Cecily had to admit, her Togepi's frank rejection stung quite a bit at first. She retracted the hand it had just slapped and jutted her lower lips out in a childish pout. Togepi had its little arms crossed across its body, and its head was tilted up and away, refusing to look at her. Cecily tried to get Togepi to look at her, but every time she moved to where it had been staring, Togepi would simply hop a little and face the other way. The defiant and steely look on its face had been too much for her to handle, and she burst out giggling. "You're the best," she told the egg-like Pokémon, nuzzling its head affectionately despite its protests.

"We're gonna be partners, you know," she said, smiling excitedly. Togepi still wouldn't look at her, but she could tell it was paying attention, however begrudgingly. Her smile grew at the thought. Even though they've only spent all of two minutes with each other, she already felt like she was starting to understand the little Pokémon. The stubbornness and the snubbing meant she had a lot of trust-earning in her agenda. "I swear I won't let you down, okay?"

That seemed to placate Togepi, and although there was a small furrow between its eyes as it turned to finally look at her, it seemed it was going to accept her as its partner—at least provisionally. Cecily grinned again. Her face was starting to hurt from all the smiling, but that didn't seem like something to complain about. "So, partner, do you feel like a 'Humpty'?" she asked, then laughed when Togepi's face scrunched up in disgust. "Right. Then, um, Jack?" Togepi shook its head again, so Cecily continued to list off names, most of them from the fairy tales she loved so much. Peter. Robin. Hansel. Togepi shook its head at her suggestions, somehow making different disdainful (read: adorable) expressions each time, until finally one caught its fancy.

Andre had come up to them just then. "Oui, je suis de Vaniville," she answered, easily slipping into her native tongue despite her infrequent use. Her grandparents had spent most of their life in Unova, so she'd grown up with their preference for English. "I'm Cecily Cain and this," she beckoned at the Togepi standing by her leg, staring at the flamboyant movie star in the same appraising manner as it did with Cecily, "is Oz the Dragonsbane."

The Togepi preened at the sound of its chosen name, obviously overjoyed with how imposing it sounds. Cecily bit her lower lip to keep from giggling at Oz, then turned back to Andre. "Oh, right! You're Andre Bellamy," she said, as if she'd just realized who he was, and started reaching for a small notebook in her satchel. "My sister's a big fan and she'd love it if—"

Before she had the chance to ask Andre for his autograph, the purple-haired girl raced toward them in another display of boundless energy that made Cecily envy her all over again. She had come to talk to Andre and introduced her awesome Honedge as Fi. Cecily waved at her, smiling affably. "Lou—err, Abigail, right? Hello, I'm Cecily."

Willow smiled a bright smile as he watched the Pokemon disappear one by one from the table. One of them seemed less than pleased at his own decision, which disappointed Willow, for the pokemon in question was instantly attached to its new trainer. "You seem to have a unique charm about you." Willow said to Sigur, "That Igglybuff has already taken quite the liking to you. I think you two will make a great team one day."

It was only moments later when someone caught his eye. She had picked the Togepi, which made Willow smile. Togepi would evolve into one of his favorite pokemon, and would make her into a grand trainer. He then faltered for a moment as he came to a realization. That light blue hair and that fragile body. She matched the description of the girl from the Cain estate. Now was a bad time to approach her to ask for confirmation, though.

"Herschell." Willow called. The timid scientist approached him and asked what he needed. "Grab the Pokedexes from the other room for me, would you?

The Scientist nodded and vanished behind the double hinged door.

Willow was then approached by a rather well presented young lady, who greeted him in a very professional manner. Considering the way she looked and acted, Willow had his suspicions, bur he kept them to himself and greeted her likewise.

"Why hello, young lady. Pleasure you could join us. I hope your adventure is filled with fun and excitement."

Smiling, Mariana bowed and withdrew from the businessman.

So they were to receive Pokedexes as well. Well, that was natural; DEPTH's lead product was Pokedexes, after all. Mariana wondered why no one had yet thought to simply add a Pokedex application to, say, the Pokenav, or Pokegear. That would deal a huge blow to DEPTH.

She blinked. Actually... that's a great idea! I absolutely need to remember that for later.

Setting her mind back to the present, Mariana found herself wondering for the first time about the other new trainers in the building. They were all beneath her, yes, but during this journey they'd all be her peers, unfortunately. And if the media was to be believed, it was most common to travel with a companion or two. As unappetizing a thought as companionship was, not doing so could impact her reputation. So, she looked over each of her options and their advantages.

The weak, frail girl with the disobedient Togepi, if Mariana remembered correctly, had some connection to the Cain family.

The kid with the black hat had some connection to Professor Oak.

The Andre Bellamy impersonator could provide some comedic relief.

The major disadvantage to all of them, or really any companion at all, was that she had little leeway to work on her own goals on the island. She could do the more subtle things, but, among other things, the DEPTH headquarters were entirely off-limits.

Looking over all of them, though, made Mariana remember that they all had their Pokemon out, and she didn't.

Quickly she headed outside. She worried a little about maybe missing the Pokedex, but it was a worry muted by excitement.

Once outside, she tossed Lancelot's Pokeball nervously, hoping she had done it correctly and wasn't merely chucking a ball into the air. A flash of light occurred, and once it subsided Mariana saw the long blue snake, with its white belly and snout, staring back at her.

"W-well," Mariana began, without much knowledge of how to talk to a Pokemon. They mostly had somewhat human intelligence, right? She cleared her throat. "Greetings. I am Mariana Coelho, your new trainer. I look forward to-"

Mariana was in the middle of her sentence when she realized the Dratini had lost interest in her speech, and instead approached the little girl drawing on the bench.

Apparently, accidentally picking a pink blob of giggly-goodness over something - anything else wasn't Sigur's only problem of the day; no sooner had he managed to voice his displeasure and ask for a possible change in starter choices, when a bunch of strangers got on his case as one united unit of nosiness and 'better-than-thou' attitude.

After the professor had given him a no-go on switching - figured, what's with all the 'your first Pokémon is special and your best friend!' crap you always heard about on TV - the first one to butt-in and offer some unwanted commentary was some sort of funky neo-emo clad in all black. The guy commented on how he shouldn't have taken the process lightly and would now need to 'man up' and live with the consequences, before he proceeded to bribe his Pokémon with a berry or something. Oh. Great. His day started with a guy clad in tight leather gear telling him to man up. Next, the pink homo would start giving him fashion lessons, he bet.

A few seconds passed and as if on cue, the guy did turn his attention to him. Sigur almost froze in sheer disbelief. Fuck, he'd need to stop making these predictions, or drop this Pokémon shit and get a job as a fortune teller. He could use the Igglypuff as a crystal ball with some slight modifications.

"You know, I have to agree with him," the guy said, apparently meaning the leather-ass. Figured. Birds of a feather and all. "Besides, I see nothing wrong with the Pokémon you chose. There was a saying I heard somewhere, I believe it was... real men wear pink? Although, if that is the case, I must be the realest man here, yes? Ohhohohoho!"

Well, at least it wasn't fashion advice. Instead it was... uh.

He got nothing.

"Not planning to wear this guy," Sigur commented dryly as he raised a leg and pointed at the Pokémon still latched onto it like a kid on a candy bar. "If I can... help it, at least," he continued, once again attempting in vain to peel off the offending blob. If they got into giving nicknames, he'd call this one a leg warmer, because so far that seemed like something it had passion for.

And then the guy commented on his earrings out of the blue. Oh shit, fashion advice incoming anyway. He called it. Totally freaking called it.

"I have a pair just like them back home. Are those real diamonds? Mine are! But the rest of your... ensemble...?"

The guy sneered, and Sigur cocked an eyebrow. Was the guy in all pink really doing this? Really?

"It does not match. I suggest a makeover of both appearance and attitude, mon ami. I would be more than happy to give you one later, hm?”

Sigur was just about to comment on how he was not going to let the guy touch him with a tenfoot pole, when the other unexpectantly stepped closer and fucking smooched him right on the goddamn face. And probably left a lipstick stain.

Wait, he, wait... what?

The teen flinched, unable to process what in the devil had just happened. It wasn't until the mad giggling of his so-called 'starter' snapped him back from whatever heights he'd climbed to escape the disgusting wet feeling on his skin, that he realized where the hell he was again. And immediately, he wished he hadn't. He was probably red in the face. And not because of any of that blushy-blushy tee-hee bullshit, either.

"Iggly!" His Pokémon exclaimed, happy. Apparently it was into this shit.

He, however, was not.

"Hey, hey, hey, Earth to Unicorn Man, get off that rainbow and grab a fucking map," Sigur began, annoyed as he began wiping his cheek on his sleeve. "We aren't in Kalos anymore, Dorothy, so if you fancy kissing some guys, try leather-face over there," he nodded towards Joshua, although he wasn't aware of his name at the time. "and get your stereotypical ass outta the rest of our way. Some of us came here to get shit done, not slobber on stranger's faces and make sure our home region gets as bad a reputation as it humanly can."

He ran a hand through his hair to brush back strands from his face towards the back and cocked his head, condescension clear in every syllable like he'd talked to someone of lower intelligence: "Capiche, mon ami?"

Checking his pokétch, Treize remembered the upgrade Oak had given him just before they'd gone through the crowd, and flipped through the app pages until he found the right one. The screen was mostly empty, displaying only a small sprite of a starly. He tapped at the controls, and managed to rename the icon to Casey Kacem. There didn't seem to be further information. He supposed it was the pokédex's job from what he knew about them. They were more than just glorified electronic encyclopedias, of course. Casey nipped at his ear endearingly. He looked up, surprised by the sudden pain, and noticed some familiar hair in the crowd. Standing on his toes, he saw a confirmation to his suspicions, and an eevee. Weaving through the throng, he stepped up to Lumen and said, "Hey Lum!"

As Shoto was watching his fellow trainers interact with their pokemon he could not help but stop longer than everyone else with the book boy. He just received his very own rare pokemon and his nose was bridge deep in his book. A moment later the boy closed his book and spoke with his pokemon and whatever he said made it feel good at least. Shoto raised his hand to stroke the side of Crawler's carapice and said to himself, "Might as well get to know his name so I don't have to call him book boy anymore." "Pede Veni." Spoke the bug type in agreement. So Shoto stepped over to him and introduced himself. "Hey, name's Shoto." He pointed at his head, "This is Crawler. So, what was that book you were reading? Looked like some kind of science book. I'm more of a fantasy novel guy myself." He outstretched his hand for a shake and continued to talk. "Nice choice on the Beldum by the way."

Joshua watched the Igglybuff's owner to his critisism and noted soemthing akin to rage in the man's face. When the guy who had chosen Cleffa dresed in Joshua would've paid to see Sigurs's shocked reactions. They were rather amusing right up until the point the man recovered and replied angrily, making it a point to insult both the pink-clad man and Joshua himself. while he agreed with some of the things Sigur said, he thought the irate child went too far.

" Now now, calm down there." he said in a calm, level tone" The man is only acting the way he was raised to. I don't know much about Kalos but I'm sure the people there are very different from where you and I are from. Also considering your advice on representing our respective regions, I think you should take it yourself. You're coming off as a bit of a jerk and there are some younger children here. Watch your tongue a bit."

His peice to Sigur said, he turned to Andre and held out a hand
" Please forgo any kissing, I won't enjoy it anymore then he did. A simple handshake will suffice." He said" The names Joshua by the way. Mind if I ask yours?"

Before Andre had the chance to reply, Sigur found a new challenger approaching - or, uh, returning, as it was the same guy that'd acted all know-it-all earlier. And as it turned out, these few minutes apart hadn't much changed him. The guy was still acting like a stuck up parent. God, he hated those types, even more than he hated homos planting kisses on his face.

... Well, almost.

Sigur turned to face the guy and cocked a brow at his notion to 'calm down'. What, did he look like he was something but calm or something? True, yeah, he cursed, but that was more common of him than saying hello, and he hadn't raised his voice above the volume it normally was. He didn't really do yelling; after all, all raising your voice did was take away the force in whatever comebacks you had in store and all. He'd seen that in a lot of arguments; the one with the sharper tongue and more leveled head won. Or, you know, the one with the bigger, badder fist, because half the populace usually retorted to violence at some point anyway. He'd had enough black eyes to testament that. Anyway, so then, what, was it his face that made him look mad or something? ... Shit, his face was still visibly red, wasn't it. Yeah, probably, all thanks to his look-I'm-fucking-Snow-White skintone that let show any and all changes in color for hours. Well then.

"Ever heard of 'when in Rome, do as the Romans do'?" Sigur spoke up suddenly, even if he was aware he was interrupting whatever bonding was going on with the two dudes in front of him. It felt weird of him to use that saying to his advantage when usually he was the one who was all about 'going against the flow', but then, this situation was kinda special. Being yourself and doing whatever you wanted - be it making out with the same sex or whatever - was all cool, if it didn't involve getting freaking physical with an unwilling stranger. Especially if the unwilling stranger was him.

"Or, to put it in modern terms," he continued with a groan and a bored flick of his wrist. "'When outside a region where sexual harassment's a thing, control your fucking urges.' As for kids, eh," he looked around the room with a shrug. "Don't see anyone young enough not to be able to handle a few 'fucks' there and 'asses' here. What, you one of those people whose mommy censored every channel until you turned twenty? Well, newsflash, bro; kids fucking curse too."

Joshua lowered his hand when the irate man began talking again. He listened calmly and barely raised an eyebrow at anything Sigur said. Frankly he didn't care about the man's opinions but his attitude needed a major adjustment. Joshua knew he himself stood no chance in a battle of words. Arguments where never how he solved anything. But there was one thing he knew he was good at.
"Wel since this will get us no where, as I doubt I'l ever see eye to eye with a child like yourself I guess we'l have to settle this another way. We are trainers and when we disagree we can always turn to our pokémon to help us settle things." Joshua said" Or at least that's what I'd like to say but I doubt you'd put up much of a fight. I'd bet that you would lose on purpose and try to use that loose as an excuse to switch your new partner for one that matches your prefrence more. But I'd bet the professor would say no to the switching again."

A voice of her past rang through the crowd of new trainers, Lumen turned and wove her gaze about, looking for the source. Then, her eyes took notice of an old friend, Trieze, with an adorable starly perched on his shoulder. It's feathers shone with signs of good grooming and it's beak was sharp, displaying it's pedigree. Lumen was filled to the brim with excitement being surrounded by so much pokemon of such high genetic caliber. "Trieze! Hey, I didn't know you'd be here." she smiled warmly as the two approached each other. She offered him a warm, friendly hug, much as she had on the days he and professor Oak had come to visit her family's breeding ranch. Trieze had a tendency to be more reserved and serious than Lumen, but her fond memories of him were enough to break the ice and truly, she was happy to see a familiar face.

"I see you picked a starly, lovely choice," she gently tussled the feathers on the small bird's head, taking care to smooth them out after. "Such stunning pokemon here today, wouldn't you agree? This is my little friend Serenity, I couldn't believe when I saw this little girl nestled up in her pokeball; she's a genetic wonder." she looked down at her new pokedex; it had been a long while since she last held one of these and she had to admit, it felt nice. But there would be time for technology later.

"Hiya Cecily!" She had come to talk to Andre, but there was no reason why she couldn't say hi to this girl. This...incredibly cute girl that looked entirely too huggable that made Abigial want to do just that. Without warning, she wrapped her arms around Cecily and pulled her into a tight hug, ignoring all social concepts of personal space in the process, completely oblivious to whether it made Cecily uncomfortable that she did so. The hug lasted only for a few seconds before Abigial pulled away and gave a friendly smile to Cecily.

"Hehe, Sorry about that!" She giggled. "You just looked like you were a huggable person. I was right!" She proceeded to shake Cecily's hand vigorously. "I'm Abigail!" She introduced herself. "And this is Fi! Say hi Fi!" The honedge looked curiously at Cecily as it floated over to her and her Togepi. Before the Honedge could get any further though, a rather rough looking guy marched up, and started to insult Andre. She immediately didn't like whoever this guy was. He came and started pretty much yelling at Andre for greeting him. She didn't see anything wrong with Andre's behavior, but that was probably every time she thought about it she grew red in the face and her heart skipped a beat, which is the only time in the history of history that that happened to her.

Every single word this guy spoke, just made her angrier and angrier. Could this guy be any more of a jerk? Really, all he had done was just greet him the same way he would have greeted someone in his home country, Kalos. That's where she assumed Andre was from anyways. And then, he had the nerve to continue to be a huge prick when someone approached and had just asked him to politely calm down. Well, this guy had just pissed her off, and it seemed this guy only understood one thing, and she'd be glad to deliver in the nastiest way she possibly could.

"Oi, guy with the lipstick stain!" She taunted. "I suggest you apologize before you get hurt." Before either Sigur or Fi could react, she had already grabbed Fi by her handle and had swiftly pointed the end of the sword pokemons blade right at Sigur. "Wouldn't want an accident, now would we?" She gave him grin and a wink. When Fi realized what had happened, the pokemon first wondered how on earth could Abigail move that fast, then tried to free herself from Abigail's grasp. As much as the pokemon knew, it was about to be used as an actual weapon against someone....but Abigail wouldn't do that, right?

---

Kayden had just put up his book, and he was about to go see what trouble Abigail was about to cause, since that was about all she did when he wasn't accompanying her, when another boy approached him. He introduced himself as Shoto, and his Venipede as Crawler. It was a...unique name at least. Not the name Kayden would have given it, but at least he decided to nickname it. The boy, Shoto, inquired about the book he was reading then reached his hand out for a handshake, Kayden wasn't one for much...physical contact with others, so he simply placed his hands in his jacket pockets and gave Shoto a blank stare.

"Kayden." He replied to him. "That's Cobalt." He continued, the Beldum making a happy noise at the mention of its name. "Science book. Pokemon Biology, physiology. Evolution." He kept his answers short, as most other people would probably not be interested in an in-depth explanation.

"Ooh, C'est bien. Je suis de Lumoise!" Andre responded. "Of course, I live in Unova now, but I Lumoise will always be my home." After Cecily had introduced herself and her Togepi, Andre hadn't had a chance to reply, or comment about how cute the Togepi was, Abigail and her Honedge came running over to greet them. Before Andre had a chance to reply to Abigail, that boy with the diamond earrings approached him, and went on to insult him. Andre kept a cool expression on his face, even if he did cringe a little at how freely he threw around swear words. What good was yelling and screaming going to do? He saw this coming, some boys didn't react well to being kissed. He didn't understand why. It was just a display of affection, what could be wrong with that?

Before Andre had a chance to reply to this boy's insults, the boy who had chosen Larvitar did so first, and pretty much said what Andre was thinking before he had a chance to do so himself. Then he approached Andre, introduced himself, and offered his hand for a handshake. Of course, the boy with earrings interrupted before Andre had a chance to accept his gesture, or give his name. Andre frowned and crossed his arms. How rude can you be? Joshua responded by saying more things to him, that involved challenging the guy to battle, and then he backed out of the challenge immediately. Which was probably a good idea, considering how young these Pokémon were, a battle so soon probably would not be good for them.

Then, Abigail went ahead and threatened the guy with earrings with her Honedge. As if the threat of violence was going to make this situation any better. While the star loved all the attention he was getting, Andre wanted friends, not enemies. Threatening someone with a Pokémon wasn't going to accomplish anything good. Andre decided it was his turn to step in.

"Now now, there is no need for any of that." Andre finally replied. He put his Cleffa down, and stepped in between Abigail and her victim before things got ugly. "We are all friends here, Oui? There is no need to be threatening each other like that." Then he turned to Sigur. "As for you, there is nothing wrong with a kiss between friends between friends, mon ami." He finished with a smirk and a wink before he approached Joshua, took his hand, and shook it. "Bonjour! My name is Andre Bellamy. I am sure you have heard that name before, non? If you have not, well you will soon enough." He never let go of Joshua's hand the entire time he spoke.

As expected, leather-face did reply to his taunt, after all. Sigur almost grinned. Now that the whole smooching fiasco was kind of over with, he found himself almost enjoying this little battle of words they were having. Sure gave him something to do, and pulled his thoughts away from the embarrassment of earlier. That, and it almost made him forget there was still a pink blob holding onto his shin and rubbing itself against his jeans so hard he feared it'd cause a hole. Almost

Either way, the guy went ahead to call him a child - with what, there being like one year between the two? Two years? - and then proceeded to suggest a Pokémon battle. Oh yeah, like Ms. Bubblegum on his leg could do anything useful in a battle. It didn't even know how to stand on its own two fucking legs.

At the thought, Sigur gave his leg another hopeful flick. No use. Figured. Did it even have legs?

The guy continued, ending up backing away from the Pokémon battle as well, with the excuse that he'd use his loss as a means to try and change his Pokémon. Truth be told, Sigur hadn't even thought of that, but now that he heard it, he sure wish he had. Goddamnit. Too late now.

Or wait, was it? Maybe he could still change the other's mind. Well, it didn't hurt to try, at least. He just needed to not sound desperate, and that didn't sound too difficult a task. Alright, project Please Let Me Change My Fucking Critter to Something Less Embarrassing was a go.

So, with a cocky grin, Sigur crossed his arms and tilted his head.

"Yeah, sure, that's your reason," he taunted, tone mocking and the slightest bit amused. Inside, though, the man was pretty much screaming 'just fucking battle me already goddamnit don't make this so difficult'. "If you're so sure that the old prof'd say no again, why're you backing away from the fight anyway? Scared? Intimidated by this 'child' and his pink bra-filling of a Pokémon? Well aren't we got a champion in the making here."

He had barely had the time to finish when the loud shouting voice of some chick grabbed Sigur's attention rather violently. He turned his head, one hand on his ear and face in an annoyed scowl. Who the fuck shouted like that in a small room like this? And wait, what'd she called him again? ... The guy hadn't... really left a stain, had he?

As if by some morbid reflex, Sigur's fingers slid from his ear to feel his cheek. Just... in case.

"I suggest you apologize before you get hurt."

Oh? And exactly what was this girl, half a head shorter than him, going to hurt him wi-

HOLY SHIT A SWORD!

Sigur jumped back out of whatever reflex it was that commandeered the human brain in case of a 'threatened-by-a-fucking-cursed-sword-in-the-face' scenario, and almost choked on the multitude of words and gasps that tried to make their way out of his throat all at once.

Yeah, he had been threatened before, by fists, batons, Pokémon, cars, and he could faintly recall one incident where a guy he pissed off had swung around a two-by-four (so fucking with the guy building your house might not have been the smartest choice, sue him), but never before had he faced a goddamn sword. It was the exact same one he'd seen before and sworn to stay away from, too. He had called it again. That was it, fuck you and goodbye Pokémon training, hello Madam Sigur's Peek into the Future. Success in two months, give or take a few days. He'd become a sensation.

If he lived this.

"Hey, hey, whoa,," he began once he believed his voice was steady enough to hold his tone that of disbelief and, despite the situation, mockery. His hands were held on the level of his face, just between the Pokémon and himself, and he had just taken a long enough breath to be able to continue, when Prince Fabulous had ridden in to the rescue.

What he said basically amounted to 'let's not threaten each other when we can be friends and hold hands and ride into the sunset together instead'. Basically. With some creative freedom added. Sigur was just about to growl that he could be threatened by a fucking horde of axes and still wouldn't need help from a guy like him, when the dude turned to face him - way too close for comfort goddamnit - and, after assuring him a kiss between friends was no big deal, gave him a wink.

Sigur's eye twitched.

"Just... kill me now."

Suddenly remembering there was an actual sword and a girl probably crazy enough to grant his wish, he jumped a bit further away and then snapped a glare at her. "And in case your brain missed the train; that was a joke. You can stop manhandling the fucking sword now - you've enough time to abuse it and use it as a dildo and whatever else your little heart desires to once you start your oh-so-wonderful journey of animal - or object or whatever that thing is - abuse. Meanwhile, hold your fucking horses."

"Iggly, ig, lyyy-yh!" He suddenly heard from somewhere around his waist-level. Looking down, his 'starter' had climbed its way up to his stomach by now, and continued to very painstakingly climb up his shirt until it managed to get its puffy behind hoisted up on his shoulder. Once there, it turned to face the sword and the girl, starting to swing around its tiny arms, big eyes filled with tears as if asking the girl to stop bullying its trainer. Sigur brought a hand to his face.

First he got saved by a homo and then by a spoonful of dessert jelly.

Yeah, this was shaping out to be an awesome journey alright.

Abigail was like a storm, but Cecily was having fun trying to keep up. When Abigail had locked her in a sudden tight embrace, she was physically unable to reciprocate. The purple-haired girl's hold on her was so tight that she couldn't move a muscle. It wasn't long before Abigail released her, but immediately after she gripped her hand and shook it rather vigorously. She didn't even try reciprocating this time; she knew there would be no use. Still, the whole ordeal made her incredibly happy. No one back in Vaniville would even dare treat her so… normally. Everyone else sidestepped and tiptoed, so afraid to get close that she started wondering if they actually thought she would break into tiny pieces if they did.

The Togepi standing cross-armed beside her wasn't paying attention to her or Abigail at all. It seemed to be engrossed with the events unfolding behind him, where tensions were certainly rising. Cecily didn't notice what was happening with Andre until Abigail did. She wasn't sure what was happening, but it was easy to see that something had riled up the amusing boy with the poor, unwanted Igglybuff. He was spewing insults and heated tirades left and right, something about Romans and sexual harassment and asses. Cecily was yet again amused by his antics—she'd never seen someone in real life turn red out of anger before, and it made her wonder whether smoke would actually blow out from his ears—but Abigail didn't seem particularly happy with him.

Right beside her, she could see Abigail turning from super sweet and hyper to super mad and hyper. Cecily didn't have experience with these kinds of things, so her interest was only piqued. She watched, entirely too engaged, as things seemed to get more and more heated. How exciting! She wondered what usually followed. Would it be an all-out actual fist-to-fist brawl, every person and Pokémon for themselves? That's what happened in that book she recently read, where the main character was this hotheaded manly man, not unlike the Igglybuff trainer over there. Or would the bickering parties go in for a battle? She idly hummed the upbeat battle music that played in one of the TV shows she saw while hospitalized, excited to see how everything would turn out.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, eyes wide as she watched Abigail grab Fi and actually threaten Mr. Grumpyface. What a plot twist! She didn't expect things to escalate so quickly, and now it seemed that there was a chance blood would be shed. Oz the Dragonsbane was on the edge of his shell as it watched, clearly hoping for things to get worse. Is this what usually happened when you're not under 24/7 supervision? No wonder her family was always paranoid with her.

Andre, despite the one on the receiving end of Mr. Grumpyface's wrath, was one of the calmer ones in this whole ordeal. He brushed everything off with a smirk and a wink and continued being his happy, overly touchy self.

Now Cecily was confused and just a tiny bit disappointed. So was there a battle happening or not? Did Andre fix everything with his superstar powers? Things seemed to calm down a bit afterwards, but Mr. Grumpyface was still understandably wary about Abigail and Fi. He spewed even more profanity that made her laugh a bit in shock because it wasn't something she was used to hearing. Which was a good thing, of course, because hearing her grandparents say 'dildo' and using the f-word every three seconds would be a bit strange. Anyway, before things got even worse, Mr. Grumpyface's Igglybuff seemed to finally sense the danger in the situation and started hiking up its trainer's body until it came at eye-level with Abigail. Tears formed in its eyes in an adorable display of pleading that made Cecily go 'aww' and Oz the Dragonsbane to roll its eyes.

At this point, Cecily burst out in a fit of giggle. "Mr. Grumpyface, you're amazing," she said between breaths. It seemed a little rude to laugh at his misfortune, but everything happening to him was so unlucky it seemed like the world was conspiring just to piss him off. Not only was he protected by the person he originally blew up at, but even the adorable Pokémon he was so ready to throw away had more chances of protecting him than himself. "It's the first time I've met someone with such crappy luck!"

Looking down at the eevee- Serenity- Treize smiled. Then, hearing an excess of ranting and cursing, he turned around, frowning, and shook his head with a sigh. Despite many of the participants being years older than him, he couldn't help but feel that he was still more mature than all of them combined. They all seemed like they were absolutely and completely deranged, and they scared the heck out of him. Casey seemed to obviously think just what he did. Come on, these people were brandishing swords and yelling at ridiculous volumes. Well, only one had a sword, and the rest were actually speaking with fairly reasonable noise levels, but still.

Looking away, he checked his watch. He was really desperate to get out of close quarters with these people. Looking for something to catch his attention (not that there wasn't anything to do so, really), he saw some more civil conversations going on. He considered trying to join in, but that would've just been awkward. Instead, he tried identifying small details throughout the place. There was a... Really? A discoloured magnemite? Wow. That was rather unexpected. Next he identified the title of a book someone was reading, some science textbook that he recognised. It was actually pretty old, and contained some inaccurate information. It was still pretty reliable, though. He checked his watch again. Only a couple minutes had passed. Naturally. He was bored, and things were taking forever. Why the heck did life have to do that? Sighing, he pulled out a book of his own about music theory. The truth was, he had no patience for it. He just played the notes of the dang page. Why did it matter what made it sound good? Thumbing through the pages to where he was, he sat cross legged on the floor, reading his book.

"Andrew."

Willow turned around to see Herschel hauling in a box of neatly packed red devices. The scientist set it on the table with a loud sigh. Willow clasped his hands together, a big grin on his face. "Wonderful!" He said to Herschel. He turned around as ruckus arose and his eyes widened as he saw the girl who picked the Honedge pointing it at the boy who picked the Igglybuff. "Whoa! Whoa!" Willow said without raising his voice. He grabbed one of the red devices out of the box and flicked a switch on it. He pointed it at the Honedge and pressed a large blue button. A laser-thin red light shot out of the device and landed on the Honedge.

"Let go of your Honedge, you're scaring it." Willow said. He then turned up the volume knob on the device and a deep male voice spoke from it.

"Honedge, the sword Pokemon.
It is said that Honedge are born when a spirit inhabits a sword. If anyone dares to grab its hilt, it'll wrap a blue cloth around the person's arm and drain their life energy."

"If you were anyone but her trainer, you could very well be dead." Willow said a little too calmly. "Since this Pokedex has your pokemon's data on it, I'm giving it to you, the rest of you can get one from the box. Once everyone has collected one, I will explain the features of the Pokedex." He then handed the pokedex he had used to Abigail, and then stepped back as he watched everyone get their own Pokedex.

Amelia had been sitting on the bench and working on her sketch for several minutes now, waiting for the other to-be trainers to come out so that she could go him and talk to the Professor, hopefully alone. She didn't know why but she couldn't stand crowds of people. Pokémon didn't bother her but other people did. However she had gotten so absorbed into her work that she didn't notice one of the trainers come out and release her pokémon. She didn't notice the pokémon either until a shadow blocked out the sun. She loked behind her and spotted what could only be described as a rather large but cute loking serpent. Amelia's reaction was classic: she screamed and tried to move away too quickly, which resulted in her falling onto the ground, she sketchpad a short distance from her. She let out a groan as she stod up, her face red with embarrassment.

Mariana was shocked at Lancelot's blatant display of indifference towards her. There she was, greeting him as professionally as one could greet a pet, and he had the nerve, the gall to ignore her in favor of some lowborn kid with a sketchbook. Her neutral, opaque expression concealed the whirlwind of negativity within, with the exception of a subtle twitch in her permanent half-grin. Calming herself down, she walked briskly to the Dratini, intending to initiate introductions again. Perhaps Lancelot just made an honest mistake, she thought. Perhaps he just doesn't yet know the proper etiqu–

A loud noise from the bench cut that thought short. Mariana had arrived just in time to see the child's own, clumsy reaction to Lancelot, beginning with a scream and ending with a fall onto the ground. She rose back up slowly, blushing from the indignity.

It was... kind of adorable, actually.

Without much thought, Mariana picked up the sketchbook, which had fallen along with the child, and handed it back to her. Then thinking it through, Mariana added (omitting as much negative emotion from her voice as she possibly could), “Lancelot seems to like you.”

Amelia's attention had been entirely on the Dratini infront of her that she failed to ntotice the pokémon's trainer as she approached. This in turn made her jump when Mariana did adress her while handing back the skatchpad she had dropped.
"Uuummm... Thank you." she said quietly as she took back the sketchpad and closed it, hoping the stranger hadn't seen any of her work. Her gaze quickly fell to the ground as she tried to think of what to say, since she had no real experience talking to people she didn't know. She quickly glanced over at the Dratini before speaking again" Is that... your pokémon?"

The lowborn girl was clearly uncomfortable with socializing, a trait Mariana couldn't help but find endearingly infuriating, mostly because it reminded her of herself at the same age. By then she'd known that life is the competition that it is, but didn't know yet how to compete. Most likely it was the same for the girl.

The girl asked, "Is that... your Pokemon?"

"Not quite yet," Mariana replied, after a moment of thought. "See, I only just got him today. From Professor Willow, just inside that building."

Mariana was about to ask if the girl knew anything about that. But that's when she realized - this girl was the one following the group before. Of course she knew about it, she was a participant! So, again without thinking, Mariana let out the question, "So, what Pokemon did you choose?"

"I... haven't." Amelia said, her face becoming redder"'m no good around people. Never really talked to anyone."

Looking over at the Dratini again, she slowly approached it and held out her right hand, stopping just short of the dragon-type pokémon's mouth, waiting for its reaction before going on to either pet it or back away.

Lancelot, staring directly at Mariana while doing so, nestled his forehead against the hand toward him. It was almost as if the Dratini were specifically aiming to stir jealousy in his owner's heart. If he is, he needs to work on his subtlety, Mariana thought, half jokingly.

It had a very different effect on her; watching the girl and Lancelot and how their interactions, she was no longer truly disgusted by the idea of traveling with them. She was still incredibly reluctant about it, but not to the extent she'd have been with others. So that settles it, then. I'm traveling with her!

The only downside to was the belated start they'd face, the girl being too afraid to brave a room full of people. Mariana understood the feeling, as she hated all of them too, but this was nevertheless going to hamper her efforts to become a gym leader. She had to do something.

It was a moment before Mariana spoke. "Well, if you like, I could go inside and get a Pokemon and Pokedex for you. I'm sure I can persuade Professor Willow to let me bring them to you." She paused before noticing she still didn't know one vital piece of info. "So what's your name, miss?"

"Huh?... Oh Amelia. Amelia Alison Aver..." Amelia said, stoping herself short of saying her full name. She remembered being warned may or may not make people treat her different if they knew who her parents where. And everyone was likely to know her mother if they watched pokémon contest, as she was a famous coordinator." And you don't have to... I'll go inside later."

Amelia Alison Aver, was it? What an unusual last name, Mariana thought. Well, this name was all Mariana would need to persuade that emoticon of a professor to give her access to the other starters. She began to rise from the bench and-

"And you don't have to... I'll go inside later," Amelia said.

What...? Seriously? Did this child have no pride? She would rather let a crowd of imbeciles take their sweet time inside than accept someone's offer of going inside in her place, asking for nothing in return. Why? What, did she not want to trouble others?

Amelia's words were upsetting to Mariana, similarly to how in Chess an amateur's horrible, game-losing move would be upsetting to a passionate expert.

"No... no, you won't." Facing the ground, Mariana spoke in a quieter, heavier tone. The tone was used by many, but it was below the strictly-neutral voice range that Mariana used at all times. Her hands became fists, and her breathing hastened.

Then she realized what was happening. She hurriedly turned away from Amelia, took a breath and let her expressions subside. What exactly was she getting all worked up over, anyways?

As the lukewarm mask of neutrality settled onto her face again, she turned back to Amelia. "I insist, Ms Aver. They could take hours to get done in there! Just tell me which Pokemon you want."

"I... you don't... I don't know." Amelia said, looking at the ground" I'm not is a rush so... I can wait and they can take their time."

So that was it? Amelia was to just give up without a fight. She didn't even want someone to get her Pokemon for her.

Well, fine then. Perhaps Mariana could become a gym leader despite this humiliating setback. She hated the idea of just letting those fools take their sweet time, but it was vital so that this fool could be appeased. Or, you know what...

Mariana sat back on the bench, seemingly in resignation. "Out of curiosity," she sighed, "what kind of Pokemon would you want as your starter?"

"I... I don't know anything about Pokémon." Amelia admitted, her face growing a bit red" But maybe... something cute and that I can feel safe around."

... Well, that answer was unhelpful, as cute as it was.

Maybe I should just give up on the whole prospect of leaving early, Mariana thought. It wasn't the prospect of leaving late that really bothered her, but rather the prospect of leaving later than others, so she forced her mind to forget that last part. She was just leaving later than usual, not later than others.

Suddenly something occurred to Mariana. She hadn't even introduced herself!

"I'm sorry, Miss Aver, I don't believe I've introduced myself. My name is Mariana Silva Camilo Coelho."

"Please don't call me that. My first name is fine." Amelia said before Mariana introduced herself. Amelia recognized the last name: Coelho.She knew immediately that this meant Mariana was as rich, if not richer, then her." So you're an heiress?... Why are you here?"

Oh? This child was well educated in regards to those above her, a trait rarely found among the lower class. Mariana felt ambivalent about this: on one hand, at least one person was suspicious of her presence on the island; on the other hand, she didn't have to inform the child of the wonders of Unicim anymore. Although she was a little disappointed about that.

"Well, Miss Av- I mean, Amelia," Mariana corrected herself. She decided to tell Amelia her parents' reason, instead of her own. "Both of my parents went on Pokemon journeys before they took over their corporations. They think this'll teach me how to lead."

"That's their reason but you wouldn't see it through unless you had a reason of your own." Amelia said. She was finding it easier to talk to Marianna as the conversation went on and a small smile slowly formed in her face" So why are you seeing this through. Surely you have your own reasons."

She sees right through me! thought Mariana. She had to think hard about her response. Should she be completely honest? No, of course not. Should she tell a complete lie? Almost certainly... but the idea of lying to this child just felt cowardly.

So Mariana chose the universal answer to such dilemmas: vagueness. "Well, Amelia... there is something on this island that I need to acquire."

"What would that be?" Amelia asked curiously

"I, uh..." I suppose cryptic messages only work when they don't ask for more details, Mariana thought.

Would she really have to lie to this girl's face? No... She was going to have to tell the truth. Just... presenting herself in the best possible light.

"Well then, Amelia... Can you keep a secret?"

"I think I can. But, uh... what is a secret? Ive never had one before." Amelia said, being completely honest.

Mariana blinked. Is... is she serious? she thought. The concept of secrecy was so ingrained into her mind that not knowing the meaning of the word was inconceivable to her. If it was a joke, though, it wasn't too funny.

Maybe Amelia was just unfamiliar with this language's vocabulary? Yeah, that had to be it. This Willow-sponsored journey was international, after all.

"Well, Amelia, a secret," Mariana described, slowing down at the word in question, "is something someone tells you, that you don't tell anyone else. If I tell you why I've come to this island, you don't mention it to anyone else, and especially not Professor Willow. Do you understand?"

"Oh... I think I can" Amelia said, looking uncertain. She wasn't sure why Marianna didn't want people to know whatever it was she was hiding but she had to have a good reason... right?" If you don't want to tell you don't have to."

Well, it would've been nice of her to say so sooner, considering how suspicious the line "especially not Professor Willow" was. And Mariana had all that momentum built up for it, too. "Well, Amelia, all you need to know is that I've come to free the people of this region from a tyrant."

Well, a corporate monopoly is a tyranny, kind of... and by breaking that corporation apart, I am freeing these people, kind of... Bleh. Even Mariana was sickened by how much she was sugarcoating it.

Before the girl could question for more details, Mariana quickly asked back, "And you? Why have you come to this island?"

"I came to get away from my family." Amelia said.

"To... get away from your family?" It wasn't an alien concept to Mariana. She was aware that, among commoner children, family wasn't nearly as important as it should've been. But it still seemed bizarre to her, especially upon meeting a live example of it - so bizarre that she couldn't help but ask "Why?"

Amelia thought about it before answering.
"Its hard to explain." She said slowly" I can't really think of how to... phrase it I guess. Maybe I can give you an answer later?"

"Alright. You'll tell me why you wanted to get away from your family later, and I in turn will tell you more about my own goals on this island. And we'll keep them secret from everyone else. Er, if you want your story to be kept secret, I mean," Mariana concluded.

And speaking of things they could do longterm with each other. "Say, would you mind me traveling with you?"

"It doesn't matter who knows. Its nothing... uh... big... important... I don't know." Amelia said before a surprised look crossed her face when Marianna asked if Amelia would mind traveling with her." Why would you want me to join you? I'm no one special and I might slow you down."

Because you're adorab-SHUT UP!! Mariana (mentally) shouted furiously into her own, treasonous mind. Seriously, what was going on? She had just asked Amelia that question without even going over it! And to be honest she didn't yet know the answer either. This wasn't like her.

Without even think about it for all that long, Amelia had already given Mariana two great reasons not to travel with her. And yet Mariana's traitorous brain didn't buy it. Well, the most accurate answer would be to say that I don't feel as personally insulted to have to stand near her as I do near others, but I don't think she'd appreciate that answer much. Another accurate response would be to say "That's the point! If I do this Pokemon journey with you weighing me down, everyone respects me more!", but once again...

Though they reflected her thoughts quite well, neither answer reflected her emotions at all. If she were to be absolutely honest to herself, without anybody else listening in on her, she would say that she found the child ador... adoruh... adoraaaaAMUSING! She found the child AMUSING. There. Close enough! Somehow, she didn't think that would cut it, either.

She subtly began glancing around for an excuse, any excuse. The sketchbook Amelia is currently holding? No, by the way she holds it, she doesn't seem to be comfortable with others seeing it. Lancelot, currently hugging Amelia while staring fixedly at Mariana? That might work, and would teach Lancelot a lesson about subtlety, but it's honestly a little flimsy. Professor Willow through the window, giving a swordswoman a Pokedex? No, that wouldn't- wait, a... Pokedex? ...crap, I have to hurry!

She decided the excuse involving Lancelot was good enough, and cleared her throat. "Well, Amelia, Lancelot there seems to like you, which is good enough for me." She then pretended to just notice what she had just noticed a few seconds earlier. "Oh, it seems Professor Willow is handing out Pokedexes now," she said as she rose from the bench.

Ugh, that all sounded a little forced, she thought to herself.

In an effort to make this sudden end to the conversation more natural-sounding, she added, "You... want me to get you one?"

"I guess he does doesn't he?" Amelia said, petting Lancelot on the head again. She had mixed feelings about traveling with Marianna. On one hand she wouldn't mind traveling alone, at her own pace. On the other traveling with another person might be fun. She snapped out of her thoughts then Marianna brought up the Professor handing out pokédexes. The older girl asked if Amelia would want one fetched for her. Amelia shook her head in response" No thank you. I'll get one when I go to get my Pokémon"

She didn't seem to refuse the offer of travel companionship - at the very least, she hadn't explicitly refused it, which was good enough for Mariana.

Mariana wouldn't normally have accepted something so uncertain, but at that point anything would've been good enough for Mariana. She was feeling the strangest compulsion to go back inside... or more accurately, to get away from Amelia. This girl was dangerous, tugging on Mariana's heartstrings like a puppeteer, and all of her instincts were finally in accordance: Get the hell away from her!

Getting a Pokedex was merely a convenient excuse she had latched onto, and was clinging onto for dear life. In fact, she was kind of glad Amelia declined her offer, as now she had no reason to leave the building until the beginning of the journey.

"Well, then, Amelia," Mariana said, now standing. She turned to Amelia and bowed, making sure not to lay eyes on the adorAMUSING little girl, lest she falter in her escape. "This was a pleasant conversation we had." At least for you. "Thank you for your time." Now I've learned a fatal weakness of mine... "I look forward to traveling with you on this journ-" ...

She stood there, facing the ground in mid-bow, in silent realization.

Wordlessly, she turned around and walked into Professor Willow's lab.

"Aww, Andre you big meanie pants!" Abigial pouted, as Fi freed itself from Abigails hands. "You ruined it! I wasn't actually gonna hurt the guy! Well, probably." She gave a huff of annoyance directed at Andre. Sigur was being a meanie pants, since talking hadn't worked, obviously the only way to make him behave was to do something a little more drastic, right? "Did you just want him to continue to be a meanie pants or something? I shut him up! Kinda."

Fi, like Abigail, was not happy. Not in the slightest. Really not happy. Unfortunately for Abigail, it was at her, not Sigur. It finally managed to free itself from Abigails grasp, wrapping its cloth hand around its hilt as it did so. Once, was okay. It was understandable for a new trainer. Twice, in the same day, was unacceptable. And to wield it like it was a common sword! That display earlier she had allowed because it was harmless. Fi, decided it was time to show its annoyance. Unfortunately, before the pokemon could act upon her annoyance, the Professor walked up and explained that Abigail was 'scaring' her, and gave her a pokedex in the process. The Honedge gave the professor a blank stare. It wasn't scared, it was annoyed and it felt like slapping its trainer across the head with the broad edge of its blade. And he just ruined her chances of doing that. So instead, it resigned itself to giving both Willow and Abigail a glare.

"Oooh, a pokedex!" Abigail eagerly took on from the Professor, her annoyance at Andre seeming to evaporate in seconds. She had never seen one before, and to be perfectly honest, she wasn't really interested in documenting pokemon on one. That was more than a little...boring to her, but she didn't see why she couldn't take one anyways.

Way to much happened way to fast. Andre introduced himself, the irate man attempted to provoke him into a battle only to have a sword shoved into his face. It was rather amusing to see his face to from cocky to shitting himself. Still he hoped the girl didn't do something stupid. Luckily her attention span was one of the shortest he'd ever known and the Professor distracted her rather easily with a pokédex. Right then first thing first.

"Excuse me." He said to Andre before extracting his hand from the Kalosian's grip. He walked over to the box of pokédexes and grabbed one to call his own. He didn't really care for having a new one but having it wouldn't hurt. He then turned to Sigur, who red red in the face. Whether it was from anger or embarrassment he didn't know. Nor did he care for that matter. Still the man had other concerns so responding to the taunts issued earlier was a waste of time. Instead he turned to the Professor.
"Hey Professor. You have any suggestions on where to go from here? Also what are we going to do in place of gym battles. I heard there aren't any gyms here so I assume you have something to replace them." He said" Care to enlighten us a bit?"

Andre chuckled. "Ma Cherie, being mean to a person is not going to do any good. In fact, it will only make things worse. Being nice to them is so much better!" Andre replied as he went to claim his pokedex from the box on the table. He looked at it for a quick second, then lost interest, and put it away in his bag. "Besides, why would you want to make enemies, when you can make friends? J’ai raison, non?" He picked up his Cleffa off the floor and sat her down on his shoulder. Now that he had everything, he was ready to leave. The only question was, where did he go from here? As Joshua had pointed out to the professor, there were no Gyms in this town. Usually, the nest destination was to the first town with a Gym in it. At least, that's how it was in the movies. The lack of Gyms wasn't that big of an issue for Andre. Just being out and about was fine for him. After all, there were still friends to be made, and adventure to be had. "Oh monsieur, who needs Gym battles? We are here in a new country. The journey is enough of an adventure for me."

Before he could figure where to go next, he needed someone to go with. There was no way he was going to travel an unfamiliar region alone. How boring would that be?! Thankfully, he had a few new friends that he was certain would be happy to make the journey with him. "Speaking of adventure." The Star began as he put his arms around Abigail and Sigur's shoulders, and pulled them both close. He would have included Cecily too, but he only had two arms, and they were the closest. "How about the four of us travel together? Ce serait génial! It would be just like that movie I was in once. The one about the four friends that traveled together, training their Pokémon."

Meanwhile, Jolie the Cleffa jumped on top of his head, smiled, and struck a pose. "Cleffa!" Much like her trainer, she enjoyed getting attention.