Of Gemstones and Bones

Gentzer lay back from his work, panting from exhaustion. It had only been a couple of hours since he'd started digging a fresh tunnel just on the outskirts of Grassveil in his hunt for gems. He'd had a feeling this area held some great gems, but so far, nothing worth more than a light gem snack had come to his notice. Channeling Recover for a moment to recover some strength, He dove back into his digging before long, continuing to dig his messy hole, covering the nearby area in dirt and stones as he tossed it over his back in his feverish dig, blotting the otherwise picturesque green surroundings.

He was starting to lose his enthusiasm for this spot, when his sharp claws made contact with something hard. He looked at the place he'd felt it to see a little white object poking out of the ground. Finally, a gem! He scraped at the earth surrounding the white object like his life depended on it. Once he'd freed the object from the dirt, he examined it. This wasn't a gem, it was a white bone! Confused, Gentzer dug a little further, as more white bones started to be revealed in the ground. Looks like he'd found a skeleton!

"Hee hee hee! Sorry bud, But I called this digging spot! Go be buried somewhere else!" he joked to himself, his spirits raised by the odd find. He tossed the bone over his head out of the hole, hearing a THUD as it hit the ground, before he began to work on digging around the other bones to continue his search.

Rouge was walking back to grassveil after his lessons with a hound at the pond. His voice was feeling better though still a little hoarse, it wasn't bad enough to prevent him from speaking though. Suddenly he heard a hollow thud as something hit the ground to his left, drawing his attention. Looking to where the sound had came from showed him a hole and a bone, a rather long one at that. Eyeing the hole so he wouldn't be hit by anything coming out of it so he could look at the bone safely.

Picking it up, Rouge inspected the bone, noting that it must have came from a tall, but slender pokemon, perhaps something died here a long time ago? Then again, why would there be a hole and who would be digging up the final resting place of this pokemon? Rouge set the bone down to one side, raising his own walking to the hole. He was hoping he hadn't come across some outlaw grave defiler, after all to disregard the dead was a horrible thing to do. Rouge took a deep breath before looking into the hole and calling into it.

"He-ell-o?" his speech had improved, though he knew it still wasn't the best. It would take time Rouge reminded himself, but how much Rouge did not know.

Gentzer surprisingly heard the call amongst the sounds of cutting and digging, and jumped in surprise, turning to the voice swiftly, only to see a Cubone peering into the hole. Gentzer smiled again, now that he knew some big Gabite hadn't come along to nick anything he'd found.

"Hello there!" He called gleefully, as he climbed out of the hole to meet the Cubone on the same level. He smiled in what he thought would be welcoming, even though the mad glint in his eyes made it look creepy at best, and offered his clawed hand. "Name's Gentzer, gem hunter extraordinaire! I've been digging for gems around these parts for a while. You're a Cubone right? I'll bet you wanted to have a look at where that bone came from!" He said, using his other hand to gesture to the remaining skeleton, still lying in the bottom of the hole, relatively unscathed.

Rouge shivered slightly at the grin, he knew that this Pokemon was just trying to be friendly though the gem-like gleaming nature of his eyes didn't help it. He took a quite and deep breath to stead himself as he listened to the Pokemon introduce himself. Gentzer? a peculiar name compared to those around this area, but being a gem hunter explained the name labeling him as a type of wanderer. So he must be digging from gems then, but even so disrespecting a final resting place wasn't a good idea. Rouge shook the Pokemon hand, and offered his own name.

"R-ro-uge B-on-ne, W-hy d-dist-erb d-ea-ad?" had a confused but serious look under his skull helmet, showing it in his eyes to a lesser degree. He was curious for the answer, though he was sure it was something as simple as 'looking for gems no matter whats in my way.' Rouge could only hope that was not the sentiment of all gem and treasure hunters, though he may just be getting ahead of himself, so he waited for a response.

The Cubone's odd manner of speaking dented Gentzer's charisma something fierce. It seemed to him that the Cubone was downright SCARED of him, and the eyes peeking from it's helmet were not helping. His grin softened and he stepped back in an attempt to give Rouge some space.

"Well, don't know if disturb is the right word...it's not like THIS enterprising individual is gonna be woken up by me!" Gentzer turned to the skeleton as he said this, his hand on his chin as if he was thinking deeply about it. He thought the joke would be great to lighten the mood. "Besides, I thought that one bone was a gem and dug it free by mistake, once I saw it wasn;t I guess I would've dug around it. I'm not exactly a grave robber y'know?" He continued. "So you said your name is Rouge Bone right? What are you up to buddy?" He asked of the Cubone, trying to appear as gentle as possible, unsuccessfully as he smiled through sharp teeth.

Rouge nodded understanding this Pokemon didn't mean any disrespect to the poor soul who rests there, and noted the shift into a less threatening position. It couldn't be because of his shiver, it hadn't been big enough for anyone to visually notice, though the deep breath may have been. Then it dawned on him, his speech. Rouge was still trying to relearn speech, and so stuttering and slowness was normal, that is if you knew they were trying to relearn something. Rouge decided it would be best to make it known.

"L-o-ost s-spe-eak... r-re-lea-arn s-spe-eak. s-sti-ll p-oo-or s-spea-k." Rouge felt more like he was choking the words out rather than saying them, but at least he was able to communicate verbally. Perhaps this Pokemon would have put the bone back in it's place after he was done digging, even so this wasn't a common sight to him. He was curious about why this Pokemon coveted gems enough to be a gem hunter, Greed was the first thing that popped into his mind, though he couldn't be certain about that. Time would tell, and Rouge had plenty of time to figure it out.

Gentzer breathed a sigh of relief. He was extremely glad that the Cubone wasn't that scared of him. But something new was nagging for his attention. Rouge had...forgotten how to speak? Gentzer could guess that Rouge was fairly young, but he noted that Rouge had said relearn. What on earth could have happened to cause Rouge to learn, forget and then have to relearn speech in such scant years? In a rare show to tact Gentzer decided not to pry. He wasn't used to having to be so considerate in conversation, usually people got annoyed with him and left before he had to start being considerate.

"Forgot how to speak huh? Sounds rough bud, Love to help but I'm not exactly the best teacher hee hee hee..." He said the Rouge, his mood lightening. Suddenly he felt his stomach rumble; the pause in his digging and left his body time to realise he was starving. "Yeesh, you hear that? i'm famished...hmm..beat with me a moment." He turned back to his hole and looked within, some minor gems were scattered near the bottom. He jumped down and snatched them up, then munched on them as he climbed back up to Rouge, with sharp crunches accompanying his snack. He polished off the last of the gems as he climbed back out, the snack would keep him going for now.

Food! That must be a major reason this Pokemon was looking for gems, they were their primary food source. The sharp crunching and small pieces of shiny stones falling from the Pokemon's mouth like crumbs had signaled what it was. This only made the small Pokemon more curious about how this could be possible. He knew some Pokemon would eat Iron ore to make themselves stronger and harder on the outside, but gems as a Primary source of food? The thought of it confused Rouge greatly, though he couldn't very well deny the fact of what he just saw. would out even thinking rouge blurted his thoughts aloud.

"G-ems f-oo-d? t-ha-t wh-y hu-un-t g-ems?" his eyes showed amazement at the thought of gems being food for some pokemon.

Gentzer was initially confused by Rouge's question. Surely EATING wasn't alien to him? Then he remembered how few non-Sableye Pokemon he'd met as a kid himself sequestered in Serene Cave's depths, and he realised that he must appear alien to not just Rouge, but half the Pokemon in town too! Not that it mattered to him much, it wasn't like he was popular amongst Sableyes either!

"Guess you've never met a Sableye before huh? We eat gems as our food! Been eating them for centuries. I on the other hand, only eat regular gems. If I find a rare of powerful gem I keep it. I want to hunt down and find the gems that are the subjects of legends and rumor, just because...well I want to!" Gentzer explained, getting excited as he daydreamed of those very same gems he was sure to find. "Admittedly, other Sableye think I'm bonkers for not trying to eat every gem I come across! They're...not too fond of me as it is now. Of course, I'm not gonna let such a silly thing like my peers get me down!" He finished triumphantly, pushing his chest out in an attempt to look cool, before something else crossed his mind.

"That actually brings up a question of my own...why are you here Rouge? You look young, and yet you've already gotta RELEARN speech, and are here talking to a random Sableye outside of town...you doing OK?"

Doing ok? There was nothing more relative anyone could ask him. He was alive, and met some nice Pokemon that he had befriended, and was learning about a new culture. On the other hand, he was blamed for the death of two of his former tribesmen, exiled, and lived alone for roughly 22 moons before another Pokemon that seemed friendly enough tried to help him defend his cave from a huge wild Pokemon, only to be teleported to a town he'd never seen before. So yes, one could say he's doing quite well for himself given his situation, other would say he would have been better off if he had never been exiled in the first place. Not even Rouge could say that for sure, but he spoke anyways.

"Y-es. d-oi-ng O-k, w-as e-xil-ed f-or ma-ny m-oo-ns. n-o i-int-er-ac-ti-ons, s-o l-os-t sp-ea-ch." The statement hung in the air, it would be difficult to tell him why he was exiled at all, as even Rouge wasn't sure what had really happened that day he was exiled. All Rouge knew is that he was most defiantly alive.

Well, the plot thickens! Gentzer was seriously starting to wonder if Rouge was pulling his leg, first losing his speech, now EXILE!?!

"Yeesh, you couldn't make this up..." He wondered out loud. The story so far sounded tragic even without Gentzer knowing the details, he felt truly sorry for the little Cubone, and for once his toothy grin died into a frown. And know the little Cubone was just stood somewhere outside of town on his lonesome. For a moment he turned back to his hole, wanting to get back to the hunt, but when his gemstone eyes fell on the skeleton he'd "disturbed" earlier, he couldn't bear to just leave the kid to go on alone. Sighing, he turned back to Rouge. "Hey Rouge, you want to go into Grassveil and grab some grub?" Gentzer went to a nearby rock he'd hidden his limited funds, counting a scant few hundred Poke he had scavenged since leaving Serene Cave.

"Uh...as long as it's fairly cheap grub. Heh heh heh!"

Rouge chuckled slightly, knowing that he couldn't let this Pokemon spend money on lunch. He gently shook the front of his helmet with one hand, some Poke rattling around before falling into his hand. Looking at it he found he had roughly 4000, this should be plenty to make sure they both got enough to eat. He wasn't sure where the best place in town to get some food was, but he should be able to pay for it, then he remembered, there was a food stall that looked like it sold good looking food, perhaps that would be a fine place to start? Rouge decided to speak his mind on this subject.

"K-no-w p-la-ce. c-an pa-ay." He stated as he put the coins back into the snout of his helmet, smiling. He was glad this Pokemon hadn't turned out to be a grave robber or an outlaw, but a friendly Pokemon who seemed nice enough to hang around. This may even help Rouge to speak better though natural practice.

While It was kinda lame to have his lunch paid for by a kid, Gentzer was somewhat glad for Rouge's offer, he had no idea how much 300-ish Poke got him and he had no clue what Grassveil even had for food stores.

"Welp, I can scratch being poorer than a kid off my bucket list! Hee Ha HA!" Gentzer jested, finding humour in in the situation as he always strove to do. It helped that Rouge was now smiling, after all, it isn't good humour if other Pokemon weren't enjoying it! "Thanks bud, I'll tell you some fine stories from my time in the Cave to pay you back eh? Hee hee hee" He continued in high spirits, his regular grin returning in full force. It was odd how enjoyable Gentzer was finding a solid bit of conversation, he usually wrote this sort of thing off as a bore as it had a distinct lack of gems, but he was finding himself having an utter ball with cracking jokes and trying entertain his comrade. What was that saying again? His jokes were utter gems? "Anyway, after you buddy." He finished, gesturing for Rouge to take the lead.

Rouge nodded and started to lead the way into the semi-crowded city, he hadn't spend much time here but knew how to get to general areas. They passed many stores and houses, passing by even the school before they got to the main plaza. There it was, the food cart rough had remembered seeing, he waved to his new friend as they approached the cart. many different types of food were being sold and there was a fairly sizeable line, though the food should be worth it if the line held true. the best they could do at this point was wait their turn. Rouge turned to his new companion and smiled, it was nice to meet a Pokemon who seemed different than the others, cheerful, but at the same time realistic. The jokes he had heard were far from bad and were a refreshing change of pace. Rouge decided to ask a simple question.

"S-sa-id l-iv-e i-in c-av-ve?" Rouge asked, the Idea of hearing about a cave that was suitable for living was like hearing that someone was giving away free food. He couldn't fathom how anyone would turn up an opportunity to hear about it.

Gentzer was not used to large groups, and he spent most of the journey into town trying to keep smiling. There was just something about being surrounded by so many other Pokemon at one time that made him unhappy. It felt to him like if he were to scream, no one would even hear or care about it, which was utterly terrifying. Luckily, Rouge appeared to be having a much better time than he was, smiling to him along the way, which went a long way towards keeping Gentzer mellowed out.

Upon queueing up for a food cart, Rouge, in his unpracticed way of speaking, asked him about the cave from which he came. "Yeah, I grew up in Serene Cave! A bunch of us Sableye live in a bunch of tunnels deep in the cave, most of it's underground so if you tried to find it I'll bet you this lunch you'll fail!" Gentzer said, chuckling. "I didn't particularly enjoy my last few years there though...the quality of gems there is shockingly poor...and as I said earlier my brethren think I'm off my head! Didn't help that there were a lot of us, so it got pretty crowded at times." Gentzer continued. Now that he though about it...he really didn't think too highly of Serene Cave did he? Even though it was the only residence he'd ever held. "Probably for the best that they don't want me around, Serene Cave is a dungeon, so getting BACK to those tunnels would be difficult at best." He said, his voice sounding distinctly unfazed by the admittance of losing all his childhood acquaintances.

"So yeah, Serene Cave? Dishonest marketing I say, it's not that Serene with all the wild Pokemon about the place and an army of gem munchers below your feet! Hee hee hee!" He concluded with a gleeful giggle. The line continued to move forward, and the duo were close to the front of the queue now. "That reminds me...I should probably find a place to sleep..." He muttered half to himself as for once in his life he actually started to consider the practicalities of his situation, his hand on his chin, deep in thought.