[X] My Assistant

[Living Arrow]

RP only for Living Arrow, ChainReaction01?, Kamaitachi and Master Houndoom. All bunnying approved.

“Hello!?”

The air in the forest was almost dead with the lack of breeze and the sun was beating an angry drum down upon the open meadow that Darryn Kellor and Lyla Moore had found themselves in while searching for the breeding center. The Co-ordinator and Breeder had travelled out of Petropolis on foot, taking a couple of days to reach the tiny farm that had been marked on Lyla’s PokeNav as the ‘Bouquet of Bonnies Breeding Center’ and it was all, apparently, for nothing.

“Look, Lyla,” Darryn folded his arms as he watched his cousin fretting over the locked front door, “clearly no-one is in and no-one has been for a while. Let’s just move on and catch up to the others.”

The others were Jaima Kuonji, Meiko Omura and Tuesday Berdison – the rest of what had come to be known as Team Rogue in their journey together. They had separated in Petropolis so that Darryn could persue his dream of becoming a successful Co-Ordinator and take on sponsorship of a top designer, Elliot Wethers. Since then, Darryn had been in touch with Tuesday by her favourite form of communication – pen and ink – and found out that she had peeled away from Jaima and Meiko to travel alone for a little while. He had been pretty surprised to hear that since she and Jaima were like siblings and the older Senpai *Now you’re thinking like them!* was protective of his adopted little sister.

“But, but!” Lyla protested as she hammered on the door. “But they’re meant to, like, have some totally awesome tips on Pokemon Breeding! Not only do they specialise in breeding Grass Group Pokemon, they’re meant to know about a whole new way of passing on rare Abilities that people have never heard of before!”

Darryn rolled his eyes. Trust his cousin Lyla to still have her business head screwed on on such a wonderfully sunny day like this! Sometimes her stoic attitude to her career was admirable but right now it was crazy. The weather was the best they’d had in days and they were in a beautiful forest where the smells of the wild and sounds of the local Pokemon could consume you faster than you could take a break to really look at your surroundings.

“Just look around, Ly!” Darryn spread his arms wide, “We’re in a gorgeous forest with nothing to distract us from having fun for a change!

“R-really?” Lyla looked around nervously. “But we’re in the woods… Don’t, like, Bug Pokemon live out here? I ead somewhere that a Beedrill sting can put you in the hospital for days and if there’s a swarm…”

“Pull the other one, Ly!” Darryn laughed. “Besides, if any Bug Pokemon attack you’ve got me and Lima here to sort them out!”

“Fa, fa, fafafaaa!” The Cleffa in the Co-Ordinator’s arms sang her agreement which only produced a raised eyebrow from the Breeder.

“You’re not, like, serious are you?” Lyla rolled her eyes. “Darryn, Cleffa are just babies – what’s she going to do? Charm them away? I’d feel much better if you’d let Lady out of the ball.”

“Not going to happen.” Darryn’s mood plummeted at the mention of his crimson Vulpix. “She’s still angry and until she speaks to me there’s nothing I can do to make her feel any better about it – you saw how she was after we got the Mirrormist Ribbon.”

Of course, his Vulpix couldn’t actually speak – they communicated by telepathy, something that his disability allowed him to do. Since travelling with a girl named Melinda Rose, he had gained what had been named his Empath ability – a strange power that allowed him to view the emotions of any human or Pokemon around him. It just so happened that attached to the ability was the skill to speak telepathically to any human or Pokemon that he was closely emotionally linked to and, thanks to her inherited Psychic powers, Lady could even respond when he called out with his mind. Now though, she wouldn’t respond and had masked her emotions from him completely.

Lyla nodded gravely, recalling how the Vulpix had brain-assault her after her massive shift in demeanour. She’d always heard that the fire fox Pokemon could be tempermental (just like any Fire type) but there didn’t appear to be any root cause of the alteration in mood. Now, all the Vulpix would do out of her Heal Ball was eat and battle – hardly the characteristics of a true partner which she had grown to be under Darryn’s care.
Lyla regarded the way Darryn held Lima and inwardly sighed. He clearly missed Lady’s presence and was trying to compensate for her absence by keeping one of his other Pokemon out of their Pokeball as they travelled. First it had been Victor but the Squirtle had been too slow to keep up, then Romeo the Jolteon but his happy-go-lucky nature meant he was likely to get lost as he ran around in search of adventure, and now it was the baby Cleffa’s turn.

“Alright,” Lyla began as she spied another human entering the meadow from the far side, heading their way, “but if you want to, like, have fun, at least battle him so I can take some more notes?” She nodded over Darryn’s shoulder and he turned to see the trainer crossing the field toward them and the Boutique of Bonnies Breeding Center.

“Fine,” he said as he took mental note of who was most ready to battle in his team, “better get your notebook out.”

[Kamaitachi]

There are an infinite number of combinations out there, but sometimes, you want something so incredibly specific that you have to take matters into your own hands. For instance, you think a Bellossom pulling off a Charm attack followed up by a Magical Leaf attack would be stunning in your next appeal. Sadly, Bellossom do not learn that move unless they're descended from a Togetic or Togekiss.

That's where Pokemon Breeding comes into play. Sometimes, you just have to take matters into your own hands. Well, not specifically your own hands; you'd want "The Breeder in You" for that. Pokemon Breeders carefully monitor the Pokemon Husbandry, and should help you in befriending or adopting a pokemon that has the traits you desire.

Chapter 10 Homework: Meet a Pokemon Breeder.

* * *

Hey Branwys! I'm heading out to the "Boutique of Bonnies Breeding Center" in a few days to check out some cool grass pokemon. Wanna meet me there? We could totally do something inappropriate in front of newborns.

Francesco "Cesc" Rojas landed with yet another unceremonious thud at the outskirts of a forest. With a noisy clack, his mount, a rather hateful Skarmory named Speed, swept his wing upwards. Cesc followed with his eyes from his spot on the ground, noting that the metal bird had pointed out a path. While he was silently thankful that Speed had not dropped him into the canopy, he also regretted not bringing the harness that Branwys Muphenz had made him.

After Cesc's first Contest victory, Speed had shown a new level of respect towards the young man. The new deference had been quite welcome on Cesc's return home. But in an incredibly short span of time, Speed's old habits returned. Cesc had actively chosen not to use the harness, and wound up with a face full of dirt.

As the bird took off, Cesc rose off the ground, dusting himself off and straightening his outfit. Even for a treck into the forest on a hot day, Cesc had insisted on wearing a rather fun outfit. As a flashback to his street-urchin days, he had designed this outfit to look rather roguish, to accentuate his mismatched eyes and lopsided grin. He wore a tannish/beige newsy cap at a jaunty angle, with his hair tucked neatly up inside of it and fastened down with a few well placed clips. He wore an earthy green bandana around his neck, with the loose ends pointing outwards to the right of his neck. He wore a white tank top, stretched nice and tight on his body, a dark brown vest (left open, of course), a pair of suspenders and brown slacks. Finally, to complete the ensemble, he wore a pair of brown boots that matched his vest and slacks. He felt rather dashing and dapper in the outfit, despite the fact that it was more casual one than usual. Nevertheless, the earthy tones of his clothes brought out his tan complexion, and served to accentuate his hazel and brown eyes.

The dust had been an unwelcome accessory, but it sort of fit. Nevertheless, he did his best to remove as much of it as he could.

Without taking too much time to gather his bearings, he simply headed in the direction that Speed had pointed him in. His goal was to find the "Bouquet of Bonnies Breeding Center". Surely, he could've simply gone to one in Arasam, where he currently resided, but he was interested in obtaining a grass pokemon to add to his team after witnessing Shalim Lithilliq's appeal back in Fidona.

He walked for a bit in stony silence, simply enjoying the quiet, fairly serene forest. Sure there wasn't a breeze to keep things nice and airy, but the walk was still pleasant visually. He watched a few Butterfree flit about, wondering if he should catch one...but he really didn't dig 'pretty' pokemon that much. He much preferred the "Cool" aspect of contests to the "Beauty" one.

At the thought of "Beauty", Cesc's mind drifted over to thinking about Branwys. Occasionally, he still felt like a pedophile for finding himself attracted to her, but he was able to constantly remind himself that they were the same age. Hopefully she was already at the Boutique, and he could finally be done with waiting to see her again.

Cesc's mind snapped out of its gentle reverie as he laid eyes on two people in front of a dilapidated old building.

"Hello!" he waved as he approached, smiling his usual broad smile. The two didn't seem particularly threatening, so he didn't feel at all uncomfortable about approaching them. After all, they potentially had directions to Bouquet of Bonnies. "Do you happen to know where..." he paused as he got closer.

"Oh! You're Darryn Kellor." Cesc's smile faded into a more pensive, processing look before widening back out into his grin. "I just watched you win the Mirrormist Ribbon the other day." He turned to Lyla, holding out his hand to her. "Sadly, I don't know your name, and we should fix that. I'm Cesc Rojas, and it's a pleasure to meet you."

After shaking hands with Lyla (or not), he extended his hand out to Darryn in turn.

Play it cool, Francesco. Don't be an awkward idiot, just because this guy's probably one of the top-coordinators in Furoh right now. If you're, he might sign your book!