Rise and Shine

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Avaria blinked her eyes open groggily, immediately glancing around the area to remind herself where she was. It was darker then average out, so she assumed it was most likely almost nighttime, or maybe the next morning. Didn't matter to her which it was. She looked down, realizing that she was on a somewhat larger tree branch a bit higher off of the ground. That's right. I went up here to get some rest, and then that dream got me a bit confused... The Oshawott shook her head. There was no reason to think about it, if it wasn't real or present then it didn't matter.
"Anyway, let's take a look around. See what's here." Ava muttered to herself, standing up and grabbing her scalchop off of her front. Stepping a bit further out on the branch, she threw her shell as hard as she could, watching it chip into the side of the trunk midway down. Grinning, she stepped back over closer to the tree and jumped down onto her shell, using it as a stepping stone of sorts to get down. She eased herself off of it and grabbed onto the shell, kicking off of the trunk and landing on the ground, before placing it back on her front.
"That only took a bit more effort then I would have liked." She commented to herself, starting to walk around the area. The moon seemed to be slowly edging downwards towards the horizon, signifying to her that it was the morning. With her bearings in mind Ava started to walk through the trees cautiously, one paw on her shell as she looked around for anything or anyone.

Zack looked from the Swadloon to the Oshawott still positioned in the tree she had climbed. She was slowly edging towards the tip of the branch she was on, scalchop in paw as her gaze focused upon the pokemon below. Tilting his head slightly to the side in confusion, Zack stood motionless for a few moments before the Oshawott glanced over to him.
"What are you doing?" he asked, his tone having completely lost it's previous cheerfulness as he realised what she was about to do.

Ava blinked, hearing Zack ask her what she was doing. The pokemon below seemed to hear a bit of it and stopped, looking up around the trees for whoever it was. Well, so much for plan A. Plan B though, I think I can still salvage this. Deciding to use one of her favorite strategies in this kind of situation, she backed up a few steps and sliced down at the branch with her shell, cutting it from the tree and sending it to the ground towards the Swadloon. It'll probably give it a nasty bump, but other then that nothing too dangerous. Now all I have to do is explain myself to the Sentret and distract him somehow... The Oshawott quickly moved to the trunk of the tree and started to jump down the branches, placing her shell back on her fur as she did so. At the bottom of the tree the branch had fallen right on top of the Swadloon and hit it, causing the other pokemon to stumble around a bit before falling down unconscious.

"Hey! I asked you a question," he called over to her as she remained silent, stepping back a few steps before slicing the branch off with her scalchop. There was certainly more to this Oshawott than he had first thought. As the Oshawott began climbing down the tree, he leaped off of his own branch, grabbing the cane from where it was held behind his back. With the cane in paw, he rolled before he hit the ground, breaking the fall. The Sentret then moved between the Swadloon and the Oshawott, replacing the cane on his back and tying it back into place with a blue scarf.
"You had no right or reason to attack him like that," he pointed out, though there was a hint of hostility in his tone.

"I wasn't staying up in that tree the whole time, and if I came down it might have attacked me. Besides, I didn't do any serious damage. Right, lumps?" Ava looked over at the Sentret as she said this, starting off genuine and joking a bit with the last comment, smirking for a moment at her nickname for the unconscious pokemon before sighing and frowning once more.
"You're right, I panicked there. I guess I was just worried." She added afterwards, not wanting to get onto his bad side. The pokemon didn't seem like the roguish or outlaw type, and to her he seemed more like the kind one would find at a guild. Not that she was going to ask, there was no need for that.

"You had no evidence it was going to attack at all. It was just going about it's daily business," frowned Zack, before Avaria sighed and frowned as if realising that she had been in the wrong. Unfortunately for the Oshawott, Zack seemed to sense something off about this reaction, as if it was put on and not sincere at all. Well, two could play at that game.
The young Sentret uncrossed his arms and let his body relax once more as if her response and feigned guilt was enough to atone for the unprovoked attack.
"Well we should probably check if it's alright rather than just assume," he blinked, moving to the side so that they could both check the Swadloon over for more serious injuries.

"Of course, that's how it always starts," The Oshawott said, walking to the side of the Swadloon opposite of Zack, not wanting to end up beside him or close. She wasn't getting the feeling that he was buying it too much. "Just going about their daily routine. They get you to think that and believe your safe and then all of a sudden they know you're not expecting it and jump out at you. It's a good reason to pay close attention for anything." Ava continued to say, looking down at the unconscious Swadloon and checking on it, paying attention for any sign of sudden movement on Zack's part.

"Paying close attention and hitting someone on the head with a large branch and possibly giving them a concussion are two completely different things," he replied pointedly. Honestly, this excuse of extreme caution was getting boring. For someone who had seemed intelligent at first, this Oshawott was certainly letting down now.
A short while later the Swadloon woke once more, and with quite the headache to accompany it's consciousness. "Are you alright?" Zack asked calmly, a small tilt in the angle of his stance betraying his curiosity.

"I prefer to act first, ask questions later. Take it how you will." Ava remarked, glancing down at the Swadloon as Zack asked if it was okay. Well, he's definitely not an outlaw. If he is he's doing a pretty bad job at it, since he could have just taken that seed. Maybe a guild member or something, I should probably keep the act up. She decided, watching the other two Pokemon and waiting for some kind of response from either one.

The Sentret didn't have the chance to reply to Avaria as the Swadloon turned, it's hazy gaze focusing on the Oshawott positioned opposite Zack. Before anyone could predict it's next movements it had made an angered leap at Avaria, it's body suddenly coated in a stark white light as it used a Tackle attack to retaliate. Though Avaria may have made an attempt to dodge or act of her own accord, before the Swadloon could reach the Oshawott, Zack had swiftly grasped the cane from behind his back and had hit the Leaf-Wrapped Pokemon on the head with the blunt end. The blue scarf that he'd been using to keep it in position was still hanging from the wood as the Swadloon sunk to the ground once more. It would likely have an even worse headache when it woke again, but at that time he was sure that both him and the Oshawott would be long gone.

Without any warning, Ava reacted as quickly as she could in the situation by jumping back, knowing that she didn't have enough time to completely dodge the attack and would catch at least some of it. That was the case, at least, until the Swadloon dropped to the ground once more, giving the Oshawott a clear view of Zack holding his cane. Well, that was unexpected. There was no way he bought what I was saying, and I don't see any other reason he would intervene like that...
"...so what was that all about?" Avaria finished her thought out loud, not completely realizing she had. "Why did you get involved with that?" She clarified, looking at the Sentret curiously.

"Because violence plus violence does not equal a solution, it just starts a long chain of hatred," he replied, "You can do your bit to end the 'chain' by leaving it alone and not stealing it's belongings." Zack appeared to have caught on to the Oshawott's previous intentions. After all, what other reason was there for attacking a pokemon out of the blue, especially as it was clear her story about extreme caution wasn't true. Retreating the cane, he slipped the scarf over his body so that he wore it behind his back once more.

"Stealing? And what exactly makes you think I would be doing that? I've never thought of stealing before in my life." The Oshawott responded in mock offense, looking at the Sentret.
"...okay maybe a little bit," She commented, and then decided to drop the full act with a shrug. "Yeah, alright, you got me. That was my plan. You don't seem to be trying to apprehend me for it, so I assume you're not from the guild. Who are you then?" Avaria asked, adjusting her own red scarf with her paws as she did so.

Zack watched at the Oshawott with a look that pretty much said 'Oh come on.' as she responded with mock offense, though switched to an eye roll as she confessed to that being her plan.
"I'm a thief too, to be perfectly honest. Though stealing some poor Swadloon's reviver seed through brute force doesn't cut it for me," he replied, his stance and gaze losing their attitude as he spoke completely honestly, "There's just no fun in stealing from those who can hardly defend themselves let alone pose an intellectual threat."

Ava looked up at the sky thoughtfully, thinking to herself about something. "I think there's a word for that...I'm thinking about it. Anyways, you must be some thief then. If you've been sustaining yourself through stealing from more powerful Pokemon then you've got to be good. I can imagine you would have a few enemies from that kind of lifestyle though?" She asked, still thinking. In her view, he seemed to think that any random Pokemon couldn't be as strong, and that he would only go for those he saw as stronger and better off, what was the word...
"Superiority complex! That's it!" She finally found what she viewed Zack as having, saying it out loud with a grin.

Zack merely shrugged, "If you say so. I actually only steal from those who are undeserving of what they possess, mostly criminals and outlaws. There's 'no honor, no challenge, no fun in stealing from ordinary people' as my father would always say. Enemies are something you're always going to find in this line of work."
The young Sentret glanced up at the sky before looking back to the Oshawott, "So why is it that you steal?" he asked.