Our experience during the last day was both exhilarating and daunting at the same time. We had been fighting battle after battle, once even fighting at the same time, when a Kricketot bumbled onto the scene of Vio and I trying to break the defence of a Kakuna. Claire engaged, solving the problem, but it was a little too close for comfort.

Not that we let the encounter stop us, it only drove us to push harder.

“Do you think it’d be worth it to catch one of these?” Claire asked, as we were walking away from the latest scene of battle, where another Burmy had been burned by Prince Charming’s embers.

“Depends. Neither of us know their niche, so you might vibe well with them. But do you really want to try training a giant bug?” I asked, knowing that I had little interest in them. Certainly, they gained power quickly, their evolutions occuring at an early stage, but that also meant their power plateaued early.

“Nah, not them. Was thinking about a Shinx, that last one seemed feisty. Well, it may have been, until your Violet got her claws into its mind.” she shuddered, thinking back to the encounter. It had been a bit of a surprise to me that the small feline had managed to sneak up on us. Certainly, it was a type of cat, but it was one with a coat of blue and black fur, with yellow patches near the ears and a bright yellow, fluff-ball on the tip of its tail. Not quite the colours I would have expected on a stealth-predator. During the fight, when it started to use crackling sparks to attack, I could only shake my head.

Regardless, what I thought about its tactics, I had taken it seriously and during the fight, Vio had shown some impressive tricks. She carefully dodged around the Shinx’ lightning-quick attacks, slowly messing with its mind despite getting struck by a few sparks from time to time, pushing her advantage as it lost coordination. And then, finally, she found a large enough opening and took full advantage of it.

With her manipulations, I had known the opening would be coming, it had to, and waited for it. Once the Shinx stumbled, I called out and Vio unveiled her latest move. I was certain part of the reason she had learned it, and used it the way she did, was due to my training, even if a large part of her growth came from recent combat-experience.

As the Shinx tried to leap past her, trailing sparks, she had decisively stepped up, raising two fingers to her lips and gently kissing them, before pressing those two fingers, now shrouded in a hot-pink glow, to the Shinx side. The glow jumped over and instead of continuing its retreat, the Shinx faltered, stumbling while Vio quietly sang into its ear, until it keeled over, utterly drained.

In comparison, Vio had looked completely energised afterwards, only a little out of breath. It may have been my delusion, but I thought there was a flush on her cheeks that had nothing to do with exhaustion.

“Mhm, why not start scanning them. Maybe one of them will catch your fancy.” I suggested, to which she nodded.

“Yeah, I will. At least if we stop running into those bugs.” she shuddered, ducking past a low-hanging branch.

“Let’s be fair, it’s more that we are running towards them, not merely into them.” I replied, sniffing the air for the peculiar scent I was now associating with Burmy. Claire just laughed, knowing that I was right.

“Oh, can you let me deal with the non-buggy foes for now? I don’t want Twiggy to fall behind and he’s got a tough time dealing with bugs.” she asked, when I stopped dead in my tracks, a noise catching my attention.

“Sure. I’ll even let you start right now.” I replied, gesturing towards that very noise, the gnawing sounds of a Bidoof, trying to break a tree.

“Haven’t seen one of those in a while.” she muttered, moving up to take the lead in engaging the Bidoof, the first we had seen since leaving the Route. Following behind, I could only shrug. There were only so many different Pokémon that called this area their home, and unless there was a migration going on, that didn’t change too much. And getting caught in a migration could be… very, very bad.

It didn’t take Claire long to knock the Bidoof around, Twiggy preening a little once his foe had been knocked to the ground. Claire happily applied Potion, in order to make sure her partner was in good condition, just in case there was another encounter.

Once again, it was my nose that spotted the Burmy first. Their scent, likely designed to draw in Pokémon they could ambush, was simply a wonderful beacon, drawing us in and setting them aflame. In that regard, it served its purpose.

Quietly moving into the clearing, I took out Prince Charming’s Pokéball, when Claire put a hand on my shoulder, getting my attention.

“Over there.” she pointed and I noticed the blue ears with yellow fur point out of a nearby brush, a Shinx trying to hide its presence.

“You think it wants to attack the Burmy?” I asked, before a grin appeared on my face. Two, for the price of one, if we had the courage to take the fight.

“Might be your Shinx. I’ll deal with the Burmy.” I decided, sending out Prince Charming while Claire scrambled to catch up. It hadn’t been long since Twiggy had fought, but given the match-up between Myna and the Shinx, she was sending her first partner out to do the job.

“Charm, let’s watch it burn.” I ordered and Prince Charming was letting the Embers fly. It was a simple strategy but one that had proven true during the last day. He, too, had learned a new move, breathing out the flames of his ancestry, Fire, mixed with the fearsome presence of Dragons, burning with a deep crimson, opposed to the orange of normal fire. I had a feeling, those would burn even under water, their nature enough to send a shiver of awe down my spine.

Sadly, their mixed nature meant that they weren’t as useful when it simply came to burning things. To face the Burmy, and generally the bugs of the area, simple Fire was our best bet.

Prince Charming didn’t need a lot of guidance to deal with the Burmy, allowing me to keep an eye out for trouble interfering in our battle, while glancing at Claire’s fight with the Shinx from time to time.

It looked like it was going well, though there was a look of tension on her face and a second Pokéball in her hands, replacing the Pokédex she had used earlier. Apparently, she had made a decision.

“Charm, knock it off the tree.” I called out, deciding to speed things up a little. Prince Charming had been great about focusing and training his flame, so letting him blow off some steam and fight with his claws once again should be fine.

The change was instant, the moment he heard my voice obvious. He had been busy dodging the buzzing, neon-green projectiles the Burmy had sent out, when he suddenly shot out of the smokescreen, leaping towards the tree the Burmy was hanging on, even as he took a few extra hits. In a move I hadn’t expected, he jumped against the tree half-way up, not even trying to hang on, instead, he briefly dug in the claws on his feet, before pushing off again, this time gaining enough altitude to strike the Burmy directly.

Using the momentum gained from the jump, he spun, the flame on his tail blazing with heat. I had to laugh, when he slammed his tail into the Burmy, sending it flying across the clearing.

“Keep going, you’ve almost got it.” Claire encouraged Twiggy, making me glance over. Twiggy had cornered the Shinx, the leaf-like projectiles he could shoot out forcing it to dodge in the direction Twiggy wanted it to. Not willing to take those punishing blows, the Shinx was now with the back to a tree, giving Twiggy a chance he wasn’t letting go.

Ignoring the sparks sent out by his foe, Twiggy moved in, glowing with white light as he did, just as Claire ordered. Certainly, pushing things with more Leafage would be advantageous, but if she depleted the Shinx’ energy too much, it would faint. Once it was no longer able to remain active, a Pokéball wouldn’t be able to draw in its energy, making it impossible to be caught until it recovered, which could take hours, maybe a whole day.

While Prince Charming stood over the defeated form of the Burmy, basking in his victory, achieved with tooth and claw for once, Twiggy finally caught the Shinx between a shell and a hard place, his Tackles driving the feline into the tree he had cornered it against.

“Well done, Charm.” I praised him, giving him the adulation he was due for his battle.

“Enough, step back.” Claire called out on the other side of the clearing, throwing the Pokéball. The red light of the capture vortex lit up the area for a moment, before the Shinx disappeared, the Pokéball vibrating from the strain to seal it in.

I was about to congratulate her, when the vibration paused, the Pokéball’s seal breaking and the Shinx reappearing in a burst of light.

Dejected, Claire called out, “Finish it. If it doesn’t want to join us, so be it.” she ordered Twiggy, who instantly obliged, sending out green, leaf-like projectiles that struck the still slightly dazed feline, sending it sprawling to the floor, no longer able to get up.

“Let’s move on. This one was not to be.” Claire sighed, making sure that the Shinx wasn’t permanently harmed as she picked up the destroyed Pokéball. The capture failed, the crystal-matrix within needed to be recycled, while the Shinx was partially imprinted by it, making it impossible to capture for a bit, just like it was impossible to capture the Pokémon owned by another trainer, unless it hadn’t been within its Pokéball for weeks.

“You’ll find another partner.” I assured Claire, giving her shoulder a brief squeeze, as the two of us were walking away, pushing forward, in order to get back to the regular Route.