Joint Expedition: Investigation

Kestro sauntered up to the entrance of Serene Cave, looking quite different than before. No longer were his scales bared to the world, the Cranidos having received a gift from his grandmother while visiting in Grassveil. He was now adorned in fine cloth and silk clothing similar in style to a desert scholar or merchant. A gold buckle in the shape of a Volcarona's head and gold neck piece held the majority of the piece together. He also had wide gold bracelets on, which appeared to be little more than accessories. Atop his head was a turban with the same colors as the rest of the outfit; green with pale blue highlights, and a gold piece used as both an accessory and to help fasten it to his head. He had a small pair of glasses atop his nose, which he fiddled with every now and again as he tried to get used to them. The final piece to the outfit was his new bag. Instead of the simple bag he had before, which was more of just a sack with a single large pocket for him to throw everything into, this once was made of a sturdier leather and was adorned with several pockets. It certainly helped with organizing his items, allowing quick access to anything Kestro placed on the outer pockets.

The Cranidos looked around for a moment. No sign of Saturn, but Kestro expected this. Their plan was to meet at the entrance at noon, which was still nearly an hour away. Perhaps he should've just tried to find Saturn first, but Kestro was sure his Cubone partner knew the way to Serene Cave, given that they passed the path that led to it while coming to Grassveil.

Kestro stretched for a moment before sitting himself down, taking a moment to relax and gather his thoughts on their goal. Supposedly there was a healing spring in the dungeon, if the rumor were to be trusted. Serene Cave itself didn't appear properly explored, and the pair had decided to rectify that on top of their goal to investigate the rumor. Kestro thought on what Pokemon might inhabit a cave. He was still unfamiliar with many species of Pokemon, but he'd heard that many rock, dark, and ground type Pokemon like caves as dens. Given how Serene Cave also connected to Rainfront, there might also be water types. Supposedly a notoriously common Pokemon known as Zubat frequented caves, though it was a Flying/Poison type, and very weak compared to most Pokemon, so Kestro wasn't quite concerned.

As far as items, Kestro had learned that berries aren't very common in caves, so he and Saturn would need to be conservative on using any healing berries they had. He glanced at the small sack at his side. A few berries he planned to give Saturn were in there, of which two were oran berries. Back to what he'd heard, evolutionary stones, TMs, and throwing items were common finds in caves. He didn't know how much use those would be, unless they found a particularly good one. They could always use the throwing items to keep Zubat at bay if they lived in this cave.

Kestro's beak clicked. He shouldn't have come so early. He was getting too eager to go in now, and unless Saturn showed up early, the Cranidos felt like he'd explode with anticipation. Definitely not a good state if the pair were to make careful notes on the dungeon and discover the truth of the rumored healing spring.

Energy: 32-20= 12

Saturn hastily jogged down the dirt path that Kestro showed him, eager to start exploring Serene Cave. "Hopefully I'm not late. Wouldn't want to disappoint him." He likely would have arrived there already if it weren't for him bumping into a rather strange Sneasel in Grassveil that needed help with getting around town. That pokemon was so strange. It was like they were from a different world, or something. Regardless, Saturn was happy to help. Hopefully they'll figure the rest out on their own.

As Saturn was nearing the entrance to Serene Cave, he spotted an individual waiting near the entrance. They were adorned with shiny jewelry and green silk robes. It wasn't until he got much closer that he actually recognized this pokemon to be Kestro. "Wow, I almost didn't recognize you in that fancy costume." Saturn took a closer look at the finer details of the garment, noticing how intricate the jewelry was, specifically. "Are you sure you want to wear that into a mystery dungeon? It'll probably get all dirty and torn up from fighting and such."

[Energy: 22-20= 2]

Kestro was relieved when he finally saw the cubone approach. Saturn certainly wasn't late, just Kestro being much too early. As Saturn drew near, Kestro stood up, making sure to grab onto the small bag of berries he had for the ground type. The Cranidos held out the small bag to Saturn. "Heh, my grandmother made it for me. It should be able to take a bit of a beating, and she'd said she'd fix it if anything happened," he said. "If you're all set, I'm ready to get going. If we're going to be exploring Serene Cave as thoroughly as we think, we've got at least a week in the dark to look forward to."

"Oh, thanks. I can always use more of these.", Saturn said as he took each berry out one by one and gently placed them in his satchel. He made a mental note of what each one did, so he'd actually use them if he needed to. "You said your grandmother made it? Sounds like she really cares about you."

Saturn made one final check over his supplies, to make sure he had everything he needed. "Wow, a week? I'll make extra sure to ration out what I have, then." Saturn wondered what he could do to avoid getting lost. Maybe my eyes will adjust to the darkness after a while? He took a look at Kestro's claws, and hatched an idea. "Now that I think about it, maybe you could scratch an X mark or something on the cave walls to designate passages we've already explored? That should make it easier to backtrack to a previous area if we get lost, at least. And yes, I'm ready to go."

Kestro nodded, adjusting the glasses on the edge of his snout as he began to move towards the cave's entrance. "Probably wouldn't be around here without her," he commented, though he didn't think or care to elaborate. At Saturn's suggestion, Kestro scratched his chin. "Mmm, that might work, but what if other explorers have done the same? Or what if the native Pokemon remove them? On top of that we're not sure how wildly the smaller caverns will change given the dungeon's affect. The main path should be fairly well traveled, so we shouldn't be too worried about that, and in case we get truly lost, I can use an escape orb to send us back here."

"Oh yeah, escape orbs. I kinda forgot about those." Saturn quickly followed suit with Kestro, eager to start their expedition. As they entered the mouth of the cave, it quickly became apparent that he wouldn't be able to see much more than a couple of feet in front of him. He made his way to the rightmost wall of the cave, keeping his hand against the cave wall as he was walking so he could still maintain some semblance of direction. "Hey, Kestro. Are you having as much trouble seeing in the dark as I am? Maybe I should've invested in a torch or something."

Luckily, his sense of hearing and smell was serving him a lot better than he expected. In the confined space of the cave, every sound from their footsteps to the dripping of water from the ceiling helped him paint a mental picture of the rough shape of the cavern around him. Perhaps his helmet was amplifying the sounds to a degree?

As they entered the cave, Kestro himself found his sight quickly hampered. A few feet at best, a few inches at worst. We're still close to the entrance, hopefully our eyes will adjust to the darkness once we're away from the light. For now I can rely a bit on hearing and smell," the Cranidos responded. A torch may have been a good idea, but there's no telling how long it'd last, and carrying a bunch of torches and something to light them with would've been a lot of extra weight for such a long journey. Though, as the light from the entrance of the cave grew smaller and smaller, Kestro wondered if such extra weight would have been worth it. He was strong, and could've probably carried a lot more provisions than he was. It was a bit late now, and in all honesty he didn't want to turn back already. They'd just have to keep pushing forward.

"Yeah, me too. The residents of this cave will probably be much more aware of their surroundings than us, so we can pretty much guarantee that they'll notice us before we notice them." As he was talking, he stepped on a particularly slippery patch of the cave floor, and nearly fell flat on his face because of it. "... also make sure you've got a proper footing. I'm sure these cave floors are as hard as they look."

As they continued their expedition, Saturn's sight did get a bit better. He still couldn't really make anything out, but the lack of light wasn't too hampering, so long as he was able to rely on his other senses. He made sure that he could hear Kestro at all times; he certainly didn't want them to get separated in a place like this. He reasoned that as long as he knew where Kestro was, along with the layout of their surroundings and the presence of other pokemon, everything would turn out ok.

Right?

Kestro plodded along, the claws on his feet clacking against the stony ground of the cave. He nodded at Saturn's warning, doing his best to keep his footing stable. He didn't feel too worried about the inhabitants of the cave. So many travelers passed through here between Rainfront and Grassveil successfully, he felt confident that either the local Pokemon were either ambivalent to welcoming, or preferred keeping to themselves than bothering outsiders. Either worked out, but Kestro hoped for the former, as they could better gather information that way.

As the light of the entrance disappeared, Kestro found his eyes adjusting to the darkness as well. Even so, he couldn't see much of anything. Dark shapes formed and dissolved into the shadows of the cave as they walked by. His nose only picked up the smell of earth and stone, with just hints of dampness throughout. The clacking of his claws on the ground echoed throughout. He was certainly no Zubat, but at least Kestro could tell from the echoes that they weren't near any branching tunnels yet.

Dracorexion carried out 3 launched of one Serene Cave :

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The cool, humid cave air was rather pleasant at first, but now it was making moisture collect in the space between his head and the inside of his skull helmet. I hope I don't get a rash..., he thought as he fidgeted with it. He also found himself feeling rather peckish and despite Kestro's warning about how long it would take to properly explore this place, decided it would be pretty difficult to do their job on an empty stomach. One berry should be enough. Besides, I have plenty. I'll just make extra sure to ration out what I have remaining. He fished an Oran Berry out of his pack and popped it into his mouth, making sure to savor it for as long as possible. The sour, tangy flavor was enough to keep him going and reinvigorated him to better tackle the long, arduous journey ahead of them.

As they continued walking in relative silence, Saturn repeatedly went over the general layout of the cave from the entrance to where they were now in his head, trying to make sure he could call upon it later when it was time to draw a rough map of the area. He would have started making rough outlines right then and there, but he didn't have a suitable surface to draw on, as the wet cave floors and walls would ruin the paper. Even if he could safely start the maps, he couldn't see well enough to know if what he was drawing was right. It would be like trying to write his name with his eyes shut. So, Saturn merely settled for constructing a rough map in his head. I should have grabbed a clipboard on our way out of the library. Oh, well.

[Energy: 2+10 (Oran Berry)= 12]

This dice is not existing.

Kestro came to a stop as his foot clacked on a stone that made an odd sound. The Cranidos carefully lifted his foot off of the stone as he leaned down to inspect it closer. The darkness of the cave was proving more of an issue than he cared for. He clicked his beak a couple of times before he thought up a bit of an odd idea. The Cranidos' head started to take on a pinkish-purple glow as he focused on a Zen Headbutt, and sure enough a dim light cast itself over his face and the floor underneath him.

In the light came a torn bag, with the stone he stepped on, an everstone, and a TM and seed. Mmm, guess my head's useful for more than just banging into things," he joked as he scooped up the items into his own bag.

Saturn was quite startled when Kestro used Zen Headbutt. Are we in danger!?, Saturn thought as he readied his club. Once he realized what Kestro was actually doing, however, he relaxed. "That's pretty clever of you, Kestro. I wish I had a move that did something like that." This statement made Saturn reconsider his move set. Hmm. Do I have any moves that could be used in creative ways? Surely I could come up with something. He thought for a minute, but the only thing he could come up with was using Ancient Power to shoot some rocks in a direction and listening for when they hit something solid. That might at least help them get a feel for the general shape of a cavern if they, for some reason, couldn't freely move around. I doubt it'll be very useful., he thought.

Moving on from his previous train of thought, there was something else that was bugging him. "That was a torn bag you found those items in, correct? That means someone else was in here previously and dropped that. If that's the case, then there might be some hostile pokemon in this part of the cave that could very well be ambushing travelers, or something like that. Just something to keep in mind."

southpawXlegacy carried out 2 launched of one Serene Cave :

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Kestro certainly felt proud of the alternate use he found on the fly, especially with Saturn praising him for it. He thought on Saturn's moves, and he too couldn't find an easy answer. "We'd have to see if Cubone learn a move that can light up an area..." he trailed off, trying to think on it. He'd met Cubone before at his old oasis home, but he couldn't remember any showing off a flashy move. While he was in thought, Saturn brought up the warning of the torn bag.

Kestro looked down at it, giving it a light prod with his foot. "Maybe, but we don't know how long this bag's been here. At the very least if it was from an attack, the attacker's moved on, and since there doesn't seem to be anybody around here injured, the Pokemon getting attacked was able to escape."

Dracorexion carried out 5 launched of one Serene Cave :

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Saturn nodded in approval of Kestro's level-headed response, although he probably didn't notice. "Yeah, you're probably right. I need to stop being so paranoid all the time." It certainly hadn't done him any good up until this point. If I keep fretting over every little thing, I'll just end up wearing myself out unnecessarily. I need to be more positive. After all, being stressed out all the time is bad for my health! I need to take a deep breath, relax, and- "Hey, guy, can I drink some of your bl- "AAAAAHHH!" Saturn's shriek echoed throughout the nearby tunnels. "Wha-...who-... where did you come from?!" "Who, me? I've been following you two for a couple minutes. Anyway, I'm starving. I'll give you some stuff if you let me have some of your blood. I'll only need a little bit." "Uh... let me think about it." Saturn was still more than a bit shaken up by this whole situation, but this creature wouldn't have come up and asked him if they weren't truly desperate. And the allure of items was certainly calling to him.

How bad could it possibly be?

[Energy: 12-2= 10]

southpawXlegacy carried out 3 launched of one Serene Cave :

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Kestro was about to respond when Saturn let out a rather girlish shriek. The Cranidos spun where he stood, preparing for what he first thought was an ambush. His beak gripped onto his tail, Kestro ready to prepare an Iron Tail. Instead he saw, barely, a Zubat's wings flapping as it spoke with Saturn.

The Cranidos slowly let his tail go as he relaxed. "Uuuh. First time someone's asked to trade items for blood..." he said. He looked over at Saturn, unsure about how to proceed. The more he thought about it, the more uncertain about the whole situation he became.

Energy = 1