Regan chuckled and rolled her eyes, "and a sense of humor, too." This path, she said. This was the kind of company she preferred. Perhaps she panicked slightly earlier, when she left the company of that... Affluent young man. That young man's attitude had been something so foreign to her, she wasn't prepared for it.

The young lady turned the question around on her. "Oh, just that I enjoy working with Pokemon. I used to be a trainer, but I retired after my second attempt at the league. I'd had my fill of battling, thought to put my talents to use helping travelers, and here we are. I can use my talents as a trainer for just that. And to help a future professor, well! Feels like an important assignment, even if we're just looking into a missing wild Onyx." Like she was guarding the future or something, but she should be careful with such grandeur.

@Salenea
Lucian showed some signs of calming down, but you could tell he was still on edge. "My sister... She's here." he muttered. He looked to Gardevoir and Umbreon, scared to what she will do to them if he gets caught. "We need to get to my house, and fast."

Gardevoir nods, telling Gabe and his Pokemon "Alexandra is th embodiment of jealousy and cruelty. How her Pokemon stay with her is beyond me"

Lucian picks up Umbreon, ready to leave. "Ready to go?" He asks Gabe

Henri looked at the new Pokémon, one that would be immune to ground attacks, but not against rock. The quick Aerial Ace had Rhydon unable to defend himself, Maybe it didn't hurt much, but it did hurt. A roar of pain sounded when he was hit with the Metal Claw, but he remained standing and looked at the Ninjask, ready to strike back.
"Nice combination," Henri said. "Rhydon, Scary Face!"
The Rhydon put his feet firmly in the sand, rose his arms to the sky and roared as he made the best scary face he could muster.

Sarah's lips curled upwards when Regan rolled her eyes. It wasn't her first goal in life to entertain others but it always felt good if it was well-received. Sarah never had been very social but Regan was pleasant company. She appreciated it when others were skilful, resourceful and knew what they want in life. Besides, when she would be a pokemon reseacher she would have to learn to work with others and this might be a good experience.

Sarah nodded, she shared the sentiment to enjoy working with pokemon. It beats working with people all day. She felt a pang of annoyance when Regan mentioned 'just looking into a missing wild Onyx.' Of course it was important otherwise the professor wouldn't have asked. And it was very important to her as it was for her education. But the tone in which it was said didn't strike her haughty or something, Regan did seem to genuinely enjoy the assignment so far. And if Sarah was honest a lot of people wouldn't even bother about a pokemon.

"You definitely have more experience than I have. I travelled and trained but I mostly studied. I quickly found out that battling just to battle wasn't my thing. I never even did the league. I travelled to the Indigo Plateau to watch the league and observe the trainers and their pokemon." Sarah sighed, "I'm good with pokemon but not a great adventurer." She glanced at Regan. "It is a good assignment to start with, great way to get a good feel about this island. And it is a good assignment for me to get a good grade and get some of the teachers off my back. That and seeing the Onyx for once myself." Not that she needed this assignment to pass the year, her grades were good enough.

------------------------------------------
Gabe frowned confused, he didn't see why it was that bad that his sister was here. Sure sisters could be a nuisance but couldn't imagine why someone would panic over a sister being near.
But he nodded.
"Sure, let's go. This way." Gabe said as he led the way. "We can take a shortcut by not following the road. And if we keep a good pace we'll be there in no time."
He paused, "Why is your sister being here a bad thing?" he finally asked.

Mareep looked worried, "What will she do when she finds you guys?" she asked while she was following Gabe.

If she'd been watching, she might have caught that twinge of annoyance. It wasn't that she didn't respect the assignment. Just that, as far as assignments for a Ranger went, this one felt pretty easy.

Aah, but maybe she should let the student take the lead on this one, in the first place. It was a better way to learn than just watching someone else do all the work. She made a mental note to take a backseat, and only help as a second set of hands.

"It took me a while to understand that battling," she searched for words for a moment, "isn't my thing, though I already told you that part. It's a good feeling, traveling to help people rather than searching for yet greater strength. I think I'm satisfied with what I've obtained, anyway."

"You haven't seen the Onyx before, huh? Hm. Well, it's not like it'll be hard to spot. Probably." She reminded herself that she was with a student. She was probably here just for her safety, and not because there was anything serious going on with the Onyx. The student was going on order to learn, as students do.

"Ah, so. You were a trainer, what Pokemon do you carry with you? I've got a Poliwhirl, named Kawaken, and Rapier follows me everywhere."@Salenea

Henri chuckled. "Well, I mean, it lowering the speed was a nice side-effect,I mainly wanted to see your Pokémons reaction. Not too long ago I had a Pokémon flee the arena after that move." As he talked he kept an eye on the Ninjask doing its Aerial Ace which all his Rhydon could do against was brace himself.
"Smackdown," he ordered.
After being hit with the Aerial Ace, followed by the Metal Claw, the Rhydon panted but rose his arm. An orange orb formed in the paw and he moved to smack the Ninjask into the sand with as much force as he could gather.

Sarah could relate to Regan words, well not the helping people part for her it was helping pokemon instead of people, but she shared the sentiment that she was satisfied with what she obtained so far in strength. She had learned about her pokemon and knew their strengths and weaknesses.

She glanced amusedly when Regan said it probably wouldn't be hard to spot. there was a reason not everyone passing there saw the Onyx, it could prove to be a more difficult assignment then it seemed. Sarah hoped it would be easy to find though. but a rocky area was a great camouflage for the big pokemon.

"I hope we'll find the Onyx soon but no guarantees, it is the perfect spot for an onyx to hide." Sarah paused. "I have a Bulbasaur, Girafarig and an Abra. I do plan to catch some more pokemon on the islands though." she paused. "Which reminds me, I just recently caught a Weedle too. I have a few pokemon in mind that would like to add to the team to make it more balanced. And suitable for the Rorie League because even if I wanted to I can't compete with my current ones, unfortunately."

Sarah followed the path further, it was easy enough to walk although one would have to be careful for little bumps and holes in the path. Or vines or roots that crossed the path. she kept her eyes open for any wild pokemon. Eventhough most wouldn't bother with humans, some could be territorial or just a pain. The Spinaraks were a good expample of those.

"It'll be hard to spot directly, maybe, but it should be easy to find its tracks. They'll be larger than a normal Onyx' tracks, which aren't hard to find when they're there, and we've got an eye in the sky. Unless he's taking measures to cover his tracks, but that would only raise the question of why. We'd have quite the clever Onyx on our hands, too."

"Ooh, you have a Girafarig. I've never seen one in person before, they've got quite an interesting look to them. That rear head is somethin' else..." Regan had been flipping through the paper pokedex she borrowed from the Rangers, while she was waiting for the boat to come pick them all up to bring them to the islands. She preferred an actual book to those back lit screens. There had been a picture, documenting a Girafarig and a trainer.

"A Weedle? Not a bad catch. Speakin' of bug types, I wonder if there are any Heracross around here... hey, wait, you've still got an eye on competing? If you aren't interested in battling, itself, then you must be," she thought for just a moment, "going to study something? Perhaps a more detailed study on how a trainer affects a pokemon, or the like. Have I got it right?"

@Salenea

@BladeSS4 Henri nodded when the Ninjask was returned, that was a good call. Not all trainers knew when to stop.
When the Absol came to the field, Henri examined it and smiled. This would be an interesting battle. The Shadow Ball flew across the arena and hit the Rhydon.
Henri could see the Rhydon was getting tired, but he figured he'd have enough strength left for another attack. "Horn Attack," he said.
The Rhydon lowered his head and charged to the Absol, keeping the horn pointed at his opponent.

The Psycho Cut hit and Rhydon stumbled back, falling down on the sand of the arena.
"Return," Henri said as he aimed the Pokéball at his fallen Pokémon. He took a moment to examine the Absol, tapping on his belt as he did. "You seem to have some good moves," he said. "I was thinking about using Marowak, but I want to see how you do against this one." He aimed a Pokéball to the sand and tapped on it. "Come out, my friend," he said and the ball opened. A white light emerged and when it faded it revealed a small Diglett in the middle of the sand.
"Diglett," the Pokémon said, looking at his opponent.
"Mud Slap," Henri ordered and from beneath the sand two balls of mud were thrown at the Absol.

Sarah nodded. Regan made some good points she ad to contemplate about. The Onyx would sure leave tracks unless it didn't move through the dirt. It was a good thing they had eyes in the sky, from above it would be easier to see. That the onyx was clever was something Sarah was sure of. she only hoped it wasn't too clever for its own good.

Her thoughts got brought back to the here and now when Regan mentioned Girafarig. She reached for the right Pokeball and let out her Girafarig. "This is Gira, and yes, watch out for the tail. The tail has a mind of its own and it bites. I often ride on her." The Girafarig was larger than average and since Sarah was below the average of height she could sit on Gira's back. Gira looked curiously at Regan, making sure the tail was behind both women.

Sarah hadn't seen Heracross but she wasn't sure. As far as knew it wasn't listed as pokemon that were seen on the islands.
she smiled when Regan got to her conclusion. "Very insightful of you. I have no interest in battling but indeed I am intrigued by the pokemon-trainer relations, so how a pokemon affects its trainer but also the other way around: how a trainer affects their pokemon. Secondly, I want to see how caught pokemon change compared to same wild ones. Which means lots and frequent observing wild ones in the area I caught one." Sarah did realise that a lot of pokemon had different personalities and all trainers had their own way, but she had observed different trainers in the past. The next step was experiencing it herself with a careful set up project. "I still need to work out some details though but that is the general plan."

@CitrusArms

"Whoa," Regan took a half step back. She hadn't expected it, "that's a big one, isn't it?" According to the Pokedex, it should be appreciably shorter than she was. It had said specifically, but she couldn't remember that much. This one must be bigger, then. "Heh, you ride her? I suppose she's big enough, you could, yeah. I probably shouldn't, but I bet it looks super cute when you do."

"That's about the only reason I could think of for a researcher to want to participate on the league." There was a problem, though. If she wasn't going to aim for the top, then she shouldn't participate. Was there a desire, any at all, to stand at the top? "It's the best place to find a lot of great trainers and Pokemon. Tracking down hermits and recluses can be so much work. If you're not there for battling, itself, though, how are you going to come at it? Are you still going to try to win the league?"

Regan smiled at the psychic Pokemon. Already feeling mellow, she didn't feel the need to regulate her mind in front of this psychic type. She reached up calmly to pet Gira's neck. "I used to ride from town to town on a Flygon, when I needed to get somewhere quick. The way they sing through the air is so soothing."

Henri watched as the Shadow Ball grew and grew before it was unleashed, he had his arms crossed and seemed unphased by the attack. The Shadow Ball hurled towards the Diglett and impacted on the ground. Sand flew in every direction and the attack left a crater. Of the Diglett was no trace.
For a moment there was nothing to be seen, but then there was some movement in the sand. Something moved to the Absol; the Diglett was using his characteristic move Dig. The Diglett had enough time to see the Shadow Ball forming and being released, quickly going under when it was unleashed.

Sarah nodded. "Bigger than average. Although normal sized ones aren't that much shorter than me. I'm just not tall." She didn't know if she looked cute on Gira, she had never seen it, but she could imagine what it looked like. she had seen people on large enough pokemon before.
Sarah looked at her pokemon and smiled. It helped that Gira's was strong, that was for sure. A Girafarig that had less strength would probably struggle but Gira had enough strength, her special attack was weaker compared to others though.

She listened to Regan. Regan definitely made a good point. One she hadn't thought through that much.
While she was thinking Gira came closer to Regan to get petted. This woman seemed nice, Gira was glad her trainer was striking up a conversation with this female.
"I never saw a real Flygon. Only in books." Sarah said before she formulated a response on Regan's question.
"I think that for the best that I do participate in the battling both in the gyms and in the League, not for the thrill of the battles but to test how far my pokemon and I have grown." She paused. "I do plan to give it my all, it will be a nice reward for my team to get as high as we can. It is all valuable for the research and I think the personal experience helps me understand the observed trainers and pokemon better. Perhaps put some things in perspective." Sarah reached in her bag to get her notebook to write that down. That was something she could use to explain to her professors why she wanted to participate in gymbattles and all.

The rocky area was still further up north but the path was already starting to show signs where it was leading too. The further they got from Lilan town the less maintained it was. small rocks and stones were lying on the path and there had been uncareful travellers that sprained an ankle by not paying attention to the ground.

@CitrusArms