"Hm." The forest rumbled slightly as a bear stood over the mighty ogre, so meek and tiny in her appearance. The faint smell of honey wafted from the bear, a lasting echo of his conquest in seizing a hive belonging to a colony of Combee. "A friend?"

The bear snorted, shaking his head as if distracted by a hundred buzzing Beedrill.

"I am not your enemy, however." His voice was ancient, belonging to an era that had long since passed the world by. Hisui was a distant memory, now. "But you must be the help I've been searching for. There is a great evil lurking within these woods, little ogre."

A low rumble emerged from deep within his belly.

"A thief."

---

Andrea Vaneau

What a murderous little ogre. In all of his time wandering Hisui with the Survey Corps, Doug had never seen a Pokemon quite like this.

He wondered where Pon had come from.

"Kill? No, no, little ogre." The ground shook slightly, threatening to send Ogerpon careening from her tree. After a moment, it became clear that the bear was laughing. "There is no need to be so hardhanded. Only those with blue skin and gnashing teeth will be punished with death."

And they had been. And more still would suffer the consequences of Doug's wrath.

"My name when I came into this world was Onikuma, though even the land itself has forgotten that name. It has been too many years. My human partner, both yesterday's and today's, calls me Doug. You may do the same."

There was a hint of longing in the Ursaluna's voice, though it quickly disappeared into the sea of melancholy.

"Our thief, little Pon..." Doug's eye glinted. "...is a monkey."

---

Andrea Vaneau

"Our friends and family return to the mud eventually, their lives written in blood and in iron." Doug continued trekking through the woods, Pon by his side. They are words uttered with purpose, a reminder of what the Ursaluna had lost. "Remember your friend and they will never leave you."

Sometimes, he thought that he could see his old partner in the mists and between the slits of trees. Far enough to be vague, yet close enough that Doug could occasionally taste his scent on the wind.

So close, yet so far. Those remembered in the past never seemed to stay there.

"The monkey is short, slim, and disrespectful. He skirts my authority, and he is a general nuisance." Doug huffed as he led the ogre into a grove. "He is also quite blue, yes."

The color is added as an afterthought.

"Yet as for trapping him... it eludes me. He is far faster than me, and he climbs trees remarkably well."

---

Andrea Vaneau
BINGO: PAST

"Humans break easier than you or me, Pon. When you break a person, they cannot be fixed."

It was a line that he often heard howard slayte utter in his moments of melancholy, when he was alone with the Ursaluna and nobody was looking at him. There was no need to be upbeat in the face of despair, and it occasionally leeched into the archaeologist's mood. It was similar to the Survey Corps member Doug had once partnered with.

In order to save something, one must first embrace the weight of loss.

"We will have to use what the humans call Max Honey. There is a hive up ahead that was once run by a Vespiquen, though I suspect that the recent shaking of the earth has rattled her. It is likely that she has fled." The grove opened up, displaying a golden hive cracked apart like an egg. Reddish-gold honey leaked to the ground.

What a waste.

"Where I am from, large Vespiquen could produce it. Yet my homeland is different from here. It will suffice."

---

Andrea Vaneau

As the ogre from a faraway land leapt through the emerald foliage, all the bear could do was sit on his rump and wait for Pon to accumulate a large pile of honeycomb. As she smashed it and red honey dripped into the basket, Doug rumbled in approval.

Pon was far better at it than him. When he tried her technique, he often got mud mixed in with the honey, often ruining the taste.

"Excellent." Doug nodded in approval. "Bring the basket and follow me. It will not be a long journey."

Pressing on, Doug and Pon would bear witness to parting trees and forgotten trails almost too small for the bear to comfortably fit inside. Yet they pressed on, and eventually they would reach another clearing. There, Pon would see something frighteningly familiar.

"It cannot be!" Doug let out a ferocious roar that shook the forest. Tracks belonging to a mutt, a bird, and a monkey were layered atop each other, as if their owners had been scrambling. "How is this possible!?"

---

Andrea Vaneau
BINGO: EMERALD

"Munkidori." Doug's breath steamed. "So that is its name."

The Ursaluna rose to his full impressive height, threatening to scratch against the distant branches that made up the forest's canopy. He let out a loud roar that echoed through Petalburg Woods, sending birds flying up into the sky. His rage was ferocious to behold, and a tree fell in the face of a mighty Hammer Arm.

They were nearby.

Doug could smell them on his tongue. That annoying monkey was near.

"MUNKIDORI! I CAN SMELL YOU NEARBY! YOU WILL FACE MY WRATH!" Doug roared at the heavens, demanding that the retainer make his appearance. "I WILL STRIP YOUR STATUES AND TURN THEM TO RUBBLE! FACE MY JUDGEMENT!"

The branches shifted. A silhouette hid between large green leaves. One that was intimately familiar to Pon.

"Nweee-hehehehehehehe... Doug, my fubsy friend! I hate to interject with your incessant bleating, but you've scared away my delectable treats!" Malicious eyes turned towards the oni. "Eh? What the...?"

---

Andrea Vaneau
BINGO: JUDGEMENT

"Munki-whazzat? Does everything look hunkey-dory to you?" The ape stamped his foot against the branch in annoyance as the bear and ogre raged up at him. "Your yappage is at an end! Give me the Max Honey and nobody gets hu-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Pon's Ivy Cudgel shattered the branch the ape was on. With remarkable dexterity, the ape leapt over to the next tree, before clucking his tongue.

"Manners, you audacious ogre! This is between me and the bear!" When Ogerpon grew close once again, she was met with a mighty Branch Poke right in the eye. "You should've bought some goggles!"

The monkey let out a cackle as he hopped away to another branch.

---

Andrea Vaneau