The darkest times

The thick foilage overhead was blocking the evening sun's fading rays, enshrouding the Shadowhue Forest in an almost palpable darkness. Only very little light actually managed to reach the ground and to sparsely illuminate the surroundings. Between this darkness and the twigs and dried leaves that lay underground one could easily trip over a hidden root or alert a sleeping Pokémon.
Most Pokémon would avoid this place at this time of day as much as possible, much less go there voluntarily because of all these dangers and discomforts.
However Chie was different. She actually enjoyed wandering between the cold tree trunks, not having to worry about making a sound or walking into a tree by accident due to her levitative, visual and generally ghastly powers. And since few other Pokémon were capable of things like these the Shadowhue Forest was pleasantly empty and silent. Noone was around to attack her or to - and this was something Chie believed to be even worse - to try and befriend her. Not because she was mean or didn't want to have friends but rather because it could never end well. With her lifespan she would almost inevitably outlive whoever attempted to be her friend and then she would be alone again. Alone and hurt. And thus the Ghost type preferred to rather just be alone.
Alone where noone could hurt her...


(E 19-10=9)

Noel slowly made her way throughout the dark fest she needed to do some training if she ever hoped to go farther then this area alone the rest air seemed calm and still as of everything in it had chosen to stop breathing all at once this small fact scared Noel to no end as her mother once called it the calm before a storm but Noel ignored this little fact and decided to keep going anyway if there was a storm coming she'd just deal with it as she tied the scarf once around her neck so it was just near the middle of her back

She kept going till she decided to start going through the trees so she could see any if all feral Pokemon that came her way wanting to avoid any unnecessary conflict in the forest s she made her way up and around the trees making as little noise as possible

(Energy lost 10-19=9)

As what probably was the only source of light in the forest apart from the few rays of sunlight that still broke through, the Duskull's eerie eye covered the area around her in a pale, reddish hue.
Chie was wandering around, no goal in mind, not even thinking about the time. Her mind was once again far, far away in one of the many works of literature she perused liberally.
Usually those heroes in the books were afraid of the things lurking in dark forests, but Chie was used to it. In fact she ventured here regularly to relax. It probably was the one thing she was better in than the protagonists. Mentally humming a little tune to herself, the ghastly Ghost type kept on silently floating between the dark trees and through the thorny undergrowth.

Noel was still moving through the trees enjoying the silent day through the forest this was one of the few times where she had been attacked by feral Pokemon so she had decided to talk a walk around and look for Items a wanderer couldn't be to prepared as she jumped to another branch but this one have away slightly Noel was able to make it out but in the process her journal had dropped to the ground Noel had not noticed until she was far she then rushes back and looks around while still in the trees "why did I think black binding would be cool" she says as she scans the area

Like a small lantern or a wisp the Duskull levitated through the dark and dreary forest.
Every corner looked about the same, but the Ghost type didn't mind. In fact this actually had quite the calming effect on the mind. After the quite shockingly social environment Chie had found herself in after having joined the Guild of Grassveil this calm serenity was a welcome distraction - a place to clear one's head and simply think.
Chie began to wonder whether other Pokémon did similar things in other places.
What would those other places look like? Were they like this dark forest or maybe completely different?
And was there a perfect place to clear one's mind? Once she got back home the Duskull would have to read up on that.

"Ah" Noel said as she looked right at the book the small shiny gold part on the side gave it clear away as she jumped out of the tree and landed near the book picking it up she then turned to see someone she had landed right in front of a duskull jumping backwards landed slightly far away from the other Pokemon "feral or not" she asks as she slowly puts the book back

All of a sudden a book fell out of a tree. And soon it was joined by a strange Pokémon - a Riolu if Chie remembered that one book correctly. But what was it doing here? Why did it fall from the tree? Why did a book fall from a tree? And why in front of her? But the most important part first. Chie was surprised.
Of course the Duskull had seen scenarios like this quite often in her books already so she immediately asked the most important questions:
"Waah! W-w-who are you and what are you doing here? And how can you read with this little light?"
This certainly was something Chie had not expected. Not only were there other Pokémon still awake at this time of day, but they actually chose to voluntarily visit one of the darkest places near Grassveil Town to perform an activity that required eyesight. This Pokémon was strange indeed.

Noel had decided that this Pokemon was obviously not feral the short wah was all she needed as Noel held her arms up and started waving them trying to calm her down "I'm sorry my name is Noel I'm a wanderer" Noel says still trying to calm her down as she decides to say about the book "I was not reading I was jumping through the trees and I dropped my journal." She says as she lowers her arms and smiles "uhh so who are you?"

So this Pokémon wasn't trying to attack her. Not now at least. That was good.
Hopefully it wouldn't try to make friends either. Those things always ended badly.
"I...uh...I-I am Chie. And I don't really have any reason to be here I guess."
A slight disappointment overcame the Ghost type. The book was just a journal.
Of course this still meant that the Riolu wasn't too challenged in her litteracy, but an actual book would have established a common interest and thus made the conversation easier. But in a situation like this the Duskull was at quite the loss for words.
What should she say? Should she say anything? What should she do? Should she do anything?
Or was now the Riolu's turn to do things again? Conversations were confusing...

Noel nods with the smile still on her face "it's very nice to meet you chie" she responded as she moved the red scarf on her neck to the side so it was over her bag it had gotten slightly messed up in the fall.
Noel had thought about what to talk about she was more of the actions first type of girl as she decided just a random question she asked people she.met in dungeons "so explorer or not?" She asks first thing as it was the first that came to her head

"Uh...you too I guess.", Chie stammered, still quite shaken.
"Explorer here. Team Titans. Though I'm still quite new. What about you?"
Just why did the Duskull have to be so bad at conversations again?
The characters in books talked all the time so shouldn't she have developed quite good conversational skills from having read about their adventures? Well, apparently not as she still felt quite embarrassed talking - or rather thinking about what to say in front of the Riolu. The Ghost type was lucky that her single eye of crimson that was bouncing around in her skull was radiating a reddish glow as otherwise one would most likely have seen her blushing glow throughout the entire arboreal accumulation.
How could other Pokémon do this regularly and enjoy it?

Noel nodded 'huh a explorer' she had not thought she was considered how shy she seems to be but she quickly dismissed the thought and choose to focus on the conversation "I'm like I said a wanderer I just explorer" she reply with a small nod "I've been explorer pretty much since I was born" she adds to the duskulls pretty new remark it was not a lie she had been exploring since she was born but that was with her mother still counted right

Chie was astounded.
Having been an explorer from birth on seemed to be so -strange, so otherworldly.
Almost like the backstory of some protagonist of an epic story. Maybe there was someone writing a book about this very Riolu right now? Writing from another world somehow.
Which adventures would the Fighting type experience? And which role would Chie have in it?
Most likely not a major role but maybe she could get the role of the character who is barely mentioned but somehow amasses a huge following among the fans of the particular work of literature.
But - this was not the time for thoughts like those. This was a conversation and she needed to say something...but what?
"So...uh...what do we do now?"

Noel looks at the duskull as it's one eye stares at her while moving Noel didn't mind this but she thought she had seen something in that duskulls eye as she was looking at Noel pushing it aside as she went back to a small smirk like she was known for "huh" Noel looked at her tilting her head slightly what do we do now seemed like a strange thing to say they were talking that was something maybe she wanted to explorer the area?
"We can walk around a bit explore find stuff and talk" Noel replied as soon as her mental process had stopped thinking about it which took a few moments but Noel didn't like being silent for long

"Guess so..." Chie responded automatically.
For her this conversation was going way too quickly.She didn't mind minutes of silence between the sentences as they allowed for the speakers to think about what they were going to say. With this quick way of talking she always had to worry about misspeaking by accident and maybe accidentally offending the Riolu as well.
So - what had she just agreed to?
Exploring the area it seemed. Well, it wasn't as if she had anything better to do and evading the feral Pokémon here shouldn't be too much of an issue. However she wasn't sure whether the Fighting type would have an equally easy time here. And the thing that frightened her the most - she might actually begin to befriend this Pokémon...