#shuttersnap

To the initial irritation of some of his friends, Todd is no stranger to following Pokemon-- and any humans they might be with-- in order to get the shots he needs. He is not familiar, however, with the sensation of being followed in turn; it’s taken him a while to notice that one particular stranger seems to keep showing up wherever he goes, and longer still to realize that that’s due to more than just coincidence.

Curiosity has completely overtaken him, and after taking a few (subtle) pictures of his tail, Todd finally decides to confront them. He’s not mad-- it’d be rather hypocritical of him to be-- but he does want to find out what about him has caught this person’s attention.

“Hey,” he says, waving as he approaches the figure. Their large black cloak catches his eye immediately, but when he gets close enough to notice more about the person themself, including the way their ears extend deep into the shadows of their hood, he’s surprised to realize that he’s never seen anyone quite like them before. They must be from some other world... that’s so cool!

she is so absorbed in the scene below her ( it reminded her of the clocktower, how high she was and how small everything else seemed, how insignificant ) that she doesn’t notice that she’s joined by someone until she hears the CLICK of a camera. it startles her out of her reverie and she instinctively covers her face, forgetting momentarily that she not only doesn’t have one at the moment but that she’s also wearing a full face mask.

❝ ah, sorry! ❞ she says after a moment, realizing that the camera was not pointed at her at all, but rather at a nearby creature that she can’t name. ❝ force of habit... ! ❞ she bows slightly in apology. eager to avert the attention from her blunder, she stammers, ❝ do you, uh, usually take photos of creatures? ❞

“I’ve got big news,” he explains, his Pokemon Report already in hand. He's a little out of breath from booking it to Barry’s so soon after editing and printing, but he seems too full of energy to care. Even the sight of the other man’s lab coat and the brief thought that he might have interrupted something important isn’t enough to slow Todd down; his friend will want to see this, he’s sure of it. It’s the culmination of his report, the sort of startling, magnificent find that just can’t wait.

“There’s a Pokemon here that’s really, really rare. I captured it once before, but honestly, I never thought I’d see it again after that-- I can’t believe it’s just been hanging out in the city!”

He lays out the photo binder, flipping to a new section filled with photographs of a light pink creature with large, bright blue eyes. The creature floats effortlessly in the air, framed by a soft sunset glow that appears almost ethereal where it touches the Pokemon.

Todd half-glances up for a moment as Barry settles in beside him to take a look. The white flash of his friend’s coat and the familiar, triumphant feeling of returning to the lab with the sort of photo that no one else has ever gotten before-- that no one else could ever get-- makes nostalgia settle heavy and warm in his chest.

“So what do you think, Professor?”

“That’s right! I’d show you my main portfolio, but the only thing I have from home is my camera.” He’s started a new collection here, though, and pulls a small red photo album from his bag.

“Here are the ones I’ve saved-- I haven’t gotten to explore much yet, but the forest has been a great place to start!”

Todd sets the album down on the table, facing Barry, and watches him flip through. There’s quite a variety of species represented in his photographs, including birds (mid-flight, pecking at the ground, preening), a fox (one paw raised, ears pricked and alert), and a trio of pixies (caught giggling and pointing at the camera). Todd doesn’t seem any more surprised by or interested in the pixies than he does by or in the common spiders and beetles that fill the last page of shots.

“Can you tell me anything about these?”

He’s missed having the NEO-ONE for travel in otherwise-inaccessible environments, but Todd has to admit that it’s nice to be working on foot again, too. Freedom of movement means a lot, especially in unexplored areas, and today he’s taking full advantage of it here in the forest to follow a strange and ethereal melody drifting through the trees.

It takes him a few minutes of picking his way over thick underbrush and tangled roots to locate the source of the sound, but there’s no mistaking it once he does; the figure in the clearing is unlike any he’s seen before.

Out of all the creatures he’s observed in these woods so far, this one seems somehow the most familiar-- it’s obviously intelligent, and there’s a sense of power about it that sets it apart from the other Pokemon-like creatures that make the forest their own. This place as a whole is so new and so different that it’s difficult to tell at first glance whether this is an undiscovered Pokemon, or something for which Todd has no name.

He’s on his knees in an instant to set up a shot of the being, and winces as a twig snaps under his weight. It’s not the end of the world if this creature sees him-- and it sure seems as though that’s the case, now that the strange figure’s head has tilted ever-so-slightly in his direction-- but he had hoped to get a few pictures in before he was noticed.