Forest of Hope

Ah, what a glorious day! Finally finding some time away from her dorm room, Blaire decided to trek to the forest, which seemed to be one of the only non-water based areas on the island. Well, I guess that makes sense, unfortunately... Leaving the path and entering the woods brought a nice, cool breeze that swirled around her legs and tickled her skin, bringing a smile to her face. Now this was more like it! When she was tired of walking, Blaire picked a tree and sat down beneath its canopy of shade, absentmindedly fixing her skirt while glancing at the Pokéballs that rested unactivated on her belt clip. Picking out the one she was looking for, she grasped the tiny capsule in her hand and pushed the button situated in the center, inflating the orb to its full stature. She gently flicked it up into the air, the ball opening up and expelling a bright light that formed upon the ground as Blaire's Flareon, Pyrrha. The ball returned to her hand and she put it back, once more deactivated, back on her belt as Pyrrha whipped around and let out a happy cry on its release. Padding forward towards her trainer, Blaire smiled and ran her hand between its ears, getting a happy "Flare!" from her fiery Eeveelution.

"Isn't this place so peaceful, Pyrrha?" she asked softly, looking up at the tall trees nearly intertwined in togetherness. When she looked down though, her Flareon didn't seem as pleased. Of course, Pyrrha was a headstrong battler with a temper to match her Fire typing. Her favorite pastime was burning up opponents on the battlefield, not relaxing in a forest. Blaire would never give her a chance to have some kind of battling challenge out here, though: she'd more than likely burn the whole forest down! "Oh come on, don't give me that look. It's not all about battling, you know." Pyrrha rolled her eyes but didn't argue as she curled up on Blaire's outstretched legs and yawned, shutting her eyes. Smiling down at her Pokémon, the brown-haired trainer rested her head against the tree she was leaning against and let the relaxing atmosphere wash away any lingering tensions. She would have to come back and explore this place more often.

Another trainer that felt like exploring was Daniel. He walked along the path that led to the Edrev Forest with a small hum; which was quickly echoed by Habiki, who sat on his shoulder. Daniel glanced at the Chatot with a smile, nodding. "You are sure getting better at mimicking my hums. Maybe we can try whistles next, eh?" The Chatot nodded with a ruffle of his wings, seeming having learned that he didn't always have to echo Daniel all the time already.

"Vaaaaappp," Matthew whined as he trotted along next to Daniel, clearly bored as he dragged his tail along the ground. Even the soft, springy grass could cheer the Vaporeon up. Spending time in the grass wasn't one of his favorite things to do, after all he was a water type and thus weak to grass Pokemon, but he had to follow his trainer.

Suddenly Matthew's head spun up, his cream fins shaking a bit as he scanned the clearing. Finally something caught his gaze and with a happy cry, he spun and tugged on Daniel's pant leg with his mouth. Daniel gave his Vaporeon a confused look at he came to a stop, digging his hands from his pockets to gently pet Matthew on the head. "What is it?"

Matthew respond by suddenly turning and racing across the grassy clearing, leaving Daniel to follow. The trainer blinked, quickly running after his Vaporeon. He finally caught up to Matthew as the Vaporeon came to a halt, not far from Blaire and Pyrrha. "Vapor!" Matthew said happily as he waved his tail at the Flareon; clearly happy to meet another Eeveelution.

Daniel looked from Matthew to Pyrrha, then to Blaire with a sheepish smile. "Uh, hey," he said as he waved gently at her. "It seems that my Vaporeon just made a new friend with your Flareon." He paused for a second, glancing at the fire type. "Even thought I have a feeling it might be a bit one sided."

Pyrrha was the first to notice the newcomers. The sound of the Vaporeon's cry hit her ears quickly, and her head shot up to find the Water Eeveelution rushing towards them. Bristling in surprise and a bit of trepidation - like her trainer, Pyrrha was not too fond of water - she hopped off of Blaire's legs and stood back with a guarded nervousness. Meanwhile, Pyrrha's movements caused Blaire to take notice, so she tipped her head over to find the Vaporeon and its trainer heading their way. "Oh, hello!" she called out cheerfully to the newcomer, getting a good look at him and his Vaporeon. Now, she didn't go full PTSD on just simply Water-types, and Eeveelutions were all just absolutely adorable, so she eagerly got up and gave a friendly wave to the Vaporeon. "Well aren't you just the cutest thing!" She gushed over the Pokémon, though her Flareon wasn't exactly as fond of her fellow Eeveelution as her trainer.

"Oh lighten up, Pyrrha," she scoffed, putting her hands on the Fire-type's back and scooting her over towards her new 'friend', where the Flareon gave an awkward dip of her head in response to the Vaporeon's enthusiastic greeting. With that meeting out of the way, Blaire jumped up to her feet and offered her hand to the male. "Hey there, my name's Blaire. Blaire Adenhart. I guess I'm not the only one out here, huh?" It felt great to be meeting new people so easily, and Blaire had always been good in social situations. She wondered if there were any other trainers using Eeveelutions like they were. Maybe they could make a club or something! Well, maybe she was getting ahead of herself, but that was just like her to start future planning involving something she had only just now considered. Hopefully that bitchy redhead didn't have an Eeveelution too. Ugh! I'd rather jump in a volcano!

Daniel happily took Blarie's hand, smiling at her. "My name is Daniel Smith. It is really nice to meet you. The Vaporeon is Matthew, and my Chatot is named Habiki," he said as he motioned toward each of his Pokemon as he said their names (Habiki still being on his shoulders of course). To say that he was surprised that there was other Eeveelutions would of been a lie. Eevees were well liked for the fact that they could evolve into so many things and thus would be perfect for many different kinds of trainers.

Matthew meanwhile, frowned when he saw that Pyrrha wasn't fond of him. Then he realized. Right, he was strong against her. His tail quickly went down, as he gave Pyrrha a soft smile; clearly showing that he wasn't going to use any attacks of any sort on her. He sat down, and lifted his paw out as a sign of friendship. "Vaaap?"

Blaire gladly shook Daniel's hand and gave a wave with her free appendage to Habiki the Chatot. "Well hi to you too! Your Pokémon are really cool." She let go of his hand and glanced around the forest, sensing no other signs of humans or Pokémon anywhere in their immediate vicinity. "So what brings you out to the forest? Trying to find some peace and quiet?" It was rather nice to get some relaxation in before classes - and the inevitable battles - begin, but that wasn't too big of an issue. She couldn't wait for the real fun to commence!

Pyrrha still had a frown on her face, even after the Vaporeon showed no signs of threat, but she decided to not disobey her trainer and at least make the appearance of friendship. Standing in front of him, she slowly waved back at him with her big, bushy tail, forcing a smile to cross her face. How could she make friends with a Water Pokémon, even if he was a fellow Eeveelution? This was going to take some getting used to. She glanced up at Blaire in hope that she might help her out, but her trainer was already in conversation with the Vaporeon's trainer. Drat. Until their conversations ceased, Pyrrha would just have to make nice with Matthew. Drat.

Daniel smiled, glancing at Habiki. "Hehe, thanks. But yea, I mostly came out here for the peace and quite, but also Habiki here likes the fresh air and the trees. I figured he would like time to explore. Isn't that right?"

"Right!" the Chatot said with a grin, nodding his head. He paused to glance at Pyrrha and Matthew, amused by how awkward Pyrrha was acting. Habiki hopped from Daniel's shoulder and landed on the ground with a flap of his wings, just sitting there as he watched them.

Matthew had also taken notice of the awkward way Pyrrha waved at him, causing him to pout. All he had been hoping for was a friend. He paused as he glanced at Daniel; his eyes fixing on the berry pouch of Daniel's bag. With a sudden smile, he bounded over to his trainer and pawed at the bag; getting the attention of his trainer.

"Huh? You want a berry?" At Matthew quick nod, Daniel started to dig though this berry pouch before pulling out an Oran berry and offering it to Matthew who refused it with a shake of his head. Daniel frowned, before glancing at Pyrrha and faintly understanding what Matthew was trying to do. He replaced the Oran berry and this time bought out a Figy Berry, gently placing it on Matthew's nose.

The Vaporeon grinned as he balanced the Figy Berry skillfully on his nose, and slowly started to bring the spicy berry over toward the fire type. When he finally reached the Flareon, he let the berry drop at her paws, gently using his paw to roll it toward her a bit. "Vap?"

"The air is rather fresh here, huh?" As if to illustrate her point, she took a deep breathe and smiled at the clean air rushing through her lungs. This was a nice day, wasn't it? She looked down and was surprised to see Daniel's Vaporeon's continued efforts to befriend her Flareon. It was rather cute, actually. She smiled and looked back up at Daniel. "Matthew sure seems determined to make friends with Pyrrha, huh?" she laughed out, leaning down and gently petting Pyrrha between the ears.

Pyrrha watched in surprise as Matthew walked away, tipping her head in curiosity at just what exactly he was doing. What he was doing was grabbing a berry, and the Flareon's eyes widened as the blue creature padded back over and rolled the berry towards her feet. She looked at it in slight confusion: being from the Kanto region, berries weren't exactly a hot commodity, or even a common one. This wasn't a type of food she was particularly used to, so she gently nudged it with her nose and gave it a sniff. It didn't seem too bad, though... With Blaire's encouraging petting, the Fire Pokémon gave the berry an experimental test, biting off a small portion of it and swallowing it.

"... Flare!" It was amazing! The perfect spicy flavoring danced across her tongue and made her tail stand up in fulfillment. Bending her head down, she bit off more of the delicious berry, savoring the taste before letting it sink down her throat. "Flare!" She exclaimed happily again, looking up to see Matthew looking right back at her. Feeling a bit embarrassed and unused to socializing with other Pokémon, she shyly gave him a smile and nodded her thanks, at least now making an effort to show her appreciation by scootching a bit closer to the Vaporeon, the berry still resting between her paws.

A smile that clearly said 'victory' was fixed on Matthew's face when he saw how happy Pyrrha was with the berry. His tail flickered as he grinned at her.

Daniel laughed as he nodded, watching the two Eeveeolutions with a grin. "Yea. Matthew hasn't really met a whole lot of other eeveeolutions in Hearthome; where I am from, so I guess he just wants to befriend one of them. Then again, I think Matthew wants to befriend almost everybody." He paused as he glanced at Blarie, a small frown appearing on his face. "Speaking of hometowns, where are you from?"

"Oh, I'm from Cinnabar Island," Blaire replied, smiling at the memory of her old birthplace. "Well, I was born there anyway. My family moved to Fuchsia City when I was young, though." She didn't mention that those places were in the Kanto region, but only because she just had the predisposition that everybody knew what the Kanto region was. "So you're from Hearthome? That means you're from the Sinnoh region, right? I've been there before! Well, not to Hearthome specifically. My dad took me to Solaceon Town, though. It was really awesome there! People are always leaving really cute Pokémon at the daycare center there, and I got to spend a lot of time watching them from beyond the fence." She had really started babbling on there, forgetting that they were only talking about where they were from, not the places her father had taken her.

When Blaire got to talking, Blaire really got to talking, and it always bored Pyrrha, who surprisingly found it better to be close to a Water Pokémon than listen to her trainer speak about topics that didn't concern battling. Where was a battling arena on this island anyway? "Flareon, Flare..." she grumbled to the Vaporeon as she bent down to take another bite of the berry.
'She talks so much. We'll be here all day.'

"Yup, Sinnoh region," Daniel said with a small nod of his head, before frowning softly. Cinnabar Island....It was the Kanto region, wasn't it? Same with Fuchsia City. His knowledge of that region was limited and a bit small; mostly due to the fact that no contests were held there so he really study much about it. However, at the talk of Solaceon Town, a warm smile flooded onto his face. "Ah, Solaceon Town. I remember walking up there a lot to check out the daycare. That is where I even got Matthew; he was left as an egg because of the owner of the Pokemon that had him just couldn't take care of a baby Pokemon so the Daycare lady was nice enough to let me take him instead."

Matthew rolled his eyes as he faintly listened into what Daniel and Blarie was talking about, nodding at Pyrrha. "Vaporeon. Vapor, Vap...Vaporeon," he responded with a swish of his tail, a faint smiling appearing on his face.
"Oh I know! When it comes to contests...Well, he just won't stop talking."

"Aww, that's so sweet!" Blaire exclaimed, easily enamored by egg-raising stories. "I raised Pyrrha from an egg too. She was such a rambunctious Eevee, always getting into trouble, you know?" She laughed softly, enjoying talking about raising her Pokémon, though she knew that Pyrrha would be less-than-thrilled. "I guess a lot of Eevee trainers got theirs from eggs, huh?" The brown-haired trainer bounced from one foot to the other as she spoke, getting a bit restless from standing in one place so long without moving. Without waiting for an answer, she spoke up again. "Hey, how about we take a walk? It'd be much better than standing in one place." She certainly could talk all day, but being relatively inactive was a bit tougher.

Pyrrha laid her face against her paw, groaning in annoyance. She hated when Blaire spoke of her childhood, as it were. The past was the past: there were still battles left unfought, opponents left unbeaten. "Flare? Flar, Flareon?"
'Contests? What's a contest?' Being from the Kanto region, the Flareon had never heard of such an event. Perhaps it was where people judge how well you battled. That sounded rather intriguing.

"Oh yea, Matthew always manged to get into trouble when he was little. He always seemed to think that the inside of my backpack was a nice place to nap, so I would find my books across the floor and a sleeping Eevee in my bag." Daniel said with a grin, before glancing at Habiki and with a click of his tongue, the Chatot took his gaze off of the two Eeveelutions. The Chatot grinned when he realized what the click meant, and happily fluttered to Daniel's shoulder. "Taking a walk sounds like a good idea," he said as he gently patted Habiki's head.

Matthew paused with a frown, his tail flicking as he titled her head. She seriously didn't know what a contest was? Well, then again he was from a town that was all about contests so of course he knew all about them. But how to explain them? "Vaporeon...Vap, Vap...Vapor," he started off slowly, his long fish-like tail twitching as he spoke. "Vaporeon, Vapor, Vap Vap!" He paused again. "Vapor, Vaporeon," he added quickly.
"A Contest is...A performance...Of sort. You get judged on how well you do, and the best win! Oh, and sometimes there are battles."

Blaire turned to Pyrrha and called to her. "Hey Pyrrha, we're going to take a walk. Come on!" Turning back to Daniel, she gave him a big smile and started to walk, the forest air nice and crisp as a light breeze ran across her skin, shaking the leaves gently that clung desperately to their branches. "Oh don't I know it?" she laughed, continuing on with the conversation concerning their rambunctious Eeveelutions. "When I first got Pyrrha, she would always sneak into my school bag and hitch a ride with me to class. I kept getting into trouble because she would always try to start fights with other people's Pokémon. God, that was embarrassing." Glancing back to make sure Pyrrha was following her, she tipped her head back and let her arms swing behind her back, grabbing her left wrist with her right hand. "So what do you like to do, Daniel?"

Rolling her eyes, Pyrrha quickly finished off the berry and started to follow the moving trainers, confidently walking backwards so she could continue talking to Matthew. "Flareon, Flare... Fla, Flareon Flare. Fla, Flareon."
'So, people judge you on how good you are at battling? That sounds like fun! I'd never lose something like that! Oh, hey, thank you for the berry.' The Flareon said that last thank you rather shyly, still not used to being appreciative of other Pokémon's efforts. Sure, he was a Water Pokémon, but Matthew was pretty nice. She could learn to like him.

"Do? I guess I like to play with my Pokemon. Most of them are little, so playing with them is easy. Also, it forms a bond with them and I think that having a good, strong bond is a key for any contest or battle," Daniel said as he walked, frowning a bit. Never had he really thought about it, but he did love to play with his team. "Some people think of Pokemon as tools, or ways to boss people around but they are friends, and that is why I hate battling. I hate seeing them hurt; although I know some of them enjoy battling so I'm not against it or anything."

Matthew looked up when he saw Blaire and Daniel start to walk, and quickly got up to follow them. He stayed near Pyrrha as they walked, letting out a small chuckle as the Flareon seemed to like the battle part of contests. "Oh, you're welcome..." He grew quite for a bit, but quickly started back up as he thought more about contests. "Yea...It is pretty nice, but how you use your moves is a big part of it. They like moves that make you look good, not about how strong it is. It is a bit odd, but I like it," the Vaporeon said with a flicker of his tail, wondering how to explain the rest of the battle part of the contest. "It's odd; contests...They always seem to care how perfect you are, and how well you move and things like that...but yet, at the same time it is fun. Getting to preform with my master without having to get hurt. I mean, battling is great in all; but some of us just aren't cut out for it, you know?" He grew quiet again, keeping an solid eye on the Flareon. Truthfully, he never thought he would be getting this close to the fire type. She of been an Eeveelution, but they were still opposites, but it did bring a smile to the Vaporeon's face when he saw that he was getting close to her. And who said that Fire-types always had a bad temper?

Occ: That is it. I ship MatthewXPyrrha and there is nothing you can do about it! *shot* Also stopped with the whole 'Vapor, Vaporeon, Vap' thing cause it was getting a bit annoying to write out. And sorry for taking so long to post...Things have been a bit busy.

"I can understand that," Blaire sympathized, noticing a couple wild Pokémon peeking out from behind trees as they continued to walk together. "Still though, I love battling. There's nothing quite like the thrill of victory that you share with your friends." She glanced over at Daniel and smiled at him. "I've never participated in a contest, though. You do those? They seem kind of interesting, but I don't think my Pokémon would really be interested in the beauty portion." She laughed at the thought. It was certainly hard to imagine someone like Pyrrha trying to be all cutesy and nice to please some panel of judges. Atlas certainly wouldn't care for the spectacle at all. Oh well: maybe contests just weren't for her anyway.

Pyrrha didn't really understand the desire to want to look good in front of a bunch of people. She already knew she was great: she didn't need some judge telling her that! Still, it was some kind of competition. A competition she could win. The thought of that excited her, and her bushy tail whipped back and forth as she picked up her walking pace. 'I don't need to prove to any judge how good I look, you understand,' she smirked, breathing a gentle breath of fire into the air. 'However, I bet I could win that whole thing, you know? I have great control of my moves. I'd show you right now, but my trainer might be mad if I burned down the forest.' At this point, she was walking backwards to still progress forward while keeping an eye on Matthew. Sure, she could potentially run into something, but she was confident enough in all of her abilities to keep her on the right track. Perhaps this confidence was starting to border on arrogance, but she was too, well, arrogant to see how arrogant she might be coming off as. Still, it was lots of fun to talk about this with someone, since only Shiloh would even bother to listen to her, and particularly with another Eeveelution like herself. She could almost forget that he was even a Water-type.

OoC: Scaldshipping. Gettit? And yeah, I get ya. It was kind of awkward. We don't need it.

Daniel grinned as he stuck his hands in his pocket, nodding a bit. "I've done a few, although I've never gotten a ribbon. The beauty spot is a bit iffy with two of my pokemon; Levi my Larvitar and Logan my Aron, but almost everybody is fine with the dressing up. I tend to use my Misdreavus or Flaaffy, but I think Matthew enjoys it the most. I guess he has always been a bit of a drama queen." He let out a small laugh as he glanced at his Vaporeon, who was still chattering away with Pyrrha. It was a bit of a surprise to see the two getting along so well, and he only turned away from watching the two to make sure he wasn't going to head straight into a tree.

Habiki however, had his gaze fixed on the two Eeveelutions due to the fact that he was just riding on Daniel. He listened as the two talked about contests, finding the whole thing a bit funny that now everybody was talking about them; other than him of course. It was rare he didn't say a thing, but this was kinda fun to listen in on what they were saying. He was like a...Oh, how did the humans say it? He was like a Spinarak on the wall!

Matthew listened in quietly as Pyrrha spoke; the fins on his head flickering when she let out the small breath of fire. He might of been a water type; but water could evaporate after all and his cells were close to water molecules so... However, his thoughts soon moved from evaporating to his first contest; when he had still been a small Eevee. Ah how long ago that had been, and such a good time it had been on that day. "Of course," he agreed as he glanced at the large pale yellow ruffles of fur that Pyrrha had. It was odd; it was as if he could feel the heat coming from them...Did they really give off that much heat? However, as she spoke again, he let out a small laugh. "If you have such great control over your moves, then what is the chance you would burn down the forest? Besides, I could always put it out if you mange to mess up that badly," the Vaporeon said with a sly grin, before clearing his throat. "I also have good control over my moves; but the thing I like the most is using my moves to show off my natural beauty, you know? I'm sure your moves could do the same for you easily."

Occ: Scaldshipping...I love it!

The thought of Daniel's Pokémon in contests got Blaire to thinking about her own Pokémon in them, particularly the beauty portions. Thinking about Pyrrha in the beauty section of a contest nearly made her burst out laughing. Not because the Flareon wasn't beautiful, but it just wasn't her style at all. It would be even weirder for Larvesta to be in one of them. That thought got her laughing all over again. Covering her mouth with a hand, she gave an apologetic look to her new friend. "I'm sorry, just that beauty part for my Pokémon is funny." Noticing his Chatot looking back, she turned to see her Flareon in what seemed like a deep conversation with Vaporeon. It sure was surprising to see the two differing Eeveelutions speaking like close friends, but it was nice to see it.

'Of course I can control it!' Pyrrha huffed confidently, scoffing at the mere thought of her inability to control the moves she was born to use, or evolved to use, or something. The semantics were unimportant. The opposite edge of the forest was fast upon them; nobody had realized just how long they had been walking or perhaps how small the area was. 'Huh, it's getting late, isn't it? Well, then next time I'll show you just how powerful my moves are.' She smirked as she exuded full confidence in her abilities. If this was where they departed, she knew that she would have to see this Matthew again and best him in a battle of beauty. It wasn't particularly her style, but she could win at anything! As long as he kept his Water moves on his side of the field and nowhere near her, then they'd be good.

Daniel smiled warmly at Blaire, letting out a small laugh as he nodded. The idea of Levi being in a beauty part of a contest was a odd, and very funny idea for him. He knew that battling was what the Lavitar loved the most, and he wouldn't be caught dead trying to be 'cute' and 'beauty', mostly when Levi would end up evolving. "Don't worry, I understand that," the trainer said as he stuck his hand in his pockets, before noticing that Bliare and Habiki looking backwards. He also turned his head, a large grin appearing on his face as he watched Pyrrha and Matthew talk. He was wondering what they were saying as he chuckled softly. "Well, look at that. I think the impossible just happened; a fire type and a water type getting along so well."

Matthew turned his gaze to the sky, frowning a bit when he saw that the sun was started to go down. Huh; he hadn't noticed how late it was getting at all. Time had just seemed to fly by while he and Pyrrha were talking. His tail flickered as he glanced at the Flareon with a large grin. "I'll be looking forward to that, Pyrrha. But I'll let you know; I am not planning to lose!" His mind started to race as he thought about how he could use his moves to best Pyrrha  next time they met...But hey, he would have a whole lot of time to think about that. His gaze flickered toward Daniel; a bit surprised to see both him and Pyrrha's trainer looking at them. "Well, look at that. It seems they can't believe we are getting along!" the Vaporeon said with a chuckle, before glancing at Pyrrha again. He dipped his head; giving the Flareon a bow. "I hope that you will beat all of your opponents until the next time we meet; of course, I have no doubt that you will!" With that, Matthew picked up the pace and hurried to Daniel's side, looking up at his trainer as he wondered if they were going to head back to the Academy now.

Blaire laughed at the strange sight, never in a million years having expected her Flareon to be so engaged in conversation with a Water-type, but hey, anything was possible. Well, except for that nasty redhead being a nice person. That wasn't possible. "Truly a sight to behold," she smirked, watching as the conversation seemingly ended, with Matthew hurrying over to Daniel's side. It was then that she noticed how late it was getting. "Wow, where does the time go?" If they didn't get back soon, it would probably grow dark. Pyrrha made her way to Blaire's side as she turned to Daniel. "It's getting rather late. We should get back before the sun sets, hm? We'll hang out again sometime though, right?"

Pyrrha grinned and let out another fiery breath, twitching an ear. 'You may have to change your plans, then.' The Vaporeon was now looking more decidedly forward though, and Pyrrha followed his gaze to find their trainers staring at them, clearly laughing at the site. Her fur bristled uncomfortably at their comical stares. 'And just what are they laughing at?' she huffed, noticeably annoyed by the whole event. However, her annoyance turned into slight embarrassment at Matthew's well wishes in her battles. 'Oh, uh, yeah, you too.' She couldn't help but sound awkward saying that. Why was he bowing? Was he always that formal? Well, he was now at his trainer's side, so she was postulating all of that to herself. Further embarrassed, Pyrrha made her way back to Blaire, glancing over at Matthew once more. That wasn't a very acceptable goodbye, though.