his round had been made. there were no sign of poachers nor predators. for now the former elite and his dragonite would come to return where, surprisingly, a blonde woman would be. as dragonite landed before the blonde, mateo would come to hop off of the dragon's back. a simple risen hand greeted her.

"yo."

steel-faced in his expression, the dragon master pondered on her purpose for being here. he could only assume the woman he was chosen to replace was her partner, thus she was now his. "@etherl, i'm guessin'." the ex-league member called. mateo had been given the necessary info that was needed from his xtransceiver. "i was already told who i'd be meetin', and i guess that's you blondie." assuming she was new to the league, or hoenn, he'd probably have to let her known as to exactly who he was.

"mateo, i'll be chaperoning you for this assignment." though he had other things he could be doing right now, but every now and then, had he been nearby, he could offer his services to the league temporarily. in all honesty he needed to get back to the village. for now his problems weren't urgent, so he would use this as a bit of downtime, "so you work for the league or somethin'?"

mateo martinez

Ethel was interrupted from her thoughts by the arrival of someone... what? This wasn't who she was told would be her partner, that was for sure. She didn't really know who her assigned partner would have been, but she could've sworn it wasn't this guy.

She dismissed her concerns. After all, any help was help, and she had more important things to do than worry about whether this was Savannah Huckabee or not. She nodded in response to the newcomer's greeting.

"It's Ethel, yes. Ethel Irving." She had gone by a false name for a while after coming to Hoenn, but she had slipped up so much that she figured it didn't really matter much if she used her real name. Few enough people recognized the name, anyways.

Ethel's lip quirked at the man's casual manner. "Chaperoning? You can't be much older than me, if you are at all." She lifted an eyebrow. She nodded again at the next question. "Yeah, you could say that. I've recently moved to Hoenn, and I've been helping out the League in my free time." Ethel shrugged modestly. "It's good work. I like helping people, and there's always someone who could use my assistance."

Ethel squinted as she started to put the pieces together. She may have been new to Hoenn, but she had heard a little bit of gossip, and she was pretty sure this guy was some sort of famous person. "Mateo, you said? I feel like I've seen your face somewhere. Sorry if I'm offending somehow, but I am kind of new to Hoenn, and I'm not too familiar with the people here."

a brow had risen. he wondered as to what the hell did age have to do with anything? after all, hoenn did have a council made up of twenty-something year old's who looked like they were in their late thirties. either way, he had the necessary experience and was the perfect candidate to accommodate the newcomer.

"don't stress it, i'm nobody important." he wasn't a big buzz compared to the champion of hoenn or the well-renowned elite four member kyle. that life was put to the side. so mateo didn't expect a newcomer to know much of him. he wasn't sure if his mastery over dragon pokemon had been known, but it was very well-known in johto. "either way, i'm just a guy cruisin' about in his spare time. so we may see more of each other, we may not. whatever the case may be, don't hesitate to look at me as a big bro!"

a forceful beaming grin was worn. his fist extended toward the woman. reeling his said back in, he'd ask, "what brings you to hoenn, if you don't mind me askin'? considerin' what's been goin' on here, you think tourist would stop coming for awhile." he was curious about her reasoning for coming to hoenn. it wasn't everyday one runs into a new resident.

Ethel Irving

mateo martinez 

Nobody important, huh?

"Hm," Ethel replied noncommittally. "I'm sure. For now, big bro Mateo it is," she said, playing along. Even though she was... well, rather reasonably sure that this guy couldn't be much older than she was, if at all. 

But whatever. That wasn't important. It wasn't necessarily fair for her to prod so much, either, considering her own cause for being in the region in the first place.

Speaking of which, that was where the conversation immediately went, and... he was right. Hoenn didn't really seem like the place that so many people would decide to come to for a relaxing sunbathing session, especially right now.

"Well, when I came here, I didn't know too much about the local situation. I was more looking to flee something that had happened in Unova." She met Mateo's eyes. "Which, if you don't mind, I'd like to avoid the topic of. Let's just say that I made some mistakes when I was younger, even if they weren't really my fault." She broke eye contact. "And you'd think that someone looking to flee trouble wouldn't want to stay in such a troubled place as Hoenn, but... well, it makes me feel better to help people and Pokemon here, and do what I can to help."

She shook her head. "Sorry for getting all depressed on you. It's a lot sometimes." She took a deep breath. "Well, anyways, I assume you know what we're doing here?"