Roses by Any other Name

Karina stood in front of the Contest Hall feeling hopeful. If she could get her ribbons then she could compete here and then hopefully meet her idol, Fantina. She pulled her copper curls back out of her face, her green eyes looked up and down the building. She then heard a slight noise and remembered that Ninetales was standing beside her. She was looking determined, this made Karina so happy that she could not put it in words. She needed to get ready and go train some for her contest. As she turned she seen someone standing close by, he looked very interesting.

Rowan was walking towards the contest hall in Hearthome City with Nimbus once again floating besides him. He noticed a trainer with a Ninetales next to her standing out side of the hall. "that is a beautiful Ninetales you have there"

Karina looked at the boy and smiled, "Thank you. She is very sweet although she is known for being a bit dignified." She petted Ninetales who was looking interestedly at the boy. Karina decided that she had best introduce herself, so she walked forward and stuck out her hand to the boy, "Hi, I am Karina. I am an aspiring coordinator."

Rowan glanced at her and smiled at Karina when she introduced. She seemed like a nice person. "Rowan Halthorn pleasure to meet you" His attention went back to the Ninetales shortly after that. Nimbus was getting all excited for a chance to meet new people. "Cast Castform" that small weather pokemon said to the much larger fox pokemon. "It is actually rather easy to tell you are a coordinator. Well if one knows what to look for that is. May I pet her?"

Karina looked a bit unsure and then nodded, she was confident that Ninetales would not harm Rowan. "Yes, sure go ahead." She told him as she gave a meaningful look to Ninetales telling her to behave herself. She pulled at her copper curls more and watched the boy approach. No one had ever wanted to pet Ninetales, not after she had been found in the house where her parents had died.

Rowan held out his hand for the Ninetales to sniff. [color=green]"Do you give her pokeblocks or poffins at all?"[/green] He asked his eyes not leaving the ninetales. Rowan knew better than to not carefully when approaching a pokemon you are meeting for the first time.

Karina watched as Rowan approached Ninetales who seemed to be indifferent to the situation. "Yes I give her poffins. She has acquired a taste for those that are specially for fire-types." ?She told him as she watched closely, at the first sign of something going wrong she wanted to pull her out of there.

Rowan petted the top of the fox pokemon's head. He knew better than to go anywhere near this pokemon's tails. "such a beautiful girl." he told the Ninetale as he petted her head.

Karina heard Ninetales purr as she was pet, this baffled Karina because most everyone who had ever tried to touch her ended up on fire. "Well you should feel honored. She never lets anyone touch her but me." She told Rowan as she watched him stroke Ninetales.

Rowan smiled at the Ninetales. "Is that so?" Rowan stood up and Nimbus landed on his shoulder. "You in the contest coming up?" Rowan asked gesturing to the contest hall. Rowan reach in his pocket and pulled out a pokeblock case and gave Nimbus a green pokeblock.

Karina shook her head at Rowan, "No I am going to train a little more." She was ready to train and travel she wanted to see the rest of Sinnoh. She looked at the Castform then at Rowan. "So what are you doing here?" She asked him as she fiddled with her pokeballs in her pocket.

"We were actually on our way to Orebough but we couldn't get though the ravaged path on route 204 and we also couldn't get though the cycle road cause well we dont have a bike"Rowan looked up at the clouds in the sky. "so we ended up here after taking a wrong turn in the mountain"

Karina nodded, she had been considering taking the mountain path to train her pokemon. She was then struck by an idea, "Hey would you mind if I traveled with you? I had been considering going that way for training but I have yet to go." This excited her to have a person to travel with. She had yet to travel with someone she had only stayed with her pokemon.

"Cast Castform" Nimbus was jumping up and down on Rowan's shoulder at the mention of that idea. "I wouldn't mind at all" replied Rowan as he smiled. "we actually wanted to get some training in too before we attempted any gyms or contests"

Karina smiled and bounced slightly as her copper curls bounced up and down. "Thank you so much. I would love to help you train, it has been a while since my pokemon have battled or trained on anything except contests." She told him as she looked off toward Mt. Corrnet. She wanted to train hard and get better at battles and contests.
"Would you like to meet the rest of my pokemon?" She asked him as she watched him.

"Would I? Does a Magikarp like water? Rowan laughed after making his joke. Of course I would. Rowan said as he put his back pack down it was starting to get heavy from holding it for so long

Karina stuck her hand in her pocket and pulled out two other pokeballs. She tossed them into the air and shouted, "Now take the stage!" She watched as Froslass and Milotic came out and looked at the new person. Froslass immediately went behind Karina and refused to look at Rowan. Milotic went over and nudged the Castform.

Castform smiled after being nudged and started floating around Milotic's neck. Rowan noticed how shy the Froslass was being so he figured to give it some time and walked over to the Milotic "Well you are a friendly one." He held his hand out for the Milotic to nuzzle or sniff to get use to him. "I am impressed not many trainers have the patience or dedication to evolve a Feebas into a Milotic." Rowan smiled. "And all the trainers i have meet that have one all agree thou the effort is worth it." Rowan had a thoughtful expression. "as a matter of fact that goes the same with Magikarps"

Karina knew what he was saying. Her sister had just thrown the poor Feebas aside. She had loved the pokemon and did not think about it's inabilities. She seen him look at Froslass and then she shook her head, "Don't mind her, she does not like people. This one will only let me near her, she has always disliked people for some reason. I think she may have been mistreated." She told him.

"Sok when you grow up most of your life taking care of pokemon you learn that some pokemon take long than others to warm up to someone" Rowan replied thinking about some of the shy pokemon that had been at his uncle's ranch. He looked at his watch to check the time depending on what they were going to do they may need to get more supplies or leave early. Especially if they planned on climbing the mountain, e didn't want to try that when it was getting dark. "So were you planning on training in the mountain or on top of the mountain?"

Karina thought for a moment but to her it did not matter. "That's totally up to you I have no preference I just want to train and maybe catch a pokemon if the right one comes around." She told him fixing her hair into place behind her ear. She looked at everyone and then called Milotic and Froslass back into their pokeballs. Ninetales looked off toward the mountain and then rubbed against Karina's leg.

"than we probably get whatever we are going to need together and then meet at the west side of the city. I know if i am going to cook for the six of us i am going to need some more supplies" Rowan announced as he picked his back pack back up. "I personally love the open sky so i think a trip up the mountain is the best bet. Beisde we are going to want to see our training"

Karina nodded to him and looked toward the mountain. "Alright lets get ready. We don't want to be caught with out supplies, not on the mountain at least." She said to him as she looked at Ninetales who seemed to be on edge. She was probably just anxious. Karina could not wait to start training, it had been so long since she had done so. She tried to think about a good store near here, "There should be a store with just what we need up ahead."

"Ok lead the way. I have no clue where I am going in this city." Rowan said as he rubbed the back of his head in a embarrassed manner. Nimbus Decided to return to his owns shoulder once more he could barely contain his excitement from the his place perched on his trainer's shoulder

Karina grinned and started to walk, she came to a quaint little store away from all the hustle and rift raff in the city. This was the ideal place for trainers and coordinators even breeders sometimes. "My sis gets all her supplies from here. She is a major coordinator. She has been to the Wallace Cup contest many times though never won." She said bitterly, she had a deep dislike of her sister due to the way she treated pokemon.