Two Worlds, One Cause

Within Jurupa forest, among the varied greens of the trees and grass, a lone Xero stands out among the colors, a basket hooked around her elbow, a book in one paw, and a recently acquired mushroom in the other. The light brown and white Xero scrutinizes a photo in the book, then the mushroom in her paw, then back to the book. A few moments more pass before she's satisfied, and closes the pages.

“Yup, this is the right one.” Roxi nods her head slightly, and deposits the mushroom into her basket, softly falling against the many others she’s already collected. Koronoks have a particular draw to these mushrooms, though it’s not their main food source, making it the perfect ingredient for bait balls. After learning of the plight of these poor creatures, Roxi refused to sit idly by while she had the resources and knowledge to assist the laboratory in their efforts. 

The bushy-tailed Xero had been assigned to the Aberion team, allowing Xeros and volunteers of the same region to stick together, or meet others from that same region. Instead of sorting information, it was her turn to gather things to help the other Rangers who were setting traps, perfectly suiting her with her knowledge of plants. While she wasn't too well versed in tracking, she had been teamed up with another Xero of Aberion, one with a keen eye for the finest details of fauna. 

A white and blue Xero quietly slipped out of the bushes, a small notebook and pencil sticking out of his pouch, and his camera around his neck. By the looks of it, he had taken a fair number of photos to document the patterns of the threatened species. 

“Roxi, I have finished gathering observations on the Koronoks in the area. It seems that they pass through this part of the forest quite often. I have documented higher amounts of fur, droppings and prints than other areas we have surveyed.” He informed her. 

“Thanks, Julian! That info should go a long way in setting up the traps, and maybe even help the crew determine what’s going on with these little guys. Heck, I’m still keeping my eye out for any fungal growths or an infestation. You remember the fungal outbreak a while back?” Roxi posed the question. 

Julian shook his head slightly. 

“I was not present for the event, but the reports I read are highly detailed. From what I can discern, there was great uncertainty, and it was a highly stressful ordeal for ARC.”

“Hit the nail on the head, Jules.” The bushy-tailed Xero confirmed as she began to pack up the few things she’d brought out with her. 

The ice-themed Xero paused. 

“But we are not constructing anything?” Julian tilted his head to the side. 

“It's another expression, it means you explained or understood something completely right.” Roxi explained kindly. 

“Ah.” Julian made a small noise of understanding, filing this knowledge away for later use. 

While being quite intelligent, Julian took most sayings literally, mostly due to his inexperience of hearing such expressions. 

“Now c’mon, let’s check the nearby traps and then get everything back to HQ. I just really hope someone’s trap has caught something...” Roxi worriedly mentioned to Julian. 

“Agreed.” He nodded, following behind her. 

Julian was quiet and gentle by nature, allowing him to get near some of the jumpiest of creatures. This, combined with his affinity for studying the ways of the beasts of the forest made the white and blue Xero a good candidate for this kind of fieldwork. Similar to Roxi, with his knowledge, he knew that this effort was not something to pass up. 

Meanwhile, in Harbor, with its gentle lighting and colorful cityscape, a third member of this party is hard at work. Within a well organized apartment, another Xero was typing away on his computer, stopping only for a sip of water or tea. 

Despite having a decent amount of science under his belt, and enjoying going out into the field, Tessle knew this was the time to step back and let the real specialists handle the crisis. This did not mean he was going to entirely abstain from this, though. 

The yellow and blue Xero knew that there were others that were quieter, quicker, more experienced, and they had most likely already volunteered to help. 

He inquired about what position his experience would be most useful for. At the moment, it was the organization of collected information on the habitat of the Koronok, both what had been documented, and what was currently being retrieved. 

Some were better organized than others, but it was all in the name of preserving a species, and Tessle was just glad there was something he could do. He refocused his attention on the report, realizing he’d gotten distracted again. 

Giving it another read, the narrative lacked any holes within its paragraphs, signaling that this particular report was completed.

“Alright, there we go! Now, to send this to ARC, and then have some system maintenance time.” He smiled. 

Describing his self-care routine as such was fun to him, as it made the Xero feel like he was looking after some complex machinery. Which, to be fair, he was. As goes the saying, if you do not schedule system maintenance, the system will schedule it for you.

With a few more clicks, the organized information was sent to the inboxes of all concerned parties in ARC, and Tessle lay himself back to unwind. He’d just been stretching in his swivel chair when he got a notification from his computer. Some other Ranger team had returned from the forest with important new data. With only a second of hesitation, Tessle opened the email to look at its contents.

“Oh, this… this is beautiful! They recorded the area, have photographic evidence, they've time stamped it, and they checked the traps. They even included the serial numbers of which ones they checked! I like this team!” The electricity themed Xero decided, happily looking over the information from Roxi and Julian. 

“Maybe when this comes to an end, after the little fellas are on their way back up, I'd love to meet some of these guys.” Tessle smiled to himself, wondering what these potential friends could be like.