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 Posted: Tue Mar 19, 2013 5:13 pm
Robby looked at the banjo and back to the pokemon. Then over towards Takamaru.
The kid was pretty good at catching pokemon, and for now the pokeballs would have to do for storage. That meant killing the things with his bare hands later, not that he expected TK to actually know that. Never fun, but smarter. It meant that you saved as much as possible.
"That's good." He replied, waving at the steel trainer. "Music sounds good too."
Fried, meanwhile, looked a little uncertain about the banjo, but nodded anyway.
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Posted: Tue Mar 19, 2013 8:00 pm
The beach was right next to the pokemon center and across from the lighthouse. The sand was rough and it was small. Most people wouldn't qualify it as a beach. A sweatdrop formed on Moze's head as he grinned. "You'll be sorely disappointed in life going into things with that kind of attitude! Zeraaaa~shashasha!"
"You didn't even answer his-wait!" Salieri shook her head. "How can you not...why...ugh."
There had been people looking down on the Battle Girl her whole life. Whether it was because her gender, or her upbringing, or something else entirely, it didn't matter. It wasn't news to her. She was used to it by now. Clay was just another bullet point on that list to Salieri.
She'd deal with Clay the same way she dealt with everything else. First she'd train, and then when she challenged him for the badge she'd crush him. And then Clay would know firsthand never to judge her the same way. Being Native Unovan meant nothing to her. If he cared so much that he defined her as below him because of it, she'd rise up against him.
But Sal had never seen Moze oppressed like she was before until now. And he didn't even care. If anything, he relented, even though he knew what that awful word meant. Salieri began to wonder how Moze dealt with adversity nowadays.
Right now, it seemed like he just avoided it. Not that Wayne wasn't content to avoid the subject as well. Sal didn't blame him. He couldn't possibly know how to relate, could he?
"This beach sounds lame," she muttered before slurping up noodles herself quietly.
"You won't know until you get there," said Moze as he turned down another street, still leading the way. "So guys, how was that lockdown? I heard Sal's birthday party was poppin', considering it was a teenager's birthday party. Jump's words, not mine."
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Posted: Wed Mar 20, 2013 2:44 pm
Wayne shrugged. "Yeah sure, poppin' or whatever. All I know is that it took me
a lot longer to work out that lampshades are not hats than it should have. Fool
me once, shame on me... Yanno?"
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Posted: Wed Mar 20, 2013 5:05 pm
"Aha, I've made that mistake before. Once you start, you have to stop before it's too late. That reminds me of this one time in Humilau City~"
Salieri wasn't really paying attention to Moze's story as she ate vigorously. There was far too much on her mind. The more she tried to distract herself, the harder it became. I need to do research.
It would have been ideal if Driftveil had a library like Nacrene City did, but Sal knew that wasn't the case. Library books probably wouldn't contain all the answers she was after anyway. Fortunately for trainers in search of information, Pokemon Centers usually contained PCs that they could use for free. She could do her searching there.
Coming back to the real world, Salieri realized the pokemon center was right in front of her. Moze had mentioned it was next to the beach.
"-so you have to use a lot of paper towels. Anyway, I don't think she'll take her Shelmet windsurfing for a while, shashasha. Oh look, we're here!" Moze pointed to the small patch of beach down the stairs.
"...it's, uh..." Sal finished what was left in the bowl and tossed it into the trash. "It's been a really long day so far. I think I'm going to get a room in the center and just...settle down for a bit." She looked up to Moze apologetically. "Can we get dinner together? I'll call you when I'm ready."
Moze nodded. "Of course. I'll pay this time, somehow. Promise."
Sal waved away his promise. "Don't worry about it." She gave him a long hug, burying her face into the robes covering his chest. Moze returned it and patted her on the back. "I'll see you later, Moze."
She stepped towards Wayne. He had been there for her after what happened in Pokeland, and stuck up for Moze. What sort of thanks could she give him after that? Sal looked in Wayne's eyes. "Wayne," she said softly, "...those noodles are on me."
The Battle Girl cracked a small smile, and with that headed into the pokemon center. Moze watched her leave, and when she was gone stopped smiling.
He couldn't help but notice that she came to Driftveil with Wayne. And not N. It was only a few hours ago that Sal had called him. Moze began to consider the possibility that the date had went sour.
"Hey WL, did something...'happen' to my sister today?" Moze asked as he started walking down the stairs leading to the beach. "Besides just before, I mean."
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Posted: Wed Mar 20, 2013 7:55 pm
Sweet, free noodles.
Wayne turned around put his hands in his pockets and gave Moze a weak
smile. He didn't really know where to begin, or even if he should. Today had
turned out to be really strange, even considering all the weird stuff that went
on before it.
"Uhhh... there was this guy. You know N, right? Green hair, kind of a hippy?
Yeah, well, he asked Sal out on a date then told her he's Plasma's leader."
It sounded so stupid to say it out loud. N the leader? The king?
"Honestly, I think he's just kind of delusional. I mean, the guy's a total weirdo
anyway. He's probably just having like a spiralling mental episode. Might be
best to get him some kind of help, actually."
Wayne sighed. "But yeaaaah... I think Sal liked him and he turned out to be
a whack job. Henrietta was all 'don't go beating up terrorists, Salieri!' even
though normally she's all 'it's our duty to go beat up terrorists!'. So she's
probably still pissed about that too, I don't know. Y'know, I'm starting to think
everyone's losing it, man. Seriously."
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Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2013 1:07 pm
Something serious shimmered behind Moze's eyes when Wayne mentioned N's relation to Team Plasma. "I see," he said softly. "So it's one of those days."
The sage musician looked out to the lighthouse. She was so excited when she called me on the phone...Oh, Salieri. You deserve better than this...
"You've all been through a lot lately. Everybody loses it sometimes. No one can withstand all that pressure without releasing some, or else they'll snap. It's when you can't pull it together that you're in trouble." Moze rested his walking stick on his shoulders, draping his arms off it. "Are you holding up alright? Not that I think you're falling apart."
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Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2013 1:18 pm
"Eh, I've been through worse," Wayne said. "I'm more worried about the others,
to be honest. I mean, starting out as a trainer is a big step. There's like this
whole learning curve you've gotta contend with. It really doesn't help when you
have nefarious organisations potentially gunning for you on top of that."
Wayne did have one advantage in all of this: experience. Being a trainer means
putting yourself in harm's way from time to time, and he was used to that. Right
now, he just had to keep himself focused on finding his old friends while making
sure nothing bad happened to the ones he'd made on this journey.
"Aura's cool though. I think everyone's taken getting superpowers in their stride.
It's like, one minute you're leaping tall buildings and then you're like 'holy s**t I'm
late for my gym match!'. It's kind of weird how we've not been picked up by police
yet, buuuut I guess the government's too busy keeping a handle on all the people
the FLF riled up. Plus we're sort of famous now."
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Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2013 3:30 pm
The trainer's talk of a learning curve rang true. Traveling the pokemon world presented a lot of danger that needed to be surpassed in order to move on, whether it was the environment, the pokemon themselves, or other people. Moze had prior experience with that as well, having traveled through bits of Kanto and Johto one summer before trekking through Unova for the last few years.
"Shashasha, the louder you are, the more people hear you. But they don't always listen. The government has a lot on their itinerary. I wouldn't worry about them bagging you anytime soon."
There was a good handful of Aura users around the world, and as soon as one flared for the first time they were bound to be tagged by the WG's satellite. They were surveyed, but since Aura was a natural process the government couldn't do much about it unless the Aura user committed a crime.
"So you're all adjusting. That's great. Practice makes perfect." Moze took a seat on a large rock. He had been walking all day, except for when he met Ska. He was running back then. "Have you learned to flare yet? Alder always told me that it's the final aspect of mastering the basics."
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Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2013 4:05 pm
"I've done it, I just don't... know... what?"
Wayne shook his head. Did he hear that right? He'd only met Alder once, and it
was shortly after the accident at Giant Chasm, the one that had left Tess on
death's door. Alder appeared, saying that the injury was beyond physical - the
damage had been done to Tess' very soul.
He took her on as an apprentice, offering training that was supposed to help her
heal. It was the reason that she knew so much about Aura. Everything she knew
had come from Alder.
"Did you say Alder? As in that huge caveman-looking guy? The regional champion?
That Alder?"
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Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2013 4:10 pm
"Yes, that's what I said. You think he looks like a caveman? Hmmm." Moze scratched his head, thinking. "...I think I know what you mean."
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Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2013 4:44 pm
"Ha, man that is so weird. At first I thought it crazy that Henrietta turned out to
be Tess' cousin, now you're telling me that Alder told you about Aura. I guess it
is a small world."
Wayne paused. "Oh, Tess is my gir--uh-- ex. You do know her, right? Alder took
her as like an apprentice a couple years ago. Dark skin... white hair for some
reason... she also acts really high and mighty.
"You do definitely know who I'm talking about? Cause now I'm feeling kind of
awkward. I'll stop. I'm shutting up now. You may speak."
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Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2013 5:22 pm
He snapped to attention. Tess? Wayne's ex is...Tess?
"Did you, um, hrm." Moze coughed. "I'm one of Alder's apprentices as well. We've met a few times befo-"
His coughing continued, becoming wheezy. Moze hold out a hand for Wayne to wait on him and took out a napkins from his pocket. He coughed into it a few times until it stopped.
Moze's looked down and saw the familiar blood spatter on the napkin. "Sorry, allergies" he muttered as he crumpled the napkin up and put it back in his pocket, hoping that Wayne wouldn't have seen the blood.
He took a deep breath and sat up straight, patting his chest to help clear it. It still felt like his lungs were on fire, but he tried not to look like it felt that way. "Is she, ah, is she the one who broke up with you about a week ago? When I first met you?"
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Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2013 5:39 pm
"Yeah," Wayne said, "Dude, are you okay? You should probably get that looked
at. I mean, there's a hospital right there."
He pointed towards the pokémon center. Glancing down, he had spotted the
bloodied napkin but didn't want to point it out. With how quickly Moze had tried
to keep it out of sight, he was probably embarrassed.
"Contrary to popular belief they do actually help you out if you're not a pokémon.
I think the only time they'll turn you away is if you're drunk. They're there to assist
trainers, after all, though I guess that means drunk people aren't really trainers."
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Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2013 6:12 pm
((I added Moze's profile to Salieri's. It's still under construction, so if there are any silly errors lemme know))
"Shashasha. Thanks, but I can't." Moze cleared his throat. "They're the kind of allergies a pokemon center can't deal with. Don't worry about me, WL. I'm fine."
He stood up and a pang of heat shot through his chest. Just being here with Wayne was causing his sickness to act up again. The guilt he was feeling was fueling the fire. If he talked it out now, maybe some of the pain would go away. Or it would get worse.
Moze knew he'd have to talk eventually. It may be the only way to fix himself up. But his sister came first. She was going through something tough, and he had to help her. It would all be easier to do at another time.
"There are a few things I have to do before I meet See-Sal. I should get going." He stood up and planted his walking staff on the ground, feeling a little shaky. "If you're going to be in Driftveil for the next few days, I'm sure I'll see you around. My number is in the system, so call-oh, right."
Moze rubbed his chin then shrugged. "Eh, it'll all work out in the end."
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Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2013 8:00 pm
((And I drew a picture ninja ))
"See you later, dude," Wayne said with a quick wave. He wasn't sure he really
bought the whole 'allergy' thing, but it was none of his business. The trainer
decided to hurry to the pokémon center.
No doubt Ronin would be annoyed that he didn't get there sooner.
---
"And here are your pokémon," said the nurse, "In future, please try to avoid
large hooks, scythes, claws and impalement. The healing machines can only
do so much."
"I will try to remember to avoid impalement," Wayne said as he took his balls
from the tray and put them back into his pockets. Ronin hadn't been as injured
as he thought. He probably owed Tess a real apology now.
Time was getting on. Wayne was already tired from the day's events but it
wasn't quite time to turn in.
Wait a minute, he thought as he headed outside, Aura's supposed to make
things stronger, isn't it?
He ducked between a pair of buildings where nobody could see him and sat
down on some concrete steps that led up to a door. Wayne closed his eyes
and concentrated.
A few days ago, this would have been really difficult, but by now he could feel
his Aura glowing inside him. It was always there, like a little light at his core,
unnoticed most of the time, but calm and soothing.
He tried to flare it.
The Aura grew rigid, flickered, and Wayne quickly tired out. It was like tensing
a muscle. He thought that flaring was just a matter of making his Aura radiate
as strongly as possible, but it felt like there was something more to it than that.
Maybe it's like the next stage to Aura. So I guess I need to unlock the door or
whatever... huh.
He tried again, gently increasing the intensity of his Aura radiation. Wayne felt
his body grow slightly stronger, more alert. The tiredness he'd been feeling
washed away with the flood of strength from his Aura. Carefully, he stopped
actively radiating his Aura, letting it settle at the level that he'd brought it up to.
This must be what Natural Infusion is like, Wayne thought, I bet over time you
can raise your base level of Aura to make yourself stronger. It's probably way more
difficult than that was once you're at a high level. Great. Now I'm a pokémon.
This would be a lot easier if he had a teacher. Tess had Alder. Wayne sort of
had Tess, but he felt like she was just telling him what things were, rather than
how to do them. And he had a good feeling that his ability wouldn't help either.
Everyone's Aura was unique; even if he obtained someone's experience of using
their Aura, it would be incompatible with his own. Like having the wrong key for a
lock.
"Okay," Wayne said quietly to himself as he got up from the cold step, "I can
forget about learning how to flare. It'll probably come naturally anyway."
He set off walking, heading south. It was time for some real training.
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