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Arrowfoot — Chapter 4: Team Rebirth
Published: 2012-01-20 06:09:07 +0000 UTC; Views: 617; Favourites: 2; Downloads: 0
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Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Defenders of WarmthExcerpt from Chapter Four: Team Rebirth
Full Chapter can be found here - [link]
Previous Chapter's artwork - [link]
Next Chapter's artwork - [link]
Location: Tallgrass Plains
"Vulpix, move!" Bulbasaur said as he dodged to the side, having apparently sensed an oncoming attack that Vulpix didn't detect. She jumped aside as well, just barely avoiding a razor-sharp gust of pressurized wind that cut through the thick grass as if it was nothing more than slightly thicker air. In its wake, the severed tops of the blades of grass seemed to hover in air, suspended in a moment in time; but, inevitably, they fell to the ground, creating an unimpaired view of their attacker.
Vulpix immediately switched to the offensive, firing off a powerful ember attack in the direction the razor wind had come from. She cut off the ember almost immediately, however, for three reasons. Firstly, she glimpsed the bug-type running out of the way, causing her attack to miss. Secondly, the already singed areas of grass were showing signs of lighting after this second round of fire attacks, and she didn't want to expose them to any more heat for fear of a full-blown grass fire breaking out.
And most importantly, Bulbasaur was scared stiff of the flickering beginnings of the flames.
I can't keep on doing this… Bulbasaur is terrified. It's my best attack, but… I shouldn't. Not if Bulbasaur can't stand it.
She heard Scyther coming in for another close-range attack, and knew immediately that he was coming in to finish off the job he had started with Bulbasaur. This time, Vulpix didn't call out to warn her partner. Instead, she jumped to intercept the attacker.
Due to the scyther's advantage of speed, the tackle that she landed was sloppy. But it did what she needed it to do. It distracted the scyther and forced him to use his slash attack on Vulpix, making a long but shallow scratch down her back. Her vision blacked out momentarily as she felt pain sizzle through her nerves to her brain.
Before the scyther could recover enough to use another attack and finish the stunned vulpix off, he was backing off as a hail of sharp leaves peppered his head and upper body. Soon he had disappeared back into the sea of grass.
As Vulpix quickly came back to full awareness, Bulbasaur said in a half-shout, "What are you doing? Use your ember, not tackle! You have the type advantage, and it's the only way we'll win!"
"But Bulbasaur, you-"
"Don't worry about me! Worry about staying alive!" Bulbasaur said, though his eyes still darted off towards the smoldering grass every now and then. "Besides, even if it's fire… If it's you…"
Whatever he was trying to say was cut off as he suddenly extended his vines above and past Vulpix, somehow managing to catch the scyther in the process of his sneak-attack; the scyther was targeting Vulpix now, understanding that her speed and type were the biggest threat to him. Bulbasaur somehow managed to grab both the scythes, one in each of his vines, effectively stopping him for the moment.
"Do it now!" Bulbasaur said, gritting his teeth in pain as the edges of the scythes dug into his vines. He kept his grip firm, though, managing to hold the scyther's blades nearly completely still despite the scyther's obvious struggling.
"But your vines-"
Bulbasaur's eyes were still wide with fear as he looked at Vulpix. In that glance, she saw that he still didn't trust her. Not completely. She was a fire-type, and he couldn't forget that. And he knew that his vines could get burned if she attacked now, while he was still immobilizing the enemy. He was afraid. He was afraid not just of the fire, but of the ones who could make that fire. In that sense, Vulpix was no better than Charmeleon, nor was she any better than the fire that had destroyed his home and changed his life.
Despite the obvious fear that seemed amplified in eyes filled with tears of pain, he shouted out, "Forget about the vines! Just do it!"
Vulpix wasted only one more moment to hesitation. Then, with all her might, she summoned the fire inside of her and propelled it outwards towards the scyther.
************************************************
All right. I made a picture for this chapter... Now forget it exists. It could be worse, but I just don't like it in general. I got pretty sloppy with it towards the end, but that's only because it would have been maybe marginally better had I spent more time on it. This one just did not want to work out how I wanted it to work out.
Oh, and I'm back to bad picture quality since I'm back at college and lacking in the way of scanners.
Anyway, comments? Criticisms? Of the writing or the drawing?
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Comments: 8
Nice job with this picture for the chapter, though I have to agree that Scyther just doesn't look like one... I already read and reviewed your latest chapter, there is no need to remind me. XD
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I think I can sort of recognize your art style now; if I randomly saw one of your drawings without prior knowledge that it was yours, I bet I could identify it as being yours. ^-^ I guess most prominent is the way you do faces and expressions (by the way, I really like Vulpix's expression, and kudos, as that's a difficult angle). But about this picture--I'm impressed that you actually took the time to draw individual blades of grass. Gives it some sort of an effect or something--you can definitely tell that they're in a sea of tall grass. I doubt that I'd have the patience to do that. Though...it seems that the cut grass in the wake of the razor wind should have their chopped-off tops hovering in the air, as the blades of wind are still there in the frame. Minor details, just ignore me.
Anyways, on to the chapter itself. You did a really great job characterizing the "flame-brain" as a jerk. Poor Vulpix. I can't wait to see his reaction when he awakens. Karmic justice! 
I like the idea of having abra quadruplets acting as communication between the guilds. And already, Team Rebirth knows that two new recruits have appeared at other guilds. Quite an efficient way to gossip.
And ah! Two instances of involuntary(?) humming! Seems like this might be important later on! I wonder what it could mean...
Poor Bulbasaur. Not only was he orphaned, but he seems to be traumatized as well. Actually, fear and trauma seem to have quite a tight grip on Team Rebirth. Angst is certainly justified in their case. Actually, I'm not fond of angst-ridden characters in general, but there's something about these two that make them likeable. I think it might be because they have personalities--angsty doesn't completely define them.
And Edge. He's certainly very dangerous in tall grass (reminds me of Pokémon Snap). Nice teamwork between Vulpix and Bulbasaur though. It's tough writing for more than two characters simultaneously in an action scene, but you pulled that off well. Anyways, Edge didn't answer Bulbasaur's question. I wonder what his motives are.
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Yeah, I was going to have the cut-off tops of the grass still in the picture, logically speaking... And then I didn't. Yet again, I had quite a few instances of laziness with this picture.
Sadly, to keep the story moving, we won't see Charmeleon right when he awakens. We will, however, see if he starts acting any differently in general. He is supposed to be a parallel to the bullies of the other games, though I forget if I came up with him in order to have that parallel or if it was coincidental. There are a lot of things (especially later on) that I planned first, and only then realized how well they related to the games.
And though Team Rebirth knows of the new recruits, they have no idea that they're anything special... Nor will they, for now at least. I'm just trying to reference the other characters' stories as much as possible in order to keep the story from falling apart into an incoherent mess. Same thing happened with other characters mentioning the fire in Emerald Forest. ^_^
Humming indeed! Why is a tune stuck in Vulpix's head? What could it possibly mean? 
I'm planning on toning down the angst with these two now that I have their characters fairly well established, though that's still going to be a central part of their identities and their interactions.
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I'll be reading this chapter soon. As for the pic, well... Scyther just doesn't look like Scyther. xp Bulbasaur actually looks pretty good. Vulpix is also good, but I think her snout looks a little too... blocky. You know what I mean?
Talk about your Pokemon LITERALLY jumping out of tall grass at you! XD
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The blocky snout was definitely is my laziness showing... I normally work hard to get it right, but I was getting frustrated with everything by then.
And yeah, Scyther has too many freaky little design things for me to get right. 
And throughout writing the whole chapter, I'm thinking, "Ah, the irony. Pokémon jumping out of tall grass at other pokémon." ^_^
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I think it was Scyther's little head designs that made him look weird the most. Still haven't had time to read that next chapter; I woke up, had to do the dreaded dishes, and then my friends dragged into a Friday night party of playing a card game called Munchkin. XD Oh, except for that hour of Roller Coaster Tycoon. Good times...
You know, this reminds me that my brother is taking an art class at college! 
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I'd say both. ^_^ I just tend to write a lot in general, and pokémon just happens to be what I write the most about. But yeah, I'm just doing these drawings to see if I might possibly improve my relatively nonexistent drawing skills if I practiced consistently over time. Because even if I consider myself primarily a writer, I would feel awesome if I could gain somewhat decent drawing skills.
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"somewhat decent drawing skills."
Well, I guess that puts me at "below beginner" level. XD
When it comes to Pokemon, even my experienced brother can't draw them right. Considering they come in all shapes and sizes, yours were pretty good in the first place!
I copied a Wurple once... Then I drew an abnormally large leaf in the background and ruined the picture. O,o
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