[PRP] Young and Headstrong

[Tymiko]

In the grassy area bordering the edge of Camphoreon City, a girl who appeared to be about 12 or 13 lay on her back, staring at the sky. It was a faintly breezy day with the wind blowing in briny air from the sea and the sun high overheard. Its light made cloud-watching a little difficult, but when the clouds themselves hid the blinding circle, one could make out their shapes without squinting.

Distance, who had taken to becoming more nocturnal ever since her evolution, preferred to remain in her ball, but Fathom enjoyed the warm sun as he napped beside his trainer. Next to him, a translucent blue blob lay shapelessly in the grass, shivering faintly whenever a gust of wind came by and ruffled the surrounding blades of grass. It seemed to be a calm-enough day, and Tymiko, as usual, was daydreaming.  

[Gwennythe]

Henrietta had no time for sky watching! Her journey so far seemed like it had been composed of trips back and forth from Camphoreon; she hadn't gotten to explore half the stuff she'd thought she'd have gotten to see by now but at least she'd been to an awesome competition in Kanto.

The purple-haired girl was running along through the grass, pursued at a waddle by Gummy, turning to encourage him- and not stopping even though she was now running backward.
"C'mon Gummy!" She grinned, enjoying the feel of the sun, the breeziness, and the thrill of running along in the grass.
She was back in Kodo, she had a brand new pokédex; she felt like a trainer again.
She turned back around to see a few forms, one human, in the grass ahead, and found herself struggling to stop before she tripped over, or onto, one of them.
"Whoa!"
Gummy, being closer to the ground, and being Gummy, noticed no such obstacles ahead and blundered past his trainer.  

[Tymiko]

Tugged out of her dreaming by a perky voice, Tymiko blinked and sat up just in time to see the purple-haired girl struggling to keep her balance. She leaned forward and put her hands up to help support the teen and to keep her from falling over.

Gummy, on the other hand, happened to step into the puddle of goo that was, in fact, a pokemon, causing the blob to contract and shudder, making a high pitched, "Dittooo! Dit dit!" as it shrunk away from the Totodile and pressed up against the Vaporeon.

This in turn woke Fathom, who raised his head sleepily and blinked his pale eyes, staring at the green reptile with the purple, vacant stare. What in the world...?

"Diiiitto..." the blue jello-like substance whimpered warily, inching behind Fathom to put him between it and the newcomers.

"Yikes! Are you okay?" Ty asked Henrietta, looking up. Pushing off the ground, she got to her feet and brushed the grass off her capris. "Sorry, I probably shouldn't have been lying on the ground."  

[Gwennythe]

"Nah! You're fine! Thanks!" Henrietta grinned sheepishly as she was kept from falling as Ty got up. Then she heard the Ditto. "Hey! Be careful Gummy!" She called, perhaps out of concern for him as much for the pokémon he'd stepped on.
Stabilized, the girl smiled, with faint recognition, at Ty before her gaze was suddenly torn to the other trainer's pokémon.
"Oh awesome! Another Ditto! And a Vaporeon! Cool!" Henrietta made a bee-line to stand near Gummy and have a good look at the pair.
"Oh man, these guys are awesome!" She complimented the girl that she'd nearly tripped over, looking back at her for a moment.
She'd yet to apologize, for her own actions, at all.

Gummy stopped after treading on the jello-style pokémon and stood, completely still, as it hid behind the Vaporeon. He seemed to be staring over the fish-tailed pokémon's head.  

[Tymiko]

Pausing, recognition slowly dawned on Tymiko as well as she heard Henrietta call to her pokemon. "Waaait a second, I remember you from the competition at Kanto," she said. "You fought against Rosie, didn't you? Great job, by the way! You and your pokemon."

When the other girl went to go inspect her own pokemon, Ty smiled and followed after. "Them? Your Totodile and Zubat are awesome! What were their names? 'Gummy'?"

Fathom stared back at Gummy incredulously, unimpressed by the reptile's reaction - or lack there of. The ditto, on the other hand, peered out from behind the Vaporeon only to hear Henrietta come nearer and shrink back, shaking. All at once, the blue blob glowed before transforming into a second Totodile, this one a little more on the blue-ish side of green than Gummy, but with dark blue spikes along its back. "Toto," it murmured.

"Fathom, be nice," Ty advised. "Oh, and that's Aquamarine. I caught her in Kanto after the tournament."  

[Gwennythe]

"Yep! That was us!" Henrietta confirmed, grinning even wider at being reminded of that, at least. "Man, she's tough, but yeah! Gummy and Winglet did awesome! I saw you face Luke, right? You did really well too!"

She nodded. "That's Gummy there. Winglet's my Zubat's name- Oh wow! Awesome!"
The purple-haired trainer had watched Aquamarine change into a Totodile.
"Aw man, I really should have gone looking for pokémon in Kanto but all this stuff happened and then I had to get the boat. Well done on getting a Ditto! It's awesome! And Fathom looks so cool!"

Water dripped out of Gummy's closed jaws as he continued to stare over the heads of the two pokémon.  

[Tymiko]

"Thanks," Ty laughed. "But we still lost. Guess we just have to get stronger, huh? Show them that us kids can be just as good as teenagers or adults. And better! We'll beat them for sure next time, won't we?" She paused, looking sheepish. "I'm sorry, my memory is so bad...what name do you go by, again? I'm Tymiko, but everyone just calls me Ty."

"Gummy and Aweso - I mean, Winglet," the olive-tanned girl noted, correcting herself. "Oh! Haha, having fun, Aqua?" She grinned at the pair and crouched beside Gummy. "Is it alright if I pet him? Wow, I've always wanted a Totodile. Are you a water trainer too?"

Tymiko blinked at Henrietta's enthusiasm before giggling in amusement. "Thank you. Sometimes I wonder if it isn't better just to train the pokemon you have, though, instead of catching as many as you can. Aquamarine kind of...stuck to me."

"I think she had gotten caught up in the trainer tournament and was so frightened of all the people around that she thought she'd stay beside Fathom pretend to be mine. I haven't actually caught her in a ball," the girl confessed. "Let's see...besides her, I just have Fathom and Distance, so I guess we each have officially two pokemon."

"Hey, I know!" Ty cried. "Do you want to have a battle here and now? That way we can both help each other train!"  

[Gwennythe]

"Eh, loss is just exactly that!" Henrietta replied, agreeing enthusiastically. "It's how you know ya gotta get even stronger! Man, it'd just be boring to win all the time, though y'know, I bet we could totally do that anyway! Nice to meet you, Ty! I'm Henrietta but some people call me Hen or whatever..."

She grinned wide at the catch. "She may as well be called 'Awesome! Cuz she is! But, nah, she's 'Winglet'; cuz she has wings." The girl probably needn't have explained that.
"You can /totally/ pet him! He loves being petted! What about these two? Do they like being petted?" She was already reaching out a hand for Fathom. "Nah, I just train whatever lets me catch it! Water types are awesome though!"
She considered the point about catching many versus the ones already owned, but shrugged a little. "Yeah, that's important! But it's good to have many friends with you!"

The story of how Aquamarine wasn't officially caught, and just liked Ty, got a bigger smile from Henrietta.
"Oh, that is really awesome! You must be a really good trainer to attract her like that! Are y' gonna offer her a ball eventually?" The offer of a battle got her to straighten up quickly, and possibly got the biggest grin out of the girl.
"Do I?! Man, TOTALLY! That's an awesome idea, though I gotta warn you, we're totally gone win!"  

[Tymiko]

"Do you prefer Hen, or Henrietta?" Ty asked, trying not to laugh at the interesting nickname. "Pleasure meeting you."

"I'll bet she is," the water trainer concurred. "And Winglet is just as fine a name. Cute, too." Beaming at the permission she was granted, Ty scooped up Gummy in her arms and hugged him as tight as she could, releasing the repressed excitement that had welled up in her upon seeing him. Hopefully he wouldn't mind breath-banishing hugs much more than being petted.

"Fathom and Aqua? I can't see why they wouldn't," Ty gushed, snuggling against Gummy indulgently. Fathom didn't seem too happy about this reply, but Henrietta seemed like a nice girl, so he raised his head to meet her hand. It was Tymiko's assumption that he wouldn't mind the petting that bothered him more than the petting itself, after all.

"That's smarter, I think," the other girl reasoned. "Having a bunch of different types like you do. I just wanted to see if I could learn Water-types inside and out so I could focus on its advantages and disadvantages. Some people probably consider trainers who stick to one type as weak, but I think it's more of a challenge to overcome that type's weaknesses and play on their strengths."

Aquamarine, who had shied away at Henrietta's loud voice and Tymiko's consent to pet her, melted down with a frown so she was almost flat against the ground, a puddle of goo once more. She seemed like she wanted to disappear into the ground like water.

"That's nice of you to say, but I think maybe I was just really lucky rather than really good," Ty giggled. Her gaze fell to the frightened to the Ditto and she offered a fond smile. "I think...I might just let her be. She might not want to be caught, so if she ever decides to leave, I want her to have that freedom. Besides, if she had a ball, she might just want to stay in it all the time, and that's no way o live life, is it?"

Grinning at the purple-haired girl's enthusiastic response to her suggestion, Ty grabbed a Moon ball from her waist and held it high. "We'll see about that! Distance, go!" As she called out the Umbreon, the younger girl took several steps away from Henrietta, making room for them to battle and attempting to avoid getting Aquamarine caught in the crossfire by giving her more space.

"Whoops! Guess I need to give this little guy back, huh?" she laughed, realizing she had still been holding on to Gummy in one arm. Kneeling, she set him down so he could return to his trainer.  

[Gwennythe]

Gummy didn't seem to have any objections to being hugged in such a manner, in fact he seemed rather content just to droop limply in the girls arms, though some water did dribble out of his mouth.

"I 'unno... I didn't like Hen for a while but then someone made me realize it was actually pretty cool and, anyway, a female Combusken's a hen, right? And they're totally awesome!"

For one with such enthusiasm, Henrietta's petting might have seemed in contrast, a little, with her nature; she was very gentle as she reached to scritch at Fathom's forehead.
A look at Aquamarine showed that the Ditto probably didn't want to be touched- she wasn't sure how one petted a puddle anyway...

"Learning all about one type is kinda cool though! A lotta work and I bet that's super impressive when you win against Grass or Electric! I just like too many of them to stick to a type really!" It certainly wasn't strategy that led her to seek out different types of pokémon anyway.

Henrietta gave a little nod as she understood what Ty meant about Aquamarine's freedom, and grinned.
"I guess so! And I guess the reverse is true, right? If she ever did want a ball, she could probably pretty easily let you know!"

"Oh man! Wow! Where did you get that?!" She enthused, as she straightened up to move out a little for the battle, in time to see Ty launching a Moon Ball, and then grinned.
"Well I could just battle you with Winglet and, y'know, we'd probably win, but Gummy is my strongest!"

Gummy, who did not exactly look like a pokémon someone could call strong, waddled across the area set for battle, taking up a position, as though he knew what was going on... Though with his back to his opponent, so Henrietta quickly bent down to turn him around the right way.  

[Tymiko]

"Someone? Dare I ask who?" Tymiko asked with a grin. "I can still call you Henrietta if that's what you prefer, but I do think Hen sounds cooler." She didn't seem to mind Gummy's dribbling and simply brushed it off with her other hand.

The Vaporeon, pleased with the purple-haired girl's gentle touch, pressed his head further against her hand, arching his back toward her. Unlike Henrietta, Tymiko enjoyed squishing her pokemon with all her might whenever she got the urge to do so (similar to her treatment of Gummy) and thus Fathom was pleasantly surprised by the slightly older girl's caress.

Aquamarine watched this from her flattened state, condensing a little to create a sort of lump within her puddle, but she still had yet to regain a more solid form. "Ditto...?" she emitted timidly.

"Yeah, it's a really great feeling when you can do that. Defeating an Electric or Grass with Water-types sometimes seems impossible, but it's a real triumph when you learn about certain techniques and pokemon to use against them like Marshtomp and Lanturn with their abilities and dual types."

She laughed. "That's great that you like so many! It's so sad when people avoid pokemon just because they don't like its type and they are prejudice against it." Not like she was one to talk. Then again, it wasn't so much fire pokemon that Ty disliked rather than the fire they created. As long as they kept their flames and heat to themselves, she was fine with them. It was her fear that made her keep them at bay, not anything she blamed the pokemon for.

Nodding at Henrietta's point regarding Aquamarine telling her about a ball, Ty smiled a little wistfully. "You're probably right. I wish we could talk to them, though. It'd be great if we could actually converse and speak each others' languages rather than just trying to guess what they're saying all the time. I always worry I'm misinterpreting what they're trying to tell me. Do you ever worry about that, Henrietta?" She doubted it; the girl seemed confident in practically everything she did. Questioning the bond between herself and her pokemon was probably the last thing on her mind, Tymiko figured.

"What? Distance?" she asked, looking from the Moon Ball to the Umbreon. Or was she referring to the pokeball...? "Haha, well Fathom is my strongest, but we can start with Winglet and Distance first, since they probably need the most training. I don't know if you saw, but Distance just recently evolved in that battle I had against Luke. I'm pretty sure she was trying to protect her daddy after he got too weak to battle." She looked proudly to the dark type, who fidgeted in flattered embarrassment.

Gummy's antics caused the water trainer to giggle, but Fathom just rolled his eyes. Something was seriously wrong in the head with that pokemon, he was sure of it.

"So, you wanna go first, Henrietta?"  

[Gwennythe]

"Nah, Hen's cool!" She agreed "Someone called Ray- she helped me catch Winglet, actually!" Henrietta answered the question without hesitation.
The arching of the Vaporeon's back got a bigger grin and she reached to stroke there gently, considering it an invitation, while the Ditto's little noise called her attention that way.
She couldn't really tell if Aquamarine was just curious, or wanted to be petted too, so she carefully reached out, without touching the pokémon, leaving her free hand as an invitation of her own for a moment.

"Oh man, I couldn't imagine not liking a pokémon type! They're all so awesome! Hey, yeah! Talking to them would be really cool!" She just looked confused at the idea of misinterpreting them though. "Huh? Nah, I'd like to be able to talk to them but we understand each other pretty well!"

Around then, she'd gotten up for the battle.
"Hm? No! Though Distance is super cool! I mean that ball!" Henrietta grinned. "Yeah! That was awesome! And I bet Winglet would so pleased to go first!"

She patted Gummy on the head.
"Your turn soon!" Then took Winglet's Quick ball out, pressed the button, and grinned as her Zubat materialised, apparently already prepared.
"Okay! Winglet, Astonish!"  

[Tymiko]

"Oh! I've met Ray before. That's so awesome!" Watching Henrietta with her pokemon, Ty giggled. Aquamarine blinked and stretched her gelatinous body to reach Hen's hand. It wasn't exactly arching like Fathom, but as she stretched, she gradually developed a Vaporeon's body in order to do just that.

"Hey, she likes you," the water trainer marveled. "Look at that. Maybe you should try getting a Ditto for yourself, Hen, if you like all different types. Since they can transform into other pokemon, you can learn and master all sorts of pokemon techniques and species."

Grinning at the other girl's confidence in her bond with her pokemon, she got ready to battle in a fighting pose before realizing what Hen meant. "Oh, this?" She looked at the cresent moon-decorated ball before tossing it to the purple-haired girl so she could see. "It's a Moon Ball; I got it from the Johto region a while back."

"This kind man named Kurt can make them out of these funny fruits called Apricorns. This ball was made from a Ylw Apricorn and it was meant to catch pokemon that can evolve with Moon Stones best, but it can catch others too. I gave it to Distance after she hatched because I thought the night theme matched her coloring. Her mom's name was Luna, after all."

Come to think of it...there had still been one egg without an owner after one had been given to Luke and another had been stolen. She doubted Dith would have the time to raise another baby from scratch, especially since he already had Luna and Viktor. He had suggested to her that she find others suitable enough to care for the babies. Maybe Henrietta would raise the last one well.

So caught up in these thoughts was Ty that she didn't pay attention to the battle when Hen called out an attack. Distance was hit and flinched. "Oops! Sorry Distance! Uhh...um..." She tried to remember what attacks her pokemon knew, drawing a blank. "Sand Attack!"  

[Gwennythe]

"Ray /is/ awesome!" Henrietta had agreed, though she was more taken with the fact that Aquamarine had decided to turn into a Vaporeon. The girl stayed gentle but offered the Ditto the same attention she'd given to Fathom.
"Oh, man, you're cool!" She'd told the transforming-pokémon happily, especially pleased to learn that Aquamarine liked her.

"Hey, maybe! I just kinda like finding whoever turns up though I gotta admit, Aquamarine is totally awesome, so I'll keep an eye out for a wild Ditto! And, yeah! The ball! I knew it! Man, Johto stuff gets everywhere!" The girl was grinning about the fact, pleased to see a bit of 'home', even if she liked being away from it- and aside from Kurt, she was pretty sure that little town was kinda boring. "Luna's a cool name and that's a pretty awesome reason! Hey.. Wow! You raised an egg?" Henrietta agreed, feeling that the ball did, indeed, suit the pokémon and then marveled a little; raising a pokémon from an egg was a pretty cool thing to do.

"Awesome work, Winglet!" She called, getting back into the battle alongside Tymiko's re-connection, shielding her eyes a little as Distance unleashed a Sand Attack. She hoped it wouldn't effect Winglet's aim too badly, though she remembered that the little bat sometimes seemed to have a lot of trouble with attacks like this.
"Hey, give some of that back with a Supersonic!"  

[Tymiko]

"Vapor," the false Vaporeon answered Hen, almost seeming to blush at the compliment. She curled up at Hen's foot and lay down.

"I guess half the fun is just in discovering new pokemon that pop up," Ty agreed. "Have you ever been to Johto? I love it there!" She laughed happily. "Maybe we should go there together sometime. I could get you all sorts of different Apricorn balls." It hadn't even occurred to the water trainer that Henrietta might have come from the region.

"Yeah, I thought it would be hard, but this nice man named Dith helped me. He's the one who owns Luna. We had four eggs...and actually, one of them still needs an owner." The girl's blue eyes twinkled mischievously. "Would you know someone who could help us out by raising it? We want it to have a good home, of course."

Wincing at the Supersonic, Ty smiled nervously. "Nice one, Hen. Don't let that confuse you, Distance! Use Quick Attack!"

The Umbreon stumbled about as if in a daze before charging a nearby rock and injuring herself.

"Ooh...are you okay? Try again, girl," her trainer encouraged.