The Region of Roanoke

[Loki]

I suggest an OoC thread, for all these questions. =A=;; Too many OoC's are bad, guys.

And because this one is minor, I won't give a warning, but really. I'm getting a little tired of this. o_x;;

 

[Arceus707]

Are Hawks, TNT, Racerking, and yours truly accepted? This isn't a complaint or anything.

 

[Soundash]

Ok folks, at Mizuki's order request I made an OoC threat for this RP. So it would be for the best if the OoC comments are placed there until and after we start.

Just paste it to your adress bar plus the WorldWideWeb. thingy, not that hard. pokecommunity.com/showthread.php?p=3097301#post3097301 (the forum won't let me post the link until I have so many posts...)

 

[Hinamori_Momo]

I'll post the link then. https://www.pokecommunity.com/showthread.php?p=3097301#post3097301

 

[Soundash]

"Shadows?... Lights?... Where am I?... I'm floating... Underwater? Yes. I can recognise this feeling..." Sabango though. For some reason, his thoughs came out his mind as speech but he wasn't moving his mouth. It felt strange, he was floating underwater and yet, there was no surface and no bottom, just an infinity of clear water all around him. It was also quite warm, for some reason, he was managing to breath and his clothes weren't wet. After a mere momment he closed his eyes, letting himself be carried away in this mysterious sea, experiencing this odd feeling for as long as he could.

Suddenly a loud thunderous roar startled Sabango, making him fall and slam his face on the floor. Slowly, he got up rubbing his very sore nose while looking around. It became quite clear then, he had been sleeping in his cabin and the noise was most certainly the ship's horn, signaling their arrival. At the bottom corner of the bed where he had been sleeping at, a small curled totodile could be seen still drownzy mumbling to itself while looking around the room with half closed eyes, typical of the little pokemon, waking up very slowly despite of how little sleep it got. Sabango sighed, then he drew his pokeball and make his totodile enter it, not wanting to lose it from sight as there would surely be a awful lot of people stumbling across the corridors of the ship, since the horn had already sounded. As he had foreseen, the first thing he saw just after leaving his room was a large group of people. They were making the last verifications before leaving the ship, counting themselves to make sure noone missed, checking on their luggage and making plans about what to do next. Sabango sighed, what the people were doing was quite basic and was something everyone would do after a long ship travel such as this but unfortunately for him, the group was ocuppying the exit and there was no way he would get to move through the group, in his opinion they were too fat and selfcentered to even bother. Sabango, on the other hand didn't make any last minute check, he had brought only his totodile and some extra money, the rest he would get when he needed.

"Did you enjoy your trip?" A solf voice asked. Sabango then turned his face to the right, to see the person from where the voice had came. It turned out to be a waitress the woman who was by him, he could clearly recognise the suit composed by a white buttoned shirt under blue vest with the S.S. Marine logo printed on it and blue skirt as it was the suit the female staff members used. After looking at the woman, he nodded to her affirmatively, who smiled back and quickly left after making a small bow. When he looked back at the people stuffed exit it was already empty and yet he didn't notice them leave, making him wonder on how much time he spent staring at the waitress.

It didn't take him much time to exit the shipyard, 15 minutes at most. Once he was outside, the first thing he did was taking a good look at the city he had just arrived, as this would turn out to be the beginning of a new journey. Much to his disapointment this small town, named Kindling Town, seemed to have nothing special to it and didn't seem very promising but neither did he know what to expect, for the town's size it was a wonder that it's port could harbor a ship of the size of S.S. Marine. After the brief first glance he had taken at the town, he shook his head anb began walking. He didn't know exactly where to go to but that was something he already expected, so he merely and lazily walked torwards a large main street, focusing on nowhere in specific as he prefered to let fate be the one to choose where he would end.

 

[TNT]

mine is improved now. is it okay?

 

[Kansas]

ooc: TNT theres an OOC thread now, post that over there.

Saru walked happily out of the lab with a huge grin spread across his face and a bag full of new equipment for his journey. His eyes were bright and sparkling as he stared at the green pokeball he had just obtained at the lab. He walked a distance away from the lab towards a clearing a ways away and tossed the pokeball high into the air. A red beam shot out revealing the form of a small Treeko. Saru kneeled low and held a hand out to the Treeko.

"Hey there little guy, my names Saru! I'll be your trainer!" Saru said happily to the treeko.

The Treeko cocked its head slightly to the side in confusion at first then looked happily at Saru and climbed up his arm and onto Saru's head where he immediately found a comfortable spot to lay.

"Well...if you prefer it up there then i guess it'll be okay to stay outside your pokeball for a while...But where to next? It'll be an eventful day so what do you say we grab a nap near the edge of town before setting off?" Saru said smiling and looking up to the Treeko while walking.

The two arrived at the outskirts of town. A particularly large Oak Tree was easily noticed just outside of town. Saru looked up to the tree. "Welp, head on up to that big branch up there and i'll follow" Saru said to Treeko. The Treeko hopped quickly up the tree and waited curiously. Saru then showed the same kind of mobility as the Treeko and was up in a matter of seconds. The two smiled at each other and nested against the trunk. Saru held the Treeko up for a second and looked at him

"We need to give you a name...how about... Twiggy?" Saru asked. The Treeko looked unimpressed at the name.

"Hm don't like Twiggy, aye? oh i got it... how about...Forest? since you like trees just as much as I do... you kind of remind me of home" Saru said softly to Treeko. The Treeko's eyes brightened and he nodded to show he liked the new name.

"Then its settled! your name will be Forest!" Saru replied happily.

Forest hopped back onto Saru's head and curled and went to sleep. Saru sat in the tree looking into the distance for a bit before he dozed off as well in the large tree on the outskirts of Kindling Town.

 

[Alter Ego]

OOC: It's going to be kind of awkward to make an opening post without any idea of what the town looks like, but here goes. :3

IC:

The waves were alive.

She just couldn't help the thought. No matter how many times she watched the crest of white charge towards the unyielding pier, the image of a frothing, blue beast lunging assault after assault onto the frail construct remained firmly stuck in her mind. The steady crashing of waves meeting rock was like a thunderous roar to her ears, savage and threatening as the beast menacingly snapped its blue jaws towards the humans loitering on the pier, its white fangs growing back each time they shattered against the stone.

The girl's right hand tightened its grip around the safety rail. She couldn't help envying them just a little, those carefree people in their light, brightly-colored summer clothes, wandering about so effortlessly, so...so blissfully unaware. They could stand in the brilliant sunshine all day long without as much as a shirt on without giving a single thought to how the UV radiation was eroding their skin, they could dangle their feet over the looming jaws of the sea without fear of losing them to a Sharpedo attack (five incidents' average each year), or thinking that two thousand one hundred and fifty-three people just like them would meet their end by drowning in there this year, or the good seventeen-hundred who would miscalculate a dive and hit their head on an underwater rock. And that was not even counting Tentacool poisonings. A bead of sweat ran down from her ruffled, sandy brown hair, snaking its way down the back of her neck and seeping into the bright yellow tank top alongside its cousins. Her frayed jeans were already soaking wet, and the vermillion-colored gloves made her hands feel like they were in an oven.

"Ahem, miss?"

The polite but unmistakably irritated voice broke through the girl's inner scene of marine terror, a pair of warm, brown eyes snapping away from the waves and the body to which they were attached swiveling around to face an older man whose white sailor uniform, complete with the cute little hat, identified him as part of the cruiser's crew. There was something decidedly weasel-like about the man's face, with its thin, graying moustache and those blue eyes that were so clearly saying 'I hate my job'.

"Y-yes?"

She couldn't help it, people catching her off guard always made her voice sound jumpy. If anything, she was lucky not to have physically jumped up at this. Oh, her sisters had had themselves a number of good laughs over that habit, and her classmates even moreso.

"Could you please move? You are blocking the gangplank."

"R-right..." the girl mumbled, her face flushing with embarrassment as the gigantic hiker-issue pack on her back sprung back into her mind. She had been aware of the heat it placed on her back for the whole journey, of course, as well as the way it weighed down her frail shoulders and the odd looks her fellow passengers had given her for it, but faced with the doomsday scenario of descending down the gangplank with the raging sea so far beneath her had completely blocked out one quality of the backpack from her mind - the fact that it was indeed very, very wide and currently preventing anyone not willing to edge their way along the outside of the rail from passing her on the gangplank off the ferry. Now that she paid attention to it, she could hear several disgruntled mumblings about the hold-up from the passengers behind her.

Alright, that settled it. Frightening prospect or no, she would have to get past this. Ignoring the new wave of mumbling that this caused, the girl briefly shut her eyes again, willing her right hand to let go of the railing and instead grasp one of the two necklaces hanging around her neck, specifically, the golden one with sun symbol at the end.

'Shape up, Kat.' she told herself sternly 'You're not a coward, just mindful of the risks. You're going to become a pokémon trainer. You can do this. It's not really scary. It's just a gangplank. You won't fall in if you're careful. And even if you fall in it won't be bad. It's so close to the shore and there are lots of people here. Someone will help you if you fall in. But you won't, because you're going to do this right. You're going to make it through this. It's just a gangplank; it's not better than you.'

"Okay..." she mumbled to herself, opening her eyes again and taking a tentative step forward with one foot. The gangplank sank ever so slightly under the added weight, and for a moment her senses were on full alert for the first sign of the object giving in, but when no such things appeared, she finally gathered her courage and took another step, and another, and another. The progress was made in slow jerks, but it was progress all the same, and she wasn't messing up.

Slowly a smile began spreading on the girl's face. The steps got more frequent, her grip around the rail slowly left the 'utter panic' force. She was doing this, she was really doing this and nothing was going wrong!

A sunny smile graced the Kat's lips as her sneaker-clad feet finally made contact with solid stone. Her heart was beating like mad and the adrenaline sang in her ears but at the same time, a wave of utter relief and contentment the likes of which she had rarely felt washed over the girl as she turned her gaze towards the town to which destiny had directed her, slowly detaching the three velcro straps and one safety-belt style strap that had kept the backpack secured to her back, allowing the heavy object to slide down to the pavement before turning to search its contents for the town map. Oh, just wait until her folks back at Saffron would hear about this. She had not only faced water and heights; she had done so at the same time. By the time she came back, there would be no more talk about 'scaredy-Kat', no...her smile widened at the thought, completely undampened by the annoyed stares and mutterings of the passengers flooding down the now vacated gangplank, she would come back as Katherine Vainwright, pokémon trainer and adventurer extraordinaire.

 

[Hinamori_Momo]

"Well, Riolu," Aiyana started. "I guess we can count on meeting a few new people with the amount here. This'll be a fun little journey of ours."

"Rio!" The Pokemon joyfully agreed.

"I hope we can meet a few new Pokemon too!" Riolu nodded at this.

"C'mon Riolu! Let's get running! Climb a tree and I'll meet you at the top!" Aiyana jumped and hung onto a branch in a nearby tree. She swung around and landed on her feet on the branch. Riolu followed with more accuracy. They started jumping around on the trees until they reached the nearest town.

 

[Te-em]

They had moved to Kindling Town. It would be a good home for Midori. The people here were nice and would accept a newcomer. The town was located on Dawning Island, a peaceful place with only smaller, weaker Pokemon in the wild. Midori Greene and her mother found a house close to the large hill. Midori went up there to look at the ocean. It was a dangerous wilderness out there, but now they were safe. Everyone was that, save her father, who had been lost on their journey. Her mother had told her that her father would have been very happy to see that Midori had found such a sweet home, and tried to convince her that the journey here had not been in vain.

A green, little Pokemon ran through the grass and swayed the leaf on its head playfully. It was Chikoriita, Midori's new friend. She bent down to meet the leaf Pokemon. The she headed back towards her house that was most visible from here. The other houses lay behind the trees. She had not gone to talk to the neighbours yet. She did not feel in the right mood right now and the only one who made her relaxed was Chikoriita.

Well, well, let's look around on the island, she though, trying to forget her worries and sadness. But it was hard. She didn't feel like a part of the reality when her father was not there. Maybe I should make some more friends . . . She was somewhat used to that bad things often happened in the world. Not that much had happened to her, but to others around her. That's how life was. That's why you had a loyal Pokemon with you when you left town; because the wilderness was dangerous. Not much dangers here on the island though; it was so small.

"Let's head back to get something to eat," she said and her Pokemon jumped cheerfully beside her.
As they went on, something began to move in the grass. The blades of grass were quiet large and tall here, so Midori could not see what was moving. Maybe it was nothing but the wind; it was stronger up here. No, it wasn't. They had got company of some other being, probably some Pokemon.

 

[♥~*Abby*~♥]

OCC- This will be kind of hard...

IC- Claire was in Kindling town. She had traveled there in a boat. She was told that this is were many trainers get their first Pokemon. "What was the need to stop here? I already have Moon..." She then realized this town may be the place that she can get necessary items for her journey, such as a Pokedex.

She decided to ask a resident of this town where these items could be picked up. She didn't like talking to strangers though. She had too many horrible incidents with trying to ask strangers for help back in Snowpoint City, so it scarred her. But then she realized that most of the townsfolk were about as cold as the city itself, and that maybe this town was different.

She decided to ask a townsfolk that looked friendly. She ended up finding a girl who was probably 20 or so. You could see in her warm brown eyes that she wasn't about to be mean to anyone, so Claire asked her.

"Ma'am?" The girl looked over. "Yes, hun?" Claire really didn't normally like being called things like "hun" or "sweetie", but it didn't feel so awkward from her. "Can I ask you a question? Do you know where I could pick up a Pokedex and stuff like that?" "Over there, sweetie." "Ok, thanks."

She quickly got the necessary supplies, and walked back out. The same girl saw her walking out. "Do you want to battle me. Me and my Bulbasaur haven't battled in years. I started being a trainer around your age, but I never really battled much." "Sure." Claire replied. "Are you sure honey? I mean, considering you just got your first Pokemon..."

Claire interrupted. "Actually, I got my first Pokemon a year ago." The girl continued. "Oh, ok. If you've been training your Pokemon, you probably will win. Anyways, I never did catch your name, hun. What is it?" "My name is Claire." "Claire. What a beautiful name. My name is very plain and ordinary." "What is it?" Claire questioned. "My name is Sara."

The battle begun. "Go, Flower!" Sara released her Bulbasaur for battle. "Bubba-zoar!" The eager Bulbasaur cried. "Go, Moon!" Claire released her Mudkip. "Mudkip!" "Flower, use vine whip!"

The Bulbasaur extended a vine, ready to give Moon a beating with it. "Dodge!" Claire cried. Moon just barely dodged it. "Use water gun!" "Mud!" The Mudkip launched water from its mouth, but Bulbasaur did not take much damage. "Use tackle, Flower!" "Bubba! Zoar!" The tackle was pretty strong, and knocked back Moon a little. Before Claire had any time to respond, Sara commanded her Pokemon to use razor leaf.

"Bubba!" Flower shot many leaves out of its bulb. Claire told Moon to dodge it, but Moon was too slow, and got hit hard. "Mud... mud... MUD!" Moon had a habit of getting really violent and almost twice as powerful just before defeat. So with her rage, she was able to use a new move: ice beam. "MUUUD!" Moon released a light blue beam of ice from her mouth. It hit Flower, who couldn't dodge. "Bubba... saur..." Flower fell to her side, her eyes becoming spirals as they do with most Pokemon.

"FLOWER!" Sara ran up to her injured Bulbasaur. "Are you ok?" Flower's eyes turned back to normal. "Bulb..." Don't worry, I'll take you to a Pokemon Center and you'll feel all better!" Sara picked up Flower and looked at Claire. "You have so much talent, Claire. You were able to defeat my Bulbasaur despite the odds. I think you'll do very well on your Pokemon journey. But I'm warning you, there are many trainers much stronger than me. Good luck. You know what, that battle made me want to start my Pokemon journey. Maybe we'll meet again someday."

She extended her hand to give Claire a handshake. She was very hesitant, but Claire put out her hand. They then shook hands. "Goodbye, but only for now..." Sara said. And with that, they headed off in their separate directions. Perhaps they would meet again someday.

 

[Shuricel]

Name: Brionca (Bri-on-ka) Sanki (Song-key) Nickname: Sela (See-la)
Age: 14
Gender: Female
Personality: Impulsivity and thickheadedness are her two worst qualities, whilst socialness and observation are her two treasured traits. Of course, there are many others. These are just the ones that are easiest to spot. Some of her other traits include gullibility and persistance.

She tends to have a late streak despite her persistance, though, always arriving at least ten minutes past the schedule. Yet, if you ever asked her, she'd say she'd just arrived very early for the next bus, or whatever event she went, to come. She usually takes the extra waiting time to satisfy her curiosity, whether it's just watching a small caterpie eating the grass or reading a book on her current interest.

Superstitions mean nothing to her. She'll walk under ladders and crack mirrors without a worry (well, except for the worry she'll get arrested for property damage from cracking the mirror.) This was likely a trait raised into her by her parents, also non-believers of superstition. She can be a stubborn one when faced with cold, hard facts that a superstition may be real, though. Actually, she's just all around stubborn.

Appearance: Brionca is simply an average, flat chested girl eager for adventure. There aren't fancy smancy blond streaks in lightning pink hair (Aruseus forbid that anyone even consider that exageration as a dressing option). She has simple brown hair, matching simple blue orbs. A middle height cheekbone, small nose, and ears that pop out slightly from the sides of her head finish adorning her face.

The clothes she wears are practical, albeit not stylish. A rugged pair of blue jeans made of denim, along with a thin sweatshirt, are what make up her wardrobe. Some other folded up pieces of clothing are in her backpack, in case the need ever arises. Her outfit is finished with a pair of hiking boots.

Brionca is fairly lean, but she's not that muscular. Her height reaches about 5 feet.
Hometown/City: Sootopolis City in Hoenn
Character History: The crater city of Sootopolis was where she was raised, and has lived till most of this day. As expected, the city had specialized in water pokemon, and, as also expected of a Sootopolis resident, she was in love with them. The glamourous fins, the multiple designs, it was like paradise.

So, of course she was ecstatic when she gained Squirtle as a starter. The overly enthusiastic pokemon was an eager battler, but they never did the Hoenn League. It would take too long to journey from Lilycove Dock, or even Slateport, on foot, and it'd also be nearly impossible, since most of the pokemon outpowered her little Squirtle.

Soon, rumors of a new region started to spread around, she was one of the first ones to sign up
Starter pokemon: Squirtle
Starter pokemon history: Brionca had Squirtle since she was the ripe young age of eleven. Obtaining it from one of the kinder trainers at the gym, they have been together three years now.
Reason for going to Roanoke: Basically, it was her curiosity that sent her here. She wanted to go to the towns and be able to fight through the new league. Plus, who got to experience the joys of going to a brand spanking new region? Not many, that's for sure. And really, it there're already thousands of people setting here, the risk couldn't be that great.
Other info: Brionca enjoys fishing as a hobby.

Ooc: Meh...not the best sign-up I've ever done, but at least I can get started. ^^ I'm just going to post this real quick, then edit it with my first In character post, since my computer will most likely dicide to be evil if I go any further. Also, about the town, it'll be more or less like every other beginning town-kind of small, lab, etc. etc.

-------------

"Squirtle...sit...still! We're almost there!" Brionca snatched at the Squirtle's tail, which deftly swept out of the way as the Squirtle made another leap down the railing, a large smirk plastered unto it's face. 'Sheesh! It's only going to take another moment to get off the ship. If that pokemon could only sit still for a second, we coul-' Her thoughts were cut off by a loud 'sploosh' from below. A frown snatched at her face, seeing the distinctive brown shell bobbing up and down in the water. Out of all the beings she had ever met, the one that truely tried her patience the most was that Squirtle. Sighing, she grapped her belongings and backpack, and rushed through the thinning crowd, done the metal ramp leading off the ship, and into the hot sand of the coast.

"Squirt!" The turtle pokemon blew out a few bubbles, rolling over to reveal it's peach colored front. It's curled tail lopped casually above the water, bobbing up and down with the waves. It lifted it's head, seeing the exasperated trainer. It had done it's job. A powerful kick of it's legs, and it had started heading towards the shore.

The shell slid into the beach, smooth bone scratching against the many grains of sand outlining the soar. It strolled towards it trainer, let out a loyal 'Squirt' and that two were on their way to exit the beach. A few minutes later, they had trekked their way out of the harbor, a somewhat crushed brochure map in the trainers arm, the other one holding up the squirtle (who took the time to point at nearly every building along the way).

"Hey, Squirtle, maybe if we're lucky like we were getting on the boat, we can actually get to the lab a little early! See, it appears to only be a few blocks away. We go down this street, then there should be a little pokemon center where we can spend ten minutes to get you rested. We can get something to eat at this little food place here, then we can go and-Squirtle, are you even paying attention?" A quick glance to her side immediately anwsered her question.

"Squirt!" One of it's hand holding on fiercely to the backpack, while the other had a death grip on Jubilife Brand Water Pokemon Food conveyed the message clearly enough.

"Well...we could go to the pokemon center after the lab, and get something to eat now!" She agreed. The pokemon got the message, tearing into it's handful of pokemon food and eating voriouciasly. A quick examination through the pack, and a small water bottle along with the oh so heathy snack of chips and a chocolate bar was produced. This began their early lunch.

 

[Soundash]

Sabango let out a deep slow sigh out of sheer boredom. It had been a long, long while since he had left S.S Marine but he had found nothing worth doing. Sure, it was a nice village full of friendly and joyful people but for that he had home. He didn't leave one tedious city to enter another one, he refused to do so however, he was begining to get mentally desperate for something out of the ordinary, to the point he was actually considering let Totodile out of his pokeball.

Guess what, he did. So, in the middle of a large street relatively quiet for it's size, a white flash, followed by an energetic and joyful tiny blue aligator could be seen by almost everyone in the street. The totodile hopped back and forth, chomping on thin air out of entusiasm. This made Sabango release a small chuckle and have a small smile in his face, his totodile always managed to improve his mood with it's excessive entusiasm and happyness, though not in a spoiled way, at least that was how Sabango saw it.

Oddly enough, not much after being released from it's pokeball Totodile simply ran away into a shaddy street, with the look on it's face of whom is playing a game of hide and seek. This was quite unusual of it, Totodile usually prefers to hang around Sabango and bite things within reach than to simply bolt away. Though it has it's personality quirks, to wander without a reason wasn't simply like it.

"..." Upon seeing this, Sabango simply stood there, frozen in disbelief with a dropped jaw. It took him several seconds to react to his pokemon's strange atitude. As soon as he reacted, he set off on pursuit of the aparently fleeing pokemon, cursing under his breath. He could barely make out his pokemon in the crowd but managed to keep it within his field of view while he skillfuly dashed between the passing-by people, trying as hard as he could to shorten the distance between the two of them, something that despite the running totodile's short legs, was proving itself a dificult feat mainly because of the obstacles there were in the street. He just hoped that his pokemon knew where it was going as if they got too far away, returning would most certainly become a nuisance.

 

[Te-em]

A head of a caterpillar Pokemon popped out of the grass, looking around cautiously. When it spotted the human and the other Pokemon it went down again to remain unseen.

"That must be a Caterpie," Midori said. "They live here on this island."

Chikoriita playfully rushed ahead, but the wild Pokemon crawled away from her. Midori's Pokemon finally managed to come closer, but was met by a sticky thread shot. Then the Caterpie took the chance to escape up a tree.

Midori giggled and went to help her friend. Maybe she should catch a Pokemon to be Chikoriita's play mate, but she had no Monster Balls. She could ask her mother so they could go into town and buy some. But first they headed home to have some food. You could not catch Pocket Monsters with an empty stomach.

Later during the day, Midori went to a shop to buy some Monster Balls. One of them was for her friend, who did not have any ball of her own. Now, I can at last get some Pokemon. She could hardly wait.

 

[Hero]

The cool morning wind blows as the sun shines down onto the docks of Olivine City. The docks were busy today many ships were unloading cargo or loading goods onto the ships. While most of the ship shipping cargo some were dropping off passengers. Leon a young Pokemon Trainer watched as the ship ported from Olivine City sailing for the Roanoke region. A sight breeze hit Leon as he stood on the deck of the ship looking out at the sea.

"Come out Charmander" said Leon as he tosses a pokeball into the air. A white light appeared from the pokeball forming the shape of a lizard. The light clears and a small orange lizard about two feet with a burning tail appeared.

"Charmander" cried the Pokemon.

"Hi Charmander it been awhile since you been out of your pokeball" said Tyson patting the lizard on his head.

The air quickly grew warm around Leon and Charmander because of the heat coming off Charmander tail. Charmander quickly took to its surroundings it look down at the water below knowing it was on a boat. Charmander quickly took a hold of Leon left leg benign careful of the water.

As the day went on it grew warmer as they got closer to the Roanoke region.

 

[Alter Ego]

Kat felt rather silly, to be honest.

As soon as she had dug up the town map from the bowels of her cavernous backpack, she had finally glanced up to take a proper look at Kindling Town, and as soon as she had done that, she had realized that maybe the map wouldn't be necessary after all. The town consisted of nothing but a collection of small, pastel colored houses, many with neat little gardens or flower arrangements at the front, and in this picturesque little scene, the towering, modern glass and concrete facade of the pokémon lab stuck out like a sore thumb. And if this wasn't enough of a giveaway, someone had stuck a large sign reading "Kindling Town Pokémon Laboratory" right by the entrance. Her destination had been straight down the street.

Kat blushed in embarrassment, folding up the map and returning it to its designated pocket before shouldering the backpack once more, duly fastening the straps across her waist and lower torso. All things said, it was a situation that would have had every respectable anime artist just itching to draw a large sweatdrop on her forehead.

They were weird like that, anime artists.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------​

The inside of the lab was nice and cool, but it was also strangely devoid of people as Kat cautiously nudged the door open and peered inside. On one hand, she should have considered this a relief, seeing as how the trek there had involved a number of 'sorry's from her as she accidentally trod on a rather wide assortment of toes, but on the other...it was unnerving.

The hall was so clean and orderly. Everything from the white walls with their evenly arranged oak doors to the gray, tiled floor with the little benches and trash cans located at regular intervals looked serious and official. Even the potted plants that had been located across the building seemed to have a certain air of authority about them, and it made Kat - still soaked in sweat and donning her frayed old jeans - feel very self-conscious, like this was some kind of sacred sanctuary which she was defiling by her mere presence.

She cleared her throat, "H-hello?"

No response save the distant echo of her voice and the soft, barely audible hum of the air conditioner.

The girl took a few hesitant steps forward, wondering how her sneakers could possibly cause such a loud sound just by making contact with the tiles.

"Hello?" she ventured again, knocking on one of the doors before trying it, slowly pushing it open, "Is anyone here? I came for my start-"

"Miss! Look out!"

Kat barely had time to register the warning as she noticed a blob of cerulean fur flying towards her, connecting with her face with a soft thud, a sensation not at all different from being struck with an overstuffed pillow.

Make that a very heavy overstuffed pillow.

"Oh, now you've done it!" exclaimed a frustrated male voice. Kat wasn't quite sure who had done it or even what had done it, but just in case she gave a muffled 'sorry' from beneath the unidentified object covering her face as she struggled to remove it. The object was soft to the touch and felt like fur as her hands grasped it, and currently - it seemed - preoccupied with attempting to climb up her face. Kat's petite nose seemed to be giving it trouble, however, as a stubby little paw kept stepping onto it, only to slide down again as the creature tried to apply more weight to it, another pair seeking leverage from her ears.

"So sorry about this..." the male voice continued, an additional pair of hands joining Kat's and pulling the creature off, much to the girl's relief.

She rubbed her tender nose with her right hand as she observed her assailant with newly liberated eyes. This creature, it occurred to her, was probably a pokémon. Now that it wasn't climbing all over her face, It seemed pretty small - it would probably only have reached the height of her knees when standing upright - and the first word that came to mind about its shape was 'round'. It was practically larger in width than height, its head resembled an egg that had been tipped onto its side with a pair of pointy ears at the top and a muscular jaw that made Kat feel very lucky that it hadn't tried to take a bite out of her. The head was connected to a round body with a pair of stubby paws sticking out from the upper half and another pair attached to the bottom one. The lower paws, as Kat's nose had already confirmed, bore a set of three, white claws at the front, probably made for helping it maintain a firm grip of surfaces while the front paws - or should she have thought of those as hands? - were obscured from view by the thick fur that covered the rest of the pokémon's body, hanging down over its lower body like an over-sized robe. The fur was cerulean in color, save for the area around the lower jaw, upper chest and the soles of its feet, which was of a pale yellow color. The eyes seemed almost too large for the two beetle black pupils residing in their centers, and were currently glaring at the man who had apprehended their owner.

"I'm really sorry." the man, in his late twenties by the looks of it, reiterated, adjusting the glasses located in front of his dark green eyes with one hand while keeping the struggling creature firmly clamped between his right arm and the side of his torso. His short, dark brown hair was even more untidy than Kat's, and the girl thought she noticed distinct signs of fatigue behind the polite expression, a certain strain to his smile, "I keep telling the high-ups that Munchlax needs a new ball, but they insist that they can't supply one until next week, everything here is apparently 'reserved for starter day'. Excuse me for a moment."

With a tired sigh, the man turned on the spot, the white lab coat accompanying his powder blue shirt and black trousers swinging in unison with the red tie around his neck as he hauled his protesting captive to a tall, square-shaped glass container in the corner of the room, reminiscent of an empty fish tank, dropping the Munchlax inside and completely ignoring the vindictive glare he received from the aforementioned for doing so as he turned back to Kat.

"Now, what can I do for you?"

"Well..." the girl began, unable to resist staring at the peculiar creature behind the glass who was currently busily flapping its short paws with an expression of intense concentration on its face.

At the sight of Kat's hesitant expression and the wonder she displayed for Munchlax, a knowing smile spread across the aide's face, "Ah, you're here for the starters, right?" receiving a nod in return, he pressed on, "Thought so, you rookie trainers have that certain look to you, if you don't mind me saying. ID, please." he scanned the laminated little card Kat procured from her pocket with a trained gaze, quickly inspecting a list of his own before nodding, "Katherine Vainwright. Age: 14. Hometown: Saffron City, Kanto. Correct?" he barely stopped to acknowledge the timid nod Kat gave him, "Alright, then everything is in order. Follow me, the starters are right over-"

Thud.

Kat's attention was immediately snapped to the sound of Munchlax's body hitting the bottom of the container, the creature mumbling something for itself as it got back up onto its feet, flapping its hands even harder with a defiant expression on its face as it jumped up once more.

Thud.

"Why-?" Kat began, but the aide forestalled her question.

"One might call it poor breeding." he replied through gritted teeth, observing the pokémon's efforts with a mixture of annoyance and pity in his expression, "Or rather, poor upbringing if you want to be specific. You see, we didn't have any Snorlax in the lab when we got his egg, so we used a Pelipper to hatch it. Problem is, mommy Pelipper is the first thing Munchlax saw, so now the stubborn thing is convinced that it's a Wingull."

Kat's eyes widened in realization, "So then he's-"

The aide sighed, "Trying to fly." he finished, "Yes, that's the short of it. Fortunately, he's not a good enough jumper to get himself seriously injured. Unfortunately, no-one wants a Munchlax who insists on trying to use Wing Attack."

"So...he's a starter too?" Kat asked, her gaze not leaving the Munchlax's valiant efforts for a second. There was just something heartbreaking about the way he kept getting up, no matter how many times his attempts failed, and the girl just couldn't help thinking that the behavior was reminiscent of someone she knew very well...herself.

"Used to be." the man replied, "He's been returned for insubordinance by three different trainers now, and I don't blame them. I haven't seen a more stubborn little pest in my life. He refuses to stay in his pokéball, he refuses to follow orders in battle, and he even refuses to be called 'Munchlax'." the creature growled at him as he pronounced the name, "Needless to say, he's not exactly a trainer's first pick. As soon as I find him a pokéball that can contain him, I'm having him shipped to a pokémon sanctuary. But enough about that, let's go look at those starters."

Kat took a step towards the door, but after one last glance at the pokémon in the glass container, she finally found the courage to say what she had intended to, "I think I've already decided."

The aide paused, "You've got to be kidding me." he said, "I told you, that thing is a trainer's nightmare. You might feel sorry for it now, but I guarantee you, you can't convince it out of believing it's a Wingull."

"Then I won't."

"Come again?" the man looked absolutely non-plussed as the previously timid girl strode over to the glass container with a determined expression on her face.

"I said I won't." Kat repeated, reaching into the cage and carefully grasping the rotund creature around the waist to lift it up, a gesture which made even him stop his flailing for a moment, the Munchlax's wide eyes staring quizzically at her, "If he wants to think that he's a Wingull then I'll just train him like a Wingull. I know this might seem hard to understand, but I think..." she cast a glance at the amulets around her neck, "I know that we were destined to be together. Isn't that right, Gullwing?"

Upon hearing what was apparently to be its new nickname, the Munchlax - much to the aide's surprise - let out a cheerful cry, flapping its arms.

"You're right." the aide concurred, shaking his head, "That doesn't make any sense whatsoever, but..." he sighed in forfeit at the blissful smiles on both pokémon and trainer-to-be as they stared at each other, "Alright, fine. You seem stubborn enough at least. I'll register Munch-" the creature's foul glare made him pause, "Gullwing as your starter pokémon. Just make sure not to let him run off. We can't provide you with a new starter unless you return your old one. Here." he handed over a battered old pokéball to Kat, the girl carefully propping her newly obtained pokémon up on her shoulder before accepting the object, "Like I said, that thing is deficient. You'll want to replace that with a new one as soon as you can. You can pick your pokéballs and pokédex at the supply office, third door to the right from the entrance."

Kat nodded enthusiastically, her hands darting to catch Gullwing as the Munchlax made another attempt at flight from her shoulder, the creature merely muttering something for himself as he clambered up the girl's arm to perch on her shoulder again, "Thank you, sir." she bowed slightly, as was the polite thing to do, before dashing out of the door with her new pokémon in tow.

"'Thank you'?" the aide echoed, shaking his head at the girl's departing back, "I'm just glad to be rid of the little devil."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------​

She should have guessed it.

Getting down the gangplank, obtaining her starter, even obtaining the supplies. It had all gone way too smoothly. Why the supply office lady had even handed her a ferry ticket, kindly explaining that she would need it to get to the Roanoke mainland. The fact that the only incidents had been her stumbling twice under the rather unsteady perching attempts of her newly obtained Munchlax and one instance of Gullwing attempting to eat the supply lady's pencil should have been enough of a clue that life had something worse in store. Specifically, something small, red, and electronic which she'd have to master if she wanted to be a successful trainer.

"Ack, how does this thing work, anyway?"

Kat's brow furrowed in concentration as she observed the pokédex in her hands, fervently pressing the various buttons on the device in a vain attempt to find the data she needed. The pokédex was not about to comply, however, merely complaining about 'incorrect command input' and insisting that she should personalize her settings. Easy-to-use interface indeed.

Gullwing had been content to perch on her shoulder as the girl wandered down the streets of Kindling Town, but there was only so long he could entertain himself by observing row upon row of people and small, pastel colored houses, and so he had eventually dived down from his trainer's shoulder - though the girl had insisted on catching him mid-fall and placing him down on the ground - and was currently busy at work sniffing the ground in search of edibles. A growing Wingull had to eat, after all.

It was then that something caught his attention. It was small, fast, blue in color, and headed towards him. The wingull-like thing to do would probably have been veering aside, but the Munchlax's genetic memory had another course of action in mind, and as the blue creature sped towards him, his mouth opened in anticipation.

A shrill shriek caught Kat's ears, causing her attention to snap away from the continuously insubordinate pokédex. The person who had screamed was a middle-aged woman from the crowd, but what really concerned Kat was that the woman seemed to be pointing in the direction she was in. In fact, she was practically pointing at her, and an increasing number of crowd members was joining in. Alarmed, the girl quickly glanced around herself to find the source of the commotion. It was then that her gaze fell on Gullwing, and her voice joined into the woman's shriek.

"Gullwing, what are you doing?!"

"Mmmph..." the Munchlax explained matter-of-factly, pointing at the lower end of blue crocodile body with the red spikes jutting out of its back, the head of which was within the confines of his sizable mouth, to indicate that it was hard to give an articulate reply when you were in the middle of a meal.

"Spit that poor pokémon out at once!"

Gullwing's expression turned decidedly stubborn at this, the message of its eyes obvious: 'I found this first. Get your own.'

Kat groaned, quickly grasping the struggling reptile's lower end and starting to pull with all her might, her pokémon responding in kind, "You. Can't. Just. Go. Around. Eating. Other. Pokémon. Like. That." she grit out in between the heaves, "Now. Let. It. GO!"

With a last, powerful yank, Kat managed to dislodge the unfortunate creature from Gullwing's mouth (Fortunately, Munchlax didn't make a habit of chewing their food), but much like a cork pulled out of a champagne bottle, the struggling creature still had plenty of momentum left, flying out of the girl's grip and causing her to fall down on her rear as it sped out back in the direction it had come from. Struggling to her feet, no small feat given the size of her backpack, Kat only heard a thud and when she turned around to check on the Totodile, she realized why.

She had sent the poor creature on a flight straight to someone's face. The victim of this assault was a boy, probably not much older than her but certainly way taller with a rather muscular body build, well, at least judging by what little of the body she could see with the baggy shirt and jeans he was donning. Something about him kept making a voice at the back of Kat's mind go 'swimmer', but right now she was far too preoccupied with the fact that she had smacked him over the head with a crocodile. Her face immediately went ill red.

"I-I'm sorry." she stuttered, rushing over to the youth, "I'm really, really, sorry. I didn't mean to hit you, I-I and Gullwing, my pokémon. That is, that one, not the Totodile, he-he has some disciplinary issues and-"

It was at this point that the tip of her shoe snagged onto a small crevice in the pavement, and with the added mass of a hiker-issue backpack on her, the girl had no chance of stopping her own advance as she tumbled over the person in front of her, reflex causing her arms to grasp a hold of what ever they could reach. Namely, his waist, a decision which sent both of them crashing to the pavement.

She wanted to scream, she wanted to cry, she wanted to run away in shame and hide under the covers of her bed, wallowing in her teenage angst until the world had forgotten about her existence. But even more than that, she didn't want this boy to remember her as the crazy person who had thrown a Totodile covered in Munchlax slobber at his face, rugby tackled him to the ground and then run away screaming.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry." she chanted, quickly rising to her feet to relieve the youth she had just manhandled from her weight. Kat herself might not have weighed much, but her pack certainly did, and the pavement wasn't exactly soft either, "I'm really sorry, I don't know how I lost my balance like that I just-" she paused, tentatively reaching out a hand to help the boy up, "...are you okay?"

Behind her, Gullwing was giving Kat an accusing glare for robbing him of a meal and needless to say, the crowd was staring. It really was true what they said: when life seemed to smile at you, it was really just preparing to use its teeth.


OOC: And yes, just in case it was left unclear for anybody, Sabango and his Totodile are the ones being referred to here. I figured it was about time for some character interaction. xD

 

[Te-em]

Even if the town was small, she was not really sure where she was right now. Midori scratched her head, making her dark silvern hair more ruffled. They had found a shop and she could spot a Pokemon Center from here. Rest was just ordinary houses. She started to move along the street to look around, since she was new here. Everything looked so old and peaceful, as if she had travelled some years back in time, but then she noticed a very odd, out-sticking building. It was obvious the largest house around here, but what could it be? Chikoriita walked close to Midori's feet, but was too small to see the house from here. Midori picked her friend up and started to follow the path between some houses and then on to the large building.

It looks like the Pokemon Lab in Masago . . . but bigger. What is such a house doing in this little town? Kindling can't be any larger than Futaba. She would probably find out when there, so she went on looking ahead all the time. On her way she saw someone, who seemed to be coming from that house. Maybe Midori should ask this person, a girl with black hair that did not seem to be from around. With her was a small Water-Type Pokemon.

"Hey . . . excuse me," Midori said as she approached her. "Do you know if that's a Pokemon Lab over there?"

 

[Kansas]

Saru was rudely awakened from his nap high in the tree by a hard thud into his lap. Startled, he sits straight up, almost tossing his poor new Treeko, Forest, to the ground. Forest hung to Saru's hair for dear life as the object, Saru, and Forest, tumbled sideways off the branch. Saru quickly grabbed hold of the branch by wedging his foot between a forked tree branch and dangled helplessly as Forest hung from Saru's head by a fist full of hair. Saru looked down to see what had so rudely awakened him. He was pleasantly surprised to see that it was a Caterpie.

"Hey there little guy!" He called down to it. The Caterpie quickly jumped up and began to run away. "No! wait! come back! I don't want to hurt you... we were probably sleeping in your tree... i'm sorry little buddy".

The Caterpie stopped running and turned to Saru who was still hanging upside down from the tree. Forest gave a small wave to the Caterpie while keeping a firm grip on a tuft of hair while hanging from Saru's head, to show that it had no intentions of attacking. The Caterpie's eyes brightened as it came closer. It seemed to enjoy the image of Saru and Treeko hanging from the tree branch. It climbed up to them and climbed down Saru's leg and came to a rest on his bag which hung wrapped around Saru's arms.

"Well little guy... you seem like you're as lay back as me and Forest... would you like to come along with us? it should be a swell adventure." Saru said to the Caterpie. The small bug looked at him happily and appeared to agree. Saru smiled and wrestled with his bag to pull a pokeball out, he pointed it at the Caterpie and it jumped right inside without putting up a fight. Saru smiled to himself at his newest addition.

"Well Forest, it looks like we have another green addition to the team! And it looks like the town is becoming a bit more active" Saru said to his partner as he looked upside into the city. "Now we can start our adventure! That is...once someone can help us out this tree..." He finished, sighing.

"Treeko....." Forest replied embarrassed as he held on by his same handful of hair. The both of them sighed in unison as they waited for someone to happen by.

 

[Soundash]

What happened? Where am I? Those were the questions within Sabango, who had the feeling he skipped an episode of his own life. He was stunned and on the ground, feeling an sticky ooze running down his face, so it was time for him to start going back on his own memory. His memory felt a lot foggy for him but he was beginning to recall what had happened. He was chasing his totodile who, from no apparent reason, decided to hit the road. He must have spent a few minutes on it, then what? Right, it was when he lost it from sight, that a lady screamed right behind him so he stopped to look at her and found out that she was pointing at a side street, horrified for some unknown reason. When he got to look at the street, all he saw was a blue blur flying towards him. The blur... It was his own totodile and it was on a crash course toward his own face, why didn't he dodge? Yeah, he was too busy figuring out what the blur was. Big mistake. Somehow, the impact didn't break his nose but left his face all sticky and it was when it all became very foggy. The hard impact must have stunned him.

After that, when he opened his eyes again, which were still synchronizing as his sight was doubled, he could make out with some difficulty, a brown haired girl around his age wearing a yellow tank top and a pair of denim jeans with a huge brown backpack. She seemed to be apologising but Sabango didn't manage to understand what she was saying, while heading in his direction. When his sight finally aligned and his hearing cleared was when she stumbled and knocked him over. And after? No, that was the last of it he was sure of that, so it basically sums the events up. Despite of how long the flashback felt to him, it had taken barely a couple of seconds, too little for anyone to notice his confusion.

After the brief remembering Sabango looked up, still digesting what had happened, he could see the girl stretching her hand toward him in a rather weak attempt to help, with a mix of embarrassment and fear of his possible reaction in her face. That was when he bursted into laughter, a loud, clear yet healthy and joyful laughter, loud enough to attract the attention of everyone in the surrounding, whoever wasn't already looking at them and to their collective disbelief. He wasn't laughing at the girl, not trying to mock her neither was it a nervous or angry laughter, he was laughing amused. Amused of their figures, amused by what had happened, once he looked at it from a third person view it felt hilarious, for him at least. He laughed for quite a while a minute perhaps, getting to the point in which tears got to his eyes. Once he finally stopped laughing, he swiped his tearful eyes and took a few deep breaths after all, after one laughs as hard as he did, one gets tired and the chin begins to hurt. His was no exception. It had been a long time since he laughed so much as such, he enjoyed it a lot.

He slowly got up, without the help of the new acquaintance. Her balance looked rather fragile and he didn't want them both to fall again to the floor. Once on his feet, he said smiling in a quite good mood, better than he had been lately. "Haha... It's been a really long while since I laughed this much; heck I almost forgot how it was done. Anyway don't worry, I'm fine and not mad at you, you actually did me a favour, slinging my totodile back at me..."

Sabango paused to take a deep breath but before he could resume speaking the cheerful totodile shot a jet of water into his head, washing it. Once the tiny pokemon found it clean enough, it shot another jet but this time, upwards in order to let his own falling water clean itself. It seemed that whatever had happened didn't bother him in the least, but that was Sabango's totodile alright, happiness enough to give away and sell, with a lot of misplaced optimism. While it was doing so, Sabango looked at it and with a half smile, while leaning his head and trying to get water out of an ear. "Always the useful one aren't we Totodile? Thanks... I guess."

"Anyway, you truly did me a favour and I would like to return it... Hmm... Say, you look like you are travelling, if you want I could carry around that backpack for a while. I don't have anything special to do and no offence but carrying that thing with your size will give you some back problems." Sabango said to her after some thought. With a bit of luck the girl would be a travelling trainer and he could learn something from her, despite having the totodile for some time now he didn't know much about being a trainer. Also, carrying the bag wouldn't pose a problem for him, his coach had him work out in order to have some strength for the competitions he participated in but the girl, on the other hand, seemed quite weak and he wondered how she managed to hang on the the bag.

 

[Alter Ego]

For a moment, Kat was nonplussed. The boy hadn't gotten upset and yelled at her like she had thought, nor had he backed away from her and her outstretched hand. No, he just laughed. The girl was momentarily stunned by this behavior, but laughter, proper, good-natured, genuine laughter, was highly contagious and once the initial shock had faded, she found her own voice joining in, albeit not half as loudly as the boy's.

There they were, two random people laughing in the middle of a crowded street. The whole situation was so incredibly bizarre, but at the same time, Kat couldn't help feeling better about the whole thing. The crowd still stared, of course, but apparently the people of Kindling Town had gotten their reputation for a reason. Smiles were beginning to appear amongst the crowd members and the woman who had screamed was shaking her head with a polite little grin on her face as the people began dispersing, some still whispering to each other and shaking their heads. The occasional chuckle or fragment of conversation over the incident sprouted here and there. These were both trainers and those folks were weird like that, you just had to accept it. And all things considered, wasn't the situation just too comical? There was no conflict and thus no need to be upset.

And then, just like that, the moment of laughter was over and the stranger finally managed to gather his composure enough to speak, wiping the tears of joy from his eyes as he rose up on his own accord, ignoring the offered hand. Kat didn't know what to make of the gesture, but there was no malice in the boy's voice when he assured her that he didn't hold a grudge. In fact, he even claimed that it had been...a favour? He was thanking her for what had just happened?

"I...uhh...you're welcome?" she ventured, just before the stranger offered to...carry her pack for her? "Oh, no, no, no you really don't have to" the girl interjected waving her hands frantically in the universal sign language phrase of her message and the same expressed in her nervous grin. It wasn't that she had anything against this boy, it was just her inherent paranoia of letting others handle her things that bothered her. Well, that and her fear of troubling others, "I'm used to carrying this. Really." she heaved the pack up a bit more, performing a few demonstrative steps to prove her statement, "See? It's fine, really, I-OUCH!"

Of course her right knee had to take that particular moment to object to its recent encounter with the pavement, causing the girl to wince slightly and sending her pose a bit more forward, the backpack towering threateningly over her as she sought her balance again. It was just a bruise, but it didn't take kindly to being bothered, and unless she wanted to come off as really rude to boot, Kat had no choice but to concede to the facts, "Okay..." she mumbled, a sheepish grin on her face as she detached the straps, "Maybe for a little while, if it's really no trouble." she paused for a moment before adding, "Thank you."

Getting that extra weight off her back was a relief, she conceded as she stopped to rub her bruised knees a little, but was it really alright to hand her supplies to someone she had only just met? This was really not just a matter of trust, did he really not mind any of this at all? She couldn't help giving the boy a strange look, but her attention was soon diverted elsewhere as she noticed something else, something on the pavement, completely forgotten in all of the commotion.

"Oh snap, I completely forgot about that!"

Kat quickly lunged for her discarded pokédex, inspecting the device carefully. The red cover had obtained a nasty scratch from the fall and it had obtained some dirt too, of course, but as the girl flicked it open, the usual bright screen greeted her with a reprimand for incorrect input. In other words, it was working like normal. Sighing in relief, the girl snapped her pokédex shut again, carefully depositing it in her pocket. Whoever invented high-durability electronics deserved a Nobel.

"Well, that's a relief." she said to no-one in particular. Just then, she heard a discreet but clearly made-to-be-heard harrumph, tilting her head to face a decidedly offended Munchlax, its hands still folded across its chest and its beetle-black eyes giving her an accusing glare, "Sorry, Gullwing." Kat said, "But you really, really can't go around eating other pokémon. That's called cannibalism and it will get you all kinds of horrible diseases. Besides, those pokémon have friends and family. You wouldn't like it if someone ate your friend, right?"

The Munchlax merely snorted in response, still not mollified.

A knowing smile spread across Kat's face. She might not have known much about pokémon, but as the eldest sibling of four children, she knew a temper tantrum when she saw one. While her pokémon maintained his defiant stance, the girl briefly turned to rummage her backpack, specifically, the provisions pocket, procuring a single, red apple from its confines. Fresh fruit was an important part of nutrition, and though it wasn't at its prime after having been stashed away in a warm backpack for the entirety of the boat ride, the apple wasn't rotten yet either. Fortunately, Kat had had enough foresight to get one that hadn't quite ripened yet.

"Gullwing..." she called out in a voice honed by many years of negotiation with stubborn children, holding the apple out towards the Munchlax, "Look what I've got for you."

The pokémon let a suspicious glance glide towards the apple in her hand, still not moving from his spot.

"It tastes a lot better than pokémon, you know." Kat continued, having expected no less, "Buuut..." she purposefully dragged out her words, identifying the tell-tale sign of drool running down the Munchlax's chin as she moved it closer to her own mouth, "I suppose if you don't want it, I'll just eat this myself."

Stubborn and unforgiving he may have been, but Gullwing still had an appetite, and when it was indeed becoming perfectly clear that this meal, too, would be snatched from the front of his nose unless he broke his stance, he finally made the choice.

The apple never stood a chance. In a flash of motion far quicker than one would have expected from a being of Gullwing's figure, the Munchlax had closed the gap between himself and his prey, and mere moments later the fruit was already on its merry way down his digestive tract, barely chewed.

Kat let out a small giggle at her pokémon's enthusiasm, "See? Wasn't that better than a Totodile?" she asked, "Tell you what, if you don't try to eat any more pokémon, I'll get you all the fruit you can eat. Deal?" she extended a hand towards the Munchlax, and - after some more hesitation - the creature eventually mimicked her gesture. Though it was somewhat questionable whether he understood the concept of a handshake - or did he think of it as a wingshake? - the important thing was that their conflict had been resolved...at least for now.

Rising up from her crouched negotiating position, Kat turned back to face her new acquaintance, brushing off the dirt from her jeans, "Sorry for that little delay." she said, "Like I said, Gullwing and I still have some issues to work out." it was then that a thought struck her, "Oh, we haven't even been introduced yet, have we?" she grinned sheepishly, extending a hand to the boy in turn and hoping that he'd accept it this time around, "I'm Katherine, Katherine Vainwright." the name felt slightly foreign in her mouth and using it gave Kat a slightly mischievous feeling, as if she was assuming an identity that didn't belong to her to get past a night club bouncer. Katherine, the name sounded like it belonged to someone older, smarter, and prettier than her. The older sister who didn't have anxieties over every decision and didn't make a fool of herself at all times. The cool one, the popular one, the one Kat wanted to be above all else, she just couldn't help correcting her 'dishonesty', "You can just call me 'Kat', though. And that..." she nodded towards the Munchlax who was currently trying, with rather poor success, to fly up onto her shoulder, continuously having to grasp her clothes for balance as he leapt up and tried flapping again and again, nearly causing the girl to topple over, "...is my starter pokémon, Gullwing. I just got him from the lab. And you are?"