Starting in the Umbra forest, I keep getting a situation where I see something moving up ahead that stops moving as we get closer. Jinxie wonders what it could be. I have the option to investigate or not.

My question is, do I ALWAYS end up in a fight if I investigate, or is there an alternate outcome?

there is the alternate outcome that it's an eggling (/hatchling? could be one or the other or both, I never click 'inspect' so) wild sylesti

Thanks! :) I mostly ignore it because it has always been a trap, but I wondered what I might be missing.

As Scathreoite said, there is an alternate outcome of finding an abandoned egg/hatchling, but that is pretty rare. Most of the encounters result in a fight.

There is no problem risking it. Almost all areas in Umbra forest progress based on number of fights, since you need to fight anyway to progress there is nothing to lose by taking the chance on them.