[FIN] You Win the Prize!

[BlackFireKitsune]

The glass doors of the Pokemon Center slid open smoothly with a quiet woosh as Ion stepped towards them and then out into the street, Jozette beside him looking refreshed while a frightened-looking Pidgey huddled on his shoulder, its left wing bandaged and immobile. Ion raised a hand to gently stroke the little bird's feathers and the Pidgey shivered and shrank at his touch; the green-haired teen's expression turned apologetic despite the fact its injured wing was in no way his fault. He couldn't help but feel bad all the same though, but at least he'd prevented the Pidgey from suffering further harm.

Jozette eyed the flying-type warily, uncertain how she felt about Ion having a second pokemon - she was the only one he needed, after all - but her frosty expression melted when he placed a gentle hand atop her head. "Let's go find somewhere to eat," he suggested to her as he readjusted his grip on his staff. She offered an eager "bwurr!" of agreement, so they turned and started walking along the sidewalk. He felt rather bad that their day to relax and go for a nice walk outside the city had been cut short, but maybe the promise of food would make up for it at least somewhat.  

[Gwennythe]

"Oh man! Is that a Braixen?!" Came an excited voice, attached to a rapidly approaching yellow and blue blur.
Henrietta hit her breaks with more than enough time before her folding bike could endanger the trio, though her rapid approach might have been a little disconcerting.

The girl dismounted, the vehicle collapsing into storage mode with the flick of a switch, easily being added to her pack. It, apparently, wasn't too heavy. Which might have been surprising, given that, clinging to her shoulders, awkwardly sitting atop the pack, was a black-stared green Totodile.

"Awesome! I saw some of these guys before! Are you from Kalos? Is she your starter?" She'd been so engrossed in the fire type, that the girl was yet to notice the injured Pidgey.
Her Totodile noticed, however... Well.. Possibly. In any case, he appeared to be staring at the bird.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

An excited question reached them - one they weren't wholly unfamiliar with, given that Kalos pokemon seemed to still be sort of 'new' to Kodo - so Ion and Jozette turned as one to see who'd asked. The sight of someone approaching them at high-speed made the Braixen take a step back in surprise and mild alarm. Ion merely remained where he stood, though he did look a little surprised, but didn't appear the least bit afraid of being run into, unlike his fire-type. His interest piqued when she quickly dismounted, folded up her bike, and slid it into her bag with minimal effort. Wasn't that heavy? Maybe it was made of lightweight materials... "Ah, yes, she's a Braixen," he replied with a smile, internalizing all of her rapid-fire questions and organizing his thoughts to respond to each in order. "Her name is Jozette. While I'm not from Kalos, I did become a trainer there, so she is my starter, yes."

With her questions answered, he set the end of his staff on the pavement and offered her a polite smile. "My name is Ion. May I ask yours?"

Jozette seemed largely unimpressed with this overexcited child - it certainly couldn't be much more than that - and put a paw on her hip with a light huff. The Pidgey, conversely, shivered and tried to make himself as small as possible, even going so far as to attempt to hide behind Ion's locks of hair and making very quiet, frightened cooing sounds.  

[Gwennythe]

"Cooool! Hi Jozette! That's awesome! Oh, where are you from then? That's cool though! This is Gummy!" She'd reached behind her and had thrust the Totodile out toward Ion, and then toward Jozette. "He's my starter! Sure, I'm Henrietta, but lotsa people call me Hen'!"

Unfortunately, for the Pidgey, he wasn't exactly unnoticeable. Henrietta placed Gummy down and pointed excitedly.
"Hey, you got a Pidgey too!" Her eyes took on a little concern as she spotted his behaviour and glimpse of bandage.
"Oh? Is it okay?!"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"I'm from Grande Ile," Ion replied with a smile, a bit of a French accent coloring the name of the island nation as he spoke. As she practically shoved the green pokemon - he didn't know which one it was - towards them, he smiled again and offered a polite nod, "Hello, Gummy, and hello Hen. It's a pleasure to meet you both." Unlike her trainer, Jozette didn't look like she thought it was a pleasure.

When attention turned to the little bird, he shivered and cooed quietly again as he tried to hide once more. "His wing is broken, but Nurse Joy set and wrapped it so it will heal properly," Ion explained as he glanced at the Pidgey from the corner of his eye. The little thing didn't appear to like the attention. "Once it does, he'll be just fine."  

[Gwennythe]

"Aaw! That's good though! You'll be fine, Pidgey!" She blinked, then grinned. "Does he have a name? Does he like corn snacks? I was gonna get a drink from one of the machines around, so you should totally come and treat your pokémon to snacks, right? I bet Jozette /really/ likes spicy things, right? Gummy does too, but he's a water type. He likes sweet things as well. I'll probably get him a candy bar!"

She paused just long enough to pat her Totodile on the head, surprisingly gently.
"Oh! And I heard of Grande Ile before! I know people from there! It seems like a really really fancy place but you all come here! Which is cool, though; I'm from Johto, so I get the appeal of coming here; it's a totally cool place! D'you think your Pidgey would like to meet my Swablu?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

The Pidgey did not seem the least bit convinced by the hyperactive girl's words, and continued to try and hide. "Not yet, no," Ion said with an apologetic smile, "and I'm not sure if he does or not." Snacks? Ion looked to his Braixen in order to ask if she'd like to join them, but she was already looking at him quite eagerly - and hopefully - so he smiled and nodded. "Yes, we'd love to join you. Does Gummy like candy bars?" Since they were to get snacks, he began walking in the direction she'd been heading, since it seemed safe to assume that was where the vending machines were located. The tap tap of his staff punctuated the conversation as the end of it touched the ground every so often while they walked.

The knowledge that she'd met and known people from Grande Ile was only a little surprising; he knew a number of people moved to Kodo, or went back and forth occasionally, but he didn't think it was a significant number compared to the island's total population. "I've met several people from Grande Ile here as well," he said, and smiled at her words. "It is different compared to Kodo, and I think you could call it fancy. Johto - where is that?" He remembered reading about it while researching Team Rocket's history, and wracked his brains to pull up more details. "Isn't it adjacent to Kanto? Ah.." A Swablu? He wasn't entirely sure which pokemon that was, but thought it safe to assume it was another bird pokemon. Regardless, he offered her an apologetic look, "I don't know if he'd like to right now, but perhaps some other time? I think he's still afraid from breaking his wing just a couple hours ago."  

[Gwennythe]

"Gummy /loves/ candy bars! He goes real hyperactive for them!" Henrietta confirmed with a grin, though Gummy looked as far from hyperactive as a Cryogonal was from being a Heatran.

The girl practically skipped along, walking backwards a couple of times, happily twirling and relying on her path being clear, or other pedestrians to move should any be there, as she moved. She didn't seem too worried she'd bump into anyone.
"Hey, how come you have a stick? You don't seem blind? Or are you like... actually blind but really super good at everything else? Ooh, are you a warrior? I remember seeing a TV show with sticks on them and people fought with them... All h-cha! Waah! K'pow!" Her arms moved as though mimicking the actions she remembered from TV, however she quickly moved on to answering what he asked, and nodding in agreement with his opinion regarding the Pidgey.
"Yeah! I've been to Kanto a coupla times! I lived in Goldenrod! That's okay! She'll be totally psyched to meet him, though, so you gotta let us! I'll give you our 'gear number for it! You've got a 'dex and a gear, right?! Oh, I mean, you gotta, cuz you've got a starter, right?" She pretended to hit herself in the forehead.
"So how come you came here? I mean, I know, you came cuz it's awesome and there's pokémon and stuff right? But, like, I came to be totally awesome and battle lots! Gonna be the best trainer ever! D'you have a reason like that?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Ion smiled at her enthusiasm and assurance that Gummy did indeed love candy bars - though he was curious if the little water-type could seem hyperactive about much, given how indifferent he'd seemed so far. She knew her pokemon better than he did, however, so it was entirely possible the Totodile could get hyperactive - he just hadn't seen him as such yet.

While she didn't seem the least bit concerned about where she was going or if she'd run into anything - or anyone - Ion was on her behalf, and frequently looked from her to the path before her in case something was amiss that might trip her. A stick? "My staff?" He asked curiously, focusing on her again as they walked along, though an amused smile replaced the curiosity. "I'm not blind, nor am I a warrior or anything like that. I use it to lean on if I need to, or if I'm walking for a while," he explained with a smile, then shifted topics to respond to her questions in the order she asked them. "Of course," he assured her amiably, happy to promise a meeting for their birds. "I do have a pokedex, yes, but I don't have a gear. I do have a cell phone though," the green-haired teen offered instead.

"I'm only here to investigate Team Rocket to see if they'll pose a threat to Grande Ile or not," he explained as they walked down the sidewalk, his expression somewhat apologetic. "I'll return home once I'm finished here."  

[Gwennythe]

Gummy, at least, did walk. Even that seemed to be almost mechanical however. Like he sensed Henrietta was walking, and so he did too, in the same direction.

"Huh! That's useful! Sometimes, if I get tired out, I can lean on my bike, but I don't get tired often, so when my bike is out, I can get on it and ride it, and then maybe I'll get tired if I ride it a lot, but it's so much fun that I hardly ever feel like I get tired so I don't really have to lean on it much, but I do ride it a lot. It was a birthday present. It's yellow, cuz that's one of my favourite colours. What's your favourite colour? Is it green? You look kinda like you'd really like green. Gummy's green. I don't mind green, it's a cool colour... I don't know much about cell phones cuz I wasn't allowed to have one before I got my pokemon stuff and now I got my gear, I haven't really needed a cell phone but I know a lot of people with cell phones, so that's cool, you can call or text my gear from a cell phone and I can do the same from my gear! I really want one of those cool holo-thingies I saw on TV that they use in another region but I don't think I'll ever get one cuz Mum and Dad always say that if something works it's worth keeping around and my stuff works real well anyway!" She frowned a little. "But what if Team Rocket do pose a threat to Grande Ile and you find out, cuz they're pretty tough! Not as tough as me and Gummy, but they cheat and get lucky a lot! You might have to fight them and then you couldn't go home until you did, right, because you'd have to beat them before they went to Grande Ile right? Are you sure you're not a warrior?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"That's good," Ion said with a nod and a smile. Goodness, she talked quite a bit! Her enthusiasm and excitement for practically everything was endearing, and he had to wonder just how old she was. Setting aside the topic of getting tired often, he smiled and said, "I think green is my favorite color, yes. How many favorite colors do you have?" It took him a moment to backtrack and remember what else she'd said and what else he needed to reply to. "That's a very useful feature, being able to communicate with cell phones from your pokegear - and that's good advice," he added with a smile. "So do your parents call you on it?"

What would he do if he found out Team Rocket posed a threat to Grande Ile? "I would write up a report to send to my parents so they would know," he started, though his gaze became a bit downcast despite the lingering smile on his face that didn't quite reach his eyes. "I would try to stop them myself, of course, but I wouldn't be able to do it on my own. I'm not a warrior," he finished with a slight shake of his head. A couple vending machines came into view up ahead and so Ion gestured to them and asked, "Were those the machines you were going to get snacks from?"  

[Gwennythe]

"Oh! Two! No, three! No, two! Does black count as a colour? Cuz I really like wearing black too, it's totally cool! But not a lot of black cuz that wouldn't be good and I'd get too hot! I really really really love yellow! And blue! Blue is totally awesome! There's totally nothing wrong with green though; that's a really super cool colour too! Cuz Gummy's green too!" She pointed out, again.

"Oh yes! My Mum calls me kind of a lot! She always frets about money and what I'm spending it on, which is silly cuz I totally send some back to her anyway and she's always trying to send me berries she bought with it or something!"

She thought a little harder about his final point, but not -too- much harder, because she offered a big grin along with her answer.
"Well then you just gotta get around that by not going up against them alone, right?! You can totally call Gummy and me for help! And there are a whole buncha trainers who want to help kick Rocket out!"

As he pointed out the vending machines, Henrietta sort of 'lit up' in her eyes and hurriedly skipped toward them.
"Yeah! These are the ones! These are totally the best!"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"It counts if you want it to count," Ion said with a gentle smile as she tried to figure out how many colors were her favorite. He had a sneaking suspicion 'all of them' wouldn't be out of the question.

When he heard that her mother did call her frequently, he nodded, the same gentle smile still present. "That's very good. It's important to keep in touch with those you care about."

As she ran towards the vending machines, he silently set aside the topic of fighting Team Rocket. He would try and do his best, of course, but in the event he failed, he would simply be replaced. Perhaps one of his brothers would be sent in his stead? Either way it wasn't exactly a topic to discuss with company. So instead, he halted a little behind her and peered over her head into the vending machines with a smile. "Why are these the best?"  

[Gwennythe]

"Then it counts!" Henrietta declared joyfully; Ion probably wouldn't have been wrong in thinking that all the colours might have been Henrietta's favourite because, after all, pokémon came in just about every colour and they formed a lot of the basis for 'favourites' when it came to Hen'.
"Totally!" was her agreement on 'keeping in touch with people she cared about' along with "And I totally text my friends all the time too! It's awesome!"

Henrietta was busy pressing buttons already when Sync peered over her head and turned to grin back at him.
"Cuz they're the best! They totally have the best snacks and drinks and they get topped up pretty regularly! They totally have the /best/ lemonade! All my buddies really like it! Gummy's super obsessed with the fizzy stuff!"

Inside the draw, a little rock-like pokémon wriggled as it heard voices outside. Humans! At one time it might have been shy of them, but after spending a couple of hours stuck inside the vending drawer (honestly, who knew it would be so hard to get out of once it had fallen in?!), the green Carbink decided it would be indebted to whatever creature rescued it. If that was a human? Fine, then it would have a trainer now!

Gummy walked right up to the closed draw and pressed his snout against it then seemed to 'deactivate' while Henrietta was making her choices.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Henrietta's optimism and energetic behavior were infectious, and Ion found it hard to think of anything but positive things at the moment. He nodded and smiled, watching with interest as she pressed a variety of buttons on the face of the vending machine. "Is he?" Ion queried, faint amusement in his voice as he looked down to the immobile Gummy before returning his focus to Hen and the machine. "May I ask what your favorites are?"

Jozette shamelessly pushed herself towards the front so that she could see everything - a feat she wouldn't be able to accomplish in the back, given her shorter stature - while Albiore tried to investigate the snacks without appearing to want to do anything but stay (not-so-)hidden on Ion's shoulder.