Elegant Master of Flying Pokemon

I'm Falkner, Leader of the Violet City Gym. If you're here for a Pokemon battle, be prepared experience the magnificent power of Flying Pokemon! if not... er, what can I do for you...? ~RP blog for Game-verse Gym Leader Falkner/Hayato~ **indefinite hiatus until further notice**

[blueleaffromkanto]

“Heh eleven years and counting.” The young girl states as she gives a slight bow back in respect, if Mt. Silver was a mission her best friend Red could do so could she. Leaf pretended to not notice his suspicion as she adjusted her hat. Though he had the right to be weary as she actually has been considering taking on different region leagues. She didn’t really think it would be an issue though but then with her experience she guessed it might be unfair…? She didn’t know but honestly she learns by battle not by words.

Her eyes looks up at the young man with slight curiosity, wondering if she had over stepped some kind of boundaries. Though when his smile returned and he asked her to extend her walk to Violet City’s limit. “Sure,” She states as she looks at the young man, humming a bit as she looks at her pokemon to make sure it understood they were going. The raichu nods its head saying it was done in it pokespeak.

“Thank you Falkner, it’s really appreciated.” She states offering him a gentle smile as she began to walk a bit. Her eyes looking at the young man with a fond smile, “Lead the way…?”

[zephyrleader]

Not particularly thrilled she would be keeping the Raichu out with her but careful to hide his apprehension, gave another dip of his head in acknowledgement before turning in the direction he'd come from, following trampled grass back to the path. He didn't bother stopping to look back until the dirt opened up before them in all its dusty glory. A particularly strong blast of wind had just finished rolling through, and Falkner had to bring a hand to his face to keep himself from coughing in the haze of it all. Wait, haze?

It took him another double take to fully comprehend, but the smell of smoke was certainly distinguishable once he had the mind to identify it. "A fire...!" Ever one to state the obvious, he couldn't stop himself from voicing his concern to his guest as she emerged behind him. "It's coming from further down the route!" While usually levelheaded, concern and a twinge of fear were enough to get his adrenaline going, and he took off, forming a makeshift plan as he dove into the increasingly blackening haze of smoke.

[seafoam-island-guardian-blog]

So he was not yet eighteen years of age? How interesting she would have thought him to be a bit older. With a small nod of her head she accepted his answer rather easily before looking to him curiously when he brought up the Academy once again. So, he’d studied there in his youth that was news to her but she could see why someone would join, more likely him. It was normal for people to attend such things, right?

With a gentle shake on her head she said no to his question, she had never even stepped inside an academy. She knew they where around to learn from people, professors as they were called to gain more knowledge about Pokemon. “I have never attended such a thing in my life nor do i really see the need to at my age,” she said gently looking to him. “I am well over eighteen, I have a feeling that I would not be allowed into such an academy at this point in time,” a light smile on her lips. Now was the time to switch the topic a bit further as they walked closer to the tower. “Are we almost there?” 

[zephyrleader]

He'd almost missed it, but her speedy change in subject left him no room to even sputter at her age comment. While a larger portion of his mind reeled in an attempt to process the fact she was older than him,--"well over," at that--a backup section of his brain switched to auto-pilot, nodding weakly for lack of a voice.

The Sprout Tower loomed before them from across the lake, wobbling both on the surface of the waves as well as in physical being. With the sun high in the sky, the tower was at it's peak of activity, its steady movement clear even from across the water.

Older than him??

[falkner-hayato-deactivated20130]

“If you contemplate staying in your gym because of the threat of being transported to an alternate universe… I see it may be your cowardice that sets us apart. As far as I am aware that it how it works though.”

[zephyrleader]

"C-cowardice!? Me?? O-obviously you've misunderstood! It's not that I would be hiding, more that... challengers, yes! What good would come of trainers appearing before the Gym with no Leader to challenge? It would be a terrible irresponsibility on my part to deny them a battle just because I let myself be sucked into an 'alternate dimension'... See?"

[fullmoonaurora-blog]

The Pokemon had been gone from Sinnoh as usual, going where her duties extended to, and this time it was Johto. Children aplenty required her assistance, and she intended on giving them it tonight. A figure could be seen, coming from the sky to the said mountain in a quick pace, or basically as fast as she allowed herself to go so she wouldn’t be spotted. Feathers of all shades could be seen floating down to the ground, or as they were properly called the Lunar Wing. Lately Cresselia had been shedding, and being out and about at night wouldn’t make them stop falling off of her body. Anyone could pick one up if it fluttered nearby, to her dismay, but she wouldn’t linger for long in one place anyways. Duty called, and she was a busy Pokemon. Lord Arceus wouldn’t like her to slack off, and she didn’t want to get on his bad side, not that she ever had before anyways.

Giving a cry, the Pokemon landed where the young bird master had been, her body floating in midair gracefully as if she was some majestic being. “Cresselia!” was all that a human would hear, but in the Pokemon language it was something far more beautiful. It was a grace to hear her cry to any Pokemon that wasn’t legendary, such as a Bidoof or any other regular Pokemon that was insignificant compared to the legendary Pokemon themselves. Cresselia was just another Pokemon created by Arceus- she was nothing special in his eyes most likely. It was sad, but that was how the Pokemon World worked. It wasn’t like she strived for attention anyways, she just preferred to blend in and not be noticed. But it was far too late to backtrack and leave this man behind- he had already spotted her most likely.

[zephyrleader]

The cry that answered his demand felt overly foreign to his ears, rooted to the spot in both awe and shock as he was. While not very knowledgeable of the Pokemon and the legends that went with them in other regions, Falkner had at least read an article on Sinnoh's peculiar mythology, but the transition from paper to reality was not a small leap of faith. A thousand different thoughts raced through his mind all at the same time, creating the same effect that an empty head would have. It took his Noctowl's movement as it landed to shake him from the stupor, holding an arm out so as to deter the bird from attacking.

"You're... Cresselia, correct?" A silly question, as the Pokemon had already answered with its entrance. "You're a long way from Sinnoh. Your presence here could be either an honour or an omen of ill to come... or is there something else I'm missing?"

Though unable to speak a lick of Poke-Speak himself, it felt like a moral responsibility to at least attempt to converse with the Pokemon, rare as it was to come face to face with such a myth. Falkner was not unfamiliar with encounters such as these, but the legendary dogs of Johto were pieces of his own culture--the pressure of dealing with another's felt like a separate matter altogether. Besides, maybe Noctowl could serves as a translator of sorts.

[johtoleaguetrainer]

Silencing the boy’s modesty with the flick of his wrist he stared back at him critically again. “Such words are not necessary—no need to exchange favors.” Shifting his weight as he stood looming over the young man, he was quite baffled at the question he’d just been asked. It would have been evident by his change of facial expressions that he had absolutely no idea what he was talking about.

“I’m sorry—I misunderstood your question.” What on earth was this kid talking about?—He hadn't a clue. However, he began to feel slightly more suspicious of the off behavior the young man was putting forth, and began to wonder what malevolent acts he was involved in. With out cause, for whatever reason, he suspected this even this quickly in the acquaintance.

“What’s your name, kid?” the man inquired, intensifying his icy stare to the other, as if to interrogate some sort of answer out of his mind.

[zephyrleader]

The chill he was counting on melting with humble airs only intensified under the man's gaze, graduating to a shiver of unease as a thousand possibilities as to what he'd done wrong raced across his mind. Were the two sides not supposed to be known? Was this a restricted area of some kind? A no-tourist zone? Maybe this was some evil organization's secret base? Had he broken some sort of cultural law? Did those in Unova not fly on Pokemon? Was it insulting to speak up to someone? Would apologizing incur the same taboo??

"M-my sincerest apologies for not introducing myself beforehand." He sincerely hoped the latter-most of his list of possibilities were incorrect. "My name is Falkner, and I am Leader of the Violet City Pokemon Gym in the Johto region. M-may I be so insolent as to ask the same of you...?"

The split-second before he said it, he had thought it would be a good way to make conversation. The split-second afterwards, Falkner wanted nothing more than to take it back. The look he was getting was not one he should pry into, which was the unfortunate result of his latest sentence. He nearly winced at the blunder, but did his best to remain calm. Just what had he gotten himself into?

[bun-nyeared-blog]

Her face fell slightly as he stuttered. “Awh, it’s fine. You don’t have to if you don’t have time…” However, his smiled sparked hers and she grinned cheerfully back at the gym leader.

[zephyrleader]

“As the Leader of this Violet City Gym, showing you around would be the least I could do to make up this inconvenience posed to you. If you wouldn’t mind though, I’ll be needing to make a stop by the City Office to pick up some forms first.”

“Oh, sure! I’m fine with that. I’ve got plenty of time, but you really don’t have to help me if you have something to do.” Her face fell in concentration for a moment, “Wait… so you’re the gym leader?! That’s so cool!” Mei hadn’t expected to meet the gym leader until she challenged the gym. 

Following him with an excited look on her face, she skipped. She glanced around, her face smiling at the scenery. It was rather beautiful; Mei was surprised that she hadn’t been able to admire it before. During her travels to the city, she had been more determined to find the actual place than see the sights.

“I’m Mei!” She chirped, “Mei from Aspertia.”

Her enthusiasm had him chuckling, happy to see her spirits were easily mended. Resilience was one of a trainer's greatest assets, after all, and the best trainers across the regions were those who could take a loss and find the motivation to bounce back twice as strong.

"It's really no trouble at all, Miss 'Mei from Aspertia.'" Partly a tease on her introduction, partly covering for not knowing where she was referring to. At the very least, it didn't sound like any town in Johto, to the best of his knowledge. "I'm confident you'll be able to find something to occupy your time with during this slight delay. Out of curiosity, have you challenged many other Gyms before?"

Violet City was often a new trainer's first stop, most of the residential towns out in the west feeding their paths towards it. Evidently not from Johto, he'd normally assume she was a seasoned trainer, but she held an air of naïve inexperience about her, which made  him wonder. There were only a few cases the League granted him to alter his registered team, after all.

[zephyrleader]

effulgentparagon finding-marlon joey-the-youngster.tumblr 3-seconds      has started following you

At a young age, the children of Johto were taught to direct any questions or concerns they had about Pokemon to their local Pokemon Centre, the nurses having trained both in Pokemon medicine as well as public services. Those cities with a Gym could usually provide the same information and help from the trainers there, evidently experienced in dealing with Pokemon. Usually, the people Violet City went to the closest of their two choices, but as Leader of a Gym, Falkner had to make many a judgement call as to whether he should deal with a problem on his own or not. In this particular instance, what to do with the egg he crouched before, poking it lightly in thought.

On one hand, if it was a wild Pokemon's, he should leave it where it was, or at least move it further into the underbrush from the middle of the path it had been left on. On the other, it could have been abandoned here by a trainer not prepared to deal with a baby Pokemon, in which case he had best bring it to the PokeCentre. The dilemma had him stuck where he was, staring much too intently at the innocent egg as if it could tell him what it wanted him to do with it. Even the Taillow on his shoulder had gone quiet, appearing for all intents and purposes to have been also mulling over their options when it was more likely to have simply gotten tired of being ignored.

He had no idea how long he had been mulling this over, but the length of his shadow was beginning to worry him. He had almost hoped a wild Pokemon would come back to claim the egg to decide for him, and was beginning to grow anxious. He didn't register the footsteps approaching him on the dirt path from behind until his Taillow turned to chirp a greeting, startling into almost losing his balance.

[bluecouture-deactivated20130220]

It went without saying that the shrill cries of some running children had caught Blue’s attention. What they saw had been ‘a monster’ according to them, but she knew better. It had to be a Pokemon, and if it had been so frighteningly different from the usual ones that frequented Route 32, then it was possible that it was a rare Pokemon— maybe.

Although it seemed counterproductive to turn back, but there was a chance it could be a Pokemon worth catching. Casting her eyes down at the Wigglytuff beside her, she grins. “Let’s go have a look for that monster, shall we?” The enthused pink Pokemon claps her hands, singing with glee as they backtrack through the tall grass.

Fortunately, it seemed as though the pair hadn’t strayed too far from Violet City just yet. Blue notes that there are smaller footprints leading out of the grass and towards the city and figures that those kids must have made their way into town by now. It’s a good thing, she thinks as she treks through the grass, because it means no one can get in her way or get to the prize before she can. 

The sound of rustling grass from behind alerts her, bringing her to a halt in her place. For a moment she let’s herself believe that it’s the fabled monster, but alas— the booming voice of a male trainer erupts from the greenery instead, along with a flapping Pidgey. “Ah… I spoke too soon.” She mutters under her breath before sighing. “Over here!” She calls, waving her arm. “Thank goodness you found me, Mister…” She pauses as she takes in the appearance of the trainer that had emerged from the green. “Oh! The Violet City gym leader himself. Lucky me!”

[zephyrleader]

Jogging the short distance to the general area she was standing in, Falkner kept a professional air about him, determined to give a good first impression. He started briefly when she recognized him so readily, but nevertheless gave a quick bow in greeting, one arm before him and the other on his back.

"As both Gym Leader and representative of the Violet City Police Force, I'm merely doing my job. You do me great honour to identify me by my appearance alone, though." A quick glance over to the Wigglytuff beside her gave her away as a trainer, and he briefly wondered if she would be challenging his Gym. "You've not strayed terribly far from the main path--I have no doubts a trainer such as yourself would have eventually found your way out with relative ease. As it was, we had a couple children claim the rustling in the bushes was a monster. I don't suppose you saw them, perhaps?"

 Just as it was occurring to him that his father's Pidgey had flown ahead of the pair, there was a shrill cry from further within the forest. Falkner would have run ahead without a word if the bird had not come careening out of the branches at full speed, feathers flying everywhere in its panic. He tried to calm it as best he could, holding his arms out to get its attention while calling it to relax. The Pidgey continued to chirp though, flying in circles as if to tell the two to follow it.

He caught his guests eyes with an apologetic glance, concern outweighing his embarrassment at how the Pokemon was acting. "Or, perhaps... you were not the source of the rustling from before...?"

[zephyrleader]

"You mistake me for another pokemon... i dont create earthquakes..." (*in mind: 'i don't create earthquakes' *falkner sighs* 'i create a thick layer of frost' *Falkner pauses* XD)

"A-ah, I apologize for the misunderstanding then," he said quickly, afraid he may have insulted the dragon. "I-I think I remember a tree down this way, if you'll kindly follow me..."

What he called a tree was hardly that, more of a vertically growing shrubbery. A small, yellow orb sat at the top, as if it were the star atop a yuletide decoration, which only added further to the ridiculous image. "The yellow ones have a bit of a sour taste to them, but I suppose some people like that sort of thing. They can only bear one apricorn at a time," he explained, picking the spherical object from it's place to hand to Katrina. "But it can usually produce another within a few days. There might be some seeds you can use to plant your own inside, though I'll admit I've only ever really given them to Mr.Kurt over in Azelea to make into specialized Pokeballs."

[zephyrleader]

Remember my super cool Rattata? My Rattata is different from regular Rattata. It’s like my Rattata is in the top percentage of rattatas.

How did you get this number. I knew this thing would bring no good... Y-yes Joey, I do remember your Rattata. I'm glad to hear its doing well--*is abruptly hung up on*...... someone teach me how to block numbers...

[goldhibiki-deactivated20131217]

Blast from the Past: Violet City Gym

[goldhibiki-deactivated20131217]

Gold watched with fists clenched as the rain of fiery pellets trailed the Pidgey as it flew around the stadium. This had happened in their previous battle when ‘tackle’ was the only move Exbo knew and high in the air, ‘tackle’ couldn’t even do anything. Then Pidgey made its move, Gold saw it coming but it was already too late.  “Quick! Exbo Jump back!” he shouted in near desperation but even when Exbo leaped backwards the burst of sand hit the little fire type. Partially hindering his vision, lowering his accuracy.  “Exbo you okay!?”  He called out to his partner to make sure he was okay and with relief Exbo replied with a reassuring screech. Gold was relieved to see that his partner was still okay, they had trained against many pidgey in the wild but none of them could possibly compare to this one. Gold glanced over to Falkner, whom didn’t seem to be breaking a sweat and back to Pidgey which had it’s tail licked by Exbo’s flames. It wasn’t much but it was a start, better than last time wherein Exbo didn’t manage to land a single hit. “Okay time to use what we learnt.”  Training against the various wild pokemon around Violet City taught him many lessons in battle and tactics. Together they found ways to take on variety of problems. “Okay Exbo, jump up high and shoot Ember up into the sky above Pidgey!”  Upon command the Cyndaquil literally jumped into action, hurling itself high into the air and midair the little fire type cocked up his snout and opened its mouth. From the mouth of the little fire type came another rain of fiery pellets. This it it wasn’t aimed directly for Pidgey but up into the air above it. Gold watched nervous, hoping his new tactic would succeed him in the gym like it did in the wild.

[zephyrleader]

At least the pipsqueak was handling the battle better than last time. He was quite the scene, jumping and shouting as he had been. Though the shouting remained constant, it certainly was no where near as frantic, and his stationary stance spoke volumes of how far his maturity level had come in a few days. His battle tactics, on the other hand, hadn't seemed to have evolved at the same pace.

"Same trick isn't going to work twice, you know." The Pidgey was circling the air above, making sure it was out of the sand's range patiently awaiting its next orders and giving a coo as if in agreement. "Again, speed up and a Sand-Attack!" Another coo came as a confirmation.

What he at first thought was an after affect of the drop in accuracy from the previous Sand-Attack was quickly identifiable as a battle strategy, and Falkner could not take back his orders fast enough. The embers were linear up until a certain point above the bird, and then gravity doubled their speed and hailed upon it, faster than it's wings could speed it away. The direct hit unavoidable, and sent the Pidgey plummeting to the platform, it's wings charred.

Falkner bit back a yelp, careful to remain collected in front of a challenger, but the sight of his father's precious Pokemon with its wings all but clipped put a lump in the back of his throat. It chirped regardless, as if to answer his unasked question as it hopped to its feet, eyes still full of fight. Its locked eyes with its proxy-trainer, pulling himself together with a nod.

"We'll just have to show them Flying-types are just as capable on the ground. Use the sand to go in for a Tackle!" A shrill cry answered him, and the Pidgey flapped its wings lightly for good measure. Unable to fly, all it served to do was kick up the sand again as it charged forwards, Keen-Eyes seeing through the mist to trace a zigzag path to the Cyndaquil.

[zephyrleader]

whitewish-es loopy-luppi thelovelytomboymermaid never-ending-flame flannerymoore      has started following you

As technology allowed for more accessible ways of keeping in touch, most people found the usage of boats to be an effective way of visiting foreign regions, whether as tourists or on business matters. Trainers with the appropriate badges found flying to be much quicker, but flying in a group was a bit of a tricky matter, especially for those who had yet to find an appropriate partner to take to the sky with. Namely, the most inexperienced birdkeepers of the Violet City Gym, the lot of which had been so honoured as to be picked up after their Unovian competition by their most righteous Leader only to lack the gall to return home in their element. To say that Falkner was annoyed would have been an unfortunate understatement.

One might have thought it strange that as comfortable as he was in the air, the Flying-type master had such terrible sea legs, but commenting on such out loud would have done nothing for his mood. As it was, the scowl he wore as he clung to the railing in an attempt to edge his way back to the cabins looked etched permanently into his features, the breeze from the deck blowing his fringe out of place so as to bring out the full potential of his glare aimed at the waters below.

The top of the stairs was the most inopportune time for the ship to lurch, but Murphy was obviously practising law on this boat. He was flung forward without the balance to stay upright, the brunt of his fall broken by a body coming up from the cabins. It was lucky for the both of them the incline was so gradual as to not cause any terrible injuries, a short tumble not likely to crack open any heads. As soon as the world had stopped spinning--at least to a more manageable degree--Falkner was on his knees muttering apology after apology, bruised shoulder smarting.

[zephyrleader]

"that's great" Katrina said happily, before she looked at him, "Do you think you could show us to them?"

"I would be happy to, Katrina, Kyurem." He gave a light nod of his head to show courtesy and was about to head off to the last place he remembered seeing such a tree before stopping, eyeing the dragon again wearily. "I... trust you can relocate without causing tremors? While the plants themselves are more or less sturdy, I'm not entirely sure I want to be on reconstruction duty later..."

[mysteriouspsychic]

Sabrina saw that the other was relieved and smiled. It was a pleasure to know she was helping someone. “I have plenty of time…and I figured you wouldn’t know who I was.” She said simply. Actually she was a bit surprised. Most leaders have heard many rumors about her and veered away from her, but then again, Falkner and her were from different regions.

“Shall we get going?” she asked, running of finger through her long locks. “You should stay close behind me, its really easy to get lost here.” And she started off, expecting him to follow close behind.

[zephyrleader]

Blinking back a couple of times to register her words, Falkner gave a delayed nod, not entirely sure why she preferred to remain anonymous but accepting her help nevertheless. It was, he'd admit, a bit suspicious, especially with the air of... what ever it was that surround her, but in his current situation, it would be best not to look a gift horse in the mouth. If something were to pop out of it later, at least he'd have the walk over to calm his nerves to deal with it.

Her hair shimmered any number of colours ranging from green to blue to violet in the light, which made it easier to keep a trained eye on the back of her head, determined as he was not to end up lost again. It was a bit difficult in both the crowd as well as the follow-the-leader line they'd formed to execute adequate conversation, but the silence between them was stifling enough to at least warrant an attempt.

"You seem like you've a good grasp on the city's layout--did you say you were a local, perhaps...?"

[zephyrleader]

"We are here because Katrina wants to explore..." Kyurem rumbled, "AND find more merchandise for my Berry stand back home!" Katrina added with a grin

"Exploration in search of product, eh?" he hummed, silently amazed the dragon was inclined to follow his not-partner's whims. "Johto's climate is rather temperamental for berries, and you'd be hard pressed to find a good patch of soil that they'd grow in because of such...."

"Oh, I do suppose there is an abundance of apricorns to be found throughout the region. Violet City and the surrounding area have a few wild trees you could pick a few from. Pokemon tend to enjoy the taste of the juice they produce."

[lyra-kotone-deactivated20130128]

Lyra jumped a bit as the light came on, and looked around frantically. Upon seeing the police booth, she breathed a sigh of relief. “I was on my way back to Route 30,” she answered. “I’m going to look for a Hoothoot. I want to catch one before challenging the gym tomorrow…” she yawned. Even though she’d been traveling most of the day, she didn’t want to miss a thing from any of the places she went, and that included Pokemon that appeared at different times of day. “If you see me again, I’ll probably be headed to the Pokemon Center. It’s debatable whether I’ll be able to stay up or not, though…”

Lyra blinked a few times and tried to shake the sleepiness away. “I’m Lyra, by the way,” she said. “What’s your name?” Perhaps chatting with this stranger would wake her up a bit more.

[zephyrleader]

A trainer at this time wasn't terribly unusual, and the Xatu beside him settled down again. Falkner, on the other hand, perked up at her choice of Pokemon she was looking for, fatigue melting away under the lamplight. "You're looking for Hoothoot? Hmm... I might be able to help you out with that."

Xatu gave a chirp of disapproval as he jumped over the window, leaving his uniform hat on the seat he had been dozing in just minutes before. He gave the bird a goodhearted shush. "I'm merely escorting this young lady through the dark of the night in order to accomplish her goal. Would you rather I left her on her own?" The Pokemon didn't look impressed, but he gave it a pat anyway, almost vibrating with excitement. "If anything actually happens, you can just teleport me back, after all."

Turning back to her with a goofy grin, he extended a hand. "A pleasure to meet you, Lyra. I'm Falkner. If it's Hoothoot we're after, I know where a particular colony usually heads out to hunt. Shall we go?"

[blueleaffromkanto]

The Raichu looked up at the man confused though soon hid behind Leaf leg a bit nervous cause of his stare. You wouldn’t think such a shy and timid pokemon was such a powerful battler. Leaf leans down to pet her head to assure her as he smiles a bit.

“Hmm Falkner, the gym leader of Violet City,” She mused to herself making sure to remember that name. It was nice to meet such a nice and polite man though he didn’t need to try so hard. Leaf giggles a bit when he state she shouldn’t worry about the kid, “Yes I think clearing up the misunderstanding is in order, wouldn’t want them thinking there’s an actual monster out here.”

“I’m pretty use to traveling on rough terrains.” She pipes, as she returns the smile. Not at all deterred  “So I wasn’t really to surprised when I encountered the mountain pass, I always enjoy a good challenge.”

[zephyrleader]

"You must be quite the seasoned trainer not to bat a lash at the infamous Mt. Silver. Violet City would be honoured to have you grace its roads, of course, after you have finished your stroll." The humble bow he gave thereafter served to hid a suspicious glint in his eye, an air of unease shrouded carefully veiled behind his words. While he would have liked nothing better than to befriend such an obviously friendly woman, that she had apparently not even been fazed in the slightest by the pass called for some light-treading. With so many disappearances over the years, any sane trainer would have sought an alternative route--Falkner himself had only barely gotten up the base before he had to begrudgingly admit defeat. If such a trainer were here to challenge the Johto League, it may upset the careful balance of competition his predecessors had so carefully created.

He returned the smile to his face before straightening. Ability and intentions aside, Falkner still felt a sense of duty as host so long as she was within Violet City's limits. "Would you care to extend your walk to within the city proper? I shouldn't be away much longer, but I would be happy to accompany you if need be."