Pip pulled the pikachu’s ball from their belt, rolling it between their fingers as the debated releasing him from it. He was still new, and Pip hadn’t had a lot of opportunity to work with him. The middle of a creepy forest with lots of twists and turns and hidy places was probably not the ideal conditions to try start their journey together. If a battle broke out it would probably hold the pikachu’s attention long enough for it to be okay, but-
Pip’s thoughts were abruptly and rudely brought to a conclusion as the ground beneath them gave out.
“Aaaaahhh!”
They had been walking fairly close to the edge of the bank, and had apparently missed that the section they had stepped onto was less ‘solid dirt’ and more ‘a probably mostly dead plant covered in other mostly dead plants’. One moment they were strolling alone, the next they were knee deep in plant detritus. Thankfully they were able to throw themselves to the side and catch most of their weight on a conveniently located boulder before they got too tangled up.
They probably would have twisted their leg or something if they hadn’t caught themselves, and that would have been… not a lot of fun to walk back to town on. Pip sighed and extracted their leg from the hole, wincing at the squelching noise that was made as they pried their foot out of the mud at the bottom. It was a good thing that they opted for boots over their usual sandals (a new purchase, and the trade off was, of course, that they hadn’t been properly broken in yet and were already rubbing uncomfortably at their Achilles tendon), but even still, it felt like some of the mud might have gotten in over the top.
This expedition was off to a great start.
Once safely extracted from the muck, they pulled themselves up onto the rock that had saved them from further harm to inspect the damage that had been done. Their leg was covered in mud, but they were otherwise surprisingly unharmed. No cuts or scratches. Maybe it wasn’t so bad after all.
There was a curious chittering from the water, and Pip looked over to see Little Guy eyeing them curiously. Pip waved him off, smiling reassuringly. “All good. Just wasn’t watching where I was going.”
Little Guy chirped happily and dove back down into the water, apparently appease by Pip’s response. He darted forward down the river, leading the way.
“Better not let him get too far ahead of me…” Pip muttered as they got back to their feet and brushed themselves off. “Onward and forward. Or… Something.” They figured they should probably stick to more solid ground as they continued, and chose to walk through a patch of low-lying plants. The root structures should provide some reliable stability, they thought.
The ground was much sturdier there. Unfortunately, they weren’t walking through the plans for long before they felt a swinging sensation on their leg, just above their boot. Pip reared back, thinking that maybe they had been bit by some kind of bug pokemon, but they quickly realized what had happened. They hadn’t recognized the plants, but they must have been some kind of stinging nettle! The burning sensation was quickly spreading where their exposed skin had brushed up against the leaves.
They stumbled away to a clear patch, pulling their bag off their shoulder as they rummaged through it. “Ah – Arceus – feraligatr toes! Gah!” It took them a minute, but they eventually managed to fish out their deodorant, which they uncapped quickly and began liberally applying to their burning leg. The trick didn’t work as well as it did against the stinging nettle where they were from, but it alleviated the pain somewhat.
They narrowed their eyes at the offending plants, and then glared accusingly at the surrounding forest more generally.
Little Guy clambered out of the river and up the bank, coming over to see what all the commotion was about. They shuffled closer to sniff at Pip’s leg and pulled their head back in the – probably overwhelming, to his little nose – Clean & Fresh scent. Little Guy whined and looked between Pip and the water.
“Yes, you’re having a great time, I can see, but at this rate, if I tried to get in that water I’d probably slip, hit my head, and drown.” They said dryly, reaching down to give the Nauwillian totodile a skritch behind his eye ridges. Another thought occurred to them and they shuddered. “Or it would turn out there is some kind of fresh water tentacool in that river that would pull me under.”
Yeah. Best to stick to dry land.
