The voice would surprise Kyle, forcing a jump out of him. While he should have expected other people to come into the cave, the sudden sound in an otherwise quiet cave was enough to catch him off guard. As soon as the word of a treasure trove spread and enticed everyone else asides him to Shoal Cave, he should have expected not being alone.

"Y-Yes," he'd answer her awkwardly as he turned to her presence. He'd flash his torch at her to get a better view of her features, but decided against it since that was rude. "It's not like I'm making any progress from it though."

Both pups stared longingly at the new figure, tails wagging indicated that they would have ran up to the girl had Kyle not been there. Kyle, however, was more focused on the prospect of finding the treasure that they have been here for and had since then went back to deciphering his map. Turning her away was always an option, though Kyle was here more for the thrill of the treasure hunt rather than actually keeping any of these bounty, aside from maybe a souvenir or two.

"I'm guessing you're here for that too?" Kyle folded the piece of paper in halves until it was a tiny square before shoving it to his pocket and staring back at Stormy. "For that, uh, 'something'," he quoted her.

Kyle moved his sights on the ground, staring at the damp ground as he collected his thoughts. A frown formed on his features as he mused on her words, though by no means was he upset. The actions were then accompanied by a scratch at the back of his head, before lifting his head back and meeting her eyes with his.

"Uh, sure. I guess that makes sense."

It couldn't be denied by the tone of his disappointment that he would have rather tried to find it on his own, though he was defeated by the fallacy of the news pointed by her. There was no assurance that they would end up with an actual treasure and that the ones that spread the word were simply looking to mess with the gullible. It made sense not to put his hopes up if she put it that way, which made the plan of hoarding whatever was in the end location all to himself a sillier concept.

Eyes followed her as she started to shift her attention from him to his Poochyena. The amusement brought the slightest smile on his face, somewhat proud that his babies were still able to produce the same reaction from strangers. He couldn't blame them though, given how adorable they admittedly were.

"Fire is good," he'd reply in a more lighthearted note this time. "Beats making do with this torch." He motioned to the flashlight at hand, ready to turn it off and pocket it if she does bring out the Rapidash.

Kyle held out his hand to her as he attempted to introduce himself. "I'm Kyle, by the way. Leave the navigation to us." One of the Dark-types barked in agreement, his squeaky voice reverberating throughout the cavern walls. "They can't find the treasure, but they should know where the wild Pokemon are." Not only were wild Pokemon a hazard, but they were a waste of the time they could have used to find the end goal as well.

"I get that a lot," Kyle commented on her statement, smiling faintly in amusement.

He got her name to call her with something should the need to do so appear. A question lingered in his head about the name he was given though: was Stormy an nickname or...? He wasn't the type to judge based on people's names anyways, and so Kyle decided to leave it alone.

Returning her handshake, his eyes went back on the piece of paper at hand for just a second before surveying the area once again. The Rapidash did well enough to illuminate the surroundings much better than the torch he held did, its light managing to reveal even the corners that would normally be ignored by the Poochyena trainer. Visibly impressed, Kyle uttered a single "Nice," to express his awe.

"Sooner you say?" he asked as he once again tried to work around the map he has. He'd put the paper down, before turning around to Stormy. "I'm guessing you're willing to wade through the wild encounters then? Treasure rooms tend to be on the rooms with a lot of enemies, after all." It was a reference to usual video game designs, which he often made should he be given a chance to say them.

"Charlie over here can get us to either routes." A Poochyena barked upon hearing his name, tail wagging and tongue lolling as he excited himself to flex his capabilities on their new acquaintance. "I still have no clue on how to work this map, so we're going blind either way."

Shoal Cave was a complicated location whose interior changes based on the tides. Certain areas were only available when the water's either low or high, and the map did not specify whether it was made when the waters receded or not.

"Hm?"

Kyle didn't react much from getting the piece of paper snatched right out of his hands. It was useless to him for the most part, and losing it probably won't affect his chances of reaching the end of the treasure hunt trail since he wasn't able to make use of it effectively anyhow.

His eyes were all on Stormy as she tried to decipher the map. "We'll worry about dying after we get the treasure, or whatever it is at the end." He changed his position, walking over behind Stormy to get a better view of his map without actually taking it from her hands. He watched her hand run through the thing, simply ignoring the act when he realized he wasn't sure how the girl planned things. "It doesn't change; just that certain areas just get inaccessible when the tide rises," he answered.

It wouldn't be a lie to say that Kyle hasn't thought of going for the deeper parts of the cave first. "Should be easy enough. It gets cold down there easily, though, so we can always just follow corridors where it gets chilly." Although the Rapidash gave enough light, Kyle still had the habit of pointing his torch to wherever his attention was. Flashing the light to a ledge that gave them a shortcut to the lower levels of the cave, he went ahead and jumped.

Both Poochyena followed after their trainer happily, throwing themselves haphazardly with both of them landing with a whimper, causing Kyle to turn. "What are you even doing," he'd grumble at the sorry sight. The two recovered from the fall pretty quick, however, and quickly took the lead with a simple head motion from Kyle.

"Guess we should just follow this way," he'd mention to Stormy. "Pretty sure this way leads somewhere deeper." It was common sense at that point, given the slope of the ground, which made him question whether pointing it out was even necessary.

"Tide rises in a few hours or so. Maybe. I haven't checked before I went in to be honest."

Kyle did not even bother to hide his ignorance on the matter. The times when the tide rises were probably recorded somewhere on the internet, though the means to receive such information was unavailable with the reception they have within the cavern. All that mattered to him right now was that they had time to do what they came here for.

"We're bonding about uncertainty," he'd comment on her statement. "Fun."

One of his Poochyena would turn his head towards one direction, taking a sniff in the air, before leading them to another direction. Wild Pokemon probably, he thought to himself. Before he knew it, his Poochyena had led them to where the ground eventually dipped into a slope. The descent can easily be scaled for a while, albeit a bit slippery, and it could only go steeper from what Kyle could tell from the way things looked.

Turning to Stormy, who followed behind him, he gave her a word of advice. "Oi, be careful out on your way down, alrig-"

His words were interrupted when a drop of water fell from the ceiling onto his face. Looking up, he finally saw the cave's frost-covered stalactites. It was only then he realized the area's interior was starting to transition to an ice cave, with frost covering patches of the ground and cold gusts of wind blowing from within. They were getting closer to the lowest part of the cave, he supposed. "Maybe we should continue without your Rapidash," he'd instruct her without stating his reasons.

He'd jerk back his head to its original direction, aiming his flashlight to the abyss below to look for any cache of artifacts beyond, before he lost his footing. He dropped on his butt, sliding down when he finally slipped on melted ice and snow. One of his Poochyena barked, following their trainer afterwards, while the other remained with Stormy, not really finding the excitement in falling to his doom.

"Shit!"

"He melts stuff. Makes the ground slippery and all." Those were his last words before he slipped and fell.

He could feel the ground scrape against his back as the fall went continuously. Fortunately, the pain ended eventually, after which Kyle could find himself sitting on his butt on flat, solid ground once more. Chill still was in the air, and slush and frost covered the rocky cavern floors. It wasn't until one of his Poochyena followed after him that he decided to stand up and turn his flashlight back on, pointing it to the direction of where he came from.

"It's not that deep down." An estimate, actually. Kyle could not properly gauge the exact distance he slipped from since he was too busy trying not to complain about the scratches he earned on his way down out loud. "I'm fine. You got Charlie there, right?" Only one Poochyena followed him all the way down, after all.

Kyle turned, illuminating the area beyond him to get an idea of how he could get back. Eyes lit up as he discovered something much more interesting. Rocky surfaces along the cavern walls eventually transition to smooth stone, leading up to a long corridor whose end was not visible from his position. He'd scurry over, taking a glance inside, before turning back to yell at the girl he came in here with.

"You can stay there if you want," he'd tell her, seriousness evident in his tone despite Kyle's meaning behind them. "There's something interesting and shiny here, but I'm sure it's safer up there than here."