When Vic had been no more than a kid, his mum had told him that the powder left behind by the flight of a Ledian brought good luck. Now, as he walked towards the agreed upon meeting place at the edge of the forest, he couldn’t help but think about her words, as even there he could see a couple of shimmering specks floating lonely through the night sky.
[break][break]
If his mum’s words were to be believed, didn’t that mean that their mission would go amazingly and without a single issue!? Vic may have been an optimist, but he wasn’t that naive.
[break][break]
Or, was he?
[break][break]
He noticed the Arcanine before noticing his mission partner, his fondness for the species making him smile just as he did when seeing his own pokémon. But, his own Arcanine remained in its pokéball this time around, left to rest in favour of the Dragapult that calmly slithered through the air right behind the pink-haired young man – the ethereal tip of its long tail disappearing in the dark.
[break][break]
“Hey! Tallulah, right? It’s nice to meet you,” he beamed, ever-friendly and cheerful. “We should probably head in, huh? The trees are probably going to be an issue since predators can attack from there… Hmm… How do you feel about climbing?” Vantage points and all that, right!? It made sense to him, at least!

[break][break]

+ ooc notes

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

There were probably some people out there who would have been a bit taken aback or confused by Tallulah’s sudden decision to head into the forest from the treetops. Vic though… Vic just thought it made things more fun, and while it definitely wasn’t what he had meant, he sure as hell could work with that!

[break][break]

”Oh wow, don’t leave me behind!”

[break][break]

It was almost like being a kid again, and with the dexterity of a kid indeed, he began climbing one of the trees nearby – holding onto a low-hanging branch to pull himself up. In the air, his Dragapult followed closely behind, watching him with the casual curiosity of a creature who had never needed to do things like those to get around.

[break][break]

”Taffy, keep an eye on things from above, yeah? But be careful not to scare the Ledybas and Ledians.” The Stealth Pokémon silently did as asked, and in the darkness, Vic looked at his mission partner right after jumping to the next branch. “You know which direction we’re headed?”

[break][break]

Ah, directions, those weren’t exactly his forte and he really didn't want to end up getting lost in the forest.





[break][break]

+ ooc notes @tallulah

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

East.
[break][break]
Oh, thank Arceus she pointed, because Vic sure as hell didn’t know where East was. Usually, when he travelled, he had his trusty Rotom phone’s map with him, but he had feeling something like that really wouldn’t do much good in a situation like this. A shame, really.
[break][break]
Good thing that apparently he didn’t have to worry about that with Tallulah there though, and instead he could go on to worrying about other things!
[break][break]
For example...
[break][break]
”Hah.. Honestly, yeah, I only moved to Hoenn recently. What about y–… Was that a Spearow?”
[break][break]
The sudden appearance of the Tiny Bird Pokémon had almost spooked him and made him lose balance as he jumped from one branch to the next. Thankfully, he reacted fast enough to hold onto the tree trunk and stay on his feet, but the situation made him furrow his brow ever-so-slightly. What was it doing there? And, why?
[break][break]
”Weird… Maybe the swarm moved somewhere else? Do you think we should follow it?”
[break][break]
Well, at least moving from the treetops had been a good call, workout as it was, because they probably wouldn’t have noticed the Spearow had they been down below.
[break][break]

+ @tallulah

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Good question! How was this his first assignment?! Vic would have asked himself the same, but sadly, he had no time to be thinking about those things when so much was going on around him.
[break][break]
He had followed along, jumping from tree to tree, and in the darkness, he had also noticed the all-too-familiar sight of the Corviknight and Rookidee. It was just like being in Galar again, except it definitely wasn’t.
[break][break]
At least, he didn’t have a hard time figuring out what to do. He didn’t bother with jumping down, and instead, he called up.
[break][break]
”Taffy! Dragon Darts at the Rookidee, you know what to do after that.”
[break][break]
The Dragapult, having been trained for years to take part in difficult battles back when Vic was still challenging gyms, knew what to do indeed. The second the instructions were given was the second Dreepy came dashing down from above at high speed, heading directly in collision course towards two extremely unfortunate Rookidee. Just as these hit, the ghostly dragon type vanished, completely disappearing from sight in preparation to strike the other Rookidee with Phantom Force.
[break][break]
As this happened, Vic jumped down. ”Hey! Do you need help taking care of the Corviknight?” Divide and conquer was probably their best strategy in this, but as Vic saw it, it was also important to be on the same page about those things.
[break][break]

+ tag @tallulah (I left Phantom Force open-ended bc I didn't want to use two in one post xD Feel free to say it hits if you want)

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Vic had always liked Corviknight. When he lived in Hammerlock, he had taken many a flying taxis, and he had always thought that if he hadn’t had Taffy to fly him around, he would have loved to catch one of those giant Raven Pokémon.
[break][break]
They were really cool! But, alas, so were Ledyba and Ledian, and this particular Corviknight was trying to feast on them when they were at their most vulnerable. Not so cool! Better luck next time though, because the rookie team had this in the bag!
[break][break]
An audible sigh of relief left him when the birds flew off, and when Tallulah approached and slapped his back, he also couldn’t help but chuckle at her words “Ha! You did great though, could have fooled me,” he grinned.
[break][break]
Calling over his Dragapult with quiet whistling, he then offered the pokémon some scratching under his chin in acknowledgement for also doing a good job, and as he did this, Vic looked up, his gaze falling on a dark sky filled with sparkling dust and swarming bug types. It was beautiful. ”I was worried they would scatter… Might be a long night, huh?”
[break][break]
They were supposed to guard the swarm all night, after all. But, if any more bird pokémon were hiding in the trees, they would probably be cautious to approach after seeing what happened to Corviknight and Co.
[break][break]

+ @tallulah

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

”Oh. Good thinking!” he smiled.
[break][break]
Honestly, Vic wasn’t the kind of person who did well with sitting still for long periods of time; he had too much energy, and a constant need to be doing something or his mind began thinking about all sorts of weird stuff. But, it was late, and he knew all too well that if he began running around he would eventually get himself tired and fall asleep – which wouldn’t really be helpful when considering what their mission was, would it?
[break][break]
Chatting and keeping an eye on the swarm would do just fine. So, he sat with his back against a tree, his Dragapult stretching on the grass like a giant, dragon-like cat. ”Do you think they give cadets this sort of mission ‘cause no one wants to stay up in the forest all night?” He said jokingly and with a laugh, because surely that couldn’t be the case, right?
[break][break]
Maybe it was that attacks weren’t likely to happen very frequently, or maybe they just trusted them to do a good job with the mission. Whatever the case, Vic hoped it was true, and while he didn’t really mind a quiet night, his gaze kept wandering back to the sparkling bug type pokémon and the treetops – watching them, just in case.
[break][break]
Yes, it would really be a long night, but he had a feeling that maybe, just maybe, it wouldn't be a very busy one..

[break][break]

+ @tallulah

[attr="class","pokeclass"]