Little Guy immediately slipped into the water and began splashing around and enjoying himself. It was probably a good thing Pip actively did not want to encounter a pokemon this early into his expedition, because he was sure Little Guy would have spooked off any that were nearby. Once all of their things were secured to their water proof bag, Pip joined Little Guy in the water and began their passage to the other side.
The river was shallow enough on the banks here that they could ford their way across at least part way, but it was deep enough in the middle to require swimming. The current was strong, and Pip enjoyed maneuvering through it. They really did, genuinely, love swimming, and it was so much more fun when the water was alive like this. Back at the training center they had always preferred to swim in the wave pool and artificial river, but the open ocean and real rivers were better still.
They didn’t let themselves linger though, because they had other places to be. Kind of. They had a vague plan and they should probably follow it. They would have packed differently if they were planning on staying in the water. They would have worn a wetsuit, for starters.
Pip made it to the other side without incident, and Little Guy followed them out of the water without complaint or attempts to drag them back in. They made sure to reward their regional totodile with attention and praise to reinforce the good behaviour.
Once they had gone through the routine of partially drying themselves and switching back into their walking kit, they released their pikachu from his ball, so all three of their regular pokemon were out with them. As expected, the timid little electric mouse immediately scampered up Pip’s leg and into their arms (although they bent down this time in anticipation and helped them up, so there were fewer scratches left in his wake) but Pip was determined to help the pokemon gain a little bit of confidence today.
“Hey buddy, it’s alright.” They gave him some reassuring skritches and tried to encourage him to unburry himself from Pip’s shirt.
Mezzo, while all this was going on, had been keeping a watchful eye on the forest around them. It could be very easily distracted sometimes, but it was a very careful watch-mon. It spotted something in one of the trees and chimed to get its trainer’s attention. Pip dutifully come over to inspect the bush Mezzo indicated, and could see that there was, indeed, something lodged in between the branches. They tried to reach it themselves but were unsuccessful.
Pip looked down at the little pokemon cowering in their arms and had an idea. They slowly lowered him to the ground, and, upon realizing what was happening, he tried to climb up Pip’s arms to their shoulders, but they caught him and placed him on the forest floor while keeping up a constant stream of calming head pats. “Okay! See that under there?” Pip pointed to the object that could probably be seen more clearly from the pikachu’s perspective than from theirs. “Can you go under there and get that for me?”
The pikachu looked up at them with big watery eyes.
Pip smiled encouragingly at him.
Mezzo chimed sternly and the pikachu bolted under the bush!
“Mezzo.” Pip chided quietly, glaring sternly at the chingling, who floated off happily quite sure they had done nothing wrong.
The pikachu re-emerged a moment later with a potion in his mouth. He deposited it dutifully at Pip’s feet and then launched himself back into Pip’s arms. Pip, who had been crouched down and unprepared, let out an “oof” and toppled backwards onto their butt! They were so proud of their little pikachu though, and gave him lots of pets for a job well done.
From their new position propped up on one elbow, Pip saw that there was a patch of organ berries growing along the base of the tree. They plucked a couple as a reward for their brave little mouse.
