[center][h2]Richard Evans[/h2][h3]Byjerlfal City — Camphor's Lab[/h3][/center]
Once the Snivy in front of him chose to both accept [i]and[/i] return his gesture of goodwill, the young man couldn't help but smile. if anything, the fact that the Pokemon in front of him was notably less arrogant than he might have expected was striking on its own, now that he had seen it in person.

How that would pan out remained to be seen, of course, but for the moment that basic level of trust was good enough for him. Hopefully it would grow in a positive way in the days to come, at least.

Splitting the berry he was given in half and returning the bitten portion to the Snivy, Richard pulled out the Pokeball he had been given with his free hand and held the button out towards the Pokemon in front of him. The Snivy, half-eaten and half-split berry in hand, seemed to hesitate for a moment before placing one arm out to push the button. One red flash of light later, and the grass snake Pokemon had disappeared within.

"That went a [i]lot[/i] better than I had expected it to," the young man finally said, the tension in his body finally releasing as he let out a sigh of relief. "All right, then... I suppose a nickname is in order, huh? Guess I'll figure that out once we're done with all the formalities and hit the field."

After stashing his new partner's ball away, Richard promptly returned to where Camphor and the others were waiting and, without any further (apparent) interruptions, promptly received the Pokedex and other goods from the professor. The young man responded with a curt 'thank you' after everything was in hand and, after shunting everything relevant into his backpack, glanced at the actual machine he had been handed. While the question as to why they were being given dedicated hardware for data collection [i]did[/i] cross his mind briefly, reiterating the question promptly nipped it in the bud. The quip about Snivies in general wasn't anything too outlandish to him—they were somewhat well known in Unova as well, after all—but what caught his attention was the fact that it had an egg move.

Something to reference later as well, then.

Once he had retrieved his luggage from where he had left it, Richard quietly followed behind Frieda as she led the group back to reception before he realized that the excitement had left him more than eager to simply strike out.

But first, of course, came the matter of handling his bags. As nice as it might be to bring all of his clothes everywhere, Richard had no proper desire (or the physical prowess) to be able to drag more than his backpack around for the next who-knew-how-long.

The prompt gushing of the white-haired girl next to him about her new partner, though, had given Richard a mild shock. He had expected people to be enthusiastic about being able to head out into the world, but she seemed more excited to actually [i]have[/i] her partner in the first place.

Maybe [i]excessively[/i] so, though.

"You're sure fired up about this, huh?" he interjected, a slight smile on his face. "Can't say I don't understand, though. I assume that your gushing means that your partner's a Tyrunt, then? Might be a good idea to get some empirical evidence if you're so gung-ho about your new friend. Wouldn't recommend trying to [i]actually[/i] tear through someone's car, though. No way the professor's going to bail you out for something like that."

After making that little joke, though, Richard glanced back at where his Snivy's Pokeball was attached before glancing back towards the rest of the group.

"That being said, though, I think I'll hold off on diving into the field for a bit," he remarked, considering the matters at hand for a few seconds before shrugging his shoulders. "Need to shove what I have here into storage and pick up some supplies before heading out. If anyone else wants to tag along, though, I wouldn't mind the company."

[@Thayr][@VitaVitaAR]