Someone approached. Benji turned to look, and there was a larger male coming towards them. A little smile was given, and the Chingling atop their piled hair let out a few little chimes in greetings. "It's all right," they said in reply, nodding their head. There were a lot of Chingling around recently, especially in the enrichment center. That's how they had met, after all.
"My name's Benji," they replied softly, eyeballing the others hand before taking it gently. "Oh, uh, yes. Kind of. I heard about the barrier force and got curious." Shrugging their shoulders a little, Benji would then shift and glance towards the seawall to the other person Farren waved to. Pip, it seemed. Benji raised a hand to wave as well.
Another person came towards them, drawing Benji's attention. The Chingling chimed again, making them smile a little. The woman's question made them shake their head. "No swimming, I think that would be a horrible idea." Their little Chingling seemed to chime in response, eliciting a little head pat from Benji. "Not that I know of," they replied to the question about supplies. The wind blew a little harder, and they wrapped their sweater more securely around themself.
The one named Pip was looking back out over the water when a particularly large bolt of lightning flashed through the sky. An audible gasp left Benji as they quickly covered their eyes and took a step back. That was unexpected. "No, I don't think that's normal!" they would say back out to them. Definitely probably not. Not that they could remember, at least.
Research? That sounded cool. Benji watched Farren bring out a notebook and pen, before shuffling closer to him to see what he was writing. "I don't know if a Poke'mon could create something as big as this all on their own. Not unless it's one of those really big, super rare legendary ones. But what would it get out of causing a storm like this?"