Mark Wilson and Helena Geitman
Mark had been occupied most of the day after he had finished up with class. Taking trips to his dorm to study on various moves he could teach his Pokemon, testing out attacks on his team, he had to make sure that he would make it on top in the tournament. So far, Mark felt like he had everything he needed to be a formidable opponent against the other students. He was one of the most experienced trainers in the Raikou Dorm after all. He felt a bit cocky saying that to himself, but that's really what it felt like. Still, he'd always be open to helping out other students get a grasp of the basics if they ever needed too.
Mark was on his way toward Oak Town to browse a few TMs that he could use on his Pokemon, though something quickly distracted him. Mark thought that he'd get over his fear of the Ocean, but as soon as he glanced over the shore, he just froze up. Mark felt a bit ashamed of himself for getting like this. It was just water... really deep water. Mark clenched his fists and took a step forward. He wanted to tackle his fear while he was nearby. Even if it meant stepping right into the water. He bent down to take off his shoes and started to walk along the sand. Taking small steps toward the ocean.
Letting out a frustrated sigh, Helena stopped the star jumps she had been repeating to sink to the ground beside Scraggy. The two shared a look, and Helena understood that Scraggy was silently daring her to even try making him run to and from a tree again.
"Ok, no more sprints I promise. But we need to do something to occupy ourselves before this big tournament. Come on, this island is massive…I'm sure we can find somewhere to explore that isn't too out of the way…" she rummaged in her backpack and pulled out the Academy map. She chewed the inside of her cheek as she pondered on where to go next. She caught sight of the vast swathes of blue surrounding the island. Water. Water meant water pokemon. She didn't have a water pokemon. "Bingo!" she exclaimed with an excited clap of her hands. "Come on Scraggy, we're going to go catch ourselves a water pokemon!"
Before Scraggy could even comment or question, Helena had already swung her backpack across her shoulders and had taken off at full speed toward the beach, her tank fluttering violenty behind her. Scraggy let out a yelp and followed clumsily.
When she finally reached the golden sands of the beach, Helena was surprised to see that she wasn't alone. A boy with dark hair was already stood there, his feet in the water and his shoes just to the side. He didn't seem to be moving. Helena couldn't see any pokemon around. He was just…staring. Scraggy panted as he caught up, eyes sliding over to the boy before he looked up at Helena questioningly. Helena shrugged. She looked back to the boy, unsure of how to proceed, as she didn't really want to disturb him.
"Ahem," she cleared her throat quietly, the noise so pathetic that she barely heard it herself. Scraggy elbowed her in the shin sharply. "OWCH, WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?!" she screeched loudly, crouching down and cradling her throbbing shin muscle, glaring at Scraggy.
Mark seemed to be in deep focus. He didn't plan on moving deeper into the water since he wasn't really dressed for the situation. This was as close as he was going to go... or so he thought. Mark instantly jumped up in the air as soon as he heard a female voice shouting nearby. It nearly gave him a heart attack and made him trip face first into the water. Thankfully, it was very shallow, but was still enough to get Mark soaking wet. Talk about embarrassing!
"Oh my gosh…" Helena gaped as the-boy-who-stared-at-the-ocean leapt into the air and face planted the water. If she didn't feel so panicked and guilty about the situation it would be pure comedy. As it was, she sprang up instantly and raced over to him, face flaming red with embarrassment. Her hands hovered over his arm, his shoulder, not sure whether she should grab him to help him up or whether that would cause him to have a full-on heart attack. "I'm so sorry…my Scraggy…such an idiot…are you ok?" she babbled, somewhat incoherently as she knelt down in the shallow water next to him, her knees and shins sodden.
Mark instantly flung his head out of the water and gasped for air, scooting right back and bumping into the girl. He was panting extremely heavily and had a red blush on his face as well. "Ah... ah... um..." Mark paused a moment to look at her. "Er... y-yeah! I'm fine! Er... I uh... just tripped trying to move deeper into the water. Clumps of sand you know? Hahaha..." Mark said, still unable to hide the fact that he was somewhat terrified by the whole situation. His heart pounding, his clothes soaking wet and making him shiver, and there was a witness to his whole situation with the water. He was starting to regret not catching a fire pokemon back at the volcano.
"Oh…right," said Helena, standing up slowly and frowning slightly, looking from the boy to the sea. Tripped over clumps of sand…trying to walk in deeper? Why didn't he just swim…"Why didn't you just swim?" she blurted out, before cringing and cursing her lack of filter, "you know, if you don't mind my asking…sand can be a pain, though. Are you ok? Do you need anything…I don't have any spare clothes I'm afraid, and I don't think mine will fit you, but I have…" she rummaged in her bag and pulled out her empty poffin case. An empty poffin case. She just looked at it and grumbled, shoving it back in her backpack and shaking her head, "I have nothing that will help you dry off, sorry. I'm Helena, by the way," she said by means of introduction, sticking out her hand somewhat awkwardly. The gesture seemed completely out of place given the current situation, but Helena was going with it.
Marks embaressment skyrocketed when she asked why he didn't just swim. What was he supposed to say? That he was afraid of water? "W-Well, I was going to! I just wanted to test the water... that and I'm kinda not dressed for the water. Guess that doesn't matter too much now huh? Heheh..." Mark said, rubbing his head. "I have some spare clothes in my bag, and some swimwear just incase... um... but thanks anyway." He said. Of course, he'd need somewhere to change first. Mark held out his wet hand to shake Helena's. "I'm Mark. Mark Wilson." He'd reply.
"It's nice to meet you Mark Wilson. Even in these somewhat less-than-normal circumstances," Helena shook his hand firmly before walking into the shallows herself and looking out to the ocean. She could care less that her sneakers were currently completely submerged, and that her socks were becoming more and more sodden with each passing second. The sea breeze was cooling on her face as she tied her hair into a braid down her back.
"What dorm are you in? I'm in the Raikou dorm but it's actually my first day here. Scraggy and I wanted to get some exploring done before the tournament begins," she gestured back toward Scraggy, who was examining the surface of the water with interest, with her thumb. "I figured I'd get about to catching a water pokemon out here," she continued, mainly to herself rather than in conversation with Mark.
Mark seemed to be shivering in his outfit... but he tried to ignore it as best as he could, despite how obvious it was. He looked down to notice her shoes getting soaked by the water but decided not to comment on it. She didn't seem bothered. "O-oh! You too? I'm also in the Raikou Dorm. So you're entering the tournament too huh? Heh..." Mark had a confident smirk on his face. His arms were wrapped around himself, mostly from his fear of the ocean and by how cold he was. "Well if your searching for a Water Pokemon then your in the right place. I'd picture there's alot more Pokemon deeper in the water though. A couple of them end up on the shore though so it depends on what your looking for." He added.
Turning to observe Mark, Helena raised an eyebrow at his shivering form, the arms wrapped around himself and the tremor in his voice. He was sopping wet, and the cool sea breeze that felt so pleasant against her skin must have felt like an arctic chill for him. "Maybe you should…you know…change or something, Mark? If you have clothes…you must be cold, you're soaking wet," she turned her face back to the ocean, partly pondering his words and partly to give him some privacy should he decide to change.
"I don't know if I'll enter. I've just started like I said, so it would be pretty ridiculous for me to expect to beat people who've been studying here for time, but I think it would be good experience, and it would always be entertaining to watch. I assume you're entering?" Pokemon deeper in the ocean…Mark was probably right. But how would she get there. She'd have to swim…but she didn't have her costume, and she really didn't want to get as wet as Mark.
Mark sighed. Well he would get pretty darn sick if he didn't. That'd be pretty darn bad with the tournament coming and all. Nobody else was around so it'd probably be alright. "Yeah your probably right... J-just don't look!" He said as he tugged off his wet shirt. Already he felt extremely relieved as the cool sea breeze hit him. "But yeah you should totally join the tournament! Even if your new to the whole thing, it'd be a good experience! Even if you end up losing, sometimes that's just one of the best ways to learn about your team! I know that from experience." Mark said as he tossed his wet shirt to the side and reached into his bag.
Rolling her eyes, Helena scoffed as Mark asked her not to peek at him changing. "Don't worry, stud, I won't peek. Unless you're Brock in disguise. Then it's all fair," she crossed her arms and felt a slight pull on her tank top. She looked down to see that Scraggy had waded in after her, and the water was up to his knees. Of course she had taught Scraggy to swim during their years together. Looking out to the ocean an idea lit up in Helena's mind.
"Hey Scraggy, how do you fancy going for a bit of a swim out there," she pointed in the general direction of the ocean, "and see what Pokemon are hanging around. Don't go too far, though, keep me in sight at all times, got it?" "Scrag!" Scraggy barked the affirmative, diving into the water and swimming off slowly. His loose-pant-skin created a certain amount of drag, but the scarf-belt seemed to help.
Helena frowned before taking out Rufflet's poke ball and releasing the bird. "Rufflet, can you follow Scraggy and just circle him? keep an eye out, make sure he doesn't get himself into any trouble…" Rufflet took off and Helena sighed deeply, "God knows if any of them will get into trouble it's Scraggy…"
Mark chuckled at the comment about Brock. He could take a wild guess who she admired. While Scraggy was being sent out to swim in the water, Mark had finished changing into a dry pair of clothes and thankfully, without any spectators! All he changed was his Shirt and Pants. Anything else was a bit much for Mark to handle out in public. He left his shoes off of course since his feet were still covered up in sand. He tugged up his spare set of jeans and called out to Helena. "Alright, you can look. I'm all set." Mark said as he buttoned himself up. His wet clothes were sitting on a small towel that Mark had placed on the ground. He was looking out to the Scraggy swimming out in the ocean. He had no idea those things could swim...
"Thanks, stud," laughed Helena, intending the term as a sarcastic nickname. "Feel better now you're not drenched? If you were planning on swimming why didn't you put your swim clothes on in advance? Seems a bit of an oversight, you might want to remember that next ti-"
"SCRAAAAAAAAAAG!" came a loud cry from the ocean. Helena's head snapped round to where Scraggy was flailing about in the ocean. It looked as though he were desperately trying to get away from something, but she didn't know what, she couldn't get a clear view.
"SCRAGGY!" she yelled, wading through the water as quickly as she could until it was up to her waist, looking round in panic. "RUFFLET! HELP SCRAGGY, HOWEVER YOU CAN!" She watched as Rufflet plummeted from the sky in his Fly attack, connecting with something before disappearing below the ocean's surface. All was calm for a second before Rufflet shot back up, and the calamity continued. It looked as though Rufflet hadn't been able to stop whatever was attacking Scraggy. Helena pulled her backpack off her shoulders and began swimming in Scraggy's direction, though her water-sodden clothes were slowing her down substantially. She would never get there in time.
Mark was shocked when he heard Scraggy shouting out in the distance. This was giving Mark a serious case a Deja Vu. This was just like when he almost drowned from those Frillish. Whatever was in there was probably about to do the same with Scraggy. To make matters worse, Helena was about to rush in after him! No time to think about it! Mark reached into his bag and threw out a Pokeball containing Len, his Poliwraith!
"Len! Grab that Scraggy! And get Helena too!" Mark shouted. The Poliwraith nodded and jumped right into the water. Len was an extremely powerful swimmer so he was able to move through the water at insanely fast speeds! "Len! Use Brick Break on whatever's down there!" Mark shouted. Len had no idea what he was targeting, but he quickly held up his arm and hit the submerged Pokemon with a powerful blow! Whatever Pokemon he hit was huge! Thankfully though it gave Len plenty of room to save the Scraggy and swim back. Len grabbed Helena on the way back, setting them on the shore. Whatever was back there probably wouldn't be too happy with that last attack though so it'd only be a mater of time before it revealed itself.
The incident passed by in one big blur. Helena was already swimming out to sea, and so didn't hear Mark intervene and release Len. All of a sudden she was swept from the waves. She yelped and beat the arm holding onto her, instinctively fighting against the thing that was attacking her Scraggy. Before she knew it she was lying flat on her back on the beach, coughing up nasty seawater that burned her throat. Looking to her side she saw Scraggy also spluttering and let out a sharp noise in relief, rolling over and crawling over to Scraggy. "Oh, Scrag, I'm so sorry. You're ok, I'm so sorry I sent you out there, I didn't…" she exhaled slowly and stood up, resting her hands on her thighs to steady herself. She blinked and looked over to Mark, noticing Len stood on the shore also. She frowned, her brain slowly putting two and two together. Her eyes widened in realisation and she blinked at Mark. He'd saved her and Scraggy. "Thank you…Mark, thank you so much…and you, thank you too," she said sincerely, addressing Len.
"You two alright? It's not over yet." Mark asked. Len kept a close eye on the Ocean, readying himself for battle.
The moment of sentiment was interrupted, however, when a loud noise and a crashing wave broke on the shore. Helena looked around reluctantly and saw what could only be described as a tank of a Wailmer. She'd never seen one in real life before, and couldn't believe how monumental the Pokemon was. Nor how it was looking at her, Scraggy, Mark and Len as though ready to take them all out with one attack. Instinctively she reached to her belt and pulled out Joltik's poke ball, releasing the arachnid. "Joltik, Electroweb that Wailmer!" she instructed, feeling calm in the face of battle. She understood battles. This was more like it. Joltik's Electroweb wrapped partially around Wailmer, and the Pokemon cried out as it were zapped. Already weakened by Rufflet's Fly and Len's Brick Break, the super-effective lightning attack seemed to take a lot out of the Pokemon. "You're mine," growled Helena, pulling an empty poke ball from her backpack and throwing it toward the Wailmer. Wailmer disappeared and time seemed to stand still as the poke ball shook once, twice, three times before stopping. Wailmer had been caught! Just one problem. "Ok, I've just caught this pokemon, and I really, REALLY don't like it already," grunted Helena, pushing her wet, almost black hair from her face as though to emphasise why. "How the hell am I supposed to train it? Or even care for it!" She growled in frustration and flopped to the sand heavily. "I should have just knocked it out."
Mark and Len just watched as Helena took out the Wailmer. He actually wanted her to handle it, considering what it almost did to Scraggy. Mark sat down next to Helena.
"I think your underestimating your new catch there. Part of being a trainer is working around this sort of thing. If anything, I think you have plenty of room to train it right here!" Mark said, pointing out to the Ocean. "I hear they're capable of battling on land as well. They're as dense as air so working under both conditions could make it into one heck of a battler..." Mark paused, noticing he was rambling about battle strategies again. He couldn't help himself though. "I actually had a Pokemon on my team that was absolute hell to control, but through alot of hard work, it became one of my most valuble teammates." He'd add before looking down at the two. He was glad that he was there to save the two. Guess that was just fate doing its job.
"Besides that, are you two alright? That was one heck of a scare."
"Thanks for the advice, Professor Stud…" grumbled Helena, tracing patterns in the damp sand with her finger, her brows furrowed and voice sulky. She huffed. That was unfair, Mark had saved her and she was giving him her teenage attitude problems. "Seriously, thank you for sending Len. That was so cool of you, we would have been toast without you. Or sushi," her mouth quirked up into a half smile at her own pathetic attempt at humour, "whichever way you look at it really. I'm good, just a bit damp," she smiled wryly at her own understatement. She was soaked, and unlike Mark she didn't have the foresight to bring a change of clothes. But she wasn't cold, must be the adrenaline coursing through her veins still. "And I think Scraggy's ok, aren't you boy?" Scraggy nodded the affirmative, seemingly tired. Helena returned him to his poke ball alongside Rufflet and Joltik. "You three rest up for a while." She paused and took a few deep breaths. "I'll train Wailmer. I did say that I wanted a water type, and at least I know that he or she's got decent strength. And I'm sure I'll get to like him or her. Eventually." Helena didn't sound all too convinced. "So, aside from Len who else do you have on your team?"
Mark gave a faint blush at being jokingly called Professor Stud again but shrugged it off. Len walked over to Scraggy and sat beside him, giving the little guy a pat on the head. "Oh yeah! I got a couple more Pokemon on my team... heheh. My partner Snype is hanging out in his ball still. He's a Sableye. He's a bit exsausted from the last class so I want him to get rested up before the tournament starts. Haha." Mark said. "I'd offer one of my spare sets of clothes but I dunno if you'd wanna walk around looking like me. Or at least sit around until yours drys off." Mark joked. "If not, I have a towel you could use to."
"Sure, I'm not averse to cross-dressing," shrugged Helena, turning to Mark with a completely straight face. She suspected that he had expected her to turn his offer of dry clothing down, but hell she was sopping wet, she didn't care if she looked like a guy. She wore jogging pants and tank tops anyway, she was hardly the most feminine of dressers, and her muscular shoulders weren't exactly dainty and delicate.
"A Sableye, huh, interesting pokemon. I bet he's a character. It's cute how you call him your partner. I consider Scraggy my partner, and Rufflet and Joltik…and now Wailmer too I guess…of course, but Scraggy is my numero uno compadre. We've just been together for so long now, he's much more than just a pokemon to me. It's like he gets me, he's my best friend as well as my pokemon," she laughed and scuffed the toe of her sneaker into the sand, "despite the whole him not speaking English thing we just communicate. We get each other. I guess that's what happens when you travel around with one Pokemon for so long."
Mark was actually surprised that she took the offer for his spare set of clothes. He was going to make a comment if his friends spotted her... but he figured that it'd be funnier if his friends found out first hand. Mark reached into his bag and pulled out a new set of clothes. His whole attire was included in there. "Heh, me and Snype have been together for a long time. Funny enough though, Len here was my first Pokemon but training Snype was a pretty memorable experience. Its a pretty long story. Haha." Mark said as he moved the bag closer to Helena.
"Len, Snype, and my Porygon, Commodore were each my first three Pokemon. I've since expanded my team but heh... I'll leave the other half a surprise for the tournament. You'll just have to participate if you wanna see them in action!" Mark said with a grin.
"A Porygon too, huh? Sound like an impressive team you have with you. I look forward to seeing your other Pokemon too," laughed Helena, pulling Mark's offered bag closer to her and reaching inside.
"Actually it's a Porygon-Z but your close! Haha" Mark joked.
"Oh ok, Professor Pedantic Stud. I look forward to seeing your Porygon-Z in action," Helena rolled her eyes with a grin and pulled a pair of dark jeans and a blue polo out of Mark's bag. Luckily Mark's clothes didn't look like they'd be ridiculously baggy on her.
"I'm going to change. If you peek then I swear I will send out Joltik to electrocute you into next week," she warned as she stood up, pointing at Mark with raised eyebrows before making her way a little way off and changing. She needed to roll up the legs of the jeans somewhat, and the jeans fell pretty loosely around her hips, but otherwise it wasn't as bad as she'd expected. She made her way back over to Mark and laid her wet clothes out on the sand to dry. "Thanks, it feels good to be dry!" she laughed, wriggling her toes in the sand.
Mark of course, turned around while she was changing to give some privacy. So did Len, even though that sort of thing didn't even bother him. He was just taking after Mark. Once she was done he turned around and looked at her new attire. "Glad to help. They seem like a decent fit at least!" Mark said with a grin. Len seemed to delay turning around but he sat down with the group as soon as he did.
"So when do we need to be heading back?" asked Helena, looking up to the sky before pulling her Xtransciever out of her bag to check the time. "I'm not planning on training much ahead of the tournament, I'm more just going to take part for the fun of it, but obviously if you want to train at all I'd be happy to help out. Though I'm sure you're far too strong for me, with your Porygon-Z and all" she grinned, nudging Mark with her elbow.
Mark smiled. "Haha, well I don't wanna brag or anything... there could be alot of surprises in the tournament! Funny enough I was thinking of doing some training. I have two members on my team that could use some training. Ya know, if you wanna do a one on one. Heh. They aren't exactly as strong as the rest of my team yet." Mark said.
"Yeah, ok, I guess I can give Wailmer a spin, see if I can battle with him and not…fully hate him…" she said hesitantly, as though struggling to imagine a time when she would be able to battle with the troublesome water pokemon without holding a dislike for it. Standing up she brushed sand from the backs of her legs and took her belt holding her poke balls from her bag. She fastened it around her waist and turned to face Mark.
"Let's go then, Professor Stud, let's see what you got."
