despite her griping, it is actually nice to be outside in nature for once. she's not exactly going to stop to smell the flowers, but... this sort of thing is nice every once in a while. maybe she should come out here more often?

her answer comes in the form of an absol, standing where just seconds before nothing was there. velvet blinks, staring at it. the two trade glances, but it seems clear the absol isn't here for a fight. velvet keeps walking, oblivious, and thinks to herself... aren't absol supposed to predict disasters?

her footing slips. she catches herself just in time, before she can tumble down the side of the path into the water. the absol blinks back at her, and then disappears. velvet huffs. in another universe, parallel velvet probably just ate shit... poor parallel velvet. she'll have to be more careful from here on out. there won't always be an absol to warn her that the path is treacherous.

by the time velvet runs into the next pokemon, her legs are starting to get sore. she huffs and puffs along the path, checking her map to figure out when she'll next reach civilization. she's got her phone with her, of course, so she can call an air taxi if she needs to... the closest city is mauville, but she thinks there will be somebody before then, right?

she's so engrossed in reading her map that she doesn't realize she's being followed. when she turns around, there's a cleffa toddling after her a distance away, but just close enough that she can still see it. the baby pokemon catches up with her when velvet stops. "hey there, little one," she says, kneeling down. "you hungry or something?"

the cleffa lets out a cry of affirmation and holds out its tiny hands. velvet reaches into her bag and pulls out a granola bar, breaking off a piece and offering it to the pokemon. the cleffa takes the offering and bites into it, before scurrying away, as if worried that velvet's apparent kindness is a trap of some sort.

velvet stands back up. onto the next one!

in the distance, velvet hears something. it sounds like... metal? but why would anyone be playing metal here? she approaches cautiously but curiously, until she comes upon a pink, round puffball sitting on a rock with a phone in its hand. the phone is playing metal; looks like this jigglypuff stole something from the last person to come through her.

to velvet's amazement, the jigglypuff opens its mouth and starts to scream along with the music. though it can't form words, it can still howl along unintelligibly. velvet gets closer, and a twig snaps. the jigglypuff stops singing and turns to face velvet, an angry look in its eye. "wuh-oh."

velvet sends out eisheth to defend herself. the salazzle narrowly dodges a rollout, and while the jigglypuff still has momentum, she vomits up toxic ooze to badly poison the fairy type. the jigglypuff cries out, uncurling. it uses round; well, more like it screams just like a seasoned metal professional at the salazzle, who takes a few steps back. in response, according to velvet's command, she coughs up more poison, using venoshock at full power.

the jigglypuff is down for the count. velvet throws a pokeball. this one could be really useful, actually... it's got talent!