Well, his folks did say to get out of the house more often,. Especially since others his age are out and about at college, work, and becoming pokemon trainers now. It's been a whole winter since Cadin recieved Pinny from the professor...she was more than content with a sleepy life as Cadin drew for hours on end at the computer, resting inside the spacious pocket of her trainer's hoodie. Now that the snow has began to melt, and spring is creeping in, Cadin no longer had an excuse to stay inside. Seeing the Safari Zone on tv was enough of a spark to get him off the bed and kickstart his new, ambitious projects around town. A nice refreshing stroll through the spiffy new safari zone could bring some inspiration back after the winter's rut. 

But this wasn't a refreshing stroll at all. 

He knew better than to try to sneak in some spraypaint to tag the abandoned mansion he saw in the television ad, but he did anyways in a small duffel bag that bounced around in a hidden compartment on the inner circular seam, normally used to stash small valuables when headed to the gym like a phone or watch. Cadin, though, was crazy enough to push his luck. Counting on the black spraypaint can to blend in with the side of the bag when security checked peoples bags at the door, he stepped inside the lobby and nervously twiddled his thumbs in his hoodie pocket as the officer gave a quick look.
"Hey kid. You can't bring this."
Cadin's heart fell ten stories as the officer pointed to something in his bag but when he peered over the lip of the bag, he found that the focus was on a lighter he must've forgotten to take out of there this morning. 

"Oh, yea sorry 'bout that officer. Must've forgotten it was there before I left."

Cadin gently took the bag back and slid it over his shoulder as the officer confiscated the ligher, throwing it into a small plastic basket behind him as he called for the next guest to step up.

Now, with Pinny's spines and his phone providing light in the dark, Cadin wondered what his curiosity would get him into this time.

"Ra!"

The Nidoran took Cadin by surprise, and apparently Pinny too by the quick flashing of her spines. Cadin aimed the light down towards the nidoran and crouched down to her level.

"Yo! Didn't expect to find you here, sorry for intrudin on your place here. I can't see a thing a thing in here..."

As Cadin looked around him he soon realized that everything was dark beyond the light he was holding. The rocks were indistinguishable in the pitch black and the cave entrance he came from was starting to blend into the darkness. It made his skin cold and for once in his life he felt paralyzed in fear. Pinny inched down the baggy hoodie and slowly blinked her spines as her blob of a body looked up at her trainer. It was hard to tell what she was thinking...her face was as stoic as stone, but the comforting yellow light brought Cadin's nerves down a peg. She then inched towards the nidoran in a friendly display of lights in the dark. 

"Woah woah it's ok! Its ok, huh?"

Cadin looked up at his flashlight and realized what had happened. After a quick bow of his head and a sheepish grin he fumbled with his phone in the dark as the bright screen was a little bit painful to himself too, and lowered the brightness of the light to show the inching pincurchin lazily glowing her spines.

"Oh right, I totally forgot...you must've been used to the dark here that the light was too much. Didn't think about that, sorry there lil buddy."

He looked the nidoran up and down hoping his apology would get through to her, while the rattles of the pokeballs in his bag rung a memory in his head.

"Oh! Right, it's been just me n' Pinny here for a few months. It'd be nice to have someone new to come with. Maybe after we explore this place you wanna come with?"

Cadin rolled the pokeball forward to the nidoran only to stumble facefirst into the dirt from his terrible posture, squatting down near the ground and balancing on his toes because it looked "cool".

Cadin spit out a mouthful of dirt and scrambled back onto his feet. 
"Ughh, right. I guess I had that comin'...well bye then. Come on Pinny lets see what else is here before I eat more dirt."

He scooped the pincurchin up in his arms and ,with her light, lit the way forward to save on the already dwindling battery on his phone. As per usual, he came ill prepared. The spray cans rattling in his bag echoed off the cave walls the deeper he went and a sense of dread crept in as he mistook every rock for a pokemon slinking in the dark. He flipped up his phone, and sure enough. No signal this deep in. Though whenever Cadin's heart got a bit too fast, Pinny would gently pulse some calming light to remind him that he wasn't alone. He just had to trust his companion and keep his cool.

Pinny may be slow, but she was sharp. She remembered the way out as she constantly rotated her spines north, the thrill of the adventure was something she actually loved! The calm of the home was nice and all, but real peril was what she craved. For now though her trainer needed her most as she lit the way and thought about maybe sparing some electricity to keep Cadin's phone charged.

Pinny gave Cadin a light zap to get Cadin's attention before he repeated his last mistake with the female nidoran. Cadin stopped in his tracks at the small yellow arch and held his breath until finally he looked down to see the male nidoran firmly stationed in place. He dimmed the flashlight in a hurry and crouched down to the pokemon, much gentler this time. 

"Right, some pokemon are photosensitive. I think I remember the professor sayin something like that on tv...damn I didn't think about that earlier, now I feel bad for blinding that nidoran back there..."

He sheepishly rubbed the back of his head and balanced on his toes looking at the nidoran. No sudden movements, stay calm, Cadin ran through the television programs he saw in passing and tried to tie them all together into his own cohesive approach to pokemon. The only one he's really had for a while now was Pinny and she wasn't exactly a difficult one to work with. She could sense her trainer practically holding his breath, and in frustration jabbed him with a spine to get him to exhale. Then she looked down at the nidoran, dejected and deflated as if sighing at the human she'd been with for month now.

"Well, I should prolly head out of here before I actually do get stuck here...sorry little guy for crashing your gig here, my folks say I can be a lil bit clueless sometimes but y' just gotta go day by day doing your own thing you know? Whatever, yea so...sorry about the whole light thing. Come on Pinny, we should hit up the mansion so I can at least tag it before we leave."

Cadin picked himself off the dirt with a pained sigh and looked back to the nidoran in the edges of his flashlight's beam. He could barely make out the female nidoran sister he had encountered earlier and forced a smile behind a hurting spirit, before stuffing his hands back into his pockets and kicking aside a pebble defeated and only barely making out the cave entrance. He traced his calloused hands over the rock and looked out into a starry expanse while Pinny's glow blinked softly like fireflies. The echoes of failure rang across his skull incessantly. It constantly ate at his resolve every day even with the antidepressants keeping him out of bed. Pinny definitely was an extra bit of help as a companion but something in his heart was still hurting from the pain left by his many many failures. Cadin didn't even realize he had arrived to the mansion at all. His body was operating on its own as he jumped a fence and ducked through rotting wood beams into the decrepit place. 

---

OOC:Cadin moves to the Mountains!

"Huh? Oh! Yo!"

Cadin craned his neck to the mudbray and knelt down onto its level, Pinny giving a flashing blink hello! Hesitantly, he reached out his arm to pet the mudbray and paused for a moment...He was acting on his own again, didn't even consider the fact that some pokemon may not want to be pet. Its not like he meant to. It just kind of...happened. He went with the motions and sailed adrift in its current for all his life. The arrival of pokemon made him realize just how much he had allowed himself to just act without much thought at all. His art was impulsive too, spontaneous and whenever he felt like riling up some excitement in his life.

"Oh, is...is it ok if I pet you? Sorry, I'm still learnin' how to interact with pokemon n all. You must've been looking out for me huh lil guy."