there's a noise from above, and then a loud bang. maisie looks up in time to see a cofagrigus drop down from a higher level, clearly agitated, waving its phantom arms around. she jumps back, instinct taking over. "OI!" she yells, trying to make herself seem more threatening. "i'm just walkin' along here! no need to get your knickers in a twist!"

sometimes that's enough to scare a wild pokemon off, but not this one. "fine," she mutters. hecate gets between her and the ghost type, just as it sends off a night shade. hecate takes the attack, shuddering but remaining on her feet. "work up!" maisie commands. gone is her usual perky persona, as she focuses on the battle ahead of her. the deino, meanwhile, focuses on making its attacks hit harder. the cofagrigus doesn't like what it sees, and hits the deino with a disable, preventing it from using work up again.

that's fine. one is all we need. "now use crunch!" the smaller pokemon launches itself at the towering coffin-shaped pokemon, and her opponent is too slow to escape. her teeth close around it, and she bites down hard. the ghost type thrashes for a moment, then goes limp. thanks to the type advantage, they were able to end that quickly.

with some effort, maisie drags the fainted pokemon to a corner where it hopefully won't be spotted before it awakens. with that victory under their belt, the two continue onward and upward. she thinks she's seen enough coffins for a lifetime, so she has no interest in catching the pokemon.

[ passing on cofagrigus! ]

there's silence in the tower, except for the occasional creak. maisie whistles as she goes. she can feel eyes on her, but it's all pokemon likely too shy to approach her this time. it stays that way for a while, before her whistling appears to attract something's attention...

or maybe it's not her whistling at all. a dragapult appears, and thankfully this pokemon isn't looking for a fight. instead it's sniffing around her curiously, as if trying to locate something. in response, her dreepy wiggles off her neck and out of her hair, showing itself to the dragon type. the wild dragapult's response is sheer glee, or as close to it as it can get. the two start circling each other in the air, and maisie notices the dragapult... doesn't have any dreepy like wild dragapult usually do. what happened to them...?

she feels a lurch in her stomach. dante is playing with the older pokemon. he can't go with it, because maisie isn't willing to let him go, and he probably doesn't want to leave her side either...

"hey," she says quietly. she holds a pokeball out. "you wanna come with us? you won't have to be alone anymore."

the dragapult turns. a moment passes where it scrutinizes her, and then... it comes over and bumps its head into the pokeball.

[ catching dragapult! ]