@thunderstunned
Leaves and branches whipped at his face as he ran, but Hanta paid them little mind, opting instead to keep barrelling through the undergrowth towards the source of the shrill screaming that had just shattered the quiet peace of Ilex Forest. There were many reasons why someone may be screaming, after all: excitement, exhilaration, joy, but the sheer violence of the sound ( that had almost caused him to jump out of his skin, he wasn't too proud to admit ) told the teen that that noise was none of the above. That was a scream of terror, and in a forest so renown for its many different kinds of dangerous grass and bug pokemon, it wasn't exactly a good, reassuring noise to be hearing.
His foot caught on a root, causing the long legged, less-than graceful trainer to stagger, and he stumbled with no small amount of commotion through the last layer of foliage separating himself from the source of the screaming to see-
A girl. A city girl, to be exact ( she must have come from Goldenrod, Hanta found a moment to reason ) facing off against a monstrously large ariados, which would have been a terrifying scene to find himself facing had recognition not kicked in a mere fragment of a second later.
"Wait-!!” He found himself shouting before he’d even fully come to a proper stop, arms pinwheeling for a moment before he finally, blessedly, managed to regain his footing. “It's okay!! He's mine!"
