Core Spotlight

Right, right. Think, think...

Ryu was quick, he reached around Rui's hip, and pressed the Pokeball her borrowed Cyclizar was in before releasing his own and grabbing onto it. "Climb, hurry! Go, go, go!" The blonde shouted over the howling wind and loud thunder that rumbled in the dark clouds. His Cyclizar let out a eager yelp as it's claws dug into the craggy cliff side, scampering it's way up as fast as it could with the student on it's back. All while staying in arms reach the whole way up, just in case his partner's slipped and fell!

A moment of hesitation as Ryu held his muddied hand out to her and she looked up at him. Really looked at him, maybe for the first time since they'd started this little adventure. He had the face of a boy, but not a child, kind yellow eyes, and a confident smirk. Never in a million years did she think she'd end up in a situation like this, but she placed her equally as muddied hand in his with a bright red blush. She couldn't imagine what she looked like to him, dirtied and sitting in the mud, but there was no use being embrassed now, they were both absolutely coated in the stuff.

As the boy hoisted her up, she dug her heels in to the ground to regain a sturdy footing, her eyes darting back to the pokemon. Ryu made some split second decisions to take advantage of the opening Maomao had given them. She couldn't help but feel impressed, regardless of the rough start they had, he was confidently able to command his pokemon in such a choatic situation.

With baited breath, she watched as the ball swayed back and forth, clenching her hands into fists with anticipation. Almost there! Another crack of thunder and she jumped, Maomao running to her side and begging to be returned to the safety of her dry pokeball. Rui obliged, pulling the ball out and calling her back just as the wind picked up and it started to drizzle. This was bad. The storms out there during rainy season were no joke, the wetlands could flood within minutes of heavy rain.

Just then the pokeball clicked, the red light disappearing, and the swaying coming to a silent end.

"Is that it? D-did you get it?" she questioned, excitement beginning to take over her fear.

The blondes eyes watched the wiggling ball, when that familiar click and swaying stopped, Ryu would grin and run up. As fast as he could through all the mud of course, picking up the muddied Pokeball and holding it up in triumph.

"Murder Bird got! All thanks to Rui!"

That clear sign of triumph would of lasted, had the loud sound of cracking thunder and the flash of lightning not make the blonde jump! Who quickly put the pokeball around his belt and grab Rui's wrist, pulling her along.

"Haha, alright. Enoughs enough, let's take shelter yeah? yeah? Sounds good right?"

The poor boy would let out a nervous laugh as he led her along, his tiny dragon and her cat following behind!

Rui let out an oof as Ryu was pushed back into her, the two falling down into the mud. Just as they landed, a loud crack of thunder echoed through the valley, reverberating off the mountains surrounding them.

"O-Oh no," the girl murmured, her eyes immediately darting to the sky. The black clouds were nearly right above them now. As the thunder faded, the wetlands became eerily quiet, aside from the scuffle going on in front of them.

"Maomao, we need to wrap this up now," she warned the cat, but would it even matter? They were hours out from the school, let alone any kind of town or shelter. Even if the battle ended that second, there was no way they would escape the rapidly approaching storm.

Despite this, Maomao released her jaws from the bird, flying into the air for a moment before landing on all fours into another puddle of mud. Now the two students and their pokemon were completely soiled with it, the flamigo stomping up clumps and splattering them onto the dragon as it struggled.

Disgusting. You owe me for this, big time, the sprigatito glared at Rui, who turned her head away and back toward the sky. As she did so, Maomao launched a magical leaf attack at the bird, causing it to finally lose it's balance and fall prone into the mud as well.

"Guh, s-sorry Rui, you alright?" he would hoist his upper body up and rest on his elbows. Arceus he felt gross, covered in all this mud, it reminded him of training with his dad. Now THAT was some rough stuff...

His usually friendly eyes seemed to sharpen up as he quickly brought himself back to his feet, offering his 'partner' his hand to help her back up too.

"We got this, don't worry, we get this done, catch that menace of a bird and find some place to hunker down..."

The Frigibax loudly chirped at being splattered with mud, still stricking away at the large bird Pokemon. Once Ryu saw it lose it's balance and fall prone into the mud, he gave the command.

"Kura, Icicle Spear!"

The small dragon's eyes blinked, and he gave a loud (but tiny) yell as if to tell his Grass-Type 'friend' to back away! Jumping off the Flamigo, the tiny dragon launched himself upwards into the air, showering the muddy bird Pokemon with sharp icicles! Cold enough to even freeze the mud the bird was stuck in, restricting it's movements.

Then it came, Ryu quickly grabbed a spare ball from his belt, tossing it and watching it smack the bird Pokemon's beak, with a loud click the Pokeball would open, and force the bird into it!

"Ryu, watch ou-"

It was too late. The lawn ornament really angry bird had already closed the gap, striking the poor little dragon back into Ryu's face. It almost may have been comical, had she not felt such intense dread at their current situation. Finally, slim fingers reached into the pocket of her jacket, grabbing the pokeball her sister had lent her and throwing it between Ryu and the enraged pokemon. Now standing between the two was her sister's sprigatito, growling and hissing with her hackles raised.

"M-Maomao, do something!" Rui commanded, to which the cat seemed unimpressed. You don't know any of my attacks or what, idiot? she seemed to retort, but the flamigo was already on the move again, kicking it's leg into the air. Maomao had to make a split second decision and... latched onto it's toothpick leg with a bite attack, the bird now swinging the cat around in the air to try and get her to detach.

"Ah- Maomao!" Rui fretted, taking a step foward to prepare to catch her if she did indeed lose grip and get launched into the air.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow..." he would grumble, rubbing his sore nose before taking in the sight of the rather brave cat Pokemon fighting with the bird, the poor thing being swung around by the much large Pokemon. But this was an opening.

"Kura, Dragon Claw--!!"

The tiny Dragon-type was eager for revenge, kicking his body off his trainer's face and causing the young man to stumble back into his partner!

As the Grass-Type distracted the wild Pokemon, the Dragon-Type would attack from above, his tiny arm cloaked in a purple aura that formed jagged claws, before striking the weird bird Pokemon across the back of it's head, causing it to be sent stumbling around on one leg as the cat sunk her fangs into it's leg!

Rui was right behind him, holding back her grimmace as her feet sunk into the mud with every step. She would have to just throw these shoes away, at this point.

"Ah, Ryu--" she tried to grab him before he fell, just barely missing the collar of his shirt as tumbled into a large island of tall grass. It was like he completely disappeared. Man, Rui thought, adults were actually right, that tall grass is no joke. She contemplated going in after him, but before she could even make up her mind, she heard him shout. "Uh-oh?! W-What do you mean uh-oh--" but her question was answered before it even fully left her mouth.

At this point, Ryu had scooted back out of the grass and was beside her again, albeit a new red mark adorning his face, and they were now face to face with a very angry looking bird.

"W-what is that thing?!" she shouted, fumbling to grab the rotom phone in her pocket. It wasn't worth trying to pull up the dex app, she decided, they were in real, serious danger!

Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch. This damn bird was pretty solid for looking like a lawn ornament! How is that even possible! But Ryu wasted no time, tossing a Pokeball from his belt up to release his Frigibax partner!

The small dragon let out an excited chirp, finally, some action! His small tag wagged excitedly as his trainer stood behind him and between the wild Pokemon and Rui!

"Kura, Icicle Spear!"

The Pokemon was quick to answer the call of his trainer, jumping upwards as his small yellow quills on the side of his arms would begin to launch small icicles at the charging bird!

Who then suddenly used Double Kick to close the distance between the two Pokemon, then striking at the tiny Dragon-type, sending him flying once again into Ryu's face!

"WHY!?"

The blonde's muffled voice cried out as his partner got launched into his face, causing the two of them to fall backwards!

This weather didn't bode well for the two adventurers, but no matter, they had come this far, and Rui's socks were wet already, what was a little rain.

The girl adjusted her hair, combing through it roughly with her fingers before recalling the cyclizar with a glare. I like you, girl, it seemed to chuckle at her before de-materializing. Rui huffed.

"I'm already dreaming about it," she giggled as he nudged her. In a way, Ryu reminded her a little of Blake, and she wondered how him and her sister were holding up out there, too. She would admit (only to herself) that she was disappointed when she didn't get paired with him, but what could she do? Amaryllis always came out on top, in that regard... She never understood why he liked her so much, given how mean she always was, but he always took it in stride, always smiled and laughed it off. What the hell was it about her sister that made everyone take her shit with a smile?

Feeling herself getting heated, the psychic took another deep breath, shaking her head to shoo away the thoughts. "I think we'd better be quick about this, Ryu. The sky's looking a little ominous," Rui remarked, green eyes darting to the blackening horizon. It was far off, yes, but those storms were known to roll in fast this time of year. Best they get in and get out as fast as they could. But... where were all the pokemon? By the way everyone had made it sound on the forums, this place should have been crawling with all sorts of different pokemon. Was it possible the incoming storm had them scatter? That would be just their luck...

"Right..."

Ryu loved storms though, something about them was so exciting to him and he couldn't put his finger on it. However, Rui was right, this storm would most likely scare off any Pokemon that wasn't a Water or Electric type if anything.

His yellow eyes scanned the marshlands as he began to trudge through the thick, wet mud below them. It was a lot of work, but Pokemon Trainers don't complain! Right??

He went to take another step, yet slipped, falling forward with a loud thud and a crash into some tall grass, disappearing, before--

"Uh-oh!"

His voice rang out, the blonde was seen scooting back quickly, a red mark on his face from where he hit something, and yet from the grass...

The loud cry of the pink demon of the marshlands!

A Wild Flamigo appeared!!

The girl opened her mouth to bite back a retort, but quickly reconsidered at his warning, shutting it tight again. She was not a cheater, she seethed, glaring down at the dragon beneath her who, for a moment, grinned innocently back before focusing on the path ahead again. She was going to give this monster a piece of her mind later, she promised. You already have, it seemed to say, but she ignored it.

To her sides, scenery passed in a blur, moving in and out of her vision within seconds, but Ryu's dragon kept up pace with little effort. Small pokemon skittered away into the grass and treelines as they approached, kicking up a trail of dirt and mud. The ground was still wet from last nights rain.

Rui didn't know how much time had passed, but when they finally arrived at the wetlands, her back and bottom were sore as hell. Barely able to dismount, she stepped into a puddle of muddy water with a yelp. "Oh, Arceus, I should have worn boots," the girl sulked, looking down at her now muddied sneakers. Great thinking, Rui, go to the wetlands during rainy season, that would be fun and great, and not at all dirty and disgusting and humid and uncomfortable, she internally scolded, sighing in defeat.

"A little dirt is just part of the adventure!"

As the twos Cyclizar stopped in union, Ryu would return his once he got off. It was clear he was pretty use to it. The Dragon Sanctuary had a vast array of different biomes built into it for all the dragons to be comfortable after all, and helping out there certainly prepared him for this.

"Hey. At least your shower will feel a lot better once we get back right?" He would gently nudge his partner with his elbow, and stick his tongue out in a playful manner. Clearly unbothered.

"So, lets get to it yeah? The faster we do this the less dirty you get!"

Taking a step forward, his yellow eyes gazed over the puddled landscape. There were certainly signs of Pokemon roaming about, yet in the skies, deep, dark clouds rolled toward them, slowly, but it was still coming.

"Hmm..."

Huh, a dragon sanctuary? Where had she heard that before... could it be?! The sanctuary Ama had done her middle school report on? The one run by none other than Akio Conley, the husband of the famous idol Furuka Conley? Then that would mean...

This kid was rich the son of celebrities?! She narrowed her eyes at him, really taking him in this time. Yeah, she could see it. Furuka's blonde hair, Akio's yellow eyes... oh Arceus, she was in the presence of a nepo baby famous person. She watched as he went through the same motions he'd guided her on moments earlier before easily mounting the dragon. Should she mention it? No, no. Maybe he just wanted to have a normal life here, without too much fuss. He deserved to be judged as a person, not who his parents were, or their fame.

Rui took in a calming breath, brushing off whatever dirt may have still been clinging to her uniform, and mounted the dragon with ease, a stark contrast to her first try.

"Racing?!" she asked nervously. Barely five minutes ago she could hardly even get on the thing! Now he wanted to race? "U-Um, I'm not sure that's such a good ide-" but before she could even talk him down, the dragon under her gave a sly grin, one last opposition to the girl, before taking off at full speed.

"Eh!?"

She was gone before he could even hear her! Watching her dragon dart down the steps at full speed, blowing past people! So unfair! Cheater! Rui is a cheater chat!!! CHATROOM CHEETOR!!

Tapping his own Cyclizar, the dragon let out a enthusiastic yelp as it bolted after the other. Oh the looks the two were getting as they zigzagged through the streets and out into the wilderness of Paldea, following the dirt roads away from the city.

Finally, catching up to her, Ryu would playfully puff his cheeks out at her. Before sticking his tongue out!

"You can't just take off before someone says go Rui!" Ah, but wait--

"Ah, don't reply to that, not until they're done running! Ya might bite yer tongue if yer not use to this!!"

Ah, how embrassing, she thought as the boy helped her to her feet and guided her hands to the dragon. I should have known, but... how coud she? Despite having an affinity with pokemon in general, she had never really been around any dragon types before. She wasn't even sure her mom owned any at all, thinking back.

A bright red blush painted her cheeks as Ryu held her hands out to the dragon and it sniffed, narrowing it's eyes at her one more time. Could it be that it sensed something was off about her? Different? She swallowed. After a few minutes, the pokemon huffed a hot breath of air onto her hands and lowered himself again, seemingly accepting.

"W-wow, Ryu... um, did you grow up around dragon pokemon, or something? You seem to know a lot about them..." she asked, gently placing a hand on the cyclizars neck and petting it. The pokemon closed its eyes contently.

"I mean ideally you should do this with all Pokemon, but..." He softly said, releasing the girl's hand before standing up at his full height, folding his arms over his chest. His face gained a rather prideful look as he held his head high.

"My old man is a Dragon-Type Specialist. Runs a dragon sanctuary and everything that I grew up in! So Dragon Types are pretty common for me. That's also how I ended up with Kura!"

The blonde would release his own Cyclizar, doing the same thing he showed Rui to gain it's trust before hopping onto the dragon's back and grinning.

"Hmm I wonder, ya think they like racing...~?"

Sandwich shop, sandwich shop, sandwich shop, sandwich shop.

#Ic: Ryu

She laughed at this, relenting that maybe she had come too prepared. But to just dive into things with no plan? That may have been worse, on his part. It seemed the two balanced each other out a litte.

"Ah, yes, okay, let's get going," she replied sheepishly. Truth be told, she'd never ridden a cyclizar, let alone any pokemon besides her mother's arcanine, for that matter. Really, though, riding Vulcan around the house as a kid's game didn't exactly count.

The two exited the front doors of the academy and were greeted with the overwhelmingly large entry staircase that all of the sudents complained about. It was true, though, her first time climbing those stairs to enroll at the school with her sister was torture. Since then, she'd refused to leave the building again to avoid those stairs. She understood now why so many students immediately went out to find a cyclizar to carry them up it.

Releasing the pokemon, she made a small nod, "Hi there. I'm Rui, and um, I'm gonna be riding you today, if- if thats okay with you, I mean." The pokemon narrowed it's eyes, sizing her up, but ultimately huffed and got on all fours, lowering itself to her.

Okay, great, off to a good start! She could only assume the rentals from the school were trained to be extremely docile and adaptable. The greenette approached the dragon, taking in a breath before moving to climb onto it's seat-like back; however, as she did so, the pokemon stood up on it's hind legs, causing her to fall down on to her butt.

"O-ow... was that really necessary?!" she asked it, rubbing her behind.

Ryu on the other hand, had no problems with the staircase. Might of been all that physical training his dad put him and his siblings through before their journey! It was a piece of cake, well, not for Kura, the poor Dragon-Type Pokemon had very stubby legs after all...

He was about to release his own Cyclizar, yet he paused, watching his partner attempt to get on her own, only to get bucked off. She seemed like she was in for a rough time so far, but that's why they were here, right? To learn!

"Hey, you alright Rui?"

Ryu was quick to trot up to the girl, before offering her his hand to lift her back onto her feet. Yet, he still chuckled slightly at the incident.

"Dragon-Types can still be rather prideful, I don't think you did anything wrong really, but, let's try a slightly different approach?"

Once he pulled her onto her feet, he kept ahold of her hand, walking before her Cyclizar, and slowly kneeling before the Dragon-Type. Slowly, the blonde would stretch out both of her hands, not to spook or upset the Dragon-Type, but to let it come to them instead.

"Just take it nice and easy Rui...He's a lot more likely to let ya ride once he gets to know ya more like this..."

#IC: Ryu #amaryllisrei

It's so wet, so rainy...

#IC: Ryu

Rui let out a small giggle at the dragon's pouting. She had never met a frigibax before, but it seemed happy with this boy, at least. That was a good sign.

"R-Right," she replied, pulling her pack more firmly up her shoulders. It was a little heavy, but nothing she couldn't manage, and it was best to be prepared. "The professor said we could rent two of the school cyclizar for the project, so I went ahead and picked one up for you too," she explained, handing the blond a pokeball with the school's logo and a small identifying serial number engraved on it. "Um, I heard there's been a lot of wild pokemon spotted in the south province wetlands in area five that shouldn't be too tough. It probably wouldn't take too long to get there with the cyclizar."

The girl had stayed up all night researching trends. Where the most recent activity had been, what had been sighted, the average level, typing, and so on. School message boards had numerous students posting about finding success in the general area of southern province five, but with the rainy season in full force, the wetlands specifically seemed the most promising.

"Ah! Unless you had something specific in mind, of course! Just tossing around ideas! I'm open to anything, really!" she tried to correct, worried she may have come off as too controlling or bossy, as Ama always said she was.

"Hey, hey. Take it easy, we'll ace this for sure. Especially now since you've basically planned it all, right? I was totally just gonna run off and see what happens like I usually do!" He let out a laugh as he returned the dragon to his Pokeball. His arms resting on his hips as he bag slumped over his shoulder.

"I say, as long as we have fun and make new friends, this is gonna be a great day, right?" The blonde would close the door behind him and lock his room, right before stretching himself out and grunting.

He took the pokeball she offered and placed it on his belt. Before his gaze turned back to his new partner.

"So, shall we?"

#Ic: Ryu #amaryllisrei

"Ah!" Rui gasped as the pokemon tripped, bending down quickly and scooping it up into her arms. "There, there," she cooed, petting its head. "Don't worry, you'll get your fight soon enough."

At the sound of the boy in the doorway she looked up, blue eyes locking with golden yellow ones. "Hi, Ryu!" she said cheerfully, holding the pokemon out for him to take back. "That's right, I'm Rui, it's nice to formally meet you... I hope I'm not too early."

She had checked the time they agreed to meet via text over and over, ingraining it in her brain and arriving right on the dot; but, Amaryllis mentioned something about being "fashionably late" and she wondered if it had been rude for her to not wait another five minutes before knocking. It's not like he was dorming very far, being the next door over and all. She could only kill so much time.

"Um, i packed some water bottles and a few snacks in case we get hungry while we're out there. I'm not sure how long it'll take for each of us to catch a pokemon, but, I'll do my best as your partner!"

The tiny dragon blinked, letting out a small calming coo noise as she picked him up and held him. Before being returned to his trainer, the dragon gave her a slight tip of his head. Something about her confused him.

"Oh? No, no you're fine! Honestly I'm just eager to make a new friend through this hopefully! It's nice to meet ya too~!" He would eagerly hold his hand out to his new partner to shake for their greeting! All while the other held his dragon tight.

"Don't worry about Kura here, he's always wanting to fight..." he would glance his yellow eyes downwards to the small dragon, who seemingly let out a pout.

"Oh, you're pretty well prepared huh? Don't worry, we'll ace this together!"

#Ic: Ryu #amaryllisrei

{Closed with @corespotlight}

Rui took in a nervous breath as she knocked on her neighbor's dorm room door. Earlier that day, in class, the greenette had been partnered with him for their first battle studies assignment: catch a pokemon. The only problem, of course, was that Rui didn't even have a pokemon to begin with. So, Amaryllis had graciously lent her the sprigatito she got from the professor. It didn't necessarily have any field experience, either. I'm probably going to be a terrible partner, she fretted as the door opened.