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In hindsight, a cave might have produced a greater effect. That was the thought on Mirai's mind as she watched her new friend float about, unfazed by the eerie darkness of Ilex Forest. She was here today to get a bit of training done as well as attempt to inject a bit more life into her Swablu who looked so relaxed that even she was starting to feel a bit sleepy. The Cotton Bird Pokemon's disposition was contagious.

They had ventured rather deep into the forest already and luckily or perhaps unluckily, they had yet to run into any Pokemon that could give Swablu a wake up call. But it was interesting taking this time to observe her nature and trying to figure out the best approach to raising her. Despite how she looked, she was actually very cooperative whenever Mirai suggested a training session or practice for a performance. She had no complaints there. But perhaps what the blue haired Coordinator was really interested was figuring out the Cotton Bird Pokemon's passion.

As they walked on, Mirai heard the sound of someone calling out from behind them. It wasn't unusual to run into other people in Ilex Forest. But turning around and looking at who it was, she couldn't help but wonder why he would choose to go out there while being in that condition. Not really keen on watching him struggle, she walked over the rest of the way to see what was up. Above her head, Swablu continued to float around without a care.

"Hey there. Did you need something?"

Derek Hoffman
***team notes: Swablu (42), Roselia (39), Gengar (45), Mamoswine (47), Mawile (46), Floatzel (42)

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Mirai found his disbelief slightly amusing. A couple of weeks ago she might have shared the same feelings. Her persistence won out in the end though.

"Yes no kidding. But they pretty much took off without giving me a chance to get close. Except for this fellow. She's a little bit special, but is far more talented than she lets on I assure you."

It seemed the commotion from the battling was drawing other Pokemon to their location. An Absol had appeared on the boy's side and he set out to deal with it with one of his partners, a Scizor. It was Mirai's first time seeing one in person in Johto, though she knew it was a native to this region. She's had very few encounters with bug types in general now that she thought about it, though that wasn't on purpose.

On Mirai's side, something big was approaching from above, kicking up a lot of leaves and dust with the wind it was creating. The culprit would reveal itself to be a Tropius, a rather large dinosaur-like Pokemon, though it was actually a grass type. It was drawn to the area by the sunlight summoned by Cherrim earlier. A quick jog of her memory would remind her that the Fruit Pokemon tends to possess abilities that gave it an advantage in sunlight hence why it was attracted to their location. Despite the strong gust it was creating, Swablu actually maintained her position with ease, proving Mirai's point that she was stronger than he looked. It's like the wind wasn't bothering it at all as it continued to float overhead. Tropius would treat her as something in the way though and would accompany its entrance with a Stomp aimed right at the "unassuming" Cotton Bird Pokemon.

"Swablu-kun!"

Again without Mirai needing to issue orders, Swablu proceeded to defend herself with Cotton Guard: the ball of fluff absorbing the impact from the stomp though causing her to bounce around the trees for a bit. In the end, she was unharmed. Using the momentum from the attack however, the Cotton Bird would bounce right on top of Tropius and utilize Mirror Move to execute a Stomp of her own. The attack would connect right on the Fruit Pokemon's head, causing it to flinch. Swablu's expression changed. It looked like this time she was very much in a mood to battle. Beside Mirai, Mawile looked up, curious at what his junior was capable of.

"This isn't exactly a much better match-up than earlier, but I can't ignore that you're feeling motivated this time Swablu-kun. So let's do this! Fly around it and use Disarming Voice!"

Swablu's biggest advantage was mobility. The bunched up trees did no favors for the massive Tropius who could barely fly around. In the meantime Swablu was open to fly circles around it and attack from unexpected directions. Not to mention Disarming Voice was already near impossible to avoid anyway. The sonic attack met its mark several times as Swablu applied pressure to the Fruit Pokemon with repeated attacks. She was keeping her distance the whole time to avoid getting hit by another stomp attack. Tropius lashed around, but the trees were definitely in the way and so it could quite reach Swablu. Growing angry, it suddenly unleashed a Leaf Storm to try and engulf as large an area around it as possible.

"It's working Swablu-kun! Repel the attack with Cotton Guard then continue the pressure with Disarming Voice!"

Between the fluffy shield and Swablu's resistances, diving through the storm of leaves proved to be an easy enough task. Tropius found itself face to face against Swablu who let loose another blast of Disarming Voice at point blank. Dazed and disoriented, the Fruit Pokemon landed back on the ground with a thud, crashing into some trees as it tried to recover its bearings from the dizziness.

"It shouldn't take much longer now. Mirror Move, followed by Sing!"

Using its own attack against it, it was Swablu's turn to pepper Tropius with a storm of leaves, weakening it further as it was struggling to put up a fight. The Cotton Bird then used this opportunity to put it to sleep with a gentle hymn. Dozing off, the large Pokemon slumped on the ground. For good measure, Swablu hit it again with another Disarming Voice to ensure it was down for the count.

"We really need to work on expanding your repertoire. Strategies like that can only get us so far."

No sooner had she spoken this when Swablu suddenly began to glow. Mirai blinked. She had known Swablu was quite strong despite being her newest partner, but she wasn't expecting that her floaty friend was this close to evolving. She barely had time to get to know it as a Swablu. Then again, her errant behavior finally started to make a little more sense. Mirai had experienced it previously, that Pokemon close to evolving tend be more temperamental, though in what ways depended on the Pokemon.

The shape shrouded in light began to grow several feet, almost as tall as the Coordinator herself. When the light finally dispersed, what was standing in its place was a newly evolved Altaria. The Humming Pokemon ruffled her fluff for a bit then yawned. It seemed even after evolving, she retained her relaxed nature. She did smile briefly at Mirai as well, as though her evolving at that precise timing was her cheeky response to her trainer's previous comment. Perhaps there was more mischief in Altaria than she had thought. Mawile in particular approved, though the Deceiver Pokemon still wasn't fully accepting of her. Mirai could only sigh.

All the commotion with Altaria evolving almost made Mirai forget that there was someone else there at the scene. The boy had concluded his battle with Absol as well and went on to capture it. Honestly his reply made him sound like a training nut. Maybe she was expecting a deeper or more special reasoning for his putting himself at risk. But it was true that if he didn't step out today, he might not have encountered and caught the Disaster Pokemon now safely in his Pokeball.

"I'm still finding it hard to decide if that's praiseworthy or just reckless. But suppose your partners are doing pretty well in looking after you."

"Oh, I missed the chance to introduce myself earlier. I'm Mirai by the way. A traveling Coordinator."

Derek Hoffman
***team notes: Altaria (42+2), Roselia (39), Gengar (45), Mamoswine (47), Mawile (48), Floatzel (42)

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Derek. She would remember that name. It would be hard to forget a trainer braving Ilex Forest despite having an injured leg. She was a somewhat frequent visitor of the place after all so she knew the dangers. Speaking of which, the Wild Pokemon weren't going to give them a break just yet. A Breloom had been watching Altaria battle this whole time and found her to be a worthy opponent to test its skills. Thus when the Humming Pokemon seemingly had her guard down, the Mushroom Pokemon attacked out of no where with a high speed punch... Except Altaria never really had her guard down. As always floating aimlessly was her default behavior but in reality she was quite alert of her surroundings. Breloom would find its punch bouncing off thick shield of fluff as Altaria responded to the attack with an equally fast Cotton Guard.

"It seems the forest is rather hostile today. There appear to be a lot of Wild Pokemon out looking for battles. Altaria-kun blast it away with Dragon Pulse then use Disarming Voice!"

Now out in the open, Breloom was an easy target for Altaria's Dragon Pulse that did quite a number on it, knocking it down to the forest floor. And then before it could get back up it was hit by a super effective Disarming Voice further weakening it and putting it dangerously close to getting knocked out. Rather than try to make it faint however, Mirai judged that it would be faster to end it with a capture. Reaching for a Pokeball, she threw it at the downed Mushroom Pokemon who disappeared inside in a flash of light.

"Whew, finally a moment to breathe. Now let's get that cast signed."

Though Mirai wasn't used to having random fans recognize her, that didn't mean she was totally inexperienced with things like signing autographs. Even before she won the last Contest, she had put on performances before for children and of course playing the role of the big sister idol, she had a signature prepared before hand. She didn't think she'd be using it here though. After carefully signing his cast, she handed the marker back to Derek. It seemed he too felt it was finally time to go.

"It was nice meeting you too Derek. I'll definitely be entering the next Contest so watch out for it! Do take care of yourself and I'll see you around!"

She smiled and waved once more before picking up her Pokeball and heading out herself if he had nothing else to say.

Derek Hoffman
***team notes: Altaria (46), Roselia (39), Gengar (45), Mamoswine (47), Mawile (48), Floatzel (42)

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