"Dunno." Scout says, drily. "Have ya tried asking it nicely."

A beat. The woman snorts.

The corner of Scout's mouth fishhooks up into a wry grin. But he thinks Ever might have been looking for a real answer, so he wipes it off his face as quickly as it appears and attempts what he thinks might approximate a contemplative ponder.

"Waking it up would be a good start," he says.

One step at a time.


ever blackwell

Scout watches the man approach out of the corner of his eye. He's not attempting to hide his footsteps or sneak up on the ranger, so he figures it's a friendly face. This theory is confirmed when the man pulls out a rod of his own. Scout appreciates the man's smooth cast and the soft twang of the rod's flexible body snapping into place. He gives him a nod.

In the excitement of a bite, Scout loses track of who reels in first — on his own line, a few gentle tugs is all it takes to find a Horsea bobbing at the surface of the coastal waters. Hastily he unclips a Pokeball from his belt and summons his Shroomish, who appears in a flash. "Shroom?"


Fletcher Hyland

Scout mumbles out something that could maybe be taken as a you too, although it ends up sounding more like yeweoh. He thinks maybe he should correct himself, but then Shalin is turning the doorknob, and he's shuffling inside after her.

Back in Fortree, it wasn't an uncommon sight to encounter bug Pokemon chewing up the wooden structures and woven roofs of the treehouses that made up the city's skyline. You kind of just learned to live with them. Most of them were harmless, anyway. This cottage, however, seemed to have been abandoned for months, if not years — so the resulting infestation has only grown. Scout has to steel himself with an assenting, "Mm."

He unclips two Pokeballs from his belt, and a Shroomish and Nickit appear in a flash that causes the swarm of Venipede and Scolipedes to skitter away, disoriented. "Gonna need your help here," Scout tells his Pokemon.


Shalin Nariya

The Turtwig seems to enjoy the soft, fresh dirt, and nibbles at a particularly fluffy clump as Josh begins to examine it. Scout can't help a twitch of a smile watching it eat. It doesn't stay docile for long, however, and the smile drops from Scout's face after it snaps at Josh's fingers. Poor thing. It's probably just terrified and overstimulated. You don't need RangerNet to tell you that.

"No," Scout says. "But I don't think we should move it now. It's stressed out."

Josh Devlin

By the time Scout makes his way west of Lilycove City, the faint smell of ash has settled into the air. Mt. Pyre must be smoking again. It's unpleasant to inhale, so Scout returns his Pokemon to their balls for the rest of the trek. He doesn't have specific business in the Safari Zone, really; he's being sent as part of a regular rotation to supply the refuge with extra ranger hands. Maybe to pick up trash left by tourists or trim the grass, et cetera.

Nonetheless, Scout figures he can take his time. He's an early riser, and Route 121 is beautiful in the morning dawn. The bottom of his pant legs wet with dew as he tramps through the tall grass. The route is well trodden, but quiet now, and Scout can only hope it stays that way as he cuts away from the path.


Elise Calcifet

After two weeks in the Petalburg Woods, Scout's decided it's probably about time to make his way back to civilization. Not because he doesn't want to stay out there, of course — he's just running low on his Nickit's favorite Pokéblocks.

Besides, he's packed his fishing rod for a reason. And the weather's nice. Scout decides to enjoy the brisk winds and let his Pokémon take a dip by the dock. It's not a long walk to Petalburg City from here, and he's got plenty of time to make the journey before nightfall. Scout picks a spot on the horizon and sends his line deep. Then he settles in for a relaxing afternoon of watching the bobber bouncing up and down with the waves.

Fletcher Hyland

"Okay," Scout says, feeling like he's maybe being chided for dropping the honorifics. Sometimes it's hard to tell. He sidles over to the Turtwig's temporary home and begins to transfer dirt from his pockets to the bottom of the cardboard box. It involves a lot of scooping, and small chunks escape his grasp and float to the floor.

He's already told Josh all he knows, really, so Scout doesn't see the point of repeating himself. Wild baby Turtwig. Needs a new home. So he shrugs and points vaguely at the sparsely-detailed intake forms he'd filled out with the old guy sitting on the table.

Josh Devlin

Scout gives Captain Shalin a nod. He thinks he's maybe met her already, at least in some cadet handbook or ranger promotional material somewhere. He gives the Scolipede a similarly respectful nod. Then, despite a lack of introduction to the Frosmoth, it feels awkward to ignore it, so Scout bows deeply to the ice pokemon in turn as well.

When he bobs back up, he attempts to offer up a weak facsimile of a friendly grin. Though maybe it comes off as more of a grimace. He isn't in the habit of keeping his Pokemon out of their balls, so he says, "Scout," and declines to elaborate.

Shalin Nariya

The man drops off the baby Turtwig at the ranger station in the early hours of the morning. Just found 'im crawling around in m' neighbor's trash, he says. Scout, who has taken to volunteering for the early shift as it usually means his best chance for a peaceful sunrise, is only a bit grumbly about taking the man's statement and helping him with the paperwork. Wild Pokémon intake and liability release, duh duh... it's hard to be down while watching the little guy awaken with the early sunlight.

As soon as the man leaves, Scout places the Turtwig's cardboard box underneath the windowsill and scampers down the wooden spiral steps that connect the rangers' treetop outpost to the forest floor. He shovels a few handfuls of damp earth into his pocket and begins the trek back up. Josh, fellow ranger, is peering into the Turtwig's enclosure when he returns.

"Baby turtwig," Scout tells him. "Seems wild. Needs rehabilitation."


Josh Devlin

Every child of Fortree learns to navigate the overpass — the dense, winding, kilometers-long pathways of wooden rope-bridges that connect the city's treetop infrastructure — by schooling age, and some even as young as two or three are sent by busy mothers to run neighborhood errands. Some say the city's natives are natural navigators and orienteers. The twisting, criss-crossing nature of the paths, coupled with a lack of directional sunlight blocked by the canopy layer of the temperate rainforest, tends to spin tourists and travelers 'round til the local rangers are paged in to help.

So it's yet another lost aspiring trainer on their way to challenge the gym that Scout is expecting when he responds to this afternoon's distress call. The voice through his Pokétch is fuzzy and clearly panicking.

When he and Ever show up at the site of the call's coordinates, however, the woman who is there to greet them looks physically unharmed and more put-out than afraid. She's there with a pair of Skiddo laden with packaged agricultural goods; two boxes hang by their sides. She points at the clearing that normally opens the main path into Fortree's town center to outside Hoenn.

"I see." Scout says, when he does. A massive — easily two-and-a-half meters tall and likely over 150kg — Slaking blocks the path, completely and blissfully unaware at the massive traffic obstruction it has become.


ever blackwell

When Scout sets the first foot tentatively down on the splintered landing of the old cottage's wooden porch, the creak of the floorboards seem to echo for far longer than they should for such a mossy, overgrown space. If there are any bug Pokémon waiting beyond the door that weren't already aware of the two rangers' approach, they must know now.

Scout shifts his weight from foot to foot. He peers through the broken window. The jagged pieces of glass scatter the sunlight, catching the dust specks that drift aimlessly through the still, untouched air.

His gaze slides to his partner, the more senior ranger of the two on this mission. She's been entrusted with the key to the property. Though it'll have been a miracle if the front lock has held up.[break]

Shalin Nariya