From the Vast

Chapter 3: Pity

As Lucere guided her through the forest towards their destination, Aria couldn't help but think over and over again about the things she had seen during her descent into the child's memories, about how little her predicament even made sense, the questions of why were they even there to begin with on their own refusing to be answered in any capacity. It was baffling in the most unnerving way- and with how thoroughly terrified Anne was in her recollection, the scout couldn't help but to feel protective for her, much more so than she ought to for someone that would ideally never even meet her face to face.

Guess a child is a child in the end, and being protective towards those who couldn't protect themselves was her innermost nature in the end, even if that child also happened to be a human.

Don't worry Anne, we'll get you back home safely.

Before Aria could ponder on it all anymore, she had sensed Lumi's presence nearby and started to slow down, Agility as tiring as ever, though she'd managed to keep her breathing down from being too audible lest the subjects of their shared attention were to notice. Though even that wouldn't be an issue for too long, a shimmering barrier of the Safeguard kept any sound from escaping as the Luxray approached, stepping down from the small hill on the side of the forest path and down behind it.

"Two with a Growlithe on a leash, seem to be following the trail that the human had left on their way over before they crashed." - Lumi spoke matter of factly, thankfully having enough self-awareness to keep his snark down at the potential seriousness of the situation.

The Gardevoir nodded in affirmation as she caught her breath, responding telepathically for the time being-

"^Any chance they're just using the same path and not outright following her?^"

"Very doubtful. They're having the Growlithe track her scent it looks- came close to picking mine a couple times earlier."

Well, that pretty much settled it outright, Aria already beginning to concentrate to be able to approach undetected like she had done earlier that day- at least until Lumi's follow-up comment caught her attention again.

"They're moving very slowly for some reason though." - The Luxray clearly had no idea what could be the reason for that, the human weirdness getting a one up on him in the end.

"Can confirm!"

With Lucere's chirped affirmation from the overhead branch, the psychic could reconsider her plan, though eventually didn't end up changing much- no matter how fast they were walking, their purpose here was clear enough, as was the need to stop them. They all needed answers though, and she'd be damned if she didn't use the opportunity to try to pierce together just what in the world had happened to the girl in the first place.

"Alright. I'll try to follow them for a bit, and see if I can put any of this together. Lucere, fly back over towards their town in case of reinforcements, Lumi, be on your guard in case I'll need backup."

"Okie dokie!" / "Aye aye."

After Altaria had flown off, the Gardevoir finally went for it, sensing and effortlessly breaching into the three minds on the other side of the hill as she slowly approached, taking their appearance in while brushing through their surface thoughts.

Their appearance was very bulky, though much of that was no doubt their clothing, making them look much larger than they would otherwise. Most of it was either black or a very dark blue, with the exception of a sleeveless outermost garment on their upper half, colored a very distinctive and eye-catching shade of yellow with a couple of silver stripes. She could tell there was some sort of a symbol on their backs made out of that same silver material, possibly even some human writing, but of course, figuring out what it was exactly was impossible at the moment.