[attr="class","lance"]"investigating. watch your step."

pointing to a bit of loose earth, lance steps over it, more careful in his approach these days after the incident. the injury, along with orders from the top, force him to be.

"you ever been up meteor falls? there's a waterfall up there that's apparently been running more dry than usual. guess it's up to us to find out why."

[attr="class","noodles"]DEREK HOFFMAN

"Oh, thanks." Derek bounds over the spot energetically, not paying much attention to anything but the ranger until it was mentioned. "A few times, actually. Figured it was a good place to catch some choice pokemon I'd been hoping to train."

Though luck wasn't exactly on his side like before. At the very least, it was nice to see that pokemon were still thriving in the area. "Could be anything by the sound of it. Maybe something's built a dam, or whatever." Hoping that it wouldn't be too much trouble, they made good time as the two of them closed in on the top of the cliff face.

"Oh..." Was all the ranger trainee could manage as the cult of Exeggutor returned his gaze. They'd banded together in the water, soaking in it and obstructing the flow. Or at least a lot of it, but the waterflow behind them wasn't as great as he remembered it to be. Rather than being swept downstream, they were able to wade through it casually.

"Guess I got my answer."

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LANCE VOLLANS | 2/5

[attr="class","lance"]"could be."

lance runs through the possibilities in his head, considering each one. a cult of exeggutor, however, is definitely not among them. but what does he know?

"definitely was not expecting that. huh."

briefly, he considers what to do, but seeing as how this is the trainee's first official mission, he thinks it best to hand it over to him.

"our first priority should be to safely relocate them, then maybe we can see what's causing them to do this. any ideas how?"

[attr="class","noodles"]DEREK HOFFMAN

The spectacle before them was certainly something else, but besides that was the fact the water hadn't been flowing properly regardless.

"Safely? No. Not for them." Derek's idea of getting pokemon out of the way was to scare them off, or move them forcefully. At least when they didn't seem the type to comply. With strength in numbers, Derek reserved doubt that these Exeggutor would be so kind.

"I'm going to look upstream." Swift feet carried him a ways off, and what he found there was equally disappointing.

A Marowak was dozing off with Diglet playing around and waking it up by breaching the surface of the earth under it's body. The scenario turned into whack-a-mole real quick, said Marowak finding nothing funny about it.

"So troublesome." Sighing as he felt for the tired pokemon, the unwanted guests provoked it into unleashing a sudden earthquake. This caused the earth to rattle in their vicinity, creating a small crack that spanned all the way towards the water. Bringing a small whirlpool-like effect on the water's surface to their eyes, the earth collapsed underneath and caused it to grow dramatically. "That...makes a lot of sense, actually."

Plucking a ball from his waist, Derek releases the contents and quickly issues it a command. "Randal, I need you to find something to plug that hole." A quick nod and the Machamp was on it's way to find something, probably the biggest something it could get all four of it's hands around.

"Though that doesn't exactly solve the problem." Looking to the Marowak, it seemed to be fixated on Derek now that he summoned a pokemon. It seemed displeased, angry even, though hesitant to attack because of the other person with him.

"Question. When would you say force is warranted as a ranger?"

---

LANCE VOLLANS | 3/5

[attr="class","lance"]the scene is rather funny, actually. the makeshift game of whack-a-mole is met with a chuckle as lance watches. it's also quickly solved by the ranger trainee.

"it's always warranted in cases of self-defense, which i think you might soon need."

the marowak doesn't even have to step forward — it simply flings its BONEMERANG towards derek's machamp.

"oops. like now."

[attr="class","noodles"]DEREK HOFFMAN

Sucking his teeth in discontent as he witnesses the Marowak making good on Lance's warning, Derek turns to his Machamp to try and warn them. But the Marowak's throw was too quick, striking his pokemon in the leg and causing it to drop the large stone.

"Alright Randal, you heard the man. Give him your worst." Resilient and always ready to flex, the Machamp pursues the Marowak and manifests it's REVENGE in the form of a brutal beatdown. Randal only stopped when the Marowak could no longer hold it's bone, collapsing to the ground with seemingly no means to resist further.

"Atta boy. Finish with the boulder and we can get outta here."

As soon as the draining water was obstructed, the strength and size of the stream grew rather quickly. Randal was strong enough to resist the force of the tide, but the Exeggutor downstream soon found themselves being swept along and crashing at the bottom of the waterfall. They could only tell from here because of the sounds they made while falling. "Hey, Lance. What was your first real mission as a ranger like?"

---

LANCE VOLLANS | 4/5

[attr="class","lance"]lance could've helped out but it looks like derek has it all handled. his pokemon seem more than capable enough, so he simply watches, observing and taking note.

"that's a strong machamp."

and it becomes clear that derek's no newbie. he should rise through the ranks in no time.

his gaze drifts back to the waterfall, noting the clear absence of the exeggutor.

"depends what you mean by real, i guess. the first thing i ever did as a ranger was help a purrloin out of a tree."

it's not the flashiest thing, but he still appreciates it all the same.

"but sometimes the small things mean just as much."

[attr="class","noodles"]DEREK HOFFMAN

"Yeah, Randal likes to flex his stuff every chance he can get." And right on cue, the mound of muscle began tensing his arms, looking at the two of them with a cocky smile. Derek quickly took out a pokeball, returning the Machamp to get the point across he didn't have to flaunt. It might've been rude of the trainee, but he didn't like to encourage show-offs. Not everyone was such a big fan of muscles.

"That sounds like quite the picture. But I did mean something a bit more serious, like those dangerous missions they won't allow trainees to go on."

Wondering if Lance would spill any deets on the way, the two of them would be back in Fallarbor well within the hour, should they keep a steady pace. Although that was assuming Lance would be along with him, and not have anything more important to do.

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LANCE VOLLANS | 5/5 (Submit when done or tell me to!)

[attr="class","lance"]"they usually don't."

for good reason, too, but lance has never quite agreed with them. what better way to learn than to be thrown into the belly of the beast?

"i'll bring you along to my next one."

[attr="class","noodles"]DEREK HOFFMAN