As Emi stood there, feet immersed in the water, she noticed that a small Skrelp was close by, watching her with wide eyes.

"Why, hello there!" Emi reached down to put her hand in the water next to the Skrelp, but the Pokemon retreated when she did so, still staring up at her but giving her a wide berth.

It took Emi a moment to put together that the reason for the Skrelp's behavior was probably not that she had somehow offended the Pokemon by placing her hand nearby, but instead that Skrelp are poisonous and this particular Skrelp didn't want to poison her.

That did, admittedly, make things more difficult.

Before Emi could ponder a way out of this conundrum, Manny jumped into the water and transformed themself into a Skrelp. The wild Skrelp and the other "Skrelp" quickly began playing with one another, taking turns chasing one another through the water. Emi giggled a little as she watched the two play--they were so cute together!

Come to think of it, Emi hadn't seen any other Skrelp in all her time spent watching the water. Perhaps the little one was lonely?

Emi reached into her bag and retrieved an Aquatic Ball, slowly extending her hand in the direction of the two Pokemon playing. The Skrelp initially backed off again, but then drew closer, wide eyes staring at the Aquatic Ball.

"You two can play together as much as you'd like." Emi said. "Though I can't promise you'll have as much space for it as you do here..."

Manny turned back into a Ditto and inched up Emi's arm, still looking back at the Skrelp as they did so.

After a few long moments, the Skrelp happily headbutted the Aquatic Ball, becoming captured within it.

Emi only noticed that a Spheal was approaching her when the Spheal bumped into her feet. It tickled a little bit, and Emi giggled in response.

"You really want to say hi, huh?"

Emi sank a bit deeper into the water, letting it lap against her knees as the Spheal circled nearby.

Before she could go any further or reach out to the Spheal, however, Eclipse jumped into the water, and the Spheal ran off at the sound of the splash.

"Eclipse?"

The Kirlia stared down at her feet as she stood there, sopping wet even where her body wasn't immersed in water. "Lia..."

"You... you just wanted to play too, didn't you?"

Eclipse looked back up and nodded in response. "Kir-kir! Kirli..."

Emi reached out and gently rubbed the top of the Kirlia's head, not minding that her hand was getting soaked in the process. "It's okay, Eclipse. It's not your fault--really, it isn't, I know you meant well. Let's keep looking around, maybe somebody else here will want to play with you!

Eclipse seemed to cheer up at the sound of that. "Li-kir!"

Emi saw the Luvdisc approaching her and smiled. The Pokemon didn't shy away from Eclipse, but instead circled both Emi and the Kirlia, curiosity shining in the Luvdisc's eyes.

Emi crouched down to reach out and pet the Luvdisc, who she was beginning to suspect might become a new friend just like the Skrelp from earlier--

--and Emi promptly lost her balance and fell into the water.

The water wasn't too deep where she had fallen in, and she didn't feel too much in terms of new aches and pains, but when Emi emerged from the water, the Luvdisc that had come so close to her was nowhere to be seen.

Emi sighed, a sigh that turned into a wry laugh. She was grateful that her bag, at least, was still sitting on the shore, dry as ever.

"First you scared that Spheal, and now this... we have got to get our act together, huh, Eclipse?"

The Kirlia pondered the question for a moment. "Kir..."

"Not that I blame you for the Spheal thing! I know you meant well, and so did I... But. Let's try to be more careful from now on, alright?"

Eclipse nodded. "Lia!"

Emi sat down and immersed her legs in the water, which was a refreshing sort of cool, as she kept a lookout for any more potential friends. As the minutes went by, she began to fidget a bit, moving her legs back and forth ever so slightly--

--until she felt the bottom of her right foot scrape against something pointy and hard.

Emi removed her right foot from the water and looked at it closely. It was bleeding, but only barely so, a minor scrape in the greater scheme of things. But the waters of the Aquasphere were covered in soft sand, so what could have--

Emi looked around and found a Corsola swimming near where her right foot had been, the Pokemon staring at her wide-eyed for a long moment before rushing off.

"Nonono it's okay don't--"

And in the blink of an eye, the Corsola was gone.

Emi sighed. Another possible new friend scared off... she was really going to have to work on that.

A Chinchou swam towards Emi, his antennae lights flashing on and off rapidly. Emi wasn't sure exactly what that meant, but she was glad to see another Pokemon approaching her, and hoped that this time wouldn't go as poorly as most of the rest had.

Emi slowly, carefully reached out with one arm until she was just barely brushing against the Chinchou--

--and received an electric shock for her trouble.

It wasn't a strong shock, really, not too much worse than the shock built up from running around on a static-y carpet, but it still took Emi by surprise, and it still definitely stung. She had to blink a few times and refocus before she was entirely over it. The Chinchou remained in place just long enough for Emi to see it shoot her a grin before dashing off.

"Well." Emi said to nobody in particular. "That was just rude."

A Mudkip began to approach Emi, and she stood as still as possible as it came up to her and swam circles around her legs. She didn't want to risk making the wrong move, didn't want to risk accidentally scaring the Pokemon away, as she had before. Even when the Mudkip began climbing up Emi's legs and onto the ground beside her, she stayed as still as a statue, willing to just let the situation play out.

But then the Mudkip rubbed against her hand, softly at first but then more firmly, insistently shoving her hand against the Pokemon's head...

"Kip. Kiiiip!"

...wait. Was the Mudkip... just asking to be petted?

Emi moved the hand that was closest to the Mudkip, caressing the Pokemon's head as gently as she could manage. The Mudkip leaned into the petting, and after a moment Emi let herself be ever so slightly rougher, rubbing her hand up and down the Pokemon's entire body, petting the Mudkip like the Pokemon she was rather than a porcelain doll that would break at the slightest touch.

"Do you like that?" Emi whispered.

"Mud-mud-mud!" came the enthusiastic response.

As she continued to pet the Mudkip with one hand, Emi reached with the other into her bag and retrieved an Aquatic Ball.

"Would you..." Emi paused for a moment, unsure how to phrase her request. "Do you want to come home with me? I can give you plenty of attention there, I promise."

The Mudkip looked up at Emi for a long moment. "Kip kip!" Then the Mudkip prodded the Aquatic Ball, becoming captured within.