Bad Omens [Private/Raiden]

[Gyasi]

Gyasi looked for the uptheenth time at the paper in his hands. He’d pulled it out, folded it, put it back, pulled it out, creased it, and stuffed it in his bag enough times it looked as worn as his map. He couldn’t believe he was doing this. He couldn’t believe he’d talked himself into this. 

It was all because of that stupid dream last night. He’d woken in such a panic he’d forgotten how to sit up correctly and had fallen on the floor. Something had drove the mean pokemon, masses of them, from Gloomy Forest, and with nowhere to go but south, they had ransacked the village. There was fire and terror and pain, and all the time something whispered in his ear, “you could have stopped this”. 

The first thing his eyes relaxed to focus on was the book, the one engraved with Ho-oh and Lugia on the front, left open fifty or so pages in. The clear, glass-like and palm-sized stone was paced to keep the page open. It was his second time reading it, but one story among the dozens had stuck with him; the only one that discussed a place on Luna Island. The only one that gave any mention of the stone. The one that spoke of unrest in the dark forest. 

Gyasi brushed it off. He’d had dreams about legends before; he lived so much of his day in them it was no surprise they occasionally followed him into the night. Still... 

The bruise and bad omen followed him into town. No matter how much he tried to focus his mind on other things, the food he needed to stock up on, a new map, the nice weather, the pit in his stomach would not go away. 

When Gyasi habitually read the notice board, he dropped his bag. Ripping the job offer off, he read it again, then twice more. 

“Strange feelings deep in Gloomy Forest. Could someone investigate?” 

“The mean pokemon have been acting strange in the deeper levels of the dungeons. Me and my partner had these weird chills too. Something’s not right down there, but we have no clue what it could be. Can someone give it a look?” 

The reward was a generous 10,000 poke, as it required the dungeon to basically be cleared and its unusual and vague nature. Still, the high price only went to show how nervous the giver must’ve been. 

Gyasi jogged two blocks down, remembered his bag, turned around, and ran home. He scooped the book and stone into his bag. His brow furrowed and his bag was tossed on his bed. This was a terrible idea. He couldn't go that far into the forest alone! All the grass-types; this would be suicide. The price he’d have to pay for a rescue, all on some dream! 

Hesitantly, he picked it back up again. No, he had to do this. It was too weird. It fit too well. If it was all for nothing, so be it. He repacked his bag with his best stuff, an extra journal, notes and legends pertaining to the dungeon, and set out. 

The noon sun had him standing at the first trees of the dungeon. Uncertainty had him staring at the piece of paper, wondering if this was really something he should be doing.

[Raiden Karai]

  Now that that little escapade was finished, Raiden turned his attention back to the matter at hand. He still had a quest to do, and he was not very far into the dungeon at all. He tried to remember the details of the quest, having left the notice on the board in town. After all, it wasn't up to him to stop others from trying the quest for themselves, and if he should fail, which wasn't going to happen f he could help it, someone else should have the right to finish it in his stead. Anyways, he tended to carry as little as he could, if anything at all. 
  Raiden shook his head. Concentrate. The quest had been quite odd, instead of the usual bounty or retrieve stuff, all it mentioned was a disturbance to be cleared out or solved. It left a lot open to guesswork, as it gave no particular details about this, . . . disturbance. He disliked going off the hunches or feelings of strangers, but in this case, he had little choice. A strange feeling. What could that have meant though?
  Why was he even taking this quest? The reward for the quest was quite large, which in itself was a reason, but that couldn't have been all. Money didn't mean a whole lot to Raiden. Part of it was perhaps also to test his strength, and to train up some. But again he had the feeling that wasn't really it. Perhaps it was just a gut feeling, a hunch, that had driven him to take the quest. More hunches and feelings. It made him uncomfortable, but sometimes you just had to follow your instincts.
  Now then, he was still practically at the start of the dungeon, and it was about time he started making some real progress.

[Gyasi]

After many moments of hesitation, resolve, and breaking of resolve, Gyasi finally admitted he had to do something or he’d be standing here all day. He took a long step into the forest, then another, told himself to stop being so dramatic, and walked into the dungeon. 

Gyasi knew the first few floors wouldn’t pose much of a problem. He’d been here a few times before, even camped the night once. It was the last third he worried about. The beginning, that he could get through. He’d worry about the later section when he got there. 

Whipping out his journal and charcoal pencil, forced his dark thoughts back with ones of the layout of the forest. He’d done this so many times, mapped the dungeon, that it was almost meditative. He didn’t run into others because he wasn’t paying attention anymore either. His hand sketched the pathways at the edge of his vision, allowing him to focus on what was before him. 

His focus, however, was not on the steep drop of the ground before him. Gyasi rolled head-over-heels, losing his journal, pencil, and sense of direction in the fall. When gravity let go of him he had to blink to re-focus his eyes. He sat up. 

He’d landed in a bit of a clearing, empty of trees, but not of other pokemon. The other was a luxray, and Gyasi felt he knew him. He furrowed his brow. Then it struck him, enough that he called out. “You’re the one from the forest!” 

His attention was momentarily grabbed by the pencil rolling down the slope. Gyasi fumbled to pick it up. “The-” He managed to grasp the elusive utensil, “the one that attacked us!” 

He straightened up, trying to look a little more dignified after that fall. “What’re you doing here?” he asked, a little agitation creeping into his voice.