A Quick Swim Through

Proteus had used a calm stream to enter the marsh as he traveled through the seemingly strong but actually weak currents. He had come here in search of what was called a beauty scarf, but this was not where the scarf was. The scarf lay deep into a mire that was just past this marshland. Luckily the marsh was more flooded than usual, so it was easier to swim through
The night sky was calm, and the bug pokemon fluttered about calmly, Proteus doubted they would attack but wild pokemon attitudes could change any moment.

Serenne followed the golden Magikarp, using her blue fins to swim through the stream water, whilst letting the weak current partially assist her. She swam almost lazily but with extreme ease, despite the illogical shapes of her fins and the notches in her tail. It was night, but they had decided to traverse the marshes at this time so that it would be daylight once more by the time they found their way to the misty mire that was their destination.

Poking part of her body out of the water, Serenne observed the glowing lights that hovered over the flooded flatlands. She knew they were bug pokemon, being rather intelligent for someone who had spent most of her life in the ocean, though she couldn't help but imagine them as little guiding stars, lighting their way through the marshlands as they journeyed into the mists. Whatever anyone saw them as, the general consensus would be the beauty of the lights. They hovered, blue and yellow in the darkness, reflected in the water that surrounded the area. They were beautiful.

The golden magikarp struggled against a small current and lagged behind the Feebas for a few moments before he finally reached where the current stopped and shot past the pokemon slightly by accident, "There should be a beauty scarf SOMEWHERE back there right?" he spoke to the accompanying pokemon. He looked up, not marveling at the beauty of the scene before him but more of checking the time. The pokemon was not yet able to appreciate such things, and probably wouldn't until he grew up and evolved. The magikarp used Splash to leap out of the water and get a better look at the sky, it seemed as if the moon had just risen, maybe they would make it there earlier than expected.

"I assume so..." blinked Serenne, her eyes hovering on the beauty of the firefly Pokemon for just a bit longer before she glanced at the Magikarp, "Though I guess all we can do is press on and find out!"
The Feebas was rather excited to say the least. After asking around for some information, she had finally found out a way to obtain a Beauty Scarf, which would in turn enable her to evolve and finally make her dreams of exploring the world above the ocean without hindrance, a reality. She was grateful that the Magikarp wished to help her search for the elusive item.

Proteus still had not yet stopped to watch the beauty show of lights and bugs above him. He splashed about, leaping out of the water to hop over patches of land in attempt to make shortcuts. Sometimes he would misjudge the leap and fall flat on the land, "maybe it would be easier to just go around.." he finally figured after attempting to leap over the same patch of land the fifth time, making no progress. The golden magikarp gave a swish of his tail, swimming to look for a way around, "There's an opening over here" he observed.

Serenne, being quite the strong swimmer, found it easier to go around the areas that the Magikarp had leaped over. The Feebas' swimming abilities were surprising for one of her appearance. Though she might not have been the fastest swimmer, she was definitely a stronger swimmer than Proteus, her species also being rather hardy.
Upon reaching the opening, she paused, "Alright then, through here it is I guess," she smiled. They seemed to be making good progress already.

The magikarp struggled against the smallest of the currents, but managed to pull through by some miracle and use his splash attack to leap his way over the current. He wasn't exhausted though, not yet. He was used to this type of harsh traveling, since he had to flop around and use the force of his entire body to move and that built up his stamina, "So, how long do you think it is before we get there?" he asked, curious.

This dice is not existing.

 "I don't know...." blinked Serenne, "I'm hoping that because we can swim through here rather than have to spend time finding a way across the water, that we'll get there quicker than a pokemon who dwells on land might. But I guess only time will tell."
The Feebas continued to slowly swim without much effort, though her lower speed seemed to enable her to swim at roughly the same pace as the Magikarp struggling against the currents in the flooded flatlands. The Feebas stopped swimming altogether however, when she spotted some blue feet on the surface, swimming towards them. It was a Mudkip, leisurely making it's way through the marsh. It didn't seem to pose much danger right now, but Serenne wasn't sure if it would attack if it caught sight of them, and so quietly called out to Proteus.
"Psst!"

Proteus stopped swimming for a brief moment, "Wha-oah!" the current had taken over him and shoved him back in his brief stop. He was pushed against some land and had to use his splash attack to get away from the land and back into the water completely. He began to swim viciously through the currents in attempt to approach the Feebas once more. The magikarp finally reached the feebas and was relieved as the current had stopped and he had reached still water. He had made quite a ruckus though, did the mudkip hear him splashing about?

It was confirmed that the Mudkip did in fact hear the ruckus, as a Water Gun attack came hurtling through the water towards them. It pushed them backwards even further, until both would end up landing on the flooded waterbed. Quickly retaliating, Serenne used the only useful move she currently knew; Dragon Pulse. Parting her jaws, the purple beam shot towards the Mudkip, striking it whilst it was shocked by the unexpected turn of events. The beam then dissipated into purple wisps under the water before disappearing completely. Serenne blinked, looking up to see the result.

The mudkip was still up and running, but it was even more furious than before. Not only did these unnatural creatures, at least to it's knowledge since it didn't know much of the out side world, come barging into his territory, but they attack him and threaten him. The mudkip gave strong kicks with its legs as it charged towards the duo, "KIIIIIP" it screamed in rage.
"I got this!" Proteus decided it would be best to fight the pokemon, though it was very likely it was a lot stronger than him. The magikarp swam in front of it and was tackled, he countered using flail. He didn't do much damage though since he was still pretty healthy and the attack grew stronger as he grew weaker.

"Eeep..." Serenne made a small noise, not particularly wanting to engage the Mudkip full on if she could avoid it. However Proteus had already used Flail, the Mudkip quickly countering with a second Tackle in retaliation. Using her strong swimming skills, the Feebas got around to the side of the Mudkip attempting to use her body to ram into Mudkip and stop it from attacking the golden Magikarp. However it was not a very powerful attack, being not a move at all but a result of quick thinking. After all Serenne's only other move was Splash, and she couldn't attack with Dragon Pulse lest she hurt Proteus in the process.

The mudkip was rammed away from the magikarp, who was a bit confused and slightly frightened because of the inability to have been able to flee at any moment in that situation. He looked in the direction of the mudkip, it seemed to be looking around-searching.
The golden fish turned to the Feebas, his heart pumping with adrenaline as he suggested something useful for the first time in his life as the wandering magikarp that could apparently fly he was now, "W-We should go, like now and fast!" He looked around and hoped to see a way out, an opening or even a stream that could quite possibly lead them straight to the swamp. That would just be TOO convenient now would it!? he thought with anger.

The Feebas smiled nervously, "I think that's a good idea."
Without saying anything more, Serenne darted in a direction that lead deeper into the marshes. She had spotted an area of water that went beneath the ground, almost as if it was some half underground tunnel. Deciding that it was a suitable place to avoid the Mudkip's gaze, she hadn't hesitated to swim toward it, hoping that Proteus would follow.

Exiting through the other end of the tunnel, Serenne blinked and looked around. It had been slightly longer than she had expected but at least now they were clear of that Mudkip's prying eyes.

The magikarp was lucky that the currents worked in his favor, pushing him forward and with the feebas. The magikarp wasn't balanced on the currents though, so he was twirling in the water and flipping until the currents decided to release him next to the Feebas. He was upside down for a moment, dazed and feeling a bit awkward at the slight change in the water.

He recovered from his daze and righted himself, he looked around wildly, in a panic, and finally looked up. He saw that the water above them was a bit mossy and the water was dark and slightly thick. They had arrived at the swamp.