Well That's Comforting

[Shadow]

"Sir, I'm going to have to ask that you return your Pok?mon to its Pok?ball."

Rui looked up in surprise at the nurse that had called to him from the front desk as soon as he entered the Pok?mon Center. "Uh, sure," he said, grabbing a Pok?ball from his belt. "Sorry, Sabaku," he said as he recalled the annoyed sandslash at his side. "Can I ask why?" Rui was confused; Pok?mon Centers had always been welcoming to Pok?mon outside of their balls.

"We've received a few Pok?mon with an unknown illness," the nurse explained. "We're not sure if it's contagious or not, and we'd like to take some extra precautions."

"Understandable," Rui said with a smile. "Hopefully it's nothing too serious." The nurse returned the smile.

"Would you like me to heal your Pok?mon?" she asked.

"Yes, please." He handed the six Pok?balls containing his Pok?mon over, then strode over to wait on a couch. They were exhausted, so it would likely take a short while.

The voyage to Lilycove City was rough, mostly due to the ship being chock-full of trainers wanting to battle. He didn't like battling when he could help it, but several of the trainers had forced him into a corner, so he finally relented and defeated several of them. His Pok?mon, though, took quite a beating.

He stretched and stared out the window at the seaside town, knowing little about Hoenn and wondering where to start.

[Riley]

Two young men with dark hair sat at a table a small distance off from Rui. The shorter of them was frowning and looking down at a pok?ball he rolled gently in circles with his index finger.
"Maybe we should go somewhere else. What if Sasha gets catches a disease? Hoenn must be full of them if I can't even have her out in a center," the boy complained.

"Damien, we've only just arrived, we cannot turn back already," the older replied patiently. "I'm sure that you have nothing to worry about. Pok?mon get sick all the time."

"But the nurse said it was an unknown illness. That doesn't sound good, Dem." Damien stopped fiddling with the pok?ball and placed it on his belt, then leaned forward onto the table with his head in his hands. "And Hoenn has so much... wilderness. It's covered in icky jungles, why couldn't we have gone to Kanto instead?"
Demetrius sighed in response.
"I thought I would have had at least a day before you found something to complain about. Hoenn's as good a region as any to start our travels; if it proves to be no other use to us, it is at least filled with rare Pok?mon. We've been over this before." The man rubbed his forehead. "It's far too early to be pessimistic, Dae. We'll be fine."

"Hrmph. Whatever you say... I'm blaming you if I catch some deadly foreign virus." Damien sat up again and gave his brother a pout. Demetrius raised his brow, but smirked tiredly.
"Why don't you go learn more about Lilycove from around this center while we're waiting for Reg to heal? It seems like a nice enough city to me, but maybe someone else can convince you."

"Fine, fine." Dae waved his hands and got to his feet almost instantly. Even if he was hesitant about exploring the region itself, he was always eager to meet new people. Giving the inside of the Pok?mon center a quick look over, most trainers appeared to be wrapped up in worry, or their own conversations. Not that Damien was ever one to mind butting into others' discussions, but at the moment it seemed like the easiest person to pester with questions about Hoenn was a boy sitting alone on a couch nearby.
"Let me know when you get Reg back," he told Demetrius before leaving his side. The elder nodded in response and remained where he was, as he wasn't as fond of small talk with strangers as his little brother was.

"Hey there," Damien addressed Rui brightly, leaning against the wall with an outstretched palm. "You look like a trainer that knows his stuff, can you tell me anything about this city?" As usual, he wasn't afraid to voice any assumptions, this one being that the boy was from around these parts.

[Shadow]

"Hm?" Rui shook out of his thoughts as he was addressed by a boy with dark hair. He gave a friendly smile as he sat up straighter. "Hello, there!" he said cheerfully. "I'm Rui, Rui Makeru." He grinned sheepishly and scratched his head on top of his white and blue beanie. "Unfortunately I'm not from around here," he explained. "I only just got here from Johto. Just waiting for my Pok?mon to heal up after an...exhausting boat ride. Sorry about that!"

The boy looked to be in his late teens, about Rui's age or perhaps a year or two older, and was obviously new in town as well. He seemed friendly enough, and Rui enjoyed meeting people, so this would be interesting.

[Riley]

"Johto, huh?" Damien easily transitioned on to the next topic without acknowledging his mistaken assumption. "I'd rather have paid a visit to Johto over Hoenn, to tell you the truth. My brother and I arrived only today ourselves, after a dreadfully long trip from Unova." He shifted position and corrected his posture, giving the collar of his shirt a mindless tug.
"Well, it's nice to meet you, Rui," he spoke with a smile. "The name's Damien D'Reynoir."

"No matter that we're both new here, I suppose someone else in the center has ought to know more about Lilycove. Or perhaps there is a brochure of some kind..." He stopped to consider that the boy had described the boat ride he had just come from as 'exhausting.' "My apologies; I am not bothering you, am I?"

[Shadow]

"Oh, not at all!" Rui replied with a grin. "I like meeting new people. Might as well do something while I wait for my Pok?mon. All the trainers on the boat insisted on battling, so they're all pretty tired." He glanced around. "I'm not sure about a brochure, but I think walking around and exploring would be pretty informative. I was planning to explore a bit after getting my team back, you're welcome to join me."

[Riley]

"I suppose it would. We're waiting on my brother's Pokémon to heal, as well. I don't know what he has in mind after this, but a little extra company's always a delight." Damien decided to plop himself down onto the couch, crossing his legs.

"I, for one, would like to hear more about this disease the nurse mentioned," he said with a small frown. "If there's something spreading around the city, I don't want my dear vulpix exposed to it. I just knew traveling somewhere as exotic as Hoenn would bring trouble," he sighed.

[Shadow]

"I'm sure it's nothing to worry about," Rui said. "Like she said, they're just taking precautions to make sure it doesn't become something to worry about." He was distracted when the nurse returned to the counter with some familiar looking Pokéballs. "Those are my guys," he said as he stood up and started walking to the counter. He collected his Pokémon and thanked the nurse, then returned to the couch. "Well, I can wait up for you if you and your brother want to join me," he said. "Shouldn't be too long, huh?"

[Riley]

"Ah. Well, they best keep it under control, then." Perhaps he was worrying a little too much because they were in unfamiliar territory, but Damien didn't want to take any risks.

"Right. That was rather quick," he replied, slouching back in his seat as Rui got up to go retrieve his Pokémon. In the moments that he sat waiting, Dae did another quick scan of the Pokémon Center for anyone else he could potentially approach. Before he could pick someone out specifically, however, the boy had returned.

"Oh, I'm sure it won't be too long. Brother's Pokémon only needed a few minor patch ups." Damien stretched with his arms in the air. "But I thought they'd have already been finished in the time we've been waiting, so the nurses must be busy." He rolled onto his back to lay lengthwise across the small couch lazily, with his feet propped up on the arm rest. "Don't feel obliged to wait on me..."

"Damien, what are you doing?" Dae glanced up to find his unamused older brother looking down at his sprawled position on the couch, pokéball in hand.
"Oh, great, we're done!" Damien immediately brightened up again, and with a heave, flipped himself up and over the side of the couch onto his feet. "Demetrius, this is Rui. Rui, this is Demetrius," he introduced quickly and with a brimming grin. "Now that we're no longer strangers, let's get going!" A sigh escaped his brother, but before he could reply, a young trainer came dashing into the center and stole his attention.

Others were watching as well as this boy, panting and practically in tears, came in so fast he nearly ran into the front desk, worriedly rambling about the condition of his Pokémon. The nurse was doing her best to calm him, but he seemed pretty frantic about whatever state his Pokémon was in. Damien craned his neck to glance around the trainer and at the creature that had been placed on the counter. He only caught a glimpse before the boy was ordered to withdraw his Pokémon.

"Ew. Let's get out of here," Damien commented with a mildly disgusted expression, then quickly shuffled towards and out the doors before waiting for either of the other two.
"Damien--" Demetrius followed him and found his younger brother standing just outside.

"Ugh, didn't you see that thing? It had a massive.... disgusting... swollen... I don't know, bulge? Growth....? On it's side... throat area. It was all shaky and sweaty and... eugh." He made a small groaning noise and gave an unsettled shake.

[Shadow]

"Nice to meet you," Rui said to Demetrius with a friendly smile. He was distracted by the frantic trainer bringing in a Pok?mon, but was quickly having to catch up with Damien. Once outside, he pulled out a Pok?ball and let out his sandslash once again.

"Sorry about that," he apologized to the annoyed Pok?mon. "This is Sabaku," he introduced to his two new companions. He glanced at Damien. "You all right, there? You look a little pale." He hadn't seen the sick Pok?mon, but it sounded like it wasn't something he wanted to see. The nurse was smart to have trainers keep their Pok?mon in their Pok?balls. He probably shouldn't have let Sabaku out so early when they had just left the center, but if he waited much longer the sandslash would have gotten quite angry.

Not that he wasn't already. Usually he was fairly friendly, but he hated his Pok?ball and it put him in a bad mood. He briefly nodded at the two trainers that accompanied Rui, but then went back to sulking and refused to look at Rui.

((I'm so sorry for the wait and I'm sorry it's so lame. TT.TT))

[Riley]

"Don't mind him," Demetrius said exasperatedly, "He's been overreacting to everything since we left home..."

"I have not--" Damien began to protest, but his older brother ignored him and shook his head.

"What was your name again?" Demetrius spoke politely to the boy, looking him over then glancing down to his sandslash with a masked expression. "Rui, did you say?" he recalled.

"You mean, I said," Damien butted in. "Weren't you listening?"
"I've been trying my best to tune you out since you began whining this morning, actually." Demetrius' words were calm and level, but Damien caught a teasing smirk at the edge of his lips and gave his sibling a light shove.

"Rui, then. It's nice to meet you, but I suppose we should both be on our way..."
"Demetrius, don't be rude! The more the merrier, let's stick together while we're all just wandering aimlessly!" Damien had apparently recovered from his earlier disgust. "C'mon, you're the one who wanted to check this place out, so let's not stand around."

[Shadow]

Rui smirked at the Demetrius' dig at Damien's whining. "Good to meet you, too," he replied. He glanced at Damien, feeling slightly grateful that he was asking that they stick together. While he generally traveled alone with his Pok?mon, it was nice to have some human company for a while.

"Well," he said. "Where d'ya wanna go first?"

((Blah. I am brain-dead right now.))

[Riley]

"Very well," Demetrius responded to his brother, not sounding like he really cared all that much either way. "Perhaps you'd like to lead the way?"

"I don't know where we're headed," Damien replied, but only paused a moment to consider this before shrugging it off. "Alright then, we'll goooo..." He lifted a finger and pointed in a random direction after a moment of hesitance. "That way!" It was difficult to tell what was over 'that way' since tall buildings surrounded them in all directions. Damien supposed, though, that they were bound to run into something interesting eventually. He'd just have to keep an eye out for any sickly looking Pokémon. Then everything would be alright, yes...

Once the PokeCenter was barely in sight behind them upon a glance back, Damien decided it was alright to release his Pokémon, finally. He was feeling impatient about keeping her inside for much longer.
"Hm, suppose it's probably safe to let Pokémon out now. I do hate to keep her cooped up," he said with a sudden stop in his tracks, though sounding slightly unsure of himself. "Just gotta be ready to bring them back in at a moment's notice..." Selecting the single Pokéball he had with him on his belt, he sent out a small red fox that emerged in his arms.

"This is Sasha," he introduced with a note of pride. It seemed like he planned to carry her for now, as if to prevent her from possibly coming into contact with anything dirty or diseased on the pavement.

[Shadow]

"Good to meet you, Sasha," Rui said with a chuckle. Sabaku glanced at the fox curiously, but made no move to try to interact with her. He wasn't likely to receive a warm welcome from what seemed like an overprotective owner.

Rui tilted his head, suddenly remembering just how little he knew about this strange land. He wasn't even sure what names of the other towns were. "I think first stop should be a PokeMart," he suggested, glancing around for the blue roof indicating said building. "Maybe we can pick up a map so we actually know where we are once we leave this city. May also help figure out where we should go."

((Lame post is lame and I'm sorry about the delay. OTL))

[Riley]

"Sounds like a plan," he agreed with a nod. Sasha squirmed in his arms, and he allowed her to jump out of them and curl around his shoulders. "I'll feel better once we know more about where we are." He threw a glance at Demetrius, but his brother didn't react to this.
Sometimes Damien wished Demetrius would admit he wasn't much more certain than he was about what they were doing. But on the other hand, it would do them little good to both be worrying.

He glanced all about, but no blue roof was in sight.
"Perhaps we'd benefit from a higher viewpoint," Demetrius suggested, gesturing to a tall hill of steps coming up on their left.
"Or we could just ask for directions," Damien shrugged, but followed anyways as Demetrius began to head up them. It was a long, uncomfortable climb, and they were both winded by the end of it. Damien turned around to look out over the city. "I don't see anything, still..."
"How about behind you?"
"Ah," Damien replied as he turned around to see the massive building with the word "Mart" across it. He hadn't thought to look for anything deviating from the standard looking markets, but it did make a lot more sense that a city this large would have one like this.

[Shadow]

Rui let out a low whistle, sizing up the large building. "Now how did we miss that?" he asked with a chuckle. With his hands in his pocket, he headed inside, Sabaku on his heels. "Just gonna get a map quick, I stocked on supplies on the ship," he said, more to himself than anyone. "What about you guys? Are you gonna want to look around some?"

((Lame post is lame and late. My baaad. TT.TT))