Before the Storm [[ Janessa, Flash, Open ]]

[ito]

The Twilight Tournament loomed ever closer and he was feeling nervous. He'd picked out his team of three, but he hadn't heard about who else was entering and what other pokemon he'd be facing. The games had been fun, but now he was Outside the Cosmic Club, listening to the music. It was your typical dance music [[ Moby 18;; Extreme Ways ]] Sythisisor leads with drum background. He really liked the lead vocalists voice. It wasn't rugged or really had much range, but it still fit the music.

I would stand in line for this!
There's always room in life for this!

Ito's head started rocking as he listened. "O~oh Babeh!" He laughed as he watched people dancing to the music. In a way, he felt the song was talking about him. Sure, he'd never been down in dirty basements to beat up Team Rockets or anything, but he'd walked into a Beedrill's nest and he'd entered a Gym! His lips curved upward in a smirk as he remembered Torchic and how he had evolved into a Combusken! It had been Brillient! He remembered the good feeling he'd gotten when he saw the kicks fired off at a pace too fast for the eyes to clearly see. Ten kicks a second! It was amazing that such a pokemon existed!

And now, it just felt like everything was falling apart around him. He was in Lunar City, the home of the Meteor that started it all, and he was competing against other trainers for the title of Champion. The grand prize was a pokeball with a Rare Pokemon... he wondered what it could be... He'd recieved Beldum for winning the Ditto's Dice Extraviganza... or whatever it was called... Dice-a-thon...

To be honest, he had been looking for his friends, but he'd kinda gotten lost, not having a map. He'd heard Lucas and Janessa would be here... but he hadn't seen either of them yet. He decided to go around to the games already as he waited, perhaps bump into them on the way. Nothing. Ah well... with loud music, dancing, and drinks, hot girls. The latter piqued his interest as a group of girls were dancing together, not noticing if anyone was watcing him or sneaking up on him or anything.

[Janessa Rayya]

When Janessa had first come to the Star Festival, she had headed straight for the games, almost completely forgetting why it was that she had come. However, as she walked away from the Galaxy Game Strip and music began to fill her ears, she began to look around for Ito. He had asked her to come here with him, though she still wasn't completely sure why. Regardless, the invitation had filled her with excitement and so, of course she came! She even dressed up a bit for the occassion- of course, she could never resist the opportunity to dress up.

(The next few paragraphs are just describing her looks. You can totally skip it if you want. xD)

Janessa had picked out a nice short dress, dark blue and velvety- soft to the touch and very comfortable. It was one of her favorites. Underneath it, she was wearing her swimming suit- earlier in the day she had gone for a little swim with her newest Pokemon. She also had on a pair of black, knee-length leggings to help keep her at least a little bit warm in the chilly night air. She had originally brought a jacket to help fend off the cold, but she had left it somewhere, and try as she might, it was nowhere to be found.

Janessa had also done up her hair- she loved to do her hair, honestly- and it was all in curls, pinned back with a simple black clip. Heck, she had even put on some makeup- something that she hardly ever did. So she looked pretty dang good- at least, compared to normal.

Oh yeah. And she was actually wearing shoes. It was so unlikely that it could almost be considered a miracle, but she had decided to put on some simple heels. She liked being just a little bit closer to average height, instead of almost a foot shorter than everybody.

(Okay. Done describing looks, you can start reading again, lol!)

The music began drawing her in- she just couldn't resist it. Music was one of her weaknesses- she loved it to death and back again! She waded and pushed through the various crowds that were in between her and the dance floor, before she finally made it. A grin slowly crept onto her face as she saw people dancing everywhere. It looked like tons of fun. But there was something that drew her gaze, more than the crowd of dancers- a familar face. Ito. Actually, it was the back of his head, but she was still able to recognize him.

Janessa crept up behind him, being as sneaky as was possible in heels.. "Enjoying the view?" She asked with a chuckle. Then she took a few steps backwards, adjusted her purse- hey, she had to carry her pokeballs somehow, and dresses never have pockets- and grinned at Ito.

[ito]

[[ Nah, I like reading looks xDD lol ]]

Ito nearly jumped out of his skin as a voice slyly talked into his ear loud enough for him to hear over the music. While he was more sensitive to sound than vision when it came to startling him, it was because he recognized the voice that he had jumped. Turning he had the look of a five year old with his hand caught in the cookie jar. But such a look quickly passed as he couldn't believe he was looking at the same person he had met in the forest.

"Janessa..? Wow..." Yeah... not many words for this. He smiled, wondering why he hadn't dressed up as much as she had. He was just wearing the same style clothing he always wore. This time it was a black stripped white button down shirt with the top button unbuttoned with a white t-shirt undernieth. His black hair was still its usual mess with red highlights. Though, he was wearing black jeans, something a little different from the blue jeans he typically wore. He also had on black socks and shoes, two new articals he spent a bit of money on. It wasn't like he was extremely dressed up, it was just a bit nicer than what he'd worn out in Sakura Forest.

"I'd say this view's much better." He grinned, complimenting her looks. Oh baby's right! He thought to himself, his eyes falling to her purse and raising back to hers before standing from his seat. "You want a drink or something?" He asked, nodding over to the refreshments stand a little ways away from the blasting music. It wasn't a particularly hot day, but it was warmer than he was used to. Though the sun was close to the horizonline on its path out of the sky, he could still feel the heat.

"So, you enjoying the Festival so far?" He asked, wondering what she'd been up to before coming here.

[[ we could RP going around to each of the stands and relive winning each of our prizes if you want to do that, or we can just say we already did everything and won everything. Oh, and Flash, it's alright with me to join in when you want ]]

[Lucas Crystoff]

Lucas had stepped onto the scene casually. He wasn't too nervous or anything; the ladies man would never get nervous in a crowded setting. He really wanted to just grab a lady and start busting out dance moves, but he decided to play it cool. Mr. Calm, cool, and collected; that's who he was going to be tonight. Searching the crowd, he looked for the only two friends he had made since touching down on the Star Region. He couldn't really see anyone, so he decided to just dance through the crowd and hope to bump into one of them.

Slowly but surely he danced his way through the crowd, stopping a few times to give a lady or two a dance before continuing through the crowd. 'Cologne? Fifty dollars. Button-up dress shirt? Twenty Five dollars. Dancing with the sexiest girls around? Priceless.' Lucas thought to himself. He was starting to work up a sweat, so he slowly made his way to the table where they were serving drinks. He made himself a cup of fruit punch, took a quick sip, then left the cup on the table to continue on the dance floor.

During his dance session, someone accidentally bumped into his pocket, and his Seedot was accidentally released onto the dance floor. Lucas hadn't noticed at first, and Seedot was looking around, confused as to why all of these people were moving like this all around him. He got bumped into a few times, and someone accidentally kicked him onto his head, causing him to start doing a head spin on the dance floor. This is when Lucas turned around to notice, but it was too late.

The crowd gathered around Seedot, pushing Lucas all the way to the back of the dance floor. Seedot continued spinning for a good thirty seconds with people chanting "Go Seedot! Go Seedot!" before tiring out, ending his little dance with a flip. People cheered and applauded, and by the time Lucas had made his way through the crowd, trainers had released there female Pokemon, who were gathering around the little Pokemon player. "That's enough for you" Lucas recalled his Pokemon in a red light, and all the other people sighed and recalled their Pokemon. The circled crowd then dispersed, and Lucas continued to look for his friends.

[Janessa Rayya]

(I think I'll say that Janessa's already gone through the Game Strip and won her stuff... =D)

Janessa laughed as a startled Ito jumped and then quickly turned himself around to face her. She lifted her hand and gave a small wave with an amused smile. "If you could only see the smile on your face." She mumbled, mostly to herself, before Ito began talking. When Ito complimented her, she blushed brightly and dropped her gaze to the floor as an uncontrollable smile appeared on her lips. Thankfully, Ito kept talking, and so Janessa was able to forget her slight embarassment fairly quickly. She looked back up at Ito and then began to reply to his questions.

"No, thanks, I'm good for now." She said, "Thanks, though. And I've been having a blast so far! I went through all the games already, and won some amazing prizes. The only bad thing so far is that I lost my jacket! Other than that, I haven't done much... What about you?" She asked with a shy smile. Out here in the city, in a more social setting, she didn't quite have the confidence that she had had when she was with Ito in Sakura Forest. Hopefully, though, her insecurities would soon fade and she'd be having the time of her life.

As a large portion of the dancers began chanting, Janessa looked over in that direction with a raised eyebrow. What were they chanting? ...Seedot? Well, that was odd. But the chanting ended soon enough, and so Janessa's attention returned quickly to Ito.

[ito]

"Well, I've been having a pretty lucky day." He smirked. "Let's see... I went to Piplup's pick up and got a few rare candies... I went to go fishing and caught a couple Magikarp... and I sorta won Ditto's Dice-a-thon first try." He grinned, rubbing the back of his neck. "I got a cool Beldum! And I totally entered into the Twilight Tournament! So Combusken, Roselia, and Beldum are all set!" He had on his old, confident smirk. When it came to pokemon, he was just at home...

He didn't really notice people chanting 'go seedot', too focused on Janessa. "Well, what're you going to be using? It's really too bad they don't have a doubles match..." Ito tilted his head to the side, putting his hands in his jean's pockets. "I mean, we're gonna have to face one another sometime during the fighting..." He trailed off, hoping that wouldn't really affect their friendship. "But it's not like I'd be mad at you if I lost. I'd just know I need to work harder!" He nodded decisivly. "And then... there's someone else... I wonder if he's in the tournament too..." Ito mused... "his name's Lucas, I met him back when I fought the Gym Leader." He explained. "I wonder what he's up to..."

Little did he know the guy was a couple steps behind him.

[Janessa Rayya]

Janessa nodded and smiled happily while Ito told her about the good day that he had been having thus far. "That's great!" She exclaimed enthusiastically. "It seems like all I've won so far is Pokemon... other than one rare candy. Heh." She smirked slightly, as she remembered here two new Pokemon- an Absol and a Bulbasaur. Both seemede to be great Pokemon, but she didn't really know much about them, yet. She'd have to get to know them tomorrow...

Then Janessa snapped out of her mini daydream and thought about the question that Ito had just asked her. She hadn't entered in the Tournament just yet, and so she was still considering which Pokemon she wanted to use.

"Hm, I'm not sure. I haven't entered just yet, I'm still deciding. I know I'll use Ganbaatar, at least. And probably Pyrrhus..." Janessa trailed off into thought. Then she realized that Ito hadn't met her Pokemon yet, and so he wouldn't recognize the names. "Oh! That's my Skarmory and my Growlithe. I haven't decided on my third Pokemon yet. Probably either Disaster or Aina- Absol or Bulbasaur. Eh..." Janessa trailed off for a second time, and then shrugged.

"Aw, I wouldn't worry about our face-off. It'll be tons of fun, but I'm not really worried about winning or losing, to be honest. Just training. I haven't battled the gym yet- but it seems that you have! So did ya win?" Janessa asked, while simultaneously wondering about this other guy that Ito mentioned. Lucas? She wondered if she would get to meet him.

[Lucas Crystoff]

{You guys are so lazy, making me hafta introduce myself XDD}

"Hmm?" Lucas thought he heard a familiar voice, so he turned around to see Ito and another girl. And a good looking one at that. 'Hmm...' Lucas thought to himself before shaking his head to get him out of his trance. 'Nah, looks like this is Ito's girl.' Lucas said before smiling. After his little daydream, he realized he had finally found the person he had been looking for the whole time. He probably would have found his sooner if it hadn't been for Seedot's little adventure, but he still found him nonetheless.

"Hey! What's up!" Lucas said with a bit of excitement in his voice. He had danced with a lot of girls, but it was nice to see a friendly face and not a stranger's face in front of him. "I see you brought your...girlfriend?" He had to ask, the question was burning a hole through his body and he really wanted to know. "Hey, I'm Lucas. Nice to meet you...?" He motioned with his hand for Janessa to finish the sentence with her name.

{Sorry for the shortness, not good with conversations RP-wise DX}

[ito]

[[ haha, guilty xDD ]]

"Skarmory, huh? That's gonna be tough to beat!" He grinned, he'd heard something about Skarmory on the Pokedex when he'd run into Taillow. Well, he'd be able to hear the rest of the information when he ran into her in the tournament! At the question if he won his Gym Battle, he smirked [[ I dunno if I did or not, but it looks like a 'yes' atm ]] "Of course I won! I'm not losing to anyone until I fight you, remember?" He grinned.

That's when he heard a familiar voice calling to him. "Speak of the Slowpoke!" He mused, looking over his shoulder to see Lucas strolling up to them. At the mention of girlfriend, Ito blinked and got a little red in the face, taken completely by surprise. He was just sorta standing there, his mind stumbling over retorts... but not really coming up with any.

"Janessa." He cut in, answering for Janessa. Well, he knew she could have told him herself, but there was something that made Ito want to answer this one for her. "her name's Janessa. Actually, we met a bit ago back in Sakura Forest, before I had my Gym Battle." He explained. Of course, he only guessed they went back further, but he was terrible with faces and he couldn't be sure this was the same person that used to visit him back on Mount Hope near the Pokemon Lab. "And this is Lucas." He introduced his friends. Well, he would have liked to say he was being polite... But he was maybe a little itsy bitsy protective? He knew Lucas was pretty cool, so he thought of him as something of a rival.

"I think he's going to be in the Tournament too." He put a hand on the guy's shoulder and shook him a bit.

[Janessa Rayya]

Janessa chuckled as Ito confessed his victory. "Right, right." She replied. "Well, good job! I guess that means I'll definitely have a chance at winning when I go to challenge the leader, eh?" Janessa commented, right before she heard a voice call out to them- or, rather, to Ito. She turned towards the boy who had called out- was this the Lucas that Ito had just barely mentioned to her? Ito's reply confirmed that suspicion. This boy was Lucas.

When Lucas asked if she was Ito's girlfriend, she grinned, blushed just slightly and shook her head in response, with an amused laugh escaping from her lips. She had only known Ito for approximately a week, and she hardly knew anything about him! It was definitely a bit soon to come to that conclusion. However, Ito's lack of response to the girlfriend question made hr a bit curious...

But Lucas' introduction distracted her from that train of thought. She had just opened her mouth to reply when Ito interjected and answered for her. Janessa smiled and nodded. "Yup, that's me, little ol' Janessa. Its nice to meet you, Lucas." She said cheerfully. "So, you're entered in the tournament, too, eh? Well then, maybe I'll get to battle you," She smiled happily as she spoke.