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My father's footsteps pt. 2; Freeform
Topic Started: Jan 14 2012, 08:09 PM (239 Views)
Lonile
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Descending into insanity
Sarah kicked at a root in despair. This was the place alright; there wasnt any doubt in her mind. Her village had stood on this very spot. Days of searching, following the rivers and the contours of the hills had led her... Here. She turned a slow circle to take it all in. Nothing but trees and the shadowy shape of old flagstones beneath the forest moss. A small hill shed dug her way into had turned out to be the remains of a home, buried by centuries of growth and neglect. She was home and there wasnt anything left.

She closed her eyes and called up the image in her mind. Here was the baker and the blacksmith. There was the inn where shed eat if she came back late and couldnt cook. In the square, here, the market stall where shed trade pelts and herbs for more solid coin. She started walking, following the vision in her minds eye past the ruins of her old life. Past townhall, mill, and the houses of friends and neighbors she paced, catching her feet on the occasional plant or stone in her path. Finally she stopped and breathed out slowly, unwilling to face what was before her.

My home, my fathers home. She whispered to herself. Every inch of the low building was a part of her. Shed spent her entire life her, living by herself for the better part of a decade after her father passed. It held all she had in the world. She opened her eyes.

There was no mound like the ones that buried some other ruins. Instead there was a tree, every bit as massive as the others that called this forest home and quite capable of hiding her little cottage among its roots. Thats it then, I guess. Its all gone. She hadnt really expected to find anything. Even so there was always that hope beyond reason that she could find... She dropped to her knees and scrubbed at a broad stone caught between two of the massive roots. Maybe there is hope. Maybe I can find something. The dirt of centuries fell away as she clawed at grass and mud to reveal a shallow line.

Using one of her daggers, she followed the line until it met itself. A few minutes more work revealed a stylized image of the sun with a hole in the center. It was barely visible, barely deep enough to show on the weathered surface but here it was. Her fingers flew to her throat as she removed the necklace she wore with shaking hands. The image shed carved into the bone amulet was the same. The eclipse. This really is my home. The symbol had been carved above her door almost an inch deep in the stone lintel. To her fathers people it had been a sign of good fortune as the two celestial gods met and checked on their children. This far south it hadnt been recognized and the villagers had mistaken it for a sun in glory. This was fortunate for him, since most people took it as an evil omen and might have stoned him for his choice in decoration.

She remembered how hed told her about how he found this village. Hed left his home after hed caught his first pokemon and passed his manhood trial. For years hed wandered; training himself and his team and doing his best to learn. As time passed hed forgotten how to find his way back, even his own birthday. Hed finally stopped wandering when a chance encounter with a dragon had broken his leg.

Her mothers brothers had found him sleeping in the forest with a splint on his leg and his pokemon standing guard over him. Theyd carried him back to their house and let him stay until he was well enough to walk again. During his convalescence hed fallen for her mother and started courting her. After he healed he hadnt strayed farther than a days ride from the village and had eventually built a house here.

I never knew where my life might take me. I feel blessed that it led me home. Sarah quoted with a smile on her face. She sighed and stood up, replacing her necklace and patting the tree. Death, rather than a poor sense of direction, had stolen her birthplace from her but she was just as lost as her father had been. There was little choice but to wander and work until she could find or make herself a home. First, though, I need something in the way of company. As much as she trusted in her own ability to survive having a pokemon around made things much easier.

She looked at the sun to help orient herself and started making her way north. Shed always hunted the trails to the north when she had free time and, even though trails and trees had changed, forests remain much the same. Besides, this way took her further away from that swamp. It wasnt that she thought shed fall in again but she hadnt thought shed get stuck the first time either.

It was time to catch her first pokemon, again, only this time she had the knowledge and experience to make it easier. The first time, running off in the dead of night, had almost ended badly. It was only luck that had saved her after the giant bee creatures had started chasing her. Then again, she wouldn't have met her blitzle if she hadn't been running scared.

She passed a small herd of deerling and dismissed them as they bounded off into the forest in surprise. According to her father, the first pokemon you caught should be a challenge. The more effort you had to put into subduing and taming it, the deeper the bond between you. Catching something that was weak set up a clear master/servant relationship and the pokemon would be slow to learn or take initiative. Stronger pokemon formed a rivalry with their captor that eventually turned to friendship and camaraderie as they and their master grew to understand each other.

Sarah had formed such a relationship with her blitzle, Kess. The two had fought off the bees together and then fought between themselves before they both finally collapsed from exhaustion. She'd used her apricorn, then, and caught the lightning beast when he could barely stand. Then she made her way back to town, stumbling into the village square as the sun rose. Her actions had won her the right to choose her own future and she'd decided to take up the position her father had left.

A flash of yellow distracted her and she readied her bow. Before she could line up a shot on the intruder, however, her world was shattered. Suddenly up was left, down was right... She could taste the sunlight and hear the texture of the ground beneath her feet as the trees danced in their plots beside her and the stones ran like water. Through it all was the aching, stabbing pain in her skull as something invaded it. She shrieked, a piercing animal sound as she clutched at her head and tried to bring the world back into focus.

A brief glimpse of an ugly yellow creature with a curved snout rewarded her efforts before she was swept away again. She felt herself drop to her knees but ignored the pain in favor of drawing the bow she still held and keeping herself as steady as possible. It can't last much longer. The creature was straining. Sure enough, the wave of disorientation passed after a few more agonizing seconds and she smiled grimly. String taut, she brought the bow into line with the beast and released the string before stumbling backwards.

The bow hummed and the arrow flew, it's broad head slicing across one of the drowzee's arms as it gasped for breath. It shrieked and its eyes changed, focusing on hers and pushing an unbearable exhaustion into her mind. She managed to nock another arrow and let it fly. Her last memory before darkness kept her was the shaft piercing its neck, blood spraying outwards in slow motion as the creature staggered backwards.
Edited by Lonile, Jan 16 2012, 07:37 PM.
Mark Lonile

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Sarah Forester
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Lonile
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Descending into insanity
She awoke to a persistent buzzing that seemed to surround her. Hauling herself to her feet, she looked around and immediately focused on the body of her attacker. What was left of it anyway. Three large insects were arrayed about the remains, slowly picking it apart and heartily enjoying their little feast. One was even scooping up claws full of bloodsoaked soil and sucking the nutrients out before dropping the dirt and repeating the process.

They made some noise as they worked but the droning wasn't coming from them. She looked up and caught sight of a larger insect attached to a nearby tree, wings glittering in the sun. The sun... She couldn't have been out long, no more than a half hour if she was to judge from that heavenly body. Then again, she could have been out for a whole day and just awoken. Odds were slim, though, since the scavengers would have turned their attention to her by then.

She pushed past the nincada, that was the name, and pulled her arrow from its resting place. With no clue where the first had gone, she wiped the head as clean as she could and returned it to its quiver. It is only when she turned that she noticed that the droning had stopped. The three scavenging bugs had retreated to the safety of a nearby bush while their guardian, a Ninjask, looked down at her from its tree. A second later her eyes picked out similar shapes on a half dozen other trees that she could see.

"This doesn't look very good." She said to herself as she walked away from the young creatures and their feast. "I'm not going to hurt you, don't worry..." She kept her eyes down as she walked, not looking directly at any of the guards. When she was about ten feet away the droning picked up again and she sighed with relief. They could have killed her before she could have so much as drawn her dagger. "You can keep the body of the cursed one."

That was a peculiarity the researchers had been baffled by. Some pokemon, mostly psychics but there were some others, were considered unlucky or cursed. Drowzee, with its habit of invading the minds of sleeping people, was high on the list. Others were considered blessed or lucky. Seeing a Chansey or finding that the creature you faced was actually a morphed doppelganger- Ditto. It's got a different name now. -were both good omens because of the rarity of such occurrences. More importantly, there were tales of sick people finding Chanseys and being miraculously cured.

Still shaken up by the earlier assault, and her near miss with the insects, she allowed her thoughts to wander. She was out of practice, that was it. Her conditioning and situational awareness had started to fade during the long months in the lab. Before then the psychic creature wouldn't have gotten the drop on her. She would have seen it coming and avoided it. On the other hand, maybe their habits had changed in the intervening years. Maybe things had learned to be sneakier and such to avoid the ongoing expansion by humans.

Wrapped up in her own musings, she dived into a nearby bush on instinct and gut feeling. A half second later a dark shape shot through where she'd been standing. Her mind suddenly awake again, she rolled out of the undergrowth and ducked behind a tree as a flurry of wings sent a miniature maelstrom of air that tore the shrub from its roots. She peeked around the side of the tree as the wind subsided and caught sight of a black and grey shape flapping broad wings as it searched for her.

She nocked an arrow in her bow and spun around the tree but the bird had already departed. She leapt aside again as she saw it dive at her from the side, talons outstretched and grasping as it passed. Her hands released the string and the arrow leapt forth as if of its own volition, passing harmlessly through the air behind the beating wings as the avian circled around. She loosed another arrow and watched in dismay as the bird rolled, avoiding the missile easily. It's too fast to lead properly, I have to put my shots too far ahead to be practical.

She ducked down as it made another pass and saw stars as something heavy collided with the back of her neck. Her hand came away bloody when she checked it but she pushed the pain away when she saw it coming back. Don't shoot where it's going to be, it changes course too fast. Aim where it has to be. She drew another arrow from the quiver and forced herself to be still as the bird started diving for her again. At the last possible, as it leaned forward to grab at her again, she loosed the arrow and threw herself to the side.

The breath was driven out of her as she tumbled but, when she came back to her feet, she saw that her opponent had taken a fall itself. Her arrow protruded from the one of its wings which was refusing to move properly. The smiling that came to her face fell short, however, when the bird shook itself and turned to face her.

Half flapping, half running, it closed the distance between them faster than a man could run and knocked her backwards. The bow flew from her grip as her vision was filled with feathers. She felt the talons try to grasp at her stomach and rolled over, pinning the bird with her own weight as she managed to get ahold of its legs with her right hand.

She punched at its head awkwardly as it pecked at her, trying to pierce her eyes or throat with its beak. She was suddenly buffeted by its wings as it flapped madly trying to shake her off. Her grip loosened, one of its talons managed to get free as it struggled. "No you don't!" She kept her hold as it managed to squirm out from under her and started to flap away.

Sarah pulled back with all her strength and was rewarded by an undignified squawk as she dragged the bird backwards. Her left arm looped around its throat and squeezed while she held onto the remaining talon with her right. It pecked at her again and she drew her arm back until she could close her free hand around the creature's neck. She increased the pressure and closed her eyes. They lay there on the ground, its back to her chest, until she felt the struggling slow and almost stop.

Slowly, she let go of its throat and leg and stood up. The bird managed to get to its feet, barely, as she took an apricorn from her bag. She tossed it at her attacker and was rewarded by a flash of light as the creature was absorbed inside. It shook back and forth briefly before stopping. "Here we go again." She sighed as she put the ball in her bag. After retrieving as many arrows as she could, she slung her bow over her shoulder and started making her way north again.

End Result
Edited by Lonile, Jan 16 2012, 07:37 PM.
Mark Lonile

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Sarah Forester
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Kyozuki
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Articuno
Nice little piece, this. Not a great deal happening in terms of story advancement, but then there's not a great deal of plot you can add to bit-of-backstory-and-catch-a-pokemon.

Grading Details (click to expand)

Now, had an interesting time deciding how to award the pokemon for this, since you don't actually have an APL currently. Decided to go with the assumption that you're at APL 5 by default and scale the cost from there. So, starting with a common pokemon as a starter and putting some of the :lp into raising it up an evolution level...

I award you a level 15 Staravia (gender of your choice), 40 :lp and an overworked Skyrim joke involving arrows hitting various limb joints.
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