[ti]solo[/ti][S][Spawn] Eerie Shoreline

As Shalin walked along the shoreline, she coughed, covering her mouth as a mini-sandstorm seemed to kick up in front of her. Once she had stopped, the sand had settled back on the ground, covering her and her Bulbasaur in sediment. Curious, she picked up a handful of sand and threw it behind her. Instead of quickly falling to the ground, the sand traveled more like airborne dust.

"Heh," Shalin laughed, "someone needs to check the arrays surrounding particle effects. That doesn't seem like how sand should behave."

The duo moved away from the beach and toward a pier. "Stand clear, Shalin," Saria warned her as she drew her vines. She whirled and whipped them in circles parallel to the ground, using the small vortex they created to naturally vacuum much of the sediment off her.

Even from range, the Guzzlord was not defenseless, belching GASTRO ACID upon Shalin and her partner before it despawned. Shalin and Saria both felt like their skin was on fire, diving toward the shoreline to wash the vile substance off them. "Yeow!" the glitch hunter cried as the salty air made her exposed skin uncomfortably tingle.

Saria was even worse off, Shalin recalling her to her Poké Ball after the poison-type attack dropped her in a single blow. Fearful that she truly was not ready for the Pokémon she was trying to catch, she thought about turning tail for the nearest Shrine, then going elsewhere to round out her team.

The plan worked; Ellie had only taken a graze of ACID SPRAY by the time they had left the Nihilego's encounter radius. She was still up, though missing over a quarter of her health. If a glancing blow could be that destructive, what would a direct hit be like? Shalin would clearly need her entire team to defeat one of these Invasive Species and add it to her roster.

If another of her Pokémon dropped before she ran into the one she was looking for, especially if it was another of those Guzzlord, she would have to make a detour to the closest Shrine before resuming her search. She didn't trust the respawn timer to hold her encounter, especially not without a ride Pokémon. Why was crafting something as simple as a horse Pokémon's saddle so much trouble?

Was Ellie's constant status a glitch? Shalin doubted it; given Nihilego's mind-controlling powers, this had to be intended. Even so, that was harsh; this left the Phanpy usable only in single battles. And if Shalin ever got access to the Player class, she would attack her own trainer.

She couldn't have any more Pokémon suffer that ailment. Based on its description in her Pokémon menu, there seemed to be no way to cure it; not even a shrine would. Taking advantage of the lull, Shalin slinked away from the Harbor, jogging to the nearest shrine when she didn't see any Invasive Species nearby.

Shalin exhaled when she spawned after stepping over the zone line leading to the Drowned Harbor; that Guzzlord guarding it was gone. With Ellie out of commission, she would be down to four Pokémon to take on the foe she was looking for. Not impossible, but it would be a lot tighter to take down a Pokémon of this caliber. She also had concerns about obedience; would it even listen to her?

Crossing the terrain to the beach one more time, she and Saria kept their eyes open for new Pokémon. Anything other than what she had seen already...

Shalin's decision was made. If she lost one more Pokémon to Nihilego poison, she was gone. Back to Asper to catch more Pokémon. Though she had gained quite a bit of experience from her trip through the Drowned Harbor, it was clear from how badly her team was suffering that a character of her level simply was not meant for Ostellia. What if one of those Nihilego ambushed her and latched onto her? What would happen? Could she get Nihilego poisoned, too?

She didn't want to imagine not having control over her own body in battle. As much as she didn't want to risk a third of her Pokémon, she needed a second set of eyes. Clicking open Flit's Poké Ball, her Yanma buzzed circles around her, keeping an eye out for dangerous Pokémon with his omnidirectional vision.

That Pheromosa was fast. Sure, attacks couldn't miss in UNOVR, but timing them was a whole different matter, particularly short-range attacks. By the time Rumble could ready his ROCK THROW, the bug-type was already too far away. Flit buzzed loudly, trying to disorient the Ultra Beast with a SUPERSONIC burst while Dondon gatekept it from leaving between two closely-oriented walls of a torn skyscraper.

Those were some nasty CRITICAL HITS, inflicting massive damage upon her Tropius and Onix, felling the other instantly. "I'm sorry, Rumble..." Shalin trailed off as she stepped toward the edge of the encounter zone, ready to pack it up and return with a fresh roster.