Seymour did his best to try and return the fleeing Malley to its pokeball, but if he failed, he would need to worry about the Ditto later. Glumpy needed some help. "Great job Glumpy! Try and Mega Drain Rex's foot!" Seymour wanted to send out another pokemon to assist Glumpy, but he also felt like it would be good to give his little mushroom pokemon a chance to show everyone what he was made of. Besides, Larfae was still there to assist too.

Glumpy struggles to get a good hit on Rex, even with Fairy constantly slowing him down. Then, just as the dinosaur was about to tackle the small fungus, the Mega Drain hits him HARD. Rex stumbles, and falls to the side, knocked out.

The farmer, who had backed up a bit during the fight, sighs in relief as he comes to join you. "Boy, that was scary! It's a good thing you kids were passing by! Why did that guy come after me like that, anyway?"

"I'll let his trainer explain the details on that one," Seymour said to the farmer as he checked Glumpy for injuries. Although the mega-Mega Drain probably helped alleviate a lot of the Shroomish's potential afflictions. "Although a broken pokeball definitely seems to be a major factor. Did anything expensive get smashed?" Seymour gave Glumpy some well-deserved attention even as he watched to see what Laura and the farmer would say.

Jake shrugged and deferred to the trainer... for the most part,
"Probably didn't like the noise of your thinger."

Jake gestured to specify the harvester was the 'thinger.'

Laura shakes her head. "That doesn't make sense... We've used heavy machinery at our dig site, and Rex wasn't bothered by it. And it doesn't explains why he came all the way out here..."

"Well, either way, nothing was damaged. Thankfully. I don't think my Primeape could have done much against a beast like that."

Looking around, you see how much of the field has been harvested, as well as Rex's path. He seemed to be traveling mostly to the north-east... at least until he got close enough to the harvester to hear it, when he turned due north to get in it's path.

When Seymour noticed thee direction the Tyrantrum had been headed, he turned to the farmer. "What is in that direction, if you don't mind my asking. Rex seemed to be heading over there, to the north-east. Perhaps there is something in that direction that was causing him to... misbehave." Seymour's curiosity was piqued now. What could cause a big dragon to act in such a way? Not another Naiaqua, he assumed.

The farmer shrugs. "Just my fields. A few pokemon hide in them sometimes, but nothing really big."

With the tall corn in the way, it's difficult to see if anything is hidden ahead.

Jake was a bit skeptical of the truthfulness of the farmer. Maybe the farmer was a smuggler like Joe the Pirate! In any case, he didn't want to throw around wild accusations, instead he wondered aloud,
"Hey, maybe a pokemon hiding in your fields is attracting nasty pokemon to come mess it up?  Lets take a look. Maybe you can use your thinger to frighten them away so we can see them when they move."

Jake pointed to the harvester as he said, 'thinger' to make it clear what he was talking about.

"I wouldn't mind going to take a look," Seymour agreed. Albeit for different reasons than Jakey. Instead of thinking the farmer might be hiding something, Seymour was just curious to solve the mystery of it all.

He returned all of his pokemon, then released Shedinja. "Corium, can you float up a bit and see if you can see anything strange in that direction? Maybe an out-of-place pokemon? Or an unnatural construction of some type?" It was always possible Team Gaia was up to something in the area.

Corium flies over the field for a while, until it stop, and starts to hover in place. When you reach the area it's marking, you're surprised to find a hidden pokemon nest. In it, you find three young Absol. And even without training, you call tell they're not doing well.

"Absol?" Seymour wondered aloud, pulling out his pokedex? "Do you think maybe Rex was trying to help them?" He listened to the pokedex entry for any potential clues, then kneeled down and offered some food from his pack. He scanned for any signs of additional pokemon that might have frequented the nest.

"These poor little guys. Think they have anyone caring for them? Or should we try to find them some homes? You guys need a home?" The last bit was asked to the Absols directly. Of course he didn't actually expect a response. But Seymour wouldn't mind giving a home to one or more of them, if they wanted.

Absol, the Disaster pokemon.
Type: Dark
Swift as the wind, Absol races through fields and mountains. Its curved, bow-like horn is acutely sensitive to the warning signs of natural disasters. Because of this Pokémon's ability to detect danger, people mistook Absol as a bringer of doom.

The farmer rubs his head. "Could be... I have no idea how he knew these guys were there. By the looks of it, these guy's parents hasn't been around for a while..." He looks at them more closely. "Seems like they haven't eaten in a while... and they're feverish."

He fishes out a mobile phone from his overalls. "One of my neighbours has a pokémon farm. He should know how to deal with this."

Absol looked cool. Well, they also looked sick, but the coolness struck Jake before he realized they weren't in the best health. He didn't have a berry on-hand -- potentially one of his pokemon was holding onto one, but Jake was not much of a quartermaster. Jake did have a bit of healing items on him, but the farmer specifically said they seemed to need food.

"Could be Rex is a big softie after all! I think if they want, Seymour and me can catch them up and drop them at a poke center when we pass by. Or we can visit the pokefarmer. Maybe the pokefarmer has some interesting pokemon too!"

"Yeah, what Falkner said. But I would be interested in hearing what the pokemon farmer has to say before we agitate them too much." Seymour continued to try and get them to eat a bit of his food while the farmer made his call. "We definitely can't leave them here in this condition though."

The farmer nods, and completes his call. "He's going to meet us at the road. We should carry them there." As Jake suggest catching them, the farmer looks worried. "I'm not sure it's a good idea when they're that weak. It's like catching a fainted pokemon, the capture process could harm them even more than they already are."

You each pick up one of the cub, carrying them back to the road together. As you pass Laura, you explain what you found. "Is that why Rex was acting up?" She says, surprised. "Then... do you think it would be safe to wake him up?"

Seymour nodded in agreement with the farmer. It made sense when he put it like that. He quickly but calmly helped to carry the young Absol family.

When Laura asked about Rex when they passed by, Seymour was unsure what the correct answer was. "It may have been the reason he was acting up. Probably the reason. But it is impossible to be sure. I would say that you would know better than anyone if it is safe to wake him up, but I would guess that it would be okay..." Although if Rex ran off again, Seymour didn't think he would be able to assist in slowing the big dragon down a second time. Not while helping with the Absols.

She hesitates, but decides to try it. The Tyrantrum slowly wakes up, only to jump to his feet as he looks at the harvester. Once he sees it's not moving, he calms down and sniffs around, until he sees you holding the sick Absol. You feel worried for a moment, but Rex doesn't threaten you. He just looks concerned.

Not long after you reach the road, a pickup truck arrives. "Howdy!" The driver gets out, holding a big cloth bag. "Found yourself some hurt pokemon, Kenny?"

"Hi Brand. Yeah, seems an Absol made her nest in my field, but it seems she didn't come to take care of them for a while."

Brand nods. "Let me see here..." He guides you to the back of his truck, and you lay down the Absol on a thick tarp spread in the bed. "Let's see here... Oh, that's the problem..."
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:57, Sat 17 Apr 2021.

Jake was pretty certain that Rex would be more relaxed now, but a sliver of him was concerned that Rex was going to take the sick absol as an opportunity for a quick snack. That concern didn't show though, so there wasn't any sense of relief coming from Jake as rex re-awakened.

As the truck came rumbling down the road, Jake was a tad concerned that Rex would take the truck as a new challenger arriving... fortunately, it seemed like Rex was more concerned about the absol than asserting its dominance over modern machinery. He kept silent as the pokefarmer took a look, but couldn't help showing how much the quick diagnosis impressed him,
"Woah, dude, you barely looked at them and you already know whats wrong? You should work in a pokecenter!"


//Side note, are there a million Nurse Joys in Cadien?

Seymour was also thoroughly impressed by the speed of Brand's diagnosis. "What is the problem?" he asked the farmer, leaning over his shoulder to try and get a good view. "Sickness? Poison? Malnutrition?" He found medical mysteries to be somewhat fascinating, although he did not have the stomach required to be an actual medical professional himself.

Brand spreads the fur of one of the Absol, revealing the pale flesh underneath, marked by small black, moving spots. "Fleas. There's been a lot of those this year... Most pokemons are big enough to just find them annoying. But for cubs like these, it can cause anemia. And it seems they weren't feed for a few days too. I can only guess that their mother got too hurt to take care of them."

He pulls out a large syringe, without any needle, and fills it with a sweet smelling liquid. "They'll feel a lot better after getting a drink of Shuckle Juice. After that, a good soapy bath with help with the fleas. Though, I'll have to take them to my farm for that."

"The real question is, who'll take care of them? The mother wouldn't have left them by choice, and they need someone to watch them."

Laura looks at the three, and says "I could take care of one... but not all three."

"I wouldn't mind taking care of one," Seymour offered. "I bet we'll have 'em back to full health in no time." He turned to look at Jakey to see if he was interested in nursing one back to health as well.

Jake pulled out a pokeball with one hand and flashed a thumbs up with his other hand. He was already thinking about how bandy could teach the little absol all sorts of larceny.

"Well I'm glad to hear that. And you can show you can take care of them for starter. Climb in, I'll drive you to my place so you can give them the bath they need."

Laura looks at the truck, and says "I'll follow you on Rex. Unless you know how to fix pokeball..."

Brand shakes his head. "'Fraid not. Alright, I'll drive slowly so you don't tire yourself out buddy," he tells Rex before climbing in the cab.

Seymour held his Absol tenderly as he climbed into the truck. The poor little pokemon would need a lot of love and care to recover, but Seymour was ready to provide. "Thanks for the lift. And for everything else," he said to the farmer. "Let us know if there is anything we can do to repay you. How long do you expect it will be before the little guys are healthy enough for pokeballs?"

"We'll have to see how fast they recover." Brand has to shout over the sound of his pickup, but you can hear him well enough since he's going slowly.

The drive is pretty short, and you reach a farm house. Looking into the fields, you see a bunch of Wooloo and Mareep grazing. Brand drives to the front of his house. A teenager walks out as he stop. "Back already, dad? What was the emergency about?" She pauses as she sees Laura and Rex. "Woah, that's bigger than I expected..."

Brand helps you get out of the truck. "We got a trio of anemic cubs. They got a nasty flea problem. Could you get the soap while I fill the tub? And tell your mom we'll need a pokemeal with plenty of sugar in it."