<Goodness, it's grimy and scary and stuff down here...> a young Nidoran mumbles from inside of his trainer's trenchcoat. His trainer happens to be Felicity, a disgusted yet determined look on her face as she walks slowly down the passageway, keeping her eyes on the floor. She nods distractedly, not wanting to lose concentration, lose her balance and potentially fall. "I know, Kishou... but you can find poison pokemon down here..." she murmurs slowly, grinning a bit at the things she is willing to do at a chance to capture a poison pokemon. <I know, I know... You're going crazy with this obsession of yours, Felicity...> the Nidoran says somewhat sarcastically, shifting his position in Felicity's arms. <And would you stop hanging on so tightly?> he demands, his cheerful mood slightly dampened by the unwelcoming atmosphere of the sewers. "I'm sorry... it's just creepy down here..."
As the trainer and her pokemon carry on their conversation, the voices echo through the tunnels, twisted into strange, hollow distortions. Eventually, however, it becomes clear that not all the echoes are the result of the narrow underground warrens...in fact, there seems to be another group down here, their voices pitched in a similar fashion. Except, interestingly enough, that there are no human voices. Just odd rumbling, burbling, and slopping.
<You forgot cold and damp, also,> Kishou chimes in, poking his head out of the trenchcoat for just a moment to check their progress. He mumbles something about walking faster and pulls his head back in, ready to settle down for some snoozing. Felicity just shrugs, then looks up suddenly, noticing the noises that don't exactly sound like flowing water. "Er...? Kishou, do you here that?" Felicity asks, sending a quick glance to the bulge in her coat that is the Nidoran. <Eh? What? No,> comes the somewhat muffled reply. Somewhat disgruntled by the strange noises, Felicity keeps going anyways, at a slightly slower pace than she was walking before.
At Felicity's question, one of the other entities chimes up with a similar expression. "Koff?" <You hear that?> Silence reigns for a few moments, only the rushing of water and the dripping of...fluids joining the sounds of footsteps. Finally, however, a boisterous, rumbling voice breaks out across the tunnel. "Koff koff Koffing!" <There's one! Alright, Grimer, go!> Out from the shadows leaps a gelatinous mass of purplish sewage, flanked by a drifting, cratered sphere bearing a homely, wide-mouthed face. <Grimer,> commands the Koffing, in a rather familiar manner, <use Pound!> The Grimer burbles an affirmative, and launches its bulk towards Felicity's torso with definite intent.
Suddenly, at the sudden appearance of the two poison-types, Felicity jumps back, quite surprised. In fact, she almost slips and falls, catching her balance haphazardly. "Yipes! What the--?" she shrieks, sending Kishou tumbling out of her trenchcoat just as the Grimer heads towards her. She barely has enough time to avoid the attack before the glob of muck (not Muk, however) connects with her torso and brings her slipping to the ground. Kishou, who avoided the Pound attack, overcomes his disorientation quickly and slides his way over to Felicity, ready to Double Kick the Grimer if it doesn't extract itself from Felicity's clothing right away.
The Double Kick connects squarely (and messily), sending the Grimer lurching off to one side. <Grimer,> calls the Koffing, <Harden!> The Grimer bubbles, vile stench wafting from his semi-solid mass, and withdraws in on himself, the outermost parts of his sludgy body Hardening into a foul crust. The Koffing doesn't seem to be participating physically at all, instead seeming to play the part of trainer.
<Ha! That'll teach you!> Kishou sneers, smirking. <I got 'im, Felicity,> he says proudly, before noticing the Koffing. He gives it a raised eyebrow before sending a quizzical glance towards his trainer. <The Koffing seems to think it's a trainer.> Felicity blinks and nods, understanding. "That would explain some things. Anyways, help me here! Use Leer!" Kishou gives Felicity an affirmative grunt and moves into a position so he can see the Grimer's eyes, starting to glare fiercely at the pile of sludge, his eyes even seeming to glow a bit.
The Grimer's eyes widen as the fierce mien of the Nidoran strikes home. Quivering like a mound of jelly, the toxic pokemon turns, or rather, phases its face through its mass to its back, and leaps into the murky river of sewage, vanishing with a plop. The Koffing blinks, doing a double take. <Grimer,> it whines, <where are you going? Traitor!> Looking back to the trainer and her pokemon, the floating orb gulps nervously, and begins to back away, tiny puffs of sulfurous gas venting from its body.
While Kishou looks immensely proud of his victory, Felicity is hurriedly standing up and starting to shuffle cautiously yet quickly towards the Koffing, looking anxious. "No! Don't go! You're one of my favorite pokemon!" she says loudly, sounding somewhat crazed. Kishou blinks and follows after her, slipping and sliding on the damp floor.
The Koffing lets out a gassy squeak of fear, and continues to back up slowly. <Come back, Grimer,> it cries, <that wild human is coming right for me!> The Grimer makes no sign of returning, having swiftly abandoned his hapless 'trainer.' <You...want...food,> offers the Koffing desperately. <I have food!> The Koffing unfurls her long, ichorous tongue, revealing a melted stub of a candy bar...at least, one would hope it's a candy bar. <Heww,> says the gassy sphere around its protruding tongue, <nubby huud.>
<It's offering you a 'nubby huud', Felicity,> Kishou says, panting, trying to catch up with his trainer. Felicity scoops him up as he says, <It's scared of you.> Felicity stops in her tracks, trying to replace her crazed look with one of caring and gentleness. "Well... I'm not going to hurt you, you can come over here," she says carefully, smiling gently. "You can have your food, however, you probably need it more than I do. Come here, it's okay." Felicity's voice is soft and coaxing, and she hopes the Koffing -will- eventually float over to her.
As the wild human doesn't, in fact, leap upon her and devour her tender flesh, the Koffing stops, returning her tongue. Squishing sounds emenate from the pokemon's head as she searches around, the tongue eventually reappearing, bearing a filthy lump of red electronics...a pokedex! Or rather, what's left of one. The case is broken open in several places, and wires dangle this way and that. This dex has definitely identified its last pokemon, but the Koffing holds it out towards the trainer as if it were functional. <Hmmm,> says the Koffing after a moment, tucking the 'dex back into its mouth. <Interesting.> Drifting slowly towards the girl, the Koffing puts a kind face on her homely features, and smiles broadly with her peg-toothed maw. <How would you like to come with me,> she offers, with the exaggerated volume and enunciation of one speaking to another who is hard of either hearing or comprehension.
Kishou blinks many, many times, trying to comprehend the Koffing's offer. He looks up to his trainer, poking her in the stomach. <Here's your chance, Felicity. She wants to be your trainer... er, pokemon.> Felicity grins lopsidedly, still slightly confused about the whole ordeal. "Okay, I will..." she says slowly, choosing her words carefully. She isn't sure whether to take a pokeball out or not.
At the girl's acceptance, the Koffing beams broadly. The ugly little poison type spins around in the air, before posing triumphantly. <I did it,> she exclaims. <I caught a Gurrel!> Drifting over to Felicity, the Koffing pats the girl on the head...or rather, rubs greasily against her hair. <Okay, Gurrel,> she proclaims, <let's get going! We've still got lots of ground to cover!> With that, the Koffing begins to drift bravely forward, as if expecting the trainer to follow along.
"Indeed..." Felicity murmurs at the translation from Kishou, who still looks extremely confused by the Koffing's personality... Despite her inability to understand what is going on, Felicity follows the Koffing, hoping it will lead them out of the sewer. <Don't be a pushover, Felicity! Pokeball her while she's got her back turned!> Kishou whispers urgently, and Felicity shrugs, unclipping an empty pokeball and tossing it forward, trying to capture the Koffing inside.
The pokeball sails towards the Koffing just as the pokemon makes to turn around, most likely to give another order. The bicolored sphere lands squarely in her mouth with a soft 'splut,' and the pokemon grins widely. <Good work, Gurrel,> the creature compliments. <I was running low on those.> With that, the Koffing turns again, and continues to lead the way. It seems that 'catching' this pokemon may have been the easy part...
"Good grief!" Felicity exclaims in exasperation, getting a translation from Kishou. "Just wasted a pokeball. Good idea, Kishou," Felicity says, frowning. Giving up hope on capturing this Koffing in a pokeball, she is content to just follow it around for now, willing to take more desperate measures if things don't improve soon; i.e, they don't get out of the sewer.
