"Of Course not. As a matter of fact my buisness here is concluded so I'll be on my way." He said cheerily and turned to leave. Raven wasn't sure how she'd need his permission to buy Pokeballs but that was okay. Hm, he had been thinking about challenging her to a Pokemon battle but she had two and he had one. It would be unfair to both of them. Raven took one last glance around the store at the door. Well he'd gotten what he'd come for so there was no real reason to stick around, after all he had to look around for aonther Pokemon to catch. Maybe he would actually catch one instead of being caught by one. Grinning to himself at the thought Raven waltzed out of the store. It was rather late, he should find somewhere to spend the night.

A strange noise from above prompted Raven to warily reach upwards. It only took him a moment more to discern the orgin of the noise, Oliver had fallen asleep. Raven smiled and carefully removed Oliver from his head. He was snuggled up, fitting in his hat quite nicely, firmly grasping the bag of berries, already half consumed. It was adorable. Raven quietly made his way to a motel, paying for a night. He carefully placed Oliver on the bed, safely protected by in the middle of a small mound of pillows and then made himself comfortable. Raven stretched out and made himself snug beneath the covers, taking one last look at Oliver, unable to resist a smile once more. Today had been a good day and tommorow was certain to be ever better!

Leisy waved goodbye to Raven as he left. He was rather nice—much more so than the girl named Olivie who Leisy had met earlier yesterday. But then again, being nice wasn’t the be all-end all, and Leisy believed that every person had their own redeeming characteristics.

”Can I get a Pokeball?” Leisy asked, walking up to the Pokemart counter. The clerk smiled politely.

“Of course. You were here yesterday, right? Bought a Pokeball as well?” the clerk asked, pulling out the classic red-and-white device. “You should probably consider buying more than one—just in case you don’t make it back to town in time. It’s always good to be prepared.”

Leisy listened with wide eyes. It hadn’t even occurred to her that she could buy more than one Pokeball, although she could see the sense in it. She glanced at the bird Pokemon beside her briefly, a smile toying on her face. ”Then could I get…” Leisy frowned. ”How many should I get? Is there anything I should save up to buy right now?”

“As a beginner, Pokeballs are probably the best investment you can make,” the clerk told her with a friendly smile. “That is, until you start battling.”

”Battling!” Leisy echoed, eyes wide. She’d almost completely forgotten that Pokemon trainers honed their skills through battling. How could she forget the awe-inspiring portraits of trainers and their Pokemon duking it out in the massive coliseums? Leisy realized that if she was ever going to make her name on the battlegrounds, she’d have to first build up her team. ”I’ll take five Pokeballs then. That’s the maximum I can buy, right?” Leisy asked, handing her Pokedex over. The clerk scanned it, nodding when he saw the number.

“Five Pokeballs coming right up,” he said, pulling out the five flawlessly red-capped capsules. “Hope the next time I see you, you’ll have a full team. Oh and please don’t bring all of them in at once.”

”I’ll keep that in mind,” Leisy said, waving to the clerk as she walked out of the store. ”Thanks!”

---

It took a few seconds for it to sink in that he’d just been hit with a water gun shot by a Mudkip. The blue-and-orange Pokemon glared up at him with narrowed eyes, chattering angrily.

”Ho—a Mudkip!” Cillian said, recovering. He glanced towards Hazmat. ”Haz, tackle!”

A brief silence ensued as the Mudkip braced itself for impact, but nothing came. Both Cillian and the Mudkip looked towards the orange lizard Pokemon that was busy staring at a Wurmple crawling into the bushes. Cillian groaned. ”Haz!”

Hazmat looked to his trainer, a smile forming on his face upon being summoned. It dimmed a bit, however, when he saw his trainer glaring at him again.

”Hazmat!” Cillian repeated, sighing. ”What am I going to do with you?”

The Mudkip didn’t have time for all this though, and it promptly turned to leave. It hesitated. It wasn’t worth going back to sleep after it had been so rudely awoken, and it didn’t expect to fall asleep anyways with the human talking sternly down to its Pokemon. A mischievous grin stretched across its face as it aimed another water gun at the white-haired trainer and his Pokemon.

---

@balthazar007 Leisy bought 5 Pokeballs (haha, spending those points...)

Awoken by a sudden amount of noise and barking coming from on his riled up Pokemon Damian slowly sat up. "what is it fire heart?" he asked in curiosity as the Pokemon barked loudly. Fire heart bounced on the bed barking at the window signifying for Damian to have a look. Damian got up and looked out the window where he noticed a boy fighting a Pokemon. "holy crud. There are other trainers around me I had no idea! "Damian shot up with a large amount of excitement as he got dressed.

Damian sleepily yet excitedly trudged down the steps trying to see if he could make it outside before the other trainer left. He finally made it to the first floor and he ran outside. He hoped he hadnt missed the other and he ran around the corner. As he ran he tripped over his two feet. And the boy wearing his black and red trainer outfit face planted into the ground. concerned fire heart rushed over and started licking his trainers face. "ah fireheart stop it. I'm fine I'm fine" the boy laughed and pet his Pokemon.

Outside the Pokemart the sky was still dark, although faint traces of the sun could be seen in the greying black sky. If Leisy had to make a guess, she’d guess that it was just around five AM, but she wasn’t a clock and she couldn’t make such assumptions.

“Let’s head on home and take a quick nap before starting the day?” Leisy asked, looking down at Naunet before glancing at Bidein. While the Piplup was still holding strong with droopy eyelids, Bidein had long since given up, currently dozing contently on Leisy’s shoulder. Leisy smiled in amusement, too tired to laugh at this point. ”C’mon then, Naunet. Here, let me just,” Leisy said, picking the Piplup off the ground and nestling Naunet in her arms, ”carry you around.”

The faint smile hung on Leisy’s face as she waved a sleepy goodnight to the nurse at the counter in the Pokemon Center and headed to the back. Arriving at her room, Leisy fumbled around her pockets with one hand before managing to maneuver the plastic card into the scanner and opening the door. ”’Night, Bidein, Naunet,” she murmured sleepily before drifting off herself.

---

This time Cillian wasn’t the only one to be drenched by the water gun, a fact that became apparent when the Charmander beside him let out a splutter of protest, backing up. Shaking the water off, Hazmat cried in protest and dashed back up the banks of the river towards the city limits. Cillian groaned, but he knew he should fault his Pokemon. It’d been clear that Haz was the type to be light-hearted and happy, and Cillian had spent the night trying to force his Pokemon to fight.

”Alright Haz, you win,” Cillian said, sighing and walking up the bank to join the Charmander. ”Let’s go back to town then.”

Down at the banks the Mudkip still hadn’t had enough. After being so rudely awakened, the most it had done was shoot a couple water guns at the perpetrators. That wasn’t enough at all, and it dashed up the riverbank to catch up to the trainer and his Pokemon, chattering loudly to get their attention. “Mudkip! Kip, kip!”

Cillian looked down and stared at the Mudkip for a few seconds, confused. He and Hazmat were leaving. Admitting failure. What was the wild Pokemon doing?

And then it hit him. ”You want to come along?” Cillian asked, kneeling down to the Mudkip’s level. The Mudkip looked taken aback for a moment before recovering, nodding with steely eyes. Cillian grinned and pulled out a Pokeball, holding it in front of the blue Pokemon.

“Welcome to the team, Mudkip,” Cillian said as the Mudkip tapped the button and released the beam of light that pulled it into the Pokeball.

---

@balthazar007 Cillian caught a Mudkip

@LuckyBlackCat

Tommy and the band came out a few minutes after Cici arrived and put on their set. Overall, the show lasted until about midnight before the place was empty of it's customers and the band packed up, leaving before Tommy, who collected his pay, along with a gift of around three weeks worth of food for both himself and Cici from the owner for their trip. As Amica too up her spot on his head, Tommy turned to Cici. "Well, I hope you enjoyed the show tonight. Jazz is a good set of tunes to play, but I like to mix it up." He lead the way back up the steps to the street and stopped, breathing in the night air.

"You know, it's hard to believe that it's taken me four years to finally decide to do this. Guess the idea of being forced to play in the orchestra was enough to make me move my butt." He chuckled and turned to Cici. "If it's not too nosy, what's your reason for becoming a trainer?"

♪♫♪ Cecilia "Cici" Taylor ♪♫♪

Location: Central City

@Zarkun

Well, it wasn't the kind of gig Cici was used to going to, but it had been pretty good. Forte seemed to have enjoyed it, as had the Swablu, who had spent most of the evening perched on Cici's shoulder, looking hungrily at her snacks even though she'd been given plenty of her own.

"Yep! We all did," she said with a grin. Despite the dark sky, she wasn't all that tired yet. Staying up late was something she was used to - or rather, it was something she'd once been used to. Apart from the occasional times she played alone, she hadn't had much of a reason to stay up recently, until now. "Hey, Dulcet, did you like it?" The Swablu on her shoulder chirped her approval at Tommy.

"Ah well..." She decided she'd keep her story short. "I used to do what you do. As in, play in a band. But things didn't turn out too well, so I guess you could call this making a fresh start." She let her gaze drift towards the distant mountains for a moment before continuing. "Besides, I thought playing gigs would give me a chance to travel... Being a trainer will, at least."

As she walked beside Tommy, she wondered what she'd do in the morning, and where she'd go. Oh well, she didn't have to plan just yet, and it also depended on what Tommy wanted to do. They'd both figure something out.

Leisy woke up with a start, eyes darting around as she realized that she’d overslept. Oh no, I’m going to be late for—school, she thought, calming down as she took in her surroundings. A cozy room in the Pokemon Center, her two Pokemon—Bidein and Naunet—beginning to rouse as well.

”Good morning sleepyheads,” Leisy teased, giving each Pokemon a early-morning scratch under the chin. ”Ready to get the day started with?”

After dressing and packing up, Leisy headed to the front desk to pay—a very reasonable price considering that the rooms at Pokemon Centers offered both showers and a small fridge.

”Thanks!” Leisy told the nurse at the register with a smile and a wave. ”See you again someday!”

I wonder whether I can guarantee that, Leisy thought before shaking her head in amusement. She’d have plenty of time to puzzle over that later. ”Here we go, Bidein, Naunet,” Leisy said with a cheery smile. ”Second day as a Pokemon trainer starts… Now!”



”Er, after food,” Leisy quickly amended with an awkward smile, her feet carrying her over to the nearest diner.

---

Now with a second Pokemon to his name, Cillian was feeling invigorated. The spring in his step only served to make him seem more giddy and childish, but he didn’t care. He now had a grumpy water Pokemon to balance out his happy go-lucky fire one.

”Now that you two are teammates, we can finally have training matches,” Cillian said, chattering away as both of his Pokemon toned him out. (Well actually only the Mudkip did. Hazmat was much too engrossed in staring at the fluffy buneary the group passed to pay much attention to his trainer.) ”Of course Mudkip would be barred from using any water moves since he has that distinct advantage, and it’s only fair that Haz also gets barred from using his type-specialized moves in turn, and… ”

“Kip,” Mudkip said quietly to Hazmat as the human droned on and on, rolling his eyes to show the Charmander how he felt about the whole “training” business. “Mud. Kip.” (“Hey Charmander, how. Do you put up with him?”)

“Char?” the Charmander asked, tipping its head in confusion. “Char, Char?” (“What do you mean? He’s a nice person, isn’t he?”)

“Mud,” the Mudkip said, sighing. “Mud—Mudkip. Mudkip.” (“Nevermind. My fault—I shouldn’t have expected you to understand. You let him call you ‘Hazmat.’”)

“Char! Char, Charmander!” Hazmat shot back quickly, crossing his hands as he staunchly defended his trainer. (“Hey! Trainer gave named me that name, and it means something special!”)

Cillian looked down, pausing in his extended monologue to glance between his two Pokemon. ”Are you two listening to me?” he asked, eyebrows scrunching. The Mudkip closed its eyes and kept walking too dignified to deign him with a response. Hazmat, however, was kinder.

“Char!” he said, looking at his trainer with a bright smile. Cillian sighed, patting the Charmander’s head. At least he could count on one Pokemon to always answer him.

Damian stood up from the group d and dusted himself off. As he did so he noticed the boy he had seen only moments ago from his hotel room. Damian shouted to the boy trying to flag him down "hey there wait up" he shouted to the other boy as he ran towards him his growlith running along side. He continued towards him quickly trying to catch up.

Fire heart barked happily as he ran along side damian. He panted and ran trying to keep up.

Damian slid as he couldn't come to a complete stop. He slammed into the other boy knocking them both to the ground. He jumped off him in shock as he backed away. "oh my God I am so sorry for that". He said feeling quite stupid. He had no idea the ground would be so slick this morning. It was still a little early but that usually doesn't effect his ability to stop. "that is so my bad"

Fire heart noticed the other two Pokemon and at first glance he got defensive and glaired at them barking.

"hey buddy calm down" damian said petting his growlithe trying to keep him calm as he lent his hand out to help up the other boy.

@Dusksong

Raven woke up to, predictably enough, Oliver pawing at him. Raven brushed the paw away and slowly began the process of waking up. Speed up by a quick cold shower, Raven, now feeling rather invigorated grabbed his stuff and made his way out of the hotel, Oliver in his usual spot. What to do now? Look for a new pokemon, aaaaaand found someone to have a battle with! Where to look for his next pokemon? The water? The forest? The water in the forest? Yeah! Raven eagerly began running towards the forest just out of town, ready to look for a new Pokemon and maybe someone to battle if he was lucky. Oliver could barely hang on in the rush of frantic energy. Raven was a morning person. Or perhaps he hated cold showers. He'd surely slow down once he realized he'd forgotten breakfast, the most important meal of the day.

Exiting a good restaurant with a bag of leftovers for the road was perhaps the best thing that had happened to Leisy that morning. Actually, it was the best thing considering that it’s only seven or so in the morning, Leisy realized. Looking down at her satiated Pokemon, Leisy beamed. Second day as a trainer was going to be even better than the first.

”Alright you two, we need to catch a few more Pokemon,” Leisy said, remembering her conversation with the Pokemart clerk the day before. If she was going to become a real Pokemon trainer, she would have to build up her team. ”Do you two happen to know any good places to find Pokemon?”

Her question was met with silence as Bidein cocked his head questioningly while Naunet simply let out a satisfied burp, blushing after she did. Giggling, Leisy patted the Piplup on the head reassuringly. ”It’s alright, Naunet. We’re a non-judgemental team,” Leisy said, smiling down at the Pokemon. Bidein chattered quietly, and Leisy gave him a playful, narrow-eyed glare. ”Dei, sass is not allowed this early in the morning.”

Bidein chirped, which Leisy took to be the equivalent of an eye-roll in Fletchling-nese. Laughing, Leisy gave the robin a scratch under the head. ”Feeling sassy today, Dei?”

---

”Whoa there!” Cillian said, eyes wide as a brown-haired boy came crashing into him. They both fell to the the floor, landing in a awkward position, but recovered quickly enough. The other boy apologized quickly, honest emotion echoed on his face. ”It’s fine, really,” Cillian said, taking the boy’s hand and hoisting himself up off the ground. Dusting his pants off, Cillian calculated the damage. His white shirt was totaled, but that was okay. He packed quite a few spares, predicting something like this would happen.

”Your Growlithe is really excitable,” Cillian observed, scanning the orange-black Pokemon with an appraising eye. ”Fresh-caught?” Cillian asked, crossing his hands behind his head with a grin. ”Mine too. I guess we’re both newbie trainers here, unless you’re hiding some powerhouse in those pockets. Cillian Weiss,” Cillian said, reaching a hand out to the other trainer. ”Second day trainer.”

---

@kiritoasuna

"damian green" he said with a happy smile as he firmly shook the cillians' hand. "it's very nice to meet you" he added with a smirk. Damian heard the comment about the 'powerhouse' Pokemon and laughed a little. "not at all"he said with a chuckle [color=00aaeef"I am a fresh trainer as well. As for fire heart here"[/color] he said patting his pokemons head. "he's my first catch, but we bonded quickly."

Damian turned to his Pokemon and pat his head. Fireheart wagged his tail in excitement as he was pet happy to receive the attention"so what brings you to Central? " he asked the boy in general curiosity. Before becoming a trainer Damian had been to Central many times for Pokepagents but he had never seen this boy before. He was intrigued whether or not he was from around the area. @Dusksong

Cillian grinned as the two boys shook hands. ”Fireheart? Cool name,” he remarked, looking at the Growlithe. ”A fire Pokemon named after his heart of fire—you gotta work to live up to that name, little pup.”

Shrugging, Cillian made a general indication towards the area. ”Central’s the biggest city for miles, and I thought it’d be a nice place to start out. Has a nice variety of Pokemon too, as we’ve both seen.” Looking back at Damian, Cillian raised an eyebrow. ”What about you? Why’re you starting your journey at Central?”

---

@kiritoasuna

Raven came around a corner and three things happened. One, his stomach rumbled. Two, he smelled delicious food. Three, his eyes locked on Leisy on her bag of food. He ground to a halt and stared for a moment. A few seconds of calculation and he came up with an idea. Ravne quickly strode up infront of Lesiy and said boldly, "Heya there, I meet the black cat again. Whad'ya say we have a Pokemon battle. If I win you give me that bag of food. If you win, uh, you can ask me for 1 favor. Deal?" Raven asked, sticking a hand out for a shake. It was implusive but Raven had never really been the sort to think things through. Could he have just bought some food? Yes. But this was different! He could have a Pokemon battle, possibly get food, and be better friends with Lesiy! At least that's how trainer battles were supposed to work, or so he'd heard. Oliver was also staring intently at the bag of food, equally interested.

Damian gave a small smirk at the boys response to his pokemons name. He was happy that someone agreed that the name was good other than himself ant his Pokemon. Damian looked around at the area. "well I'm here because i have been here many times before" he said with a chuckle.

Damian knew it sounded weird that he had been here a lot even though he didn't really live in the area. To him it was natural to say this but he didn't think about how it sounded to someone else. Being aoagent judge he had to travel a lot but now that he was a trainer he had something to do in his off time. "honestly it's easier to start somewhere your familiar with".

Damian reached down and pat fire heart on the head and smiled at the other boy briefly. "not to mention the abundance of good Pokemon"@Dusksong

Leisy’s eyes widened at Raven’s challenge, simultaneously surprised and excited. She’d just been challenged to her first Pokemon battle!

”Deal!” Leisy said, slapping her hand into the boy’s with a big grin just as common sense began to kick in.

Oh no, Leisy thought, eyes widening again. What am I doing? I only have two Pokemon, and I’m accepting a battle with somebody I’ve only met once. For all I know his Eevee might be crazy powerful and this might as well be some sort of suicide mission I just signed my Pokemon up for, Leisy thought, biting her lip as she looked down at her two Pokemon. And which one to battle with! Eevee is normal-type, I think, which would mean there’s no type advantage I think, Leisy thought, trailing off as distress welled up. Wait, Eevee can evolve into a lot of different types, right? So maybe it knows some type-based move and—

Leisy gave Raven with a nervous smile. ”Er, would you mind if I pulled out my Pokedex and scanned your Pokemon real quick? I’m still pretty new to this whole battling thing.”

---

@eklispe

Raven shrugged, a little confused at Leisy's sudden concern, "Sure, but I get yours too." He said with a friendly smile, excited to be getting into a battle. In fact he hadn't considered scanning her Pokemon but it was actually a good idea. Raven took out his Pokedex and scanned her Pokemon, taking a few steps back as he did so. "Alright Oliver, first battle, you ready to fight for your food!?" Raven asked/shouted to hype them both up. Oliver jumped down and landed in front of Raven, staring at the bag of food hungrily. Both Raven and Oliver were clearly ready to begin. Oh this was gonna be fun. Raven didn't know if Leisy planned on using both her Pokemon but since he had been the one that issued the challenge he was fine with it. He had a feeling Oliver would be a pretty tough bugger when it came down to a fight, especially over food. That and he wasn't overly worried about losing, it was no big deal either way, it would just be better to win.

Leisy nodded vigorously in agreement. It was only fair that Raven got to read up on her Pokemon as well. Pulling out her Pokedex, Leisy aimed it at the Eevee and watched as the mine of information revealed its riches. The header both confirmed what she already knew and put forth new information.



Leisy glanced through the moves typical Eevee’s learned, relieved to see that they didn’t naturally learn moves like water gun and vine whip. Well, Leisy thought, internally grimacing at her own lack of thought, it’s not like an Eevee has any vines in the first place.

Looking up at Raven, Leisy realized that the boy seemed to be challenging her with only one Pokemon. Does that mean he only has one? Leisy thought, but brushed it off. If she was getting challenged with a single Pokemon, she would fight with a single Pokemon as well. Leisy glanced down at her Pokemon, both of whom looked determined to win. However, neither of her Pokemon had ever been in a battle and what better chance to train both of them than to enter them both in a battle over food?

”Would you mind if I entered both of my Pokemon?” Leisy asked, frowning. ”We can up the reward if you win—I’ll treat both of you to a meal.”

---

Cillian nodded, agreeing with what the boy said on the most part. ”Definitely good to start where you know the highs and lows, but where I come from,” Cillian said, looking down at his Pokemon, ”I’d be expected to start of with something like a Weedle or a Rattata, which isn’t exactly what I’m gunning for, you see?”

”Well then,” Cillian said, looking back up at the boy, ”I won’t stop you for any longer. The day’s just begun and I need to visit the Pokemart to get some more Pokeballs. I’m sure you have things to do too though. Unless you wanna tag along,” Cillian added, shrugging. ”I’m just off to catch more Pokemon.”

---

@kiritoasuna@eklispe

♪♫♪ Cecilia "Cici" Taylor ♪♫♪

Location: Central City

@Zarkun

Cici woke up to an unearthly shriek. "What the... Ow!" She whacked her head on the upper bunk as she sat bolt upright. Oh, right... She wasn't at her place. She was in one of the rooms at the Pokecentre. Beside the bed, the Whismur screeched at her.

"Forte? What's wrong?" she said, clambering out of bed, nearly falling over as the sheets got tangled around her legs. Forte stopped shrieking and sighed as if to say, "finally".

"Oh... okay..." Cici let herself relax a little as she glanced at the window. Sunlight streamed in through a gap in the curtains. "You were just trying to wake me up, huh? Well, it certainly worked... oh, no..." Her relaxation was short-lived. Opening her Pokedex, she checked the time. "Aw, crap..." She hurriedly showered and dressed, not even bothering to tie her hair back, letting the damp tangles straggle over her shoulders. Grabbing her bag and slinging her guitar across her back, she paid at the desk and left the Pokecentre, her two Pokemon following close behind.

Ugh... The rush hadn't been enough to fully wake her. She badly needed her coffee, but there was no time to go to the Pokecentre's cafeteria. When she got to the sandwich shop, the person she'd arranged to meet was nowhere in sight.

There was no point in worrying too much. Tommy didn't seem like the type who'd get annoyed easily and leave without her. Maybe he was late too, or she just hadn't noticed him yet in her dozy state. After ordering a coffee, she dragged herself to one of the outdoor tables and slumped down into a chair. She sipped at the liquid, hoping it would make her feel more like a human being and less like a Slaking under the effect of a sleep-inducing move.

A surprsingly friendly voice cordially informed Raven

Fletching: These friendly Pokémon send signals to one another with beautiful chirps and tail-feather movements.
Piplup: Because it is very proud, it hates accepting food from people. Its thick down guards it from the cold.

Raven lauged a little at Piplup's Pokedex entry. "Aw come on, accepting food from people isn't that bad." It seemed awfully pointed at the moment but that was alright. Lesiy's request didn't even faze him, "Certainly, as the challenger its my duty to accept your stipulations! Plus your Pokemon are kinda cute. Guess they take after their owner." He said with a confident wink. Oliver looked over the two Pokemon it would be facing and a smirk briefly passed over his face, as those he was completely confident he could beat a undersized bird and a penguin. Raven was pleased to see Oliver wasn't backing down from the challenge, this meant they could both face it with full force!

Leisy colored at Raven’s joke but quickly recovered herself, calming her mind. The battle was about to start, and she couldn’t afford any mistakes like the one she’d made with the Clauncher yesterday. Looking down at her Pokemon, Leisy was relieved and reinvigorated to see that they both looked determined and up for the fight. Two against one shouldn’t be against my favor, Leisy thought, glancing to the opponent’s Eevee. Although the mammal Pokemon looked bigger in size and weight than Bidein, Leisy knew that most battles weren’t won by brawn but rather by brain and skill.

”Let’s do this, Bidein, Naunet,” Leisy said, walking away from Raven to open up a respectable distance for the Pokemon battle. ”Ready when you are!” Leisy said, looking first to Naunet. ”Naunet, time to test out your skills.”

---

@eklispe