Honoka is liquid stealth, inching along the grass with hardly a sound, silent as a warm breeze. She’s practically invisible. Not even the most weathered of Stoutland would be able to sniff her out.
Or so she would like to imagine. In truth, she’s making an awful lot of noise as she crawls with her belly flat on the ground towards a pile of berries, determined to have an afternoon snack. Why she’s choosing to go about it like this would be beyond anyone, but Honoka never seemed to care much about adhering to common sense. Her Rockruff, Fido, is also doing his best to imitate his trainer’s totally unsubtle movements.
“Close… we’re getting close… I can practically smell the berries already!” Honoka excitedly whispers to Fido. “I’ll count to three then we’ll jump! Are you ready? One, two—! Three!”
Trainer and Rockruff pounce at the berries. The pile shakes.
A claw shoots out and delivers a sucker punch straight into Honoka’s face at lightning speed.
Honoka, knocked flat back on her ass, gingerly rubs at her bruised cheek. Mission: failed. A Crabrawler emerges from the berry pile, suspiciously eyeing the pair with its claws held up. Despite the throbbing pain in her face, Honoka still sees no reason to leave the berries be. “Aha! The guardian has appeared, eh? Fido, let’s do this! Uhh, use Tackle! Those berries will be ours!”
No dice. Fido, bless his spirit, is quickly knocked out with a single, well-aimed punch.
But just when the flame of hope is about to be snuffed out and Honoka grimly accepts her fate of being punched again, a glob of toxic gunk hits the Crabrawler from somewhere to the left. It skitters away in a panic, leaving Honoka and her unconscious Rockruff. She whips around to see Eli and her Salazzle approaching, the former wearing that look that practically says, I don’t know what you were doing but I bet you were doing something stupid, Honoka, why do you do these things. It’s not a terribly uncommon expression to see directed at her these days.
“Eli! You came to my rescue!!” Honoka throws herself at the other girl and hugs her legs. “I would’ve been a goner without you…!”
“You know you’re not strong enough to take on the wild Crabrawler yet, Honoka,” Eli sighs, patting her head. “Umi said I’d find you here. She’s mad you skipped class again.”
“She knew, huh? I guess that’s Umi for you!” Honoka nervously laughs and stands, brushing the dirt off her clothes. She scoops Fido up in her arms. “Come on! How else am I gonna get better without real field experience?”
Eli’s Salazzle makes a noise that suspiciously sounds like snickering, but no one seems to notice.
“I’ll let you off the hook this time, but getting punched like that was a little…” Embarrassing. It just looked embarrassing. But Eli won’t say it out loud. She puts a hand to her chin and turns her head away, pretending to contemplate. There really isn’t anything to contemplate over when it’s Honoka, though. “Anyway, I’ll take you to the Pokemon Center to heal up Fido.”
“Man, Eli, you’re always so cool,” Honoka says. Salazzle snickers yet again. “Just you wait, though! You’ll be the first one I’ll challenge once Fido evolves!”
Well, sure, however long that takes. Eli simply shakes her head and laughs, and they finally head off. Moments later, the Crabrawler cautiously emerges from its hiding spot to return to the forgotten pile of berries.
