Hiking in the Cold (Catch 1)

We're painted red
to fit right in

Well, this was a bust.

Truth be told it was one of the few situations where Elinda found herself unsure of what to really do. Traveling halfway across Stellara in a few days wasn't too tall an order on its own - she'd been further in shorter amounts of time, although that was admittedly when she'd also had a full team of Pokemon with years of experience backing her. The change in environment wasn't much of an annoyance, either. While she was perfectly comfortable in the hot and humid jungle of a few days ago due to living in Hoenn for the last several years, Elinda was likewise perfectly comfortable with the cold that the Gurios Mountains had to offer. She'd grown up in a very similar environment, her family's ranch in Tokai nestled in the remote mountains in the middle of the region due to their specialization in Rock, Ground and Steel types. Winters there had been brutal, and the in season weather here could hardly compare. There was snow, yes, but the temperature seemed to constantly hover just above freezing, well into what many would consider the start of spring and not at all something that left the trainer too cold with her black travel clothing and usual red coat to guard against the weather.

No, the problem was the cave that she'd traveled all the way here to find, guided by Ferroseed once they'd reached the mountains and familiar territory. A cave that no longer existed, at least in any meaningful sense. The entrance was blocked by what had to be several tons of crumbled and cracked rock, and if the depression in the mountainside above it was any indication the interior hadn't fared any better. The podlike Pokemon was now simply staring at the remains of the cave roughly a meter ahead of Elinda, silent and stoic by all outward appearances. For her part the trainer didn't bother trying to get more of a read on Ferroseed - given the context it wouldn't have felt right, more of an intrusion than anything else. Several long minutes had already passed, though, and the Pokemon hadn't moved at all in that time. Given that her promise was fulfilled and the Pokemon had gotten where it had been intending to go, though, Elinda would turn to begin walking away. She'd only make it a handful of steps before getting the distinct feeling of something moving behind her, at which point the blond would turn to find the Ferroseed much closer than before and now staring up at the woman, evidently confused as to why she had stopped.

"Oho? Not done, are we?" Elinda said, blinking at first before turning to squat down in front of the Ferroseed, arms folded and elbows resting on her knees. As she did so Ferroseed's eyes would drop with her, maintaining direct eye contact and a definitive change from their first encounter despite the similarity in position.

"Feel like coming along again? Free to if you want, but would've thought you'd want to stay here. Cave or not it's still home." Elinda said, own eyes searching over the Grass type for a response. The Pokemon itself, however, made no sounds in reply nor did its eyes deviate at all from Elinda's own, and the trainer was unable to feel much beyond a single sensation from Ferroseed. Resignation? No, that wasn't it. It wasn't something so easily put into words, but.... connection? A singular, familiar thing that would remain no matter where they were. Something that Elinda herself was all too familiar with, and knew well enough that she didn't need to dig much deeper than that nor analyze it more than she already had. A small smile turning up the corners of her lips, the trainer would calmly pull the Ferroseed's ball from her belt and hold it out to the Pokemon, palm up and orb resting atop it. The Pokemon's response was far quicker this time, hopping forward just enough to touch the ball and return to the relative safety of its confines.

"Welcome back, then." Elinda said, albeit more to herself than anything else as she clipped the ball back to her belt and stood up. Taking a moment to size up the remains of the cave again, the trainer would casually pull free the second ball next to the first and release Beldum, the Steel type rocking in place for a moment as though stretching. Turning on the spot, Elinda would quickly move to leave the mountain pass, following the path back out towards the way she came with Beldum directly behind her. Evidently the day wasn't done throwing surprises her way, though, as another trainer that Elinda remembered quite well from a few days ago would round the bend ahead.

Small world.

@tag

We're painted red
to fit right in

"Yo!" Elinda called out, hand pulled from her coat pocket and raised to mirror Honoka's welcoming gesture as the older trainer casually continued to approach the blond. While it was a surprise to see a familiar trainer out in the wilds like this it wasn't necessarily an unwelcome one. With how much she kept on the move most people Elinda had crossed paths with in the past had been one time deals. It wasn't an uncommon thing, especially for adult trainers - more often than not they learned not to get attached to specific places or to stay in any one location for too long, and usually such individuals had different destinations. Often they never saw each other again unless they bothered to trade contact information, although that was one of the reasons that Elinda found herself particularly fond of the PokeNav and its ability to automatically record such things. Even then, though, it was unusual for separately traveling trainers to run into each other again like this only a few days after their last encounter.

"Yeah, admittedly wasn't expecting to run into you again, at least not anytime soon. And well enough, thought my trip out here was something of a bust but pleased to say that it wasn't." Elinda replied, happy grin stretched wide across her face as she finally came to a stop in front of the younger trainer.

"So what are you doing out here? Kind of in the middle of nowhere." Elinda continued, glancing the younger trainer over. While it wasn't unusual for trainers to be up in the Gurios Mountains - at least from what the veteran trainer had heard - it did seem like a location where Honoka might be slightly out of place. Given that she hadn't been all too pleased with the humidity and heat of Tucana's tropical conditions it stood to reason that the opposite extremes might also be avoided if given the opportunity. Granted, it was entirely possible that the younger trainer might've been up here for solitary training as many of the other rumored trainers supposedly were out here, but... Elinda had yet to spot a single one of them, and something told her that wasn't the case with Honoka anyways. Maybe using the mountain passes as a shortcut to get to another city, perhaps, but somehow that didn't seem like it was it, either. Hovering over Elinda's shoulder, Beldum would peer at Honoka with its own sense of intense curiosity before seeming to pause and pivot in place, gaze now searching the seemingly empty mountainside above the path.

@tag

We're painted red
to fit right in

Elinda couldn't help but blink for a moment in confusion as Honoka referenced Beldum, glancing back at the Iron Ball Pokemon as it gazed into the mountainside above them. That alone was something that momentarily got Elinda's attention before remembering why she had looked back to the Steel type to begin with. Pushing the momentary distraction out of her mind, the older trainer took a moment to think on the answer before looking back to Honoka.

"I- sorry, no. He might've been why I came to Stellara but my trip out here to the mountains doesn't have anything to do with Beldum, and that business was finished a few minutes ago. Someone needed help getting home and I had time on my hands." Elinda replied, tone a bit off but still trying to remain friendly and looking at Honoka. Not entirely with success, however, as whatever bond she shared with Beldum had the woman more than a little distracted and curious as to what it was the Steel type saw above them. It truthfully could've been anything as Beldum had been nothing if not curious in his younger years and that trait seemed to resurface when he'd returned to the body he had now, but... it was difficult to explain. Despite his curiosity the Pokemon didn't seem willing to go and investigate on his own, but instead rather tellingly was remaining at Elinda's side. Honoka's next words, though, at least gave the older woman something else to focus on.

"Pardon, an Altaria? You'd probably have better luck finding Swablu at the base of the mountain or the grasslands a bit beyond, they might have a lot of fluff but I've never seen them fond of colder weather. The most you're likely to find up here are Steel, Rock and Ice types as you've probably already found." Elinda replied, finally focusing entirely on Honoka and quirking a thoughtful eyebrow. Swablu weren't exactly rare in Hoenn, but with only a handful of days spent in Stellara the older trainer wasn't entirely certain they were even found in the region. If they were, though, it was rare to see Pokemon live in habitats that differed wildly from region to region. A Zubat was a Zubat, no matter where it was - if there was a cave nearby they were likely to be found if they were around at all, and the same rule applied to most other Pokemon as well.

"I-" Elinda started to speak, intending to offer some degree of advice before suddenly finding herself cut off by something else far above them.

("HEY! HEY, YOU!")

Blinking once again in surprise, the older blond paused before looking up and finally seeing what it was that Beldum had spotted moving in the cliffs above them. It was a small wonder that the Psychic type had spotted the Aron at all, really. White shell blending in almost perfectly with the snow and gray rock around it, the Steel type probably could've stayed put or left the area entirely without any of them knowing that it had been there in the first place. Whatever the case, though, it seemed to be demanding their attention now. No doubt about that - it could have simply approached them if it was curious, but given the fact that it was deliberately exposing itself the Pokemon clearly wanted something. Head tilting a moment in curiosity as she looked up at the creature, Elinda took a moment to raise a single finger in a gesture indicating patience before turning her head to look back at Honoka.

"Like I was saying, your best bet is probably t-" Elinda began, only to once again find herself cut off. Not, however, by words but rather a spray of mud that came raining down from above, narrowly missing Beldum and hitting the ground near Elinda to spatter her otherwise surprisingly clean red coat with brown. On her own it wouldn't have been something worthy of attention - as a mother of two she'd dealt with worse. She wasn't alone, however, and on seeing the offensive act dirty his trainer something in Beldum snapped. Breaking off from her side, the Steel type would begin zooming upwards towards the other Pokemon.

("YEAH, YOU! CLEAR OUT, THIS IS MY-FRICK!") Too busy yelling down at the two humans to clear out and leave her trail, the Aron didn't notice the smaller being rushing up to her until it was too late to avoid it. Smashing into the other Steel type, Beldum's Take Down didn't do much to either Pokemon on its own beyond filling the air with a loud metallic clang. The attack did exactly what it was meant to, though. Already perched precariously on the edge of the cliff and the surface slippery with the muck of soil and half melted snow, Aron would lose her footing to tumble down the mountainside, the Pokemon's shell making sounds akin to a large bell being repeatedly rung as it hit rocks on the way down in a frankly humiliating display. Somewhat disoriented as she hit the ground a short distance behind Honoka, Aron was unsteady getting to her feet - at least until the reality of what just happened finally registered, along with the countless additional dents and scratched now present on what had been her immaculately kept armor.

("You have any idea how hard I've worked to keep my shell clean?! How are you going t-") Once more, however, it was a thought that remained unfinished as Beldum seemed hellbent on interrupting the wild Pokemon just as much as she had with Elinda. Using Take Down again, Beldum would this time slam into Aron from above, and at nearly three times the other Pokemon's weight and double her size the Aron's legs would collapse under their combined weight. Whatever other moves the Rock type had, it didn't really matter anymore. Aiming Mud Slap upwards was a chore at best, and headbutt moves were rather ineffective when you couldn't get a running start. Harden and Iron Defense were likewise of no defense against attacks meant to pin or grapple as they only really defended against cutting and blunt force trauma - short of something like Strength the Aron was going nowhere until Beldum decided it was. Take Down might've been the Iron Ball Pokemon's only move but there was more than one way to win a fight, and his arch rival had always been an Aggron from the day he'd been hatched. A neophyte Aron not expecting someone to fight back was child's play, and given that the wild Pokemon had no way of knowing that it was honestly a bit of a mean match up.

Hands still in her pockets and having not moved since Beldum rocketed up to the cliff above them, all Elinda could do was let her shoulders slump with a resigned sigh of weariness. Moving past Honoka, the veteran trainer would stop just in front of the two Pokemon before kneeling down. Reaching out to rub Beldum's top if only for a job well done despite disadvantage, the trainer's attention would turn next to the Aron beneath him.

"So, what's your deal? Being interrupted I can deal with but you really shouldn't have provoked Beldum like that. He tends to take offenses like that rather personally." Elinda inquired, head quirking as she looked the white shelled Pokemon over. An oddity indeed - most Pokemon either avoided trainers entirely or tended to make much more direct challenges if they wanted a fight. What she got from this Pokemon, though, was more a sense of... petulance.

Whatever it had intended before, though, had clearly left the Pokemon's mind as Aron was still doing the best it could to struggle free of Beldum, squirming in the wet gravel of the mountainside trail to little result. Whatever talent Elinda had for connecting with other Pokemon wasn't going to work here - communication was the last thing on Aron's mind, and Beldum had done more than enough to ensure she wanted nothing more to do with them beyond striking back at the Psychic type. Eyes looking up to Beldum at which the Iron Ball Pokemon slightly shifted in what Elinda could only interpret as its best imitation of a shrug, the trainer's attention would drop back to the Rock type in a brief moment of thought. Hand dipping into a pocket, the woman would pull free a black and yellow Ultra Ball.

"Hup." Dropping the orb onto Aron's head, the Pokemon would be suddenly sucked inside, freeing Beldum to float upwards into the air as it intensely stared at the rocking orb and the red light. Stepping back herself, Elinda would pull a second Pokeball free from her belt just in case. Take Down frankly couldn't have done much damage, and under normal circumstances she wouldn't dream of trying to capture a Pokemon when it was practically uninjured. That said, though, with any luck the Ultra Ball would help even the odds there - and if the Aron did break free, Elinda now had Ferroseed there and waiting in the palm of her hand.

@tag