Welcome to Gaia! ::

(For Cal and Mau)

Recent events had shown Mau just how soft he had allowed himself to get. Perhaps being in the lab all the time wasn't a good idea. So Mau decided to take some "personal" time to train with Aki. The blue eyed Vaporeon seemed more then happy to be out of the lab, and out of the pokeball as it leaped though the grasses of the Calamus plains. They had just left Jinko city after stocking up on supplies for a few days of camping and training.

Not that Aki seemed to care why they were here. He had spotted a grasshopper and was stalking it like a clumsy puppy and pounced, missed, and tumbled head over tail once and sat, looking confused for a moment before jumping back up and shaking himself out. Mau sort of felt like a kid again as they wandered farther from the town until it couldn't be seen in the distance. Out here, they could smell the sea, but could not yet see it. The perfect place.

"Aki." Mau said softly, and the vaporeon snapped to attention, a dandilion dangling from it's mouth. "Let's set up camp here. Maybe tomorrow we'll go down to the shore and fish a little."

"Vee!" Not like Aki really cared. He was happy. Master was happy. All was good until a breeze carried a few notes of music to Aki's ears. His fins twitched as he stared off in the direction of the music before darting off towards it.

"AKI!" Mau sighed, hefting his bag of gear back over his shoulder and chasing after the little blue brat before he too could hear the music.

Mau didn't reach Aki until they were within sight of Cal. Mau grabbed Aki gently by the tail, stopping it's run, but getting a very annoyed "eeeeeeeeon" for all his efforts.

When he caught his breath, he let Aki go who stuck his nose in the air and curiously stepped closer to Cal before squeaking in delight and bounding over to her and sniffing around her before trotting back to Mau. The tanned man looked up and gave a half hearted wave to her before recognizing her. He met her in the swamp... yes yes! They were partners! Oh but what was her name again? Mau sighed shaking his head at himself.

"Hey. Sorry about that. Didn't mean to interrupt your practicing." He noticed the peculiar color and shape of the flute. "Ah, I mean your training." He looked at Aki who had flopped onto his side and was rolling in the grass, and he tried not to chuckle at the silly sight.

He nodded. Crap. She remembered his name. "Ah, good to see you again too..." he took a shot in the dark. "Cal?" please god let that be the right name. He looked down at Skye as Cal picked scolded him. "Came here to train. After the swamp, I realized Aki and I needed to work again a little. We got soft sitting in the lab all the time." Aki snorted a few bubbles at Mau. "Ok ok, I got soft staying in the lab all the time." That placated the pokemon and he curled up to nap a little.

"So there haven't been many pokemon out here today? Huh... Guess we should have gone to the beach after all, hm Aki?" Aki simply rolled onto his back, splayed in an undignified pose. "Right... So uh... You training then? Camping out here too? Or is this just a day trip?" He decided not to comment on her playing, as she hid the flute behind her. Apparently he wasn't supposed to hear her play.

Aki opened an eye at the pikachu, but made no move to stop him. "Vae." Aki seemed to invite Skye to take a nap in the nice cool grass with the warm sun overhead.

"Ah, sorry. I'm pretty bad with names sometimes. I wasn't totally sure I remembered yours." He admitted and sat down near Cal. "There's no predicting where pokemon will show up or when. They're as wild as the wind, coming ad going as they please... or some other metaphorical junk like that." He sat back, looking up at the sky. It was still light out, but the sun was on it's westward decent, and it would be night in just a few hours. "Huh... guess time got away from you, huh?" He was silent for a few moments. "Probably won't even make it back to Jinko by dark if you left right now, right?" He was debating offering her his gear for the night. She was just a child after all. "Might as well set up camp here."

"And what do you plan on doing? Sleep in the grass?" Mau sighed. "I have some extra blankets." He offered. "If you want you're welcome to camp with Aki and myself. We were planning on being out here a couple days."

Mau had enough supplies to last himself and Aki for about a week of hard training, Heals, revives, restores, and an assortment of berries were among the supplies he'd brought. "Besides, if there's no wild pokemon in the morning, I might try and pick a fight with you. This is a training trip for apparently both of us, right?"

Mau blinked then laughed a little. "We can't all be hard asses like Seth." He offered good naturedly. "Besides, it's best not to have distention among the ranks, right?" He didn't really know her well enough to tell her everything, his real reasons. But she was the only rocket he really knew here. Maybe in time.

"Would you rather I'm mean? I could just leave you here. I mean, I know you aren't defenseless. You're a capable handler with your pokemon." He pulled his backpack over and opened it. He pulled out a pot and some food. "Hungry?"

Mau laughed. "Good good. I... Uh... Well, I have Ramen." He held up some cups of instant noodles sheepishly. "Also have some cans of stew, and, gods forbid we have to break into the spam." He chuckled, setting down the ramen and fishing out some water. "You ever started a fire in the wild before?" He asked, a serious look on his face. But after a moment chuckled. "I haven't! At least not the pioneer way.

He stood up and set about clearing away some of the grasses so he could set up a small gas burner.

Mau laughed and watched Skye dig. "That's petty good. Thanks." After setting up the small gas burner and filling the pot with some water to boil for the noodles. "I've got some berries and a couple poffins. What's your flavor, sky?"

He asked, as if he could understand what the pikachu would answer. Vaporeon perked up hearing both 'berry' and 'poffin' in the same sentence. "Ve?"

"So you taught yourself how to start fires? With sticks? Or using flint stones? That's a pretty net skill to have. Bet there aren't many who can boast that."