As Rochelle walked into the makeshift camp, guided by the sudden appearance of the bright orange light that was associated with fire, the first thing she spotted was the two couples. Jordan and Fary were making out near the open fire - at least one of the two seemed to be enjoying it, judging by what she could hear - and Mika and Aeris had their arms around each other a short distance away. Rochelle felt a strange feeling of frigidity in her chest, but quickly dismissed it, wanting to ignore the activities of the others.
She sat down a short distance from the open flames, careful of Kirsten, took her pack off and set it beside her, rolling her shoulders with a sigh of relief. "Good to have that off my back, eh, little one?" she asked Kirsten rhetorically. In response, the little Horsea snuggled deeper into her arms, a little wary of the fire. Rochelle remembered her self-learned lesson not to look directly at the open flame; it damaged your eyesight if you stared at it for long enough. Unfortunately, the only things around besides the dark and gloomy forest were the two couples. She had to find something else to occupy herself... Her new Pokémon. That would work.
Rochelle pulled out the three Poké Balls on her belt. One was empty and showed signs of use; it was Kirsten's ball. The other two were almost indistinguishable from one another. That was a problem. She didn't want to accidentally bring out the wrong Pokémon at the wrong time. Mentally resolving to find some way to tell the Balls apart, Rochelle set one on her left side and the other on the right. That left Kirsten's empty one, which she held near the Pokémon in question.
"You look tired... could probably use a rest," she said quietly, hitting the button to return Kirsten to the ball. She replaced the ball on her belt, picked up the one on her right and opened it. In a flash of red light, the Spearow she had caught appeared before her, head cocked to one side and eyes narrowed a little. It seemed wary of Rochelle, presumably thinking of its surroundings and the human sitting next to it as unfamiliar territory.
"Hey there, little fella," Rochelle said gently, extending a hand to the Spearow. "Remember me? We met a while ago. My name's Rochelle."
The Spearow cawed at her, hopping a little closer to the hand, and eventually jumped into Rochelle's open palm. "Aww, you're so cute," she added, scratching its head near where an ear would be on something such as a cat or Meowth. "Gonna have to give you a name, little guy. Um... How about..." She ran through names and nicknames of her extended family and friends from her home in Goldenrod, quickly picking out a few of different genders: she couldn't tell if the Spearow was male or female.
"Amy? How d'you like that?" she asked. In response, the Spearow ruffled its feathers and looked at Rochelle as if to say, No. Just... no.
"Alright, so not Amy... Jenna?" Again, a negative reaction from the bird. "Sorry, sorry. You must be male, right?" The Spearow chirped happily at Rochelle before shuffling a step or two away from the fire. "Okay, so you're a guy... Ah, got it, here we go. What do you think of Phoenix?"
Phoenix chirped again and nuzzled Rochelle's wrist with his beak. "There we go. Nice to meet you, Phoenix," Rochelle said with a smile.
