Bottle Caps and Band-aids

[Michelle]

Morty called Genger back to his Pok?ball, all while observing the rather downtrodden look on the trainer that he had just beaten's face. It wasn't that he enjoyed the sullen expression on a young trainer's face after they had just worked so hard to make it to him, but he did like winning. Who didn't like winning, honestly? "Go train some more and then come back. I'd be more than happy to have a rematch with you." With a depressed sigh, the young trainer took his injured Pok?mon and left, more than likely heading to a Pok?mon center to get them healed. That was the logical course of action, after all.

That trainer had marked the third challenger today, none so far being successful. None had been much of a challenge either, leaving Morty rather bored. He reveled in a tough fight, especially the ones that he won. Today brought none of those battles though. After a few moments of thought, the ghost type gym leader decided that he needed a break from being stuck inside his gym. Morty was almost certain that his Pok?mon appreciate the break as well. Plus, he needed to make a quick run to the center to get what little damage that they had take healed up. There was no need to waste potions and the like when he could simply walk over to the center.

To no surprise, by the time that he arrived at the center, the trainer he had just beaten was just finishing up healing his Pok?mon. The younger and more inexperienced of the two failed to notice the other, so nothing much else happened involving either of them. Little extra time was spent at the center. As soon as his Pok?mon were healed, Morty headed back towards the gym. He couldn't help but think that he really didn't want to sit there for the rest of the day, waiting for another challenger that would probably fail.

"Tell any challengers to come back tomorrow. I'm going out," he said to the man in charge of greeting challengers at the front of the gym. The man nodded, agreeing to do as he was told as Morty turned to leave yet again. Now to figure out what he was to do with the rest of his day. The thought of going to visit either of the towers present in the city crossed his mind, as well as going to see what the Kimono Girls were up to. The idea of just sitting down and reading a book somewhere in the city was rather appealing as well.

Morty ended up returning to his house quickly to grab something to read, before settling down outside the bell tower. Most other trainers would have let their Pok?mon out at this point, but the blonde knew better than that. Ghosts types are incredibly mischievous and his were no exception. The last thing he needed while trying to relax was having to deal with his Pok?mon scaring the inhabitants of Ecruteak.

[Michelle]

Morty had heard Whitney coming before she had even begun to call out his name. She could be rather loud when she wanted to be, after all. This was definitely one of those times. He chose to wait though, seeing how long it took her to see him. Talking with Whitney was certainly a change from just about everything in Ecruteak City. In a few words the city itself could be described as quiet, calm, and old fashioned. The pink haired gym leader was none of those things, that was for certain. Not that Morty minded, most of the time at least. There were one or two occasions in the past where he had been in a particularly grumpy, leave me alone kind of mood when she had showed up. Needless to say, that was not a very long visit.

Today though, Morty was not in one of those moods so her excessive happiness and energy was well received. He looked up from his book, which hadn't been too interesting so he wasn't complaining about having to finish it later, as soon as Whitney started calling out his name. It absolutely amazed him that someone could be so upbeat all the time, especially upbeat enough to actually skip around in public. It was something that Morty could never see himself doing.

"Hey Whitney. I didn't expect to see you here," he said as he marked the page of his book, sitting the now closed book down on the bench beside him. "What brings you to Ecruteak?" Inside, Morty knew very well what brought Whitney to Ecruteak, that what being himself. It wasn't hard to get the flirty message behind the texts she sent. Aside from that she also visited more frequently than most of the other gym leaders. For now though, he would play dumb and continue with idle chitchat. Whitney was an interesting person after all, and he did value her as a fellow Gym Leader.

He grabbed the book that had been sitting beside him and moved it onto his lap. "You can sit down if you want. I don't bite."