[center][h1][b][color=662d91]Maria Conway[/color][/b][/h1][/center]
[center] [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FO9WXi9gxQg]It's a big world outside[/url] [/center]
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Maria's departure was bittersweet to her. Not because she had never traveled before. She had been around Kanto and to many of the other regions with her grandfather for short trips. But on those, she knew she wouldn't be gone for long, that she would return to her home soon. But now she was off on not a trip, but an actual journey. She had no idea when she would see home again. She had no idea whether she would even do good on her journey. But she had faith in herself. Her life was going to change when she stepped in New Bark town, and even if the path she was going to take wouldn't take her to the future she saw for herself, she would still go out and face it.

[color=662d91]"I've been on this boat for too long..."[/color] Maria sighed as she leaned against the railing as she tried to get the "uncertain future" thoughts out of her head. Hailing from the region right next to Johto, but being closer to the ocean rather than the metro, Maria ended up getting a boat ticket to New Bark town, and thus, had a longer journey than most. It was already the second day that she was on the boat, but thankfully she was almost to her destination. The trip hadn't been bad, maybe a tad bit boring but not bad. Her favorite part had been seeing the Seafoam Islands and Cinnabar Island as the ship passed them. Maria got quite a few shots of them, many of them pretty good. She had just finished looking at the ones she decided to keep after she uploaded them to her laptop. She had brought her laptop, camera, the few essential supplies that most trainers carried in their bags...and some pokecandy from the Safari zone. She knew exactly what starter she was getting and while she knew Hoppip would be good for some aerial shots, a Hoppip wouldn't be much good when it came to actually battling, at least not at first. Her only hope was that she could get a decent battling pokemon before she ran out of candy or angered one too much with a rock.

But those concerns were at the back of her mind as the ship finally made dock. Maria was one of the first off the ship and looking around at the tiny town. Maria could even feel the winds of her new beginning blowing around her...until she realized that it was actually a helicopter letting some people off. Was that one of the other trainers...she felt like she had seen one of those people before but she couldn't place it. Aw well, it didn't matter to her right now. Her first order of business was simple. She asked a local to take a picture of her next to the town's sign. Her first photo in Johto, the first of many, and she wanted it to be of that so she could send it back to her grandfather. 

With that done, Maria quickly made her way to Juniper's lab (after asking for directions), ready to meet her first partner in her journey.