"At times like this, it's important to remain calm..." whispered Korrina, removing her hand from over Jason's mouth as she explained, "Bewear almost exclusively eat berries, honey, and fish-type Pokémon found in mountain streams. And this forest is much too small for it to have its den nearby. It's most likely just passing through, so it has no reason to attack us if we don't provoke it..."
"Mmn..." responded Jason, offering a curt nod but keeping his gaze fixed on the Bewear as it casually tossed the corpse of one of the Bounsweet it had killed into its mouth, producing a loud crunch as it bit down with its powerful jaws. It appeared relaxed at a glance, but the fluffy white ears on its head continuously twitched, making it clear it wasn't as oblivious to its surroundings as it appeared.
Ding!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Group Quest: [Beware the Bewear]
Rank: E~A [Time Limited]
Description: By chance or providence, you've found yourself before the 2-Star Entity, Bewear. Will you hide yourself and pray that it does not notice you, or will you rise to the challenge and demonstrate your courage in the face of an overwhelming foe?
Objective(s): Survive your encounter with the Strong Arm Pokémon, Bewear(0/2)
Optional Objective(s): Reveal your presence and stand your ground(0/1), Defeat the Bewear and convince it to join you(0/1), Kill the Bewear and process its body(0/1)
Base Rewards: 3,000 AP
Optional Rewards: 5,000/300,000/200,000AP
Notice: The foe before you is near the pinnacle of 2-Star Entities. But if you wish to stand at the peak and become a true Hero, you cannot turn away from challenges, no matter how impossible they might seem.
[Would you like to accept this Quest?]
[Yes(0/2)/No(0/2)]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
With time slowing to a crawl and the Quest notification visible to both of them, Jason and Korrina abruptly found themselves at a crossroads. The wisest course of action was to stay hidden, but, upon reading how much AP they could earn by besting the Bewear in a battle, Korrina's clear blue eyes blazed with determination.
Fortunately for Jason, Korrina hadn't forgotten that he existed. Had she been alone, she would have stepped out and challenged the Bewear with her life on the line. But with another's life hanging in the balance, the fire in her eyes gradually waned. She ultimately accepted the Quest alongside Jason, but instead of revealing and proving herself, she gave his shoulder a supportive squeeze as they waited for the Bewear to finish its meal, lap up some of the pond's water, and depart...
...
..
.
Waiting until they were out of the forest and had returned to the beach, Korrina exhaled a loud, exasperated sigh, posed with her hands on her hips, and remarked, "I'm sorry you had to experience something like that on our first outing, but it's honestly a good thing. If nothing else, it should have effectively conveyed to you how dangerous it can be to explore even a relatively safe region like Alola. But that's no reason to be afraid. As long as you do your homework for each area you travel to, prepare accordingly, and hone your skills, you can survive and escape most situations. Bewear are slow to change direction, so if we were proficient with using our Omni Shoes, we would have been able to evade and wear it out, even without a partner Pokémon."
"I understand..." responded Jason, feeling somewhat conflicted as he felt as though Korrina was admonishing him over something he had no control over. He had wanted to continue training for a few weeks, potentially even months, before venturing beyond the beach. It was she who insisted they go out and explore, but instead of pointing that out, he calmly asked, "Do you know any methods to improve a person's aptitude with Omni Shoes in a short period? I imagine setting up an obstacle course could help..."
Regaining her usual, radiant smile, Korrina affirmed, "That's a great idea! We can hammer wooden posts down for now! Then, if Professor Burn—I mean, if Ellaine is willing to allow it, we can set up a bowl and a Pokémon arena to accept challengers...!"
"A bowl...?" repeated Jason, tilting his head slightly in the same manner Ellaine and Korrina did when they were confused.
"Oh, right. I never got the chance to show you what my Gym looked like," recalled Korrina, gently tapping her right fist into the palm of her left hand before spiritedly gesticulating as she explained, "A bowl is like a concrete swimming pool, but in place of water, it's filled with obstacles, grind rails, and ramps for skating and boarding. You might not remember, but the first time we met, I was wearing roller skates."
"I could never forget..." countered Jason, gesturing with his own hands as if he were outlining Korrina's body as he recounted, "You were wearing a form-fitting outfit clearly fashioned after Luca, and the skates you had on were black and blue with a pair of yellow, black-trimmed wheels, and tire-like treading..."
"And you were wearing clothes like you had been lost in the wilderness for weeks..." hummed Korrina, her tone playful as she stepped closer and into Jason's embrace as he habitually spread his hands. He hadn't been trying to goad her, but Korrina evidently felt his accurate recollection deserved a reward, as she linked her arms around his neck and shoulders, resulting in a brief but passionate make-out session.
Separating from Jason's lips and licking her own, Korrina proposed, "Let's walk up and down the beach and explore the tide pools to the west. It's a bit too early for us to return, and if we're lucky, we could find a Shellder, a Feebas, or a Carvanha trapped inside. They're not very strong as they are, but they evolve into powerful and practical Pokémon."
"Alright...sounds good..." affirmed Jason, releasing his hold on Korrina's perky bottom, allowing her to remove her hips from his. In the aftermath, he was left pitching a tent, but it was nothing a one-and-a-half-kilometer run up the beach couldn't settle...
...
..
.
[Three Hours Later]
"Hmmm...it looks like this one only has a few Wishiwashi inside of it..." remarked Korrina, referring to a Pokémon that looked like a large crying minnow with a blue and grey body, a white head, and a pattern along its sides resembling tears. And unlike in the games and anime, where every Pokémon appeared nearly identical to each other, those within the tidal pool ranged in size from eight to fifteen centimeters.
Though he heard Korrina's words, Jason was focused on a red-orange starfish he had fished from the pool he was searching. They didn't stand out nearly as much as Pokémon, but he had noticed over the past week that there were seemingly normal insects, worms, and a variety of ocean fauna that resembled organisms from his previous world. This included creatures like the starfish in his hand, the coral reef lining the shallows, a wide array of sea anemones, and a few species of ocean grass that were most certainly living organisms but were functionally disregarded due to the fact that they weren't Pokémon.
Confirming what Jason already knew, Korrina, after noticing he wasn't paying attention to her, made her way over and remarked, "That's not a Pokémon, so you can just put it back or throw it in the ocean. There is a Pokémon that looks similar, Staryu, but they're way larger, light brown in color, and have a large red gemstone on their front."
"Does your world have a name for creatures like this...?" asked Jason, holding up the starfish for Korrina's perusal.
"I'm sure we do, but it's not something I specialize in or have much of an interest..." admitted Korrina, inspecting the starfish curiously but quickly losing interest in it as it was functionally an inanimate object compared to the average Pokémon.
"In my world, it's known as a starfish," revealed Jason, causing Korrina's brows to perk as he explained, "I've noticed there are quite a few animals in this world that resemble those from mine, but they're overshadowed by the presence of Pokémon."
"Should we head back to the house so we can discuss this with Ellaine?" asked Korrina, squatting down next to Jason and gently bumping his left shoulder with her right.
Shaking his head, Jason revealed, "Before I was expelled from my world, I was severely injured by a fish that had grown several times its original size. It struck me several times with an attack not all that dissimilar to the Pokémon Power, Water Gun. Because of that and the presence of normal animals like this starfish, I'm beginning to believe your world underwent a process of evolution similar to mine—just tens of thousands, maybe even millions of years ago..."
"It's possible..." conceded Korrina, leaning against Jason's shoulder as a show of support. She wasn't particularly interested in the ancient past or how her world had come to be. She just wanted to be the best Trainer she could be while she had the strength to compete for the top spot. She also wanted to be a supportive girlfriend to Jason, but as she would eventually need to return to Shalour City, she wasn't yet completely invested in their relationship.
sploosh
Following Korrina's suggestion, Jason flung the starfish in his hand into the ocean. Then, as it was fairly apparent they weren't going to discover any hidden gems among the tide pools, he rose to his feet and extended a hand to help Korrina do the same.
"Let's look for someplace dry and sunny to eat lunch," suggested Jason, adopting a faint smile as he took the initiative to pull Korrina along by her hand. She was typically the one to pull him along, but as he didn't want to remain passive in their relationship, he guided the beaming beauty across the slippery rocks and up a steep embankment that doubled back onto a grassy cliff with an incredible view. Several seagull-like Wingull gathered and began circling them the moment they produced food, but Korrina was able to clear them away using a tiny speaker that emitted high-frequency sound waves that caused them to disperse like an invisible force field had been erected...
...
..
.
After finishing lunch and returning home, Jason greeted Audino before he and Korrina dropped off their backpacks in their bedroom, stripped down to their birthday suits, and made their way to the bath. Soon after, Ellaine appeared, her bronzed and well-trained body on full display as she joined them at the showering station.
"So, how was your first excursion~?" asked Ellaine, wrapping her arms around Jason from behind, her chin resting on his left shoulder, and her right hand finding its way to her favorite appendage as she asked, "Were you able to catch anything?"
"We encountered a wild Bewear and decided to call our exploration quits pretty early on," revealed Korrina, answering on Jason's behalf. Then, as she hung up her shower head, she positioned herself in front of him with her hips sticking out, increasing the heat suffusing his cheeks as she very casually appended, "After that, we decided to explore the tide pools, but we didn't find anything worth catching or bringing back."
"You encountered a Bewear? Here on Akala Island...?" asked Ellaine, her right brow raised as she sped up the movements of her hand, revealing, "I've never heard of a Bewear appearing here. They're almost exclusively native to Poni Island, with a very small number appearing on Melemele."
"Well, we definitely encountered one..." asserted Korrina, lowering her gaze and extending her hips further forward as she stated, "If you don't believe me, you can check Jason's Completed Quests. We were issued a Time-Limited Quest tasking us to survive the encounter or to defeat and capture the Bewear. We chose to err on the side of caution."
"Hmmn...I see..." muttered Ellaine, briefly focusing her attention on the movements of her hand. The only reason she could think of for a Bewear to leave its territory and flee to another island was if something especially powerful had invaded it. It was also possible that a Trainer had released it onto the island, but if that were the case, said Trainer had violated the law that mandated that released Pokémon be freed near the location where they were initially caught—both for their well-being and the safety of wild Pokémon in other regions...
...
..
.