Locke took little time to appreciate the impressive innards of the massive tree after appearing past the guarded entrance. Instead, they immediately bent as close to the ground as possible and began carefully creeping through thick foliage in search of a sufficiently safe area.

Well, as safe as one could get in a magic tree of unknown origin in the middle of a Rocket-controlled city.

Only once they were absolutely certain they were out of sight did they finally stop to pull two Pokéballs from their bag. A flash of red later and the young man was flanked by a curious Butterfree and a softly glowing Lampent.

They turned to Free-Free first, the butterfly’s attention snapping to his trainer as they addressed him. “Don’t let us get lost, okay?” The bug type gave an affirmative trill, and began creating a thin line of web along the ground behind the small party as they all started picking through the undergrowth.

Now that his little personal expedition had begun, Locke let himself fully take in the surprisingly-lush landscape around him. He’d heard a few rumors here and there as he’d gone about his normal business in Sootopolis (albeit in the shadow of Rocket and his disastrous last trip to the city), but no tall tale or hushed gossip could’ve prepared him for the verdant, non-Euclidean maze within the tree.

It occurred to him, after a frankly embarrassing amount of time wandering aimlessly through the greenery, that he maybe should’ve planned a little more for this part.

[attr="class","wizzcred"]❤ wizz