Bog Backtrack

Jackal's front bumps into you for about the third time during your trip back out of the bog. The first couple of times you had to twist around with aura-palms at the ready, expecting it to be a feral attempting to grab you, only for it to be a skittish Typhlosion getting all flustered and apologizing. This time around, you were used to it. In fact, you expected it at this point.

The Typhlosion grunts, feeling himself step forward too quickly while shadowing your back too closely, bumping his belly right into you. The fire-type stumbles back and stops in place, muttering, "Shit! Ah, oh, sorry dude...but stop scarin' me like that."

You remind Jackal that all you're doing is walking at a steady pace. If anything, he needs to stop scaring himself. The Typhlosion visibly struggles to come up with a decent excuse for the behavior in hopes to save his pride, but it's obvious to the both of you that there wasn't any point in avoiding the obvious.

Jackal finally musters up to explain, "Ever since I saw that feral, erh, his infected sister and what he said back in the hut...it's just got me all freaked out." You recall several things Hex told the two of you in his home, yet you figure out that it's most likely about how the infection is spread that's concerning Jackal the most. The Typhlosion keeps looking back and forth as though there was a feral out to get him. He knew the risks of infected fellow Pokemon wanted to eat him, but for Jackal, getting **** by one was a worse situation. A woman wanting to ride him has you wondering if he was terrified about that. Sounds like a good way to go if you had to lose your mind, but considering Jackal, it became more clear that he was worried about a male feral getting a hold of him. You try to calm him down.

"I know you're scared, but if we stick together and cover for each other like we've done so far, we'll be alright. No one's going to be sticking anything into you if I'm around." You answer back to him.

That gets the Typhlosion to stop in his tracks for a brief moment. You can tell that he wanted to refute the idea that he was scared of the infected, considering the sudden spit of fire from the pores of his mane, but it was more-so the **** from the beings that worried him the most. He covers for his pride this time at least and huffs, "I ain't scared of 'em, I just wanna be cautious!"

"Then you better keep your voice down, yeah?" You remind him.

The hothead's eyes widen as his head darts around, realizing he raised his voice. His teeth clench together inside of his mouth as though that would deafen the noise he made seconds ago before he returns to shadowing close behind you.

It was getting incredibly dark by now. The shroud of the dense treeline blankets the starry sky to obscure any useful moonlight that you could hope for in an effort to see in the pitch black of the night. Having lost the sunset and lacking any natural light, you improvise by igniting the palm of your hand with aura; a blue fire glimmers to provide a dim hue of the same color to your environment. Shadows of trees and plants become blacker which gives the eerie surroundings an even creepier look, but it was better than nothing.

Even Jackal makes a comment about the makeshift torch, "...You sure that's a good idea? Ain't that gonna make it easy for any of those freaks to see us?"

"At least we'll see them coming. I'd rather not walk right into mouth without seeing it." You retort quietly.

That seems to satisfy Jackal enough. He certainly likes to talk big, but his nerves clearly could get the better of him. Seems like he relies on you to help ease those nerves, even if he'd never admit nor thank you for it. From there, you and Jackal traverse in the shallow swamp waters and over mossy mounds in an effort to reach Gold's lake again.

1. Against all odds, you make it out of the bog okay.

2. Unsurprisingly, something is attracted to your light...