The road looked simple enough from things. A simple stroll towards a forest that definitely recalled shades of Pinwheel that hit a little too close to home for Robyn. Sure, she had fond enough memories of Pinwheel Forest but she wasn't so sure that her travelling companion would be willing to go back to the kind of place that resulted in chunks of leaves being permanently lost. For the moment though, Nina seemed to be all right, bobbing her head as a slight breeze glided through the fields coming from the direction of the gently flowing river. "All right, Nina. I know you rock, but we gotta get you some help girl. Let's see if we can't find a new partner out here in the plains."

"Lillil!"

"OK, let's see what you got for me field..."

ONE HOUR LATER...

"Nothing! Nothing after all that!" Robyn slumped down onto a little hill a little faster than she should have, resulting in a protest twinge from her ailing knee. "Ahhh...damn it..."

The walk across the expanse of the Route had been a fruitless one for the young Castelian. Every time she thought she spotted a Pokemon that would have been ripe for capturing, it would get away. It would either fly away or it would run away, and Nina wouldn't be able to catch them, and Robyn certainly wasn't in the state to chase them. It was frustrating, and now they were coming up to the imposing Verdan Forest. Trees blocked off the pathway in front of them. Everyone else who had started out from Regala with the pair were heard in the background, celebrating likely captures or generally not being miserable. Robyn tried her best to remain upbeat about the situation, but it was tough to deal with. There wasn't even any kind of battle so Nina could get in some fights to warm up a bit. Not that the Petilil seemed to mind. She was still waving and bobbing her head to her own mystical music, hanging a little close to the trees lining the forest.

"Nina, be careful there hun! Don't go off into the forest!"

"Lil! Petilil."

Robyn didn't know if Petilil could roll their eyes but it sure sounded like Nina did. Guess she's not as worried about the forest as I thought. That's kinda good, I guess. Means she might be all right in there. She reclined back on the hill, resting her head on her hands as the blades of grass tickled her skin. Freaking Pokemon all over the place in Castelia and I finally get my shots at catching them all and I can't even get anything. This is so bogus. Fine. You know what? I don't need anything here. Me and Nina will go kick ass at the water gym and move on. We'll be unstoppable. She can totally do it by herself.

"LILLLLLLLLL!" "Nyanyaaaaa!"

"What the hell?" Robyn quickly sat up and looked over to where she thought Nina was and saw the tiny Grass-type moving as fast as her stubby little nubs would carry her. A pink blur was chasing after Nina, closing quickly from the direction of the forest, before leaping up and landing on top of the Petilil, pinning her to the ground as the Pokemon looked rather pleased with itself.

"Nyaaaaaaaa!~"

"Is that...all right. All right! Finally someone comes to us! I like it!" Nina didn't share Robyn's sentiments as she was struggling to get up from underneath the quadrupedal Pokemon. "Nina, c'mon girl! First battle with a wild Pokemon! You gotta put up more fight then that!"

Nina did her best to pop free from the paws of the Pokemon and after a few seconds she finally succeeded. She turned to face her attacker rather ticked off about the whole chasing situation. "Lillll! Peti! Lil!"

Her opponent however seemingly had no interest in fighting. Instead, out of the corner of it's seemingly closed eye, it noticed that while Nina had stopped the moving, its tail did not, and that was much more enticing. The Pokemon started running around in a circle, chasing it's own tail before spinning and collapsing, tail on it's forehead.

"I...what?" Robyn was a bit confused. Was that a Tail Whip or something? Guess it had to be. "Nina! Hit it with an Absorb while it's down!"

"Lilllll! Nina began to glow. From the two leaves on the side of its head, a red beam emerged and struck the chaser head on, sapping a fair amount of strength from the sounds of things. "Nyaaahaaaah!" It slumped onto the ground, unable to put it's tail back in place atop it's head.

"Good enough for me!" Robyn reached into the pocket of her hoodie to produce an empty Pokeball and tossed it at the downed creature. A red light emerged as it struck the forehead and sucked it in, barely wiggling twice before giving an audible click.

Robyn got up and walked over to the resting ball, Nina bounding over looking for some comfort following it's brief experience as a cat toy, but Robyn was interested in picking up her first capture as a trainer. "All right! That wasn't so hard..." Nina was rubbing up against her leg now. "You did a great job, Nina!" She bent down gingerly, grabbing the Grass-type and nestling her with the Pokeball in her arms.

"Petipetilil!" Nina seemed proud of herself as well for beating back the tormentor.

Robyn looked down at the Pokeball still in her hand. Dunno what I just got, but whatever. A capture's a capture.

Ezra could only lap about the route but so many times before he would feel the need to take a break. He met the entrance to the East Sengun Forest a few times over the course of the hour, and failed to locate Ato anywhere near the entrance. Brie had tapped out some three laps prior, and took solace in lounging on her trainer's shoulders. The sporty guy had resorted to meandering about the trail in the meantime, taking the time to explore a little more of the locale while playing around on his Pokédex.

It was an efficient piece of technology, effortlessly recording every little Pokémon that would cross his path. Or, it would record it's picture, at least. Ezra couldn't really figure out how the device recorded information until he scrolled past the Oshawott and Azurill entries. "So it seems I have to catch the pokémon first to get their full information...?" He gave brief thought to how that process even worked out. Seemed like some space age stuff to him. "What a time to be alive-"

"LILLLLLLLLL!" A shrill cry emitted somewhere out of sight, but close enough to lurch Ezra and Brie out their collective thoughts. "Huh?" It was definitely a cry he couldn't recognize. Sounded like someone in need of assistance. His legs were bounding towards the location far before he realized it. As he neared, the sounds of a kerfuffle grew louder. ”Nyaaa~!” ”Peti!” “Nina! Absorb!” Sounded like a battle judging by the human voice calling out names and demands. Brie wondered why her trainer was still moving so fast. “Oshawott, shawott wott.” “Just sounds like a regular ol’ battle from here, one of them is even enjoying themselves. Slow down.” She didn’t see the need for urgency. Ezra let up some. “You have a point.”

He came to a stop in a surprisingly open area, a field that wouldn’t be immediately noticed from the tree riddled route leading to the forest. Down a hill leading into the tall grass, it seemed the battle had ended. A lone girl was sitting in the grass, coddling what looked to be a proud green flower bulb. Ezra whipped out his pokedex, and sure enough, the cute green fluffy onion showed up on screen. But, as expected, no name. He felt he might’ve been interrupting something precious, but his curiosity got the better of him, as it always did.

“‘Scuse me,” He greeted. “I just heard some crazy noises coming from over here; felt the need to check it out. But, s’looks like you got everything under control here!” He stretched the fabric of his top, an athletic compression shirt, absentmindedly. “What’s uh, what’s this cutie’s name? Never seen one where i’m from.” He asked, thumbing towards the petite Grass type. Brie wasn’t all that okay with the meeting, a glance towards the mystery ‘mon made her shudder and grip Ezra’s scalp.

“O-oshaa wott? Osha-a-wott wott?!” ”O-okay, you’ve seen what the problem was, right? C-can we go now?!” She pleaded, with a uncomfortable grimace.

"Tor?"

"Well, we've been here about an hour, Jen, and nothing else has shown up. Maybe it's time we round up the others and push forward to the forest. Find a nice Grass-type to join the team for a while."

"Trra. Kest kest!" What? Am I not enough? The newer of Alix's acquisitions flicked his feather-crest as he hopped about. Alix was already beginning to interpret the action as being similar to a human raising their eyebrows.

"Oh, relax, Kestra, you're fine. You just can't handle some types that I know we'll face later down the line." Kestra didn't respond, instead picking at a small clump of grass. Alix, however, stretched and got to her feet. "Okay, team, time to go. Can't sit around on the first route forever." At her words, Jen hopped up and dashed to Alix's boot, chirruping and picking at the laces. She was a cute sight, if a bit of a menace to the knots. Alix picked up the little Fire-type, but sighed all the same.

"Jen, I'm not gonna carry you the whole time. You'll get lazy if you don't run around a bit."

"Tor torchictor?"

"I get it, we're a new partnership, but once you get to be a big strong Combusken you'll be too big to carry."

"Rrr." Jen didn't seem to care. She was making herself comfortable. Alix just ruffled her feathers with her free hand and started off, beckoning to Kestra to follow. The little bird was quick at her heels, occasionally taking flight for short distances a couple of feet above the grass. The grass soon became the road, as Alix led the way further out from the city, towards the bridges spanning the river. She spotted several of the others along the way, waving to them as she passed.

Until she crossed one of the bridges, when she heard the sounds of a battle ahead. Ato, too, was hurrying to investigate, with his Mareep in tow. Alix, the faster of the two, was the first to find Robyn standing there with her Petilil in her arms, and a stranger standing nearby with what appeared to be a Water-type Pokémon of some kind on his shoulders.

"Well then. Looks like you took care of everything," she noted with a smile.

"First battle's always one of the toughest. I'll be at the forest's edge when you guys are ready." Ato excused himself, turning back to the road. He probably just wanted to get the trip with the older Trainers over and done with, Alix mused. Either way, the point that the group should get moving remained.

“‘Scuse me,”

The sudden sound of speech caused Robyn to break out of her basking in the glow of Nina's first win. There was a guy standing there, pretty good looking guy actually, with the tan and the wavy hair and the athletic surfer body and the...everything... Robyn had to shake her head for a second to bring herself back to reality, especially since the mystery man kept talking.

“What’s uh, what’s this cutie’s name? Never seen one where i’m from.”

Nope. Didn't work. "Uh...this is Robyn...I mean...wait...I'm Robyn...This is Nina...Yeah." She held the Petilil up to the man. "Nina."

"Petiiilil!" Nina waved a nub at the man and the Oshawott on his shoulder. Robyn did recognize the little Water Pokemon from the matches she saw at Burgh's. Usually if they were still an Oshawott they were handed a swift defeat or Oshawott would evolve right after.

"Um, yeah, what she said. Totally. Hi." She was feeling a little flustered at how badly she was flubbing this introduction, so Alix and Ato coming along the trail was a welcome reprieve.

"Well then. Looks like you took care of everything."

"Yeah. It's all right. I think Nina's still, like, a bit skittish when it comes to battling other Pokemon. But she did good!" Nina bounced in Robyn's lap upon hearing the praise. "Oh...right..."

She pressed the Pokeball's button and released the newly captured Pokemon back onto the grass. As the white light emerged, the pink and cream colored Normal-type shook it's head while looking around. "Nyanya? Nyaaaa...."

"So yeah, I dunno what I just caught. Never seen it before, but it was chasing Nina. Any you guys got a clue?" Nina was looking down at her supposed teammate, still upset about being treated like a toy, while the Pokemon curled up on the grass after it was satisfied there was nothing to chase.

"Uh...this is Robyn...I mean...wait...I'm Robyn...This is Nina...Yeah."

Ezra couldn't help but crack a toothy grin as the girl fumbled over a introduction. He stifled a few light chuckles through his smile, attempting to keep from looking like some sort of emasculating asshole. But, he couldn't help it. She was too cute. The leafy, fluffy onion she called Nina made noises at the two, and Brie failed to respond. Ezra could interpret the noises as a simple greeting, and Robyn seemed to confirm it.

Soon the area filled in with two other inhabitants, one being the young, familiar faced Ato. Ezra looked on as the three conversed, making some thoughtful observations about the girl Robyn addressed. "Tall...hime cut..." As he surveyed the female, his face began to twist into a guise of surprising realization. Ato being in the scene practically confirmed Ezra's suspicions.

As the three trainers tried to figure out what the pink kitty could've been called, Ezra's mouth slowly grew into an excited, gaping, gasping maw. "Ohhhhhh! You're the girls Ato told me about!" He interrupted with a clap. "Missing a lab coat though..." He mumbled a absentminded comment on one of the descriptions the assistant made. There might've been some characters of the ensemble missing from the scene.

"Which one of y'all's from Unova? Heard a lot of awesome stuff about that place." He asked, barely holding in his excitement. Said excitement got him so caught up in the moment, he almost bypassed his own introduction. "Oh, uh, I'm Ezra, of the house descendant Daly." He reflexively twisted the pendant on his necklace as he announced himself. "I'm a representative the River's Flow Dojo in Mistriver. And this is Brie." He gestured towards the Oshawott, who was wondering why he hadn't moved on down the road by now.

Shinsuke sat down in contemplation next to the brook as he took a look around himself. The forest seemed to all blend together to him, which made it difficult to figure out where to go and which way was... Well, the road, for one. It was a tad silly for him to walk this far without any way out, admittedly, and even moreso to just lose himself in the wilderness like he did.

"Hm... Maybe an aerial view might do me some good...?" he muttered to himself as Kumie situated itself comfortably on his head. Right. Well, now was as good a time as ever to see how well formerly-wild Pokemon could understand the human language. Carefully taking the Swablu off of his head, Shinsuke sighed and looked it straight in the eyes.

"Fly into the sky with Hanzo and see if you can find a road nearby." he stated plainly, placing Kumie on the ground for Hanzo's convenience. The former nodded as it had before, which Shinsuke interpreted as a sign of understanding, as Hanzo climbed on. Though the little Swablu seemed to struggle momentarily, it didn't take long for both of the Pokemon to be completely airborne. It didn't take long, though, for the Swablu's strength to finally give out and bring the both of them plummeting back to the ground. Barely managing to catch the both of them before their faces met the dirt below them, Shinsuke sighed and shook his head. Well, he should've seen that one coming.

"Well... Did you two see anything?" he asked, placing the two Pokemon on the ground. Kumie and Hanzo both seemed to nod, which was, clearly, a good sign.

"Alright; if you would, then."

With that statement, Hanzo climbed his way onto Shinsuke's right shoulder and pointed off to the side. Nodding, Shinsuke brushed himself off as Kumie perched itself on his left before walking off and following Hanzo's directions.

It didn't take long after that; the forest's density began to thin considerably after a few minutes, and a little while later the trio found themselves back on the main road to Mystriver. Convenient enough.

"Good job, you two. I'll get you something later." Shinsuke said, slipping his hands into his coat as he began to walk back down the road towards the bridges mentioned by that young assistant from earlier. Well, it was certainly better than wandering about the region aimlessly...

"Which one of y'all's from Unova? Heard a lot of awesome stuff about that place."

Hearing her hometown fully absolved Robyn from of her trance...mostly... "Oh, yeah, it's definitely awesome. You should totally go some time. Hit up Castelia when you get there, it's not got the arenas that Nimbasa's got but the shows are awesome. You sound like you'd be the kind of guy who dig it, Ezra." She was finally coming back down from the clouds. Ezra? All the names in the world and they couldn't think of one better than Ezra?

Nina was still staring wearily at her new teammate, while the pink ball of fluffy was curled up using it's own tail as a pillow. Robyn looked over at the other two. "So...did I basically just catch a ditz? This Pokemon chases it's own tail and sleeps. I dunno how useful it's gonna be..."

"Which one of y'all's from Unova? Heard a lot of awesome stuff about that place... Oh, uh, I'm Ezra, of the house descendant Daly. I'm a representative of the River's Flow Dojo in Mystriver. And this is Brie."

"Alix Pearce, of Eyria. I suppose you could say I represent the Feather Dance Dojo, if we're discussing where we trained," Alix introduced herself to the newcomer. "Oh, and these are Jen and... well, I haven't thought of a name for Kestra yet." Both Pokémon looked up as they were mentioned, but remained quiet for now.

At Robyn's question, asking about her new catch, Alix took a moment to examine the sleeping pink Pokémon at the feet of the Unova girl. She wasn't sure what it was, but it seemed vaguely catlike. That explained the sleeping habits. "Can't say I have an answer for you there, Robyn. Though the Pokédex probably has information on it." Kestra hopped a little closer, observing the dozy creature, but Alix recalled the little bird into his Poké Ball in case a scuffle broke out.

"I'm set to catch up with Ato when you guys are ready."

---

- Several Minutes Later -

---

It wasn't long until Shinsuke and Evie each caught up with everyone else at the forest's edge, and the Trainers all moved on as a group, following Ato until the road split into two paths. The most prominent of the two was a straight and clear path through the woods, dotted with the occasional Trainer rustling through the thick grass that was covering a good portion of the road.

The second path, however, was far more interesting to Alix, as it led away deeper into the forest. Maybe there were rarer finds in the tangle of trees, vines, and grass. Alix's musing was interrupted, however, as a man in an orange and black outfit - a Pokémon Ranger - approached the group.

"Excuse me, Trainers, but I noticed your differing styles of clothing and choices of Pokémon," the Ranger began.

"Easy there, Lief. They're new to the area, on their way through to Verdan," Ato chipped in before the others could speak.

"Ah, Ato. Good to see you again. But I digress." Lief looked past Ato to the others. "I can help you find the more unusual landmarks in the forest, if you wish to know more about them. There are two in particular: the standing stones, where Eevee and Chromera tend to gather, and the Togepi Garden. Though the Garden is best left to one or two people at a time, just in case the Togetic and Togekiss become too disturbed and seal off their home."

Ato turned to the older, but less experienced, group of five. "Well, it's like he says. You can take a trip to one of the landmarks, or you can head off to go looking for Pokémon on your own. Just like before, I'll be on the open road if you need me for anything."

Shinsuke, for the most part, spent his walk alongside the group in silent contemplation, an attempt to muse over how he would tackle the next obstacle that would inevitable come rolling his way. Of course, given his current status as a fledgling Trainer, he had the idea that it was probably better to strengthen what he had right now over adding any new members to his team. After all, their journey would probably be a long one, so there wasn't really an issue with that line of thinking. It was logical enough, after all.

How inconvenient, then, it was that the chance for catching rarer Pokemon came up. Well, he was by no means dissatisfied by Kumie's existence, but now, of all times...

Letting out a sigh, Shinsuke shook his head and turned to the the two- Ato and Lief- with a slight tinge of dissatisfaction on his face.

"Though I'd normally be curious as to the specifics of these locations, I'd personally like to strengthen my team a bit more before anything else." he stated, looking at the rest of the group with an aside glance. "Is there any location where I can accomplish that without causing the local wildlife to swarm me like macrophages after a bacterium?"

It took him a moment, though, to realize that his metaphor was probably as strange as they came, so he opted to rephrase the statement.

"Er... I guess a less obscure description would be 'up to my neck in them', but..."

Well. That was... Awkward.

Ezra did a little musing of his own as the group proceeded down the road. The day may've just begun for the boy, but it was already proving its eventfulness. "Choice! Didn't think I would run into another Warrior type on this journey, let alone be in a travelling party with one! She could make for a great sparring partner! Daily sparring, while on the road...? It would be like, the ultimate way to stay in shape!" He let the thought trail off there, seemed like he was getting ahead of himself. Least he could do was ask Alix for permission to spar first.

But, before he could make his intentions known, his gaze wandered past the two other individuals walking with the group. Didn't seem like either of the two were readying up some formal introductions, but judging by the boy's lab coat and glasses, Ezra knew he was along for the journey. The other girl, however, didn't match up with any of Ato's descriptions. A real cute shortstack of a girl, adorned in attire Ezra could only describe as "punky". She seemed an interesting enough of a character just at face value alone, but he hadn't managed to hear her talk yet.

Before he could introduce himself to the two, the group approached a fork in the road, hosted by Ato and a local Pokemon Ranger. As the two described each of the roads presented to our travelling troupe, Ezra could barely contain his answer. "Welp, I know which way I wanna go!" He added, practically already approaching the path less paved. "It looks fun, honestly." He added, simply. And, it sounded like a chance to chat with some of the rarer types of the area's fauna, which also sounded awesome to him.

"I'd personally like to strengthen my team a bit more before anything else. Is there any location where I can accomplish that without causing the local wildlife to swarm me like macrophages after a bacterium? ... Er... I guess a less obscure description would be 'up to my neck in them', but..."

Lief just chuckled. "You don't want to get swarmed. That's fair. You could try your luck against a Trainer or two on the main road, rather than take the path deeper into the woods. Might be a bit of a challenge, but it'll be good for building up your Pokémon. Any other questions? Takers for the sightseeing?"

"Welp, I know which way I wanna go!" The new guy, Ezra, cut in at this point, taking a couple of steps toward the path away from the open road. Alix was inclined to take the same path, in the interest of being up to her ears in Grass Pokémon. There had to be something here that she could coax out of hiding, even with a Fire-type comfortable in her arms.

Evie checked her pockets, then mumbled something about leaving something back on the road out of Regala, and dashed off in a hurry. Alix raised an eyebrow - how do you forget something so soon? - but said nothing, instead moving to stand with Ezra. With that, the four remaining Trainers seemed split up easily enough: or at least, that was how Ato and Lief saw it. "All right, you guys seem to be set on your paths. Give a yell if you need me for anything... and don't stray too far from the path, you two." This last comment was directed at Alix and Ezra, though the former just smiled and led the way.

The winding path peeled away from the main road almost instantly, leading into thick patches of grass and the occasional clearing. Alix headed straight into the grass, rustling through several patches and coming up empty-handed save for the occasional Caterpie or Sewaddle. And the Bug Pokémon just ran away as soon as she got closer. Alix didn't mind that - much like Dark-types avoided her for her Fighting specialty, Bug-types left her alone because she was also a Flying specialist - but she wanted to find something that she could train up properly.

"Maybe the proper Grass-types are further away from the path?" she mused aloud, getting a chirp from Jen in response as she pondered the thought. "There can't be just the Bugs in here..."

---

Back on the main road, Ato craned his neck to see if he could see anyone further along the road. "Hmm... well, I can see a couple of people around. Don't let me keep you, though, you guys have at 'em." Sure enough, the main road through the forest was playing host to several Trainers. Some were battling each other, others poking around in the short grass where it overran the well-worn trail.

The forest didn't look as imposing as it probably should have given the massive amounts of underbrush and lack of light patches filtering into the trees ahead outside of the designated path. Looked very similar to Pinwheel Forest from what Robyn remembered of the treks across the bridge. Of course Pinwheel didn't have stones or gardens or anything fun like that. It was just dark. Everyone else in the group seemed to be set to tackle the woods with gusto, Ezra headed off down the path immediately. Alix slowly followed along the same path while the other kid kind of hung back.

Robyn, she was a bit undecided on what she really wanted to do. I probably should go looking for more Pokemon... She looked down at the still snoozing pink puffball, taking out her Pokedex to try and get some information on it. The beep recognized the species, finally giving Robyn something to call her catch other than puffball. "Skitty, huh?"

Skitty finally recognized her new trainer and awoke from her slumber, gazing up at the human. ".....Nyaaaa?"

Robyn nodded. "Well at least you have that down. Let's see. Looking pretty basic for a Pokemon. Tackle, Tail Whip...Fake Out? That's interesting."

Skitty didn't seem to care as much for the strategic thoughts of her trainer, giving Robyn a confused look. "Nyaaaaaa?" Suddenly, Skitty's ears twitched. The Kitten Pokemon darted forward on the trail that led towards the standing stones, leaving Robyn staring at the Pokedex until she looked up to see the fleeting glimpse of a pronged tail.

"Skitty? ...Damn it. Freaking ADD Pokemon..." Robyn chased after the figment of tail that she thought she could spot. She quickly lost the trail though. When it wanted to, Skitty could scoot a lot faster than a one-legged woman. Eventually though there was rustling up ahead. "Skitty?"

As Robyn rounded the bend she could see the Normal-type grabbing onto the tail of a young purple Pokemon, writhing around in an attempt to lose the hanger-on like a celebrity heading into a VIP room. It wasn't having much luck. There were scratch marks on it's head from where it looked like Skitty had Tackled it.

"What the..." Robyn reached into her pocket and produced a Pokeball. "Well, might as well not let it go to waste..." She took aim as Skitty's opponent appeared to be tiring, losing the will to force the Kitten Pokemon off it's back. "Ekanssssssss...." Yeah this sucker's worn out. A quick toss of the ball and a couple shakes locked the Pokemon in place.

Skitty seemed disappointed having lost it's play thing. It padded over to the ball but couldn't get a paw on it before Robyn picked it up. Skitty looked up at her trainer. "Nya nya?"

Robyn shook her head. "No Skitty, it's not a play thing." Shaking her head didn't help her figure out where Skitty had led her. "Well, now what? Looks like we're lost in here..." Robyn slowly continued on the path, Nina cradled in her arm as Skitty followed.

Ezra was quick to rush off into the brush, bounding off of boulders and swinging from low hanging branches. "Hey, you keeping up back there, B?" He asked his Oshawott, who could was having a little problem staying beside him, but was still managing to keep up the rear.

“O Shaa!” ”Naturally!” She replied, trying her best to sound casual. He slowed to a stop to accommodate her. He had a quote in mind as he stroked at her fur. "I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out until sundown. For going out, I learned, was really going in." For several reasons, this little saying confused the little Oshawott.

“O...osha? Otto shawott.” ”...Huh? You weren't even walking though, you were running.” She replied, causing her trainer to chuckle. "It was just something my grandfather used to say when we would go out for morning training. You just reminded me of my younger self, just then. Come to think of it, it's probably why I like being outside so much." He thought back to moments in his youth, about the hiking trips they would venture out on, or all the new pokémon they would meet. Then he thought about sparring again, and realized that Alix also walking the same trail he was. She was just moving at a much slower pace than he was. He waited a second for the sporty girl to get closer.

"So there was something I was wanting to get off my chest," He began. "Have you had any plans for what you would be doing for sparring while on the road? Any sort of regimen or anything? I'm used to having human partners when I spar/work out. As much as I trust Brie here, i'm sure she couldn't spot me." He added with a chuckle.

"Hmm... nothing. Maybe there's something back over the other way... also need to consider team balancing in the long run," Alix mused to herself as she rustled through the grass. "What do we know is around these parts? Well, the obvious choice is Birchling 'cause they're pretty much exclusive to the eastern forest... but at the same time I don't think I want another Fighting-type later down the line. Already at a disadvantage against Psychic-types. So that's a no-go, plus Shroomish is out. Maybe the decision would be easier if I found something a bit more often..."

"So there was something I was wanting to get off my chest... Have you had any plans for what you would be doing for sparring while on the road? Any sort of regimen or anything? I'm used to having human partners when I spar/work out. As much as I trust Brie here, i'm sure she couldn't spot me."

"Huh?" Preoccupied, Alix hadn't noticed Ezra until just now. "Oh. Hmm. Sparring... well, it's a possibility, I suppose. No promises right now, though. My plan was just to practice my sets of techniques at the end of each day, make sure I keep up with a somewhat regular routine. And I'm sure we'll face off against other Warriors at some point. Maybe before we reach Mystriver, if we're lucky."

"Hopefully!" Ezra replied, crossing his arms. "Heh, maybe we could compare techniques one day. S'always fun to learn something new, right?" He replied.

"Rrr..." Jen shot a concerned glance at Brie, tightening her grip on Alix's arm. She took the hint. "Maybe. Though I don't think Jen's all that keen on the idea. I should get back to looking for something to battle." Giving Ezra a short wave, she headed off down another path.

Alix pushed through a particularly thick patch of grass to its other side, where she found a small clearing. A few Berry trees were scattered about the place, with several Pokémon clustered at each one. As she approached the clearing's edge, a green and white Birchling looked up, gave a short cry of alarm, and dashed away to the clearing's edge with a half-eaten Berry in one hand. The rest began to scatter, running away in all directions. "Pikaa!" A flash of yellow streaked past Alix, unbalancing her as she tried to dodge to one side. She tripped over a particularly large root, and fell in a heap; Jen leaped from her arms in the nick of time.

"Agh... there's the disadvantage of being a Trainer," she groaned, struggling to her feet under the weight of her backpack. "Can't roll when you trip over, make it look like you meant to do that." She brushed loose dirt from her gloves and forearms. "You okay, Jen?"

"Tor." Jen just picked at a feather, casual as could be. Alix chuckled, but looked around all the same to see if everything in the area had vanished completely. Most of them had, until she spotted a green and brown head poking out from the trees, reaching down to pluck from one of the Berry plants on the far side.

"Is that...? Need a closer look. Stay close, Jen." Careful not to disturb the plants, Alix cautiously moved into the middle of the clearing. Sure enough, her guess was correct. A Tropius. And a tall one, about the size of a full-grown adult. Maybe slightly shorter. The Pokémon looked up as Alix and Jen approached, but didn't retreat, instead chewing thoughtfully. It seemed to have no issues with her presence.

"Hello?"

"Tro." Hello. A response rather unlike that of Alix's Kestra, who had instantly jumped to the conclusion that she wanted to battle him. The thought of catching the Grass-Flying Pokémon wasn't a bad one. If nothing else, it had the type advantage over the first Gym. And since Jen almost definitely wouldn't be able to handle it...

"When you're finished with your snack, may we battle?" Tropius paused, sizing up Alix and the diminutive Jen, then swallowed its Berry and stepped forward into the open. Alix hastily moved backwards, Jen following close behind.

Tropius kicked up a small pile of fallen leaves with one foot, and flapped its massive leaf-wings to hurl them at Alix and Jen. The Trainer shielded her face with one arm, but quickly retaliated with a command to her Torchic. "Go for the Ember, Jen!" The little Fire-type spat up a tiny fireball, sending it flying at the much larger opponent. Tropius recoiled, giving a low growl as the fire splashed across its body. It raised its wings a second time and began to stir up a gust of wind.

"Again!" Jen fired off another little blast of flame, but the Tropius gave one large sweep of its wings and slowed it down, dealing a glancing hit. Jen wasn't so lucky: the Gust that it threw at her sent her tumbling into Alix's leg. Half her feathers were sticking up the wrong way; it was rather cute, but there was no time to be cute in the middle of a battle.

"Let's see how he handles your Speed Boost. Duck under his next attack, then give him one more Ember." Sure enough, Tropius hurled another volley of leaves, but Jen dashed to the side - leaving Alix to be peppered with leaves - and spat up a third fireball, hitting the side of the six-foot-tall Pokémon.

Alix dug through her satchel for a Poké Ball, and tossed it. Tropius wasn't a particularly difficult target to miss. One, two, three... click. Perfect. "Well done, Jen. Got a good helper for the Mystriver Gym." Her Pokédex chimed again, having collected data on her new catch. She pulled out the Dex and read the latest entry. "Hmm... Leer, Gust, Growth, Razor Leaf... ability is Chlorophyll?" She tapped the touchscreen. "Ah, it uses photosynthesis to produce sugar, giving it a boost in sunshine. Well, that's useful. Just need a name for him now... found in a Berry grove... Bailey? That's kinda like Berry."

"Chic chic." With the battle over, Jen had immediately ruffled her feathers and was picking at them again, settling them back into place. Alix stowed her Pokédex and her new catch, picked up her fussy charge and headed out of the grove, pausing to pick a trio of Oran Berries on the way.

Ezra looked on as Alix retreated to another part of the thick. "Huh. She seems pretty focused..." He mentioned with a shrug. But it looked to be for a good reason. As the ranger mentioned, this part of the forest was positively teeming with wildlife. Most were off to their own devices, bouncing through the trees or skittering past Ezra's feet. There were some, however, quite aware of the tall human inhabiting their space, with a little water-type who was pretty out of place. Eager to get the drop on the oblivious trainer, a Pokémon resembling a massive acorn dropped from its perch in the trees, easily startling him and Brie.

"OH SHA!""Holy geez!" The Oshawott exclaimed, reflexively reaching for her scalchop as she stumbled backwards. Ezra on the other hand, was more curious than anything. "Heyyy, you're a Seedot..." He mused, kneeling down to get a closer look. Naturally, the Seedot replied by throwing itself into the boy's chest, knocking him on his butt. "Dottototodot!""You look pretty strong! Let's fight!" The acorn replied, confident in his abilities. Ezra was quick to his feet, giving a glance towards Brie. Brie, in turn, immediately shook her head. She knew she was at a disadvantage here. "Yeah, you're right." He replied.

Then, the little Seedot charged at Ezra again. Brie Looked for protection behind one of Ezra's legs. "Hold on, short stuff." What tension gained from such a rush, was comically ended as Ezra put his foot up and ended the overactive acorn's assault. "Seedottotototodotto!""C'mon man, fight me! Fight fight fight!" It squealed, kicking up dust as Ezra's foot kept it running in place. "I have a better idea." The Seeedot suddenly seemed intrigued. "I'm taking on the league challenge, and i'll be going to Mystriver soon. Wanna come with me? I promise you'll get all the fighting you can handle." Ezra gave the Seedot a promising offer, one it didn't really want to turn down. "Seedot?""Really? You promise?" Ezra grinned and kneeled back down. "Sure! I even got one of these for ya." As he talked, he brandished a pokeball.

"Just touch your face to the button right there, and it's all yours." The Seedot was eager to comply, and immediately a red beam engulfed it. Ezra gave a silent three count before the capture device clicked. "Welcome to the team, buddy." He stood up straight, accomplished in catching a new teammate. "Guess I gotta give you a name at some point, huh?" He brought out his Pokédex, continuing through the brush as he looked up the new entry.