[ORP] Ruddy little thief!

[Gwennythe]

"Underground huh?" The girl wrinkled her nose; this sounded a little odd now. Still, her competitive spirit won out and she stood as straight, and as tall as she could. "We'll be there, you bet! Wouldn't miss it!"
It sounded like she was determined to come, and still confident.

Gummy flapped his jaws as the cookie landed right in it. He crunched it up happily and then let out a little belch. Food, at least, seemed to get him to be a little expressive.  

[Lucky Tamer]

Ezra scoffed. "I'll see you, then." he said and then a familar blue hat caught his eye through the crowd and took off, yelling back. "Gotta go. Bye!"  

[Gwennythe]

"You bet you will!" Henrietta called after the fleeing man, seemingly unfazed by his very rapid departure, and perhaps still caught up in the excitement of competition and 'bragging'.
"Here that, Gummy? We're gonna win a competition today."

Gummy tilted his head to one side, moving his stare from the fleeing man and Pichu to his confident trainer. His tail twitched once.  

[Lucky Tamer]

Ezra scurried into his little hidden cubby hole where he lived with his Pichu. It was basically a section along the tracks big enough for a matress and that was about it. It wasn't uncommon for the homeless to make their homes in these tunnels since it was dangerous for anyone to come down after them, meaning they could easily hide out without fear of raids. He threw his bag down as a pillow and made himself comfortable.

Leiji crawled up on Ezra chest, curled up into a ball and dozed off to sleep quickly. He had a restful nap, dreaming about all the fun he'd have in the match later tonight.  

[Gwennythe]

Henrietta spent the rest of that afternoon, after buying a, relatively, cheap pretzel for a snack, training in a patch of greenery she found not far away.
It wasn't as serious a training session as some might be capable of; her skills in such things still had to grow.
What she lacked in know-how, however, she made up for in enthusiasm, perhaps.

Gummy went through each command without much change in his expression; a stoic contrast to his grinning, enthusiastic trainer. His mouth snapped open to deliver a Water Gun, his arms moved to perform Scratch, but his eyes remained staring, sometimes almost seeming unfocused.

The pair spent nearly the whole afternoon in the small park before it was time to get back to the station.  

[Lucky Tamer]

Around three, Ezra woke up and gathered up his things. He made his way to a seemingly empty platform and found a man dressed in all black leaning near a trash can. "Ezra, you have to stop showing up this early. We do it at five so there's a crowd and it's harder to be noticed." the guard muttered but he slid the trashcan out a bit, nonetheless. Underneath was a makeshift hole that was cut as much into the wall as the floor so that it hid easily behind the disposal unit. Inside the hole, propped on one side was a ladder leading down. Ezra didn't say a word before making his way down, after all, these underground matches couldn't be regulated and officer Jenny would just love to close them down if she could.  

[Gwennythe]

'Get here around four', he'd said. Well. Here was Henrietta, at four, on the dot. Still looking as fresh-faced and eager as she'd been that afternoon. It didn't seem to matter to her that this 'match' took place where it did... She'd heard that 'unofficial' battles happened 'all the time'. Well, that's what she thought she'd heard. The girl was just eager to win, to get a little stronger; she was determined that she, and Gummy, would. Or, at least, she hoped so- privately, some things weren't so secure, but she was determined not to let that show outwardly.

The young trainer marched right toward a guy- she hoped it was the right one- standing next to a trash can.
"Ahem! Ezra sent me!" She declared the phrase like it was a magic word.

Gummy tagged along at her heels, looking... well, looking much as he always did.  

[Lucky Tamer]

"Not so loud..." the man grumbled and then he pushed the trash can out of the way a bit. "Just go down the ladder and follow the tunnel." he instructed.

Ezra reached the little make-shift table and filled out the forms to sign up for the match. You could put as much as you wanted into the pot as an entry fee, so long as you put in something. He decided to be generous and put in way more than he should have, nearly 1,000 poke. "Guess you're getting over-confident after three tiny wins..." the registrar woman muttered. She wasn't a very cheerful and outgoing person but she was the only one trustworthy enough not to steal the money from the pot so people dealt with her attitude. "If I don't win, someone else will." Ezra shot back before heading off to the chalked off circle that made up their rings. The rules were simple enough so he didn't need to read them, instead he grabbed up the 'pamphlet' to give to the new girl if she showed up. There were only three rules and they were written out like so:

1: Only first stage pokemon
2: Only physical attacks or you get disquailified dissqwalified KICKED OUT!!!
3: Be the last pokemon standing in ring  

[Gwennythe]

"In.. In the tunnel?" Henrietta was taken aback for just a moment but tried to recover quickly. "Of course. In the tunnel! Thanks!" She started down the ladder, then gestured for Gummy to follow, the Totodile coming along down close behind her.

The young trainer was clearly new to all this, and her attempts at filling in the forms showed as much as she squinted at the words and then finally just scrawled 'Hen' across where she needed to do so and 'Gummy' across where that needed to go.
"So, uh... Oh rules? Pft." Henrietta took a glance at them, squinted then nodded. "Easy. Come on, Gummy!"

She wasn't exactly sure what, or where, she was supposed to go next, so she looked around, waiting for a cue. She hoped it wouldn't be too long to start.
"How long we gonna have to wait..?" She'd been there barely any time yet.  

[Lucky Tamer]

Ezra came walking over after talking to the registry woman and chuckled. "Tell me your name isn't actually Hen, please." he teased.  

[Gwennythe]

"And just what if it is? Huh? What's wrong with 'Hen'?" Her name was, clearly, a slightly sore subject as the girl was immediately on the defensive. She was stood straight, all of 5'2 tall, and sending a narrow-eyed look Ezra's way.

Gummy sent a stare of... neutrality at Ezra. There didn't seem to be anything different in his look at all.  

[Lucky Tamer]

"Whoa! Calm down. Don't want you getting your feathers in a bunch!" Ezra snapped, backing away with his hands up . "Just get ready for the match. It should be starting soon and I hear some hotshot put a thousand in the pot tonight." he'd been telling everyone just to get a bigger challenge going. Homeless people could be blood thirsty if provided enough incentive.  

[Gwennythe]

"Feathers?" Henrietta fumed but couldn't be sure it really was a deliberate mocking of her name rather than an innocent expression. She looked at Gummy. "Fine. Gummy, you ready?"

The Totodile tilted his head and flicked his tail back and forth.
Henrietta took that to mean 'yes'.

"Awesome."

She heard the whispers around, but it didn't truly register just how much it was; she'd come for the competition, she'd not even realised the fees would become part of a prize. The girl was still just excited to be in a match.  

[Lucky Tamer]

Pokemon started to line up around the outer edge of the ring, eager to get started. Leiji found his spot and smiled at Gummy, giving him a friendly wave. "You can try to yell out attacks for your pokemon and cheer them on but they probably won't hear you over the loud crowd so it's best to sit back and hope your pokemon lasts til the end where you can give them orders easier." Ezra suggested. He'd already built up a routine with Leiji that hadn't failed the last three matches so he hoped nothing would change it. He wasn't quite sure how the newcomer would play into his plans but he hoped Gummy wouldn't become a problem.  

[Gwennythe]

Gummy blinked one eye then the other, separately, apparently in return to the Pichu's wave.

"Gummy knows what to do! We're gonna win this!" Henrietta replied, brash once more, but not quite defensive now. "Come on Gummy! Get ready!"

The Totodile opened and closed his jaw silently.