[attr="class","ihead"]

[attr="class","ipad"]
[break][break]

[attr="class","adriantag"]#solo

[attr="class","adrianscroll"]He'd become beyond paranoid at this point; as he rushed through the thicket of trees and ran face first into a rufflet in a hollowed out tree, he nearly screamed of fright. I'm a mess, he realized. Get it together, Adrian. Finding his footing once more, he took off the way he'd came, trying to find a clearing.[break][break]

But there were only trees, more and more of them, beyond counting. He was beginning to feel like they were closing in on him, but this was surely just his fear running rampant, clouding his rational thought. As he kept moving forward, he eventually found a large oak he'd begun to recognize. As he might've originally guessed, he was running in circles.[break][break]

At this rate, I'll be here all night... It wasn't something he could afford to let happen. He needed to find his belt and get back to Foretree before he was missed. Except... nobody was waiting for him. Which also meant nobody would think to look for him if he didn't come back. Once more he picked up his pace, stumbling through the forest recklessly.

[attr="class","ihead"]

[attr="class","ipad"]
[break][break]

[attr="class","adriantag"]#solo

[attr="class","adrianscroll"]Clumsily trudging through the forest, he came upon the clearing he'd been praying to find for the last hour. But by now the forest was masked in shadow, impossible for anything to be gleaned by the naked eye, except for the ocular lens of wild pokemon catching moonlight off their eyes. Taking a few cautious steps forward at a snail's pace, he accidentally stepped onto a pokemon, nearly falling over it. He was lucky enough to have found his footing, but whatever it was had every reason to be pissed at Adrian.[break][break]

So of course he panicked, thrashing like mad.[break][break]

"Get away!" He punted the poor thing as hard as he could, sending it flying away. It had spontaneously caught fire, whatever it was, and he watched it sail across the clearing; but his stomach turned over when he heard a heavy branch swaying with no wind, and an audible swoosh, before the fiery figure seemingly vanished into the dark of night. It was followed by the beating of wings, then silence.[break][break]

What the fuck was that!?[break][break]

He wasn't going to stick around to find out.[break][break]

The clearing had been the wrong decision he realized all too late, quickly turning around and running for the treeline. He was going to die here if this kept up; whatever had plucked that pokemon out of the sky had to be huge. But worse yet, it was hungry, evidenced by it snatching the pokemon from out of the air with the efficacy of a natural born killer. He needed his pokemon, a plan; anything!

[attr="class","ihead"]

[attr="class","ipad"]
[break][break]

[attr="class","adriantag"]#solo

[attr="class","adrianscroll"]He'd been running blindly through the dark up until his foot snagged against the undergrowth, crashing into the ground with his hands rising protectively. But he still ate shit against the forest floor, dazed for a moment while whatever was out there continued to stalk him. He heard a twig snap just a few short feet from him. Maybe this was the end of the road for him, he thought, wanting to cower and huddle into a ball.[break][break]

He peeked at the direction of the noise and saw a set of low amber eyes leering at him through the veil of night. "Please... don't..." As if groveling was going to stop a ravenous pokemon from feeding. Especially when food came clambering so willfully into their home. But that was not the fate he had found for himself, he'd soon realize, noticing the belt dangling from the mystery creature's muzzle.[break][break]

"Y-you found...!" He could hear the swoosh of the dreaded wings beating above, but his salvation was in sight as he crawled towards his savior. As he approached, he realized it was a leafeon, and gave it a rushed pat over its ears. "You're a lifesaver." The pokemon seemed to gesture away, perhaps signalling him to leave while he could.[break][break]

"Are you kidding me? I'm packing heat now!" The pokemon seemed to cower at how loud he was getting, and for good reason. Behind them a massive body had slammed to the ground with a massive thud that Adrian knew had to be their elusive hunter. Rising to his feet with his choice pokeball in hand, he wore a smug grin as he faced off with the challenging pokemon...

[attr="class","hearmenand1"]

[attr="class","hearmenand3"]

[attr="class","hearmenand2"]...But that smirk fell from his face like leaves scattered to the wind, as he looked in mild horror at the devilish deviant staring him down with crimson orbs trained on his throat. Its head swiveled to the side that it might get a better look, a single eye flicking between Adrian and the camouflaged leafeon just behind him. Both were prey, and after affirming its resolve, its head turned back to face them head on. Its beak parted, revealing a gaping maw that loosed a nightmarish shriek before it flapped its massive wings, lunging for Adrian in a single fell swoop.

Tapping the center of his pokeball in response, Howitzer burst onto the scene, caught between Adrian and the unidentified pokemon. The bird from hell recoiled in distaste, analyzing its new opponent. Arcanine was resolute in her stance, giving no ground, her tufts of hair standing on end. There was a rumble in her chest that ripped into a snarling bark as the bird of prey screeched in attack.

Howitzer owed it to their extreme speed that they hadn't been skewered by the powerful thrust of the pokemon's beak, countering as her body crashed into it by kicking off, sending the bird sprawling backwards. Howitzer seemed satisfied with that display, but the wild pokemon was immediately beset upon arcanine, snapping and raking its talons at her with alarming efficacy.

It wasn't until Howitzer had failed to find purchase with her own claws, dragging them against the enemy pokemon's lustrous form to no avail, that Adrian guessed that it might've been a steel-type. The sound of grating metal gave him a clue where his eyes failed him in the veil of night. Either way it was worth a shot, as the pokemon otherwise was beginning to back Howitzer into a corner.

"Howitzer, Fire Blitz NOW!"

Her body ablaze, she crashed into the wild pokemon as it rushed her headlong, both of them exchanging mighty blows. Both fell away from the collision, weary from the direct hit placed by their opponent. And yet it was arcanine who had won out, keeping her footing while the bird struggled to upright itself after falling on its back, thrashing as it smoldered around the point of impact. Now was his chance...!

A spare pokeball was fished from his bag and thrown at the pokemon, landing squarely on its body as it was distracted by the embers. The pokeball beeped, wriggled, and beeped again. Only to wriggle once more, followed by another beep. After what felt like an eternity of sitting there watching it wobble around, he'd heard a subtle click. H-holy shit, I did it!

He'd caught a fuckin' monster!

Pacing over to the pokeball and snatching it off the ground, Howitzer at his side, he ruffled its fur with his free hand in a congratulatory manner. "You did it, girl!" She seemed pleased with his praise, and was otherwise still her lively self in spite of a few mild gashes along her foreleg. She deserved some rest, he thought, but they had to make it back to Foretree...

He'd heard it again, the snapping of a twig, and he and Howitzer immediately turned to it. Except it was the same leafeon from before, which was now marveling in their display. Unbeknownst to Adrian, the invasive species he'd just caught had been terrorizing the local pokemon, the leafeon included. In trying to save him from it, the leafeon had given Adrian the means to save it-and by extension the rest of the forest's pokemon-from the invasive galaran species. Leafeon had felt honor bound to accompany Adrian on his way out of Foretree, and perhaps beyond.

The leafeon padded up to him slowly, dipping its head low before it reached him, rubbing its muzzle against him tenderly before bumping its snout into one of his spare pokeballs, allowing itself to be captured. Adrian, as dumbfounded as he was, had no quarrel with that. And so he packed up his things, double checked his belt, and clambered onto Howitzer's back before speeding off to sanctuary.

What a fucking night, he complained to himself. Despite the night's harrowing experiences, he hadn't left empty handed. Even more interestingly enough, he had another mystery to solve: Identifying this strange avian species.

This is black sheep,

o v e r - a n d - o u t .