>>53798973Life seemed to stabilize somewhat after Winston's victory at Nimbasa gym.
Gym battles tended to be hard-fought but safe. Trainer battles were more of a danger, but remained mostly harmless. It was the wild, rampaging Pokémon across the region that were what Winston's team had to look out for.
Each time they'd encounter one, too, Mavis would react. Winston didn't notice initially- it took a few dangerous encounters and a near-death experience for Winston to actually pay attention to her mood, but once he did he became suspicious.
She wouldn't attack the rampaging mon. Most of the time she'd hide behind teammates. And whenever she didn't, she seemed physically incapable of helping.
The trainer scoffed it up to her terrible personality, especially considering she had scared off yet another round of new recruits, but the thought lingered in the back of his head. It only took priority momentarily, especially since something far more worrying had come up.
As Praug had traveled with the team, Winston noticed the Golurk becoming more and more immobile. Stiffer, quieter, slower... he was never the most agile in the first place, but near Driftveil his illness became especially noticeable.
By the time the team reached the Cold Storage, Praug had shut down and wouldn't turn back on.
Nobody knew how to refuel him- how Golurk even worked in the first place was a mystery to them all- and the best they could do was have him permanently standing guard outside the farmer's market.
And so they did, posing their friend in a friendly salute and a wave to greet anybody who came to shop there...
