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Description
Qirin raised her pale head, surveying the land that stretched out before her. Twigs poked out of the rolling grass, a few bushes in varying shades dotted the hills as far as she could see. It was so peaceful close to town. It was hard to believe the rest of the world was in various states of decay, destruction and disarray. It would have been harder to believe if she hadn’t come for unpleasant reasons.
She and the other town members had been tasked by the Mayor and other members of the town in a variety of tasks, it seemed they couldn’t catch a break. Just when things had started finally coming back together, when the world wasn’t empty and she was no longer alone, cantering from place to place, looking for signs of life, strange things had started to occur.
Rumors of a ghost, something lurking in the still crumbled and destroyed buildings in town had set everyone on edge. There were tales of howls echoing in the vast fields and hills, waking residents in the middle of the night and driving them to stay in their homes during the day, and fear once again took a hold of them.

Qirin was determined to try combat this whatever was out there, whatever was causing items and, it seemed, even Pokemon to go missing. They had all already lost so much, some of them more than others. Her flames burned brighter as determination filled her mind and body.
Her task for the moment was to search out those missing town members. She only hoped they were just hidden away, not taken or hurt somewhere out there, alone or trapped. But before she could really find out she would have search out clues as to where the villagers may have gone, or for signs they had truly been taken.
She started on the edge of town, or at least among the crumbled ruins of town, of what was not yet re-built. It had been slow going trying to get villagers to move back in, to trust that things wouldn’t be destroyed yet again, despite Mayor Mew’s best efforts to assure them all that the town would be better and stronger now than ever before.

The area around the ruins had already been fairly trampled over by other search parties, the yellowed grass drooping pathetically, small rocks strewn about. Normally there also would have been a fine layer of dust covering the area, but with the searches the surfaces were clear.
Still, the other parties tracks did give her a general idea of where everyone else had decided to go. She decided to follow a pair of tracks that moved in close tandem with one another. Keeping her head down so she could better watch for signs of other tracks she started walking.
After a while the pair of tracks turned into just one track, the other pokemon moving off in a different direction. A quick scan of the area made quick work of why the party may have split. One pair of tracks led directly into a looming forest, the other had turned away from the eerie woods, navigating around the forest, versus going into the unknown.

Qirin hesitated for just a moment before following the tracks that lead into the forest, partly out of curiosity but also because she thought she had seen movement in the swaying branches and bushes ahead. Could there be something, or someone out there?
She willed her flames to burn brighter once more to cast more light on the pall of darkness the forest had quickly surrounded her in. She wasn’t going to give up so easily.

Description
Qirin raised her pale head, surveying the land that stretched out before her. Twigs poked out of the rolling grass, a few bushes in varying shades dotted the hills as far as she could see. It was so peaceful close to town. It was hard to believe the rest of the world was in various states of decay, destruction and disarray. It would have been harder to believe if she hadn’t come for unpleasant reasons.
She and the other town members had been tasked by the Mayor and other members of the town in a variety of tasks, it seemed they couldn’t catch a break. Just when things had started finally coming back together, when the world wasn’t empty and she was no longer alone, cantering from place to place, looking for signs of life, strange things had started to occur.
Rumors of a ghost, something lurking in the still crumbled and destroyed buildings in town had set everyone on edge. There were tales of howls echoing in the vast fields and hills, waking residents in the middle of the night and driving them to stay in their homes during the day, and fear once again took a hold of them.

Qirin was determined to try combat this whatever was out there, whatever was causing items and, it seemed, even Pokemon to go missing. They had all already lost so much, some of them more than others. Her flames burned brighter as determination filled her mind and body.
Her task for the moment was to search out those missing town members. She only hoped they were just hidden away, not taken or hurt somewhere out there, alone or trapped. But before she could really find out she would have search out clues as to where the villagers may have gone, or for signs they had truly been taken.
She started on the edge of town, or at least among the crumbled ruins of town, of what was not yet re-built. It had been slow going trying to get villagers to move back in, to trust that things wouldn’t be destroyed yet again, despite Mayor Mew’s best efforts to assure them all that the town would be better and stronger now than ever before.

The area around the ruins had already been fairly trampled over by other search parties, the yellowed grass drooping pathetically, small rocks strewn about. Normally there also would have been a fine layer of dust covering the area, but with the searches the surfaces were clear.
Still, the other parties tracks did give her a general idea of where everyone else had decided to go. She decided to follow a pair of tracks that moved in close tandem with one another. Keeping her head down so she could better watch for signs of other tracks she started walking.
After a while the pair of tracks turned into just one track, the other pokemon moving off in a different direction. A quick scan of the area made quick work of why the party may have split. One pair of tracks led directly into a looming forest, the other had turned away from the eerie woods, navigating around the forest, versus going into the unknown.

Qirin hesitated for just a moment before following the tracks that lead into the forest, partly out of curiosity but also because she thought she had seen movement in the swaying branches and bushes ahead. Could there be something, or someone out there?
She willed her flames to burn brighter once more to cast more light on the pall of darkness the forest had quickly surrounded her in. She wasn’t going to give up so easily.