Rigorous Relationships

The Lodgers

When Ash and Cal returned to their campsite they were surprised to find that the girls hadn't set up anything, in fact they were doing just the opposite.

"Did we miss something, or are you guys just trying to mess with us?" Cal asked while watching Dena stow away the cooking supplies.

"Trust me. You'd know if we were trying to mess with you." Diana said as she placed the boys bags at their feet.

"Okay, then why are you packing everything up?" Ash asked as he and Cal performed various foot maneuvers to bring their bags up to their hands.

"Some wildlife officers stumbled upon us a little while after you two left," Serena said as she offered the boys two bags to put the berries in. "They said they were looking for some dangerous Pokemon poachers who were hunting down some of their escaped merchandise. The officers said we shouldn't stay out here with the poachers still roaming about and offered us their cabin for the night."

Ash frowned at the mention of Pokemon poachers, having had several run ins with a number of them throughout his travels, and enjoying none of the encounters. He recalled one poacher who had been so cruel that she petrified her captures in stone, and on one occasion had dropped Ash out of her airship mid flight. He didn't think these poachers were with her though, as she had disappeared in the depths of a lake in the Sinnoh region a few years back. Still he didn't revel in the prospect of running into more poachers, and although he was concerned for the pokemon being hunted, he figured the officers could handle the task and decided to take them up on their offer.

Cal on the other hand was filled with youthful righteousness and desired to stay behind to search for the poached Pokemon. "We can't just leave them out here!" He protested, "What if the poachers find them before the officers do?"

"We can't worry ourselves with thinking like that." Aura argued, "Besides we're more likely to get in the officer's way, than we are to help them. It's better for everyone if we just do what they ask and bunker down in their cabin."

Cal scowled his discontent but conceded to head towards the cabin, walking in silent protest all the way there. They didn't have too far to travel so Cal's silence only lasted a few minutes and went virtually unnoticed, as the group was mostly preoccupied with speculating what the cabin would be like and what Pokemon the poachers had lost. They had assumed the officer's cabin to be just a simple log cabin and were pleasantly surprised to find it was far more appropriate to call the building a lodge than a cabin. The lodge was built on a hill and looked out over a small section of the woods; it was comprised of three stories, two oak wood and one stone. There was one balcony on the top level and a patio on the bottom, sliding glass doors provided access to both and lanterns hung from the balcony illuminating the patio and sending light through the gaps in the wood.

As the group made their way to the front of the building they began to realize the true size of the lodge. Judging it in non numerical terms, the lodge was roughly the size of one and a half suburban houses. It had an elaborate system of large windows that undoubtedly provided the lodge with optimal cooling and heating accommodations, and a set of hand carved stained oak double doors. And to top it all off a tower of red brick could be seen jutting out of the center of the roof, eluding to a possible secondary heat source as well as a s'more maker.

Upon reaching the twin oak doors they stopped and rapped an acorn shaped brass knocker against the wood. A moment later an audible crash could be heard behind the door, followed by a woman shouting "I'm coming!"  and a pair of rapidly approaching footsteps. The doors swung open to reveal a slightly winded thirty or so woman beaming in the entrance. She had on a long pair of beige cargo shorts, a blue tang top, grey running sneakers with white trimmings, and a blue and green jacket with a silver badge reading wildlife officer sown onto her right shoulder. Her strawberry blonde hair was tied back in a braided ponytail and a headset was chirping in her left ear.