Catching 101 { Ryusuke & Catching }

[Lorraine Hasan]

ryusuke ugumi

Twenty text messages, six voice mails, and even a few pictures, Rain wondered why she even bothered keeping her phone if she was never going to respond to the worried calls and texts of old friends and family. At least it was clear her brother was keeping her training adventure a secret for now, but she knew someone would figure out eventually. Could she keep up this life style even after someone discovered where she was and what she was doing? They would have to find her first of all, and there was the matter of trying to catch her, too. Would Ryusuke help her avoid that? She had mixed feelings about making him help her with that. This was her problem, not his, and she already made him put up with so much, it would be selfish of her to ask him to help her with this as well.

“Cacnea, what should I do?” she mumbled, looking over at her little cactus buddy. He looked up at her worriedly, tilting his head, body, to the side a bit in a curious gaze. While he was admittedly creepy, Rain couldn't help but find him adorable as well. She wasn't entirely sure what it was, perhaps his dorky personality, but the Cacnea just seemed to be pretty cute to her. Smiling softly at the Cacnea, she reached over and used a couple of fingers to playfully poke his head, avoiding the cactus's needles. “Never mind, I'll figure it out” she sighed, turning off her phone once more and stashing it in her pocket. She would have to address the issue sooner or later, but she was hoping it'd be more so later than sooner.

She was having fun traveling, despite a few issues that she had run into. Without her mother's constant guidance, someone guiding her around, the sheltered ex-pop star was pretty much lost on her own. She had a knack for wandering into trouble due to this, and it wasn't taking long for it to become rather clear that the universe had decided to stick the world's biggest 'Kick Me' sign on her back. Nearly being mugged, being forced to battle a much more experienced trainer, and more various events, Rain wondered if she was going to live to see the age of 18 at this rate.

Speaking of which, her birthday was pretty close, wasn't it? She looked up in thought and smiled as it dawned on her that her birthday was coming up. She'd probably mention that to Ryusuke, although, he didn't seem like the kind of person who would bother with parties or presents. Not that she would be that sad to not get a present for her birthday, she didn't need or really want anything. Honestly, she would be a bit disappointed to not get at least one present, since she was so used to being showered in presents from friends, family, and fans alike. This birthday was going to be the oddest birthday she’d ever have, that’s for sure.

Shifting her weight slightly on the boulder she'd decided to use as her seat, Rain gave a curt nod to herself. She inwardly promised to not make a big deal out of this, and if nothing happened on her birthday, than nothing would happen. No big deal, nothing to get upset over, and she'd learn to grow up a bit. As she nodded to herself, Rain briefly looked back to where her Cacnea had been, only to find the little cactus was missing. Staring for a moment, Rain quickly glanced back and forth, even turning to look behind her, before getting up. “... Cacnea?” she called out, taking a few steps forward and looking down the path. There was a pause, before the cactus suddenly sprang up from behind the boulder Rain had been sitting on. Rather than colliding with his trainer's back though, the cactus flew over the rock and landed with a THUD on the ground in front of it, right next to Rain.

Jumping with a squeal of shock, Rain whirled around to see what had made the noise. As she did, though, her legs managed to tangle together and cause her to lose her balance and fall to the ground herself. Sitting on the dusty path, Rain looked forward to see what had scared her, only to sigh as she realized it was her mischievous Cacnea. “... What am I going to do with you?”

CODED BY SYLVIE

[Ryusuke Ugumi]

We're pushing through the warped wind Outstripping the cold sky Nevertheless, we still continue to wander If there was any one thing that Ryusuke had inherited from his mother aside from appearances, it was his utter lack of understanding when it came to people, traded off for being able to understand Pokemon with relative ease. He'd never really been much of a people person to begin with - he disagreed with people often, sometimes violently - and rarely ever liked them. Those who he did like, though, were still often a challenge for him to understand - Pokemon tended to operate by set rules and logic, but with people there was no set guidebook to go by. They did what they wanted to, and often with little rhyme or reason to their thoughts and or actions. Lorraine, it seemed, was no exception. While she tried to hide it and did so relatively well, it was pretty clear she wasn't a Pokemon kind of person - she was antsy at best around that Spinarak she carried, even with the thing inside of its ball, and nervous to the extreme with Onix, although likely because she had no control over the thing at all. That, and there was what had happened back when they're first arrived in Lavaridge - while his mother was never really a fair match up against the vast majority of trainers never mind a newbie, fact was that she had made mistakes that even the newest of trainers tended to avoid. Ryusuke wasn't entirely sure why she had left home to start off down the path of a trainer, but it was clear she hadn't really put enough mental preparation into the act - she might've had potential, but it was going to take a lot of work to get there. Which, sadly enough, was where Ryusuke himself seemed to come into the equation through virtue of simply being there at the time - he wasn't the teaching type by any means, but what was even sadder was the fact that he quite literally had nothing better to do with his time, either. Clad in his usual red and black attire and with Treecko resting in the lowered hood of his coat, the blonde had to wonder again if she knew what she was really getting into - Fiery Path wasn't a cake walk, and there were going to be Pokemon in there that you didn't mess with. Not with the teams they had - Fire, Poison and Fighting types, all of which could cause them bad, bad days. Still, it was where she'd wanted to try catching her first Pokemon, and without the Go Goggles needed to try the desert instead it wasn't like he could really offer any real argument to the contrary. Hands in his pockets, the trainer climbed the last few steps up onto the craggy hillside, the gondola to the top of the volcano visible in the distance and the cave's entrance much closer, creating a gaping hole in the mountainside near which the other trainer sat with her Pokemon. Pausing a moment to get his bearings, Ryusuke began moving towards Lorraine and the entrance to Fiery Path. @ tag

made by duet of gs

[Lorraine Hasan]

ryusuke ugumi

Watching the little cactus pop up from the ground, Rain merely sat and watched him teeter-totter around for a moment. He seemed a bit dazed from his collision with the ground and she wasn’t about to set her hands on him to help the prickly plant steady himself. Falling back to a sitting position, the cactus started to gather himself, finally. As he just sat still, Rain got up and began to dust herself off. “No more of that, Cacnea” she ordered with a warm smile. He gave a nod in response and with a shift of his body, he finally started to get up onto his feet and stand steady.

Looking up, Rain spotted the blonde boy making his way towards them in the distance. With a smile, she waved and pulled out her pokeball to return Cacnea to his pokeball. She moved over to the boulder to pick up her messenger bag and bring it over onto her shoulder. Briefly, the young woman peered inside to check on the Houndour egg inside of the bag. Sliding her hand over it to ensure it was alright, when there wasn't a crack to be seen, Rain carefully closed the bag and looked back up at Ryusuke. He had promised to help her train, and it was pretty clear after her battle with Elinda earlier that week, she had a lot of learning to do.

“You ready to head in?” she asked, looking up at the cave and paused for a moment to take in the sight in front of her. It didn’t look too dark in there, but it was still enough to unnerve her a bit. But, bravery was being able to face one’s fears and Rain knew she wasn’t going to get anywhere if she stayed afraid all the time. Giving a nod to herself, she started her way inside once Ryusuke was ready as well. Walking at a leisurely pace, it was clear she was in no rush to get inside, and she seemed to be calm for the time being. The light leaking into the inside of the cave left it well lit enough that Rain wasn’t unnerved for a while.

As it started to get a bit darker, though, Rain was beginning to have second thoughts about her decision to go down Fiery Path. Knowing her own thoughts would make this only worse, she sought out a distraction and was once more relieved to not be by herself on her quest to becoming a competent trainer. Looking over to Ryusuke, she studied the other for a moment, thinking carefully of what to say. “So, th-there’s fire, poison, and uh… fi-fighting types in here, right?” she questioned, letting her gaze travel back around the cave walls. “Fire is weak to water, ground, and rock. Poison is weak to…” she trailed off in thought, before seeming to confuse herself. She would probably have to come up with some sort of rhyme or oddball story to remember this bit. She mumbled a bit to herself, rattling her brain, before looking over at Ryusuke with a pout.

“Okay, I-I can’t remember that one… But, Fighting is weak to psychic, right?” she asked with a little hopeful smile. At least she was starting to get the weaknesses and strengths memorized, but Rain still had plenty to learn aside from what worked on what. Applying her learned material was important as well, since she couldn’t just talk the talk, she would have to walk the walk at some point. She looked down at her pokeballs and bobbed her head back and forth in more thought while waiting for Ryusuke to clarify the details. Onix sounded like her best bet down here, but given his irritable nature and the fact he was so destructive, letting him out down here could cause a cave in if he got too carried away. No, she would have to rely on her other Pokémon, but a fire type would prove troublesome for both her Cacnea and Spinarak. Her eyes shifted down to her bag as she suddenly wished that the Houndour would hatch already. The Fire type could be useful against other fire types, right?

CODED BY SYLVIE

[Ryusuke Ugumi]

We're pushing through the warped wind Outstripping the cold sky Nevertheless, we still continue to wander Well, she was learning at least - far more quickly than Ryusuke had or likely ever would, given the complete and utter lack of control he had over his scaly little hitch hiker. Part of it might've been how long they'd spent together, but he just would never feel comfortable giving orders to any of his Pokemon - at least not Charmeleon or Treecko. Far as he was concerned Aerodactyl could go fuck off and die in a ditch after the bitch had tried to eat him the first time they'd met, and he'd never quite gotten over that, even after Metagross had intimidated the thing into finally obeying him - he'd had yet to use the creature as anything more than the occasional threat, but that was another plus that Rain had over him. She might not have liked her Spinarak - good as she was at hiding it, there were clues - but far as he knew they didn't have any history between them yet, negative or otherwise. Long story short, the possibility still existed that she'd get over whatever her problem was with it, but here and now wasn't the place - unless they ran into a Fighting or another Poison type, the little Bug would get destroyed by whatever they ran into in that cave. "Whenever you are." Ryusuke replied, simply pausing for a moment before Rain began moving ahead to enter the cavern ahead of him before following her in himself. Almost as soon as they entered the cave Ryusuke could feel the heat hit him like a wall, the duster he was wearing becoming increasingly uncomfortable as his body heat was suddenly trapped with no where colder to go but into his arm and leg, and even Treecko was woken up by the sudden temperature change, the creature turning over in the coat's hood to look over his partner's shoulder ahead of them. Almost deju vu, in a way - he'd met a cousin relatively recently under rather similar circumstances, but with completely opposite conditions, fire and ice in a very literal sense. That being said, though, the cave introduced a similar problem into the mix in the form of his arm and leg. Not nearly as serious as it had been that other time as he'd been risking frostbite then, but first degree burns and having the flesh around the metal base mounts slowly cooked by the heat was not something that really appealed to him. Again, though, as with the last time there was no particular reason to tell the person he was with - she'd gone out on a limb already asking for his help with battling and possibly catching a Pokemon, and the last thing he needed to do was add a time limit on top of that. People tended to work best at their own paces, and things rarely tended to go well when rushed. Not wanting to let her get separated, Ryusuke began walking forward again at a brisk pace to keep up with the other trainer. "Fire, Poison, Ground and probably Fighting and Rock. And Poison is weak to Ground, with both it and Fighting sharing a weakness to Psychic." Ryusuke said, keeping his own eyes everywhere but directly ahead of him as he watched the cave around them. He'd never underestimated a wild Pokemon since Day One as a trainer, and he had no intention of starting then and there. @ tag

made by duet of gs

[P✿pple]

A wild FEMALE NUMEL appeared!

Ability: Simple

• Ember
  
  
• Magnitude
  
  
• Lava Plume
  
  
• Earth Power

[Lorraine Hasan]

ryusuke ugumi

Having not anticipated the temperature change, Rain inwardly regretted her choice of pants and a jacket for the day. She had worn clothes in hopes of covering herself to prevent flames and such from hitting her, but now the clothes seemed to provide nothing but discomfort. So, as Ryusuke began to address her confusion over type advantages, the young woman removed her jacket and promptly tied it around her waist. Her teacher and travelling partner corrected her about the types of Pokémon that might linger inside, and added on that Poison was weak to Psychic as well. That thought confused her slightly, as she figured Poison would be effective on Psychic types rather than the vice versa. Not like her complaining would do much, but she simply let it be.

With that, Rain gave a small nod to herself. “Alright… Th-Thanks” she mumbled and glanced briefly over at Ryusuke. He was constantly scanning the place, as if prepared for something to just drop right out of the ceiling to attack them. She wasn’t very surprised to see him like that, though. He was prepared for the worse, and if the worse were to happen, she knew she could rely on him for being so vigilant. Although, there was one thing she noticed about him that caused her to question his choices. “Aren’t you hot in tha—?” she began to ask before feeling a tug on her bag. Turning her head, she stopped when she spotted a Numel trying to pull her bag from her shoulder.

“Uh... N-No you can’t take that” she informed softly, trying to step back, only for the Numel to hold her ground, still biting down on Rain’s bag. Rain stopped when the little camel refused to let go and she stared for a long moment. “… Let go” she ordered, only for the Numel to tug on the bag. She frowned and tried to pull it away, but the little camel seemed to take that as an invite to tug-o-war. Rain would tug, before the Numel would tug back harder. It eventually ended with the two both giving a hard tug and the bag ripping. Falling back and instinctively hugging the bag to her chest, Rain fell back to the dusty ground. The Numel stumbled back before ultimately falling back on her own rear, a piece of Rain’s bag hanging from her mouth.

Rain tugged open the bag and pulled out the Houndour egg worriedly, eyeing the shell for cracks. During her scan, she briefly glanced up to see one of her pokeballs had rolled out of the hole in her bag towards the Numel chewing on the cloth she’d ripped from Rain’s bag. It took a moment to recognize the little spider inside just hanging on for the ride. Upon seeing the pokeball, rather than ignoring it, or kicking it back, the camel like Pokémon got up and headed over to the ball. She leaned down to sniff the pokeball for a moment, before, much to Rain’s horror, opening her mouth and trying to eat the thing. “NO! No, no, no, no, no!” Rain chanted, scrambling to her feet.

Hearing the shouting, the Numel only looked up at Rain with a baffled look. She stopped trying to chew on the ball, the pokeball stored away in her cheek and creating a large circular bump on the side of the Numel’s mouth. Rain froze in place, before looking over at Ryusuke with a ‘what do I do?’ look. She looked back at the Numel, and every time the Numel’s jaw shifted, Rain grimaced and twitched. The Numel move her mouth slight, and stop when Rain would flinch. Move, flinch, stop, move, flinch, stop, Rain slowly removed her bag from her shoulder, but not without putting the egg away and pulling out another pokeball. Clicking the button to enlarge it and reveal the Cacnea inside it, she hesitated and briefly glanced back over to Ryusuke for a second opinion on how to handle the situation.

CODED BY SYLVIE

[Ryusuke Ugumi]

We're pushing through the warped wind Outstripping the cold sky Nevertheless, we still continue to wander "I'm fine, far as I'm concerned it's just another layer of insulation against the heat." Ryusuke said, his voice betraying absolutely nothing of what was half blatant lie and half truth. True, it was another layer to block out the heat trying to get in, but unfortunately the reverse was also true - with his body heat having no way to escape it was getting rather hot rather quickly, and sooner or later he was going to have to choose between the discomfort and a possible first degree burn to his shoulder and leg. For now, though, that's all it was, discomfort at its most basic form - nothing worth mentioning, and certainly not the worst he'd dealt with up to that point. Continuing to simply face ahead, however, Ryusuke would had simply continued straight onwards had he not felt a slight tug to the back of his head where his hair was tied back - a familiar sensation, and usually one of Treecko trying to get his attention. Turning his head to look over his shoulder, he saw that was indeed the case, the little Grass type awake and bleary eyed, but still alert enough to notice what Ryusuke had not - that Lorraine had stopped behind them, and was now locked in a tug-of-war contest with a wild Pokemon. Of all things, a Numel. Really? As Ryusuke stopped and turned to face the contest of strength, he wasn't sure whether or not to be amused or exasperated. Numel weren't exactly the smartest of Pokemon or the quickest, but on the other hand he supposed it was entirely possible that Lorraine had food stashed away in the bag - he'd seen her stuff sweets in there at least once, and if there was one thing you never did as a trainer, it was taking food with you into areas known to be inhabited by wild Pokemon. If you had anything edible, they'd know, and they'd find it - a mistake that every rookie trainer had to eventually make, but what Ryusuke didn't get was why Lorraine just didn't use her own Pokemon to battle the Numel and at least drive it off. As the bag suddenly tore, though, it was nearly everything Ryusuke could do to maintain his stoic composure and refrain from facepalming outright. Scratch everything he'd thought a moment ago - theory wasn't what mattered, practical application was, and she had a long, LONG way to go in regards to that. It wasn't until the Numel managed to get Spinarak's Pokeball into its mouth that Ryusuke started to actually pay attention, though - not a good place to be, and even Treecko perked up in rapt attention, all vestiges of sleep disappearing. As Lorraine started to pull out her remaining Pokeball, though, Ryusuke subtly attempted to wave her down as she looked his way, recognizing the Pokemon inside. Cacnea wasn't going to make things any better - it wouldn't be fast enough to stop Numel from swallowing the ball, or worse, using a Fire type move while the orb was in its mouth. "Treecko?" Ryusuke queried, keeping his voice low as he glanced over to the Grass type that had crawled up onto his shoulder, large yellow eyes alert and locked on the Fire type ahead of them. More than wide awake, and Ryusuke knew the Pokemon well enough to see the gears already turning in the reptilian Pokemon's head - he was thinking, all right, although exactly what was going through his head Ryusuke couldn't say. It was a pretty safe guess that it was related to the situation at hand, though, and how to handle it, and without any ideas off the top of his own head Ryusuke didn't see any other immediate alternative, reaching up to tap the Pokemon's shoulder to tag him in. Almost as soon as Ryusuke's fingers had so much as brushed him Treecko took off like a rocket, using Quick Attack to close the distance between him and the other Pokemon for a reverse clothesline, the Grass type's arm striking the Numel in the neck before it had even realized it was being attacked. Bending his arm to hook it at that moment, Treecko's limb remained pressed against the front of the other Pokemon's neck as momentum swung him up and around onto the Fire type's back, and without letting up the pressure transforming the neck blow into a choke hold, preventing the Numel from swallowing. His other hand still free at the other Pokemon finally began to struggle, Treecko closed the appendage into a fist before bringing it around to hammer down onto the cheek holding Spinarak's Pokeball with a Drain Punch, popping the orb out of Numel's mouth and onto the cave floor to roll away from them. Mission accomplished, Treecko released his hold and kicked off from Numel with Agility, putting plenty of distance between him and his opponent and leaving her wide open. "Lorraine, you're up." @ tag

made by duet of gs

[Lorraine Hasan]

passing on numel

With Rain keeping the Numel’s focus with their shift, grimace, stop, repeat cycle, Numel didn’t even notice the approaching Treecko. Not until she was in a chokehold, that is. Struggling, kicking and flailing, the camel like Pokémon had no issue spitting out the pokeball the moment her cheek was punched. Fuming, now with a potential meal being interrupted, the angry camel stomped and threw its tantrum, ignoring the rolling pokeball. When she turned back to the less experienced trainer, who had pulled out another pokeball while the Numel threw its fit, the wild Pokémon had clearly designated Rain as her target. Seeing the pokeball, the slow Pokémon only assumed that Rain was the one to attack her before.

As it began to prepare for the battle, Rain quickly released the Pokémon she had pulled from her bag and set the bag aside. Getting up as the newly acquired Lileep appeared in front of her, the Numel only seemed to get more fired up by the sight of the Pokémon. Unfortunately, Lileep seemed more interested in the idea of tilting back to look at his new trainer with a set of glowing yellow eyes. Rain offered only a nervous grin to the gifted Pokémon, shooting Ryusuke a glance, before looking back ahead. The Numel began the battle, raising her front feet up before bringing them down to release a wave of energy into the ground and flying right for the Lileep.

Seeing the incoming attack, Rain watched closely, quickly recognizing the move from her old Contests. It was an explosive attack, perfect for making a flashy entrance if you could time it just right with a Dig attack. Coordinators specializing in Ground types used it to make their Pokémon shoot out of the ground in a sudden blast of colorful energy. Of course, the target of this attack was clearly not the center of the stage, but Rain’s Pokémon, Lileep. “Lileep, use Ancient Power to lift the ground below you and move out of the way!” she hurriedly rambled out. The Lileep didn’t seem to hesitate at the order as the ground and rocks underneath it gave off a purple glow and began to rise up, lifting the Lileep with it. Swiftly sweeping to the side, the ground the Pokémon once stood upon broke open and exploded with unleashed energy from the Earth Power attack.

Raising her arms to shield her head from the flying dust and rocks, Rain’s eyes shot up to the sky, before turning to the side to see her Lileep had managed to avoid the blow. “Alright, land and use Anicent Power on the Numel!” she ordered, watching the Lileep lower slightly before the rocks parted to let the Pokémon plop down on the ground. Settling down nicely, the rocks the Pokémon had once stood on top of were sent flying at the Numel. Not fast enough to avoid the incoming attack, the Numel barely even turned in time to notice the attack was coming at it. Pelted by the Anicent Power, the Numel reared back, again, snorting and shaking its head. Rain beamed at the sight and eagerly tacked on “Finish with an Energy Ball!”

The Lileep stood up straight, petals curling upwards as a green ball of energy began to form above it. By the time the Pokémon leaned to release the energy, the Numel had come back around and knelt down to angle its back at Lileep. Releasing a blast of lava, Rain grimaced, watching the ball of energy collide with the incoming molten rock. Causing a minor explosion due to colliding forces, Rain reeled back, nearly falling as instinct kicked her flight reflex. Before she could slip up, the trainer slid her foot behind her to regain her balance. Once her footing was secured, Rain repeated her previous order “Energy Ball!” The Lileep, remaining indifferent towards the explosion, simply repeated the process, albeit faster this time. Releasing the green ball of energy into the smoke from the collision of heat and energy, the attack flew over the fallen lava, breaking through the smoke, and flying right at the Numel.

It seemed the Lileep hadn’t been pleased with the previous Lava Plume attack, as the Energy Ball had hit the Numel right in the face, sending it stumbling back before the wild Pokémon tumbled over to a stop and promptly passed out from the damage. Rain slowly tilted her head at the sight, raising her brows at the headshot, having not anticipated the Lileep to go and do that. Glancing over at her Pokémon, he seemed to maintain a blank expression, merely staring at his trainer with unblinking yellow eyes. Feeling a chill go down her back at the look, Rain shook her head and pulled out the Lileep’s pokeball. “Alright, great job, Lileep!” she praised, returning the Pokémon and turning her gaze over to her poor Spinarak’s pokeball.

Pocketing Lileep, Rain briefly looked over at Ryusuke, before she rushed over to the Spinarak. “S-So, how was that?” she asked, slowing to a stop at the pokeball. The poor spider was frozen in fear inside, giving Rain a set of puppy dog eyes that would melt any stoney heart. Guilt collided with the young woman’s sense of terror and she could only stare at the pokeball for a long moment. Forcing herself to pick it up and keep her grip on the opaque white part, Rain turned to make her way back over to Ryusuke and her damaged bag, Spinarak pokeball still in her hand.

CODED BY SYLVIE

[P✿pple]

A wild MALE SPOINK appeared!
It even looks like Rain!

Ability: Thick Fat

• Odor Sleuth
  
  
• Confuse Ray
  
  
• Snore
  
  
• Psyshock

[Ryusuke Ugumi]

We're pushing through the warped wind Outstripping the cold sky Nevertheless, we still continue to wander Rain's reaction was.... interesting, to say the least. After what had happened back in Lavaridge with his mother and given her short track record to date, Ryusuke had not been expecting the girl to attempt to jump in headfirst like she was - nor did he expect her to choose the Pokemon that she did. Above all he'd thought she'd try and stick to what she knew and what was familiar - Ryusuke himself knew he did it and that reason was why he'd yet to use Aerodactyl in a battle before, despite the relationship between himself and the Rock type having drastically improved in recent days. Not that Ryusuke was at all upset with being proven wrong in this particular instance - quite the opposite, actually, as it meant that the cave wasn't going to collapse on top of them the way it likely would have if she'd chosen her Onix. As for Spinarak..... well, Bug types traditionally never fared well against Fire, and despite what little he'd seen of the arachnid Ryusuke had taken as much a liking to it as Treecko had seemed to. Bottom line, he would not have enjoyed seeing that particular battle. Lileep, though, was the ideal choice in this particular instance - the Fossil's unique typing more or less cancelled out any advantage the Numel might have had type wise, leveling what would have otherwise been a fairly lopsided fight. More than that, Rain had clearly done her research - she knew exactly what her Pokemon's shortcomings were, and how to use the moves available to it to compensate, neatly sidestepping the Numel's Earth Power with a rather clever use of Ancient Power. One that he hadn't seen used before, either - he'd seen his mother battle back when she had worked for Devon, but aside from using Rock moves offensively and to bog down an enemy's movement he'd only seen them used as a shield to block or deflect incoming attacks. As the second usage of Ancient Power landed a direct hit on the Fire type, Ryusuke quickly found himself having to yet again revise his opinion of the newbie trainer. What was it then? Just a problem with nerves? As she finished off the Fire/Ground type with an Energy Ball for a one-two punch, it was very much evident that she knew how to battle despite claiming to be brand new to it - she knew her Pokemon, was familiar with their abilities and knew how to properly counter moves at a moment's notice. Bottom line being that she really didn't need him - what she needed was the experience she'd get from actually getting out and battling, which begged the question regarding exactly what had happened in Orre. Had she wanted to he had no doubt now that she probably could've fought those thugs off - so why didn't she? Following the battle's conclusion and Treecko returning to his side to begin crawling back up to his shoulder, Ryusuke very nearly said as much as she turned to him to ask his opinion. "... you've battled before. You're no amateur, I know that much. I thought you said that wasn't the case?" @ tag

made by duet of gs

[Lorraine Hasan]

ryusuke ugumi

Carefully keeping her fingers on the opaque side of the Pokeball, Rain slowed to a stop at her damaged bag. Heaving a sigh at the sight of the hole that the Numel had torn in the bottom of it, she was now facing another dilemma. The hole clearly was going to make stuff fall out of her bag if the previous incident was any sign of that. Kneeling down and daring to actually set the Spinarak’s pokeball in her coat pocket, she began to go through her bag as Ryusuke thought of how to respond to what he just saw. His response wasn’t really what she anticipated, making her tear her eyes from her bag to set them on him.

Not an amateur? She begged to differ, but she didn’t say that. Sitting on the ground as she returned her gaze to her bag, Rain pulled out a small black box and popped it open to reveal a small sewing kit. “I guess… If you want to be technical, I have battled before, i-in a way” she explained, getting to the task of trying to at least temporarily seal the tear in her bag. “Besides the battle with Elinda, th-there was battling as a Coordinator, but that wasn’t really like trainer battles…” she explained, briefly glancing at Ryusuke. “With Coordinator battles, i-it was more so making it look good, not so much about winning. Timed battles that you could lose, bu-but that didn’t mean you couldn’t win in the Contest. I uh… Lost the battles a lot…” she rambled on, before pausing as a thought occurred to her. Was this the answer he was seeking?

Continuing to stitch up the bag, Rain shifted her weight slightly as she went on “So um… I know basic battling material, but I just…” Trailing off, Rain lost her train of thought, not really sure how to explain all of this to Ryusuke. Finishing up the last stitch to the bag, she gave it a small tug to make sure the stitch would hold for now. As she began to put the sewing supplies away, it was clear she was still thinking over how to explain this to him. She had a good idea of how to battle, she had experience, she watched battles a lot as a kid, honestly she was capable of handling herself, but she lacked confidence to do so. Double checking information, freezing up, her nerves of fragile glass were easily broken, honestly. She wasn’t an idiot, she knew this as well. Saying ‘I just need you for assurance and double checking information’ sounded really weird though.

Frowning as she struggled to figure out how to go on, Rain began to put her fallen items back into the bag. Setting Lileep and, hesitantly, Spinarak back in her bag, she was finally going to get up when something else caught her attention. Looking up ahead of her, a little figure appeared to be bouncing about in the distance, suddenly catching her focus. Completely derailing the previous train of thought, Rain’s mind shifted to another gear as she tried to figure out just what the incoming thing was. A task easier said than done, though, as the darkness of the cave provided little help in her figuring it out. Rain began to get back up, with her gaze remaining locked on the slowly approaching bouncing Pokémon. Her imagination was already kicking into gear and it was taking a control to keep her from just booking it then and there.

CODED BY SYLVIE

[Ryusuke Ugumi]

We're pushing through the warped wind Outstripping the cold sky Nevertheless, we still continue to wander Not at all the answer Ryusuke was expecting, to put it bluntly. Given all his time in Lilycove growing up and the Coordinators he'd met in that time, Ryusuke had been under the impression that they largely shunned battling - Arceus forbid that their precious meal tickets end up with a normal scratch or bruise from over exerting themselves. It didn't make sense, either - he'd seen her Onix in action, and Spinarak were pretty fast little critters, hard to hit in addition to being Poison types which were traditionally excellent defenders. During the battle just now Lorraine had immediately honed in on her opponent's weakness and played it for all it was worth, even despite the typing - if this was her run of the mill style, no real effort put behind it, how was it that she supposedly lost battles as routinely as she claimed? The more Ryusuke thought about it, the less the dots seemed to connect in any meaningful way - hell, why'd she become a Coordinator in the first place when she clearly had talent for battling, and why didn't her Onix at least listen to a certain degree? He could understand it being a result of receiving it from her brother, but even Metagross had at least listened to Ryusuke somewhat after a while. He'd had zero control over the Steel type starting out, but that had gradually changed as he'd proved he was at least somewhat competent. So why wasn't that happening here? "That was a bit more than 'basic' just now. I don't get it, if you had at least some t-" Ryusuke began, pausing only when he realized that the girl's attention was elsewhere - rather than on him or what she had been doing with her hands repairing her bag, the ex Coordinator's eyes were instead focused on something slowly moving down the tunnel towards them. Moving? No, more like bouncing, and not exactly a Pokemon that either the blond or Treecko had ever seen before, the Grass type shifting his position on Ryusuke's shoulder to get a better look at the thing. What was that, and what the hell was it wearing on its head? @ tag

made by duet of gs

[Lorraine Hasan]

passing on spoink

Having lost her train of thought, Rain was almost entirely focused on the little figure bouncing in the distance. That is until Ryusuke began to respond and she realized she had trailed off. She slowly brought her gaze back to him after he cut himself off. He had been commenting that what she was doing was more than basic, but then had cut off when he realized her attention had gone elsewhere. Oops, the young woman inwardly thought, before looking back to what had caused her focus to drift. She was sure she would have to explain herself later, but it appeared they had other matters to tend to in the caves.

Still unsure of what it was coming towards them, Rain slowly adjusted the bag on her shoulder and allowed her hands to drift to her hair. Nervously pulling at it and toying with it, the newer trainer began to ask “Ryusuke, what is…” Then she stopped as the little figure became more visible. Bounce, bounce, bounce, the little pig like Pokémon just casually hopped right onwards, almost as if not giving a single care for the two humans also present in the hot caverns. “Oh! A Spoink!” Rain suddenly chirped a smile forming as she realized just what the Pokémon was.

An adorable little Spoink, it was perfect for some beginner coordinators due to the cuteness factor. Even though she had just gotten up, Rain was already kneeling back down to happily greet the adorable Pokémon. Just a cute fact was enough to make the trainer briefly forget that the Pokémon was still a wild thing. Even with her directly in his path, the little pig didn’t seem to bother slowing down. Rain opened her mouth to speak once it was close enough, but as she started to get the first syllable out, the Spoink suddenly seemed to coil down and leap up into the air. Landing on top of Rain’s head with a THUMP, Rain’s balance was thrown off as the Pokémon used her as a spring board.

Not bothering to give Rain the time of day, it shot right off her head, and continued on his path. The surprising force and weight of the pig sent Rain fumbling forward to the ground. Hitting the dusty dirt, Rain didn’t need a moment to pause and let the recent incident sink in. She was moving right onto the task of pushing herself back up and spitting out the dirt that had gotten into her partially opened mouth. Flustered, and terribly embarrassed, she didn’t look over to see Ryusuke’s expression as she began to just try and wipe off all of the dirt and dust. Patting down her hair and attempting to regain some level of dignity, Lorraine finally started to get back on her feet.

“I should’ve…” a pause to clear her throat “… P-Probably seen something li-like… Like that coming” she nervously muttered as she continued her tasking of fretting over her appearance. Patting herself down and taking a deep breath, Rain finally dared to look over at Ryusuke and shoot a glance back at the Spoink who just hopped along without a care in the world. Cute or not, she didn’t want to even deal with it at this point, so her gaze finally rested back on Ryusuke. Part of her was terrified of how he’d react to the blunder, especially with the confusion of seeing how she was able to battle the Camerupt. If it wasn’t something along the lines of wondering if she was fine, at the least, she would hope he’d just laugh it off. Still a reaction that'd make her panic more, but laughter was easier to handle than some kind of lecture or disappointment and anger.

CODED BY SYLVIE

[Ryusuke Ugumi]

We're pushing through the warped wind Outstripping the cold sky Nevertheless, we still continue to wander A Spoink? What the hell was a Spoink? While Ryusuke was very well aware that he'd only seen so much in his last eight or nine months of traveling and that most trainers went their entire lives without seeing all of the Pokemon even in a single given region, he at least liked to think that he was somewhat well versed with the Pokemon in his own region, nevermind in a place so relatively close to his home, and it was always a rather humbling revelation when that was proven to not be the case. But this thing? There were limits to some things in life, and being humbled by something that looked as strange and stupid as that was kind of going over the line on that count. That being said, though, there were some things that Ryusuke was more than experienced to know, and approaching a wild Pokemon without one of your own out just in case was generally accepted as a universally bad idea - so, it came as little surprise that Lorraine would think to do it, and as Ryusuke simply sat there and watched he could feel Treecko facepalming on his shoulder. Seriously, what was she doing? Gateon Port was one thing, but she just had an incident with that wild Numel - worse, the thing had almost eaten one of her Pokemon in the process. More than anything this was the one thing he could not really understand about the girl even after spending a week or two traveling with her - why did she tempt fate like this? She was clearly intelligent, far, far more so than the vast majority of the people he had met in the last year or so, but then here she was, repeating the exact same mistake she'd just made moments ago. And, just like that, Lorraine lost what little dignity she still had left after tearing her bag earlier as the little whatever-the-fuck-it-was used her head as a launch point, forcing her to faceplant the cave floor. Under normal circumstances, Ryusuke probably would've said "I told you so" - this, though, was already about as low as you could get, to have your ass handed to you by something that looked like what that thing did, and without it even trying. So, what was left to do after that? Pretend it didn't happen. "So, quick question. Did you have a Pokemon in mind when we actually came into here to begin with?" Ryusuke said, starting to move past Lorraine and deeper down Fiery Path as she began to pick herself up off of the ground. Leaving out, of course, whether or not she'd be able to catch whatever she was looking for - once again, there was that weird duality where she clearly was competent at battling, but on the other hand she showed a marked lack of common sense, something that kept screwing her over and over again. @ tag

made by duet of gs

[Lorraine Hasan]

ryusuke ugumi

To put it bluntly, that had not been the reaction she anticipated. She was used to failure being followed by some sort of long winded lecture that pointed out every mistake. Every little over looked detail had to be refined, perfected and worked on to the point of exhaustion. Either demanding perfection, or just the obvious statement or expression of disappointment in the young Hasan when she messed up. For once, though, the incident was just ignored, over looked, and pretty much just left untouched. She wasn’t sure if that was a good thing, or not. Either she had messed up that bad that he couldn’t even think of some sort of response, it wasn’t worth commenting on, or it wasn’t really that big of the deal and she should just get over it. The lack of a lecture or scolding of sorts actually left Rain dumbfounded for a moment. Part of the way up, just staring blankly at where Ryusuke had been standing just moments before. She didn’t even realize he was talking before he was half way through what he was saying.

Jumping a bit, she finally was back up on her feet and snapped out of her confusion. With a brisk pace, she caught back up with him and took a moment to fully register what he had asked of her. “Well, uh…” she began, pausing as she noticed something caught in her hair. Going silent for a moment, she fumbled with the caught bit and flicked it away. Despite having had a shower before they left this morning, she was going to need an extra-long one tonight just to make sure that she got every little piece of dirt and dust out of her hair. Even though she didn’t have to be so concerned about her appearance anymore, some things never changed. One of those things was her need to just keep her hair neat and clean at all times. Her clothes were still fashionable, but with a few words with Ryusuke, she had downsized her wardrobe and reconsidered several of the outfits she’d been carrying around.

With the foreign bit now out of her hair, she had let her mind go back over what Ryusuke had asked here. What was she saying…? Oh yes, what Pokémon was she after? Rain carefully toyed with her hair as she looked back over at Ryusuke. “I was looking for just a few really. Um... Th-There was Phanpy, the little blue thing with the long nose. Was kind of interested in Sandshrew, too.” she began, gazing back forward as she thought. “I heard something about a Rhyhorn, and I kinda remember what it is, but…” trailing off, Rain glanced upwards briefly in thought. From watching her brother’s old tournaments, Rhyhorn did sound vaguely familiar but the image of the Pokémon wasn’t really clicking. She just recalled that it had been rather useful for her brother as well at one point, so surely it would be a good idea to get one for herself as well. With a shrug to dismiss her struggle with her memories, Rain turned her attention back ahead of them. “I’m not trying to be too picky honestly” she tacked on, still trying to figure out just what kind of team she wanted in the end.

CODED BY SYLVIE