Morning Routine (Open)

[kaden]

To be honest, lately, it had been a struggle getting up in the morning. Before, when he had just become the leader, he had trouble going to sleep. Mostly because he was so excited to get to the gym the following day. But now....now that the overall excitement wore off, it had become quite a task. Getting up every morning at 7:30 A.M. started wearing on Kaden...but he loved his position as Gym Leader. With it, he got new found respect around the town. People stopped looking at him as a child, and more as a man with a responsibility. And he appreciated the new found respect, though it came with a clear cost.

And even though he got up early in the morning, one couldn't tell from his overall appearance. His hair looked nice, he didn't have bags under his eyes, nor would he yawn. Looking out over the lake, he sat with his knees to his chin, and his arms wrapped horizontally around them. There was a slightly breeze, making his hair blow softly. The grass seemed to move in constant waves, evident from air currents. It was 8:25 A.M., which gave Kaden 20 more minutes to lounge around the lake, as it took 15 minutes to get to his gym on foot.

The lake looked especially pristine this morning. There were aquatic Pokemon leaping in and out of the water. On the other side of the lake, he could see Marills frolicking near the shoreline. Buizels were skimming the water, their fur coated to their bodies. Life was abundant on this lake. And that was something he liked about it. It wasn't like he was out here staring at water for an hour. He was staring at a habitat, and process of life.

Now, people weren't usually around the lake at this time of day. Kaden couldn't help but shake his head slowly, in thought of the beauty they were missing. Ironically, and almost comically after having these thoughts, Kaden heard some rustling behind him. Figuring it was just a Pokemon, he turned around, and craned his neck to see who, or what it was.

[rain]

The entire length of the dirt path yielded nothing. Neither did the gently waving cattails lining the edges of the crystal clear lake, nor the muted shadows cast by the trees, and by the looks of it so far, Vaughn didn't think the bushes were going to reveal anything either.

Nevertheless, he kept on searching, rustling his way through the dense shrubbery with his acute sense of smell probing every millimetre of the area. He wasn't going to leave a single space disregarded. Even if the thing Camilla dropped had not been her gym keys, without which they couldn't go back to the gym on their own, the loyal Houndoom still would have helped his trainer search for however long it would take to find it. Hours, if need be.

Presently however, they hadn't been searching for very long. Mainly because when Camilla realised her keys had gone missing, they had not yet left Crystal Lake Path, which was the gym leader's choice of setting for her daily morning jog that particular day. On one hand, Vaughn considered this to be fairly lucky as it meant they didn't need to retrace their steps halfway across the region; on the other hand, Crystal Lake Path, with all its foliage and easy opportunities for small objects to be hidden out of sight, wasn't exactly the most convenient area to lose something as valuable as keys in.

Vaughn was so absorbed in his search and his own private musings that the hand that was suddenly laid on his neck took him by surprise, and he reflexively whipped his head around and snarled.

"Oi," Camilla said, slightly alarmed by her Houndoom's uncharacteristically aggressive reaction. "Calm down. It's just me."

He blinked, then whimpered and bowed his head in apology, and Camilla patted him between his horns. "It's fine... you find anything yet?" A single shake of the head was the canine's only response, and his trainer heaved an exasperated sigh. "Geez... how the crap did I manage to lose my keys anyway? Of all the important things to drop... oi, where you going? Vaughn!"

For Vaughn had decided that it was about time they enlist some help in this seemingly impossible endeavour. He ambled nonchalantly out of the bushes and up to the lone young man sitting by the lakeside, who, judging by the direction he was looking at, had probably noticed their racket by now. The Houndoom knew that Camilla would never in a million years admit to another human being that she had been so careless, so he took it upon himself to drag this stranger into their predicament.

Except it turned out not to be a stranger after all. When Camilla followed her Pokémon, grumbling something under her breath about wasting others' time, she stopped mid-sentence and mid-step as soon as she got a good look at the man. He seemed vaguely familiar. "I've seen you before," she said bluntly. She couldn't quite recall where—newspaper? TV? Book?—but there was a definite, persistent feeling in her mind that this wasn't some ordinary civilian or trainer she had stumbled upon.

[ words ] 519

[kaden]

Out of the brush came a woman, who looked not a whole lot older than Kaden. He gave her a quick lookover, up and down at a moderate speed, before he heard her speak. He acknowledged her question after a few seconds, with a simple, "Yes. You probably have." He stood up, putting his body weight on his hands for support. Once he was up, he dusted off the butt of his pants. Once his eyes settled on her for a longer duration, he too felt that he had seen her somewhere. Though, his impression was that he was simply guessing, and not too sure.

His eyes then fell to her Houndoom. It looked like all other Houndoom. Vicious. Lethal. Protective. Kaden knew all of these traits, for he had one and had seen many others. For these reasons, he casually took a step back, and tried to mask it as best he could for respect of the trainer. He bowed his head quickly and finally introduced himself. "My name is Kaden DiGianti Gallardo. You may have seen me in the media, because I am Summer Town's gym leader." His words seemed so...dry. Like it was recorded, and he had to play it over every time he met someone new. But then again, meeting someone new didn't happen very often.

He took a deep breath, and took a step forward in the trainer's direction. He kept his eye on the Houndoom, and outstretched his arm straight towards the trainer. "And your name is?" Now that he thought about it, obtaining a Houndoom was no easy chore. She must've been a fairly skilled trainer to obtain one. So his body, once tense, eased up when he figured she could control her pokemon; should he become unpleased.

[Kari Elizabeth Stone]

Scott lumbered a head of his trainer, content for the time being. What was even odder to Kari was the fact that she had seen something that looked much like a Houndoom in the grass. The girl slowed down, though her Pokemon seemed oblivious to it. He just kept moving, plodding along at the same steady pace that all Trapinch had.

Kari let out a small sigh, taking a nervous step after her Pokemon and then pausing. She could hear a voice. Her teeth sank into her bottom lip nervously, her eyes on the peachy body of her Pokemon as he just kept walking. He wasn't even worried about the possibility of a water type coming out and attacking him, by the looks of it. Kari was worried that his lack of fear was going to get him hurt, probably sooner rather than later too.

Scott, meanwhile, meandered along at his steady pace, eyes locked on something sparkling in the grass. He was going to have that sparkley thing if he had to rip it out of someone's hand. Well, other than Kari's. He was vaguely aware that someone was talking off to his left, though the voice did not belong to his trainer, so he didn't so much as turn his head. Instead, he kept plodding along, looking at the sparkley thing in the grass and hoping that no random bird Pokemon swooped down and nabbed it before he had a chance to. The mere thought made his head come up quickly to search the sky. He would be a flying type at some point, but that didn't make him any less wary of the current bird Pokemon.

Kari gave another sigh when the Trapinch came to a stop, looking up at the sky. She trotted after him, sweeping him up into her arms in an impressive display of strength for a seventeen year old girl. Scott wiggled in her arms and then relented, staring up at her with his sparkling eyes and silently asking how she could be so mean. Kari, however, had turned her attention toward the two gym leaders and the Houndoom. Her first thought had been that Scott was going to attack the Houndoom, and Kari didn't want that, not at all. The Pokemon had to be at least level twenty-four to evolve, and she silently thanked her mother for having a Houndoom and teaching her this when she was younger. She had probably just saved Scott's little Ant Pit butt by remembering this bit of information.

Scott lifted his head back, going to place it against the girls chest when he suddenly found the arms wrapped around him gone. He landed on the ground on his hind legs, shock on his face. He dropped onto all fours, giving his body a good shake to make sure nothing was broken. Once he was sure that he was intact, he placed his mouth around Kari's calf to express his displeasure. The girl dropped onto her knees, hugging his giant head.

"Sorry boy, you're a little heavy for me," she apologized quickly, and Scott did the best eye-roll that a Trapinch can do. He had been dropped to the ground unceremoniously because of his weight. How typical. It was the first time that he'd been dropped, but, well, he didn't like hitting the ground like he had.

Kari had not kept her voice down, and now her eyes and head snapped up to look at the two people and the Houndoom. That canine had some sharp horns and teeth. At least Scott didn't seem interested in him.

[rain]

Gym leader! No wonder. That explained the familiarity, and the stuffy introduction too—the latter may have simply been the formality that came with attaining such a status. It wasn't an impossible notion; both Camilla and her predecessor were living proof of that. Beside his trainer, Vaughn secretly wondered if all gym leaders ended up like this, or if he simply got stuck with these two purely by chance.

His attention was then diverted by the arrival of another stranger—and he was fairly confident that this new girl really was a stranger. Her Pokémon companion, however, was not strange to his eyes in the slightest; in all the dry, rocky climates that Camilla was so inclined towards, how many times had he seen that stout, orange figure and overly large head, and been on the receiving end of those jaws? The Houndoom couldn't pretend that he was very fond of Trapinch after years of fighting them off, but this was not the time to throw away civility.

Meanwhile, it didn't seem like the Trapinch was interested in Vaughn anyway. He wasn't complaining. He wasn't Leia, who would have no doubt tried to do something to provoke the other Pokémon into a fight.

While Vaughn watched impassively as the Trapinch plodded along the path at its less-than-impressive pace, his trainer returned the courtesy of introductions to Kaden. "Camilla Clément," she said shortly, shaking his hand. "Haven City gym leader. Relax, Vaughn won't attack you," she added, noticing Kaden's attention to her Houndoom. "Would never let my baby become a barbarian like that." She made a move to drop the conversation there and return to her search for her keys, when:

"Sorry boy, you're a little heavy for me."

"You just need shaping up," Camilla said loudly, her gaze flickering briefly over Kari's small frame. "Trainers shouldn't be privileged to laze around while their Pokémon work. Sync your own body and mind with those of your Pokémon." So what if she came off as a tad commandeering or presumptuous? This philosophy had helped Camilla to avoid degenerating into an unproductive oaf in life, so she saw no reason not to share it. "Now... if you'll excuse me, I need to go find—something of mine."

Vaughn rolled his eyes; he was spot-on about Camilla being unwilling to admit that she'd been careless enough to lose something as valuable as her keys. He whined and pawed at her pant leg—there was an ominous scratching sound as the denim on her jeans threatened to rip under his claws—and then he jerked his head pointedly towards Kari and Kaden. "Come on, Cam, they can help. It'll get done faster if they cooperate. You will cooperate with us, won't you?" Knowing full well that his growls and barks would be incomprehensible to humans, Vaughn directed his sharp, authoritative words more towards the Trapinch than anybody else. Contrary to appearances, intimidation was far from his intention; he just wanted those keys to be found, and soon.

[ words ] 502
[ notes ] what is this rambliness of a post

[kaden]

After told tell him that she was Haven City's gym leader, He became more interested in what she had to say. Kaden wasn't sure if he had made it physically show, but he was definitely more interested. He always treated fellow gym leaders with respect, as they deserved it; more often that not. He felt that there was a another aspect of discussion, when speaking with 'colleagues'. "Haven City huh? I've been there once. It's neat." Neat? Who said neat anymore?

"So, he's not aggressive huh? Maybe he'd like to meet Uma!" He gripped a standard Pokeball on his belt, and nonchalantly tossed it to his right. Out of the bright white light, stood a Houndoom; it's structure slightly more miniscule than that of the male Houndoom. Uma released a cry before turning and facing the other Pokemon. Her expression was unreadable. Well, at least to humans. "Uma isn't mean either. I'm glad other trainers can show some civility, and train their Pokemon to show the same." He nodded before continuing on. "So what brings you to Summ-"

And that moment, he was cut off by what sounded like another woman's voice. He had a look of interest, and placed his hands on his hips. Behind the low brush stood a female, no older than he it looked. He dropped his curious look, and put on a look of jubilation, waving at the girl at a moderate pace. "Oh hey there!" Well wasn't this surprising! He usually never saw anyone here, but on this particular day two people show up. His attention then changed to the large orange ant that was near her. Before he could verbally acknowledge he was even there, his attention was drawn back to Camilla, who seemed to be lecturing the girl.

Kaden sighed and shook his head slowly while the fellow gym leader was still looking at the female. "Well maybe she's just tired?" His statement was followed with a quick shrug and sincere smile to the girl. After which, Camilla then proceeded to tell them that she was looking for something. He ignored the fact that she made it sound like she wanted it to be a solo project. Immediately, his personality kicked in. "Oh! I can help if you'd like!"

[Kari Elizabeth Stone]

Kari's eyes snapped down as the older woman started to lecture her. She did need to shape up, but she'd only had Scott for one day, and she'd only had one battle with him, so how was she supposed to already be able to carry him?

The orange Pokemon inclined his head to one side, staring up at the woman who was speaking to his trainer. She didn't sound all that nice, in the Trapinch's highly esteemed opinion. Still, he didn't approach, because that Houndoom looked like it would take his head off of his body in a heartbeat.

Looking for something, was she? Kari understood immediately that this older woman didn't want, or probably need, any help with this project. Kari's face was in full flush, and she had her eyes locked on Scott's back. She heard the large Pokemon whine, and then the sound of claws on denim. She didn't flinch, however she almost did. She reached out and placed her hand on Scott's back, flicking her eyes up nervously as the canine started to growl and bark.

Scott stared at the Pokemon impassively, blinking slowly once. A response did not pass from his large mouth. Instead he looked up at Kari, who's hand was on his back, and then at the large Pokemon. He gave a Trapinch sigh, turning his head and looking at where he had seen the shiny something on the ground. Only now he couldn't see it.

The second Houndoom put Kari on edge. Two of those Pokemon. Two! And neither looked friendly. She felt Scott tense under her hand, and she moved her arms to lock him still, her hands crossed on his chest, under his large head.

The sudden "oh hey there" made Kari's face turn an even darker shade of red, and she let her hair fall in front of her face. Her eyes where starting to water in embarrassment. Tired? No, she just couldn't carry a thirty pound Pokemon for long.

She didn't lift her head as he spoke of going with the woman to look for whatever she had lost. She moved her arms, slipping them around the sort of heavy Pokemon's middle, and then hauled up and backwards, turning sharply away from the two. Her face was burning and her eyes where watering. She had dropped her Trapinch on the ground, there where two large Houndoom's behind her, and then there was that lady and, possibly, her boyfriend. Kari's mind always jumped to the wrong conclusions.

The normally outgoing female was suddenly a clam, her teeth biting into her bottom lip and her eyes locked on the middle of Scott's head.

Word Count: 463.
Post: Holy cow, she didn't speak! And it rambles just a bit. Until we get the whole "can Pokemon talk" thing worked out, I'm not going to even have my Pokemon speak to other Pokemon. I don't want to "offend" anyone.

[rain]

Camilla couldn't help but smirk at the double meaning in Kaden's comment. Yes, Haven City was neat—probably the neatest, cleanest, most orderly place in the entire region. Though that probably wasn't what he meant.

When the other Houndoom was released—Uma was her name, according to her trainer?—Vaughn hardly batted an eye, even when she let out a cry that might have daunted other, meeker Pokémon. Why should he be intimidated by kin? Instead, he bowed his head briefly in an act of chivalry towards her, then looked her straight in her scarlet eyes. "I'd love to talk," he said politely, ramping up the formality in the presence of the female, "but I'm afraid I have an unfinished task to attend to at the moment. You don't happen to notice any keys around here, do you?" Who knew? Maybe he had missed a spot.

Meanwhile, Camilla was slightly thrown by Kaden's offer to help her. "Oh—oh, no no no," she said. "It's fine. I can do it by myself. They're my goddamn gym keys, so I kinda have to find them eventually if I ever want to get back," she added in a mutter under her breath.

However, she was promptly distracted from her task at hand yet again, this time by a certain red-faced, Trapinch-owning, rather discomposed young trainer. Camilla narrowed her eyes. It was just her usual, brashly outspoken personality kicking in before; it wasn't like she had been annoyed or anything like that... but she definitely was now. Not by the girl's lack of strength—no, that was understandable, and quite frankly, not surprising in the least—but instead by her flustered reaction to Camilla's little lecture.

"Wasn't trying to insult you or anything," the gym leader told Kari bluntly, frowning. "Just sayin', a little work alongside your Pokémon won't do you any harm." When the smaller girl turned away and hid her face in her Trapinch, clearly not happy with the situation, Camilla sighed in mild frustration and walked over to grip her firmly on the shoulder. "Look," she said, trying her very hardest to sound gentle (but failing spectacularly), "people aren't always going to be nice. Don't take everything like a personal attack, or you won't stand a chance out there. Calm your shit down, girl."

[ words ] 384
[ notes ] shouldn't Pokémon canonically be able to understand each other though? Just not humans...? o_O

[Kari Elizabeth Stone]

Kari thought she was going to get away. The gym leader was talking about how it was her gym keys that where lost. Scott tilted his head back at Kari again, sighing. The female placed him on the ground, taking a step forward. And then, lo and behlod, the woman came over to her and grabbed her shoulder.

Kari reacted on instinct, letting out a hiss and jerking herself free, staring up into the woman's face. She was still red in the face, but she didn't feel like she was about to start crying.

"I don't particularly care if everyone's nice. And I'd prefer if you didn't use profanity. I didn't take it as a personal attack. I didn't want to be seen sulking around with a half trained Trapinch on a trail where any water type Pokemon could jump out and attack me or him. So I'm sorry if I'm a little too imature to be around."

Seething, Kari snapped away from Camilla, pulling out Scott's Pokeball. The look on his face plainly was asking her not to do it, but, too late, the red light had already sucked him back inside. The seething in her skin Kari gave a small snort of disproval as she thought of the two growling canines behind her, and she realized that, though she was afraid of them, she was more afraid of the older woman yanking her hair out.

Word Count: 248
Other: Well, now I'll let Scott talk. Since the verdict is that starters and psychic's can talk.

[rain]

Camilla was a bit surprised when the girl threw her off, appearing more angry than apprehensive. Interesting. It took a trigger, but perhaps this girl was made of tougher stuff than she originally seemed.

This notion was further strengthened when the girl snapped back at the gym leader, who betrayed no emotion apart from a curious raise of an eyebrow. "Well, at least you admit it," she said, not bothering to pacify the girl at her comment about her immaturity. "But it's not like you can't grow out of it. You and your Trapinch," she added gruffly. "You can both grow out of your weaknesses." A thoughtful pause. "I should know. Better than most, in any case."

In a sudden, very random fit of possessiveness, Vaughn felt like reminding Camilla that, when she had started all those years ago as a young, immature girl just like Kari, her half-trained Pokémon companion was not a Ground-type but rather him, a Fire-type. But even so, he retaliated to himself in his mind, the situation was still the same. Avoiding Water-types, sulking around, getting defensive and lashing out at critics...

His thoughts were interrupted by Camilla asking, in a rather curt tone, "And you got a problem with me saying shit? Like I said, not everybody's nice. Including me."

If Vaughn had been a human, he would have slapped his forehead right about now. Instead though, the Houndoom sighed in exasperation and went to stand next to his trainer and give her a reproving look, oblivious to the effect his presence was having on the younger girl. Typical Camilla, she just had to ruin it, didn't she? And she was almost on the way to having a civil, introspective conversation... Almost.

Camilla ignored Vaughn and glanced back at the girl. "What's your name, anyway?"

[ words ] 301
[ notes ] guess Kaden vanished into thin air...? :c

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[Kari Elizabeth Stone]

"Well, at least you admit it,"

Kari would have puffed up if not for the fact that she had indeed admitted to being immature. The seventeen year old pursed her lips, turning back around to face the woman. She had a point, though Kari did not know it at the moment. When the Houndoom came forward, Kari took a single step backward. Her posture did not betray her nervousness around the well trained Pokemon, but she wasn't going to take any chances of the male attacking her.

As her thoughts tracked back to the question of her name, she unpursed her lips, hands coming to rest on her not-so-defined hips.

"Kari Stone. From the Johto Region originally."

Not that anyone here would know her father. Up and leaving her on her own here. But, she had asked for it. It was nice to be out on her own. And she had three Pokemon. Not that Shanouk was much good, but, still.

Words: 164
Notes: Yes, I think he did. Kaden? You going to come back? And this is a whole lot shorter than normal. I'll find some muse later, maybe when Scott gets tired of being in his Pokeball.