Living in the woods wasn't all that bad. Especially near the towns, where the surrounding pokemon are weaker, and an ekans like Selena could survive with little fear of predators. There were downsides naturally. Staying out of the sight of the Guild was difficult, and the area's Apex more or less let explorers do what they wished. Selena has been roughed up by Explorers wanting to "send a message" to local predators. The message was clear, no collars. As long as the town's citizens were left alone, it was peaceful.
Selena sighed, of course she would rather be a townsmon, with a collar of her own, a bed, but her "applications" tended to get lost. After all, if they were rejected Selena could get the application reviewed by the Guildmaster and that was just too much paperwork. Sighing, Selena lay on her log, enjoying the sunbeams that filtered through the trees. She let her mind leave the uncomfortable topic, and moved on to what to do for dinner. It was too late to head towards the mystery dungeon, she preferred to sleep in her favorite tree hollow closer to town and she couldn't reliably find it in the dark. So she would need to grab a talking pokemon, which sucked since they were a lot smarter than the Non-talkers that inhabited dungeons. Maybe she would get lucky and find a notamon this close to town. Worse comes to worse she can go hungry, wouldn't be the first time. Slowly Selena let her mind drift from any coherent thought and into a blissful nap.

That is until a paw slammed into her sleeping head as a yelp sprang from the pokemon that stepped on her. Shooting herself up to maximum height, she found the culprit sprawled on the ground. A riolu, perhaps a third of her length, maybe half. As he was face first in the dirt with legs propped up against the log she was draped upon, it was hard to tell.

Selena chuckled, "That solves dinner,"

Quickly wrapping her coils around the pup she prepared to end her prey's life when she saw it. A red collar around the riolu's neck. Selena's stomach growled but she wasn't about to run afoul of the guild. Bad form to eat your potential neighbors. That didn't mean she couldn't teach this jerk a lesson. Ensuring the riolu was well trapped, she turned his face to her's.

"What is wrong with you!" She hissed in the young mon's face.

The riolu, for his part, was either slow, or brave. He calmly looked at Selena and smiled, "Sorry about that, I was in a hurry. It won't happen again."

Selena narrowed her eyes, it seemed the boy thought he was protected by his collar. He was, but he shouldn't assume that. A lesser pokemon would have killed him and left the area. Selena leaned in close, "I don't accept your apology,"

That dropped the riolu's smile, "Oh…" Selena gave a squeeze, and the boy continued. "I'm really sorry, I promise to look where I'm going."

"Why should I let you go, why give you the chance? I can guarantee you won't do it again pretty easily." Her threat was empty, but he didn't know that. Perhaps she can keep this kid from getting himself killed by giving him a taste of fear, and maybe she wanted payback. Her face hurt, a lot.

The riolu's eyes widened a bit, but he remained calm, "I can make it up to you! Get you food."

Selena tilted her head, "That so?" Perhaps dinner can be saved after all, and town food at that. She loosened her coils enough that the riolu could get out if he wished. "I'm listening."

To her surprise the boy stayed where he was "I can catch some mon real easy. Give me until sunset." Selena blinked, seriously? So much for spiced meat.

"You? Can hunt? You're a child. A townie child at that. Where did you learn to hunt?" Selena's amusement almost distracted her from the fact that the kid bruised her face.

The boy pouts, "It's not hunting, it's catching. It's different, and I can do it."

Selena slowly nods, "Fine, but if you can't, I'd better never see you in these woods again, or you're lunch, collar or no collar. Deal?"

The riolu had the audacity to smile at her, "Deal." he reached out a paw to Selena's face. She looked at it for a bit. "You're supposed to shake it." he clarified.

Selena, not really wanting to put the kid's grubby paws in her mouth, opted to wrap the tip of her tail around the offered paw. The boy shook it once and hopped out of her coils, "Here, follow me."

He ran off into the forest, away from the village. Selena stared for a good second before sighing, "This kid's going to kill himself isn't he?" She asked no one in particular. She caught the riolu's scent and followed.

In a few minutes, Selena found the pup. She stared in sheer confusion as he tied a bent sapling to the ground with some vines he got from who knows where. She silently observed as he set up a seemingly delicate knot that looped wide over the ground, set in place with twigs. He slowly backed away then pulled grass, seeds, and fallen leaves over the loop. Smiling proudly he looked her way, "Give it till sunset and something will be here tied up and waiting for you."

Selena nodded, skeptical. "Sure kid." She looked over the now slightly camouflaged… thing, and asked, "So what is this exactly?"

"A snare trap. When something walks by it will jostle the knot loose and let that tree swing back up, catching whatever sets it off and restraining it." He answered, beaming like any of those words made a lick of sense. Selena held back yet another sigh. The kid was slow then.

"Alright, great work. You should head back to town now. I'll wait here and"

"You can't do that, nothing will come here if you're just standing over it. We need to be elsewhere." He explained. "Preferably far enough that the wind won't carry our scent."

Riiiiight. Selena nods her head, "Ok, sure. In that case, let's head back to town and we can get you home before"

"Actually, can you help me with something?" The riolu asked.

Selena stares at him. Is he making a joke? The look on his face says otherwise. The audacity is almost respectable. "Why in Arceus' name would I help you?"

"Cause you're nice and have nowhere better to be?" He answered in that hopeful tone. This kid.

"No, kids like you can't be out in the woods like this. Pokemon much less kind will kill you out here." Selena denied him. She was done with the charade at this point. Also where did he get that she was 'nice'?

"But you're a kid too, you can't be older than me." He argued. Selena stiffened, what the hell? How'd he know that?

"Oh yeah? How old are you?" Selena asked, she would just lie and say she had seen 16 winters or so.

"11 ye- winters old." he stumbled through that answer, clearly a bit embarrassed about his age. A real 'big boy' type. "And you're about the same, maybe a year younger."

The lie died on her tongue immediately. Sputtering, Selena somehow managed to ask, "How could you possibly know that?"

The riolu tapped the side of his head, "You're aura, it's underdeveloped like mine is."

Selena stars uncomprehendingly. What the heck is Aura? The question must have been obvious on her face because the boy quickly elaborated. "It's like a life force, it develops as we get older. It also shows emotion, intent, and can hint at general personality. It's why I know you're not going to eat me if my snare fails."

Selena just gapes, open mouthed, at the absurdity of that explanation. What kind of Tuaros crap is that? He gets the next best thing to mind reading while I can inject piss poor venom into things? Where's the fairness in that? Selena slowly composed herself, biting back her indignant feelings. She better cycle to something better than an ekans in her next life. Sighing, she finally asked, "If I help you with this, will you be back in town by sunset?"

The riolu nodded, a big grin on his face. "Yup."

He didn't even wait for my agreement before jumping to his request. This kid. "So I'm looking for a specific area of forest. A large boulder that a tree has grown over. A place called 'Aspen meet'. I'm trying to get there to check out a hunch."

Selena scoffed, "Aspen meet?" Why the heck is this kid trying to find the place the guild meets the local Apex. "Aspen's the forest's Apex Predator. That sounds like where the guild meets with him when discussions happen."

The riolu's eyes light up, "You know where it is?"

"Yes,"

"Score!" he cheered, "Let's"

A rush of leaves and frantic squeaking are heard just a short ways away. Having walked a little aways during their talk, the pair quickly head back to the snare, finding a rattata hanging by a leg furiously trying to swing to the sapling. The moment he sees Selena the struggling stops.

The rattata groans, "Seriously? I just mated!"

Selena gapes once more at the snare. It actually worked. She looked back at the riolu, finding a very smug expression on his face. A tingling down her spine sent a worried thought through her head. 'Who the hell is this kid?'

"Come on, you don't have to eat me. There are others, I'll point them over here and you can grab two of them. I don't even taste very good!" The rattata begs.

Selena sighs, "Peace be with you on the cycle,"

At least she got her dinner.