[PRP] Up For The Challenge

[Suudonym]

"You'd trust a test made up by her?" Killua pointed his thumb at the attendant indicatively, then waved his hand as if brushing something away. "No way, no way. She thought we were good enough just because we walked in here with pokemon. Her judgment sucks."

"That aside," the woman said, her tone momentarily sharp, "I don't have the authority the administer any kind of test, and I don't think the League in general condones that sort of thing. It's not an exclusive organization." She pushed the remaining pokedex forward towards its owner. "If you want to challenge yourself, you'll just have to get out there and find something difficult to do."  

[Blood_Goddess]

sharp eyebrows arched lightly, glancing sideways to the other youth as he brought up his point.
"I just thought, that maybe she would, since I bet she has a license too, right miss?"
Gon looked back at the women, his face set, though slowly it dropped and he once again drooped forward with a sigh "But getting a license doesn't really mean much after all. So I guess your right." he hated to admit that.

Treecko reached out a hand to bat at some of Gon's hair, crawling over to pick up the boy's new Pokedex and hug it to his chest. "Treecko- Tree tree!" he laughed nervously. It wasn't hard to tell how annoyed this woman was getting.  

[Suudonym]

"Yes, I have a license," the woman confirmed, her smile having long crossed from sincerity into plasticity. "All it qualifies me for is to own and train pokemon, though." She was apparently choosing to ignore the blatant insults - outwardly, at least.

Killua stepped away from the counter with a shrug of his shoulders, "Well, can't be helped, I suppose. I'll just find something else to do. I sure hope the rest of the region isn't this boring. Let's go, Zorua."

The dark-type gave a small bark of obedience and moved to follow its human companion.  

[Blood_Goddess]

And that seemed to be the end of that, despite Gon's instinct to continue to pressure, the fact that the other boy was now giving up and leaving drew Gon's attention to him.

Blinking as he watched him leaving toward the center's front door.
"Hey- miss." Gon continued, looking back over at the women behind the counter. "How many others think they'll have to take a test for their license?"  

[Suudonym]

"No one's ever asked about such a thing before," the woman replied with a shake of her head. "All the information about how to get a license plainly says that you only have to fill out the application and turn it in at a designated location..."  

[Blood_Goddess]

Treecko licks his lips, hoisting the pokedex up a little higher, stepping over the counter as he approached Gon, who's gaze seemed to once again be turned inward in his thoughts.
"... Oh." Lifting his hand once again, holding the license in front of his face for a few seconds before he allowed it to call away, peering around it with mild uncertainty.
"Well, thank you miss." Gon said to her still feeling the effects of his disappointment. "Lets go Treecko." Holding his arm out for the pokemon, who jumped up onto it, lowering the device he was holding as the boy's tan hand reached out to take it.

No point in staying around here anymore. "Good bye!" He called back to the lady behind the counter, as he and Treecko hurried out to the exit of the center.

New dex still in hand, The boy with his pokemon continued to run down the sidewalk, ignoring the cold that met him as his boots finally drew him to a stop just as he began to actually consider that.... he didn't really know where to go from here.

Feeling the weight on his backpack shift as the pokemon reached around and placed both his hands on Gon's shoulder.
Gon arched his eyebrows, grinning sheepishly as he turned to meet the large yellow eyes of his friend. "I guess we should figure out what to do from here. huh?"  

[Suudonym]

"Battling other trainers, huh?" Killua thought aloud as he made his way away from the pokemon center, exchanging a look with his Zorua. "You have all kinds of training, but none of it's for battling... We could skip the whole battling thing and look for something else interesting to do, but it'd be good to secure a comfortable amount of money first..." He had hoped that the license application process would give him a better idea of the overall environment in Kodo and the sorts of dangers that were there to be challenged, but he supposed he should have come up with a contingency plan in case that fell through the way it had.  

[Blood_Goddess]

This wasn't really going like he expected at all, Gon had been hoping that once he arrived he would get clues and hints as to why his father had gone off to be a trainer, what was so great about it that he would choose to pursue that rather than raise Gon, It must have been something REALLY amazing and special, but Gon was no closer to understanding the challenge he expected or to knowledge as to the whereabouts of his father.

As a result, Gon was left standing out in the cold while he thought hard to decide on his next move.
He was on an island he had never seen, staring up at the buildings with the likes he had never experienced personally before, something he would probably appreciate more once he wasn't so focused on figuring out how to find his dad.
The woman that helped him when he applied for his license had spoken of a trainer's center in the place of a Gym circuit, He didn't have the best idea about either of those but from the way she had explained it, it seemed like an appropriate next step for trainers.

"Hey- Treecko" When Gon finally spoke he pulled his head up, looking over his shoulder to the pokemon "Lets go to that Trainer's Center like the lady said, I bet things will make a lot more sense once we get there."
Yeah! He was sure that would be some answers to his questions there!

With his mind made up and a plan worked out, Gon was ready! With a slight bounce forward the boy took off in a run again to find someone that might be able to direct him to the center.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The more he walked through he city, the more he felt grateful to the fact that he stopped to think to get directions from a passerby who knew exactly where the Trainer's center was.
The city was big, and it had so many more people then Gon had ever seen in an area before, it was pretty amazing! Though as he walked he noticed that just up ahead, at the entrance of some kind of grassy park with trees there was an unusually large gathering of people and pokemon.
"Huh?" The boy's eyes widened a little a he made his way over, hearing a man at the front of the group taking loud enough for everyone to hear him,

"Alright so I think everyone is here, Good good, if you'll just wait a little longer we'll be ready to start this years trials for the advanced license."

Gon's ears pricked at that,
"Hey, mister." Gon said walking up to one of the people in the crowd, a young man in his teens. "Whats all this for?"

Turning to look at the twelve year old, the older teen tilted his head "This? Oh its the test for the advanced trainer license, some pretty big elite thing apparently."

Gon's eyes widened in surprise "An advanced license? Really?"

In his excitement the boy's voice carried enough for the man in the front, who was looking over a clip board to look up, though a light frown formed his lips when he saw a twelve year old standing among the adults and teenagers assembled
"Hey kid, this is for serious applicants and people who can pay for it."  

[Suudonym]

"Oh?" Killua, who had wound up in the same general area, curious about the crowd and the alleged existence of an 'advanced license,' appeared near the head of the assembly with his hands in his pockets, his skateboard tucked under his arm, and an aloof smile in his features. "So just being able to pay makes you 'serious,' huh? How much is it?"  

[Blood_Goddess]

A second pre-teen approached the group, causing more people to turn their attention to the newcomers and the man leading the group to arch his eyebrow.
"This isn't just an ordinary license you know, you can't just walk up and ask for this one, it takes time to pick out the ones who are fit to carry something special like that, the fee is for the expenses that we'll be using to cover for the cost of your expenses, my time as the evaluator and the cost of making the license for those who pass."
He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a fancy looking metal card with the League logo printed in silver.
"The fee is also to keep newbie kids who are just starting out from taking our dangerous tests. So if you can't afford the $50 fee, you should go train and battle more, and try again next year."

Gon instantly recognized the white haired boy and his Zorua from the pokemon center, the one who also wasn't very satisfied with just being given the license, Gon's mouth opened slightly with a soft noise of recognision, though as the leader of the group began to speak again, answering the white haired boy's question, Gon gave him his attention.

"Fifty? I can pay for that." Gon piped up.
He could... It was literally all the money he had, not like that mattered, if it meant he could get one of those advanced license. He would do what it took!
"We just have to pay, and then we can take the test, right?"  

[Suudonym]

Ah, Killua had a pretty good idea of what was going on here. He'd play along, though, if only to see what these guys considered 'dangerous' and 'elite.' He hoped for their sakes that they could make this interesting.

"Yeah, me too," Killua added after the other boy - though he wondered where that kid was getting his confidence.  

[Blood_Goddess]

For a moment the man the was leading the group looked unconvinced, a couple of the men standing up behind him looked taken aback.

Gon, who had his heart set on being able to win this test dug into his pocket where he kept his money. The boy that had been int he center made up his mind to take the test to, and in passing Gon grinned broadly at the other youth.
It seemed interesting to him that they would be the only two kids taking this test, something he noticed more clearly as the group passed to allow him to go up and pay for his entry, fill out the paper work and sign the release.

The man counted the bills that Gon had handed to him, fifty exactly, good.
"Alright, you're in."

"Yesss" Gon celebrated quietly, reaching up to pat Treecko and rejoin the rest of the gathered applicants.

He then turned to the other boy, "they'll be fifty, and fill this out please."  

[Suudonym]

The Zorua peered up at the unfamiliar person as his trainer withdrew a wallet from his pocket and thumbed a bill out of the folds. Killua exchanged the money for the form and filled it out as directed, then returned the paper to the man with an expression of confidence on his face. That complete, he fell back into the crowd, the dark-type keeping at his heels.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Gon had never seen a Pokemon like the one that was with the boy, it intrigued him, something about both of them raised Gon's curiosity, He hadn't met many other kids his age before.
Watching the two while Killua signed out his paper work, then moved back into the crowd, right up till the examiner finally spoke up again.

"Alright, everything seems to be in order, so now let's begin." the man said, handing off the clip board to one of his companions. "Your first test is going to be pretty straight forward, just follow please."

Yes- finally, it was beginning. the grip on his bag straps tightened, and a small determined smile joined focused eyes, Where was this man taking them? What kind of tests were they going to be doing?
Gon, though much smaller then most of the people in the group, was able to walk along with them as they were lead through the outskirts of the city, and eventually, onto a bike path that lead out to more open lands.
The tall fishing pole sticking out from his bag swaying and bobbing with his hair as the group suddenly started to make surprised noises and moved much more quickly into a job.

"Tree?" the pokemon on Gon's backpack perked up, looking around with his trainer when they found themselves jogging along with them.
"They're picking up to the pace." Gon noted, glancing up at Treecko who pushed himself up high onto Gon's head to see what was going on.  

[Suudonym]

Just follow, huh? If Killua's hunch was right, it was going to get more complicated than that. Around the time the people around him started jogging, the boy set his skateboard onto the ground and stepped onto it; there wasn't much of a point in wasting his energy for no reason, and it was more fun than just running normally. The Zorua hopped up onto the back of the board and seated itself comfortably, his posture calm and alert.