jujube

Pokemon: Storm

no worries!

Pokemon: Storm

"Aww, oh geez," Indigo said as he opened his gifts and spied the Art Museum ticket along with the contact information of the fashionista. He was taken aback, unable to think of anything to say. He'd never been good with words, after all.

"You shouldn't have," he said quietly, but smiling. "But thanks. I think they're amazing gifts." He gave Cynthia a gentle hug. "Thank-you again, Mama G. We'll definitely go to the museum when you're feeling a little better."

Pokémon: Start

Valen

@PlatinumSkink

---

After Valen had received his pokemon from Kalmia, he was off to explore Pureplain City, his new partner floating by his side. He hadn't opted to participate in any battles because he'd been far too nervous, but now Valen had felt as if he may have missed out some. His thoughts were distracted by Qwerty squawking.

"Kre! Kre!" Qwerty the Porygon honked in excitement, floating circles around Valen.

"Qwerty, you're so energetic," Valen said, half impressed and half worried. "I mean, I hope you don't hurt yourself. Maybe you should slow down..."

Qwerty shook her head fiercely, insistent on whizzing around in frenzied circles. Having spent most of her time in cyberspace, the outside world was quite literally an entirely new universe to explore. How could she waste even a second not taking in the sights? All she had ever seen in her life were pixels, binary numbers, firewalls, and data streams. And while that had been an interesting and fun part of her life, she had always wanted to experience other things. She was a pokemon, too! Qwerty hadn't even seen other pokemon until she had been transferred to the lab. Of course she knew information and quite a bit of it. For example, she knew about most pokemon she had read about. But reading and seeing were two different things. And now, well, she was outside. Qwerty was seeing grass, flowers, buildings, even more pokemon, and the sky.

The sky was like an air ocean, Qwerty thought in her own pokemon-like way. Would she be able to voyage across it one day, to outer space?

As the glitter of the blue ocean sparkled with promises in the distance, Qwerty decided she had to cross the sea on earth before she went into the sky, at least.

While Qwerty excitedly zipped along, checking out the cracks in concrete and the jasmine blossoms that crawled along the local fences, Valen walked aimlessly, feeling quite empty and strange. It's so different being so far away from home. I wonder how mad Mom and Dad are. I wonder how many times they've called me. I wonder if they're right about me not being able to become a pokemon trainer... I wonder if I'll have to come back. What do I do now? I've got a pokemon, that's step one. But where do I go from here? Valerian, having been quite sheltered and a homebody for most of his life, had never truly gotten to explore or make decisions for himself. He'd always been listening to his parents. And now he had all the freedom to do what he wanted to do, but he had no idea what to achieve.

He sat down on a bench, a little bummed out and overwhelmed. Qwerty looked at him quizzically. Her human seemed to be exhibiting signs of sadness. This was not good. They needed to keep exploring. She needed to make him smile because if he smiled, that meant he was happy. She gently nudged his shoulder with her flat, blue and pink bill. "Kre?"

Valen patted Qwerty. "I'm sorry, we can get up in a minute. I'm just feeling weird..." Could Qwerty understand him, he wondered. Talking out loud helped, at least. He found himself wanting to do it more. "My parents are probably really mad at me and I'm just feeling kind of scared. You know?"

Qwerty shook her head.

"See, that's what kind of surprises me. Kalmia said you hadn't seen the outside world before either, she said me and you were really alike. But you're really happy and you're not afraid of anything. Why not? Isn't being out here really overwhelming?"

Qwerty shook her head. "Kre! Kre! Kre!" Her energy and all around happy attitude were infectios, Valen thought, a grin coming onto his face. He found himself standing up.

"Alright, you know what, this is your first day as much as mine. We should find something you want to do, Qwerty." If he couldn't think of the next move, Qwerty's choice was the next best thing, he figured.

Qwerty's eyes widened at at thought, and she immediately began spinning her polygon feet like the wheels on a car. Her human was letting her decide! There were so many things to do! Well, the first thing that caught her immediate attention was a bulletin board, numerous notices tacked on.

"Hm? Oh, hey, there's a bunch of advertisements and stuff here..." Valen muttered. One ad in particular stood out to him, however. It was asking for help in dealing with some wild pokemon that kept attacking a circuit breaker box.

"Well that's interesting. I didn't know pokemon cared about stuff like that," Valen said. "Qwerty, look. Some guy's having trouble with some pokemon attacking a part of his house or something..." As he said it outloud, Valen felt nervous. What if something went wrong?

"So you want to see if you can help? You sure? It sounds dangerous..."

But Qwerty shook her head and 'jumped' up and down in mid-air, demanding. "Kre kre kreeeee," she said, sounding almost as if she were pleading.

"Okay. Maybe it won't be so bad. I mean, maybe we could help this guy out. Maybe we'll get something cool? We'd kind of be saving the day," Valen said dreamily. Porygon's seemed to be a smart and bright species. Qwerty probably was going forward because she knew what she could handle. It would be experience for sure, Valen thought. And if he could do something like this, why, maybe he'd be able to call his parents about his sucess and show them how well he was doing his first day.

"Well, I guess... Okay. Okay, let me put this guy's address in," Valen said, taking out his pokedex and typing in the coordinates. Proving Mom and Dad wrong and showing them that I don't have to be whatever mold they always want to fit me into, Valen thought. It'll be good. I've got to be different than the Valen in Sinnoh. I've got to do more! Having convinced himself, the two went along, ready to tackle the first task of the day.

After a short, 15 minute stroll, Valen found himself in front of a one-story wooden house. The dark blue shingles on the roof looked somewhat crooked and the white, patchy paint on the exterior didn't do the abode any favors either. From the way the porch creeked as he went up the steps to how the window screens had holes, the whole place looked like it needed sprucing up. But he wasn't here to judge, he and Qwerty were on a mission after all. Valen knocked on the door three times and waited.

What pokemon would they be facing? What would their client be like? Valen and Qwerty waited in nervous anticipation.

---

Pokemon

Qwerty the Porygon

Ability: Trace
[ Sharpen, Tackle, Conversion, Conversion2 ]

Inventory

500p
Potion x1

Pokémon: Start

Valen

Name: Valerian "Valen" Ellery


_{Valen, sometime in the future. Not much has changed except his general confidence and clothes! Will probably draw up a more accurate picture later.}

Valen's skin is the color of overturned soil. His eyes are warm and rich, the color of espresso. His thick, black, curly hair is cut into an undercut, with the sides short and the top long. His facial features are strong, with a nose on the larger side, long dark eyelashes, broad cheekbones, and a large, friendly, crooked smile. He tops out at about 5'8, the average height for a boy his age.

Age: 16

Gender: Male

Personality: Quiet and nervous, Valen isn't the most outgoing of people. He absolutely would love to have more friends and become a social butterfly with people and pokemon alike, but he's afraid that he's not reaching some unmentioned standard. This sometimes crippling shyness makes it difficult to get to know Valen, and even if someone manages to get to know him, it'll take some time for him to truly speak his thoughts. He still loves it when people talk to him though, even if he's not great at expressing it.

A relative newbie to pokemon, he’s fascinated and frightened by them. Sure, he’s played with Meowth’s or Rattata’s here and there but there’s just as much uncertainty and unpredictability with pokemon and people. Knowing that they’re powerful creatures, Valen’s afraid of something going wrong resulting in him being hurt. As such, with his naivety and general inexperience, he doesn't appreciate them all. But, he'll find out, that sometimes a trainer doesn't get to pick their team and he'll have to roll with the punches.

These flaws and other ones are definitely going to be obstacles he will learn to overcome or at least cope with on his journey. However, Valen has some brighter personality points that shine all the same. He's a great listener, good at communicating when he's not nervous, great with strategy, and he likes being there for people when they need him. Though reliable, he can have the tendency to take on more than he can handle. He’s always pushing himself to improve and always trying to be positive, even if he does fret a lot.

Adept with technology and sort of a geek, Valen wishes he was more artistic or brave. Still figuring himself out, there are a few things he dreams of on a regular basis. Becoming some kind of hero known for his great endeavours to protect and help those who need it is one of his main goals. He wants to be needed by people and impact the environment positively in some way. Getting good at some form of art is another. A lot of his interests and aspirations coincide with becoming a Pokemon Ranger as well as Pokemon Coordinating. He'd most likely do contests on the side, however.

Hometown: Jubilife City, Sinnoh

Background:
Valen grew up in Jubilife City, Sinnoh, to a pair of physician parents. People doctors, specifically. Both surgeons at a local hospital, they were decent parents, considering their stressful jobs. No parents can be good all the time though, and his parents tended to be quite perfectionist when it came down to it. While Valen's older sister of 3 years, Laranna, shined and breezed through her classes and extracurriculars, set to become a surgeon like her parents, Valen didn't share that same direction. He most definitely did not want to become a surgeon. He wasn't sure what he wanted to do, but he knew he didn't want to go into medicine.

His parents had always discouraged pokemon training. It wasn't that they didn't like pokemon, no, but they considered pokemon training to be more of a pipe dream. It was a waste of time, they thought, why not go for a stable and certainly more safe career like becoming a physician like themselves? They always cautioned Valen that the outside world was dangerous and he needed to simply keep studying, doing better in school, and be more like his older sister. But perhaps, even if Valen was afraid, the very fact that his parents seemed so staunchly against it also pushed him to want to do it more.

Especially since the pressure was on and it started to get to Valen after he graduated high school. They kept saying he needed to do more at the local hospital, register for more courses, he needed to become a surgeon. He decided he needed to run away from everything. He didn't want to journey in Sinnoh, he wanted a brand new, fresh start. And he wanted to be away from his parents as much as possible. After finding out that a certain Professor Kalmia was giving out pokedexes, he decided to apply for one in hopes of getting it.

After applying for becoming a pokemon trainer, Valen didn't get it the first time. He didn't stick out against the more competetive applicants. He knew he needed to do something, but he didn't believe he was good at much except for figuring out technology.

Digging through the numerous local non profits and such throughout Jubilife, he found an adoption agency in need of a volunteer tracking system. So he used his programming skills to help come up with exactly that. Most non-profits are paper binder, sign-in sign-out sheets, which aren't the most accurate for tracking hours. His little application streamlined the process for the local pokemon adoption agency quite a bit. After a strong recommendation letter from them and resubmitting his application to Kalmia, he found himself with a ticket to the Isson region.

Kind of Pokémon you like: Anything that isn't too scary or fiery or weird...

Quirks/Talents/Aspirations/Other:
Wants to be some kind of coordinator or ranger, even if he doesn’t exactly know it yet.
Really good at: Math, Biology, and programming.
Has a phobia for: Fire. As such, veers away from fire pokemon, though he'd like to be able to conquer this fear and eventually have a fire pokemon one day...
Items: 1x Potion.
Pokédollars: 500p.

Qwerty the Porygon

Species: Porygon

Type: Normal
Personality: Quirks/Talents/Aspirations/Other: Energetic, silly, and highly curious, Qwerty is always floating circles around things she's interested in. She also loves being the center of attention and being nurturing to other people and pokemon.
- Q - Loves solving puzzles!
- A - Qwerty wants to go to outer space one day. Perhaps it's her programming, but it is her dream.
Level: 5
Moves: Conversion, Conversion2, Sharpen, Tackle
Ability: Trace. When it enters a battle, the Pokémon copies an opposing Pokémon's Ability.
Held Item: None

Pokemon: Storm

no worries!

Pokemon: Storm

Indigo greeted Dan's mother with a hug. After seeing her gift for Margo, he chimed in, "Hey, where's my gift?" Though it was definitely a joke. "Ha, just kidding, it's awesome to see you." The atmosphere was warm and inviting. And Daniel's house certainly felt like home.

Pokemon: Storm

Just wanted to sayyy, you def dont have to wait on me to post arc. I think it makes more sense for dans mother to finish her convo with margo and push us along bc theres not much for indy to really reflect on or react to. I can def drum up a post but im just saying you dont need to wait on me, if you are waiting.

Pokemon: Storm

Indigo's eyes flickered over to Margo before placing the flowers on the table. I hope she doesn't feel like a third wheel... Must be weird being here. She doesn't really know anyone here that well but she came along. She even worked on that drawing or painting or whatever for Dan's mom. Gotta fix that, somehow.

"You should definitely still have dinner with us," he suggested after Dan mentioned letting Margo sleep at the pokemon center. Indy avoided looking at her, because it was still too awkward. Margo was still mad at him-- she made that clear enough. Still, Indy wanted to let her know he wanted to communicate. Though he felt indignant at her attitude towards him, it still felt deserved at the same time. He couldn't get too angry without being drowned by sad guilt. Instead, he tried to push all of his feelings to the back of his mind.

As Dan made his way to his Mama G's room, Indigo quietly suggested, "And you should introduce yourself," to Margo. Padding softly on the carpet, he followed his friend to see Mama G.

Pokemon: Storm

Whoops haha typo. Also, still here and just waiting for arc to post though i can post if need be!

Pokemon: Storm

@Balthazar007 do we get pokedollars because 3 ic modnights have passed?