[ti]spawn[/ti][SPAWN][C/Spring] Where Did the Fae Go?

Balan sounded a loud and menacing purr upon Spring's approach, rattling his rider and making her model briefly drop in resolution. "It's okay, Balan! She's not an enemy," she reassured the on-edge feline. If Spring was familiar with the species, he would know that Liepard weren't normally as big as horses: a sign that a HUGE SEAL was affixed to his Poké Ball.

"Shalin, glitch hunter extraordinaire," the green-ette cheerfully introduced herself, extending a hand toward the returning player. "Great to meet you, Spring!" Before she could say any more, she felt Balan's muscles twitch. A Deerling pranced toward his Chikorita at high speed, eager to take down an easy mark. "Look out!" the Beta Tester cried, squeezing Balan's sides. Taking the command to Sprint at face value, the clever dark-type FAKED OUT the aggressive wild, swerving sharply to clobber it from the side and making Shalin yelp from the sharp turn.

That would teach the Deerling to prey upon the weak!

"Don't mind Balan here," Shalin introduced the Liepard as she watched the wild Deerling turn tail. "He can be a little protective of me around strangers, but he doesn't mean ill will." With a light tug on his reins, the Liepard became more amicable around Spring, though still far from what one would consider affectionate. "You've never heard of glitch hunters before? They're not just in UNOVR. They're those people that dig deep into the code of video games and try to find funny or useful exploits. I've found quite a few myself! Here, let me show you!"

Sliding down from the Liepard's saddle, Shalin clicked open a second Poké Ball, a noisy Beedrill emerging from within and landing between Spring and the feline. The wasp, too, was horse-sized, also affected by a HUGE SEAL. "It's Queen Zing here that I've been best able to exploit this particular glitch with, hee hee!" she smiled.

Was the Beedrill's saddle... on her wing?!

As strong as Queen Zing's predatory instincts were, the amount of time she had spent with Shalin enabled her to have a filter for them. Around people, she was the sweetest Beedrill imaginable, and wouldn't harm a soul. "Oh, don't be so sure," Shalin tried to reassure Spring. "We're still low on the PVP ladder... and I don't have an intention to climb it. I've never been for UNOVR's PVP experience, and only ever have private matches with my friends. I'm all about the PVE experience... and the exploration that comes with it."

Before she could answer Spring's question, a Petilil was quick to bump into Spring, initiating combat with him. "But she'll still pack quite a punch against Pokémon. Queen Zing, POISON JAB!" she ordered. The saddle on the giant wasp's wing didn't seem to weigh her down at all, the translucent appendages buzzing just as ferociously as though they were unimpeded. With the thrust of a foreleg sting, she uprooted the wild and sent it flying far away. Shalin waited for the bug-type to land again, rather than try to speak over her noisy wings.

"Her size isn't directly responsible for it," Shalin was quick to explain. "It's the HUGE SEAL, earned at the Arena Shop, that makes her so big. With the Beta Tester class and the right know-how, you can do this with almost any Pokémon." The cat and insect's eyes shifted about, keeping an eye around for any other Pokémon nearby. "So what brings you out here? Is there a specific Pokémon you're looking for?"

Shalin found playing a dedicated support difficult. Healers in raids always seemed to get blamed when things went awry, and the DPSes get credit for the win. For Spring to want to play a healer made him a saint in her eyes. "It's still fun to PVP between friends, especially since there's an option to level-match to make things fair," the green-ette answered, a mischievous Impidimp ambushing Queen Zing and PLAYING ROUGH with her. It, too, would meet a nasty end at the brutal-looking barb of her FELL STINGER. For many, that exposed needle, as big as it was, could be fear-inducing!

Checking her HUD, the Beedrill's wounds were significant, but not enough to utilize healing resources from her support Ponyta. "You're a treasure for wanting to play a support. I've dabbled in all three. It's actually really nice having all your roles at level 3 before finding one you like and jumping headlong into it. Makes you much more independent, especially if you're going to solo PVE content." After how dangerous the Moonlit Grotto ended up being, even if she found LEVEL-4 soon, she wasn't going to try to solo a dungeon. Perhaps she would find a low-level dungeon to take Spring into before involving him in that sprawling, almost maddening quest...

The very sight of a Beedrill's needle was terror-inducing to many, though Spring seemed to stay calm in spite of Queen Zing extending hers almost as far as she could. "It's because they always get yelled at when a raid boss takes down their tank," Shalin replied with a pensive look on her face. "But healing isn't the reason I dove into support. Buffs are almost more important. Honestly, one of the first Support Core Abilities you should pick up is Buff." It had saved her butt in the Arena's solo content many times, and without it, she would not have been able to acquire some of her favorite Pokémon.

Before Shalin could nod in agreement, the Impidimp had landed quite the nasty SUCKER PUNCH upon Spring's Pokémon, causing both him and his team to vanish into white pixels. "The spawns around here don't hit that hard," she hummed, now all alone in the woods. "Did he not buy more Tall Grass HP yet?"

Shalin knew exactly what had happened from the moment Spring had disappeared. "If you're still on starting stats, even the Pokémon out here can be really dangerous," the Beta Tester warned. "I'd recommend going shopping and topping off your Tall Grass HP as soon as you can. All the way. It not only makes you stronger defensively against wild Pokémon, but offensively, too. Once you've upgraded, you should have no--"

Before she could finish her sentence, Queen Zing interrupted her, lunging in front of another Deerling galloping toward Spring. "Arceus, they really are just looking for an easy mark..." she said under her breath as her Pokémon chased the grass-type away, figuring no one could hear her with how loud the Beedrill's wings were. If Spring's environmental volume was set low, he might have been able to hear her.