Lars was just an encyclopedia of knowledge waiting to be prodded open. Gwendolyn looked at him during his brief all about Gastrodon and their rather unique typing versus their appearance. She never would have guessed that they would be a ground and water type together! She loved them all the same though!

Her thick glasses started at mid way of her nose when he began speaking. By the time he had finished, they were just about ready to fall off. A hand pushed them back up and Gwen smiled at him.

"Wow. You must be an expert on that type of stuff. And yeah, back home in Sinnoh, I used to see a bunch of these blue ones!"

Their journey into the caverns continued. Gwen soon looked about into the field of ice and stalactites (they were the ones on the ground, right?) before coming across a wounded Auroras lying down near some sheet ice that had been packed around it as cover from the rocks. "Hey, this one's wounded!"

She hurried over with an open hand until its wound begin to glow and spark with electricity. Gwen only recognized this a second before a wave of electricity blasted through the cave, sending her tumbling back. She was thankful for getting her wetsuit dried fully, as this likely would have really hurt if she was still wet from the dive.

"H-Hey, it's okay. We won't hurt you." Gwen slowly approached the wounded Aurorus and dipped into her bag. It growled at what she was doing until she revealed some berries she had picked for her Gabite a day or so ago. "Are you hungry?" She slowly approached the Pokemon and laid it by him.

The Aurorus kept his eyes on both of them and slowly lowered his head to eat. While doing this, she turned back to Lars. "Cap- Uh, Lars? How come it's all...not colored right? Shouldn't an Aruorus be blue with white crystals?"

After his meal, he at least was a bit more trusting towards the two. Gwen tried coming closer with her hands stretched out for him to see. "You're really hurt, huh? Did something happen?" The Auroras exhaled and allowed her to come up to him before letting out a tired, pained cry before lowering itself to her. Her eyes looked up to see the damage down to its head flaps. She couldn't recognize it, but maybe Lars could see.

It had fought for the right to sire with a female and had lost horribly.

"It's okay. I can bring you back to a Pokemon Center back home and they can get you back to normal. If you don't want to stay, I won't force you. I promise, but please let me help."

The Aurorus looked at them both with caution and seemed ready to attack both again as it slowly stood up. He staggered a huff and then turned to the younger of the Rangers and pushed his head against hers. She winced from the impact, but slowly went to pat his icy exterior. Gwen reached into her bag and pulled out another spare pokeball, then pressed it against the Aurorus's body in an attempt to catch it.

[attr="class","wildbgsaf"]

[attr="class","wildtitle"]A WILD NUMEL APPEARED!

[attr="class","wildshiny"]

[attr="class","wildpkmnbox"]

[attr="class","wildtab"]

[attr="class","wildbgsaf"]

[attr="class","wildtitle"]A WILD SNEASEL APPEARED!

[attr="class","wildshiny"]

[attr="class","wildpkmnbox"]

[attr="class","wildtab"]

"Yeah, I guess I did...I don't know why I did that. Just...seeing something in that state made me want to help."

The Aurorus disappeared into the ball and rocked side to side a few times before a click signaled the Pokemon had been caught. Gwen smiled appreciatively and kept the pokeball close to her chest. "We'll get you some help, I promise." She pocketed the pokeball into her bag while Lars would continue to give invaluable advice to her.

She was happy that he was here, if not to calm her nerves a bit but to also guide her along with what a proper Ranger would do in any situation. Gwendoyln thought more on Rangers being students of not just nature but the world around them.

"I'll think about all that. Thanks, Lars. Did you know this much you became a Ranger?"

She said and went to carefully check on her Goomy. The dragon type was still nice and comfortable on her shoulder, though looking at the Snorunt that he had just picked up and befriended. Gwen smirked and watched with a keen interest before they continued on their walk through the cave.

Just as they rounded a corner, a Sneasel stood before the group. It came barreling at the Magneton. Sharp claws scratched the surface while the steel types beeped in a pained but lively pattern.

"You alright?" she called out.

They chittered along and set their sights on the Sneasel. Their magnet hums rotated while emitting a soft hum. Their bodies flittered around and unleashed a Flash Cannon at the cocky wild Pokemon. The Sneasle was hit in full and skidded backwards with a pained huff. Gwen tossed out another ball in hopes of securing another catch.

[attr="class","wildbgsaf"]

[attr="class","wildtitle"]A WILD FRIGIBAX APPEARED!

[attr="class","wildshiny"]

[attr="class","wildpkmnbox"]

[attr="class","wildtab"]

[attr="class","wildbgsaf"]

[attr="class","wildtitle"]A WILD SILICOBRA APPEARED!

[attr="class","wildshiny"]

[attr="class","wildpkmnbox"]

[attr="class","wildtab"]

Gwen listened to Lars continue on about his ranger experience and where he learned to be so knowledgeable about pokemon with. He really was a little walking library of knowledge! She wanted to sit him down one day and just ask him about everything he knew and went through. The mental image of such a time had been interrupted by his question about her training.

"W-Well, I mean..." she stammered out and tried to think of how to phrase her question. "It's a pretty arduous task to get through that entire packet and then orientations and on top of that, the online portions. So I kind of...haven't gotten around to them yet. B-But I will! Hoenn is just busy is all. They kind of need all hands on deck."

Hopefully that was a good enough answer.

Another wild Pokemon would stand before them, this one being a smaller reptile that stood upright in its own unique little way. Gwen had to keep herself from fawning over it too hard. Her Magneton had still been a little damaged but ready to fight again. "Electro Ball!" she called out. The pokemon jittered in place and shot out a sphere of electricity at the Frigibax.

The attack had hit its mark and Gwen followed up with a pokeball thrown at the little guy as she hoped to try and catch it quickly.

"What other stuff have you done, sir?" she asked. "I bet you have like a million stories about saving pokemon and people!"

[attr="class","wildbgsaf"]

[attr="class","wildtitle"]A WILD WOOPER APPEARED!

[attr="class","wildshiny"]

[attr="class","wildpkmnbox"]

[attr="class","wildtab"]

[attr="class","wildbgsaf"]

[attr="class","wildtitle"]A WILD CRYOGONAL APPEARED!

[attr="class","wildshiny"]

[attr="class","wildpkmnbox"]

[attr="class","wildtab"]

At least they were both in agreement. If there was some massive threat against Hoenn or the League, it was considered "a slow day." Gwen was like puppy though, listening to Lars with the expression of a freshly trained recruit wanting some inspiration to aspire to. She didn't have much hands on experience, unless building computers counted as such.

"Do I believe in legendary pokemon?" she asked Lars while a confused expression. Nearby, a small Wooper would begin to waddle on by. It was unaware of the discussion just outside of its perception and looked fine to just remain ignorant of the humans before it.

Gwen took a moment to answer. "I mean, yeah, I guess. I haven't seen one with my own eyes before, but considering the dangers Hoenn has, they may as well exist. I mean, I'm not saying I'm an avid denier. Just somebody with an open mind."

"Have you run into one?"

[ skipping ]

[attr="class","wildbgsaf"]

[attr="class","wildtitle"]A WILD FROSLASS APPEARED!

[attr="class","wildshiny"]

[attr="class","wildpkmnbox"]

[attr="class","wildtab"]

[attr="class","wildbgsaf"]

[attr="class","wildtitle"]A WILD ARCTOVISH APPEARED!

[attr="class","wildshiny"]

[attr="class","wildpkmnbox"]

[attr="class","wildtab"]

"No way! You've met legendaries before?!" Gwen asked with an amazed expression on her face. "Which ones? You gotta tell me! Is it Raikou? I did one of those dating otomes or whatever with Josh Devlin and it had a Raikou? Or was it one of the other ones like-"

Gwen had been rambling on so much she hit Lars' hand and avoided an incoming Muddy Water attack. Lars made quick work of the Wooper as she watched in satisfaction.

"Thanks for the save. Sorry, I kind of ramble a lot when I'm talking about something I know a lot about."

They continued further inside the cave while she pushed Lars for more and more information about what legendaries he ran into during his tenure with the Rangers. Their journey took them into a large room with a small pool with a massive shape propelled itself out of the water. Her eyes locked on as it hard harsh and heavy breathing.

"Wait." she said, walking up closer to the wild pokemon. Her eyes narrowed, looking back at Lars. "This is one one of those Pokemon that I've read about in Dragonology. One of the ones that those scientists in Galar had tried to reconstruct. But what's it doing in here?"

The Arctovish swam around in a frenzy, smashing into the shore as the entire cave would shake from the impact. "Freya's place should have enough room for him while they keep on eye on him." Gwen said to aloud, though mostly to herself. She pulled out her Magneton's pokeball and called him out.

"Alright, try and paralyze him. We can't really afford-"

She was cut off the Arctovish roared and used FREEZE DRY on the two of them. The Magneton shielded Gwen from most of the attack, though the force of the ice had caused some ice to appear across her arms covering her face. "You okay?" she asked her companion, the electric chirps playing in tandem.

"Thunder Wave!" The Magneton zipped closer to the enraged water-type and let loose a burst of electricity around it, shocking the poor thing in the water. While it flummoxed and tried to fight off the spasming of its body, Gwen threw a pokeball at the dragon, hoping that she could catch it and find a proper place.

[ attempting to catch arctovish ]