Something to Crow About! (Quest)

Sundae watched quietly as the sky began to turn shades of orange and pink. With how short days were now it wouldn’t be long before the sun set completely, but he still took a moment to appreciate the quiet chilly night. Sights like this still felt somewhat new to him. Previously he’d lived in two different extremes; the hot scorching desert and the freezing cold snowfields. In one impressive sandstorms sometimes blocked out the sky and in the other clouds often took over. But even on the days when the sky was clear the sights were nothing like they were now. The more he thought about it he realized this was really only his first year experiencing the full range of the seasons...

“Boo!”

A voice from behind gave an earnest attempt at trying to startle him but, unfortunately, he wasn’t much of a jumpy person. That and he’d heard the footsteps approaching. He turned to greet Vivian who agreed to accompany him for his next job. Beside her waddled a Mareanie/Gothita fusion he’d yet to see before.

“Hmmm it’s really not that easy to get to you huh?” Vivian said. The disappointment was plain to hear. “Ah well, it was worth a shot.”

“Maybe a different tactic would work better. I was expecting you any moment, after all.”

Sundae took a pokeball from his pocket and released the fusion inside. Flurry, once freed, shook her fur and yawned. Vivian smiled seeing her and knelt down.

“It’s good to see you again! Thanks for your help with the ice cream before~. Well and the harvesting.”

Flurry looked at her and, instead of shying away, gave a cheery cry and raised one of her paws up in greeting.

“It looks like she’s gotten used to you.” Sundae noted. “Well I guess that isn’t too surprising. I assume you and...” He looked at Vivian’s fusion.

“Zenobia!”

“Right, I assume you and Zenobia are ready?”

Zenobia didn’t take her eyes of Flurry. Sundae did feel a little wary, he knew Mareanie were known to be bullies, but he’d just have to keep an eye on them just in case. He couldn’t tell if Zenobia was just curious or if she was sizing Flurry up.

“Yep! We prepared before we arrived. But I do have to ask...” Vivian looked at the sun which had already sunk quite a bit further while they stood talking. “Why go at night? Wouldn’t it be better to ambush the Honchkrow and Murkrow during the day when they aren’t active?”

“Mm it’s not like I didn’t consider it but... I think they’d be too hard to find. Our best bet would be following a Murkrow or Honchkrow to its home. During the day we’d just be searching blindly for fusions that are asleep and out of sight.”

“I guess so...” Vivian shrugged it off. “Well I don’t care all that much, you’re the boss! We should try to get it done quickly though we already promised to get up early tomorrow too.”

She was right of course. He wasn’t looking forward to getting up early after staying up late, but that’s just what he got for not being more careful with his schedule. He ended up promising two different things closely together and only realized the mistake later... Still he didn’t want to take a rain check on either since both needed to be done. Perhaps things would be less busy in the winter.

The obvious place to begin the search was Ibelec Jungle. Murkrow loved the forest, after all, and the dense trees made the forest floor even darker than outside. The faint moon and starlight couldn’t pierce through very easily. Naturally Sundae brought a lantern so they could see at least, though he was very careful about where he swung or placed it. The last thing they needed was to set fire to any dry foliage.

“The plan is pretty simple.” Sundae explained once they got deep enough into the forest. He kept his voice a whisper to not disturb any nearby fusions. “We want to find a Murkrow, or possibly Honchkrow, fusion that looks like it’s heading back home. Preferably if they have some sort of food they’re carrying... or they’re sometimes attracted by shiny things.”

Sundae dug in his pocket before pulling out a coin. He handed it to Vivian. “If you find a Murkrow fusion try using that to see if it takes the bait. I don’t know if it’ll shine very much at this time of night though.”

“Well if I try to toss it into a spot where light is filtering through I’m sure it’ll be fiiiine.” Vivian turned to Zenobia. “You hear that though? We’re following it. No running ahead and trying to start a fight.”

Zenobia seemed uncensored with Vivian’s warning but Flurry, on the other hand, appeared very nervous. Sundae usually didn’t take her on combat missions but she could use the experience. He patted her head to assure her it would be fine. The little pokemon still didn’t look TOO reassured, but leaned into the pat anyway.

“Okay. Let’s try to find ourselves a lair.”

At Sundae’s instruction the group began to search. They tried to cover as much ground as they could without splitting up. Even though Vivian and Zenobia broke away from the group at times, they always stayed within sight (relatively given the darkness) so they could easily regroup if needed. For his part Sundae did his best to search for signs of disturbance or a possibly murkrow-like fusion having been around. Missing fruit from trees and bushes, trampled grass, talon marks on branches... anything he thought could lead somewhere.

Their effort paid off when they reached a clearing surrounded with various wild berry bushes. In the middle of the clearing, picking as many berries as it could carry in its arms, was a Murkrow and Quilladin fusion. It hadn’t noticed them yet, which was a good sign, but this was only half the battle. They weren’t trying to just beat up any group of murkrow and honchkrow they came across; the point was to get them to stop raiding the camp. Sundae motioned Vivian and Zenobia over to indicate he’d found one.

“Oooh well look at that.” Vivian kept her voice very quiet though Sundae still felt apprehensive the fusion would notice them. “Good job. But how do we know if it’s what we’re looking for?”

“Well...” Sundae whispered back. “We look at what their food store looks like. There’s a difference between what they’ll find in the wild and what was grown by human hands.”

They didn’t have any time to discuss things further because just as Sundae finished his explanation the murkrow fusion was off. Likely in high spirits after finding so many berries it seemed eager to get back as quickly as possible. Maybe it was the type to like a lot of praise? Either way Sundae signaled for them to follow quickly and quietly. He picked Flurry up to avoid her falling behind (or accidentally stepping on something) and set off.

The wild fusion took them on a bit of a journey to reach its home. Across fallen trees and branches, through sharp bushes, along twisting paths... they even lost sight of it a couple of times but, thanks to Sundae having an eye for small details, he just followed the recent disturbance visible in the foliage. Finally they came upon a cave that the murkrow fusion didn’t hesitate to go inside. Sundae stopped Vivian and Zenobia from following.

“Hold up. We have to be even more careful now.” He warned. “If they spot us intruding they aren’t going to be happy. Find places to hide and let's make sure they’re the right group before starting anything, yeah?”

Vivian nodded in agreement though it was mostly Zenobia he was worried about. Flurry didn’t look like she wanted to enter at all but he encouraged her to be a little more brave. They had to move even slower once inside the cave to avoid echoing footsteps. The possibility of an echo is also why they tried not to talk either. On the other hand though the closer they got to the center of the cave the noisier things got. Pokemon cries echoed all throughout the cave and tunnels guiding them to where the fusions were likely all mingling. Before long they entered a large open room and quickly found a hiding spot behind some rocks.

Sundae scanned the area quickly and spotted the pile of food the pokemon had gathered not too far away. Luckily he was close enough to be able to make out what comprised the collection. A lot of it was wild berries but every now and then he could also spot other things; vegetables he recognized seeing people grow and rarer fruit they probably wouldn’t find in the wild. Confirmation they’d found a group that’d stolen from camp, at least.

“Alright.” Sundae whispered and covered his mouth to try and prevent echoing. “We’ve got the right group. But remember we’re just trying to stop them from acting so tough; don’t go too far.”

“Of course! We wouldn’t hurt wild pokemon too badly. We- oh...”

Worried by Vivian’s sudden hesitation he followed her gaze. Waddling right into the center of the room was an eager Zenobia. The leader, a Toedscruel and Honchkrow fusion that sat perched on the highest rock in the area, quickly noticed the strange pokemon that suddenly appeared. It spread its wings wide and let out a cry which immediately drew the attention of all the murkrow fusion in the area. Luckily with it being so early in the night, and the others probably out foraging, there were only a handful, but a handful was still enough to give Zenobia trouble.

“Dammit that’s exactly what I was worried about-” Sundae picked Flurry up again and hopped over the rock they were using to hide. He immediately told Flurry to unleash a powder snow on a couple of fusions diving for Zenobia. The sudden cold drove them away quickly, but they clearly weren’t finished.

“I’m sorry!” Vivian said. “I swear I was watching her most of the time but-”

“We were going to start an attack anyway. I guess she just sped it up.”

Zenobia looked a little upset at having been saved. The brave pokemon seemed to overestimate her abilities in being able to handle the group alone. Still the fighting spirit was appreciated especially when a well aimed confusion prevented another murkrow fusion from landing a hit on Flurry.

Another cry rang out from the leader and suddenly the Murkrow began to descend at a rapid pace. They dived at all of them; Sundae, Vivian, Flurry, and Zenobia all sustained at least a few scratches in the attack. Flurry and Zenobia did their best to fight them off with the attacks they could but before long the Honchkrow/Toedscruel joined in. Zenobia immediately launched a poison sting at the pokemon only to be knocked away by one of its appendages.

“Zenobia-” Vivian tried to run over to her but was forced to stop when a couple of murkrow fusions divided at her. She waved her arms wildly to fend them off. “Lay off!”

Seeing that things weren’t working out quite as easily as he hoped Sundae reached into his pocket for Mist’s pokeball. Before he could release his partner, though, the temperature in the cave suddenly dropped drastically. Bits of snow began to sparkle and materialize while the temperature dip caused a mist to start to form. At the center of it Flurry was shaking, likely from fear rather than cold, and in a sudden unleash of power a powerful wind began to whip up sending the snow flying in all sorts of directions. Out of desperation Flurry conjured up a powerful blizzard in an attempt to ward off all the wild fusions. 

All of the Murkrow quickly scattered at the attack, no longer feeling brave enough to fight back. The leader, though, once again spread its wings reading another attack. All it took was a single poison sting from Zenobia, who looked no worse for wear all things considered, to make the leader decide it, too, had enough and it quickly flew from the cave. Silence fell and the temperature slowly began to rise to what it was previously... still cold, but not a blizzard cold.

“Huh. Well.” Vivian rubbed at her sleeves where a few cuts could be seen. “All’s well that ends well!” She gave a high five to Zenobia.

Sundae walked over to Flurry and knelt down. The little pokemon was still shaking and trying to hide under her blanket-like covering. He patted her head to get her to come out and when she looked up again she noticed the fighting had finally stopped before hugging his leg.

“You did very well.” Sundae encouraged. “That blizzard was impressive. There’s nothing to be scared about see?”

Flurry gave a small cry in confirmation. It would probably still be awhile until she felt battle ready, but it was a start at least. Sundae picked her up and looked around the area to make sure no other fusions were hanging around. Despite the temperature drop and snow the pile of food the wild pokemon had collected looked in good shape. Though they’d fled for now he guessed the band of fusions would likely come back before long. Once the intruders had left anyway. The important thing is that hopefully they would now stay away from camp. At least for the rest of the year.

“Let's not stay here any longer.” Sundae said. “The sooner they can return home the better, we’ve done what we set out to do.”

“Yeah... plus it’s getting pretty late. It’s probably the middle of the night already, and it’s going to be even later when we finally get home! Tomorrow’s going to be fun.”

Only when she mentioned how late it was did Sundae realize how tired he felt. Not just physically... sure the trek to the pokemon’s lair was a bit long, but nothing he wasn’t used to. More than that his eyes felt heavy and his head a little foggy. Clear signs it was well past time to go to bed. They left the cave silently, Flurry even leaving behind a berry she’d picked while Sundae wasn’t looking as an apology, and spared no effort to get home as quickly as possible to prepare for the next morning.