At the sound of his name, Marshall glanced up from staring intently at the sand between his feet. A delighted smile spread across his face when his eyes fell upon Nomi, the cute, pink-haired girl from his hike near Meteor Falls the other week. Her Sylveon was out of his Pokéball again, looking positively put off compared to Nomi's sweet expression. Marshall had to laugh.

"Hey Nomi!" he called back, standing upright and waving to her. Turning away from the ocean, he trudged over to her, his feet sinking into the sand where it became drier and looser. His Luxio, Turbine, followed at his heels.

When Marshall finally reached Nomi's side, he stuffed his hands into the pockets of his red-and-gold swim trunks and pulled out a few Sharpedo teeth he'd already collected. "Yeah! I heard the ad so I thought I'd give it a try myself. Turbine and I only found these five, but we're gonna keep lookin' until we have at least twenty. Ain't that right, buddy?"

The Luxio meowed a non-answer.

Marshall chuckled anyway. "You wanna team up?" he asked Nomi.

Naomi Sato

NOTES
+ Mission: To Sink One's Teeth

"Oh, please, can we?" Nomi all but begged in response to Marshall's suggestion. "I haven't found a single one yet!" Nomi's smile faded and for half a second she looked somewhat put out, but then she brightened again as she noticed the Luxio at Marshall's side.

Nomi reached out and enthusiastically scratched the Luxio behind his ears. "And how many teeth did you find?" She asked him kindly, not wanting to discount his efforts. She side-eyed Valerian as she spoke, hoping to entice her companion into being a more active participant in their current venture, but the Sylveon merely turned up his nose and shook the sand from his front paws in distaste.

"Maybe closer to the water is better for finding teeth?" Nomi contemplated, looking curiously out at the coastline. "That's where I noticed you, Marshall, and you've already got a decent stash. What do you think?"

TO SINK ONE'S TEETH [M][break]Marshall Slade

[break]Nomi's Bathing Suit

Turbine flinched away at Nomi's unexpected ear scratches at first, alarmed by her sudden approach. But when he realized what she was doing, he leaned into her hand, purring hard.

"Closer to the water is better," Marshall confirmed with a nod. He shoved the teeth back into his pockets and gestured for the pink-haired girl to follow him back to the shoreline. "Sharpedo teeth shine in the sunlight, and they're lighter than seashells and rocks, so they float back and forth as the waves come in. C'mon, I'll show you my technique."

Back on the wet, compacted sand, Marshall bent over and peered into the crystal clear water of Slateport's sea. Water flowed back and forth across his feet, spraying his lower legs. Nearby, Turbine splashed around, chasing small groups of Tynamo darting in the shallows.

"There's one!" Marshall exclaimed suddenly, his hand shooting out to scoop up the Sharpedo tooth that was drifting back into deeper waters by the pull of the ocean. He handed it to Nomi. "See what I mean by how it gleams? And it has that unmistakable triangle shape."

Naomi Sato

NOTES
+ Mission: To Sink One's Teeth

"Oh wow!" Nomi exclaimed as Marshall held out the small, shining object to her. She took it, blushing slightly as their hands briefly touched, but soon found herself completely drawn in by the way the light glinted off the rough edges of the Sharpedo tooth. "Gosh, they are prettier than I expected them to be," She admitted. "No wonder people want them, lucky or not."

Nomi would have showed the tooth to Valerian, but he hadn't come with them to the water's edge, instead curling up in the warmer, dryer sand to nap. She shook her head, the salty sea breeze whipping strands of her pink hair free of her ponytail, and turned back to Marshall. She kneeled down into the cool ocean water, then, her knees sinking slowly into the mushy sand beneath the waves. She shivered slightly as a minor wave crashed into her, soaking her entire bottom half, but her efforts were rewarded when, as the tide retreated once more, she saw another gleaming tooth stuck in the sand directly to her right. She snatched it up before the next wave could wash it to a different location.

She grinned up at Marshall, triumphant. "I found another one!" Her eyes sparkled with excitement, nearly as bright as the two teeth in the palm of her hand.

TO SINK ONE'S TEETH [M][break]Marshall Slade

[break]Nomi's Bathing Suit

Marshall grinned at Nomi as she held up her prize in triumph. "Great job!" he replied, giving her an encouraging thumbs up.

He resumed his search, crouching in the sand. Turbine joined him, the Luxio pawing at the sand as the water drew away, upturning shells and rocks without success. That didn't deter Marshall, however. Searching for Sharpedo teeth took patience.

"We haven't hung out since we ran into each other outside Meteor Falls," he said to the girl, though he kept his eyes focused downward as his hands ran through the wet sand. "We should grab something to eat after this. Maybe someplace that has daquiris or fun summery drinks." He looked up with a grin. "What d'you say?"

Naomi Sato

NOTES
+ Mission: To Sink One's Teeth

Nomi looked up as Marshall addressed her, momentarily distracted from her treasure hunt (she held two more Sharpedo teeth tightly in her hand now, bringing her grand total to four). She gazed at him with her round, wide crimson eyes, and for the first time since running into him, realized just how, well, shirtless he was (which the logical part of her brain could recognize was perfectly normal and expected for a man hanging out at the beach in a bathing suit, and yet...it was not the logical part of her brain that was in control at this very moment). She blushed, and all of a sudden, she felt quite warm despite the fact that she was still waste-deep in frigid ocean water. Had she noticed that Marshall was handsome when they had first met by the lake? She couldn't recall thinking such a thing at the time, but then again, various wild Pokémon had interrupted their conversation. Now, she couldn't help but notice the undeniable fact that motorcycle racing seemed to be quite an effective way to remain fit.

"Oh, I would love -- " She started to reply, caught slightly off guard by her observations, but just then, a much larger wave than any before it crashed into her, and she toppled completely over into the water. Drenched from head to toe - luckily, she too was wearing a bathing suit - Nomi felt herself getting dragged by the strength of the tide into deeper water. She flailed her arms and kicked desperately, finally managing to regain some sense of balance beneath the water's surface. About to swim up for air, something caught her eye - not just one shining object, but many shining objects. A whole pile of shining objects. They caught what light did make it this far beneath the surface enough for Nomi to realize, what, exactly, they were.

She did swim to the surface now, but with an urgency completely unrelated to thinking she might drown, and popped her head out of the water, coughing and sputtering, but calling excitedly for Marshall. "Marshall! Quick, swim over here! I think I found, like, a hundred Sharpedo teeth!"

TO SINK ONE'S TEETH [M][break]Marshall Slade

[break]Nomi's Bathing Suit

When a larger-than-normal wave interrupted Nomi's response and literally pulled her out into deeper water, Marshall stood up immediately. "NOMI!" he yelled, alarmed. Her head and arms disappeared beneath the turbulent surface. "Shit!"

Marshall made a snap decision. He might endanger himself if he swam into a rip current, but his Water-type Pokémon should fare a lot better. He dashed for where he'd dumped his backpack just a few feet away on the drier sand, snatched a Pokéball, and released his Carracosta.

"Cruiser!" Marshall yelled. "A girl got caught in a riptide!"

The massive turtle Pokémon turned to dive in, but Nomi suddenly broke the surface several yards away. At that distance, she wouldn't be able to stand on the ocean's bottom.

"I think I found, like, a hundred Sharpedo teeth!"

Relief flooded Marshall to know she was all right. He commanded his Luxio to remain with their things, then waded out to his Carracosta. "Can you help us get those teeth, Cruiser?" he asked her. She bellowed and began swimming toward Nomi with Marshall's hand on her shell.

When they reached the spot where Nomi waited, Marshall told her, "Man, you scared me for a second! Glad you're okay."

Naomi Sato

NOTES
+ Mission: To Sink One's Teeth

For once, Marshall's usual expression of light-hearted good humor had been replaced with genuine concern, and Nomi flashed him an apologetic smile for having caused him such distress. "Guess I got a bit carried away," she joked, but then her own expression sobered. "That was scary, but luckily I'm allright. I'm so glad you were with me, Marshall! I'll have to be more careful." It was then that Nomi noticed the Carracosta at Marshall's side. She was a large, rugged looking Pokémon, more rock than turtle, but she moved through the water with an unexpected buoyancy.

"Oh, perfect!" Nomi exclaimed happily, her excitement returning as she realized the implications of having a water Pokémon with them. "You can help us retrieve the teeth. Dive down with me and I'll show you the spot." She put a hand on the other side of the Carracosta's back, opposite Marshall, and together, the three of them plunged into the ocean. Nomi pointed a finger in the general direction of the cache of Sharpedo teeth, and, likely due to having better underwater vision than humans, the Carracosta immediately took off, clearly identifying what Nomi was looking for. It was much nicer to cut seamlessly through the water with the aid of an expert swimmer than to be dragged along by the chaotic tide, Nomi observed.

Once it was clear that the Carracosta understood where the teeth were, Nomi and Marshall swam back to the surface for air. In just two trips, Marshall's companion was able to scoop up all of the Sharpedo teeth and deposit them onto the beach. Nomi crouched down next to the impressive pile and whistled softly. The sound caught Valerian's attention, and he opened one baby blue eye, curious enough to interrupt his nap. Did he even notice me getting swept away by the sea? Nomi almost laughed out loud at the sheer irony of her usually vigilant Pokémon being present but not noticing she had been in any danger.

Nomi turned her attention back to the treasure laid out on the sand before her. "This has to be worth a fortune," she breathed. She glanced up at Marshall, then, and grinned sheepishly. "Shall we split it evenly? I might have found it, but you did nearly have to save my life."

TO SINK ONE'S TEETH [M][break]Marshall Slade

[break]Nomi's Bathing Suit

Cruiser made such short work of the task that Marshall decided to let her stay out of her Pokéball for a little while to enjoy the sun. "Thanks so much, big girl," he said to the turtle as he flopped down onto the sand, sitting across from Nomi with the big file of Sharpedo teeth between them.

"Splitting them evenly sounds good, but we'll be here a while counting them," Marshall said in response to Nomi's suggestion. "How about we just eyeball it and call it good, huh? And if I happen to get more money from my pile, then I'll buy your first drink."

He winked at her before turning to the teeth separating them into two, approximately equal piles.

Naomi Sato

NOTES
+ Mission: To Sink One's Teeth