Their surroundings were mainly quiet, leaves rustling in the wind, a chitter of something else unrecognized, unfamiliar. He thought he could hear owl hoots, or rather, Pokemon hoots. An owl Pokemon, he supposed? There were owl Pokemon, he recalled, in the games that he played before, but the name escaped him now. Anyway, it wasn't like they appeared in the spawn list that he pulled up online, so there was little use thinking about it.

Hie sniffed around, but had learned his lesson the last time, and made sure to stay close. At night, he was even more likely to get lost, so Arthur also told Kanya to keep an eye on him. The Floragato had his vines ready in case something would jump out, but for now, everyone was a little on edge, waiting and watching.

<It's kind of chilly tonight, isn't it?>

Eru had been floating above Arthur's shoulder, flapping her wings slightly to stay roughly around the same height. The trainer gave her a furrowed side eye, but then figured that she was just making conversation to lighten the mood (or distract them from being too tense).

❝Are nights always chilly in Birchwood?❞

<Yeah, I guess they are. The leaves are always reddish, not like me.>

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Whenever there was a gap between the trees, Arthur would look up and see starlight. It was a different kind of view compared to the Steppes, even if it was the same generated night sky. However, he could not keep his eyes up for long - there was plenty to be concerned about on the ground, and it felt like there were sometimes when the noises picked up - life suddenly making itself known to the group, surrounding them, potentially watching, potentially ignoring their existence, their interference in their territory.

<I hope we don't face anything like what we fought the first time we met.> Eru muttered.

<Though there's more of...whatever that was still around, right?> Kanya was looking at Arthur, expecting an answer when his trainer had nothing suitable.

❝So it appears.❞ he didn't know what was being done about it, though. At this point it really did seem like a feature of the game rather than a bug (which was what a few conspiracy theorists were suggesting, or something about the "game running away from the devs"), but if the devs hadn't done anything to step in at this point, then it felt more like something that required collaborative effort to be conquered. It was not Arthur's original goal to fight this corruption - he hadn't been formally introduced to it yet, not like the other players probably, but it was something to test his strength on, and it did kind of threaten the whole world (this world).

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Arthur gritted his teeth as they moved away from the low-hanging vines and branches and into somewhere that was a more pleasant walk. The bite drew blood, but it didn't look deep. However, it began to itch painfully, making him wonder if his reduce pain settings were even working (or was this an allergic reaction or something? Could his digital body get reactions?) Thankfully, Eru was out on the field already, and used a healing Fairy Wind to soothe the itchiness. She chided him to be more careful, which felt kind of silly coming from a talking cotton ball, but she had a point; the next bite, if that happened again, could be deadly. Maybe even this one was, but the UI didn't say anything about him being poisoned or something...

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So that was how the party began berry hunting in the evening, under a starry night sky. Arthur ensured to put a marker on his map so that even if there was no clear way to navigate back here, they would at least have a sense of direction on where to go afterward. He also asked Hie to remember the scent if possible, and it would basically put the dog's tracking skills to the test. He wasn't sure if the Poochyena fully understood the instructions, but he seemed eager to please, wagging his tail to and fro.

Thankfully, the nearest berry trees were probably a five minute or so walk from where they were. Arthur didn't know how to climb a tree, so he asked Kanya to cut some down with Magical Leaf. The Floragato looked at him like he was crazy and just told him that he would handle it. From there, the cat effortlessly climbed up the tree and harvested the berries cleanly. Arthur also let his Monferno out to help - he did feel embarrassed that his suggestion could've easily meant that the berry would've been ruined.

The inventory feature allowed him to carry a good amount of blue berries back to the Skwovet, who immediately perked up even before they got really close. He munched messily on a good chunk of them before starting to stuff his cheeks with more, and once they were filled up, the squirrel was happy as it could be, and gave a thumbs up when Arthur showed him the Poke Ball.

Phew, they could finally continue with that damn tower race, thank God.

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