Moving Out!

[Evelyn Cherry-Holme]

Evie was preparing herself to go out and challenge the roaming gym leaders; yep, that was right, she had decided she would go for it! Why not? It would be something to do between her collecting of Contest Ribbons in each of the towns – besides to come across one whilst travelling it would seem like a waste to Evie if she didn’t make the most of it. After her battle with Tobias, Evie was determined she would beat him next time... Somehow. Her Pokémon would need to work hard, and so would she. She heaved a sigh and a large grin spread across her face as she looked at Vulpix beside her, who would be her travelling companion.

She was making her way into the Northern Wilds from Silverfern City. The Parade had truly inspired her and she was yet to find out about the poacher’s up north. Just in case things got tight, Evie had switched out Selene; her Purrlion for her Noctowl; Athena. That way, if things got rough and she ran out of provisions she would at least be able to fly to the nearest settlement and resupply. So here she was, just leaving the city onto the road that would take her up towards Maple Town – as it was the longest road without any towns directly on route. Perfect in Evie’s opinion, for training.

[Tobias Clark]

Tobias clung tightly to Flygon's neck as they streaked through the sky, trying to catch Evie before she left, if she got onto the road before he got there it would be difficult to find her. He looked down to Silverfern City bellow as they flew over the city, his eyes scanning the streets for her.

"Get lower Flygon." Tobias shouted over the roar of the wind as it rushed past his ears. Flygon nodded and dropped lower so the were skimming between buildings, people on the street now looking up to him. Tobias noticed Evie as the headed towards the Northern gate and tapped Flygon's neck twice then pointed, telling him to land.

Flygon circled down until it reached the ground then landed heavily with a thump, Tobias jumping from its back and running to Evie. "Evie" He said as he approached her, panting slightly.

[Evelyn Cherry-Holme]

Evie had literally just reached the gates when she heard her voice being called, she glanced down at Aphrodite, the little vixen turning to look as Evie did as well. A grin spread across her face, “Oh hey Tobias!” She noticed he was panting and she smiled at Flygon as she turned completely to walk over to them. Evie would go to pat Flygon on the shoulder and the red vixen Pokémon brushed itself up against the large dragon – much like a cat desiring attention. Evie pursed her lips and canted her head slightly, noticing he looked somewhat... Rushed. “Is everything okay? Where you looking for me or something?”

How odd! Why would Tobias want to catch her up before she left? She had given back Pikachu at the parade, what else could he want? Perhaps he was bringing a gym challenge to her? That’d be bad! Evie was so not prepared to battle him yet!

[Ezekiel Sparrow]

Zeke had been bored, having taken a short trip to Silverfern City just to explore Kansai. It didn't feel right unless he looked around a region, even if the Gym Leaders were a lot harder to track down this time around. A little bit intimidated by the large city, Zeke had travelled to the outskirts and set up a picnic blanket. His basket was a little sparse, but he'd let his Pokemon out to sit around and snack. It'd been good and fun, and it meant they could relax a bit more, until he saw a large shadow go flying overhead.

And then promptly land nearby. Near the Northern Wilderness, that was enough to make Zeke sit up a little straighter.

[Tobias Clark]

Tobias smiled as she walked towards him, running a hand through his hair as she spoke. "Im glad I caught you in time. The Professor says your going after the poachers." He said before turning to Flygon, pokeball in hand and returned his dragon pokemon, not thinking about the Vulpix trying to play with Flygon. He noticed a man on a picnic blanket watching them from behind before he turned back to Evie.

He took his bag from his back and opened it, reaching in before pulling out what looked like a large pink digital watch. He held it out to her smiling again for a moment.

"Its a Pokenav and it has my number in it." He said stepping closer to her with it still outstretched. "If you get into any trouble ring me, it also has a map on it so you can give me your co-ordinates."

[Evelyn Cherry-Holme]

“P-poachers?!” Evie hadn’t heard yet, boy, news travelled fast on this little island. The message obviously hadn’t reached her yet, at least she knew now! “Uh, seems so!” Aphrodite grunted with disappointment when Flygon was returned. Evie mumbled something incoherent to Tobias to herself about needing to stay in the loop better, but that would be solved what with Tobias was pulling out of his bag. She also followed Tobias’s gaze outside of the city to see – oh! That was the man that had that Chandelure on a leash! She’d have to say hi in a minute.

She gasped when he then pulled the Pokenav from his bag, she took it gingerly and stared at it for a moment. These weren’t cheap. Evie seemed to be uncertain whether to be happy or confused, she was a bit of both, “T-thank you Tobias! I don’t know what to say...” Instead, she went to put it on, removing her original wristwatch to replace it with the nav; but she sucked at watch straps, so gave Tobias a sheepish smile, “Little help?” She asked, holding out her wrist with the nav balancing precariously on it.

“Not to sound rude though... But, why the gift Tobias?” Evie asked, still somewhat befuddled by the gym leaders entrance and the sudden presentation of the gift.

[Ezekiel Sparrow]

Zeke leaned back on his hands, watching the two with interest. He probably should recognise them, and the boy certainly seemed familiar... but Zeke was a bit rubbish with faces, and hadn't really paid attention to who was who in Kansai yet. He'd just been getting to know the terrain mostly. Important people just breezed by but mountains, well, if something happens to one of them then that's impressive. Still, it'd be a bit rude to just pop up and yell "hi", and probably wave a bit too eagerly. Esme, his Chandelure, and Laertes, his Archeon, starting floating and flapping closer, trying to catch snippets of the conversation. They weren't really very subtle.

Suppose they take after him, really.

[Tobias Clark]

Tobias reached out and started to strap it to her wrist, making sure it wasn't to tight on her. He looked up to her face as she asked smiling and rubbing the back of his head. "Several reasons, the first is that if there are people running around trying to steal pokemon then I want to know that you will be safe." He looked down a little embarrassed at admitting this.

"Also, I would like to hunt them myself, but after the parade people will want to challenge me and they will come to find me. It would be careless of me to go somewhere dangerous as it may put others in harms way." He sighed a little looking down to the pokeballs on his belt, he wanted nothing more than to go catch these poachers. "Anyway, with this you can keep me in the loop. That way, if the shit hits the fan I can come get you out of there." He added smiling back up to her again.

[Evelyn Cherry-Holme]

Aphrodite wagged her tails eagerly when she saw that Chandelure and Archeon came sneaking closer, she yapped happily, trotting closer to the pair of flying Pokémon – seeing as she didn’t get the chance to play with Flygon, she’d try to grab these two’s attention instead! Meanwhile, Evie couldn’t help but feel her cheeks heat up some when Tobias admitted his reasons for giving her the Pokenav. “I see...” She said, as if to gap fill before she could really string a sentence together.

She cleared her throat, “Well that makes sense, last thing you want is to throw people into that kinda situation without them being prepared.” She was about to add – That’s really responsible of you, but realised that even though she would have meant it as a compliment... It would have sounded awfully patronising and that was not what she wanted to do! “I’ll make sure I keep you updated. I guess I’ll be heading to Maple Town soon to see what’s happening.” Evie couldn’t help it though, a sly smile appeared on her face, “Just one thing Tobias. Why me?” She gestured to her watch, hey - she was curious!

[Tobias Clark]

Tobias laughed shrugging slightly, deciding not to say that he felt a strange urge to keep her safe and instead opting for a less embarrassing excuse. "You looked after Pikachu, I trust you." He said beaming her her, his breath returning to him now.

His gaze moved to the Vulpix going to play with the other pokemon, then to the man who owned them, Tobias' eyes locking on to his. "Its rude to listen in on others conversations, and cowardice to send you pokemon to do it for you." He said chuckling then beckoning the man to come join them. "I kid, but please, if you want to know what we are talking about, why not just ask?"

[Evelyn Cherry-Holme]

Evie wanted to pry further now, “Yeeeah I looked after Pikachu, but it takes a lot of trust to get someone to take care of someone else’s Pokémon, especially after you’ve only met twice.” Her tone was teasing, her tongue between her teeth as if she were feeling triumphant about something, or she had figured something out. Hard to tell.

She turned as well when Tobias called out on the other man, kind of surprised at first but then exhaled with relief when he said he was joking. Evie gave Tobias a cunning looking side glance, as if she wanted to know more later – but for now, as Zeke was here, it wouldn’t seem all too appropriate. Unless of course Evie managed to rally Zeke into her cause on finding out exactly why Tobias felt like he could trust her so easily. Oh, she was flattered – certainly! But awfully, terribly curious. Perhaps too much so.

[Ezekiel Sparrow]

Zeke jumped up easily, smiling and starting to walk over. "Well, if it was important and top-secret and yadda yadda, it'd be a bit silly to discuss it in the open and in front of strangers anyway." He shrugged slightly as he motioned for his other Pokemon to continue nibbling. No point in them all ambling over. "And I can't really, er, think of a way to phrase, 'hey, nice to meetcha, what're you talking about because I'm kind of interested and you're standing there looking really serious?' It's not something that is generally a part of conversation."

He paused for a moment, looking at the two, before grinning widely and sticking his hand out. "Hello! I'm Ezekiel Sparrow, but you can call me Zeke. I also talk quite a lot. Nice to meet you!" Maybe he could make more friends here after all. Entertainment is always good to have.

[Soren Forberg]

((Soren's too much fun to play ))

Soren seemed relaxed as he walked down the dusty road, Absol by his side, but one would be foolhardy to think they could catch him offguard. His pale eyes were sharp beneath the half closed eyes and his ears were perked for any sound. He and Absol reacted at almost the same time, he raising his head and glacial eyes sharpening and the pokemon by winding herself around his legs with a soft 'vraaw'. Down the road - there was a group of three people...a second look saw Tobias Clark and Soren felt himself a little more at ease. He found the younger man extremely likable - the young lady with him seemed somewhat familiar thought he couldn't quite place her face and the second young man was completely unknown to him.

He walked towards them with a slight smile. "Young Master Tobias!" he laughed as he walked up towards his fellow gym leader. "Good to see you again - and who is this lovely young lady?" he said as he turned to Evie. He bowed low with a debonair smile, but did not take her hand as he normally would for fear of seeming too forward - Tobias and the girl seemed to have a little something. When he straightened up he turned to Zeke and nodded his head towards him. "Soren Forberg at your service."

[Tobias Clark]

Tobias smiled and took the man's hand, chuckling slightly at the way he spoke. This guy seemed to have no idea who he was, Tobias liked that. "Tobias Clark." He replied shaking the man's hand enthusiasticly. "Its nice to meet you." He added with a smile quickly turning around when he heard his name called. He grinned broadly as Soren as he walked towards them, placing his hand on his shoulder in greeting.

"Soren, good to see you again, this is my friend Evie." He said giving Evie a wink as Soren bowed, grinning to her. He had always enjoyed the way Soren acted, like he was straight out of 'Pride and Prejudice' or something. "And this is my new friend Zeke." Tobias added gesturing towards the new guy that had joined them, moments before Soren.

He then addressed his words to Evie and Zeke smiling to them, "Guys this is Soren Forberg, A fellow Gym Leader." He said that last bit more for Zeke than Evie as he could tell the young man was new to the area.

[Evelyn Cherry-Holme]

Evie grinned at Zeke when he came over and shrugged, “Man’s gotta point Tobias.” She giggled, then smiled at Zeke when he introduced himself, “My name’s Evie. It’s great to meet you Zeke, I have to say your Chandelure is absolutely adorable!” The way it just looked so chill was brilliant, just floating there, all ghost like. Pffft. Evie loved Ghost Pokémon, why didn’t she even have one? That’d be next on the list, bag a ghost type.

And then? Evie’s dream come true, Soren Forberg showed up. Evie smiled, “Hello Mr. Forberg! You battled so well at the parade!” She then looked awkward, as if she wanted to ask something. Evie took a deep breath and then just came out with it, “Excuse me, Mr. Forberg? I was wondering if uhm. If I could challenge you for the Fleet Badge?” She asked sheepishly, Vulpix trotting up beside her as if trying to give her confidence.