[PRP] Have You Got What it Takes?

[Blood_Goddess]

As Ray had promised, The day that the pokemon center was opening up in the East of the city, Ray would be meeting Clara at a designated aria outside the city and just to the west.

Because of the center opening this all but assured that other trainers would be over there, leaving the fields mostly to herself, it was entirely a necessity, but Ray felt after the first time she got talked to by the League it would be best to try and avoid any further reason to draw their attention.

A message had been send to Clara before hand, confirming time and date, now all Ray needed was for the girl to show up, in the meantime she was pacing the snowy grounds lightly, Double Stripe next to her with his large green eyes trailed on the ground, hissing lightly as Ray spoke to him in undertones, glancing up at the grass type every now and then.
No far from where the two were pacing, a large black fire horse stood, his features stuck in a furrowed, pawing impatiently at the ground every now and then.  

[Akira Midoriyama]

Clara refused to be late. Despite having worked another late shift, she had made certain to set her cell phone alarm to go off preciesely three hours after she had got home to get some shut-eye. This may have been less sleep than would she would have liked, but beggars couldn't be choosers and that was what, in more ways than one, she knew she was.

She tried to dress warmly and practically enough as she read and re-read Ray's message to her, tugging on a pair of jeans, pulling down a turtle-necked sweater, and buttoning up both her boots and coat.

The brunette was out of breath as she stumbled to a halt before Ray and Double Stripe, gasping out an apology. "Here...I'm here..." she murmured, before her eyes went wide at the sight of the dark equine. "Um...is that...yours?"  

[Blood_Goddess]

Ray had stopped pacing when she saw Clara walking over to meet her, arching her eyebrows as she stepped over, though anything she might have said was put on hold as she glanced over to where the Rapidash was standing.

"Not mine, no, but we do work together. This is Havoc, don't try and pet him. Havoc, this is a new potential, Clara."

The Rapidash narrower his eyes, a shot a quick jet of flames from his nostrils.

"Like I said, don't try and pet him." Ray chuckled, looking back at Clara. "So who did you bring with you today?"  

[Akira Midoriyama]

"Don't worry. Wouldn't have dreamt of it," she said, nervously running a hand through her hair. How could anyone summon enough courage to ride those flaming beasts? Havoc's response to Ray's introduction of her wasn't reassuring. Forcing herself to do something other than stand there frozen and staring, she put her hands in her lap and bowed at her waist.

"An honor to meet you, Havoc," she said, thinking of how fitting the name seemed as she considered the contrast between the flame breath and her own created clouds of steam before her. The scarf was getting a bit warm around her throat.

"Understood," she said, righting herself stiffly. "Ah...I brought...Silly," Clara said, taking out his Luxury Ball. She wasn't sure whether or not to mention Happa, but decided against it. He didn't seem to be needed at the moment anyway.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Grinning at the greeting the younger women gave to Havoc, Ray glanced over at the Rapidash, who didn't offer much of a greeting in return.

"Ah well," She chuckled, then turned her attention back to Clara "Silly! alright, perfect. go a head and let him out, we've got a few things to discuss beforehand,"  

[Akira Midoriyama]

"Okay then...if you're sure," she murmured, pressing the button on the ball to maximize it before releasing the pokemon inside. She was counting on Silly not to behave badly in front of company - at least not badly enough to openly attack her first thing.

The Serperior emerged without much fuss, though he didn't seem much more pleased than usual to have been summoned. He turned to direct his customary glare at Clara before regarding the rest of their company. They seemed to be out in the middle of a field next to nowhere with the peasant woman, her candy cane pokemon, and some huge flaming black brute. Wonderful. Not Silly's idea of a picnic. He wanted to go back to his ball.

He knew it wouldn't have been wise to threaten his trainer right then and there in front of another human, but he could warn her, at least. They'd had enough of an experience in the past that he knew she knew just what he was capable of and Ray wouldn't be around forever to watch him.

His tail rose like a vine to claim the Luxury Ball that had returned to Clara's grasp, but she quickly did her best to stuff it in her bag. Silly wasn't detered; the silent contest simply became a tug-of-war for the bag instead. Both trainer and pokemon seemed determined to hold on and though both tried to be subtle about it, the harder they tugged, the more evident their strain was.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Ray grinned at the pokemon as he joined them, but in silence and interest watched the little fight with the ball as the Serperior seemed to want to claim it for some reason.

"Ah- actually, I'm going to ask that you give that ball to me." Ray said, stepping forward and holding her hand out. "Its good to see you again Supercilious, if you don't mind. for a bit at least, I need to talk to you and Clara. It involves you both, so I need you both to be honest and listen. Do you understand?"

A hand was held out to accept the Luxury ball.  

[Akira Midoriyama]

Silly's scarlet gaze locked on the by-then-familiar silver-haired woman just as Clara's own brown eyes did. "Oh...alright," she said, using the distraction to make an extra sharp tug and successfully retrieve the bag from the serpent. The brunette immediately dug out the ball and handed it over.

The pokemon whose ball it was, however, was not so content with this request and compliance. She could talk to him all she wanted, sure, but he wanted his ball back. Drawing himself up, he slithered meaningfully toward the tall woman before attempting to snatch his 'property' back from her after Clara had so thoughtlessly handed it over.

Clara, watching, seemed somewhat at a loss of what to do. She had anticipated this kind of behavior from her pokemon, but, not wanting to make a bad impression on Ray with the wrong move, merely looked on with an anxious expression while waiting to see how the experienced trainer planned to deal with Silly.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Ray closed the small ball into her hands, holding it out to the Serperior as he attempted to snatch it but did not open her hands, even if it means he was hit or bit from the action.

"I will give this back to you, but I asked you nicely to hear me out." Ray said, not taking her eyes away for a second from the Serperior's eyes. "If after our talk you really just want to go back into your ball for the rest of your life, then you can. But I am going to speak my peace."  

[Akira Midoriyama]

With a disgruntled hiss and a flicker of tongue, Supercilious glared at Ray before slowly lowering himself back down. Fine, he would listen to this dirty peasant woman. At least for the time being.

Impressed by the silver-haired woman as usual, Clara fought the urge to clap as she noticed Silly's behavior. The instant he caught her staring, though, she innocently turned her attention back to Ray as if she'd never looked anywhere else.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Ray watched the grass type for a couple a seconds, a thoughtful tilt of her head that brought her glance to the ball in her palm, then over to Clara.

"Now... what do you want out of all of this?" She asked "By taking on training, by taking on training with me." A finger flicked back and forth between the pokemon and its young trainer "The both of you- what do you want out of it?"  

[Akira Midoriyama]

Clara hesitated at the question. What did she want? "...To become a trainer...?" she began, feeling rather foolish. "A-a good one. So I can protect others. And...I guess...find a purpose with which I can do some good." Something to prove to herself that her running away wasn't all just a selfish, meaningless act of escaping her past responsibilities and sorrows.

Something to make living this life seem worthwhile; to redeem herself from the guilt that weighed down on her every day. This was everything; her last chance to achieve success instead of failure as had so often been the result before. She had to make something of herself for herself as well as the good of the rest of society.

Finding herself looking to Silly, the Serperior seemed startled as he realized the question was also directed at him. The best his trainer could have offered him before and at present had been to let him alone in his Luxury Ball in peace. If Clara was serious about this, though...if she really wanted to be a good trainer and maybe actually work with him, maybe they could work as a team.

As a team, they'd win battles, and as winners, they'd get money. With money, they wouldn't have to be poor anymore and live in the squalor the Clara had so stupidly subjected them to! Yes, yes, this was the answer...beat other pokemon, take their trainers' money, and live a life of luxury once more.

he hissed in a deadpan tone, figuring neither Clara nor Ray would understand him.

The brunette seemed surprised that Silly seemed to be trying to communicate at all, sarcastic as it sounded. She couldn't really make sense of it, but that was more than he'd ever said to her. It seemed he was more intelligent than she made him out to be.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Pulling the knuckles of her first on her hips Ray nodded at Clara's reply, shrugging her shoulders with a look that seemed pleased with the answer.
She turned to Silly when he started talking, a grin on her face as she watched him closely thought his discussion, all the way through the sarcastic tone he seemed to take, and the hissing chuckle from Double Stripe, earning the green pokemon a wide grin from the women.

"Well- its interesting you would pick me." Ray admitted, tilting her head and looking from Silly to Clara and back a few more times.
"As you've probably noticed by now, or will probably notice later, there are countless different styles of training, each trainer, depending on what pokemon they have and what they want to accomplish, have different methods that work for them- or don't quite work as well for them as they might thiiiink." She squinted one eye at this, rolling the luxury ball in her palm.
"BUT by asking to train with me, you will be learning my method, and only my method, none of this branching out crap. What I teach isn't just training, its not a sport- its not a pass time- it is survival, and a life style."
The tall women leaned forward again her smile wide "Is that what you want?"  

[Akira Midoriyama]

Clara glanced from Silly to Ray to Double Stripe, appearing confused and unsure of what seemed so funny. As she found Ray addressing her again, though, she looked to the taller woman once more and stood just a little straighter. "Yes, ma'm, she answered, nodding seriously. "I understand. I'll admit that I didn't realize just how serious you were about training at first, but I gave it a lot of thought and I...well, that's actually what I came to Kodo for."

"Well, not training, specifically," she explained. I don't know if you remember, but when we first met, you said I looked like 'the fancy type'. I know you probably didn't mean anything by it, but I've never liked being...one of those types of people." She took a deep breath. "I think you've known Luke longer than I have, so you probably already know his circumstances. I won't elaborate, but mine are very similar."

"I came to Kodo looking for change - a new way to live my life so that I felt it had meaning. I thought it would be simple, but I got discouraged when I didn't find what I was looking for immediately. But now I'm realizing that just a change in scenery wasn't enough for me. I want to be a different person. I want to count for something. I just need guidance to figure out the right way to go about doing it so I don't get lost in wrong assumptions and speculation again and end up right back where I started." When the brunette met Ray's green gaze again, she was smiling right back. "So yes, that is what I want."  

[Blood_Goddess]

"I've been serious about this since I was born." She admitted, letting out a heavy sigh and moving into a crouch so she could rest her elbows on her thighs. "At ten I was out the door, and ever since I've been constantly learning the tricks to survive in my kind of world. and I'll be the first to admit I don't really relate to any other life, except from what I can see- and trust me, I see a lot."

Ray lifted a finger to wave it at Clara "I've known Luke, yeah- but I'm not familiar as to what circumstance you're talking about. I don't actually know a whole lot about his life, but its not hard to tell he's got his issues- and a cute fiance, heh heh"
Her discussion was broken off with a deep chuckle, reaching a hand out to pat Double Stripe as he slithered up to her. her eyes shifting from her pokemon partner to the girl as she explained just why she wanted to do this training.
After she was finished a wide smirk scread across her lips and she waved her hand "alright, you talk a good talk, you've got me convinced that you wanna do this. But lets see you put your money where you're mouth is. I'll give you a week of trial, and you can tell me if you want to continue or not."

Ray stood up and put her hands on her hips the Luxury ball still in her hand. "That does for you're pokemon partner too. Are you both ready to begin?"