The scrapes on Alex’s cheek were pretty bad, the boy thought, and guessed that something pretty bad must’ve happened for him to run through the forest as fast as he had. Still, the alolan boy nodded when Alex said his comment about the bandages being used to heal him - one of the nurse joys could probably patch it up for him if he asked her to. “Yeah, Grass is good against Rock, although I don’t know what moves she can use just yet. I’ll check my pokedex when we’re at the pokemon centre.” Devon replied, strolling down the path while taking in the sights and sounds of the forest one last time. He didn’t know how long it’d be until he was in another forest again, and since he was raised next to one he really liked spending time in them. Amongst other things, he focused on the leaves in the trees above and how they swayed with the wind - they always did relax him.
More pokemon ran across the ground and swung through the trees overhead, many of which Devon had never even seen. He was surprised by how many pokemon there were and just how different they were from the ones in Alola, and the more he looked the more he realized that he never would be able to see every pokemon in existence. Still, that didn’t matter too much to him anyways. Really, he just wanted to defeat gyms to get more money - not just for himself, but for his family too. Being the only child of a pretty lower class family, Devon explored so that he could try and bring some extra income into his family since there was a lot of money to be made in competitive battling. His family wasn’t exactly penniless, but since his father worked as a fisherman and his mother was left unemployed after the thrifty megamart closed a few years ago, there wasn’t a lot of money being brought into the household. If the kid could somehow get strong, he could become a trial captain in Alola and hopefully provide some kind of stable income while fighting with the pokemon he loved. There was no ice-type trial captain yet, but with mount Lanakia being so close to his home there was room for Devon to step up to the job - with Subzero being the totem, of course.
Eventually, the two had come into a clearing which signified the end of the forest. The path grew wider, and Spring stopped at the edge of the woods which made Devon a little surprised. She’d probably never been out of the woods before, so devon stroked her on the back. “Hey, It’ll be ok…” he said in a soft tone. “We’re going to have some amazing adventures out in the world, so there’s no need to worry! With me by your side - and you by mine - things will turn out ok in the end.” The pokemon nodded her head but narrowed her gaze while looking on. Spring seemed scared still, but edged out slowly alongside Devon. Alex had walked ahead in a daze, but the alolan kid was not far behind. Eventually, the two boys made it to the pokemon centre, but while Aelx stepped inside with Tux perched up on his head Devon called out. “Hey! I’m going to go over to the pokemart to get a few more potions. I’ll be over in a second.” The boy quickly walked over to the blue-rooved building, completely ignoring the commotion going on over in the museum some way aways, and headed inside.
Immediately, he was met by a beautiful character - a female fashionista dressed in a long flowing white dress with a hat to match. She moved over to the boy, and without speaking crouched down to look at spring. “How...cute.” She said, speaking with an accent that Devon had never heard before. “But she’s missing something. Ah ha!” The woman called out, digging around in a handbag she was carrying around her arm. She long piece of light-blue ribbon from the bag, and tied it around Spring’s ear, not too tight but tight enough so that it wouldn’t fall off in a battle. “There...now she’s much more charming!” The woman said, before patting the pokemon on its head then walking out of the pokemart. To some degree, Devon was dumbfounded by her presence, yet was kinda happy about the encounter; it was nice to meet new people, and the kid as certain he hadn’t seen the last of that woman, whoever she was. The alolan boy bent down to his newly-captured deerling, and stroked her too in the same spot that the woman had done. “That was nice, huh?” he said, to which the pokemon giggled. She did look nice with the ribbon on him, he had to admit, and the woman had chosen a color that really matched his pokemon’s pink pelt quite well.
After that, Devon didn’t spend a long time in the pokemart; he brought what he needed and left quickly, although he tried to cut back on the amount of potions he brought out of the fear that he’d run out on money. “Man, I need to battle some more…” he said as he handed his money over to the cashier. “Its a good job there’s a gym in this town, huh?” he said to himself, smiling. The boy and the deerling walked back to the pokemon centre rather hastily and met up with Alex again who had been healed, presumably by nurse joy. “ You know, the weirdest thing just happened. Some fancy lady just put that ribbon on Spring in the pokemart and told me it would make her cuter. It was...weird.” he said with a chuckle. “Give him a twirl, spring!” He said. His pokemon happily obliged, and spun around in place to show off her new ribbon. Devon laughed again, the opened his pokedex on the deerling.
“Hmm...moves. Oh! Here we go! Camouflage, Tackle, Double Kick and Leech Seed” Devon spoke aloud, listing off the moves that Spring knew. He smiled to himself upon reading them - she was just a powerful as he had thought, and the boy knew she would have a chance at beating the gym. “What do you want to do next, Alex?”, the boy asked, curious as to what the other trainer felt like doing next. Devon didn’t really know what to do next, nor did he want to rush into the gym straight away, so felt like doing something which could help him get to know the other boy a little better.
