As we had hoped, we managed to find the mountain-lake Lucas had read about. We merely had to walk up a side valley and soon, it opened up, forming a vast bowl. From the mountain above us, a small stream was cascading over the rocks, feeding into the lake and we could see a similar stream escape on the other side.

The lake itself was only about a hundred metres across, maybe two hundred in length, Even from afar, we could see a few Pokémon nesting in the cliffs above and it took only moments for the first Starly to decide to take umbrage with our presence. Curiously, it was one of the rare occurrences that wild Pokémon had formed a swarm. There were easily a dozen Starly and even two Staravia, all swooping down on us with fierce determination from the cliffs.

“Together,” I called out, already pulling out Su’s Pokéball. In a case like this, trying to fight individual battles would only lead to massive trouble, we had to fight together and be ready to run at any moment if things turned south.

The others moved just as I did, Lucas calling out Gem, Cliff calling out Shelly and Claire calling out Myna.

“Lucas, can Gem block up-front?” I asked, trying to get a strategy in the few precious seconds the avian attackers needed to reach us.

“Gem, do it,” he ordered, his Onyx already slithering forward, the rocky body creating a living wall.

“Su, use Gem’s cover to strike, take down those Staravia,” I continued ordering. Cliff must have realised what I had in mind, ordering his Shelly to cover their backs and shoot down any Starly that made it past Gem.

“Myna, stay with us and cover,” Claire ordered, unwilling to send her partner into the chaotic aerial battle. A wise choice, in my opinion, allowing Gem and Su to attack with impunity, without having to fear hitting Myna.

One of the Staravia was the first to reach Gem, the other hanging back with the rest of the Starly. It came in incredibly fast, already glowing with the clear light of a Quick Attack, trying to get past Gem. However, before it got there, Gem started to glow with a sleet-grey sheen, using the somewhat familiar move Harden to brace for impact. The Staravia might have overestimated its own prowess or underestimated its foe, but even in a Pokémon battle, the result of maybe ten kilograms of avian impacting hundreds of kilograms of hardened rock wasn’t pretty. The energy of the Staravia wasn’t strong enough to break Gem, it only managed to push her back a little while the Staravia tumbled to the ground, looking quite thoroughly dazed.

Su didn’t hesitate to take advantage of a fallen foe, immediately bouncing up Gem’s body to pounce on the Staravia from above, his claws already sparking with lightning. The Staravia tried to move, but it never had a chance before Su landed on top of it, savaging it with claws and lightning.

After that first attack, the battle turned into pure chaos. Gem mostly blocked with her body, periodically hardening to keep strong, only occasionally creating rocks of slate-grey energy and throwing them at the incoming Starly. The Starly mostly focused on the giant stone-serpent, especially when Shelly began blasting any Starly that managed to get past, softening them up further.

If they managed to get past Shelly, there was Myna, already airborne and waiting for them, seizing the initiative from them with precise Quick Attacks and the occasional Wing Attack. Weakened as they were once they got that far, Myna was easily enough to keep things under control.

Last, but most certainly not least, was Su. It was difficult to say who was more important in the impromptu group battle, Su or Gem, both played their parts. Gem as the wall, while Su was the cannon, bouncing up and down Gem’s body and the valley walls around us, using them to pounce at Starly in flight and dragging them down, where he could finish them off.

His attacks were brutal and relentless, once a Starly was in his claws, it didn’t get back up. If it weren’t Pokémon fighting, but animals, the whole thing would have been a blood bath. Even knowing that the avians would be fine, eventually, a small part of my mind was horrified at the violence.

As fierce and brutal as the battle was, it was just as short. After maybe ten minutes of fighting, both Staravia had been knocked out and only two of the Starly had managed to flee back into the cliffs, leaving the rest of them twitching on the ground.

On our side, Gem looked quite beaten up, her stony body even showing a few strange cracks, while Su’s fur was ruffled and mussed, with visible scratches and marks all over. Similarly, Myna had lost a couple of feathers and could only sit on the ground, looking as if she was about to faint. Only Shelly looked somewhat fine, mostly because she had been focused on covering Gem from a distance, using her Water Gun to shoot down the Starly, never engaging them directly. She had taken a few Gusts, but they had failed to leave a lasting impact.

In unison, we all rushed forward to take care of our partners, quickly making sure that there were no real injuries and applying some Potion. Once they were all cared for, we called them back into their Pokéballs and began checking the avians.

“This one needs a bit of help,” Lucas called out, as he was checking the second Staravia. It had been teamed up by Gem and Su, Su bringing it down and stunning it, before Gem had slammed her heavy body right into it, like a massive, stoney edge. Even the powerful and strange bodies of Pokémon had their limits and it looked like the Staravia had found that limit. It wouldn’t be fatal, probably, but it was bad enough that we trainers had an obligation of care.

“I’ll treat it,” Cliff promised, reaching into his backpack to bring out the bottle of Revive. Normally, Revive was applied directly to a Pokéball, using the optical port and some sort of adapter on the Revive, but it could also be applied directly to a Pokémon, similar to a Potion. How exactly it worked, I had no idea, Lucian had tried to explain the mechanics behind Pokémon bodies to me in the past but only succeeded in giving me a headache.

Either way, as we were watching, Cliff carefully applied the Potion to the Staravia’s broken body. There was a faint glow, somewhat similar to that of normal-type moves, and the Staravia twitched a little, before resting, still unconscious but no longer looking crushed.

“It should be fine in a couple of hours, just like the others,” Cliff told us, standing back up.

Once we had dealt with the avians, we entered the bowl itself. There were quite a few nice, flat spots between the rocks to set up our tents and soon, we had a comfortable campsite ready. After a brief discussion, Claire and I headed down to the lake, moving behind one of the larger rocks to be out of their line of sight and began washing up

The sensation of washing off the sweat of the last few days was purely divine, the icy water a wonderful balm after days of exhaustion.

“Do you think the Meditite will let itself get caught tomorrow?” Claire asked as she was coming out of the water after ducking into it.

“Maybe,” I admitted, gazing across the lake, making sure that no Pokémon with mischief in mind was closing in on us. “I mean, I’m not sure about its personality, but I think it mostly attacked due to annoyance, not because it wanted to challenge us. Who knows,” I shrugged, not quite sure what to say.

The more I learned about Pokémon, the less I thought I understood. Some of their traits seemed almost random and yet, I had a feeling it was more than that. But what ‘more’, I had no idea.

“I want to try,” Claire psyched herself up, looking quite adorable, standing there naked, wet hair plastered to her skull, pumping her fist in conviction. Laughing, I had to agree with her, the way she looked at that moment, no Pokémon would be able to withstand the adorable assault.

“You’ll get your chance,” I cheered her on, “I’m just annoyed that I’ll have to head into the Underground to search for another Larvitar, the one I saw got away. That’s a Pokémon I will catch,” I grumbled, hopping off the stone I had been sitting on.

“Don’t let it become an obsession,” Claire reminded me. There were tales of Trainers who had been chasing after a specific Pokémon all their lives. Some hunted for myths and .egends, while for others, a single, mundane Pokémon became an obsession that didn’t let them rest.

“I won’t,” I assured her, though I wasn’t quite as certain in my heart. I truly wanted to catch the Rock Skin Pokémon. With a sigh, I started stripping, leaving Claire basking and drying in the remaining rays of the sun. At least the water was wonderful, even if there were no Larviatar nearby.