Battlegrounds : A Pokémon Role-Play { Closed } - Day Two: On the Road to Jade Forest

[Pm0n3y]

Morgan found himself hung up on several things involving this young girl. She, instead of using her words, he watched as she produced information from several places that weren't her mouth. Morgan tried his best to not look too confused.

"So, she can't talk?"

"YurrrrriiiDice? That's uh...a very unique name." He said with some hesitation, unaware of his mispronunciation of her name. She put something else on her small whiteboard, indicating there was someone named Heidi. Morgan assumed that she was referring to the Ponyta, and that it was a confirmation of sorts to pet it without fear.

"Hi Heidi." He said quaintly, reaching towards the Ponyta. He put a harmless hand to its snout, stroking at it gently. As he looked back, he realized the white-haired girl had something else written on her trusty board. Info about the professor's whereabouts. Little after Morgan gave a compliant nod in Eurydice's direction, another girl entered the center. She walked up to the receptionist (something Morgan eternally kicked himself for not doing, he was beginning to wonder if there was some sort of sign-up sheet up there) before walking back towards the waiting area, taking one of the vacant seats next to his. She introduced herself as he sat back in his chair. He took his glasses off to rub away the fog that increasingly crowded his vision.

"Hey, i'm Morgan. And yeah, I guess I am. S'kinda cool, seeing as I thought I was coming to Gensia to be put to work. But hey, things turned out better than expected." He replied, making sure to get a better look at her with his glasses back over his eyes.

 

[Mr. Omega]

After a bit of time, Russel managed to find Willow's Lab. "Heh. Told you I'd find it." he said, nudging Munchie.GulpGulp. "Yeah, I have a Pokenav... but I didn't use it." Pin? "Because needing directions for the first stop is embarrassing... plus, we got to look around town. Got that nice bit of free samples from that new noodle stand. So you can't say it wasn't worth it..." Gulp. Munchie nodded, and Russel went forward. "Anyway, we're here now. That's what matters."

It took the pair all of 30 seconds to get to the front and see Professor Willow is currently in a meeting. Gensia League challengers please proceed to the waiting area "Well... that's... something." he said, heading over to the waiting area. He saw that a lot of the seats were taken by a group of trainers and their pokemon. "Uh, hey, can I get a couple chairs?"

 

[PrinceOfShapeir]

Sam nodded and chuckled at Heidi's words. "Coincidence? I don't know, I doubt it was just chance that you ran into a Pokemon you had met previously. I think they're a lot smarter than most people give you credit for. You probably made at least as much of an impression on her as she must have on you." He paused for a moment, a grin crossing his face. "As for Willow, well, I don't know that I ever really caught her. She sought me out more than the other way around." Heidi didn't need to hear the particulars.

 

[Lambi]

Heidi giggled. "Yeah, maybe you're right. She hasn't left my side since I caught her, at least. I kinda like the Safari Ball she's in. Just something different from all the people who catch their first Pokémon in a normal Pokéball. Not saying there's anything wrong with that. It just gets a bit boring after a while to see Pokéball after Pokéball, you know?"

Talking with Sam was fun, but she wasn't so sunk into conversation that she didn't hear the guy who had sat beside Eurydice. She heard him say her name wrong, and call Eurydice's Ponyta by her own name. She sighed and giggled at it. "Excuse me for a moment." she said to Sam before standing up. It wasn't a long distance, but she still walked over to the new guy and Eurydice, noticing another girl who sat by them. "Excuse me for butting in, but you've got two things wrong there." she said to the guy. "First off, her name is Eurydice, not Yuridice. That just sounds awkward on all levels. Secondly, I'm Heidi. Her Ponyta doesn't have a nickname." Having corrected the guy, she looked towards the girl who sat beside them, an asian girl with an interesting dye job. Maybe not largely so, but seeing the ends of her hair red while the rest was dark brown looked awesome to her. She had heard her question as well while walking over to them.

"I'm going to take League Challenge as well. Me and Yani are going to be awesome." Hearing her name, Yani came over to Heidi and hovered for a small moment before landing on her left shoulder and looking at the two new people there. Shortly thereafter, another guy came in, asking them if he could take a couple of chairs. "Sure, go ahead. There's plenty of them. You going to see Professor Willow as well?" After her question, she looked towards Eurydice who seemed to be doing alright for the moment. Heidi smiled and looked back towards the newer guy who had asked for the chairs.

 

[NeoAC]

"Sorry to butt in guys, but I couldn't help overhearing that you plan on becoming the champion of the League? I have to disagree."

"Excuse me?" Robyn turned around to find a young man, about her age, smirking as he stood next to what appeared to be a Tyrogue.

"He may not look like much but this little guy, he's gonna be the champ with my help."

"Is that so?" Robyn asked, raising an eyebrow at this bold declaration. "Well he don't look too tough. I bet Nina here can dance circles around your partner there!"

Nina was not paying attention to her trainer's conversation. She was swaying with the music that had been put on, going to her own invisible beat.

"Well maybe not right now, because I got her calmed down, but any other time! No contest!"

 

[SkyeNeko]

Eurydice burst out laughing. Well, it wasn't so much a burst of laughter as a quick titter that was swiftly silenced. She drew an arrow under the name "Heidi", in time for Heidi herself to come over and make the necessary corrections.

Another girl came inside the center, Erika, apparently. Eurydice quickly went through her introductions again, this time adding the You-ree-die-chii at the end of her name for pronunciation's sake. It was interesting to see a lot of trainers with red hair. It wasn't as nice as Heidi's, but it was pretty nonetheless. When the girl asked if they were going to challenge the League, she shrugged. Her Ponyta was pretty good in battle, but who didn't think that? Honestly, she hadn't gotten a lot of a chance to train her. She rode her on the beach a lot, but didn't consider herself a trainer, and didn't run the pokemon through the tall grass looking for battles. But now that they were in Gensia, she thought she could be a trainer now. What better place to become a trainer than in a group of trainers? Everyone seemed to be there for the challenge. It wouldn't hurt to try it out herself.

Ponyta didn't mind the strange man petting her, sniffing his palm curiously. He smelled like salt. She licked his hand. It tasted vaguely of salt. She whinnied and snorted.

 

[RBMidknight]

"Are you now or have you ever been a member of Team Rocket?"

"Nope." Elias Lanford, resident of Unova and attempted visitor of Gensia was a little offended by the questions he was being asked. What did his yearly income have to do with visiting the region? He didn't want to live here. He just wanted to sight-see. Elias let out a quiet sigh and adjusted the sunglasses on his head before answering the next ridiculous question given by an unnamed Security Guard of the Customs office. Several items in Elias' pockets had set off the metal detectors shortly after he'd stepped into the building. He'd never been to a place with such paranoid security measures. Unfortunately he'd still been a little groggy from the nap he'd taken on the boat. As a result his responses weren't fast enough or clear enough for the metal detecting assistants. They'd hurriedly shuffled Elias to a small corner of the building. It wasn't quite an office - really it was just a partitioned area where a burly security guard in a crisp blue uniform stood looking bored. The bored expression had vanished once Elias got closer with his escorts.

Longer than regulation pocketknife and questionable multi-tool. That was the judgement passed. The knife had been confiscated - temporarily, he'd been assured - and the multi-tool was currently being hefted by the guard. He frowned each time the shiny tool landed in the officer's hand. 'If I don't get that back, I'm leaving.' Elias decided. He could come up with the boat passenger fee. Probably. The tool had been a gift from his father. And he didn't like all of these questions. Maybe he could go back to Icirrus and try to make a snowball again. There was apparently a trick to it that he hadn't managed during his shortened visit. Elias shifted restlessly on his seat.

"-entering Gensia?"

"Huh?" Uh-oh. He'd missed a question. This could be bad.

"Purpose for entering Gensia." The officer stated slowly as though Elias was hard of hearing. Or stupid. He wasn't either.

"Uh Pokemon Training?" Elias answered. 'Just wandering around' was probably not a good answer to the Authorities.

"Is that a question?" The officer stood up slowly. His bulk towered both over and around Elias' smaller seated self.

"No." Elias corrected his answer quickly, if a bit defensively. "I'm here to catch Pokemon." And if he wasn't before he definitely was now. He started to reach for Dune - his Sandile's Pokeball but stopped the gesture when the officer tensed.

"Hmm..." The officer leaned down a bit. "Alright then." With a flourish the man signed something on the bottom of the form he'd been filling out during the interview.

"...can I go now?" Elias stood and slowly reached for his backpack. Daily battles with mud and sand had stripped the heavy canvas material of its once vibrant color but not its sturdiness. The pack still had a few good years left. With a half shrug and quiet grunt Elias settled the pack into place - double checking the straps out of habit. He tugged on the plastic buckles as he waited for a response. There was more scribbling, rapid tearing, and then a pink sheet of paper was thrust towards his face.

"Not just yet. You still need to fill these out and sign here, here, here, here, and initial here. Take this back to the front desk and they'll finish processing you."

'I'm still not finished?' Elias did as instructed, almost fleeing the claustrophobic room after his items were returned. The standard 'wait here to Enter' line was even longer the second time around. After the not-too-subtle interrogation he'd been subjected to the standard information forms and Pokemon physical were a piece of cake. Dune was his usual lazy self and let the 'nice lady' flip him upside down and check his stripes. Fifteen minutes after he'd originally entered the building Elias was free to leave.

"Hey, kid." Or perhaps not. The newly minted Pokemon trainer turned to see the same officer with a handful of paper.

"You're going to need this. Trainer." Thrusting the bundle at Elias the officer left without another word.

"Thanks?" Elias muttered. He took the small bundle and shifted through the different items. A map, that was going to be useful. A coupon for a restaurant he'd never heard of. That was less useful. And a small brochure about someone's Pokemon lab. Or research lab. Or both? The brochure was upside down so Elias flipped back to the map as he shouldered open the heavy Exit door.

"According to this I need to go...this way to civilization!" Elias took a full breath of fresh air before beginning to walk quickly down the road. 'I should have brought a bike...'

 

[CounterAttack]

Alix laughed a little at the exchange between Robyn and the stranger. It seemed that more than just Robyn was aiming for the title of Champion of the Gensia League. Especially since she herself kinda-sorta had her eyes on that prize. It was a long way from here, she figured, but she'd get there eventually.

She recognised the stranger's Tyrogue, having seen one back home in Lavaridge from when her parents had been tasked with breeding a Hitmonlee and a Ditto. "Sounds like there might be some friendly competition, eh?" she asked playfully, giving the new guy a smile. "Hi. I'm Alix, this is Robyn and Caleb," she introduced the other two. Matti gave yet another squeak of curiosity, waving to the new guy. Meeting so many new people at once was fun; the little Togepi took in all there was to see.

"Shall we get going?" she asked the other three, indicating the road ahead. The morning crowd was starting to disperse as people went their individual ways, though Alix could see more tourists now than businessmen and women.

 

[Mr. Omega]

"Right. Thanks." he said, helping himself to two of the chairs, setting them up so he could rest his legs on the other chair. He leaned back a little, listening to the trainers ramble. He then noticed that one of them was looking at him. He looked at Munchie, then shrugged his shoulders again, deciding to talk with her. "So... any of these other trainers friends of yours?"

Munchie had jumped down to the floor, nodding off under the seat where most of the other trainers were sitting.

 

[Pm0n3y]

Morgan jumped a bit, turning his attention away from Erika as he heard some sort of yelp from Eurydice. Apparently, the name Heidi wasn't the name of the Ponyta, and instead was pointed towards the red-haired girl that was quickly closing in on his position. He let out a chuckle as she corrected him, and aimed to apologize. However, her attention was already directed elsewhere, as she had began talking to the new face that entered the center, one that easily reminded him of one of his slacker cousins. Looking back towards Eurydice, he saw that she had written the correct pronunciation of her name on the notebook she brandished. His face contorted into a confused grimace as he read the pronounce.

"Geez, what a mouthful." He thought. Granted, he practiced the name verbally, and eventually got the hang of it. He didn't want to just outright give his opinion on her name (as it seemed that he already started on the wrong foot with the Heidi girl, and didn't the even younger female to shoot daggers at him), but he didn't want such a simple thought eat at him for the rest of the day.

"D'you mind if I...call you something else? Y'know...like...Snowflake? Or...Ice Queen? Or maybe just Eury?" He said with an awkward, utmost hesitation. Learning from experience, Morgan knew that not everyone valued nicknames given at their expense, even if said names meant well. He expected and anticipated some flak, but one thing did stick out in his mind that branched from his suggestion.

"Heh...I might receive some of Eury's Fury from this..." He thought with a internal chuckle.

 

[Lambi]

"Well, you could say Eurydice" Heidi pointed with her thumb towards Eurydice when she said her name "is my friend, though we just met earlier before reaching the Research Lab. I'd still consider her a friend. She hasn't done anything against me, at least, so she's good so far. Other than that, not really. I mean, I was talking a bit earlier to Sam" she pointed towards him as well with her thumb when she said his name "but yeah. You didn't answer my question earlier. You here to see the Professor as well?" She hoped she didn't sound annoyed or like an ass when she asked that a second time.

She wondered how long it would take until they'd be able to see Willow. Probably not soon, though there were a lot of people now already waiting to see her. Yani wasn't really worried about waiting, mostly just flying around when she wasn't sitting on Heidi's head or shoulder.

 

[SkyeNeko]

Snowflake? Ice Queen? Eurydice grinned widely. They reminded her of pokemon nicknames. Snowflake seemed suitable for a Glaceon, and Ice Queen, a Froslass. That would be fitting. Still, a nickname? It would be odd for her to have a nickname before her Ponyta. She didn't terribly mind either of the suggestions. If he had a hard time pronouncing her name, he could call her something else.

Ponyta noticed Munchie crawl under the seats. What was the strange pokemon? She didn't recall seeing anything like it before. It was like a green pouch of some sort. She pushed her nose under the chairs, snorting as she tried to get a better sniff of it. It smelled like food.

 

[Mr. Omega]

"Yeah, here to register for the Gensia League. Figured I'd see how far I can go. Plus it gives me a nice recommended order to go around the region." he sat up, moving away the second chair. "Munchie and I might find a couple more companions while we're here... come to think of it, where is Munchie?" he started looking around, and noticed the Ponyta sticking her head under the seat.

Munchie's nap didn't even last one minute before he woke up to seeing the face of a Ponyta right in front of him. GULP! he jumped back against the wall, moving his stubby little arms, trying to seem ready to attack.

 

[Fragrance of Mtn Dew]

"Well he don't look too tough. I bet Nina here can dance circles around your partner there!"

Alan locked eyes with the girl who responded before dropping his gaze down to the Pokemon she held in her arms. Nina was a Pokemon he had never seen before, but it was fairly obvious that she was a Grass-type of some sort. And she also didn't seemed to be too interested in fighting, instead totally ignoring her trainer in favor of listening to music.

"Well maybe not right now, because I got her calmed down, but any other time! No contest!"

That got a chuckle out of Alan. "Alright, we'll settle this later then. All the fancy footwork in the world can't help you if you can't land the knockout punch. But I guess we'll see. I'm looking forward to it."

Meanwhile, Clay had finally finished stretching and stood to catch the end of the conversation. He too looked over the girl and Nina and Alan could see a fiery determination in the Tyrogue's eyes. Good. A little rivalry between Pokemon would be great to push the little guy to fight his hardest.

"Sounds like there might be some friendly competition, eh?"

The other girl spoke up, seemingly amused by Alan's sudden intrusion. She introduced herself and the other two quickly afterwards and the Pokemon in her arms seemed pretty happy to see him too. Alan waved back to what he believed to be a Togepi, he'd never seen one before but he'd heard about them, before introducing himself. "Hey there, my name's Alan and this is Clay. Nice to see some fellow Trainers around my own age. I take it you're all heading for that Willow Research Lab too? I guess I wouldn't mind some company on the road..." He said with a small shrug.

He had challenged Clay to a race but since Alix was nice enough to invite him along with them he wasn't about to turn her down. The little guy could, and often did, run around anytime and anywhere he wanted. But who knew how often he'd be able to get to know his competition a little better on the roads of Gensia?

 

[elementsoul]

So there's Morgan, Heidi, Eurydice, and that creepier dude Heidi was talking to earlier must be named Sam. The first three seem like good people, although Heidi was being a bit mean and aggressive; certainly better than the one with the stench. The new guy who walked over doesn't seem that bad, but it is a bit rude to take up a chair for your feet. Even if there's plenty of open space, I wouldn't want to sit on a chair since I don't know what he's stepped in. He hasn't introduced himself either.

"Would you mind introducing yourself? It's a common courtesy to at least inform someone of your name if you're going to have a conversation with them." Erika said to the messy haired man who was currently talking to Heidi.

 

[NeoAC]

"Alright, we'll settle this later then. All the fancy footwork in the world can't help you if you can't land the knockout punch. But I guess we'll see. I'm looking forward to it."

Robyn kept looking at this new challenger to her status. Yeah, I'll look forward to winning. That's what I'll do.

"Shall we get going?"

"Sounds good to me!" Robyn confirmed as the decision was made to move along. "Faster we get set up to compete, faster I can prove that Nina's going to beat whatever this region will throw at her! So let's go!"

 

[Mr. Omega]

"Well, I wasn't talking to you, and since you want to join in on this conversation, perhaps you should give your name first before I give you mine. You don't want to be rude, after all..." He said, smirking as he turned to the new face that spoke to him. He then turned his attention back to Heidi, looking as calm as he did before. "And you didn't introduce yourself either. But since you've been a lot more friendly, I guess I'll give you my name first. Name's Russel." He extended his hand to Heidi, but found himself distracted when he saw the Ponyta's head under the seat. "Uhhhh... is she ok?"

 

[elementsoul]

He?s right. That was rude of me and he pointed it out. Erika?s mind had jumped a gap because of the Morgan?s confusion between the Ponyta?s name, or rather lack of one, and Heidi?s. ?Sorry you?re right. That was rude of me. I thought you?d have overheard it given a name mix up right before you asked for the chairs. I?m Erika.? Erika said in a quieter tone so that Morgan could hear her apology and explanation, but not interrupt the conversation he had gone back to.

 

[Pm0n3y]

The replying grin was, admittedly, unexpected. It seemed Morgan showed more surprise at the grin then he would've at a frown (or a scowl). Either way, her ecstatic gleam caused him to show a smile of his own, chuckling lightly as he put a hand to his head in sheepishness. He took a sigh of relief in his thoughts.

"Phew. That could've went worse. If i've ever learned anything from my younger cousins, it'd be never to anger a female preteen." He thought with some reassurance. She might've not seen the reason behind his unique choices in name, so he felt it'd be somewhat appropriate to explain himself.

"Yeah...! Y'know, you have the whole "white hair, blue eyes, pale (well, paler than mine) skin" thing going for you, so the first things that came to mind was winter-related stuff. But, i'm thinking of just going with Ice Queen (or maybe just Ice? Justice? Queenie?). Some might find Snowflake to be degrading, y'know?" He elaborated, accepting Erika's apology with a quick nod and "it's fine" before returning his attention to Eurydice. He leaned in a little closer (but not too close; he didn't want his personal space invaded), and lowered his voice.

"Actually, I can one-up this offer. See, back when I was in basic training, the lenses of my glasses were wayyyy thicker, completely noticeably so. I'm sure you can imagine all the dumbass nicknames they gave me then. But, the one that stuck (the one I-actually-didn't have a problem with, amazingly) was "Specs". If you want, you can call me that. So, when you get tired of writing six letters, you can write five." He told her with reassurance, sitting back in his normal position. He realized something, a gave a look of impression.

"It seems i've been here, holding a conversation with a mute, little girl. Huh." He thought matter-of-factly.

 

[Lambi]

Heidi shook Russel's hand and giggled. "Don't worry about it. I would have asked you sooner or later anyway. I'm Heidi." She looked towards where Eurydice's Ponyta was sticking her head and saw the Pokémon under the chair. "That one yours?" she asked Russel, pointing towards the Gulpin under the chair.

While the other girl that seemed to be joining in on the conversation was rude, Heidi figured it was no reason to judge the girl by it, especially since she apologized. "No hard feelings as far as I'm concerned. I really like how your hair looks like. How did you do it?" She wasn't interested in dyeing her hair, but if she saw someone with a dyejob she liked, she wasn't afraid of telling that person she did.

Yani flew over to where Ponyta and Gulpin were, lowering down to see Gulpin better. "Yan! Yan, yan." Ooo, new friend! Hello there, friend. She wanted to get to know this new Pokémon better, just like she was trying to do with Ponyta.