PTS | Search for the Golden Torkoal | BB RP Pt. 1

“You believe that crap?” Cinders asked, laughing, as she followed Vanessa through the woods to their meeting spot.

“Well, not the trade, obviously,” Vanessa said, rolling her eyes. Cinders snickered at her, taking a few quickened steps forward and spinning to face her friend, walking backwards now. “But I’ve done a little digging of this country, and there are some actual folklores about this thing. I’m really fascinated by it, and--”

“Oh my gooood, Vanessa,” Cinders groaned, throwing her arm up theatrically and pressing it over her forehead. “Blah blah blah history. Can you make this any more lame?”

Vanessa cocked an eyebrow at her, “I’m sorry, Cinders, that my passion doesn’t involve me eating dirt.”

“Ouch,” Cinders chuckled, shoving her hands into her pockets. “Okay, I probably deserved that. Well, this is your thing, and I’m just glad you’re finally here with me. You mentioned a friend, though?”

“Oh! Yeah, the guy I met on the ferry here. I thought he might enjoy coming along on something like this, so I called and asked him if wanted to come along. We’re almost at the agreed meeting place. I’m pretty excited for you to meet him.”

As soon as Cinders grinned and clapped her hands together, Vanessa groaned and started to shake her head. “Is that right? Hmm! I’m interested to meet him, then. Hey look, we’re heeeere!”

+

 Down the path from where the women were walking, Ritten fiddled with vest idley.
“Hey look, we’re heeeere!” Cinders’ voice echoed through the trees mildly startling Koro-Ritten’s timid vulpix- into hiding behind the long legged man.

 “Easy Koro,” Ritten reassured his new comrade by leaning down and scooping him up much to the disappointment of Kiwi. The small Chatot repositioning onto her trainor’s shoulder as the pair meeting with them came into full view. The plan had been to meet and then search for some golden torkoal myth Vanessa had read about earlier.

 Exploring was fun and all, Ritten hoped the group adventure would bolster Koro’s courage. If anything it was better than staying at home. Gigs were slow for now, so when Vanessa called about plans Ritten was more than happy to join. “Hey Vanessa,” he greeted the familiar face before greeting her comrade. Had she mentioned someone else over the phone? Probably, but he couldn’t remember.
Kiwi eyed the newcomers from Ritten’s shoulder carefully, while Koro was grateful for the sanctuary of Ritten’s arms.

+

“Hey!” Vanessa turned when she heard Ritten’s voice, looking past Cinders, who had spun around to peer at the person she didn’t recognize. Smiling, she walked past her and went to stand in front of Ritten, grinning a little bit at the two pokemon and giving them a slight wave with her fingers. “How ya doin’, Kiwi? And who’s this cutie?” She clasped her hands together in front of her, tilting her head and peering at the vulpix curiously.

“Oh, a vulpix! How cute. Hey dude, you can call me Cinders. Vanessa has talked quite a bit about you!” She strode up next to her friend, grinning as well.

“Ah, yes. Cinders, Ritten. Ritten, Cinders. Watch out for this joker, she’s hard to keep up with.”

Cinders snorted and playfully shouldered her friend. “A very select few can. Let’s see if you can! Vanessa, let us in on this myth, huh?”

“Right, alright…” Vanessa tapped her chin thoughtfully, her brows furrowing as she considered what to tell them. “Well, after I saw the flier about someone seeing one, I did a bit of research… Apparently, there have been sightings of golden torkoal in the area off and on for… a long time. Generations, actually.”

“So… Do you think it exists? It’d have to be really old. And I don’t think torkoal are usually found in areas like this, right?”

“No, probably closer to the lava pools and the caverns, not necessarily this part of the forest. As for the age, well, torkoal can live a long time… So maybe?”

Cinders turned to Ritten, hands on her hips. “What do you think? Up for some hiking? I’ve actually explored the area around the caverns not too long ago, so I know the way. Probably the only reason Vanessa is even bringing me around.”

Vanessa rolled her eyes.

+

Ritten smiled as Kiwi accepted Vanessa’s greeting, Koro took a ginger sniff in Vanessa’s direction before retreating against Ritten’s vest. “This is Koro, little guy was hanging out alone at the safari zone.” Ritten shifted the weight of Koro to free his right hand for fur scruffles bringing a happy expression to the small fire type. “I’m hoping Kiwi will adjust soon, she’s been a little….possessive lately.” the white haired man gave Kiwi a look, the chatot pretended she didn’t see it.

Ritten nodded in acknowledgment to Cinders, a wordless greeting as the conversation sped forward into talk of the myth. A really old golden torkoal huh? Ritten guessed it was possible, they did seem to live forever. “Worth a shot checking. Already explored them, why?” He peered at Cinders with greater focus, did Vanessa say something over the phone about Cinders adventurous nature? He was having a hard time remembering. “Anyway, I guess that makes you the tour guide Cinders.” Adjusting the straps on his new backpack, Ritten then flourished a hand in a silly over dramatic way. “Lead the way cap’in.”

+

“Oh!” Cinders grinned, brushing her knuckles over her jacket sleeve and grinning. “It was for another board job. I met up with an awesome lady and we mapped out some of the caverns, since they were previously unmapped. It’s a good idea, since a lot of people adventure through the woods.”

Vanessa hummed as Cinders gave Ritten a thumbs up and she turned and began to lead them through the forest. “She told me a bit about it. It sounded like it was interesting, I might wanna go down there at some point to take a look, see if there’s anything interesting down in there besides rocks and pokemon.”

“There might be! Oh, before we get too far, I suppose I should prepare us a bit.” Cinders paused, pulling out a pokeball and releasing the creature inside. With a flash of light, an aerodactyl materialized out from the ball. She yawned and peered between Cinders, Vanessa and Ritten with a bit of a confused tilt to her head, then she stretched her wings out. “Meet Sybaris! Alrighty friend, we’ve got another job for you. You recall this area, right?”

The aerodactyl looked around a bit, then turned and took a running leap to claw her way up into the air. Winging around, she let out a joyful screech before swooping down towards them. Cinders laughed as her tail smacked into her as she flew by them and up into the air.

“I’ll take that as a yes. Anyways, keep an eye out for any torkoal, will ya!”

“Ah, good idea. I’ll bring someone out too.”

Cinders made a face as Vanessa’s own pokemon emerged from one of her pokeballs, and the sigilyph stretched his wings before fluttering up to float above them. “Greetings, Vanessa. Cinders. Oh, and a new person! Is it safe to talk to them?”

“Ugh, that’s always so weird. Why Spiritus?” She pointedly ignored the disgruntled noises that came from the windchime-like pokemon.

“Because he can speak to us and relay any information we need. You know, something you would know if you had a psychic type.” She spun around, giving Ritten a more patient smile. “He wants to know if you’d accept his telepathic talk”, but it’s alright if you’re not comfortable with it.”

+

Ritten fell in line along side Vanessa as Cinders began their trek, listening to the pair as they exchanged info about where they were going. They stopped after a short bit though, Cinders pulled a pokeball and released an aerodactyl named Sybaris. Ritten grinned seeing her, one of the ancient pokemon. The grand pokemon took to the skies at Cinders request, seemed like a good idea for keeping eyes peeled for their goal. “She’s amazing Cinders.”

Kiwi at this point jumped up and down on Rittens shoulders before taking off on her own following a similar path as Sybaris. He laughed at his pokemon’s antics knowing she’d return to him once Kiwi felt she’d proven herself just as ‘amazing’. Spiritus was a little different, a psychic type huh? Ritten turned to Vanessa as she explained what the pokemon wanted with a nod he answered her question “Sure, I’ve never spoken to a psychic pokemon before. Spiritus huh? What is he?” Cinders didn’t seem too keen on this particular pokemon.

Kiwi returned to Ritten’s shoulder, a small blue berry in clutched in her beak. She held it proudly like it was what they’d come to find. It made Ritten snicker, he kindly took it and scruffed the feathers at the back of her neck. Chatting all well and good, Ritten wondered if he should suggest they walk and talk. “Shall we get going though? Discussions on the way, yeah?”

+

“Hey, thanks,” Cinders grinned, proud of her pokemon. When the chatot took off after her, though, and followed similar movements to the large pterosaur, Cinders chuckled and clapped her hands together. “Kiwi’s cute as hell, damn.”

Her face fell when he asked what Spiritus was, and she dragged a hand down her face as Vanessa grinned sympathetically at her friend, and was about to answer his question when Kiwi returned and he suggested they move. Nodding, she began to move as Cinders picked up the pace and began to stride a few feet ahead of them, her face turned to the sky as she kept her eyes on Sybaris.

“The humans call me a sigilyph,” Spiritus provided for him, before Vanessa could. The voice sounded masculine, though with a slight chiming note to it. His tails rattled together as he fluttered a little higher above their heads.

“He was one of my first pokemon, along with my feraligatr. They’re supposedly very ancient pokemon, and I thought he was pretty amazing.”

“Amazingly weird,” Cinders said, though not quite unkindly. She grinned over her shoulder at them.

“Not everyone can handle telepathy easily. I understand.”

The forest around them was starting to thicken, and Cinders began to slow down as she picked her way more carefully. She kept flicking her gaze between the sky and the ground in front of her, and she grunted as she pulled an entangled mess of vines off of her foot.

“Be careful around here, this is pretty close to one of the cavern entrances. I uh… we fell in by accident the first time we found it.”

“What?! You never told me that! Man, you guys could’ve gotten lost down there, Cinders--”

“It’s fine. Just be careful. I don’t think we’ll find a torkoal in the caves, so we just need to keep going.”

+

Cinder’s comment about Kiwi made Ritten smile, she had a habit of trying not to let others upstage her. “She’s one of a kind and I adore her for it.” Following after Cinders once again as the party got to walking, Ritten stumbled a little as he heard the voice of Spiritus for the first time. “Another ancient pokemon huh? Sigilyph. Interesting.” Ritten paused as Cinders got her foot caught in some vines, things were getting more hazardous. “Koro, you best follow on your own now, I’d hate to trip while carrying you.” Setting the timid fire down, koro darted to Ritten’s opposite side away from Vanessa and stuck close to his trainer’s ankles.

At the news Cinders had actually fallen into the caves bellow before, he made a note to watch his footing a little better. It was interesting to listen to them both, they seemed good friends. “How long you two been friends?” he asked the pair. He’d met Vanessa on the farry, but seeing how chummy these two were Ritten imagined they knew each other from before the trip to Etryae. Though, he supposed they also could’ve been fast friends. It happened to some people. For the sake of having it, Ritten went ahead and pulled his dagger from the clip on his belt. Leaving it sheathed he wanted it in his hand in case anymore vines decided to be handsy.

+

Cinders glanced over her shoulder as Ritten sat Koro down on the ground. She paused she a moment, peering at him before looking up at his trainer. Then she smiled, more gently then she had before. “He’s really shy, huh? My own Argos is to -- you know what…” Pulling out another pokeball, she allowed her second pokemon out.

The growlithe blinked as the world materialized around him, and he gave himself a big shake before running to stand by Cinders’ feet. After a moment, though, he realized that they were all walking through some thick forest and that there was another fire-type nearby. Tentatively, he began to wag his tail, while sneaking several curious glances at the vulpix.

“Oh!” Vanessa smiled, clapping her hands together. As she and Cinders began to carefully make their way over a large root, she answered Ritten’s question. “We grew up together, actually. We’ve known each other for longer than I can actually remember. I was eight when we met.”

+

“Yeah he is, I’m hoping getting him out some will help him settle at least.” He commented in return to Cinders, before watching her pull another pokeball out. Argos, he assumed was the growlithe now at her feet. Ritten looked down at Koro as they walked, Argos didn’t seem quite as timid. Maybe if they spent time together they’d become friends and help one another. Koro returned tentative looks to the growlithe, sticking close to Ritten. The small vuplix’s tails remained still but his ears perked and now and then his head tilted one way or another. “Childhood friends, that sounds nice.” Ritten commented in return to Vanessa’s explanation of her relation with Cinders.

The small group of adventurers had been traveling for a while now, nothing seemed to be that different though. It was hot, vines everywhere, and nothing interesting to see aside from occasional grass pokemon attempting to hide from their view. “So where exactly do you think we might find this golden torkoal? Or, well any torkoal at this point?” Without speaking specifically to either adventuring companion, Ritten hoped one of them would have some sort of idea. Wandering endlessly didn’t seem the best way to search things.

+

The growlithe’s tail and nose twitched each time the vulpix looked in his direction, and he kept casting swift glances between his own trainer, Ritten, and Koro. Then, he began to slow down a little bit so he could walk by Ritten’s feet, giving the vulpix a gentle bark and a slow wag of his tail.

“Good question,” Vanessa said, tilting her head upwards to look at Sybaris. The aerodactyl appeared to be gliding along still, with no real indication of her slowing down or stopping. She turned her gaze to Cinders. “Do you even know where we are?”

“Of course I do,” Cinders said, scoffing and looking over her shoulder. “The lava pools aren’t exactly close to town, but that’s where we’re going to find torkoal, if there are any.”

The forest around them began to grow even thicker, and Cinders paused to consider their path forward. Above them, Sybaris noticed that they had stopped and was now circling in lazy arcs, waiting for them.

“Well, this is the direct path to the pools… It would take like three times as long to go back around, I think. We’ll need to cut through all this. And I don’t think Echidna would be able to cut through this stuff.”

“Oh, that’s easy. Here,” Vanessa pulled out another pokeball and released the creature inside. It was already kind of a tight fit, with how dense the forest was, but they made room for the feraligatr. Stretching her arms and yawning, the large crocodilian turned and began to stomp through the thick vegetation with a word from Vanessa.

Being over seven feet tall made it rather easy for the feraligatr to muscle her way through the vegetation, and especially thick areas were cleared away with swipes of her claws or swings of her tail.

Above, Sybaris let out a piercing cry of excitement, and swooped down below the treeline, out of their view.

“Oh! We must be close to the other entrance now! Come on, let’s go!”

As Veloxa cleared out more of the vegetation, is was obviously becoming more sparse. They soon came to a steep incline, and once they climbed up, they reached the crest of the hill where the forest had seemed to quit growing entirely.

The top of the ridge was rocky and a little difficult to navigate, but they found Sybaris perched on top of a large rock near a cavern entrance. The area was warm, warmer than the parts of the forest they had moved through, but not quite warm enough for torkoal. Jerking her head, the aerodactyl pointed them past the cavern entrance, where the hill gently sloped back downward and a large patch of treeless, rocky field stretched before them.

“I think we should keep going,” Spiritus said to them, rising rapidly into the air and peering around. “It is barely midday, we have plenty of time still. This looks like good grounds to find a torkoal, and there are bound to be more patches of hot ground like this in the area.”

“I agree with the talking windchime. Below us is an entire system of caverns with rivers of lava flowing through them, so going in this direction would be our best bet. Do you want to continue?” She aimed the question at Ritten, knowing Vanessa would still be up for it, especially judging by her quick nod.

+


Ritten watched the growlithe makes its way closer, seemed he was trying to make friends. Looking back up as they traveled through the denser parts with the help of Vanessa’s Feraligatr. Thus far Ritten felt like a simple tag-along, unable to really assist with any of the minor complications they came to. Oh well, at least it was interesting.

Koro watched Argos a little more closely now that the growlithe was walking so close to them. With Ritten present the small vulpix felt more comfortable, and returned the bark with his own yelpy noise. A quiet one, but an answer nonetheless even if Sybaris’ joyful screech nearly drowned it out.

Looking up at the sudden noise Ritten smiled as the other two seemed joyed to hear it and all together the pace seemed to quicken as moving through the brush became easier. Things were thinning out, trees grew more sparsely until they stopped altogether and expanding out before them as a hot land with green pockets. Sybaris didn’t seem to think they’d gone far enough though, looking out further into the hotbeds, Cinders’ words confirmed this.

“No point in stopping now right, we’ve yet to see anything really.” If they weren’t ready to stop then neither was he. Stepping passed Vanessa to the start of where the ground sloped down Ritten’s brow furrowed thoughtfully. The area was open but vast, looking to Kiwi on his shoulder he gestured in a circle with his hand, his index finger pointing towards the sky. With an excited call Kiwi rushed from Rittens shoulder and flew off over the expanse. “If she sees anything, we should be able to hear her Hyper voice with how open everything is here. Every eye helps right?” He smiled at the pair.

+

Sybaris tilted her head, watching as Kiwi flew up into the air and over the clearing. Parting her jaws, she yawned and pushed her head down between her wing, dragging her nose across the leathery membrane. Once she was done, she snapped her wings back open and took to the air again, coming to fly near Kiwi for a moment. She called out to the small bird pokemon, tilting her head in one direction and then winging off in the other. They could cover more ground if they split up.

Vanessa nodded at Ritten. “Yeah, that’s a good idea. Come on, then.”

They began to make their way across the long stretch of rocky ground, but there wasn’t much life out here in the open.

“We’re pretty far out from Ivywood, I wonder why it’s so barren out here.”

Vanessa hummed thoughtfully at Cinders’ question, but she did not have an answer for her. None that made any sense, anyways. They should at least be seeing smaller pokemon, bugs and rodents and birds, but there was nothing.

“It is very odd. There might be something in the forest over there that’s disturbing the wildlife, though.”

“Might be a good place to check out, then.” Cinders did not wait for either Vanessa or Ritten’s approval before she broke out into a run, clambering over the rocks and towards the forest.

Argos paused, tail shooting upwards as his trainer took off, and he glanced between Koro and Cinders several times before he barked at Koro. He lowered himself to the ground, wagging his haunches happily before taking off after his trainer.

“Well, leave it to her to rush into something. Spiritus, can you let me know when we’ve gone a mile into the forest here? I don’t want to wander too far away from town.”

“Certainly. As it is, though, you guys may have to spend a night out here.”

“We came prepared for that, but hopefully it won’t happen.”

+


 Fluttering through the wind Kiwi abided by the advice of the larger flyer and banked to the side so that they covered more ground,keeping high to make good use of her keen eyes. Ritten traveled with Vanessa and Cinders trying to wrap his own mind around why things seemed so empty. “What could be large enough, or dangerous enough to disrupt this large of an area though?” it was a real puzzle.
 
  With not much time to pause Ritten quickly jolted into a run behind them, thanking Arceus for his long legs. With a grin he pushed harder attempting to pass Cinders in the sprint turning it into a race for the opposite treeline. Koro was sprinting along with them, looking a little flustered about the sudden increase in speed. Having Argos near, barking happily like it was all a game helped though.

  The ground underfoot was getting warmer, not uncomfortably so but warm enough to notice for sure. Ritten figured it was most likely due to the active lava zones that Cinders mentioned spread throughout beneath them. Spiritus mentioned something about having to stay overnight. “Camping near an active lava zone and fire types, sounds like a interesting trip.” Ritten chuckled through the heavy breathing used when running, nearly to the point of falling over as his footing slipped for a moment. Correcting it quickly with his next step Ritten smiled and kept his momentum.

+


Once Cinders had noticed that Ritten was trying to catch up to her and even surpass her, she grinned and picked up the pace. Argos barked happily at her feet, though he seemed more concerned with staying close to Koro than trying to catch up with his trainer. He flicked his ears and let his tongue loll out of his mouth as he leapt on top of a thick root, and he turned and yelped enthusiastically.

Cinders saw the root coming, and she glanced at Ritten and her grin widened. She sped up just slightly, running up onto a rock and launching herself up a few feet and clearing the root’s height in the leap. Argos jumped off after her, barking madly and taking off after her as she continued into the forest.

“Oh my god,” Vanessa sighed, rubbing the back of her neck. Both her best friend and her newer friend had seemed to think it was some sort of race, and she was still trudging through the forest at her own pace. “I didn’t think he was going to be competitive--just what Cinders needs.”

“Let them enjoy themselves. I can keep a bead on them if it’s really a problem for you.”

“I just don’t want them getting hurt, especially since this is kind of unfamiliar territory.”

Spiritus made several noises that she didn’t understand, and he shifted his wings and sped forward to keep an eye on the two racers.

“Between me and ‘Nessa, we got plenty of ways of protecting ourselves from wild fire types,” Cinders said between her heavy breathing.

She began to slow down when she noticed that the forest was already starting to thin out around them again, and she glanced upwards momentarily. She couldn’t see Sybaris through the thick canopy, though, so perhaps it was nothing.

Argos sped out ahead of her, panting heavily. After several moments, Cinders heard him start barking, and she picked up the pace again, gesturing to Ritten for him to follow the sounds the growlithe was making.

When she finally burst through a thick group of bushes, Cinders came to a halt and she blinked at the sight in front of her. “Woah, Vanessa is gunna flip her lid when she sees this,” she said, glancing over her shoulder. The other woman was still a ways back, not nearly as athletic as her and Ritten were.

In front of them stretched several crumbling stone structures, which included broken down walls and arches covered in ivy and bushes. The area wasn’t as silent as the clearing had been, Cinders could hear wildlife in the distance.The trees around them concealed any more of the ruins from their vision.

Argos hopped up onto the steps closest to them, turning and wagging his tail.

+

“I’m sure I could handle a few fire types.” He returned before noticing Cinders was slowing her pace. Pressing hard in his stride Ritten took advantage and rushed into the lead with a laugh on Cinder’s right. Argos’ barking was easy enough to follow, but the sudden grass into dirt wasn’t expected. Fleet of foot met loose gravel and the world was suddenly rolling as Ritten tripped and toppled.

Landing on his back with mild laughter and huffing Ritten turned his head at the ruins around him. Intricate stonework and carvings artfully filled the area in a mix of man’s craftsmanship and the nature’s struggle to retake the land. “Amazing,” catching his breath Ritten blinked at the light coming from above them.It seemed the clearing as merely that, a large open area within the forest and so now light flooded this one spot where the canopy didn’t reach. “Vanessa still back there?” He turned his head to look at Cinders completely unbothered to sit up again as Koro ran over to check on him. Hair knocked and messy from the fall revealed a pair of mismatched eyes awaiting Cinder’s response. One brown always seen, and one blue where his bangs had been.

Sitting up after some time Ritten brushed his fingers through his messing hair with one hand while consoling Koro with the other. The small fire type made various sounds while sniffing and walking all around his trainer making sure every part of him was alright.

+

Argos sat down on the steps as Ritten stumbled out and landed on his back. He stood up again, wiggling his body and bouncing excitedly. When Cinders did not make a move towards him, though, the growlithe huffed impatiently and sat back down. Instead, the woman turned towards Ritten, covering her mouth and softening the sound of her chuckles that escaped her.

She walked over to him, peering at him for a moment before sticking her hand out. If she had seen his mis-matched colored eyes, she did not seem interested in making a comment about them. Instead, she would help him to his feet if he allowed it.

“Yeah. She’ll be along in a few minutes, I imagine. She’s not nearly as athletic as I am -- or you, for that matter. Impressive! She told me you like making music, where’d you learn to run like that?”

+

   With some final chuckles and the fussing with his bangs aside Ritten accepted the hand Cinders offered and quickly raised from the ground with her assistance. “Well, lot’s of practice I suppose. What, music lovers can’t be athletic?” he huffed and began dusting off his pants and shirt before looking around some more. “So runes, and did you explore this part of it before or is this gunna be new to everyone?” he teased Cinders’ adventurous nature as Koro finally settled as well, finding his place at Ritten’s heels.

  Much of what they had passed through was barren, Cinders had mentioned thinking something in their now current area was spooking off the other pokemon. Here too things seemed oddly quiet and yet not foreboding or menacing in any way. Walking over to the runes themselves Ritten peered curiously at the stone and carvings with a keen eye. “It’s all so...musing.” shifting his shoulders Ritten slid the pack on his back off one side and swung it around to open the largest pouch. He pulled a clipboard from the bag where several music sheets were pinned into place. Glancing around a few times and swinging the bag back around carefully, Ritten began carefully scrawling in notes on the empty stanzas with a focused expression.

+

She rolled her eyes at him, but chuckled good-naturedly. “Athletic, sure. Enough to keep up with me? That’s something a little different.” Cinders turned, watching him move as he noticed the runes scrawled on the walls of the ruins. Argos barked happily as she stepped onto the stairs after Ritten as he turned to focus on the walls.

“No, this is new to me and Vanessa. Probably not very well documented in town either, to be honest, but I’ll let Vanessa deal with that. She’s… better equipped for it than I am. I will, however, add this to my very crudely drawn map of the area.”