as they walk, exploring the beauty of route 115, greyson doesn't stop speaking. he offered at first, little words of encouragement, to bolster the steel-type pokemon's confidence. when it seemed to work, evident by the mawile walking beside him, rather than behind, he moved on to different topics.
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his mother, father, and the small family he'd built since moving out; his myriad of relationship problems and so on and so forth. nothing was off the table, and even though the pokemon understood little of what he was saying, talking to her seemed to help more than anything.
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the first obstacle came in the form of a small, bipedal dinosaur. despite being a juvenile of it's species, the challenge in its tone was unmistakable.
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"okay, you're up little one." this seemed to finally reverberate through the mawile whose eyes widened in alarm. her first instinct was to once again hide behind greyson's leg, but he moves slightly, taking away her spot. with a skeptical look at the dinosaur, who surprisingly seemed content to let them figure it out (was it honorable?), he kneels down to face the mawile face-to-face.
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"look, it's okay. i'll be right here with you." he does his best to give a gentle smile, a trickle of guilt worming its way in as the steel-type's eyes water noticeably. "you don't want to be hurt, right?" she nodded at that, giving a weak "maw, maw!" greyson himself nods along with her, more out of habit than anything else. "then lure it in and, at the last second, turn up your defense, okay? then take advantage of that and go for a strike. can you do that?" this time her nodding came less frantically, and more in a slow, understanding sort of way. to greyson it read clearly as 'i'll try."
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"good. i'll be right here," he reminds her again, before stepping off. alone, afraid, and a little panicky, the mawile turns her back the tyrunt. greyson had to admit - the little dino had honor. seeing her opponent finally ready, the wild tyrunt charges forth, it's roar sounding more like a pitched squeak. at least, compared to its greater evolutionary form.
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its massive jaw opened, then closed, on the mawile's distractory appendage. before it could fully clamp as a brilliant sheen, the type that's difficult to look at straight on beneath the sunlight, flashes over the mawile's body. IRON DEFENSE triggers and the BITE of the tyrunt find the purchase it was looking for, but not the blood. surprise clear in it's reptile eyes, it only had a second before it was swung around to face the now clearly crying mawile. it looked like an angry cry, if greyson had ever seen one, and with it came a series of SUCKER PUNCHES that had the dinosaur rolling on the earth and away from mawile.
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with one last look, tears forming in its own eyes, the tyrunt runs. excitedly she turns to greyson, and he's already clapping, smile broad.
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"you did it! you did it!"
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greyson lifts her up and swings her in a circle, her cries of relief, happiness, and anger all mixed as one into the form of a laugh. after a few moments he puts her down, fists on his hips.
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"well, shall we continue?"

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the wild spritzee breaks through the foilage, never stopping as she flees from greyson and his pokemon. cutely, mawile cranes her neck, peeking past the large set of jaws that emerged from her head. it was INTIMIDATING, to say the least, and the other fairy-type pokemon didn't stick around long after witnessing it.
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"not bad," greyson says, lips pursed into a grin. "not bad at all." his compliments see a smile to the mawile's face, which only makes greyson grin further.
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"your... head... tail.. jaw thing there is really good at intimidating foes." she flexes the mouth, swinging it around as he speaks, like a newborn calf figuring out it had a tail. "once you get used to it more, you'll also be to use it to attack, or defend against threats behind you. the possibilities are endless." much of this was, of course, obvious. but to have it said aloud, and to be praised for her actions, it truly put the mawile's efforts into a new light.
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one she liked.
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"okay, let's see what other trouble we can get into to."

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the last obstacle came in the behemoth that blocked their path now.
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the steel and dragon-type skyscraper towered over his mawile. it looked down on her with an unreadable expression, it's blocky expression a mask. greyson's own lips formed a thin-line.
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"not sure this is a good idea, kari." he'd finally given her a name somewhere along the way. not because she'd earned it or anything barbaric like that, but something that suited her was... difficult to find.
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she looked up at greyson, confusion and relief playing across her small face, crimson orbs shining. then, it shifts. slowly at first as the lines around her eyes, and cheeks begin to harden under the weight of resolve. and it's then that greyson knew the answer she'd give.
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he sighs, but it's mostly a façade. greyson smiles and meets the dual-types HUNGER and matches it, both turning to face the titan of steel.
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"let's show 'em who he's messing with, eh?"
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then kari attacks.

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catching the skyscraper

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