Studies on legendaries!

u think autism is a disease or illness

u think autism needs to be “cured”

u support Autism Speaks or organizations like it

u “feel bad” for ppl with autism and their families

u think autistic children are a burden to their parents/guardians 

"Don't worry, Raisa will definitely be fine, Budew are tougher than you'd think, and she's not the most fit to be pushing herself to take care of her baby, it's just a matter of figuring out where she's staying."

Obsidian sighed, tuning their conversation out more concerned about what she was sensing from her horn. The sudden increase in rain had caused a certain type of sensation she was familiar with to tingle along the edge.

Poppy accidentally yanked a strand of her hair in realization, “Ow, kukae! You’re right, a center might not be the best place for her right now. She needs more one on one time than the nurses can offer her, especially with the storm coming...” Poppy was Alolan, no one was more used to heavy rains than her, and she’d been smelling the tell-tale heavy, metallic air for days now. There’d be a storm soon, one a lot of pokemon were going to get hurt in, and trainers seeking shelter...

Giving up, she just grabbed a hairtie and pulled her curls into a ponytail, “We gotta find somewhere for her to stay, once the storm hits, all the centers are going to be too crowded to be able to look after her,”

"Speaking of, it's too bad she had to completely regrow her flowers, though at least they're coming back in nicely."

Caden was holding the Budew, who'd gotten quite attached, along with the Grimmsnarl who'd guided them there.

Poppy pat his shoulder, sitting in a chair purposefully in between Nick and Gena. Tapus, would it kill those two to get along for two damn minutes? “She’s smart, it’ll be fine. And hey, her mom has a Roserade! I’m sure she knows how to take care of one!”

Zane bit his thumb again, “Hm, I suppose...” He nods, self-assuredly, “Very well, excuse me a moment so I can call her,”

Poppy squawked, nearly falling backwards in her chair in shock, “What?! Don’t tell me you’re just gonna abandon us with these two!” She points helplessly to an again snarling Gena, who’s clearly ready to up and chase Nick.

Her best friend smiled serenely, “Yes, I’m quite tired of playing mediator at the moment. Now, if you’ll excuse me,” And he just walks away.

“LI'ILI'I KOU LAHO!” Poppy shouted after him, red faced, before turning to Caden and Rui with a huff, “Don’t repeat that,” She grumbled, falling back into her chair.

Which absolutely no success, something that prompted Meyu to tell them to threaten unleashing Toga on those two, the Togekiss currently occupied with the baby pokemon and keeping them from getting into too much trouble.

Storms. Obsidian had always had mixed feelings about them. But she'd take constant storms over that Obstagoon any day. Lord knows how badly that fried her nerves.

🌧- For a heavy, emotional secret

🙃- For a lighter, slightly embarrassing secret

🌟- For a secret wish or desire of theirs

🍏- For something they secretly wish didn’t exist

🍎- For something they secretly wish did exist

❤️- For a secret crush

📲- Talk about someone/something you dislike, but only pretend to like

👁‍🗨- Talk about someone/something you like, but pretend to dislike

🍻- For something bad/mischievous you did as a child or teen that your parents don’t know about

🌜- For a ‘weird’ habit or tic that no one knows about

💃- For a talent that they like to keep hidden from others

🏹- For a talent they wish they had

👻- For something that scares or disturbs them, but they refuse to tell anyone

☢️- For a controversy or scandal they have been able to keep mostly under wraps

🐇- For a secret item they keep (stuffed animal, comfort object, etc)

📒- For a secret journal/diary they keep (Bonus: Share an entry from it!)

📔- For a secret sketchbook they keep (Bonus: Share a sketch or doodle within it!)

🖤- For something they secretly wish they could do with your muse

Send “FIGHT!” and I’ll fill out the fields below as if our characters where fighting in a fighting game!

Medley immediately toddles off, briefly stumbling a bit as she waddles over to Grimmsnarl.

Zane’s eyebrows went up in surprise, “That’s rather surprising, she took so long to get used to Obsidian...”

Eva had mentioned that Medley had spoken earlier but.

Zane couldn’t help but snicker, patting Obsidian’s head sympathetically. “She likes you,” He laughed, turning to Grimmsnarl, “She’s an odd one, but you seem to be a favorite of hers. Congratulations, it took Medley quite a while to warm up to Obsidian here, after all,”

The Grimmsnarl was awkward as he allowed the Toxel to cling to him.

Yeah, Obsidian was most certainly sulking.

Caden meanwhile, was explaining what was going on to the little Budew, which seemed to have taken shine to him.

Medley immediately toddles off, briefly stumbling a bit as she waddles over to Grimmsnarl.

Zane’s eyebrows went up in surprise, “That’s rather surprising, she took so long to get used to Obsidian...”

Eva had mentioned that Medley had spoken earlier but.

"That's not the reason why Poppy. Lack of a proper Aura flow to the eyes can cause eye infections, which can go straight to the brain, especially if the Aura flow to the eyes is weakened or blocked. And that can hinder, or even remove her Psychic powers, that's not even touching on how quickly such an infection could lead to death. Bacterial infections are easy enough to take care of, but if she got a viral infection in the eyes..."

How could she put this next bit?

Oi. A sharp voice interrupted his thoughts. The Grimmsnarl had to look far, far down to see the Linoone glaring up at him, her steps falling into line beside him. Despite the massive difference in height, her glare was still very intimidating. Not to mention her accent made her the slightest bit difficult to understand.

I uh, wanted to apologize. She said.

Well. That was a surprise.

He was not good at social interaction. At all.

Hell, he barely interacted with anyone, so it was pretty likely that was the cause of his poor social skills.

Rui paused for a moment, humming.

"Hey, sorry if it's rude to ask, but are you blind? Just, something feels a little off about your Aura, and it reminds me of someone I know pretty well."

Zane ran his hand along his belt, finally settling on the third from the front. If he had to, he’d have to fly the injured pokemon to the nearest Center on Damascus. 

He didn’t like the looks of the frost, he knew there were no Ice Types in this forest. Where had it come from?

… And what about those slashes on the trees?

Rui stood fearfully, looking up at the gruff and angry adult, as his Weavile hissed menacingly. “Weavile. Kill the little brat, I’m not dealing with any bullshit today.” The pokemon leapt forward, claws at the ready, and she braced, but instead of the sharp pain she’d expected, she heard a cry of pain from in front of her, and when she opened her eyes, she saw a shock of white hair before her, that turned and greeted her with eyes as red as the blood flowing from the diagonal slash that had torn through his shirt.

The Aura user shuddered at the memory, walking along. “Weavile. I’d know the claw marks anywhere, it must’ve attacked the Roserade… But why would a Roserade be here?”

The Grimmsnarl looked back at her before shrugging.

“So that their eggs could hatch safely. Their poison typing protects them against the fairy types, and the psychic types without that weakness are all mostly herbivores that would leave their eggs alone. The sheer number of fairy types here discourages dark, fighting, and dragon-type predators, with the desert deterring ice types and even some bug types. They wait a few weeks after the hatching before they start heading back.”

“So the Weavile must’ve been waiting outside the forest for the Roserade to leave, so that it could attack them. Must’ve been one stubborn Weavile, or extremely desperate, considering how it entered the forest to continue pursuing the poor thing…”

And in the center…

“R- Rai-”

“Easy, easy, I know, you’re worried, but please, save your strength, you’ll need it. Don’t worry, your baby is safe, I’ve got a friend keeping an eye on them right now, they’re scared but otherwise okay.”

The Aura user moved her hands over the largest wound, aura spilling out from them as she focused on healing the wound and boosting the grass type’s life force

It’s painful, without a doubt, like being attacked all over again. But this pain quickly recedes, leaving a sort of calming warmth where the Roserade had gone numb. The blackened and wilted leaves slowly turn back to a sort of greenish yellow. Not ideal, but at least she was able to feel them again.

Zane reached into his bag again, cursing when all he could find was a single Hyper Potion. “My own fault, Braveheart wanted to restock…” He muttered. “This can regain your energy, I’m sorry, it’s going to hurt…”

Gently, he sprays the other medicine onto the less severe cuts of the Roserade, watching them close on their own with the power of the Potion. This stings much worse than the Ice Heal, but the pain from smaller wounds is almost completely gone.

The Aura user reached into her bag, grabbing a roll of bandages and wrapping them around some of the larger wounds on her arms, before doing the same with her legs, and lastly her torso, during which she had the Grimmsnarl help her prop up the grass type so she could properly bandage the wounds.

“There we go, feeling a bit better now?”

The Roserade looked at her, before nodding. Though she looked around, remembering the Grimmsnarl.

That’s right, earlier, when the Weavile attacked, after she’d sent her baby to run, there’d been an attack launched, and it had scared the ice type off, he’d stopped by, before leaving.

He must’ve gone to get help or at least find out what had happened to her little Budew.

He turned to the Roserade, “I’m assuming the Budew we found not far from here is yours- she is well, you needn’t worry- we can bring you both to Ballonlea, you two will be safe there until you are fully healed. I can fly you there, if you’d like.”

Continuing walking through the forest would take long, and had a chance of agitating the Roserade’s wounds as well as scaring her Budew. Perhaps Braveheart would be too small to carry them, but if he had Ruianna and Roserade on Damascus while he had the Budew on Braveheart…

“Zane, that’s understandable, but flying tends to get cold, and probably quite frightening for a grass type, not to mention there’s a couple of reasons the taxi doesn’t serve this forest, the canopy is thick, tangled, and a looks a lot more open than it is. Her wounds won’t get too agitated as long as we’re careful when we carry her, I made sure to heal them to that point.”

The Aura user sighed, moving to where she was holding the Roserade in a more comfortable position now.

“Zane? Rui?” A familiar voice called from the shadows, “What are you two doing here?”

“Don’t worry, Caden’s half Kalosian, he can handle a magic forest if he has too, but five baby pokemon? Probably not.”

She grinned, before straightening up when she saw Poppy. She’d have waved but well, her arms were full of a Roserade.

“Hey Poppy! As for your question well, we uh, ran into a Budew and this Grimmsnarl after the babies decided to run off and he found them, then he led us over here because earlier a Weavile had attacked a Roserade and he came to investigate, scared it off, and then started looking around for the baby or someone who could help.”

The Roserade looked over at Poppy, looking back up towards Rui.

She was still riding Argentum, hugging the beast’s neck for support while cradling Cream close to her. The only difference was…

“Elsa evolved!” Zane breathed, watching the beautiful Frosmoth that was perched delicately on his friend’s head. Elsa fluttered her wings, sending a small silvery shower of chilly scales in the air.

Poppy smiled, “Long story, sorry,” She looked over at the Roserade and winced visibly. She hesitated, glancing to the trees around and above her nervously, before simply urging Argentum forward again.

“She doesn’t look so good, we gotta get her to a Center, now,” She gave a brief glance to the Grimmsnarl, before seeming to remember something. “Did you say something about a shortcut?” A more relieved smile cut through her worry for a moment, “I think I know what you’re talking about. I uh, got lost earlier-” Another look of fear crossed her face, as though she was afraid the woods would burst into fire at any moment, “- And this one Hattrem found us, and showed us a weird pathway.”

She pointed somewhere behind her, “It’s not far, I only went off path ‘cause I heard you guys, she’s probably still there!”

Zane let out a shaky sigh of relief, “Thank the gods… I’m glad you’re here,”

Caden gave the Thievul and Linoone a pointed glare, before sighing as Meyu helped Rui return the Riolu and Ruru, Obsidian looking a little sulky, with Medley still on her back as Eva and Tatha climbed up onto their trainer’s shoulders.

“So that’s this little Budew’s mom then huh? No wonder the poor thing was so upset.”

The Budew turned in his grasp, lighting up into a series of happy, almost chirping sounds when she saw that her mother was okay, bringing a smile out of the Roserade.

Poppy sighs, “I’m not surprised. Guys, c’mon, please,” She looked around again, scratching at Argentum’s neck, “Follow us, ‘kay? There’s a path to town not far from here. Rue, if Roserade gets to heavy, just hop on Argentum.” She sends one last wary glance to the towering trees, visibly shivering, before turning around.

The path she was talking about isn’t too far, and is much thinner in terms of foliage than the forest itself, a dirt path beaten by hooves and paws forked both left and right, as well as leading to seemingly nowhere on one side. Waiting there is a Hattrem.

She’s an odd looking thing. Her “hat” doesn’t stand straight up, but instead droops to her shoulders, not unlike a hood, while the point falls and drags on the ground. Two locks of hair weave and connect below her neck as though she’s wearing a cape, while more is flipped over her shoulders like a long, low ponytail. The limb like hair she uses to move is wavier than a normal ones, more bouncy looking. 

Most startling though, is her eyes. 

They’re a green so bright and vivid it’s as though the spirit of the forest had made home there. And yet, there was something… off, about them.

When those green eyes lock onto the group (wait, that was odd, they seemed to be locked onto a space just above them all?), the Hattrem sighs. You brought a lot more than I was expecting… She addressed Poppy, before suddenly jumping and using her hand-like hair to cling to Argentum’s fur, hanging there in an almost King Kong like fashion, much to the chimera’s obvious displeasure. Strangely, her gaze is fixed to the forest floor.

“Sorry, Lucinda,” Poppy apologized genuinely, trying for a smile, “But it’s really urgent right now, there’s a Roserade with us in rough shape, she needs to be taken to a Pokecenter immediately,” She glanced to the pokemon in question, “I’ll repay you, somehow, I promise. But we need to get her to safety.”

The Hattrem- Lucinda, now- hesitated, those odd eyes never leaving from the ground, before sighing. Fine. Just this once because the Ponyta trust you, for some reason. She uses her free hand-hair to point in one direction, and Argentum starts moving again, clearly hoping to get the small Psychic Type off his fur as soon as possible.

Poppy grinned, “Thank you, Lucy, I owe you,”

Also the psychic type thing.

He quickly looked away, before sighing and putting his hands behind his head.

Medley tilted her head, confused. Her dad had shown her all the pokemon found in these woods, and she was sure Budew weren’t one of them...

There were large footsteps moving closer, and the bushes rustled, one of the larger mushrooms glowing brighter as the one approaching rubbed against it.

There was a Grimmsnarl, standing tall at the edge of the clearing, looking at the group of baby pokemon with widened eyes.

Weeeell crap, that was... Not very good. What was he supposed to do now? When there were a bunch of baby pokemon gathered? At least they weren't hurt, but it wasn't like he could just, leave them by themselves.

No he definitely couldn't do that, but still, what was he supposed to do? He was big and scary and not at all familiar with how to deal with baby pokemon, and he could tell that he was scaring them.

"No it's- please don't cry I know I'm big and scary but- Oh I'm no good at this, hey-"

Ruru was trembling violently now, before she started crying, something that made the larger pokemon wince as he looked around worriedly. Before looking back over at the Azuril.

"Hey hey please stop crying I'm not- I won't- I'm not going to-"

Aaaand he'd only made it worse when he'd taken a couple of steps closer, shit, shit, what was he supposed to do?

He didn’t look very scary,  trying to look smaller than he was and begging for the others not to cry.

Then, surprisingly, she started crawling toward him. 

What did Uncle Braveheart say whenever she climbed him?

Up! The word slipped out without her thinking.

Up! She made a grabby motion, puffing her cheeks again for emphasis. Wait, that wasn’t right, Auntie Irene always said to be nice! Pwease!

But right then, as old as she was she was, he just reminded her a bit of her big brother Fezzik, nervous and unsure.

Eva seemed a little less scared, moving to comfort Ruru and the Budew.

Meanwhile, Obsidian seemed to relax some as they continued on the trail of the baby brigade, tracking them to their current location.

"They're not in danger at the moment, but still, something seems to be up, just, not with them."

The Absol noted the broken foliage, the frost-covered areas, and she frowned. Something had broken through here in a rush, and possibly even while being chased by an apparent Ice type.

Zane was all too happy to follow, glancing under mushrooms and bushes for the baby pokemon. At one point, his hand brushed against the icy frost, and a wave of dizziness swept over him. Zane's eyes went blurry, and he stumbled heavily, having to lean against a tree.

When he came out of the now familiar trance of the Dimensional Scream, he looked more worried than usual. "Something... awful happened. We need to find them. Now."

The sight was very comical, and if not for the concern that hung heavily over the group, they'd probably have laughed.

This was the Grimmsnarl Poppy was talking about? He didn’t seem uh- intimidating, to say the least. Quite the opposite, his Toxel had clearly taken a shine whereas she was petrified of Obsidian for the longest time. 

Wait, that Budew...

Nick scoffed at that, gazing at the apologetic Grimmsnarl suspiciously. There was a part of him that wanted to rip into the bulk up pokemon right now. Though looking at the baby pokemon, and how he clearly wasn't sure what to do about them, but he'd definitely decided to stick around them.

"Well that's a right foolish blunder to be making, innit? I'd nearly had him too! But I suppose I can look past such a cock up seeing as how you could've just left the little ones to fend for themselves instead of sticking around."

The Grimmsnarl let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding, before looking over to the Budew, and off in one direction. Humans were good with wounds right? Maybe they could help that Roserade, he doubted she'd survive without that help, and he certainly couldn't help the grass type.

He looked back to the Budew, that must've been her child, before back to the humans.

".... Earlier... A Roserade..."