Brogan
Hearing Buneary's cry, Brogan felt a spark of hope...but no, that wasn't a happy cry...nor was it a cry of triumph...Buneary was in trouble! Brogan ran over to where Buneary and Rocky had been battling underground and knelt down, forgetting the dirt for a moment and not caring how mucky her knees got, sticking her head in and withdrawing immediately, coughing dirt out of her mouth.
"Eurgh...Buneary! Umm...return!" she said after her brainwave hit, sticking Buneary's pokeball into the hole towards where they were. Buneary had been struck by Rocky on his way down, and couldn't free her legs from under him to get back to Brogan on the surface...not that it would be so easy to anyway, that battle had really taken it out of her...hearing the Pokeball click, Brogan withdrew her hand and looked down at the ball with an unreadable expression...
She'd actually won. As in...by herself. She didn't have anybody behind her telling her what to do, neither had she paid a trainer to battle for her...it was all her and Buneary. Getting to her feet slowly, Brogan looked up at Jack in confusion, the silence spreading over the battlefield for a moment, her expression unchanging in response to his smile - she had seen that slamming of his fist into the rock near him. Of course he was angry...he lived for his training, it really...this just wasn't fair.
"I...I'm sorry, Jack," said Brogan quietly, turning away and crouching down to put Buneary's ball in her bag. She didn't feel like she thought she would...no pride, no elation of any sort...just guilt. Washing over her in sickening waves...sickening because she'd never cared before - she could watch employed trainers beat others on her behalf and feel completely smug about her own intelligence...but they were faceless people, not people that she'd grown to know.
This was ridiculous! She was Brogan Houghton-Taylor and she felt guilty about nothing. Setting her face, she stood up and turned around to Jack and Mackenzie, expression completely smooth and unreadable, "So, we going further up this mountain then or what?"
Selene
Nodding, Sel looked around at Valorie and smiled slightly when she noticed her friend looked...well, completely nervous about and petrified at the idea of going into the Lugia dorm! Surely Val wasn't afraid of Ghost pokemon..? Selene knew that she was jumpy around Bug Pokemon, but Valorie was a much much stronger person than she was...this just couldn't be right! But Selene couldn't think of any other reason...
"Yes, but...actually I won't say they're harmless, if it is Pokemon that have hurt Bri and Skye...but generally I don't think they do much harm. It's okay Valorie, I'll protect you!" she smiled and winked back at her, Ryan on her shoulder repeating the wink with a cheerful cry. Sel couldn't help but feel her respect for Valorie increase - she was visibly afraid of going in there, but to help her friends there she was, following Sel and Vince...that was cool, and one of the many reasons why Sel thought so highly of her.
A sudden movement out of the corner of Selene's eye made her turn her head, noting that Cat was floating along beside her, watching her curiously if not somewhat warily. But of course, the newest addition to the team...she would be anxious about this human who had captured her, wouldn't she!
"It's okay Cat...we aren't going to hurt you! You did wonderfully back there against that boy by the way, I'm really proud," she praised with a wide smile, reaching out towards Cat slightly. Cat began to teleport away, almost as though out of instinct, but re-appeared after a moment, moving slightly closer to Selene but still not going anywhere near her hand. 'Well,' thought Selene, withdrawing the hand to her body, 'we can work on that...'