Field Notes 19 June 3130
Kalos region, Santalune city.

After arriving in the city, Amelia and I familiarized ourselves with the city. We began at the pokemon center. This would be a very important stopping point as it contained all the items we would need.

Various medications and field rations primarily. A wonder of food preservation is that you can literally forget about some of these foods for years and come back to them and they will still be good. I think I was feeling philosophical or something while we stocked up because on instinct, I bought 2 poke balls despite not having any pokemon. I suspect that the prospect of using them as something to throw up and catch at night along with my much favored racketball fueled my intentions.

We then set out from santalune city along route 4. This location, in all of Kalos, was the only location which seemed to have any of the ralts line. Interestingly enough though, its evolved forms were never encountered in the wild. Instead, it was just the ralts. Is this because the ralts are more person friendly? With these thoughts in mind, we set to work in locating a ralts.

The plan was simple: Amelia would engage it with her poochyhyena, then would use a status effect to put it to sleep. Once it passed out, I would attach a tag to the back of its head. The tag was a simple transciever system. I could issue a few commands to the ardx microprocessor that would then either transmit a homing signal, end all transmissions, or separate the tag.

My reasoning behind the tag was simple:

Upon finding the ralts, we would then track it back to its home range, and set up observation from there.

Once it seemed to enter its home territory, we would shut down the transceiver and separate the tag from the pokemon.

To do this was exceptionally simple. A micro servo resided in the tags band itself. Upon the command, it would actuate, releasing the small locks that held the tag closed. Once this was done, it would simply fall to the ground. The intent also, was to attach it to a section of the ralts that would not be instantly noticeable.

That was the theory at least.

The day started out well enough. We entered the flower fields just outside of Santalune city then began a vigil for the elusive ralts. For the better part of 3 hours we encountered nothing but flabebes were all we seemed to encounter for the longest time. After a while, I began noticing that, based upon appearance rates, there seemed to be a variation in the species in coloration. Roughly 75% seemed to be of the red petal variety whilst 23% seemed to be of the Yellow petal variety. Only 2% seemed to display a white coloration. Perhaps this correlated to a mutation in the species? I will have to ask Gerry about it when this field work ends...

Note: Ask about coloration in Flabebes! Gerrys work should reveal critical insights into the role of coloration and reproduction.

After a while, we began to grow bored with this.

I turned to Amelia to seek her opinion "Do you suspect that we might be in the wrong place?" She looked towards me to answer when she suddenly stopped short then pointed her finger over my shoulder.

I turned around to see what was going on when at my feet there stood a ralts. It went without saying then, that we were, in fact, in the correct location.

My surprise was immediate.

I didn't expect one of them to come right up to me.

This was worrisome!

I didn't want it to see me and later recognize me. Given that the observations need to happen with as little interaction on my part, it was imperative, that we were not visible to the ralts. Otherwise, there was a danger that it could bond. This would ruin our observations as then its behavior, and possibly the behavior of its family unit, would thus be altered.

Amelia reached to grab her pokeball when an idea occured to me. While I appreciated her initiative to put it to sleep so that we could continue our work, I was curious if we could let it lead us back with no changes to its current behavioral state. I quickly explained this to Amelia. If we allowed it to come and go at its own discretion, it would not sense any danger, nor would it alert its parents to us. We could follow it back without having to put it to sleep and tag it. Amelia looked skeptical about my idea, but decided to give it a try. If it appeared frightened, then she would take care of knocking it out. That was good. I was relieved that she was willing to try out my idea. I simply hoped that it would work as I proceeded to kneel down whilst reaching into my rucksack.

The sudden motion seemed to momentarily startle the ralts. It regarded me warily before it tilted its head whilst looking at me with its cherry red eyes.

For the briefest moment I felt a probing sensation.

I had the distinct impression that something was rifling through my brain. Or rather, it was picking at my emotions and mood.

Since I was feeling curious, it likely picked up on the notion that I was no real threat to it. Either that, or it detected my happiness at finding a ralts. I couldn't tell. I was more worried that it would think I wanted to capture it.

Without the proper context, this would seem odd so let me explain. Shortly after I felt that peculiar feeling, the little ralts made a weird chirping noise before rocking left and right with its hands up in the air.

I drew my hand from my rucksack at that point. I did this slowly and fluidly.

Note: It would be best to avoid sudden jerking motions, they seem skittish and are likely to flee if you are abrupt.

From my rucksack I produced a banana then slowly peeled it.

The entire time, the ralts regarded my actions with curiosity. As I exposed the fruit, the ralts suddenly made a chirping kind of noise again, then flexed its tiny fingers at me. It seemed to me as though the Ralts was hungry.

I am curious about the wild Ralts metabolism. The best way to judge this for now is to utilize ranges of mass for the foods I observe it consuming. All future notes will include this if possible.

If a young ralts is here in a populous area, hungry, and making to retrieve my food, the thought has occurred to me that perhaps this is intentional.

Perhaps the amount of food dropped by many a carefree traveler has conditioned the ralts line to forage in this area primarily. If that is so, then that would explain why they are spotted in this spot. However, why only here? Why do we not encounter the ralts line elsewhere in Kalos? Especially near the bigger cities? Is there an upper limit to all of this? Is there a maximum population size that the Ralts line prefers?

I confess I was lost in my thoughts longer than I should have been. For in the intervening time, the ralts had finished its meal then began padding at my pant leg expectantly.

With a confused expression, I lowered my hand down, then proceeded to rub its head.

For some reason, the ralts seemed to really enjoy that. It made a wierd gurgling form of its call. As if it were an expression of happiness...
this was most peculiar. It had tactile sensitivity and was expressive in both vocalizations and movements.

After enjoying a few more minutes of play, the Ralts suddenly stopped then turned its neck towards the woods. This was sudden. Did it hear something? I listened as well, straining my ears against the background noises in an attempt to discern what it could be the ralts was so interested in. After a moment it suddenly made a cry. I say it made a cry, but really this one was a long sonorous one. This was peculiar to me. The ralts was able to discern something that neither myself nor the trainer had picked up on.

It seemed that the ralts had actually been answering something. For it then turned slowly back to me then gave a slight jump into the air. It was able to propel itself maybe an inch off the ground before it fell back to the ground. Afterwards, it then turned, and began making its way into the nearby woods.
I wasted precious time in a curious stupor before I realized I should probably pursue it.
As I stepped into the woods, Amelia warned me about paying close attention to my surroundings. She had the concern, apparently, that I would easily loose my way if I did not mark my progress. That being said, she eventually gave chase.

Slowly and quietly we moved through the woods, keeping the ralts in sight, but staying easily 60 yards away. Since it was a slow mover, we found ourselves often stopping to let it gain some distance. Its average gait was .25 meters per second. I should note that it also seemed to be in a hurry for several times it failed to note where its feet were going. Often times, it would slip and balance precariously on one leg before finally putting the loosened foot down.
We kept up this average pace for about 20 minutes before it came to a clearing. Amelia and I huddled down 20 meters from the clearing, watching the specimen as it stepped into the clearing, then made another sonorous calling noise.

Shortly afterwards, its cry was answered by a deeper bell like cry that had a definite vibratto tone to it. From a strand of trees 60 meters from the ralts northwards, a fully evolved specimen appeared. This animal, known as Gardevoir, had apparently been the one who had called the ralts in the first place.
Amelia watched as the two seemed to communicate in a string of calls. The gardevoirs cries started out slow and languid. The ralts was more rushed in making its calls. Suddenly, the Gardevoir gave a sharp cry shortly after the ralts vocalized a long string. The Gardevoir swept its eyes around the clearing, then knelt down to the ralts.

I couldn't believe it.

The mannerisms of this gardevoir seemed to communicate comforting and yet, there was at the end of one string of vocalizations, a slightly... harsher cry.
The ralts then gave a hurried yet also somewhat quiet cry.
I am tentatively suggesting that this is the first instance of Gardevoir rearing behaviour. The exchange seemed to be as if the ralts were being admonished. For what though, I cannot tell.

After this continued for a while, the two walked back to the stand of trees.
Amelia and I then relocated ourselves at this point. Our exact distance to the trees was unknown to us as we drew up short when we saw the Gardevoir, another gardevoir, and the ralts clustered together. They seemed to occupy that one location as there was a well worn break in the bushes and grass surrounding their location.

Upon utilizing binoculars, I was able to observe that they were communicating back and forth. They were in a seated position in a rough semi circle. Interestingly, they were oriented facing east. They seemed to be eating from a small pile that was in front of them. Judging by the yellow coloration and the comparative size of the food, they were eating Bananas.
Given the amount they consumed, it would appear as though this was either what they were able to forage, or part of a normal diet for them. Based upon one meal though, I am unwilling to make a declaration of dietary regime.

We decided to fall back about 200 yards from the clearing that night. This put us about 100 yards back towards where we had come from in total. As we were unable to see the clearing at this distance, we estimated that the distance was more than sufficient to conceal our location from the potential family group. With wind blowing from the southwest, their direction, we knew we were well downwind of them. Given this, and since we know nothing about their olfactory capacities in the wild, we judged it safe for a small fire.

Amelia seemed thoughtful as I recorded my observations though. I suspect that she finds this boring. I don't blame her. If not for this expedition, I suspect she would have attempted to capture the Ralts. Most trainers seemed to value them more as a show pokemon. I wouldn't be caught dead trying that out.

Tomorrow I hope to gain more information about its social dynamics. I am curious if there is a cultural aspect to this social group. All indications so far has it at slightly less than human capacity. This is based more on its inability to form complex vocalizations. However, this is too soon to tell. Since very little is known about how they function in the wild, there is insufficient data to determine their overall comparison to humans. Perhaps they have a different method of speech than we are used to.

The current readings suggest that wild Ralts and Gardevoir do not have any major capacity for language. This is based on the fact that a domesticated gardevoir is shown (Betelwes 3125) to have a higher cognitive skill based upon guidance of humans. In the Article, it is noted that: "A Gardevoirs pattern recognition ability seems diminished in its natural state. As the domesticated gardevoir was able to complete the cognition tasks it was given approximately 63 seconds before the wild one. It should be noted that factors such as prior training have not been ruled out yet.
Given that, one would expect the observations in-situ to match. Time will tell.

Notes:
Ralts size was judged as near normal height.
.41 meters (1.47 feet)
Weight: Undetermined. Specimen was not weighed.
Average gait: .25 m/s or 900 m/hr.
Specimen observed to consume 4 bananas in total. Each about 4-6 ounces in weight.
Unable to determine full dietary habit as of yet. Further observation required to establish metabolism...

Distance to supposed habitation from observation location: 300 meters. Proximity to habitations is peculiar. By all means, the ralts and Gardevoir live just outside of town.

Final note: Later established that Ralts that was encountered was a female. Males seem to occupy the child rearing roles while the females seem to secure food supplies and establish security.

So this is chapter one. I wrote these more as observational notes. The layout for this story will be as follows:
field note
Storyline 3rd person
Field note.
Etc.

I want to capture a little bit of both at a time in order to give this a more organic feeling. Like you are reading the field notes, then seeing it happen for yourself. Allowing you to compare the field notes to the period of time and events described.