A collaboration between Shadowy, Joshy, Ryu, and Near
While Acacia sat and listened to the two sisters talking, or rather bickering, she picked at her food, not really interested in what they had ended up choosing to eat. She sighed when she had tasted the food. Being outside of Lumiose and not eating the wonderful food there was already starting to bring her excitement and mood down a few notches.
Taking a bit of food in her fingers and raising it to her lips, she would suddenly see a dark figure swoop down onto the table. It, a pokemon, ended up startling her enough to make her drop her food and effectively bite her finger. Wincing and instinctvely leaning away from the pokemon, her eyes grew wide in surprise, but only a moment later did the pokemon get captured in a red light and sucked out of view. Letting out a breath that she realized she was holding, she looked over to a guy who started to approach the table, apoligizing for the pokemon's behavior.
Before Acacia could even think to reply, Shay was out of her seat and replying with much excitement to the guy. It made Acacia giggle. That girl was adoreable. Just as fast as she stood, she sat back down, clearly looking embarassed by her sudden outburst. Glancing at the guy, she decided to speak and ease his mind.
"No, your pokemon didn't get anything from us. Though I imagine if she did, she'd regret it." looking down at her food, she shook her head. "This is.... nasty." she said.
Joshua had to take a step back when one of the girls literally jumped out of her seat and began talking to him. When she stopped to think about things for a second, she sat down and looked and sounded rather embarrassed.
"'Took it out of you'? I would say you still have more then enough energy to spare." Joshua said, his tone probably a little bit harsher then he meant it to be. He then turned towards the second girl who spoke. He was surprised when she recognized that Murkrow was a female but he hid it well."I'm surprised you knew Murkrow was a she. Not many people would recognize that after seeing her for only a few seconds..."
"Yeah! She's so cool, Isn't she? She's the professor's Assis-" Shay was cut off by Acacia before the wretched word could leave her mouth entirely.
"Apprentice!" she said forcefully. Sighing, she moved some of her bangs out of her face with a finger. "And it's not some spectacular ability. You refered to your pokemon as 'she' when you came over here. I'm simply a good listener." she said, looking at the guy before giving a pointed glare to Shay.
"... Did I? Huh... Anyway, I''m glad to see that none of your food was disturbed. If you'll excuse me, I'll return to my meal. Even if it isn't the best food, its still better then starving."
Salina looked as the guy told them that he was leaving to return to his meal, "Leaving so soon? Come join the party," The way she said it was almost sarcastic.
"Right. I'll do that as soon as you put on something decent. Are you desperate or something, wearing an outfit like that? Even if you took the shirt off, nothing would change." Joshua said, his tone rather condescending.
Salina took this as a War Declaration, "Oh, and here I was, thinking we were all friends here, but apparently you have something against my right to wear what I want. Someday, when I'm a Ranger, you'll need help and I'll think back on this-"
"Help with what? Sleeping through the night?"
"Well, you sure know how to make friends," Salina stood and promptly slapped the boy who had insulted her.
"Woah, guys, this is getting a little out of hand, dont you think?" Shay said, quickly restraining Salina by holding her arms behind her back.
"LEMME GO! SHAY!" Salina gave the boy the coldest stare she could muster, "Oh, when I get my hands on you......"
Joshua touched his swelling cheek. Maybe he had gone a bit too far. He had let his temper get the beter of him and his tongue ran wild... again. Maybe he shouldn't have taken her tone so badly. Sighing, he scratched the back of his head
"That hurt more then I expected. Tell you what, if you want to settle this, do it the usual way. A pokemon battle. I win, nothing special. But if you win, I'll buy you desert. deal?"
Salina's expression suddenly changed from angry to determined,"Lets do this!" She always changed before and during pokemon battles, like she was an entirely different person at those times.
Shay was hesitant to release Salina from her 'bindings' - which were really just her hands - but allowed her wrists to escape and crossed her fingers that everything would be okay.
Acacia, who had during this time kept her head down gazing at her food, finally placed her hands on the table and stood up from her chair. Her expression was less than happy, and as she crossed her arms across her chest, the looked at the guy who had just been assaulted by Salina.
"Please forgive the behavior of my friend. I've yet to drill some proper manners into her." she started, her voice calm. "Unfortunately, I wont be allowing her to battle you while she's clearly angry. It will only result in the pointless harm of her pokemon. That said, it was nice to meet you." Glancing at Salina next, her tone dropped. "You..."
Moving around the table towards the girl, Acacia reached out and grabbed the ear of her friend in a tight pinch, pulling it hard and turning her head to look at her. "Do you have any kind of filter between your brain and mouth, or is everything you do on impulse? Don't you think of the consequences of your actions before you do them? What the hell? Don't you know that since I'm now responsible for you, that everyting you say and do reflects upon myself and your sister?" she scolded, talking in a fast manner as she did once she got angry. "And what was that talk about not helping if he needed you in the future? A real Ranger doesn't think like that. It doesn't matter if you hate that person's guts. You wont be fit to call yourself a Ranger unless you--"
"Calm yourself Miss Assistant. To be fair I was not that much better." Joshua said."Also, if she wants to battle, you shouldn't get in her way. If we leave things as is, it'll only leave bad blood between us. I say a battle is the best way to calm things down." Salina was visibly thankful for the guy's input.
Blinking and turning to look behind her at the guy, her eyebrow raised and she released Salina's ear. Facing him fully, she brought a hand up to her chin. "Hmm. You know, I don't remember asking for your opinion. And I'm not an assistant I'm an apprentice there's a difference." she said. "Since we're tossing out opinions though, I say you going away would be the best way to calm things down."
Moving over to her chair, she snatched up her bag and placed it on a shoulder. "When she's under my watch, she does what I say," glancing at Salina, she gave the girl a frown. "Or, she find's someone else to travel with."
With that, Acacia stepped past them all and stormed out of the PokeCenter.
"Wait! Acacia!" Shay yelled, chasing after her. This was bad. Really, really bad. Not planning to go too far away, Acacia stomped around the corner of the building, plopping down in the bench positioned at the side of it. Sighing, she put her head in her hands and stayed silent.
Salina looked at the boy who she had so easily upset with one minor comment, "Look, I"m sorry that I said that that way" she said, as sincerely as she could without it looking fake.
Joshua looked aver at the girl he had been planning on battling and scratched the back of his head.
"Yeah, I don't take comments too well. Especially those that sound insulting. I'm just as much at fault. If my teacher could see me now, I would be lectured from now until the sun rises in the morning." He said as his Froakie and Pawniard came over. Sighing he held out his hand."How 'about we start over. I'm Joshua Tamashii, from Ecruteak Town in the Johto Region. And you would be Miss..?"
Salina looked at the boy then shook his hand lightly,"Salina Batlin, from a small island outside the Hoenn region," She smiled at him, her mood completely different from before, "As you can tell, I was already lectured," She giggled once she finished.
Joshua managed a small smile.
"So I saw. She must care for you a lot if she yells at you that much." He said before glancing down at the girls' meals. It looked like he might ruin their meal more then Murkrow would've. Either way, it seemed he had to make up for it. Much as he didn't like being around people, he didn't like ruining their day. Looking around, she didn't see either of the other two girls around."So... you wanna go looking for those other two Salina?"
As Shay left the Pokecenter, she looked around for Acacia, who was not within Shay's obvious line of sight. Upon further investigation, she discovered that Acacia was sitting on a bench around the corner of the Pokecenter, "Are you okay? You seemed kinda mad back there," Shay took a seat next to Acacia and looked at her. She hoped Acacia wasn't too mad, or Salina may have ruined their chance to go on an adventure and the new friendship they made.
Sighing and running her hands through her hair, Acacia looked at Shay who had sat down next to her. Holding the girl's gaze for a moment, her eyes fell and she looked down at the ground. "I am... worried." she said. "I think... maybe I overreacted. I was so mean to her..." Her lower lip trembled a little, and she bit it after a moment, reaching up and pressing her palms into her eyes. She wasn't going to cry. She wasn't.
"I think that would be best, I wouldn"t want Acacia to leave me behind," Salina chuckled a bit, then realized that that was a strong possibility after what Acacia had said before leaving. It was only directed at her, so if they didn't go soon Acacia and Shay would be half-way across the Kalos region by the time they left. The idea of going on this journey alone, or worse, alone with Josh who had instantly pointed out her clothing, sent a shiver up her spine.
"You okay? You look like something disgusting just crossed your mind? Is it about my earlier comments about your, uh, shorts?" Joshua said, his cheeks turning a bit red and he looked a bit uncomfortable now. "If so, I just said that in the heat of the moment. How you dress if your choice but still, you might want to reconsider. Some people might take it the wrong way."
After staying silent a few more seconds, he glanced around. "Anyway, I guess we should find your friends. They went outside I think." He said before looking at his pokemon."C'mon Froakie, Pawniard."
With that, he left the pokecenter, his two pokemon staying close behind.
Salina tailed just behind Josh, who walked out of the pokecenter, pokemon beside him. "Where should we look? Maybe we should split up?" salina commented, looking around the corner, "Oh, nevermind, they're right here." She looked at Acacia, who appeared to be on the verge of crying, then at Shay who seemed to be worried. "Acacia, are you okay?"
Shay nearly got up and smacked Salina but stopped. Acacia's head snapped up when she heard Salina's voice nearby. Standing, she went over and hugged the girl tightly, likely cutting off some kind of oxygen flow.
"Salina, I'm so sorry!" she apoligized to the girl. "I totally didn't mean what I said. I think you'll make a great Ranger and I don't want to journey without you. You're totally fun and all I've been doing is trying to change who you are because I am so worried about my image and sometimes I think it would be better not to be seen with someone so weird like you, ya' know, but that doesn't mean I dont like you cause I do I'm so sorry this doesn't make any sense!"
"Its okay, no harm done, I mean my ear is a little sore but other than that," Salina laughed, brushing off what happened for the sake of all of their friendships. "It may have been a little overdone but I dont mind."
Releasing the girl from her death grip, Acacia leaned away, but brought up her hands to squeeze Salina's cheeks together. "Are you-" she paused and snickered at the silly face. "Are you certain? I can hang this guy in a tree by the hair if you like, as a gesture of friendship!" she said, gesturing with her head towards the guy who was just a ways away.
"Nahh, it"s fine, me and Josh cleared things up. If you still want to though......" Salina said, her last few words added to tease Josh.
"Josh? His name is Josh?" she asked, blinking.
"Yeah, we tried to start off on a better note than that, so we re-introduced ourselves and put that whole fight behind us," Salina said, still having that lingering "Creeped Out" feeling from the boy's comments.
