It seemed Josh was not the only one hunting down the Monster in the Woods. He felt it was in his best interest to rendezvous with both this child and the party hunting the monster down. "Sounds like I need to join up with them if I want to see this mystery through," the Inquisitor responded, ready to see some action. He bore his Absol's blade and claws for a clear reason; if the dream gave them to him, he was expected to use them, right?

"Bring it to justice," Josh answered the fungal creature's last question, his eyes flaring with determination. Tenacity. The will to get to the bottom of the attacks. "Unless it poses a grave threat to my life, I will not aim to kill. I want to make sure this monster pays for what it's done to the village."

The Inquisitor's suspicions began to grow. Suspicions that out of the child or the myconid, one of them was not being forthcoming. Was the child the monster? Or was this plant-creature the monster? There were too many uncertainties, too many doors closed thanks to the Gym Leader's hastiness. Hastiness that would need to be tempered if he wanted to be a Champion. "No doubt," he acknowledged. "There is little more heinous than the murder of a child. Even so, such acts against the village cannot be ignored."

Collecting his emotions and thoughts, Josh remained silent for a bit before continuing. "A trial by their peers. Evidence weighed against evidence. Whether found guilty or not guilty by their peers, justice will be served. Regardless of the outcome, justice is served. If they truly are not guilty, then it is just for them to go unpunished."

One last note from the mushroom left Josh with concern. "Ultimately, if the monster were to be found guilty, what punishment comes of said guilt is out of my hands. But I will do everything in my power to prevent loss of life."

Relieved to see the myconid in agreement, Josh, too, backed up, his claws and horn reflecting what little light came to the forest's surface. He would go on to share parts of the story the young child had told him, including the Psyker alias, as proof that he was indeed serious about getting to the bottom of the mess he and the village were both in.

The fungal creature was right: if there was one thing that defined optimism, it was Josh. He was always spreading love and exalting the deeds of his peers, though rarely his own. His self-deprecating attitude made it difficult to see his own strengths. "Some direction would be appreciated - thank you!" he replied to the plant.

Perhaps he was being a little too trustworthy...

So it wasn't just one Psyker. There was more than one. Lovely. Josh might have to put those honed reflexes, the reflexes of an Absol, to use sooner than he would have liked. "Thank you so much. I'll do everything I can to get to the bottom of this." With that, the Inquisitor was off... quite deep into the woods.

As the footprints grew more and more fresh, Josh's anticipation also grew. His claws glinted in the low light, reinforcing how sharp they were if he needed to use them. He hoped he wouldn't have to... but when dealing with monsters, many only answered to force.

Josh's hair stood on end as he felt a sensation of being watched... and eventually speaking. He wasn't having much more of these voices that spoke to him from seemingly every direction at the same time. "Show yourself and identify yourself," he demanded with crossed arms.

Josh scoffed at the voice's retort. "I can play hard ball too, you know," the Inquisitor answered, his sharp claws glinting in what little light remained. He scoffed at the PSYCHIC attack, bouncing off his Dark-type body harmlessly. The rock-type attacks, though, were much more of an issue. Without a way to defend against them directly, he needed to get out of their radius.

If there was one thing he was good at doing, it was running away. Fast.

Flexing his legs, the Inquisitor crouched before making a giant leap over the field of STEALTH ROCKS, executing a high BOUNCE that he needed to carefully control the height of. While the dirt and stones may not have been able to smack him at that height, a thick tree branch easily could have!

Josh stumbled as he landed, not used to making such high jumps. It gave him a greater appreciation of his Pokémon steeds capable of using the move.

After a brief respite, the Inquisitor found himself outside a wooden and stone house, well-built but in the middle of nowhere. On its front porch was a strange creature he didn't recognize at all; just what was this thing, and what was it doing here? It certainly didn't seem human.

As suspicious as it was that it was staring at him, Josh remained decidedly neutral around it, though he was ready to spring into action at a moment's notice. "...Excuse me," he tried to get the creature's attention in an effort to fish for intent.

While the monster's voice was hostile, it was cooperative, the Fairy-type and Psychic-type monster revealing itself. It seemed that this was going to be direct. One way or another, he would get the Monster in the Woods to stand down, or he would take them down directly with his own sharp claws.

"You've terrorized our village enough," the Inquisitor barked. "I get the feeling we're not avoiding a fight... but surprise me. Why cause so much trouble for us? What trouble did we cause you not in self-defense?"