An unexpected encounter

‘What ya doing?’ Ikko leaned over Basts shoulder trying to see what they were looking at. ‘Koronok capturing?’ Ikko tilted their head, ‘something wrong with the little cuties?’. Bast didn’t respond and scrolled down a bit. ‘Ranger Corp… hey Bast, didn't you join their volunteer forces several times before?’ She still didn’t answer and Ikko started to get a little annoyed. ‘Hello Arez to Bast are you there?’ Bast looked up and saw Ikko standing over her ‘Oh good morning, how long have you been standing there’ she smiled, turned around and hugged Ikko. ‘You and your animals’ they chuckled, ‘What were you reading, something wrong with the Koronoks in Jurupa?’. Basts expression changed quickly and she looked worried, ‘Something is wrong, the population has been declining for a while and there’s no clear answer’. Ikko nodded, ‘you have to go help out!’ Bast agreed ‘they are looking for volunteers to set out and collect traps, you can join as well if you want every helping hand is useful’. They jumped and wrapped their arms around Bast, ‘we can go together as a team, I love it!’. 

The next day they both travelled to the Jurupa Forest to join the Ranger Corps. They were appointed to an area in the forest where they needed to set up new traps and check on the existing ones, bringing any trap that has a Koronok in it back to base. 

‘Is it dark already or am I going crazy?’ Ikko asked, They just finished the first part of their assigned area and had now entered into a deeper part of the forest. ‘Nah not crazy, it's this part of the woods’. Ikko sat down on a big tree root and rustled through her bag, ‘well my stomach tells me it’s time for some food, can we take a quick break?’ Bast sat down next to Ikko ‘Well okay this is a really nice spot’. The giant trunks of the trees were close together and the space between them was filled with all kinds of flora, some plants grew real low, others creeped up the trunks and some vines dangled down from above. Everything combined with the big leafy tops of the Jurupa Forest trees made it so that little sunlight reached the forest floor, yet in the small clearing Bast and Ikko were sitting the light managed to peak in between all the greenery in beautiful streaks giving the place a both magical and eerie feeling. 

‘Sshhh-’ Ikko looked at Bast who slowly moved her arm and pointed at a small bush opposite to the clearing ‘right there look closely’ she whispered. A small snout appeared from underneath one of the leaves followed by two dark eyes. ‘Is that…’ Bast nodded before Ikko could finish their sentence ‘it is, a Silva Koronok to be precise’. The little Koronok stared at them and tilted their head, little by little it inched closer and bast carefully grabbed a Bearded Cap bait ball from the bag next to them and started breaking it into pieces. The Koronok sniffed the air and looked at the bait ball into Basts hands, ‘you want this huh little guy’. Now moving a bit faster the Koronok came closer and Bast trew a few crumbs in front of them, ‘this one looks quite healthy’ Ikko looked at Bast who nodded their head slowly up and down, ‘yeah, it might have already received a dose of medicine or whatever is making them sick hasn’t affected this one yet’. Ikko smiled as the Koronok got even closer and Bast stuck out a hand with more crumbs to let it eat out of it, ‘go ahead give it a few crumbs, its tongue tickles a bit but its fur is super soft’. Ikko smiled as the Koronok jumped on their lap and started eating out of their paw, ‘it is really soft, what a sweet little baby’. 

The two of them sat at the clearing for a bit longer until the Koronok finally decided it had enough and moved on. After that they finished up their tasks and returned to the home base to report about their findings, but for Ikko meeting the Koronok was surely an experience to remember.