@CondorTheMole @MonkeyBusiness

"We are still on Mega-Evolution but Val's team lost the papers she wrote on it." the professor said, looking up at the girl in the door to the hallway. Val began to walk toward the door while the professor continued to chat with Joshua. As she walked away, she heard him ask Joshua something about traveling. What he actually said was, "Would you mind traveling with Val for me. She is doing some field work and I think she might want the help."

Val approached the girl with a suspicious amount of caution. "Hey there, you here for a Pokemon? You seem to be a little late, we're almost out." Val was so focused, she missed the fact that another girl was about to run directly between them and accidentally took a step forward and was knocked to the ground in responce. The girl was quick to get to her feet but Val was slower. After a minute or two, when Val had finally righted herself after some bitching, the black haired girl who had knocked her down smiled and said, "So sorry, I was trying to hurry over to the professsor to get a pokemon egg."

"Well, if you get any information on that or Yveltal, let me know." Joshua said, quickly spotting the situation with the girls. Sighing, he scratched the back of his head and walked over, Absol sticking to to his side. "So, what do we have here? You two seem to be a bit late to the party."

"Well, um... I just... you see..." Amelia said, her nerves getting the better of her. Joshua would only smile as she looked at the ground. He walked over to her and gently placed a hand on her head and ruffled her hair, causing Amelia's face to turn bright red. "No need to tell me anything little Miss. If you're here to grab a pokemon, I think you should head to the Professor over there for now. I need to talk to the Assistant here."

Amelia just silently nodded and moved over to Professor Sycamore while Joshua turned to Val.

"You need to be more aware of your surroundings, you know that?"

Val looked at Joshua, her face begining to turn red at his comment, "Well, I would have been if Lil Miss Sneaky-Pants had given some warning." Giving a chuckle she turned to the girl who wore a pink sweatshirt and baseball cap. The girl looked up at her, being the slightly shorter of the two and said"Hey! I have a name you know, its Sage." The girl gave a small wave as she said her name. She looked at Val and Joshua, tilting her head slightly and questioning, "Have I seen you two before?"

"Nope. I just arrived to this region from Unova. So I'm relatively new to the Kalos area. Might look like a number of people though." Joshua said.

Val tilted her head at the girl in return, clearly confused at how the girl may have seen her before. She might have been less suprised if that had been said to Sycamore but she hadnt been on TV at all since starting work at the Lab. The girl waved a hand in dismissal, then said, "You just look like a couple of people I knew in school a few years back. No big deal." Turning to face the professor, Sage spotted the other girl who had been nearby and looked back to Josh and Val, "Well, I better get what I came here for, maybe I"ll see you two around! And with that, Sage dashed off to speak to the professor.

Sycamore stood by a large cart full of pokemon eggs which were to be given to trainers willing to hatch them. He turned from the sanctuary back toward the hallway that Val and Josh had headed back into moments before. Not too far away stood two girls, one who appeared to be younger and one who appeared to be older. "I assume you two want eggs as well." He reached over and grabbed one as he spoke, then held it out for on of them.

"You're giving away eggs? As in pokemon eggs?" Amelia asked, looking at the egg the professor out in a quizzical manner. She had heard about pokemon eggs and occasionally spied on back home, but this was the first time she had seen one up close. It looked alot more ordinary then she was expecting.

"Of course, would you like one?" the professor asked, kindly addressing the girl.

"Um... do you have any that would belong to Ghost-type pokemon?" Amelia asked nervously.

"I..... I think this one is a Litwik.... I didnt really keep track..." Sycamore said, scratching the back of his head.

"Don't professors know everything about pokemon though?" Amelia asked

"Eggs aint really something Pokemon Professors study. They're more into evolution or types or general info like that. If you want information on eggs, it's best if you talk to a breeder." Joshua said, walking over with Val.

Sage whirled around when she heard Joshua talking, then Sycamore took a few steps forward. "Hes right, the breeder who donated these did a complete inventory just by the appearance of the eggs, I couldnt tell them apart if my life depended on it!"

" And said inventory is where?" Joshua asked.

"Well, umm... I may have handed it over to the breeder afterward, but let me check." The professor rummaged through his lab coat for a minute or two then produced a slightly crumpled list that detailed each pokemon egg and its location in the cart. "Ah, here it is. It says there should be a Litwik generally close to the top, on this side." he said, pointing to the end closer to the group.

How do I get involved with people like this? Joshua thought to himself as Amelia walked over and retrieved the indicated egg from the cart before returning and bowing to the Professor, saying her thanks before turning to leave.

Sage ran over to the cart and took big steps to catch up with the younger girl. "Hey, um... You dont mind if I travel with you do you? I dont really know many people who I can travel with," she said, circling around to her other side.

" Actually, it be best if Val and I joined you both as well, if you're bot getting eggs." Joshua said, looking over at two girls. " If you came across a hostile pokemon out in the wild before those hatched, then you're not going to end up well. Also, the pokemon that come out of them will be rather weak, so you'll need stronger pokemon to back them up. So I guess I'll tag along with the both of you. Val has to come because the Prof. wants her to."

Val scowled at Joshua, then elbowed him hard in the side. "And I was just starting to think that it might be barable with you around," she growled, shooting him a dirty look, prepared to hit him again of needed.

Joshua caught the elbow with his hand and laughed.

" You gotta work on that temper Val. You'll never get a guy with an attitude like that." He said jokingly while preparing to dodge anymore incoming punches, elbows, kicks, or whatever Val threw at him.

"Nice reflexes, jerk," Val gave out a short chuckle before grabbing his shoulders and swiftly raising her knee into a very vulnerable location. Meanwhile, a few feet away Sage leaned over and whispered to Amelia, "They fight like an old married couple, but more..... Violently," then she chuckled.

Amelia only nodded, watching the scene as Joshua blocked Val's knee with his own.

" You know, you're not the first girl to try and do this to me." He said with a small smile on his face.

Val rolled her eyes and turned back to Sycamore, who had conveniently dissapeared onto the balcony of the sanctuary dome. She walked into the doorway that led to the giant glass dome and beconed Josh inside without turning around or speaking a word. Once inside, she reached for the first Pokeball in her belt, tossing it into the air and turning back to Josh. "GO! Gyarados!" she shouted, the enourmous blue water dragon emerged from the small white and red sphere, roaring.

" That's more like it. OI, everyone, prepare for a show!" Joshua shouted before looking at his Absol. The Disaster Pokemon huffed before following his trainer into the sactuary and taking a position a few feet from Val and her Gyarados. Once there, his expression became blank and his eyes cold as the air around him changed from it's normal relaxed atmosphere to one of serious concentration. Whatever else he might be, Joshua in the middle of a battle was definately a different person.

Val noticed the change in Josh almost immediatly as it happened, like the moment a chunk of ice breaks from a glacier. A rush of adrenaline poured through her at the thought of the battle and the victory that she would celebrate afterward. "Gyarados, use Dragon Rage!" she commanded, the pokemon reared back and barreled toward the smaller Absol, a purple beam forming in its mouth.

"Wait for it." Joshua said calmly while his Absol stood it's ground, letting out a low growl.

"What are they doing?" Amelia asked, watching the battle as it began.

Sage turned to face Amelia, ready to answer her question. "Theyre having a pokemon battle, have you ever seen one before?" Any answer the girl may have had was cut off by the loud roar of a Dragon Rage from Gyarados. The purple beam extended from Gyaradoss mouth down to the ground where Absol stood.

"Psycho Cut." Joshua said calmly. Absol growled as it's horn glowed bright purple before swinging it at the beam, releasing a blade of psychic energy. When the two collided, they struggled for a bit before it began cutting through the beam and slammed into the face of the blue water serpent.

Gyrados flew backward from the impact, landing on its back and snaking back to the position it was in, albeit a little less arching than before. Val could tell that Gyarados was hurt, but didnt want to admit defeat just yet. "Gyarados, Hyper Beam!" she commanded yet again, a blinding white beam erupting from her pokemons mouth.

"Dodge and use Night Slash." Joshua said. Absol huffed as it jumped out of the way of the beam and began charging towards Gyarados, it's horn glowing with dark-energy. " Hyper Beam is a powerful move, just like Gyarados is a powerful pokemon. However, all that power means nothing if it's attacks can't hit. My Absol is fast and powerful. Compared to your Gyarados the gap between them, as it currently stands, is like that of the gap between the average Magikarp and Arceus."

While his trainer talked, Absol closed the gap between him and Gyarados while the Water/Flying pokemon was recharging from Hyper Beam and swung it's horn at the bigger pokemon.

Gyrados attempted to duck under the smaller pokemon but had lost too much energy from the last attack, leaving the small white furball to smack right into it with its pointy little horn. Gyrados recoiled to the side slightly from the blow and came back around, coiling itself around where the Absol still hung in the air.

" Alright, I'm bored. Let's see here. Absol has about thirty moves to use and the best one now would be... Absol, use Thunder. " Joshua said. His pokemon smirked before roaring as a bolt of lightning fell from the sky to strike the Water/Flying pokemon.

Gyrados roared as the lightning bolt struck it, then it fell over hitting the ground, its eyes appearing to be "X"s, then its body turned to a red sillouette as Val held her pokeball out for the Gyrados to fade into it. "Gyrados return!" she commanded. Then she walked toward Joshua and extended a hand.

Joshua's expression lost it's cold look and relaxed to it's usual carefree expression as he extended his own hand and shook Val's

" Good try, but this Absol accompanied me throughout all of Unova. Still, given time, you might be able to catch up. Keep at it." He said as Absol walked past Val and stood by Joshua's side, looking at Val over it's shoulder.

"The white pokemon didn't get hurt at all." Amelia commented, turning to Sage. " Does that mean it won?"

Sage looked down at the younger girl and nodded unsurely, "Uhh.. Yeah I guess. Ive never battled before either." Sage turned back to the two older members of the group, then felt the egg she was holding quiver a little bit. "Oh?" she gave a confused look down to her arms where the egg sat.

Val walked over to the girl after giving Joshuas hand a firm shake. "Oh, It looks like its about to hatch!" she said, reaching out to touch the egg.

"It'll still take time though." Joshua said, following after Val. He glanced at the younger girl's before turning to the assistant. "Say, since you an I are traveling together, how about we bring these two along. The more the merrier, right?"

Val hesitated before answering, letting out a soft sigh before saying, "Sure, why not. Its not like we can just let them go alone." The older of the two girls made a small, almost unnoticeable fist pump with one arm, careful not to let the egg slip through her other arm. Val looked down at her and smirked then jokingly said, "Dont act so happy about it, you might get your face stuck like that."

Joshua smiled at the girl's fist bump before looking at the youngest girl in concern. She seemed rather reserved but he knew a journey like this could change that if she had some friends to travel with.

"Alright, introduction then. I'm Joshua, a veteran trainer from Ecruteak Town. This grump by my side is my partner, Absol." He said, causing the canine-like pokemon to glare at him.

" I'm... I'm Amelia Averyonna. I'm from Lavender Town." Amelia said, looking at the ground shyly.

Sage looked around at the group as they said their names, then said, "My names Sage! I was born in Kanto but moved here before I could remember anything."

Val was slightly suprised at the proposed introductions and hesitated at first, then stated, "My names Valentina or Val for short, I used to live in Shalour City untill I came here to be the Professors assistant."

"Right, so now that those are out of the way, how 'bout we get ready to leave this city. First, we need to decide a destination. Any suggestions?" Joshua said

"I'm open for anything." Amelia mumbled

Val looked at Joshua and rolled her eyes. "Didnt Sycamore give you the memo?" she said, anoyed, "Were headed for Glittering Cave, unless these two want their first badge..." She gestured at Amelia and Sage.

"I don't care for badges." Amelia said simply, looking down at her egg.

Sage looked straight into Vals eyes at the mention of badges, "Badges? Like from Gyms? Lets go! Imagine how many people and pokemon will be there! I wanna see them all!"

"Well, there we go. Guess we should head to Shantalune Town then." Joshua said.

"Lets go then," Val sighed, beginning to walk to the labs main exit, Sage in tow.

Joshua smiled down at Amelia and gently ruffled her hair, causing her to blush a bit.

"Come on then. Can't keep them waiting." He said before starting off, Absol by his side.

Amelia smiled. This journey seemed to be off to a promising start. Grabbing herself a pokedex and some pokeballs, as well as some for Sage, she quickly ran after the others, ready to begin this adventure.