She had been to quite a few festivals – a few of them in Caravella, that place LOVED to party – but this was a lot different than most of them. The fact that it during the night made it different than a lot… sure, some festivals went THROUGH the night, but this Star Festival worked only at night. Her eyes so often looking skyward, it wasn’t rocket science figuring out why: the thing they called Bal’s Comet was amazing, and up here, with less lights and less air, there were more stars than usual, and she was at a loss of words how fantastic they were!

It was pretty late at night, though, and she had her fill of the festival, at least for now, so she figured she could do something she actually kind of needed to do pretty seriously: train! That’s why she was moving away from the bigger parts of the festival, the spacey lights and decorations giving way to more normal stuff, though a few houses and buildings still had the décor, which just put a smile on her face. With the fresh air of everyone having a good time, the thought of fun fights sending energy through her blood, and her buddy Pikachu always on her shoulder, she was ready for anything!

“Annie! There you are!”

Emily’s attention was suddenly caught by someone yelling, walking around the side of the building to see a pink-haired girl in the alleyway, jumping repeatedly but just barely missing a fire escape ladder. She looked to see what the girl could be trying to get at, then saw a very concerned-looking Skitty fidgeting, very much looking like she wanted to get down. The trainer looked at the Pokémon on her shoulder, smiling confidently and getting one in turn, neither of them having to say a word to each other as they formulated a plan.

Pikachu hopped off her shoulder, running up to the other girl, climbing her back to jump off her shoulder, very deftly, and with only a minor disturbance to the human, using her as a stepstool to climb up the fire escape, running up to the Skitty and sitting next to her, giving her a cheery – and a bit cheeky – smile and wave, assuring her in PokéSpeak that everything will be fine in just a few seconds, even striking up a conversation.

Meanwhile, Emily was low to the ground, remembering some of her sporting experience before yelling, “ONE SIDE!” As she yelled, she burst into a sprinting speed, running as fast as she can, jumping as high as she could and just grabbing the bottom rung of the fire escape ladder, a bit of panic on her face for a few moments as she struggled to cling, but she got her grip, the fear fading instantly as she did, beginning to climb the ladder. The shock returned, though, when the ladder gave way, the lock somehow undone, finding herself suddenly falling as the ladder did, letting out a startled yell, the split-second fall ending with the ladder clanging completely free, Pikachu looking down with a bit of worry, but the Pokémon smiling softly as his trainer blinked, looking around, almost surprised she wasn’t hurt. Her rear was hanging just an inch above the ground, since her hands where only grabbing the first couple of rungs, but she smiled warmly, tilting her head back, grinning upside-down at the other girl, speaking with a cheery tony, “There, that oughta help ya~!”

Emily smiled softly and nodded as she was thanked. She tried not to let her nervousness show, but it showed anyway: she was bad at cheering people up, but she was teaching training basics, so it was a little easier. It was a little weird that she thought her Pokémon was gone… Emily wasn’t really sure what to make of it. Everyone and their mothers at least that the Pokémon went inside of the ball… maybe she was from a different region that didn’t catch Pokémon? She could hardly imagine a place like that, but foreign idea aside, it was nice that she felt a little better.

“GUH!”

The brunette was just as surprised as the pinkette when the Pokémon suddenly appeared - getting a reminder that some peoples’ Pokémon could let themselves out at the same time - and let loose a fire attack on a Pokémon neither of them had noticed. So startled that she had jumped back and stumbled slightly, walking backwards and gasping when she hit something.

“Mini?!”

“Whoa!”

Letting out a small yelp of surprise, Emily jumped back forward and whirled, greeted by the appearance of another rock, form-changing Pokémon whose name she had yet to find out. Instinctively, Emily jumped back even farther, putting some distance between her and the wild Pokémon. Pikachu and Riolu rushed to her side, preparing themselves for a fight, but as the wild Pokémon went from curious to battle-ready, she held her hand out to them, silently telling them to step back. “Training, guys. I got this~. Grimer, let’s see what you got!”

She threw a Premier Ball - a ball normally reserved for special occasions - and released a Pokémon, the white energy having a red outline to it as it formed into a mostly green Pokémon, one that hit the ground with a soft splat as its oozey body made impact. The grimer threw her hands up gently, letting out a soft sound of joy before looking at her opponent. “Let’s start with Toxic, Grimer!” Yelling with a soft grin, she ordered her Pokémon, who responded with a happy yell before hurling a thick green paste, as if vomiting, at the wild Pokémon. The status move flew, hitting the Pokémon dead center, making Emily grin… but the Pokémon just as easily shook the gunk off with a rapid spin of itself.

‘What?! Is it a Poison-type?!’ Emily was shocked; she knew that Poison-type moves weren’t very effective on Rock-type Pokémon, but that didn’t stop Toxic! Riolu was super-effective against it, though, so it wasn’t Poison… maybe it was a Steel-type instead? It was weird and freaky that she was surprised, but at the same time, she was joyous; the feeling of being blind-sided, taken by surprise… sure, there was some pouty feeling in her that she wasn’t smart enough to catch it, but it was awesome to experience it for herself!

Regardless, she couldn’t dwell on it, the wild Pokémon let out a cry, its rocky outer coating cracking slightly. She didn’t know what was coming, but she could feel it was bad. “MINIMIZE NOW!” Grimer was quick to comply, instantly splitting its sludge body into several bits as the wild Pokémon formed spheres of light, firing beams of light, all four of them missing the much smaller and multi-bodied Grimer - and Emily, making her duck and twist and quickly move out of the line of fire, making a suitably panicked sound as she did.

“Alright, that didn’t work,” Emily yelled as Grimer pulled herself back together. Emphasizing her order with a couple of swings of her arms, she yelled, “Give it a couple of that move of yours! Brutal Swing!” Grimer yelled in confirmation, throwing her arm to the side, throwing most of her mass into the arm to lengthen it considerably, then swinging forward, hitting the floating Pokémon in the side, then swinging her arm back to backhand it for a second attack.

The wild Pokémon floated back to where it was, the shell cracking and chipping before suddenly exploding off of it, revealing its colorful core. This made Emily grit her teeth; she didn’t want to duck and cover again; these Pokémon could know Explosion, and she’d rather assume it did than didn’t. “Shadow Sneak, quick!” Sensing the unease in her voice, Grimer narrowed her eyes in determination, letting out a battle cry as her shadow reached out, sliding across the ground with incredible speed, shooting up to strike the Pokémon right in the face, sending it backwards and onto the ground.

Emily stared carefully for a moment as things went quiet, then let out a sigh of relief when she saw it was definitely down. She ran over to it, hopping carefully over some broken pieces of wood and shredded fabric to look over the Pokémon. She crouched down, looking it over. ‘Definitely not a Poison-type,’ she thought to herself. It could have been a Steel-type, but didn’t look it… maybe it was an ability? Pretty good one, if it stopped Toxic….

She pulled out another Poké Ball, tapping it gently against the Pokémon. If it was an ability, maybe her new one doesn’t have it?