[PRP] An Encounter At The City's Edge!

[Gwennythe]

Camphoreon was getting pretty familiar, not that Henrietta minded too much. It was a pretty neat city! Sure it reminded her of Goldenrod a little, and perhaps some of that was comforting- perhaps she was a tiny bit homesick- but Goldenrod had gotten boring and lame; this city had no parents to boss her about and had been the site of her and Gummy's first, she thought 'inspiring', victory! There were /so many/ places that she wanted to go to in Kodo but Henrietta had gotten kind of used to thinking of this city as a kind of 'base camp'; a load of people seemed to stick around here and it did seem the easiest place to get to. Plus food was easy to get! She might have come here with a purpose, but she pondered staying a couple of days for the food as much as anything else.

She had received, via her pokégear (which she'd been gradually learning to understand a little better since the Rocket attack in Kanto that ate her 'dex') a notification that a package was in the pokécenter in the city.
The trainer had been pleased to receive a few berry-based treats, as well as a letter from home (despite what she considered nagging), but the best thing had been two new pokéballs; a Friend Ball, and best of all, a Fast ball!

Excitement was always the prime motivator when it came to Henrietta's behaviour, and the promise of getting /any/ chance to find a wild pokémon /as soon as possible/ (impatience being something else she was prone to) prompted the logical conclusion in her head that she should drag Gummy and Winglet off the wild grasses at the edge of the city as soon as possible.

The girl and her Totodile could be found, now, not very quietly stomping through the wilds, on the look out for any new friends she might be able to battle and, perhaps, test her new devices on.
To be honest, even if she didn't get to use the new pokéballs, an excuse to meet and battle pokémon was welcome in whatever form it took; she was enjoying herself already as she marched around, followed by a waddling Gummy.
"C'mon Gummy, quit laggin' back there will you?! You need to be ready cuz one's gonna pop out any moment, I know it!"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Henrietta and Gummy wouldn't have to wait very long, as a Buneary suddenly burst out of some bushes nearby. "Buneary!" He cried in as menacing a tone as he could, and immediately began bouncing back and forth with his little paws raised into 'fists' that he occasionally punched at the air. "Buneary, bun!"  

[Gwennythe]

The appearance of the Buneary was sudden enough to actually stun even Henrietta into silence for about a nanosecond before, wide-eyed, she was leaning forward at the little pokémon with a huge grin on her face.
"Oh man, awesome! Hi!" The trainer greeted the rabbit-mon with enthusiasm, before calling, over her should to Gummy, "I told you so! Look! Gummy, go!"

The decidedly more placid reptilian pokémon waddled forward with all the enthusiasm of a rolling mango, to stand and stare at the scrappy bunny that had popped out of the grass.

"Man, you look ready for a battle!" Henrietta praised the Buneary, taking up a rather 'ready' stance herself "So it's lucky ya bumped into us! C'mon Gummy- get 'im with a Water Gun!"

The Totodile, at least, obeyed that command, letting an, admittedly 'super-soaker water-gun' kind-of-strength stream of liquid, rather than a truly powerful attack, toward the would-be opponent.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

The rabbit pokemon raised a paw to wave briefly before resuming his punching and bouncing, watching them closely and with lots of enthusiasm and anticipation. Yes, a battle! With a trainer! Clearly this would help him immensely, he would win this glorious battle and would be absolutely amazing and--

Oh! An attack!

He easily bounced to the side and pointed a paw at Gummy coupled with a "bun-ear!" in the tone of 'a-ha!' as he dodged the first blow. Now, which of his incredibly super-effective attacks to use.. Aha! With a threatening (squeaky) battle cry, the normal-type charged at Gummy with a super amazing Pound attack.

A girl stepped around a group of trees nearby and, upon finally seeing the Buneary (and battling again, of course), she sighed, then straightened up a bit once she was aware of the other girl, and made her way over to the other side of the battle. Not that she really knew where to stand, except roughly across from the other person and out of the way of any misplaced attacks.  

[Gwennythe]

Henrietta smirked at the rabbit's wave; she liked this little pokémon a lot already- he was ready-to-battle, enthusiastic, and, it seemed, pretty fearless.

"Oh, nice dodge!" She watched, grinning, as Gummy was knocked back a half-step by the pound attack, but didn't seem to suffer too much from it.
"Alright Gummy! Now, while he's close, try it again! Water Gun!" It was, rather, her favourite attack of the Totodile's; sure he had others, and she was sure that 'Scratch' had actually won them a battle once, but there was just something so cool about seeing the stream of water launch.

The Totodile didn't show any sign of enthusiasm for the battle, nor make any noise for confirmation or acknowledgement of the called move.
He simply opened his mouth, again, and let loose a spray once more.

"Hey!" Henrietta greeted, with some delight, as girl suddenly appeared to stand on the rabbit's side. "Oh man, is this little guy yours?! He's /awesome/!"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Ohh, this girl was awesome! Complimenting him even when he was totally gonna beat her. Oh yes, he liked her a lot already. And now the Totodile was going t--

"Oh! Yes," Nicolette said, a little startled that the other girl would speak to her. Pascal was similarly startled, and he turned to see his trainer just in time to receive a water gun to the back of the head. Face, meet grass. Hello, grass.

The young girl touched her fingertips to her lips at the Buneary's fall. Oh, dear... But he hopped right back up and seemed to be alright so far, so... "Ah, um, thank you," she blushed at the girl's compliment. "His name is Pascal, and I'm Nicolette. What are your names?" She asked politely, giving a small gesture to the girl and Gummy.

Pascal, however, had no time for niceties! He had a battle to win! With another menacing battlecry, the Buneary sent himself hurtling towards the water-type in a Quick Attack. ...except he was too inexperienced to use the move properly, and went too fast -- and with a distressed "buu--uuu-uuuunnnn--yyy!" he sent himself hurtling harmlessly past his target and into some bushes behind Gummy. He stumbled out a moment later though, looking no worse for wear but a little dizzy. Needless to say, his attack missed.  

[Gwennythe]

"Pascal's a nice name! I hope y' don't mind that we're /totally/ gonna beat you, but really, Pascal's an awesome battler! Really super enthusiastic!" Henrietta complimented, sort of. "I'm Henrietta and he's Gummy! It's awesome t' meet another trainer out here!" The grin never left the girl's face, and her tone could never be considered quiet; friendly, but a little noisy.

Gummy placidly watched as the Buneary soared past him, then blinked his eyes, out of sync. He didn't even turn round until told to though.
"One more time, Gummy, Water Gun!" The Totodile snapped his jaws up and down, then turned and let yet another, slightly 'fat', stream of water in, roughly, the direction of Pascal. He started his attack before he was even fully facing the rabbit, however, and so mostly watered the grass before it was properly directed at his target.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Oh, um, no, I don't mind," the girl replied hesitantly. Pascal usually lost anyway, but the girl was a little arrogant (and kind of loud) perhaps to assume... But her tone hadn't been unpleasant or mean, so was that still arrogance? She wasn't entirely sure, but shook her head lightly and smiled instead. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Henrietta!" Trainer? Oh, oh yes, she was a trainer now, wasn't she? The thought made her brighten up more.

While the grass-watering might've been a good clue to move away, Pascal was too busy stumbling to notice it, and flopped right over once it hit. He almost seemed defeated, but with a soft grunt he pushed himself back to his feet, albeit a little unsteadily. He would not be so easily bested! Huffing a bit, either due to fatigue or the fact that they clearly thought he was beaten already, the Buneary lunged at Gummy once again with another Pound attack. That worked before, so obviously it would work this time!

Nicolette watched a little uncertainly, aware that she should probably be instructing her Buneary, but she was still so terribly new to being a trainer that she wasn't entirely sure how to give them. Just shout them, like Henrietta was doing? But Pascal seemed so eager to do everything himself, and she didn't want to tell him otherwise...  

[Gwennythe]

Henrietta looked... confused. Wait, what?
The casual acceptance to the claim that they were going to win was, to her mind, baffling. That.. That had never happened before.

"Uh... Well... You.. You might win?" She stumbled over the words, before regaining her typical loudmouth personality. "I'm sure we will though! It's nice to meet you two too! Pascal's pretty amazing all the same! How'd ya get him to just know what attacks y' want him to use, like that?" She gasped then, and looked more excited. "Are you a /psychic/?!"

Gummy watched as the Buneary charged him and let out another Pound attack.
He blinked again and listened for Henrietta's next instruction as the rabbit pokémon collided with him.
"Could you tell me what I had for breakfast?! Oh, right! Uh, try a Scratch, Gummy!"

The Totodile, with no change in his expression, lifted his claws in the air, readying the attack, as Pascal barreled into him and, yet again hit him back. That was a pretty hard one... The Totodile brought his claws down at the mammal, but wobbled a little.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

At Henrietta's confusion, Nicolette seemed confused as well. "Oh! Um, well, I might," she agreed hesitantly, "but I don't think... What?" Psychic? "No no, I'm not psychic or anything like that," she tried to explain, just in time to watch Pascal smack Gummy - and be attacked by Scratch in retaliation. The Buneary stumbled backwards before collapsing into the grass in a heap, effectively knocked out.

The girl put her hands to her cheeks with an "oh" before moving to stoop down next to her bunny - being careful not to actually kneel because the grass had been thoroughly watered all around the two pokemon. "I'm not psychic or anything like that - it's just, Pascal is very enthusiastic about battling, and ever since I got him he's tried to battle everything, usually without me telling him anything. So I kind of, just.. Let him do it," she finished lamely, though it was a little obvious to her now that trainers were expected to give directions to their pokemon. "But he usually always.. loses."

Regardless, she pulled a revive from her bag and sprayed it into the normal-type, and with a soft groan the Buneary awoke, then sat up and rubbed at his eyes. "Bunee...?"

"That was a wonderful battle though, thank you!" She said, straightening up and brightening again. It was a learning experience, definitely, and she made a few mental notes to attempt to direct Pascal instead of him doing everything himself.

"Buneary!" The normal-type yelled suddenly, then jumped to his feet - unsteadily - and took up a slightly wobbly offensive stance.

"Oh, um," Nicolette started, waving her hand at him to get his attention, "no more battling right now, okay? Maybe in a little while."

The Buneary looked quite dejected at this bit of news, and his posture drooped, but... Maybe that was good - it would give him time to rest! He was pretty tired after that battle, and it was a good one. Very close! He'd win next time though, for sure. With that in mind, he turned and offered a short wave to Henrietta in what he hoped expressed the sentiment 'good battle.' "Buneary, bun!" He would totally win next time, though.  

[Gwennythe]

"Huh! I met a guy who does that same thing! But he has a super strong Gengar!" Henrietta mused, as the battle came to an end, and Nicolette moved to attend to Pascal.
"Awesome work, Gummy! Knew you could win that!" She grinned at the Totodile, who accepted his victory with a graceful, blank, stare somewhere beyond his opponent; almost as though the reptile had decided to go into 'standby mode' now that the battle was done.
"Pascal'll get better! That's what the battles do! The more he does it, the better he'll get!" Henrietta grinned at Nicolette now, before she nodded. "Yeah, it was pretty awesome! Even if he lost, he's a pretty cool opponent!"

The other girl giggled a little when the Buneary sprang to his feet and looked, if wobbly, ready to continue again.
"A pretty awesome opponent!" She offered a thumbs-up toward the waving bunny. "We'll look forward to the rematch!" She called, not understanding the Buneary, of course, but seeming to gather what seemed a bit like a kindred sentiment to her own.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Oh! Then maybe other trainers didn't direct their pokemon? That was good, then; at least she wasn't the only one, though she had no idea what a Gengar was. She made a mental note to look it up later. For now, though, she brightened up a bit and nodded eagerly, "Yes, Gummy did a wonderful job! ..oh! Do you think so?" She asked, peering down at Pascal before looking back up to Henrietta. "I was told that battling helps, but I'm not... very good at it yet, because I only recently became a trainer, you see," she explained somewhat haltingly, then brightened up with a little more enthusiasm, "but it's been absolutely amazing so far! And I've learned so many things!" It made her feel quite good that Henrietta thought Pascal was 'pretty awesome' and 'pretty cool' because she thought so, too, though she used different terms. "Oh!" She suddenly thought of a question, and she folded her hands in front of her again as she tilted her head slightly, "How long have you been a trainer?"

Pascal seemed pleased with the promise of a rematch, so he put one paw on his hip-fluff and raised one paw into the air with a flourish. "Bunnnn-neary!" He'd win next time! Next time, for sure!  

[Gwennythe]

"Totally! Battling /totally/ helps! Even if ya lose a lot! The pokémon get to battle and they get to learn what works and what doesn't and you get to as well cuz you can see them trying stuff!" Henrietta put her thumb up, answering that in a way that seemed like she really thought she /knew/ Pascal would improve.

"Course, Gummy and I are pretty awesome, but we still lose sometimes! Just we always know we can win so what's the point in not saying you're gonna, right?!"
She grinned at Pascal, watching his flourish, and giving a small nod.
"He's totally gonna win you a lot o' battles one day! Huh? Um," She thought about the question... It was more or less around her birthday, but a little after it, maybe a week, before she'd actually gotten to call herself a registered trainer... Maybe a little more.
"Few months!" She decided on after a second or two of thinking about it.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Even if they lost, it helped? Well, that was certainly wonderful news! Pascal lost practically every single battle, but maybe he would start winning some soon and learn more? And then he would improve! While he didn't seem to really mind losing, she still felt bad that he was still rather bad at this. "Alright," she replied with a resolute nod and a bright, slightly determined smile, "that sounds perfect! I do love to learn." And she would get to do that by watching him battle! Yes, absolutely perfect.

While she wasn't too sure what the point was in claiming you would win when you had a decent chance of losing, she didn't want to disagree, so she nodded her head rather uncertainly instead. "Oh, ah, yes.."

Oh! A few months? "That's quite some time," she noted with a smile, brighter now that they were on a topic to which she could relate. "Oh! If I may ask - how many pokemon do you have? And could I please see them?" The latter question seemed more important, as her eyes widened a bit and seemed to shine a little with how interested she was.  

[Gwennythe]

"Yeah, learning stuff is kinda awesome!" Henrietta... kind of agreed. Actually she /did/ like learning about pokémon but she'd rather just run off and battle everyone and every pokémon she could find. "But ya gotta be confident about it, right? I mean, even if you know your opponent's /super tough/, you gotta believe your team can beat 'em! Cuz then they know how much you believe in them but even if they lose, they get to know you'll always root for 'em anyway!"

The girl paused, then nearly matched the wide-eyed expression from Nicolette, but excited.
"Totally! I have two right now but I'll totally have a whole team one day real soon!" Henrietta grinned and let out Winglet right after saying so.
"Is Pascal your one? He's totally got enough 'go' for a whole team!"

Winglet fluttered over head, swooping to inspect this new trainer.