applause

As soon as the Milotic slithered from the water on to land, Nico’s hands were raised, palms toward the trio. Universal sign of ‘I mean no harm’, regardless of the Zorua on his head definitely leaning further forward. At least she’d learned not to go bolting off like she had when she’d been younger, waiting for the small Azurill to come bounding over before disembarking her own trainer, a cautionary sniff before offering out a paw.

“Nico Corsair. I’m, uh, one of the Freshman.” A half shrug, at least hoping that was a satisfactory explanation, even as he dropped in to a crouch to better be on the baby pokemon’s level, offering his own pinky in greeting.

“She won’t hurt you without me telling her too. Don’t worry.” He couldn’t say Aurora was harmless, because she could be quite the moody Pokemon -- especially towards strangers. Thankfully, Sylas and her were almost perfectly in sync and she rarely did things without him being okay with it prior.

Pearl sniffed at the trainer and Zorua for a moment before she made a squeal of happiness and began to bounce around. “I’m Sylas Rose. A coordinator. Since Pearl is fine with you, I suppose I am too.”

“ New ish. I’m a freshmen though, yeah. Drake Ridges. Flying type Aficionado. ” He answered with a casual shrug, knowing that the Milotic was huge but deciding not to apologize. “ You a coordinator or something? Seems the type with the lil fella and the milotic over here. ” He decided against called her Big Bertha despite how badly he truly wanted to for the sake of pleasantries. 

It was clear Aurora was not a fan, but she was too distracted by making Pearl happy to try and do anything further to the other trainer. “Yes, I am a coordinator, though it’s important to note both milotic and azumarill are powerhouses in their own right.” Pearl was only an azurill, but her evolved form would be no joke. He ran a hand against Aurora softly. “This is Aurora. She’s my first pokemon.”

Does your character travel with anyone aside from their Pokémon?

“No. And I like it that way.”

How does your character handle villainous organisations? Have they ever encountered one? How did that go?

“I haven’t encountered one and don’t want to. I have no interest in playing the hero, if I’m honest.”

With only three Pokemon on his team, Dominic was eager to set out and see if he could find another pokemon to fill his roster before the next time he would be asked to battle one of his peers. It was something he was hoping for, though he had no idea what sort of Pokemon he wanted. Sure, he knew that he would need to catch a dark pokemon eventually - it was needed if he wanted Ursa to evolve when she was ready - but he was certainly open to more. Maybe what he needed was a nice electric type to balance out his team, or maybe even a fairy… though even dragon-types were cool.

That was how he found himself in the large field that housed the lake, and he could see a lone figure standing near the water’s edge. Curiosity getting the better of him, Dominic and his trio of Pokemon - Jet, Cole and Ursa - began to make their way forward. He was doing pretty stealthy about it, too… until Ursa pushed Cole into Jet or then knocked into him, causing him to falter and step on a fallen stick. 

Thankfully, it was just Sylas - a guy he shared a couple of classes with, given the fact that they were both in the trainer program, just with different branches in mind. “Trust me, I get it,” Dominic said, staring back at his Pokemon, though really just Cole and Ursa. He loved them and their fighting spirits, but damn did it get tiring at points. “She’s gorgeous, though… I can’t wait to see what she’ll look like as a Marill.”

Pausing, Dominic gripped the straps of his backpack before he nodded at the other. “Getting tired, though? Because I was thinking of setting up camp soon and making some curry for my guys before we get started on training… And you know curry is always better when you work together with another person.”

The sound of the stick caught Aurora’s attention before it did the distracted Sylas’. It brought her on land and had her wrapping herself protectively around her trainer -- as was usual. As she was his first Pokemon, there was no one she adored or was more protective of than Sylas. 

As for Sylas, it was hard to concentrate on what the other man was saying with a screaming Azurill in his ear and the irritation was clear on his face. He honestly couldn’t wait for her to evolve too -- then maybe she’d calm down a little. “She’s just in a mood because she screwed up her performance with Aurora. She’s a bit of a brat,” he admitted. Thankfully, Pearl had become distracted by Aurora’s antennae and didn’t hear her trainer.

“I’m not opposed to eating curry. My babies could use a break.” 

“ I don’t know, dude. You seem more than cool and she seems really upset. ” He takes a glance over to the Azurill, unsure of how to make her happy but placing a finger for her to grab to see if that’d cheer it up. “ Might be your Milotic scaring it, it’s beautiful but freaking huge dude. ”

As the stranger approaches and not only scolded Sylas, but insulted Aurora and put his finger in her face, Pearl started screaming louder. Irritated, Aurora shot a stream of water at the other trainer to force space between him and Sylas. After that, the milotic encouraged Pearl onto her head -- making the Azurill coo with delight. “Are you new? Pokemon often form close bonds regardless of size. Also, you shouldn’t comment on a woman’s size.”

“Nope. I’d honestly kill to see an Articuno. I believe in them, but I think they’re meant to be free to look over the world.”

upon walking up to the team, gabriel peaked around sylas and let out a laugh at the small pokemon’s tears. “what are you doing to her?” he joked. “playing a bit too roughly i see.” at this comment, his own young one, yappy the yamper, peaked around gabriel’s legs. the dog barked excitedly and leaped forward. before he got far, gabriel swooped him up to hold him before he went charging head first into the crying baby pokemon. 

Aurora, clearly annoyed, spit a stream of water at the professor in response to him chiding her trainer. “You don’t have to do that,” Sylas assured her, running a hand over her skin. She made a little huff but nodded. He placed Pearl on Aurora’s head, who then began to nuzzle the Azurill until the small, mouse-like pokemon started laughing. “No. I was not playing roughly. She’s just learning her moves right now.”

It was, at least in a sense, a familiar view. A crying pokemon really wasn’t all that different from a crying kid, something he definitely had a little too much experience with. 

“I get it, don’t worry.” An easy smile, from both Nico himself, and the Zorua perched on his head, staring curiously at the crying Azurill. A few paw steps forward, stretching her nose out toward the Azurill and sniffing the air, nearly leaning completely off of Nico’s head. “Want me to give it a try?”

Sylas eyed the other student warily. Despite being firm about training, he was still loving and protective towards his pokemon. Aurora seemed to tense up and made her way on land, wrapping herself gently around her trainer and Pearl. The baby pokemon wasn’t quite sure why the situation changed and sniffled before noticing the other trainer. Her whole body kind of shifted as she stared at the Zorua before popping out of her trainer’s arms to go inspect the new people. 

She was very easily distracted.

“Pearl!” he exclaimed in a huff before staring at the other student. “Who are you?”

Name: Aurora ( ♀  Milotic) Ball: Love Ball About:

Aurora was Sylas’ first pokemon as a feebas. Due to the effort it takes to get feebas to evolve, the two of them are as close as close can get. She’s very protective of Silas, and has taken on a bit of his snobby personality herself.

Name: Cannon ( ♂  Raichu) Ball: Fast Ball About:

Cannon has been with Sylas since he was a pichu and was his first catch upon arriving on the island. He tends to be laid back, but also always tries to seem cool in front of others. He has a bad habit of stealing Sylas’ sunglasses.

Name: Fay (  ♂  Kirlia) Ball: Dream Ball About:

Fay was Sylas’ second catch on the island as a ralts. He is extremely devoted to Sylas and is just as passionate about contests. He enjoys dancing and garnering any attention he gets. However, he gets offended when people mistake him for a female.

Name: Bloom ( ♀ Gloom) Ball: Friend Ball About:

Found as an oddish, Sylas was instantly attached. Bloom is a rather sleepy pokemon and often sleeps instead of practicing like she should. That said, she still is rather devoted to her trainer.

Name: Strings ( ♂  Shuppet) Ball: Moon Ball About:

Strings is probably the most mischievous of Sylas’ bunch. He enjoys teleporting and going invisible only to pop up or phase through things in order to scare people. Often, if Strings goes missing, Sylas finds him again by following the scream of someone the shuppet decided to prank.

Name: Pearl ( ♀  Azurill) Ball: Dive Ball About:

Upon hearing footsteps, he tensed up. “I didn’t do anything bad. She’s just moody.”