Well, his first encounter wasn’t something he was expecting.

As he approached the lake, he then saw that it was something he knew by sight—seeing as several of Mike’s friends back in Castelia were huge Bug-type freaks (and most of them, unless they were sub-Flying type or Larvesta, freaked him the hell out) but then remembered that most Bug-types were weak to either Flying or Fire-type attacks. He then did a quick mental rundown before sighing, realizing that he had none of those…

…that was until he remembered he was pretty good at turning unfortunate situations into advantageous ones. Plucking out one of the Pokéballs he’d recently acquired, he then sent out his Sneasel, Luna. While he had a feeling that there was going to be a little disadvantage here, but he knew that his particular dual-type was the battle-thirsty type.

The moment the Karrablast spotted the Sneasel, it then launched into a quick Headbutt attack. “Luna, let’s try your Agility! Use that to get out of the way!” he began, and that’s what the Sneasel did—quickly zipping out of the incoming blur that ended up hitting a nearby tree trunk. Grumbling at the impact it had sustained, the Karrablast then turned around before charging forward again and using a Fury Cutter attack.

“Stop it in its tracks with your Icicle Crash!” Damian continued a few moments later, watching as the Sneasel then scraped its claws against each other before suddenly dropping several large chunks of razor-sharp ice in the incoming Sneasel’s direction. Squealing out of surprise as the Bug-type then collided with the Ice-type attack, the dual-type then used Agility to put on a burst of speed, before skirting around the fallen obstacles and then closing the distance even faster with a Quick Attack, ramming her shoulder into the Bug-type.

Okay… looks like I have another psycho on my team…what the hell? He thought, as the Sneasel then took charge before Taunting the Karrablast and enraging it further. While the Bug-type had wanted to use Peck, it instead chose to try another Headbutt—only to be met this time with another Icicle Crash that smacked it right between the horns. Not content that the Karrablast was recovering so quickly, the Sneasel then cut across and rammed it backwards with another Quick Attack, forcing the Bug-type backwards.

But the Karrablast wasn’t done yet.

The Bug-type then approached the dual-type and then used a close-range Fury Cutter on it—while the first two strikes connected against the Sneasel, the next two strikes missed—as the Sneasel had used Agility to break away before dropping another Icicle Crash down on the Bug-type. Another painful squeal came from the Karrablast, before it tried to use Headbutt again in an attempt to hit the dodgy Sneasel.

It ended up hitting thin air instead, before one last Icicle Crash then came raining down on the Karrablast, blocking and driving the Bug-type away from them.

After he’d left the Karrablast where it had passed out, the Sneasel then took the lead while Damian followed her. He knew that his companion wanted to fight something—but when the next Pokémon wandered across their path, he knew that this particular one was bad news.

“Luna,” he called out, watching as the Sneasel then turned around to face him, “…l—let’s look somewhere else?” he asked, hoping that the battle-hungry dual-type got the hint. He might’ve been blessed (or cursed) with some kind of strange powers, but if there was one thing that legitimately scared the hell out of him: it was Ghost-types.

Especially these ones, native to the Desert Resort in Unova. He’d heard horror stories from some of his boyfriend’s younger brother’s friends about how these Yamask were actually the souls of people who’d died a long time ago and continued to live on as a Pokémon and haunted the desert sands where they’d fallen a long time ago. And that was hella scary.

Sure, he may have been blessed (or cursed?) with the ability of the paranatural, but it still freaked him out from time to time…

Spotting the floating mask was more than enough for him to quickly withdraw his Sneasel back into her Pokéball before going off in another direction. Those was just really scary.

Not too long after he’d put tracks between himself and the Yamask, he found himself a little ways away from where he wanted to go. Sighing, he then shook his head. Where the hell was he going to start looking? He didn’t know where the next watering hole was; all he was certain of was that when there were Water-types involved, they’d almost always be near or around a place that had water.

Needless to say, Damian had gotten himself lost within the Safari Zone. Whoops.

“How did I even get here…” he asked to himself out loud, sighing as he then began retracing his steps back down and out of the place he’d randomly dashed off to. He’d very nearly missed the next Pokémon that he would come across—and while he found the fox that was lounging in a nearby patch of sun, he had a feeling he’d be able to find them elsewhere.

Looking at his coat pocket, he then sighed—would he be able to find the three he was looking for in the area? Or would he have to get himself hopelessly lost before he’d be able to actually encounter one of the three that he was looking for?

Not too long after he’d left the little fox sunning itself out in the clearing, Damian continued to wander in another random direction—it didn’t take too long for his shin to collide with something rather cold. Quickly noting the change in temperature, he then looked down to see what had caused the change—and saw that there was a sniffling bear that had the largest drop of snot trailing out of its nostril.

Blinking curiously a few times, he then shuffled for his Pokédex and pointed it at the Pokémon, before reading the following information that had appeared on the screen:

‘Cubchoo, the Chill Pokémon. Its nose is always running. It sniffs the snot back up because the mucus provides the raw material for its moves.’

Blinking curiously at the Ice-type, then Cubchoo then sniffled again, before suddenly opening fire with a Powder Snow attack, which caused Damian to yelp and jump backwards out of surprise! “Whoa! N—not nice,” he grumbled, fishing out one of his Pokéballs and sending it forward. The Ice-type would have the unfortunate encounter of fighting his psychotic ballerina-to-be as he recognized his Kirlia’s silhouette as she emerged from the flash of red light.

Oh, shit. This isn’t going to be pretty, he thought to himself, a frown of concern crossing his face. “Zarya, don’t overdo it, okay? Knowing you, you’re prone to going overboard. Just… try to rein it in and give it a challenge—“ he began to say before the Ice-type then opened fire with a Brine attack. The Water-type attack suddenly shot towards where the dual-type stood—but not before she’d warped out and off the battlefield with her Teleport.

And it begins, he thought, watching nervously as the Cubchoo then released an Icy Wind around the area in an attempt to lure the Kirlia out of hiding. Eventually she did reappear—only to blast a Psychic ‘bomb’ into the back of the Cubchoo’s head. “What did I tell you about going too strong? Don’t overdo it!” he called out, before the Kirlia huffed slightly, but let herself get hit with the incoming Brine attack again.

Now that she was drenched, she then whipped up a hailstorm of assorted leaves of various sizes and sent the Magical Leaf attack towards the Cubchoo, knowing that the small one couldn’t dodge this. As the Ice-type let out a yelp, it then countered with another Icy Wind, spreading the area of the attack in a cone-shaped pattern around it. The Kirlia ended up using Teleport to get out of the way again—and this time another rainbow-colored orb of Psychic energy smacked into the Ice-type’s face.

Another squeal rang out from the little polar bear, before it switched to another Brine attack. Now that he was hurting a little more, this attack was going to hit just a little bit harder—but instead, the Kirlia ended up warping out of the way…and the Brine attack ended up drenching Damian’s boots instead.

“Hey, Zarya! What the hell?” he grumbled at the sudden drenching sensation he felt. The Kirlia then reappeared, before chuckling a few moments and tossing another Psychic ‘bomb’ at the Cubchoo, who was caught by surprise at the rainbow-colored orb that smacked it right in the face and toppled over on its back. Another Magical Leaf attack kept the Cubchoo in place, before a red beam suddenly sucked it up as Damian had tossed the Safari Ball in order to spare it from the wrath of his ballerina-to-be.

“Zarya…really?” he said with an exasperated sigh, before watching the Safari Ball shake on the ground.

Thankfully, the Safari Ball dinged after the second shake, and Damian then bent forward to pick it up. While he noticed his Kirlia kept her eyes on the new Pokéball that had a new team mate joining their little crowd, a sudden screeching noise caught both human and Pokémon’s attention.

A sudden blur then came leaping out of the trees and landed right in front of them, spreading its arms out and seemingly challenging the Kirlia to a fight! Just as the dual-type was about to prepare a Psychic bomb to get things started, Damian quickly recalled the Kirlia back before tossing another Pokéball forward. “Sorry, Zarya. At the rate you’re going you’ll probably end up slaughtering everything. Luna, it’s your turn!”

The Sneasel then emerged from the flash of red light, rubbing its claws together in preparation—just as the other Pokémon then charged forward with an Aerial Ace attack! “Block it with your Icicle Crash, Luna!” he began, and watched as the Sneasel quickly summoned several large spikes of ice and used them as a temporary ‘shield’ to stop the incoming attack of what Damian guessed was a Fighting-type—it wasn’t until he brought out his Pokédex a few moments later to check the data on this one did he realize it was one of the three he was looking for:

‘Hawlucha, the Wrestling Pokémon. Possessing an artistic way of executing its moves, Hawlucha takes great pride in their elegance.’

Just as the Sneasel was about to drop another Icicle Crash on the Hawlucha, the other then used Hone Claws, seemingly intimidating the Sneasel to come closer and get some. Not to be deterred, the Sneasel then retaliated with a Taunt, which forced the Fighting-type to counter with a Karate Chop—and that’s when Damian remembered something about type match-ups.

“Luna, be careful!” he shouted, watching as the Sneasel used Agility to propel herself out of the way of the incoming attack, but at the very last second the Hawlucha unleashed an up-close and personal Aerial Ace attack on the Sneasel instead. Caught by surprise, the dual-type then yelped in surprise before releasing a Scratch attack in an attempt to fend off the Hawlucha, who’d caught it and was about to pin it down.

“Icicle Crash it right now, you can’t miss this!” he added a few moments later, before the Sneasel then shoved the Hawlucha off her before a sudden cascade of icicles came crashing down around the two of them. Some of the falling obstacles smacked the Hawlucha on the back of the head, but it wasn’t deterred—using a Karate Chop to smash some of the other icicles apart in order to continue attacking the Sneasel.

“Again, Luna! One more Icicle Crash and then get the hell out of there with your Agility!” he called out, before a second sudden avalanche of icicles came crashing down not too long after the first. Frustrated that it couldn’t use Hone Claws, instead the Hawlucha then began to use Roost—which left it wide open as it began to recover its health. Now that it was still on the ground, the Icicle Crash attack began clobbering the Hawlucha in earnest. After the next wave of icicles had smashed the Hawlucha around, the Sneasel sped away with Agility, before turning around at the last second and dropping one more Icicle Crash on the Hawlucha.

While the Roost was helping restore its health, the sheer number of the frozen obstacles far outsped the rate it was healing, and eventually the Hawlucha collapsed under the weight of the various icicles that were squashing it. A red beam of light then shot out as the second Safari Ball was tossed its way, before it was absorbed and it clattered to the ground…

Damian was rather pleased with the way he’d managed to capture the Hawlucha—pretty certain that the Fighting-type would prove to be more than a perfect match to his Sneasel, at least in terms of rivalries. After he’d picked up the Safari Ball (which had stopped quivering, thank goodness) he then noticed that his Sneasel had decided to dash off ahead—without him.

“Luna! What the hell! Come back here!” he shouted, quickly dropping the second Safari Ball into his coat pocket and chasing after his Sneasel, who’d ran off towards a puddle patch she’d spotted. It didn’t take too long for him to catch up to where Luna had come to a stop, because the greenery around the puddles of water had seemingly wilted—there was something dangerous nearby.

“Alright, Luna, get back in here, you’re not up to scratch to handle that,” he said as he quickly recalled the Sneasel and pondered on how best to handle this situation. Sighing a few moments later he then decided to let his psychotic ballerina-to-be handle it—seeing as his Chikorita wasn’t effective enough when it came to type match-ups—and watched as Zarya reappeared again in a flash of red light.

The Kirlia twirled around to face him, a look of confusion on her face, before a sudden jet of water caught her by surprise from behind. “Yeah, Zarya. I know you can handle this one… do what you have to, but please, don’t be overkill on it, okay?” he said, hoping that this time the Kirlia would listen and not overdo things—as she always tended to.

The Skrelp then switched to an Acid attack, but by then the Kirlia had warped out of reach with Teleport. Damian then backed away, giving Zarya enough room to maneuver around the area. A few moments later, a popping noise meant that the Kirlia had reappeared, before firing off a Psychic ‘bomb’ at the Skrelp’s back. A loud shriek of shock came from the Skrelp, before it turned around and kicked up a Smokescreen attack—catching the Kirlia by surprise.

“Switch tactics! Use your Magical Leaf!” he shouted a few moments later, before the Kirlia then conjured up a hailstorm of leaves before sending them at the Skrelp—and while Damian knew that it wasn’t going to work, it did catch the Skrelp in the middle of a Double Team defensive maneuver, which dissipated the duplicates and revealed the location of the real one.

A second Psychic ‘bomb’ then smacked the Skrelp upside the head, before the Kirlia vanished again with Teleport. The poisonous ‘seahorse’ then scanned the battlefield, before launching another Acid attack, taking a rough guess as to where his opponent would appear. As it happened, the Kirlia had chosen to appear at the spot where the Acid attack had been tossed, and now she was pissed because of the Poison-type attack hitting her. Another Magical Leaf hailstorm then hammered the Skrelp, who’d kicked up another Smokescreen in order to try an escape.

Unfortunately, the Grass-type attack pelted around the Skrelp, before a third Psychic attack sent the Skrelp face-first to the dirt. Grumbling as it peeled itself up to try another Water Gun attack, one more Psychic attack sent it face-first again, and this time it had passed out cold because of the successive alternating attacks that had pelted it. The Kirlia then walked back to where Damian stood, before the third and last Safari Ball was chucked in the Skrelp’s direction…