"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

[break]Nomi's Bathing Suit

"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

[break]Nomi's Bathing Suit

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

[break]Nomi's Bathing Suit

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

[break]Nomi's Bathing Suit