The Arrival

A ship sailed onto the coast, docking at the harbor. The captain announced the arrival, and that the passengers should get off. They all got off, with Adam in the crowd. Once in town, he sent out his three Pokemon: a Dewott, a Zorua, and an Aipom. "Right, now where's the tournament?" he wondered, as he and his Pokemon tried to read the map. Mura looked away, slightly guilty that she was the one who accidentally poured milkshake onto the map, obscuring the instructional parts and the compass mark.

Ellen wandered off of the ferry, her Kirlia happily by her side. She glanced around at the new surroundings wondering what this region would be like as a whole. Unova, where she came from, was a rather highly developed region with more technology than say Kanto, which was more rural.

The young trainer pulled two more pokeballs out of her bag and opened them to let out Nightshade and Lumi. The Murkrow stretched her wings whereas the Emolga glanced around to see where they were.

"Alright guys. We've gotta find where this tournament is supposed to be held."
Ellen brought out a map of her own. Luckily hers wasn't covered in milkshake, though unfortunately, she was rather useless when it came to reading maps and kept turning it around as if it would immediately make sense once turned a certain way.

Nightshade landed on Ellen's shoulder, peering at the map as she turned it. It seemed the Murkrow couldn't make much sense of it either.

"Looks like we're finally here." The blue eyes of a young girl started to shine as she entered the harbor on the back of her trusty Tirtouga, Raine. Even if she knew next to nothing about reading maps, she had managed to find her way by tailing the ship that was carrying the other trainers.

Taking a deep breath, Valerie filled her lungs with some more fresh sea air as she jumped onto land. "Ah, it feels nice to stretch out my legs after a long journey." the girl sighed as she turned towards the exhausted Tirtouga. "You've never carried me this far before. You deserve a nice rest, old pal. Take a look around, if you want. Of course," she began, tossing a couple of pokeballs. "That goes for you, too. Atlas, Keahi, come out!" the pokeballs opened up to reveal a boisterous Heracross and a bubbly, young Torchic. Having being trapped in a pokeball for a while, Atlas decide to get rid of some excess energy by running laps around the harbour. However, he didn't watch where he was going, and thus ran into another trainer's Dewott.

"Oh brother." Valerie facepalmed as she ran over to the boy. "Sorry about that, dude. My Heracross can be kinda...eccentric." she apologized as she looked at the Devott, who appeared to had taken the blow quite well. "That's a really sharp looking pokemon you've got there, by the way. You here for the tournament, as well?"

Adam tried to wipe off the dried spill with a tissue, but to no avail. Giving up, he gave it to Blade to try to decipher it without a the directions. Looking around for signs, he found a girl with a Murkrow, Emolga, and Kirlia with her, trying to make sense of her map. He just managed to see the underside, spotting the words: Pokemon Akarui Nyx Tournament. Grinning, he took this opportunity, but before he could walk over, he heard a crash as Blade was smashed into the map and on the ground. "Oh! Blade you okay?" he said as he tried to help the poor Dewott up. He knew how proud he was. If he went angry. Oh, the Heracross would be chopped beetle in no time. "Oh, it's no problem." he said to the girl, the Trainer. She was dressed in a modified Battle Girl uniform, and beside her was a Tirtouga and Torchic. "And yeah, I'm here for the tourney." then suddenly, he felt a tug on his arms as Blade tried to run at the Heracross in anger. It took the combined effort of him and his other two Pokemon (Kuroi transformed into Heracross) to keep him back.

Ellen sighed as she realized that she wasn't getting anywhere despite the map's good condition.
"Why did I never learn to read maps..." she muttered.

The young trainer then shaded her eyes with one hand and scanned the area looking for someone who could help her. A short distance away, she noticed another trainer with a Dewott. As she was watching, she saw another trainer's Heracross bump into the Dewott.

Wanting to see if the Discipline Pokemon was alright, she dashed over to the other two trainers, the map trailing behind her as she ran. She nearly tripped over as she came to a stop next to them, her map slipping through her fingers and dropping onto the ground.

Ellen bent down to pick it up as her Kirlia and Emolga caught up with her. Noticing that apart from the fact he seemed to now want to attack the Heracross, the Dewott was fine, she smiled. Ellen then turned to the trainers she had just run up to, holding up the map.
"Do either of you know how to read one of these?"

"This was your fault, y'know." Valerie muttered as Atlas gave the enraged Dewott an equally enraged glance. "You'd better apologize, or I'm gonna lend you to mom for the entire summer vacation once we get home. She's probably going to be overjoyed at having someone helping with all the shores~" the young Battle Girl added in a sing song voice, causing the Heracross to reluctantly hold out his hand in peace. "Good boy."

Then she noticed another trainer, a girl coming their way, asking if any of them knew how to read a map. "Sorry, beats me." she shrugged. "I was only able to get here on my Tirtouga because we stalked the boat. How about you?" Valerie turned towards the boy. "Wanna borrow one of the maps? We'll probably find the tournament grounds much faster if we cooporate, and since two out of us three are unable to read a map..."

"Blade calm down!" Adam coaxed, and then finally gave up, and said, "Fine. If you don't stop, I'll confiscate those scalchops!" the Dewott froze, and then shook the hand/leg reluctantly. "Right. Now, hello there." he said, greeting the girl he saw earlier. "I know how to read a map, though mine was dirtied by a milkshake. So, can I borrow one of yours? I'm good with maps. My grandfather used to be a sailor, so he taught me how to navigate with a map."

"Your grandpa used to be a sailor?" Valerie repeated. She had always been fascinated by travelling to far-off places, but she got sick way too easily inside a boat. "Cool! I'm Valerie Kashi, by the way." She added, extending a hand. "Nice to meet both of you!"

"Sure!" she grinned, handing Adam the map she had in her hands. "Reading a map is one of those skills I never really though to try and pick up. And now look where it's gotten me."

Despite her usual shy demeanour, Ellen's excitement for the tournament seemed to give her the confidence she usually lacked to be able to talk to strangers.

Serena wandered over to the Dewott, tilting her head in confusion. Surely he understood that the Heracross hadn't meant to bump into him... The Kirlia knew that he obviously had his pride, but surely he was denting it more by attempting to attack Atlas.

"Oh. I'm Ellen by the way. Ellen Beckett," she smiled after Valerie introduced herself, "And this is Serena, Nightshade and Lumi."
Ellen pointed to her Kirlia, Murkrow and Emolga in turn.

"Thanks, and I'm Adam Surge." he said as he took the map, reading over it. "Right, let's see....it should be in that direction." he said pointing in the left direction. Without waiting, he beckoned them to follow and went off. Before leaving off, Kuroi, jumped and transformed into an Emolga, giggling. Then, Mura followed his trainer, hopping onto Adam's shoulder.

Ellen eagerly followed Adam as he lead the way. At least things were progressing now.

Lumi tilted her head to the side at Kuroi's transformation into an Emolga. Shrugging, she leaped into the air and glided after her trainer, Serena gracefully hopping after her, balencing on the very tips of her small green feet.

Nightshade ruffled her feathers from her spot on Ellen's shoulder, keeping her eyes ahead.

"'Kay." Valerie nodded as she scanned the mentioned direction. Noticing how the road followed the ocean, she picked Raine up and gently lowered her into the water. She was glad she didn't have to cram her pal into a pokeball yet. "Keahi! Here, girl." she called, letting the Torchic leap into her arms. And with Atlas flying ahead, she proceeded with the other trainers.

Not too far from the other three trainers a girl with pink hair had just dodged a Thunder Shock attack from her Pichu Senna. In hopes of catching her off gaurd a Riolu was using Quick Attack while Seel used Headbutt to intercept the Quick attack. Hisana glance back at the Seel with gratitude. "Nice job Rukia. Senna, Ichigo let's take a break for now." she called to her other Pokemon to a small picnic table. Hisana wasn't one to wast any time on training when she was on the boat she was looking hard at the map studying it to see the best way to the tornament arena.

She was only a few yards away from the arena and she could practicly see the Dome. The young girl looked over at her Riolu who had stopped with a Poffin in his paw. He was staring at the Dome not even blinking, it was kind of scary. "What's wrong Ichigo?" she asked her Pokemon. ichigo had been there for her since the beggining. When she was a little girl she had alway wanted a Pokemon of her own. When she turned 7 years old her dad had given her a newly hatched Riolu.

Overjoyed she raced to hug the Pokemon but Riolu turned away. When he felt the sad emotion comming from hisana he sighed and stuck out his paw to shake her hand. "His name is Ichigo." her father said. "Like the strawberry?" the pink hiared gorl asked and giggled when she saw Ichigo's upset face. "Bar mah bar!(No way it mean's "One who Protects)" he shouted.Hisana didn't under stand what the Riolu had said she still diddn't.

Now that she was older and had other Pokemon with her she could almost feel agitated as Ichigo was looking at the Dome.

It took her a while, but eventually Sayuri unboarded the grand ship. She had no idea where she was supposed to go. Knowingly of the other trainer's presences, she headed in the direction of which she saw them disappear. Of course she suddenly came to a hault, too afraid to speak.
Her three pokemon, a togepi who went by Hipo, a quiet Gothita named Nima, and a lively-looking mienfoo who was called Hikari were trailing along with her. Hikari tapped Sayuri on the shoulder and gave her a little shove. At this, the white-haired girl finally found the courage to approach the group.
"H-hello...do you happen to kn...do you happen to know where we're going?" she mumbled.

"Huh?" Valerie turned around and noticed a shy-looking white-haired girl. She seemed to be a competitive trainer, as well. "Oh, right. I'm pretty sure we're heading for the arena, but, to be honest, I have pretty much no sense of directions." she explained awkwardly as the Torchic in her arms greeted the girl's pokemon with a chirp. "I choose to trust our navigator, Adam, though." she added, shifting her grip on Keahi and pointing at the boy with her free arm. "You'd better try asking him for anything map related, as the rest of us fail to even see if the map's upside down or not." she chuckled before holding out her hand. "Name's Valerie Kashi, by the way, and that girl with the Emolga is Ellen Beckett."

Adam was focused on where they were going, but noticed the shy-looking girl, and waved at her. "Hey, Adam Surge. Since you're also for the tournament, why don't we all go together?" he said, and then continued on his way, estimating a time of five minutes to get there. He wondered what kind of trainers he was to battle. Mura and Kuroi followed suit, with Mura hopping onto his head, and Kuroi gliding above. Blade was still fuming behind them, and had his arms crossed, head up. The Dewott was thinking of various ways of how to beat down the Heracross, and had come up with around 6. Now, the problem was conveying them to his Trainer.

"Hi there!" grinned Ellen, smiling slightly at the new person who had appeared. It seemed that she was much like her usual self, shy and reserved. Ellen decided to try and make her feel welcome.
"Well.. I guess you already know my name, but this is Lumi, Nightshade and Serena."
She pointed to her Emolga, Murkrow and Kirlia in turn.

Nightshade took off from Ellen's shoulder, deciding that she would rather be in the air for the time being.

Serena, after being introduced to Sayuri, wandered over to the Dewott who was still silently fuming over the Heracross bumping into him.
"Kirli Kirlia.(It'll only end up hurting your pride more if you execute revenge.)" she pointed out, not meaning to sound mean or anything. Serena just didn't see why the Dewott just couldn't let it go. It had been an accident after all.

Valerie smiled as the group grew. This tournament was a good opportunity to make friends, it seemed. The pokemon seemed to be getting along, as well, save for Atlas' accidental clash with the Dewott.

He hadn't been out of the pokeball for long, but Atlas was already starting to get bored. Weren't they there soon? He was just itching to spar with someone, anyone. Seeing his trainer letting his guard down, the Heracross smiled to himself. Maybe he could manage to land a preemptive training hit on the girl?

Valerie was about to make an attempt at small talk, when she noticed Atlas diving towards her, his front leg raised and prepared to strike. Reacting in the nick of time, she sidestepped, grabbed his front leg and tossed him onto the ground. "Not *huff* now, Atlas." she muttered, having lost her breath temporarily after tossing the pokemon. "We can *huff* spar when we've arrived, *huff* kay?"

Sayuri only nodded as everyone introduced themselves. She would have bolted if it weren't for Hikari who held her back. It was a bit of a surprise to see such a red face on such a pale girl.
"Sayuri..." she finally managed to say although barely audible.
Once she knew that her trainer wouldn't budge, The mienfoo grabbed Hipo who was hiding her face as usual and walked up to Adam. She was curious about the strange "map", as the humans called it. Even though all the other pokemon seemed to be having fun and mingling(with a few exceptions), Sayuri's Gothita, Nima stayed by her trainer's side. She watched everything closely.

Ichigo heard a small crash while the others were eating. "Mah mah. (I'll be right back.)" he said as he saw Senna running towards the sound. Hisana heard the urgency in the Pokémon’s voice so she quickly returned Rukia to her Pokeball and went after her Pokémon. Senna being as hyper as she was, she started to run in zigzags. Not looking at where she was going she bumped into something larger than her.

A white haired boy was a blur as he dashed up the sidewalk. Having eaten sugar on top of his usual level of hyperness, Kaze was like a speeding bullet. His pokemon were dashing after him, Bubbles with an indignant squawk, Itachi with a thrilled trill, and Suna with a stern grunt. Of course, going at this speed he was bound to run into something. And so he did. In fact, he ran into a telephone pole only a few feet away from the ever growing group of trainers. "Owchhh" He whined, rubbing his nose. "Piiip!(That's what you get for going so fast!)" "Seeeeen!(AHAHAAHAH!)" "Lar! Larvi!(Waaah! Are you okay!?)" A chorus of noises spewed from his trio of pokemon.

Blade listened to the Kirlia, Serena. Then, he immediately let go of his grudge, and his attention was completely focused on the Kirlia, entranced. He forgot about hating Atlas as well. Adam noticed, and snickered evilly, before continuing on. Then, he heard a big commotion nearby, and saw a white-haired boy hitting a pole, with his Pokemon fussing over him. He went over, and asked, "Are you okay?"

As Atlas stood up and shook off the dust he had stirred up, Valerie turned around just in time to see a white haired guy collide with a telephone pole. "Oof!" she winced. That looked like it hurt big time." she muttered as she joined Adam in checking if the guy was alright.

In the meantime, Keahi had jumped out of the arms of her trainer, and was now strolling around on her own. She noticed the Dewott from before talking to a pretty looking Kirlia, and decided to join them. "Chi, t'chik chi? (hello, mister! You're not mad anymore, right?" the young Torchic chirped at the Dewott. "Chik Torchii? (If you aren't, then maybe we can be friends?)"

Serena tilted her head slightly as she realized that the Dewott seemed to be focused on her. She then smiled and stood on the tip of one foot. She performed a short pirouette, glad that Blade had stopped his feud with Atlas, at least for now. She then gently pranced over to the white-haired male.

Ellen followed Adam and Valerie over to the telephone pole, Nightshade and Lumi following her shortly after.

The Kirlia stood on the tips of her feet, her pale white arms by her sides. She could sense the concern from the white-haired male's pokemon as well as the other trainers, through the red horns on her head.

"Eh? Oh I'm fine no worries!~" Kaze exclaimed, spinning about in a circle on one foot, long coat twirling along with him. "Well, nice to meet you! I'm Kaze Lumino.This is Bubbles, Itachi, and Suna." The snow-haired boy introduced himself and his pokemon, pointing to each one in turn. "And you? HEY! You're trainers too! Huh go figure. There was this one time.." Kaze began to babble a mile a minute, hardly stopping to breath.