The cave might have been hot, but it wasn't until Yoni had left it and been confronted with the humidity that seemed to permeate through his entire trek through the route that he realised that it was at least dry. Indeed compared to the Johto caves Yoni had explored, or he had heard about it had been comfortably so. Leaving the tunnel - which was more of a cave really - to the outside was like stepping into an oven to be baked. It wasn't even thirty seconds before the back of Yoni's neck was damp with sweat once more.
Yet despite the setback Yoni had a smile that crossed his face, he had gotten himself a rival! A true to life rival. As someone who four days earlier hadn't even thought it possible that he could train a Pokemon, for him that was unreal. It was something he realised now that he was missing as a Trainer. All the great ones had a rival. Lance had an open and much discussed in Johto tendency to talk trash about other important or otherwise strong trainers. Last he had heard he was trying to egg some old sailor man named Drake with the declaration that he was the better dragon tamer. And Yoni hadn't even had to insult anyone to make them their rival - not that insulting people gave much in the way of rivals to Lance, Crasher Wake of Sinnoh had responded in his usual flamboyant way, but usually Lance was met with silence. Which was just as good, because in Yoni's mind Lance was quite clearly a top trainer, he was the champion of the Indigo League for a reason, right?
Such thoughts passed through his head as he advanced through the route, he could be forgiven, in his excitement of getting a rival, if he caught the way of a trainer and was forced into a challenge. Indeed Yoni didn't quite care about that as, contrary to when he had come, he now looked at anyone and anything that came near him. Taillows flew by as he walked, and Nincadas stared, but even through his sunglasses, the glare that Ventisca must have been giving was enough to keep most everything at bay. It was almost as if the news that this Swinub wasn't an weakling but had defeated a Machop and a Zigzagoon had spread.
In fact if Yoni knew how he would likely be whistling even despite the heat. Yoni had never quite figured how to do it, the best he could being a sort of raspberry, which was rather unfortunate as it meant he couldn't call canine Pokemon. Then again, even if he was as fierce as one, Ventisca wasn't quite a canine, so all was well.
Yoni hadn't spent much time in the cave, all things considered. Though he had been there long enough to talk with Wally and also get a reprieve for the heat. It was so not a surprise that the sun was set in such a place that it still managed to shine right up to Yoni's head. He frowned, he had to look into getting some sunglasses- Ventisca had been clever enough to find his own, but without an item to detect hidden objects he would never have the same luck. He had heard ads for such a device in the infomercials in between radio shows, but he had never thought to order them. All the money he gained was for Pokemon Cards, anyway. Maybe if he kept defeating trainers he could buy it eventually - it had felt good winning, and almost surreptitiously he dragged his eyes to see if there were any trainers nearby - Almost as if ready to issue a challenge. The truth was that there were none. It seemed that everyone with sense in Hoenn retreated to the shadows in the hours of high heat. With grass rustling and rubbing against him Yoni certainly didn't blame them. Once again he pushed a hand through his brow, he was starting to feel really dehydrated. The one bottle of Miltank milk he had in his backpack was certainly starting to sound more and more tempting.
When not stored in a cool spot miltank milk really didn't last a whole long while when opened. - he supposed it was like any other kind of milk in that regard. When first settling at the place he now called home, though not the one he thought as home they had gone shopping. Yoni had let out a gasp at the price of the Miltank milk - It was expensive! Eventually he had managed to convince his mother to take half a dozen little packets, but she had made it clear that it wasn't going to be a common thing. To Yoni, who had come to drink Miltank milk almost every day of his life - either given for free from a kind neighbour when he ran the fields, or given to him by his mother - that had sounded perverse. Certainly odd. It was adult things, the cost of shipping plus the income tax and whatever, when the lady at the counter had tried to explain why she priced it so Yoni had turned off the conversation about 30 seconds it.
What really amounted and Yoni had to take into account was that the Miltank milk he so much loved was to be rationed - he couldn't just drink two or three glasses a day like he used to. Indeed in the four days since arriving he had only indulged in one of those little packets of milk, to celebrate a successful first day. He wouldn't go as far as to say he was in withdrawal, he wasn't ready to hit someone like Ventisca had for his berries, but he definitely had a decision to make.
It was so that Yoni had stopped - a hand through the backpack that was hit with metallic sounds, and grabbing the Milk and he wondered. He still had a long walk home, did he really want to drink it? At the same time he was thirsty.
He was under that hill where he figured the berries grew, he could smell the moist dirt, and if that wasn't clue enough the fact that Ventisca, who had up until that point walked right by his heels, as if proud of the compliments and words of encouragement Yoni had thrown his way, was now trying to climb up and failing was definitely it. Berries in the proximity equaled Ventisca trying to get to them, it was like one plus one.
His position afforded him a little shadow and as he explored the inside of his backpack he had the pleasure of finding it was cold. He had been expecting the Pokeballs to feel warm, or, at least not as cool as metal. They certainly had been when through shaky hands Izzy had given them to him, but it looked like the dark pack, that shielded them from the sun, had done its job. He grabbed the milk, and amidst considerations thought to have seen something shiny out of the corner of his eye.
It was definitely odd. How could something be so brightly coloured if it was stepping into the shadows? Whatever it was Yoni had no time for considerations before it swiped in the direction of Ventisca.
Immediately Ventisca let out a growl, as he was used as a platform and the creature used his body as a spring to catch some air. Amazingly it also seemed to be able to hold on somewhat well. Yoni had let Ventisca try to get up there, from the side of the hill they were on there was no way they would ever get on top, if there was a path he and his Swinub hadn't passed through it. Perhaps it had been obscured, wherever the way lied they hadn't seen it. So as he heard the squeaking sound of his Swinub, crossed with a growl of anger, he didn't pay it much attention. It took an insistent tug on his socks, which clearly did not smell like flowers, for him to glance from his milk.
By the way the Ventisca directed his whole body to look at the Pokemon it was clear that he wanted to fight, and Yoni couldn't really blame him for it. In glancing at the pokemon he first noticed the smug smile as if it were laughing at the duo, and then the way it seemed to hold itself perfectly on what amounted to little more than a clump of dirt. Its fur was pink, yellow on the underside, through one could be forgiven if they assumed that those colors weren't present. When Yoni had looked at the picture of the pokemon in his glossary, he had thought it sleek looking, and very very cute. Not so much this particular specimen. Its fur was wild and unkempt, a dirty shade of yellow. Its belly dragged against the ground and picked bits of dirt here and there. It seemed to have rolled in the dry and cracked dirt because it had spots of brown just hanging on its fur like patches. It had bright eyes, much more obvious than the beady ones of his Ventisca, and yet Yoni had almost as much difficulty placing them. For where the cream and yellow fur met the pink, what the description read as being supposed to be a crescent form, clumps of patchy pink strings of fur fell. Yoni had the ridiculous vision of a punk Pokemon. Was such a thing possible?
Every picture and description he had seen of a Skitty seemed to contrast heavily with the one in front of him. It looked overstuffed, like a Farfetch'd. Or maybe that was just the impression all the fur, overgrown and over-dirty gave. It looked more like a Mareep than any cat Yoni had ever seen.
And yet, despite that, its movements were nimble and agile. It seemed like it knew exactly what to do or where to jump, to get where it wanted to go. It had reached all the way to over the halfway point of the hill with nothing but a pounce. And it hung by spreading its claws into the dirt, but not so as to break it.
It was clearly quite a wild Pokemon, and whether driven by instinct or just cunningness it had attacked Ventisca and placed itself on the one place where he couldn't reach it. Ventisca didn't quite have the energy - or the back legs to leap long distances, and though the Skitty's paws weren't much longer, or its legs much larger it had quite clearly put itself out of harm's way. That wouldn't stand. Yoni grabbed the first thing he had at his hand and threw it at the Skitty. He had expected to throw a Pokeball, maybe one of the white or pink ones he had seen when organizing his collection, what he failed to grasp however was that he already had his hand on the Miltank milk and, having dropped it when he had been pushed back by Ventisca it had fallen on top of the pile, just ready to be picked up again.
Yoni glanced at the Skitty which, if possible seemed to have an even more smug look in its face. It clearly found their frustration amusing. Darker thoughts were had as Yoni looked at his package of Miltank Milk, and some curse words might even have been uttered. Red up to his ears and glad that his mother wasn't there to scold him for his rather harsh words, Yoni glanced up.
In his face was a scowl, a very angry face he hoped would disencourage the Skitty from picking at his milk. Because while Yoni wasn't a sharp shot with berries, or even Pokeballs - not that he knew off - he had had a stroke of luck - or perhaps misfortune, and his milk had landed near the Pokemon. A few inches to the right and it would have come straight back down, but it wasn't to be.
The skitty seemed to take pleasure in Yoni's bad luck as it made sure that Yoni was glancing its way before ever so slowly tipping a paw to the milk carton, as Yoni opened his mouth, perhaps in the vague hope that it would push it towards him, perhaps in objection it put a single claw to it, poking a hole and draining it.
Yoni's face went livid. He had paid money for that, or at least his mother had. Living alone without other kids around Yoni had never had the experience of being bullied. Of having his things taken away or ripped, except by pure accident on the part of his mother, and even then they were replaced. He didn't have much money to his name, he didn't have much really. But he knew to treasure what he had. The fact he had thrown it himself only made it worse.
It didn't even drink it!, Yoni was rather angry if his face, red as a beetroot was any indication, and yet despite that he didn't allow that to cloud his judgement. You don't catch Pokemon with repel, you do it with honey. Though he had never tried, Beedril were still a nightmare for him.
Instead he did his best to hold Ventisca - who apparently was still mad over being jumped over - and tried to convince the cat like Pokemon to get down to his level. Yoni didn't quite have an idea of what he was going to do to the Skitty once it got down, he was unaccustomed to get pushed around, and even less accustomed to Pokemon who misbehaved. Though this was nowhere in the same league he saw this in the same light as Pokemon who deliberately attacked trainers who went to the grass without a Pokemon. Even though he was angry Yoni wasn't vengeful by nature. While Ventisca seemed to be quite clear in what it wanted to do with it, that was, beat it up, Yoni wasn't quite sure about that. Even if it'd would make for a good battle experience.
His efforts seemingly having no effect Yoni resigned itself to ignore it. Or at least he would have if Ventisca didn't stand in front of him, blocking his path. It was hot, Yoni was tired, and though he was glad he had found a rival the Skitty was tampering with his patience. The fact that the Swinub he called his partner wanted him to deal with the situation only made it ten times worse.
"What do you want me to do?", in the impossibility of moving without hurting his own Pokemon, Ventisca, Yoni questioned it. "It's not like I can just climb the steep hill is it?"
Yoni truly wondered, while he had walked upwards tons of times in Johto he had never mastered the ability to simply float to where he wanted to go. To call that a hill might have been an oversight, it was much more of a wall, a grass wall with a very very slight incline.
As if in response the proud but small Swinub noised a Pokeball out of the backpack. It wasn't his own so of course he couldn't get absorbed by it, but it did tell Yoni what he wanted.
I don't know if a Skitty is on my wishlist, he hesitated with the pokeball he had picked in his hand, then again the champion seemed to believe in exploring.
The Skitty looked at the scene lazily, standing on a natural ridge, in the wall. It was far too small for Yoni to stand on it without sliding, and he wouldn't even attempt.
Yoni felt the Pokeball for its weight, and he went so far as to wet a finger with saliva to check for winds. He wasn't going to miss this time! Though if the pokeball did capture the Skitty he would still be faced with the problem of retrieving it.
I'll worry about that later, taking a deep calming breath, he threw it. He hadn't dared breathe for fear that would ruin his trajectory. The ball soared and it hit the natural ledge where the Skitty was, rebouncing to capture him. Yoni's heart caught in his throat, was this it?
As the ball fell, propelled by the impact and sliding down to the ground it shook. At the first stammer Yoni held his tongue, praying it would work, at the second his heart beat slightly faster, but soon enough the shape of the Skitty took form as it got away. For its part it seemed to be disoriented, waving its tail around, as if to check if it was whole. Finding it so, it scampered of, stopping just where Yoni could see the tip of its tail.
Yoni picked the ball up, and threw it again, though it bounced off the skitty it didn't move to catch it, and the Skitty just played with it as if it were a regular metal ball. Cursing planned obsolescence, Yoni moved on to pick another one.
The Skitty moved once more and through the hot Hoenn air they moved, chasing one another like, fittingly, a cat would chase a mouse. Yoni struggled to keep up, with the grass slowing his step but Ventisca didn't even stop. It always seemed to graze the Skitty which pounced forward to avoid most of the damage. It was a marvelous display of dodging and Yoni couldn't help but be impressed.
However, besides being impressed another feeling was made itself clear to Yoni. He didn't know if the Skitty was toying with him, taking the whole thing as a game, or if it just wanted to be caught, but every time he threatened to lose it, the Skitty stopped to make sure he still followed. If Yoni was red it was not due to anger but tiredness, and he must have run up and down and all around. Through shadow and through sunny patches.
Once did the Skitty stop to engage with a Nincada. The string it shot may have slowed it down, but as the cat picked its prey, it definitively held a air of victory. Yoni couldn't see how that Skitty could sneak up on any Pokemon - perhaps it had been the reason it had dirtied itself up - but the Nincada fighting spirit had proven to be its downfall. It was panting and doubled over himself that he grabbed a pokeball out of the bag. At some point he had just decided to end things there. Ventisca had been hitting it here and there for the past couple of hours and he felt exhausted. The skitty looked at him with a bored air, its tails wagging.
The pokeball seemed to slowly spin as it made an arch towards the Pokemon. Yoni really hadn't planned this throw as carefully as the first one he had done. - he had just sort of thrown it. It grazed the top of grass and for a second Yoni feared it would sink into it - not that he was in a position to argue, tired as he was, but it ended up hitting the Skitty.
For a few moments both trainer and Pokemon seemed surprised at what had happened. The corpse of the Nincada falling down to the ground as Skitty was absorbed. Yoni couldn't see the Pokeball, it had fallen amidst the grass in front of him, but he anxiously counted the seconds to see if he had caught it.
After half a minute he thought it to be a pretty safe bet that he had indeed done so. Which left him with only the task of finding the Pokeball. Ventisca, he who had himself disappeared into the grass thankfully helped, sniffing and moving his way until he found it. As the sun came down and Yoni looked at the pokeball where the Skitty stood he couldn't help but grin. A Heal Ball. Somehow in it's very similar color scheme to the pokemon inside, Yoni found it appropriate. At least I won't have to take it to the pokemon center, he thought.
As he looked up he was surprised to see the sign proclaiming one to be entering Rustboro just a few meters away. In his wild chase for the Skitty he had twisted and turned but ultimately he had ended up right where he wanted to go. Grabbing the ball and feeling its warmth he giggled. Someone who were to look at him would find him mad, yet he did not care.
Holding the heal ball close to his chest he couldn't help himself, he sighed in contentment. Welcome to the team little buddy, he thought, realising he didn't even know the gender of the Pokemon. I'm going to need a name for you. And can't help to thank Izzy for the pokeballs.
With that cheerful thought, and the feeling of pride, as well as gratitude permeating in his chest Yoni started walking forwards, the illuminated street lamps forming an easy path to follow back home.