Journey Through Johto |Discontinued|

Chapter 2.14: Who Let the Hounds Out?

After traveling safely through the path, getting closer to Goldenrod City, the trio stops for a break.

Zia hummed a random tune as she took out a plate, a cup, and a few bowls, laying them on a wooden table off to the side of the path made for travelers. "Hey, did you hear something?" Emmy asked, strangely serious as she glanced around.

"Other than myself? No. When Sky gets back I'll start preparing the food." Zia answered just as the mentioned Pokémon walked around a bush. "I found the water." She managed to say around the container she held from her mouth.

"Thank you. Now to just get the food from my bag." The girl said, walking over to the tree she leaned it up against. "Where's my bag!?" She yelled, staring at the empty space. "What could make it valuable enough to make it worth stealing?" Sky asked after checking to see if anybody was close by. She didn't hear, smell, or see anyone.

Zia thought for a moment, "Nothing much except food, which could be valuable to someone, I guess. I have everything else on me. But that bag was a present from KC when he visited us before we left for this mission!" She whined. It was the only thing she had on her to remind her of the brunette while they were separated for so long.

"Look, there's a footprint." Emmy called to them, seeing a whole bunch of them on the path. Getting a closer look, all three saw the foot pad was triangular and there were three toe prints above it. "Those weren't there when I left." Sky stated, being attentive to her surroundings.

"It must be from the one who took my bag." Zia declared, because she definitely didn't see a human around and Emmy would have been able to sense a person. A Pokémon would be a bit tougher, however, since they're more used to hiding from potential predators.

~~~

After following the footprints, they arrived at the back of a building near a city. Looking around, they saw Nurse Joy holding a bag that had the word 'ham' printed on it. It looked empty, though. Her Chansey stood beside her, equally confused.

"Nurse Joy, what're you doing back here?" Zia asked her as she walked closer. "Ah, Champion, I put our grocery bag down and when I looked a second later I noticed the ham was gone. Whoever took it left only the empty wrapper behind." Joy explained the situation.

"Strange, something stole my bag as well. Did you happen to see what they looked like?" Zia questioned. "No, we were eating ice cream." Joy shook her head. "Ser!" Emmy gained their attention, staring at something in the ground. It was another paw print, pointing back into the forest. "Let's see if we can find it." Zia said as they ran into the woods, leaving Joy behind.

They continued to follow the Pokémon prints until the dirt path ended, stopping them as there was none in the grassy area. "Now what?" Sky asked, seeing the sun was about to set. "We spend the night here." Zia decided, a mischievous grin on her face.

"Why am I making a fire again?" Emmy asked, barely managing to get a flame going from smacking two rocks together with her vines. Now it was easily flaring in the fire pit Sky gathered, which was just a circle of rocks with twigs in the middle of it.

"So I can cook this." Zia stated, holding up what she was carving. "A wooden sausage? You made me struggle to make a fire for a piece of wood!?" The Serperior exclaimed, her eye twitching. "No. I made you make a fire so I could pretend to cook this... and a real sausage." The girl stated, taking out an actual piece of meat as well. Sky laughed in amusement as the shiny Pokémon grumbled to herself.

Later that night, as the moon was high in the sky, the three hid in a clump of bushes nearby. The sausages - both real and fake - were placed on a plate on a tree stump as the wind carried the scent off further into the woods.