Never Trust A Mime

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Mission Info:

Team Sentima's third mission... their first outlaw capture. Twilight was beginning to fall as the sun set, and the edge of the sky began to darken as the sun started to tuck beneath the trees. A yellow glow poured from the west as the night sky began lifting to the east. Leif has walked across the plains and cringed in terror, "We... are here." His foot sank into the marshy water, and he cringed forcing himself to push through his fear. He would not let his own shortcomings stop the team from being successful.

A mime had cheated their client, and had to be punished. This was not to be their first fight, but being an outlaw, it would certainly be a more difficult fight than many of the previous ones they faces. And to make matters worse to get to them they would have to trudge through Arceus knows how much swamp... But he had to distract himself from all the horrible water. "So... nice... weather we're having." What he did not take into account was night was nearing, and it was the middle of Fall, in a wet marsh. In fact, it was nearly as bad as the time it rained at Pecha Forest. But Leif was more focused on not thinking than thinking about what he was saying.

"The latter. I hate it here, but there is not much of a choice I am having."
Ned had no idea why he was telling this Pokémon so much about himself.
For all he knew that Eevee could very well have been hired by them to spy on him.
So...why didn't he just run away on his own? What had happened to his cautiousness?
He needed to be careful. Divulging even more information, especially at this point in time, might prove to be dangerous to both him and those around him.
The sooner he would be able to end this journey the better.

"If you're trying to hide from danger, the Cattail Marsh is a bad place to go." Sova joked. But now he was starting to worry for the Nincada. What kind of danger was this poor bug in? "Well, how much danger are you in? Is there any way I can help?" He said as a Volbeat flew by, illuminating the path in front of them briefly. Still no sign of the creeper Sliggoo, what a relief. Maybe it had given up on stalking him? He could hope.

"Long story short - no, there is not and I heavily advise for you not to try. And I am here because the safer areas are where they would come to look first."
Why was this Eevee so inquisitive all of a sudden?
Maybe it really had been sent to gather information on him, which meant that the Ground type needed to be extra careful. One wrong comment and the Normal type might sell him out to the clan if he hadn't done so already. But Ned couldn't just make the Eevee "disappear". If he were to do so, he would be no better than they were. A solution had to be found. Quickly.

"You sure? It wouldn't be a burden to me at all to help a friend in need. That's what friends are for, right?" Sova was completely sincere, he really did want to help and wasn't at all worried about any danger involved. After all, he got himself into dangerous situations on a daily basis, so why not help someone at the same time?

A splash was audible in the distance. Sova quickly turned to it, but nothing was seen, so he shrugged it off as just a Pokemon minding its own business in the water.

"As I said, please don't try to get involved in thi-..."
A sudden splash caught the Nincada's attention.
"What was that? Quick, hide!"
The Nincada quickly darted around, unable to find a place to hide or something to disguise himself with.
"We have been found. We are doomed. They know where we are now. We need to leave this place as quickly as possible."
Every time. Every single time Ned stayed at a place for more than a week something happened that forced him to move. One day he would finally manage to evolve. He would have grown stronger. And then he would show them all...

Sova paused for a moment, watching the Nincada frantically search for a place to hide. "Hey....relax. It's probably just someone who lives around here passing by. And if it IS someone hostile, we can take em together, so don't worry." By the clearly paranoid state the Nincada was in, Sova couldn't help but have an urge to ask more about what kind of trouble the bug was in. Knowing a friend was in danger and he couldn't help just didn't feel right to him.

"Maybe it is just a splash of water. Or maybe not. I'm willing to take the little extra effort of panicking if it ensures that I will live any day. And going by the fact that I am still alive I think I have sufficiently proven that my way of living works."
Even though the Normal type's words were meant to be encouraging most likely, they opened up the perspective of the Eevee falling him in the back to the Nincada.
Why couldn't everyone just leave him alone until he felt he was ready himself?

"Well, I'm still alive too and I never try to hide....and you're probably stronger than me, so I think you would do just fine with a bit less caution. Besides, isn't it hard to have fun like that?" Sova had only the best intentions, thinking it must be lonely and boring the way Ned went about things.

Then another splash caught his attention. He turned to the direction it came from, but still nothing. If anything, it was probably just the Sliggoo still following him. He didn't worry himself much with it though.

The Nincada could barely suppress a chuckle.
"Me? Stronger than you? Please, I am a tiny, insignificant, powerless Bug type. There are four types I am weak against opposed to your one. I can't even swim! And you honestly believe that I could possibly be stronger than you are? That I could be stronger than anyone?"
It was completely uncomprehensible for the Nincada how everyone kept asserting how strong the Ground type was supposed to be when he couldn't even defeat the weakest enemies. Why did he have to be born as a Nincada again? Couldn't it have been a Bagon or a Wailmer or an Onix or anything remotely powerful? No, he had to be this shamefully weak being. And most likely that wouldn't even change soon.

Sova laughed at the comment by the Nincada. "Hah, that's funny. Because I get called weak by others all the time. I've seen you fight, you're not weak, it doesn't matter what strengths and weaknesses you have." He said, shortly before noticing a familliar Sliggoo to his right side not far away. He stopped and looked at it, something was different. Now it was moving closer to him even when he stopped moving. He took a step back away from it, thinking it was probably finally ready to attack.

Cautiously the Nincada took quite a few steps more away from the Dragon type that had suddenly appeared.
"I am weak. My moves are next to useless, my typing is horrible and I can neither take nor deal a hit."
The only times Ned had ever fought were out of self-preservation. Most of these battles he won just barely. So why was everyone insisting on pointing out his supposed strength when the contrary was quite obviously the case?
But there most likely wouldn't be any reasoning with this Pokémon either. No matter how hard he tried, he could never convince others of his weakness. Even in that regard he was a failure.

"Ned, have you ever been in a fight? Have you ever lost?" Sova said, hoping still to convince the nincada of his strengths. He began walking away from the Sliggoo and gestured for his ally to follow, getting a bit worried about the stalker now openly showing its self and creeping towards them closer and closer. He was prepared for a battle, but he wasn't in a hurry to have to fight in the marshy area if it wasn't necessary.

"Yes and no. I may not have lost yet, but that doesn't mean it won't ever happen. And losing once is enough to end someone's life here. Furthermore I may have fought myself, but rarely alone. There has almost always been someone else by my side."
Asking him whether he had ever lost. Heh. If he had, he wouldn't be here right now. So what was the point in asking that question? Maybe the Eevee had just run out of things to say and was now stalling for time until he could think of new things to try and tell the Nincada to convince him of his supposed "strength". Hopefully he would just give up. This was becoming painfully pointless.

Sova laughed. "So you've never lost a fight and you still think you're weak? Well, I hope that opinion of your self doesn't last for ever." He said, a bit confused. "No one can win every fight, and losing one doesn't mean you'll die or that you're weak...." He said, before being distracted by a sound. An eerie laugh. He stopped to try to figure out where it was coming from. "Do you hear that?"

His attention then shifted back to the Sliggoo which was still moving closer and closer to them. He backed away a step, not sure what was going on, he was getting a bit worried.

"So what do you think the enemy you just lost to is going to do once they have won? I sincerely doubt they would just leave you alone after that. Those who have not lost a single fight are not strong. They are alive. That's it."
What was this Pokémon talking about?
But then an eerie laugh rang through the air.
"I think I did. But just like you I have no idea where this noise is coming from. It most likely isn't anything good however. Thus my suggested reaction would be the removal of ourselves from this physical location. Quickly if applicable."