brb, crossing the region. [ito]

[prettyugly]

Between full-time study and part-time work, in addition to having a rather tense nature, Min got stressed out pretty easily. After a week or two of her stomping around the house, snapping at the slightest provocation and alienating the rest of her family, her father finally got fed up and bought her an intercity ticket to Stormcloud for the long weekend. Three days away from the capital would be relaxing for her, he argued, and she needed some tangible distance from her responsibilities to unwind. More importantly, it would get her, Data and Titan out of his hair for a little while.

Min had been raised to be grateful for gifts, and as such she couldn't feasibly refuse. Stormcloud was a lot quieter than Lunar City without being too rural, which was important for a laptop-toting, sushi-munching city slicker like her. The first evening there it rained steadily and she stayed up in her hotel room, ordering room service and getting Porygon to help her hook up the game system she'd brought with her to the hotel television. By morning the rain had passed and the whole world smelled fresh and clean, inspiring Min to put on her old jeans and a warm sweater and make the trek into Sakura Forest.

Data floated ahead of her, the soft pink glow from its crystalline form lighting the slightly dim path. Both the girl and the Porygon2 obeyed the rules of the nature walk, disrupting nothing as they moved along the newer footpaths of the forest. It was too late in the year for either blossoms or cherries, which left the wood almost completely abandoned by humans. Min walked quietly, enjoying the silence.

Opening her eyes, she gestured for Data to stop as well. "Wait," she murmured, glancing around. "Do you hear something?"

Data did not speak, but Min nodded and continued as though it had answered her in clear language. "Exactly. Forests are supposed to be noisy. I don't hear any wild Pokémon." A pause. "Maybe we should get out of here."

[raikou]

"Who's afaid of the big bad Ursaring?" Raikou sang to himself as he rocked his body to the beat of the children's song. Well, there were slight modifications to fit his mood, but he was rather rproud of himself! He'd stood up to that mean ol' Ursaring! Well... considering he stood up and ran, it was probably the smart thing for the Order Member to do. With just a Pichu on his shoulder and five empty pokeballs at his waist, it wasn't like he was an experienced trainer himself. Really, he was just here because he'd heard how pretty the trees were. Of course, it didn't look as pretty as the descriptions of it he'd heard, but I guess everyone had different tastes? The Sixteen year old stopped in his tracks.

"DRUM SOLO!!!!!!" He yelled out happily, picking up several twigs and hitting them on trees, logs, whatever he could find to hit the sticks against, he did. "Thank you! Thank you!" He bowed to an imaginary crowd. Well, Pichu was enjoying the show! The Tiny pokemon tried emulating Raikou, but the sticks it found were too heavy for it and it ended up falling backward, losing its balance.

"Pichu, come in with the guitar!" He cheered. The small pokemon tossed aside the stick and immitated plugging in an electric guitar making a "Chuuuu" sound as though it plugged it into a live amp. "Pi PIIIIIIIIIIII~ pichupichupichupiiiiiiiiii~" It sang out and it started playing the air.

"Wooooo! Go Pichu!" He laughed. Well, the small ruckus they were causing, no wonder the forest grew silent wherever they went, scaring off all the pokemon, warning them a mile away they were coming. It was a miricle they hadn't attracted another Ursaring with all the noise. "aaaaand STOP!" Raikou help up his hand, Pichu playing his guitar, fading out as it realized its master wasn't playing anymore.

"Where are all the cute little pokemon I was told about? I mean, you'd think we'd see something, right pichu?" He asked the small mouse who looked up at him with a nod. "Yeah... that's what I thought... oh well!" He smiled, resuming his drumming as they moved along the path.