[b]"How's the weather up there?"[/b]

Erik reflexively displayed a semi-amused smirk at the cliched question the girl posed to him. It's not like he hadn't heard that one a million times before back in Veilstone, mostly from his dad. At least it didn't bother him as much now as it did back then. Back during those darker days. Plus now he had a sidekick that he could use to deflect the usual sarcastic response he gave to such a question.

The Sinnoh native gave something akin to a forced chuckle. "Well...you know...the air gets pretty thin up at this level. Atmosphere changes and all that. But, you know, it's hospitable. Seems to support life up here." He turned to his travelling companion, who still had one of her rose buds attached to his sweatshirt. "How you holding up, Katya?"

Katya waved her free flower, red petals contrasting against the blue sky. "[color=00a651]Rosel![/color]" [color=00a651]I'm fine![/color]

"She seems to be dealing pretty well. If we get up to the heights of Oak's Lab up there," Erik pointed up to the building at the top of the hill. "We might have a little more difficulty, but till then, you know, we're golden. Take more than some vastly different weather to stop us." He paused for a moment, not really sure where to go from here. This girl seemed to have calmed down enough, but the other girl still looked pissed. She might need a little more time to calm down. "So...you heading up there too?"

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"Yeah, good, all right. Arceus, calm down." The sounds of chatter could be heard over the content growls of some unseen Pokemon. "If you guys went at Lance's Pokemon like that maybe I'd still be..." The muttering stopped as Gary Oak rounded the corner to see a few trainers already standing in the corner there. "Oh. Hello. What's up, newbies? Nice to see you didn't get coated in Pidgey shit. You here to get registered for the Kanto challenge?"