Marshy Marching

First topic message reminder :

(19 - 15 = 4 energy)

Rouge frowned, he wasn't sure what he was doing here. The ground was wet and hard to move around in. Every step he took here felt like three steps, and he was growing weary very quickly. Looking around, Rouge spotted nothing of interest to him. 'Look for a cave near the cattail marsh' they said, 'It will be fun' they said. Rouge huffed with discontent, there was nothing he hated more than trudging through water with mud in it than a liar. He swung his club in front of him a few times as if hitting those lairs in the face. The only thing that he got from those Pokemon was some more experience in speaking. he wasn't as bad as he was before, but he wasn't at all perfect. At least he didn't need to sound out almost every single letter any more. Suddenly he stopped and listened. He heard splashing coming towards his location.

Rouge continued tending to the fire, turning the log every so often so that it would dry out quickly. This was a small and simple fire, though he felt a pang in his heart for the fire he would have taken care of. It was white, pure, and beautiful to peer at, 'The Divine Fire of the Last Ember" it had been named. Ever sense their savior had let lose their last breath with a small while ember, his tribe elected the best at keeping fires to take care of this final ember. He had never known the full story as the kindly elder that taught him never let the full story came to pass.

Rouge did, however, feel embarrassed. for all of his skill in keeping a fire going, he had no knowledge of how to start a fire himself. The truth was no one in his tribe knew how to start a fire, which is why the tribe learned how to keep a fire going almost indefinably. 'The Divine Fire' had been going for almost as long as the tribe had been settled in that spot. Rouge sighed and continued tending to the fire repressing his memories for now.

"W-wh-he-re y-o-ou f-ro-om?" Rouge inquired, looking to Ashen. He wondered what tribe she had come from, and why there were such huge tribes in this area? and what was with no one having their tribe name behind their name? A single name for someone was foreign to him.

"Who, m-me? Oh, uhm, I'm from Grassveil Town," Ashen answered quietly, displeased with how boring she sounded. Rouge Bone was from some wild, mysterious, and interesting tribe, while she was just a dumb small town girl. She didn't have any of the cool skills that her companion had, and frankly, she didn't seem to be much of a better fighter than him, either. Considering that she had spent of good chunk of her life practicing her moves and training, she felt as if she had wasted her time. Overall, in comparison to her partner, she felt as if she was... Well, plain.

She looked up at him, and noticed something. Oh, right, he's still missing his club! I forgot about that. Ugh, that means I'm going to have to go diving and look for it once we're done warming up. Anything to help out, though. I need to prove that I can be useful too! Even if it means getting soaked again...

Rouge watched the fire for a moment before looking back to Ashen curiously. Grassveil town? Rouge didn't know that tribe. He wondered what it was like there.

"Gr-ra-a-ss-v-ei-i-l T-tr-ib-be?" Rouge asked. He could only imagine what it was like at this point. Could it be large with three hundred members? or was it a small tribe of just fifteen? Was all of the inhabitants like her? and if so, were they in some way related as they both had skulls on their heads? These were all good questions he wanted to ask, but he knew it would be too hard to actually asked them at the moment. Quietly he added the log to the fire, feeding it so that it would keep lit for a very long while, then looked back to Ashen. Rouge silently awaited an answer to at least one of his questions.

Ashen shook her head at the Cubone, knowing that explaining things to him would be a challenge. "No, Grassveil Town. It's a bit like a tribe... But different. Y-you see, towns are a lot bigger, and... We have lots of different Pokemon, and... Uhm, th-there's the Grassveil Guild..." She trailed, not really sure what else to add. She didn't even know whether or not the uneducated Pokemon would know what a guild was. Maybe it would be better if I just took him with me to Grassveil. Then, I could give him a tour, and show him rather than trying to explain what it's like, She thought, smiling at the idea. Hopefully, it wouldn't be too much for Rouge...

"I-I can bring you there after we're done here, if you want," The hound offered, shifting uncomfortably and looking at the ground. "You know, I could show you around, and we could grab a bite at Tropical's," She murmured, her voice slowly fading. Arceus, I sound stupid right now. Why do I have to be so bad at this? "Uhm, it's not that far away... Only about an hour's walk," She finished, giving the Cubone a questioning look.

Rouge Thought about this for a moment. A chance to see a 'Town'? this would be a good way to see a different culture for sure. but how big would this 'Town' be? and what is an hour? all he knew were days, moons, and light ticks. Could this be a way they tell time? this certainly intrigued him, so many differences just in this small offer. and what is a 'Tropical's' and why do you go get bit at it? He was only getting more curious the more he thought about the offer. He had decided upon what he would say.

"So-u-u-n-d g-oo-od" Rouge spoke as he nodded. though he would need to get his bone back before they went. he hoped it wouldn't take long, but he had a feeling it may.

Ashen smiled, glad that her new Cubone companion would be coming back to town with her. Perhaps showing him around Grassveil would give him an idea of how most civilized Pokemon lived their lives. And maybe, if she was lucky, she could convince him to move there, rather than look for a cave dwelling. It was a longshot, but still a possibility in Ashen's mind nonetheless.

Suddenly, it occurred to her that Rouge was missing his signature bone club. "H-hey, where's your club?" She asked, although she already knew the answer to that question. It was pretty obvious that he had dropped it in the water earlier, but she was praying to Arceus that her suspicions wouldn't be confirmed. The last thing that the tiny fire type wanted to do was submerge herself yet again, but if that's what it took to help her friend, she would do it.

Rouge dreaded this part, he knew he would have to go back into the water to get his club. He sighed as he got up and turned to the water. Rouge waded into the water slowly before taking a deep breath and jumping in to get across the deeper section of water. After a few moments Rouge surfaced on the other side a few moment later. He panted for a few moments still wading though the water to get to where his bone should have fallen in. The moment he go to the general place he thought his club would be, Rouge dived in coming up every so often for a breath of air.

Rouge looked to ashen as she came over with his club. The moment it fell he picked it up, hugging the club as if it were a child. Rouge then followed ashen, walking back though the deeper water. Just as his head surfaced he felt something grab his leg. The moment he turned to look at the murky water he was pulled under with a audible splash. 'this was not good' rouge thought, He wasn't able to actually see anything around him under the water nor was he sure of what had grabbed him, but what ever it was, it defiantly was angry and looking to take it out on him. Struggling to break free, rouge swung his club in wide arcs near his leg, trying to hit what ever grabbed it, but to no avail. He wouldn't last long down here, he hadn't had time to take in a deep breath, nor was he able to reach the surface of the water. He knew he would faint sooner rather than later.

[Energy: 1 - 1 (Frogadier) = 0]

By the time the noise of frantic splashing reached her ears, Ashen knew that Rouge was in serious trouble. She scrambled back up to her feet, and bolted to the shore. After giving one last look back at the warm and inviting campfire, she jumped into the frigid swamp and doggy-paddled over towards the ripples in the water. Oh, no... I hope I'm not too late, The fiery hound thought to herself, squeezing her eyes tightly. She took a deep breath, and reluctantly submerged herself in the Cattail Marsh for what seemed like the millionth time.

Upon reopening her eyes, Ashen found that visibility in the murky water was near zero. She could barely even see her own paws... How was she going to find her drowning partner? Just as she began to embrace the possibility that her new friend was gone, she managed to make out two silhouettes several meters away from her, with one grabbing the other's leg. Realizing that she had just found Rouge, she swam over as fast as she could, and clamped onto the attacker's arm, hoping that the Pokemon would let go.

Rouge slowly started to lose the power in his swings, he was wasting his breath at this point stopping just as a new shape came into view attacking the one who had a grip on him. The moment the grip relaxed from shot Rouge shot up as best he could so he could breath in and go back down into the murky depth again. He knew it must have been Ashen and this time he wasn't going to get caught off guard by the frog Pokemon. As Rouge approached, he swung at the now caught Pokemon, hitting the shoulder opposite from Ashen. As soon as it connected he continued to swing in a similar fashion hitting the shoulder and arm again and again, hoping to help wear it down or at least fend it off. He wasn't about to let it get away with out major bruising to it's shoulder.

Ashen continued to clamp down on the Frogadier's arm, just to make sure it had learned its lesson. Nobody hurts my friend and gets away with it! She angrily thought, narrowing her eyes. She could feel the amphibian's body tremble as it was smashed mercilessly by her partner's bone club... Eventually, once the Pokemon stopped flailing, she let go and returned to the surface, gasping for air.

"A-are you okay...?" The fire hound asked, concerned. "W-we should go back to that f-fire and g-get out of here..." She shivered, desiring nothing more than to lie down near the pit and warm back up... Her internal flame was weakening, and her body temperature was dropping. She knew that if she stayed in the water for much longer, she would faint...

Looking back at the Frogadier, she couldn't help but feel a twinge of regret. It'll be fine... The Houndour reassured herself. The way that they had savagely beaten the poor Pokemon to a pulp made her feel a bit guilty... But she couldn't worry about that now. Her first priority had to be getting back to the fire pit. Looking to her partner, she began to doggy-paddle towards the small island.

Rouge did his best to swim up to the surface, it wasn't easy but he managed to keep his head above the surface. He heard Ashen ask if he was already then start to swim to shore, Rouge followed suit. Once he landed on the shore, Rouge drug himself to the fire just in time to pass out. He was too cold and exhausted to keep himself awake and aware of his surroundings. The fire was still strong by the time they had gotten back to it, the warm glow would invite others besides them towards it potentially. Rouge, how ever, couldn't care as he wouldn't be able to do anything anyways.

Ashen sighed in relief once they had both managed to reach land once again. By the time the little hellhound had crawled up to the fire pit, she could no longer move... For the next couple of minutes, she stared at the still-lively blaze, enjoying the warm blanket of heat that it provided her. Slowly but surely, her inner flame reignited, and her sore muscles managed to support her body as she got back to her feet.

Looking to her side, Ashen noticed that Rouge had also collapsed due to exhaustion. She frowned, knowing that his confrontation with the Frogadier had probably taken most of his energy... But at least he was okay. Had she not heard him splashing around in the water, things could've ended much, much differently.

I guess I should let him rest for now, The dark canine thought to herself, standing guard while her unconscious partner laid on the ground. The fire would undoubtedly arouse curiosity in the wild Pokemon in the area, and she wanted to be prepared for an attack.

Rouge stayed passed out for several hours, starting to snore softly after an hour of sleep. His eyes slowly opened as he woke, his body warm enough for him to be able to move, his scales were dried off for the most part, only his stomach was still damp as he stood up. Rouge looked to the fire and noted it was dying. acting quickly he grabbed more fuel from the surrounding area to add to the fire and bring it back up to a decent level. Rouge looked to ashen, waiting for her to chose what they would be doing, as weather they should leave now or she should rest for a while would be her choice and her's alone.