Gligar liked to think himself a Pokemon of simple needs. He’d reached maturity in the Alabaster wastes, where resources were scarce and safety was limited, so he prided himself on his ability to survive with little to nothing to his name.

But he’d found he really… really liked attention. He liked it when his human took his head between both hands and affectionately ruffled his face, liked when they idly reached over to scratch behind his ear or smoothed down his wings. He liked battling, but he really liked being tended to after a battle, in spite of the way the cold, funny smelling mixtures stung as they were applied– what mattered was that his human was paying attention to him, was caring for and handling him. That he’d won a fight minutes prior only capped his success off.

His human provided berries and treats to supplement Gligar’s hunts, tossed sticks for him to catch or pointed out a distant [x] in challenge, and looked out for him. And so what if he had to share his human’s attention with the Noble? Gligar didn’t need much. He could [hunt] for himself and find his own amusements; so long as the human continued to pay attention to him, he would be happy.

One day, the human offered him a strange ball. Gligar didn’t know what it was, but his human did, and so he hadn’t been bothered when it was gingerly tossed his way. He made to catch it in one of his pincers, but, strangely, both the ball and human were gone. Or maybe it was Gligar who was gone. He might have panicked, were it not for the steady voice outside wherever he was. If his human wasn’t worried, this was okay, then; after a few more seconds, and a nearby popping noise, his confidence was rewarded with the world’s reappearance.

He rolled a few chirps into a trill and immediately made to scale the human, perching himself on their shoulder. With time, he would come understand how the ball worked, how his human used it to keep him safe and close at hand; that was good, Gligar decided, and the pokeball was good, too. He’d like to see Sneasler try to accompany the human into the settlements so easily!

His human even helped him evolve! He’d seen fully-[matured] Gliscor in passing, had thought about what it might be like someday, but never had any plan or means to evolve, himself. Gliscor, after all, had hatched and grown in the Icelands; he’d had enough to survive, but– he was just beginning to realize– not to flourish.

It was wonderful. He was faster and stronger, sturdier than he’d ever been before, but, most importantly, he was bigger. There was so much more of him to be patted, and he soaked it up whenever he got the opportunity.