The immediate breaking-up of the group as everyone walked into the forest caught Shinsuke off-guard. While everyone else seemed to know exactly what they were going to do and seemingly had a plan in mind, he was left standing awkwardly along the path towards the bridge. Their younger guide had said something about battling, and though he knew that was how the whole system worked, Shinsuke found himself unable to follow the two girls who had already broken away. Instead, he opted to silently walk along the path; he had had enough chaos for now, and this breath of fresh air would (hopefully) do him some good.

As he continued walking along, the sights and sounds of nature seemed to come to life for him. THIS was what he envisioned his journey to be; not a continuous slaughterfest and struggles between man and nature, but one of some semblance of peace that he could only dream of back at home. It was nowhere near the mood of his room, filled to the brim with documentation, but this was a [i]different[/i] sort of peace.

"I can see why so many people love traveling like this..." Shinsuke mused to himself as Hanzo casually hopped off of his shoulder and started to walk alongside him instead. The din of the other Trainers seemed to disappear as Shinsuke finally found himself wandering off the main path and past the trees that had been lining it, instead being replaced by the cries and chirps of Pokemon abound. It was new; not necessarily exciting, but it was new.

Though many of the cries were unfamiliar to Shinsuke, there were a few Pokemon that he recognized as he continued on through the trees. The occasional growl of a Poochyena or the mewling of a Skitty made their way to is ears, which comforted him somewhat. His mother had always liked keeping one of the latter at home, if only for its appearance. He really couldn't understand the appeal of how they looked but... Well, to each their own.

A few more minutes of treading among the forest later, Shinsuke found himself at a small brook, clean water flowing through it and down towards lower ground. As he stepped forward and motioned Hanzo to check it out with him, Shinsuke felt something land on his head. It wasn't a branch or anything- No, rather, this felt like a bird or something. Cautiously reaching for whatever was on him with both hands, Shinsuke was surprised to find that [i]whatever[/i] it was, it felt like... A pillow?

"...Wait a second..." Shinsuke said before slowly reaching for his Pokedex and taking it out before aiming it right above his head. The description that he read soon after came as no surprise; these things were all over the place back home... Well, mainly on the other side of the region, but still.

"A Swablu, huh?" he asked himself, walking to the brook and taking a seat nearby before carefully plucking the Pokemon off of his head and placing in in front of him. The Swablu simply cocked its head in curiosity as he did so, making no suggestion as to if it was hostile or not. Well, from what he had read in the description, these things didn't exactly fear humans... No, rather, they seemed to do silly things like [i]that[/i] more than anything else. As Hanzo finally made his way over to the brook, Shinsuke and the Swablu found themselves staring at one another, waiting for the other side to make a move. It was strange, sure, but it was [i]intriguing[/i] more than anything else.

After what seemed to be an eternity for both sides (though in actuality, it was nothing more than a few minutes), Shinsuke finally began to speak, in what was his attempt at communication.

"Do you want to join us?"

It was a simple question, but Shinsuke's point seemed to get to the little Swablu as it turned to face Hanzo, a playful expression on the former's face. Seemed it was time for a fight.

"...I guess that's how this works, right?" Shinsuke sighed, motioning towards the Swablu as is this was some rehearsed play of some sort. "Hanzo: Bubble, Bubble, Pound. Use the trees to your advantage; don't let up."

The words came out of his mouth like clockwork, and Hanzo followed accordingly, slipping between the trees and occasionally scaling them or diving behind them to get out of the way of the Swablu's constant attempts to Peck and attacking the Swablu from its blind spots. The constant hit-and-run was, of course, a bit underhanded, but this was a battlefield, after all. Only a few minutes of this back-and-forth later, and the Swablu was put to near-exhaustion, teetering left and right as it struggled to keep its balance. Now was the time.

With a flick of his hand, Shinsuke tossed a Pokeball at the little Pokemon, the ball shaking left and right as the Swablu struggled to make its way out. Sadly, that too was in vain, and Shinsuke found himself with a new party member. But before anything else, he needed to treat its wounds. Sending out the Swablu next to the brook, Shinsuke opened his Pokedex to check over the stats of the Cotton Bird as it attempted to recover..

Aas the Swablu carefully preened its feathers next to the water, washing away all the dirt and grime it had accumulated from the battle, Shinsuke read the Pokedex's documentation out loud, just as he had done with his texts back home. "Let's see... Female. Normal and Flying. Knows Peck and Growl. Ability is Natural Cure..."

As he rattled off the stats that popped up on the Pokedex, Shinsuke found himself remembering that he needed to name the Swablu. Right. Well, this was always the hardest part about it all.

"Erm... How does the name 'Kumie' sound?" he asked the Swablu tentatively, waiting for a response. What he got was a simple nod, which he could only assume it was okay with. Well, that was simple.

"Alright, Kumie it is. It's a pleasure to have you with us. Now... Which way is the main road?"