Lucky Thirteen

"Oh, hum, curious. I, too, have kind of been in one city for far too long. But anywho, I'm here only to travel. I need to pass through routes to make it to new cities, where I hope to enter contests," she explained, still looking to her Goomy in thought. "I much prefer to start with contests, considering you don't battle anyone, and stats don't matter. Goomy is considered the weakest dragon-type, after all, so I thought contests would be a good way to build up his knowledge with use of moves and move combinations."

Valka continued to pet Spry, who enjoyed the attention extremely. Often times, he would bounce with happiness, which sent an inexplicable rush through his trainer. A rush right through her heart, almost like adrenalin, but directly linked to loving thoughts. It was a combination of random excitement and pure loving happiness. That's what made her connection so special, with this occasional feeling.

"Ah, contests. Indeed combat is less relevant there, but you are forgetting that there also is a round of fighting in them. It's the reason we have not joined any thus far. By the way, if you intend on making it big, then I suggest for you to abandon your mindset of strong and weak Pokémon. A truly skilled trainer should be able to get any Pokémon to perform the best they could possibly do."
Indeed this mindset about strong and weak species was doing quite a bit of damage as it left certain species to be chased everywhere, while others had little to no hope to ever be caught by a trainer.
Why was everyone so obsessed with strength anyway?

Val lifted her head and tilted it in listening, only to lower it again.
"Don't remind me... -- ...and I know that...but I also know certain species are subject to being picked on... My first battle was one because my opponent immediately saw my partner as 'weak'; her reasoning to challenging me in the first place. The only reason why I said he was once is because I will prove them wrong... I did say 'considered', after all."

If she could, Valka would just skip all stereotypes and reading books by their covers... If that were possible, anyway. It's so hard to avoid such things because of raising around those mindsets. If someone were to battle a Magmortar with their level 1 Wurmple, the first thing they would think is that the matchup is terrible on their part, while the Magmortar trainer would know they have a certain victory. Sure, there's that slim one chance of the bug winning, but the odds... Too small to count on.

"A sad reality we live in indeed. I have never done battle before to be honest and I do not intend on doing so. But I doubt a view such as mine would find many followers. The entirety of society appears to be based on combat and capturing Pokémon, so any change there would be slow and gradual if at all."
Martin found himself wondering how such a culture could ever have come to happen in the first place. Voluntarily beating each other up would drastically lower one's chances for survival after all. But there also were sports like boxing, so maybe it simply was in human nature to be senselessly brutal.

Now this was a surprising turn of events. The gentleman had been so absorbed in his  discussion with the young female, that he had forgotten to pay attention to the environment around him.
Only when the Skitty's cry reached his ears and his own Togepi was pulling at his sleeve, trying to drag him towards the scene of the incident.
"Oh, if you would please excuse me for a moment? I do believe we should investigate this."
With these words the Friendship Rater stood up again, following the Fairy type to the place she was leading him to.
And indeed what they found was not a pretty sight. The poor feline Pokémon seemed to have its paw stuck in the rocky terrain, unable to move.
However freeing it would most likely not be easy. This was a wild Pokémon, so it was likely, that it would believe for approaching it to be an attack, retaliating viciously to defend itself.
A plan of action would have to be made for freeing the poor Normal type.

Spry lifted his antennae with curiosity. He looked to Val, then back to the wild Pokemon, back and forth several times. He seemed to be curious about the Skitty that was stuck, and maybe even wanted to help it. Usually, Spry would go out of his way to make friends of any kind. He squirmed in the direction of the feline with effort, when his trainer picked him up.

Valka looked at it with concern. Not the sad-faced kind of concern, but more of the blank stare kind. She walked somewhat blindly over, only to stop almost immediately. From the way it reacted to the two approaching possible-attackers, it seemed that it didn't trust anyone. Val would either have to stay out of it or help to make it trust them, and the dragon-lover only knew how to do that with dragons.

"Well, this seems to be a bit of a conundrum here.", the Friendship Rater explained.
"In order to be able to help this poor Pokémon we need to prove to it somehow that we mean no harm. And that might get quite difficult. Hm, but maybe...Sera, could you please use Charm?"
Cheerfully the Togepi waddled closer, the Skitty hissing at her all the while.
Then finally the Fairy type made the cutest face she could muster, extending her hand in friendship meanwhile. It was unlikely, but it was worth a try, especially since it would not mean any harm even if the plan were to fail. Having a Ground type would be useful in a situation like this one...

Valka nodded her head in agreement. Pokemon were known to have trust issues, even if the person was trying to help. There were, of course, those types of Pokemon that trusted everyone... But even Spry didn't trust Val at first until she proved herself.

She watched with the same alert blank stare as the egg-shaped Pokemon walked over fearlessly in attempt to make friends. This made Spry want to do so, as well, so he hopped out of his trainer's arms and slid down like a viscus, large water droplet and splatted onto the ground, only to snap back to his elastic form and move forward. With the understandable language to all Pokemon, he stated, "Goomy. Goo goo ey goom." It was impossible to decipher by humans, other than context by tone, but for some reason, all Pokemon could understand the vocabulary-less form of speech. He seemed to be assuring the trapped normal-type that they meant no harm.

There was no way to predict how the Pokémon would react. Hopefully it would come to see that they didn't mean any harm. Then again instincts were a powerful thing and as Martin knew and as his father had often talked about, those in the greatest need are the most likely to lash out at those trying to help them.
However the Friendship Rater found himself wondering, whether the Goomy that had now tried to join in and help as well, would actually make things easier. Even though its intentions were pure - the man had learned enough about reading Pokémon to know this - but it did not seem to have any moves useful for the situation and to be approached by so many beings at once would most likely be stressful for the Skitty.

Spry smiled, with concern now, as the Skitty huffed and cried. Surely it's family would be nearby, and who knew how friendly they could be... Most likely not. There didn't seem to be any possible way to get it out without making contact, which the feline didn't allow anyone to do. On top of that, it flailed whenever possible. This pokemon really couldn't take a hint.

Val would've done something, but there was no chance she could possibly take. All the instances in her mind left either her scratched up, or the pokemon further injured. She just sat there and stared, hoping it would finally realize their effort.

It truly was a pitiful sight. Martin found himself cringing, his training as a Friendship Rater having made him even more sensitive than most others to the pain the Pokémon must have been feeling in a moment such as this.
It was a bit surprising, however. What was a Skitty doing in a place like this? Martin had to admit that he hadn't gotten around much before, but he certainly would not have imagined for a Pokémon like Skitty to voluntarily make its home in an area like this one. It only proved to show that he still had much to learn about this world. He really had been missing out.

This entire time, Val hadn't really been paying much attention to anything. She was spacing out in a way that made her look like she was attentively observing the Skitty, but really, she was elsewhere. These trains of no thought came and went at times all throughout days of every month and every year. They usually occurred when she felt as though she should say or do something, but could never come up with something sensible enough.

There's that expression, "think before you speak," but really, it's not much thinking at all. From this instance, the form of thinking seems to contain no word thought at all, just a mind doing its work. Either that, or one is too tired and spacey to hear their own thoughts. It really was as if she was elsewhere; in the clouds, in some land far away, or at the depths of the ocean, but never visible in memory. It was as if another part of the mind took control. The part of the mind a person can't access voluntarily.

Martin began to wonder what would have happened, had Sera and he not been around to try and help the poor Skitty. With quite a few rather bad scenarios appearing in front of his inner eye, the Friendship Rater shuddered involuntarily, Sera meanwhile still trying to earn the Normal type's trust.
It was a dangerous world out here, with many different ways to get hurt. That was one advantage of being in a trainer's care, the other one being always having a friend at your side. However these only counted if the trainer was a good one of course. And Martin had had enough experience to know that that wasn't the case as often as one'd hope.

Valka indirectly looked at Martin after he let out a shudder. The Pokemon were trying desperately, while both trainers did nothing. Spry looked a little uncomfortable now that he realized nothing was working. Val finally decided to get up and do something.

She walked over to Spry, avoided eye contact with the stuck Skitty, and pet the Goomy between his antennae, moving her hand side to side, which flopped the elongated formations atop his head, making his eyes squeeze shut with happiness. Val looked at the trapped feline with a "see?" expression, showing her care at the same time. Spry only smiled.

Finally, the dragon tamer extended an overturned, and completely non-menacing hand, her head bowed down to create a less pressured environment. It didn't matter if her hand got scratched up. If that was its choice, she would simply leave it alone.

Martin wasn't too sure whether this was going to work. The Skitty didn't seem to be much more relaxed than it had been in the beginning, so there was quite the good chance that it would still mistrust the trainer and attempt to defend itself against the percieved assault.
Martin didn't quite know what to do. On the one hand he should try and stop the other trainer from coming to harm, but on the other hand she could do what she wanted to do and was fully aware of the possible consequences. So the only thing left for him to do was to hope that things would turn out all right.

The Skitty did struggle. It used its free paws to flail and paw Val's hand down and away, licking its stuck leg. It looked like it was about to chew it off. She definitely did not want that to happen, so she felt a little urgent. The kitten was a nervous wreck, and obviously needed to calm down before she could do anything to help.

Val slowly pressed a gentle hand on its side, feeling it's heart beat and hoping its breathing would calm down. As it calmed, she stroked it a little. With her other hand, she scrunched Spry's skin and rubbed off a little slime, which she dripped around the feline's feet. Valka backed up, giving it its needed space to squirm out.

Fortunately, Goomy slime was known to be so slippery, it was said that punches and kicks simply "slide off." Val hoped it would do the same to the Skitty when trying to escape.

This girl really seemed to have a plan. And even though Martin was quite sure that the Skitty wouldn't be too fond of the Goomy slime, it might just be crazy enough to work.
Not wanting to interfere with and possibly ruin the trainer's attempt at freeing the stuck Pokémon, Martin stood back, letting her try.
However he was thinking of other methods to help the Normal type as well, considering that the plan could just as well fail to work. Thus far however he couldn't come up with anything.

With a reaching and stretching of its forepaws to grab solid ground, it's foot came loose with a small kick. It's foot stayed in the air, as if it had a mind of its own, because the goo stayed and was uncomfortable. The kitten brough it's foot forward to its face to lick off the goo, spitting it and shaking its head speedily. It shook its foot finally.

Valka was relieved the pink feline was okay. Sure, it didn't like the goo that was applied to its foot, but at least it was free. It didn't seem too fond of the trainers yet, but it wasn't just running away hissing at them. It was much more open to them than before, but it seemed that Martin would do nothing, so Valka walked back and gestured for Spry to follow.

Now this was good news. Finally the other trainer had managed to free the Skitty from its predicament. Martin was feeling a bit bad that he hadn't been able to do more as the Skitty hadn't seemed to warm up to Sera's efforts, but at least the problem at hand had been solved.
Gesturing for Sera to return to his side, the gentleman found himself wondering what else they could have tried doing. Using Metronome and hoping for Earthquake or Fissure certainly would have worked, but it would require quite some luck and additionally such a method had a high chance of hurting the Normal type as well. There had to have been something they could have done.

Val patted her Goomy on the head for a job-well-done.
"Well, I'm certainly glad that conundrum had a solution...."

Valka always cared for the well-being of Pokemon of any kind, especially dragons. The Skitty was certainly adorable, and she was glad it was rescued by them. Wild Pokemon's lives created balance, in both the food chain and the biodiversity. Every being had a cause, a purpose, and so Valka could never come to kill a fly. She'd never harm even the creepiest, most disgusting Pokemon on her own, apart from battles, which she only did when necessary.

"Indeed. I agree there. I'm still surprised that a Pokémon like Skitty would live in an area like this one though. It definitely doesn't look like its natural habitat after all. Maybe it got chased here by something. But I guess there is no use thinking about that. All that matters is that it got freed again."
While Martin obviously was glad that this situation had been resolved, he was a bit disappointed in himself that he hadn't managed to heal the most likely injured Pokémon as well.
But since it didn't seem that he'd get a chance to do that by worrying and since he had done all he could, he quickly discarded these thoughts. They should get walking again so they would get to the next city before nightfall after all.

"HMM, well, we never know. Some very strange pokemon live in unfit areas now. Maybe some Skitties or Delcatty migrated up here ages ago and mated with Shinx, or any other feline pokemon that might live around here. What might've forced such a thing, we might not know, but humans cause far too much disorder..."

What people have done to natural habitats and behaviors of pokemon was truly terrible. It wasn't intentional, of course, but such people just automatically seemed stupid, in a word. If Pokemon mattered so much to people, couldn't they have been more careful as to how they were affecting them?

Now, the sun seemed to be going down just a little, so it was best to get going.

"Shinx you say?", Martin repeated.
"An interesting theory for sure. I find it a bit strange that the usually rather snobbish Delcatty would decide to associate with the normally more wild Luxray line, but it is a possibility. As for humans - it would be quite the palusible theory for this to be the descendants of caught Skitty released into the wild again, but I do believe that this area is too barren for it to be probable. Still something had to have caused this. What exactly it is we may never know."
Truly it was a strange thing but then again in this world with creatures creating electricity, flames and other such things seemingly out of nowhere it hardly was the strangest thing to be observed.
What other mysteries would be unveiled before the traveling friendship rater and his Togepi?

"Meh, it's doubtful a Shinx in particular. I just threw out an example."
She said, looking about with a blank stare as if interesting Pokemon were flourishing the surroundings.
"How they could've survived, for at least a few generations, is still fascinating. Perhaps a breeder had an overdose of Skitties and had nowhere else to release them, so their survival instincts took place here and they continued their generations?"

It was all a real big mystery. They wouldn't be able to tell the difference if the Skitties survived for decades–centuries, even–or were only just released this year. The one they found didn't looked scratched up, bruised, and hardened enough to have possibly faced life's hardships when dealing with survival in such a harsh area. Perhaps it was fairly new to the world, but it's mother had taught it how to behave in order to survive...