While finding a hiding spot could be useful, there's a sizable risk that it would be raided by one Pokemon or another before the day is out...and with no weapon with which to defend yourself, you'd be as good as dead. You decide to make a rush for the stick planted atop the dune, hoping to claim the weapon as your own. You need only head a bit further, off of this dune and onto the next. You scramble off of the current dune, descending with a certain degree of finesse, or at least more finesse than you exhibited when you tripped and fell the first time. You quickly make your way for the next dune, turning your head towards the hovering Vullaby, worried that it might have seen you. But the bird seems oblivious, its attention turned towards the nearby staircase, thankfully not in your direction. You turn your own attention back to the stick and scramble up towards it.
The moment you arrive at the stick, you seize it with both of your hands and attempt to pull it lose from the sand. However, the stick seems to be thoroughly lodged into the sand. The fact that you are beneath it, on unstable footing, does little to help. You cling to the stick and pull yourself forward, hoping to get on better footing before you once more try to pull it. Still the wooden weapon resists you. It as if you were trying to pull excalibur from its stone, and the sword did not deem you a worthy king. But if you just try hard enough, if you are demonstrate enough patience and perseverance, if you pull it in just the right way, you might be able to draw it. A lone traveler wandering the desert, improvised blade in hand, fighting giant monsters, surviving and mastering your environment where no one else would dare live. The closest thing this wasteland has to a king.
As you romanticize your labors, you notice that the nearby scrapes seem to have stopped, allowing the roar of the ocean and the beating of the Vullaby's wings to dominate the soundscape. You hesitate, still clinging onto the stick, wondering why...
A loud snarl reverberates around you. The stick lurches forward before at last dislodging from the sand, almost as if it were alive. Not prepared to bare the wooden weapon, you stumble onto your back and slide down the hill, clutching the stick in both hands. As you near the bottom of the hill, you catch a sideways view of a Salandit's head looming over the dune. Its maw is wide agape, its serpentine tongue vibrating and sending sending droplets of viscous saliva scattering through the air. One of its enormous eyes is squinting right down at you. The creature's expression seems almost amused at your presence. It would be a cute, silly sight were you normal sized. But at this scale, the creature's amusement could well be a preamble to predation and a swift demise. Two feet in length, roughly, the Salandit is about eight times as long as you are tall...roughly the size of a lesser dragon.
You stagger to your feet, the stick you worked so hard to acquire proving heavy and unwieldy. You adjust your posture in an attempt to better wield the weapon. What at first seemed analogous to a claymore is actually closer to a spear. And while the stick might not have a metal tip, it does appear to have a pointed wooden e nd, likely a product of a larger stick being snapped in half. You turn to face the Salandit, bandying the stick about in an attempt to threaten the lizard.
In response, the Salandit lets out a shrill and horrifying cry that leaves your ears ringing in pain. Remaining stoic, you step forward and lift your improvised spear. If you remain firm you might be able to scare it off... and if it does lunge, you might as well intercept its attack.
The Salandit snorts before flicking a wave of sand at you. The cloud of sand grains leaves minor cuts across your body. You are staggered in the process, and the creature seizes on this advantage to rush forward, forepaw extended in an attempt to claw you. You leap forward and fall onto your belly, just narrowly evading its attacking claw, and finding yourself in the shadow beneath the creature. You attempt to lift the spear to attack it, but find that the space beneath its underbelly is too cramped to allow an attack. Instead, you break into a curried crawl and make it out from under the creature's rump.
You turn and prepare to strike at its bottom, but the Salandit quickly heads this off by whipping its tail against your body and sending you tumbling onto your side. The creature quickly holds its tail over you as it turns to face you, its initial look of cute amusement replaced with something more malicious, though no less eager. The curled lizard drags its tail forward and opens its maw, its sharp teeth poised to puncture you and very likely send an incapacitating venom into your veins. You grip feebly at the stick before loosing your hold on the weapon...
Only to grab another. You grip at the sand with your still-free hand and fling it towards the side of the Salandit's head, repaying its earlier sand attack in kind. The creature hisses in pain as sand gets caught in its eye, and its tail lifts off of you. You grip at the stick and turn to face the now staggered creature. Survival instincts kick in. Realizing that in a prolonged battle the Pokemon is bound to overpower you, you rush for its spare eye and attempt to stab at it. It is a brutal maneuver, but if you do not cripple it now, you're bound for an early and undignified grave!
The Salandit shrieks and jerks its muzzle to the side, parrying your thrust with its scaly snout. It attempts to retaliate with a deadly bite, only for you to leap back and swing your spear about. The Salandit glares at you, its expression shifting to one of determination. At last it's taking you seriously. It takes a deep breath before exhaling a wave of scalding hot, excruciatingly smelly breath. A shame you have nothing to cover your face with. You turn back, wheezing from the intensity of the creature's belch, but still holding your weapon firmly.
Salandit's counteroffensive, has only just begun. The scalding toxic belch turns out to be only a preamble to its assault. It unleashes a concentrated stream of flames . You narrowly duck and avoid the superheated fire stream, though you suspect you may have caught a few first degree burns from being in proximity to it. The fiery stream comes to a halt just as soon as it started... but the sounds of crackling flames linger. The tip of your stick has ignited, and a wall of fire has formed behind you. You wave your stick about, knowing that most fire types are not entirely immune to flames themselves. Also aware of this, the Salandit briefly hesitates. It circles around you, keeping its distance.
The flames on the stick descend down towards your arms. Useful as a weapon though it may be, the flames are eating away at it, and you would rather not get scorched yourself. You quickly shove it into the sand to douse the flames. When you pull it back out, you find that its sharp tip has been eaten away by the flames. You are left with a weapon of questionable structural integrity, with a blunted tip. You feel a pit in your stomach. The Salandit quickly seizes upon your uncertainty by lunging forward and sending its tongue hurtling towards you. You parry it with the stick, only for the creature's tongue to coil around the stick and pull it into its maw. It snaps down and sloshes the stick about before allowing it to extend out from its maw, treating it as if it were a straw.
The Pokemon locks eyes with you, its expression now casual and amused. Your weapon is gone now, and your ill adapted body is all that remains. Your adrenaline rush begins to fade. The cuts and minor burns to your body , once dulled by adrenaline, now begin to throb with mild but persistent pain. The Salandit lunges at you again. this time not with claws or fangs, but with a greedy palm.
Its paw smashes you down onto the sand., yur head protruding out between its digits. The Salandit gazes down at your helpless form. Its pokes at you with the tip of the stick, mocking your prior efforts, before spitting the slobbery burnt and blunted weapon into the distance. Its tongue shoots out of its maw, vibrating directly beside your teary-eyed face, slobber flicking onto your body as it grandstands. And then the Salandit whips its tongue around your ankle and flicks you into its maw.
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