Malantau Howling Precipice

[Jackie Cat]

They say that time wears down all things, but time needs its tools. Chief of these are wind and water, the latter of which has sculpted the earth with its passing.

Welcome to the age of ice. Various glaciers dot the northern expanses of Luctemar, but one massive glacier in particular endures in Malantau as the southernmost of these massive frozen bodies. It would seem that the energies of the local mystery dungeon have preserved it in the face of a changing climate, and this billion-ton ice-river has steadily been encroaching on the frozen tundra. Or… is it receding? It’s hard to tell in the perpetually shifting dungeon structure. As hostile as it is confusing, the dungeon is a maze of hard-packed snow and icy crevasses tinted impossibly blue.

Perennially obscured by whiteout conditions, it’s uncertain how far the glacier juts above the earth over which it slowly plows. Although may feels like one is walking on level ground for miles, if you stray too close to the dungeon’s edges, you’ll soon find yourself staring down at a sheer drop into the a white nothingness below. The true altitude of the glacier may be uncertain, but it's high enough that the air is thin here, and one can easily find themselves gasping for oxygen should they overexert themselves.

A mournful song echoes through the deepest cracks in the ice, joined by the bitter screaming of high winds. The rational will blame it on the creaking, shifting ice of the glacier. The superstitious will claim it’s the spirits of Malantau's lost kingdom wailing their lament for the dead.

<><><><><>​

Many thanks to @Panoramic_Vacuum for her help with the writeup!

 

[Tetra]

Heroic spirit...

A flash of blue hair, golden hazel eyes... Alpha...? Alpha needed him.

Forlas.

Anubis lurched, and then rolled over awkwardly. Clumsy, all wrong, limbs too short and thick and his ears(???) were cold. What? He opened his eyes and blinked several times, expecting the strange whiteness to fade, but it only shifted into more discernible shapes as his vision acclimated.

Snow, snow and ice for... as far as his eyes could see. Wetness soaking his paws, as cold snow melted and formed a puddle around him from his body heat. With some awkwardness, he rose to hiw paws, then gave himself a good shake from head to tail (oh... his tail was short again). His lip twitched in displeasure. He was short again. Unfortunate.

And also he was left with many questions. Why was he a Houndour? And where... where was Alpha? Was this related to... What was that word he'd felt brush his spirit... Forlas? A place, somewhere. Nowhere he knew.

Drawing a deep breath, he scented the air but detected very little- no wait, there was something. Mustelid, maybe. In the absence of any other useful information, he decided to head in the direction. He thought he spied a flash of blue among the white and ice and snow.

He let out a loud bark, both a 'hello' and a 'who's there'?

Alpha... where are you?

 

[Weazel]

Y’know, I heard if you spend too long in one of these dungeons, it’ll eat’cha.

The first thing he was aware of was the biting cold. What happened? It’d been so hot just a moment ago, the fight with the Living Sun had almost baked him alive.

That’s just a silly story to keep kids from wandering into danger! … Although, Pokemon do sometimes disappear around here!

Archie groaned. His whole body ached, a dull pain that seeped deep into his bones. He flexed his fingers, testing his faculties, and managed to close his fist over a pawful of sand. Sand? No, loose, powdery, snow. He opened his eyes, and saw nothing but white. A barren plain of snow stretched, seemingly into eternity. The wind howled, and more loose snow blew over top of him. If he stayed here much longer, he’d be buried completely.

The Dewott pushed himself to his feet, swayed backwards, and slapped his tail against the ground to keep himself from toppling over again. Where was he? How did he get here? What happened to everyone else? There had been shouting over the mental link, now it was dead silent… Well, there’d be time to worry about the others later, first, he had to take care of himself.

Looking around again, he still couldn’t spot any landmarks to orientate himself around. He couldn’t see the sky, either. What to do, then? Pick a direction and start walking, and he might end up blundering away from civilization. But he couldn’t just stand here and do nothing, and he wasn’t equipped to dig out a shelter and wait for the sky to clear. And that was assuming he was out in realspace, and not lost in a dungeon-

Something barked. The Dewott twirled around towards the source of the noise, and immediately regretted it as the sudden movement made his whole world spin. His vision resolved again around a form. Black and orange, canid, and that skull… A Houndour, here? It didn’t speak, and it wasn’t wearing anything, was it wild? In this kind of environment? Just his luck…

Archie’s paw drifted towards one of his scalchops. Normally a wild Houndour wouldn’t be a concern, it was an advantageous match up for him, and he wasn’t exactly weak… But could he even fight in this condition? It seemed unlikely, and even if he could scare off one Houndour, Arceus forbid it was part of a Houndoom led pack. He couldn’t chance it.

“Alright, nice and easy, I’m not trying to muscle in on your turf, and I’m too big and scary to be prey,” the Dewott said, taking a careful step back, away from the dog. “So I’m going to leave, and you’re not going to call your friends.”

 

[Tetra]

Anubis stared at the peculiar blue pokemon before him, sniffing the air again before tipping his head to the side, trying to figure it out. It smelled of fresh water and dampness. Not of a species he recognized, though the scent was just a bit remniscent of the musk of a Buizel species. He noted one of its paws going to the shell it carried, and he tensed. Then it spoke.

Words, words he almost felt he should understand, like when Alpha spoke to him, but unintelligble. Human words(?), but from the mouth of a mon. It may as well have been something from a species-language. The words themselves held no meaning, but the body language and cadence did give off a gist.

'no threat-not prey-not fight,' Backing down. 'Going away-leave me be. No pack.'

Relaxing, Anubis let himself fall out of battle stance. He didn't want to fight either, at least not right now. And he wasn't hungry either.

Whatever this other mon was, it was neither seeking battle, nor trying to drive him away but... His head cocked. He gave a curious rumble. This was not his territory either. And he had no pack. Whoever this was, wanted to leave. To go away from here. He glanced around, seeing only vast empty white. Something in his soul told him Alpha was here, maybe in danger, that Alpha needed him. Could this mon help?

A soft whine escaped escaped from his throat and he took a step forward. He was lost. Whatever this icy place was, he needed to get out to find Alpha.

 

[Weazel]

The Houndour relaxed, but rather than leave, it took a step after him and whined. Archie let his paw fall back to his side, and let the tension drain from his figure. Perfectly relaxed, no danger, no sudden movements to spook the canine. If it didn’t want him gone, then what?

Was it hurt? A quick visual study didn’t show any obvious signs. No visible injuries, it wasn’t favoring any of its limbs, seemed to be walking fine, wasn’t showing any indication of pain. Was it lost? Possibly, he’d never taken Houndour for an arctic species, and it seemed to be alone rather than with a pack. Did it need help? Could well be, wild Pokemon were known to sometimes seek out humans if their situation was particularly dire. That was how Archie had met…

The Dewott frowned, folding his arms as the image of a Krokorok flitted through his mind. But then he was getting tense again, so he forced himself to relax, and focus on the Pokemon in front of him.

“Lost? Me too,” he said. From a strictly practical point of view, traveling with the Houndour would be a serious boon. Archie was in no state to fight, the canine’s senses were superior to his own in probably every way, and he could feel the Pokemon’s body heat from here… But even if all that wasn’t the case, Archie had never been able to turn away from a Pokemon in need. That was why he’d become a Ranger, after all.

“Want to stick together?” He asked, holding out a paw. Normally, he’d crouch to make himself smaller, less threatening, but at the moment he wasn’t sure he’d be able to resist faceplanting if he did.

 

[Tetra]

'Also-lost.' 'Come-with'?

Anubis perked up, his ears standing up (which still felt nostalgically foreign), and woofed softly. 'Yes, that would be ideal.' Working together meant they would be stronger, though this water mon looked a bit... haggard now that he peered closer. How had it gotten all the way out here? Was it like him, drawn here by a strange voice?

Striding up to it, he gave the mon's paw a good sniff, and barked. 'My name is Anubis. What is yours?' Although could this strange human-not-human speaking mon even understand him? Maybe this was just how language worked in this 'Forlas'.

He sniffed the air again and looked around, before looking back at the water-type. 'I need to find my friend.'

 

[Weazel]

Alright, the Houndour seemed interested in sticking together. Once the Pokemon had gotten acclimatized to him, Archie let his paw fall back to his side once again. The Houndour barked at him again, then scented the air. It didn’t seem alert, or wary, so it likely hadn’t been spooked. Nothing dangerous around but the elements. But, there was some significance to the look the Pokemon gave him next. So, it likely wasn’t idle curiosity driving the Houndour’s actions.

“Are you… Looking for someone?” Archie asked. Could there be more people lost out here? If he’d wound up here, maybe some of the others from the mesa had as well? Maybe even this Houndour had been swept up in whatever it was that had whisked them all away. Well, Archie wasn’t in any immediate danger of freezing to death, especially not with a Fire Type by his side. If there were others out here buried in the snow, they couldn’t just abandon them to their fate.

“I’ll follow your lead,” he said, stepping closer to the Houndour. “We’ll find them together.”

 

[Tetra]

Spoiler: Elsewhere, far away

Alone he was alone he was-

Cold.

Wet.

Really really cold. A dull pounding occupied the back of his skull along with a lingering, disconcerting sensation of a human hand and clutching for a ball he no longer had. It was more disconcerting to realize that his human hand was starting to feel unfamiliar..

Now he felt only cold snow in his paw. He opened his eyes, only to be assaulted by such a blaze of white that he shut them again instantly. Wind howled all around, and cut straight through the light jacket he wore. A shiver ran down his body. What... What had happened-

Betel!

He shot upright, then staggered and squeezed his eyes shut, panting. Nothing. Slowly, bit by bit he managed to work his eyes open. His breath fogged the air and he shivered again, blinking away the last of the fuzz in his vision, his body trembling from sheer exhaustion.

Endless white expanse spread before him on all sides. A snowswept glacier, some kind of dungeon. Not one he recognized, except that if it was this cold maybe it was at that place... Malatau? How had he gotten here? Betel? He reached out again, through the link, and yet... it wasn't so much silence that met his thoughts, but absence. No presence. No familiar voice. No other Wayfarers.

His fur, good as it was keeping him warm, wasn't built for this. Neither was the jacket he picked, which was for blocking out heat and sun not biting cold. This was wrong, it was all wrong. Where was Betel and everyone, how had he gotten here?

"Hello?" he called. Wind swallowed his voice. The momentary adrenaline from waking began to recede and he felt himself falling into a sitting position, his tail tucking under him and ears pinning back. He suddenly felt terribly, terribly small. Nothing around. "O-dette?" he whined, voice shaking from the cold. "Archie? Steven?"

Silence and wind.

Alone. He was alone.

---

'You-Looking?'

'Excellent! Yes I am looking for my trainer-'... Ah. The stranger had not quite understood him, now that he considered the responding behaviour. But he did seem to grasp the idea. Not as much as Alpha did, but he was not so bad either. Very well, he could work with that. Take it slow, like he had with Alpha early on. Such a very human sort of behaviour though, which was bizarre to see from a mon.

He gave an inquisitve bark to Ranger, hoping he might talk about whoever he was looking for.

Either way though, he had help. Now if they could just find a way off this glacier. Or find that strange golden voice that had called to him. Surely there had to be someone out here other than him and this water-type... Hm. 'Water-type' wouldn't do. A name then, like what Alpha had given him. The strange weasel did seem helpful, good at trying to walk to a wild mon, even if Anubis wasn't one. But he was a stranger nonetheless... What was that word Alpha used sometimes? Ranger. Yes, that would do.

Poor Ranger though, he seemed cold. Anubis let him come close, then moved a little closer before focusing and flaring his inner flame. Warm air radiated from his body and washed over Ranger. Satisfied, Anubis started forward, glad for at least some kind of company. Even if it was a bizarre human-like mon.

'Hellooo?' he howled. His call was met by silence. Very well, onward then.

 

[Weazel]

Archie slid his paws into his coat pockets, out of the cold of the wind. Thankfully, it was warm – at least comparatively so – near the Houndour. And warmer than it had been a moment ago, too. The loose snow stuck to his clothing and fur was melting. He felt his whisker twitch as a water droplet traveled its length and then fell from the edge. He shot the Pokemon a concerned glance.

“Hey, don’t wear yourself out for my sake, alright? I’ll be okay,” he said, trying to look and sound reassuring. For extra emphasis, the Dewott withdrew his paws, and grabbed the folds of his coat to pull them closed in front of him. He had means to keep the worst of the chill out, at least for now.

He strained his ears to listen after the Houndour’s howl, but the sound was swallowed up by the snow, and no response came. Well, he doubted the other Wayfarers would be quick to answer the call of a wild Pokemon, if any of them were nearby. So, the Dewott cupped his paws in front of his muzzle, and yelled as loud as he could.

“Hellooooooooooo!? Is anybody out theeeeeeeeeere!?”

Spoiler: Somebody, Somewhere

Urgh. His head was swimming. And when did it get so cold? He opened his eyes, blinked a few times to clear his vision, and saw… Absolutely nothing. The hell? He pushed himself up on his paws and knees, then back onto his rear. It didn’t look dignified, but to hell with dignity right now. He brought up a paw, and rubbed at the side of his head, and then caught sight of the paw out of the corner of his eye, and brought it in front of his face instead.

Orange tipped black, cream pads. And he was staring down the bridge of an orange muzzle, black button nose just visible at the end of his snout. Looking down at his feet, orange paws tipped black again. Cream fur running down his belly, orange around his sides. Then his paws went exploring. The crest on the back of his head? Definitely there. The flotation sac around his neck? Like it had never even left. He looked back at his tail – his tails – that old familiar orange, cream, and black coloration. He wagged them independently of one another.

“No fuckin’ way.”

No two ways about it, he was a Buizel again. He jumped to his feet, and looked around. He was a Buizel again, and he was lost in the most barren, desolate snowy hellscape he’d ever seen. Well shit, what was he supposed to do now?

 

[Tetra]

'Safe-no need. Ok.'

Anubis ignored Ranger. It reminded him of Alpha, those words he liked to say so much. 'I'm fine'. Silly human, Anubis was quite aware when his trainer was not fine, even if Alpha himself said otherwise. Humans truly enjoyed lying about strange things, a trait Ranger seemed to share. Anubis gave him a reassuring nudge with his nose. This body was strange, but he could still channel his fire just fine. Keeping Ranger warm was the least he could do for now.

Ranger's voice joined his own, and Anubis let out another howl. It carried across the desolate expanse as he called for Alpha. If Alpha was anywhere around, surely he'd hear it. Although if this... 'Forlas' was large, he could be far from here.

Pausing, Anubis tipped his head and turned his ears all about, straining. An anxious whine rose from his throat and he sniffed the air. Still no signs, although he was beginning to realize scents and smells around here were...abnormal. Distorted.

Huffing he turned once more to Ranger and gave a plaintive bark and a questioning look. 'Who are you looking for?' Hopefully Ranger would get the idea.

 

[Tetra]

Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. One paw in front of the other. Keep going. Keep walking, because if he stopped, he might not move again. because what else was there? No voices of the others, no telepathy, no Betel.

Alone. Keep moving. Time wasn't passing, this was a dungeon, which meant there had to be an end. An exit. An end that didn't involve a long, cold sleep.His eyes burned from the cold and the dry, while his paws had gone from damp, to buzzing, to numb.

Koa had thought, once, that he resented the heat of Frontier Town. That he disliked the oppressive warmth and smothering heat of the sun. Now he felt he would give anything right to have it back. To feel sand underpaw instead of crunching snow, to have dry warmth instead of biting cold. To see another Wayfarer. He would have even settled for seeing Isidora at this point.

He sniffed the air again, not that he expected to detect anything, not with the cold and snow.

Except... he stopped short and sniffed again. There was something. The faintest whiff of something else. Nobody familiar, though. His heart began to beat a little faster. "Hel- Hello?" he called, his voice rasping and brittle from the chill. "H-" He paused. If it was a dungeon feral he would be in a lot trouble. He didn't think he could fight in this state.

 

[Weazel]

He brought his paws to his ears, listened. No response but the wind, even the echo of their voices swallowed up by the featureless blank. This place couldn’t be natural, the Dewott reasoned to himself. This had to be a dungeon of some kind. Which meant there was an exit somewhere, and maybe the conditions outside wouldn’t be so extreme.

The Houndour was whining again. The tone to its bark had turned anxious, possibly from fear, possibly from worry. He did his best to look reassuring again, “Hey, it’s okay, I’m sure we’ll find your friends.”

He looked around again, but drifting snow had concealed even their own tracks, and the impression the Dewott’s body had left in the snow was already indistinct. They wouldn’t find anyone remaining here.

“Hey, let’s get moving, I’m sure we’ll run into someone eventually,” he said, and, gesturing for the Houndour to follow, picked a direction and started walking.

---​

Holy shit it was cold. The Buizel slapped his paws against his sides a few times to bring back some stinging warmth to him. He had thick fur for his species, but it wasn’t winter survival thick. He tried to keep moving, knowing he’d be colder if he stopped, but damn he’d forgotten how much it sucked to be so short. His paws sank all the way into the snow with every step. Maybe if there was a hill of some kind he could sled on his belly like some kind of doofus, but with terrain this flat, it’d be a lot of stopping and starting, and he’d rather just keep moving.

“Swear on all things holy if I get outta this,” he grumbled through grit teeth, then took a deep breath in through his nose. And caught a whiff of something. Now, the Buizel had always been blessed with a good nose, and this was certainly a Pokemon kind of smell. Only, it was odd somehow, in a way he couldn’t quite place. But it was the first noteworthy thing he’d encountered since he woke up here, so he followed it.

The smell was… Electrike, he thought. He’d smelled plenty of those before, out on Amp Plains. But Amp Plains was a savanna, and not the Arceus damned tundra, so what one was doing here he couldn’t even begin to guess. But then, what was he doing here? Maybe they were as lost as he was. He’d have a chance to ask them soon, though, because a figure was resolving out of the nondescript white.

Electrike, like he thought, but blue. He’d never seen a blue Electrike. They were wearing some kind of fancy coat, like the kind He used to wear, and seemed to be struggling even worse than the Buizel was, if such a thing was possible. Honestly though, at this point he was just happy to see another Pokemon, regardless of the circumstances. If he was going to die, at least it wouldn’t be of boredom. He pounded through the snow over to the Pokemon, tails wagging behind him.

“Holy shit I hope you’re not a mirage,” he called.

 

[Tetra]

Anubis huffed. No luck then, in trying to communicate. That was fine, he was used to it... although not so much from mon. Ranger was certainly the strangest pokemon he'd ever met. Were others on Forlas like this?

Resigning himself, Anubis followed alongside Ranger. Just how big was this glacier?

---

A... Buizel? Was that that other Wayfarer- No, this one looked different. Smelled different. Unfamiliar. Still, what in the name of legends was a Buizel doing out in the middle of this saint-forsaken glacier? Had it gotten dragged here from the mesa by whatever strange occurence sent him here? ...Were they Covenant?

"Hily shet E hipa yio’ra nit u meruga" he called.

"What?" Koa stopped short, caught off guard by the gibberish sounding noises. "Wait what did you say?"

He caught himself midway to reflexively calling on Betel. Right. Was this because Betel was gone, or was it some strange other language...? Betel was fine, they'd be back, right? He studied the Buizel warily, keeping a distance between them. It looked confused, not hostile, at least. Probably not Covenant. Maybe some wild feral caught somehow in the teleport? But no, it definitely had tried to speak.

Just not words he understood, for some reason. Maybe it was just... multilingual? Awkwardly, he raised a paw and waved. "Hello? Uhm... My name is Koamaru."

 

[Inkedust]

Further away, far into the whiteout, a strange song echoed through the dungeon. It sung in a completely unfamiliar language, an entrancing deep baritone that challenged the howling of the wind. Despite the language barrier, it was easy to tell that the song carried the cadence and rhythm of a sea shanty.

​

Whoever was singing was clearly unaware that there were anyone else was in the dungeon with them. The question was (aside from whoever this mystery person was), did the others dare to try and find the one singing?

 

[Weazel]

As they walked, another sound eventually reached his ears. Carried on the wind, it sounded almost like… Singing? But he couldn’t make heads or tails of it. It sounded like it was meant to be words. Maybe it wasn’t meant to be understood verbally, but the kind of thing one felt in their heart? He thought he’d heard about things like that happening before. Still, it was… Eerie.

<Hey, Betel?> He thought.

...

No response. That didn’t bode well. He put on a brave face, and turned to look at the Houndour. “Let’s see if we can’t figure out where that’s coming from.”

Drawn on by the sound, then, he proceeded deeper into the unknown.

---​

The Buizel’s expression faltered, changing from relief to confusion. The Electrike had said something. Or at least, it opened its mouth and made sounds at him, but not sounds he’d ever heard before in his life. He put his paws on his hips and squinted at the strange blue Pokemon. Weird smell, weird sounds, weird look, weird place. Nothing about this Pokemon was normal. Then it lifted a paw and waved at him. At least it was friendly. He guessed beggars couldn’t be choosers.

The Buizel shrugged, closed the remaining distance between himself and the other Pokemon, and slapped his paw down on the Electrike’s shoulder. “Buddy, you’re my new best friend.”

Then he put his other paw on his chest. “Dustin.”

 

[Tetra]

Anubis tilted his ears toward the sound, listening. Singing? How very odd. The language was not one he had heard before, not one of the species from his own world. Though it did have a pleasing melody to the ear and spirit. It put a lightness in his steps a bit, warmed him against the cold.

Ranger seemed curious about the song as well. With a bark and a wag of his tail, Anubis trotted after him. 'Good idea, we should investigate it. Perhaps they know a way out.' Whatever it was, better to investigate it as a pack and not alone. Keeping his ears pricked and senses alert, he pressed forward.

---

The Buizel shrugged, closed the remaining distance between himself and the other Pokemon, and slapped his paw down on the Electrike’s shoulder. “Beddy, yae’ro my niw bost fruond.”

He stiffened at the touch, not expecting or used to the friendly contact from a stranger. Well, the Buizel certainly sounded happy, at least. There was a sort of teasing friendliness to his tone and body language that put Koa more at ease. The words were still unintelligble, but pondering them at least gave a distraction from the ever present cold.

"Dustin.”

He sounded the word out. "Duh-stin." So that had to be his name then. "Koamaru," he said again, just in case, pointing to himself. Then he held out his paw to shake.

"What are you doing here?" Maybe he could glean something from the Buizel's response.

 

[Inkedust]

The pair of pokémon who followed the shanty would find the source sitting at the edge of a cliff, back turned. He was difficult to see in the whiteout, however from what they could make out in the approach, they would've noticed that he was a small black and blue feline with a yellow-tipped tail – a shinx.

He didn't seem to pay the others any notice as he continued onto another verse.

​

 

[Weazel]

Following the singing eventually lead them to… A Shinx. Well, it was hard not to be a little disappointed that it wasn’t someone familiar. On the other hand, given how unbothered the Pokemon seemed to be in their surroundings, maybe they were a local? At least, they didn’t seem feral like the Houndour did, even if Archie couldn’t understand a single word they were saying.

“Uh… Excuse us, hello?” he said, “Sorry to interrupt, but we’re lost and could use a little help.”

---​

Koamaru, Koh-Ah-Mah-Ruu, the Electrike had made that sound previously, but this time followed it up by pointing at himself. A name, then. Excellent, they managed to get through introductions despite the language barrier. The Electrike offered his paw, so Dustin took it and gave it a vigorous shake. Then the Electrike said something that sounded inquisitive, at least, but damned if Dustin knew what. Ah well, small victories and all that.

“Koamaru,” he repeated. “Boy I hope you know where here is and how we leave it.”

Then again, looking the blue canine over, he already looked half dead. Shivering, weak kneed, paws cold to the touch. Seemed his own Buizel fur was a much better insulator than Koamaru’s, but even he had his limits. He stomped his feet, and rubbed his paws together, anything to keep the circulation flowing.

“We’re gonna have to share warmth,” he said. Then he snaked an arm across Koamaru’s back, and pulled the Electrike and himself together, “Like this, see?”

Then he gestured to the featureless expanse of white around them with his free arm, “Which way?”

 

[Tetra]

At the sight of a the blue feline, Anubis perked up. He recognized that species! Shinx. His sire's species. Alpha talked about them sometimes too, he'd really liked them.

Breaking away from Ranger, Anubis trotted closer. 'Hello?' he barked. 'Is this your territory? Do you know a way out?' He kept a respectful distance, but the sight of something so familiar in this place was quite pleasant.

---

“Koamaru,” he repeated. “Biy E hipa yio kniw whara hara es und hiw wa lauva et.”

Koa cocked his head, trying to make sense of the sounds Dustin was making. Casual, sort of flippant, but there was a comment in there too. He puzzled for another few moments, but couldn't sort much sense about it. Please be okay, Betel.

“Wa’ra gunne hevi tu sheri wermth,” he said. Then he snaked an arm across Koamaru’s back, and pulled the Electrike and himself together, “Laku thas, suu?”

Before he could ruminate on the words more, the overly friendly Buizel had sidled up to him and thrown and arm across his back, pulling him close. Koa stiffened, about to pull away, then convinced himself not to. Share warmth. That was what Dustin had said. He was cold, and the shared body heat was all they had right now, no matter how much he wasn't keen on it. besides, Dustin seemed like he was just as cold as he was. Neither of their species were suited to this weather. And... it did feel nice.

The last question he could get enough of a grasp of that he knew Dustin was asking where to go. Lamenting the loss of his bag of items, Koa picked a direction at random and pointed, then started walking. "Forward. We're in a mystery dungeon, we have to find the heart so we can get out. I think we're somewhere in... Malantau." He had no idea if the words would mean anything, but he felt better talking than walking in silence.