he cherished these moments most, he realized. aside from the company of his pokemon, he was joined by the solitude and silence of nature. a warm spring breeze wraps itself around him on its journey past and greyson closes his eye to embrace it. he stifles a laugh when he peeks out with on eye, catching the comfey around his wrist mimicking him. for the millionth him her small gestures send a pulsing warmth through his chest.

"well, ells, let's see who's overdue, hm?" greyson cycles through the dual-colored orbs in his bag, eyes lighting when it spots a particular one. with a toss of excitement, his lopunny jester (affectionally coined 'jess'), appears before him. she yawns and stretches, long ears shaking themselves awake alongside her. in the background, a massive flower-shaped pokemon emerges from the brush.

"well, no time for introductions then, huh?" jess perks up, turning on a heel to spot the newcomer. for a solitary moment they both stand there, blinking, held by their curiosity and confusion. it was clear the vileplume wasn't expecting to find anyone here, and jess was still 'waking up' from what was most likely a nap.

their standoff held. silence stretching. then the wild pokemon attacked.

whether it was fear or aggression that dominated its action, greyson couldn't say. such speculations would be made after the encounter, but for now? "jess! your advantage is speed, but that doesn't mean we can't afford to go faster. cut the distance between you both!" the vileplume's evolutionary line were famous for their usage of effect-type moves in controlling the battlefield, a threat that could only get worse as a battle dragged on, and their spores were allowed to spread further. that meant one thing — ending this fast.

lopunny shoots forward, guided by her increased AGILITY. the BLIZZARD of PETALS raced to meet her, and in a feat of daring, she crosses her arms in an X formation in-front of her, leaping and propelling her way through the storm. the flurry of razor sharp petals stains her brown fur red, but she pushes on anyways, only a small hiss of intolerance escaping.

her opponent stumbles backwards out of anxiety, and the HI-JUMP KICK that lands is enough to send the creature sprawling in a rolling heap. without looking back, and with a heavy limp, it runs off back into the woods. but not without leaving behind trace elements of its EFFECT SPORE. PARALYSIS takes hold, and her muscles lock and spasm, forcing the bunny to collapse on the ground involuntarily. greyson approaches quickly and speaking in a hushed whisper, and soon relief begins to build-up. not only was the paralysis gone, but so too was the dozens of small cuts. looking down, jess noticed the small flowers over her wounds, each glowing a tinge of pink and green.

"you've got to be more careful with them," greyson says, frowning at the drying blood, "they're really strong against melee fighters." his brow furrows, and he sighs. "we'll just have to teach you ways to handle that, then; to utilize the environment or something." it's a good thing they were out here, then.

jess sports a buck-toothed smile and pushes herself to her feet, shaking once more, only this time to get rid of the grass and debris from her fur.

"well, let's see what else today has in store for us. you did good though, jess. you did good."

@sw

greyson felt the TM crumble in his hand and to turn to ash. with a push on his thighs, greyson gets to his feet.

"it'll take a minute to get used to," he cautions to the lopunny in-front of him, "so we'll practice, okay?" it was a unique experience teaching his pokemon abilities and techniques from those disks, and he never quite got used to it. the lopunny looks up at him, paws reaching for her throat as she cleared it and sang a few exploratory notes. he quickly raises his hands in a calming gesture.

"let's wait until we got something that's... well, not me in front of you, okay?" she chirped something apologetically, but he pats the tuft of fur between her ears which seems to soothe her. "and i'm not mistaken..." greyson says, trailing off as he spots another pokemon. standing near the edge of a large lake and watching them intently, was another wild pokemon.

"you're up, jess. remember — control! it won't be easy at first, but try not to strain yourself too hard, lest you injure yourself, okay?" eager to test our her new attack, she hops to it — literally. once she finds herself standing a dozen or so paces away and under heavy scrutiny of her opponent, jess stops.

her eyes glance downwards as she spreads her feet out, centering her body against a recoil whose strength she isn't sure about. then, inhaling a large breath of hair, she leans back and... releases a explosive HYPER VOICE. the scream is so powerful that greyson covers up his own ears, a flock of pidgey take to the skies in a nearby nesting of trees, and the very water of the lake vibrates beneath it. when the breath leaves jester and she doubles over panting, her opponent is a still, un-moving figure just at the waters edge.

fear grips greyson, fearing that jess had just killed some poor random creature. but when he approaches and sees the chest rising, and falling, he breathes a sigh of relief.

"that was... good," he says cautiously, fighting the smile that he wishes he could embrace fully, "let's see if we can't tone that down a bit, though."

an apologetic look follows jess's turning back to look at him and he could only pat down his hair anxiously, realizing just how far they still needed to go.

@sw

greyson settles into the grassy patch, pushing his back against the trunk of a small tree. with legs outstretched, he crosses them at the ankle, fishing a sandwich out of a plastic bag. nearby he'd set up a small buffet for the pokemon he brought along with him, and while most hadn't come out of their pokeball, he treats them to the feast nevertheless.

greyson's eyes lift as he feels a presence nudge him. shyly, a lopunny stands just next to the tree he's resting on, holding her bowl. inquisitively she looks from him, to the grass nearby. greyson smiles, patting the spot.

"no need to ask, jess. you're always welcome." she perks up and plops down, paws reaching for small handfuls of food to spoon into her mouth. "i'm really proud of you today," he says after a moment, causing the normal-type's ears to twitch and her attention to rise, "you put your best foot forward today, jess." greyson reaches out to affectionally scratch the bunny between her ears, and she 'meeps' beneath his scrutiny.

"i'm thinking for my next gym challenge, well — did you want to join me?" speech isn't needed; her squeals of excitement and rabid nodding tell him everything. "good, good. we still have a lot of work today until then, but you have my promise. we'll dominate our next challenge together." seeing her attention hyper-focused on him, he nudges the bowl at her feet. "go on, eat! we have plenty of time." she dives right back into it, though her attention was clearly divided.

he doesn't get a chance to focus on it, however, when a commotion pulls him attention. after a moment, greyson spots a tangle of vines with legs eating from one of the bowls he'd set out.

"where the hell did that tangela come from?"

skip and thank you for mods!