As the woman approached, the infernape looked to her with a single brow raised. The warrior of a fire-monkey scratched at her chin curiously, but otherwise just remained beside Sam.

Sam, on the other hand, was addressed and responded accordingly.

"I'm sure there are plenty of grudges around for a sandygast to appear. Though admittedly, they favor the shores of the mountain."

After he spoke, he glanced down at his tensing absol. Her fur stiffened and her claw began to glow. Before Sam could even identify whatever the threat was, absol had leapt over and used a SHADOW CLAW on the darkness. A sharp cling! made Sam's brows furrow. Absol returned from the darkness with the blade of a honedge in her mouth, dropping it before her trainer's feet.

As with most ghosts they purged, Sam took out a ball and attempted to capture the honedge.

Infernape, on the other hand, swatted at her face when two small yellow things dangled before it. She glanced up, seeing the drifloon, and pulled at the tassles, tossing the balloon away from herself.

//CAPTURE ATTEMPT HONEDGE
@hydra

Watching the girl capture the drifloon and hold it out to him had Sam thinking for a moment. He took the drifloon from her and nodded, shrinking the capsule and scanning it with his pokédex so it would be sent to his storage.

"I appreciate that. But, yes. I tend to keep most of the ghost pokémon I find. To study them further, try and find a way to either prevent their mass spawn or to help find a way to put them at ease, or to good use on the property."

Though thinking about it, how would a drifloon help? Maybe staying at the bottom of the mountain and keeping an eye on whoever passed through? Drifting along as security?

As suddenly as he'd gotten distracted, Sam found himself flinching at the sharp cry from absol. A duskull came rolling out of the brush, eye within its little skull bobbing around and rattling within its hollow head. It faded, in and out, which had Sam concerned and squatting down. Usually he left the duskulls alone. They took people to gravestones and helped spirits pass over, so it was said. Whatever they did, they were helpful to a graveyard, and because of that he usually left them be.

Absol's DETECT helped her to move in the way of the PSYBEAM something from the bushes had used. While absol had it distracted, infernape gave a grunt, pushed a great mighty huff from her nostrils, and took off toward the trees. She used her ACROBATICS to it a hypno out from the trees, landing close enough between the hypno and his trainer to keep them safe and the hypno well lit for assault.

Sam grabbed a pokeball from his bag, putting the duskull within to try and get it recovered as soon as possible. He'd even fed the poor thing an oran berry to try and help it regain some strength.

// capture attempt DUSKULL
@hydra

With all to proud a smile, almost like a proud mother, Sam congratulated his absol with a pet, checking her over, then giving his infernape a high five of gratitude. There were times when he voiced his gratitude, other times when he showed it.

Most times, it was showed, instead of spoken. He could communicate to them without actually opening his mouth, a bond he was developing with quite a few of his pokémon.

"I don't have a very superstitious belief in reference to the birth of ghost type pokémon. All pokémon have come to be in some way or another, much as humans had come to be at some point one way or another. The way in which they came to be is upon personal belief. I personally don't much care how it all came into motion."

It was a brutal speal, but that's how he felt.

"What I meant by restless souls, wasn't the souls of humans made pokémon. That seems unlikely to me. I also don't think a grudge on a beach can be strong enough to conjure a pokémon into existence."

With a shrug, he glanced down at the duskull's ball.

"It boils down to belief. Which doesn't have to line up. Much like morality."

People be people, they didn't all have to sing kumbaya-- at least, not to Sam they didn't.

// @hydra

Dystopia story waiting to happen. That would make a pretty good read, so he put it in the back of his mind to see if any new horror series had come out in that realm.

His favorites were the psychological thrillers and those weird ones with too many unreasonable deaths that made no sense but somehow brought entertainment to his soul.

"Mutual respect is hard to come by with baby pokémon. I recently had the same issue with a toxel."

It didn't help that he had people negatively influencing the toxel because 'it was funny.'

"And I'm the owner of the Mt. Pyre Memorial."

He didn't own the mountain, but the land which Mt. Pyre used as the memorial grounds for the graves? That was him. All him.

"It's why I'm making sure the grounds are safe for trainers. Sometimes younger trainers can make the mistake of underestimating the mountain."

@hydra

Just as that gastly had come out, vibrating almost uncomfortably, his absol's hair stiffened. She could see something in the wood, but she couldn't make it out. The small RAZOR LEAF slowly being dissolved in the gastly's poison gas-form as it was attempted to be captured had Sam raising his brows.

Grass pokémon, out here? Grass ghost-- dhelmise couldn't do that, neither could treviant or phantump. Which left--

"Absol, night slash. Infernape, when you see it, fire spin."

At Sam's command, absol had slowly approached the darkness. She could feel something lock onto her, a sense that something had used FORESIGHT on her. A owl, it seemed. One expertly hiding in the shadows. She let loose a NIGHT SLASH against one of the trees, and the second the infernape saw the movement, she let loose a FIRE SPIN on the decidueye. The fire spin swirled around the owl, holding it captive.

The gastly that it'd been hunting was already being captured by Hydra. Sam threw out his own ball to contain the decidueye, then gave both of his pokémon a grateful smile.

"Well done you two."

Absol practically purred, confidently. Like she couldn't believe Sam might have doubted her. But she knew better. He doubted their surroundings, not the Absol's capabilities.

// heping in capture attempt GASTLY
// capture attempt DECIDUEYE
@hydra