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    1. WriterRaven 9 yrs ago

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It's been a while, hey?

Just your average Kiwi writer, TTRPG enthusiast, and librarian looking to escape from the troubles of the world. Cats are great. He/they.

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Introducing: Counselor Katherina Gale & Lisette Keene-Tatsuyama
Time: 11:55 AM
Location: Counselor Gale's office, Department of Counseling, third floor of the Leonardi Building



"We're due to wrap up our meeting soon. Do you have any plans for the rest of the day?" Counselor Gale - or Katherina, as she insisted Lisette call her - leaned back in her chair. She was spinning her pen in her fingers as she smiled across the room at her new charge. Lisette couldn't help but wonder what she had written down in the past hour that they had spent together. Doubtless it was all in aid of Katherina getting to know her.

She fidgeted with her hands as she spoke. "Uh, well... like I said, Alia expects me to be at the Students' Fair since I don't have class this afternoon... and there's the party Vivian told me about." Her voice faltered.

"Who's Vivian?" Katherina had her pen to page in a flash.

Lisette blinked. How had she not mentioned that before? She'd spoken at length about her first meeting with Alia. "Oh, um, one of my coworkers at the café. She forwarded me the details on Wednesday... sorry, ma'am, give me a moment to check what she said." At Katherina's nod, she pulled her phone from a pocket in her shirt-dress, quickly navigating to the texts Vivian had sent. "It's apparently going to be a low-key meet-and-greet type deal? Doesn't sound too crazy."

"Hmm. What makes you say that, Lisette?" Another note quickly found its way into Katherina's book.

"Um, well, it's just that I've heard stories about college parties from my parents... they said things can get out of hand fast if there's enough people willing to do crazy things." Lisette blushed a little as she remembered a video call with her mama, and how to-the-point she had been about the subject. "Mama said I didn't have to go if I don't want to, and that I can leave at any time if I'm not feeling okay."

Katherina tapped her pen to her lips soon after she finished another note. Lisette noticed a few scratches and scrapes along the casing; was it an old favourite? "Your mom sounds like a wise person. And she's right. Nobody will force you to go, and there's nothing keeping you there. If Vivian's a good friend, she'll understand if you have to bow out early." She smiled her knowing smile.

"I hope so... I mean, we've only known each other a few days, but she seems nice. And we've at least exchanged numbers. That's something." Lisette unconsciously resumed her fidgeting, having shut her phone off after looking up the texts. It wasn't the done thing to have a distraction in the room during a counseling session - something Lisette knew from well before coming to Crystal Peak.

Katherina maintained her smile as she sat up properly in her chair. "Indeed. Unfortunately, Lisette, that's all the time we have for now. Before you go, is there anything else you'd like to say?"

Lisette pondered the question, staring sightlessly at the carpeted floor as she did so. "Um... I don't think so, Ms Gale?"

"Please, Lisette, just Katherina will do." Ever patient. Not a single raised tone in her voice. "You should know that I will always ask you that at the end of our sessions, just in case there's something you might be thinking about but aren't sure about bringing up. I'll make a note of it, and we'll begin there at our next meeting. All right?"

Lisette wasn't entirely sure how to respond to that, so she simply got to her feet and stood there awkwardly for a few seconds. "Um, okay. Thank you again."

Katherina stood moments after Lisette did. "You're most welcome. But you'd best be heading to the Fair soon, if Alia's expecting you."

"Right, yes... okay. Bye for now." Lisette gave her counselor a short wave as she made for the door, quickly and quietly slipping through it and out into the hall. Once outside, she smoothed down her dress - not for the first time in the past hour - and checked everything was secure about her person. Pockets zipped, bag attached to the sash of her dress... yes, everything was in place. Wait, where's the Fair again? Darn it... Mildly annoyed with herself, she unzipped a pocket and took out her phone again, double-checking the details before she secured it away. The location fixed in her mind now, Lisette proceeded to a balcony at the end of the hall, overlooking a part of the campus...

... and promptly jumped from it.

Even before she began to fall, her cream and white feathered wings snapped open wide, far wider than she was tall. The reflexive motion caught her well before she could start to tumble. As Lisette banked upwards to reclaim some lost height, she reveled in the open sky; it felt like real freedom to her, away from the crowds and the confined rooms and the questions. But she couldn't stay airborne forever. She had a place to be, and so she glided away from the Leonardi Building to her destination.
With the ponigiri distributed, Hana stowed the container and looked to Satomi. "Shall we see about finding another training opportunity, then?" Satomi simply nodded, falling into step beside her Trainer as the latter headed for the tall grass along the road north. Initial forays suggested that many of the same species could be found both south and north of Viridian - but many of them scattered and disappeared at the sight of Hana carefully walking along the outskirts of their habitats.

Or perhaps Satomi was causing them to run off. A Steel-type was not something commonly seen in these parts, Hana surmised. Though that didn't stop one particularly aggressive creature from running in out of the blue, almost knocking Satomi off her feet with the speed of its initial charge. "Mankey! Manmankey!"

Satomi rounded on the ball of fur and limbs, raising her claws as Hana took a quick scan with her Pokédex:


"Well, then. This could be difficult. Satomi, let's see if we can win this." Satomi obliged, beginning with a single swipe at her opponent. An exploratory Scratch to test his defenses. The Mankey was quick to retaliate, seemingly forgoing all strategy in favour of all-out assault. Satomi was able to deflect the first reckless swing, but the second and third got past her defenses. They only seemed to glance off her metal body, but Satomi seemed shaken more by the aggressive behaviour than anything else.

Hana had a very similar reaction. Never had she seen a Pokémon that gave so little thought to its own safety in favour of recklessly attacking its adversary. But she couldn't exactly ask anyone to step in on her behalf; she had to deal with this creature herself.
Focus. Remember the basics. Opponent is Fighting-type: that means Daring Strike and Fury Cutter won't work here. We have to wear him down. "Satomi, Leer!" Her partner threw off another swing, drew herself up to her full height and fixed the Mankey with an imperious glare, clanging her blade-hands together as she did so. This only seemed to drive the Mankey into a greater rage, as he redoubled his efforts to batter at Satomi's metal form without making contact with any sharp edges. No easy task, considering how many she possessed.

"All right, Satomi, claws out. Wear him down with Scratches."

"Pawn-ya!" In a sharp contrast to Mankey's wild swings and full aggression, Satomi's fighting style was precise and controlled. She aimed for the center of Mankey's large fuzzy form, though the flailing limbs took several hits that were meant for center mass. The Mankey seemed to be getting desperate, swinging at any part of Satomi he could reach - and recoiling when a hand or foot found one of the many bladed edges on her person.

The two exchanged blows for a while longer, but Satomi eventually managed to send her adversary keeling over onto his back, exhausted. Whether that was because her strikes had done significant damage, or the Mankey had worn himself out trying to punch through metal armour, Hana didn't know. All she was certain on was that such a creature wasn't going to be compatible with her approach to battle. She doubted food would be a good training tool to quell the rage that Mankey could seemingly fly into on a moment's notice, according to the Pokédex.


"Well done, Satomi. That looked rough." Hana crouched down to inspect her partner Pokémon. She seemed to be covered in little scratch marks. Nothing a Potion or a good meal and a buffing wouldn't fix. She shook her head all the same as she stood up. "Look at you. Stars above... I hope we don't have to face more of those. Let's stick to the road for now. We don't want to get too far away from the others." Satomi nodded wholeheartedly, staying close to Hana as she retreated back to the main road.
Soon enough Hana's cooking supplies were packed away, and she was ready to move on. "Are we all ready to go? Wait, where's miss Rose?" She still hadn't figured out how to address the most dour of the group, given that she had introduced herself by one name and been addressed by another. "Perhaps she is waiting for us on the road north. I will wait there for all of us to regroup."

The road north was easy enough to find, and eventually the entire group was present. It was at this point that Hana noticed a newcomer among them: a tall individual in his late teens, dressed in black and green. She vaguely recalled passing him by in the Pokémon Center; they hadn't exchanged proper introductions yet. Something to be remedied before the day was over, she decided.

"As promised, everyone, I have prepared some travel food," she began. "These are known in Sengun as the national snack ponigiri: steamed rice mixed with natural flavours, then wrapped and fried to prevent each one from falling apart in your hand." She popped open the container in her hands, offering it to each of the others in turn. "Don't mind the faint blue colour, it's powdered Oran Berry." Then she remembered the newcomer. "It turns out I made one too few for everyone to try one. Very well, I will be fine without. I can always make more later."

"Pawn-ya!" Two too few!

Hana just smiled down at her companion. "Satomi is keen on these as well. Most Pokémon are able to consume the vast majority of ponigiri. Some recipes are even tailored towards certain dietary needs." She could have chattered on extensively about the differing needs of different species, or the recipes designed for Pokémon with unusual diets such as the Litwick Sia, but it was bad form to monopolise a conversation - or expect someone to respond and try her cooking at the same time.
Ezra's arrival and video-call conversation wasn't as disruptive as it could be, although Hana was made clearly aware of the volume. So was the other occupant of the kitchen, who cleared his dishes and such before making a hasty exit. For the most part, Hana was able to ignore what was going on and focus on her work. The rice was close to done. She switched the frypan to the active element, turning the heat back up.

She fished two spoons out of her pack of cutlery. The first stirred up the rice to make sure it was done. Close enough, the pan will finish it. The second went into the Berry sachet. Not too much, maybe about a teaspoonful for each. "Satomi, the board, please?" It was obligingly pushed over to her, and Hana set to work. She divided the rice into six roughly equal portions, compacting it into ball shapes with her hands to ensure it wouldn't fall apart in the pan. A light dusting of the powdered Oran went onto each before she wrapped them in a manner that would seem rather curious to someone unfamiliar with the process: the angular approach flattened each rice ball slightly.

"Hooking up, huh?" "With HOW many girls??"

"It's not like that, chill out."


Hana gave a short sigh through her nose as she wrapped the last of her creations, thinking of people she knew back home and what they would think of the conversation. She said nothing, though. Anything she did say would likely only add fuel to the metaphorical fire of curiosity. Instead, she got back to work. The sound of frying soon filled the kitchen as she deftly added the full batch to the pan, turning them regularly to ensure the soybean paper didn't crumble and the rice held its shape.

She was, however, caught completely off-guard by another raised voice. She glanced away from the pan for a second to find Fary hanging up on her own phone call and sitting down in a less than stellar state. Stars above, there are distractions across the board! Focus, Hana. One thing at a time. Status... yes, these are done. Hana lifted her creations from the pan, straight back to the board to cool.

"And we're done. Don't touch yet, though, I'd prefer to distribute them once we're back on the road. Satomi, you know the drill, make sure they cool evenly while I clean up."

"Pawn-ya?" Where's mine?

"You get plenty of these already, young miss. Patient hunter, remember?" Satomi rumbled something to the tone of discontent, but did as she was told. Hana was used to it. Satomi could be a bit excitable when she wanted to be. It made her smile as she sealed her packets, stowed them in her suitcase, and started work on the dishes. They didn't take long to wash, dry, and stow; cutlery was quick to clean up, and the pan just needed a brief scrub to clear away the oil and prepare it for the next use. Likely that evening, if they didn't reach Pewter City before sunset.

"Ya." All done. They're cool enough to carry. With Satomi's help, the batch promptly went into a container with a vent in the lid, for future distribution.
Viridian City seemed rather like a smaller Celadon, if Hana remembered the latter correctly. The occasional office building on the outskirts of town soon gave way to a more open area with plenty of housing and open parks. Closer to the center of town, the Pokémon Center was straight ahead, and she could see the Gym in the distance. But Gary's challenge wasn't the goal for today. There was a good chance he would still be fuming over the conversations at the Lab.

She looked to the others. "Does anyone need to patch up Pokémon? I would use the time to cook something for the road ahead."

Lilith nodded. "The Pidgey I captured still smells faintly of KFC. And I hate Kanto Fried Chicken. So it should be healed."

Like a trigger, the mention of food sent a sensation of emptiness through Ezra's stomach, despite the snacks he and his partner had crushed on the walk down the route. "You're cooking? What's uh...what's on the menu?" He asked with some hesitance and anticipation.

"I had thought of preparing some travel food. Something a little different from trail mix or energy bars. I take it that means I need to make enough for everyone?"

"The spirits would be appeased," Lilith confirmed. The thought of eating food she didn't have to cook herself was appetizing, especially since her culinary skills topped out at coffeemaker ramen.

"Osh!" What she said! Brie piped up, already ready to make a friend she could pressure into cooking for her.

"All right, I'll be upstairs. Hopefully the backpackers' kitchen is free at this hour. Feel free to come along and observe if you're curious."

Sure enough, once Hana had found her way, the communal kitchen was free. There was one other occupant finishing what appeared to be a late breakfast, early lunch, or combination of the two. She set her backpack down, dug her cooking pot and frypan out of it, and popped open her suitcase. "Let's see, one for everyone means... that much." Several careful measurements later, she had the pot on the stove, steaming nicely, and a timer on her phone was ticking down. If you look, the rice won't cook. She knew that mantra well.

Hana turned her attention to Satomi, who had been waiting patiently to contribute. "Right. Time for you to help out." She took a small river stone and a cleaning cloth from her suitcase, setting the former down before her partner Pokémon. "Let's see those blades nice and clean, first," she said as she set to work. One could never be too careful. Once she was satisfied Satomi's blades were clean, Hana let her sharpen them for a moment on the river stone. The scrape of metal on rock wasn't a pleasant sound to hear, so she quickly collected Satomi and lifted her onto a seat near the kitchen bench. Carrying a Pokémon whose body was mostly sharp edges wasn't the easiest thing in the world, but they were both used to it.

"Six pieces, please. Usual width." Hana passed over a thin sheet of soybean paper and one of her cutting boards. Satomi was quick to get to work, carefully cutting evenly-spaced pieces away from the sheet and stacking them up. It didn't take her long. "Ya!" Done! What's next?

"Good work. Next step, we need to decide what else is going into them." There was still a few minutes left before she had to tend to the rice. Hana took the opportunity to open her recipe book and pick out a suitable flavour. Each page was written in her own hand, neat and elegant with no errors or editing needed. She flipped through a few of them, but settled on one in particular, and picked out a sachet of powdered Oran Berry and her small bottle of cooking oil. Take one minute off the timer at the end of stage two. That'll help stop it falling apart in the pan.
"I suppose this is where everyone really starts out, isn't it?" Hana thought aloud to nobody in particular as she, Lilith, and Ezra took the lead on the road to Viridian. With the majority of her shock at the state of Kanto's Professor out of the way, enthusiasm took hold anew. But first, she had her end of a deal to uphold. So while Ezra approached Lilith, Hana set her suitcase down by a section of long grass and let Satomi out of her Poké Ball, immediately fishing the case of food out once more.

Meanwhile, her companion got acquainted with her new surroundings. Bladed arms raised, Satomi was on alert quickly. But Hana setting down half a cube of food quickly got her attention. "Satomi, the second half as promised." As the Pawniard ate, a short bark from nearby grass caught their attention. "Zig!" A brown and cream Pokémon poked its head out from the grass, tilting to one side then the other as it studied this new occurrence.

Hana, however, took a step backwards on a reflex: this was an unfamiliar species. The scene paused for a few seconds, then the creature barked at them again and retreated back into the grass. Moments later, it re-emerged from another point and began to gambol about Hana and Satomi. And it did so in a most strange fashion. Always back and forth, one way, then the other.

Satomi wasn't about to let this stranger have a go at her food. "Pawn-ya!" Who or what are you?

"Must be a local species... right. Pokédex. Yes. That's what it's for, Hana." Berating herself a little for being slow on the uptake, she pulled the device from her jacket pocket and began to track the Pokémon's movements to get a proper scan:


"Well, that explains why this one looks like he wants to go for an early lunch," Hana mused as the strange Pokémon continued to scamper about. It was travelling in a strange zigzagging arc back and forth while she and Satomi hesitated. What was the right move here? Was this species a good starting point, or could she hope for a more promising candidate? She didn't know. It occurred to Hana that her studies hadn't accounted for species outside of her homeland.

We have to start somewhere, she soon decided. "Satomi, time for some practice. Start with a Scratch, nice and simple."

Instead of giving a verbal response, Satomi shoved the last piece of food into her mouth and got it down quickly. She flicked her arms to clear any scraps, and entered a fighting stance, watching the Zigzagoon's movements for a second. Then she dashed forward to land a solid hit across its flank. The Zigzagoon recoiled, but fixed Satomi with a look and a short rumble of discontent.

"Looks like it's about to charge. Daring Strike!" As the Zigzagoon began its odd back-and-forth runup, Satomi sprang forward herself, leading with both blades for a pair of slashes. The Zigzagoon was undeterred, and continued its charge to meet her head-on. Both Pokémon tumbled into the grass as a result of the collision, but tufts of grass flying everywhere made it easy to find where Satomi was cutting a small clearing around herself.

And it looked like - yes, she had the upper hand, sending her opponent packing with another scrape along one leg. With the battle over quickly, Satomi hurried out of the grass, scraping scuff marks off her arms. "Ya! Pawn-ya!" Hardly a challenge.

She received a quick scratch under the helmet for her trouble. "Nicely done. But stay close, there may be more of them around. Don't want to push ourselves too far on day one."

"Ya." A monosyllabic response could still hold a lot of meaning. I feel like I'm just warming up. The run earlier was nothing.
"Are we... all going the same way? Uhh... Hana? Right?"

"If we are all here for the Indigo League, and our first challenge is north of Viridian, then I would say we are all going the same way, yes," Hana answered. "And yes, Ezra, my full name was interrupted. I am Hana Tatsuyama, of the Sengun region's Kingdom of Platinos." It was the exact same choice of words she had given earlier, but it was the best way to ensure everyone was on a level playing field in terms of introductions. As before, she sketched a short bow, though this was aimed at no-one in particular due to the larger group. Hana imagined if everyone sketched bows or conducted handshakes all at once, they would be standing outside the Laboratory for longer than some of them would like.

"Sengun... really?" It was a region that was rarely discussed. Naturally the name caught his attention. "I got family out there! An aunt and uncle (well, great aunt and uncle) in Mystriver Isle!" He said, trying his hardest to keep his voice and tone regulated. "They own a dojo out there. Last we talked to them, they were planning on passing ownership down to their son." He nodded and crossed his arms.

"You have family in Mystriver? How curious. I haven't been out that way myself, but that Kingdom is one of the most popular among travellers and folks who wish to move to a new region, as I recall." Hana paused a moment, thinking this over. Extended family likely meant that one of them had moved to Sengun at some point in their life and settled down there. Ownership of a Dojo - presumably the most well-known in the Kingdom's borders, if Ezra was aware of the details - likely meant that that part of his family line had inherited some Warrior traits, or would do so at some point in the family tree. She didn't give voice to any of this immediately, however, knowing that it would likely overwhelm her new acquaintance with information. That was just bad form.

"It seems my day is full of surprises," she eventually noted aloud.
The conversation about the Indigo League was rather... hit and miss, in Hana's opinion. Was the registration supposed to be this informal, or was it just Gary's everyday demeanour? It did, however, give her the chance to learn the names of the others that had arrived, quickly matching names and faces.

However, seeing Gary's seemingly exponential anger at his grandfather, the look on her face turned from dismay to shock. Hana made a mental note that if she had a chance to contribute feedback on Sengun's own Pokémon League as it developed, then the Gym Leaders of her homeland would be candidates with some degree of stable temperament. Had she not invested a considerable sum into travelling to Kanto, she would have begun making plans to book a flight out to another region. Hoenn and Galar had seemed suitable destinations, but were ultimately tied for second pick at the time she had made her decision.

"I believe this is yours. Shall we all get the hell out of this place before the old man decides to set this place on fire?"

"As much as I hate the idea of leaving him there on his own... that would probably be best. Hopefully someone comes by to check on the Professor before anything happens." Accepting her new Pokédex from Lilith - or possibly Karen; Hana wasn't sure how to address her - she led the way out after the two girls that had left the Laboratory before her. Once outside, she began to thoroughly examine the Pokédex itself. It seemed to be roughly the size of her own smartphone, featuring a camera to scan Pokémon face-to-face and a connection point to assess the contents of a Poké Ball. Out of curiosity, she had the device scan Satomi while she was still in her Ball:


Hana's eyebrows furrowed at one detail in particular. "Sucker Punch?" Perhaps that was how they named the move outside of Sengun. She set the idea of looking for the editing functions aside for another time, perhaps over dinner. "Never mind... That certainly just happened to all of us. I suppose our next move is to travel north, then? Perhaps as a group?"
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