Showgan -- Standing On Edge (Invitational)

[Light_Azumarill]

OOC: Posting has been slow, ne? XD Where's Plushie got to? It's been a while since she posted... and Ryko can't really move on without her! *likes Ryko* ;_;

Well Yibber, those are some interesting classroom to classroom dynamics. XD I would be ticked too if I had gotten all my stuff ready to move only to have to not move because of some stupid girl. >.>

Warning: Long post. It could even rival some of Alter's. XD


Zachary
===========

"Okay... must get past Gwenie," Zachary mumbled to himself, reaching the lobby. He would just have to wait until she was distracted by someone or something and then race his bottom over to the phones. The phones themselves were fairly secluded, so as to ensure people's conversations could be somewhat private, so being seen after reaching them was not an issue.

The boy leaned his head out a teeny bit; just enough to see what was going on. There were quite a few trainers gathered at the desk, and Zachary couldn't tell if Gwendolyn was there or not. They were all staring at the front desk while chattering lightly, listening to three kids about Zachary's age who seemed to be telling a story of their pokemon getting hurt or stolen-- he couldn't hear them that well over the chatter. The boy frowned, wondering what had happened, but figured that taking this chance was more important than finding out.

He slid through the doorway and slipped himself into a partially concealed phone space. He exhaled his breath, thanking his lucky stars that he hadn't knocked anything over while slipping by. He dialed quickly and then took a last look to make sure the group was still blocking the front desk.

Soon enough his mother answered, looking relieved that her son had called. Zachary smiled half-heartedly. "Hi Mom."

"Oh I'm so glad you called Zach, I was beginning to get sleepy," she said with a chuckle, "How was your day? Did you catch any pokemon? Oh, are your friends well?" She had so many questions; but then so did Zachary.

He smiled, "No, I haven't caught anything else, though I did make friends with a Magnemite. My friends are fine, well most of them... I'm not sure about Maxie." His mother looked curious, so he explained what had happened with the girl.

"Poor thing, she must feel awful," his mother said, shaking her head sadly, "I wonder what could be wrong with her."

"I don't know... but I hope it's nothing serious," Zachary replied, "She's really very nice once you get to know her. She did help Amelia too." Another confused look from his mother told him he'd better explain again. He felt rather nervous talking about Amelia, especially when his mother started giggling at him, but once it was done he felt much better. He had done the explaining in a low voice though in case Amelia was around the lobby; after all, he could only handle so much embarrassment in one day.

This 'liking girls' subject brought him to the real thing he wanted to speak about-- his angry behavior. This wasn't going to be fun or easy to talk about, but he had to know. Not knowing was too much.

"Mom...," he began, his expression clearly telling her he was about to bring up his father, "When Dad was younger, you know before he got really bad, did he act different? I mean... oh, I'm not making any sense." His stomach felt quite sick all of a sudden.

His mother blinked, caught off-guard by his strange request. "Zachary I... I'm not sure why you would want to know such things. Is something wrong?" she asked, her expression now worried.

"Well I just- you see lately I sometimes have felt really angry, usually about something stupid," he said in a low voice, almost fearfully, "First it was Silver and Maxie and Ron talking about how I freaked out about this Ghastly... and then to Ron making jokes. Stupid stuff that I usually just laugh about. I just was thinking that maybe that's how Dad started, um, started out."

"Oh sweetie... I'm so sorry," she said, her eyes looking sad, "If only I had been strong enough to kick him out before it got like it did. I'm not a strong person you know...."

Zachary interjected, "Mom, don't say that, it wasn't your fa--."

"Yes it was!" she said to him seriously, "Don't ever forget that. Yes he was a bad person, but did I do anything other than sweep the broken pieces of our family under the rug to hide? Always apologizing, always making excuses; I was just as much of the problem as he was."

"You kicked him out eventually," Zachary said, "I guess you learned to be strong. But Mom... I don't want to end up like him."

She smiled, "You won't. If you worry about it this much and watch yourself, then you can do it. You take after me Zachary so you have a kind heart. You're not like him. I was afraid, when you went into that gang, that you would become like him. After a time though, it seemed that you had made your choice and decided that that life wasn't for you." She paused for a moment and then spoke again, "Oh, and your question, about your father, he was always like how he was while I knew him. Always yelling and quick to anger. It wasn't something that just happened one day though, it was a gradual process of building and building for years."

"Why did you fall in love with him?" he asked before he even thought it through all the way.

"Because I was stupid, and thought I could change him. I thought that there was good somewhere down in him... but such things are only for movies I'm afraid. He just saw me as an easy target," she looked at her son apologetically.

Zachary felt a little better. It was strange how he had gotten so mad, but he had never really felt that way before. He had tried to act mean back when he was in the gang, but that was different. This new anger... it felt as if someone had flipped a switch on in his brain. It must have been something else. Perhaps it was just mood swings.... Whatever it was, he owed his mother an apology.

"Sorry Mom, for bringing stuff up again," he said to her, "I probably made you sad."

"No Zachary, it's all right," she said quickly, "You and I need to talk about these things. It's important for you to know. That's what makes us different than the hundreds of other families that go through the same thing." She smiled.

He nodded, supposing she was right. "Thanks," he said.

"Oh! One more thing, I got another present for you," she bent down and pulled up something that Zachary recognized, "Well, it's not really something new, but you left it here, and I thought you'd want it."

It was a small pin that he had gotten for winning a contest at school. It was still quite clean, despite spending a year in his house, and was in the shape of a legendary cat pokemon-- Raikou. Zachary stared at it fondly, for it reminded him of the times after he had decided to quit the gang.

"I'd be glad to wear it on my pack," he said happily, "Thanks again Mom."

"I'll send it over," she said, placing it on the transferring machine, "And take care Zachary. Try to relax and have fun; this is a journey for fun."

The pin appeared next to him, and Zachary picked it up, "I will."

"Kiss Ron on the nose for me," she said with a smile. Zachary reluctantly agreed to do it; Ron always got embarrassed when he was given a kiss by his trainer.

The mother and son said their good-byes and Zachary hung up the phone. He suddenly regretted hanging up so soon because he had forgotten to ask how Ty was doing. Oh well, there was always tomorrow. The boy smiled, he really needed to thank the man for getting his mother the videophone so that they could easily contact each other. It was probably the most expensive thing they had ever owned. The boy looked out to the lobby; now the only thing he had to do was get back to his room without incident.

At least he felt confident that he wasn't turning into his father anytime soon. He would just have to wait and see what this anger thing led to. With that he stood up and placed the small pin on his pack, taking a moment to stare at the yellow thunder cat.

 

[Alter Ego]

OOC:

...

...slow posting?

...

What do you mean by slow posting? I barely had the time to blink before you charged away with your wild posting spree. xD Nyah, no worries about that, I've been terrible at posting lately because school started up this Tuesday and I already ended up with a whole bunch of stuff to remember. Essay deadlines...homework (Yes, after the second day of school I already have homework again. Crazy new finnish teacher! <<) and all kinds of announcement things to remember too. Apparently they STILL aren't finished with renovating our school (It's been going strong since 1990, I kid you not.) so as a result, we've now lost half the dining hall and our main gym. After christmas we'll also lose the smaller side gym AND get 120 lousy little squatters from another school crowding our building. (Don't ask me why, I certainly didn't invite them. <<) Adding to that loveliness, a couple of our brakes have been shortened, and my back took up aching spontaneously yesterday night so I was up until 3 AM (School started at 8:15. <<). So yeah, I'm not in the best of moods at the moment. =__=

Still, that story about the person in your school does remind me that things could be worse, Yibber. xD Seriously, that sucks. I'm glad we don't have to put up with that lousy locker system anymore. There always seems to be someone who needs to switch, ne? After all your trouble, I think that the least that girl could have done would have been to say 'sorry', though.

And yes, where is Plushie? Oh, I hope that the evil Real Life isn't conspiring to keep her away for good. ;__; *Likes Ryko too*

IC:

Rai nodded in acknowledgement as Zachary excused himself.

"Allright" he replied, "I'll go stop by the other room to get my things in the mean time. Oh, and look out for Gwendolyn." he added, "I'd hate to think about what she'd do if she caught you breaking something again."

"Well, I guess I'll see you later." the boy added to Jena and the others who had remained in the lobby, "But in case that doesn't happen today, good night." he gave them all one of his usual friendly smiles before turning around and heading up the stairs in the direction of the original room.

Collecting his possessions was a pretty easy job for the boy, seeing as how Rai had left them all neatly tucked away in the first place. The boy grinned, for once, it seemed, Isabel's teachings had actually been helpful for him.

As he exited the room and locked the door behind him, Rai suddenly came to think of something, though: he had no key. Well, no key for the room he was supposed to go to. Silver still had that one, and her possessions were in the other room as well.

The boy groaned inwardly as he settled by the door in wait of Zachary's return, noting that this operation wasn't going quite as smoothly as he had initially thought.

 

[Light_Azumarill]

OOC: Oh no! The ebil school has Alter in its relentless grasp!! O_O I wish you the best of luck.

*pokes everyone who's read her comic so far* Go read Ch 4 I say! /shameless plug

Anywhoo...


Zachary
=============

"Phew," Zachary exhaled, having gotten past the lobby sneaking and now coming to where the rooms were. He had given a wave to Kayley, Jena, and Silver to show his exit. He hadn't really wanted to talk about anything with them after the conversation he had just been through. Not to mention it had been a very, very, long day, and he was suddenly feeling so tired he was sure his eyelids were stuck half-closed.

As he approached the rooms, he noticed that Rai was still hanging out outside of them. Ron was on the ground near the boy, looking as if he were sleeping. Zachary wasn't surprised about his pokemon, the little Aron was never picky about sleeping quarters.

"Hey Rai," Zachary said sleepily as he came up to them, "What's up?"

 

[Alter Ego]

OOC: *Ish poked* Okay, I've commented. xD Actually, I read it long ago but kind of forgot...:embarrass I've fixed it now, though.

IC:

"Oh, I was just waiting for someone with a key to come by." Rai replied at Zachary's comment, getting back into proper standing position, "Seeing as how you're here, I guess that only leaves the issue of Silver's belongings, which are still in here." he nodded towards the room, taking a brief pause of silence to glance around before continuing:

"What do you think about her?" he added, hoping that this wasn't a too intrusive question, "Silver, I mean. Myself, I'm not really sure about what to make of her, so I...guess I'd just like to hear your thoughts." he added as an explanation of sorts. It wasn't a very good one, perhaps, but it was better than nothing.

 

[Light_Azumarill]

OOC: Yay! *feels loved* Comments make me happy. :3


Zachary
============

"Oh, a key!" Zachary chuckled, his usual attitude returning, "Yeah, I guess it would be hard for you to get in without one." He listened as Rai began to ask him about Silver. Well, what he thought of the girl anyway.

That was a tricky question, one which made Zachary grimace a little. "Uh don't laugh but... I think she's scary. That's what. First she was pretty normal, and it was just the helmet thing that was a little off," the boy reached into his pocket and brought out a key card, placing it in the door's latch as he spoke, "Now, I've no business to know what's under her helmet, and I really don't even care, so that's not why she scares me. What scares me is the way she acts-- first angry at me for no reason, and then staring at me and racing over when I'm hurt, not to mention freaking out when Maxie was battling that deranged snake boy! You weren't here earlier when I knocked my knee against the table and Amelia was wondering if I was okay."

He opened the door and walked in, motioning for Rai to do the same. There he continued his conversation. "Silver just tweaked out and yelled that I was hers-- hers!" he said, looking more freaked out himself than angry, "It kinda freaked me out, you know? I hate to say it but... I don't like her that way. She's a bit too hyper and unpredictable for my taste. What I don't get is how a girl can think I'm hers without me ever knowing it! Hmm... it's a bit scary. I've never really had girl trouble before; I don't even know what to do."

Zachary sank himself into a chair that sat to the side of the room, away from the beds. Ron shook his head.

{Consider yourself lucky! Some guys never have troublewith girls at all!} the little Aron said, chuckling to himself.

 

[Alter Ego]

"Oh, I'm sure I could have managed it with a little help from Ashu." Rai replied at Zachary's comment about the door, grinning a bit, "But I didn't particularly feel like checking Gwendolyn's reaction to that." he fell silent again as Zachary began voicing his feelings about Silver, not to mention giving a summary of what had happened in his absence.

"I see..." Rai replied at last, nodding, "And I'm pretty sure that you see I'm not laughing." he took a pause, pretending to busy himself with putting his possessions into place as he tried to think of how much he should say, not to mention how he should say it, "I think I've had an experience of something similar." he added after a while, "I mean, I've had my share of girl-trouble but mostly they get bored of playing their little games pretty quickly if you ignore them. That...wasn't the case with this one person, however." the boy took a brief pause, his eyes gaining a slightly glazed look as he stared at the wall in front of him without really seeing it, "There are some people who believe in destiny..." he remarked, "And that particular girl was positive that we were destined to be together, which, I believe, is something along the lines of what Silver is thinking about herself and you. I-" he hesitated again, "No, never mind that. It's not something I should go babbling about. Just remember: whatever you decide to do about this situation, do it properly and without hesitation. You will end up regretting it if you do otherwise."

Rai grinned a bit as the meaning of his words began to sink in, "That was rather ominous of me, wasn't it?" he added, chuckling a bit, "Sorry, it must be my drama training showing because of the fatigue." he rummaged briefly in his pack, procuring a towel and a neatly folded set of pyjamas, placing the latter on the bed which Maxie had left empty - for he didn't feel particularly comfortable with taking Silver's while her belongings were still scattered about - and flinging the former over his shoulder.

"I guess what I meant to say was that if you ever need to talk about these things, I'm willing to listen. Who knows, maybe my 'experiences' will actually prove to be useful for something other than town gossip." he grinned, opening the bathroom door, "Right now, however, I think I'm going to need another shower. Try to keep Silver away from you that long, okay?" he chuckled, closing the door after him, an action which was soon followed by the faint 'click' of the door's lock and the unmistakable sound of running water.

OOC: Just as a note, I'm thinking that these pokémon centers would use em' toilet/shower/bath combos, and since it's my RP you can't do a thing about it. xD

 

[Light_Azumarill]

OOC: Eep! Well, Alter has whined to me (with good reason) so I am here to post!


Zachary
==============

The boy listened rather intently to Rai's comments. After all, Rai was so much better than him in the area of knowing what to do about people. All of those manners and such; surely something in ettiquite told you how to talk to girls? However, as he listened he came to realize that talking to women had little to do with manners and more to do with experience. Zachary wondered for a moment how many girls had wanted Rai at one time or another. He was well-off, and that money thing seemed to always attract a number of gold-digging girls. At least, that was what a friend of his had experienced.

Zachary thought of destiny. Was there such a thing? He wasn't too sure about whether or not it existed. Perhaps destiny was a way of excusing a series of strange coincidences, or perhaps it truly did exist. He moaned after Rai mentioned that it was probably what Silver felt.

"Oh. Peachy," he grunted. Ron chuckled.

Rai was right though; there was nothing to gain from waiting on taking action. He needed to nip this in the bud before it spread. The boy felt a lot better after knowing that Rai was okay with talking about it. After all, he was the only one he'd feel comfortable talking to about it. He couldn't ask other girls about it; that would be far too embarrassing.

"I'll try," he responded when Rai warned him to keep away from Silver while he took a shower, "If she comes in, I'll just leap into my bed and pretend to be sleeping." He smiled.

{Oh that's good. Encourage her to sneak you a kiss on the cheek while you sleep,} Ron teased, picturing the 'asleep' Zachary freaking out like he had when Hazy had appeared.

"Wah! You don't think she would sneak a kiss, do you?" Zachary said nervously. Ron just giggled at that remark.

 

[Charon]

{ooc| Looks like loads has happened since I've been gone o_o;
Here's a post to say I'll be back next Sunday! Not the one coming, the one after that. Yay! My ban's actually been lifted, as all my work's done, but I'm going away on Friday night so ther'es no point leaping back into the roleplay at this point xD I hope you guys have missed me suitably~
Edit: Omg! Where's that little bar at the bottom gone? Y'know, the one that tells you who's viewing the board at the same time? *confused*}

 

[Ibuberu]

OOc-

Niah, school's eating me up alive, hence the reason for my inactivity. I'll only be able to get back to posting in 2 month's time thanks to good ol' Finals! ;;.;; I'm pushing the limit now, since I'm supposed to be studying the ebil Maths. -.-
Eh, just pretend that Jena's all quiet and silent again. Don't really need to pretend anyway. X3 See you dudes after my exams! ^^;;

 

[Alter Ego]

OOC: Join the club, Yibber. School, an essay in particular, has me completely bogged down at the moment, hence the lack of posting lately. (Well, that and these stupid database errors. xP) So yeah, final deadline is in two weeks and I have another deadline whichw was...ahem, yesterday, and I have to rewrite the whole bloody thing and add a good 1000 words more to meet the word limit (Not to mention writing title page, abstract, and bibliography). You get the picture... =_= I probably won't be posting much before the deadline is met, so now you know why. Sorry about that, folks, I promise I'll be back, though. (As if you'd get rid of me that easily. :P ) So yeah, see you in about two weeks probably.

EDITNESS: Well what do you know? I worked like an animal over the weekend and managed to write the whole bloody essay back up from scratch (2826 very, VERY painful words. =_=) so now I have at least a one-day breather while my teacher is looking through the essay. Meep! I've got to post everywhere before I go MIA again! o.o

IC:

Zachary's response reached Rai just before he shut the door behind him, and the rather upset scream at Ron's joking remark managed to penetrate the door quite well. The boy couldn't help snickering as he locked the door behind him and discarded the second dirtied attire of the day onto the bathroom floor, soon immersing himself in a pleasantly warm shower which made him realize just how dirty his skin had been. Rai felt a slight sting of guilt at snickering at the far from humorous predicament his friend was in, however, and soon stopped. Still, he reasoned as he shut his eyes to fully relish the feeling of the water on his skin, at least he seemed to have brought Zachary some kind of relief by offering to talk about it. 'Guess that's my second good deed for the day then..." the boy chuckled for himself. Still, he couldn't help feeling slightly disoriented, the incident at the cleaning plant...it felt like it had been ages since that even though he clearly remembered it being on the very same day. Life in the outside world sure was eventful - not to mention dirty, he added with a sideward glance at the pile of clothes - but somehow it had never been half as eventful when he was out on his own. Granted, there had been the little chases with his mother's hechmen, but it was all done in good spirit, they certainly weren't like Railey...or Melwind...or Raven...or, for that matter, that boy who had challenged Maxie. Rai frowned a bit, now that he thought about it, all the trainers he and his friends had battled this far had been callous and self-absorbed louts who treated their pokémon like slaves. Of course that was more or less what the regular crowd at Kingsfield Gym was like, but he had always thought of them as an exception rather than a rule. Now, however, Rai wasn't quite so sure. 'Is that..?' the boy thought slowly, turning the shower off and beginning to dry himself with the towel, 'Is that what being a pokémon master is all about? Is that what experience does to you?' he stared absent-mindedly at the gift Tenari had given him before his thoughts drifted on to the badge he had recieved from the infuriated gym leader, 'Is that...what I'll become as well?' he shook his head furoiusly, wrapping the towel around his waist for the decency's sake, and placing the mystic water necklace around his neck for safe-keeping.

'No, I'm just generalizing.' he concluded for himself, walking out of the room and quickly heading towards his bed where he slipped into the pyajams with trained ease, before folding up the towel and carefulyl depositing it in an out-of-the-way place, much like what he did with the dirtied clothes, 'We've just been unlucky, that's all. These are just some select few people, not everyone turns out that way. Zachary...Kayley...Amelia...Jena..?' he just couldn't picture any of his new friends ending up like Railey. Well, Maxie might develop a similar manner, but she'd still care deep down, kind of like Gwendolyn, maybe.

Rai laid back on the bed, staring at the ceiling. Silver hadn't come around yet, so going to sleep and leaving Zachary to handle such a potentially awkward situation on his own would not have been very friendly, yet at the same time, the boy was feeling a bit too tired to think up a new topic for conversation. There had been so much talk this day, so many events, emotions and ideas that merely thinking about it almost made his head spin, and that was something he certainly didn't need, considering that it was already becoming increasingly hard to just keep it upright.

 

[Light_Azumarill]

OOC: *sneaks in* *posts*


Zachary
==============

'Maybe Silver will come in and get her stuff right now!' Zachary thought, lying on his bed. Unfortunately, there was still no Silver. He thought in his head again, 'Right... now!' No dice. Again he pictured her coming through the door. Nope; nothing. The boy was about to doze off when suddenly he heard a sound. It was something like a crackling and it made him sit up suddenly in his bed. He looked at the door, but nothing happened.

The sound came again, and that's when he realized-- it was just Ron snoring. Zachary sighed. As he laid back down, he flicked Ron on the helmet with his finger. 'Darnit Ron, you freaked me out,' he thought with a slight shake of his head.

How long should he wait? What if Silver was never going to come in and had just decided to borrow things from the others? Ugh... it would at least be courteous to come tell them. Zachary stared at the clock on the wall. He didn't care what time it was, he was just spacing out on the second hand. Spinning... spinning... around the clock. A moment went by, and then another, and before the boy knew it, he was staring at the inside of his eyelids.

"Mmnnh... Chinchou," he mumbled incoherently, fast asleep. Ron, who had woken for a moment, opened an eye at him.

{So much for staying up,} the metallic pokemon said to himself.

~~~​

"What the?" said Zachary, "Where the heck am I?" He seemed to be in some sort of doctor's room. He was sitting on a bed apparently waiting to be seen. It was all white everywhere, odd things were in jars along the shelves and counters. One looked like a pickled foot.

"Eww," the boy said, scrunching his nose. Suddenly the large, white door opened and in walked, what appeared to be, Nurse Gwendolyn! Zachary jumped to his feet, not knowing what to expect.

The nurse raised an eyebrow, "Really now, I'll have none of that. Sit down!"

Zachary sat down, feeling uncomfortable.

"Hold out your right light," the nurse said flatly.

"My what?!" said a very confused Zachary. What the?

"Let me see it," she said, grabbing onto him. The boy was both horrified that she was touching him, and utterly confused. This only got worse as the nurse managed to grab onto a round, yellow object that was emitting a dull light. It seemed to be connected to his head somehow! He then took this chance to look down at his own body. To his surprise, he was no longer a human but a Chinchou!

"AHHH!" he yelled, "I'm naked in front of Nurse Gwendolyn!" His small fin-like hands instantly covered his front. The nurse seemed unfazed by this and continued looking him over. Zachary felt very uncomfortable about this.

It would have been better if someone else had been looking him over; like Amelia. After he thought it, like a wish being granted, the door suddenly swung open again and in swept Amelia. For some reason a heavenly light seemed to constantly be around her.

"All done ma'am?" she asked Gwendolyn. The nurse nodded and then picked up Zachary and placed him in Amelia's arms.

"Give him back to his trainer; he's fine," the nurse said, leaving the room.

Amelia held Zachary like many girls did with pokemon, much to the happiness of Zachary. "Ah... now this is better," he said, relaxing a bit. Before he knew it though, he was being handed off to his trainer, who happened to be-- Jena?!

"Eh... you feeling better Zackie?" she said to him, placing him on the ground.

"Zackie...?" he said, not liking this nickname.

"Good! Eh, come on, the other pokemon are waiting outside!" Jena said, racing forward. They exited the pokemon center, and waiting outside was not Jena's usual team, but a huge flock of Mareep. One Mareep stopped next to Jena's legs, looking pleasantly at him.

"Welcome back Zachary," the fluffy pokemon said in Rai's voice.

"Huh?!" Zachary said, still very confused by all of this. Since when was Rai a sheep?

OOC: Fuuuu. I shall post the rest at a later time. Otherwise, I'll have nothing to write while I wait for everyone else. ^^

 

[Random Plushie]

OOC:

Hi, y'all. Yes, I realize I've been gone quite a while. School has eaten me up, and it is going to keep doing that until Christmas Vacation. I'm in your boat, Yibber.

So yeah.. Sowwy, seriously, about the inconvenience. I had to pop in, though, to at least let you guys know.

Gotta go again, I have a physical endurance test I must get ready for. Well, not right now, cause it's my bed time.

13 laps in the pool. (26 times across). [I shall die during the test, yes.]

Bye-bye for now..

 

[Alter Ego]

OOC: Nyah, no worries, Plushie, you and Yibber aren't the only ones who have been gone for a while, although of course I'm the only one who is an absentee unwillingly (Since it's obviously all of you others conspiring to keep me without IC material. xD). Anyways, since Melissa has kind of dissappeared and Charon can't seem to be bothered to post even a quick IC around here I'm still pretty much stuck, but I'll try to write up something, if only to keep this RP going. So yeah, here goes...

IC:

'Chinchou?' Rai thought with a tired smile as Zachary began mumbling, shaking his head slowly, 'Fast asleep, I see, if only I were so lucky...' he leaned back on his bed - well, the one he had taken over, as it were, after Maxie's dissappearance - and was quite ready to throw ettiquette out of the window and just go to sleep as well but found, much to his annoyance, that there always seemed to be something that prevented him from getting quite comfortable enough. First it was the messy state the sheets had been left in, then the pillow stuffings felt lumpy, then the air itself was too hot...or too cold, or just plain stuffy.

Quite frankly, Rai hadn't, until this point, truly fathomed just how used he had been to his own, comfortable, well-made bed. It hadn't bothered him the night before, but that time he had come in cold, exhausted, and soaking wet and sleep had come naturally the moment his head hit the pillow, but this time...well, it was different, and to be honest,the fact that the bed still smelled of Maxie probably wasn't helping either, so after several minutes of fruitless tossing about Rai finally forfeited, kicking the sheets away from him and rising back into a sitting position.

The boy rubbed his temples, shutting his eyes as he tried to recall the method for self-induced sleep and wishing that he had been paying a bit more attention to what his mother had been talking about and a bit less to what was going on in the small piece of the outside world that was visible from the study window.

'Close your eyes and concentrate...' he repeated in his mind, pulling his legs up into the appropriate lotus position. It was probably just for show, but in this case Rai wasn't going to leave that up to chance, 'Concentrate...' he repeated for himself, 'But concentrate on what?'

As if to answer this question, Zachary, who seemed to have entered a particularly restless part of his dream, suddenly let out "I'm naked in front of nurse Gwendolyn!" in the kind of half-shout that sleeping people sometimes let out, and the image this created in Rai's head was certainly not of the tranquil kind that he currently needed. The boy sighed wearily, watching Zachary turn around and return to a more docile kind of mumbling. This was going to be a long night.

OOC: Oh, and Melissa, if Zachary ain't a sleep talking kind of guy then just tell me and I'll edit. I just needed a suitable end for the post. xD

 

[Charon]

{ooc| I can't think of anything to write~! I'm sorry, Alter, I just have noooo muse left for this roleplay. I will try to write something soon... but first, homework!

EDIT: Okay, guys, I was thinking last night, and I realised it's really wrong of me to let this thing die. I mean, it's a great roleplay, and we've all put a lot of time and love into it - and I'm not posting because I''ve got writer's block? Bah! I shall post, even if it's awfull and resembles dog excretement!
In other news, I'm going away with friends from Monday to Friday. Sorry!}


Maxie sighed, and rumaged in her bag for her pokeballs. She sat them all on the table in a row; Fang's unused one, Minerva's, Messy's, and the Nidoran's. Grudgingly, she allowed her thoughts to turn to her friends. What were they doing right now? I hope they're safe... she thought absently, before she could stop herself. I like them too much, she realised with a pang.
Fang's ears twitched, as if sensing her melachony. Her dead-pan expression hadn't faltered, but Fang knew all the same.
{Maxie? They're only... 'kids your age'. They don't matter. We matter, you need to forget them. Put your mind on retrieving that Sigil, something...}
"They've got Sephy, Fang!" she whispered urgently, her voice dropping as she became aware of a Nurse hovering behind her. "....And... I can't forget them."
Fang gave a screech of irritation.
{Maxie, don't be stupid. Look, we made a promise to that Azumarill dude, we can't forget that, either- Maxie? M-Maxie?} Fang trailed off into a stutter. Maxie's expression was of sudden dawning realisation. She turned to her pokemon and grinned. {Oh no.... you've got an idea, haven't you?} he mumbled despairingly.

Nodding enthusiastically, Maxie put away her pokeballs and turned to Fang.
"I'll go look for the Sigil-"
{Ahhh, good-}
"I'm not finished! I'll look for the Sigil, you go back tot he other pokecentre, and just check - check - the others are okay. Just... peep in, okay?"
Fang could have exploded from indignation. His face contorted in a sort of smothered anger.
{Maxie!!! NO! God, just-!}
"Fang," the girl's voice dropped again, and grew harder, "I order you - don't give me that look - I order you to check they're okay, then return to me."

She fodled her arms, her mouth in a thin, smug smile. Fang, meanwhile, was busy alternatively opening and closing his mouth in horror, rather resembling a magikarp. Maxie rarely ordered him to do anything; you don't just boss your best friend around like some sort of servant. Him and Maxie were compadres. Amigos. This isn't how its meant to work! he thought - but the bonds of Trainer-and-Pokemon were far stronger than those of friendship. He had to obey - a direct order can't be ignored.
{Please, Maxie-}
she shook her head, not even looking at him. Dejectedly, Fang spread his wings and took off, darting through an open window in a flash of purple.

Maxie watched him go, her chest aching strangely.
Then she packed her bags, shouldered, and headed off in search of that sigil.

- - - -​

After an hour or so of flying, Fang's wings were protestesting heavily. He was NOT built for long haul flights, and this certainly counted. The air seemed to drag on his wing tips, and gravity seemed peculiarily heavy, pulling him down towards the gaping blackness of earth below. The night had drawn in, and now it enveloped him in a comforting darkness; he could still navigate, but the skies and grounds below were deserted.
Finally, the pokecentre swung into view, and Fang allowed himself a gasp of relief. He had, unknowingly, been holding his breath. In a way, he wanted to find them dead, along with Luna and Gullwee and all the other stupid trainers Maxie had befriended in the past. He liked it being just him and her. Yet.... he wanted her to be happy, too.

He furled his wings and dropped like a stone, plunging towards the centre with agility more suited to a taillow. He pulled himself up just above a window, and with his wings still beating, perched there briefly. He peered in, only to see the foyer empty. He took flight again, and darted from window to window, until he finally spotted the room Maxie had slept in. Zachary was in the other bed, fast asleep, his lips moving as he dreamt. And in Maxie bed, wide awake, was....Rai. His eyes were fixed elsewhere, thank god, so Fang allowed himself to linger, watching both of his trainer's old friends with curiousity.

 

[Alter Ego]

'Gentle thoughts...relaxing thoughts...peaceful-what was that'?'

Rai was once again interrupted from his attempts at trancing out, this time by a sudden flash of motion just outside the window, one which he would undoubtedly have missed, were it not for the fact that he had been attempting to focus on a single spot on the wall, the motion of Fang's dive appearing as the slightest glimpse in the corner of his eye. Still, having lived with a rather short-tempered Scyther for a good bit of his life had taught Rai that the smallest of motions were not the ones you should ignore; on the contrary, the fact that anything moved so stealthily was usually a sign of said being happening to be up to something.

"What...was that?" the boy mumbled, reluctantly getting out of bed and making his way over to the window, slightly tensed up as he tried to imagine who could be spying on them at this time of the night, and through a second-floor window no less.

'What if...' the boy thought, slowly reaching for one of his pokéballs as he prepared to open the window, 'What if it's Harlan again? Well, if it is I'm certainly not going down without a fight.'

With this in mind, Rai proceeded to fling open the window, perhaps a bit harder than what would have been necessary, only to find...nothing? The boy blinked, staring out into the quiet nighttime scenery of Azure Town but failing to spot anything out of the ordinary. And soon enough, the somewhat chilly night breeze was beginning to take its toll on him.

"I could have sworn..." he said quietly, casting a last glance out of the window before shutting it again.

OOC: Nyah, just as a heads up. Akari's last advice was to check out the statue outside of Koverike Gym (Tis' depicting Ho-oh in case you feel the need to describe it closer, Charon) I'll pick up reactions once Maxie gets there, m'kay? Oh, and I figured that Fang would be smart enough to hide when Rai comes wandering towards him, hence no encounter...yet. xD

 

[Ibuberu]

OOc-

*crawls out from under mountain of books*

Yes, yes, yes! Feebas, I live!^^

I missed you guys! X3 My exams have passed and the holidays have come early this year, but I'm still busy with after school activities, *coughdramaperformanceasacowcough* So... I'll be getting back into normal posting with the weeks to come, I guess!^^

In other irrelevant-ness, I, like, passed all my subjects!! <D


Ic-



"Hear that we're getting a whole new batch of students in a month's time,"

"Eh?! Really? Great!! Just, great!!"

"You're sounding happier than usual,"

"For obvious reasons! Finally! More students! Which means, more opportunities, which means, we don't need to rely everything on her now!"the woman told her husband, smiling brightly. The twelve year old mentioned in her statement standing beside her father, hair falling over her eyes.


This again....


"You say it in such a way.."the man started to say, only to be interrupted by a tutting wife.

"We all know that she's trying her best, she does decently in everything, I admit. But honestly, when has she ever stood out and won anything? When has she ever retorted to anything we say or voice out her own opinions? Eh, she has no real confidence or will to do anything."the woman sighed, disappointment clear in her voice.

What do you mean by that?....

"W-What do you mean by that!"

The two parents turned to the owner of the voice, the child's brow furrowed with confusion.

"Is that all I am? A boring and useless girl? Eh, I've done and obeyed everything you've said without question!"the young girl's voice rose to an extent that all three of them would have never imagined it be that loud and high.

Is that really all I am....

Is that all I am to you?....

"Eh... Maybe I was wrong, it was probably a mistake which happened when I raised you. A mistake."the mother mumbled, as she left that room.

A mistake?

That's.... not true.....


The girl paused, becoming aware of her surrondings. Which was virtually, just an empty space of black, as creature loomed before her, daunting in size, it bore a red and yellow mask on it's face. With what seemed like clouds, adorned it's back along with protruding transparent plates. This gave it a majestic look, though at the same time, it would have been a terrifying sight for the average person, why, even she was wondering why she wasn't frightened by it. As, it seemed to emit this warm aura, this... calming aura. The mighty beast narrowed it's eyes, exchanging glances with the girl. She had to restrain herself from flinching as the Pokemon drew nearer to her, crouching so that they were at eye-level with each other. It needed to tell her something,

But what?

"Ehhh.... you have too much power inside you, and.. you're scared, aren't you?"

The Pokemon's expression was evident with surprise and alarm as it arched it's back, before releasing a deafening roar, lunging at Jena without hesitation.


-------


"Eh!"Jena sat up from the counter of the kitchen, rousing from her sleep as she yawned. The girl had no recollection of what had just happened.... but, dreams were like that, weren't they? She had dozed off while waiting for Kayley and Silver to finish with... whatever they were doing.

"Ehh... must be the sleep getting to me..."she told herself, rubbing her eye as she turned to her two friends, the girl knew that she would be deprived from having a good night's rest as long as Silver had not moved into their room. More so, it seemed that the younger girl had no intention of going to collect her things. Kayley seemed to be in the same silent stance, as Jena suddenly felt quite alone. But, perhaps, the helmet clad girl wouldn't mind if she helped her move her things.

"Yes... that's what I'll do,"the girl snapped her fingers at the idea, though the thought of touching someone else's belongings seemed to eat her conscience as she left the counter. And soon, she found herself regretting ever thinking of that without considering Silver's temper when she finally reached the door of the boys' room.

Still, she was already here....

"Ehh, might as well..."she said as she knocked on the door lightly, hoping that at least one of them was still awake.

 

[Alter Ego]

OOC: Nyah, Yibber!

^_______^ Welcome back! ^_______^​

(Been a while since I had a reason to use the larger fonts. xD) You're so lucky to have all the tough schoolwork over already, I've still got a whole period's worth of presentations, essays, and portfolio tasks to get through. *Stabschoolwork* Good luck with the drama thing. ^^

IC:

As someone suddenly knocked on the door, Rai couldn't help turning around a bit faster than what was really called for, the pokéball still clutched in his hand. He soon realized how inappropriate, not to mention silly, such behaviour was, however, and put the object down again before walking towards the door.

'Now I'm just jumping at shadows...' he thought for himself as he pressed down the handle, 'Of course it's just Silver come to get her-'

"Jena?"

The boy couldn't help looking a bit surprised as he noticed who the visitor was, not to mention feeling a bit awkward as he realized that he was hardly dressed for social calls.

"Sorry." the boy added in an apologetic voice, "I didn't mean to sound surprised, but I was really expecting it to be Silver come to get her things. Is something the matter?"

 

[Charon]

{ooc| CONGRATS YIBBER!!!
Well done on passing everything!

I know I said I'd be back Friday, but I got invited to a Halloween thing the second I got home. That was one thing I hope I never have to do again; find a costume which is both spooky and slightly sexy, do my make up and make a complimation CD of The Madness' greatest hits in less than half an hour. xD}


Fang had darted out of the way just before Rai could catch sight of him. He crocuhed just beneath the sill, heart fluttering in his chest. Thank God he didn't see me, Fang thought, I'd have a hell of a lot of explaining to do...

Fang spread his wings and took flight again. He allowed himself once last glance back, and then-
crunch!
He had collided with something soft. He looked up, only to see a blur of fur and teeth, and fluttered backwards. He had banged into a raticate. Fang opened his mouth, about to apologise, but the raticate swung round and struck Fang across the chest with his tail, sending him crashing agaisnt Rai's window, where he proceded to slide down the glass and slump onto the floor.
{...Ouch...} Fang muttered, and rubbed himself tentatively with a wing tip.

~~~~

Maxie, meanwhile, was staring at a town map on the wall of the pokecenter. Akari had told her to check out Koverike gym... ah-ha! she spotted it on the map, traced the route with a gloved finger, and set off, humming as she went. It sounded suspiciously like....Queen.

As she neared the gym, Maxie couldn't help but marvel. There was a wonderfull statue by the entrance, depicting a Ho-oh with its wings spread wide. It's face was serene yet incredibly fierce; an oxymoron if Maxie ever saw one. Stilll, it was beautiful, something even Maxie could appreciate.

 

[Ibuberu]

OOc-

Thankies for teh welcome's guys! ^^ *makes it rain Feebas*

Meh, wouldn't you know it, the performance is on Halloween. Which would've been sad if we actually celebrated it here. ;.; *likes a bit of candy* But that means I only have 3 more days, and an openhouse after that for the new cohort next year, where I need to be a guide for the school archives... yeah, suddenly, I feel so busy. o.o


Ic-


Jena tried her best not to get affected by Rai's reaction when he opened the door, ignoring his current attire as she started to explain why she was there in place of Silver, "Ehh... she looks like she isn't going to move for the rest of the night, and I don't want you and Zach to lose sleep just because of this."though it seemed unlikely as she peered over the boy's shoulder to see a sleeping Zachary.

"I need the sleep myself,"she added, supressing the urge to yawn.

Silver wouldn't get angry just because she did a favour for her, right? .... Right? It would seem that the need for rest clouded the girl's usually cautious behaviour in the process. But the fact that the younger girl had actually hugged her earlier that day felt somewhat unreal to the Coordinator at this point of time.

The creation of a small 'bang' against the window of Rai's room interrupted Jena's thoughts. "Eh? What was that?"wondering if her exhausted mind was playing tricks on her.

 

[Alter Ego]

OOC: Urgh...curse presentations and portfolio tasks...I'm so behind on my sleep that I'm having trouble coming up with anything creative. Sorry if this post seems like a load of second-hand Tauros excrement. :O

IC:

"I see." Rai replied, nodding as Jena explained that Silver probably wouldn't be coming around any time soon, "And yes, it's probably best that none of us lose any more sleep for this, especially you after all that running nonsense I put you through today. I'll have the things gathered up in a-"

The boy paused at Jena's question, and sure enough, the had been a thud of some kind from...the window!

Rai spun around, just in time to notice the two pokémon who seemed to have gotten into a bit of a tussle outside of it. One was a Raticate, and what an ugly thing it was. Rai had to surpress a rather contemptful expression at the sight of the rodent. There certainly weren't any of those to be found in Kingsfield, and he was glad for it. Still, the boy chose not to dwell on the subject overmuch as there was something hauntingly familiar about the other pokémon. Sure, Zubats were common as dirt around Showgan, but there was something about this particular one that seemed...familiar. And then, of course, it hit him:

"Fang?!"

Rai quickly rushed over to the window again, picking up the pokéball he had readied on the way. If that really was Maxie's Zubat then she would never forgive them for letting the bat get hurt. That was, of course, assuming that she'd ever forgive them for their previous lack of manners.

There was one problem with this particular battle scenario, however. Mainly, the fact that Fang was so closely pressed against the glass...and that this particular window opened outwards.

"Any ideas?" the boy inquired desperately over his shoulder, releasing the pokémon he had chosen in an attempt to scare off the Raticate. Well, that might have just worked were it not for the fact that this particular pokéball had contained Kaika, a very tired, fluffy, and harmless-looking Kaika to be precise, the fox pokémon waking up with a small yawn at the commotion and wandering over to the window, peering out of it without really registering what was going on.

{Morning already?} the fox pokémon inquired sleepily, {But it bes so dark...coulds Kaika not be sleepings a bit longer?}

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

Meanwhile in Koverike City, a certain other individual of animal nature was pondering quite a different matter - two of them, in fact. One revolved around her odds of obtaining shiny things anywhere in the near future and the other was a vague concern about what the heck she was going to tell her boss when they met up. But with the Murkrow's mindset being what it was, the issue of the shinies was a far more contemporary one.

{Hey! Wait up, stupid human musclehead!} she squawked out indignantly, flapping her wings furiously as she chased after Maxie, finally catching up with the girl by the statue and settling down on the sculptured Ho-oh's head, the Murkrow's wings falling to her side in a rather exhausted manner and her two, bright red eyes fixing the girl with an accusing glare, {How do you expect to get in without Akari's help?} she inquired, {Never thought of that, did you, meanie musclehead?} the Murkrow hopped a bit forward on the statue as she spoke, landing on the very edge of its beak where she balanced rather precariously, {No, of course you didn't.} she continued triumphantly, {Only Akari could tell you that, but is the meanie musclehead willing...to bargain?} there was a decidedly greedy glint in the Murkrow's eyes at the last statement, although considering how Fang hadn't been around it was probably all just nonsense as far as Maxie was concerned.