((OOC: Hope this isn't too long, I kinda got carried away ^_^; And I also...kind of...started form the beginning rather than taking over Cooker. :D But I got it done! Also, doesn't Natu know Night Shade by level 6?))
Courtney shrieked. She rolled over to the left, her eyes flinging open…and then immediately closing again as she landed on the floor with a THUD! "Stupid…" she mumbled, scrambling to her feet. She rubbed her head where it had met the wooden floor. "What the heck?" She looked around. This was DEFINITELY not her room. For one, the bed was way too tiny… Oh, right. Memories flooded back to her: saying goodbye (mostly just to Karen), leaving Saffron, arriving in this dinky little town… And then, having nowhere to go, checking into this stupid hotel. According to some lady she'd asked, it was 'the best in town'. Whatever you say, lady.
So she knew where she was…but what had woken her up? She struggled to remember, and it only took a moment. It was a dream. Or rather, a nightmare. And not one of the usual ones where she was getting eaten by cheeseburgers… This one had been different. Creepier, if that was possible.
She sighed. What was she going to do in this region? She had no interest in Pokemon battles… And barely any Pokemon worth training were pretty, she'd realized. It was useless. So far there hadn't been a building taller than two stories! Suddenly, something caught her eye. She turned towards the window where it had come from, and walked towards the plastic square. Lifting it, she peered outside. The cool air rushed against her face at once. And down by the street an odd, cream-colored SOMETHING was floating silently through the night.
"What is that!?" Courtney exclaimed, squinting. It was spherical, and appeared to be suspended in the air. She shook her head and rubbed her eyes, but the thing didn't go away – it was real. Maybe this was a normal thing for the region? Probably not. The last time she'd checked, floating balls of light didn't usually exist. But she wasn't just seeing things! "Camera, where's my camera?" She scurried around the room, checking through her bags. It was weird, being able to have her camera out whenever here. Nobody asked questions: she was just another tourist. It was a nice change; in fact, it was just about the only good thing about starting over.
She found the camera and was about to leave the room, when she realized that: A) She wasn't wearing shoes, B) All that she WAS wearing was a pink night gown that reached her knees, C) She had no way of returning to her room because her key was somewhere on a hard surface and D) It was frightfully cold out at night. "Dang it…" She rushed around the room once more, looking for the key, her shoes, and a proper change of clothes.
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Fifteen minutes later, she was finally ready to go. The small delay had been due to her not able to decide which sweatshirt to wear, but she'd eventually decided on a green one with yellow print. Didn't want to blend in! She rushed out of her room and almost fell down the stairs, before catching herself. Maybe the ball would still be there!?
She exited the hotel and ran towards the direction (at least she thought it was the right one) of the peculiar object. Her left hand was clasped firmly around the tiny camera in her sweatshirt's pocket. "I'm coming, thing-a-ma-bob!" she exclaimed, picking up the pace. As she neared, she started to hear voices from ahead. Crap. Maybe they'd already found the ball? But if not… She didn't want to be seen. She sneaked around to the side of the building she thought she'd seen the ball go inside. But for some reason, the voices got louder! The people…were inside the building? This wasn't good. They were right beside the door… She'd have to sneak around.
Silently, Courtney walked around the perimeter of the building, looking for an alternative entrance, a back door of some sort. What was this building, anyways? It was one of the biggest in town, and also, unfortunately, one of the ugliest. It was kind of like one of the laboratories at Silph. Maybe it WAS a lab? After all, Chartruese Town was the beginning for some trainers in Shussei. Having a lab would only make sense, right? Abruptly, her hand that was trailing along the wall hit something – a knob! She quietly pressed her ear to the door, listening. Nothing… Hopefully this broke into another room. Taking a deep breath, she slowly turned the knob.
The door swung open, and Courtney swore under her breath. Hopefully whoever was here was too occupied with their own voice. She stepped into the building, closing the door behind her. Thankfully the room she had come into had light. And it DID look like a lab; equipment and papers lined the walls, desks, chairs, files. Everything a lab would need. The most intriguing thing, however, was the table in the center of the room. On it, sat a batch of circular objects of different colors. One of them was kind of the same color as the ball, although it was a bit smaller. But maybe this was a kind of thing that the light had been?
She quickly stepped over to the table, inspecting the objects. The prettiest of the four different colors was agreen hue. The object seemed to sparkle a bit, and green was her favorite color, which was a bonus. She picked up the object carefully, turning it in her hands. It was beautiful, breathtaking. And surprisingly light… Unfortunately, it wouldn't fit in her pocket. She glanced around to make sure nobody was watching. If she wanted it, she'd have to leave the building carrying it… And if anyone was outside, they might get suspicious. But it was so beautiful…
Courtney sighed. Maybe she could come back and ask about it at a more reasonable time. Even though voices were coming from a couple rooms down, she still felt like she was intruding. In away, she sort of was. Well, no: she just was. She was about to set down the object when it start to glow. Courtney stifled back a shout, as the strange object glowed more and more, becoming brighter. It was becoming warmer as well, and she might have dropped it if she hadn't been so interested in the item. The ball was beginning to change, to transform… Courtney's eyes grew wide as, with a flash, the ball turned into…a…bird? She gasped and stared at the object sitting in her hands, staring back up at HER. It's eyes were wide as well, almost mirroring Courtney besides for the, well, bird aspect. "Um…hello?"Courtney whispered. The bird gave a tiny chirp and smiled. It was kind of cute, Courtney noticed. And it looked familiar. She tried to wrap her mind around where she'd seen it before…hmmm… Oh, right! Karen had shown her one once in one of her books. Natu, it was called? As if to confirm Courtney's thoughts, the tiny bird chirped, "Natu!" Courtney giggled. Yup, Natu! But this one looked funny…it was…brighter? The whole bird had a golden-yellow tint to it. Oh, well.
Now what? She had somehow managed to get a Pokemon... And her curiosity was too much. Exiting through the back door, she started to walk around to the front of the lab. She had been beginning to wonder what those people were doing here, and besides, maybe they could help figure out why her Pokemon was a funny color? Arriving once again to the front of the lab, she gulped, and walked inside.
This room was bigger, of course, being the first room. It looked more or less like the other one, with all the clutter... Although this room had a few key differences: first, there seemed to have been a fight - papers were everywhere, and some thigns had taken considerable damage. Second, there was a circle of about eight kids in the room, all with their own Pokemon, talking. Some looked as confused as she felt, and some looked calm. "Well, this is it," she whispered to Natu. Before she could announce anything to the whole group, se noticed a young boy walking towards her. For a moment, Courtney grew worried - what is she wasn't allowed to be here? But the boy didn't seem to be angry... He looked rather friendly, actually.
"Hi, my name's Jack Nebulon," he said. Oh, okay. Definitely not angry. "What's yours?"
"Courtney," she replied, smiling at the boy. "And this is Glimmer." She lifted Natu a bit so that he could see the Pokemon. She'd decided on the name in only a couple of moments. That way, it seemed more like it had been hers for a while. "What's going on here this late?"
