Silence is Sweet [Closed for Joining]

[Gyasi]

And like that, Gyasi had rounded up an impromptu party. Grinning, he found the map he’d put back into the front pocket of his bag. The thing was old, worn, and a little faded from use. There was a new rip at the very top from his fall this morning. Though he valued his books greater, this map was in his hands more than anything else.

He wasn’t entirely sure where they would find the rock. He wasn’t even sure it existed. There were so many supposed reports of wonderful things floating around, from legends or otherwise, that for every one that was true, another three were false. The rock seemed, plausible, as far as things went.

There were several alleged locations, but one story he’d read a while ago struck him as less exaggerated and fabricated than the others. It had it somewhere between the lake and past the oak, far from the usual paths.

Gyasi brought the map for his temporary companions to see.

“I believe it’s somewhere in here.” He said, motioning with a generous circle on the map. “I’ve got explorer gear with me.” He spied the two for badges like his own, but couldn’t find one on either. “We can set out if we’re packed and, um, know our current location.”

He had an idea of where they were. Somewhere on the riverbank.

“As far as flying or walking, flying would be faster.” He said, sizing Beat up. “But I’m a lot heavier than I look. Probably only twenty pounds less than you. Can you lift both of us?”

[Crayton]

It was pleasant for Crayton to hear that they would all be going on this adventure. Crayton's attention turned back to the plan, listening to the few tidbits and lastly putting his head through the loop of his bag. It landed against his chest, and he checked in his bag once more, making sure he had everything. He heard a few keywords, like flying or walking, which he was a little bit surprised about. "If we fly, we could miss the rock, and that's what we're looking for," Crayton said, adding another point.

"However, you could check our location if we get lost, since you could see more from the sky," Crayton suggested, trying to tie in the idea best he could. He didn't object with the idea of weight, because he was rather small himself and didn't want to under-estimate Beat's strength.

[Beat]

Beat lowered his head to get a look at the map, identifying where they were due to some landmarks that their current location shared with the map. Upon hearing that the small Pokemon weighed only 20 pounds less than him, a massive dragon creature, he began to really think about the idea of flight. " Well, I suppose I'll be able to carry the both of you for two minutes tops. I might be pretty tired by then. Let's walk for now, although I will survey the area from above when it's needed. " The Noivern replied. As mighty as Beat was, he was rather delicate compared to some other dragon Pokemon like Salamence or Dragonite. Those seemed to be built to carry massive loads while a Noivern was more designed for stealth and speed, so flying with a heavy load was not a thing for him. He was not all excited about looking for a rock out of all things. But it gave him something to do. 

[Gyasi]

Gyasi was impressed to hear Beat could fly with the two of them at all, but Crayton made a good point. If the forest was this thick here, the off-beaten part they were heading to would undoubtedly be more so. He agreed it would be best to walk. 

Thankfully Beat was able to point out where they were, and, after aligning himself based on the direction of the river, Gyasi knew which way they’d have to go.  

“There’s a bridge downstream we can take across, and the path should take us about half the way there.” Gyasi said, tracing his directions on the map. “We’ll have to walk through the forest for the rest.” 

With that, he waved off downstream, and began the trip. In an effort to not walk in awkward silence, Gyasi made small talk. 

“So, what had both of you out here in the forest?” He asked, though he could already guess Crayton’s. Gyasi was the one, afterall, who had woken him from his nap.

[Crayton]

Crayton moved to an area, where he too could see the map and the path they had to take. His eyes watched Gyasi trace the directions, making sure that he too knew the way. The trip then began, with Gyasi taking lead for obvious reasons. Well, at least I can do something now, Crayton thought, following the larvitar happily. Then the question of why they were in the forest came up. Crayton had already told Gyasi earlier, but Beat wasn't in the conversation again, making him decide to repeat his answer. "I was just having a nap, I had a terrible sleep last night," Crayton explained, adding a bit more information.

Crayton hated having a terrible sleep, but unfortunately it happened. However, despite the fact he was still a tad bit tired, the mightyena went on feeling perfectly fine.

[Beat]

Tagging along behind the two, Beat would occasionally seem to glance into the trees. His large ears gave him great hearing, so he would sometimes turn his head upon hearing a distant sound of sorts that raised his suspicion. Upon being asked what he was doing in the forest, Beat waited for Crayton to respond first. " Well I'm a bit of a wanderer to say the least. Just been exploring around and this was the next place I ended up in. " Well, like Crayton, Beat had also been awoken from a nap himself, resulting in him coming down to spook the two not too long ago. But he had went to sleep early last night, so he was still full of energy.

[Gyasi]

Gyasi gazed up into the treetops, watching the light filter through the leaves, twisting as they walked and the sun rose. While he couldn’t call the time walking the nice paths his favorite part of exploring, it was certainly the most relaxing. He could see why Crayton would come here to nap. 

“What had you up?” He asked. Personally, Gyasi had had a fine night’s rest. Sleep was one of the things that came easily to him. It seemed he could fall asleep anywhere at any time, so it was rare for him to be low on it. 

Which brought him to Beat’s response. "Do you jump out at everyone you pass on your explorations? Or are we just lucky?” He joked.

[Crayton]

With pricked ears, Crayton listened to Beat's response to the question. He understood why pokemon would want to wander into the forest, since it was a wonderful place to be. The silence made it so thoughts couldn't be interrupted, which made it a good place to explore. Crayton looked left and right, checking to see what was there, just in case another pokemon tried to scare them. Then the question on why he had been up last night came. Crayton had been checking his stock, but found that there was little there, which tempted him into an early morning expedition to find some items. However, Crayton was excited for the expedition which led to a lack of sleep.

"I just got excited about an expedition, the idea kept me up all night," Crayton explained. It was a rare occasion for him to stay up do to excitement, but the merchant enjoyed his job. He then listened to the next question, which was more of a joke, about why Beat had decided to scare them.

[Beat]

Beat listened to his two companions talk to each other, but then quickly responded when asked if he always jumped out at people. " Well, I was pretty bored earlier to be honest. Just though that it might make me less bored. Seems like it worked if I do say so myself. " he replied, smirking somewhat. Ah, the look on their faces earlier... Priceless. Notheless, Beat continued on with the the conversation. " Anyways, what's the deal about this rock we're looking for? "

[Gyasi]

“An expedition? That’s news to me.” Gyasi prompted. 

Now that was something he was interested in. He’d had his eye out for something like that for a while; there’s only so much he could do alone. With a big group, the chance of discovery hung bright before him. He wondered what they required to let people join. 

“Glad we could be so, entertaining.” Gyasi said sarcastically. “Legends say the stone has some sort of odd powers, like an evolutionary stone. It’s possibly one of the places eevee can evolve into leafeon.” He tilted his head to the side. “Then again, some say it provides life force to the plants around it, and some claim it purifies water that runs over it.” 

With several twists in the road behind them, it wouldn’t be long before they’d need to part from the path. Time flew by a lot faster when there were others to talk to. It was a nice change. 

“I think the one about eevees is most likely. Though it might just be a rock covered in moss.” He kicked a pebble. It bounced twice before landing in a bush. “Could be something else altogether, too.” 

He became aware he was rambling. Now that Beat had asked him, he had to mentally stop himself from taking both their ears off.  

“It, uh, should be somewhere north of the path here.” He finished.

[Crayton]

"Yeah, I needed to find some things, I work as a merchant," Crayton explained as they continued. With Crayton's small stock, he still needed to find a few things to sell. With his ears pricked he heard the answer to why Beat had startled them. Which was simply boredom, an enemy to many. "Well, at least the day got a bit of a fright," Crayton said, trying to create a bright side. He kept his ears pricked and listened to why the rock was so important, which made the mightyena curious. The path they strode along twisted and curved, and for the most part it was talking down the way.

He kept listening to the directions, and they would be heading north.

[Beat]

An evolutionary stone, huh? Beat was already a fully evolved Pokémon, so he was not very interested in that claim. But the whole giving life to the forest and water purification thing was rather interesting nonetheless. Well, Beat felt like that they might be getting close. Time for some aerial surveillance. " Well, I'm going to take a look around in the air for a moment. be right back. " With a few flaps of his wings, Beat flew up into the air in a flash. Closing hie eyes for a moment due to the sunlight, Beat managed to get a good view of their surroundings. Most of the terrain was covered with trees, but he could see the river winding north, a large oak tree to the east, and Moonlight Village in the distance. It had been a very long time since Beat ever visited a town. They were rather boring and did not tend to have much action going around in them. The wilderness was a much better place for Beat.

Diving back down, Beat reported his findings. " The river continues to head north for awhile, and there's a big tree to the east, and the town's also sorta close. No sign of a mossy rock though, the trees made it hard to see the forest's floor. "

[Gyasi]

Crayton’s response didn’t answer Gyasi’s questions about the expedition, but now didn’t seem the time to press. Beat had returned with an aerial survey. Gyasi didn’t think the rock would be near town - the area would have been too explored. Maybe it was somewhere in the cover of the trees? That was his best bet, but he couldn’t help but feel some of his hopes diminish.

“In the trees, then.” Gyasi sighed. At the very least, Beat’s findings narrowed the area they’d have to search.

After a moment of hesitation and an attempt at rekindling his hopes, Gyasi strayed from the path into the dense forest floor. He hoped it wouldn’t get dense enough it’d be hard to see, but for now he would worry about pushing through the thick bushes.

“Crayton,” Gyasi said on a tangent, “you have the best nose of all of us. Do you have any suggestions?"

[Crayton]

Crayton followed, he hadn't much to say and his mind was more focused on looking about to items. This was his merchant side kicking in, he was hoping to find something he could sell. When Beat left he just noticed, and the return had the same scenario. However, what the merchant's eyes did notice was how the forest was getting more dense. His eyes snapped back to ahead of him, trying to see the path before them. That was when Gyasi asked him if he had any suggestions, the phrase including somewhat of a compliment. Crayton sniffed the air, mostly smelling the two pokemon with him and the herbal smell of the plant life around.

"I can't give any suggestions smell wise, but moss needs a dark place and water," Crayton answered the best he could.

[Raiden Karai]

(OOC: just gonna lurk on in)

  Raiden kept his eyes strait ahead as he traveled, his ears listening carefully for any sounds other then his soft footfalls. He usually preffered to be up at night, but he wasn't actually nocturnal, and the thick shade of the forest was cool and comfortable. The wanderer began wo wonder where he was actually going. He was going to the town to be sure, but he had no real purpose in traveling there.

  Raiden paused. His gaze flicked around, ears alert. There. The sound of a pokemon. He began to edge closer, creeping forward until he could spot the group. He was still not very close, but his sharp eyes were able to make out the troi in good detail. A mightyena, larvitar and . . . noivern. Odd to see pokemon travelling together, especially such a varied group, though maybe it only seemed that way because he himself usually traveled alone.

  Changing directions, Raiden began to stalk through the woods parallel to the group, his golden gaze fixed on them, his paws instinctively avoiding any obstacles in his path. Now what could they be doing?