The group walked together through the forest for a while, without anything particularly exciting happening. Pip was mostly focussed on their pikachu, and trying to get it comfortable with its surroundings. After a while he was walking fairly comfortably on his own, but he was still walking close enough to be brushing up against his trainer’s legs with most steps.
After the near-miss with the sinkhole, Pip was being much more conscientious of where they were stepping, which did achieve the intended result… but it also left them vulnerable to dangers from other directions. They felt thump as something landed on their back – or, more specifically, their backpack – after dropping from the trees above. It was a wild pokemon!
They spun around to dislodge the pokemon in question, but it clung on with all of the strength in its tiny little gripper feet. Mezzo had to come over and knock it to the ground, where Little Guy quickly set upon it. It was a Nauwillian Wurmple! (Or, at least, Pip assumed that’s what it was. It looked more or less like a Wurmple, and they had heard that there was a regional variety in these woods.) There was a brief scuffle but, with a bit of direction from Pip, Little Guy was quickly able to overpower it enough that his trainer was able to snag it in a research ball!
Unfortunately, it seemed that the Wurmple had a friend! One that was none too pleased that it’s companion had been fought and stolen! A second Nauwillian Wurmple dropped from the trees directly on top of poor Little Guy, landing a solid blow. He was too dazed in that moment to do anything, so Pip quickly set Mezzo to the task of scaring it off while they rushed over to their partner pokemon. Thankfully the damage was not enough to knock him out, and he was ready to continue in no time.
Pip, however, was fully prepared to turn back around at this point. If they got ambushed again, they didn’t want to be trapped this far into the woods without backup… maybe it would have been better to spend this unexpectedly free afternoon working with their new regional poliwag in the tide pools.