Dewpider leaned away from Archie, its water bubble swaying. Bounsweet urged it to play with Archie, but before Dewpider could react, Archie sped off to aid Tora with the Basculin.
Juana stood up; having lived in Unova for some time, she knew quite well how violent Basculin could be. She started running to the river, but she saw that Tora had managed to get out of the situation all right.
"¡Arceus mio! Are you alright?" Juana asked as Tora came walking back. She exhaled heavily. "Basculin are vicious monsters, what with their teeth and hard bodies... Fishers in Unova were always told to watch for them."
Juana looked at Sirius. "That's a healthy Staryu... well, aside from the missing arm. They grow back, I think."
Bounsweet bounded up to the Staryu. While the red core of the Star Shape Pokémon did not indicate any emotion, Bounsweet still made effort to greet Staryu. It raised its sepals in a sort of greeting.
Dewpider on the other hand stared at the torn stump and shook its head. The rivers were a dangerous place; thankfully Staryu found a trainer who would keep it safe from tearing Basculin jaws or the lashing tongues of vicious Politoed, or the monstrous schools of Wishiwashi that tore apart their enemies like an oncoming cyclone.
Dewpider clearly had a very graphic imagination.
Juana breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, I'm glad that pez chupacabra didn't get you or that starfish," she continued, smiling at Tora. "Especially not with Final Gambit."
Juana sat back down and stroked Bounsweet's stem. Bounsweet enjoyed the touch. "So when do you think we should head out? Unless you'd like to keep chilling here for a bit; it is a nice river."
Juana unwrapped the Rare Candy she purchased, and Bounsweet stared at it intently. Juana was about to accidentally eat it herself (having not read the note that it was not for human consumption), before spotting Bounsweet. "¿Quieres tu, amiga?" she offered. Juana held out the candy to Bounsweet. She fed the candy to the mangosteen Pokémon.
Bounsweet hopped up and down happily, full of energy. Juana's Pokédex buzzed, and she read the notification:
"Bounsweet grew to Level 2!"
"NICE," Juana said, offering a high five to Bounsweet. Bounsweet received the palm with its sepal.
-Bounsweet grew 1 level. -TP: +1 post, +1 HHG bonus. Total: 12 -CP +1 -continued interaction with @Silver Fox's character Tora
"Don't mind if I do," Juana said, taking a rice ball. "Funny story. My parents and I went on a picnic one day and this one group of people were sitting around eating rice balls. One of them very loudly proclaimed, as he was eating the rice ball, that 'nothing beats a jelly filled donut!' Can you imagine?" Juana laughed. "Poor man must've breathed in one too many Koffing fumes."
Corphish, in the meantime, let out a surprised frothing and stepped back, swatting at its face as Archie floofed it. Bounsweet giggled. Corphish swung its claws in indignation, stamping its legs.
Bounsweet and Corphish followed Archie to the food. Corphish was apparently very hungry, as it immediately started scarfing down its food. It paused for a bit, its face looking a bit redder than usual. It opened its mouth and made another frothing noise, before continuing on its meal.
Juana laughed as Corphish paused again. "¿Es muy picante, no?" she teased. Corphish stiffed up a lip and continued eating.
"Looks like Corphish really likes spicy food," Juana said, as the crawdad continued to eat with gusto. "Whatcha got there?"
As Tora produced her own art pad, Juana marveled at each image. "Whoa. Dang, you're really good," Juana remarked. "I just like to sketch whatever fun thing I see. Like the Ledyba on the Gumshoos's face. What kind of paint is that?"
To Juana's surprise, Tora offered her a Poké Ball. She wasn't sure what to do, or if that was legal or anything via league standards, but in the Unova region people gave each other items all the time and never heard anything about it.
Still, though.
"I'll pay you back; I'll buy you another Poké Ball when we get to the next town," Juana replied, gladly taking the capsule. She looked up at the Dewpiders, and one met her eye. It lazily lowered towards the ground and teetered over to her, entranced by the smell of food. However, it looked up at Juana with a bit of apprehension.
"Whoa, hey, nobody's going to hurt you," Juana said to the Dewpider. The bubble of water quivered around the Dewpider's head as it stumbled forward again. Juana picked up a bit of bitter food and held it out to the spider Pokémon. Dewpider narrowed its eyes at the food and stepped back, obviously apprehensive. And yet the food smelled so good...
Corphish butted in and started waving its claws at Dewpider. Dewpider shrank back and zipped behind a rock.
"Corphish, don't spook the spider," Juana chastised. Corphish pinched her nose lightly.
She plucked Corphish off and saw that the Dewpider appeared to be... laughing?
"Likes slapstick, huh?" Juana wondered. She turned towards Corphish and gave it a loud, annoying smooch to the head.
Which landed her another pinch. Corphish scrabbled in Juana's arms, and the Dewpider was rolling about.
Juana sat down next to the Dewpider, and made a funny face to Bounsweet. Bounsweet turned back, then whipped around and made a more ridiculous expression. Dewpider thought this was very funny for some reason.
Man, this Pokémon has low standards, Juana thought facetiously. "See? Nothing to worry about!" Juana said to the Dewpider, holding her arms out. Dewpider stood up straight again and skittered up to Juana, leaning its water bubble in on Juana's hand. Dewpider was very wet, and its water bubble was cool to the touch. It clearly wanted the bitter food.
Dewpider absorbed the food into its bubble, comically reaching for it with its puckered mandible. It finally managed to suck the food into its mouth, and thus it swallowed it whole. Juana patted the spider's water bubble, prompting it to jiggle in an adorable fashion. Dewpider looked up and gave Juana a friendly expression, signaling that it at least acknowledged that Juana was not going to goosh it under a rolled-up newspaper.
"Say, do you want to..." Juana suggested, holding out the Poké Ball. Dewpider walked up to it and sniffed the ball a couple of times. The ball didn't appear to give off any particular pheromones or exide any sort of danger. Nope. The capsule had the Dewpider seal of approval.
Whatever that meant.
Juana took it as a prompt to gently tap the Dewpider over the head, causing the capsule to open up and the spider to disappear into it in a flash of light. One shake. Two shakes. A third. *Click!* The itsy bitsy spider was safely stored in the ball.
Not wanting to coop up the little bug in a capsule unable to look around and explore, Juana popped the capsule back open, and Dewpider appeared on the ground.
"Thanks for the assist, Tora," Juana said. "Looks like I owe you... a couple, first for Corphish, and then for Dewpider, huh?"
Juana scanned Dewpider's data into the Pokédex.
"Dewpider, Water Bubble Pokémon. Bug/Water type. Female.
"It crawls onto the land in search of food. Its water bubble allows it to breathe and protects its soft head. Nature: Careful. Ability: Water Bubble. Takes plenty of siestas. Moves: Bubble, Infestation, Water Sport, Bug Bite."
"Better keep her hydrated," Juana remarked. She pulled a water bottle out of her pack, and walked over to the river with Dewpider, drinking the last of the water in the bottle before dipping the bottle into the river and filling it with fresh river water. She tipped the open bottle to Dewpider, and it replenished its water bubble by sucking the water out of the container, holding it up like a diver's helmet with three of its spindly green legs. Dewpider very much enjoyed having someone who could keep it safe and breathing.
"Got room for one more?" Juana asked Tora, setting Dewpider down.
-TP: Post +1, HHG bonus +1; total = 10 -CP: Post +1 -Captured Dewpider @Balthazar007. Tora offered Juana a Poké Ball, which Juana accepted. -Continued interaction with @Silver Fox's character Tora.
Tomoe looked around; obviously, charging into a crowd of angry dwarves all armed with crossbows offered a high amount of risk. "I don't suppose politely asking to move aside is an option," she said to herself, before spotting a lone Dwarven infatryman with a large, unwieldy axe heading her way. It would be much easier to stamp out one barracuda than escape a swarm of piranhas. Or some other more situationally-fitting analogy.
Dashing back and turning around, Tomoe swung her guard naginata in front of her as the Dwarven infantryman approached. Using her shielded weapon, she parried the blows the infantryman attempted to land on her. The dwarf's broad axe was hefty, and while normally an axe would snap a poled weapon in two, the combination of the awkward weapon and Tomoe's shielding kept the two soldiers head to head. Tomoe did not want to glance backwards, for that would be the end of her. Instead, she shoved the broad side of her naginata into the dwarf with the force of a tipping cart, attempting to knock him down, slash his leg, and pass through to find a clear path to Prince Jarde.
With note that the wyvern rider had acknowledged her arrival, Tomoe pushed forth.
Corphish initially met Tora's expression with a hardy, defiant stare, but conceded when Tora began to soothe its bruises and scratches.
"Phew, glad to know the li'l guy's gonna be okay," Juana remarked, watching intently as Tora treated Corphish to the best of her ability. "You know, a break sounds pretty good after having to deal with pincers all afternoon," Juana added, smiling warmly at Tora.
Corphish scuttled back over to Juana, and Juana picked up the crawdad. "Thanks, Tora," she said, before patting Corphish a couple of times on the head.
Corphish lightly pinched her nose again.
"¡Ay!"
Juana poked Corphish. "Don't do that," she chided playfully.
Soon, Juana had found a nice shady spot (actually, the one where the Gumshoos from earlier had been) and she, Bounsweet, and Corphish settled down. Bounsweet and Corphish eyed each other. Bounsweet closed one eye; Corphish closed one of its own. They tilted in the same direction, turned away, and at the same time whipped back to face each other, both with their tongues hanging out.
Bounsweet lifted its body up, its calyx hiking slightly. Corphish stood up straighter, tilting its pincers upward. Corphish then snapped its pincers and opened its mouth. Bounsweet cranked its stem in response and opened its own mouth.
Bounsweet leaned in and looked at the spot where its Magical Leaf had stuck Corphish's carapace. Corphish leaned back a bit. Corphish examined the dent in Bounsweet's calyx. It wasn't such a big dent; a small divot an inch above where the stem bends. The two Pokémon examined each other, before hopping and scuttling over to Archie.
Corphish paced round and round Archie, before poking the fire Pokémon's fluffy tail.
Juana pulled out her little notebook and a pencil, and looked up.
"Huh. That same Gumshoos was here earlier," Juana remarked, pointing towards the unwavering mongoose standing next to the tree. "Apparently Gumshoos can stand in one place for hours on end waiting for its prey."
She flipped her tiny book open and fingered through the pages, stopping a bit on the sketch of the Ledyba on the Gumshoos's face.
Corphish, in the meantime, was quite curious about the Growlithe's tail. Corphish poked the tail again, giddiliy scuttling left and right.
"I'd say Corphish is feeling at least a little better," Juana said. "The Pokémon seem pretty curious about one another. At the very least, Corphish and Bounsweet aren't at each others' throats like what happened back in the wild!"
There were a couple of Dewpiders hanging above Juana, their protective water bubbles swaying delicately, gently, in the breeze. "Huh. Funny how Dewpider looks kind of like an astronaut," Juana continued, flipping to a new page and sketching one of the Dewpiders. "Should've bought another Poké Ball. I like these guys. Ah well, as long as I'm getting Trainer Points... you know what they say. 'Gotta catch 'em all,' right?" Juana looked up momentarily from her drawing.
-TP: Post +1; HHG bonus +1; total = 8 -CP +1; total = 10 -Continued interaction with @Silver Fox's character Tora
@DusksongOn the subject of S&M, I'm liking it a lot more than the Gen 6 games; a marked improvement of an already awesome series. Pokémon selection is great, and of course I picked my boi Popplio
"Alright! Let's go!" Juana replied chipperly. Bounsweet squeaked in assent.
Juana motioned for Tora to follow, and with a brisk pace walked towards the river once more, cutting across town.
Walking back along the path, Juana spotted that familiar Corphish, who had gotten into a scuffle with a gang of Krabbys, and was outnumbered. Evidently, that Krabby that Corphish was fighting earlier had friends. Who also happened to be quite cantankerous.
Three Krabbys were ganging up on the Corphish, who still had that Magical Leaf stuck in its forehead. Corphish was waving its claws belligerently at the river crabs, but the crabs started pushing the crawdad around. Corphish found itself staggering backwards into the grass, disturbing a Yungoos who gave it an annoyed glance and scampered off.
"Oh dang. Wait here, I'm gonna help that Corphish out," Juana said to Tora, before turning and dashing back to the river. "Alright, Bounsweet: Get those Krabby!"
Bounsweet glared at the crabs and jumped off Juana's shoulder, before loosing a clump of Magical Leaves at the Krabbys. The leaves homed in on the Krabbys and deterred them away from the Corphish.
As Juana ran towards the crawdad Pokémon, Bounsweet flashed a menacing look towards the Krabby gang, twisting its calyx and making a grating "CRK-KR-KR-KR" sound. Meanwhile, Juana picked up the weary Corphish, who was too worn out from battle to resist. Bounsweet gave its calyx one more twist before stumbling back over to Juana, slightly dizzied from spinning so much.
The Krabbys attempted to follow, snapping their pincers, but Bounsweet let loose one more Magical Leaf before bounding towards Juana.
Juana laid the Corphish in the grass and opened her left pouch. She produced a tin of bandages with a Hi Skitty print, and one by one applied them to anything that looked like an incision on the Corphish's body, including the crack Bounsweet had made in its forehead.
Juana then picked up the Corphish and held it in her arms.
Corphish suddenly lashed out and weakly pinched her nose.
"¡AY!" Juana yelped, more in surprise than in pain. She rubbed her nose. She then pulled out her Poké Ball and knocked Corphish on the noggin with the button. The capsule popped open, and Corphish disappeared inside. The ball rocked once, twice, a third time... *Click!*
"What? I think you two would be good for each other," Juana said, amicably looking over to Bounsweet. Bounsweet shrugged. Whatever floats its trainer's boat, it supposed.
Juana checked her Pokédex.
"Corphish, the Ruffian Pokémon.
"Corphish catches prey with its sharp claws. It has no likes or dislikes when it comes to food-it will eat anything. This Pokémon has no trouble living in filthy water," the Pokédex read. "Ability: Hyper Cutter. Nature: Brave. Proud of its power. Moves: Vice Grip, Bubble, Harden, Leer."
"Ruffian Pokémon, eh?" Juana remarked. "That would explain a lot." She shut the Pokédex and pressed the button on the Poké Ball. Corphish popped out on the ground and let out a weak frothing noise.
“Maybe I should carry you,” Juana remarked, picking up Corphish. She shrugged one shoulder, gesturing for Bounsweet to hop on, and hop on Bounsweet did. Corphish and Bounsweet locked eyes, and Bounsweet playfully stuck its tongue out at Corphish.
Corphish proceeded to start thrashing as if it were saying ”FFSSSHGHHFJKGLKSJKJLKFJLKGHLSJLKFJLKJGLKHFLKJLKJGF”, flailing like a child.
“Hey, hey, calm down! Calm down!” Juana urged the Corphish, before muttering to herself, “¡Ay, está mucho enojado!”
Juana walked back up to Tora and grinned. "Sorry 'bout that! Back at school I used to be bullied a lot, so I couldn't stand around and watch it happen to someone else." She patted Corphish on the horns. "Hey, by any chance, do you know how to, like, take care of Pokémon? Is that one of the things you learned on your folks' farm?" Juana asked.
-Caught Corphish. -TP: 1 Post +1; HHG bonus +1. Total: 6 -Inventory: -1 Poké Ball @Balthazar007 -Continued interaction with @Silver Fox's character Tora
Juana shrugged. "Pro'lly Feyhollow. I took a peek at the map in the Center and Feyhollow seems a lot closer than Ironforge. And I'm not sure how well I'll fare in the mountains," Juana replied. "Definitely want to hit Ironforge sometime though. I like its steampunk motif."
Juana raised her arms and stretched. "I might want to stop by the river to catch another Pokémon, though. There's one I've had my sights on for a bit."
Juana thought back to the Pokémon Bounsweet had battled at the river. The Corphish. Though she thought it'd be nice to catch a Yungoos, there was something about the way Bounsweet interacted with that crayfish that was quite interesting. Who knows? Maybe they'd push each other to be better.
Also, pincers are cool.
"You wanna follow, or you wanna meet somewhere, or what?" Juana asked Tora. "Ah, that is if you'd like to keep traveling with me?" She shifted her foot and dug her hands into her pockets. "Hey, maybe you'll end up catching another Pokémon as well! You did say you also liked Water Pokémon, didn't you? Bet there's a lot of 'em swimming around. Like a Buizel. Or, or a Dewpider!"
-TP: Post +1, HHG Bonus +1. Total = 4 -CP +1 -Continued interaction with @Silver Fox's character Tora.
