After a long days Journey

[rainexsage]

Despite the long trek there, and the less than pleasant company, the moment the doors to the center opened and that first breath of cool air conditioning hit her Yuki felt like all previous stress melted away. With the promise of a brief respite and the chance to prepare for a gym battle ahead of her she happily dropped her pokemon off with the nurse before heading over to the PC system.

As it turned out bringing a foreign pokemon with you overseas had needed a fair bit of paperwork and several signatures she had not been eager to ask for. However transferring a pokemon by PC had required far less paperwork and only her signature had been required. It had cost her some initial setup fees but money hadn't been an issue. And it was more than worth it when after entering her trainer's ID she saw the pokeball materialize in the little slot.

And no sooner had she picked it up than a sneasel burst forth clearly full of energy and tired of waiting around. Though that didn't stop it from immediately attaching itself to Yuki and letting out a little cry of delight. The feeling was mutual since she happily scooped it up and cuddled him half to death.

"Yes I missed you too Noel." she giggled, walking back over to the main counter to pick up the rest of her team. "I'm sorry you had to wait so long... ah." she glanced up at Stephen as if remembering he was still traveling with her. "Alright then while we're here is there anything you want to do?" she asked.

[Doomulus]

Stephen crossed his arms and shrugged. "I've no matters of importance in a city as simple as this. I have, however, seen the lake nearby. The only interesting issue here is observing it and contemplating ways to address it." The Center itself was at least calming, a refreshing change from the dreadful path they crossed earlier. It quickly dawned on him that this was just the start of their travels, but he attempted not to let it bother him.

With a nonchalant motion, Stephen pulled out the Poke Ball containing Solosis. "I suppose that after your little tussle with the gymnasium, it may help to explore the lake and see what we can do to help." He realized what he said, and hastened to justify it. Well, hastened to justify a generous action to make it sound more selfish, at least. "If nothing else, so I don't faint from boredom. Perhaps this Solosis can make use of itself there."

[rainexsage]

This surprised her. With his talk of modernization and bringing the region up to par with this, Black City he'd mentioned earlier, she hadn't pegged him as the sort of scientist who took an interest in environmental issues. Quite the opposite. But even his thinly veiled justification hadn't entirely erased the sense of purpose in his words. Nor the fact that it had been the first thing he suggested and in spite of herself and her earlier quarrel with him she smiled.

"Well considering the gym is full of dragon types, even with the considerable advantage I have, I'm not sure I want to tackle it first thing. I don't mind going to the lake first." she said, setting Noel down and fishing out her Magnemite's pokeball. "Besides, I heard the lake is home to mostly poison types. Between a psychic and a steel type it shouldn't be any trouble for us at all. And it gives my pokemon a chance to train for the gym too." she explained. In truth she was curious about his intentions out there, moreso than she was eager to beat the gym leader.

Besides, she barely knew anything about this gym, other than the type of pokemon the leader favored. A prudent trainer never went into a battle half cocked and if exploring the lake and by extension the rest of the town could net her some clues as to his strategy she was all for it.

[Doomulus]

Stephen rolled his eyes at her smile, feeling toyed with. It simply fit his profile as a possible task - and besides, he saw it necessary that he should clean the messes of the more incompetent. This was everything he was thinking to himself, of course. "Either way, we would be going to that murky lake. Still, good that you saw it my way - a tolerable water source is more important than any little merit badge."

Stephen was at least certain of this. Besides, the excursion of a Trainer is hardly of the highest priority. What do they do, even? Walk around dangerous regions, surmounting potentially life-risking challenges, go through a vast array of varied opponents, find glory and adoration, and earn some little metal trinkets that command great pride an- Stop. He rubbed his temples. Going on that little tangent to himself lead him to wandering about after ending his conversation with Yuki. He must have looked halfway to going insane.

Irritated with himself, he sat on a chair near the door to gather his thoughts and brainstorm ideas for a way to treat the poisoned lake. He murmured to himself quietly, "Perhaps a pump... no, something that can consume and utilize the poison..."

[rainexsage]

"You're right actually. It is more important than a badge." she replied watching as Stephen paced a little before setting her pack down on one of the benches while Noel hopped up beside her looking curiously at its contents. She'd spent most of her money securing passage over to this region but that didn't mean that she hadn't stocked up before she left. A couple stones, some potions, whatever she thought might be useful. At the moment she pulled out a TM, containing the move brick break. Sneasel could hit hard but unfortunately Noel didn't have much in the way of offensive moves and wouldn't learn many useful ones until much later on. As she turned it on and set it up with him she listened to Stephen muse to himself on how best to clean the lake.

"How did it get so polluted anyway?" she asked, looking over at him. "This town doesn't look big enough to have gotten a lake quite so bad. Did something happen to it?"

It was funny but as he was talking about ways to clean the lake she couldn't help but remember an old story she'd read in a library book when she was younger. A compilation of pokemon myths and legends, Sinnoh was quite well known for its collection of the older stories and lores from around the world. And she vaguely remembered one about a pokemon who could purify tainted water. Of course looking at the lake she couldn't help but feel that this might be outside of any pokemon's ability to handle.

[Doomulus]

For a moment, Stephen looked shocked at her question. "You mean to say you don't kn-" He gathered himself quickly, remembering where Yuki came from. "Ah, yes, you are a foreigner. Allow me to offer some exposition on this region as a whole while also explaining the cause of the pollution." He appeared to be excited once more.

"Yes, I may not know much of the geography, but I am very aware of scientific news in the region. The burgeoning research industry almost seems to be inherent to this place. The only way we can progress is through ingenuity and effort, after all - if there is anything positive I can say for Youso, it would be that this region knows it best." His expression grew somewhat stern. "However, advancement comes at a price. Incompetent researchers and careless buffoons cause laboratory accidents and explosions, such as the one that caused this lake to become poisoned."

"In fact, if I am not mistaken, this town was created due to the carelessness of lesser scientists. I assure you, if I had the resources and tenure that these louts had, this would never have happened." The truth of this statement may be a bit dubious, given Stephen's interests. Still, he looked incredibly comfortable with telling Yuki the story of the region and its connection to science. It was the people and Pokemon he couldn't usually stand - but he always had a place in his cooled heart for science. Oh, science.

[rainexsage]

"I see, that sounds awful, that something like that could happen. Just because of a few careless people..." she said, looking quiet and contemplative as he relayed the story of what had happened to the lake. She'd never encountered this sort of thing before. Sinnoh had its own technological innovations but they had all been designed to work with the environment rather than against it.

"But, I think you'd like Sunnyshore city." she said as thinking of her home region's innovations reminded her of one of their more interesting landmarks. "The roads there are made entirely out of non-reflective solar panels so the entire city runs on clean energy. It's really quite brilliant."

[Doomulus]

Stephen beamed internally at the thought, but instead just rests his chin on the back of his hand, maintaining a bored deadpan. "If there are no natural places in the world to admire, there are always manmade places that go beyond expectations. That place sounds like a pleasant marriage between the innovation of technology and the challenge provided by nature. Perhaps it'd be somewhere I'd like to visit." Standing offer, though he wouldn't say it.

"I will not deny it; talking about this has left me feel a bit revitalized. I feel about prepared to fix the mistakes of the incompetent, and... sit through a tussle between two trainers." He slumped slightly upon saying that; Stephen was making every effort to inform her that he was apparently above Trainers for whatever reason. He brushed a hand through his hair and looked to the sliding doors leading to the outside, almost with a sense of excitement.

[rainexsage]

She watched him as he spoke. As grating as he could be he was certainly a surprisingly expressive speaker. She could see the interesting combination of world weary scientist and surprisingly eager young man circling around each other like oil and vinegar. And when he looked to the door she stood up, getting her things in order.

"Yes me too, it's so nice to have been able to rest for awhile like this." she replied, turning off the TM as it appeared Noel had finished the recording. If they were heading out it would be a chance to see how well the move had settled in. Up until that point the Pokemon had been sitting quietly, zoned out. Once Yuki had put away the TM however he looked around as alert as ever and just as eager to head out the door. "So shall we be off then?"

Slinging her pack back up over her shoulder and with Noel taking his place her side she looked over at Stephen and offered an encouraging smile. "I'm right behind you then." She wasn't a scientist but she was certainly ready to help in whatever way she could. Even if that was just helping to keep him out of harms way while he worked in the field.