Welcome to Gaia! ::

Flowers were perhaps the farthest thing from Lilith's mind as she traversed through the scalding desert. No, today, the Agent was focused exclusively on training her Pokemon, and it was because of this that the brunette could be seen riding atop her large Charizard as they skimmed the desert floor, the force of their flying scattering dust behind them in all directions. On either side of her, instead of two Grass-types, flew two oddly colored Pidgeots; Donovan flew at her right, and Dresdan on her left. The three plus rider skimmed along the sands, keeping a constant eye out for any abnormalities in the landscape.

It was then that Lilith had spotted something in the distance: something small, and red and green colored. Her eyes lowered as she pointed in the direction of the odd object, signaling to her Pokemon to move closer to it. Serafina growled, Dresdan screeched excitedly, and Donovan remained silent as they banked and accelerated towards the disturbance. Silently, Lilith pray- no, hoped that it wasn't some lost, lowly botanist from any of the cities. She really didn't want to deal with any normal civilians right now, and besides that, she wasn't sure what she would have to do if that did happen to be the case.

As they neared, the young woman could now clearly make out that the red-clothed one was indeed a human [oi]. What on earth was that giant green thing on the person's back, though...? ...Not a Pokemon? ...Well, she figured, if it indeed was a civilian, she could always knock them out and take their Pokemon. That would certainly improve her mood a little. But... Wait. The clothes that kid was wearing looked awfully like the Team Rocket Trainee outfits. In fact, the resemblance was far too uncanny for it to not be a Trainee. Thank goodness for that.

Finally, they were close enough to be within speaking distance of the supposed Trainee. Lilith hopped off of Serafina and signaled for her Pidgeots to stop, which they did dutifully. Serafina, once her trainer had gotten off of her back, stood up to her full height behind Lilith. The Agent herself silently watched the Trainee for a moment. He seemed to be... looking at a cactus. Intently looking at a cactus. Intently studying a cactus. And he seemed to be rather engrossed in it. It was... rather odd, and Lilith was extremely confused by it. She raised a curious eyebrow for a second, then lowered it and folded her arms, looking down at the younger man. "...What are you doing?"

The confused eyebrow raise returned for another reprise as Lilith watched the young man - the teenager, more like - nearly jump out of his skin and awkwardly greet her. Okay... This certainly was a strange sight. Here was this kid out in the middle of the desert looking at a plant. Judging by the three Grass-type Pokemon around him, he was obviously some type of plant-junkie. Kind of weird. But enough about that!

"You're studying cacti flowers," she said incredulously. Her cold glare returned as she frowned down at the teen. Her eyes glanced from him, to his Pokemon, then back to him. What was this kid's deal? "...You're a Trainee, aren't you? What do you think you're supposed to be doing? Playing around with plants?"

...For the kid's sake, Lilith hoped that he knew the answer to that question. Was he a new recruit or something? Most likely. She hadn't seen him around the HQ at all before now. He seemed rather bewildered and almost innocent. It could almost have been called sad that this kid was a part of Team Rocket. He didn't seem too bad. Just... He was staring at a plant, for goodness' sake!

While the Agent interrogated the Trainee, Serafina, Donovan, and Dresdan stood attentively behind her, attempting to look intimidating. For Donovan, that wasn't exactly hard. His permanent angry glare seemed to deepen as he looked down at this strange human and his pitiful Grass Pokemon. How weak they were. No control at all, no discipline. Savages. Serafina's glare was less hate-filled that Donovan's; rather, it was filled with agitation and slight boredom. She wish that they didn't have to deal with this. She'd rather be training right now... Dresdan, unlike the other two, was not glaring at all. In fact, he seemed almost excited to be meeting some new Pokemon. He stooped down to peer at the Grass Pokemon curiously, eyes filled with wonder.

Okay, seriously, this was getting kind of ridiculous. This kid seemed so small and bewildered and nervous. It was kind of making Lilith feel like a jerk for being so hard on him, but he would never get anywhere in Team Rocket by getting help from everyone he met. He needed a little bit of stern attitude to get him through. Why shouldn't Lilith be the one to give him that tough-love, so to speak?At his shaky explanation of his schedule of the day, Lilith sighed and dropped her shoulders a bit. Well... At the very least, he wasn't shirking his work to stare at some stupid plants. He had that going for him. And these plants were obviously very important to him if he had to make a point to come out and stare at them for however long people generally stared at plants.

"Okay... Well, you've got it half-right." Lilith placed her hands on her hips as she looked down at the scrambling Trainee. "It's not just doing chores. You have to train your Pokemon, just like everybody else. And from the looks of it..." She took another cursory glance of the teen's Pokemon. The Deerling was trying and... failing miserably at hiding from Lilith's own Pokemon, the Meganium was excitedly staring at them all, and the Snivy didn't really seem to care either way. Lilith pursed her lips. "...It's seems like you have a lot of training to do."

Dresdan smiled [as much as a bird-Pokemon could smile] back at the Meganium. What a friendly Pokemon this was! And how pretty she was, as well! The Pidgeot whistled once and flicked out a large wing in greeting to the Meganium. ["Why hello! Nice to meet you, Leilani! I am Dresdan, and yes! That is my trainer! And to be honest, I don't really know why her hair is red right there!"] On the other side of Serafina, Donovan growled. Honestly... Did his brother have to be so idiotic? His angry glare flicked over to the other Pidgeot. ["Dresdan. Shut up."] Dresdan blinked for a moment, grinned at Leilani once more, then did as he was bidden and stood at attention with his brother and the Charizard.

At first Lilith did not hear the next words that came from the Trainee. She was far too occupied by staring at the nervous little Deerling who seemed to be close to having a conniption soon. Poor little guy seemed to be frighted out of his mind. ...Was Lilith really that scary? To a tiny, jumpy creature like the Deerling? Just maybe. She considered being offended, but thought better of it. No need to give it a heart attack, which it seemed in great danger of.

When she finally realized that the Trainee had spoken, Lilith blinked in surprise and turned her attention back to him. "Hm? Aila knows of you? Well, thank goodness that she's got a hold of you, then. She's much more than capable." So, her young friend spoke with this Trainee, then? Perhaps Aila was the one who recruited this kid into TR? Lilith couldn't say for sure.

"...You mean my name?" The sudden use of Spanish caught Lilith off guard, and for a second she wasn't quite sure what he wanted. Then, as he offered his own name, two and two clicked together. Lilith sighed, closing her bright green eyes for a moment, then reopening them as she regarded this Inigo with a less cold expression than earlier. "...I'm Agent Lilith."

The Meganium continued to chat to the three Flying Pokemon despite Donovan's furious warning to his brother. Theoretically, that should have been a clue to the Grass-type to quit her chit-chat, but she seemed quite insistant. Dresdan fidgeted and itched to talk back to the Meganium, but he held his tongue when his brother gave him a cold stare. Donovan then turned his icy stare back to Leilani. ["Shut up, whelp. You are in no position to talk."] Serafina merely sighed quietly. Really... Did that Pidgeot have to be so cruel all of the time?

The use of Spanish once again in the conversation slightly surprised Lilith, but truthfully it shouldn't have. Several things about this young man, this Inigo, pointed towards the conclusion that he, in fact, was Spanish. She supposed that she would have to get used to the language while speaking with the Trainee. With any luck, that period of time would not be long. 'Qué bonita,' he mentioned at her name. ...Well, logic would pertain that those words would mean that her name was pretty, or some other synonym that the phrase loosely translated to. Either way, it was a compliment, and inwardly Lilith could not help but smile just a little.

The Agent quickly became serious when the Trainee mentioned training and tips concerning said training. She placed her hands on her hips. Behind her, she could sense the tension mounting between hers and Inigo's Pokemon. Sternly, she turned her head around and gave each of her Pokemon a sharp warning glare. The message was communicated loudly and clearly, and all three stood at full attention. Lilith caught the return glare given to her by Donovan, and she disregarded it for the time being. He could stare her down until Heaven came crashing down, as long as he just obeyed.

Bringing her full attention back to Inigo, she spoke. If one looked very carefully, they might have been able to see a hint of a smile playing on her lips. "Advice? Well... First things first, stop staring at that cactus." Her eyes drifted to the spine-covered plant behind Inigo. How anyone could find that so fascinating she did not know. "Second... Follow me." At that, Lilith turned and walked out about one hundred paces away from Inigo and the cactus. Once at a sufficient distance, she looked back to the Trainee.

When the Agent stepped away from the other human, her Pokemon followed dutifully; Donovan led and Dresdan followed him. Serafina, however, hesitated for a moment. She quickly looked down at the friendly Meganium. ["...The angry one's name is Donovan. I'm Serafina. It's nice to meet you. Now, hurry up and get your human in gear."] Her part done, she quickly made her way over to her teammates and her own human.

As Lilith turned her head to watch as Inigo followed her, she was appalled to find him being literally pushed along in the sand by his Meganium. Her eyes widened in surprise and she looked on confusedly as the Trainee dusted himself off and sent his large Grass-type to fetch his things. Was... Was he all right? Lilith herself had never been forcefully pushed along by a Meganium, but she could allude that it wasn't exactly pleasant. Her face displayed a mix of annoyance and slight concern as Inigo approached her. "...Okaaay, then, now that that's done..."

Lilith's three Flying Pokemon stood at attention nearby. Serafina, curious to see what all of the commotion was about, glanced over in the direction of the human boy and his Pokemon. Unfortunately, it seemed like the eager Meganium had taken her words a bit... too seriously. She was getting him into gear, all right, but Serafina didn't mean for her to shove the boy around like that! They really did need some help, didn't they...?

Tiredly, Lilith sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. Oi vey. This was... almost pathetic. She would never say that out loud, of course, but she certainly thought it. It wasn't like it wasn't obvious. This would definitely be a test of her own patience. Hopefully, both her and this Inigo would walk away from this in better shape than they were before. In Lilith's case, that scenario wasn't so imminent. "All right, then, first things first. What attacks do your Pokemon know? One of the most important steps in training and honing your Pokemons' skills is knowing what they are capable of."

Lilith's eyebrows raised in her slight surprise as Inigo listed his Pokemon's attacks. The Snivy and the Deerling weren't very impressive, but she had to assume that they were much lower leveled. It was the Meganium that surprised her. She had a nice variety of attacks that, if utilized correctly, could be devastating to any team. Lilith folded her arms, pondering on that thought for a moment. She seemed to come to a conclusion as she replaced her hands onto her hips and regarded Inigo with a serious look.

"All right," she said, "that's a decent start. All of your Pokemon do have some potential, it seems, particularly your Meganium." Her eyes flicked over to the giant Grass Pokemon beside the Trainee. She didn't look like much of a threat, but Lilith knew firsthand that looks and power did not always go hand in hand.

Lilith turned her head back to her Pokemon, who were all standing at attention, for the most part. After much consideration, the Agent called out to one of them. "Dresdan. Step forward, please." The black, white, and orange Pidgeot did so happily, standing in front of his human with an excited expression on his face. Silently, Lilith sighed. She hated to use her Pokemon for target practice, but she didn't have much of a choice. There wasn't much risk in it, either way. Dresdan was a Flying-type, and thus Grass and Ground attacks wouldn't damage him much. Plus, he was too stupid to hold a grudge against her for use as a target. Sometimes the dumb ones came in handy.

"Right. Now then," she called out to Inigo. "I want you to have one of your Pokemon attack my Pidgeot. If you're worried for his well-being, don't be." Lilith took a single step back, as if to signify that the impending battle could now commence. "Show me what your Pokemon can do."