The Path Forever Cloaked in Nightshade

Leif, an Abra, for the second time found himself wandering in a dark cavern. He once, from an avian friend, heard about the TM Shadow Ball found in this cave. Having but two moves, this was an intriguing proposition. Actually, let's step back a few paces. Leif, being a creature that sleeps 18 hours a day, had been troubled by dreams of TMs. As he was suddenly threatened by a rogue pokemon, he had instinctively teleported. With dreams of this particular place, by some act of the unexplored mind, he found himself sleeping in a pitch black cave. Of course, Abra never really opened their eyes, so this was no issue as navigation would by done partly psychically and partly... in a blind trial and error process.

As he finally awoke, he was doing that which he did in his dreams, searching for TM Shadow Ball. This was confusing a few seconds later when it finally occurred that this was no longer, in fact, a dream. A frightening scream would alert any Pokemon potentially happening by... or potentially enemies, either way, if he wanted to make it out fine, he'd want an escape orb, or, at the very least, Shadow Ball.

Douglas sat silently against the wall of the cavern. Getting to his current position had been a long slog. His limbs ached, still protesting to the trial they had up until now found themselves enduring. It was seldom the adventure sat and it was becoming unbearably tiring. Searching for entrainment, Douglas resorted to his pass time, brooding and musing. The Black Mist Mountains were a new territory to the sandshrew, he having heard of them only in passing. While it is true he was found of places akin to the mountains, Douglas had simply had never been. So this was new. He shook his head as his brooded. Even his thoughts sounded stiff and exhausted.

The pain flared up again as Douglas shifted along the wall, seeking a more comfortable spot. The earth of these mountains was hard, almost bedrock, and a more difficult dig in toughness and length then the treasure hunter had encountered in a long time. He has even skirted around a few Donphan-sized boulders of solid stone.

"This guy 'ad better have some decent information for this... Else Ah'll face roll 'em." Douglas spat, slowly rotating his neck. A baltoy back in Grassvail had offered him the location of the Pokemon he had been tracking in return for a shadowball TM.

Douglas wiped under his nose and nestled back against the wall. He needed a few minutes rest, risky though it was.

Leif had placed his hand on the wall, letting the cave guide him out. He trekked along the curves and bumps of the wall, stumbling over a few rocks scarpered along the ground or other stalagmites, as well as hitting his head on stalactites and low ceilings. He very nearly avoided screaming as he painfully stubbed his foot. After stubbing his foot, he kicked in rage, only to hurt it worse, and this time letting out a fake squeal. Now he would have that embarrassing limp until the pain went away.

Good thing he was in the dark and couldn't be seen limping or squealing, and that there weren't that many Pokemon around to see and hear it... or were there? Walking, now more carefully, Leif felt something strange go across his hand. Something strangely soft and rounded, and it jetted horizontally from the wall... Stalactites and mites don't grow horizontally... do they?

Leif took a closer look, feeling this object with his hands until they came across two ears. As it turned out, this object was not so much an object as it was a Pokemon, specifically a sandshrew named douglas. Leif never made out the Pokemon, much less the name, but it was still clear this thing was a Pokemon. Embarrassed, he stepped back, falling to the opposite side of the cave and exclaiming "Sorry!" as he braced himself against the wall he had just fallen upon.

Douglas gasped and stood suddenly, pushing himself back and up the cavern wall. The hand having patted his features managing to catch his sleeping body unawares. How the phantom had avoided unsettling the sandshrew's large hat while brushing his ears was beyond him, but at least it gave him one less thing to be annoyed about.

Being caught napping had injured his pride enough to suffice.

"Great Balls O' Fire!" Douglas knew if this Pokemon wanted to pick his pockets or eat him, it would not have begun by rubbing him behind the ears. For this reason, he decided to not blindly lash out at his newfound company. "Holy Hell. You'd go about gettin' yerself killed pullin' a stunt like that. Not everyone pulls their punches."

Douglas' bravado was somewhat false. While ever confidant in his abilities, the treasure hunter was exhausted. He had fallen asleep in complete danger. He needed a stiff drink. Not that he had one.

"Uh, you don't happen to have some assorted beverage do ya? Ah'm parched. What you doin' down here anyway?"

Leif sighed, relived that this Pokemon wasn't violent. "Uhh, sorry I don't have any drinks... I kind of came here unprepared. I teleported... oh, yeah you probably can't see in this dark, I'm an Abra my name is Leif. I've been here before looking for a TM, and sometimes as an Abra I sleep teleport... like sleep walking but more dangerous. I wound up here again, and I just had the most wonderful nap so I won't need to sleep for another six hours or so. Yeah Abras sleep a lot..."

Leif patted his bag, "yeah all I have is a used TM. I'm wearing a special band too... But it doesn't really help, since I know Teleport, Ice punch, and Iron Tail. That's why I'm here, see! I want shadow ball and teleported in my sleep. I guess I have to look for shadow ball now, that or an escape orb..."

"Oh, sorry, I'm rambling, I can stop..." Leif looked down in embarrassment even though this other Pokemon couldn't see him.

Douglas sighed deep within himself as the abra gave his introduction. Many things occurred to the treasure hunter during his sudden companion’s monologue.

To begin with, why would this pokemon assume he would not or could not be seen? It stands to reason that 95% of pokemon found within a cave, particularly one as remote and isolated as this one, even if they were just passing through, would likely have some adaptation to circumvent the inconvenience of an absence of light.

Secondly, surely the abra would be able to see or at the least sense his surroundings. It too was somewhat of a cave dwelling creature, as are those of its elder kin. Douglas’ previous experiences with psychic types taught him they had a form of mental sonar, in which they projected their thoughts or power outward like a ripple from a stone dropped in a still pond. Awaiting the rebound, they calculated a three-dimensional map of the surrounding area. It was something the sandshrew that thought only previously done with the power of sonic energy as harnessed by the zubat and their ilk. He had learnt otherwise the hard way.

Finally, the armadillo had a terrible habit of stumbling across ramblers. They gushed out ill-conceived sentences and half-baked ideas like information was not a powerful thing in the slightest. If it wasn’t so useful, the Douglas would be more irritated then he normally was with these pokemon.

Perhaps the sandshrew should have followed his waking instinct and knocked the golden fool on his tail after all. But then psychics did not generally enjoy being man handled. Douglas recalled and then promptly vanished a vision of his skin being peeled away by unseen fingers of mental energy. It was giving him an unpleasant feeling in his gut. Then he was told of how the new pokemon was offensively capable of an ice punch. The sandshrew smirked at the thought, the abra would be incredibly frail and Douglas summarized even with the type match up his thick hide would weather many a blow from the primary mental attacker.

Niave, inexperienced or as stupid as this pokemon may seem, it was possible it was simply smarter than he was. Again, the adventurer had underestimated the capabilities of a psychic before and again he had learnt the hard way. Caution, from then on, was his forte with this breed.

And then the abra apologized for rambling and Douglas brightened considerably.

“It’s alright. Ah can see ya. Shame ‘bout the drink though…” He stood from the wall and adjusted his hat and pack. “You can’t see me? And what’s this 'bout a TM?”

"Uhm... Yeah, sorry... I'd offer to teleport you out but last time I was here that just got my friend and I into some worse troubles..."

He glanced up in surprise, "Uhh, I... Well... Yes... and no. It's hard to explain, like I can see depth when I focus. Lately I've been focusing on hearing, and stopping listening to use psychic energy to see leaves me vulnerable, since I can hear for farther than I can see."

He sighed at the last question, "If you haven't figured it out, I'm an abra with physical attacks. I can use short-range controlled teleports, which help a lot, but I want a mental move. Shadow ball..."

Leif couldn't help but sense a tiny bit of aggression in the voice of the voice of this other pokemon, so he decided to try and change the subject to something more friendly, "So, like I said, my name is Leif... what about you?"

Douglas indeed had underestimated the abra. It was answering questions that the sandshrew had only been considering himself, with the transition to a vocalized question not causing a change in the psychics tact in the least.

The sandmouse pulled out his pack as he answer the query. "Douglas is who I am."

The adventure rubbed his chin, decoding on his options. "Ah see the importance of this to you, yeah..." He nodded to himself, deciding to lay his cards on the table instead of having his mind probed for the information. "Ah happen ta be here for a client who's also lookin' for that TM. Maybe we can look tagether? We will need two articles I guess and that could take some time... We can decide as we go on."

Douglas flipped a root from his backpack and felt the hydrating bitterness invigorate him. "What ya say?"

"Oh, Douglas, wonderful. Nice to meet you fellow adventurer and or treasure hunter! I would indeed agree that searching for this article together would be a good proposition... But I don't know who gets it when we find it. Maybe I can convince you to let me have it if we don't find two? Hmm... A pokemon can hope. Anyways, let's get this show on the path."

Leif caught scent of the herb "oh, ooh, that smell... is that what I think it is?"

Douglas looked sideways at the abra.

"Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. Ah ain't the psychic one."

The sandshrew grunted and took another bite. He really didn't wish to pass on his supplies to someone who seemed as naive and fool haughty as this abra was. Be that as it may, sometimes it was better to make friends quickly then piss them off. Douglas was still weary of the furred biped; he didn't think it had lied when it told him how weak it was, but the adventurer couldn't be sure.

Ah'd hate to meet a sociopathic psychic...

"Here." He held out the remaining chuck of bitter root to Leif as they walked. "If you waste it, Ah won't be happy. It's what most say 'foul tasting'."

The sandshrew shook his head, looking around. "Now, Ah have no clue what Ah'm exactly lookin' for here. Where doya wanna start?"

"Oh, no worries! I was raised on bitter foods... grew up in a village, now what I ate there makes this look like a five star meal! Oh... and, thanks." He passed his friend a warm smile, not caring it was too dark to be clearly seen. He took a bite and in little time he had finished the root, feeling replenished.

Enjoying his food he was nearly disrupted as the psychic energy of Douglas's negative energy and hesitance hit him like a rock smash on the head. Afraid of what sentiment he might find he decided not to delve deeper into the thoughts of this pokemon and rather would passively try to convince this sandshrew of his trustworthiness.

"Well, since we're both alive and well I'd say now would be a fine time to begin our hunt for these elusive items! Well, elusive to me as it might seem... perhaps a more experienced pokemon like yourself might be better at finding things. Who knows, maybe I can learn something from you!" He caught himself again rambling.

"...oh, right, less talk more walk I dont even need to read your mind to guess you probably are getting sick of my monologuing." he giggled a bit, to express he was partially joking.

The sandmouse smirked bitterly. This abra at least had some presence of mind.

"Well, in caves... Ah tend ta just happen across 'em. It's a bit weird Ah guess but..."

Douglas and his companion trekked forward, Douglas' eyes darting about through the dark. the adventurer had learnt through his escapades that one often saw better with their peripheral vision when in darkened places.

It seemed that it would hold true here too.

" 'ello there..."

The member 'Madcap' has done the following action : Dices Roll

'item rarity' : 3

"Well, your supposed and infamous luck seems to be ever present. A... grey gummi... Honestly I'm still full from that root I shared with you. Never been much of an eater myself. You can have it." He picked the gummi up and tossed it to Douglas, and chuckled with an idea, "you know... what if I let you have the items until we get the TM, then the TM is mine. I'll use it, be stronger, and it will be even easier to get the second one. You get more items. I get my move first. Deal?"

Douglas weighted up the proposal.

"Ya know? I like the way that sounds." He stuffed the gummi into his pack, slung it back, shouldereding his luggage and smiled at the psychic. "Nuthin' puts me in a finer mood then a good deal." The sandmouse gestured forwards. "But be that as it may, ah don't wanna hang around here longer then ah should."