"Excellent observation."

Had his statement been an attempt at sarcasm? Perhaps. With his guard down, the Altaria had soothed itself into a more complaisant stance. While his guard remained eased as he faced the stranger, he figured with the way the Misdreavus had floated right past him to go investigate, she was in the same position as he was. As he finally focused on her face, Gwylim's lips twitched into the faintest frown as he addressed his own situation to the flaxen haired woman before him.

"Apologies, I shouldn't take my irritability out on a stranger," he reasoned. "You see, my Hatenna went missing, and my Ditto insists this is where she went. It seems something lured your pokemon away, as well."

With his own reason for being there offered out, the doctor turned away to look further down the path. Most horror stories began like this with two people hiking in the woods, with some masked killer stalking them. Though there wasn't a masked killer in this rendition (at least Gwylim hoped that wasn't the case.) But like the naïve hiker in the forest, Gwylim was the first to take a step forward.

"As unwise as it is to traverse the forest at night, we need to go further in."

His words fell dry, but that was just a natural part of him. Gwylim was happy to take the lead, eyes quick to adjust to the encroaching darkness of the forest. (Had he been more aware of the situation, he would have brought his Rotom Phone along, but alas he'd been hurried out the door.) While his footsteps fell careful, he maintained consideration for pokemon that dwelled and chose to slumber within the woods.

Morelull remained anchored to the ground as they slumbered, but the cool evening breeze had been enough to blow some SLEEP POWDER in the direction of the two who dared to impede on the forest's gathering. Moonlight shined down between the trees and lit the scenery before to show both Gwylim's Hatenna and Elisabeth's Misdreavus as they seemed to dance along with a few unseen participants. With the sight of his own missing pokemon, Gwylim mindlessly moved forward, unaware of the SLEEP POWDER that polluted the air.

Unfortunately her warning came too late, and his body had already slumped forward. Both knees hit the ground as a vacant stare was all his expression could muster. It seemed obvious that Gwylim attempted to fight the effects, but they overwhelmed slowly but surely, and soon his posture gave way to slump over fully onto the ground. Eyelids had grown far too heavy.

With its trainer out of commission, Ditto attempted to nudge and push Gwylim in an attempt to wake him up, but it wasn't long until the gelatinous creature itself fell victim to the effects that lingered in the air. It seemed obvious that whatever resided in these woods wanted those who intruded to sleep. It didn't seem to be a peaceful sleep, that much evident in the way the Ditto's face contorted as though it had been faced with something truly frightening.

That much became obvious the moment a Drifloon floated before the pair. One had been down, another had to go. It wasn't long until the Drifloon itself managed to cast a HYPNOSIS in an attempt to lull Elisabeth herself into a deep slumber.

The world around them didn't seem anything akin to the Interdream Realm. If anything it seemed more ominous in its ambience -- cold, damp, and dark. It was none too dissimilar to a cave. Given he'd been the first to enter this newfound realm, Gwylim had begun to take the liberty to search about as though there would be something of note to help them escape from this realm. As he let out an exhale, breath clouded before him. Perhaps to Elisabeth, this realm felt none too dissimilar from her ventures through the Border. (Gwylim himself had no experience with it, so the world felt like uncharted territory to him.)

Fingers curled carefully around a manila folder and a small, dirty plush of a Clefairy as he offered the folder to the stranger. Perhaps she could make some sense of it herself. (Perception roll: 21 = 19 + 2) It's a surprise that the files seemed to remain intact despite the cave and its surroundings. Anything else would have likely disformed and warped from the droplets of water above.



It seemed there were a few documents within the folder that Gwylim had offered to Elisabeth. He simply stood by and allowed her to read them with silent glances over her shoulder.



Gwylim gave a hum in thought as he kept a distance yet continued to read. Yet notably his arms tightened around his torso due to the chill his body experienced.



"Do you think this has any relevance to where we find ourselves now? It seems irrelevant to me."

His words were soon met with the sound of something deeper in the cave. He wasn't too familiar with ghost types, but it sounded similar to that of a Drifloon. Gwylim didn't seem to waver one bit as he turned to Elisabeth.

"We should go. I don't think standing in one place will be too wise of us."