[FIN] Kanto Competition

[Gwennythe]

"The forums? That's cool! I don't really use computers much..." The purple-haired girl admitted "'Cept in pokécenters sometimes, and I had games at home! Travelling with more people to battle sounds awesome though!"

Henrietta didn't know Luke very well, nor, really, did she know people, in general, very well in some ways.
The fact that someone might just need to get up and leave could be a character trait, a need for something like a smoking habit, a sudden remembrance of a phone call to make, or task to do... It was only the reaction of the other trainers that would tip her off that anything might be wrong.

Beneath the table, Gummy stirred finally, suddenly.
His tail lifted into the air, then came down to slap the floor hard. Perhaps he didn't like the atmosphere now, or perhaps it was just another random tic.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Seraphine did not give a single s**t about Lance. She'd heard of him, of course, and knew he had disappeared, but she honestly hadn't cared much at all. It didn't affect her or her friends directly, after all. The topic of Team Rocket, however, wa a threat that loomed over them every day - and these black balls that could capture an already owned pokemon and change it into a hateful little monster only aided the cold dread that took hold deep inside her, along with the thought that such a fate could have - or could still - happened to her beloved Umbreon.

Ray's words did little to console her, but she acknowledged them with a brief glance nonetheless, though she couldn't bring herself to even feel appreciative of the woman's attempts to assuage her unspoken fears.

Waitress or not, her features had paled a bit as well throughout the course of the conversation regardless of the fact it had moved from black balls specifically, and she was desperately considering leaving when Luke suddenly stood and left. Well hell, if he was leaving, then there was no way she was staying, so the brunette suddenly stood with a quiet "me too" - she had originally intended to go to the bathroom, but Luke had headed outside, so she instead followed him out. Outside was probably better anyway.  

[Suudonym]

The most frustrating thing was that his thoughts were circular, repeating themselves indefinitely while offering no suggestion as to what he could do. The fact stood that he didn't really know the situation well enough to make a call on what to do, though, so really the only option he had was to wait, to watch, and to hope.

As he moved through the door and into the evening air, Luke realized that there was someone behind him, and he turned towards Seraphine with a mild confusion at the state of her expression. Well, it wasn't really difficult to guess why she had felt the need to leave the table as well; he'd had his brief moment of relief that the black pokeball hadn't been used to take Mieu from him permanently, but Anastasia was still missing… "You okay?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"No," Sera replied sullenly, though her tone lacked the stubborn confidence she would've liked it to have. Despite Ray's words and the slight shift in conversation, there was only one thing on her mind, and it was rapidly eating away at her state of mind, leaving only anxiety and mounting levels of stress in its wake.

Her expression betrayed the inner turmoil as she crossed her arms and moved to lean her back against the wall, and she stared at the grass in front of her feet. "It's just.. I don't want that to happen.." She ended the sentence there as her brows knitted in worry. The fact that Team Rocket had Anastasia's pokeball didn't necessarily mean a thing. They used them to make the pokemon hate their trainers - which meant they could very well decide to use it regardless of who held the rightful pokeball.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Rosie had been surprised when Faleen stopped her, and though a reassuring voice tried to convince her to stay, but then Sera was up and leaving as well, Rosie felt her stomach knot. What was wrong, had she said something to upset everyone?
She hadn't meant to, Rosie was scared herself this ball was suddenly in ray's position she had to bring it up, it just... got out of hand.

Faleen watched as another of Rosie's friends got up, while she could stop Rosie, she couldn't exactly stop anyone else, she didn't have the kind of influence over anyone else, though it defeated the purpose of keeping Rosie.
"That was a heavy topic." Faleen spoke in quiet tones to Rosie, "Certainly not one you needed to bring up at dinner Rosie, when everyone was hoping to have a good time" Faleen explained an a calm but matter of fact voice,
Rosie blinked startled before she shrank a little when Faleen pointed that out to her.
"You need to be more careful, remember."

"... I know." Rosie felt terrible, Faleen pointing out that she had just made everyone uncomfortable, even unintentionally, enough to chase two of her friends away.
Faleen further convinced the girl not to leave, that it would just make things worse, the blond sank, with great hesitance back into her seat, her sisters hand still on hers.

"Everyone's probably just a little upset by it, from what it sounds like, just let them cool off... no need to keep adding to it the situation." Faleen reassured  

[Suudonym]

He frowned lightly at the small explanation, at the tone in which it was given, and reached to take her wrist and relax her posture. "You saw the way the Rapidash acted," he reminded. "They wouldn't do that to a pokemon for no reason; it would just be more trouble for them." He hesitated. He didn't want to make promises he had no power to keep, nor inspire hope in a place where it very well might not exist, but more than that he didn't want to leave his friend to worry. "It'll be okay," he assured. "One way or another. I'm sure of it."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

The hand on her wrist startled her slightly -- she hadn't at all expected such a gesture, and she pulled her worried gaze up to her friend. Luke knew that Anya was still missing, and therefore knew her concerns without her needing to voice them, and for that Sera was incredibly grateful because she honestly wasn't sure she would be able to explain anything without crying. "I.. guess," she hesitantly agreed as she averted her gaze once more to the grass. "It's just.. It's still a possibility, you know? Not one we ever even knew existed, but it's been there this whole time.." They could do it at any moment to any pokemon they wanted. Even if it was meant to take away one problem, it would only do so by creating another - a bad tempered pokemon that would lash out at anyone, the way that Rapidash had.

Still, he seemed sure... But even though she much preferred to put faith in her friends over Ray, this new knowledge was far too troubling to be simply brushed away with promises and reassurances. A soft "I hope so" was all she could offer in response.  

[Suudonym]

He nodded, "But I'd like to think there's some significance to that, you know? It's been there this whole time, but we'd never even heard of it after all this time. That means it's not something they do often, right?" It was circumstantial evidence, and it felt pretty empty, but he was disinclined to lie about something like this; as upset as she was, Luke doubted Seraphine would accept a lie anyway, no matter how pleasant. He inhaled and exhaled quietly, taking in some confidence, "Whether we knew it or not, they've had this weapon all along. We fought in spite of that, and we have to keep fighting in spite of it." A smile, and he maneuvered to try and catch her gaze. "You've been working really hard with Ray, right? You can fight back. You can always fight back."  

[Tori Honoo]

As both Luke and Sera dismissed themselves from the table after their abrupt standing had yanked her from her thoughts, causing her to jump, Dove watched them go, and though she expected Rosie to follow, she didn't seem surprised at all when Faleen pulled her back. She frowned a little, though she had to agree with Faleen's words, be they from the heart or not. The conversation was indeed a heavy one, and while Faleen's reasons were sound, Dove couldn't help but feel threatened with the older Ewell girl at the table with them while they discussed things.

Thoughts of Outing the woman to the League authorities in the area had already crossed her mind, but to do so, without Rosie even knowing about the incredibly high possibility that her sister was involved with the criminal organization would be horrendous, and she herself had caused enough trouble already. In fact, it was a bit of relief to know Luke and Seraphine--one of which she was still wary of, the other of which she wouldn't speak to unless spoken to first, ever-- were in the lobby, supposedly working things out together, when she spoke to Rosie again.

"Don't worry about things now, Rosie. One step at a time, remember?" she told her, knowing deep down that it probably wouldn't do any good at all in easing the girl's mind, though she was driven to at least try. "You guys have a lot to do tomorrow, and your hard work today surely means you've worked up an appetite..." She gave a small gentle smile. "I'm sure Sera and Luke will be back soon. No need to worry, especially not when you're surrounded by so many good people." Aside from Faleen, she thought tensely. Rosie didn't know though, and being blissfully ignorant was best for this exact moment-- at least for now her sister's presence could bring her comfort. "Things will turn out okay in the end, I'm sure. We just have to keep our heads up, right?"

She knew it wouldn't be that easy... but they would have time later, when they weren't so crowded in such a public place, to figure things out. After all...what could go wrong when so many zealous trainers had flooded the city?

When Gummy's tail thudded onto the floor, Lovey jumped and gave a soft back, then tipped her head at the Totodile before shaking it with a sigh. She then turned her attention back to Repede and Astal, after a soft <> to the odd pokemon.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

As much as she wanted to dismiss everything and curl up in a ball right then and there on the ground, she had to admit that what Luke said made sense. They'd been fighting Team Rocket for a few years now, they'd been around longer than that and how many of these had they seen? And she hadn't heard of any pokemon apart from Vahy'n getting stolen, so it likely happened a long time ago, which meant these black pokeballs weren't a very recent invention... "I.. I guess so..." The girl agreed with a thoughtful frown. That was a good, solid point that she was unable to argue against.

His face suddenly in her line of vision surprised her and her brows rose accordingly, though she quickly averted her gaze more pointedly in the opposite direction, except she couldn't hide the small smile that found its way into her expression. "...yeah, I guess you're right." She just had to keep training so she could fight - and keep hoping as hard as she could that no one would get any ideas to use one of those awful pokeballs on Anastasia.  

[TawnyAngel]

Blood_Goddess

Rosie's 'dex bleeped with a message, the caller ID declaring that the message came from 'Dith'.

//I made it!! Got my days off sorted, then flight delayed, then I got on the wrong bus. Finally in the right city! Where r u?//  

[Blood_Goddess]

When Dove spoke to Rosie encouragingly She simply listened, keeping her eyes on the drink.
Coddling Rosie, why was she not surprised? Rosie tended to have that affect on people, don't want to make the little blue eyed girl sad becasue boy did she know how to look sad.
Faleen kept a level expression though she was feeling a little ill in regards to the words that the trainers have been spewing.

Certainly enough to loose her apatite.
The only comfort she derived from any of this, was the fact that a humbled and practically shamed Rosie sat next to her now, after being called out by the elder sister she so loved.

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

Rosie nodded at Dove's words, a smile to the brunette, though clearly looking embarrassed, and ashamed.

Maybe she was getting to wrapped up in everything... she focused so much on stopping team Rocket that it just became such a big part of her, that she wouldn't even think twice about bringing it up.
Faleen was right.

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

It was Ray who was looking between everyone with arched eyebrows and a distinct lack of any smile on her face.
"I'm sorry, Ma'am, but what is your name again?"

Faleen glanced up at the women with Gray hair, "Faleen."

"Faleen yes, Faleen." Ray repeated "And you live here in Kanto, right?"

Faleen leveled her gaze with another pause, giving a look of questioning before nodding once again.

"Yeah, pretty safe here from what I hear, so uh, you have no idea about the things these kids are trying to go through in Kodo then do you?"
The women kept a controlled gaze on Ray, though her face tinted red a little as Ray took the liberties to continue. "unless Rosie told you, but that's unlikely that she did, or that you wanted to have anything to do with it, since you're not home with her, fighting the kind of battles she and the other kids have to fight, or dealing with the kinds of losses they have to experience."

Ray held her hands up, making sure to not have an accusatory tone "It might be a little odd for you, since you don't know what its like, obviously, but to these kids that's their life now, and regardless of what good times they get, the reality is is that they get to live with s**t like this in their life," She made a gesture to the Dark ball. "And talking abut it when it comes up, is a part of that. and its important. We all know what we are doing here, so really, its not something that should be a big deal"  

[Suudonym]

The change in her expression, however minute, was a relief, and he straightened his posture. "Do you want to head back in? Rosie's probably worried, the way we both suddenly left."  

[BlackPidgeot]

Yuri merely sat there, observing and listening in silence. His attention was discreetly focused on Faleen especially. She was quite different from her sister. Not near as passionate and openly friendly as Rosie, but more even keeled and maybe even indifferent. Luke's unease didn't escape his notice either, and when he departed, the man looked on as Faleen stopped Rosie from following. Huh.

The topic had been pretty heavy indeed and the coming of the waitress was not unwelcome. Thus he placed his order.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

While her initial response to his question was negative, his last statement immediately changed her mind. Sera pushed herself from the wall with a small nod, "Yeah, let's go back." She did not want Rosie to worry, especially about her.