did not look happy at all about being disturbed. Raising its bone club high above its head, it gave a furious growl. Vahara faltered at the particularly ferocious gesture, but inhaled deeply, spewing a blast of icy snow from her mouth. Sliding back down over the rock and out of sight, the cubone avoided the blast.

When Vahara realized she had missed her target, she stopped to catch her breath. The rock's face was covered in an icy sheen, already beginning to melt in the heat. No sooner had she stopped her assault, the cubone appeared again and launched itself off the rock's edge. Vahara tried to back pedal and get out of the way, but was too slow. Leaping high into the air, the cubone slammed his bone club down, cracking Vahara in the back. Vahara squealed in pain from the strike, and instinctively charged forward, bowling the cubone over and trampling over him. She was breathing heavy and hurt though, the club to her back had been painful. Shaking off the tackle, the cubone jumped back to its feet and prepared to face Vahara once more.

Muzencab continued to do what he did best. Hardening his cacoon for defense. Except this time, he felt the real pressures of battle around him, and felt his harden technique take on an entirely different feel. Using Iron Defense, he bolstered his shell's strength with a newfound power, his golden armor gleaming in the sun.

Muzencab has learned Iron Defense.

Kyle groaned and pushed the mankey off his shoulder impatiently. Touchy was one thing, molesting was another. He rubbed his hair back into its normally messy but not molested looking appearance, then did the same for his shirt and face. Mankeys should be taught sex ed or something. Buy a guy a drink first.

Er-hem. He checked on his pokemon's battle. That was important too. "Vahara, wait till the cubone approaches, then grab him with bite and release powder snow upon contact. Muzencab, when you are sure you won't hit Vahara, use poison stings." Not very strong, but poison could at least speed up the battle and give Muzencab some experience.

(( Pervy mankey. ))

((Kyle needs a rape whistle.))

The mankey, it seemed, did not appreciate this. Without warning it screeched and leapt straight into Kyle's chest, beating at any part of him it could reach with its powerful paws and latching onto his shirt with its legs.

The cubone readied his bone for battle but made no move to immediately attack, his eyes squinted and analyzing his attacker. Vahara too waited for her opponent to make the first move. The screech from the mankey made her turn around, however, to see if Kyle was okay, and the cubone took advantage of the distraction. It leapt forward and slammed its bone back into Vahara side, she squealed again shrilly. The cubone kept his momentum going and swung around with his free hand, scratching his tiny claws into Vahara's thick fur. Quickly realizing what she needed to do, Vahara bit through the sharp pains that shot through her body from the powerful strikes and chomped her teeth down on the cubone's exposed leg before it could retreat again.

The cubone's thick skin protected it from much damage, and it raised its club to crack Vahara in the face. But the swinub's bite was not meant to inflict damage. Ice crystals formed around the hair of Vahara's face and sheblasted out a stream of powdered snow at point blank range into the cubone's left leg. The cubone let out a surprised shriek and dropped its club in shock from the frosty attack. Desperately, it began clawing and beating at Vahara's head. Her thick coat protected her from the cubone's sharp claws, but Vahara's eyes clenched shut as she pushed through the pain. She refused to release her grip on the cubone's leathery leg. Already, she was inhaling for another powder snow.

Muzencab, after his Iron Defense, was pretty much immobile. His attention was obviously on the battle, but Vahara and the cubone were locked in battle and, on better judgement, Muzencab decided it best not to risk hitting Vahara and withheld his attack.

The mankey had grabbed Kyle's shirt and began tearing at it, screeching and yelling furiously.

Okay, this was not good. Not good at all. He had been joking before, but now he was seriously questioning this mankey's intentions. His shirt was an important part of his overall process. The process of not looking like a hobo and not being crazy sunburnt. At least it wasn't the pants. He needed his pants. "Jesus christ man, find someone of your own species."

Kyle lifted a foot to kick at the mankey; they were tiny enough that one kick should send them a decent distance, while his conscious would remain free. Self defense and all. "Muzencab, focus on the mankey instead. As many string shots as you can, don't hit me."

Well, he might make it easier on the poor kakuna.

He took a breath and began to run. No where in particular, just - away from his molester. Around Vahara's battle, which he should probably comment on - "Er, Vahara, keep powder snowing," and around Muzencab. Once the mankey was hit with string shot he'd slow down. Stupid mankey. Well, it was unavoidable; eventually someone was bound to pounce him. This much sexy just couldn't be contained.

Muzencab was already on it. Kyle was able to kick the mankey off of him, but the mankey made sure to take with a chunk of his shirt, the fabric tearing and giving a most depressing ripping noise. This did not sit well with the fighting type. Enraged, it pursued Kyle, gaining quickly and temper heating up fast.

Muzencab was already on it by the time Kyle spoke and he shot a silky white strand of thick string at the mankey, the threads quickly tieing up the mankey's legs and causing it to trip. Rage now filled the mankey's eyes and it reevaluated its target, now attempted to dash towards Muzencab, its arms waving and ready to strike, though it was considerably slower considering how Muzencab had already tied up its legs. He fired another string shot as the mankey closed it, this time cementing a stronger bond around the mankey's legs. The mankey tripped and fell face first into the ground.

Vahara expelled another icy blast of snow and the cubone shriked in pain, this time forcefully wrenching his leg free from Vahara's grip. He scrambled to grab his club and counter attack, but his frosted leg hindered his movements, and Vahara was already on top of him by the time he'd reacquired his weapon.

Ahead, Kyle could spot a few people in the distance making their way over, heading in his direction.

Oh, crap. His shirt. Not his shirt. Why did it have to take his shirt. Well - it was preferable to skin, at least. Which was why people had invented clothes, probably, at first, until they began to realize how funny looking they looked naked. But really. His shirt? Uhg. He was glad he had some spares in his bag, but not enough to be throwing clothes around like he was rich or something. Stupid mankey.

He stood still, no longer needing to run, and pouted. "Muzencab, if he gets close enough, bug bite, otherwise poison stings on the mankey. Vahara, keep using powder snows." There must be something wrong with that mankey. Right now Kyle really wished Muzencab would evolve and murder the stupid ape. Why his shirt?

And - crap. More crap. Double crap on a stick with crap as a side dish. People. People coming to see him naked while the mankey stripped him. What a lovely day. "Uhggg." He was hesitant to rifle through his bag and find another shirt; if the mankey came at him again and saw his bag, it'd definitely go for it. And since his shirt was already ruined it was preferable to having his bag messed with.

Stupid mankey. Those people had better not try and molest him. He'd had enough molesting for a entire week.

The mankey wasn't getting anywhere close to Muzencab, at least not at the immediate moment. He had done a good job at tying up the littleape's legs, and as the mankey struggled to rip the sticky strands off, the kakuna launched a spray of poisonous barbs. The little needles punctured the mankey's skin and it cried out in main as Muzencab's toxic needles injected a lethal toxin into it's blood stream. With another furious shriek, the mankey ripped his bonds off and charged.

Vahara had trampled over the cubone and prepared to launch a powder snow right into its face. The cubone countered however, desperately grappling with his club and bashing it into the side of Vahara's face just as she let her attack loose. Both pokemon cried out, Vahara staggering off trying to figure out where she was after the blow, while the cubone weakly struggled back to his own feet, frost forming at the edge of its helmet.

The people continued to come closer to Kyle. There were two of them, a girl and a guy it seemed. They would reach his location in a few moments.

This was turning into a very bad day. Very bad indeed. His choices were limited: take off his shirt and risk being burnt, as well as try and explain that to the people. Leave it on, again risk being burnt, look like hobo. Or take out new shirt and risk mankey coming after him.

Well. Not the best options there.

He sighed, eying the mankey warily. "Muzencab, more string shots." And then he began to move. As fast as he could he pulled off his shirt, tossed it onto the mankey, pulled his bag over, opened it, pulled out a new shirt, bag back over his shoulders and then -

Crap. He had to put his bag down to get the shirt on him. He froze for a second and then stuck the bag between his legs. And then continued, as fast as before, to attack himself with his shirt. This should not be a normal part of life. Struggling to change your shirt.

The cubone seemed to be turing rapidly. It could not maintain a prolonged battle with Vahara. Frustrated, it furiously chucked its bone club at the swinub, but missed completely, the club clattering harmlessly onto the ground behind her. It would prove to be a costly mistake. Vahara dashed forward and plowed straight into the cubone, bashing into its chest and pinning it down. The cubone scratched wildly at her face in defense, but she would not be deterred. Vahara inhaled against and blasted another icy blast of powdered snow straight into the cubone's face. While his mask protected him from the brunt of the icy pain, his eyes were not protected, and Vahara continued the stream until the cubone landed a lucky scratch across her sensitive nose, causing her to back off. The cubone heaved itself back into a standing position with great effort, its head shaking and its chest moving deeply as it gasped for air.

Muzencab was all too happy to tie up the mankey's feet again with another expert string shot. The mankey again fell forward, shouting in rage the entire time. It was much closer to Muzencab this time, and was already breaking free of his sticky trap when he reapplied it, further cementing the strings around the mankey's legs.

The two people continued to come closer. One of them pointed vaguely at Kyle and their pace quickened.

Hm. Well. He was fully clothed now. The sight of the people still remained somewhat peculiar, but less worrisome, definitely. For some reason the idea of him being stared at by strangers while half-naked was just unappealing. Unless the strangers were particularly good looking. That might make it a more pleasing experience. ... Wait, no, nevermind. Not fun. No fun, no, no.

He rubbed his forehead; he was sweating buckets in this goddamned heat. He really hated the sun. He moved his bag back onto his shoulders. If the mankey came for him again, he wouldn't risk losing his shirt again; he stuck his hand into his pocket, grabbing Lahar's pokeball. He'd release the mareep if the mankey came closer and order an immediate thundershock.

For now, though. "Muzencab, switch to poison stings. Vahara, sit on the bone club, don't let him get it, and continue powder snows." Hopefully the cubone would faint soon, allowing Vahara to help Muzencab with the damned mankey.

This would prove to be a viable strategy indeed. Ignoring the frantic clawings of the cubone, Vahara shifted her position so that she was sitting squarely on top of the cubone's club holding arm. Her weight was too much for the cubone to overcome and in one last effort to free himself, continued to scratch wildly into Vahara's side before the swinub knocked him unconscious with another stream of icy cold. As the cubone's head rolled limply back, Vahara hesitantly got off of him, then turned to Kyle and squealed in glee, rushing back to him.

Muzencab switched gears and launched another spray of needles into the mankey, blood dribbling out of the wounds where the needles stuck. Enraged, the mankey staggered forward and landed a vicious chop into Muzencab's side. The kakuna's shell had already been fortified from Iron Defense, and the mankey's attack struck with a hollow clunk. Still, the force of the blow knocked Muzencab over and onto his back. A sharp, lethal barb extended from the bottom of his cacoon, coated thick with purple poison, it slowly extended in defense. The mankey, ignoring the lingering strings on his legs that continued to hinder his movement, leapt blindly at Muzencab again, the sharp barb he had extended digging deep into the mankey's flesh. The pig ape screeched in pain and recoiled back as the poison enetered his system and immediately began to attack it.

The two people were continued to come closer, they had since picked up their pace and now Kyle could glimpse their features. One was an older man. Thick black hair flowed down his shoulders, it was matted and scraggly, and a thick black beard covered most of his face. Though his eyes were brown, red was the most noticeable color around him and dark circles tugged at the sockets. He wore clothes that were ripped and torn, dried blood covering his entire left arm. As he began to run towards Kyle, it became obvious he had a terrible limp.

The second person was a girl, much younger. In another light, we would've been beautiful, but her crisp, blonde hair was caked with dirt and her big blue eyes were solemn and brooding. Right off the bat, Kyle would notice she had a nervous habit of fidgeting her hands. Her clothes too were extremely worn, a thick white bandage was wrapped around her left thigh.

Kyle couldn't help but sigh with relief as the cubone fainted. That had taken much too long. Now, he had to figure out if he wanted to have Vahara help Muzencab, or have Muzencab do it on his own, or -

Crap. Bloody people. Literally. That guy was hairy and soaked in blood, possibly not his. This was not good. There were very few ways in which it could be good. Maybe the man wanted his help. Maybe he was not a blood-thirsty murderer. Maybe. Kyle fidgeted. Either way, his desire for Muzencab to evolve right now had drastically increased. Maybe under normal circumstances he might not be so paranoid; maybe he'd be more worried, run over, try to help. But he'd had a bad day. A bad few days. And he really was not glad to see anyone right now, let alone people who looked like they had just bathed in blood.

He glanced around him, checking to see if the doduo were still there. He doubted he'd get to fight them now. Shame. But maybe he could turn them against the crazy bloody people, if he needed to.

Whatever. Right now, his and his pokemon's life were more important. "Muzencab... keep... doing that. Vahara - er - bite the mankey's tail, hold on and powder snow." Okay, he just wanted Muzencab to get as much experience from this as possible before crazy-axe-murderer guy stopped him.

((Good god, sorry about all the typos last post. XD))

Vahara eyed the approaching humans with caution, but nevertheless followed Kyle's orders. The mankey seemed ready to take on both the swinub and kakuna both, but the poison infiltrating its system was beginning to take hold and the mankey cringed, giving Vahara the split second she needed to rush over and clamp onto the mankey's tail with her jaws. The mankey shrieked in shock and instinctively wheeled its arm back and slammed it down onto Vahara's head. This, along with all of the clubs to the head from the cubone, was really starting to jar the swinub, and she was forced to release her hold, staggering back and shaking her head.

Attention shifting to the swinub now, the mankey rammed into her roughly and latched onto her back, beating wildly at her with its fists. Luckily, Muzencab had her back. He sprayed out another weak stream of poisoned needles that punctured the mankey's skin, though most missed. It was enough of a distraction to cause the mankey to leap off of Vahara and charge at Muzencab now again instead.

Vahara was clearly a little stunned. The mankey's strikes were more powerful than the cubone's and her last fight had already tuckered her out a bit. Still, she wasn't about to abandon the comrade that had just helped her out, and with a determined snort, charged off after the mankey.

As the pair came closer, Kyle would also notice a bird pokemon begin to slowly spiral down from the heights of the sky. It glided in slow, lazy loops, and easily kept pace with the pair. If Kyle squinted, he could make its form out to be that of a xatu.

The girl waved frantically at Kyle as they rushed over. "Please! Please!"

When Kyle made no move to run, they slowed down until they finally arrived in front of him. They were both gasping, inhaling huge gulps of air, and the girl rested her hands on her knees. The man was the first to speak. His voice was gruff and hoarse and, as his lips began to move, he almost seemed unsure of exactly what to say.

"I am Franco Proculis. This is my daughter Deanna," he said between ragged breaths. He paused. Twice his mouth opened to speak, and twice he shut it. His eyes looked deep into Kyle's, as if searching desperately for some kind of answer. "Please... You must listen to me. I beg of you. I--" he looked to his daughter, still keeled over and panting. "We do not have much time."

Kyle eyed the man and girl, his daughter. Well, at least he hadn't kidnapped her, then. Probably. Maybe he had. Maybe he'd convinced her she was his daughter, or threatened her to lie. And that xatu - well. High-levelled then, which meant Kyle couldn't overpower them, unless they let him run. So he wasn't sure why they were asking for his help; clearly they were stronger. And they could make him help if he didn't agree, anyway.

Unless the xatu wasn't theirs. Maybe it was someone else's - and it was watching them.

Kyle shifted uneasily on his feet. "Vahara, stay at a distance and use power snows. Muzencab, keep using poison stings." His commands were somewhat routine; he wasn't paying much attention. But he wasn't to finish the battle. And the crazy people had given him time, so he was going to try.

Now, for their... rather vague questions. They had little time. For? Living? Well - the man was old. But that was a bit of a stretch. So they probably wanted him to help someone else. Probably. Kyle cleared his throat. "Much time for what?"

It occurred to him now that he was probably being rather selfish. These two people seemed very... hurt, yes, bloodied, needing his help. But they were so vague as to how - and there was just something so off about them. He felt like they were more likely here to kidnap him than anything. Just look at the xatu - not bloodied at all. There was definitely something wrong here.

Before Muzencab could launch another spray of needles, the mankey slammed into him with another swift karate chop. Vahara launched an icy blast into the mankey's back just as the pig ape staggered as Muzencab's poison continued to attack its body. Muzencab retaliated with another poison sting, and the mankey stumbled back, caught between the two.

"Please, I have no time to explain. I... I must beg of you a favor," he said between ragged breaths. "I cannot tell you... how important this is."

Deanna continued to look nervously over her shoulder, she tugged on the man's sleeve. "Please hurry, papa!"

"Right." Franco reached inside his torn jacket and produced a single egg, as big around as a cantaloupe. He handed it to Kyle. "Please, you must take this to Hallow Reed. Beyond Mura City, past the Marshlands, you must take this to a man named Montain Delevisio. You must keep it a secret. Let no one know that you have this!" He raised the egg again to Kyle. "You will not be in danger. Nobody but us knows that you have it and we must... disappear for awhile. They are coming for us."

Franco took a step closer, staring earnestly into Kyle's eyes. "I am so sorry for asking this of a stranger, I have no right. But I must. I have no choice. You must understand," he pleased, his breathing shallow, "this is a matter beyond both you or me. It must be done. Please, please I am begging you. Take this to Montain in Hallow Reed. It must reach him within ten days time. Young man... I may not be anybody to you... But now I must ask you." He paused. Deanna stared at Kyle, her expression unreadable. Franco, for the first time, spoke slowly and clearly, annunciating every word as though the judgement of life and death itself was carried upon each vowel. "Will you carry on this quest for me?"

Well, he really didn't like the idea of doing favours without knowing what they were, so this man was treading on thin ice. Or was it treading water - walking on thin ice? What was the saying... anyhow.

But as the man explained, Kyle became more and more curious, and more and more excited. An egg, for free, which he could possibly keep if he wanted - although that would be wrong, of course, but still - and a mission which would apparently put him 'in no danger'. It appeared to be not nearly as unpleasant as he had assumed. The egg, at least, was very appealing. It might even hatch before he reached Hollow Reed, wherever that was.

But he was definitely taking it.

He let his face relax into a smile and took the egg. He should keep it warm, right. Could go in his bag then, with his clothes, against his body. (Dirty.) He shifted his bag over his shoulder, opened it, dumped the egg unceremoniously in, closed the bag, back over shoulder, and turned to face blood-stained man. What was his name? Franco. Franco something. "Sure. I'll do that." Err, awkward. What should he say now? Good luck? ... Break a leg? One already looked broken.

He did enjoy being in the position of strength, though. They needed his help. That was new. And very welcome. And honestly, he wasn't so sure he would take the egg to hollow reed. He had to figure out what hollow reed was exactly, and then he would think through all the possibilities of going there. He did want to challenge the gym in Mura, didn't he? Could he do that in ten days? What would happen if he was late with the egg? Yes, lots of questions. He doubted the bloodied people had the time to answer though, since they apparently couldn't explain why he was meant to deliver the egg. So he was hesitant to ask anything. Well, might as well try, didn't cost anything.

"A few questions though." He paused to consider what he'd ask carefully. The xatu - that wasn't quite so important, really. Nor the blood. What mattered was what would directly affect him in the immediate future, for now at least. "What happens if I take longer than 10 days? Or the egg hatches?" Since he couldn't outright ask what would happen if he didn't deliver the egg at all, that was as good as it got. On second though - "What do you mean no one will know? There's totally this xatu watching you."

"Huh? Xatu!?" Franco looked up at the sky in confusion. All traces of the bird had vanished. He shook his head. "No, no, I would've known if we'd been followed here. But they will come and we must go. The egg will not hatch that early, but you must bring it to Hallow Reed."

He started off, grabbing at Deanna's hand and pulling her along. "Thank you so much. I cannot express the importance of what you now hold in your possesion. Let nobody know you have it. Trust no one. My life's work is in your hands." And, overcome with emotion, a tear rolled down Franco's cheek, he kissed Deanna's forhead and, without waiting for another response from Kyle, ran off into the hilly depths of Plains End Path.

Vahara and Muzencab had been doing a great job of trapping the mankey in between them, firing off alternating powdered snows and poison stings. This, in addition to the poison in the mankey's system, was enough to overwhelm it and the mankey fainted soon after. Vahara was breathing heavy, she had endured a lot of abuse throughout her two battles and was quite exhausted. Muzencab had taken a few good hits of his own, but was in better shape. As soon as the mankey had fainted, he paused suddenly. His caccoon quivered, and suddenly the bottom split open, a thick white mucus peeling back to reveal the insides of the kakuna. Then, wet and slimy, a new head poked out, antennae feeling around curiously. Then a body, and lastly a lethal looking stinger. Muzencab's true form had emerged, and the new beedrill crawled out onto the ground, appearing exhausted and attempting to dry its soaked wings. The kakuna lay on the ground, motionless and now lifeless, nothing more than a former shell of Muzencab's previous life.

Vahara has gained 14 EXP. and is at 42 Health. Muzencab has gained 5 EXP. and is at 83 Health and evolved into a beedrill.

(( :D :D :D I LOVE YOU! ))

Kyle stared at the crazy man. The xatu... was gone. That. Was. Not good. It definitely wasn't theirs then. It was definitely, definitely spying on them. And now him, most likely. Well. He'd taken the egg, but that didn't necessarily mean he was an enemy of whoever owned the xatu; he could simply give the egg to them, and make an ally. Either way, the egg was probably better off with him than with crazy-bloody-man and his daughter. Or supposed daughter.

The man's overbearing love for him man him uneasy, though. He didn't want to feel guilty. "Err, sure. No problem." Really, it was their own fault for not telling him anything about the stupid egg or why he needed to bring it to hollow reed or anything at all. How could they expect him, a total stranger, to go out of his way for them, two crazed blood-soaked people, without knowing why? Really? Uhg.

He had more important things to worry about though.

A flash of light alerted him of his pokemon. The mankey had fainted - finally - and Muzencab - well. Muzencab had evolved. Kyle felt like screaming for joy, and normally he would, except he really didn't want to show any sort of emotion in front of these strangers. So instead he walked around them towards his swinub and newly-evolved beedrill, allowing himself to grin once the strangers were behind him.

"You two - you did great. Muzencab, I'm so proud of you, and happy for you. Good job." He wanted to hug the beedrill, except that the big spears were sort of in the way. So instead he reached out a hand and pet Muzencab's furry head. Muzencab seemed pleased, both with the evolution and Kyle's praise.

Kyle withdrew his hand and bent down to Vahara. "You did great, too. Lemme hold you, so you can er, rest a bit." He extended his arms and lifted the little swinub, who scrambled up and quickly grew comfortable against his chest. She was small and fluffy but also unusually cool, which was nice in the overbearing sun.

Right, then.

He turned back to Franco and his daughter. "Well. I guess I'll go now. You know, deliver that egg." And other things. Mostly just get away from him. He gave off very strong creeper-vibes. "Unless there's anything else..." Indeed, unless there was anything else, Kyle would continue walking down Plains' End Path, hopefully coming across more pokemon and scanning them with his pokedex.

You have recieved one mystery egg.

Franco and Deanna were already gone.

As Kyle and Vahara continued on down Plains' End Path, Muzencab buzzed excitedly around the pair, testing out his new wings and his new form. Being restricted to crawling and immobility for so long, this new dynamic of movement, let alone flight was incredibly foreign to Muzencab. And also just so damn much fun.

Akwardly, he attempted various loops in the air, flailing his dangerous spears jovially, but to the point where sometimes he sung them just a little too close to Kyle's face. At one point, Muzencab buzzed over next to Kyle and inspected him with its antannae, the strange spindly feelers poked experientally at his face. But for the most part, Muzencab led the way down the path, flying around a good ten feet in front of Kyle, inspecting anything and everything that provoked his curiosity.

Vahara snorted with amusement at her comrade, and pressed her wet, slimy (and extremely cold) nose against Kyle's neck affectionately.

The route was oddly desolate and void of both pokemon and people alike. Up ahead, Kyle would see the telltale fork in the road. To the right, the path led to the great city of Mura, while to the left, the path became steadily greener and more lush as it led into the Marshlands.

A little ways off the path, in the middle of the dusty terrain, a lone, cream colored furry lump was curled up. Muzencab was the first to spot it and, buzzing his wings, glided over to investigate.

(( Okay, I love seeing my new beedrill, but I love seeing him with this personality even more. xD ))

Kyle couldn't help but grin at his beedrill's newfound curiosity. He couldn't blame him; he'd been trapped in a cocoon for so long, and before that, in the rather limited body of a weedle. Evolving into a beedrill - hell, even Kyle was jealous. He smiled at Muzencab, then down at Vahara; he really, really loved his pokemon. Really. They were awesome.

He paused though at the fork in the road. His lack of knowledge when it came to Kutho geology was growing rather annoying. And - was that a pokemon? Finally. Kyle gently lowered Vahara onto the ground and pulled out both his pokedex and pokenav. He quickly scanned the wild pokemon with the 'dex, while he spent a bit more time with the 'nav.

First of all, he needed to figure out where hollow reed was. And then what this fork led to - hollow reed or mura, or both or somewhere new. And then make up his mind as to where he was going.

After presing a few buttons on the 'nav, he had his answers when it came to where things were - hollow reed to the left, after passing through the marshlands, mura to the right. Well then. That was his choice, wasn't it.

He still had to deal with the pokemon, though.

((I love Muzencab. haha. AND OHWAITISTHAT A FAKEMON!?!))

"This drace is male and level 5."

Muzencab was already there. Slowly, he approached the sleeping ball. Tentatively, he outstretched one of his spears and poked the drace in the butt. The pokemon raised its head, a canine's features with floppy, hairy ears. It yawned lamely, and looked at Muzencab. Muzencab looked at the drace.

He buzzed around in a circle, inspecting the creature curiously as it slowly got to its feet. The drace wagged its tail and barked at the beedrill, who bent over to inspect it closer with his antannae. The antannae tickled the dog-like pokemon and the drace barked happily, its back left leg bouncing up and down. Muzencab backed up, the drace followed him. Then he flew over to the right, gaining a little more altitude, and again the drace followed, staying underneath the beedrill's shadow and looking dumbly up at him, tongue lolling out of his mouth. Muzencab began to make lazy spirals and figure eights through the air, apparently getting great amusement out of watching this strange canine clumsily attempt to follow him.

(( :D :D :D!!! ))

Hmm, interesting. Well, might as well battle, then. Kyle bent down and picked Vahara up so she wouldn't get in the middle of the fight. "Muzencab, first battle as a beedrill. Enjoy it. Iron Defense, try and restrict it to your spears, and then dive down and fury attack."

Well, the battle shouldn't take too long, with the level difference and Muzencab being evolved and airborne. So, afterwards - Kyle would... well. He'd probably go to Mura. Or... not? Uhg. He didn't think he was quite ready to take on the gym anyway. But he did want to heal his pokemon, didn't he? Uhg. He hated making tough decisions...

The drace continued to wag its tail and look up cheerily at Muzencab. The beedrill looked over at Kyle plaintively. He was supposed to fight this thing?

He took his time initiating the Iron Defense. Using attacks while in midair was an entirely new concept not only mentally, but physically for him. Fortifying his body's tough exoskeleton with an iron like sheen, Muzencab dove down and began furiously jabbing at the drace with his powerful spear-like forelimbs.

The drace howled in surprise as it was viciously assaulted, but made no move to either flee nor fight back. The howl made Muzencab falter for a moment, but then he was back on the offensive. He did not seem too intent on inflicting critical damage on the puppy and did not dive his sharp spears in as deep or potently as he could have. Still, even holding back, it was only a matter of seconds before Muzencab's furious assault had overwhelmed the clueless pup and knocked it unconscious.

After the drace had been defeated, Muzencab flew back over to Kyle, brandishing his now bloodied spears gleefully. He liked this new form.

Muzencab has gained 5 EXP.

((So. Easiest fight of Kutho so far? XD))

(( ... oh wow. xD ))

Kyle stared in partial dismay and partial pride. Okay, that was definitely worth the trial and error of a weedle and weedle and kakuna. He cleared his throat and congratulated Muzencab on his victory, then faltered on his still undecided route.

Hollow reed or mura. Gym or egg. Crap.

Well, Vahara should heal - slowly - if he kept holding her and letting her rest. And Muzencab was still at decent health, while the rest of his pokemon were all completely fine. So... well.

Kyle sighed. And chose the path to the left. Marshlands it was.

And Muzencab led the way. Vahara seemed to enjoy being held, though she was hardly a light load for Kyle to keep hoisting up.

You may now post in the Marshlands.