mercenarywolf

[Ballad is doing the whole training thing on his way through the forest! He seems to be adjusting pretty well, and right now he's faced off against a Rattata, with Houndour in pretty good shape. They are both a little scuffed, but Houndour seems to be winning.]

All right, now we've got him. You ready?

Houn! [Houndour is indeed ready, he leaps forward, prepared for the next move.]

Okay, use-

[And that is when this happy ball bounces into the front of things. it's chortling and wriggling excitedly. And it plops right into a little puddle and uses Splash! ...Which splashes some water.]

Uh...

[The Rattata is unimpressed, and it charges at the Hoppip, who is saved by a combination of bouncing away at the last minute and Houndour, who leaps in to the rescue by distracting the attacker with howl.]

You've gotta be kidding me. Okay, now use ember while it's over there.

[Success, thanks to fast thinking on their part. Ballad scratches the back of his head. Hoppip is still merrily playing in puddles in the background. At least they managed to escape a fiasco, though.]

What am I going to do with this thing?

["This thing" chirps some more and Ballad finally just turns off his 'Gear to go chase it.]