#hof open

[toukocola]

Gotcha! | HoF Open

Touko was never really fond of getting pictures taken, or even taking the pictures herself. She was more of the kind of person who appreciated works of art, not really the painter or creator (she's more of the battling and kicking ass kind, yanno?). Though today, she was presented a silly photo album by her mother, and she gave the most specific directions a girl could possibly get: 'take pictures of whatever you like.'

Yeah, good job Mother Touko. There was little room for argument with her though, so the trainer couldn't just suggest that her own mother just fill and decorate the stupid thing herself - and so she took up the task of taking photos only because it was her mother.

It was a much easier task than she'd anticipated, to her relief; she had it all planned out. She'd take self-portraits with all of her (three) friends, she'd conduct a photo-bombing of her house and everything inside it, her badges and accomplishments... and most importantly, she'd take a .  large Pokemon team family photo to put in the end!

Touko had it all figured out: she'd fly out to Kalos for the weekend and while she was there, take photos with her beloved children Pokemon, and go home once all was over! Her photo album would be then completed and ready to be turned in to Mother, surpassing all standards she had against her; Mother wasn't expecting it to be done for at least a month, but when you give a go-getter an assignment, you best expect it done efficiently and effectively long before the due date.

--

"Betty, hold still. Lacey, scoot in - I promise Nana won't bite... perfect! Hold still!"

Taking tentative steps back to her shooting spot, she bent down to take hold of her mom's expensive fancy-schmancy professional camera, toggling different settings to turn it on and make it functional. By the time she looked back up, she found her entire team disassembled and in a disarray because of a simple passerby, who seemed to find it okay to be talking to her Pokemon and thus distracting them. 'How rude!'

And not without an irritated growl, Touko barked her 'I ain't got time for 'dis crap' attitude at the stranger, unappreciative of their obtrusion. "'Ey, do you mind? We're a little busy over here!" 

[silverlinedrival-archive]

Evening in the Park - Open

Things weren't always about training and getting stronger for Silver these days. Yes, he still trained his pokemon, but that was more to keep them and himself in shape. He had come to accept the fact that there would always be people stronger than him, and it had freed him from that madness of trying to achieve strength. This freedom allowed him to engage in other activities without feeling he was slacking off. 

This evening was such an occasion. Silver had decided to visit the National Park along with his pokemon. Most of his pokemon were nocturnal in habits, so it made more sense to visit during the evening. Sneasel was draped across Silver's shoulders and carefully held in place by Silver holding onto his claws. Crobat and Gengar were playing along the park trail, weaving off and on the road in a game of tag. 

[scienceman-colress-blog]

Hey look, an Open

A yawn. A small itch. Needing to move. They were all signs of needing some sleep. Anyone could tell he was tired. Except, apparently, Colress himself. The scientist did not believe in stopping his work for something as mundane -as he called it- as sleep. He had much more pressing work. Which, at the moment anyway, had to do with Castelia city, an ice cold Fresh Water pressed to his forehead, and his glasses folded and hidden in his lab coat pocket. 

Though the Neo-Plasma leader was visiting the city for pokemon research and to get away from the Frigate and the grunts for a while, he found himself more tired and stressed out than usual. Perhaps it was all the people and noise? No. They weren't any louder than the sounds on the frigate. Maybe it was just the lack of sleep from the past week. Apparently, it was the lack of sleep, as Colress soon found himself drifting off on the city bench, letting the Fresh Water fall to the ground.

The blond regretted the decision to sleep on a bench almost immediately after he fell asleep. Mostly because he was awoken by some person or other. Though he shouldn't have been surprised. He fiddled with his glasses in his pocket for a moment before sliding them onto his face.

"Ah...Good afternoon." He said, forcing a smile on his face but feeling a bit put off by the strange meeting.

[thebubblyassistant]

Hatchlings [Open RP]

Home was nice! 

N-not that the lab was home or anything.

Bianca did a lot of checking up once she returned. The starters seemed perfectly chipper and happy. It would seem no new trainers had come to pick one up recently, though. Snivy--the happiest Snivy Bianca had ever seen!--greeted her with a vine-wrap hug, which the young professor-in-training was happy to return by wrapping him up in arms of her own. Oshawott waved nonchalantly as Bianca shoved on, leaving Tepig to jump in place and say hello in its own cute little language.

She stopped in her modest office space to find it was in the same semi-organized mess she'd left it in. It wasn't too terrible, to be honest. Bianca could find everything and there was no paper that wasn't in a neat little stack. There just happened to be quite a few of them.

Welp. Bianca flicked the light switch back off. Nothing she wanted to see here. For now, since there was no sign of the Professor, she wanted to visit her favorite part of the lab!

That was all the way in the back, where the starters were born! There was little more satisfying than visiting the evolutions and babying the eggs and newborns. And that was exactly what Bianca was rearing to do!

[d-esper-ado]

Baby Makers || OPEN

The Pokemon Center within the lobby of the Indigo Plateau Pokemon League was crowded, and Will sat in a chair, anxiously tapping his foot against the floor as he waited for certain preparations to be made by the nurse on duty. On the floor beside his feet was a basket, a blanket covering up its contents. Seated on one side of him was Thea, his female xatu and ace pokemon, and on the other side was a disgruntled trainer, who flashed angry looks at the Elite every so often. Upon receiving a fifth angry look, the psychic turned to the fellow next to him, and said with much irritation, "Look, it's not like I wanted to be right here today. Look around. See all these trainers? You're not the only one waiting around for challenges, bud. Besides, I'm not the one you should be annoyed with~."

Will looked down at Thea disapprovingly.

"If someone hadn't gotten themselves into a certain....situation...we wouldn't be holding up twenty-thousand people, now would we Thea?"

He crossed his arms and pouted as he felt more annoyed glances thrown his way by various challengers to the Pokemon League. Being the first Elite in the lineup, the large amount of people within the lobby were no doubt waiting for him to finish up whatever it was he was doing. You see, this was no ordinary Pokemon Center visit, no. A certain xatu had taken it upon themselves to have a little fun when her trainer wasn't around, and now she was facing the consequences. 

The night before had been quite surprising to say the least, as Will had been awoken by several strange squawks coming from his dearest pokemon partner. He'd groggily climbed down from his canopy bed, maroon robe draped over his shoulders, and had walked a few steps forward when he saw not only Thea in her usual roosting spot, but three eggs, as well.

At the sight, the psychic had muttered only one word.

"What."

Apparently, love had been the air for two xatu earlier in the week while Will had been off doing other things. The proof was right before him. Shaking his head, Will had gone back to bed, deciding to deal with the situation in the morning. 

Boy, did he deal with it. This "dealing with it" was done by pulling both xatu aside and letting out an exasperated sigh, then staring down at them with the grimace of a disappointed parent. He'd gone on to question the decisions of the two birds. 

"Thea, of all the other xatu in the world, you picked this one. First of all, why in Mew's name would you pick Sot?? He is not proper father material! Secondly, we don't neeeeeed babies around here. We already have Bruno and Karen - is that not enough? Was this really a necessary encounter that had to be made?"

The female had looked down at the ground without a sound, wings placed together in front of her. 

"And Sot....I...."

The psychic blinked as he stared at Sot, the xatu's eyes staring stupidly in two different directions. 

"Nevermind."

Will sighed loudly and dramatically before saying one last thing. 

"All I know is that we're going down to the Pokemon Center right now to get these eggs to an incubator. Then, you two are going to do your job and battle challengers. No more of this," he said, pointing to the eggs that had been placed into a basket only a short while ago.

"Thea, you're going to come with me. Sot....just...stay here and try not to break anything." 

And this is how Will and Thea ended up in the lobby, sitting amongst other trainers and waiting patiently for the nurse make preparations for Thea's eggs while the crowd around the pair continued to get more and more annoyed. 

[muyiru]

Soldat Noir

As I lay    open and wounded,     I hear  a voice call to me... 

It knows my name,   though,     the voice is unfamiliar...

It's as if   the one calling me...     made me forget.

Tricking me   into believe that...     it doesn't exist.

  Muyiru sits straight up in a small cot, the collapsible makeshift bed easily taking up the entirely of her slim, cylindrical, bamboo hut. Beads of sweat that had formed on her forehead during the nightmare began to fall to her chin now that she sit awake in the dark hut. Tears leak from each corner of her eyes, the salty, grey-tinted orbs blinking away the excess liquid. She brings both hands to her face and focuses wiping away what were mere moments of that wretched dream, hoping, pleading, praying she could forget.  

She heaves in a breath quickly and sighs heavily, gaining more and more composure as she stirs more and more awake. After a few moments she takes a slow, collected breath and then swings her legs out from the cot. Muyiru stands and turns back to the cot, haphazardly unlocking and folding the cot into it's collapsible position. She turns it and leans it against the side of the hut before turning to the small, swinging-bamboo door.  She takes a deep breath before pushing through, the night enveloping her as quickly as she exits the hut.

She first glances to the left of her home, to a miniature version of the hut behind her--it's doors still and silent.  She smiles softly; however, she can't see much further, as the clouds shroud the sky and steal its luminous glow.  Her ragged breath slows and finally becomes more manageable, her eyes similarly becoming more focused. Though, no matter how placid she may try to become, Muyiru could not shake the caustic tone of that voice.

She began walking away from the pair of huts, wanting to clear her mind by walking the bay.  She is used to walking in the opposite direction on the pier this late at night and tends not to take the more wooded path after sundown.  It isn't long until Muyiru reaches the end of the pier; however, before reaching dry land she stops and turns to look back.  She notices something strange about the water's reflection under the moonless, cloudy sky.  Her brow furrows and her lids narrow as she squints to scan the still, static seaside.  Not a moment too soon, either, as she spots a small ripple, followed by a quiet splash.  Her eyes grow wide and the blood begins to drain from her face--

--And that's when she sees it.

Floating above where the water meets the ground on the path she had just traveled from was a frightening sight for Muyiru.  A blurred, purplish mist perforates from a more-solid, floating, purple orb barely visible from the fading reflection on the water.  She feels a lump develop in her throat, the cause of a parched tongue and stomach trying to purge it's contents.  She immediately feels sick and weakness envelops her knees, causing her to shake slightly.  Muyiru had always been afraid of ghosts; however, the ones that scared her the most were always Gastly--the same Pokemon type that had attacked her so many years ago in Lavender Town. Thankfully for Muyiru, though, the ghost-type, floating Pokemon hadn't taken notice of her yet, and even better, was floating away from her.  

Regardless of how loudly she wants to scream, despite her inability, Muyiru merely stands in shock, watching the Pokemon float out of her view completely.  I can't believe it, she thinks, it didn't even notice me!  She had seen these types in the past, however, never in the wild.  She tries to keep as still as possible, hindsight beginning to aggravate her.  Why didn't I wake King....and what If that Gastly comes back. She frowns and worriedly fiddles her thumbs, her legs seemingly refusing to move from the middle of the pier.   

[muyiru]

A foe and a friend♪

Muyiru breathes an exhausted sigh and brings her chin to rest between her hands, elbows resting on the table in front of her.  After re-counting her earnings for the evening, she finally has a chance to slow down.  Her eyes slowly close behind a tousled, auburn fringe, unaware of the dried oyster sauce on her cheek, and lets out yet another deep breath. "It's over..." she whispers to herself, as she opens her eyes and begins to collect the pieces of paper scribbled with ink, "I thought it would never end."  She pushes herself back from the table, and stands before placing the shift's order receipts in her front apron pocket. Muyiru sees to the last patrons in the restaurant before turning in her portion of the earnings, as well as her apron to end the shift.  After a cheery yet, well-weary farewell to the remaining staff, she immediately finds herself walking the beaten path north on Route 32.   The road connecting the more southern Union Cave, the brimming restaraunt "Carpe le Magikarp" and Violet City isn't a fairly long stretch of terrain; additionally, its beaten path snakes along both the sea's shore to the east, as well as through more padded, shaded forest to the west.  Muyiru generally loves the sea, and spends at least a few days a week on the piers or bridges fishing for fresh stock for "Carpe le Magikarp"; however, on evenings like this, with her spirit drawn thin and muscles aching, she heads to a landing nestled between the two main paths.  This plateau overlooks the sea from the middle of Route 32, and at this time of evening, just after her shift, she can find the sun settling at her back behind the forest, and the shimmer of it's bountiful rays beaming against the backdrop of the endless, seemingly everlasting horizon.   

Muyiru ascends the hill from a path only nearly hidden from the forest's main trail and upon reaching the plateau, a friendly sight catches her attention.  The chestnut glow of thick fur shimmers in the sun's light, belonging to a sleeping body curled atop a stump in the middle of the landing.  The unusual Pokemon snores rather quietly, but audibly enough for Muyiru to hear--a slight giggle floats from behind her lips.  

King stirs quietly and picks his shielded head up from the stump, eyes alert and ears listening.  The platinum skull fitted around his head shines against the bright glare of the sun, the few receded cracks of the bone-helmet letting faint light flow freely. King sits upright, pivots at the hips, glances backward toward Muyiru, and immediately begins a feverish tail wag. Within seconds, the Cubone King meets a kneeling Muyiru and squeals in delight.  The pair nestle closer toward the edge of the plateau and sit in awe of the beautiful landscape, ecosystem and new home.   "I never thought Johto would be this beautiful..." Muyiru smiles, her yellow-tinted, slate eyes reflecting a more tame, hazel-turquoise glow behind the setting sun.  She closes her eyes for a moment, absorbing the faint breeze on her cheeks and the warm embrace of the sun at her back. "Bone!"  The composed, content Pokemon lay happily beside his master, enjoying the same freedom, yet lavishing in the extra leisure his new home had brought.

[luciangoyo]

Deciphering the unknown Unown || Open!

“Is the spring coming?" he said. "What is it like?"... "It is the sun shining on the rain and the rain falling on the sunshine...”

Of all the renowned archeologists, excavators, backpackers and roundabout travelers who have made their marks by trekking through ruins Lucian Fontaine would hardly be the first person to come to mind. Yet, here in the midst of a exceedingly muggy spring morning the mauve haired psychic is certainly making the most of his time in the Ruins of Alph. It was rare that he traveled so very far from his home in Sinnoh yet a series of emails from both scientists and psychics alike had piqued his interest. He had been contacted by local researchers due to his infamous ability for deciphering codes of all kinds; They wanted him to study the Unown’s enigmatic messages in an effort to find out more about the genderless species. The psychics (And yes, more often than not he overlooked the messages of wannabe psychic nobodies) however seemed convinced that the Unown were growing precariously reckless, creating a schism noted by aura readers.

 But that in itself didn’t surprise Lucian, Pokemon could be persnickety, especially ones like the Unown who were being disturbed after centuries of rest, this ‘disturbance’ would most likely come to pass once the researchers toned down their digs. It was the sheer amount of mail that the spectacle clad man had received that captured his attention; emails, Pidgey mail, phone calls, at any time on any given day the man would receive seven to ten letters concerning the ruins in Johto, eventually he just began throwing them out as soon as he glanced at the tag line, they all said the same thing; “Urgent problems in Johto’s Ruins of Alph!”, Psychosomatic imbalance ensues!”, “Our best minds are stumped!” The letters read like a dime store novel but slowly Lucian found himself just a tiny bit interested.

  -Well if “Tiny” means taking a three week unpaid leave from his job at the Sinnoh Elite four in order to finally get this little mystery off his hands thousands of miles away.

--

Feeling the sweat building at his collar again Lucian leans back, letting out a soft groan. He was nearing the end of his stay with the Unown and he had made considerable headway with deciphering their codes and puzzles, but unlike the Pokemon themselves what he found kept evolving. Nothing was concrete and ironically enough much of the Unown’s messages and meanings remained unknown to the trainer that prided himself on knowing ‘a little bit of everything.’

It wasn’t the material itself that was challenging as it hadn’t taken him more than a day to get the hang of deciphering the broken Latin that the Unown communicated in. Instead Lucian found his own mind getting in the way, the further he went in to the ruins the more he felt the ‘imbalance’ that all the psychics that wrote to him had mentioned.  The force came in waves, at first a passing headache, then a growing pain and finally a pressing weight as if his own brain was congested with all the psychic energy in the air. He had experienced this on a smaller scale at Sinnoh’s own Solaceon ruins but this was an utterly different feeling, these Pokemon weren't necessarily angry or frightened they were restless and becoming roguish.

Lucian hadn’t actually caught sight of the elusive floating letters but they had certainly made their presence known, puzzles would be scrambled, his notes would be wiped clean as if the ink had never touched the paper, most pressingly were the vivid dreams he had while staying on location in a nearby cottage, occasionally it was a vivid nightmare sometimes an extravagant lucid dream. It brought him back to the days when he was a child who couldn’t control his own abilities, the Unown managed to both frighten and entice him.

The slim man rests back on his heels, crouched against the interior cave wall, he wasn’t completely in the thick of the ruins just yet but the insufferable heat and mental strain of being so close to the mass of Unown had pushed him to take a brief break. Removing his glasses Lucian spares a glance around, the world just a blur without them. There was a strange comfort in the  way he could manage to unfocus in the wake of the increasing aching in his head.

He allows himself to slouch backwards as his violet eyes close. “Perhaps it’ll be best if I just give it a rest.” His voice chimes out expecting no answer. It was horribly difficult to keep tabs on the locations of people around him when there was such a massive magnetic power leaching away his own abilities, Lucian could hardly allow himself to think coherently let alone cohesively use his esper like powers.  

He’s certainly a sight there, crumpled on the floor with his usual perfectly put together appearance disheveled. Maddeningly enough his interior matched the unruly exterior, the buzzing of the distant unknown occupied all of his subconscious attention making all other cognitive actions difficult.