An Adventure between two non-combatants

Giles took another look at his mental list of places he still needed to visit. He has already been to the Northeastern Mountains, the West…twice, and around Grassveil. He still has to go to many places in this world, but he decided that he was going to wait until he got stronger. Rainforest Town was not that far away from Grassveil, and he has not ventured through there yet, so that is where he went. The town itself was not much of interest to the shuckle, but everything around it.

He heard of a hill that pokemon of his strength often go to. It was surrounded by woods, “probably another dungeon,” thought Giles. He gave the woods a good look. “I’m not sure if I can handle this all on my own. Well, it looks like I am going to have to find out now aren’t I?”

(15/25 energy, -10 from entrance)

(Energy: 19-10=9)

A small, shiny Houndour had just arrived at Pricklemist hill. To her surprise, there was barely any fog. Is this Pricklemist Hill? I thought there was supposed be a permanent fog over this are. Maybe it is a clear day today? Why was Niracamda here? She was curious and wanted to see if she could find some rare plants here. The Houndour was hoping to find some with medical uses.

Niracamda looked around. She couldn't help but think that this place had a sinister feel to it, even with how little fog there was that day. This feel could only be worse if you could hardly see anything. The small Houndour started walking into the forest. She was hoping she would not encounter any ferals. She did not want to end up fighting that day.

As Giles gazed at the forest that surrounded the hill, he noticed that another pokemon was approaching him. “Oh deary me, another pokemon! It’s probably a feral pokemon. This is exactly what I was afraid of. I probably should hide.” The shuckle looked around the entrance to the forest and not seeing much cover for him to hide behind. He started to move as fast as he could behind a group of trees that could hopefully mask his not so camouflaging self.

When he reach the trees and hid behind them, he peered out from behind his cover. He eyed the other pokemon trying to figure out what species it was. The dark pokemon Giles think that it is a houndoor. “They are not native to the area… I think… So why is one here? Best to be safe and continue to hide,” he thought.

Niracamda was slowly walking further. She suddenly stopped and looked at a group of trees. Did I just see something move there? The Houndour kept staring at the trees. She could not really see anything. Was it my imagination? Niracamda shook her head and moved a bit closer to the tree. She had to make sure if someone was there or not. She did not want to get surprised by someone attacking her or anything.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" She called out. Of course nobody with bad intentions was going to come out if she called out in a soft and unsure voice like that. She hadn't really thought about that of course. The shiny Houndour kept staring at the trees and waited to see if something would happen.

As Giles watched the other pokemon closely, apparently the other pokemon heard Giles as well. But rather than hearing a voice that would be associated with something such as the dark pokemon, the voice sounded caring. “This is something that I was not expecting, but who am I one to judge?” he thought. The shuckle gave his surrounding area another quick look for feral pokemon before he left his makeshift hiding spot. He took a deep breath and use withdraw just in case.

The shuckle moved slowly out of the trees and towards what he can definitely say is a houndour. The houndour does not seem to Giles that it will immediately bite his face, so this was a good sign. Trying to not startle he said, “Hello there. A nice for a walk huh?”

Just as Niracamda was about to move further, she saw something come from behind the trees and move towards her. The Pokemon looked kind of weird to her. She never saw a Pokemon like that before but she had an idea of what it was. Is that.....a shuckle? It looks different than I imagined. It does have a red shell and weird limbs sticking out of the holes. It's head is also pretty small.

As the small Houndour tried to determine what species it was, the Shuckle came up to her and started talking. It snapped her out of her thoughts. "Ah er....Yes, it is. There is surprisingly little fog today here." Niracamda said. "So uh....You are a Shuckle, are you not?" She wasn't exactly sure what the Pokemon was and not wanting to mess up it was best to ask. "Oh, and if you are wondering, my name is Niracamda." She added. Being too caught up by the species, she almost forgot to introduce herself.

As Giles got to the houndour, his suspicions were confirmed. This pokemon was not feral. She was actually quite well-mannered it seemed. She also seemed a bit nervous, he could not tell why exactly. She should be quiet good at fighting, as compared to the defensive shuckle. It seemed to Giles that she has never seen a shuckle before, which to him was not very surprising. “Indeed I am a shuckle there miss. Haven’t seen one of my kind in quite a while, no I have not,” he said.

Hoping that formalities would fix the palpable mood of nervousness between the two of them he continued to talk and said, “My name is Giles, the shuckle… hm, that bit at the end there was not very necessary was it?” He continued to try and fill the air with just ramblings, “Hm? Fog you say? I was unaware that there was fog here. It appears to be a reoccurring theme in my travels. It’s like a koffing keeps using smog. Get it? Cause fog and smog are similar and sound similar too? Ok, that was dumb.”

Niracamda was a bit relieved as her guess was right. It could have been pretty awkward if her guess was wrong. She started relaxing a bit. The Shuckle did seem pretty friendly to her. She trusted that it would not try to hurt her now.

The shuckle introduced himself as Giles. It was not a name she had heard before. She smiled at the statement of mentioning being a shuckle was unnecessary."Well, it's nice to meet you, Giles." She replied. The Houndour laughed a bit at what the Shuckle said next. She liked it when Pokemon were making jokes. She was going to get along with Giles. She was not good at making jokes herself, she did like hearing them and having fun.

Giles was put to ease when Nira laughed at his awful joke. It definitely did not seem like that she was out to hurt him, which was a good thing. While he definitely could take the hit, he could not do much after that. “Well I’m glad that this is going so well, but don’t expect me to Raichu a love song or anything. That one was worse… I think you probably sound that quiet shocking.” Giles hit himself in embarrassment after that last one. He severely overestimated his ability to make pokemon related puns.

After trying to just ignore what just took place, he tried to change the topic…quickly. “So what brought you here? Can’t be for the sights because apparently this place gets really foggy.” He look around and into the seemingly endless forest and just thought about how drastic the landscapes are here on the mainland.

Niracamda giggled a bit at the horrible pun. It was not that she exactly thought it was funny, it was more the effort Giles put in it. Her puns would be a lot worse though. The Shuckle did seem embarrassed with that pun. She noticed pretty fast he tried to change the topic.

"Well, I came to see if there are any plants around here that have some sort of medical purpose. I'm a bit surprised with the lack of fog. It will make it a bit easier hopefully. Maybe I could also explore a bit around here." Niracamda tried to explain. "So, what brings you here?" She asked in a friendly tone.

Giles answered her question quite simply, “I am here for the sole reason of exploration. I grew up nowhere near here so now I am fascinated by all of the different lands around here. Like I only heard of forests in passing but I have seen two, both looking completely different.”

Giles got an inquisitive look on his face when Nira mentioned the herbs. “Medical herbs? Are you a healer of sorts?” He thought that it would make sense considering her seemingly hospitable nature. He just never heard of anyone that dedicated their lives to it. “Are you looking for berries? Like oran berries for instance, those heal right? I would give you some if I had any, sadly I do not have all that much on me, and nothing in the way of berries.”

Niracamda looked interested at the Shuckle. What kind of area could he have lived in to never even have seen a forest? She wanted to know. "You're not from around here? Where do you come from? What is that place like?" She asked the Shuckle.

Then the Shuckle asked about the medicinal herbs. "Yes, I have been a medic for a few years now but I started traveling to explore the world. I also like to learn and hope to find more ways to help others and maybe even discover some cures for deceases where there is no cure for yet." The shiny Houndour replied. She giggled a bit at what the Shuckle said about Oran berries. He seemed to be misunderstanding her. "Although berries have some medical uses. Most of them are already know and are used quite often. I am actually looking for herbs and flowers and such."

It seemed to Giles that mentioning his home piqued the interest of Nira. He had not thought about home really sense he got to Grassveil. It seemed like a lifetime ago despite being two years ago at most. “Well, I am from an island, very far away. It was quiet small so all the trees were cut down a long time before I hatched so I knew that forests existed but I never saw one. But… I’m not there anymore, I’m here instead.” His voice started to trail off has he spoke the end of his sentence.

One again, he tried to steer the conversation away from the topic at hand. “Oh really? I mean I guess that makes sense. Because I never learned the medicinal purposes of plants other than berries, I never would have guessed what a flower could do for a pokemon’s health.”

Nira listened closely to what the Shuckle told about his home. An island? That sounds interesting. I wish I could go to an island one day. How would it look like? How would I even get there? I would have to cross the sea, right? But....I can't swim... Niracamda was a bit excited about the idea of visiting and exploring a foreign island but that soon died down after realizing it was probably impossible for her to reach one. It was sad but it was something she just had to accept. The small Houndour noticed Giles' voice trailing off as if he did not want to talk about it.

Niracamda smiled at the Shuckle. "Well, not a lot of Pokemon know what medical purposes plants can have. Medics are specially trained for healing others. It can take years before someone is officially recognized as a medic. It's not really surprising you didn't know."

Giles nodded along to Nira’s explanation as to why pokemon would not know about other means of medicine other than known berries. Giles realized that he took all of this for granted. Pecha berries fix poison, Cheri berries are for paralysis, etc. He never thought of all of the testing that had to happen to make sure that the berries did what they do.

“How are you planning on going about seeing what they flowers do? Because you won’t know what the flower does unless someone uses it right? Or do you have a science-y way of testing to see if the flower does its intended effect?” After saying this Giles hopes that he does not seem to ignorant for not knowing how all of this works. While she expected people to not know about medicinal herbs other than berries, Giles did not know if the testing was common knowledge.