"Oh... this can't be good..." Panic threatened to set in as the swarm approached, but Seymour managed to hold it at bay. Now was not the time to lose his head. "Faulkner, let's show these fine folks why we earned our Horde Badges, eh?"

Seymour called all of his pokemon near to begin coordinating. "Doom, Defense Curl as much as you can. You'll probably need to Roll Out soon. Rampage, use Focus Energy to pump yourself up." He scanned all of the bystanders and knew it would be a good idea to keep everyone together. To create a defensible position. "Everyone! Get into the same tent! The one with the most indispensable supplies. Me and my poke-buddies will do our best to keep the Kricketots at bay."

"Blustra, Malley, start sealing up that tent's openings with ice walls. Leave just enough space for people to get in and out. Rampage, you be the door guard. Double Hit any Kricketots who come too close." The trainer considered his other Pokemon and how he should utilize their abilities. "Weatherman, use Sunny Day. You and Locke try and create a barrier of flame to discourage the swarm from coming this direction. Locke with Fire Spin, Weatherman with Ember. I'll have Malley come help with another Fire Spin once the ice barriers are in place. Doom, roll around the perimeter to keep it clear of Kricketots." He considered that fire may not be advisable in an area with black powder present, but figured the area near camp had already been thoroughly scanned for hazards.

---

Snom: making ice barriers to mostly seal up the tent.
Pinsir: Focus Energy and guarding tent entrance.
Dunsparce: maximum Defense Curl, defending tent perimeter with Rollout.
Castform: Sunny Day, then dissuade the swarm with Ember.
Lapimage: Fire Spin to dissuade swarm.
Ditto: Help Snom make ice barriers, then help Lapimage make Fire Spins.

"Yeah, brings back memories. Too bad we don't have a hilltop to defend. But our pokemon are now way more cool." Jake wasn't too impressed by the nerds' technique. It seemed like they had been getting nowhere fast, so the Kricketot swarm was actually received by Jake as a fun opportunity to show off. As the swarm approached, Jake calmly and confidently gave out orders -- he definitely felt like he was coming into his own as a trainer,
"Skipper, use mud sport to keep the ground nice and wet so we can use fire moves more comfortably, then when free, use some rock slides away from the dig site to weaken the swarm"
"Rusty and Sparker, use air cutter and roar to break up the thick parts of the swarm"
"Fetcher and Growler, pick off tots that get separated from the swarm with Aerial Ace and Flame Wheel"
"Bandy, steal if you can, otherwise, stay close and just pound anything that gets near us!"

Jake wasn't sure if the nerds would be mad about skipper's muddy games, but he'd much rather people be blowing up at him than people blowing up because of him.

The archeologists gather in one of the tents, that quickly turns into an igloo thanks to Blustra and Malley. As Rampage takes his place to guard them, and Skipper muddies the area to protect from stray wild fires, Weatherman turns into her sunny form to start attacking with Locke. Your fire hare races ahead, creating a wall of flames to scatter part of the swarm.

On Jake's side, Sparky manages to scare part of it away, while Rusty swoops through the cloud of bugs, with little effect, partly distracted by the Kricketot's buzzing seems to be distracting her.

As the swarm draws closer, Fetcher and Growler gets ready to jump into the fray. But as you look at the scared off bugs, you notice some of them seems to turn path a couple of times, until they head back toward the main swarm.

"Great idea with the mud," Seymour complimented Jakey. It helped to negate one of Seymour's major concerns.

As the battle began and he noticed some of the scattered swarm already regrouping, Seymour's face contorted into a look of perplexity. "Why aren't they staying scattered? Is something drawing them all together? That could explain why they are swarming in the first place. Should Malley and I take a look from the sky? Or did you and Rusty want to see if you could spot the source of this mess?" If Jakey prefers to keep his feet on the ground, Seymour would have his Ditto transform into the Skarmory and take a look at the swarm from above. Otherwise he would continue directing the defensive maneuvers.

"Yeah, you go take a look. I'll try to scatter it so you can see the middle. I wonder if another Nanny came to the surface and is controlling them!"

Seymour was right that Jake was wanting to keep his feet on the ground. There had been too much flying lately! Not dissuaded by the swarm constantly regrouping, Jake altered his orders a bit,
"Rusty and Skipper, keep up the good work! Fetcher and growler, try to break into the center of the mass with everything you've got! Sparker and Bandy, try to keep the ones that get away from regrouping!"

With coordinated attacks, Jake manages to break up the bulk of the swarm, forcing the smaller groups, before they're forced to scatter and flee.

Taking to the air, Seymour looks down at the bugs to spot any strange movement. A few turn around, but not enough to reform the swarm. Diving lower, you see small movement in the grass. You can't quite make out what's causing it, only seeing a flash of pink before it's gone.

And with that, the swarm flees back into the wilderness.

Seymour returned to the tent where everyone was holed up. As he entered the icy fortifications, a look of confusion was plastered on his face. "I think whatever was encouraging the swarm to form has left. And the swarm with it. Whatever it was was small, pink, and gone so fast that I didn't get a good look at it. Does anyone know of any small pink Pokemon native to the area that might be capable of swarm-coersion?"

Seymour shrugged. "At any rate, I think it is probably safe to go back out now." Seymour regrouped all of his pokemon and thanked them all for their hard work and dedication. He also glanced around to see if there were any members of the swarm still scuttling around that he might be able to toss a pokeball at.

---

I wouldn't mind catching a stray Kricketot if there is one convenient. If not, that is fine too.

Jake clapped his hands together, satisfied with their performance. A lesser team would have taken much longer to disperse the swarm... but Seymour and himself were pro trainers at this point. When they all regrouped, Jake was still curious about the source as well,
"Yeah, maybe we can look for it tomorrow or if this evening if there is still some good light yet."

"Pink? Like a Clefairy or a Jigglypuff?" Professor Otis says.

"That doesn't sound like them, though... maybe some other kind of fairy pokemon? A lot of them are pink..."

As Seymour grabs one of the bugs, you see the sun is close to setting. Fred shakes his head. "There's not much sunlight left... We'd better put things away for the night. We won't make any more progress today..."

You're served a meal (slightly over cooked, due to the distraction from the swarm), before they show you your tent for the night.

Seymour helped where he could and enjoyed the cooked meal despite its burnt nature. It actually reminded him of his older brother's cooking back home. He also did some celebrating with his pokemon. Yet again he was extremely happy with their performance when faced with a challenge.

As they worked and ate, Seymour asked the people around him if anyone had any tips for the local gym tomorrow. He knew it was all about traps and survival and stuff, but he hoped someone could give a bit more detail about what he and Jakey might expect.

Jake didn't mind the food. He'd had worse. Dumpster diving didn't usually yield the tastiest vittles.  He was eager to hear more about the challenge, and was still feeling a bit energetic after the battle got his blood pumping. That being said, he was more interested in sleeping through the night than wandering around trying to find the pokemon that caused the swarm.

"The Trap challenge? Oh, that's was a stressing one..." Jodie says. "When I took it, they gave us a set of coordonates to reach in the middle of the forest. Some old ruined fort that's been abandonned for decades. It's not that hard to find, but the path is filled with traps. And the moment you fall in a hole, some pokemon jump out and attacks you. By the time I reached the goal, most of my team was knocked out."

"The whole thing takes... what, a day? Two if you get lost?" Fred adds. "At least you get the chance to sleep, unlike the Night challenge. I heard the old post got fixed up some. They added a room for the challenger to rest once they win."


You're not sure how long you've been sleeping, when a sudden honking wakes you up. You look outside, half-asleep, and see the lights of one of the jeeps are on, and it seems to be moving. That seems a bit weird, but it's even weirder when you spot a pair of ropes tied from the back of the jeep, all the way to yours and the professor's tent.

As you notice that, the jeep's engine starts...

Seymour fell asleep with various strategies and team combinations running through his head as he mentally prepared for the upcoming challenge. He hadn't even realized he had fallen asleep when the honking woke him back up again. "Huh? What's happening?" He grabbed the vest with his pokeballs on it and headed to the entrance to see what was going on, but he was very obviously not completely awake.

That changed abruptly though when he noticed the ropes attached to the tent. His eyes went wide and he moved to get out of the potential path of destruction. "Watch out!" he yelled to Jakey and the professor. A split second later he grabbed two of his pokeballs and released his Pinsir and Lapimage. "Sever those ropes!" he urged. Their fire and pincers attempted to do exactly that before the entire tent could be dragged away into the night.

True to form, Jake was not getting good sleep while in a tent. The honking and lights on the jeep were not a help... wait, what? That was enough to rouse Jake from being half asleep to one-fourth asleep, and Seymour's confused exclamation hit as Jake saw the ropes. Hearing Seymour's plan, Jake took a more offensive route. He released Fetcher and Skipper,
"Fetcher, cut the tires of the Jeep, and Skipper, use mud sport to stick the tires in mud. Make sure they aren't going anywhere!"

Your pokemon jump into action at your command, cutting the ropes before they pull at the two tents. Fetcher slashes the nearest front tire, removing enough traction that it can't escape Skipper's mud.

In the confusion, you didn't notice right away that both of the jeep's doors are half open. And when you look inside it, you find the cabin empty, with just a head-sized rock on the gas pedal.

Professor Otis walks up to you, wearing a loose pair of pants and a t-shirt, looking still half-asleep. "What's going on? Why are you shouting?"

"Someone tried to drag away our tents," Seymour replied, pointing toward the evidence around them. He released all of his pokemon. "Locke, Weatherman, Malley. Illuminate the area. Everyone searched the area for whoever may have done this. Doom and Rampage, you two should probably Defense Curl and Focus Energy, just in case. Jakey, think you might be able to pick up a scent from that rock on the gas pedal?" he suggested.

The trainer then picked up Blustra so that the bug could help him with his own search efforts. He started near where the vehicle began, scanning for any additional clues. He used the light provided by his pokemon to see.

"What? Drag our tents?" Jodies says, still looking frazzled from the sudden wake up.

Fred looks at the ropes tied to the top of the tents. "This is weird... the knots looks pretty loose. And I thought we had brand new ropes? The end of this one looks pretty used..."

As Jake looks into the jeep, he notices small scratches on the steering wheel and the seat. The rock also seems to have finger marks. Very thin fingers.

Seymour searches outside the jeep, and although the ground is pretty solid, he does find a few marks in the mud Skipper created. They look like small oval depressions, and by how far they are from one another, they most have belonged to a pretty small humanoid.

"I bet we got a spooker!" Jake exclaimed with minimal evidence. He lugged the rock out of the jeep and examined it a bit better in the headlights of the vehicle.
"Any spookers with skinny fingers? I think that rules out the gengar line." Jake was still waking up a bit and he never really had an encyclopedic memory of pokemon, so he was hoping someone else would come to a conclusion... and determine if they can just go back to sleep. If Jake could write, he'd mark this in the book for yet another reason not to be camping.

"A spooker, or maybe a prankster. Or both. Whatever it was, it wasn't human. Hopefully that rules out Team Gaia yet again. Maybe a ghost or dark type pokemon. Take a look at these footprints." He pointed out the tracks and looked in the direction the headed, gesturing for his pokemon to look over there. He tried to search his brain for any known pokemon that fit the clues, and tried to cross-reference his pokedex as well. "Maybe an Impidimp?" It was a total guess at this point, but those were also pink...

Fred nods. "It could fit. Their clawed hands would have frayed the rope when trying to tie it up. And the feet matches too."

"Then... maybe your Growlithe could track them?" Jodie suggests looking at Jake.

Turning to Growler, she sniffs around the jeep and at the track, yapping twice and wagging her tail.

"Impidimp?  That doesn't sound like a real pokemon name but you guys seem to be taking it seriously, so I guess it is just a pokemon with a silly name" Jake then gave a thumbs up to growler,
"Looks like he is already on the case. Do you have any flashlights or torches?  Its already spooky enough out there, even moreso with a known spooker on the loose."

"Sure!" She reaches into the second jeep, and pulls out two large flashlight. Fred takes one, and signals to you lead the way.

Growler walks you through the plain, pausing a few times as the trail seems to get confusing, until Fred stops you. "Wait!" He points at a patch of grass that looks different. "Look at the ground. Something was dug in here." He moves carefully around the area, looking at the rocks around it, and at the grass. "I think this area used to be a well. That's why the grass is greener here. Except for..."

He pulls at the weird grass, and it moves aside like a carpet, revealing a shaft leading below the surface. "I guess our tricksters are hiding down there..."

Seymour was interested in seeing if his hypothesis about an Impidimp being the culprit was correct, but wasn't sure if going down a well in the dark was worth the risk. Then again, the meddling pokemon could have had a hand in the explosion the previous day as well. And the swarm...

Yeah, the pokemon seemed to be a real safety hazard that needed to be dealt with.

"We can't let this 'mon keep putting people's lives at risk. I'm not sure why it is doing what it is doing, but I do think it needs to be confronted." Seymour took the Snom from his shoulder and set her next to the well. "You are small and can climb walls, Blustra. Think you could make sure the decent is safe enough for some of us to climb down too? I'll hold the light for you."

Blustra nods, and makes her way down the wall of the well. As you look down after her, you see the top is a mix of dirt and stones, turning to stone bricks after a few feet.  Your Snom walks down about ten feet, before stopping and circling the well. Even with your light, you can't really make out what's below her, but by the way she seems to look around, you think the well opens into a cave.

By the time your bug returns to you, Fred managed to run back to the camp and bring some ropes and spikes. In a few moments, you have a rope leading down into the pit. "We should probably leave someone guarding the top of the rope, in case one of those tricksters slips out."

Jake nodded. Whatever it was could sneak out. He had two flying type pokemon that probably would not be too useful in the cave,
"Fetcher, Rusty, whackamole if the baddy comes out from the pit."

Jake then got ready to descend. All it would take was an easy slide down a rope. He didn't want to release all his pokemon, worried that it may attract attention, so he just kept growler out and added Bandy to the field,
"Bandy, do what you do best, and growler, keep on the scent."

Jake wasn't 100% sure what Bandy was going to do, but it was probably the right thing to do. He then waited for everyone else to descent down with him.