Chapter 1 - A Temple in the Sky

After not hearing anything being said to her for a while, Yoko eventually gained the courage to turn back around, but to her surprise she was alone by the campfire. "Uh... Layl...? ... Shossk... ? ... Iris...? ... Anybody...?" she nervously called out in a low voice, hoping that someone would reply to her. She waited there nervously, hoping that one of her companions would step back into view, but there was only the eerie stillness of the jungle. They'll come back... right? They wouldn't abandon me and leave me here alone in the jungle... would they? Even more doubts started to plague Yoko's mind, as if she didn't have enough already. A part of her urged her to go look for them, but she reasoned with herself that they'll come back. After all, they wouldn't have left all of their belongings with her if they were intending to abandon her... they wouldn't, right?

In the end, Yoko decided to stay by the campfire and wait for her companions to return. In the mean time, now that she's alone, she sheepishly takes off her outer garments and sets them up by the fire to dry. After that was taken care of, she grabs the unnaturally dry brown paper bag and huddles up closer to the fire for warmth, then opens the bag up and looks inside. There were sandwiches in there, and surprisingly none of them are soggy despite everything else in her bag being soaked through. It must be the bag... she figured, reaching a hand into the bag and pulling one of the sandwiches out. With nothing better to do, Yoko then turns her attention towards the surrounding jungle, keeping an eye out for any would-be ambushers or her companions, all the while nibbling on her sandwich.

Feeling the group approach, Iris focused her attentions back to her surroundings and looked up to see Light's progress. The little Zorua focused on her surroundings, apparently intent on trying for another fruit drop, one that would hopefully end in success. Even after Iris lets Light know, "They're coming," the Zorua tries to squeeze at least one more attempt in.

In the meantime, the forest was clearly getting darker by the minute. Normally, Iris would channel Amy, or in this case, Light as she had darkvision. Except, still, she didn't feel comfortable about that.

Light did reach a new bunch of fruit, and with a yowl, she let Iris know where exactly she was. Determined to not fail this time, Iris concentrated on a Small Prophecy. This wasn't something she had known herself able to do before, but if she could trust the instructional manual AL had crammed into her head... <Aha, there we go,> Iris saw it, a very quick and short vision of what would happen and... how she failed to grab fruit a second time, <Aaand no. Just no. Let's do it another way.> Moving differently from what her vision had shown, Iris prepared to catch the fruit, using her now pretty much ruined sleeping bag. Light, on Iris's command, worked to drop in the fruit in as accurately as possible. This time, they were met with much more success.

Upon noticing the rustling through the brushes coming towards the camp, Yoko springs into action. After setting down her half-eaten sandwich on top of the paper bag, Yoko quickly rises to her feet and snatches up her quarterstaff. "Who's there?!" she called out, aiming the butt end of her quarterstaff towards the rustling.

It's at this point that Calt alights on one of the tree branches of the fruit-bearing tree, and the big, naked, blue lizard that is Shossk shows up not long after. Shossk takes a moment to absorb the scene.

"Do you nneed help with gathering? I amm not an adept climber, but Calt can reach every branch."

Layl looked at her, taking notice that Iris did indeed seem to be fine. In which case, Yoko would be the most likely to be attacked at this moment. How annoying. Layl let out a 'tsk' sound, to let it be known that she wasn't happy. "We should head back, Yoko isn't safe alone"She left it unsaid that it was her fault for misunderstanding the situation, before turning harshly and starting to creep towards camp. even if Yoko was perfectly fine, remaining hidden might draw out possible predators earlier than if the predators thought they were a group... at least that was the plan until she heard Yoko's shout. It was apparent that they were attacking now.


Layl quickly shifted into a run, taking off back into the direction of Yoko and the camp. "Hurry! Yoko is in danger!" Stealth might be her preference, but when actual danger presented itself, Layl couldn't help herself, she needed to get to the problem quick, and stealthiness isn't always quick.

Iris also heard the shout. She had been worried for more generic reasons than just heartless, but worried all the same. The shout just confirmed the worry. Layl had sounded the alarm, so Iris found no need to repeat the alarm through anything but her actions. "Light, Return!" was the only warning Iris gave her Zorua before holding up the Pokeball and returning her. Leaving the fruit and sleeping bag behind as well as ignoring her terribly sticky body, Iris hustled back to the camp as fast as possible. "YOKO!" she shouts as loudly as possible in the hopes that Yoko might hear, "BANG! SEND OUT BANG!". She hadn't commented on it earlier because she didn't want to make Yoko feel nervous, but she had definitely noticed that Bang was missing from the last fight. It was, probably, the biggest reason why Iris had been worried about Yoko being alone.

The blow lands striking something hard, the creature trips and tumbles rolling about a meter. Once it stops Yoko can see that it is, in fact, the turtle from earlier. It curls into a ball to protect itself and makes soft "Mah" noises.

The turtle creature complies, shaking visibly it continues to make soft noises while curled into a tight ball.

Shossk shows up shortly after Layl and is about ready to throw down with that turtle from earlier. Then Layl moves into comfort the turtle. Shossk blinks.

"Iss it not hostile?"