Last of the Wilds [Private]

[Australian Chaos]

OOC and Discussion Thread

The shiny, silver-tailed Luxray heaved a heavy sigh as he wandered aimlessly through the trees, his head low, his yellow muzzle concealed by his black, spiky mane, not really concerning himself with where he was going...it did not matter if he got lost in these woods, as long as he was never far away from food and water, he would survive.

For as long as Tanga had been a Luxray, he had been alone, having been exiled from his birth pack for his runt stature, his unique looks, and worst of all, his defective eyes, which had none of the x-ray vision his species were supposed to possess. He hated it, hated every unique aspect of his being, from his defective, blue eyes to his lean, undersized stature...the only trait he tolerated being the spike of his mane that hung over his left eye; that, at least, was a feature that concealed his freakish nature.

The shy, timid Luxray looked up as he heard a vague noise, thinking he might have stumbled across another wild Pokemon...in this day and age, even Pidgeys were hard to come by in the wild. But when it turned out be nothing more than the rustling of the leaves in the faint breeze, he just sighed again, his electric-blue gaze returning to the forest floor.

Despite his incredible shyness, and living an almost completely solitary life, a part of Tanga wanted a companion, a friend...but he knew it would never happen. His pessimistic, borderline depressed personality often drove away what few Pokemon he did meet...and those who hung around were soon whisked away by their human Trainers...as far as Tanga knew, he was the last wild Pokemon left, having met no-one else with his freedom since he left his pack.

But even as those thoughts passed through his mind, he heard another noise, this one much more distinctive than the leaves before...there was something nearby, something in the trees around him. His self-defence instincts kicking in, despite his relatively poor battle skills, Tanga's stance instantly became stiffer, more alert, small yellow sparks dancing across the black fur of his back and mane as he prepared to launch a stinging Thundershock if his company turned out to be human. "W-who's there?" he asked, his hoarse, disused voice betraying the nervousness behind his supposedly brave stance. He had escaped his previous encounters with humans mostly on luck...if it came to a battle, he very much doubted he could escape this time.

[Zorayda]

The honey-eyed fox snapped at a buzzing insect, irritated at her progress. She'd been digging at this spot for a while, attempting to create a decent fox-den for herself--it was getting cold, sleeping at night without even her own body heat to surround herself. Her family was no longer able to snuggle against her at night, and even her six fluffy red tails couldn't cover her whole body... Her dirty nails scrabbled at the soft dirt fruitlessly--it kept collapsing back in on itself. If only her father were still around... he would know how to do this...

She perked her ears up at the sound of feet crunching through crisp leaves, and a voice penetrating the oddly quiet air. She could sense a strange mix of emotions--fear, anxious energy, sadness. But not even spinaraks were around to make their creepy noises anymore... She turned her head around the thick trunk of the tree she was behind to see a small luxray--a very strangely colored luxray--bristling with electricity. Curious, she trotted from around the corner, staying far enough away to be somewhat safe from the bigger Pokemon.

"I'm here. I'm Viola," she said fearlessly, allowing the luxray a foxy grin. "I haven't seen Pokemon around in a long time. What's your name?" She asked, tilting her head to the side. She was dying to ask the luxray why he was colored so funny, but she refrained from asking until they were better acquainted.

[Australian Chaos]

Tanga was so surprised at the amber-eyed Vulpix's appearance that the sparks coursing through his fur disappeared in an instant, his threatening stance collapsing to a more cautious one as he eyes the vulpix slightly warily...she may look, and even act, like she was fairly young, but sometimes you could just never tell, especially since evolution was by choice a lot of the time...and spending what was possibly years alone in the wild tended to do things to you...Tanga had become more reclusive and shy, while this Vulpix...Viola, she called herself, may have become more childish and carefree.

Sitting down amongst the fallen leaves and grass, Tanga shuffled, opening his muzzle a couple of times to reply, but closing it again. Now that he had found another Pokemon, Tanga's shyness had come out to play, rendering him mute.

After a few moments, and a couple of deep breaths, Tanga managed to gather enough wits to reply to the obviously energetic fox Pokemon. "Uhh...hi, Viola. My name's Tanga." He wanted to ask if she was a wild or captive Pokemon, but his shyness and sense of manners forbade him from flat-out asking.

"I...uhh..." he stammered, trying to find something to say through his shynesss to break the moment. "...I haven't seen any other Pokemon, let alone a Vulpix, in a long time...where did you come from?" he finally asked. Not once did he raise his gaze from his front paws to look at the Vulpix, insisting on staring straight down, letting his mane conceal the blue eyes he was so ashamed of. He knew that this Vulpix must think he looked really strange, everyone always did. Inwardly cursing his strange looks, he simply kept his gaze locked on his front paws as he waited for Viola to speak up.

[Zorayda]

Viola almost laughed aloud at all the feelings she sensed rushing through the other Pokemon's mind. Shock and surprise, which was evident in his body language even if she couldn't sense it, was almost tangible, it was so strong. Then, understandably, wariness at having found a new Pokemon. She just hoped that he would let her talk to him--she hadn't seen another Pokemon in so long, she thought that she would go crazy with loneliness... Viola's ears perked forward when she sensed him go from surprise to shyness, saw him struggle to form words. It was almost cute.

Viola giggled a bit at the cat's stammering before answering.

"It's nice to meet you, Tanga. I used to see luxray and their offspring around this place all the time... until the recent years," she sighed wistfully. "They were pretty territorial, though, so I mostly stayed away from them. I came from.... well, I'm not really sure," she trailed off, her eyes unfocusing. "It's been so long, I just wander around mostly... I'm looking for a way to set my parents free," she informed him. "Though they're so old now, I don't know if it's a good idea anymore. I know it's hard to tell how old I am, so I'll just tell you that I'm a... younger adult, I guess."

Through her rambling, she suddenly noticed the blaringly obvious body language the cat was sending. Shame? Why would the cat be ashamed? What exactly did he have to be ashamed of? She tilted her head in question, but didn't bring up his obvious emotions.

"So you're what they call a 'shiny', huh? You must be proud of that beautiful coloring. Did it come from your mother's or father's side?" She asked innocently, unaware of Tanga's reasoning for the horrible shyness he presented.

[Australian Chaos]

Tanga smiled slightly at the Vulpix's polite introduction, happy that he had found someone who seemed to be fairly nice. But that small hint of a smile vanished as he winced at the Vulpix's next statement, knowing exactly what she was talking about with regards to the Luxray pack that used to hang around these parts...his old pack, the one he had been banished from, and who, it seemed, had been subsequently captured not long after his exile.

He forced hiself to bury his painful past deeply, though, as Viola's story turned to her own family, mentioning that her own parents had been captured...parents she was hoping to set free. Despite not really being able to relate to Viola's situation, having had rather neglecting parents, he knew that he was an exception, and that Viola's parents were probably her entire world. "I...I'm sorry to hear that," he said softly.

As Viola kept speaking, mentioning her own relative age next, Tanga's muzzle, still looking down and hidden behind his mane, betrayed a brief moment of surprise, before settling back...evolutionary status was not a reliable indicator of age, particularly for ones like Vulpix who required special stones to evolve...but still, the fact that he was roughly at the same maturity level as this Vulpix, if not a little 'older', was a little off-putting, particularly considering Viola's much more youthful appearance, thanks to her unevolved state.

But all of that, and much more besides, was blown out of his mind, as Viola brought up his appearance. The one thing he absolutely loathed about himself, and hated to talk about more than anything else. He physically recoiled when she mentioned his 'shininess', acting like the very mention of his appearance was the precursor to a beating.

When Viola went on the suggest how proud he must be of it, he finally gave his first vocal reaction, a quiet, sad snort, which basically amounted to saying 'are you kidding?' from him. But the more Viola went on, the more painful it became for Tanga, until finally, as she asked which side of the family he had gotten it from, he couldn't bear it any longer. "Stop," he called, his voice raised, but not quite shouting, the pain and despair evident in his shaking tone. "Just...stop, please."

As he spoke, Tanga actually lifted his head, looking straight at the Vulpix for the first time, knowing with a sick feeling in his stomach that those horrible eyes of his were in clear view...or at least his right one was, his left still obscured by one of his mane spikes. He noted with some curiosity that Viola's eyes weren't their natural colour, either...but right now, his pain and shame overrulled his curiosity.

"I-I..." he stammered, considering explaining his predicament in some form to her...but he was too ashamed of his strangeness, of his defective nature, to find his voice properly. Instead, he simply sat where he was, his head falling again as his whooe body shook. Viola just had to bring up his appearance, which always reminded him of so many unpleasant memories...some days, it was just too much for him.

[Zorayda]

Viola didn't really know what to make of the poor cat's violently changing emotions as she spoke. First he felt sadness and pain, then empathy (which she very much appreciated--she was touched by his kindness), surprise at the mention of her age--expected, since she was an unevolved Pokemon...

But then.... she felt his shame so strongly that it burned her just by standing near him. She wasn't exactly sure what the cat would be so ashamed about, but she wanted to know what it was so she could at least try to soothe him a little bit about it. But her answer came when he looked up with pained eyes, eyes that were a shocking cerulean. Not the eyes of a luxray, but unique to this individual cat. She sucked in a breath in slight shock, not expecting such piercing orbs to be searching hers for some kind of mercy, clouded with pain.

He'd asked her to stop... stop talking about his appearance, his unique qualities, and she trailed off, suddenly feeling devastated. Her first stranger, and she pushes him away by saying something insensitive... how selfish of her to ask the questions to sate her own curiosity when she hadn't even thought about how the cat would feel about it.

"I-I..." It wasn't often that another could render to fox speechless, but here Tanga had taken her heartstrings and plucked them all deftly with a few simple words and emotions he hadn't known she'd sensed. Her eyes blurred and stung with unfallen tears when the poor luxray sat down and began to tremble with mental pain. She crept up close to him and hesitated briefly before placing a paw very gently on his.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you, Tanga," she said softly, trying to look him in the eye. This was difficult because it seemed that he refused to meet hers after looking at her for that quick second before. "I shouldn't have tried to pry. We all have stories, and you should be allowed to keep whatever secrets you want," she murmured, looking down finally and thinking back to the time when she'd last seen her parents... she wondered if they'd both be ninetales by now, and if she'd even recognize them...

But, even through all the guilt of making the poor luxray miserable, a piece of her mind wanted desperately to know the cat's story and what had made him so ashamed of his appearance. She also couldn't help but to wonder how he'd gotten those brightly colored eyes--eyes of the last wild luxray.

[Australian Chaos]

Tanga vaguely heard Viola attempt to speak in response to his sudden show of pain, and part of him felt guilty...because he could not bear his appearance, he had upset someone who was just curious. How could she have possibly known how much this would hurt him?

But even despite his half-hearted attempts to draw some form of courage, he still yelped, jumping back as if burned, when Viola gently touched his paw with her own. Any physical contact after having his appearance mentioned was usually painful for Tanga, and his desire to escape Viola's touch was merely a reflex instinct, something drilled into him through years of painful experience.

His shaking only worsened, along with his guilt, as Viola spoke up, clearly guilty about upsetting him...she was just curious, and here he was, pushing her away, possibly his one, final chance for companionship. For a brief moment, his shyness and pain warred with his loneliness and guilt in his mind, both sides fighting for enough dominance to determine his next course of action, as he fidgeted awkwardly, his front paw, pushing dried leaves back and forth, clearly indecisive and nervous.

Finally, after several moments, his loneliness and guilt won the battle...to an extent. "N-no, Viola. It's okay...you couldn't have known, and I'm sorry about before. I just..." he sighed, not sure how to explain this without going into details he really did not want to mention...he kind of did not want to even mention what he was about to in the first place. "I don't...I hate this," he finally admitted, looking back up to her and gesturing over his body with a paw, seeming to emphasise unconsciously on his eyes. "The 'shininess', the strange colours...I hate it all. Not a day goes by that I wish I was just...normal." By this point, Tanga's shaking had reached into his every breath, as his emotions sprialled further out of his control...he had never opened up about his past, ever, and the emotions he had held bottled up for so long now sensed a chance to escape...a chance Tanga was determined to make sure they missed, even if he was now holding it all in by a single thread.

[Zorayda]

The vulpix furrowed her brows at Tanga's outburst when she touched him, suddenly understanding--he'd been abused. Nobody could feel that much shame about themselves and fear others' touch and words without having had someone be exceedingly forceful with either. Skimming over that fact, but putting it in the back of her mind, she tried to ignore it like it hadn't happened so as not to embarass Tanga further. She instantly became attached to the electric type and felt protective of him already, even though, unbeknownst to her, he was older than she.

Viola nodded at the luxray's words, showing that she was listening to him and understood. She could sense that he was opening up a little bit to her, a complete stranger, and she knew that she must tread carefully so as not to hurt him. The electric lion had to learn to trust someone, and since she was the only wild Pokemon around, she'd have to be the one to act as his confidante. Viola minded her distance, letting him see her and being careful not to scare him any further. How had he survived this long alone, being so emotionally conflicted? Poor Tanga...

Choosing her words carefully, she sat on her haunches and spoke slowly.

"I understand. In the wild, everyone wants you to be 'normal', like everyone else..." She smiled at him. "I was made fun of for my eyes for a long time, but I learned that being different only makes you fight harder and become stronger. I'm the only wild vulpix of my old pack that could ever use telepathy of any kind," she said, then her eyes widened and she quickly added, "But I don't hear what others think, just vague emotions and such." She hoped that Tanga wouldn't feel violated by this ability and she shuffled her paws guiltily.

"I gather that you haven't really talked about this before, huh?" She asked kindly, smiling. "Well. Now that we're properly introduced and have told each other our life stories, let's be friends!" She barked and made a quick circle in a typical 'excited puppy' gesture.

[Australian Chaos]

Tanga, whose gaze had locked on the ground in front of him once more, looked up as Viola spoke, noticing that she seemed hesitant, almost cautious...it took him a few moment to realise that she was trying to be more sensitive to his feelings, now that she was aware of his pain. He gave her a small smile of gratitude, especially since he knew she must be curious about why he was so unhappy about his looks...he did not realise she had already started to piece his past together.

Tanga stopped, his mind doing a quick double-take as Viola mentioned having telepathic abilities. For a brief moment, he was taken by panic, terrified that Viola had caught onto his thoughts, and knew everything about his appearance, his home pack...and his eyes...oh, Arceus, if she knew about his eyes, he would never live it down...

But when Viola assured him that her telepathy only picked up vague emotions, not actual thoughts, he could not help but feel relieved. He had no grudge against Psychic-types, or any creature with telepathic talents, but he had secrets he'd much rather keep hidden, to himself...he couldn't bear the shame of having his defective nature completely out in the open. He noticed Viola's nervousness about her revelation, and gave her a reassuring smile that was only slightly forced, thanks to the emotional roller-coaster he had just been on, letting her know there was no hard feelings, and he could accept her telepathy.

But as she finished up with an excited declaration of being friends, Tangaaverted his gaze again, nervously shuffling and pawing at the ground, although he could not help a ghost of a smile showing up on his features. Friends...Tanga was more than a little alien to the idea of friendship, having never really had any in the past. As such, he was cautious about the Vulpix's offer...was her offer genuine, or did she really think he was a freak, and was just offering to sympathise with him?

But before he could find an answer, and have a decision on Viola's offer, he heard the sound of something moving nearby...right before a loud, booming rumble echoed through the woods, a crack in the ground racing out from behind a group of bushes, aimed straight for Tanga...the vicious Earthquake attack striking before the shiny lion Pokemon could so as blink, roaring from the pain the Ground attack caused him as he was flung to the side like a loose twig, crashing heavily to the ground on the edge of the clearing away from where the Earthquake had come from. But the unprovoked attack, along with the sound of a voice congratulating the attacker, meant only one thing...a human Trainer!

[Zorayda]

Viola gave Tanga a sheepish grin when she felt his momentary panic, understanding that, of course, he'd want to keep a few things private... Her telepathy had unnerved many around her, especially when she'd use phrases such as, "Don't be scared," or "Why are you so angry?" and sometimes "Aw, you like her!" It wasn't easy being different... and Tanga had learned that in the hardest way possible, if what she'd sensed was true. One of her ears cocked to the side at his small gesture of acceptance when she'd made it apparent that she was nervous about revealing her ability to him. She was excited to have made a friend... even if he was a little bit introverted. Hopefully their personalities didn't clash TOO badly...

She yelped in surprise when a crack in the earth made its way towards Tanga, and she leapt back nimbly. Her small size allowed her to escape damage, but now she had to deal with the attacker... her ears pinned flat to her skull in anger when she heard a human voice. A trainer! Glancing at Tanga's prone form, she quickly racked her brains... Think, Viola, think... c'mon... The sounds of a large being came closer... an arbok.

She hissed at Tanga to get his attention before the snake could see Viola standing there and whispered, "Use thunder wave when I say so," and winked at him before collapsing, looking as pitiful as possible.

The giant cobra rounded the corner, its tongue flicking out to taste the particles in the air before turning to look at its master--a young man, about eighteen years old, with a pinched face and a horrible slumping posture. His shrewd eyes saw Viola first, seeing as she'd strategically placed herself closer to catch their attention before they could see the uniquely colored luxray further up, lying just behind a jut in the ground leftover from the Earthquake attack.

"I think you overdid it, Arbok," the trainer said, looking down at Viola's prone form. She scoffed mentally. He didn't even name the Pokemon he'd enslaved? Typical human behavior. Sure enough, he was falling for it, though... "Go and check the vulpix, Arbok. You'd better hope it's okay, it's the last one of its line."

It was all Viola could do not to twitch or cry out at the human's words. Last of her line? No... it couldn't be true... her parents were... gone?

Quickly remembering that she had a mission to accomplish, the fox put aside her emotional breakdown for the moment and focused on the task at hand. The arbok slithered closer to the comparably tiny fox, its belly rustling through leaves as it put its giant face near hers. She waited until it had flicked its long, awful tongue out before making her move. Opening her eyes, she blasted the thing in the face with her inner Ghost ability--Confuse Ray. The beam of flashing light made the snake rear back, hissing and showing its great fangs. Viola skittered to the side, now on all four feet and ready to fight.

"Arbok, no! Use Poison Sting!" The trainer shouted, his voice cracking. Vulpix curled a lip at the disgusting being before shouting to Tanga.

"Tanga, paralyze it now!" She yelled, dodging as the arbok wildly thrashed about, attempting to pin down the vulpix with a Sting attack. It only ended up crashing into brambles and hissing in rage as thorns gouged into its skin, riddling it with criss-crossing lacerations. "We're going to disable it and fight it," she announced, taking in the luxray's condition. He seemed to be in plenty of pain, so she doubted he'd be up to running quickly enough to get away from the agile cobra Pokemon, confused or no.