For a while Madeline and Hiero walked the route uncontested by anything. The weather was fair. A warm breeze gently rustled the leaves and blew the smell of blooming flowers and cedar in her direction, almost beckoning her deeper down the marked path through the stretch of land. The road was quiet and devoid of many people; whether this was because of the hour on which she'd chosen to start her journey (early in the morning, not long after sunrise) or due to some unpopular aspects of it she couldn't say. Even the pokemon she saw avoided her and her Page for the most part.

Before long she was ready to laugh at herself for her apprehension. The cards were an uncertain guide at times, with little in the way of strict direction or timing. By the time she hit the fifteen minute mark in her walk she assumed this was one of the times when they missed their mark. Then she heard a grunt from over her shoulder, followed quickly by a vanishing of the weight of Hiero on her back. Something had hit him and now he stood on the ground clutching his forehead, looking around. Something moved in the treeline and his eyes flashed. When a volley of poison sting flew from the shadows of the forest he ducked them, his alertness allowing an easy detection.

"It seems we've found our first competitor, Hiero," Madeline spoke while turning to face the still unseen threat, "Bring him out for a proper fight, use those shadows to your advantage." she was never one for strict orders. In her mind it was simpler to offer a game plan and let others put it together. Hiero was a natural at that. He rushed the forest, and when he drew near to the treeline he dived forward into the darkness. While out of sight of Madeline he found their opponent. A Skorupi, it leered in his direction, an action that was met by a hard swat to the body by Hiero's shadow claw; the shade of the trees and the attack melting into one.

The attack launched Skorupi out from the trees and Hiero was quick to follow. Madeline scanned them both for damage. Hiero seemed unchanged from when he engaged the Bug pokemon, but the Skorupi was nursing an injury to its side and circled cautiously to protect it.

"Try to get on the inside of its guard Hiero. Hit the same spot as last time if possible," she advised him gently, speaking just loud enough to be heard. Hiero responded quickly, once again running down the Skorupi. The wild pokemon responded reflexively, firing a volley of poison sting in an attempt to keep him at bay. Hiero took it on the chin, pushing through the attack with his hands up to protect his face, and once he was in range he swung for the Skorupi's good side with an open hand. Madeline wondered if he'd heard her command properly until she saw the move play out.

The Skorupi hopped back in an attempt to avoid the attack, opening up its injured side, only to be chased by a leap forward from Hiero who quickly swung with his opposite arm. The feint attack landed hard and heavy against the wound shadow claw had inflicted earlier. The Skorupi hit the dirt and rolled a couple times before lying on the ground, still. Their first challenger was defeated, and it only cost a few scratches and a bit of sweat.

---

"That was good Hiero, I feel like we might have been able to make something of it on our side, though. Maybe we can get away without beating the next one unconscious?" Madeline walked into the grass as she spoke, stopping next to the Sableye (who stared at the path where the Skorupi laid unmoving). He looked up at her with his classic, blank stare, all the confirmation she needed that he'd heard and understood her. With a slight smile she knelt down to offer him a single pat on the head before leading him back out of the grass. She offered the wild pokemon he'd defeated one more glance. It felt wrong to leave it out in the open, defenseless, but she didn't know if moving him to the grass was any better. The classic warning was that the grass was where it was most dangerous.

An image flashed in her mind as the indecision left her frozen. A blindfold, swords crossed. Uncertainty was already stopping her in her tracks. At the thought Madeline turned on her heel and trekked forward. She wouldn't let the cards prove an obstacle this early into her journey. Hiero followed her on the ground, decisive for completely unrelated reasons. He walked at a casual gait, just fast enough to keep up, but his head swiveled about sharply. He conserved energy in his body while using that in his mind to scan for threats like the Skorupi from earlier. Sure enough, they found one with time. This time Hiero was ready.

When the Shroomish leaped from the grass the Sableye already had a move queued up. He hopped into the air and swatted the grass type down with a clean shadow claw. He thought that would be enough to deter the pokemon from further aggression, but when he landed he was met by the Shroomish in his face again. A quick detect allowed him to avoid its running tackle, but when it turned sharply to run at him again he found his body unresponsive. Paralysis from effect spore had settled in, and he took the next attack directly. An absorb enabled by barbs beneath the Shroomish's flaps.

This all happened in a matter of seconds, and it took the time of the exchange for Madeline to recognize and catch up with the situation. This battle already looked less promising than what they'd had against the Skorupi. She found herself anxious to turn the tide back in their favor.

"Confuse it, Hiero!" the words came out steady and even despite her nerves, and Hiero responded quickly. Pushing through the jolts and starts running through his muscles, he jutted his head forward and set his eyes to flashing rapidly. The different colors set the wild Shroomish off balance, and the next time it went for an absorb it ran itself into the ground. Again Hiero tried to capitalize on the opportunity, but only managed to push a few steps forward. Again the Shroomish tried to attack, only to miss and fall face first to Hiero's side. The display would have been funny to Madeline if it didn't put her pokemon in such a risky position.

"Push through!" she hoped the faux certainty in her voice would be enough to push him into action, and it was. With notable effort he lunged towards the Shroomish and made a wide sweep with his twitching right arm. When it collided with the Shroomish it was cloaked in ghastly energies, a vicious shadow claw that knocked Shroomish up off the ground before letting it plummet into the dirt a few feet away. Madeline grinned at the sight. The wild pokemon had put up a good fight, and she pulled out a pokeball with the aim of capturing it. She tossed the item at its body . . . and frowned as it bounced off its unresponsive body. Out cold. Hiero looked back at her with visibly tired, pained eyes.

"I guess I can't blame you," she sighed, walking to where the pokeball sat in the dirt, "your wellbeing should come before a catch or two." she bent down and picked the item from the ground, brushing it off before placing it in her bag.

---

Hiero struggled through the next stretch of walking. Madeline wished she could do something for her ailing partner but he was adamant in his position. He refused her shoulder when it was offered, and with only potions to offer in the way of healing she didn't have the medicine necessary to cure him of his paralysis. Still, it filled her with an odd sort of pride to see her partner shoulder on. She imagined the feeling wasn't dissimilar to the joy one might feel watching a sibling overcome an especially trying obstacle: something like "I can't believe I'm related to someone so strong". That's how she felt. Even if they didn't share blood, just the fact that he was a part of her party was so exciting.

Excitement, in fact, seemed to be the mood of the hour. Madeline and Hiero both stopped to look around as the sound of growling drifted from some concealed place. Despite his jittery movements the Sableye seemed ready to fight, crouching down with claws flexed dangerously. It was amazing the way snapped so quickly from loose and relaxed to wound up and ready to pounce. It was a comfort, too. This tendency had allowed Hiero to catch the Shroomish off guard last time and that knowledge filled Madeline with a feeling of safety she never would have had on her own. She figured that was probably why people were so insistent on avoiding the wilderness without a pokemon at their side.

"Keep your eyes peeled. We're approaching afternoon and the shadows are getting larger," she looked at the sky as she spoke. Midday had come and gone, and while they were nowhere near nighttime the slowly lowering sun had painted the route a notably different color. The shade of the trees seemed to reach out over the tall grass, and not too far away the shadowy profile of the ranch's barn (pushed out by the sun's position behind it) inched closer. It made the wild just a little more unpredictable. Or it normally would have. While Madeline had more trouble seeing into the corners of the route Hiero comfortable scanned its expanse. Sableye were naturally found in caves, good eyesight in the dark was a given of his species.

Yet, still, when the source of the growling showed itself Hiero caught only a glimpse of its approach. It was on the inside of his guard before he saw what hit him. What should have hit him. The angry stranger slowed down, revealing itself to be a Nidoran, before striking out at Hiero. He flinched and moved back in an attempt to guard against the blow, but when the opponent's claws reached his skin they simply slipped right through. The Nidoran fell through his body, and it was with a special kind of relief that the Sableye connected the dots. Scratch, normal-type. He was immune.

Madeline came to the same realization given a second more to think, and she sighed at the implication.

"It's probably just some child," she stepped back and let Hiero take up a position in front of her and between herself and the Nidoran, "No point holding onto something so ineffectual, might as well just put it down. Be quick -- no need to play safe when it can't touch you." Her tone was beyond blase. It was such a disappointment to meet a pokemon with promise, only to learn it couldn't put up much of a fight. She all but turned her back on the fight as Hiero went on the offensive, looking up into the sky to watch the sun lazily drift behind the clouds.

The wild Nidoran quickly found itself on the back foot. Hiero moved in fast, as ordered, and closed the space between them effectively. For a moment he pulled back his left foot, as if he was about to deliver a kick to the Nidoran's underbelly. The inexperienced rodent reacted as expected, jumping back and to the right in an attempt to dodge it -- only to be caught by a hard swipe from Hiero's right claw. The feint attack left it seeing stars as it tried to get its bearings. Its previous speed no longer available on account of its disorientation, it lashed out with another ineffectual scratch that brought it within striking distance of a shadow claw.

'It's unfortunate,' Madeline thought as she watched the pathetic display drag on. The Nidoran never had a chance. It weakly threw itself at Hiero and found itself on his other side. It hardly had time to consider its new position before it was face down on the ground, sucker punched by another feint attack that left it unconscious in the dirt.

"Not unfortunate, unfair," she spoke her mind this time before beckoning for Sableye to hurry up and follow after her, "almost comically so."

---