[Jodie Rey]

Jodie stretched and yawned. It was 11:30PM-ish; she didn’t want to check her pokedex for the exact time, fearing the time wouldn’t be much different from the last time she looked. Nothing had happened since she’d started her shift, and after three hours of deafening nothing, she was starting to think that was just going to be the theme of the night.

Recently there’d been some rumours surfacing about a ghostly hooded figure riding a blue rapidash, running silently through the forest, before suddenly vanishing. Burnt hoof marks in the grass were to be the only sign anything had been there in the first place. It wasn’t the hooded figure itself that prompted the request that she haunt the Mother Edea’s Forest specifically for the next few nights. Faculty was more afraid students would send each other on dares out into the forest at night. Because they didn’t believe in ghosts.

So far, no students, and more disappointingly, no hooded figures. As per usual, Gengar and Dusknoir were somewhere off in the trees, and Honedge was slipped into the latch on the outside of her backpack. She could see a side trail a ways off in the trees, but the traveled cross-country. As she twirled an off flashlight in her hand and couldn’t help but feel a disappointment. Granted, 95% of all the crazy rumors the students told were completely and utterly false, she told herself. But Jodie had gotten her hopes up that she’d see a ghostly rider, maybe without a head or with a scythe or giant sword, on a flaming blue steed who burned the ground where it walked. What a let down.

Then again, who knows? Midnight was the haunting hour, and that was coming up fast. The night was still young(-ish). She might still bump into a dark horseman. Or at least a student searching for the same ghost as her.

Santos "Shadow" Almaz

[Santos "Shadow" Almaz]

It was way past his bedtime.

That was the thought going through Santos' head as he made his way home. He had been out training for and he must have been hit with something like a sleep powder or something that put him to sleep because the next thing he knew he woke up and the night had consumed the island. He was now making his way home and had to go through Mother Edea's forest luckily he had a source of light. His Lampent Candle

As the two walked the pathway, Santos was looking at a map via a PDA which marked where he was compared to where the city was. This was the one time he was regretting not bringing Hope or Falco with instead had switched her and him out with Shade the Zorua and Trumpet the Phanpy for training.

Santos exhaled "Candle remind me to always bring someone who can fly or use teleport whenever I go somewhere."

Candle made a noise of agreement then made a noise of attention.

Santos hummed "what is it?"

Candle turned in a direction and Santos saw a female on the pathway with a turned off flashlight. She was walking with confidence and Santos knew of only one type of people who did that.

Santos grunted "cut the light." He hissed

Candle dimmed her light down and both zipped behind a tree. If the female had been looking she may have seen a dim bluish purple glow on the pathway suddenly dim and zip behind a nearby tree.

Santos hissed from behind the tree "wonder when they increased security around this joint." He muttered in displeasure.

[Jodie Rey]

It was because Jodie was specifically looking for blue fire that the brief flash of light registered in the corner of her vision at all. It was quick, but due to the human brain’s uncanny ability to search for specific things, it was unmistakable.

Her next step was obvious. Jodie promptly changed course towards where she had seen the light and tried to quell her excitement. It was highly unlikely that an entire horseman was attached to such a small light (or that the thing existed in the first place), but she couldn’t stop herself from going to check it out. Besides, few forest pokemon gave off blue light - that what a ghost-type thing, with only the odd fire type joining the party. She didn’t doubt her observation, but last she checked, ghosts weren’t too native to this forest. All the more reason to go look.

A thought occurred to her. What if it was, indeed, the hooded apparition, and it attacked her? Dusknoir and Gengar were likely too far away to be of much help - they wouldn’t have spread too wide, but she’d probably have to yell to reach them. That was kind of against the point. Three other pokeballs hung comfortingly on her shoulder bag strap. She’d put a little thought into who she brought along; Poochyena for training, Gardevoir for healing (just in case), and Ampharos because it was her turn. It hadn’t been enough thought, it seemed, as that left her with a grand total of no other pokemon who were useful until battle actually started. She’d have to rely on Caliburn for now. If worse came to worse, she could just start screaming. Her ghosts were pretty responsive to that.

Jodie tapped the ghost pokemon on her back, who had been dozing off. “Keep an eye out behind.” She whispered. Not that Caliburn needed to be reminded any longer.

As she neared the location of the light, her pace slowed. Her light was still off, and with the threat of blinding her own night-adjusted eyes with it, she’d prefer to keep it that way. The waxing moon didn’t reveal anything obvious. She'd have to look deeper, into the shadows Rather than try to separate out shapes in the darkness - an impossible task for anyone without actual night vision - she watched for movement.

[Santos "Shadow" Almaz]

Santos carefully peered out from behind the tree and saw the girl scanning in his general location. Santos knew if he moved, she would most likely detect him.

Santos withdrew behind the tree. He started to plot and plan. He needed a distraction to draw the security woman away from him. He then smirked as a plan came to his mind. He pulled out a ball "Showtime Shade"

A few moments later a Lampent would came out of the shadows Jodie with a wail designed to frighten the security girl.

[Jodie Rey]

Something shifted. Something she would have seen a moment later, regardless of whether she’d been straining her eyes. It was a lampent - the evolved form of litwick and and awesome mix of fire and death. Jodie’s shoulders relaxed and her back straightened. The blue flame had just been a ghost pokemon who produced a blue flame, and that made common sense. Figures.

This was, however, a very talkative lampent. Jodie put her hand on her chin and nodded like she understood what the unfamiliar ghost type was saying. “That is interesting.” She agreed. “Say, Miss Lampent, are you hungry?”

Caliburn knew this routine. Retrieving a bag of pokemon food from Jodie’s bag with her long, scarf-like hand, she took a few of the pellets for herself before dropping the little sack into Jodie’s open palm. The trainer bowed deeply and dramatically, presenting the food to what she assumed to be a wild pokemon. It was odd to see a lampent in the forest, and it was for this very reason that Jodie was keen on befriending her. She may know something about the ghostly hooded figure - she still hadn’t given up on that - or something else intriguing.

[Santos "Shadow" Almaz]

The lampent seem to blink in confusion. She looked at the food offered then smirked. A purplish shift occurred and the Lampent transformed into a smirking Zorua that quickly swiped the bag of food and leapt off the girl's hands. This was Shade, Santo's Zorua. She had used her illusion ability to copy Candle and attempted to scare the girl but it didn't. The girl wasn't easily scared but that didn't mean Shade wasn't going to refuse the offer of food.

Shade snickered as she got into the bag to get at the food

Santos was on the sidelines ready to make a move and when the girl pretty much didn't do as she was supposed to. She offered the Lampent food. Shade broke her character took the offer of food and now was eating it.

Santos groaned as he facepalmed himself.

Candle let out a low hiss of disbelief.

Both sounds would most likely be able to be heard.

[Jodie Rey]

The lampent was apparently hungry. She was also apparently not a lampent at all, but rather another interesting pokemon native to Unova. Jodie put her now empty hand on her hip and watched the results of her plan which had gone a little too well. There was no point in trying to retrieve her bag of food from the pokemon. It was a lost cause.

Jodie had come across a number of zorua and their evolution in her years in that region, usually in dark forests or on cloudy nights, and each time the pokemon had seemed to have no goals other than to trick her out of her wits. Some of them had managed just that. Regardless, in her experience, any night that contained a zorua was not a night that was going to end quietly.

And as it so happened, it was a noise that clued Jodie in that there were more present than she and the two accounted for pokemon. Her attention and gaze turned in the direction of the sound. Another wild pokemon? Thinking about it, zorua weren't native to this forest, let alone the lampent she had been copying a moment before. This was likely a student and their pokemon.

As such, they would understand words and hopefully common sense. She still couldn’t make anything out (this is why she had ghost pokemon who could see in the dark for her), but she faced toward her best guess of the origin of the noise. “I know you’re there. You may as well come out.” She said sternly and without any particular flair. She sounded like a villain before the sneaky protagonist cut her down with their cleverness in word choice and attack. It was appropriate, she guessed, as she knew a good many students who would be thinking exactly that of her right now.

[Santos "Shadow" Almaz]

"Humph," Santos huffed "so much for a distraction working to keep her busy." He muttered then came out with his actual Lampent, Candle behind him. "Shade!" He called

The Zorua was eating but she perked up at the call and then went over to Santos with a mouthful and a cheeky grin.

Santos gave her a glare of displeasure. "we're going to have to work on your self control." He stated to her

Shade seem to take offense at this. She ate her mouthful then turned her nose up into the air with a bark like huff.

Santos rolled his eyes then looked at Jodie "so what now." He stated with boredom.

[Jodie Rey]

Jodie was almost a little disappointed of how easy that was. The guy himself, however, was not a disappointment. He looked like the kind of guy to train a lampent and zorua - while most of the people she ran into this time of night were at least trying to hide some nervousness, he seemed… bored with the whole ordeal. Despite looking at least a few years younger than Jodie, he was also taller than her (but everyone was taller than her).

She walked to close the distance between them. “What now?” She parroted, not smiling but not grimsing either. “Well, first I’d like to see your ID. As a security guard of the academy, of course.” She almost forgot. “What’re you doing out in the forest so late? It gets dangerous out here once the sun goes does. Saw an ursaring the other night - I tell you, that plus students is a liability if I ever saw one.”

[Santos "Shadow" Almaz]

Santos rolled his eyes. He should have seen that one coming but fortunately he was prepared. He pulled out his PDA and showed his ID and a mark on his ID which signaled he was allowed to go anywhere on the island. "Santos Almaz." He stated "Born and raised local of Harmonia Island. As for what I was doing out so late at night, I was out training my pokemon and I must have gotten hit by a sleep powder or something because the next thing I knew I was waking up, it was dark, past my bedtime and otherwise look officer I'm just trying to get home for the night cut me some slack huh." Santos muttered doing his best impression of guy who been pulled over the police who knows he's guilty of something but really just doesn't want to be lectured or bothered about his late night activities.

[Jodie Rey]

Jodie looked over the ID. Resident, name, incidentally not a student; it checked out as far as she could tell. It even had that nifty detail that said he wasn’t technically anywhere he shouldn’t be.

That didn’t, however, mean he was free of suspicion. One thing in particular stood out to Jodie; if he was just trying to return home after an adventure gone wrong, why had he not just come to greet her when he heard her? She’d spoken before she’d directly called out to him, when she addressed his pokemon. He knew she was there, human, and possibly able to help someone who was in his given situation. Why had he bothered to remain hidden?

An idea occurred to Jodie. It was kind of mean, but if it justified the ends, she guessed. “Well, your ID looks good and such, Mister Almaz, but I’ve got a problem with your story.” She began, twirling the flashlight in her hand again. “Last night a rather destructive pokemon battle knocked down several of the big trees in this forest. We’ve had the place closed since early this morning - had to clean up the mess and didn’t want any loose trees falling on anyone - and only deemed it safe enough to be opened earlier this evening.”

This was entirely a bluff, but one she felt was reasonable enough. She watched Santos carefully. “What I’m saying is, I’m not seeing why you would have come to the forest in such an event just to train, and why no one tried to stop you.”

[Santos "Shadow" Almaz]

Santos gained a raised eyebrow "the forest was closed off?" He echoed "Funny," He muttered "I didn't hear anything about a battle causing severe damage to the forest. There wasn't anything in the news, nothing on my alerts page..." He hummed as he took back his PDA "and I don't remember seeing any barricades or people blocking off the forest... not that I would really care anyhow. I go wherever I want, I'm authorized to for my work." He stated proudly as if it was some sort of privilege, which technically it was but who cares. He started searching for island alerts despite not being a student, Santos was interested in what happened at his home island. "but if something like that happened it goes to show some people have no respect for the lands they visit." He muttered "it a common occurrence."

[Jodie Rey]

Her reply was going to be, “we had it all packed up before dinner” and “the news wouldn’t be interested in such a small story”, but he’d checked an alerts page. Jodie shrugged. She couldn’t beat that.

“Then I guess you’ll be glad to hear it didn’t actually happen.” Jodie did say, following it with an apologetic smile. “Sorry, Santos, can’t be too careful. I can’t say it’s not suspicious to see a teen like you out here at this time of night.” She also couldn’t say he was yet free of suspicion; her plan had failed, but the hole in his story was still there.

It was probably about time to stop playing games and start being a little more practical. Jodie stretched and said, “I definitely know what it’s like to be hit by a sleep powder. What’d you say I help walk you home? As I said before, the nighttime forest has a lot worse than a stray sleep powder to dish out. Plus, I’d love to hear of this training mishap - those always make for great stories.” Her enthusiasm wasn’t fake. Those were always good stories. “I’ll trade you one of mine for one of yours.”

“And don’t tell me ‘there’s no need, I’ve got this ’.” She said cheerfully, turning away from him to retrieve her forlorned food bag. “You look tough enough, but if you get trampled by angry sawsbuck, that’s on me.”

[Santos "Shadow" Almaz]

Santos looked up from his PDA with a slight glare when he heard it was a made up story, it was an attempt to trip him up and Santos managed to sidestep it with a little fact checking. It showed that the security girl could at least attempt to be deceptive. "figures" He muttered "you know I don't really care if your suspicious of me, I'm actually suspicious of everyone I encounter especially those who say they are on the up and up, innocent or I can trust them because that's their charisma trying to weaken my defenses and I don't let my guard down around any human." He muttered then made a slight noise of annoyance when Jodie suggested she escort him home and they could talk about the training mishaps. "Escort me if you want officer but I rather not talk about any training mishaps." He muttered being a slight sourpuss. He really didn't like talking about mistakes or failures to him they weren't entertaining just things to think about to himself when he was alone. He started walking.

[Jodie Rey]

Jodie trotted to keep her promise and catch up with Santos, even though he didn’t seem to think the idea was a good one. “I can understand your reluctance to trust humans.” She mused aloud, if only to counter the empty sounds of the wind in the midnight forest. “They say in the old myths that humans and pokemon were once one and the same. I’m not one to doubt the legends, but it’s hard to think a race capable of causing so much… pain, I guess, could have come from such good-natured creatures.” She became aware of the gentle hum of the honedge on her back. Through thick and thin, her pokemon were always there for her. The same could be said of few humans.

Resting her hands behind her head and gazing up at the few stars that managed to filter through the forest canopy, Jodie made an actual effort to continue the conversation. “If not a training mishap, what about a time you did something awesome? Toppled a giant foe, beat innumerable odds, caught a poochyena - you’ve gotta have a boasting story.”