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Who: Rhel, Sagi, Akira, Fai, Joss, and Efi | Rhel, Sagi, Joss, and Toki
Where: The ruins
When: At some point this month time is a lie
What: They are finally at Melona! Aaaand Gale's family is missing so that means rescue party go. | After finding her parents, they go looking for her brother.

[This is. So very stressful Rhel's used to having to go into ruins and whatnot, she's a bloody Warrior of Light after all, but she has so rarely been this invested in making sure everyone is okay. The Kings have to be okay. Poor Gale needs them to be okay.

Thankfully, it's not hard to find others who agree to go searching for the missing people, and getting supplies together doesn't take long at all, either.

Still, Rhel can't help but look at the ruins with some degree of trepidation.]

Twelve, I hope we have enough medical supplies...

[Investigation thread]

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[Sagi's bag is nowhere in sight, but if that doesn't bother him, it shouldn't trouble anyone else. He brought a shovel after restocking this time, which is also currently nowhere in sight. It seemed like a good idea.]

Good to go here, but...

[He shoots a concerned look over at "Hien". It's not his first. Hien is supposed to have a calm demeanour and an arm covered in bandages, unless the latter healed up a lot faster than Sagi would have expected. This Hien has neither.]

Are you feeling okay? You've been acting strange.

[At this point, Hien getting his brain temporarily fried by whatever eldritch powers like to mess around with their bodies and minds would be kind of par for the course... But if that's what happened, maybe his help isn't worth it right now after all.]

[Toki has no idea what they're doing. He couldn't just tell them he didn't know, since they all seemed to think Hien would understand all their vague talk about a missing kid. Maybe that old man Toki and Efi encountered has something to do with this?

Like the others, Toki has obtained a backpack full of supplies suggested by the guide, yet he's removed half of them in order to hide Hana-chan inside. She can't give him away again. Along with Hana-chan, Toki has packed other essentials like snacks and a giant roll of duct tape that Hana-chan absolutely insisted on. He looks up briefly at Sagi's question.]

I am well.

[Inside the backpack, Hana-chan squirms in her Spinda way, and Toki moves around a lot to cover it, not realizing it just makes him look twitchy and draws more attention to himself. He's following the others while watching his feet. These boots seem easy to trip in, and the laces are sloppily tied. Hana-chan did her best. Hien's speech is harder to mimic than Hythlo's was, and he's been trying not to speak much because of the lack of static in his voice. It's a very hard thing for Toki to do, though, and before he knows it, he's babbling again and perhaps giving himself away, because he talks when he's nervous, and he's pretty sure Sagi was already onto him.]

So, who's Jason again? Did you guys want some creme rolls? I brought a dozen~!

[There is something very Off about Hien today, but honestly perhaps this is just Hien on a good day? She's only spoken to him the once, after all.]

Jordan. He's Gale's brother--I'm not sure you would know her, but she was a girl we brought with from Toran during the tsunami. He and their parents have gone missing, though we did rescue their parents earlier.

[Joss is rather worried about Hien as well. He now knows the man is a lot less scary than he might look at first glance, but today he seems... scatterbrained? Could he just be really enthusiastic about creme rolls? Considering how much that one guy's Pokémon liked them too, maybe he ought to try them out...

But... still. With how out of sorts Hien seems today, perhaps it would be best if he sat out. Joss assumes he feels obligated because of the favour he thinks he owes him, but that's no reason to endanger himself.]

You do not have to come if you do not feel well.

[Though he supposes it may be a bit late, now that they're already on their way...]

[Well, if Sagi hadn't quite caught on before, now he's getting a horrible suspicion. Forgetting Jordan's name so soon after one of them mentioned it is a little extreme, even for a god-or-whatever induced brain fog. In fact, it sounds a lot like... someone else...]

"Toly"...

[Joss is already a plentiful source of cryptid for this expedition's purposes, but nobody said there had to be just one. It's another of those things Sagi fails to realise he said aloud, anyway; he's trying to think now, and that doesn't always come naturally to him.]

...Hien, do you remember what you told me about leaving town?

[Toly! Oh, no. Toki looks from Joss to Sagi to Rhel. He starts to flail a little.]

Leaving town! I said... I said...

[There's more of a rustling in Toki's backpack and suddenly, the flap opens and Hana-chan sticks her head out with a "fwhhheeee" sound. It's stifling in there! She takes deep breaths, exhaling little flaky crumbs. There may no longer be a dozen creme rolls. She bobbles her head and looks back and forth at everyone. Whoops.]

H-hana-chan! Um... Haha, well... I just picked up little Hana-chan here outside the bakery and-

[Hana-chan disappears back into the backpack, and then her paw shoots back out, holding the roll of duct tape.]

I mean, I... It's not my fault I keep looking like other people!

[He crosses his arms and pouts. He got further than he thought he would as 'Hien'.]

[. . .

Rhel just shakes her head.]

No. No, I am not going to ask how or why you look like Hien, Toki, I am just going accept that you do and adjust the plan accordingly.

[By which she means "move 'Hien' from the "possibly reliable" column straight into the "will likely have to tie him to Joss so he doesn't hurt himself" column".]

...but, ah, how often does this happen, exactly?

[That... certainly explains a lot about "Hien"'s behaviour. He can only agree with Rhel's assessment that they need to adjust the plan, but...]

... Ditto?

[Maybe the strange young man he rescued back then was a Pokémon all along...]

[Well, it's good that he admitted to it. Maybe Toki also has weird powers and just doesn't have a proper handle on them? Sagi definitely can't judge anyone for that kind of thing. But Rhel is right, the reason is irrelevant now that they're too far from town to backtrack without paying the guide extra.]

Nobody's mad, Toki. It's okay.

[He says this with all the confident optimism of someone who isn't thinking ahead to the actual expedition yet.]

If you're worried, you could always wait outside with Hana-chan and the guide, where it's safe. Right?

["Safe" as in baking hot and threatening to whip up another sandstorm at any time.]

[It's hard to explain, because Toki hasn't figured out why this is happening at all. He looks at Rhel, because Joss is too tall.]

I don't know how it happened! I was Hilbro once too! But not like when I was the girl and sang karaoke, because I was somewhere else and not where I was before, like I was in her body, but this time, and with Hifropji, it was like I was me and then suddenly I wasn't, but I was in the same place!

[In all his flailing for emphasis, his backpack drops off his shoulder. Hana-chan tumbles out, followed by an open package of creme rolls (there are seven left), and the roll of duct tape that makes a little trail in the sand as it rolls its way down to topple over against Joss's shoe. Hana-chan rights the backpack and carefully sets the creme rolls back inside. She seems unconcerned that Toki's panicking. He does it all the time.]

I shouldn't have come, I know that now, but I wasn't really sure what was going on before and so I just said what I thought Hien would and then I had to keep going with the charade because... because... Okay, well, I didn't have to, but I did!

[What question was he answering? He looks down at Hana-chan, who has taken the backpack for herself, then at Sagi.]

I don't want to wait out here, it's all sandy!

[Rhel holds a hand out to try and calm Toki down.]

It's fine, it's fine. You're here, you can help [hopefully] and you didn't take Hien's appearance on purpose.

[. . .]

Did you?

[Poor Toki... Joss isn't any good at handling panicking people so he's glad Rhel is here, but his mind is still stuck on what he previously said anyway. He just sort of mumbles to himself.]

Accidental Ditto...

[This time Sagi catches Joss's muttering, and it's distracting enough that he forgets to put more effort into convincing Toki to stay outside.]

Uh, what?

[If this is leading into Joss eating a cake crumb off of Hana-chan or something... okay, Joss would still seem more reliable than Toki. But Toki is at least smart and creative, right? What's the worst that could happen? (He is working very hard to convince himself of this before they actually get there.)]

[Unfortunately, Rhel's question incites more panic. Toki bushes himself off like he could erase the Hien-ness.]

Oh my god! Of course I didn't do it on purpose! Why would I want to look like the guy who kidnapped me!?

[He seems to have just remembered that happened. Hana-chan scowls at everyone for upsetting him. She sets the backpack down to take a creme roll. She looks at it reverently, goodbye sweet pastry. Hana-chan bows her head for a moment before pulling on Toki's pant leg and giving him the creme roll.]

And I can help! Because sometimes I think about things that other- ooh, creme roll!

[He's done pleading his case, shoving the pastry into his mouth and looking at everyone expectantly like this entire conversation never took place. Aren't they going in?]

[. . .

Right. Moving on. Rhel just completely disregards the last three seconds as she starts heading into the ruins, looking around.]

Remember, there might be broken bits of floor or walls ready to collapse. Try not to touch anything.

[Joss, too, chooses to no think about what just happened. He nods and follows, but not without pickup up the roll of tape at his feet; he knows from experience what a useful tool it can be, so he's a little hesitant to hand it back to Toki... but it's, well. His. Is it stealing if he holds onto it to benefit the group as a whole?

In doubt, he slides the roll on one of his shoulder spikes, looking for all intents and purposes like an overgrown tape dispenser. If Toki wants it back, he can retrieve it at any moment, but in the meantime it won't get thrown out to make room for whatever interesting pebbles he finds on their way.]

[It's a good thing Rhel said that then and not a second later, because Sagi was about to brush his fingers along the markings on the wall as soon as they descended the stairs.] R-Right.

[He quickly shoves his hand in his pocket instead. Nestled in his jacket, Pepper cheeps up at him pointedly for the unwelcome jostling. (Not to be confused with the unwelcome Joscelaint, which would be a rude thing to call him; he strikes Sagi as a reliable kind of guy when not being weird.)]

...But we might have to. Looks like it's blocked off up ahead.

[Digging time? Digging time.]

[Toki, unlike Sagi, disregards Rhel's advice, or perhaps never even processed it. He traces some of the patterns on the wall as they descend. Hana-chan wobbles behind, carrying the backpack. Toki does pay attention when Sagi speaks, though.]

It's caved in!? What are we gonna do!? We-

[And suddenly, he's tripping and plowing into whoever is unfortunately in front of him. He's turned back into himself, and now his Hien-sized boots are too big and cumbersome.]

[Whoever is in front of him is not Rhel, who just ignores the panic as she looks around to see how bad this actually is.]

We--and by we I really do mean you three, I've the upper body strength of a particularly stiff reed though I can help nudge things along with my rod--are going to start digging. It's not that bad, just a few loose rocks.

[It's Joss. Of course it's Joss. He staggers, but thankfully doesn't fall, saved by his sheer weight advantage on Toki.

He looks absolutely resigned as he slowly reaches behind him, hoping to keep the teen steady as he disengages from this embarrassing position. He's still in that awkward pose when he turns to Rhel, after a quick assessment of the rocks in front of them.]

Shouldn't take long.

[He's definitely had to dig through worse obstacles.]

[Sagi is a little too busy goggling to spare another thought for the collapsed stone right away.]

You turned back...

[So it wasn't something more run-of-the-mill like a heart swap...

Wait, no, he really shouldn't get hung up on that. Digging may be tricky while he's still looking after this bird, but there's a pile of rock, and he has a Ground-type.]

Uh, right. [Marshtomp helped with the other tunnel collapse, maybe he learned enough from Akira's Sandile to help with this one too. He takes a Pokeball out and tosses it high; it skims and almost bounces off the stone ceiling, which could have been bad, but skim is all it does. Marshtomp emerges from it when it hits the floor.] Help us move this, OK?

[Marshtomp burbles, waddles up to the blockade and starts ripping through it with his hilariously unsuited-looking fishy forelegs. It seems to be working, though.]

[Joss is successful in stopping Toki from tumbling to the ground. Hana-chan takes over from there, trying to tie Toki's bootlaces tighter so this won't happen again. She doesn't understand it's a size issue. Toki takes one look at the collapsed tunnel and holds up his broken hand, the cast mysteriously gone while he was Hien, weird.]

You'd ask a poor injured little boy to help move heavy rocks?

[He's 15, but he thinks 'little boy' will garner more pity than 'teenager' or 'young man'. Hana-chan looks up from her work to shake her head disappointingly at Rhel. Shame.]

...well one, I didn't realize you were injured and two, you're a young man. Nice try.

[Joss can't help but shakes his head at the scene as he releases Drampa and starts helping Marshtomp in his rock-pushing endeavor. As inaccurate as "little boy" was, he can't ask someone with an injured hand to clear a half-collapsed pathway.

He won't say it, but he's thinking it might have been best if Toki had stayed behind with the guide...]

...How old is Toki, anyway?

[He definitely wasn't looking at Toki when he said that, as he figures asking directly would blow Toki's "cover", but never mind that either.

As for the rocks... He'd thought letting the Pokemon with their better physical resilience do it would be safer, but just watching them makes Sagi feel bad about not helping, even a little.]

Um, sorry, Pepper. Hold on.

[He withdraws the shovel he brought from a card in his pocket and goes to assist. The valiant, only slightly traumatised little Pidgey barely emits any chirp of complaint at all. The cave-in isn't extensive, and soon the hallway is clear enough for even Joss to step through.]

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