Gideon is glad that Dermot wants to stay friends and she touches her hand to his finger with an enthusiastic, "Karr!!" Chani touched the back of her blade to Dermot's finger and nodded -- they had to hurry out of here to safety.[break][break]
Knight felt relief for all of two seconds before their path was blocked off by two Grafaiai.[break][break]
Luckily Cass was quick to direct her mons and Knight did the same, "Chani, use Metal Claw and Gideon, try a Headbutt!" Both Pokémon hesitated for a second (hey, they look like Dermot...) but when they realised their friend was going to fight too, they stepped up.[break][break]
Chani and Gideon work together to take out the Grafaiai in their way and Knight gestured for them to hurry past, "Come on Cass, I think they'll stay in the woods, right? As long as we make it back to the streets..." He waited to make sure his friend was able to follow, scooped up Gideon and hurried towards the street lights.


[break][break]

[attr="class","tag"]Cassandra Kubrick

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Yup, Knight was totally missing the fact that Zeus and Hercules were not being friendly at all. If anything, it was just a rivalry that was going to grow stronger with each passing moment. Hercules started to perform his punches, making sure Zeus was watching and oinking to show off how much effort he was putting in.[break][break]
As for Kay, he thought he did okay with the punches. At the very least, his cousin seemed happy and that was enough for him. [break][break]
When Thea mentioned pairing up, Bau immediately gathered around Hammy and that was settled. Knight chuckled and then gave Hercules a tiny shove forward, "Look, Zeus wants to pick you! Go have fun!" As if Herc was being shy and not trying to flex and intimidate the Primeape.[break][break]
The Pignite knew the Primeape was more experienced than him but he also knew he had the potential to evolve some day. Ha! Take that Zeus! Hercules faced off against the Primeape and oinked (louder, of course).[break][break]
"Alright, you and me then?" Knight said to his cousin since all the 'mons had paired off. Not that he minded one bit but he knew he was going to end up flat on his back at some point. Thea was a fierce opponent!

[break][break]

[attr="class","tag"]Thea Naito

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Knight nodded as Josh instructed him to lead the way, "No problem." At the very least, he could manage this much. Getting them to the co-ordinates wouldn't be too difficult, if his memory of Fortree and it's surrounding area was still accurate.[break][break]
"Oh yeah? That sounds delicious. Let's celebrate a successful job later." He said with confidence -- it was hard to imagine this going wrong for them. Not with Josh along![break][break]
He waited a moment and, sensing Josh's Pyroar was keen to get moving, started to lead the group.[break][break]
It was terrain he knew the 'mons would have no trouble with, and at least he had the advantage of being airborne. He felt it would help if they needed to scan the area further if the bus had moved. Knight flew in silence, focused on the task he had been given. It was probably ten minutes before they approached the co-ordinates, "We're coming up on it now. I can see rockfall and..." No sign of the bus.[break][break]
But that wasn't a bad thing, since there were obvious signs the ground had been disturbed, so they had a pretty good idea of where to look. Knight timidly guided Moiraine to go a few feet higher and then called out, "I see some injured Pokémon -- I don't know if they are wild or belong to the children." [break][break]
He didn't dare go further as he waited to hear what Josh would advise him to do. Would it be a good to release Hercules and Lettle now?

[break][break]

[attr="class","tag"]Josh Devlin

[attr="class","pkmn"]

As the ground shook and bucked, Knight let out a laugh and gave the Ranger a thumbs up. Soon everything settled and the Sizzlipede was definitely dealt with, "Cool!" If nothing else, Kay wanted to join the Rangers so he could easily help people with situations like this.[break][break]
He just needed to train more and improve his skills, so they couldn't say no to his application![break][break]
"Thanks Captain. Yeah, I think heading back would be a good idea." He had caught plenty of Pokémon today and was excited to get to know them all. Knight recalled Perrin to let the bird rest and made plans to get him to a Centre as soon as possible.[break][break]
After doing that, Kay turned to Captain Nariya with a bright smile, "I'm so happy I can into you and your 'mons today. It was a lot of fun to see a Ranger Captain in action!"

[attr="class","tag"]Shalin Nariya

[attr="class","pkmn"]

"Woah, a Martin!" Knight chuckled as the Comfey floated closer to him. He held out his hand and it drifted down gently to land, "My best friend has a Pokémon just like you..." The Pokémon let out a happy chirp and Knight chuckled again.[break][break]
The pleasant aroma from the Comfey almost made him forget why he had been walking along this street, "Want to come home with me?" Sailor asked, holding up a Poké Ball, "And then we're going to go buy some delicious desserts!"[break][break]
The Comfey seemed to agree with this plan, letting out more chirps and wrapping its flowers around Kay's wrist.

[break][break]

[attr="class","tag"]---

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Gideon apologises to Dermot and explains that she didn't want him to get hurt, so she had to do something! And Chani wasn't at fault either, she just wanted to help. Hopefully Dermot would accept her apology since she didn't want to stop being friends with him because of this.[break][break]
Knight, meanwhile, agreed with Cass and knew they had to get out of there as soon as possible. He recalled his Pokémon to keep them safe and turned to hurry along the path while following Cass. She probably knew where she was going and, since he had no sense of direction anyway, it was just safer to tag along.[break][break]
"I hope they're not following us..." The patterns weren't as numerous as they moved past the trees but it still felt like they were being watched. Knight was too scared to look back and he didn't expect Cass to look either. It was probably just best for them to keep moving.


[break][break]

[attr="class","tag"]Cassandra Kubrick

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Loot Guard dumped a load of information for Knight to take in but he tried his best. So a side that seemed more protected, somewhere at a similar height to the post at the Dojo and maybe with some bones lying around...[break][break]
It was slow-going as neither Knight or Moiraine had experience with what they were doing right now but eventually Knight was able to circle one of the abandoned warehouses and he thought he spotted a good location for a nest.[break][break]
"Loot Guard, over here. Look." Kay pointed to the spot he had been considering -- it was a little bit higher than the post at the Dojo but there were plenty of bones lying around, all different shapes and sizes. It seemed to be protected from the elements, and Knight couldn't see any issues with a leaky roof or anything like that. He waited to hear what the Ranger thought.


[break][break]

[attr="class","tag"]Lutgarde Dijkstra

[attr="class","pkmn"]

When Knight had signed up for the Ranger programme through his school, he hadn't expected to be paired with someone so quickly -- or with Josh for that matter. It was surreal to think he could spend more time with the Gym Leader (and hadn't he recently become Champion?!) and learn from him.[break][break]
He knew that it was dangerous too so Knight had thought long and hard about which 'mons he'd bring along. It seemed a good idea to have a smaller number so he could have more control but also type coverage. So that was how Moiraine, Hercules and Lettle got picked to come along.[break][break]
Fitzwilliam would, no doubt, be mad at Knight for not bringing him along but the student was confident there would be more Ranger missions to help with if he did a good job today.[break][break]
"I remember, the briefing stated that the bus might not be in its last known location." Knight double-checked everything but he was ready to go. "At least Fortree is my home turf, so I know it pretty well." Which made him hope he wouldn't be completely useless in this situation.[break][break]
Knight had managed to outfit Moiraine with a glide saddle. Not the most ideal Pokémon, but she was an XL Pelipper so Knight felt comfortable riding her until he got a more suitable Glide 'mon. At least, that small practice with Loot Guard would pay off now.

[break][break]

[attr="class","tag"]Josh Devlin

[attr="class","pkmn"]

"Oh, I saw that... I think... Was it...?" Knight babbled, looking at the bugs stuck onto the trees and frowning. Something about that looked very familiar to him but he couldn't really pinpoint why. He just knew it wasn't a good situation to be in but it didn't look like they'd be able to free the bugs easily.[break][break]
Or at all.[break][break]
Suddenly he was grabbed by the shoulders and Knight let out a tired laugh, "I'm fine! I'm just worried about what we're going to do here. There's a lot of those Grafaiai around..." And it felt like their numbers were growing by the second. Cass was right, though, they didn't want to attract the attention of the crowned one.[break][break]
Now Dermot was acting weird. Kay frowned, "What do we do? What would snap him out of it?" He looked at his own Pokémon and nodded to Chani and Gideon, "Both of you, use Scary Face and hopefully it will help snap Dermot out of... Whatever is happening!" Both of his 'mons quickly moved in front of Dermot and performed the move.[break][break]
"Did it help?" Knight asked Cass, glancing between Dermot and some of the other Grafaiai who seemed to be watching them and inching closer. It felt like they might have to fight their way out of this one...


[break][break]

[attr="class","tag"]Cassandra Kubrick

[attr="class","pkmn"]

The next Pokémon that Knight came across was one he almost stepped on! He hadn't been paying attention, and the teeny tiny Grass and Normal type had somehow managed to get underfoot. "Woah, hey, watch out." [break][break]
He had to do this weird, dance-y sidestep to get by and sighed, "You're cute and all, but I have a feeling one of my 'mons would think you were a snack... Or one of Thea's..." So he let the little Smoliv go on its way.[break][break]
It wasn't far to the bakery now and he was excited to see what he could buy for the Pokemon to enjoy!

[break][break]

[attr="class","tag"]---

[attr="class","pkmn"]

One second everything was okay-ish and the next second it was very much not okay-ish. [break][break]
Knight didn't even know he had fainted because he was having such a pleasant dream. He was skipping through a field of long grass with Fitzwilliam next to him -- there was even some Miltank nearby! Wow, they showed up in his dreams a lot these days huh?[break][break]
One of the Miltank hurried over to Kay and he was so surprised because she could talk! And she had Thea's voice! Funny Miltank.[break][break]
"Wake up!" She said and Knight laughed, "Don't be silly, I am awake!" But the Miltank didn't like his answer. Suddenly, the world started shaking and--[break][break]
He woke up with a loud gasp, sitting up and looking around in confusion. Fitzwilliam was nearby with a worried look on his face and the sounds of chaos quickly filled Knight's ears, "What is going on!?" [break][break]
Wait! He could remember! He had been on his way to buy some Lava Cookies!

[break][break]

[attr="class","tag"]Thea Naito

[attr="class","pkmn"]