The woods seemed a little cliche for a missing persons case. If someone were to go missing, the first place most people checked would probably be the deep dark woods next door. Not in this case though; with half the damn region disappearing Petalburg Woods was only glanced over. Everyone figured that with so many missing people they would be pretty obvious to spot, even in a forest as thick as this one. So when nobody was found everyone quickly moved on to other areas.

Not August though, in his experience the least likely place was usually where the most interesting stuff went down. With everyone else turning elsewhere, he had free reign to wander the woods in search of clues. Today August was doing a casual stroll through the center path, smoking a cigarette as he pondered the possible hiding places of the missing population. His four squirtle helpers were gallivanting ahead of him, searching every nook and cranny for someone to save--no matter how impractical.

"The most likely place would be underground. How do you get that many people underground? Cave systems maybe. No caves in the woods. Maybe digging? Would have found the holes by now. Maybe the filled in the holes. That would take a lot of skill. And time. Skilled and timely, what a horrific combination. No wonder these kidnappers have been at large for so long, their experts at managing their schedules."

August stopped as he lightly bumped into his squirtles. They had formed a protective barrier in front of him against an unknown threat, which August would only notice several blinks later. Of course, what his squirtles thought to be a threat was only another pedestrian. August smiled at the stranger, "Well hey there. Fine day for a stroll, am I right?"

Genevieve Cromwell