Welcome to Gaia! ::

Today was turning out to be a dreadfully boring day, to say the least. For some reason, it seemed like nobody was ever free on the days he happened to be the least occupied. When disgruntled, the complete inverse of such trains of logic didn't seem to occur... such as the possibility that having nobody to pal around with was the cause of his boredom. Toulouse was, however, perfectly capable of finding something to entertain his mind with, it was just a matter of inspiration... and to stop trying to get someone else's attention; that backfired more often than it worked.

The stubby, sky blue fingers wrapped around another long stick that happened to be strewn across the path he was carving for himself. He examined it briefly, sighed, and tossed it over his shoulder, <<Nope, still not strong enough to be a... bokken...>> It was then that the young squirtle spotted a colorful boulder come tumbling off the nearby hillside, and with it, whatever string of consciousness the pokémon had just been on. An arm raised as though to block a kicked up dust cloud from his eyes at the landing, but it was wholly unnecessary, merely reactionary.

Yeah, that was definitely no ordinary boulder...

Pushing past the foliage that was blocking the scene from the curious squirtle, led by the panicked taunts of the strangest riolu Toulouse had ever seen, he finally broke free enough to get a good idea of what happened. Wide-eyed, he looked at the poliwrath's current condition a second before he turned those eyes to Riley, astounded, <<Woah... did you just pile-drive that guy into the ground!?>> He had a good idea, but apparently not the right idea.

As Riley screeched at the sudden emergence of a sound from behind, Toulouse flailed his pudgy arms a bit in counter-reaction, not really expecting that to be the first reply he received for the query. Realizing this floundering, the squirtle attempted to rectify this poor display of bravado by whipping forward those arms and holding them still, as though he knew karate. He did not know karate, but what others didn't know couldn't hurt them, right?

He lowered his limbs slowly at the hasty response that followed suit, standing straighter upright. Toulouse blinked, confused at first -- turning back to the poliwrath, then returning sights back to the victor of the scuffle. His grin splayed, he laughed in a puckish manner, <<Wow, if you can do that when you don't even mean to, you must be really strong!>> Riolu and poliwrath were both fighting-types, but he was sure that a third-evolution was normally stronger than a first stage either way. Rubbing his nose knowingly, he let his laughter peter off, <<Though, if you don't mind the constructive criticism, you should probably work on that battle cry of yours.>>

Toulouse seemed to proudly display his exceptional skills of 'completely missing the point.'

Toulouse blinked a bit in surprise of Riley's reaction, but he wasn't letting the idea free -- he knew he had a real pro on his hands! Besides, it seemed the martial artists that pretended they couldn't do squat to defend themselves were usually the most badass! Well... at least, in the comic books the squirtle had managed to find, they were. <<Eheheh, so modest. C'mon, you don't need that around me, I got ya!>> he assured. Yes, yes, he was speaking with a true master!

The question was a tricky one indeed, though. As much as Toulouse would've liked to have said otherwise, he was still... kind of a novice. As in, completely a novice, but that was beside the point. However, Riley was also talking to someone who made his own sound effects to fill in the quiet when he was working on something, but was it necessary? <<Of course it's important!>> he stated with little hesitation before he had fully thought that through, loosening his stance as he shrugged upon the emergence of second thoughts, <<Well... you probably don't really need it, considering how much you can do already, but it still sounded pretty weak.>> Riley may have been humble, but Toulouse certainly wasn't.

However, he could also tell that the riolu... human... person... wasn't so sure about the squirtle. Whether that had any impact on the way the little shelled pokémon was acting, though, that was another story. <<I bet the others would love having you around,>> he stated excitedly, starry-eyed, <<I bet it'd be a lot safer with you around, too!>> It wasn't immediately evident whether Toulouse was talking to himself or Riley anymore, but he was very enthused nonetheless.