"Oh, hey, a Yamask!"

Lucia stumbled across a herd of Yamasks that had congregated in the mountainous area of the Safari Zone. She had seen a couple of them before, though one thing did confused her a bunch about why it looked so weird. Hero watched in a keen interest while his trainer watched them together.

"Weird, how come the eye's red? Is it sick?"

Hero puffed up for a moment and then exhaled, almost as if he was shrugging in response. Neither of them seemed to really have any clue, so they'd just have to figure it out later. For now, they had a Pokemon to catch! Hero stormed the front, ready to assault the group with a DRILL RUN.

Some of the Yamask would flee before they suffered at the hands of an awesome attack like this, but more unfortunate ones were caught by the giant drill speeding towards them. Once he was finished, Lucia approached one of the Yamask and attempted to catch it.

☉

Lucia collected her pokeball on the ground and did a small cheer at her success. "One down, three more to go!" Hero let out a small flutter in agreement before they set out for the next target in the Safari Zone.

The next Pokemon the two stumbled across was a lone Nickit in the clearing. It was slowly nibbling on a fallen berry in front of a tree without any sort of care in the world. The girl got her ball ready and knelt down while deciding what their best course of action could be. The Nickit didn't know they were present and they could likely avoid a fight of any kind. SO maybe sneaking up would be a good sort of plan!

Hero laid back as Lucia got down on her belly and slowly snaked her way over to the smaller Pokemon, slowly but surely. Every movement was slow and deliberate. She stopped when its ears twitched every now and again then waited until she could continue on closer. After sneaking up close enough, Lucia tossed her Safari ball at the Nickit's side.

☉

Lucia looked up at the next Pokemon who had stumbled out in front of her, and boy was it even cuter than the last! She recognized it as a Mimikyu, one of the more popular Pokemon that roamed around back home in Paldea.

"Oh, another strong Pokemon! This'll be easy Hero!" she said, looking down at Dunsparce before something popped back into her head. "Wait a minute, I just remembered..."

Normal attacks weren't going to work here, since this was a Ghost-type. Lucia frowned and looked down to her buddy, who was eyeballing her, waiting for her to come up with a solution. Lucia looked down at the available team, crossing her arms in thought.

"Darn it, who should I call out next?"

Her hands rumbled around on her belt at her options. Pinky and Muck could be strong fighters, as well as her father's...Pokemon. But she didn't want to call him out. Not after what she wanted to avoid once more. But there was one other pokeball with her. One that she hadn't used since talking to Eris Halla . Lucia pursed her lips in thought as the echoes of Eris run through her head.

"Whether they want to test their limits. Whether they're happy with how quickly they're progressing...They're more likely to listen if you know what they want."

After a moment of reflection, Lucia grabbed the pokeball and in a sudden flash of white, the Charmander was called out. He let out a threatening growl and turned to face Lucia again as she flinched and held her hands up in remembrance of the last time she had talked to him. Her coat was still a little charred from the last time.

"I know, I know! You wanna get stronger, right? But we need to practice if you want to push farther. But I need your help..."

The Mimikyu had overheard their discussion and chirped out a ghastly cry to intimidate the two of them. Vulcan faced the offending Pokemon and let out a fearsome streak of fire, not one to run from a fight. Lucia looked over at their opponent and smiled a bit as her Charmander at least seemed to be allowing her to help it.

"Fire Spin, Vulcan!"

The Charmander reared his head back and blew out twirling embers that settled around the Mimikyu. Harsh flames licked the sides of its body and continued to prevent it from charging in. The ghost-type's head drooped form the attack, though it was still being dealt slight damage from the attack. Vulcan charged forward and was ready to attack as she belted out the next command.

"Finish it off with a Fire Fang!"

Vulcan chomped down on the Mimikyu with burning teeth, sending the ghost-type with a shuddering blow. Mimikyu pushed back to try and free itself as it had then suffered a burn, though had been overpowered by the sudden attack. Lucia fetched another Safari Ball out and tossed the empty capsule at the wounded Mimikyu.

☉

With the Mimikyu caught in full, Lucia pumped her fist and ran over to collect her prize. The captured Mimikyu was stuffed into her bag just in time to catch the Charmander gloating about its win. The fire on his tail burned bright while he continued to stomp about.

”You did amazing, Vulcan! Thanks for the help!” Lucia praised the fire-type.

The Charmander let out a fierce growl that made Lucia flinch. Yet it wasn't directed at her. Behind the girl was a Seedot who had wandered too close. The noise had scared it off so that only a dust trail remained, but she only discovered that after turning a corner to check around her back. Vulcan let out a sated "humph" and continued to wander off in search of more Pokemon to battle against.

"H-Hey, wait up!"

Lucia called out and trailed after him. Hero squiggled off behind her though kept his distance from the Charmander, lest he be the next target of his fiery rage. Once walking beside the Charmander, Lucia smiled down and tried to engage him a little bit more.

"D-Do you want to find more Pokemon to battle?" A long period of intense staring at her passed. For a brief moment, Lucia prepared for another torrent of fire before Vulcan nodded in agreement. Finally, something that they could come to terms about.

"Alright, there's actually one Pokemon in specific I think would be a good challenge for you!"

{skipping}

☉

”Any sign of it, you guys?” Lucia asked, her eyes looking out at the wide open space of the safari area. There were a few other areas with some more Pokemon that she had already caught before. A group of Mimikyu wandered close to one of the natural berry trees that provided food for the inhabitants here.

But still no sign of their quarry.

Hero huffed out his answer, much the same as Vulcan. The latter of the two sounded more annoyed than any sort of fear or intrigue. Lucia did know about how competitive he could be and wanted to find a wild Riolu as quickly as possible so he could wear himself out. Maybe it would help with their bonding, like Eris Halla had mentioned.

Nearby Vulcan, one Pokémon did wander out of the brush unexpectedly, a medium sized Sheildon! It was still pretty young, considering how it still quaked at seeing eye to eye with Vulcan, who was considerably smaller. The Charmander let out a stream of fire in front of the poor Dino, sending it scrambling away in a flurry of yelps and chirps.

Lucia winced at the display. Hopefully they could get some kind of challenge for him before he got bored and started to find his own way to provide some “entertainment” for the group.

”Keep looking! It's gotta be out here somewhere…”

{skipping}

☉