"I only just now got here," Naomi said even as she stood up. She took a pair of pokeballs off of her belt and looked between them and the room she was standing in, as if trying to decide whether the room was big enough. After a moment, she seemed to come to a decision and opened the two pokeballs. Medicham and Staryu appeared, shaking themselves off. After another moment, Xatu and Espeon also appeared, and Espeon immediately jumped up onto Naomi's shoulder. Exeggutor appeared just after them, but Naomi held back on her last pokemon. "I need to let Metagross out outside," she said as she headed towards the back of the house. "He's too big to let out in here." Espeon stayed on her shoulder, but Medicham followed without being asked. It was dark out, so he would keep an eye out for any stray Dark-types.

"I'll go with you," Hunter volunteered, following her. "Landslide and Lairon should stay out back as well." Naomi nodded, but paused when Xatu made a sound to stop them. She turned to look at her pokemon. Xatu said a few more things, and Naomi looked at her Espeon, as if in confirmation. Espeon nodded, and Naomi sighed and nodded back.

"Alright," she said. She looked at Sayuri. "How big is the garage? Xatu just said it's going to rain tonight, and it's a bad idea to leave a bunch of Steel-types outside in the rain."

"They rust," Hunter added. He shook his head, wrinkling his nose a bit. "And it takes forever to scrub them down again if they do. Landslide especially, he's just so big."

"Metagross hates rusting," Naomi agreed, her lips quirking just slightly. "And he's ticklish, which makes it difficult to get into his joints."

"Huh... Guess I didn't notice till now." The thought left her as the garage was mentioned. It could work for the bigger Pokemon. Although... "It's a two car garage or slightly bigger..." The male owned a pick-up truck. "It's located around the back of the house. Though... I think it's still a bit messy in there... The adults were just starting to reorganize everything before I left for Johto." Sayuri forgot to check to see how it was coming, but figured now would be a good time for that and perhaps a quick clean up. The house was on the outskirts of the city heading toward Route 16 so there was lots of room for a garage. "We can check if you want. If everything's fine in there and we get the heat going, it should be a good place for them to stay the night. Even with the rain coming."

"It's not your fault you didn't notice the weather," Naomi assured her friend. "It's still clear outside. Xatu says the storm will be later tonight, and I trust her intuition."

Hunter was already going over some figures in his head.

"If it's a two-car garage," he said, "then I would say it would probably hold Metagross and Landslide comfortably." He always had to take the biggest ones into account first, and then see if any others would fit in with them. "Maybe Lairon after that, but he's not so big he can't stay inside, yet."

"Yeah, I know it's not my fault for not knowing. Though, sometimes I can feel storms just before they come. Never sure at that point when they'll occur, though, but they come eventually." She found it slightly odd, however.
"Anyway..." She went back to the situation then. "Takaitouhi's my biggest Pokemon so far. Though, he won't need any room in the garage. He likes the rain and prefers to sleep in a tree. Even during storms. Builds up endurance apparently... I keep telling him to come into the garage where it's safe, but he's stubborn and won't listen to me." The Pidgeot had always been that way, even when a Pidgey. Sayuri had probably tried everything to make him cooperate, but with not much luck.
Her other Pokemon were small enough to fit in the house, however, so she had no problem there.

Naomi took a pokeball off of her belt and handed it to her brother. Hunter would make sure Metagross was comfortable, since Hunter could understand him as well as Naomi could. Thank goodness for small miracles and 'common ground.' Metagross, being part psychic and part steel, was the only one they had in common, however (although Naomi always joked about her brother finding a Bronzor somewhere so they would both have a pokemon the other could understand).

Once her brother was off to organize sleeping arrangements for the oversized steel-types in the group, Naomi took the opportunity to let her own group out. Aside from Espeon, who was a pure, the rest of her group were all half-types. Medicham was half-fighting, Exeggutor was half-grass, Starmie was half-water, and Xatu was half-flying, and thankfully, they were all small enough to stay inside the living room. The pokemon all stretched a bit and shook themselves out, looking around curiously. Naomi greeted them each in turn, and then waited for her brother to get back.

It didn't take Hunter long to get Landslide and his sister's Metagross situated in the garage. It was a little bigger than Sayuri had said, which was good, and the two steel-types fit comfortably. After several promises of a good scrubbing if either of them rusted, the pokemon settled in for the night. Hunter went back into the house proper to let out his other pokemon.

Most of his were half-types, as well, with Lairon being his only pure steel-type. His Skarmory was part-flying, his Magneton was part-electric, and his Scizor was part-bug. The only non-steel-type on his team was his Prinplup.

Once the pokemon were settled in, the twins settled amongst them and started to relax a bit.

Sayuri reached into her bag and pulled out four Pokeballs of which still had the stickers on, though changed slightly. Chikorita was already out and sleeping, not really noticing anything around her. Even as the Pokeballs went sailing through the air toward the ceiling, releasing the Pokemon within after several flashes of light.

In unison, the two said their name as they hopped around, not as feisty as they used to be. "Gloom! Gloom!"

Followed by Vulpix. "Vul!"

And finally a newer face. "Quag!"

There was another Pokemon Sayuri wanted to obtain soon, but that would have to wait till later. Once she got the ones she had to become stronger, she'd find and capture the one she wanted.

In the meantime, she had a pretty good team going and it showed she'd worked hard with Wooper. He'd become quite strong since last seen. And big, too.

She'd release Pidgeot later as she knew he was resting after the last battle and didn't like to be disturbed.

Naomi grinned when she saw her friend's group.

"I remember you," she cooed at the two Gloom. "You're both still so adorable! And you," she said, turning to the Quagsire, "I remember you too. And I bet Xatu remembers, too." She glanced at her Xatu, who made an affirmative noise and nodded. Xatu remembered the little Wooper she battled as a Natu. Naomi glanced around. "Wait... I remember you having a Bellsprout, what happened to him?" She distinctly remembered the bad-tempered Bellsprout.

The Gloom jumped around happily at being recognized.

Quagesire greeted the Xatu in a more respectable way. He still had a hyper side, but he'd calmed down quite a bit.

"Him?" She'd almost forgotten about that. "Well, a trainer's only allowed six Pokemon at a time, according to the guide. After I arrived here and before the Saffron Gym battle, I had him sent to the lab for the time being, knowing Psychic types weren't a good match up with his Grass and Poison types. Also his attitude... I figured it would be a bad match up with that added on. He's gotten even more reckless since you've known him. Even when bigger..."

Sayuri was having a hard time keeping up with him each day. She figured he needed to calm down, hence being sent there. Though she worried about the Professor. How would he handle the Pokemon?

Naomi nodded in understanding. She'd never had more than her six, ever, but she knew that a lot of trainers did.

"Nao and I have never had more than six each," Hunter said for his sister. "Although there are probably quite a few pokemon out there that we could comfortably work with that we don't have."

"Remember the case file we read about the Mew project?" Naomi added, nudging her brother. Hunter nodded. "I would have loved to meet the clone the file said that they managed to create... apparently he wa amazing, bt nobody's heard anything about it since."

"I wasn't planning on having more than six at a time either... After my sudden turn around to become a nature-based trainer, all Pokemon related I came across couldn't be passed up." After Wooper came around, her decision just kind of stuck. Wooper was of both water and ground types. Pidgeot was similar to air and wind she figured and Vulpix... Well she reminded Sayuri of forest fires which was pretty close to being nature-based. The rest of them, except Chikorita who was a pure grass type, were of grass and poison which she had before that change. But with her very stubborn Pokemon around, it only seemed like she had only six who could be used in battle and befriended at that.

Her curiosity rose at what was said next. "Mew Project? Cloning?" It sounded familiar to her as if she'd read it somewhere before...

The twins both nodded at the same time.

"A few years ago, while we were in the type-affinity studies, there was a file that accidentally got decrypted in the computer systems," Hunter explained. "We managed to get our hands on it, and it was about the Mew Project, from maybe ten or twelve years ago. Apparently, they found Mew DNA and tried to clone it, and the clone escaped afterwards. We figure that the clone is psychic-type like Mew, and it's out there somewhere."

"I'd love to find it," Naomi said. "Even if just to talk to it." She was about to say more, but a shudder ran up her spine and she hissed slightly in pain, pressing her heels of her palms to her forehead. "Ah..."

"Exeggutor," Hunter called to his sister's pokemon. He knew what was happening. Naomi's uncontrolled 'talent' had caught up to her again. The grass-psychic type shook his leaves in answer and cast a Light Screen. After a moment, Naomi relaxed again and gave them both a watery smile.

"Thanks," she said.

Sayuri nodded as she tried to understand what the twins were saying. Science didn't agree with her mind all too well, but she'd try to understand as much as she could.
"I heard about something like that." She tried to recall as she gave it some thought for a few seconds. "Yeah. I remember now. A while back just slightly after a gym battle, the mysterious Pokemon fled from the Viridian Gym never to be seen again. The strange part about the news broadcast and newspaper stories were that they spoke of the Pokemon wearing a weird kind of metal suit... The Gym Leader didn't want the story to go live, but knowing reporters, they'd want a good story to get loose anyway." That's all she knew of that and normally she wouldn't be caught near a newspaper or the news on TV, but this story was exciting enough to keep her eyes glued to the TV.

Sayuri noticed what happened soon after as Naomi flinched, but was too slow to act with a command to Cloyster, somewhat panicking with a slight squeal. It seemed to be under control as another Pokemon took its place, but that scared Sayuri pretty badly and she sighed.
Not wanting them to worry about her she switched back to the topic at hand. "It'd be interesting to meet any rare or legendary Pokemon. I'd love to meet a Celebi one day even if it just gave a quick glance face to face."

((As it turns out, that was me... I was glued to the TV during the news broadcast of 9-11. And while drinking day old tea. Didn't notice.))

Both twins nodded.

"We heard about that too," they said together.

"It was actually just before we challenged that gym," Hunter added. "So we used the challenge as a chance to poke around a little." Naomi nodded in agreement. The two had challenged the gym separately, and while one was battling, the other was looking around.

Absently, Naomi petted Espeon as the pokemon settled herself in the trainer's lap. Naomi's headache had gone down, and it showed. She seemed cheerful and content again, rather than her subdued demeanor from before. She stretched a little and moved so her pokemon could drape across her legs. Hunter glanced at his sister, knowing the signs that she was settling in. She would start meditating soon, he was sure.

"It's so nice and quiet now..." Naomi hummed. She sighed softly. It was quiet, but that didn't mean that she could stop meditating. In the morning, though, she would make sure that Sayuri got to the gym to challenge Erika.

"I don't think I got that far in the gyms before my trip back home. Must have just missed that event or only heard about it on the news..." Sayuri had spaced out quite a bit and wasn't sure how long there were there for. She couldn't even remember what she was doing as she looked up at the ceiling for bit then at the clock, which unfortunately was stopped.

"Yeah. It's quite peaceful here..." She knew what Naomi was talking about, but didn't want to accidentally cause a chain or extended reaction somehow... If it was possible. She'd have to make sure the Pokemon who could protect and prevent were alert, but how... Schedule? Would they understand those? Then again it seemed like Hunter's Pokemon knew what they were doing in that case so it was probably okay. Not something to worry about much... And yet, being her, she'd still worry.

((I'm playing it by eye... Might need to backtrack with reading at some point... :P))

As Naomi settled in for the evening, so did her pokemon. Exeggutor didn't stop his Light Screen, but Espeon and Xatu found places to sleep for a while, while Medicham settled in to meditate with Naomi and Starmie went over to chat with the Cloyster for a while. Naomi settled with her back against the couch and her eyes shut, just breathing softly and appearing to do nothing but sit there. Her expression was calm, though, and she was relaxed.

"You know," Naomi said softly after a moment, with her eyes closed, "I could teach you how to meditate, if you like, Sayuri. It isn't a strictly psychic skill."

"Meditate... Me?" Her mind told it would probably be hard for her. Somehow she figured some of her Pokemon would learn it more quickly than she could, being calm... Sayuri didn't want to admit it, but her mother had tried getting her into yoga which was supposed to be a relaxing exercise, but it never worked out with her as she seemed to lack that ability... Meditation seemed to need that same calmness...
After some thought and while her Pokemon were settling in, either by interacting or sleeping, Sayuri gave a slight nod as if unsure, but willing. "I suppose I could try it. Might take a while, though..." She blushed as a memory came back to her. An embarrassing one...

"Meditating isn't as hard as people want to think," Naomi replied calmly. She patted the floor next to her. "Come and sit." Opening one eye, she looked at her brother. "I know you don't like meditating, but I think Metagross might need some attention."

Hunter nodded as she closed her eyes again. His sister knew him well; he tended to get fidgety when he sat still too long. He was more a physical person, rather than a mental one like his twin. He opened his mouth, but Naomi just pointed to her bag. With her eyes closed, she didn't notice that her bag shifted a bit on its own as she pointed to it, and her steel-type maintenance kit came to the top. Hunter paused when he noticed, but didn't say anything. He would point it out to Naomi later, in private. No sense in setting her off now by pointing out the emergence of a new ability.

Naomi turned her attention back to Sayuri.

"It isn't about clearing your mind," she said. "That comes on its own later. It's about letting your mind relax and do what comes naturally. If your thoughts wander, acknowledge them and let them go." It was a little different for her, since she was working on building mental shields, but the basics would be good enough for Sayuri for now.