Where Does The Fox Hide? [Astrid/Mission]

[Tanya Christianson]

"Thanks for coming on the mission with me Astrid!" Tanya thanked, walking around the forest to try to find the Fennekin that was specified on the mission board. While she did want to use her weaker pokemon to do the mission, the fact that neither of them were good against fire types would've made it hard to do on her own.

It had been some time since their first battle and Tanya hadn't had a chance to hang out with Astrid up until now. The fact that this was the first mission as well caused her to feel excited. She wanted to do the academy proud.

"So, how do you think we should start this all off?" She asked the Bolt Dorm student, walking forwards a little bit before turning to face her. She didn't really think about the specifics of the mission, only the fact that she was going to be able to catch it.

[Astrid Sherinian]

"Hey, no problem," Astrid said, giving Tanya a bright smile. It was good to have a partner for something like this. She figured she could take a Fennekin. Most of her Pokemon, a Skrelp she caught while fishing a couple days back aside, weren't geared towards fighting Fire types. But, worst came to worst she could always have Quadraxis just Earthquake the thing. Even so, a Fennekin aside, they didn't actually know what to expect.

So it was good to have a partner. And while they still hadn't had a good chance to hang out, Tanya was still the only person here Astrid was familiar with beyond seeing them in classes. So she was, by default, Astrid's first choice for someone to work with.

"Hmm," Astrid thought, pondering Tanya's question. "I'm not really sure. Maybe we can set a trap for it? Or maybe we'll get lucky and run across it just by searching around for it." Yeah, the latter didn't seem to likely. It was a thought, but they were probably going to have to end up sacrificing some of their berries to lure it out.

[ChromaticTruthsayer]

As you walk down the forest road where the little demon had been spotted a lot, you hear a rustling in the bushes, followed by the cry of "something." Before you can really get a good look as to what it was, the target seemed to have vanished. Oh well.
. . . Oh look. Bug Pokemon.


Ability: Poison Point
Gender: Male

• STEAMROLLER

• Double Edge

• Venoshock

• Rollout


Ability: Compound Eyes
Gender: Female

• Dig

• Metal Claw

• Mud-Slap

• Leech Life

[Tanya Christianson]

"Setting a trap could be needlessly complicated." Tanya mused, taking the suggestions seriously as they went down the path. She looked pensive as she continued walking down the path. The first thing they needed to do was find the Fennekin in question. Maybe they could trap it with one of their moves? Christian knew Fire Spin.

"Actually, I have an idea!" Tanya exclaimed just as the sound of rustling caused her to snap her head. Two bug pokemon, a Nincada and a pokemon that she didn't recognize came out of the bushes, angry that their homes were disrupted. Judging from the color of the other bug, it seemed to be poison type.

"Astrid, you handle the purple bug thing and I'll take care of the Nincada." Tanya quickly briefed, jumping away from the purple bug and moving towards the enemy Nincada. As she jumped, she took out Christian's pokeball. Judging from the situation, it seemed to be the best course of action.

"Christian! Use Flare Blitz on the Nincada!" Tanya commanded as she released him from his pokeball. When Christian came out, he let out a loud cry and started repeatedly pawing into the ground, the flames that surrounded it burning brighter till it reached a brilliant intensity. It then ran towards the Nincada and smashed into it, causing it to fly and crash into the tree. The sheer intensity of the attack managed to knock out the pokemon in a single attack and Tanya looked towards Astrid, hoping she would be able to make quick work of her opponent.

[Astrid Sherinian]

"Maybe," Astrid said. She figured they could probably lure it out with a vulnerable-looking Pokemon and a berry, but even that would require them to know where it might show up. And then they'd probably need a better strategy for catching it than to just Earthquake it the moment it appeared.

Then, suddenly, Tanya mentioned that she had an idea. But that didn't last long before they had other things to deal with. As though startled by her sudden exclamation, a couple of bug types crawled out of the underbrush and looked rather disgruntled. One of them, Tanya helpfully identified as a Nincada. The other, Astrid recognized from a trip to Nacrene City as a Venipede. "Got it," Astrid said pulling out a pokeball of her own and calling out her Elgyem.

"Xanadu! Hit that thing with Zen Headbutt!" Astrid called. Xanadu gathered psychic energy around her enlarged head, creating a faint but obviously purple aura around it. She shot through the air, using her own psychic powers to propel her as she crashed into the Venipede. It was sent flying back into the bush by the attack, but quickly proved to not be out as it came back with a vengeance. Rolling up into a ball, it ramped off an exposed root and slammed into Xanadu from above. Surprisingly, and unpleasantly, the attack was quite effective, and forced Xanadu to drop to the ground herself. "Now, Zen Headbutt again!" Astrid called out. Again, Xanadu lifted herself off the ground and charged at the Venipede with a psychically-enhanced headbutt. This time, when she crashed into it, it continued rolling until it hit a tree trunk, then uncurled onto its back and stayed there, unmoving.

[ChromaticTruthsayer]

After dealing with the bug Pokemon that seemed to drop in out of nowhere, you come to a fork where you have two paths to take. One leads off to the lake while the other leads to more densely populated foliage. You are going to have to decide which way to go. Hopefully the Fennekin went that way.

Make your choice.

[ ] Head to the lake.

[ ] Go through the denser foliage.


Of course, as you make your choice, you are assaulted by a few more bugs.


Ability: Honey Gather
Gender: Female
[/div]
• Bug Buzz

• Bug Bite

• Gust

• Sweet Scent


Ability: Shed Skin
Gender: Male
[/div]
• Bug Bite

• Struggle Bug

• Bide

• Growl

[Tanya Christianson]

"Nice job with the bug. I see you your Elegym is as good as ever." Tanya commented, petting her Ponyta while talking. She might as well continue to have it out. Judging from the sheer number of bug pokemon, it would be good to have him ready to go at any moment.

"As for the plan, Christian here knows Fire Spin." Tanya started, petting Christian lightly as he looked on ahead. "I can trap the Fennekin with the move once we find it and then from there we can capture it. Sound good to you?"

She continued to walk down the path, trying to find the pokemon that was specified in the mission. So far, not much luck came her way and things only got worse when they reached a fork in the road.

"Which way do you want to go?" Tanya asked Astrid. It was at that moment when two bug pokemon came out. One of them was a Kricketot. The other one was a Combee, but she had a red mark on it.

"I call dibs on the Combee! Christian! Attack it with a Flame Charge!" Tanya exclaimed. Christian began to heat up his flames, causing them to rise a little higher before he ran and crashed into the Combee. 

Tumbling in the air, the Combee was hit hard by the attack, yet did not go down. Frowning angrily at the Ponyta, she started flapping her winds rapidly, causing a gust of wind to appear and fly towards Christian. Wincing from the attack, he still managed to stay strong. 

"Come on! Finish her off with a Flare Blitz!" Tanya commanded. Pawing at the floor, Christian started to build up more and more flames as he became coated in a brilliant fire. Running full force at the Combee, he put all of his power into one single attack. The Combee flew high up into the air before falling to the ground, unconscious.

Quickly getting out one of her academy balls, she threw it at the Combee and tried to capture it. She couldn't believe that she had encountered a Female Combee. Maybe this was a sign of good things to come.

[Astrid Sherinian]

"Same to you. I see you've made some new friends," Astrid said, nodding to the Ponyta. A fire type, huh? So Tanya was actively thinking of ways to get around her steel type walls. That was something she'd have to keep in mind for the future. She could deal with fire types as she was, but it was definitely a weakness in her team. That was something she could think over later though. For now, they still had a Fennekin to find.

"That could work. We'd have to hope it we can finish it before it can get out, but hey, I'm sure we'll be fine. I'm stronger now than when we battled and it seems like you haven't been slacking off either." Astrid smiled over at Tanya, following her down the path. After awhile, they came to a fork in the road, with no immediate sign of which way to go. Tanya put the question of which way they went on her. "We could always split up," Astrid thought out loud. "No, bad idea. Let's try going deeper into the trees here. Lots of places for a little trickster to hide."

And she didn't get a chance to hear Tanya's response before they were being attacked again. Tanya immediately went after the Combee, leaving Astrid with a Kricketot. "Alright. O'Batahan, you're up this time!" Astrid said, recalling Xanadu and instead throwing out O'Batahan's pokeball. The Zubat within materialized, screeching. "Let's go! Wing Attack!" Astrid called. O'Batahan dived on the Kricketot, catching it with a wing as it swooped past. The Kricketot managed to bite it before it returned to the air, for all the good that it did. O'Batahan barely noticed. "And again!" Astrid said. The Zubat dived again, hitting the Kricketot a second time with its wing before flying back up again. But this time, the Kricketot didn't manage to get off a second attack. Or anything, for that matter. It was already out cold.

[ChromaticTruthsayer]

Capture Successful!

After dealing with the Pokemon that chose to assault you once more, you decide to head deeper into the foliage in hopes on locating your target. Again, you hear rustling as you walk down the narrow path. It would seem that your target has decided to show itself. It even brought along a friend.


Ability: ?
Gender: Male

• Imprison

• Nasty Plot

• Foul Play

• Night Daze



Ability: Defiant
Gender: Male

• Swords Dance

• Night Slash

• Iron Head

• Fury Cutter

[Tanya Christianson]

Tanya pumped her fist when she caught the female Combee. They were supposed to be super rare and she was so glad that she caught it. She then realized though that she had a full team. Maybe they could do a rotation? After all, Combee was going to take a lot of time to train and it was going to suck nearly as bad as Pichu at first.

Following Astrid's suggestion they headed deeper into the woods. Pushing away branches, she thought for a moment to use Christian to clear the way. She then realized this was a horrible idea, so she purged it from her mind. Luckily enough though, they managed to find the pokemon after not too long. Perhaps it was more accurate to say that they found them.

"Crap. Looks like the Pawniard is guarding that Fennekin." Tanya mused, noticing the defensive position that the pokemon had. "Change of plans. I'll deal with the Pawniard. You deal with the Fennekin. Okay Astrid?" Tanya briefed, giving a moment for Astrid to get ready before she jumped into battle.

"Christian! Attack the Pawniard with Fire Blast!" Tanya commanded. Jumping out of the bushes, Christian tilted back his head before shooting a flame in a shape of a character that flew towards Pawniard and hit it. The attack must've been pretty heavy because the pokemon flew backwards and smashed into the tree, knocked out by the powerful fire move.

"Finish it off Astrid!" Tanya yelled, hoping to provide motivation for her ally.

[Astrid Sherinian]

From the looks of things, they chose wisely. After a few minutes of pushing through brush, branches, and aerial roots, they managed to find the Pokemon they were looking for. Or rather, it appeared on the path, along with a bodyguard. Tanya noted the obvious: that the Pawniard was guarding the Fennekin and didn't seem like it was going to move for anything. Thankfully, Tanya seemed amenable to, and in fact suggested herself, removing it and letting Astrid deal with the Fennekin.

And it did just that, taking down the Pawniard in a single blast of fire. Which left Astrid with the possibility of being on the receiving one of those herself. That ruled Quadraxis out, both for its Steel typing and the fact that its best counter to Fire types was to just Earthquake the whole area. Other than that, though, she didn't really have a good counter to fire, except to send out Lunatic and go for the long haul.

So that's exactly what she did. "Lunatic, you're up!" Astrid said, calling back O'Batahan at the same time. The Clefairy blinked at the Fennekin in front of her curiously, as though wondering if something was up. If she was, however, Lunatic was being silent on it. "Calm Mind!" Astrid said. The Clefairy closed her eyes, focusing herself and preparing for the inevitable blast of fire.

Only, it didn't come. Instead, what came was a wave of dark energy, which had even less of an effect than the fire would have. Mitigated by Lunatic's serene state and her natural resistance to darkness, she barely felt it. Astrid, meanwhile, was confused like hell at the result. Why did the fire fox have black magic?

"Um...try Moonblast!" Astrid said. Whatever the case, Moonblast was still her best option for dealing damage, and would hopefully weaken the Fennekin's black magic (so to speak) even more. What she didn't expect was for the bombardment of moonbeams to hammer the Fennekin incredibly hard, downing it in a single blow. But, the reason for that became clear as the fox Pokemon's body blurred, then changed entirely, instead taking the form of another fox with black and red fur. A Zorua.

"Ohhh," Astrid said, scanning the Zorua with her Pokedex. "Little trickster, aren't you? Well, you're coming with me." She threw an Academy ball at the downed Zorua, hoping to catch it.

[ChromaticTruthsayer]

Capture Successful!

After discovering the Fennekin's true form to be a Zorua, you return to the doll-maker and explain everything. Seeming satisfied, she gives you the reward.

Mission accomplished!

You received your reward: Pack of 8 Random Berries, 1 Power Herb, 1 Mental Herb, 1 White Herb

Astrid's Berries
Qualot Berry*
Babiri Berry
Custap Berry
Payapa Berry
Yache Berry
Micle Berry
Belue Berry*
Belue Berry*

Tanya's Berries
Passho Berry
Cornn Berry*
Oran Berry
Jaboca Berry
Nanab Berry*
Salac Berry
Hondew Berry*
Pinap Berry*