"And…there," Dib said, sitting back and looking up in pride at the tent he'd set up. "Now we have a base of operations."

The tent was big enough for just two people…or perhaps one person and a not-too-large Pokémon. Dib turned to his partner Pokémon, Absol, who had been stalking through the clearing while he'd worked on the tent. "What do you think?"

Absol paced over, carefully sniffing the tent over, even poking his head inside the flap. Once he'd finished his inspection, he approached Dib and bumped his head against his shoulder. Dib grinned, reaching up to scratch his partner behind his horn, his hand practically disappearing underneath thick white fur.

"Now that it's ready, we should scout out the area!" Dib said. Currently, they were standing in a clearing on a forested mountainside. Dib was specifically interested in the clearing filled with meteors that wasn't far off…specifically in what strange or unusual Pokémon might be attracted to those meteors.

He started hiking through the forest, Absol following along behind him. However, at one point Absol paused, staring up at the slope of the mountain for several seconds…before snorting and trotting to catch up with his human.

It didn't take long for them to make it to the clearing of meteors Dib was interested in. He would have loved to set his tent right here in the middle of it…but a few of the guards stationed around had refused to let him. This was considered a research site in the end, after all, even if trainers were allowed to roam and few scientists were around at the moment.

They were also very insistent he couldn't move his tent any closer, that it needed to stay in a more 'stable' area near the campgrounds. He'd still set the tent as close to the trail as he could without someone coming along and forcing him to move it, though.

Dib looked over all the meteors, taking photos and even a few shards when no one was looking, but eventually turned and headed back to his tent. After all, he was certain the most interesting phenomena would happen at night…something he expressed to Absol, on top of his surprise (and some frustration) that no one had tried watching out for it yet.

On their way back to the tent, a light drizzle started. Absol huffed, shaking his fur, and Dib walked a little more quickly, the two ducking into the tent before the rain could get any worse.

"It'll probably stop after sunset," Dib said, glancing outside before sitting down on his sleeping bag. "And once that happens, we can head to the clearing again! If the guards are still there at that point, we can probably sneak around them…but they'll probably have headed home."

He rummaged through his backpack, pulling out a sandwich for himself and berries for Absol…along with a notebook. There he'd noted some of his theories and hopes—ones that perhaps the meteors were connected with Deoxys. Or that, since tonight would be a full moon, some Clefairy might show up, furthering his idea that the species could have originated from space.

All of these ideas he shared with Absol as they ate their dinner and waited out the rain, Dib even settling his sleeping bag to get a bit of rest before their investigation.

Absol laid at his side, listening to the rain.

The rain picked up in intensity for a few minutes…and then slowly came to a stop. Hearing this, Dib sat up in bed, noting the beams of moonlight creeping in through cracks in the tent flap. A wide grin spread over his face, and he moved to get up.

As soon as he did so, Absol bolted upright onto his paws. Dib didn't think much of it…until his own Pokémon tackled him, knocking him back onto the ground. "Oof!" Dib grunted. "Absol!"

With a loud snort, Absol flopped down on top of Dib's torso…effectively pinning him down. "Wha…Absol, c'mon, get off me!" Dib said, trying to push off his rather heavy Pokémon. "We're going to go exploring!"

Absol ignored his pushing…in fact, it seemed like he pressed even more of his weight down onto Dib, much to his frustration. "Absol, off!" he said, trying to sound as commanding as possible.

His Pokémon eyed him for several long seconds…and let out a snort, a sort of chuffing sound, folding his front paws together on top of Dib's chest. He laid his head down on them, closing his eyes and looking all but ready to take a nap.

"It's not even raining anymore, it'll be fine!" Dib said, still trying to push the heavier Pokémon off of himself.

Absol still refused to budge, which wasn't…completely like him. Sure, there had been times he'd popped out of his Pokéball on his own to bark at people, or when he would try to push Dib in specific directions, but he'd usually stand down whenever Dib told him to. This particular sort of stubbornness was new.

Dib tried for another few minutes to push Absol off, or to roll over and knock him off, but nothing worked. He even tried to reach for his discarded belt with all his Pokéballs, including Absol's…but it was just barely out of his reach, even when he stretched his arm as far as he could.

"Whatever," Dib grumbled, flopping to the ground, limbs splayed out. He was still resolved to wait out his Pokémon, at which point he'd go out on his investigation.

It wasn't long after that that Dib ended up falling asleep.

And perhaps an hour after that, there was a quiet rumbling off in the distance. Dib didn't stir, but Absol lifted his head, tilting it slightly. After a few more moments, he carefully rolled off of his trainer and curled up against his side, wrapping his forelegs around him without waking him.

It was the chirping of bird Pokémon that woke Dib up in the morning. As soon as he opened his eyes and realized the sun was up, he groaned, his head dropping back onto the ground. There went his chance to check out the clearing at night. Even if he could go the next night, the moon wouldn't be full anymore…extremely unlikely for any Clefairy to show up.

He sighed and sat up…at least he could do that now, without a giant canine Pokémon crushing him to the ground. He glanced at Absol, still curled up and asleep next to him, and shot a scowl in his direction.

His stomach rumbled, and he rooted around in his bag for a breakfast bar. The noise made Absol wake up, and he began to stare pleadingly at Dib.

Though he was annoyed, Dib wasn't a monster, so of course he rolled a berry over to him. Absol gingerly held the berry between his two front paws as he bit into it. Dib sighed and flipped through his notes again. Maybe he'd still be able to find something like footprints if he took a carefully look at the clearing again…

Once Absol had finished his berry, he pushed his head into Dib's bag, rummaging around before pulling out Dib's small toiletries kit out between his teeth. With a soft snort, he dropped it in Dib's lap.

"Yeah, yeah, I got it," Dib said. Once he'd finished off his breakfast, he brushed his teeth and combed his hair. When Absol started pawing at his bag again, he sighed and changed his clothes, as well.

The little reminders weren't bad, but if he'd lost a chance to investigate just because his partner wanted him to sleep…he grimaced, pulling on his trenchcoat. He fiddled with Absol's Pokéball, debating recalling him…

But deciding against it. He liked having Absol at his side, and it wasn't like Absol was trying to stop him right now. He pushed open the tent flat and stepped outside, Absol following behind him, sniffing at the air.

Ready for the day, and for investigation, Dib headed down the same path they'd taken yesterday. However, they didn't make it very far before he came to a sudden stop…staring at the destruction in front of him.

The path he would've taken to the meteor field was covered with several feet of thick mud that hadn't been there the day before. A glance at the mountain told him that it was thanks to a mudslide…and it looked like even a few older trees had been felled during it.

"This…did this happen last night?" Dib questioned, staring at it.

And then, he thought of what might have happened it he'd gotten caught in the mudslide. His blood froze even considering it.

The only reason he wasn't outside when this happened was…he gasped, slowly turning to Absol. The Disaster Pokémon stood close at his side, staring intently at the destruction in front of them. Dib knelt down, wrapped both arms around Absol's neck and hugging him tightly, burying his face into his fur. "Sorry," he mumbled. "You sensed this was about to happen, weren't you?"

Absol, of course, couldn't respond…though he did nuzzle Dib back. Dib sighed, tightening his grip around his Pokémon. "Thank you," he said, "For looking after me."

Another nuzzle from Absol…and him licking Dib's cheek. Dib laughed, pulling back. "Stop it, that tickles!" he complained good-naturedly. Absol snorted, bumping his head against Dib's shoulder, and Dib let go and stood up.

"…think we could get through this?" Dib asked. Absol growled softly, fur bristling. "Yeah, good point. Let's see if we can find another way around." And maybe he'd try to catch some ground-types in the future in case something like this happened again…

With that, he turned and headed back to the tent, where Dib would look over a map to find the quickest (but still safe, hopefully) path to the meteors.