before she could retort or make many comments, simply listening as the other spoke, arkose gave a wolf. just as they took off in the show to catch up with their pokémon, she heard the distant howl of louie, the return howl of lincoln, and a rumbling within the mountain.

"thaaaaat's not good..." a roar, all to familiar to her ears, had her tensing and stopping where she stood. lyonel followed suit, huffing out a snarl to tell arkose to stop as well.

"if i'm not mistaken, it's an aggron. it must've claimed this part of the mountain as its own. no wonder we couldn't get through."

already she was beginning to fish through her belt, to pull out her coalossal. as he was summoned, she gave him a fond smile. another roar could be heard overhead, along with the clashing of steel against rock.

"sounds like they've started without us!"

immediately she climbed atop her coalossal, holding out a hand to help mattis up.

"i promise, it's faster if we hitch a ride. i'll tell you when to jump, he'll engage the aggron immediately."

as she trained him to do.

@mattis

riding the coalossal into battle was something she adored. any rock pokémon, really. she obviously just liked piggy back rides, but that's not the point.

stone pathways grind beneath the large coal tower of a pokémon as it barrels forward. francie gave mattis' hand a squeeze before leaping off of the coalossal and watching as lincoln is hit with a harsh IRON TAIL from the beast. the yelp he let out was indication enough that the attack had done a number on him, so she threw her hand out to return lincoln.

"kole, tar shot! lyonel, distract him with a few stone edge, block him in! louie, get a better vantage point!"

her commands were rattled off quickly and, just as quickly, each pokémon followed her words. the coalossal, kole, threw a great amount of tar from his mouth onto the aggron, causing its steps to hesitate. lyonel's STONE EDGE didn't hit the target and, instead, threw a few rocks up behind the beast. louie used his ROCK CLIMB to make his way up the back of the mountain, just behind the stone edge, using each of the newly formed stones to gain access to the aggron from behind.

@mattis

the poor poor aggron really didn't stand a chance, four against one. but that's what it took to get the beast to submit. the aggron groaned, the CLOSE COMBAT having done a number on it. reeling back, the beast returned back to the depths of her mountain. lyonel followed her, just to be sure, snorting at her all the while.

louie returned toward francie, sniffing at her belt.

"linc's alright, he's taken worse damage."

she reassured the brother, taking the ball out and looking toward the aggron. lincoln had been the original one to 'pass the territory' line for the aggron and she wanted to be sure the beast was far enough away that taking lincoln out of his ball to tend to him wouldn't offend the beast and rile it up again.

as the midday lycanroc emerged, he whined, a great bit of damage done to him. francie was already reaching for medical supplies, herbs and potions, to apply to the wounds. she probed and squeezed parts of him, to which he gave a low growl as a reaction but not directly at francie.

at the pain itself.

louie, laid close to his brother, wrapping his head around lincoln's neck, to keep him still and comfort his brother.

reaching an arm over, she gave lincoln a kiss and whispered a few praises in his ear before returning him and giving louie some pets as well.

"he's alright, but he's out of commision for today. he needs the rest inside his ball. we'll have to finish this one ourselves, boys."

kole, who had remained steady and quiet, let out a grumble of agreement. lyonel snorted like that'd be no big deal, having returned from his aggron scouting adventure.

@mattis

"arkose'll help plenty," francie offered with a smile at mattis. "but for now, you're helping just fine. thanks really, that passimian's exactly why i want to broaden my pokémon arsonal from just rock pokémon. i just have quite the difficulty not having favorites... like, y'know, all my rock pokémon."

there was a small laugh given afterwards as she smiled at kole, then returned him. louie and lyonel started to sniff and puff at arkose, before moving forward again to scout.

"not so far ahead you two." she warned them, then looked to mattis. "i have a luxray now. so that's interesting. ray's fun, he's super serious though, which is different. but sometimes his playful side comes out with the boys and it's super comical."

@mattis

"that's exactly why i wanna divers... uh, get some diversity in my team as well!"

because apparently diversify's too big or complicated a word for miss mrytle right now.

"i'm representing silph as a ranger, so i've got to have a good spread of pokémon that can help in a crisis! it might not be the best battling team, but pokémon's not all about the battling, y'know? i'll leave all that up to mr. fernando anyway."

she spoke of him casually because to him, while she respects the living business out of him, she also sees him as a friend now. they've done enough together that's how she views him. a highly respected friend; thus mr. fernando instead of mr. FERNANDO SILPH. or just mr. silph.

sometimes she refers to him by full name when she's cross with him but that's neither here nor there and she's never done it to his face... yet.

"but uh, sorry, yeah, luxray aren't terrible. they shed, wow so much. lycanrocs just get dust everywhere but this kittie's got a coat, and the static electricity sometimes makes my hair stand up, so that's always a good laugh."

@mattis

francie was sure to be awkward when complimented and immediately returned them after receiving one. it was her thing. paying a compliment back with a compliment. likely she'd gotten into a compliment war a time or two with some cheeky friends of hers.

but as the pokémon settled into their new home, francie watched with a fond smile. they were all so happy! it was heartwarming and made her smile get bigger and bigger.

"hot chocolate? uh, yas please yas." a small laugh left her before she stiffened up at the mention of meeting mattis' boyfriend. "ohmygosh really? do you think? i don't wanna like, i mean, i know i can be a lot or whatever so if you wanna wait that's totally fine; like, i don't wanna surprise him or something."

right, she's just word vomiting cause she's excited, excuse her.

@mattis