#elite activity

[stirring-imagination]

{Elite Activity} Grimsley & Shauntal

The glow from a lantern’s flame illuminated Shauntal’s chamber, casting a violet hue upon the large room. It was eerily quiet, save for a few hums and cackles that came from her beloved ghost Pokemon. Every once in a while one of them would go up to her, but soon retreated after receiving little attention. Normally Shauntal would lavish them with it, but her mind was too preoccupied with endless frustration.

All inspiration seemed to have deflated from her thoughts. Not one idea for her novel has popped into her head and the toll was starting to even take an effect against her battling. Very few trainers stepped through her doors, only a couple defeating her and moving onto the others of Unova’s Elite Four. She would be lying if it didn't irritate her, but nevertheless she was happy for them. Whether they got to their champion was a mystery to her, however. There was a likely chance they hadn't.

For her concentration to be invaded, poked and prodded, during a Pokemon Battle wasn't like her. Very seldom did it happen, so why was it bothering her now? Perhaps it was lack of sleep, Shauntal assumed, as insomnia had been pushing her around recently. Her body hadn't been allowing her to rest. The amounts of coffee she drank before bed wasn't exactly helping, either, but she didn't blame ingesting caffeine as the disruption of her normally creative mind.

Shauntal stared at a clump of blank pages that lie on her desk, a pen in hand, the tip hovering over the surface of the top layer. The back of her neck was starting to ache from being arched down the way it was, and her bottom half felt numb. It had been an hour or so since she had been in such a position and she needed to stretch and take a breather soon.

“I've tried everything,” Shauntal told her Chandelure, who was circling the open space above her head.  The Pokemon only cooed, floating down so she was in front of her trainer. The elite peered at her from over the rims of her round glasses, watching her body swing from side to side. Pokemon, especially her own, usually supplied a grave amount of creativity to make the wheels in her head turn. But the more she stared at Chandelure did Shauntal realize, this time the method she relied on the most was failing her.

Taking a deep breath, Shauntal slowly exhaled and stood, sighing when the bones in her back popped. The pen was set atop the papers as she stepped away from her desk and pushed the chair underneath. Chandelure tilted its head in confusion, watching her. Shauntal gave an apologetic smile before taking out her pokeballs.

“I’m sorry, everyone, but I’ll let you out once I come back,” she told them, allowing all to return to their traveling cases. After all were accounted for, Shauntal made sure to have a small notepad and pen in her possession before heading out. With the way her mind was working – or not working, for that matter – Shauntal doubted anything would be written on those pages anytime soon, but she couldn't help but hope something would occur. Anything would do.

Exiting her chambers, Shauntal started off to leave the Pokemon League, but stopped in her tracks. She stood in the center, the four chambers circling before her. It was where trainers could choose their challengers in any order they wished. There wouldn't be more of them for the rest of the night, not until morning, anyway. Her eyes scanned the remaining three stairs, the stairs following the chambers her fellow elite’s resided in. She wondered what each of them was up to. Maybe visiting one of them would trigger something to help her break out of this cursed writers block. The question, however, was which of her three friends would she visit?

Being a martial artist, Marshal could very well be out training. He did so often and Shauntal would not want to get in the way of that. He was crossed off her mental checklist.

That left only two.

Their Psychic would most likely be asleep after a day of intense battling. Shauntal wouldn't get much over trying to talk to a sleeping beauty. It would be best to let her rest. That left Grimsley, their dark-type user. Shauntal pursed her lips. He could have been out as well, gambling no doubt. It didn't sound appealing to watch the man work with slot machines and card dealers.

But she had to pick someone.

“Ah,” she wondered aloud, “this is more difficult than it should be.”

Suddenly Shauntal felt silly, standing in the middle as she did. Even though she wasn't locked in, she felt like a trainer coming to the Pokemon League for the very first time, eager on who to fight first. Shauntal let out a small laugh at the irony of it all.

Eventually she decided on the chamber next to hers.