"Just think about it," Naomi said to the Bellsprout. With that, she went back over to her own Pokemon. Her Natu jumped into her lap as soon as she sat down on her cot, and she grinned. "Honestly, sweetie, you're so clingy," she said as she affectionately stroked Natu. The little bird chirped brightly and snuggled into her lap. "Natu natu!" Naomi grinned and let her snuggle.

"I was sure you'd get nailed with a Vine Whip," Hunter teased his sister. Naomi rolled her eyes.

"Honestly, Hunter, just because Buzzer will shock anything that moves when he's in a bad mood doesn't mean every Pokemon will," she replied.

Bellsprout would consider doing that, he decided.
The Oddish were bouncing around, happy about their makeovers as they playfully ran around the room, showing everyone, the female more enthusiastic about it than the male. Chikorita could endure the noise the two made as she was used to it. She however wasn't used to the mess Sayuri made while giving them the makeovers as she gave her a slight stern look. Sayuri saw the look and knew right away what it meant as she quickly gathered everything up and folded it all neatly before placing it back into her bag, sewing kit included. Then she blushed. From the way she made the outfits, she had another option in the way of careers. The suit was a bit plain right now, but the pink bow was medium sized with lacy ruffles on the edges making her female Oddish cuter than before. She turned to the twins. "He really doesn't use Vine Whip on people unless he's really angry. If anything he'd use a physical move instead. Like Tackle. You're pretty lucky. And helpful... He seems less angry now. Thanks." She looked at the little bird on her lap. "It's so cute!"

"Natu natu!" The bird preened under the praise. She liked being told she was cute or pretty or beautiful. Naomi rolled her eyes and stroked the Natu a little more before setting her down. Almost immediately her Exeggcute swarmed her, all jostling for her lap.

"Honestly, guys, it's not like you haven't seen me or anything," Naomi said as she let her Pokemon snuggle. She knew she'd be sharing most of her cot with them that night.

"You spoil them too much," Hunter commented.

"I do not," Naomi protested.

Sayuri giggled as the Pokemon all wanted her so badly. "They must really love you." She also had the feeling of being spoiled, but didn't say anything. Her brother might be able to say things like that and only get a frown, but with her agreeing... Well she didn't want to accidentally start a fight. Then again... "My Oddish are usually pretty happy after giving them makeovers. I wonder if maybe I spoil them too much... They don't seem as happy without them or are always begging for them..." She had to think about that one. After each battle they'd endure, she would promise them makeovers and keep them. They were still bouncing everywhere as they bounced up Onix's tail. "Hey! Stop that! You don't know what could happen!"

Exeggcute saw the two Oddish and immediately went to go join them, bouncing around on Landslide. The giant Rock-type rumbled a bit, but didn't move. He was relaxed, darn it, and a few little Grass-types weren't going to ruin his mellow mood. Every so often, he would twitch the end of his tail and send one of the Grass-types bouncing higher than usual.

"Don't worry about it," Hunter said to Sayuri. "They're not bothering him." He grinned. "Landslide's about as Relaxed-natured as a Snorlax."

"At least he's not lazy," Naomi teased her brother. "Although Cutter is Determined enough for both of them." Hunter snickered.

"Yeah, really," he said.

The Oddish were thrilled about the bumpy ride as they each got turns bouncing higher from the leverage of the tail. Rather than be scared, they were having the time of their lives. "Oddish!" Sayuri still worried as they'd never been that high up before. They were getting pretty close to the ceiling with every bounce. The grumble didn't sound like a good one, but she trusted Hunter's words about him being relaxed... "They look to be having fun, but..." Still looking up at the ceiling... Bellsprout watched the Grass Pokemon as they bounced up and down on the tail. It looked fun... But, he had to stay put as he was in his rebellious stage and decided not to move for any reason. Even though it was killing him as they seemed to have fun. Chikorita was the oldest of the group and figured she'd be more mature about doing something that rude. Even though she, too, felt uneasy about the fun she was watching almost wishing to go herself. The Oddish were her last two caught before coming back to Johto so they were considered the youngest, him first then her. No wonder they were acting like children...

Hunter kept an eye on his Onix, although he really didn't think Landslide was the least bit bothered with the Oddish and his sister's Exeggcute. Landslide really was a laid-back Pokemon, and Hunter could tell that the big Rock-type was playing with them a little by bouncing them higher. Landslide was even bouncing up the six Exeggcute heads one at a time, making them all squeal and chatter happily. The six little heads started to bounce and dance on the floor once they were all down again, and then skittered up for another go.

"Nah, he's letting them have fun," he said to Sayuri. "Naomi's Exeggcute does this all the time, it's no big deal. If it looks like they'll fall, Cutter will catch them." He glanced at his Scyther, and it nodded.

"One of the perks to having such a huge Pokemon around," Naomi joked. She looked at Hunter. "Kind of like Grandma Jean's Snorlax, remember? We used to bounce on it all the time."

Hunter snickered. "Yeah, I remember," he replied. "And it didn't even care."

"That's good to hear." She, too, somehow noticed the Onix was playing with them a bit. Her Oddish had pretty good balance and wouldn't fall off very easily. Though they have almost a few times, but managed to catch themselves before they completely fell anywhere. Whether it was a fallen tree used as a bridge or the gutters of a building they would sneak out to play on. Sayuri only wished they could have this much energy when battling, but they weren't quite there. They'd hop to dodge, but to attack... It was a somewhat slow process.
By this time, unable to handle it anymore, Chikorita joined in on the fun everyone was having. Not much later, Bellsprout also joined in having fought the urge long enough. Sayuri sort of giggled, but at the same time felt maybe there were too many Pokemon playing then. Didn't say anything about it, though even though she worried again.

Naomi watched as her Natu went to get in on the fun, as did her Eevee. They all enjoyed this game, except for Staryu, but Naomi knew that it didn't like heights at all.

"You know," she said to Sayuri, "this is good training for them." She watched as the Pokemon all lined up for their turn to be bounced into the air. Natu fluttered her wings and chirped happily when it was her turn. "When they get tossed around in battles, some Pokemon have issues getting oriented again. This helps them stay oriented when they get thrown around, and this is a lot safer since nothing is attacking them." She grinned. "It was actually Hunter's idea, originally."

"Really?" She thought about that for a while and remembered a few times where her Pokemon were knocked into the air and quite high up. She'd been tempted to try and catch them each time, but that would mean forfeiting to some trainers. While others would probably just give up the battle themselves thinking she was a worthless trainer or something. Made her feel guilty for the pain they had to go through, but that's how battles were... Sayuri really didn't like battling if it meant hurting her friends. "So you've tried to before? In the same way?" It was an interesting method. She couldn't try it as she didn't have a Pokemon big enough for it. She thought it to be awkward at first. Just playing around. She didn't know it would help them at all. "Thanks for teaching me that." She smiled as she watched them all have fun, even Bellsprout. Maybe it was something he needed. Attention...

"I didn't know that it was this game that was helping, the first time," Naomi admitted. "But we were up against this other kid with a Raticate, and it managed to use a Tackle that sent Exeggcute flying. I thought that was it, but Exeggcute managed to spread out and roll and land just the right way so that it managed to use Barrage on the Raticate. I figured out later that it knew how to land that way from jumping around on Landslide." She watched her Pokemon play, and patted her Staryu a bit when the Water-type came over and sat against her cot.

"You know, your Bellsprout looks like it's in a better mood," Hunter commented as he kept an eye on the Grass-types. Even when they were being careful and having fun, they still had the elemental advantage over Landslide, and Naomi's Exeggcute was of a similar level so it would be even easier for it to hurt Landslide without meaning to. "I hope it knows not to dig its roots into Landslide's hide, he doesn't like things like that much."

"It really is a helpful trick. Seems with play, anything can improve. The same goes with people when we exercise quite a bit through out the day. With each day we get stronger. So do they." She was pointing out the obvious again but it was the truth. Everyone got stronger that way. When she heard what hunter said about roots she got a bit nervous. "Uh oh..." She watched with worry for a bit hoping it wouldn't happen. "It happened before with a Golem... It wasn't very happy after that... I'm hoping Bellsprout will be able to hold them up or away..." She continued to watch as they nearly did that very thing. "Ooh... Close..." She'd have to keep her eye on them which meant she'd be unable to talk much after that. "What would he do if it happened by accident?" Chikorita was getting slightly bored of playing the game. She also wasn't used to being tossed up like that and was getting a bit dizzy from it. "Chiko..." She wobbled as she walked back to the cot and lay down beside it, too dizzy to go any farther. "Are you okay, Hanawa?" "Chiko..." She was, but didn't want to move anymore.

Hunter didn't reply to Sayuri right away. Instead, he went over to the group of Pokemon and knelt down next to the Bellsprout.

"Hey, buddy," he said. "Be careful of your roots, alright? Landslide probably won't like you digging your roots into him." He tried not to sound bossy or anything like that. He just wanted to let the Pokemon know to be careful. Standing up again, he went back over to where his sister and Sayuri were sitting. "Alright, let's see if that helps at all. Landslide won't like roots digging into him, and will probably end up stopping the game and grumbling at everyone all night."

"That wouldn't be good..." She sort of knew of any Onix's temper and how bad it could become depending on the Pokemon. She hoped, even if accidental, that Bellsprout would be careful. Also not do that very thing just because he was told not to. Seemed to act that way sometimes. Bellsprout was pretty good about avoiding that problem as much as possible even though, as Sayuri though, he was also thinking the same thing. Revenge... Chikorita knew how to set him straight though so that was no problem. The Oddish were still having too much fun to notice anything going on.

After a little while, Eevee, Natu, and Exeggcute dropped out of the game. They were tired, now, and they wanted to relax for a while. They knew that Naomi would want to start the Gym circuit soon, so they wanted to be at their best for it. Naomi went over to study a map of the Johto region. After a moment, she punched a few things into her PokeGear and then went to sit back down.

"Alright," she said, mostly to her brother. "I think we have two options for getting to Violet City. It's actually not that far, if we go north and then cut across to the east, but if we go that way, we have to walk."

"What's the other option?" Hunter asked.

"Well, there's a bus line that runs to Violet specifically for those wanting to start the Gym challenge," Naomi replied. "At least, it said so on the map. We can do that, but it'll take longer, because it has to go around to every major town before it goes back to Violet."

"Then I think we should walk," Hunter replied. "It'll end up being faster."

"I figured you'd say that," Naomi replied.

All of Sayuri's Pokemon were getting a bit tired, too as they all hopped off and walked to the cot. Bellsprout was feeling better after the attention and wanted to stay where everyone else was now. He avoided rooting the Onix as he hopped down. "I'm thinking walking would be the better option, too." She wondered if maybe there was a third option. "Though... Could a large flying Pokemon fly us all to New Bark Town? We might be able to walk from there to Violet City if it can, provided it can get here first..." She looked through her Pokegear for Professor Birch's phone number. She still had it. "I can always ask if you want. If it'll be more helpful." Unless they preferred their second plan. She didn't know.

Ruben was finally reaching Goldenrod as the train came to a stop. He got off it and looked at his list. First on it was 'Pokemon Center'. He figured his cousin was already on her way to any of the gyms so he was safe from seeing her for a while.
Was he wrong when he heard her voice coming from one of the rooms as he sneaked himself closer to the door to listen in. He wanted to know where she was going so they wouldn't meet up again, but he'd just missed that part. He wanted to closer to get a better look at who she was talking to, but his shoes made a squeaky noise as he edged closer. 'Damn it!' He thought.

"You don't have to," Hunter said. "I mean, you can if you want, but you don't have to go to the trouble." He didn't mind the hike. Besides, maybe they'd find some other trainers to battle. That could be fun. He and Naomi both looked over at the door when they heard a sound, and Buzzer sparked warningly. If someone was sneaking about being sneaky, he wasn't going to let the sneaky person near his trainer. He'd see just how sneaky Sneaky Person was when Sneaky Person was twitching all over from a Thundershock...

"Buzzer..." Hunter said warningly. Buzzer stopped sparking, but didn't stop buzzing quite yet. Naomi got up and went over to the door quietly. She wanted to see who was out there.

"Hmm... Maybe walking would be best after all. Flying... Somehow that seems a bit too easy, right?" She smiled with her tongue sticking out a bit as she put her Pokegear away.
Sayuri heard the noise herself then and went to investigate. She knew that sound, but wanted to see for herself. It was one of those that couldn't be mistaken as she'd heard it each morning running up the stairs into the kitchen. Her Pokemon followed also recognizing the sound. Bellsprout was getting ready to pounce for protection while the Oddish were ready to pounce to play. Chikorita just ignored it.
"Ruben. Is that you?"

"Geh." He stepped into the door of the room and stared down at the Bellsprout and Oddish before stepping over them, unharmed. "How do you always manage to tell?!" He hated her for that sense of knowing. He was supposed to be the smart one! She was just the klutzy, naive one who always made mistakes and miscalculations. But this... This was just annoying. He faced her and used his rudest tone ever. "What are you still doing here anyway? I thought you'd be off to start your journey. You were so excited for it earlier. Or did you get scared of the dark?" He glared at the other two people. "Who are you two?"

The twins just looked at him. They didn't know who this person was, or why he was being so rude.

"You're not exactly subtle," Naomi commented. They'd all been able to hear his squeaky shoes. "If you can't even tell your shoes squeak, then you're not really the sharpest Scyther in the swarm. Get new shoes and try again."

"And anyone that rude to our friend deserves to be shocked into the next room," Hunter added. "I don't know who you are and I really don't care. But you set my Pokemon on edge, and I don't like that."

"So if I were you, I'd be moving along now," Naomi added.

"I'm sure she's spoken of me at one point." He eyed her rudely as if he knew she had. She always liked to talk about him behind his back. Rudely or not, he didn't really care. He just really wanted to stay out of her silly conversations. "I won't be staying anyway. I was just curious as to who my pathetic cousin was hanging out with now." He knew she couldn't go alone even if she tried.

Sayuri had to disagree with that last thought, somehow knowing what it might be. She really could go herself, but she found it more fun to hang around with others during a journey. He'd always been the solo one, not able to make new friends easily. She knew this and sort of felt sorry for him a few times. She even tried to be his friend once, but got rejected.

Ruben along with Wartortle left the room to sleep in another one away from the two twins who seemed like they knew what they were doing. He'd rather not make a fuss over what was said about his shoes as he set his things next to a spare cot in the other room. He'd be long gone near dawn, but now it was getting too dark out there.

Sayuri lay down on her caught feeling a tinge of fear from him, but soon settled down as she sat up. "Don't mind him... He's always like that..." His cold heart... She still wasn't sure what caused it.

"I wonder if Worry Seed would work on people?" Hunter mused as he settled back in once Ruben left. "If anyone deserves Insomnia, it's him."

"It doesn't," Naomi replied dryly.

"How do you know?"

"I had Exeggcute try it on you once."

Hunter looked at her incredulously.

"You what?"

"The night before we challenged Sabrina. You were so worried about it, I decided to give you something to actually worry about. Go figure you fell asleep after that."

"You seriously had him try Worry Seed on me?"

"No."

Hunter stopped and blinked.

"What?"

"Honestly, Hunter, you're so gullible sometimes," Naomi teased, grinning.

Sayuri had to laugh at the twins for being themselves. It was funny that Someone could even fall for a joke like that. Even she thought about trying some kind of attack on herself thinking it would work. But all her Oddish knew were dangerous powder attacks at the time. As did Bellsprout. "I'm guessing you like to tease each other a lot. Must be fun having someone who thinks the same way you do." Somehow she and Ruben could with the bad things, but it wasn't the same thing. "Worry Seed. I thought at first it was an actual seed, but it's an attack, right?" Even she kind of fell for the joke, thinking it could really work.

Ruben couldn't handle the noise and closed the door to the room as he continued to fiddle around with his computer. It was nonstop with him. Later on he'd do some practice battles, but right now he was still his computer nerd self.
Wartortle slipped away from him and made his way to the other room where it sounded more fun, hoping not to get zapped. He was slightly bored.

"Worry Seed is kind of like Leech Seed," Hunter explained. "You know, the one that a lot of Pokemon like Bulbasaur and Gloom use? Worry Seed doesn't steal health, though. It causes Insomnia, which is really useful against Pokemon like Snorlax and Drowzee, which rely on the move Rest a lot. Insomnia makes it so that Pokemon can't use Rest, and can't be put to sleep with moves like Sing or Sleep Powder." He didn't mind explaining the move. It was a relatively new one, only recently discovered.

The twins didn't immediately notice the Wartortle enter the room, but Eevee did. She bristled a little and growled at the newcomer. Any trainer as rude as the other one had been was bound to have rude Pokemon, too. Magnemite sparked a little. He recognized that Wartortle. It was with Sneaky Person. If it was coming in looking for a fight, he'd give it one!

"I love that move. It really helps when my Pokemon are low on energy during match. It's actually how I won my third badge against Lt. Surge. My Pokemon were almost completely passed out and one last Leech Seed suck in and his Raichu was out." Probably one of her best moments ever in a battle. "Maybe I should teach or have one of them learn Worry Seed, too." Chikorita knew it having been bred to. It was the only time Sayuri let her battle in public. There was a training area she'd go to in private.

Wartortle braced himself for any attack thrown at him as he didn't want to battle. "War... Wartortle." He wanted to know what was going on. It sounded fun in here. Better than hearing the sound of the typing and clicking. "Wartortle?" He wanted to join in now and was asking permission.

"Is Ruben busy with his computer again?" Sayuri noticed him enter after hearing him speak then noticed the nod that followed. "Hmm... I'm sure we can squeeze one more in, right?" She looked at the twins and the Pokemon, wanting to hear their answer.

Naomi shrugged. She didn't mind at all. Gently, she petted Eevee, calming the little Pokemon down. Gradually, the vibrating growls stopped and Eevee curled up on Naomi's lap.

"'S alright with us," Hunter added, voicing Naomi's opinion too. "As long as there's no trouble." He glanced at Buzzer, and the Magnemite stopped sparking and grounded itself out on Landslide. "I bet it and Staryu could trade tips or something, if nothing else." Hunter glanced at Naomi, who shrugged and nodded. It wasn't a bad idea. Maybe they could even exchange ideas on how to get around Water's natural weakness. At least it would be something for the Wartortle to do. Staryu flashed a couple of times in agreement. It wouldn't mind.