A Murky Mess

[Kimo]

<Mush, Poochi, Mush!>
Nolan’s shouts as he rode on top of Nietel could be heard as Reidel and his team made their way into the area of the swampy forest. Flint had decided to reside in his pokeball for the moment; this left the Diglett, Mudkip, Hoothoot, and the half-friendly, half-grumpy Doduo following the part-Ampharos human.
<Mush.. Ew, mush..> What was once a shout of cheer was now a expression of sickened as Nolan came to see the muddy, marshy scenery in front of it.
The Diglett looked up at him, looking upset that her friend was clearly not having a good time. <Aw, Nolan. Why don’t you like it here? Is it that bad?> Nietel was disappointed by the silence that followed her question.
Riedel looked around for pokemon up for battling. “Okay, so-” The boy was shortly interrupted by the spontaneous flutter of Ruby in his arms. He checked her to see if something was wrong and continued after assuming it was just random. “Alright. Okay, we’re going to be in this swamp place for only a little while. The sun is setting and I want to just finish off the day with some quick battles. Okay?” The others nodded in agreement, although Nolan was highly hesitant.
“So we’ll just keeping walking until we run into someone. In circles, if we need to.”

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[Kai]

"Cro, croak." a purple skinned Pokemon, watched the group enter the area with a bit of a...Dour expression. It sat in the middle of a muddy part of the swamp, on a slick looking rock, mumbling Pokemon gibberish. It didn't seem to care about the group- but then, it wouldn't stop staring at them either..."Croa, gunk..."

The Dodou looked just as disgusted as Nolan, even the happy one looked disappointed at the local. ~Why, pray tell, would you take an avian to a swamp~ Ka muttered, and would have frowned if his beak would have allowed it.

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[Kimo]

Reidel look behind him at the complaining Doduo, a look of irritation on his face. Perhaps he was contradicting himself by ignoring Nolan's whining, but he didn't really like it when others went complaining and such. "You'll be fine, don't worry," encouraged the Ampharos morph, swinging his tail along and playing cool as if he didn't mind stepping into cold, dirty slosh.. "Blech," Reidel couldn't help muttering as a mud puddle he stepped on splattered all over his boots. Nolan sent him a sympathetic look.

<Hey, look!> Nietel had stopped moving upon the site of the chillin' amphibian. <What? What are you looking at?> Nolan leaned over to find what she had spotted, pressing his webbed feet against her forehead. Grumbling uncomfortably but biting the bullet, Nietel stretched her neck out as if to point. <Out there.>

<Oh!> shouted Nolan, leaping off of the Diglett excitedly. <Lemme at 'emmm..ahhhhhh> The Mudkip had started off determinedly but ended up squealing as he stood belly deep in sludge.
"Take it, Nolan!" yelled Reidel as he stood in a clear spot with Ruby. The Mudkip looked over, shaking his head wildly in extreme detest. "Take it like a man!"
Nolan groaned and stepped, taking his time with each foot as it spluttered all over him. <Battle meeee..>

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[Kai]

The amphibian-like Pokemon stared at the floundering blue mudfish; expression never changing. "Croa..." the purple creature tilted it's head and watched Nolan complain his way closer before actually speaking, ~Why?~ she asked, voice rough.

Ta had his head hung low, thinking sadly to himself that this place was boring and stupid and he wished he had listened to his other head and had left this troupe alone. But, oh well. The could leave when they reached dry land....

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[Kimo]

(( Whoops- forgot the part where Reidel says “battle mah mudkip, slimey foe” or something like that. ))

Nolan held his breath in the mud as he waited for the frog to respond. Oh, the stench.. Oh ick, it reminds me of horrible things.. His mind was dragged away from it as the Croagunk asked the simple question of why. <Huh? Why battle? Well.. ‘Cause I’ll get stronger if I do.> That means closer to learning my first water move, and cleaning his brown stuff right off of me..
Nolan also turned his head to look at his trainer, and back the the ‘Gunk. <And-and well, my partner told me so. My trainer.>

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[Kai]

The frog-like Pokemon blinked once, and stared for a long moment. ~Are you sure?~ she asked, slowly. He didn't look like much, and he looked heavily uncomfortable. She figured the battle wouldn't be much of anything.

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[Kimo]

Nolan hesitated. He itched to tell the Croagunk No! Get me out of here! but he knew he couldn’t. He knew, without having to look over, that Reidel would be irritated. Right? He hadn’t disobeyed him so far during their short time together. Better not take chances...
<Y-yes!> His limbs were jostling, his frown reaching new limits, but he still stood there, ready to fight. Realizing he had to make a move, doy, he managed to swipe a front leg upwards and whip brown mush at the froggy foe. A grunt of anger escaped his mouth, although it sounded more like a squeak, and stuck his foot uncomfortably back into the mud.
Nolan tried a new self-coaching technique. I am a Mudkip. I am a Mudkip. I am a Mudkip. Mud. Kip. Mud. Kip.

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[Kai]

The mud flew onto the frog's face, where she simply rolled her shoulders. ~Well. Alright.~ He seemed pretty adamant about fighting. Who was she to deny determination? Wiping the brown goo off her face, she scooped up her own little handful and moved forward with surprising speed; aiming to literally slap the mud onto the little Mudkip.

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[Kimo]

I am a Kip of the Mud! A Kip of the Mud! Nolan's inner voice was screaming now that the Croagunk was speeding up towards him with mud in her hand. His heart began to pump faster and faster, but he couldn't move, the muck around his feet feeling like cement.
So, for his failure to do anythig, Nolan earned a loud slap to the face, mud splaying all over his head.

Nolan fought to keep his balance, fear strengthening his desire to not sink deeper.
"Nolan!" Reidel called, ignoring his Mudkip's uncomfortableness. "Use that same move! Mud Slap!"
The blue fishcreature looked back with bidg protesting eyes. <But I tried that!> he whined. <It didn't work!> And Arceus, did he not want to try it again.
"Well, you're going to do it again until you get it," Rei snapped. The Mudkip whined and turned back to the Croagunk.

Thinking about what the opponent had done, Nolan shovelled a pile of mud into his hand. He tried not to throw up as he dashed forward on three legs, flinging it as hard as he could once he was close enough to the frog.

[Kai]

At the Mudkip's renewed determination, the move connected with more force. Though the Croagunk didn't show it, and simply rolled her shoulders again. What an odd creature, was all she could think as she ducked her head and used Headbutt. She'd had an unusual parents, and this was the result.

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[Kimo]

Nolan tumbled through the mud as the Croagunk butted him in the stomach and sent him flying. At one point the Mudkip stopped rolling, but when he did he stopped moving alltogether.
Reidel watched in silence. "..Nolan?" Either the fishthing was knocked dead cold or just dead, really.
Nolan tried to lift his head up but it fell again. Now Rei could see the massive amount of mud shoved into his mouth. He grunted frustratingly and stratched his head. What the hell was he going to do with this Pokemon?
"Nolan, you better stop fussing about all the mud. It can't be helped, once you're in a battle you can't get out! Get over it!" He went over to pick up his Mudkip by the leg and, holding him a doll, he slapped his stomach. Immediately the Mudkip hurled out the mud. He looked a little pale as he let in gasps of air, but that didn't make Reidel pity him as he flung him back into the battlefield. "Go. And if you don't fight, I'll.." Reidel searched for something to threaten the Pokemon with. "I'll abandon you."
Nolan looked behind him with a shocked expression. <You.. You'll what?> The Mudkip's question went unanswered, the trainer's stern face being the only response he was going to get. ..He doesn't mean that, does he? He can't.
Turning his rage to the battle, the Mudkip dashed forward with an angry tackle. I'll show him I'm worth his time. I'll show him a TRUE MUDKIP!

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