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Raide made her way over the rocky terrain, looking at each of several branches in the path appraisingly, but they all seemed the same to her. She might have thought that her map could be made to zoom in on the individual paths, but it only labeled the routes, cities, and some other landmarks such as Mt. Moon and the Daycare. So much for a straightforward way towards Cerulean. She felt very, very lost suddenly, despite her having come all that way without issue. It looked like either way she went, there was likely to be a steep incline or a steep drop that she would have to navigate without injuring herself at all. Unlike Ichigo, she didn’t really have anyone with her to help her along until they got somewhere.

To the right, a steep cliff to climb... To the left a steep cliff to jump off of. Where to go? Raide’s furrowed brow was complimented by the expression of concentration on her face. But it didn’t really matter where she went, because all of the paths were supposed to lead to the same destination. Heading to the left for no particular reason, she crouched down and sat on the ledge before dropping down. The impact with the ground was jarring, but not painful, and she was able to keep moving forward. If she strained her eyes to see into the distance, Raide imagined that she could see the city in the distance, but that was probably her imagination. She hoped that the city was more exciting than the route, because this leg of the trip had been relatively uneventful so far. Raide kept walking. Any way should lead her back to where she needed to go.

Embarrassing. Two minutes with the guy- who seemed friendly enough with quite the theatrical streak- and she had gotten lost behind in some sort of crowd. Luckily Sam had stopped and allowed her to catch up, but to Raide it was the never ending pattern of getting swept up in whatever crowd was going in whatever direction that was beginning to get old to her. Really, the metaphor she kept drawing up with a water-Pokemon out of water seemed to apply to this situation, too. She was just swept along in the currents. However, she began to feel better the moment she stepped out of the city.

The walk went in a companionable- Raide couldn’t tell if it was awkward for him or not- silence for a few minutes until Raide realized why this area was familiar to her, but not. “Y-You know,” She began slowly, “I’m pretty sure that I got lost somewhere near this area the last time I came around.” Purposefully, the little fact about that incident being yesterday and continuing on into the city was left out, though she still couldn’t blame herself. It really was a maze out here. But then again... “It’s one thing to find your way on a path, but how do you think you’re going to find an elusive legendary when you get over there? It’s not a very social type, is it?”

Raide let out a small giggle disguised as a cough at Sam’s- well Chuck’s, though she didn’t know if that was what he actually said- comment and partially hid a wide grin at the insane assertion that, of course, a Zapdos would only eat Legendary Pokemon seed. It seemed like she’d picked a good pair to travel with. The Pokemon seemed to have a good head on his shoulders... Maybe Scyther’d end up liking him. It would have to be tiring hanging out with the Pokemon equivalent of small children and... Raide... All the time.

As they neared the river, Raide slowed down, remembering her time at the river yesterday and decided to approach it more cautiously this time. It might be wise to greet the Pokemon swimming in there before approaching them, though Raide never got the opportunity. There was a shadow. An earthquake. A roar. “DDDRRAAWWWRRR!” Oh dear. It looked like she really was going to have to do something. Hopefully not with first-aid. Raide would have felt smug (she might have felt a little smug at begin right) but she really hated her accurate prediction right now. And it wasn’t even legendary as far as she could tell.

The Pokedex shook as she fumbled with it, trying to get it out of her bag without breaking it or drawing unneeded attention. Finally, after pointing around at the huge creature, the machine spat out, “Dragonite-” Oh. Great. “-The Dragon Pokemon. This extremely rare and highly intelligent type is able to fly faster than any known Pokemon.” Raide clapped the small machine closed and stuck it inside the bag. Silly little piece of technology. Why did it have to just go around and confirm her worries? She exchanged the Pokedex for a Pokeball, selecting the only one of her Pokemon able to fly- or even fast enough to keep up with its opponent. Hopefully, the combination of Scyther and Chuck, who Sam was currently ordering to do a combination of Brick Break and Strength (she hadn’t been paying attention to the rest of the battle), would be enough to save their lives for the day. As it was, the Dragon-Pokemon was looking more angry by the second, not that she was an expert on reading expressions.

“Scyther, I choose you! Follow the orange one and keep using wing attack. Bite it if you can!” The Mantis-Pokemon looked at Raide incredulously, as if he just could not believe that she had managed to pick a fight with a Dragonite. Raide was too worried to care. “Don’t let up unless you have to!”

“Scy~ther,” The green Pokemon muttered loudly (enough for it to count in Raide’s mind as a battle cry) as he flapped his wings and rose into the air, picking up speed as he went further along. He managed to land a few good hits, but the Dragonite was a very tough opponent. As Scyther darted around his head, attacking its wings in particular, it managed to get in a massive swipe with its tail, batting the Bug-Type away for a moment before he tried to get back in the fight. Chuck, however, looked like he was just as ready to fight as Scyther was. "Scy!"

Raide watched the battle from a relatively safe distance, shouting out commands to Scyther intermittently when she thought that she might see the scope of the battle a bit better from far away than at close quarters. She hadn’t commanded him to pursue the Dragonite with such viciousness or tenacity, but she was glad to see that the two battlers were making progress... Until the Dragonite decided to fight back with more fury than ever before. ‘Stay down, stay down,’ Raide pleaded mentally as she began to make her way over, but was disappointed in a somewhat proud way as the next two minutes followed the worst possible path for her.

“Scyther!” She shouted as the purple Pokemon slammed into him with a flash and emerged a moment later. It might have worried her more that the Hitmonlee was able to carry him around than if he had just been sitting there. If he was awake, he would never have allowed that particular action against him. No, if he was sitting so still, then he would have to be unconscious at the very best... And Raide didn’t want to think about what sort of shape he had to be in after suffering a blast like he did, then subsequently being slammed into the air. Crying Celebis! He had basically been squashed like a bug Pokemon!

When Raide reached the place where Chuck had left her Pokemon, she first knelt down to check first off if he was, well, alive. She wasn’t an expert at judging injuries from afar, and she hadn’t been in too many life-or-death battles, so there was no harm in just making sure. Thankfully, she was able to determine that he was still kicking and estimated that about two seconds after getting healed he was going to let everyone know just how he felt about getting kicked around like that. She let out a deep breath once her lungs had begun to burn and she was reassured that once they got to a Pokemon Center, Scyther would be right back up on his somewhat disinterested feet. Finally, she returned him to his Pokeball... Because there was nothing good that could come out of trying to move him without it.

A moment after making sure that Scyther was alright, Raide stood up, turned around, walked a few steps, and quite promptly tripped over a circular-type object. She was planning on congratulating the other team- in much higher spirits than she was in- on the victory and evolution, but the fall managed to suitably distract her from that task. ‘The land’s completely barren... What could that have been?’ It was the obvious question that was quickly answered and replaced with another. ‘Huh? How did an egg get here?’ Curiously, she appraised the blue and white egg, placing a hand on it and noting that it was more warm than cool. Strange. Oh well. She hefted the egg up and took it along with her to where she had dropped her bag, being careful not to shake it too much. She didn’t want to scramble it. Briefly, she considered the consequences of brining it along with her: Either she was stealing an egg from its mother (who had attacked the travelers seemingly without provocation) or she was saving it from being eaten by some other, larger Pokemon.

“C-Congrats, you two. I’m really glad you were able to -- win,” Raide told her two companions as she approached them. Her egg was in the bag and she looked less shaken than she actually felt, her hands clasped in front of her as she fidgeted. “Umm.... There’s a Pokemon Center on the way to Lavender town. I-I think that we’ll need to at least stop by there. I’d rather get Scyther fixed up as soon as possible, but, umm, I’m not sure how much of a hurry you’re in...” She spoke quietly.