Videos slid by on his phone, mostly memes with the occasional update from a fellow trainer he was following. He winced and swiped by those faster. He felt a little guilty that he wasn't making the most of his time. He could be running through drills right now. He could be making content to post the rest of the week. He could be putting Cora through her paces—never mind that he didn't plan to include her on his competitive team. It never hurt to have a backup or several. He tried to tell himself that rest was as important for him as it was for his team, but he already felt so far behind. There were dozens of trainers in Hoenn alone that were younger than him and already farther along.[break][break]

A weak splashing sound pulled his attention away from his phone. He glanced over to see a Pokemon struggling in the shallows of the surf. It was a Mantyke, flipped over on its back, flapping its flippers in an effort to right itself. Wicke sighed and walked over to it, tugging his sleeves up. Normally a Pokemon like this wouldn't have a problem getting back into the water, but it probably panicked and wore itself out struggling. Slipping his fingers into the cold sand, he lifted the Pokemon up and turned it over. It wiggled in his hands as he waded into the oncoming waves, dipped it into the water, and let it glide free.[break][break]

Ugh, now his shoes were wet.

[break][break]

+ skip.

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[attr="class","credit"]milky

He was waffling between whether he should take his shoes off or just deal with having wet socks until he got home when the sound of more splashing caught his attention.[break][break]

"Really?" he groaned, turning on his heel. "If you're stuck on your back again, I'm just leaving you that way." But as he scanned the sand for what he thought was the sequel to the helpless Mantyke, he was instead greeted by a Tirtouga pulling itself onto the beach. "Woah! Damn, I knew I should've been streaming. Rotom, get a load of this!" The Rotom Phone flew over and began to film the turtle Pokemon as it hoisted itself further up the beach. "Whew okay. Rotom, start recording." He could at least get some decent footage for later. The Rotom Phone counted down a quick three-two-one before it began to record. "Woah, look at this! I've never seen one before. Rotom, what is it?" A scan overlayed the screen, picking the Tirtouga out from its surroundings and displaying basic information about it. "Tirtouga. Nice, nice, nice. I wasn't planning to catch anything today, but this guy is too cool to pass up."[break][break]

With a quick toss of a Pokeball, Duane appeared, blinking their big eyes. "Duane, Fishious Rend!" Wicke knew that the Dracovish would be all-too-happy to comply, and a capture would be in short order.

[break][break]

+ catching.

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

[attr="class","credit"]milky