Nighttime Meetup

Tallulah the Buizel walked on the soft ground in the Cattail Marsh. Water surrounded her, and with one wrong move the water weasel could slip and fall into the murky waters around her... Not that she was worried. As a Water type, Tally didn't mind the water, and if she fell in there really was no reason to worry.

Overhead, the sky was dark and a bright crescent moon shown through the few clouds drifting about. A slight wind blew some of the mist and fog from the Mire and occasionally there was a light fron an Illumise or Volbeat. Tally could hear the sounds of nocturnal Pokemon going about their nightly lives around her.

Tally had good reason (to her at least) to be out alone this late at night. She had heard that there was an extra challenge at night around here, with tougher Pokemon coming out when the sun went down. Tally really liked challenges and getting stronger, so she had prepared for this trip by sleeping through the day at an inn in the nearby Rainfront Town so she could have the most energy at this time of night.

The Buizel looked up at the night sky, examining the pretty stars peeking through the holes between the clouds. They we beautiful, but as Tally admired them she felt her foot give way on a very soft and muddy stretch of land. She slipped and fell into the water with a loud splash and cursed as she picked herself up and moved back onto land.

Kim the Axew had been lost for a while. She came into this forest with her friends. But that was a while ago. It had gotten dark now. But the stars and moon gave her enough light to see. She was avoiding pokemon knowing they where stronger at night. She wasn't afraid of them but she did not wish to fight right now. She just wanted to get home.

After a while she heard a splash. Sighing she figured she should at least try to ask someone for directions back to Rainfront town. She approached the splash.

Some ways away, an Abra slept. Leif, to be specific. Self proclaimed small time adventurer, Leif happened to go on his own explorations of sorts, often to lead to a series of unfortunate events. As it is widely known, Abra spend much of their time asleep, and when startled teleport. Even worse, being an "adventurer," Leif had often gotten restless dreams of explorations. As such, when he was awakened, he often befell a worse fate than the original threat the teleport allowed him to escape.

Such was not an occasion of an unfortunate dream, Leif was, rather, quite awake. He had his 18 hours of sleep not too long ago, and had decided to explore Pecha Forest. He was, a short way in, startled by a falling branch. Normally, Leif can control short range teleports, however he tried to go a little too far and lost control, landing himself ten feet above a body of water.

It took less than a few seconds for Leif to realize his situation. This was a few seconds too slow. Leif had fallen with a huge splash, getting this Buizel, even more so, wet. Leif, unfortunately, was not known for his talent in swimming, and ended up struggling until he found a low hanging branch, which he used to pull himself up to land.

He fell limp to the ground, not far behind the feet of this orange Pokemon who clearly had no qualms with water. After coughing, getting back to his feet, and clearing the water from his eyes, he looked around. So, this was a marsh of some sort. Who knows how far away this is from treasure town? And is this Pokemon friendly? Only one way to find out... "Uhh... Hey... My name's Leif, what's yours?" Pray to Arceus that this wasn't another savage living a violent, illiterate life in the wild...

As Tally began to climb out of the marsh, there was another splash that drenched her even more. She cursed again before climbing out of the water. On land a green lizard with a pair if tusks was waiting for her. Nearby another Pokemon crawled out of the water and eventually picked himself up and headed over to her. This Pokemon was yellow and humanoid with some fox-like features. Tally presumed he was the one who made the second splash. She wondered what they were doing out this late, but she knew that they were probably wondering the same as her.

Tally glanced down at herself. She deflated the tube around her neck which had involuntarily inflated as she had fallen earlier and was able to see her body a bit better. What Tally saw, though, was not that helpful. Her lower torso was smeared with dirt and mud and her paws and tails were in a similar state. She already had noticed how the rest of her body was soaked. She wiped her paws on her (also soiled) Defense Scarf while trying to keep herself from blushing. Slipping into the water and coming out so dirty like that was not a good first impression, especially in her case. Tally wanted to be known as a strong and famous explorer, not a klutz!

The yellow Pokemon introduced himself as Leif and the tusked one was silent. "Sorry 'bout that, I'm Tally the Buizel," she said, trying to sound calm (Tally was a little tense after her fall) "I'm pretty much okay, but are you guys?" Tally directed the question a bit more to Leif than the other Pokemon, as he seemed to have been pretty worn out after getting out of the water, but really either one could answer it if they wanted to. She was still curious about what they were doing here anyway.

"I'm Kim... Do you guys know where we are? I'm a little lost." She said looking around. The other two there very dirty. Fortunately her scales helped dirt stay off her. The shone slightly in the moon light. The abra who called himself Lief was clearly not from around here. She had never seen one in this marsh before. He looked pretty odd with his eyes closed like that. The buizel was a little cool. She always liked playing with them. Their little neck floaties where really fun to poke. She was tempted to poke it but held herself back.

Leif heard responses from two directions, and logically chose to address the first question first. "Yeah... I'm fine. But- uh- yeah water isn't my favorite. Deep water, anyway..." Leif turned to the scaled one to address the latter question. "Uhh, your guess is as good as mine... A minute ago I was in Pecha forest until a teleport went haywire and brought me here."

Leif, as the Buizel suspected, was wondering what the others were here for. "Well, okay, so you got here by accident... Uhh, Kim, and I got here by accident so... Tally, if you don't mind my asking, what is your story?" Leif brushed off the last large clump of mud that was hanging onto his leg. He wrung the special band out, which hung around his neck. He was glad these Pokemon weren't hostile... Perhaps the three could help each-other get through this marsh.

Tally nodded to the others as they said why they were here, her questions being answered. When they got to her, the Buizel shrugged. "I heard there were stronger and different Pokmon out at night so I decided to come here and train, that's all," she explained casually. "You two mustn't be very lucky to be here for those reasons, but then again a little bit must be on your side cuz you didn't end up alone. We're in a place known as the Cattail Marsh if I remember correctly. I'm not too far in, so if you wanna head out A-S-A-P I guess I can just retrace my steps."

"Well... I know where we are. I'm just got lost for a while. Your splashing saved me hours of wondering. But if your exploring can I join you?" Kim asked. She liked exploring with others. This group seemed diverse and interesting as well.
Kim sighed finding herself poking Tally's neck floaty.

"Well... I was exploring myself, I see no need to leave at this moment. Besides, it's safer if we stick together." Leif shrugged. "I've been to the Spiral Staircase, surely this can't be as bad as that... Mountains, caves, rock slides, powerful enemies... Here they have what... powerful enemies and..." Leif shuddered a bit as he said it, "water... Okay, maybe this place is not my favorite."

"Well, there is safety in numbers. Since we're all here, we might as well explore," Tally agreed. She really didn't mind the company of two other Pokemon. All the times she went into dungeons alone she always ran into someone, so the Buizel was pretty much used to it. "As for you, Leif, you did mention something about teleporting, right? If you can do that, maybe you won't have to worry about water as much," Tally suggested. "I've never been to the Spiral Staircase myself, but I'll take your word for it. It sounds pretty dangerous. Perhaps I'll go there one day."

"Unless there's awesome treasure there I'll pass. I'd rather go somewhere pretty. Like that guild in the sky. I hear its pretty up there. I'm not sure how I would be able to get there but it sounds awesome!" Kim said. To her bird Pokemon where very lucky. She didn't feel lucky to be an Axew. The couldn't do anything special like most other dragon types. But that didn't make her feel sad. She just wish she could see the underwater and sky ecosystems. They seemed neat to her. Exploring ether would make her very happy. For now all she could do was explore places she could get to.

Leif gave an embarrassed glance at Tally, "I... uhh... My teleports require a lot of focus. That's how I got here. A teleport without a free mind is a roll of the dice, I could end up in treasure town, I could end up falling down Mt. Frostmeer. That's why I didn't teleport out of the water..." Leif looked down, failing to hide any sense of shame derived from the incident.

He turned his attention, "Yeah, there isn't too much up there, just a couple TMs I could use. And in the staircase... well, it's a cave, but my friend and I, we did find a massive glowing mushroom. That was a spectacular sight. There's some cool stuff out there, even if you can't go in the sky or water."

"Heh, caves are nothing. I once explored a whole ruin with two others. I'm not getting into anything right now, but it was a pretty...interesting time for all of us." Tally gave a cheesy grin at the thought of that previous adventure. Although it was pretty awkward at the time, currently Tally could just laugh it off. "And by the way, you should be happy that you're able to teleport. That's a skill I'll never have," the Buizel said, a little bit jealous. She always wanted psychic powers of her own, but she knew she probably would never have them.

At the mention of that guild in the sky, Tally's smile turned into a frown. She wanted to go there, too, but she didn't know how to either. "Now, I dunno about any treasure or pretty sights or rare treasure, but don't you think we might as well stick around an' explore? We're all here anyway, so why leave? We can go once we're done," she said to Kim, hoping she would stay. If her hunch was correct, Kim was a Dragon type, and Dragon Types were known to be pretty strong. A Pokemon like her could make a powerful ally.

(I'm going to point out she never said she wanted to explore underwater. She thought it... But you are a Psychic type. Try not to do that to much though.)

"I love exploring. Its fun! Although I am a bit tired I don't think it could hurt to explore a bit. Besides like Lief said. There are still plenty of places to see. Perhaps we can find one here." Kim said smiling. Some exploring might help her get into shape. Her parents always tried to get her to stop playing and try to train for the guild. It wasn't that she didn't like exploring. She just never saw a reason to when her friends where around. That was a while ago though and most of her old friends had went to join the guild. She had already decided she would go soon. Perhaps these guys might make a nice team and Exploring was the best way to find out.

(Sorry, I can be a little dyslexic sometimes, I though she had vocalized it. Sorry bout' that gov'.)

"Well then!" exclaimed Leif peremptorily, "Sounds like we all want to explore. Is that what I'm hearing? Let's go!" Leif, not paying attention, began walking with a beckoning wave of his hand. Unfortunately, however, he ran himself into a tree while he was more focused on talking, and less focused on... well, moving and evading. "Oww!" He fell to the ground. In a lame attempt to make himself look better he exclaimed, "and that, folks, is an example of what not to do!"