"Ya came to the right gatherin', then!" Doug said cheerfully to Eris Halla. "We are all yer age! ...ish! Feel free to call us again if ya ever wanna hang out, eh?"

The youth had enlisted everyone into any future gatherings Eris might wanna try without asking.

Whoopsie-doodle. Eh, he was sure Hideo Kino would come to appreciate it.

Eventually, the light off-road trail they had been traversing through came to an end, and with one last dig at Doug's sweet ride, Andy Blackadder declared it time for a walk.

"Yeah, cause I would snap 'em like a Skitty-kat bar if they did." Doug said with a snort as he swung the doors open and stepped out, leaning atop the open window of his truck's door.

His eyes narrowed as he reached up to cup from behind one of his ears.

Nothing.

"... Arashi's got the right idea. How about we split in groups o' three?" He said suddenly, latching onto Arashi Akiyama's idea after being unsettled by the abject silence of the forest. He would let Ruby Walker look out after the other two.

He was a bugcatcher. He had spent enough time in forests to know more or less what he should expect.

This was not it.

"Oi, Hideo? Eris? What'cha say we all pair up together?" He said, placing a hand gently atop Hideo's head... and not ruffling his hair, for once. His gaze was set wearily on the forest around them.

He didn't want either of the two youngest too far away in this place. The atmosphere was not normal.

When Eris called, Doug had to stop himself from clamping Hideo's shoulder.

"Right over!" He said after a moment, before beginning to make way towards the girl, Hideo hopefully in tow. "What'cha found, Eris?"

---

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Hideo hadn’t thought much about the silence; he actually quite liked this amount of quiet. It was something he rarely got, even in his solo walks around late night Slateport. But when Ruby Walker brought suspicion on it, he realized that it was off. “You got a point. There should be something making noise out here. Other than us.”

Still, he had confidence that whatever caused this, they were safe from; there were six of them, with however many Pokemon between them. As long as they didn’t split up too far, they wouldn’t be in any danger. “Not really a pair if there’s three of us,” Hideo said to John Sullivan ’s suggestion, smirking, “but if you reeeeeally want a couple of us to keep you safe, I’ll stick around ya.”

While Rocky tried to find a scent, Andy’s...whatever was speaking again. And it was already doing a very good job of getting information from these steps. “Well, even if we’re gonna find two Pokemon, I’m sure we could handle’em!” Also meant there’d be another Pokemon for them to catch.

It was good that they had the help too; his Lycanroc hadn’t been able to catch a scent, or at least nothing he seemed interested in following, if Rocky brushing against his leg like that meant what it always did. “Guess we could just follow the steps for now,” Hideo said, brushing his hand along Rocky’s head.

And so their trek began. Hideo was pretty much just following everyone else, with Rocky helping keep him on the right path and clearing up any potential tripping hazard. Still, Hideo could feel the path get progressively overgrown under his feet and with every tap of his cane.

Hideo stopped once heard Andy Blackadder and Arashi Akiyama complain. “Something in the way?” he asked, tapping ahead and noticing the overgrowth rather quickly.

Hideo backed away from overgrowth once someone started with a solution. He did have a Pokemon that would be more effective - his Aggron had some sharp claws. But he just took Rocky out; he’d feel bad if he took his Lycanroc out and didn’t let him do anything. And it seemed like Arashi Akiyama was already handling it well.

Plus, he was certain Rocky’s Tough Claws would be enough to let them move through anyways, albeit slowly. Plus, he had a few ways to just tear through it all in one go.

Hideo just stays out of the way for now and lets everyone else clear the way.

John Sullivan , Andy Blackadder , Eris Halla , Ruby Walker , Arashi Akiyama , Aedan Quigley

The silent wildlife only encouraged Ruby to be just as quiet. It certainly eased her tensions that Hideo also noticed, but she had a sneaking suspicion nobody else took that as seriously as she did. Something had definitely gone down and she was not going to take any more chances. Sending out Grace, her shiny Gardevoir spun as she was summoned. Her Telepathy was sure to be quite useful.

As Andy's Pokedex analyzed the foot prints, Ruby simply remained quiet and followed along, sticking with the small group. Her feet light on the ground, careful not to step on any twigs that might betray her presence. Sure, the group as a whole wasn't traveling stealthily, but it eased at least her one nerves somewhat.

Arashi mentioned something about a strange being, and all she could do is sigh. There were so many mysterious forces at work here in Hoenn, just what did it all really mean? It was like being stuck in a world where beings with godlike power kept descending over and over to cause some new nonsense... and yet the answer always remained. Why?

As the vegetation grew thick, Ruby glanced over at her Gardevoir. With a simple thought, Grace understood and began to contact Amor still flying above. The Togekiss suddenly began to dive down at an incredible speed, Air Slashing the plantlife as it zoomed by, almost like a bomber jet. Anyone who caught a proper glimpse of its face would see a hint of a smirk, almost as if it was reveling in the minor destruction it was causing.

Notes: Ruby is being quiet, and not speaking put loud. Used her Gardevoirs telepathy to command Shadow Togekiss to use Air Slash.

After a surely clever and hilarious reply to Hideo Kino's playful jab that the author totally didn't cheap out on writing cause he's sleepy and uninspired, Doug made a terribly funny comment on their plant problem before sending out his Scizor to assist with the gardening.

The metallic bug was quick to launch to action, snipping at the plants with its massive pincers and somehow managing to cleave through large swaths in the process.

---

EBC used lazy. It was super effective.
Scizor used Slash!

Hideo surely had another joke to throw at John Sullivan , but going into that would interrupt the flow of the thread, so let's move on.

Hideo wasn't too surprised to hear what obstructed their path - it was the middle of the woods, after all. Compared to everyone else's Pokemon, Hideo's Lycanroc barely did anything, mainly clearing up the ground so Hideo could move freely. But as long as he did that much, Rocky would be content.

Though Hideo could breathe a small sigh of relief after getting through those vines, the ground was not getting any easier to walk on. Even before Andy's Rotom explained it, Hideo noticed the gashes in the ground and trees with his cane. Rocky was guiding along an uneven path - something he only did on perilous paths.

Hideo would have to slow down considerably. Traversing torn terrain was not his forte. "I'd be surprised if something small did all of this," he said, focused on just trying not to fall.

By the time he'd fully caught up, Andy Blackadder was already marveling at the lightweight metal. As much as Hideo wanted to help Arashi Akiyama with his question, he was more curious about what Andy was talking about (also, Hideo wouldn't be much help with understanding a picture - and what he heard of the Pokemon's description didn't sound familiar to him at all).

"Megalopolan?" Hideo had heard about them in rumor, but never much about what they actually were, other than awful people that would kill others with no hesitation. "Aren't those guys cannibals or something? What'd they be doing out here?"

He tapped his cane around until he felt it press against some metal lying on the ground. It felt like solid metal, and the noise it made was his metal cane against metal. Yet when he knelt down to pick up the head-sized chunk, he found it lighter than his cane. "Andy ain't kidding!" Hideo said, tossing it up and catching it like a baseball.  "It's really light, but it doesn't feel hollow."

Hideo has to move slower due to the torn-up terrain, but gets through without incident.

Once he catches up, he picks up a head-sized chunk of the mystery metal

John Sullivan , Andy Blackadder , Eris Halla , Ruby Walker , Arashi Akiyama

It was a battlefield alright. No shovels had been used to dug up these trenches, though. Crouching, he looked over the damage, brow furrowing slightly. He had come this far out for some fun, but between the silence of the forest and the destroyed landscape they were witnessing, he was beginning to reconsider their presence here.

"Might be an angry Tyranitar." Doug said in response to Andy Blackadder, rising back to his full height. They were pretty sizable- but more importantly, capable of physical destruction well beyond their already impressive size. "... Wouldn't explain' the flower field, though."

Back to the drawing board.

Following behind Andy, the tall youth offered Hideo Kino, Eris Halla and Ruby Walker each a hand in getting over the tall tree trunks. Hideo and Eris for obvious reasons- Ruby due to being vertically challenged.

Moments later, together with Hideo and Arashi, Doug hovered over Andy's shoulder and stared at the bizarre sandstone the smaller youth had found within a crater in the area, tilting his head as Andy directed a question at him.

Hideo spoke before he did, prompting Doug to reach over to ruffle his head.

"That's a common misconception. Cannibals eat'eir own species." Doug said simply, wondering who had thought it a good idea to tell Hideo the gruesome details.

As Hideo tossed the rock up and down like a baseball, Doug casually stretched his arm, palming the rock with his large mitts like it were a basketball.

He released a whistle. It was bizarre, feeling this thing out. Large but not heavy. Light and yet dense.

"Would be pretty darn bizarre tech, don'cha think?" Doug said turned the rock around, tilting a brow. "Megalopolans' usually brought stuff with a specific Military use in mind."

They were an invading army after all, not a bunch of tourists.

"If it is though, we best be careful. It wouldn't have been made to look like a rock for no reason." He said, placing the thing back on the floor carefully.

Military tech made to look like it belonged in the background... Hopefully they hadn't just picked a bomb. Probably not, given the place.

The young man's gaze came upon the image of Tapu Bulu being displayed on Arashi Akiyama's whatever, a grin tugging at his lips.

"Oh, that's Bulu. What about'im?" Doug said, scratching at his chin. "He's been getting super popular since Zac Ramsay began helpin' out with recovery efforts 'round Hoenn."