Onward We Go, My Valiant Steed! (MOD/OPEN)

[Kenso Troxin]

((I will NOT be catching something. I will, however, be training. :3))

Kenso stood out in the Endless Plains. It was a nice and cool day out today. The perfect weather for a bit of training. Kenso reached for a PokeBall on his belt and detached.

"All right, little buddy. You need some time out in the field. Come on out!" he said. He tossed the PokeBall into the air, and it opened. The melodic pop echoed through the plains as the red beam carried the Pokemon out onto the flat ground. The beams dissipated and the Ball returned to Kenso's hand.

Kenso walked up to his Pokemon and stroked its side. "How're you doing, Sleipnir? Your leg seems to be doing a lot better," he said. The Ponyta prodded at the ground with his hooves.

"You're gonna strengthen up today, all right? At least, that's the plan. We gotta have you stronger. You and I both know that," Kenso said. The Ponyta snorted in agreement.

Sleipnir was still kind of antsy around Kenso, but this was his mother's wish. And who knew? Maybe the two would make an excellent pair as knight and steed.

Kenso patted the Ponyta's neck. "Onward we go, my valiant steed!" They began to walk through the plains in search of a battle.

[Selene Delinda]

(I might catch a pokemon--after I find my Venipede.)

"Saaaaff-rooooon..." huffed the green-haired girl. "Where'd you go?!" Unhappily, she called, "There's nothing to be afraid of, Saffron. Please come out." Wandering through the fields, she fretted over her lost pokemon. This was a disaster. If she couldn't find her, what would she do? She couldn't start out with no pokemon! Ask for another one? She doubted that she'd be allowed to have another pokemon after proving to be so irresponsible. "Saaaaaff-roooooon! Come on out!" Little did she know that the small Venipede was hiding just behind a sprig of dry grass, following her every step just a few feet behind, giggling to itself at how clever it was.

After wandering further, she noticed another trainer with a beautiful flaming pokemon that she'd never seen before. Normally, she'd be too shy to talk to a complete stranger, but this was an exception. She had to find Saffron! Taking on a polite tone that sounded very much like a shop-keeper addressing a customer, "Excuse me, sir. I don't suppose you've seen a Venipede about this big?" Selene held up her hands to gesture the approximate size of her lost Saffron. Despite her smooth, calm voice, her expression was one of desperation, wide eyes brimming with tears.

[Kenso Troxin]

Kenso heard the girl calling for her Pokemon before he saw her. What was she saying? Scrawl? What was that? He hoped she wouldn't see him. Maybe he had enough time to get away before she--

"Excuse me sir. I don't believe you have seen a Venipede about this big?"

Damn. Too late. Kenso turned to her. Venipede.... Venipede... He looked around and caught a glimpse of a Pokemon behind her. It was just chilling in the dry grass. It almost seemed like it was enjoying this. That must be the Venipede.

A smirk spread on Kenso's face, but only for a split second. He shifted his expression to one of sadness. "No, Miss. I haven't. But a young girl like yourself shouldn't be out here alone without a Pokemon. Would you like me to help?" Kenso said. He winked a few times, hoping the Venipede would understand that Kenso wouldn't tell. "Maybe it went this way."

[Selene Delinda]

Saffron was relieved at Kenso's agreement to stay silent. The game would not be ruined yet!
Selene nodded gratefully, "I'd really appreciate it if you could help. I don't want any kind of trouble... I just need to find my Venipede. Her name is Saffronl... y-you might've noticed." The tears spilled over as she contemplated the hopelessness of her plight, and she hastily wiped them off her face, trying to not let the boy see them. When the small Venipede saw the tears falling down her face, she felt a sting of guilt. She hadn't meant to hurt her trainer... She hesitated, unsure of what to do.

[Kenso Troxin]

Was she crying? Oh shit. Shit shit shit! He wanted to help her now. He couldn't stand to see a girl cry! It was the worst thing in this world! What should he do? What should he do, what should he do, what should he do?!

Actions overtook thought, and Kenso wrapped his arms around the girl, pulling her into a hug. He stroked her back comfortingly and calmly. "Shh. Don't worry. We'll find her. I promise," he whispered.

He looked at the Venipede. You need to come out. Or else I'll... he mouthed, then looked over at his Ponyta, then back at Venipede. I think you understand. Show yourself.

[Selene Delinda]

Selene was a bit surprised when the boy pulled her into a hug, but she found that it was actually somewhat soothing. She had never been hugged by anybody other than her mother, and those hugs were few and far between. Selene was used to being quiet and distant from others, but this... this was nice. She sniffed and wiped a few more tears from her eyes. Saffron didn't really understand the boy's words, but she got the drift. Nodding, she whimpered, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you sad. I just wanted to play..." She went up to Selene and rubbed her head against the only part of her she could really reach, her shins. Selene gasped happily, "Saffron!" She bent down and picked up the Venipede, cuddling it in her arms. The Venipede squirmed happily and rubbed its head against Selene's face, wiping off the last of her tears. Selene sniffed one last time and said, a smile breaking over her face, "Thank you. By the way, my name's Selene."

[Kenso Troxin]

Kenso let go of her once the Venipede revealed itself. He smiled weakly at her. "Well. There she is," he said. He stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"So this is Scrawl? Well, she certainly is adorable. That," he pointed at sleipnir. "That's Sleipnir. He's my Ponyta. We came out here to train. Would you maybe wanna join us?"

Sleipnir trodded over to Kenso and the girl. He bowed his head in greeting to the girl and her Pokemon. "Hey. I'm Sleipnir. I think I overheard you were Scrawl?" he said to the Venipede.

Kenso patted his Ponyta's back affectionately. "Oh yeah," he said with a flirty grin and a wink. "My name's Kenso. Pleasure to meet you, Selene."

[Selene Delinda]

Selene nodded, smiling now, "Yeah, she is. A lot of people don't seem to appreciate the bug pokemon. It's good to not everybody thinks they're icky. I'd love to join you. I originally came out here to train and maybe look to see what kind of pokemon are here."

The Venipede nodded energetically at the Ponyta, piping up, "Yep. That's me. I like food. Y'got any food? I like spicy, but everybody keeps saying to stop eating spicy stuff." Her entire "introduction" was made in one quick breath, and now she took many small, hasty breaths before nearly choking on them. Selene frowned and patted Saffron's back like one would pat a baby's back, and she was soon breathing normally again. She turned back up to Kenso, noticing the wink but not really sure what it was for, "Should we head over that way?" She pointed towards a tall section of grass and began walking towards it.

[Lazarus]

-+- Mod Post -+-

That was a cute scene. Really, it brought me to tears. Well, no, not really. It did bring this little pair of worms to tears though. Toward the tall grass where pokemon would ever so often find shelter from Trainers such as you and you, a soft rustling could be heard as two pairs of eyes glistened with little tear like shapes near their eyes. They seemed to have enjoyed watching the show and were patting each others back.

As they slowly crawled out of their space, the Caterpie and Weedle each gave the Ponyta and Venipede a nod of their heads and proceeded to congratulate them with words of praise for the words. The words mostly consisted of "That was so sweet..." and "Have you ever considered acting?" and all those praise giving lines.

They seemed to be content for the time being, not really feeling for a fight since they had to go back early or Big Brother Beedrill would get worried and go on a rampage again.

-+- Mod Post -+-

[Kenso Troxin]

"Uh, sure?" he said. Why ask if you're just gonna start walking over there, anyway? Kenso thought. He chuckled lightly at her.

"No, I don't have anything. Sorry to disappoint," Sleipnir told the Venipede. He saw the Caterpie and Weedle come out of hiding. He armed himself at first, but realized they just wanted to talk. He lowered his defenses. That is, until he heard their remarks. "I am not one to take kindly to sarcasm, little insects," he said, his flaming mane and tail growing a tad bigger.

"So your Venipede -- Scrawl? -- Does she always hide from you, or was that just a one time thing?" Kenso asked. A mischievous Pokemon was always a pain in the ass. He flicked Kukky, his Krabby's, PokeBall in understanding. "Is she the only Pokemon you have, or do you have more?"

[Selene Delinda]

Selene smiled sadly, "I'm not sure why, but Saffron tends to hide from me... She seems to enjoy my company, and I don't understand why she'd do something like that. But it seems that she disappears all the time! I just came to the school a few days ago. I've been... staying in my dorm room with Saffron until today."

Selene smiled at the sight of the two bug pokemon. "So cute!" She walked over closer to them, and Saffron practically hopped out of her arms to greet them excitedly. "Why thank you. I have no idea what you're talking about and I'm wondering if you're mad, but thank you for the compliments nonetheless!" she said, her sentences still colliding and jumbling as she recited them in one quick breath. This time, however, she was more careful to not choke on her breath.

[Lazarus]

-+- Mod Post -+-

"I beg your pardon but me and my friend really did think that it was a splendid performance."

The Weedle huffed as he turned around and let his back face the Ponyta, rather irate that all his praise fell on deaf ears. That's the last time he would sacrifice his safety to praise something that could more or less burn him to a crisp.

His Caterpie friend just gave the Ponyta an apologetic smile before following after his friend who was going back to where they were just moments before. Regardless of it all, both of them had managed to enjoy the show. Maybe they'd find something else in the horizon?

---

Just as the Caterpie and Weedle were leaving, they were still pretty near to get their attention, a little Nincada burst through the grass, pretty happy about himself even as he tried to run around in circles for no apparent reason. There was a damn lot of Bugs these days.

-+- Mod Post -+-

[Selene Delinda]

Selene was saddened to see them leave and she almost called out to them, but she supposed that they probably had better things to do then stay with her. Nonetheless, upon noticing the Nincada, she instantly brightened up. "Hello there," she called to it softly, not wanting to surprise it as she walked closer. "Having fun?" She smiled as she knelt down close to it. This energetic little bug would make a great playmate for Saffron. And it was so darn cute!

Saffron nonchalantly shook her head as the two worm-pokemon left, and she turned to see her trainer walking towards the Nincada. She felt a pang of excitement as she considered taking off while she wasn't looking, but then remembered what happened last time. Guilt swarming over her again, she decided to just follow Selene over and see if the Nincada would let her join the game. She said happily, "Wacha doin'? Can I play too?"

[Kenso Troxin]

Kenso's skin crawled. Bug Pokemon were freaky, to him at least. Scrawl, he was fine with for some reason, but the others that were running around them now were making him uncomfortable.

Sleipnir huffed as the Caterpie and Weedle stalked off. "So long, insects," he said, almost cheerfully. He trotted back to Kenso, sensing his Trainer's uncomfortableness with the Bug Pokemon. He wouldn't interact with them if his Trainer didn't like them.

Kenso patted his Ponyta's neck. "No, no, Sleipnir. You can go join Scrawl and Selene with the Pokemon. I'll stay back here. But, signal me if you sense a battle coming your way. I wanna be there for that," Kenso said. The Ponyta nodded and walked over to Selene and her Venipede.

"Why are you running in circles?" Sleipnir asked the Nincada, a laugh coming from his throat. The Pokemon looked funny. He wished he could join, but he was too big so he might smash it.

[Lazarus]

-+- Mod Post -+-

"I'm this happy cause my big bro totally evolved! Now I'm just waiting for him to appear."

The Nincada happily announced as he kept scuttering around some more. he was totally oblivious to whatever vibes he was giving off to the surrounding pokemon. Not that he cared at the moment since his older brother was totally gonna just appear and save him from whatever problem sincce he was a Ninjask now. With how fast those things went, boom, it wouldn't even take his older brother a blink of an eye to get to him.

Choices:

>Swat the Nincada down.
>Ignore it and leave.
>Look at it.

-+- Mod Post -+-

[Selene Delinda]

Saffron felt a horrible, sinking feeling. The Nincada had a big brother? Who had just evolved? "I take it your close to your brother and probably wouldn't want to leave this place without him?" she asked, words still speedy and quick, but they lost their happy, bouncey tone from before. Saffron could already easily guess what the answer would be to her question.

Selene sighed, "Oh, they're so cute together! Don't you think, Sleipnir?" she asked as she turned to the Ponyta. She knew that she wasn't the Ponyta's trainer, but she just couldn't stand it! Without really waiting to hear the Ponyta's reply, she said happily to Saffron, "You two don't go anywhere."

"Hey, Kenso," she called as she ran up to him. Adding in a much softer voice, "Think you could cover me while I attempt to catch it? Hopefully no problems will come around, but if something tries to attack me while I'm battling, I'd really appreciate your help." She paused, and brightened up, "And think about it. This'll profit you too. I can be like bait, so if anything comes to get me, you can try to catch it." She didn't realize how off her last few sentences were, as she was still in the mindset of a shopkeeper doing all they could to strike deals.

[Kenso Troxin]

Kenso nodded at her question. "Sleipnir," he said. "Come to me."

The Ponyta obeyed and returned to his Trainer. Kenso nodded at Selene once more. "Go on, then." He turned to his Ponyta, and said, "We're gonna watch Selene attempt this capture. Anything unwanted leaps in to the fight, we're jumping in and fighting back. Selene really wants this Pokemon, and I told her we would make sure she got close to it. Sound like a plan?"

The Ponyta snorted and bobbed his head a few times. They had come out here to train, hadn't they?

[Lazarus]

- Mod Post -

Training it is. The Nincada had been startled by the actual noise the place was giving, almost felt like something bad was gonna happen. Well, he said 'Fuck it.' and pretty much continued having fun for the hell of it so he wasn't too worried. No attacks were flying so he was pretty much ready to go have some fun while they were at it.

- Mod Post

[Selene Delinda]

Saffron, who was actually quite hurt at being ignored now, scowled darkly at the Nincada. She was not used to being ignored! And she didn't like it! She stepped in front of him with an unhappy frown on her face, and then Screeched at him with fury.

Selene jumped as Saffron began to make a terrible, loud noise that seemed quite unfitting for such a tiny pokemon. She hastened towards them, clapping her hands over her ears all the while, and she shouted, "Saffron! Stop! It's okay!" Finally, the Screech ended, but it seemed the battle had already started. Using the move had gotten Saffron fired up and ready to go. "Well... I guess we do have to fight to capture the Nincada..." Feeling a bit unsure of herself, but gaining confidence by the second, she called, "Start off with Poison Sting!" Saffron instantly started charging towards her opponent, ready to lash out.

[Lazarus]

- Mod Post -

So yeah, this Nincada is yours, not to mention that Scrawl gets a +1 for his evolution points. Made you wait too long even for waiting for Kenso to post.

---

There didn't seem to be anything else in the field as you captured the Nincada.

- Mod Post -