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Anise was pleased that Archie was looking for her for treats now. That should make it easier to get closer and get a good look at him. She scooted forward some more, pulled out a second berry and set that and the leaf of Pokenip in front of him. "Now I'm just gonna take a look at you to make sure you're ok, not badly hurt or anything," she said soothingly, reaching out with one hand to stroke the Archen's head.

Oki bounded along after Ark's scent-tracks, and thought he was getting really close. But the trail ended at a hole. He stopped in surprised, then stuck his head in the hole and sniffed around. Yup, her scent went down here. He considered for a moment whether to go down after her, but decided it would be too hard to find her underground. She would have to come up eventually. Instead he started stalking the area, listening hard for any signs that she was emerging or tunneling just under the surface, and using Grass Knot to snare anything that moved.

Anise rubbed Archie gently along the top of his head and smiled at the pokemon when he looked up at her. "I'm just going to look you over, check to make sure you're not hurt," she repeated soothingly. "That ok with you?" With her free hand she offered another oran berry (she had plenty, and a pokemon could never have to many of the healing fruits), while the hand on Archie started stoking down his neck, feeling for bumps, bruises or scrapes.

Oki was wondering how long Ark could stay underground when he thought he heard something. It was hard to tell what, but he thought it came from that tree over there. He crept into the shadow of a bush, which gave him a clear view of the area around where he thought he heard the sound. Then he got ready to use Grass Knot to trip up anything that might appear.

Anise also noticed that Archie didn't much like being touched, Not surprising for a newly-caught pokemon. She gave him a somewhat cursory examination, based partly on watching his movements closely for any sign of stiffness or flinching, and partly by running her fingers lightly over as much of him as she could, checking for signs of injury. She periodically offered him another berry, partly as a bribe and partly to heal the bumps and scrapes she found.

After a couple minutes she sat back to give Archie space. "He looks perfectly healthy. He had some of the usual bumps and scrapes a pokemon picks up in battle, but they healed up after all those Oran berries. He seems a little fatigued, though the appearance of tiredness might just be the aftereffect of Felix's Sing. I could give him some herbs for energy, but a good night's rest will probably do just as well."

Oki waited several moments, but he saw no signs of anything moving in the area he was watching. Had he been mistaken? He listened hard but couldn't make out anything that seemed significant. After a moment he started searching again, stepping as quietly as possible to allow him to hear more clearly. Was there any way to track a pokemon that was underground?

Anise packed up her bag of healing supplies, then watched Archie climb the tree, looking somewhat amused. "Well that's something I never expected to see. It's not often you see a Flying-type that can't fly, especially when it has wings," she said.

Oki wandered back towards the hole that Ark had disappeared down. That was the last place he'd seen her; maybe he could use that as a base for a more organized search. Search outward from the hole in a spiraling pattern, or pop underground after all, or...then he froze, for he'd caught her scent again. And it was fresh. It wasn't all that long since she'd gone down, so this could have been from a few minutes ago, but...

He sniffed the ground busily, growing more certain that she'd passed by here not that long ago. Now, how to follow after her without being noticed? And how to reach her before she moved off again. Abruptly he looked up, perked his ears and dashed away...in the opposite direction from where he thought she'd gone. He ducked under a bush, then used Faint Attack to fade from view. Only then did he try to follow the scent trail, flitting from shadow to shadow to stay hidden as much as possible.

"Really? I don't know much about pokemon from Unova, so I hadn't heard that before. If Unova pokemon start showing up in Zatao, I may have to read up on them." When Doyle sat down on a bench, Anise got up from the patch of ground where she'd been kneeling to examine Archie, then went as sat on the bench as well. Felix came along and sat down near her, so she could scratch the Delcatty's head as she talked. "Yeah, I've been here for a while," she said. "I've lot track of how long, but I got here relatively soon after Zatao started to be settled again."

When Oki saw a flash of movement, he froze. He was in the shadow of a tumble of rocks, still faded out from the Faint Attack, and hopefully effectively invisible. Had that been Ark? To be safe, he backed farther into the shade of the brush and switched his illusion to a Joltik, the smallest pokemon he could think of. Even if it was a bit bright. Maybe the Faint Attack would take care of that?

But how to find her? Chasing her wasn't doing him much good. Perhaps changing tactics was in order. He decided height might be useful and scrambled to the top of the rock pile, laying flat and just peeking his head over the top, watching for where Ark had gone. If she could see where she was, or even better, where she was going, he'd be able to come up with a better plan to catch her.

"Yeah, it would be good to know what my newest pokemon can do. And he can't exactly tell me; no matter how well you know pokemon, they just can[t talk back, Anise said. Then with a chuckle she added, "Well, except Chatots like Gabby, but he mostly repeats things he's heard." To Doyle's question about the land she said, "Diverse? Yeah, I'd say so. A land with everything from deserts to grassland to mountains to snowy tundra is pretty diverse."

Oki was watching very carefully, which is the only reason he noticed Ark dash up by the two trainers. He watched her slip under the bench the humans were sitting on, then a moment later a Vulpix emerged. Considering Oki was using that same trick, he was not fooled. She didn't seem to be sneaking at the moment, so she seemed overconfident and easy to catch.

Oki slipped off the rockpile he was perched on, and stalked towards Ark as quietly as possible. He got as close as he could to her while sticking to the shadows, then sniffed the air to make sure it was her. It did seem to be her scent, as far as he could tell. He suddenly dashed at her with all the speed an Agility could muster, and leaped up to pounce her. At the last moment he dropped his illusion so she would know exactly who it was that caught her.

Anise nodded. "There's a lot to see, and a lot of it is unsettled lands, with only a few cities. Are you just here for exploration, or are you a trainer? There are a couple Gyms here. Pokemon Contests, too."

Oki barked triumphantly as he caught Ark. Tricky as she was, he'd caught her! But when she started whimpering, he looked at her in surprise, and was upset when he saw her crying. Had he hurt her? He hadn't meant to hurt her, that's what he didn't attack her. He just wanted to catch her. He took a step or two back and said, "Zoro..." apologetically.