shining ; shocking ; star

While the boat was ever so slowly crawling towards the dock the Gym Leader idly twirled the cardboard sign in his hands, the word ‘Green’ scrawled across it in his chicken-scratch handwriting. He couldn’t help but contemplate the reason he was even here. Cynthia was supposed to be handling this job herself– a month long escort job, of all things– but unavoidable League business had come up at the last minute, so she’d asked him to fill in for her.

Volkner was immediately suspicious. It sounded like one of her and Flint’s tactics to get him out of the Gym and meeting new people. She’d probably put his name down for it from the beginning, and only sprung it on him at the last second to make sure he couldn’t talk his way out of it.

He had to give them credit for being persistent.

And so there he was, eyebrows scrunched together as he waited for the passengers to disembark. From his vantage point he watched the crowd of people flow out into the city, some heading straight for the Pokémon Center while others met with friends and family– in truth he didn’t have any idea of what sort of person to look out for, he had a name and that was it. So he waited and waited, letting the cool sea breeze waft around him, until finally someone approached him. A young sandy-brown haired man with quite a few bags in tow, who was quipping from the moment he opened his mouth to… introduce himself? Yeah, that seemed like it.

As confounding as it was at first, Volkner snorted out a laugh, his thin lips curling into something like a smirk. “Coming from someone whose parents named him Volkner,” he replied, “I don’t think I’m really one to judge.” Absently folding the cardboard sign in half with one hand he stuck out the other for Green to shake. “Nice to meet you.”