Adventures in Helnith Part 2: Of Shadowed Paths and Spectral Evidence

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Less:

As you approach, the scene becomes a little clearer. The ‘hats’ are books with cups of water on top that the Pokémon have perched carefully on their heads; they aren’t attached, with the result that the Pokémon move very little and very cautiously. Up close, you can see their hides practically gleam with health, tough and beautiful at once.

"Not to interrupt," Less said, interrupting, "but I can't help but find myself curious about what you're doing."

The trainer looks up from his current task (setting more cups of water to balance precariously on top of each stake); except for the scarf his clothes are dark and striking colors that complement his eyes and complexion both, and appear to be tailored to him.

He glances at you once the cup of water is placed and replies dismissively, “Merely training. Nothing to concern yourself with.” Just like the cup, each syllable is carefully placed, and just like the Pokémon, carefully polished.

He picks through his pack (you can see Planters hanging off it, with Berries growing inside) to retrieve another cup and begins the process again once he’s filled it to the brim with water. He continues like this until each stake has a cup on it, then gestures to one of his Pokémon - a Delcatty.

The cat Pokémon very carefully gets to its feet and begins weaving back and forth between stakes at its trainer’s direction. The Normal type manages to balance the book-cup combo well enough you can tell this isn’t the first time it’s tried this particular exercise. And now that they’re in use, you can see that the spacing between the stakes is just tight enough to make it tricky for the feline to pass between and turn for the next pass without spilling the water on its head or one of the stakes.

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Mark:

"He's been pretty sensitive talking about it," Especially when you were being terribly insensitive when talking about it, Mark, you unintentional buffoon, "but she was the only Lucario trainer we know of around Ternai, which is where Mina found the little guy, and he definiely had a trainer at some point. Do you know what kind of supplies she was looking for?"

“Just baby Pokémon things - food mostly, some blankets. Baby soap. She wasn’t very impressed with my selection. Top breeder in Helnith notwithstanding, we’d only recently taken the town back, so that might have been on me. I offered her use of my facilities for the eggs if she needed them but she wasn’t interested, kept going on about tainted auras in town disrupting their development,” he replies with a frown. “And you should have seen the look her Lucario gave me! Scandalized, I tell you.”

"And is there anything weird or special about the mountains north of Ternai?"

“I know there are some fairly extensive caves there. But really I think she was just looking for solitude. I got the impression she was planning to be out in the wilds for a while.”