[center][color=82ca9d][h1][u][b]Ivy Aspen[/b][/u][/h1][/color]
[h2]“Trees Suck”[/h2]

Blah, blah, blah. Purple people talking. They didn't seem to like each other very much - that was understandable, since Ivy couldn't really imagine anyone liking such talkative people anyway.

Then, one by one, they started to leave. 

Well... that was perfectly fine with Ivy.

Fine. Conversation over. With that settled, Ivy picked up her Pokemon and her leftover cake and retreated to her tent – all without making a single sound.

As far as sorting things out after getting attacked by an Onix, she’d done pretty well for herself. 

For one thing, she wasn’t dead.

For another… she wasn’t even injured.

Hell, she’d even managed to find a second, more-or-less intact group of trainers to travel with. Sure, they were all, well, loud. And talkative. And considerably more annoying than the last group of trainers she’d been a part of. 

But they were also considerably more, well, alive than the last group of trainers she’d been part of. So at least she’d found someone!

Feeling strangely pleased with herself, if somewhat worn out by the range of emotions that she’d had to express that day…

Ivy Aspen went straight to bed.

…

…

…what? Narrowly evading death-by-Onix took a lot out of a girl, okay?


[hr]


The trait that Ivy Aspen wished most desperately to change about herself was her appearance. 

If she could just look her age, then she’d probably be able to die happy. If that could be true, then she didn’t wouldn’t even really need to be the best baker in Johto. She’d settle for second best. Or even third best.

If that wasn’t possible, however, then the trait that Ivy wished second-most desperately to change about herself was probably the fact that she was a very, very light sleeper.

Being a light sleeper is a terrible plight — it makes sleeping through the night almost impossible in a communal setting, for one thing.

As it was, however, it probably saved Ivy’s life.

Ivy Aspen woke up almost as soon as the tremors started. It was on the second tremor that she sat up, bleary-eyed and grasping for Tesla’s pokeball.

On the third tremor, which was considerably more violent than the two that came before it…

A tree branch came crashing through the back-side of her tent and smashed down onto the floor, directly where her head had just been.

Ivy didn’t even twitch. Why?

Well, because she was motherfucking unfazable (except when it came to certain, uh, things), that’s why.

Instead, she made a valiant attempt to analyze the situation at hand.

So… one. There had been a minor earthquake in the region. Their campsite had been directly affected. The wild Pokemon in the area had probably been disturbed too, which was… bad.

Two. A branch had come down through her tent. It was now very badly ripped at the back, and possibly unusable.

Well, damn. That thing had been expensive, too.

Three. The stupid branch had grazed her left arm on the way down. Her dress-shirt was ripped, and she had a moderately deep cut on her forearm, so the poor shirt was getting pretty bloody as well.

Actually, it kind of hurt. Not, like, intense “my arm’s going to fall off!” pain, but… it definitely stung.

And people wondered why she didn’t like grass types. They were all so blind… plants were evil! And this was proof.

Stupid tree.

Stupid camping trip.

Honestly, she just wanted to go home.

Then, a voice.

[color=1a7b30]“Anybody hurt?”
[/color]

If that wasn’t a cue to emerge from this godforsaken tent, then nothing was. She sighed and unzipped the front, crawling out. And—

Oh, look. You could barely tell that her tent had been damaged from the front. That was kind of… just insulting. The stupid thing wasn’t even broken enough to merit abandonment.

Super-sized Exhibitionist’s tent had collapsed. He had his Pokemon cradled in his arms. 

[color=82ca9d]“Just a little bit,”[/color] said Ivy dully. She raised her left arm, and the tattered remains of her sleeve, to show him. [color=82ca9d]“I’m Ivy Aspen. Nice to meet you.”[/color]

Then she lapsed into silence again.

[color=1a7b30]“So...uh what was up with that?”[/color] said the Exhibitionist.

Ivy shrugged. [color=82ca9d]"Earthquake?"
[/color]

It was pretty obvious that it was an earthquake. If he couldn’t tell that much, then… she had no idea what to say.

Was she supposed to make small talk? Did people make small talk in these situations?

If they did... well, Ivy would politely refrain. Or, failing that, impolitely refrain.

Instead, she dug in her pocket for Tesla’s Pokeball and released him in a flash of bright red light. The Mareep trotted over to her feet, cool as a cucumber, pausing only to give their new giant of a companion an assessing look as dark and deep as the howling abyss.

Ivy already felt a little better.

There really was nothing like knowing that the creepiest Pokemon on the battlefield was (probably) on your side.

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