Taya's Journey, chapter 1, part 1[open]

In the direction which Lyre had turned, there was a boy laying in an out-of-the-way spot in the street. Beside him was a Vulpix. They were both very animated. The boy, himself, was dressed in a way that made him seem of a different time. He was wearing a long cloak, which is the type a magician would wear.

"This is it for me... go on, save yourself," he said in a very weak sounding voice. "There's not much time for me, so it's useless to help me." He truly did seem hurt, laying the way he did, having his left hand pressed against his right side, and his right eye closed in pain. However, what should have been blood was many red ribbons, the type used on stage-plays.

The Vulpix tried pulled on the sleeve of the boy's right hand, trying with all its might to get him to his feet, or at least pull him with it. When it realized how useless this was, it simply fell, crying, its head against the boy's right hand.

Despite the scene he was creating, the public in the streets seemed to shrug him off. No one stopped to look at him, it was as if this was normal, every day activity.

Lyre was oblivious to the boy until she noticed the cries of the Vulpix. Drawing her attention imediately, her focus turned toward the 'injured' boy, or more accurately, the Vulpix who layed crying at his side.
With Swift still fainted and carried across her shoulder, she made her way toward the Pokemon.

"That's not common," she said quietly to herself, "the Vulpix actually seems disturbed by the boy's injuries. Knealing down by the Pokemon, careful to still carry Swift, Lyre reached a hesitant hand toward it.

The boy seemed to be on the verge of fainting, an his head started to collapse, when a very startled Vulpix suddenly leaped from its spot, and hid into the boy's chest. He stopped himself from falling as much as he could to not hurt the Vulpix. Confused about what just happened, he looked up to see a girl. 'Someone actually took notice? That doesn't happen often,' he says to himself. "... You like our act?" He asks, sitting up. He brushed the dirt off his clothes.

Their performance was interrupted without warning, and continuing would just feel awkward now. He picked up the red ribbons that were in place of blood. "True Pokemon Friendship. That's the title of our act," he says. He assumed she knew it was just an act, as almost everyone in the city simply ignored him and the Vulpix both.

A Pendant was hanging from the boy's neck. It didn't seem very special, as it was simply a wood marble with a hole for a string to go through. Any being with a nose, however, who had lived where he was, would know that he had been in Lostlorn Forest, for it carried the fresh scent of the trees.

He hadn't looked closely enough at the girl to notice she was carrying a Zoroark, and when he noticed, he dropped every one of his belongings in surprise. "I'm sorry, I've wasted your time. You should get your friend treated," he says.

Michael walked into the town. His bisharp following him, looking at all it's surroundings for danger. Michael then noticed the zoroark. "Not often you see one of those." He said, smirking a little. He walked over. "Hey. Who's this zoroark belong to?" He said, glancing back and forth between the boy and girl standing around. His eyes lingered on her though.

"If I turned my back on my friends, I wouldn't be a person. I'm not careless. Hariyama enjoys the thrill of a battle, through and through he's determined. I hope you come to recognize that though there are people willing to harm pokemon for their own selfish purpose, there are also those who share trust with their pokemon. If Hariyama and I didn't trust each other, he wouldn't listen to my commands. Pokemon can choose their own path, but if they have a trainer, then the trainer must make the right choice for their friend.", Tara said as she returned Hariyama to his pokeball.


(OOC: There should be a posting order.)

She looked at Lyre, to Tara, and back to Lyre. "Wh-why do you do th-that to y-your Pokémon?"

((Hmm, an order. I'd say Phanpy, Mephiles, Me, Naka, then Mist. The order in which we joined the topic. However, if someone doesn't reply within a day, we can skip their turn.))

"An act, I see..." Lyre said to the boy and his Vulpix, she seemed to be lost in thought for a moment. When he reacted to Swift's presence, she just chuckled. "Don't worry, my partner will wake up within a half an hour. She prefers to treat herself instead of getting human help."

Hearing Tara's remark, and Taya's question, she turned toward the two girls. "You may be right, but the fact is, there are more of those greedy people than good. When they learn of their mistake, maybe then I'll think of seeing your side of things." She then turned toward Taya. "You are correct, why do people use their Pokemon for petty fighting an entertainment. Swift fights for a purpose, I can't say the same for most others." Her focus left the two girls.

Feeling someone watching her, Lyre turned and scanned the town.

((So many people she had to react to XD))

...So they didn't know this was an act? The boy asks himself. He scratched his head a little, and said, looking at the Zoroark, "Well, it sounds like she has a strong will." He looked at Lyre and the group she was interacting with. He couldn't tell whether or not they were friends, from the way they spoke. "Well, my name is Katsushiro, and, as you can see, I enjoy acting," he says to them.

Katsushiro took late notice to the fact that he was still on the ground, and his belongings scattered. He quickly put his supplies into his bag and got to his feet. Even when standing, he was shorter than Lyre, and his youth clearly showed, as he was only thirteen years.

The previously startled Vulpix walked up to Lyra and studdied her briefly, before excitedly tapping her legs with her front paws, trying to reach upward for her hand. Vulpix liked being pet, and seemed to want Lyra to pet it.

Michael noticed Lyra looking at him. "Oh...Sorry..." He said, looking away. "Didn't mean to stare. I was just admiring the zoroark and wondering who it's trainer was. Sorry. I just saw you and..." He stopped himself before saying anything he'd regret. He did find this girl...attractive. He just didn't want to say it.

Taya sighed. "At least you see my side of things...Everybody just tells me that Pokémon are just meant to do what we want, and it's not true..." She put her arm out towards Oshawott, Snivy and Tepig as she got on her knees. The 3 Pokémon ran up to her shoulders and Tepig jumped on her head. She laughed for a minute. "Your question...no, I don't order them to. If what they did back there was my choice, they'd have ran and hid. They protected me of their own choices."

Tara sighed. "Man, some people just can't get over things can they?", she asked pointlessly, not expecting a response. "It's a shame that certain people give us bad names in the eyes of certain people, though who am I to argue.", she stated rather dry.

Taya looked at Tara. "What do you mean b-by th-that?"

Smiling down at the Vulpix, Lyra gripped Swift with one hand so she could pet Vulpix with her other. "You seem good at acting, er, Katsushiro. Your Pokemon seems happy...strange..." she trailed off in thought, then remembered the other boy. The creepy, staring one.

"My Zoroark would become full of herself if you would have said that while she was awake, though thanks for the complement. Speaking of her, she needs rest."

Without saying anything else to the gathered group of trainers, for she truly didn't know what to say, she made her way to a small park. Once there, she set Swift laying on a bench, and fished a book from her bag. Beginning her novel, she awaited her partner to awaken, while also trying to make sense of what just had transpired.

Vulpix was apparently not very shy. It openly followed Lyra to the bench, though it simply sat and stared curiously at her and the Zoroark. Katsushiro meant to follow the Vulpix, but as soon as he took a step, the shoulder of a walking civilian slammed his chest. It knocked Katsu to the ground. The civilian merely kept walking, giving a half-serious "sorry," and then the civilian laughed at him.

Katsushiro got up, a bit shaky, since his body wasn't yet able to handle such beating. This was normal, as it had been done to him multiple times at his home. After he got his bearings, he ran to his Vulpix, who had followed Lyra.

Vulpix seemed to notice that something happened to Katsushiro on the way to it, for there was dirt all over his clothes. It looked at him in the eye, seeming to try to dig for what happened. All Katsushiro's eyes would say is he was fine.

Katsushiro wondered why Vulpix had decided to follow her, but couldn't come up with an answer. He saw that Lyra was now reading, and didn't want to be rude and interrupt. Instead, he noticed that this was a park. Every park had some slides.. and swings. He stared at the swings with an evil eye. He walked up to them. "You!" He pointed at an empty swing. "I will not be afraid. I will ride you today!" He prepared himself on the seat, pulling himself far back, then froze in the spot. When Vulpix saw this, it playfully ran up and pushed him, causing the swing to go at full force, and Katsushiro screamed as loud as possible. His hands gripped hard as possible on the chains of the swing. Back and forth, his swing went, until it eventually slowed. He got off the swing, seemingly traumatized, then fell to his knees, exhausted.

Vulpix sat near Katsu, letting out a playful chuckling sound. The pendant around Katsushiro's neck suddenly dropped from its string, and rolled off. Katsushiro made a sudden dive and missed it, and it rolled further. It was Vulpix that caught the wood marble, and got it back to Katsushiro. "Thanks," Katsushiro says. He then pats at his things. "Man, I've lost the string... looks like I'll need a new one." He continued sitting there, though he was in the way of many people who were walking through the park without noticing it. Vulpix sat in his lap, hoping for once Katsushiro would sit still.

Taya went over to Lyre. "Mind if I sit here?"

Michael glanced at the others. He didn't care about them. He wanted to say sorry to the girl. He left the group and headed to the park, finding her. "Sorry if I look like a stalker. I just wanted to say I was sorry for staring. Mind if I sit?" He said, motioning to the park bench.

Glancing up from her novel, Lyre knew one of the voices was familiar. Noticing two of the trainers before, a hint of irritation prickled through her. Didn't leaving mean the conversation was over? Regardless, she feared they would remain persistant if she declined them. "Sure," she said to both of them, making room for two.

As that was happening, Swift seemed to recover enough to regain contiousness. The Zoroark immidately sniffed the air, and ran away from the bench in the direction of the play ground. Lyre looked at the running Zoroark with curiosity, but did not go in pursuit. Her partner could do as she pleases. Turning to the two trainers she looked at them. "What do you want?" she asked.

After a while, Katsushiro started digging into his bag. It had been a while since either him or Vulpix had eaten. In his bag, were berries that Vulpix seemed to highly enjoy. He had taken some so he could give them to her when she was hungry, and Katsushiro liked watching her enjoy them.

Before he had pulled them out of the bag, however, Vulpix's ears suddenly pricked and it looked right back toward the direction of the bench. Katsushiro hadn't noticed and he was still shuffling through his bag.

Oshawott, Snivy, and Tepig followed the Zoroark.

Taya sighed. "I was wondering if we could travel together."

"To apologize." Michael said, looking her in the eyes. "For staring. I'm sorry if I offended you." Pawniard walked over to Swift and examined the dark type. "I just...I don't know how to say this...I find you...Attractive..."

Taya laughed. "I'll be back in a minute." She walked over to the Pokemart and came out with nothing. "They had nothing good."

Lyre looked as Taya left, a bit of relief flowing through her. She then turned her attention to the boy. "Er,' she said, "thank you..." out of everything she had expected a trainer to say to her, it never would have been that. Not to mention he wasn't that bad looking himself.... Lyre quickly got her wits back, and shook the nonsense away. "That was abrupt," she said, after coming up with nothing better.


Swift continued following the scent of...home... for lack of a better description. She smelled Lostlorn Forest coming from somewhere in this town. Finding her way to a small playground she noticed a boy and a Vulpix enjoying themselves. That didn't interest her. What did was the now strong scent of the forest coming from close to the group. Curiosity getting the better of her, Swift stepped very close to them, forgetful to become unseen, so thus could easily be spotted by the group.

After another five seconds of shuffling through his bag, he finally looked up, and was startled when he saw Zoroark suddenly close. The Zoroark would be taller than him, even if Katsushiro were standing, so since Zoroark clearly towered over him while he was sitting. It seemed he had found whatever it had been he was looking for, because he brought out, after putting his hand back in the bag, two berries. One was meant to be for Vulpix. He smiled kindly, holding up the the berries with his right hand, trying to give it to the Zoroark. He didn't know whether this Zoroark would like berries or not. The wood marble was enclosed in his right hand under the ring finger and small finger, and was still clearly visible, since it was wider than his two fingers.

The Vulpix simply sat there, watching the Zoroark. She was high on alert, since she didn't really know this Zoroark well. If it were to do something against Katsushiro, she was prepared to react, even if she would have little power to stand up against this being.

Michael sighed. "Yeah..." He said, not sure how to keep going. "Sorry." He said, annoyed at himself. "I didn't mean to sound like an idiot. I just...it's true. I don't even know your name...I'm Michael..." He said, offering his hand for a hand shake, blushing a little bit.

"My name is Lyre," Lyre replied, taking his hand out of courtesy. This group of trainers was a rather odd bunch, certainly like no other people she had ever encountered. "And I'm...glad...you find me, er, attractive." Once the sentence was uttered, it just didn't sound right at all. Feeling a bit awkward, Lyre looked around to see where Swift had gone.

Swift looked at the small Vulpix curiously. It didn't seem to pose a huge threat, so she continued walking toward the boy. Upon getting close, she cocked her head, and sniffed his hand. It seemed to be where the source of the scent came from.