Okay, I know what you all are thinking: "What the hell do you mean by Out-of-Character, In Chracter Contest?!" Well, let me explain. For my contest you are competing for this:
"You know you want me; I'm shiny."
lovely Pokemon. To do so, I am going to have you, the competitors, write a post, as your character, about how you would obtain the Phantump. Think of this like a Contest Hall post. Each person is given points for how Creative, Funny, and Inventive, as well as their overall description of the scene. The person with the most points at the end wins the lovely Pokemon prize!
Point system:
+1-5 = Overall Description +1-5 = Creativity elements +1-5 = Funny elements +1-5 = Inventive elements
Remember, you can use these elements as many times you want to get the ultimate score!
This contest is open! Please post the story about how you would get this lovely Phantump here to enter.
Astina paused at the entrance of the forest that her tribe had stopped by for the night, unsure of what to think of the silvery tone to the wood that was in front of her. Normally trees were a light gray or white in the wintry woods in the land that Astina called home, not this strange silver color that almost matched the clouded sky above her. She continued to scan the forest, for what she wasn't so sure just yet. She realized what she was looking for when her eyes landed on spots of red resting in a bush far ahead of her, her heart racing at the idea of it being a spirit trapped in the bush that she could talk to. Hurrying forward, Astina kept her eyes on the red spotted bush, but she never seemed to draw any closer as she walked. She stopped in her tracks in confusion, Ruby raising from her perch on top of Astina's head to look at the bush as well.
"What should we do?" Astina asked Quartz, the smart but lazy Pumpkaboo looking up at her in boredom from her arms. Quartz only yawned before falling back asleep, leaving Astina to figure out what she should do to communicate with this spirit on her own. Ruby gave a soft cry to Astina before she went zooming forward as fast as she could go, trying to reach the spots that her human partner so desperately wanted to look at. Somehow, Ruby managed to trip midair and go tumbling into the bush, confusing Astina as she hurried forward to help the little Pokemon. It was strange that something could trip Ruby since she was a Ghost type, but Astina didn't focus too much on that but the red berries that were covering the bush Ruby had landed in.
"It was only berries," Astina murmured in disappointment before a soft laugh was heard behind her. Astina wheeled around to try to find the source of the laughter, sure that no one in her tribe would laugh at a priestess' companion spirit getting injured. When she saw no one there, she frowned since she had clearly heard the laugh. Ruby nudged her slightly, closing her large red eyes in indication that Astina should try listening for the laugh instead of seeing for it. Astina mimicked her Pokemon's actions, concentrating on finding the source of the laughter.
"Phan?" a little whisper of a voice called out to her as something brushed up against her legs. Astina's eyes fluttered open so she could see what had come to answer her call, seeing a small Ghost Pokemon floating around her legs, a Phantump if she remembered correctly. But this one did not look like normal Phantump were described. No, this one fit into this frozen forest quite nicely with its silvery bark.
"You were what tripped Ruby, weren't you?" Astina asked, kneeling so she could come closer to the ghost and speak to it on a level that it was clearly comfortable on. The Phantump's tail wrapped around it to cover its tiny mouth as it giggled, clearly not ashamed of harming its fellow ghost. Ruby began to shake with anger that she had been pranked and the little prankster didn't feel ashamed for doing so, especially to a lady like her!
Astina looked around with a frown, trying to find any signs of there being more Phantump in the area. "Are you the only one here?"
The Phantump nodded, floating lower to the ground as a way to clearly show that it was sad about that. Astina frowned and held out her hand to it. "Would you like a companion?"
The Phantump nodded vigorously, grabbing her hand and floating higher so it could pull her further into the forest. Astina dug her heels into the ground so she would not move, shaking her head at the Phantump. "I cannot stay here. I have my family that I must get back to and we will be moving on in the morning. If you wish, you can come with us and be our new spirit companion, but I cannot stay here."
The Phantump began to sniffle and it slowly faded away, leaving the sounds of it holding back tears to be what Astina heard as she slowly walked back to her tribe for the night. She was worried about the tiny ghost living by itself in the large forest, but there was nothing she could do for it without endangering herself or getting the high priest involved, neither of which she could do. She only hoped that the Phantump would decided to come along with her before they left.
The next morning, Astina was quieter than usual as she trailed behind the caravan that would take her tribe to their next resting spot, not even Ruby could get her to say something. Both of her Pokemon were keeping a close eye on her before Ruby spotted something in the distance, towards the edge of the forest they were travelling along. The flew from atop Astina's hooded head towards whatever it is that she had seen, leaving Astina to have to run after her. Astina stopped at the edge of the woods so the tribe could see where she was, panting as she looked around for her companion. To her surprise, Ruby was there with the little Phantump, both of the giggling about something together. Astina could only stare at the two Pokemon as they floated to her side, Ruby giving her a happy chime that could only mean one thing.
"You're coming with us?" she asked quietly, smiling hopefully at the Phantump. The ghost gave her a salute with its tail, giggling cheerfully as it went to rest on her shoulder and Ruby landed once again atop her head. "Welcome to the family Silver."
Post by Zandrophin on Oct 29, 2014 20:18:14 GMT -6
Zandrophin had seen the forest before, but he'd never bothered to investigate it. At least...not before the dreams. Having been connected to his Psychic companion for so long, Zandrophin's dreams often became so much more than images while at rest. Often, his dreams would tell him what he needed to do next. In fact, even his coming to the island in the first place was thanks in part to visions he'd had weeks before. Now, his visions had led him to this strange forest. Mentus shivered a bit in the shadows of the trees.
Sir...there's a presence here...I'm not sure what to make of it, yet. We'd best be cautious.
Aren't we always, old friend. C'mon...let's go have a look.
As the pair walked through the forest, Mentus' ears perked up and Zandrophin felt a small chill run down his spine.
A ghost....faaantastic.....
Sir...it's close...very close.
There was a rustling of leaves overhead. Zandrophin whirled around, trying to locate the source...with no success.
Then he caught sight of it in the clearing ahead of him; two pink eyes inside of a bit of tree stump.
A Phantump? Do you remember what they say about these, old friend?
A grave tale, that is, Sir (no pun intended)....according to the old legends, they are stumps that are possessed by the spirits of children who died while lost in the forest.
It seems we all get a little lost, from time to time...
As Zandrophin took a step forward into the clearing, the Phantump took off into the trees and disappeared. Zandrophin scanned his surroundings again, still unable to find his elusive target.
Can you find it?
Sir...it's moving too quickly...I can't capture it, either...Ghosts will slip through my trap. We'll just have to wait for it to--
A loud WHACK! was heard as Mentus was hit with the Phantump's stump. The Abra was dazed from the hit, and Zandrophin called out in pain. Being so closely connected, when one felt pain, so did the other. Zandrophin's vision was distorted, now. Where he used to be able to see things faster than normal humans, now he was reduced to slower visual processing. He couldn't preempt his target's movement anymore...and that was a problem.
Then he felt his torso compress. He couldn't even call out, as all the air had been pushed from his lungs.
Now I see why they call that move "Astonish"....
Zandrophin collapsed to the ground, barely able to catch his breath. He reached down to his waist and opened the Dusk ball. Dolos appeared, taking quick stock of the situation.
Human...why have you summoned me here?
Dolos...I need you...to fight this spirit. No lasting damage...I want to capture it.
Capitulation through pain? ...With the greatest pleasure.
With these words, Dolos tore after the ghost, which was trying to deter him with a slew of Shadow Balls. All of these were easilly dodged by the Absol. At first, he tried just to disorient the Phantump, without actually hitting it...then he was hit with Feint Attack.
To a fault, Dolos was quick to anger...and often turned to unbalanced reprisals. In response to the attack, Dolos lunged at the Phantump with a Night Slash. The impact was so great that it caused a fissure to appear in the stump. The Phantump cried out in pain,
"PHAAAN!!!"
Zandrophin heard the noise and rushed over. By this time, Mentus had recovered and was directing Zandrophin towards the sound. Upon seeing the broken stump, he repreimanded Dolos.
"You fool! You let your anger get the best of you again!"
Relax, Human...no permanent damage.
"How can you be sure?!"
Zandrophin pulled out his Field ball and walked up to the Phantump, which was still clutching its head.
"Pax, little one...let me take care of that for you."
He opened the Field ball and Rose appeared. She took over the situation instantly.
"Drain Dolos if you need life force to stitch up that injury..."
Zandrophin looked down at the Absol,
"...that will be his punishment."
Rose took Zandrophin up on that offer, and did exactly that. A few minutes later, her work was done. The Phantump floated back up to eye level with Zandrophin and bobbed his head in thanks.
"I apologize for what my friend did to you...he's not the kindest of souls."
"Phan."
"Granted...what he did wasn't without reason...you did attack me..."
"Phaaan....."
"I've been hit with worse, kid....don't fret."
Zandrophin retrieved all of his Pokemon and turned around to leave.
"See you around, little one."
After only taking a few steps, the Phantump phased through Zandrophin and stood in his way.
"What? I'm letting you go. You're free."
"Phan!"
"Seriously? You want to hang around with the guy whose associates tried to seriously harm you?"
"Phan-Phantump!"
"Alright...it's your funeral, I suppose. (again...no pun intended) Come along."
The now-trio headed out of the forest and back towards Pyron City...
Do not fight for a cause or for what you believe in: Fight for yourself, because who you are rarely changes. Zandrophin
Leaving the Villa, a Mystery not soon Forgotten Hmm… There are a lot of honchkrows circling this place today… Something big must be dead.
His thoughts were interrupted by a child’s scream. Driven by duty, he and Kaname exchanged glances and agreed to head towards the source. Tsubame tripped a few times, but Kaname swiftly dove in and out to support him through the jagged roots that consisted of the terrain. The duo decided it was best to follow the honchkrows. Traveling up Tsubame’s spine was the sensation of tingling chills.
”Perhaps we should stop.”
But it was too late. They had already found something worse. Kaname easily used an icy wind to disperse the birds. Once the last of them had fled or fainted, they could move closer and investigate. Under a massive umbrella-like tree and lazily thrown over the ground woven roots rested a corpse. It had rotted some, and the honchkrows had done a number on the eyes and small appendages like fingers, but it was quite clearly the decaying body of a young boy no more than nine. By the looks of it, Celosia native born, ”perhaps even, a runaway? But all the way here…?”
”Kaname, do you think we’re in danger?” The man couldn’t feel nervous even though he felt he should.
*No.* Kaname’s serious expression never left his face, but Tsubame knew he wasn’t lying because his body was still relaxed. It was only them and the kid’s body.
Sighing, ”Go get that shovel. The one we found from the villa? We’re gonna need it.” His reluctance was palpable.
Kaname used his incredible speed to seemingly vanish as he left, meanwhile leaving Tsubame open to examine the body for any markers of identitfication or otherwise, loot. Upon closer inspection, he noted how tattered the clothes were only solidifying his theory of the runaway brat. Examining the arms, he noted that besides the post mortem gashes and tears, the bones themselves looked broken and some even… what’s that term? Oh yeah. Remodled. Grown back. even the boy’s legs had been broken and healed without being set or cared for at all. What the hell…? I get poor medical treatment, but this kid didn’t have any. Just what the absolute hell?
The blue haired young man wasn’t even shocked by the terrified expression the life-less face wore, mainly because he attributed that to the missing eyes and forced open tongue-less mouth. But the most blatant of all the facts he gathered, was the fact that the child had been dead for several days; a fact the blue haired man, didn’t think through but instead only did it lead him to sifting through the boy’s pockets. He was then interrupted by an annoying chill, which soon revealed itself as a creepy spirit pawing and trying to smack Tsubame until he backed off and away from the body.
After reexamining the situation, he noticed the spirit was only guarding the body.
”Hey. Don’t desecrate the body too. Shoo. Leave.”
But the creature refused to budge. The man grew even more irritated.
”You’re a spirit; you can’t even eat the damn thing!”
Before he could get any more frustrated, Kaname returned, shovel in tow. The white and red thing hissed at the new presence. Kaname dropped the shovel and threatened a dark pulse by letting his claws glow with the bubbling black and purple aura.
”Oh… not a spirit but a pokemon, huh? Hm. Go ahead.” He felt some remorse, but the child needed to be buried. get rid of it if it doesn’t move.”
Tsubame turned away to collect the shovel as Kaname fired a dark pulse. He stopped during another child’s ear-splitting cry. Tsubame’s expression revealed the horror of his newest realization, this wasn’t just some creature. It was a ghost type pokemon.”[/color]
”Kaname. Wait. Stop.” Kaname withdrew his stance and re-absorbed the dangerous aura.
Tsubame stalked back and knelt down beside the beaten pokemon. It was struggling to stay over the body, even though it now could hardly stay afloat. The man then handed the pokemon and oran berry.
*SNEASEL!!!*
”Kaname no. I’ve heard rumors about ghost types. There’s always something binding them to the planet instead of letting them pass on. this pokemon’s tied to this child somehow. Maybe it killed him sure… but maybe they had a relationship. Maybe, it was even his pokemon…”
After it had devoured the oran berry, Tsubame handed it yet another oran berry. Greedily it took the second berry, but this time watched the man more closely as it ate.
”I’m sorry, but I must give him a proper burial. From someone of his own species to show him someone cares. Maybe it’s not what he wants or even needs, but I can’t just let this person’s memory be devoured by honchkrows and die only with us three.”
He gripped the shovel; he had already envisioned where he wanted to bury the child, but still the pokemon was still reluctant. The ghost type quickly conceded however upon noticing an angry sneasel staring him down.
”Come now. I’ll even let you pick where he will be buried if you want.” His tone was gentle, which starkly contrasted with his usual stern expression. ”You probably knew him better than I did anyway.”
The little ghost type was still blatantly uncomfortable, but the oran berries had certainly given it back some of its spirit.
”I promise. I’ll take him wherever you recommend, if you knew him that is. And don’t lie. I’ll know. I’m friends with a dark type.”
Kaname posed with his arms crossed and a smug look on his face, but his relaxed position seemed to lessen the floating pokemon’s fear of him. Looking back to Tsubame, the ghost type pokemon and finally, yet still begrudgingly from the child. It flinched and squealed loudly when Tsubame first tried to pick up the stiff body and a couple of cracks were heard by all.
”Sorry...” he muttered still trying to hoist the child’s remains onto his back. ”Come.”
The journey was difficult for the non-ghost type person and pokemon, but the pokemon leading them that kept sighing ”phantump” seemed to know exactly where it was going and taking no “missteps.” However, every now and then, the trio had to stop and let Tsubame rest or help him back up when he fell. But it was hard not to notice the density of the woods growing thinner and thinner the further they moved.
Finally, the phantump stopped just outside of the edge of the trees. It was still a little light out, but close enough to dusk the village they found, looked deserted except for lights within a few homes. Tsubame looked over to ask the ghost type pokemon that was now… missing!? Nearly dropping the child, he panicked and frantically looked around for it until he saw a faint glimmer of the pokemon beckoning him to follow. He wanted to groan, and Kaname looked hyper alert sensing danger from all sides, but they tried their best to keep quiet and trudge onward; hopefully not running into anyone.
Snaking their way through the maze it seemed like of houses, there was one house in particular the phantump finally begin sneaking to-one of the few with the lights still on. They stalked their way to the front lawn of this particular house. The phantump looked directly into Tsubame’s silver eyes for the first time.
”What?! Here?! No way!” but the phantump only looked like he had been utterly betrayed. ”Why here? Is this his family’s house or-“ he was interrupted by something unbelievable; the ghost type pokemon began to cry. ”Alright… fine. I guess. I made a promise. Still feel creepy about this though… you little jerk you can’t tell anyone about this! Kaname, go find a stone, ok?”
Kaname practically vanished again and Tsubame offloaded the body to start digging. Must do this quickly… In almost no time he had dug a somewhat shallow, but deep enough grave for the boy. Easily, he hoisted the boy into the hole and began covering it up. Only a decent amount was covered by the time he heard something that made him freeze immediately, and the phantump took refuge behind him.
Another child’s screaming, though muffled somewhat, was still very much so audible to the duo surrounded by silence. Immediately he recognized it was the same house he was currently digging up the lawn of. After a few seconds of silence, he quickly finished the grave, making it somewhat decent and perfect for a working man when Kaname returned, even having already engraved the stone. It was small, and too easy to remove though.
”Kaname… perhaps we should freeze it into place…?”
The ice type pokemon agreed, and began freezing the stone in place with a much deeper, frozen root. Afterwards, Tsubame asked him to carve into it three simple letters. Now it was well into dusk, but the screaming still haunted him. But there was nothing he could do right now. He needed to get the three of them to rest so he knocked on a different house with a light still on, who then directed him to another, bigger house with the light still on and rented a room.
When dawn broke the skyline, Tsubame got out of bed. He couldn’t sleep long. What is happening to this damn town? Why didn’t anyone bother to look for the boy?
Kaname and the phantump were fast asleep, so Tsubame didn’t feel like waking them, but he tripped and while Kaname remained asleep probably used to his clumsiness after all these years, the phantump was startled awake.
”Sorry buddy.” he whispered. But he heard a commotion going on outside so he investigated after rushing to get dressed, and the phantump was not far behind.
“Such a shame. But why bury you child out here?” Was just one of the many questions surrounding the boy’s tombstone. Tsubame instantly felt like his insides were being licked by a haunter he was so humiliated; but he instantly snapped out of it when the owner’s three children came out. Tsubame couldn’t help but notice they too had poorly set broken arms at one point, and multiple scars. But he couldn’t get over one fact; all three of the children looked completely different, and all looked completely sleep deprived yet too perfectly behaved for children.
What the… what the hell is with this town…?
After being barraged by the townsfolk who were obviously quite close, he returned to his room where Kaname had already helped himself to the free food in the lobby.
”Sorry buddy. They kept asking me about that kid. Since I’m the guy who arrived the night of, of course their suspicions were pinned on me.” He slumped down next to Kaname who handed him some food and greedily devoured almost all of it, before he remembered to share some with the ghost type.
”I don’t know what’s up with this town though, but I swear that guy’s lawn we buried him in? The owner is off. And he had children that didn’t match him at all; and! They’ve no medical attention to multiple injuries. Either they’re all really unlucky or they are most-definitely being used as punching bags. They must’ve been adopted. Unless… he’s a child-knapping slave trader... Goddamn you hear stories so often; those traders have to be quite commonly found around here.” he huffed hoping that wasn’t the answer. If he is though… those poor children… this poor phantump... He patted the ghost’s tree-stump of a head.
He sighed, almost feeling like he could cry, but simultaneously like that’s the last thing he’d do until he left this town. I’m not strong enough. I could never take down people like that. And even if I did. What would I do with those poor children? I wouldn’t be so cruel to leave them here, so vulnerable and pretty much ruined for life.
Kaname knew instantly what he was thinking, and with a single glance told Tsubame what he already knew. You’re not going to feel better until you do. Sighing, he huffed,
”Fine. You’re right. We’ll move at dusk again. Hopefully they don’t get suspicious and leave.”
When the curtain of dusk finally fell, he realized they were leaving. He, Kaname, and the heart-broken phantump were standing over the tombstone that was snapped in half-probably after a failed attempt at removing the tombstone froze in place. The body was completely gone, making the phantump cry even harder.
Looking to the house they heard sounds of an angry man, rustling, shuffling, and repeated slams. So they are leaving. Maybe they’re just scared...
”Kaname, we’re going to be polite at first.” He scooped up the phantump and the trio laid in ambush. After a few minutes, the household evicted themselves. Unbelievably if he were not witnessing it himself, the children were in shackles around their arms, legs, and even their necks. Oh shit.
The man was no nicer than you’d expect, instead far from it. He constantly kept kicking and yelling at them, even at one point, when Tsubame thought he heard a branch snap, he later realized another child had broken a bone or two after a swift kick to the ribs. After following the group for even longer, he realized where they were going. ”They’re heading south! The only slave trade I know down there is the man of the South’s. Shit we need an opening.” his voice was hardly more than a whisper at this point. Tsubame’s chance finally surfaced, when the man tied the children to a tree and left them alone with the lantern he had been hauling with them.
Instantly Tsubame set down the phantump and he and Kaname went after the slave-trader. He was in a bush taking a piss, and as soon as he pulled his pants up, Kaname trapped him in an icy wind, freezing his feet to the ground, before using his speed to rake his claw into the man’s chest and slice all the way up to the man’s throat.
”No Kaname. I cannot let a you kill this man. I will never let you kill a man, no matter how angry you are.”
Against the pitiful wails and groans of the man, Tsubame’s strong arms easily shifted his neck joints to the point the wails finally stopped. Together the duo emerged into the line of sight. Of course they were greeted with fear; Kaname’s fur was slicked down with blood and a random stranger with bloody hands was untying them.
”Don’t run. I don’t have time to track you down. I just have one questions. Did you know the boy buried last night?”
Of course none of them answered.
”That’s fine. Your silence tells me more than your lies. I’m taking you up north. You will never be treated so horribly again.” Kaname broke the last of the chains. ”You will not be slaves if you stay with me.”
Confused and lost, the trio of children didn’t quite know what to do with themselves.
”I’m taking you up north to a temple for safety. I met the woman once. She is very kind and beautiful. Perhaps you can even live out your lives there. But if not and you remember where your homes are, it’s a start because I really don’t want to keep any of you around after I feel you will be safe. Now. Drink some water, eat some berries, we’re heading North. Join us, if you want or get lost in these woods. Your choice.”
Tsubame scooped up the phantump hiding in the bush. He was surprised it was still around, its human being avenged.
”Why didn’t you disappear? Your tie to the earth has been solved right? Shouldn’t you have passed on?” He held up the phantump and looked it all over.
“Maybe he wants to wait until all slave trades are gone before he passes on? it was always Raki’s dream anyway; at least until he ran away.”[/color] one of the two female children spoke up.
”Oh, so you recognize this little guy? Was it his pokemon?”
All of the children shook their heads “no.”
Hmm… just what is your connection to that “Raki” boy? He shook his head, and still carrying the phantump, marched onwards with the three children close behind him and the lantern guiding their way into the night.
I hope you're home Maya.
Last Edit: Oct 29, 2014 20:35:31 GMT -6 by Tsubame
"Damned if you do. Damned if you don't. Life's a game not meant to be won by people like me." -Tsubame
THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED! SCORES AND THE WINNER WILL BE POSTED TOMORROW 11-2-14 AFTER AN INTENSE READING AND REREADING! THANK YOU FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION!~ ^_^~
"I guess normal was never supposed to be a word for me." - Nicole