-Yuu Nozomu : Route 29-

As the boy questioned the others perspective, the boy in black made an immediate response to Yuu. It was a rather crude and selfish answer from Yuus perspective as he eyed Sylvie trotting along, chirping happily as she responded to the environment. Displeased with the boy response, Yuu hid it as he watched Sylvie run ahead and play with the environment encompassing them, frowning slightly as the boy went on to introduce himself.

...

Procuring the boys name, Yuu committed his name to memory. Lifting his head up and plastering a fake smile on an indiscriminate bravado. Lifting his hand to his head, stopping momentarily before returning his hand to his former position. Instead, he jerked his head to the side, causing the hair obscuring his eye move to the side. "... I need to get a clip for my hair some time," Yuu thought as he began to utter his standpoint against Nate's, which was to arguably keep his pokemon from having a choice in the matter.

"Yup, that is true... always for us to decide and never them," Yuu said in a morose tone while chuckling a bit. Yuu figured that there was some sort of disillusion here between the two types of partners - pokemon and human. Yuu took his gaze off the boy for a few seconds as he looked at Sylvie playing with a flower before chomping on it gleefully. As he watched, he continued to speak, stating his view as he returned his focus on the older, albeit shorter guy.

"Pokemon do have their own needs too... but, I guess that's honestly up to you what you wanna do with the little guy." Yuu rubbed the back of his neck as he kept a close eye on Sylvie, who was chirping with joy as she sped up the pace to meet with Cerise and the cute green ball on her shoulder. As she tried to get its attention, Yuu warranted a smile to the impending situation of introducing himself to the other boy.

"Anyways, my name is Yuu Nozomu, it's a pleasure to meet you Nate!" Yuu exclaimed to the boy as he kept moving forward to keep up with the pace the group was going at. As the small Eevee moved about, it observed just as her partner did with the environment encompassing them. Yuu found it to be a beautiful day outside, even with the... eerie silence, aside from the occasional pokemon in their group growling with delight. While taking in the sights, Yuus gaze lingered on a few suspicious items. He understood that they wern't susceptible to the elements and the dangers around. This was an arduous task they were undertaking and he had to make sure there was no screwing around. One small slip could ensure a calamity.

Even with the pressure as he slowly trudged along the boy, he sighed with relief. "It's a beautiful day outside... the birds would be chirping, the bugs would be singing. On days like this, kids could really enjoy playing a game of catch with a friend or pokemon." Yuus smile was wrought with displeased sorrow as he reminisced on the past. In times like this, he recalled seeing himself play with other children, with his moms Gardevoir joining in the fun, along with an occasional wild pokemon.

...

Those days were dead.

Despite it all, Yuu immediately pulled himself out of the drag, before eyeing the members of the group and with each person observing the environment... except for one little red-headed chick. He found himself bemused that she was glaring at him in a benign way. Yuu found no maliciousness within her mischievous eyes, but he was still skeptical about her, especially after that little... incident. After all, she had the privileged princess air about her after she argued with the little bird pokemon within the lab... before trying to mask her true self.

Yuu saw through it fairly easily as at this point due to the inconsistencies in her actions. Either way, he felt that Abigail and her were two peas in a frozen pod with the way they corresponded to each other. Yuu smiled brightly at the girl before narrowing his eyes down to a squint as he made eye contact with her. In the moment he did a quick wink to the girl as his smile faltered before returning his gaze forward.

She really needed to get the message.

Despite all this, maybe there was more to them than Yuu thought? He did ponder on it, and found that they were actually on good terms with each other just from the way they spoke to each other, how they moved their body when addressing each other, etc. "You two seem to have sort of an attitude problem... maybe you two aren't as bad as I perceive it since you two are friends with each other and treat each other as humans... Maybe I could try to talk with them later on?"

Yuu shrugged as he let the ideas rest on his shoulders. As he continued to walk, he eyed one of the... lonelier ladies of the group. Yuu came to the conclusion of never interacting with the chick before, well, other than a simple, well adorned smile. While Yuu figured the gesture was welcoming, it did not warrant much speaking from his perspective. "Well, it was nice talking with ya Nate, but I'm going to interact with a few others, so talk to you later," Yuu said as he slowed down his pace, smiling to the boy as he fell back. Sylvie took note of this distinct change and dashed passed the boy, giving him a hearty "Vee!" as she dashed to her trainers side. As she did so, she pounced onto her trainers face, which put him a few feet behind the blonde girl and her Cyndaquil.

Yuu reacted to this in a surprised manner, but grasped the Eevee and held her for a bit as she giggled mischievously. She did find his arms comfy and scrambled to rest within the two hammocks in a position she would enjoy. As Sylvie squirmed around, Yuu picked up his pace to meet up with the girl, the ground thumping as he swiftly walked forward, eventually matching her pace. The boy shot the girl a charming smile before speaking to her.

"I don't think we ever got around to properly introducing ourselves cutie... I need to work on forming better complements..." Yuu rubbed the back of his neck, feel the whole predicament had a new format which weighed him down. This chick was cute, and so were the others, but that did not mean he liked them in that sort of manner as they just recently met. Just as he returned his arm to his side, Yuu returned to addressing the blonde beauty and finishing up what he wished to say earlier.

"Aside from my less than desirable attempts at being nice, my n-" Yuu failed in completing his talk, before Abigail gave an announcement to everyone that this appeared to be a good place to stop. The group could do better, however, everyone was speaking with their stomachs and even Cerise piped in to tell her she was thinking on the basis of hunger rather than logic.

Regardless, it was getting late and they had to consider their options at this point. Yuu tapped his chin for a few seconds in a familiar, rhythmic pattern before coming to a conclusion that it was safer just to set-up camp in the vicinity. "Even though she is thinking more or less with her stomach, she does raise valid points with dusk being upon us. I prefer for us not having to deal with an incessant group of pokemon."

Yuu placed his Eevee down on the ground for romped for a bit before crying out to be let back into Yuus arms. The boy lip synced a sorry to the small creature as she pouted be for kneeling down and whispering something to her. The Eevee was rather sad, but smiled with a weakly spoken "Vee...~" Continuing on with his contribution to the group, Yuu deposited his backpack onto the ground, and began procuring things from his bag to show support.

"I can easily feed our pokemon as I brought food our pokemon can eat," Yuu spoke as he removed the packaged food which looked organized by hand rather than store bought. "I do have a couple of sandwiches which we can share, but I don't think four sets will sustain us for the night..." The boy also removed the parts to a tent which he some how manged to fit in his bag with the rest of his stuff. The Eevee appeared rather surprised at this feat, and pawed at his bag as if it was some magical entirety.

"I wouldn't mind lending you guys a tent for now if some of you did not bring one, but be forewarned as it can only fit three people..." Yuu honestly decided that it was a bad idea to lay out his items and dusted the materials off, making them almost devoid of dirt. "Regardless, I recommend splitting up into a few groups to complete a few tasks, like collecting sticks to start a fire so we have grilled food or having someone pitch the tents... I don't know what you guys will do, but I'll opt for patrolling the area so we aren't interrupted by a pokemon, and procure fire wood. If anyone wants to help, that's fair game for me as an extra set of hands won't hurt. Come on Sylvie, we have work to do."

The Eevee chirped gleefully as it slowly walked forward with a bounce in her step. The trainer followed after the small pokemon, but not before requesting something from Sophie as he stopped in his tracks to chat with her before perform in his assigned job. "Er, sorry that I have to ask this of your Cyndaquil as he looks to be enjoying his sleep... could you wake him or her up to help start a fire once we have enough things to burn for the night? You don't need to answer now, besides... I need to keep track of Sylvie."

As Yuu finished his little speech, he dashed after his Eevee who wandered far from him, and into the wilderness about the dynamic duo went, but not before Yuu shouted one last thing to the group.

"We'll all introduce ourselves to each other once we are set up, ok?!"

...

It may have been suicidal, but damn him if he did not have the guts to keep the people he was traversing with safe. As the boy walked alongside his pokemon with his backpack on him, the duo retrieved any stick that had the possibility of being used in a fire, especially the drier looking ones. Yuu whistled a tune as the duo continued on with their task, the Eevee pouncing on tufts of grass and munching on the occasional half-eaten berry. Yuu wished to quench his hunger too, and made sure not to stray too far from the camp.

As Sylvie continued to help her friend gathered sticks, she stumbled across a rather large rock. Just the way it felt, there was something different about this one than the one she stood on when walking on the path to that place the eccentric man in white said. Glaring at it, it began responding to it in a more nervous, confident matter. "Vee, eee, eevee! Vee, vee, eee, vee eee!"

As the man continued to gather sticks, he heard the ongoing cries of his friend. As strange as it was, she stopped completely to cry at a rock. Trudging over, Yuu eyed the small, craggy rock with utmost suspicion before responding to the Eevee. "Er, are you ok Sylvie," Yuu quizzed, worried about her frantic condition. "This just looks like a-"

"Dude!"

Yup, definitely not a rock, but a "Geodude!" The rock lunged forward at Yuu, who managed to almost evade it's tackle with a pivot, the latter scrapping a bit by his arm. The Geodude toppled onto the ground before rolling, staring furiously at the duo. The Eevee rushed forward and took a defensive stance in front of her friend, furrowing her eyebrows as she frowned. Feeling partially backed into a corner, Yuu had no choice but to fight the Geodude who had a rocky exterior but a fiery heart.

"We are getting a bit side tracked, but we can use this time to prepare for the bigger mission! Sylvie, lets start this whole spar off with a sand attack!" Sylvie obeyed, running forward, be for pivoting and kicking dynamically small objects into the Geodude eyes, blinding them. As their opponent ran into the cloud of dirt, she retaliated with a tackle which resulted from a harmed cry emanating from the Eevee. Yuu cringed before requesting for the same thing, except that she was to dash around and keep moving while blind in him. Though unfamiliar, she gladly obliged as she could use this time to learn how to battle.

The Eevee, not knowing what to do, performed a basic sand attack in the way of the Geodude. However, unlike the last, she managed to escape unscathed due to the attempted tackled. Yuu knew this was going to take some time to keep this up, but with a stretch of his imagination, he gained a new idea to tip the scales. "Sylvie, watch this!" The small pokemon became distracted by her partner who demonstrated what he wanted her to do while running around in a miniature circle whilst kicking up a dust storm. Taking this time to made sure her hit landed, the wild Geodude crashed into the Eevee, harming her yet again.

As she was launched forward a few inches, rolling on the ground, Sylvie dusted herself off, the trainer and pokemon looking piqued from that surprise attack. Taking into account what she saw, Yuu gave her the same command in an attempt to assist her in learning. "Alright, you got the memo on what I did! Do a sand attack the way I was doing it!" Sylvie, gave a confident cry before dashing into the fray and performing a sand attack while running around the enemy. This disoriented the Geodude who gave a frustrated cry before randomly tackling into the storm of dirt... and completely missing the Eevee who was adjacent to her.

"Awesome job out there Sylvie! That Geodude won't see anything coming next!" The Eevee, despite being a bit beaten, turned her head and expressed her joy while smiling, "Vee, veee!~" Sure, they were fighting for their lives to an extent, but this was also bonding between two friends. However, one friend got a face full of rocks as the Geodude launched themselves into the Eevee, completely relying on sound to guide her. Their trance broken yet again, Yuu commanded the Eevee to retaliate against their impudence through a tackle, despite knowing it wouldn't do much other than further confuse the Geodude. Sylvie obeyed, slamming into the rock before landing on the side a few feet away from her.

Preparing a new stratagem, Yuu began pondering on the attacks she could know currently before recalling that the fox-like pokemon knew growl and tail whip. It wasn't difficult to perform it, however this pokemon was desperately relying on sound, so not only Sylvie would need to be careful, but himself too. "Alright Sylvie, I have a new plan for you," Yuu shouted as he kept his pace up as the Geodude launched herself at his former position. "Try getting it's attention by using tail whip and growl as it should decrease the chance they want to fight. Also, if they're coming your way, I'll try to notify you so you can avert any harm, ok?"

"Vee," she responded, determined to live up to what Yuu asked of her. Making the most adorable sounds ever, the Eevee growled at the Geodude to not only frighten it, but decrease its fighting spirit. The rock turned before moving towards the sound before noticing there was something moving behind the thing. Regardless of what happened, she continued going at it until the Geodude launched herself. Yuu gave the warning and neither of them made contact with each other.

""Alright, tackle the Geodude, then rinse and repeat!" The strategy was going well with a hit and run tactic by Yuu which was crudely (but successfully) performed by Eevee who kept her length away from the pokemon while chipping away at its liveliness. Things were going well for the duo, and they had a shot of either falling or catching the Geodude at this rate!...

... until the Geodude got a well placed shot at Sylvie.

Yuus partner had a difficult time keeping up after that blow and looked rather winded despite the fact that the Geodude was sufficiently hurt, but not to the point of defeat. Before continuing on with the strategy, Yuu requested her to pull off another growl and tail whip combo to weaken her opponent. Sylvie found it to feel weird for her, but at this point she needed to recover. She disobeyed Yuu much to his surprise to stand and... meditate for a bit? In a few seconds, Yuu swore he saw a spark come out from her before watching the Geodude hit the Eevee again, with another weakened "Veeee..."

As Yuu pushed his partner to the edge, he felt bad inside for going a bit far with her. The boy decided to pay homage to her by taking on the Geodude himself while she rested and recuperated from her wounds with a little manufactured store bought medicine. "You did pretty well Sylvie; sorry for pushing you to your limits, but now it's time for me to help you," Yuu exclaimed as he held firmly onto a pokeball he intended to use in slowing down the Geodude. Knowing the aggressive nature of pokemon, and the fact that their opponent was not weak enough to be caught or defeated, he opted for sacrificing one singular pokeball so that Sylvia might make it out from the fight.

With all his might, Yuu launched the ball directly at the rock as it began turning around to respond to the voice... before a bright red light encompassed the Geodude, temporarily ensnaring her. Using this time to his advantage, Yuu swiftly moved to his injured pokemon, his backpack in tow.

This was serious business, and he did not want to see her pained more than she already was...

★Ciel Duperie : Cherrygrove City☆

The Kalosian boy had recently traversed to such a forlorn and underdeveloped region, finding it's residents... nice. There was the interest of their quaint little huts which served the mongrels with some aesthetic due to its rustic charm, if it could be called that. Adjusting his gloves as his Zorua proudly puffed its chest out, pridefully strutting around as if it owned the place. His Rose was more prone to taking in whatever sights these meager people could create.

Ciel pitied these unlucky fools for having inferior technology as well as inferior minds which were most likely susceptible to superior tricks of the mind... but he would not need any of that, no? Ciel chuckled as he brushed his hair devilishly away from his face. It was far to rare to spy an actual human around here as he saw some people that looks like humans lumbering about, but was sure they were stupider, subhumans he spotted. "I guess these towns have been overrun by unsophisticated creatures of a lower standing... figures with the design of this place which heralds no pleasing aesthetics, period."

Ciel muttered to himself as he spied a few girls out and about at this time of night. Acting like a heroic bastard, Ciel put a smug act up and started speaking with the girls, garnering their attention. The momentum continued on as they ooo'd and aaah'd at such frivolous achievements only a perfectly bred stallion as he could achieve. As he continued to play these Mankeys, Ciel gave them the option of escorting them home as they would not want to run into anyone willing to take advantage of such pure souls.

With his honeyed words, he found his way into not only their hearts with his wits as they remained close to the boy, careful not to breathe on him as if he was a delicate ornament which could break any second. As he played each girl for fun and a fool, Ciel returned these things to their place of dwelling. The last one offered him a stay at her place as her parents were not home. Ciel politely declined as he said his condolences and good byes, but not before walking up to the girl and whispering something into her ears.

Whatever he said, she almost swooned at the notion as she waved good bye to not only Ciel, but his pokemon all while sporting exasperated and embarrassed smile. As the boy began leaving the area with his award winning smile, he giggled to himself. The giggling began escalating until it was full blown laughter howling out. Whay chance did that plebian really think she had a shot with him? Such a foul and unsanitary thing could be performed with an ill-suited slut who was all too easy.

Besides, he had his eyes on someone else. A beautiful, luscious lady who was infallible in what she did. Her soft, sweet smelling red hair, her soft, delicate hands. Her piercing beautiful eyes and smile. Only one had his heart... the one he wanted saving himself for.

"Ah, Mademoiselle Cerise, how I long to be with you and stroke your soft, silky hair..."

The boy uttered to himself, his undying obsession that he had with Kalos' biggest hit in the fashion industry. Never before was he enamoured by such a stunning beauty that he would depart from home and chase his loved one to a region filled to the brim with barbarians who were just desperate for a man like him... too bad that man was reserved for one lucky soul...

That poor, poor, lucky soul...

The boys iris shrunk as he spoke, revealing hidden depths to the boys madness as he spoke his mantra - "No one will take her from me... she is mine and always will be mine... mine, mine, mine... that purple haired whore can live for now, but soon I'll dye her hair a nice shade of crimson, oh it will look so pretty..."

His insanity was ignored by his two pokemon as they were living a luxurious life. Why would they need to be so worried about having a borderline psychopath as their master? The two proudly kept walking as their masters arms began shaking a bit. It was barely noticeable to a close passerby, but considering no one else was around... he would be fine in letting a bit of madness escape his grasp. No one would know his true devotion to the wonderful Cerise.

" N o t h i n g w i l l g e t b e t w e e n u s a g a i n . I ' l l d r i v e a w e d g e b e t w e e n A b i a n d C e r i s e . . . a n d t h e n I ' l l d r i v e o n e i n t o h e r s k u l l . ~ "

... and by devotion, I meant an unhealthy interest which bordered on murdering any on who dared mention loving her, who dared breathing on her. Ciel would tear the whole world asunder if it meant getting to his love and would go as far as to kill his parents in cold blood, despite them having a second child now. "Pity that they could not bask in the glory of moi...~"

Even with the impending twilight on the horizon, Ciel kept his wits about him as he surveyed the area for any signs of his love or hearts he could smash into a bloody, squishy mess around the area. Eventually, after wandering around the town, Ciel yawned, his pokemon also yawning beside him. They knew it was time to turn in as they needed their beauty sleep to look this good.

"Ah, my friends! It seems it is time for us to depart for the land of sleep, no? Come, come we have done enough for the day, and deserve our earned rest." As the boy in a haughty voice spoke, the duo voiced their opinions cleanly in agreement with their master. Ciel smiled slightly before beckoning them to come along.

After a couple of minutes of searching they found this towns version of a pokemon center. The boy had duly noted that the compartments they rested in could barely make a one star and struggled to get anything above .5 in comfort rating for him. Sighing sadly at these facts, his pokemon trudged into the pokemon center, each of them dreaming of something sweet.

Especially Ciel and his beloved soon to be betrothed -

"C e r i s e . . . ~ "

~Cerise Fontaine and Abigail Blanchett~

"Even though she is thinking more or less with her stomach, she does raise valid points with dusk being upon us. I prefer for us not having to deal with an incessant group of pokemon."

Well, for once her and Yuu agreed on something. For entirely different reasons, though. For some reason, that only annoyed her. Hhh, well, whatever.

"I can easily feed our pokemon as I brought food our pokemon can eat, I do have a couple of sandwiches which we can share, but I don't think four sets will sustain us for the night..."

At the mention of food, Abigail immediately perked up, earning a small sigh from Cerise. Really, Abigail ate an ungodly amount of food most of the time. She had to wonder how she was able to eat so much and still maintain that beautiful figure of hers. Not that she was jealous or anything; she could never be jealous of Abigail. Only admire the person of her affections.

Abigail herself, had bought her own food, and had intended to eat all of it...herself. She supposed she could share, though, if she absolutely had too. She wouldn't be happy about it, though. Well, regardless, it seemed like everyone was going to be doing their own thing. Yuu had gone off somewhere to gather food, and another one of the had made a small bed of leaves. Was he really intending to sleep outside?...eh, whatever. Not her problem.

"Hey Cerise, I'm going to put up our tent, alright?" Abigail told the red head.

"Hmm? Oh, alright. Ah...if you do not mind, Abby dear - I'm going to call your mother. She was rather...angry at my sudden decision to leave. I feel as though I should at least try to smooth things over with her for a bit..." Tyrian jumped down from Abigail's arms, landing on the ground...face first, causing him to sneeze slightly as he rubbed his nose with a paw. Natu, then decided his back would make a perfect perch, earning a small annoyed huff from the Nidoran, who decided to shake him off.

The two then decided that roughhousing was the best way to spend the time while their trainers did their respective tasks.

~Cerise Fontaine~

As Abigail set up their tent, she walked away from the rest of the group. She made a small, white, lie to Abigail. No need to tell her what she was actually going to be doing. Aside from the fact she would disprove, it might make things a bit awkward with the rest of them, later. With a small smile, she made her way to the edge of the campsite before taking out her Holo-caster. A small smile donned on her lips, as she began dialing one of the numbers she had in it. She put the phone up to her ear - no need in using the holographic setting on it. That would simply be a stupid move on her part.

After a few moments of ringing, someone finally picked up. Who was she calling? A friend she had met through her father. A rather nice detective that worked for the International Police. He was just a desk jockey though, often handling paper work an other things. Him and her father had been friends for quite some time. Unfortunately...he was also a bit of a shady and greedy bastard.

And that is exactly why Cerise loved him.

"Jamie, mon ami! Comment êtes-vous?" She cheerily said as the other side picked up.

"Cerise ! Comment est mon favori peu fauteur de troubles? Que toutes les personnes johto enroulée autour de votre doigt?" A jovial, rather friendly voice answered on the other end. She giggled coyly a bit at her 'friends' teasing.

"Oh, arrêter Jamie. Je n'ai pas été ici pendant plus de quelques jours. Il faut plus longtemps pour devenir un symbole national." She replied, giving her friend a cheery, positive and upbeat tone.

"Vous avez pris Kalos par tempête dans moins d'une semaine! Vraiment, il ne devrait pas être trop difficile pour vous." He laughed, rather loudly.

"Vraiment, vous. Vous avez beaucoup de genre trop de moi." She humbly replied. "Comment est mon père et ma mère, faisant?" She asked.

"Oh, vous savez. Ils sont bien - Votre mère est faire le meilleur de vous être éloigné, d'après ce que j'ai entendu de votre père. Madame Blanchett, quoique... elle va avoir ce magnifique cheveux rouge de la vôtre comme un trophée la prochaine fois qu'elle vous voit." The voice replied with a chuckle.

"Je suppose que je vais compter sur vous pour me protéger et protéger mes beaux cheveux rouge." She giggled. "Ah, Jamie, l'esprit me faisaient une faveur?" She suddenly asked.

"Oh? Bien sûr, quoi avez-vous besoin, Cerise?" The person, apparently named 'Jamie' Asked.

"Je sais que vous n'arrière-contrôles de masse sur les gens pour votre travail avec la Police internationale...je me demandais si vous pourriez exécuter une, pour moi?" She asked, a bit quietly. She knew he'd likely question her motives if she asked that. After all, he couldn't run it without a proper excuse. "Je n'ai de l'argent, si vous avez besoin d'une telle chose pour votre...services et...discrétion."

The phone was silent for a moment, the sound of someone walking. Likely he was going to some place where he wouldn't be so easily over heard.

"De quoi avez-vous besoin?" He asked, seriously.

"Je veux tout savoir au sujet d'une certaine personne du nom de Yuu Nozumu. La famille. Amis. Où qu'ils vivent. Ce genre de chose." She replied, quietly. "Pouvez-vous le faire?"

"....Combien ?" He asked.

"Hmm...comment vingt mille pour l'information de son?"

"Donnez-moi un peu. Je vous l'ai pour vous bientôt."

"Merci, merci! Vous êtes un vrai Samaritain, Jamie! Dès que je reçois de l'info, vous trouverez un petit quelque chose en plus à l'endroit habituel. Au revoir, de l'ami." She happily replied, a small smile on her face.

"En effet, un plaisir culminé avec vous cerise. Je vais le dire à votre mère et votre père vous dit bonjour et que vous avez bien fait ! Vous devriez essayez d'appeler vous-même, cependant. Les gens pourraient commencer à se poser des questions sur la raison pour laquelle vous appelez-moi et pas eux. Jusqu'à ce que nous nous réunissons à nouveau, puis, madame." With that, the other speaker hung up. Cerise simply gave a small giggle, putting away the phone back in her case, before walking back over to Abigail.
"Hmm...maybe I'll get Abigail to teach me a bit about pokemon..."

~Abigail Blanchett~

Well, it didn't take her as long as she thought to set up the tent. A few minutes after Cerise had left to talk with whoever, it was already up. Chances were, her and Cerise were going to be sharing it. Honestly, it was just a one person tent. She had bought it a few weeks before the start of this whole thing, and she didn't really want to buy another one. Plus, she expected Cerise to bring her own, though she had no idea why. Cerise probably planned to sleep in her tent from the start.

Seriously, that girl...

With a sigh and a stretch, she looked around. Most of the other people were still around doing their various things. Yuu was off somewhere, doing who knows what. She looked at Natu and Tyrian, both of who had been roughhousing this entire time - it seemed like Natu had the upper hand, err...wing, though. He was currently perched on Tyrians horn while Tyrian tried to unsuccessfully dislodge the bird from it. Abigail knelt down with an amused giggle.

"Now, now, you two. Behave, alright?" She said, picking Natu up gently off of Tyrian, who shot that little bird an uncharacteristic glare. Looks like the two of them had a bit of a rivalry going. That amused Abigail greatly. "Hehe, you two should try getting along. And you," She said, giving Natu a friendly little pat. "Need to be nicer to Cerise." The Natu simply rolled its eyes at the notion.

"Ah...Abigail, you are done with the tent?" Cerise said, walking up, apparently finished with her call.

"Yeah, just finished." She said. "You done talking with my mom?"

"Ah...yes, she was as overbearing as usual." Cerise replied with a giggle. "I can see where you get yours from." This earned a small huff from Abigail.

"W-whatever..." She replied, folding her arms on her chest.

"Oh come on, Abby dear, learn to take a joke." She gave her a soft smile. "I was actually wondering if you could help me with something." She said, fidgeting slightly. "Y-you know I'm...well, I have no knowledge of pokemon. I was hoping you'd be able to teach me a bit." Abigail simply sighed, giving Cerise a small, somewhat annoyed look. She wasn't a teacher! How could she possibly teach anyone? How would she even-wait. Practical experience, duh.

"Suppose I can give you some instruction." She said with a small shrug. "Grab Natu, and we'll have a little battle over there." She didn't give Cerise much time to protest, as she scooped up Tyrian and walked a few feet away from the tent.

"B-battle?" She asked, the Natu lighting on her shoulder, obviously a bit excited at the thought of a battle. "I-I mean if you are certain, but I doubt I will do anything against you." She nervously said.

"The best way to learn something is practical experience. This is going to be the first battle either of us has, you know." She said, sitting Tyrian down on the ground. Oh...right, practical experience, that was probably a good idea. Abigail was full of them, after all, so she had no reason to question her. She did know what she was doing, after all.

"V-very well, then." She replied, Natu taking his position in front of her on the ground. "Let us begin, then."

Near the front of the group traveling the wooded road was a small lass, who trudged along the path gazing at her feet. She walked by herself, radiating a sort of uneasy aura. True, her frustration was palpable. Or was it disappointment?

Or was it pure, unbridled rage?

A setting sun bathed Gwen in the last bit of sunlight for the day. In all honesty, it had be a rather beautiful day. The sky was clear for most of the trek out of New Bark, but now it was streaked with the fingers of twilight. But despite the coming night, it was still relatively warm. Gwen was thankful that she hadn’t worn heavy clothes…

The girl continued staring at the ground. She was keeping right up with the group…

But she was starting to feel it.

Perhaps she had packed too much. Did she really need to lug her guitar along with her?

…

Yes.

Really though, was it a physical burden? Or was it sheer annoyance at the stupid, lying, good-for-nothin’ lug. The hell was his problem, lying like that? He could have just said something. Oh hey, Gwen, I’m a giant wuss so I’m not gonna go. Bah. Fuck it. She didn’t need him anyway. Stupid punk would just end up getting in her way.

She frowned and continued her march forward. Whatever. She wasn’t going to let it slow her down. She wasn’t going to give anybody a reason to look down at her. Fuck ‘em. She could go all day. Hell, she could go all night as well. Ain’t no brakes on the Gwentrain, this baby’s going all the way to Violet City. Nonstop, one-way, red eye expres-

"Hmm...I think it'd be best if we went ahead and made camp, here."

Oh sweet merciful Arc- err...whatever, fine. If the babies wanted to stop because their wittle feetsies got tired, then they could stop. Gwen grinned for the first time since the lab. Oh how she amused herself. Seriously, someone get her a mic. She’s killing it.

…

"It's getting late and setting it up now, rather than later after the sun has fallen would be the best idea."

Gwen gazed about the group to see if anyone was going to comment. She wasn’t going to chime in, lest she risk sounding like a…

“Even though she is thinking more or less with her stomach, she does raise valid points with dusk being upon us. I prefer us not having to deal with an incessant group of pokemon.”

...like a Yuu! Perfect timing, dork.

She caught Cerise chiming in as well, but the general look on everybody’s face was agreeance. Well, that worked for her. She tuned out the others and found her own little neck of the woods, so to speak.

She slid the guitar case off her back and laid it on the ground by a tree. She then removed her backpack and plopped it down beside it. Bending over, Gwen unfastened the tie between the tent, bedroll, and backpack. Grabbing the first one, she took a couple steps away before unfastening the tent’s own bindings. She had a fairly simple tent. Nothing fancy, it would do enough to shield her from the elements. Slightly. Maybe. That was the hope, at least?

…

The tent turned out to be annoying as all fuck. A few times Gwen found herself nearly complete with the set up, just for something to pop and all of her hard work to come literally crashing down to the ground. And each time the girl would get up, unleash a string of profanity, kick the tent, and start all over again. She was uh...nothing if not persistent though. She considered trying to get her Pokemon to help but…

…

Oh fuck. Gwen’s eyes shot wide. She hadn’t met her Pokemon yet. She had been too preoccupied with the goddamn Avery thing. Her hand went to her pocket, but she stopped before grabbing the ball. It wasn’t time. Not yet. She wasn’t going to kick off her career as a fucking mess, was she? No, she would finish the tent, THEN she would meet the Tyrogue.

She kicked the tent once more, then got things going.

That tent?

She was going to make it her bitch.

---

“Cyyyyn…”

Oh?

Sophia slowed slightly, looking down at the little guy in her arms. He was fast asleep but...oh. His legs were twitching. And he was making soft sounds. He was having a dream of some sort? How precious. She was practically swooning over the little ball of adorableness. She had lucked out. Cinder was great. A wee bit on the lazy side, it seemed, but he had already stolen her heart. Honestly, she couldn’t wait until she got to Violet City. Miss Manami would love to see the little fella.

All of a sudden, something felt…off. She felt as if someone were coming up from behind her. The heavier footsteps confirmed that. She slightly tensed, but she relaxed ever so slightly when she saw who it was. The purple haired guy. She hadn’t caught his name, but he seemed rather...colourful, to say nothing else. At least he seemed to be a part of some commotion of sorts back at the lab. She hadn’t really caught much of whatever was going on. But it was alright, she supposed.

He...why, she noticed that he was smiling at her. Not wanting to come across as rude, Sophia returned the smile and nodded. Then he began speaking.

“I don’t think we ever got around to properly introducing ourselves cutie… I need to work on forming better compliments…”

The guy started rubbing the back of his neck. Sophia took a moment, then chuckled. It was rather sweet in a delightfully awkward sort of way. Before she had a chance to respond, he continued.

“Aside from my less than desirable attempts at being nice, my n-”

He was cut off by the girl that had taken the lead of the group. She had announced that she wished to set up camp. That was fine with Sophia. This seemed as good a spot as any to stop...and...well...she really would much prefer getting settled in before it got dark. One never knows what might be lurking in the shadow of night…

A chill ran down Sophia’s spine and she shuddered.

Her companion’s train of thought seemed to have derailed, as he broke off from speaking with her to start laying down some rather sensible information. Safety, food, shelter, fire.

Hmm…

Well, she had some food. And her tent. So food and shelter was fine. If they were all together, they were probably safe enough. And fire…

Sophia grinned down at the little guy in her arms. He was still snoozing away. Well, the fire situation was covered. No problems there. The purple haired lad turned back to her and asked if Cinder could provide fire later. She grinned and nodded before he trotted off. He seemed nice enough. Practical. It was useful.

…

Oh. She hadn’t caught his name.

As if on cue, the guy shouted back, suggesting that they all introduce each other after getting things set up. That suited her just fine.

Sophia scanned the area, noticing the lead girl and her redheaded companion heading off to...well, somewhere. Oh well. It wasn’t her business, though she did silently wish for their safety. She would hate to see anybody get hurt. Granted, she didn’t know any of them from Adam, but honestly, she wouldn’t wish harm on anyone.

Another guy, the wet guy from earlier, seemingly set up a bed of...leaves? Oh dear. He wasn’t planning on sleeping on that, was he? Sophia frowned. If he hadn’t found better lodgings for the night after introductions, she would offer the tent to him. Granted, she would have to find another spot then. She couldn’t just plop down next some guy. She blushed slightly. Her father would absolutely murder her if he even heard the whispers of such a thing.

Sophia shook her head. It was time to get busy.

…

She spotted the pale haired girl having some difficulties with her tent. Sophia couldn’t help but giggle a bit. But still, she crossed over to the girl.

Approaching from her back, Sophia stopped a few yards back. She let out a polite cough to alert the girl to her presence...at just about the same time that the girl jumped up and kicked one of the stakes, muttering language foul enough to cause Sophia to blush.

“Excuse me...would you like some help with that?”

Without turning to look at her visitor, the small girl bent back over and started hammering the kicked pole.

“Nope.”

Sophia frowned, absently poking her index fingers together. She should just leave at that but...she really did seem to be having some trouble. Surely she could lend a hand or two? She just needed to be a bit more...assertive!

“Err...Are you sure? You seem to be having a bit of a time with that…”

The girl paused for a moment, and Sophia thought that she might be considering her offer.

“Yup. Pretty sure.”

Sophia winced as the girl as the girl denied her help. She didn’t seem to be ANGRY. Agitated, maybe, but...oooh, come on, Sophia. Be ASSERTIVE. Help somebody out.

“I won’t get in your way, I promise. I just want to he-”

The girl stood up and whirled around. Sophia noticed the dark scars running across the girl’s closed eye. It would be terribly rude to ask her about it but...she was rather curious, she had to admit. And judging by the look on her face...well it probably wouldn’t be the best time to ask provocative questions. The girl got her attention as she began to speak, nay, GROWL at her.

“Listen, girly, I ain’t buyin’ whatcha sellin’. So shut the fuck out, calm the hell down, and dance your happy little ass away, alright? Fuckin’ beat it. Got it?”

Sophia floundered for a bit before taking a step back. She stammered and could feel her face growing warm. Cinder stirred in her arms, but ultimately kept on snoozing. She...well, she didn’t mean to upset the girl. She certainly wasn’t expecting this. She turned and began to walk away.

“Ah...geez...hey, I’m sorry, alright? Didn’t mean to snap. I just...I wanna be alone right now. Nothin’ personal, I just...just kind of had a shitty day.”

Sophia looked back to see the girl facing her, but she seemed to be looking off in another direction...at nothing. She sounded genuine enough, and Sophia didn’t hear any of the malice in her words. If anything, she seemed embarrassed. Ms. Rhodes nodded and managed to find a smile, albeit it weaker than normal. She was kind of hurt, but it wouldn’t do to show it.

“Yeah, no, I understand. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have pestered you. I hope things get better for you.”

At that the girl nodded back and kind of just awkwardly stood there before shrugging and returning to her tent.

Feeling somewhat dejected, Sophia searched for a spot a distance away. Once satisfied with her decision, she quickly went to work constructing her own tent, placing her things and Cinder out of the way. Unlike the disaster that was the pale head’s, Sophia’s tent went up nice and easy. She caught the girl staring at her nearly completed tent at one point, before the girl shook her head, spit, and went back to the mess muttering something which the blonde could not pick up. Sophia couldn’t help but to grin despite herself.

Once her tent was finished, she went about looking for sticks and twigs in the immediate camp area. She wasn’t about to head off into the woods for them. She even tried to rouse Cinder from his beauty sleep, but the little guy seemed insistent that he get his full twenty-four hours in. Oh well. Eventually, she had to give up and return him to his Pokeball.

As the girl strolled around the camp, she couldn’t help but feel like something was...not right.

…

There were no Pokemon outside of their own.

Curious…

She stood quiet for a few moments, but that just brought her silence. Indeed, she couldn’t hear anything. While wild pokemon did usually stay away from people, she wouldn’t have thought that they had been at camp long enough to clear the area.

Sophia’s stomach knotted up something fierce…

She had a bad feeling about all of this.

Part 1 of the Collab between Savo, Vec, and Ogobrogo!

=Ashton Blanc vs Blake Winterhawk : Battle for the Badge!=

"Alright, this is it! I definitely can feel that I'm getting the badge this time!"

Ashton Blanc, an aspiring trainer marched defiantly into the gym despite the fact that he lost... ok, I lost track of how many losses, so anyways... Today was the day that Ashton was procuring that badge from the devious Blake Winterhawk. He would not stand for this shame any longer! He was going to the league and getting that seat, even if it took him an eternity. With a smug smile, his female companion followed after him, uncaring about the outcome of this match. The boy struck a heroic looking pose as he pointed at the stairs as if they were the gym leader himself - Blake Winterhawk.

"I'm back to bring on the heat! I'm gonna melt your pokemons hearts, and then I'm gonna melt yours, Blake, and take that badge!"

"... dude, you don't even have a single fire type pokemon, so I'm not sure how you're going to pull that off... plus I didn't even know you rolled that way, so that's something..."

The boy shot a glance at his female companion who appeared to be shivering from under the frozen pressure... yeah, that was it... inside the gym. Frowning for a few more seconds before smiling mischievously at a thought. Waltzing his way over to the girl, Ashton precariously kept his cool under the weather and slid and arm behind the girl who appeared more uncomfortable than before. Mayu pulled her head away from the boy and rolled her eyes in irritation.

"I don't roll that way... and even without a fire pokemon, I know more ways than one to melt your heart babe."

Infuriated at not only the boys closeness, but that sheer line shattered her contentedness. Her face was marked with disgust and animosity at how he should of known that she did not enjoy being close to anyone... PERIOD. Shoving the boy off her, Mayu sent out her Glaceon, enraged at such a prospect. She was not going to go out with a lech like him, especially after previous stunts like this.

"Weiss! Use Ice Beam on that bastards shoes!"

On command, the Glaceon sent a chilling blast of ice at the boys shoves, much to his displeasure. A frown immediately formed on his face as he showed true despair in being out of control. Tipping over slightly, Ashton struggled to maintain his balanced form. Suddenly, he felt the floor give out under him... which meant only one thing.

... stairs.

"OHCRAPOHCRAPOHCR-"

The boy immediately lost his balance as the tracks derailed in the form of stairs. Ashton toppled down, agony located on every step down. As the boy voiced his pain, Mayu look triumphantly at what she caused to transpire before sliding down on the railings, returning her Glaceon to her pokeball per usual. Despite the fact that she was shivering, it was better than having any sort of warmth close to her as it would only harm her in the end.

The girl swept pass the boy who was still rolling down the stairs, a verbal ow being heard by Mayu as she lapped him. Eventually, she made it all the way down, ending it with a smooth landing as she slid a few feet. Rotating her head to the side, she found the gym leader sipping on a cup of tea while reading a newspaper. Walking over to the man, she tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention before speaking in a boring tone of voice.

"Hey, Ashton is here to challenge you again... don't mind him, he sent me ahead due to an... unprecedented circumstance..." The screeches of pain were getting louder as Ashton continued the painful path to his fourth badge. Mayu looked up to Ashtons current location on the stairs before returning her focus on the gym leader. "He should be here... momentarily, just give him a few more seconds..."

And then, an audible thud was heard with the sound of... sobbing?

May not be music to anyone else, but heck it was music to Mayu's ears.

=Blake Winterhawk & Tusk=

"Ahh, Celadon Black is one of the best teas i've tasted..." Blake Winterhawk, Gym Leader of the Blackthorn City Gym thought as he took a sip off his cup. Behind him, a sleeping Mamoswine laid, taking a mid-day nap. The sight of the large pokemon would surely be frightening to a trainer that had just started their journey, but in reality, Tusk was a gentle giant.

Outside of battle, that is...

Blake grabbed today's newspaper that he had brought with him from home. His eyes scanned the front cover until they fell on a small box on the down-right corner of the page.

"Cave-In Causes Slight Chaos. Police are currently investigating the causes of the sudden explosions that occurred at a small cave that connects Route 45 with Route 46."

"Did they just realize that there was a cave-in? That happened days ago and they are just now reporting it for the first time?" Blake sighed and shook his head. A sudden noise made Blake close the newspaper and look at the stairs, behind him. "What is going on up there..." he wondered. The noise kept going on, slowly going up in volume until Blake realized that someone might have slipped down the stairs, since between the thuds, pained cries could be heard.

Before he even got a chance to stand up and walk towards the stairs himself, to see what was going on, he felt a light tapping on his shoulder. He turned around, not knowing what to expect, really. Turns out, it was that kid from before. "Hey, Ashton is here to challenge you again... don't mind him, he sent me ahead due to an... unprecedented circumstance... He should be here... momentarily, just give him a few more seconds..."

"... Did he at least catch a fire type? Because I'm not going to go over the same thing over and over again. If he is at the same level as he was when he first challenged me, that is four times if you have forgotten," Blake told Mayu, the girl who was accompanying Ashton. The guy was a sore loser, that was the conclusion Blake had come to. Granted, he too, was just like him when he was still on his journey.

Blake stood up and, not a moment after that, just as Mayu had said, Ashton came tumbling down the stairs. "I hope you brought your best Pokemon this time around, or else, I predict another quick battle," Blake told the boy.

=Ashton Blanc and Mayu Ayaka : Getting Heated Up=

"He didn't, but still expects to warm our hearts... and besides, maybe he'll know when to quit once he gets cold feet."

The girl rolled her eyes as the boy struggled to get even a single foot off the ground, slipping and falling onto his butt. This continued for a few minutes as he skid around the area, with a few more tears streaming down his face each time he failed. Eventually, he grew irritated at the futile attempts to even bother standing up. "Ugh, damnit Mayu! Why the hell did you have to freeze my feet and make me slide down the stairs?! This is disproportionate justice ya know! You definitely owe me after this gym battle!"

Staring daggers at the boy, the girl released her Glaceon once more so she might shut Ashton up due to his consistent whining. As she began opening her mouth, she stopped and lowered her hand. There was a mischievous glimmer in her eyes, however no signs of emotion rested on her lips. Putting her hands on her hips, Mayu rolled her hair to the side before speaking with a tinge of emotion.

"Alright then Ashton. I'll do anything with you, but only if you somehow manage to beat Blake this time, deal?"

Ha, as if he was going to even make a dent in his team! Mayu was certain that Ashton would get destroyed like the other... four times... yeah, four times sounds good. At any rate, she took a seat on the bench, crossing her legs as the Glaceon slowly trotted behind her and hopped onto the bench. Weiss then rested her head on her trainers lap as the girl contently stroke the pokemons head. She wanted to smile for a moment, however felt that she didn't want to drop this simple facade right now.

After hearing the terms to her little bet, Ashtons eyes suddenly perked up and he managed to stand up for more than a second... before promptly slipping again. "Ugh, forget this, I'll just have Magi handle this..." Grabbing a pokeball from one of his pockets, he clicked the button on the ball, releasing a familiar Mismagius. "Alright, heya Magi... I'm in a bit of an icy situation, thanks to SOMEONES GLACEON." Ashton leered at the girl who continued petting her Glaceon who look rather pleased, a contrast to her partners apathetic stare, cooing a bit as she rested on Mayus lap.

"Anyways... here's a neat little trick Magi learned that's going to help me conquer this gym this time! Magi, use Mystical Fire!"

The pokemon was slightly giggling at the situation Ashton was in and circled around him for a bit to tease him, much to his displeasure. Suddenly, fire spewed from the Mismagius' mouth at the boys shoes which quickly defrosted. However, a new pain suddenly filled his feet as he shot up, and released his Poliwrath in the blink of an eye. As he hopped up and down on each foot, Ashton was holding back even more tears than he had before and bit his lip. As silently as he could, Ashton issued a command to his Poliwrath.

"MACH, OW, USE WATER, OW OW, GUN, OW!!!!"

Suddenly pressurized water shot out from the pokemons mouth, soaking not only Ashtons shoes but the boy himself as he drifted backwards at a quick pace. Eventually the Poliwrath stopped, the Mismagius cackling in delight at this whole spiel. As the pokemon giggles, Ashton struggled to get up on his two feet due to minor burns and the fact that he was probably colder than Mayu in that skimpy costume of hers.

"Ugh, why does this have to happen to a guy as great as me?"

=Blake Winterhawk & Tusk - Part 2=

Blake looked at the two trainers interact with each other before walking over to his Mamoswine, which was peacefully sleeping until now. "Ugh, time for you to wake up, Tusk. We got a challenger in our hands," Blake said but the mammoth Pokemon just kept snoring. "Um.. Oh yeah." Blake unzipped his jacket and reached for his waist pack where he kept some PokeBlocks for situations like that one. He grabbed a handfull of them and, one by one, placed them in a line in front of Tusk.

At first, it remained still, not moving at all. Then, it started sniffing. "Hah, his nose caught the scent of the PokeBlocks. He's almo-" MAAAMOOOOOOOO!

Tusk suddenly shot up from where he was laying and quickly started devouring the PokeBlocks Blake had used as bait. "Hey buddy, relax, there's more from where that came from," Blake said as he petted Tusk's belly. The large Pokemon smiled and let its trainer know that it was fully awake and ready for battle. Blake left some more Blocks on the ground, in front of his Pokemon for it to eat and turned his attention back to the trainers.

"Alright, heya Magi... I'm in a bit of an icy situation, thanks to SOMEONES GLACEON," Ashton shouted rather loudly at the girl. "Hmm, a Glaceon huh?" Blake looked down at Ashton's feet and saw that they were actually encased by ice, frozen solid. "Girl, is your Glaceon the source of that ice? Because If I must say, that level of transparency means that the Pokemon is very well bred and trained. You'd make a very good Ice-type trainer. If you are interested, talk to me after the battle," Blake told Mayu before turning his attention back towards Ashton.

"Okay, this time ain't going to be like the others. You," Blake said and pointed at Ashton, "are going to go against this guy," he added and pointed back at Tusk. "I am going to use only one Pokemon for this battle. You should be thankful as I usually don't do this very often. It's just that you have started to get on my nerves a bit. No hard feelings," he finished.

Blake signaled Tusk to follow and walked towards the battlegrounds. Both Tusk and him took their places and waited. "C'mon then, what are you waiting for? I, Blake, Gym Leader of the Blackthorn City Gym, accept your challenge. The Gym Leader is allowed to use only one Pokemon. When one side's Pokemon are no longer able to battle, we will have our winner. Challenger Ashton, proceed to the battlegrounds."

=Ashton Blanc and Mayu Ayaka : Insult to Injury=

As Mayu watched the boy fiddle around with his pokemon, she went onto groom her pokemon in a unique way. She began humming a little tune as the Glaceon lay there, smiling at each stroke of her hand. The girl was off in her own little world and began smiling a bit, entranced by her own partner. Suddenly, reality ushered the girl away from the tranquil peace she once had by none other than the gym leader himself... who was complimenting her on her skills for properly raising Weiss.

Putting on her facade once more, Mayu donned a gloomy frown on her face as she stared at the gym leader. Before she was given the chance to speak up, Blake had already returned his focus. At times like this, it was better to keep her mouth shut as it wouldn't invite any meaningless trouble from Ashton himself.

However, he could say otherwise. As he regained his ability to stand on his own feet, he found himself being insulted. Him, out of all people was taking out their frustration on the Great Ashton?! He would have none of that as he strode up to the challengers side, irritated at the turn of events which favored him a weaker trainer. "Seriously, just one pokemon against five?! I take that as a friggin' insult not only to me, but my pokemon," the boy shouted in the gym as he walked, wincing along the way.

"If that's the way you want things, then..." Ashton began observing the arena, recalling a few tricks over how his sister taught him how to use the environment. He didn't realize it until now, but there were a couple of stalagmites hanging above. Coming to a major epiphany, Ashton thought of a new strategy right off the bat, however realized to pull this stunt off, he would need a capable pokemon... meaning Magi. However, there was also his sense of hubris which broke into myriads of pieces after his acknowledgement. Furrowing his brows and grinding his teeth, Ashton traded a glance with the gym leader before going on.

"... then I'm going to use one pokemon also! Hope ya don't mind me gloating after I get the badge this time," he exclaimed, sneering. After that insane proclamation, Mayu could barely stifle a giggle as she quickly began smiling for a few seconds. Ashton took note of this little outburst, but he didn't at all feel angry. In fact, he felt great seeing her smile for once as he never was able to catch a true glimpse of what it looked like.

And due to that smile, he, himself became filled him with determination.

"Give me a sec Blake, I need to go over something with Magi. Hey, Magi, come down here please, I need to speak to you for a bit." As the Poliwrath trotted over to the boy with a worried look as the Mismagius continued to circle around Ashton head before tackling him with a smile. The boy reacted with a quick smile as he grabbed Magi for a bit. The teen was barely lifted from the ground as the ghost tried to playfully struggle free. In the end, she rested on his head, awaiting the plan obediently.

As he spoke, she gleamed with a mischievous glare as whimsical excitement filled the ghosts lungs... if they have lungs... As Magi flew around for a bit with Ashton attempting to garner his attention, Mach slowly walked up to the trainer and tapped him lightly on the shoulder. The boy flinched a little from the Poliwrath surprise tap, but addressed him in a light-hearted manner. As he did so, Mach expressed his worry for the outcome as he knew Ashton was not the best when it came to battles and urged him to use his other pokemon.

"Hey, don't worry buddy, have some faith in me this time; those first..... uh.... four losses (I'm pretty sure it was more than four, but I'll roll with it) were just flukes! This time, I've got you right where I want you to be! I, Ashton Blanc, challenge you to a battle gym leader Blake!" As the boy gave this speech, Mayu could only roll her eyes at this whole situation. She felt Ashton might as well just give up and traverse home as him winning with just one pokemon only? It was astounding and ridiculous.

Regardless, the boy was going to reap what he sow for this. However, that wasn't the only thing that was lingering on her mind. The fact that she was offered a chance to become an ice trainer... would she really take up that offer? She could really care less, however she was 10x better than Ashton and formulated better strategies than going in blind.

Either way, she continued to massage her pokemon, seeing as this battle was going to end soon.

But this time, Ashton would make sure to stun his audience with the results rather than have them both display indifference.

-Yuu Nozomu and Sylvie : Route 29-

As the boy rushed over to tend to the wounded Eevee, he kept tabs on how many times the pokeball fidgetted as it wouldn't be longgh until the Geodude emerged. As Yuu went through his backpack, he immediately found a potion but not before seeing a little twinkle out of the corner of his eye. The teen was... pleasantly surprised by the results as he was shocked to see his Eevee unscathed and looking better than before the battle. This meant the pokemon might have a move he did not account for.

*Beep*

Yuu heard the first tick as he eyed the pokeball which was rolling around. As he mused over the move, he came to a conclusion that it had to be a recovery move he learned of in school. The move was delayed, which puzzled him a bit as it felt familiar to him. As he pondered on it Sylvie let out a very pleased cry as she bounced happily, feeling refreshed from the wish. "Delayed recovery... which only means one thing this move she used is called Wish!"

Coming to that conclusion, Yuu eyed the pokeball as a small crack began to form on the red. That gave him the sign the he needed to pick up the pace as an impending skirmish was about to begin again. "Sylvie," Yuu called out to the playful pokemon who was striking a victorious pose. The Eevee responded by garnering her friend attention and gleefully responded with a simple "Vee!"

Smiling momentarily before going back to a serious expression, he decided to make his next topic about the Geodude they encountered. That pokemon was going to break out any second now so he had to be brief about his whole speech. "Uh, Sylvie, we have to be quick on this, that Geodude is going to break out any second now so we are going to improvise." While he was talking, a great flash of red light came from the shattered pokeball with the Geodude who looked more angered after that little stunt.

"Geo geodude, dude!"

An imminent fight was upon them once more as the rock launched herself at Yuu only to be countered by a swift tackle from Sylvie. Yuu figured away to keep pressure off the Eevee while not interfering much with the battle. In an instant, Yuu dashed forward and kicked some dust into the Geodudes face startling it slightly. This gag enough leeway for the Eevee to hit it with another tackle. "Sylvie, go for it! Hit the Geodude with a tackle!"

The Eevee stared, entranced at what Yuu was doing before snapping back to reality before her. The pokemon recalled the teens command and ran at the Geodude, slamming into it with all her might. The Geodude took the hit a bit harder than the last few, meaning it was on its last legs. In retaliation for the attack, the Geodude hastily carried out a tackle as it sluggishly launched itself forward at Sylvie, grunting as it made contact with the Eevee. She let out a small grunt as she was pushed back a few feet, but was prepared for another duel between the duo.

This went on for a couple of minutes as the pokemon began procuring new, interesting strategies from Yuu to mitigate damage. Over the small time their mindset grew...

Eventually, the end drew near.

Of course, Yuu was also prepared to intervene with a pokeball as he wasn't going to pull a stunt to disable their opponent like that again as it inhibited Sylvies learning curve. Along with that, he knew he could not exactly perform that in trainers battles. Yuu sighed, understanding the only way to truly assist is to allow her mind to get into a state where it could predict chains of movements with an opponent... that and the occasional pokeball. The boy crossed his arms and sighed in disappointment of how limited his actions were before refocusing on the task at hand. Sylvie could easily sustain a few more hits, but would have to heal up soon.

Feeling helpless and like a failure, Yuu figured he could be the one to safeguard once Sylvie was taught myriads of lessons in battling... if she truly wanted that. Either way, right now was fight or flight and with a Geodude as determined as this, Yuu did not want to dump his problem on those trying to set up the campsite... however, finding a Geodude tearing down tents like they were some sort of monster terrorizing a city was hilarious.

Snickering a bit, Yuu barely had enough time to react to the Geodude who was taking advantage. This piqued him as he was getting distracted by meager things! He had to focus! Rinse and repeat to end this fight. "Alright, Sylvie, Wishie Washie!... I seriously need better names for these strategies," Yuu grumbled to himself as Sylvie got into a position a prayer. Yuu kept an eye out on the Geodude, surveying how it would assert itself now.

The Geodude, bemused at the whole event sneered as it prepared to take advantage of the Eevees vulnerable state. Defiantly launching itself forward once more, Yuu echoed a familiar command."Sylvie, execute!" Sylvie was still getting used to the commands, so she was slow on the up taking and she only struck after processing what he meant before retaliating in surprise when the Geodude pinned down the Eevee through kicking the rock with her free legs.

"Oh crap," Yuu uttered as he dashed toward the trapped Eevee. Even with the Geodude holding on firmly, their grip was loosening as the Eevee slowly weakened it with kicks. Eventually, Yuu was a few feet away from the duo, before the Geodude let go... while directly being launched from a well placed hit by Sylvie. Yuus eyes widened in fright as the rock flew towards his chest. Despite it probably going to leave a nice looking bruise or a broken foot, he honestly did not want to be a bigger burden to the group or his Eevee. Thinking swiftly, the boy shot his arm out, throwing the free pokeball at the Geodude, halting its assault.

With that said, the pokeball plummeted down to the ground as it began the count down.

*Beep*

Yuu walked over to Sylvie to check how she was fairing in this situation. She was still lying on her back, trying to recollect what she just did as the hit was much more powerful than the rest. As the boy frowned nervously, he checked to see how his partner was fairing. *Beep* Other than a few mild scratches from what he could make out, Sylvie appeared perfectly fine as she hopped up and dusted herself off. Before bouncing around gleefully, spurting out cute growls as she hopped constantly.

The troubled teen toiled within his mind, sighing at the fact that he stopped the momentum. He preferred not only to withdraw the chance of injuries as someone getting harmed this early could lower the morale... maybe. Other than that, he glossed over his partner before whistling to get her attention. *Beep* The prancing ball of fun came to a complete halt at the sound of her friends command and responded with a delighted "Vee!"

"Sylvie, could you please use Wish on yourself just in case the Geodude breaks free somehow," Yuu requested, eyeing the pokeball as if it could cause a catastrophe any moment now. The small pokemon focused, uttering something in a language only other pokemon could understand before a small spark emerged from her with Sylvia exclaiming joyfully.

*Click*

Yuu was surprised the moment he heard that noise. The red and white ball had stopped wiggling back and forth... did he actually manage to catch a new partner? Cautiously moving forward, Yuu pondered on how the Geodude might react to the boy and Eevee considering what transpired a few minutes ago.

The teen slowly kneeled down as the boy rested his leg on the ground temporarily as he snatched the pokeball from where it lay. Sylvie sniffed it from where she was standing, befuddled at the fact by a stroke of she's luck, they managed to capture... a rock with eyes!

Riveting, huh?

"... now that your here... maybe you've calmed down a bit?" Yuu tried to not dwell on the question any longer as he shot back up and anxiously released the Geodude. As performed this, he sported a smile to try and befriend the Geodude as it came out in a flash of red light. As it shook itself, it noticed the familiar environment, recognizing it on a whim... and most importantly the duo it fought. From the way it glared the Geodude appeared to be bitter about the whole situation.

"H-hey buddy, sorry about that we didn't mean any harm," Yuu spoke as the rock corssed its arms, hopping forward a few inches. As it did so, the rock slightly winced in pain, and tried to veil the pained expression but was unsuccessful in their endeavor. "Er, Sylvie, maybe you could use Wish on... him or her?"

As Yuu spoke, it attempted to launch a weak attack which the teen avoided by backing up a few inches. Yuu rubbed the back of his neck for a bit, before trying his best to befriend the difficult pokemon once more. "Seriously though, I'm sorry for what we did... it was more in self-defense... maybe I could make it up with some food?" A few seconds after he spoke, a small part appears on the rock before noticeably infusing the Geodude with more vigor. It stood there, mystified at what just happened. As it processed the whole situation, the rock just sighed and begrudgingly hopped to the boys side. It made the situation seem more like she was forced to deal with Yuus presence for now.

"Well, welcome to the group then," Yuu said as he began procuring the dropped sticks once more. The small ball of fur pounced onto a couple of sticks and began collecting marginal amount it could carry in its mouth. The Geodude rolled it's eyes and sat itself on the ground, was the two work. "... er, Terra, if you want that name..."

The Geodude appeared unexpectedly satisfied with it as it rolled back and forth, it's frown slightly lifting.

...

As Yuu and Sylvie carried a bundle of fallen sticks and twigs, Terra hopped along with two twigs centered on her right arm. It had taken a couple of minutes to gather what they had an a little more, but this would be more than enough for the night. For a moment as Yuu approached the camp site, the two pokemon simultaneously stopped, and began looking around as if they had seen a ghost. Yuu took note of this once he found the two lagging behind him, rotating his head to see what the stop was for.

"... er, you two can worry about the wilderness later if that's ok as we are just a few feet away from camp. Come on you two, no lollygaging," the boy said, breaking the pokemon from their trance as they cautiously traversed forward at their allies side. As they reached the site, Yuu made out the silhouettes of the tents scattered about the place as dusk trudged forward.

As he looks around, he accounted for the positions of each tent, and opted to find a place to make a fire. Yuu said they could put down the sticks as he could take it from there. Gathering the sticks they dropped, Yuu began picking up pebbles scattered around the dwelling as Sylvie romped off. The Geodude, with nothing better to do, hopped after the swifter pokemon.

As the duo ran off, they were stopped a few inches as Sylvie found the girl in blonde with a missing Cyndaquil not asleep in her arms like a child. The Eevees head tilted a bit as the Geodude stared, one of the creases rising up above her left eye. Immediately, Sylvie put her paws directly onto her legs, and stared up at the girl with huge adorable eyes as it let out an precious spew of "Vees!" Terra knew what she was exactly referring too as it shook itself as the Pokemon utter a single "Geo," begrudgingly acknowledging the facts.

"Oh, heya Missy, I see you've met our new ally!" A voice echoed behind the pokemon as Yuu respond to the girl with a quick little smirk. As he did so, he tilted his head back and forth like a pendulum towards a small pile of sticks surrounded by rocks."I've got the fire pit set up for everyone... maybe you could as your friend to light the twigs ablaze if that's ok?"

As Yuu made this request, he recalled one last thing he had to do before he dispersed away from the lady. Shining the girl a familiar smile, the teens calm voice broke the eerie silence once more.

"Before anything else happens, my name is Yuu Nozomu... mind if I have the pleasure of knowing yours?"

"V-very well, then. Let us begin, then." Cerise replied, as she stood a few yards across from Abigail. Well, Abigail had to give her friend credit for being enthusiastic.

"Woah, wait a minute, Cerise." Abigail said to her. "Do you even know what moves Natu knows?" She asked, giving Cerise a slight smirk. The redhead fidgeted slightly - the answer was probably obvious. Cerise had never spent any time with pokemon at all, let alone any amount of time studying them. Abigail gave Cerise a smug, confident smirk. She on the other hand, had studied all of them ever since she had gotten into trainer school.

"At the level its at, the moves it knows are simply Leer and Peck." She said, sitting Tyrian down in front of her. "And that's not accounting for Egg moves and other things, such as TMs and things like that. However, I doubt we are going to have to worry about TMs. If he does know an Egg move, then that will be up for you to know that."

This was...a lot of information to take in, here. Did...Abigail memorize all the pokemon moves in trainer school? Cerise couldn't believe how anyone could keep up with such a number of information. She herself was having trouble understanding what these 'Egg moves' Were even, or what TMs were. She gathered they were extra moves or something pokemon could learn, but how would she even know how to use them, or make a pokemon learn them.

"Now, Tyrian here is at the same level as Natu. Similarly, he knows Leer and Peck as well." She smiled, placing her hands on her hips with her usual confidence. "That means we're fairly evenly matched here. However," she said, giving Cerise a small smile. "That doesn't mean this battle will be a difficult one. During a battle, you also have to take your opponents experience and also their pokemon into account." This was becoming a lot more than Cerise had bargained for. "Between you and me, just from our experiences alone, you have no chance in this battle."

Well, she'd like to say she would never stand a chance against Abigail.

"However, that said - You do have a few advantages here." Abigail continued. Just how much information did she need to know for a simple fight? Really, it wasn't like she was ever going to...become a star trainer or something. "For one...Natu is a Psychic type, and Tyrian is a Poison type. Psychic type moves have a great advantage over poison types. Secondly, Natu is a surprisingly fairly decent pokemon. It out classes Nidoran in quite a few areas. Especially in regards to speed - Natu can fly circles around Nidoran before he even is able to do anything."

Okay...did that mean she was going to have to rely on that runt of a Natu's speed to win?

"Keep in mind though, Nidorans are tough little guys. Tyrian's a strong little guy - a few hits from him and that Natu is going down."

"O-okay..." Cerise said, still a bit unsure. That was a lot of information to take in at once. "Ah...is that it?"

"I think its enough to get you started." She replied with a confident, smug, grin. "Its not really going to help you a whole lot, but who knows. You might actually surprise me. You ready to lose, then?"

"I...suppose I am ready, yes." Cerise said.


(yes, that's a link. Clicky Click)


"Heh, don't think I'm gonna go easy on ya just because we're friends." Abigail said, before pointing at Natu. "Alright! Hit 'em with a Leer, Tyrian!"

With a gleeful cry, Tyrian obeyed. His eyes lit up with a red glow as he gave Natu a harsh, definitely unsettling glare. However...it didn't seem to have the intended effect that Abigail had thought it would. Instead of lowering Natu's effect like she thought it would...Natu seemed entirely unaffected. Instead, Tyrian gave a little startled growl...instead of having Natu's defenses lowered, it seemed like his instead, had been lowered.

"M-magic bounce? Seriously?" She muttered to herself. It seems Cerise's little 'Runt' as she called him, was in fact probably not a runt at all. In fact, the chances of a Natu having Magic Bounce as an ability were extremely low. If she had to hazard a guess, it was an extremely well bred pokemon. Chances were it actually knew an Egg move. That wasn't important at the moment, though...since she couldn't lower Natu's defense, this battle just became a bit more up-hill than she thought it was going to be. It seemed like Cerise was clueless about this, though, which worked somewhat in her favor.

"Ah...my turn, then? Uhm...Natu, Peck!" Natu happily obeyed, knowing exactly what had just happened. Flapping his wings, he took off, speeding towards Tyrian, his beak aimed to hit the Nidoran right where it hurt.

"Alright, Tyrian! Dodge to the left, and hit it with a peck!" Tyrian obeyed, dodging swiftly to the left right before Natu hit. The bird may be faster than they were, and had the advantage when it came to evasion, but its trainer was unskilled in the worst way possible. As long as she had Tyrian time things right, she could hit him even if he was faster.

Obeying Abigails command, Tyrian followed the dodge up with a swift peck right to the little birds round body. With a squawk, Natu was sent crashing to the ground, rolling to a stop close to Abigails feet. Tyrian pawed the ground impatiently, giving the Natu a rather challenging smirk of his own. It seemed that despite his somewhat...curious, nature, he liked battling just as much as any other pokemon.

"Ooh...uhm, hit him with a...what was that move? Leer?" Cerise looked like she was having trouble recalling the information Abigail had given her before the battle started. Abigail sighed. Really, she was terrible at this, but if she was gonna tag along whether she wanted her too or not, she had to learn quite fast, this wasn't going to go as well as she wanted. She wasn't going to let up, not a single second.

"Hit him with another peck, Tyrian!" She instructed, Tyrian charged right at Natu, his sharp horn aimed right for another hit on the small bird. However, it seemed the bird knew what it was doing better than Cerise did. Without waiting for instruction from Cerise, it jumped in the air, giving up on the Leer. Getting quite a bit of distance between him and Tyrian, Tyrian slowed to a halt, just as his Peck attack missed, and Natu countered with its own. Tsk, this uppity bird knew how to battle somewhat. Well, so did she and she saw that attack coming from a mile away.

"Roll out of the way, Tyrian, and hit it with your own!" She confidently commanded.

Tyrian barely was able to avoid the assault from the Natu, but it did. Rolling to the right, Natu slammed into the ground. Not wasting his momentum, Nidoran immediately grabbed the ground, stopping his roll and using his momentum, sending his horn slamming back into the bird. The little guy was sent rolling towards Cerise's feet, this time. With a small chirp of annoyance, it stood up, shaking the dirt out of its feathers. Hah, that little guy was though. She had to give Cerise credit...that Natu definitely was a well-bred. Whatever the case, though, Natu could only take a few more hits at this rate, and Tyrian hadn't even been hit once.

Cerise, was in kind of a tight spot here, and she knew it. She knew she probably wouldn't win, but she figured she'd at least get a single hit in. She was getting kind of jealous of Tyrians and Abigails teamwork, to be honest. She hoped she'd be able to work that well with her soon.

"What's the matter, Cerise?" Abigail smirked, as the battle came to a momentary stand still. "Thinking about giving up? That's probably the smartest move, you know."

No, she wouldn't give up! Giving up would be...well, it would definitely not make Abigail like her more. She narrowed her eyes, trying to think up a strategy to win this, but she couldn't. Unlike Abigail, she had no idea how to even start thinking about winning. But well, she had to do something right? Leer...didn't that lower a pokemons defense? She vaguely remembered Abigail saying something about that. If she could lower Tyrians defense, and just give him a good hit once, then she could...possibly win, right? Not that she was actually going to do that. The winning thing. She just wanted Abigail to know she at least was somewhat good...

"Very...well, then." She sighed. "Natu, focus on lowering Tyrians defense!" With a chirp, Natu obeyed, eyes lighting up red as he gave Tyrian a well-deserved glare.

"Trying to lower his defense more?..." Abigail grumbled. Well, the easiest solution here was to go on an all-out offensive before she got the chance too. "Alright Tyrian, hit him with another Peck, you got this!"

Tyrian charged forward, speeding towards the Natu as fast as he could.

"D-dodge it, Natu!"

Too late. In the middle of his glare, Tyrian slammed into Natu again, hitting the bird right between his eyes. Natu stumbled backwards, attempting to right itself with its wings, flapping them somewhat frantically to try and right itself and get some air between it and the Nidoran. "Don't give it time to recover, Tyrian! End it already!" With an eager growl, the Nidoran ran right after the Natu.

"Ah, uhm...uh, hit him with another Peck!" Well, She knew this was probably going to end badly. Natu looked to be in pretty rough shape, but he was still as eager as ever.

Finally righting itself, Natu bounced off the ground, flying into the air. It seemed like he was gonna try and dive-bomb Tyrian again, but Abigail wasn't having any of it.

"Alright, Tyrian! You got this! Clip that little birdies wings!" With an aggressive growl, Tyrian kept his eyes on Natu...just as the bird was about to hit him, he jumped, launching himself a few feet into the air. Natu flapped his wings, trying to halt his descent, going to fast to suddenly change his trajectory. Tyrian spun, aiming his horn for one last attack on Natu.

It hit, sending the little Natu to the ground, with Tyrian sitting on top of the round little pokemon. Natu simply laid on the ground, completely out of it. Tyrian bounced off of Natu, giving the unconscious bird a little poke. Cerise simply sighed, completely defeated. She hadn't even managed to land a hit on Tyrian. Honestly, that was a terrible performance on her part. To be expected, she supposed. After all, her opponent was Abigail - only the best trainer in Johto, of course.

"Well...I suppose there is a lot I must learn if I am ever to be a good trainer..." Cerise sighed, though more out of minor disappointment. She didn't think she'd do that badly.

Whatever the case, The battle had been over in a matter of minutes, with Abigail emerging as the victor in the little battle.

~

Winner: Abigail and Nidoran!
(Flawless Victory!)

Abigail gave a small sigh. She figured Cerise would be pretty bad - but honestly, she didn't do too horribly in her opinion. For someone with zero experience, she did fairly...decent. Though, it was more on that Natu's part then anything. That little guy...well, that guy was certainly a good pokemon. If Cerise learned how to fully use that Natu, she'd probably be a pretty good trainer. She placed a hand on her chin, thinking a bit about what she should do. She didn't really want to tutor Cerise - she had better things to do, but she supposed she could give her a few more tips later. It'd be up to her to do her own homework, though. She wasn't going to hold her hand.

"Niiiiido!~" A small cry and something rubbing her leg brought her out of her thoughts. Tyrian was at her feet, looking up at her with a bright, pleased smile. She chuckled at bit at that, but started walking over to Natu with Tyrian following right in her footsteps. Cerise was standing next to Natu who was still recovering. The redhead looked a bit unsure as to what exactly she should be doing, earning a small sigh and annoyed look from Abigail. Really? Did she really not know what to do once she lost?

...wasn't that hard to believe, really. Cerise wasn't exactly used to losing things.

"Ah...uhm...Abigail." She said, looking a bit upset. "How...uh, how did I uhm, perform?" It was rare to see her hesitating like this, especially if it was just the two of them.

...it was kind of cute, really.

"Honestly? You're terrible." She replied, earning a small sigh and a frown from Cerise. "But...well, you're not entirely hopeless. That Natu of yours is pretty good. Someone went through a lot of trouble breeding that guy. If it was against someone else other than me, you could have very well won." At this Cerise seemed to perk up a bit. Did...did Abigail just praise her? She said she wasn't entirely hopeless, at least! A small, happy smile formed on her face at the praise.

"Well, I can't possibly be as good as you will ever be!" Cerise replied. "I mean-" Abigail didn't let her finish. Instead, she gave her a small whack on the head, making Cerise give an almost too adorable sounding noise.

"Don't get ahead of yourself, Cerise. I said you're terrible and I meant it." She replied again. Natu seemed to have recovered somewhat, and had picked itself up off of the ground. "You've got a lot to learn if you want to be good. I can teach you the basics, but the rest is gonna be up to you." Abigail was going to teach her personally, then? Ehe~

She liked the thought of that a bit too much.

"Lets go back for now though...I'm hungry, and Natu there needs to recover." Abigail said, scooping up Tyrian.

"Ah, of course. I'm getting a bit hungry as well. Dining sounds wonderful right now. But uhm, Abby dear, how exactly does someone...dine out here in the wilderness?" This earned a look of disbelief from Abigail. Cerise was really, really, out of her element here...



Despite the joy she got out of the fact that Abigail was going to be teaching her, Cerise was rather miffed right now. Really. Really! cook her own food over some sort of campfire or something like some sort of barbarian!? Bah! She had people do that for her! She supposed she could have convinced Abigail to do it for her, but Abigails cooking left a lot to be desired. For the amount of food her friend consumed daily, you'd think she'd be able to cook somewhat decently, but that wasn't true in the least.

She had no illusions that she was completely out of her element here, and she supposed getting five star service out in the middle of nowhere was a bit of a far-fetched idea to begin with...but really. It still kind of annoyed her. Not to mention she'd probably be eating commoner food, of all things! The very thought caused her to shiver slightly out of both fear and disgust. She supposed they couldn't be that bad if Abigail was eating them, but Abby wasn't...well, she'd probably eat anything.

She could have put more thought into this whole thing, but well, she couldn't do anything now...

She sighed, Natu was perched on her shoulder. Her true feelings didn't show on her face, though. She was wearing a mask more suited towards someone who was a bit melancholic. Natu though, looked a bit miffed that it had just royally lost that battle earlier. Its feathers were quite ruffled, and it was busy cleaning the dirt out of them. They must have been quite a sight, it was rather obvious she had just lost a battle. It probably already wanted a rematch.

Well, there would be time for that later. She spotted Yuu next to some girl with a cyndaquil. It also seemed like Yuu had been busy while her and Abigail had a battle. He had caught some impossibly ugly looking pebble. Hm...backwater looking pokemon for a back-water region, she supposed.

Well...now would be a good time to get acquainted with this girl, at least.

"Before anything else happens, my name is Yuu Nozomu... mind if I have the pleasure of knowing yours?"

It seemed like they were introducing themselves. Hmm...now would be a good time to introduce herself, as well.

"I am Cerise Fontaine," She interjected, walking up to the both of them. "Though I do believe we've already been introduced due to...ah, my friends recent rather...uncouth display in the lab." Natu was too busy cleaning the dirt out of his feathers to do anything. "And this is Natu - ignore him if he seems a bit grumpy - I do believe he is just a sore loser." She gave a small smile towards Sophie. "Ah...is the seat next to you taken? Abby seemed to want to get the fire started, and I could some company at the moment after that thorough trouncing she gave us."



After the battle, Abigail made her way back to her tent. Cerise had seemed to wander off somewhere afterwards - most likely to try and be friendly with the others.

It seemed Yuu was going about making a fire for everyone. That was good, then. Apparently he also caught a Geodude somewhere during her and Cerise's little battle. Well, she may have mixed opinions about the guy, but a Geodude wasn't too terrible of a pokemon, unlike that squishy looking Eevee. Well, whatever, she didn't want one...she wanted an Onix. She'd have to make her way to Dark Cave before she was able to find one, though.

For now though, she was busy watching Tyrian play. He seemed to like cashing things - and was currently acting the same way one might expect a cat to. Pouncing on little tufts of grass, chasing falling leaves. Really, it was kind of adorable in her opinion. Hmm...right food. She needed food. She stood up, stretching a bit as she went through her things, pulling out various kinds of food one might expect to find on a camping trip. She hadn't really brought enough to share with the others - she expected the other trainers to be smart enough to bring their own.

If not, tough for them. She wasn't sharing with anyone...except maybe Cerise if she asked nicely. Well, whatever. For now she needed to start a fire. So while Yuu was talking to...Cerise and some other girl, she'd do that. Really, that guy always did everything just halfway. The heck was he doing instead of actually starting a fire or something? Did he not have anything to start it with? Well, whatever, she wasn't going to wait around for that guy.

While the two of them talked, she opted to gather a few twigs and things herself and make the fire. It didn't take her long to find some good sized twigs to give the fire a start, and a few good-sized branches to throw in later to keep the fire going. They'd likely be spending the night here, so having some decent amount of fire wood was mandatory. Going off and getting some in the middle of the night was not a good idea.

After that, she took out a few matches she had taken with her. If Yuu didn't have something as simple as a set of these on him, then he was a goddamn moron. Well, that was actually a given, but still.

Soon, the fire was going strong. Now...how to go about cooking something? She wasn't exactly a cook. The best she could do was canned stuff and instant noodles and other junk foods. So...what should she start with?