the pokéball plopped into the water, floating—in the wrong direction. ”oh no...” she looked around, quickly deciding, ”guess we have to go around the other side.”

so they went, nina’s eyes on the floating pokéball the whole way. morelull stayed close at the water’s edge, while togepi was more curious, fixated on the top of the grass nearby. there was the shiny pink curl of a happiny that had caught its eye, and it soon toddled off the path, unnoticed.

once she’d retrieved her runaway pokeball, nina noticed her lucky egg missing. ”togepi?!” suddenly frantic, she hurried into the grass, doing circles until she found them: togepi sat with the happiny, trilling and carrying on in happy sounds and faces.

nina smiled. happiny eventually turned into blissey, a pokemon that had also been on her wishlist. this was going well so far.

”come on, togepi. bring your friend.”

catching happiny

she hadn’t been dancing in a while. since the accident, she’d kept to herself. not only had her vanity been attacked, but she felt endangered, utterly recognizable for the first time, when she’d been able to change her look so often before. relied on it, even.

again, it was the efficiency of something like this that had drawn her out. get it over with. skip to movie night and cuddling with popcorn—but here was an attractive person, just wanting to go out and dance, and she figured there wasn’t so much wrong with that either. it sounded fun, actually.

”okay. i’ll give you my number.”

and she’d give him the real one.

andres buenaventura

they successfully evaded the cub without drawing attention, morelull and togepi finding cover in the grass on their way to catch up.

a little further down the path was a pond. she gazed as it glittered under the sunlight, and from it she saw the beak of a lovedisc. had seen them from the shores of slateport beach before, but always too far to catch.

”morelull,” she whispered, crouching, pointing. ”astonish.”

the mushroom screeched loudly, and the luvdisc stilled, floating in the water. nina sprang up and rushed to the edge, throwing a ball to catch it.

catching luvdisc

they were definitely not here for stufful. in fact, nina wanted to stay as far away from bears as possible. its smiling face sent a chill up her spine, and she veered off in another direction.

”come on guys! this way,” her voice cracked, steps a bit hurried as she waded through flowers. her duo on the ground turned to look at her, morelull’s caps swaying to the side inquisitively. they followed after, leaving the stufful alone.

passing

a new vulpix sat on the ground quietly, big eyes attentive. while nina previously had opted for ekans and nidorina in work situations, the last one had left her with little trust in them.

this was also new territory. she’d never hunted anything before, but the scars had made it necessary to change up her skillset.

”mm… oh! yeah, there! look!” she whispered excitedly, shoving the binoculars in his direction and pointing.

NIKO MANNER

at andres’ theatrics, nina smiled, settling in for his story with her chin propped in her palm. togepi was shadowed as she leaned over, not breaking her gaze when she reached across the table for a poffin. it slipped under the table to the grateful egg in her lap.

her smile only grew at the turns of his plot. he was funny. full of shit. for a moment, she was in a warm tequila daydream.

”clingy, huh?” she giggled. ”you must be a very impressive dancer, then.”

andres buenaventura

it was nightmarish. ’no’ felt like an anchor dragging her undersea. what was going to happen, now? she was just going to die in a pile of dirt?

”please!” it was a strangled cry of panic straight out of one of her favorite horror movies.

ekans and nidorina were overrun, valiant in their efforts, but knocked out of the way by the bear’s punches. one day, they would not fall so easily.

nina’s final plea was followed by horrific screams. she would die, she thought. she was dead.

while it lasted hardly any time at all, it felt like long minutes. shredded, too, were her thoughts, when the attack stopped for whatever reason.

curled in a ball, she held her breath. her eyes squeezed shut, and she lied there as still and as quietly as she could. a tear fell, as she clung to life in her mind, fogging from loss of blood. there was little she could do, but hope that they would leave.

@onyx

an eevee! chuchi was a shiny one, too. her attention was drawn, but she realized she was at risk of falling into the same trap she had with bertrand the applin, or whatever his name had been. if she didn’t want to be lonely forever, she ought to focus.

her eyes squinted a little as she felt her mental step slip on the same trick she had used against so many others in the past. it fell flat, though, like a bad joke. she smirked with a light huff and crossed her arms over the table, leaning a little closer. ”hmm. i don’t think i remember. remind me what happens, again?”

andres buenaventura

the first date had not been good luck. a detective named URIAH BLACK . it was asking for trouble, so she’d slipped him a fake number and hoped not to see him again. the tequila still sat on her tongue, too sweet. not her favorite. 

luckily, the next guy was also good looking. a little bit older than the last one. hopefully not drunk.

”hi! i’m nina. nice to meet you.” she sat down in front of him, smiling and extending a hand with long, shiny nails. she settled into her seat, then. her togepi was pulled into her lap. a good luck charm.

andres buenaventura