Surrounded by trees and pink berries - a walk through Pecha Forest.

The Girafarig was smiling brightly. "A dungeon! I'm in an actual dungeon!", he thought as he walked. Pecha berries could be seen in the trees nearly everywhere, and the spring sun still shone through gaps between the leaves, leaving some spots of the fresh green grass more lit up than others. One ray of light flashed Eljang in the eye, but he ignored it. Like a lightflash would ruin the mood for him, anyway. Focusing at mushrooms and bushes growing here and there, the young explorer tried to spot items.

There was a bizarre ambience about this woodland that Ares found himself liking quite a bit. While some may complain of its simplicity and ease, that was the best way to train oneself. Starting out in serenity and eventually progressing to chaos allowed for the mind to easily transition and flourish in even the most extreme of conditions. A hardened, tough mind was capable of braving anything - even if the situations were dire or required quick reflexes. Before that mind, no obstacle or terrain could waver its determination and resolve. This was why it was essential to start out at the very beginning.

As the Charmander walked at a relatively low rate of speed - he was practically lackadaisically strolling or paroozing through the forest- there was a type of serenity. It weighed down his footsteps, as if the very atmosphere were heavy and unforgiving and clung onto his wide feet like a child. His arms, usually held at attention by his side, were folded neatly behind his skull as his hands collected at the base of his neck. There was no hurry evident in his body language: this was akin to a vacation.

What was there to do when one was idle? His maw, tilted up towards the heavens that were reveled through the parting of the leaves' curtains, allowed a puff of smoke to escape. There was nothing, and that was fine.

Kari was enjoying his walk through Pecha Forest, The sky was a bright blue, with puffy white clouds dancing among the slight spring breeze that ruffled the grass and the Absol's white fur. He felt a sense of joy he had never felt before walking with his new acquaintance, Eljang, that he wish he expressed himself. He had not seen Pecha Forest like this for awhile, and he wanted to make the best of it. "Gosh, The forest is wonderful today, so serene and beautiful." he said in a tone of awe to the Girafarig walking beside him.

While looking at the ground for items, Eljang heard Tsukiakari speak. "Yeah, this forest is so bright and happy, much unlike the forest outside of my former home. It was a bit dim, and the pokémon were usually aggresive enough to attack even the youngest of pokémon mercilessly. The plains were peaceful, though.", the Girafarig said and turned his gaze towards the treetops, where he could see spearow fly in the sky. "Compared to that, this is one beautiful forest.", he said, still smiling. Suddenly, he noticed something fly up from the other side of some grass patches. Smoke. Managing to get a look between some of the straws, the psychic-type saw something orange, which seemed to move. "Tsukiakari, I think I can see something...", he said and stopped walking, trying to figure out what it could be.

The ambience of the forest was simply too ideal: it hummed with wildlife, both feral and civil, and nature itself seemed incredibly determined to make Ares idle. Its passiveness was increasingly successful with every passing moment, for he began to question his reasons once more for his fervent desire to travel. Sure, he was doing training arduously so that he might return to his motherland and join the ranks of his brethren to secure supremacy and establish an eon of peace, but its not like they would wait for him. Why should they - goodness knows his father wanted him out. Maybe he was too soft, which would mean that this tranquil forest was the best habitat for him.

No.

His casual stroll had been interrupted by a calm, matter-of-fact thought. There was no hesitation to how abruptly it sounded: it came exactly when queued. Perhaps there was a truth to be held in this sudden display of his brain's subconscious? His body was eager for the possibility of "early retirement", but another portion of him wanted to continue his quest. There was some fashion of motivation - something to hold on tightly to - in partaking in rigorous training.

His body might break.

His mind might lose its grip.

But there was a homeland that needed every able bodied citizen to rise to the occasion.

As Ares rekindled his will and his arms fell to his sides from their resting position like tree leaves in autumn, his slit-like earholes detected a far off murmuring. It was indiscernible, but without a doubt it was a voice. He hesitated and quickly twisted his head so that he might direct his eyes off to where this sound's origin had been. The dense undergrowth sadly didn't not allow for much to be revealed, but the young lizard would not allow this to deter him. He tensioned, allowing his body to shift into an offensive stature. Whatever was lingering out in the shadows was in for a world of hurt!

Eljang could see that the pokémon was turning its head towards the part of the grasses where he was standing, making him take one step back. He pointed his neck forwards and down a little to allow himself to still see clearly, though. "I think it is looking at us...", he whispered to Tsukiakari, now with a focused face. The unknown pokémon seemed to have a reddish-orange color on its reptilian body, just as Eljang thought he had seen. The tip of the rather small pokémon's tail seemed lit up, as if it would have been on fire. The Girafarig had never seen a pokémon like this before, and was still puzzled about what it could be. But one thing was for sure, this was a fire-type.

Kari focused on the Pokemon as well, and slowly began to sneak to a bush near to the Pokemon, which he could tell by the fire on its tail, that it was a Charmander. He looked back to Eljang and said quietly "Its a Charmander, it has fire on its tail". Kari then snuck into the bush, He now had a clear sight on the Charmander. What he saw next put a smile on his face, the Chrmander was wearing a red scarf around his neck. Kari stood up and walked out of the bush and he said to the Charmander, in friendly tone "Small world, eh?"

There was a murmur audible from beyond the concealing bushes, just as audible as the whispering voices of the wind. It was unclear as to what was being discussed. A slight Growl warbled on his vocal cords as he stared intensely out towards the unknown in an attempt to weaken a possible threat or attacker. It seemed as if minutes passed before anything truly happened, and so the Charmander, maintaining his offensive stance, would issue his challenge.

"Come and fight me, you cowards!"

How was he to know that the face that was destined to slither forth from the thick, round leaves was none other than Tsukiakari? Certainly he would not have been so hasty to react - and might have actually penetrated the leaves' sacred veil to have a more formal meeting - if he had initially known it was the ex-thief. That Absol's white pelt seemed to glisten magnificently in the warmth of the sun's rays, turning a brilliant shade of bleached ivory. His voice conjured forth memories of their excursion of the mountain; however, he was sadly unable to remember how said adventures concluded. One thing for certain was the fact that a feeling of euphoria surrounded said end.

"Oh," he would speak, resigning his open aggression as a known friendly emerged, "it's you. Where did you slither off to, Tsukiakari? I can't say I remember you walking home with me."

As Tsukiakari made his way over to the other pokémon, which the absol had called a Charmander, Eljang stood  at the spot, all quiet. "Huh? He knows this pokémon?", the Long Neck pokémon thought. And by judging from their way of conversing with each other, he must have. In curiousity, the girafarig stepped forward, just enough to get his head through the grasses. Yes, they were indeed acquaintances, they were even speaking about the last time they met! He stepped out, as the situation didn't seem dangerous.

The white furred Pokemon had a huge smile on his face, just the thought of running into, for once, nice Pokemon he had met before filled him with a warming joy that he didn't feel very often. "I was taking a nap in Grassveil when I met my new acquaintance Eljang here." he responded, hoping that Eljang would introduce himself.

A slow nod was given as he attempted to convince himself that this was a valid excuse. It would only last for a few seconds, in which the nodding would increase in speed as the point successfully caused him to sway his view to its alignment, and soon he was dispatching the nod with a steady head and a simple shrug of the shoulders. At the end of the day, it hadn't mattered: he got home with plenty of goodies, and that was good enough for him. "Yeah," the Charmander would tentatively say, "I guess your nap was pretty important after being locked in during a blizzard." 

Of course, at the mention of the stranger titled "Eljang", his reptilian gaze would instantly shift towards the Girafarig. It was a studious, slightly judgmental one that analyzed its quarry with great discrimination. He was attempting to analyze the creature's strength, his prowess, and his build. There was little other expression than that slow gaze. Silence graced the scenario before he would speak, "You're Eljang, I presume?"

Eljang was silent for a little, seemingly deep in thought. "Kari must have been here for quite the while longer than me. Well, he has even been high up in the mountains and stuff, so I guess it's not too big of a suprise that he knows a couple of 'mons. But that we encountered exactly one of them right here...", his mind was busy thinking, but he was a psychic-type, after all, even though his giraffe-like appearance didn't look like the genius level of the type. Realizing that  both Tsukiakari and his acquaintance was waiting for him to introduce himself, he wanted to shook his head to wake himself up a little more. He was clearly not of the genius type.

The girafarig stepped out of the vegetation and pointed his head at the lizard. "Yeah, that's me, nice to meet ya.", he answered the skeptical-looking reptile, trying to smile proudly, but it ended up as a cheesy smile instead.

Kari tried to break the awkward mood by letting out a good chuckle, but given the expression on the two Pokemon's faces, it didn't do much good. Kari didn't care he was in too lighthearted of a mood, This was something that had never happened to him before, he had never had Pokemon he could call Friends. "So, What where you up to Ares? Kari asked to break the mood.

His eyes would instantly lock upon Eljang's as their gaze met, a piercing look analyzing and demonstrating wariness. He remember the first encounter he had had with Tsukiakari; it was tense, mostly because of the fact that he had been an ex-robber. While Ares had no right to judge character - considering how the Absol had turned out to be a great help to his research - he had no idea if this giraffe was part of the Dark-type's sketchy history. It seemed like they were quite close, but there was little basis for him to go off of... but still!

"I've been training," he would say coyly, not allowing his gaze to break, "but I came through here just so I could find some weaker enemies to work off of."

Eljang wasn't sure about how to reply. The reptile seemed to be constantly analyzing him, scanning every inch of him, both mentally and physically. The Long Neck Pokémon was just looking back at him, without any signs of sharpness or intimidation. Just looking at him. "We were just going for a walk.", the giraffe said, trying to ignore how it sounded more lame than it was. This was more of an exploration, considering that the girafarig hadn't been in this forest before and that he considered himself an explorer.