As you step out of the barracks, you spot Major Plate heading toward the helipad, wearing his full dress uniform instead of the field fatigues he's worn the entire time you've been here.

As you watch him go, Cary walks up behind you. "What's going on? Oh, morning kids..." He yawns. "Sorry... I'm not much of a morning person..."

Seymour glanced back at Cary even as he watched the Major head toward the helicopter. He was glad to see the bug catcher. "I'm not sure what is going on," Seymour admitted to Cary. "I was hoping you would know. But since Major Plate is dressed like he was expecting them, I am guessing it is something... official." He shrugged, then watched to see if the Major was leaving or if he was meeting someone who just arrived.

Cary frowns. "Must be... I can't remember the last time I saw him in that uniform."

You follow after the Major, until you can see the helicopter, and the passenger leaving it. He's very small, looking almost like a child. But between his curly white hair and dignified brown suit, and the two guards following him, it's clearly someone important.

You look at Cary, and see he's looking a little pale.

Jake wasn't quite sure what the big deal was,
"Who is that and why is everyone in costumes?"

"I... I think it's the Inspector..." Cary swallows, clearly uncomfortable. "He... my parents told me of him like a boogie man... The kind that comes during the night and takes away bad kids..."

He freezes as the white haired man glances toward your group. Once he looks away to talk to the Major, Cary looks around for a discreet way to leave. "We should go..."

Seymour looked to Cary, then Jakey, back to the inspector, then back to Cary and Jakey again. He followed the bug catcher, but more out of confusion than concern. "Is the Inspector really that terrifying?" he asked in a hushed voice? "He doesn't look very intimidating to me. What does he actually do?"

"Oh man, is he like the police people who make trouble then blame other people and mess them up?" Jake knew not to judge by looks, but Seymour was right about the inspector not looking intimidating.
"Yeah, we can talk somewhere else though... like breakfast. I am sure hungry" Jake overtly rubbed his belly to indicate to all who happened to look that he was indeed hungry. Hopefully that would be justification enough for them to slip away to the mess hall... or better yet a stall in the city.

"No one's sure what he does... And that's the scary thing." Cary says as he leads you to the base's exit. "He's sent when the king hears something he doesn't like. And if the Inspector finds something wrong... someone disappears."

You reach the base's exit, and you're just about to leave, when...

"Mister... Falkner... I presume?" The Inspector is standing not far behind you, looking directly at Jake, with a smile.

Dealing with authorities is something that Jake had done before. Dealing with authorities suspicious of him as well. There was more than once a rock through the window called the attention on a suspicious lawman. This situation was a bit different, but Jake knew how to look youthful and naive. After all, if you are naive and caught, usually the punishment wasn't as bad. Responding was easy, responding without being caught in a lie was a bit harder,
"Wow, that's the first time someone called me Mister!" Jake replied in a cheery voice and approached the investigator to shake his hand,
"And which Mister is you?"

Despite his casual words and formal intention with a handshake, the way Jake moved was timid, but not intimidated -- respectful of, but not dominated by the power differential.

Seymour was starting to see why this inspector guy was making Cary nervous. He sounded like a guy whom you probably didn't want to know you even existed. So when the inspector said Falkner's name, Seymour nearly jumped out of his skin on Jakey's behalf. He turned around to see the small man a lot closer than he had been a moment before. Seymour stayed with Jakey for moral support, but knew enough to keep his mouth shut. At least for now.

"You can call me Emmett." He says. "I've been watching your string of success during your trip in our beautiful country. A quite impressive run, I must say."

"Nice to meet you Emmett! Yeah, we have been kicking butt. We even won a tournament! We are going back there to do the challenge with the ship graveyard now! That's where I caught my Nanny." Jake opted to just keep talking about random stuff as opposed to asking for the reason of Emmett's interest.

Emmett raises an eyebrow. "Doubling back so soon? Interesting... I suppose you'll head to Chairluire after that, seeing how you're both lacking pokemons strong enough to fly on."

Seymour had planned to remain quiet as Jakey and Emmett talked, but he couldn't help but to politely interject when several of Emmett's comments didn't quite line up with what they knew. Like how Vollemond was closer than Chairlure for gym challenges they were qualified for.

"Chairluire? Does that mean the Vollemond gym is a flight-related challenge? Also, the pokemon we have are being tracked? That last part about tracking their pokemon wasn't too surprising, even if it was unexpected. However, it was actually quite obvious once he thought about it for a moment. "Oh, right, our pokedexes relay everything we say and do."

"Mmm? Oh, yes. Commodore Lenola Laurel belives trainers are at their best when feeling the wind on their face while battling. She'll make accommodations for trainers that insist on taking her challenge without a strong enough flyer, but she tends to make the challenge harder in returns." Emmett explains. "As for tracking your pokemon, well... we like to keep an eye on our rare visitors. We don't want just anyone traveling around, after all..."

"Wow, sounds like we do need to find some big birds to ride. Or maybe Manty will be able to evolve into something that can carry me above water!"
Jake thought a bit more for a moment,
"Maybe it is a good idea to get a good flier first. We got stuck in a swamp in the night and it was super creepy. Maybe if we had a big bird we can not get stuck in a swamp? Where is the good place to get a big bird like that?"
Jake was clearly asking Emmett, but looked back to Seymour to see if he was interesting it getting a proper flyer first.

"I have not heard of specific sightings recently, though there are always numerous birds roosting in the hills south of Vollemond." Hemmett glances at his watch. "Hmm, I fear I have taken much of you time. Have a good day. I'll be sure to keep an eye on your exploits."

He turns to leave, but after a few steps, he pauses. "By the way, mister Jenkins lost his election. His sexual harassment caught up with him. And since his main rival was arrested for smuggling, it seems the black horse of the race won." He glances at you over his shoulder with a predatory grin "I thought you might like to know." He walks off, offering no more details.

"What?! I didn't even know a horse could be mayor! That's crazy." Jake exclaimed. He missed the implication that his boat ride got the smuggler in trouble -- then again, they never figured out who was behind the poisoning. He seemed to be stuck on the idea of a horse mayor,
"Seymour, have you ever heard of a horse mayor before?! What is a black horse, I just know ponyta is a fire horse..."

He seemed cheery enough though to bid the investigator goodbye,
"See you later maybe, thanks for the help! Seymour, should we head to that place he said so we can get some big birds?"

Seymour took mental note of the gym and flying pokemon information. It would no doubt come in handy in the future. He began saying goodbye to Emmett when the man mentioned about the election. It was clear now just how closely his and Jakey's actions were being watched...

Seymour may have even been at a loss for words if it hadn't been for Jakey's comments. "I think he means that a third candidate who was unlikely to have won, managed to do exactly that. It has nothing to do with real horses, Falkner. Er, or if it does, it is just a coincidence." He shook his head clear of that amusing thought, then returned to saying goodbye to Emmett. "And yes, as Falkner said, thank you for the help."

After the Emmett was a little ways off, Seymour responded to Jakey's other comment. "I definitely do think we should head to the place he mentioned and look for big birds. Or bats. Or dragons. Or even a big bug maybe, as long as it is a strong flier. But first, let's complete the Herenport challenge. It is closer. And who knows. We might even run into a flock of powerful seabird pokemon! The Pellipers in the Hoenn region are decent fliers, and they are water types too!"

Cary breathes a sigh of relief as the inspector leaves. "Oh, that was scary... I hope I never have to see that man again. Come on, let's leave just in case he feels like returning."

You quickly leave the base, with the guard saluting you as you leave. Even just passing them, you get the impression that they're nervous too.


The walk into town takes a while, and you're left pretty hungry when you get there. Cary invites you to a local restaurant, the Shuckle Box, for your breakfast/dinner. It's not as good a meal as the honey-flavored feats you had yesterday, but it does the job of filling your belly.

After your meal, you head back along route 111 with Cary, until you reach the split leading either to Antoseau to the north, or Herenport to the south. "Well, I believe this is where we split way."

OOC: While in the restaurant, do you check the newspaper?

OOC: Seymour would gladly scan the newspaper for interesting news, so long as the paper is convenient to grab.

---

After making sure he had all of Cary's contact information up to date, Seymour said his goodbyes to their bug catcher friend. "Take care, Cary. Don't be shy about calling! Let us know if you see anything interesting out there in your travels. Oh! Especially if you hear anything about where a crystal onix might be. I'll let you know if we spot any cool bugs."

With that, Seymour turned toward Harenport in order to head toward their next gym challenge. Along the way he would keep an eye out for any comparably strong pokemon he could challenge his Shroomish or Magikarp against. He figured a bit of extra training might do them some good before they began the next gym challenge.

The restaurant had newspapers for customers to read while eating. The highlights you noticed are the results of the Windzall election, where Theodore Sanford got arrested for smuggling, Darrick Jenkins got booed out of the race after a dozen employees came out with charges of sexual harassment, leaving the last candidate as the winner: Olivia Melton.

You also see an article on Roarac's vote to change the local gym challenge. The motion passed with a two-to-one majority, and the news announced that the mayor would present the citizen's demand today.

In a smaller corner, there's a mention that a lost treasure was discovered in Chairluire. Something about old rebels found buried deep under the castle...

---

The trip back to Herenport is slower then it was the other way, because you're taking your time to train your pokemon along the way. You cross the path of multiple Poochyena, and they give you plenty of chances to improve your team.

OOC: Instead of going through multiple random fights, we'll settle for picking four pokemon you train along the way. Who do you choose?

Jake gave a cheery wave to Cary,
"Hope to see you again soon! Its great knowing a local!"

Jake didn't bother reading the newspaper, but looked at a couple of the pictures.

On the road, he'd focus on training Skipper, Larfae, Growler, and Nanny.

The news stories had been of interest to Seymour and he made mental notes of their details. he had a feeling they might be important. Especially if they went through Windzall again, or participated in the Chairluire gym challenge. He briefly wondered if Atticus had been lucky enough to have seen the new discovery in Chairluire, seeing as how the guy had been headed that way last time they had seen him.

On the journey to Harenport, Seymour joined in with Jakey for some extra training. He focused mainly on Marigold, Glumpy, Malley, and Corium.

---

Seymour is training Magikarp (Marigold), Shroomish, Ditto, and Shedinja. Since Shedinja is a ghost, it can manage just fine under water, right?

Okay, here are the level ups:

Skipper's Def increases to High
Larfea's Def increases to Weak
Growler's Def increases to High
Nanny's Speed increases to Above Average

Marigold's Att increases to Below Average, and can gain one of these talents:
       Gulp  (By taking a short rest underwater, user heals a wound)
       Simple  (Temporary stats change affecting user have their effect doubled)
Glumpy's Speed increases to Average
Malley's Speed increases to High
Corium Learns the move Shadow Ball
Shadow Ball   Ghost   S   High   0   Lower target's SpD on a double or sum of 10. Blocked by Bulletproof


You spend the night camping in a field, not far from the road. The next day, you walk into Herenport.

And we'll continue in the Herenport thread, once I come back from work.