Welcome to Gaia! ::

Lenore looked up from the newest book she was reading at looked over at Mephistopheles. "Hey, Mef. I just realized we've never been to Inhinx before. You wanna go?"

"What brought this on?"

"I just realized that we've been to Katarina, and we've been to Motterosa, but we've never been to Inhinx. It's supposed to be abandoned, so that means it's probably crawling with ghost-type pokemon. At least, that's how it would go in the books."

The dusclops sighed, knowing he wouldn't be able to change the girl's mind. Despite how she looked, and how she sometimes was, she was incredibly stubborn once she had set her mind on something. She'd probably read something about Inhinx in the book, which would only make it worse. Asking if he wanted to go was merely nicer than ordering him to. "Very well."

Lenore grinned. "Great. Let's get some supplies and go, then. It'll take a while to get there." The girl closed the book and set it aside."We should probably leave Shina a note that we're leaving, too."

With the note written, Lenore headed out to get supplies for their journey.

"Hell-Hoot grew up in the forests within the Meteore Freezeland. He was the only hoothoot in the forest, having been forgotten by his flock as they left the forest. As a result, the nameless hoothoot was drawn to the flock of pidgey that inhabited the forest to escape his loneliness. The pidgey, however, did not return his interest in fraternizing, and they shunned him. He continued to try to interact with them, and they progressed into attacking him to get him to leave. Driven mad by loneliness, the hoothoot snapped."

The man paused to get a drink, his face illuminated by the campfire as the sun fell. "He descended upon the flock of pidgey in the dead of night while they slept, and systematically broke each of their necks. He gathered the corpses together, and he was no longer alone. After a few days, however, the corpses began to rot. Fearing the loneliness he had just escaped, the hoothoot gathered up some twine, and after tanning the pidgey's hide, he skinned them and made himself a coat. Feeling the warmth the coat gave him, he smiled softly. 'Now we can be together. Forever....'"

The man looked directly at Lenore. "They say that, every night, Hell-Hoot lurks in those forests, waiting for hapless victims to wander in... and never come out."

Lenore stared back at the man. "How do you know that's true if no one was around to see it?"

The man laughed. "Well, I suppose I don't, at that!" His demeanor became serious once again. "But people have gone into that forest, and haven't returned."

The duo entered the forest and were immediately greeted with a cackle from deep within. Pulling four pokeballs from her pocket, Lenore sent out Elesh Norn, Jin-Gitaxias, Sheoldred, and Urabrask. "Alright, there's supposed to be a huge hoothoot somewhere in the forest. I want you guys to find him. Alright?" The assembled pokemon nodded their understanding and went deeper into the forest as Lenore followed after on foot.



After a short time, however, Hell-Hoot found them. The hoothoot sent a gust of sweltering heat at Lenore, but Elesh Norn quickly appeared and shielded the girl. The darkrai's eyes began to glow and rocks materialized in the air before flying at the hoothoot, knocking it into a tree. At the sound of combat, Sheoldred and Urabrask returned and sent volleys of blood at the downed Hell-Hoot. Next came Jin-Gitaxias, who sent a ball of sludge at it. Finally, Mephistopheles appeared, and a lance of darkness appeared in his hand. Rearing it back, he prepared to throw it at the hoothoot but Lenore ran in front of him, shielding the exhausted hoothoot. "Stop it!"