[ti]quest[/ti]in search of silver linings

In the pitch black, vague shadowy dreams pass through his memory; indecipherable, unmemorable. His mind relishes in the forced slumber, a respite from throngs of pain and exhaustion.

It feels all too short when his peace is shattered by panicked cheeping.

A groan. He tries to swat the noise maker away, but it’s a persistent thing, an alarm shoved in his ear. His eyes twitch open and the pain welcomes back him like a begrudging spouse.

“What the hell do you want,” he rasps, squinting tiredly at the orange chicken hopping by his head. It takes a second for his mind to remind him who it belongs to, the same time it takes for his ears to pick up on the sobs and gasps echoing through the sound of rain.

Goddamn it. A second to breathe, and then he hefts one elbow under his prone body; even his good arm protests, still sore from the blast. He rises enough to see Silvermoon leaning against the wall, small in the yawning tunnel with tears dribbling down their face.

God. Damn it.

Gritting his teeth, he continues pulling himself up until he sits. And then he staggers as he gets to his feet. One step scuffing against the burrow floor. Two.

The pain is annoying, but his body can take it. The blessing and curse of a high pain threshold are that he’ll weather it all, but it robs him of the ability to escape with ease.

Standing in front of some kid having a breakdown makes him wish for that option.

“Did you break some shit? Why are you crying?” It comes out angry, a snarl. His eyes search them but can’t see much between the dim light and the distractions—the lightning and the tears.

He is not built for this. He is not a little stuffed dog to be held during a therapy session. He is a giant prick.

So, he rummages through his pockets with his good hand.

Sprigatito pops out in a quick flash of red light, eyes wide with excitement at being released at last, only for it to be doused by the sight of blood. He tries to mewl his concern, but he’s scooped up.

And then dropped onto an unfamiliar trainer’s lap. The kitten’s bewildered, of course, but he sniffs curiously. He smells salt. His own scent is sweeter, his fur as soft as dandelions.

“Hold the cat.” Not a dog, but close enough. Kazuki finally sits down, cross-legged and slumping. “And stop crying. Or—cry until you run out. Whatever.”

Sprigatito mewls as he feels the stranger curl around him, wiggling. He’s not used to this much contact. Purrai carries him, and his trainer lets him ride on his shoulder sometimes, but now it’s as if he’s wrapped in the soft clothes of that one nice lady’s house, except instead of cloth, it’s made of scraped, trembling skin.

The stranger’s face buries into his fluff. He begins to purr, his paws resting against them before he gently bunts his head against their cheek, rubbing insistently. He smudges the tear tracks this way.

Kazuki is waiting for the pain to subside. He sits with his eyes down, tracing the drying line of red slithering from his shoulder to his fingertips. When Silvermoon finally speaks, his face sours, gaze moving from his lap to their eyes.

“I don’t want your apology,” he spits. “I want to get out of here.”

He reaches down and rips up the end of his pant leg. “If this is too much for you, you can leave. Accepting the quest teleported us here, it’ll probably get you out if you quit.”

He takes the jagged length of cloth and bites down on one end before beginning to wind it over his shoulder. “I’rm sht’ck’ng to d’end.” Pressing the makeshift bandage under his arm pit, he starts sloppily tying a knot one-handed over his bicep. “Like hell am I starting over after all that.”

Sprigatito purrs and purrs, as if the closer he gets to being a car engine the more effective this healing strategy will be. The human holds him tighter and he’s a little more uncomfortable, but then he feels them press their lips on his head. The gesture has him blinking curiously, unsure of what it means—maybe it’s how humans purr?—but the stranger isn’t sobbing anymore, so maybe it worked!

The rain has thinned into a drizzle. Even a whisper carries in the lonesome expanse of the burrow.

There is a heat in Kazuki’s chest. Like his blood, boiling. Like shame. He hates the consideration they extend to him—as if he’s the one who broke down here. The injury? 'Tis but a fucking scratch.

When they get up and approach him, he recoils as if ready to snap their hands between his teeth. But they peel off the ridiculous cloak around their shoulders and approach him the way you approach a frightened animal.

He is very seriously debating on biting them.

They tug at the flimsy bandage on his shoulder and he resists the impulse, his eyes moving from their toothpick fingers to the pathetic excuse of medical aid barely hanging on his bicep. The blood has already changed its color. Denying help now would just be—impractical.

So for once, he stays put. He has a mean sneer on him as if he’s swallowed a lemon instead of given proper assistance, but he doesn’t make a fuss as they fix the tourniquet, adjusting his arm so the injured medic can work without moving unnecessarily.

“… Do I seriously have to call you Silvermoon?” he grumbles. “Are you a warrior cat?”

Sprigatito pauses where he's settled beside Silvermoon and his trainer, turned to the direction of the big scary tunnel (guard duty!) and looks back, ears twitching as if called.

Kazuki gives them a flat look when they only emphasize their name again. But the bandage is secure; he moves his elbow in circles, testing it out. The wound still hurts like a bitch, but it doesn’t seem on the verge of killing him via bloodletting anymore, so this should do.

Sprigatito is picked up with ease. <Am I done with guard duty?> he asks disappointedly, perking up when Silvermoon kisses his head. He purrs while curled up in their arms. The kiss meant he had done a good job.

As Silvermoon asks Kazuki about their next move, the man is in the middle of getting up. He’s on a knee when everything flashes white and the burrow is filled with the sound of the howling skies outside. His sight fizzles and shakes with strange shapes, before finally settling.

It takes him a second to realize the floating text and symbols have completely disappeared. He attempts to pull out his inventory. The map. Anything.

“It’s busted.”

The rain comes down as a heavy sheet past the burrow, the Steppes now indecipherable under the thunderstorm.

They are trapped in the tunnel without a way to access their supplies or their other pokemon. There is no contacting other players. As far as he can tell, there is no way to log out either.

“Welp,” Kazuki slaps his thighs and stands up. “Guess that’s that.”

He pauses only to regard Silvermoon, his eyes briefly glancing at his cat. “Hey, Silvermoon,” he rolls the name around. Still weird. “You got a light? We can’t explore the rest of the tunnel when it’s that dark.”

[Prompt]OVm4dD4|1d100

With a little chick spewing embers as their torch, they enter the rest of the tunnel. Kazuki keeps to the back, a little to the side. He remains aware of their flank while still keeping sight of the dim path ahead. Sprigatito hops in, weaving past his legs to walk alongside Silvermoon and in front of his trainer.

Beady red eyes follow their movements, Kazuki at first expecting another attack, but they remain stationary. Silvermoon picks up their torchic and bring attention to the strange markings on the walls.

“I don’t know. Could just be a design,” Kazuki says absentmindedly, reaching out to touch the ink with his good hand. Touching it left no flakes, the drawings well-preserved on the cavern walls. He traces the shape of them. “Definitely not any design I’ve seen.” A little crude but—interesting.

As Silvermoon steps back, the light dims, but spreads further out to reveal more of the drawing. What he had assumed to be its head turns out to only be a limb. It is much bigger. Much, much bigger.

The cavern has grown quiet. The hairs on Kazuki’s arms stand as he realizes he can’t even hear the nidoran’s scraping anymore; they’ve skulked elsewhere, hidden.

The tunnel rumbles, and this deep in, he can’t tell if it’s the thunderstorm outside.

“Kid,” he says, stepping back as Sprigatito begins to hiss, fur glowing as he summons a few sparse leaves. His body aches, not quite healed; not quite in the state to run. “Might want to get behind me again.”

Runerigus

HP: 500 HP
MOVES: Ground attacks (Bulldoze, Dig, Earthquake, etc) and Ghost attacks (Astonish, Night Shade, Ominous Wind, etc)
WEAKNESSES: Ghost, Water, Grass, Ice, and Dark (+20 damage to Runerigus).
BONUS PROMPT: Describe yourself using the darkness to your advantage, or studying or deciphering the form of Runerigus for +5 to either attack or defense.

TACTICS

• Each post Runerigus will attack, dealing 1d30 damage (+20 for Super Effective hits) to one of the trainer's Pokemon.
• Runerigugs has no preference between Tank/Sweeper/Support enemies.
• Runerigus starts the battle charging a 2d50 AoE Bulldoze. This attack can be Disrupted and will unleash after 3 posts, hitting all players.
• After the first Bulldoze has hit all players, Runerigus starts charging a 3d50 Bulldoze, which is unleashed after 2 posts.
• Runerigus' Bulldoze can be Disrupted on the post they start charging and every post up to and including the post they hit.
• On a turn a player is hit by Bulldoze, they are not hit by Runerigus' basic attacks.

REWARD

• The reward for beating Runerigus is the ability to continue the quest!
• The reward for losing to Runerigus is a dirt nap.

The roar shook the entire cavern, Silvermoon wincing as they started running, trying to get away from the violent creature. Once, they tried to twist back, and look at Sprigatito- but a sharp shove from Kazuki kept them running, eyes forward. Phoenix had been running after them, as fast as his legs could take him- but that wasn't very fast, so when Sprigatito got launched he simply twisted, tiny wings raising as he readied his attack, swirling fire around himself and charging back at the runerigus with a cry, flames lapping at the foe.

The runerigus, surprisingly enough, did not like that, letting out another bellowing howl, and driving itself into the earth. Phoenix scrabbled to get away, but the ground ruptured underneath him, sending him flying into one of the cavern walls.

"Phoenix!" Silvermoon whirled, skidding a bit as they tried to quickly run back, towards the torchic, and towards the massive, furious ghost pokemon. Phoenix needed help, and they weren't going to abandon their starter- not like this-

The runerigus watched the trainers, eyes bright and omminous, dragging itself evercloser to them. Another unearthly cry escaped it.

GWOOOOOOOOOOOOOGH!

TORCHIC used FLAME CHARGE (Sweeper x2 Fast Attack)
The WILD RUNERIGUS took 65 damage!
TORCHIC took 20 damage!
WILD RUNERIGUS used DIG (Basic Attack)
TORCHIC took 37 damage!

SPRIGATITO: 118/150
TORCHIC: 93/150
WILD RUNERIGUS: 347/500