[Fin] Steely Exterior

[TawnyAngel]

It was coming up to six and, still damp from the shower, Aulus was making for the training room where he'd arranged to meet Tam.

Since returning from their trip up to Sagestone he'd been trying to get his head around how to approach the issue of Ella, or rather the issue she was apparently happening. It hadn't gone all that well. It wasn't exactly an easy problem to solve, if it was then he would have done so already... Obviously.

Frowning deeply to himself Aulus opened the door to the training area and stepped inside, still searching for last minute inspiration. It wasn't forthcoming.

Well, at least he had fruit salad.  

[Gwennythe]

CLANK!

The barricade shuddered after the impact, before collapsing back into the floor of the room.
Apparently, Tambrey had let Ella and Millicent out while waiting and... one thing had led to another, and now the two saurian pokémon were having some kind of competition where the Aggron was using Take Down to... well... take down one training barrier each time it came up, while Millicent was using Iron Head to do the same to one next door.
The two were not talking to each other, but were clearly watching each others' efforts, while Tambrey, with a slightly bemused expression, watched from near the door.
"They've only been out of their balls for five minutes." She said, as Aulus entered. "I'm not even sure if they actually, um, talked to each other or not. This is pretty much the first thing they started doing. Ella's going to, um, have to stop soon though. She'll need a rest or a potion or something..."  

[TawnyAngel]

The loud clang made Aulus wince slightly, partially at the noise and partially in sympathy with Ella. "Or both," he agreed. He saw what Tam meant by intense, Ella had always had a good work ethic but....

Aulus moved over to join Tam, watching the rocky pair with a thoughtful frown. "Want to turn the barricades off for now? Ella's not going to get a lot of other work done if she knocks herself out on them."  

[Gwennythe]

Tambrey nodded.
"Yep. Good point... Still, um, at least she and Millicent bonded... I think..." Tambrey went to a panel at the side of the room.
"Hey... Just a weird thought, but, um, can you remote these systems from your arm? It just, um, occurred to me to ask..."
Not that she wasn't already turning the barricades off, but the sight of the panel had made her think of it.

Ella grunted and snorted when the barricade went down and didn't come back up, and gave a brief, satisfied, nod toward Millicent... who seemed to be holding the steel type in some kind of reverence. The dinosaur happily trotted along behind the Aggron as she rumbled and started to wander toward the humans.  

[TawnyAngel]

"Yeah, that's good," Aulus agreed, it could be tough to integrate a new pokemon into the group so the pair getting down to something together right away was positive even if it was smashing stuff with their heads.

"Sadly I can't do that," he continued with a little 'heh' and a shake of his head. "I guess it would be possible though? So long as I was signed out as the user of the room no security reason I shouldn't be able to for the duration, but I guess I'd need a transmitter built into it? And a program to be the command panel...." Aulus trailed off, sensing that he'd gone off on a bit of a tangent. "Err, so I guess it would be possible but I can't do it at the moment, certainly."  

[Gwennythe]

"RFID maybe... Though, um, that might be a little risky for some things. Uh, anyway, it's already probably the most useful thing around for a while... It's hardly a loss that it can't interface a control room... Oh, I should get Franklin out... Um, going to leave Enjee until last; let him meet them all at once. I looked in on him a couple of times in the labs... He seems, uh," She thought for a moment, trying to come up with a better word, especially as Enjee was an electric type and she usually found them a little worrying at first, she wanted a good word to show how 'not worrying' she'd found the little round sphere but could only settle on "nice. Really... nice."

Ella rumbled a greeting to Aulus, and then Milli, apparently treating Ella like a little sibling copying a big sibling more or less followed suit with her own greeting 'rumble'.

<> Franklin supplied when she appeared from her pokéball. << So do I. Hello!>>  

[TawnyAngel]

"Yeah, I guess so," Aulus agreed with a nod and a shrug, "I mean it can do a million other things already.... Really nice?" Aulus raised a quizzical eyebrow at Tambery. "What exactly do you mean by nice? That felt a little weighted." Enjee had certainly seemed friendly when they'd met.... "Is he still tingly?"

Turning to the pokemon Aulus smiled and nodded a greeting. "Hi, doing alright you lot?" Okay, that was adorable, Milli and Ella had definitely bonded.  

[Gwennythe]

"Well... Um... Franklin already met him. I had her translate..." Tambrey started.
<< Enjee looks like a pokéball!>> Franklin interrupted, before translating <>

"She.. isn't, but, um, I should probably talk with them about that..." Tambrey frowned before shaking her head and continuing.
"Anyway, yes. Franklin translated. Enjee was abandoned. He saw 'humans'- uh, us, so made his way to us. He was, uh, looking for some power source he felt but wanted humans more. He's, well, really chatty but kindly? Um. Still tingly yes, but I'm not sure it's referring to an explosion... I think," She grinned a little bashfully. "I think 'tingly' is how he's describing feeling 'happy' or 'relieved'..."  

[TawnyAngel]

"Phew, well that's a relief anyhow," Aulus said with a lopsided grin. "Good tingly, not explody bad tingly." Alpha; it made sense that Milli would see Ella like that, they were similar enough in shape and... well, Ella was certainly impressive these days. It was amazing how much progress all of their pokemon had made when you looked back, heck he'd arrived here with only Tortie. Long time ago now, or so it felt anyway.

"Oh, right, I should let some of mine out." As he remembered this Aulus reached to his belt to take off a trio of pokeballs; Char, Rose, and Artemis appeared and blinked as they got their bearings.

"Millicent these are Char, Rose, and Artemis," he said, indicating them in turn.

Char looked Millicent up and down steadily - well, down and further down at any rate - while Rose gave a cheery wave and a; <>

Artemis meanwhile wagged her tail and trotted over to the unfamiliar pokemon to sniff around her. <> she decided aloud. <>  

[Gwennythe]

Millicent grunted a greeting to each of them, a little unsure at first, and with a lingering look at Char, but Ella seemed happy to see them, so they must be good herd, or pack, mates...
<< Cranidos.>> She told Artemis with a slow blink. <> Before looking back at Char. He seemed big, and, like Ella, alpha-ish. <> She told him, quite matter-of-factly. It was the same thing she'd told Ella, right away, when they'd first met. Ella was keener to have barricade competitions though; Millicent did, at least, understand the logic there.

<< She does smell weird.>> Agreed Franklin, who didn't appear to have a nose; perhaps she was practicing humour...

"Mhm. Hi guys." Tambrey greeted, then nodded. "Like I said he's, um, just nice. He seems, uh, well, -happy- to be caught again. He knows about today, about this; seemed to be looking forward to it."  

[TawnyAngel]

<> Artemis replied with a wriggle. <>

Char looked down at Millicent thoughtfully and then nodded. <> So this was the other project Tambery had been working on? A Cranidos, she said. <> he supplied, it seemed only polite given the other introductions that were being made.

"Great!" Aulus turned his attention from the interaction between the pokemon back onto Tam. "I look forward to meeting him again then, never really been around a Voltorb to be honest so I'll enjoy getting to know one. Artemis has been looking forward to this too," he gestured to the Eevee and grinned, "but then she looks forward to just about everything other than bathtime. I don't think she's going to want to be a Vaporeon somehow."  

[Gwennythe]

<> Linnaeus was, so far, the only reference for 'Eevee' that Millicent had, and Linnaeus was a fluffy, most brown thing. <> Her reply was to both the Eevee and the Charizard, though she was most looking forward to the Charizard, she appreciated that Artemis wanted to fight. << Charizard. You have wings.>>

<> Franklin called, cheerily, not wanting to be left out of the conversation.

"Linnaeus too; I'll let him out in a moment, with Pakhet. He's turned out a bit of a shy thing but he's quicker to, um, come out of his shell a bit when Pakhet's around with him... He'll be pleased to see Artemis, though."

<> Franklin interjected, somewhat confused.  

[TawnyAngel]

<> Artemis giggled. <love fighting, it's the best ever!>>

Char looked at Millicent, then at his own wings, and finally back again. <> he replied. <> Millicent did not seem like the sort who spoke for the sake of speaking and so he presumed there was meaning behind her words he hadn't gleaned.

"Aww," Aulus smiled and nodded, "she'll be pleased to see him too though she'll probably want to bounce him, just a heads up on that." He then turned to Franklin. "It's another of those metaphors," he explained. "It means he gets more confident and outgoing... or at least a bit less shy. If he had a shell like Helix, he'd peek out of it more."  

[Gwennythe]

<> Millicent answered Char, it not sounding like a question. She then regarded Artemis. << You have pleasant colours. I agree.>> The last being in agreement with the comment on fighting.

<< I would like a shell. Would you not like a shell? Shells seem very useful.>>

"Ah. Well. He rough-houses with Pakhet. I'm sure he'll warm up to Artemis doing so in no time..."  

[TawnyAngel]

<> Char confirmed, <> He still didn't quite follow where Millicent was going but for now he was happy to provide information in response to her statements, it appeared to be what she wanted.

<> Artemis replied. She then blinked and turned to Franklin. <>

Rose chuckled and shook his head. <>

Aulus made a soft noise of amusement at the conversation around shells, and Rose's subsequent translation of what Artemis had said. "I wonder why we have the eeveeloution types we do, but not others?" he mused to Tambery. "I mean I can understand Vaporeon, Leafeon, Glaceon, and I suppose Flareon - desert or volcanic island - but how did environmental stresses create the others until we started using stones on them? And what about the other types? Why not a flying type? Why haven't we ended up with a poison type living around our rubbish dumps?... Thinking about it I suppose Umbreon were probably adapted for life in caves, being able to see in the dark and all, but still.