Welcome to Gaia! ::

Jaeshan finished up in the shower, feeling much better afterward. He towel-dried his hair, not bothering to brush or comb it, and got dressed in a clean pair of slacks and t-s**t. He pulled on clean socks and his shoes, making a note to visit the laundromat later. He stepped out of the bathroom, towel slung over his shoulder and humming to himself. "Good morning, Sunshine!" he called over to Ryka, who looked a bit busy.

"Yeah, sounds good," Jaeshan grinned, running a hand through his wet hair. "I think I need a hair cut," he laughed, brushing it out of his eyes. He folded the towel and stuck it in his backpack, and walked around the Pokemon Center, making sure he wasn't missing anything. "So what's on the schedule for today? Perhaps some breakfast? My treat," he said with a grin.

Kilik took his first steps in to the Gym lead my Lt. Surge. He held his head down to hide his face. A few thugs approached him. "Looky at what we have here...a challenger?" said one of them. This one had a deep voice that sounded fairly cocky.

"I'm here to challenge Lt. Surge..." Kilik growled, lifting his head and giving them a look cold as ice. Of course, this was all just an act. The boy had heard that in order to battle Surge, you had to act tough.

"What makes you think you could take on the Boss?" smirked a girl, pulling out a whip and wrapping it around her fingers. She approached Kilik and began to poke his cheek with the handle. The boy grabbed her hand and growled.

"Because I'm going to take him down. I'm going to be the best!" he spat, letting her go and somewhat shoving her off to the side. Eep...I think I may have overdone it... he thought. He would have stepped back, but that would have shown fear and Kilik didn't want them to see him back down.

"I'll get the boss...," the girl whispered, running off into the darkness. Kilik smirked.

"What about you two goons? What're you going to do?" The boy looked at them coldy once more. They jumped back and ran to follow the girl who had left. Wow. I must be scarier than I thought. Flareon popped out of its Pokeball and barked happily.

The Sandshrew continued to huddle in the corner, even after Kasiya had offered it some of her breakfast. Despite the fact that she was a prisoner, it was remarkably good - dry toast, eggs, bacon, and even some juice. She finished quickly, finding she was more hungry than she realized. "Thank you," she said politely to the Rocket grunt who collected her dishes. He'd only smirked at her and went about his duties.

"It's just you and me again," Kasiya sighed, looking over at the Sandshrew. It looked up at her, its nose twitching. "Hello," she said softly, smiling at it. It turned around, and took a few steps toward her. "That's it," the girl smiled, outstretching her hand as the Pokemon neared her. "I'm your friend."

The Sandshrew sniffed at her, before stepping up and allowing Kasiya to pat its head gently. "Shroo.." it said, closing its eyes and relaxing slightly.

"Really?" asked his father.

Keegan nodded. "Yes. Ever since I witnessed my friend Kassie beat a gym leader, I've been wanting to feel that same thrill of accomplishment. I don't know if I'll try for the championship, or if I'll even get all the badges. But it's a plan, at the very least."

Helios jumped down from the lap he'd been sitting on, and up into Keegan's. The Vulpix looked his trainer in the eye and also nodded. "Vul!"

"You guys will be right by my side," Keegan said. "I can't do this without you."

Shortly afterward, Keegan was on the road to the train station, after stocking up on supplies, clean clothes, and love and well wishes from his family. "This is it, I'm going to do it," he said to himself as he flashed his ticket, and boarded the train, Rustboro City his destination.

"Ooh, a challenger," the voice called back. The boy stepped into the light. "Sure, you can challenge Roxanne," he said. "But first you've gotta get past me!" he threw a Pokeball out in front of him, revealing a Geodude.

"Yes, of course," Keegan nodded. "This'll be a great warm-up match. Let's go, Althena!" he cried, and he released his Psyduck. The duck-like Pokemon held her head in her hands, and looked at the boy and his Geodude sideways.

"Psy?" she questioned.

"Use Rock Throw!" the boy called, pointing at Althena.

"Confusion!" barked Keegan simultaneously. The Geodude gave a cry, and picked up a boulder from the arena, and threw it across the battlefield. Althena watched the rock flying at her before she narrowed her eyes and her body glowed with a bluish light. She stopped the rock in mid-flight, and knocked it back towards the Geodude, who held up its stony arms and shattered it.

Mike awoke from his nap to Nitro staring down at him with a big smile on his face. The boy jumped, not registering who's teeth they were for a moment. "Jeez, from now on you're all staying in your Pokeballs when I sleep!" The Charizard only laughed, walking over to the door and tossing Mike's jacket at him.

Setting his hair back into place, Mike walked over and picked up his coat. He examined it. hopefully to find a change. There were a new set of gloves attached to the sleeves, decorated with flame designs. "At least she knows me." Mike said with a laugh, fitting on his modified jacket. "Fits nice."

He made his way down the stairs and made for the door, Nitro and Portabello getting up as well. "Wait!" Karen practically yelled, causing Mike to stumble and fall over. "You don't even know what I did to your favorite jacket." She said with a smile, clearly quite pleased with herself. Mike shrugged, making his way outside. "I'll admit, I'm curious myself." He said as he walked out onto his porch, his mom almost on his heels.

"Just point your arms out in front of you, and make sure you don't point it at anything...combustible." She said with little concern, Mike did so, but looked back at her quizzically at the last comment. "Now just press the button on your glove."

Mike rolled his eyes, doing just that. He certainly wasn't expected to see a near inferno of fire launch out of a concealed nozzle in his glove. "What the shi-?!" He shrieked as he immediately turned them off. "What in the world are you thinking mom!?" Karen only laughed, putting her hands on her hips. "No one can see them, and I figured that they'd come in handy from all those Rockets you deal with."

"I never told you I had anything to do with Rockets." He said a little confused.

His mother scoffed. "Please honey, I know everything, especially about you." Mike was going to say something, but he remembered how his mom was notorious for information gathering. "I can't keep these." He said, trying to take the gloves off.

"Oh, you'll take them or I'll ground you and keep your Pokemon!" She said sternly, tilting her glasses down. Mike let out a sigh, there was no arguing with her. "Fine." He said between his teeth. "But I get nailed for addicental arson it's your fault." With that he waved and headed off to the Lavaridge Gym, his Pokemon following after.

"Have fun sweetie!" Karen shouted, walking back inside to start work on another gedget.