Erika held her breath again as she watched the Pokeball shake once, twice... thrice. Click "Whew..." Erika sighed as she allowed herself to gently fall back onto her butt, sitting for a moment now that one of the more intense encounters she had was over. Inkay was very close to hitting Erika with some type of an attack and more importantly, her teammate, Chic, was really hurt from that encounter. Erika glanced over and found Chic looking back already, as if expecting another command but Erika knew what she had to do. "Oh Chic, girl, you did great! Come here!" Erika patted on her lap and much to Chic's delight, she came hurrying over. "Torchic!" She exclaimed as she found a spot on Erika's lap and nestled up to Erika's torso.
As the two of them took a moment, Erika heard the miner from earlier speak. Cooling down now, she couldn't really blame any of the miners for not warning her earlier. She should have been careful. "Thanks but I couldn't have done it without this Chic-ity here!" Erika replied, scratching Chic's warm feathers for a moment. "I should have been careful, too. It is, after all, a wild Pokemon."
Erika allowed the two of them a few more minutes to take a break and while idly scratching Chic's feathers, she wondered about Inkay. She had never honestly seen one before and really had no idea about the Pokemon. Maybe once she finishes here, she should give the Professor a call to ask about her team? It might help. Also for potential pointers? Maybe.
"Alright, Chic, you okay if we continue with a bit more mining? We will take a nice long, deserved back after. Promise." Chic, encouraged but tired, nodded and was ready to continue.
So they continued. Erika chiseled away with a pickax as Chic used Ember. Eventually they found a green gem, which Erika wasn't sure what it was but it looked nice. She planned on getting it appraised later. However she still wasn't done, finding the strength to carry on and continue mining.
Anyway, it is good to know that Inkay packs a punch. Now Time to continue mining. Erika and Chic could probably mine the big stone and I had thought once or twice more because of the exact same reason.
Edit: Also just realized that Chic has Blaze. Which if she would have used ember again (something I was thinking), she would have likely KO'd Inkay. x.x Thank goodness I went straight for the Pokeball.
..Aaaaandd... I decided to have a bit of fun with Inkay. Make her an initial challenge to train and battle with since I don't want it too easy with Foul Play. Kay's personality will be fun to develop. Also got around to Chic's personality which I kind of stumbled upon.
As Chic was battling away, Erika made her way over to her bag and quickly withdrew a blank Pokeball. After a particularly nasty looking hit on poor Chic, Erika was ready to throw her Pokeball but not quite. "Come on Chic, hang in there!" Erika instinctively heard herself encourage her teammate. Noticing the advantage of Inkay being within range, Erika played to her strategy. "Use scratch quick!" Chic shook her head in an attempt of shrugging off the latest attack but still pressed on. She charged and leapt, wildly flailing her footed-claws to scratch Inkay. Now was as good as time as any, Erika aimed and threw her pokeball at the Inkay.
Erika held her breath for one, two... darn. Inkay had managed to break free and a quick glance over to her teammate revealed she was not doing too well, not enough to handle another hit for sure or so Erika's trained instinct told her. Inkay didn't look too well either and maybe she should try another Pokeball? She had plenty.. well ok, four left. That was enough. Erika dug into her bag again and tossed another blank Pokeball....
Of course this guy knew and naturally, was looking to see where it took him. Hiyori was anticipating that and her expression lightened a little. She leaned back and crossed her arms, keeping her tone a bit hushed. "Yea. You aren't the only one. I heard that shit awhile ago, just after... Well, that doesn't matter. Don't have any idea what it means but here I am, wandering around like some asshole trying to find the stupid thing."
There were some reservations that Hiyori still possessed about this man and about the bell. Mainly she didn't want to exactly disclose she was someone from the underbelly of society. Even if this bell promised something greater, Hiyori's reputation could certainly still be leveraged against her. There were also some doubts that she had about revealing the particularly strange episode of her blasting that guy into the wall of her apartment. That wasn't natural and if anything could be garnered from movies or manga, it was that the hero always played their cards close to the chest if they were smart.
As a sort of counter demonstration, the piece of shit customer who had ordered a shit load of food and thus delayed Hiyori's meal likely, was boasting loudly about some stupid shit. It was easy to hear her comment about the very thing Hiyori and this guy were talking about. "Eavesdropping asshole..." Hiyori muttered just loud enough for lunch companion to hear as he, no doubt, also heard. Of course Hiyori didn't take the other woman's words at face value, believing fully that she was just throwing a sarcastic taunt at them.
Hiyori would be entirely content on letting the woman leave without further thought but her dining companion might say something otherwise. Regardless, her attention would turn from the conversation and focus on something in the restaurant. No other patrons and an incompetent waitress retrieving some common snack food, left Hiyori to focus in on the TV. As some talking heads were offering their opinion on some bullshit news, the camera cut them off and instead focused on someone else. A man with a very solemn expression on his face was mouthing some words as the TV was muted. Hiyori's attention naturally shifted down to the headline. Terror Attack in Maybell Oregon ...
What the fuck? Hiyori's expression seethed into something tense. Why was this going on right now and why the hell did Hiyori believe that this place sounded familiar? She had never been to Oregon in her life and now, all of a sudden, she has an attachment to this town? Fuck. It has to be the bell. Considering all the coincidences up to this point, this was some narrative that was all tied together. "Shit."