Dreamers of the Day

The sun burned down on the dry, dusty landscape of the desert, making the oshawott currently attempting to traverse it miss the cool, dark atmosphere of Shadowhue every second of the way. Avaria trudged through the sand, being watchful of the distance in search of anything coming her way. She had to chuckle somewhat, sounding exasperated. One good thing about the area was that nothing would sneak up on her, at least not from above ground. That led to the bad thing though, all the isolation. At least in Shadowhue other wild pokemon were around, and you could hear them usually, but here there was just nothing at all.

Yeah, nobody to help out if you faint. What were you thinking, Ava... Her thoughts further annoyed her as she continued on, keeping her familiar red scarf tied around her neck, though the end piece hanging in the back was tied to the second shell resting there as well. As for what she was doing out there, well, it was simple actually. Word came up around Grassveil that there was a treasure somewhere, with some riddle from a Xatu to give them a bit of a hint. From what she had heard in her travels, and what she had been able to look into on the area, there was no doubt in her mind that she was in the right place.

You might be right, but that's not going to matter if you pass out. Look at you, you're barely going along. Should have prepared more, or more likely, should have asked for someone to come out with you. She growled slightly, fuming at the told-you-so tone of her thoughts as she stumbled somewhat, standing back up and brushing the sand off of herself. No matter what thoughts she was having, she had already gone far enough, and she didn't have any plans of turning back just yet.

Energy: 7/23. -16 for entering dungeon.

[Energy = 43]

High above the heat-exhausted water type, the ancestor of the skies circled over. The great bird seemed to be carrying something, a green spike with two strange red and blue dots on what seemed to be its arms. The arms were limp, the thorn being passed out, and swung as the wind pulled them, but the talons of the colorful bird held tight enough to avoid the pokemon from being dragged out of them and yet light enough so as not to damage the floral pokemon.

The ancestor and spotted something upon the ground, a blue and white spec midst the sea of tan. He made a wide circle, his shadow passing swiftly over the small otter pokemon in what could have easily been mistaken movement of a bird of prey about to dive down for its meal.

This bird of prey however, instead landed not too far from the blue otter, his colorful tan, blue, and oddly dark red tipped wings were spread as he attempted to slow the landing, not wanting to drop the rose that he held in his talon. He placed the pokemon, which was in fact a roselia, onto the ground as he prepared to speak to the strange water type that had dared to enter this scorching desert.

"You don't seem to be doing so hot here as well, I know you're not a local to this area, so what brings you here? I seem to be finding the exhausted littered about everywhere here today..." The ancestor's name, was Acro of course! One of the more well known explorers, not famous but due to the length of time having spent being active around the guild, generally known.

There was a sudden wave of relief and nervousness at the same time as a looming shadow passed above the oshawott's head, blocking out the sun for the moment. The shade was much appreciated, however, obviously something had to be in the sky to provide it. Ava glanced upwards, holding a paw over her eyes and watched as the large bird circled overhead.

Great, that's perfect. That's how it's going to end. A giant, stupid bird picking me off in the middle of the desert. Nothing climactic or anything, really boring actually. The thought occurred to her, but she didn't seem to fully grasp the concept of it. Maybe it was how tired she was, or maybe the fact that if it did seem to attack her, she would put up as good a fight as she could.

She stepped away as the shape flew downwards, landing on the ground close to her and dropping another pokemon out of its talons on the sand. Her paw rested gently over her front shell, ready to grab it should anything happen. The ancestor of the skies didn't seem to want to attack, instead beginning to talk to her.

"You don't seem to be doing so hot here as well," Avaria's eyes narrowed somewhat as he spoke, definitely unamused with the way he had phrased it, intentional or not. Before she could interrupt, her eyes found the pokemon he had brought with him, an oddly familiar looking shape resting on the sand. Her eyes widened, surprised that she was with him as she ignored what Acro had to say, walking over to Vesper.

"Who are you? What's she doing with you?" The Oshawott questioned, looking down at Vesper instead of looking at the one she was speaking to. Her friend seemed to be relatively alright, definitely out cold...err, not cold. What were you doing out here, Vesper? You couldn't have made this trip on your own... She thought to herself, looking back up to Acro and regarding him warily, keeping a cautious gaze.

"Eh? You know them?" the archeops blinked, not expecting for a random traveler he found to have known the other random traveler he had found in the midst of the desert. He hadn't purposefully made the rather amusing pun, and failed to realize that he actually had made one. He spoke, explaining himself before the oshawott decided he wasn't friendly and started attacking him despite their weariness, "I'm Acro, I was flying around and found her eating sand...not literally I mean, I just meant that she was face down..."

The archeops looked down to the unconscious roselia, figuring that he was lucky he didn't accidentally get poisoned by the rose pokemon's poisonous points that coated it.

She hesitated a moment as Acro spoke, keeping her eyes on him. He doesn't seem overly harmful. I mean, he could be, but he isn't at the moment. Vesper doesn't seem to have any signs of being harmed by him, I figure any injuries he might leave would be fairly noticeable. Maybe another pokemon got her, maybe she just got tired from traveling. Still, he seems alright. For now, at least. Besides, I don't exactly have the energy to fight him.

"Maybe." The Oshawott simply responded in a vague manner, though that was more coming from a generally bad attitude created by wandering around a desert for an extended amount of time.
"She's a friend of mine. I don't know why she would be out here though," Probably looking for that treasure. "Maybe she heard some rumors or something." Ava explained further, trying to keep herself in check and keeping a generally calm voice.
"Well, thanks for picking her up Acro. It was stupid for her to go alone. Why were you out here though?" She concluded, taking a quick glance around the area to make sure nothing else was about to swoop down on them. Let's be honest here, it was stupid for me to go alone too. I should cut her some slack.

"I was taking a day off from the guild to be able to enjoy flying around, also I couldn't find any jobs on the bulletin board...seems like the newer members are snatching up all of them at once these days," the archeops spoke nonchalantly, "As for your friend, I think she just needs some shade and she'll be fine. I don't know whether the heat, a pokemon, or just pure exhaustion got to her though, but I'm thinking its most likely the heat."

Acro seemed to be in a bit of a good mood than he normally was, not that the oshawott would notice due to having just met the prehistoric bird. He hadn't been haunted by a single thought of his previous team mates, or the chance that he could outright endanger these two pokemon's lives by not being strong enough to deal with the pokemon around here.

Guild...is Vesper known by the guild yet? I don't remember hearing anything, but still... Well, that was going to make things a bit complicated. While Ava wasn't on the Outlaw Board yet, she wasn't exactly throwing herself out in the open to be on there. It was helpful to keep a low profile, she found, and she preferred to keep it that way. Problem was, that also meant she had to watch how she acted with this Archeops. Why did she seem to always end up going around with all the guild members? It was so restraining, and often she didn't even get what she could out of it. It was much easier being with others like her in her mind, though that never seemed to happen.

"Right...you're right. She'll be okay." The Oshawott nodded her head, agreeing with the larger pokemon before turning away.
"Maybe you should take her back to Grassveil, I've still got some business to take care of out here." She said as she began to walk off towards the rest of the vast desert, staggering slightly in the sand. Her pride was getting in the way, and she was convinced she could make it through the rest of the desert without their help. She had made it this far on her own, right?

"Are you sure you'll be fine out here? You look like you're barely even standing...what if some pokemon attacked?" Acro asked, having no idea that this Oshawott and the roselia he had been carrying were, in fact, outlaws that hadn't quite gotten their face on the board for being an one. The archeops studied the oshawott's walk, it seemed like it would have trouble just climbing up a sand dune, especially with its size and some dunes that might have collected around here being the size of it and bigger. He was surprised at how the oshawott had even got this far on its own to his own honesty.

"Well, that's more my problem really. Besides, you've got her there to take care of." Ava turned back and looked at Acro, but paused for a moment. Was she really going to be okay on her own? It was stupid, and the only reason she was insisting on it was pride. But, if she teamed up with this guild member, maybe he would prove valuable to her current cause.
"Well, on second thought, if you're feeling so generous then maybe it would be nice if you came with me. But I'm not going back, I'm going further in, with you or not." The Oshawott told him, standing still in the sand.

Acro was a bit surprised by the attitude of the oshawott as it seemed to be a bit irritated and hostile towards him. He came to the assumption that it was because of the heat. He also figured that it may have been wiser to go with the oshawott, he would rather not see something in the headlines of the news or some mission board that an oshawott was found dead in the desert. He picked up the roselia in his wings, desiring to be able to walk rather than hopping ridiculously on one foot the entire way, "So, what are you doing out here?" he asked the oshawott.

Watching as the Archeops began to follow with Vesper in wing, Ava turned and once more began to make her way through the sand, hearing Acro ask her about why she was out there.
"You're a guild member, I'm guessing from Grassveil, right? You had to have heard the rumor." She said, taking a breath before continuing on.
"In case you need a little refresher, or the heat got to you, some Xatu came to town and told everyone a riddle of sorts, supposedly leading to treasure. Do you know it?" The Oshawott continued to say, looking upwards towards the other pokemon. As much as she didn't want to admit it, as she looked upwards she realized just how much the size put her on edge, even though he didn't seem to show any hostile intentions as of the moment.

"Of course I have, you'd have to literally live under a rock to not to," the archeops spoke, "It said 'Hidden by a veil of white, a sea of flame you will find' I don't see any veils of white or seas of flame around here though.."

Acro had no clue what secrets the Silent Temple held. He had never explored it deep enough, if at all, to know that much about it. His head twisted a bit as he tried to think of how that would be able to apply here. The sea of flame could be the heat around here, but then again heat did not quite equate to flames. What did the oshawott see in this place that he did not?

"That would be because it's not here that I'm looking for that sort of thing. And you would have to think figuratively, not literally." The Oshawott began to explain, continuing on forward through the sand and struggling somewhat to keep up. She frowned, growling somewhat out of irritation. The heat was starting to get to her, and the sand wasn't making moving around any easier. It was all one giant inconvenience that wasn't appreciated by any means.

"Have you done any reading about the area? Any looking into legends around here?" Ava continued to ask, avoiding completely explaining her thoughts without making him think a bit. If she was going to work together with him for the time being, she was going to make him use his mind and think a bit, maybe he would get smarter.

"Nope," the archeops blinked, as if there was nothing wrong with that at all. The only reading the archeops had done was through the bulletin boards at the guild, in fact that's how he learned how to even read. Being born a wild pokemon, Acro hadn't exactly had much schooling. The bird probably couldn't even do that much math other than simple adding and subtracting. His life had mostly consisted of sitting in a nest being fed, falling out, joining the guild, being rejected and by many many partners, and evolving all while doing mission after mission. He studied the oshawott, "Why?" he asked.

Hearing the response, Avaria sighed, groaning somewhat and rubbing her head with her paw. Really? You would think a guild member would actually read into things, instead of mindlessly running around and looking for treasure. One of the first things I learned was to do some research...
"Well, I for one, did a bit of reading on the subject. You might want to try it." She said smugly, before continuing.
"Apparently, in Silent Temple there's some sort of pokemon living there. This might be exaggerated, but it's said that she over a thousand years old. I'm not so sure if I believe that, but she's supposed to be very wise. That's something I can believe. Which means, even if the treasure isn't here, I'm sure she can help find where it actually is. It's sort of a win-win as my old friends would call it. We either find the treasure there, or find more information on it."