Private/Closed Pokemon: A Journey Through Hoenn

[Salted_Apples]

Ernest gave a chuckle towards Filip, before replying: "Yeah, we're headed towards Oldale now. Probably gonna grab some food and a hotel, or something like that. It's a wonderful night, but I'd bet we have a day of traveling ahead of us." The boy then continued at Russel's side, still taking in the astounding countryside of Hoenn.

Hearing this girl, Ernest turned, slightly startled by her very sudden introduction. "Oh, uh, hi. Not to be rude... but who are you? I'm Ernest, and that's Russel." He pointed towards the other teenage male. "If you want directions to Oldale, it's just up ahead - nothing fancy, really. Feel free to tag along if you want, I can be plenty help with directions and all that. Plus, the more the merrier, I suppose." He said, trying to sound as kind as possible towards the clearly shy girl. She looked about his age, if anything.

"Right. So, you're Alolan too, then? Why are you here? Is it something like Val, on business, or just a job for your parents or something?" The boy inquired towards Russel and his myriad of Pokemon, as under the evening sky an assortment of shops and cottages finally arranged into view, and the young teenager's face lit up with excitement. "There it is! Oldale town! One of the finest areas in Alola, I hear the bistros and commercial attractions are top notch!"" Ernest's brisk walk turned into a jog, as him and his mirthful Pokemon began making their way towards the area.
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"John, you know that's not our issue here." Felicia Sturgeon said exasperated, the burgeoning city of Rustboro laid out like a map from her eighth floor windows, it's stone walkways emanating a perpetual feeling of melancholy in the evening tint that now entrenched the Hoenn region.

"Felicia, you're missing the point. Our stock shares have fell 17% since May, and this isn't a sustainable position. You know we're going to need some external help sooner or later. We're on the brink, no, we are in decline. And you know that. There's no use staying in denial, and the RHB is our best bet. It is our issue here, and HR has you fooled if you think otherwise." John Veerman reasoned. Why did she not get it?

As the head of Board Committee B, this was a genuine decision for Felicia. The Team Rocket Hoenn Branch, or RHB, had always been a bit of a behind the curtains friend of the Devon Corp, acting as enforcers and visionaries in their time of corporate need. Some may call it corrupt, but it was just necessity to survive on the market these days. But this wasn't just paid assistance, if the corporation complied with this, it could very well mean full control. And who knows where the company would be taken from there? Sure, they would still get paychecks to keep the lights on, but what would this mean for Rustboro? For Hoenn?

(woo finally posted)

 

[waluigipinball]

"Sorry if I startled you..." murmured the redhead, tucking her cold hands into her sweater sleeves. She inhaled deeply, trying to calm herself down so she could talk relatively normally to this group. "Um, my name's Saiorse. And... th-that's Snooch." the girl gestured to her Mudkip, her blue gaze studying the other for a long moment. He appeared to be around her age, most of the gathered trainer did; which was generally comforting to her. It was slightly nervewracking to her to be offered a place among this congregation, and she covered her mouth, looking up as if lost in thought. "Uh. Yeah... that sounds... that sounds good. Good! Fun." she awkwardly mumbled, inwardly slapping herself for such a muddled response to a simple question. "Sorry." she then added, her chronic apologeticness starting to creep up on her.

 

[Vaporeonn]

It was getting dark. Laika, the Poochyena, was still following Kai closely, but the boy got used to that quickly. She was pretty cute and cheerful, to his surprise. Liked to be petted. Needed a wash, too. Kai knew he'd have to do that himself, but he first needed a washroom. And probably a place to stay overnight. He saw some decent motels on his search, so he planned on letting the others know about them.
Kai's Komala got used to Laika quickly, too. Although she was currently sleeping in her PokeBall, Komala met the Poochyena, and they got along quite fine, considering the whole log stealing incident. Kai was glad, since they'd be spending much more time together.

Soon, they were out of Oldale, and Kai followed the yellow path hoping the rest of the group stayed on track. Luckily, he wasn't wrong, and he could see Ernest, Russel, and everyone else. He realised he couldn't remember all of their names. He cringed at that – curse his bad memory – but there'd be plenty of time to get to know them. "Hey!" he ended up running the last bit of road he had left, and greeted the group. "Good news. I found Komala's log. This little guy," Kai gestured to Laika With his head. "That's the culprit. She's pretty cool, though." Laika hid behind Kai the whole time, and the boy remembered how distrustful she actually was. That was something they needed to work on. He didn't have Laika's PokeBall, he couldn't catch her in one, so she'd be with them all the time. He hoped they'd all get used to each other soon. Kai then continued, "I saw some motels in Oldale; We could spend the night there."

With that out of the way, Kai noticed a new arrival (at least, he though she was one). A girl with red hair, and what seemed like a Mudkip next to her. "Hey," Kai greeted her, as softly as he could. She seemed like the shy type, so he didn't want to scare her off. "We haven't met. I'm Kai. I'm assuming you're going to be joining us?"

 

[waluigipinball]

She noticed and appreciated that the others seemed to be tantative around her outwardly shy atmosphered, and her first smile of the day graced her lips. "Um... hi, hi there. Nice t-t-t-t-to-" she sighed, her stutter getting caught on her t's- "...meet you, Kai. Sorry... I'm, uh, I'm Saiorse." He seemed to have gone to Oldale and back, bringing news of motels- something that at least comforted her, though she did have that nagging fear that she'd have to socialise with the receptionist. Her gaze then befell the Poochyena, Laika, and her eyes lit up. Her older brother had a Poochyena who she absolutely loved to death, so it felt like home having one here. She dropped to a crouch, Snooch clambering up onto her arched back as she looked with admiration at the Pokémon. Snooch poked her face, hankering after attention and getting jealous of Laika as Saiorse greeted her. "Hiya!" she chimed, grinning. "Nice to meet you, Laika."

 

[Salted_Apples]

Ernest nodded towards Kai. "Yep, she's a new addition. Oldale is right up ahead, anyways, did you see anything? Motels, restaurants, all that? Would be pretty helpful to be quite honest, I've only been to Oldale a few times - and that was a while ago. So I guess most of this is alien to all of us, if that's any comfort to all of you Alolan folk. Oh, her name is Saiorse, I believe."

With that, Ernest kept his swift movement towards the town - finally crossing the official threshold into the area. He looked around as a, warm, cozy small town feeling engulfed his consciousness. A warm glow from street lamps and bakeries provided a dim yellow cast over the quickly darkening area, before he turned to the others, making it clear he now meant business.

"Okay. I'm gonna head up to one of the motels over there and grab us some rooms and keys and stuff. Anybody wanna come with me? I'm sure it would be an, er, learning experience?" The hell is that supposed to mean? Ernest inwardly asked himself. A learning experience? You sound like a Class A stalker, dip shit. . . All the while Ernest was self deprecating himself, he waited hopefully for an answer to his previous statement. He just really didn't want to screw anything up, especially with one of his first groups of friends - not this soon, at least, he had too much to see, too much to do on this large scale excursion. Especially with all these. . . people. He had been doing well so far, he just had to keep up the charisma. Fake it till' you make it, Ernest presumed...

 

[Pjnm13]

"Sure ill come with you." said Pj. When Ernest and Pj got to the motel the receptionist gave them a warm welcome and gave them some keys to their rooms. Pj went to look for the others.
(Sorry for the short post just not sure what more should i put here)

 

[Vaporeonn]

"It's nice to have you with us, Saorise." Kai smiled. The girl – Saorise – didn't seem to enjoy socializing too much, so Kai didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable by pestering her with questions she probably didn't want to answer. Maybe after they got to know each other better. Laika seemed to like her, though. She had no trouble letting the redhead pet her, and Kai was happy the Poochyena wasn't as shy as he thought she'd be. Maybe Laika saw herself in Saorise, too – both were shy at first. "She likes you," Kai noted. The redhead seemed to have a talent for communicating with Pokemon. He thought it was cool.

The group proceeded to Oldale. Kai had to admit the town looked charming under the moonlight. The streetlights added onto it, softly illuminating the ground. Ernest suggested someone to come with him, and check into a motel. "I'll come with, too," Kai volunteered after another boy did. He spent too much time away from the group, and missed out on getting to know everyone. Besides, Ernest was someone from Littleroot as well, a town Kai lived in now. It wouldn't hurt to become closer with him.

"So, Ernest, PJ," Kai started, once they separated from the rest. "What made you set off on a journey?" He probably could've asked a less invasive question, but what was said couldn't be taken back, and he hoped the two boys wouldn't take it badly.

 

[waluigipinball]

"Thanks, Kai. You know... it's... good to have you guys, um, around to accompany me," she mumbled, her tone friendlier than it had been at first despite her stuttered pauses. As Laika allowed Saiorse to pet her, the redhead's grin grew wider. Indeed, she found it much, much easier to talk to Pokémon than to humans. She scratched the Poochyena behind the ear, a place which every Poochyena that she'd met had enjoyed. "Yeah, I'm glad she does..." Saiorse murmured softly, absentmindedly- it was remarkable how she could communicate so naturally when not overthinking everything

Saiorse grinned awkwardly, tucking some hair behind her ear on instinct, but then immedaitely flipping it back to cover half of her face. She got up from her crouching position to stand up, stumbling a little and feeling a little bit dizzy at the speed at which she got up. The girl almost fell into Ernest, but managed to just stop herself. "Oh! Sorry..." she murmured, turning her face away. Hearing his question she shrugged her shoulders up to hug her face, and nodded rapidly, unsure of how to act around people; Pokémon had been her closest companions, they didn't judge someone the same way people did. "Yeah, I... yeah, sounds, um, sounds good. Yeah. I could do with some... learning experience..." she trailed off at the last part, not quite sure of what Ernest had meant- yet, she had said it anyway. She followed along, lagging slightly behind but still close to the others.

Her face mirrored awe as Oldale came into sight. The lights there were nothing like they were back in little old Pacifidlog, where a few old fisherman would hand fairy lights off of their rooves- no, this was positively illuminated. "Wow..." she exhaled, brushing her hair out of her face yet again, exposing her often-hidden features.

 

[Salted_Apples]

Ernest nodded to both of them, once again appreciative of the cooperative abilities that were obviously present in this group of young trainers. Before they set off, the teenage boy took out both of the devices that held his duo of Pokemon, as it was pretty clear they were exhausted from the excitement of the day, as well. "Alright, you guys definitely deserve a break here. Have a nice rest, and I'll see you both tomorrow." Both of them replied with understanding, and thankful nods.

"Shrew, Shrew!"

"Pup!"

When they had drawn away from the group, and Kai had asked both of them the question, Ernest was a bit taken aback by the inquisitiveness of the question, but that was the point of a question; wasn't it? The boy took a little sigh, mulling over his potential answers to this inquisitiveness. This Kai person is certainly a more extraverted character than I first assumed, probably will be helpful in the future, then. Ernest thought.

"Well, my mom and dad first met on their journeys, so it's kind of a family tradition here, I guess. When it came my time, of course my parents were pretty enthusiastic about it, and it's always been a dream of mine since I was a little kid, anyways. So I guess it's just more of a recreational thing. Plus, I might even meet some nice people along the way, most of the reason I charged so headstrong into this group, so..." Without completely finishing this thought, Ernest began walking towards the doors of the motel, and exchanged some words with he secretary. After a few minutes of talking, he managed to acquire the keys to their rooms. There were only three bloody rooms available, though, so they would have to work something out. Just an inconvenience.

Ernest walked out of the hotel, coming back to the other two boys and Saiorse. "Alright, I got the keys, finally. Only three rooms left though, apparently they get some good business here as a stop for tourists headed to Petalburg. We can work something out though, apparently it's actually a pretty spacious area. Well kept for a motel of such small magnitude." He said, somewhat relieved to have a surefire place to stay for the night.

 

[waluigipinball]

The Irish girl kept quiet until they arrived by the motel, inside which Ernest disappeared for several minutse, coming out with keys. "Oh, thanks!" Saiorse exclaimed, showing her excitement toward a person for perhaps the first time on this journey. "Now I won't have to talk to the receptionist," she sighed in relief- but then, the bad news came, and her face crumbled. "O-Oh, r-right... well, um... I don't mind sharing with anyone, if you.... if you, uh, need to." Oh, Arceus- why did she say that? That would be supremely awkward. But, maybe one of them would find it weird to share with a girl. She wouldn't say so though, since... well, that would be embarassing. Offering and then taking it back? What did she want, to look like some sort of idiot?

 

[NDB]

“Going around in a group sounds like fun,” Val said after thinking for a moment. “However, I feel like I’ll just slow you guys down with my research. I don’t know how long I’ll be where I need to be and I might just be dead weight at certain times.” Seeing the commotion and everyone leaving toward Odale Town, Val decided to tag along for now. She didn't know how long she'd be with the group, but at least until Rustboro City. There she'd start her research and she figured everyone else would take on the gym or something. Maybe she'd take on the gym after she was finished with her research in Rustboro. Who knew what the future held for her.

 

[Sukoku]

Filip followed his group, he wasn't familiarized with Hoenn, so he took some time to understand what was going on, he then got next to Ernest, looking around and exhaling. "Ahhh... I'm pretty tired, I don't know, I'm not sure if we will reach Petalburg so soon, we might need to camp in the woods, so, if I were you, I'd start buying what we need to survive the next few days," Filip said, looking at Ernest and smirking, "hey, is there room for one more? I don't want to sleep on the dirt, so yeah," Filip finished, looking inside the motel. "Wow, it is pretty small, and this isn't really a small place if you think about it..." Filip said, rubbing his head.

Torchic laid down on Filip's head, closing its eyes and sleeping on Filip's head, and Filip then turned his head towards the new person in the group. "Oh, hi! I didn't notice you here! How are ya?" Filip said, chuckling, "my name is Filip!"

 

[Pjnm13]

Pj started talking, being careful not to raise his voice too much since he annoyed people usually. "So im from the Cinnabar Islands in Kanto, where Blaine had his gym, theres a pokemon lab where they research fossils. It also had a mansion in which there is a key to the gym. Nearby are the Seafoam Islands too which i spent most of the time because there was an eruption at the Cinnabar Islands, destroying almost everything. But I set out on a journey because I wanted to meet Professor Birch, and get my first pokemon. When I finally decided to go on a journey I got a little sad since I didnt want to leave my friends, ive always been very close to them. And to be honest im not thinking on going back to the Cinnabar islands. It sure took me a long time to go away from home, but im glad i meet Eevee and you guys."

 

[Salted_Apples]

Ernest paused for a minute, looking to Saiorse, then to the other boys. Somebody is gonna have to share with her . . . He thought. Well, he didn't want to look like a child at least. And maybe this would be an opportunity? Fuck it. He thought quickly, before locking his gaze back towards the red haired girl. He took a moment to look her over, hopefully in a not creepy looking way, before responding once again: "Uh, I'd be fine to share with you, anyways. I mean, given the number of our group, we're in a bit of a pickle here. If we have three room keys, then we'll have two people to a room. Wait, no, Filip will have to take to another one. . . Since Val is almost here, I'll say she gets the last room with Kai or something - after all, she's here on business, and I wouldn't want to intrude on that with any personal matters."

Adrenaline was still pumping through Ernest as he said all this, the usual rush he got when he did so much interaction all at once, maybe it was why he was saying such stupid things. Personal matters? What's that mean? You're weirding her out, you creep! He thought frantically, before pocketing a room key for himself, handing one over to Russel, and then also giving one of the objects over to Val. Ernest then looked to an engraving on his key.

R O O M 1 4

 

[Red Gallade]

Russel smiled at everyone, especially the newcomer who was now known to him as Saiorse. "I'm just here to do some training that shies away from the typical island trials everyone does, I'm aware that they're more unique compared to what happens in other regions, but I still wanna try them out before I decide on my island challenges back home, besides someday, I hope to travel the world so I figured Hoenn would be a good start." He said as he went into the hotel and went to rent himself a room for himself, he didn't want to share with anyone; not because he was selfish, but as a means to avoid any... uncomfortable moments. When he heard Ernest say he share a room with Sariorse, he couldn't help but playfully nudge him, despite the fact he may have to share a room with someone as well, much to his annoyance. "Be careful when in there." He said with a light smirk before he was given his key. "Ah, cheers, I'll head to my room, see ya guys!" He said as he headed to his room.

Once in his room, he helped himself to one of his sandwiches that he saved from lunch earlier today, not his best choice for dinner but he had to eat something. After eating, he took off his coat and shoes and got out his Pokémon's Poké balls. "Alright you too, bedtime." He said as he returned them... but came back out seconds afterward and climbed on to the bed with him. "What? Are you sure about that guys?" He asked as he went to lie down. His Pokémon nodded and began to sleep on either side of him, cuddling him lightly, Russel slowly smiled and pulled the Pokémon closer to him. "Alright, you win. G'night guys." He said before he and his Pokémon drifted to sleep.

 

[waluigipinball]

Much similar to Ernest, Saiorse didn't want to appear immature, so nodded in conformation of her earlier offer. "Fine by me." murmured the girl, acknowledging Russels smile of greeting with a nod in return. "At least... at least none of us are gonna have to, um, to like... sleep in a tent on Route 101 and get jumped in the middle of the night." Saiorse said, slight humour in her quiet tone. Her gaze flickered back down to the key in Ernest's hand, and she pursed her lips, swallowing. She felt Snooch, who was perched comfortably on her shoulder, pat her gently on the head, and she exhaled softly, nodding. Despite Ernest's inner fears, he wasn't weirding her out at all- in fact, she related to him in that respect, saying slightly awkward things. She knew how uncomfortable it was when people pointed it out, so she chose not to. "Okay, well... I'm sort of, uh, tired... so I'm gonna head off to the room. 14, right? Yeah." she said, glancing down at the key. "Are you, um... coming with, Ernest, or... staying behind?"

 

[Sukoku]

Filip raised an eyebrow, slightly moving his head to the left. "Uhhh, I think I can sleep in the PokéCenter," Filip said, pointing to the PokéCenter. "I think that they have hotel rooms there, and I'm pretty sure we don't need to pay for them. I'm pretty sure they have that thing here in Hoenn," Filip said, trying to sound as good as possible, and he then smiled, looking at Russel and waving, then rolling his eyes around and exhaling once again, adjusting his backpack, turning around.

Filip walked over the PokéCenter, getting inside it and looking up at the second floor, noticing that there were no rooms there, and he instantly thought CRAP! I will have to sleep in the motel! No... there must be something... Filip walked to the second floor, and he just confirmed what he had just seen, he then proceeded to walk back down, and then get up to Ernest and the others, shaking his head and sighing. "Damn it!" He muttered.

 

[NDB]

When Val finally arrived at the hotel, she regrouped with the rest of the group. She received one of the keys and spun it on one of her fingers, listening to Ernest's splitting up of the group. She looked at the room number on her key: 15. At least the group would be somewhat close together. "I'm sure there will be plenty of room for more than two to sleep in a room," Val said. "Depends on what the set up of the room is. I'm going to head up to the room and Kai can join me later when he's ready." She headed to the room and unlocked the door. Inside were two beds and a couch. She went over to the couch and checked it out, finding that it pulled out into another. Since she was the first one in the room, she claimed one of the beds by putting her bag on it. Val then left the room to find the rest of the group, if they were still in the lobby, to let them know that her room had room for one other person.

 

[Salted_Apples]

Ernest paused for a second, before giving a nervous smile to Saiorse. "Uhh, sure. I mean, why not, if we're gonna be spending the night there? Might as well get accustomed with our surroundings, right?" He gave an obvious forced chuckle, desperately trying to lighten the extremely awkward mood.

Ernest made several careful paces around the interior of the motel, trying to find the number corresponding to that printed onto the designated brass key that had been given to him. After a few minutes, he finally found a room, bearing the number 14 on a silver plate near the height of it. He inserted the key into the slot, before turning the knob, finally opening the room. It was decently spacious, with two beds placed about seven or eight feet away from each other. There was a small mini - fridge, television set, and window at the southern most end of the room opposite to the door, a light red glow seeping in through the cracks of the curtains. (A product of the neon motel sign that laid outside of the room, under the Hoenn moonlight. Ernest also noted that there was a beige sofa sitting next to the TV set.)

After Ernest set his bag down on the bed that was positioned on the right side of the room, a small whistle echoed through the room, a product of him attempting to break the heavy silence that seemed to suddenly replace the awkwardness of outside. He turned to Saiorse, not really knowing what to say.

"So, uh, nice room?"

 

[waluigipinball]

Saiorse too studied the room as they entered, her blue gaze flickering from object to object. It was fairly standard, but actually bigger than her own room at home. A smile spread across her pale lips, as she set her bag down and flopped on the bed back-down, staring at the ceiling. Outside, it seemed as if one could cut the tension with a knife, but it was slightly lighter here, despite the lingering silence. As he spoke, Saiorse sat up, her hair slightly messy from her flop on the bed. Her lower legs hung off the end of the bed, her toes just brushing the floor. She nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, it's almost... it's almost as big as my house." she chuckled, tilting her head to rest it on one shoulder. She took a deep breath closing her eyes as she exhaled. Then, the redhead got off of the bed, opening her bag and taking out a plain, grey-blue t-shirt, what she would wear to bed.

 

[Sukoku]

"A room? I'm in, Val!" Filip said, waving to her and slowly approaching her, trying to not be weird. "Uh, so... how is your life going, Val?" Filip said, putting his hands behind his head and looking at her. "By the way, what is the number of the room? I don't feel like waiting, I kind of want to sleep as soon as possible, I'm really tired!" Filip said, and he then just started to think that what he just said could be really weird for Val, so he tried to break the weird sensation he was having with a light laugh, that echoed through the motel and made Filip worried, his breathing started to get uncommonly destabilized, and he started to sweat, just before his Torchic started to snore, making Filip taking a deep breath in, and then proceed to smirk.

 

[Pjnm13]

Pj wondered to himself how everyone else feeled... He knew he felt this was a little awkward but he couldnt be silent all the night "Well then I guess ill go with Russel, goodnight to all of you!" he said as he left the lobby and went towards room 14. When he got to the room he rapidly put his bag on the second bed he thought "Well this is weird im entering a room with a sleeping person". He started going around the room, realizing Rusell and his pokemon were in a deep sleep and quietly seeing what it had to offer, this room reminded him of the hotel he used to stay in at the Seafoam islands after the Cinnabar Island's volcano erupted. He saw a forest in the distance and contemplated its beauty, without having even gotten there. He had bought some extra water and food for everyone which he put in the mini-fridge in the room, gave himself and Eevee a bath, and he put on his favorite t-shirt and shorts, then he drifted to sleep.

 

[Salted_Apples]

Ernest let out a laugh, and this time it was actually genuine - letting out all the thick tension that had been building up in the lobby. He then looked over to Saiorse. "Much better in here, my Arceus. I'm gonna be honest with you, it was getting pretty awkward out there. Don't know why there's such a, you know, stigma around this shit. If that makes any sense, of course. . ." He stood up, walking to the wooden door that served as an entrance to the room, and closing it, before locking it with his key.

Ernest then pocketed the key, looking over to the girl. "So, why are you here? Are you native to Hoenn, visiting, just on a journey? I mean, pretty sure we discussed it earlier, but I'm still curious about your background." Oh, hell, did that sound creepy? He worried, shifting his weight before looking around the room uncomfortably. For some familiar company, Ernest took out his poke balls - before letting his Pokemon out of their captivating devices. They were all sleeping, but their peaceful presence calmed the boy down a good bit. "Sorry if I'm being a bit, uh, over inquisitive..." He then laid down on the bed, falling heavily into his thoughts (Mostly the reasonable side of him conflicting with a pubescent surge of curiosity) while simultaneously waiting for a response. Maybe he was too sudden with this out of the blue question...

(I hate this post so much lmao)

 

[NDB]

"Its room 15," Val said as she walked with Filip to the room. "My life's very busy helping Professor Burnet. Her research is a big deal in the Alola region." When they got to the room, Val stopped in front of the door, turning to Filip. "You're going to have to wait out here for a minute. I need to change." With that, she slipped into the room and locked the door. Not wanting to make her roommate to wait too long, she quickly changed out of her normal clothes and into her sleeping attire: a white over-sized t-shirt and black workout shorts. She let her hair fall free after taking it out of the ponytail it normally was in. Now changed, she went over and opened the door for her roommate.

"Thanks for waiting," she said. Val went over and hopped onto her bed and opened up her laptop that she pulled from her bag. "To continue on your earlier question. I'm her direct assistant, helping her with practically anything. She would've been here with me, but she had other pressing matters in Alola to attend to."

 

[Sukoku]

Filip opened his mouth, nodding. "Wow, I wish I could help someone like a Professor directly..." Filip said, and nodding when she told him to wait for her to change. Filip started to think if he was actually being common, he was still sweating, and his hands started to shake, and his heart raced, and when she opened the door, he smiled, nodding and getting inside the room.

"Uhhh, I won't change much, I will only take my shoes off, so yeah!" Filip said, putting his backpack on his bed, sitting down on it and untying his shoelaces, taking his shoes off, and then taking his socks off, placing them inside his shoes, turning his head to Val. "I see... I've heard that Alola is really hot, but my region is just cold every year... I'm not even used to Hoenn yet... I even bought a new shirt just to come to Hoenn... and I also heard that Alola doesn't have Gym leaders, but they have some kind of challenges... is that true?" Filip said, waiting for a response while shaking his left leg.

 

[waluigipinball]

She scrunched her pyjama shirt into a ball, tossing it from hand to hand. When he laughed, she chuckled quietly too. He was definitely more comfortable now that they were both away from the judging eyes of the lobby, and though Saiorse herself was still slightly nervous, that was due to her nature rather than any tension in the room. She nodded slowly, pursing her lips. "Yeah, you're right... I guess it's just... just something else society has, uh, burdened us to overthink." she murmured, shrugging. She took off her sweater and shoes, leaving herself in a white vest-top and her usual black jeans, stuffing the clothes in her bag in an unorganised manner.

Hearing his question, she allowed yet another smile to curve her lips. "No, don't apologise." she said- slightly hypocritical given how much she apologised herself, but... "I'm from Hoenn, yes, but... I've lived with my older brother in Pacifidlog Town for most of my, um... most of my life. So, uh, I haven't had much chance to explore Hoenn." she explained, clasping her hands together. "I... I want to do contests, actually. When my mum was still around, she used to t-t-t-t-take me to see the contests in Lilycove City about, um... once a year. They always amazed me so much, and... I want to try it. But... Snooch doesn't really like dressing up, so... I'm planning on using Fiona for my, um first one." She immediately realised how much she had said, and red flushed across her cheeks. "Oh, sorry, I rambled so much..." she apologised. 'So... I heard earlier how you got here, but... uhh, are you going to go after gym badges, or... something else?"

 

[Salted_Apples]

To her question, Ernest gave an indifferent sigh. "I don't know. I've never really been much as a battler, in my eyes Pokemon are actual companions, not just toys for some kind of morbid amusement. I remember dreaming about this as a kid, mostly because my dad would always tell me stories about his time running around the region. So, like I said earlier, I'm just carrying on a family tradition, though it's not like I was forced to - I did do this of my own accord."

Ernest then took a moment to think over what Saiorse has just said, and he immediately came to the conclusion she was much more intelligent than she originally seemed - and saw much of himself inside of her, as well. She did seem very shy, though, a bit quick to divulge that kind of personal information in a stranger, he noted. The girl clearly possessed a very self deprecating mindset, and obviously a staunch introvert.

"Well, don't worry about rambling." Ernest reassured her. "I find you plenty interesting anyways, plus even if you were weird for rambling, I would be much worse. Trust me. Well, if you can trust a random stranger you just met on Route 101. Heh." He then chuckled at his own joke, feeling the social tension slowly dissolve form his brain, something about this girl instantly relaxing him - erasing any fear of social judgement. Despite this, Ernest remained wide awake - still mulling over dozens of thoughts that clouded any will to lose himself into an abyss of unconsciousness.

 

[NDB]

"Yeah," Val said, answering Filip's question about the challenges in Alola. "They're called Trials and trainers get Z-crystals instead of badges. Z-crystals power up a Pokemon's move, unleashing its full potential in one attack. They require a lot of energy so they aren't able to be used in quick succession." She typed on her laptop, mostly notes about what to ask the researchers at the Devon Corp. She knew they were mostly a technology company, but she had a feeling someone at the company would know something.

"What about you, Filip?" she looked up from her laptop at him. "Where are you from?"

 

[Sukoku]

Filip's eyes widened as she questioned him, and he started to shake again, he then looked at her face, muttering something before shaking his head. "Oh! I'm from a region near Kalos, near the southeast, and I'm here because my mom and my dad came for work, and since they don't have much time to take care of me, they just let me go out and explore Hoenn, they also gave me three Pokémon, a Quilava, a Mime Jr. and an Inkay..." Filip said.

The Torchic put its big head inside its chest, finally sleeping, and Filip took it off his head, looking at it. "Oh, I guess it wasn't really sleeping before, uh... what should I do with... WAIT! What is its gender?!?!?" Filip said, looking between Torchic's legs and noticing that it was a female! Filip then grinned, putting it down on the ground, near his bed.

 

[waluigipinball]

She nodded along with what he said- a family tradition, just as he had said so earlier. A part of her felt stupid for even asking, but he didn't seem outwardly annoyed that he'd had to repeat himself a bit, so... she swept the worry under the rug. "Yeah... Pokémon Battles are fine for other people to do, but... I don't like seeing Snooch and Fiona in pain. I guess you... feel the same sort of, umm... feeling."

Much reciprocated, something about him relaxed her, as she could tell in a certain way that he wouldn't judge her for her rambling. "Thank you," she murmured at his response, telling her he found her interesting- that certainly wasn't a statement she heard too often. Quite unlike Ernest, however, Saiorse was growing rather tired. She stretched her arms out and yawned rather widely, turning her face away from the other to do so. The redhead giggled at his remarks of rambling and of him being a random stranger. "Well... I think I trust you." she said, smiling. "But you better not blow it." the girl teased, getting up from her sitting position on the bed and grabbing her pyjamas.

"I'm... pretty tired, so... I'm gonna get to bed, I think." Saiorse remarked, making her way into the bathroom and closing the door behind her. She came out about five minutes later dressed for bed, her ginger hair tied in a messy bun. Snooch jumped onto the end of the bed and sat, curled up, and croaking for his trainer to lie. She did, getting into the warm covers and settling down. "I'm gonna turn off the bedside lamp, but, um, you can keep yours on if you... if you want." she stated, turning off the light as she had said. "Goodnight."

 

[Salted_Apples]

A wide grin spread across Ernest's face at her remarks, and he rolled over to turn off his lamp, all light draining from the room, except for the red glow that steadily creeped in through the uncovered crevices of the window. He cleared his throat, before pulling off the white and blue striped polo sweatshirt he had been wearing, revealing a solid color yellow T - Shirt underneath, before Ernest planted the extra garment next to the Sandshrew sleeping on the floor. The boy then pulled himself under the warmth that the covers provided, but had some turmoil attempting to exactly get to sleep. Funny how the harder you tried to do something, and the more one thought about it, the harder it really became. Amongst his thoughts, Ernest finally saw no point in continuing his contemplations, and began a slow drift into sleep. . .
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The light tap of heels on solid floor echoed throughout the halls of the Devon Corporation building, as Felicia Sturgeon began making her way over towards the elevator leading down to ground level. She wasn't exactly happy, as the rest of her day had devolved into spiteful debating with John, before the standard drone of corporate board meetings. Well, Felicia, this is just a product of Capitalism. You either get rich, get broke, or get even - nobody really said what you can and can't do to get there. The woman told herself, as she dawned one of her many grim poker faces.

Felicia finally made her way through the winding maze of a building that was the Devon corp, reaching the graceful stainless steel elevator that laid ahead of her. She swiftly pressed a button on the panel that laid next to the large doors, a satisfactory ding ringing out for a few moments. It was coming up, somebody was inside of it - but why? It was well past closing hours, nobody should be coming up, besides, she was one of the last employee's -

Ding~

The elevator doors opened, and a muscular man in a black uniform carrying two boxes exited, brushing past her like she was some kind of house fly. Rubbing her shoulder, she looked back, and could almost swear that there was a dark maroon 'R' on the cap that he wore. Maybe some kind of office supplies shipment? Felicia wondered silently, before stepping into the elevator. The doors slowly closed shut, and the platform she stood on began rapidly descending. Why the hell would there be a supplies shipment in the middle of the night? Something wasn't right here.

Her elevator stopped, and the doors opened - as she carefully walked into the lobby. Felicia made out several figures standing there, arguing with somebody. It was John. One of the men in the uniform grabbed his shirt violently, before shoving him against the wall. Fear rose up in her chest, as she saw the burly figure holding John draw something from their back pocket - it was a weapon. She wanted to call for help, but when her mouth opened, all that came out from her throat was a quiet, pathetic, terrified little wheeze.

"Damn it! Oscar, get that other shipment up there!"

The other man quickly moved, grabbing another free crate that was stacked neatly and walking back around towards the hallway. Felicia turned to run, but a yell rang out from behind her: "HEY, STOP RIGHT THERE!"

It was a group of Team Rocket grunts.

 

[NDB]

“That’s nice of your parents to give you some Pokémon,” Val said. She typed a few more things on her laptop before putting it away. “I befriended both of my Pokémon while exploring Alola. This was before working for the professor. I’d show you them but their asleep right now. The boar ride here was rather long and tiring for all of us.”

“I’d like to visit Kalos some day,” Val said laying back on her bed. “I heard it’s a rich cultured region.” She let out a yawn as stretched her arms above her head. “But for now, I’m here to explore the Hoenn Region. I’m going to call it a night.” She glances at the clock on the nightstand. “I like getting an early start. Night, Filip.”

 

[Sukoku]

Filip smiled, and then nodded. "Yeah, my parents were always cool to me! I have incredible parents!" Filip said, noticing that he had stopped sweating and shaking, he then opened a grin, he had just managed to survive a night out of his home! He was really happy in the inside but he was a bit tense, he was already missing his parents, but he was feeling a bit hungry, and he didn't know how to prepare food, so he turned his head to Val. "I've been to Kalos once! It is a cool place!" Filip said, "I think I'm starting to develop some bonding with my Pokémon, so yeah! And I know that boats are really annoying and tiring, I experienced that myself!"

After Val said she was going to sleep, his eyes widened, and he entered a panic state. "Oh god! I don't know how to cook anything!!!" He said, putting his hands on his head and getting up, walking to the small, broken kitchen and opening the fridge, but there was nothing... he then looked around, and his eyes widened. "Oh god..." He muttered, going back to the bed. "Val... are you already sleeping? I got a small problem here..." Filip said, sounding a bit shy.

 

[NDB]

Luckily for Filip, Val couldn't fall asleep quickly. Her mind races a lot, especially when she's relaxing, as she constantly thinks about . She rolled over and sat up, rubbing her eyes. "What's wrong Filip?"

(OOC: sorry this is short. Just not much to work with. )

 

[Sukoku]

Filip looked down with a nervous smile, and he started to sweat again. "I-I don't know how to cook, and I've just got myself into some trouble because I can't find any snack and nor can I find any food, and even if I did, I wouldn't be able to prepare it, so... do you have anything with you? I'm kind of in an emergency here," Filip said, biting his lips and twitching his eyes. Filip was extremely nervous, he was trying to sound cool, and maybe try to hide the fact that he lied before when he said he could make a lot of foods, so he tried to calm himself down by playing with his thumb.

 

[Vaporeonn]

Kai let Val and Filip go up to their room before him. Kai planned on giving Laika a bath before going up to the room – she had to sleep with them, but she couldn't if she was dirty. So, he took a trip to the Oldale PokeCenter, where they have a large washroom just for Pokemon. After talking with the nurse, the boy headed towards it. The washroom was mostly white, with the tiles on the floor having a light blue tint. There were two baths where Kai could wash Laika, and there were shampoos next to both of them. "Alright then," he said after entering. "We're gonna get you clean."

---

The cleaning process was more difficult than Kai imagined. Firstly, Laika didn't appreciate getting put into water, and after Kai managed to get her into a bath, he had a tough time finding the right temperature. Laika almost escaped a few times. In the end, though, everything was well, and Laika looked like any other well-kept Poochyena. They were both ready to go back to the motel. Room number 15, if he remembered correctly.

He hoped neither of them were asleep, as the doors made a loud noise when opened. Luckily for Kai, both Filip and Val were awake, and seemed to be in some sort of conversation. "Sorry if I disturbed you," he apologized, then scanned the room. There were two beds and a couch, and it seems like Kai was supposed to sleep on it. He wasn't too thrilled, but even if he had been there from the start, he would've probably given up the beds to the girl and the kid. Being kind, and a gentleman, and all of that. Kai put his bag on the couch, which was already opened. Laike jumped up on it right after.

 

[NDB]

"I don't have any food on me," Val told Filip as she swung her legs out of the bed. "But I did see small shop in the lobby. We can grab something from there and come back to cook it if we need to. I am a bit hungry now that you mention food." Val stood up from her bed and grabbed the room key. Going barefoot and without changing her clothes, she headed to the door and looked back at Filip. "You ready?

 

[Sukoku]

Filip looked at Val, nodding and getting his flip flops out of his backpack and getting them on. "Let's go!" Filip said, rubbing his stomach. "Uhhh, is the food there like candy bars and things like that?" Filip said, noticing that the door had opened, and Kai went in. "Oh, hey! What is your name again? Aren't you that boy from the Pokémon battle from before?" He said, tilting his head.

(Sorry for the short post, nothing much to say)

 

[NDB]

"Oh hey," Val said to Kai. She watched him set his bag down and claim the couch bed. "Filip and I are heading down to get some food. You're more than welcome to tag along." With that said, Val left the room and into the hallway. It was only a few minutes to get to the little lobby store. There were a lot of snack food like chips, cookies, crackers, and candy, but there was a frozen food section and some fruit on a stand against one of the walls. There was also a refrigerated Val grabbed some crackers and cookies for later, a frozen tv dinner and a couple of apples and a couple bottles of water. She went to the counter and paid for her items, putting them in a bag and waiting for Filip. "So Filip, what're you gonna get?"

 

[Sukoku]

Filip walked down the hallway, and as he looked at the thing she could buy, h instantly chose the thing that would satisfy him the most: chips and some water. "I chose mine!" Filip said, picking the chips and putting them on the counter, and then picking up the water, that was still cold, and putting it onto the counter too, he then pulled out some PokéDollars, slipping them towards the attendant, and the attendant picked the PokéDollars and gave Filip the change, and he picked up the water and the chips, looking at Val. "I'm ready!" Filip said, grinning.