Autumn Frost?

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[Important inventory: Rainy Orb, Shocker Orb, Allure Seed]
[Energy: 17 - 11 = 6]

Recently, Valen had learned about an exploration organization called the Windrose Scouts and its base in Fallen Leaf Copse. Along with Saturn, the Cubone who had told him about the organization in the first place, Valen had decided to become a member. Especially as Valen was also a member of the Aileron Guild and the Peak Academy, some might have said that it was too much for one little bird - but Valen himself felt confident that he could manage. In fact, almost right after joining, Valen, along with Saturn, had decided to investigate one of the rumours on a Windrose Library bulletin board.

So, someone says "flowers made of frost" are appearing in these woods, huh. Valen thought. Could that really be true? I mean, from what I've heard and read about, this place is basically autumn all the time, so how could there possibly be frost here? Maybe someone mistook white flowers for frost or something - or they're just making things up?

Now, Valen was outside the Windrose Scouts base, but still inside the woods themselves. He looked around. There were, of course, the trees with their beautiful orange and yellow leaves that were everywhere here - but as far as he could tell, no frost, in fact nothing white whatsoever was present. Then he remembered something.

The rumour said they're at the bases of trees and on branches on the ground - and I haven't really looked down yet! So Valen did that. There was a carpet of fallen leaves, and Valen could see some small plants growing as well - including a few flowers. But again, none of these were frosty or even white.

So now, they had to explore some more. At least everything was in the same dungeon as the scout headquarters itself was located in, so Valen hadn't had to travel very far already after deciding to investigate the rumour - one reason he had chosen this one in the first place to start with. But then Valen thought: What if this really is just made up? Then how are we going to prove that there are, indeed, no such flowers? Do we really have to search the whole of Fallen Leaf Copse? Well, we can certainly at least search one part of this place to begin with...

Valen turned to Saturn. "Saturn," he asked, "have you seen anything here now? You know, any frost or anything that looks at all like it?"

As the little Bug pokemon and its seasonal friend trotted up, Saturn was busy rifling through an odd-looking tree that was about his height. Its trunk was long and thin, with a dense bush of leaves at the top. He saw what looked like some kind of berry, although it had a rather tough surface and smelled spicy. Saturn figured he would take the two ripest-looking ones for himself to inspect later.

As he was foraging, the shrill, high-pitched voice of the Ribombee stole his attention. He saw the tiny creature flap its wings, whipping up a sparkling breeze that Valen seemed to... relfect back? Odd, he'd have to ask about that later. The brown deer pokemon came trotting up immediately after, seemingly anxious about the situation at hand. This prompted him to take action, but not before a small orange-and-white bird, followed by a Piplup came onto the scene. The orange bird seemed about as worried as the Deerling, but the Piplup was rather nonchalant and polite. The more this situation progressed, the more puzzled Saturn became. Did something important happen that he missed while checking out that bush? Why do I always do this to myself? WHY AM I SO EASILY DISTRACTED?! In a rather humorous display of dramatic irony, his inner frustration over his short attention-span almost made him fail to notice the Ribombee's wings vibrating at an increasingly alarming frequency, beginning to make the very air itself buzz at headache-inducing levels. Saturn was not having any of this. He let off a particularly forceful Ancient Power in its direction, the rocks rising up in a sort of semicircle and whizzing straight past Valen, all converging on where the Ribombee was.

Due to its small stature, only two of them hit, the rest of them finding their mark in a tree right behind her. The attack itself, despite being super effective, only seemed to excite the Ribombee even further. She stopped mid-attack, as if frozen in place, her face twisted in an expression so saturated with glee that it left the Cubone rather shaken. He'd been in over his head before, that was one thing, but this disgustingly cheerful Ribombee, despite its petite size, actually struck fear into his heart. She was simply too happy.

As the soon-to-be subject of Saturn's nighmares locked eyes with him, her entire body bristled with aggressive energy. The collected pollen on her fur even started to suffuse into the air! With an overly-delighted sing-songy tinge to her voice that sent chills down his spine, she said, "Myyy tuuurrnn!", before abruptly lunging towards Saturn. The resulting impact swept him off of his feet, causing him to drop his bone. The Ribombee gave him no quarter, rapidly punching and kicking into his torso, giggling all the while. Saturn, on the other hand, was desperately trying to pull her off of him, to no avail. "Someone... Please... Help...", he stuttered out between ragged breaths.

Those Oran Berries he bought were sounding really good about now.

[Energy: 0 + 1(new page) = 1]

A bunch of things were happening at once. There was the appearance of a Fletchling and Piplup on the scene. There was Saturn firing rocks at the Ribombee. And then, the Ribombee seemed to decide to start viciously attacking Saturn instead of Valen.

Not again! Valen thought as he desperately heard Saturn calling for help. "Anyone! Help! A Ribombee's hurting Saturn!" Valen shouted as loud as he could. And then he rushed in, as he had done so many times before in other situations, to use Peck. But he ended up flying past the Ribombee, and his attack landed on the Deerling instead.

"Ow!" cried the Deerling, who hadn't been expecting an attack just then given that Valen and Saturn had been focusing on the Ribombee so far. And then the Ribombee turned towards the Deerling momentarily. The Ribombee brushed her hand over her pollen-covered body, taking some of it and quickly throwing it towards the Deerling. The injury from Valen's Peck on the Deerling seemed to vanish.

What was that? Valen wondered. Looks like a healing move - could be a problem.

Pickup roll:

Shield carried out 1 launched of one Fallen Leaf Copse :

As Arietta came upon the scene with the four strangers, she found herself at a bit of a loss. The Deerling seemed to be rather worried, but the Ribombee looked and sounded like they were having the time of their life. Was this an attack or a mutually agreed battle?

The Fletchling didn't have to wonder for much longer as the Ribombee viciously attacked the Cubone, both them and the Pikipek the bug had been fighting earlier calling out for help.

Arie didn't waste any time, dropping the single sign that she still carried as she spread her wings and took flight. Much faster in the air than she had been hopping along the ground and unburdened by the signpost she carried, Arie sped across the impromptu battlefield. The Pikipek's attack missed, instead colliding with the Deerling, but as the Ribombee turned its attention to its companion, Arietta used to distraction to strike.

Cloaking herself in fire, Arie gained another boost of speed and struck the Ribombee with an aerial Flame Charge. It wasn't enough to prevent them from throwing some pollen towards the Deerling and the Pikipek, but it was enough to knock the Ribombee to the ground and hopefully deal a substantial amount of damage.

Watching the fight unfold, Clovis could tell that no one had heeded his ahem. The Cubone attacked the Riombee with some rock move, and despite hitting with some of the projectiles, the Riombee took the attack in stride and went to wail on the Cubone with her fists, landing blow after blow in a flurry of punches and kicks. It'd probably have been an admirable display of martial arts, had it not been for the Cubone's groaning for help between hits and the Riombee's sanguine laughter throughout the whole thing.

From the Pikipek came a cry for help, then an attempt at an attack whereupon the bird rushed to this "Saturn's" aid by attacking the idle Deerling with their beak, missing the Riombee in the process and generally contributing little. Clovis sneered slightly at both the Cubone and the Pikipek. There were two of them and the Deerling wasn't doing anything, how could this little bug be causing them such trouble?

Relenting from her attacks, the Riombee quickly threw some pollen at the Deerling who the Pikipek had just struck, which seemed to alleviate some of her pain. How sweet-- they must have known each other. Perhaps she'd decide to stop bullying the Cubone soon, and use that healing move on him? It'd be a nice way for them to settle things. Twas naught but wishful thinking on Clovis's part, however, as his companion surged forward to join the fight herself. A bit rash, Clovis thought, but guild members tended to have quite touchy senses of urgency. More so than him, anyway.

As Arietta wrapped herself in flames and charged straight into the Riombee, Clovis remained back without any direct attacks of his own. Arietta's flames certainly looked like they hurt, and he didn't want to do anything further while the Riombee was down. He hardly understood the situation, after all. If anything, he found that he respected the Riombee more than the Cubone or Pikipek because she had held her own against the both of them, and supported her friend in a meaningful way with her healing pollen.

Clovis only strolled forwards, looking around at the pokémon surrounding him. He moved off to a few yards from the Riombee and stood still with straight posture, exchanging glances with first the Cubone, then the Pikipek, then the Deerling. To the Cubone, his face portrayed pity for having taken a beating, to the Pikipek, a bit of contempt for his off-target attack, and to the Deerling, confusion and empathy for the complex nature of the scenario. This would all be cleared up soon, hopefully.

[Energy: 0 + 1(new page) =1]

Saturn kept trying to shake the insufferable insect off of him but the Ribombee was giving him no quarter, imparting each strike with a level of force he didn't think would be possible considering her minute size and petite frame. Just when he thought this terrifying adversary was going to do him in, she abruptly stopped, turning toward her Deerling companion. Saturn didn't notice (or even hear) Valen's attempt to help due to the sheer intensity of the Ribombee. Everything about her from her shrill cackling to the overpowering scent of her pollen (not to mention her raw strengh) was an absolute sensory overload. He barely had time to back away from the attacker before seeing a fiery red streak sling its way across his vision, crashing into his merciless assailant with enough force to make a wave of hot, dry air radiate out from all directions at the point of impact. The sound of the Ribombee hitting the ground was music to the battered Cubone's ears. Surely that was enough to wipe that smug grin off her face., he thought.

As it turns out, he was right. The Ribombee sat up from her laying position, looked down at her singed fur, and promptly started bawling her eyes out. "WAAAAAUUUGGH!!! YOU'RE MEAN!" She then flew off into the treetops, away from the group, her wailing echoing through the forest. "Hey, don't just leave me here, you ditz! Ugh, you do this to me EVERY TIME!" The Deerling's exasperated complaints echoed off into the forest, her companion either out of earshot or refusing to respond. She looked back at the group of strangers next to her, reluctant to look any of them in the eye (especially Saturn). "Sorry about all of this, seriously. I know it probably doesn't seem like it, but she has a good heart. She just... gets a bit too enthusiastic when it comes to battling." "Yeah, that's one way to put it...", Saturn interjected, tentatively rubbing his bruised midsection. The Deerling lowered her head to the ground, a look of guilt apparent on her face. "I've been trying to condition her to not be so rough, but she simply never listens to me. Sometimes I wonder why I even bother trying to help her." She looks off into the direction the Ribombee fled, her brow furrowed in frustration. "It's like all she cares about is herself."

At this point, Saturn had finally started to recover from the beating that Ribombee delivered, and was rather interested in what led up to the events that just transpired. "How did you even end up becoming friends with that pokemon, anyway? She doesn't really seem like the type that anyone would want to follow around, considering how aggressive she is. Or is she not always like that?"

The Deerling processed his inquiries, a mildly confused look on her face. "Well, she wouldn't dare attack me, since I'm the main reason she doesn't starve during the colder months, when there aren't as many pollen-producing plants around. Ribombee are very energetic, you see, and require a lot of food balance out all the calories they burn. Most members of her species have the foresight to store clumps of pollen in the form of Pollen Puffs to tide them over, but because she never plans ahead it's up to me to make sure she doesn't starve.", she says through clenched teeth, her disdain apparent in her voice. "As for how we met, well... it's kind of a long story but the gist of it is that I was abandoned by my herd because I was too slow to outrun predators and too weak to adaquately defend myself. I was cold and scared and alone and... I had stored up a lot of food hoping I could bribe my way out of any future encounter. One day I woke up in my den to the sound of her rifling through my food stash. She said she was going to stay with me because she really liked the berries I picked and I wasn't about to stop her, as if I even could. Not even a day later a Usaring tried to take our berries for himself and in response Ribombee threw pollen in his eyes and sent him running off. We've had a mutual agreement of sorts ever since. I provide her with plenty of food and she fends off any unwanted guests. Although, ever since she evolved it's like all she wants to do is fight. She hardly eats or sleeps and..." The Deerling cut herself off. I'm sorry. I really shouldn't be venting all of this to strangers like you. I'm sure you're all very busy. I'll be going now..."

The Deerling turned to leave, worried about where her friend ran off to. "She's probably curled up in a tree somewhere..."

As Valen was trying to fight the Ribombee, the Fletchling suddenly covered himself in flames and flew at the bug Pokemon, knocking her to the ground. Then, to Valen's relief, the Ribombee started crying and fled. So at least she won't bother us anymore, he thought.

After that, the Deerling started talking about her life and how she met the Ribombee to Saturn. Valen could hear what she was saying, but as the Deerling didn't seem to be directly talking to him, but to Saturn instead, Valen looked around. When he looked into the face of the Piplup from before, the gaze of the blue Pokemon seemed to show... contempt?

Why'd that Piplup show that expression to me? Valen wondered. He didn't even do anything besides come here and look! And seriously, he's a bird Pokemon that can't even fly! Does he really think he's superior?

As the Deerling turned to leave, Valen could hear leaves loudly crunching. He turned - along with the Deerling - towards the sound, and saw two large Pokemon walking towards the group. They were Sawsbuck - the evolved form of Deerling. Could they be related somehow?

"What?! It can't be - why are you here?" the Deerling told the Sawsbuck. She sounded both shocked and angry. Why angry? Valen was confused again. Maybe they're enemies or something, not relatives like I thought before?

"We're - we're so sorry -" the Sawsbuck said in unison, but the Deerling cut them off.

"You were my parents, but you both chose to abandon to die. Now you're back, right when I was telling these good Pokemon just what happened to me, and that's all you can say? Get. Out. It goes without saying that you don't want me, so go back to your stupid herd and leave me like you did last time. I have far better company now," the Deerling replied in a scathing tone.

"Please! We didn't want to leave you! We were forced to do so!" one of the Sawsbuck said. This one's voice was high-pitched, so maybe that meant female? But Valen knew that assumptions of this sort could be incorrect. Especially since although he was male, he had a higher-pitched voice himself - and in fact, apparently sounded much like Vesper, another Peak Academy student who was female. Although it was somewhat ironic, though, he decided to keep making the assumption in this case unless there was more proof otherwise.

"Really? Then why didn't you tell me that before? And even more importantly, why didn't you stay with me anyway if you truly loved me?" the Deerling said, still with the same tone of voice, as Valen was thinking.

This time, the other Sawsbuck responded - with a deeper voice - which if the assumptions were correct, meant a male. "We love you, but... it was the whole herd commanding us to leave you. There was no way just the three of us could stand against all of them. It may be hard for you to understand, but if we had tried to do anything - even just tell you we loved you back then - they could have done something even worse, such as have us all put to death right there."

The first Sawsbuck started talking again as well. "Even now, it has not been easy for us, either. There are still many in the herd who worry that there is something wrong with us just because we had you. Especially when the flowers started to be covered in ice - something that should never happen here - there were calls for our exile or worse as bringers of disaster. I just barely managed to convince the others that we could find what was actually causing the frost, and they probably only allowed it because we would be away from the herd for that time."

Wait - so they've seen frost flowers? Valen realized. After waiting so long for this, he was so excited that he wasn't really thinking of whether it was an appropriate time to talk about this, given the seriousness of the matter being discussed already. So he spoke up. "You've seen frost flowers? Where are they? I actually came here with Saturn -" and Valen pointed a wing towards Saturn - "to find them and see if the rumours were true!"

"We can lead you to the flowers," the apparent father of the Deerling replied, "if you will try to help us find their true origin, so we can return to the herd."

Suddenly, the Deerling started talking again. "For some reason, I was listening to you. I thought maybe, somehow, you would actually say something that would help. But obviously not, you still just care about yourself. Even if you can go back to the herd, what about me? I'll still be slow, I'll still be weak, they'll never accept me. You're complaining about your own small problems while ignoring the fact that you abandoned me to die."

"I don't think you're slow or weak," Valen said, "I mean, even with the help of the Ribombee, who's just one Pokemon after all, you survived for so long in a dungeon... I think that you could do just fine now with a whole herd backing you up."

"What is wrong with you?" the Deerling shouted at Valen. "I thought you weren't like them, but now you're suggesting that I go back to the herd that betrayed me?"

Valen wasn't sure what to say now.

(OOC: For once, the assumptions are correct - the one with the higher-pitched voice is the mother (speech color #ff6699) and the one with the lower-pitched voice is the father (speech color #ff33ff) If they speak in unision, the color is #ff6633.)

Arietta landed neatly after her fiery attack and was quite surprised at the reaction of the attacking Ribombee. The Deerling spoke up, apologising for her friend's behaviour.

"Ah, i'm sorry for the attack then," she spoke gently, "I acted because it seemed like this Cubone was in genuine danger. If your friend wants a fight with someone, they should probably ask beforehand so that everyone involved knows it's a friendly fight, not just attack out of nowhere where someone can get the wrong impression like I did." Arie scratched her cheek with one wing feather as she spoke, not quite embarassed - as she still considered herself to have done the correct thing - but apologetic to the Deerling who seemed like a decent 'mon.

The Deerling then continued on. It seemed speaking to someone else about her Ribombee friend had allowed her to open up and Arie was silent as she vented. Clearly this was something the Deerling needed to talk about.

"It seems like you just need someone to talk to," Arie voiced as the Deerling turned to leave, "I don't think anyone minds that."

Before Arietta could say anything more, some Sawsbuck seemed to arrive on in the area. The young Fletchling remained quiet as all of this family drama played out. If she were to be quite frank, it seemed like these 'mon had some real problems to sort out that they should take the time to talk out with one another.

Arietta glossed over the mention of frost from the Sawsbuck, but the Pikipek's focus on 'frost flowers' caught her attention as she remembered the frosty patch she had stood in before. She couldn't help but cringe a little at their attempt to question the Sawsbuck about it though. With the serious conversation going on right now, it didn't seem like the right time to interject on the Pikipek's part, so she kept her own information to herself for now as well.

With an argument now commencing between the Pikipek and the Deerling, Arietta took this chance to step in herself before things could get ugly. She was a Guild member, and it was her job to help pokemon in need, even if 'in-need' in this case was just trying to calm the discussion down.

"Everyone calm down for a moment," she spoke up, hopping so that she was bodily inbetween Valen and the Deerling, and glancing the Sawsbucks' way to make it clear she was including them as well.

"This seems like a very serious discussion that you all need to have as a family. I don't think this Pikipek here should become involved in forcing the decision one way or another. I don't know this Deerling very well, but if she doesn't want to rejoin the herd, then that is her choice, but-" she turned to the Deerling, "If being in a herd is logically safer for you, and we can indeed solve the reason why the herd chose to cast you out in the first place, then would it not be good to at least consider it as an option? I think it's understandable not to forgive your parents for casting you out. But being a herd means it is full of other Deerling and Sawsbuck. You might not need to interact with youre parents at all? Though, if you would genuinely prefer to live on your own, with your friend, then choose that option. The choice is yours and yours alone, but it seems worth considering both the good points and the bad points, right?"

Arie paused for a moment, before continuing to the Deerling, "You shouldn't have to make a choice so quickly either way. But if you do choose to stay on your own, and end up not able to find enough food to survive here even with your friend's help, you are welcome to contact Grassveil Guild if you are ever struggling. I'm Arietta, a member of Team Firefly and I would be happy to help you out if you ask for me."

Although she was unaware of the full nature of this discussion, allowing the Deerling to make her own choice without pressure from either party, or the pressure of survival, was the best thing she could do. Arietta knew that sometimes it was best to separate oneself from their parents, otherwise a grudge would fester forever. She had experience of a similar, but less drastic nature. But if the Deerling wasn't one to hold such feelings, then perhaps the herd really could be the right place for her.

Seeing the Riombee cry and fly off, Clovis gave a nod of admiration to the guildsmon he had come in with. Whatever the situation was with the fight, she dealt with the Riombee swiftly and decisively, coming to the "rescue" of the Cubone and Pikipek. The Deerling apologized for her friend when all was said and done, and outlined their history and relationship. A sad little tale of her abandonment by her parents and "herd", and of how the Riombee and Deerling helped each other. A neat enough little life story, but not really his business. Clovis let Arietta deal with the Deerling while he stood back, content to let things wrap themselves up before they would get back to their guild business. But the Deerling wouldn't simply be able to leave, what with two figures showing up out of the blue.

An apology, at first, before things began to get heated. That not only was this Deerling was reuniting with her parents, but that he was around to see it, was rather unexpected. They argued, they made heartfelt statements, and they attracted the Pikipek's attention with the mention of frozen flowers.  In time, everyone but Clovis and Saturn had spoken their piece. Indeed, it was a serious discussion, but Clovis felt it best that his viewpoint be known.

"Hmmph. A town like Grassveil's better than any herd, I say. If they made you leave, they hardly deserve your company." It'd be good for her to stand up for herself, to show a little pride, and to be independent. Besides, living in a herd hardly sounded like much fun.

As the Deerling rattled off about her tragic past, Saturn realized just how lucky he was to have the caring parents he did. My parents adopted me as an egg, so they potentially could have been anyone. Even someone bad. He shuddered at the thought of being disowned by one's parents like that. But at least she wasn't alone. That Ribombee, while rather unstable and overbearing, is probably the best companion this 'mon could have.

Now that I think of them, I wonder how my parents are doing? Probably worried sick over me, no doubt. Saturn was briefly overcome with pangs of guilt, regretting the fact that he disappeared without a trace. I mean, it's not like I intentionally left. If it weren't for that damned sandstorm I would have never gotten lost in the first place. But it's not all bad. Surely I can contact them somehow and let them know that I'm okay. This seemed like a good idea at first, but then he realized something. What if they track me down and demand that I go back home with them? They'd never let me leave the cave ever again!

Of course, he would have to confront them sooner or later. They were travelling merchants, after all. Surely he would cross paths with them someday.

His train of thought was interrupted by two Sawsbuck arriving onto the scene. The Deerling was not happy at all to see them, even though they seemed to be apologizing for their actions. It turned out abandoning her was a course of action they were forced to make by the other members of their herd.

Regardless, the Deerling was not ready to forgive them. This didn't really surprise Saturn, but at the same time, he held great sympathy for the Sawsbuck, being coerced into abandoning their child like that. How tragic.

The Fletchling that saved him spoke up after the Deerling blew up at Valen. She seemed like the reasonable type; a good mediator. She even offered to personally help the Deerling if she was in need. Of course, that kind of generous behavior was to be expected from a guild member.

The Sawsbuck said something that really piqued his and Valen's interest. Apparently they were looking for the cause of the frost flowers too, and were willing to show us where some were. Valen jumped at their offer, and Saturn was no different. "Yes, please show us where these frost flowers are. That's the entire reason we're exploring this area to begin with. I'm sure we could work together to find out what's causing their sudden appearance." Saturn was reinvigorated at the prospect of completing their original task. Despite his various bruises and bumps, he grabbed his bone and readjusted his helmet, ready to get to the bottom of this mystery.

"My name's Saturn, and this is my friend Valen. Getting to the bottom of this Frost Flower phenomenon is the entire reason we're here. Your assistance would be greatly appreciated."

It's Pecha Forest all over again, isn't it? Valen thought to himself. Although he didn't really want to, he was comparing the... dispute he had gotten himself embroiled in the very first time he had gone exploring a dungeon to the current situation. But there was one thing he remembered, Now I have a definite objective that I came here to complete. At least Valen felt it was more definite than what he had gone to Pecha Forest for.

The Sawsbuck had apparently offered to lead them to some frost flowers. Given that neither Valen nor Saturn had found anything related to them at all before, Valen suspected that going with the Sawsbuck was currently the best opportunity to solve the mystery. But then, there was the Deerling. Valen wanted to help other Pokemon, but would going with the parents who had abandoned her make things worse? Especially because of how angry she had become earlier about what he had said. He definitely hadn't wanted that reaction, or to force her to rejoin her herd - and now that Fletchling is misunderstanding me, he worried.

But the Fletchling - Arietta - had, in fact, offered to help the Deerling. Arietta was from the Grassveil Guild, and though Valen had to wonder why a Flying-type would join the Grassveil Guild, especially when Aileron's guild was generally agreed to be the more sophisticated one, he suspected that if the Deerling ever did seek help, Grassveil's guild might actually be the place she would fit in more, given that she was unable to fly. Valen didn't want to seem like he was now abandoning someone in need, but if help from someone that even he had to admit might have something better to offer than he did had been suggested... And ultimately, he had something that he needed to do already.

"Yes, I agree with Saturn," Valen told the two Sawsbuck, "Saturn and I have a mission we are here for, and we will go with you, as it seems that may be a great help to completing our mission. Thank you for your help." Huh, Valen had a weird feeling soon after saying that, of course thanking them is the polite thing to do, but could it make the Deerling - and perhaps some others - angrier? Although leaving with the Sawsbuck might already be doing that anyway.

"Yes," the male Sawsbuck said graciously, "Those who wish to come with us may do so." This time, the female Sawsbuck seemed to take the lead in walking - but after just a few steps, both of them stopped and turned back, looking at the other Pokemon as if to see who was following them. Valen knew that he would go, and it seemed that Saturn would too - but would anyone else? The Deerling almost certainly did not, and Valen doubted that either Arietta or Clovis would - they weren't Windrose Scouts members, and at least in Valen's own judgement, they didn't seem to think very highly of the Sawsbuck (Valen, admittedly, wasn't sure what to think of the Sawsbuck himself). Of course, Valen didn't really know for sure - he was guessing.

Saturn was happy that the Sawsbuck were willing to assist them in their research. He did, however, have reservations about leaving the Deerling in the process. If it weren't for this Arietta individual stepping up and offering to assist her, Saturn would have put her needs first. Thankfully, the Fletchling seemed to have the situation under control. So, Saturn turned to follow the Sawsbuck, but not before making sure it was okay to leave. "Do you need any more help from us?" The Deerling just kinda shrugged and seemed eager to get the Sawsbuck out of her sight. Saturn still didn't feel right about it, but he continued on with the Sawsbuck, regardless. I should contact that Deerling later on if I can, and see if she's doing ok later on.

But that's something he can worry about later on. For now, they have a rumor to investigate.

Valen followed the Sawsbuck along with Saturn. The Pikipek looked back, and it seemed that Arietta and Clovis were not following. Well, the Deerling is getting help, he thought. He had to admit the situation was a bit awkward, and he could not think of anything to say as the group walked on - well, Valen was, of course, flying. He kept looking around, but could not see any frost flowers yet - it seemed to be taking some time to get to the place.

After a bit, he started absentmindedly going through the items in his bag while flying. Soon, he noticed the Allure Seed - while he now remembered finding it in the Cattail Marsh, he did not remember its name. I should have checked in the Windrose Library... I must have forgotten, he realized, I'll ask Saturn about it now. "Saturn," Valen asked while holding out the seed, "Do you know the name of this?"

Saturn took a look at the seed, examining it closely. "... I believe this is an Allure Seed. When consumed, it makes you hallucinate, from what I understand. I'd suggest separating it from your other seeds, so you don't eat it on accident.", Saturn warned. It certainly would be quite tragic to eat it by mistake; who knows what might happen? He seriously doubted it would actually happen, but still.

They continued following the Sawsbuck, Saturn constantly examined their surroundings, always on the lookout for any of those frost flowers, or anything of note, really. His efforts were largely in vain. They did pass by a Pecha Berry tree, but there were no berries on it that were ripe enough to pick yet. "So, uh... how close are we, exactly?"

Valen put the seed back in his bag. Why didn't I remember that? he wondered, as most of the time, he was quite capable of identifying items, Am I becoming as forgetful as a Pidove now or something?

After a bit, Saturn asked how close they were, something Valen had been wondering too, as they had been going for quite a while without finding much of anything. And then, the Sawsbuck replied "Very, very close." Valen felt quite relieved, but then wondered whether they were telling the truth, as he still couldn't see any flowers as he flew...

Until the Sawsbuck turned around near a big tree, and Valen saw something white on the ground. He took a closer look, and it was, indeed, a cluster of flowers that looked as if they were made of frost! Finally! He hastily flew over to the flowers and picked one, explaining, "I just need to look at this more closely... and take a sample back to the Scouts."

After almost a day's worth of walking and searching, it was quite euphoric for Saturn to finally see the fabled  Frost Flowers with his own eyes. "Wow, they're beautiful! Thanks for guiding us to these.", he said to the Sawsbuck. He carefully approached them with Valen. "Hmm. Getting an intact sample might prove difficult, as they must be quite fragile; too fragile to carry in one of our bags. And if we hold one in our hands, they're sure to melt by the time we get back, due to our natural body heat. Well, actually..." He looks at Valen's legs. "Do your legs give off any heat, Valen? Or are they just the temperature of the environment around them? If it's the latter, then you might be able to carry one of them back without it melting if you hold it away from the rest of your body." Saturn figured it would be their best bet, considering the ephemeral nature of these flowers. Which made him wonder, If these flowers really are made of ice, how do they form in the first place? Do they produce seeds made of ice? Do they give off icy pollen of some sort? Their existence doesn't really make much sense.