[X] My Assistant

[Dragava]

The OOC may be found here


Riolu jumped off Lizzie shoulders excitedly. They were finally here. The rocky city of Arasam. Lizzie sighed, then sat down on a bench. It had been a long journey for her, and she was very tired.


Lizzie was in high spirits as she headed towards the mountain on her planned route. Things got harder after she arrived in Anhro town, however; she was not too sure how to make her way through the rain forest at the base of the mountain.

It was true that Charmeleon could easily clear a path through the forest with an Enmber, or maybe Flamethrower, but Riolu somehow managed to talk it into staying in its pokeball. Riolu thought that it would be more fun to dive into the plants and that burning a trail through the forest might not be too welcome by its inhabitants.

If Lizzie knew what was in Riolu's mind, she would have said that the forest's inhabitants were not welcoming at all, and it would be better for her if they were scared away by Charmeleon. She can tolerate the Pineco that exploded when she came too close, and the Tackle from the Caterpie she nearly stepped on. What really ticked her off was the Aipom that decided to steal her Rainbow Feather.

After a long and tedious chase, ending when Riolu hit Aipom with a Quick attack, Lizzie got her feather back. She was more suspicious about the forest's inhabitants, however. Lizzie liked pokemon more than people, but she would rather not risk something like that happening again.

When Lizzie finally made her way out of the forest, she still had a mountain to (partway) climb to get to Arasam. She decided to camp for the night before the long hike up the mountain....


Riolu did not give Lizzie enough time to rest or reflect on the journey. It had already grabbed pulled Lizzie to a billboard. and pointed to a notice. There was a picture of trainers making their way up a rocky cliff with their pokemon by their side.

Mt. Carello- Can YOU reach the top?

You have five days to climb as high as you can in teams of three to five. Winners will get free passes to the Donphan resort and free meals at Charizard's Maw. More information and sign ups at the Pokemon Center.

"It looks like that is where we will be going next," Lizzie told Riolu, who nodded. Lizzie was not too comfortable with the idea of working with others, but she thought that the experience might mentally prepare her for her first gym battle.

[Emoisum]

After arriving here in the Furoh Region, it wasn't too long after our giant brute had taken just a few steps onto it's soil -- well, technically, he arrived at Port Barley, so there was some stone, too -- but that is, besides the point. That he had obtained some information about the whereabouts of his father, might be. Apparently, it wasn't too long ago that someone of his description, arrived here in Port Barely and was heading towards Arasam. That's all the information they had, though. But with that, said, our mere giant started making his way into the town, where he found some means of travel, and eventually ended up, after a few days of travel, in Arasam.

He rested in Arasam, one day. But it wasn't too long after, as he rested at the Pokemon Center, Nurse Joy had informed him of his father arriving, and leaving not too long ago. There was a brief moment of complaining, but there was no use in getting all riled up over the manner. But after the large-male had turned and began walking away from the counter at the Center, Nurse Joy spoke up and mentioned that he might of headed up Mt. Carello, which currently, there is going to be a competition starting up, which is a race to see who could reach the top, first.

After giving him a brief description of things going down, he stood there and was deciding whether, or not to take this chance. Not much trouble, it would seem. Just gotta make it to the top, in a group of three or more. "Will you have a partner, to participate with you?" the Nurse Joy inquired, and our large fellow stood there and started to think, he could easily lie -- he can take care of himself, of course -- or maybe an opportunity was about to walk through those doors.

[Dragava]

"May I have a moment?" A cheerful guy said. Lizzie stopped and looked at him. He was a well-dressed man, maybe in his mid-twenties. He had a polite smile on his face.

"My name is Grant, and, you know about the climbing event, don't you?" Lizzie nodded slowly. "Good, Well, as you can see, I am without a team and I need two more trainers to help me." Riolu petted Lizzie's leg; an opportunity like this might not happen again.

"Sure," Lizzie replied.

"That's good. Now I only need one more person before I can sign up." Lizzie followed Grant as he headed into the pokemon center and watched as he asked some trainers to join him. The event seemed to be a popular one, as all the trainers were already in a team. There was even someone signing up for the event with Nurse joy. Alone. Grant approached him.

"Excuse me, do you mind participating in this competition with me? I just need one more person for my team." Lizzie stood behind him, silently watching the two. Riolu was a little agitated. There was no need for Lizzie to talk right now, so encouraging her with a light poke would not do anything.

[Emoisum]

A little nervous, and still not up to lying to Nurse Joy, it appeared he would have to just take the mountain by himself. Nothing was walking to the door, and he didn't hear it open due to all the chatter going on within, the Pokemon Center. "Th--" the large brute was cut off, when there was someone speaking behind him. Well then, that opportunity was almost wasted, but nonetheless, the large-trainer turned to the voice that was speaking to him. Listening to the man's offer, Kai didn't waste time after he had finished with his proposal. "Wouldn't mind at all, the more, the merrier." the large one said with a smile on his face -- just one of the many obstacles, out of the way -- he turned to the side, so that the man could fill out the sign-up's sheet.

But it would appear someone was invading a little someone's territory, as Scarlet, Kai's bulbasaur, released herself from her pokeball, which rested on Kai's waist. Standing firmly right next to Kai, she was nuzzling her head into the side of his leg. With a quick glare over at the Riolu, and other small female. The large one, looked down at the self-releasing Pokemon and just shook his head. Scarlet wasn't really paying attention to the disagreement of Kai, but more-or-less, making sure none of the other two intrude on her territory. That's what you get, when you get an easily jealous, female Bulbasaur.

Bringing his attention to the little girl, whom was with the man who invited him to join the time. "I take it you're the third member?" he asked the little-one with the Riolu.

[Dragava]

"Yes," Lizzie replied to the man's question, feeling that she did not need to add any more details. They would learn her name and where she came from when she jolted down "Elizabeth Verillo" and "Floraoma Town, Sonnoh" on the sign-up sheet anyway.

Riolu, on the other hand, was looking curiously at the Bulbasaur that was now nuzzling her trainer. It thought that going up and introducing itself might be threatening to a pokemon that looked very territorial. Riolu decided instead to comment on how Scarlet's trainer must be strong enough to be able to get it out of tight spots, finishing with a wish that its own trainer would someday be able to look after itself in the same way.

"And we sign out names here? And list the type of pokemon that will be accompanying us?" Grant asked the Nurse Joy in confirmation. After receiving a positive answer, he passed the sheet, along with a pen, to the man since he was the closest to him.

"Would you like to sign the sheet first?" He asked with a polite smile, "And when you finish, pass these to that young lady over there."

[Emoisum]

"You seem so distant." he pointed out to the girl, but didn't say much after that, as the man whom invited him turned around and offered him the sign-up sheet. Taking the sheet and clipboard from the man, "Alrighty." he simply replied, no need to go into much detail when to just say 'Yes'. Taking then pen, as well, Kai held the clipboard on his left arm and with his right, he wrote down 'Shichiro Kai' under the name section, followed by 'Phenac City, Orre' for the hometown and for the finale, 'Totodile, Bulbasaur' for the Pokemon section. Looking over what he had wrote down, he put the pen in it's holder on the clipboard.

"Here ya go, kiddo." he said with a playful and friendly tone, offering the sign-up sheet clipboard to the shortest one of the group of three, whom will all be traveling and taking the Mt. Carello challenge. Probably going to be a long haul, but hopefully his father is somewhere on top, or down the other side. It seems the closer he gets, the further he gets. If that, makes any sense.

[Dragava]

"Here you go, Kiddo," The man said. His casual tone made Lizzie feel a little better, even if she was not entirely comfortable with the current situation. She took the clipboard and pen , wrote down "Elizabeth Verillo," then "Floraona town, Sinnoh," And finally, "Riolu, Charmeleon, Budew." The handed the board to Grant, the only one who had not signed yet.

"Thank you." Grant glanced at the clipboard, then scribbled down some details that Lizzie did not get a chance o see. It did not make a big difference to her what Grant's full name was or where he came from. As to what pokemon he had, well, Lizzie could find out when the competition started. Which happened to be tomorrow, according to the Nurse joy. She also gave the three of them directions to the spot where they would meet up before the event started.

"Thank you," Grant said to the two once the Nurse Joy had finished explaining, "If it wasn't for you two I would not be able to participate. I have to prepare some things for the event, please excuse me."

Lizzie glanced at the man... Shichiro Kai. What was he called Shichiro? Shi? Just Kai? Lizzie shook off her curiosity before presenting her pokemon to Nurse Joy for a checkup. Riolu was a little upset that it did not get to talk with the bulbasaur, but did not complain. There would be chances to talk later.

[Emoisum]

Towering over the youngest of the three, and the only female of the three, curiosity got the best of him as he peered down to get a look at her information. However, the only thing that he was looking for was a name. However she handed the clipboard to the other figure which would be teaming with them, and he scribbled down his information -- the towering Brute only got a glimpse at his name -- after he had finished, Nurse Joy had informed them of when everything starts, and where to be at tomorrow morning.

Now that everyone was signed up, and Nurse Joy had finished giving them the details, Grant excused himself from the group. Now, Kai would of done something similar, but it would of been best that he probably stuck around and got to know the younger one, due to the fact that he'll need someone to wake him up tomorrow. Taking a step forward, so that he's behind the little one, Bulbasaur takes it the wrong way and tries to show that this is her territory, by forcing herself between the two; Kai and Elizabeth.

"Elizabeth, right?" he had spoke up and asked her, trying his best to ignore Scarlet down at his feet.

[Dragava]

Lizzie expected to be adressed sooner or later, so after handing Riolu and her two other pokemon over, she replied "I prefer Lizzie though..." The realized that this would be a good time to find out what the man was called, so she added a "What are you called?"

Lizzie looked down after a bit. She saw the bulbasaur in between them, and smiled at it. She thought it was funny that it was so protective of its trainer, especially since she did not approach him first. She had never met a pokemon with a similar personality before, so she sis not know what to say to it. She silently waited for the man's reply while examining the bulbasaur.

[Emoisum]

The little Bulbasaur known as Scarlet to Kai, noticed the little girl speak back at her trainer, and she growled slightly and showed her teeth. Similar to the way a dog would, only it's a plant-turtle. The Giant one looked down at Scarlet, tapping here on her back gently with the end of his boot, "Calm down, now." he said to her, she turned and looked at him, smiling and then back at the girl, the look of evil returning.

"You'll have to excuse her, she's a little over protective." he said with a smile to the young girl, before adding on the answer to her former question. "Kai will do. Short, and simple, miss Lizzie." he said adding the prefix 'miss' as he does with most women, or young girls. The female gender, to make things simple.

"So, I take it the teams stay here, for tonight?" it could be a question for Nurse Joy, or Lizzie.

[Dragava]

"It does not matter where the team members stay as long as they are ready for the event tomorow," Nurse Joy said, "Your pokemon look fine. Good luck in the competition tomorrow." Lizzie nodded then glanced at the man. She had never been addressed in that way before. She said a quick "see you tomorrow" before darting away with Riolu in her arms and the pokeballs in her pocket.



The next day was sunny and had an occasional cloud. It was fairly warm by the time Lizzie and Riolu had made it to the meeting spot at the outskirts of the town. Grant did not lie about the event being popular. There were trainers scattered all over the place. It was a little overwhelming for Lizzie, but Riolu was excited. It was looking forward to seeing how many of the competitors its team would be able to beat.

"Ah, there you are!" Grant called out, "I have been looking for you." Lizzie turned around to see Grant.

"Let's go find our last team member," Grant announced. Lizzie reluctantly followed him into the crowd. She had a feeling that Kai would be easy to find; she just had to look for a bulbasaur that was keeping everyone away.

[Emoisum]

And that fact that the Pokemon universe is the equivalent to Japan, he is two-feet taller than everyone.

Actually, his height wouldn't matter in the least, as he fell asleep close to where the even would be taking place, or beginning rather. Snoozing on a bench near the starting line, was the large fellow now known as Kai. Now, he had be hoping and all, that this place would be loud enough to wake him up. But, here's for hoping. The big kid was still asleep, despite everyone chatting and such around him. No one seemed to care to wake him, probably to hopefully rid of competition. That, or the man-eating Bulbasaur that was sitting on his stomach, the whole time, and not allowing anyone to get close to him; she would wake him, when the time is right.

Also another new arrival, well not new.. was Kai's Totodile, nicknamed Miles. He was resting on Kai's legs, as Kai thought it would be kind of unfair to have Bulbasaur out all night, and keep him cooped up in the Pokeball.

[Dragava]

"Will the participants please gather in their groups? Repeat, will the participants please gather in thier groups!" A female voice rang out.

"Where could he be?" Grant asked. Riolu tugged on Lizzie's pants and pointed to a sleeping figure on a stone bench.

Isn't that uncomfortable? Lizzie thought to herself. Grant, however, wasted no time in approaching the figure, which turned out to be Kai. Lizzie followed him as Riolu scrambled to her shoulders.

"The event will begin soon, but first, we would like to explain some of the rules..."

Lizzie glanced at Kai. He would miss the briefing if he did not wake up soon, but there was nothing she could do. Meanwhile, her Riolu was approaching the Bulbasaur. If Bulbasaur could not or did not wake Kai out, Riolu would be willing to lend a paw.

"First, I would like to thank everyone for participating today, it is a great pleasure to have all of you here. The next thing we have to address is the fact that there are lots of wild pokemon on the mountain. Show respect to them by not damaging their homes; it's easier for everyone this way. Having said that, there is no rule against catching pokemon during the competition." The speaker paused a little. Lizzie took this chance to see if Kai was awake. She did not want to do any explaining to Kai if he was still asleep.

[Emoisum]

The briefing didn't wake him up, despite how loud they were. Once he's asleep, it's usually hard to wake him up -- similar to a Snorlax, maybe even a Slaking. It's a surprise, he doesn't have either of those or their pre-evolutions in his arsenal of Pokemon. But the first to awake when they were approached, was Miles the Totodile. He heard about how he would be traveling with some other Pokemon, from Scarlet the Bulbasaur, so to be fair, he would be kind to the arrival.

Scarlet on the other hand, had a completely different idea. Jumping down between the bench, and Rilou, before he even had a chance to get anywhere near Kai. It growled aggressively at the approaching Rilou, protecting her territory. At this time, Miles would find it appropriate to wake up the sleeping giant, as he walked up his body and to his stomach, where he blasted his trainer in the face with a water gun-attack. Which, lead to him quickly sitting up and looking around. "I'm up, I'm up!" he claimed, not wanting to get hit with another water gun.


Turning to his.. left, I assume, he noticed both Grant and miss Lizzie approaching, along with all the people getting ready for the competition. "Hey, guys." he said, acting like everything was fine, and dandy.

[Dragava]

Lizzie was not amused by his casual response but said nothing and turned her attention back to the speaker. Grant, on the other hand, gave Kai a quick smile.

"Other teams should be treated with respect, that means, if they ask you to stop harassing their team, stop. We have our own ways of monitoring the mountain during this event, and will not hesitate to disqualify any foul players. Every participant will need to wear these tracking devices. They will allow us to rescue you in case of any emergencies. They will also alert you when time is up. Any height gained once time is up will not count towards your distance, so it is advised to wait until one of our pokemon arrives to take you back here. You will get your tracking devices from Arasam's Officer Jenny and police force."

Riolu looked at the Bulbasaur, a little disappointed. It explained that, before attacking, one should know the objective of the other pokemon. After noticing that Kai was up, Riolu ran back to Lizzie and scrambled onto her shoulders. It felt that Scarlet was being a little unreasonable. Maybe it could change that by showing her that not everything was something to growl at. In the meantime, it would comfort itself by hugging Lizzie.

"Let's go get our tracking devices," Grant said with another smile. Riolu looked in his direction. It might be the encounter from the bulbasaur earlier, but something did not feel right. Was he smiling too much? Was there something about that smile? His brown eyes? Riolu shook it off, thinking that the bulbasaur's distrust might have rubbed onto itself. It certainly did not want anything bad to happen to Lizzie, but did not want her to shy away from anything either. She was the one who brought the freezing Riolu to her home and nursed it back to health. In Riolu's mind, it was only natural to do its best to give its trainer the same things she had given it; adventure, friends, excitement, happiness... the feeling of being needed.

Lizzie felt Riolu hugging her stiffly instead of running around excitedly, choosing one of the tracking devices, or examining the tracking necklace Lizzie picked. Something was definitely on its mind. It might have been the bulbasaur; she had been fairly aggressive to Lizzie herself. Maybe it triggered something Riolu did not want to remember?

"It's okay, Riolu," Lizzie said as she took it off her shoulders and held it close. Riolu might be a pain sometimes, but it was always trying to help. Lizzie petted its head gently.

"Those without tracking devices, please raise your hand so that Officer Jenny can find you."

"In the meantime, we might want to plan our route. There is a rocky cliff close by. It will be hard to scale, but it will give us the most height. We could hike, but there are some narrow ledges that could be trouble," Grant explained, "Mt. Carello is a volcano, so there might be some caves that we can use to bypass obstacles, but if you ask me, I think the cliff is out best bet."

Lizzie did not reply to Grant. She did not really mind which way the team started, since caves may be used to go around trouble spots. She would speak up when the team reached one. Riolu frowned at her lack of response, but Lizzie was paying too much attention to the other members of her team to notice.

[Emoisum]

The Large one got up from his seat, and caring too much about returning his Pokemon to their respective Pokeballs. Scarlet stayed in her usual area, right at Kai's feet, whilst Miles was hanging onto Kai's neck and hanging off the back, just going along for the ride. He caught up to both miss Lizzie and Grant, as he was explaining their route choices. They all sounded rather tough and long-going. But, they would have to decide on one, no? It didn't seem that the youngest of the group, Lizzie had a preference on which route the group took.

Miles climbed up to Kai's shoulder, taking a seat there and looking on at Grant. There was something about him, that he didn't like, but the Totodile didn't act up. Scarlet, of course, doesn't like anyone, including Grant. "The caves sound interesting." he commented, "If we make good timing, it shouldn't take too long to get through them." he then nodded towards Totodile, who was sitting on his shoulder, "Since it's a volcano, we have a Water-type to keep us cooled down." he pointed out.

[Dragava]

"The caves, I think that might be a good choice too," Grant said, slipping his ring-shaped tracking device on, "We might have to hike a bit before we reach the nearest cave, however."

"You may begin. Good luck!"

"I think this route maximizes our chance of finding a cave," Grant said, choosing a particularly twisty trail, "Let's go." Lizzie did not complain and followed Grant.

Riolu seemed to feel more excited once the contest started; it wigged out of Lizzie's grip and ran ahead, yelping a bit when one of the members from another team threw a pokeball at it. It did not work, since Riolu already had a trainer, resulting in a complaint from the pokeball thrower.

"HEY!" Lizzie yelled. at the kid. She might be shy, but that was no excuse for her not to defend a pokemon, especially when that pokemon was one of her special companions.

"You should keep your pokemon in its pokeball," The kid yelled back, "Now I have to pick it up; wasting my time!"

"It's okay," Grant said, "A Riolu is a pretty rare pokemon; I am sure lots of people would want one." Lizzie just looked at Grant blankly. What he had just said did not make her feel any better.

"Anyway, we should speed up a bit. Those guys already have a bit of a head start, and, we don't want to lose, do we?"

[Emoisum]

They had started hiking up a route that Grant suggested, which had a higher chance of ending them in a cave, eventually. Miles was still being lazy and resting on Kai's shoulder, as Scarlet walked right beside Kai, on the right of him to be exact, so that Lizzie nor Grant would be closer to him, than she is. Out of nowhere, a PokeBall had hit Lizzie's Rilou, which like any normal child would, ran ahead of the group. There wasn't much of an argument, just the kid pouting and complaining about having to keep her Pokemon in their PokeBall, and about having to pick up the one he had thrown. As Lizzie, what Grant said didn't really help, the situation.

But nonetheless, they started back up and seemed to be walking at a faster pace, after Grant suggested they do so. There wasn't much going on, other than walking and walking. So, to keep things from getting too boring, there might as well be some conversation going on, right?

"So, miss Lizzie, and Grant." Kai began speaking to the two as they walked up the hill, "Where about are you two from?" he asked, using one of the more common conversation starters. As their names were already shared at some point, they might as well get to know each other, a little better. They will be traveling, for the next several days, depending on how much time they put into travel and breaks. If the former is the choice, then they should make it sooner than later, hopefully. Scarlet kept her eyes on both Grant and Lizzie, mainly Lizzie due to her being female.

[Dragava]

"Floraoma town," Lizzie replied simply. Grant looked her and gave a quick nod.

"As for me, I have been moving around a lot, so I can't say where exactly I come from. My family were pokemon researchers, and they liked to study pokemon in their natural habitat. We moved from city to town, region to region, depending on what our customer, or customers wanted to know."

Lizzie listened to Grant, paying little attention to Riolu, who once again, ran in front to explore. There were a lot of pokemon that scrambled out of the way as they heard the group of trainers approaching. Maybe it was the bulbasaur; Riolu could feel its threats towards Lizzie, or maybe it was just concerned for its trainer.

Whatever the reason, a fleeing Geodude had lost its balance and started rolling down the mountain side. Riolu temporarily pushed the potential threat of Scarlet out of its head. Lizzie had other pokemon that she could use if there were any problems. The Geoude, however, needed some help, and there was no one who could provide it...

Apart from the Togepi that the Geodude might fall on if it was not careful enough.

:Watch out!" Riolu yelled. Togepi turned around and looked curiously at the rolling Geodude. Riolu launched a Quick Attack, grabbing the Geodude by the arm. It placed Geogude on the trail after. The Geodude thanked Riolu, then fled again, being more careful this time.

By the time Riolu came back into sight, she saw it waving to what appeared to be a rocky part of the mountain. There was also a cheering egg-thing nearby. Lizzie took out her pokedex.

"Togepi, the Spike Ball pokemon. Its shell is said to be filled with joy, which it shares with kindhearted people."

That makes sense, Lizzie thought, Riolu is a very kind pokemon. Riolu, having spotted Lizzie ran up to her. She gave it a quick pet, then told the Togepi that she and the rest of the team would continue up the mountain.

Grant, on the other hand was eying the Togepi.

"I think I might like to catch that Togepi," He announced. Togepi took one look at him, then backed away in shock. Maybe it did not want to be captured. Riolu darted in front of the Togepi, protecting it.

"I think we should continue," Lizzie said in attempt to rescue the Togepi, "We don't want to lag too far behind." Grant sighed, then put the pokeball that he had taken out away.

"I guess you're right." Riolu said a good bye to Togepi before running off again. Togepi looked at Riolu. It was a nice pokemon. maybe it would stick around the travelers for a bit.

[Emoisum]

Watching the whole ordeal with the Geodude and Togepi, Kai would of helped but he knew that wasting his breath on Scarlet to help another Pokemon would of been, obviously, wasteful. Miles would of done so, but he would of probably made the situation worse, with his whole overreacting to everything. Riolu saved the Togepi from the falling Geodude with a swift quick attack.

However, it seemed that Grant was going to attempt to capture the Togepi, but Riolu nor Lizzie allowed that to happen. It was none of his business why, of course. He wasn't going to throw himself into the subject, as Lizzie suggested they moved forward. They started again, and breaking the silence within the group.

"Well, I'm from Phenac City." he blurted out, even though now probably wasn't the time for it. Bulbasaur looked over her shoulder, noticing the Togepi not too far behind. Great, another face she would have to watch.