Making My Way Downtown (Catch 2)

She was just walking idly, not really paying attention to where she was going, and soon found herself on a path that wasn't as much a road anymore as just a walked on path through the grass. It looked more like a well used Pokemon path than one people used. It was probably something the regulars used here to go off to wherever it was Pokemon went off to. She was about to turn around when she tripped on something sharp. It sent her sprawling, a sharp pain in her shin where she caught herself on whatever it was. She lay there for a moment, slightly stunned, before rolling over and sitting up. Yep, she was bleeding. Lovely. She looked around to see what she had tripped on. It looked like..a feather?

Honoka plucked the feather from where it had been stuck in the ground, marveling at its weight and design. It took her a moment before it finally dawned on her what this was from. This was a Skarmory feather! That wasn't something you found out in the wild like this very often. Farmers and breeders would find them more often, and both had much use for them. She imagined the farmers in Rana Town would have a lot of use for this, but then her mind went to what this likely meant. Skarmory didn't just lose feathers randomly, they weren't designed like other birds. This would have had to have come from a Skarmory that had taken a nasty beating. Which mean it would probably be nearby, and quite possibly hostile.

She took inventory of the Pokemon she had. Nothing would do much in a battle with one, but maybe she could get the Skarmory to trust her instead? Honoka pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and wrapped it tightly around the cut in her leg. It wasn't big, or deep, but she should probably get it checked out later anyway, just to be safe. She picked herself up off the ground, sticking the steel feather in her back pocket, and glanced around. There were probably more feathers nearby that would lead her to the Pokemon...she would cross the bridge of actually dealing with the Pokemon when she got to it.

Yep, she was right. There was another feather off to her left, and two more a little off to the right from those. She followed the steel feathers, picking them up as she went. She didn't have to go far from where she'd found the first. Maybe twenty feet away nesting in a ditch was a very battered looking Skarmory, dozing in the little temporary home it had made. Honoka wasn't sure whether to make a noise or not, but she decided she'd rather have the thing see her coming than be startled awake when she got close. She shuffled her feet a bit in the dirt as she made her way down the ditch, and even called out a soft, "Are you alright?" to the Pokemon. She walked slowly, cautiously, toward it. It didn't start awake as she would have expected, but slowly turned its head to the direction of the noise she was making.

She could tell it had seen her, and registered that she was there, as it started to puff up a bit. She slowed down, putting her hands up and out in front of her in a gesture meant to show she meant no hard. It eyes her warily, but didn't puff up further, which she took as a good sign. Now that she could see the Skarmory, she could tell it must have been in one hell of a battle. After a while these things tended to regrow their wings entirely, but that usually took a whole year of battling and such. This one looked considerably more battered than just a year's worth of wear and tear. She crouched down, keeping a respectful distance from the Pokemon, and started to talk to it calmly like she would a friend.

"Hey there, bud. You look liek you're in pretty rough shape there. Must have been some battle, huh? I'd hate to see what the other guy looked like." She chuckled at her little joke there. She hoped her idle conversation, one sided though it was, would help calm the Pokemon further. "You found a pretty good spot here. Not a lot of shelter from the elements, but I guess you can't always be picky, huh? Its out of the way from things looking for you, which is always good. I only found you by accident. Tripped on one of your discarded feathers. See?" She pulled one from her pocket and held it out for the Skarmory to examine. Yes, it was indeed one of it's feathers. "Got me pretty good. Even all beat up like this, you're still pretty capable, huh?" She noticed then that the Skarmory had gone from looking wary to looking weary. It must be exhausted after whatever it went through to look like that. She rummaged around in her little side bag, looking for the leftovers she had from lunch in Rana, suddenly very glad she had put her Dratini back in it's Pokeball earlier.

She scooted a little closer to the Skarmory and held out the leftovers to it. It was probably hungry too, and a fed Pokemon tends to be more trusting than a hurt, scared, hungry one. Get rid of one of those factors, and the chances of you not being attacked by making sudden movements goes up. It almost didn't notice at first, but upon smelling the food, it turned to her as quickly as it was able to in that state and gobbled it down. She grinned at it, glad to see that she was right about that. It relaxed visibly, and she scooted a little closer yet, wanting to assess the damage it had taken. Definitely would need to go to a Pokemon center if she could get it to let her take it there.

"There, how 'bout that? Bet that makes you feel a little bit better, huh?" The Skarmory seemed more alert now, and it wanted more food. It didn't move anywhere, but it craned its neck toward Honoka, poking around to see if there was any more food anywhere. "Sorry bud, that's all I've got right now. Tell you what, though. Come on back with me. We can get you fixed up and safe and warm, and away from whatever angry critter did such a number on you, and some more food. How does that sound?" The Skarmory certainly seemed to be considering her suggestion, and she was hopeful that it would take her offer.