"Polo!" Came the (inappropriate) response- not from deep within the ancient, spooky ruins, but somewhere a couple of dozen to hundred meters away.

The steps could barely be heard over the strong winds and whipping sands, but even a lazy look over the shoulder would grant the Champion sight of her incoming new companion.

A straw hat totting, school uniform wearing youth struggling to share the limited space within a water bubble with a Dewpider.

A pair of goggles were slung around his neck, going unused as he slowly trudged his way through the sand up to her, before immediately collapsing to his knees and trying to roll onto his back- stopped short by his own backpack.

He cursed under his breath at this.

His potty mouth was interrupted by a fit of dry coughing, his frame quaking as he banged his fist against his chest, before little spider leapt in front of him and reared back, slapping her water bubble onto his face with a solid slap.

A moment later, the youth pulled back, gasping for air but thankfully through the fit, his face an angry, throbbing red.

He finally managed to force himself to sit, leaning his weight against his packed backpack as he craned back his head to look up at the woman who's playfulness earlier might very well have saved his life.

"Yowhat'sup?" He managed to croak out while looking up at her, pausing to squint his eyes. A slight hint of recognition flickered in and out of his eyes- as if he recognized her face but couldn't quite place who she was.

"You must be pretty famous, lady. I don't keep up with the news at all these days, with how shit everything is; but I can recognize your face. Can't quite place from where or what, tho..." he said in a mumble, brows furrowing slightly.

Before he shrugged it off anyway.

"Ah, whatever. Mind if I stick with you for a bit? By which I mean, until we get out of this desert? I turned out to be, uh... a lot less prepared than I thought I was."

Understatement.

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TAG: Bailey Cooper

She was cool, he realized as soon as she met his yo with her own.

The youth met her reluctant smile with a wide, toothy one of his own. He really had feared he had screwed the pooch beyond repair earlier; someone as competent looking as her having his back was a massive relief.

"All good with me, dude. I can't thank you enough." He said in relief as he began to stand up, plucking the little dewpider off the floor as he did before he fell in line with the girl.

Seemed safer to follow her than to wait outside. He suspected he might choke on sand before he made it back, given his luck with the desert until now.

Remembering her earlier words, he couldn't help but wonder. "Huh. Are you a treasure hunter?"

That would explain why she was wandering around the desert, looking through ancient ruins. Then again...

"Or maybe just looking for a thrill?" That was his reason for being here.

He was a jackass, though, so he doubted they were on the same page on that front.

"My name's Doug, by the way." He said a couple of seconds later, as an after thought. A good idea to get names out of the way early, before she got tired of him calling her dude. "I'm a bug catcher by trade and a teenage hobo by profession."

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TAG: Bailey Cooper

She went on a trip through an airy desert, down into the depths of the Earth and into unexplored ruins, as a break?

"Yer pretty hardcore, lady!" He said with a grin. "And I thought I was adventurous. We gotta step up our game'ere, eh love?"

His last words were directed at his Dewpider, who seemed to stare at him for just long enough to convey a judgmental stare.

"She agrees." A snort came from the spider. "Bailey, eh? Lovely name! What made ya pick Ground types 'all of a sudden', tho?"

Picking a type and sticking with it was a pretty big commitment- he should know. Bug types were not universally known for their strength, after all. It was rare to see a regular trainer sticking to a single type- specially after enjoying the versatility of a fully customizable team.

But then they had already established she wasn't just an average joe trainer, hadn't they?

"'Eeeey." He said, finger gunning with both hands at the woman, grinning wide. "Awready had pegged ya as a cool one, but it's good to have it down as a fact. Wanna join the unofficial bugcatchers association? That'll make three of us."

angelo vestri would be ecstatic.

"Thanks for the light, by the way!" He said, tilting slightly to look at the Darmanitan, holding out his fist towards the pokemon for a fistbump.

From before she became a ground type user, he guessed?

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TAG: Bailey Cooper