First order of business: Exploration.

The petite catgirl looks at the autumnal woods that expand before her, and although a handful of quest markers indicate locations where she definitely should go, the fact of the matter is that Tuesday is not one who cares for being told what to do.

She’ll do things her way.

What could go wrong?

Her companion, the Fennekin that had been given to her by that Professor NPC, is kept within its pokéball, since its endless supply of sassy comments was really starting to annoy her. The sphere is minimised and clipped to her belt for easy access, but truth be told, Tuesday doubts there will be much need for it. After all, it’s just a forest with unusually tall grass. It actually looks really nice, with the way grass blades and birch leaves sway in the wind.

Clearly, Tuesday should have brushed up on pokémon game logic before playing UNOVR, but alas...

Without hesitation or doubt, she steps forward.

From the moment Aesop takes off, Tuesday does no more than watch. Well, that’s not entirely true… She watches and she judges. Harshly so.

See, she may not know much about pokémon, but she does know that if this little fox is going to be her so-called partner, it better be up to the darn task.

Aesop basically headbutts the Petilil, the touch of the fox’s flames causing the Bulb Pokémon to run around in distress, but for all of its incessant wailing, the tiny rascal retaliates.

”Good gods, Aesop. Isn’t your fire supposed to burn that thing?” If she sounds disappointed and annoyed by the fox’s incompetence, is because she is.

<'Ugh. Shut up.'> The Fennekin stands back up, shaking dirt off its fur, and the response comes with an almost adorable attempt at a growl. Adorable because it’s clearly not aimed at her, but at the crying plant it keeps staring at.

Is Aesop telling it to shut up or her? It better be the former.

”Why don’t you do something to… I don’t know… make it stop?”

While the suggestion is vague, the vulpine pokémon doesn’t give one of its usual sassy responses, and this time, it attacks from a distance with some sort of wave of energy. A PSYBEAM, but Tuesday wouldn’t know that that’s what it's called.

She really should get a good look at her UI at some point soon.

Aaaand the little sentient plant stumbles, looking as if it were struggling to stay standing. Something that it’s soon confirmed when it dramatically faints and falls down to the ground, knocking down some grass blades that perfectly match the leaves that crown it.

PLOP.

"...Please tell me you didn’t kill it."

<'You wanted to deal with it, no? Well I dealt with it. Stop complaining.'>

The Fennekin sighs, exasperated; a feeling that is made obvious by the way embers shoot out of its large ears, burning some of verdant carpet beneath it. Tuesday sighs too, but she does step forward, poking the fallen pokémon with one of her ugly, basic, beginner boots (definitely should go do that Running Shoes quest sometime soon).

At least it doesn’t seem like the weird plant-thing is dead.

It’s at that point that Tuesday decides she should try to catch it for the sole sake of having a backup in case Aesop does die or something…

’Kind of hoping he won’t anytime soon, though. He does match the whole vibe much better than this thing.’

She doesn’t say that outloud, of course. All she does is throw a pokéball straight down at the Petilil… accidentally with much more force than what is likely to be necessary. It smacks the poor thing right on the forehead, bouncing off before emitting a ray of light that engulfs the fainted pokémon.

Tuesday doesn’t look sorry at all.

"Nice work, Aesop. Hopefully this thing won’t keep being a crybaby."

Oh, it sure will.

Catching Petilil ♡