Twists and Turns (Mod)

[SongofWindchimes]

Rosie
Ser Bane : Belle : Omen

Belle was upset.

Everything in Ariados' body language, alien as it was from a human's, was tense and thoroughly irritated as she stared straight ahead and scuttled through the tunnel, face twisted in a permanent arachnid scowl and lit by the flickering firelight. Rosalyn imagined that if the massive spider were capable of it, she would be clenching her jaw. The hissed 'request' that left her mandibles certainly sounded like it was being forced through clenched teeth, despite the impossibility.

"Will you please tell Mr. Strobe Lights to breathe fire at constant rate before one of us gets sick."

Ser Bane let out a snort. The Absol was at Rosalyn's side, one of her gloved hands buried in the thick fur of his shoulder. He barked at Belle, reminding her that any light was purely for her benefit, as Rosie could follow him and all others present could see in the dark. She could always go into her pokeball, after all.

Belle drew herself up to her full height, fat body as high up as her thin legs would allow, and stared the disaster pokemon in the eye. She proceeded to, in her native tongue, inform him 'politely' that it was not her desire to be outside in these cold, dark caves, but there were wild pokemon in here, along with any number of potential dangers that could befall Rosalyn, and she would rather not find herself forever in pokeball-sleep because she was not outside to immediately assist in saving her trainer's life.

The Ariados then scuttled off ahead, muttering obscenities, only pausing when she reached Omen, the oblivious Houndour pup still spitting out tongues of flame, alternating between moments of orange light and near-pitch darkness as he bounded about. He whined as the spider smacked him on the head with one of her legs; what had he done?

They moved in relative peace after that. Rosalyn wasn't sure how long it took for her to notice the gaze on her, but when she turned her head, Ser Bane was staring up at her, his red eyes glowing slightly in dark. He was worried. She gently scratched at the base of his blade-horn, making him close his eyes and lean into her touch. "I'm fine, boy."

Rosie was lying, and she knew Bane knew it. She was tired, hunger was gnawing at her, and she was beginning to think that her map of the caves was either incomplete or just plain fake. There were too many twists and turns for her to keep track of, anymore. But what could they do but keeping moving?

[Lady Leaf]

Up on the roof of the chilled cave, slightly hidden from the dark, hung a small Swoobat. He was keeping very still and quiet as he intensely watching as the four strangers headed his direction.

Not too much further down the tunnel was a rather fuzzy Swinub chewing away at some tiny mushrooms he had been able to sniff up. Like most Swinubs, mushrooms were his favourite food. It was why he had made the Cave Systems his home. They mushrooms could be found all over the cave and he didn’t need eye sight to find him.

While the Swinub was chewing away a rather slow moving, lazy looking Dunsparce was picking away at a rather large rock to the side of the tunnel. He had no real reason to be digging into the rock. He just simply wanted to. He had already dug his way through a few other rocks further down the path.

Little did that Dunsparce know but a sneaky Sableye had been following behind him. It was picking through the rock the Dunsparce had dug and broken up finding all the shiny and interesting bits to eat. Most of the rocks didn’t taste very good but every now and then a gem would find it’s way into the mix. The Sableye simply loved gem’s of any kind.

[SongofWindchimes]

Belle stiffened as she caught sight of something at the top of the tunnels up ahead. She carefully backed up beside Rosie and hissed softly to Bane, who angled his head ever-so-slightly to glance at the bat. He smiled at the swoobat in a friendly manner, then focused back on the tunnel ahead. He was quite unafraid of the psychic bat, and content to trot right under him and leave him alone, even if Belle kept glancing up in fear he may swoop down on them. Rosie never even saw the swoobat.

Omen, bounding around ahead of the group as he had been doing, caught sight of something moving around and froze, nose twitching. Of course, that ended their light source, and Belle hissed in annoyance, followed by Rosie quietly calling, "Will-O-Wisp, Omen." Small, blue orbs flickered into existance and hovered around the Houndour, sending eerie light flickering over the surrounding area, including the Swinub whom the pup was now creeping toward, sniffing. Whatever he had with him smelled tasty.

"He could have done that the entire time?" Belle hissed, and Ser Bane merely turned his head to glower at her.

Rosie saw the Swinub, and contemplated it a moment. She'd had a plush Swinub as a child, and was very fond of species. Part of her wanted to catch him, as there was always room for an ice type in their little performing troupe, but he looked too content where he was. "Omen, leave him alone." Slightly disappointed that he didn't get to examine the tasty-smelling things, Omen still stopped his sneaking up on the pig pokemon to return to his trainer. "Good boy."

They left the Swinub, and it was then they saw the Dunsparce. Here, Rosalyn paused to think, Ser Bane stopping with her and following her gaze. Omen stopped too, and cocked his head to one side at the odd, legless pokemon. What was it doing, the pup wondered? Belle just looked annoyed, as usual.

"Um..ex-excuse me..." Rosalyn's voice was little more than a squeak, muffled by her scarf. Bane realized what she was doing and gave her a comforting nudge with his shoulder before padding forward.

The Absol cleared his throat, hoping to gain the tunneling land snake's attention. "Hello there, friend!" he started, smiling and letting his tail wag slightly, his words only a string of 'ab' and 'sol' to Rosalyn's nervously-listening ears, "I was wondering if my friends and I could trouble you for a bit? You look like a fellow who knows his way around this place, and I'm afraid we silly surface folk have gotten ourselves a bit lost. Would you be so kind as to point us toward a nearby exit tunnel?" It seemed like a reasonable request from Bane's point of view, since giving directions didn't even really require the Dunsparce to move from his task.

The Sableye, for better or worse, was currently unnoticed.

[Lady Leaf]

The Swoobat simply giggled to himself when he noticed one of the four began to hiss at him. Despite the hissing the Swoobat didn’t seem all that intimidated and stayed where he was. After all, he was rather comfortable. It wasn’t until the light from the fires and the new light of the Will-O-Whips shun that he did move. He finally swooped off the roof and flew further down the tunnel to find a dark spot to rest.

Swinub had been ignoring the group as well until the light of the Will-O-Whips surrounded the Houndour. It caused the tiny pokemon to freeze in a slight panic. Should he run or should he continue eating? He wasn’t much for battling and didn’t want to get beaten up but he was also really enjoying the food. If he could eat faster… but then if he ran before he could get attacked… The whole ordeal was just too confusing! Luckily for him the Houndour suddenly back off at the sound of the trainers voice. Swinub was able to go back to eating his mushrooms.

The Dunsparce had ignored Rosalyn when she spoke to him and continued to dig away his rock. It wasn’t until the Absol spoke up that the Dunsparce finally looked up with a rather lazy expression. There was a pause of silance after the Absol had finished speaking before the Dunsparce finally sucked in a breath and began to answer the question.

<Well…I don’t know… *Tick tick*… why you want to, ahhhh ummmm well, leave the tunnels.> He began slowly in his pokemon talk, <But ahhh… I think if you ummmmmmm yah…. Take this here tunnel to errrr the fork and ehhh take a right and then ummm… *tick tick*… straight through the four way and ahhhhh hummm yes… a few more lefts and another right…. Ummm yah, then you’ll err make it to a ummm… dead end and errr if you dig through that… *sigh* yah… it should ummm lead to outside. *tick tick*> After this rather drawn out explanation the Dunsparce turned and continued to dig away at the rock.

The Sableye had heard a bit of the conversation between the Absol and Dunsparce. With a bit of curiosity he slipped a bit closer to the group and hid in the shadows. It wasn’t until the Dunsparce was finished talking that he gave a big smile. <I know the way out.> He hissed from his shadow.

[SongofWindchimes]

Ser Bane's upright posture and bright smile slowly became more and more forced as the Dunsparce went on with his vague and ultimately unhelpful directions. You could practically see a cartoon sweatdrop forming with each word.

As the land snake returned to his digging, Bane took a few steps back, fighting the urge to hit his face against the ground. "Ah, thank you. The four-way you said? I believe we were there earlier. We really have gotten turned around. We won't trouble you further; urgent business on the surface and all, otherwise we wouldn't need to leave the tunnels at all. Thank you again, you were most helpful."

He was lying through his teeth, and he turned his head to give Rosalyn a helpless look. Belle just smacked her face with her leg and mumbled something under her breath.

The Sableye's voice made Bane's head snap up, and he stared at the gemstone-covered pokemon. The Absol's red eyes glowed slightly with his night-vision, able to easily see him through the shadow, even before Omen hopped forward and illuminated the edges of the Sableye's grinning face with his Will-O-Wisps. Bane didn't recognize the species off-hand, but he could feel the presence that marked him as another dark-type. He smiled in his usual friendly manner, tail flicking slightly. "You do? That would be much appreciated, my friend. We're not terribly suited to digging."

"Your eyes are shiny," Omen yapped as he watched the faint light of his flames dance over the Sableye's diamond eyes, and all the sharp little teeth in his grinning mouth.

"What?" Belle scuttled forward, glaring daggers at the little ghostly cave-dweller. "What's the catch?"

Ser Bane gave her a reproachful look, then smiled at the Sableye again. "What my friend here means is, your help is appreciated, but he have little to repay your kindness with."

Rosalyn just watched, shuffling uneasily. "Umm...he can help us?" she guessed, looking from her pokemon to the wild dark type.

Belle hissed. "He says he can."

Bane gave her another look. "Belle!"

"Bite me."

[Lady Leaf]

<Yup, ummmhummm… of course.> The Dunsparce replied as he continued to dig. He didn’t seem to have an expression of being proud that he had helped these pokemon and… the human but he was. He’d consider it his good deed for the day. Which really didn’t happen often as he rarely actually talked to other pokemon very often.

The Sableye let out a very small hiss when the flame of the Will-O-whips came closer. He seemed to duck a bit further behind the rock and shadows. He really didn’t like the light. It was why he had never left the tunnels from the day he was hatched. The sun… or lick of a flame… It was irritating to say the least. However his toothy smile retuned quickly as watched each pokemon say something. He gave no response to any of them as he waited for them to finish talking. Though his smile did seem to grow a bit bigger when Belle asked what the catch was. Indeed there was catch.

<Tisk, you would be no fun to bite.> He replied to Belle’s last comment even though it hadn’t been directed to him, <You’d be too squishy.> Finally he pulled himself over the rock and slowly made his way over to Roselyn. It meant exposing himself to the faint light of the Will-O-Whips but it was the only way to point out what he wanted. After all, he wasn’t sure what it was called.

<I want that that,> He hissed as he pointed up at Rosalyn’s old, warn black bag. It would be perfect for collecting and holding all the gems and shiny rocks he found making it much easier to eat them when he was actually hungry. He had seen other travelers use similar items for carrying things all the time and had always found it handy looking. He had just never had a chance to ask for one.

[SongofWindchimes]

Belle just hissed at the biting comment. Bane gave a small snort of laughter, but quickly quieted down when the Ariados glared at him; he deserved her irritation that time and didn't glare back.

Rosalyn blinked at the Sableye as he scurried over and pointed. She wasn't afraid of the cave-dweller in the slightest; in fact, she was rather fond of dark types in general, but she was a little confused by both his willing exposure to the light and his action.

"You're serious?" Belle said when she realized what he meant. "He wants your backpack," she explained at Rosie's blank stare.

The woman gently slipped the straps from her shoulders and swung the pack around to look at it. "It's a little...big," she pointed out, looking from the Sableye to her pack, then she started experimentally shorting one of the straps. "Though I guess if you..."

"You're considering it?" Belle asked, not with her usual venom, but with a surprised expression that looked like she may raise an eyebrow if she had one.

Rosalyn shrugged. Yes, she'd had the backpack for ages, but her attachment to it had more stemmed from the fact that it had an Absol sown into it than anything. That image was long gone, as she'd removed it more because the bag was what she had and changing it and using it had made more sense than getting a different one. It did have sentimental value, a remnant of a happier past, but it wasn't like the Sableye was asking her to give up the necklace her aunt gave her, and she'd rather lose her pack than starve in these tunnels.

"You could make her a new one, you know," Bane commented faintly, "If you'd rather she not spend money on a replacement."

A bag made out of her spider silk? Belle blinked at him. She'd never tried that, but it couldn't be too overly hard, could it? Her silk was strong and durable. It would take some planning, and some practice. Perhaps when they got to town...

"Better snuff out those Will-O-Wisps, boy," Rosie said as she slipped the backpack back on.

"What?"

"Sableye don't like light," Rosalyn told her as if it were the most obvious thing ever.

"You can lasso yourself to my tail, if you like," Bane offered as he slipped beside Rosie and let her place her hand on his shoulder. The spider grumbled something, but soon she'd spit out a few lines of silk that wrapped around the offered tail.

"When we reach the exit, its all yours," Rosalyn told the Sableye with a firm nod, right before the little balls of fire extinguished, leaving the passage pitch-black. "Lead the way."

Ser Bane blinked, his night vision easily piercing through the gloom. He and Omen knew which pokemon Rosalyn liked that may reside in these tunnels; though he doubted there would be any capturing today, but it never hurt to keep a lookout.

[Lady Leaf]

The Sableye lowered his arm when Belle made it sound like his request wasn’t going to happen. Yet as his arm lowered he did not look away from the human. He him simply stood there, slightly hunched over and allowing his hands to slightly hover over the hard ground. When the human slid the bag off her arm the dark pokemons toothy smile returned. Perhaps he was getting the bag after all.

They seemed to disguess the entire thing over a bit causing Sableye to grow a bit bored over time but he still did not move from his spot. He did start to look around a bit thinking that he might spot something yummy to eat while he waited. Luckily the wait soon ended when the human suggested that the Houndour should turn out the light on the Will-O-Wisps. Once again the grin returned when Rosalyn agreed to give him the bag after he took them to the entrance. He nodded at this and stuck his hand in his mouth for a few moments before turning to lead the way.

<It’sss not too far> He hissed as he walked using all four legs for one reason or another. He took them down the tunnel until they finally made it to the fork in the tunnel that the Dunsparce had mentioned earlier. However, instead of taking a right the Sableye made his way to the left side and down that tunnel. He hadn’t gotten too far down the tunnel before an angry roaring and growling sound could be heard. If you listened very carefully you could also hear a bit of a squeak. It caused the Sableye to straighten up on his two hind legs as he snuck around the corner.

There in the tunnel was a Lairon running back and forth between the two walls and jumping a few times in the air. It seemed the steel pokemon was trying to catch yet another Woobat who was flying just out of reach. The more the Lairon raged at the Woobat the more the Woobat would tease him. It wasn’t until the Woobat’s delicate ears picked up the sound of the new comers that it stopped teasing. It with a loud sqeek it dashed down the town towards the group and passed them leaving the angry Lairon alone.

It seemed despite that fact that the Woobat was gone, the Lairon wasn’t settling down. He turned to face the group, his front paw scratching at the ground as looked ready to charge at them. Sableye saw this and quickly turned around and raced over to Rosalyn. The shiny dark pokemon then cowered behind her legs not wanting to continue down the tunnel until the Lairon didn’t looks so… violent.

[SongofWindchimes]

Bane's tail drooped and his eyes went wide.

Omen froze in place and let out an illumating flame.

Belle detached herself from Bane's tail. "Oh f--"

"Hang on to me!" The command was directed at the Sableye cowering near her as she went to scoop him up into her arms. Barely half a moment later, Ser Bane latched onto her coat with his teeth and hurled his weight, and more, toward the side of the cavern with unnatural speed. The Detect attack sent them slamming against the wall, hopefully out of the way of Lairon, Rosie just gripping the Sableye, eyes screwed shut, as Bane stood protectively in front of her. She'd probably gotten hurt on impact, but it was a small price to pay.

Belle, however, stood right in front of the angry beast, light now coming from the shimmering Protect shield she'd erected, as Omen stood behind her, revving up his own attack under her protection.

That was when the caves would shake in an ear-splitting, terror-inducing Roar. If the steel-plated monstrosity didn't run screaming, this was going to get very messy, very fast.

[Lady Leaf]

Sableye quickly hid his face into Rosalyn as she picked him up. It seemed he didn’t want anything to do with the big scary steel pokemon. Especially when it was angry.

The Lairon hit his foot against the ground a few more times before charging towards the Ariados and Houndour. There was pure rage in the pokemon’s eyes as it used take down however his steel solid head hit the protective shield Belle had used moments before. He shook himself off a bit from the recoil of his take down attack before getting ready to charge once again. It was than that the loud growling of the roar from Omen filled the tunnel causing the Lairon’s eyes to widen. Very slowly he backed away a bit before turning and running away. It seemed the roar attack had done the trick.

Sableye looked up as heard the sounds of the Lairon’s foot steps grow quieter and quieter. With all looking to be safe again the Sableye’s grin returned and he looked back at Rosalyn. That was when he noticed a bit of a shin just under her white scarf. Being as curious as the Sableye was, he couldn’t help but point at it in an attempt to ask what it was.

[SongofWindchimes]

Omen gave a yip of victory and bounced up and down a few times while Belle lowered her shield and let out a sigh of relief. Ser Bane gave a smile and strolled over to them, leaving Rosie with the Sableye. "The well-oiled machine escapes another one unscathed, eh?"

Belle rolled her eyes. "Coming from the pokemon who doesn't have to play meatshield."

Rosalyn didn't immediately know what the Sableye was pointing at; with the minimal light Omen was providing that moment, she still couldn't see terribly well, but didn't want to ask him for more for the sake of the wild pokemon's sensitivity. Still, she managed to catch the faint shine, and she stiffened, eyes a bit wide, when she realized what had come out of its hiding place in the scuffle.

She then relaxed again. She was being silly. There was paranoia, and then there was this; the nobles and rebels were not planting spies amongst the wild pokemon population, and even if they were, they wouldn't be looking for someone as obscure as her.

"This?" she asked, carefully grabbing her necklace's chain and pulling it out. She held it up in front of him, the little silvery Absol twirling left, then right, in a proud stance with head held high and tiny glass gems forming glittering red eyes. "It's my good luck charm. I've had it for years. Was a gift." Her mouth twitched a bit in a sad smile; she doubted her aunt expected the little gift when she was ten to be kept all these years. "The gems aren't real," Rosie added, not sure how familiar the Sableye was with fake jewelry; she imagined it would taste a bit like eating wax fruit if he tried to take a bite. Not that she'd let him, mind you.

Belle made a loud throat-clearing noise. "If you're through with show and tell over there, we should get going before big and ugly comes to his senses and comes back for round two."

Rosie let go of her necklace, but didn't tuck it back in, letting it dangle on the outside of her scarf for the time being. She set the Sableye down and carefully rose to her feet, wincing at the pain in her shoulders. "When we get out of here, first thing on the list is a hot bath. Who's with me?" Belle raised a leg and Bane wagged his tail, while Omen pinned back his ears and made a little sound of disgust. Water, bleh.

From there, they arranged themselves as before, Rosalyn and Belle hanging onto Bane while Omen snuffed out his fire. "Ready when you are."

[Lady Leaf]

Sableye watched the necklace with awe and a twinkle in his eyes. It was very pretty and for a moment he thought about what it would taste like. However the moment she mentioned the stone was plastic he stuck out a tongue. Plastic was still eatable but he didn't much care for it. He'd rather eat a plain rock.

As he was set down, the Sableye once again began to lead the way down the tunnel. It didn't take long before he came upon what looked like a dead end. However when you got closer you noticed the path took two sharp turns. One left and one right. Sableye quickly turned to the left. It seemed he truly did know where he was going. When yet another branch of tunnels came up he picked the middle one before stopping suddenly.

Blocking the path was a rather stubborn looking Mawile. His arms were folded in front of him, his eyes closed and nose pointing up snobbishly. In front of him were two Durants chatting away angrily at him. It seemed they were trying to convince the Mawile to let them dig in the wall beside him. However, He didn't want them to. The wall had a perfect indent in it that he had made the most comfy bed out of. Of course the Durants claimed they made that dent the other day and where wanting to make a new tunnel there. It seemed the Mawile wasn’t going to back down. It wasn’t until the two ant like pokemon noticed the group heading towards them that they stopped talking and just stared. Mawile however ignored the group and continued to stand there with his arms crossed.

[SongofWindchimes]

Ser Bane smiled good-naturedly at the three assembled pokemon, and gestured with his head for Omen to back up a little. Durant and fire didn't exactly go together well, after all. The Houndour trotted over to sit next to the larger dark type and smile at everyone. "Don't mind us, gents," Bane said cheerily with a small flick of his tail, "We were just passing through."

"Um?" came something of a squeak from the human holding onto his shoulder. "Guys? Kind of...blind back here? And can't speak pokemon?"

Belle sighed and rolled her eyes. She couldn't see either, thanks to their trainer thinking more of their guide's abhorrence for light than her own comfort, but she at least heard the argument when they approached. "We're being blocked by three stubborn idiots," she said simply.

"Belle!" The Ariados didn't need to see to know that Ser Bane was giving her that look again. She sighed dramatically.

"Okay, we're being blocked by one stubborn idiot and may or may not be being gaped at by two pokemon who are trying to reason with him." It was 'may or may not' because she obviously couldn't tell what their expressions were, but Bane rarely broke out the word 'gent' unless he was being stared at like the other party thought he may eat them. The reputation trainers had for thrashing the local wildlife on a whim probably contributed to their lukewarm reception here.

"Oh."

Realising that that 'oh' was one of Rosie's 'I need more context here' kind of 'oh's, Belle elaborated. "We've got two Durant who want to dig into the wall and a Mawile who wants to sleep in the indent they made to get started, basically." Instantly, she regretted answering the unspoken request to explain the situation. Rosie was going to play peacemaker now.

Indeed, Rosalyn looked in the direction she assumed the Mawile was (and actually got it right, surprisingly). "Um, would you let them dig you had a better place to sleep?" she suggested, before turning her head in the direction Belle's voice had come form. "Do you think you could make him a hammock, Belle?"

The silk-weaver blinked. A hammock? That was actually a fairly interesting idea. Steel types were very heavy, but her silk was exceptionally strong. Her mind was already going through the steps required. Assuming there was a good place to hang it, and he liked the idea, she could probably do it. "Are Slowpoke rock stupid?" she replied, pride dripping from her words where hostility had before.

[Lady Leaf]

The two Durant’s skittered back a little when the Houndour drew close. It seemed they were a little frightened of the fire type pokemon. Mawile on the other hand stood his ground, refusing to move an inch.

Sableye on the other hand ran back over to Rosalyn and reached up his hands to her. A small, “Ahhh” Slipped from his mouth as he appeared to be afraid of the other wild pokemon. Truth was, he wasn’t afraid of them at all. He had just liked being held the last time they ran into a wild pokemon. He figured this was a good excuse to be held again.

The Mawile finally turned around when he heard Rosalyn speak. He placed a paw on his chin as he thought about the question. A hammock? Well, he wasn’t sure what a hammock was but it sounded comfy. With a small nod the Mawile agreed. He would give up the sleeping spot for a hammock as long as it was comfy. The two Durant’s began to chatter to themselves happy that the Mawile finally agreed to let them dig. Someday this tunnel would be an even bigger maze than it already was! It was so exciting!

[SongofWindchimes]

The Sableye's act as a little lost on a human in the dark, but the sound of him running to her and the squeaky, frightened sound got the point across. She knelt down and gently touched the top of the little creature's head, partly as a soothing gesture and partly to find him, and then, somewhat hesitantly, picked him up, momentarily gritting her teeth at her sore shoulder.

Belle was more than overjoyed. She was skittering back and forth, plans forming faster than she could speak them. "Okay, before we get started, I have to know if this is going to be a portable or permanent. I can stick it to the walls so that it's not coming off, or I can make loops so you can hook it on rocks and set it up anywhere. If permanent...Omen! Back away and give us a little light, wouldja?"

"Yes, ma'am!" he yapped, marching back they way they came until he was standing some distance behind Rosie, and let out his little Will-O-Wisps to bob around him and outline the surrounding beings with blue.

Belle squinted at the ceiling, clicking her madibles. "If we're going with permanent, we'll need a narrower tunnel with a lower roof, preferably dead-end and low traffic. If we're going with portable, you're going to have to dig into the walls wherever you set it up to make something to put the loops around." She gave a sideways glance at the pokemon's false jaws. Those 'teeth' were really steel horns, if she remembered right. He shouldn't have a problem. "The downside is that something may happen to make the loop slide off. If I make a permanent one, you're only getting rid of it if you tear the wall down or set fire to it."

Rosalyn didn't realize it right away, but she'd begun stroking the Sableye's head and ears with her fingertips as Belle went on. She couldn't help it really, a mixture of her usual idle twitchiness (petting the pokemon she was holding was more productive than biting her nails, at any rate), and her fondness for the little dark type. She hadn't though she'd use 'cute' to refer to a Sableye in her mind, but here it was. The gem-covered cave-dweller was just plain cute.

[Lady Leaf]

The Durants watched as Belle skittered back and forth talking. There tiny heads seemed to move in unison with her movements. Mewile on the other hand only moved his eyes as he listened to the spider pokemon. After a while his paw was set on his chin again as he began thinking over his options. The tunnels often changed, collapsed and were taken over by bigger, or stronger pokemon. So if someone else were to find his new sleeping spot he could end up losing his new hammock. If it was portable than he could just take it with him. There that hadn’t been too hard of a decision.

<‘Moveable’> The wild Mewile spoke up finally. It seemed he wasn’t much of a talker for that was all he said. The two Durant’s were all that surprised as all they had heard the pokemon say was ‘No way’ and ‘I wont’. Stubborn little creature…

Sableye on the other hand was milking up the attention he was getting from Rosalyn. He had wrapped his arms around her when she picked him up and closed his eyes as she began to pet him. If he could purr like a cat pokemon he would have. Being petted was one of the best feelings he had ever had in his entire life.

[SongofWindchimes]

Belle gave a swift nod at the single word. 'Customer' had long replaced 'stubborn idiot' in her mental description of the Mawile, and she was something of an eager puppy in her movements. "Right. I thought as much, but I always prefer to give the option. Now, if the one I make the first time doesn't quite seem right, I can make one that's a different size or change the quality of the material to make it more to your tastes."

Bane settled down in a shinx-like pose on the cave floor and rested his head on his forelegs. "Best make yourself comfortable, gents," he said to the Durant with a small smile, "Belle's masterpieces require time."

The spider began her work, spitting out a few strands of silk and weaving it rapidly with her front legs. A higher thread count would make the fabric more luxurious, but take longer, and she'd have to keep in mind that a hammock should have some elasticity in the material. She held the small piece she'd slready woven and tugged at a little to stretch it, then shook her head and threw to one side. It hit Omen in the nose. "Burn it." The Houndour dutifully spat out a few embers, then smothered it as the spider silk burned up. Belle went back to work without so much as a second glance.

Knowing that this was going to take a while, Rosalyn moved over to the cave wall to sit down with her back to it, still holding the wild Sableye. She was completely silent, even as Omen started yapping and chasing his stubby tail in tight circles out of boredom. Her fingers never stopped their gentle stroking, moving from his head to move around the gemstones on his back, then back to his head and ears again. It was good for her; she'd never had a pokemon who could really hug her like this (not that Omen didn't try his darndest) and she didn't realize how much she really needed it, being so far away from her home and family.

"I wonder how long we've been down here," Rosie said, breaking the relative silence as she stared at the ceiling. She wasn't really talking to anyone but herself, but Bane perked up a little and turned his head to look at her. "It'll probably be night when we reach the surface. Wish I could see in the dark better." She glanced to one side as she felt a pang of hunger. "Wish I could eat rocks, too," she mumbled.

She then actually looked at the Sableye."You...really like this, don't you?" She figured out by now that he probably wasn't afraid. "I guess you wouldn't...get it much. There aren't many humans who come through here and most of them must be...Well, a lot of people are kind of afraid of dark pokemon."

"One of the species' few unfortunate shortcomings," Bane commented, twitching his tail once. He loved humans, he really did, but they could be frustratingly prejudiced at times.

Belle paused to admire her handiwork so far. She had rested on her abdomen and started using four of her legs to work the silk, and now there was a length of it sitting in front of her like a long scarf. It was wide enough that the Mawile could place his faux jaws next to his body as he slept rather than laying on it if he chose, and was about three Mawile-heights long, to give him plenty of room. She had gone with a high thread count, but not her highest possible, in order to give herself some wiggle room, and it was stretchy enough to be comfortable.

Then, she started on the finishing touches. She spat out a few thicker strands of silk, and began braiding them into a rope that forked at one end. She adhered the ends of the fork to the hammock, then went about making a loop for the other end. Then, after a moment's thought, she added two more loops, one near the fork and the other more in the middle of the rope; not every tunnel was going to be the same width, after all. She repeated the process for the other end, then studied the prototype hammock for a moment before scuttling back and beaming in pride.

"There. Just hook a loop from each end on something sturdy so that it has a slight dip, but not really loose or touching the ground, and climb on. It'll rock a bit before it settles, but that can actually be fairly soothing, from my experience." She was bouncing just a little on her feet. "Like I said, I can change the design a bit if it doesn't work. Go ahead and try it out. I'll make sure no one disturbs the indent unless you're sure." She gave a stern glance at the two Durant at that.

Rosie watched the exchange, one of her odd half-smiles on her face. A Sableye with a backpack and a Mawile with a hammock. They were definately going to leave these caves as a strange place to travel.

[Lady Leaf]

The Durants both looked like they were getting ready to start digging when Bane spoke up. At that instant there antenna’s lowered in disappointment that they would have to wait even longer before they could start digging. One of the two even looked a bit mad about it but neither made a move from there spot.

The entire time Belle was working on the hammock the Mawile stood and watched. It seemed he was rather interested in how and what a hammock was. Yet the entire time he watched he said nothing. It seemed the pokemon really was a rather quite little guy.

Sableye was still enjoying having Rosalyn stroking his back and head. He was pretty sure he could sit her arms all night if she would let him. Of course he knew that wouldn’t work out. He would end up getting hungry eventually. She would probably get tired after a while too. Yet for now, his body laid rather limp on her as his head rested on her chest and soaked in the attention he was getting. “Ssssab.” was his reply when the human spoke to him. It had meant, <Very much>. Which was true. He did love getting the attention. He then continued to speak when she mentioned that most human’s were afraid of dark types. <They normally… run away…> He hissed quietly before letting out a rather large yawn. He didn’t even bother moving when Belle announced she was done making the hammock for the Mawile.

The Merwile smiled rather excitedly as he reached out to take the newly made hammock from the Ariados. It felt so soft in his arms when held it and he couldn’t help but hug it a bit. He then turned and began searching for a good spot to test out the swinging bed after Belle explained that they needed to test it. Hummm…

The Durants had both looked at Belle and Merwile with relief when they heard Belle was done making it. There antenna’s even raised for a moment with excitement until Belle gave them a stern look. Once again there head’s and antenna’s sunk when they realized they still had to wait before they could start digging again. This was taking forever.

Finally the Merwile found a good spot between two rather pointy rocks to give the hammock a try. Without a word, he ran over to them and began hanging it up. Once it hung it took the Merwile a little while to figure out exactly how to get up onto it. It took a few tries but finally he was laying down inside it and lifted a paw to give a thumbs up. Apparently it was working perfectly.

[SongofWindchimes]

Omen's head lifted from where he'd flopped down in a heap from his tail chasing, and he pinned back his ears and looked at the Sableye in a rare moment of sadness. "Humans used to kick me," he commented, then perked up again, "But Rosie didn't!" Bane smiled and nodded, having little to add. He was human-bred, and thus had always had the Sol family's good reputation to protect him. Now, he still had Rosie herself and his companions; he'd been one of the lucky ones.

Rosalyn couldn't understand what the Sableye said, but something in his tone and Omen's comment made her give him a small squeeze. She wasn't afraid. Dark types, spiders, no matter what they were, pokemon were pokemon, with good individuals and bad. So many people just couldn't see that.

Now wasn't really the time to dwell on those things, because Belle practically jumped up and down when she recieved the thumbs up. "Yes! High quality spider silk again proves that its limits are only in the weaver. Glad you like it!" She quickly turned and skittered over to the rest of the travelling group. "That's our good deed for the day! Now, come on, let's turn out the light and get this train moving out of the construction zone!"

Bane slowly got to his feet and stretched, not one to be hurried by the arachnid. She smiled and nodded at the Durant. "It seems like we're to be off, gents. May your tunneling endeavors have no more obstacles."

Rosalyn didn't get up right away, nor did she try to put down the Sableye. Noticing this, Bane trotted over and looked at her, concerned. Omen looked over and gave a couple of encouraging yaps. Rosie gave one of her half-smiles at Bane. "I'm okay. I'm just...comfy."

He understood, and relaxed a little. The hunger and exhaustion were getting to her, and she was just enjoying any rest she could get. It was better than his first worry that she had fallen ill. With her coat protecting her, leaning against the rocks would certainly be more comfortable than without. Bane also noted, fighting down a prickle of jealousy, that the Sableye's presence was helpful in keeping her calm, even if her arms were probably getting tired and her shoulder irritating her.

"But...we better get going." Rosalyn relaxed her embrace, allowing the Sableye to climb out of it, and only then did she get up, rolling her sore shoulder and then burying her fingers in Bane's fur. The others arranged themselves as before and Omen snuffed out his flame again.

"Good," Belle commented, the giant spider already taking on her usual grumpy demeanor. "I want to get to the surface and get something to eat."

[Lady Leaf]

“Saaa…” the Sableye replied to Omen when he explained that he use to be kicked by humans. Luckily he had never been kicked by a human before. Most of the time he kept his distance from them. Mostly because they never seemed all that interested in anything more but exploring or getting out of the cave. Useually he just let those human’s find there own path but today he was actually rather happy he had spoken up and offered them help. He was going to get a backpack for it! He would defiantly have to do this more often with the other human’s who came by.

Though he was enjoying the new hammock, the Mawile couldn’t help but watch Belle as she made her way back to the group. The Ariados not only was talented with her weaving but she was smart, strong, and not afraid to speak up. She was so… Perfect…

The Durants both looked rather happy when they were finally given permission to start their digging. It didn’t take them long to scurry over to the indent in the wall, using there strong, steal pinchers to cut through the rock. As the one continued to dig, the other turned to the group, <‘Thank you. Thank you. Next time you’ve all come to visit we will have a bran new tunnel to explore! Thank you!’> He than turned and began to help his partner continue digging.

Sableye was a bit disappointed when he was set down but didn’t say anything. He had been held for a while now and had to accept that it was time to continue to help them find the exit. Once again he began to lead the way, his tiny hand pointing down the tunnel as if to say it wasn’t too far away. As he walked he consensually heard something else following from behind them. At first he tried to ignore if but after taking yet another turn down another fork in the tunnel he frowned. The extra set of footsteps were still following them. Finally he turned around, spotting the Mawile from before ducking behind some rocks. “Saaa, Sabl sabl.” He called out angrily at the pokemon, pointing towards it accusingly. He had yelled out, <‘He’s following us!’>.

The Mawile, who had indeed been following them, decided to jump out from behind the rocks now that it’s cover was blown. Without saying anything, the Mawile ran over to Belle, reaching it’s arm’s out in an attempt to hug the Ariados around one of her legs. It still had the hammock Belle made him in his arms but from the looks of it, the steel type wanted to stay with Belle.