Calcine's Rock Polish Move made following the smoothed-out trail of the rolling Pokémon an effortless task. Part of the Move seemed to be the ability to sense the compactness of earth and rocks. So to her eyes, it was like a bright glowing trail leading them away from Connie's Berry farm.

Brandy was seeing more and more value in Soft Moves since Orchid had nearly beaten her and Calcine without lifting a finger. Hard Moves was trendy because they were flashy and immediately impactful. Everyone knew that a Hyper Beam or Boomburst could completely lay out even the most formidable Pokémon if they didn't get out of the way. So many movies ended with someone throwing out a powerful attack to express true love and some visually appealing, camera-shaking destruction. 

Compared to something like that, Aromatherapy or Rock Polish doesn't seem a big deal, and Brandy would agree that they weren't powerful upfront. But their flexibility gave you many more options, in battles and out. She doubted she was the first person ever to notice this, Brandy was pretty sure Mercury had a careful mix of Soft and Hard Moves to help keep herself a mystery. If she ever fought a skilled Trainer, she should watch out for Moves that can change a battlefield or her mind as much as high-impact hits.

Sparky's Electroweb wasn't a Soft Move, but Brandy felt it was on the edge of being one. It was pretty rare Sparky used it to do damage directly. She had a talent for using it to keep her opponents pinned down and unable to chase her, and she was already tough to catch with her Agility.

 Brandy's thoughts got interrupted by a rapping on her head. Sparky looked up at her with all four blue eyes. She had a hell of a stare. "You're zoning out. What's up?"

"Just thinking how useful Rock Polish is." Brandy said, "And all Soft Moves, really, they're so convenient."

"It's not quick enough to really use as an attack," Calcine said, waving a hand over the edge of the trail they were following. The earth beside it flowed up to form a wall, slowly like it was pouring out from a giant bucket into a mold. "I tried to snag Lenna's feet with it, and she got around it easily, but it worked for making walls to ward her off. I want to practice with it. Lapidary could use it to make statues; I can't do better than blocks."

It was generous to call what Lapidary was making statues. Her work was more like a melted wax statue, but that was still more refined control than Calcine had right now. Maybe she'd have mastered it by the time they saw Calcine's artistic Carkol big sister again. 

"Thunder Wave is a Soft Move, right?" Sparky said, crackling electricity between her fingers. 

Technically, it was since it didn't have an impact, but it felt weird to think of it that way. The sensitivity it gave your skin was as bad as any bruise if you weren't used to it.  

"The definition's a little fuzzy," Brandy said. It's all down to how you use it. If you can be creative, I'd say it is."

"Oh, ho! I'll think about it, but creativity is our lovely Trainer's job." Sparky teased, poking Brandy's side. "When we get into things, it becomes harder to think outside our Types. You're meant to weave it all together."

Brandy snuck a kiss onto Sparky's cheek, making her chirrup happily and nuzzling at her neck. "I try, but you're both brilliant. It's hard to keep up sometimes."

Shameless praise, but Sparky loved a bit of that now and then, and Brandy was happy to provide. Calcine walked a little straighter, and their boots stomped over the compact earth. Sparky enjoyed being appreciated, but being called brilliant was an even bigger deal for Calcine. Not that she should need Brandy to say it. She was brighter than Brandy when she didn't get her blood too hot.

"Campsite up ahead, our trails ending. "Calcine said, pointing forward to a few wisps of smoke trailing from the edge of a small group of trees.  

Brandy looked over the rolling fields and shrugged. "No sneaking up on that. You think we can just walk in and ask what's going on?" 

"Sure, it's just stolen Berries," Sparky said, "Not exactly a huge crime. We're just going to ask them to chill out, is all."

The approach was gentle, but Brandy's palms itched the entire way in, expecting something to fly out at them with every step. It didn't happen. They walked right up to the small camp without even a bad word thrown their way. The small campfire in the middle of the camp had a kettle suspended over it by a branch that'd been put on a rock pivot and weighed down on the end with a backpack. It was a nice one, too, a proper explorer pack that Brandy would have been proud to wear. 

There were two people around the campfire, a human and a Pokémon. The Pokémon was wrapped in a colorful yellow and black hoodie with puffy padding, the drawstrings pulled tight so only a bit of their face poked out the front. Their face had strange zig-zag patterns, going from brown to yellow to black, all in stripes, rosy cheeks glowing like she was blushing as she warmed by the fire. She was napping away without a care in the world, a big dopey smile on her face. 

The human tended to the fire, her short but puffy hair a tangled mess. Her hair had the same multi-tone thing her Pokémon had going on, brown one half and black the other, with a jacket to match. It was actually kind of stylish. A big puffy brown quiff helped the look avoid being too uniform and looking silly. It also really helped she wasn't wearing anything under her open jacket, a strip of skin traveling from her neck all the way to some tight black pants, showing off a rather impressive cleavage that they were all failing to not stare at as she stoked the fire. 

"Come in!" she said, waving a stick burnt at the end from all the poking. "Come sit. I don't bite."

"Aw," Sparky sighed, "Not even a little?"

Her laugh was lovely, a rather sweet tinkling thing. It was hard to think of her as a criminal when she exuded friendly, playful energy. Sparky sat with Shay as she asked. A little wrong-footed, Brandy took a seat by the fire as well, while Calcine placed herself behind Brandy as a backrest, arms slid over her shoulders in a way that seemed nice but also put her well-positioned to protect Brandy. Clearly not as easily won over. 

"Name's Shay," the woman said, prodding the fire to warm the kettle more. "Like the skirt! You've got lovely legs."  

 "Hah, a lot of people saying that lately." Brandy blushed. "I'm Brandy. Calcine's my cloak right now. Sparky is Sparky," Brandy pointed each of them out. Sparky pulled a face.

"Oh, Electric! Like Cardia," she said, waving to the sleeping Pokémon. "She's tuckered out right now, sorry, or she'd usually say hello."

"Mmm," Calcine said, looking Cardia's way with a quick flick of her glowing eyes, then back to Shay. "We're looking for Mercury and got a little distracted. Why are you out here?"

"Mercury?" Shay said, "Not familiar with them, sorry, but hope it goes well! Cardia and I are just out here doing some research."

"Research sounds fun." Sparky grinned, shamelessly looking at Shay's exposed chest. "That's why Cardia's sleeping so soundly?"

Shay laughed. "Well, maybe not all research, Cardia was in a mood. But she'll be back to it after she sleeps it off."

Cardia did a small snuffle of a snore, it made that same crackling sound Sparky did when she was sleeping, but with the angry hum of a power line close to overloading, it certainly wasn't as cute as Sparky's little crackles. Brandy also found it a little suspicious. Shay said they'd just had sex, but Cardia is fully clothed and wrapped up? That didn't quite fit with her experience at all. Usually, the clothes had to come off.

"We uh..." Brandy looked at Calcine, who nodded. "Came looking for someone who'd been taking a lot of berries. The trail led right here? Sorry."

She didn't know why she was apologizing for the truth. The accusation seemed rude, is all, for such a calm scene. 

"Oh, I eat very little, certainly not berries. I'm a fussy eater." Shay said, taking the kettle off the stick as it whistled. "You think it was us, though?"

"The trail from it came right here," Calcine said, "Some kind of rolling Move."

Shay set the kettle down and poured some water into a mug, a small teaspoon tinkling as she stirred some coffee grounds. "Well, that's unfortunate. It's a popular camping spot, and I think you've missed the person you're after."

It wasn't a terrible excuse, but Brandy didn't buy that. Shay seemed far too relaxed about the accusation. Sure after sex, you were pretty mellow, but not this easygoing!

"Can we look about?" Sparky said, "So we can find who did it, hate to have you framed!"

Sparky was a relentless liar, there was no way she'd buy a lie so easily herself, so she had to be playing along. Calcine's grip on her was tight, giving away her nervousness about the situation. Was it worth getting into a fight over berries? It was rude, but Shay didn't see them type to wreck the place. Unless she was an excellent actor. 

"Go look. I've got coffee if you want it," Shay said with a bright smile, "Let me get some cups out of my bag. Don't bother Cardia, though. She's grumpy if she's woken early."

Cardia! Brandy hadn't even considered her yet. If it was a Pokémon Move that rolled her, she just needed to know what Pokémon type she was. Taking her Poké-dex out of the slot in her bag, she took a snap of them.

Well, that solved that mystery.

"Sorry, Shay," Brandy said, turning to Shay. "I think Carida's been stealing food." 

Shay was pulling her Pokéballs out of her bag, already fingering the opening presser on one. 

"Shit! Sparky! Web!"

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