Hot chocolate and cold lemonade

[Michelle]

"I am not on the floor now, aren't I?" Cress smiled as he listened to Austin's remark. "Very well, shall we go?" He nodded, somewhat relieved to see the his new found friend had managed to shake off being knocked on the floor rather easily.

Cress turned and walked toward the stage that doubled as a place to have battles at the front of the restaurant. Simipour followed, but Azumarill stayed back at the table, pulling up a chair. The blue Pok?mon full well knew who her trainer's favored battling partner was. It would be fun watching a battle for a change. Simipour stood proudly beside his trainer, waiting patiently for the battle to begin. "Let's see how your new friend stacks up against up Simipour." The blue monkey Pok?mon smiled, and let out an excited cry.

"Well Austin, you ready to get this battle started?"

[iamlurking]

While he stroked Natsu so as to calm her ruffled feathers (Even though she had no feathers) they went to the other side of the stage at the front of the restaurant. "Let's see how your new friend stacks up against up Simipour." Oh damn. Well, at least he didn't have to face those two. Even though it was quite enough with only the Simipour already. "Well Austin, you ready to get this battle started?"

"Ready more than ever." At the perspective of a battle he calmed down and nudged his partner, who in turn started floating in place, a very concentrated expression in her face. "Let's show them shall we?" A chirp was all the answer he needed. "You know what to do, Calm mind!"

[Michelle]

"Ready more than ever." Cress smirked, his arrogance showing through just a teensy bit. It was rare that he lost, which only succeeded in boosting his confidence even more. "Let's show them, shall we? You know what to do, Calm mind!" So Austin wasn't the type to rush in with attacks right away. That should make things interesting at least. Plus, that was a game that two could play at.

"Work Up, Simipour." The blue monkey did as it was told. He was patient though, and waited for Austin and Natsuki to make the first actual attack. Simipour was ready, eyes trained right on the Swoobat.

A crowd was gathering around, or what little of a crowd could gather. Those that were free of work took seats at the tables closest to the stage. None of them had really expected a battle to go on today.

[iamlurking]

"Work Up, Simipour." Well, that made things more interesting. He took notice of the growing crowd, most of them waiters and the one or two customers angling their chairs to look at them. More crowd than he was used to but he had had challenged the athletes in the stadiums before. He wondered what was the usual crowd for a restaurant challenge.

"Taunt and try to get Heart Stamp" The Swoobat lifted her claw and made a motion towards her, not without a mocking expression and the Simipour looked a bit angry. Success. Then, out from her nose came out pink hearts, not alike attract, rather translucent. He hoped they didn't miss.

[Michelle]

So Austin was definitely the more strategic type, that much Cress could tell. Good, this was more of his style anyways. "Taunt and try to get Heart Stamp." Taunt he could deal with. Solely attacking for a little bit wasn't so bad. Simipour was hit by the attack, but took it like a good little fighter. Now was the perfect time to counter.

"Simipour, use Scald." The monkey Pok?mon obeyed his commands and sent a cascade of hot water in the direction of the Swoobat. Chances are it would hit. If the team got lucky, their opponent might even get burned in the process. One couldn't be too hopeful though.

[iamlurking]

The little stamps hit fortunately, although it was a shame the Simipour didn't flinch. "Simipour, use scald." Especially after Scald hit. Natsu held on though and she shook, getting rid of the hot water weighing her down. He didn't know if the Simipour knew bite or crunch but he hoped he didn't. At least she didn't get burned.

"Air cutter Natsu." Sharp gusts of wind went from her wings, messing up their hair and causing a portrait from the wall to crash, the glass breaking. Austin winced. That was not going to be good for his wallet at all. "Sorry!"

[Michelle]

Cress was silently happy that the attack had hit. Of course, he practically knew it was going to, but why let the moment to celebrate pass? Simipour seemed rather proud of itself as well, even if it was only briefly. After all, one couldn't be distracted for too long in the midst of a battle. "Air cutter Natsu," Cresses opponent commanded. Great. Flying moves are wonderful indoors. Just as the blue haired former gym leader had expected, things got a bit messed up. Nothing that couldn't be fixed later.

"Don't worry about it," Cress said nonchalantly as he and Simipour righted their hair. The attack had stung, but it was nothing that would keep the monkey Pok?mon from getting back up and fighting. There were certain repercussions that came from battling indoors and this happened to be one of them. Not wanting to give Austin to long to think and get another attack in, Cress let out another command, one that he wished he would have thought of sooner. "Crunch Simipour."

Doing as it had been told, Simipour launched at Natsuki, hoping to land a good hit on it.

[iamlurking]

"Don't worry about it." Well, that did not make things better, if anything it made him a bit more guilty. Interestingly enough it seemed that the Simipour was as vain as his owner looked. "Crunch Simipour." Oh hell. Talk about jinxing himself.

"Dodge it!" Fast as Swoobats were, however the Simipour still managed to hit her and send her to the floor. Stubborn as her trainer however, she got up very shakily. There was a move she had learned recently but he did not know if she would endure another Crunch after Endeavor. If she did then the battle would be easy, but he didn't have many chances after Work up. Either way he had to try.

"Get him with Endeavor."

[Michelle]

Cress silently cheered for himself when the Swoobat's attempt at dodging the attack didn't work. He was also rather happy to see that even though Natsuki did get up, she got up rather shakily. One more attack should get her down for good. That would have to wait though. For now, he and Simipour had to deal with this attack.

As hard as Simipour tried to dodge the attack, it still hit and dealt quite a bit of damage. The monkey Pok?mon was knocked to the floor. She got back up, although it was a rather slow and shaky process. The important part was that she could still battle, and that meant Crunch could be used again. It wasn't exactly his style, using the same attack twice in a row, but Simipour couldn't take much more damage. If Crunch hit again, it was a sure knock out.

"Crunch again Simipour," Cress said as his Pok?mon launched itself at its opponent.

[iamlurking]

Actually, Austin hadn't had the chance to use Endeavor before, given that she hadn't learned it until recently but other aces told him that if it hit, it would render the opponent to the same state of the one that used it. Kinda like Pain Split, so that explained that the Simipour had trouble getting up. That crunch coming towards her was not looking too good so he had to act fast. "Psychic!"

He saw as she started to charge up the power, but before she could release it the Crunch hit and he knew the battle was over by the swirl of her eyes when he kneeled beside her. "You did a great job, we can do better next time" And picked her up, giving her a revive and laughing a bit when she ruffled up and batted him slightly with her wing. She didn't like the taste of the yellow candies as much as the lemonade but they were still delicious.

[Michelle]

A great wave of relief washed over Cress and Simipour when Swoobat didn't have the chance to use Psychic and when Crunch hit the mark. As soon as that happened, he knew that the battle was over. There was no way that Swoobat would be able to get back up after a second hit. A grin crept onto Cress's face when he saw that his opponent was down for the count. Simipour was much less conservative in her display of emotions than her trainer. The monkey Pok?mon jumped for joy.

That was quickly done with though, when he realized that a sizable amount of damage had been done. A little bit embarrassed, Simipour walked over to Cress just as he pulled out a hyper potion. Once that was done and over with, Simipour and Azumarill celebrated the victory, happy chatter coming from the both of them.

Cress walked over to Austin, seeing as his Pok?mon were handling themselves just fine. "That was a good battle, he said cheerily. "Do you believe that I'm the strongest brother now?" Cress asked, rather jokingly.

[iamlurking]

Seeing Cress come over to where both of them were, Natsu returned to her favorite perch, Austin's shoulder, still ruffling up a bit.

"Well, strong you certainly are, although I still haven't had the opportunity to battle Cilian." Well, it was not usual of him to tease people but this was friendly banter, nothing to be worried about. "Not that I would be able to do today, we need to be able to up our training it seems."

Looking at the restaurant, he still winced a bit for the broken portrait. "Also, sorry again for the mess, I'll try to remember no air attacks next time I come here"

[Michelle]

Cress let out a small chuckle as Austin mentioned that he had yet to face Cilan. That would have to wait for another day though, as the trainer had pointed out. Cress was quite happy with the way that things had turned out today, even if he couldn't get his new acquaintance to admit that he was in fact the best brother. After the first few hours of nearly no one showing up, he had hardly been expecting something this fun and exciting to happen. It did though, and he wasn't complaining. "Well, next time you stop by you'll have to battle him. I'm sure you'll find that I keep my promises that I'm the best."

By the time that Austin apologized for the second time about causing a bit of a mess, a few of the other staff members and some of the Pok?mon that helped in the restaurant were already in the process of getting everything back to where it should be. Things like this happened all the time. It was something that everyone had learned to live with. "Like I said, don't worry about it. Things like that happen all the time. Actually, much worse happens on occasion." Water attacks such as Surf tended to leave the place pretty soak. Fire and electric type attacks had a habit of charring things. It was one of the downsides to battling inside.

[iamlurking]

Well...that did make sense actually. If a simple air cutter made this damage he didn't want to think what Outrage, Blizzard or Rain Dance could do.
"Well, at least this time only a portrait was out?"
At the promise of battling Cilian Austin smirked, most probably the battle would be far easier than than this one, given that the last brother used grass types. He'd have to watch out for that Crunch though.

"I'll try to stop more frequently here, besides of the battle you guys make mean desserts, right girl?"

At that the Swoobat poofed and nodded, then got close to Cress and his Simipour. It was weird but both had almost the same hair.

[Michelle]

"Right. Worse has happened in the past, by some of the people that work here even." He wasn't going to mention names, but Chili had more than once caught things on fire. It wasn't really his fault, but it was still fun to pick on him for it. It wasn't like a portrait wasn't replaceable either. They could always hang something else up.

"Of course. I'm happy to hear that you liked everything enough to come back." Not that Cress needed an ego booster. He was already the most egotistical and arrogant of the brothers. Still, most people did enjoy being praised and he was no exception.

As the Swoobat got close to Cress and Simipour, the monkey Pok?mon reached out and touched her. Simipour had been wondering if his new found friend was as soft as he looked. The thought didn't cross Simipour's mind once if he was breaking any personal boundaries. Cress gave the monkey Pok?mon an odd look, but decided not to interfere.

[iamlurking]

"Destroying accidentally your work place? Well, not the oddest thing I've heard but it is weird." To destroy the work place and then pay it with your salary? Ouch.

Also the fact that Cress seemed a bit more arrogant whenever he praised the drinks, it was a bit, well, fun, to say the least, although maybe it could get annoying if someone acted like that all the time. "Why, it seems I should stop praising the drinks or it'll get to you head"

Meanwhile natsu looked curiously at the Simipour that was touching her fur and puffed a bit the fur, proud of it's state. She proceeded them to touch the blue dreadlock-like hair of the monkey with her nose, and did the same with Cress a bit too suddenly.

[Michelle]

He shrugged. "Its mostly covered by the insurance, as long as its an actual battle. Any major damage we rarely ever have to pay for." There were actually very few instances where there was ever really major damage. Back when the restaurant was still a gym, most of the challengers weren't that experienced and didn't even know attacks that could do significant amounts of damage. When it came to the more skilled trainers and Pok?mon that came around now, most knew not to use attacks that were too devastating.

Cress laughed a little bit. Some, namely his brothers, would argue that trying not to let it go to his head was a useless endeavor, and that it was already far to late for that. "Well, praise is always welcomed. Any right minded person wouldn't deny it."

Simipour smiled when he felt how soft Natsuki's fur was. He acted just about as well as she did when the Swoobat reached out and touched a bit of his hair. Cress smiled a bit at the Pok?mon's curiosity as his own hair was inspected. "Everything you expected it to be?" he jokingly questioned Natsuki.

[iamlurking]

"insurance is really a life saver isn't it? And well, there's a point where praise is welcomed and another where it might seem a bit too much" When Natsuki was still a Woobat there weren't many attacks she could use that were especially threatening. Praise wasn't exactly something Austin was accustomed to. Sure, people praised him on being an Ace Trainer and his skills, including one or two lass' crushes until they moved on, but nothing as constant praise enough to make him a bit too arrogant.

Looking to whatever she was doing at the moment he promptly was a bit startled and embarrassed at her coming to sniff out and inspect both the pokémon and trainer's hair. he should really teach her better manners.

Finding a bit alike both their hair, Natsu fluttered her wings happily at Cress' question, but seeing that her trainer was again a bright pink, she went and inspected his hair too. Wasn't he jealous that all her attention was on the others?

[Michelle]

Cress acknowledged that the bit about praise getting to be a bit too much could very well be about him. He full well realized that he could be rather arrogant, not that it really bothered him. Everyone had their own unique, individual personalities and that just happened to be a part of his. It wasn't like it ever got to the point where he was unbearable, so in the blue haired former gym leader's eyes, it was all well and good.

"It really is. I don't even want to think about how much money we would be shelling out if we didn't have it." Cress decided to refrain from commenting about the praise portion of what Austin had said. A small smile couldn't help but appear on his face when he noticed that Austin was embarrassed about the actions of his Pok?mon. Honestly, he really didn't mind.

"Your Swoobat it is rather curious, isn't she?" He asked, partially joking and partially poking fun at the apparent embarrassment over the whole hair thing. "Although I suppose the same could be said about Simipour, seeing as he was the one that started it."

[iamlurking]

"Yes, you're right, she's too curious for her own good, I should really teach her better manners." He scratched lightly the bat's ear, causing her to settle on his shoulder again. "Or at least ask for permission first."

Looking back at Simipour though, he thought it could be worse. From what he could gather the monkey was very well behaved compared from other members of his species he had witnessed. Then again, Natsu was unusually restless and curious for being a Swoobat. Most he met just were limited to be curious about their food.

"Well, coming from Simipour, it is to be expected a bit. He is less rowdy than other Simipour I have met though. I do think one of them destroyed accidentally an xtransciever alongside a PC."

Natsu in the meanwhile was very comfortable in her perch, and was very happy. So happy in fact, that she did not notice the sudden sound of snow falling heavily, more akin to a pile being dumped than heavy snowing.

((Sorry! I thought that i had posted this but turns out it was in the drafts ><!)))

[Michelle]

"Its fine, really," Cress said. There had been much worse behaved Pokémon in the restaurant before. A bit of curiosity about his hair really didn't bug him at all. After all, even he would admit that it was a bit odd when it came to what could be considered 'normal' hair. He didn't have much of a problem with people touching it either, as long as they weren't trying to mess it up like a certain brother of his often attempted to. "Curiosity is a good thing."

When it came to how well behaved Simipour was, answering that question was a no-brainer. "Well, they are trained to help out around the restaurant, so they've got to be well behaved. It can get pretty busy in here sometimes." He patted Simipour on the head, purposefully ruffling up some of the monkey's hair. "He's not quite as well behaved outside of work though." Simipour gave a slightly disapproving look at Cress. The blue monkey quickly gave up the act, knowing full well that his trainer was just teasing.

Cress and his Pokémon remained just as oblivious to the sound of falling snow as their new found friend did. None of them truly wanted to go outside anytime soon anyways.

[iamlurking]

"They help in the restaurant as well?"
It was a bit odd, he had never seen any pokémon helpers in kitchens in restaurants in Sinnoh before, and other restaurants in Unova didn't have an open kitchen like this one so he wasn't sure if it was limited to this particular establishment or region.

"I've never seen pokémon in kitchens before I came in and saw the Watchdogs. I mean, i've seen them helping in other things, but not this." He finished a bit embarrassed. Should it be obvious? He had been traveling for a year if you take out his brief retirement at home so he had seen many things, but there were still some that he hadn't.

Meanwhile Natsu was quite happily fluttering around Azumarill and Simipour when a sudden thud did make her turn. It came from outside and was not normal. The other two didn't seem to notice until another thud happened. None could hear it but Natsu could feel it, it reminded her of how she navigated when she was sight-less. She fluttered until she was at the windows. They were white but shouldn't they be of other color?

[Michelle]

"I've never really heard of it done anywhere outside of here, but then again I haven't traveled much." For a brief moment, Cress let himself wish that he could do more traveling in his life. This wasn't the time and place for that though. "But yeah, they help out a lot. Its great in a pinch, like when someone calls in sick last minute."

Simipour and Azumarill joined their new friend by the window. Both found it rather weird that it was entirely white outside. Surely it wasn't snowing that hard. Simipour pressed his face up against the glass, seeing if maybe it was just condensation forming on the glass. With no luck on his part, he still couldn't see anything but white. He backed away, rather confused.

Simipour gave Azumarill and Natsu a confused look. Maybe one of them knew the answer. Azumarill shook her head. She was just as confused about the over abundance of white as Simipour was.

[iamlurking]

"Oh well, it just seems that both of us will have to find out one day." He did mean to keep on traveling, he had a long way to catch up from his brief recess after that plasma debacle. He and Natsu had helped quite some times, although it was usually to just other trainer that were in a pinch.
"Yeah, I think that having some help on such a short notice is a blessing around here, you guys are famous in the Ace network you know."

While both adults continued to chit chat, the three other pokémon were still confused by the white window. Natsu then noticed again the blue from her trainer, and got an idea, she could ask him! She hadn't known what many things were and he had explained some. maybe he could explain this window.

Austin then felt a tug on his arm from Natsu's claw. She wanted him standing, did she want to go? She seemed to be having fun... "What's wrong girl? Want to go home?" Instead of directing him where his coat was, she dragged him to the window where the other two were pressed against the glass. When the other two noticed that he was there with them, all three began to point at the window.

"What's the matter guys? It's just a white window...wait." Windows were supposed to be crystal clear, not white. This was not good. "Cress...I think we're snowed in."

[Michelle]

Azumarill and Simipour stood and waited, seeing what the adults would do about the situation. Suddenly, the whiteness of the window made sense to them. It wasn't fog, it was snow!

Cress smirked, suddenly feeling very happy and grateful for the Pok?mon that helped out in the restaurant. Cress opened the door, making sure to move out of the way quickly, lest he wanted snow to come falling in on top of him. His two Pok?mon didn't think things through quite as well though. When the door was opened, both Simipour and Azumarill were covered. Within moments though, two heads popped out of the snow, both with smiles on their faces. Cress laughed a little bit, shaking his head at the same time.

Turning around, he caught the attention of one of the pansears and motioned for it to come over. By then, Simipour and Azumarill had climbed their way out of the snow. "Pansear, melt away the snow with incinerate if you don't mind," he told the monkey Pok?mon. It was happy to oblige, and made quick work of the snow, leaving a puddle of water in its place.

"There, problem solved."