---

After all that training, Celina was thirty. She just let out a sigh of relief when she saw honey bring them water. She went and started to drink the clean water, feeling better about all this. She smiled softly and listened to what Honey said and nod. “Alright… we will be there soon.” She said, making sure that she had everything that she needed. She then looked towards the mountain that the group came from and though about it a bit. As a group, they were probably better prepared against anything that might come, that for sure. She just headed forwards and went to go follow Honey and listened to what the group said. She thought about what Nate said. “If there is something we are not sure about, I can probably test it. I mean, I think I do have Natural Cure, meaning I should not have too many issues with poison.. If it’s not deadly..” she then said and sight. One thing for sure, mushrooms usually were risky so it might be a good idea to try small quantity instead to make sure they were safe.

Jeri wandered over to the group gathered around Honey and nodded in approval at their questions.

"Good to get out all the questions here," the Dunsparce remarked. "We'll hafta stay real quiet in the woods if we wanna avoid a fight." Jeri gave a sidelong glance to Vi, who seemed most likely to disrupt the quiet, either through her own over-enthusiasm or frightening someone else into screaming.

As for her own questions... Jeri thought hard for a minute but couldn't come up with any additional queries. She was never very good at that. Jeri had always struggled to put her general confusion into concrete terms, and by the time she knew what she needed to ask, it was too late and the test was already in front of her.

"We gotta figure out how we're gonna arrange ourselves," the Dunsparce commented, happily moving away from biology to battle tactics. "Whoever can take a hit can go up front. Lookin' at you, walkin' suit of armor. Snipers... uh, ranged fighters... go in the back. If yer scared about fightin', stay in the middle and keep an eye out for surprises."

On the inside, Jeri knew she'd probably fall into the meat shields up front category. Her only ranged ability was a roaring ball that still exploded in her own face half the time. And she sure as heck was not gonna be no chicken.

The Dunsparce did her best to mask her fear with brave and commanding battle orders. Perhaps bossy to some, but soothing to her. And besides, she reassured herself, there were lots of allies. Instant healing berries existed in this world. Zombies were bad, but they only came out at night. Things will be fine...

---

Trevor nodded and sort of followed along with what was being said for a while... after absolutely guzzling his share of the water, probably to the surprise of everyone else, given his type, and given his kind's reputation with water. Jerri then tried to tell everyone where to go, which got Trevor to think for a moment... eventually having him come up with "Well... let's see... considering what I know about our stats... Jerri, you should be leading the charge, since you have the most HP and at least good defensive stats for where we're at, right now... Lance, you should be with her, as you have defense against physical moves... but uh... not quite as much HP, and the front should be topped off with either Celina, who's got decent defenses in general, or Vi, whose ghost type makes her immune to many of the attacks that will be usable at this point. Nathan and I will be behind you guys, because we don't have... er... very good defenses, though, we might be able to get a few attacks in... and uh, at this stage, I don't think we have too many ranged attacks, outside of Vi, who would be better off in the front, as of now," Trevor then took his place near Nathan, and remembered something... in the more recent mystery dungeon games, the moves Ember, Vine Whip, and Water Gun all had a range of two, and didn't collide with teammates, which might mean that if he's either lucky or skilled, he might be able to lob an ember over an ally's head to hit an enemy... he then remembered Vi's question, and he answered with "Well, the normal pokemon games just had berries, but the mystery dungeon games had a couple types of normal Earth fruit, specifically, apples and bananas... though, uh, I'd sooner place my bet on apples than bananas in this kind of place,"

---

While Lance didn't know what this 'Hidden Power' would be useful against, that was something he could figure out over time. After everyone had this new technique figured out, Honey came around with fresh, clean water. It was rather refreshing, especially after that long training session. Next, they would be going out to forage for food and other supplies, it seemed. With their newfound abilities, they were better protected in case of an attack.

They began discussing how they would orient themselves as they moved through the woods. Lance's role was obvious. Sharp blades instead of hands and a body covered in armour meant that he'd be most suited to being in the frontline. Despite how obvious it was, some of the others felt the need to point it out to him, much to his annoyance. "I do not need you to tell me my role like I'm some kind of child. Did you think I hadn't noticed my armour?"

Eventually the party would figure out how they wanted to arrange themselves and would go and meet Honey at the south side of the farmstead. "Well, the good mushrooms are all brown or a deep purple with light purple spots. I know how to cook those safely! The red mushrooms or the ones that look like puffballs aren't safe to eat, but Munchi eats them just fine, so we can give them to him. He eats a lot, and he's pretty much willing to eat anything." Honey thought more about what else they could find, and since there were so many pokemon here the buneary spoke up. "Okay so... We could also look for some wild gourds. I don't really like them because they're bitter, but they're healthy so I can't complain. The gourds are the only plant that has grown a lot thanks to all of this rain, but be careful because a lot of pokemon will be looking for them too! Not only is the gourd good to eat but also the vines, so pick those too. You also might find some wild parsnips if you look around the edge of the woods. Finally, if we go all the way to the mountain, we might be able to find more mushrooms in the caves as well as cave carrots. They're not tasty, but food is food. Let's all stick together now, and no fighting! If we can run we should, who knows what we might find in this place!"

When Jerri and Lance were discussing formations Nathan expected to be one of the mon placed in front. When he found out that wasn't the case he wanted to point point out that he knew Harden which raised his defense but he quickly realized that he might run out of energy for that move at the wrong time. Still not happy with his position but understanding the reasoning he took his place somewhere behind the party "defenders".

When they arrived at the forest Honey gave them a quick rundown on the plants and mushrooms they should look and Nathan repeated what she said to himself to help him remember. "Brown, and purple mushrooms good, red mushrooms and puffball only good for Munchlax. Gourd vines also edible." Somewhat louder so that everyone could hear he asked the question he had thought off during the Buneary's speech. "If one of us gets separated from the others is there an easy way to get back to the farm?" After al it would suck to get lost out in the woods during continuous rain.

---

Ravi’s head tilted as he keenly listened to the plans Trevor made. Realizing that his name alone seemed to be excluded, but soon his eyes twinkled with confidence at this revelation. “I guess that means he already knows and trusts that I’m capable to scavenge. I was the one who got us food last time. I feel humbled by such approval.“

Showing that he was fully energized as he eagerly nodded at Honey’s straightforward instructions. He was ready to slither forth and forge his own path. Quickly going down his mental checklist to collect mushrooms, gourds, parsnips, cave carrots and any other food sources that the group may find throughout their venture. So the search began as his tongue flicked about to smell his surroundings. He didn't know anything for certain, but it didn't stop his instincts from predicting where to go. “Hmm. She mentioned how the gourds were the only ones to grow more plentiful because of the heavy rainfall. But the mushrooms should’ve benefited from all the prolonged moisture too...assuming this world is similar enough to ours…but regardless I can detect temperature differences. And hopefully, that's where the food is...”

---

As Celina listened to what was being said by Honey, she looked around a bit, and started to fly up a bit as she listen. So… gourd, mushrooms, maybe even parsenips. Well, would be surprising if they found something else considering all the dang rain there is right now. She thought about it a bit and fly up to a tree. “Alright… uhm… Honey, if there is anything in the trees that we could take also? Like fruits and such that we might be able to fly? I could possibly pick those up for us without too much issues.” She then said to her calmly as she looked around a bit more for anything that would catch her eyes. If there would be any apples left by miracle, then that would be great… even if they probably were all eaten already considering the lack of food and such. There would probably be a huge sigh of relief for everyone in the forest when the rain let up…. But there is no telling when that would even happen.

---

"Er, right, sorry Lance, and sorry Ravi, for forgetting you, but you seem to have figured out where you need to be, anyways," Trevor apologized while Honey explained what they were looking for. Honestly, none of the things on the hypothetical menu seemed too tasty to Trevor, but then again, it was that, or nothing, and he certainly preferred the ability to eat. Trevor nodded when Honey pointed out that, despite our numbers, it would probably be best if we ran away, anyways. That... made sense, given that in horde battles, it was always one higher-leveled pokemon against four or five weaker pokemon... and unless said weaker pokemon had some sort of gimmick they could pull off, they weren't going to chew through the stronger pokemon's health bar. Trevor kept an eye out for anything that wasn't just mud and rain, while also keeping note of where Ravi decided to slither to, as he was busy sensing temperature differences, which might lead to some food.

Jeri listened to the fluffy bunny as well as she could, but with all the danger and new information going around, she gave up on attempting to remember all the details. She decided to focus on the gourds and parsnips... she could remember that much... and if she encountered any mushrooms, she'd probably have to ask again if they were okay.

Celina flew toward the treetops and asked about other foods higher up. Jeri nodded in acknowledgement and swiveled her drill tail for a second.

"I can dig underground for more options, too," the Dunsparce declared with a hint of pride. It was the only thing she knew this Pokémon body to be exceptionally good at.

Jeri started forward with the search, laying flat to the ground, looking and feeling for anything that could maybe be vegetables.

---

The time came to scavenge the forest for food. They had Celina searching the treetops and Jeri searching underground, but everyone else would need to search for food on the surface. As the rabbit explained what foods they could and couldn't eat, Lance made sure to commit it to memory. "I'll keep an eye out" He told the others, and keep an eye out he certainly did. He knew it was important to be vigilant of his surroundings, not just to find food, but also to ensure that nothing would sneak up on them.

"If you get lost um... Hmm..." Honey had to think about this one. The buneary has always known these forest and has never gotten lost before. "Oh! Because we're going south, check the trees if you get lost. Moss grows towards the south side here, so just go the opposite direction, north, and you should be able to reach our farm if you find yourself lost in the woods. If you go past a river though, you've head too far east and should try and follow that river to the north. If you find a lot of open field, you're too far west, so go north and you should find our farm somewhere north again." Honey motioned towards a tree. Sure enough one side was bare, but the other side had a small patch of green growing at the base of the tree.

Then Honey looked over to Celina. "Most of the fruit have fallen due to the storm or other pokemon, but if you're lucky you might be able to find some fresh nuts. If you find any flowers at the top of the trees, those are good for making tea, so you could take those too. They're called Hightop flowers, and they usually have yellow pedals but a white center. Oh! You might also be able to find honey! Because of the rain a lot of the combees left this area, including their hives, so their hives would be full of honey. Normally I could sniff them out easily, but all the rain makes everything smell damp, not to mention the hives are usually really high into the tree."

With nothing else to be said, the group would head back into the forest. It got dark very quickly due to the thick canopy, but at the same time it was finally not pouring water onto the whole lot of them. The ground was damp and muddy, but traversable. The initial hour went by uneventfully as far as foraging or dangers went; there was no sign of any pokemon that you all could notice, nor any food. Honey assured you that this wasn't unusual. "This place got picked clean around the third day the rain continued to pour. A lot of pokemon panicked and started hording food, which naturally led to a lot of them fighting or running away. Occasionally I'd get lucky and find a stash from a pokemon who was hiding food, but sometimes I might run into some pokemon who also find it. I'm... Not really good at fighting, so I just leave them alone. But maybe we'll get lucky again?"

Eventually, Jeri would find the first bit of food. Feel around the ground she'd notice a familiar root growing at the base of a rock, and digging it up she'd find one of those strange brown carrots like what they had back at the cave. "Ah, wild carrots. Kinda small, but usually where there's one, a few more would grow. There's probably more underneath this rock." Sure enough with more digging, Jeri would be able to find more wild carrots, about five of them of moderate size. There wasn't much else here however.

As for Celina, after being informed of what to look for she would also be able to spot a few of the flowers Honey described. Honey recommends just plucking their petals since those will grow back, leaving the bud alone so they could come back and pick more from it. As for the nuts there was only one tree that had a small bundle, not really much for a meal but maybe it could spice up a meal. No sign of the honey though.

Sometime after getting some food, everyone would hear barking in the distance. This immediately caused Honey to turn and look scared. "Others. We gotta go... Not over there."

Nathan was surprised at how cleaned out the forest was, as they didn't find any food for an hour. He didn't want to be a burden on the farm too much and resolved to find if he could survive on just the moisture from a tree. He quickly realized one major problem with his plan, he had no idea on how to climb a tree without hands.

Just as he was trying to resolve that issue Jerri found some carrots underground while Celina got a few of the tree flowers. He was just about to suggest that they would have to go even deeper when the barking became audible. Nathan didn't exactly agree with Honey about going somewhere else since the others might have food, but approaching them would probably result in a fight and might their food stolen or something. His first though was to go in the exact opposite direction the barks were coming from but he changed his mind, if the Pokémon were deliberately revealing themselves by barking that would be the obvious and expected tactic and thus most likely a trap. Instead he changed his direction to move more parallel to the direction of the sound. " I say we go this way. Someone with hands use a branch or something to wipe out our tracks, no point in letting them know where we're going." He trusted that the rain would wash away their scents pretty quickly but wasn't too confident on it making footprints disappear.

---

As Celina listen to Honey, she took in the information and nod at this before going and heading into the trees, going to search for any other flowers or honey in the trees. She then plucked the petals to drop them down for everyone. One thing for sure, she really hoped that not everything was gone and that there was not pokemons around in the trees that would go and attack them. That was the last thing she wanted… Considering she probably was not too strong, going against someone else might be problematic if they are evolved or something. She just kept moving, searching and staying hidden as best as she can as she moved in the trees. She also heard the barking and looked worried as she looks down. “Take care everyone… I don’t think they will be able to get me here… I will try to follow but if things go bad… I will try to lead them away possibly.” She then said to the group