Claudia yawns loudly as she wakes up, she mumbles. "Languor is the enemy... But hunger is also the enemy!" She quickly sits up, waking up Theodora who slept on top of her. The blonde (whose hair is the definition of hurricane right now), scours through her bag, seeking a delicious morning snack to start off her day.
But there is nothing, only dried beef jerky. Her eyes shoot up and her body also shoots up like a Spinda in a bad mood. "What in tarnation?! Wherever did my sweets run off to?!"
Not missing a beat, Claudia slips on her shoes. She hears Astraea's comments and walks to the footprint, crouching down with an annoyed look to try and catch a trail for the footprint, as well as to try and identify the culprit. Theodora meanwhile chirps a sigh and nudges Esther to try and fix Claudia's unruly mop of yellow into her usual ponytail.
At the commotion and the call of his name, Roger wakes with a start seemingly not having moved from his spot the night before with Surskit and Treecko. Surprising him the egg is cradled in his arms, recalling the events of last night. Right, after it seemed that Surskit calmed alittle. I stopped reading and retrieved the egg and I just talked about the egg until it seems we all drifted off.. dang my back is stiff and he stands up after checking his feet for Surskit, confirming she's half a yard away. Seemingly sleeping but Roger isnt sure, best to leave her be, and begins to stretch, with his back popping as he does but then he hears a loud CHIRP as Treecko tumbles off him, just woken up quite rudely.
With the grace of a fledgling Pidgey just attempting their first flight, Treecko flops to the ground, cushioned on the soft grass.
Roger chuckles at this and helps Treecko back onto his "perch", and then upon surskit awakening from the commotion he informs her "Food will be ready in a little while, im going to return you because one of the girls called for me. And I dont know you'll react near them so I'm going to return you for now. Ill let you out when food is ready for you I promise" he says to her before returning her to her ball.
Quickly approaching the group, he sees them around a Footprint and Roger attempts to gain any information he can from the track.
Preston turns as Leo enters
”Mornin! Got some good training in last night. How are you doing?”
Chalupa hops up to Preston as Ahklut scampers back to Leo.
Claudia easily picks up the trail, her critical eye asserting that their losses couldn't be recuperated.
Ahh, to be like the Legionnaires and subsist on beef jerky and olive oil...
"I say we approach carefully. We should at least try and see the identity of the thief! I shall recall you for now, Theodora. I promise you breakfast later." Claudia pressed down her starter's pokeball and she was recalled.
The girl adjusts her backpack and starts follow the trail, attempting to be as stealthy as possible.
Preston turns to Leo
"Ready to book it back? I can't imagine they've gotten too far yet it's still early."
Preston has an excited grin and is anxious to meet back up with the rest of the group.
He keeps Chalupa on his shoulder and Spike close in tow.
Preston picks up the nav and shoots the other group a message:
"We're heading out, see you guys soon!"
Roger notices that his bag was also gone through, but as he didnt pack anything truly unique for foodstuffs he isnt as concerned for that aspect, however he is concerned about some of the more fragile pieces of equipment in his bag. A quick check over of his bag, confirms that only foodstuffs were affected. He lets out a quick sigh of relief and retrieves 2 servings of pokemon food from his opened bag., as well as 2 small serving trays. Gently setting down the egg by where he will be sitting, he props it up with his bag.
"Alright Treecko, here you go." he says as he sets down both trays in a "U" formation. Heating the water in the 1 full canteen at the smoldering fire he poked at with a long stick to expose some embers, he adds it to part of the ration, oatmeal with a side of dried cloned meat in the form of jerky. dumping the oatmeal in his mess-kit after retrieving the spoon from the kit
He drops the now very hot canteen, spilling out all its contents. He grimaces at the now empty canteen and the slight burn on his hand.
"And now to feed our less happy companion, eh buddy? he grunts out before letting Surskit out, "As promised Surskit, first meal. Sorry about the quality, maybe by next meal I can make you something better. Please ignore the others, they're trying to track a thief and i want us all fed first before hunting down the thief. " he then sits down at the front of the "U" shape and begins to eat, carefully observing Surskit and Treecko as he does.
Preston chuckles and tries to stop Leo from handing him the chips
"Those snacks were free from the front desk, no need to repay me"
Preston runs with Leo, trying to catch back up to the other Seafarers. They pitstop by the pond and Leo gives Lotad a chance to return to its home if it would like.
Preston chips in
"Ya know Lotad, you're a pretty tough little guy. I think Leo here could take you far if you join him. Plus you'd make some new friends!"
Then he steps back and sits with Spike and Chalupa for a bit, petting them and giving them a morning snack.
Claudia easily picks up the trail, her critical eye asserting that their losses couldn't be recuperated.
Ahh, to be like the Legionnaires and subsist on beef jerky and olive oil...
"I say we approach carefully. We should at least try and see the identity of the thief! I shall recall you for now, Theodora. I promise you breakfast later." Claudia pressed down her starter's pokeball and she was recalled.
The girl adjusts her backpack and starts follow the trail, attempting to be as stealthy as possible.
Astraea nods at the blonde's words. She would have justice for her stolen Drake Muffin!. "I am with you, Claudia. Titania, I am sorry but you are not exactly inconspicuous in this forest. I'll have to recall you as well." She says, returning the Ponyta to her ball.
As if she was born for this, Astraea slinks into the deep grass after Claudia with nary a sound, a hunter on the prowl.
As the girls push deeper into the treeline, the trail becomes harder to follow, before terminating up a tree. At the base of the tree is a collection of wrappers and chocolate crumbs, before a singular gash running parallel to the tree.
Giving an exasperated huff, the Lotad looks Leo up and down, before slowly nodding his head in agreement, rolling the ball back towards Leo. It’s easy to see that this Pokemon hungers to be strong, and all Pokemon know trainers are the easiest route to might. Preston’s words seem to solidify it’s choice, and it nods again more energetically.
Roger casually examines the unknown pokemon track again, having now eaten and gotten his pokemon fed.
before going back over to his eating pokemon, just watching over them for now.
At Leo's question as he enters the campsite, he raises his head up from observing Surskit and Treecko eating their morning meal "Well Leo hows the hand? and Officially Claudia is Surskit's trainer but we worked out an agreement, so Unofficially Surskit is with me until we deliver the package. Then the deal Surskit and I worked out comes into play. Anyway would you like to go help the girls? Last night it seems like we had a visitor who helped themselves to a portion of our food supplies, and the girls seemed pretty fired up to go after them but Im content staying here unless I hear them in need of help. They went that way if you want to assist them, otherwise ill be doing some housekeeping. " he says, pointing Leo in the direction of the tracks, and where the girls went after. He says as he walks to the edge of the campsite, and lets out a sharp whistle once he knows that both surskit and treecko are done eating, to call them to his side as he surveys the area for any useful medicinal herbs and for a source of running water.
Astraea's eyes flicker upwards, looking for any sign of the thief among the branches. Yet all she sees are leaves torn asunder from a distant leaving. Their culprit, it seems, is long gone.
"I'm not much confident that we can keep tracking our burglar if their main method of movement is jumping from one tree to another." She says in a low tone to Claudia, a disgruntled expression on her face. "I am loathe to simply let this go unanswered, but I suppose it cannot be helped if we can't find the thief in the first place."
"Still," Astraea approaches the tree to look at the gash closely. "perhaps there is information to be gleaned about their identity."
Preston looks back to Leo
"Yeah I think Chalupa could give it a shot. She might know any notorious pokemon in the area since this was her home."
Preston let's Chalupa down to the ground and squats down to talk with her
"Hey Lup, any way you think you could help us track down a food thief? Looks like they left tracks there you may be able to get something from"
Chalupa seems unsure of what to do at Preston's request, additionally having trouble focusing with all the new pokemon in the camp around her, including the surskit that ruled the pond.
Preston whips out the Oran berry from yesterday and waves it in front of Lup
"Would you at least give it a shot for this oran berry?"
Chalupa looks enticed by the oran berry and nods enthusiastically. She scurries on over to the foot steps in an attempt to learn anything new about the culprit.
Chalupa sniffs around for a bit and doesn't seem to get on the trail of anything.
"Not sure she's having any luck finding our thief. That's ok Lup you gave it your best shot"
Preston smiles to the little zigzagoon and gives her the berry. Chalupa happily gulfs down the oran berry in a flash, her tongue sticking out the side of her mouth happily afterward.
Preston pauses for a moment and hurriedly whips out his dex
"If I recall correctly from Dad.... yeah! Says here Cranidos were hunters in the jungles hundreds of millions of years ago, I wonder if he'd have any luck tracking down our culprit. Wanna give it a shot Spike? You may have a knack for it"
Spike nods in agreement. Spike has never known life in the wild, but instinct is a powerful thing.
Spike leans down to observe the tracks, and walks around the area hoping to pick up a trail through the brush. Unfortunately he can't make heads or tails of the tracks once it gets to the trees. After a couple minutes he huffs in frustration and returns to Preston.
"No luck? That's alright bud, I really appreciate you doing your best to help. We can hone those tracking skills later"
Preston rubs the little dino on its thick head and gives it a leftover snack he saved from the hospital.
Esther blanches slightly as Claudia and Astraea vanish off without her, and hurriedly cleans her end of the camp before rushing off after them. She catches up at the base of the tree, slightly red in the cheeks from exertion, and leans on a tree to catch her breath. "...chasing them down isn't going to get our food back, and if they were hungry enough to steal from humans, they probably need it more than we do."
Kneeling down to collect the discarded wrappers around the tree in a trash bag, Esther pauses to rifle through her shoulder bag. After a quick moment fiddling with matter storage, she withdraws a few Pecha and nut bars and sets it down in place of the trash. Edel rolls her eyes at her trainer's behavior and snags a piece before she can give all of them away to... whatever happens to live here. You do realize you have to pay for those, now, and can't just go giving them away willy-nilly if you want any for yourself?
Roger looks to preston and leo, missing the quite noticible track (to him) and sighs. " You can do your own laundry, forage for berries and medicinal herbs as we are low on potions, you could clean up the campsite, and restart the fire or find running water for a safe source to refill canteens. Leave the girls stuff alone please, its rude to go through other's belongings" he says while examining the land outside the campsite
With Leo’s aid, they quickly managed to top up their supplies and even managed to locate a small grove of medicinal leaves, the very ones Potions are modeled after. There seems to be enough to prepare six bootleg potions, maybe more if they could find some supplemental herbs or some oran berries to hide the bitter taste of the more effective plants.
Astraea pales as she realizes that the Pokemon who stole their food could've easily swept the floor with all of the Seafarers if they had been hostile.
"Hey, this is supposed to be one of the easier routes, right? She asks the other girls, turning her head toward them although her eyes never leave the gash in the tree. "Whatever kind of Pokemon our thief is, they're strong. Much stronger than anything that should be roaming around these parts." The Surksit's strength had been a surprise but this is on a whole other level.
Biting her lower lip between her teeth, Astraea, after a moment of indecision, takes out her Pokedex to take a couple pictures of the damaged tree along with a few zooming on the gash and its details, particularly the sliver of material left in it.
With a sigh, the redhead puts her Pokedex away. "If anyone can tell us what did this, I hope it will be Professor Birch." She tells Claudia and Esther, turning away from the tree. "Let us be on our way. The sooner we reach the lab, the sooner Professor Birch can tell us if this should be reported or not."
With that said, the young woman starts walking back toward their camp.
While Leo and Roger and working on camp chores, Preston helps pitch in
"Gotcha Roger, I'll do some laundry and help tidy up the campsite before training for a bit"
Preston starts to pick up trash to throw away and tidying up the campsite from all the excitement of the morning.
He sees Kaupe tugging on Rogers boot and chuckles
"Got a new friend there Roger? Little pup seems to like your kicks"
Seeing Leo walk off to train, Preston then turns to Spike and Chalupa, a look of anticipation in his eyes
"Ready to get some training in while we wait for the girls return you two??"
Spike nods eagerly and Chalupa follows suit.
Preston walks a bit of a ways away from camp to give them some space
"Alright Spike, let's continue your Rock Throw training. We got the motions down pretty well, now we gotta channel that rock type energy into it. Let's start by tossing some rocks and try to put some energy in it!"
Then Preston turns to Chalupa
"Hmm. Dex here says you should be able to learn headbutt. Luckily Spike here knows headbutt! Let's have Spike headbutt that tree over there as a demonstration, and then you can practice trying to hit the rocks Spike throws after they land."
Preston gets to work on their training
Roger takes the herbs from Leo and stores them carefully in his bag, near his grandmother's herbalist kit, to work on making medicines at a later time. Perhaps when he has some berries to add with the herbs.
Turning back to Surskit and Treecko. "Alright Treecko we're gonna work on teaching you Detect, which is a protective technique that involves you dodging. And Surskit, Do you want to help him learn? You can fire bubbles at him while he dodges."
Claudia deflates, the words of her companions ringing true. She gives one last glance at the tree, her critical eye trying to identify if she recognizes the marks from one of her encyclopedias.
Ultimately, she decides it is not worth it. "You two are right, let us go back and resume our journey. Oldale should still be several days away, we shan't delay our march anymore." The blonde looks at Esther and throws into the pile of food a berry of her own. "Perhaps with this offering next time we go through this area the thief decides not to assault our sweets?" She says, her expression slightly bitter. Claudia waits for her friend before walking back.
As the girls begin to return to the camp site, it's become a hive of activity with the boys all training, Spike and Chalupa throwing their all into their training. The other Pokemon, while not as energetic, are still putting in a decent effort.
A choice lies before them, stay and train, or continue on their journey to Oldale?
As Astraea walks back into the clearing, her eyes catch a singular hair, long and glossy of a tan color, trapped in one of the branches and she almost stumbles.
Her face almost starts twisting into a "Stantler in the headlights" expression before her parents' lessons kick in again and Astraea's default mask of a pleasant expression slams back on.
The young woman claps her hands together. "Alright, with our burglar having given us the slip there is no reason for us to stay here. Professor Birch is still waiting for those disks, after all." She says as she starts quickly packing up the girls' part of the camp.
"Don't look at it, don't look at it. Whatever you do, do not look at it." She chants internally.
Clearly missing the odd haste Astraea has in her packing, he let's Treecko and Surskit get a few more minutes of training as he packs his lone corner of the camp quickly and efficiently since it wasn't used.
"So did you find any other clues as to what our late night guest was Astraea?" Roger asks the Fire Pony Trainer.
Letting Treecko and Surskit know that training will continue later, he returns Treecko to give him a break for now and let's Surskit join him on the way to Oldale. "Alright Surskit let's get moving with the others then"
Preston notices the girls return after a bit, still training his Pokemon
"Hey! Nice to see you all again. Any luck on catching your thief?
Preston then focuses back on training Spike and Chalupa, giving it their all.
"By the way, when do y'all wanna head out? We're getting some good work done this training session.
Given the increased size of the group the camp is packed up with startling speed, before the group starts towards Oldale. The road is quieter than the route right outside Petalburg, with only a few Zigzagoon disturbing the odd quiet. There are a few trainers, but all appear to be young boys and girls focusing on catching bugs and thus pay your group no mind.
Claudia emerges from the bushes, Esther following close behind. She notices the boys already caught up and can't help but smile a little. In truth, she held no ill will towards any of them, seeing her fellow Seafarers healthy and well lightened her mood in face of the sweet thief.
"Greetings!" She waves at both Leo and Preston at the same time she shakes her frame, leaves falling off from her already messy-looking clothes. As she notices this, her hands quickly fiddle with her clothes, straightening them up, her hoodie easily bending to her will. Silph Co. technology was truly a wonder!
"Unfortunately Lord Luck did not favor us this morning." She says as she unclips Aulus and Theodora's pokeballs, the small fire (and a half) types emerging to a plateful of food she prepared. "We shall depart as soon as breakfast is over." Several minutes go by, Claudia picks up her mess and neatly stores it all, she takes a classic pb&j out and starts nibbling on it. She catches several looks and shrugs.
"What? Even us Volumans enjoy peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. The creaminess and saltiness of the peanut combined with the sweet and sour bluk berry jam is simply unsurpassed!" As she bites into it, her cheeks flush, her pokemon turn up to look at her, Theodora sighing before going back to her own meal and Aulus pleading for a piece, to what she offers him a bit."Umu, umu! I bet if the Imperators of old consumed such a delightful dish, they would be alive today!" She laughs heartily.
As time goes on, she eventually finishes packing. Adjusting her backpack, she says. "Ready to go. To Oldale, my Seafarers!" With those words, she trots with the rhythm of a determined Spinda. Theodora follows, walking next to her trainer whilst Aulus calmly naps atop her cap.
As she walks, her eyes stay vigilant to any potential threats, interesting pokemon or random items she can pick up.
Roger patiently waits for the girls to finish their packing and morning meals, all the while casually observing the campsite before they leave. Making sure nothing is left behind, from either the party or previous occupiers.
As Claudia begins to leave, he also prepares to go. His eyes are peeled along the pathway for wild growing medicinal berries, so that he can ensure the group is topped up on medicines.
"Well all you heard her, let's go. Let's hope our visitor doesn't follow us elsewhere. Is Leo around? If he isn't someone should go get him, and check that his hand is fine"
As Claudia and Roger scout for helpful herbs, they quickly notice a small patch of oran berries just peeking over the edge of the thick grass. While the bush laden with five fat berries was a huge boon, Claudia's sharp eyes notice a pale pink flower nestled at the base of a tree almost as if it is huddling away from sight. A Revival herb is an uncommon sight in most greenhouses, much less in the wild just off a common route.
As Leo pushes forward, the Lotad perched atop his head gurgles before tugging his hair to indicate a small group of Wurmple feasting upon the leaves of the trees. Normally such a contingent would be easy picking for the Taillow of the route, but it would appear this section is surprisingly lacking in any aerial predators. While hardly a route known for their density of flying types, the Fletchling's presence proves there is usually a few flying stragglers looking for easy meals and no competition.
Esther finishes packing her own things, a little more carefully than her rushed job before going after the other two girls. On the road, she splits the last of her Pecha bars with Edel, and watches the forest as they walk by, smiling genuinely at the rustle of Zigzagoon in the underbrush and the Wurmple chittering at each other. Yesterday was... trying, to say the least, but this part of a journey she didn't mind so much- downtime between cities, no pressure to get anything done but to move. Her face does turn a little green at Leo's command to attack the defenseless Wurmple, though, but all she does is turn her head aside.
Astraea, having released Titania again as the group set out, notices the Revival Herb as Claudia picks it up and finds herself marveling at the sight of such a rare herb.
"Quite a rare find you have there, Claudia. I wonder how a strain of such an uncommon herb managed to find its way here?" She comments with a thoughtful hum.
At the gurgle of Lionel's Lotad, the redhead's eyes follow the Pokemon's gesture to the group of Wurmples on the trees. Unsure of what the Lotad is trying to tell them, she opens her mouth to ask a question but before she can even utter a word Lionel is sending his Poochyena and Mudkip at the Wurmples without even challenging the bugs to a proper fight.
Watching one of the Wurmple being hit by a Water Gun, followed by the dark type viciously biting it before it can even register it's being attacked makes her shake her head in disapproval.
And this is the same boy who talked about duels and about the 'soul of the fight'? She internally snorts. Don't make me laugh.
Roger observes the bush with the berries and quietly observes the bush checking to make sure he isnt stealing from something hungry.
Having seen nothing, He then carefully picks the plump, ripe oran berries and gently stores them with the herbs Leo found. Then he brings out the herbalist kit once owned by his grandmother, and quietly begins preparing makeshift potions from the oran berries and medicinal herbs.
He makes 5 completely normal potions and stores the extra herb in his pouch. Stowing one away for his own use, he makes his way to the rest of the group and asks "Who all is low on medicines after Surskit? I know i used up mine. I have some homemade potions here i made for those of us out or nearly out."
Roger then takes note of the scene he's walked back to. Huh this Leo kid really does have a bloodlust about him, just like Edel lets hope that trait doesnt get those around him in trouble and holds 4 vials of green liquid in them. "Now, who needs one?" He says while locking eyes with Astraea, also silently voicing his disproval of Leo's actions.
The Wurmple was happily munching leaves, it's tiny mouth filled to a humorous degree with plants as the maw clamps down, the serrated teeth creating a bloody line down it's back. Indignant at it's meal being disrupted by violence, the bug type rears up only to catch a watergun to the face. Disoriented by the high powered water burst to the face, the creature keens before spitting a toxic spike from it's head into the Poochyena. The nearby half dozen or so Wurmple begin to turn to the attackers, the keening spreading from bug to bug like a battlecry.
As Claudia and the others return to camp and wave at them Preston waves back
"Nice to see you all again! No luck with the camp thief? I'm sorry, at least we can get more treats back at Petalburg later.["b]
As camp is being wrapped up Preston concludes his training
[b]"You two want to stay out of your pokeballs for now?"
Both chalupa and spike nod in agreement. Chalupa perches on Preston's shoulder and Spike walks next to him as they head out with the group.
As they walk, Preston keeps an eye out for anything interesting along the route (berries, items, pokemon, etc)
While Leo fights wurmple Preston, he notices Esther avert her gaze
"Hey Esther, everything ok?"
As the Wurmple Leo's been attacking crumples to ground in an awful state, his threat shakes the little worms, two of the number immediately taking off via string shot before the largest of the group, a Wurmple with particularly pronounced spikes and a paler coloration reared up to aggressively trill, the sound rallying the other bug types into action. As a lone Wurmple hurl themself at Kaupe with surprising force with their ally firing a poisonous spike at the canine, the last of the following worm Pokemon looks at their companion bleeding and broken on the forest floor, and then stares directly at Leo before lifting it's tail like a scorpion to fire a poison sting directly at the boy, an action that inspires the leader Wurmple to do the same.
The sheer anger is surprising to the trainers, but it does make sense. Pokemon and Humanity maintain a careful balance enforced by the threat of League might, but even the weakest of Pokemon are strong beyond the keen of man, and willing to strike back should the need arise.
As Kaupe moves in, the Wurmple that dove to slam their body into him once again lunged, only for the quickness of the Poochyena to leave it swiping at air. As the dark type clamped down on the Leader, its ally Wurmple hopped off the bush, wiggle closer to Leo before slamming a brightly glowing purple tail spike into his shin, spite in it's little compound eyes. Even as the the other Wurmple begin to dive to get the Poochyena off their leader only one manages to make contact though Kaupe seems nearly unfazed by the blow. The leader nearly makes contact themselves, but the sheer force from the bite has the bug mildly disoriented.
As the spike digs through Leo's flesh he starts to feel the burning sensation in his lower leg indicating the toxins are in his system. Thankfully it's only for a couple of moments before he collapses, his vision going dark. As the trainer crumples his Lotad and Mudkip move to protect their trainer.
As Leo hit the dirt with a thump, Akhlut and Kawako move to stand between their trainer and the Wurmple, Akhlut in particular looking incredibly tense as he plants near his trainers legs. The Wurmple who toppled the trainer gives a dismissive wiggle, before crawling back to the bush. Without instruction, Kaupe hesitates for a moment, which is enough for the large Wurmple to stringshot the Poochyena's maw closed before climbing to the top of the bush as a bright light starts to shine from it's body, intensifying before leaving a pale spiked form in it's place, the newly evolved Silcoon looking down from its bush in anticipation of further atacks.
The other Pokemon grow silent as the light of evolution bathes the route, before giving the newly evolved Silcoon looks you can't quite decipher. No further attacks come as Kaupe moves over to Leo, pitifully whining as he nudges his trainer's unconscious form, quickly taking on an unnatural palor. The Wurmple colony makes no moves indicating aggression, but are on edge and watching the rest of the trainers with cautious eyes even as they attempt crudely to aid their wounded allies savaged by Kaupe.