[attr="class","mimi"]the lulling idle motion of the sunkern has shifu bobbing his head back and forth with it. mimi laughs, patting the drampa condescendingly. "you've been with kids too much lately." after a quick scan of their surroundings, she urges her companion forward. "where do you think the dragons have hidden themselves in?"

[attr="class","seelie"]

[attr="class","mimi"]mimi lets the drampa lead the way for a bit, stopping only when a gastly surprises her by appearing out of nowhere, staring at them from a meter or so away, and then moving on. her hands feel cold after the encounter. the drampa emits a sound akin to a growl and mimi nods. they continue.

[attr="class","seelie"]

[attr="class","mimi"]"did you see that?"

mimi squints, certain that she's seen the shadow of a pokemon pass by. her eyes roam the area. excitement builds in her belly, a feeling she hasn't experienced in a while. she can feel her blood pumping in her veins. the adrenaline rising.

sure enough, a dratini makes an appearance before her. one of the famous mirage pokemon.

it's smaller than the average dratini, barely reaching her waist at half height. as soon as it catches a glimpse of her, mimi bows to it, a hand outstretched to convey no intentions of harming it. the dratini doesn't pull back, and that gives her the courage to slowly approach it.

once she's within patting distance, the woman retrieves a berry from her belt bag. she offers it to the dratini. a peace offering, so to speak. a smile pulls her lips apart when the dragon type seems to accept. "good boy," she encourages.

while the dratini eats, she runs her hand through the pokemon's luminescent scales. they're hard, but not rough. they're perfect.

"how should i say this?" her nerves speak for her at first, as she tries to remember how to recruit a pokemon to her team. "hey, i've been looking for someone like you to train with. you're still growing, but i can see you've got a lot of potential. what do you say? wanna give it a try?"

how embarrassing; this baby dragon is basically making her feel like a teenager again.

[attr="class","seelie"]

[attr="class","mimi"]for a brief moment, mimi fears the dratini won't accept. it needs a moment to consider her offer and finish its berry. thankfully, in the end, the pokemon jumps into the safari ball happily.

the group keeps moving until they reach a stream, small but loud. the waters run quickly due to the slant in the hill. a tentacool jumps out of the stream, and the sheer speed makes it look like a wild attack. mimi takes a defensive position. however, just as quickly as it jumps, the tentacool descends back into the stream. phew.

a little farther away, she can already discern a series of cascades. exactly what she's looking for. "we can rest there," she tells the drampa.

[attr="class","seelie"]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-drampa"]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-dratini inactive"]

[attr="class","mimi"]having already eaten a snack, the male dratini mimi had just caught isn't hungry by the time small party reach the cascades. he still helps with berry picking for their lunch, mind you. he's just very excited to have a human help him train and do all the things that trainers are supposed to do. like the agility training that they've started, for example, using only what nature (or the safari wardens, rather) had to offer.

mimi follows him as he jumps over rocks and slithers around tree stumps. he's a little clumsy at first, but she encourages him each time he makes a mistake. soon enough, he's managed to complete the makeshift course in... a decent time, at least. he's in fact just completed one last round when they notice a second dratini standing by their start line.

the wild dratini is much more agile than him, and that motivates him to try even harder. he goes back, passes by the other dratini, and begins a race that continues once and twice and thrice. at some point, mimi decides to leave the dratinis be. she walks over to her drampa, watching the scene from the comfort of a tree's shadow, and together they eat some berries. the sweet taste of pecha berries fills her mouth.

when the two dratinis finally stop, exhausted but satisfied with their results, mimi extends a hand to the wild dratini and asks, "do you want to join us too?"

[attr="class","seelie"]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-drampa"]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-dratini"]

[attr="class","mimi"]when mimi looks up, hours later, she can still see the sun burning brightly. honestly, she doesn't need to look up to know it is there. it's hot. it's hot even under the trees. it's hot because even the ground is hot. arceus, they need a dip in the cool, sparkling water. her pokemon agree. even the wild eiscue, may its head not melt under this sun, agrees. so that's what they do.

[attr="class","seelie"]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-drampa"]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-dratini"]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-dratini"]