Swamp explorations 1

“A swamp!” Shrilled Donna backing away hurriedly from the leash and harness her trainer was holding.  “I! AM! NOT! GOING ANYWHERE NEAR A SWAMP!” the deviant Vulpix shouted.  “I’ve come with you to mountains and volcano’s, tundra and almost every where else you’ve wanted to go but I’m drawing the line here.” She yipped dodging Tasha’s lunge to catch her.  “I am going to sit here on my nice cushion in front of the fire and you can all tell me about it when you get back.”  And with that the long haired Vulpix ran from the room as quickly as her paws would take her.  Their trainer sighed and went after her. 
  Niccole who was sitting on a nearby pillow was shaking with laughter, Raven perched nearby was not much better and nearly fell off of the candlestick she had chosen as her perch.
  “I told you she’d be like that.” Laughed Raven.  “If you think she does not like regular dirt and dust, well she thinks that the black stinking mud you find in swamps and wetlands is like the plague and to be avoided at all costs.”
  “But its just a bit of mud, you can walk right over it can’t you?” Asked Niccole.
  “Maybe you can twinkle toes.” Chipped Raven. “But the rest of us are a fair bit heavier than you are and sink into it instead of walking on top of it.”
  “Oh,. . “    There was a crashing sound and a dismayed yip.  Tasha came back into the room a very unhappy looking Donna at the end of her lead.  As much as the Vulpix did not want to go anywhere near a swamp she was normally well behaved for her trainer and as much as she might want to she would never flame her trainer on purpose.  And she would not disobey enough to burn through the leash or harness either.
  Raven and Niccole were quickly kitted up and they all headed out towards the swamp.  Unlike some hopeful nobles who had already set out yet Natazsia was staying at a place in Skyhaven until she had sufficient supplies ready to start her own holding. 
  As the trainer pushed through the mud she dreamed she might get lucky, not here obviously, but elsewhere she hoped to catch a wild ponyta or blitze.  A horse pokemon would be the most helpful thing she could hope for.   It would make her travels so much faster and easier than just about anything else would. 
  She stomped through the thick dark black mud, it had seemed like a far better idea at the time than it was beginning to.  It was hard going for her and Donna both in this mud.  Raven and Niccole were having no troubles at all though.  Raven was small enough to fly through the tangled vines and small tree’s of the swamp, and Niccole was light enough that with her six legs she was able to walk right on top of the mud that sucked at Donna’s paws and threatened to steal the trainers boots. 
  “This seems like a really cool place.” Chittered Niccole, whose kind was not uncommonly found living in swamps much like this. 
  “Speak for yourself.” Said Donna miserably.  Her orange coat was streaked from top to bottom with clinging black mud.  The bottom edges of her long coat had begun to gather large clumps of mud and dragged her down. The Vulpix was so unhappy with the swamp as to have gone uncharacteristically silent.  In fact since entering the swamp she had not uttered a single complaint past a pleading whimper at their trainer right before they headed into the mud.  Now she had her eyes practically closed as she trailed along on the end of her lead taking as large of steps as she could and not moving except when she needed to, to keep up.
  Niccole was a little worried, she had never seen the Vulpix act like this before. 
Raven was paying little attention to her companions.  She had discovered a new game.  The hanging vines and small twisting branches of the swamp made for a potentially challenging obstacle course for a fast flying bird and she was determined to run it perfectly.