Daniel Sabrak
The Beach​

Alexis glanced to Hikari as she said "Love is weird" and for some reason, her thoughts instantly went to Snype and Thyme... and proceeded on to Len. She shook her head a little, smiling to herself. "Yeah, I suppose it is… it's not really something you can figure out, so why even bother trying?" She shook her head again, pedaling a little closer to Hikari, glancing occasionally to the trainers.

"Hey, Hikari, have you ever been in love?"

Daniel had completely stopped trying to figure out his mess of a mind, and simply enjoyed the closeness with Ruby. He only seemed to snap out of it when she pulled back, a faint smile on her lips, as she looked down into her lap. He looked at her for a little while before letting go of the hand holding the cloth, pulling it back to himself.

However, with a soft smile, he lowered her hand from his cheek, placing his fingers in between hers and gave it a soft squeeze, resting it where their other hands had been a moment before, as he looked at her for another few moments before looking ahead of him, watching the sun proceeding towards the horizon as he spoke out quietly and softly.

"… Thanks, Ruby. If… if there's ever anything, just… tell me, alright?" He let his thumb brush softly across the back of her hand as he enjoyed the sunset, his messy mind having died down, for now if anything, and he seemed to be enjoying the sight of the somewhat orange sky just that bit more as he sat there, holding Ruby's hand.

Ruby Sapphire Fiona Destiny - Beach

Alexis agreed with Hikari when she said that love was weird. She peddled over to her and asked Hikari is she had ever been in love. This brought memories to Hikari, the main reason why she's protecting Ruby from boys who might hurt her. 'Once...' Hikari responded, glancing at Ruby and Daniel, this was a perfect example of love-on-first-sight.

'Like i mentioned earlier, there was a riolu who Ruby and i used to play with.' Hikari mentioned the Riolu again. 'He called himself Obilivio, and i really liked him, but he left...' Hikari stood back on her feet, trying to keep her head above the water as she looked up at the sky, remembering the Riolu. 'He left me with a broken heart.' Hikari said quietly, she then looked up at Alexis. 'Have you ever been in love, Alexis?' Hikari asked her.

Daniel finally took the cloth Ruby was holding, well... Both were holding. It suprised Ruby a little when he lowered the hand she was resting on his face. She looked up at him with a high blush, but then he placed his fingers between Ruby's and rested their hands on the place their other hands were before. He looked up at her before looking at the sunset as he thanked her with a quiet and soft voice.

He brushed with his thumb softly across the back of her hand, it gave Ruby a warm feeling inside, a warm and happy feeling. Ruby blushed a bit more as she stayed quiet, smiling a little though. She leaned against him and placed her head on his shoulder. She stared at the sunset, the sky was slowly becoming orange, at the moment she was not worrying about anything, she was only smiling, blushing and holding Daniel's hand.

Daniel Sabrak
The Beach​

Alexis glanced to Hikari and lowered her paws down to rest on them, keeping just her head above water, a small frown spreading on her lips at the story of the Riolu. "I'm sorry to hear that, Hikari… maybe you'll meet him later on at some point, when Ruby and you are champions." She added with a playful smile.

At the question of whether or not she had been in love, Alexis shook her head gently, her tail lowering to trail it's tip idly across the water's surface. "No, I haven't. As I said, Daniel and I never really talked to other trainers and Pokémon before coming here… although…" she hesitated before peering at Hikari again.
"… I did meet someone really nice today, and he seemed to like me as well. We went to the swamps together. Not sure if it's anything, but… he's a good friend if anything."

Daniel's eyes turned to the blonde girl now resting on his shoulder, his thumb continuing to idly brush across the back of her hand's skin. The previous almost maddening thumping of his heart had swelled up, and he couldn't even feel it beating anymore. It was as if it had grown five sizes and now simply filled his entire chest, spreading a nice, warm feeling in all of him.

He lowered his head to rest his cheek against the top of her head, watching the sunset with her, a soft smile on his lips. He, Daniel Sabrak, who had nearly never talked to a girl before… had met one only a couple hours ago, which he had then kissed, and was now watching the sun go down with. He wouldn't be surprised if he would wake up in his bed in a little bit.

Ruby Sapphire Fiona Destiny - Beach

'I don't want to meet him anymore, it's the best for me.' Hikari said to Alexis with a very confidence voice. Alexis started to explain about her new friend. 'Sounds like there will be a new couple soon~' Hikari teased and splashed some water on her. 'What Pokemon Specie is he?' Hikari asked her curious.

Hikari glanced up at the two trainers once again, only to see them cuddle. Hikari saw how happy Ruby looked and started to feel a little bad. Untill she reminded herself what happened with Obilivio, he left her when she had fallen for him. Daniel would probely leave Ruby too after awhile Hikari thought and her glance changed into a glare. But she cutted it out as soon as she realized what she was doing and turned back to Alexis with a smile.

Ruby was watching how the pokemon were playing, wondering what they would be talking about. She closed her eyes for a second as Daniel rested his head on hers, he still was brushing across the back of her hand. She had never feel this kind of happiness.

Actually, when she thought about it, it made her smile a bit. She had never been in love before, and tried to avoid any kind of conversation, and today she met a boy, fell in love with him in just a few hours and now she is cuddling with him AND has kissed him. She knew this wasn't a dream, she would've already woke up if it was.

She opened her eyes again and brought out a little, happy sigh. Her heart was still beating really hard and she hoped Daniel wouldn't feel or hear it, she kept smiling but her blush wasn't fading away at all. It somehow relieved her he understood her without having to talk.

Lucia Francisco Bernavard​

Lucia smiled as she saw that Jack and George were getting along. "This is nice. We're all part of the same dorm, so that means we'll be able to hang out together and we can help each other out when we're studying or just when we have classes together. Oh, George. You see that girl battling with the Mienfoo and Pachirisu? She's Danielle, she's another friend I made here, so once her battle is over I can introduce you to her, okay?" She went over to Diana, "But for now, I'll go over and cheer her on. Come on Diana." She said as she picked up the unwilling Aron.

"Hey! Let me go! It wasn't close at all! I'll beat you and show you how strong I really am!" The Aron shouted at Uhuru as she was taken away by her oblivious trainer. Samuel just sighed, "Very sorry about that Uhuru, she gets like that. She'll grow out of it eventually... I hope."

Tyro paused at Blade's question and cocked his head. The bird pokemon frowned and looked about to say something, but he closed his mouth and thought some more. "Uh... to get... stronger?" He asked as he scratched the back of his neck, not really sure what Blade was asking for.

Roberto disentangled himself from the others and walked behind Lucia. He narrowed his eyes at the boy as he felt his pincers squeeze together tightly. Just one more... just any more really and Roberto would be upon him and his little Sableye. He glanced over at Danielle. It was too early to tell who would win, but the Scizor was rooting for Danielle, as was Lucia. "Go Danielle! Beat him!" She shouted from the sidelines as she hugged Diana tight to her chest. The little Aron continued to squirm about as she sought to break free and claim her rematch!

Jason Wolf
ugh...

Jason looked down at the two kids and turned his back. It was obvious what he said was being taken wrong. He let out a heavy sigh before speaking.

"I still don't get why they gave me this job. It's like 'Oh sure we'll just have this random guy with no teaching experience go ahead and teach trainers. What a great Idea.'." Jason said in a mocking doofy voice.

He turned to face the kids again.

"I'm sorrry. I'm new to being a teacher here, and well back home my job was one where underestimating pokemon could have deadly consiquences. I should know better that what applies in one place doesn't apply everywhere else. Just like my skill as a Zone Ranger doesn't carry over to teaching skill." Jason said and sighed again, "Well I hear Blade coming."

There was a high pitched buzz as Blade flew past. He had been going so fast he over shot Jason by a good sixty feet, and blew up a large trail of sand.

"Always over doing Blade..." Jason mumbled.

Vincent Xackford Luna Location-Beach:

This is bad! This is bad! Vincent thought as he watched his Excadrill get blasted by a Hydro Pump attack sending the pokemon flying. Vince shook his head trying to get those thoughts out of his mind, for his pokemon's sake he had to keep a cool level head right then.

The Gyarados launched another Hydro Pump attack this time sending Wattage, Shade, Gallarus and the Buizel flying past Vince landing hard on the ground. "Are you guys alright?!" Vince asked as he ran over to the injured Pokemon. Vince looked back at the Gyarados with intense anger in his eyes. "No one hurts my friends and gets away with it Blitz! Let's rock and roll!" Vince growled. As the Charizard heard his name he quickly took off into the air charging toward the Gyarados.

"Dragon Pulse!" Vincent shouted ordering his Charizard to attack. Blitz let out a powerful and loud roar before firing a shock wave of dark blue energy from his mouth and at the Gyarados. Scissors had hid in the sand when the Gyarados popped up and now crawled over next to Vince which gave the teen an idea. "Hold it up Blitz I've got an idea!" Vince shouted to his Charizard as it continued to fire a Dragon Pulse.

"Alright everyone who can still move and that includes you, you slow Buizel!" Vince began to shout as he looked back to the Pokemon that got hurt. "We
re going to help Blitz take down that big ugly Gyarados over there and everyone has to chip in!" He continued to yell rallying all his Pokemon together.

"Let's do this! Wattage Thunderbolt! Scissors Water Gun! Dyno Dark Pulse!" The trainer shouted ordering all his Pokemon with projectile moves to attack. He then looked back to the Buizel and said "Alright Rocket I'm going to need you to chip in with a Water Gun," Vince smiled to the Buizel after he said Rocket. Despite not actually catching the Buizel Vince considered him one of his Pokemon now which actually made the Buizel smirk a bit before firing his own Water Gun.

All the power of all the attacks blasting the Gyarados caused an explosion that sent Blitz flying towards the ground only to land in a stylish manner. After the smoke had cleared and Vince could see he couldn't help but laugh at the site of a knocked out Gyarados lying on the beach. He then looked around and saw all the damage they did in the explosion mainly to other people's stuff. All Vince could really do was shrug it really wasn't his fault he was just defending himself. Vince then turned to his Pokemon and gave them all a thumbs up as he then turned to the Buizel after picking up his bag that was still intact and got out a pokeball.

"Alright Rocket in you go," Vincent said with a smirk as he gently tapped the ball on the Buizel's head. The capture was successful as Vince figured it would be. He then let the Buizel out again and figured it was time to head back to the school. "Alright everyone let's back things up and get out of here," He said to his pokemon who all sighed and picked up everything and started heading out.

Calnith Sol Neverwind Location-Swamplands:

"You know if you give up now maybe I'll forget this ever happened," Calnith growled as he glared at the girl standing in front of him. Calnith was in the Swamplands trying to catch a Skorupi when he and a girl had tossed their pokeballs at the same time. Both were unsure who had actually caught the Skorupi so they were going to fight over it.

"There's no way I'll let you have that Skorupi! I've been tracking it for way to long!" The girl growled with a cocky grin on her face sure victory would be her's. "Alright Graveler Bulldoze on the Elekid and Magmar Flamethrower on the Metang!" The female trainer added ordering her Pokemon to attack. The Graveler stomped the ground and then charged at the Elekid as the Magmar fired a blast of flames from his mouth and at Colossus.

"Fine be that way," Calnith said with a frown, he honestly just wanted his Pokemon and to leave but a tad bit of training wouldn't be that bad. "Now let's show her how weak she is. Thor counter with Hammer Arm and Colossus use Flash Cannon," The red haired teen ordered as he folded his arms. Instead of focusing on the battle he questioned his choice of wearing a red jacket out here it was hot. Thor charged at the Graveler his left arm extended in the air and his arm glowing a bright red. As the Graveler got closer he charged his shoulder at the smaller Elekid. Thor smirked as he got into striking range of the Graveler, he ducked a bit and raised his fist at the Graveler avoiding his shoulder and sending it flying in the air as he punched it.

The Magmar's flamethrower and Colossus's Flash Cannon clashed causing an explosion and ultimately canceling each other out. "Oh no Graveler! Magmar divert your attention to the Elekid and use Fire Punch!" The girl shouted panicking and not really doing a smart move. The Magmar listened to its trainer and diverted its attention to Thor who was closer. This was a perfect time to finish off that Graveler in the air. This battle would go in his favor.

Ciel

Ciel returned Brie with some reluctance. He didn't exactly want the creature to escape him in the middle of Oak Town. That would be horrible. He had in turn, released his Skitty, who proceeded to chase his feet very enthusiastically. Momo was just everything sunshine and rainbows wasn't she? "Nyah!" she told him, clearly reading his mind. Maybe it had to do with the Zen Headbutt. He wasn't sure. Whatever it was, she was quite happy being the epitome of innocence.

Except of course, when battling his Cubone. He still wasn't quite certain what that had been about. He knew there was a hierarchy of Pokemon same as humans but that was just about it in his knowledge. He didn't try to understand Pokemon in that way. He wasn't Skye, whose subtly insatiable curiosity was going to get him killed one of these. Or maybe that was his pain tolerance, Ciel didn't know. In any event, he was just going to say that he had a weird Skitty named Momo, an overly-protective Cubone named Dante, and a hostile baby Absol who he, for some reason had named after an archangel. And his other Pokemon, which really, were more normal than he thought.

He entered Oak Town and instantly regretted it. It was louder than the Academy. Had he been nuts? Well... probably. Shaking his head, he wondered if N was really in this crowded place. He wondered... and nearly walked smack into a crowd of people staring at two girls. One of them was Valorie, who felt all sorts of different emotions. He felt sympathetic, especially considering the girl with her, who appeared no less than ragged and... not disgusting... but distant. It was almost like she had forgotten something... and had no inclination to repair it. He instantly stopped watching and Momo mewed by his foot.

"A... smoothie?" he asked her and the cat nodded. "Well... o-okay." He slipped past the crowd to order, picking mango-banana without a second thought. He liked mangos and he wasn't sure peach and banana would taste good. He also avoided the gazes of the two girls already there. He didn't want to bother them any.

Maxwell Leggingsteele
Oak Town
------------------------------

Maxwell smiled at his girlfriend,
"Of course I'm ready! I'm gonna' go and find Brian the best dang birthday present ever!" he said enthusiastically. As if to stengthen his trainer's spirit even more, Slackey briefly woke up to raise his claw in the air and go "Wooo..." before falling asleep again.

As the two exited the PokéCenter's front doors, Maxwell started to look around for a good present. What would Brian want? He was pretty young, probably about ten or something. So maybe... Nah, Maxwell had no clue. He wasn't entirely sure what kind of presents Brian enjoyed. He thought about it for a while, and then came to a conclusion.

"TMs! I mean, everybody's gotta' love those!" he said, pretty contempt with his idea. TMs was your average thing to give to any Pokémon Trainer, I mean come on, who didn't like the thought of their Pokémon learning new and useful moves? Besides, there had to be loads of 'em in Oak Town, the place was practically build next to a giant academy for aspiring trainers!
"Come along!" he exclaimed and grabbed Genevieve's hand.

Maxwell then started to walk towards a shop to his right that seemed to sell TMs, he had a feeling resting in his stomach that this was the right place. The teen had a habit of following his gut, and it mostly worked out pretty well when he did so.

A small bell made a low, ringning sound as the two entered the shop,
"Excuse me," Maxwell said to the man behind the counter, "You do sell TMs here, right?"

"TMs?" The man said. You could easily tell that he was about fifty years old. His seemingly black hair was now bordering to gray, his stomach was round and big as if he hadn't taken a good running strecth in years and his clothing seemed a bit unstylish and hurridly thrown together. Heck, he even had a beard. "Of course we sell TMs here! Take your pick." he said and swept his hands over the counter as if to present what products he had. After that, he turned around an muttered something about "The youth these days, doesn't even know about TMs and...".

"Which one do you think looks good?" Maxwell asked Genevieve. The TMs were ranging from all sorts of moves, it was clear that this man had been around for a long time in the business.

Both of Danielle's Pokemon decided to double team on them with Swift. Commodore was still a Ghost type so the attack faded through him but Kara still got hit by both attacks. The attack got Kara pretty weakened though. Meanwhile another trainer was cheering Danielle on at the sidelines. Well... Mark was at a disadvantage. Time to go all out now. Both of his Pokemon were fairly slow and Commodore was still strong enough to hold his own ground. Time to turn the tables a bit.

"Hang in there Kara. We can still Manage. This battle is far from over. Alright Commodore, ready to try out your new move?" Mark said. Commodore nodded confidently.

"Alright then. Commodore, use Trick Room!" Mark called out. Commodore's eyes gave off a Red glow. As they were glowing, a bright light blue rectangle surrounded the battlefield, completely changing things up. Slower pokemon now became faster and faster Pokemon became much slower. In this case, Kara and Commodore had a big advantage. Kara was the slowest at the moment so she was able to move much faster now.

"Kara, use Toxic on Ozzy!" Mark said. This time Kara was able to use it succesfully. At an intense speed, Kara swooped toward Ozzy and attempted to stink him with her stinger to Poison him.

Daniel Sabrak
The Beach​

Alexis giggled as the water splashed onto her, sending a small wave back at Hikari while poking out her tounge, splashing around a little more before answering. "Hey, it's not like it's a thing set in stone… he's just a really nice guy. He's… uhm, a Poliwhirl. I know, it's odd, electric and water and all, but… he's just really sweet, and pretty strong, actually. His name is Len."

She shook her head lightly, letting her tail spin around in the water a little, making a tiny little whirlpool, glancing towards Hikari with a bit of concern. "Are you alright, Hikari? You don't seem to like Daniel and Ruby getting together. What's wrong?"

Daniel had completely thrown away the idea of thinking about almost anything, since it would only serve to confuse him more. He glanced towards the horizon, and then at the Pokémon splashing water at each other, which made him smile slightly wider.

He turned his head a little and peered down at Ruby who was still leaning against him, sighing out softly. He gave her hand another little squeeze before clearing his throat slightly, afraid his voice might crack. "They… seem to be having a lot of fun, huh?"

Ruby Sapphire Fiona Destiny - Beach

Hikari looked weirdly up at her as she mentioned he was a poliwirl, water and electric? Hikari started laughing a little. 'Well i guess that Len has to live with the idea that his wife is stronger than him~' Hikari teased a little while laughing a little harder.

Then Alexis mentioned Hikari's attitude, she've been glaring at the two alot. '...to be honest...' Hikari started and paused. 'No, i don't like it.' Hikari said clearly. 'I try to protect Ruby all my life from boys why might hurt her, she never fell in love, and yet there's one boy who can make her fall within a few hours.' Hikari said discused, but then remembered she shouldn't speak off her mind like that.

'U-uh! I don't mean i don't like your trainer or anything! He's really kind and...' Hikari looked up at the two again. 'He seems to make Ruby happy...' She admitted with a sad face, not really knowing what she should do. 'I'm not really sure wether i should give them a chance or not...' Hikari said, hoping Alexis would know what to do.

Ruby kept looking at the two pokemon, she sometimes saw how Hikari looked at them, she kind of knew that Hikari wouldn't like the idea of her and Daniel together but decided to don't pay attention to it for now. She smiled lightly as she saw how the Raichu and the Poochyena splashed water at each other.

Daniel cleared his troat and Ruby felt he was softly squeezing her hand again. He spoke to her as he seemed to had peered down at her. 'They do... They also seem to be good friends already...' Ruby said with her soft voice, maybe a little shy too.

So the boys name was Geroge, and Jack looked on his outstretched hand for a couple of seconds before gathering his strength to shake George's hand weakly. "Yea.........sure" Jack replied after hearing about a potential battle after some "R & R" but at the moment he wasn't really up for any battling. Lucia had already began to make her way towards Danielle and her battle leaving Jack alone with George, unfortunately.

Meanwhile Blade continued his long stare on Tyro who for the first time was at a lose for words, for the first time Tyro honestly couldn't find an answer to the question. "Being strong does not equal strength." That was something the scizor knew from experience and the countless battles he had been through.

Jack sat there George only a short distance away, Jack sighed and put his head down hoping to ignore any awkward conversations.

Daniel Sabrak
The Beach​

Alexis giggled, a little flustered at what Hikari had said, but simply waved it off, focusing on the more pressing and serious matter. She nodded lightly at Hikari, letting herself float down to sit on the sandy bottom again, smiling understandingly.

"No no, it's alright Hikari, I understand! As much as I know Daniel's a good guy, that's not going to convince you. It just shows you care a lot about your trainer." She smiled and shifted closer through the water, lifting a paw to stroke it over Hikari's back.

"Give him a chance… he means well, but he can do some stupid things now and then… but without meaning to. If you'll give him a chance, I'll do what I can to keep him from hurting Ruby, alright?"

Daniel nodded his head, smiling over at the two Pokémon before raising a hand, waving at them both, raising his head a little from Ruby's, but still holding onto her hand. "Yeah, they do. I'm glad they like each other… heh."
He glanced down at her again, lifting his free hand to place gently on her chin, turning her face to look up at him, her soft, blue eyes only serving to make him smile sheepishly again.

"It's… been a crazy day, huh? What with… everything that's been going on, and… w-well, us, heh…" He paused, brushing his thumb across her cheek softly, trying to find the right words while his eyes slowly grazed across her face. "… We're going to… meet up again, right? Sit somewhere, have a drink… maybe an ice cream, or go somewhere on a walk or something? I'd… like to, at least. Eventually."

Isaac & Orion
Then show me you mean it.

"So... you really mean that?" A Orion said.

Isaac turned to see the other boy had also climbed onto the roof.

"Of course I do. Me and Raizer will do what we must to become stronger, but we won't do it the cheap way." Isaac replied.

"Then show me you mean it!" Orion demanded.

The black haired boy leapt off the roof, a good three stories, and rolled upon hitting the ground. Isaac was mildly impressed. The boy's charmeleon followed suit. Isaac didn't risky copying and instead just descended back down the ledges, as did Raizer.

"Ok. Two pokemon. Give it your all. Jakio reveal your power!" Orion shouted.

Jakio rushed onto the field and showed off his menancing claws and fangs. The flame on his tail roared and crackled as it flared up.

"Raizer, Stand and fight!" Isaac responded.

Raizer used a Flame wheel to enter the field and pulsed the fire on his back. Both pokemon stood ready and full of exciment as they prepared to battle.

"This is quite fascinating. Both of us with fire pokemon who are known as starters in certain regions and they are in their second stage of evolution. I'm very glad I've gotten to meet you Isaac. Now I hope to beat you." Orion said.

"Yes, you never know who you will meet out here. I too will find pleasure in searching for victory." Isaac replied.

"Qui he!" (Ye ha!) Raizer barked.

"Char meh ma!" (Let's do this!) Jakio roared.

George Edmunds

George watched as Lucia wandered off to watch the other girls battle. He was left with Jack and Jack unfortunately did not seem the type for striking up pointless conversation.

"Mind if I sit down?" George asked. Kane had already decided to lay down at George's feet. Aber was still napping and Uhuru was transfixed by the sky. It was strange how quickly they went from serious battlers to their normal selves again.

"How long have you been at the Academy?" George persisted with a conversation. If only to kill time.

The atmosphere between the two girls as they waited for their orders was...strained, to say the least. Selene had more than picked up on Valorie's tone, sensed the uncomfortable silence, realised that this in fact was not how the two of them had been before she left. Like a primitive computer, however, Selene's mind was struggling to piece together these factors to generate any kind of progression forward. She understood that interaction between her and Valorie was stunted and uncomfortable and that this was somehow not right, but as she couldn't really put her finger on why this was the case and how she and Valorie should be around each other she wasn't able to think of a way to act.

So she simply stood there until their orders arrived, grateful to leave the shop and the watchful eyes of curious strangers. Selene's skin felt on fire, she scratched at her inner arm until the delicate, sun darkened skin was red raw. It didn't seem as though she had any sort of rash or bite, it was quite simply a nervous reaction to all the staring. Dragging the milkshake through the straw, Selene closed her eyes slowly as she tasted it. Incredible. She drank deeply, savouring the taste, having lived off water, berries and grains for the past however many months this delicacy was to be taken slowly.

Until Valorie spoke. 'Waited for me?' thought Selene slowly, not making eye contact with Valorie as they walked away from the shop. This rang alarm bells. Valorie's tone...didn't give much away, but Selene knew there was something more to this. Literally the sentence was Tauros-balls. Valorie couldn't have waited literally for months, sat on the same bench in the courtyard waiting for Selene to emerge from Entei dorm. That made no sense. So Selene realised there had to be more to what she was saying. Dark eyes flashed over to Valorie briefly, unable to remain fixed on hers, the straw never once leaving her mouth as her front teeth bit on it as she thought. How was she supposed to respond to that!?

"I'm...I'm sorry," she tried, the words sounding more like a curious scientist trying out an experiment, the sincerity not quite there. Ultimately, Selene wasn't really sure if she was sorry, or what she was meant to be sorry about, but she sensed it was the right thing to say. "I didn't say goodbye because I only decided I was leaving...well, it was a snap judgment. I had to go and train alone. It did my Pokemon and I well it would seem, they're stronger than they were before," she smiled briefly, the corners of her mouth curling upward as she remembered she and Valorie training together at the icy plains. "Yes, they're better than they were when we trained. We should battle sometime soon, I would really like to see how your other Pokemon have progressed." Perhaps this wasn't the reaction Valorie was hoping for, but Selene was truly pushing herself to engage with Valorie, to remember how to act.

When Vince ran over to them, however, her brain just sort of...froze. She watched as the boy approached with his Buizel, her eyebrows knitting into a frown. Another person she had some kind of complicated history with? Why did her pre-seclusion relationships all have to be so damn difficult, thought Selene angrily to herself as Vince asked how she and Valorie were doing. That question again. Why were people so obsessed with the states of other people? Selene was obviously forgetting the special interests that came with being a 'friend'...

Valorie hadn't said anything until this point, so Selene looked at Vince with eyes that were still frowning but not unkindly, more in a mild confusion than anything else. "It has been a long time. My training has been going well, thank you. How have you been finding...life?" she answered, much too formally to be considered comfortable. Again, she couldn't meet Vince's gaze, keeping her eyes darting to either side of his head, looking behind him rather than at him. She remembered how she had been with Vince, but as with Valorie, her brain just couldn't meld the two states together. It felt very much like past and present, with the past distant and unattainable. "How are your pokemon?" she asked, her eyes drifting to the Buizel she didn't recognise.