they cut their way through the forest, not bothering to stay quiet. maki's here looking for strong pokemon, not the ones that would flee just because someone is coming their way. this means their trek is mostly uneventful, boring even. she's careful to watch where she steps, not wanting to trip over a root or a misplaced branch.

there's movement in a thicket ahead. her bisharp pauses. something round and pink emerges. it rubs its eyes, as if having just awoken from a nap. then the wigglytuff assesses the situation and freezes. bisharp only has to raise its scythe-like arms for the normal type to flee, terrified. maki sighs.

"let's keep moving."

[ passing on wigglytuff! ]

they do some more of what can only be described as traipsing. they only see signs of other pokemon, nothing that likely remains within their area. then they come across a thicket where some holes have been dug, ones large enough to permit a pokemon to pass through. interesting, maki thinks. she scouts around, finding another hole not too far away. "go stand by that first hole," she tells her bisharp, "and cut down anything that exits."

once it's gone, she calls out her empoleon and orders it to flood the tunnel. it releases a torrent of water, which gushes through the underground labyrinth until... maki hears something cry out in pain on the other end.

she hurries over. it's a furret of a pecular color, lying on the ground after being hit by night slash. it's not quite fainted, but it's stunned and doesn't see her coming. it's rare. i'm sure it's valuable. maki throws a pokeball at it.

[ catching furret! ]