Seeing the light [S]

[Seas]

Roxy yawned and snuggled deeper into her blanket. She wasn't sure why it was so cold, but her limbs were too heavy for her to want to move. In her attempt to burrow into her blanket, her wings fluttered, lifting the blanket up and sending sunlight into the girl's face. Her eyes opened immediately, bright blue and wide with fright. How could I have overslept? she wondered, as she pushed the blanket away, I have three alarms. Violet's going to be furious. I - where am I?

Her memories of the night before came flooding back at she blinked out at Pumice Rock. She could see the edges of buildings in the distance and hear the sound of waves crashing behind her. The air tugged at her hair, sending wisps of rusty red in front of her eyes as she stared. Eventually, she rubbed at her eyes and put her black boots on. A moment later, she got to her feet. She tugged down her deep blue sweater and smoothed out the wrinkles on her skirt. As she packed up her makeshift camp into her bag, she glanced around constantly, never keeping still.

The trek to the buildings was not an easy one for Roxy. Her back and wings ached deeply, hindering her attempts to tuck her hair into a bun. Her eyelids often slipped shut and when she opened them, she would be meters from where she had closed them. Dizziness kept her stomach rolling over and over with every step she took. However, that was purely the physical discomfort. Inside Roxy's mind it was far worse. She tried to calculate how long it would take the Bielli's to call for a psychic pokemon, erring heavily on the side of caution. She dragged up everything she remember about pokemon - most of the information was about the one that had killed her parents. She ran the words she would say to the laboratory worker through her head, her lips moving silently as she worked them out. Every second, she forced herself not to glance over her shoulder. Violet won't have caught up to me yet, she told herself, Looking back is only wasting time.

She paused just outside the cluster of buildings. She bit her lip, dragged her wings into a folded position, smiled, and entered. All the traces of pain and effort had left her as she navigated through the tiny town. She looked a little bedraggled, but he kept to the edges and no one gave her a second glance. At the entrance to the labatory she tucked a stray wisp of hair behind her ear and entered. Roxy slipped a nervous smile onto her face as she moved towards the desk.

"Excuse me?" she asked politely, "I heard that I could receive a pokemon here. Is that true?"

She kept her chin down and her hands clasped in front of her as she waited for an answer. A strand of hair fell out of her bun and over one eye.

[Nimbostratus]

As Roxy walked in, she found the Lab strangely empty. Not a soul could be seen, not even at the reception desk - it was occupied only by a computer, its screen facing toward her. But it seemed to detect her presence, its screen lighting up - and soon a recorded voice droned through the room.

"Welcome to the Fully Automated Intelligent Laboratory. This is an experimental system designed to oversee the duties of a Lab receptionist. Please email all feedback to ZOROARK-RULES AT DECONA LAB DOT COM."

Well. This was gonna be interesting.

"This system has detected that you have no Pokemon, and thus has determined that you are here for a starter. If this is incorrect, please say GO BACK." It allowed a pause for confirmation. "Very well then. Please wait a moment while your starters are chosen." The labored whirring of the outdated computer's hard drive could be heard.

Then, finally: "...Thank you for waiting. Here are your choices!" A quintet of Pokemon appeared on the screen.

Name: ? Species: Woobat Gender: ? Ability: Unaware or Klutz Level: 5 Friendship: 5 Moveset: Confusion, Odor Sleuth Nature: ? Met: Lab @ lvl 5	Name: ? Species: Pinsir Gender: ? Ability: Hyper Cutter or Mold Breaker Level: 5 Friendship: 5 Moveset: Vice Grip, Focus Energy, Bind Nature: ? Met: Lab @ lvl 5	Name: ? Species: Slakoth Gender: ? Ability: Truant Level: 5 Friendship: 5 Moveset: Scratch, Yawn Nature: ? Met: Lab @ lvl 5	Name: ? Species: Drilbur Gender: ? Ability: Sand Rush or Sand Force Level: 5 Friendship: 5 Moveset: Scratch, Mud Sport, Rapid Spin Nature: ? Met: Lab @ lvl 5	Name: ? Species: Slugma Gender: ? Ability: Magma Armor or Flame Body Level: 5 Friendship: 5 Moveset: Yawn, Smog, Ember Nature: ? Met: Lab @ lvl 5

"To make your choice, simply say the name of which one you'd like. This system recommends you choose MISSINGNO." ...What? What the hell was a Missingno? This thing had a few screws loose.

[Seas]

Roxy's eyes narrowed just slightly as the computer screen lit up. She had imagined the receptionist for the day had simply stepped out for some reason, but the computer's odd actions gave her half a second to think, Are they playing a game with me?

Then the automated voice echoed through the room and her hands fell to her side. She blinked twice, the faintest of wrinkles forming on her forehead. She tilted her head down, the movement almost completely hiding the quick look she gave the laboratory. She seemed to be searching for something in particular, but her eyes never rested very long on anything. A long few seconds later, Roxy lifted her head. She took a deep breath and gave the computing machine a politely inquiring look. She needed a pokemon, and if this was a test then she would pass it beautifully - without appearing as though she had any idea what was happening.

"I am here for a starter, yes," she said when the computer paused, a tiny smile curling in her mouth. It trembled a little, but of course she was only surprised by such a strange thing. What other reason would she have to be afraid of the computer, after all?

She held her breath as the computer whirred, hoping for a dark type pokemon. She hadn't truly studied pokemon, but she had looked over the list of those that were considered dark types. She was sure she would recognize one. Her eyes flew over the options she was given, stopping at the pokemon called Drilbur. Is that, she started to wonder, but then she noticed the abilities and moves, Oh, it's a ground type. And none of the others...are what I need.

Roxy let her breath go, low and nearly silent. She tucked a very shy smile onto her face and then the computer said Missingno. She stepped forward, one hand starting to reach out. Then her eyes seemed to catch on the computer and she breathed an audible sigh, letting her hand drop.

"I'm afraid I don't see a Missingno on here," she replied, "I'm sorry I can't take your recommendation. If you could give me a Woobat instead, I would be grateful."

[ZOM]

((i hope nimbo doesn't mind me cutting in, but for the sake of not keeping seas waiting long i'm just going to wrap this up so she can get started!))

The system was silent for several seconds, although something in the glare of its screen implied it might have been judging Roxy for her decision. Then, the computer made a "bing!" sound and started to whirr. "You have selected... WOOBAT. Retrieving starter kit and Pokemon. Please wait." The whirring grew louder and more frantic, but as a minute ticked by, then two, it seemed that nothing was happening. That whirring noise was becoming very concerning, though, and was the computer trembling? They weren't supposed to do that, were they?

"ERROR. ERROR." The screen started to dim, and the whirring transformed into a high, shrill screech. "PLeaSe wAIt j... j... JUST one mOMENT, pa-a-a-a-aging for aAAAAAAssistance." The system's voice was dramatically shifting in pitch every second, and partway through words it would twitch or draw out syllables. Clearly something was very wrong... Hopefully it wouldn't explode in Roxy's face.

Within a minute, a tall, lanky Zoroark Pokemorph burst out of one of the back doors, his icy blue eyes huge with alarm. He cursed loudly and ran to the computer, his lab coat billowing behind him. He hopped the counter and turned the screen around to face him so that he could tinker with it, clacked away at the keyboard and fiddled with the computer tower beneath the desk, and after a bit of this, the wailing siren sound shut off and the computer ceased its seizing. "Phew. Arceus... This stupid thing has some bugs. Damn." He gnawed anxiously on an index finger for a moment, his razor-sharp teeth gently teasing at the soft red-dyed skin. Then, he scanned the screen; apparently he had managed to return it to normal. "Okay, sorry 'bout that. You wanted a Woobat and a kit, right?" He sighed, and his long, furry ears drooped. "Can't believe I still have to do this myself..."

He ran a claw-tipped hand through his hair, which hung down to below his waist but was at least pulled out of his face for the sake of convenience. "One sec," he aimed at Roxy, then stood up straight and headed into a back room behind the counter. Within a minute he returned with a small bag and a Pokeball in hand. These he offered out to the fellow Pokemorph. "Alright, so I'm assuming you know the basics about training?" He spoke in a lazy drawl, and the second he stopped moving around his broad shoulders hunched again. Bad posture. "If not, hit me with your questions. Just don't ask about the computer. That's a work in progress."

[img]http://serebii.net/xy/pokemon/527.png[/img]
[b]Name:[/b] ?
[b]Species:[/b] Woobat
[b]Gender:[/b] ?
[b]Ability:[/b] Unaware or Klutz
[b]Level:[/b] 5
[b]Friendship:[/b] 5
[b]Moveset:[/b] Confusion, Odor Sleuth
[b]Nature:[/b] ?
[b]Met:[/b] Lab @ lvl 5

[img]http://www.serebii.net/itemdex/sprites/pokeball.png[/img] Pokeball x 5
[img]http://www.serebii.net/itemdex/sprites/potion.png[/img] Potion x 2
[img]http://www.serebii.net/itemdex/sprites/tmcase.png[/img] TM Case
[img]http://www.serebii.net/itemdex/sprites/famechecker.png[/img] Pokedex

[Seas]

Roxy nodded at the computer's instructions and the room was silent except for the noises it made. As the whirring grew louder, she started to rub her fingers over her hands, self soothing little gestures. She didn't look at the computer, so she didn't see it trembling, but her spine was tight with fear. She lifted her eyes up as the screen started to dim and asked, "Are you alright?"

It was a strange question to ask a computer. It seemed unlikely the computer had feelings to take into consideration, but Roxy always erred on the side of caution. That was why, even as she spoke, she stepped backwards. The soft look she had and the slight dip of her head as she moved made it look like a respectful acknowledgement of the computer's distress instead of a retreat. Nothing in her suggested that she was startled until the Zoroark pokemorph burst into the room. Then her head snapped up, eyes focusing unerringly on him. At the same time her feathers rustled, her wings trying to spread out but stopped by the flare of pain. A moment later, she took in a deep breath and the quickened rise-and-fall of her chest slowed. She let her eyes fall to the floor until the screeching sound was gone. Then she looked up and blinked at the Zoroark pokemorph chewing on his finger. He looks...very young, she decided, as she moved forward again.

"Yes, that's right. But there's no need to apologize. I found the Fully Automated Intelligent Laboratory system fascinating, and I don't think there's ever been an idea that worked perfectly in the beginning," she said, smiling at him just a little.

Her shoulders relaxed as he told her to wait one second. It sent her wings down even further, the wingtips nearly brushing the ground. When he returned, she took the items and tucked them inside her bag with a quiet 'thank you'. She glanced up at him under her eyelashes after, the curve of her neck turning it from coy to shy and small.

"I heard that there were jobs trainers could take at the labatory. If that's true, I'd like to take any job that involves dark type pokemon. Would that be...possible?"

As she waited for an answer, her hands slowly tightened around each other.

[ZOM]

In the aide's opinion, this girl seemed perfectly pleasant and sweet, and as a result it was hard to stay completely aloof and frustrated at his own failure. He had briefly returned her smile before running off to retrieve her Pokemon, and again his thin lips twitched at her now, his eyes scanning her briefly and noting her nervous fidgeting. "Sure, maybe," he acknowledged with a nod, glancing across the lobby at the large screen above the elevator. There wasn't much information given on the screen, just "NEED: X" for each job, so with a sigh he turned back to his computer for further details.

"Okay," he said after a moment, spinning the screen around so that Roxy could see. "Looks like there aren't any dark-type rewards right now, so sorry 'bout that. You have good taste," Here he winked at her, "so I wish I could report otherwise. But!" He reached around the monitor to tap at a specific line with a sharp red fingernail. "This right here has you catching an Absol, and a Happiny, Chansey, or Blissey too. You'd be handing those in to the intern who put out the S.O.S., though, so you won't get to keep what you catch. She's really dead set on this experiment I guess, 'cause she's offering a really rare Buneary and a Lucky Egg in return for the two Pokemon. Not a bad gig, if you're okay with it not being a dark-type." After a moment of consideration and scratching his head, he brightened up with an idea. "Oh! But if you're really set on dark-types, and have a bit of coin to spare, you could head to Midocian and check out their cushy Safari Zone. I think they have a floor for dark-types. Or..." He paused, glanced around to see if anyone would hear, and then lowered his voice and leaned forward conspiratorially. "You could check the Dragon's Bounty in Marit. I don't know what they have right now, but it could be worth a shot."

Quite the chatterbox, this one, at least once he got started. Finally finished imparting his knowledge, he leaned back and grinned, baring a mouth full of very sharp, white teeth. "So! About that job. You still want it?"

[Seas]

That's better, Roxy thought when the Zoroark pokemorph seemed to smile at her before agreeing she could do a job. Her smiled started to play at the edge of her mouth and her hands fell to her sides. Her face had a subtle cast of happiness to it. She was always proud when she managed to put another person at ease, and it wasn't simply because it meant she was safer. Still, there was an element of that and it showed when she leaned slightly closer to him to look at the computer screen. She quickly scanned the screen, drinking in the information about what the laboratory wanted and what they were willing to give.

She blushed faintly when he winked at her and ducked her head, but not quickly enough to hide the glint of the teeth in her smile. Roxy tilted her head to the left as he talked. Her body went still, but her eyes darted between his hands and his face. The only change in her posture came when he talked about Dragon's Bounty. Then, following his lead, she moved closer and turned her face away from the doors to to him. She took a small step back when she was finished, smiling shyly.

"I'd like to take the job," she said, glancing up at him quickly, once, "And...and I think I'll go to Marit. Thank you for helping me. Could I ask, ask your name? I think I'll come here again."

[ZOM]

The Zoroark morph's eyes glimmered, and he flicked his long, loose ponytail over his shoulder; he liked shy, quiet types, and he was trying to be subtle in his flirtations, but still noticeable enough that she wouldn't miss the cues. At her agreement, his grin widened and he nodded, spinning the monitor around again so that he could type in some information and list the job as "taken." Still, he wasn't looking at the screen much. His eyes were firmly trained on Roxy as his fingers flew across the keyboard. "Not a problem, doll. Be careful in Marit, okay? It's a rough town, though the people are alright once you get to know 'em."

When she asked his name, his typing paused, and he leaned around the monitor to be more visible to her. His ears were perked. "Heh, um, I'm Felix. Nice to meet you, and... I'm gonna need your name, too, for the job claim. You know." Judging from the very faint rumbling noise he was emitting that resembled a purr, he seemed quite delighted with Roxy's presence. This girl was cute, sweet, and at least a little interested in him, or so Felix assumed; why wouldn't he be pleased? His purring stopped after a moment, though, and he sheepishly added, "Oh, uh, and I need your age, too. For the thing." It would be pretty embarrassing if Roxy was much younger than him. He was only eighteen, but anyone thirteen and up could get a Pokemon free from the lab, and he wasn't going to be breaking any laws by going forward with anyone who wasn't legal.

[Seas]

Roxy held the gaze of the Zoroark pokemorph for a few seconds before glancing away with a tiny smile and pink dusted cheeks. She let her smile fade, looked at him again as he finished with the computer, and smiled again, a little wider. Then she brought up her hand to cover it for a moment. Her hand fell down to her chest as the Zoroark pokemorph spoke again and her eyes went wide. Some of the pink faded from her cheeks. The light that had been dancing in her eyes dimmed down a little as she nodded, stepping just a bit closer to him, her head tilted up. It would have been the perfect time to subtly brush against him, apologize, blush, but somewhere deep inside her a voice was screaming, Be silent, be still, do not draw attention, see how he's looking, do not draw attention, run, run, fly.

She folded her hands together to hide how they trembled.

"It's nice to meet you, Felix," she said, not a hint of anything other than muted pleasure in her voice, "I'm Emmy Silvers. Oh, and I'm eighteen. Is there...anything else?"

It was tempting for her to add that she had just turned eighteen, that she had finished high school and wanted to start a pokemon journey for a year, but she kept that desire down with the ease of long practice. Roxy had spent nearly half her life lying; it had been a skill learned early in her time with the Bielii family. She knew that adding extra details only left her more nets to get caught in, and so she was silent as she waited. She let her fingers move slightly, her body shift from side to side, and kept giving Felix half-glances when he didn't seem to be looking at her.

[ZOM]

Felix seemed quite fooled by her claim. He smiled, quietly commented that Emmy was a pretty name, and resumed his tapping at the keyboard. "Nope," he said. "That should do it." Within seconds he had hit the "enter" key and was printing out a piece of paper with the job information on it. He handed this over to "Emmy" and grinned at her. "There ya go! Take your time, the intern can wait for her weird luck project." He rolled his eyes at the mention of the intern and patted at the side of his computer monitor as if to show that he was focusing on something much more worthwhile.

After a moment, he started to look a little disappointed that Roxy would inevitably be taking her leave. Grasping at straws, he asked, "Is there anything else you need help with? Questions, concerns?" He wouldn't try to keep her too much longer if she wanted to bolt, but hey, he did want to help her out if she had anything she needed, so there was nothing wrong with offering!

[Seas]

She smiled along with Felix and when he offered the paper she took it, folding it into a neat rectangle in three quick movements. Then she turned to tuck it into one of the top pockets of her bag. A few stray tendrils of hair slipped out of her messy bun, falling to frame her face. When she looked back up at him they shifted in front of her eyes and she brushed them away with a self-conscious smile.

Her eyes followed his hand to the computer and then went back to Felix's face as he spoke. She let a few moments pass after he spoke, a faint furrow line on her forehead. After that, she shook her head, the corners of her lips turned down.

"No, I'm afraid there's nothing else. Thank you so much for all your help, Felix," she said, "I hope that I'll see you again soon."

After she finished, she offered her hand to shake. Then she turned and left, but not without casting one shy glance over her shoulder just as she got to the door.