Starting from the Center [Open]

Arkady's ears twitched as he heard something. The Noibat turned and looked to see a young human riding a bicycle. Something told him he was probably going too fast.

"Uh oh, that guy's going too fast" said Edwin, which was the thing that told Arkady. Funny how these things work out. Edwin gasped and Arkady squeaked as the boy went flying out of control and landed in a fountain.

("Is that guy gonna be okay?") Arkady asked, as the boy emerged, spitting out a coin. ("Oh! He used Pay Day! I didn't know humans could do that!") he exclaimed further.

Edwin meanwhile thought he'd best go and help, standing up and slinging his now rather heavy bag over his shoulder, careful not to drop any of the books within. Seeing that the kid seemed to not have serious injuries, Edwin walked over to his fallen bicycle, bringing it over to the edge of the fountain.

"Uh, everything alright there?" Edwin asked. "Here's your bike and bag" he added. Arkady was perched on his shoulder still, tilting his head inquisitively.

("If that was deliberate, that was kinda cool") he'd remark. ("I'd raise a scorecard like you humans do on contests on the TV but I can't really write numbers").

All of this would come out as little squeaks and chirps that most humans probably couldn't understand. If the boy accepted, Edwin would extend his hand to help him out of the fountain.

Glad that he didn't seem hurt, Edwin took note of the other trainer. He seemed to be an early teen, presumably a young trainer that just started his journey? Edwin certainly wasn't the type to ride a bike at full speed through a city when he was that age, but then again, perhaps the life of a teenage trainer wasn't something he'd understand? Especially why he'd ride such an expensive bicycle like that but he supposed accidents happen.

Edwin made an awkward look as the kid took his soaked clothes off, averting his gaze. Arkady then looked excited as a pokemon was coming out of its ball. A... fiery bug thing! Ah, the pokedex said it was a Larvesta. And it seemed to be doing a kind of drying technique, which he thought seemed handy.

The boy then introduced himself as Doug Freeman. "Hey, I'm Edwin Armadale" he replied. "And this is my partner Arkady" he smiled at his Noibat, who chirped with greetings.

Doug then asked for a battle rather abruptly. "Uh... really?" Edwin asked, hesitantly. He looked down at the Larvesta. He looked awkwardly at Arkady, who was tilting his head in a confused manner. "Well, uh, I'm more of a researcher, and Arkady's just started learning to battle..." he said, scratching the back of his own head awkwardly. He then realized what he wanted to do. "But... maybe you could help? Are you an experienced trainer?"

Arkady meanwhile flew down next to Larvesta, giving a friendly smile. ("Hiya! My name's Arkady, what's yours?") he asked. ("Your trainer's pretty cool! I saw him use Pay Day!")

Edwin noticed that Doug seemed to be a little, well, unaware of the situation so to say. And he also seemed slightly insistent on battling. Arkady meanwhile was perplexed at how shy the Larvesta was of him. He wasn't being threatening was he? Arkady looked a little downcast.

Edwin couldn't force the friendly little Noibat to battle under these circumstances. "Ah, sorry, the answer's no... I don't really battle with people I've only just met" he explained.

Edwin didn't like the idea of a battle spiralling out of control. He didn't want Arkady to be hurt again. Even though Arkady would have an advantage against a Bug and Fire type like Larvesta, still, Edwin needed more reason to battle a stranger than eye contact.

Yes, he supposed that was why Arkady was still kind of weak, but, Edwin had to trust someone before he battled them. And he'd much prefer to have friendly matches against those he counted as his friends.

As he thought about it more, he'd clearly show signs of distress. The memory of carrying his beaten, unconscious Noibat to the pokecenter, running from an aggressive Aggron, no, it was currently too much of a trauma for him.

"Uh... sorry... I just have... uh... problems" he said, getting quieter until he murmured the last word. Arkady looked up at him, then flew back up to his shoulder, rubbing his cheek against the side of Edwin's head. "But... maybe some other time?" he offered.

Glad that that was settled, Edwin was at a kind of awkward stage, being in the position of a 19 year old asking help from what appeared to be a 13 year old. Arkady was happily oblivious to any such awkwardness and was simply wanting to go with the flow.

Then, trouble brewed.

A cocky little Rockruff was nearby, doing the rounds to show off to newly initiated members of his little gang. Heh, these humans were so stupid in falling to this routine, time and time again.

The plan was simple. Distract the human by being cute, then another pokemon would zip in and snatch their belongings. And then zip before they found out what was going on. Rockruff was naturally talented at this procedure, now he just had to teach it to these pups - a pair of Poochyena that wanted in on their operation.

And so Rockruff attempted the routine on some nearby diners, looking up at them with his big blue eyes, pining for a bit of food. Yeah, it was pathetic, but, it worked. The fat female human squealed with delight like the Spoink spawn that she was and tossed him some pathetic scraps of poultry. Well, that was fine. Now for the Poochyena to nab her handbag...

Critical Failure! The stupid pups knocked over the chair the bag was sitting on, and the bag anchored itself in the frame. Rockruff scowled at the stupid pokemon. ("Stop tryin' to steal it and RUN!") he snarled. Before they could be pursued, they fled through the crowds, evading human feet before they reached a safe spot near a fountain.

("You idiots! You screwed everything up, ruff!") he snapped, rearing on his hind legs and cuffing the Poochyena behind the ears. They looked ashamed, as they should be.

("What about these humans here, boss?") one Poochyena suggested, nodding over to where a damp human and a human with glass eyes were talking. Two other pokemon were nearby - a Noibat and a Larvesta. Rockruff snorted, he could take those two on. But one appeared to have a pretty loaded bag at his feet.

("Okay, change of plan. You distract by bein' cute, I'll nab the bag") Rockruff told them. Maybe they wouldn't screw this one up?

And so, while Edwin was listening to Doug's question, the Poochyena approached. "Actually I just got here too. I'm originally from Saiph City" he said. Then, he noticed the Poochyena, who appeared to have pleading, begging expressions on their little faces. "Aw, what's wrong little guys? Something the matter?" Edwin asked the small pokemon. Rockruff then made a little nasty scooby-doo giggle as his plan was falling into place. Yep, the human was crouching down, just needs to take off his bag and then he'd strike!

Edwin nodded in confirmation. "Yeah, there's a gym there. A Ghost type. It... uh... lives up to its reputation from how creepy it is".

While Edwin had never entered the gym itself in his youth, he had seen many trainers enter it with a swagger, and then leave it with the expression of trauma. There was simply something off about it. But, one day, as a trainer, he would surely have to face it. Hopefully Arkady would be part of a strong enough team to face it someday.

So, Doug was from Shaula town. "Ah, that's neat. I've always wanted to go there" Edwin mused. In fact, why not go there next? He knew Arkady appreciated good food, plus, the Noibat had a type advantage against fellow Dragon types. But, at the same time, dragon types had an advantage against him too, and of course any dragon gym leader would ensure they would come out best in such a matchup. Edwin thought he would best approach that particular gym later on in his trainer challenge.

In regards to the Poochyena, Edwin thought it would be at least nice to give it some food. He unslung his bag to see what was in it, which was perfect for the Rockruff! Yes! Now was his chance!

As Edwin pulled out a small clear plastic bag full of seasoned meat for the offering, the Rockruff made his opening maneuver. He bit down hard on the bag strap as he launched himself onto the scene before the human or the Noibat could figure what was going on, then would proceed to pull the bag to his safe hole. If only it had worked that way, but it didn't.

("What... the HECK... is IN HERE?!") the Rockruff growled to himself. The human's bag was heavier than he had imagined. Just what was in here? He couldn't even move with this kind of weight! What the heck could he do?!

"Hey! Rockruff! You can't steal my bag like that!" Edwin snapped. At once, Arkady flew to attention in front of him, glaring at the Rockruff for his act of subterfuge.

("Uh oh, I'm outta here!") the Poochyena thought, running away, as its ability allowed it to. The Rockruff meanwhile glared back at Arkady, standing his ground with a growl. He wasn't gonna let an uppity Noibat rain on his parade. He was the top dog here, dammit!

All it would take was a simple Rock Throw and that would be that. But... oh no, Rockruff didn't know how to use Rock Throw yet! So instead he tried a Sand Attack by flinging sand from his tail into the Noibat's eyes. Arkady gasped and tried to shake it out.

"It's alright, Arkady! Sound him out with your Supersonic!" Edwin advised. Yes, of course! A Noibat like Arkady could easily find out where the Rockruff was. His speaker-like ears emitted a high pitched sound directed at the Rockruff, who winced as his sensitive hearing was sent haywire from the noise.

("Grr! You're gonna get it now, punk!") Rockruff snarled, glaring at the Noibat, who had now seemed to clone himself somehow. He launched himself into a Tackle attack at the right one, but he wasn't there! What the?!

The Rockruff landed flat on his face and hurt himself in his confusion. Edwin was starting to feel confident now. Arkady had this under control!

"Arkady, use Absorb!" he advised. And so the Noibat's wings glowed green, drawing green sparks of light from the Rockruff's body. This only angered him, but was very effective due to it being used on a Rock type.

Rockruff responded by using Tackle again, only this time he aimed in the middle of the two Noibats, and consequently struck Arkady hard, making him squeak in pain, but he regained control, flapping out of range. Supposing now was the time to strike, Edwin pulled a pokeball from his bag and tossed it at the Rockruff before it could do anything else. The pokeball shook four times before falling silent.

It took a moment for Edwin to realize what had just happened. It was all incredibly awkward, happening in front of Doug so to say.

"Ah... er, sorry about that" Edwin said to the boy, picking up the pokeball, now containing a rather livid but resigned Rockruff. "That happened kinda fast, and, er, well... I think I may have to head to the pokecenter". A small sense of thrill was beginning to take hold and he was grinning a little with disbelief at what happened. Arkady landed happily on his shoulder, a bit bruised, but no worse for wear.

"Ah... not really" Edwin said to Doug as he asked what was in the bag. "Just a bunch of guide books... I think I might want to return half of them though, I don't think it'd be healthy to walk very far like this" he admitted. Although he was used to lugging around heavy textbooks from his time in high school, well, there was a difference between walking from class to class and walking at least 20 miles in a day.

He smiled when Doug complimented him, but, was temporarily unable to answer as to why he caught the Rockruff. He looked at the pokeball that contained the rebel puppy.

"I'm not entirely sure of that myself" he admitted. "Just... this Rockruff seemed to want to stick around for a challenge, and, well, I suppose now that it's my responsibility, I can try and train him to be better?"

There was another matter too. "And honestly? That plan of his to use the Poochyena to distract me while he stole my bag was kind of clever". Still though. Raising this Rockruff would be a challenge for sure. But he'd take it seriously. He was meant to be a proper trainer now. But, of course, if this Rockruff was too much for him to handle, he'd either release him or trade him to a better trainer.

Okay then, to the pokemon center it was. "Yeah, I rely on pokecenters for lodging as well, at least outside my home town" Edwin said. He put Rockruff's pokeball on his trainer belt. While he did want to see how he was, well, maybe he might be in a better mood after being healed up?

Edwin then headed toward the Pokecenter, presumably alongside Doug. There the first thing he did was call back Arkady and then gave both his pokemon to the nurse for healing. Then, afterward, he would sit down while sorting through the guide books in his bag, determining which ones he needed and which ones he didn't.

"Any guides that you recommend, Doug?" Edwin asked, just in case the other trainer wanted to help out a little in making up his mind.