[PRP] Uh... Not breaking anything this time, promise.

[Suudonym]

Rem tilted her head one way and then the other, large eyes almost unblinking as she watched Lovey. she replied, a slight rush in her tone.

Luke nodded in understanding of the sentiment; though unaware of everything that had transpired in Dove's experience during the time between their rare meetings, there was an unconscious feeling that good things just didn't really happen anymore. 'Getting by' was about the best he ever expected from anyone. He gave another nod in confirmation of her suggestion, "Yeah, training and more training. We've been making a lot of progress, I guess." There was a 'but' to his tone, but a light shrug prevented anything from coming of it.  

[Tori Honoo]

Lovey agreed, grinning as the Jolteon sped through her words.

Dove nodded again, looking again to the Jolteon. "Well, that's good too, then," she smiled. "What types of pokemon do you have again? I don't think I've ever actually had the chance to ask you properly..." There was a lot she hadn't ever been able to ask him properly, but instead of dwelling on it, she elected to stick to the topic at hand. "I've met Mieu, and I've seen your Aggron..."  

[Suudonym]

Rem stood and turned in a circle to find a comfortable position for lying down. The Jolteon was the team's youngest and newest member and had in the past been exempt from much of the serious training due to her status as a hatchling. She was anxious to catch up with her comrades and be of use to the trainer that was always trying so hard.

He nodded in response to the pair she mentioned, repeating them back to name the entire collective, "Mieu and Rem, the Aggron, a Pidgeot, and an Umbreon." A moment's consideration as he thought back to pinpoint a date. "We've all been working together for about a year, I guess." To use 'working together' loosely, since a great deal of the past year had been time dedicated to his health.  

[Tori Honoo]

Lovey tilted her head understandingly. She could think of no better reason for a pokemon to be so determined, unless, of course, it was just in the Jolteon's nature. However, given the circumstances, she was sure it was the first.

Dove listened closely to the list of team members, then nodded. "You do have a full team then...They sound great," she smiled, though her gaze fell to her bag that now held the belt her pokeballs were chained to before switching back to the redhead. "Do they all fight for you?"  

[Suudonym]

Rem replied plainly. It was hard to be lazy when faced every day with someone who rarely took a break.

"They are," he agreed, a quiet sense of pride lingering mildly in the words. He nodded partially, then shrugged, "Well, I'd prefer to say fight with me, but yeah - though Rem's never taken part in real combat before." She seemed to be taking well to the training, though.  

[Tori Honoo]

the eevee admitted, looking over to her own trainer. The girl had them up early every day, either at the beach, in the fields, or in her meadow, and while she didn't practice as much as the others did, Sparky and Thierry were both very dedicated to their master's training routine.

Dove smiled, still standing not too far away. "Well, yes..." That had been one of the reasons for her own training, she thought, to be able to fight alongside her own team. "Sorry... I phrased that poorly..." She looked over to Lovey and back. "I've got a few that haven't seen real combat, too. They're small, though, so I'm a little afraid..." Babies, actually, though Trill was a bit older and now finally showing a little sign of potential.  

[Suudonym]

Rem nodded, standing and circling the spot she had previously occupied. she announced suddenly, turning and starting down the beach again to expend the electric energy that had accumulated.

Luke watched the Jolteon take off again in mild surprise. Well, they'd come out here for her to take advantage of the open space, after all. "They seem to learn best when they're young," he noted, "though Rem's my only real source on that, really. I guess that's probably the best way to do it, though: Keep them away from actual danger until they can handle normal training effortlessly." For their own protection, for one, but also to keep them from making a bad situation worse through inexperience.  

[Tori Honoo]

Lovey stared wide eyed as the other pokemon took off, completely confused.

Her trainer's reaction was much more subtle, but her eyes did follow the Jolteon until it disappeared. "I'm hoping that'll be the case for Trill and Tobi," she told him. "I'm hoping to get Tobi out there soon, with some of the other trainers I've met in the fields, but I can't really do that with Trill."  

[Suudonym]

"Fighting other trainers can only help so much at this point, I think" he commented, his tone wandering. "They're all playing by League rules. No Rocket is going to politely stand aside and call out orders one at a time to a single pokemon." He pushed a hand through his hair, attempting to shed the somber disposition that had gradually settled over him. "I was talking to Ray about that the other day, actually. It's hard to say where the line is drawn between breaking rules and defending yourself - though I think it's safe to say that protecting friends outweighs stuff like the right to participate in competitions and use pokemon centers." A shrug.  

[Tori Honoo]

She stayed quiet a moment, though she agreed with him whole heartedly. Further sobered by the turn the conversation had suddenly taken, the young woman sank down into the sand, tired of standing, but keeping a distance between her and the boy. Her arms stayed crossed over her middle, holding the sweater tightly.

"I know what you mean... I just figure we have to start somewhere, considering Sparky is the only one who's had any training at all. Well, until a few months ago..." She gave a half smile, glad for the typhlosion's previous training. It might not have helped too much, recently, but at least she hadn't had to start from ground zero as she had with her others. "I'm not exactly what I'd consider a rule breaker, but people like that don't play by the rules. And while I'd like to believe in authority and laws..." She shook her head, and stayed quiet a long moment more, before one hand finally ventured out to draw aimlessly in the sand. Drawing the line... the idea made her brow furrow. "It's definitely not safe... but I'd rather fight than stay scared. Competitions are nice, but they're just for show. And while I'm sure a pokemon center wouldn't just turn a desperate team away, having the skills to do some things on your own might make you stronger in the end, right?"

She stopped, realizing that she probably sounded as though she were talking to herself at this point. "Sorry..." she apologized quietly. "I just agree with you, I guess."  

[Suudonym]

A light nod, "Yeah, I know what you mean." There was a quiet pause as he ruminated, and a vague sense of despondency came into his smile. "It's kind of crazy, isn't it?" he commented arbitrarily. "Two years ago I wouldn't have thought for a second that I'd be fighting like this, ready to lay down my life. Feels like some kind of fairytale gone wrong sometimes."  

[Tori Honoo]

A weak laugh that lacked any real humor at all. "There's no such thing a real life fairytales, Luke. I used to think I lived in one, she admitted softly, looking to him. "A 'castle,' money, glittering lights and friends...a 'prince'...beauty... Security..." She shook her head, and resumed her drawing in the sand. "Two years ago I couldn't have even imagined that things like this existed outside of horror films, and I certainly wouldn't have allowed myself to even think of trying to counter them, before now."

She drew her knees up, her ankles crossed, and wrapped her arms around them, setting her cheek to one knee. "Ignorance really was bliss," she mused, "but now... witnessing all of this... I don't think I could ever go back and leave the people I've met, knowing you might have to keep going through things like this."

She wasn't really a part of their group, and reasonably so, she thought, but she would do her best to help if she could, though as she looked out at the ocean again, she doubted her abilities even further. Unwilling to let the thought add to the heaviness in the air, however, she looked back to Luke, offering a smile and a meaningful look.

"But hey, every story has to have some sort of hero. Even if it does seem like a fairytale gone wrong." He even had the sword.  

[Suudonym]

He nodded curtly in understanding of the sentiment, though his own prior circumstances couldn't really be described in similar positivity given that he had been forced against his will to endure them. "I think about it a lot, honestly," he admitted quietly, "things that would be different if I hadn't come to Kodo, and things that could be different in the future if I went back now. …It's awfully self-centered, isn't it?" He set his chin in his palm, green eyes distant. "I don't really have the courage to run away now, though… although, I guess that's kind of an oxymoron, huh?" There was a light, apologetic laugh, and he shook his head to dismiss it.

And so it was after this confession of cowardice that Dove's look and words elicited a genuine confusion, "Wait, you don't mean me, right?"  

[Tori Honoo]

Her smile faded a little, but stayed put. "I don't think that's selfish at all, just to imagine how things might have been," she told him with a small shake of her head. "You're only trying to do what you think is best for you and your friends. No one could ever fault you for that, Luke..." She paused a moment, her eyes falling again. who was she, really, to talk of selfishness? Even after all this time, the word still terrified her. But Luke wasn't selfish. From what she could tell, he was the exact opposite.

She lifted her eyes to him again, with another soft shake of her head. "I'm not you, and I really have no right at all to say such a thing, but...I'm glad you've got something like that to keep you here..." A smaller smile, though her gaze moved away. "You have too many people here that would actually miss you." She smiled a little at his laugh, and looked back again, but said no more on the subject.

His look of confusion, though, did bring forth a soft laugh from her. "Of course," she said said, a light teasing tone in her voice, though the comment was genuine. "I don't think I've ever met someone so determined to protect what's important to him."  

[Suudonym]

"Well," he shrugged mildly, "good intentions are one thing, but I don't think they can outright excuse it if things go wrong." This was a gateway, he realized, to more of the same self-pity that had haunted him after the return from Kanto - and that indeed still shadowed his daily thoughts. He shook his head in silent defiance, "I mean, the past can't be changed one way or another, I guess, so it doesn't do much good to think about it all now, but…" He was just holding out for the ability to see into the future before making any choices, apparently. Don't hold your breath, kid.

The reminder of the people that would be hurt by his leaving Kodo inspired memories of his attempt to do just that, and with them some feelings of guilt. He was as willing as she to dismiss that topic in its entirety.

There was a laugh on his end as well, though a slightly sheepish one, as he waved a hand dismissively, "No, no, I don't think so. 'Hero' is… no. I'm just stubborn."