PSR: The Arrival

The sun burned high, directly overhead. Not that they could see it through the dense canopy of trees this deep along the forest trail, but…hike long enough, and one gets a feel for these things.

The piplup paused to wipe the sweat from his brow. The midday heat didn’t bother Trip, him being a fire-type an’ all, but it was starting to grind on Pip’s nerves. “Oy, brother,” he called, “just how much farther is this fabulous summer destination of ours?”

A few paces ahead, Trip paused, pulling a battered regional map from his back pocket and consulting it against their compass. “Not much,” he declared, “We’re almost there.”

“Almost where?” Pip persisted, tugging the map away from his twin.

“The ‘X’, of course,” Trip pointed.

“Which is?”

“Our fabulous summer destination, of course,” the torchic grinned.

Pip rolled his eyes. It was a game they played - one of them would pick a preferable vacation destination than Vince Jumpluff’s Happy Acres Ranch, the working farm to which St. Jenny’s sent all its foundlings the day after classes ended. Really, he supposed the nuns had their best interests in mind – it got them out of the sweltering heat and bustle of the city, surrounding them instead with miles and miles of clean air and open space and enough chores to keep everyone so busy they actually looked forward to the start of school in the Fall and the relative ease of homework. But there was only so much of that a mon could take, and by now Pip and Trip’s infamous summer escapes were notorious, despite the measures taken to prevent them.

Still, having worked odd jobs most of the spring to earn enough money for the various bus, train, and ferries required for this year’s travel, the piplup was rather curious as to just where it was they were going. Especially given the past few days’ trek on foot. If his brother thought cross-country backpacking was on Pip’s list of fun summer activities, the mon had something else coming. “Could you at least give me a hint as to what it is?”

“Nah. Why break with tradition?”

“Better be worth hoofin’ it through the wilderness,” Pip muttered.

“Hey, we’re on a legitimate pedestrian trail,” his brother said defensively.

“Any particular reason we couldn’t’ve just taken a cab?”

“You remember what Sister Mary Catherine said about the next time we’re caught sneaking outta camp?”

“…No.”

Trip smirked. “Me neither, and I’d rather not find out the hard way. Sister Agnes treated us like condemned men for a solid week when she heard about it, and you know hard it is to rattle that chansey. So, we fall off the grid for a while, and leave as little a trail as possible.”

“Oughta last us at least ‘til Tuesday,” Pip mused. Then he paused. “Hey, there’s a break in the trees up ahead.”

“See? We’re here already.”

The two peered out of the bushes, into the well-manicured grounds of the Poke Star Rangers Camp. Registration was in full swing, with students arriving by the bus- and carloads, bidding farewell to parents, and mingling around in small groups as they searched for prospective friends or familiar faces.

“It’s a camp,” Pip said, unimpressed.

“A space camp,” his brother clarified.

“I was hoping for a beach. Cool water, waves, girls in bikinis…I could swim for days.”

“You do swim for days. Last time I had to sit out on the dunes with a bonfire to keep Shore Patrol from trying to go out and rescue you each night.”

Pip ignored him, looking hurt. “You like beaches. Maybe not for the swimming, but there’s always watersports, and fireworks, and bonfires, and girls in bikinis….you usually pick beaches.”

“There was that one time we signed on as volunteer firefighters against all those wildfires,” Trip pointed out.

“And where did we go after that?” Pip countered.

“Ice fishing,” the torchic shivered. “I still have nightmares about that Abomasnow tribe.”

Pip snickered. “The girls were cute, though.”

“You say that about all girls.”

“Only because it’s generally true.”

“They’ve got girls here.”

“…but do they have a pool for them to swim in?”

Trip sighed. Obviously his brother needed a bit more convincing as to this particular camp’s more pertinent points. He fished a battered copy of the camp’s promotional pamphlet, torn from the youth board months ago and hopefully long since forgotten by the Foundlings home, out of a pocket and tossed it to his twin. “Here, read this.”

Nonplussed, the piplup glanced through the faded pamphlet, and was about to flip it back at his brother when he caught sight of a picture tucked into the bottom corner of the back flap. “Oy, Trip. This is-?”

“Camp uniform.”

“Really? Plugsuit an’ formfit an’ everything?”

“Really. Something about a total real-life immersion training experience.”

“…and the girls will be wearing them?”

Trip shrugged. “So it says.”

“These guys are better cons than we are! Let’s go!” Pip exclaimed, leaping from the brush to the pavement with enough enthusiasm to startle a nearby shaymin sprawling back into an equally-startled pack of middle-schoolers. “Hellooooo, Ladies!”

“Pip!” Trip shouted, scrambling after his brother as the piplup dashed towards the mingling teens assembling by the Registration lines, “Wait!”

---

Done for  pokestarrangers's first Event (Opening Day). I'm never certain how the story submissions work here on FA so I'm glad my creativity demons are momentarily obsessed with these two - means I can submit an image AND a story, and cut out all sorts of thinking that might otherwise need to take place ('cuz I'm on vacation, an' cain't be havin' wi' all that).

The twins've been hiking for a while, so Pip's down to swim trunks and Trip's out of his usual cargos, but meh, like it'll really matter once uniforms get doled out. (They're just arriving at the camp right now and uniforms haven't been issued yet, so traveling clothes it is!)

Micron inks on drawing paper, colored in Photoshop.

PSR Background courtesy of  CeeGee http://www.furaffinity.net/view/2549840/
(Thanks for saving me all that work! 'tis my vacation right now an' all, and foresty backgrounds are hard to picture when one is surrounded by sand and mosquitoes...)