Nessie looked back as the Gible attacked the Axew, and she cried out. Solias leaped down off her shoulder to go and help the Axew, while Nessie glared at Adam. "Call your pokemon off! You're such a jerk! She has a right to defend herself against your perverted moves!"

Solias headbutted the Gible, trying to get it to turn its attention to him, without using his electrical attacks which would also attack the Axew.

Torchic danced from foot to foot, wanting to help but not knowing how. Nessie approached Adam, "I said call your pokemon off!" She said once more, "pokemon aren't here for your amusement! They're meant to be friends, not play things!"

She spun about, heart in her throat as she watched Solias, who gave a furious "Pikachu!" at the Gible. "People like you shouldn't have pokemon if all it has is such behaviour. Call it back!" She said, furious herself.

She decided she didn't like Adam, and made a note to stay well away from him, even as she moved to be ready to call Solias back, already returning Torchic to the safety of her pokeball. She held Solias's pokeball ready, but didn't call him back, prepared to stop the Gible if it continued, it Adam didn't call his pokemon back.

She knew she might be overracting, but it ticked her off when she saw things like this, the careless way this pokemon seemed to be raised so that it just did things like that. Pokemon were meant to be friends, loved, but you had to train them well to make them loyal, trusting and not at all ready to just attack another pokemon on site outside of a pokemon battle, and this just made her furious. It might have been considered playing, had its trainer not be an arrogant, sexist jerk trying to get his own way.

Alexandra Telemos, as much as she hated to admit it, was hopelessly lost. She had been full of confidence when she had arrived the previous day, crossing through a crossroads called Vert Plaza, and had gone directly to the gym in the centre of the city. But it had been late, and she had decided to find a hotel and challenge the gym in the morning. But when she tried to find her way back to the Vert Plaza, she had ended up on a magenta one instead. Thinking she had made a wrong turn, she tried to cut through the streets to where she thought Vert Plaza was, but ended up on Bleu Plaza, and when she tried to head back to the gym, she ended up at a hair salon instead. It was all very frustrating and embarrassing, as Alex considered herself an expert on finding her way. Finally, she asked a stranger for directions, and was told there was a hotel at the end of Hibernal Avenue. She had purchased a map of the city, only to find it was a map of Laverre City. So it was almost midnight that Alex finally found her way to a hotel. Exhausted, she purchased a small room and went to bed.

Upon entering her room, Alex released Ender, her Charmander. She thought about releasing her Ponyta Firenze also, but decided that the room was too small for the large fire horse, and her mane might set the curtains alight. Alex undressed, climbed into bed, and fell asleep almost immediately, with Ender curled up at the foot of the bed with his tail held up to protect the bedsheets.

Kaede felt like this was quickly becoming a show. Some sort of Pokemon show, where trainers showed off their partners and such. A Gible suddenly appeared, and chomped down on Lamina’s sail. The small dragon Pokemon snarled and opened her mouth almost immediately, a beam of bluish light coming forth from her mouth. Kaede turned to see the Dragon Rage be launched right at this so called Jaws. This man didn’t know how to take care of his Pokemon and frankly, he was getting on her nerves. He didn’t even introduce himself properly; he simply harassed her before acting as if nothing had happened. She knew that, if the move hit, that it would cause enough damage to Jaws for it to let go of her. Maybe that would serve as a lesson for the punk.

Bracken also got into attack position, his red eyes narrowing at the Trainer. Vines sprouted from his neck and lashed back and forth, awaiting the command from his master. Even though the two Pokemon didn’t get along, Bracken knew that Kaede loved Lamina and that she would be heartbroken if something happened to the Axew.

Anabelle De Tonnancourt ~
Poliwag ♀ - Lvl 10
Sandshrew ♂ - Lvl 10

Lumiose City, Surrounding Forest

---

Anabelle remained motionless and looked as Adam walked past her to take the 'lead', but she remained silent at him boasting about it. She was not a person that believed in hate in general, maybe the guy had reasons for acting like this. No one could put up such an act and be real sincere about it, right? At least that was what Ana was telling herself to keep her cool in face of the man. That being done, she intended to follow behind him but was stop by one of the group's girl who walked up to her. Ana looked confused at the girl's small talk at first, explaining how she lost her map. Not a great subject for a first conversation, but she managed to catch it all up the moment she mentioned she was the one to hatch both her Pokemons. A sparkle of interest shone bright in Anabelle's eyes when they laid upon the Pokemons.

''Really? That is awesome! I wish I could hatch Pokemons myself...but I am not much a breeder myself. I'm more into researches, you know? Also, don't worry about your map, I know the region well enough to not need mine. Here, take it if you want.'' She said while handing the map to Nessie, all that while giving her a fully honest smile. ''I already said it, but my name's Anabelle. Nice to meet you Nessie.''

Next thing Anabelle was ware of was the scene that happened behind both the girls. Adam was at ti again, this time sending his own Gible against the Axew. That Kaede really made it happen, though. It was obvious to Anabelle that Kaede's most redeeming attribute was not her patience for sure. Jetty, Anabelle's Poliwag, stayed close by her just in case.

''Hum...Everyone, please...I'm not sure what's happening but I don't think fighting right now is like...the best of ideas? There are some mean Pokemons here at night, and I'd rather reach Lumiose before then.'' With that being said, and having tried her best to be listened by those who cared to listen, Anabelle decided to get a move on herself and began to walk, closely followed by Jetty.

As Adam turned around to pick up the billiards cue Cyrus had knocked out of his hand earlier, he heard that girl with the Torchic crying about how mean it was that Jaws attacked his Axew. She forcefully demanded he call his Pokemon back. Adam rolled his eyes. Like she had any right to tell him what to do. Did she seriously just say he shouldn't be a Pokemon trainer? Really? And did she just give that same Pokemon should be friends bullshit he'd heard millions of times before?! He knew that already, his Pokemon were like brothers to him. Sometimes brothers fight, it happens sometimes. They still love each other. What the hell was her problem?

At this point, Adam was annoyed. He may have just been fooling around before, but now he was seething. He turned to face her, and threw his arms in the air. "ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!" He put his arms down, and took a deep breath before speaking again. "Look, I know you're a chick, and you chicks cry about everything... but come on! These aren't sissy little Jigglypuffs and Skitties we're talkin' about here! They're Dragon types! Dragons are tough! If her Axew can't handle Jaws, then she's been doin' somethin' wrong."

Right at that moment, Adam turned to Jaws and Lamina, and saw the little green dragon Pokemon opening her mouth wide, and firing beam of light, that was aimed right at Jaws. The move hit the Gible point-blank, and caused enough damage to knock Jaws out, the blue Dragon let go. "See? Do you see her and her Pokemon crying? She's got her shit together!" He ran over to his unconscious Gible, recalled his Pokemon back into the ball. "Good job, buddy! I'll get you to a Pokemon Center soon."

Once Jaws was back in the safety of his pokeball, he turned his attention back to Nessie. "Jeez, if you're gonna be a fuckin' crybaby just because two Pokemon are havin' a battle, I don't know why you'd even become a trainer in the first place! What are you gonna do when you find someone from Team Galatic or somethin' who isn't gonna be so nice? Do ya think they're gonna stand there and take your cryin' bullshit? NO! They're not! Why don't you go runnin' back to whatever little pussy town you came from!"

Inferno then jumped on his trainer's shoulder. "Chimchar, chim!" The Fire type was getting upset by the yelling, and waved his arms wildly.

Adam rubbed his temples for a second. "Ugh, whatever! I'm over it..." With that, he took off in a huff. "Are you all gonna go or not?! I'd like to get to the city sometime today!"

Nessie glared, because as far as she knew, she wasn't crying"You need to go back to school, this is anger, not tears, or didn't your mother teach you the difference between emotions!" Solias was by her side in an instant, not liking the way he was yelling at her. She waved a hand for him not to worry, and said, "There's a difference between a battle, and just being a plain arrogant jerk!" She put Torchic's pokeball away carefully. "You just wanted to show that off, and that isn't a good enough reason for a battle!" Mistreatment of pokemon annoyed her, and thats just what he had done.

She turned away from him, "You are a sexist pig, and no girl will ever like that attitude" She stormed away, moving back towards Anabelle and continued speaking to her as if nothing happened, "My mother is a pokemon breeder, and she taught me everything I Know. I tried so hard to catch a pokemon when I was ten, but to no luck. And then I helped a trainer out with his pokemon, and he gave me Solias's egg in thank you. Oh, I did everything I could to make the egg feel warm and safe, and for it to hatch. Pichu was so cute, and then he evolved into Pikachu, and I loved him even more. When I came here, I found Torchic's egg. I spent a while just in the town back there hatching her, and trained her some, before starting my adventure!" She had calmed down somewhat, and Solias climbed up onto her shoulder. She scratched him behind the ears, and gave Anabelle a smile. "It takes a lot of patience to hatch an egg, but the result is worth it. I wouldn't trade my pokemon for the world, having hatched them. I think I probably know every single pokemon in the pokedex, at least by sight, if not by name. I was an obsessed child" She smiled

Hideyoshi, Michi&Aoi ~
Inkay ♀ - Lvl 10
Beldrum ♂ - Lvl 10
&
Misdreavus ♀ - Lvl 10
Nidoran ♀ - Lvl 10

Lumiose City

---

Michi was about ready to unleash both of his own Pokemons when he heard the commotion behind their new found ally. Quickly enough, however, he calmed down after realizing they knew one another. Seemed like they had been found by yet another member of the Corp. The man would be glad of it if only things were going forward, but as it stood nothing was budging even an inch. His sister was not helping one bit...

Aoi stepped forward, as usual, and gave a full hearted smile at the new comer. He did not seem like the type to give her back a smile, but if she had let everyone who was less cheerful then herself get her mood down before, she'd be about as gloomy as her big brother. No way that would happen!

''Hey there! I'm Aoi, Hideyoshi Aoi. Nice to meet you. So...You two know one another? That's good, it means we get to finally find the place we're looking for all together, right?'' She said, a bit too joyful for a member of the Blackbody. It probably was not running the ranks of the Corporation, but nothing actually prevented such a person from joining them. Michi walked up to his sister and put a hand on her shoulder, sighing heavily. He was becoming hopeless about her, but she was who she was and there was no changing that it seemed. No matter how hard he tried to.

''Alright.'' Michi began talking, ''My name is Michi Hideyoshi. Now that this is done, I understand we have a meeting point that needs finding. So...'' he took out his Beldrum Poké-Ball and threw it into the air, releasing the Pokemon above him. It floated there, waiting for orders. ''...I guess we should get to it?''

Claude sat against the base of the tree, notebook in hand. He had let Prism and Zen out of their Pokeballs a few moments ago, the three of them taking a rest just before entering Santalune Forest. The trip to Aquacorde had been fun, though he hadn't expected it to take as long as it had. Now he had a full trip back to Ambrette ahead of him, though he was tempted to spend a little leisure time in Lumiose. He watched Prism hesitantly approach a tree full of nesting Spewpa. One of them, startled by her approach, began to spray powder, prompting the others to do likewise. Prism quickly backed away, careful to not get caught in the powder as it drifted to the ground.

Claude gave a small smile as the Tundra Pokemon came back to join him and Zen. He heard something vibrating in his pack, and noticed it was his Holo Caster. It was a message from Donavon back at the Lab. The smile leaving his face, he sighed. What is it now? he thought. He clicked pressed a few buttons, and the blue light came on projecting the image of a man a few years older than Claude. He had a thin angular face and always seemed to look nervous. Topping his head was thick curly brown hair, though in the hologram it was hard to notice and just looked like a mass of messy hair. The recorded message he had sent began to play.

"We got word that you delivered the egg safely, Claude. Mr. Furse was glad to see something come out of leaving his Shieldon with us. Maybe this will help us convince him to let us hold on to them another year instead of taking them back at the end of the month." Claude snorted. That greedy paranoid old man was more likely to come in and take them back that very day to make sure they weren't keeping any eggs from him. "That said, some things have changed here while you were gone." Here the man's voice wavered, his already nervous demeanor growing noticeably less controlled. "We've been bought out," the Donavon said with a sigh. Claude's eyes widened in surprise. "You know we've been in debt for a while. The Blackbody Corporation came in and just bought us up. They're transferring a couple of us and shipping in a few new scientists, 'taking us a different direction'. Unfortunately, all unpaid staff will have to be let go... You've been a good help, put more effort into this than many. I uh... think they won't notice if one Pokemon disappears from the records."The man's eyes shifted quickly to the side, his face growing even more nervous. The speed and pitch of his voice picked, "Anyway, I hope you had a good trip. You're always welcome to drop by and visit though since you no longer work here we won't be able to bring you into the back. Itwasapleasureworkingwithyou!" The message stopped there.

Claude stared confused at the now empty blue projection in front of him. Bought out? Just like that? He couldn't quite understand. He'd heard about the rapidly expanding Blackbody Corporation. They'd recently bought out the the Pewter City Museum over in Kanto. He supposed it made sense, but why would it make a difference to them who controlled the research? And why had Donavon seemed so nervous... or more nervous than usual? He supposed it was just the stress of transition. The Pewter Museum had belonged to the the Blackbody Corporation for a few months now and they hadn't seen any change, just a change in ownership. Still, what Donavon had said about a Pokemon disappearing from the records. Why? He looked up at Prism, who regarded him curiously. "Looks like you're gonna be sticking with us a little while longer," he said with a grim smile.

About half an hour later, he stood up to start making his way through the forest when noticed a group of trainers approach. Oh great, he thought as he returned Prism and Zen to their Pokeballs. The group seemed to be upset about something, as he'd heard a few of them yelling as they approached. He was tempted to ignore them but the sight of their Pokemon made his curiosity get the better of him. "Hey!" he called out as they approached. He realized the awkward pause this might create so he added, "Uh... where are you headed?"

Everything happened so quickly. Kaede was pleased that Lamina had knocked the Gible off of her, at the same time showing off her power. As Adam had said, Dragon type Pokemon were not little frilly things that whimpered and whined when they were attacked. They were hardy and powerful creatures with a wide move set. Having a Dragon or two on your team was certainly a threat. Though, they were easily taken down by Pokemon of the same type and Ice types as well. Her greenish blue eyes rested on the group, a frown on her features as she watched them. So, there was someone else here that was raised by a breeder? ”Sniv!” the green lizard Pokemon returned to her shoulder, wrapping his leaf tipped tail around her neck.

”Yeah, we should get going. The Pokemon here might make a snack of us if we linger for too long.” Kaede told the group. Mightyena, Houndoom, or even worse could show up and take a bite out of their legs. Not to mention the Ekans that slithered between the blades of grass. A bite from one of those would finish a person in a minute or two. Kaede turned and began to walk down the path, when she bumped into a dark haired man. Blinking, she paused for a moment and regarded the stranger with wary eyes.

”We’re headed to Lumiose City.” Kaede told the man. Running a hand through her hair, she heaved a sigh. Too many people. ”Anyway, if you plan on joining us for our trip, I’m Kaede. The Snivy is Bracken and the Axew…” she looked around for the Dragon Pokemon. Kaede panicked for a moment before she spotted her sniffing among the flowers and roots that surrounded them. ”Is Lamina. There’s a bunch of other Pokemon Trainers right here, too.”

Kaede looked over her shoulder and grinned at everyone before beginning to walk again. The man that she had just met didn’t reply, so she peered over at him as she walked by. ”Hey, you coming or not?”

Upon first impression, Juke came to the conclusion that he did not like these people, per usual.

"Yeah.." Juke took a step back to coincide with the girl taking a step forward towards him, now hanging towards the side of his partner's shadow. It was thinly thing he liked about the titan of a man's height; the fact that he could shy away from others looking at him by simply walking out of view to use Seito as a veil, and whatnot.

Juke, not introducing himself, sighed as Giotto trembled with part of his small body hidden behind his trainer's neck. "Yeah, I do," he finally answered after a momentary silence, inching his way from Seito's shadow and returning to view, albeit refusing to make eye contact. "It's inside the 'basement' of Café Ultimo on the North Boulevard," the boy answered.

"Right now, we're on Estival Avenue, so we'll need to take a right when we go back onto the South Boulevard..." Juke's description of the route quickly quieted itself into mumbles as he began to walk off towards the destination. As much as he didn't trust people, which was commonplace, he would let the higher-ups do the confirmation.

Those people knew exactly who each and every grunt was, Juke himself holding some authority over said grunts because of his time in the corporation, but he hated the attention the attention he got from new recruits because they had to look to him for advice and whatnot. That had been the case for Seito, the one and only person that he had recruited into the Blackbody Corporation, and the brute constantly tried to pry him with questions that had answers that he didn't possess. "Hmm.."

Nessie sighed, falling silent, and starting to walk once more. Solias used her head to stay on her shoulder, digging his paws into her shirt on her shoulder. She was reassured by his weight. She looked about, this was what she loved about the world of pokemon. The open fields, the many pokemon she could hear. The freedom of it all. She would do anything for her pokemon, anything for all the pokemon she came across.

She was silent all the way to Luminose, not far outside the city, she happened to look up, and see a young man, a pidgy on his shoulder. She recognised him, and cried out, "Pakuna!"

Pakuna turned, seeing the young girl running towards him, excitement evident on her face, and he smiled. "Well, young Nessie. You've traveled far to come here"

"So have you" She replied, grinning at the brown haired man. "This is Solias! He hatched from the egg you gave me! I have a Torchic too!" She said happily, "I hatched her from an egg too, not too long ago actually"

The pidgy gave a cry, and fluttered in the air, hovering over Nessie, recognising the girl for being the one that had helped a long time ago. "Hello, flapper" She said with a chuckle.

"I started on my Journey a little while ago" Nessie said, she had come to think of the man who had given her her pikachu as a big brother of sorts, and had missed him, even though she had only known him a few hours "I've apparently made some friends" She waved her hand at the group she was traveling with, "Most are nice. One guy isn't"

Pakuna laughed, and ruffled Nessie's hair, "its always great to have friends when traveling"

Hideyoshi, Michi&Aoi ~
Inkay ♀ - Lvl 10
Beldrum ♂ - Lvl 10
&
Misdreavus ♀ - Lvl 10
Nidoran ♀ - Lvl 10

Lumiose City

---

Aoi stood speechless as the man just began walking away on her. On all of them, if one was to speak the truth, actually. She was not angry, but she was sure surprised. The girl looked back to her brother, who answered her with a nod of his shoulders and also began to walk, following Juke without a care in the world about his lack of apparent education. Aoi, obviously saddened by it, also went on to follow, walking behind the floating Beldum.

She couldn't help but look around and realize how much this city was different than all the others they went through. The siblings had not had the chance to really enjoy it as much as Aoi would have wanted to, and frankly might not have the time to in the future either. The girl was not really fond of her brother's choice of work, nor was she certain she loved the motivations of the Blackbody corporation. She sometimes wanted to walk away from it all and, for once, live out her life on her own with her won decision...but there was no way she could abandon her brother to them.

As for him, Michi did not care about the motivations of his employer. He was interested ion the money they were making, in living and in creating a world for he and his sister to belong to. After the loss of his parent and a long tie struggling, he somehow convinced himself that it was the fault of the world around him and how things had become. Like many young people, he applied blame to everything other than what he truly loved and what actually happened, refusing to get back in reality. He built a strong wall in his mind to cut him off from any source that could make him realize what he was doing was wrong and that he wasn't forced to. His sister would be one of those source, but Michi tended to just send her off when she tried to talk to him.

Before long, the group reached the southern boulevard, where they, or Michi at least, walked on the Estival avenue in look for the said Café. It was easy to find with Juke's instructions, one had to give it to the man. The brother walked inside, followed by his sister and possibly the two others, and he looked around to see how things were in there. He wasn't sure if going around asking about the meeting was a good idea, so he decided that waiting on the new guy to make the move was a better option. He seemed to know more.

For now.

Kaede continued to walk a bit further when suddenly, someone approached. She didn’t know who exactly it was. He did not seem familiar to her at all, but at least he was not aggressive nor demeaning of women. Bracken coiled his tail more tightly around her neck, watching the new appearance with careful, red eyes as his tongue flicked forward, scenting the air. She chuckled and rubbed the Snivy on his head, making him nuzzle closer to her neck. Bracken was always rather protective of her, no matter the situation. Maybe it was due to the fact that she had raised him since he was an egg? Though, Lamina was almost no different. Yet it seemed like the Axew knew that Kaede could handle herself for most of the time.

”It’s nice to meet you.” she greeted with a shy smile. There were too many people already… and she was beginning to get nervous. Kaede was never a people person. That was why she was travelling with Pokemon and not human beings. But it seemed that she had attracted a whole lot of them. ”We’re on our way to Lumiose.” she reported, continuing to walk along the “path” they were on. She was pretty sure that she was told to go this way, and she would find herself at Lumiose… or maybe they were wrong too? Bah, she didn’t know. She guessed it was just trial and error.

Lamina followed Kaede closely, strangely quiet for an Axew. Kaede glanced down at her, a frown on her face. Even though Lamina looked cold and cunning, she was a total sweetheart. Someone just had to rub her in the right place and she would become your friend. Maybe it was that Gible’s fault. Her bright eyes flicked to the little sail she had on her head. The Gible’s bite did not pierce skin, but it left a mark. Thank Arceus she isn’t bleeding, Kaede sighed, running a hand through her hair. Because then I’ll have to waste more money on first aid, and I hardly have any left…

---

So Juke knew where the base was? Seito wasn’t surprised. Juke always knew these kinds of things, even though at times he didn’t seem to. The black haired man followed Juke and made sure that Michi and Aoi followed them. Birds of a feather have to stick together, I guess. he thought. While Seito liked to be around people, he didn’t want to seem clingy to the two other grunts that had joined his search. His blue eyes scanned the streets, embedding them into his mind. I have to remember the way. I don’t want to seem like an idiot. The boss won’t want to deal with this Tauros shit.

Before he knew it, they were at the Café. Seito was sure that he had passed by this Café for what seemed to him like a hundred times. Nymeria let out a ’vee!’ before darting into the Café and Nova switching her perch from his head to his shoulder in order to feel more at ease. Seito chuckled again and rubbed the bat Pokemon’s head, making her chitter in pleasure. ”So,” he drawled out, eyes flicking to and fro the Café. ”This is the place, then?”

It sure didn’t seem like a hiding place for a base. People were sitting around and drinking coffee and tea as they ate sweets and snacks. Seito could easily pick up on conversations, but all people were talking about were movies that just recently came out in theatres and the downfall of Team Flare. Team Flare. What a bunch of scumbags. Seito thought, an especially heavy sigh escaping his lips as he looked toward Juke. ”It’s quite the cozy place.” he had to admit that, at least. He could grow used to the fact that the base was under this Café, and he could come up for coffee any time that he wanted to.

It was time, the Growlithe thought, time to start moving again. Kratos approached his napping master staring carefully at his face, making plans to wake him up......None of these plans boded well for his trainer but oh well. The first plan was relatively simple, a nudge with his nose would surely rouse his trainer right? Wrong. The next plan was also simple, a quick session of face-licking to ease his trainer out of a nice nap. However that also failed. That left only one option.........

"YEEEEEOOOOOOW!!"

Yup, Kratos executed his final plan. "Ouch Kratos, that really hurt..." Hunter scolded his Pokemon as he gently rubbed his injured nose. "How long was I out for? Aw, doesn't matter. We better get moving." And with that the trainer stood up and started walking through the forest, with any luck he'd make it to Lumiose before nightfall.

---

"Oh finally! Boy am I glad to be out of that grungy forest!" Hunter sighed as he walked the path to Lumiose, or so he hoped. Truthfully Hunter had no idea where he was going. At that Kratos merely offered a bark in agreement, clearly also tired of the forest and it's rather oppressive and still atmosphere. And so they continued walking, coming upon a rather large group of trainers, at the head was a girl who certainly seemed a bit nervous. Still, it was always polite to at least say hi.

"Yo there!" Hunter shouted as he sprinted towards them, his faithful Growlithe lopping behind him. "You guys wouldn't happen to know the way to Lumiose from here would you? I'm afraid I'm lost, after all being my first trip to Kalos I still need to get my bearings." He gave the strangers his usual, easy smile, and Kratos gave their Pokemon wary looks before finally huffing out his chest and standing as tall as he could muster. After all, if the Growlithe showed weakness what would these other Pokemon think? They'd probably walk all over him, and he was not letting that happen.