Durch den Nebel

[ZOM]

^{CURRENT PARTY:
Bjorn; lvl 5, friend lvl 5, Growl + Powder Snow
Diana; lvl 5, friend lvl 5, Trick + Astonish + Confuse Ray + Scary Face}

DURCH DEN NEBEL : Through the Fog

After spending some time at the festival in Buteston, it seemed only logical to move on from there to the marsh that surrounded the town. A vendor on the docks had informed Gertie that around this time of year the marsh was lit up with spirits all over, which made it pretty dangerous unless you stuck to the path. Gertie was delighted by this prospect; danger was interesting, and she was eager to see what kinds of creatures were making their home in this part of the region. It sounded like ghosts were common, of course, but it was a marsh after all, so surely there would be water-types, grass-types... poison-types, perhaps? Anything would be neat to see, truth be told! She just wanted a little bit of excitement and adventure, and this would be her first real taste of it in Decona.

So, there she was, strolling along the docks which wound through the huge marsh. By now she had grown accustomed to the rank smell, since it was really no better in Buteston, and she found she rather enjoyed the spooky scenery; the gnarled trees and reedy plants growing from the water were illuminated by dancing, hovering orbs of blue and white light just a short distance from the docks, their glow further brightened by their reflections against the thick fog. Her eyes kept being drawn towards them, but like the vendor from Buteston had advised she did her best to wrench her gaze away. Once she became accustomed to averting her gaze, however, the orbs began to emit a strange and hypnotizing sort of hum, and then it became very hard to look anywhere else...

At least, until Diana piped up behind her trainer, singing back at the orbs. Within seconds the humming ceased, and Gertie shook her head to clear her mind once more. She turned to smile down at the fat little ghost floating beside her, who smiled up at the Pokemorph in turn. Diana was native to the area, lucky for Gertie, so she knew all the tricks and knew how to ward her fellow ghosts away if necessary. At Gertie's other side, Bjorn waddled along with his arms crossed and his face contorted into what was probably supposed to be a menacing leer to scare anything that might try to mess with the group, but made him look rather silly instead. To further hinder his intended effect, he had to keep sniffling and snorting to keep his runny nose from dripping everywhere. Gertie looked down at him and giggled; what a good little bouncer he was.

Gertie felt confident that together, the three of them could take on anything this marsh had to throw at them! Bring it on!

[Deleted]

The marsh stank, as usual. Everything was either covered in muck or half-dead, as usual. As usual, once more, there were no Pokemon in plain site. The Pokemon who lived in this area didn't much care to be seen. They mostly wanted to lay in their mud and be alone. That's exactly what the Croagunk was doing. Laying in the mud, covered in mud himself. It was a particularly muddy mud puddle in fact, that was right in the center of the trail.

He was flat on his back, staring into the drooping branches of the trees overhead. He was just thinking. About life. He really just didn't understand. When the girl and her two Pokemon were all but a few feet away, he didn't even flinch. He was a hard hitter, and could take as much as he could dish out, so he wasn't too worried about being attacked. He was worried, however, about the meaning of life. Unfortunately, the meaning of life wasn't known by even the most well-known geniuses of the new world. There he was, a mild-mannered Croagunk with little brains, just going round and round in thought circles, staring, unblinking, into nothingness, uttering but three forlorn words:

+Nothing makes sense.+

[ZOM]

With the ghosts of the marsh calmed by Diana's song, Gertie felt a little more free to look around at her surroundings and search for any nearby Pokemon. The fog was thick, so it was difficult to pinpoint anything in the distance, but she thought that maybe she could see the silhouettes of water birds flapping about in the treetops, and other shadowy shapes lurked through the reeds and shallow, muddy water. Perhaps it was the fog, or perhaps she was too busy looking everywhere except for directly in front of her, but Gertie almost didn't see the Croagunk until she was practically right on top of him. She did manage not to trip over him thanks to the terrain shift; the dock she and her Pokemon had been walking along dipped briefly into a muddy part of the path, and the squelching from beneath her shoes had drawn her attention forward.

"Oh!" Surprised, she peered down at the somber little creature. She cocked her head and squatted down next to him, tail swaying to and fro. Though Bjorn strode forward to stand at his trainer's side, trying his hardest to seem like Gertie's intimidating bodyguard, Diana didn't bother; she danced around behind the Pokemorph, batting at the glowing orb at the end of her tail. "Why not?" Gertie asked the Croagunk, her lips pouting with confusion. Things seemed pretty straightforward to her, at least for the most part. Maybe something had happened to this Pokemon to disillusion him?

[Deleted]

The Croagunk never blinked an eye when Gertie nearly stumbled over him. When she asked why, however, he turned those unblinking eyes on her, and shook his head, rubbing the back of it farther into the muck. +I've lived in this place for my entire life, and I can't find one thing that makes sense.+ He inhaled deeply before releasing a long, loud sigh. He rolled over, almost mechanical in his movement, to flop onto his belly and smear his cheek into the mud. He was brown head to toe at this point, that brilliant blue skin covered by grime.

He turned his head to finally fully examine the party that had wandered upon him. +What are you?+ The question was obviously directed at Gertie, who he was very apparently gawking at. He had never even heard of a Pokemorph. This was a rather colorful group indeed, and they REALLY stood out in this dreary place.

[ZOM]

Gertie frowned, scratching confusedly at her cheek and glancing around. It was hard to see much of the marsh through the fog, but it didn't strike Gertie as especially nonsensical, at least if one forgave the ghosts for their mischief. What seemed strange to her was this Croagunk, rolling around in the mud and mulling over how little it all made sense without seeming to make much effort to understand. "Well, I do not see you looking for a thing..." she said with a shrug.

She was quick to let the topic slide when the frog questioned her, however. "Ah!" She bared her teeth in a big grin, tugging gently at one of her ears and letting a few teeny sparks fly from her cottony mane. "I am a Pokemorph! Waaty -- Flaaffy!" To punctuate her point, she let out a lilting little bleat. Then, satisfied, she reached out a finger to poke the Pokemon's cheek, which made Diana giggle. Bjorn managed to remain straight faced. "And what are you?"