Chapter 169Irregular

[Forty-three Minutes Later]

"Whoa! Hey, Jason! Come and check this out...!" Jake shouted, his eyes shining as he looked back and waved for Jason to come and see what he had discovered.

"Yeah! I'll be there soon!" Jason shouted back. He was a good ten meters behind the clearing Jake had discovered, and for good reason.

"Gwynn? Where are you going?" Jason asked, turning his head as Gwynn, for the umpteenth time, attempted to sneak away the moment he diverted his attention.

"..."

Instead of answering Jason's question, Gwynn obediently caught up to where Jake was, leaving Jason and Ren to stare at each other in silence before following after her.

'Hmn? Could this be...?' Jason wondered, his brows rising as he reached the clearing to find that it was full of what appeared to be dark, freshly tilled, moisture-rich dirt. There was a potent, earthy aroma in the air. But as he looked around, he saw no signs of the Pokémon he expected to find in such an environment.

"I've seen this before. This is what happens when a colony of Diglett lives in an area," Jake mentioned, demonstrating that he was familiar with more than just battling.

"Unfortunately, the sun has already come up..." Jason remarked, raising his gaze to the sky as he recalled, "Based on what I've read, Diglett have thin skin and are prone to overheating. They spend most of their relatively short lives in their tunnels and only come out when it's raining or once the sun has gone down..."

"That's correct...!"

Reacting to Jason's words, Dex once again appeared, floating up from his charging case to photograph the clearing as he appended, "Alolan Diglett have much thicker skin due to their added Steel Typing, but you won't find those here in the jungle. This tilled soil has all the trademarks of the more common Diglett species."

"The real question is, where do we find their totem? There has to be one, right...?" Jake questioned, his words directed at Jason.

"Mmn...well, the clearing isn't too big. I guess we can split up and take a look around..." Jason supposed, looking around. The clearing was roughly half the size of a football field, so he estimated it would only take around two to three minutes to circle the perimeter.

"Sounds good. And if that doesn't work, we can always try flooding the area. I've heard that's how local farmers usually get them to come to the surface," Jake proposed.

"Do we want them to come out?" Jason questioned, glancing to the side, where Ren had just thwarted yet another attempt by Gwynn to sneak off on her own.

"Do you not know? Diglett are an invasive species in Alola. They might have adapted to the environment, but their thriving is a massive problem since they destroy root systems, clear fields, and cause landslides due to eating iron and other minerals in the mountains," Jake explained.

"Right...just because a Pokémon thrives in an environment, that doesn't mean it belongs there..." Jason conceded, his expression turning serious and conflicted as he was fairly certain that Jake was suggesting they get rid of the Diglett colony themselves...

"Exactly," Jake confirmed, adding, "The Alola Islands only have so much space for farming and cultivation. And if we allow the population of Diglett to get out of control, it could push other Pokémon out of their homes and cause a lot of problems for the locals."

"What will you do...?" Gwynn asked, appearing behind Jason and Jake, her purple eyes focused on the former.

"..."

Turning his attention to the clearing, Jason thought about all the Pokémon he had used as ingredients in cooking. Jake's proposed eradication of the Diglett colony was completely ordinary and likely necessary from a native perspective. But since he wasn't a Pokémon world native, he couldn't help but feel it was cruel, bordering on barbaric...

With Dex flying over to him with convenient timing, Jason gave a curt nod and concluded, "This isn't a matter for students to resolve. We will inform our teachers, contact the Aether Foundation, and have them send a team of professionals. I understand that these Diglett are a threat to the native population and ecosystem, but killing for the sake of convenience is never the answer..."

"Haaaaaa...as expected from someone tied to the Aether Foundation. But sure, let's do things your way..." Jake conceded, spreading his hands and sighing in a 'what can you do' gesture. Meanwhile, though it was only for a split second, the faintest of smiles graced Gwynn's lips...

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With his contact at the Aether Foundation being its literal President, it didn't even take an hour before a containment team arrived above the clearing in a quad-rotor transport. Long before that, Wicke had arrived to oversee the operation, rewarding Jason, Jake, and Gwynn with a Diglett badge and reassuring them they had made the correct decision.

"The Foundation will take things from here. The three of you are free to continue your search for other totems~" Wicke hummed, making her way over to Jason's group around the time the Foundation had cordoned off the clearing using strange pylons.

"Since we invested a lot of time in this, got any hints on where we can find our second totem...?" Jason asked, surprising Jake with how casually and confidently he addressed Wicke.

"The Diglett totem I gave you was your first? Lucky me~" Wicke teased, giving Jason a playful wink before pulling out a tablet that opened like a scroll with a sapphire-blue display.

"He really is a Young Master..." Jake whispered to Gwynn, causing Jason's ears to burn.

"Nn..."

"..."

Ignoring the comment, Jason waited patiently for Wicke to confirm, "The closest can be found in a pond around two hundred meters southeast of here. You'll have to go around our cordon, but it shouldn't take you long to reach."

Hearing Wicke's hint, Jake pulled out his smartphone and opened its map feature.

"I found it. It's small, but there really is a pond nearby..." Jake confirmed, a slight frown marring his face.

"Then I will leave you to it~" Wicke hummed, holding Jason's gaze for a half-beat before turning to leave. As she did, Jason made no effort to keep his gaze from lowering, burning the image of Wicke's wide, shapely bottom into his retinas.

"What now? Should we head to the pond, or should we look somewhere else...?" Jake questioned, breaking Jason free of the trance he had fallen into.

Picking up on Jake's reluctance, Jason glanced back at him and asked, "Do you think it's cheating to ask for a totem's location? Because I can pretty much guarantee that people will be trading information on them when we reach the lodge. That might even be the point of separating us into random teams."

"You think so...?" Jake asked, crossing his arms. His body language made it clear he wasn't convinced, but he didn't dismiss the possibility outright.

"..."

Seemingly having made her own determination, Gwynn began walking in the direction her own smartphone indicated.

"Gwynn? Where are you going...?" Jake asked, ostensibly having failed to notice all the other times Gwynn tried to wander off.

"..."

Stopping several steps away, Gwynn directed her steely gaze at Jason in silence.

"I think when she takes the lead like this, it's best for us to follow..." Jason answered, exhaling in exasperation.

"I guess I did take the lead earlier..." Jake sighed, visibly deflating before catching up with Jason and Ren as they followed after Gwynn. He felt like he had suddenly lost control of a group he was supposed to be in charge of, but there was something about the way Jason spoke and behaved that made it difficult to argue with him...

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"Well, it's definitely a pond..." Jake remarked, scanning said pond from its embankment.

"Indeed..." Jason muttered, his gaze scanning the treeline beyond the pond before he turned his head to look down at Ren, who was standing next to him with her eyes closed.

Sensing Jason's gaze, Ren, keeping her eyes closed, stated, "Ren doesn't sense anything..."

"Look..."

Hearing Gwynn's faint and flat intonation, Jason turned his head to find her pointing at a section of the shore a few meters from their position. It wasn't noticeable at a glance, but there were signs that they weren't the first group to reach the location. The area was muddied with footprints, and there were signs that a battle had occurred...

'That would explain why there are no Pokémon nearby...' Jason noted, concluding that the battle had caused the Pokémon living within or using the pond as a water source to give it a wide berth.

*sft*

Demonstrating she had even more in common with Lana, Gwynn dropped her backpack and promptly undid the clasp of her skirt, allowing it to drop to the ground. Jake's brows shot up at this, but instead of overreacting or behaving as if Gwynn was doing something strange, he asked, "What is it? Are you thinking the totem is somewhere in the pond?"

"..."

Instead of responding to Jake's query, Gwynn stripped down to nothing but a black, sports-bra-like swimsuit and bottoms with aesthetic purple accents. Then, demonstrating no fear, she stepped forward and entered the pond as if she were casually entering a pool...

'I will never get used to this...' Jason thought to himself, closing his eyes and exhaling through his nose. It was far from the first time he had seen a Pokémon world native strip down, but he couldn't get used to their casual disregard for what he had been taught to view as decency...

"Hey, Sammy. Lend Gwynn a hand, would you?" Jake asked.

"Dewah...!" Sammy replied, giving a sharp salute before rushing forward and entering the water with surprisingly little disturbance. His short but thick blue fur was naturally hydrophobic. And due to his Water Typing, he could move through the water as if he were drawing it around him rather than swimming through it.

"What do you want to do? Should we join them...?" Jake asked, directing the question at Jason.

"Mmn...we should probably set up a temporary camp. I don't think we're going to make it to the lodge before lunch, and we've been burning a lot of calories with our exploration," Jason answered, removing his backpack and setting it on the ground.

"Ren will go," Ren stated, leaving Jake slack-jawed as she stepped toward the pond and entered it without fear. Lucario generally avoided water as if it were a death trap, because it usually was. Ren, on the other hand, didn't show an ounce of fear as she fully submerged herself and began treading water in the shallower sections of the pond.

"Exactly what kind of training have the two of you been doing...?" Jake asked, looking at Jason as if the latter were some kind of extraterrestrial monster.

Shrugging, Jason explained, "When she was freshly hatched, I bathed her each time she got dirty. Now, she takes at least two a day—three or more on weekends..."

"Dude...there's something seriously off about you..." Jake remarked, not to be mean-spirited, but because what Jason was describing was borderline ludicrous. He had never heard of a Trainer acclimating their Riolu to water through regular bathing, yet Jason spoke of it as if what he had done was completely ordinary...

'It's like he views her as a person...' Jake noted, glancing in the direction of the pond, where Ren looked perfectly comfortable being submerged up to her neck.

"Well, we all have our own methods..." Jason contended, pulling out and setting up a portable camping chair. Immediately after that, he produced a bag full of grooming supplies, including an industrial-strength hair dryer for use on Pokémon. Ren's fur wasn't nearly as hydrophobic as Sammy's, so he was going to need to dry her off to prevent mold from taking root in her fur and potentially causing skin issues.

Seeing Jason setting up an entire grooming station, Jake found himself at a loss. He didn't exactly neglect Sammy, but compared to the boy in front of him, his care for his own partner felt...inadequate...

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