Cold Marshlands

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(Energy: 14)

Gauel looked out over the flat lands in front of him. Tall reeds and large lilypads grew out of the water that covered the area. He was already nearly up to his knees in water, and with how sparse dry land appeared to be here, he assumed he'd have to get used to the feeling.

Not that it was a bad one. The water was quite cool and relaxing, with barely a ripple to it. It was also surprising clear, the Treecko able to peer through the surface to the bottom below, unlike the murky waters he expected to come across.

However, he wasn't really here to sight-see. Before he'd get distracted by another sight, the Treecko began to trudge forward through the water, disturbing the still liquid and kicking up a bit of dirt from the bottom, leaving a trail of murky water behind him as the dirt slowly started to settle back.

(Energy: 7)

Gauel groaned as he stood back up. On the bright side of things, harming himself by accident knocked his senses straight. Looking around, the Treecko growled, angered by the sudden attack. "Alright, time to beat the crap out of someone," Gauel called out into the smoke as he charged up another Energy Ball. The Treecko then threw the ball along the surface of the water. The water sprayed outwards, pulling the smoke down with it as it fell back into the marsh. Though some of the smoke remained, Gauel was able to see his first victim; a Froakie searching over the unconscious bodies of the Poliwhirl and Lotad.

The Treecko shot forward, a white trail following him as he slammed into the back of the Froakie. Gauel then grabbed the back of the water type's head, slamming it down into the water below before letting an Energy ball off on the back of its head. His attack wasn't taken kindly by the Froakie's accomplices, though.

A Frogadier and another Froakie both slammed into the Treecko with their own Quick Attacks, knocking him across the marsh several meters. The Treecko moaned out in pain as he stumbled back onto his feet. He stared up at the two water types, his eyes glowing a red. "You are dead," the Treecko said before charging forward, his body glowing a bright white.

The glowing white form of the Treecko began to change as he grabbed the Froakie's neck, the Frogadier jumping out of the way just before it was grabbed as well. Growling, Gauel threw the Froakie behind him as he continued after the Frogadier whilst evolving. He clasped his hands together once more, another Energy Ball forming between them. The ball grew much larger than normal though thanks to the combined power increase of Gauel's evolution and his ability.

He threw the Energy ball forward, the white light around his body following it as his evolved form came into full view. The now Grovyle chased after his attack, slamming into the Frogadier moments after it narrowly dodged the explosive attack. The two mid-evolution Pokemon grabbed each other's hands, locked in a contest of strength.

The Treecko growled out as he suddenly twisted his arms, flipping the Frogadier into the air. He then stomped the Water type in the gut into the shallow, muddy water. Throwing his hands back, Gauel began to throw Energy Ball after Energy Ball at the pinned Pokemon in a merciless barrage.

Arietta continued to struggle with the lily pad stems, not able to free herself and only getting more stressed as she ran out of air beneath the water's surface. Her frantic tugs and scratches at the stems lessened slightly in relief as Cana dived below the water to help her, pulling the plants stems away from her legs and allowing her to free herself.

Her tiny lungs burning, Arie flapped and kicked until she found her way back to the surface and took a deep breath of fresh air. Even then, she had a sudden displeasure of being in the water and quickly scrambled back towards the lily pad. This time, she did manage to pull herself up onto the surface of the large leaf and practically flopped down upon it, breathing harshly as she stared straight ahead.

After a few moments, she looked to Cana and, fighting back a shiver, she nodded to the Fennekin, "Uh.. T-thankyou," she spoke, trying to express her gratitude to Cana for helping her. She could feel her lungs burning back under the water, and it had just made everything worse as she had panicked at being unable to free herself. If Cana hadn't have been there, she probably would have actually drowned.

Weakly, she stood back on her own two feet and began to shake her feathers to rid them of their excess water. She caught sight of the glowing Treecko-turned-Grovyle and found herself shivering as it used Energy Ball, remembering the move's role in her near-drowning scare.

Despite herself and her currently pitiful soaked form that made her seem more like a drowned rat than a bird, Arietta felt outraged when she saw the Grovyle attacking the pinned Frogadier without letting up. It was merciless, with no consideration at all for whether the Frogadier survived. She could perhaps forgive accidentally hitting her with a move, but something so horrific?

Trying to ignore her soaked feathers for now, Arie hopped across a couple of lily pads and activated her Flame Charge. It was weaker than usual, her wet feathers preventing the flames from reaching their full strength and causing her to emit steam from her body. She then leaped at the Grovyle, charging him in the back and yelling, "STOP IT!"

Cana managed to free the Fletchling and rose to the surface. She was barely able to keep her head above the water in this deeper part. She did not like it but at least it seemed the Fletchling had made it out of the water. Cana was relieved about that. Just as she was about to ask Arietta if she was oke, something else caught her attention.

There was a loud splashing sound and the smoke disappeared. The Fennekin could see Gauel ready to fight two water types, but there was something different about him. His body was glowing and his shape was changing somehow. Was he evolving? This was only the second time Cana saw someone evolve but she was still amazed by it.

That changed however, when Gauel mercilessly started attacking the bigger of the two water types. He was going to end up killing it at that rate. Cana wanted to go over there and stop him, but Arietta was faster than her. Cana moved after the bird as fast as she can through the water.

Gauel continued his onslaught onto the Frogadier until he heard someone scream at him. Looking back over his shoulder, the Grovyle was just able to get a glimpse of the steaming Fletching before she slammed into his back. Gauel yelled out in surprise and pain as he tripped over the unconscious Frogadier. Falling to his hands and knees, Gauel stayed there panting a bit, the shock of being attacked by the Fletchling having knocked a bit of his senses back into him. "I-I'm alright. I'm sorry. Just... Just lost my cool," the Grovyle said as he stared down into the water, still collecting himself from the fight.

The Fletchling landed rather haphazardly on a lily pad, breathing hard as the Flame Charge seemed to evaporate the water from her in a blast of steam. Once her move and the steam had died down, Arie neatly furled her wings back on her back, glad to be dry once more.

"Just lost your cool!?" she cried out, "There was no just about it! You nearly killed that Frogadier! Sure, it attacked us first, but you expect that when you come to a dungeon and whatever way you put it, murder is a serious crime!" she called out, trying to drum home just how serious the actions of the Grovyle were.

"I'm a Guild member. If you'd have killed him, attacker or not I would have had to report you because that is not just self defense. And then you'd have been labelled an outlaw and have a wanted notice put up for your arrest! You can't just lose your cool!" Arietta cried out, her normal joyful chirrup reduced to a serious, almost anxious tone. No doubt her near drowning also had something to do with her on edge mood and the way that she handled Gauel's actions. But either way, she had to make him realise that it couldn't happen again. Ever.

Cana waded towards the other Pokemon. She saw how Arietta had slammed into Gauel, making him trip. Cana was relieved he had come back to his senses because of this. He still didn't completely seem like himself though. Cana wondered what was going to Gauel's head. It was not the first time she saw a Pokemon lose control over themselves, but the other Pokemon she had seen lose their cool, were her parents who ended up hurting her. It would be a lie to say she wasn't scared of the Grovyle now.

Cana glanced over to the Fletchling. She was obviously angry at Gauel. The things she said was true though. But....Wasn't reporting him a little extreme? Cana could clearly tell he had lost control of himself. Was Arietta angry? She was overreacting a bit, both of them actually had been overreacting. Cana wasn't sure what to say or do so she just watched what would happen.

Gauel sat up as he listened to the Fletchling berate him for his rather violent response to being attacked. He tilted his head a bit, a confused look on his face, "But I didn' kill him. Granted you needed to stop me, but he's alive." The Grovyle then stood up, stretching his new body a bit. He walked up to the Fletchling and offered his arm for her to get on. "'Sides, I've had to do time before. My home wasn' exactly the best place to grow up inta a proper citizen. If a guild member is what y'all call your police force, then maybe ya can teach me some of the laws 'round here before I end up back in jail."

Crap, crap, crap. Of course I'd end up running inta police and get stuck in a mess, Gauel thought as he talked. He'd hope to avoid police as much as possible just for the fact that he didn't know the laws of the land. Let alone the fact that he was a convicted criminal.

Although Arietta wasn't exactly pleased with the situation, she did hop up onto the Grovyle's arm as it was a much more stable perch than the lily pads that littered the watery surface of the marshlands.
"Well I'm not technically police force," she admitted quietly, "...but Grassveil Guild does work closely with the police force, which is why it's our responsibility to report crimes that we see," she replied, explaining her position.

"And though I admit you didn't kill the guy, if you've already been in prison before you should have learned from the experience. You need to learn not to take out your anger on those around you," she added with a small sigh. She did feel a little sorry for him because of his circumstance, but at the same time she knew she couldn't just leave it be if the newly evolved Grovyle was already an offender.

Cana stared at the two Pokemon. She was rather nervous around them. The fact that the Grovyle had been in jail before didn't help. It seemed like he had a rough time, but he was not the only one. Cana didn't like to think about her own past that much. She had buried these memories in a deep corner of her mind. Cana was a bit confused about why Gauel thought the Fletchling was part of the police force. Guild members and the police force were not the same.

Even though she was uneasy around these two, she was more uneasy about traveling through the swamp alone. The idea of drowning still scared her a lot after all. She had to try to talk to the two. "Um... Maybe we should try to forget about this?" She asked in a rather shy behavior. "This...isn't really the best place to fight." Cana hoped the other Pokemon would listen to her.

"Well, hard to learn a lesson when you're arrested without due process. Sure I was guilty of stuff, but I went straight from our hideout to jail without knowing what I was in for or when I'd be released." The Grovyle then looked over at Cana as she spoke. Forgetting about this would be nice for the Grovyle, seeing as how it meant an easy escape from this. However, he knew that was about as easy as fighting a legendary Pokemon.

He then started trudging through the marsh water once more. "Well, in any case you said you were investigatin' somethin', right?" Gauel asked Arie. Perhaps helping her with this could make up for the murder that almost happened.

As he walked through, he felt something catch on his foot. The Grovyle nearly tripped, but was able to kick up whatever it was. A small bag bobbed up to the surface, which Gauel gravved with his free hand.

Arietta turned her attention to the Fennekin at her quiet words, glancing over her feathered shoulder in order to see Cana's expression. She really didn't seem very comfortable at all right now, and the last thing the Fletchling wanted to do was make it worse. With a small frown, she turned back to Gauel as he spoke once again.

"I still believe you should actively do something to prevent incidents like this from happening in the future... but you're right. I did come here for a reason and as long as everyone is in agreement that killing is wrong I think we can all move on," Arie chirruped, ruffling her feathers rather uncomfortably before hopping down from Gauel's arm and landing once again on one of the lily pads.

"I plan on heading on further into the marshes. Where i'm heading, they say the mire gets a lot thicker so if you're also going in that direction i'd advise you be careful," she commented. Cana at the very least appeared to have been heading in a similar direction to herself, although Gauel had appeared to be heading away from the swamps when they'd first spotted him.
Personally, she had already been tangled in the wet marshes, she didn't particularly want a repeat experience where the water would be thick with mud and soil.

Cana looked over at Gauel when he spoke up. What kind of life did he have in the past? It sounded rough. She still wasn't sure what to think about him. That outburst had scared her a bit but she was not planning on telling them that.

When Gauel turned his attention to why Arietta came here, Cana also got curious. She was not really interested in the whole war but if there was something to find here, she would like to go see it. Who knows, it could be fun. "I-I was going to explore there..." Cana said to the Fletchling. Could she dare to ask to go with her? Nope, she couldn't do it. It made Cana wish she wasn't so shy.

"What's a bit of muddy water gonna do? You can fly, I'm a grass type, and if need be I can carry Cana between shallow spots," Gauel responded to the Fletchling's concerns about the mire. He may have felt a tiny bit over confident with his new form. If it came down to it, Gauel could probably put up a fight with most residents of the marsh. So long as they weren't leagues ahead of that Frogadier.

The Fletchling blinked at the Grovyle's overconfidence before shaking her head and deciding not to comment on it purely to save them from causing more conflict. She already had a tenuous relationship with the newly evolved Grovyle, she didn't really want to make it worse with a careless comment.

Instead, she turned to Cana, flicking her gaze to Gauel before returning it back to the Fennekin.
"Well, I suppose if we're all going there now, we might as well go as a group," she replied, a little reluctant due to how Cana seemed to feel, but at the end of the day she couldn't really force the Grovyle not to come with them if that was what he chose to do.

Cana sighed relieved. It seemed she was allowed to come along with them. She hoped no incidents like what happened a while ago would happen again. Gauel and Arietta didn't seem on pretty good terms now and that would only make things worse.

"I...I would like to go explore with you but... I don't want to cause any of you trouble. I'm not really strong." She said a bit unsure to her companions. She actually didn't want to stay there and start exploring. [color=#ff9999]"I-If I really can come, then I am ready to go, at least if both of you are."I/color]