Genesis had a mostly-fake smile plastered on his face. He was glad that his initial foray into the Steppes had gone as well as it had, and that he was getting back out there searching for Pokemon, but... well, for someone who liked to think of himself as a lone wolf, Genesis sure was associating with people a lot.

And it wasn't as though he'd had to step in and offer that girl another trip to the Steppes after they'd both healed up, he just... had felt bad about it, somehow? Guilty, even though he had every reason to catch a spawn that he'd been hunting in the first place, especially when he hadn't been expecting even one person to join in the hunt, let alone two?

Whatever. It would all work out somehow. Maybe they really would find her another Ponyta, or maybe they'd find something new and exciting to catch in the Steppes instead. Heck, Genesis wouldn't be entirely opposed to getting a second Ponyta for their own, not with how surprisingly useful that cutesy Galar form could be...

"Don't worry too much. We all have to start somewhere, right? And I'm still pretty weak myself, honestly, but at least now we can be weak together." Genesis definitely wasn't happy about being a weakling either, but that's just what he got for not having joined in the fun earlier. The only way out now was through.

A Nosepass, huh? That... certainly wasn't a Ponyta, but it would do just fine for Genesis, at least. Those guys had a fun moveset, if he remembered right, which should lead to lots of fun possibilities in here. Plus, how could you beat a Pokemon that was just a living nose?

...well, Genesis would show how to beat it quite literally in this battle, if he had any luck. And thankfully type advantages were on his side here, though he was all too conscious of how Nosepass often had an Electric-type move up its (nonexistent) sleeves for specifically such an occasion...

"Arecibo, throw a Water Pulse at 'em! Show 'em who's boss around here!"

Genesis gave an appreciative nod as he saw the woman's Fidough unleash her attack, which did indeed hit pretty hard. Play Rough was well-named, as it turned out, hitting with decent strength even against an opponent with high Defense like Nosepass.

"Another Water Pulse!"

As Arecibo sprayed more water onto the wild Nosepass, Genesis turned back towards the woman, more focused on her questions than his Pokemon's attack.

"It seems like it should work out fine. So far, so good, at least."

As for her other question, Genesis hesitated for a split second... but he did need more Pokemon on his team still, and the idea of having one of each Ponyta form was still a tempting one... and, of course, he hadn't done what he'd teamed up with her to accomplish in the first place, so quitting now would mean it was all for naught...

"We can keep going. Might want to hit the Shrine before another battle, but that shouldn't take too much extra time."

Genesis saw Maxine looking over at them and shot her a tight nod as a nonverbal response. The Nosepass was clearly tiring by now, and Genesis wasn't about to hesitate in taking what they hoped would be the final shot.

"One more Water Pulse should do it." The comment was partly to themself and partly to the other Trainer, but Genesis' Froakie also knew to take it as an instruction, and just like his Trainer, Arecibo didn't hesitate in spraying water onto the wild Nosepass.

"Good job!" Genesis threw his own Poke Ball at the fainted Nosepass, almost lazily. "So, are you still after that Ponyta? We might want to hit the nearest Shrine before getting into more wild battles, but I'm fine with continuing to search if you are."