The Beginning of a New Generation

[Paran]

Having gotten permission, Rylie slowly walked over to the table with the various pokeballs spread out on it. The first ball she looked at had a picture of a ledyba on it; Rylie quickly moved on as she'd never gotten along well with Bug types. The second was even worse, Poochyena.
As she slowly looked over the other pokemon available, she came to a stop. On a small number of the pokeballs was stamped a face so similar to her own. The image tugged at Rylie's heartstrings as she picked it up the ball and held it in her hands. Nearby people were struck with an almost overwhelming sense of loss and sorrow, which slowly faded into one of determination. After a few minutes she returned the pokeball to the table.
Rylie went back over the choices a second time before finally coming to a decision. She picked up one of the balls and walked back to where the professor was chatting with Vee. She held it up before her.
"So this is the one you want then?" asked Hemlock. Rylie nodded.
As he handed over a pokegear and a badge case, the professor smiled.
"Okay then, I hope you and your Pidgey take good care of each other."  

[Modenopfer]

"Plowman. P-L-O-W-M-A-N." Vee replied to the professor. As she slung her PokePack down from one shoulder to reach for her ID, she suddenly felt very sad and remorseful.
I ran away from home... I might never see my family again...
Then, just as quickly as it had come, the overwhelming sadness gave way to strong determination.
But I'm living out my dream! Surely they'll understand when they see how successful I've become!
Uncertain of what had just happened, Vee forced herself to smile and reshouldered the pack. She had completely forgotten about the ID. Just as she was turning back to the Professor, a high pitched squeal averted her attention to the back of the room. "Oddiiiii!"
Vee gasped in horror as she saw that her small Oddish was bouncing gleefully on the bony helmet of the Cubone she had seen early. The Cubone, meanwhile, was frozen in what seemed to be an expression half of shock and half of disgruntlement. While he was resigned to let the innocuous young plant-type use his head as a springboard, his left eye was twitching uncontrollably and he gripped his bone club so hard his paw trembled. Everytime the enthusiastic oddish landed on his snout grunted irritably, "Bone!... Bone!.... Bone!..."
Vee rushed over and snatched the Oddish off of the Cubone's head. "No! Bad Peloria! Bad, bad, bad! Leave that nice Cubone alone!" She turned to its owner, a blond-haired girl who was several years older than her, with a hasty apology. "I'm really very, very sorry. Peloria's still really young and she's just excited to see another Pokemon."  

[Ryushikaze]

Loss. Sorrow. These were not emotions that Tim normally felt, nor did he have any good reason to experience them at the present time. "Psychic" the thought flashed into his brain, and his gaze darted to the two young girls. "Could be either, but any child with green hair isn't normal. This bears investigation." He thought, without moving from his perch. He decided to wait and see if any other psychic phenomenon occurred to narrow down who the psychic was.  

[Paran]

Rylie looked at her pokeball with just a tinge of hesitancy. She'd seen humans using them before and so had a pretty good idea of how they worked, but it still seemed a bit risky. What if it tried to suck her in?

Working up her nerve, she pushed the button to summon forth her Pidgey. It appeared in a flash of light in front of her.

"Pidg-pidgy?" it warbled as it eyed her. She got down on hand and knees and stroked its head while sending a sensation of welcome and happiness to it.  

[BonzaiRob]

Perin was caught suddenly by Rylie's emotions. He rallied quickly, but not quick enough.
"[What's up?]" Odeko seemed to be unaffected. Perin was silent for a moment, but suddenly the feelings turned to determination. He thumped Odeko on the head, and Odeko grinned.  

[Elfgirl M-chan]

Earlier...

Winry nodded in return to Perin's apology for the small incident between Cubone and Odeko, "It's okay. It's still reasonably natural behavior for them despite their training. The key word being reasonably, though...thank you." At that, she turned to watch the exchange between Perin and Tim, raising her eyebrows slightly as she found out a bit more about the trainers present.

After that...

Winry had whipped around just in time to see Vee's Oddish bouncing on Cubone's head, cringing slightly with a smirk as she started to move to step in if things didn't resolve themselves soon enough. However, before Cubone was given the chance to try and stop the Oddish from jumping on his head, Vee appeared and scooped up the young plant-type.
"Cu..." Cubone sighed to himself, softly rubbing the top of his skull helmet. The bouncing Oddish hadn't hurt him, but it's action was unexpected, and as such he had found it to be somewhat annoying.
"No! Bad Peloria! Bad, bad, bad! Leave that nice Cubone alone!" Vee scolded her Pokémon before turning to Winry with a hasty apology. "I'm really very, very sorry. Peloria's still really young and she's just excited to see another Pokémon."

Winry couldn't help but smile at the young girl. "No, really, it's okay. Don't worry about it!" Winry knelt down and ushered Cubone in front of her so that she and her Pokémon were both facing the other two. Winry's kneeling stance placed her at almost the same height as Vee. "Cubone's fine. He just wasn't quite expecting that, were you buddy?"
"Cu, Bone." Cubone shook his head once, accenting his name as he looked from left to right. He then swung his bone club so that it rested over his right shoulder as if to show that he wasn't really worked up over the whole thing.
"See?" Winry grinned as she looked back to Vee, "No harm done. Now...you're Vee, right?"  

[Modenopfer]

Vee's mouth spread into a large grin at the older girl's words, and she nodded her head enthusiastically. "That's right! V-E-E. Veeeee!"
Out of the corner of her eye, she suddenly caught sight of a tall man who seemed to be observing her in silence. His gaze was shifting back and forth between Vee and her friend from earlier - who was now getting acquainted with her new Pidgey - as if trying to decipher some puzzle. He was funny-looking among all of the younger people in the room, especially with his dirty clothes and what looked like hiking gear. Turning, she caught his eye and grinned the same way she had done before, this time squinting her eyes shut and spreading her fingers into a V-shape. "Veeeeeeeee!"
She turned back to the Cubone girl and words began to rush out of their own accord. "I'm from Wandell, and this is my oddish Peloria. I've had her since she was a little bitty seedling, my daddy gave her to me. We travelled all night to get here (and it was really scary cause it was dark and there were rattatas everywhere, and I got a little lost because I took the wrong train!) but now we're here so we can get our..." Her voice suddenly trailed off and she gasped, realizing that she had left Professor Hemlock without ever receiving her Pokegear.
"Um... I'll be right back!" With that, she darted off across the room to where the professor stood. With her mind buzzing from all that was going on, she shouted a little too loudly, "I NEED MY POKEGEAR!"  

[Modenopfer]

Vee's excitement was still up, and she forgot to adjust the volume of her voice before replying, "TWELVE!"
She held out her hands to receive the Pokegear, fidgeting with curiosity and anticipation. However, the instant the items were in her hands, the realization of something Professor Hemlock had said hit her like a landslide: "I overheard you say you're from Wandell..."
Without even pausing to look at the Pokegear, she threw it into her pack and snatched Peloria into her arms. For some reason, the fact that she had been associated with her estranged hometown sent her into a panic. After all, it was now well past noon and her family back in Wandell had undoubtedly discovered that she was missing. Her parents weren't stupid; they would surely know that this is where she had come, and would be arriving to take her home any minute!
"Er... er, I'm sorry, but I've got to go!"
She darted for the exit and slammed through the double doors, without a word of goodbye to her newfound friends. Fear had overcome anything else she might have felt. Once outside she cast a paranoid glance in every direction before taking off toward the outskirts of Lodo, oblivious to the fact that wild Pokemon inhabited these areas and that she had absolutely no battle experience.  

[Paran]

Startled by her friends sudden departure, Rylie was put a bit out of sorts. After a moment of reluctance, she came to a decision. Noding her head in thanks to the professor, Rylie hurried off after Vee.

She caught sight of Vee ducking a round a nearby corner and quickened her pace. Rylie sent a thread of concern to her friend, but unfortunately it only mingled with Vee's worry and spurred her to even greater speeds.

She finally managed to catch up when Vee paused to catch her breath. Hesistantly Rylie reached out and put her hand on Vee's shoulder.  

[Ryushikaze]

"Now that was strange. Think she might be a runaway?" Tim asked Winry upon Vee's rather unusual exit upon hearing her hometown. "Took outta here like a rocket when she heard Hemlock knew where she was from. Wonder if someone ought to- " At that point Rylie rushed out of the room after Vee. "Well, that pre-empts my previous statement. Still, neither of them seem that wise in the ways of the world. They could probably do with a bit of non authoritarian watching over. Well, hop to it, Winry." Tim said, sliding off the table and onto his feet.  

[Elfgirl M-chan]

Having already risen out of her kneel and back to her full height during Vee's quick exit, Winry turned to Tim as he spoke, nodding in agreement with his statements. Once he finished, Winry held up her left fist and grinned at him. "Right you are! I was about to run off after Vee before you shook my confusion, but with Rylie having followed her, I guess this works even better." She made a quick waving motion to Cubone, indicating that he should follow, before she dashed out of the Pokécenter. "Thanks again Professor!" Winry called before the double doors closed.

Once outside, Winry looked around for the two girls. Noticing a light set of small footprints heading away from the Pokécenter, Winry turned to Tim before pursuing the trail. "Given the way that Vee freaked out like that, we should probably hang back for a bit. They can't have gotten that far yet, so they should be okay for the time being."  

[Modenopfer]

Vee ducked behind a nearby tree to catch her breath. She had taken off into a run after getting a strong suspicion that someone nearby was concerned for her.

I always knew I had that sixth sense! Somebody from Wandell musta been out there! Whoever it was, they're gone now...

She gulped down a few breaths of air and smiled down at Peloria, whom she had tucked safely inside her jacket. Suddenly a hand touched her shoulder from behind, causing an icy wave of panic to shoot through her middle. It was over; someone had found her and was going to cart her back to Wandell.

Her first impulse was to run, but the woods to her front presented no opening. Having no other option, she swung around defensively, preparing to duck and dodge away from her captor. However, her surprise upon seeing only her quiet, green-haired companion from earlier that day - quite possibly the least-threatening person Vee had ever met - sent her off her balance and she crashed awkwardly to the ground.

"Uh... whoops! Hi!" She grinned sheepishly up at her concerned friend and pulled herself tentatively to her feet. She was still breathing heavily from the sudden surge of adrenaline, but otherwise she was not hurt. Noticing that the two older trainers from the Pokemon Center were nearby, and that no one else besides them was in sight, she blushed and kicked at the ground. "I, uh, guess I got kinda carried away, huh? What're you doing out here?"  

[Paran]

Rylie looked at Vee curiosly and again empathically expressed her concern.  

[Heofthehills]

Eirik finally managed to get free of the bullet train and the throngs of people heading to and from Lodo on this auspicious day of the year. His parents didn't really have time to accompany him to Professor Hemlock's PokéCenter, so he had traveled alone.

Now that he had left the frigid lands he was from, he realized just how overdressed he was...looking down at his heavy coat and thick pants. 'Ah well,' he thought, 'I will change once I have registered.'

He followed the map his mother had given him and quickly arrived at a nearly empty PokéCenter. He saw two older kids outside and seeing noone else rather bothered him, so he took off in a run, his hood blowing off his head to reveal his platinum blond mullet of hair. Rushing into the Center, he came to a sliding halt right at the feet of Prof. Hemlock.

"Um...Hello, sir, I...um...please tell me I am not too late!?" excitement gets the better of the broad boy as he gazes up with his crystalline eyes...pleading.