As he waded through an increasingly dense thicket of tall grass, he stumbled upon a wild shiftry, narrowing avoiding a swipe of its leafy hands that instead sent him blowing backwards as he dug his heels into the ground. Holy-

The shiftry gave him no quarter, and it was all he could do to raise his arms defensively, but one of his pokeballs burst open in a radiant display of red-and-white. Reign had come to his defense, sensing a fight, fervently pursuant of a challenge. Shiftry spun into it, digging its fan-like hands against Reign's lustrous plumage, failing to find purchase against its defense.

It was immediately on the defensive, allowing Reign to muster its defenses, raising its defensive boons twofold as a brilliant sheen glanced off its figure. Shiftry followed suit, bulking up its stature with a sudden growth.

They both went in for the finishing blow, the shiftry once more striking against a nearly impervious defense as Reign overwhelmed it, driving it back with a skewering lunge that brought its beak to bear. Adrian watched it all unfold in awe.

"...Reign." He tiptoed over to his corviknight, running a hand over the black luster of its body, trying to convey his thanks and admiration. The pokemon merely squawked at his touch, rounding on him with an intense look before recognizing him. He'd have flinched, and it had noted that, but was otherwise resigned to pecking at the scraps it had left behind. He tried to smile, but his brow was furled and he was concerned with its aggression.

"You're such a damn brute," he gave Reign another pat before stalking away in revulsion.

Sifting through the tall grass was an arduous task that he clung diligently to, kicking up anything and everything he could as he trampled the growth as he went. After his encounter with shiftry, he had a hand already clasped around a pokeball, primed to loose an aggrieved arcanine on whatsoever may confront him. But there was nothing yet...

...Until he bumped into a Weezing.

It was just idling there, a look of exasperation plain on both its faces, when suddenly it spotted a trainer in its vicinity. As if on cue, its mouths shut tight, and the gas inside it built up to bursting.

"OH SHIT!" Adrian dove for cover, landing on his stomach as the pokemon's body became combustible from the build up of gaseous pressure. Bits and pieces were scattered across the area, pelting Adrian in the back of his leather jacket.

"Oww-ow-oh..." A hand reached around to rub a welt that was assuredly forming on the small of his back, but he otherwise stood up from the encounter unscathed. "Seriously...?"

Reign had caught up to him, a quizzical look in its eyes devoid of any sympathy.

It was a welcome change of pace when next Adrian traipsed through the grass not to find some hulking monster, but a sprightly pokemon tending to its favored flowers. He'd found a flabebe.

"Awh." It was an adorable thing, dancing around on its flower merrily, enjoying itself and the momentary respite the snow had allowed them.

It almost seemed cruel to capture this pokemon, verily so in fact. It was happy where it was, and being honest with himself, Adrian saw no use in training it. But he'd come to appreciate it all the same. The pokemon only just noticed him, shying away behind the stem of its flower, but peeking at him with a shy curiosity. "O-oh, sorry," he cooed.

Waving farewell to it, Adrian brought his fingers to his mouth, a sharp whistle heralding the return of his corviknight. Forfeiting any further time to searching for wild pokemon would be fruitless, or so it seemed, and so he decided to depart for the Berry Master's house without further delay.

"C'mon Reign, let's go." Clambering onto his corviknight's back, the massive bird pokemon hoisted itself skyward with its trainer in tow, jetting off to the East in search of his next destination.

Finished.