“We were making great time going over this last part of the range too…” Jade had moved on to her jacket now, laying her clothes on a nearby rock to dry as she wrung each out. “…and then that walking raincloud is just all ‘Oh hey guys you look like you could use a fucking typhoon.’ ” Magnum was ignoring Jade now; he was far too focused on trying to pull out all of the bramble barbs that had gotten matted in his wet fur. “Oh yeah and then there was the bramble patch we slid into when all that mud gave way–that was great.” Setting her jacket aside, Jade motioned for Magnum to trot back over so she could begin the ceremony of rooting out all the garbage in his thick mat of a mane. She figured she could handle her v-neck and pants later; a cave wasn’t exactly the most comfortable place to completely strip down anyway. On the other hand, if she didn’t get this junk out of his fur now, it’d never come out.

Her radio had no chance of getting a signal in this storm, so she just settled for the roar of the rain as her music of choice for the evening as she began with Magnum’s tail. Judging by the state of things outside, it looked like this would be one long song. “…Looks like we’re here for the night then, huh?” Magnum was on his back, tongue hanging out one side lazily. He was off in his own world now, completely content with leaving his Trainer to her task. “Yeah like you care, you spoiled little boy.” Jade smirked.

Even with her hair keeping her wetter than she had liked, she soon found herself getting herself into a rhythm of sorts. Combined with the rain, it was actually rather soothing, even if her fingers were turning raw from all the debris she was prying out of Magnum. Suddenly, a loud ‘thwack’ at the mouth of the small cave jilted her out of her zen. Magnum, too, was now back on all fours, at full attention. She might have even squeaked a little in shock, not that one could have heard it over the storm. Her heart practically ricocheted off the walls of her chest as she trained her eyes on the cave mouth; for a split second she thought it might even burst.

There was a figure, right at the mouth of the cave. The glare from the thunder and dim atmosphere of the cave didn’t allow her to distinguish much at first, so she simply stood still. For a second, her mind wanted to flash back to that night again, like it always wanted to do with anything that even smelled of a ghost. She quickly fought it back though as her head finally processed the figure fully.

Her features relaxed, sighing in relief. It was just a Trainer. Another poor sucker of this storm like herself, it looked like; water was streaming off the wary figure’s limbs, and they were hanging onto the wall with one shaky arm. She still didn’t know who exactly it was, but they certainly seemed to have been more taken by surprise than Jade had been.