They had said the walk wasn't much, but Mai could already feel her body begin to protest. Ankles and knees creaked, sweat dripped from her brow, and she was breathing roughly, as if she couldn't catch her breath. A feeling of regret tugged at her heart, and then she was frozen, breathing hard and glaring at her feet, anger at herself causing her normally calm eyes to narrow and bristle,

[i]'Stop.'[/i] her mind thought firmly, [i]'you are NOT tired. Just name more Pokemon, you'll be fine.'[/i] and she slowly rose her head and glanced back into the woods, watching shadows form and vanish until she could finally pin point enough details to name whatever happened to be hanging around,

"Arbok, Fletching, Ekans, Gabite..." She continued on after the group, purple eyes drifting quickly from left to right, up and down, at every single living thing she could point out. Honestly, she was impressed with the number of different Pokemon living in a single jungle, and she wondered briefly how all of them arrived to this island seeing as most were strictly land-oriented.

Eventually, the thick jungle parted, and Mai had since silenced her murmuring to catch her breath, feeling an uncomfortable tightness close around her chest. The sun's heat suddenly beat down on the open clearing and Mai glanced up at the sky, taking note of a Flygon and a few scattered Wingulls, and then around where they had ended up. The ground beneath was much harder then in the jungle, and soft grass sprouted from the dark earth in lovely patches. Bungalows, as the four had mentioned, surrounded the opening, and looked rather cozy, and the excitement of living somewhere without walls suddenly made her smile a bit. The excitement manged to quell her heaving chest and she managed to relax a bit, hands toying with the edge of her white dress offhandedly as she became lost in thought. One of the four rangers in front, the stuttering, blonde girl, suddenly called everyone's attention, and Mai allowed her wandering eyes to settle on the four in front once more, ignoring the jagged glare of the blaziken-looking one.

"Ah, if it's not too much t-t-trouble, t-these are your g-groups... y-yeah? U-uhm... We'll pick the leaders of each squad and y-you can n-n-name it if you'd l-like..." 

Mai stared at the girl, feeling somewhat sorry for the poor thing who obviously did not do well in front of crowds. Names were called, one by one, and Mai sat in a sort of uncomfortable silence until the familiar-looking black haired girl took over for the jittery one. She examined the girls face, finding both her voice and looks to resemble that of a pop idol she had seen on TV some time ago, and then her name was called and she jumped a bit, stepping into the line and bowing her head ever so slightly, turning to see who her teammates would be. A pretty blonde girl named Cecelia Rielly stepped up besides her, and then a short boy named Rainer Spades came up next. They looked well off, prepared, and reliable. While it is said you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover, there are times when it should be allowed, and right now Mai decided they looked like good teammates. Soon, all the names were called and the pretty girl instructed them to mingle, and then everyone was circling up, names were called, and Mai gulped down her fright and turned to her two teammates, bowing slightly,

"H-hel," her voice caught, growing tight and high with anxiety, but she coughed it away, took a deep breath, then continued, "sorry, hello. I am Mai T-Taniyama. Let's get along." she nodded again, a small, polite smile dominating her pale face.