Contrary to what he suspected, it had only taken a gentle snarl to have the strange and pretentious woman skate away frightened. With that over, Ryan and his young charge continued along the road. With Shauna standing on his right, Ryan's first thought was that it was she who held his hand. Sighing, he looked over, ready to explain to eighteen year old girl standing more than an arm length away from him- His eyes narrowed in confusion for a second before Ryan gradually lowered his head. He blinked a couple times, the small fox Annwn barking happily up at him, gripping his hand in it's paw. His thick glove masking the shape of the hand holding it, but being thin enough that he could tell it was being held. Shauna however was blushing, suppressing the 'naww' he could see almost etched on her face. "Oh hush you" his eyes narrowed, hiding his small smile as he looked back to the road. "So." He searched for some way to move the focus away from Annwn. "Where'd you sleep last night?" She laughed again, drifting off to just a pleasant smile, commenting that she spent the night with a friend. When pressed, she revealed it was just a sleepover with her friend Serena. The two chatted and hung out, very little sleep apparently occurred as they were having just too much fun talking about pokemon and where they plan to go or do. Ryan didn't pry, as this conversation didn't involve him, but it was nice to see he wasn't the only one to have a good time the night prior.
Ryan was somewhat confused, not even two hours had passed and already they were nearing the edge of a small town. The town was surrounded by either half a stone wall, or a large and unfinished rock fence, Ryan was unsure what to call it. Passing through the- gate? hole? into the town, the vagrant suppressed a laugh. This was Camphrier Town. He'd read about it and it's rich history, but had never seen the place. For a town with five centuries of history, the twelve buildings looked a little meager to him. The only impressive landmark was the large mansion set upon a small hill and surrounded by a moat. The large gothic building towered above anything else, the top of the front door being higher even than the pile of rocks that surrounded the village. "Mr. Cabberin?" Shauna refused to call him by his name, sweet but a little annoying. Without releasing the little paw, the tall man looked over with a questioning 'humph'. "I've wanted to ask, when did you get all cleaned up" He laughed tiredly at her remark, glancing into the water of the moat to see what she saw. For the first instant, not even the blink of an eye, it wasn't Ryan looking up at him from the surface of the water. But shaking his head he knew he'd just been seeing things.
The image of a man walking along the small wooden bridge toward the manor reflected up at Ryan from the water's edge. Looking over he watched as an excited man, about half the size of the other, sprinted from the other side of 'town' toward the fellow. Glancing around, Ryan noticed Shauna watching the man as well. Shauna's Fennekin and Ryan's Pansear were ahead, already approaching the two men, being followed shortly by the two humans. "Sir!" The man called, getting close enough to the bridge to be heard. "Sir! It's back" he wheezed, the other man looking confused for a second before his eyes widened in understanding. "It's that time of year" the obviously exhausted man continued, waving for the portly fellow to follow him, unwittingly signalling for the vagrant and lass to follow as well.
A little west of the town, the river that passed Vaniville town finally reached a large lake. But the meandering flow was drying up, a large weight had simply slammed itself in the mouth of the river, damming it up. After drawing nearer, Shauna was the first of the two to understand what they were looking at. The huge mass was mostly black with two large white spots. What might have seemed to be cracked rocks or maybe thick moss was instead fur. A creature the size of a semi truck, was slammed down in the start of the river. "Here we go again." The portly man growled, looking down from the now pointless bridge. "It's sleeping so soundly, the end of the world wouldn't wake it." The man simply closed his eyes, pressing his head into his crossed arms on the rail of the bridge. "It's practically a mountain, right?" His mumbling could barely be heard over the creature's rumbling snores. "I can't even use the Pokeflute" The man's hands grabbed the rails and his head lifted slightly. Seeing this man getting more aggravated, Ryan stepped in, asking exactly why the man cannot use the Pokeflute; an instrument who'se playing is known to wake anything. "I had to sell it to the kingof Parfum Palace. To pay off my debts to him" The man's voice shook, in many way's Ryan recognized. The vagrant could see the use of a river, and if this creature refused to move it would cause a serious problem in very little time.
The Pokeflute, a musical instrument that can wake anything, had been sold by it's owner to pay his taxes. The driveway to the building where it now resided was longer than Camphrier Town itself. Large trees hung their long branches over the road, creating a long green hallway, walled by large and well maintained hedges. The gate sitting at the end of this road was grand and gold, a glimmering light in the darkness of the passage leading to it. The guard standing beside the gate snapped his head back up and eyes open, struggling to keep them there as he lent on the wall at the side of the massive gold structure. Ryan's appearance, in his long and tattered trench coat, was an amusing contrast to this short man in well pressed black and gold clothes. The man yawned, mumbling something about the great Parfum Palace serving as a museum or something or other. "Need to talk to the man in charge" Ryan said, looking at the windows of the grand castle behind the shimmering bars. Without missing a beat, the guard requested the entrance fee, one thousand dollars. "Two questions. First, how much do you get paid?" Ryan hadn't turned his head away from the castle, watching as the robin that had been following him this far glided around the parapets before swooping back toward him. The guard's reply was something meager, little more than a grocery packer in Ryan's experience. "Second, does the entry fee cover your medical care?" Shauna was shocked at what she was hearing, and appalled at her compatriot when the gates swung open at the guard's button press. Holding out his arm in front of him, Ryan was not surprised at the significantly heavier weight of the red eagle now perched upon him. As the lass beside him began to express her distaste, Ryan cut her off. "Stay here. Annwn, keep her outside." The little Braixen saluted the tall man, edging close and taking Shauna's hand in it's own.
As the large wooden doors swung shut loudly behind him, Ryan was greeted by a frightened and quite portly older gentleman who rounded the corner to him. At first shuddering at the simple sight of Ryan, the man began to beg him. He pleaded to the tall man for help. "What's wrong" Ryan's eyes furrowed, hands on the man's shoulders as he looked around. The terrified man cried out, explaining how horribly worried he was, he could not find his precious Furfrou, a breed of canine Pokemon. With an eyebrow raised, Ryan looked into the man's eyes. "Are you the owner of this place?" The man nodded, pressing his head into Ryan's recently cleaned shirt to wipe his tears away. Leaning to the right on one foot, Ryan could see out the window and into the huge acreage this man would call his back yard. A small white canine with a large fluffy tail and blink collar was bounding through the grass. Turning the man around forcefully he pointed out the window. "That your dog?" He sighed, the short man's muscles relaxed and he smiled. With a sigh of relief, the man regained his composure and subsequently ordered Ryan to retrieve the animal. "It's a dog" He snarled back. "In your backyard" the man was startled to be shoved by this unnamed guest. "Where he belongs!" The wide eyed expression was different this time, not fear but shock. How could someone be so indignant? How could someone- When Ryan roared his distaste, the man stumbled backwards over his feet, running through the courtyard door and out toward the canine.
After the man rounded the corner out of sight, Ryan approached the small display case marked 'PokeFlute'. Smashing the glass, he drew the flute from it's display, dropping it and a spoon that had been laying in the case, into his pocket. Though there was a significant amount of blood, Ryan didn't care, the cuts weren't deep. Hiding his cut hand behind his back he stepped back out the entrance. Shauna immediately asked what happened, Annwn releasing her hand with a wave of Ryan's good hand. "A little difference of world view. I just didn't want the people in there to associate us and form an unjust opinion of you" He smile courteously, even bowing slightly. The slightly narrowed eyes told him she didn't buy it. "Go on in, it's really very nice in there, you'll like it." He smiled, waving as she entered the large building with her three Pokemon tagging after her. As the tall man marched down the road back toward Camphrier, the lowering sun set a golden glow upon the east wall of the alley, Ryan watching as his shadow walked ahead on it, looking around nervously. His arm had slowly stopped bleeding, much due to the help of the small ape, who'se hands ran across the scars when told "Gimme Heat". One thing great about training Pokemon with similar abilities, many can learn simply by the example of others. Arriving at the bridge, the vagrant shook his head as he watched the young boy, also called Ryan, tossing pokeball after pokeball at the huge creature. "That won't work" He yelled, noticing the young lady standing near him shaking her head. Serena sighed, whispering that she'd been telling him that. "Pokemon with enough bulk have to be physically injured and psychologically drained before the pokeball can even begin to process them."
It was only when the young man commented on it that Serena noticed. Before he knew it, Ryan was being grabbed at by the arms of three Pokemon and one young woman. Annwn and the ape attempted to pull the assailants off, but backed off at Ryan's order. "What happened?" Serena growled, gripping Ryan by his collar and staring up into his eyes. "Where is Shauna and what happened to your arm?" She shook him slightly. "Tell me!" The tall man smiled, gently prying her hands off his collar with his unblemished arm. He explained that the wounds have nothing to do with her, but that Shauna was likely happily enjoying Parfum Palace. Withdrawing her Pokemon, Serena jogged off up the road to the 'museum'.