Marsha's journeying had brought her all the way to the plains outside of Verdanturf town. She didn't know what kind of wild pokemon she might find there, but she was still looking to expand her team even further. This time, she had four of her pokemon along with her. Raffle was by her side as usual, while her hulky Chestnaught and small Meowstic trailed some distance behind. The newest addition to her team was with them, but had fallen far behind. The Walrein couldn't move that quickly on land, unless the snow was slick enough to scoot across. The current layer of snow was soft, fluffy, and difficult to pack down, and just tended to fall apart if any attempt was made to do so. Marsha noticed that the Walrein was having trouble keeping up and sighed. "Rusumo, are you okay back there? I can put you back in your pokeball if it's too difficult for you," Marsha offered as she looked back to the distant Walrein. She heard him snort in response and watched as he put on a burst of speed, using his wide front flippers to drag himself towards her. It looked like he was going to be stubborn about it but Marsha didn't mind, because it wasn't like she was in a hurry anyway. Marsha came to a complete halt in order to give Rusumo a chance to catch up, and decided to take the time to examine her surroundings some more.

The plains didn't look like much at first glance, but there were plenty of tracks. It was hard to distinguish the invidual tracks though, because of the loose snow. None of them looked like they were very fresh, and Marsha began to wonder if they would find anything at all. Suddenly, the wind picked up and Marsha was spattered with some of the displaced snow from the sprawling snowdrifts in front of her. She wiped the snow off of her face, and when she looked up again there was a strange figure standing several feet in front of her. She hadn't seen it at first because it had blended in with the snow so well, but the red eyes looked vibrant, even from a distance. It was an Absol, and its stare seemed to pierce through her, as though it knew something that she didn't. It was enough to creep Marsha out and she averted her gaze. She then looked down at the Ivysaur at her feet. "I never expected to find an Absol out here. Do you feel up to a battle with it Raffle..." Marsha trailed off upon seeing Raffle's visibly confused expression. She wondered why and looked over to see what the Absol was doing, except there was nothing there. The gusting snow had covered in its tracks too, and it was as though it had never been there. She rubbed her eyes and then looked around, but there was no sign of it. "Uh nevermind, I guess I just didn't get enough sleep last night and my eyes are playing tricks on me," Marsha mumbled, feeling just as confused as Raffle had looked.

Raffle had stopped to look back at Rusumo as well, and hadn't been looking forward when Marsha had asked him if he wanted to battle. He didn't object to fighting but when he looked, he hadn't seen a thing. He extended one of his two vines and pressed the end of it against Marsha's forehead. He had seen humans do it to check for fever, and he thought that perhaps Marsha might have fallen ill. Her forehead felt cold from what he could tell, though he knew nothing about what temperature was required for a fever. He just knew that hot meant fever, and cold meant probably not. He withdrew the vine and shook his head back and forth, not knowing what was wrong with her. He wasn't sure he believed her excuse about lack of sleep...no there was definitely something going on. He decided to go on ahead and check things out, but by the time he did the tracks had been completely covered in by the blowing snow. The loose snow of the nearby snowbank actually gave way, and his top leaves and bulb ended up covered with the cold stuff. He shook to get all of the snow off and then looked back to see how the others were faring. Clegane seemed to be able to wade through the snow by force with no problem, but the little Meowstic kept disappearing beneath the snow.

Minerva was struggling, because she wasn't able to walk on top of the snow like she normally did. She tentatively took a step forward and immediately the snow gave way, leaving her in a hole of her own making. She concluded that her best bet would be to follow one of the others, because she couldn't wade through snow so deep. She didn't want to keep close company with them, but what other choice did she have? She looked around and considered her options. Marsha and Raffle were stopped up ahead, but Clegane was still on the move. Following him wouldn't be too bad, but he didn't care about anyone that was around him. He might even step on her if he wasn't paying attention, and he gave off a lot of negative energy that Minerva didn't like the feel of. Minerva turned her gaze upon Rusumo and froze, becoming aware of the presence of the dark-type, if only for a few seconds. Her psychic abilities picked up on the presence, and she felt as though the dark presence was assessing them. That strange presence was gone as quickly as it had appeared. It explained why Marsha and Raffle had stopped up ahead. Minerva didn't bother looking for whatever it had been, the absence of its mental presence indicated that it had left. It made sense that a wild pokemon in the area might want to check them out, and it had probably gotten scared off so there was no use trying to find it, since the wild pokemon would know the area well. The Meowstic mentally shrugged, then used her paws to push the snow aside. She made her way towards Rusumo. Although he was the slowest of them all, the Walrein left the widest trail and he lacked the hostile attitude of the Chestnaught.

Rusumo didn't know why his new trainer had brought him to a place like this. While he could live outside of water, he much more comfortable in it. He could see nothing but snow, his trainer, and his fellow pokemon. There was the occasional small bush scattered around, but most of those were buried in deep snow or well-covered. He was a little miffed when Marsha had asked him if he had wanted back in his pokeball. As far as landscapes went it could be worse, at least they weren't try to climb a mountain or something. He just found it slow-going to get through all of the snow, after all his flippers weren't ideal for walking. Rusumo was slowly gaining on Marsha and Raffle, but that was only because they hadn't moved. Were they really going to wait the whole time for him to get there? He was completely unaware of their mysterious visitor, but he did get a visitor of his own. He saw a pair of ears coming his way, ever so slowly through the deep snow. Rusumo used one front flipper to scoop some snow out of the way once the pair of ears got closer. He found himself looking down at the Meowstic. He snorted at her in surprise, but she just vaulted over his flipper and onto the trail he'd left behind him. It made sense then and he didn't make a fuss about her following, she was so small and quiet that he knew she wouldn't bother him. Instead, he turned his head forward and started forging his way through the snow towards their trainer.