"You are energetic, I'll give you that." Hou said, almost smiling at the flashy display. "In any case, working that hard to find a new friend is rather admirable." He said almost grudgingly. Turning around, he plopped down his pack and brought out a wrapped pair of triangular sandwiches, crust less and filled with fresh veggies.
"Here. You need something to eat." Hou said, slightly averting his eyes as if to say he was only looking out for the trainer. "Take it so I can go fishing..." He said, though there was no sign of a rod on his person.
Always be ready to do the unusual and unexpected.As Emiliana stepped into the Gym, she was greeted by the sight of a young boy lounging in a chair, dirty sneakers resting atop one armrest as he stared coolly at the challenger.
"Another challenger?" he demanded, tossing a Pokeball into the air as he inspected the girl. "You rookies are pretty keen, aren'tcha?"
"I take it you're Tycho, then," Emiliana said crisply. The boy gave a crooked grin, springing to his feet and jamming his baseball cap on top of his wild hair a little more securely.
"That's me! Now, are you ready to get your butt kicked or what? My Gym's rules are two Pokemon per Trainer, but you're the only one who has to worry about using a second Pokemon."
"Of course," Emiliana replied coolly. "Your second one will be out before you get a chance to attack." The Gym Leader blinked, before throwing back his head and laughing.
"Oh, you are going down," he replied with a grin. From nearby, the referee stepped forward.
"The battle between the Gym Leader, Tycho, and the challenger will now begin!"
"And the victory goes to the challenger!"
"Return," muttered Tycho, before turning to Emiliana. "Heh. You got lucky this time, but I guess that still counts as a win. You can have the Terra Badge." He tossed a small pin to Emiliana, who caught it and turned it over in her hand. There, the round, painted badge shone brightly.
Emiliana wasn't one to celebrate her wins particularly loudly. It seemed only natural that she would earn her first Gym Badge on the first try; after all, she had had type matchups on her side, and she was not the kind of person to lose easily. It was true that it had been a very close match; she'd had to rely on Sofia towards the end, after Feliciano took one hit too many, and the Swablu had very nearly failed in her task of finishing off Tycho's second Pokemon. But she had made it. That was the main thing.
As she pinned the badge to the strap of her backpack, Emiliana allowed a tiny, triumphant smile to curl across her face. It wouldn't do to show too much excitement, but winning her first Gym battle...
Well, it was something to be proud of, wasn't it?
edited 14th Oct '11 8:59:17 PM by KiriAme
Anyway here's BlackwallAlright, her bag was packed and a note was left. Both of her parents were gone at their jobs so it was easy for Pietra to sneak out of the house with a backpack on her back. They probably wouldn't have let her go if she asked them face to face so this was the only way. She didn't want to stay in this town anymore, she wanted to explore. First though she'd have to show her metal at the gym.
Pietra walked through the town on her way to the gym and looked around her. Despite growing tired of this town, she did feel a bit apprehensive about leaving. This was the place she was raised after all. What if she wasn't ready to travel? She did have a pokemon now, but would that be enough? She shook herself of these thoughts and steeled herself, telling herself that she could do this.
The blond girl pushed open the door to the gym and walked in, spotting another girl already here. She was a bit surprised to see that someone got here so early, but she didn't say anything. She turned to face the kid that she had come to know as the gym leader and nodded her head. "hey Tycho" She said as she pulled out her pokeball to declare her intent.
Dominic had, up to the point of Emiliana's challenge, been sleeping on a mat on the ground after a late night catching pokemon.
"Star?...Starly?" the bird glanced around. It was getting around the time to get up.
"Pooch," huffed the grey furred canine by its side, walking over next to Dom's ear and taking a deep breath.
The surrounding area was filled with a howl fit to wake up a snorlax.
"GAH!" Dominic jolted awake. After making certain he was indeed awake and where he remembered falling asleep, he returned his pokemon to their pokeballs and took off back toward town.
Aw, jeez... I've probably missed most, if not all, of her gym battle!...
Then he slowed his pace. "What on earth am I saying? This is Emiliana we're talking about!"
Relief flooded through his system. Though he didn't like being given the same reguard as a common houseplant, there was no way on earth she'd be upset.
If anything, she'll be happy I wasn't there distracting her... So with that in mind...
He let his pokemon back out and called over Ferla, as he'd dubbed the poochyena, over. Sliding off his backpack, he pulled out a brush.
"One, two..."
"Three hundred and fourty-seven, three hundred and fourty eight, three hundred and fourty nine, three hundred and fifty!"
The pokemon glared up at him with a look that seemed to say 'Is this really necessary?'
"'K... by the time we arrive she should be done."
-One walk back later-
He waited patiently outside the door, slightly off to one side. He wanted to be the first to congradulate her if she won... but he didn't want to bear the brunt of her wrath if she failed.
edited 14th Oct '11 9:16:27 PM by Dragon573
It's kind of funny. Sufficiently advanced stupidity is like sufficiently advanced science; eventually, you find something you can't solve."Very well... you can come with me..." Hou said in a mixture of gruff and gentle. He then shouldered his pack and walked a bit of a distance to the banks of a fairly large stream, where he surveyed the currents. Pleased, he turned around to regard the other Trainer. "Don't make a peep, no matter what I do." He warned.
Hou then proceeded to strip off his clothes quickly, but efficiently, draping them on a nearby rock. Soon he was clad in a pair of black trucks only, his slim physique lit by the early morning rays that managed to break through the canopy, giving his skin a sort of dapple effect. Releasing his Pokemon, he nodded at them.
"You know what to do, like we discussed earlier this morning?" Both Sanders and Leonhart nodded. "Right then, assume positions." The two companions arranged themselves on some nearby rock perches. Satisfied, Hou suddenly slipped into the stream, submerging himself completely within the 4 feet of water after taking in a deep breath.
Always be ready to do the unusual and unexpected.Astor took a deep anxious breath as he stood before the doors of the massive gym, his left hand hovering over the Pokeballs fastened to his belt, as if he were about to draw a pistol. Getting his license had been another somewhat nerve-wracking couple of minutes, but everything had gone swimmingly as far as he could tell. Having been armed with a tiny card with what seemed like a wholly unnecessary excess of numbers on it, Astor had trekked through Nutmeg on his way to challenge Tycho.
As he pushed open the doors, Astor spotted a young man who was practically staring a hole into the front of the building, not even saying anything to the small group of people who had decided to step past him and head inside. He must be waiting for someone. Maybe his friend is challenging Tycho or something. Wouldn't he want to watch the match, though...? Astor wondered as he headed inside.
As it turned out, Astor had managed to make it inside just as Emiliana had begun to prideful stride away from the central arena. Astor spotted the long-haired girl immediately and, seeing the small badge pinned to the strap of her backpack , gave her a cheery smile of his own.
"You just beat Tycho, huh? Congratulations! I'm actually about to-" Astor trailed off as he saw a certain other girl rush forward to challenge the leader. "...That is, I'm going to try challenging him after she's finished. So, how was the battle?"
In the haze of waking, Marcel Dreyfurs thought he was back in his hotel room, dreams and delusions of training, money, and travel still dancing in his head.
Reality was quick to remind him that he wasn't nearly so lucky any more, and when his senses began to focus, he saw sterile white walls surrounding him; heard the electric hum of hospital equipment he'd never bothered to learn the names of; felt really cold, and discovered the reason being was that he was dressed in nothing but a hospital gown, which made him wonder, did they really need to strip him naked to examine his head?
"And here I thought Ginger hospital was freezing...." he shivered, wobbling out of bed to find something warm to wrap around himself.
"Someone told me you dragged me here yourself."
They were out in the lobby thirty minutes later, Marcel nursing a can of soda he'd bought from a vending machine and as sound of mind as he'd ever looked before.
"I hope you waited 'til the battle was through until you did." he smirked at the Pokeball on his belt.
"Did we win? Or really, did he win? I suppose it's tough to call it a win for me when I wasn't giving orders. " he leaned back in his chair and smiled wider. What little of it he'd seen had been far more fun than he'd of imagined otherwise.
Hou waited below the surface of the stream, eyes looking for his prey. In his hand he held a Waccan Berry, favorite treats of the Pokemon he sought. Having done his research, he knew that these Pokemon favored that particular berry, and he hoped to flush it out in the open.
A swarm of Tympole floated past, then the occasional Magikarp. They were not what he was looking for. Close to running out of air, he was about to surface when he saw the tell tale streak of orange flash close to him. It was a Buizel, and it looked at the Waccan Berry Hou held. Smiling, the butler proffered it to the Buizel, who instantly plucked it from the teen's grasp and happily munched it.
The two then surfaced, the Buizel obviously expecting more. "If you can defeat my partner in battle, you can have the rest of the berries." Hou promised the little scamp. Understanding dawned on the Buizel, and it barked a happy note before suddenly launching itself into a run, aimed straight at Leonhart. The Buizel was a blur, having used Quick Attack, it slammed into the Shinx and inflicted damage, though that was curbed by Intimidation, which made the opponent hold back instinctively.
"Scratch it's leg." Leonhart immediately lashed out at the meaty part of the Buizel's foreleg, hitting the sweet spot. Thus damaged at that portion, the orange speedster was noticeably less quick as it attempted another rush, hampered by the pain. This in turn let the Shinx scratch it twice again, knocking it off balance. Hou then immediately lobbed a Pokeball at it and waited for the ball to settle....
Once... Twice... Thrice... And the ball stopped with the familiar ding. Sighing in relief, Hou picked it up and let the new partner out. "Congratulations, you deserve a treat for putting up suc a good fight." he proffered another Waccan Berry to the little glutton, while healing it with a Potion. "I believe I'll call you... Deyna." Smiling, he sat down and watched the other trainer attempt to capture his Ledyba.
edited 15th Oct '11 11:33:44 AM by GreyStar
Always be ready to do the unusual and unexpected.The Ledyba was knocked from the bush...she then started crying...Scott proceeded to make a sad face and rush over and hug it. "I'm so sorry little one!" he rocked the Ledyba back and forth as Riolu looked incredably guilty. The Ledyba started hugging Scott,who it could tell was trying to make the sorrow go away. She sniffled cutely. "Hey,you got any good berries for this little gal?" Scott asked the other trainer despritly. He looked agonized at having made the poor little thing cry.
edited 15th Oct '11 5:02:48 PM by ZidaneFlameMouse
Sometime during her trek to the gym, Catherine had caught sight of Astor, and after a short chat she started to head to the Gym with him. She figured that Astor should start his challenge before she did, even if he was more of a rookie than she was, he seemed very capable judging from their mock battle yesterday.
When they finally made it there, she did notice Dominic just sitting outside and not paying her or anyone else any attention as they headed inside the gym. She had a few guesses as to what her other companion was waiting for, she wanted to say that he was waiting for Emiliana, given how she saw him was fawning over her yesterday she had a hunch her guess was correct. She did wave at him as she headed in, whether he noticed or not she couldn't wait to find out, she had business to attend to.
"Good morning, Emiliana." She said when she noticed the other girl as well, and her newly acquired badge did catch her eye. "I had a feeling that you'd win, congratulations!"
Another girl had been in the Gym and already wanted to take the leader on, meaning she'd have to sit out two challenges before attempting her own. It wouldn't be a bad thing, she'd be able to figure out her strategy after watching the Leader in action beforehand.
"You...wouldn't mind waiting until I get my badge, would you?"
Scott nodded,he slowly stood as the Ledyba held him tighter. "Lets feed you some honey,that sound good?" He smiled cutely at the Ledyba. She nodded,now only sniffling,looking at Scott with eyes filled with pure wonder. <This was the guy who siced his DOG BEAST on me,and now he wants to make sure i'm ok? Maybe he's not a bad guy..maybe he just wants to be friends...?> She thought earnestly.
Scott carried her carefully over to Hou's bag and he started ruffleing through it until he found a jar filled with honey. "Thanks...uh..what was your name again?" He asked the other boy innocently.He uncapped the jar of honey and slowly lowered into Ledyba's mouth,it flowing nice and slow,Ledyba looking happy as she enjoyed the delicious food.
Tycho glanced up, flicking a shaggy clump of hair out of his face as Pietra walked into the Gym.
"Finally get the guts to challenge me, huh?" he replied, folding his arms with a grin, having seemed to bounce back from his loss almost instantly. "Why am I always fighting girls lately, anyway?" He grinned again, pulling another Pokeball from his waist. "You'd better not start crying when I beat you. That would suck." As two more rookie Trainers walked through the door, he rolled his eyes. "More of you? Sorry, but I'm not supposed to thrash more than one person at a time. You'll have to wait."
Meanwhile, Emiliana coolly surveyed Catherine and the Trainer by her side as they walked through the door and addressed her, eventually deciding that they hadn't said anything particularly offensive yet.
"Good morning," she replied to Catherine as the boy beside her began to ramble on, eventually asking about the battle. With a small smirk, she flicked her long hair back again, chin held high in the air. "As you can see, it went very well," she replied loftily, running a hand over the badge for a moment. As Catherine asked for her to wait, she folded her arms. As much as she wanted to return to the Pokemon Centre to heal her teammates as soon as possible, she would also rather like to watch the other battles.
"We'll see," she replied coolly. "I'll be back soon, if I decide I want to watch." With that, she turned to walk out the door.
Anyway here's BlackwallPietra rolled her eyes, wondering just how he was the one in the family that ended up as the gym leader. She'll have to deal with it though and make sure he is utterly beaten. She turned her head slightly when he addressed the people that walked into the gym after her. Apparently they knew the girl that got her challenge in early.
"Beating you will announce my leaving on a journey." She said with a slight smirk. Growing up in the town gave her a bit on inside info on what the gym leader liked to use most of the time. She was confident that she had enough of an advantage with her one pokemon. She just waited for Tycho to start things off.
Steven shook his head. He knew that he wasn't going to like doing this, but....
"No, they tied, actually. Makes sense when you think about it, them both being Grass-type starters and all."
He didn't like lying. But he didn't think that it would go over well if he revealed that he had interrupted the fight.
"Still, are you alright? Last evening, you were a little....loopy."
Once Catherine had offered Emiliana a cheery 'good morning', the latter's rather prickly reply was met with only a slight shortening of Astor's smile. Having caught wind of the next challenger's confident declaration of inevitable victory, he began to wonder if perhaps he had missed something. Were most trainers like this even when they were just starting out? Catherine had plenty of confidence as well, and Diedrich had always been fairly sure of himself, so maybe that's what he would need to do. Then again, that Jimmy fellow had seemed pretty nervous, so maybe not...
"Well, congratulations on your win. Maybe we'll see you later." Astor waved as Emiliana sauntered toward the exit of the gym. He decided that using her name before the two of them had been properly introduced might seem a tad rude, so he left it out for the time being. She had said she might be back later, after all.
"I guess we'll just have to wait, huh? Hopefully we're ready..." Astor took a deep breath, trying to get a grip on the butterflies in his stomach as he waited for the match before his own to start. He would just have to hope that the rest of his gym matches would be less nerve-wracking than his first. Winning was also important, but that seemed less important than his sweaty palms at the moment.
"I go by the name of Hou, one who forgets introductions." Hou told Scott as he groomed the pelt of the Buizel.
"Alright, now that I achieved my goals here, I need to train my team so we will stand a chance against the Gym Leader..." He muttered, calculating. "Two out of three are weak, the last one strong. At this point though, the enemy shouldn't have the more powerful moves, so I'll have to use Torchic to get in as many hits as possible with its good speed... " The young trainer calculated, thinking of what kind of training would help out the most for his team.
Always be ready to do the unusual and unexpected."Okay, see you then." Catherine had said to Emiliana as the other girl had started to leave the gym, and once she was gone, her attention was turned to Astor when the other trainer had spoken to her. She did note that he seemed a little nervous and she couldn't exactly fault him for that, she herself had a bit of nervousness under all of that confidence, even with all of her studying there was always a chance that her strategies could be stopped. She tried not to let that get to her, if she kept thinking about it then she'd end up worrying more and loosing focus.
"I think we'll do just fine, we managed to get some good training in yesterday. We'll be fine as long as we relax, I know we can do this." She replied, grinning as she had done so.
"And then after that, I guess I'll introduce you to Emiliana if she shows up. It couldn't hurt, right?"

Steven carried the unconscious Marcel toward the hospital, managing to make sure that the boy didn't fall of of his shoulder. He noted that Aru seemed to react with anger at Lace's disappearance. Interesting....but not relevant. He filed the information away for later.
After a short walk, he found the hospital, and had dropped Marcel off. He shrugged and sat down in the waiting room, leaning back with his hat over his eyes. Not the most comfortable place to sleep, and certainly not where he had been expecting to, but it would do. He mulled over his first day as a trainer, eventually passing into the realm of Cresselia.
Ready for the transition
edited 14th Oct '11 3:56:13 PM by Krika