Hunt in a blue mushroomy glow

They headed south with renewed energy, towards the next region with yet another set of issues. Not to mention a new power-hungry oppressor that corrupted the area, this time in a much less subtle way than the Ludicolo had. And additionally like Ywaru, Fewer Flats was a habitat which the Nidoran felt, if not entirely unsuited to, kind of uncomfortable to be in.

It.....well there were a lot of ways he could describe this strange terrain. The primary word would probably be soggy. The marsh was full of the most exotic smells, and the air was humid to the point of weighting down in his lungs.

The Nidoran had decided not to complain though, not after seeing nonpoison-types gagging after breath in the overbearing miasma. When one of them, eyes sticky with tears, accidentally stepped off a foot-bridge into the nauseous swampland, the medically schooled of their group didn't waste any time wiping away every last trace of water from her hide, and then almost force-feeding the poor girl all sorts of weird anaesthetics.

No,! he wasn't complaining. Not one bit. The weather was wonderful! What more, he had never seen more beautiful flowers before in his life. The locals were also very friendly, gladly guiding the visitors to the driest and most comfortable spots in their humble refuge. A far cry from Ywaru's non-existent welcome. Daffodil still choose to keep his distance though, since the swamp-dwellers did give off some weird vibes. Most of them were tinged with those same unidentifiable smells, which he had scented on the way there. Nothing they could help, but all the same, Daff hoped that nobody would approach him in the relatively cosy nest he'd discovered.

In the, now decently crowded, Karuka caverns, Daffodil had finally found an use for his miniature stature, by preparing himself a tiny resting place behind a moss-covered boulder. He retreated wearily into that sanctuary, thankful for the privacy it provided. There he begun pondering on a response to a letter which the caravan had brought him. It came from Tabira, written, to his surprise, by Luka. Not that he hadn't expected the Swanna to be the type who wrote people letters. Heck!, she worked in a post office. He just wasn't very used to getting mail, in fact, this could be his first one. Which made the reply that much harder to write, not helped by the fact that the Nidoran didn't really have thumbs made for holding pencils.

Luka seamed upset about his sudden departure from Tabira. Though she sweetened it, Daff could make out her offence between the lines. The small pokemon shuffled uncomfortably, feeling guilty. Leaving on a journey without a word of warning, might not have been the wisest choice. He had acted mainly on impulse back then, losing his temper after the incident at Rivercross Acre, and blaming his boss for sending him there. What confused Daff was that Luka described Porride as infuriated and worried when he stopped showing up at work. He had figured that the job had been as good as lost after that tantrum, and that he would have to find a new one. Well, by now his position must surely have been filled

At some point he must have dosed of, because the next time the Nidoran jerked upright the cave was a lot calmer and the shadows outside had moved. At first, Daffodil did not know what had spurred that abrupt reaction from him, then a shrill scream reverberated through the tunnels. He rose to his paws, trembling lightly in worry. He glanced across the room; meeting the eyes of someone with the same concerned expression, confirming that it hadn't been simply his own imagination. All of the ones who had noticed the ghostly cry, whether they had good ears like himself, or some sort of sixth sense, turned and stared to where the noise had come. Daff angled his ears forward, as the sound of raised voices emerged from where he knew the guild-leaders were gathered.

While the rest of the group alerted eachother to whatever was occurring, gently stirring the ones asleep like Daff had been, the poison- type stashed away his pen and, a now very wrinkled paper, feeling both curious and apprehensive at the same time.

The leaders eventually emerged, relaying the news about the theft of some essential totems, which guarded the caves from the dangerous fumes exuding from the deepest reaches of underground. When somebody asked about the screaming, Gemma, a pained look on her face, told them about the young Zorua, who had breathed in the toxic gases while trying to stop the thief. Her mother, a witch known as Madeline.

OOOOOOOO

Daffodil sighted dreadfully, as he approached the gathering of pokemon, who would head after Madeline.

- I can.. - a couple of cave-guards halted their urgent operation and turned questionably towards him.

Daffodil pushed his long ears backwards in a cornered fashion.

- Hel...I should help. - He didn't meet their eyes as he said so, as if the mere suggestion was shaming him.

That was the reason the unexpected hand on his shoulder almost made him yelp in surprise.

- Come here then – The Nuzleaf who'd grabbed him declared, and, without further ado, dragged the faltering Nidoran into the thick of volunteers.

Daffodil practically panicked when he felt the larger pokemon nearly pulling him from the ground and started to struggle.

- Let me go! - he squeaked, a bit higher than he'd intended.

The Nuzleaf shrugged and placed him back on the ground.

- You need to go get a silk-mask before you head in though, otherwise the gas will give you trouble, type-advantage or not. - she instructed and pointed with a thumb behind her back.

Daff took a step to the right to be able to see better, and then gaped in bafflement. He saw an Archen, leaning close to a Cascon, and then letting it spray a glittering cloud of thread over them, so that it completely covered it's beak.

- What is that! - he blurted out.

- Silk-masks, - the cave-guard repeated casually, annoying him somewhat.

- Yeah, I can see that, but why would you let bugs cover your face with string shot? I don't see how that would be any helpful against poison. - he interjected, scraping a claw against the ground sceptically.

- I promise, it works like a charm. Especially when you put some good herbs inside it, - the Nuzleaf insisted with a confident grin.

Daff wasn't fully assured yet. - Can you even breath through one of those? -

- Of course you can, are you going to help us or not? - she scoffed, and turned away from the Nidoran before he could come with an answer.

Daffodil felt like he'd already begun to regret his decision.

The thing was he really didn't want to be a part of some witch-hunt.
Although, as a poison-type he had more of an advantage in a venomous area than most others.
Even so, the last thing he wanted to do today was to head down a god-forsaken tunnel, if only to risk hurting himself.
Like everybody else did without any hesitation. Cause if they failed to hunt down Madeline, all of them would be in trouble.
What use would he be anyway?
More useful than he could be on any other task, since they really needed all the help they could get.
Wow!, his conscience was awfully demanding of him today.

OOOOOOOO

The upper reaches of the caverns were well lit, with golden beams of afternoon sun filtering down through holes in the roof. Water trickled down from above, nurturing heaps of emerald green moss and smaller foliage that covered everything, making the caves feel roomy and alive. Overall, it was a very beautiful and comforting place. The transition from bright and spacious, to dark and cramped was gradual, with smaller portions of paths leading deeper down into new halls, that were always a little more enclosed than the one before. Then they entered one of those small tunnels, only to find that it continued on and on, without any end.

He was walking in the middle of a smaller group of 'mones, skipping every eight meter or so, because the one behind him was constantly stepping into him by mistake in the suffocating darkness. Their only source of light came from some strange glowing fungi that they had been given, and Daff watched the electric blue light bob up and down in the black in front of him. He had feared that in the darkness, shrinking space and stale air, somebody would eventually suffer a panic attack. You often didn't know you had a fear of being underground until you experienced it, however to his relief it seemed like his companions had some strong cores.

When finally emerging into somewhere bigger, he could literally feel the cave expanding around him through the resulting chill, Daffs' ears immediately caught an alien, sort of hissing noise. A cold stone settled in his stomach, when the Nidoran realised that what he heard was the sound of the toxic fumes, fizzling through cracks and vents in the cavern. He couldn't smell the gases; Daffodil hoped that meant the silk-mask was working. It better, since all the warmth and sweat around his muzzle were killing him.

Because he intently listened to the poison moving around in the room, the faint murmur, barely audible in the background, suddenly stood out all the clearer.

- Hang on,? I think I heard somethi.....Hey,! can you guys be quiet?! - he snapped impatiently, while trying to zone in on what he perceived as voices.

The rest of the group looked a bit startled, but some seemed interested in the Nidoran possibly having found a trace of Madeline.

-What do you hear? - somebody asked him after a little while.

- I think they shout about....dunno...Flowering..kittens?- Daff replied hesitantly, his barbs drooping in disappointment, as he figured the voices came from nothing but loud weirdos.

His attention was renewed however, when the shouting resumed, and was followed by a cracking noise as if something was smashing into stone. Looking around at his comrades, Daff could see that they were hearing it as well.

- Ok, there is definitely a fight going on, - a Lilligant, who were the one holding the mushroom lantern, commented.

Daffodil nodded, and then found himself uncomfortable when the flowering pokemon didn't stop staring at him.

- Well what are you waiting for? - the grass-type finally wondered. - Which way is the sound coming from? -

Daffodil's mouth opened in the shape of an – Oh! -, before he turned his ears around, picking out where exactly the sounds of conflict were to be found.

OOOOOOO

He led the pokemon into a stumbling run towards the noise. The caverns grew progressively lighter, Daff noted. Unexplainable, until the Nidoran looked up to see more of the glowing fungi, growing high above him by the roof of the tunnels. After a while, the ever present hissing sound also disappeared, and when Daffodil looked around he saw that someone had covered the outlets that leaked fumes with small rocks.

They arrived in time to witness a discharge of electricity in the middle of the room. The light forced Daff to close his eyes for a second, and when he opened them again, all he could see was an a few scattered pokemon in the room; no sign of the witch. The cave which they now found themselves in, was wrecked by, what looked to have been an intense battle. He strolled forward, taking in the smashed stalagmites and scattered rocks. The walls were covered in blue mushrooms, shining more brightly than any of the others that he had seen before. They gave off an apparent buzzing, which hadn't been present before, and Daffodil guessed wildly that maybe all the electricity that had been realised into the air had charged them somehow. The intrusive disturbance made it hard for him to pick out any other sound in his surroundings, and Daff covered his ears with a scoff.

He'd barely had the time to take a second breath, before Madeline suddenly appeared right in front of him. Daffodil didn't have the presence of mind to wonder where she had come from, or if he should attack her. He halted, gagging in shock. The Banette only grinned, waiting for him to regain his composure. 

- She is there! - someone shouted and the witch hurled into the air, her form shifting and contorting into that of a black bird as she did so.

Then hell went loose, as every mone with a projectile move launched it into the air at once. The cavalcade of attacks followed Madeline up to the ceiling, were it all crashed into the stone, igniting a tremor. Large pebbles and dust rained down over the group. Daffodil wailed silently as the primal fear of tons of rock heaving above them, made itself known.

All of them realised too late what the witch was planning, Daff caught on only when somebody shouted for them to cover their eyes. There were about twenty hyper-charged mushrooms falling from the roof, and then hitting the floor in rapid succession. The resulting flash was blinding, even while the Nidoran hid his eyes behind his paws. And when he looked up again, all he could see at first was a bright spot covering his vision.

- She is escaping! - an urgent voice called. Daffodil stumbled towards it, still disoriented. He got swept up by a stream of others, desperate to not lose the witch, even while still partially blinded.

- Wait!, we have injured here,- the cry mostly fell on deaf ears among the pokemon, however Daffodil was anything but deaf.

He doubled back, cramming himself against the wall, as to not be trampled by mistake. The darkness seemed to have deepened somewhat, and not only because of his recovering eyes. Daffodil could barely make out the Lilligant from his group, helping a rather chubby Bulbasaur with a gash on his head stand up. One Shromish beside them, cursed wildly about pain in her eyes. Some other pokemon were gathered worriedly around an unconscious Ghastly sporting a big pink bow, who looked vaguely familiar.

It took Daff a moment, but then he recalled meeting the ghost outside of Karuka caverns. He'd almost gotten into a heated argument with a rude Deerling, when she had stepped...or floated in. He had leered at her at first, ghosts were a type of pokemon he'd never been able to agree with. Back in his homeland they kept everyone awake at night with their jabbering and shrieks; relishing in frightening others half to death. This one though, he had realised almost instantly, was a lot different; being friendly towards him, even when he had been intent on starting a fight.

“What was her name?...Hunter?” Daff felt a sting of bad conscience, if the Ghastly had gotten herself into trouble, it could be partly his fault for telling her about the witch-hunt in the first-place.

- Do you need any help here? - he asked, uncertain if he was needed, or would only be in the way.

The Lilligant however looked pleased.

- Oh please, - she exclaimed. - Atleast two of us needs to be carried, and we aren't that many. -

- Don't know, he is tiny. - the Bulbasaur huffed. - I can probably take the Ghastly by myself. Shouldn't you go after the thief? -

The bulb pokemon received a gentle, but unrelenting knuckle in the head for his comment.

- You need to have Garic looked at you, and I dare not let you mind yourselves with a head wound like that,- the other grass-type motherly scolded her comrade, not seeming to feel bad about the obvious blow she gave to his pride.

- I am not a fighter, nor a hunter. I think the smartest thing I can do is to give you a hand.- Daffodil chimed in.

When the two guards turned towards him, the Nidoran felt his whiskers tremble slightly.

He had made himself sound practical and matter-of-fact, what he didn't reveal outright, was how much he wished for the chance to excuse himself from the cave-search. It already heaped up on him too much, listening to ones conscience was highly over-rated. The Bulbasaur gave him a scrutinizing look, and Daff unconsciously stepped back, wondering if he truly had hidden his inner emotion any well.

Then the bulb pokemon sighted and put a foot forward and unravelling a couple of vines from the bulb on his back to use as crutches. He gestured with one of them towards Hunter.

- Well, come and help me pick the lass up then. -

The Nidoran couldn't help giving a small sigh of relief, as he helped balance the ghost across, the Bulbasaurs back, snorting 'cause of the strong sugary scent that lingered around the ghost. The Lilligant went first, the blinded shroomish craddled in her hands, and they begun their trek back up to the surface.