-- Curfew? What Curfew? [done]

[riley]

"Hey Nom, if I push you into the lake, will you get mad at me?"

Laughing, Riley quickly ducked his head to avoid the stream of flames that was aimed at his face, and the flames accidentally set a tiny, innocent bush behind him alight. Both trainer and Numel watched as the bush blackened and burned up, the ripples of lake water lapping at its roots doing absolutely nothing to quell the fire. It was oddly comforting to watch the soft, flickering light that it gave off, illuminating its shadowy surroundings.

"Your fault."

Riley turned his head back around and made a face at the obvious accusation in Nom's voice. "C'mon, you just ate. You can't possibly be mad at me anymore."

"Perhaps," Nom said slowly, her tone laced with icy sarcasm, "it's because the time is already past sunset, and we should sort of be at the Center instead of sitting out here in the dark."

He made a loud "tsk tsk" noise and wiggled a finger at her. "Don't be impatient," he lectured in an irritatingly sweet voice. "I already told you, we're out here because we're goin' Pokémon hunting."

"Hunting?" He certainly used that word lightly; they hadn't moved from this spot next to the lake for at least fifteen minutes straight. What part of this sitting around constituted hunting in any way whatsoever?

"Hm. It's dark."

Nom snorted derisively at the obviousness of this statement.

"D'you think people'll sue me if I tell you to set something else on fire? That bush is gone now, and I want some light around here."

"Wouldn't recommend it, honey." But the Numel blew some more fire out at the lake nonetheless, sending vivid streaks of orange and gold dancing over the water's still surface and across the reflection of the pale cresent moon.

(WC: 369)

[BellaMae]

The pokemon and its trainer were not the only ones out that night. Another pokemon was currently roaming the edge of the lake, out for a midnight stroll so to say. The flaming bush alerted it, and it froze where it stood for a moment, captivated by the flames the same as Nom and Riley. When the light simmered down however, it began to move again.

Until a second wave of flame caught its attention. It turned its attention to the fire once more, feeling the warmth and the light bask against its body. The flames easily illuminated it, announcing its presence. It was a small Ralts.


Gender: Female
Level: 10
Attacks: Growl, Confusion

[riley]

"Oh hey, look, it's a Kecleon."

The tiny stream of fire suddenly erupted into blast at Nom's astonishment, not unlike how a human would spit out a mouthful of drink. "A what?" she demanded skeptically; she never knew Kecleon roamed around here, and didn't Kecleon in the wild always stay camouflaged anyway?

Riley pointed at the tiny creature wandering near the lake not too far away from where they were sitting. "That green thing over there, I think - oh wait, it's not. But it looks familiar, I think I've seen it somewhere before." He squinted when the light from Nom's fire died out and the area was plunged into darkness once more. "Hey Nommy, use your Ember again, I wanna see-"

"I believe it's just a Ralts, honey," the Numel interrupted coolly, "but if you insist, how about I just do this instead?" She spat her Ember attack in the direction of the other Pokémon, ignoring Riley's finger prodding her side and his mock-disapproving comments of, "Aw c'mon Nom, play nicely now."

(WC: 208 | EXP: 208)

[BellaMae]

When the stream of fire suddenly expanded into a blast, the Ralts suddenly froze as its body seized with fear. It stared at the dying flames until they were completely extinguished, having been caught severely off guard. She hadn't expected that, and for a moment had thought that the other pokemon was attacking her.

She turned her attention to the boy and the Numel, curious as to why they were out so late. She personally loved the dark and the night, but she could see just fine. Suddenly, the flames appeared again, but this time they were undeniably aimed at her. The tiny creature dove out of the way at the last second, before it struggled back up to its feet.

Anger flared in her chest as she turned about, opening her mouth and emitting a large Growl, aimed toward the pokemon. She advanced closer as she did so, closing the distance between them.

[riley]

Nom scowled as the small Psychic-type retaliated, evidently not deterred by the Ember judging by the way it was quickly advancing on them. Even in the dark, it wouldn't have been too hard to aim a second Ember attack right into the Ralts's round, half-hidden face, now that the two parties were practically next to each other, but the Growl managed to do its job - as irritated as Nom was at the moment, she felt a certain odd reluctance to assault the Ralts any further.

This hesitation did not go unnoticed by Riley. "Hey hey, what's up?" he asked, looking back and forth between his Numel and the mystery Pokémon, which he could now correctly identify as a Ralts. "Aw come onnn Nommy, a little noise from that thing and you're giving up already? No no no, that's just not right... um, how 'bout using - ah, what's it called - Magnitude! Yeah, I wanna see what it-"

But Riley never got to finish his sentence, because something in Nom snapped at his accusation of giving up. "Am I now, honey?" she cut in acidly, slowly lifting one of her stubby front legs. "Hmph. We'll see about that."

She abruptly slammed her foot back down and the ground trembled slightly, as if the impact had produced a miniature earthquake around the three. Nom could tell that this Magnitude was rather weak, but at least the chances of the Ralts avoiding her attack were much, much smaller.

(WC: 272 | EXP: 480)

[BellaMae]

The Ralts didn't understand the relationship between this pokemon and its trainer. To it, it almost seemed as if the Numel was in charge. However, it didn't allow itself to become concerned with such things, forcing the thoughts from its mind so that it could focus on the battle.

The Ralts set herself to the ground, bracing her body in preparation to attack, but Nom got there first. Suddenly, the ground shook, and the Ralts found herself thrown from her feet. She hit the ground hard, and stayed there for a short moment, before pushing herself slowly back up.

She immediately turned, and took in a deep breath. When she released it, she used Confusion, sending a telekinetic pulse of energy in Nom's direction. It was a weak force, but a force nonetheless.

[riley]

The Ralts's interpretation of Riley and Nom's relationship was more or less on target, at least in battle; the Numel was violent, active, and a take-charge type of individual, while her trainer was anything but. Naturally, their clashing personalities caused some rifts at times, but they were usually able to cooperate well enough to get things done.

Though, cooperation or not, Nom the bad-tempered never seemed to run out of things to complain to her trainer about. "Stop gaping at us like an idiot and - oof - help!" she said, her tone sounding rather breathless as she was shoved backwards by the psychic force the Ralts sent at her.

"Woaaah, Psychics are cool," Riley commented, completely ignoring Nom's voice as he watched the Ralts's little show of telekinesis. "Yo Nommy, Ember it again or something, but try to do it nicely. I wanna try and catch this thing."

"How do you expect me to attack nicely?" she panted demandingly, but Riley didn't respond as he was already digging happily through his backpack for an empty Pokéball. Rolling her eyes, Nom attempted to blow yet another Ember at the Ralts, but all she managed to get out in her winded state were a few tiny flames that quickly diminished into specks of glowing cinders on the ground.

(WC: 225 | EXP: 705)

[BellaMae]

Ralts let out a rather triumphant exclamation of sound when Nom's words were cut short by the force of its telekinetic attack. It hadn't participated in many battles, and it had won even less, so it was exciting for it to land a successful attack that clearly interfered with things, at least a little bit.

It placed its little hands on its hips, suddenly looking quite proud of itself, and even more so as Riley proceeded to comment on how psychics were cool. Apparently she agreed quite adamantly. It's expression of confidence vanished however at the command to attack again, and the clear indication that he wanted to catch her.

She immediately made to bound off to a different post when the Numel made an attempt for a second attack, but halted when the flames died short. Obviously its Confusion attack had done a little more than she'd thought. Excited once again, it turned back with another show of false bravado, aiming another Confusion attack at the Numel.

[riley]

Oh no. Not another psychic wave, not there of all places, not when she couldn't even -

The next thing Nom felt was a considerable headache. "Why - is it always - the face?" she muttered through gritted teeth, the memory of receiving a fireball right in the eyes earlier that day swimming around in her muddled mind. "Goodness, that insufferable Torchic... and this Ralts is just like him... ugh."

Was Riley really going to capture her and make her a permenant team member? Oh no, absolutely not, Nom wouldn't stand for it. One small, overcompensating creature in her life was already quite enough for her sanity, but if she had to be around another one for practically twenty-four hours a day...

With a great effort, she attempted to heave herself back on her feet in order to finish the Ralts off and dissuade Riley from his distasteful plan, but only succeeded in stumbling, tripping, and skidding forward ungracefully across the dirt, threatening to plow straight into the Psychic-type in her path.

"I don't think that was intentional," Riley observed sagely, looking remarkably unconcerned with his Numel's ungainly misstep. "Well, that's one way to do a Tackle, I s'pose. Right, so... do I lob this ball thingy now, or what?" Obviously, there was nobody around to answer that question, so he just shrugged to himself and tossed the Pokéball at the Ralts anyway, hoping that he was doing it at the right time and that Nom wouldn't accidentally squash the ball - or its target, for that matter.

(WC: 266 | EXP: 971)

[BellaMae]

Another triumphant cry sounded from the Ralts as its Confusion attack struck the Numel once more. This was the best that she'd ever done in a battle and she was excited about it. Of course she wasn't too keen on being attacked back, and her show of bravery would vanish the moment she was, but so far Nom hadn't shown signs of being able to do that.

Ralts edged a little closer, feeling a bit braver from her show of power, but then immediately turned and attempted to run in the opposite direction when the much larger pokemon stumbled toward it. Unfortunately, Ralts wasn't made for running, and the fire type's body came down hard atop her. The next moment the pokeball struck her, and she was sucked inside.

Far too dazed to struggle, it sealed shut, and she was caught.

[riley]

(EXP gained: 971
Nom grew to lv. 12!
EXP remaining: 524/600)

It was a peculiar feeling, not even like something being deflated right underneath her body; one second the Ralts was plainly there, trapped helplessly underneath the Numel's bulky weight, and the next she just disappeared, leaving Nom to hit the ground hard on her stomach. It took her a few seconds to realise what had transpired, but one glance at Riley's delighted expression and the familiar red-and-white shape of the Pokéball lying beside her told the whole story.

"Don't tell me... oh heavens, no." Nom was beginning to think that she should start thinking the exact opposite of what she wanted, because evidently fate didn't like catering to her desires very much. But then again, the way that whole "tempting fate" thing worked, it would probably turn its heel and do the opposite of the opposite of what... hold on.

This required too much thinking. She desperately wanted a nap to deal with the persistant headache still pounding away in her brain.

"I caught a Pokémon, I caught a Pokémon!" Riley sang brightly, snatching the dirty ball up from the dirt and dancing a silly jig on the spot. "First one eh-verrr! Whee, whee, we're gonna ce-le-brate tonight, eh Nommy? Nom? What's - oh wait, you were just in a battle, weren't you!"

It was amazing how quickly his demeanor could change from ecstasy to concern, and even more so the pure stupidity of his words. "No, I was merrily sipping tea this entire time, you dimwit," she replied, fixing her gaze on him with the most deadpan stare she could muster in her state.

Riley either didn't get the sarcasm or he didn't care; knowing him, it was more likely the latter, though the former was still plausible. With the childish grin still plastered on his face, he bent down and patted her between the ears. "Well anyway, we should get you two to the Center and get your boo-boos taken care of. Nom and... Ree?" He held the Ralts's Pokéball up to his face, unsure whether or not she could hear him. "Hey you in there, I'm gonna call you Ree, okay?" he said loudly, as if shouting at the top of his lungs at the tiny spherical mechanism would somehow carry his voice to the creature inside. Nom banged her head against the ground.

So now, it seemed that she was going to travel with one blithering idiot and one excitable, overcompensating coward. Lovely journey this was going to be.