The Other Side of the Coin

"Arceus, I'm stuffed. What part of 'I'm full' doesn't get through your bark skull?" As usual, Brigit was reclining against Thảo, hot, sweaty, and with more than a bit of dirt ground into her skin and hair. Why did she keep letting the Tropius drag her outside? It was so… filthy.

Still, the grass type made for an adequate bed. Her woody skin like a well polished old bench, but pliant. Large enough that she could snuggle up right on top of her belly and keep off the ground. She even blended in a bit with her own skin tone, even though Brigit herself was darker. There were reasons she 'put up' with Thảo after all, though being turned into a obligate frugivore was not something she ever planned on.

"Ah ah ah, we've been over this before, if I left you to your own devices you just forget two out of three times, like you used to." Thảo was always self confident, but became almost insufferably so after a 'meal', Brigit often wondered if she had a bit of Dragon in her. Other people would find it odd the way her long neck would curl around to look you in the eye no matter the angle but she was use to it. Meant she didn't have to move either.

"That is why it's so important you listen to your Big Nanab, she knows what's best for you after all." A big brown finger came down to Boop right on her lips. Thảo love to shush her, sometimes with a finger, sometimes with… other things. Well, she was feeling a bit impish after the handling, so biting down was the obvious course of action. Thảo just laughed though, stupid thick skin.

"For talking about Nanab so much you sure don't cook with it much, I don't think there was any in the stew. I don't think it's digested better if you force it down my throat raw."

"Ah but raw is the most primal way to eat fruit. So sloppy, so messy, juices everywhere. And you look so cute when you're 'eating', I'd swear you get hearts in your eyes, they just scream 'Give me more! I want the cream!"

Pokémon always had a way of making you blush. Oh, if only her younger self knew the things she'd be swallowing. At least the monsters actual cooking could live up to, perhaps even surpass, that thick, thick log.

Speaking of cooking though…

"Oh jeez! Hailey! I completely lost track of her once SOMEONE started getting handsy. I hope she got enough to eat." Her face went even redder as she searched for where her clothes had gotten thrown to. You couldn't be to embarrassed as an adult getting pulled off by a Mon, but still, she was no trainer. Fucking with an audience wasn't how she usually preferred to do it. Plus, she'd been their guest and they'd just ignored her! Were they supposed to invite her to join in? Thảo would probably be all for it, if she could focus, but most of Brigit's social circle was online. Partner sharing wasn't something she exactly did a lot.

Glancing around there was their firepit, the now empty pot, a small pile of dirty (and now dried and crusty) dishes, but no sign of the rather bedraggled girl they'd found underground, just a small set of faint parallel tracks leading away.

"Arceus, I bet we scared her off. Hey Thảo you need to get of your fat ass and…" She stopped there. Not because she didn't think the big lug didn't need to get off her fat ass, she did, her long neck was very good at spotting people, but rather because she remembered something. "Ok, I know you've got seeds in your brain for some reason lately but there was this rather unhealthy girl who we found down in the mines, we pulled her out, gave her some of your cooking and…"

"No, no, I remember." That got Brigit to stop. Not just that the Tropius had said it, but that her tone was so uncertain as she did. Thảo didn't do uncertain. "She was… there was a chair, I think? And she was… I can't remember her name, but she was so small, right?"

"Ok, seriously, what is going on with you?! I know she, and by that I mean Wendy, said that was just 'something that happened around her' but that doesn't explain anything! You were acting like she didn't even exist!"

Thảo was quite for a few moments, and that worried her even more. That meant she was actually thinking things through.

"It's… hard to explain, like there's this fog in my memory but only in small parts, like you took a photo and scratched up one small part of it. Like, I remember handing someone a bowl of soup, but what did she look like? Did she say anything? There must have been stuff before then but there's nothing! It's kinda freaking me out Bribri."

She was still sitting there, naked, but clothes were entirely forgotten. Brigit wasn't a judgemental person, or at least she liked to think so. Hell, without Thảo she probably wouldn't encounter many people to judge at all. She worked from home as a network admin, it didn't require going out much, so there were probably oodles of strange things out there she'd never seen. But this? This felt like a genuine brush with something unnatural.

"Should we… try to go after her?"

Thảo's neck was up, head swaying back and forth, but even so she couldn't possibly see that far with the tree cover.

"No, no I don't think so." She rumbled, but the note of uncertainty still remained. "We, uh, we only planned to be out one day after all right? I mean, I didn't pack anymore supplies. But maybe we should… tell somebody? Should we tell somebody? Is it any of our business?"

Brigit didn't have an answer for her as she tried to pull a sock off a branch.

------------------------------------

Sinnoh was a scenic place, no matter where you went there was never lack of stunning vistas, enough to make even an old soul tremble. Humanity had been awe of the island ever since they first landed back who knew when. To the Pokémon living across the land, it was just home, the rivers, the forests, the caves, were just places to hang out and wait. The fact that they distracted humans with their awe and beauty just made it easier to sneak up and grab a couple, back when that was considered acceptable. It was an interesting fact that a lot of Pokémon reported seeing the environments they'd lived their entire lives in very differently once they had a partner, just another example of the mutualistic nature of Bond’s and relationships.

Probably that was why Carita was able to scan with such clinical detachment over birds eye vista's that would leave others slack jawed with awe. This was just a job, no, a hunt. And her quarry was elusive.

Swooping low, passing through a cloud, her first target came into view. She'd not actually visited Lake Varity in the time since she'd moved over from Johto, it didn't have much to offer her. Shimmering sapphire waters lapping on algae green rocks, a solitary island holding dominion over the waters, while tall pines perched precariously on rocky rolling shores. The whole area was the perfectly picturesque postcard of cottage country. It was probably only the presence of the oft rumoured but seldom seen Legendary Spirit that kept real estate developers from descending on this place.

None of that mattered. Was Hailey here, or would she be here later?

With her speed, even with a head start it was entirely plausible she would beat the girl to any destination, at least if the first guess was right. They’d had nurses calling everywhere they could think and now Rangers searching the area's immediately around Jubilife. Given her condition there was better than coin flip odds she'd never made it out of the city before collapsing. What was that obstinate creature thinking?

Swooping low, she sent up a spray of lake water from sheer velocity. A gasp and following excited chatter from the nearby shore immediately came up, one eye quickly flicked over. Humans, blond and a redhead, probably younger than Hailey, picnickers probably, here to take in the sights and maybe see if they could lure in some attention. Not bad looking, though usually Carita preferred her partners more on the hunky or husky side so they could handle her, at least for a while.

She could also control her appetites when there was work to be done, unlike some Mon.

With a flick of the tail she was back up, scanning. Flying around bothering campers and handing out flyers would be a waste of time, highly inefficient. She could start raising a ruckus to try and draw the Legend out, rumour said they were a psychic type, but even if their range was in the dozens of leagues there was no saying they could actually pick out someone as… unique as Hailey.

Plus, as annoying as it was to admit, no one just strolled into a Legends house and expected to leave conscious anytime soon, win or lose.

So, what did that leave?

Well, how would Hailey be travelling?

Almost certainly by foot, or rather, wheel. While the hospital administration had dutifully notified bus and train companies of their little run away, it was never too likely Hailey would have even tried them. First, they cost money, and there was a big difference between squirreling away some coins for snacks and a train ticket. Second, she had no experience with them. As far as Carita knew, and she knew a lot about her charge, she'd never so much as been in a subway, let alone on a maglev. She'd stick out more than usual wheeling into a terminal and trying to puzzle it out.

So, that left the paths, the hardest to track and the most likely to leave her little ward collapsed in a ditch, fighting her own organs to stay alive. Wonderful.

They crisscrossed absolutely everywhere, often first made by humans and then maintained by Pokémon. Studies showed that most humans didn't exactly like pushing their way through brambles and other undergrowth to meet a partner, probably cause of their oh so fragile skin, so the answer was build trails absolutely everywhere.

Some Wilds just did the bare minimum to keep them clear, brutally pushing back the elements with a move or two. Others really worked at them, theming them to their own particular tastes. Scenic, spooky, enchanting, ferocious, it went on and on. Well, it gave them something constructive to do while they waited at least.

Dropping easily into a circling pattern, something caught her eye. While most of the trails in the area were quite frustratingly under tree cover, in some areas they were more pushed back. Like around that cozy looking post and timber frame house with a red roof, for example. A Forest Center, probably stood at a nexus of all the trails going in and out of the lake. Perfect.

The landing impact shook the ground but Carita didn't flinch. She wasn't here for pleasantries.

The lodge was clearly a house first and information center second, but they were still going for a cheerful, rustic look. In addition to the big mounted map of the lake, and reams of brochures, the most noticeable thing was the brightly painted wood standee cheerfully warning folks about the risks of forest fires. She didn't recognize the Pokémon so it was probably the local Legend. If it was, and they approved of this depiction, then it just confused Carita even more.

They were either quite short or OK being drawn all… what did the kids call it, chibi? A blue body with pink head and… tendrils, with a red gem smack dab in the middle of the forehead. The really strange part was that they were painted all dressed in a green button up, khaki shorts, and a red neckerchief. Most Pokémon never bothered with clothes, except for maybe some accessories. She only wore the lab coat cause the pockets were useful and it make people treat her like the professional she was. This little gremlin was outdoorsy? What a weird psychic type.

The wood stairs sagged a bit under her as she climbed to the door, but reaching to knock, it flew open before her heavy mitt even touched it. Well, speaking of psychic types…

"Yes, Lady M does like to dress like that, she finds it fun and makes the kids less nervous when they come out for camps. She also almost certainly heard you call her weird so don't be surprised if you find a mysterious bucket of water dumped on your head. Just accept it." The mon that answered the door was almost as tall as Carita, but maybe a third the mass. Lanky, yellow and brown spotting, and four eyes staring at her. Yep, a Girafarig.

"Oooh, observant." The sarcasm was entirely undisguised. Again, psychics.

"Ahem, are you one of the… authorities, I suppose, here." Learning how to ignore psychics was step one of learning to deal with them, especially if you had to work with them. Unless they were quite powerful or purposefully prying they tended to only get surface level stuff, so you had to learn how to distract, preferably in a boring way. Carita’s go-to was going over the prescription regimens she was responsible for, full names and all.

The Girafarig blew a bubble. That is, their second tail head, did. Exactly how smart were those things anyway? Weirded her out.

"Practically? Yeah. According to the deed? Nah. Whatchu want? Got a no solicitors sign for a reason." Great Giratina, this was a whole different kind of teenage hell then she usually had to deal with. Crushes on her she could deal with, she was a professional, but punting this lanky layabout wouldn't actually solve anything. Bloody instincts. When did she spawn, last week?

"Nah, you want Miroslava, she should be in the back." With another pop from the tail, she turned and started walking into the building. The front was a fairly standard information center. More pamphlets, some tasteful landscapes, warning posters for some notorious locals, a vending machine, the usual. The back was more homey, pictures on the walls, rugs, the Giragarig continued to walk with what had to be a purposefully exaggerated sway.

"Hey Babe, where you at? Got a big cut'a meat here to talk bout something all official like."

Some sort of affirmative noise came from around the hall corner, and the source quickly came into view. One look at her had Carita suddenly reconsidering her assumptions. She wasn't a tall woman, but built would be a good descriptor. The kind of muscles that came more from hard work than inheritance, more uneven, more natural. She was standing with a mug in hand behind a stone island, dressed in unpretentious jeans and flannel. Dark black hair, streaked with just a bit of grey tumbled down into a loose pony tail while yellow eyes looked out from behind a pair of reading glasses. They were faint, but her face and skin were etched with wrinkles, crows feet, and laugh lines.

A lot of Pokémon were, frankly, crap at guesstimating a humans age once they got above the teens. Made some degree of sense, they mostly wore their age in more immaterial ways. Carita was quite good at it, she'd say the lady was between, perhaps, 65-75, and gracefully ageing in the way only inheritance allowed. A quick glace at the pictures she'd been ignoring told her something else to. Pictures of fresh faced campers, of party aftermath, of ceremonial bond ceremonies, of a hundred different vacations where the Girafarig was there right beside Miroslava.

So she wasn't fresh, she just chose to be like that, wonderful. The snicker from her side let her know her masking had dropped in her annoyance. Arceus, she hated that. Well, don't give her the satisfaction, only thing was to get on with things.

"Miroslava was it? You are the proprietor of this establishment?"

The older lady laughed, there was nothing malicious in it but still, Carita hated being the butt of a joke. "Establishment are we now? You here that Figgy? Certainly a step up from 'creepy shack in the woods' isn't it? And you sure are a tall drink of water. Thinking of moving into the area? Cause I gotta say, I'm not sure there are any dens around here big enough. Tends to be younger types that are drawn to the lake, if you know what I mean.

"The last thing I need is a bunch of fresh greens beating down my door every day, no, this is business." Acknowledge the ridiculousness and swiftly move on. "My name is Carita, Dr. Carita. I'm here on behalf of Our Lady of Healing Moonlight, specifically one of our patients."

"Oooh, a doctor!" Figgy cut in, sarcasm dripping from every word. "You here to grade our homework? Check our test scores? I think theres a old wooden ruler around her somewhere if you need to bend me over a table." Moltres, Zapdos, Articuno save her from blasting a hole in this womans house. A yelp quickly followed, but it was after Miro had slapped the little gnat right on her big brat ass, hand deftly avoiding a nip from the tail with a lifetime of experience.

"That is a teacher, not a doctor Figgy, and I know damn well that you know the difference. Now keep that little mouth shut while the adults are talking." Sticking some fingers in the brats mouth did quiet her down, but it was still annoying to try and have a conversation while the other party was engaging in some heavy foreplay.

"Yes, Doctor. That's not important though, what is is the fact that one of our patients has gone missing." Reaching into a pocket, she pulled out a folded piece of paper. One of the desk girls had run a bunch off the printer right before she'd taken off. They'd only gotten a little rumpled from near supersonic flight.

After unfolding, she spread it out on the island. Figgy was still indisposed, but Miro did lean over to get a better look. It wasn't much, they didn't have many pictures of Hailey on file, pretty much just exam reference photos and they'd had to find some that were fit to show the public. Sitting in a light blue dressing gown, surrounded by sterile while tile, Hailey looked smaller than usual, but at least you could see her face.

"Miss Wolters is a long term care patient at our facility, who has gone missing within the last two days. We do not know if she is alone or was induced to leave by someone else, but it is critical for her own well-being that she is located and returned as soon as possible. Some paraphernalia potentially indicated Lake Verity as a destination. I am guessing by your expression you have not seen her?"

Figgy was still making stupid faces off to the side but Miro had a thoughtful look on her face. "No, definitely not, I would remember someone in a wheelchair. Wait, would she be travelling in the chair?" Carita nodded. "Then no, for sure. Poor thing looks like she could really use some sun. Hey darling, actually use that brain I know you've got, you see this lass when you went to town to get supplies yesterday."

Fingers were released with a too loud to be coincidental pop, but this time Carita took pleasure in cutting off the psychic. "Your partner almost certainly wouldn't have known if she did see Ms Wolters I'm afraid." Both heads swung to glare at her but she didn't flinch. "You see, even beyond her physical condition she is a rather unique individual. While I cannot breach patient confidentiality, due to some unique interactions with what we suspect is Bond energy, most Pokémon find it almost impossible to focus on her, especially in a crowd, let alone recall the encounter mere moments later. I am one of the few exceptions, I doubt there are any others in the entire region who can match me there. Thus, we must rely on other humans to try and spot her."

It was hard not to get smug as the Girafarig fumed. She tried to be utterly professional in her life, but there was only so far you could go without indulging your base nature, and she had been called back early from vacation. Psychics were used to knowing everything, they got so steamed when you told them they couldn't understand something. So she smiled, on the inside.

"So what does that make you? Her chief nanny? Her warden? Arceus forbid a gal goes for a walk without someone looking over her shoulder." The bite back was expected, just another piece of evidence that she couldn't let any other Mon near her charge.

"No. As I have said, I am her doctor, the one that's been holding her to this mortal coil for going on seven years now. It's my job, my duty, to track her down before she inevitably winds up dead in a ditch."

"Ooook there lady, I can see this is very important to you." Miro broke in, subtlety but noticeably moving herself between the two. It was often up to humans to get between two feuding Mon, tempers could run hot fast. If they weren't being presently spit roasted that was. "We'll put the flier up, I'll mention her to the campers I see, but shouldn't you talk to the authorities? What do you expect us to do if we do see her? Not going to just grab someone."

"Well… of course not. Just give the hospital a call if you do see her. And you could perhaps… distract her if you did meet, stall perhaps." She'd already lingered to long, she could have also gone to Oreburgh or even somewhere else, no point in getting dragged into arguments.

Figgy couldn't resist one last snipe as she turned her back though.

"And what if she doesn't want to come back Miss Large and In Charge. What then eh?"

She'd already taken off before she realized the jab had been mental, not verbal.