The darkest times

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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 couldn't help but smile and laugh her small plan had worked as she stopped laughing with the smile still on her face "that is the most word's I've gotten out of you yet" Noel felt a little bad for her trick but she had talked to some Pokemon who read books and they all said the same thing when she asks that question.

Then Noel had a little mental ordeal she knew Pokemon who read and treated books like that but most of them were ghost types like Chie Noel thinking it was just a huge coincidence "it's always nice to see others ideals" though she did have a book she loved she figured it was because it was close to her heart

"Heh, that is impressive. I must send you my congratulations."
Indeed this was unexpected. The Riolu had actually managed to get her to talk. Now to get Chie to talk about books wasn't too difficult, but still this was some of the most she had ever spoken in a long time. Longer conversations usually only were held with Sova, her team leader and her geat love William.
But that didn't change the fact that they now were out of topics to discuss yet once again. That was the problem with conversations. You always needed new material. And new conversational material was difficult to come by for someone who only left their home when it became absolutely neccessary.

"Hey and I'll accept them" Noel says with a smirk then she realized she only had one real topic left that could relate to what Chie was into just books as Noel thinks about how to say it and decides that it didn't really matter.

"So have you ever tried to write a book?" She asks thinking if Chie loved books that much she must of tried to write one

"Writing?", the Duskull repeated, not having expected this question either.
"Well..uh, no. I haven't been able to find the time to do so sadly. Maybe I will in the future but for now I haven't."
Of course the Duskull had tried her hand at writing already. Many times even. But she was far too shy and embarrassed to ever admit that to anyone else, much less someone she had met mere hours ago.
Maybe eventually she would publish her works anonymously but for now they were to remain hidden away, never to have someone's eyes laid upon them.
The Ghost type was now beginning to wonder. How many authors, how many books had never become known simply because the Pokémon doing the writing had been too shy to reveal them?
A tragical loss for the world of literature it must have been.

Noel just mentally shrugged not believing that the duskull had read that many books and had not tried to write one but she decided not to press the matter seeing as it wasn't that important of a question "well I'm sure if you do it'll be good" the riolu says as she left the real world to her mind as they walked.

This walk had her just thinking about home how everyone was doing but she quickly dismissed this so she could respond of Chie asked something though it was doubtful she was still read

The Duskull found herself blushing at the unexpected compliment.
"R-really? You really think so? T-thanks I guess."
It was rare that the Ghost type recieved compliments about anything.
Not only because she certainly wasn't the kind of Pokémon to brag about things, but also obviously because she rarely was found talking to Pokémon in general.
It felt...strange. On the one hand it was uplifting just as the compliment was intended to be, but on the other hand Chie now felt a strange pressure to try and live up to the compliment somehow.
Right now she was unsure whether she believed for recieving this compliment to have been a good thing or not. But the Riolu wasn't familiar with her thought processes, so to hold the negative consequences against her would not be fair.

Noel smiles happy someone had taken her complement seriously some Pokemon tended to think she was being sarcastic or a idiot mostly the second one but she never minded anyone else's opinions on any matter unless it was something she knew nothing about but now her mind was traveling farther and farther Way from the conversation at hand as it did from time to time.

Noel mentally told herself to focus this wasn't new to the girl she even sometimes got distracted while fighting and the results on that were pretty bad

Chie meanwhile hadn't even considered for the compliment to be meant in a sarcastic manner.
Her lack of experience with social interaction had left her with quite the deficiency in noticing sarcasm and other such ways of speaking, leading to her taking most anything at face value.
Why Pokémon used sarcasm at all was beyond her. Instead of uselessly making a sarcastic statement it would be much easier to just communicate the intended message directly. It would leave no room for misunderstandings and would also require for much less mental energy to be spent towards forming the statement itself.
But that was just one of many social customs Chie wasn't accustomed to and it was certainly not the most confusing one she had encountered thus far.

Noel let out a small yawn she was starting to get a little tired they had been walking for a while was Chie right about them going forward Noel still felt that going back The way they came would of been a good idea but it was to late to second guess this now as she soldiers on.

She ran out of topics related to books or book related things so she chose to remain quiet she thought that some silence would do both of them some good

Chie meanwhile remained quiet as well, even though the thoughts in her head were flying around quite quickly.
Which book should she get Noel first? How should she act as for not to scare the Riolu away but rather to entice her and lead her into the wonderful world of literature?
Difficult questions for the Duskull, especially since she really wasn't the most eloquent or charismatic of Pokémon. How could it be that other Pokémon were so much better at talking than she was?
Did they instinctively know the right thing to say? Was there some sort of hidden knowledge the Ghost type did not know about? Or was there another thing that made some Pokémon more eloquent than others?

Noel looked forward as she thought she noticed something, she did it was light as she looks over to Chie. "Hey it's the exit" she says as she walks over to where the light was coming from, she was slightly happy to get out of the forest with no wounds nor any stamina lost

That means she go to another dungeon but then remembered she made a promise to read with Chie, Noel decided that her promise was more important and just kept walking alongside Chie

Indeed it seemed that the group had reached the exit of the forest without any further complications. This was a surprising turn of events. Things rarely went this smoothly when Mystery Dungeons were involved.
"Yay! Seems like we've finally made it out of here. So I guess this is where we part ways for now. I have to put together an assortment of books, write a schedule and create some checklists so we won't miss anything."
While she sounded confident saying it, Chie really didn't know whether she should go through with this. Reading with the Riolu would lead to more time being spent with each other. That would lead to friendship. And friendship would lead to being hurt.

Noel just nods at the Pokemon "sounds good, I'm looking forward to it" she says with a smile as she turns to leave "well I'll see you later Chie nice meeting you" Noel said as she sped off into the distance where she had no idea but wherever she was going to go she would know what to do when she gets there, she was also happy to have met a new friend and that was grand also