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While Faylinn ached to explore Dark Cave, Lunk seemed increasingly restless in a general sense. For the first thirty minutes he'd rested patiently while she tried to fish. Sleeping, he'd made no noise aside from the rumbling of his stone body scraping against itself and a rattling, like tumbling pebbles, with every breath. Now as they passed the one hour mark he stirred and began to slowly but surely grow sick of laying around. First he simply raised his head, looking out over the route with his body still curled beneath him. When that grew boring he lowered his head near Faylinn's body (the two nearly equal in size) and took to blowing at her hair. Each gust of air was like a strong wind -- the first blew her hat into the grass and the second mussed her hair as if she'd been caught in a storm.[break][break]

"Stop, Lunk!" she protested his pestering with her voice and a single hand. She patted his nose hard and glared up at him. He responded in kind, bumping into her with his head hard enough to knock her onto her side, "Fine! Fishing's done." The grumbled statement was accompanied by the reeling in on of her line. The Onix was such a moody brat sometimes, it put Faylinn's own teenage temper to shame. As she collapsed the fishing pole and returned it to her bag she wondered what they could do now. The answer literally slapped her on the face. [break][break]

Some kind of flying-type came hurdling from the trees and collided right into her left cheek. Reactions from all parties involved were instantaneous. Faylinn grit her teeth hard in the face of the pain and what she hoped wouldn't be bruising from the impact. Her eyes watered for a moment, tears that were quickly blinked away. The bird rolled from its place on its side on the ground, to its back, and finally onto its feet; only to be swept up by the last member of the trio. Lunk, who had uncoiled himself and quickly set to work trapping it in a Bind.[break][break]

"Ah, that hurt," Faylinn groaned quietly, speaking softly to avoid letting the pressure still pushing at her eyes become real tears, "Take care of it Lunk, Stone Edge or whatever I don't know." she continued to grumble pitifully, giving the order before getting on her knees at the side of the pond. With both hands she cupped some of the cool water before resting her sore cheek in it awkwardly. She felt silly sitting there, head tilted awkwardly and water dripping between her fingers, but it felt nice.[break][break]

Lunk went about his orders as they were stated. For a moment he bounced the bird into the air before coming down hard on it with his tail. The sharp points of his rocky body scraped against the pokemon, a Stone Edge that left it sprawling on the ground. When it moved to get up he gripped it back in his tail, making sure it couldn't get away. The angry Chatter it offered was met with indifference by the Onix, and then answered by a similar display as before. He bounced the pokemon into the air before swatting it into the trees. An Iron Tail that no doubt put it down for the count.[break][break]

After that he slithered over to Faylinn and lowered his head near hers. When she lifted her face from the water he blew gently in the direction of her cheek. The intent was kind, but his size made it difficult to do any more than blast the left side of her head with air. [break][break]

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606 WORDS FOR @wild

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Faylinn couldn't help but fall into a mess of giggles as Lunk continued his blowing on her face. After the third or fourth time it was clear he knew the blowing wasn't helping her cheek situation, but he kept at it (tousling her hair and tickling her neck and ears with the constant, gentle breezes) regardless. He only let up when Faylinn began smacking at his nose and shouting between fits of laughter. When she sat up she could see the smile in his eyes, even if he didn't have lips to offer one in earnest.[break][break]

"Yeah yeah, you brat," she smiled up at him, gently petting his cheek with her right hand while still cupping her sore one with her left, "Thanks for taking care of that bird." she grabbed an uneven spot on his nose then to help her get back on her feet. The sight of the pond wasn't as nice now as it had been a few moments ago. For whatever reason she'd thought the route would be more peaceful. A silly thought, really. She'd been dealing with pokemon for years and she figured she should know by now that the wild ones are always unpredictable.[break][break]

A fine example of that came waddling up to them once she was properly stood up. A little brown bird pokemon, a serious look in its eyes that only grew more serious when it fluffed out its feathers and spread its wings. Faylinn couldn't help but laugh in its face. Sometimes she met new pokemon in this region whose mystery made her wary of them. They had a weird look or strange structure that made their typing, strengths, and weaknesses unclear, but really she could guess the attributes of this one easily. It was no taller than her ankle, clearly a flying type of some description, and if she had to guess probably no more than a first evolution. In the face of Lunk? That was nothing.[break][break]

Lunk realized it, too. With a dismissal huff he turned his head from Faylinn and lowered it close to the ground to stare the flying-type in the eyes. The way, even hunched down, that he towered over the little pokemon. It made the match up seem even more unfair. And yet it didn't back down. Indeed, it clacked its beak a bit before Growling up at its behemoth opponent. That got both Faylinn and Lunk's attention. A gutsy one, no doubt.[break][break]

"Give it a test slap, Iron Tail," Faylinn patted Lunk's side after giving the order, and just like that he was off. He moved to encircle the bird, tail beginning to glow as he did. Respectfully quick, it took to the air to try and escape. Against the kinds of pokemon it likely ran into out here -- Rattata, Sentret, pokemon of comparative size -- it might have worked, but with an Onix's sheer size all the movement did was make Lunk stretch. The Iron Tail swatted it back to the ground, though outside of the circle he'd made to restrict its movements. It got a chance to try something fresh.[break][break]

As Lunk got back into position for another run at it, something new it indeed tried. It took back to the air and began to fly in odd formations, and then all at once there were two of it. Double Team. It was gutsy and smart. It moved into position to rush Lunk again, and this time when he fired off an Iron Tail it swung through air, destroying the copy while the real deal went in for a hit. A startlingly fast Quick Attack slammed into Lunk's face. The match up really was unfair though. Size and typing on his side, Lunk barely flinched. [break][break]

"Stone Edge, Lunk!" despite knowing the odds were in their favor from the start, the fight the unknown pokemon put up got Faylinn's blood pumping. When Lunk went in for the kill, slamming the rugged side of his face into the bird and knocking it from the sky, it almost made her feel bad. The fight was too lopsided. She wanted to see it fight more! The desire left her staring at the pokemon on the ground, wanting it to get back up. A few seconds passed and it stayed down, but then she saw it twitch. Watched as its head struggled to lift from the grass. It was a trooper! But this fight was over . . .[break][break]

This fight.[break][break]

Without thinking Faylinn found herself reaching for her bag and pulling out a Pokeball. This fight was over, but if she could just capture it![break][break]

She threw the Pokeball across the field to land on the barely conscious pokemon.[break][break]

If she could just capture it she could watch it in more fights in the future![break][break]

She held her breath as the ball began to shake back and forth . . . [break][break]

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808 WORDS FOR @wild