Ivy came back into the cave to see me feeding the little Phantump some sweet berries.

“He’s got a sweet tooth.” I told her, smiling brilliantly as the berries quickly disappeared bite after bite.

“That’s… Good.” She decided as she wandered over and settled down. “The rain stopped?”

“Yeah, not super long ago now. I had to take Arcanine on a walk. Mightyena ambushed us but we sent them packing. Been mostly waiting for you to wake up.”

“Thanks.” She offered, looking a little awkward. “How do… How are you so calm with ghost types? Don’t they scare you?”

“Not really. They’re just pokemon, same as any other.”

“But what about all the rumors? Like Gengar! And-”

“That stuff is so overblown. Absolute lies!” I said, shaking my head. “They are just pokemon, it’s nonsense. Phantump evolve into Trevenant, they are forest guardians. Taking care of things. Gengar are just pranksters. Even Drifloon don’t kidnap children. They can’t even move a child. They are balloons.”

“What’s a Drifloon?”

“Ah, nothing, just a ghost type that floats around like a balloon. Sure they can be dangerous, but so can any pokemon.”

Ivy looked a little hesitant, but as Phantump finished his meal he looked up to see Ivy and raised his arms practically instantly. Despite the mouth hole around his stump covered in berry juice. Cute!

I think despite me pulling him into the cave, the little guy had definitely bonded to Ivy.

She hesitated for a moment before sighing, and holding out her own arms, and he quickly floated off my lap to cuddle up with her. Which she sighed at, as she grabbed a napkin and cleaned up his face.

“You should ask if he wants to join you.” I said the moment Ivy got comfortable and then she got very uncomfortable.

“Maybe.”

“Well, think about it. A Trevenant would be huge for your family. Imagine a big tree pokemon that can control trees in a forest.”

“Wait. They can control trees!?”

“Yeah, It’s cool.”

Ivy looked down at the little stump and maybe held the little guy a little closer.

“Where did Lucario and Riolu go?”

“Ah, once the rain let up Lucario decided to head out.”

“I thought you would… I mean. I thought you would try to catch them.”

“Eh? Lucario didn’t seem interested.”

“I didn’t just say Lucario.” She answered with a bit of sass.

“I don’t want that brat!”

“Okay sure.” She answered and then shrugged as she leaned back with a big yawn.

“I’m going to be heading out soon. I want to see if I can’t find some Goomy, now that it rained.” I told her and she blinked.

“Ah… Thanks for waiting for me to wake up. Should I come with?”

“If you want to! Or you could play with your Fomantis, they probably want some sunlight since the sun finally came out.”

“Oh yeah!” She said looking happy, She hadn’t done much with the grass type since capturing it. “You go ahead. I’ll hold down the camp this time.”

“Alright! I’m off then!” I called out standing up and stretching as I went to grab everyone. Time for some fun!

Milotic and Dragonite both looked up as I stepped out of the cave. “Alright! Ivy is up, so we are going to explore. You two ready?”

“Drag!”

“Milotic!”

“Awesome!” I returned both of them as I stretched and finally Arcanine met up with me.

“You look silly.” I told her, as she now had brown mud baked onto her fur everywhere.

“Arc!” She just barked uncaring and wagged her tail.

“Alright alright, let’s go look around. I need to find some caves. You ready?”

“Arc!”

“Sounds about right.” Then I jumped onto her back. I could have taken some time to put on her saddle, but we weren’t really traveling. We sped off. “Just stay close to the river! There has to be a cave near the water for the goomy!” I called and Arcanine sped over to run along the river.

—--

Finding a cave was actually kinda hard. Arcanine ran up and down the river without really spotting anything for a while.

Unfortunately despite my thoughts of there being a cave close to the water, we ended up instead running up along the mountain itself before finally finding something that would work.

Arcanine was a big help.

“Arc!”

“Here? It’s kinda small.” I mumbled looking at the hole in between the big boulders that led into the darkness, but as Arcanine huffed a bit of flame for me to see, I could see it did go in deeper.

“Arcanine.” She almost whined, nose snuffling at the hole and tail wagging.

I had asked her to find me goomy. Which would be Dragon types that smell like water and leaves.

I had hoped that would be enough.

“Okay. I’m going in.”

“Arc!” Arcanine barked and before I could try it her teeth grabbed at the back of my shirt and pulled me back.

“Arcanine!”

She mumbled with my shirt in her teeth, but she certainly wasn’t going to let me go.

“Okay. Okay fine. Crawling in alone is dumb. I won’t do it.” I assured her, and I was instantly dropped onto the not so soft dirt. “Thanks.” I mumbled at her with a glare, but then looked at the hole.

I didn’t want to just smash in the hole, if this was a Goomy cave, then they might be using the small entrance as a form of protection.

So instead I just crawled over to the entrance.

“Hello? Is there any Goomy in there? My name is Vicky! I’m a pokemon trainer. I’m looking to make new friends.” I called out into the hole and just waited.

“Arcanine?”

I shrugged at her. “If you are asking if I think that’ll work. I really don’t know. Can’t hurt.”

She huffed at me, and then I just sat there waiting.

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And waiting.

“I don’t think it worked.”

“Arc.”

“Okay so plan B.” I said as I decided to stand up. “Let’s look around. Can you smell any trails? Like slime trails? Goomy are slimy.”

Arcanine returned her nose to the ground and started snuffling. Very quickly she circled around the entrance a few times nose to the ground before slowly walking off in a direction.

Well that could work. I followed her for a minute as we moved over the rough stone into the forest.

The very wet forest, which I’m sure wasn’t making her job any easier, but Arcanine seemed to be having fun.

I would have to add some tracking training to her skill set soon. Papa would probably know how to train for tracking. I would have to ask him.

Arcanine led me into the forest, around trees, and in one case through a bush that to my delight had a hole where all of the leaves had been chewed away!

Goomy signs!

Then we ruffled through a bush and Arcanine stopped.

There was a small pond. Heavily filled from all the rain, and it was practically covered in bushes, and all around the bushes.

Were a dozen Goomy all chewing away at the leaves while sitting in the water.

“Oh my glob.” I said, unable to stop myself.

“Goom!?”

“Goomy!” They instantly noticed me and dove for cover. Hiding in the shadows of the bushes or even jumping into the water. And squishing down hiding underneath.

One, probably the smallest, also tried to run but it seemed confused and ended up running in circles before just stopping as it saw me and then just didn’t move.

“Hello.” I called out, but that didn’t seem to do anything, so I waved Arcanine back and slowly stepped forward and then another until I was right up by the water. And the one Goomy that was just sitting there…

Oh.

He or she was just shivering. In terror.

“I’m not gonna hurt you. Any of you. I promise.” I told it softly, but it was still just sitting there shivering as if it couldn’t move from all the terror.

I looked around and slowly walked to one of the bushes and grabbed a few of the leaves from the top where they couldn’t reach and then slowly cautiously walked over. I stepped into the water as gently as I could but every ripple that touched the Goomy only made it shiver all the worse.

But I continued closer. I had to. I couldn’t just run away now.

“Hi.” I whispered gently, and then held out the leaves on my palm, just in the water in front of it. The leaves in reach to snack on. “You can eat these if you like. I’m sorry if I’m scaring you. I’m Vicky, a Pokemon Trainer. I’m on a quest to find new friends.”

And then I waited.

Nothing. No movement. It just stood there wobbling a little but not running or doing anything else.

I looked to the others I could see in the bushes and they were just as terrified. Each of them hid as deep as they could in the shadows.

What should I do? Do I leave? Do I just throw a pokeball? No, that’s the wrong choice obviously. I just wanted them to not be scared. Even if none of them wanted to come with me.

“You’re very cute. Just a little blob of cuteness all wrapped up in tiny little Goomy.” I told him, and that opened the floodgates. “I’ve always liked Goomy. You guys are super cute, and nice. One of the nicest dragons for sure. You guys also just eat leaves, and stuff, so you don’t even hurt people. I’ve come a whole long way just to meet you all. I want to make friends with all the Goomy in the forest. And play with you all, and just have fun. I’m sorry if I scare you.”

And then my smile fell because the Goomy just… Sat there. Scared.

I was scaring it.

I didn’t want to scare it.

Placing the leaves in the water in front of it, I slowly rose up and backed away.

“Arc?” I just shook my head and walked past.

Punching through the bushes ignoring the minor cuts and scrapes.

My eyes were stupid and crying right now.

—--

“Arc, Arcanine?” My girl nudged me a bit, giving my face a big lick a moment after before I could respond.

“Blegh! Arcanine!” I grumbled at her, but she was still nudging me with her cold nose and I sighed and rubbed my eyes. “It’s stupid.” I revealed.

I was crying because Goomy were scared of me, and I just… I hated that.

They were one of my favorites, but I had scared that poor Pokemon half to death, and it hadn’t even worked. I couldn’t get it to calm down enough to actually listen.

And it just… Sucked.

I had come all this way to meet Goomy, to capture them and have the cutest blobs in the entire world.

“Arc! Arc-Arcanine!” She said before nuzzling me, and I wrapped my arms around Arcanines head.

“You’re such a good girl.” I told her, even if I wasn’t sure what she had actually meant. It didn’t matter. It sounded reassuring.

“C’mon let’s go check in with Ivy. I need some time to think.” I told her, and soon I was once more mounted and we were off.

But I couldn’t help but look back towards the direction of the pond.

—--

“Vicky?” Ivy gasped as I walked into the camp. Looks like she had been getting ready to head out herself, but she paused in putting on her backpack when she saw me, and instead rushed over and threw herself into a hug. “Are you okay!?”

“Yeah. It’s silly. I’m fine, I didn’t get hurt. I just… I found some Goomy. But they were terrified of me, and I just… I don’t want them to be scared.” I offered sighing as I accepted the hug, and the worried look after.

“C’mon sit down then. Do you… Do you want to tell me what happened?”

“Not much to tell Ivy. I found some Goomy, but they were really really scared of me. Like utterly terrified. One got so scared it just… Couldn’t move. So I had to leave. I was scared I might actually hurt it if I stayed. It sucks. Where’s Phantump?”

“Oh Vicky.” She offered and sat beside me as I settled on my sleeping bag. “Phantump decided he wanted to come with me, so I captured him… But let’s focus on you. Is this the first time you’ve tried to capture a pokemon only for it not to work?”

“What? No! I’ve had Pokemon say no before! Like… Well I can’t talk about that.” I mumbled Dragonair had been an almost miss after all. It hadn’t bothered me as much then, mostly because they were still cute with me. “It’s not the failed capture Ivy. It’s that they were scared.”

“Okay. So you don’t like pokemon being scared of you, well is there anything you can do to be less scary?”

“If I knew that, I would be doing it.” I grumbled.

“C’mon Vicky. You know more about pokemon than anyone! I’ve never even heard of Goomy before. So what do they like?”

“Leaves. Being wet. They don’t like getting dried out. And they are very weak, so they don’t usually like fighting.”

“Okay. So they are weak and scared. Makes sense to me. A lot of pokemon are like that. How do you interact with scared Pokemon.”

“Calmly move away from them. If you have to interact with them, then offer them food, and slowly acclimate them to your presence.” I recited straight from Mrs. Hikaru’s lesson.

“Right. Maybe you just rushed it a bit too much.”

I blew out air as I realized I probably had. I should have just settled in to watch them quietly, or something rather than rushing to the water. I had just wanted to hug them so much!

“Alright. Well I’m going to go check on the Fomantis we saw yesterday again. I want to catch a few more of them, to make sure we can breed them back in Kanto.” Ivy said, suddenly standing up. “Want to come with? Play with the grass pokemon?”

“I do think they are cute. Just wait until you see their evolution.”

“You know what they evolve into! Tell me!” She demanded and I did laugh at that as I rose up.

“C’mon we can ride Arcanine back there. I’ll tell you all about the cool not bug type Lurantis!”

—--

“Pfft.” I snickered as quietly as I could as Ivy despite having her own Fomantis that was actually pretty friendly with her now. Apparently she had bonded with the little guy while I was gone. But the wild ones? Those she was still struggling to interact with.

Because she had to run down the road dodging weak solar beams once again when she accidentally nudged one of them as she was crawling around them.

“Don’t laugh!” She whispered angrily at me as she finally made it back to where I was sitting against a tree.

“Do you want a good hint that might just make this really easy?” I offered and she narrowed her eyes.

“Yes.”

“Fomantis are so grouchy because they are sleeping while collecting sunlight. It’s like their favorite thing. Absorbing sunlight.” I reiterated the most important part.

Ivy scrunched up her nose but eventually she seemed to catch on and she pulled out a pokeball.

“Venusaur! Come on out. Quiet now.” She called quietly, and Venusaur appeared, only making a short noise as it reformed. Then it turned to Ivy wondering what she wanted.

“Venusaur use Sunny Day over the Fomantis.”

“Saur.” It agreed and a moment later its flower seemed to open even more than it was before and then the sunlight turned glaring.

Every Fomantis made a really cute little beep noise as they opened their eyes and then began shaking and opening their leaves.

It took me a second to realize they were giggling.

They loved it!

“Okay Venusaur! Keep the sunlight coming. I’m going to try and make some new friends.” Ivy offered and then did just that, wandering closer, making sure not to nudge any of them, she caught up to her own Fomantis that was practically back asleep in the sun and she whispered to him quietly, then she moved on. She found another one, and started whispering to it. I couldn’t hear what she said, but slowly she got her response and she moved on. On the third attempt it must have worked.

She pulled out a pokeball and booped the Fomantis on the head.

It disappeared into her Pokeball.

She must have found one willing to come with her.

Cool.

Ivy was so cool. Crawling around in a horde of pokemon and making friends with them.

I felt my smile disappear.

That hadn’t worked for me.

Despite the harsh sunlight, I felt like someone had just dropped a Rain Dance on my head.

I caught the motion out of the corner of my eye and reached up and caught it.

“Ninja reflexes.” I informed the pokemon that had just thrown a… Pecha berry at my head.

“Rio.” She scoffed as she walked over then pointed at Ivy. Riolu looked pretty amused at Ivy rolling around in the grass.

“She wanted to capture more Fomantis. So she is giving them some Sunny Day extra sunlight to make them happier, and asking if they want to come with.”

“Riolu.” The pokemon nodded pleased, and I noticed another familiar face.

“Hey Lucario.”

“Lucario.” It greeted back, Riolu quickly chattered away to Lucario and I realized she was telling her mom what the silly humans were doing.

Heh.

Lucario looked on, watching as Ivy continued to roll around in the grass between the different grass pokemon, and trying to seduce them.

At least that’s how it looked to me.

I took a bite of the Pecha berry and instantly earned a squawk from Riolu who turned to me angry. It only took a second to realize what had pissed her off as she made to swipe the berry from my hands.

“You threw it at me, that makes it mine now!” I told her and then bit into it to hold it in my mouth as I fended off both of the fighting pokemons paws as she went to grab it from me.

A few minutes later Ivy’s voice interrupted.

“Vicky are you fighting Riolu again?” I looked up from where I had Riolu in a headlock, giving her my best noogie, while she was biting at my arm trying to break free.

She wasn’t really biting too hard, more a warning than anything which is why I wasn’t hitting her with the super Vicky Noogie special.

“She started it!”

“Riolu, I’m sorry for Vicky. Vicky let her go!” Ivy demanded and I sighed as I rolled off the pup and started rubbing at my forearm that now had pokemon teeth indented into them.

“If I get rabies from this, I’m gonna kick your ass.”

“Rio!” She hissed and then made a gagging noise as she pointed at her tongue.

Heh. I guess I don’t taste very good. Before she could say anything more, I reached down, picked up the long forgotten berry and slammed it right into her mouth.

“There, that should-Oof!” I wheezed as Riolu slammed a paw into my side in retaliation.

“You two really can’t stop can you?” Ivy moaned.

“Lu-Lucario Luca.”

Ivy took a second, but the sigh from Lucario clued Ivy into what the pokemon had meant.

“Yeah.” Ivy sighed along with her.

Rude!