Jake didn't hesitate to pop open the pokeball containing Roach. He hoped that the fish pokemon would do fine out of water for the time being,
"Ok, Roach, use water sport to splash some water so the big guy can get a drink!"

Roach isn't too happy out of the water, but his water move does help. And not long after, two employees bring a tub of water. Another one brought a first-aid kit, to deal with the paralysis. The man takes a moment to examine the Rhyhorn, before shaking his head. "This is... I've never seen something like that. It's like she's been running all day, without rest."

"What could have done that..." Remembering you're there, the man turns to both of you. "Sorry, thank you for your help. I'm sorry your session has to be canceled... I'm afraid I'll have to close the ranch to the public for the rest of the day..."

"Well, if there is anything we can do, let us know." Seymour was about to turn to leave when he remembered something. "Oh. When Faulkner was in the changing room, I did see someone in colorful clothes moving under the bleachers. Seemed kind of suspicious. Not sure if it is related, but I thought I would mention it. I found this poster when I went to go check it out." Seymour shifted his grip on Glumpy so that he could show the campaign poster he had found.

"A... poster?" He takes the campaign poster, giving Jake a brief look.  His hand tenses as he looks at it, and he seems furious. "SANFORD!" He stomps away, like he was on a warpath.

One of the employees facepalms. "Ah no... like things weren't bad enough already..."

The rodeo clown place a hand on Seymour's shoulder. "I take it you don't know about the elections... Come on, I'll get you something to drink."

While other employees take care of Matilda, the clown leads you to a break room, and hands you some berry juice. "So you're visiting trainers? Sorry kids, you really walk into a big mess... although, even I'm surprised how big it's getting."

Jake understood what was going on... in his own way at least, he whispered to Seymour as the employee led them to the break room,
"Hey, Seymour, it looks like we are walking into a full-blown turf war. Usually I like to stay out of these, but you can definitely get some street cred and tokens of appreciation by supporting the winning side.

Sipping on some juice, Jake tried to act innocent to the whole situation,
"Wow, mister looks like you got a real mess of a rivalry on your hands. Maybe you can just elect me, a wandering pokemon trainer, and that would solve everything."

Jake beamed with am impish grin. He didn't know what they were electing for, but it was a way to break the tension a bit.

"Eh... as much as that would take care of the issues between Jenkins and Sanford, I don't think you'll convince people that you can deal with the tourism problem.

The biggest topic this election is getting visitors during the off-season. And right now, that's a toss-up between the rodeo and the races. Thing is... both owners have egos wider than a stable. They've been sniping at each others since they announced they were running, and they keep going lower.

Attacking pokémons though... that's a new low for Sanford. Never thought he'd go that far..."

"Sounds... troublesome," Seymour said, putting it lightly. "Hopefully they figure out a way to reconcile their differences soon, otherwise everyone is going to suffer for it." He didn't say it out loud, but their feud had already made Seymour decide he no longer felt like attending the rodeo or the races. Not when a Rhyhorn might start raging at any moment.

"I don't suppose there is a way to combine the rodeo and the races? An event that only happens during the off season seems like it could draw a different sort of audience than the regular shows. Not that I actually know anything about show business though..."

She shrugs. "The problem don't come from the event, they could both work just fine... as long as the owners don't try to sabotage each others. Honestly... they're the real problem here. Sanford keeps calling my boss a peasant, and Jenkin considers him a... well, let's just say it's a word not to be said in public company.

I really wish I know what was done to Matilda, if only to know what to watch out for..."

"Yeah, I'm a little curious about that too," Seymour admitted. "I wouldn't mind going to go look for clues wherever Matilda was right before the... incident." He looked sympathetically from Glumpy to Jakey, both of whom had been roughed up as a result of whatever had been done to Matilda.

Jake's mind was working through potential solutions of questionable legality to the town rivalry. He didn't speak up about his ideas yet, but he seemed willing to investigate along side Seymour. He did have some ideas that he felt OK to speak about aloud in terms of what may have happened,
"Maybe something in her food or water?"

"Well, right before she was in the pen... as for what she ate..." The woman suddenly looks worried. "She ate the same thing as the rest of the pokémons... I need to check up on the others." She leaves without really paying much more attention to you. Without anyone to supervise you, you're free to look around the place.

Outside, you spot the clown you were talking to heading for the barn, probably to check on the pokémons' food. But seeing how the rest of the pokémons are acting, it doesn't seem there's an issue. In fact, they look far too tame for a rodeo, placidly working beside the other employees of the farm. You can't help but wonder if the bucking and jumping they do in the arena is more them acting than them trying to throw off their riders.

It easy to figure out where Matilda was before her rampage, just look for the broken fence. Next to the arena are a few small boxes where the pokémons waits for their riders, the 'bucking chutes'. The chutes are divided in three different sizes, to fit ponies, horses or tauros, or Matilda. Only one part of the chute was broken, with no real signs of damage on the other side... though Jake notices a small piece of glass next to the door.

It looks like a small tab that broke off from a larger item. Looking at the inside of the door, you spot a glass ampule taped to it that fits the tab you found. Unlike normal vials, it seems made to hold two liquids without mixing them. The content is gone, but one side still has a reddish tint, while the other has a blue or green tint. The way it was tapped, the ampule's top would have been broken by opening the door, releasing it's content.

Jake's attention to detail was not immediately rewarded with a sudden realization as to what happened... rather it was accompanied by a realization that the criminal was far more clever than himself. Fortunately, the Dr. Watson of Jake was paired with a Sherlock in the form of Seymour... hopefully. Finding the ampule, Jake flagged Seymour over,
"Look here, looks like we are dealing with a real genius. They must have blinded that Rhyhorn with science... or something. Looks like some pretty somphisticanted gadgetry, how did they get the glass to be so small?"

Jake knew well enough not to touch the crime scene, so he just resorted to pointing. He did swing the door a couple times to confirm the door was the culprit that triggered the chemical trap,
"I don't know if Mr. Rodeo is super science-y though."

While he was no chemist, it was pretty easy to tell the door opening triggered the trap... meaning if the door was opened or closed by the suspect during the escape, the trap would have gone off prematurely. That, and potentially the pokemon was in the stall. Jake checked to see if the Rhyhorn and/or the culprit had any other easy ways to get in and out of the stall. Jake also checked the sight-lines to see if someone could easily sneak in and out.

Getting out would be quite simple, really. Although the sides of the chutes are somewhat bigger than shown here, someone athletic enough (or with outside help) could have gotten out with ease. The vials setup was clever, but hardly impressive. Just a good amount of brown colored duct tape, and placed low enough on the door to be easily overlooked.

As for sneaking in and out, the farm has a lot of people walking around, many of them employees. But Jake can easily recognize the "I'm not paid enough for this" look they share. And considering none of them even called out to you as you're walking around, whoever left that little surprise would have no issue getting to the chutes without being noticed.

"The plot thickens," Seymour commented as he examined the broken glass trap. "Maybe the police could dust it for prints?" His voice betrayed that he didn't think they would likely get any results from that. Regardless, Seymour made sure to look at the device carefully in case he were to ever see another ampule that looked the same.

"I suppose fingerprints would be unnecessary though, if they can figure out which chemicals were used. They could then probably track who purchased said chemicals and backtrack from there. Alternatively, does anyone know anyone who has a pokemon with a keen sense of smell? Like an Arcanine or maybe a Slurpuff? It may be possible to track down whoever taped that there by scent. Especially if the tracking is done soon." Seymour shrugged and stepped back from the crime scene. He was curious enough to continue with the investigation if it were convenient, but would also be fine with leaving the actual investigation to the proper authorities.

None of your pokémons really qualify as trackers, and the only canine pokémon you recall seeing would be Evelyn's Riolu... or perhaps Portia's Abra.

...Or that big riding dog helping to clean the broken wood in the arena.

Adressing the nearby employees, Seymour asked, "Hey, do you know who's," he checked his pokedex, "Stoutland that is? And do you think it might be able to help us follow a scent trail?" He continued scanning its pokedex entry to learn a bit more about it other than its species name.

"Oh, him? He doesn't have one. Not anymore, at least. He belonged to the old owner of the ranch. He never accepted mister Jenkins or that Sanford guys as the new owners, but he still come over to offer rides to kids." The man shrugs "He never hurt anyone, so we pretty much let him do as he wants."

When you approach him, the Stoutland sniffs you, then turns to the side and lower himself. "Looks like he's willing to let you ride him. You could probably ask him to sniff out whatever it is you're looking for."

Seymour hadn't been expecting to get a ride, but the unexpected tugging at his heartstrings that the Stoutland's backstory had provoked had compelled Seymour to hop aboard anyway. After climbing aboard, Seymour scratched the pokemon politely behind the ears. "What do you say, boy? You want to help find out which meanie made Matilda go wild? There is a little glass vial in the broken chute over there. It should have the culprit's scent. Think you could track them for us?"

Though you're not sure if he understood you, he readily sniff the vial, and soon seems to follow a sent. He moves swiftly out of the ranch, and after a bit of hesitation, away from the town, taking some large trails heading toward small hills. As you look ahead, you notice you're heading toward some sort of farm, where rows of small green trees are lined up on the side of the hills. Seymour remember seeing something like that from Fortree City's highest bridges. A winery.

Though Stoutland goes near the farm, he takes a trail going around the crop, and toward a small patch of trees. Before you enter though, Jake stops, pointing out an almost invisible structure made of leaves and wood.

If there was room aboard the Stoutland, Jake would have hopped aboard. If not, Jake would keep pace jogging along side the big dog. He didn't have much clue other than it could be anyone, but he still suspected it was a third party wanting to take advantage of the chaos.  As they moved further away from town, Jake's suspicions grew.

As they made it near the farm, Jake was keeping his suspicious-senses on high alert and was rewarded for his diligence, spotting the structure, he put his hands on his hips and pointed it out before creeping towards it,
"Woah! Its like a secret hide-out, like the time me and my gang put a piece of wood over a doorway to make it look like just a wall. But this one is cooler because it is made of leaves and nature."

If anyone was inside, they would probably hear him chattering about it, so he probably didn't need to be sneaking AFTER alerting everyone to the fact he saw it.

Seeing no reaction from the lean-to, you move closer to examine it. And it seems even more like Jake's old hideout than before, complete with packages of junk food, and a few bottles of wine with no label. Stolen from the nearby winery, perhaps?

You also find a shipping box. The label is damaged, missing most of both addresses, but you can tell it came from Ryme City in Galar, and was shipped to... probably Vermillion City in Kanto. Although most of the box's content is missing, it's still half-full of bottles of pain relief pills from RKS Laboratories.

It seems the camp was used recently, but no one is here now, and Stoutland can't find any other scent in the area. As far as you can tell, your mount followed the path the saboteur used to reach the ranch, rather than how they left it.

OOC: The Stoutland is pretty big, and can actually carry both of you.

"Great job Stoutland," Seymour said as he scratched the pokemon behind the ears again, then disembarked. He was a bit disappointed they had gone the wrong way, but not much. There were still plenty of clues to examine here. "And great job noticing the hideout, Faulkner!"

Before he began looking more closely for additional clues, Seymour released Farrah. "Can you keep an eye from the sky? Or at least the trees? Keep watch and let us know if anyone approaches this hideout." Seymour then went about recording the hideout on his Pokedex, making notes of what they had found, and taking pictures of labels and addresses.

"Think we should set up a stakeout?" Seymour asked Jakey. "Or should we just notify the authorities?" He looked for any dates on the pill bottles to try and get a sense of how old they might be, taking care not to put his fingerprints on them.

---

Does Seymour know if a Galar-Kanto trade route would go through this area? Or did the package make a gigantic detour to get here?

During your investigation, Farrah calls down to point out someone, but you quickly realize it's only the farmer going through his field.

The date on the bottles says they've been bottled a few months ago. It also seems the box was shipped out not long after.

OOC: The geography of Poké-Earth is similar to the 'real Earth' geography, with each region placed approximately where their real-world inspiration came from. So...
Galar is the British Ilse
Kanto, Johto, and Hoenn are all parts of Japan
Cadien is inspired by Russia/China, so north of Kanto, and east of Galar... but with a few countries in the way. Normally, trade routes tend to steer clear of Cadien's coast, to avoid getting stopped by military patrols.

Jake wasn't sure what the best move was. The authorities might be able to do something about this, but he didn't trust them completely... plus, there was a bit more to investigate for themselves. After taking pictures of the evidence as well, he had a couple ideas,
"I mean, we need more snacks if we are going to stake out here. We might also want to talk to the farmer to know he he seen anything suspicious. Looks like there might be smuggling happening. We can get accusing if he gets ignorant, we got pretty good evidence."

Speaking of snacks, Jake investigated the packages of snacks to see if any had food left in them, he also checked to see if the wine was all gone too. Waste not want not (that, and if there was a lot of supplies left, it might mean the culprit would return sooner or later).


OOC: Cadien isn't inspired by Canada? Oh well, if it is inspired by China 我可以联系我的中文。

Seymour pondered for a moment, then replied, "I am hesitant to question the farmer just in case he happens to be in on it. The hideout is on his land after all. Could be his, or at least his family member's. Let's do a stakeout. At least for a couple hours. I can try to scrounge up se snacks for us."

If Jakey doesn't object, Seymour will spend a bit of time foraging for some nuts, berries, and other wild foods to supplement the ingredients in his pack. Luckily the people back in the mountain town had gifted him with plenty to eat.