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In a small park in Katarina, there stood a young woman and her Archen. The pair were busy training, but not for pokemon battles. Or at least, not for the usual sort. They instead were figuring out the most visually impressive way to use various moves in preparation for pokemon contests and their associated battles.

The purple-tipped shiny Archen stood in the middle of an open area, her neck arched and wings slightly flared in a pose that gave her a feeling of ancient gravity, despite her small size. She slowly raised her wings, and as she did several chunks of rock in various sizes rose from the ground around her, as if following the motion of her wings. One of the rocks floated up beneath her, carrying her up into the air as well. The many rocks rose several feet into the air, the highest ones above the height of an average adult. When they all stopped and hovered in place, the Archen concluded the movement with a sharp outward flare of her wings.

"Great, Kishin, that was a wonderful Ancientpower! You're getting quite good at that one!" her trainer cheered heartily. "But I think it might have more impact if the rock you stand on is the largest, lifts of first and rises the highest. Why don't we try that one again?"

Kishin let the rocks sink back to the ground without any more dramatics. The rocks seemed to melt back into the ground as if they'd never been there, much like how they'd seemed to appear out of nothing. Then the pokemon took her stance again and focused her energy to retry the attack.

As soon as Kishin caught sight of the pup climbing on one of her rocks, her solemn manner instantly dissolved into motherly cooing. She hopped to a closer rock so she could get a better look at the little darling. She raised one wing in the rock's direction, causing it to rise a couple inches more. Then she lowered the wing, making the rock sink back towards the ground. She continued to make the rock rise and fall, like it was one end of a see-saw. But like a see-saw, she never made the rock rise so high or move so fast that the young Zorua was in danger of falling off and getting hurt if it was too careless.

Arissa had also noticed the Zorua approach and was about to tell Kishin to call off the attack, in order to avoid hurting the other pokemon. But when the Archen started cooing and evidently playing with the little fox, she stared, and then sighed. She was getting the feeling that her Archen liked to take care of every pokemon she encountered, especially if they were small or needed help. Not a bad trait, certainly, but it could be a bit inconvenient at times. Like now.

Kishin chuckled at the youngster's excitement, and started making the rock sway back and forth, as if it were a swing. Never mind that Kishin was not far into adulthood herself. She felt older, especially around young pokemon.

Arissa had been staring at the two pokemon, wondering if she should let the pokemon play or try and break it up so they could continue practicing. She hadn't noticed the officer approaching and was jarred out of her thoughts by his question.

"Oh, yes, she's mine. Thank you." Putting together the sudden appearance of the man right after the Zorua, she asked, "And I take it the Zorua's yours? Quite a pretty one as well." She took a closer look at the Zorua and added, "A shiny recessive with uniquely-colored accents, is it? And very attractive markings, too."

She blinked as she realized that might sound a bit odd, then said, "Sorry, I'm hoping to become a pokemon breeder, and I've been keeping an eye out for pokemon with unusual colorations. I've seen several since I got here, which gives me hope that I might be able to catch or breed some for myself." She grinned eagerly at the thought.

"A puppy mill? Oh, that's horrible! I'm glad you got it shut down. And your little lady seems lucky to have gotten such a good home." She watched the pokemon for a moment as she reflected how poorly some people would treat pokemon. It was truly terrible that people would stoop to such harsh and inhumane practices as puppy mills just to make a quick buck. She frowned at the thought, though it led to thoughts of her own aspiring goals as a breeder. She was sure she'd treat her pokemon with the utmost care, but still..."Um, do pokemon breeders have to get a license or registration or anything?" she asked, a little anxiously. "I'm afraid I haven't yet looked into Zatao's laws concerning the profession yet, as I'm still very new to the region."

Kishin said warmly. <"Mommy" Arissa didn't tell me if my name meant anything.> She didn't usually refer to her trainer as "mommy," but it seemed appropriate with this little one. She was such a darling, she made Kishin just want to bundle her up for cuddles! In fact...

Kishin let all the rocks sink slowly back to the ground so she didn't have to focus on them any more as she hopped toward the young Zorua. As the two pokemon settled onto the ground, she reached the pup, tucked one wing around her as best she could, and started preening the long fur of Zaire's neck.

Arissa noticed what her pokemon was doing and managed not to facepalm. It was a near thing, though. "Kishin, she's not even a bird," the trainer said in an exasperated tone. "I don't think preening her will work out very well."

Arissa nodded appreciatively at the information as said, "Yes, thank you. That would be very helpful." To the question she ruefully answered, "Yes, she certainly seems to be. I hope that doesn't become a problem when I breed her. If she never wanted to give up any of the chicks I'm not sure what I'd do." She sighed. "If she becomes difficult about it, I'd probably have to keep at least one of her offspring around to keep her happy. Or perhaps get some other, smaller bird pokemon to act as a surrogate chick."

Kishin was more than happy to let the pup snuggle up as she preened the fox's fur. she chided gently, but not unkindly since she knew that wagging was a sign of happiness among canines.

Kishin let the wiggling pup be. She didn't seem to be able to help herself much, and at least she was happy. Kishin carefully used her teeth to comb Zaire's mane, got caught on a tangle and ended up chewing it lightly to loosen up the clumped fur. she complemented the little one.

Arissa thanked the officer again as she took the piece of paper. She folded it up and carefully tucked it in her pocket, making a mental note to look into that as soon as possible. "I'm not really ready to start breeding quite yet, since I only have the one pokemon and no prospective mates for her, but it's probably best to know all the laws before I start anyway," she said. Then she watched her pokemon fussing over the Zorua, who actually looked a bit bigger than her. Arissa giggled a little at the sight. "I swear, she would try to fuss like that over a Dragonite if she could. No matter whether any of her kids grow to twice her size or more, she'll probably always treat them as if they were small enough to huddle under her wings. It's adorable, really."

The sudden succession of lick, babble and pup running of surprised Kishin a bit. When Zaire wiggled free and ran off, she stood there blinking for a moment, then used on wing to wipe off her face. Hmm. If she wanted to be able to keep up with energetic little ones, she'd have to be quicker to react. It seemed like the pup had something in mind, so she preened her own feathers for a moment while she waited for the youngster to return.

"Sounds like Zaire's a good fit for a police dog, then" Arissa said. "Aside from possibly the puppy distractibility, but she should grow out of that," she added with a grin. "Kishin's cuddly nature would probably work very well as a pampered pet or a companion for small children, but obviously that's not what I want to do. I don't think she'll ever be a heavy battler, but she obeys readily enough. Especially when she's not using attacks to hurt anyone, which is great considering I'm training her to be a show pokemon as well. That's what we were doing when you can Zaire joined us; practicing creative and impressive ways to use various moves."

Aww, how sweet; looked like Zaire wanted to play with her trainer. Well that was nice, too. Probably best to leave her at it. She finished preening and trotted back to her trainer, whistling cheerfully.

Arissa watched the pup rush off after the stick, then noticed her pokemon approaching. "All done mothering Zaire, then? Not going to try and chase her down to preen her until she begs for mercy?" she said to Kishin, a teasing tone to her voice.