The Royal Pokemon Clan

Eva quietly watched Eto leave, getting the feeling that the cheerfulness she had at the moment was just a mask. She mostly had that feeling because she's had that type of look herself before when she would pretend everything was alright at school when in actuality, it really hadn't been. She'd always fake a smile and say she was alright before going somewhere more private to let her true emotions out.

Getting a bit concerned for Eto and feeling a bit guilty for possibly making her feel that way, Eva quietly disbanded from the group for now as they discussed whether they should go after Eto or not before heading off for the adventure.

From there, she began to look for Eto, though she quickly got herself lost without being able to find her. The city really was confusing and even though she's lived here for years and knew her way around fairly well, there were occasions such as now where she'd get all turned around. It was at this point that Eva's Eevee woke up and nuzzled her trainer in a concerned manner when she noticed Eva looked rather nervous.

Eto heard slight footsteps a distance from her rock. She saw Eva go down a path close by hers, and down a path way by a few rundown houses. Eto sighed softly, wiping her tears and letting Soru stay in her hoodie. His head poked out of the neckhole, and the rest was settled on Eto's chest.

She trailed behind Eva, figuring out after awhile that she seemed to be lost. Besides a bit of sniffling and her eyes a little brighter than usual, it was hard to tell she had been crying.

Eto walked silently up behind the girl, watching her pokemon comfort her.

" Eva? Why are you out and about? "

Eto's voice sounded a little monotone, lacking previous excitement. She also looked more weary than manic.

" I know you don't want any pokepuffs, but I have some candy. I can walk us to the Delfino Café if you wanna have lunch. "

She offered a half assed smile at the other girl, Soru smiling happily and waving his shell at Eva and her Eevee.

" Osshaaa! "

When Eto turned her attention back to her bags, Xolo felt a wave of relief. It only grew with every step she took towards the door. As soon as she was out of sight, he let his shoulders sag a bit. "What a impression, yeah?" He'd then turn to Tommy, full of new-found bravado, and laugh. "I don't need a guardian but if you want to tag along to help them, I'm not gonna complain."

Achille, seemed concerned and offered a questioning chitter as Eto left. When Xolo laughed, it blinked up at him a moment. Then it rolled over in his arms and bit him. Hard.

"GhggiYAOWCH!"

Achille stayed there latched on for a moment. Then the venipede wiggled to get some momentum, released, and did some almost-parkour to roll off of Xolo and safely land on its feet. Nose in the air, it started walking towards the door as well.

"H-hey! What was that for, Bug? Wait up!" Xolo turned to follow Achille, earlier confidence replaced with confused irritation. Looked like this party was moving outside.

Eva jumped a bit when she heard a voice come from behind her all of a sudden. She whirled around with a bit of a nervous gaze before quickly calming down when she saw it was Eto. She hesitated for a few moments, taking her Eevee into her arms before answering the question of why she was out and about. "U-um... I-I just wanted to check on you and see if you were alright..." her tone was rather soft and a bit timid, yet kind.

She smiled a bit at the suggestion of going to the Delfino Cafe for lunch. "Y-yeah, going to the cafe seems good. Maybe we could talk a bit on the way there... i-if you want to that is..." She cuddled her Eevee close to her, unsure if Eto actually did want to go the cafe or not.

Hestia, Eva's Eevee, seemed to be having the time of her life in her trainer's arms. She was happily cuddling up to Eva and making very happy-sounding noises. Her ears and tail flicked and wagged happily. "Vee! Eevee!"

Eto's small smile flickered into a full faced grin.

" Of course I wanna go! Else I wouldn't have offered. Come on, I will lead the way this time. "

It seemed to be a playful jab at Eva for getting lost. The oddball girl look Eva's hand in her own, and lead the way out of the more backalley looking area, and out into the bustling Plaza. Eto slowly seemed to be returning to her 'normal' behavior. She lead Eva along to the Cafe, running inside and getting a seat for them. Eto then dug in her backpack, and deposited all sorts of candy, snacks, and of course her bag of Pokepuffs. It was rather impressive.

" I brought these! Oh, and also . . ."
She rummaged in her bag again, and put out several different kinds of pop drinks.

" Help yourself! "
She threw her arms up in the air happily, and brought them back down to rub Soru's ears.

" We're gonna be unbeatable one day! We're training tomorrow Soru! "
The Oshawott clapped his paws over his head like Eto.

Eto then turned misty eyes to Eva and Hestia.

" What about you? What do you plan on doing? And what are you gonna evolve into Hestia? "

Eto directly addressed the pokemon, leaning forwards as if it would be a secret what her answer would be.

((I hope not. I've just been holding off on a response for now since I didn't want the others to get lost if we got too far ahead))

Eva's small smile widened slightly as Eto's smile transitioned into a full-fledged grin. She was glad the girl was seemingly back to her normal and cheerful self. She would have felt bad if Eto remained upset over something that was partially her fault. She didn't like putting other people down for being themselves, even if it was unintentional.

Not really used to physical contact, she flinched slightly as Eto took a hold of her hand, though she made no effort to move away and instead allowed Eto to lead her to the Cafe, keeping Hestia safely held in one arm. She laughed slightly as the oddball girl rushed into the Cafe and grabbed some seats for them before following after her.

Her eyes practically sparkled with a mixture of awe and excitement as she saw the sweets and drinks that Eto pulled out of her backpack. She was always a sucker for sweets and she happily got a few when Eto said to help herself. Though, her attention was soon captured when Eto started to speak again.

She hesitated for a moment before answering the question of what she wanted to do. "U-um, w-well... I-I wanna be an Eeveeloution trainer..." her tone was a bit nervous-sounding as she spoke, being unsure of how Eto would react. Hestia's ears flicked happily as she seemingly answered Eto's question of what she would evolve into. "Eevee vee vee!"

((Nope, it isn't. I'm just an idiot that forgot to respond ))

The trio of idiots eventually came across the Delfino Cafe, deciding it would be a good idea to pick up a few snacks before heading on the road. After all, traveling on an empty stomach wasn't the best idea. The Spinarak on Joseph's shoulder seemed to be quite excited to get some of these sweets, perhaps even more so than Julia, who's eyes seemed to be shining as if someone had just given her all of the legendary Pokemon in the world. At first, they hadn't noticed Eva or Eto and simply went about ordering their food. As the trio ordered their goods, Joseph's Spinarak noticed Eva and decided to approach with what seemed to be a happy look in his eyes.

It made various chirping like noises up towards her, seemingly greeting the girl. In comparison to his trainer, the little Bug-type seemed to be far more cheerful despite what one would expect from a spider. It was a sweet, almost overly affectionate Pokemon that seemed to love nearly everyone, whether they were strangers, friends, or somewhere in between. Eventually, Julia's Bulbasaur and Jason's Cyndaquil joined him, grinning up at Eva, while Spinarak wandered over towards Eto, making several other happy, chirping like noises towards her in an attempt to greet her.

After the trio finished ordering, they had a bit of a surprised look on their faces as they noticed their Pokemon had wandered off, but it was quickly replaced with a relieved smile as they noticed them with their friends. Joseph approached first. "Ah, Eva, Eto! I'm glad you two haven't left us yet." He grinned slightly. "I was hoping we could all leave the town together, but I see no reason why we couldn't travel separately if you'd prefer."

Eto sat in a rather odd position, though she seemed comfortable enough. She nodded her head a few times at Eva's response, grinning at Hestia.

" You are gonna need a lot more Eevees for that. And great choice Hestia! I bet Eva will like that! "

It seemed like Eto could understand the Pokemon, though it couldn't be confirmed. As the trio entered, Eto clasped her hands together, leaning very close to the cute spider. She then opened her hands, revealing a Pokepuff. It was a lime green color, like the one Bug had mauled.

" Welcome! You smell of fresh spring! "

She had indeed sniffed the spider much like an animal might have, or maybe just like a mental person might.

" Travelling together would mean we are less likely to be attacked, right? "

Eto's tone grew bitter at the last two words, though her usual grin returned.

Soru climbed out of Eto's hoodie and looked at all the different Pokemon. It peeked over at Hestia, then quickly looked away. He concealed a blush, and quickly straightened out his shell, so that it looked most presentable.

Eto glanced over at Soru, and flashed him a wink.

" So, when do we leave? "

((Hope y'all don't mind if these two don't go in right away. Also, I'm thinking Xolo is gonna learn some tough lessons about being a trainer soon. He's not gonna like how his first battle goes, for sure. :] ))

Too many turns (chasing his venipede around town) saw Xolo (sweaty and scuffed up and sporting some newly-nibbled fingers) passing through some square. Achille was tucked backwards under his arm. It had long since given up on shrieking at passers-by and had taken to gnawing grumpily on the adjustment ring of Xolo's bag.

"We're gonna have to figure out a better way of arguing, y'know? You can't keep biting me 'cuz you're angry," Xolo sighed. "And we'll reach a point where I can't carry you around anymore to stop you from running all over the place."

Achille huffed in annoyance. The venipede didn't see anything wrong with that eventuality. It sounded infinitely better in their opinion; couldn't be told 'no' if no one could stop you.

Then its nose picked up Eva's and Eto's scents, with a more recent addition of Spider and Joseph (and friends). Achille looked around as best it could and could have sworn it saw a familiar face in one of the shop windows. But when it chittered urgently, Xolo misunderstood the nature of the response.

He shook his head. "Nuh-uh. I don't know where you want to scurry off to now, and I don't care. You can't get your way all the time."

Frustrated, the bug Screeched, but Xolo refused to be shouted over. He raised his voice to match. "Look, if you want to yell, then go right ahead. Make some noise. No one's gonna stop you. ' Fact, we can both yell together!"

The two of them making all this ruckus was probably a sight to see but neither seemed to notice or care. All that mattered right now was out-yelling the other.

... Man, they had some lungs! They ran out of air at about the same time, took a pause to catch their breath, and looked like they were about to go right into it again.

So mature.

Eva laughed softly and nodded in agreement when Eto said she would need a lot more Eevees in order to become a great Eeveeloution trainer. "Yeah, but I'm determined to do it. I'm gonna be the best Eeveeloution trainer ever!" She said the last sentence with near child-like excitement, though once she realized it, she fell into a flustered silence.

Though, soon enough, she noticed the Spinarak and eventually the Bulbasaur and Cyndaquil and smiled softly at the Pokemon, vaguely wondering why they were there since it didn't seem any trainers approached with them and it would be quite odd for the three different types to be hanging around a cafe together if they were wild.

However, her vague curiosity was soon satisfied when Joseph had approached and she soon saw Jason and Julia as well. Though, she did blush a bit upon seeing Joseph and shyly avoided eye contact with him. "H-hi, Joseph... u-um, yeah, travelling together sounds nice..." she responded softly. Hestia had ended up falling asleep on her trainer's lap by this point.

Eto frowned, hearing passionately raised voices outside. She scooped Soru up and put him down the chest of her hoodie. She threw all the sweets back in her backpack, and shouldered it.

The scene outside made her giggle. Passerby were staring at the two . . . Loving companions screaming at each other as loud as mortal lungs would allow. Eto tilted her head to the side for a moment though. Why were they fighting? Weren't Pokemon and trainer supposed to have a bond? Maybe they had a special bond. Eto was far more sympathetic towards Bug than she was towards Xolo.

She stepped over to them, even her gait was unusual. She didn't get as close as last time, to spare her eardrums.

" You know . . . Screaming for too long could twist up the ligaments in your throat, and you won't be able to talk again . . .
Wouldn't that be sad? "

Eto didn't really know if that was a fact, but it might be scary enough to stop the screaming.

" Not many cool kids are mute . . . "

Eto had walked up just in time to catch the duo's next break, and their huffing and puffing was probably just as silly-looking as their yelling. Xolo furrowed his brows, thinking about the strange girl's words. Achille squirmed a bit, waggling its antennae and rolling its eyes - still pretty angry, but taking its time to catch its breath.

Then Xolo shook his head. "Nah, strong silent types are plenty cool - 's just not my scene. Which is fine. We haven't been yelling that long. Only a couple minutes. And I've had waaaay longer arguments with my sister... this is nothin'." His voice was rough from the yelling but still fairly strong.

Achille paused in its fussing, considering all that. It might have even been impressed if it weren't so annoyed with him. So in his moment of distraction, it managed to wiggle past the bag and bite his side. Which earned a hissing grunt from Xolo, but considerably less noise than that first bite on his arm.

"Alright, Bug, I hate t' do this," he grumbled, "but you're making it real hard to not."

The venipede let go, considering another nip, and Xolo took that moment of hesitation to juggle it and the bag to fetch its pokeball. A surprisingly skillful motion for such an idiot, since his deft fingers found their mark and that central button was pressed before Achille could properly react.

Ptchyoom, red light, and no more enjoying the bright sun of Delfino Plaza for Bug.

"You want a freakin' time out, you get one. So there." Oh wow he couldn't believe he'd just said that. Time out? Really?!

At least now he wasn't splitting attention between talking and not getting bit again. So there was that.... He rubbed at a few of the scratches and bruising around some of the bites. They were starting to itch.

"Why do you care if we go mute, anyway?"

Eto smiled widely at Xolo, answering his question in a bland, mater of fact tone.

" Oh, I don't care if you go mute. But I would be very sad if Bug did. "

The sincerity in her voice returned in her second sentence however. She looked at all the bites and bruises on the newbie trainer. She pulled a few band aids out of her pack, and held them out to Xolo.

" But infections don't look cool. You should take these, just in case. I might not care if you go mute. But if you are traveling with us, you can't get sick. "

Eto was pretty sure Xolo was too prideful to accept, but maybe he would be more considerate if he didn't have to touch her small pale hands. She handed the bandaids to Soru, and the Oshawott stretched as far as his little arms would reach.

" Osha osha . . . "

He then tossed them to Xolo.

" Wott! "

Before Eto could see if Solo cared to take them, she spun on her heel in a wobbly circle, and waited at the entrance of the cafe for everyone to depart. While she waited, she took out a comb and ran it ever so delicately through the short fur. Soru closed his sapphire eyes and leaned back. He was in heaven.

" Osshhaaaaa . . . "

Eto giggled, rubbing his ears. It was great to have a friend. She considered Eva a friend in the making, and Xolo was a source of entertainment, and she secretly admired his resolve.

"With any luck, we'd be at least a little more prepared against anyone who'd want to attack us... hopefully." Jason responded with a slight shrug. "But, as long as we've got our Pokemon, there ain't nothing we can't get through." He grinned confidently, setting his arms at his side like a stereotypical superhero. Julia sighed a little, smiling. "Alright... maybe you've watched a little too much One Hitmonchan Man lately." She teased before smiling towards Eva. "We'll head outside, so whenever you lovebirds are done, we can head out." She winked and headed out with Jason.

Joseph rolled his eyes at his friends as they left before sitting down across from Eva. "Sometimes, I wish I knew where they got their energy." He joked, smiling softly. "I'm assuming you'll be taking on the gym challenge yourself? Of course, there's plenty of other options in Isla Sol." He added in an attempt to keep a conversation going, but unfortunately for him, he was quite awkward around her. He loved Eva, but unfortunately, his inability to come out with those feelings made many of his interactions with her fairly awkward.

Back outside, Julia and Jason decided to search for the ones they had met back at the lab, they wished to get to know them a little more before they left on their journey, figuring it'd be easier to leave with them if they befriended them beforehand.

Eva blushed an even deeper red as Julia called her and Joseph lovebirds. She doubted she was that close to Joseph, though she really wasn't against the idea. Just the thought alone of being in a relationship with him was enough to send her heart into a little flutter. Speaking of fluttering hearts, her heart raced a bit as Joseph sat down across from her.

She giggled softly as Joseph joked about Jason and Julia before nodding in response to him asking if she was going to be taking on the gym challenges. "Yeah, I plan to... though, I gotta catch some more Eevees as well so I can start evolving them... if they'd even wanna evolve, that is..." she spoke softly, smiling a bit.

Her tone of voice not as timid-sounding as it was around Eto, though that was mostly due to the fact that Eva had known Joseph for a while, so she was much more comfortable around him. However, despite her comfort around him, she was still a bit awkward around him. She did love Joseph quite a bit, but her timid nature prevented her from confessing to him.

Xolo shrugged at Eto's bluntness. At least she was honest. Then his attention returned to inspecting Achille's work. That venipede was little but it had really done a number on him.

He glanced up at Eto's next move and blinked, surprised. First aid stuff? Really? All that and she was still offering help? How... weirdly kind.

One hand gingerly went to accept the band-aids but he hesitated. What was the catch? And that seemed all it took for the offer to be taken back and a scowl to replace the look of optimistic trust on Xolo's face. Which then cycled through irritation, confusion, another short bout of cautious optimism, and some kind of confused irritation by the time Eto had walked away.

He'd caught a couple of the band-aids Soru threw, but the rest had fluttered to the ground. So as quick as he could, he fetched them up into his pockets and glanced back to see if anyone was laughing. To his relief, no one was.

To his surprise, Eto had only gone as far as a cafe's entrance, to pamper her oshawott. Who was absolutely loving it! Not even two hours of having a pokemon and those two were already so close... How come they'd hit it off so quickly?

Xolo made a cryptic face and tromped over to a bench just out of view, where he flopped down and busied himself with tending his injuries. He only bandaged a few of his fingers, treating the rest of the scratches with antiseptic spray and transfering the extra band-aids into his bag. Why waste 'em on some dumb scratches? Eto was right, after all, so they'd come in handy later.

Eto watched Xolo from the corner of her eye, but only to watch him scoop up a few band aids. After that, without moving her head, she turned her attention back on Soru. She watched two of the trainers exit the Cafè, but Eva and Joseph remained. Eto's views on people and romance were warped at very least, and she didn't express affection or fondness for people like Eva did. However, the girl was getting tired of waiting for the predestined couple.

Her neck needed a break apparently, as her head fell back, looking at the sky before it lolled back down. Her forehead touched Soru's, and he reached paws up to touch her cheeks. Eto giggled quietly, puffing air into her cheeks.

The Oshawott blinked, then smashed his paws together, the air pushed out of Eto's cheeks in a burst of air (that sounded like flatulance).

Eto laughed, it sounded a little off, maybe malicious for some reason, but she seemed to be having enough fun. Her legs dangled off the edge of a small brick ledge by the Cafè. They kicked forwards in an odd, jerky rhythm.

Eto hummed something faint, growing a little drowsy in the heat of the plaza, and her own boredom. She blinked her eyes a few times to keep from slumping forwards and smashing the Pokemon with her . . . Chest.