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The pair would arrive at the lake, finding a beautiful still body of water, the sun's warm rays reflecting off its surface. Lily pads dotted the lake, some of which Sub had no doubt were Lotad, and on the sides clusters of cat-tails were seen as well. He would notice clumps of wild leeks growing on the shore as well and immediately knew there had to be Farfetch'd nearby. In his youth the ducks were extremely rare, almost extinct, but these days wherever there are leek there are Farfetch'd. Continuing to scan the lake he spotted a Goldeen as it poked its head out of the water and then dived back down, its little horn the last thing that disappeared. Looking down at Hop-Frog, who was also captivated by the scenery, the man would smile. This was nice, he was glad he came out here.

"Goos!" Hissed the creature that suddenly made itself known as it bounced Hop-Frog, rushing out from some nearby tall grass. The next thing Sub knew his frog and this wild Yungoos were rolling around in the grass, headed towards the lake. Poor Hop-Frog was completely blindsided by his assailant and already took a powerful Bite in their scuffle, the creature obviously having Stake Out'd and prepared its attack. What a brute.

"Hop-Frog! Get it off! Use Water Gun!" Sub commanded. He would watch as Hop-Frog managed to get a hold of the Yungoos, grabbing it by both of its forelegs and holding it away from his own face as the Normal type wildly bit at the air between them, craving another taste of frog flesh. Hop-Frog would build up a far amount of water in its gullet as it held the Yungoos back and in the same moment it let go of the weasel he would unleash his Water Gun, blasting the enemy right in the face and sending it flying off of him thanks to the force of the Water move. With it off of him Hop-Frog would be quick to jump onto his feet and prepare for more.

The Yungoos would splash into the lake, already wet before it even got there. The frenzied creature would not wait to retaliate as it came running back out of the lake, soaked, and slinging mud at the Froakie with Mud-Slap. First an ambush and now trying to blind its opponent with mud, does the Yungoos species not fight far or just this one?

Getting hit with the mud, which surprisingly had some force behind it, Hop-Frog would let out annoyed grunts and wipe from mud off from one of its large eyes. It was slightly more difficult to see now but the frog was not going to let that get in the way of punishing this beast which was still charging towards him. "Use Smokescreen!" Sub cried out, not wanting to risk his frog missing an attack and being wide open for whatever the Yungoos had planned. With a nod Hop-Frog would stand up straight on its hind legs and with his hands interlocked some of his fingers and made a 'ninjutsu' gesture. This gesture was immediately followed up with a poof of black smoke emitting from his and rapidly consuming the area, the Yungoos rushing right into it before it even had time to realize what happened.

Now surrounded by darkness the wild Yungoos would be dazed and confuse, unable to see where it was let alone where its opponent was. This time it would be Hop-Frog who would deliver sneak attacks. "Now, Swift! Show me a big one!" Sub ordered.

With a croak Hop-Frog would leap up out of the Smokescreen, charging up energy between its two hands which took on the form of a star. As he gained height his star would grow in size until it was roughly a foot in diameter, much bigger than a typical Swift 'star'.

As his began his descent back down Hop-Frog would hurl the Swift star into the smoke with as much force as he could muster, the star slicing through the smoke and blowing it away in its path. The smoke would clear just soon enough for the Yungoos to see the large energy star coming for it but not quick enough to do anything about it as the Swift slammed into the Yungoos, the star sweeping it off its feet and carrying it off towards the lake. The star would take the Yungoos as far as the center of the lake before it finally exploded, sending the Normal type falling into the water.

"Nice one!" Sub commended his frog as he landed, the Froakie letting out a prideful croak. The two would then stand there for a minute or two, expecting the Yungoos to return for more but alas it did not. Figuring it had accepted defeat, or had been knocked out, the Snagem leader decided to walk off and see what else they could find. For now though he was proud of his frog who shown a natural talent for battling.

[Today only! Roll a Basculin of any color and you may choose to have a White-Striped Basculin appear instead!]

The grass seemed to get taller quickly in the direction that Sebastian had chosen to head off in. It didnt take long for it to reach his waist, making it more difficult to walk through, or see where their feet were for that matter. Unfortunately, it meant that Tali trotted on some poor Pokemon's tail, earning her a bite to one leg. The Blitzle reared up, revealing a Yungoos that had decided to latch on before scurrying up the Electrified Pokemon's leg. The Loitering Pokemon leaped towards the young hybrid in an attempt to get away from the larger Pokemon, landing square in Sebastian's face.

Neither knew how to react, Sebastian instinctively grabbed the Pokemon that was suddenly attached to him and held it away from him. "I-I'm sorry that Tali stepped on you, but that wasn't very nice."

"Goos!" the Yungoos only hissed in response, trying to squirm out of Sebastian's grasp.

Suspecting something was about to happen, Tali started to Charge up. The Blitzle readied herself for whatever might come next. Sure enough, a few moments later Sebastian would lose his grip on the wiggly weasel, and the Yungoos would launch itself back towards Tali, only to be met with a Shock Wave as it landed on her back. Instead of clinging to her, Tali would buck the smaller Pokemon off, stomping one hoof next to it and startling it away. The Yungoos hissed again as it stared at the two of them from a distance, not wanting to get further injured.

"Let's just keep going Tali, it seems kind of mean," Sebastian spoke softly to his Pokemon, wandering back into the grass as he did.

A Flabebe. The grass parted to allow the flower-riding Fairy-type through, though it didn't appear to see them right away. When it did, however, it wasted no time in firing off a Fairy Wind, catching both Brian and Sparx off guard. The Yamper tried to dodge, but the attack clipped his side, causing him to growl a bit in pain. While it hadn't done much damage, it had still hurt, and he was quick to respond with a Spark attack before Brian could order him to move. The electrified Corgi slammed into the Flabebe with enough force to send it tumbling, but it wasn't out yet.

The Fairy-type got up and fired off a Razor Leaf, which Sparx only barely managed to dodge. The Flabebe then used Grassy Terrain, healing both itself and Sparx for a small amount of damage, and when Brian saw it starting to glow green, he knew what it was doing. "Hit it with Spark again, Sparx!" he ordered, and the Yamper obeyed, this time landing a critical hit and knocking the Fairy-type out. The Grassy Terrain had done its job before it faded; Brian didn't even need to give Sparx a berry to heal him. "Come on, boy, let's see what else we can find," he said, rubbing the Electric-type's head before walking again.

Suddenly, she remembered something. Crystal had given her an Ultra Ball when she entered because she wasn't aware you could use Safari Balls, and somehow in the heat of battle she blanked. She rummaged in the bag for the Ultra Ball and chucked it at Phanpy. Would it connect? Would she be spared the indignity of a Safari Contest emptyhanded?

The answer, unfortunately for the sheriff of New Po, was a resounding no. She sighed, recalled Corphish, and trudged out of the cave. Now she wanted an Inkay and/or a Phanpy—and was going to have to work the real hard way to get either of them.

Freth managed to guide the dragon off to where she wanted, albeit to the Shadow Pokémon’s chagrin. Freth realized nearly everything that she does could set a Shadow Pokémon off without notice. And pulling it away from a fight is a good way to do that. She could see it; the agitation in the Hakamo-o’s eyes. To make matters worse, she had no good way to defend herself other than recalling the Pokémon back to a Pokeball. The Vivid Scent helped, but it was a temporary fix if nothing else. “Look, we’re trying to make the most of this excursion, alright?” she told the Shadow Pokémon. He wouldn’t reply. Freth expected no less.

“You make it sound like that you can be relatable to a Shadow Pokémon. He doesn’t care.” The Hunter spoke once more.

“Look, it doesn’t matter if they’re shadowfied or not. It’s the only way to get them better…” she said under her breath. “You have to get them to know you care, which I do. Otherwise you’re just training for no reason. I would have thought you would have known that. Or at the very least, since my memories is practically a public library to you, you would have seen that.”

“I’ve heard about it, both the original version of shadowfication, which was effectively brainwashing, and now the viral plague that Ein set off. Regardless of how its induced, it really doesn’t look like it matters a whole lot. You’re still doing what the Pokémon is basically been warped to do anyways: fight.” She said. “I’d imagine it more like solidifying the Shadow Pokémon’s position instead of getting it back to normal.”

“You need to stop ‘imagining’. It’s a lot more complicated than that.” Freth said.

“If you say so.”

Freth rolled her eyes for a second, then took notice to a Pokémon making its way out of the brush. She heard of this little thing. A Formantis. While the tiny ones weren’t that much of a threat, the bigger Lurantis were pretty formidable. Possibly could rival a Scyther if it tried. For now, though…

“Alright Hakamo-o, let’s go.”

The Hakamo-o marched forward to square down the Formantis which got the Formantis back away a couple of steps. Freth almost felt guilty for a second, at least up until the Formantis decided to take initiative, leaping up and unleashing a flurry of Razor Leaves upon the Hakamo-o. The grass attack barely fazed the dragon. “Hakamo-o, use Dragon Claw!” she shouted. The Hakamo-o rushed in, lighting its claws up in draconic power and swatted the Formantis with such force. The Formantis hit the ground a good ways away. The Formantis, reeling from the attack, tries to retaliate, rushing as fast as it could towards the taller, much more powerful dragon, doing the best Slash attack it could. It was an annoyance to the Shadow Pokémon, for certain. “A” for effort as far as Freth was concerned, but… “Hakamo-o, Headbutt.” As the Formantis flailed to try to slash at the dragon once again, the fighting dragon scooped it up in its hands, picking up the tiny Pokémon and driving its scaly head full force right into the grass type. The Hakamo-o then would merely drop the Formantis, completely out cold from the attack.

“You’re a bad person.” The Hunter said.

“Shut up.”

Abby ran up to the contest grounds out of breath, with Palladia, her Machamp, keeping just ahead of her, The tall, four-armed, somehow feminine wall of muscle looked down on her trainer with a sense of concern, but the young Deathrage was quick to get her second wind. "Whoo! Looks like we made it in time," Absinthe cheered, clapping her Machamp on the back before walking up to the contest holders and sighing up. With three Safari Balls on her belt, a secret fourth in her bag, and the rest of her Pokemon training against wild Pokemon on the surface of Mt. Silver, Absinthe made her way to the Forest area ready to hunt down some Pokemon.

As she went to guide the Hakamo-o away from the self-destructing Ferroseed, she went on to take a better assessment of the damage that the dragon had took. He still wasn’t in the least fazed it seemed like, but she knew of the Shadow Pokémon’s off-the-wall tolerances to pain. The apparent burns, scrapes, and so on, its scales nearly compromised from the blast. He was going to need to shed as his species are known for, but how long is that, and for that matter, how willing was he was going to be a whole other matter. He was going to need to get to a Pokémon center soon, regardless of all which. She checked her pack once again; she knew she had the stuff to cure paralysis and poison and things of that matter…she also had one revive as a contingency plan. But as for immediate treatment? “Crap, no potions…wait, how long have I been out of those?”

“You honestly don’t remember? This just continues to get better.” The hunter noted.

“Shut up. Its fine. Maybe.” She said. “Maybe…you know how to use a Drain Punch attack?” she asked the Hakamo-o. The dragon wouldn’t reply. “Hello? Drain punch? God, you’re not going to help at all, aren’t you?”

“He doesn’t care.”

“I gathered. Ugh…if this thing doesn’t have a Drain Punch attack, this is going to honestly suck.” She said.

“You are in a forest where it seems like half the Pokémon here so far are actually resistant to such an attack. Speaking of, is that another Venomoth?” the Hunter spoke up.

Freth looked up and sure enough, another Venomoth. This forest was apparently loaded with them. “Oh come on.” Freth then said. She then started to take the Hakamo-o away from any potential fight.