A bear in the woods. Of course there are bears in the wood – there are plenty of bear Pokemon after all, just not currently catchable. Not currently catchable… but maybe obtainable through hidden means? u/ElusiveMewTrio had proposed. And that had been enough to send Cleo sniffing around, keen to fill yet another entry on her oppressively empty Pokedex.

Stray claw marks litter the occasional tree, leading her and Mudkip deeper into the Grove and towards… a small child, staring up a tree.

"Spy any, uh, bears up there?" Cleo squelches—yes, squelches, damn this wet mud clinging to her and her every surface—closer, peering up at the tree as well.

And shaking out of the leaves, a pair of amber eyes blink open, moments before those very leaves turn sharp and piercing.

"Yeaaaaah. But maybe we just gotta shake a whole buncha trees and one'll come popping out? Maybe. After we're done dealing with this one, we could. You're free to join me! If you want, that is. You don't gotta. It's just an open offer, to hang out and… shake trees?" She smiles awkwardly. "I'm Cleo by the way!"

The leaves continue to shake and shuffle, the Pokemon disturbing them slipping around the tree when a spot gets particularly sparse. But it cannot move fast enough to dodge the sweeping charge of the Rufflet. POW! The offender comes tumbling out of the tree into open air, revealing several Cottonee clumped together into one, defensive cloud. Significantly less cloudy though, with several tufts of cotton raining down on Jinx and Cleo.

"Boy am I glad you know Rock Throw," she murmurs, nodding to her significantly disadvantaged Mudkip. The poor thing sighs, and goes to collect some rocks.

Cleo beams, pleased to find her energy met by another. "Right! Yeah, nice, that's—nice to meet you, Jinx!"

Jinx's mention of the shrine has her eyes dragging back to her wearied starter, studying him. He struggles painfully against this unfortunate matchup, taking far more than he can deal. Still, to his credit, he continues to try. He'd have to. She doesn't have anything to help him.

"You're right, it's… I wouldn't be much help, I mean, if we do find others, y'know. So, I mean, if you don't mind going, then I'd like that, going to the shrine, yeah. Maybe I'll... if we're lookin' for bears, I'll, I'd better upgrade my health too."

But would it be too late to go to the shrine after this? You could retreat.

Her lips purse, eyes darting to exact numbers as she activates the UI. It's so close. Both her and the Cottonee. Maybe she could just end this now? She squints at the cotton puffs. But the pokeball icon has not lit up. Nope. Not close enough to end this with a swift catching.

Cleo stands her ground. Mudkip could do this. It'd be fine.

"Ha! Well, If it's right by the shrine, we're, I mean, I bet there's gonna be others there too, trying to catch it. If it's even catchable. Maybe it's just a programmed bear that you can't catch. I sure hope you can catch it!" She's rambling now, voice tinged by a nervousness that can only be brought by the threat of a YOU'VE BEEN DEFEATED. LOAD SAVE POINT? screen.

Still. Despite her stubborn belief it'd all work out, she still visibly deflates as a final Wing Attack scatters the cotton puffs. Her Mudkip remains tensed, ready to lash out with another attack, right up until the flash of light recalling him to his Pokeball. The defeated Cottonee is captured with little fanfare. Cleo's aim is slowly but steadily improving. She doesn't need to walk up and tap the Pokeball directly to avoid missing a still target anymore!

"Well. Time for the shrine, huh?" She falls into place just slightly behind Jinx, letting her take the lead. "What kinda Pokemon do you think the bear is? A Snorlax?"