the wild bouffalant proved itself to be the territorial sort, which surprised cait somewhat when it revealed itself to both herself and her team and pawed at the earth as a show of warning. 

'looks like it's about to charge.' 

her pokemon grew visibly tense, with her tropius moving to place himself between the normal-type and his mistress. cait was forced to peek past his bulk in order to give the large bull a proper look. 

"roserade."

her bipedal grass-type stepped forward without having to be instructed to do so, volunteering himself to combat the wild pokemon. 

"are you going to fight it, roserade?" 

the grass-type merely smirked, offering his comrades a look that was characteristically smug. 

"pumpka," pumkaboo murmured, exasperated. 

she eventually urged the tropius to move by simply leading both him, roserade and pumpkaboo further down the route. 

"let's keep up a good pace."

making sure that every pokemon within her care received enough time outside their respective capsule had become a task that she genuinely enjoyed. bonding with each and every single one of her party proved to be a pleasant experience, overall. 

'i honestly think roserade's the only one giving me trouble.' 

the girl couldn't help but mull over the grass-type's circumstances, for she hadn't been the one to raise it. 

'maybe he was spoiled? or even owned by someone with good money who lost most if not all of it and had to give him up.' 

she hadn't a clue, but he - at the very least - seemed to tolerate her and heed her commands when it mattered the most. additionally, he had proved himself to be an excellent battler. 

"pumpka?" 

the slaking made for a curious sight indeed once they came upon him, the resting heap of fat and muscle lying upon his side with his eyes held shut. 

"oh - ssshh. all of you. keep quiet and give him a wide berth, alright?" 

she urged her companions to step lightly, having no desire to awaken the beast from his slumber. 

"leave 'em be." 

they found her perched upon a rock, her head slightly bowed and her eyes only partially lidded. a pair of crimson eyes would peer at them, a slight frown causing the her features to crease with an obvious show of displeasure. 

'it's a bayleef.' 

the girl was familiar with such a species, her father having possessed a meganium of his very own. 

'but this one's wild. and i don't exactly fancy look in its eye. there's some sorta feral edge there.' 

it stood and removed itself from its rock in a few graceful motions, its head bowed as it stepped closer to the trio before halting a meager several meters away. cait was impressed by its courage, for it was very obviously outnumbered. this particular bayleef was covered in all manner of scars, each telling a different story of survival and the opponents it had managed to survive. 

'does it want to fight us now?' 

her tropius would quickly come to understand his wild counterpart's intentions and would step forth to accept its challenge with a rumbling growl. 

"are you sure, big boy?"

the fruit pokemon simply dipped his head, mirroring the bayleef's stance before they began. 

"bay!" 

the bayleef would begin, erecting a 'light screen' before hastily following up the defensive attack with a purely offensive one in the form of 'razor leaf'. it didn't take cait long to realize that the grass-type only knew a select few moves - but she appeared to know them very well. they were chained together in a well-practiced sort of way, and the bayleef was very much capable of dodging the tropius's wide assortment of attacks. 

"trop!"