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she joins noel for a climb onto the rocks, making sure to leave enough space between them, but still close enough that she can talk to him without difficulty. she says, "good catch on the gossifleur, by the way. it makes you wonder if there's pokemon at the top of this rock, too." if there are, mika finds herself well-equipped to deal with such threats. beside her, her prinplup is jumping up on the ledges with her, careful and slow so as not to get too far ahead of its own trainer. [break][break]

it doesn't take them long to reach the top. the ranger pulls themselves up and over the ledge, slowly dragging her body onto the surface properly. they glance at noel to see if he needs help (not likely, what with the way they've been slyly competing with each other, but even so, mika would help him in a pinch — he need only say the word). then she turns her head to look at the rocky expanse before them. they are so high up that not even the sands can reach them, so mika unties the bandana around her mouth, and inhales the evening air. [break][break]

she stops short, however, when something big and heavy started walking in their direction. a large golurk stumbles before them, the golem pokemon sitting immobile one minute, but then activating the next, as though the presence of the trainers and their pokemon caused it to wake up from a long slumber. its size could certainly cause problems, especially this high up. so mika is quick to order her prinplup to deal with the threat, calling out: "use brine on the golurk!" [break][break]

the penguin pokemon obeys the command, and floods the ground-and-ghost pokemon with a torrent of water, causing the great automaton figure to stagger and fall to one knee. mika takes advantage of this weakness, and tosses a poke ball in its direction. the great golurk is soon brought down, the poke ball snapping shut, and mika's breath exhaling out of relief. she retrieves the new catch, accidentally ignores a lone nincada that's been watching them the whole time, and returns her attention to her companion at large. "noel, look at that view. isn't it breathtaking?" [break][break]

the entire desert is stretched out before them. the sands burn gold and orange under a setting sun, grains sparkling like diamonds. cacti and other resilient plants grow in pinches along the sandy horizon, with various other rock formations and cliffs sticking out of the dunes. and the pokemon, oh the pokemon! lines of maractus and cacnea shuffling through the sand, while a wild pack of midday lycanrocs run through the mud. and further away from them is a stream of pokemon from the cottonee, gossifleur, and hoppip lines, dozens of grass-type pokemon riding the hot desert breeze, and disappearing like clouds over the distance. [break][break]

what a perfect view, and what a perfect friend to share it with. mika couldn't ask for anything better than this. [break][break]