Joint Expedition: Training

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Kestro trotted out of Windrose Library, stopping next to the nearest tree to make sure Saturn was behind him. The pair were preparing to explore Serene cave in order to confirm a rumor about a healing spring deep inside, but decided that Fallen Leaf Copse would do good for training and practicing record keeping and map making. Kestro was already trying to get a headstart in that regard, thinking about what he encountered when he met Russel and Deimos here. Sawsbuck... Ribombee... there were a few other Pokemon he couldn't quite remember living in the Copse, and he was sure that there were some he and the Windrose leaders hadn't encountered that day.

As for mapmaking, Kestro barely registered where Russel and Deimos had led him to reach the library, and he'd only left a few times before to check on his family and explore Monochrome Ruins. It'd be nice to get a proper map showing the way to the library from the entrance. And so here he was, not even finished with his first report and already planning another three. One can only hope trying to write up four separate reports won't strain the Cranidos too much.

As Saturn recovered from almost being beaten to a pulp, the sight of Kestro keeping the thief from getting back up was very relieving. "Ugh. What a bully. Hopefully they learned their lesson."
Saturn was about to mention giving the items back, when a pair of large bird pokemon that resembled the Starly arrived along with two Ribombee. Saturn flinched a bit at the sight of the Ribombee, as it brought back painful memories of getting pummeled by one. It wasn't really the physical damage he sustained that made that moment so traumatizing so much as it was the humiliation of being so helpless. He wanted to be someone who went and saved others, but instead he could hardly fend for himself. When I do finally get strong enough, I should come back here and challenge that Ribombee to another battle. I'm sure she would be happy to oblige.

Once they started thanking them and even offering the thief's stolen goods as a token of appreciation, it became clear that they were the Starly and Cutieflys' parents, respectively. In response, Saturn looked towards the pack and remembered that the items she stole mostly consisted of some seeds and an orb, all of which Saturn was in very short supply of. "Um, are you two okay with letting us have these goods?", he said to the Starly and Cutiefly. The bird just kinda shrugged and looked to its bug friend for confirmation. "Well, we would've lost the stuff anyway if you hadn't put miss sticky fingers here in her place. So I think it's a fitting reward, considering you two put yourselves in harm's way to get it back." Saturn was relieved to hear that they weren't going to miss these items. It wouldn't have felt right to take them, otherwise.

Kestro eventually let his foot off of the Stufful, being mostly silent for the conversation between Saturn and the parents. He waited for a moment to make sure the dual type wouldn't move before taking the thief's sack between his jaws. He stopped midway between giving the sack to the parents as they offered for Saturn and Kestro to take the items for themselves. Kestro himself didn't really mind either way, but with a soft thump the fossil Pokemon sat back, dropping the sack on the ground as he relaxed a bit.

"Aaah, hopefully the rest of the trip out of here won't be so exciting," he remarked, almost instantly regretting it has heavy footsteps started to thunder out of the nearby bushes. A large Ursaring followed by a scrawny Smeargle soon barreled into the scene, the larger of the two Pokemon holding up a badge. "GOOD AFTERNOON CITIZENS! I AM OFFICER YOGI AND THIS IS MY PARTNER DAWS! WE WERE INFORMED OF A THIEF HIDING OUT IN THIS DUNGEON!" the Ursaring loudly declared. Kestro felt like he was about to be knocked out just from the volume of the bear's voice. Given how the bird and bug Pokemon were all covering their ears as best as possible, it seems he was far from alone in that regard.

The Smeargle, however, seemed unaffected, and weakly patted the Ursaring's thigh as he moved in front of him. "Sorry for my friend's loudness. The, uh, Stufful there. Was it attempting to steal in of your items before you subdued it?" he asked. Kestro groaned, rubbing his head as his ears rang, but he at least understood the Smeargle. He nodded, "We'd just left Windrose when we saw her stealing from those two kids. She tried stealing from us as well, but we were able to stop her," he explained.

The Smeargle nodded, pulling out a... sketchbook? "I see, if it's alright then, may I get a description of the events from everybody? Yogi, please make sure that the Stufful is bound and doesn't escape while I do so." The Ursaring nodded, taking out a rope that he tied around the smaller bear's legs, and for good measure feeding her a sleep seed. The Smeargle, meanwhile, moved over to the two children, getting their accounts first.

"Now, I understand that this Stufful here robbed you two right here in this dungeon. How did she go about doing it? Did she-" "She said she would beat us up if we didn't give her everything we had.", the Starly said in a monotone voice. "I see. Did she ever actually attack eith-" "No." It was pretty clear that the Starly just wanted all this to be over with. "Hey! Don't be mean to the policeman here! He's just trying to help.", The Cutiefly exasperated. "Well, if they didn't take so long catching this thief then one of this would've happened! And they didn't even do anything either, aside from swooping in and stealing the credit from these two complete strangers that actually took her out!" The Smeargle frowned at this, clearly feeling personally attacked. "Well, you have to understand that there are far more of these ruffians than there are police. We're just stretched so thin and don't quite have the resources we need." The Starly quieted down, understanding where he was coming from. "Yeah, you're right. You're just doing the best you can. I guess I'm just tired of being pushed around. Will that be all?" The Smeargle nodded and let the pokemon be on their way.

"Ah, you two. Do either of you have anything to add?" "I can't really think of anything, other than the fact that she was really full of herself for some reason, like she seriously didn't think she could lose. Perhaps she had beaten up some other pokemon prior to this?"

"She was able to take our physical attacks pretty well until I used Zen Headbutt. I don't know Stufful really well, but I'm guessing she's got an ability or move that lets her take attacks pretty well. She also tried to switch to begging to lower our guard once she realized we'd be tougher to take down. Other than that, nothing," Kestro added. He felt the police would probably need to be wary of the Stufful's type of fighting, even with the imposing Ursaring. As he finished speaking, the Ursaring walked up to the Smeargle's side, wrapped up Stufful tucked under his arm.

The Smeargle gave a nod as he jotted down the information. "Thank you for your cooperation, and for apprehending the criminal. I'm assuming here, but given your lack of explorer badges, I suppose neither of you are from the guilds? Again I'd like to thank you, but please do be cautious with battling criminals and the like. Without the support of a guild, battling such Pokemon can be extremely dangerous." Kestro let out an indignant huff, but nodded. Why would the officer caution them like that? Kestro and Saturn handled the situation pretty well in his eyes, and it wasn't like they had much choice. They just happened upon the thief in the middle of her crime, and then she immediately pressed them to act.

The Smeargle didn't seem to notice, though, and simple nodded at the pair before he clambered up onto the Ursaring's shoulder. With a somewhat dramatic salute, the Ursaring turned and left with the Stufful and Smeargle. The bird and bug Pokemon were also preparing to leave, the group again thanking Kestro and Saturn before they all began to fly off. With a long sigh of relief, Kestro turned his attention to the thief's sack. "So, split it about fifty/fifty?" he asked Saturn before dumping out the contents of the sack onto the ground.

Saturn understood where the Smeargle's warning was coming from; anyone not part of a guild likely had no standard training of any kind, so it was probably for the best that he was erring on the side of caution. Regardless, it seemed that Kestro took it as a lack of respect for his prowess, if anything else. Saturn waved them off as they left, hoping that Stufful wouldn't give them too much trouble on the way back. Once they were alone, Saturn agreed to split the items equally, as that made the most sense to him.

A collection of seeds, orbs, and a berry spilled forth from the satchel, forming a messy pile on the ground. Saturn managed to count 3 seeds, 3 orbs and one berry, which made 7 items total. That was going to make splitting them up a bit tricky. "So, one of us will have to take two seeds and an orb, and the other will get two orbs and a seed. And I suppose we could flip a coin to see who gets the berry. I suppose that would be the fairest way to go about this."

"You can have the seeds, I'll take two of the orbs and a berry," Kestro countered. He wasn't really interested in the seeds, given he already carried plenty of quick seeds on him. The berry he recognized as a lum berry, which, if he remembered correctly, would cure him if he got poisomed, burned, paralyzed, or any other status affliction. The orbs he wasn't quite sure what they did, and he didn't recognize the trapper orb at all. Most orbs looked the same to him anyways. Kestro still seemed a bit frustrated at the Smeargle, and didn't wait for the Cubone's response as he divied up the items.

Saturn certainly didn't have any objections to Kestro's alternative deal. If anything, he was happy to get the majority of the spoils, especially considering how much he needed them. As Kestro split up the items, Saturn let his mind wander for a moment. I suppose that's the first real outlaw I've ever fought, now that I think about it. I wonder if they're all that cocky? Once Kestro grabbed what he wanted, Saturn collected his share and continued their trek through the Copse, making another glance at the sun through the trees. "Wow, we haven't been traveling for as long as I thought. I guess it seems like a lot more time has passed due to what we went through." I think we're almost out of the woods, though."

Saturn picked up his pace, eager to get to Grassveil and see what was in those boxes they found.

Kestro blinked as Saturn began to simply walk off after collecting the rest of the items. He looked back to the two chests sitting on the ground, rope loosely hanging over them, then back to the Cubone. By now his frustration had finally abated and the Cranidos let out an, "Ahem," to get the ground type's attention before pointing towards the boxes. "I think you're forgetting something," Kestro said as he walked back to the pair of boxes, already moving himself back into position to have them strapped back onto his sides. Kestro was eager to move on himself, but not so much as to leave such valuable things behind as Saturn seemed to be. Perhaps Kestro should've argued to take more of the Stufful's ill-gotten goods due to Saturn having these boxes, but the rock type quickly pushed the idea aside. He had little need for what he let Saturn have. If anything he was more interested in getting to Grassveil for a quick visit home and a resupply of essentials.

"Oh, sorry." Saturn was so engrossed in wondering what might be in the boxes that he forgot to refasten them to Kestro. The forgetful Cubone quickly went back to where the boxes were and tied them back around Kestro's torso. "I guess I should pay more attention from time to time." Once they were properly secured, Saturn picked his bone club back up, after having to set it down since he needed both of his hands free to tie the knots. "There we go. Are you ready to continue?"

Just after he finished fastening the boxes, the two were interrupted by some rustling in the bushes nearby. It appeared that someone was approaching them.

Kestro hauled himself up to his feet once Saturn was done tying the boxes. As he took a step forward, though, the bushes began to rustle. The Cranidos stopped, already starting to tense in anticipation for another disruption. Thankfully, though, the source of the rustling revealed itself as a Pumpkaboo, who was in the middle of eating a berry.

The grass type froze mid-bite as it noticed the rock and ground types in front of it. The Pumpkaboo slowly continued its bite and path, heading deeper into the forest as it disappeared between another group of bushes. Kestro gave a light click of his beak before he continued towards the edge of the forest. It thankfully didn't take long for the pair to reach the end of Fallen Leaf Copse, finding the shore and thus the stone path across to the opposite side of the lake. Better still, they weren't interrupted for the rest of their short journey out of the dungeon.

"Alright, once we cross to the other shore, Grassveil should be almost directly East. Just gotta follow the path. From there we can find our way to Serene Cave with the map and signs."