Darksallow Sucks (Source: Bite My Butt)

[astralprogenitor]

Let's go! Expedition time!​

Players participating:
astralprogenitor
sharkberrypizza
Peterpan_da144
Shaddaling
Zakiax

Trainers participating:
Daryn Hayashi
Louis Morel
Max Bailey
Sasaki Itsuo
Zakiax Firebane

Pokémon participating:
Daryn: 233, 327
Louis: 12, 52, 357
Max: 109, 164, 370
Sasaki: 328, 329, 600, 601, 606, 638
Zakiax: 54, 141, 167, 169, 177, 67

Expedition area: Darksallow Valley

 

[astralprogenitor]

Word Count Tracker:
Total:
273+218+334+276+
1101


prog:
273+276+

shad:
218+

shark:
334+

Event Tracker:
4/4 GE Avail

 

[astralprogenitor]

Note: Louis and Daryn are picking up off the end of this expedition session.

Will add any other continuity notes if anyone else wants me to!

 

[astralprogenitor]

"Ugh."

The young man grunted, dabbing gently at the long gouges on either sides of his face as he stared into his phone's screen, effectively using its camera as a mirror to examine the damage he'd taken the previous day. It was still early enough that the sun's warmth hadn't fully wiped away the fog of the riverbank nearby, but late enough that his partner was already up and stoking a fire for breakfast. Tenderly, he traced one finger over a scabbed section, before huffing in annoyance and flicking out of the camera application.

"Man, what am I supposed to tell people if it scars? I am not telling anyone I got assaulted by a stupid bug."

Despite his propensity to complain, Daryn did push himself up from his bedroll in order to dig through his pack, procuring a tin of sliced wishiwashi to offer up to accompany the eggs Louis already had popping over their shared cooking gear. Even if he'd had a miserable time over the last twenty-four hours, he did have an adventurous spirit - and they'd certainly not survived trawling around Galar's wild areas by him sulking like a baby all the time.

Just... sometimes. He was entitled to be a little sour about the whole ripped up face thing, wasn't he?

"Here - I got Dad to order some of these for us, forgot to tell you. I've got some crawdaunt too. Nice to have something out here that doesn't suck besides just us, yeah?"

Daryn cracked a grin.

"If we're lucky the smell won't bring every fuckin' bug in a hundred meters straight to our feet, either!"

 

[Shaddaling]

Sasaki shifted, rousing slowly as the twins chirped, clambering over his body, little paws digging uncomfortably. "No, it is still sleep time," he muttered. It was still early. He yawned, trying to doze back into deeper sleep, ignoring the little nose nudging his check with a mrrpppphh?

"Sleep." He grumbled.

Sugar huffed, glancing at Rogue and then tossed her head back, breathing in deep. Something smelled really good. She licked her lips, glancing back at her still sleeping person and then to her sister. He wouldn't know they were gone for a short while... right? Just long enough to get a snack?

Rogue stretched, paws kneading the sleeping bag in thought. Her eyes darted to Sugar and then back towards the smell. "Snea?"

"Snea." Sugar nodded, jumping off lightly and trotted after the smell of food. Rogue followed her shortly after. Food.

Sasaki started to doze again before pausing. Wait. Wait.... fuck. He opened his eyes glancing down. Fuck. "You two are in so much trouble," he grumbled, slowly siting up in getting out of the sleeping bag.

Sugar chirped as she approached the camp, looking doefully at Daryn as she slowly stepped out. Food? Eggs? Rogue eyed them before approaching Louis, extending one sharp claw at the fire and the cooking eggs. "Snea?" Eggs? For her? Please.

 

[sharkberrypizza]

"Pii? Pii come back!"

It wasn't early for Louie, a perpetual early riser thanks to his parents, but for his own team it was something else; Raspberry was still asleep, nestled closely by the bag he slept in once the commotion from the previous day had calmed, and Anise was hardly any better. Despite the common idea that all pokémon of a certain species behaved the same, the little pancake that 'should' have been on high alert was busy making a lightly snoring sound instead, and the eevee that should've been joining them ...

The trainer watched as the bright pink fluff disappeared behind his partner and started climbing his back, making a valiant effort for his shoulder. Normally it would've been endearing, not to mention rather average, but something was off - instead Louis' attention turned toward the direction his eevee had run from, and trained eyes soon spotted the source.

He made his decisions fast from there - clearly they were unafraid to approach humans, but they didn't seem threatening, just different ... not anything to set his 'senses' off ...

"Oh?" he murmured curiously, as before he could decide on a particular action one of the pair was at his side.

They were clearly not just unafraid of humans, but at least somewhat intelligent too.

"Sure, there's enough, I think." he laughed, wondering if they understood human language. "If there's not we can forage around more."

Knowing Daryn would understand, he offering his partner an amused shrug but also a very curious gaze.

"Oh come on, Dar. It's not even the third time we've had someone wander up, is it? Don't be jealous my cooking's that good. Just bring me more eggs ... or whatever we've got laying around. I'll make a big omelette after this batch. Should be enough, right?"

Still, what were they? Regional variant? Native, or did they have a trainer with them? How smart were they?

Louis snorted through his nose; he really took after his parents.

 

[astralprogenitor]

"Wha-- again?"

Daryn had turned away, not noticing the newcomers at first - and when he did, he visibly prickled; hadn't he just joked about that? The last thing he wanted was something else to launch at his face, and those claws did not look friendly. And while he was familiar with sneasels, he'd never seen ones like that before.

... That thought did make him relax a little bit. What if it was a new variant? Oh man - discovering a new pokémon would be great! He'd get a bonus from Fairlight, and Louis's mom would be super excited about it, and--

Except, those guys were clearly not wary of humans, at all. The way their eyes were bright and excited, the way their little noses wiggled at the pan, even the way that the fire seemed not to bother them whatsoever, despite them not being visibly fire types.

They belonged to someone, didn't they?

"Louie, babe, you gotta stop inviting the whole ecosystem to breakfast," he laughed, finally breaking out of the momentary stunlock - though still keeping his eyes on the strange sneasels. "You think there's anything worth eating in the river? I'm gonna have to go fishing or something, probably."

He didn't complain too hard though, still obliging to return to his pack and pull out the carefully constrained carton of eggs, as well as a small packet of shelf-stable sausage. He handed the first and the eight remaining eggs to Louis, first, then warily knelt down next to the two 'visitors' before ripping open the packet and offering the two pieces inside to each of the sneasels.

"You two like meat?"

 

[Shaddaling]

Sasaki yawned wildly, rolling up his sleeping bag and then the tarp and bug netting that hung over it. Alright, time to chase down the brats. He ran his hands over his pokeballs, thoughtful before picking up Pumpkins'. He spun the ball for a second before opening it, releasing Pumpkin. "Alright, are you ready to do some tracking? Don't think they got far." He knelt, gently stroking her ears, and little tuff. "You ready?" He reached into his pocket, pulling out a number of sneasel hairs. The girl's had been shedding a lot.

"Track," he said, holding the hair out to the disintrested Zorua. "Smell?" Sasaki carefully wrafted the hair's under the fox pokemon's nose. She sneezed at him, turning around. "Pffhs, alright. It not too hard to track them down." He pat the pokemon little tuff. "Come along."

He walked to the bush, kneeling down to see the broken branches and scuffed leaves. Sasaki followed along, Pumpkin trotting along at his heels. It didn't take long till he smelt food on the breeze. "Did you really just leave for food? Little beggars."

For them? Sugar tipped her head, looking over the meat before inching foward. Her nose flared, breathing in the scent of meat and salt and fats. She licked her lips. She slowly approached, leaning down to snag the sausasge with her teeth and darted back, holding it between her two paws.

Rogue hummed, approaching, reaching out with a paw before letting it fall to take it with her sharp teeth. She settled next to Sugar, holding it carefully, cuddling close to her sib.

"There you are," Sasaki called, stepping in and looked down at the pair. "Really? Begging?" He glanced at the camp, nodding at the two men. "Sorry, about them. Thanks for taking care of them."

Pumpkin gave a displeased grumbled, huffing before lifting her snout up and looking away.

 

[sharkberrypizza]

"Yours?"

Busy still manning the fire and food, Louis had only managed a quick glance or two as more visitors joined in. He was unalarmed again, of course, knowing well enough that his partner was watching his back. Breakfast was way more important, but the mannerisms also spoke enough.

"So they're sneasels, right?" he chirped at the newcomer as he wiggled a couple of the eggs onto one of the worn plates they packed around; they never took long to cook, even less when it was over an open flame.

"I've never seen their kind before though. What variant? Typing? Not here, right?"

Louis paused only long enough to pass the first round of breakfast to his partner and take a slightly longer look at their tired new companion, a hand on his hip and a slight tilt of his head as he sized up both trainer and probable team.

"They're cute," he finally decided on as he turned back to the task, but still managed to gesture with his free hand. "and they asked nice enough. If you want some of this grab another plate from that bag. You can sit over here and tell us your name."

 

[PeterPan_da144]

He had grown sick and tired of being stuck inside. With Oliver working so much, Max was left in his room alone more often than not. Well, not alone. He had his Poke'mon, after all. Including the monstrous fluff ball that was Goliath the Arcanine. He had been surprised he was allowed to adopt such a big and experienced Poke'mon... But given it's gentle nature, Goliath had been a great help in wrangling the other three small ones so far. So Max was incredibly grateful.

Unfortunately, he couldn't bring Goliath along with him on an expedition. He was too big and strong, there was a possibility of him damaging the natural ecosystem. Max understood that, and so did Goliath it seemed. The mound of fluff was content to snooze the day away in a sunny spot of his room while Max went out with the others. Bruiser in particular was getting too rowdy, just like his owner. It would be good for them all to stretch their legs.

And maybe he could find some food for Bruiser.

Magnus and Morgana were easy. They ate normal stuff. Max could share his food with them. Bruiser, on the other hand...... Seemed to only eat rocks and minerals. While the town was able to help with that... Max felt awkward constantly asking for rocks.

So today was a combination stretch-our-legs and find-Bruiser-some-food mission.

Max soon realized he was in over his head, however, as he explored a new area without his friend Oliver. He had no idea where he was, nor what he had gotten himself into. A soundless groan would escape him as he rubbed at his face. Other hand on his hip. Magnus the Zorua, and Bruiser the Aron, were chasing after each other in the underbrush. Morgana, the Alolan Vulpix, was content to sit by Max's foot as he tried to figure out where to go. So when Morgana's nose picked up on something, she would bark gently up at him.

A brow raised down at Morgana. She would then look off in a direction, pointing with her snout, before starting a trot towards whatever she found.

Fingers to his lips, Max let out a sharp whistle. Magnus's ears shot up and he bounded over to Max's side, Bruiser trundling along after them and running straight into Max's shin. A wince of pain, but he would otherwise continue on, growing closer to what he could now smell as some sort of camp. With food. Oh thank goodness, people!

Morgana was the first to poke her head through the bush, glancing around curiously, before barking back towards her owner. She otherwise just sat beneath the bush and watched the other humans, as well as the Sneasel that were out and about.

 

[Shaddaling]

"Thanks, I'm glad to hear it." Sasaki paused before shrugging. The one thing Nauwhil was teaching him was never turn down a free meal. "Thanks," He took a plate, and a seat. "It's Sasaki." He set the plate on his lap, placing his fingers between his lips and whistled.

Sugar and Rogue perked up, trotting over to him with gleeful noises, holding up their snacks.

"Good girls." He reached out, taking the food item, looking them over before breaking a third off, and handed them back to the sneasels. "You can have it," he said, stressing the word have. The girls chirped, gleefully bolting it down now they had permission.

"Pumpkin! Do you want a snack?" Sasaki asked, pulling out his water bottle. The zorua ears perked and she trotted over, reaching up to place a paw on his knee, giving him a soulful look. She was to polite to whine, but her tail twitched eagerly as the pieces were washed and then offered. She took them with gentle mouth, chewing them eagerly.

"Yeah. They are sneasels, Hisuian variants," Sasaki answered. "I discovered their fossils on a dig with my dad up by Snowpoint." He clicked his tongue, looking them over. "Sugar!"

The pale one gave a high pitch Nee, perking up and trotted over, pushing her head against his leg.

Sasaki reached over, gently manipulating her hands. "They have neural toxins, right around here," he pointed out the glands at the base of the wicked claws. Sugar yawned, patiently blinking as her paws were played with. "Sugar the base coloration. Rogue is shiny, and her revive went a bit odd. Her feather larger then Sugar but not as long as they usually get."