Don't tell me this is going to get harder.

[doctor]

Dusk had begun to float quietly downward when the oddly-fashioned girl, bogged down by the multi-layers of her flounced skirt, reached the edges of the city just as the curled iron streetlights faded into a steady glow, trying to imitate the bright stars who had first shown up in the young night sky. Her guide, the ever-enthusiastic Chatot which never seemed to run out of energy, twirled in the light air in front of her, pirouetting to the time of the human’s clank of boots on the pretty cobblestone pavement, ultimately proclaiming the finalized destination, for yet another time. “Sandwind! Sandy and windy…” it chirped. The ginger Vulpix that had been sleeping in the young lady’s arms grumbled, as it turned over; despite it’s earlier fuss at being held, it had in the middle of the journey began to complain, and thus was scooped up into the weary girl’s arms, and carried the rest of the way, much like a delicate sleeping child.

As the unlikely trio walked deeper into the city, Elodi began to cringe at the imposing walls to rose up, neat and clean to the point were their expensive nature was obviously flaunted, reminding her of the ones she grew up in, red brick and cage-like. People were probably watching, too, disgusted with her dirty clothes and unwashed state, despite how many embarrassed smiles she gave to herself, inwardly. Why had the avian taken her here, of all places? It had seen that the girl was not of regular stock, and had assumed it to be lost, so maybe it was trying to take her to someplace were she would belong, in a way? A very small part of her was relieved that she had finally made it to civilization, once again, after the stumbling of the many hazy days left behind; that was her vicious circle.

A striking building, elaborate with modernisms, loomed as the endpoint in their journey, windows darkened for the night; that was to be were the wild Pokémon would take its leave, gesturing at the door, whistling a cordial tune for good-bye. She curtsied one last time to the Chatot, an uncertain tear in her eye as it flew away. “Thank you!” she called out, but she did not know whether it heard her or not, and the dark-haired girl was to remain standing hesitantly on the marble staircase, unsure what to do, and where exactly she was.

[Kimo]

No one came out to greet Elodi. The door remained still, and it seemed to be silent inside. However, light shone through the thin, slitted window that was cut into the doors. People still remained inside.. Most likely dozing off on duty.
Whoever was slacking inside, however, were in for a rude awakening. Loud, consistent blasts of noise burst from inside, the ground rumbling beneath the sound's vibration. It was hard to determine what had caused such a loud racket; it didn't sound like a horn or a alarm, but the preformance mimicked them.
Rushing footsteps could be heard, and suddenly the light escaped from the indoors and flushed over Elodi and the Vulpix. A man in a loose navy blue shirt (with a designer label, of course) and khaki pants was looking at her. He gave her a gloomy and irritated look, the bags under his eyes clearly visable.
He sighed, and his expression turned a little bit kinder. "Come in," he said grouchily, moving back inside and holding the door open.

[/center]

[doctor]

At first the alarm made the girl jump, as well; she hadn’t realized she had probably leaned against a mechanical doorbell to the large institute. She was almost ready to run, a waking Vulpix flailing, dazed, in her hands, until the door opened, letting the light reveal her slightly surprised face, thin lips opened in a perfect ‘o.’ Still slightly confused, she quickly tapped after the frumpled man (who, although his intimidating stature, looked as drained as her), leaving behind the cold night air in a flurry that only a lady could create.

Taking in the clean-cut, state-of-the art surroundings, polished to a bright sheen under the buzzing of the futuristic lamps, the girl inferred that she was in a Pokémon lab; and a very highly advanced one as well, as far as she knew from books and news reports back at home. Trying to reason, Elodi, in the back of her mind, figured that the Chatot had realized what she had not; Regal was completely useless. That was the truth, even if it tore her attached heart to shreds.

Tired, for the first time in her life, the young girl forgot to curtsy, but she silently nodded her head in greeting, hugging her Vulpix to her body like a torn-up teddy bear.

[Kimo]

The man- or rather, a young adult, as it was apparent he was almost out of his teen years- stared at Regal as they both made their way inside, wondering how anything could feel comfortable under such a tight grip. He rubbed the side of his head up to his light blond hair, irritated that someone had to come now, right in the middle of a much needed nap.
In the corner of the room, a large and exhilarated Loudred began to stomp and wave its arms wildly, making the same bursts of noises heard earlier, only shorter and more periodically.
The boy held his hand firmly against his head with a irritated groan, and yelled, "Shut up, Melody!" The Loudred stopped with a confused stare, and the boy quickly sped over to where it stood. He was standing in front of a table with a nice-looking stereo system on it and was sorting through a selection of discs. The Loudred look expectantly over his shoulder, and the boy had to push her away to be able to take the CD out. He found what he was looking for and upon putting it in the stereo, soft and gentle music began to play. The Loudred made a loud sigh, and began to sway calmly to the rythem.
The boy came grumbling back to Elodi, muttering, "Stupid elevator music.." to himself. "So, do you know how the lab works?"

[/center]

[doctor]

Staring in simple amazement at the loud and boxy Pokémon which had been subdued by such a dull tune, it was several seconds before the girl started, lips quickly trembling in to fit the words she wanted to find, “Yes…well, no…well, actually, a little bit. Only in theory, sir.” She looked helpless, withholding her grasp gently upon her canine companion, allowing him to sniff curiously at the mirror-like tiles, slippery at first, staring narcissistically at his ruddy reflection, leaving Elodi to take off and fidget with her hat, looking down, a curtain of black making a lesser shadow upon her face.

(Sorry, short post. D<)

[Kimo]

Melody, looking around as the stereo system transitioned to another song, happened to spot the vulpix looking at his reflection. Squealing (quite horribly, since Loudreds don't exactly sound like angels), the large pokemon bounded over to Regal and stared at him a few feet away. She stood there gawking silently at the vulpix, something that was often never seen from such a loud and rambunctious creature.
The boy made a quick glance over at his Loudred, and looked back to Elodi with a weirded out expression. "She's weird, isn't she? She's always been that way, but she's good in battle." In truth, he just couldn't figure out girls.
"..Anyway, how the system works. See that machine over there?" He pointed to an nicely designed instrument with a keyboard, a flat screen and a few slots on it. "You get one first pokemon for your journey ahead. You know types, right? Water, Ground, Ice.. Fire, like your Vulpix.. You choose a type and I'll put that into the machine's system. I'll show you three choices of that type at first. You can choose one of those, or you can risk taking the mystery ball. There's no going back on that decision, though. Understand?"

[/center]

[doctor]

The elegant Vulpix trebled upward into a sitting postition, his delicate eardrums obviously so hurt after hearing such a horrid squealing noise. He quickly straightened his back into a dignified arch,an indifferent and unamused tone playing out upon his ruddy muzzle, staring silently, even coldly back at the boxy and blatantly uglier Pokémon creature, with bark-coloured eyes that knew that how much better he was.

His master, on the other hand, nodded far too quickly in response to the young scientist's question. She only quickly glanced over, more interested with the machine at the moment - it was a beautifully-made structure. When asked about type, only the friendly Chatot who she had just left behind came to mind, and with slow guise, she pulled back her hair to reveal her pale, now a bit flushed, face, providing a better leeway for her answer as she murmured, voice getting louder at the end of the last phrase, "Flying, sir. I would like a flying-type."

[Kimo]

The Loudred stood in spot to see how the Vulpix reacted to her, and got a cold stare in return. Melody seemed confused, her lips bent down in a frown and her legs bent in an awkward position, and looked at the ground away from the intimidating stare. She wondered what she could’ve done to hurt the Vulpix- she could only remember being kind to him, not hurting him in anyway (except his eardrums). She could not understand the pompous attitude that she didn’t happen to share, and thus backed away from Regal and quickly turned back to her music player, her spirits only a little daunted.

The boy nodded his head at Elodi’s choice, sharing the same fondness of the Flying type and the revolution of soaring through the air. “Ah, yes, I like the Flying type too,” he spoke as he bent down to type into the machine’s screen. “.. very exquisite. With them, you get to.. um, fly.” With a quick flick of his hand, he clicked the Enter button, and the words “FLYING” processed into the screen. It disappeared, and in its place a Wingull flew up and down across the screen, his beak opening to and fro. A few seconds later, the screen blanked, and four pokeballs came rumbling down their chutes and onto the holders at the bottom of the tubes. He juggled all three in his hands, tossing them one by one.

The first pokeball erupted, a female Doduo screeching in joy at its contact with the outside world. It ran rampantly around the room, making such a scene that Melody turned around to see what all the fuss was about. The boy scowled as it cawed madly, his headache seeping back into his head, and threw the next ball.

A large, unexpected pokemon was next. A Tropius emerged, its long neck bending in order to see who was in front of it. It gazed at Elodi, wondering if this was his new owner. It swayed its head back and forth, trying to wait patiently for the answer.

The last was a Farfetch’d, small and quiet at it explored the lab. It stared at its reflection in the machine, tilting his head questionly. It moved on to just about everything else in the room until it retired from exploration and sat down to play around with its reed.

[/center]

[doctor]

The Vulpix sniffed loudly, damp and leathery nose in air, happy that the Loudred had learned it's place, that being underneath him, of course. Regal's narcissistic joy was only short-lived, however, as soon the racket would start again, making his multiple tails quiver on end; if they could, his whole pelt would have flushed a deep and greedily angry shade of red...

Elodi smiled quietly at the young man as he typed in the details with shared joy, only a small curly of the lips, barely a dent as she watched with curiosity as the machine spit out several Pokéballs, buzzing with technology. As each creature was revealed, she crossed her arms tightly around the built-in corset-like structure, squeezing herself as if it could help protect her from the din that was suddenly turned on in the lab, in the form of the Doduo and the curiously clanking Farfetch'd.

Her black eyes flicked from each choice presented to her, slowly, still confused, but at last they settled upon the sincere Torpius, who stared back, intently and with a polite, or at least calm, nature that she only expected. Fussy Pokémon were just too much for her to deal with, especially with Regal in tow. The young girl curtsied to directly at the large sauropaud, "You look like a gentleman."

[Kimo]

The Doduo, unaware that his actions were in fact ruining his chances of being picked, kept his steady pace around the lab, greatly enjoying the familiar exhilaration of using his legs. He ran in a tight circle around the bemused Farfetch’d, whose eyes followed the speeding bird until he became dizzy and fell backwards with a quack.
The boy, now unable to stand the obnoxious pokemon any longer, turned around to spew impatient words at the Doduo. Of course, it didn’t listen, but the young man’s Loudred turned around, worried from hearing the angry rant. The flightless bird made his way towards Melody, who let out a deafening blast right in front of it, shocking the Doduo and bringing it to the ground. The blonde-haired boy shook his head and recaptured it into its pokeball, saying to Elodi, “Look, I know you’re not going to choose him.. Anybody with half a mind would agree on that.”
The Tropius, who had tried his best to ignore the Doduo, swayed his head back over as Elodi spoke to him. He could not decipher the words she spoke completely, nor had he ever heard of the word ’gentleman’ before.. But he had heard the word gentle. Gentle, like a calm summer breeze, ruffling leaves on a tree but not agitating them; a kind of being that would rather stay silent than revolt. Yes.. The Tropius would define himself as such. He motioned his head up and down to the girl, hoping they were on the same page but more importantly, making sure he was not depicting as a ravaging beast.

[/center]

[doctor]

The girl, slowly, carefully, stepped closer closer, a diminutive shadow compared to the bulk of the Torpius. Although hunched by her own unknowingness she let go of a solitary translucent hand, and in one fluid and graceful moment, placed it softly on the sauropaud’s head, scaly and rough against her translucent skin. Her words were barely a whisper, not wanting to frighten, an ironic contrast:

"Will you be mine?”

(Is it me, or do my posts get worse and worse? ;P)

[Kimo]

(( Sometimes when there isn't much to say, a short post is as good as a long one. Besides, I don't mind.))

A low humming sound came from the Tropius, as if a purr or a sound of gracious and happiness. It did not want to shake his head, in fear that he would jolt the girl who was now touching him, so he hoped he understood by his somewhat tranquil noise.
"I think he likes you," the boy said, smiling for once in the night. Melody had quit listening to her music, sighing in awe of the beautiful new relationship that had been created. Yes, she dramatized the moment, but she still loved the thought.
"So, it's apparent that's your choice.." He said this as he put the rest of the pokeballs back into a compartment in the machine. The young man headed back over to Elodi, handing her her own pokeball. "Here's his pokeball, even if you prefer to keep him out. Now wait here one second, I need to get you a starting pack.." He dashed off into a room in the back, where he left the girl and the room filled with pokemon to converse for a short while.

[/center]

[doctor]

Elodi smiled back at the tawny Torpius, pulling her hand back to rest limply at her side, allowing the Pokémon to grandly pull its head back and look down from its full height. It had such nice brown eyes, so large and kind...the girl hadn't ever met someone so alike to her before.

Regal trotted over, muzzle still up in the air, ignoring that box of a creature, and snorted. He wasn't too happy now - his place was about to be taken over, and all he coudl do was stare indignantly at the large dinosaur-like creature that was purring, ignoring the small Vulpix completely. Things certainly have never looked up and down at the same time.

[Kimo]

Melody had looked over to Regal, and realizing his snotty behavior, made a low 'hmph' sound, turning her head and her whole body away from him. She went back to swooning over the Tropius, who indeed was a gentleman in her eyes.
The Tropius, who had not even realized the Vulpix's presence, looked over to him curiously. He knew the Loudred from before, she hung around that lab assistant when he had taken care of all the pokemon.. But who was this? He wasn't given him such a nice stare, and the Tropius couldn't understand why.

[/center]

[doctor]

The Vulpix dared to come closer, which, indeed, was not that close at all - only a two metres away, but he still. As the Torpius gazed down at him underneath the mass of his nose, Regal yipped, as he had done previously with the Chatot, tiny paws spread wide on the glassy tile as he tried not to make a fool of himself, fur raising at the back of his neck.

"Shush, love, you'll scare him," the sole human in the room proclaimed, though she was unheard as the pacifist sauropod let out at large sigh, much like steam coming out of a tarnished and tired kettle.

(Are we ready to wrap up?)