[Deleted]

Catching Tourmaline had been awesome, and it made her forget her obsession, but only temporarily. The flying Pokemon was still near the front of her mind and refused to go away, so she fully intended to find it again. She might get lucky and spot it tonight, or it might take several trips out here, but she was bound to find it if she just kept looking, right? At least the ruins were interesting. Coming here filled her with an odd, intriguing feeling she couldn’t describe, and she wouldn’t mind exploring this place even outside of Pokemon searches. That would be after she had a good team set-up with at least six Pokemon, though. If she was going to do this for fun, she wanted to make sure she was staying safe. A full team would help with that, and it might not hurt her to have a couple of those teammates evolve at least once. Of course, at the rate she was going, she doubted that would be a problem.

Toni stopped in a relatively open area and sat down to rest, her eyes scanning her surroundings. In a few minutes, she’d get up and start her search again…unless something came to her, instead.

---

((Seeking Noibat again.))

[Kitten4u]

Never give up!



Species: Noibat
Gender: Female
Ability: Infiltrator
~Moves~
Air Slash
Super Fang
Supersonic
Air Cutter

[Deleted]

She’d only gotten a few seconds of rest when something swooped right overhead. She almost missed it – almost – but those ears were probably visible from space, and the shape was distinctive enough for her to recognize it. That was it! That was the Pokemon she’d seen! …Well, okay, she wasn’t sure if that was the specific creature she glimpsed, but the species was right, and that was more than good enough!

Except…it was getting away!

“Ack!” She jumped to her feet and bolted after the Pokemon. “No, come back! I’ve been looking for you!” Her words seemed to have the opposite effect of what was desired, though. The Pokemon continued to flee from her, getting farther and farther away. Toni sped up, ignoring the pain in her lungs. This was part of what it meant to be a trainer, wasn’t it?

Fortunately for her, she’d managed to chase the Pokemon into a dead end with a ceiling. What was fortunate for her turned out to be unfortunate for the Pokemon, though, who flapped around frantically until it realized it was trapped and then huddled in a corner, visibly trembling.

Toni frowned. “Hey, no, you’re fine. I’m not going to hurt you, see?” She sat down, hoping to appear less threatening. “I just want to be your friend. That’s not so bad, is it?” She looked around. “What are you afraid of in here, anyway?” And what even are you? She pulled out her Pokedex to answer that last question, and lifted her eyebrows at the result. Noibat? That was a new one on her. Flying and Dragon types…weren’t dragons weak against fairies? She knew of at least one fairy type here…and flying types were weak against rock, so she supposed it could be nerve-wracking to be surrounded by so much stone…

“You could come with me, if you wanted,” she tried again. The poor thing was still shaking, but she wasn’t sure what to do other than talk at it. Approaching might make it panic. “I’d love to have you around. I’m studying to be a trainer, so I’ll need friends like you, and I could protect you and help you get stronger so you won’t have anything to be afraid of anymore. That’d be nice, wouldn’t it?”

The Noibat glanced at her, but was still wide-eyed and trembling. She frowned at that. What else could she do? Maybe it couldn’t be her that won it over? She was still pretty big compared to the Pokemon, but another Pokemon might not be as intimidating. She thought it over, and then released Moonstone from her Pokeball.

“We’re not fighting, Moonstone,” she said quickly, before the Fennekin could even think to attack the Noibat. “I’m trying to convince our new friend here to join us. Do you think you can assure it that we’re safe and friendly?”

The Fennekin barked at her trainer and then bounded to the Noibat, wagging her tail happily. After some hesitation, the Noibat turned to her, and the two sniffed noses. There seemed to be a brief conversation – one Toni couldn’t understand – and then Moonstone returned to her, giving the Noibat a couple encouraging barks.

It took a few long minutes, but the Noibat slowly began to walk to the student. Toni beamed at it, but otherwise kept still, not wanting to spook it. It stopped just out of petting distance…it seemed they still had some work ahead of them. They could start later tonight, though. For now, there was only one thing to do.

Toni tossed an empty pokeball at the Noibat and waited. It shook a few times and then went still – it seemed her new friend really did want to come home with her. Toni grinned, scratched Moonstone between the ears as a thank-you, mentally sent a thank-you out into the universe at large, and returned the Fennekin to her pokeball before retrieving the Noibat and heading home. She’d figure out a name for her newest friend later.

Noibat was caught.