Lost Cause

Each step was made with hesitance, but he was fairly certain that this path was the safest. The only problem was that it was a guaranteed safety. His eyes darted about to and fro with a growing sense of dread and anxiety. He was alone, out in the open, in the place he'd last seen Voix. For all he knew the damned Zoroark lived here and yet he was coming back. It made his skin crawl and fur stand. He honestly looked adorably fluffy more so than terrifying. He swallowed his fears as he stepped along, uncertainty kept him from making much progress.

He came with the intent of collecting some items, a sack strapped around his side. The light crystal blue necklace dangled from his neck as he walked on all four legs. It was much more comfortable this way. It kept his stomach less exposed, far easier to run from danger as well. Zadira needed more items though. Not only for his own protection, but to hopefully sell them to the local merchant back at Grassveil, maybe an explorer or two. The debt he needed to pay was big and the lawyer made it perfectly clear what would happen if he couldn't keep on his payments.

It was understandable, considering the pachirisu saved what was essentially the rest of his life, but the lawyer's expectations were brutal. He could either pay up or he was going right back to where he was found.

Mocha: [Energy: 22 - 16 (Entry) = 6]
Maxie: [Energy: 20 - 16 (Entry) = 4]

In an effort to avoid another oversleeping incident, Mocha had asked Maxie to help her get into a more active lifestyle. This morning, though, she was starting to think this was a mistake. Apparently the mawile took the whole thing quite seriously, and thought it would be a great idea to go on a mountain hiking adventure first thing the following day. Normally, the zangoose wouldn’t be so averse to such an idea—she likes adventure, and she’s always wanted to do some mountain hiking—but she definitely didn’t want to do it on only eight hours of sleep.

“Mountain climbing on eight hours of sleep? I said I wanted to start living more actively, not destructively.” The zangoose scampered her way up a small ledge that was just too high to step over on all fours. She turned around, sitting with her hindlegs hanging over the ledge, forelegs behind her, propping herself up off the ground as she leaned back slightly, first glancing at the mawile trailing behind her then looking up at the peaks far above them.

Maxie followed in the zangoose’s path, albeit a notable bit farther behind, almost as if she was struggling just a bit compared to her companion. “You’ve been complaining about this for the last hour or so now,” the mawile remarked in a tone that indicated just the faintest hint of fatigue and, perhaps, a sprinkling of annoyance. “And yet you seem to be managing this just fine. I’d almost think you’ve done this before.”

Upon reaching the ledge that the zangoose had perched herself on, Maxie paused. Mocha had just over two feet on her, when standing straight up, so what was a relatively minor nuisance her was a minor challenge to the mawile. “Or maybe you just have an innate advantage. Little help?”

Mocha rolled her eyes—not that her hiking partner could see from her vantage point—and leaned forward to pull the deceiver Pokemon up over the ledge. “Okay, yeah, you’re right, It’s pretty much been a stroll. But eight hours is not a full night's rest!”

This time it was Maxie’s turn to roll her eyes—which Mocha did not fail to notice. The zangoose stuck her tongue out in response. “Speaking of rest, let’s take a brief break, have some lunch, trade some stories. Talk about anything except your thoughts on what is and isn’t a full night’s rest, please.”

“Yes! Finally!” The zangoose stood dramatically onto her hindlegs and feigning weariness, teetered her way over to a nearby rock wall that curved along with the path forward, leaning against a particularly smooth section of stone and sliding back down into a seated position. Maxie followed suit, pulling their prepared lunches from her bag as she approached. She sat next to her friend, passing her share of the food over.

“So, will you start, or shall I?”

The moment he heard voices come into earshot, he froze in the spot. A single paw held in the air with wide and uncertain eyes focused in the direction they came from. His ears strained to get a grip on the words, but he could just barely collect the information that whoever or whatever they were, they were about to have a bit of lunch...

His stomach growled. The pointed ears pinned back at the sound. He risked a quick glance around him in search of any signs of movement...or shifts in the rocks. Slowly, he stepped closer to the sound. It wasn't long before he was hit with the mouthwatering smell of...well, he wasn't quite sure what. All he knew that it smelled edible. He hadn't eaten in a while. It was a little hard to come across food when he didn't have a place to call home or a job to really earn money with.

He kept low and hidden as he grew closer, not wanting to be sighted just yet. A little voice nagged at the back of his head, noting how this seemed a little suspicious. Two strangers with food just when he was at the peak of his hunger? This was an awfully odd coincidence. He just managed to peek over the side of a stone cover to get a look at the duo. The moment he saw the white fur and red streak, he ducked back behind the cover, leaving only a small window for the duo to notice his presence.

There was a zangoose-and she looked like Caritas.

His stomach felt as if it sunk like a ship. His back against the cover, he held a paw over his mouth. Despite not having eaten anything, he suddenly felt sick...yet so hungry at the same time. The duo certanly seemed like they might be friendly, but still something told him there was something wrong with this. He shouldn't approach. He should just turn around and walk back the way he'd come, maybe go back to Grassveil and find a nice comfortable box for him to sleep in for the night and maybe find something in the tra-

He stepped out from the hiding spot. Nervous and uncertain, his laid back ears and hesitant paw steps brought him closer to the tantalizing scent of the...whatever it was. "Hi, uh...am I interrupting something?" If this was some sort of trap he'd eventually find out, but he didn't want to be alone right then.

Mocha: [Energy: 6]
Maxie: [Energy: 4]

“I’ll start! I just remembered that I never told you what happend after I woke up the other day—”

“Spent an hour or so fixing your fur?” Maxie butted in with her guess. Her tone suggested that the mawile had bore witness to such a thing—which she had, this morning. It completely disrupted Maxie’s schedule.

“No! There was no point, it was raining that day in Grassveil anyway. And also I was in such a hurry to try and catch up wtih you,” This wasn’t true. In truth, she had been thoroughly discouraged when she realised how late she was, and instead opted to wander around Grassveil instead. But anyway, so I was on my way when I noticed this orange guy—uh, a uh—floatzel! And he was snooping around a shopkeeper's stall all shadey-like. So I took to the shadows and waited for my opportunity to strike—”

”You’re sure it wasn’t the owner of the stall?” Maxie had no reason to doubt the zangoose’s story, but she knew how overeager Mocha could get and wanted to make sure her friend didn’t jump some poor shopkeeper.

”Would the owner of the stall break their own lock by freezing it?”

Maxie was not expecting a question in response and had made a tactical error in taking a bite into her mixed-berry jam sandwich. Speaking mid bite, she replied, “Well, I could think of a few reasons why—”

Maxie cut herself off when she heard a new, unfamiliar voice speak up. Turning away from Mocha and toward the source of the voice, her eyes were met with the sight of a zangoose—not unlike the one sitting beside her, excepting of course the different coloration. Maxie quickly tried to swollow the remainder of the food in her mouth before—

”LUNCH!” Mocha announced so loudly that it echoed off into the distance for several moments. The skittishness of the newcomer had not escaped Maxie, and somehow she felt as if a shout of “lunch” from a random Pokemon hanging about in the mountains toward the clearly suspicious zangoose might not have been the greatest of greetings.

It wasn’t until after her proclamation that the cat ferret Pokemon realised who—or rather what—she was talking to. Upon realising it was another zangoose, she quickly shifted from excited to cautious. Her experience with her own kind, while not strictly negative, had shown her that, generally, zangoose tended to be… Standoffish, to put it one way. Mocha remained seated, but carefully set her own sandwich aside, just in case.

"LUNCH!" it felt like the zangoose screamed at him before she gave him a suspicious glare.

Immediately his ears fell back as far as they could go as he recoiled back a step. Tension strung his muscles up and locked him into place. His immediate first thought was to run the opposite way, but he didn't move. Turning his back now would have been a bad idea for all he knew. Still, he couldn't stop himself from shaking. They seemed so nice before, but that completely flipped on a dime all because he'd decided to approach.

Were...were they going to try to eat him? Was the zangoose declaring him lunch?? His wide eyes and nervous frown were a losing battle to resist. His father would have been ashamed of him.

"O-Oh...Okay...Sorry," he squeaked, though he did not turn away or move from the spot. A very brief and tense pause lingered in the air before he decided to make a simple request, "...Please don't eat me." The quiver in his voice was strong. At the very least he hoped he at least looked pathetic enough to ignore by this point. Maybe they'd just go back to eating and he could just...leave, or something.

Mocha: [Energy: 6]
Maxie: [Energy: 4]

Any caution Mocha held on account of the stranger zangoose was immediately diminished upon seeing just how spooked he really was. The hesitance turned to concern, then to guilt upon hearing the blue-accent zangoose plead for her not to eat him. ”No! Wait! That’s not what I meant—you’re not lunch, you were inturupting lunch—I mean us having lunch—we’re having lunch here and it’s not—” The red-accented zangoose found herself flustered and stumbling. Fortunately for her (and likely everyone else involved) Maxie cut in, obstructing her companion with her steel jaw-horns to muffle her ramblings.

”I’m sorry. What my friend here is trying to say is that we’re just having lunch—mixed berry jam sandwiches—and no need to apologize, you’re welcome to join us.” Maxie, believing to have cleared things up a bit, glanced at her intimidating steel jaws. ”And,” she added, while moving her natural weapon back behind her, “no one’s eating anyone.”

Maxie stood up and gestured for the newcomer to come sit by her with one hand. She the other reached into her bag and pulled out another sandwich, wrapped in paper, a moment later. She always brought spare lunch. Well, actually, she always brought herself two lunches, just incase she was feeling particularly hungry, but she was no glutton, and was happy to share with a friendly stranger. Especially one who looked as hungry and as scared and this one.

”Please, join us for lunch. Oh! Where are our manners?” She put particular emphasis on the “our,” and nudged Mocha subtly with her steel appendage to be sure she got her message across. “Introductions are in order. I’m Maxie, member of the Grassveil Guild. This is my friend Mocha.”

“Uh, yeah, Mocha of the—well, nothing, I guess. I’m not part of any guild or anything, yet…” The zangoose sheepishly rubbed the back of her head with a fore-paw, still feeling guilty and now slightly embarrassed about the whole event that had just taken place. "... Sorry about the uh, the misunderstanding and everything..." she added, in a much quieter tone.

”Mocha was just regaling us with one of her recent solo adventures…”

Uncertainty ate away in his stomach as if it tried to eat its way out. The twists and turns of his gut just about made him feel ill. The Not-Caritas quickly grew flustered with a quick explanation. The sudden change from flippancy, to hostility, right into whatever this display was unnerved him still.

The mawile stepped in for some sort of save, one that he wasn't sure about. An apology was issued, along with a more straight-forward explanation of what they were doing. He was invited along with the clarification that nobody was going to eat anyone...well that seemed like a big ol' lie. The way the mawile nudged her friend, it worried him. Everything about this worried him. There was no winning with his over-worked starved mind.

His heart pounded, but at this point it was almost as if it was too dangerous to just back out now. The moment he turned around was the moment they could attack. He didn't need any evidence to know that these two could rip him apart in seconds, but he did need a true reason to think they were lying to even think about voicing his concern. Hesitantly, he approached. The mawile introduced themselves as a member of the guild while the zangoose was a member of nothing. Impressive.

Still, he didn't relax. It was nice to have a name, but that little voice in the back of his head reminded him of all the different possibilities that could turn all of this into a terrible mess. Still, it was better to return the courtesy. It's not like his name was a big secret and even if this was something from Voix's mind it's not like introducing himself could do any harm. "I-I'm Zadira, also from nothing." Now to hope neither of the two liked to read up on the newspaper or outlaw boards...and if they did then be updated on things. He didn't know just how "big" his little "mishap" was, but he remembered the pachirisu going on and on about the press and public reputation. He didn't at all understand what the Pachirisu went on about, but it all sounded very much terrifying.

It felt as if any attempt to eat would result in the expulsion of the food, but it also felt like his stomach would cave in at any second. "G-Go on, I didn't mean to interrupt," He encouraged despite how odd it was for some random stranger to just join in on someone's conversation and lunch. He imagined this looked just as suspicious and weird to them as it did for him.

But Arceus, he was hungry.

Zadira Energy: 22-16= 6

Kat carried out 6 launched of one Black Mist Mountain :

, , , , ,

Mocha: [Energy: 6]
Maxie: [Energy: 4]
==================================================
Both Maxie and Mocha could tell how nervous the zangoose—Zadira, he introduced himself as—was. Maxie couldn’t help but be a bit curious as to why he’d be so uneasy; she imagined it didn’t have to do with them in particular, since he’d seemed off since the moment they noticed him, even before Mocha said what she had. Still, Maxie had no intention or prying, and had every intention of ignoring the fact, hoping that by not acknowledging it, it would go away and Zadira would calm down.

Mocha, on the other hand, wanted to know what was up, and if it weren’t for the fact that she had just possibly slightly made the situation worse, she would have asked on the spot. But she showed restraint, and opted not to bring attention to it for now.

”Zadira is a nice name,” Maxie commented in response to the now acquainted zangoose’s introduction. She handed off the spare sandwich to Zadira. ”Pecha and cheri berry jam. Sweet and spicy, my personal favourite.” The mawile turned her attention back to her companion, hoping that bringing the focus away from Zadira would help him grow at least a bit more comfortable. ”Okay, so, the floatzel was breaking into this vendor’s stall. What happened next?”

Mocha had momentarily forgot that she had been telling a story before, and was briefly confused as to what Maxie was suddenly talking about. ”Er… Oh! Right! So it’s raining and this guy is freezing this lock and it just snaps. ‘Course since it’s just exposed to the weather all the time I supposed it was probably pretty rusted up and whatnot.” In reality, it was not the lock that was frozen, but the wooden door the lock was keeping shut, and the floatzel at punched his was through the once waterlogged and then frozen weather-worn door—but that’s semantics.

”So he’s rummaging through the storage area under the stand-thing and that’s when I strike! I rush up and I say ‘Stop, thief!’ and I knock him to the floor with one swift kick,” Mocha stands and pantomimes a kick. ”Then the rain really started to pick up. I said to the thief who was now at my feet ‘Stand down, thief! I’ve caught you in the act, and I have you at a disadvantage! Return the stolen goods and walk away!’”

Mocha struck a hero’s pose, forepaws on hips. ”But of course, this guy wasn’t willing to listen to reason. He launched a surprise attack at me—” She mimed getting struck in the chest, as if tackled. ”I lost my footing and he just started running—and this guy was fast, like, like really fast. I chased him and nearly had him again when he pulled a dirty trick and swung a surprise ice punch at me outta nowhere! I dodge it, of course,” The zangoose made several quick dodging motions, adding her own sound effects of her cutting through the air.

Then, as if she had just remembered something terrible, her excited, cheery, and confident demeanor wavered a bit. ”But, uh, then there was this HUGE flash of lightning, and while I was temporarily blinded the dude just blasted the area around me with an ice beam. I’m like, fast, but I’m no ice skater or anything, so he kinda got a huge head start on me after that and, er, kinda got away…” She sat back down, picked up her sandwich, and stuffed her face with it. While she may have embellished and altered some elements of the story, the basic plot was indeed true.

”Wow,” Maxie stated after a moment. She wasn’t sure she completely believed all the details of this story, but at the same time she had no reason to doubt it was at least somewhat true. ”So he managed to get whatever it was that was in that stand, then?”

Mocha perked up at the question. “Nope!” the red-striped zangoose said around a mouthful of food. She fished around in her bag to her side for a moment and eventually pulled out a small drawstring pouch. She opened it and pulled out a single shining coin. ”He left this one coin behind. I tried to give it to the owner when he showed up, but he told me to keep it. So now it’s a keepsake of sorts—a reminder of a failure to learn from, I guess.”

Maxie examined the coin the cat ferret Pokemon held in her paw. It didn’t appear to be particularly special in any way; just your typical Poké. ”That’s a good way to look at it,” the mawile stated.

”So, either of you got any cool stories?” Mocha asked as she dropped the coin back into its pouch.

==================================================
Mocha’s Rolls:

Badger carried out 6 launched of one Black Mist Mountain :

, , , , ,

Maxie’s Rolls:

Badger carried out 4 launched of one Black Mist Mountain :

, , ,

[/i]

He was handed a sandwich with a more descriptive explanation on just what was in the contents. His expression softened at the compliment towards his name. He wasn't brave enough to express his gratitude towards the mawile, but he made do with a thankful nod. He took the edible into his paws, but was certain to give it a good squeeze as he inspected it. He confirmed that he could indeed see it, smell it, and feel it, before he relaxed a little more. His attention was hauled away from his concern at the very mention of the word "Cheri" from the mawile. His ears perked up as his sight was set on that lunch. The hole in his stomach seemed so much larger now, which made it very difficult to resist scarfing it down.

As he ate, the Not Carit-Mocha, went on about her enthralling tale of the time she faced off against a bandit. He quickly discovered that she was quite well-performing. Her word choice accentuated by her excitement and movements kept his attention on her long enough to stop him from swallowing his sandwich whole. The tale seemed odd though. Why would a floatzel break in and leave a coin? A thought crossed his expression that perhaps, just maybe, the water type was too shy to approach a shopkeep and wished to do business without approaching them. He figured, however, that it was just a wishful thought.

Then, Mocha asked if either of them wanted to share a tale...one he assumed would have to be one of just as "epic" proportions. He had several-technically. He short life as an explorer brought him to exciting adventures, but he always happened to drag the team down. There were plenty of stories he had, but one of the first things he learned from Caritas when he came to Grassveil was not to over share-since people tended to think that was weird. He glanced down at the remains of his sandwich as he rifled through his memories for something that perhaps wasn't going to absolutely kill the mood these two set up.

"I think I have one," He spoke up as he looked up from his unfinished sandwich. Each of the two were given a look that seemed to request permission to speak. Once he was certain nobody would object, he started it up, "I uh, I used to be in a rescue team myself. There was four of us-and we were going on a mission together in Scorchfall Desert."

He wasn't active or exciting like the other zangoose at all, which made him wonder if perhaps he was about to deliver a snore-fest. He didn't have the courage to step up the game and try to top Mocha, however, as he continued the tale from a more quiet and calmer speaking point, "Couper, Voler, and Roi were their names. There was a pair of outlaws there-a krookodile and a flygon-who were working together to attack people."

"The pokemon around there were really upset and terrified, so they kept attacking anybody that came around-us included," he shifted himself a little in attempt to get rid of a growing discomfort. "It took us all day to find them, but uh...really it was more like it was them who found us. We kept sending Voler out to look around for signs of them, h-he was a fearow so he could fly, but he ended up getting ambushed."

"He made it back on his own, but he led them right to us all. A big sandstorm was whipped around us just as Voler tried to warn us and the ground from underneath us suddenly seemed to burst. Couper-he was a Scyther-managed to avoid it, but Roi and I ended up getting caught in the attack. Roi managed to get back on his feet real quick and spring, he was a breloom. I kinda tripped up though, so I didn't really get much done in the first few seconds."

"The flygon flew around in the air while the krookodile swam through the sands like he was some kind of Sharpedo. We couldn't even see where either one of them were half the time, only when they were hitting one of us. So uh...Roi came up with a plan. Voler couldn't really help us, but Couper and him were both capable of taking them on in a fight. So I goaded them into attacking me, so they could both focus one of them down."

"Roi managed to get a good hit on the flygon's wing and grounded her with a stun seed. The krookodile was still swimming around though, so every now and then he'd just pop up, make an attack, and dive back into the sand. Couper had to make sure the Flygon didn't get up again, so it was just Roi and I left. The sandstorm didn't really subside by then, so it was still super difficult to see...but uh-the krookodile didn't really go for us after the Flygon didn't get back up. The next thing we knew, the krookodile latched onto the flygon with his jaws and dragged her into the sand with him."

"He attacked us a few more times, but after a few attempts to stun him, he just stopped attacking. We couldn't sleep that entire night. We were just waiting for him to pop back up again, but uh...he didn't. We looked around for another day or two and found the cave he slept in. We waited in there and made the jump on him. The floor was too solid for him to swim through like in the sand, so Roi could get a Spore off on him before he could run or anything...and we brought him in for custody." It wasn't exactly an exciting tale, nor did it feel quite as action-packed as Mochas, but he figured it was due to being such a poor story teller. There were plenty of details he left out in that story, but that was just going to kill their mood...so he decided to let it be.

Zadira Energy: 0+5 (from Trap)

Kat carried out 4 launched of one Black Mist Mountain :

, , ,

Mocha: [Energy: 6 - 25 = 0 + Reviver Seed = 22]
Maxie: [Energy: 4 - 14 = 0 + Reviver Seed = 20]

Maxie and Mocha both listened intently to Zadira’s story. Both the mawile and the zangoose notably perked up when he mentioned that he had been part of a rescue team, as they both respected the adventurous sorts of Pokemon. Maxie listened quietly and more or less still, only shifting slightly on occasion to find a more comfortable position on the rocky floor on which she sat.

Mocha, on the other hand, fidgeted at every mention of battle or excitement, clearly wanting to ask for more details but restraining herself so that she could hear the whole story as intended by the teller. The moment Zadira finished, the questions burst out from Mocha with little pause between them. ”Why where the outlaws wanted? Where you rewarded? Did you find any cool ruins while out in the desert? How many criminals have you taken down in your career? Why’d you stop?” She gasped for breath, preparing to ask further questions, but Maxie interrupted before she could pile on any more.

”You don’t have to answer any of those questions, if you don’t want to,” the mawile said calmly, not wanting to overwhelm their new acquaintance or seem like they were prying him for information. He had just told them a story from his past, so they had clearly gained some level of trust from the suspicious zangoose. She didn’t want to lose that. ”I’ve been through Scorchfall Desert—that’s where I’m from, actually. I know how rough the sandstorms can get and how difficult travel can be through that area.”

Mocha piped up again. ”We should explore the desert some time!”

”I’d really rather not, not for a while, at least. I’ve seen more than my fair share of that hot, sandy place.” The mawile made a disgusted face, as if she had just witnessed something awful. Mocha’s face flashed with disappointment for only a second before perking up again and turning her attention back to Zadira expectantly, hoping he’d answer at least a few of her questions.

His mouth zipped shut with a look of surprise as Mocha eagerly drowned him in question after question. He leaned back and away from the normal type, but he didn't move from the spot. Despite his outward reaction, he was flattered that Mocha seemed so interested and intrigued by his experience-despite how awful and horrible it was to go through himself. It seemed as if the mawile was his social-guardian for the day, as she seemed to put in an effort to reel back the sheer amount of energy this other zangoose radiated.

The two bantered about visiting the desert for a moment as he decided whether or not he even wanted to answer. He took another bite of his sandwich, a small reward for not shattering what he perceived to be a fragile trust. He'd be wary of a total stranger himself after all.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the other zangoose eagerly staring at him like a child longing for the final cookie in a jar. For split second, his only thought was just how much Mocha wasn't like Caritas. A twinge of guilt for comparing the two urged him to respond to the best of his ability-even if his answers weren't necessarily pleasant and the mawile explicitly told him he didn't have to if he didn't want to.

"We didn't find any special ruins or anything, but they, the outlaws, attacked other pokemon. Most of their victims went missing entirely and others had all of their things taken from them and left alone and lost in the desert. That one was actually one of the only few we managed to get a hold of and uh-that was partially because of why I had to stop." He averted his eyes and focused on the world's most interesting pebble on the ground just off to the side, "I couldn't keep up with them and got in the way all the time, so Roi kicked me out." Granted that didn't explain why he left the guild seeing as being booted from a team didn't mean the end of an explorer's career, but it was the reason why he stopped. A shameful outburst here, a sense of worthlessness there, and he was down and out from the exploring business.

Another bite of the sandwich-another reward. This time around, the mixture of sweet and spicy didn't taste as great as before. His eyes lifted back up from the pebble and flicked between the two in attempt to gauge their reactions and search for any particular hiccups or signs that he overstayed his welcome. "Wh-What about you though?" his gaze focused on the mawile, "You said you were in the guild, right?

Mocha: [Energy: 22]
Maxie: [Energy: 20]
==================================================

Satisfied with the answers given, Mocha returned to what remained of her sandwich, finishing it with one last bite. ”Kinda rude of this Roi character if you ask me,” she said as she stood and stretched. ”I’m sure you’d be plenty helpful in a team. Maybe they just weren’t the right fit for ya.”

Maxie—who had finished her food at this point—nodded in response to Zadira’s question. ”Yeah… Sorta. I mean,” she pointed to the badge pinned to the yellow scarf she wore around her neck. ”I am an official member of the Grassveil Guild. I have the bag, the badge, a room in the sleeping quarters… But I don’t have a team. I mean, I do have a team name registered, ‘Team Tenacity.’ It’s just that my partner had to leave, so currently it’s just me.” Her tone was something like disappointment by the end of the last sentence.

”... And we kinda failed our first mission… That was all fairly recently. Since my partner left I’ve been hanging out with Mocha here,” she gestured vaguely in Mocha’s direction.

The zangoose raised a paw as if to indicate that she was in fact the Mocha which Maxie was referencing. ”Yep! I was supposed to go with Maxie and her partner on that mission but I kinda slept in so they went without me. Then there was that whole incident with the floatzel, ya know,” she waved dismissively. ”I’ve been considering joining the Grassveil Guild myself, but now I’m not so sure I’m ready to be an official part of all that. So in the meantime I’m, like, Maxie’s unofficial partner. Team Tenacity’s plus one!”

Maxie stood up and leaned against the rocky wall behind her. ”Mocha asked me to help her get into a, quote, ‘more active lifestyle’ so I planned this hike we’re on now.”

”Yeah, which to her apparently meant waking me up far too early.” Mocha scowled at Maxie, who responded by simply rolling her eyes just as she had done earlier. ”Anyway, we’re just up here search for adventure and excitement. And treasure and things!” She raised both forepaws into the air to punctuate the last thought.

”If you don’t mind my asking,” Maxie started, looking at Zadira. ”What brings you to the mountains?”

It was easy for him to fall into silence as the two chattered together. It certainly did seem like the two were good friends, but it still surprised him that the mawile was the explorer out of the two of them. Mocha seemed so stoked and ready for action, he had to wonder if she actually knew what kind of things and people it was normal to come across as an explorer. It was a dangerous job and not every discovery was filled with wonder and awe. He would have disagreed with Maxie on Roi if he weren't avoiding conflict. Roi had every right to kick him out with how much he dragged the team behind-he was dead weight.

He was content to just sit at the side and listen to the two without any real contribution to the conversation, but the mawile was interested in roping him back into it-not to say that he minded! He was about ready to speak with a full mouth, but thought better of it. He waited until he swallowed it before he responded, "Looking for items to bring back to Grassveil and sell to pay off a debt."

"A lot of valuable items pop up around Blackmist, like these special ones called Joy Ribbons. They're the kind of thing that helps pokemon get stronger by taking in all kinds of damage and activity done to the wearer and helping the body adjust to the exercise according to the most recent theory. It's popular with new and old explorers, so it'd probably be able to sell for a good amount if I could find one or two." He did his research before coming here. Not only that, but his time at the guild helped just a little as well.

"There's also really good TMs...those weird disc-things. They're a little harder to sell, but I figured I could probably get the dojo in Grassveil to buy them off me for half price for them to advertise..." his voice trailed off, not out of nervousness or fear, but thought. His tense muscles were relaxed at this point, his fur settled down as he got himself comfortable with the duo. While the little itch of doubt and fear still pestered the back of his mind, he determined that if this was a trap it would have been sprung by now.

"...This place doesn't seem like the best to hike around in though," he commented suddenly with a sudden shift to the topic back to their purpose, "Why here and not-say...Everspring Vale or Fallen Leaf Copse?"

Mocha: [Energy: 22]
Maxie: [Energy: 20]
==================================================

Maxie was interested in what exact kind of debt this zangoose had gotten himself into. He didn’t strike her as the gambling type, so she imagined he either wanted or needed something pretty badly that he had to take a debt to get it. Rather than ask about his money issues—a very personal topic for sure—Maxie instead opted to answer the question that Zadira had offered.

”Fallen Leaf Copse was the location of my last guild mission, so revisiting that so soon seemed kind of boring. Everspring Vale, on the other hand—that is definitely on the list.”

Mocha nodded enthusiastically. ”Yeah, definitely! I absolutely want to check out those geysers for sure!"

”But today I wanted to take on a proper mountain, and Black Mist was convenient—you know, relative to other mountains. Plus, I think it’ll provide us a fair enough challenge, and as you’ve said there’s good things to be found here.”

”And,” Mocha added, with an air of mystery in her voice, ”There’s that mysterious tribe of absol they say lives up here on the mountain. I bet they know some pretty neat stuff—legends and cool stories. I wonder if they’d be willing to share any, if we were to meet any of them?”

Maxie picked up her bag and slung it over her shoulder. ”Speaking of our hike on the mountain, how about we pick that up again?” She stepped away from the rock wall behind her and moved to stand in the center of the path forward.

Mocha practically jumped with excitement, grabbing her own bag and bounding several feet forward up the path on her own. ”Yeah! Let’s climb higher, find something cool!”

Maxie turned around to look back at Zadira, a slight smile on her face. ”You ought to travel along with us, Zadira, the more the merrier and all that. Plus, travel is safer in greater numbers.” Given the fact that he had been with the guild before, Maxie wasn’t too worried about his ability to handle his own. Still, safety in numbers was true enough, and she was beginning to enjoy the company of this zangoose, who was so different from the one she was used to—not that there was anything wrong with Mocha...

”Yeah, come on Zadira! It’d be nice to have someone else to help pull this shorty up the high ledges.” Mocha jested at Maxie’s expense. The mawile turned toward the cheeky zangoose and stuck her tongue out at her in response, before turning back to Zadira for an answer.

Everspring Vale was a pretty hot topic in the tourism department as far as he knew, but he had to admit, this place was definitely more of a challenge to trek through. The items were worth having a look around for as well. The ferret finished the last of his sandwich as Mocha brought up the absol tribe, but he found himself disappointed when Maxie declared that it was time for them to go. His heart sunk as dread crawled back upon him. He was convinced that there was no conceivable way that these two would-

...Oh. His pessimism was proven wrong only a second afterward. It astonished him just how nice and welcoming these two were to a total stranger who interrupted their lunch. At the very least, he didn't ruin it. At least he thought he didn't ruin it. Arceus he hoped he didn't ruin it!

"P-Please?!" He blurted far too quickly for his own liking. The brief flash of joy was quickly repressed under a wave of embarrassment. He mentally kicked himself for it as he recomposed himself as much as he possibly could. "Uh-I mean, yeah. Sure, I-I'll come along," Caritas, please, descend from the heavens and slap him. He deserved it.

The zangoose never quite sat down, so he was already up and ready to go. It was a lot easier to cope with this area with someone around to help him...well, survive. He was certain to follow the duo along and stick more behind them than anything if the trail happened to be too narrow for them all to stick side-by-side. As he situated himself, he spoke up, "W-Well, the absol I met last time I was here were very territorial. I don't think they'd be willing to give up any secrets if they knew any...though I think Izumi might be familiar with them...the absol that runs that box-opening service? She'd probably be better to ask than any of the inhabitants here..."

He kept his eyes on the look-out, but he only really paid much attention to his immediate surroundings. He did not look up, but if anyone did, then they'd be able to spy a duo of shadows looming overhead. Their bulky bodies somehow sailed smoothly in the wind as they studied the trio of explorers below.

One disgusting fleshy head looked to the other in a silent conversation, but neither made a move to make themselves known. Instead, they just circled around the location. the dark sky prevented any sort of shadow from being cast down upon them. They waited as they allowed their presence to broadcast the group's presence to any ravenous inhabitants that just might let them pick out some scraps.