Vanilla Ribbons

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Vanilla paced through Pecha Forest with ears alert for the slightest sound of a rescue team nearby. She had heard that someone was coming out on a mission to retrieve and item left in the Forest and eagerly awaited their arrival. Vanilla had been longing to snatch something yet again from an unsuspecting Pokemon. She cackled to herself as she thought of the last victim, a sweet Patrat who had only been trying to help her find a 'lost item.' Vanilla hummed a soft tune as she started to proceed to a perfect spot, it was near a clearing between the trees to reach a deeper area and climbed up the limbs of a mangled old tree.

"Come on rescue team, I'm not getting any younger. Cuter maybe, but not younger." She smirked to herself and kicked back to wait for them. Rayo wasn't with her this time, but she figured she could handle herself like she did before.

The Minccino hopped from one tree to the next, and in mid jump, the mienfoo had made a leaping step in the same direction, doing his best to keep up with the wily chinchilla pokemon, taking deep breaths as he ran to try and make up for the massive amount of breath he needed to use each Swift attack.

As his foe finally landed onto another branch, most likely to gain a better vantage point to use that crazy shouting move, Oswald expelled another Swift at her as he continued to run.

Vanilla scrambled onto her branch as the stars came flying towards her yet again. She managed to smack some and rebound them back at the other Pokemon, but was pelted her in the behind which made her nearly jump off the branch in shock and pain.

Where the Palkia is Rayo when I need him!? She thought as she bounced to the nearest branch and ran as close to the center of the tree as possible. She had finally found what she had been looking for. Rodent Pokemon sometimes made their nests inside of trees and hollowed out a space to travel through the tree. She climbed into the hole, but got stuck midway though temporarily and wiggled there for a while and kicked her feet as she tried to enter the tunnel in the tree.



The pitter patter of feet through the forest floor was noticed by many Pokemon, but most chose to look away. It was Prima, of Team Chocospark. The shiny Purrloin's eyes glittered with anger as she charged through the forest looking for pawprints, a scent, anything to find a specific Pokemon she was looking for. She tucked in her head as she charged faster through the forest, not caring about being subtle or sneaking up on the target at hand.

Prima was still a young Purrloin, but someone had stolen something from her and she intended to get it back. She had tried putting up a post on the bulletin board about the stolen item, but teams turned their heads at the small reward of Poke and the fact they'd be searching for a silly white ribbon. But to her, it was special, a special ribbon from a good friend she had just made. Her mind wandered back to his words and meeting him, but they were cut short as she crashed through some bushes only to see a creamy yellow colored Pokemon standing on a branch. She tilted her head in curiosity and called out to him.

"You're from the guild aren't you? I remember seeing you before! Have you see a Mincinno around? She took something important to me..." Prima's eyes narrowed as she hit the word took and she dug her claws into the ground.

"One moment Ma'am," Oswald called, hopping over the Purrlion as he kept his eyes trained on the Minccicno, following the white on the outlaw's ears as she tried to scurry away. There were a few cuts on the mienfoo's arms and legs, mostly from his own swift attack being knocked back towards him, but he continued to ignore the pain, even though to most pokemon it would certainly be enough to force them to turn tail and run.

But Oswald was no coward, and he certainly wouldn't run from this foe, or let a criminal get away.

Finally, he reached the Minccino, and couldn't help but chuckle at her predicament.

"Alright, now tell me, what did you happen to do with a white ribbon? My client would love to know, and I'd be happy to retrieve it,"

The Minccino wiggled in her spot in frustration and kicked her legs more and more as she tried to get through the hole. There's no way I'm that fat. It must be a Pachirisu or something.. "None of your business!" She shouted. Vanilla soon regretted this as the echo left her head whirling in pain. She continued to kick as she felt slight victory when her body slid forward and she finally realized she could use her paws and push them against the rim of the tree to pull herself in. Oh! This migraine is fuzzing up my brain!


Prima huffed as she realized the Mincinno was in the tree, well halfway anyways. She scampered up the tree with more ease than either of the two due to her tiny sharp claws and jumped in front of the Mienfoo. Being an inexperienced Explorer she probably should've stayed back, but a hotheaded Prima wasn't going to be stopped when it came to that special ribbon. "Give me back my ribbon!" She yowled at the half stuck Mincinno with puffed out fur. It puffed out even more at a the sound of a no from Vanilla.

Oswald frowned, more than a little frustrated by this little chinchilla pokemon now. Not one to deal with this, and wanting to end this game faster, Oswald quickly held onto the Minccino's paws with his jaw and pulled the Miccino right back to the halfway point.

"Now, I want you to tell me, where is the ribbon? I mean, surely this is way too much effort for something like a white ribbon. I bet it can't be worth all that much." Oswald stated, trying to persuade the Minccino into giving up the ribbon's location, rather than using violence to get the answer out of her. After all, it wasn't like she was going anywhere for a while.

Vanilla let out a surprised noise as she was yanked back to her previous spot. He's too strong for his own good perhaps? She decided to pay him back by smacking him the fact with her tail only twice. "I don't HAVE the ribbon. She's lying. I told you there was someone there that didn't like me, well there she is! She can't be as pretty and that's probably why she's accusing me of something I didn't do." Vanilla stated while squirming in the hole. She wiggled and twisted despite the fact she knew the Mienfoo would just yank her back. She decided on waiting to make her move to escape, wearing out his patience a little. She had to admit that he was a tough opponent, and had surprised her several times. She made an annoyed face as she realized she'd have to crawl back to Rayo and get him to find her some Oran Berries for all her injuries though.


Prima scowled at the Minccino. "LIAR!" She shouted and pointed at her with a claw. The Pokemon was getting her so worked up she wanted to scratch her tail fur off. "I know you took that ribbon!" She flexed her claws in anger and bared her teeth as she seemed about ready to lunge at the other Pokemon that was stuck in the tree. Her shiny fur was still puffed out in anger all the way to her oddly shaped tail. "Where did you hide it!"


The Minccino sighed and kicked her feet more. "I'm telling you I DON'T have your ribbon! A stupid Honchkrow has it okay!?"

Oswald nearly fell off the tree after the two smacks to the side of his head from the thief's tail, but quickly regained his grip on the tree branch, blinking a few times from the slight concussion that the blows might have caused. Well, it was obvious that he was going to need an Oran berry after all of this.

"Alright, where is the Honchkrow now? Is he deeper into the forest?" The mienfoo asked, wondering whether or not he should leave the outlaw to sit in her tree once he was finished interrogating her. After all, fighting her wasn't necessarily his job, and unless he took her wanted poster off the bulletin board, he certainly couldn't bring her in to claim the reward.

Vanilla was getting tired of talking with a tree muffling her voice and finally placed her feet against the tree and tried to yank herself out. But with no luck she stopped after a few times of trying to tug herself out. "Heck if I know. I met him near the beginning of the forest, made a bet with him, and lost the ribbon." She shrugged, than realized they wouldn't be able to see her shrug anyways.


Prima glared at the Minccino. "You lost my ribbon in a bet! It's important! It's special!" She shouted at her. "For a bandit you can't do anything right!" She let out several strings of insults on her stealing skills which irked Vanilla to no end. "I'm going to get it back from this Honchkrow! I have to!" Prima finally declared after catching her breath.


Vanilla smirked. "Yeah good luck, that Honchkrow has a huge mass of Murkrow that follow his every order, and he's powerful enough himself. Though I hear he has some nice treasure."

"Treasure or not, it's my duty to get back that ribbon. And if I have to plow through all those mangey birds, then so be it," Oswald said, using his jaw once again to pull the Minccino free from the tree. With no point in chasing her, Oswald simply used his claws to slowly slide down the tree, before popping an Oran berry into his mouth and devouring it whole.

He winced the wounds on his body healing almost immediately, making him feel refreshed and full of energy. He looked up at the duo and smiled, "You can come along if you want, I won't stop you,"

Vanilla flew back as she was yanked out of the tree. She rubbed her bottom, which still hurt from the swift attack and rubbed her paws too. She wiggled her toes a few times to make sure they weren't asleep and glanced at the Purrloin with an annoyed look. That rotten little cat got me in trouble. I'd love to teach her a lesson right about now and steal whatever she has in her satchel!

Her ears perked up at the sound of Oswald's invitation and assumed he was smiling at the stupid Purrloin. She licked her front paw pad a few times as it had splinters in it and tugged out a few pieces of wood and bark with her teeth. She realized she had left her pouch in a hidden spot she and Rayo visited and sighed in annoyance at having to travel without healing.


Prima glared at the Minccino. She was annoyed at the fact her ribbon had been stolen in the first place by the cocky gray fuzzball. Not looking so pretty now are you? Serves you right for stealing my ribbon. She smirked as she noticed how beat up the Minccino was and slid down after the Mienfoo.

"Sure I'll come!" Prima said with a smile. That dumb Minccino doesn't have to though... "My name is Prima by the way! I recently joined a team myself!" She said cheerily, forgetting her former rage. "I know I shouldn't have, but I came out here looking for my ribbon myself."

Oswald nodded, leaning against the tree and waiting for the Purrlion and Minciccio to come down and join him. He still had no idea why he was bringing the thief along, though she could become an asset if she was willing to come along. After all, dark type attacks did practically nothing to normal types, and her ranged attack would surely knock those flying birds out of the sky, and allow Oswald to strike them as they came down.

He looked up to the duo, and asked, "So tell me, what is so important about this ribbon anyways? I mean, I know a friend of yours gave it to you, but there has to be some other reason as to why you kept a hold of it."

The Minccino shrugged. "I just like ribbons. Not like a Guild member needs a plain ribbon like that anyways." She said and licked her other paw to check for splinters. It was clear, but she checked again to make sure. Her head still throbbed, but thankfully it had died down slightly. I'd love to steal an Oran Berry from the freaky colored Purrloin. She thought as she slowly approached the tree's center to get down.


Prima blinked at the question. "That ribbon.. Is just special. It's a gift! Gifts are special, and I won't take them for granted anymore!" She remembered being more spoiled and rotten than anything as a kit with her other siblings, and decided that ribbon was special enough to be cherished. It was the second gift she'd gotten besides the berry from the Guildmaster. "Wouldn't you take something back if it was stolen too?" She asked the Mienfoo bluntly. She knew her questions were blunt, but half the time they spilled out before she could rethink her question.

"Yeah, I would, but they'd have to take it off me first," Oswald said, getting off the tree and stepping away from it so that he wouldn't be in the duo's way. He started to stretch out a little, wanting to make sure that he wouldn't get a cramp in the middle of a crisis.

He then looked over at the Miniccno, and noticed how badly he had hurt her. With a frustrated sigh, Oswald dug through his bag and pulled out an Oran Berry. It wasn't like the Miniccno was going to be of any help to them in her current state.

"Here, take it. You'll need to stay healthy during our trip." Oswald stated, tossing the berry up to the Miniccno, hoping that she wouldn't just run off after eating it. Then again, why wouldn't she?

Vanilla caught the berry, unsure if she even wanted his generosity after all the fighting. She considered the options of whether the berry had a sleep seed or stun seed or something in it. She was an outlaw after all, and he could get a nice reward for turning her in. She weighed the options in her head while staring at the berry and then staring at him repeatedly.

As if I'm going to forget the sneaky moves he pulled. Vanilla thought as she poked the berry suspiciously.


Prima landed at the base on all fours and flexed her paws as she wiggled individual toes with each tiny claw on it. "Let's make those birds pay!" She caught sight of the berry flying towards the Minccino who caught it.

"Hey! Don't give that to her! She's a thief! She takes things that aren't hers and steals and probably hurts other Pokemon too for no reason! She's bad news and doesn't deserve that berry!"Prima leered at Vanilla as the chinchilla smirked at her comment and tossed the berry as if to taunt her. "You deserved to get beat up for stealing a ribbon that wasn't yours to begin with!"

"So? She isn't my problem at the moment. I can't really do anything to her until I take up the mission to bring her in. Besides, it'll be a lot easier having another pokemon fighting with us. Not only that, but she has a lot to gain, don't you Vanilla?" Oswald stated, revealing that he had known who Vanilla was the entire time. He had seen her wanted ad on the Bulletin Board, but never really wanted to take it, as all he would've gotten out of it was poke, and he really didn't want that right now.

"Besides, I beat her before, who says I can't do it again? And now that you're with me, she's at a disadvantage." Oswald added, watching Vanilla fiddle around with the Oran Berry he had tossed up to her. He frowned, but her lack of trust in him was to be expected.

"Oh, and before I forget, I'm Oswald, leader of exploration team Blazing Glory, it's nice to meet you Prima."

The Minccino snorted at his declaration of beating her. "It's not over until the other Pokemon faints! Granted I'm sure that's easier to say after eating a berry and hiding all the wounds you got." She had looked away and glanced at him from the side. "Maybe I do have something to gain, but how do I know you won't just take on another fight with me hm? I don't want to get in your way again. Or you could just resort to kissing some Pokemon again." She shrugged and bit into the berry after deciding she was stuck with her choice anyways. Vanilla decided she could easily just take the treasure, ribbon, and vanish while they took care of the birds for her anways.


Prima shot the Minccino a dirty look. "Doesn't look like you won." She perked her ears as she heard the word kiss. "What does she mean by that Oswald? A kiss?" She had no idea what that was. "But how do we know she won't just be leading us into a trap?" Prima exclaimed suddenly.

Oswald sighed, "Don't worry about it, besides, Murkrow and Honchkrows only come out at night, and it's not even close to sunset yet, so we have plenty of time to find them. Besides, how great will your reputation be when all the other outlaws found out that you kissed a guild member? And not some high ranking guild member, but a newbie at that."

"And besides, who ever said she was going to lead us anywhere? I'm going to assume that they're hiding deeper into the forest, so our best bet would be to search there. As for picking another fight, I'd have to say I don't trust you either, after all, you're more likely to run off and take everything for yourself. But, I doubt you want to see those birds get away with besmirching your pride, right? So, for now, we have a mutual hate towards this Honchkrow, so I say we make a temporary truce. Afterwards, you can go back out into the woods and do whatever you like until some other guild member takes you in." Oswald explained, still refusing to explain what the whole "kiss" business was about.

Vanilla rolled her eyes. "As great as your reputation is when Rayo starts spreading rumors near and far about you kissing me." She preened her fur out carefully as you spoke. "But a truce sounds fine." For now anyways. "Why don't you lead since you're such a good Guild member after all? I'm sure that cat over there will trust you more after all." She gave them both a mock smile.

Prima seemed unsure about Vanilla coming along, but decided if Oswald was okay with it she'd back him up in case anything happened. "Okay... But I still don't trust her!" She shot Vanilla a glance as if to say not to start anything. "But Oswald, what's the kiss thing?" She asked again while she walked around him two times.

Oswald scoffed, "Why should I care about my reputation? It's just a state of mind, and besides, I don't care what pokemon think about me. You have far more to lose than I certainly do,"

After that, he started to walk, following the path back to the tree where he and Vanilla had initially fought, and decided that it would be better to explain the situation while they moved, instead of just standing around and wasting precious daylight.

"As for that "kiss", Vanilla was trying to put me to sleep using her dull song, so I closed her mouth with my own. That way, I'd be able to keep my other paw free, and hit her again, but I underestimated her strength, and she pushed off before I could do anything," Oswald explained, not very embarassed by the event, as it was clearly for a more tactical reason than anything else.

"Anyways, I was going to lead, and still am. I've trained in this forest for a long time. Heck, I practically lived in this place." Oswald recounted, even remembering the old tree that he fought Vanilla at.

"Forcing yourself upon an innocent Minccino in the forest and kissing her and then trying to punch her in the stomach. I'll have to write a song about it." Vanilla stated as she walked behind the two while nibbling on the berry. She took some time to smooth out the fur tuft on her head carefully until she was satisfied enough with it.

Prima tilted her head to one side while following Oswald. She was confused about the kiss thing. "So that's a kiss is. But my parents always said it was supposed to be romantic and special though. Does that mean you're fighting and in love with an outlaw?" She asked with her mouth agape. "I don't think the Guild would like that very much... I wonder what Kaze would say about this..." She trailed off as she stared at the ground while thinking again.

Vanilla yawned lazily while she followed behind at a steady pace. "Don't get your hopes up Prima. He doesn't look like the lovey-dovey type." She pointed out. "I bet he's never even had a crush." She snickered.

"Oh, like you're the poster pokemon for innocence. And I'll have you know that I did have a crush, back before I became a member of the guild. But why should you care about my romantic life? Unless you actually enjoyed it," Oswald replied, smirking at Vanilla for a brief moment before returning his attention to the path ahead of them.

He nearly broke his calm composure when he heard Prima talk about how his act was the real definition for a kiss, and couldn't help but sigh, "No, that's not what a kiss is. A kiss is when two pokemon love each other very much, and touch their lips together, that's all. No fighting involved. By the way, who is Kaze?"

Vanilla sucked in her breath. "No but I can look the part for one thing. And I highly doubt you had a crush, you're probably just saying that." She thought for a moment. "Yes I did enjoy the part where you tried to punch me in the stomach the most." She added in at last. Her quick thinking had been dulled for a moment as she searched for a response to his jabbing comment.

Prima tilted her head. "Sooo you were faking it, isn't that a bad thing to do?" She stopped at the question about Kaze. "He's a friend I made. He helped me get my berries back when I dropped them one day. Kaze could probably explain why you kissed her." Prima said and bounced ahead a little. Her fur finally stayed completely flat and she looked around at everything in the forest while trying to observe where they were going exactly.

Oswald chuckled at Vanilla's pause, his comment wielding its intended event. However, his stomach started feeling ill once again, but he ignored the feeling. Instead, he focused on the path ahead, finally reaching the tree he and Vanilla had fought at.

"Actually, she might still be around here. She was a Lopunny, and she called herself Vermillion. I don't know why, but the name kinda stuck. She taught me how to fight, and helped me train before leaving one day. But, like I said, it was just a crush, nothing more than that," Oswald explained, remembering how she would always punch that same decrepit tree with Drain Punch, just to see if it worked on anything other than pokemon. If only she were still around...

"Huh? But I already explained why I...Oh nevermind," Oswald replied, frowning a little at how...thick headed the purrlion was. Honestly, how old was she, because there was no way that she would be anything but an adolescent.

Vanilla rolled her eyes at the description. "Of course it'd be a Lopunny." Vanilla had never liked them, they were too curvy and pretty for their own good most of the time. She, of course, considered herself much cuter than any Lopunny out there. She pursed her lips together in annoyance. "Prima, you're pretty dull aren't you? Like a blunt stick or something." She said after hearing her comment.


Prima didn't quite understand still, but seemed distracted by Vanilla's comment. "I'm not dull! I just don't get something!" She responded back. Prima was getting more annoyed with the Minccino than anything because of the insults. She gave her a look that she considered dark and Vanilla merely disregarded her, much to her frustration. Prima never liked being ignored.

"What, do you have a problem with Lopunny's Vanilla?" Oswald asked, wondering why the Minciccno seemed so negative towards his description. Not that it bothered him at all, he was just curious. And, speaking of curiosity, Oswald couldn't help but turn back to Prima, a more posing question in his mind.

"So Prima, what made you want to join the Guild?" Oswald asked, "For me, it was to finally express my need to explore the unknown, and tackle challenges that no Pokemon had ever faced before."