The Prince and the Pauper

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The jigglypuff found herself back at the Marsh. Why she was there, she only had a vague idea. Something about the fate of the world? To be quite honest, she didn't really know too much. Sure, it sounded really important. It was big news, everyone talking about factions and conflict and apparently the fate of the world being decided also caused every day to be cloudy and drab. That was the worst part about all this. The fact that the sun wasn't really around anymore, just hidden behind clouds. One would think that it'd ensure that days weren't too hot, but it didn't really do much in the way of blocking heat. Just sunlight.

Alki kicked up a splash of mud, only serving to dirty herself. Whatever. She wasn't sure why she was here, in this dungeon. The last time she'd been here, she'd spent a lot of time dirty, cold, and afraid. When she'd finally found someone sentient in this forsaken place, it had been someone who had really seemed to enjoy fighting. And he was good at it too! But he lived in a breaking-down shack, and didn't know how to read and...

"Why the hell do you decide to live here?" She mumbled to herself, marching forward into the marshlands.

To save the world? Or something... It was quite unclear. It was better than being alone in her room, at any rate. Darcy seemed alright with her going to 'Rainfront' quite a bit. And if she was given the opportunity to leave so frequently, why not take it? It saved her from Guild work, anyways...

Adrol stayed very quiet and nodded after Alki demonstrated each of her abilities. The teleportation immediately took him by surprise, as his poor vision could not follow her abrupt movements at all. When his vision finally caught up to her again, he had to stifle a chuckle and a small apology. How fascinating it was, though! He expected no less from the mysterious fairy type. Next she demonstrated the mimic move - he had seen that move a fair bit in his travels, specifically in lands inhabited by psychic pokemon. Did Alki train under a psychic, he wondered? This question grew louder in his head when she also proved competency with disable. She even had a hidden power - which everyone had one of, he knew, but it had been common in his lands for psychic pokemon to be inherently attuned to theirs. Flamethrower was her main source of damage, that was a surprise... and it may have perhaps been intimidating were it not for his new cloak. Admittedly, the heat still made him jump a little.

Wait. Was that five moves?

...And thief. Six. Six moves. Adrol was caught entirely off guard. That was two too many moves, and yet... She had used them all (well, five of them) here, right here in front him... irrefutable proof. Six moves?!? He had never seen such a thing!!!

"How can you possibly use so many moves???" Adrol finally exclaimed. It just burst out the second his shock and racing thoughts tapered off... and he immediately felt bad that it had happened. "I apologize for the sudden outburst... I've just never seen such a thing!!! In my many years travelling my home, I never once encountered a pokemon who had learned so many skills. How is it possible?! Did you learn it through training?? Do you go somewhere to have your potential opened? Is it something special about these lands?? Is it something anyone can do, or is it something special about you? Your type, maybe??" He was filled with so many questions as his mind tried to work through all the possibilities at once.

Adrol the Snivy - 1 energy I forgot to specify that after his rolls l o l

After each successive demonstration, Alki took the Snivy's nods as further encouragement to keep going. And so she did! Perhaps with a bit more flair, and a bit more confidence after each one. By the time the jigglypuff was just about done with her demonstrations, she wore a small, but content smile on her face. Her demonstration hadn't been completely botched, so she was more than satisfied with it. She relaxed, panting a bit, as the quick-fire demonstration of all six of her moves had been a bit more tiring than she thought it'd be. Not that she was exhausted or anything! Just... a bit tired...

She was about to say something, but Alki soon forgot what, as the Snivy seemed to have a sudden... problem with the amount of moves she'd used. Was... there something wrong? Six wasn't that many... It was quite little, actually! She was sure that somewhere out there, there was probably someone who knew how to use more. There had to be! She wasn't special at all... She waited, fidgeting nervously. Had she done something wrong? Perhaps she shouldn't have shown them all off... Although she wasn't quite sure what her mistake, exactly, had been.

She waited for the Snivy to finish his incredulous outburst before she started to try to figure out what exactly she was supposed to say. He sure had asked a lot of questions...

"U-Uh..." Alki began,  unsure of where to start. Better to keep it simple... "I-I just... t-there's this, uh, s-shop of some kind in Grassveil... Uh, a t-town, w-where they teach you... extra moves, I g-guess..." She paused, kicking up a cloud of dirt as she thought of what to say next. She really didn't have all that much to say... "I-I'm not s-special, trust me... A-A lot of 'Mons here can do that... She said, looking down at the murky water. He really didn't have  to be that surprised...

Adrol looked shocked and amazed at what Alki was describing. "A store?? You learned from someone... selling their techniques? Is that right?" His eyes glistened with wonder and there was a smile on his face. "Perhaps, if you don't mind, you could show me where this shop is on a map?? I would love to experience this for myself!!!" Adrol didn't exactly do a lot of fighting, but the idea of having the ability to learn an extra talent... it sounded incredibly useful in keeping himself out of harm's way!! Not to mention that he could learn a new talent without having to loose something that had already been of use to him.

"I can't imagine how useful that must be. Incredible!! Even one extra ability can change the sway in any situation! I'm very impressed." With all the introduction out of the way, Adrol began to continue their walk through the marsh's wetlands. He didn't want to hold Ms. Alki back from her errands, after all. "Sorry, shall we continue while we talk? I don't want to delay your errands; I'm sure you have important reasons for being here!"

The ground was getting rather... soupy, despite all the plants that were seemingly desperately holding the ground together. He had his nose pointed down, and he was trying ever-so desperately to keep to the grass so that he would not sink into the less congealed land. So far he had done well in keeping from falling in, but he hoped that he was not making Ms. Alki uncomfortable by staring so intently on the ground and not her. "I'm sorry," he began apologetically, "I am still listening to you! I'm just trying to keep to the grass so I don't sink, and- well, you already know first-hand how my vision is." He chuckled. "...So, in any case, why don't you tell me a little more about what inspired y-"

And then a Froakie suddenly blew past Adrol, bumping squarely into his side. He never had a chance of seeing it coming, likely not even if he had been looking up. He went reeling off-balance, tottering directly into the overly-soft mud that he had been trying so desperately to avoid. The Froakie did not even try to stop, simply calling a hasty, "Sorry!! I can't stay!!" behind him. Adrol only blinked, not completely registering anything.

"...What just...?" He attempted to right himself, but quickly found himself met with quite a bit of resistance. What on earth...?

...oh. Oh no.

"Oh... dear, I appear to be stuck..."

Adrol the Snivy - 1 energy

FoxFireAlchemist carried out 1 launched of one Cattail Marsh :

"E-Err... S-Sure," Alki said, blushing as she was quite unused to this amount of positive attention being given to her. She began to extract her map of Grassveil town from her backpack, intending to show her companion what shop, exactly, she was talking about. Unfortunately for her, the map had words on it. And a lot of them. And a lot of very small squares, different colored lines, and... well... things. And she couldn't read any of it. She glanced at the Snivy out of the corner of her eye, frowning as she tried to make sense of the piece of paper in front of her. Darcy would get it... "Y-Yeah, no, I know where i-it is, it's..." She traced her hand around the map, trying to figure out where it might resonably be...

"I-It's... U-Um, w-well..." She paused, nodding at the Snivy's apology. Truth be told, she was happy he wasn't saying much. Or looking at her much. This was embarrassing... Her ears curved downwards as she nodded, before pointing out in a quiet voice what might seem like a good spot. It wasn't. Probably. She just needed something...

She was on the verge of apologizing for it when a Froakie, quite suddenly, ran past them. Alki didn't notice. She was just as startled by his sudden appearance as Adrol was. She stumbled backwards and fell into the disgusting muddy water. He yelled out something about not being able to stay... Why was that? Alki felt herself shaking a bit from the sudden fright, but found it in herself to get up and walk over to the Snivy.

Oh... Dear. I appear to be stuck...

Alki's eyes widened as she hurried her pace to Adrol, putting both hands over her mouth in horror. Stuck? Here? "A-Ah... D-Damn..." She looked around the marshland in a hurry, only seeing bleak browns and drab greens.But there could be pokemon in the water, and... what if the Froakie was getting chased by something, or... "I-I'm r-r-really sorry..." She said, her voice genuine in its mix of both regret and fear. "D-Does it hurt? I-I'm... I'm sorry. H-How can I help...?"

[Alki has no heckin energy left]

"Hurt? Oh, hah, no no. The mud isn't hurting me," Adrol assured his new companion with a chuckle. "Perhaps one might even call the experience of a mud bath... refreshing? Hee hee!!" He had to chuckle at his own dumb pun. The situation was just so absurd... He struggled a bit more against his earthy bonds, but he quickly found that he could not remove himself from the dirt by his own strength still. He huffed and pouted for a moment, but only for a moment. "...In all seriousness, however, I believe I truly do need your help. I cannot get out no matter what I try..."

The mud was incredibly sticky. It would take the might of both pokemon working together to free Adrol of his mucky prison... and as they did, it seemed more was coming up with him. The roots of plats, rocks... and hanging right off the tip of his tail was a discarded item. It appeared to be... a band of some kind? It looked worn, used - like it had been in somebody else's possession and care before finding this tomb in the mud. Adrol observed it quietly for a moment, still partially stuck in the mud.

"What is this...?" He mused to himself, turning it over.

As he was observing it, two more pokemon blew past them. Both of them were Lotad, and both seemed to be panicking by the tone in their voices. "Is it over yet? Did you hear anything???" One questioned the other.

"I think they're still going wild. It's dangerous to be there!"

Adrol looked over at them, still holding the item he had dragged up. He felt extremely curious now- seemingly all the pokemon in this dungeon were in a hurry! Why? He looked to Alki. "I think I'd like to ask about this... They're coming from the same direction we were heading!" The snivy summoned all his willpoer in order to fully remove himself from the mud and hail the two passing pokemon.

"Excuse me!" he cried out. "Why are you fleeing like this? What has become so dangerous??"

The two lotad looked back, despite one's protests to keep moving forward. The first replied, "It's the Misty Mire! Something strange is going on there - horrible pokemon have gathered and they're doing something terrible there!! Haven't you heard??"