Drippy Eggs

(Energy: 20-15=5)

"Is it even possible to find any herbs in this area anyways...?"

Those were the words forming a question that Cirrus the Togepi quietly asked to herself as she approached the entrance to the Cattail Marsh, carefully looking around for any signs of feral Pokémon or new herb varieties. Not too long ago, she had departed from Grassveil Town on a search for the latter in the Rainfront area after coming to a conclusion that she needed to expand her boundaries.

However, her previous search for them in Pricklemist Hill... admittedly hadn't gone perfectly according to plan. This had led her to the marsh that she was now walking into. "I hope I get some better results here." Cirrus mumbled.

Before the Fairy type Pokémon could voice any of her further hopes for a nicer and more fortuitous time here, her monologue was immediately snapped in a similar fashion to the twig she had unknowingly just stepped on, startling her as she quickly glanced around. Not the most comfortable way in the world to commence a dungeon exploration...

In the nearby waters of the marsh, there was a specific creature with the ability to essentially become a ghost under the murky water. Not quite a Ghost-type, but more of a ghost in the.... stealthy sense. A vaporeon had decided to take some time to relax in an area where she could practice the abilities unique to her kind. She needed the practice more than most, as her highly abnormal pinkish-purple coloration made it harder than normal for her to become completely camouflaged in water. Most vaporeon were blue already, so it was easy for them, but she had to try and match her body up with the water to a far higher extent due to her contrast in color. The area she'd chosen had very murky water, though, which she hoped would help her to avoid any trouble. Even if she had yet to perfect her camouflage, she doubted anyone would be seeing her in a marsh.

Sy'rin had been under the water for a good long while, as her camouflage and ability to breathe underwater left her with very few reasons to want to get back on land. She was perfectly safe, as far as she was concerned, and she loved how warm the water felt. The marshy, mucky condition of it didn't really bother her much, as she was no prissy girl who was afraid to get dirty. However, a faint noise made her consider coming to the surface to check the area around her. Thanks to her ability to basically meld with the water, she had relatively little effect on the currents around her and thus, produced virtually no noise. Without this silence, she never would have heard the voice.... or twig snapping. In fact, even with how little noise there was around her, the sound was still highly muffled by the water around her, making it difficult to hear.

The shiny vaporeon decided to take the cautious route at first and remain quiet until she could confirm she was in no danger. Her head silently rose out of the water with a certain.... liquid transparency to it, making it more difficult to spot her than it would normally be. Thanks to the light of day and lack of obstruction, it didn't take her long to spot the nearby togepi whose colors stuck out a bit among the terrain. At this point, she wasn't worried about herself in the slightest, and she now had a burning desire to immediately get to know the adorable little critter. However, she restrained herself just to get a good feel of whether or not the togepi seemed like someone she'd want to talk to. She'd likely end up visiting with them anyway, but she still wanted to know what she was getting herself into before going any further.

By this point, Cirrus had noticed the twig she had just trodden upon and breathed a little sigh of relief at this. After she arrived upon the conclusion that there were no other Pokémon nearby who could have heard the noise, the Togepi allowed herself the opportunity to recollect and gather herself by sitting down near the marshy waters. The Vaporeon's abilities were certainly doing their job, as Cirrus was completely unaware of Sy'rin's presence and scoping gaze.

"This might have been a bad idea..." she said towards what she assumed to be nobody. "I really should have found someone to tag along with. Or done this trip earlier today." A quick look into her bag only served to hammer this point home. Apple, Swift Seed, and three sticks. She also had her recovery move Morning Sun on standby but the girl wasn't sure how effective it would prove to be if she were to end up venturing into any areas of the marsh that were dense enough to blot out the sun. She also had worries about being totally stumped should the afternoon progress into evening or even night at any point during her time in the marsh.

On the other hand however, she had learned Sweet Kiss not very long after her Pricklemist Hill venture. A confusion inducing move that she fully intended to use in the case of any situation turning more dire than she initially desired. More than that however, "I hope someone's nearby who could help. Company would be great." she said, voicing her immediate thoughts into words in an attempt to stop second guessing herself.

Cirrus picked herself up and begun looking for a clear path to take. She didn't know how deep that water could possibly be, having never set foot in this kind of terrain before.

Sy'rin watched and listened from the water, wondering if she would even get any information out of her endeavors. Luckily, it seemed the togepi very much liked talking to herself about things relevant to the current situation, which made the whole thing much easier for the vaporeon. This one seemed nice enough, and apparently looking for company! It seemed almost too lucky for her to have found someone conveniently adorable who wanted a companion and didn't seem annoying. Now all that was left to do was to decide how to introduce herself. This was important to her, as she wanted to make a good impression on the togepi. She wanted to seem like someone who was fun to be around right off the bat.

It only took a moment for Sy'rin to think of something she felt to be impressive enough to immediately get capture the togepi's interest. She quietly dipped her head back under the water and swam down until she reached the bottom, then spun around to look back up to the surface. For a moment, she just stared up at the light glimmering off the surface of the murky water, enjoying the scene. Too bad she was about to wreck it. A pulse of force suddenly shot through the water from in front of her toward the surface, creating a visible ripple. When it reached the surface, it caused what was essentially an explosion of water, almost like someone had done a cannonball. Water shot up into the air and began to rain down all around the area, all while the vaporeon came up to the surface in the wake of the Water Pulse. Her body's structure began to turn solid, and along with it, her abnormal coloration became more apparent.

"Ta-daaaaaaa! Wish granted!" she exclaimed and threw her front paws up into the air.
A friendly smile was upon her face and there was a clear excited tone to her voice as she attempted to show she came in peace. To her, this seemed like the perfect way to greet someone else and could in no way go wrong. She failed to realize how behaving in such a way could potentially scare someone on the more timid side of things and perhaps even make them slower to trust her. Her intentions were only the best, and perhaps to some, her flashy entrance would have been appreciated. However, she hadn't stopped to consider whether or not this togepi she'd found would be part of that "some."

Although the ripple had initially escaped her notice, it soon got her attention just before it reached the surface and burst forth into that explosion of water. Cirrus almost jumped about ten feet into the air when that happened and was about to hide when the Vaporeon appeared into view. She was entirely unfamiliar with this species of Pokémon and thus didn't raise any nonexistent eyebrows over the alternate colouration. They were instead risen by what Sy'rin said.

Wish granted? Had this newcomer been invisible or otherwise hidden while the Togepi had been speaking to herself? How long had they been eavesdropping on her? Did she really speak to herself that much? Regardless of those questions that instantly flowed through her head like a flash flood, Cirrus understood through those words and their friendly smile that this was the company she had been wistfully awaiting just now...

Now over the initial surprise of that flashy entrance, she couldn't help but smile sweetly back. "That was a shock, but really cool too~" she replied in approval. Although it started off by startling her, the end result had given off a fun-loving and friendly first impression. Exactly the kind of Pokémon she enjoyed most. "Thanks for deciding to grant that wish. It's so great to see another face here." was her honest response, because it really was great to see such a thing.

Sy'rin was just thrilled when the cute, eggy little thing accepted her offer for company. Sure, she'd been having fun in the water, but she had also been alone! She wasn't a particularly big fan of loneliness. The togepi seemed nice, too, even if a bit.... proper. Not quite prissy, just seemingly somewhat polite at a glance. She didn't mind as long as the togepi wasn't going to start acting all condescending or otherwise be annoying to chat with. In fact, if it stayed as it was, she was actually quite happy about the attitude of her new little friend. She made her way to the edge of the water near the togepi to get a better look at her new companion. "Same here; was getting kind of lonely. So, which way ya headed?" she attempted to sate her curiosity

The vaporeon was more than willing to ferry someone through the water, as long as she liked them. She just needed to know if that was where the togepi wanted to go or if they were going to be heading somewhere else. Direction was of little importance to her, as long as she had someone to keep her company. Environment never really mattered much to her since her species was rather well-suited to both water and land. The only thing she really disliked and tried to avoid was a lack of water in an area, as it meant many significant risks. That meant places like deserts were particularly unappealing to her, but she highly doubted the togepi would lead her to a desert.

"I can help out with crossing the water if you need it," she decided to add on quickly.
Whether or not togepi were strong natural swimmers was not something Sy'rin was particularly knowledgeable of. All she really knew about them was that they looked adorable and didn't exactly hold the shape of something that looked built for swimming. Togepi looked like they were more adept at.... sinking. Of course, she couldn't verify this, but she still figured that offering to carry this togepi was appropriate. After all, the tiny creature didn't look very heavy and it wasn't like it would be any trouble to do.

Which way was she headed? Now that she was asked this by someone, Cirrus actually wasn't too sure about it. She begun looking around whilst quietly mulling it over. Which way was she headed...?

"I actually don't know." she soon admitted to the Vaporeon. "I just got into this dungeon and the environment is completely new to me..." Cirrus trailed off before looking down at her feet, some borderline nervousness and apprehension tinting her words as she spoke.

Sy'rin's offer to ferry her across the water then arrived, and it seriously perked her up. "Oh? Y-yes, that would be really great!" the Togepi happily answered as that smile formed on her face once more. Although she wouldn't immediately sink, she still wasn't a very good swimmer nonetheless and was therefore delighted by the Water type's willingness to help. This chance meeting was already beginning to turn things around for the egg. "We can talk a little on the way over too. I'm Cirrus, what's your name?" she asked upon approaching Sy'rin and awaiting the all clear to get onto her back. After that offer, she was most definitely interested in getting to know this Pokémon better.

Cirrus.... Sy'rin liked this name: she found it to be a cute name befitting of a togepi. She took a look down at herself to make sure her body was completely solid so that there would be no problems with allowing Cirrus to ride on her back before responding: "Sy'rin."
She was technically an outlaw, but she found that she still wasn't well-known and thus didn't need to hide her name from anyone. Part of her was disappointed that she wasn't famous yet, but she was also happy that she hadn't run into any problems related to her.... questionable activities. With greetings out of the way, she then moved so that her side was aligned with the edge of the water in order to make it easier for the togepi to hop on. She expected it to be obvious from that point what she wanted Cirrus to do, but just in case, she was more than willing to clarify.

"I'm a pretty good swimmer, so I can carry you, no problem," she both assured and clarified at the same time just in case the togepi needed either.
Being a vaporeon, she felt that she was pretty much built to ferry others through water. The only potential problem was that she wasn't sure how good of an idea liquefying her body with someone on her would be. She had yet to test, so for all she knew, doing so would simply cause the togepi to just fall through her as if she were normal water. She didn't know quite how close her body could turn to water, just that it could look very watery, and she certainly wasn't interested in testing with Cirrus.

....Or maybe she was. Cirrus had reacted very positively to her splashy entrance, so she clearly wasn't the easily unnerved type, right? Sy'rin's mind began to wander a bit, already considering whether or not it was a bad idea to test just how close to true water she could get. The togepi was nice, and nice a nice 'mon wouldn't mind helping someone else out, right? But then what if she was right about togepi and they really did sink like rocks? She didn't want her togepi to do that! In the end, she decided it wasn't worth the risk, even for science.

Sy'rin was a good name, Cirrus thought. It had some sort of ring or charm to it that she couldn't quite grasp, let alone put into words. Had the Togepi known about Sy'rin's outlaw status... well, almost nothing at all would have changed from her own side in this meeting. One could be a highly ranked outlaw and still get her friendship with a simple nice deed. Just as Sy'rin was doing at this very moment.

Cirrus had caught on to what the Pokémon was expecting of her, but it was the assurance of their swimming abilities that pushed the Togepi into getting onto Sy'rin's back as was offered. The smoothness of this Vaporeon's body came as a sort of surprise to her as she held on to the white ruff around her neck with much care. It helped to keep herself steady, but she had no clue whether or not her ride was fine with her doing such. "Holding onto you over here is fine, is it?" she voiced out this concern of hers to Sy'rin. "I don't want to be a burden to you during the swim."

After all, she didn't want to be botching things up for the new friend after they had decided to ferry her across the water. That would be a serious downer for her and then some.

Sy'rin waited patiently for the togepi to hop aboard and get comfortable before doing anything. She didn't care if her new fun thing had to grab hold of something such as her frill in order to keep from falling in the water. She didn't want to lose her company right after she'd gotten it, after all! Instead of immediately answering the question, she held off for a moment as she pushed away from the shallow water and into the depths. She made sure to keep her back above the water, at least as much as she could, though she wasn't used to having to keep someone else from getting wet. She could only hope Cirrus wouldn't mind getting a little wet. The vaporeon figured it was better than drowning or having to swim the whole way, though.

As her tail and paws swished around in the water to propel herself forward, she finally responded: "It's fine so far. Just don't fall."
She hoped the togepi wouldn't accidentally rip her frill or something, as she wasn't sure about a lot of things involving her body, including whether or not that would hurt or how easy it would be to do. She wondered if she could repair her body by altering her cellular structure to mimic water then just turning it back, but that felt a bit too cheaty to be possible. Still, it certainly sounded like a pretty good deal and was definitely something she'd try in the future if she ever got any serious injuries. The thought of being essentially invincible sounded awesome and all, though she still doubted something like that would be true. Otherwise, she figured vaporeon would rule the world or something.

Sy'rin looked down at the water as she paddled along and wondered if it was appropriate for her to be the one to move the conversation along. It didn't take much time before she decided to just do it. "So, what'cha here for? I don't know the area too well, but maybe I could figure out where you'd wanna go," she questioned.
Swimming aimlessly through the water with something to occupy her time didn't exactly sound like the worst thing in the world, as she'd been doing pretty much the exact same thing before, except without the added entertainment of a togepi. However, she still figured Cirrus probably had some reason for being here and was mildly curious about it. Plus, it was the only real way she could think of to continue the conversation at the moment.

"Alright, I'll be careful." Cirrus said, sitting securely on Sy'rin's back as they carried on. She didn't mind getting wet but didn't feel that this was particularly important. She knew that running across the alternatively coloured Vaporeon was an incredible stroke of luck and wanted to get some conversation going, yet she wasn't entirely certain about how to begin. She was thus glad that Sy'rin initiated this for her.

"Well, I'm here to look for herbs. I live in Grassveil City and I've begun touring the Rainfront area to gather some local varieties. I've already been to Pricklemist Hill but the trip was... less than perfect. No fault of the Pokémon accompanying me though." she recited. Laying blame on others was a concept beyond her, being an immigrant from a hidden nest to reality. Cirrus very much hoped that this side of her would win Sy'rin over because she was already enjoying their company. "I don't have a clue where exactly to look though..." the girl soon admitted as she started looking around the scenery for any sort of visual cue to magically poof itself into existence before her very eyes.

If the Togepi had opposing thumbs, she would undoubtedly be twiddling them right about now...

Sy'rin had hoped to be of some help, but she had no clue where to find any herbs, especially not in an area she didn't exactly know much about.  She'd mostly stuck to the water where there wasn't a particularly large variety of plant life, and even if she had been near any herbs, she wouldn't have known how to recognize them.  She wasn't exactly an expert botanist, after all.  Were she forced to choose something to study, it most certainly would have been more related to aquatic life than plants.  After all, she was well-suited for the water.  Or.... maybe she would have chosen to research anatomy, with all the fun things like getting to learn about the inner workings of bodies.... and blood.  She wondered what a togepi's anatomy was like, and for a moment, her mind got stuck on the fact that she had one with her and could.... check.  After all, it was just one little togepi.

It took the vaporeon a moment to realize what direction her thoughts were going in and push it all away.  A sudden shiver surged through her body upon the conscious realization of what she was thinking.  The fact that her mind had entirely veered off from the topic was the least of her concerns, easily topped by the horror of what she'd been thinking without even realizing.  For a moment, she couldn't even remember what they'd been talking about and had to stop paddling through the water in order to put her full attention on remembering.  "Herbs," she muttered to herself once she remembered, having forgotten that Cirrus was probably close enough to hear her being weird.

Sy'rin tried to focus and give some kind of sensible answer, even if it was just to say that she couldn't really help much other than by providing transportation and protection.  "I don't know much about herbs, sorry.  But hey, I guess that just means we'll get to hang out here longer, right?" she tried to turn her lack of any useful information into a positive comment.
It was the only thing remotely close to helpful that she could think to do.  She then got pack to paddling aimlessly through the water and continued suppressing the thoughts that had tried to creep into her mind.

(Energy = 14)
(P.S. I'm not going to try to kill your character.)

Being on Sy'rin's back, Cirrus had definitely felt that shiver even if the apparent weirdness hadn't been noticed. She simply attributed it to the Vaporeon possibly feeling cold in the water though, not catching on to the real reason. The Pokémon carrying her didn't seem to have any hairs across her pink body after all. Cirrus ultimately remained unaware of Sy'rin's stray thoughts.

The positive twist that Sy'rin performed on the situation had very much pulled Cirrus in. It was as though she were a moth being drawn to a flame. She did like the sound of hanging out longer. It wasn't like she was under any sort of time constraints, nor did she have any appointments to keep at present. "Yeah. You're right. It's ok if you don't know where to look, we can just try and find them as we go along." were her own thoughts transcribed into spoken words. They just had to keep going. That was all.

Attempting to give herself and the Vaporeon a destination of some shape or form, she looked around for any solid ground that they could both reach in order to begin searching and saw such an area not long afterwards. "To your left, I can see somewhere to land. I think we can try taking a little look over there." From what she could make out at their present location, it was the start of a path that led into some thick and dense undergrowth. She expected ferals to be there but wasn't too scared since she had someone to help her out in such a situation.

With her luggage in agreement about the perks of wandering aimlessly through the marsh for an undetermined amount of time, Sy'rin felt much better. She'd already forgotten about the impure thoughts that'd plagued her mere moments prior. Or perhaps she'd just ceased to care about it, now that she had something else to focus on. It was really a bit of both: she'd stopped caring and thus stopped thinking about it. She continued swimming along without any response, just relieved that her company agreed with her. Another reason she hadn't responded was that she couldn't really think of much to say right off the bat. Given a bit of time, she would have thought of something, but the togepi seemed to think up something to say first. Cirrus had found a spot that apparently looked good to search. Sy'rin had no clue what such a place would look like and thus, decided it seemed like a good destination.

The way her new little friend wanted to go was out of the water, which disappointed her a bit. Being a vaporeon, she liked the water and was quite well-adapted to swimming, plus she liked feeling useful by carrying someone around. Still, land wasn't too bad either, especially if she had something to talk to the whole time. Besides, she'd already figured that there was a good chance these.... herbs wouldn't be in the water. While she didn't know much about such things, she figured that something like a togepi probably wouldn't have come to a place aiming to search for something that was in the water. "Alright," she responded and turned to the left while continuing to propel herself forward.
Having a tail fin thing was very useful for swimming.

The vaporeon reached the area of land she'd been directed to fairly quickly, although she made sure not to swim too fast as she didn't want to make it difficult for her passenger to hold on. She slowed as she neared the land, turning her side toward it in order to allow the togepi to easily get off of her. "You wanna walk from here?" she asked.
Continuing to carry the togepi wasn't something she was against, but she figured now that they were going to be moving to land, there was no need. She wasn't worried about being outside of her comfort zone if they happened to be attacked, even though she probably should have been. She could control water, after all, and she was a fantastic swimmer. Being on land was like a double handicap, but she could still manage relatively well considering she was only semi-aquatic.

Lord E V carried out 10 launched of one Cattail Marsh :

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Cirrus kept her position and watched in silence as Sy'rin made that left turn in the water, the area of land that she previously caught sight of was now coming closer and closer to view. "I can walk from here, but thank you for this. I really appreciate your helping me get here." the pleased Togepi said once asked if she wanted to walk. The ferrying was an enjoyable little moment for her and she didn't want to give Sy'rin the false impression of her being all too eager to stop this. She got off the Vaporeon's back once the dry land was close enough, glad to have solid ground to stand upon.

She looked deeper into the marsh path now stretching off before their very eyes and tried to steady herself when she saw all the undergrowth dotted around this said path with a noticeable frequency. Bushes and shrubbery that could easily have some antagonistic feral Pokémon concealed within... Lying in wait... Cirrus should have been scared, and yet she wasn't. Something about the presence of Sy'rin was really bolstering this Togepi. On the other hand though, it had simply become part and parcel throughout her previous explorations ever since coming across an oddly coloured Houndour in the Pecha Forest.

"I'm ready to keep going whenever you are, new friend~" she almost chirruped after enough staring at the road ahead. She wanted to show some enthusiasm for this trip, understanding that her Water type Pokémon teammate could possibly have a reservation or two with this land-based segment of the exploration.

Gengarzilla carried out 5 launched of one Cattail Marsh :

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