Victory Road Sample: It's not like Karako hasn't done this before. Hell, this is practically normal! Wandering byways and back trails through thick brush outside of inhabited areas, searching for food or fate or fortune despite the ever-present dangers of the outdoors. Native fauna and flora with massively oversized teeth and talons and stingers and spines and venom sacks and poisonous flesh and projectile weapons and--
And no weapons. Not a single motherfucking knife. Not even one lonely little blade. Nor a single can of miraculous bubbly elixir to lift his spirits and free his mind. He tried to find some--tearing through the hive of the friendly-but-frightening 'mom' like a hairy, honking barefoot tornado, pulling open drawers and emptying the contents of her thermal hull onto the floor--but to no avail.
Well, some avail.
He'd found some glass bottles of sweet, bubbly soda, which had seemed like a victory at the time. It wasn't until he'd made his way out into the wilds that he'd tried chugging one, only to be let down when it had no effects save to make his sniff nub hurt terribly for a few seconds. He'd broken the bottle on a tree, so he was slightly more armed than before, but mostly he was frustrated. Soft-bodied and warm and hornless and nearly-unarmed. Worst of all, he was disappointed.
But the Mirthful Messiahs had not abandoned him in this tamed jungle of mostly-inert plantlife, obviously not. His new friend, Gigglesnarl, was bright-eyed and coarse-furred, sharp of tooth and claw, and happy to lead the way. He didn't know where they were going--he didn't speak purrbeast and Gigglesnarl didn't speak Alternian--but they were going somewhere, and Gigglesnarl had already found him a piece of candy. Just one piece, but it was pretty clean, and still in its crinkly blue wrapper. They... had disagreed over who got to eat the candy, at least until Karako traded his new friend the bag of desiccated vine drupes and nut creature snacks for it. That had settled things between them. And now he could see they were heading into a cluster of bushes covered in fat, blue berries.
A veritable feast!
Uh.
Hm.
If they're not deadly poison?
It's never occured to him before that he might not be able to eat something (that wasn't trying to eat him). He's seen Trolls and wildlife both die from eating the wrong this or that, a price paid for picking the wrong leaf or berry or stem. It never worried him because (as a purple blood), he can survive pretty much anything. Even that one swollen, pustule-covered fruit that made the organs and soft tissues of that gobblefiend dissolve so all the rest of its insides fell on the ground and attracted a lot of ripperwasps for some reason....
While he's pondering, though, Gigglesnarl has stopped and begun stabbing fat berries onto each one of his six sharp claws.
The.... conversation... that ensues might not be intelligible, but the pointing and gesturing between the wayward young clown and his Galarian Meowth might be more facilitative of real communication.
"Honk?"
"Nyarrrrl?"
"Honk! Honk! Honk!"
"Nyaaaarl."
"Honk!"
"Nyaaaa!"
"Honk!!"
He's so relieved to learn that eating his fill of berries isn't a terrible mistake that he'll regret immediately that he could just.... he could just motherfucking honk. Instead, he grabs a double handful of berries and flashes Gigglesnarl a bright, toothy grin.
... and thus concludes this episode of moments paused seconds before disaster.
Stupid character limit >:o\
And no weapons. Not a single motherfucking knife. Not even one lonely little blade. Nor a single can of miraculous bubbly elixir to lift his spirits and free his mind. He tried to find some--tearing through the hive of the friendly-but-frightening 'mom' like a hairy, honking barefoot tornado, pulling open drawers and emptying the contents of her thermal hull onto the floor--but to no avail.
Well, some avail.
He'd found some glass bottles of sweet, bubbly soda, which had seemed like a victory at the time. It wasn't until he'd made his way out into the wilds that he'd tried chugging one, only to be let down when it had no effects save to make his sniff nub hurt terribly for a few seconds. He'd broken the bottle on a tree, so he was slightly more armed than before, but mostly he was frustrated. Soft-bodied and warm and hornless and nearly-unarmed. Worst of all, he was disappointed.
But the Mirthful Messiahs had not abandoned him in this tamed jungle of mostly-inert plantlife, obviously not. His new friend, Gigglesnarl, was bright-eyed and coarse-furred, sharp of tooth and claw, and happy to lead the way. He didn't know where they were going--he didn't speak purrbeast and Gigglesnarl didn't speak Alternian--but they were going somewhere, and Gigglesnarl had already found him a piece of candy. Just one piece, but it was pretty clean, and still in its crinkly blue wrapper. They... had disagreed over who got to eat the candy, at least until Karako traded his new friend the bag of desiccated vine drupes and nut creature snacks for it. That had settled things between them. And now he could see they were heading into a cluster of bushes covered in fat, blue berries.
A veritable feast!
Uh.
Hm.
If they're not deadly poison?
It's never occured to him before that he might not be able to eat something (that wasn't trying to eat him). He's seen Trolls and wildlife both die from eating the wrong this or that, a price paid for picking the wrong leaf or berry or stem. It never worried him because (as a purple blood), he can survive pretty much anything. Even that one swollen, pustule-covered fruit that made the organs and soft tissues of that gobblefiend dissolve so all the rest of its insides fell on the ground and attracted a lot of ripperwasps for some reason....
While he's pondering, though, Gigglesnarl has stopped and begun stabbing fat berries onto each one of his six sharp claws.
The.... conversation... that ensues might not be intelligible, but the pointing and gesturing between the wayward young clown and his Galarian Meowth might be more facilitative of real communication.
"Honk?"
"Nyarrrrl?"
"Honk! Honk! Honk!"
"Nyaaaarl."
"Honk!"
"Nyaaaa!"
"Honk!!"
He's so relieved to learn that eating his fill of berries isn't a terrible mistake that he'll regret immediately that he could just.... he could just motherfucking honk. Instead, he grabs a double handful of berries and flashes Gigglesnarl a bright, toothy grin.
... and thus concludes this episode of moments paused seconds before disaster.