Derek moves adjacent to Theo, separate by several meters and large rock. The gym leader brushes sticky hair from his face every time it falls back into place. He has to tuck it behind his ears just to keep it there.

The two individuals aren't even aware of their close proximity. Not until some pokemon stumble between them...

THEO BECKETT

☉

for now, theo remains unaware of the gym leader's presence, perhaps distracted by the obnoxious sniffing his houndour seems to be doing off to the side.[break][break]

"you good?"[break][break]

it's only then that houndour leaps back, startled by a wild scrafty. it leaps up to deliver a HIGH JUMP KICK that misses wildly, leaving it an easy target for houndour's EMBER.[break][break]

theo tosses a pokeball at it after.

[attr="class","ooc"]DEREK HOFFMAN[break]
fire/fighting![break]
catching scrafty![break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-houndour"]

Derek has about a two second window where he notices the individual, Theo, battling a Scrafty before he is faced with his own situation.

A wild Kadabra does its best to get a cheap shot on him, coordinating a FLASH in his face before attempting to move closer to deal some damage.

Jonesy, the Sobble lagging behind, leaps forth with a SUCKER PUNCH to send the pokemon packing. After that they're free to converse with the stranger, who seems to have captured the Scrafty. "Hey, didn't notice you there."

Eyeing the little Houndour, it reminds him of home. Derek has his doubts, but he decides to ask out of curiosity. "You from Johto?" He knew they probably just enjoyed working with dog pokemon. Like Kyle, and many others as well.

SKIPPING KADABRA!

THEO BECKETT

☉

"oh, hello."[break][break]

theo turns to greet the individual but before he has a chance to answer, he feels the sudden presence of an elgyem as it TELEPORTS into scene. it hovers right between them, menacing as it glares.[break][break]

houndour is quick with the EMBER. theo is even quicker with the pokeball.[break][break]

"kanto. but i've visited johto a few times." mostly on business. "and yourself?"

[attr="class","ooc"]DEREK HOFFMAN[break]
fire/fighting![break]
catching elgyem![break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-houndour"]

"Oh."

He got ahead of himself.

"Johto. I thought that the Houndour might be a tell."

Guess not.

While they happened to deal with the wild Elgyem, Derek observed his own adversary. Well, not that it was actually hostile. The wild Munna walks towards him and lays down to nap. He can't help but shrug towards the individual before moving on. Both with the conversation and his way along the route.

"You ever visit Blackthorn?"

SKIPPING MUNNA!

THEO BECKETT

☉

"i have. i quite enjoyed my time there. it was peaceful."[break][break]

much more peaceful than this day is turning out to be as a medicham leaps out at them, FEINTING as though it's ready to strike. too bad for it that houndour is equally as ready.

CRUNCH into EMBER is all it takes for the medicham to still into a pokeball.[break][break]

"you're a long way from home. what brought you to hoenn?"

[attr="class","ooc"]DEREK HOFFMAN[break]
fire/fighting![break]
catching medicham![break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-houndour"]

Some might suspect a place housing dragons to be chaotic and unsafe. But it wasn't, and Theo's remark about Blackthorn told Derek that he was telling the truth about having visited the gym leader's hometown.

His question sparks a bit of a loaded answer.

"Well...to put it simply? I didn't want the desk job my parents had lined up for me." His father was a novice trainer once upon a time, and had to give it up to provide for his family. He also worried about Team Rocket, and wanted his children to refrain from being in a position where they'd be expected to take up arms against them—should they successfully invade the Johto region.

Again, while Derek carries on with the conversation, Jonesy defends him with a WATER PULSE that sends a wild Lunatone packing.

"They didn't want me training in Johto because of Team Rocket, but they approved of Hoenn. I could've stayed, but I wanted to give them some peace of mind. And to avoid rubbing it in my little sister's face..." She also wanted to be a trainer, but never got her chance.

SKIPPING LUNATONE!

THEO BECKETT

☉

theo listens, taking in what's shared as information that could be useful in the future knowing derek's current position within the league. he could not help but feel a bit amused at the irony of it all, however.[break][break]

"well, i'm sure they're regretting their approval now."[break][break]

hoenn's arguably in a worse state than johto.[break][break]

his houndour brings him a hatenna locked in its CRUNCH. theo decides to save it by tapping a pokeball against it.[break][break]

"but look how things turned out. you're a gym leader now. that's impressive."

[attr="class","ooc"]DEREK HOFFMAN[break]
fire/fighting![break]
catching hatenna![break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-houndour"]

"Hah, yeah."

Theo makes a good point.

His mention of Derek's gym leader status being impressive, though? "Well, I wouldn't say all that." Though before he can continue, a wild Hawlucha catches his attention as it swats Jonesy aside with an aerial ace.

Another pokeball is used, inviting his Corviknight to do battle with it's fellow avian. A sky attack makes quick work of the feral pokemon, allowing Derek to scoop it up with one of his spare pokeballs.

"There's plenty of trainers in Hoenn better than me who won't toss their hat in the ring, so to speak." Whether it was caution, cowardice or greed that kept them, he couldn't say. But Derek knew there were many out there who showed greater prowess as a trainer than him.

CATCHING HAWLUCHA!

THEO BECKETT

☉