Curiousity Killed The... [ MOD ]

[magnus]

And in the spring, I shed my skin
And it blows away with the changing wind

The caves were always a novel curiousity in Magnus’ mind; winding deeply and into a network nested not too far from the main city. He’d heard of them through books and through little birds who fed him rumours, but never had the drive or the time to actually go out there and take a look himself. Besides, he reasoned, he’d heard there was a camp near the entrance that forbids anybody from entering. The blond was no man for cuiousity, and he really had little time to be doing such childish things as to explore a damned cave.

But there was a day where he was not at all busy; his missions log was dead when he checked it this morning, his partner was still asleep and there was nothing at all to do. They were situated in a ratty motel at the very border of the city and he could see where the prosperity turned into misery from the window. His interest in the caves was piqued, and upon deciding that there was absolutely nothing better to do that day, he packed up and left for his destination.

Magnus got there by night, slipping easily past the guard camp that he’d imagine would at least give him a tad bit of resistance. Really, everything just looked so lonely… Peaceful. Quiet. Ah, he liked that quite a bit. The caves themselves were something else entirely than what he’d imagined; it was more of a cavern than anything at first, but narrowed more and more as he wandered deeper.

The water turns from blue to red
As towards the sky I offer it

[Cori]

WILD SANDILE APPEARED!

[/style]

Sandile || Male || Intimidate || Ground/Dark || Level 7
Leer || Rage || Bite || Sand-Attack

What had started out as a warm, sunny morning had gone downhill quickly for the Sandile, and it was ready to snap at the next thing it encountered. It had started the day doing what it usually did on warm, sunny mornings: lounging away the hours half-awake in pit of sand near the caves' entrance.

And then the Arbok found him.

The Sandile shivered as he wandered through the caves, the ground beneath his claws hard and cold as opposed to warm, comforting sand he was used to. It was a miracle that he had escaped with his life after that Arbok tried to attack him outside, but he didn't want to take the chance that the snake would give up on finding him after that, so he did the only thing his little reptile mind of his could think of: he high-tailed it into the caves and didn't look back. And while that meant he hadn't become a giant snake's meal, he was now starving himself. Normally, he just caught whatever wandered close to his hiding place in the sand, but when it came to actively hunting his prey he was poor hunter at best. Hours of stalking Zubats through the tunnels left the croc Pokemon with nothing to show for his efforts but a stomach full of frustration.

He was cold, he was hungry, and if he had it his way, the next thing he came across would be lunch. One way or another. Lifting his long snout, the crocodile sniffed the air, catching a familiar scent in the air: human. His stomach rumbled at the smell. There was something funny about the way this human smelled, but the Sandile didn't care; as long as the human had no Pokemon with him, this guy was dinner as far as he was concerned. Rounding a bend in the corner, the Sandile glimpsed the human and immediately launched itself at its new target in hungry desperation, his long snout wide open for a Bite attack. "'DILE!"

[magnus]

And in the spring, I shed my skin
And it blows away with the changing wind

It was getting rather gloomy in here, and the smell left much to be envied. The details of the place, though outlandish from what he was used to seeing, was still not too interesting. Rocks littered the ground, some big enough for him to need to climb over, and some small and just stuck in his boots. Really, he was beginning to wonder why he came here in the first place. There was nothing interesting to look at but rocks and the occasional shiny mineral that stuck out from the wall.

Then came the faint sound of scratching. Magnus paused and turned just in time to see a small alligator-like thing come screaming at his face, jaws wide open and ready to latch down on him. Unfortunately, Magnus wasn’t often one to back down from a fight, even if that fight was literally shrieking in his face with a set of very sharp teeth.

His brows furrowed for a second, feeling the heat build up in his chest until he opened his mouth. To the surprise of perhaps all parties, a torrent of bright red and orange flame spewed forth in a flamethrower attack. It was the result of this weird as hell serum he was injected with by the Epispect, and next thing he knew, he could breathe a tower of fire.

And he used that to his full advantage. As soon as the fire died down, Magnus lashed out, his snake-like fangs pushed forward and bit down on the poor little Pokemon.

The water turns from blue to red
As towards the sky I offer it

[Cori]

WILD SANDILE APPEARED!

[/style]

Sandile || Male || Intimidate || Ground/Dark || Level 7
Leer || Rage || Bite || Sand-Attack

A pained screech rang out through the caves as the Flamethrower hit the Sandile full-force in the face, the intense flames scorching the skin on his snout and roasting the vulnerable flesh lining the inside of his mouth and throat, much to the reptile's shock and horror. Even is eyes were not safe from the attack, despite the dark membrane that protected them from the sun's harsh rays and physical damage alike; they burned just as easily as the rest of him, straight through their protective armor, sending waves of excruciating pain shooting through the creature's face. Blinded by the flames and hampered by the sheer agony his body was in, the Sandile's attack missed its target completely, giving the pale-haired man with the perfect opening to sink fangs far too sharp to belong to a human into the Pokemon's flesh, tearing though his striped hide with ease. Blood welled up from the wound, and the Sandile let out another shriek of pain, writhing and struggling in Magnus's jaws in a frantic attempt to break free. His body began to heat with each feeble strike, attempting to turn the blinding pain into fuel for one last Rage attack, but it was futile: a last-ditch effort by a Pokemon that was on the verge of losing consciousness.

Through the thick mist of pain flooding his mind, the Sandile bitterly wondered if being devoured by the Arbok that morning would have been a kinder fate than whatever one this not-quite-human man had in store for him.

[magnus]

And in the spring, I shed my skin
And it blows away with the changing wind

Perhaps the reaction had been very knee-jerk and spur of the moment. Perhaps it had been a little overkill as well; a flamethrower and a crunch attack one after the other over something as small as a Sandile. It was one thing to surprise Magnus, it was something else entirely to go sneaking up to him and launch teeth at his face. Either way, it always ended with someone or something hurt. In this case, some little Pokemon had to take the force of his attack.

Good thing it tasted disgusting.

As soon as the flesh and blood hit his tongue, Magnus fought the urge to wretch instantly. Instead, as calmly as he possibly could, he let go of the ground type and allowed it to fall to the ground, spitting in the dust to get the taste out of his mouth. The little thing managed to scratch up his face while it was at it too, which displeased him to a great extent. However, the Sandile was scorched from head to toe and probably extremely injured.

Magnus thought, in a brief moment of at least some sympathy, he could put it out of its misery. With a sigh, more irritated at his new task than anything, he came forward and was right about to squeeze the thing to death with a coil attack when he heard a faint click. He realized, much too late in fact, that a Pokeball had fallen out of his pocket and rolled towards the Sandile. Before he could catch it, there was a flash of light and the little thing was gone.

”…Damn it!”

The water turns from blue to red
As towards the sky I offer it

[Cori]

WILD SANDILE APPEARED!

[/style]

Sandile || Male || Intimidate || Ground/Dark || Level 7
Leer || Rage || Bite || Sand-Attack

The Sandile was too caught up in his body's pain to notice Magnus's disgust at his apparently offensive taste, but when the pale-haired man dropped him to the floor, he certainly felt it; his frantic Rage attack ceased the moment his battered body crashed into the cave's cold, hard floor, sending yet another wave of agony shooting through his body, proving that he was not so far gone that his body was numb to the pain. Which was not necessarily a good thing, considering the state of his wounds. No, if this man - who apparently was not going to eat him after all - refused to finish him, something else would. He was too weak to fight back, his mind going fuzzy as the fog of unconsciousness seeped in, beckoning him to let go and fall into its waiting embrace. It was a tempting thought. Fainting would mean a break from the pain, but at the same time, if he let go now the Sandile knew he might never wake up. So the dual-type latched on to that pain, trying to use it as a anchor to the conscious world, to struggle against his fate with whatever he could. But in the end, the struggle was futile, and the last thing he dimly heard before slipping into the abyss of unconsciousness was the inhuman man's footsteps as he drew close for the kill, completely unaware of the flash of light that engulfed him mere seconds later as a dropped pokeball drew him into its confines.

SANDILE WAS ACCIDENTALLY CAPTURED!

WILD MAKUHITA APPEARED!

[/style]

Makuhita || Male || Guts || Fighting || Level 10
Tackle || Focus Energy || Sand-Attack || Arm Thrust || Vital Throw

Munch munch. The sounds of messy chewing blended with plodding footsteps as a rotund little pokemon wandered his way through the caves, shoving one of the many tasty mushrooms cradled in his hefty arms into his waiting mouth every few steps. The Makuhita had wandered into the caves a few hours ago to train: deck a few Zubat, break a couple rocks with his fists, the usual thing. At least, that was the plan...until the little glutton discovered a branch of the tunnels that was absolutely full of mushrooms and promptly began stuffing his face with them. In no time at all he had completely devoured most of the 'shrooms in the patch, leaving only the few dozen currently in his arms to eat as he went to investigate the caverns further, hoping to find some more of the delicious fungus somewhere along the way. Any thoughts of breaking boulders with his face or lifting Geodudes like barbells were completely forgotten in favor of finiding more snacks. Hey, what could he say? He was a growing pokemon! Storing up calories for evolution was just as important to a Makuhita as practicing their fighting skills.

Suddenly, the pokemon cheard a loud thud from down a nearby tunnel, like something falling. Curious, the chubby figthing-type tilted his head while chomping down on yet anohter mushroom. What could that have been? A Zubat flying into a stalactite perhaps? It wasn't unheard of, but then he picked up another sound - one that was definitely not a Zubat, but a voice uttering a single word in what must have been the human language, since it wasn't any pokemon sound the Makuhita had ever heard. His curiosity getting the better of him, he wandered a little further down the tunnel, rounding a tunnel to spy a tall, blond-haired human in the dim light. The Makuhita squinted further - if such a thing was possible - trying to get a better look at the man. He looked strong, with lots of muscle. Definitely a strong guy. Maybe he could fight him? But no, there was something...wrong about the guy, something preditory. Not to mention that the distinct scent of burt flesh permeated the air. It made the Makuhita's stomach rumble in some sick, twisted kind of way. No, this human was not someone to mess with, so without so much as a word, the fighting type turned to flee down the tunnel -

-only to trip over an unseen stone in his way, causing him to fall flat on his face and drop two dozen mushrooms all over the cave floor.

"Hita...." He moaned in a mixture of pain and embarassment before pushing himself up into a sitting position, only for him to jolt upwards in fear when he realized that the human must have heard that. With a very un-fighting-type like whimper and hopped up, anxiety written all over his fat little face. Oh, he was in for it now! And all he'd wanted was a snack....

[magnus]

And in the spring, I shed my skin
And it blows away with the changing wind

Magnus lunged at the Pokeball, trying to catch it before it touched the Sandile, but to no avail. The Pokeball reached the Pokemon first and in a huge flash of light, the charred and injured little crocodile was gone. The blond paused, staring down at the still sphere as if it were going to bite him. Did he actually just accidently capture that thing? What was he going to do with it? It wasn’t like he could just leave it, but he didn’t want it either.

He stooped down to pick it up, holding the now slightly heavier Pokeball and trying to figure out what the heck he was going to do when he heard a heavy thud from behind him. He practically gave himself whiplash turning around so fast, eyes scanning the dark environment until he spotted something a little further down. It looked like a yellow lump that had definitely not been there before.

Magnus took a few moments to let his eyes further adjust, waiting to see if that thing would move… and it did; a Makuhita, sitting up and staring right back at him through the dark. Well… well crap, was something else going to prance along and attack him now?

The German pressed his lips into a tight line, quickly shoving the Pokeball into his pocket without another thought and making haste. Finding a separate tunnel that split the corridor into branches, he took the opposite one and quickly made his way through, hoping to have avoided that Makuhita altogether. He didn’t need another fight just yet.

The water turns from blue to red
As towards the sky I offer it

[Cori]

WILD MAKUHITA APPEARED!

[/style]

Makuhita || Male || Guts || Fighting || Level 10
Tackle || Focus Energy || Sand-Attack || Arm Thrust || Vital Throw

The Makuhita shivered in terror as he noticed the weird human, well, noticing him and immediately glanced down at the cave floor as a wave of fear overtook him. What if he was going to come over and gobble him up or something? The fighting-type trembled at that thought. No, that wasn't right at all! He was meant to be an eater, not someone else's meal! Belatedly, he realized that maybe it had been a bad idea to neglect his training to go look for food, even if the mushrooms were really tasty. Now, all he could do was sit there whimpering, just waiting for that scary human to get him -

Only, he never did. Instead, the Makuhita heard the echo of heavy footsteps as the man walked away, not sparing him a second glance. Stunned, the chubby Pokémon looked up from where he was currently staring at the ground, stunned to see the tall blond disappearing down a fork in the cave's path. The numbness of surprise quickly melted away into relief as the fact that the man was not going to come back and eat him sank in. He let that feeling wash over him for a quiet moment before springing up and quickly collecting as many of his scattered mushrooms as he could find, shoving one in his mouth "for the road," and running through the opposite path the human took, his mind made up to find a safer place to ea- er, train.

MAKUHITA WAS SPARED!

WILD MAGNEMITE APPEARED!

[/style]

IT IS SHINY!
Magnemite || Genderless || Sturdy || Electric/Steel || Level 7
Metal Sound || Tackle || ThunderShock

Meanwhile, a little further down the path Magnus had taken, another Pokémon lay in wait, though perhaps orbited would be a better way to describe the creature's motions. For that was exactly what a lone Magnemite was doing, circling a boulder roughly the size of a man's head that lay off to the side of the path. Curious, it surveyed the object closely with its one large eye, magnets spinning as it floated round and round the chunk of rock. The dual-typed creature stumbled upon this particular stone sometime earlier entirely by accident while wandering through the caves when a sudden pull from the side caught his attention. Upon closer inspection, the rock turned out to be the culprit, rather than a hunk of metal or some human garbage left behind and forgotten as the Magnemite had initially thought. Strangely, this rock in particular seemed to have an entirely different makeup from the other rocks in the area, containing far more iron than the rest - enough to draw the Pokémon in question's attention from feet away. How peculiar! While most Magnemite were not curious by nature, this one was fascinated by it, wondering how it had migrated to its current position over the years. Then again, it was not exactly your average Magnemite; its metal body was of a different cast, appearing similarly to how one of the more normal members of his species might look if they were put through a sepia filter. So maybe it was only natural for a strange Magnemite to have strange thoughts about a strange rock. Either way, it was too caught up in examining the rock to notice the approaching Seviper gijinka, despite the sudden change in the surrounding magnetic field that typically heralded the presence of another living creature.

[magnus]

And in the spring, I shed my skin
And it blows away with the changing wind

The distant pitter patter, and then nothing... nothing but complete quiet surrounded him. The far away dripping of water continued, somewhere else, but not where he was and that was fine with him. As he walked deeper into the cave, he felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end... It was cold. Magnus had started hating the cold after he got his new DNA. Before, having lived in a very cold place, he hadn't minded it at all. Now his DNA refused to be cooperative and told him to run and curl up somewhere warm whenever anything dipped below ten degrees.

The cave's temperature dropped as he wandered further and further in, and at one point, he contemplated going back, simply because his mind protested. But he knew that if he did so, it would mean giving in to a more... animal instinct, and he wasn't an animal.

He finally came upon a small cavern, the ceiling hollowed out into a faint semblance of a dome, and in the middle of the room was a rock... A strange, almost glowing rock with a sheen to the surface like none of which he'd seen before. On top of that, a Pokemon looked like it had found it before he did. An oddly coloured Magnemite floated around it, seeming to investigate. Not wanting to take it by surprise, Magnus cleared his throat, his voice bouncing off the cavern walls.

The water turns from blue to red
As towards the sky I offer it

[Cori]

WILD MAGNEMITE APPEARED!

[/style]

IT IS SHINY!
Magnemite || Genderless || Sturdy || Electric/Steel || Level 7
Metal Sound || Tackle || ThunderShock

The sound of a pointedly cleared throat from nearby roused the Magnemite from its curiosity-induced trance, causing the sepia-colored Pokémon to swerve around in the air to face the newcomer, its magnets spinning as its eye bobbed up and down, taking in the stranger in unblinking interest. How curious! It was rare that humans ventured this far into the cave system - unless, of course, they were one of those strangely attired ones that stood watch at the cavern's mouth. The Magnemite quickly estimated that it had been at least 7.25 months since it had seen one of this blond-haired man's kind, and that was including the occasional rounds by the uniformed guards. A few stray sparks jumped from the creature's magnets into the surrounding air, not in anger or threat but quiet question, wondering what the human could possibly be doing so far from his home range. Was he perhaps wondering what the oddly-composed stone was doing here as well? Most likely not, but his curiosity would not let the floating Pokémon rest. Perhaps he was looking for Pokémon, or perhaps even some of the rare peace and quiet the less-frequented portions of the caves could offer? It was a conundrum to the steel-type, and if there was one thing this off-colored Pokémon enjoyed, it was a good puzzle to puzzle over.

[magnus]

And in the spring, I shed my skin
And it blows away with the changing wind

Magnus blinked once at the strangely toned Magnemite; it reminded him of those old photos Pasha sometimes kept in his books, or those he saw in the history texts he was so fond of. What was it called… Sepia? Yes, that must’ve been it. It hadn’t been so long since he’d seen one of those photos, the last one being of tank destroyers. He withdrew all information he could on it before turning his attention back to the floating chunk of metal, who now seemed interested in him.

It stared back at him with one large, unblinking eye. Unfortunately, these sorts of Pokemon didn’t carry as much capacity to feel, and therefore he couldn’t quite tell what it was thinking through just looking at it. Body language didn’t tell him much either, as it had no body. Aside from the few sparks that jumped from it’s magnets, there was nothing to go by but the stare.

”Ah… Good evening.” Magnemite didn’t have genders, did they? He wasn’t sure whether to tag a sir or a ma’am onto the end, so he left it open ended. Instead, he turned his attentions to the steel-electric type as a whole. ”How did you become so strangely coloured?” Was it one of those shiny things he’d heard so much about?

The water turns from blue to red
As towards the sky I offer it

[Cori]

WILD MAGNEMITE APPEARED!

[/style]

IT IS SHINY!
Magnemite || Genderless || Sturdy || Electric/Steel || Level 7
Metal Sound || Tackle || ThunderShock

The Magnemite whirled its magnets in the air for a moment, considering the human’s question; Magnemite in general, and its self in particular, it would dare to think, were fairly intelligent and the steel-type possessed a fairly good grasp on the main human language. So despite the scarcity of human company this far into the cave system, he was confident that he understood the curious man. Unfortunately, answering him was another matter as he himself had yet to discover exactly why he was so differently colored from its fellows, though over years of wondering it had several theories. At the moment, the most likely of these hypothesis regarding its odd coloration was that the steel that made up its body must be of some different alloy than a typical Magnemite specimen - though, as it had no way to be sure and was not about to go around asking other Magnemite’s for their opinion, it could not be one hundred percent sure, despite a lifetime of pondering the question.

Of course, there was also the problem of conveying its answer to the Seviper gijinka, for while the Magnemite was able to comprehend the blonde’s words, this understanding was very much a one-way street, and its body made communicating non-verbally quite difficult. The Magnemite rolled its single eye once, trying to come up with a way to communicate with the human, but in the end all it could come up with was to give off a few electrical beeps and make a vague shrugging motion with its magnet “arms” to denote its uncertainty, its best approximation of a gesture that a human should be able to understand. Even if it meant that it could express nothing of the dual-type’s own thoughts and theories regarding that particular matter.

[magnus]

And in the spring, I shed my skin
And it blows away with the changing wind

Magnus tilted his head again, watching on with an air of curiousity as the Magnemite seemed to mull things over with a few rolls of his single eye. Normally, it would’ve been an offputting gesture… but this time around, he supposed it meant no ill. Magnemites didn’t have genders, did they? Well, for the sake of it, he was going to call this one a ‘she’.

But at last it came up with an answer which basically summed his question up with “your guess is as good as mine”. There was an unmistakable shrug, even if the creature had no shoulders to speak of. A small rise and fall of the electric-steel type’s shoulders told him that she had no idea either, and so he’d probably leave it at that… Only Magnus had always been raised to find answers, that is, if it didn’t come to any harm. He never really listened to that anyway.

”I… may know somebody who can find out, if you’d like?” Would the Pokemon understand that, at least?

The water turns from blue to red
As towards the sky I offer it

[Cori]

WILD MAGNEMITE APPEARED!

[/style]

IT IS SHINY!
Magnemite || Genderless || Sturdy || Electric/Steel || Level 7
Metal Sound || Tackle || ThunderShock

There was a slight electric hum in the air as the Magnemite listened to Magnus’s proposition, an audible display that the gears in its head were turning as it mulled over the pros and cons of accepting such a proposal. On one hand - or floating magnet-limb in this case - leaving the caves could possibly provide the Magnemite with the answers it sought, not to mention open up the possibility of finding new puzzles, something that was quite difficult bordering on impossible for it to accomplish without a trainer. As much as those sentries posted around the cave’s mouth were supposedly there to keep humans out, they were also adamant about keeping the cave-dwelling Pokémon in. However, the blond human’s very presence indicated that he either had clearance to come and go as he pleased or was capable of evading their notice and sneaking past, which meant that the Magnemite could do the same if it agreed to accompany him. The only real downside the Magnemite could see to traveling away from the caves would be the possibility that it might never uncover the origins of the mysterious rock, which was not too much of a bother as it was far more interested in its own origins than the boulder’s, and that he might then be required to do battle. However, despite the typically docile nature of its species, this Magnemite was fairly confident that it could preform satisfactorily if such a situation did arise.

Options weighed out, the Magnemite paused to scan over the human with its hovering eye one last time before bobbing in the air, making a sort of nodding motion that stated with a fair amount of clarity that yes, this was acceptable, and it would very much like to meet this person Magnus mentioned.

MAGNEMITE IS WILLING TO GO WITH MAGNUS! IT CAN NOW BE CAPTURED!

[magnus]

And in the spring, I shed my skin
And it blows away with the changing wind

Magnus wondered briefly about how intelligent the Magnemite was, exactly. It seemed curious of the rock, floating around it, and seemed to understand human language to some degree… Much better than what most Pokemon usually knew. At least he was sending back intelligible answers, even if it took a bit of effort to decipher. Oh well; he’d deal with that as best he could.

The Magnemite understood, at least, the gist of what he was saying. A small bob in the air indicated that he understood to some extent… which was a good thing. At least he didn’t have to drag the poor thing, kicking and screaming and shocking everything, out of the cave with him. If the Magnemite would come along easily, than so be it.

”Here… This is how I’ll carry you around. It’s safe in here, so you don’t have to worry.” He spoke simply and clearly, adding no more words than he needed to, as he approached and gently tapped the magnemite with the red and white ball.

The water turns from blue to red
As towards the sky I offer it