Before she could come to an answer, however, another entry—a young woman approximately the same age as her—had interrupted her train of thought. Therein lay another problem. Another person entering the scene meant another potential victim. The lack of the old detective authority she used to cordon off areas came back to bite her. Though, it could also be said that such demarcation would be no more than a hindrance should the time come to evacuate.

Still, the extra brainpower of another person couldn’t hurt.

“There’s a decent amount of Absol gathering in the area. Not to mention...”

Elaine looked down at Asteria who was now rubbing her horn against Elaine as if trying to wrap that curved blade around the young woman.

“Asteria’s been acting up ever since we got here...actually, come to think of it, Asteria acted up first before the wild Absol had come around.”

She had muttered for a moment before training her focus back to the newcomer. Taking a hand, she rubbed it across her Absol’s head as she continued to speak.

“I guess you could say I’m trying to forestall a disaster and calm her down,” she said, while keeping her hand on Asteria. “The name’s Elaine. What about you?”

---

Tags: marilee beaufort

Disaster.

Asteria's shivering was an unmistakable premonition for that. The conditions were ripe for it, after all. It was a foregone conclusion. But that was all she could say.

"Well, that's unfortunately what I'm trying to figure out here." Elaine sighed as she scratched her head for a short moment. "We've got a raging storm, a flood bank, multiple hills, a bridge, and a waterfall. Every component in a recipe for disaster is here."

Elaine pointed in succession at each of the things she was referring to. But after doing so, she frowned.

"But that's ultimately meaningless if we can't figure out what disaster is going to befall this area. I don't have the resources to deal every possibility unfortunately."

Elaine crossed her arms as she looked towards Mari. "Well, I can say that the storm is already here, so the disaster is more likely to be due to the storm than it is to be the storm itself. Right, Asteria?"

The Pokemon in white once again rubbed her side against Elaine's leg as she continued to shiver.

"I'm at a bit of an impasse," she said, shrugging. "What do you think, Mari?"

---

marilee beaufort

"Yeah, technically the rangers are the people who would best deal with this kind of thing. However, that'll do us no good at this stage." Elaine held out her phone in front of her lazily with the display facing Marilee. "Since I already contacted them."

Elaine herself was hardly a ranger and optimally, trying to save a bunch of people and predict an impending natural disaster was well outside her range of expertise. She knew better than to not defer to those who were better suited for such a task.

But that's where that flash of sagacity came to end--out of necessity.

"Unfortunately, it'll take them 20 or so minutes to arrive." She pointed out as she placed her phone back into her pocket. "But there's no guarantee things won't fall apart in the interim. That's why at least I need to try something."

Reaching her hand back down to rest it on the head of the white-furred beast at her side, she smiled as well. "Also, until I can figure away to avert disaster, Asteria won't stop shivering here."

---

marilee beaufort

"Honestly, that's not a bad idea." Elaine looked back to Asteria. Marilee's idea held some merit. Absol were supposedly very keen at sensing even the most minute changes in weather and were generally known for being able to predict the weather quite easily. So the optimal route would definitely be...

"Well, I guess brute forcing a deduction with minimal information like this isn't the best idea. Can't help that it's far from my realm of expertise."

Elaine shrugged. "So, what do you think of what Mari suggested, Asteria?"

The white-furred beast looked off into the distance for a brief moment, its legs seemingly trembling. It almost seemed like she wanted to refuse. And yet, it shook its head for a short second, letting the water that was on its coat fly everywhere, before biting into Elaine's sleeve and pulling her along with enough force that she would have been pulled onto the ground and dragged forward if she hadn't followed in tandem.

"Wait! Asteria, is this a yes? Where are you going?"

Elaine found herself quickly flustered as her Pokemon gave a fairly wordless response and decided to pull her along.

"Mari? Are you coming along? I can probably use some help.

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marilee beaufort