Elisabeth. Fancy, but in a more classical way than he'd anticipated. He expressed this aloud: "Oh, I was thinking you were... I dunno, an Antoinette or an Esmeralda. Elisabeth is nice. Easy to say and remember."

Too out of it to read between the lines, Ignatius took everything she said at surface level. He nodded along, listening but not really listening. "Ohh, really now? I've only been to Slateport and just north of it so far. Haven't really been given any instructions to leave the area," he said, oblivious to his slip-up and the questions it could invoke.

Ignatius plucked a Pokeball from a strap on his backpack. "I do have a grass type, though. A Treecko. I found its egg," he said, careful enough to not reveal that he had, in fact, stolen the egg.

After a single bounce on the floor, the Pokeball popped open and released Thyme. "He recently hid in a tree for hours on end. Are there any tips you could give me for raising him? Or maybe you could just, like, help me out? I'd pay for someone to give me tricks on handling grass-type Pokemon. He's my most difficult Pokemon so far. Do you only raise grass and bug types?"

Arms crossed, Thyme rolled his eyes at his trainer's criticisms.

Elisabeth gave her piece on Gloom and nature being unpleasant. Ignatius' mouth hung open a bit as he absorbed the information. "Nectar? Isn't that what Combee uses to make honey?" Fertilizer and ... perfume? His nose wrinkled at the thought.

"And to be honest, when people are scared, we do unpleasant things, too." Her words rang true. He sighed, then said, "Yeah, I'm proof of that. But that's a long story."

---

Elisabeth Fiorelli

Daffodil. Pretty name for a pretty Pokemon. "Oh, the Petalburg Woods? I haven't been there yet. How is it?" Ignatius said, sitting where he stood. He rested his elbows on his knees and focused on the woman. She wore a yellow top and a floral pattern... skirt? was it a skirt? Ignatius furrowed his brow, trying to figure it out without staring and seeming weird and... was he creeping her out?

It took a few seconds, or maybe a minute, but he finally finished processing her words. "I battled a wild Gloom once with my Absol and I couldn't get the stench out of her fur for weeks. My parents made her sleep outside. Couldn't just leave her out there like that, so I slept outdoors too."

"Ignatius," he slurred his own name, then added, "but you should call me Iggy. It's sooooo much easier. What's your name? I bet it's something fancy. You seem like a fancy person. I haven't come across many Bellossom trainers who weren't fancy, you know?" What a funny word fancy was. Antsy. F-antsy.

Then something hit him: "Wait, did you say I threatened the Gloom? I don't think so. But sometimes Vesper--my Absol--she gets... protective of me. She thinks everything's dangerous, so maybe she threatened it," he said. "Why do you think they're misunderstood?" He wanted to learn, but whether he'd actually retain anything was up in the air. Did it matter?

Confident that the young child was safe with their parents, Vesper returned to her trainer's side, eyeing the situation. She headbutted him. Time to go.

"No, no, I want to chat," he said, fumbling for her Pokeball. He found it, only to drop it. It rolled underneath the woman's chair. He groaned and said, "Why don't you make friends with Daffodil here? She seems so nice."

Vesper sat down and blinked at the Bellossom, neutral as could be.

---

Elisabeth Fiorelli

Thyme's head emerged from the tree hole. His gaze darted around.

When Marshall held a treat out, the little Treecko stretched his arm. The tips of his fingers nearly grazed the treat, but alas, it was too far. So he widened his pupils and put on the most dramatic display of begging Ignatius had ever seen: waving his little hand at the food, using Absorb again to pull some energy from leaves, sighing and huffing. Poor exhausted little Pokemon.

"I didn't teach him any of that," Ignatius said, his face reddening. His eyelid twitched. I should bring you right back to the farm I stole you from, you little shit, he thought. Still, these theatrics could be useful for future robberies. Maybe Ignatius would reinforce this behavior after all, as long as it wasn't used against him.

"Also, I regularly feed him," Ignatius piped up again, this time a bit louder. He was a criminal and a liar, but not a Pokemon abuser.

Thyme pointedly ignored his trainer.

Crossing his arms, Ignatius said, "Maybe Pokemon from Hoenn have more attitude? Are they naturally hungrier or something?"

Meanwhile, Iggy's Shinx padded over to where Marshall's Luxio guarded their food and nudged him, wanting to play.

Vesper the Absol circled around to the back of the tree, watching in case Treecko pulled a fast one on them.

---

Marshall Slade

Ignatius had drank before. Been buzzed. Drunk, even. But wasted? Blasted? Absolutely smacked?

Not until today.

The whole "kicked out by his dad" ... thing ... was still a fresh wound, gaping and occasionally gushing blood.

And like any fresh twenty-one-year-old might, Ignatius came to the conclusion that alcohol was the solution to all of his problems.

Had he tried forming healthy habits? Nope.

How about therapy? Absolutely not.

The Splashfest was a perfect storm: opportunity and an excuse came together to form an absolute mess of a human being.

Oh, and wasn't there something about an oncoming meteor? Doomsday? End of the world? That was a bonus. Why not just drown it all out?

Drunk on a dangerously high number of whiskey shots, the world barely existed to Ignatius. People and Pokemon were fuzzy shapes. The once-vivid blue sky diluted and swayed with the ocean.

Earlier on, Ignatius had dropped Vesper's ball and released her; a happy mistake, as the Absol now shouldered most of his weight. They zigzagged along the beach, with Vesper guiding Ignatius between people and ensuring he didn't stumble through any sandcastles.

But when a young child fell and knocked into her, Vesper looked away.

In that moment, Ignatius spotted a cute green Pokemon with twirling flowers. He beelined for the Bellossom and reached out to pinch a petal between his fingers. "You're the prettiest Bellossom I've ever seen and I want to catch one just like you some day. How can you have evolved from something as repulsive as Gloom?" he turned to the nearest person and said, "Isn't that crazy? How something as nasty as Gloom can evolve into a beautiful Bellossom? Talk about the ugly duckling, right?"

After a giggle, Ignatius squinted and said, "Is this your Pokemon? Where did you get it?"

---

Party:

 

Tag: Elisabeth Fiorelli

Marshall. Easy enough to remember.

Unfortunate as it was that Marshall was similarly inexperienced with grass types, he did offer a potential solution. "Treats?" Ignatius repeated, taken aback. He'd always associated treats more with coordinators and others who sought to teach their Pokemon cool tricks or get them to sit still long enough for glamour shots. Ignatius' father had certainly never mentioned anything about treats when Pokemon training came up.

Elektra pounced on the treat as it landed and practically inhaled it. She trotted over to Marshall, begging for more.

"I see where her loyalties lie," Ignatius muttered, raising an eyebrow at his Shinx. He wasn't sure exactly where his friends had caught her, but she must've been young.

The Absol, on the other hand, gave the treat a skeptical look, then--suddenly aware her trainer was watching--she devoured her treat too, as if to say "Yeah, see, we love this stuff, now hurry up and get Treecko out."

Okay, maybe he was putting words in her mouth. But after nearly a decade of partnership, Ignatius would bet a lot of money on his ability to read Vesper (and vice versa).

"Couldn't hurt to give it a shot," Ignatius said.

He slowly approached the tree again. "Hey, little... buddy? My favorite Treecko? Everyone else is getting a treat, and you'd better get out here if you want one too."

At that, two green bumps appeared, followed by a pair of yellow eyes with narrowed pupils.

---

ooc: Marshall Slade

Everyone on the road was minding their business. He didn't see any grass-type Pokemon walking alongside their trainers, and anyone else had as good a chance of being just as clueless as he was here. Ignatius looked over just as his Shinx, wide-eyed and bushy-tailed, approached a Luxio. Elektra strained her neck to look up at the bigger cat, her mouth gaping.

"Yeah, that's what you'll look like some day," Ignatius said to his Pokemon; the only acknowledgement she gave was a flick of her tail-tip.

That Luxio came around with a Tyrunt and an Archeops. Ignatius' mouth twitched. Those were rare, far as he knew. Could fetch a nice price. No way they were wild, unfortunately. That wouldn't always stop him, but in a well-traveled area during a sunny day? Not the time nor the place. Besides, he needed help.

Their trainer called out a greeting and complimented Elektra. She turned towards him and mewed, eyes sparkling. Ignatius laughed and waved in return. "Yooo! She's totally enthralled by your Luxio!"

Ignatius trotted closer to the other trainer so he wouldn't have to keep yelling. "What's up, man? I'm Ignatius," he said, outstretching a hand. Proper manners had been instilled from him from an early age. "You don't want to so much as implicate disrespect in this business," was one of his father's favorite things to say.

Ignatius rubbed his neck with his free hand. "Hey, would you happen to know much about grass types? My Treecko's kinda... hanging out in that tree, being stubborn. He's just a little guy, freshly hatched. My Absol's been trying to lure him out for a while now, but he won't budge."

Marshall Slade

---

no mission here!

A baseball cap shielded Ignatius' pale face from the sun. Elektra lay curled on his torso, purring away; occasionally, her foot or tail would twitch, accompanied by a little spark. Grass tickled his arms. A light breeze cooled him. It was a beautiful day.

But a low, constant growl in the distance kept Ignatius from drifting into sleep. When it stopped, he smiled slightly. Spittle pooled at the corner of his mouth.

Thump.

"Shit!" he shouted, lurching up. Elektra tumbled and then scrambled several feet away, her pelt crackling with electricity.

Ignatius' Absol stood behind him, baring her teeth.

"Why don't you just give it up, Vesper?" She'd been trying to get Thyme down from a tree for over two hours, to no avail. "He'll come around eventually. Relax."

She stomped her paw again, refusing to break eye contact.

Ignatius sighed and got to his feet. "Fine," he said.

The tree was massive. Its trunk was covered in holes of all sizes, any of which the baby gecko Pokemon could fit into, like one of those cartoons where the good guys are being chased by the bad guys, and they keep going in one door and coming out a totally different door in a hallway with the goofy running sound effects--or a whack-a-mole game where--

Vesper nudged his leg. Hard.

Sliding his hands into his pockets, Ignatius circled Thyme's hideout. He shoved his face into several holes, but the tree's interior was pitch black. He pulled back at one point and thought he saw a glimpse of that distinctive green tail, but it was gone so fast Ignatius debated whether he'd imagined it.

"C'mon, little guy, we can't hang around here forever. Aren't ya getting hungry?" Ignatius shouted.

A green glow emanated from one hole, sprawling until it reached some leaves. They slowly shriveled in the light, and it faded. Great. Thyme used absorb and solved his own hunger. If only that worked for me, Ignatius thought.

Now a little miffed (and, admittedly, amused), Ignatius turned toward the route's main path. Was there anyone who could help him? Maybe an experienced grass trainer?

Next time, he'd actually do research before stealing an egg from a farm.

---

OOC notes

Vesper -> Absol

Elektra -> Shinx

Thyme -> Treecko

--

Open to 1-2 others! This could be an easy fix or a fun disaster.