Shaun had wandered his way back to Katarina, and like any responsible trainer, his first stop was the Pokémon Center. His pokemon weren't really hurt, since he didn't do much battling, but since he was off traveling the wilderness for long periods of time, he made sure to get his pokemon checked any time he stopped by a city. It wouldn't do to let them get worn out, or let some minor injury he'd never noticed go untreated and worsen.

Fortunately his pokemon all got a clean bill of health, so he was about to head off on other errands, like getting supplies and finding someplace to get his latest batch of film developed. But as he headed for the door, he almost ran into a boy who was rushing in.

Shaun took a step back and held out his hands to ward off the kid. "Woah, careful there! Wouldn't want to hurt anyone," he commented.

The boy skidded to a stop and looked up at him. "Sorry about that," he said. But Shaun's attention had already been diverted to the pokemon clinging to the boy's baseball cap.

"Hey, you have a Sableye!" he said with a grin. "Mind if I get a picture of him? I'm a Watcher, I've been trying to photograph as many different species of pokemon as I can find all over Zatao, and I don't have pictures of a Sableye yet." As he spoke, he pulled a small digital camera out of one of his vest pockets and held it up with a hopeful quirk of his eyebrows.

The kid looked a bit puzzled at the question and tilted his head a bit. The Sableye actually copied the motion, tilting his head over farther. "Photograph Spinel? Sure, I guess that's fine."

"Thanks! Spinel's his name, then?" Shaun asked.

"Yup!" the boy affirmed with a grin. "He's Spinel and I'm Lyle. Spinel's my best buddy. We just won a tournament!" Spinel seemed just as excited, wiggling around and also grinning.

"Oh, congratulations! I can get a victory picture of you then, and even send you a copy. Maybe in front of the battlefield, if it's open. Would you like that?" Shaun offered.

Lyle nodded, making Spinel cling tighter to his hat at the motion. "Sure, sounds fun. The tournament was held at the gym," he said. Then, for some reason, his expression got somewhat less enthusiastic. Spinel seemed to notice too, and glanced down at his trainer.

Shaun was puzzled at this. There didn't seem to be any reason for the boy to suddenly lose interest. "Is something wrong?"

Lyle blinked and shook his head. "No, nothing. Let me go heal my pokemon, I'll meet you over there. You know where the Gym is?"

Shaun nodded and tucked his camera away. "Yup, I do. It's a pretty big building, kind of hard to miss," he said with a chuckle.

"OK, I'll see you there soon, then," Lyle said, and waves at Shaun as he headed over to the Pokémon Center's main counter.

Shaun was still puzzled, but shrugged to himself. It wasn't his place to pry, and he'd get a chance to photograph a new pokemon. Maybe more than one, depending on what the young trainer had. So he headed out to make his way to the Gym.