((Please post any and all OOC commentary/discussion in the relevant OOC thread, which is found through this link.))

The day began much like they all had recently: With the screeches and roars of pitched Pokemon battles. Jamis Town had recently become caught in the crossfire of the ongoing war between Team Crown and what remained of the Pokemon League, due to its advantageous positioning next to Andria City, which was the main gateway to the former League headquarters far to the north. However, the attacking force had been pushed back, and a second wave of Crown forces from the mountain peaks to the northwest was enough to catch the entire town in the war. Jets of flame, bolts of lightning, and bodies flying everywhere meant that people had to be cooped up in their homes for several days in a row, often forcing strange bedfellows to get to know each other...in this singular case, Jonothan, Marrion, Tristan and Attika. Sure, there was a fair amount of intrigue that was part and parcel of teenagers having to be in close proximity with the opposite sex, but it was hopefully understood that this was for mutual safety first and foremost.

That is, until a Fire Blast missed its mark and hit the house. Immediately the whole place went up in a blaze, making it difficult and dangerous to move around. At least one hero was born this day as one of the Elite Four barged in. Mathew was easily recognized by those that kept up with newspaper and television reports, and his skill with Fire-types was not to be underestimated. At the moment, however, his Pokemon were busy holding off the enemy by creating walls of flame to cut off the enemy's advance long enough for him to make this run. But what about him dealing with actual fire...?

"Let's go, kids, let's go! Staying here means you're gonna die for sure! I've got a bag here with some Poke Balls, take one and run for King Town northeast of here as fast as you can! No time to talk, just trust me!" There was a strong sense of urgency and authority in his voice, mixed with no small amount of desperation. As incredible as it seemed, the League was not the force that it used to be, and at this rate they would certainly lose the war.

A loud roar and rumble echoed throughout Jamis Town, causing houses to shake and tremble in its might for miles around. Marrion Costa, a rather recent resident of Jamis Town, - and the region of Ruula in general - held her knees close to her chest in fear. She was currently held in one of the few houses deemed 'safe' in the Town along with three other individuals. The small group had done introductions a day beforehand but Marrion had already let it slip her mind amongst the fear and worry; she had been separated from her family a few days beforehand and was absorbed in the thought of their well being.

A loud crash shook the house suddenly as a small explosion erupted from the far away wall and the heat began to rise dramatically. Marrion could only clutch her hat closer to her head as she let out a strangled screech of fear, her nerves causing her voice to waver and fluctuate wildly resulting in a sound reminiscent of a garbled, drowned creature. Planks of inflamed wood now barricaded the exits and tightened the grip of death around Marrion's neck. Just as Marrion was about to accept her fate in the fractured building a large crash once again erupted from the entrance as a very familiar man broke through the entrance.

"Let's go, kids, let's go! Staying here means you're gonna die for sure! I've got a bag here with some Poke Balls, take one and run for King Town northeast of here as fast as you can! No time to talk, just trust me!" There was a strong sense of urgency and authority in his voice, mixed with no small amount of desperation.

Marrion, with tears in her eyes now widened with hope, scrambled to her hands and feet as she approached the man, completely intent on following every word of her savior's advice. Without waiting for any of the other people she reached the sack he held in his hand and, with an urgency scraping at her thoughts, dove her hand into the bag and fumbled around as she tried to choose a ball. Eventually she found that one of the Poke Balls gave her a strange calming effect; grabbing onto the ball for dear life Marrion then bolted out of the broken entrance the man had created, taking her first step outside in days.

Jonothan lay on the ground as the roar of whatever was fighting at this time went on, the whole village shook in it's fury. Most people, including at least one of his current house-mates, were rather frightened. He wasn't.. He didn't know why, and often wished to be able to properly express even that emotion. For though he felt slightly afraid on the inside, outwardly he was as calm as if everything was peaceful.

His problem, his lack of true emotions, for even those he felt were of a lesser level than others. He closed his eyes, remembering the names of the others quite well, but they really were only house-mates by chance, and not their choice. There wasn't much he could do about it, even the people he knew for a while didn't talk to him much, it was far worse with strangers. Everytime he thought about speaking, he was struck with one thought. Was it even worth it? Quite probably he'd never see them again after this fiasco was over, what was the use in getting to know them?

This thought trail was interrupted by the sudden woosh of a fireball hitting the house. If it wasn't given away by the sudden flames or rising heat that was. He stood up, moving with the others towards the center. The wail of fear was enough to make him wish he was more of a comforting prescence. But he knew he wasn't that, or anything close. He just closed his eyes, already having ascertained that there was no way of escaping the fire or of escaping the building. They were going to burn to death. How horrible. Even that couldn't raise real, mind-numbing, fear. And he'd actually almost hoped for a second there.

He closed his eyes, waiting for the end. He felt somewhat sorry to die on those who'd actually cared about him. His parents and the occasional friend that was happy to sit with him in silence. He silently hoped that they would achieve more than he had, by a lot. That his parents dreams would actually come true......

Then the door burst down, and the eyes slowly flickered open once more. One of the Elite Four, saving them? He didn't know why, but that seemed a little unbelieveable. Well, actually it was believeable, considering it had just happened.....

"Let's go, kids, let's go! Staying here means you're gonna die for sure! I've got a bag here with some Poke Balls, take one and run for King Town northeast of here as fast as you can! No time to talk, just trust me!" There was a strong sense of urgency and authority in his voice, mixed with no small amount of desperation.

He moved quickly, the grace that naturally came to him aiding him in decisive action to reach the Elite Four member, reach into the bag, grabbing the one that felt most natural, and running. Running outside. To freedom, to escape the confining smoke. No panic, just calm assurance that the rescuer could be trusted, and therefore the most logical action was to follow the advice given.

Despite the situation Attika wasn't frightened. There were three other among her. Random people she had been stuck with. Vaguely she remembered their names, but knew that the chances of them meeting ever again after today was highly unlikely. She let her eyes slip over each of the people she was housed with. One of the girls seemed to be out of her wits with fear. She wanted to tell her things would be Okay.

That was until the house was suddenly rocked as the ball of fire collided with its structure. Attika gasped then started to choke on the smoke from the burning structure around her. Now she was scared. The heat caused a sweat to break out on her. Her eyes watered as smoke infiltrated the area. She choked again and fumbled with her scarf using it to cover her mouth and nose to stop some of the smoke from filling her lungs. She coughed a few more times then shook her head. She couldn't accept that she was about to die. Not when she had just lost everything else in her life. Her brother had gone missing, and maybe if she knew he was dead she could accept death herself. But there was hope he was alive. A loud crash and a whole opened up with a tall figure. She recognized him immediately from the magazines her brother used to read.

"Let's go, kids, let's go! Staying here means you're gonna die for sure! I've got a bag here with some Poke Balls, take one and run for King Town northeast of here as fast as you can! No time to talk, just trust me!" There was a strong sense of urgency and authority in his voice, mixed with no small amount of desperation.

New hope had presented itself in the form of a man surrounded by fire with a bag of balls. 'Great.' Attika thought almost bitterly, but her still present fear of death moved her forward. She reached her hand into the bag her hand seeming drawn to one of the pokeballs. She gripped it tightly pulled her hand out and ran. She had no idea where she was going, but there were two of the house mates in front of her, so she took a leap of faith and followed them.

Tristan had been forced to share room and board with these four kids -- Johnson, Mary-Ann, and Alexa if he remembered correctly. [which, obviously, he did not] Well, maybe ‘forced’ is a little deceptive; it was hard to hear him complain about anything once he was informed that he wouldn’t have to pay any overnight fees and it was, in fact, free. Still with all the stray teenage hormones floating around the air, Tristan thought he just as well might break out into a bad case of acne and experience second puberty. And while it would be nice to come off as just a bit more masculine, he was sure there were more worthwhile methods. Maybe a haircut.

Tristan unwrapped one of his suckers and popped it into his mouth. The whole gimmick of the candy was that, for better or for worse, you never knew what berry flavor you were to get. This one was spicy Tomato Berry. It was an interesting taste that they achieved by diluting the flavor so that it wouldn’t actually blister your tongue. There was another gimmick as well: certain wrappers were ‘winners’ that you could exchange at participating pokémarts to get another free. Tristan never turned them in but liked to collect them just to test his luck. So unfolded the paper and saw:

☆★☆LUCKY☆★☆

Funny -- he didn’t feel so. Despite his feelings: Tristan had seemed to deal with the situation quite well during his stay with the others. He had even attempted to strike up conversation or two with each of the kids. Thing like the weather and politics. The news might have been another topic, that is, if he didn’t think that they had the option of simply peaking out a window to see the week’s big story. He knew quite well that thing could get quite dangerous in this situation and wasn’t about to ask for the life story of someone who may become a statistic soon. That’d just be a bummer, man.

Then something crashed, surprising and making Tristan crunch down on his sucker. It was very hot. He then supposed the fire he noticed growing across the building would be even worse than the candy. The door burst down and a man was yelling at the four of them: "Let's go, kids, let's go! Staying here means you're gonna die for sure! I've got a bag here with some Poke Balls, take one and run for King Town northeast of here as fast as you can! No time to talk, just trust me!"

While he may have objected to being called a ‘kid’ he kept silent as if arguing otherwise wouldn’t qualify him for rescue. A little part of Tristan was a little concerned that a fire pokémon specialist was trying to save them from a burning building. You know, since it was kind of already on fire. They must be have something planned from it: be it an acceptable loss in a strategic retreat or whatever, he just knew he wanted to get out of here and trusting the man seemed the safest option by far. Tristan fumbled to the sack and reached in. He didn’t delay or take time to choose one to felt ‘right’ because he was last in line and the choice was made for him. In fact, he didn’t know this, until he yanked on the bag in frustration, turning it inside out and rolling a single pokéball across the floor. He swept it off the ground and followed.

Mathew waited near the inside of the doorway, a stern look on his face. He wasn't going to give any illusion that this was anything but an urgent situation. A fire blast could easily overtake a house very quickly. He motioned the four out the door. After Tristan exited, he took one last look inside to check for any stragglers he might not have noticed the first look around. As if to spite him for his moment's hesitation, a loud crack was heard from above. It took only a moment, too fast for Mathew to react, for the roof to collapse.

Mathew vanished underneath the debris of the damaged house, leaving the four with four pokeballs and a destination in mind. He had mentioned that the town they sought was to the northeast. Judging by what he'd said, they might assume that the battle had grown severe enough that there /were/ no houses considered 'safe' any longer. Several people wearing uniforms could be seen battling, as well as others without uniforms. Quite a handful of other buildings were on fire. Luckily, nobody that might intend harm seemed to pay attention to the four that had escaped the burning building. They probably had their hands full at the moment.

Marrion panted heavily as she ran for dear life; she was not used to running, or exerting herself in general, on land at all. The streets continued to rumble as the cries of Pokemon ripped through the sky with the sounds of man quickly following. Marrion didn't want to think about what was happening as she shut her eyes to the world, trying her hardest to ignore the horrendous situation. However, this loss of sight was just enough for the already terrain inept Marrion to quickly slip on a bit of dishevelled earth, stumbling to the ground in the process. With a great strain, and a sudden dull throb in her left hand, the girl continued to run in the direction the man had pointed out.

Marrion was a recent resident of the Ruula region; the landscape around her was completely alien to the point she probably couldn't explain in words. She had lived in a single city made of stone and water; anything out of those few descriptors were well beyond her ability to comprehend.

All she did was continue to run as a thunderbolt streaked across - not through like a normal thunderbolt, hinting it was the creation of Pokemon - the sky. Looking back quickly she noticed her house mates, whatever their names were, quickly gaining on her. With her slow speed she had already been caught up with and ran alongside them towards a future Marrion wasn't sure what would hold.

In no time at all they had reached the outskirts of the city.

While another ran, Jonothan looked backwards. He should've felt something at his rescuer going under like that, shouldn't he? He didn't really know. He paused for a bit longer, then before he could get caught in any part of the conflict in the rest of the town, he took off. Running to where the rescuer had indicated.

A bolt of real lightning flashed across the sky, lighting it up with almost dramatic precision, Jonothan just kept running. He could feel himself slowly losing energy, no matter how much you had left the slow ebb was noticeable. The girl tumbled, but stood once more. He slipped, but did not go down. The group was running away, moved after several days of seclusion.

He had felt fear, only a small amount, but it was still fear. Now even that small spark of emotion had died, and he was back to blank walls. Once again stuck inside his cage of calm. His mind suddenly turned to what he'd grabbed. There were many, many Pokemon out there, but he had just one. Somewhere where his knowledge of Pokemon was useful. He began to wonder what it was exactly that he'd picked up....

Running was easy for Attika, but her lungs hurt from the recent smoke inhale. The girl, Marissa, maybe, she didn't remember stumbled but gained herself quickly. Then the kid before turned and looked back at the building they had just left. Instinctively she looked behind her as she kept running. That proved to be a bad idea as she slipped on something and fell to the ground with a crash. She cried out with pain as it radiated from her shin.

She forced herself up and started to run again but she couldn't she stopped and stared at the battles, the burning city, the house that had fallen on the man that had just saved them. Lighting flashed across the sky shocking Attika back into the current moment. She forced herself to look away from the building and run again though she had a limp her shin killing her, but adrenaline was pumping through her veins forcing her on.

In the back of her mind she made a promise to the man under the ruble, to her missing brother, to every pokemon, to every killed human to stop this horrible useless war. Even if she could do nothing, she would try. People were meant to live happily, and pokemon were treasures, not tools.

Orange stood to the Northwest, moving with the troops southwest to Jamis Town and overseeing the ongoing fight. Though, if any were to look in his direction, they would see Dardanette. He was her double for this fight, whilst she was hidden away somewhere even he didn't know. Only a few of his superiors knew that it wasn't actually her. As they descended on Jamis Town to oppose the League, walls of flame were put up to try to delay the Crown. Orange had no doubt that it was Mathew the 'Fire Master's' doing, and took no hesitation in clearing a route for the troops he commanded. He halted them as they came up to the great wall of flame and drew a Pokeball from his belt, releasing the Pokemon inside. "Golurk! Bulldoze!" He called out, watching as the Golurk planted a foot in the ground and then charged through the flame, leaving a ditch-like path that went into the ground several feet and lead through the fire, the flame now licking at either side of the path. Getting the Pokemon was Orange's favorite part of being a double, and a grin was now planted on his face as he called back Golurk and lead the troops through the new path.

As the made it into Jamis Town, Orange immediately sent the troops to counter the League's own men. Almost moments after arriving, Orange watch as a misfired Fire Blast hit a building and set it aflame. He observed Mathew soon dash into the building, and he cursed under his breath. such a fool, to risk his life for whatever lie within the building. As if on almost on cue, four refugees ran out and Orange's eyes followed them as they all dashed to the Northeast. "King Town." Orange remarked, letting the refugees escape for the hope that he would be sent after them. He needed the fun. His eyes turned back to the house, awaiting Mathew's return to the outside as well. But alas, a large crack was heard as the roof caved in and the house collapsed. "Idiot." He said, feeling only a slight tinge of pity for the man. The League was so slow to act, and Mathew had been incompetent to even think of using the spare time to save some refugees. The right choice would have been to let it burn and retreat. It was apparent that they were losing this battle anyway.

Orange once again turned his gaze to the refugees as they ran out of town, laughing as one ate dirt and got back up again only to limp away. Orange only had to admire their desire to get out. Now all he had left to do was further aid the troops he had lead in and hope to get sent after the escapees.

As the foursome ran for their lives towards King Town and the fires of war that bought their escape blazed further and further in the distance, there was eventually a bend in the road where the refugees could stop and catch their breath out of sight from the main road. Their destination loomed in the distance, but all around were cries of a different sort...wild Pokemon that were investigating the fires around Jamis Town and communicating their thoughts about the catastrophe to each other, or perhaps going about their business of finding food and shelter like any other denizen of the wilderness.

It all depended...did they want to get to the safety of civilization that was King Town and buy supplies for the long journey ahead, as it was clear that they could never go home again, or did they want to get a head start on their training by testing their new pets against the Lillipup and Starly practically screaming their heads off at the unbelievable sight?

Marrion, as well as the rest of the group, started to slow down as they approached a slight bend off the main road. With two injured woman in the group the overall athletic capabilities of the group had been reduced considerably. Unless the other two men were up for ditching Marrior and the other girl they were going to need a bit of rest. Marrion panted heavily as she practically collapsed on the grasses the plains outside the Town had to offer. She could see a form of safety just a ways away but the Altomare resident had neither the drive nor the capability to continue on; Marrion was used to floating on by in the waters, not running for her dear life.

Regardless she took a quick eye to the other female in the group, Addie or something like that - Marrion needed to reaffirm it with her later -, and notice an uneven gait on her legs. Even from an untrained eye Marrion could understand that, even if either of them had the strength to go on, that injury would slow them down. Remembering her fall from earlier Marrion took a quick peek at her left hand and squirmed when she noticed the scratches and slight patches of blood on it. The worst part was although it was throbbing and stinging Marrion knew she had to clean it or it would become infected. Holding her hand tightly as if trying to toughen through the pain the water bound trainer could only keep her eyes on the horizon, ever staring at the town that loomed far ahead.

He was somewhat puffed, but still he kept running. It was only when the other two, the females, stopped up that he paused. They'd both stumbled much worse than he had, and both were possibly injured, tired or just not as fit as he was. Not that he was super fit, he was only moderately so. His physical fitness only from his martial arts training, unfortunantly something that was no use when it came to pokemon battles.

His knowledge of Pokemon was the only thing that would keep him afloat there. He fingered the Pokeball again, his mind once more tumbling back to it. He shook his head, wondering about it wouldn't change what was in there. He would find out.

Turning to the others as the stooped, sat or generally rested for a moment. "I think I'm going to see what I got, who wants to join me?" He asks, tossing the Pokeball up and down.

Attika came to a stop and sat down immediately, she forced herself to look at her wound. It wasn't as bad as she had thought, the only reason it hurt as bad as it did was because there was a small stick still stuck in her shin like a giant splinter. She groaned,it would leave a nasty scar, not that she minded. She poked the stick and flinched in the pain that shot up her leg. Rubbing her face with the back of her hand before she looked up and gazed at the three around her. It seemed only she and the other girl had actually fallen while running.

Before long her heavy breaths became normal paced with a slight wheezy sound from the smoke she had inhaled. She heard on of the guys speak and looked to him from where she sat looking at his ball before looking at her own, held in her left hand. She had forgotten she was even holding it, yet she was clutching it as if it were the only thing that could save her. "Yeah, lets rest a little more while we check out what we grabbed." She commented her green eyes focusing on her Pokeball.

Marrion wanted to say something; she wanted to mention how they should keep going as they weren't that far off from Jamis Town and could easy be caught up in the crossfire. However, Marrion just held her knees to her chest again. She could barely squeak let alone speak but, truth be told, she was actually quite interested about the contents of the pokeball she had snagged.

Marrion reached deep into her pocket as he took out the tiny ball she received earlier to the thanks of that mysterious man. It was miniscule and was barely the size of her own thumb and the girl could only wonder how such creatures could fit into the tiny compartments.

Marrion hadn't even touched a pokeball till that time beforehand and was completely lost on how to activate the compartment. First she had tried shaking it to no avail until she noticed a tiny button on the front. Tapping it carefully Marrion flew back in surprise, letting out a small cry in response, as the ball suddenly expanded nearly ten times its size, practically the size of one's fist. In her startle Marrion accidentally dropped the ball onto the ground. Before she had the chance to cry over breaking her first ever pokeball it suddenly opened towards her and a red light erupted from the sphere. It soon focused its energies into a beam like form as it raced towards the nearest patch of ground; there is started to take the shape of a round creature that seemed to be sitting on a cushion. When the light cleared what was left in its wake was a tiny blue mousey creature with large ears. It had no hands and seemed to be sitting on a blue rubber ball but the black line connecting the two subjects indicated it was a part of the main body, most likely a tail.

A bright smile erupted from Marrion's face as practically dove at the blue creature, wrapping her arms around it and immidiately rolling along the ground with it in her arms.

"Oh my gosh! I got an Azurill!" She cried happily as she said her first words in days.

"It's soooo adorable!"

It wasn't hard to get Jonothan to introspect himself. All you had to do was to do something that would normally bring forth emotion, then he constantly reviews why he can't. This was, after all, the source of most of his problems. A lot of people thought you were badass if you could stand up to someone big and tough, and not even show the slightest bit of fear. But Jonothan was rather unusual in the regard that he'd enjoy it if he could feel the fear, instead of the blankness that he usually felt.

Say for this instance, he was once again absorbed for a moment in such introspective thoughts as he wondered why he wasn't amused by the almost comical scene of Marrion working her way around a pokeball. Such things were considered humourous, were they not? And yet he just felt blank, and rather surprised that she didn't even know much about pokeballs. I mean, sure, you wouldn't expect most people to look great and know lots about pokemon.. But seriously? In a land that was filled with such creatures, it must be surprising to encounter someone who didn't know much about it.

Was surprise an emotion? No, not really. At least, he didn't really consider it as such. Ignoring the delighted squees of the girl as she rolled around on the ground with her new pokemon, Jonothan flicked the ball, depressed the button on it's end, and threw it in a practised motion. The motion he would use to throw a ball. The pokeball was similar enough that it felt natural, and the red light that rushed forth from the ball coallesced into it's own shape, that of a round rock... with arms. Geodude, the name immediately popped to mind.

He blinked twice. "Geodude, the rock pokemon." He comments kneeling on one knee in front of it. Wasn't he supposed to somehow ... do something to communicate with it? It was his very first pokemon after all. Shouldn't he be doing something, like Marrion was as she rolled around with her Azurill? ... He held out his hand to shake, and after a few minutes explaining quietly what he was doing to the pokemon, he eventually kneeled there, hand in hand. It somehow felt inadequate, Marrions was much more of a welcome for a pokemon.

Attika silently watched the first two encounters lifting her eyebrows at the other girl's reaction. She continued to sit on the ground, rolling the small ball around in her hand. She wasn't sure she wanted know what was being contained inside. Of course, knowing what she had now wouldn't do much harm, she was not currently locked in any type of zugzwang.

She sighed and poked at her stick again, it would have to come out, but she would rather put that pain off for as long as she could manage. She bit her lip then decided to see what she had recieved. Without standing she pressed the small button and watched as the ball grew then opened to release the red beam. It slowly took its form, morphing into a tiny little creature. It appeared to have a a small flat rounded horn that extended from the front, and back of its green bowl shaped head.

Attika stared at the tiny pokemon which stared right back. "Hmm, Ralts." She mumbled in wonder. The creature tilted it's head to one side before stepping closer to her and placed it's small stubby hand on her good knee. "Ralts?" It mumbled questionably looking at her. A small smile spread across Attika's face.

"Well aren't you the cutest most darling thing I have ever seen." She said reaching out the pat her new pokemon. "Darling.." She mumbled. "Yeah, Darla, that is what I'm gonna call you." She had always been told that when a pokemon had its own name it felt more loved and was more loyal to it's trainer, and that's what she wanted. "Darla the Ralts." She said then leaned back on her elbows closing her eyes while the pokemon wandered over to her side and looked down at her. She was happy she had recieved a Psychic pokemon. She felt they were always the most majestic, and powerful pokemon, especially if they had a loving trainer.

Tristan had half a mind to actually boss around his savior-of-the-day and order him to haul ass. This, however, was interrupted by the roof collapsing on the guy’s head. Tristan didn’t know how to respond and just stood there for a second. Let me rephrase that: he knew how to respond, but it was taking his body a while to get the signal, turn around, and run for his pathetic life. “Dammit,” he cursed between breaths “I didn’t even know the guy! What right did he have to go and die in front of my eyes after saving us?”

Tristan hadn’t been too bothered by the brief smoke exposure, thanks to a former nicotine addiction [remember kids: cigars are good for you] but his shoes had somehow managed to catch fire on his feet without him even noticing and, though high-tailing it through the fields had put them out naturally, his feet were uncomfortably hot. In fact, he didn’t remember noticing anything after the emergency. He dropped to the ground, panting in an overly-dramatic manner when he saw the others stop for a rest. He exhaled completely and peeled his footwear off, thinking it might’ve been a good idea in hindsight to have invested in a good pair of socks. His raw feet, aside from their usual funk, had a few minor burns splotched across. What’s worse was the shoes: They were scorch-marks all over and one even had a small hole now. And they were brand new Running Shoes! ...okay, that’s a lie: they were ‘refurbished’.

Tristan was stuck between his feelings about his new shoes and the hero that had just saved the four of them. He found it was easier to ignore the later when he silently complained about the first. That was until someone finally broke the silence. [Surprisingly enough it had been Jonny-Boy.] Being the opportunist he was, Tristan agreed. He needed some time to calm down anyroad. Tristan sat up and tossed the ball casually to his side and catching it on the rebound.

“You’re a...” Tristan drew a blank “...what are you again?” He had a hard time associating the names of pokémon during his ‘cram studies’ after he decided on pursuing this path [he was ready for a journey, just overwhelmed that the time, place, and manner had been so forced on him]. He spent a week or two memorizing lists of known ones, and could even rattle back the list back to this very day, but he wouldn’t be associating any of the names with specific pokémon. Heck, he’s been known for calling a Pikachu a Pachirisu now and then. However, he knew what it was: it was an electric type Pokémon, first stage of a three stage evolution family while the black hind-paws identified it as male. Sounding it out in his head, he wanted to call it a Jynx, but that wasn’t right because a Jynx was a psychic type that reminded Tristan of his aunt Agatha. Tristan shivered. Lord, how he hated that woman.

As if to stop the trainwreck Tristan’s train of thought had gotten into, the pokémon simply responded with: “Shinx.” Tristan snapped his finger, “That’s it! You’re a Shinx!” Followed by awkward silence. He glanced to see if the others were staring at him in same odd way the Shinx was before switching the topic.

“Yo, um...” Tristan snapped his finger and shut tight his eyes to remember the name. “Addie:” He didn’t seem to care if it was an acceptable nickname; the look in his eyes said he was sticking to it. “Y’okay? That right looks one nasty little splinter. I ain’t no doc, but y’should prolly wrap summin’ on the twig -- make yourself some sorta’ splint. Well: unless you want an ol’ man to drop you off at the local pokécenter. Heh~” There was his creepy little chuckle accompanied by a smirk again. He had been able to avoid it by limiting his conversation with the three to shallow topics. It was very versatile expression of his that actually held a bit of weight behind it: used for laughing at self-deprecation, when a scam scheme was hatched or fell in place, or even when he was just simply thinking, be the subject of thought be shady or otherwise. This often made him come off in the wrong manner.

It would appear that nobody had given chase to the fleeing group, though if any of the group payed attention they might notice a person riding a bike approaching in their general direction from the north east. This was, of course, the direction they were currently heading. It might occur to those in the group that she appeared to be heading to the town they'd just came from, the one that was under attack. Yet, judging by the fact she only had two pokeballs on her person and she didn't appear to be in a rush, it was questionable why she was going that way. As the person drew nearer it turned out to be a young caucasian woman wearing cycling shorts and a yellow blouse with a flared collar. Her medium-long brunette hair flowed behind her as she rode along. She hadn't bothered to put on a helmet. She took notice of the group as she got closer, slowing down to observe them curiously. Rather than mind her own business and continue going on, she continuously slowed down until finally coming to a stop nearby. Her expression took on a look of concern. At this point, it would be possible to notice that her eyes were brown.

???: "Are you guys alright?"

She had caught onto the fact that something looked a bit off about the group and decided to stop to see if everything was okay. She had neglected to give her name however. For the moment, she wasn't approaching the group, but rather simply stood there awaiting a reply. The bicycle looked pretty basic and standard. It did however have a basket in front of the handlebars. The basket was made of interweaved metal bars, and thus if any of the group examined it they could see a rather convenient first aid kit sitting next to some books and a handbag. Considering the woman didn't wear a helmet, it was probably for the best she carried that around.

After rolling around for quite some time Marrion calmed down when she noticed she had been stared at for her slightly uncharacteristic response. She sat up on the grass, her legs pressed up against her chest, similar to the position she was in earlier but now she was holding a small, and slightly dazed, Azurill against her chest. She noticed the other members of her small troupe were interacting with their pokemon and have a slight shy smile at the site. Everyone seemed to have been trying to get along with their new partners and even noticed the girl beside her had even given her Ralts a name.

"What do I call you?" Marrion mumbled lightly as she looked downwards at the dazed creature in her arms. The Azuril could only wobble lightly as it made a warbled squeak.

Before her thoughts delved further however a strange girl ended up arriving onto the scene. She wasn't strange for any physical reason Marrion could note other than the girl seemed to be heading towards Jamis Town on a bike, the same place they were running away from. Although Marrion felt a little more open due to her proximity with a pokemon of her favored typing, her nerves still got the best of her and when the girl asked if the group was okay Marrion could only bury her face into her Azurill. No one would able to tell from whom the following squeak came from.