[PRP] A Seaside Excursion

[Gwennythe]

It was, as a weather forecaster might say, a 'scorcher' of a day; warm and cloudless and perfect for all walks of people to consider visiting the beach.
A lot of people were there for a family trip, a lot of people were there to tan, some to do sports, some to swim... and then there were people like Henrietta, admittedly mostly kids, who were there because the beach meant more than one of those things and everything about it was, pure and simply, fun!

The young trainer adjusted her bag as stepped down onto the sand and sought out the perfect place to make base camp; it would be silly to swim carrying everything after all!

It didn't take long for her to secure a spot where she could dump a towel from her bag onto the sand, weight it with her shoes and bag and then turn to run toward the waves with a yell, intent that her, and Gummy's, first activity ought to be a paddle; what Totodile wouldn't enjoy that?
"Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
Despite the blank expression, that he always wore, remaining on his face, Henrietta was sure he was having /the best time/ as he waddled hurriedly after his noisy trainer.  

[Tori Honoo]

Just as Henrietta had apparently decided, the Redfern family had elected to spend their day outside in the sun, glad for both the wonderful weather and the father's happy luxury of taking a day off. The couple and their son had arrived only a few minutes before the excited girl and her Totodile, and after a few words of caution to Jace, the parents had taken their posts under a borrowed beach umbrella, allowing him to explore within range of their sight as they finally had time to spend their own time together.

With his parent's permission, the youngster took to the sand with his plastic pail and shovel, moving quickly toward the ocean--but not too close!-- to gather wet sand for the castle--and sand salamence-- he intended to build. With a determined look on his face, the boy knelt in the wet sand and began to dig, his concentration broken only by the older girl as she dashed for the water with a yell and the Totodile that toddled along after her. His shovel and pail in hand, he watched bright eyed, the smile on his face widening. "Whoooaa! A Totodile!" he exclaimed, watching it closely, before looking for it's trainer.  

[Gwennythe]

Jace wouldn't have to look very long as, as the oddly coloured Totodile got to the water, he was immediately assaulted by the splashing of the girl that had run by just ahead of him.
"Bet ya can't get me back, Gummy!" She called, being kind of close to dry sand, herself, the waves rolling past her knees.

She was close enough to hear the exclamation, at least, and then to notice the boy watching the pokémon.
"Hey! Yeah! His name's Gummy!" She called, enthusiastic to have someone interested in her friend.

Of course, it had meant she took her eyes off of the pokémon, and in a rare, possible, show of personality, the water type hit her square in the face with a water gun.  

[Tori Honoo]

The boy smiled brightly, waving his shovel in the air in greeting to the girl. "Hey! He's awesome!" he called, picking up his things and rising to his feet to step closer to the water's edge and the girl. He laughed loudly as the Totodile sprayed her in the face and continued to watch them both, completely and utterly intrigued.

"Are you a pokemon trainer?" he asked the teen, knowing that maybe she wasn't and just had a pet. Totodiles usually weren't just pets though, so maybe she was one!  

[Gwennythe]

"Bluuh!" The girl exclaimed, flailing her arms out, a little, in front of her, in a futile attempt to counter the Water Gun.
She then shook herself off, nearly dog like, sending drops of water from her hair.
"Heh. Nice shot!" She conceded to the pokémon, then jogged in a little closer with a grin back on her face.

"Yeah, he really is!" She agreed, readily, with the younger boy, before nodding and standing, hands on hips as she took a very a proud, head high, stance. "Sure am! 'M gonna be the best pokémon trainer one day!" Gummy turned and waddled after her as she walked back to talk to Jace. "So," she grinned "how about you?" She didn't see a pokémon, and she wasn't sure whether or not he was old enough to be a registered trainer, yet, but just because she couldn't see one didn't mean, she thought, that she should discount the possibility entirely.  

[Tori Honoo]

Jace laughed, and leaned back a little to avoid the worst of the spray if there were any, then nodded in agreement with her agreement that Gummy was awesome. He watched as she approached and decided then that, yeah, they could be friends, maybe. She looked nice, even if she was older than him.

However, his smile turned into a small pout as she returned the question to him. "Oh, no... not yet. Momma and Dad say I'm not old enough to go out on my own, yet, and I don't have a pokemon..." He perked right back up, though, and shrugged, his face full of innocent, childlike hope. "I will soon though, I bet! And then we'll train so much and be best friends, me and my pokemon!"  

[Gwennythe]

"Pfff, parents!" She blew air, nearly like a raspberry "Oh, man, mine used to say the /exact same thing/! They probably still do think it a bit but it's too late now! They let me go!" Henrietta's gestures matched her voice a little- quite expressive with her arms going up- as she talked about getting permission finally, but then she crouched a bit, as if to let out a secret.

"Don't tell anyone this, though, but they kinda had a point! It is so tough so ya need exactly the right kinda partner! Like me and Gummy!" Gummy, having caught up, seemed to have decided to stick his snout into the sand.

"I bet you totally will! Pokémon are awesome! Bet you'll be glad your parents had ya wait until you got to meet that particular pal though! Until then, though, gotta admit; kinda frustrating, right? Oh!" She held her hand to her head, as though remembering she'd forgotten something vital. "I'm Henrietta, by the way! What's your name?"

Gummy got back up, sand sticking to his damp skin and giving him the effect of wearing a kind of beach-y stubble.  

[Tori Honoo]

He blinked at the girl, unsure of what to make of her defiance, though he finally did offer a somewhat uneasy laugh. He wouldn't even think to think of his parent's decisions like that--at least, most of the time. "Did you go far away from home?"

When she bent to talk to him more privately, he listened close, his expression turning into a thoughtful frown. "Huh? Oh, yeah..." he said, still holding onto his shovel and pail, though he lifted his hands into the air excitedly. "I'll get the best partner for me! It'll be awesome!" His attention was drawn to Gummy, then, as he lowered his arms, and his brows furrowed once more. "....what's he doin'?"

When she stuck out her hand for him, he put his shovel into his bucket and offered his own hand--only to realize a second or two later that it was the wrong one. After quickly switching his toys to his other hand, he shook Henrietta's, his cheeks a little red. "I'm Jace!" he returned, looking again--with a laugh-- at Gummy as he got up.  

[Gwennythe]

"Sure did! Still am! I'm from Goldenrod- back in Johto!" She seemed to take a great deal of pride in how far from home she actually was.
She nodded though, her grin turning back to a softer kind of pride; she certainly enjoyed the kid's enthusiasm- there was just something about it that she really liked, though she couldn't quite put a finger on why exactly.
Well, she guessed the 'why' didn't really matter anyway.
"I bet you totally will! And it totally will be awesome! Have you got any idea what kind of pokémon you might want to try and get? Man, for years I totally wanted a Chikorita and then I met a Totodile and totally changed my mind! Hm?"
The girl looked back as Jace asked what Gummy was doing.
"Oh, he's just being himself! He's awesome like that!"

Henrietta had to giggle as her hand was met with a bucket, and laugh again, too, as Gummy got up, apparently having gained a beard.
"Oh man, see! He does stuff like that all the time!" The girl looked back at the pokémon for just a moment, then back to Jace. "Awesome to meet you, Jace!"  

[Tori Honoo]

Jace's eyes lit up. "Whoa! You're from Johto, too? Cool!" he beamed, grinning from ear to ear. "We're from Blackthorn City, but we moved here cause Dad needed to work somewhere else," he explained. "But that was a while ago," he shrugged off.

When asked about his choice, he continued to smile. "Oh, I definitely want a charmander," he told her knowingly. "I did want a dragon type, but you can't get those to start out with, so." He shrugged. "But they're so cool, charmanders! They evolve into huge Charizards!!!" he exclaimed, stretching his arms out to the sides to illustrate 'wings'.

He turned his attention to Gummy again, and giggled as well, accepting the Totodile's behavior as it's trainer apparently did. "It's nice to meet you, too! And you too, Gummy!" he added, giving a wave.  

[Gwennythe]

"Yeah! But Goldenrod was boring and I wanted a pokémon journey... Oh, cool! Never been to Blackthorn! Sounds kinda exciting though with all those Dragon types!"

Henrietta listened, then nodded understandingly.
"Man! Charizards are awesome! They even look like dragons! That's a pretty cool choice! Apparently dragon types are kinda rare? I dunno, they always look totally cool though!"

The, currently 'bearded', water type seemed to look over the top of Jaces head, blinking again, out of sync, before snapping his jaws open and shut twice.

"He says it's nice to meet you too!" Henrietta beamed as she 'translated'.

"So what does your dad do? We never had to move for anything but I know mine used to go outta town a lot."  

[Tori Honoo]

Jace's face lit up even further. "Yeah! Blackthorn is the best! Dragons are my favorite type of pokemon, and they were everywhere!" He sat his pail down next to his foot, then crossed his arms over his chest, looking rather proud of his hometown. "All the best dragon trainers come from where I'm from, so I'm gonna be one one day," he told her confidently.

His smile remained full of excitement. "They do! My charmander will be a huge Charizard someday, and we'll build up a whole team of tough pokemon!" he told her, pumping a fist into the air. "And yeah, they're real rare, and real hard to catch, but we're gonna do it!"

When Gummy looked over 'toward' him again, Jace tipped his head, and blinked in return to his jaw snapping, but nodded and beamed at the pokemon as Henrietta 'translated'.

Her next question was answered with a shrug. "I dunno. He builds things, I think. But now he says he's got a more 'official' job?" Another shrug. "That's why we moved here anyway."  

[Gwennythe]

"Oh wow! I should totally visit Blackthorn one day! A city full of dragon types sounds so awesome!" Henrietta exclaimed- she knew the stories but having it confirmed by someone from there just made the place sound all the more exciting.
She listened, then, as he made his proclamations, and seemed to get more and more excited. Like bouncing a ball between them, the excitement seemed to come back to her again, inflaming her own natural personality further.

"Awesome! I bet you totally will be an awesome trainer and I totally better get to battle you when you are! Oh man, Gummy'll totally take on your Charizard too, so you better be awesome!" Henrietta enthused, apparently completely seriously in her excitement.
"Ah- yeah! My dad does something with money- I dunno why that means he goes away when he does but, eh, it's boring anyway! Pokémon are so much cooler!"  

[Tori Honoo]

"Yeah, you totally should! You should challenge Clair! She's so cool! The best dragon master, second only to her cousin Lance! Who's the best," he informed her, nothing but admiration in his tone for the two he spoke of.

He laughed at Henrietta's excitement, his own bubbling up and overflowing. "Yeah! Now you've gotta! And don't worry, we will be!!!" he assured the trainer, nodding his head vigorously.

He grinned as she told him about her dad, and nodded in agreement. "Grown up jobs are so lame. Everyone should just be a pokemon trainer. Gotta eat somehow, though."  

[Gwennythe]

"I could totally take on Clair!" Henrietta agreed enthusiastically then caught the name mentioned afterward. "Oh man. I'd totally wanna take on Lance too, but gotta wait for him to come back..." She remembered the talk of the dragon master during the Kanto trip, and about hearing all about him so often while she was younger. "I bet when he does come back though, he's gonna be so strong! Any battle with him would probably be totally awesome, even just to watch! Oh!" She bounced a little, as though she'd just had some good idea. "When you become as good as he is, then I'll totally take both of you on! It'll be so cool!"

It sounded as though she seriously believed those words; Lance would come back, Jace would get that good and she'd get to battle them both at once.

"Grown up jobs can be totally lame!" She agreed "Some adults have some pretty cool jobs! I'm just gonna be a pokémon master forever though, once I get there!"