[FIN] Simple Swordplay

[Tymiko]

Tymiko did enjoy pokemon training, but once in a while she enjoyed training herself as well. Fathom was not so fond of this. He stood opposite of the girl, warily keeping an eye on the tip of her wooden toy sword as she jabbed it in his direction.

"Yah, yah! Take that, you sea monster! Back from the depths from whence you came!"

Distance, newly-evolved after the Kanto competition, stood off to the side, watching with amusement. Beside her sat a second Umbreon, this one with blue rings, similarly amused by the spectacle but also somewhat shy. It almost seemed to hide behind the first.

Occasionally Fathom would attempt to swat at the wooden weapon with his tail or open his mouth to nibble on the side, but for the most part he appeared to just be humoring the girl as best he could. Young though she was, her behavior seemed more appropriate for someone half her age. Once in a while a passerby would stop and stare or chuckle, but she paid them no heed. Tymiko, as usual, was too immersed in the world of her imagination to do so.  

[BlackPidgeot]

Coming up from behind Tymiko, another passerby paused and put his hand on his hip. An amused smirk crossing his face as he watched the girl jabbing her wooden sword at the Vaporeon.

"Yeah, show that sea monster what for, he's trembling in his boots. I think you've got him right where you want him," Yuri teased.

Repede woofed and sat down next to Yuri as he watched. The Growlithe looking equally amused as Fathom humored his trainer. Though he also caught eye of the pair of Umbreons as well. Huh.  

[Tymiko]

The girl didn't notice Yuri until he spoke up. She turned abruptly, surprised, before dropping the toy sword and running at Yuri with her arms spread wide. "Yuriii!" she cried, beaming with delight.

Fathom, relieved, sat back on his haunches before glancing at Repede with an indignant expression, as if to say, is something funny?

"I haven't seen you since Kanto. How are you and Repede?" Ty wanted to know. "And...the others? Are they all okay?"

Meanwhile, Distance tilted her head at the Growlithe while the blue-striped Umbreon cowered behind her. It seemed the latter was not fond of strangers.  

[BlackPidgeot]

Yuri just remained standing where he was as Tymiko came running at him. "Whoa, hey, it's good to see you too," he said, his voiced laced with his continued amusement and surprise at being greeted so.

Repede just looked at Fathom, his maw parting in a doggy grin as his tongue lolled out of his mouth. Yes, yes it was very funny.

"We're all right, can't complain really." When she asked about the others, he paused a bit. "Well... a lot's happened, but everyone's okay."

His eyes then wandered towards the pair of dark types, remembering seeing one like them recently. "Hey, you got some new Pokemon?"  

[Tymiko]

Hugging the young man tight, Ty took a step back to look at him as he answered her questions. "That's good. Sorry I couldn't stay; hospitals annoy me." Glancing back at his own question, the girl brightened. "Oh, yeah! Well, just one. Distance evolved during that battle with Luke, remember? Even if we didn't win, I'm still pretty proud of her, and Fathom is too. As for the other one..."

Turning to return to her team, the girl picked up the wooden sword and gently tapped the shy Umbreon with it. "Come on, Aqua. This is Yuri and Repede. They won't hurt you."

Seeming doubtful, the dark-type hesitated before putting a paw forward...and melting down into a blob of translucent blue. "Ditto," it uttered meekly, waving a gooey arm at the strangers.

"This is Aquamarine," Tymiko explained. "She's really shy, but she's learning to trust, I think. I found her before we got back from Kanto; a little while after we parted ways, actually." Lifting the sword to rest on her shoulder, she asked, "What about you? You must have gotten some new ones too, Mr. I'm-Not-A-Trainer."

Fathom leered at the fire-type before going to stand by his daughter. She pressed up against him affectionately before barking a cheerful greeting to Repede.  

[BlackPidgeot]

"Oh, yeah," Yuri said as he looked to the Umbreon, remembering something about Ty's Eevee evolving. However, his gaze then went to the second Umbreon, and he stared for a moment as it seemed to melt then reform.

"It's a... blob," ... with a face no less. Repede tilted his head and wuffed his greeting at both Distance and the Ditto. Neither him or Yuri had actually seen a Ditto before.

"Uh, well I did get one," Yuri admitted as he looked back to Ty. He couldn't remember if the girl had actually gotten a chance to meet Astal back in Kanto. But with that said, he fished a pokeball out of his pocket and released its contents.

The silvery sparkling Eevee appeared with a shake of his fur before sitting down and looking around. "Vee," he said in a rather unimpressed fashion.  

[Tymiko]

The girl's high laughter permeated the air. "No, silly. Well, it is a blob, but that blob is called a Ditto. And I call that Ditto 'Aquamarine' and refer to her as female." She tilted her head and raised a brow at Yuri with an incredulous smirk. "Haven't you ever seen a Ditto before? Or at least heard of one?"

Clapping her hands together once in excitement, Ty waited eagerly as Yuri took out a pokeball. She gasped at the shimmering pokemon that emerged, leaning forward and putting her hands on her knees for a better look. "An eevee! And it's shiny too! Did you get it in Kanto as well? What's its name? Is it a boy or a girl?"

Fathom peered around Distance curiously while Distance herself regarded the Eevee with wonder. The Ditto inched forward with uncertainty, surprised at the certain...sparkly quality the Eevee seemed to share with itself. "Ditto...?" it said, before transforming into a duplicate of Yuri's newest pokemon.  

[BlackPidgeot]

"Yeah, I have seen one before... but it didn't look like that."

What Yuri didn't know was that Ivory's Ditto was actually a Mew pretending to be a Ditto. Thus he'd never seen the supposed "Ditto" in its natural form. Thus he'd really never actually seen the transforming Pokemon.

The man then heaved a dramatic sigh as Ty bombarded him with questions.

"His name's Astal and I found him in Sagestone."

The Eevee twitched his nose lightly, but remained where he was. However, he blinked, eyes widening when the Ditto transformed to look like him.  

[Tymiko]

"If you say so," the trainer answered musingly. "But it seems you've discovered shinies, anyway. Astal...what an interesting name. Reminds me of 'Astral'." Going over to inspect the silvery pokemon, she shook her head at Aquamarine with amusement.

"Hey there, Astal," she spoke to the true eevee. "Traveling with Yuri, now, are you? Has he been nice to you?" She reached out a hand to pet Aqua, who ducked her head at first, but realizing she was only going to be pet, allowed Ty to stroke her fur.

"Hey...Yuri," Tymiko said, her tone losing its cheerful quality as she gazed at Astal. Her bright eyes seemed to stare right through him rather than at him directly. "...You like people, don't you?" A pause. "Why?"  

[BlackPidgeot]

"Veeee..." Astal muttered unenthusiastically, tilting his gaze away from Tymiko with a pout.

Yuri just smirked at the Eevee who gave him a dirty look. "He's still mad that I made him take a bath."

However, Ty's question just seemed to pop out of nowhere, causing the man to blink in a bit of surprise.

"Huh? Yeah, I guess." But as for the why... that made him stop to think for a moment. "I dunno... Can't say I like everyone, but there's a lot of good in some of them."  

[Tymiko]

"Looks like someone isn't a people-pokemon," Ty noted with an empathetic smile. "Or maybe you just don't like me, is that it?" Either way, she didn't seem to mind. "Ohh, a bath...I see. Guess he doesn't have any plans to become a water-type anytime soon, then, huh?" She winked at the Eevee.

Still petting Aqua, the girl turned her head to face Yuri intently. "Are you saying you like everyone you see good in?" she wanted to know. "By 'like', I mean enjoy spending time with, listening as well as talking, trusting them to be there for you and willing to be there for them in return...even at great personal cost to yourself. The type of people you can call at any time - morning, noon, and night - and you know you can ask them for or talk to them abut anything."

She locked her gaze on his, never before seeming as serious about something as she did now. "How many friends do you have who you can say fit that description? How many real, true friends are you sure of?"  

[BlackPidgeot]

"I dunno.. he seemed pretty fascinated by the ocean, but he likes being dirty too. Honestly, I dunno what he's gonna be. I heard that Eevee can evolve into a lot of things. But I don't know what or how."

Yuri was honestly lost on what to do with his little evolution Pokemon. He wasn't in any real hurry to evolve the little guy, but at the same time... he did want Astal to get stronger. In case... something happened again, like back in Kanto.

However, as Ty went on a long... very long tangent, Yuri just stood there and blinked at her. That was a lot to take in and to answer all at once.

"Where's all this coming from?" he asked, clearly a bit baffled on why this was so important and why she was even asking in the first place.  

[Tymiko]

"Haha, a dirty water-type. Too bad he can't be a Mudkip." She beamed at him. "I'm sure you'll both know when the time is right. Maybe he won't want to evolve at all."

Clasping her hands behind her back, she rocked on the balls of her feet. "I've always thought about it. Especially when I see you and others together. Like at that Christmas party," she said. "...I have a problem with people and I thought figuring out how you dealt with them could help me."  

[BlackPidgeot]

"Maybe..." Yuri said, and shrugged indifferently. He would figure it out one way or another he supposed.

"Its not that I really like people so much as its... I don't like to see them suffer. I seen a lot of crap, a lot of people treated badly. It would kinda help if I knew what kind of problem you have."  

[Tymiko]

"So then you don't like people?" She wanted to know. "What about that guy...blond. Flynn? What makes him special?"