A fish on dry land (Invite Only)

ENERGY: 10/20

Bait was bored again.

She found herself bored at almost all times; it was almost as though she had some sort of condition. Normally, she could satisfy this boredom by messing with the many non-sentient Pokemon that populated the surroundings of the small pond (which, it should be noted, is where she spends most of her days), but sometimes there were days when she just couldn't stay there without losing her mind.

Thus, the undersized Carvanha found herself wandering aimlessly through the Shadowhue Forest, looking for something to bash in or an item to sell.

(Now, you may be wondering: How in the HELL is a Carvanha traversing the Shadowhue Forest? The answer is rather simple: she does it awkwardly. She used to make do by using her fins as legs, but this was both exhausting and (according to some nerd that came by the pond) permanently damaging, so she bought a cart low enough for her to steer, and began using that instead. Incidentally, Bait found that all of her remaining money - a thousand Poke - had been stolen when she took the cart out for a spin. She'd vowed to get back at the little bastard that stole the money, but hadn't gotten around to looking for him yet - and likely never would.)

Bait's thought processes (which had been on the subject of that one yellow Magikarp she'd met long ago) were interrupted when the cart she'd been riding halted suddenly. "Damn it," she muttered as she looked over the edge, checking up on whatever she'd bumped into. A pokemon, it seemed. A million and one ways to prank sleeping Pokemon popped up in her mind, but she stomped down on them; she'd learned the hard way not to mess with Pokemon in wild forests. Maybe in Grassveil, or in the Small Pond, but not in the wild. "Hey, you alright?" She asked, looking down on the Pokemon that lay in the grass.

Brian was wandering through the shrouded areas of Shadowhue once again, looking for something to do. No one was around the area at the moment, leading to Brian becoming more bored in the process. It also didn't help that he had already seen plenty of Shadowhue already, causing this already dull forest to become even duller in his eyes. Usually, Brian was able to find something to do with his time even when he was alone, but in this current scenario he couldn't think of anything other than to continue walking in hopes of finding something interesting.

Brian's wishes would soon be granted in a strange way as some object he hadn't noticed bumped into him. The resulting impact caused Brian to be pushed back slightly and fall to the ground on his back. He wasn't really injured by the impact, though a bit ruffled by the surprise of the event. He then heard someone talk to him for a quick second and looked up to see a fish like pokemon in some sort of kart. Seeing a potential companion, Brian immediately perked up, ignoring the pokemon's question and letting his excitement take hold of him.

"A fish pokemon out of water! Wow, that's so cool! You're using this cart thingy to keep yourself on land or something like that! That's really really cool! And look at those multi colored scales, so cool looking!" Brian said, jumping up and beginning to analyze this new pokemon, smiling all the while. He had finally found someone to hang out with today, and it was with a pokemon he'd never seen before to boot. Today had gotten much more interesting, and Brian's gut feeling told him that there were going to be some fun times ahead.

Energy: 12(22 - 10)

Bait frowned; she wasn't sure she liked the manic look on the Chimchar. "Uh, yeah. I used to walk around using my fins as legs, but apparently that would have disabled me permanently, so I bought this thing." She continued frowning at the overenthusiastic Chimchar, contemplating something (she wasn't actually sure precisely where her thoughts were going, just that they were going), then smiled. "Name's Bait, a Carvanha. I live in the Small Pond - the fastest fish in the place. And you're a... Chimchar, right?"

Now that she thought about it, Bait was rather excited about having company in her aimless wanderings (or perhaps they wouldn't be aimless, now that she'd bumped into what could be an adventurer). Passing the time was always better with someone to bounce thoughts off on, or at least someone to use as a meat shield (BAD BAIT, she thought). Plus, she hardly ever interacted with non-water types - at least, not ones that weren't trying to kill her.

"So, what're you doing in the lonesome Shadowhue? Looking for treasure? Hoping to vent your frustrations on some poor feral 'mon? Just walking around aimlessly? 'Cuz that's totally what I'm doing."

"Oh, well nice to meet you Bait. If I could swim, I would totally want to race you."Brian said, distracting himself from his excitement to greet the Carvanna before going back to analyzing. He had always been like this whenever seeing something new to him. Taking time to stare and analyze every detail of whatever he had just discovered for the first time. Whether it was a Pokemon, location, or even food item, Brian would always take a little time to take it in for himself.

"What am I doing? Well, I'm just trying to find something to do for the day. My usual buddy that I hang out with is out for the day and I was bored so I started wandering. Now I've found a new friend!"  Brian said, grinning even wider as he talked to his new companion. It was always nice to meet new friends and conversate with them, getting to see what their personalalities were like and how they thought. From the way Bait spoke along with her demeanor, she seemed like an interesting pokemon to be around which got Brian more excited for what might happen in the future with her.

The simian being was creeping Bait out.

"You're creeping me out," Bait said frankly. She pushed off a little with her cart, rolling away from the Chimchar, then stopped the cart when she went to what she thought was a safe distance. "No offense, of course; it's just that when I see you I imagine a clingy serial killer staring at his victim, or something."

The little Pokemon (And it was little; even without the cart, Bait would be almost a foot taller than it - and she was small for her species) was staring at her intensely (intently as well, perhaps?), scrutinizing her for some reason she didn't want to imagine. Her initial excitement at finally having something to pass the time faded, turning into uneasiness. The thing was wearing a pink scarf; there was no way it wasn't psychotic in some manner or form.

The joke didn't do much to ease Bait. "Look, could you stop staring at me like you want to dissect me?"

Hearing the Carvanna's words, Brian immediately snapped out of his "analyzing mode" and started thinking about more than just studying this new pokemon too him. It was a bad habit of his to analyze a new pokemon like this, but this mostly didn't take too long as he usually started a conversation with the pokemon before things got too awkward.  However in cases like this, Brian couldn't help but become interested in such an intriguingly unique site. This was the first time he had ever seen a fish like pokemon find a way to move around on land and with such a premise, how could he not get intrigued?

"Oh no, I made things really awkward again. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to act like how you described me. I was just interested in seeing a cool looking fish pokemon that found a way to be on dry land. I'm sorry..." Brian said as he turned away from Bait, blushing in embarrassment.  He hoped that despite his unintentionally creepy introduction that the two of them could still be friends.

"Uh, it's cool. Cool. I look kind of insane to some people, myself." Bait looked around, vaguely wondering what she'd use to excuse herself.

Except... While she wasn't having fun, really, she sure as hell wasn't bored. She was doing something; having a conversation with another sentient being and, if not enjoying it, at least being engaged in it. "Say, are you going anywhere? Because I don't really have anything to do, and I'm mostly just passing the time here, rolling around on my awesome-as-hell cart.

"Actually," Bait said, placing her fin on her 'chin', "What're you doing here in the first place? I mean, I'm here because there's nothing to do whatsoever in the pond, but you live in Grassveil, am I right? Why would you be here, of all places? You a guild member? No, no badge or pack, but you seem keen on analyzing things... You a scientist or something? Researching ferals and wilds?"

"Oh, it is?  Okay then. My name's Brian by the way, nice to meet you! Also, I'm not going anywhere at the moment so I'm free for anything." Brian said, turning back around to Bait to greet her and answer her initial question. Brian was insanely relieved that Bait wasn't completely creeped out by his antics, or at least that's what he assumed. He began to perk up as he grew his wide smile once again, looking as innocent as physically possible.

Then Bait began to ask questions about tons of different subjects in rapid succession. Where was he from? Why was he here? What was his occupation? It made Brian feel like he was taking some kind of test with never ending questions. He wondered why the fish Pokemon wanted to know so much about him. Maybe her curiosity was kicking in or something like that. Or maybe sohe wanted to know this information for other reasons. Who knows? Either way Brian was happy to answer to questions and get more conversation going.

"Well, I'm actually not from Grassveil. I'm actually from a small village that's a ways away from here. I came to Grass veil to join the build there, but I ended up getting sidetracked by some other stuff that happened. The reason that I'm here is to train with a friend I met here, though he's out for the day so I'm just wandering around. Also, while I love seeing new places and analyzing anything that I can, I would never be a Scientist. Waaaaaaay took boring form my tastes." Brian David, hoping to have responded to most of the questions presented to him with his precious statements.

"Huh. Just walking around, doing jack all?" Bait grinned. "Mind if I train with you? I need to get used to this thing, maybe get good at fighting on it. Fighting on land has always been really, really difficult for me. I have one useful skill. ONE! Here, I'll show you!"

The Carvanha pushed her cart off hard, hitting and denting a tree. "See? this is all I can do. That's it - swift. I mean, I suppose if I got creative I could use the other moves in my arsenal, but if I did it'd be pretty circumstantial, y'know?"

Then, something happened.

OOC:

Guest carried out 1 launched of one Shadowhue Forest :

Brian was intrigued even more after hearing that Bait wanted to train with him, wondering what exactly the fish Pokemon would be able to do on land. He wasn't too familiar with most water type Pokemon, but he knew that a majority of them could only battle at their best in the water. Some water types could go on land and still fight just as well as in the water, but others like Bait that didn't have feet would definitely be limited. Before he could think about this too hard, Brian's attention was redirected to Bait as she pushed her cart into a nearby tree. The resulting impact created a fairly sized dent in that tree, which left Brian impressed at how effectively Bait was able to use her cart.

"Wow, that's pretty sweet! I've never seen another water type Pokemon do something like this before. Then again, I haven't seen too many water type Pokemon in general but it's still cool!" Brian said as he smiled at Bait. Having Blher as a training partner would definitely make today a lot more fun. He wondered what other abilities Bait might have and how effectively she could use them with her cart. All of these thoughts excited him more and more, with the flame on his tail flickering faster in response.

Then Brian heard something fall from somewhere and looked in the direction where he assumed the falling sound came from. Looking at the side of the tree that Bait had dented, Brian could see an Oran Berry lying on the ground that he didn't notice before. "Oh look, an Oran Berry. You must have knocked it out of that tree when you hit it. Lucky you." Brian said, congratulating his new companion for the accidental find.

Spoiler:

"Yeah, I thought it was pretty awesome too. I mean, never mind that I can't do anything else, or the fact that this attack is still terrible compared to what your average landlubber can do, at least I can do  something, right? Maybe we could ignore the damage this would do to my cart in an actual battle!" The sarcasm was almost palpable. Bait frowned, then sighed. "Sorry, sorry. I don't want to take this out on you; I'm just trying to find a way to, y'know, vent my frustrations?"

"Oh look, an Oran Berry. You must have knocked it out of that tree when you hit it. Lucky you."

Bait looked in the direction 'Brian' was pointing and indeed, there was an Oran berry. "Huh. Well, would you look at that. Maybe this is a sign or some shit; Arceus' way of showing me that he only hates me a little bit! Put it in my cart, wouldja? I could do it myself, but you know. Permanent damage." Bait eyed another tree. "Y'think I should do it again?"

Guest carried out 1 launched of one Shadowhue Forest :

Brian could hear both the sarcasm and frustration in Bait's voice as she spoke, seeming to dislike the current position she was in being on dry land. While she could maneuver around on land with her cart, crashing into others with it seemed to be her only method of attack. Add in the fact that doing this multiple times would cause damage to the cart and Bait's offensive capabilities were less than efficient on land. She seemed to be really distraught about this scenario, due to the fact that she would probably be so much more capable in the water, but maybe there was something else. Regardless of whatever else was going through Bait's mind, Brian knew that there was some way that he could make her feel better.

"Well you haven't done anything really bad as far as I know, so I don't see a reason as to why a god or whatever would hate you. Besides, you said that you were the fastest pokemon here. If that's true, then you've got some awesomeness in you Bait. Just gotta find a way to use it to your fullest potential. I'm sure that....what the?" Brian said, trying to cheer Bait up before hearing something in the tree leaves above. He then saw a vine come out of the tree and straight at him, but he dodged out of the way off of instinct. Brian then saw a Pokemon float down from the tree, looking like some sort of flower creature. While he would normally want to analyze a new pokemon, Brian could tell that this pokemon was looking for a battle. Being the battle happy primate that he was, Brian was happy to ablidge.

"This should be interesting. Let's see what this flower thing has got." Brian said as he stared at the flower pokemon, getting into a fighting stance to prepare for the next attack.