[ it isn't uncommon for Jack to strike up a conversation with any Pokémon he sees, and the Honedge on the way back to Union from Caldera is no different. Jack talks to Pokémon the same way he talks to people, despite not having any gift that allows him to understand them; living alone in the woods and the wilderness got him used to holding conversations without expecting an kind of response. it was too easy to get jittery otherwise, things built up in his head too much and he would end up more unstable than he usually was.

he's gotten a lot of reactions from talking to wandering Pokémon. he... has never gotten this one before. ]

Uhhh... [ he would have gaped for a lot longer, but the Duskull accompanying him makes an impatient rattling sound, and Jack jumps. ] Oh! Uh— Yes? Yeah, we do! We were going to stick to the forest today, but I'm pretty lousy at giving directions, sooo... We could walk you there?