Billi Marsh

Soup, dripping wet, lounged on a large rock in the middle of one of Pacifidlog's water routes. It was always good to take a little vacation, and the nearby Pacifidlog had happened to be his destination this time. Despite his fascination with history, Soup enjoyed time in nature as much as everyone else. The calls of wild Pokemon and the splash of the waves were enough to put anyone at ease.

The time outside did his partners good, too. Maia flew in large, lazy circles above the rock, the Wingull barely even moving her wings and cawing loudly every few moments at her distant brethren, who would often stop by to greet her. Ersa, his Surskit, skimmed about playfully on the water below, gliding across the surface like a graceful ice skater on a rink.

It became clear that Soup wasn't the only one in the area. He saw a guy with a Dewpider, a Rookidee, a Prinplup, and a Rotom swimming rather quickly with powerful strokes through the water. He seemed to be headed straight for the rock that Soup was on, so he scooted over in preparation.

Sure enough, the newcomer pulled himself up onto the rock, greeting Soup with an infectious cheer. Soup didn't quite smile back, but his voice was friendly as he gestured at the space he'd left near him.

"Hello. There's plenty of space on the rock for both of us, feel free to join me." His lip twitched a little. "Though, well, it might get a bit crowded if all your Pokemon join us."

“Oh thanks! I’m sure my pokemon can fit ya know their pretty tiny, except that one, but that’s not really a problem,” Billi smiled as he moved to the side of the stranger, the small, strangely flat rock, made perfect for perching him like ariel from the little mermaid. The stone slab was sizzlingly warm against the cool water. The warm skin tone reflected the sun off his back like a gold mirror.

Dewpider crawled onto Billi’s back, making him laugh, as the others continued to play in the water. “why is someone like you all the way out here? he looked over his shoulder staring at the stranger, “Assuming you swam out here too or you got a big flying pokemon,” he stuck out his tongue playfully.

Suprasad Bhat

Billi Marsh

The stranger's infectious enthusiasm finally got through to Soup, and he allowed himself a small smile. This guy seemed so optimistic and comfortable talking to others that it was hard not to join him. "Well, I'm sure your Prinplup will be fine in the water."

To the next question, Soup had to think a little harder for a good answer. "No large flying Pokemon here, unless you count Maia." He gestured at the Wingull circling above, who cawed loudly at the sound of her name. "No, I swam here. I just felt like a dip in the water would be fun." Soup shrugged. "It's good to take a break every now and then, even when you love your job. I might guess that most of the people here are here for a break, anyways," he guessed, glancing at Billi.

“ah….yeah,” Billi sighed feeling the intense rays of sun beating off his back. It was so relaxing, and even more so, that his pale skin, had...maybe half an hours worth of waterproof sunscreen left on it. He was at least an intelligent shopper, making sure to use skin safe waterproof spf whatever amount to make sure he didn’t burn. NEver did he want some sketchy chemicals in his skin that would make him look one-hundred at twenty-five. “yeah he’ll be fine! He likes to swim in the water!” he grinned considering the pokemon was a water type, of course it did.

Looking up towards the heavenly blue, he noticed the wingull circled, and smiled, “We have wingulls back home! They’re always eating fast food scraps,” he laughed imagining the gulls fighting over a fry. Billi shined some more with a bright, summer smile, “My job is always kinda relaxing but it takes all my time. I work every hour for magazines and things! It’s fun and it takes me everywhere.

Billi mentioned when he looked over to a distant rock with a Gible somehow standing on it. It’s jaw owen trying to catch some fish to it, but it couldn’t take it. Instead he fell in the water and fell victim to Oran slapping it for biting him, then slashing at him some more until it was knocked out. Luckily Billi had a pokeball enough to hit the floating pokemon. Meanwhile stick to their rock was the seaweed pokemon, glued to the side.

-gible capture attempt.

Suprasad Bhat

Billi Marsh

Soup nodded at the discussion of the Prinplup. "Heh, I don't ever think I've seen a water type that doesn't love swimming. Except for Maia. She prefers flying, of course, but I think I would too.

Soup nodded again when Billi talked about Wingull. "I'm not surprised you have Wingulls back home, wherever you're from. They live practically everywhere. And yeah, they're certainly not picky about their diet." When Billi talked about his job, Soup finally gave a real smile. It was nice to meet someone with the same passion about their work that he had, even if the job wasn't the same. A magazine... "It's always good to enjoy your job, but even then you need a break sometimes. You said you work for a magazine... An editor, maybe? Or a journalist?" Journalism was actually a career that he'd been interested in, long ago. But then, he was interested in plenty of careers long ago. Still, he had nothing but respect for those who dedicated themselves to finding and sharing information.

Soup watched as Billi threw a ball at the wild Gible, and then noticed the Skrelp, sticking to the side of the rock and seeming to float about aimlessly. "Interesting. I've always thought Dragalge were an interesting species," he said, tapping the still-indifferent Skrelp with a Pokeball. Was it asleep, or something? He'd thought its eyes were open, but it just seemed completely unreactive.

The blonde was loving this rock, and even more that he just got a super cool shark boy. The open gapped fine was always a cute aspect, and even more that a lot of people feared shark pokemon, so that made it better to have a friend, and as a dumb trainer with little fear of pokemon or damage being done to himself. Oran swam around some more as the other pokemon sat on his back enjoying the sunlight roasting them.

“Yeah i thought it was obvious but I’m kinda a dumb so I guess I didn’t think of it haha,” the innocent laughter escaped a prideful smile with little shame of insulting himself. Not like he fully believed he was a dummy, but heck, he knew how to at least laugh at himself. Something he believed people could use more of in their lives. “I’m from Galar! They are everywhere there along with some other pokemon that seem to run around here like kids!” he smiled and looked up at the hair with red in it.

“Is the red like dyes or??? Is it just your hair?” Billi curiously asked, reaching up to touch the red tufts. “Oh journalist thing I guess. I don’t know what my real title is. It’s just trendy silly cute things young people like,” he shrugged, “All about hoenn though mind you cuz the place is really cool,” he smirked, paying no attention to the little chiming pokemon that was caught by the wind.

“What about you? What do you do? Fun stuff?! You were thinking of doing this job, what made you not do it? Was it just seeming too boring,” he asked.

Suprasad Bhat

Billi Marsh 

The Skrelp broke free from the ball, and... to be honest, Soup wasn't really sure why he expected that to work. Now it was awake, though, and it faced Soup with what must have been some irritation.

Oh well. He could do this the hard way. He scooped the Pokeball back up from the water and whistled for Maia. The Wingull cawed and dove towards them, seeing the Skrelp and realizing the situation. The Skrelp saw the diving Wingull, along with the Surskit whose attention was drawn to the scene, and attempted to swim away. 

Maia wouldn't let up, though, chasing down the Skrelp, diving into the water, and hitting him with Pursuit. Ersa Aqua Jetted forward as well, and by the time the Skrelp recovered, Maia was back in the air, firing Air Slashes at the seaweed Pokemon. The Skrelp put up a good effort to land a Dragon Pulse on Maia, but the bird was too fast, and the Skrelp was knocked out. Soup threw the Pokeball once more, hopefully capturing the water-type this time.

Soup was a little confused about what Billi was saying he was dumb for. He didn't think Billi had said anything stupid, and he let him know that. "I literally have no idea what you mean when you say that you're dumb. I'm sorry, I'm just confused..."

The conversation soon moved on to other topics, though. "The red is dyes," he said, nodding and letting Billi touch his hair. "I don't think I've ever seen anyone with hair that is naturally in two separate colors. I'm sure it's possible, though..."

He nodded as Billi described his job, a Chimecho drifting by on the wind. Then he laughed at Billi's next question. "Oh, no way! Journalism is really exciting! I actually have a lot of respect for journalists. It means a lot to inform the public of things." He shook his head. "No, I just decided to pursue archaeology because I love it, too. I'm an archaeologist, yeah," he added, probably unnecessarily. "I also chose this because it gives me the opportunity to travel a lot. Though, I guess some journalists travel, too," he mused. "You said you're from Galar, right? What brought you to Hoenn?"

Billi’s body felt the burn from the sun, his pokemon lingering close by as they enjoyed the searing summer heat like a BBQ on the weekend. Somehow this seemed very familiar to him. The air was fresh and the situations he always put himself in were always nearly the same. He’d talk, ask questions, the other would answer, maybe it was because he was just a chatty person who liked having the company of others to not give himself a moment to think about how sad he was when he was alone but, that was a note for a darker sadder day.

The blonde did think he was stupid to some degree, it wasn’t like he got the best grades or post secondary education. There were so many people that had earned their dream job while Billi just got it by coincidence. He was happy but kept the guilt and some shame in the back part of his brain, maybe towards his spinal cord but, he really didn’t try to think about it when he was enjoying himself, so he just laughed off his own comment.

There was a bug pokemon that flapped by, ignoring him casually, while a loud buzzing went over head, zipping across avoiding them the best it could. “oh thats cool,” Billi smiled brightly thinking about the strangers job as his hand played with the red bits. “I think having two hair colors is fun, but I won’t dye mine cuz I’m afraid it’ll ruin the natural blonde,” he pouted as the shine to his body disappeared in the sunlight.

“Oh so you dig up bones and stuff,” he asked with glimmering excitement. Leaning up on his elbows he winked some, “It’s great I get to travel and stuff! And I guess you get to do the same right?!” Billi nearly shouted in being happy, “Oh my job brought me here!” he mused, “I write articles and stuff about Hoenn so I get to learn a lot about the region. I don’t have anyone in Galar so I’m not that attached,” he lied, but you know.

Suprasad Bhat

Billi Marsh

"Dye isn't for everyone," Soup said, shrugging. "And your hair is cool the color it is now, too." He watched the Masquerain flit by with some interest, but he already had Ersa, and Soup thought the little Surskit was beginning to show signs of being close to evolution, even if he was no expert.

Now, that Vibrava, on the other hand, was an extremely interesting catch. Flygon were known for being rather powerful species, and their Ground typing meant that they would always be helpful with Soup's own job as well. Whatever the case, it was a little too far away for him to do anything for now, so he continued the conversation with Billi. "I guess we both love traveling," Soup said, laughing. "That's one of the things I love best about my job. I love seeing new places, even if for now I've only been limited to Hoenn. But I do plan on broadening my horizons sooner rather than later. In fact, I have a trip to Sinnoh planned rather soon," he said, excitement animating him as it always did when the conversation turned to topics that he was passionate about. "Sinnoh is so rich in history. I'm so excited to visit and learn things." He smiled at Billi as he continued. "Though, for a journalist like you, Hoenn is probably the place to be now, huh?" His smile dimmed a little and became more thoughtful. "History's being made here as we speak."

His musings were rudely interrupted by the Vibrava he'd spotted earlier, which had buzzed closer and immediately picked a fight with Maia. The Wingull cawed in indignation and fired an Air Slash at the dragonfly, but the Vibrava wouldn't be denied, knocking her out of the air with a Dragon Rush. Maia's flight faltered, though she caught herself before splashing into the water.

"Ersa," Soup called, and the Surskit saw the conflict going on above. With a buzz, Ersa leaped off the water, wings unfolding from her back and her body rapidly morphing to a new shape. Colorful antennae sprouted from her head, and she took to the sky like she was born in it.

Soup grinned as Ersa and Maia took down the Vibrava with a series of Bubblebeams and Water Pulses, respectively. "Attagirl, Ersa," he said, as the newly-evolved Masquerain buzzed happily. "You look beautiful." He threw a Pokeball at the fallen Vibrava, which had landed in the water some distance away, because despite losing, it had put up a strong fight against two trained Pokemon.