[X] My Assistant

[Living Arrow]

Travelling back to Port Barley after the events at the Petropolis Grand Invitational had been a long and gruelling affair for Lori. Well, it had involved public transport which inevitably meant sharing elbow room with all manner of undesirable and social reprobates. If she was not worrying about her bag being stolen from off of her shoulder, the young Trainer was replaying the events of the tournament again and again to find the moment that had made her act so foolishly.

*Who really thinks they can play the hero and go down some stupid hole to save random people they’ve never even met before!?* She demanded of herself for the fiftieth time as the stench of body odour from her latest ravel companion drifted her way. Holding back a gag, she politely turned her head the other way and cried inwardly. *At least Cesc smelled good!*

*Hey! Stop thinking about him, dammit!* Lori blushed in spite of herself, heat rising in her cheeks to decorate her skin with blotches of ruby embarrassment.

The coach pulled up to a stop at the edge of the town in the later hours of the sunny morning, a couple of miles from her final destination, and freedom announced itself as the coach doors clunked open.

*Close enough!* Lori told herself, springing up from her seat without a backward glance for the stinking hobo next to the window. Cuddling her bag close to her chest with one hand while squeezing the length of her intensely red hair in the other, she hurried to the front of the vehicle.

“Thanks!” She smiled and bowed her head politely to the driver (a sweet old man who she doubted spoke any English) and skipped down the steps to the sidewalk. The coach pulled away with the hiss of its brakes releasing to leave her drinking in the fresh air of the coast. It had been a while since she had been in Barley, and the town hadn’t changed a bit, but she felt like a different person to the rookie that had picked fights with bullies on her first day in the town.

*Never again, Lor.* She reminded herself of the boys that had threatened to cut off her hair when she’d defended another beginner trainer at the bus station. She shuddered at the memory, pushing those thoughts down to her toes where they couldn’t plague her thoughts anymore.

“Pipster,” Lori clicked open the green-capped Pokeball of her Piplup and grinned as he materialised in front of her, “we’re back in Barley.”

“Lup, Piplup!” His cheery reply was a welcome change to the dismal mutterings of the ‘people’ on the coach.

“And you know what that means, right?” She prompted him. A blank expression was her response. She rolled her eyes and pumped her fists energetically, the infectious enthusiasm of her naturally bold demeanour finding its way back to the front of her otherwise woolly teenage brain. “It means we get back on a ferry and go to Fidona! That Gym badge won’t win itself, y’know?!”

“Lup!”

“So, let’s go!” Lori cheered, breaking into a run down the final slope into the town with her Penguin Pokemon close on her heels.

[Huntress Wizard]

In Roxxy's humble opinion, the sun got too much praise.

Oh, sure, it was responsible for all life on this Arceus-forsaken planet, but did it have to be so bright? When she stepped out of her cabin on the ferry after trying, unsuccessfully, to make Mutt sit for treats - small pieces of the sweet berries she had in her pouch - the full force of the sun hit her like a punch in the nose. She stumbled back, deploying some of her favorite swear words as she clutched at her head. It felt like a very energetic Hitmonlee/Hitmonchan duo were trying to kick and punch their way out of her skull, and had just redoubled their efforts. Mutt yipped and ran circled around her legs. Zeta fluttered in concern on her shoulder, opening and closing her mouth.

"No Supersonics!" Roxxy snapped at her Zubat, who closed her mouth and kept it closed. She still clicked, however, once every couple of seconds or so. Roxxy gently nudged Mutt to get him to stop freaking out over her reaction to the sun. He came to a screeching halt and stared up at her, panting but otherwise still enamored. "Sit," she told him firmly.

"Pooch?"

"Sit."

"Pooch, yen pooch!" Mutt happily replied, tilting his head for maximum cuteness factor. She shook her head. Maybe he was just a little too young to be trained right now. Roxxy crouched and dropped her bag to the floor, yanking it open. A few seconds of digging later had produced what she was looking for: an old leather pouch that cleverly concealed an airtight capsule half-filled with Pecha and Nanab berries. She broke off a piece from one of the Nanab berries, and then broke it into two smaller pieces.

"Now sit," Roxxy said, holding the piece just above Mutt's head. He licked his lips and whined, but his rear went to the floor.

"Good boy." She dropped the piece and he caught it mid-air, eagerly slurping up the sweetness while Zeta quietly munched on hers. Roxxy replaced the capsule in the pouch and pulled on the strings, closing it tight. Placing it back in her bag, her hand knocked against the old pair of GoGoggles. She pulled them out. The lenses were tinted dark yellow and, although scratched, probably still see-through.

Roxxy cracked the door of the cabin open just a crack, just enough to see whether the GoGoggles would do their job or whether she would go flailing back into the room again. It appeared to be the former, and she breathed a sigh of relief. Her post-binge headache was still around, but at least she could leave and explore this city a bit now. Opening the door just wide enough, Roxxy slipped through the gap and closed it firmly behind her. Then opened it again when it appeared Mutt hadn't gotten the message they were leaving. Once both her pokemon were accounted for - Zeta now perched on top of her head like some weird tourist-y hat, Mutt nearly causing her to trip as he remained perpetually underfoot - she followed the remaining few across the boat and down to the city.

It was, as far as port cities went, fairly nice. Large and bustling with all sorts of activities; she counted at least five different performances on this street alone. A few people eyed Roxxy strangely, her eyes covered as they were with the banged-up goggles, but most elected to ignore her. Mutt sniffed the air, crying out at any unusually tasty sounding ones, but reluctant to leave Roxxy's side. Zeta amped up the frequency of her clicks, attempting to work out the nature of her surroundings. Roxxy looked around; in her experience, port cities that saw a lot of tourist traffic usually had maps of the region. Yep, there they were, in a little stand not far from where the ferry had docked. She picked one up and unfolded it, doing her best to read the little blurbs next to each city.

While squinting at the map and vaguely cursing the small text distracted her, Mutt made a very important decision. He had been debating investigating some of the more interesting smells, but that had conflicted with his undying loyalty to the amazing woman that gave him sweet berries and a bath and didn't yell at him too much. But his curiosity won out and he took off at a trot, pleased when his trainer decided she'd better come along as well. He went in random directions, first wanting to investigate one smell, then another, until he crashed right into something blue and about his size. Undeterred, Mutt shook it off and, seeing it was another pokemon, danced around it, inviting it to play. Roxxy finally caught up to him, Zeta barely hanging on to her short hair.

"I am so sorry about Mutt," she said to the Piplup's trainer, a young woman with shockingly long, red hair in a short black dress. "Usually he hangs around me, but I guess being in a new city made him excited."

Zeta, while Roxxy was talking, had inched lower and lower until she was hanging off the back of her head. The timid Zubat was still unsure of what to make of all this noise and all these people, and she wished she could go back in her Pokeball.

Well, there we go. Thanks for letting me join! A Kitty Cat, one thing I noticed was that sometimes you refer to Natu as Xatu, but other than that, nothing jumped out.

[Living Arrow]

“Luuup!” Pipster’s strangled squawk snatched Lori’s attention away from the map on her Poketch and back to her partner Pokemon. He sat on the sidewalk, rubbing his head with one flipper-like wing while gesturing angrily at a small grey Pokemon who was prancing around him.

“Oh, Pipster! What happened?” Lori sighed, trotting to him quickly while he dusted himself off. The puppy Pokemon, Lori recognised it as a Poochyena, danced around Pipster happily, a lolling tongue of happiness hanging out of the side of his mouth. Lor couldn’t help but grin. “KAWAIIIII! C’mere!” The Poochyena complied immediately, rushing to Lori for her to fondle his ears while he licked manically at her hands.

“Oooh! I want one!” Lori laughed, scratching the puppy’s ears while Pipster watched on incredulously.

*But Poochyena isn’t a Unova species so it’s off the list...* Lori added for herself darkly. *Damn it!*

"I am so sorry about Mutt." Lori looked up to find another Trainer wearing bizarre sunglasses that looked more like goggles coming toward her with a Zubat stuck to the back of her head. Lori found it hard not to stare since the older girl had such a bizarre appearance (rake thin, no breasts, no hips, dyed hair, hardly ladylike piercings, crazy eyewear and a bat for a hair accessory) but tried her best all the same. "Usually he hangs around me, but I guess being in a new city made him excited."

“No worries!” Lori smiled, sparing a quick glance for Pipster who had stopped fussing over the light bump and rejoined his trainer’s ankles to check out who else had nabbed her attention. “Pipster’s fine – it’s nothing to worry about.”

“Lup...” Pipster didn’t appear so sure.

“Your Poochyena is really cute, by the way.” Lori was rewarded with a lick to the leg for that. Pipster shooed the puppy away quickly, stepping between Mutt and Lori protectively. Lori rolled her eyes at him. “And I guess your Zubat would be, too, if I could see it...” She said for politeness, knowing full well how much she thought of bat Pokemon – they were almost as creepy as Bug-types and would probably suck your blood given half a chance.

Lori’s eyes fell upon a leaflet in the girl’s hands. Although she couldn’t see what was on it, it stood to reason that it could be a daily timetable of boats leaving the port so she took a punt: “Hey, I don’t suppose you know if there is a ferry leaving for Fidona anytime soon?”