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Salvo stepped into the shadows of the trees, a welcome respite from the heat of the sunny day. Shaun had been aiming to check out the Howling Forest for a while now, and they'd finally made their way over. For once the Watcher wasn't lounging sleepily on his pokemon's back, but was sitting up alertly and peering around at the woodlands, camera in hand.

"Not too many large forests in Zatao, at least that have been discovered yet. And this one's farthest south," he commented to Salvo. "It ought to have some interesting pokemon, eh?"

"Trooop," his Tropius commented, then trudged on.

Yet it was a while before they saw signs of anything beyond plants and dirt. Not like in the cartoons where any time you walked through a forest, there'd be Mankeys swinging from every branch, or a Caterpie behind every bush. If there were pokemon around, they were hiding quite well. Shaun still watched their surroundings alertly, but he was reconsidering having Salvo stay out. A Tropius was hardly a predator, but hearing a large pokemon moving around might scare off some pokemon regardless.

After traveling for a while with no sign of living creatures, Shaun was surprised to hear pokemon cries off in the distance. And a lot of them at that, all coming rapidly one after another. Both his and Salvo's heads turned towards the sound, wondering at it. "That's odd," he muttered to himself. "That number and variety of pokemon rarely gather at once." Salvo grunted in agreement.

Shaun was curious, but wary. If there were so many pokemon around, it could be dangerous if they decided to get violent. He did have Salvo and his other two pokemon with him, but of the lot only Scrapper was much of a battler. "I guess we'll check it out," he told Salvo quietly. He slipped off the Tropius's back and added, "But I'd better sneak up, so you hang back a ways. Don't come for me unless I yell."

"Tropi," his pokemon acknowledged. He headbutted his trainer affectionately, and Shaun spared a moment to scratch his pokemon under the chin. They continued forward together for a little while longer before Shaun gestured for Salvo to wait and continued on by himself, moving as quietly as he could.

Naturally, Shaun jumped at the sudden loud sound, which made him stumble into the bush he was sneaking around and completely blow his cover. He had no idea what pokemon that was, but it seemed like one he didn't want to be around.

But before he could retreat, Salvo charged forward, smashing through the undergrowth in his haste to get to his trainer. He actually blew right past the young man and ended up next to the nut tree beyond before he slowed himself down. He looked around hurriedly, trying to see where the large, angry pokemon was, but could only see a bird in a tree. Salvo looked up at it, puzzled.

Shaun took a moment to climb out of the bush. There were noticeably no sound of battle, or of pokemon running around other than his own. He looked to Salvo though the new break in the foliage, then followed his pokemon's gaze up to the tree. And then burst out laughing.

"A Chatot!" he gasped out once the laughter had slowed. He stopped to catch his breath, then noticed Salvo's look of bewilderment. "Chatot's native to your own home of Hoenn. It's a bird known to mimic sounds and voices very accurately."

As if in demonstration, the Chatot opened its beak and repeated Shaun's hearty laughter from a moment before.

"See what I mean?" Shaun told his pokemon with a grin.

Shaun had a feeling the Chatot knew what a camera did, since the bird kept glancing at him and choosing perches with a clear view of him. Figuring that meant the bird consented to having his picture taken, Shaun gladly took lots of them. Salvo, realizing there was no danger, got bored of waiting and started snacking on nuts too, though he was careful to not block Shaun's view.

Eventually the bird stopped showing off and apparently hid. Yet it immediately peeked out to address him. So Shaun lowered his camera and answered back. said "Pretty bird indeed," he said with a smile.

The bird cocked his head the other way and chirped, "Snack time?"

Shaun blinked at the unexpected phrase, then laughed again. "So you've been hoping for treats the whole time, huh?"

"Treats! Treats!" The bird agreed, bobbing his head eagerly. So Shaun, shaking his head at the audacity of the bird, reached into his backpack and pulled out a bag of trail mix. The granola clusters, dried fruit and nuts should be safe for a bird to eat. He scattered a handful on the ground, near the tree, and was rewarded by an eager whistle and the bird flying down to peck at the snack.

Shaun decided he didn't need more photos of the Chatot and left the bird to his meal. So instead he hopped back on Salvo's back, which served to indicate to his pokemon that it was time to go. The Tropius grabbed one last mouthful of nuts and leaves then headed off into the forest to continue to look for more pokemon.