Babysitting Blues

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The sky was awfully dark and gloomy despite it being daybreak. That was how it had been for a while now, even sometimes seeming like it got darker each and every day. Yet despite the dark clouds, there was no storm brewing, no lightning in the air. But that didn't mean there wasn't that certain tenseness lingering everywhere, that feeling of wrong. Perhaps there was a time when Pokémon could be ignorant and continue their normal lives – but such was no longer the case. Everyone knew it. Something was up.

But Wellrose honestly had some much bigger things to worry about. Like say, his whole life that had turned upside down. It wasn't an entirely new thing, no, it had been a while now. But it certainly still felt new and foreign. Early before the sun had even properly risen, the old Audino had woken up and started his slow journey across the land, one shaky step at a time.

While he had expected it to be darker than back in the day, the dark clouds weren't the only thing blocking the sun and its light. Slowly but surely, the air starter to get thicker with a white blanket of mist – and before he knew it, Wellrose's vision had managed to turn almost completely gray. It was a miserable situation, one where waving his cane helped a little to clear the foggy air around him, but the lack of a breeze made sure that there would be more of it everywhere around him.

He had to be at a lower elevation where all the mist rolled down to. Using his cane and his feet to feel around, the Audino tried to find his way to elevated ground.

The only problem with that tactic? Well, climbing uphill was much more difficult than walking on level ground, for sure! Wellrose's leg and back already were aching, begging for a break. But he wasn't ready. The fog was growing thinner as he continued, which was a good sign. Perhaps he could soon see a bit further, as even though his ears were flicking around picking sounds from his environment, they didn't really help him find his way to his destination.

He had to be close, though. There was a town somewhere around here…


Current Energy: 11 (22 -10 from entering)

Wellrose had hoped for the kid to prove himself useful – again, technically he had proven himself quite useful by defeating the Furfrou, even if it took a little help, but that was in the past. Right now he had other problems, his aching leg barely able to support his weight – and it definitely didn't feel good, when it did. The kid meanwhile, had energy to slither around like nothing was wrong, so it was no leap in logic to try to use him for this.

Of course, it would be very helpful if the Goomy actually looked properly instead of oozing around in circles. The Audino let out a pained sigh. Put an idiot on the job and you were going to have to go and do it yourself, huh?
"If you haven't found it in that spot yet, you're not going to find it no matter how many times you go around," Wellrose grumbled, but he was starting to doubt if even that would help. Forced to go and look for his cane himself, he braced himself for the pain that would follow.
"And, kid… If you ever do find an actual leg just lying in the bushes somewhere, I suggest you leave it there and take a hike."

The elderly Audino's movements were slow and deliberate, each time his left leg touched the ground something he had to prepare himself for mentally and physically, putting it down as softly as he could. And not only that, but he had to be fast enough before it gave out from underneath him – but not too fast, as that surely would have been even worse. He seemed to remember last holding onto the walking stick behind the stone he was hiding behind, so that was where he headed, limping slowly.

Ah, yes, there it was. The wet grass was doing its best to hide its bounty, but the grass wasn't quite tall enough for it to disappear completely. Wellrose bent over carefully and inspected the stick, wiping off any dirt that had gathered on its surface during the scuffle.

Despite his ever so diligent and thorough search, the goomy had failed to find the third leg. He was not deterred, he would not give up! He actually found it to be quite fun, almost like a game of a hide and seek except the leg could not cheat and change spots when he was not looking. Unfortunately, the game was brought to a pause as the dragon type shifted his attention to listening to what the audino had to say about the situation. The normal type gave him some helpful advice. Silly Three-Legs, of course, the leg could not move around without being attached to something!

The goomy was completely unaware of the true suggestion, by some odd lapse of judgment, and had simply given a giggle followed by a happy hum, "Alright~!" He resumed his search, so focused on what he was doing that he had failed to notice the burden that had been brought upon Wellrose by the lack of "third leg" as Shinka had put it.

However, he had looked in time to see the audino pick up the cane, "Found it found it!" he cried as if he had accomplished this achievement on his own. In his mind, he did. He had been tasked with locating the cane and he had completed the mission, how easy it had been and through what means was irrelevant to the dragon type at the time.

"Three-legs, no more Two-legs~" the goomy giggled, "Shinka found Three-leg using No-Leg!"

They had done it, the deed was complete and the goomy was left feeling mighty heroic once more as he completed yet another deed of good. He puffed out his chest as his mind took credit for Wellrose's work, unknowing that he was wrong. His chest deflated quickly as he gave another giggle as he proved himself to be just as bubbly in personality as the attack he had delivered before, only less damaging...hopefully.

"Now what?" he asked with glee, wondering if Wellrose had another game for them to play.

Wellrose couldn't help but let out quite the exasperated sigh when the little Goomy had noticed his walking stick – after he had already found it and picked it up. Sure, in theory, the little Pokémon had indeed found it by finally seeing it – but not how he should have, it did not help one bit. And such smartassery was getting onto the old Audino's nerves. Well, okay, maybe smart wasn't a word he should use to describe the blob of goo that probably didn't even have any internal organs like say, a brain. But still!

"Great, kid," he just huffed, turning around to keep continuing on his merry way, one slow step at a time. It wasn't only his leg that was aching, so while the stick did help with supporting him and making walking less painful, it was still slower and more deliberate than normal. The Furfrou hadn't managed to sink its teeth into him, luckily… But he had taken a small tumble and just felt sore and stiff all over. Some bits of wet grass and other earthly items one could find on the ground had even stuck to his back fur – though he of course could not see that himself.

Wellrose was quite ready to leave the Goomy behind, but why would he leave now when he hadn't left him alone in the first place? Of course the Goomy didn't, even if he tried to hope for the best.
"First you should tone it down a notch. Not only are you giving me a headache, I'd rather not have any other crazed Pokémon follow your voice like a beacon," the Audino grumbled, not even looking behind him,
"Then you should probably go home. This ain't no place for a kid."

An excited chirp emitted from the goomy as he was praised, though it was likely not in the way Shinka had thought it to be. The goomy followed close behind the normal type as he was spoken to. The goomy's tone seemed to grow quieter as his hum became softer upon Wellrose's request. The creature had obeyed the friend's request to 'tone it down a notch' as he did not want him to have a headache of all things no, no, no!

The goomy's jovial grin that stretched from ear to ear suddenly faded and twisted upside down in a greatly exaggerated manner. Go home? Go home!?

Aww...he wanted to stay with Three-Legs! The goomy stopped and seemed to deflate a little, sadness being brought to him. Did Three-Legs not want to travel with him anymore? Were they not meant to embark on some epic journey to...whatever they were doing? Well, he didn't want to force Three-Legs to be around him if he didn't want to...but there was a slight problem with Three-Leg's request.

"Where home?" he asked. The goomy lived in Grassviel under the care of two rescue teams, though one belong to the great island in the sky known as Aileron. The dragon type looked to Wellrose for the answer, still in a spell of sadness from the inevitable departure the two might have to suffer if Wellrose was still to separate and leave the goomy behind.

Wellrose's slow ascension of a hill came to a stop as the Goomy suddenly spoke, asking a question that was enough to make this already unfortunate encounter even worse. With his feet firmly on one spot, the elderly Pokémon glanced over his shoulder at the pile of deflated goop, looking more lost than ever as that single blue eye stared at the thing. He wasn't feeling sorry for the Goomy, oh no. The stupidity, now maybe he could feel sorry for that, but he wasn't really one for feeling sorry in the first place. What he was feeling was the annoying realization that getting rid of this Pokémon might have been more difficult than he thought.

"Seriously?" The Audino groaned, feeling almost physically ill from all this… Stupidity. Out of everything he could have run into, it was this idiot of a kid who didn't know left from right?
"Why are you asking me that? There's no way I could know the answer, kid – I don't even know you," he huffed, continuing his journey with careful, deliberate steps. But surely, if this kid was such an idiot, there had to have been some kind of a caretaker somewhere, right? No way it could have survived very long on its own.

"…There's a town nearby. Rainfront Town. Ring any bells?"

Three-legs was upset with his answer. The goomy listened closely as Wellrose spoke, though the goomy was just as confused as the audino when it had finished speaking. The goomy followed along at a slow pace as he spoke up to answer the normal type, "Rain...front? Shinka's Spoop is in Grass-veil...Mammy is in Ail-er-on?" The goomy took great care to try and pronounce the words right, but still had a bit of trouble in the pronunciation.

The small dragon had no relatives in Rainfront, he had wandered here away from his temporary supervisor during a trip around Rainfront. If he were to go home, he would need to find his way to either Ailreon or Grassveil. The dragon looked to Wellrose expectantly, awaiting some kind of answer. If the normal type insisted, then the little dragon would go away and try to find his way home on his own.

He did not like the idea of being alone, but at least he was not going to force his company onto the pokemon he had thought to have three legs.

Wellrose groaned. Of course the blob was clueless about the closest town, of course. Obviously. Surely, even if the thing did live in the town, it probably didn't know the name–

His thoughts came to a stop when the Pokémon mentioned Grassveil and… Well, what he could only assume was Aileron, what with the butchered pronunciation. None of that made sense, really. Goomy weren't exactly known to be flying Pokémon in any of their forms – and even though he glanced above them and his view was blocked by the mist, he was pretty sure there wasn't an island right above them. Just in case the idiot was somehow able to survive such a fall without turning into a rain of goop once it hit the ground. Grassveil he could believe – but it was a long way from here. Neither of them were particularly fast, the Audino's gait quite fitting for an elderly Pokémon and the Goomy lacked legs. Even if the Pokémon was lost, there was no way it could survive for many days.

"How did you even make it here, kid?" Wellrose had to ask. He also had to curse himself for this annoying, piqued curiosity of his as he would rather not listen to the pipsqueak, but this almost sounded interesting.