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(( FIRST POST FTW!

Feel free to post now x3! And don't worry if you can't think of a way to tie your first post in with this one; they don't have to all be connected right away! Things will mesh together as we go. JUST HAVE FUN! ))

Jou flopped down onto the grass, squinting up against the sunlight beating down on his face. It was another scorcher today. And not a cloud in sight.

“Dammit…”

He threw an arm up over his eyes to block out the light. Shouldn’t he have hit a town two days ago? The map stuffed into his pocket was near unreadable, thanks to numerous folds in the paper, stains from food and who knew what else, not to mention general wear and tear. He’d already gotten lost more than once, thinking that an old ketchup stain was indicative of a town.

“Dammit. Dammit. Dammit.”

That’d been his new mantra as of late. When he’d first started running he’d been pretty gung-ho about it… but that was before the seasons had changed and it had turned into summer. Now every time he got amped up about something, he overheated.

To top it all off, his stomach chose that precise moment to clench and growl hungrily.

“Daaaaaaammiiiiiiiiiit-”

But this was preferable to what his life had been like before. At least now, he was free. He could go where he wanted, when he wanted, and he wasn’t held to anyone else’s plans or philosophies. Or orders. He hated following someone else’s orders. But as a grunt member of Team Rocket , that had been all he’d done. Of course he’d had every intention of working his way up through the ranks until he was the one giving the orders instead, but he hadn’t been able to stomach it that long.

As he thought about it, one hand slipped down to one of the pokeballs on his belt. No. He’d learned a lot in that place.

But in a way, Team Rocket still influenced what he did. If he saw a group of grunts in one town, he ran. If there were rumors that the organization had plans for one area, he stayed clear of it. He hated that he had to do things that way, but as his hand fell away from his belt, he knew it was necessary. They wouldn’t hesitate to drag him back to their headquarters if he was seen. After all, he was a wanted man for more than one reason: not only had he left Team Rocket (which just didn’t happen; only the higher-ups could ‘retire’, and even then, he’d never heard of it happening), but he’d stolen from them to boot.

Not for the first time, Jou wondered if his escape and theft would have gone so smoothly had he not had a stroke of luck with the timing. Just as he’d been thinking about getting out, Team Rocket’s leader had passed away suddenly, causing turmoil within the organization. No one had noticed at first that he’d even gone. Not until the new leader had come into power… a leader who just happened to hate Jou anyway. Feeling was mutual, but that wasn’t the point.

Yeah. He’d be in deep s**t if he got dragged back there.

So he ran. He made his own way. And despite all the hardships, he liked it like that.

He wondered to himself if she would be proud of how he’d decided to live his life.

‘Don’t worry. I will make you proud. Shizuka.’

The thought of his sister suddenly invigorated him. “Aaaaauuuugh!” he let out a battle cry and shot up into a sitting position, shaking his head to get the dirt and bits of grass out of his hair. “What am I doin’ sittin’ around here!?” He shot to his feet and grinned up at the sky. “Let’s move!”

Jou paused midstep, raising an eyebrow. Was that a voice? Something about jumping? He glanced back over his shoulder, just in time to miss Malik's appearance over the side of the hill in front of him. By the time he looked back the boy was already falling and it was too late to move and-

"OW! What the-!?" He stumbled back, barely kept himself from falling completely head over heels by catching himself on a conveniently placed tree. The impact knocked a few berries out of the branches, but other than that both he and the plant were just fine.

'Was that a pokemon!?' He scrambled to his feet, ready to battle if he needed to. One hand fell to his belt, the other reaching up to straighten the position of the baseball cap on his head.

But no. Jou could tell, upon closer inspection, that it was a person rather than pokemon that had just barreled into him. Not even just a person, but some kid in a costume. Was there some local festival or holiday being celebrated that he didn't know about?

"Boy?" Jou's eyebrow twitched angrily, all sense of curiosity magically gone in a flash. Being talked down to was one of his least-favorite things. "Who do ya think you're callin' a boy?"He stomped right up to the shorter teen, close enough so that he had to look straight down to actually see him. Once he was that close though, the serious angry expression downgraded into a very barely tolerant form of amusement. He seemed completely unconcerned with the pokeball in Malik's hand.

"Look, kid. That's real cute an' all, but it's way too hot to put up with this today. An' I've never heard of your little club or whatever, so why don'tcha go back home and find somebody else to play with?" He gave Malik a few quick pats on the head before stepping back and turning around, hands slipping into his pockets. If he had a dime for every time he'd heard some wannabe try and start something with a dramatic, well-rehearsed opening line...

Jou had been planning on just ignoring the boy's protests and walking away... after all, what could some kid possibly do to him? And he refused to acknowledge that Malik was anything but a kid. If nothing else, it pissed the boy off, which gave Jou a glowing sense of accomplishment.

At least until he was rudely cut off by a huge fox.

'Great.'

He met the Ninetails' eyes with his own, determined stare. He doubted his brown eyes were as intimidating as the crimson ones were, but... they'd do.

"Nah. You're still jus' a kid!" he called out to the boy behind him. But he didn't turn around. Wasn't worth it. His eyes stayed glued to the Ninetails just in case it made any sudden moves.

"Now you're jus' gonna be a kid who learned an important lesson the hard way- don't mess with the big kids!" In one simultaneous motion he hopped back and threw a pokeball from his belt, out of which emerged an irate looking Geodude.

... Which, granted, always looked pretty irate anyway, so that came as no surprise. "Alright!" Jou grinned confidently, even though Malik couldn't see it. Rock against fire. This wouldn't be tough.

(( Aww, I like him like this xD! He's cute! BTW, not sure how we want to handle the battles... like, move by move, or just skip to the end, or...?))

((Well I’m bored, and since nobody is doing anything else here I’m gunna randomly stick Rebecca in here…if nobody else comes back for awhile I shall just have Rebecca, Grandpa and Pegasus play with each other for awhile - that sounds wonderfully creepy ^_~. Also, I‘m extremely confused on the ages everyone is doing for their characters, and I thus far am not even sure of any exact mathematical correlation to what really exists - so I‘m just saying Rebecca is 11 for now and screw the rest of it.))

Rebecca Hawkins let out a heavy sigh as she traipsed along the winding dirt road through the forest brush. The past 3 years of her life had been heavily dedicated to stalking this one pointy haired kid and his misfit friends. However having been distracted by the latest pokemon research in the lab of the grandfather of said star-head kid a few weeks back, she has since been eluded by the object of her illogical and completely inappropriate affections. Lost and alone she plundered on with no real goal except prowling for a new victim - err - group of friends to latch onto.

It was at this point she heard a series of high pitch shrieks emitting from a clearing up ahead, she quickened her pace, thinking it would be fun to have a female companion at least for a little while - even if this girl was unbelievably loud and possibly insane. Rebecca wasn’t picky. Peering into the clearing - whilst remaining some semblance of cover, in case in the end she choose to remain unseen - Rebecca found herself staring at two blonde teenagers. One was a tall hassled looking boy. He was fairly attractive in spite of lacking all fashion sense, and apparently access to a washer and dryer, unless ketchup stains were in this season.

The other kid - the presumed shrieking girl - while much more kempt and better dressed, was also much shorter, with odd coloring and features. After watching the munchkin (probably not a fair label considering the last object of her affections, but the teen was already on her nerves - and boy does it take a lot to irk this quirky pigtailed child) for several minutes she realized that he was actually in fact male. At least she was 90% sure he was. Apparently the kid really wanted to battle the tall boy, or mate with him, she still wasn’t sure which. However in spite of all outward annoyances his Ninetails was lovely, and his new taller nemesis was intriguing as well. So seating herself between a couple of good sized boulders, Rebecca settled in to watch the ensuing match.

((ok I wrote this in about ten minutes, and am kind of too tired to edit it tonight, but I did kind of want to put it up anyhow - being fairly confident that nobody will see it anytime soon ~_~ - so if anyone IS reading this before I get a chance to go through it sorry. It’s kinda random but I was bored and I felt this rp was feeling very sad and neglected razz ))

((Yay! Something to play off of, haha, yay meeps! - and that is a wicked awesome sidebar btw...^_^))

Rebecca had finally found a comfortable position - something hard to do when nestled against large slabs of stone - when she found herself accosted by a boy capable of making “Casper the Talks to Much Ghost” look tan. Guessing him to be about 15 or 16 she took note of his disheveled appearance, and although he wasn’t nearly as intriguing to her as the tall and lanky blonde across the field, he didn’t look to be particularly dangerous. So she felt pretty secure in patting the ground next to her and inviting him to sit. Confused as he seemed to be he nonetheless sank down next to her, and she turned her mind to the question he presented her with.

“Well, probably not, although the munchkin looks kind of familiar. I don’t recall actually meeting him, but his face looks oddly familiar.” She chewed on her lip for a moment before bursting out in hushed giggles, “maybe his face is plastered on one of those Rocket wanted posters you see in almost any town you’d pass through.” Her giggles, while remaining mostly muffled, increased at the thought of the pint-sized screechy twerp being a threat worthy of even a trifle wanted poster. Regaining some composure she turned back to her pale companion and said, “I was just going to wait and see if this battle proved to be entertaining before I interrupted, I mean if I hope to gain new travel companions I really shouldn’t be rude right?”

Having finished her spiel she turned to the white haired kid for a response, getting merely one long and angry gurgle from his stomach region. After more high-pitched giggling she slung her bag off her back and dug around inside, pulling out a brown package and unwrapping it to unveil six fluffy buns stuffed with cooked pork. Smiling she held out the package, “sorry they’re probably a bit cold now, but better than nothing right?”

She resisted the urge to laugh again as her new friend’s eyes lit up like a Christmas tree.

((Akila I'll apologize now, but I foresee that I'm going to have way too much fun picking on your Malik *evil chuckle*))

((... ~_~ STOP BEING SUCH AN UKE JOU-CHAN! D<

Blargh. I'll just post something before I kill this. :B ;; ))

"Geodude? Seriously? You disgust me. What a rarity indeed, must've had to turn over a few boulders to find that brute!" Malik commented sardonically, amused by the excuse for a Pokemon that stood before his elegant Ninetails.

But a fire type was no good against a rock type, really. Luckily, he'd taught his Ninetails a few physic moves to reinforce her strength. Pumped, and ready for battle, he scurried a few steps forward to face Jou and get a proper view. That's when he noticed a small group consisting of an annoying looking girl and some albino nerd observing the battle from the sidelines.

It was infuriating. They ought to mind their own business and find their own means of entertainment.

"EH! Go away!" Malik spat at the spectators, throwing a vicious glare in their direction. Pointing, he announced, his scream as shrill as ever, "This is a private duel! Team Magma and blondie here, only, understand? So scram or you'll be next in line for inevitable destruction by my hands!" The threat was followed by an over the top, set of hand motions that were apparently intended to scare, but did nothing more then accentuate his ridiculous behavior.