"That's a good idea... maybe I will update my outdoorsy equipment.  If I do have to sleep outdoors, I need to be more comfortable than that time in the swamp."

Jake was a bit unsure of what to buy to improve his survivalist kit, so was eager to get help from the people at the stores and Seymour.

Jake finds a very nice looking thermal sleeping bag, equipped with an odor-less Repel insert to keep the sleeper safe from night attacks.

With your shopping done, you follow the town map to return to the hotel...

And promptly realize you took a wrong turn, as you find yourself surrounded by a set of discreet warehouse, built out of large round logs. Despite how small the town looks, the trees are downright confusing, and you can't figure out how you got here. And just to make things worse, no one seems to be around. Well, no one except for a Dodrio looking at your from over a trash bin.

Seymour checked the Dodrio entry in his Pokedex. "Think that Dodrio has a trainer? It seems they are known to be quite fast..." Without another word, Seymour pulled out Malley, transformed into the shape of the Pokemon before them.

"At the very least, maybe it (or they) could show us how to find out way back out of this part of town. Malley, can you ask for directions?"

Jake had other ideas. Sure, there was a birdo, but there were also lots of warehouses.  Brought Jake back to the days where he occasionally slept in derelict warehouses. Maybe a peek in would rustle some good old memories...
"Imma peek in these buildings. Maybe someone working in them can give us directions."

Jake's true intentions were pretty obvious though. Seymour could immediately tell that Jake was in slinking mode as he looked for a point of entry to the nearest warehouse.

Malley changes shape, but after a first wark, the Dodrio vanishes. You can hear it run off around the corner.

Before you can figure out why, Jake pulls at the closest door... forgetting to check for alarm. It only beeps once, loudly, but it seems it was once too many...

"There it is! With it's trainer!" You turn to see who shouted, and see a security guard throw out a large Torterra to block the alley. "We got you now, you thieves!"

"We... haven't stolen anything," Seymour said, confused. Then it began to dawn on him what exactly was happening. "I think there has been a misunderstanding. We are just trying to ask for directions. We thought the Dodrio that was just here might be able to help, but it ran off. Malley, can you be that Torterra?" He thought that Malley changing shape might lend some credibility to his claim. It seemed the Dodrio they had seen was a wanted criminal or something.

Jake supported Seymour,
"Yeah, I was trying to find someone to ask. I thought someone might be inside. We just got to town and did some shopping. We are getting ready for the gym challenge... do you have any advice?"

The security guard looks at you two suspiciously. "Just cause that wasn't the Dodrio doesn't mean it's not yours. And..."

He's cut short when other guards shout from behind you. "It's over here!"

The guard looks behind you, before glaring again. "Alright, you get off easy this time. But I'll be keeping an eye on you..." And with that, he runs back out of the alley, before turning right.

With the near-miss, Jake's yearning for a good snooping faded.  They were also still a bit lost,
"Maybe lets just follow the guard, maybe they will get us to a main street... or eventually tell us how to get to the inn.  Or we can just wander around. No one will mess with us trainers, even if the streets are a bit shady."

"That sounds like a good plan," Seymour agreed. He didn't exactly like the idea of following the people who had falsely (mostly) accused them of crimes, but he had to admit that it was probably their best chance to stop being lost. Not to mention he was curious about what they planned to do to that Dodrio...

You follow after the guard, who recalled his giant turtle to move more quickly. Judging by how quickly he's running, he must be really eager to stop that Dodrio...

A loud crash above you makes you pause, as glass showers over you. Looking up, you see the bird you're chasing break out of a window, with a small shape on it's back. It kicks off the building across the street from you, before landing in the middle of it and racing away.

OOC: If you want to catch up to it, you'll have to move fast! What do you do?

"Or we could chase the birdo!" Jake's enthusiastic voice suggested that was his preferred course of action. Well, not only his voice, he also broke into a dash into the direction the bird went.  He didn't have a ride pokemon ready to go, but he trusted his own feet and street-sense could do well in a chase down the town roads.

Knowing he had no chance of keeping up with Jakey on foot, Seymour turned to Malley again. "Can you be that Dodrio again? Let's try to catch up together," he suggested. If his Ditto's transformation was successful, Seymour would climb upon it's back and give chase.

Regardless, Seymour also released his Verdakeet into the air above. "Try and keep tabs on that Dodrio from the sky!" he called out to Sunny. Seymour wasn't 100% sure why they were giving chase, but he agreed with Jakey that it felt like the correct course of action.

Seymour climbs on his transformed Malley, you set off after the fleeing Dodrio. You see your prey jump on a rather steep roof, one that would be hard to climb. Still, with Seymour's bird flying above, you could follow after it on the ground. If only there wasn't an electric train in the way...

OOC: I'm using Paizo's Chase Cards for this race, so you'll have to beat various obstacles to catch up with the Dodrio and it's rider. Right now, you're dealing with either climbing the rooftop, or bypassing the train. Just pick your path, and tell me how you want to deal with the obstacle.

For clarification, the 'train' looks kind of like that:
https://www.ironplanet.com/for...-Cart-Nevada/4827797
It's pulling a series of flat, side-less wagon with cardboard boxes on them.

Jake didn't know the town well or have a good enough connection with Seymour's pokemon to feel comfortable taking a different path than the dodrio.  So, Jake did his best to follow the pokemon directly, only making deviations to accommodate his human features and optimize the route a bit more that the big bird could. He was not confident he could catch up, but like a growlith chasing cars, the effort was often more fun than the reward.

Seymour wasn't at all confident he would be able to climb the roof, so he opted to navigate the train obstacle instead. His sharp mind quickly concocted a strategy.

"Sunny! Swoop down and give me a boost to jump this thing!" His bird was too small to ride, but a short little trip would certainly be doable. When he was lifted skyward, Seymour returned Malley to its pokeball, then released it again on the opposite side of the train for him to land on.

Then he could continue the chase atop Malley, and Sunny could resume tracking from the sky.

Sunny pulls Seymour up and above the pile of boxes, before dropping him back on Malley. Jake follows close after, ready to do the same... until he realizes he doesn't have a pokémon out to pull him up. With a yell, he stumbles as he climbs the moving cart, before bursting through the wall of thankfully light boxes.

Looking to the side, you see your target slip down the other side of the roof, before climbing the next one. The wall on the building it's about to get on seems rather easy to climb (it's made of somewhat crudely cut logs), or you could keep running down the street...

Despite the stumble, Jake still felt he was doing alright keeping up without a pokemon.  Good thing the boxes seemed to be empty.  Catching sight of the target, Jake determined it was worth it to risk climbing up the crude logs. He'd encountered stacked logs on occasion before and knew they could be treacherous to climb, so he approached with that in mind -- albeit without much caution. Maybe when they were stacked into a wall they rolled around less. It seemed like it would be a bit odd if someone made a wall out of a material that would just roll away.

"I got the roof, you get the street?"

Jake didn't want to give orders to Seymour, but he thought it would be good if they took different angles... and Jake was pretty sure he could leap from roof to roof better than Seymour, even if the latter was assisted with pokemon.

"Sounds like a plan," Seymour agreed. He directed Malley in the correct direction and broke away from Jakey. This chase was pretty exciting! He had no idea what they would do if they actually caught their target though. He would figure that out if/when it actually happened.

Jake struggles a bit to climb the wall, but still reaches the rooftop. It did give the  Dodrio a bit more advance unfortunately, but as you look ahead, you see it take a turn to the left.
The direct path along the roof would be slow going, but you notice a window close to you leading inside the warehouse you're on. And inside, crossing the entire building, you notice a horizontal crane currently in use. If you could get the operator's attention, he could get you across the building quickly. On the other hand, you could just try to maneuver through the rafters to get across...

Seymour shouts at Jake, only to get surprised by a sudden jump by Malley. You didn't notice the rather large pothole in the middle of the street, but you manage to hold on to your mount as you race on. You start gaining on your opponents, only for them to suddenly turn away from you.
You turn into a small alleyway to stay close, but it turns out the alley is filled with clutter. Malley could probably climb over them, if they're stable enough to not collapse. On the other hand, the pile is loose enough that you may be able to slip between two of the pallets to get through...

Jake cut into the warehouse, but didn't have a perfect idea of how to 'persuade' the operator quickly. Then again, he did have something showing authority, well, not really authority, but at this distance it probably -looked- like something that gave him authority.  Jake released growler, gave a quick whistle, and grabbed one of his badges from his pocket and flashed it quickly towards the crane operator,

"Official business, help me cross!"
The suspiciously young 'official' called.

Jakey did some quick mental calculations concerning the upcoming pile and soon realized there was only one logical decision to be made (other than giving up the chase entirely). Since he did not have great athletic ability of his own and Malley was using a mostly untested form, he knew that attempting to climb the pile could end in a dangerous disaster. And so, "Malley, let's squeeze between all that debris. Speedily but safely."

The warehouse worker seems confused, as he shouts back to Jake. After a bit of back and forth, he finally starts moving the crane close to you, but it's slow. (Though you could speed it up for 12 favors)
You cross the crane, and return to the rooftops on the other side... right next to a Beedrill nest.

Seymour has a hard time getting through the pile, something not helped by the large form Malley currently has. Once on the other side, he locates the fleeing thieves on the other side, but see they're running along a busy path on the edge of the warehouse district.
(How do you want to navigate the traffic?)

Seymour put two fingers in his mouth and whistled loudly when he saw the traffic in order to get his Verdakeet's attention. "Sunny, use Grass Whistle on that Dodrio. All three heads. Malley, let's navigate this traffic swiftly but safely." Instead of rushing quickly into a hazardous situation, Seymour had opted to try and slow the fleeing pokemon instead. He just hoped all of the Dodrio's heads could be made to slumber at the same time.

---

Does Malley have any Dodrio moves that might help navigate the traffic?

Jake waited impatiently for the crane to get him across, then nearly jumped off the building in surprise at the beedrill nest. Given beedrills were a pest at home, he wasn't too terrified, but nearly running into one was a not-great idea. He didn't know exactly where the thieves went, so he just made his best guess and ran away from the beedrill nest.