distracted by his 'battle' with penn, greyson completely missed the shadow visible from the surface. when the strange water-type brushed against him, he chalked it up to an accidental collision against the rock. when the creature bit him? that was harder to ignore. "argh! what the hell" greyson roared, scrambling up the rock so fast he could feel the skin on the back of his good leg scraping off on the edge of a sharp stone. penn stopped, frozen. the grass-type wasn't quite sure what had happened, only that they were playing one second, and greyson was in pain the second. was he somehow responsible?

greyson wrapped his hand around his ankle and peered over his knee. the air smelled faintly metallic, and lines of crimson ran down his skin and in-between his fingers. in his peripheral, greyson spotted a square-headed, long bodied creature barely poking itself out of the water. it's expression was more dimwitted than predatorial, but that was low on his priority list. "penn!" hissed greyson between his teeth. "handle this thing!"

shaken from his stupor, the grookey's eyes shifted from grey to the wild pokemon. then, he went on the attack. sucking in a breathe that expanded his gut, penn ducked beneath the waves, and in one massive exhale let loose a SCREECH. empowered by sounds ability to travel faster in water, it rattled the ugly predator to the core. the huntail's eye closed involuntarily, thrashing in the water - anything to stop the splitting pain in it's skull!

surfacing for air, penn took a few more ragged breathes before diving back down. there wasn't a trace of the strange creature. swiveling his body at the core, the monkey confirmed it was gone before surfacing. he gave greyson a thumbs-up and pushed out his chest. as best as he could without leverage, that is. meanwhile, at the rocks edge, the comfey was gently placing down violet hued petals on her trainer's wound, her FLORAL HEALING working to close the wounds.

"i really have to stop assuming things will go well." greyson hissed out again, his wound stitching closed gradually. slowly, his pokemon began to encircle him.


notes + huntail breaks the sacred bond of not attacking trainers. pays the price. thanks for the mod!

with ellie's help, greyson began to feel slightly better. he pushed himself to his feet, nursing the wounded leg with a limp. slowly, he moved further away from the water until he found the small 'campsite' he had set up for himself. "thanks, elles" greyson sighed out, softly petting the pokemon with his pointer finger. a small vibration each time he pulled back to repeat the process told him that she was enjoying the sensation. penn strolled up shortly afterwards still dripping water. the v-shaped leaf on it's head drooping slightly. at first, greyson thought this was because of the water, but the sheepish look on the grass-types features caused him to second guess. "hey, penn. thank you as well. you scaring that thing off really helped." greyson moved to ruffle the hair of the small monkey and caught the snaggle-toothed grin that was a sure fire sign of his mood turning around.

"now is good as time as any to get some lunch, don't you guys think?" the resounding echo of excited cries told him they agreed. "here, penn, help me out." greyson dived into his bag and started taking out bowls with crude names painted onto them and began filling them one by one. ellie. z. viv. penn. nini. it took a little direction, but eventually the grookey laid them out for the others to get to. "come on, z. let's not leave you out either." light took shape into the massive form of the corviknight in the center of camp. the creature's head swiveled and it ruffled it's feathers in a long stretch. then, finally ready, they relaxed and began to eat.

as they did, viv was seen floating near the steel- and flying-type pokemon, buzzing and squeaking quickly. no doubt it regaling in excessive details what had occurred while z was resting in the pokeball. content with a homemade rueben, he watched them interact with one another. nini still seemed just as irritated at the grookey as earlier, but that also wasn't likely to change overnight. spotting movement in the brush, he pulled his gaze up and past the two grass-types. staring back at him was a blue skinned pokemon, it's stomach a transfixing swirl. greyson didn't even realize that he had tensed up at the sight of the creature. clearly, the attack from earlier was having more of an effect on him than he realized.

"you can come out," he called out, moving the upper half of his body to better help him see the half-hiding water-type. "there's food here if you want some." greyson shook the small bag of food as proof. it took a moment, but the curious creature moved closer, fully coming into view. immediately, grookey stood and removed the branch from atop his head, going into a defensive stance. the poliwhirl flinched back, but then furrowed its 'brow' and stared penn down. "none of that, penn. not everything is a threat, nor is violence always going to be an answer." greyson chastised from behind, dropping the bag into his lap. the grass-type's nose and ears twitched, before sheepishly lowering his arm. seeing it safe, the poliwhirl continued his approach, wary of the monkey pokemon.

when it stood in front of him, greyson could see the creature was slightly skinnier than it should be. "lets see if i have an extra bowl for you." rummaging through his bag for a few moments, greyson frowned. he searched again just in case, but came up empty. something bumped up against his knee and he saw the grookey holding his own bowl out, body turned away. "well, well. thank you penn. i'm sure our new friend thanks you, too." greyson took the bowl gently and filled it with extra dry-food, handing it to the wild pokemon. it seemed hesitant again, its two small eyes dancing between the food, greyson, and finally to penn. taking the bowl gratefully, he moved over to the grass-type. 'poli, poli!' greyson watched the two exchange words in their own language, with penn trying to hide the excitement that was visibly building up over the course of it. finished, they both waddled off a few feet away and began to share the meal together. greyson's grin widened.

when he packed up later that evening he wasn't the only one that had gained a friend that day.


notes + capture of poliwhirl. thank you.