The Keeper of the Keys

The town was buzzing like a zubat hive. Everywhere he looked people dashed around putting up banners and streamers, engaging in the mindless pomp and ceremony that precluded any town's Biggest Day of the Year. Even inside the normally quiet and relaxed shops, shopkeepers rotated their wares and scrubbed their windows preparing for the big day. In every window, on every banner "Start your Summer Adventure at Sanctuary"

A lot of towns had a ritual to set off budding Pokemon trainers... Lo Town’s was just a little more commercial designed to revive a town that’s off beat location left it perpetually on the brink of financial collapse. You wouldn’t know it today… the town gleamed in the dawn sunlight.

Ken couldn’t help it… he smiled a broad smile under his big bushy white moustache. He remembered his own big day. The day he had caught his first ever Pokemon Kaisa, right here in this little town, over 50 years ago. She had been a Spearow then. He remembered his father’s face as Ken had turned with the pokeball clutched in his hand. The tears of pride in his father's eyes, how his father had rushed to hug both him and his own faithful Hypno (without whom Kaisa could never have been caught). A bond that would link all four of them forevermore

As if in answer to his nostalgia Kaisa swooped past him diving under a half erected banner making an elderly man on a ladder wobble dangerously. He swore loudly turning angrily to shake his fist but he swallowed his anger as he met Ken’s eyes.

“Mornin keeper” he growled with enforced civility.

“Sorry bout that Mo. You know how they get today”. grinned Ken, unable to keep his face level
Mo’s face broke into a wide smile looking fondly down at his own Growlithe happily chasing it’s own tail.

“Aye, that I do”
They remembered it too, he knew it. The day they had found each other!

It was the only explanation for why everyone got so excited on this particular day. He watched Kaisa swoop and roll in the distance, her loud cawing cry echoing through the village. He had travelled the world with Kaisa at his side. He had won the Indigo League with her at his side , cried as she fell still fighting to Karen's Gengar's savage Night Shade. Finally he had retired here with her as Keeper of the Keys.... back to where it all began!

It was a good life! Even though he had no real purpose beyond a famous figurehead; even if he was, technically, defender of the sanctuary. He snorted. Who would try and rob the Sanctuary? There hadn’t been an attempt since its fouding. It was so safe he’d even retired some of his own Pokemon in there.

Nope he opened and shut the doors each day, signed a few autographs and in return he got a nice little cottage on the outskirts of town and enough money to keep his belly growing. Contentedly he rattled the keys in his hand. It was a good day.

_______________________________________

Elder Jona was not having a good day. She had a million things to do, her sciatica was playing up and Elder Bloody Algenon had forgotten to arrange collection of the Bloody PokeGears from Saffron City.

“You’re a cretin Algy, a half wit and a fool, how could you forget the PokeGears and why In Ho-Oh’s name are you smiling?”

The old man’s incredibly lined face was crinkled in a wide smile, seemingly impervious to her rage, as he watched his ancient Rattata trying to climb up one of the banner poles to nibble at the fresh rope holding the sign.

“It’s just a wonderful day, isn’t it?”

She gave a half strangled roar of frustration catching the arm of his daughter as she hurried past
“Daisy dear, go into Danny’s copy shop and get him to knock out 50 official looking PokeGear Vouchers. I’ll ring the store- they’ll just have to collect from Saffron.”

She strode over to the Registration table where Elder Priscilla and Elder Robert were snoozing gently in the morning sun. She resisted the urge to wake them with a loud slap to each cheek. They would have a long day ahead.

Grimly she taped a big notice detailing the rules and regulations to the table and stepped back to read them one more time.

1. This event is for first time trainers only. Trainers must present their new registration with the Pokemon League to be entered.
2. Only 1 pokeball can be brought into the Sanctuary… yes we do check.
3. All trainers must be accompanied by a parent or guardian who in turn may bring 1 Pokemon.

This event was typically a generational affair but there was always one who tried to sneak an extra pokeball in.... in ways that stunned her limited knowledge of Biology.

She couldn’t help it, even as her own Chansey, reached up to hold her hand she smiled. That buffoon Algy was right it was a wonderful day!

The Day Before-
Your journey begins…
Tomorrow

Registration begins at midday!

Those of you that pre registered (for a sizeable fee) had it in writing.Those of you turning up on the day to try and snag a free entry spot found out from a friend of a friend, maybe your friend’s sister’s chiropodist, but I digress. Either way, everyone coming to Lo Town knew registration was at midday.

Everyone also knew that registration was competitive and you had to arrive early to get a spot. Rumour had it that pre-registration was so high this year that there were only 5 spots left for unregistered applicants. A rumour like that always seemed to go out somewhere between payday and when pre registration closed but that was just a funny coincidence.

Early morning buses were booked up weeks in advance, hotels were bursting at the seams, weeks of saving, months of planning all leading up to this moment. You, standing in a very long queue in front of the registration desk in the town square. The square is right at the intersection of the town's four main roads which fan out like a peace sign. Three small legs one to Saffron, one to Celadon, one to Cerulean and in the centre one long road leading up towards Mount Moon.

Just on the horizon, if you look very carefully through the banners and streamers you can see the sparkling windows of the beautiful manor house gleaming in the sun. It’s a stirring sight on a beautiful day.

No matter how far back in line you are you can clearly hear an argument happening at the registration desk between a small girl and a sour looking old man, you (actually you probably wouldn’t) know as Elder Robert.
_____________________________________________________________________

Elder Robert ran the registration desk every year. He was a grumpy old man who yearned for the simple life and complained loudly about how positively unsimple this modern world was. Nevertheless he liked today because 96% of registration applicants (and yes he had done the maths) were so simple he never had to deviate from his script.

1. Parent and child nervously approach desk.
2. Cue first line “Welcome to Lo Town home of the Official Pokemon Sanctuary. We’re so glad you’ve chosen us as the place to begin your Pokemon journey. Can you confirm if you’ve pre registered?” If parent skint or sensible no/ if parent rich or fool yes. Either way continue to line 3
3. “Can I have your official Pokemon registration card please?”
Parent ferrets in pocket whilst child looks concernedly up hoping parent hasn’t messed up this day. Cue reassuring smile.
4. Parent finds Id card, passes it to spawn to hand over. Cue second reassuring smile and mindless platitude about what a gentleman/ lady the brat is.
5. Receive stupidly named “Pokedex” from Elder Priscilla. Put card/number in Pokedex. Wait. Cue reassuring comment “We’re just putting your card into this machine to verify that you’re not the owner of any other Pokemon as this event is for first time trainers only.”
6. Flashing lights- irksome voice says. “Welcome<insert trainer name here>. You’ve caught 0 pokemon, you’ve seen 0 pokemon.”
7. Cue smile and comment “it’s always a tense moment that. Well thank you <insert trainer name here>. <You’ll be the insert next number in sequence> to enter the Sanctuary.”
8. “Now finally to lock in your spot and claim your goody bag including your very own pokedex (sponsored by Sliph Co- Innovation through Experimentation) and a voucher for some brand new pokegear (sponsored by the Celadon Game Corner- Be Lucky) we need you to sign this form.”
9. Slide over exceptionally long form nullifying any health and safety liability, signing the child up to a lifetime of adverts through said “generously” given chipped Pokedex, allowing Lo Town to use their image in any future advertising (especially if they become famous) and subscribing them both to a copy of Poke Monthly for 19.99 each unless cancelled within 7 days.
10. Watch benignly as the length of the queue and the child's impatience to get their brand new Pokedex forces parent to sign 3.75 page form halfway down page 1.
11. Close “Thank you so much. Please note we’re holding a little party up at the Sanctuary tonight with a special talk by former Indigo League Champion and our very own Keeper of the Keys”
Indicate to fat old coot waddling around the square
“Ken Adams. More details in your goody bag.” Take bag from Elder Priscilla, hand it and pokedex to child.
12. “Congratulations, your very own Pokemon adventure is about to begin”

Rinse repeat.

Every year there was always a few kids that caused trouble and he’d hit a mine early this year. The brat was a short wiry girl with long flowing black hair. Her demeanour oozed superiority, her nose ever so slightly upturned to indicate that Elder Robert’s most expensive cologne actually smelt like Muk’s most watery bowel movement.

Despite the immense sign with rules and regulations the girl stood alone with only a fairly enormous cheque for company. Much could be forgiven at the right cost but even worse the pokedex in front of him quite clearly said Pokemon seen 15, Pokemon owned 1. That was the one rule that could not be broken. The sanctity of rookie trainers was something the elders had agreed long ago, something to preserve the heritage and unique nature of the Sanctuary Ritual. Break that and they may as well be a poor man’s Safari Zone.

“I’m sorry, my dear, despite the generous nature of your donation” he wheezed in his most sympathetic voice “as you have owned a Pokemon, even in the past, we cannot allow you entry to the Sanctuary.”

“That is unacceptable. I must enter the Sanctuary”

The girl’s voice was clipped and cool yet her words made Robert stare. She must? His brain whirred as it tried to think of something clever to say. All he could come up with, though he added his most superior voice for good measure, was

“And why is that dear?”

She trumped his superiority with icy rage

“Because there are several pokemon in their I wish to capture, you stupid old man”

Beyond her excellent ability to hand him things there was a second reason Elder Priscilla manned the desk. A retired headmistress of Pokemon Academy, she was there to handle the troublesome 4% and at the child's words she got to her feet with the stiffness of a woman barely holding herself on a tight leash.
She moved round the desk, each step seeming to echo off the cobbles, her Farfetch’d strutting behind her; twirling his leek with dangerous menace.

“Where is your parent or guardian?”

“My father is too important to set foot in a dump like this” the girl held her ground drawing herself up to her full height still managing to sneer despite having to crane her neck to meet Priscilla’s gaze.

“And yet you are not?” retorted Priscilla impervious to insult

“You bitch. When I tell him, he’ll burn this shit hole to the ground.”

“Names will get you nowhere you young lady.” the girl tossed her hair angrily and opened her mouth to speak yet Elder Priscilla overrode her with supreme disdain
“You have contravened two of the rules of the Sanctuary and I suspect”

Her beady eyes flew to the girls belt where 6 jet black pokeballs hung just on the edge of view.

“You intended to capture more than one Pokemon if you gained entry to the Sanctuary. As such though we appreciate your donation.”

Holding the cheque at arms length she tore it cleanly in two

“We will not be giving you leave to enter the Sanctuary. Now please step aside, you are holding up the queue”

The girl stood still as a statue, fury rendering her paralysed. She opened her mouth but a jovial voice overrode her

“Come with me dear. I understand you're upset but...”

“Keep the fuck out of this fatso…..” the girl cut off halfway as she realised who she was speaking too. Ken Adam's face was smiling as jovial as ever but for a moment there was a dark glint in his bright eyes

“I dare say I’ve put on a bit of timber. Regardless come with me girl, we can talk this through.”

The girl's entire demeanour seemed to change in an instant morphing from fury to sly glee. She leered, a delighted grin seeming to ooze across her face

“Make me.”

Her words were so quiet Ken had to lean forward

“Make me fatso!”

It happened so fast it would have been easy to miss. Kaisa landed at Ken’s side falling from nowhere with the force of an avalanche. Her cry so loud it made the girl take a step backward. Even as the girl recoiled she reached from her belt and threw one of the balls straight at Kaisa, her lips opened in a shout of triumph which died as Kaisa’s neck flicked like a batter's arm, her beak connected with a loud thud sending the ball flying off in the direction of Saffron city.

Then the girl was gone sprinting off in the same direction seemingly immune to the people laughing and scoffing around her. Anyone that took the time to watch the girl running away would realise she didn’t look remotely embarrassed or upset, she looked confused and just a little frightened.

~Lisette~

Lisette's feet moved at a brisk pace, looking straight ahead and for the most part - drowning out everything else around her. The other trainers, the people, the pokemon...everything, really. Why? She felt like punching the next person who looked at her funny face in. To say she was incredibly irritated, was an understatement. Now, why was she irritated? Oh, there were so many reasons she was constantly irritated. So she focused on simply walking. One foot in front of the other, ignoring everything else.

"We're late." A voice broke her meditative thoughts with its usual gruff, somewhat groggy tone. "Damn it, if you'd gotten ready sooner then we would have already been here."

Her dear sister.

"Ugh, look at this line." Lisette didn't respond, merely sighed, turning her head to the festivities of the small town. For a rural place, they certainly at least knew how to throw a good party - something she could appreciate. Maybe she'd stick around for a bit, eh? She took in a deep breath of air, the clean, fresh air of the city a stark contrast to Saffron. "If you didn't spend an hour with those low-life's we could have already been here and done with this. Blegh, at least you've been pre-registered so you have a spot. Ugh I'm going to be eating noodles for a month after this."

"Those low-life's are my friends, sis." Lisette scoffed with an eye roll, before her mouth turned upwards in a smirk as she dismissively shrugged. "Not that you'd know what having one of those is like." Yvette knew better than to play into her sisters obvious taunts - she learned it a number of years ago that simply ignoring it would make things go a lot easier. Still though, it made her more than a little irritated and she really couldn't help herself, just this once. She hadn't slept much last night and she hadn't had coffee in at least four hours.

Ugh, today was going to be annoying.

"I'd rather have no friends than so-called friends who get themselves arrested for something that'd be a felony if you were older."

"And I'd rather have friends that get arrested for a good cause than sit by as someone gets away with something worse." Lisette shot an icy glance shot to her sister from over her shoulder where she was walking. Ugh, this was irritating her just thinking about it.

"A good cause...How can you even think?!-" Yvette harrumphed, interrupting herself with a exasperated sigh. "You know what? I'm not having this conversation again. Your thick skull isn't going to listen to anything I say, is it?" Her older sister sighed, reaching into her lab coat and pulling out some papers. "More on topic, Lis, can you at least try to behave today? No fights? No drawing gang signs on the buildings of the walls, please?"

"Mhm."

"Also, could you at least zip your jacket up all the way? If you're going to take this trainer thing seriously you should at least dress appropriately."

"Sure."

"Y...you're not listening to me, as usual are you-gah!" Before she could finish that sentence suddenly she found herself grabbed by the shoulders and lifted a few feet from the ground. Lisette turned, stifling a chuckle at the sight of her Crobat lifting her off the ground. "D-down! Put me down Mal!" The large bat like pokemon didn't seem to listen. Instead, he gave a shrill cry of amusement as he pulled Yvette at least five feet off the ground and started flying her around the area. "N-not funny you stupid bat! You know I can't handle flying!" Mal didn't seem to listen as he happily flapped his trainer around the area, zooming off towards the long line of people. Lisette chuckled quietly to herself before walking after them. Soon enough, Crobat plopped Yvette down at the back of the line, the older woman almost stumbling and falling flat on her face as she was dropped finally.

"Ugh, thanks Mal..." Yvette grunted as she was finally released.

"Cro-crobat!" The large pokemon seemed oddly pleased with himself.

"Blegh, next time I let you out for exercise please don't suddenly pop out of nowhere and fly me around."

"Bat!"

"...that sounded suspiciously like a no." Mal simply grinned happily. "Ugh, I'm surrounded by idiots..." Yvette grumbled, shaking her head and rubbing her temples with a hand. "So as I was saying Lisette-eh? No...she...she didn't!" Lisette, seemed to have taken the momentary distraction to vacate the premises. "Ugh, she better be here by the time we get to the registration..." Yvette grumbled under her breath as she waited in line. Mal hovered around the person behind them like it wanted to be pet.

---

As soon as Crobat had taken Yvette off, Lisette walked in the exact opposite direction of the registration. Jeez, she hated this - she really did. Mostly being forced to do something she didn't want too. Oh sure, she'd do it since she didn't have much of a choice. What, was she just going to tell her parents to get lost or something? She was sure one of her friends would let her stay with them, but...well, she wasn't one to at least not be somewhat independent.

Lisette exhaled, a happy smirk forming on her lips as she walked away from Yvette. Ah, it felt so good not to be around her, though that joy was quickly replaced with irritation. It seemed that they had arrived just in the middle of a commotion of some sort. Some sort of laughter and scoffing? Lisette wasn't sure, she couldn't hear from as far away as she was. What she did see though, was a girl running from the direction of the registration looking a little confused, and perhaps a little frightened. Well, she didn't know what happened - but it seemed like this girl might have just gotten a bit in over her head.

And then a pokeball had to go and smack her right in the face.

"Wah-!" The black colored pokeball hit her square in the forehead, making Lisette stumble slightly from the sudden impact. "Ow, ow...I am most definitely not a pokemon." She grumbled, rubbing her forehead as she bent down and picked up the black pokeball. Now that was a pokeball you didn't see every day. Did it belong to the running girl? hm...Lisette pocketed it, quickly running after the other fleeing girl. With her athleticism it didn't take her long to reach her.

"Hey," She said, stopping in front of the other girl. "Lost something, did ya?" She tossed the black pokeball at the other girl rather she was ready to catch it or not.

"...Kaleo.."

"..."

"...it's time to get up."

"..."

"You do want to get your first Pokemon, right?"

That seemed to be enough to get the pale child to rouse from his slumber and sit up. Sporting a pretty silly bedhead along with a dopey look on his face, Thahn smiled faintly and clapped a hand on the boy's shoulder before standing up from his hotel bed and proceeding to get ready for the big day ahead of them. They had rented out a hotel and bought new suitcases just for this event. Kaleo was going out on his own and starting his pokemon journey. And while Thahn was still a bit nervous about letting his mute grandson venture out on his own, he knew that the boy would get through it; heck he was Alto and Kanon's son for crying out loud!

While tightening the low ponytail that kept his white locks tame, Thahn stole a glance at Kaleo, who was brushing his teeth, and Hana, who was attempting to mimic him. The former didn't look much too excited about this new journey that awaited him and that was to be expected. He was never the type to let his face show how he felt...and that was fine, but maybe a little bit of excitement would have been nice? This would be his second time paying for such a thing...

"Hey Kaleo?" Thahn waited for the brown haired boy to look over. "Are you excited to get your first pokemon?" He then questioned, tilting his head curiously to see what he had to say.

Said boy stared blankly at his grandfather, toothbrush still in his mouth. He appeared to be thinking for a few seconds before shrugging his shoulders and going back to brushing his teeth. Hana decided he would play translator and let out a series of cries, with Kaleo nodding in agreement before spitting into the sink.

.

..

...

....Thahn could never understand those two when they were together...

---

The three hurried and got dressed, followed by breakfast and repacking Kaleo's things. An hour after they had originally woken up, three were already outside, rushing to catch the bus they pre-ordered tickets for. Even upon exiting the hotel, the were multiple crowds of people in the front lobby, all trying to get the attention of the two women panicking behind the front desk. Thahn truly felt back for just just leaving without assisting in anyway, but they had to get going or else they would have a longer line waiting for them at the Sanctuary. Through quick reflexes, having Kaleo hold Hana, and him hold Kaleo's hand, they were out in no time.

Thahn had expected outside the hotel to be a little less crowded, but it ended up being far worse. Tidal waves of people and pokemon could be seen wherever he looked. Thahn could have sworn he forgot what the ground looked like as he hoisted Kaleo up in the air and carried him and Hana to the bus stop, just barely making it and getting seats in the far back of the bus. Despite still renting a hotel, they were still pretty far away from the Sanctuary, and Thahn wasn't planning on tiring out his grandson before his journey even started.

The bus ride itself was fairly long, or at least it felt long due to all the rowdy kids and pokemon crammed into one place. Thahn could see Kaleo staring at everyone's rowdy behavior, and behind the stone cold face, he was able to see a bit of confusion. Maybe because of how happy everyone seemed about the event? No, probably because most of them weren't getting a pokemon, why would they be excited about others doing so? Thahn chose to keep quiet once he saw Kaleo reach into his backpack and pull out a book. He couldn't help but smile.

---

Taking their first steps toward the sanctuary, Kaleo and Thahn were met with the sight of a rather long line, followed by a girl with long black hair running past them.
"Huh...children these days." The man sighed as he smoothed back his hair and looked down at the Kaleo. "Let's get in line why don't we?" He questioned before receiving a simple nod in response.

The three waited patiently in line, watching most get through without a hitch and a few being sent away. When it was finally their turn, they were greeted with a rather old man and woman manning the front desk.
"Welcome to Lo Town home of the Official Pokemon Sanctuary. We’re so glad you’ve chosen us as the place to begin your Pokemon journey. Can you confirm if you’ve pre registered?" The man questioned. Both Kaleo and Thahn nod, the former continuing to stare at the old man while the later gave a polite smile.

"Can I have your official Pokemon registration card please?" The question was directed to Thahn, but instead of complying, said man looked back at his grandson who was holding out his own ID card; Thahn had gave it him earlier, since Kaleo was much better in terms of not forgetting things than he was. The man at the front desk appeared to be only a little bit confused as he took the card from the child and a Pokedex from the woman next to him. Thahn had seen the process being done before, checking if the child has already or seen any pokemon while registered into a different pokedex, but for Kaleo the is was only something that he had read in journals and books about Sanctuary registration. The boy unconsciously stepped closer to get a better look at how the Pokedex was able to do such a thing before flinching backwards in surprise when the Pokedex began to speak up.

“Welcome Kaleo. You’ve caught 0 pokemon, you’ve seen 0 pokemon.” It took everything in Thahn to hold back a chuckle as he patted the young boy's head.

"Well thank you Kaleo. You’ll be the 19th to enter the Sanctuary. Now finally to lock in your spot and claim your goody bag including your very own pokedex and a voucher for some brand new pokegear we need you to sign this form.” The old man moved to form towards them to read, and without a moment wasted, Kaleo took the form and began reading through it, teal eyes almost becoming a blur as he finished reading everything in two minutes. He looked up at his grandfather and nodded slowly in confirmation before handing the form to said man so that he could sign.

It was clear that the old man at the desk wasn't expecting the child to do most of the work in terms of registration, but it was true. It was all Kaleo who signed up, read all the forms, made sure he had everything himself and so on. The only thing he's sure Kaleo needed help with was his signature and actually catching the pokemon, two things that were no sweat for Thahn.

“Thank you so much. Please note we’re holding a little party up at the Sanctuary tonight with a special talk by former Indigo League Champion and our very own Keeper of the Keys. Ken Adams. More details in your goody bag.” The man at the desk hummed before taking what looked like a goody bag and and the Pokedex, and handed it over to Kaleo, who took with a blank stare. “Congratulations, your very own Pokemon adventure is about to begin.”

And with that, all they had to do was wait. They still had a while to go, and Thahn was a bit worried that Kaleo would get bored and want to go back home, but it seemed like the boy was occupied with the pokedex, so he should be fine until it was his turn.

---

Perri stretched a bit as he extended his two arms up to the sky, giving a smile so bright to the horizon that it made the morning sky look drab in comparison. He managed to stifle a yawn while standing smack dab near the beginning of the line. Saying that they were early was basically an understatement as the teen placed on hand on his hip and stretched his arm in the same direction a his other hand. This earned him a few strange stares but nothing worth noting to him.

"You look plenty excited."

Perri proceeded to reverse his stretch, now going in the direction the voice came from. Perri tilted his head his eyes twinkling with excitement as he eyed his old man who was struggling to stifle a yawn himself, all the while Lumino was nervously peering from behind the bearded behemoth. "Heh, and why wouldn't I be," the boy jovially shot back, closing his eyes as he beamed brightly at his grizzled looking father. "I finally get to go one a grandeur adventure, just like you an ma," he excitingly answered. It was like he was a kid who got the whole candy store to himself.

"I get to see new horizons, experience new things," he exclaimed, wrapping his arm around his fathers shoulder and pulling him close as he continued his overly dramatic dialogue. "... meet new people, discover more things about myself, experience heartbreaks," this was where the mood he set began to change. Now he was definitely getting a few more stares than usual.

"... partake in drama, tension, and romance," Perri struck a pose, pressing a fist against his heart as he held his other arm out away from his body (and his father). All his fingers on the free hand with spread out in a rhythmic manner. As the performer held fervently onto his position, he leaned his head back just a little to look at the shrinking violet that was their Roserade.

As soon as Lumino met his gaze, Perri smiled warmly at it and began jutting his chin out a bit, urging him to join in. He shook his flowery head, but grinned softly back at the boy, as if to enable this... overblown behavior. Even his father didn't seem all that perturbed by it all, and just rolled his eyes as his son continued his over the top actions.

"Action, excitement," he drummed up, almost instantly switching poses as he placed one hand onto his thigh, bent the leg his hand was connected with, and held his palm outward on his other hand, slowly moving it around.

"To go where no man has g-"

"How many reruns of Star Trek did you watch last night?" The same, familiar gruff but relaxed voice popped in, resulting in Perri suddenly ending his speech. Turning his head around, the rest of his body remained solid as a statue, but not as tense or rigid as one might presume. "H-huh, I don't know what you mean," he coyly replied, impishly smiling at his dad as his eyes darted away, as if to dodge the point.

The man sighed crossing his arms as he gave his son 'The Stare,' furrowing his brows while leaving his lips completely flat. Along with that, he made sure to make sure his gaze was icy and piercing, just like his wife's as he continued glaring down his son.

Slowly but surely, Perri started breaking away from his unusual poses, toning it down a notch as he began melding back into what many would presume to be the "normal" way of standing... well, as normal as it could get for someone like him. Brushing away his white hair and moving his goggles out of the way, he exposed his other eye as he met his fathers.

"Uh, just a couple of episodes," he tapped his finger on the side of his hip, lingering on the last word for what felt like a couple of seconds. The man just sighed, pressing his cheeks together with one hand... and just shook his head; he knew what a "couple" meant in this case.

"I will never understand how you have so much friggin' energy kid," he grumbled, looking down at his son who was just beaming brightly back at him.

"Hehehe, love ya too dad,~" Perri's smile increased exponentially, displaying his full pearly whites as he closed his eyes as well, as if to add on to the whole cutesy act.

Suddenly, something broke the sanctity of this whole situation as an eruption broke forth ahead of the trio, causing the shorter pokemon to recoil back behind Blake. The older man turned to eye where the situation was, frowning as one of his eyebrows shot up. Perri, on the other hand, poked his head out to the side, his seemingly flat expression filled with some life as the recesses of his lips curled upwards.

What he saw was a cute girl upfront!... with a limited amount of vocabulary to boot.

He was honestly hard-pressed to waltz up and just mess around with her to see how she would react... though it probably not the best of ideas to pop into his head since she probably had a bit of experience under her belt, judging by the pokeballs she was carrying...

The whole act seemed to go on for what felt like a minute, but it was nevertheless interesting to see such a peculiar interaction... until blam! The climax, the peak of this whole shebang! Perri mouthed a nice as he watched a Fearow land from the skies above, keeping his eyes completely focused on the act... even more interesting was when the pokemon slapped the ball away like it was nothing! Now that's one way to make a hell of an impression!

... setting himself back, Perri was unexpectedly quiet at the spectacle as the crowds either laughed or jeered at the girls expense. A hand was spread across his face, obscuring part of his cheek... and then Perri smiled and chuckled.

Other than that little spectacle really weren't any other interesting sights to note of from Perri's view, other than the distinct soon-to-be-trainers waiting in line. He smiled at the sight of each one, rapping his index finger against his cheek as he studied each of them; he could only seldom glimpse at how they might act, based on-

A tap on his shoulders snapped him out of his trance as he whipped his head to see what was up. Perri glanced over at his dad who was pointing forward, signifying that they were next in line. Giggling that he went off into la la land, Perri pressed on forward towards the registration desk.

"Welcome to Lo Town home of the Official Pokemon Sanctuary. We’re so glad you’ve chosen us as the place to begin your Pokemon journey. Can you confirm if you’ve preregistered," the man politely question, prompting Perri to haughtily throw his white hair obscuring his eyes back (despite it not doing much) and set his hand on his hip. "Why yes indeed! We've got the cards, forms, everything y'might need," he beamed brightly, a glint in his eye suggesting something else as Blake began fishing through his pockets, along with the Roserade slowly waddling behind Perri.

"... soooooooooooo," he slowly dragged out, pressing a hand on the table and one arm on the back of his hip as he leaned forward; his upbeat attitude didn't seem all that infectious as he began questioning the duo.

"That was a pretty amazing spectacle up there," he praised, his smile growing ever more wider the more he talked and heard his dad look through his pockets and bag, questioning the location of the card. "Such style, grace, and finesse! Tell me, tell me - how might I try to mimic the way that Fearow landed? I mean, I can't just grow wings and all, but it would be pretty friggin' cool," he mused to them both, carefully scanning both their faces. They seemed... semi-taken back by his approach, so it mildly worked.

Before they could even get a word in on Perri, he was at it again. "Ooh, ooh, or how much calcium do I have to ingest over my life to just smack a pokeball away liiike," Perri suddenly backed away a bit, removing his hand from the table as he clenched his hand into a fist. Instantly, he made a popping sound with his lips, spreading his fingers out like a blooming flower.

"Actually, how common i-"

"Perri, that's enough," a stern voice suddenly cut through, ending the young mans tyranny of talking over the clearly exasperated Elder's. This however caused the young man to gleefully turn around and continue his (mostly) unending smile... but he could tell something was off, as evidenced by 'The Stare.' Pouting, Perri's lip trembled a bit as he looked at his dad. "What did I do father? Asking questions isn't pr-"

"Perri, the registration card."

"Hmm? I haven't th-," one glance behind the line was all it took for him to realize that most of the other people waiting were getting impatient with the holdup... which was understandable since this whole spiel was probably reaching the mile mark of how long that one girl acted towards the Elder's.

Sighing dejectedly, Perri retrieved the card from his pocket, dancing it between his fingers as he weakly smiled at his dad. "Here you go daddy dearest.~"

"Why don't you hand it over to them," he nonchalantly spoke up, jutting his chin out as he pointed a finger out through his crossed arms.

"Huuuuuh, but isn't that supposed to be your job?" Perri tilted his head quizzically, earning him another one of his dads stares. "Fine, fine, have it your way," he playfully stuck his tongue out at his dad, waving him off dramatically as he swiftly handed over the registration card.

"... lazy ass," Blake mumbled, smiling just a tinge as the pokedex began scanning over the card, making sure that Perri hadn't caught any pokemon yet. He was mostly relaxed, tapping his foot in a rhythmic manner while humming a tune; his cheery attitude was still intact... though, at the expense of some others.

“Welcome Perri. You’ve caught 0 pokemon, you’ve seen 0 pokemon.”

That droll voice suddenly spoke up, causing Perri just to recoil a bit when it happened. Of course, afterwords, he chuckled victoriously, giving a thumbs up to his dad, who tiredly returned his sons enthusiasm with his own thumbs up. One of the Elder's just rolled their eyes at the action before continuing the whole orientation.

"Well thank you Perri. You’ll be the 3rd to enter the Sanctuary. Now finally to lock in your spot and claim your goody bag including your very own pokedex and a voucher for some brand new pokegear we need you to sign this form.” Elder Robert slid forward the pieces of paper that they would have to read through and a pen... but of course, who usually read through all this junk now a days?

Taking the pen, Perri began twirling it around for two seconds before tightly grasping at it and holding it towards his dad. The bear of a man raised an eyebrow, trying to figure out what game he was trying to get at.

After a few seconds of staring at his son, he constantly noticed Perri peering behind him, his right hand fidgeting as it tapped the side of his hip. Hmm.

Blake quickly snatched the pen from his hand and stepped forward. Both him and Perri took their time, reading it a fast as they could, Lumino, still behind Perri, jumped up and down to watch what they were both doing. Of course, in the midst of the second page, the teen whispered something to his dad which resulted in a shrug from the bearded man.

Skimming through the rest, Blake quickly signed off the form before handing it back to the Elder's. With than confirmation, both nodded before smiling at the duo. “Thank you so much. Please note we’re holding a little party up at the Sanctuary tonight with a special talk by former Indigo League Champion and our very own Keeper of the Keys. Ken Adams. More details in your goody bag.”

The older man then retrieved what looked to be a quaint little goody bag, along with a pokedex. Perri quickly scooped the two things up, attempting to twirl the Pokedex before fumbling up and nearly dropping the Pokedex onto the ground. He chuckled nervously as the two shook their heads a bit, reciting the final line of this whole orientation.

“Congratulations, your very own Pokemon adventure is about to begin.”

With that all said and done, the duo broke away from the line, telling the two Elder's thanks before moving on; Lumino managed to chirp up his own thanks, as diminutive as it was. As the group walked away, there were exasperated grumblings and myriads of people shaking their head, thankful that that spiel was over with.

"After six delay years, this is all how it begins, eh," he laughed softly to himself, counting by all the years he missed getting here by drawing motions in the air. His dad remained silent, letting his son get more of his enthusiasm out of his system. Pressing a thumb against his chin, Perri sighed as he stared down at the ground.

"Well, guess it's better late than never, wouldn't ya say," he asked to no one in particular, lost in thoughts.

"Yeah, and kiddo, looks like all our overtime paid off," the gruff man laughed heartily, adjusting his glasses as he placed an arm on Perri's shoulder. "Dunno how y'still have so much energy after all those nights... and then there's school too, yeesh..."

"Heheh, yeah that is true," he thought, staring down into a patch of dirt that was surrounded by the sea of grass. "I'll miss workin' at the PokeMart, but still," the boy clenched his fist, as if denying the nostalgia of the scene.

"New horizons are open t'me now! Sure, I might of closed one door, but another one has opened, one with nearly limitless possibilities," he held his finger up, trying to strike an almost mature pose as he furrowed his eyebrows and frowned a bit.

"So, I'll keep looking forward, gotcha," he shouted, waggling his finger before giggling and breaking out of his frown.

"Just don't forget to talk to us every so often; your mom and I would love to hear about your exploits down the road."

The boy beamed brightly, bobbing his head down in a nod. "Will do!"

Lisette @rune_alchemist

The girl whirls round at your words and your playful throw hits her square in the chest. She glares at you, her gaze intense and calculating. In that moment she seems to weigh you up and find you inferior all in the same breath, her nose upturning and lip curling in the slightest sneer, even as your height forces her to look up at you.

Despite any emotions you feel about her arrogance, you can't help but remember that look of fear she had on her face moments before. What could scare someone so ridiculously arrogant.... or who could?

Then she turns her attention to the ball on ground scooping it up and examining it carefully. Your eyes help can't be drawn to it too. The ball is jet black with a silver spike at the top and the longer you look at it the more uneasy you feel. All of a sudden you get the impetus to wipe your throwing hand on your pant leg as if you've just just touched something unclean.

You'd believe the girl had forgotten you'd exist except for the fact that she seems to subtly turn the ball away from you as she examines the inside.

She doesn't seem inclined to talk or show any gratitude for your kindness.... but do you push the issue?

Perri and Kaleo @Savo @tenma tendo
and eventually Lisette once she's registered

Registration is done and all of a sudden you've got some time to kill. Better open those goody bags!

Unfortunately goody bag seems to be a bit of an overstatement and the bag seems to mainly to consist of vouchers and adverts for the stores in and around Lo Town. Given that you've both received a brand new Pokedex for nothing... well maybe you shouldn't really be complaining... or so you think. Even as you open it up the pokedex introduces itself

"I'm (insert name of pokedex here), a Pokédex gifted to you by Sliph Co (innovation through experimentation)."
It becomes clear pretty quick that this Pokedex is also a free marketing tool.

Desperate you point it at a random Pokemon

(purely an example a....Ponyta. A fire Pokemon (you want fire try Charizard Chilli only at the Pokeshack). As a newborn, it can barely stand. However, through galloping, its legs are made tougher and faster(want to make your Pokemon tougher and faster- get vitamins only at the Pokemon mart).
Irritating as the adverts are it does in every other way function as a Pokedex.

You've also got:
A voucher for a Pokegear- claimable from the saffron city mart
A pokeball with a small s engraved in gold at the top. For use in the Sanctuary.

You shrug and start to look through the pieces of paper covered in advertising. Lucky you did. An itinerary and a map is well worth the trouble

Itinerary for the next two days.(It's short)
12 pm Registration
5pm Sanctuary Soiree (including winner takes all Sanctuary Tourney, a talk by Ken Adams and much much more)
9am- first entrant

So you've got a little bit of time til the next main event and as you look at the map you can see a couple of things to pass the time. There's a couple of talks on basic Pokemon training and breeding including a few introductory talks in the Lo Town library. A few variety shows in the Lo Town Function Room including, oddly enough, a troupe of elderly acrobats (better know as The Golden Years)

Even as you look at the adverts one does catch your eye. Buy a pokeball (200) and get a potion for free (maximum of 3 pokeballs). This seems like a once in a lifetime sort of deal (ooc- it definitely is). You're currently with your guardian so its up to you whether they would pay for it or they would. Either way it's definitely worth a look.

So how will you pass the time?

~Lisette~

Well, Lisette certainly wasn't expecting that response. The slight sneer and the upturned nose was one of the things that set Lisette off more than anything. Even so, that look of fear she was wearing earlier caused her some confusion. Perhaps just a rich brat who had just got a taste of what the real world was like? Or something else entirely? More importantly however - was the ball in her hands. The black colored ball was definitely not standard issue. Jet black, with a silver spike at the top of it. She hummed lightly to herself as she observed it. Whatever it was, it seemed...odd. Gave her a bad feeling, and she liked to think she had good instincts.

"You know," Lisette began, resting a hand on her hip, closing one of her eyes in her usual somewhat flirty and overly aggressive seeming manner. "most people would have at least said thanks." She took a step closer to the kid, fixing the girl with a cool gaze as she looked down at her. "I thought I was helping a scared pidgey, but it seems you might be more of a haughty meowth." Lisette sighed in mild disappointment. She liked kids, she really did. Well, anyone younger than her anyways classified as a 'kid' in her books.

"So," She continued. If there was another thing Lisette hated more than anything, it was being ignored. If the kid was simply being a haughty brat, she could handle it. Being ignored like this, though? It was a baaad idea for anyone who knew her. "Ignoring people is bad, you know." Lisette's voice had taken a slightly dangerous tone. "Last guy who did that ended up in the hospital." She gave the girl confident smirk...before promptly thumping her on the forehead. "So are we going to have a problem here...or can I get at least a sincere 'thank you'?"

She wouldn't actually hurt the kid or start a fight with her. No, she wasn't that bad...but well, seeing a girl this arrogant was just bound to give her problems in the future.

Lisette @rune_alchemist
Your flick lands true, right between her eyes, with a satisfying smack, but oddly enough she doesn't drop the ball or give any verbal show of shock.

Congratulations though, you have succeeded in getting her attention but her movements are very slow and deliberate as she places the ball back in her belt and looks up at you.

Her face is deadpan but her eyes are burning.

"You evidently feel I owe you something"

She casually flips a 20 pokedollar coin so it lands in the dirt at your feet and continues with false sincerity very deliberately looking at your entire outfit

"I can tell times are hard."

She gives you a smile filled with mock sympathy and begins to walk away.

~Lisette~

This.

Little.

Ungrateful brat.

Lisette's face remained impassive through the rest of the exchange. The only sign of her agitation was her bringing her headphones up from around her neck to her ears. It was clear at least, this girl had no intention of playing friendly...it seemed she'd need to be taught a harsh, rather abrupt lesson one of these days. Still, Yvette would probably yell at her in her usual grumpy way if she caused a scene here and she didn't want to take any longer than she had too.

"Tut," She clicked her tongue in playful displeasure. She watched the kid leave, taking a deep breath before exhaling. "Just remember kiddo...next time I see ya, I'm not going to play so nice." She picked up the twenty dollars, pocketing it for later. No, she wasn't going to be using it...she'd be saving the twenty for a very special occasion. "Don't say I didn't give you a chance, kid." She chuckled lightly to herself before heading back towards Yvette at a light jog.

"And where have you been?" Her sister asked as she approached. Whenever Lisette wore her headphones, that meant she was busy trying to ignore people, either because she was annoyed or she just didn't care too much.

"Oh, just...the usual."

"That...concerns me." Yvette replied with a sigh, as the Crobat bolted over to Lisette, nearly tackling her at full speed. Lisette laughed, wrapping the large pokemon in a hug and patting its head.

"Someone's excited to see me. Yvette here ignoring you as usual?" She teased, earning an affirmative chirp from the bat pokemon.

"Traitor." Yvette grumbled. "I...have been standing in line, waiting for you. Unlike you, I've been doing what I'm supposed to be doing."

"And that's why you will get wrinkles early sister."

"Ugh just shut up I'm getting a headache. We're here anyways." With her usual grumble, Yvette approached the table where the registration was taking place, Lisette next to her with Crobat excitedly fluttering near them. Unexpectedly, neither of them appeared nervous. Yvette simply looked done, and Lisette just stood impatiently, headphones over her ears and for the most part ignoring everyone.

“Welcome to Lo Town home of the Official Pokemon Sanctuary. We’re so glad you’ve chosen us as the place to begin your Pokemon journey. Can you confirm if you’ve pre registered?”

"Here." Yvette grumbled out, handing Lisette's registration card to her. "Can we hurry this up? I've got a migraine forming and I really either need some coffee or sleep soon." Lisette took the card quietly, giving Elder Robert a cool, disinterested seeming gaze as she handed it over. She was then of course, handed the usual pokedex which promptly had her ID in it from Priscilla.

“Welcome Lisette Richelieu. You’ve caught 0 pokemon, you’ve seen 0 pokemon.”

"Can we hurry this up, a bit?" Lisette replied with an impatient tap of her foot. "I have other places to be than sitting around waiting on old people."
"Lisette!"

"Tsk. Well, I do. Look on the bright side. As soon as we are don you'll be free of me and you can go get some beauty sleep. Not that it'll help." Yvette breathed in, and then breathed out. Very. Forcefully.

"Just continue." She grumbled.

The process continued, with filling out a few forms. The pink haired girl growing more impatient by the second. She wasn't really much one to like waiting around like this, but she kept her attitude in line...mostly. Lisette grabbed the goodie bag unceremoniously, not particularly showing much respect or particular care for the so called Elders. By the end of it, she had her very own pokedex and of course, the goodie bag. Not that she was very interested in any of those all too much.

"Ugh, I apologize for my sister's attitude." Yvette said. "Not even a thanks...I swear Lisette, you're getting worse."

"Hmph. You forget I still don't really want to be doing this, so I don't really have anything to say 'thanks' for." She said with a huff. "Not that it matters. I'm gonna go get lost or something." She pulled her headphones around her neck and started to walk off. "Don't worry, I'm not going to get into trouble."

With that, Lisette bolted down the street at a swift pace, quickly getting lost in the crowd. Yvette simply sighed, stuffing her hands in her pocket and walking off. First thing first, end that stupid subscription with poke monthly.

---

After Lisette was far enough away from her sister, she finally slowed to a walk near a building with a bench. She leaned against the wall near the bench, setting the bag on the seat to finally fully inspect the contents of her so called goodie bag. It was...a lot less impressive than it sounded. Which was sort of impressive for a 'goodie bag' since she sort of expected the contents to suck massively. Mostly it consisted of adverts and vouchers for places around Lo Town. Well, jeez. If you're gonna give new trainers something at least make it something useful.

Like the pokedex for example. Even if she wasn't going to be using it - like at all - it was still useful, if even a little. She opened the pokedex, and was immediately greeted by a marketing ploy. Blegh, like she didn't use enough Silph. Co. stuff already since y'know, her dad worked for them. She huffed quietly, pointing it at a pokemon...only to be met with a slew of other advertisements.

"...Tch, it's less of an encyclopedia and more adware." She had half a mind to junk the thing entirely. Who in their right minds thought it'd be a good idea to put advertisements in something like this? She didn't like big companies already, this wasn't going to go well, really. With a sigh, she pocketed it and continued her perusal of the goods. She wouldn't be using the pokedex at all if she could help it.

After that, was a Voucher for a pokegear. Well, the phone would be useful...though she wasn't keen on going back to Saffron. She wanted some distance from the city. As far as she could get, honestly. She couldn't face her gang again...not at least without some chutzpah behind her pokemon. Perhaps she'd save it for another time, then. Wasn't like she didn't have music to listen to. Lastly...was a rather horribly colored pokeball. She glared at it, deciding quite quickly it was one of the most lame looking things she had ever seen.

"Well..." She grumbled. "Today's just a huge mess of bull. They're just in all of this for the money." The promotional adverts, as well as the clause that Lo-Town had a right to use their image on anything even more so should they become famous was just...ridiculous. If she did become famous she'd higher a damn good lawyer or something...well, it was an amusing thought at least. Truthfully...the attention would be nice, if that ever happened.

Still...she really wanted to get on her way already. In fact...she had half a mind to just get into the sanctuary by herself ahead of time, capture her pokemon and then get out. No sense in waiting around with stuff like this. She wasn't keen on sticking around for other festivities anyways. In fact...with Mal's help it might actually be doable tonight while the whole party thing was going on, mightn't it?

Heh.

Now that was a wonderful idea.

A little breaking and entering never hurt anyone, and she wouldn't really be breaking any laws...just speeding things up a little. She'd go scope out the sanctuary a little bit, then. No one would question a prospective applicant taking a look at the outside of the place, admiring it from a distance. Not unless they were just paranoid un-fun people.

"Okay, you two, I'll be cancelling that subscription nonsense and sitting over there if you need me. You guys go and spend some time looking around, alright?" Kaleo really didn't want to leave his grandfather's side, but he was practically being told to go do something productive. With a shallow nod followed by a slight droop of his head, Kaleo was off to who knows where.

Kaleo opted on moving a little away from the crowded sanctuary, finding a patch of grass were very little people were near. He took said spot as his own and sat on the ground, placing his goodie bag next to him and watching as Hana curiously went through it. While the pokemon was going through it, an idea formed in the boy's head. Slowly, as to not startle the Bellossom, Kaleo pointed his pokedex, named Cleff towards it. Excepting to hear some kind of information come from Cleff, Kaleo leaned forward in anticipation.

"..."

"Bellossom, the Flower Pokemon. A Bellossom grows flowers more beautifully if it has evolved from a smelly Gloom—the more stinky the better. When Bellossom gets exposed to plenty of sunlight, the leaves ringing its body begin to spin around. This Pokémon's dancing is renowned in the southern lands. At night, this Pokémon closes its petals and goes to sleep." Well...that was nice to know. Knowing that the pokedex wouldn't have any other function to amuse him, he placed in his bag for safe keeping and brought his attention to the goodie bag that Hana sorted out for him based off of coolness. First was the voucher for a Pokegear, the pokeball, and then a map. Never had a pokegear, so that was cool, and the pokeball was the very first that he owned, which also made it interesting, and the map was useful. Then there was the itinerary he was probably going to give to his grandfather when they met back up. There was also a pokeball potion deal going on as well. He had quite a lot of time until the next big event, so maybe getting his Pokegear and a pokeball would suffice for a good amount of time spent?

Deeming it a good idea, Kaleo packed everything back into the goodie bag, except for the map and the voucher. Judging by how the map showed it, the walk to Saffron shouldn't be too far. He had never read a map on his own, but he's seen his grandfather do it multiple times before, so it can't be too hard, right?

...

...

...

Boy was he wrong...

---

He couldn't even get out of Lo Town, and was instead walking in complete circles. Hana followed briskly with a happy smile on its face, probably assuming that they were playing some kind of game. Kaleo, on the other hand, furrowed his brows and let out a sigh to hide the distress on his face. He had already wasted so much time...how was he going to become a pokemon trainer if he can't even read a stupid map!?

---

After sitting on a nearby bench and chatting over any (plausible) plans that he had over the course of this journey with Blake, the white haired boy suddenly felt something tug at him... moreover, the goodie bag! Pausing to look over, he noticed Lumino tugging at the straps the boys arm was through, as if trying to futilely get it open as in peered over into the contents of the bag. Chuckling and smiling, Perri, quickly pulled in the Roserade and gave it a gentle noogie, careful to avoid the thorns as it yelped in surprise.

"So-ho-ho, someone's curious," Perii said in a sing song voice, mischievously leered at the small pokemon who looked up with a small luminescent blush, before nodding a bit. Setting the small pokemon down on his other lap, the boy pulled open the bag with gleeful vigor; any more energy and he could of torn the thing wide open.

"Yeesh kid, calm down, there ain't any candy in there," Blake nonchalantly jabbed at his son's enthusiasm, placing a fist on the side of his jaw. Perri just pouted, staring at his dad as if he said something racist.

"Hate sweets, you know that," he mumbled before digging down into the assortment of flyers and advertisements that littered this whole friggin' bag. Perri just wistfully shook his head as he weakly rested his hands in the pile.

"Hmm... what about cheesecake and chocolate though," the man suddenly burst out, looking towards the semi-clear sky rife with clouds, pointing his index up there as if that was where the answer lied to what his son enjoyed. That outburst elicited a giggle from the Roserade and Perri himself, drawing a few flyers from the bag, turning them into a makeshift fan.

"Yeah, as if; that would be too good to be true, y'know," he chuckled as he fanned himself, creating a cool breeze that Lumino and himself would enjoy for a few seconds. After that, he clapped the advertisements together before raising one hand up, and bent his wrist effeminately, signifying he was handing over the pieces of paper.

"Junk... seriously, did they really need to have these companies pay em' to advertise this crap," he placed an index finger up to his mouth as he giggled, before shaking his head at how ridiculous this notion was. "Calling this a goodie bag is a bit of a stretch, as the only goodies in here are..."

Perri paused for a second as his hand shuffled through the bag rife with vouchers and other crap he could care less about. After a few seconds, he gave out a haughty aha, an pulled out a pokeball to and abruptly shoved it into his dads face, causing the man to recoil. Awkwardly chuckling a bit, the boy gazed off to the side as his father readjusted his glasses, scowling at the boy for a brief second.

"T-tada, a pokeball! Thought I felt something heavy in there," he murmured the last part offhandedly as the man studied the machinery, inspecting the front very heavily... don't tell me this one was defective or something!

"I'm pretty sure regular pokeballs aren't supposed to have a giant S on top of them."

... what.

Turning the ball over, Perri grimaced a bit as he saw what his dad was talking about. That was just... great. His mouth was slightly agape with a broken grin, his reflection glimmering off as the Roserade peered over his shoulder, trying to figure out what was wrong.

... Earth to Perri, helloooooo, anyone there," his fathers voice suddenly interjected, interrupting his internal thoughts as he suddenly snapped to attention as the man snapped both his fingers, eyeing the young man. Once he was sure his attention was set, he ended his incessant snapping, setting both of the palms on his lap.

"Lemme guess - no uniformity."

The boys head bobbed up and down, affirming the mans suspicions before noticing Perri had something else to say.

"It also ruins the charm behind each and every red and white pokeball," the boy grumbled, shaking his head in a disappointed manner. "Despite how simple it is, it's one of the few symbols for trainers everywhere! Sure, the sanctuary probably wants to leave a lasting mark, but did they have to really do it with something like this?" The boy sighed before spinning the ball around on his finger, struggling to keep it on balance before it tumbled to the ground a few seconds later.

Lumino quickly scooped it up, let out what looked to be a cutesy curtsy and a giggle as Perri daintily retrieved it, uttering a sincere thank you.

"From what I've read, it costs more to engrave and design something on a pokeball than it does to paint it," he said, flipping open a pocket and nestling the sanctuary pokeball inside it. "Honestly, it's a lot cheaper than this... plus, there are other useful things to stock a goodie bag with than advertisements," he spat at out the last part in contempt, shaking his head.

"Considering you worked at a PokeMart for the last few years... yeah, I can see that," the man nodded in agreement as he rose up from his seat, grunting as he stretched.

"Any who, I'm gonna be off for a bit, mainly canceling this stupid subscription... unless you've got any objections here." The boy shook his head... and with that said, his father was off, but not before whispering something to the Roserade that he didn't hear. Welp, that was his cue to get out there and have some fun!... well, as much fun as he could have anyways.

Hopping off the bench, he walked away with a certain bounce to his step... and Lumino "bounced" with him too.

---

Humming to himself, Perri passed by myriads of different trainers to be, often eyeing them curiously or just not acknowledging their existence. Of course, Perri eventually came to a pause in the middle of the crowd of people due to a... certain realization.

He had no friggin' idea where he was going... or where he was for the most part. Perri's smile wavered, but never dissipated as he hurriedly looked around, trying to get some semblance of where he was before shrugging and shaking his head, seemingly giving up on properly navigating his way around the forlorn area.

"Well then... that's just peachy, ain't it Lumino," he chuckled as he smiled brightly to the Roserade who was nervously cooped up behind him, staring around at almost all the people. Hmm... wait a second... right, he had a pokedex!

"Hey, hey, Lumino, mind posing for me for a brief second," he enthusiastically questioned, much to the surprise of the smaller green pokemon who just held on even tighter. The boy laughed and gave him a pat on the head. "Come on, just for a brief second! If anyone makes fun of ya, I'll punch em'," he winked as he swiftly swung an arm into the air, giggling a bit as the Roserade just nervously shook his head back and forth, with a minuscule smile underneath it all.

Steadily breaking away from Perri's leg, the boy whipped out his PokeDex before crouching down and gazing over his dad Roserade. Lumino, on the other hand, put one flower on his hip and another pressed against his head. Tilting their neck back away from the PokeDex, he locked one of his eyes into a perpetual wink and frowned just a bit.

Oooh, sassy!

"One, two, three, roses!~" He clicked the part of the PokeDex that recorded the information of another pokemon... only to be met with a disappointing advertisement.

"Pokemon Locked - To Unlock visit any Sliph Co Outlet on Sinnoh or Unlock the Full Unadvertised Pokedex for $99.99"

... oh what a load of bull.

Perri scowled at the item as it locked him out of scanning Lumino, who in turn broke from their pose, puzzled by the sudden irritation of the picture. From what it inferred, it was probably the machines fault and proceeded to pout at it as if it would have a change of heart if he did this long enough.

"Alright then, if that's the case, then what about," Perri placed a finger to his lip before putting it to the air, tapping at different place as he searched for a pokemon to scan... but alas, there was none in the vicinity he could see. Puffing his chest and groaning, he slowly got back up to his usual stature with Lumino clinging on to his hind legs once more.

"Emma, Hoshi, look, that weirdo is trying to take pictures with his PokeDex!"

Eh? Just as he got up, he heard a familiar voice, followed by some anxious shushing. "Arata, don't point or screech like that, it's r-rude!" Turning around, Perri came to notice two small children huddled around a much taller, unknown girl with purple hair. The two younger kids he recognized from seeing them around the PokeMart from time to time (and causing some issues while he was on his shift), but the mystery chick was a, well, a mystery! An unknown! Someone he had never seen before.

The small child dressed in red that was pointing at him was Arata from what he knew, and the demure girl dressed in white was Emma; spent time with Arata's family for some reason. Raising an eyebrow, a small smirk crossed his face as he quickly pivoted to face them and began slowly walking over, earning the eye of the small purple girl.

"Oh good, now h-he's coming over! See what you've d-done," she lectured the two as both turned around to watch Perri continuously take one step after the other, slowly like a monstrous Garchomp. Perri was pretty sure he caused Emma to go into some sort of shock, whilst Arata just shrieked.

"Emma, hide, it's the weirdo from the PokeMart!" Perri watched as they scrambled behind the wide-eyed girl with purple hair, twisting and turning her head as both of them took cover behind the tall child.

"So, what are the little sneak thieves up today I wonder," he mused as he approached the perpetually confused lady he towered over; the teen didn't even notice the girl quivering like a Ditto. Rapping four of his fingers against his mouth, he stared up into the sky, seemingly not looking at the trio of people. "I certainly hope you haven't just snatched other people gift bags, PokeDexes, or registration card..."

"W-we s-s-swear we haven't d-done anything like that this t-t-time," the younger girl explain. He was pretty certain he could guess what the purple haired girl was thinking.

"What do you mean last time," he heard that small, shocked hiss before the girl turned to address Perri, who was looking down on them all, arms crossed with a wicked grin plastered on his face. She visibly took a step back.

"L-look, we're sorry for whatever they did t-to y-you," she exclaimed, jabbing the young man in the chest and trying... was she trying to glare at Arata? Perri stifled a bit of a giggle as it proved ineffectual with the boy pouting back at the girl. "But we didn't do nothin' this time!"

"Oh really then, well, do you have any proof," Perri interjected before Miss Purple could have a chance to speak, causing her to recoil at the intrusion as he descended on them both. They all just froze. Perfect.

"If you don't, then I guess I'll need to report you to the authorities... guess you won't be getting your pokemon today," he threw up his hands, shrugging and shaking his head. Honestly, that was just a load of bull at the moment; he didn't honestly know if there was any way from someone to get kicked out of getting a pokemon, besides already having one or being a prick, but from the looks on their faces, they had took the line, hook, and sinker!

... he could honestly not hold his laughter any longer.

"... pfft, bwahaha, oh wow, Arata, Emma, you two should see the looks on your faces right now, they're just priceless," he guffawed rather loudly, causing the tense atmosphere to dissipate even quicker than usual. "Jeez, you two will never learn when someone's messin' with ya, hahaha!"

Arata just pouted and shouted at the teen. "That's just mean Perri!"

"Eh, hold on, you both know each other," she pointed one finger between the both as she whipped her head back and forth. She appeared to be a jumbled mess.

"Met em' both and Arata's dad after they tried to snatch some candy from the PokeMart," he chuckled, returning to his usual, upright position. "Ended up having to watch over em' just to make sure they didn't do it again since there were... repeated encounters." He giggled a bit at the last part as the older girl gazed back over her shoulder at the boy and Emma.

"Long story short, they gave up and since Arata's dad trusted me somewhat on keeping them outta trouble, he just left em' with me at the cash register while he did his usual shopping."

"But wait, they both tried to steal stuff." Perri just bobbed his head with a usual Cheshire smile plastered on it, eyeing both kids as they nervously gazed down at the ground.

"Anyways, enough of this, we're in public and I don't want to embarrass these two more than I should already," he chuckled, putting both his hands behind his back.

"... jerk," Emma murmured under her breath.

"Regardless, I'm gonna cut this short, I've got places to be and sights to see, later you two and Miss Purple, hope you three find a pokemon you like," he playful spoke, waving them all off as he walked in the opposite direction, retaining his blissful smile from earlier.

"H-hey I'm not M-Miss Purple! I'm H-H-Hoshi!"

---

Whistling a small tune, the Roserade slowly broke away from his leg as they became surrounded by less and less people. Staring at a small pamphlet, Perri sighed and shrugged as he shoved it back into the gift bag. He sighed, noticing that there weren't very many interesting sights, save for two teenage trainers to be arguing over... something.

Something he didn't feel like getting involved in.

Man, this was just riveting... maybe he should of tagged around those two and that Hoshi girl... they seemed mildly interesting for the most part. Along with that, he hadn't seen any pokemon in sight he could scan, aside from Lumino, but even that didn't work!

Staring up at the sky, he blindly walked near the manor, looking over a couple of pamphlets involving a free voucher for a pokegear and a buy one get one free deal involving pokeballs... he would have to get in on that later... and further more...

"Maybe I could see how ma is doing in Saffron, show off the regal pokemon I caught," he mused on the thought, smiling a little. Yeah, that sounded good.

He paused for a second, looking around at a small crowd of people... the only person that stood out to him was a rather stylish looking cutie wearing headphones. Hmm...

Perri smirked briefly.

She seems like a fun gal to mess around with.

Resolute, the white haired dancer took one step forward, keeping his eye on the prize as his Roserade followed behind, nervously looking up at the person they were heading towards. Ruffling his hair and adjusting his goggles, the boy prepared to ravish this chick with a few misleading lines and quips, barely containing his smile as he approached.

"Oy cutie, aren't you one to look excited," he winked at the girl, stifling a giggle. Seriously, this was all just a couple of lines away from being a cheesy line out of a romantic company.

@rune_alchemist and @savo
although your conversation is between you two I'll just tell you what's going on around you up at the sanctuary.

It's bad news I'm afraid. Even though the road up to the Sanctuary was quiet the sweeping lawns outside are filled with town workers hanging up banners, setting up the stage, the bar being set up and even an area for Pokemon battles for tonight's frivolities (The Sanctuary Soiree).

But under cover of darkness... with all the attention on the activities.... maybe you could be onto something?

Oddly enough if the sun wasn't glaring off the windows you reckon you could see inside. Nevertheless from the movement of the shadows there seems to be activity behind the windows almost as frantic as what's going on on the lawns. What could that be for?

You may notice in the shadow of the trees two twin boys stretched out smoking under the grass. They look about your age and have a cooler full of glinting bottles at their feet. They're getting a few glares from adults walking by but their just far away enough from shouting distance to pretend they can't hear any gruff complaints. You can see on of them is pointing lazily to windows on the bottom floor but their is no urgency in their movements.

@tenma tendo
You've been wandering for a little while your frustration in map reading builds. Perhaps you're a little young for this... perhaps this whole thing was a bad idea. Perhaps you should just go home and read books and never live life. I hope your faithful companion might give you a little jolt at this... or perhaps you could do something about it. Looking back at your map you see there is a little intro class into "What to do after you leave Lo Town"... maybe that might help you out a little bit?

If you choose to go you can make it up a bit or I'm happy to collab it with you over a series of posts. If you've got a better idea let me know but we can work something together whilst @savo and [@rune alchemist] collab a little conversation! I'm sure it will take at least two posts for Lisette to kick Perri's ass :p

~Lisette~

@Savo

---

Lisette's steps eventually carried her to the sanctuary, where she found a lampost to lean against and generally drown out the rest of the world. To those looking, they'd probably just see a young trainer with her headphones up facing a direction that wasn't directly looking at the sanctuary. She couldn't look to conspicuous if she was essentially staking out a place to see how easy it'd be to sneak into.

Of course it wouldn't be easy when it was day time.

People moved about, from sanctuary workers to other curious souls who wanted to see the sanctuary before the main event that everyone was hopefully here for. Banners being sat up, tables, and other decor for the event that would be happening later. Something she wasn't too keen on sticking around for. Maybe she was being impatient though. Perhaps she should just wait? Honestly though, waiting freakin' sucked.

Still, it was valuable information for breaking and entering. If the sun wasn't glaring off the windows, she was certain she'd be able to see inside. Even if she couldn't, she could see shadows moving inside of the place. Odd, what was that for? More preparation? Or some form of security? She'd need to be careful it seemed. She was working with too many unknowns here if she was going to pull something like this off. She had to assume the worst, and prepare for it the best she could. Well, with as minimal preparation as she could manage.

"Oy cutie, aren't you one to look excited,"

At the sound of a voice, a feeling of disgust and filthiness washed over her. Ugh, her ears felt like they needed to be cleaned out and she had just met this guy. Lisette gave him a generally unimpressed look, pulling her headphones off from around her ears and folding her arms across her chest.

"...Cuite, eh?" She chuckled. "Well, I can't deny that, though I think 'cute' is a bit of an insult...too bad I can't say the same for you." Lisette offered him a playful, though not exactly friendly smirk. "So shove off, pretty boy, before I have my boys mess up that pretty face of yours." She wasn't being intentionally aggressive. It's just that types like this guy needed a little something extra to get through their thick skulls 'no' meant 'no'...and it seemed a certain purple bat had perfect timing.

Before Perri could reply to her, Mal practically shot down from the sky, landing right between Perri and Lisette with a decidedly menacing glare and a screech.

"He's a bit over protective and might take you flirting with me the wrong way. Best for everyone if you just stop now, yes?"

Ouch, her words lashed out at him like a whip!... or, well, he wanted to convey that in the most dramatic mannerism, but something... intercepted Perri before he even got the chance to do so. This was like the event from earlier before with that Fearow!

Perri instantly jumped back a bit, his heart almost doing the same as he distanced himself just a tinge from the Crobat that caught him off-guard. His right arm was raised up just a little, in case he had to block anything... but above all, he kept his smile. Even as it faltered a bit as he furrowed his brows at the screeching pokemon, he never let it completely dissipate.

While he stood... defiantly and confidently against the bat, Lumino wasn't as courageous as the boy, surprised by the new adversary as he hopped back too, releasing a sweet smelling scent into the air around them all. After that, Lumino tried to match Perri's bravery with a fighting stance, but the attempt fell flat way before he even got the chance.

Even so, he still squinted, lips and limbs trembling a bit as the bat screeched in their faces.

But yet, that wasn't enough to deter the boy. Quizzically, he leaned his head to the side, raising a brow at what she meant. "Eh? Whaddya mean flirting," he mused, relaxing a little despite the menacing bat in the way. "First ya insult me, then you have the gall to sic your boyfriend on me," Perri's body dropped a bit, his eyes seemingly welling up as he pouted just a bit.

He could only bet she was going to roll her eyes and say something insulting, with her Crobat descending further on him, sooooooooooo.

"... even after I complimented you. There's a difference between that and flirting Missy," he chided playfully, his mood almost doing a complete 180 that it might freak some others out. His lips and brows were furrowed as he raised a finger towards the girl, taking one step forward. The Crobat wouldn't of been able to scare him off... but it still could rupture his eardrums...

... speaking of Crobats.

"Regardless, I dunno whether to call your Crobat a jerk for ruining my fun, or a sweetheart fer protecting you, buuuuuut," he drew out the but for a while before swiftly crammed his hand into his pocket, performing a vibrant twirl, one of his hands outstretched out as he spun a bit... before jamming his foot into the ground. Lumino followed suit for the whole act, albeit a few seconds behind and not as confidently as Perri, but still.

"I've been looking for a pokemon to test this thing out on... and before you ask, I need to buy some stupid expansion pack in Sinnoh if I want to get any info on Lumino here," he grumbled the last part out with a grin, pressing a button to scan over the Crobat to get what information he could out of it.

Crobat, a Poison and Flying type Pokemon (Saffron's Annual Music Festival is almost here! Pre-order your tickets now to win a chance at performing on stage with the band, Own Tempo). It flies so silently through the dark on its four wings (Want a slice of the sophisticated life? Stop by Dedene Cheesecake Emporium today) that it may not be noticed even when nearby (Looking for a Summer getaway? Come travel on one of Vermillion Cities elegant cruises as we tour around multiple regions, including Alola! Tickets go on sale in a couple of months).

Perri... honestly couldn't stifle an eye twitch as he shook his head lightly, his smile instantly evaporating and turning in a light frown of sorts. Lumino followed suit by pouting and crossing his arms, staring up at the device. The boy just slowly pocketed the device before ruffling his hair.

"I swear to god, I hope most of our money did not go towards paying for adware," he groaned loudly, sighing as he walked past the Crobat, not caring to acknowledge how it might try to ward him off in any way, shape or form. Still, don't get annoyed, this isn't as bad as it seems.

... though he did want to go off on one of his tangents again.

Leaning on the wall, he rested for a bit sighing as he looked over to the girl, who honestly just appeared like she didn't just... well.

"Y'know Missy, you really don't look like y'wanna be here," he just blurted out, not bothering to add any tact or flamboyance to his mannerisms; the Roserade just stood by his legs, eyeing both the tall girl and get Crobat.

"Impatient for the main event to start, I'm guessin'," he leaned a bit forward, smiling a bit as he waggled his finger outwards, giggling just a bit.

~Lisette~

@Savo@deathbringer

---

Lisette hardly listened to the guy. Or rather, the more he spoke the less she cared about what he was saying. She rested a hand on Mal's back, scratching him behind the ears affectionately and earning a pleased purr from the pokemon. Really, she was paying more attention to Mal instead of the boy. A bit rude, perhaps, but she didn't know the guy. Still, the more he spoke the less he seemed like one of those delinquent pretty boys and more just socially inept.

"Look here," She said with a low scoff. "You're obviously an idiot and not too good at this social stuff. You walk up to a random person and start 'complimenting' them they're obviously going to take that as you hitting on them. Especially someone of the opposite gender." She replied with a sharp tone, obviously mildly annoyed. "Luckily for you, I'm nice enough to ignore it. Next girl though, might think you're a creep. You look enough like one." She stretched, raising her arms over her head, giving Perri quite the view thanks to her rather not entirely modest clothing.

"So get lost before I do something that'll get me in trouble." She brushed Mal on the head again, turning her back to Perri and walking off. "Come on, Mal. I wanna talk to you about something." The crobat gave a pleased cry before swiftly following after Lisette, leaving Perri on his own. Though not before the Crobat gave him one last glare. Unless Perri decided to follow her - which would be all around a bad idea - eventually she'd stop some distance away, though they still had a clear view of the sanctuary.

"Alright...so, Mal." She sighed. "This'll probably be the last little outing we'll have together for awhile, huh?" She said to the Crobat. Mal, gave a small cry of seeming disappointment. "So...I was thinkin you help me with one last thing before I head off completely, yeah?" This seemed to get the crobat's attention, he eagerly flitted to Lisette's front, listening with rapt attention. She grinned. "Alright, I can always count on you, huh? Alright, so...I'm not really fond of waitin' around like this. I was thinkin' we find ourselves a way in and head off ahead of everyone else. Not only will it give us a head start, I don't have to wait around on everyone else."

"Crobat!~" Mal replied excitedly.

"Haha, you're excited, aren't you? Alright...so if you can scout the place that'd be great. See if you can find a way in - I'll need your help to catch a pokemon anyways. In the meantime I'll see if I can find anything else. After you're done, I'll be around the city. Pretty sure you could find me easily enough." Crobat gave Lisette a salute with one of his wings before zipping off to recon the exterior of the sanctuary. In the meantime, Lisette walked back towards where she had been earlier - hopefully that moron would be gone by now. She wanted to investigate herself further.

Nothing was standing out to her, though. There wasn't much she could do in broad daylight without appearing too suspicious. Ideally before breaking and entering a place you had a day or so to do some staking out, as they say. She only had a few hours.

Hm.

There were those to lazy morons hanging around and smoking...they were getting a few glares from the adults around them. Smoking and drinking were bad, yo. At least, she assumed they were drinking from what they had in their cooler. Hmm. Maybe they could have some information about what was going on in the windows at the bottom floor? They seemed like they might have some information at least. She could probably do some harmless asking, passing it off as a tourist interested in how things worked here...hm, now that was a wonderful idea.

"Hey," She said as she approached the two boys. "You two seem like you could be doing something better with your time." She gave them an aggressive smirk. "Not that I care too much...spare a few questions for an interested tourist about the sanctuary here? You guys seem pretty interested in the windows."

Why was he even doing this? The thought never left Kaleo's mind as he tilted the crumpled map in every direction other than right side up. The words and color coated lines were becoming blurry to the teal eyed boy, and once he couldn't tell the difference between green and red, he decided that it was probably time to take a break.

And Kaleo did just that, once again finding a secluded area (this time it was a bench) right under the shade of a tree and plopped down, Hana taking a spot right beside him. The two sat in silence for quite a while, Kaleo taking deep breaths to calm himself down and Hana watching as people gave them fond looks as they walked by. Hana knew that the boy was clearly annoyed, but had no idea how to relieve this annoyance without making it worse, which ultimately led to breaking things.

As the Bellossom thought long and hard on something to alleviate Kaleo's worries, said boy reached into his bag and pulled out a book. Alarms rang in the small pokemon's head as he knew all too well that Kaleo would start to tune out the world and very possibly miss the main event because it. Without even thinking, Hana jumped up and swiped the book away with a little green arm and smacked the crumpled map into the boy's face.

It probably wasn't the best way to get the boy's attention, but it was a "Code Red" as Thahn liked to call it. The map hid Kaleo's slight frown as he reached up and pulled the map away from his face, only to blink in slight recognition. "What to do after you leave Lo Town"...why did that sound so familiar? He probably had seen it before in his attempts to leave the town. And it was probably better to go to that event then to to tell Thahn that he spent his time reading and finishing the four books he packed for his adventure.

Not to mention it being a question that Kaleo had on the back of his mind since he sent his application. What was he suppose to be doing? Catch pokemon? Train them like his father? Breed them like his mom? He didn't know who he wanted to be yet, so maybe going to something like this would be help AND get Thahn off of his back.

Now that sounded like a plan... The brown haired boy thought as he hopped off the bench and picked up Hana and scurried off to make the event on time.

---

It took five minutes for Kaleo to find the event; the large sign with the colorful letters was hard to miss. From what he could see, it was a small outside event, consisting mostly of children with their parents sitting on the grassy ground and talking among themselves. He could count everyone on his fingers as they all gave him a welcoming gaze, with Kaleo lowering his head a little in recognition before sitting down and placing Hana on his lap.

Being the socially awkward boy he was, Kaleo faced away from the other people waiting for the class, playing with the flowers on Hana's head, much to the pokemon's annoyance. He had planned to mind his own business until a boy, a few years older than Kaleo, plopped himself down next to said boy. His piercing golden yellow eyes met teal ones, but only for a moment, as Kaleo was easily intimidated and looked away; not before catching sight of his mouth contorting to a smirk.

The child was about to slide away from the stranger to give him some space, but instead a long arm reached over and wrapped around his shoulder, pulling in closer. Kaleo took note of how much red was on this guy. Red hair, red hood, heck, even red specks of paint on his shirt.

"Aw~ What's Little Boy Blu doing all by himself? Need a friend?" He asked, his voice a lot smoother and more condescending then what the other expected.

Kaleo shook his head slowly before starting to squirm, hoping that would be more than enough to let the guy know he wanted to be left alone; even Hana showed these signs.

The older boy gave Kaleo a boyish grin as he let the kid go, but not before ruffling his hair.
"Well, aren't you a little feisty! You could have just told me if I was being too touchy..." Despite his words, the red haired boy's face remained unchanging. "I like to go by Robin. Got a name, kid?" He then questioned. Despite Kaleo looking away from the older boy, the older boy still knew that he was listening. He was probably use to being 'ignored'.

Letting out a sigh and not wanting to be rude, Kale reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a tiny notepad in which he wrote his name on it and presented it to Robin. Unlike most, Robin didn't seem too thrown off by the notepad and instead took it with a stride.

"...Jay? Like the bird?" Robin's smile faltered for a brief moment before returning. Kaleo noticed this however and was now facing him, nodding slowly. "Heh, you kinda look like one...and someone else I know." He trailed off, smirking as Kaleo leaned forward curiously, the little class he had came for slowly becoming obsolete in his mind.

Apologies for the delay- should be back on form

@rune_alchemist and @savo (i think perri is thick skinned enough and curious enough to follow her over to the boys but if he's not feel free to take it in your own direction or I can do you an update. Just let me know)

The boys turn to look at Lisette with casual interest though the one on the left just immediately looks away deliberately with an irritable toss of his head and swigs at his bottle with a mutter you can't quite here. The one on the right gives him a sympathetic look before turning to you.

"Don't mind Sid. He's a sour as a Snorlax at 6am" he nods at you looking you up and down with an appraising look though your unsure if he's interested in your appearance or weighing you up perhaps both perhaps neither "I'm Ryan" he stubs out his cigarette to extend a hand (whether you take it or not he'll continue)
"Well you want some local knowledge. Let me spin you a tale. It's rumoured round the village"

"You mean Terry Finch" snapped Sid with a roll of his eyes

"Fine... Terry Finch says that for the 24 hours before the Sanctuary Ceremony everything gets shut up. All the doors locked and windows bolted. See all that activity"

He points to the adults milling about on the lawn

"but not one person goes into the Sanctuary. No one even goes near it"

Even as you watch you can tell it's true and Ryan continues with a smile

"Terry says even while we're having all this" he air quotes "fun"

"There there isn't a Sanctuary Pokemon to be seen and they love being part of the action. You should see it when the Sanctuary's open they are all over the lawns gardening and washing, mending dry wall... there's even a very talented abra that does caricatures between naps. So why would they miss this party?"

"Unless they've got a party of their own to attend?"

He gives a wicked little smile

"So, what do you reckon, want to crash the Pokemon party tonight?"

He gives a nod over towards Perri standing a little way behind you.
"Your boyfriend is welcome to join us"

@tenma tendo apologies for the double post- premature submission!
What you don't realise is the class is being run by Ken Adams (I will do a sheet for him at some point). It was never advertised or it may have been a little more popular but Ken designed it that way. He'd been a trainer just like this and come to a class just like this and seen kids get rolled over by more boisterous children causing trouble and asking stupid questions. He wanted a small group of those that wanted to learn.

He strolls over and settles himself on the grass right in the middle of the group of children sprawling out in front of them and smiles massaging his rotund chest.

"Almost 4 decades ago on this very day I made a friend for life. The Pokemon you catch tomorrow will be your best friend, your companion and you won't even know it until you've got them clasped in your fist"

he gives a little sigh looking skywards

"but at that time I knew nothing of how to raise Kaisa, how to level her up, or even how to survive out their. I learnt out in the world and you will two but I just want to give you one bit of advice before I open up for questions"

"Pokemon not prizes- people, chase badges and awards and wins. They don't mean anything compared to the bonds you form with your Pokemon. Have a strong team and a strong bond between them and your life will be better for it!

Kids ask lots of questions some silly, some intelligent, one child even asks about map reading much to your comfort. Maybe you ask questions and maybe you don't, maybe Robin asks tonnes maybe you don't but the one that sticks with you is the one from a small boy about your age who raises a pudgy hand into the air from amongst his many relatives (it looks like at least 4 generations of his family are with him today).
.
"Mister Adams. When I get my Pokemon where would you go?"

Ken sits back and smiles

"Well you have to go to Saffron to get your Pokegear but I wouldn't go their straight away."

He opens his jacket to reveal 7 gleaming badges and you notice that the Marsh Badge is missing and he gives you a little guilty smile

"Not many people know but I got into the Pokemon league through the Pokemon exam. These I got for fun but I never got the Marsh Badge. Sabrina is a master of the Psychic Pokemon and I never could find the right Pokemon to beat that damned Kadabra of hers. Then I got old and badges just didn't seem that important anymore."

He looks a little forlornly at his jacket before letting it fall shut.
"I've heard rumours of a cave just a little way north into the mountains. In there is a pack of Pokemon that might just give you the strength that you can leave Saffron with more than just a Pokegear! That's all I'm saying."

~Lisette~

@Savo@deathbringer

---

Lisette's eyes narrowed.

Now...this was a slight problem. While she was alright with 'cutting corners' to get what she wanted, she wasn't a fan of just 'crashing a party' and causing trouble for a lot of people for giggles. She might have been a 'delinquent' as far as picking fights with people who were asking for it, but she didn't go around picking needless fights for entertainment. Still, if they could help her get in a bit early...then perhaps it'd be worth it.

Of course, there was just one problem.

"He's not my boyfriend." Lisette said in regards to Perri. "Just a pervert who thinks it's fun to ogle teenage girls." She scoffed, Mal hovering just over her shoulder as it peered at the two boys with a passive expression. It almost looked like it was judging them. "If you two have an idea though...let's hear it." Lisette continued. She wasn't fond of potentially causing needless trouble, especially crashing a gathering of pokemon...especially baby ones, but she was more impatient at the moment. Besides, if push came to shove, she'd just beat these two.

"Yeah, you're like the spitting image of Mister Alto. So you gotta be his kid or something, right?" The preteen questioned while fixing his black knee and elbow pads. Kaleo could only stare at his new...friend? Yeah, friend; anyone that knew his father had to be his friend. And the fact that he personally knew Alto fascinated the boy. Only hearing stories from his grandfather, who could blame him for being so interested?

Kaleo paused for a moment to think about the question before giving a hesitant nod, in which Robin 'whoop'ed and grabbed the younger's shoulders, shakig him wildly.
"Ha! I knew it!" He shouted, receiving a few confused glances from parents and children. "And since I'm basically Mister Alto's apprentice, I'll gladly let you be MY apprentice! What do you say? Hm? Hm?!" When did the conversation get to this?

Fortunately, Kaleo didn't have enough time to respond as the teacher had arrived, taking a seat right in front of the makeshift semicircle. He had recognized the man's face from somewhere, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Robin on the other hand, still a bit salty that he lost Kaleo's attention, stuck his tongue out at Ken before he started speaking.

The two listened quietly to the man as he spoke, with Kaleo taking in every work with a never ending stone face and Robin remaining abnormally quiet for the sake of the other kids. Kaleo knew that the pokemon he would be getting at the Sanctuary would be his best friend, but getting a pokemon came with the struggles of communication. Kaleo had already been through it firsthand with Hana, but his grandfather was always there to fill in the communication gaps until they got to know each other better. He was going to have to work with his first, no, all of his pokemon to truly understand what he wants to do when he gets older.

It was reassuring to hear Ken went through similar problems that he's worrying about currently. It gave him some kind of hope that everything would be alright in the end. The man went on to talk about how pokemon must be treated correctly, a speech that he received almost everyday after he turned in his application.

Kaleo tried not to ask any questions, as he wasn't in the mood for have strangers stare at him. Robin, on the other hand, took a spot right next to Ken and asked a few questions here and there as if not to totally hog the man of his time. Most of Kaleo's questions were answered fortunately by other kids and Robin, but there was one question in particular that caught both Kaleo and Robin by surprise. It was asked by a kid who had tons of family with them in comparison to the other two who were there on their own; well, Kaleo had a pokemon, although it wasn't his. Where to go once one's got their first pokemon? The question that promoted the class.

The obvious answer for most people would be to just head to Saffron, much like Ken had said...or at least what Kaleo thought he was going to say. As the man opened up his jacket, Kaleo took a gamble and moved next to Robin, who was also staring intently at the polished badges. And while it was impressive, everyone knew that he was missing one badge in which they received a guilty smile.

"Not many people know but I got into the Pokemon league through the Pokemon exam. These I got for fun but I never got the Marsh Badge. Sabrina is a master of the Psychic Pokemon and I never could find the right Pokemon to beat that damned Kadabra of hers. Then I got old and badges just didn't seem that important anymore. I've heard rumours of a cave just a little way north into the mountains. In there is a pack of Pokemon that might just give you the strength that you can leave Saffron with more than just a Pokegear! That's all I'm saying."

Kaleo lowered his head in thought before he hesitantly reached out and tapped Ken's arm to get his attention. Once he did so, Kaleo began writing in his notepad before handing it to the man.

"Mister Adams, is it possible for me to be a good pokemon trainer even though I can't talk to them? If I get to the cave, do you think I would have a chance at catching anything?" The note said, as Kaleo was now looking down at the ground.