Now that the battle was over and Roland was near Chapo again, she could really see the number that Pidgeotto had done to him. The turtle's shell was scuffed and scratched up beyond belief, and his bushes were now angrily disheveled with branches and twigs sticking out here and there, bent and broken. What little aid Absorb covered was slowly doing its job, and when the girl looked hard enough she could actually see her pokemon's wounds fade away and his ruffled appearance mend itself bit by bit. This was welcome news, of course, but Chapo was hoping that she wouldn't have to send Roland into battle a whole lot more for their trek through the woods. The way the turtle strutted about with a grin on his face seemed to indicate that he had plenty of gas left in the tank, but he was hardly in the posession to run a gauntlet if he had to. Not to mention that the forest was supposed to be quite rampant with bug and flying types, both of which weren't exactly easy setups for a grass type like Grotle. Sure, Roland won this match, but Chapo didn't like to go out of her way stacking the deck against herself. Roland nudged at Chapo's legs, clearly gesturing for her to get back on his back.
"No, it's okay Roland. You rest." Chapo said, shaking her head. She enjoyed riding on Roland, but it seemed rather insensitive to do it after he fought a hard fight. If Roland had any problem with this, he didn't show it. Unlike before when he wouldn't stop asking until Chapo complied, this time he gave a friendly "Grotle" that seemed to say "no hard feelings" before getting back up. The trainer smiled and stroked the turtle pokemon appreciatively before looking back at her newly used Heal Ball. She could barely make out the colour and patterns on the orb in this darkness, even with its bright pink body and pastel markings. She thought about the Pidgeotto inside. Should she let it out so soon after catching it? It had been in quite a tiff when she had been fighting it. What if it was still angry? What if it was absolutely livid now? The ball would've fully healed it upon capture, she doubted Roland would be able to go round two with it back up to full strength. The bird proved itself to be incredibly wily, Chapo doubted it'd fall to the same ploy twice. At the same time, what sort of trainer would she be if she was afraid of her own pokemon? Silently reaching her decision, Chapo took the Heal Ball and activated it, letting it fall to the ground as it loosed a flash of light. The Pidgeotto flew out of the light rapidly, the only noise it made being the beating of its wings as it shot skyward. However, instead of screaming and initiating the attack, it gave a small, lazy circle in the air before landing on Roland's back. Its feet touched down gently, and its sharp talons didn't so much at tap against the Grotle's shell. Pidgeotto's wings furled in to its sides as the bird stared directly into Chapo's eyes.
Chapo couldn't help but balk at the bird's stare. It was hard and stern like steel, but while Chapo expected the pokemon to be even the slightest bit angry with its situation, there didn't seem to be any anger to be had in Pidgeotto's eyes. If there was one thing Chapo didn't fancy herself to be, it was an empath. As far as reading others went, her unique powers offered about as much help with people as they would with rocks. However, the girl seemed to understand her catch's feelings as they locked eyes. Pidgeotto didn't feel any malice or hate towards being caught, although its pride was perhaps a bit wounded. Instead it seemed to be sizing Chapo up, gauging just what exactly its new mistress was capable of. Despite being its trainer regardless, Chapo couldn't help but feel worried that she would be found wanting by this harsh pokemon's standards. As if to deny this fear, though, Pidgeotto suddenly gave a curt, sollemn nod before breaking its gaze and preening itself nonchalantly. Still not quite understanding what had just happened, Chapo felt a cold shiver run down her spine as she slowly reached out to touch her new pokemon. She had almost reached it when one of its eyes opened again, glaring through what felt like Chapo's soul as both trainer and pokemon were completely still. The girl was about to move her hand back to her side when Pidgeotto closed its eyes again and leaned over and forward, its neck and head so close to Chapo's hand that its beautiful plumage tickled her palm. Taking the gesture for a sign of consent, Chapo stroked the pokemon the same gentle, soothing way she did for Roland and her siblings. Pidgeotto's soft feathers felt unlike anything she had felt before, and its body was surprisingly warm and soothing to the touch. Overjoyed by this development but worried that saying anything would spoil the sanctity of the moment, Chapo silently pulled out her pokedex with her free hand and browsed at her new catch's data. The Pidgeotto was a girl, and rather young. As soon as Chapo let go of Pidgeotto to examine her pokedex in more detail, the pokemon straightened up, looking at her trainer with a somewhat softer gaze.
"...you're a clever girl, aren't you?" It wasn't phrased in the condescending way that some people would playfully use for their house pets. Chapo asked it with a friendly tone and an obvious bit of respect. Pidgeotto simply looked at Chapo in a way that implied that she already knew this fact, but wasn't bringing it up because that would be impolite. Chapo just smiled back. "You'll need a name, I suppose. You were rather fast when we fought, like the wind. Perhaps something related to that? Hmm..." Chapo frowned as she thought up wind related names. "Typhoon? Gale? Breeze? Gust?" She offered. At each one, Pidgeotto merely gave a rather flat, sour stare that almost looked offended. "No? Something more exotic then... Hmm... exotic wind name... exotic wind name... How about... Sundowner?"
"Pidge." The bird's voice was actually rather soft and gentle when it wasn't screaming in rage. The proud creature seemed to like that particular name. Roland seemed rather pleased with it as well, as he started to happily shake about in his usual way. With what seemed to be its usual poise, Sundowner gave a few flaps, lifting herself up off of the pokemon's back until he was done twisting about.
"Sundowner it is." Chapo said, smiling. With that particular manner settled, she should probably get back to trying to find the weyward musician that caused this whole mess. "I don't suppose either of you saw where that boy went, did you?" She asked, looking over at her two pokemon sheepishly. Roland gave a disheartened little shuffle that clearly meant he didn't know. Sundowner spent a brief moment plucking at Roland's berries and popping them in her mouth before looking at her trainer. Without a second thought she spread her wings and lifted herself back up into the air, slowly flying off into the forest. Chapo and Roland had barely started following her when a familiar voice screamed through the silent woods.
"OH GOD THE DEMON BIRD FROM HELL IS BAAAAAAAACK!"
Chapo broke out into a run, worried that Sundowner had gone back to her old temperment and had started to attack. However, when she found the pokemon she was poised on a tree branch, a single wing gestured towards a cowering, huddled mass shielding itself with a ruined guitar. She looked quite pleased with herself as she glided back towards Chapo, landing on the ground at her side. The trainer sighed and shook her head, moving for the boy and kneeling down before him. "It's okay, I caught her and she doesn't seem all that interested in causing you any more grief."
The boy looked up and lowered his hands. Now that she was real close to him, Chapo had to admit he had the handsome, pretty looks that made her swoon inside. Not that she would ever say such a thing to a complete stranger... my but he was a cutie. The boy sat up, casting his ruined guitar aside as he looked directly at Chapo. "Uh... ah... thanks." He said quietly. "I didn't mean to wake anything up, I guess I just got carried away with what I was doing."
Chapo frowned. Right, murdering metal with acoustics and tone deaf caterwalling. "What exactly were you doing, if you don't mind me asking?"
The boy blushed redder than a tomato before answering. "I was... ah... I was... practicing?" He offered weakly. Sundowner had now hopped in close to the two humans' sides, and her glare seemed to be putting the fear of god into the poor boy. "L-look, if you really wanna know... I came out here from Vermillion to impress... somebody... and that didn't really work out so I figured I'd practice my music. But..."
Chapo put two and two together, although she didn't like the prospect at all. "You're sweet on a
girl, you wanted to catch her a pokemon from here but couldn't and then when that failed you tried to practice a genre of music you can't do?" Chapo couldn't help but inwardly wish that she got it wrong.
"Pretty much... yeah..."
The psychic inwardly cursed. Naturally. Naturally the first cute boy she'd meet on her journey would already have something going on. "Well... she did it before I caught her, but my Pidgeotto did sorta obliterate your guitar... so is there any way I could compensate you by maybe helping you out? Maybe help you find that pokemon you were looking for?"
"Oh, it was high time I got a replacement anyways." The boy said reassuringly, waving at the broken instrument. "But I would really appreciate that anyways. I'm not really very experienced with pokemon yet."
"Neither am I." Chapo admitted. "But wait, how'd you even get here all the way from Vermillion?"
"Oh, that's simple. I there's a series of cave and tunnels connecting this forest to some fields right outside Vermillion City." The boy vaguely gestured off into the distance. He got up and dusted himself off before offering his hand to Chapo. "I'm Hale."
"Chapo." The girl took Hale's hand, shaking it as she got up herself. "So what pokemon were you looking for?"
"Well, I was trying to find a..." Hale started to explain his plan, but got cut off by the sounds of a fight. The dark forest was lit up by erratic flashes of light. Without thinking, Chapo grabbed Hale's wrist and dragged him along as she ran towards the flahses and sparks.
"Holy cow!" Chapo and Hale stumbled upon another clearing to see a battle between wild pokemon in progress. A Scyther was desperately trying to get in close enough to attack a trio of Pikachu, but the three electrical mice were practically making a deadly fence of lightning, zapping the mantis each time it tried to land an attack. The whole display was actually rather intimidating.
"PERFECT!" Hale snapped as he pointed at the fight. "That's it! That's the one, Nora would LOVE one of those!" He was practically jumping up and down like a giddy schoolgirl.
"Yeah, I should've figured. Lots of girls really love Pikachu..." Chapo said, nodding sagely.
"Pikachu?" Hale asked, looking absolutely lost. "No! The Scyther! She'd LOVE it!"
Chapo immediately was starting to regret bringing herself into this. "...the Scyther? Really? This girl you're sweet on... wants a Scyther."
"Well, technically her favourite pokemon is Pinsir, but she likes Scyther a lot too!"
Chapo promptly planted her face into the palm of her hand and groaned. They were going to have to deal with the Pikachu anyways, and that Scyther was probably going to be furious about needing help to deal with them, so it'd probably be a battle against all four. "Oh god, this battle is going to suuuuuuuuuck..."