Calvin knew farming like the back of his hand. Up until he had left his family for the life of a Pokemon Ranger (even if he was still only a lowly trainee), farming had been all that he had ever known, waking up before the sun even truly rose above the horizon to tend to crops and the livestock his family had kept for generations upon generations. The Brenner Family farm was quite the name in Oldale and Littleroot, and as Calvin travels through Route 117 to reach his destination, he can't help but wonder how his folks are doing back home without his help. Had Pa hired some farmhands this year, with the lack of his only son? Good workers were hard to come by (at least, according to his parents, who had complained about it every harvest), but he hoped they were managing without him.

[break][break]Perhaps it was his background in farming that had him picking up this particular odd job— As springtime steadily began to warm to summer temperatures, the busy season of all livestock farms began, and a small farm had reached out for help regarding a peculiar herd of Mareep. While small in number, they had managed to break through the fencing of their enclosure, and now had to be corralled back in. This was something he had experience in, albeit with Miltank and not Mareep... But herding was herding.

[break][break]Once he arrived and got briefed on the situation by the owner— Whitney, he thinks her name was, though he supposes it doesn't truly matter— he is off. Streusel eagerly flies beside him as he does so, and it's not long before they find their first Mareep, who seems to be distracted trying to scarf down as many eggant berries as possible on a bush as it can. Perfect.

[break][break]"Streus!" He calls, the grass-type's attention swerving to him. He gestures with his head towards the innocent Mareep. "Dragon Rush— Try to swerve it towards the farm." He instructs, and ever obedient, the Flapple does so, rushing towards the electric-type menacingly, hoping to push it towards where the farm is.

[break][break]...And then Mareep runs off in a different direction. "Fuck."

+ open
[break]+ mission: MAREEP ROUNDUP

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

There’s a cheerful skip in his step as they depart the nursing facility, eggs in tow. His basket of eggs is pressed close to his chest, secure in his arms, but he’s hardly focused on them, truth be told— His hand flies down to his pocket, haphazardly fishing around for his cell phone, something that he had been quick to purchase with what he could scrape together of his funds just before entering the Ranger ranks. He had never been allowed one by his parents, for reasons he was never privy to, and having one now felt like his first act of independence away from them. ”I have one now,” He assures Ruslan as he finally manages to pull it out, offering it carefully to the other man for him to put in his contact information.

[break][break]Once that’s done, he slides it back into his pocket, nodding along to what Lana has to say. His free hand goes to bashfully rub the back of his neck. "Aw, well, the Ranger story isn’t very interestin’… I’ll still tell you, though,” He says, because to him, it isn’t. It had mainly consisted of him showing up at Lilycove City, begging for a job… And a field test, which had clearly gone okay, because he now resided as a trainee there. Speaking of which…

[break][break]”Oh, I— Y’know, live in Lilycove. Kind of. I mainly just crash at the main headquarters there, the big one, but I haven’t had the chance to go out and see all of the city,” He says with a light shrug as Mauville City begins to turn into Route 117, man made structures giving way to nature. ”I get… preoccupied with work, I guess. Haven’t been sent on many big jobs, but y’know…” He trails off. It’s not that he doesn’t want to see what the city has to offer, but it gets hard when he’s the newbie of the Rangers and therefore has to prove himself harder.

[break][break]”As long as I don’t get assigned anywhere near Oldale, I’m fine crashin’ anywhere they want me to,” He finishes, then looks over at Lana. ”Where do y’live? We could visit each other ‘n’ stuff!” He perks up a bit at the idea.

+ ruslan skye [break]
+ mission: eggs in one basket

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Thankfully for him, it is resolutely not another Toucannon in the bushes situation. He brushes away a low-hanging branch that separates him from whatever Cupcake is looking at, and his eyes land on what seems to be the culprit— A Delphox plucking berries from a plant, bringing each selection to its nose and sniffing before taking careful bites. To be honest, he kind of really doesn't want to disturb the fire-type, praying that he can just get away with watching it. He can't help his curiosity, after all. It's his first time seeing a Delphox out in the wild, and his first time seeing a Delphox in general.

[break][break]Granted, it's his first time seeing a lot of Pokemon lately, but that's neither here nor there. Some are just inherently more interesting than others, he can't be faulted for that!

[break][break]Unfortunately for him, he's stared a little too long— Calvin goes tense as the Delphox finally notices the Ranger and his Sylveon studying it, and— Well, to be honest, it doesn't do much other than look back at him, but he can already feel something coming. Jolting out of his stupor, he quickly calls out, "Cupcake, use Fairy Wind!" Dutifully, she does, and he watches as the fire-psychic-type braces against the sparkling wind, caught off guard by the sudden action and therefore weakened by the attack. Hopefully, at least.

[break][break]He doesn't bother waiting around to find out, chucking out a Pokeball hastily and hoping he hears the signature click of a successful catch. Sorry, Delphox.

+ attempting to catch delphox

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

As he attempts to catch his breath beneath the shade of the tree, Calvin doesn't register the Komala that perches above. He has no reason to look up now that he's pretty certain that the Toucannon has decided there were better things to do than chase him around Route 116, and Cupcake doesn't seem bothered by the Komala either, her blue eyes flicking up to face it before considering it a non-issue and beginning to sniff around the area. Calvin's mostly just embarrassed by his behavior— He knows that anybody else would have been able to take on the Toucannon with no issue. He groans to himself, brows furrowing with his frustration.

[break][break]He only cracks open an eye when Sylveon begins making noise, as if begging for his attention. With a huff, he rises to his feet, and hesitantly goes to see what she's looking at that requires his attention. He prays that it's not another Toucannon in the bushes situation. Please don't do this to him, Cupcake.

+ skipping komala

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

As the conversation between the two dies down, Calvin begins to get lost in the ocean breeze, mind drifting, though he still keeps a careful eye on the ravenous Wingull, which the group of Mightyena have grown bored of. He can't blame them— Even his own dutiful Sylveon has started to shift her attention, her paws digging into the sand beneath her as she stares at the crashing waves. He leans down to give the top of her head a little scritch as a reminder of their job, but truthfully, his mind is still fixated on what dangers and anomalies Hoenn could be holding. Outside of the usual dangers, at least. He's had some close encounters with some pissy Pokemon since he's left Oldale, but he knows that Kyle's not taking about that.

[break][break]He's jolted out of his internal musing by the older man's question, and he can't help but perk up with curiosity. "Yes," He says, perhaps a bit more enthusiastically than the question calls for, but he can't help the sense of wonder. A shortcut? How? Maybe Kyle was hiding some other Pokemon than the Mightyena, though he could've sworn there were six of them... "Show me— Er, please." Can't forget his manners, of course.

+ kyle lopez

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Calvin normally loved to take his sweet time with getting up in the morning, but it seemed that other plans were in store for him when he awoke this early. Which wasn't exactly rare in and of itself— But what was rare was the fact that no matter how much he tried to melt back into the sheets of the bed he was crashing on, he couldn't drift back into slumber. Maybe it was the scratchy sheets of the cheap hotel he had booked for the night, maybe it was restlessness, but eventually, he decided to do much the same as Hoon— Wander around until he eventually got bored or drowsy enough to settle in for a nap.

[break][break]It's said wandering that brings him to him and the two Caterpie. Anybody else might have just passed them by, but Calvin... Well, even in the hours where the sun was barely creeping above the expanse of the horizon, he was friendly above all else. "Mornin'," He greets, voice chipper as he approaches, his hands stuffed into his Ranger uniform jacket that he had thrown on over his sleep shirt haphazardly. Viridian eyes drift to the Caterpie, and he tilts his head to the side slightly. "Y'all are starin' at those Caterpie like they did somethin' to you." He jokes, cracking a silly grin. Maybe they did. That'd be funny, he thinks.

+ @jihoon

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Calvin is still too preoccupied coddling his dear Sylveon to notice his surroundings, fretting over her perhaps more than he needs to. She suddenly stops squirming in his arms, though she doesn't go completely limp— No, instead it feels as if every muscle in her body has gone taut with anticipation, and he blinks quizzically. "What's wrong?" He questions, even if she can't necessarily speak back to him outside of her own cries, and looks around.

[break][break]Suddenly, a squawking Toucannon flies out of the bushes, rushing forwards and diving towards them. "Shit!" Calvin yelps, and as much as he wishes he could say he remained calm and took control of the situation, he definitely did not. He darts away, carrying his poor fairy-type with him as he goes, and darts behind the safety of a tree trunk.

[break][break]Eventually, the squawking dies down, the Toucannon having decided that it had better things to do than chase them down. "Aw, man," He whines to himself, cheeks rosy with his humiliation as he relaxes his arms, Cupcake allowed to slide from his grip. "That was really, really un-Ranger-like."

+ skipping toucannon

[attr="class","pokeclass"]