Into the Wild

[Random]

"...In other news, another Poké spot has been set up by Duking of Pyrite Town in Relic Forest...."

Jovi looked up from her work desk towards the tv screen hanging above her door. Her eyes focusing intently on the screen at the anouncement.

"Many of the townsfolk have had reservations of the settlement of such a place, saying it could disrupt the innate balance of one of the last untouched areas of settlement in the Orre Region..."

Jovi couldn't help but snort at such a statement. Save for a few spots, the entirety of the Orre region was hardly settled. The old folks there probably were just complaining about noise hat wild Pokémon might bring. It'd be better for the region's ecosystem if there were actual wild Pokémon roaming.

The teen flicked the tv off, getting up from her desk and looking up at the clock. It was around mid morning... plenty of time to get to Agate and back before dinner.

"Mimi, Pluplu," Jovi walked over to her bed to shake the two little bodies sleeping there awake. The Minun and Plusle a moment or so later yawned and look bleery-eyed up at their trainer. "You guys ready for an adventure?"

That got the two up, their paws sparking up with electricity.

Jovi picked up her pack, with a grin. "That's more like it."

---

After checking to make sure she had some Poké snacks with her and took some of her blueprints as well before she and her companions walked near the front of the HQ where the garage and Michael's old scooter was. She had been allowed to take it out for deliveries and to Dr. Kaminko's. Though it was old it still got regular maintenence and worked.

"Good morning, Jovi!"

Jovi turned to see Pro. Krane smiling at her, holding a file in his hands. The teen inwardly swore but gave the graying man a smile.

"Morning, Professor." The girl replied, before motioning to her pack. "Was just going to head over to Dr. Kaminko's to work on a project with Chobin."

The man nodded. "Excellent. Always nice to see young people dedicated to their work. Lily know you're heading out?"

Jovi's face fell slightly. "No, could you tell her for me? I'll be back before dark and I promise to call if anything happens-"

"Oh go on, your mother needs to let you go out more often... uh, don't tell her I said that." The man said. Jovi saluted in response before heading to the garage.

"Let's come back with a new Pokémon today guys." The girl said to Mimi and Plusle, who cried out in agreement before the three of them sped off.

---

Jovi was heading down the forest road towards Agate Village, it was drawing into late morning by this time.

[Shadow]

"Hurry up!" Hotaru called behind her, grinning like a mad man. The fraxure that was carefully sliding down the tree trunk made a growl that seemed to say quit nagging! The teenage girl in a black hooded sweatshirt and camo cargo pants shifted her feet while she waited for her Pokémon to finish climbing down.

They had climbed the tall tree in the middle of the forest to check out the surroundings (and because Hotaru loved climbing trees). "Come on Icarus!" she said as he finally made it to ground level. "You saw that village, let's go check it out!"

"Rru!" Icarus replied, running to catch up. He suddenly stopped, sniffing the air. He tilted his head.

"What is it?" Hotaru turned to see what the fraxure was looking at, and saw someone moving. There was someone else on the path ahead of them, walking the same direction as they were. "Hey!" she called, waving her hand in the air. Maybe this person knew where they were and what the village ahead was.

[Random]

Jovi looked over to the side of the road. A girl around her age was waving and yelling up ahead. Why doesn't she have any ways of transportation?

Even though over the past few years things in Orre had calmed down, it was still rather dangerous to travel by foot on long routes where people could mug you. Especially if you cought outside without any shelter at dark...

The teen pulled to a stop to by the girl and an odd-looking Pok?mon beside her. Maybe she's a trainer from another region. This could be exciting! But wait, got to play it cool...

"Hello, do you have any means to getting to the nearest settlement?" Jovi asked the girl. "Oh, and you aren't a robber, right?"

[Shadow]

Hotaru raised an eyebrow for a moment. 'Means of getting to the next settlement?' She's so formal... "No, I'm not a robber," she said with a chuckle, moving on quickly. "We generally walk everywhere. This is Icarus, and I'm Hotaru. I was just wondering what the, uh, 'nearest settlement' was? We're not from around here, see, we're just passing wanderers." She smiled, trying to be friendly.

[Random]

So she was right about not being from Orre. "I'm Jovi. Nice to meet you."

The teen took out the two Pok? balls hooked onto her belt and out came out her Plusle and Minun. "This is Pluplu and Mimi."

Both electric types gave mock salutes before jumping off the bike and towards Icarus, looking at him with interest.

"The nearest place from here is Agate Village. We're heading there ourselves at the moment." The girl responded. Mimi's cheeks were charging up with static but Pluplu slapped the back of her head before she got any ideas.

[Shadow]

As the two rodents headed toward him, Icarus lowered his head and got on all fours, growling playfully. Hotaru chuckled a little at her Pok?mon's antics. "Agate Village, huh?" she echoed, turning her attention back to Jovi. "Sounds interesting. We'll check it out." Icarus looked up for a moment at his trainer, narrowing his eyes. Hotaru laughed. "All right, maybe we'll take a rest, too. But just for a little bit."

[Random]

Jovi sweat dropped at her own Pokémon's antics, picking them up. When Hotaru mentioned taking a break the girl looked up at the sky. Though it was still a bit chilly the trees in the forest cut back most of the wind, the sun warming her face as she did.

Good a time as any to have some lunch I suppose...

"If you don't mind may may we join you? Afterwards we can head towards the village. My bike can fit two easy enough if Icarus doesn't mind his Pok? ball for a bit-"

Pluplu looked at Icarus with a challenging gleam in her eyes, jumping off her trainer's shoulder to tackle the dragon-type from above.

"Ah! I'm sorry!" Jovi replied to the girl, reaching to grab the electric type, her face turning red in embarrasment.

[Shadow]

"No worries!" Hotaru said quickly with a sheepish grin. "He was challenging her, it wasn't unprovoked. I don't mind if they play for a bit if you don't." Icarus jumped to the side as Pluplu came at him, grinning. He went to counter-tackle, but Jovi reached for the Pok?mon, so he stopped to avoid accidentally hitting her.

"But sure, you can stop with us. The more the merrier~!" Hotaru grinned and pulled off her dark blue backpack, pulling out some wrapped sandwiches. "Want one?" She held one out to Jovi. "I've got plenty."

[Random]

Jovi smiled. "Thank you."

Since they were given the go ahead both rodents jumped from their trainer to the new and interesting Pok?mon in their midst. The duo rang around Icarus and then a little bit away from the two trainers, ushering for him to follow.

Jovie took out her own bag with a thermos of hot chocolate inside after accepting the sanwich slice. "Want some? It'll warm you up. Though it doesn't get as cold as it does in other regions I guess."

The blue-haired girl stretched her legs out on the spot of forest floor she'd chosen to sit on, not really caring if her dress got a little dirty. "So where are you from?"

[Shadow]

((Wow this character is so new to me I almost had to go look up what I wrote for her background. xD))

"No, thanks," Hotaru declined politely as she sat down, cross-legged, in the grass. She took a bite out of her own sandwich and stashed the rest of them back in her bag. She pulled out a water bottle. "Water's good for me. I'm from Sinnoh, but I haven't actually been back there since last spring. I wander most of the year, just go back to visit my parents every so often so they know I'm not dead in a ditch somewhere." She took another bite. "What abou' you?" she asked through her mouthful of sandwich.

Icarus followed the Pok?mon's antics with his eyes as they ran around him, then rushed off to join them as they skittered away. He started to playfully chase Pluplu, happy to have another Pok?mon to play with for once. He loved Hotaru to death, but she was only human and couldn't play like Pok?mon can.

[Random]

Jovi nodded, inwardly chatising herself. She must have looked juvenile to a vetran trainer like Hotaru. She took a sip from her thermos cup, letting out a small chuckle with the ditch comment. It was a little morbid, but mirrored her thoughts exactly about how she'd think she would feel about visiting the HQ probably after spending a large amount of time traveling.

"Me? Well, I'm from Orre. Live in the Pok?mon HQ Lab that's a couple of hours up the road. My mom works there." She responded, before taking a bite of the sandiwch Hotaru had given her.

Pluplu squeaked in joy, running away from Icarus before turning around suddenly to jump on the Pok?mon's back. Mimi had started to climb a tree close by.

[Shadow]

"Cool," Hotaru replied. "So do you research Pok?mon and stuff?" She herself really had little knowledge of the biology and scientific information behind Pok?mon. Apart from her own Pok?mon's evolution line (she was excitedly awaiting his evolution into a haxorus), she didn't really pay attention to other Pok?mon.

Icarus let the plusle land on his back and gave a few playful bucks, trying to gently throw the rodent off. He saw Mimi climbing the tree, but decided to ignore her. It would be interesting to see what she decided to do.

[Random]

"Yeah. For the past couple of years it's been the effects of Shadow Purification on Shadow Pok?mon, and there's some really awesomen advance with battle simulations as well." Jovi said happily, focusing more on the technological aspect of living at the HQ. "Uh, there's lots of Pok?mon there as well, but for the most part we are only able to study certain kinds..."

Jovi took another sip from her thermos, looking down at her muddled reflection. "Orre is kind of a wasteland, so there aren't many Pok?mon here that are native to the land. Though there has been large bursts in population many people either have to go to other regions or recieve their partner Pok?mon as gifts. So, I guess another thing the HQ does is help try to keep up the repopulation of Pok?mon in Orre."

The girl smiled. "Hopefully in a couple hundreds of years the land will be able to heal itself."

Pluplu gripped onto Icarus' back but was finally bucked off and tumbled back onto the grass. The electric type shook some dirt from her fur before sending out a light shock on the Haxor's arm, it was harmless and would feel like static cling.

Mimi was no longer paying attention to the other two, climbing as high up as she could towards the sky above.

Jovi rubbed the back of her head. "Apologies if I babble."

[Shadow]

"Yeah, I kinda noticed that there aren't near as many wild Pok?mon as in other regions," Hotaru commented. "I haven't seen hardly any wild ones, just a few birds here and there."

She tilted her head as Jovi apologized. "No, you're not babbling," she said. "It's interesting to hear about other regions. This is the first time I've been here, so it's cool to get the low-down of the area."

She was distracted when Icarus let out a short, playful roar. "Don't be playing too rough, Icarus," she called. Watching him play reminded her how restless she was. She turned back to Jovi. "We should probably get going soon," she said. I don't like to stay put this long, she added mentally to herself. If it wasn't for Icarus she would probably never stop except to sleep. But he liked to enjoy the view for more than two minutes at a time, and so he often convinced her to chill out for a bit, as restless as she was.

[Random]

"Right," Jovi finished off the sandwich slice she was eating, put her thermos back in her bag.

"Mi!" Mimi squeaked from her birds-eye view in the tree canopy, pointing in a direction.

"I think Mimi sees Agate up ahead, shouldn't be a long drive." The young teen smiled.

Pluplu was squeaking happily along Icarus' back, she hadn't had this fun with a playmate (besides Mimi of course) in ages. A lot of the Pokémon around the lab were too busy or too scared to battle with her.

"Mimi, Pluplu! Come on its time to go!" Jovi called. Both electric types climbed off their high perches respectively, Pluplu motioning with a paw for Icarus to follow.

[Shadow]

Icarus happily followed suit and headed back to his trainer. He knew that Hotaru would be getting restless sooner or later; she actually lasted longer than she usually did. It helped that she had someone to talk to, though.

"All right, on to Agate Village!" Hotaru said with a dramatic point of her finger in the opposite direction of the village. Icarus rolled his eyes and pulled on her pant leg, pointing in the right direction. "Er, take two, on to Agate Village!" she said as she spun around and corrected herself. She laughed at herself and glanced at Jovi's scooter.

"Uhm...I know you offered a ride on the scooter, but if it isn't too far I'd rather walk," she said with a sheepish grin. "Or jog if you wanna drive the scooter slowly."

[Random]

Jovi smirked a little at Hotaru's mishap at direction, but her expression returned to normal before the trainer noticed. Mimi and Pluplu hopped onto the scooter's seat.

"Sure, I don't mind walking." Jovi shrugged. The girl help onto the scooter's handle bars and began to push the vehicle forward. She walked ahead, determined to reach Agate and capture a Pok?mon. Maybe if she could do that her Mom would finally see she was ready to go on her journey. Or she'd be grounded. Fifty-fifty chance.

"So is there anything that you're hoping to see or catch in Agate Village?" Jovi asked.

[Shadow]

"I don't really catch Pok?mon," Hotaru replied. "Just Icarus is enough for me. But I'm hoping to see anything I haven't seen before. Which shouldn't be too hard since it's a place I've never been!" She grinned, excitedly looking forward to reaching the village. This was why she traveled; to see new sights and to try new things.

"What about you? What're you going there for?"

[Random]

"Huh. I thoughtthat people from other regions would catch as many Pok?mon as they could..." Jovi replied, more to herself then Hotaru. "But what you have with your Pok?mon sounds pretty cool also. You and Icarus seem to be really close. I'd don't know what I'd do if I didn't have Pluplu and Mimi around."

Said electric types were clapping their paws together while sitting on the scooter seat. Jovi smiled at their antics. "Well, I'm going to see what species I can find. I don't really care as long as I meet a wild Pok?mon, and catch one if I can..."

The girl looked forward. "Maybe if I'm able to do that I'll finally be allowed to leave home and start my own journey."

[Shadow]

Icarus grinned at the rodents and copied their clapping as he walked along beside Hotaru, who chuckled at his insistence to play with them. He rarely got to interact with other Pok?mon besides battling with them, and so he was taking advantage of this time.

"You want to travel?" Hotaru asked, lacing her fingers behind her head as she walked. She watched Jovi with raised eyebrows curiously, wondering what she was talking about. "What's keeping you?" It probably wouldn't be hard to guess; an overprotective parent, not enough funds, committed to another job...the possibilities were numerous.

[Random]

Mimi and Pluplu noticed Icarus' claps and started to clap in tune with the walking dragon type's. Their cheeks sparked a little bit with electricity as they became more and more excited.

"Well, my older brother went on his journey around the age I am now, and he got mixed up with a lot of dangerous people in this group called Cipher," Jovi responded. "At the end he was fine and became a whole lot stronger, but with that my mom got a bit more protective about how far I was allowed away from home. My Dad's been gone since before I could even remember him, so maybe that has something to do with it too."

The girl tightened her hold on her bag. "I just feel that if I continue to stay here I'll be stuck at the HQ for the rest of my life. I love everyone there, but..."

[Shadow]

"But you want to see the rest of the world," Hotaru finished, knowing exactly how Jovi felt. She gazed at the sky while she walked, reflecting on her own travels. "My mom wasn't keen on me traveling, either," she said. "She thinks that Pok?mon battles are brutal and that a girl shouldn't partake in it. But my dad always wanted me to be a trainer. I think he missed his own trainer days and wanted me to relive it for him. Eventually we managed to convince her, but I still have to visit home fairly frequently."

((Blarg I'd add more but I hafta go...)

[Random]

Jovi frowned. Haru's predicament sounded just as unfair as hers, if not more so. "Maybe as time goes on they'll learn that it's your life, and you're the one that's living it."

The girl sighed and looked forward. "Parents always think they know best. And even if they do we should be able to find out what's best on our own."

Pluplu stopped playing for a little bit and looked up at her trainer's face. Seeing that the girl didn't look very happy she hopped on the girl's arm and climbed to her shoulder to nuzzle her cheek. "Plu!"

"Huh?" Jovi was surprised, before Mimi followed suit and perched on her other shoulder to rub her cheek on Jovi's left. The teen laughed but was very grateful for the two's antics. She didn't want to be down in the dumps today! She would capture a Pok?mon for sure.

[Shadow]

Hotaru chuckled as she watched Jovi's Pok?mon. "They're quite in tune with your feelings," she observed. "Well, let's get going so you can catch your Pok?mon! I think we're about there..." And she was right; just ahead through the trees she could see an opening where she could just make out the side of a building.

"C'mon!" she took off in a sprint. Icarus sighed and shrugged at Jovi; he could never understand where all of Hotaru's boundless energy came from.

[Random]

Jovi smiled and nodded at Icarus. "Let's catch up to her shall we?"

It took a few minutes because she had to move her scooter, but Jovi along with the Pok?mon caught up to Hotaru as the girl reached the entrance to Agate. The girl understood why so many retired trainers came to live in it's waterfall-rich and grassy setting. She could see though that instead of retirees strolling around there were a fair few younger trainers around that had probably also heard the anouncement.

"Okay, just need to drop off my scooter at the Center then we can head into Relic Forest." Jovi was happy that Michael had sent her some Pok?mon Snacks a few weeks ago. With them it'd be easier to lure them in from the forest.