Lidia Werdna

The morning sun rose over Cherrygrove City, its fiery rays shining over the small town's rows of houses. Only a few of its inhabitants were able to view the sight as it drew little lines out of clouds and painted a picture for the world to see.

One of these inhabitants was a young girl of about sixteen years. Sitting on her upstairs bedroom balconey, she gazed at the sun, thinking about fire as she stroked a sleeping Cyndaquil. There was almost no noise as she rocked back and forth in the porch swing that had been bought cheap at someone's garage sale. Today is the day, she thought, taking in the sight of her hometown for what could be the last time. Today is the end of something and the beginning of something else.

That was the day that this girl would begin her Pokemon journey.

Her excitement must had electrified the air, because that was when the Cyndaquil in her lap woke up. "Quil!" the baby Pokemon sighed as it stretched its forepaws out in a stretch. She chuckled, then looked up, alert. There had been a voice from inside her house. "Lidia!" cried the voice of her mother from the kitchen. "You need to come here!"

Sighing, the girl gently set Cyndaquil down and walked into the house, passing through her blue-walled bedroom. On the bedspread of light blue and white was a plaid backpack, which was nearly stuffed full.

Lidia walked into the kitchen. Her mother was standing next to the stove, beaming at her daughter's grey eyes. "Good morning, Lidia, I've been trying to make you some food for your journey."

"Oh, Mom, you didn't have-"

Her mother cut her off, holding up the duffel bag, which was filled to the brim. "You know I did. You've got a lot of jerky, since that keeps well. Don't gorge yourself on that. There's also a bunch of dried foods, since you'll have water with you. Lots of fruit, pasta, and breads. And there's a Bluk berry pie in there, since I know that it's Jacob's favorite."

Lidia blushed as she realized all that she was losing by leaving home. "But- I- thanks Mom!" she exclaimed in a disjointed praise.

Her mother smiled mysteriously. "Don't look at me, I'm just trying to make sure that you survive long enough to get me grandbabies. Now go finish getting ready!" She tossed some fresh clothes at her daughter - a pair of jeans, a tank top, and her favorite blue jean jacket. As Lidia hurried upstairs to change, she realized that she would need it; it appeared to be a chilly day, since it was the middle of September.

After Lidia had finished donning the attire, she dumped out the backpack on her bed for the last time to make sure that everything was there: her Pokeballs, her journal, her iPod, her Poketch, her phone... yep, everything that she would be taking was there.

Still, there was one thing on her mind that bugged her just a little. Scrolling through the list of contacts on her phone, she found 'Jacob Dean' and pressed the call button. When she thought that he answered, she put the phone to her ear and said, "Hey Jacob, I'm almost ready to go. Just making sure... you have the tent, right?" Her friend had, after all, promised that he would be able to bring a tent on their journey.


Skyler Heartland

That morning, Skyler Heartland stirred in his hotel bedroom in Violet City. Groaning, he massaged sore legs and abs as he sat upright. Gah, I really overdid it yesterday, he observed. He hadn't intended for the trek back from his trip to Azalea Town to be completed in one day. That journey should at least be split into two days. But, since he'd decided to try it in one, perhaps he deserved to be in this much pain.

Shinx was curled at the foot of his bed, still asleep. As he stood up on the bare wooden floor, the Pokemon barely moved, breathing steadily. He smiled as he crossed the room to the small minifridge, which contained the groceries that he'd thought to get yesterday. After all, Falkner seemed like he would take some working over in order to be convinced of his ideas. So this could take some time.

He cracked a can of milk. The popping noise disturbed his electric Pokemon, which was highly sensitive to noises. "Shinx..." the lion Pokemon growled, leaping catlike from the bed. Oh, yes. He had irritated his friend. "Chill, Shinx," he said calmy. "I'm just getting us some food."

As he finished making two bowls of cereal, he set one on the floor in front of his persnickety Pokemon. Then he switched on the radio. "... and Pidgeys are out in force this month, Professor. The number of sightings is quite exciting!"

As Skyler munched on the Grain-O's, he heard, "Yes, indeed, Mary. It's part of the natural fluctuation in their population. In years when food is plentiful, Pidgey naturally increase in number. Then they eat too much of the food, or trainers catch many of them, and the population decreases for several years, which in turn gives the food time to replenish itself. It's a natural cycle!"

Skyler smiled, despite himself. Professor Oak was pretty much his hero. He knew everything that there was to know about Pokemon. And Skyler wanted to do the same. He wanted to understand Pokemon, to be able to interpret their every action.

He thought about his ideas. In order to truly observe Pokemon, he would need to not only catch more of them, but find a group of companions. Travelling companions. People who would have a wide variety of Pokemon and goals.

Sighing, he leaned back into the couch where he sat. That could take a while; not many great trainers passed through this town. Only a select few made it to the top. He would just have to figure out based on intuition which ones those were.

He abandoned the soggy cereal and pulled on a blue-jean jacket. "Let's go get some real food, Shinx," he decided, grinning. He was tired of eating in, tired of making his own food, tired... just tired. But hopefully this would change that.

Jacob Dean

The clock ticked over to 7'o'clock and Jakes alarm went off, though he continued sleeping until he was woken up by something prodding his side, "quit it" he mumbled trying to brush away the prodding with one hand he flung his other towards his bedside table blindly searching for his alarm clock, which he eventually found and rolled onto his side to drift back to sleep. The prodding continued a little more forcefully "just a few more minutes Cubone" Jake yawned, pulling his blankets over his head "BONE!" "Alright, alright".

Not so long after his rude awakening, Jacob was up and alert, dressing in a plain white shirt, some bone colored cargo pants and his black hiking boots. He headed down stairs to get some breakfast before he would leave for Lidias house. "Breakfast, Jake?" his mum was already up and cooking, she had turned around to look at him and he noticed her eyes start to tear up "I thought we got the crying out of the way last night mom" Jake smiled, he slipped his pack off his shoulder and rested it against the front door before making his way to the table, before he could take a seat he was intercepted and pulled into a hug, which he decided not to struggle against. "Ok, food" Jake mom let go and wiped her eyes before returning to the stove "I made you some bacon and eggs, and theres toast on the table, could you get your father.." as she finished her sentence Jakes dad walked through the door from the back yard, smiling at Jake "are you ready kid? All packed?" "Yeah, dad, I think" Jake went through a mental checklist of everything he had thrown in his bag the night before, fairly sure he hadn't forgotten anything.

After his last family meal, Jake checked the time and got to his feet, "well, Lidia is expecting me I should get going" his mom burst into tears again and his dad stood up and took a small box from one of the kitchen draws "we got you this, you're mom and I" he passed the box to Jake who opened it and pulled out a Poketch "Wow, thanks" Jake strapped it to his wrist, he looked back up at his parents and his phone began to ring in his pocket, he glanced at the screen before answering even though he knew who it would be "Lidia, hey"
"Hey Jacob, I'm almost ready to go. Just making sure... you have the tent, right?
"The tent.. er, yeah, of course" Jake ran back up the stairs to his room to retrieve the small two-man tent his parents use to use when the went on overnight field research trips, it was light weight and folded up easily so it was ideal for their trip.
"Right, well I'm heading out the door now, I'll meet you at your place in a minute" He hung up and slipped the phone back into his pocket.

With a quick kiss for his mom and hand shake for his dad, he flung his back pack on and headed out the door, Lidia's house was only around the corner, he broke into a run and was at her front door in no time. Jake stopped to catch his breath for a moment and knocked on the door.

Kiera startled awake at the sound of Houndour growling at something in the bushes. As she sat up and stretched, she saw a rustling in the bushes and Houndour stopped growling. Glancing up, she was glad that, for once, she'd actually woken up in the morning. The sun was just barely making an appearance on the horizon. Living mostly in the forests tend to wreck havoc on sleep schedules. Now she was going back into the city for the first time in 4 months, which was much too long in her opinion, she was glad to have a semi-normal schedule yet again.

She reached out to putting a calming hand on her pokemon's back before grabbing her pack and standing up start making her way into Violet City. She smiled as she heard Houndour as he realized she'd started moving away and hurried to catch up.

It took about an hour for Kiera to get with the city limits, another half hour after that to find a diner that was open and willing to give handouts to a trainer and her pokemon in exchange for free labor. It was normal for her and she welcomed the opportunity. She came into the city to interact with people. The problem with this idea, however, was that Kiera wasn't the most outgoing person. So, jobs like this helped her get to talk and be around people like she wanted, but get to leave town before the masses started to overwhelm her. It was times like these that she wished she had travelling companions. The social interaction of people, and hopefully friends, without the obnoxious noise and bustle of crowds. Unfortunately, every time Kiera saw a group passing through whatever town she happened to be in, she couldn't get up the nerve to actually talk to them.

Kiera settled down her thoughts and dug into the plate of breakfast before her after setting the plate of meat scraps on the floor for Houndour. Afterwards, she donned the diner's apron and took up a pad and paper and sat down to get directions before the morning rush came in.

"No... Don't... Don't take it away!" Eloise shook her head, still blissfully asleep. "Give it back... My cake!" Her arms shot out as if grabbing for something. The motion knocked Totodile off the bed and onto the floor with a loud thud.

"DILE!" The pokemon woke up suddenly, furious that it'd been woken up. It looked up at it's trainer, who was now chewing on her hand. "Cake~"

Totodile walked towards the curtains and pulled them open suddenly, squinting from the flood of light. "Eh...?" Eloise sat up slowly, head lulled to one, her eyes still closed. She rubbed her eyes and slowly opened them, a shadow blocking her vision. "DILE!" Totodile roared in Eloise's face.

She jumped back with a scream. " Whoa... Whoa... AH!" Jumping back a little too far, Eloise fell out of the bed, pulling the covers with her. She pouted while Totodile stood there laughing at her. "Meanie!" She poked her tongue out at it before standing up.

"Why did you wake me up? I was having a really nice dream." Eloise looked over her shoulder at Totodile while brushing her hair. "Totodile." It shrugged. "Ah! I nearly forgot, I like, promised brother I'd cook breakfast this morning! I hope he isn't awake yet." She stood up and ran towards the door, stopping just short of it. "Oh, and like thanks for waking me up. I might have been in trouble otherwise." She turned around and lifted Totodile into a hug. She set it down gently, smiled and ran out the door.

"Eloise. If you're going to sing, at least turn it down a bit." Eloise's brother, John walked down the stairs, rubbing his eyes. "Ehehe~" Eloise smiled at her brother. "Breakfast is ready~"

John sighed wearily, "You didn't have to go through the trouble you know." He sat down at the kitchen table and took a sip from his coffee.

"It's my way of saying thanks~" Eloise spun on one foot and smiled. "Like, you let me stay over at your house and all."

She had only arrived in Cherrygrove city a few days ago and was staying at her brother's small house. She hadn't seen much of the city yet because she had spent so much of her time getting help from her brother about what she'd need to take with her on her very own adventure. Her bag was packed full and lay next to the door, ready to go.

"Did you remember everything?" John said to her as they finished eating breakfast. "I think so. Totodile, did we like, forget anything?" Eloise looked over to the pokemon, who was happily eating in the seat next to her. "Toto. Dile."

"Ehehe~ You're right. I can't go out in my PJ's." Her face turned red with embarrassment for forgetting such a major detail.

After getting changed into a pair of blue jeans, a cream colored shirt and her favorite jacket, she headed back out to the front door. "Come on Totodile, we should get started on our adventure~" Eloise's eyes twinkled when she said the word adventure. "Dile!" The pokemon jumped out of it's seat and ran towards her.

"Have fun Eloise. And please don't forget to call home every now and again." John smiled as he waved goodbye to his younger sister. "Bye bye brother~"

After ten or so minutes walking around the city, Totodile realized they were lost. "Toto..." "What are you talking about we aren't lost." Eloise smiled at her companion. "I think I'd know these... Did we like, pass that building before?" Totodile sighed.

"Okay. Maybe we are lost." She rocked back and forth on her heels a bit. "But it's okay, we'll just like, ask someone for directions."

Lidia Werdna

After receiving Jacob's answer, Lidia shut her phone with a snap, smiling in satisfaction. She and her best friend would definitely be prepared, what with the food and the accomodations that they would have for their leisure.

Then she began shoving stuff back into the backpack. It was a difficult job, made even more so by the fact that the blonde girl had never been very good at games like Tetris. After she had finally crammed the thin blanket back into her possessions and jammed the zipper twice while closing it up, she sat down on her bed one last time, almost completely winded. She caught her small Pokemon's eye, her face matching it's as they both thought This is going to be epic!

The fire Pokemon had obviously woken up enough to begin displaying its personality. Though its legs were too short to get it very far very fast, it started to run around the floor of her room, ending up running headon into a solid wall. Lidia chuckled and picked up the Pokemon - just as the doorbell rang.

Lifting her sack of stuff, Lidia raced down the stairs, waving a hurried final goodbye to her stable mother, who wasn't going to send her off with tears. Especially considering that she was leaving with Jacob. Lidia's mother had been fairly insistent that the pair, inseperable since they had turned ten, were soulmates. Lidia, who only saw Jacob as a friend anyway, was pretty insistant that Jacob and her would only ever be friends. Cyndaquil, in its childish humor, along with the stoic Cubone, had always been third and fourth wheels to the pair's fun; it was Pokemon that bonded the two friends, not hormones. And so it would hopefully remain, in Lidia's eyes.

She flung open the brown door, grey eyes alight with joy. "Hi, Jacob!" she said. Though the girl was quite shy around strangers, Lidia came out of herself when with friends. Not that she had many; making friends was quite a difficult task at times. But when with Cyndaquil and Jacob, she could really enjoy herself and have some fun.

The two set off immediately, headed toward the Pokemon Center, which was just at the edge of town. Cyndaquil, though silent, was being particularly bouncy, jumping everywhere and sticking its abnormaly long nose into other people's business.

On the block before reaching the Center, Cyndaquil ran off entirely. "Wait up!" Lidia called out, abandoning the duffel bag full of food to chase the fire mouse. Before long, she ended up standing in front of a lost-looking girl roughly her age. At the brunnette's feet was a Totodile, which was being harrassed by Cyndaquil. The Pokemon, eyes rounded upward in happiness, was running in tight circles around the water Pokemon.

Lidia winced. This wasn't the first time that this had occurred. "Sorry," she told the stranger. She wasn't sure what to say, since the girl had just been randomly attacked by a stranger. Then, awkwardly, after glancing over at Jacob some distance away, she added, "Do you need some help at all?"


Skyler Heartland

Skyler's initial thoughts of Violet City's layout was that someone had forgotten to account for the hilly region in which it had been built.

The bizzare layout made Skyler's head spin. The houses were strewn across many small ledges that had been flattened out to make room. They were mostly small, and their styles and material varied from Victorian to modern to Old World styles. And the shops... many of them were crumbling and aged, and yet they seemed friendlier because of it. Despite the mismatched and older architecture, Violet City seemed a lot nicer than some of the cities that Skyler and Shinx had been to.

Their steps were hurried as they passed the stirring residents of the town. Skyler had not been satisfied by the stale cereal of earlier in the morning, and neither had his feisty companion. Shinx had always been a picky eater. Nothing less than the freshest of meats and fish, nothing less than the ripest of Berries.

And now... Skyler would need to find some good money soon, or else he wouldn't be able to get anything. No hotels, but camping. No caviar (not that he had that anyway) but fish and coneys that he caught with his own hands. Shinx would just have to deal.

Or maybe not.

"Hello!" he called out to a passing man, who was bald and carried a small Pokemon on his shoulder. "Can you help me? I need some money and a good meal."

Luckily, the man was a polite one. He smiled and replied, "Well, you're in luck. The best food around here is 'The Potluck Kitchen', and that's the local trainer's kitchen. If you need an easy meal, you can work for a few hours and get some food. And they'd probably be willing to give you a small paycheck if you work all day."

After they parted ways, Skyler headed in the direction that the man had pointed him. It was a small diner with the design fashion familiar to about fifty years ago, but it was still cute. The black-and-white tiles and the happy-go-lucky music added to the atmosphere.

He quickly sat down next to a girl with a deep violet hair and smiled at her. Shinx leapt to his lap and curled. The work here would be monotonous... or maybe not. Perhaps Skyler could make less than boring the company.

He turned back to the girl. "Hey... I'm Skyler." He held out a hand. "So you're working here too, eh?"

When Lidia answered the door Jakes face lit up with excitment, the sight of her stand in the door way, bag packed and Cingerquil at her heels, made everything seem so much more real. A smile plastered on his face, his whole body felt restless, he just wanted to run "Lidia, lets get out of here" and with that they made their way towards the towns pokemon center.

Before they had even reached the pokemon center, Cinderquil, being his usual over-excited self ran off and Lidia chased after him. Jacob watched as he ran circles around another trainers Totodile and couldn't help but laugh "Remember the first time you met Cinderquil, Cubone?" "Cuuu.." the pokemon sighed as a reply and jake laughed a little harder. Cubone was a very shy pokemon when they first met, in the rocky canyon all those years ago, he still is to an extent but he is getting better, Cinderquil proved to be quite helpful in forcing him out of his shell, to be honest Cubone didn't really have a choice in wether or not he and Cinderquil would be friends, Cinderquil didn't give him the option not to be. "Lets go say hello".

Jake made his way over to Lidia and the new girl and Cubone climbed down off of Jakes backpack, where he was standing and stood, half hiding behind Jakes leg, cluthing his pants. He heard Lidia ask if she needed help with anything, "You know.. We're on our way to the pokemon center now, we can show you the way if you like, I'll bet they could give you information on anything in this area, oh I'm Jacob by the way"

Kiera startled, then looked at the boy who'd taken the seat next to her.

Lord, he's cute... she thought inwardly, then blinked a couple times. Where'd that come from?

The boy in front of her was definitely attractive, though. Of course, she had no idea how she would act on that even if she'd wanted to. Being alone for months on end does that to you. It took her a few moments for her to even notice his hand, and when she did her widened. Wow, she'd been out of social contact way too long. She was beginning to feel like a hermit.

She took Skylar's offered hand as casually as she could, trying to disguise her complete embarrassment of herself despite the bright blush decorating her cheeks. This wasn't going well, in her mind. She was glad she was sitting down because if she was standing she probably would have tripped over a non-existent crack in the linoleum or something. Waiting tables today would be a nightmare...

"Yeah. I'm Kiera," she said sharply, trying not to say to much. She had a tendency to say the wrong things, especially in situations like this. She was still crossing her fingers, hoping not to come off as a complete snob.

Kiera let go of Skylar's hand and turned back to her breakfast, eyes glancing down to check on Houndour and finding him still eating.

Totodile took a defensive stance when a Cyndaquil came running towards it. The fire mouse ran in circles around Totodile, leaving Totodile slightly confused. Eloise giggled when she saw her partner's look of confusion. A few seconds later a girl around her age came running down the street. "Sorry," She looked embarrassed, glancing back a boy walking down the street. "Do you need some help at all?"

"You know.. We're on our way to the pokemon center now, we can show you the way if you like, I'll bet they could give you information on anything in this area, oh I'm Jacob by the way" This came from the boy who had just arrived.

"So cute~" Eloise looked up from the Cyndaquil. "Eh?" Her gaze shifting from one person to another before settling on the girl in front of her. "Um... Well you see... We are like, kind of lost." Eloise smiled happily and gave the two before her thumbs up and winked. "But you two know where you're going. So we can follow you and everything will be OK!" She crossed her hands behind her back and rocked back and forth on her heels. "Oops~ I nearly forgot. My name is Eloise, it's nice to meet you both~" She bowed suddenly, being overly formal.

Lidia Werdna

It made Lidia glad that Jacob had decided to come over and introduce himself. After all, she was extremely awkward about the introductions.

But then the girl - Eloise - introduced herself, which sent Cyndaquil to a reeling stop, gazing upward in curiosity. That brought out the side of the blonde girl that truly wanted to express itself. "Good Lord, Cyndaquil," she said, "if you act like this after you evolve, something's going down." She lifted the Pokemon and smiled brightly. "Yeah, just tag along. We're headed to Violet City."

After a bit of walking, the group of six - three people, three Pokemon - found themselves in front of the Pokemon Center, as well as the path north. The road was dirt, but it seemed well-traveled. The trees on either side were nicely trimmed, since the people of Cherrygrove City kept their outskirts clean. And, of course, there were the inevitable campfire remains, left behind by travellers too impoverished to afford room and board at the local inn.

Lidia stopped, glancing at Eloise, who seemed really nice from her friendly demeanor. Strangely, she hated to part ways with the girl and her Totodile. Cyndaquil agreed. "Well, there's the Pokemon Center and the Mart. Is there anything else you need?"


Skyler Heartland

Skyler grinned happily at the girl Kiera. Though he could be a bit of a flirt at times, it was all in good fun in his mind. It wasn't as if he was trying to pick someone up. What exactly would a seventeen-year-old accompanied by a curious and protective Shinx do with a girl anyway?

It was just his way of getting to know people. There was no going around the fact that most of the time he would do some eye-batting to get a girl - or a boy, even - to remember his name.

The man he'd talked to was correct. The food WAS good. The workers were given a breakfast of eggs and sausage, and Skyler's mouth was watering before he'd even seen the food. It was delicious. And he was lucky. Most cities which had trainers' diners were too poor to properly fund the places, so they ended up with the slop that the homeless might be given.

After they finished eating, the manager of the diner came over and began a brief orientation. All three of them (another boy had joined the group halfway through the meal) sat up tall. "You won't be making food, see, but you'll all be important. We need someone to man the register, someone to run orders from the counter to the kitchen, and someone-" the manager grimanced "- to wash dishes. I'll go ahead and mention that the dishwasher will get an extra meal tomorrow, so that might be a job for you if you're staying in town for more than one day."

Skyler raised his hand partway. "What if none of us want that job?"

"Then we'll draw straws."

Luckily, the other guy nodded. "Okay, I'll do it. Me and my Staryu." Skyler nodded, since that made since. The redhead guy could get an extra meal while he trained his water type Pokemon.

The manager pointed him to the back. "Okay, then. Who's doing what else?"

Skyler turned to Kiera. "Ladies first. Which job do you want to do?"

Eloise was ecstatic. The people she had met were really nice and they had shown her the way to the pokemon center, which embarrassingly, was down a street she had passed nearly a million times.

While they were walking she had begun to see Lidia and Jacob as friends, and didn't really want to part with them because she'd get lost again. She looked to see how Totodile was doing a few times, the water pokemon seemed happy with the present company it was surrounded by.

When they finally reached the pokemon center Eloise nearly missed the building entirely, as all of her attention was focused on the path that lead out of the city. It was really clean and really, really big. She'd never seen anything like it in Goldenrod. All the big paths over there were full of people, so they seemed so much smaller. Eloise nearly bolted down the path when Lidia stopped and glanced over at her. "Well, there's the Pokemon Center and the Mart. Is there anything else you need?"

Eloise spun around on one foot to face Lidia and Jacob. "Not really~" She smiled brightly. "But I was wondering if we could keep tagging along with you all." She ran over and grabbed Lidia by the hands. "Please~ It'll be so much fun~"

Jake walked along with Cubone standing on top of his back pack, looking over the top of his head. Jake couldn't help but smile at how excited Cubone was, pointing as a flock of Pidge flew over head and bouncing up and down "Just wait till we get out there Cubone" Jake pointed down the path leading out of town "we'll see all kind of things we don't get to see around here" as he spoke, pages of one of his fathers books flashed through his head, the book was about the three legendary beast pokemon Suicune, Raikou and Entei, who were rumored to be from the Johto region. After that thought Jake whole body was buzzing with excitement.

The group had arrived at the edge of town now and Eloise had just asked if she could tag along, "It's fine with me if you wanna come. Oh I almost forgot" Jake slipped his bag off his shoulders forcing Cubone to jump to the ground "Bone!" "Oh sorry bud". Unzipping his bag, Jake pulled out his brand new digital camera he had bought especially for this, he approached and older man sitting on a bench near by reading a news paper, "excuse me sir, do you mind taking a photo quick photo of us? It's kind of an important day I just wanted something to remember it by" Jake asked and the old man agreed, laying down his newspaper. "Thanks a lot, it the big button on the top right, c'mon Cubone lets go sang near the others" Jake rushed back the the girls. He put his arm around Lidias shoulder "Smile guys,"

(I'll post more frequently as Lidia for a while, simply because there isn't that much to say about working a paying job right now. Cote, if you disagree with Jake having documented everything with pictures, just let me know.)

Lidia Werdna

Lidia beamed at the idea of another girl travelling with them. After all, it was supposed to be an adventure! Even if she was trying to get enough rep to become a Gym Leader. It couldn't hurt to have friends.

The girl shyly chuckled. "That would be fun!" she said. Cyndaquil jumped around, a bit annoying. But that was the mouse Pokemon.

As soon as Jake pulled out his camera, Lidia almost recoiled; she hated pictures. She always thought that she looked horrible. But, then, her blonde best friend always loved to document the important events in their lives. Birthdays, parties, even just hanging out at the local swimming pool and the beach during the summer. Christmas, too. But Lidia sighed, resigning herself to the fact that she would end up in a few pictures, whether she wanted to be there or not.

She smiled broadly. At the last minute, Cyndaquil jumped on top of her head, causing her to glance upward with wide eyes just as the lens flashed. The old man laughed and said, "Oops. Let's take another one." And so a second picture was created, replacing the messed-up photo.

And then the picture was over. Lidia picked up her stuff once more and shrugged. Cyndaquil buried his head in her hair. "Let's go, then."

And with that, two steps onto a wide and shallow path, their great journey began! Seizing the sudden excitement, Lidia said loudly to Jacob, "Let's go!" And with that, new friends and old, the group marched north.

Violet City, here we come.

Kiera finished her food quickly, too nervous to spare more than a passing thought to the taste of what she was eating. She was still trying to push herself past the nervousness of being in the city again.

When the manager came back out, Kiera was grateful. She'd been pushing the remains of her food around her plate for a while now. When he mentioned the dish washing job, she almost volunteered, but she wasn't sure if she'd be here tomorrow, and she doubted Houndour would be too pleased to keep her company back there, despite how comfortable she'd be away from all the people who would definitely start pouring in as soon as the doors opened. She'd heard mentions of this place on the way here, and had gathered it's food was pretty popular. So, she took the second best job for her.

Turning to Skyler, she gave him a light smile, glad he'd given her the choice, and pretty sure he'd choose the job she was giving up anyways. "I'll run orders. I'm not too good with people," Kiera admitted, a rueful smile playing lightly around her lips. She made her way over the rack on the wall holding the aprons as she talked, pulling it over her head and tying it behind her. She steeled herself to work. She knew she'd probably end up screwing up and falling all over herself. She always did on the first day back.

She turned back to the others with a half-smile. Maybe she'd make friends this time, though. It'd definitely be a first, but something she'd gladly change. Not that Kiera would actually tell anyone that. Ever.

Jake Hurried to retieve the camera from the old man "Thanks a lot for that, I would have been really disappointed if I forgot to get a photo of this". He held the camera up and flicked back to the last picture taken, displaying it on the small LCD screen "Lidia, don't even think about deleting this, you look great, as always" then he flicked back to the first photo and laughed quietly under his breath. "Ok, now we can leave" He made his way back to the others, hanging his camera around his neck, just incase he needed it quickly.

"All right, lets go".. And off they went

Jake let his mind wonder for a little, thinking about pokemon mostly, wondering what types they would see first, he felt a little let down when he realised that he had been up and down this area with his parents many times when they let him come on their field studies, he wouldn't really see anything new until after Violet city. He glanced around the area and noticed Totodile walking happily at Eloise's feet and he grinned "Hey, Eloise, how long have you had that Totodile for? Is it a boy or a girl? if I remember right there aren't really any distinguisably differences between male and female Totodile, some people say that the males have a darker circle around their eyes but my parents told me that, that was just a random observation and wasn't really a fact" Jake got down on his knees and examined the Totodie closely for a few seconds then stood up quickly "err, sorry, I get a little carried away sometimes"

"So do either of you know how long it takes to walk to Violet city, I've only ever driven there"

Skyler Heartland

Skyler clapped his hands together once, causing Shinx to jump. “All right then. I'll be taking orders and money.” He walked over to the register as the others all got in place and the manager walked to the door and flipped the “Open” sign so that people would know that the restaurant was open. Then he unlocked the door. Skyler swallowed; there was already a large crowd of people waiting to be served.

As he worked at writing down what people wanted to eat and then calculating their total, he became extremely thankful for Shinx. The young female Pokemon served as entertainment for the waiting people, who were willing to stand and watch the Pokemon flip tricks and run around. As the morning wore on, she received a few companions; young children and other Pokemon wanted to join in the exercise, which delighted the watchers.

Skyler was proud of Kiera, who was working hard. Every few minutes or so, she would reappear to take orders to the kitchen, where the chef and the manager cooked up all the dishes. Then she would bring dishes to the counter once they had been prepared.

About mid-morning, the breakfast crowd began to thin. At one point, there was no line whatsoever and the manager returned to the front of the store. At this point, Kiera was at the counter, preparing to bring more orders to the kitchen. “If you two want to take a break, I can take over for a bit, since there aren't many people.” He replaced Skyler behind the register and lounged against the counter. After all, there wasn't anyone to tend to at the moment.

So Skyler walked over to the bar stools, which were currently deserted, and plopped himself down ungracefully. He spun around on the stool, and Shinx barked at him.

He called over to Kiera, “So. Where are you from?” He wanted to get to know her better, and talking seemed like the logical way to do so.

But Kiera just stood there, blinking her eyes in a bit of shock.

So Skyler awkwardly continued, despite the fact that he wasn't sure quite what to say. “Well, I'm from Viridian City myself. It's a huge town with tons of people; much larger than Violet. And then I decided to start traveling about six months ago, with my buddy Shinx. It's been pretty fun; I've seen all sorts of cool things.”

He paused, hoping that she would say something, but he was out of luck, so he continued. “I've gotten rather bored lately. It's kind of dull with just a Pokemon, especially when you truly are wandering and you have no idea of what you want to do with your life. Catch my meaning?” He stopped talking and let Shinx jump into his lap.

---Godmodded with Nykizta's permission

Lidia Werdna

Lidia giggled at Jake's randomness. The Totodile in question seemed very happy to be examined, but maybe that was just the ridiculous grin that always seemed to be present on the water Pokemon's face. Cyndaquil, however, seemed slightly jealous that he wasn't the center of attention. So, he decided to be annoying and charge right through the middle of the scene and into the tall grass, grinning broadly and shouting, “Cyndaquil! Cyndaquil!”

“Cyndaquil!” Lidia shouted as she realized that the Pokemon was not tall enough to see over the surrounding grass, and so it had vanished into the flora. She dashed after it to try and catch up.

Luckily, the Pokemon was a few steps in, bouncing happily in one place. “Don't do that!” she cried, hugging Cyndaquil.

But the Pokemon became focused on something in the field that Lidia hadn't seen before. A small bird Pokemon was sitting there. A very familiar one, too, based on Lidia's experience in Pokemon School.

Uh, oh.

“Pidgey!” The Pokemon screeched in its annoying voice. It raised its tail feathers in an offensive position. Clearly, it wanted to fight!

“Cyndaquil!” The young Pokemon leapt to the ground and bared its teeth. Though it still had to learn how to kindle the flames on its back, Cyndaquil was certainly willing to defend its master.



(SilverSouled, where you be at? Also, I don't want to offend anyone by having Lidia catch the Pidgey if no one else thinks that I should. Whoever posts next from her party (Cote or SilverSouled) can decide whether she will catch the Pokemon or not. If not, she'll just beat it in battle.)

Eloise ran around the road, looking at anything and everything that caught her attention. Even once attempting to climb a tree because she saw something moving in it. Her behavior gave her several scolding looks from Totodile, each one bringing her into line for a short time.

Totodile walked along with the rest of the group. Always keeping one eye on Eloise so she didn't get into too much trouble.

After several minutes Eloise finally began to calm down and walk alongside her new friends, it was not long after that when Jacob called out to her. "Hey, Eloise, how long have you had that Totodile for? Is it a boy or a girl? if I remember right there aren't really any distinguisably differences between male and female Totodile, some people say that the males have a darker circle around their eyes but my parents told me that, that was just a random observation and wasn't really a fact" He knelt down in front of Totodile and started staring at it curiously. Totodile flinched in response to Jacob's close proximity, but quickly began to relax. "err, sorry, I get a little carried away sometimes"

Eloise stared at Jake blankly for a few moments, wobbling slightly as she tried to wrap her head around so many questions. She regained her composure quickly and placed her finger on her lips, trying to look thoughtful. "You ask a lot of questions, Jakey~"

She smiled politely and was about to keep talking when suddenly Cyndaquil ran in between everyone and straight into a tall patch of grass. Lidia cried out and ran after it. Eloise bolted after the two and when she caught up, Cyndaquil and Lidia were both looking at a small bird Pokemon, that had it's feathers splayed, ready to attack.

Eloise looked at the bird with a concerned look on her face. Then she lent over to Lidia, "Why is it so angry? Did we do something wrong?"