Big and Small - Joy for All!

The sun was shining brightly onto the rugged, sharp cliffs of the Black Mist Mountain, as a small, white spot was crawling across these black plains, an easy target for any Flying type choosing to attack.
"Why...why did my clan...no, the clan have to live that far away from anything resembling civilisation again? Couldn't they - I dunno - live in a town or something?", the white spot asked himself, breathing heavily. It was Ned the Nincada, having recently fled from his old clan and now searching for a place to stay. On his journey, the Ground type had traversed much of the land, but a civilized Pokémon he hadn't encountered yet. He had no idea, where Grassveil Town was located, but he couldn't just return to the clan either. They would just continue their dirty work, without any concern for morals or truth.
Who knew, maybe he would even take them out one day?
That was if he would manage to find the guild or any Pokémon for starters.
Hopefully that would happen soon - the little bug wasn't sure, whether he would be able to carry on  much longer.

Well...to say that this creature was lost would be a lie. The tall red snake and dragon like monster was lost yet not lost at the same time. He was lost in his own mind, returning to the mountain from whence he had before traveled to with a spiritomb named Ko and a Sneasel named Kuro. The two were an odd pair, and the two had traveled in search of items. Well...so Proteus thought since he was searching for some precious material for himself to help assist him in his travels. The red atrocious pokemon looked at the mountain nervously, was he going to be alone this time? Was it going to be safe to utilize his Outrage attack here, or was he just going to cause a rock slide and be the cause of an innocent pokemon's death? Proteus shook his head, he was thinking too much again, letting his mind wander into pessimism.
The gyarados finally was able to unconsciously rip himself free of his own thoughts as he noticed a green moving dot in the distance. Was that a moving plant? A Pokemon? He could not exactly tell from his distance, but he was sure that the pokemon could see him clear as day with his sheer size.
"Hello?" he called.

As he kept wandering, not even capable of focussing on his environment anymore, the Nincada's thought process was interrupted by a surprising noise.
"Hello?" is what the voice said.
But where did it come from? Looking around, Ned spotted the huge red spot in the distance almost immediately. So this could mean either one of two things.
Either he had suffered a heatstroke, was hallucinating all of this and would probably collapse and burn to death here soon, or there was a huge dragon, who had spotted him already.
Yep. He was most certainly, completely, absolutely and unmistakeably screwed.
Might as well make the best out of it.
"Uh...hello? And what are you doing here?"

Proteus just barely heard the response, and moved himself closer to hear. This was indeed a pokemon, and it seem friendly. He wouldn't be alone after all! The atrocious pokemon grinned and spoke, "I'm here in search of items...and you?"
Proteus felt a bit awkward as he grew closer, he had felt awkward ever since he had evolved. He used to have to look up to pokemon to speak to them, but now he always had to look down. He always had to be careful and watch where he was stepping. He always had to prove he was a nice pokemon because of his species's nature. The fact that he was red, which was associated with the color of rage and blood, made things worse most likely. He pushed the pessimism out of his mind once more. This pokemon wasn't running away, this pokemon wasn't screaming its head off. In fact most of the pokemon he met out in dungeons were the only kinds that didn't scream and run. Maybe because they were used to dangerous looking friendly pokemon? Proteus did not know...nor cared at the moment as he turned his attention back to the nincada.

Huh? So the red spot hadn't killed him yet.
That meant, that Ned really was hallucinating, or that the Gyarados in front of him was just toying with him. Hesitatingly, the Trainee Pokémon responded:
"Well...I am just looking for anything resembling civilisation for now. I don't happen to be hallucinating right now, do I?"
Even if the Gyarados wasn't a hallucination and even if it wasn't agressive, Ned would still have to watch out. It was hot, dry, the air was thin and there'd probably be other feral Pokémon around.
It seemed to be almost impossible, but maybe Ned could get the Gyarados to help him...

The gyarados blinked, "Hal...lucinating?" he asked. He knew full well of what the word meant, he just thought that the condition only happened in deserts. He shook his head, "Uh, no...you look well and I'm most certainly real...well other than that strange red mark on your stomach you look well...are you okay?" Proteus was genuinely concerned for the small pokmeon, despite barely knowing him. The gyarados liked to be a gentleman, and a gentleman cared for others, so that is just what he did! Proteus had to admit though, it was rather hot in the sun. He would be able to produce a Water attack to drink from and moisten himself up a bit if needed, but the attack would be weak and would be best saved for if a feral pokemon attacked.
"As for civilization, i know where that is. It's called Grassviel town, but we're quite a ways from it."

"I guess I am...as okay as possible under the conditions given. I do believe, that I could use some help though, so thanks for the offer."
They still were "quite a ways away" from Grassveil Town? Oh great. He would never reach that place before collapsing. But he had to try at least. Why was the Gyarados that friendly? It had absolutely no reason to help him, and there would not be any witnesses around. Maybe Grassveil really was a more noble town. The prospect of this tiny bit of honesty filled the small bug's body with newfound strength, as he lifted himself up once again, skittering closer to the huge, red wyrm.
Once he would have reached Grassveil, he could train. He could become stronger than any of the clan's members. He would show them, that honesty was not a weakness.
But not today. He was far too weak for that. Today he had to get help.
Hopefully the Gyarados wasn't toying with him.
"I'm...uh...Ned, I guess.", he stammered.

"I'm Proteus, it comes from a legend my mother used to tell me about an old man of the sea that was wise. She gave it to me so i'd hopefully become wise too. Didn't turn out as she wanted though sadly.." Proteus had pretty much just called himself stupid, which he cared not about since he believed it to be true. He knew he was ignorant and dim-witted. He would hit the books if he could, but sadly books were too small for him to read. The only thing he had been taught, that wasn't from his parents, was his latest move, Outrage, which caused him to go into a frenzy fueled by emotion. He was rather uncontrollable in that state, so he used it as a last resort.
"Where do you come from, and if I may ask, what are you exactly? I've never seen your kind before."

This Gyarados was...strange.
From what his parents had told him, Gyarados were vicious beasts, whose rampages would lie entire cities to ruin. Then again they hadn't been too honest regarding many other things either, so why would they have told the truth here?
"I am a Nincada. It is not surprising, that you haven't seen my kind before. We usually live underground in the jungle. It's where I'm from as well. I left for...reasons regarding moral quarrels. I'm on my own now, I guess. And that is kind of problematic, as a Nincada in itself is rather weak. Our evolutions would be better suited for these travels...It's quite an interesting thing actually. A Nincada evolves into two different Pokémon - at the same time."
Doubts were beginning to overcome Ned. Should he have waited until he evolved to run away? Or was it better to leave all that corruption behind as quickly as possible? It didn't matter anymore. He had taken the first step, and many more would have to follow.

The nincada erupted into dialogue that took Proteus by surprise since he had assumed it to be rather quiet and a pokemon of few words. Ned spoke of evolution and his colony back at his home.
"I used to live in a school, but bad weather decided I shouldn't stay there any more and tossed me over to this land....that was when I was a magikarp of course. It was probably for the better though, since when I was a magikarp I was golden and it attracted attention of predators often." The gyarados had coiled around himself, feeling more comfortable that way, which he felt was the Gyarados equivalent to sitting down. The dirt was kicked up as he moved, but it either settled quickly or was carried off into the wind to be moved to a different location.

"Interesting. So we share similar stories. But I left by choice. I just couldn't live...there...with a clear conscience anymore. It's a long story...But I guess I should keep going. It's a long way to go and I don't see any trees around. Where's this Grassveil Town again?"
For quite obvious reasons, the Nincada was struggling with the thought of the huge Gyarados ever having been a Magikarp - ever having been his size. How would it feel to suddenly turn from one of the weakest creatures into one of the strongest? It probably was a great feeling. But now was not the time to be concerned with trivial matters such as this.
Now he had to act. Either that or he could starve up here.
And Ned wasn't too fond of doing that.

Proteus looked behind him to point since he lacked arms and fingers to do so, "That way, I would suggest resting up first though if you think you're hallucinating. Maybe find some water that the mountain might be leaking?"
He wanted to help the Nincada get to the town, perhaps even giving it a ride, but he had only just gotten here. It would be night time by the time he got there and back! Proteus did want to be a gentleman though...the poor gyarados was torn between helping and staying. He debated between assisting the Nincada, or just going home and coming back another day. His debating was soon interrupted though...

This dice is not existing.

This dice is not existing.

"Resting? That would probably not be a good idea. These mountains make me the ideal targets for birds of all kinds, assuming, that I don't overheat first. And there doesn't seem to be any water up here either. At least I haven't found any. It would probably evaporate the moment it'd hit the ground anyway."
Ned began slowly continuing to make his way towards the guild, not even having noticed the other creature drawing near, which wasn't very surprising, considering, that the Bug type was tired, starving, thirsty and slowly being cooked by the sun's scorching rays. It had been difficult enough for him to discern the Gyarados' figure in the distance, so how would he have been able to spot something much smaller? It didn't matter much, though, as the creature apparently had spotted them instead.

It was a spearow wielding a stun seed. The bird pokemon's wings flapped harshly as it kept itself in the air, looking down on some rather delicious looking prey below. It opened its beak in delight, if it could it probably would have licked its lips if it had any. The bird gave a squawk and began to dive, not noticing the gyarados, as it had been behind the spearow, until a massive tail slammed into it, sending it flying quite a distance only to catch itself in the air and regain balance in the air. The spearow shook itself and glared at the beast that seemed to be protecting the small bug. It gripped its stun seed tighter, preparing to attempt a dangerous maneuver that could score it some lunch with ease.

While the Nincada was quite tired from his long journey, it was basically impossible to overlook a commotion such as this one. Even though it happened more slowly than one might have expected, eventually the Nincada spotted the fearsome Spearow regaining its composure in the air.
Ned's muscles still aching, his survival instincts immediately kicked in, giving him the energy required to actually contribute to the battle.
His forelegs suddenly illuminated in a silvery light, the Bug type began launching glittering crescents of a strange powder at his opponent, using the move Silver Wind to do so.
Only after doing so, the Nincada actually realized, what had happened, attempting to speak:
"*huff**huff*...thanks. You...I...why?"