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Once Ducklett had came back to and Hop-Frog had a moment of rest the pair would part their ways with their duck friend and head off to find more foes to face. They wouldn't have to surface long as they spotted a Yungoos scurrying from some tall grass, passing through a gap of much smaller grass as it tried to quickly make it to the next tall patch and safety. Grimacing as he spotted the invasive menace Sub would point at it and give his Froakie a command. "Quick Attack!" He ordered, the Froakie immediately leaping off the ground with a burst of Normal energy and sending itself hurtling towards and into the Yungoos, ramming into it shoulder first and knocking the Yungoos off the ground, sending them both tumbling along the ground, however Hop-Frog was prepared for this and found its footing much sooner than his foe.

"Don't let up! Water Gun!" Sub commanded, he had every intention on hitting this thing hard and fast and making short work of it. By the time Yungoos already regained its footing and composure after that sneak attack, something it wasn't use to as typically its species did the sneak attacks, the frog it was facing was already building up a mouthful of water. The wild Pokemon did what itself instincts told it to do and just hissed at the Froakie, however Hop-Frog paid it no mind as it unleashed its built up water in the form of a Water Gun sent flying and splashing into the hissing Yungoos.

With a pained cry the Yungoos stumbled a bit from the impact and resumed hissing at this annoying frog before running for Hop-Frog rapidly and ramming into it this time with a Tackle, Hop-Frog doing its best to resist and keep his feet on the ground as he slid back a ways. It wasn't going to let this weasel get the best of it. As he held back the Yungoos it started snapping at it with its sharp teeth, the frog doing its best to avoid them.

"Good job! Hit it with Pound!" Sub commanded. With a croak Hop-Frog would let go of Yungoos with one hand and take the other, forming a fist and quickly charging Normal energy into it before slamming it into the top of the Yungoos's head, causing it to let out a cry and stumble backwards. "Finish it! Water Pulse!" The trainer ordered, it was time to see if Hop-Frog could manage a higher 'level' Water move in the heat of the moment. With a croak the Froakie would form a ball of water between its hands and fling its open palms at the Yungoos, unleashing the Water Pulse and sending it flying at the Yungoos just feet away from it. The ball would burst upon impact and send water flying everywhere along with a horrible piercing sound. The Normal type didn't stand a chance as it was sent rolling backwards, coming to a stop and knocked out.

"And another one bites the dust!" Sub cheered for his Pokemon. This outing was proving productive as Hop-Frog was getting better with some of his more advanced moves, this 'trial by fire' was really working.

[Evo Points earned: 3.90]

Roughly fifteen minutes later, give or take, and after munching on some Oran berries they picked off a native tree the trainer and Pokemon pair were ready to get back in the game and find something else to battle. They would walk around the lake for another five minutes before they found something that caught their eye, that they thought was deserving of a beating, a Skrelp. The Mock Kelp Pokemon had latched itself onto an unlucky Lotad, having likely gotten too close to the reeds the Skrelp was hiding in. The Poison type was now in the process of eating away at the Lotad's lily pad, the vulnerable Grass type weakly flailing around as it tried to get it off, likely having been at it for awhile and was now exhausted. Nature was cruel but sometimes it was hard to just sit back and watch it play out. Today was that Lotad's lucky day.

"Hop-Frog, see that purple thing eating that lily pad? Hit it with a Swift, and only the purple thing." Sub instructed his Froakie, he wanted to knock the Skrelp off of it but not hurt the Lotad, it had been through enough already. Hop-Frog would give his trainer a small nod and charge up a single Swift star, a little bit bigger than the standard variety but not its biggest, just large enough to hopefully dislodge the seahorse. With a flick of the Frog's wrist the 'ninja star' was sent flying through the air, locked right onto the Skrelp. The Swift would slam into the Poison type causing it to let out a cry of pain and let go of its lunch, the Lotad immediately finding a burst of adrenaline in it to flee as it realized it wasn't being munched on anymore.

With its meal gone the Skrelp would poke its head out of the water again and angrily stare at the ones it figured to be responsible for interrupting lunchtime. "Skreeel..." It growled under its breath before aiming high and spitting into the air a glob of Acid. The mass of liquid-y acid would arch in the air, breaking up and raining down on Hop-Frog and Sub in rain-like droplets, most of it getting on Hop-Frog causing its thin frog skin searing pain but some of it would burn off Sub's hair and put a few holes in his vest. "I just bought this one!" Sub complained as he took the vest off and used it to furiously wipe his hair, he didn't want to lose anymore.

"Hop-Frog, make it pay for that! Another Swift! Unless a flurry this time!" Sub commanded. He wanted to keep the gap between Hop-Frog and this Skrelp, the later species a very poor swimmer so he didn't have to worry about any sudden runs at them. With a croak Hop-Frog would begin to rapidly throw star after star at the Skrelp, each one slamming into the seahorse with a small explosion of Normal energy, the Skrelp yelping with each hit.

After the last star hit the Skrelp would give out an angry cry, its rage peaked. What happened next would surprise both Pokemon and trainer as the water in front of it began to slightly churn and spin around, a small Twister forming just above it. This thing had some skilled parents it seemed as Twister was an Egg Move for it. The modestly sized Twister would quickly glide over the lake and come straight for Hop-Frog, snatching the frog right up and carrying it a ways, spinning it around and around in its vortex. Eventually the Twister would dissipate and Hop-Frog would be discarded on the ground unceremoniously, stinging from all that Dragon energy and very dizzy. That was not expected at all.

"Alright, it's time to break out the big ones! Give me your grande Swift! Make it hurt!" Sub ordered his frog. With a defiant shout Hop-Frog would use Swift yet again, pulling its hands towards its back and forming a Swift star in them, the star growing bigger and bigger over time. When the star was big enough to almost touch its armpit Hop-Frog would throw its hands forward and send the sizable 'shuriken' at the now panicking Skrelp as it attempted to flee, but if you recall they were not good swimmers at all. Try as the Skrelp might the Swift would arrive and slam into it, carrying it up and away several feet into the air before exploding in a display of white light, the seahorse falling back down into the lake with a splash and then floating back up to the top, knocked out cold.

"That'll teach it a lesson." Sub huffed, Hop-Frog nodding in agreement.

[Evo Points earned: 4.90]

As she stated hoofing it to the new zone, she started to make her way through the brush and around the trees. It was going to take a while to make it to the next zone. She was almost sure that she was going to run into something that she probably didn’t want to have any business with in some fashion or another. Like another Venomoth, for instance. Or another explosive Ferroseed. At this point, Freth was in full conservation mode when it came to the sole Pokémon that she was allowed to use.

Moving around the trees, she heard some quick movement up above her. She looked around for a second until she saw what was going on. A quick, nimble Pokémon started to move about the branches, flipping about then landing right in front of Freth, squealing and howling out. A very territorial, angry Mankey. “Oh look, a Pokémon that matches your temperament.” The hunter spoke up.

“Oh, ha ha…” Freth said. Freth didn’t want to fight this Mankey if she could help it. She then started to change path, going to go around, however the Mankey wouldn’t allow it, cutting her off each time. After two more attempts, she was resigned in that this was a fight she was going to have to go through. “Alright. Hakamo-o!” she shouted, releasing the shadow Pokémon back out of the ball. “Sorry, short break. Got unwelcome company!” she said. The Hakamo-o wouldn’t reply too much, it meant at least that it got to fight again, as far as it was concerned.

The Mankey didn’t waste any time, rushing in to show off its anger. It started to Thrash about, pounding away, pummeling, making the Hakamo-o pay for Freth’s hubris. “Crap! He wastes no time! Hakamo-o, use Drain Punch!” Freth would command. As far as she could figure, she needed to sustain Hakamo-o as long as she could. Furthermore, she might be able to deal a good amount of damage to the Mankey. Generally, they were regarded as glass cannons for the most part. All the attack power in the world, but couldn’t necessarily take a hit. Though, unfortunately, true as that may have been, the Mankey wasn’t going to take an attack lying down. In the midst of its rampage, it ducked out of the way of the Drain Punch attack from Hakamo-o. Mankey were as nimble as they were angry. The Mankey then leaped up over the Hakamo-o and continued to Thrash, racking up the damage upon the Hakamo-o.

“Blasted…Dragon Claw!” she then commanded. The Hakamo-o swatted at the Mankey, finally throwing the rampaging fighting type off balance. Hakamo-o then lit his claws up with the draconian power and clawed down fiercely upon the Mankey, causing considerable damage to the infuriated Pokémon. The Mankey managed to flail its way back up off the ground then rushed for the Hakamo-o again continuing its one-track rampage, but as the Mankey relentlessly pummeled down on Hakamo-o, she realized something. The Mankey was starting to get tired. Thrash was powerful, sure, but it wasn’t without its drawbacks. She needed to act now.

“Another Drain Punch!” she then shouted. The Hakamo-o fought through the pounding, clawing, and thrashing of the rampaging Mankey and drove its claw right into the Mankey, sending the Mankey flying back and hitting the ground hard. The Mankey started to push itself off the ground, not as full of vigor as it once was. Its anger was at its peak, completely blinded by it in fact, but the damage was far too great. Confusion started to overtake the Mankey as it tried to scrape at air, bushes, and trees around it. Perhaps the ultimate price of Thrash, in turn. It was hurting itself in its confusion as it tried to confront enemies everywhere, when only one was really in front of it. “Another Drain Punch.” Freth sighed out. The Hakamo-o would land one more strong strike upon the Mankey to finally put the rampaging monkey down.

Once the battle was over, Freth sighed for a moment. She contemplated what the Hunter stated earlier, but trying to take care of a Mankey if pressed? Not exactly something that she wanted to contend with. She would then look over at Hakamo-o. Despite the couple of Drain Punches, while the Shadow Pokémon wouldn’t show it in its temperament, she could tell the damage was great. He looked worse than when the Hakamo-o started the battle. She’d recall the Hakamo-o for now then started her way off once again.

As Freth continued, she took notice to a spot that was generally familiar to her in the terrain. The placement of the trees. And more importantly... "A Yungoos...wait, is that the..." The Yungoos earlier that Hakamo-o drain punched earlier. Practically not even a contest. Still sapped of its energy. It was still trying to recover, perhaps come out of whatever coma it was in. It would come to, eventually, as far as Freth was concerned. Hopefully no predators would come out to land a coup de gras on this normal type in the meantime. She would take a few steps back slowly, making sure that this Yungoos didn't suddenly come to life and attacked her. She would go around and continue on...

"You're still awful, you know." the hunter spoke.

"No one asked you."

She continued on still through the forest in an attempt to find the Grasslands. The trees were starting to get more condensed between each other, turning the forest into a literal maze. She looked around the area, then took out her SNAG. She was on the right path, as far as she could tell, but she still had a ways to go. If she was to cut through here, she definitely would have to keep her eyes in the branches more so than usual. There was no telling what was in these trees. More Venomoth or Mankey for instance. Case in point, as she started to continue on, she took notice to another Ferroseed, which at this point was a harbinger of destruction with the situation she was in. "Yea, not touching that one." she said, making her way off.

As she continued on, she started to take notice to yet another Pikapek moving about. This was a change of pace to what she was seeing earlier in the day. "I'm going to guess that there is something going on in here that got these Pokemon grouped up like this." Freth said.

"It is a possibility. Though, again, there are all sorts of trainers wrecking 'havoc' throughout this entire area, yourself included." the hunter spoke up. "They're probably bunched up with each other close to their own kind, or at the very least, trying to find allies to deal with anyone still stomping around. You may have found where all the Pikapek are at. Though, pray there's not a Toucannon out here, for your Hakamo-o's sake, at least."

"Tell me about it." she said. "Considering the bugs though that were out to kick the hell out of Hakamo-o, this is actually a reprieve. I think it might actually be safer than where we were before." With that bit of reassurance, Freth continued on through the forest, leaving the Pikapek alone.

As Freth continued on, she continued to pay special attention to the tree tops, still a bit paranoid of what may drop down from up above. Worst case scenario, she would have to try to make an absolute mad dash away from whatever encounter she would have. She still had to curse the hunter from preventing her to use Agility any more. Problems that wouldn't be a problem previously, as it were. She almost wondered how in the world would things work, now that she was the Galarian variant. She started to recall some of that power that she had back in Hisui. That came out in a time of most stress. But it was just some random burst, hardly anything that could be used. In retrospect, she wondered if such a thing was going to be a problem later. Doc alluded to it shortly after her transformation and as did the Hunter in Hisui. She mused over the thought, ignoring the Sewaddle close by.