(Reboot) Pokemon: Beyond the Tall Grass

Decoda was still a little confused at the whole thing, and his voice reflected this as he furrowed his brows at Rotom.

"So there's a bunch more of you other than Arceus, Zapdos, Entei and stuff, yeah.  I get that.  And the deja vu thing is a little freaky, but I guess it can be cool... Anyway; so the Audino that I'm related to was like you?  The whole 'human form' thing and the extra powers?  Is that right?  Is that how Pokemon can have human descendants?" he asked, a little frustrated since the whole thing was like a giant puzzle.  Painstakingly, they had to put each piece together, and when they tried to fit one part of the massive jigsaw in, it seemed to be turned the wrong way or fit in a whole different spot all together.  This is why it was so hard for him to truly understand what they had and why each question meant a lot to him, no matter who was asking or answering.

Chimecho saw him tense up, and draped herself over his shoulders to try and calm him down.  He didn't want to look at her right now, but pat her head nonetheless.  "I'm alright," he muttered, until he looked up and past Wes to see Catia enter the center with a pretty girl with white hair.  This was the third person Catia had brought to them: Wes, since the introduction to Vulpix; Kar, that mysterious person she was talking about; and this girl, who looked a bit shy.  That wasn't even counting that fateful day where her Poochy found Loka's Mightyena, which triggered her to come to them!  Where was she finding all these people?!?

"Wes, now's your chance to talk - Catia's back with a cute girl," he told the blonde haired guy as he waved back to her.

Umbreon leaped off the bench in front of Espeon and made a swipe at the oncoming puppy, his claws catching Poochy in the muzzle. The eeveeloution took a defensive stance in front of his friend and new allies, challenging the small puppy to make another move. Wes bent down and picked up his pokemon, bapping it on his muzzle. He frowned at Umbreon, as it slowly calmed down.

"Calm yourself." He whispered to his pokemon. "New region, new chance." he then looked up, not really paying attention to the girl. "Hey, Catia. Good to see you're still alive."

Espeon turned to Poochy and tried to establish a telepathic link, but since it was a dark type. she couldn't. Instead, she turned to Mudkip and sighed.

"Could you please let your friend here know I apologize for my mate's behavior? It's best to approach him with great caution."


"H-hello!" Yuno waved shyly to Catia's friends and smiled politely, unsure of what to do. "I'm Yuno... Catia's friend!" She wanted to make a decent impression on these guys. "Nice to meet you all!"

Poochy let out a cry when suddenly caught across his muzzle by Umbreon's claws, making him scamper back into Catia's arms as she pet him gently and immediately went to sit down to look at his muzzle where he got scratched. She glared at Wes and his Umbreon almost immediately afterwards.

"Some greeting!"

She huffed, keeping a rather shocked Poochy in her arms as she tried her best to calm him down. Honestly what was that stupid Umbreon's problem with making friend's anway? They were both the same type for goodness sake's! It took a minute or two before Poochy calmed down a bit, still staying in Catia's arms so long as he was within view of Wes' Umbreon. She sighed and set him down into her lap, stroking his fur gently as he relaxed and laid down. She looked over at Rotom and blinked, having never really seen him before. She looked over at Cerise and Decoda shortly afterwards.

"He um....he's new. Who's your friend?"

She asked, thinking Rotom's appearance to be really rather odd.

Mudkip's mouth lowered steadily as it watched Umbreon swat at Poochy aggressively.  It quickly looked to Espeon and listened to its words carefully before nodding and hopping over to Catia, who held onto Poochy.  It kipped and yipped to the K9 Pokemon, explaining the situation so it was aware for next time.

"Watch out next time!  That Umbreon isn't the playful type, so stay back and you won't get hurt!" Mudkip told Poochy in its Pokemon speech.*

Decoda raised an eyebrow at Catia.  She may have missed it, but back when Zapdos was asking for a kicking, Rotom did appear in his human form to advise them about what was going on.
"
"Rotom; the avatar of Rotom.  Our personal guide to the world of confusion and legendaries," he said with a small sigh and a quick head tilt towards the plasma Pokemon.  "We just got done learning how Dialga can apparently give us a case of deja vu, and that 'Prince' Cerise is actually related to an ancient line of Aegislash.  Wanna know what Pokemon you're related to?" he said with a light chuckle, getting up from his seat with Chimecho still attached to his shoulders.

He walked over to Yuno to introduce himself, smiling and wondering how Catia met her.  "Hey," he began, outstretching his hand for a shake.  "I'm Decoda.  Nice to meet you, Yuno.  How'd ya meet Catia?"

*((You guys remember that one episode of the Pokemon anime with the subtitles?  They should do that more.  We should do that more.))

(OOC: We can probably work out a quick system for it so that we can separate human speech from pokemon speech. Maybe Italics and an optional color format?)

Poochy nodded to what Mudkip had said, still pawing at its nose a little bit from where it got scratched.

I figured that much when it scratched my nose. I'm so confused though...what did I ever do to deserve something like that? Surely I didn't hurt him did I?

Poochy argued, glancing at Umbreon who was now in his trainer's arms and being scolded for attacking him like that. He tilted his head at the fellow dark-type pokemon, curious as to why it was so hostile towards him just now. Maybe it had something to do with Espeon?

Catia thought for a moment about what Decoda was talking about, not really recalling seeing Rotom before she'd met Arceus. She shrugged after a bit, giving the reasonable thought that it was probably not on the top of her list of priorities at that point in time.

"I guess I must've had other things on my mind at that point. But I guess if Rotom doesn't mind, I'm more than curious to figure out what Pokemon I'm related to."

She answered him, watching Rotom closely after she finished.

Cerise glanced up to nod at Catia and her friend before looking down to the shield on his lap again. Normally, he'd say a bit more to someone new, but more was on his mind right now. There hadn't been much interaction with the Avatars in a while, and it made Cerise uncomfortable. While the rational part of his mind said that he shouldn't get involved, his intuition told him that pursuing the leads that they had right now would be incredibly important for the future. He furrowed his brows a bit before pushing up his glasses, which had begun to slide down the bridge of his nose.

Cerise smiled faintly as Decoda explained to the two arrivals what the guys had been talking about in Catia's absence, taking note of Umbreon's reaction to Poochyena. Actually, Cerise had noticed from a similar reaction from the Eeveelution when making contact with Decoda's reaction. It was plain to see that Umbreon had been through a lot of hardships that had caused it to be less than trusting towards others. Stemming from his caretaker background, Cerise felt the urge to comfort the Eeveelution and help it relaxe, but recognized that there was a strong and ominous aura from the Umbreon. It's killing intent, perhaps?

That was when Pawniard let itself out of its Pokeball, planting itself firmly in a sitting position on top of Cerise's lap where the trainer held his shield. The small blade-armed baby looked around at group, recognizing some faces and learning new ones. Recalling seeing Mudkip and Chimecho from the beach previously, the newborn nodded to itself, as if memorizing what they looked like. It paused as it looked at Umbreon, Espeon, and Wes, as if transfixed by their appearance. Seeing Yuno, the newborn waved its arms excitedly with a shout of "Pawnia!"

Cerise looked up at the others before clearing his throat. "So, after this, where are we headed next?"

Yuno  shook Decoda's hand and smiled politely before answering his question.

"Well, Catia came in to see Surge, and I was just resigning from the resistance Stealth Force. My self-esteem was really down in the dirt, so Catia made an effort to help me! We went for dinner, and I had fun. I feel a lot better, too. It was really kind of her to give me a chance..." Yuno concluded, blushing wildly as she praised Catia. When the fighter picked up Poochy, she knelt down and pet him gently, examining the scratch. "It's only a surface scratch. Just clean it off and he'll be fine."


Wes heard the anger in Catia's voice as she tended to her spooked pokemon. He pinched the bridge of his nose with his good hand and sighed. This was going to be a long trip for him... 

Umbreon wiggled free of Wes's grasp and hid under the bench, trying to keep away from the other pokemon. Espeon sighed and turned to Chimecho and Mudkip, broadcasting to them. 


"As I have said before. If you can slip away from your trainers tonight, I can explain Umbreon's mentality to you."


Rotom looked back and forth as these multiple exchanges went on before zapping himself back into the broken pokegear. As much as he wanted to introduce himself and test everyone for Pokemon Ancestries, he just wasn't comfortable around so many people in one building.

"Miss Catia," He started. "Would it be satisfactory if I held off your testing until later on? There are quite a few people here, and I am not a fan of large crowds."

Catia nodded to Rotom's expression of his social anxiety, smiling in recognition of it.

"That's fine Rotom. Just don't forget is all I ask."

She responded to his question, nodding to Yuno as she told her about Poochy's scratched muzzle. She turned back to Wes as she reached into her bag and found some small first aid supplies.

"You want to explain why Poochy just got clawed for no good reason?"

She asked him, her obvious irritation with the situation thick in her voice. She found some antiseptic wipes and smiled at Poochy as she gently cleaned off the scratch on his muzzle, the puppy responding by scrunching his nose and sneezing at the unpleasant scent that filled it shortly afterwards. Even if it was supposed to help, it still didn't smell very good.

"Stealth Force, huh?  Sounds dangerous," Decoda thought out loud, remembering Lieutenant Surge and his warlike arsenal.  She must have been pretty strong for him to pick her in the first place, but why did she leave, he wondered?  As Yuno pet Poochy, he looked into her face, finding that the pupils in her eyes were the same as Catia's.

Ascended.  There.  That's the reason.  And Rotom wasn't freaking out about it, so she must have had official judging... right?  He was acting a little nervous though, so Decoda walked over to him and tapped on the broken gear, letting him know he could come back inside for safe keeping.

Decoda then turned to Cerise as he saw the Pawniard hatchling screech cheerfully for everyone.  He chuckled, his eyes drifting beneath its little feet.  The shield... looked only close in color to Aegislash's, but was his friend really that enveloped in the mystery?  Maybe he saw something no one else did?  Either way, he wanted to answer Cerise's question, but he wasn't completely sure about where they were going to next, either...

"Well, we're in Vermillion now," he started, pulling up a map on his working Pokegear.  "And we began in Celadon, went through Saffron... what about heading to Fuschia City next?  There aren't any major towns on the road, but I know there's a bunch of farmland and small villages along the way. We might find something cool."

He closed up his map after showing Cerise the rather crooked pathway from here to there, but pointed to spots where he predicted there would be some place to rest.  "Might take a day or two to get there, but it should be fine.  We should leave as soon as possible."

"Hey, Yuno," Decoda called over to the new girl.  "You live around here or would you like to come with us to Fuschia City?"

Meanwhile, Mudkip and Chimecho, who had slithered off of Decoda's neck to listen to Espeon, both agreed to meet the psychic Eeveelution to hear the full story.  The mudfish would be sure to tell the others about this secret meeting once they were on the road.

Wes looked at Catia with a hardened gaze before standing up in front of her. He was a bit taller then her, so he looked down at her. He frowned deeply.

"Maybe you should train him to approach pokemon he isn't sure about with caution. I mean, you baby your pokemon enough, why not give them the actual training they need?" he bent down and gently picked up his hiding Umbreon. He scratched it behind the ear then set it back down on the floor. The dark type immediately made its way back over to Espeon, staying close to her side. "Your pokemon won't remain babies forever, Catia. If you don't start training them soon, they'll grow stubborn and spoiled. It alright to treat them and give them the affection the deserve. Hell, there are many pokemon out there that aren't shown the affection they need. They're the one who get taken advantage of. Then its the spoiled ones that choose to never listen unless they get what they want." Umbreon looked up at Wes and grawr'd, as if agreeing with him. "It's easy to spoil a pokemon, but it makes it harder on the one who has to rescue them..."

Wes took a step back and sighed. His job made him like a ranger, but Rangers dealt with wild pokemon, as well as law enforcement and riot control. Snaggers dealt with taking an already owned pokemon away from it's trainer when their hearts become closed off due to their mistreatment. He thought back to the Orre region, where there was a small ranch. The pokemon he had snagged and helped be purified were there, learning how to keep themselves from letting their hearts be closed again. He sighed again and closed his eyes, sitting back down on the bench where he began to try and work feeling back into his arm.



Yuno stared at Decoda when he offered a spot to travel with them. A large smile crossed her face and she started hopping up and down in her spot.

"I'd love to travel with you!" she exclaimed, now hugging Catia tightly. "I don't really live around here, and I planned on heading out of the city anyways.. So it's win/win! I really hope I'll be able to contribute to the group! Me and Galopa both!"

On cue, her single pokemon let itself out to greet the group. The ponyta stamped the ground gently and snorted its greeting to these new people. It pushed it's snout against Catia's face again, remembering her from dinner.

Cerise watched the exchange with mild interest, paying close attention to the words Wes said. There was definitely some subtext in what he had said, even if it wasn't completely obvious. His gaze drifted to Umbreon and Espeon again, even more sure that Wes' vocation as a "capture specialist" wasn't quite as simple as he initially made it out to be. Cerise certainly didn't want to form a bad impression of Wes right off the bat, but he couldn't help but worry. It certainly seemed as though there might be several degrees of friction between Wes and the rest of the group, specifically Catia. But as Wes stopped his monologue, he found himself speaking up as well.

"I agree about being careful with babying Pokemon. Too many times have I seen trainers leave Pokemon that are spoiled at my uncle's day care, and never come back. Or they some how expect us to make their Pokemon more obedient? Every Pokemon is different, but all require some amount of discipline so that they don't become a threat to themselves or others. It happened with a Tyranitar I was helping care for a few years back. It ended up knocking a whole bunch of smaller Pokemon that couldn't swim into a raging river. Thankfully, Chespin and I got them out before any permanent damage was done, but the point remains... It's a vicious cycle for both trainers and Pokemon if you aren't careful."

"...And those stubborn ones who get left in the day care... even if they never admit it, you could always tell that they were crying on the inside. They blame themselves for being left by their trainers... their friends... but never would admit to it and just stick to themselves. It was really heartbreaking to watch them lose all hope and give in to their inner despair." Cerise paused, eyes now downcast. "...Sorry for making that depressing... It's just that Pokemon Rights are pretty important to me... But Fuschia City seems fine to me. Especially if it isn't that far away. But we should get your Mello D. Etta tickets from Saffron first."

Catia heard the exchages of words about disciplining Pokemon from the others, smiling and petting Galopa when it came out and pushed its head against hers. After they finished she nodded along with them before putting in her own input.

"Fuschia's perfect. I have to go there on some advice from Lt. Surge anyway so that's fine. As for disciplining Pokemon, I think you're right that they won't be babies forever and spoiling someone can be bad if done too much. I guess it's just something I need to learn as a new trainer. Maybe you could give me a few pointers along the way Wes? It might help a little bit."

She admitted to the others, her cheeks flushing when Yuno hugged her so tightly. She smiled and hugged her back, Poochy wiggling free of Catia's grasp and going over to Umbreon, this time a bit more cautiously. It kept a bit of distance before trying to talk to it.

Is it okay if I come any closer? I don't want to get swiped at again.

It asked, watching the Umbreon carefully for hostile movements. It wanted to make peace with this Pokemon, if anything just to show it hadn't meant any harm before.

Mudkip saw Poochy head over and dashed up to it.  Immediately, it 'kipped' off a warning sound.

"Hey, don't do that!  You'll get it, again!  Espeon said it would tell us about Umbreon later - find away to sneak away from your trainer tonight.  Then we'll all learn the reason.  Be patient," Mudkip said to Poochy as it held up its paw to prevent it from going further.  Chimecho quickly joined his side and confirmed it with a nod.

The red head pounded his fist into his open palm upon figuring out he almost forgot about his tickets!  What would he do if he didn't get them?!  All that calling yesterday for nothing!

"Wow, thanks, Cerise!  You saved the day again!" he said gratefully, his eyes filled with happy realization.  "But don't worry about what you said, man.  It's true.  That's why I asked my Pokemon if they could tell me more about what they like and don't like, somehow.  I want to understand them just like everyone else!  The closer we are to our lifelong friends, the better people we will be," he finished, trying to aim for a more positive note.

"Still, you really do sound like a noble and brave prince when you talk about helping all the Pokemon who were abandoned.  Maybe if we find some secret treasure we can open up an adoption center for Pokemon somewhere!" he told his friend, opening up his arms wide to emphasize the size of the adoption center he would want.  His grin even reflected this, going as wide as his mouth would allow.

"Oh, stop it!" Cerise laughed as Decoda stretched his arms wide, unable to take his friend seriously. He shook his head in a mixture of disbelief and amusement before remembering something. Looking at Galopa, he dutifully scanned it with his Pokedex to gather its data, which was quickly followed by data on Umbreon and Espeon. With the three new entries, he returned his attention to Yuno as he weighed whether he should ask her what was on his mind. Finally deciding that it couldn't truly hurt, he slowly got up, with Pawniard jumping down to waddle over to meet up with the other Pokemon.

"Speaking of giving out pointers... Your name is Yuno, right? And you said you were on Lt. Surge's Stealth Force, correct? Erm... if it wouldn't be too uncomfortable, would you be alright with giving me a few combat pointers? If that's alright with you, I mean!" He added quickly, not wanting to seem pushy. It was strange to think that on the way to Vermilion, it had made Cerise sick to the stomach to think about using weapons in combat, but looking at the bigger picture... having some combat training would probably be beneficial, right?

Wes nodded to Cerise's words, and Catia's realization. He rubbed his marking and thought about Catia's request. He wasn't much for mentoring, As the last time he was a mentor, a hideout got blown up. He sighed and looked at the martial artist.

"Alright." he responded. "I'll let you know that my methods are more for people rather than pokemon, so I don't want to hear any complaining."



Umbreon immediately backed away from the approaching Poochyena, resisting to swing again. Usually pokemon learned after the first swat. If they didn't he resorted to asserting dominance. Espeon stepped between Umbreon and Poochy, shaking her head. She turned to Umbreon and broadcasted, to him and the others. It was rather strange since dark types were immune to telepathy.

"Relax yourself," She said gently. "The child meant no harm to you. He simply got overexcited and didn't think."

"S-sorry..." Umbreon stared at the ground, not looking up. For the first time in years, he returned himself to his pokeball, causing Wes to jump slightly.



Yuno looked over to Cerise, wide eyed. No one had asked her for combat advice before. She let go of Catia and waved nonchalantly at Cerise.

"R-really? You want me to teach you?! No one's ever asked me for advice before! I-I mean, I don't give BAD advice, b-but I'm not sure if it's actually GOOD advice..."



After a bit more talking, the group headed back to Saffron to pick up Decoda's tickets. When that task was complete, the went back through Vermillion and are now on Route 11, making their way to Fuschia City. As they walked, they've seen A small herd of Stantler, a few oddish before they hid themselves in the ground as the trainers walked past, and a couple of Pansage swinging through the trees that lined the route. Dusk would be falling soon, but there is about two hours of sunlight left.

With his tickets securely tucked away in his pockets, Decoda kept walking on with his team mates, his two Pokemon tucked away in their Pokeballs for safe keepings.  Mudkip and Chimecho would have to break out themselves if they wanted to have that secret meeting with Espeon and Umbreon, tonight.

Adjusting his guitar case on his shoulders and flipping his hair behind his head, Decoda felt glad to be back in motion.  Seemed a lot quieter for some reason, but maybe this was a good thing?  He honestly couldn't think of a more peaceful time where he was with all his comrades like this - sure there were a few moments, like during the night they stayed up listening to music, or hanging around the bonfire for a few minutes listening to stories, but it didn't last as long as this.

It was strange, but welcomed.

"We've seen a lot of Pokemon already!  I wonder who's next?" he said, breaking the silence and referring back to all the Stantler, Oddish and Pansage they had seen so far.

Catia didn't answer Decoda back at first, Wes' words still clouding her thoughts. It took her a moment to realize that she was being talked to and she looked up in a bit of a daze.

"Huh? Oh....yeah we've seen a lot of them huh?"

She answered him back, Fang being the only one out right now. He chittered at his confused trainer and pawed at her, making her smile and pet his head a little bit before setting him down to walk alongside her.

"I'm okay Fang. Why don't you come with me to help scout out a place to camp out for the night? It's going to be dark soon anyway."

She asked her little rat Pokemon, the Pokemon tilting it's head a bit at first before nodding and following her ahead of the group. She walked backwards as she went ahead, wanting to make sure the others didn't worry.

"I'm gonna go up ahead to find us a place to camp for the night okay?"

She told them rather than asked them, running ahead with Fang. It didn't take them long to find a good enough spot a good ways ahead of the others, a small creek letting out gentle sounds nearby. She lets Poochy and Fox out of their pokeballs before digging into her bag for her sleeping bag, laying it out and going to sit on a stump nearby. Fox started chasing Fang and Poochy around, the trio playing without a care in the world while Catia looked on. She debated various methods that she could train with them but....the more she thought about it the more she didn't want them to get hurt. It was a difficult conundrum for her to contemplate by herself, and eventually she sighed and leaned back up against a tree trunk nearby. Maybe she just needed to watch them carefully as they were training?

"Something interesting, I hope!" Cerise grinned as he tried to scan each Pokemon that they saw into his Pokedex. It was surprisingly addicting, as if his journey now had some kind of goal in mind -- catalogue as many Pokemon into the Pokedex as possible. Of course, doing this was a bit difficult while also carrying a Pokemon.

When they had left the Pokemon Center, Pawniard had insisted on not being returned and walking on its own, but by the time they had gotten to Saffron, it had insisted that Cerise carry it. The trainer didn't really blame the newborn, as he could tell that the bladed Pokemon truly wanted to see its surroundings, but didn't have the stamina to keep up. It now was laying its head on Cerise's chest as it slept, mumbling to itself every now and then.

As for Cerise, he was just enjoying being with friends. The setting that they were in was truly beautiful and serene. If you couldn't relax here, Cerise was fairly certain you couldn't relax anywhere!

When the group came to the spot where Catia was waiting, Galopa let himself out and began chasing around the smaller pokemon. He made sure to be careful as to not accidentally trample them. Umbreon let himself out as well, then proceeded to run into the woods. Espeon sighed and padded over to the river, taking a drink.

"Oooh~ Such a nice spot!" Yuno spoke cheerily, running about to gather firewood. "I'll make the fire!"

Wes began to help by making a stone campfire pit to contain the fire. Once the pit was complete, Yuno dropped the sticks into the pit and called Galopa over who used ember to get a nice fire going.

"Fire's all set, all thats left is to set up sleeping quarters." Wes spoke. "Then do whatever."

Fox bounds over to Espeon and skids over to Espeon's side to paw at her, mewing to play.

C'mon Espy! Come play with us!

The tiny little fire fox mewed, going to waggle her haunches into the air and paw at it playfully. Fang chittered its agreement with what Fox said to Espeon, going over to Espeon and nudging her gently with his head to get her to come and play.

Catia watched Umbreon run into the woods, blinking at Wes and looking over at her Pokemon to see that they were playing together peacefully. A thought occurs to her as she gets up and sneaks off after Umbreon, Poochy noticing and sneaking off after his trainer to watch the exchange. Maybe he'd learn something from it?

After dropping off his guitar case and unpacking a thin blanket he kept tucked away behind his red and black guitar, he decided it would be a good idea to also take out a few snacks her grabbed in Saffron while he waited for his tickets.  However, his funds were running a little low since the bonfire on the beach, so he only got enough foodstuffs for this night.

Everyone had 2 berry-filled packaged pies to eat, each, and he went around placing them on everyone's respective bags.  Noticing Catia was gone, dropped off the boxed pies before deeming that she had run off.

"Oh boy, everyone likes to go out exploring," he said, rolling his eyes and smiling.  "Couldn't hurt though.  Maybe they'll see a legendary Pokemon who lives in the forest - what was that purity Pokemon I heard about in Johto?  Suicune?  I don't know."  He then started laughing on his way back to his spot, saying, "I'm probably pronouncing it wrong, you guys probably know what I'm talking about though!"

The guitar case was propped up against a large mossy boulder, something he could use to lean against rather than use a pillow that he didn't have.  But before he got comfortable, he took off his jacket, poke gear, hat and belt and headed for the river.

"I'm gonna go get a drink, I'll be right back, guys!" he told them as he left the premises.  In actuality, he was going to get more than a drink, hoping to wash up from the long day of travel.

This was the perfect opportunity for Mudkip and Chimecho to escape from their Pokeballs and upon doing so, they immediately tried to identify their surroundings.

"It's a forest," Chimecho told Mudkip, matter-of-factly.  The mudfish face-pawed before looking around for Espeon, the one they were supposed to meet that night.  Chimecho followed, gazing unblinkingly at the area that surrounded it, struck by the awe of nature and all its beauty.

"...Play? Is it some sort of combat training?" Espeon asked the tiny fox, as Fang nudged her to run around and enjoy herself. The psychic type cast a worried glance in the direction Umbreon ran off, then turned back. "How does one do this 'playing'?"



Wes sat himself at the base of a tree, leaned against the trunk, and pulled his metallic visor over his eyes. He let out a relaxed sigh and took a bite from one of the packaged pies after thanking Decoda.

"It feels good to finally get some rest." He muttered through a stretch of his arms and another sigh.

Yuno set up her blanket next to Catia's and flopped down, closing her eyes. The air was crisp and clean, and the sky was clear. Billions of stars twinkled above.



As Catia followed the path the dark type made, it began to grow dark. When she finally found Umbreon, he was sitting further down the creek, staring into the water. The rings on his body glowed dully as he let out a voice that sounded like a mix of a howl and a cat's meow.

Fox blinked at Espeon's question, dumbfounded that the psychic type had never played with other pokemon before. Fang chittered something to Fox in her ears and she twitched them, a smile on her muzzle before she quickly hopped over to Esepeon and pawed her.

Tag! You're it Espy! Now you have to come and catch us! Tag one of us and they're it and then they have to tag someone! But don't get tagged back!

She told her excitedly, running off to join the other pokemon, Poochy nowhere to be seen. Fang noticed that one of their pals was gone as well as their trainer but only shrugged it off. She'd left to be alone a couple of times before. She'd be back before long he was sure.

-------

Catia saw Umbreon and immediately slowed down her pace, only approaching Umbreon slowly. Poochy on the other hand, stopped bounding after his trainer and halted in front of her, making her jump a bit in surprise. She didn't think that one of her pokemon would follow her here.

"Poochy! What are you doing here?! You're gonna get swiped at again!"

She hissed at him, the puppy jumping a bit at the sudden noise but quickly giving a small whimper to her. She sighed and kneeled down, petting him lightly as she picked him up.

"Alright fine. You can come with me. Just be quiet!"

She whispered to him, the puppy getting comfortable in its trainer's arms before looking up at her in approval to keep going. Catia nodded and quietly continued approaching Umbreon, finally getting a good distance away (about five feet) to say something to it gently.

"Hey Umbreon. What'cha doin out here?"

She asked it in the gentlest voice she could. Poochy resisted the temptation to wiggle out of Catia's grasp and go up to talk to his fellow dark-type, wanting more than anything not to get swiped at again like he did last time.

Nodding in response to Decoda, Cerise took a seat on a nearby stump, cradling Pawniard in his hands with a rocking motion as the trainer listened to the sounds of the forest. As he heard the sound of Pidgey chirping in the distance, he began to hum along to their tweets, finding a fairly consistent rhythm to their musical tweets. A rustling in his arms caused Cerise to look down, seeing Pawniard had awoken and was examining everything around him. The newborn's eyes widened as a smile spread across its face, and it crawled out of Cerise's arms to kneel by a small stream of water and dip its claws in.

"Be careful out there! ...Actually, let's give the other two some time to relax, too." Cerise gave his Pokemon a word of caution before releasing Chespin and Goomy, who began to explore around. Without having to be told, Chespin nearly immediately went over to Pawniard to make sure the newborn didn't go too far away. Goomy was a bit slower to realize that she should also probably watch over the newest team member, and she looked at Cerise for confirmation.

"...Goomy, I actually need to talk to you for a moment." Cerise said as he motioned for the small dragon to come over. "I didn't really get a chance to talk to you about this before, but I've been doing some thinking lately and... I just want to be sure that you're alright with going on this journey with me. I know you didn't exactly too much of a choice up until now, but I just want to be sure we're on the same page. If you're not comfortable with traveling or if you don't like to battle, just let me know. I just want what's best for you. We're partners, alright? Just take some time to think about that."

Goomy nodded in response as she blew a few bubbles with a small smile before slinking off to join Chespin and Pawniard.

Umbreon jumped several feet up and back, as Catia startled the pokemon. He faced the trainer and growled, baring his fangs. His fur bristled and his red eyes narrowed, the rings on his body now growing brightly. Umbreon backed up as far as he could, which ended up being under a thorn bush. 

"T-Tell your human to stand down!" Umbreon snarled to Poochy. "I want nothing to do with you and your human friends!"

His hid under the bush as far as he could. The glow from his eyes and rings the only things able to be seen.



A tympole peeked out of the water and blew a few bubbles towards Cerise's pokemon, then quickly dove back under to surface in another spot to blow more bubbles. It made sure to entertain the small pokemon, but also watched to make sure that none of them fell in.



Espeon blinked at the small fox tagged her then immediately ran off. To her this seemed to be some sort of endurance test. Cardio, endurance, stamina building. Perhaps this 'Tag Game' could be useful.

"Very well." she spoke. "I shall humor you and your game." She began to run after the other pokemon, making sure to be careful as to not hurt them.