She'd managed to trip at least three times in her rush to reach the PokeCenter, her knees scraped and her arms bruised in her effort to keep from dropping the strange creature she'd just found. The young woman's light red hair had long since escaped the messy bun she'd had it tied up in, but she didn't seem to notice it, even with the shoulder-length tresses obscurred her vision.

Glancing back over her shoulder for an instant, Jacinthe (for that was the girl's name) called back to her two companions, "Come on, guys! You've got to keep up!" A smallish Eevee was scampering along at her heels, her big brown eyes narrowed with the effort of keeping up with her owner. Floating just behind and above the Eevee was a Haunter, his brilliant amber eyes wide as he watched the head of the strange creature bob to and fro in his mistress' arms as they charged along down the street in search of help.

Jacinthe noticed that her Eevee was growing tired and gestured at the Haunter with a nod of her head, "Could you carry her? She's tired, but I can't reach her ball.." The Haunter obliged, carefully snatching up the little Eevee in his claws as they rounded the corner.

At last, the Center was in sight! "Just a little further.." Jacinthe cooed to her Eevee; the poor creature was pretty young, and hadn't quite built up a lot of stamina..

Pushing her way through the glass doors, Jacinthe made her way hastily toward the counter and laid the strange Pokemon she'd found across it. The woman behind the counter gave her a surprised look, but Jacinthe merely shook her head, trying to convey that there wasn't time to chit-chat, "..There was a misunderstanding. My Haunter attacked this...creature when it tried to rummaged around inside my pack and I--" The creature in question stirred slightly and Jacinthe felt a wave of relief wash over her, "--I was afraid it had been killed."

The nurse behind the counter stood up and touched the worm-like Pokemon, noting the coldness of the thing's scaley skin, "You found this Pokemon in the woods? This is a Dratini! They're supposed to live farther north..." It was obvious that the creature had been severely poisoned, "..We'll have to keep it over night. I'm not sure that there's much we can do for it..."

Jacinthe's face fell and she nodded slowly, "..Then just do what you can. I'll be back to check on it later.." What the heck was a 'Dratini'?

Turning back to her own Pokemon, Jacinthe gestured toward the chairs and sofa in the corner, "Let's take a break, shall we?"



ooc: Winging it. x3 Like I said, I only ever played the games; I'm not familiar with the shows or anything.. x______X

Also, I have a concept image for what Jacinthe would sort of look like ( imagine her with clothing, though.. xD )-- Click.

((Don't worry, my charrie doesn't always look this emo xD and uh, no sweat. The shows are only different in plot to the game. It still keeps some of the same elements.))
[imgleft]http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa91/Blakk-Cat/rain.jpg[/imgleft] His pokemon were tough, real scrappy and sure as hell didn't give up in a fight, but even they needed a rest. And so, he was here in the PokeCenter, waiting for them to be all patched up. He himself was only marginally better though. But it wasn't as bad as it sounded. They had been training prior to this visit and had gotten challenged by a trainer. His pokemon had won the fight, but it was a bit of a Pyrrhic victory: his umbreon would now have a nasty scar across his belly. But such was the price of a win, that and a hefty amount of PokeBucks.

He himself received cuts all around his forearm and a small bruise on his kneecap, but let's not get into how that happened. That wasn't the story at hand here. A chansey rolled out with his injured dark type pokemon, a smile on the egg pokemon's face. He walked over and cradled his umbreon, appropriately named Eclipse, in his arms. I really should be letting you rest inside your pokeball like everyone else, he mused to himself as he let Eclipse rest on his lap. It was sleeping uneventfully with some soft breathing noises. Glancing over at the door, he saw a redheaded girl rush inside, a dratini of all things, in her arms while a haunter carried an eevee.

Why couldn't she just carry the injured pokemon inside of a ball instead? He watched her intently as the unconscious dratini was passed from the trainer to the nurse. Where had she even found one? Not only were they rare, but the pokemon was also shy. Truthfully this was the second time that he had ever seen one in real life, but he had read about them plenty of times before.

Deciding to go back to his umbreon, he settled for petting it as the girl started to walk over.

Jacinthe held out her hands to take her Eevee (to whom she had given the nickname 'Venus') back from her Haunter (nicknamed 'Maelstrom'), her long, delicate fingers twirling the small creature's soft brown fur as she walked over and sat down in an empty arm chair. Maelstrom hovered near the back of the armchair, peering over Jacinthe's shoulder at the trainer and Umbreon that sat directly across from them.

Venus had managed to curl her fuzzy, lithe little form into a tight ball in Jacinthe's lap, but her left ear was still perked up (an obvious invitation for her mistress to continue scratching her ears). Jacinthe bit her lip, hardly able to stand how adorable the little Eevee was. Her mother's fiance (her mother had been married only once before) had brought the little creature home one day as a gift to Jacinthe (who hadn't been entirely happy about the idea of her mother remarrying). She had since decided that her soon-to-be step father wasn't all bad (he did have excellent taste in both gifts and Pokemon, after all)..

Feeling Maelstrom tap her on the shoulder, Jacinthe glanced up to see the other trainer. She had been oblivious to his presence before that moment, but her eyes were imediately drawn to the Umbreon in his lap, "Oh..!" Her blue eyes widened slightly and she gestured at it, "..it's very elegant. I've never seen one in person before.." Just like herself, Jacinthe thought, mentally slapping herself in the forehead. Who was she to randomly strike up conversation with various strangers? This man look rather tired, too..



ooc: I totally forgot to give the Pokemon their nicknames in my introduction. xDDDD

With the girl she had also, the eevee in her arms much like how he, himself, had carried Eclipse in his arms. Of course, one main difference was that his variation of the pokemon had gauze wrapped around its middle. Oh well, they were still sort of cousins in terms of species. He then chose to look at the girl's haunter which looked older and maybe stronger than the girl's other pokemon which was still in its first stage of evolution unlike the other. His umbreon was still asleep and his other pokemon were resting inside their respective pokeballs. He knew that some of them wanted to come out (particularly Psych), but he would rather not have a circus inside the entrance to a pokemon hospital.

"Thanks I guess," he said, not sure how to take the compliment. Sure, he knew how to raise pokemon well, but it still felt weird being praised (oh look he almost rhymed). I feel like I'm supposed to compliment her back or something... But he didn't. Instead he gazed at her eevee with his eyes glazing over. "So, you brought that dratini in right? Where did you find it exactly?" he asked curiously. If there were dratini around, perhaps there would be dragonite he could catch or something. Leaning back in his chair, he got more comfortable as opposed to his more straight posture from earlier and look a more casual look at her, noticing that she seemed rather tired herself, a few bruises gracing her arms. It must have been a rough journey here.

The man was quiet for a long while after her comment, making Jacinthe begin to regret even saying anything. She continued to quietly stroke Venus' head, focusing on the feeling of the creature's small weight in her lap as a way to keep herself from feeling terribly awkward. But at last, the other trainer seemed to respond, thanking her (he guessed) for the compliment. She glanced up at him, her face still turned down slightly toward her Eevee.

He asked about the Dratini she'd brought in. With a shrug, she gestured back at her Haunter, "..we had wandered off the road for a while before we reached this town. Venus--" she gestured down at the Pokemon in her lap, "--isn't really up for long journeys yet, so I was going to let her rest for a while.." She proceeded to describe how their little trio had found a small, quiet clearing a little way off from the road and how they had decided to rest under a particularly large oak tree. She and Venus fell asleep after a while, but Haunter remained awake to keep watch, "..And the next thing I knew, there was a loud screeching sound (it woke Venus and me up) and I saw Maelstrom attacking that strange little creature and cornering it in a log." She frowned slightly, pausing to turn and gently pat her Haunter (he had rested one of his big, purple claws on his shoulder; it was meant as a sign of apology, she knew), "..I assumed that he'd poisoned the Dratini, and when I saw my pack opened and all of my stuff lying around the clearing, I kinda figured out why--"

Her pack!

Jacinthe's eyes suddenly got a little wider and her teeth clenched when she suddenly realized that she'd completely forgotten her things in her rush to get the Dratini some medical attention, "..I forgot my bag in the clearing!" There was no telling if she'd be able to get all of her stuff back..

The silence would have been awkward if he had not responded and he had, breaking that silence effectively along with thanking her. His gaze had went from her eevee, Venus, to her haunter and as she told her story he nodded along. What would a dratini be doing there? he asked himself, though that was only somewhat relevant to her flashback. All while, he had been stroking his umbreon, making sure not to go past his head and ears. And her haunter, Maelstorm, he was right to assume that it was the stronger of the two pokemon.

"Your pack huh?" he repeated in question form. If she was lucky some of the stuff would still be there, but pokemon would have probably rummaged through the food and maybe destroyed her other stuff. But not to act like a pessimistic, he decided to smile at her. "Well maybe some of the stuff is still there. I could help you check..." he trailed off. If he was right, then there might be more dratini in the vicinity. It was a good of a guess as any.

Jacinthe felt mild agitation at herself for allowing herself to forget her things, but was at least glad that she kept all of her truly valuable possessions in either the inside, hidden pocket of her jacket or at home in her bedroom. Her pack contained mostly food and water for herself and her pokemon, but she could buy more of that at the store..

She paused, starting slightly when the man offered to help her search for her things. With a smile, the girl nodded, "I'd appreciate it.." Her fingers gently curled the end of Venus' tail as she spoke, "..I'm Jacinthe, by the way." She gave a grin and held out her hand to the other trainer, only just realizing that they hadn't even introduced themselves.

Settling back into the chair, Jacinthe felt herself starting to relax a bit more. Maelstrom toyed with the loose ends of her red hair as it draped down the back of the comfy armchair and Venus appeared to have finished napping; the Eevee was now sitting up in Jacinthe's lap and peering eagerly at the Umbreon that rested beside the male trainer. Jacinthe glanced back at the counter where she had taken the Dratini a little while before, "..I'd like to make sure that Pokemon's okay, though."

He nodded at her. "Damian." Shaking her hand, he decided to smile back, though his tone was more even than friendly. It was funny how she was able to strike up a conversation with him, a random stranger, despite that they hadn't known each other's names. But then again he didn't mind, it was better than just staring at the walls. His other hand had stopped petting Eclipse and had settled for resting on the pokemon's head while it slept. Oh well, he was sure that the umbreon didn't mind as it really wasn't aware that he was there at all.

"That's fine with me," Damian said with a shrug. Well actually he felt slightly impatient, but he knew that it wouldn't kill him to wait. The reward would be good enough. His umbreon had opened one eye, staring at Venus before the other opened. "Oh you're awake." Eclipse, on cue had yawned and attempted to stand up, only to stop via a look from his trainer. "Aye, aye you just got bandaged up! No need to reopen that wound." The umbreon, with a small growl sat back down.

"Damian.." She repeated his name, storing it away in her memory for later use. Jacinthe looked over at the Umbreon in the man's lap, noticing that it had begun to stir. She frowned a little, seeing the bandage around the creature's middle and hearing it's master reprimand it for getting up, "..How did that happen?"

Jacinthe had been in quite a few battles since she first started training, but never had any of her Pokemon suffered major wounds. It made her twinge deep down inside at the very thought of Venus or Maelstrom suffering even short term wounds from an attack..

"I...He got into a fight," Damian said, correcting himself, "my pokemon and I were challenged to a battle by this trainer and it got a little out of hand." Well truthfully in that battle Eclipse had ended up injuring his opponent, a feraligatr, even worse. And in the end, that trainer wanted blood...and his money back. Of course it ended up being Damian's blood, not his umbreon's. But now that trainer would need a rhinoplasty. At least I got even, I suppose. "We were able to win, but Eclipse here got so injured that I had to rush him to the Pokemon Center."

"Wow.." Jacinthe replied as Damian explained how he and his Pokemon had gotten into a scuffle. She wrinkled her nose at the thought that any decent trainer would pick a fight out of bitterness over losing, "..will Eclipse be alright? It seems like he gave a pretty good fight regardless." Subconsciously, she had begun to hold Venus a little closer. Just the idea of seeing one of her own companions injured as badly as Damian's had been made her feel strangely sick to her stomach.

Just before she was about to say something else, however, Jacinthe realized that one of the nurses had come out from the back, the Dratini draped carefully in her arms, "..we've done the best we can, Miss. He should be fine, but you'll have to administer some Antidotes regularly." Jacinthe raised a brow, taking a moment to register what the woman had said, "Oh! Well..he's...not really mine, but.." The Dratini appeared to be awake now, but was clearly very tired. It's large eyes merely blinked and stared at Jacinthe, almost lifeless.

Feeling something terribly uncomfortable stir within her ribcage, Jacinthe stood up and retrieved an empty Pokeball she'd been carrying on her belt, "Well.."

Damian nodded, though it seemed like he wasn't all that phased, at least in the fact that he, himself, had a fight. He felt like recounting his pokedollars, as a way of relief, but he already knew how much he earned, fifty-five hundred. But, Jacinthe wasn't so nonchalant about it. She must not be used to a slightly darker side of pokemon training as she had pulled her eevee closer to her body. But he couldn't blame her, things like these weren't run across by normal trainers.

Damian saw a nurse emerge with the dratini in her arms, watching it carefully. Well I could take it if you don't... He refrained from saying that out loud, even if he had an extra pokeball as she had already broke out hers. "You might as well, it can't exactly go out in the wild yet," he said with a shrug.

Damian was right to think that Jacinthe wasn't familiar with the 'darker side' of Pokemon. The girl liked the idea of training her Pokemon and exploring with them and whatnot, but she never thought of them as weapons and never pushed them anywhere close to the breaking point. Jacinthe was definately more interested in the companionship aspect of Pokemon training rather than the physical, agressive aspect that was the battling.

Jacinthe glanced over at Damian, nodding at his words, "True...Well, at the very least I can release him when he heals up if it turns out that he's not into the idea of joining my team.." She gave a nervous little laugh before turning back to the Dratini. She stroked its head for a moment, her expression unreadable. In the next moment, the Dratini had disappeared inside the Pokeball.

Scratching the back of her neck, Jacinthe glanced over at Damian, "Well..you ready to go?"

Damian wouldn't clue her in just yet on what he really did. Technically he was a trainer, but he engaged in practices with his pokemon that weren't exactly things you would want to tell some stranger. He nodded back at her. "Good idea. Though I don't know how long it'll be before that dratini can heal," he said before taking out his pokeball for his umbreon. "Huh? Oh yeah sure." He returned Eclipse to his pokeball before shrinking it and putting it on his trainer's belt. Might as well make sure you can't battle or strain yourself any other way.