the tall grass rustles, and something small and cute emerges from it. julian immediately goes down into a crouch, hoping not to scare the plusle, but to its credit the electric type is quite bold. it comes right up to her, sniffing her. "hi there 'lil guy," julian coos. it's not exactly what she's looking for, but she offers it some sunflower seeds from her pocket anyway.

lyra scampers off julian's shoulder and plays with the plusle for a bit, chasing after it. then the plusle seems to wave goodbye, and it disappears back into the wild. "good luck," julian calls after it. standing up again, they only hope the plusle remains safe out here. it's a fairly peaceful area, judging by how easily it came up to them, so... probably?

[ passing on plusle! ]

more complaints pass through julian's lips as she wades through the grass once more. then, without warning, the area fills with mist. julian stops, perplexed. she can't deny it feels pretty good, though, the tiny water droplets hitting her and cooling her off. she looks around for the culprit... there, in the water nearby, is a blue snout. a pair of adorable eyes meet her own, and julian blinks.

finizen are known for helping trainers out... a little weird to see it in this area, but it doesn't seem to be in distress. "thanks, i think?" julian calls out to it. the pokemon responds by diving back into the water, and the mist fades away.

it's going to get dark soon. they should head home, but they'll stay out just a bit longer...

[ passing on finizen! ]

the sun starts going down. julian turns, intending to find her way back to the path. it's getting harder to see, and she squints through the dusk, scanning for any recognizable landmarks.

her foot catches on something. julian and their pawmi topple forward, and julian lands on their hands and knees, the grass tickling their neck. "OW! what the hell!?" they sit up and scoot around so they can get a better look at what tripped them... it's a big red and white spherical object that almost resembles a pokeball, if not for the eyes glaring back at them with murderous intent.

a voltorb. oh no.

julian scrambles back to her feet and backpedals furiously, waving her hands around. "it was an accident! i swear! i'm sorry! please--"

the voltorb starts to glow.

she shrieks as she turns and runs as fast as she can. there's a massive explosion behind her, and the shockwave pushes her off her feet once more so she lands face-down in the ground. still, at least she's alive. she picks herself up once more, hesitates, and then goes back for the voltorb. it's fainted, not moving, having expended all its strength.

julian sighs. "whatever. i'll take it." they tap it with a pokeball.

[ catching voltorb! ]