She'd seen this Ponyta before. Or, more accurately, this Ponyta had seen Skyler before. As it trotted along the wood's edge, its snout sniffed the air in a most dignified manner, coal black eyes taking in the landscape like it had seen better and would not be convinced of its beauty.

So when the clanging reached its ears, the equine snorted softly and went to investigate. A pair of startled silver eyes would meet its sudden appearance, along with trembling whiskers from a battle-ready Dewott. Like the last time, the Ponyta simply blinked, unimpressed, at them. Its magnificent mane spiralling into prysms of light as the sunlight hit it.

As for Skyler, she had no interest in unicorns. If she had to choose, she would've gone for something like a kraken instead.

"As long as I don't find a Happiny again..." She highly doubted there was another quite like the one she'd caught last time she'd been here, but one never knew.

For now she simply wanted to catch stars with her bare hands.

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"We must give no quarter, Shoalgun!" Sword in hand and raised to face an unlikely enemy, Captain Dross positions herself in front of the Dewott, as if to protect the annoyed water type. In front of her stands an Oricorio, its feathers fluffed in challenge as it glares fiercely at the strange human dressed in full knight regalia.

Like one of those suspenseful action movies, Skyler and the Oricorio start to cirle each other. Each step taken by the human is mirrored by the wiggling bird, its skirt of feathers billowing dramatically in the wind. 

Silence settles into the space between the two. The distant call of a faraway bird distracts Skyler just enough that when she turns to face her nemesis, pink feathers and sharp claws fill the entirety of her vision. 

An impressive war cry ululates out of the Oricorio. Dewott immediately reaches out with a Razor Shell in reaction, though it isn't fast enough to hit the flying bird before it disappears into the nearby trees.

Not fast enough to prevent the damage.

When Skyler looks at her shoulder, she finds - with a disgusted grimace - that her shiny armor isn't quite as shiny anymore.

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Skyler blames her keen survival instinct for the collection of twigs and assorted leaves currently decorating her mass of unruly curls. If it hadn't been for the flash of pink and the reflection of dim sunlight on a rounded egg, Skyler wouldn't have dived for the closest bush, instinctually seeking refuge among the leaves and the dirt and possibly away from an omen of death.

That omen being, of course, Happiny.

The worst thing Skyler had ever done was to give her own Happiny, which she'd caught last time she'd come here, a miniature sword. Oh, it was cute at first, at least until Guinevere started waving it around and understood that she could actually do some damage with it. Then all hell broke loose and it soon devolved into a 'each man for himself' sort of situation.

Captain Dross isn't too keen to repeat the experience, no matter how many times she's told Happiny are in most instances peaceful baby pokemon - and not the spawn of evil that somehow found its way to her hands.

Regardless, the captain barely dares breathe as the Happiny waddles past, inching her way into the courtyard and hopefully away from foul creatures.

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Looking decidedly less knightly than when she'd first walked in, Skyler soon makes her way to a nearby fountain, raising her hand in greeting at the family of Shellos she'd found last time.

Half of her armor has been abandoned, left propped against a tree near one of the woodland paths. Turns out armor isn't the stealthiest or the easiest attire when hunting for pokemon, no matter how much it'd helped her blend in with the backdrop of the castle and the courtyeard (it hadn't).

So she's down to a majestic cape, shoulderguards and, of course, the sword at her waist. Still respectfully knightly, just not enough to scare away every wild pokemon in a 30 mile radius.

It's as the captain's cleaning the sweat from her face with the fountain's satisfyingly cold water that a glow comes into view. Hovering cautiously over the top of the fountain, the swirling mass of energy seems to peer down at them.

Shoalgun knows what to do, her lightning-fast reflexes asserting themselves over the Minior's own as she strikes it with her shell blades, knocking it into the water.

In the end, it's an easy catch.

capturing minior

receipt

The castle doors were open, and though Skyler highly doubted that she could find stars within its makeshift halls, she still stepped forward. Some of the props, she couldn't help but notice, were a little bit worn. There were signs of fighting all over the chamber, from cracked chandeliers to broken statuettes (a pity, that).

"Think we could find a throne somewhere in here?" Shoalgun didn't seem overly enthused by the idea, but she followed Skyler as the human skirted around the edge of the fallen chandelier decorating the center of the entry hall. The captain hadn't explored much of the castle last time, but this time she shoved her way into the next chamber, past squeaky doors into what appeared to be an opulent dining chamber.

After some searching, she managed to find a fork and two spoons. There wasn't exactly a use for either of those things, but the finding gave her a strange sense of triumph.

Idle whistling followed her passage as she knocked on door number two.

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All the grandeur of the dining chamber was quickly forgotten in lieu of blinking owlishly at the polished marble floor ahead of her, creeping up to what appeared to be a dais upon which rested not one, but two thrones.

As far as the captain could tell, there was no one else around. Under her Dewott's watchful gaze, Skyler stepped up to the dais, admiring the glint of fake gold (after a certain jungle adventure she'd easily learned to tell fake gold from real one) and the intricate designs decorating the two seats.

Lacking all the grace of one who was born to royalty, Skyler turned around and plopped down on one of the thrones. A long leg draped itself over the armrest and Skyler let herself slouch in a decidedly debonair style. 

Her calloused fingers brushed up and down the blade of her makeshift sword, pausing at the sight of a passing Shellos. 

"Shoalgun." She pointed at the pink creature, something hiding behind her smile. "Off with his head."

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