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Pokédew is a town which rarely sees visitors. Being as far out as it is, in relation to other towns and cities of the region, and with no gym nor contest hall, many struggle to find any reason to come. It has its own charm, however, even if only those who have lived there for generations see it. So when the screeching halt of the last train on a Sunday afternoon reverberates from the northern rocky mountains, it rouses a bit of excitement in the sleepy town as they anticipate their new residents.

"Due to a change in plans, the community center will remain closed today, sorry
Instead, a dinner party will be hosted at The Bouffalant's Head tonight at 6pm to welcome our new residents.
Everyone is welcome to join!
Sorry for any inconveniences, the community center will open as normal as of next week. -Mio :)"

She had taped the pastel pink, floral-printed notice on the entrance doors of the community center just before noon hit, before anyone could arrive. Being Sunday, Mio had doubted that many residents would be about this 'early' as this was the one day of the week where not many businesses were open. The town had been this way for years, using Sunday as a day of rest and being able to casually socialize with others.

If it wasn't for her father being out of town for the season, Mio would have been tending to her garden at this time, perhaps with a cup of home-grown tea. Instead, she had to go greet the new residents at the station and escort them to their new homestead. The farm the new residents would be staying at was a place she held dearly to her. Having grown up being able to freely explore the acres of land - that must have been where her love for horticulture began. Had she believed that she would have been able to handle all the responsibility on her own, Mio would have taken up ownership of the farm in a heartbeat. Alas, she could now only hope that the new residents would help her relive such memories and revive the town to its former self.

---

Unlike the rest of the town, the factory does not slow down. Workers rarely get breaks that aren't for meals or to retreat to their bunkers after closing. Production and testing remain just as fast-paced on Sundays as it does any other day of the week. Despite this, another proto-type, the nth one this month, fails as the capsule bounces off of an angered and chained-up shadow Pokemon in the testing cubical. It's only several seconds later when the glass, allowing those who are outside to observe the on-goings inside, turns black and opaque...

Despite never being around in person, Mister - as he preferred to be called - always seemed to know everything that was going on, even without being notified by his trusted admins. Suspicions included that he could access the security cameras that covered almost every corner of the building, inside and out. Some even go as far as to believe that he has spies working for him to rat out any misbehaviour. Though, he would never confirm the matters as there was more important business to take care of.

The "You have 1 new email" notification flashes on the screens of the administration computers. This would make it the first time in quite the while that Mister had contacted the group.

"This is just a quick check-in, I should think everything is going well?

Anyway, I've done a bit more research. You should know, I didn't just choose this town for any old reason.
The mines just north of you are rich with minerals and I would like you to send out a team as soon as possible to extract some samples.
I believe that we may be able to use the energy from these minerals to finally create a Pokéball to catch the shadow Pokémon.

Also, I've requested a second shipment of shadow Pokémon as it's been reported to me that the town is expecting some 'serious' trainers who are coming to take care of our 'problem'.
Although I'm sure they won't be much of a problem for you, I don't want to take any chances.
In other words, I want them gone. This goes for anyone else who becomes a bother.
I'll be checking in again at a later date and I'll be expecting to hear about your findings. -Mister"

Alora-Rose was about to get ready for her studies to become a Pokemon breeder while her Pokemon Machop,Surskit,Snubbull and Rookidee were relaxing, then Alora-Rose was reviewing the email notification and saw a note saying "I've requested a second shipment of shadow Pokémon as it's been reported to me that the town is expecting some 'serious' trainers who are coming to take care of our 'problem'", Alora-Rose begins to wonder, "What type of problem is it? And what are shadow Pokemon?", Alora-Rose gulped but her Pokemon team helped Alora-Rose feel a bit calmer.

---

Roan glanced up at the email notification, midway through crafting something “interesting” he smiled, before the blowtorch he was using went over his hand “Ah! i dteach an diabhail!” He roared, before waving his hand “No. I can’t show any pain, or I’ll never be anything more than an admin” he grunted, continuing to weld, meld, and skeld. He worked continuously, never diverging from the task at hand, even as he started to clam up. “In the eyes of my boss, this is true work” he said, an attempt to make himself work harder. He resorted to sending out his mega tyranitar, who kept slowly dragging rocky claws along his back if he even stopped moving for a second. He kept going, going, goin, untill “ah~!” As he promptly collapsed from blood loss “awrgrooo?” His monster asked, lowering her head. She poked him, and he didn’t even flinch. She grumbled in slight fear and sadness, and kept poking him worriedly, her cracks slowly e,imaging the dark cloud of fear aura again. She sighed, and just laid down next to him, looking at her master sadly. He wasn’t dead, just passed out. He would wake up in about an hour

---

After feeling calmer, Alora-Rose reviewed the email and she wondered if she should ask the residents at Pokedew Valley about the email that they received, "I am not sure if I ask the residents at Pokedew Valley, I still need to look into this situation", then Alora-Rose's Pokemon were surprised then Alora-Rose said, "I would probably attend that meeting, but I'm scared of going outside in the middle of night because of the dark and shadow Pokemon I wish I know about this sooner".

---

Working with technology wasn't really her thing, much rather preferring to solve her problems hands-on; however, she had learned a few 'tricks' here and there over the years of her training, which were arguably helpful. For her own advantage anyway. Not only had she managed to intercept her boss's email, Leah - or 'Blakely' as Team Umbra know her as - had anonymously redistributed it to, not just her admins (who were originally the only ones intended to see it) but to the whole of Pokédew Valley. As previously stated, computer-usage was not a strength of hers and redirecting the email to everyone was, admittedly, an error on her behalf. But it didn't have to be a mistake, right? It would just make anyone who saw it as suspicious as the last. At least, that was how Blakely looked at it. Plus, she'd be lying if she said she didn't enjoy watching people point their fingers at each other.

Chuckling to herself, she closed down the laptop in front of her. Blakely wasn't too worried about anyone finding it, they'd need a password to log in, and further ones to get into any files, but slipped it back into the draw of her desk anyway.

"Let's go, Ulric. The last thing I need anyone complaining that we've been slacking off," she calls out to the Mightyena who'd made himself at home on her bed to which he, begrudgingly, gets up with a whine and the two make their way back to the main area of the factory.

Hiryta read the email over with cold, calculating eyes. More trainers? No, this wouldn't be a problem. She would make sure of it. Already, she was forming a plan to take care of this new roadblock. After all, if one wanted to go far, they should always clear the bumps in the road. Her slender finger arched as she scrolled down the email, reading it over one more time. Lunox, her Ninetales and faithful partner, sat beside her. With one hand, she leaned over and absentmindedly scratched the top of his head. "Ninetales..." Lunox purred. Hiryta leaned back in the chair, looking up at the ceiling. She wanted to do this right...which Grunts would be the most successful in this task? Hiryta was not patient with blunders. She would only choose the best. It did give her a reputation of being picky and unreasonable, but it also gave her the best results. She closed the laptop with a loud snap, and stood up. "It apears we have work to do, dear Lunox. We'd best be going now." Lunox stood up as well, his nine tales for which he was named fluffing up and settling again. Hiryta fingered one of the pokeballs at her side. "Excalibur...yes, he will do nicely." She opened the door to her office and walked out, a rare sight to see since she spent so much of her time holed up in there. With quick steps, her boots echoing on the tile floor, heading to the main area.

---

ѕнιи
тσωи нαℓℓ | ¢σиfυѕє∂

The weather was nice today, Shin noticed absentmindedly, the faint breeze ruffling paper-thin fabric. Arriving early for work, Shin was ready to put on a smile and welcome new residents yet as the familiar towering building of the town hall drew closer, Shin could spot a piece of paper fluttering on the door. It seemed to be recent and Shin's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Shin wouldn't be surprised if some news had happened and Shin hadn't heard of it. Hopping from job to job without sticking around for debriefing usually left Shin in the dark about many things so this wouldn't be the first time.

Quickly reading the note, Shin nodded decisively. It seemed like some free time had opened up for Shin and that was a rare luxury. One that Shin loathed indulging in as inactivity never sat well within Shin's bones. Twirling a lock of light brown hair, Shin wondered what could be done to pass the time. Going out to see the newcomers was an option yet Shin hesitated to go do so. That would be slightly awkward, no? Thus, Shin let out a sigh and began the trek towards the outskirts of town, back to the abode that Shin lived in. Perhaps some work could be done to tending the gardens which flourished on the small property Shin owned.

---

꧁༺ 𝒦𝒶𝑜𝓇𝓊 𝐻𝒶𝓀𝒶𝓏𝑒 ༻꧂
𝒯𝒽𝑒 ℬ𝑒𝒶𝒸𝒽 | ℛ𝑒𝓁𝒶𝓍𝑒𝒹

Kaoru took in a deep breath, feeling the familiar sting of sea salt and the rolling waves lapping against his ankles. In one hand he held his shoes and socks, letting bare toes sink into the soft sand, and in the other, he held his luggage. He didn't have much, a simple duffle bag with a few changes of clothes, toiletries, some money, and his ever-faithful partner pokemon. He hoped that the residents of the town wouldn't mind lending him a few things in the first few weeks of his stay. Unfortunately, he didn't have the time to pack all that he would like, but at least he had the essentials.

Digging up his feet from its sand burial, Kaoru leisurely strolled along the beach. He absentmindedly wondered if there were any good surfing spots in town but discarded that idea. As long as the sea was present, he would be fine.

---

𝙱𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚎𝚛
𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙻𝚊𝚋 | 𝙵𝚘𝚌𝚞𝚜𝚎𝚍 | (x)

Crouching down as they held a pokemon in their hands, Balladeer twisted and turned the pokemon around to examine it. Beside them, Toxictrity churred, sparks of electricity jumping across her body. The pokemon in Balladeer's hands twisted away with a snarl, attempting to bite down on the constraints put upon it but the thick gloves which they wore prevented any pain from registering. Giving a non-verbal order, Toxictrity complied with her master's wishes and an arc of lightning ran through Balladeers arm and down into the pokemon. The only reaction was a violent jerk and more snarling, but other than that the pokemon seemed unharmed. All in all, it seemed like the process was going along well and after dropping the pokemon, Balladeer strode back to their work station.

Pulling a pencil from behind their ear, they scribbled down a few notes onto a paper pad. "Pokemon are progressing well.... heightened agitation.... increased resistance..... slight signs of cognitive failure.... perhaps we can change that." Muttering to themself, they missed the ding on their computer notifying a new message. As the oldest (but also youngest looking) of the current Admins, Balladeer held the prestigious position of doing most of the paperwork and field study, their hands-on approach to many of Team Umbra's problems coming in handy with fieldwork. Twirling the pencil in their fingers, they flipped through a few more reports before scowling and shoving them aside. There were too many anomalies with the data gathered. Were grunts really so useless that they couldn't even tell Balladeer the behavioural patterns of certain shadow pokemon? Pathetic. Balladeer really had to do all the work around here if anything was going to get done

---

Alora-Rose grabbed her stuff, feeling a bit worried about the arrival of dark type and shadow Pokemon, "I really need to attend the meeting but at this rate I need to show that I can handle tough situations that is happening but still this is the meeting that I need to show that I can handle tough situations ahead", Alora-Rose said as she headed to the town hall meeting then she said, "Rookidee, would you like to come?", Rookidee nodded and landed on Alora-Rose's shoulder and headed out to the local inn for the dinner party

---

Shuffle shuffle...

Click!

Beep beep!

Numerous sounds going on at once. The adjusting of his tie, the clamoring of the higher-ups over yet another failed test run, the pressing of the centerpiece button on dud Poké Balls that seemed to never work, and the very loud notification noise on his phone that startled him, Luke couldn't seem to catch a break. It was a cycle for him. Even though he had gotten himself into the gist of things, it was still so tiresome. He needed to pause.

Nobody would notice if he checked his phone, right? The others can carry on without him, just for a moment... He had to see what was up. It could even be an emergency. He took it out of his pocket and tapped on the email that came up.

Oh, this was definitely not for his eyes. He checked the correspondents list... either the sender was dimwitted enough to send it to everyone in their contacts list and then some, or some dimwitted computer techie made a mistake. Luke played with the idea in his mind, emitting a chuckle as he came up with more and more ideas.

Back to work.

---

ЯHΣA ÐΣMAЯIS
Hᴇʀ ᴡɪʟᴅʟɪғᴇ ᴄᴇɴᴛᴇʀ | worried; concentrated; tired Rhea was annoyed, though not greatly suprised when one of her helpers at the wildlife center - a young zorua female that she had brought in a good month ago - yanked her out of bed by tugging on her skirt. The pup wasn't fully purified yet - his snappy demeanor reflected that - but surprisingly he had chosen to stay at the sanctuary and offer what aid he could. Many of the pokemon that she had taken in were young and below their prime, so she supposed that keeping a younger pokemon arond would help the shadows adjust to their new life. And it worked, most of the time. Wes had warned her about shadow pokemon's unpredictable temperament, and in many ways, he was right. Rhea had taken many many lines of work before, but nothing was as rewarding or as taxing as a pokemon widlife rescuer. Rhea loved it, sure, but she was hoping she'd get a few more hours of sleep.

The zorua female whined softly, her big sapphire eyes narrow and anxious. Worried. She kneaded the ground beneath her crimson furred forepaws, the soft sound filling the area. This behavior, for all the time that Rhea had known the pup, could really could mean one thing. "Another rescue?" Question and statement at the same time. The white haired girl frowned, covering up a loud yawn, her steps relatively groggy from sleep yet graceful as she allowed the wolf-fae to lead her down the stairs. The pup's pace was eager and expectant, yet not demanding as she led the caretaker down the long winding staircases, with Rhea flicking on light switches as she descended. Bright golden light flooded every hall, no doubt a morning call for the numerous pokemon that resided within the cavernous church. Healing, slowly, recovering from whatever they had been subjected to. Her own were watching over them, patient and un-demanding. Just like Rhea's mother had been before her untimely death.

By the time she reached the bottom, a trail of golden lights marking her trail into the long narrow main hall, she could hear - no feel the agony pouring off of a pokémon that Augustus presumably had brought in; the jackal had been missing from his room upon Rhea's examination. Her gut tugged with some strange intuition towards one of the medical examination rooms, following the golden glow. Sure enough, the jackal's lean, muscled form stood by the doorway; keeping vigilant guard along with Rhea's espeon, Hera, over a prone form, battered and bruised. The form was mostly ocean-blue, almost cat-like, with a fan of gills around her head, and gills on its neck. A vaporeon; one of the eight evolutional forms of an eevee. Rhea's heart clenched as she knelt down gently beside the wounded pokémon. Augustus's emotions were unreadable.

"When did you find her?" Rhea's hands, gentle as the feather on an altaria's wing, probed the various wounds on the pokémon's flank and legs. It didn't appear to be anything serious, with several electrical burns and lash-marks making up the worst of it. Electrical burns. She'd taken in other pokémon sporting similar wounds just a week ago. The vaporeon's flank rose and fell with her labored breaths, and a low moan escaped her maw. Pained eyes glanced upwards, uncomprehendingly. The vaporeon was a muscled one, which was to be expected since there were very few wild vaporeons to be found. Most if not all of the eevee evolutions could hardly be found in the wild; most were domesticated to human touch. Had she simply gotten lost? This was certainly interesting.

"Hera found her in the woods, near the brook." Augustus replied quietly, his voice low and red eyes distant, "The reason she's woozy like this is because Hera had to knock her out with hypnosis. She's got a wicked bite, this one. It's nothing though; one of the other helpers got her leg patched up."

Rhea jolted, pausing from her examination of the vaporeon to glance at Hera's leg, where bite marks were faintly visible. "That's - that's good. Had me worried there, Augustus. Was this near the mountains, where we found the patrat last week?" The espeon nodded. "That would make this not an isolated occurence. First a houndor, then a patrat, and now a vaporeon." She walked over to the cabinets, popping open some disinfectant before returning to her patients side, "It's just as good you're out cold pal," Rhea muttered, "This stuff stings." She dressed each wound with the clear liquid, killing any potential bacteria that had somehow gotten into the burns. Could this have possibly been tied to the shadow pokémon? This vaporeon must have been either a victim or...worse, a shadow herself. Augustus had indeed mentioned that the vaporeon was unnaturally aggressive. Well, she'd see when the vaporen felt a little better. For now, Rhea concentrated only on putting the pokémon in a stable condition.

Every doctor owed that much to their patient.

---

Alora-Rose finally arrived for the dinner party, looking forward she was stunned and amazed at the set-up, though she wonders to see what was going on, she thought carefully, "Maybe I can have the dinner party and afterwards I will hope to show my true confidence but I will have to wait on that".

---

Hiryta made her way across the main area, hands behind her back. She entered the labs with a swift knock to announce her presence. Lunox was barely able to fit through the doorway with his large tails, and there was the fact that he was incredibly vain and hated getting his tails mussed up in any way. Hiryta leaned against the doorway, arms crossed. "Baldadeer? I trust that you read the email? There was some very important information that all Admins need to know." She looked down at her Ninetales, who was stuck between her and the doorway. "Stop that Lunox, just back out for goodness sakes." She glanced back at him. "Well? Did you read the email or not?"

---

𝙱𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚎𝚛
𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙻𝚊𝚋 | 𝙿𝚎𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚍 | (x)

Without looking up from their work, Balladeer picked up the pencil that they had been using and threw it at Hiryta's general direction, the flat of the writing utensil bouncing off harmlessly against their fellow Admin's arm. "What do you want." They muttered, the wide-brimmed hat balanced precariously on their head blocking any view Balladeer had of Hiryta. The chuffing of a Ninetails had them looking up however and a scowl crossed their face. Ugh, this nuisance again. If the boss hadn't expressly told them Not to extort their teammates of everything they had, Balladeer would have already done it in a heartbeat and sent them all crying back to whatever dumpster fire they called home. But alas, the boss had told them not to rob their co-workers blind so they would have to make do with what they had available.

"What do you want?" They asked again, flipping through a report. They couldn't really be bothered to give Hiryta the time of day when there was work to be done, work that their fellow Admin was obviously slacking on. Balladeer's keen eyes caught a small discrepancy within the data and shuffled papers around to grab the needed information to cross-reference what they believed to be an error. And just as they through, there seemed to be a few missing shadow pokemon, most of them quite young and in their baby stage. They wondered if someone has been squirrelling them away somewhere and made a note of it, circling the discrepancy with a yellow highlighter.

---

Hiryta caught the pencil, gritting her teeth. "Well, Mr. I'm too good to listen to someone who's trying to give a helpful reminder, did you not hear me? The boss just put out an email. I was asking if you had read the thing. I didn't come here for a pencil to be thrown at me. I have work to do, and the one time that I actually go out of my way to do something for someone, and I get this kind of reaction?" She sighed and folded her arms. "If you're going to be such a priss, why do I bother? I can't believe that you got this far in Team Umbra with an attitude like that. At least answer the question so I can move on."

---

𝙱𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚎𝚛
𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙻𝚊𝚋 | 𝙼𝚘𝚌𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 | (x)

Kicking their office chair away from their desk and spinning around, Balladeer gave a mocking bow towards Hiryta. "Oh forgive me, your gracious highness, you're too kind checking up on an insignificant worm such as I." They mocked with a sneer, the baubles on their hat clinking against the ground. Rightening up, they stood up and readjusted their hat with a sigh. "As for your oh so important question, the answer is simple. No. Who do you think is stuck doing all the reports and paperwork, double-checking all the facts while you hooligans run around messing everything up? That's right, me. With the number of wrenches you imbeciles are throwing into the project, it's a wonder how anything is getting done around here. I don't have time to read emails, but if it so pleases your oh so honourable highness, I'll read it right now."

Plunking themself back down onto their office chair, they swivelled to their computer, clicking open the mail. "Doing well, blah blah blah, new minerals, blah blah blah, trainers, elimination, the works." They muttered as they read the email barely caring for their company. "There, read and done. Now shoo. I have work to do. And don't call me Mr again. That's Mx to you."

---

Hiryta threw up her hands. "Why do I even bother with you! You are the nastiest person I've met. I'm gladly leaving, and heaven help the person that tells me I have to cross paths with you again. Come on, Lunox. I've got more work to do, and I don't want to be wasting his precious time." She stalked out, her Ninetales hurrying out behind her. "Sometimes I wish that I had never taken this job!" Hiryta slammed the door behind her, going back to her office and quickly hurrying in, slamming that door as well. Lunox sat down on the ground, nosing one of his paws. Hiryta sat down at her table, rubbing her temples. She didn't mean what she had said, she really needed this job. She refused to go back to her old life. She would rise above it, and being part of this orginization would do that. She opened up her laptop and started to read profiles on grunts that would suit a team to go up.

---

At the dinner party in the local inn, Alora-Rose looked around and soon she recognized that she is early, Alora-Rose's Rookidee looked around as well, but soon she sits at a bench and waits for other Pokedew Valley residents to make their arrival, then Alora-Rose's Rookidee found some bird seed and started to eat for a bit, and Alora-Rose begins to wait.

---

ѕнιи
тнє вσυffαℓαит'ѕ нєα∂ | ιи∂ιffєяєит

Crouching in the cool earth, letting the dirt pass through thin fingers Shin let the gentle breeze ruffle paper-thin fabric. Gently burying up a few berry seeds into the soft soil Shin finally stood up to brush off the dirt off fragile hands, staring up at the sky to track the falling sun. By Shin's side, Roserade cooed and wrapped her appendages around her master's shins. Letting out a small laugh, Shin crouched down to pat the white whisps of hair that counted as her hair. "Yes yes, thank you. I'll be going to work now." Shin laughed, picking up the smaller than normal Roserade. Around the garden of Shin's abode ran around the pokemon that had chosen Shin as their owner, the oddities that separated them from their brethren as Shins. "Everyone, please come back," Shin called out, taking a knee to hold out a hand. As expected of the pokemon that Shin kept within the abode, they were all free spirits, saved from awful fates that Shin would rather not think about. Bronzong was the easiest to cajole of the other three pokemon under Shin's protection, the bell-like pokemon floating close to his master. Mismagius was the trickiest, her mischievous tendency to haunt the furniture within the house proving to be a tricky challenge.

As Shin's pokemon one by one were collected slowly, with Shin giving them enough freedom for them to run around and defy their master. Gently cleaning up to be presentable, Shin fixed up stray hairs and tucked them within the sheer silk hair tie and smoothed out unsoiled clothes. Walking towards The Bouffalant's Head to start up the day's shift, Shin wondered if the dinner party would coincide with what hours Shin would be on the clock. Perhaps, but Shin didn't care much for what hours were spent working, all that mattered was that people were receiving aid. Pushing open the employees only door of the inn, Shin nodded towards the owner of the inn, clocking into work. Walking out into the main area, Shin raised an eyebrow to see someone already present. Seeing someone come to the party early was a bit odd, but who was Shin to judge?

---

Alora-Rose saw a gentleman giving her a strange look and then she asked, "Excuse me, but what brings you here at the Bouffalant's Head, are you here for the dinner party?", Alora-Rose then gave an interesting look while Alora-Rose's Rookidee was still eating some bird seeds just before the dinner party was about to start. "Where are the others, should they make their arrival soon?", Alora-Rose asked once again.

---

𝚁𝙷𝙴𝙰 𝙳𝙴𝙼𝙰𝚁𝙸𝚂
𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚒𝚗 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 | relieved, charmed, amused
For all the foreboding that Rhea had been swallowing down like pills when she first saw her patient's battered state, it didn't take much longer for her to not only stabilize the vaporeon's condition, but get her to eat some food. The bubble jet pokemon was hungry for sure, and devoured the food at a desperate pace. Rhea breathed a relieved sigh, moving away from her patient for the first time in the past half hour. Most of the injuries were either already healed or well on their way thanks to Rhea's minstrations. She slumped back into an armchair, covering up a yawn with one hand as she watched the bubble pokemon down mouthfuls of food, cooing in delight. Occasionally, it paused to lick crumbs from its forepaws when they dropped. Arceus knew that when a pokemon started to eat and groom themselves in the presence of a human, it meant that they were as relaxed as they could be.

Confident now that her patient was out of harms way and that they wouldn't destroy the entire church while she was away, Rhea gave Hera and Augustus a warmer smile, "She'll be fine, for now, although I want her getting plenty of rest. I'll have a volunteer stay with her for now." Rhea scratched Hera under the chin, "We'll be leaving soon for the dinner party; right after I pick up the rest of the group. Feel free to hang around here for the moment."

Onto the next item on her agenda. Namely, the oh so exciting dinner party at the Bouffoulant's head. A bubbly feeling blossomed in Rhea's heart at the thought of meeting new individuals. Pokedew was such a reclusive town that Rhea was pretty sure that she could name every inhabitant's name at a moment's notice. Sometimes, it was almost boring, especially considering all the pokemon in the woods lived in terror of the shadowy savages. But a dinner party at the Bouffolant's Head would perk everyone up. Feeling for the first time airy and whimsical, Rhea indulged in a luxurious stretch, arching her back like a cat. Next course of events? Fetch her pokemon - who were all likely outside - make herself look presentable - and head off to the dinner party. Now, this affair was by no means supposed to be excessively formal, but Rhea would rather turn herself into Team Umbra than show up looking like a wreck. It simply wouldn't do!

The morning sun bathed Rhea's face as she stepped outside, rolling open the door that creaked with age. She was greeted with the warm summer air, and the sweet floral scent of many flowers in bloom had since diffused through the air. Sunlight bathed her face, the sudden brightness bringing a sharp pinch to her eyes. She grimaced at the discomfort, and shielding her eyes with her left hand, scanned the scenery for her pokemon. Not that they were terribly far away. Her cincinno, Amanda, was lounging in the sun, her plump grey-and-white furred form nearly hidden by the graceful serpentine form of her Milotic friend, Nereides. Neither of them were really asleep, though the heat had stolen what energy they had left. Completely understandable, Rhea chuckled to herself. The grass crunched drily under her heel as the snowy trainer made her way over to her pokemon, keeping her footsteps light in order to avoid disturbing them. Of course, Amanda heard her immediately. Big doe-brown eyes immediately filled with delight and she bounced up and down in delight, eliciting a tired coo from Nereides (which translated to um, please don't jump on me please Amanda. I'm not a trampoline. The scarf pokemon adroitly leapt over the tender fae's coils and right into Rhea's arms, her soft white fur tickling the neck of her trainer.

"Good afternoon to you, Amanda!" Rhea chirped, giving the cincinno an affectionate squeeze, "It's time to go, so I'm going to need to return you while I look for the others."
WIP

---