Although the progress was certainly nothing to be proud of, Alex was glad to be up and about again after the incident with the Nidorina from the night before. He still felt very ill, but the nausea was gradually getting easier to contend as time went on; a quick bathroom break turned out to be even more relieving than usual – the urine was proof that Alex's body was working to purge the toxins from itself, and that fact was more than a little reassuring considering the teen had never been poisoned by a Pokémon of all things before. Not long after setting out, Alex made it the short distance up the hillside where he thought the entrance to Mt. Moon should have been… And it wasn't.

Clearly, the teen's decision to escape the Spearow by fleeing into the forest rather than making a break for the cave had been well-served; the area was little more than a rest-stop from which the trail stretched still another several hundred yards or more up and around the mountainside. Jeez… I've have been pecked to death out here for sure. They weren't kidding when they said venturing out of civilization can be dangerous; that's strike two, Alex, the human thought to himself. On that thought, Alex paused to study the enormous mountain looming high above, looming up and out of sight. I've got a long way to go, the teen realized. To push himself too hard in his current condition would be foolhardy, particularly when caution had already paid off in spades; thus, he slowed his pace a little while shielding his eyes from the sun with a hand.

For being a popular tourist attraction this time of year, this place is a ghost town. Where in the worldis a fellow traveler when you need one?! Alex wondered after some time spent hiking in silence, glancing up and down both ways of the trail and not seeing another soul anywhere around. By his judging and admittedly poor map reading skills, Alex should now have been at least over halfway to his destination; upon locating a flat rock, carved into the shape of a bench and along the trail-side, he removed his pack – it was a little lighter than it should have been; trying to keep discouragement at bay, Alex realized his stores had taken a slight hit from the unplanned rest stop with the Nidorina.

Even with mom's help, I don't think I planned this trip out nearly well enough, Alex concluded hesitantly, extracting another bottle of water to drink a carefully measured amount from. Maybe I shouldn't have been so stubborn in refusing to let her come out here with me; after all, she's an old hand at training... Alex thought glumly and gritting his teeth in embarrassment; it had been at his insistence that he be allowed to try to stand on his own two feet already, without what had seemed like her hovering… And yet it was his mother's advice alone about backpacking and hikes had gotten the teen this far at all, without encountering any additional calamities.

By the time the sun began to set, Alex had finally found a flat, slab-like rock to use as a bed, and had decided to call it quits for the day. A brief "shower" with baby-wipes, a good tooth-scrubbing, a fresh change of clothes, and one small can of soup later, Alex began to feel remotely like a human-being again. By this time, twilight was nearly upon him; with no wood or the energy to locate enough to start a fire, he simply sat for a moment, barefoot in the cooler evening air, looking out past the increasingly sparsely wooded surroundings to the other mountains and hills surrounding him and admiring the view in the dimming light. Maybe there is something to this training thing everyone brags about; it's kinda pretty out here when you think about it – However, the loud and fearsome call of something very large startled Alex and made him shudder. Just kidding! Screw the great outdoors!

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The dream was an idle fantasy, but it was one of Alex's favorites: in it, he would walk to school and find it mostly deserted, except for Stacie Tran, from Class 1-D – the object of his affection. She would drift toward him for small talk, and the two would instead hit it off like old friends (even though she'd hardly ever spoke to him in real life before). 'It's so nice to finally meet you personally; I've seen you around so many times, but never got the chance to say hi.' Alex would say. 'I really enjoyed meeting you too... Maybe we should meet up some time, and get some milkshakes at my Grandfather's restaurant. He'd be happy to meet you." The girl would offer.

It was no secret in reality that Stacie's grandfather owned a popular restaurant frequented by all the kids from his school, but Alex didn't care any about that – Stacie had captivating eyes and the laugh of an angel. "Milkshakes sound great. I'd love to meet your grandfather too; did you have a specific time in mind?" Alex would ask, as Stacie twirled her hair with a finger, looking around. "Class is either really late, or canceled altogether… How about now?" She'd ask. Grinning and slinging his bag over a shoulder, Alex would stand and join her. "Now sounds great. Got plans to do anything later this afternoon?" He'd ask, and then she'd give him that look that sent shivers down his spine even in his dreams. "Not anymore, I don't. What did you have in mind?" Stacie would ask, sliding her hand into his almost shyly; now came the best part. "I was thinking maybe we could hang out… Just the two of us." Alex would suggest, flushing with bashfulness and excitement, after which she'd deliver his favorite line: '–Nido!'

Alex frowned in confusion: Nido? 'Um.. Excuse me? Alex asked, perplexed. "Nido. Nidoriiiina." Stacie answered with a serious look on her face. As was only possible in dreams, Alex's school surroundings suddenly became a dense mountainside forest – and Stacie was now leaving him, walking down a trail selected at random and quietly muttering the word "Nido" over to herself; Alex could hardly believe his eyes. "Nido... Nido... Nido... Nido…!" The words echoed in his mind louder now, even with Stacie gone, and then he turned – there, standing behind him, was the Nidorina from earlier, looking much less friendly than before. "Hey, easy!" He said, as she began to advance dangerously on him, spines extended; a moment later she charged, running into him nose first.

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"AH!" Alex's eyes – his real, not-dreaming eyes – shot wide open as he jumped into wakefulness; the moon was high overhead, meaning it was still late at least. Alex checked his watch; even the dim face of the digital clock seeming bright under the starry night. 2:28 AM – it's still way early; I must have just had a bad dream… What gives, brain!? Alex wondered blearily, wiping the sweat from his brow and noting with relief that the pain in his nose had died away a fair amount in the time he'd slept. That Nidorina's going to terrorize me in my dreams now, too? This sucks. Alex thought with only vague amusement; he yawned deeply. I can still go back to sleep before I fully wake up. Tomorrow will be an early day – it has to be; I've already lost lots of time. He thought grimly, yawning again, rolling over, and burying his face in his spiny, scaly blue pillow.

Alex's eyes flew open again: Scaly blue pillow?! Immediately the teen recoiled away from the dozing form beside him as if it were on fire. "Nido… Nido… Nidooo..." The snore of the Nidorina was barely audible over the pounding in Alex's ears from the surprise of waking up to having been sleeping next to the dangerously venomous creature. "Whoa! What the hell…!?" The teenager demanded out loud, in shock – however, the Nidorina only cracked one red eye, sleepily regarded him for a brief moment, smacked her mouth, shifted her head on her paws, and went back to sleeping soundly. Alex rubbed his eyes again – carefully avoiding his nose – and looked closer, hardly believing his eyes. "Nido… Nido…." The creature snoozed deeply again, probably already lost in a dream.

Alex tried to back away carefully until he almost fell off the stone slab serving as his bed as he did so. What in the world is she doing here? The teen's mind screamed – he was too terrified of making enough noise that the Nidorina awoke fully. Immediately, Alex hurriedly grasped for the Pokéballs in his pocket, and then froze when he realized they were still in the pocket of the shorts he'd changed out of… Which were in his backpack, sitting beside the sleeping Nidorina. Wait. Stop. Calm down… And think: If she wanted to attack me, I would never have lived long enough to wake up from that dream, Alex thought, trying to slow his heart rate; innocently, the Nidorina snored again, and for a moment, she almost looked cute sleeping there beside where he had been sleeping. What the hell is she doing here, and how in the world did she find me? Alex wondered, bewildered.

The Nidorina was still technically wild – she might be there of her own accord for the time-being, but that didn't necessarily mean she'd stay friendly toward him if he wasn't careful, and, one way or another, she'd probably wake up regardless of what he chose to do next: Alex could either attempt to capture her, or pack up and creep away… Neither option presented a very high probability of success; attempting to capture her again stood the highest chances of angering her into violence, and trying to sneak off in the dark was as dangerous as it was pointless – if she found him already this once, she could probably find him a dozen times again.

Well… I could just go back to sleep again... This third thought presented itself a moment later and the absurdity of the idea made Alex wipe his face carefully in disbelief. She's here because she somehow wants to be; if she wanders off again in the night, the problem will solve itself. The Nidorina snored again softly, the picture of harmlessness – …But if she attacks? Hikers will find my decomposing body! Alex thought, nervously. No...I should already be dead, and I'm not.Staying here won't be taking any more of a risk than the one I already took in coming out to this mountain alone. Sleep; you've already been through alot, and wild Nidorina notwithstanding, you need the rest. Alex thought to himself; the reminder that he was still very tired made him yawn – the Nidorina didn't stir, and continued dozing softly.

The Nidorina's moment of peaceful repose gave Alex the chance to study her a bit more closely for the first time. She was a big girl – easily larger than even himself, in fact. The spiky plates along her back were all at least as tall as his hand, the tallest of them being nearly being half again as big; each of her almost radar dish-like ears were ringed with spines nearly two times longer than any of his fingers – yet in sleep, the ears were folded daintily against herself, twitching only once or twice as she dozed. The blue's two largest fangs, each protruding menacingly from either side of her stubby snout, were almost as long as his hand from finger-tip to wrist, and looked wickedly sharp; each hind leg, though stumpy and short, were stout, well-built, and rippled with muscle.

The Nidorina's tail, stubby like the rest of her endearingly squashed and compressed features, was still almost as big around as his thigh towards its tip, and was almost as long as his extended arm. The only thing that didn't make her look like a mouse-eared blue sumo wrestler, was her relatively slim body, which was decidedly thin compared to the rest of her squat features – Alex couldn't decide whether it made the blue female look sleek, or underfed. There must not be a lot in the way of food for a Nidorina of her size here on this mountain, Alex decided, at length. Aren't they supposed to live on the plains anyway? Where in the world did this one come from? These were the thoughts occupying Alex's mind as the teen lay back, getting comfortable in his sleeping bag.

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"NIDO!"

The impatient grunt was the first thing Alex was aware of when he awoke, and it was the only warning he got before receiving a firm push off of his sleeping perch, throwing him wide-eyed and terrified to the ground a moment later. Frantically, Alex fought his way free of the tangles of his sleeping bag, dreading and expecting the next blow – except it never came. Only after Alex was sure his heart hadn't stopped did he look to see why: The Nidorina actually seemed to be laughing, if a Pokémon could even be said to laugh. Could they? Cautiously Alex waited, but she continued her odd rumbling chuff for a while yet, sitting beside where until a moment ago he HAD been sleeping soundly. "You smart-ass little..." Alex grumbled, annoyed… And then realized his wrist watch's alarm had been ringing unheeded the entire time. Beep-Beep! Beep-Beep! Evidently, his alarm clock had woken her up and she'd tired of listening to it. Keying the button to silence it, Alex wiped his sweaty brow with the back of his other hand – What a heck of a wake-up call. He thought, sourly.

Breaking camp had gone much more smoothly than making it had been; even though it had been on a rock, the rest had been good for Alex's body, and he felt a considerable amount better than the night before. Other than watching carefully and occasionally nosing around in the things he packed, the Nidorina did little more than watch; at last he was ready to go. "Okay, let's get..." Alex started to say, but his voice trailed off; the Nidorina sat, staring at him mutely. Technically, she wasn't his to command, since he'd botched his only attempt at capturing her, and that memory made him hesitate. "...Going." Alex finished, shouldering his backpack. Turning to leave, he noticed she didn't not follow; only more staring. Shrugging, and this time without anything to tempt her along, he resumed his trek up the mountain, alone again.

Alex resumed his hike up the mountain trail for only a couple of minutes' time – just long enough for the sun to bring a photogenic glare to the blue skies above the mountain – when a distant crack and a rumble like lightning and thunder interrupted the otherwise peaceful sunrise. Alex slowed, perplexed; there were no rain clouds anywhere in the clear blue sky, and yet still the rumbling continued, getting louder and sounding much closer than before. What in Kanto is going on!?Alexthought nervously; a crack like a gunshot pealed out, starling the teen – an instant later, a speeding boulder the size of a reclining chair shot out from behind a tall ledge ahead, and it went tumbling by so quickly Alex didn't even have time to react, let alone dodge the enormous stone missile.

Flying shards of rock, clods of dirt, and dust peppered him from head to toe as the thing collided with the rocky mountainside each time it bounced; very narrowly missing Alex only by pure luck, the boulder careened down the trail out of sight, and it was all the teenager could hope for that the Nidorina – if she was still back at the campsite – wouldn't get hit. However, another crack like the first echoed out again and this time Alex dove and flattened himself against the trail side, as another boulder, this one only a little smaller than the first, came tumbling in from the same direction.

Whereas the first boulder had landed on the trail and therefore continued down it in its wild descent, this second boulder slammed into a rock outcropping and pin-balled against another two, before bouncing in front of and coming to a rest a few strides away from where Alex lay huddled; the thundering, earthshaking rumble of the first boulder soon largely died away, leaving only the croon of a Pidgeotto somewhere far above the mountainside to accompany the ringing in Alex's ears. Whew! That was way too close! The teenager thought, as he looked up at the boulder and shuddering to think of what a direct hit from something its size would have done had it hit him – or a Nidorina.

Jeez… I wonder if she's okay, Alex thought, finding himself worrying about the blue in spite of her declining to follow him any longer – hesitating, Alex glanced back down the trail; it was close enough that he could afford to go check on the blue at least to make sure she hadn't been hit and seriously injured. Thus, the teenager started to get to his feet when the boulder moved...And started to do the same. Alex froze, eyes widening; a pair of stone-faced eyes blinked open in equal bewilderment; the upside down living rock then righted itself, shedding pebbles and dirt, then spoke: "...Graveler."

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That human is one odd creature... The Nidorina thought, nosing through the underbrush in her search for breakfast. It didn't even stop to forage for anything to eat; either humans have extremely small appetites, or it has no idea there's even edible food in this area, the Nidorina thought, recognizing a wild tuber in the ground by its leafy stalk and digging it up – though earthy, it still crunched satisfyingly in the blue's jaws as she chewed ponderously. Come to think of, a lot of what it does makes no sense. The route it took up to this part of this trail was long and circuitous – I'm beginning to wonder if the foolish thing even knows what its doing out here. The blue thought, as she continued to search for edibles in the brush.

With her keen ears, the Nidorina heard the thundering crack of a Graveler tumbling down the mountainside long before she actually saw it, and looked down from her vantage point on a rock shelf overlooking the trail below; bitter experience early on in life had taught the Nidorina growing up what Graveler were, and what habits they kept; this one here was one of a number of its kind that had colonized the almost totally human-uninhabited Northern face of the mountain – the rock Pokemon liked very much to periodically to race each other down the hillside by rolling up into balls and letting the slope of the mountain bowl them along – the faster, the better.

The Graveler were hopeless adrenaline junkies, and they stopped for nothing unless they ran into a rock bigger and stronger than they were; many an unfortunate Pokémon had met their end or nearly so by being caught in the way of such races – Nidorina included – and was precisely why she avoided the higher altitudes, where encounters with the brutish creatures were most frequent. Chewing on the branch of a bush filled with smaller but sweeter berries than ones grown at lower altitudes, a thought occurred to the Nidoran that made her stop mid-chew: It always took at least two Graveler to race, and she'd only seen the one, coming from where the human had foolishly impatiently wandered off by itself.

Seemingly punctuating the thought, a faint but familiar shout of terror echoed off the mountain from farther away. Idiot! It must not have realizedthose wild Graveler haunt this area! The Nidorina thought incredulously; after a moment's hesitation, the blue chomped down on another branch laden with berries, and began running as quickly as she could toward the source of the noise, chewing hurriedly as she ran. Foolish human! Oh, Arceus forbid that Graveler realizes it's lost its race, at least until I get there – "Nothing goes where an angry Graveler throws!" The Nidorina thought, remembering the old proverb the old and wise Noctowl had taught her once back when she were still a pup.

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The Graveler looked up at the human for a moment, blinking dust and loose dirt from its eyes. "Graveler." It repeated, looking around a moment later to get its bearings... And making the grim determination that neither the other Graveler it had been racing, nor the finish line they had both agreed on, were present. "Graveler!" It rumbled in angered disgust, realizing at once that it had evidently veered off course or landed in a rock trap. The stone Pokemon stamped angrily, casting about for rocks to fill each of its four hands; finding only two, the creature used brute force to break a hunk of rock out of mountainside itself, and sheared it in half in a terrifying display of brute force.

The Graveler braced for a tremendous rock throw, casting about for a target; however, by the time the rock pokemon remembered the human from just a few moments earlier, so vulnerably far out of human territory and into wild Graveler territory, the rock Pokemon turned to see him fleeing, already about to round bend in the trail. "Grrraaaaavelarrr!" It bellowed furiously, hurling a rock at the retreating human's back and narrowly missing by only a few paces; the flung rock skipped it off the mountainside with enough speed and force that the rock itself shattered with a deafening crack that nearly made Alex jump out of his skin.

Todayisnotmyday! Todayisnotmyday! Todayisnotmyday! Was all Alex could think over and over again repeatedly, and he swore aloud as he ran for the bend in the trail with reckless abandon. A second pelted rock cracked behind him an instant later just within arm's reach, and his thoughts drifted momentarily back to his room, safe and with wireless Internet, back home: I'm going in there and never coming out again, Alex thought. "Holy––!" The teen started to blurt, as a miniature blue mountain seemed to materialize from around the bend, heading straight for him. Purely on reflex, Alex dove as high as he could over the Nidorina, and cursed out loud as he nearly landed face first on the path, almost falling off the side of the trail in the process; on his feet in a flash, he started to run, until he heard the sounds of a wild Pokémon battle erupt further back up the trail.

"Nido!" Nidorina snarled in surprise and anger, as another rock skipped off the path, missing her by a spine-length; the Graveler paused, caught off-guard by the sudden, unexpected interference, but was more than happy to take on this newer and more familiar pest. It wound up again ready to sling another rock – and received a full frontal blast of a pin missile attack for its troubles. Staggered but not stopped, the Graveler threw his remaining rock anyway, and took satisfaction at the sound of it striking home with a dull crack. The barrage of pin missiles stopped almost immediately; the two dazed opponents shook off their very painful injuries in time to look each other in the eye. The Nidorina growled, taking a step forward and stamping her paw into the ground.

"Hey! Leave that human alone and pick on something your own size, you bully!" The challenge looked impressive, but the Graveler did not miss the slight waver in the Nidorina's step, nor the terrible scuff right between her eyes where its rock had evidently hit her – it began to bleed. "Like you? That human's far from it territory – and so are you. Bring it on, soft-skin!" The Graveler sneered contemptuously, ripping more stones out of the mountainside to arm itself with. The Nidorina growled in rage and frustration – this particular Graveler was not familiar to her, but his attitude was, and a righteous fury filled the blue Pokémon; though the human may be weak and somewhat foolish, those characteristics were precisely why this Graveler had no right to pick on it.

The blue danced aside as the the Graveler launched the next volley of rocks; sidestepping deftly enough in spite of her squat nature, the Nidorina charged the instant it ran out of readily available projectiles. The pin missile had been a trick that took quite some doing to learn, considering she'd had to "learn" it after several very painful encounters with some Beedrill in her youth, but the next attack came to her as naturally as breathing did: the Nidorina closed the gap with the Graveler, forcing it to abandon its rock-throwing in favor of trying to counter with a flurry of punches, and gave it a tremendous sting with every available poisonous spine she could straighten.

Unfortunately, the Graveler sent her stumbling away from a punishing blow to the forehead, forcing the poor Nidorina to grit her teeth and snarl out loud against the pain the smack to her already sore head had exacerbated; however, as true extent of her attacks began to take effect, the Graveler began to stagger, uncoordinated. Wet spots were present all over its rocky surface where her poisonous stings had literally left their mark; within moments, the Graveler seemed to lose all stomach it originally had for the fight – it clutched some of the areas where it had been stung the most, where the blue's potent venom began to work. The Nidorina shook her terribly aching head, and snorted in defiance of the pain – this Graveler had wanted a fight, and now it was going to get one. The blue focused on the Graveler's form even through the teary blur in her eyes, and charged at it again.

The rock Pokémon stumbled backwards as the Nidorina slammed bodily into it, knocking it backward off-balance – then, it fell right off the trail face, tumbling down the mountainside without making any visible effort to control itself or curl into a ball to roll. The blue watched only long enough to confirm it wouldn't be back, and then staggered away from the ledge – the pain in her head began to make her feel dizzy and nauseous and she groaned; falling onto her belly since her legs would hardly support her, the Nidorina writhed, clutching her injured head in her two stubby forearms. At some point, the human must have returned and watched at least part of the fight, because Nidorina heard the creature rush to her side the moment the Graveler was dealt with.

The human rummaged around in its odd back-hump and said something aloud the Nidorina didn't understand, then produced something evidently filled with liquid. The human paused, studying the head injury, and held up the bottle. Had the Nidorina known how badly it would sting when the human sprayed its smelly liquid on her forehead, she would have tossed it off the cliff like the Graveler! Snarling in pain the moment the spray touched her wounds, the Nidorina chomped down on the human's hand defensively and shoved it away forcefully – the human began yelling things at her in its own tongue that she guessed were less than civil, clutching its bitten paw.

Spines raised defensively, the Nidorina backed away; the unnatural chemical stink of the liquid on her forehead filled her nostrils, and the blue wondered what in creation could have possibly caused it to hurt so much. Although the terrible burn lasted for several moments, miraculously, it began to subside, and much faster than the Nidorina realized it normally should have. Though her head still pounded from a terrific headache, the stinging from the cut and bruised skin was largely gone, providing enough relief for the blue's watery eyes to clear – What in the world did you do, human!? The blue wondered hesitantly, clutching her sore head.

The Nidorina's reaction to having a potion sprayed on her injury was as unexpected as it had been painful, and Alex stumbled back, shouting and clutching his chomped hand. Though it was bleeding and hurt terribly, it was thankfully nothing compared to what would have happened to his hand had she caught him with the giant incisors on each end of her mouth. Alex swore at her, and cursed several times under his breath – the bottle fell to the dirt, a quarter-empty. The humor from the situation was smothered by Alex's fraying patience with how poorly this expedition was turning out, and the fact that his hand might be truly hurt. "What the hell was that for? I was only trying to help you!" Alex spat at the Nidorina; curling his fingers painfully, he was relieved to discover nothing appeared to be broken – yet. The Nidorina and him made eye contact again, and the fact that she was covered in toxic spines was the only reason he resisted the urge to strangle her.

Ironically, the Nidorina had to resist the urge to gore the human with her spines again, this time on purpose. " This is the second time you've escaped certain death, biped! Must I follow you around the entire mountain to keep you out of trouble?" The Nidorina demanded, irritably. "I've got a headache to wake the dead because of your foolishness!"The Nidorina growled, momentarily neglecting to acknowledge the fact that her head injury felt ten times better than it should have now, thanks to the human's mysterious spray. However, a sharp sting on her forehead reminded the Nidorina that she'd interrupted his ministrations before he'd actually finished tending to the injury.

The bottle lay on the dusty rock path between them, abandoned, and Alex regarded both it and the Nidorina with open suspicion when he realized what held her attention. Having to swallow her pride, the blue hesitantly stepped forward, sniffing the bottle, and nosing it across the dirt toward the human, making it obvious what she wanted – except that Alex didn't move, and merely continued to clutch his still-bleeding hand. Now that the sting of the sting of the antiseptic in the Potion had subsided and the healing properties and pain medicine in it had kicked in, she badly wanted him to continue – but Alex stared, unable to suppress a burst of annoyance as he worked his hand.

" Oh, come on. We can hate each other again after you put the rest of that on my head; this really hurts, and you owe me – I got it because of you! " The Nidorina let out a low groan that turned into a whimpering whine as the prideful blue approached and flopped onto her stomach again near his feet, lowering her ears a fair amount in defeat. The unexpected display of humbled, if not outright apologetic behavior made Alex's temper crumble as the pitiable display tugged sharply on his heartstrings even in spite of his annoyance.

Unaware that his thoughts mirrored hers, Alex considered the situation. His hand still hurt, yes, but then again, his hand would probably had been the least of his worries had she not chased that wild Graveler off, and more worryingly, even to his untrained eye, she'd taken quite the walloping in the battle; the low moan of pain and the obvious look of misery in her plainly intelligent scarlet eyes finally broke his heart.

Hesitantly, Alex reached for the bottle; the blue sighed deeply, as if preparing herself for what was to come. I guess I'd better do this quickly then, like ripping off a bandage... He thought, and used up nearly the entire bottle on her forehead, saving the last dregs for the few other small cuts and scrapes she'd received in the fight; gritting her teeth and in visible discomfort with the stinging burn of the antiseptic within the potion, the Nidorina dug her beak-like snout and chin into the dirt.

The assault on the Nidorina's senses by the stinging liquid finally stopped, and it did so suddenly enough that she realized after a few moments of tense waiting, that she was flinching even though there was no more spraying – and, most importantly, no more pain. The Nidorina blinked, and opened her eyes, and carefully examined herself; in the places where the spray was still fresh, her cuts still stung... But, where it had dried already, the burning had dulled away to a marvelously relieving, if highly peculiar numbness. The Nidorina rose to her feet lightly – too lightly, considering she was still disoriented by the blow – and almost stumbled into Alex. Ears flapping, the Nidorina shook her head a little harder than she intended and flopped rather inelegantly onto her rump.

That shake made the mountain start spinning. Not good... The blue thought, casting a glance at the human: "Nido." She huffed: " What? Haven't you ever seen an injured Nidorina before? " The blue grunted when she caught it staring blankly at her behavior, her mood still colored by the pounding in her head. However, with her injuries tended to, his attention turned toward the fresh wound she had given the human. Guiltily, and in spite of her relatively jaded attitude, the Nidorina began to regret snapping at him – the best of the spray's effects were beginning to take hold, and the swimming haze that fogged her mind soon disappeared altogether. When she could at last stand without threatening to fall over, the Nidorina sniffed at the human's bite injury, which at first it withdrew nervously from her.

The thick tang of fresh blood clouded the Nidorina's sharp nose, and the human muttered something to itself which she guessed was probably a less-than-endearing remark about her, but it finally presented its hand after a time. " Hold still, two-legs. " The Blue ordered. " This may not be as fancy as your stupid spray, but a good tongue cleaning's the best I've got, and it works well enough. Well, it does for Pokémon, anyway." She muttered more to herself than the human as she lapped at the injuries in his palm like she had done to her own injuries so many times in the past.

"It's like some cheesy plug from an old feel-good Pokémon movie." Alex muttered out loud after a few minutes of ministration by the Nidorina. Surprisingly, a vague numbness also began to radiate outward from the source of Alex's bite injury, but, it didn't occur to him until after she finished – leaving his hand cleaner, but uncomfortably tingly – that venomous creatures such as this Nidorina might also have venomous saliva. Perhaps it was natural selection desperately trying to reclaim an point for the collective human IQ by removing Alex from the gene pool; as he began to fret at the possibility of an unintentional second poisoning, the Nidorina contented itself to remain where it lay, still feeling unwell enough to move very much.

Man… What a pitiful sight we make… Alex thought, working his hand open and shut for several moments while stared at the Nidorina, who looked up at him after realizing she was being watched. "What the hell are we going to do now?" He asked the blue rhetorically, looking out over the mountain valley. The Nidorina only grunted her namesake once and rested her head on her paws, feeling unusually drowsy for this time of day – slowly her eyelids closed, and she began to sleep. Helplessly, Alex glanced up and down the trail… Still no sign of anyone else anywhere. As the hot sun reached its zenith high above, the human began to sweat from more than just anxiety.

I'm almost out of water, Alex realized as he dug around in his pack – of five bottles he'd brought on his mother's adamant command, three of them were empty, and he drained the fourth in just a few moments, leaving one still full. Concerned, Alex cast a concerned glance at the Nidorina; she was already in deep sleep. She's bound to get thirsty when she wakes up; I won't have nearly enough water for her to drink with just this, Alex thought. She probably shouldn't overwork herself just yet either. I could probably try to find water myself, but